Ceremonies be Held Nov.15, 1935 During Forest Festival

The Lyman hall chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will mark, on Friday afternoon, Nov. 15, during the Slash Pine Festival, the spot where the last Georgia Indian massacre occurred.  Appropriate ceremonies are being arranged for the occasion, which will be of historical significance.

The Wildes family, one of the pioneer groups of the early settlers of this section, were bottled up in their home, near the edge of the now famous Okefinokee Swamp, only one member of the family, a young boy, escaping the horrible death that was imposed by the Indians.

The Lyman Hall Chapter, D.A.R., through their untiring efforts, have made this memorial possible, and impressive exercises will mark the dedication, which not only will designate the place of the burial of the dead, but will mark permanently the site of the Wildes home, once abiding place of the living.

Program

The following program has been arranged:
 

History of the Family

The history of the Wildes family and the story of the massacre which occurred several miles south of the present site of Waycross, forms a glowing chapter in South Georgia.

Maxwell (sic) Wildes, a frontier settler of Ware County, was a Scotchman by birth.  According to tradition, he ran away from home in Scotland at twelve years of age, coming to the United States as a stowaway on a primitive trans-Atlantic vessel.

After landing in America he drifted to the piney woods of southern Georgia, joining a Scotch settlement in Montgomery County, a part of which was set aside to Tattnall county in 1801.  An inherent love for adventure dominated "Maxey" Wildes' nature.  He liked hunting and fishing, and developed during his youthful days a robust body, and an unconquerable mind.  His love of adventure became a strong characteristic.  He knew how to blaze his way through the forest, and established a home where danger and death from the Indians was a constant menace.

The forest afforded food for himself and his marsh pony and he little heeded the stress of the times, as long as he had power and lead for his "flint and steel" rifle.

He learned of cheap lands in Appling county and together, with WILLIS CASON, WILLIAM GUY, ELIJAH MATTOX, and others from Tattnall County located on the north side of the Altamaha River, which was called "the Whitle Settlement”.

He moved later on the "red side" of the Altamaha (the Indian side) where he joined a small settlement of Tattnall County contemporaries.  This land called the "The Red Side" of the Altamaha afterwards was organized into the county of Ware.

The Wildes home was constructed of logs mortised and pinned together with wooden pegs.  The floors were of puncheons, made of flat slabs split from whole tree trunks, and the doors (there were no windows) were swung on great wooden hinges, while the chimney was made of "stick and dirt" with the fireplace extending half way across the end of the log cabin.

Maxwell Wildes was married to Miss Elizabeth Wilkerson during the year of 1809.  She was truly a brave pioneer woman who sealed her faith with her blood, and fell a victim to her energy and devotion.

It was during the administration of Governor George Gilmer that the Indians became aggressive in this section.  The Seminoles were still waging warfare against the United States, making frequent irruptions from the fastness of the Okefinokee Swamp on the pioneer settlers of the vicinity.

Governor Gilmer ordered a portion of the state militias to the scene, to render protection to the citizens whose lives were in danger.

Story of the Massacre

General Hilliard in a letter to Governor Gilmer told in a graphic way told of the murder of Mrs and Mrs. Wildes and their six children, and a Wilkerson child who was a visitor in the Wildes home at the time of the brutal massacre.

Reuben, the eldest son, made a getaway and notified the soldiers camped a short distance away.  Captains Dade and the United States Dragoons were stationed within three miles of the Wildes home.  With about forty soldiers Captain Dade went in pursuit of the Indians, but the red skins had retreated several miles into the Okefinokee swamp and sere safe.  General Hilliard's letter was dates, "Waresboro, Ware County, July 25, 1838.  It pointed out that the Wildes family massacre occurred July 22, 1838.

The soldiers in the face of the emergency for the burial of the dead, took a wagon boy and excavated a space large enough to hold it, the multiple gave being dug near the home that had been the Wildes abiding place in life.

In the year 1916, the late Dr. A.P. English of Waycross was a visitor to the Everglades in Florida where he met Billy Bowlegs and Indian Chieftain who had previously lived on Billy's Island (which bore his name) in the Okefinokee.  When the old Indian learned that Doctor English was from Waycross he told him that he (Billy Bowlegs) was the chief over the tribe that massacred the Wildes family on Sunday morning July 22, 1838.