admission to the
bar, Austin Dabney stood leaning against the railing that inclosed the
court, listening to the proceedings with great anxiety. When the young
man was sworn in, and was shaking hands with the members of the bar,
Austin, unable to control himself, burst into a flood of tears, happy
that he had been able to make a gentleman of the son of the man who had
nursed him so long and patiently while his wound was healing.

When the public lands in Georgia were distributed among the people by
lottery, the Legislature gave to Austin Dabney a lot of land in Walton
County. The next year the voters of Madison County were in a condition
bordering on distraction, being divided into Dabney and anti-Dabney
parties. Austin had not been permitted to have a chance in the lottery
with other soldiers of the Revolution. Consequently Stephen Upson, one
of Georgia's most prominent men at that time, employed his influence
with such effect that a law was passed giving Dabney a valuable lot.
One of the members of the Legislature from Madison County voted for
this law. At the next election the constituents of this member divided
themselves into two parties, one faction indorsing the vote, and the
other denouncing it. Those who denounced the vote did it on the ground
that it was an indignity to white men for a mulatto to be put on an
equality with them in the distribution of the public land, though, as
Governor Gilmer bluntly puts it, not one of them had served his country
so long or so well. Governor Gilmer, from whose writings all facts about
Austin Dabney are taken, tells a very interesting anecdote about him. In
order to collect the pension which the United States Government allowed
on account of his broken thigh, Austin went once a year to Savannah.
Once when he was on his way to draw what was due him, he fell in with
Colonel Wiley Pope, his neighbor, who was also journeying to Savannah.
They were very intimate and social on the road, and until they found
themselves in the streets of Savannah. When they reached the fashionable
part of the city, Colonel Pope observed to his companion that he was
a sensible man, and knew the prejudices that prevented them from
associating together in the city. Austin Dabney replied that he
understood it very well, and with that he checked his horse and fell in
the rear of Colonel Pope after the fashion of a servant following
his master. Their way led them in front of the house of General James
Jack