Richard D. Crim, PLS
Associate Professor
Southern Polytechnic State University
1100 South Marietta Parkway
Marietta Georgia 30060
rcrim@spsu.edu

ABSTRACT

The surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, is known for many surveys in the early history of the United States. One survey of note was the survey to determine the boundary between Georgia and the Carolinas in 1811. This paper deals with that survey, including a short biographical sketch of Ellicot, a review and summation of the historical record of this survey and the establishment of the boundary. Included is a review of the letters obtained from the Georgia State Archives containing the correspondence between Ellicot and Georgia Governor Mitchell concerning the survey.

INTRODUCTION

He stirred in his sleep and turned over. The cold winter air rushed under the blankets covering him inside his worn out canvas tent. Andrew shivered in the predawn damp and chill. He tried to clear his head to think of what must be done today. Millions of chores to do and loose ends to tie up before they could break camp and head for the piedmonts and out do these cold mountains. What had detained him so long in these North Georgia Mountains? What have brought him to the southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains in the first place? Why was he here in late December lying on a hard ground in a tent covered by the morning frost?

Andrew shook his head and watched his breath condense in the predawn pale moonlight. Yesterday his men had made the final measurements and set a marker for the results of the survey. Chiseled into the stone in the embankment of the Chatooga River were the initials "G" for Georgia and "N" for North Carolina. Chiseled below that was the year "1811". Andrew and his men had finished their survey yesterday. Extending the 35tyh parallel west to intersect the Chatooga River.

As he stirred his mind to clear the fog of a restless night's sleep, he drifted back over the last few months in his mind. Remembering what had brought him here, high on top of a bald mountaintop with the cold, north wind blowing through camp

THE COMMISSION

Andrew Ellicott had been commissioned by the Governor of Georgia to perform a survey to locate the north boundary of the state and to resolve the differences between North Carolina and Georgia over the location of the boundary. Ellicott had received this commission from the Georgia Legislature in a letter from Georgia Governor D.B. Mitchell in February 1811.

"Sir,
In the course of last fall I received a letter from my friend, Doctor Henry Jackson, then at Lancaster Pennsylvania, in which he stated that he had seen you and was by you authorized to say that, if Georgia was still desirous of ascertaining the 35th degrees of North Latitude which ought to be the Boundary between her and North Carolina, that you was willing to come and perform that Service for a Just Compensation.

I have now the pleasure to inform you that the matter having been communicated to our legislature at their last meeting, they have passed a resolution a copy of which is enclosed, Authorizing me to request your Services for the object expressed in the resolution and to Compensate you for the same, I have therefore to request, your attendance at such time and place as may be by you deemed most convenient for executing the work proposed….."(Mitchell 1811)

It came at a very propitious time for him. His last position as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Land office had ended in 1808 with the election of a political opponent of his benefactor. He had stayed on a Lancaster, Pennsylvania hoping for a turn in his fortunes and trying to best provide for is family. Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) was now 57 years old at a time when the life expectancy was in the early fifties for a man who had survived the deadly childhood diseases. The land office position had been his best opportunity for a peaceful playing out of his later years. It offered an opportunity to provide for his family and to pursue his interests and explorations in science and mathematical endeavors. But now circumstance had intervened again. He was open to a new assignment when the letter had come in the post from the Georgia Governor Mitchell.

REVIEW OF THE EARLY YEARS

Andrew Ellicott was born in 1754, in Pennsylvania to a family of modest means and hard work. Ellicott's father was a miller and a tinkerer, making clocks. Andrew learned early the value of precision workmanship. Ellicott studied mathematics under the tutoring of Robert Paterson of Philadelphia, who would remain his mentor and friend all his life. Ellicott in his teenage years exhibited " the genius for mathematics, the good judgment, the strong family affection, and not the least the fine physique which stood him in such good stead in the vicissitudes of climate to which he was more or less exposed throughout his life." (Matthew, 1903, pg. 8). During the war for Independence, Ellicott served with as an officer in the Elk Ridge Battalion of the Maryland Militia rising to the rank of Major.

Ellicott worked as an assistant surveyor in 1784 and 1785 to extend the Mason Dixon line. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon had abandoned the original survey of this line in the summer of 1767 due to hostile Indians. The American War for Independence had stalled it completion until this time.

Later, in 1786, Ellicott would receive the commission to survey in the west boundary of the state of Pennsylvania, running it north to intersect the Ohio River. This point would later be the commencement point for the surveys laying out the Seven Ranges that began the disbursement of the public domain in the Northwest Territories in 1789.

In 1789, Ellicott was involved in the establishment of the southwest boundary of the state of New York.
Ellicott's skills were called upon again by his country when in 1791 through 1793, he surveyed the boundaries and streets of Washington DC under the direction of Pierre L'Enfant, the French engineer and city planner. Ellicott worked with the surveyor Benjamin Bannaker. In 1792, L'Enfant quit the project in a dispute over pay and returned to France with his printed plans. Ellicott recreated the plans from his memory and his notes and calculations. Using these plans, he worked to complete the layout the remainder of the city.

The crowning achievement of Ellicott's career was the survey between the US and Spain in 1796. Ellicott was commissioned to represent the United States in the surveying of the boundary between Spanish held territories of West Florida and East Florida and the US. This survey lasted almost four years and is well documented in the journal of the trip that he published, The Journal of Andrew Ellicott (1803)

He was offered the job of Surveyor General of the United States by President Thomas Jefferson on July 4th, 1801. Ellicott was very interested but ultimately refuses the commission because it would require too much travel away from his family. He had already been gone too much. He was now almost fifty years old and was feeling less attracted to so much fieldwork.

Instead, in 1801, Ellicott took the position of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Land office. This job will provide well for his family's needs, provide interesting and not very demanding work, keep him at home most days and offer the use of the state owned telescope for his scientific observations. The location of the land office is also good for his purposes. Lancaster, Pennsylvania is near enough to Philadelphia where Ellicott is involved in serious correspondence with many member of the American Philosophical Society. During his residence at Lancaster, President Jefferson, highly esteeming Ellicott's work, sends Meriwether Lewis to visit for tutoring in wilderness surveying and navigation prior to his expedition west (Matthew, 1903, pg. 212). These good and productive years come to and end when a new governor takes the position as Secretary of the Pennsylvanian land office from him in 1809 as political spoils.

THE GEORGIA SURVEY

Ellicott left on July 6th 1811 after spending the Independence Day holidays in Philadelphia with friends. He took his son, Joseph accompanies him on this project and they left Philadelphia on the packet for the south. They traveled to Charleston, SC and then to Savannah arriving on August 2nd 1811(Ellicott, 1811). There he hired a party with the moneys advanced to him for this project. Not enough was on hand so they had to use the horses for the equipment and they walked the primitive road through the savanna, up into the piedmont and on into the Appalachian Mountains. Reaching the base camp on October 25, 1811. Many delays had brought them here much later than expected. The base camp had been established in 1808 by a group of surveyors trying to resolve the boundary problem. This party had been unsuccessful primarily because the differences of opinions between surveyors of the two states over methods and early results. They had discovered that the boundary was many miles further south than the Georgians had expected and the Georgia surveyors had left before the survey was completed. This then was the commencement point of the Andrew Ellicott reconnaissance.

From initial observations, Ellicott confirmed that the base camp was some distance from the 35th parallel. He directed a line to be cleared and a traverse run to get closer to the location need for more astronomical observations. This traverse's "…extent was about 7 miles South and 12 miles West…" (Ellicot, 1812) and ran from Cane Creek Mountain south and west toward the Chatooga River. Line had to be cleared and a road cut through the timber to facilitate carrying all the equipment from survey point to point. The second position was reached on December 4th. Ellicott attempted a night of observations. Heavy clouds and smoke hung over the mountains often times for days and nights postponing astronomical observations. It was not until December 11th that a way was cleared to establish the 3rd position. Bitter cold now added to the miseries on the work. Making of roads and bridges was slow progress through this steep terrain. Finally, on December 25, 1811 his prime vertical was extended west to the Chatooga River and the mark was set in a rock on the west bank of the river.

Andrew Ellicott stirred in his bedding. Now on this morning of the 26th of December, he would break camp and head out of these frigid mountains.

THE FINAL REPORT OF THE GEORGIA SURVEY

The survey party left heading south toward the Georgia capital city of Millegeville. Ellicott rested and worked on his notes there preparing his final report of the survey. The news that Ellicott survey documented the mistaken placement of the Georgia border was not well received by the Governor and those who would pay his fees. While some of his expenses had been covered, his fee for the survey was deemed by the Georgia legislature to have been covered by the advances on expenses that he has received. Ellicott continued to petition for reconsideration to little effect. Ellicott left Millegeville in May 1812 traveling to Savannah and thence by boat to New York City. He finally arrived in Pennsylvania in July of 1812. The survey had lasted almost one year, and Ellicott was never fully paid for his work. In a letter to a friend he described this survey as "a difficult and ill rewarded survey" (Matthew, 1903, pg. 229). Because of the more than usual amount of hardship and exposure he had encountered, Ellicott took on no more work for a year. He rested and spent time with his family. During this time he also worked on his notes for the Georgia survey, corresponded regularly with the Georgia governor and other government officials imploring reconsideration of his petition for compensation.

" I have delayed the publication of the journal of our proceeding, with all the astronomical observations, and other scientific operations made use of in determining the boundary between the states of Georgia and N. Carolina…that I may upon the settlement of the account, be enabled to speak as favorable of the government of Georgia… as…. the inhabitants generally." (Ellicot, 1813)

Governor Mitchell replied

"Permit me to observe that if the publication of your Journal and the truths it is to contain depend upon the amount of your account, the Government of Georgia disclaims all interest or Concern in it and is perfectly indifferent as to its fate"( Mitchell, 1813)

Ellicott's notes and final report for this survey have not survived to this day. It is not known whether he ever submitted a final report, (a search of the Georgia Archives was made to no avail) or whether he completed the work for his own satisfaction. No copies of his notes are reported extent in any source cited in this research.

In July 1813, while still corresponding with the Governor of Georgia, Ellicott was offered a position teaching mathematics at the West Point Military Academy. This position he accepted. In the years to follow, he undertook few surveys. He remained at West Point until his death of stroke in 1820.

OBSERVATIONS FOR TODAYS SURVEYORS

Ellicott's wonderfully inspiring career as a surveyor, scientist, man of letters, military officer and teacher have many lessons for today's surveyor.

A positive lesson is that the character you bring to the profession is most important asset. Ellicott was gifted in many ways previously noted (mathematical skill, good judgment, good physique and a strong family) but all of these would be of no profit if when put upon his own resources in the field or in his office he was lazy or inclined to cheating. Ellicott was proud of the fact that he " never used a farthing of public money, never lost a single observation by absence or inattention, and never when out on public business was caught in bed by the sun" (Matthews, 1903, pg. 205)

Another lesson from an observation in Ellicott's life is that what draws many of us to surveying is the thrill of doing math in rugged conditions. But this attraction of fieldwork wanes with age. Terrible field conditions are magnified when you get older. Often times our interests in the mathematics are more fully realized in the office setting and in the doing of the post job computations and analytical work. Yet we all yearn for the excitement of the field but I think we romanticize the past and we forget how grueling the fieldwork becomes.

And lastly all of us have experienced not getting paid for a survey that yields unwanted results. To observe that this also was the nemesis for surveyors two hundred years ago is not comforting. But it should inspire us to attempt all precautions to avoid this. Better communication with the client is most helpful as well as clearly understood job parameters and a written contract. Reading of the correspondence over a two year period between Ellicott and Governor Mitchell reveals an all to familiar pattern for projects: an initial blush of excitement and thrall at the outset of the project, then this becomes a grinding out of the details as the work progresses, finally comes the acrimony represented by letters back and forth making excuses and accusations, leading to stalemate and unsatisfactory closure of a bad project. Good surveyors today have developed business procedures and practices that largely avoid these types of problems, but we all get "snake bit " sometimes.

Andrew Ellicott literally left his mark on America. Looking at a map of the states you will be observing lines computed and marked by this great surveyor. His life holds inspiration for surveyors, mapmakers, and all people today.
REFERENCES:

Ellicott, Andrew. Letter to Gov. D.B. Mitchell dated August 12, 1811, Georgia State Archives, box labeled "Georgia
Boundaries, NC-Ga., 8010-106, Ellicott's Letters"

Ellicott, Andrew. Letter to Gov. D.B. Mitchell, dated March 27, 1812, Georgia State Archives, box labeled "Georgia Boundaries, NC-Ga., 8010-106, Ellicott's Letters"

Ellicott, Andrew, Letter to Gov. D. B. Mitchell, dated August 11, 1813, Georgia State Archives, box labeled "Georgia Boundaries, NC-Ga., 8010-106, Ellicott's Letters"

Matthew, Catharine Van Cortlandt. (1903). Andrew Ellicott, His Life and Letters, ,The Grafton Press

Mitchell, D.B., Letter to Andrew Ellicot, dated February 1811 , Georgia State Archives, Microfilm Library, Drawer 62, Reel 63

Mitchell, D.B., Letter to Andrew Ellicott, dated September 1, 1813, Georgia State Archives, Microfilm Library, Drawer 62, Reel 63