{{Short description|American politician (1766–1837)}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = David Brydie Mitchell | image = Davidbrydiemitchell.jpg | caption = | order = | office = 27th Governor of Georgia | term_start = November 10, 1809 | term_end = November 5, 1813 | lieutenant = | 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<br>James Jackson<br>David Emanuel<br>Josiah Tattnall<br>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 date|1766|10|22}} | birth_place = Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1837|4|22|1766|10|22}} | death_place = Milledgeville, Georgia, U.S. | spouse = | profession = Lawyer | signature = | party = | footnotes = }} '''David Brydie Mitchell''' (October 22, 1766&nbsp;– 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 uncle.

He moved to Georgia in 1782 after the American Revolutionary War to Savannah, Georgia, to claim it.<ref name="Jackson">[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</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rohrer|first1=Katherine E.|title=David B. Mitchell (1766-1837)|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/david-b-mitchell-1766-1837|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|access-date=May 18, 2016}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fair |first1=John D. |title=Governor David B. Mitchell and the "Black Birds" Slave Smuggling Scandal |journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly |date=2015 |volume=99 |issue=4 |url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=114682494&site=eds-live |access-date=May 18, 2016}}</ref> The incident resulted in a major inquiry and his dismissal by President James Monroe in 1821.<ref name="Jackson"/> 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== 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2026}}

==References== <references />

== External links ==

*[http://www.sos.state.ga.us/onlinetour/2ndfloor/portarits/david_byrdie_mitchell.html "David Brydie Mitchell"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060627073854/http://www.sos.state.ga.us/onlinetour/2ndfloor/portarits/david_byrdie_mitchell.html |date=June 27, 2006 }} Portrait and Bio, Georgia Secretary of State site *[http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/tdgh-apr/apr22.htm Ed Jackson and Charly Pou, "David Brydie Mitchell," ''This Day in Georgia History: April 22''], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308064107/http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/tdgh-apr/apr22.htm |date=March 8, 2012 }} Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia *[http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/names/names1.pdf Behind the Names: Part 1], U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213064511/http://www1.va.gov/OPA/feature/names/names1.pdf |date=February 13, 2006 }} *[http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/ftmitchell.htm#hi "Historical Information"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614040936/http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/ftmitchell.htm#hi |date=June 14, 2006 }} Fort Mitchell National Cemetery *[https://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/Mitchell.xml David Byrdie Mitchell Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022102955/http://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/Mitchell.xml |date=October 22, 2015 }} at [https://www.newberry.org Newberry Library]

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |before=Thomas Gibbons |years=1801–1802 |after=Charles Harris |title=Mayor of Savannah }} {{succession box |before=Jared Irwin |title=Governor of Georgia |years=1809&ndash;1813 |after=Peter Early }} {{succession box |before=Peter Early |title=Governor of Georgia |years=1815&ndash;1817 |after=William Rabun }} {{s-end}}

{{Governors of Georgia}}{{Mayors of Savannah, Georgia}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, David Brydie}} Category:1766 births Category:1837 deaths Category:Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Category:Governors of Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Georgia (U.S. state) attorneys general Category:Mayors of Savannah, Georgia Category:People from Perth and Kinross Category:United States Indian agents Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Democratic-Republicans Category:Burials at Memory Hill Cemetery Category:Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States Category:Post-1808 importation of slaves to the United States Category:Slave owners from Georgia (U.S. state)