David Brydie Mitchell was born near Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, and was the son of John Mitchell. His uncle, David Brydie, a successful physician, served both as soldier and surgeon in the American Revolution, took part under General Screven in the skirmish near Midway, and, captured by the British after the fall of Savannah, died on a prison ship, leaving his estate to his nephew who in 1783 arrived in Savannah to claim it.
The youth of seventeen was charmed with the new life. Mitchell made friends rapidly, studied law in the office of William Stephens.
In 1795, Mitchell was elected attorney-general. He was sent to the state House of Representatives, opposed the fraudulent Yazoo scheme, and gained a popular favor that made him major-general of the Georgia militia about 1804 and governor of the state from 1809 to 1813 and again from 1815 to 1817. His messages and activities as governor show him as a liberal supporter of internal improvements, education, road building, and, especially frontier defense. He signed the first Georgia law against dueling though he himself had, at least once, been involved in such an affair. He foresaw the dangers of Indian attack and induced the General Assembly to devote $30, 000 to a series of frontier forts and provision of arms. The necessity for such preparations was even more apparent when the Fort Mims massacre of 1813 vindicated his judgment as to the danger. He resigned as governor on November 4, 1817, to accept an appointment by President Monroe as Indian agent to the Creek nation. The Indian situation in Georgia at the time was most difficult. The white people were growing restless over the prospect of the erection of a permanent Indian territory covering a large part of the most desirable section of the state. Pressure brought to bear on the Indians produced a strained situation, which the War of 1812 enhanced. The president selected Mitchell for the delicate position of Indian agent on account of his skilful conduct of Indian relations while he was governor. He brought to conclusion on January 22, 1818, a treaty in which the Creeks ceded to Georgia about 1, 500, 000 acres of land in two sections where the demand was greatest. His agency was terminated in 1821 by a charge brought by Gov. John Clark that he was concerned in the smuggling into the vicinity of a number of African slaves. He denied those charges and others concerning his administration of Indian affairs, but the president decided that the evidence was clearly against him. He retired to Milledgeville, where he died. The state legislature provided for the erection of a marble tomb to his memory.
Mitchell was governor of Georgia from 1809 to 1813, and 1815 to 1817. Killing an opponent in an 1802 duel over politics, one of his first acts as governor was a measure to outlaw dueling. Fort Mitchell in eastern Alabama was built by the Georgia militia in 1813 on land he donated, and it was named for him. In 1987, Fort Mitchell National Cemetery was named for him and opened in Phenix City, Alabama.
Mitchell married Jane Mills in 1792, and according to family records the couple had six children: William, John, Sara, Edward, Mary, and David II.
1774 - 11 April 1847
1 October 1801 - 9 December 1823
21 March 1800 - 25 May 1833
1792 - 2 July 1841
7 July 1797 - 4 April 1824
8 January 1809 - 1843
1803 - 31 August 1855
