much impressed with his character and labors that he pronounced him one of the most remarkable men he had met in America. “Under the faithful proconsular sway of Col. Hawkins,” says Mr. Chappell,[267] “the Creek Indians enjoyed for sixteen years, unbroken peace among themselves and with their neighbors, and also whatsoever other blessings were possible to the savage state, which it was his study gradually to ameliorate. To this end he spared no pains. Much was done to initiate, instruct, and encourage them in the lower and most indispensable parts of civilization. Pasturage was brought into use, agriculture also, to some extent; both together supplanting considerably among them their previous entire reliance for food on hunting, fishing, and wild fruits. To the better and more secure modes of obtaining a livelihood which civilization offers, he sought to win them by example as well as by precept. He brought his slaves from North Carolina, and, under the right conceded to his office, he opened and cultivated a large plantation at the Agency on Flint river, making immense crops of corn and other provisions. He also reared great herds of cattle and swine, and having thus always abundance of meat and bread, he was enabled to practice habitually towards the Indians a profuse, though coarse hospitality and benevolence which gained their hearts and bound them to him by ties as loyal and touching as those of old feudal allegiance and devotion.” Here Colonel Hawkins died in 1816, and was buried on the wooded bluff overlooking the Flint river, a few hundred yards below the point of the present crossing. No stone marks his grave. Among the scattered and almost obliterated mounds in this lonely and forsaken cemetery is one more prominent than the rest. It may designate the precise place of his sepulture. For several years after the death of this prominent man, who gave impulse and direction to all about him, neglect and decay supervened. New life was infused into the settlement, however, by Francis Bacon, of Massachusetts, who, having married Jeffersonia,—the youngest daughter of Col. Hawkins,—established himself upon the site of the _Old Agency_, about 1825, and founded the town of Francisville. Traffic with the surrounding country was freely invited. Being a man of means, of intelligence, and of enterprise, matters prospered. Other settlers, attracted by the prospect for gain, purchased lots of about an acre in extent and located themselves on both sides of the public road. Several dry goods and grocery stores, a wagon manufactory, a blacksmith shop, a drug store, a church, a public school, a tavern, and a post-office were in time built. From 1830 to 1850 the town had an average population of about one hundred whites. Much business was here transacted.