Background
Archibald Stobo Bulloch was born around 1729/30 at Charleston, South Carolina, the son of a Scotch clergyman and planter, James Bulloch, and his wife, Jean Stobo.
Archibald Stobo Bulloch was born around 1729/30 at Charleston, South Carolina, the son of a Scotch clergyman and planter, James Bulloch, and his wife, Jean Stobo.
After the family had moved to a plantation on the Savannah River, Georgia (c. 1750), Archibald studied law and was admitted to practise.
Archibald Bulloch remained both lawyer and planter until his removal to Savannah in the early seventies. Elected to the Commons House in 1768, he served continuously until 1773, when he declined the seat to which he had been chosen.
He was a member of the committee that corresponded with Benjamin Franklin, the colonial agent in London, and in April 1772 he was chosen speaker--an empty honor when Acting-Governor James Habersham dissolved the Assembly immediately after his election. Consequently Bulloch allied himself more firmly with the irreconcilable colonial party and his name was one of four signed to the first call, June 14, 1774, for an assemblage of patriots in Savannah.
From July 4, 1775, until his death Bulloch was president of the Provincial Congress, was a delegate in occasional attendance in the Continental Congress, and in April 1776, on the flight of Sir James Wright the royal governor, he was made "President and Commander-in-chief of Georgia. "
In official life Bulloch disclosed something of the energy and vivid conception of patriotic duty that characterized his descendant Theodore Roosevelt.
In his efforts to defeat the enemy he was not to be limited to his numerous civil offices: he led the party of militia and Creek Indians that destroyed the British and Tory base on Tybee Island, March 25, 1776; and, in case the sins of Georgians should have been responsible for the late military reverses suffered by the colonies, he issued a proclamation against swearing in the streets of Savannah, "especially on the Sabbath, " and set aside a day of prayer "to implore his divine goodness to restore our Adversaries to reason and Justice, and thereby to relieve the United States from the distresses of an Unnatural War".
An ordinance of the council of safety, February 22, 1777, recognized an established fact when it conferred upon him "the whole executive power of government. " The gesture came too late, for he died before the end of the month. He is buried in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery.
Bulloch was elected speaker of the Georgia Royal Assembly in 1772 and was president of the Georgia Provincial Congress in 1775. In 1775, he was elected as a Delegate to the First Continental Congress and in 1776, was elected the first Provincial President Chief of Georgia, serving until his death. His personal popularity and vigorous espousal of the cause of liberty made him influential in molding public opinion in the early years of the war. It is known that Bulloch took part in at least two important battles and fought under the command of Colonel Lachlan McIntosh in the Battle of the Rice Boats and the Battle of Tybee Island. When he signed the state constitution on February 20, 1777, and his position was transferred from president to governor of Georgia, he became Georgia's first chief executive under a proper constitutional government.
Quotations: He wrote to John Adams, "Such a series of Victory having attended the American Arms, emboldens us further to trust in Providence, that has so remarkably interposed in our behalf, and we cannot but entertain the most sanguine Hopes, of still preserving our most invaluable Liberties. "
Quotes from others about the person
Adams was disappointed that Bulloch would not be able to sign the Declaration, saying, "I was greatly disappointed, Sir, in the information you gave me, that you should be prevented from revisiting Philadelphia. "
On October 9, 1764, he was married to Mary de Veaux, daughter of Judge James de Veaux of Shaftesbury, Georgia. He was also the father of US Congressman William Bellinger Bulloch and great-great-grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt.
