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David Brydie Mitchell

American politician (1766–1837)

Summary

American politician (1766–1837)

Field	Value
name	David Brydie Mitchell
image	Davidbrydiemitchell.jpg
office	27th Governor of Georgia
term_start	November 10, 1809
term_end	November 5, 1813
predecessor	Jared Irwin
successor	Peter Early
term_start2	November 20, 1815
term_end2	March 4, 1817
predecessor2	Peter Early
successor2	William Rabun
office3	Attorney General of Georgia
term_start3	1796
term_end3	1806
governor3	Jared Irwin
James Jackson
David Emanuel
Josiah Tattnall
John Milledge
preceded3	George Walker
succeeded3	Robert Walker
office4	Member of the Georgia Senate
office5	Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
birth_date
birth_place	Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland
death_date
death_place	Milledgeville, Georgia, U.S.
profession	Lawyer

James Jackson David Emanuel Josiah Tattnall John Milledge David Brydie Mitchell (October 22, 1766 – April 22, 1837) was a Scottish born American politician in Georgia who was elected in 1809 as governor of the state, serving two terms. He was elected again in 1815 for one term.

Mitchell moved to Georgia at the age of 24. He was elected as mayor of Savannah and later appointed as state attorney general. He also served three terms in the Georgia General Assembly, two in the House of Representatives, and one in the Senate.

Mitchell resigned from the governorship in 1817 to accept an appointment by President James Monroe as United States Indian Agent to the Creek Nation in their lands in present-day Georgia and Alabama. He followed the more than two-decade tenure of Benjamin Hawkins. In 1820 he was prosecuted for being involved in smuggling of American slaves from Spanish Florida. He was replaced in 1821 by President Monroe, who appointed John Crowell.

Early life

Mitchell was born in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, on October 22, 1766. As a young man, he inherited land in Georgia from his late uncle.

He moved to Georgia in 1782 after the American Revolutionary War to Savannah, Georgia, to claim it. Enthusiastic about the new country, Mitchell read the law with established attorneys and passed the bar. He was elected as mayor of Savannah (1801–1802) and made connections statewide.

Mitchell married Jane Mills in 1792, and according to family records the couple had six children: William, John, Sara, Edward, Mary, and David II.

Political career

Mitchell was appointed as Attorney General of Georgia (1796–1806). He moved to Mount Nebo Plantation, near the state capital of Milledgeville. He served three terms in the Georgia General Assembly, two as a representative and one in the Senate.

Mitchell was elected to two consecutive two-year terms as the 27th Governor of Georgia (1809–1813) and a third non-consecutive term from 1815 to 1817.

He resigned from his third term as governor to accept appointment by President James Monroe as the U.S. agent to the Creek Indians. One of Mitchell's responsibilities was the negotiation of the Treaty of the Creek Agency (1818), by which the Creek ceded land to the United States. He was accused in the American Importation Case of 1820 (see The Antelope) of smuggling slaves into Creek and US territory, in violation of the 1808 law against the American slave trade. While his direct responsibility remains controversial, Mitchell allowed those engaged in this illegal activity to seek refuge for their captives at the agency he supervised along the Flint River.{{cite journal |access-date=May 18, 2016}} The incident resulted in a major inquiry and his dismissal by President James Monroe in 1821. Beginning in 1828, Mitchell was appointed to serve as the inferior court judge of Baldwin County, Georgia. He was elected as Baldwin County's State Senator in 1836.

Legacy and honors

Fort Mitchell, Alabama, was built by the Georgia militia in 1813 on land he donated, and it was named for him. Fort Mitchell Historic Site is a National Historic Landmark. Adjacent is Fort Mitchell National Cemetery, opened in 1987.
Fort Mitchell, Florida, also named for him, was from January to May 1814 the capital of the Republic of East Florida.

Death and legacy

Mitchell died at Mount Nebo Plantation, his home in Milledgeville, on April 22, 1837. He is buried at Memory Hill Cemetery of the same city.

References

[http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/tdgh-apr/apr22.htm "David Brydie Mitchell," ''This Day in Georgia History: April 22''], Ed Jackson and Charly Pou, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia, accessed February 14, 2012
"David B. Mitchell (1766-1837)".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1766-births 1837-deaths politicians-from-richmond,-virginia governors-of-georgia-(u.s.-state) georgia-(u.s.-state)-attorneys-general mayors-of-savannah,-georgia people-from-perth-and-kinross united-states-indian-agents georgia-(u.s.-state)-democratic-republicans burials-at-memory-hill-cemetery democratic-republican-party-state-governors-of-the-united-states post-1808-importation-of-slaves-to-the-united-states slave-owners-from-georgia-(u.s.-state)

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