Famous Georgians

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FAMOUS GEORGIANS

Georgia Department of Archives and History Publication Number 76-BC-1

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-3241

Coleman, Kenneth and Erney, Jackie. Famous Georgians. Atlanta: Georgia Department of Archives and History, 1976.

Famous Georgians is a Bicentennial publication of the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the Georgia Commission for the National Bicentennial Celebration, divisions of the Office of Secretary of State, Ben W. Fortson, Jr.

Additional copies of Famous Georgians may be ordered by sending a $2.50 check or money order post paid to:

Famous Georgians Georgia Commission for the National Bicentennial Celebration Suite 520, South Wing 1776 Peachtree Street Northwest Atlanta, Georgia 30309

Additional copies available for sale at the Georgia Department of Archives and History, 330 Capitol Ave., SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30334

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Contents

FAMOUS

4 An Introduction to Georgia History 16 James Edward Oglethorpe 18 Sir James Wright 20 Button Gwinnett 22 Lyman Hall 24 George Walton 26 Abraham Baldwin 28 William Few 30 Elijah Clarke 32 William Harris Crawford 34 Sequoyah 36 Augustus Baldwin Longstreet 38 Crawford Williamson Long 40 Sidney Clopton Lanier 42 Alexander Hamilton Stephens

44 Robert Augustus Toombs 46 Joseph Emerson Brown 48 Howell Cobb 50 Benjamin Harvey Hill 52 John Brown Gordon 54 Henry Woodfin Grady 56 Joel Chandler Harris 58 Thomas Edward Watson 60 Rebecca Latimer Felton 62 Hoke Smith 64 Martha Berry 66 Margaret Mitchell 68 Walter Franklin George 70 Martin Luther King, J r. 72 Richard Brevard Russell, Jr.

APPENDIX
74 Editors and Authors 76 Bibliography 80 Credits and Acknowledgements

GEORGIANS

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An Introduction to Georgia History
by James C. Bonner
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COLONIAL GEORGIA Founded against a backdrop of imperialistic
rivalry among England, France and Spain, in a time tempered by humanitarianism, the colony of Georgia reflected from the start diverse political goals. The bold experiment, as conceived by British political leaders in the late 1720s, was to fulfill England's needs for both military security and social reform.
In 1729, James Edward Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament, chaired a committee appointed to investigate conditions in the English penal system. Appalled by the plight of imprisoned debtors ofgood character, Oglethorpe and a group of humanitarian reformers sought alternatives to jail for the financially distressed. (See: Oglethorpe, pp. 16-17)
Oglethorpe suggested, and others agreed, that the more respectable inmates in debtors' prisons would be excellent settlers of a new colony in America. There they could be saved from decay and, at the same time, become an economic asset to the nation.
The widely promoted idea for the new colony swept England, and other charitable impulses soon

entered discussions on the project. English Protestants suggested that the new colony should be a refuge for Protestants in other countries suffering religious persecution. Philanthropists hoped Georgia would offer the poor a new start with free land, Christian fellowship, and protection from such moral evils as liquor and slavery.
The purely charitable objectives for Georgia were soon modified to include more practical ones. Militarists argued that a buffer colony south of the Savannah River would relieve Carolinians of the dread of Spanish invasion from Florida, and, at the same time, substitute debtor blood for that of established Carolinians in the event of an attack from the south. British merchants also injected the profit motive into the scheme, arguing that Georgia's rich coastal areas could produce many products such as silk, olives, wines and tropical fruits. These products had to be procured from foreigners in distant lands, a practice which drained England's monetary resources contrary to the mercantilist theory.

The conflicting purposes of genuine charity, Although Georgia's founding was closely identified

national defense, and mercantile profit proved to be with Oglethorpe's concern for freeing imprisoned

an unbeatable combination. Georgia received finan- debtors, Georgia never became a haven for the incar-

cial support from both private charity and public cerated. Probably no more than a dozen men were

funds. Parliament contributed more money to the ever sent to the colony directly from English prisons.

Georgia experiment than to any other colony in There were also few blacks in Georgia during the

America.

trustee period because slavery was prohibited in the

The privately-founded colony was managed by a colony until 1750. However, once the prohibition

board of trustees who obtained their authority was removed, the black population grew rapidly.

through a twenty-one-year charter from the king.

Despite the efforts of the trustees to achieve

The group of 125 carefully screened settlers who first their novel objectives, all of their idealistic plans

arrived on February 12, 1733 were governed initially collapsed by 1750. Silk production was both un-

by General Oglethorpe, the first administrative head profitable and unpopular. The people protested the

of the colony. As resident trustee, Oglethorpe was prohibition against rum as well as the law banning

often considered superior to the officials in Savannah. slavery. They also objected to the policy of making

A little more than a year later, the first group of pitifully small grants of land and to the lack of a

Salzburgers arrived and settled at Ebenezer a few representative assembly. Practically all of these de-

miles north of Savannah. The Salzburgers were Aus- mands had been met by the trustees when they sur-

trian Germans of the Lutheran faith who had been rendered their charter in 1752 and Georgia became

persecuted by Catholic authorities. They were de- a royal colony.

vout, industrious and intelligent, and they became the

best farmers in the colony.

Approximately fifty women and children accom- THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION

panied the 130 Scotchmen who reached Georgia in

Under the crown the colony prospered and grew.

1735. Seasoned fighters from the Highlands, they With the elimination of the trustees' old restrictions,

were sent by Oglethorpe to the frontier outpost of Georgia became remarkably similar to the Carolinas

Darien. Others followed, and soon the Scotch spread with a governor, a council, an elected assembly,

to St. Simons Island where Fort Frederica was con- and a court system. In 1758, Georgia was divided 5

structed in 1736. Frederica was the most expensive into eight parishes or administrative areas; four more

fortification ever built by the British in North Ameri- were added in 1765.

ca for defense against the Spanish. Small groups of Sir James Wright, the last of Georgia's three royal

Portugese Jews and Italians also came to Georgia, governors, came to office in 1760. He was an honest,

settling near Savannah and in outlying areas.

able and efficient administrator and was well liked

Tensions between the colonists and the neigh- by the people. A devoted loyalist, it was his misfor-

boring Creek Indians, although never great, were tune to be in office at the time of the colony's revolt

reduced by 1735 following the building of a fort at against the mother country. (See: Wright, pp. 18-19)

the falls of the Savannah River. The town of Augusta Georgia's population grew rapidly under Wright's

grew up around the fort and it became an important administration to include between 40,000 and

center for the Indian trade.

50,000 people by the outbreak of the Revolution.

Oglethorpe made two trips to England, in 1735 and The Scotch-Irish arrived in increasing numbers after

1738, each time returning with more settlers. In 1738, 1768, and the Negro population had increased dra-

after having been commissioned as commander-in- matically to nearly half of this total.

chief of the British forces in Georgia and South Migration to Georgia was encouraged by the

Carolina, Oglethorpe brought a regiment of troops to cession of Indian lands after the Treaty of Paris

Georgia.

ended the French and Indian War in 1763. The

War broke out between the British and the Spanish availability of fertile land drew new settlers from the

in 1739, but the Georgia-Florida border proved to be older colonies who were well steeped in British

only a minor battleground in the War of Jenkins' Ear. political traditions. Most of these newcomers settled

Oglethorpe made several unsuccessful advances against in Georgia's frontier up-country with the exception

the Spanish in 1740 before finally defeating them at of 350 Puritans who established their home at Mid-

the Battle of Bloody Marsh. When the threat of way in 1752. These liberty-minded Congregational-

Spanish invasion was over and there were no more ists would form the strongest single block of revo-

battles to fight, Oglethorpe returned to England for lutionary opposition to the crown anywhere on the

the last time in 1743.

coast of Georgia.

In the 1760s a few Georgians owned large planta-

tions near the coast, but most citizens were small,

independent farmers with holdings of 100 to 250

acres. The colony's proximity to the British West

Indies provided a ready market for their agricultural

products of rice, indigo, naval stores and lumber.

From the islands came imports of molasses, rum,

sugar and slaves. Georgia was still largely dependent

upon England for manufactured goods and therefore

closely tied to the mother country.

Many Georgians were confused and politically dis-

organized in the 1760s when the more radical north-

ern colonists began to polarize into anti- and pro-

British groups. The British policy changes which

antagonized other American colonies had less ap- Patriots break open the British powder ma,~azine in Savannah.

plication in Georgia where there were many reasons

- political, ideological and economic - for remaining sembly. By 1774, meetings were held in Savannah to

loyal to the crown.

discuss possible courses of action and to establish

Settled just thirty years, Georgia had a limited a committee of correspondence. The most inde-

import/export industry and ample lands for westward pendence-minded parish, St. John's, was led by

settlement. Georgia also had one of the longest and Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, two of Georgia's

most dangerously exposed frontiers of any of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. (See:

thirteen rebel colonies. In the event of war she Gwinnett, pp. 20-21; Hall, pp. 22-23)

would be attacked from Florida which had been in

The first six months of 177 5 were marked by

British hands since 1763, and she would be open riots, occasional violence, and a raid upon the powder

to Indian attacks on her northern and western bor- magazine in Savannah. In June, Governor Wright

ders.

announced to the king that he no longer had control

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Sporadic protests against the Sugar Act in 1764 of the colony. During July, the Whig provincial

and the Stamp Act in 1765 were non-violent and congress met in Savannah and created an interim

short-lived. With the passage of the Townsend Reve- civil government for Georgia. The Georgia congress

nue Acts in 1767, however, more Georgians became voted to end all diplomatic and trade relations

increasingly sympathetic to the anti-British senti- with Britain and to support all the measures of the

ments developing in the northern colonies.

Continental Congress. Representatives from Georgia

Georgia's position as a small, poor colony pro- were selected to attend the Second Continental

duced a unique political division between the older Congress, then in session in Philadelphia. In Febru-

inhabitants and the young. Many established settlers ary, 1776, Governor Wright abandoned his efforts

and recent arrivals from Britain still had close ties to retain royal control over the colony and fled with

of sentiment and kinship with the mother country, other British officials to England.

and they pursued a conservative loyalist course.

The Whigs were in control of the government at

Younger citizens often felt more distinctly American Savannah by 1776, and, thereafter, most Georgians

and aligned themselves with the anti-British militant supported the goal of independence. A great many

Whigs. Such divisions often appeared within indi- Georgians remained loyal to George III, however,

vidual families, resulting in tragic, if not irreversible because the Whigs were frequently disorganized and

splits between father and son. There were also many ineffective. Over 1,000 loyalists left the colony for

citizens - perhaps even a majority - who did not the British strongholds of St. Augustine, Florida and

wish to commit themselves either to the patriot or the West Indies.

to the loyalist cause. Many of them, like John J. Zub-

In April of 1776, Georgia organized an official

ley, opposed Parliament's right to rule the people revolutionary government by adopting a set of

without representation, but they firmly rejected the temporary "rules and regulations." Early in the

idea of total independence.

following year, a more permanent document was

The revolutionary zeal of other colonies gradually drawn up. This state constitution was extremely

stirred some Georgians. From 1769 to 1773, patriotic democratic by the standards of that day as it gave

leaders argued endlessly with Governor Wright over voting power to most of the white, adult male popu-

such matters as taxation and the rights of the as- lation.

THE REVOLUTION IN GEORGIA During the first three years of the war, from 1776
through most of 177 8, Georgia authorities carried out three separate attempts to capture the British stronghold at St. Augustine. All of these expeditions failed due to poor planning, faulty logistics and personal quarrels among the Whig leaders.
In late 1778, the British shifted their own offensive to the south where they hoped to find allies among the local Indians and loyalists. The southern theatre of war was directed by Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell. In Georgia he led 2,000 Hessians and Tories against Savannah where the defender, General Robert Howe, had fewer than 700 troops. Howe failed to use the impassable marshes around Savannah for an effective defense, and Campbell battled on to Augusta, arriving without the loss of a single man. The river town quickly fell to Campbell's forces.
The British were unable to maintain their initial advantage, however, because the rebels quickly recovered and Campbell's anticipated flood of Indian and loyalist support never materialized. The British withdrew from Augusta in February, 1779, when General John Ashe arrived at the fort with 1,200 patriot troops. At the same time, a group of 700 Tories were defeated at Kettle Creek in Wilkes County by Whig militia units under colonels Andrew Pickens, John Dooley and Elijah Clarke.
Despite this major victory, disunity continued to plague the Whig forces and confuse the political situation in Georgia. Instead of following the state constitution, the re-established Whig government named a supreme executive council of nine men which claimed almost dictatorial control over the state. Dissention among the Whigs resulted in the formation of a second Whig government which, under the direction of George Walton, challenged the control of the council. (See: Walton, pp. 24-25)
While the Whigs quarrelled over ideology and jurisdiction, Sir James Wright, the ousted royal governor,

returned to Savannah and restored the crown's authority along the coast. With approximately 50,000 people, Georgia now had three governments, none of which could exercise complete authority. Augusta was then reoccupied by the British. The shaken rebels regrouped, establishing the new Whig capitol at Heard's Fort, a stockade deep in the backcountry at the future site of Washington in Wilkes County.
The crowning patriot disaster of the war in Georgia came in the wake of these bleak events. In the fall of 1779, a gigantic effort was mounted to drive the British from Savannah by a combination of Continental troops under General Benjamin Lincoln and a strong French naval force under Count d'Estaing. After three weeks of seige operations, the effort ended in dismal failure. Encouraged by these Whig defeats, nearly 1,400 Georgia loyalists returned from hiding to announce their allegiance to King George III.
The only remaining stronghold of real Whig power anywhere in the state was Wilkes County, an area which had been settled after 1773 by colonials largely from the backcountry of Virginia and the Carolinas. They held a stronger commitment to independence and the Revolution than Georgians living along the coast, and they simply refused to acknowledge defeat. Savage guerilla fighting continued among the Tories and Whigs in the backcountry where the Whigs maintained the advantage.
Georgia's principal folk heroes of the Revolution emerged from the skirmishes carried on in the area north of Augusta. Elijah Clarke was undoubtedly the most significant of these heroes. Although illiterate, he was endowed with a tenacious courage which made him the kind of leader the times demanded. During the darkest hours of the war, when the military situation seemed utterly hopeless, Clarke worked tirelessly to recapture the frontier from Tory control. In May, 1781, Clarke assisted Continental commander Anthony Wayne in an effort to retake Augusta from the Tories. The seige was successful, and the fort returned to Whig control. (See: Clarke, pp. 30-31)
Coastal Georgia remained in British hands long after the patriot victories in the up-country. Savannah was not reoccupied by patriot forces until six months after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown when the war had virtually ended. The British actually made a quiet and orderly withdrawal from the port under orders from supreme headquarters in New York. Thus, whatever claims Georgians might make in the future for having defeated the British would have to be based on patriot victories in the upcountry.

ANTEBELLUM GEORGIA

By the end of the Revolution nearly a third of

Georgia's population resided north of Augusta. The

important role which these settlers had played in the

war led to a shift in political power from the coast to

to backwoods. One result of this was the transfer of

the capital from the coast to the frontier. From

1786 to 1795, Augusta served as the seat of the new

government, after which time it was moved to Louis-

ville. Later still, in 1803, a new capital was laid out

on the west bank of the Oconee River. Known as

Milledgeville, it remained the capital city from 1807

to 1868.

After the war, the rebels began to strengthen

themselves for effective government. Two Geor-

gians, Abraham Baldwin and William Few, signed

the U.S. Constitution in 1788 on behalf of Georgia.

Georgia's capitol at Milledgeville.

During the seven years of the war, growth and de-

velopment had ceased. After the fighting, the govern- Republicans and they tagged the pro-Yazoo poli-

ment of Georgia began to encourage settlement, to ticians as Tories and Federalists. By turning these

deal with the returning Tories and to award war corruptionists out of office and inaugurating a highly

veterans with land. (See: Baldwin, pp. 26-27; Few, democratic system of land distribution, the anti-

pp. 28-29)

Yazooists did much to give Georgia a strong J effer-

A unifying theme of Georgia history for fifty years sonian following.

following the Revolution was the organization and The new land distribution system required that all

distribution of the state's vast public domain. When Indian territorial cessions be surveyed in orderly,

8 the war ended, Georgia's unsettled lands stretched rectilinear, farm-sized parcels and then given away

from the Ogeechee River to the Mississippi and em- by lottery to eligible Georgia citizens. At the same

braced more than ninety million acres. The state time, the state handed the Yazoo problem to the

was generous in its bounty grants to war veterans, and federal government. Georgia's western boundary was

speculation in its lands was rampant. Unsuspecting established when the state transferred to the federal

buyers from other states were often sold bogus grants government all of its lands west of the Chattahoochee

to nonexistent lands in the 1790s. Known as the Pine River.

Barrens Speculation, the fraud was conceived and

Settlement and agriculture flourished between

carried out by dishonest public officials.

1803 and 1832 as people moved into the thirty

In 1794, war-hero Elijah Clarke attempted to take million acres which the state distributed in seven land

advantage of the state's difficulties in obtaining lotteries. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793

cessions of land from the Creek Indians. Leading a gave these lands added value, and the state's farmers

small private army, he endeavored to carve out a paid increasing attention to cotton, a new cash crop.

"Trans-Oconee Republic" along the western bank of Georgia's population more than tripled between 1800

the Oconee River. The venture had vast speculative and 1830, rising from 162,682 to 516,823 persons.

implications; and when state government officials Most of the land given away in the lotteries became

intervened at federal insistence, Clarke's scheme col- the finest cotton land in middle Georgia.

lapsed. Clarke was never brought to trial and it is From 1800 to 1860, the state struggled with the

doubtful that any Georgia jury would have convicted problems of rapid growth and expansion. A program

him of treason.

of constructive liberalism was formulated from the

During the following year, the corrupt state legis- politics of the rough frontier society, and significant

lature sold to land companies thirty-five million acres changes occurred in Georgia. Government liberalism

of Georgia's western territory at one-and-one-half had already been manifested as early as 1785 when

cents an acre. Known as the Yazoo Fraud, it had Georgia became the first state to charter a public

violent and far-reaching repercussions which traveled university and to plan for statewide public education.

all the way to the nation's capital. Led by ex-Senator The trend continued with the establishment of a

James Jackson, the anti-Yazooists called themselves penal system which replaced the barbaric practice

Georgia's cotton industry boomed after Eli Whitney's gin mechanized the fiber cleaning process.

9
of hanging criminals in public. After 1817, the

courts sent offenders to the penitentiary where they

could learn a useful trade. In 1824, the governorship

By 1830 political leaders began to identify them-

became elective by popular vote, long before J ack- selves with economic problems and national issues sonian Democracy brought this change in many such as the tariff, nullification, slavery, and the

other states. About the same time, a central state national banking system. The Clarkites generally

bank opened to grant long-term loans at low interest became unionists and followers of Andrew Jackson,

rates; and, by 1850, a state-owned railroad ran from and eventually drifted into the Democratic party.

Atlanta to Chattanooga. During the early 1800s, The Troupites tended to oppose Andrew Jackson as

great advances in science and art were made by a national leader and to call themselves State Right-

people like Crawford W. Long, Sequoyah, and Au- ers. During the 1840s most Troupites drifted into the

gustus Baldwin Longstreet. (See: Long, pp. 38-39; newly formed Whig party.

Sequoyah, pp. 34-35; Longstreet, pp. 36-37)

The decade of the 1850s was generally a prosper-

Political life in Georgia did not center around ous one; and, by 1860, there were 1,890 manufactur-

issues until two decades before the Civil War. Per- ing plants in Georgia. Despite a rise in manufacturing

sonal, family, and sectional loyalties often were prin- activity, the vast bulk of Georgians remained small

cipal considerations in an election contest. When farmers in the years preceding the Civil War. In the

James Jackson died in 1806 his following was in- census of 1860, only 2,858 white families out of a

herited by William H. Crawford and later by George total of 118,000 described themselves as planters,

M. Troup who appealed largely to plantation masters and only 6,363 Georgians owned twenty slaves or

and the coastal merchants. Georgia's up-country more. Specializing in the production of cotton and

pioneers and small farmers aligned themselves with rice, the small planter elite exercised an influence far

leader John Clark. Political differences were often in excess of its numbers. Their superior wealth,

resolved with bloody and fatal duels, many of them leisure, training and abilities enabled the planters to

involving the state's highest officials. (See: Crawford, dominate the social, political and economic life of

pp. 32-33)

the state.

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Although initially reluctant to secede from the

Union, Georgia committed herself to the cause and

made a valiant effort in the armed conflict which

followed. Georgia supplied over 120,000 soldiers to

SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR

the Confederate military establishment, and many of

Georgians, like other Southerners, were in general her leaders played important roles in the newly

agreement on the expansion of slavery into the formed Confederate government. Robert Toombs

western territories, the Mexican War, the annexation served as secretary of state, and Alexander H.

of Texas, and the admission of California to the Stephens, although opposed to secession, was elected

Union. However, only on abolition and its social vice-president. Georgian Thomas R. R. Cobb was the

implications to a dominant white society were some principal author of the Confederate constitution,

inclined to form what could be called hard-core and Benjamin Harvey Hill served in the Confederate

opposition.

senate throughout the war. (See: Toombs, pp. 44-45;

Since the great majority of Georgians owned no Stephens, pp. 42-43; Hill, pp. 50-51)

slaves and had no direct economic interest in pre- At first the war acted as a great stimulus to the

serving that institution, it is sometimes puzzling to state's economy, particularly in the manufacturing

understand why the state was swept into secession sector as arms, munitions, clothing and textiles were

in 1861. A brief summary of the political stance of in great demand. In the last two years of the war,

Joseph E. Brown sheds some light on the situation. however, great shortages developed in skilled labor,

(See: Brown, pp. 46-47)

machinery, materials, and in cotton and food pro-

Brown was elected governor as a dark horse candi- duction. Higher education suffered with army enlist-

date in 1857, and he held that office throughout the ments, and most of Georgia's colleges were closed for

Civil War until his arrest by federal authorities in a time during the war.

1865. Although raised among slaveless small farmers

Protection of the port of Savannah and Georgia's

in a mountain community where very little cotton vulnerable coast were primary concerns in the first

was grown, Brown favored secession. He ardently years of the war. The Confederacy's inadequate navy

believed that withdrawal from the Union would serve could not repel the Union forces. In late 1861 Tybee

10 the best interests of mountaineers and non-slave Island was occupied; Fort Pulaski fell in April, 1862;

owners alike. Brown argued that freeing slaves would and the town of Darien was burned in July, 1863.

reduce small land owners to the status of tenant Union occupation of these coastal areas effectively

farmers by placing them in direct competition with eliminated Savannah as a major port for the Con-

the black man. He championed white rights based federacy. Throughout 1862 and 1863, military action

on his personal fears of social and political equality, in Georgia centered around protection of both river

and his belief that the mixing of the races would and canal access to the interior of the state and the

inevitably result.

Western Atlantic Railroad, an important Confederate

Howell Cobb and Robert Toombs also urged supply carrier.

secession, but they spoke more for the affluent Joseph E. Brown served as governor throughout

planters and did not use the theme of the "White the war with the great mass of the common people

Man's Country." Significantly, they represented loyally supporting him. Great criticism was leveled

the group which had little to fear from the threat at Brown, however, for his continuing opposition to

of social and political equality. (See: Cobb, pp. the policies of Jefferson Davis and for his placement

48-49)

of Georgia's rights before those of the Confederacy

In the election of delegates to the secession con- as a whole. Known as the Confederacy's most un-

vention, it is noteworthy that 37,000 Georgians cooperative governor, he battled with authorities in

voted for delegates who opposed the movement Richmond throughout the war. Brown stubbornly

while only 50,000 stood for immediate action to refused to compromise even when General William

dissolve the Union. Despite Brown's crusade to lead T. Sherman was hammering at Georgia's northern

them toward secession, the people of the mountains passes with Atlanta as his principal target. That

and those living in the Pine Barrens cast a majority youthful city, with less than 12,000 inhabitants, had

vote in support of the Union. The convention made become one of the more strategic transportation

Georgia an independent nation similar in law to the centers in the Confederacy. Atlanta's railroads, shops,

Union it rejected, and appointed delegates to a warehouses and ordnance stores were essential to the

Confederate convention of representatives from all supply of Confederate armies in both Virginia and

seceding states.

Tennessee.

Freedmen register to vote for the first time.

RECONSTRUCTION AND RECOVERY

At the end of the war, Georgia's state government

was replaced by federal military authorities who were

charged with re-orienting Georgia to its proper place

in the Union.

The Constitutional Convention of 1865, although

Georgia's major military action began in 1864 not a brilliant one, complied with the moderate rewith the invasion of 99,000 Union troops under the guirements of President Andrew Johnson for the

command of General Sherman. Confederate General readmission of a state into the Union. However, beJoseph E. Johnston had fought Sherman from Chatta- fore Georgia's representatives could be seated in

nooga to Kennesaw Mountain, but he was replaced by Congress, the Radical Republicans in Washington

General John B. Hood just as the forty-five-day seige passed more severe readmission reguirements. The

of Atlanta began. After some gallant fighting against new demands included, among other things, a guaran-

overwhelming odds, Hood turned northward into tee of state and national citizenship to all black freed- 11 Tennessee hoping to lure his antagonist out of Geor- men. Georgia and ten other Southern states rejected

gia. The ruse failed, and Sherman's response was to the plan and were denied readmission to the Union.

destroy Atlanta and cut across Georgia to Savannah.

Subseguently, in March, 1867, Georgia became

He left Atlanta a charred ruin on November 15, 1864, part of the Third Military District under General

then carved a path of destruction more than forty John Pope, who was later succeeded by General

miles wide through middle Georgia. Espousing the George Meade. Following instructions from Congress,

concept of total war, Sherman's armies lived on Pope began a process of "de-rebelizing" the area

plunder gleaned from the rich plantation belt. They under his jurisdiction. Pope's plan excluded Georgia's

burned bridges and some civilian establishments, more experienced and capable white leaders from the

killed livestock and wrecked most of Georgia's railroads. Sherman arrived in Savannah in late December of the same year, leaving behind a legacy of over $100 million in property damage.
With Sherman's occupation of the coast, military opposition to the federal government came to a virtual end. The war ended just four months later, in April, 1865. Soon after General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, President Jefferson Davis was captured in a flight across southern Georgia, near Irwinville. Federal military authorities arrested

electorate. More than 10,000 white Georgians were barred from the political process while 93,000 freedmen were registered to vote.
In December, 1867, the constitutional convention chosen by this new electorate met at the Atlanta City Hall. In the political confusion which preceded and followed the selection of this site, the capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta, the new hub of Georgia's economic recovery and development. The convention included several prominent black delegates, among them Henry McNeal Turner of Macon.

Governor Brown and other prominent leaders, often Aaron Bradley, a New York-born Savannah resident,

taking many of them to northern prisons to await a and Tunis G. Campbell of Mclntosh County. There

Union trial. Vengeance was not uncommon in the were approximately thirty additional black members

post-war hysteria and some Confederate officials of the convention. Mostly all of the delegates, black

like Henry Wirz, commandant of Andersonville and white, were handicapped by their lack of pre-

prison, were hanged.

~ vious political experience.

The constitution which they framed and ratified

in July, 1868, was not entirely bad. Among other

things, it provided for a real public school system, porations. A new form of legal slavery, this inhumane

even though it did not guarantee funds for its sup- and shameful practice became the principal target

port. By ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment, it of such reformers as Rebecca Latimer Felton during

approved of the enfranchisement of the blacks. the latter part of the nineteenth century. (See:

Many of the white Republicans were newcomers to Felton, pp. 60-61)

the state, and soon became known among native

The post-Reconstruction rulers were dominated by

Georgians as Carpetbaggers.

a new class of industrialists and businessmen who

Since actions taken by the new government were stood for low taxes and minimum services by govern-

backed by federal occupation troops, the threat of ment. Rising to the unprecedented leadership of this

political domination by blacks and Unionists en- group were ex-Governor Joseph E. Brown; a former

couraged most whites to vote solidly as Democrats. planter, Alfred H. Colquitt; and ex-Confederate

The Democrats controlled the legislature and often General John B. Gordon. This Janus-like triad repre-

countermanded the orders of Republican Governor sented the most appealing characteristics of the re-

Rufus B. Bullock. The actions of this legislature cent past as well as the developing concepts of the

caused Georgia to be placed under political Recon- New South. Known as the "Bourbon Triumvirate,"

struction two more times before the state was finally they swapped the governorship and congressional

admitted into the Union in 1870. After the removal posts among themselves from 1876 to 1890. Al-

of the troops in 1871, the native whites regained though Democrats, they found congenial company

control of the state by clinging tenaciously to the among the northern industrial leaders who were

one-party system which had been their means of Republicans. Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta

victory.

Constitution, was closely identified with this group.

Three political reconstructions and six years of In his editorials he insisted that the South repudiate

effort to be readmitted to the Union left the state its old agrarian traditions and get aboard the in-

with a crushing debt, a legacy of bitter hatred be- dustrial bandwagon. (See: Gordon, pp. 52-53; Grady,

tween blacks and whites, and a penchant for violence pp. 54-55)

12 and corruption in political life. Sherman's invasion

The Bourbons' strong attachment to the dispensa-

was transitory and of less significance than the tion of industry and their inattentiveness to the prob-

dreadful spiritual hangover which resulted from lems of small farmers ultimately aroused great opposi-

Reconstruction.

tion. Defection appeared in the Democratic party as

Escape from the dreary post-war realities for many early as 1874 when William H. Felton began the In-

took the form of glorifying the antebellum years. The dependent movement in Georgia. This movement was

romance of Georgia's former plantation life and the premature and short-lived because Bourbon control

pathos of the Lost Cause have been vividly recorded of election machinery helped them to prolong their

in works by literary giants like poet Sidney Lanier, rule. The demise of the movement was also due to a

southern journalist and folklorist Joel Chandler Harris wide-spread fear that a split of the Democratic party

and modern novelist Margaret Mitchell. (See: Lanier, into Bourbons and Independents would bring a return

pp. 40-41; Harris, pp. 56-57; Mitchell, pp. 66-67)

of the Republicans who, with black votes, could

In economic life the problems and adjustments regain control of the state. This fear proved ground-

were severe. The new farm labor system was based on less, however, because the Republican party was

the unprofitable and exploitive practice of share- hopelessly rent with its own internal racial struggles.

cropping which victimized both black and poor white

A second radical movement in the late nineteenth

families. While most of the blacks tended to remain century was the Farmers Alliance. While organized

in the communities where they had worked before for the general well-being of farmers, it had a broad

the war, many drifted to the towns where they lived political program which included government regula-

in jerry~built houses on the periphery of the white tion of big business, road building, better public

community. Here they found menial employment schools and abolition of the convict lease system. By

and fell victim to disease and to an equally sinister 1890 its membership had grown to such an extent

presence - local law enforcement officers. The law that the Democratic party was forced to embrace

was used as a method of re-establishing white racial many Alliance platforms in order to win elections.

dominance and many blacks were sent to prison.

The Democratic party, displaying its digestive

Overcrowded conditions in the penitentiary led to a capacity for any program which carried votes, swal-

plan of leasing convicts to private persons and cor- lowed the Alliance. The Democrats failed to defeat

The Populist movement in Georgia began to wane

by 1900, but for the next two decades it continued

The exploitive practice of sharecropping victimized both to hold together a number of die-hard followers. Fre-

black and white farmers after the Civil War.

quently it held the balance of power in state elections

through the often sinister manipulations of its leader,

-~ - - - -

Thomas E. Watson, who used his influence to sway

votes. In 1906, for example, he agreed to throw his

influence behind Hoke Smith for governor in return

for the latter's support of a law to disfranchise the

Negro. This was executed two years later through

passage of a re-registration law with such stringent

requirements that blacks found it difficult to qualify.

(See: Watson, pp. 58-59; Smith, pp. 62-63)

In the early decades of the twentieth century

nearly all Georgia politicians supported white su-

premacy, lower taxes, minimum government services

and the Democratic party which had now embraced

some Populist principles. Racism remained rampant

and the Ku Klux Klan was a major force in state

politics.

The social condition of the Negro had improved

little by the turn of the century. Neither in the

factory nor on the diversified farm was the Negro

able to find room for advancement. He remained

essentially a cotton-growing tenant farmer, and in the

towns he was largely confined to menial labor. With-

out a viable party and in the face of discriminatory

voting laws, many black leaders turned away from 13

politics and began the task of improving the lives of

their people through the slow and tedious process of

education. In this they faced many obstacles, but

they were aided by the establishment of the heavily

endowed Atlanta University Center which would

become the largest educational institution for black

people in the world.

Spurred by the Civil War and encouraged by the

Bourbons, industry continued to develop, although

largely limited to the production of cheap cotton

textiles. Mill workers were recruited from the ranks

of tenant farmers, and the mill village became an

ugly by-product of Georgia's unbalanced industrial

growth. Wages were low, hours were long, and the

working day was regulated by the factory whistle.

Despite a slight rise in manufacturing activity, Geor-

gia was still chiefly agricultural, with cotton serving

their Bourbon enemies, however, and the result was as the most important crop until the scourge of the

the formation of the Peoples party whose adherents boll weevil in the 1920s. Two decades of agricultural

were called Populists. The Populists were even more prosperity ended just after World War I when an

radical than the Alliance supporters had been, and agricultural depression struck rural Georgia. The

they suffered the same fate, although they waged a decline in agricultural production forced many people,

longer and more valiant battle. One lasting and sig- black and white, to leave the farms and seek employ-

nificant result of Populism was that it brought the ment in the towns and cities. Diversification in indus-

plain, inarticulate farmer into the political arena in try and agriculture progressed little until after the

notable numbers.

first quarter of the twentieth century.

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MODERN GEORGIA

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The year 1930 marks the beginning of modern

Georgia, an era which has witnessed the state's slow improvements also included changing the state's

emergence from its conservative, agrarian past. The educational programs by establishing a unified uni-

Great Depression of the 1930s and world War II were versity system under the board of regents. Martha

14 largely responsible for stimulating Georgia's progress Berry, founder of the Berry Schools, became the first

toward becoming a modern and economically diversi- female member of this board. (See: Berry, pp. 64-65)

fied state. These two national catastrophes brought Twentieth-century Georgia has remained primarily

changes which bore heavily upon government, upon Democratic although the two-party system has be-

the political and civil rights of the black man, and on come fully operative since mid-century. Racial prob-

the place of agriculture in the state's economy.

lems have been a major political issue in Georgia until

The severe economic depression in the 1930s recent years because many office seekers ran on white

created a multitude of problems to be dealt with for supremacy platforms or embraced racist ideas. Even

the first time by state government. Social services and Richard Russell and Walter F. George, two of the

welfare programs under President Franklin D. Roose- century's outstanding national leaders, aligned them-

velt's New Deal led to an expansion in government selves with a majority of their Georgia constituents

administration and to the responsibilities of agencies on matters of race. (See: George, pp. 68-69)

at all levels.

Discriminatory voting laws prohibiting blacks from

Abandoned farm lands, high unemployment, a full participation in the political process continued

reduction in both agricultural and industrial produc- in force until the early 1960s. The Neill Primary Act,

tions, and an accumulated state debt faced Richard enacted in 1917 after the "grandfather clause" of
B. Russell, Jr. when he became governor of Georgia 1908 became inoperative, excluded blacks from

in 1931 at the depth of the depression. (See: Russell, voting in the Democratic primary which was tanta-

pp.72-73)

mount to election. Negro voter registration increased

At age thirty-three, Russell aggressively reorganized rapidly after the white primary was voided by federal

Georgia's government, created an efficient and eco- court order in 1945. Their vote soon began to carry

nomical administration and reduced appropriations local weight in urban areas where a few blacks gained

to within the state's income. His sweeping reforms seats on municipal councils, school boards, and simi-

resulted in a 20 percent reduction in the state's bud- lar offices. Other restrictive measures, however, con-

get and a precedent in Georgia politics for efficient tinued to limit the political freedom of blacks. Geor-

and conservative fiscal management. Even today, gia's system of allocating one, two or three legislators

Georgia has a remarkably low state debt. Russell's to a county regardless of its size, and the county unit

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system for determining the outcome of elections were

Despite the continuing prominence of agriculture

highly prejudicial measures. Both the "three class in Georgia, manufacturing and business have in-

system" and county unit voting were finally voided creased dramatically during the century. The state has

by federal court order in the early 1960s.

become an industrial leader in the production of 15

The integration of Georgia schools and the break- cotton textiles, cottonseed products, fertilizers, pro-

down of long-standing segregationist patterns did cessed foods, lumber and lumber products as well as

much to lessen racial discrimination in Georgia. in the mining of both marble and granite. The cities

Though backed by federal court order, the success of Atlanta, Columbus, Augusta, Savannah, and Macon

of the civil rights movement depended upon leader- have taken the lead in industrial productions and have

ship within the black community itself. Martin also become the largest commercial centers in the

Luther King, Jr., a Georgian, became a national state. Business has progressed rapidly in Georgia with

figure in the civil rights effort by mounting an ef- over 430 of the nation's top 500 corporations repre-

fective Christian, nonviolent protest against racial sented in Atlanta alone.

inequality. The world has seldom witnessed a crusade The role of state government and the number of

conducted with more honor and dignity. Responsible agencies charged with administration have increased

political leadership on the highly volatile issue began with the complexities of modern society, particularly

to emerge perceptibly during the governorship of in the areas of public health and welfare. Georgia

James Earl Carter in the 197 Os. (See: King, pp. leaders, despite increased demands for services, con-

70-71)

tinue to execute a conservative fiscal policy, one

Since World War II, the size of agricultural holdings which keeps Georgia's indebtedness low and her

has increased, while the number of farmers has government on a sound financial footing.

decreased. Production has increased remarkably,

In the past 243 years, by traveling a laborious but

however, due to advances in research and in agricul- steadfast course, Georgia has overcome many of the

tural science. Cotton began to lose its hegemony social and economic barriers which have held the

with New Deal crop control in the 1930s and today South apart from the mainstream of American

the state's agriculture is highly diversified. Georgia now progress. In this Bicentennial year of 1976 Georgians

leads the nation in the production of peanuts, pecans, are learning the dialogue of a new faith, and can

broilers and other poultry products. Forest products, look with confidence toward the future as Georgia

corn, fruits and vegetables, livestock, and seafoods continues to rank high as a progressive and growing

have also risen in economic importance.

state.

J ames Edward Oglethorpe's name is almost synony- Oglethorpe was born in London on December 22,

mous with the founding of Georgia. His fame lies 1696, the son of Theophilus and Eleanor Wall Ogle-

chiefly in what he contributed in both personal thorpe. Both his parents were devoted to the exiled

energy and fortune to the establishment and success Stuart line of English kings and were frequently

of the last of the original thirteen colonies in America. under suspicion of the English government for being

On a broader canvas, however, Oglethorpe's life involved in various plots to return the Stuarts to the

consisted of three distinct phases - his early years English throne. Such suspicion was well founded,

in England and Europe, his mature years in Georgia, particularly with regard to Oglethorpe's mother,

and his final years in England.

whose Stuart or Jacobite sympathies were so strong

that she maintained a vigorous interest in politics

all her life and powerfully influenced her children

to follow her inclinations.

After attending Eton and Corpus Christi College,

Oxford, James Oglethorpe held several army com-

missions and gained some distinction as an army

officer. Eventually he went to Europe where he

joined his family in their close associations with the

court of James III, the exiled Stuart who hoped to

regain the English throne. Oglethorpe's military

experience served him well later in his career, but

his Jacobite associations came back to haunt him

even after he had long abandoned them.

In 1719 Oglethorpe returned to England to his

family estate of Westbrook at Godalming, Surrey.

After several years of quiet life he was ready to try

for a seat in Parliament; and in 1722 he won a seat

from Haslemere which he held for thirty-two years,

even while he was in Georgia. As a member of Par-

16

liament Oglethorpe filled many committee positions,

but his reputation soon came to be that of a man

whose primary interests were humanitarian and im-

perialistic. His humanitarian concerns came to the

fore when he was appointed to a committee to

investigate the conditions of jails in England. In

spite of fierce opposition, Oglethorpe's committee

brought in a scathing indictment of the inhumane

practices and sordid state of the English penal system.

The plight of those jailed because they could not pay

their debts received special attention in the com-

mittee's report. In 1728, Oglethorpe also published

an expose of the brutal practices of the English

Navy, particularly the practice of impressment, in

a pamphlet entitled The Sailor's Advocate.

To aid the released debtors, Oglethorpe and friends

of the deceased Dr. Thomas Bray promoted a new

colony in America for them. The most logical place

for a new colony was to the south and west of

Carolina where it would act as a buffer against

further French and Spanish expansion. By this

sequence of events, philanthropy and imperialism

were united. With characteristic vigor and determina-

tion, Oglethorpe threw himself into securing a charter

for the proposed colony. This document was granted

in 1732 to a group called the Trustees for Establish-

ing the Colony of Georgia in America.

James Edward Oglethorpe, 1696-1785

After he led the campaign to raise money for the

project and to publicize it, Oglethorpe decided to

accompany the first group of colonists to Georgia.

This intrepid little band of adventurers, who were

not released debtors, left England late in 1732 and

by January 13, 1733, they had reached Charleston,

South Carolina. On February 12, 1733, they landed

at the site of what is now the city of Savannah,

and the colony of Georgia was launched.

During the early days of the colony Oglethorpe

was masterful in his leadership. He quickly gained

the trust of the Indians, obtained the rights to the

land for the colony from them, and put the colony

on a sound footing in its wilderness setting. Even

though the British government did not encourage

the immigration of European religious groups to

Georgia, Oglethorpe actively sought the admission Oglethorpe leads a military expedition against the Spanish of the Salzburger Lutherans, Scot Highlander Pres- at St. Augustine.

byterians, Moravians, and others. The Indians and

the various religious groups that immigrated to year Oglethorpe led a military expedition against

Georgia continued to respect and appreciate Ogle- St. Augustine but was unsuccessful. Two years later,

thorpe for many years, mainly because of his fair- the Spanish attacked Frederica and were repulsed in

ness in dealing with them.

the Battle of Bloody Marsh. In the defense of Geor-

When Oglethorpe returned to England in 1734, gia, Oglethorpe borrowed heavily upon his English

he took along his indian friend, Tomo-Chi-Chi, property and used every resource at his command to

mica of the Yamacraws, and several other indians save the colony for the empire. While his attention

in what turned out to be a public rclations coup. was given to military matters, internal problems in

The personal eloquence of both Oglethorpe and Georgia caused complaints to be registered against

Tomo-Chi-Chi, coupled with the dramatic appear- Oglethorpe in London. When a second foray against 17

ances of the Indians in English society, soon in- St. Augustine failed in 1743, Oglethorpe went back

creased interest in the colony. Consequently, by to England to answer the charges against him and

1736 Oglethorpe was bac k in Georgia wrestling never again returned to Georgia.

with the problems of that young, growing colony.

The last phase of Oglethorpe's life began with his

One of Georgia's major problems arose out of the return to England and his marriage to Elizabeth

fact that the colony's existence was bound up with Wright, heiress of Cranham Hall, Essex, on Septem-

Europe's balance of power conflicts, especially with ber 15, 1744. He returned to army life and took part

the struggles of Great Britain, France, and Spain in the resistance against the Jacobite invasion of

for territory in North America. When Oglethorpe 1745, but his failure to capture a part of the enemy

founded Frederica on St. Simons island in 1736, force when ordered to do so led to a revival of old

as an outpost against the Spaniards, he set off fu- suspicions of Jacobite sympathies. Oglethorpe was

rious diplomatic exchanges in London, Madrid, brought to trial and acquitted in the court martial

Havana, and St. Augustine. Because of the rising proceedings, but his military career was seriously

wrath of Spain, excessive expenditures for erecting impaired thereafter. in the 1750s he lost his seat

forts on the Georgia frontier, and complaints by in Parliament and his public career declined, but

South Carolina over Indian trade, Oglethorpe had those reversals did not deter him from an active

to return to England again in 1736-37. He was and vigorous life.

able to mollify the Trustees and settle the dispute

In his late years he participated in the literary

with South Carolina, but the Spanish problem proved life of England and became a friend of Samuel

more difficult. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact Johnson, James Boswell, and Oliver Goldsmith.

that Prime Minister Walpole was caught between When James Oglethorpe died on June 30, 1785, a

the defense needs of Georgia and diplomatic pressures career ended that had been characterized by wide

from Madrid, Oglethorpe finally secured a regiment interests, courage, life-long stamina, dedication to

of men: and in 1738 he returned to Georgia deter- humanitarian causes, and enduring fame for his

mined to resist the Spanish at St. Augustine.

extraordinary leadership and personal sacrifices in

in 1739 England declared war on Spain. The next the founding of the colony of Georgia.

by Roger A. Martin

18

Sir James Wright was the last royal governor of the

colony of Georgia. He occupied that office from

1760, when Georgia was a growing and prosperous

colony, until 1782, by which time the upheaval of

revolution had transformed the colony into a state.

Wright's importance lies in the courage and dedica-

tion to principle he demonstrated during those

years of profound changes.

James Wright was born in England in 1716, the

fourth son of Robert and Isabella Wright. About

1730 the Wright family moved to Charleston, South

Carolina where the father was chief justice of the

colony. The Wrights sent their son, James, to Gray's

Inn, one of the London law schools and James was

admitted to the bar. When he returned to South

Carolina he became attorney general and held that

position until he went to London in 1757 as colonial

Protest meetings were held in Savannah when news of the Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts reached Georgia.

agent for South Carolina. In 1760 he was appointed lieutenant governor of Georgia and was sent to relieve Governor Henry Ellis. When Ellis returned to England he resigned his commission as governor and

J ames Wright became the royal governor of Georgia,

a position he retained until it was abolished in 1782.

Governor Wright arrived in Georgia at a time when

the young colony was ready for growth and success.

Fortunately, Wright had just the kind of skills needed

to obtain more land for Georgia, encourage new

Sir James Wright, 1716-1785

settlers to come, stimulate more agricultural pro-

duction and keep peace with the Indians. He was

involved in two land cessions by the lndians to Geor-

gia - one in 1763 and the other in 1773. He also

worked closely with the Assembly to devise means

of making the colony attractive to new settlers.

Land laws were revised to encourage growth and

prosperity, and the governor invested his own for-

tunes in Georgia as a demonstration of his whole-

hearted support of what he and his fellow Georgians more became the government of Georgia. Sir James

were doing.

Wright tried to stem the tide of revolution but was

Governor Wright allied himself completely with unsuccessful. By the end of summer, 1775, Georgia's

Georgia and its success, but at the same time he held revolutionary government had almost complete con-

fast to his confidence in the British mercantile system trol and the governor and his council were powerless.

and his own personal duty to the king. He was an

Wright remained in Georgia until early 1776, but

astute politician and often could anticipate problems when the patriots placed him under house arrest he

and head them off before they caused trouble in the decided to flee the colony. On February 11. 1776,

colony. Hence, under Wright'S guidance Georgia grew Wright escaped to the British ship, Scarbormtgh,

strong, stronger than it might otherwise have been and returned to England. He remained there until

when the Revolution began.

the British recaptured Savannah in 1778. In June of

The first break came in 1765 with the passage of the next year he came back to Savannah and took his

the Stamp Act. When Parliament attempted to levy place as royal governor during the British occupation

taxes in America, Georgians protested along with of lower Georgia.

other Americans. When the stamp distributor, George

During the war years Governor Wright carried on

Angus, arrived in December, 1765, Governor Wright the functions of royal government in Georgia as best

protected him from the wrath of the Georgia Sons of he could, and sent many urgent requests to the

Liberty and for a few days stamps were sold in Geor- British high command for more troops to keep the

gia. Having enforced the Stamp Act in Georgia against province secure. Those requests were largely ignored. 19

loud opposition and at considerable personal danger On June 14, 1782, Wright received orders to abandon

to himself, Wright was disappointed when the act Georgia and he soon returned to England. In 1783

was repealed early in 1766. More importantly, the he assumed the leadership of a board of agents in

governor's actions set the "Liberty Party" against London organized to assist American loyalists who

him and he never again enjoyed the almost total were prosecuting their claims for compensation. In

support of the people as he had prior to 1765.

return for his services and his own personal losses,

In the late 1760s and early 1770s things were rela- Sir J ames Wright received a pension of 500 a year.

tively quiet in Georgia. Even so, Governor Wright

Sir James died in London on November 20, 1785

kept a close watch on the Commons House of As- and was buried in the north cloister of Westminster

sembly, the lower house of the colonial legislature, Abbey. He is remembered by Georgians today be-

because much of Georgia's opposition to British cause he gave Georgia the leadership it needed as a

policies tended to focus in that body. 1n 1771 Gover- young colony in the 1760s struggling to realize its

nor Wright disapproved the Assembly's choice for its vast potential. Ironically, it was under Wright's

speaker which provoked the Commons House to guidance that Georgia grew strong and prosperous

adopt a strong resolution protesting his actions. In and thus was enabled to take its place alongside

July, 1771, Wright returned to England where he was the other twelve colonies when the Revolution

made a baronet, the lowest order of English nobility, came.

as a reward for his services in Georgia.

The American Revolution proceeded somewhat

slowly in the colony of Georgia. After Governor

Wright's return from England in February, 1773,

things were quiet for a time. However, when news of

the Boston Tea Party and the lntolerable Acts reached

Georgia, protest meetings were held. By 1775 Georgia

was moving closer to the other colonies. A provincial

congress met in Savannah and that body more and

by Roger A. Martin

Button Gwinnett was one of Georgia's signers of

the Declaration of Independence. His career in Geor-

gia and his part in the American Revolution were so

brief that one historian compared him to a meteor,

but in Gwinnett's case brevity does not detract from

importance. In the space of a few months of 1776

and 1777 he made some enduring contributions to

20 his state and country.

Gwinnett's interest in politics, and by 1767 he began

Gwinnett was born in 1735 at Down Hatherley, his political career as a justice of the peace for his

Gloucestershire, England, the son of Samuel and Ann parish. In 1769 he was elected to the colonial Com-

Gwinnett. His father's family came originally from mons House of Assembly, but after one session he

Wales (where the name was spelled Gwynn-edd) and dropped out of public life for nearly five years. In

his mother was from a well-to-do family related to July, 1774, when anti-British sentiments stirred

the Buttons of Glamorganshire. In 1757 Gwinnett in Georgia, Gwinnett attended a public meeting at

married Anne Bourne of Wolverhampton and they Tondee's Tavern, Savannah, and from that time on

had three daughters only one of whom, Elizabeth, he was ardently devoted to the revolutionary party.

survived to maturity. For a time Gwinnett engaged Lyman Hall once said of Gwinnett, "He was, if pos-

in the exporting business with his father-in-law, a sible, a Whig to excess." The next year Gwinnett

pursuit which familiarized him with merchants in was elected to the Georgia Council of Safety, and in

England and America, particularly those at the February 1776, the Second Provincial Congress of

prosperous port of Savannah, Georgia.

Georgia sent this enthusiastic patriot to the Con-

The exact date of Gwinnett's arrival in Georgia tinental Congress. Consequently, Gwinnett, along

is not known, but by 1765 he had settled at Savannah with Lyman Hall and George Walton, became one of

as a merchant. In October of that year he purchased Georgia's signers of the Declaration of Independence.

St. Catherines Island, which lies just off the Georgia On his return to Georgia Gwinnett played a key

coast from the then flourishing port of Sunbury. role in setting up the state government and in writing

Gwinnett did not have much success as a planter, the state constitution of 1777. He strongly desired

but the location of his plantation brought him into to become the commander of Georgia troops at this

close association with the liberty-minded Congrega- time, but in spite of the prestige he had gained

tionalists at Sunbury and in St. John's Parish, the through his service at the Continental Congress he

parish within which Sunbury lay. Gwinnett's friend- was passed over and the honor went to Lachlan

ship with Dr. Lyman Hall of that community was McIntosh. Gwinnett was a member of the Provincial

perhaps the most decisive friendship of his life.

Congress, and when elections were held again to

Identification with St. John's Parish stimulated select delegates to the Continental Congress he was

Button Gwinnett, 1735-1777

Button Gwinnett is fatally wounded by Lachlan McIntosh in The Duel, an 1865 woodcut.

re-elected. Gwinnett reached the pinnacle of his One interesting phenomenon surrounding Gwin- 21

career in state politics in March, 1777, when Presi- nett's life is that his signature has become quite

dent Archibald Bulloch died suddenly, and he was valuable because it is so rare. As far as can be ascer-

succeeded by Gwinnett, who remained in office tained, there are only thirty-six of his signatures

until the new constitution went into effect in May.

known to exist, including the one on the original

General McIntosh grew resentful when, later, parchment of the Declaration of Independence.

Gwinnett used his powers as chief executive to inter- In November, 1927, his name on a letter brought

fere with plans for an attack upon the British at $14,000.00 at an auction. Subsequently, one of

St. Augustine. That resentment was whipped into Gwinnett's signatures brought $51,000.00 when pur-

anger when President Gwinnett had McIntosh's chased by an autograph collector. "On July 4, 1943,

brother, George, arrested and thrown into jail on Governor Ellis Arnall of Georgia announced that the

suspicion of treason. Because the expedition against vault in the State Treasury in Atlanta contains a Gwin-

the British in Florida turned into a fiasco, the Georgia nett signature valued by the State at $52,000.00"

Assembly held an inquiry to determine whether the (Robertson, 297).

civil authority had hampered military effectiveness. Much more important than Gwinnett's signature,

The Assembly took sides with Gwinnett, a decision however, is his legacy to modern Americans through

which provoked McIntosh to publicly call Gwinnett his fierce love of liberty and his service to his country

a "Scbundrel and a lying rascal."

in the critical moments of its birth.

To obtain satisfaction for this insult Gwinnett

challenged McIntosh to a duel and the two of them

met at dawn, just outside Savannah, on May 16, 1777.

Shots were fired almost simultaneously and both men

were wounded, Gwinnett seriously. He died three

days later. General McIntosh recovered from his

wound and later served with distinction under Wash-

ington, but for a time there was some ill feeling

toward him in Georgia.

by Roger A. Martin

. Independence Hall,
. . Philadelphia, 1776.

re"-i;~>;:r:.~ ,~~_

22

To those who hold the principles of the American

Lyman Hall was born on April 12, 1724, at Wal-

Revolution in high regard the name of Lyman Hall lingford, Connecticut. His parents were John Hall

evokes a warm admiration. In a quite literal sense he and Mary Street Hall, both of whose families had

was the leader of the spirit of independence in Geor- been prominent in Connecticut for many years.

gia. Hence, it seems distinctly appropriate that he was Lyman Hall graduated from Yale College in 1747

one of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- after which he studied theology with his uncle,

dence.
~n-Y;~

the Reverend Samual Hall. He was ordained into the Congregationalist ministry in 1749 and, for a time, was the pastor of a church at Bridgeport. However, disputes within his church and other frustrations led Hall to abandon the ministry to

pursue the study () f medicine, and from about 1753

to the end of his career he was a practicing

physician.

In 1757 Hall decided to move south to a New

England Congregationalist settlement near Charles-

ton, South Carolina, called Dorchester. He arrived

at Dorchester during a time when many people from

that settlement were moving to the "Midway Dis-

trict" of Georgia and by his decision to join that

migration Georgia received one of her most famous

citizens. Hall soon became one of the leading men of

St. John's Parish and of Sunbury, the port town built

by the New Englanders in Georgia. He also formed

a significant friendship with Button Gwinnett whose

plantation was on St. Catherines Island, just off the

Georgia coast from Sunbury.

Lyman Hall, 1724-1790

In the early days of the revolutionary movement

many Georgians retained a close attachment to the

English crown and were hesitant to make "common

cause" with the other colonies, but St. John's Parish

became a center of revolutionary action. Royal

Governor James Wright believed the parish took

that stance because its citizens were "decendants of

New England people of the Puritan independent

sect." Among those Puritans Lyman Hall was a key

figure in advocating American resistance to England.

When the Georgia Provincial Congress rejected an

appeal from St. John's Parish that delegates be sent

to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, the

people of St. John's took independent action. In

March, 177 5, they elected Dr. Lyman Hall to repre-

sent them in Philadelphia; and in May, Hall took

his seat in the Continental Congress. He participated

in the debates there but did not vote since he did

not represent the entire colony. Subsequently, when

Georgia did elect delegates to the Continental Con-

gress, Hall was chosen as one of them. He was in

Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 when he signed the

Declaration of Independence along with Georgia's

two other delegates, Button Gwinnett and George

Walton.

When the British invaded the Georgia coast in 1778

Hall's residence at Sunbury and his rice plantation near Midway Meetinghouse were d~stroyed and

he was forced to move his family to a place of safety he purchased a plantation to enjoy retirement from 23

until the war ended. Following the British evacuation public life. Within a few months, on October 19, 1790,

in 1782 Hall returned to Savannah to take up his he died and was buried on a bluff overlooking the

medical practice and to regain what he could of Savannah River. In 1848 Dr. Hall's remains were

his lost personal fortunes.

moved to Augusta where, along with those of George

In 1783 he was elected governor of the state for Walton, they were placed beneath a monument erect-

one term during which he attempted to assist Georgia ed in honor of Georgia's signers of the Declaration

in its recovery from the ravages of war. Hall labored of Independence. Another tribute was paid Hall by

diligently to secure treaties with the Creek and Charles C. Jones when he wrote:

Cherokee Indians, make necessary changes in the

On the revolutionary altars erected

land laws, and to put the state on a sound financial

within the Midway district were the fires of

footing by dealing with pre-war debts and post-war

resistance to the dominion of England

tax measures. In his message to the Assembly, Hall

earliest kindled; and of all the patriots

also recommended that steps be taken to encourage

of that uncompromising community Ly-

both education and religion in Georgia. Thus, Con-

man Hall, by his counsel, exhortations,

necticut's legacy to Georgia made its impact in yet

and determined spirit, added stoutest fuel

another fashion and, as one Georgia scholar wrote,

to the flames. (Jones, 93).

"The movement for a university got its beginning

Lyman Hall's name is remembered mainly because

from New England-born and Yale-educated men, of his support of the American Revolution and as a

Governor Lyman Hall and Abraham Baldwin"(Cole- signer of the Declaration of Independence. Georgians

man, 227). The University of Georgia was chartered can take pride in the fact, too, that he was one of

in 1785 and became the first chartered state univer- the state's best governors of the 1780s and because

sity in the United States.

of Hall's vision the state of Georgia was stronger in

After leaving the governor's office Dr. Hall con- those critical years. In brief, the name of Lyman Hall

tinued in Savannah as a physician and for a brief is remembered proudly by Georgians and many

period was a judge of the inferior court of Chatham other Americans as welL

County. In 1790 he moved to Burke County where

by Roger A. Martin

George Walton was one of Georgia's signers of the

Declaration of Independence. In broader perspective,

he was a political leader who served his state and

nation in many ways during the course of a dis-

tinguished career.

Walton was born in Goochland, later Cumberland

County, Virginia, in 1749. His parents, Robert and

Mary Walton, died when he was quite young and for a

time the child lived with an uncle. His first opportuni-

ty came when he was apprenticed to a carpenter who

took notice of Walton's keen mind and encouraged

him to read and study. With that encouragement

Walton began a program of self-education that lasted

as long as he lived. In 1769 he moved to the flourish-

ing city of Savannah, Georgia, where he began the

study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1773.

When revolutionary forces began to stir in Georgia,

George Walton took part in the organization of re-

sistance to British authority. He signed the call sent

out to invite Georgians to a meeting at the Liberty

Pole in Savannah on June 22, 177 5, and when Geor-

gia's Council of Safety was formed Walton became

its president. At the meeting of the Provincial Con-

24 gress of Georgia in July, 1775, Walton was elected

secretary and also helped to draft an address to the

people of Georgia informing them of the state of

affairs in America.

In February, 1776, Walton was elected a delegate

to the Continental Congress where he served continu-

ously until September, 1781, with the exception of of the letter, registered a strong complaint. After the

1778 and 1779. In Congress Walton was a member war the Georgia legislature took up the matter, cen-

of important committees on Indian affairs, western sured Walton, and ordered the attorney-general to

lands, and the treasury board. In January, 1777, the investigate the case. This may have been merely a

Congress sent Walton and George Taylor to Easton, matter of form on the legislature's part, however,

Pennsylvania to negotiate a treaty with the Six since it had appointed Walton as chief justice of

Nations.

Georgia on the day prior to its action against him.

In late 1779 Walton was elected governor by an

On January 9, 1778, George Walton was com-

irregular legislature, and in the two months he missioned a colonel in the First Regiment of Geor-

claimed to be governor he forged in the speaker's gia Militia. He fought at Savannah in 177 8 when the

name a letter to the Continental Congress which British captured it, and in 1779 when the French

contained information libelous to General Lachlan and Americans tried to recapture it, he was wounded

McIntosh. The letter aroused suspicion in Congress and captured by the British. They later exchanged

and in Georgia. General McIntosh, when he learned him for a British naval captain held by the Americans.

When the British seized lower Georgia, the Whig or

Photograph and document courtesy Revolutionary government moved into the back-

of Georgia Archives. country where it continued to perform its regular

functions. That government returned Walton to

Congress in 1780, where he and other Georgia dele-

gates protested against making peace with Great

Britain on the principle of uti possidetis - that is,

George Walton, 1749-1804

Savanna.h, Georgia, July 14, 177.t.

The critical situation to \vhich the British Colonies in
America are likely to be reduced, froln the alarruing and
arhitrary irnpositions of the late Acts of the British Parlia-
lllent, respectin~ the town of Boston, as well as the Acts that at pre~ellt extend to the raising of a perpetual reve-

Due, \vithout the consent of the people or their Representa-

tives, is considered as (In object extrelnely itnportant at this

critical juncture, and particularly calculated to deprive the

Alnerican subjects of their constitutional rights and liber-
ties~ as a part of the IJritish ~:lnpire.

It is therefore requested, that all persons \vithin the
lirnits of this IJrovince do attend at the Liberty l~ole at
FanJee's Tavern, in ~Sllvannah, all TVerlnesday, the 27th

instant, in order that the said lllatters lnay be taken under

consideration: and such other constitut~onal measures pur-

sued as Inay then appear to be luost eligible.

25

NOBLE 'V. J()~ES,

JOHN flocsTON,

ARCHIBALD BULLOCH,

GEORGE \VALTON.

that the Lhitish would retain any American territory

occupied by their forces when the shooting stopped.

Toward the end of that term in Congress. in 1783. Walton went to Tennessee to negotiat~ a treaty with

the Cherokee Indians.

Intermittentlv. from 1783 to 1789. Walton was

chief justice o(Georgia. He was elected a delegate to

the Constitutional Convention of 1787 but did not

attend. However. he was present at the state's ratify-

ing convention of 1788. The next year he was elected

governor once more and during that term a new state

constitution was adopted and Indian relations were

improved. During the final years of his career Walton

was chosen several times as a superior court judge.

and in 1795 he was asked to fill out the unexpired

term of James Jackson in the United States Senate.

Realizing the importance of learning in his own

life, Walton worked to improve the lJuality of educa-

tion in Georgia. He was one of the founders and a

trustee of Richmond Academv. He was also a trustee

of the University of Ceorgia a;ld stressed the need for

,

L

by Roger A. Martin

a plan of higher education in the state. When George Walton died on February 2, 1804, he
was survived by his wife, Dorothy Camber Walton. and one of their two sons. He was buried in the Rosney Cemetery. but on July 4. 1848. his remains were moved to Augusta and placed beneath a monument erected there in honor of Georgia's signers of the Declaration of Jndependence.
Walton achieved success in the rough and tumble world of politics in revolutionary Georgia. He never feared to step into the midst of controversy if he felt strongly about the issues involved. Most people either liked him or strongly disliked him. for with Walton there was little middle ground upon which to stand. He had a violent temper and would not allow the slightest deviation from what he thought his due. Yet. the people respected his abilities and elected him to many offices during his career. Along the way of that career Walton proved himself to be an astute politician and he made some important contributions to his state and nation.

",. The University of Georgia

as it looked in the 1850s.

'",

-

'-

( ' ... ~'.:

26

Abraham Baldwin's name is associated with two Three years earlier the Baldwins' son, Abraham,

important events in the early history of the state of had graduated from Yale College and in 1775 he

Georgia. First, Baldwin was one of Georgia's signers became a licensed minister of the Congregational

of the Constitution in 1787. Secondly, he played a Church. From that time until 1779 Abraham Bald-

key role in establishing the University of Georgia.

win served as a tutor at Yale. During those years

Abraham Baldwin was born in North Guilford. as a tutor he earned the admiration of both the

Connecticut on November 22, 1754, the son of faculty and President Ezra Stiles because of his in-

Michael and Lucy Baldwin. Baldwin's father was a tellectual abilities and his excellence as a teacher. In

blacksmith, but he was also very ambitious for his 1779 Baldwin resigned from the Yale position to

children and stressed the importance of their edu- become a chaplain in the American Army. Three

cation. In 1775 he moved his family to New Haven years later the college invited him to become a

so that his children would have better opportunities member of its faculty, an invitation which Baldwin

to be educated.

declined. When he left the army he did not return

~~

to education or the ministry, but to law, and in 1783 he was admitted to the bar in Fairfield County, Connecticut. By this sequence of events one of

America's statesmen was prepared for a distinguished

career in Georgia.

Sometime during the year 1784, Abraham Baldwin

moved to Georgia where he soon acquired enough

land in Wilkes County to qualify for membership in

the state legislature. The next year he was elected

to the House of Assembly and began his public

career.

From the time of his arrival in Georgia, Baldwin

displayed a genuine interest in education. Lyman

Hall, as governor in 1783, stressed the need for state

Abraham Baldwin, 1754-1807

supported higher education in Georgia. As a result of

Governor Hall's efforts and that of other interested

Georgians, the Assembly of 1785, of which Baldwin

was a member, granted a charter to the University of

Georgia. It was the first chartered state university

in America. Most scholars agree that Abraham Bald-

win wrote that charter which not only provided for

an educational system throughout the state but also

placed Baldwin among the pioneers of education

in eighteenth century America.

For various reasons, until 1798, the university re-

mained in the planning stage, but during those years

Baldwin maintained a lively interest in its realization.

He was appointed to the original board of trustees

and for a time served as the titular president. Once

the legislature made adequate provisions for the sup-

port of the university, Baldwin led in its organization

and served on the committee to select the site upon

which it was built. He was instrumental also in secur-

ing Josiah Meigs, another Yale man, as the first actual

president of the university. Subsequently, Baldwin

continued as chairman of the board of trustees for

several years and he, more than any other single

person, deserves to be called the father of the Univer-

sity of Georgia.

Baldwin's biographer insisted that interest in edu-

cation was the primary factor in his immigrating to

Georgia (White, A {Jrallaln Baldwin). Yet, long before

his dreams for an educational system in Georgia in 1807. As a congressman and senator, Baldwin 27

became a reality, Baldwin's natural talents and ex- took sides with the Jeffersonian Republicans. At first

cellent education brought him into political promi- he warmly supported the federal government, but by

nence. His fellow Georgians recognized him immedi- the late 1790s he shared Jefferson's fear of centrali-

ately as an outstanding man and his easy-going zation and he strongly opposed the Alien and Sedi-

temperament won him friends across the state.

tion Acts. In the Senate he was president pro tempore

In May, 1785, he became one of the state's dele- during the first session of the Seventh Congress.

gates to the Continental Congress, and when delegates Also, during his career in national government Bald-

to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were win consistently opposed federal intervention upon

chosen Baldwin was one of them. Baldwin served on state control of slavery.

several committees at Philadelphia, and his influence

Baldwins legacy to his adopted state of Georgia

was considerable on the committee to resolve the was his vision as an educator and his outstanding

dispute between the large states and the small states national leadership during the early years of the

on the question of representation in the national Republic. As a result of his statesmanship, Georgians

Congress. Baldwin took sides with the large states have conferred the following honors upon him:

at first, but his friends from Connecticut persuaded Baldwin County was designated as such in 1803; an

him to work for the compromise by which all states appropriate historical marker stands in front of

have equal representation in the Senate and represen- Old College on the University of Georgia campus,

tation is based upon population in the House of upon which a brief account of Baldwin's life is

Representatives. When the United States Constitution inscribed; and, Abraham Baldwin College is located

was completed, in September, 1787, Abraham Bald- at Tifton, Georgia. Because of his devotion to Geor-

win and William Few signed it on behalf of Georgia.

gia and his constructive leadership at both the state

Under the new Constitution Baldwin was elected and national levels, Abraham Baldwin richly deserves

by Georgia to the United States House of Representa- those honors.

tives and served continuously in that body until

1799. In that year he was elected to the United States

Senate and his service there continued until his death

by Roger A. Martin

~

.~(JtV'kwfe, : ~ 7Jj;-Je7iiT.T~~FbL
? 7 7 UV ~ ~~V~hU~~~.~~~'/~, ~4u~-/-U.w,
~~~~~ruJ+~~ ~b /",..,~/ ~tZbV3'7e~47~;J.,! ...A~
28 IUT.~ "'~~I ~ ~--uv~U'~~ ~ ~ ~t'/Z4 -td~ fU
/iv~ 4~~~~~~r~~/'r~HV~+7h4~~
7 ~~ PU-f.. ~ ~~/ ~ I'4JM y~~ratf7 ~t:L aa/~~.ud~.

William Few's life unfolded along the lines of the much heralded American success story. It began with the obscurity of backcountry, pioneer farm life and rose to prominence in Revolutionary and early national America. The eighty-year span of Few's life was a time of profound changes in America. He was born just before the French and Indian War and died the year Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States. Few is remembered by Georgians as one of the two delegates from their state who helped to write and who signed the Constitution in 1787.
William Few was born just outside Baltimore on June 8, 1748, the son of William and Mary Wheeler Few. When the father's tobacco plantation failed, he moved his family to Orange County, North Carolina, where they had to learn the rigorous ways of frontier life. That move came in 1758 and young Few, a mere ten years old, had to learn to wield an axe and man the plow along with his father and brothers.

Later the family moved to Hillsboro, North Carolina, a town large enough to have periodic sessions of court. It was there that the young Few attended court and by watching lawyers try their cases he gained a taste for law. Since teachers were available only at rare intervals, the responsibility for Few's education fell upon his own shoulders. He accepted that responsibility, developed an enormous appetite for reading, and quite literally educated himself.
In the early 1770s the Few family became in-' volved in the Regulator movement in North Carolina. Following the brutal Battle of Alamance in 1771, Few's brother, James, was hanged for his part in the struggle. Not long afterwards, when the elder Few got into financial difficulties, the family moved on to Georgia and settled near Wrightsboro. The younger William Few was left behind to sell the North Carolina property and settle the family's debts. He came to Georgia in 177 6. By that time the entire family warmly supported the American Revolution. Ben-
William Few, 1748-1828

Photograph and document courtesy of Georgia Archives.

jamin Few, an older brother, was a colonel of the William Few was fifty-two years old in 1799. At 29

militia, younger William became a lieutenant colonel, that point in his life he decided to move to New

and Ignatius, the youngest brother, was the captain York City. There he immediately assumed a place of

of a cavalry unit. All of them saw action during the prominence and was elected to both state and city

War for Independence.

offices. For a time he was inspector of state prisons,

In the 1770s William Few was involved also in and later he became an alderman in New York City.

Georgia politics. He served twice as a member of the From 1804 until 1814 he was on the board of di-

General Assembly of Georgia, was on the Executive rectors of the Manhattan Bank, and the last years of

Council and served as commissioner to the Indians. his public life were spent as the president of the City From 1780 to 1782 he was a delegate to the Conti~ Bank.

nental Congress. After the war he was elected again to

On July 16, 1828, William Few died at the home

the General Assembly and was sent once more (1786- of his son-in-law, Albert Chrystie, at Fishkill-on-the-

88) to the Continental Congress.

Hudson. His death brought to a close the long and

In 1787 he reached a pinnacle of distinction by remarkable career of a man whose life stretched from

being chosen as one of Georgia's six delegates to the humble, wilderness beginnings in colonial America,

Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He and across the hectic years of the Revolutionary War,

Abraham Baldwin were the Georgians present in to the urbane and comfortable life of New York

September of that year for the signing of the Con- City in the early 1800s.

stitution. Few ardently supported the Constitution at

In October, 1973, Few's remains were brought

Georgia's ratifying convention, and when United back to Georgia and buried in the churchyard of

States senators were selected under the new govern- St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Augusta as a part of

ment he was among the first sent to the Senate from the bicentennial commemoration of Georgia and

Georgia. When his term in the Senate expired Few did Augusta. A monument at the head of Few's new

not stand for re-election. Instead, he returned to grave recounts the major events of his career.

Georgia and won a fourth teqn in the state legisla-

ture, after which he was appointed to a federal circuit

judgeship, an office he held until 1799.

by Roger A. Martin

Elijah Clarke was Georgia's Andrew] ackson. He

came out of the same type backcountry, Scotch-Irish

heritage and never had a formal education. Never-

the less, by his tough-mindedness, common sense, raw

courage and a native gift for leadership he won the

admiration and respect of his neighbors and rose to

a place of prominence in Georgia during and after

the Revolutionary War.

Clarke was born in Edgecombe County, North

Carolina in 1733. Unsettled by political tensions and

economic difficulties, Clarke moved his family to

Craven County, South Carolina in 1771 or 1772.

When new lands became available in Georgia, as a

result of territorial cessions by the Creek Indians,

Sc

Clarke and a group of his North Carolina friends

came to Georgia to seek their fortunes on the rugged

frontier. It was in that environment that Clarke

launched his remarkable career which was primarily

a military one.

OR DIE

Clarke and his friends from the Carolinas settled northwest of Augusta in 177 3. From the beginning

their lives were imperiled by Indian attacks. When

Patriot newspapers and handbills often carried this the colonial government failed to provide adequate

inspirational "Unite or Die" emblem. protection in the backcountry, the people there

30

organized their own militia and elected Elijah Clarke

as captain. From that beginning as an Indian fighter,

Clarke began his long military career that eventually

led him into over twenty-five battles ranging from

Florida and Georgia to Tennessee and the Carolinas.

'When the Revolutionary War broke out Clarke

took sides with the Whigs and participated in much

of the savage fighting between the Whigs and Tories

in upper Georgia and South Carolina. He also served

under General Andrew Pickens when the British

forces were sweeping the South. Clarke fought at

Alligator Creek in 1778 and was wounded. The next

year he dispia yed skill as a commander and tactician

at the Battle of Kettle Creek. Later in the war he

took im portan t parts in the South Carolina engage-

ments at Musgrove Mill, Fishdam Ford and Long

Cane.

Late in the war, after failing a first attempt, Clarke,

together with General Pickens and Colonel Light

Horse Harry Lee, was able to recapture Augusta.

In recognition of his services to Georgia the House

of Assembly, in 1781, granted Clarke a plantation in

Wilkes County. In the same year the North Carolina

legislature voted him a gift of $30,000 for his contri-

bution to the American cause. After the war Clarke

continued as a militia officer and before his retire-

ment he attained the rank of Major General.

Elijah Clarke, 1733-1799

The peace settlement with Great Britain did not

bring peace to frontier Georgia. General Clarke and

his militia continued the struggle with the Indians -

either fighting them or trying to arrange peace

treaties with them. While the war was still in progress,

in 1781, Clarke's troops had inflicted a crushing

defeat upon the Indians at Jack's Creek in Walton

County. That was but one of many hostile engage-

ments between Indians and white settlers on the

Georgia frontier during the 1780s and 1790s.

In 1793 Clarke became involved in the grandiose settlers. When the governor issued a proclamation

schemes of Citizen Genet, the French minister who calling for Clarke's arrest, the general voluntarily

came to America and organized an expedition against submitted to trial in Wilkes County where he was

the Spanish in Florida. Clarke entered the French speedily acquitted. Ultimately, the governor sent

service, a custom not uncommon in that day, raised troops to the border of the "Trans-Oconee Republic"

an impressive body of troops which he led to the and General Clarke surrendered rather than fire upon 31

St. Marys River and was ready to attack St. Augustine his fellow Georgians.

in early 1794. However, at the last moment the plan

Later in his career, Clarke was accused of scheming

was cancelled when the Secretary of State Thomas with the British against Florida. He became involved

Jefferson demanded that France recall Genet for also in the land speculations known as the Yazoo

violating the American policy of strict neutrality, and land frauds. However, none of these things were

Genet's successor, Fauchet, stopped the invasion of sufficient to undercut his popularity in Georgia and

Florida.

his reputation continued to be highly regarded

In the summer of 1794, Clarke used his military throughout the state.

popularity to carry out a plan which at first seemed

As a young man in North Carolina Elijah Clarke

good but eventually brought Georgia to the verge of married Hannah Arrington, who accompanied him to

civil war. This adventure is referred to as the "Trans- Georgia, bore him many children and proved herself

Oconee Republic." Returning from the abortive a woman of extraordinary abilities in managing their

Florida campaign, General Clarke led a number of home both in the harsh, perilous frontier days and in

his seasoned veterans into the Indian territory west of later more comfortable years. Elijah and Hannah's

the Oconee River and built several forts there. The son. General John Clark, served Georgia as a state

region was organized into an independent republic. senator in 1803-04 and as governor from 1819 to

complete with a constitution and a committee of 1823.

safety.

On December 15, 1799, Elijah Clarke died in Rich-

This seemed like a perfect buffer settlement be- mond County and was buried at Woodburn in Lin-

tween Georgia and the Indians and in the beginning coln County. His remains and those of Mrs. Clarke

Georgia's leaders did not worry about it. President were moved to the National Cemetery at Marietta in

Washington was alarmed, however, and thought it 1925. In 1801, the Georgia legislature passed an act

a bad precedent. He urged Governor George Mathews naming Clarke County in honor of Elijah Clarke,

to dissolve Clarke's republic before it was too late. and the city of Athens. county seat of Clarke County,

Governor Mathews moved cautiously at first. then later erected a monument to him on Broad Street,

with alacrity, to force the removal of Clarke and his near the entrance to the University of Georgia.

by Roger A. Martin

32

William H. Crawford, from Oglethorpe County, old field schools and work as a teacher prepared

was one of Georgia's most successful national politi- twenty-two-year-old William for admission to Moses

cians. On two occasions, in 1816 and again in 1824, Waddel's Carmel Academy in 1794. Waddel, one of

misfortune thwarted an otherwise excellent oppor- antebellum America's greatest educators, also taught

tunity for him to be elected president of the United Thomas W. Cobb and John C. Calhoun during the

States. Still, his long years of public service in state two years that Crawford studied under him. In 1796,

and national offices mark him as one of the most William accepted a S300-a-year position in Augusta

important (and one of the most historically neglect- as Richmond Academy's first English teacher. Later

ed) men of the antebellum period.

William assumed the duties of rector, also, and held

William, the son of Joel and Fannie Harris Craw- this joint appointment until January 1, 1799. In

ford, was born February 24, 1772 in Amherst County, 1798 he began studying law, and by the spring of

Virginia of sturdy pioneer stock. During the Revo- 1799 he was practicing in Lexington, Oglethorpe

lutionary War, William's father moved his wife and County.

family (William was the sixth of eleven children) to By 1804 his personal finances had risen to a point

South Carolina, and after the war they moved to where he could afford to marry his long-time fiancee,

Columbia County, Georgia. When William was six- Susanna Geradin. Together they built a plantation

teen, the difficulties of frontier life were accentuated home, "Woodlawn," near Lexington. William and

by his father's death. Yet he overcame environmental Susanna had three daughters and five sons. They

obstacles and gained a good education.

raised their children and managed their plantation in

a manner that was progressive and forward-looking

for their day. William Crawford's political success

was built on the solid foundation of personal happi-

ness.

Crawford's legal practice was the springboard to a

long career in state and national politics. After

coauthoring a digest of Georgia laws, he was elected

to the state House of Representatives (1803-07).

William Harris Crawford, 1772-1834

Here he aided James Jackson and George M. Troup As the election approached, it became obvious that

in creating an effective state and national party a number of presidential aspirants valued their

organization.

ambitions more than party unity. John Quincy

When Abraham Baldwin died in 1807, Crawford Adams, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Andrew

was elected to serve the remainder of Baldwin's term in the United States Senate and was re-elected in 1811. When Vice-President George Clinton died in 1812, Crawford served as president pro tempore of

Jackson were not going to be as self-sacrificing as Crawford had been in 1816. During the heated campaign year of 1823, Crawford became desperately ill. He probably suffered a stroke, and his condition

the Senate for two years (1812-13). He then de- worsened with inept medical attention. While his

clined Madison's offer of a cabinet position and opponents fought for votes, Crawford was fighting

accepted appointment as United States minister for his life.

to France (1813-15). On his return in August, 1815,

When the electoral votes were counted in No-

Crawford discovered that President Madison had vember 1824, Crawford, whose health had improved

already appointed him secretary of war. In October somewhat, finished a distant third behind Jackson

1816, Madison appointed him secretary of the and Adams in the balloting. Since no candidate had

treasury. Crawford's meteoric rise to national pro- gained a majority of the electoral votes, under consti-

minence had been marred by two bloody pistol tutional provisions the election went to the House of

duels with Georgia political opponents, but neither Representatives. Crawford's last dim chance for the

incident adversely affected his political career.

White House was dashed when Clay threw his sup- 33

While Crawford served in Madison's cabinet, the port, and the presidency, to Adams. After his inaugu-

American people prepared for the presidential elec- ration, Adams asked Crawford to remain in his

tion of 1816. For a variety of reasons, including its cabinet position, but the Georgian declined and re-

failure to support the American effort in the War of turned to Woodlawn. In 1827, he accepted appoint-

1812, the Federalist party was dying, and Crawford's ment as judge of Georgia's northern superior court

Republican party was sure to win the presidency. and served in this capacity until his death on Sep-

The handsome, affable, independent-thinking young tember 15, 1834.

Georgian was one of the popular choices to succeed

During his last nine years, Crawford played an ac-

Madison. However, Madison favored James Monroe tive role in the educational, political, and judicial

as a successor and felt that Crawford was young activities of his home state. Although he was never

enough to wait and not lose the chance to be Presi- elected president, William H. Crawford had proven

dent. Out of party loyalty and personal friendship himself to be an honest, efficient secretary of the

to Monroe, Crawford publicly disavowed his claim treasury, a well-liked and respected party man, and

for the Republican nomination. Nevertheless, when one of the major leaders of the early Republic.

the Congressional caucus made a choice, Crawford

received fifty-four votes, only eleven fewer than

Monroe's winning total. In the presidential election,

Monroe easily defeated the Federalist candidate,

Rufus King.

Crawford loyally waited for his turn in the White

House and continued to serve as secretary of the

treasury for the rest of the Madison and both of the

Monroe administrations (1816-25). The election of

1824 should have been his greatest moment of glory,

but, once again, circumstances beyond his control

defeated him.

by James M. Gifford

34
Sequoyah invented the Cherokee syllabary. His work is probably the single greatest achievement in the recorded history of languages.
Like a number of great Americans, Sequoyah overcame the difficulties of his environment to achieve greatness. He was born in Taskigi, near the tribal capital of Chota, in the Cherokee Nation. His father, Nathaniel Gist, who deserted Sequoyah's mother before the child was born, was a white hunter, explorer, and soldier from a prominent family. Wurteh, his mother, was from a family equally prominent among the Cherokees, the Paint Clan. As a young man, Sequoyah discovered his father's identity and assumed what he thought to be his Christian name; he called himself George Guess. Sequoyah was raised as an Indian, but he was shunned by both cultures. He never received traditional Indian training,
Sequoyah, 1770-1843

modified English letters; Sequoyah invented the form

for the remaining thirty-eight characters.

When he taught his young daughter Ayogu to read

his new written language, his skeptical and frightened

people accused him of sorcery and magic. On trial

for his life, Sequoyah proved his syllabary so success-

fully that some of his critics mastered the new

written language within a week; soon thousands of

and, as a youth, he was crippled in a hunting acci- Cherokees from Georgia to Oklahoma were using it.

dent. After that, his future activities brought him Sequoyah spent the rest of his life working to

closer to the white world.

advance the Cherokees, and in 1841 the Cherokee

His mother died around 1800, and Sequoyah in- National Council granted him an annual pension for

herited and managed her trading post. Later he his contributions to Cherokee life. Two years later

moved to a farm near wills Valley, Alabama, and, the gift was altered to an annuity of $300 that would

in 1828, he went to Indian territory - present-day continue to go to his widow when he died. In the

Oklahoma. Wherever he went, he learned new skills early 1840s he began trying to develop an inter-

and developed his raw, creative and artistic genius. tribal language and visited a number of American

At various times, he was a merchant, soldier, farmer, tribes searching for common elements of Indian

blacksmith, silversmith, and artist. Innovative, as well languages. He died in August 1843 searching for a

as creative, he made beautiful things with his hands. legendary band of Cherokees, who supposedly had

Indians and whites placed high value on his jewelry, removed to Mexico before the Revolutionary War,

woodcarvings, and metalwork. Sequoyah encountered and was buried in Sanfernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

white men in a variety of ways, and each year he He was survived by seven children, four by his first

became more impressed with some of the advance- wife, Sallie of the Bird Clan, and three daughters by

ments of their culture. In particular, he became con- his second wife, U-ti-yu of the Blind Savannah Clan.

sumately intrigued by their ability to communicate Sequoyah's syllabary enabled missionaries to

in writing.

communicate with the Cherokees and soon a portion

Around 1809, he quietly resolved to create a of the Bible was translated into Cherokee. The Ameri- 35

written language for the Cherokees and give them the can Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions

advantage and power of the "talking leaves." For financed the development of a special Cherokee press

the next twelve years his efforts were met with at New Echota, Georgia, superintended by the

laughter and derision. His first plan, to develop a Reverend Samuel A. Worcester. In addition to re-

written sign for every word in Cherokee spoken ligious tracts, this press printed the first Indian news-

language, failed. An alphabet needed to be more paper, The Cherokee ]J/lOenix, in 1828 with Cherokee

compact. Next, Sequoyah began trying to develop leader Elias Boudinot as editor. Later the press at

a written symbol or character for each sound in the New Echota printed the laws and constitution of the

Cherokee language. Every word had to be analyzed, Cherokee Nation.

and he was constantly preoccupied with sounds Today, tributes to Sequoyah's greatness stand from

and repetition of words. He neglected other re- coast to coast; towns and counties bear his name, and

sponsibilities and built a small log cabin "study" statues and historical markers memorialize his great-

away from his home so that he would not be in- ness. In Calhoun, Gordon County, Georgia, there are

terrupted. In frustration, his wife burned the notes two statues of Sequoyah, and nearby, in the same

he had made on flat pieces of bark, but he redid county, stands a granite marker erected by the United

them. In 1821 his long years of frustration were States government in 1931 to honor Sequoyah and

rewarded with success.

the Cherokee Nation. The State Legislature of Okla-

His complete syllabary had eighty-five characters homa presented a statue of Sequoyah to the people

representing the different sounds he had isolated of the United States in 1917 that stands today in

in the Cherokee language. Thirty-five characters Statuary Hall, Washington, O.c. In 1847 Austrian

were letters he borrowed from the English alphabet. botanist Stephen Endlicher discovered that the great

Since Sequoyah could not read English there was no redwood trees of California belonged to a new and

value relationship between the Cherokee character unnamed genus. and he reclassified them Sequoia

and the English letter. For example "T" in English Cigantea. They rise majestically as a fitting tribute to

represented the "i" sound in Cherokee and "0" a man whose contributions to American life made

equalled 'a." Twelve additional characters were him a giant among men.

by James M. Gifford

36

Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Georgia's best known antebellum author, was one of the most capable and versatile Georgians of his time. He was also a lawyer, legislator, jurist, minister, editor, and educator. Ironically, the facet of his life that he considered least important, his literary production, was the one that made him regionally famous and historically significant. His Georgia Scenes is acclaimed as one of the cornerstones of American humor. Its classic insights into the humanity and good fun of the antebellum period started a school of realistic, "down-home," frontier humor that attracted a number of devotees, including Mark Twain. Although Longstreet was often embarrassed in later years by the colloquial language and local color of Georgia Scenes, his work is a valuable social history and a delight to general readers.

His parents, William and Hannah Randolph Longstreet, moved from New Jersey to Georgia in 1785. They were talented and ambitious young people of Dutch (Langstraats) and Anglo-French ancestry. They settled in Augusta, where their fifth child, Augustus, was born in 1790. His childhood was happy, if unauspicious; young Gus never revealed the brilliance that would win him national acclaim until his mid-teens. When he was fifteen and sixteen he attended Moses Waddel's famous Willington Academy. He matured mentally during those years (1808-10) and followed his friend and classmate, John C. Calhoun, to Yale. He graduated in 1813 and continued his studies at Litchfield (Conn.) Law School. Then he returned to his home town to begin law practice and later moved to Greensboro.
His engaging manner and wit made him personally popular and professionally successful. Like a number of his ambitious contemporaries, he proved his ability, married a wealthy woman, and used his marriage as a springboard to greater success. Soon after his marriage to beautiful eighteen-year-old Frances Eliza Parke in 1817, he was elected to the state legislature (1821), served as superior court judge (1822-25), and was running for Congress in 1824

Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, 1790-1870

when the tragic death of his oldest son turned him

away from secular life and eventually into the Me-

thodist ministry.

Georgian through and through, with the heart of

a southern countryman, Longstreet returned to

Augusta in 1827 to establish a newspaper, The States

Rights Sentinel. Soon he began writing the delightful

sketches of "cracker" life that first appeared anony-

mously in the Milledgeville Southern Recorder. Their

immediate popularity prompted Longstreet to pub-

lish the sketches in 1835 on his own press in book

form, Georgia Scenes by a Native Georgian. Long-

street portrayed fights, gander pullings, shooting

matches, horse swapping, and militia drills. Soon

Georgia Scenes was nationally popular, and in 1840,

Harpers, a New York press, published the first of "-

many editions. Longstreet and his clay-eating redneck

hero, Ransy Sniffle, counterbalance the "moonlight

and magnolia" version of the Old South in their por-

trayal of crude, frontier life.

In 1839 Longstreet, who thought of literature as a

37

pleasant diversion from the basics of religion and

politics, was appointed president of the newlyfounded Emory College at Oxford and served for ten years. Then "the Judge" ~ as his friends called him-resigned his post at Emory because he thought he

balanced bitterness. He never forgot or forgave the blue-coated soldier who put an axe through his cousin's piano. The real A. B. Longstreet had not survived the war; the man who remained was an empty

was going to be offered the presidency of the Uni- relic of the past.

versity of Mississippi. When that did not materialize,

Once when Longstreet was teaching at South

he accepted the presidency of Centenary College, a Carolina College, he entered his classroom and found

Methodist school in Louisiana. One year later he that prankish students had tied a jackass to a front-

was elected president of the University of Mississippi. row seat. Peering over his glasses with customary

He held that post until 1856, and then he retired to dignity, he said, "Young man, I don't know your

enjoy his children and grandchildren and live the life name, but from your appearance, I should judge

of a plantation patriarch. Two years later he came that you are a member of this class. Let us proceed

out of retirement to become president of South with the lesson." Apocryphal as the story may be,

Carolina College, later the University of South it illustrates the warmth and humor that made

Carolina. He was a popular and a respected educator. Augustus Baldwin Longstreet's Georgia Scenes a

When the Civil War came, seventy-year-old Long- significant contribution to the American record.

street, who had always been an ardent champion of

states rights, nullification, and slavery, lost his per-

spective. Either slightly mad or senile, he wrote

voluminous letters to his nephew, General James

Longstreet, and his son-in-law, L. Q. C. Lamar, telling

them how to win the war. When the fighting was over

he left his refugee home in Enon, Alabama and re-

turned to live out his days in Mississippi. The massive

literary output of his final five years reflects un-

by James M. Gifford

Photographs courtesy of A. w. Calhoun Medical Library, Emory University.

Dr. Crawford W. Long uses ether as a surgical anesthetic for the first time on
March 30, 1842 in Jefferson, Georgia. From a painting by Maurice Siegler.

38

Crawford W. Long spent a productive life as a One of his classmates was Howell Cobb, and his

general practitioner, surgeon, and druggist in north roommate and closest friend was Alexander H.

Georgia. He pioneered the use of ether as a surgical Stephens. After graduating in 1835, he taught in Dan-

anesthetic - an event that altered the course of ielsville for a year at an academy his father had found-

medical history. In 1923, a doctor, reviewing Long's ed. Then, at the age of twenty-one, he committed

life and accomplishments in the Georgia Historical himself to a lifetime of medical study and service.

Quarterly, concluded that Crawford Long's discovery Following the customary procedures of the ante-

of ether anesthesia in 1842 and Joseph Lister's bellum period, Long began his studies by "reading"

discovery of antiseptic surgery some years later medicine under the guidance of a practicing physician.

were "the two greatest events in the history of Long's first mentor was Dr. George R. Grant of

medicine" (Boland, "CWL," 135).

Jefferson, Georgia. Following a year of "practice"

Crawford, the son of James and Elizabeth Ware Long entered the Medical School at Transylvania

Long, was born into an established family in Daniels- University, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1836. He trans-

ville, Georgia November 1, 1815. He was named after ferred to the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 and

another famous Georgian, William H. Crawford. His received his medical degree from that institution the

grandfather served in the Revolutionary War, and his following year. Next he served an eighteen-month

father was a successful planter. Crawford, an extreme- internship in a New York hospital, where he estab-

ly intelligent young man, entered the University of lished a reputation as a fine doctor and a skilled

Georgia, and, at the age of twenty, he graduated surgeon. With five years of study and experience

second in his class. While a student, he met other behind him, he returned to Georgia in 1841 and

young men who distinguished themselves in later life. assumed the practice of his old teacher, Dr. Grant,

in Jefferson. The next year on August 11, 1842 he

married Caroline Swain. Their happy marriage eventu-

ally produced twelve children.

During his early years in Jefferson, Long made

the discovery which made him famous. In the 1840s

the effects of laughing gas (nitrous oxide) fascinated

Crawford Williamson Long, 1815-1878

felt no pain during the operation. Having carefully

and cautiously tested his theories about ether and

being fully convinced of the success of his experi-

mentation, Long published his results in 1849.

Soon he found himself embroiled in a heated

controversy with three other American doctors,

Charles T. Jackson, Horace Wells and William T. G.

Morton, who also claimed to be first in their dis-

covery of ether anesthesia. Wells, a dentist in Hart-

ford, Connecticut, used ether as an anesthetic during

dental surgery in 1842. Morton, Wells' former partner,

gave a public demonstration of ether's anesthetic

qualities in 1846, but he admitted borrowing the

idea from Jackson who had made some earlier,

unwitnessed self-experimentations. After more than

a century of unresolved debate, each claimant still

has champions, but the general consensus among

scholars is that Long's claim is legitimate - that he

was indeed the first practitioner of ether anesthesia

in non-dental surgery.

In 1850 Long moved to Athens and soon de-

veloped a large, successful practice. During the Civil

War, he managed a military hospital on the Uni-

young Americans. In January 1842, several people versity of Georgia campus. When the war was over, 39

in Jefferson asked Long to sponsor a nitrous oxide he remained in Athens, leading the quiet, contribut-

"frolic" similar to those taking place around the ing life of a small-town doctor until his death on

country. Writing about that episode later in the June 16, 1878.

Southern Medical and Surgical Journal (1849), Long

Tributes to Long's work can be found throughout

said that he told his friends that he had no nitrous the United States. In 191 0 an obelisk, given by a

oxide, but he suggested to the fun-seekers that he local doctor, was erected to Crawford Long's memory

had a substance, ether, "which would produce equal- in Athens. In 1957 the Crawford W. Long Memorial

ly exhilarating effects; that I had inhaled it myself, Museum was dedicated in Jefferson, Georgia on the

and considered it as safe as the nitrous oxide gas." spot where Long performed his history-changing

While they were "high" on ether, Long noted that operation. Today Long and his former college room-

his friends were quite literally "feeling no pain." mate, Alexander H. Stephens, stand side-by-side in

They seemed insensible to the bumps and bruises Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C. However, like so

they were acquiring. Long's medical career had made many dedicated public servants, Long's greatest

him acutely aware of the need of some sort of anes- tribute was the heartfelt thanks he received from

thetizing agent for surgical practices, and he deter- thousands of people whose lives had been improved

mined to test ether's potential in this regard.

- and in many instances saved - by the quiet,

Between March 1842 and September 1846, Dr. scholarly doctor who had his moment of national

Long performed eight surgical operations in which glory in a discovery that has rebounded to the im-

the patient was anesthetized with ether. On March 30 provement of a profession to which he devoted a

and June 6, 1842, he removed cysts from a man's lifetime.

neck, and on July 3 of that same year he amputated a

child's toe. On September 9, 1843 he removed a tu-

mor from a woman's head, and two years later,

January 8, 1845, he amputated a man's finger. Three

subsequent operations proved equally successful.

Without exception, the patients testified that they

by James M. Gifford

Against the backdrop of Civil War and Recon- next three months. The unexaggerated trauma of

struction, Sidney Lanier, a native of Macon, Georgia, war and prison life pours forth in his only novel,

emerged as one of nineteenth century America's emi- Tiger- Lilies.

nent poets. He was also a novelist, critic, musician,

The rest of Lanier's life was a struggle for survival,

lecturer, university professor, soldier, and lawyer yet he managed to write a number of enduring

during his short lifetime. When the late Edd winfield works. Following a number of tangled war-time ro-

Parks delivered the Eugenia Dorothy Blount Lamar mances, he married Mary Day on December 21,1867.

Lecture Series at Wesleyan College in 1968, he con- For the next seven years Lanier tried to balance his

cluded that Sidney Lanier was one of America's need for creativity and the pressing necessity of pro-

"most vital and most interesting minor poets."

viding for a wife and four sons during the "dark

Sidney, the son of Robert Sampson and Mary raven days" of Reconstruction. Often he awoke

Anderson Lanier, was born February 3, 1842 in hemorrhaging with his mouth full of blood, and his

Macon, Georgia. His father was a lawyer, and his illnesses forced long separations from his family. His

grandfather, Sterling Lanier, was a successful busi- wife suffered from malaria, but in spite of numerous

nessman. Sidney and his brother Clifford and sister problems they had an excellent marriage.

Gertrude grew up in a serious Presbyterian household

Between 1867 and 1873 Lanier tried a variety of

where family life and education were stressed. As a jobs. He taught in Prattville, Alabama. He clerked in

child, he showed precocious musical abilities while a hotel. In July 1869 he was admitted to the bar and

gaining a more general education in a local academy. began practicing law. He gave several flute concerts.

He entered the sophomore class at Oglethorpe Most importantly, he continued to write. In addition

University, a staunch Presbyterian school near the to the strong support of his family, Lanier was rein-

state capital of Milledgeville, on January 6, 1857. forced by the praise of literary people like Joel

While enjoying his student days, Sidney belonged to Chandler Harris and Paul Hamilton Hayne.

the Thalian Literary Society, played the flute to

By 1873 the frustrations of being a part-time

entertain his classmates, and had a series of platonic writer had taken their toll. Lanier decided not to be

romances. He matured intellectually under the in- a "third rate struggling lawyer" for the rest of his life

fluence of one of his teachers, J ames Woodrow, a when he could do "other things so much better."

40 fine young scholar who had studied under Louis As he told his father, he had suffered twenty years

Agassiz at Harvard and later graduated summa cum "through poverty, through pain, through weariness,

laude from his doctoral work at Heidelberg. Sidney through sickness, through the uncongenial atmos-

graduated from Oglethorpe in the spring of 1860 phere of a farcical college and of a bare army and

first in his class and accepted an appointment there then of an exacting business life, through all the dis-

as tutor. That fall he decided to eventually take a couragements of being born on the wrong side of

doctoral degree at Heidelberg and prepare himself Mason and Dickson's line and of being wholly un-

for life as a university professor, but Georgia seceded acguainted with literary people and literary ways"

from the Union on January 19, 1861, and his plans (Quoted in Parks, 25-6). Lanier resolved to devote

were disrupted by Civil War.

the rest of his life to literature and music.

In July 1861 Lanier joined the Macon volunteers

Still, much of his remaining years were spent

and was soon transferred to Virginia, where he writing "potboilers," like Florida and The Boy's

witnessed the famous battle between the Merrimac Froissart, to support his family. Sadly he confessed

and the i\:lonitor. After participating in the seven to a friend that his "head and heart" were "full of

days fight at Chickahominy and the battle of Mal- poems," but "the dreadful struggle for bread" did

vern Hill, he and his brother transferred to the not give him ample time to write (Quoted in Basker-

Mounted Signal Corps. He experienced more of the vill, 211). Yet he did the best he could under the

grim realities of war in North Carolina, and on circumstances and began to receive some national

November 2, 1864 he was captured by Union troops. recognition. "Corn" and "The Symphony" were

Lanier spent four months as a P.O.W. in the "hell- published in Lippincott's Magazine in 1875. He

hole" prison at Point Lookout, Maryland, where published a volume of his poetry in 1877. Two years

fifteen to twenty men died daily from the deplorable later he was appointed lecturer in English literature

conditions. The tuberculosis he inherited from both at Johns Hopkins University, where he made some

parents became worse, and he probably would have very interesting scientific analyses of English verse.

died in prison had he not made his escape through "The Marshes of Glynn" (1878), reflecting on his

bribery. He reached Macon on March 15, 1865 native Georgia, may be his best work. In all, he wrote

exhausted, near death and delirious for parts of the more than 100 poems; nature and religion were two

Sidney Clopton Lanier, 1842-1881

of the dominant themes of his work. Throughout the years 1873-81 his health had
been getting worse. In June 1881 he took his family to a mountain retreat in North Carolina. He was jotting down outlines for future poems and dictating to his wife until his death on September 7, 1881.
Today on the Duke University campus three statues guard the southern past: Thomas Jefferson, "Statesman of the South;" Robert E. Lee, "Soldier of the South;" and Sidney Lanier, "Poet of the South." Had the circumstances of his life been more favorable, Lanier might have been a poet of the world.
by James M. Gifford

SONG OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE

Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall, I hurry amain to reach the plain, Run the rapid and leap the fall, Split at the rock and together again, Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, And flee from folly on every side With a lover's pain to attain the plain Far from the hills of Habersham, Far from the valleys of Hall.

All down the hills of Habersham, All through the valleys of Hall, The rushes cried Abide, abide, The willful waterweeds held me thrall, The laving laurel turned my tide, The ferns and the fondling grass said Stay, The dewberry dipped for to work delay, And the little reeds si,ghed Abide, abide, Here in the hills of Habersham, Here in the valleys of Hall.

High o'er the hills of Habersham,

Veiling the valleys of Hall,

The hickory told me manifold

Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall

Wrought me her shadowy self to hold,

The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine,

Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign,

Said, Pass not, so cold, these manifold

Deep shades of the hills of Habersham,

41

These glades in the valleys of Hall.

And oft in the hills of Habersham, And oft in the valleys of Hall, The white quartz shone, and the smooth brookstone Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl, And many a luminous jewel lone - Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, Ruby, garnet, and amethyst Made lures with the lights of streaming stone In the clefts of the hills of Habersham, In the beds of the valleys of Hall.

But oh, not the hills of Habersham, And oh, not the valleys of Hall Avail: I am fain for to water the plain. Downward the voices of Duty call Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main, The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn, And a myriad flowers mortally yearn, And the lordly main from beyond the plain calls o'er the hills of Habersham, Calls through the valleys of Hall.

- Sidney Lanier

As a state and national legislator, vice-president of

the Confederacy, and governor, Alexander Stephens

gave more than forty years of devoted political

service to mid-nineteenth century Georgians. He

played a major role in guiding Georgians through

the momentous years of compromise, secession,

civil War, and Reconstruction. Stephens was one of

the unique state leaders of his day. Most of Georgia's

antebellum heroes were cast from the same healthy,

happily-married mold, but "Little Aleck" was a

Stephens taught in Madison for a year but showed

ninety-six pound, pain-ridden semi-invalid who never little enthusiasm for his work. He apparently fell in

married and desperately sought political greatness to love with one of his students, but he was poor, sick,

compensate for his physical shortcomings.

shy and remained silent. The next year he took a job

Andrew Baskin Stephens, a poor farmer and a in Liberty County tutoring the children of Dr. Louis

country school teacher from Wilkes County, and his LeConte. Of these thirteen pupils, John and Joseph

42 first wife Margaret Grier had two children, and would particularly distinguish themselves in later

Margaret died the same year her second child, Alexan- years. After a year with the LeContes, Stephens

der, was born. Alexander was frail and sickly, but he decided to study law. He worked feverishly for ten

spent his boyhood doing hard farm work and oc- weeks and was examined on July 22, 1834 by four of

casionally attending school. When he was fourteen, antebellum Georgia's finest lawyers, including William

his father, whom he loved dearly, died of pneumonia. H. Crawford and Joseph Henry Lumpkin. He passed

His stepmother, Matilda Lindsay, who had borne the exam - the last to be administered by Crawford

Andrew five children, died the next week. Or- who died one week later - and practiced law in

phaned, Alexander was sent to live with an uncle, Crawfordville for the next two years.

and the boy attended school with the meager inheri-

His interest in politics grew with his law practice,

tance from his father's estate.

and in 1836 he was elected to the state legislature.

By 1827 his money was spent, and he had sadly His conservative orthodoxy and general popularity

resolved to seek a clerk's job when his Sunday won him re-election five times. Then in 1843 he was

school teacher, Charles C. Mills, who had been im- elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, a post

pressed with the lad's serious-mindedness and aca- he retained until his resignation in 1859. Well-known

demic aptitude, volunteered to send Aleck to an for his wit and intelligence, Stephens tried to main-

academy in nearby Washington, Georgia. He did well tain the Union and the rights of the states. However,

at the academy, and he became so devoted to his during the debates that preceded the Compromise of

teacher, Alexander Hamilton Webster, that young 1850, he warned Congress that the South would fight

Stephens adopted his middle name. in the fall of 1828 if "conciliation" could not be made on "reasonable

he accepted a loan from a Presbyterian organization, and just principles." Like Howell Cobb and Robert

the Georgia Education Society, and entered the Toombs, he hurried home to Georgia to encourage

freshman class at the University of Georgia. As an support of the Compromise of 1850 after the com-

undergraduate, he was happy and popular, and he promise measures had been enacted by Congress.

graduated in 1832 at the head of his class. Eschewing Stephens was one of the mainstays of Unionism in

a ministerial career. he set out to teach in Madison Georgia, working toward moderation throughout the

and repay his college loan.

sectional conflict until the secession convention had

Alexander Hamilton Stephens, 1812-1883

THE FIRST CONFEDERATE CABINET. Seated, left to right: Judah P. Benjamin, attorney general; Stephen R. Mallory, navy; Alexander H. Stephens, vice-president; Jefferson Davis, president; John H. Reagan, postmaster general; Robert Toombs, secretary of state. Standing, left to right: Christopher G. Memminger, treasury; Leroy P. Walker, war.

acted. In January 1861, with the Georgia legislature tried to reaffirm the concept of state sovereignty in

considering secession, Stephens ardently spoke for a two-volume work (1868 & 1870) entitled A Consti-

the "government of our fathers," but his advice went tutional View of the Late War Between the States.

unheeded, and Georgia seceded. The secession con-

Turning down a professorship in history and poli-

vention sent delegates to the Montgomery conven- tical science at the state university, Stephens con-

tion. When the Confederate government was or- tinued to write, producing a school history in 1872 43

ganized, Stephens, a member of the Georgia delega- and ten years later an illustrated version that never

tion, was elected vice-president on February 9, 1861. enjoyed the success of the first edition. He also

He soon lost faith in Jefferson Davis' executive bought interest in an Atlanta newspaper, the Southern

ability and conduct of the war. Suspension of habeas Sun, but his journalistic efforts were not profitable

corp u.s, conscription of troops, and other actions and he turned to other ventures.

which Stephens saw as unconstitutional under the

Although he was ill and crippled, Stephens was

Confederate government, caused him to encourage elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1872

opposition to Davis' policies in his home state. and served for ten years before he resigned. He again

Stephens was also much more oriented toward ending proved himself to be an able spokesman for the South,

the war through compromise than Davis was.

and he played an important role in encouraging the

Beginning in June 1863 and continuing through compromise of 1877. After a year of retirement,

the Hampton Roads conference in February 1865, Alexander Stephens was elected governor. He died

Stephens negotiated for Confederate independence. in 1883, shortly after his inaugration.

After the Hampton Roads conference failed, he

Stephens typifies the white Southern political

realized the inevitability of unconditional surrender leaders of his day who were never able to effectively

and went home to his "Liberty Hall" plantation to balance conflicting loyalties to nation and state. His

await the collapse of the Confederacy. He was arrest- racism was also typical. In 1859 he defended slavery

ed when the war was over and spent five months in based on his beliefs that blacks were inferior and that

prison before he was paroled.

class order was essential to society. In spite of his

Unlike many, Stephens survived the war traumas, shortcomings, he gave a lifetime of devoted public

adjusted to changing circumstances, and continued service to his fellow Georgians. His successes are a

to serve his state. He was elected to the Senate in tribute to his courage, his wit, and his persistence.

1866, only to be excluded along with other "rebels."

He encouraged Georgians to accept Reconstruction,

but when congressional policies became more harsh

and more drastic than he had envisioned, he again

by James M. Gifford

Robert Toombs played a major role in mid~ the seventeen-year-old daughter of a wealthy planter,

nineteenth century Georgia political life. During the and their happy marriage produced three children.

antebellum period. he served as a legislator and a Toombs was immediately successful in his law prac-

congressman. When the Civil War erupted, Toombs tice, and he invested his growing wealth in his Wash-

was appointed as Jefferson Davis' secretary of state. ington, Wilkes County plantation. In 1836 he raised

He also played a military role in the war. After the a company of volunteers and fought under Winfield

war he was a determined opponent of Congressional Scott in the Creek Indian Wars.

Reconstruction and an important "behind~the~

His political career began when he was elected to

scenes" figure in Georgia politics.

the state legislature in 1837. For the next six years

Robert A. Toombs. the fifth child of Robert his conservative Whiggery and devotion to sound fi-

Toombs and his third wife Catherine Huling was born nance won him continued support and in 1844 he
near Washington, Georgia on July 2, 1810. His father. was elected to the u.s. House of Representatives.

a veteran of the Revolutionary War, died when young As a congressman, he was a background figure who

Robert was five years old, leaving his family well~ won friends and kept a careful eye on government

provided. Bob had a happy, healthy. mischievous ex penditures. When the crisis of 1850 erupted, he

childhood.

emerged as a fiery spokesman for his homeland. Fear-

At age fourteen he entered the freshman class at the ing a Northern congressional usurpation of Southern

University of Georgia and quickly acquired a repu~ rights. he told Congress in his famous "Hamilcar

tation for boyish disregard of authority. During the speech" to "give us our just rights. and we are ready.

fall of his sophomore year, a running feud with as ever heretofore. to stand by the Union ... Refuse

brothers Junius and Granby Hillyer erupted in several it and I for one will strike for independence." But

violent fights in which Robert brandished club and Toombs' unionist feelings were equally strong, and

pistol. Shortly thereafter he was dismissed from he played a major role in effecting the Compromise

school, but the university debating societies inter~ of 1850 and encouraging its acceptance in his home

44 ceded on his behalf and the faculty reinstated him on sta te.

probationary status. During his senior year President

In 1853 his efforts won him election to the Senate,

Moses waddel admonished him frequently for swear- and he held this post for the next seven years. Senator

ing and the faculty fined Toombs and his roommate Toombs championed Southern and states' rights, but

for "loud laughing and boisterous conversation in he also tried to promote national "peace. equality,

their room" which got "worse and worse" after an and fraternitv. Some of his best. and often over-

admonition. That January, 1828. as a reuslt of a looked. work in Congress was done in economic

long series of accumulated grievances. the faculty matters. He was a shrewd student of government

dismissed Toombs from school. (Ironically. his ex pc nd itures and proper financial procedures.

next association with the university would be as

When Lincoln was elected in 1860, Toombs decid-

a member of the board of trustees.)

ed that Southern interests could no longer be pre-

Probably to escape his reputation, Toombs left for served within the structure of the federal government.

Schenectady, New York. enrolled at Union College. He left the Senate in January 1861 and returned to

and graduated in July 1828. That fall the Georgia Georgia to encourage secession with the full power

firebrand entered the University of Virginia Law of his oratory. He was chosen as one of the delegates

School, and in December 1829 the Georgia legis- to meet with representatives from other seceded

lature passed a special act permitting him to enter states in Montgomery. Alabama. When this body

the bar in his minority. He passed his exams and was created the Confederate States of America, Toombs

licensed in March 1830 by Judge William H. Craw~ was not elected president as he had hoped. Reluctant-

ford. Eight months later he marriedJulia Ann Dubose. ly he accepted Jefferson Davis' offer to be secretary

Robert Augustus Toombs, 1810-1885

45

of state, but he quickly grew hostile to Davis and his policies. Dissatisfied, he resigned his cabinet position for a military commission. Toombs commanded in the battles of Malvern Hill and Antietam, but he did not distinguish himself. Finally, he resigned his commission and spent the rest of the war as a critic of Confederate policy.
At the end of the war he barely eluded arrest by Union troops and escaped through New Orleans to Havana, and later London and Paris. He returned to the United States in 1867, but he never applied for a pardon and never regained U.S. citizenship. Nevertheless, Georgia's "unreconstructed rebel" was immensely popular and made a fortune in his law practice. He also became a powerful force in state politics again and was influential in rewriting the state constitution in 1877. Among his other postwar accomplishments, he encouraged the regulation and taxation of railroads in Georgia.
Sadness was the theme of his last years. Despondent

over the deaths of his wife Julia and best friend "Aleck" Stephens, and depressed by increasing loss of vision due to cataracts, he became an alcoholic in his desolation and loneliness. When he died in December 1885, Henry Grady eulogized "it is doubtful if the records of a lordlier life than his can be found in the history of our republic." Northern papers were less complimentary. In retrospect, Robert Toombs emerges as a man of commanding talents who never focused on one goal long enough to achieve greatness, but, to many Georgians of his day, he was the defiant hero of Reconstruction and a symbol of a "glorious past."

by James M. Gifford

"And who in the devil is Joe Brown?" asked Robert

Toombs when he was told in July 1857 that Brown

was the Democratic party's gubernatorial nominee.

Historians have been seeking the proper answer to

Toombs' question for a century. Brown was a lawyer,

businessman, Georgia's war-time governor, and
u.s. senator. As one of the Confederacy's most un-

Brown's law practice was the springboard to a

cooperative governors and, later, as a Republican long political career. In 1849 he was elected to the

supporter of Congressional Reconstruction, he was state senate and soon emerged as one of the main

denounced as "Judas Escobes Brown," Southern forces in Georgia's Democratic party. In 1855 he

traitor.

was elected as one of Georgia's superior court judges.

Joe Brown was born April 15, 1821 in the Pickens Two years later when the state nominating conven-

district of South Carolina, near the home of John tion was deadlocked over five well-known candidates,
c. Calhoun. He was the oldest of Mackey and Sally Brown emerged as the Democratic party's compro-

Rice Brown's eleven children. His frontier family mise choice in the governor's race, thus prompting

46 was industrious and proud. Joe's grandfather had Toombs' question. Brown proved himself a shrewd

fought the British at King's Mountain and Camden, and capable politician by defeating Ben Hill, the

and his father had served under "old Hickory" at American party candidate, by 11,000 votes. He was

New Orleans. While he was still a child, Joe's family re-elected in 1859, 1861, and 1863 - the only man

moved to Union County, in the mountains of north to serve as Georgia's governor for four terms.

Georgia. Until he was nineteen Joe worked on the As governor, Brown was his own man. He doggedly

family farm and obtained a basic education. In 1840 pursued his beliefs in the face of opposition from

his father gave him a pair of oxen and his mother some of the state's most prominent politicians. He

donated a suit of homespun clothing, and Joe set advocated free public schools and endowment of the

out for Calhoun Academy in South Carolina. He state university and was instrumental in profitably

exchanged his animals for eight months board, and reforming the management of the state-owned

for the next four years he alternately went to school Western & Atlantic Railroad.

and worked to pay his expenses.

Governor Brown was an ardent champion of seces-

In 1844, he opened a successful academy in sion and an efficient war-time leader, but he was

Canton, Cherokee County, Georgia. At night he constantly at odds with Jefferson Davis and the Con-

read law. He was admitted to the bar in Augusta federate government throughout the war. Like Alex-

the following August. To further his training he ander Stephens, he was particularly disturbed over

borrowed money and entered yale Law School in the conscription law and the suspension of habeas

October 1845. He graduated the next year and re- corpus. In effect his devotion to states' rights was

turned to Canton. The thrifty Baptist Democrat self-defeating and counterproductive to the war

developed a successful, lucrative practice. In 1847 effort. At the end of the war he was imprisoned

he married Elizabeth Grisham. Brown was devoted but soon pardoned and released.

to his wife and their six sons and two daughters, After the war, he advocated conciliation and co-

and Elizabeth loved her husband with equal measure, operation and urged Georgians to accept Congres-

traveling with him, aiding him in writing speeches, sional Reconstruction as the quickest route to eco-

keeping a scrapbook of his career, and generally nomic recovery. Denounced as a traitor to the South-

giving him strong support.

ern cause, he pragmatically became a Republican

Joseph Emerson Brown, 1821-1894

Promoted by men like Joseph E. Brown, Atlanta was enthusiastically hailed as a symbol of the New South in 1877.

47

and unofficially played an important role in moderating the Reconstruction of Georgia. In 1868, the Republicans attempted to reward his efforts by electing
him to the u.s. Senate, but Brown's Democratic
enemies foiled the scheme in the state legislature. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed chief justice of the state supreme court. When it became obvious that the Republicans were losing control of the state, Brown resigned from the court and skillfully worked his way back into the good grace of the Democratic party leadership. Then he remained in the political background for almost a decade, devoting his energies to increasing his private fortune.
In 1880 he was appointed by Governor Alfred H. Colquitt to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate and was then twice re-elected, serving until March 3, 1891. After 1880, Brown allied with John B. Gordon and Alfred H. Colquitt to control state politics until his death, November 30,1894.
In his post-war years Brown combined his business

ability and his political contacts to build a financial empire of real estate, mines, and railroads. Many felt that Brown built his financial empire through illegal means. Great criticism was also leveled against Brown's use of convict labor in the Dade County coal mines.
In her study of Reconstruction in Georgia, C. M. Thompson concludes that Brown was "first in secession, first in reconstruction and very nearly first in the restoration of Democratic home rule. Consequently he came up on top at every revolution of the wheel of destiny." What this phenomenon implies is an unresolved question among historians who are still trying to answer Toombs' famous question. Brown remains a puzzling and contradictory figure. He was passionately loyal to the goal of Southern independence, but his open hostility to Jefferson Davis' war-time measures surely helped to destroy the Confederacy.

by James M. Gifford

Northerners and Southerners continued to split

over the tumultous events of the 1850s, and each new Howell Cobb won state and national fame as one rift seemed capable of tearing the union apart. To

of mid-nineteenth century Georgia's prominent quell dissatisfaction with the compromise in his home statesmen and politicians. He served in the House of state, Cobb returned to Georgia to deal the radicals a

Representatives during the 1840s and was elected crushing blow by winning the 1851 gubernatorial

Speaker of the House from 1849 to 1851. He was election on the Constitutional Union party ticket.

governor of Georgia from 1851 to 1853 and James When his term as governor expired in 1853, his wife,

Buchanan's secretary of the treasury from 1857 to who was uncomfortable in the spotlight of national

1860. For most of the antebellum period Cobb politics, hoped that Howell would quietly return to

espoused Unionism and Southern moderation, but private life. But the dual commitment that Howell

after 1853 his views changed with changing circum- Cobb felt to the South and the Union was a burden

stances, and by 1860 he had become an outspoken that he could not put down, and he returned to

secessionist.

Congress in 1855 to wage war against the forces of

Howell was born September 7,1815 at Cherry Hill, Northern and Southern extremism that threatened to

Jefferson County, Georgia. His parents, John A. and destroy the union.

Sarah Rootes Cobb moved to Athens, the site of the

According to his biographer, John Eddins Simpson,

state university, to give their children better educa- after 1853 Cobb struggled desperately to regain his

tional opportunities. Howell attended the University standing in the Democratic party. He campaigned

of Georgia and graduated in 1834. That same year hard for Democratic nominee James Buchanan in

he married Mary Ann Lamar, the daughter of a 1856 and his efforts were successful. The next year

wealthy and socially prominent family. Although his "Old Buck" rewarded Cobb with a cabinet position

future was financially secure, young Cobb wanted to as secretary of the treasury, and the Georgian became

do more with his life than rest on family laurels. He a leader of the cabinet and Buchanan's close

48 studied law for the next two years and was admitted confidant.

to the bar in 1836. The next year he began an in-

By 1860 sectional problems had intensified and

tensely ambitious career of public service that spanned Civil War was imminent. A new, unified, anti-slavery

the rest of the antebellum period.

Republican party had emerged to represent Northern

In 1837 twenty-two-year-old Howell Cobb was sentiment; but the Democratic party, which had been

elected solicitor of Georgia's Western Judicial Circuit. trying to maintain national party unity for two

The people of his district, mostly Unionists, respected decades, was splintering. Cobb desperately sought

his work and elected him to represent them in Con- the presidential nomination in 1860, but the Demo-

gress in 1842. Cobb's devotion to Southern modera- cratic party split insured Lincoln's election. Realizing

tion and his love of the Union were dual qualities that his political future in Washington was over, Cobb

which made him attractive to the Southern and resigned from Buchanan's cabinet.

Northern Democrats who rewarded him with the

Returning to Georgia, Cobb capitalized on in-

House Speakership in 1849. As Speaker, he presided flamed public opinion and became one of the leaders

over some of the most significant and heated contro- of the secession movement in his home state. In

versies in congressional history.

January 1861, a state convention was held to con-

The United States had just acquired a vast expanse sider secession, and, although Cobb was not an of-

of southwestern territory, including California, from ficial delegate, he played a major role in Georgia's

the Mexican War, and Northerners and Southerners, decision for disunion. When delegates of the seceded

who were rapidly polarizing into anti-slavery and pro- states met in Montgomery to organize the Confedera-

slavery camps, wanted to promote their respective cy, Cobb was elected chairman of the convention.

sectional interests in the new territories. Cobb's He hoped his post would be the springboard to the

leadership was important in effecting the Compro- presidency, and he was deeply disappointed when

mise of 1850. Unfortunately the compromise was not Jefferson Davis was elected, with Alexander H.

a final resolution. It merely postponed a final de- Stephens as his vice-president. Cobb's pride was

cision on whether slavery would remain a part of wounded, and he announced that he would not ac-

American life.

cept a cabinet position. Nevertheless, he remained

one of Davis' most loyal supporters.

Howell Cobb, 1815-1868

49
The byproduct of secession was Civil War, and Cobb felt a personal obligation to fight for the Confederacy. He was overweight and a poor horseman-not at all the dashing military stereotype. Perhaps he might have contributed more as a non-military leader, but he did what he thought he had to do. He obtained a colonel's commission, raised a regiment of Georgia volunteers, and fought creditably in Virginia and later in defense of his home state.
Of greater importance than his military contributions were the efforts he made to coordinate Jefferson Davis' military policies with the "often obstreperous" efforts of Georgia's war-time governor, Joseph E. Brown. During the war he was promoted to brigadier and, by the end of the war, major general. He was arrested at the end of the war. When he was paroled, he returned to his family in Athens.
Mary Ann Cobb finally had her wish granted. Her husband, who had spent almost thirty years in politics and war, returned to private life. For the next three years Cobb practiced law and brought stability to the war-torn family economy. In 1868 he died in New York while he and his family were returning from a New England vacation.
by James M. Gifford

Ben Hill, a successful lawyer and gifted statesman,

was one of mid-nineteenth century Georgia's most

important politicians. A man of conservative in-

stincts, he was flexible and realistic enough to change

with the changing circumstances of Civil War and

Reconstruction. A number of better-known ante-

bellum Southern leaders never adjusted to post-war

conditions, but men like Ben Hill quietly guided

Georgians through the transition from Old to New

South and helped to heal the breach in the Union.

Shortly after the turn of the nineteenth century,

John and Sarah Parham Hill moved from North Caro-

lina to Jasper County, Georgia where Benjamin, the

seventh of their nine children, was born. When young

Ben was ten years old his family moved to the recently-

opened Indian lands in Troup County. As a child, he

became accustomed to hard work and infrequent

educational opportunities, but, when he had the who had moved into the Democratic party. Hill,

chance to go to school, he demonstrated his scholas- unquestionably his party's most able Georgia spokes-

tic aptitude so thoroughly that his family made man, successfully debated his former colleagues.

considerable sacrifices to send him to the University Toombs came off second best under Hill's withering

50 of Georgia. Four years later, at the age of twenty-one, attacks, and Hill so exasperated Stephens that the

he graduated with valedictory honors. That same year emaciated little warrior challenged him to a duel,

(1844), he was admitted to the bar and began a life- but Hill was one of the many Americans opposed

long practice.

to the code duello, and he skillfully declined.

Eloquent, confident, and well-trained, Hill soon His popularity was growing, and two years later

gained a reputation for success that made him a he ran against, but lost to, Joseph E. Brown in the

wealthy man. Before he returned to LaGrange, in gubernatorial election. When the American party

Troup County, to begin law practice, he had married died a natural death, Hill returned to the Constitu-

Caroline Holt of Athens. Eventually they had six tional Union party and supported John Bell in 1860.

children.

Following Lincoln's election, he attended the se-

After six years of private practice, Hill was elected cession convention held at Milledgeville in January

to the state House of Representatives (1851). He was 1861 to fight disunion, but when his best efforts

devoted to the South and the Union, so he en- failed he reluctantly signed the ordinance of se-

couraged Georgians to accept the Compromise of ceSSIOn.

1850. Hoping the acceptance and the compromise Although Hill did not favor war, he could not turn

were final, Hill returned to his practice in LaGrange. his back on the South. He attended the Provisional

His party loyalties changed from Whig to Con- Congress at Montgomery and helped formalize the

stitutional Union to American or "Know-Nothing" Confederate government. In November 1861, he was

during the next five years. In 1856, he ardently cam- elected a Confederate senator and served for the

paigned for Millard Fillmore, the "Know-Nothing" remainder of the war. Although Hill was not afraid

. party's presidential nominee. While "stumping" to change his mind, he was not a man of vascillating

the state, he came in conflict with former Whig loyalties. Once committed, Ben Hill remained dedi-

friends Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens, cated. In Georgia, he staunchly defended some of

Jefferson Davis' controversial war-time measures

against the criticisms of Robert Toombs, Joe Brown,

Linton Stephens, and other state leaders. Davis

later dubbed him "Hill, the faithful." Arrested with

Benjamin Harvey Hill, 1823-1882

The wartime devasation of Ben Hill's beloved South is vividly shown in this view of Atlanta after Sherman's invasion.

so many other Southern leaders at the end of the

By 1870 Hill was encouraging Georgians to accept 51

war, Hill spent three months in a New York jail. the Reconstruction Acts and sacrifice pride to restore

When president Johnson pardoned him, he returned national unity. "It will be easier to reconcile the

to LaGrange.

South to the Union than to reconcile the North to

For two years he stayed out of politics and tried the Constitution," he said (Letter, July 4, 1866, re-

to rebuild his finances, but eventually his loyalty to printed in Savannah Daily News and Herald, July 9,

Georgia and the South made him speak out against 1866). Such feelings were unpopular, and Ben Hill,

Radical Reconstruction. In the summer of 1867 he once a "man of the people," was denounced for his

made a series of speeches in Atlanta, the most famous perfidy and cast into political oblivion for five years.

being the Davis House Speech of July 16, 1867, Then in 1875 he was elected to the United States

denouncing the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.

House of Representatives. He quickly won a reputa-

For the next three years, Hill's courage and elo- tion as an able spokesman for the South and played

quent opposition to Reconstruction enhanced his a valuable role in the Hayes-Tilden-election-dispute

regional fame and won him national recognition. compromise. His popularity in Georgia was returning,

After one of his fiery speeches, someone told Hill's and he was elected to the United States Senate on

son: "One hour after that speech of Ben Hill, 1 knew January 26, 1877. His career was cut short when he

that the redemption of Georgia was accomplished. All contracted cancer of the tongue and died in agony

the bayonets in the United States could not have on August 16, 1882.

awed nor all the wealth of the government debauched

a people who had listened to that speech" (Quoted in

A tlanta Constitution, Oct. 7, 1906, p. 6). But just as

he had changed his mind about slavery and secession,

Hill changed on Reconstruction.

by James M. Gifford

General John Brown Gordon returned to Georgia

as a popular hero at the end of the Civil War. With-

out any prior military training he had risen to major

general and corps commander in Lee's army. Gor-

don used his popularity and a wide following among

Confederate veterans to win election to three terms

in the United States Senate and one term as governor

of Georgia. A symbol of the Old South, Gordon

became a leading promoter of an industrialized New

South and a dominant figure in Georgia politics as

a member of the "Bourbon Triumvirate."

Gordon was born in Upson County, Georgia on

February 6, 1832. Entering the University of Georgia

in 1851, he compiled a successful record, but left

before graduating. After reading law privately he

passed the bar examination and entered practice in

52 Atlanta. He did not succeed as a lawyer. After his the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, an organization that

marriage in 1854, he joined his father in developing used violence and intimidation to subvert the political

coal mines in northwest Georgia. This venture pros- process. Then he entered politics as the Democratic

pered; Gordon soon bought a plantation and slaves. candidate for governor in 1868. He lost the election,

He emerged as an outspoken defender of slavery, but established himself as a leader in the Democratic

then an ardent secessionist.

party. After the Democrats regained control of the

At the beginning of the Civil War, Gordon helped state government in 1872, the legislature elected

organize a company of volunteers. They named Gordon to the United States Senate where he worked

themselves the "Racoon Roughs" and elected Gordon to restore home rule and white supremacy through-

captain, then joined the Army of Northern Virginia out the South.

at the front. Gordon became one of General Lee's Gordon suddenly resigned his Senate seat in 1880.

favorites and rose quickly in rank. He became a Georgians expressed outrage when Governor Alfred

brigadier general in 1862 and a major general in 1864. H. Colquitt appointed Joseph E. Brown, who had

General Gordon participated effectively in most of formerly cooperated with the Republicans, to replace

the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia, from him. Gordon then took a lucrative position with a

First Manassas to Appomattox. He performed es- railroad company with which Brown was associated.

pecially well in the 1864 Wilderness campaign. At Although all parties denied the existence of a deal,

Antietam he was hit five times. His severe wounds recently discovered evidence has proven that the

kept him out of action for seven months.

arrangement had been carefully worked out in ad-

After the war, Gordon traded on his reputation as vance. This series of events did not, however, di-

a southern hero. He organized and promoted a text- minish Gordon's tremendous popularity.

book company and a life insurance company; both After 1880, Gordon invested in a variety of ven-

failed and went into bankruptcy due to irresponsible tures from railroads to real estate schemes; except

management.

for the railroads, none of his investments succeeded.

Gordon worked on two levels to overturn Re- In 1884 he again looked to public office. His friends

construction government and black participation in promoted him for a cabinet office, but failed. With

Georgia politics. First he became Grand Dragon of help from Henry Grady and the aging Jefferson Davis,

John Brown Gordon, 1832-1904

53

Gordon won the 1886 gubernatorial election. Then, in 1890, he won another term in the Senate. He retired from politics in 1896.
Throughout his political career Gordon maintained great popularity in spite of widespread charges of corruption and fraudulent business dealings. Along with Joseph E. Brown and Alfred H. Colquitt, Gordon dominated Georgia politics from 1872 into the 1890s. This "Bourbon Triumvirate" represented a conservative political order that glorified the southern past, but advocated an industrialized New South, as proclaimed by Henry Grady. Gordon in particular served as a symbol of the Lost Cause, while promoting new industry and development.
During and after his political career Gordon preached a message of national reconciliation. He pictured the Civil War as a noble struggle of conscience, in which both sides fought gallantly. Only the question of the right of states to secede from the Union had caused and sustained the war, he believed. Because the war had settled that issue, Gordon

called for an end to sectional strife. His message, in effect, asked the nation to forget the freedom and citizenship of southern blacks, and to allow the South to deal with them as it saw best. This appeal, promoted by Gordon and others, gained gradual nationwide acceptance.
Gordon helped organize the United Confederate Veterans Association in 1889, and served as its president until his death. In 1903, he published his romantic Reminisce/Ices of the Ciuil IVar. In both of these endeavors, Gordon continued to glorify the past and stress the need for national reconciliation. He died at his winter home, near Miami, on J anuary 7, 1904. He received a hero's funeral in Atlanta: his popularity among Georgians endured.

by Von V. Pittman, Jr.

Grady wanted the South to become industrialized

Henry Woodfin Grady, renowned journalist and and he apprised northern capitalists of the region's

orator, was the most famous apostle of the "New abundant natural resources and cheap labor. If his

South" movement which sought to build an industrial- dream came true, urban industrial centers would

ized, economically prosperous society from the soon provide home markets for a new scientific.

ashes left by the Civil War. Grady was born in 1850, diversified agriculture which would emerge as the

in Athens, Georgia, the son of a prosperous merchant South overcame its reliance upon cotton. Grady

later killed in the Civil War. His early acquaintance wryly focused attention on the manner in which

with business and commercial pursuits and his mar- the South had been economically exploited by the

riage into a pioneer cotton manufacturing family North by describing a funeral in Pickens County,

may help to account for the zeal with which he later Georgia:

sought to free his region from its dependence on

They buried him in the midst of a

agriculture.

marble quarry; they cut through solid mar-

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Grady

ble to make his grave; and yet a little tomb-

briefly studied law at the University of Virginia

stone they put above him was from Ver-

before becoming editor of the Rome, Georgia,

mont. They buried him in the heart of a

Courier. When his employer forbade any attempt to

pine forest, and yet the pine coffin was im-

denounce corruption in local politics, the idealistic

ported from Cincinnati. They buried him

Grady left his job to buy and combine the town's

within touch of an iron mine, and yet the

two other papers. This venture ended in bankruptcy

nails in his coffin and the iron in the shovel

as did his Atlanta Herald soon thereafter. These

that dug his grave were imported from

failures depleted his inheritance and for a time

Pittsburgh. They buried him by the side

Grady wrote columns for the A tlanta Constitution

of the best sheep-grazing country on the

and Augusta Chronicle. An excellent reporter, he

earth, and yet the wool in the coffin bands

became Atlanta correspondent for the New York

themselves were brought from the North.

Herald in 1876 and began to establish the ties which

The South didn't furnish a thing on earth

enhanced his later efforts to affect an economic and

for that funeral but the corpse and the

54 ideological union between the South and the indus-

hole in the ground.

trial Northeast.

Grady's ability to anticipate the mood of his

In 1880 Cyrus W. Field loaned him $20,000 which audiences and to structure his speeches accordingly

he used to buy a one-fourth interest in the Atlanta made him a popular orator in the North as well as

Constitution. As editor of the Constitution, which the South. His most famous "New South" speech,

quickly became one of the region's most widely read which he delivered before the New England Society

newspapers, Grady prescribed optimism and diligent in New York City in 1886, was an attempt to con-

pursuit of northern industrial capital as the cure for vince people both North and South that in spite of

the desolate South's economic ills. Grady loved his the bitter past, a bright future was possible through

native region but he expressed no bitterness concern- cooperation. In a gesture of friendship to the North,

ing the Civil War, pointing out that the destruction Grady paid homage to the late President Lincoln,

of slavery had freed the South from shackles which but he also devoted much attention to the "glorious

had retarded its progress.

civilization" of the antebellum South and the heroes

of the Confederacy. A skilled propagandist, Grady

made reconciliation seem logical and materially

appealing to Northerners without offending South-

erners.

A warm and generous individual, Grady developed

a large popular following through personal contacts

as well as his writings and speeches. He worked for

economic growth throughout the South but he was

interested especially in bringing industrial prosperity

to Atlanta. In 1888, with the cooperation of Hoke
Smith, then the editor of the rival Atlanta Joumal,

Grady breathed new life into the Atlanta Manu-

facturers Association which had been declining for

several years.

Henry Woodfin Grady, 1850-1889

The Atlanta Constitution building where Grady wrote his famous New South editorials.
L
)\
"''0
/
,
~;

55

As a foe of sectional strife, a champion of thrift and hard work, and a booster of public education, Grady served his region well. Yet, as was the case with many lesser known prophets of the New South, Grady proved to be shortsighted and unrealistic on certain crucial issues. He used his influence to help insure the election of state officials friendly to the interests of bankers, industrialists, and railroad owners and upheld ideals which were largely materialistic.
Grady belittled Northern attempts to intervene in the region's racial affairs, arguing that Southern blacks were contented and well-treated in spite of evidence to the contrary. As an advocate of paternalism Grady condemned lynchings and other racial atrocities, but he maintained his belief in AngloSaxon superiority. Grady was also given to wishful thinking, and in the years before his death he painted glowing but inaccurate portraits of a South now blessed by prosperity and progress.
Grady died at the youthful age of thirty-nine after being stricken with pneumonia while enroute home from a speaking engagement in Boston. In the

long run he better served his contemporaries than many Southern leaders of subsequent generations who adopted Grady's energetic but blind "boosterism" and vigorously pursued Northern investments instead of attempting to solve the region's severe economic and social problems. In the post-Reconstruction era, however, Henry Grady provided inspiration and philosophical leadership directed toward a new and better day for his native South.

by James C. Cobb

Photograph courtesy of Woodruff

Joel Chandler Harris was born on December 9,

Library, Special Collections, Emory University. 1848, at Eatonton, Georgia. He grew up during the

years of intense debate on the slave question, and in

his teen years he saw the ravages of the Civil War in

Georgia. Sherman's army marched through his home

county. His early manhood and maturity spanned

the years of Reconstruction, the rise of the New

South movement, the emergence of the United States

as one of the industrial powers of the world, and the

Spanish American War. Since most of his career

was spent as a journalist, Harris followed these

momentous events with keen interest. But, in the

meantime, he also drew upon childhood memories

of pre-Civil War days and gave to the world the tales

which have brought pleasure to millions of people.

Joel Harris spent his first thirteen years in Eaton-

ton. Life there probably was routine and peaceful,

perhaps even boring to a boy with an active, inquisi-

tive mind. However, in 1862, a significant turn came

when Harris decided to apprentice himself to Joseph

Addison Turner who edited a small newspaper,

Uncle Remus is better known than the man who The Countryman, at nearby Turnwold plantation.

made him famous in American literature. But Joel This launched Harris' career in journalism, but it

Chandler Harris would not have minded its being proved to be much more than that. Under Turner's

that way. The shy and unassuming Harris eschewed strict tutelage Harris learned to write well, was

the public limelight all his life. In the quietness of his encouraged to read widely, and became a proficient

office and home, however, Harris' retentive mind journalist. In those same years, his alert eyes and

and gifted pen poured forth the stories which assured ears took in the world of the plantation and stored

immortality to Uncle Remus, Br'er Rabbit and away rich experiences which later provided the

56 dozens of other figures who belonged to a special material for his stories. It was Turner who molded

part of plantation life in the Old South. Simultane- Harris' early career and cultivated his preference for

ously, and incidentally almost, this unique author southern writing.

carved out an enduring niche for himself in the

Harris spent most of his life in Georgia. When he

literary world.

left Turnwold in 1866, he went to New Orleans for a

Harris courted obscurity. He never made a public short time but homesickness soon brought him back

speech in his entire life and referred to himself as to Macon, and then to Forsyth, to a job on the

"an accidental author." But by such contemporaries Monroe Advertiser. In 1870 he became associate

as Mark Twain and James Whitcomb Riley he was editor of the Savannah Morning News, where his

judged to be a writer of considerable originality and daily column, "Affairs in Georgia," soon established

talent. Walter Hines Page visited Harris in Atlanta him as a highly popular humorist and critic of current

shortly after the publication of Uncle Remus: His events. In Savannah he also met Esther LaRose, an

Songs and Sayings. Afterwards, Page recorded the eighteen-year-old Catholic girl of French Canadian

following impressions: "A little man, just thirty-one, descent, whom he married on September 21, 1873.

I believe, with red, unkept hair, a fiery, half-vicious

An outbreak of yellow fever in 1876 forced Harris

moustache, a freckled face and freckled hands; and and his family to flee the coast of Georgia to the

' I( ' there is nothing striking about him - what strange
habitations does genius choose among men ou-

sins,117).

/.

~

,

more healthful climate of Atlanta. There, along with Henry W. Grady, he became an associate editor of the A tlanta Constitution. From their editorial desks Harris and Grady opposed the sectional politicians of Georgia and urged all southerners to participate-in

J.I .

the industrial progress of the United States by co-

operating with other regions of the nation. Some

scholars have insisted that Uncle Remus' popularity

in all parts of the United States was a significant

factor in healing old Civil War wounds and in bringing

reconciliation between the North and the South.

Joel Chandler Harris, 1848-1908

~-'/

Shortly after Harris joined the Constitution staff

he began writing sketches in dialect, and Uncle

Remus eventually made his appearance as a shade-tree

philosopher commenting on events in Georgia. The

first of the "'tales" appeared on July 20,1879, under

the title, "'The Story of Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Fox."

After that date Harris' creative output gained momen-

tum and, drawing upon the memory of his early years

at Eatonton and Turnwold, he produced a number of

His Songs and

his unique tales. In less than eighteen months after

the first one appeared Uncle Remus: His SonJ.[s and

Sayings was published.

-

The strain of founding a new magazine plus other

By 1880 readers of the influential New York responsibilities broke Harris' already fragile health, 57

HveninJ.[ Post, the Springfield Republican, and other and by the spring of 1908 he was in serious con-

newspapers around the country were already familiar dition. Two weeks before his death on July 3 he was

with the Uncle Remus stories. Consequently, there baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, a step he

was a vast reading public prepared to receive Harris' had been contemplating for several years. He was

first book when it appeared and the modest author buried in Westview Cemetery, Atlanta.

became an instant celebrity. That initial success was

In the course of his career Joel Chandler Harris

enhanced by the publication of Nights with Uncle produced several volumes of children's stories, a few

Remus (1883), Daddy Jake and the R.unaway and poems, various articles for the Satli rddY }:' "clli n,I{ IJost,

Short Stories Told After Dark (1889), and Uncle vast numbers of miscellaneous newspaper articles and

R.emus and His Friends (1892).

editorials, two novels, and a number of short stories

In 1900 Harris retired from the Constitution to depicting special aspects of life in Georgia. There can

devote more time to his private writing. The follow- be little doubt, however, that his world-wide popu-

ing years should have been the happiest and most larity and his place in literature derive chiefly from

productive of his life. He was in his early fifties and his remarkable tales conveyed through

witty

his reputation as an author was established. Unfor- and wise storyteller, Uncle Remus.

tunately, poor health dogged him throughout his last

years. During the first two years of retirement he

suffered personal illnesses from which he never fully

recovered, and the energy sapped by disease affected

the quality of his writing. After many problems and

delays, Harris realized in 1907 a cherished dream of

founding and editing a southern literary magazine

called [Jncle I<ernus Magazine. After a somewhat slow

beginning the magazine became successful in both the

North and South, achieving a circulation of more

than 200,000 by 1908.

by Roger A. Martin

In 1896, the Populist convention nominated Wat-

son for the vice-presidency before deciding to endorse

William Jennings Bryan, the free silver Democratic

The man who became the embodiment of the nominee, for president. The Democrats gave some

agrarian revolt of the late nineteenth century, Thomas indication that in the event of a Populist endorsement

E. Watson, was born near Thomson, Georgia, in 1856. of Bryan they would drop their vice-presidential

Although he became the champion of Georgia's poor nominee, Arthur Sewall, and replace him with Wat-

white farmer, Watson spent much of his early life on son. Although absent from the Populist convention,

his well-to-do grandfather's sizable estate. The gran- Watson accepted the nomination but the Democrats

deur of plantation life instilled in him a reverence for refused to remove Sewall from their ticket. In spite

the old order at a time when New South prophets like of his disappointment Watson campaigned for Bryan

Henry Grady were trying to build a new one. Watson and found many of his own followers disillusioned

became a successful criminal lawyer after his two and many Democrats unappreciative of his efforts.

years at Mercer University, and once he had estab-

Embittered, Watson abandoned office-seeking and

lished his practice took great pride in restoring his turned to writing. His two-volume The Story of

impoverished family to the "Sweetwater Place" France reflected his Populist philosophy, and he also

which his father had owned before the civil War.

wrote biographies of Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson

In his early political career Watson came under the and Andrew Jackson. Watson was the presidential

influence of Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Ste- nominee of the moribund Populist party in 1904 and

phens, and his first campaigns reflected much of the 1908, but prior to 1920 he had his greatest political

spirit of these Confederate agrarians. At age twenty- impact as an orator, writer and editor.

three Watson began to fight the state's Democratic

In his speeches and writings he turned away from

establishment. He served a term in the legislature and concrete issues to attack blacks whose support he

then easily won a congressional seat in 1890 as the had once sought, upholding lynching and flogging as

candidate of the Farmer's Alliance. Proclaiming him- a means of racial control. Watson used his Weekly

58 self a Populist, he left the Democratic party, founded Jeffersonian to lash out at Jews and Catholics, once

the People's Party Paper. and became a leading referring to the Pope as a "fat old Dago." He vicious-

spokesman for agrarian interests.

ly attacked Leo Frank, a Jewish superintendent of

While a member of Congress, Watson introduced an Atlanta pencil factory whose death sentence for

the first resolution in support of rural free delivery of the murder of a female employee had been com-

the mails. He lost his 1892 bid for re-election because muted. Watson's anti-semitic propaganda helped

of fraud and gerrymandering by the regular Demo- create the spirit of vengence which led to Frank's

crats; but, undaunted, Watson denounced the trusts lynching in ,1915. Such erratic behavior cost Watson

and their representatives within the Democratic party some support, but his bigotry also brought him a new

with even greater vigor. In his next campaign for and zealous following.

Congress, he encountered more fraud and some vio-

He actually became a state political boss in the

lence, and though he lost the election his popularity years between 1906 and 1922. Obsessed with a desire

continued to grow steadily among disgruntled farmers to dominate, Watson backed every governor elected

who found neither major political party responsive in this period except one and broke with them all

to their needs.

once they were in office. He supported Hoke Smith's

Although the depth of Watson's early commitment bid for the governorship in 1906 and influenced

to racial harmony has been debated by historians, as Smith to be more reform oriented, but in 1908 Wat-

a spokesman for the Alliance movement he flouted son opposed Smith and in 1920 won his United

convention by attempting to build an interracial States Senate seat away from him.

political coalition. Explaining to poor whites and Watson's victory in 1920 came in spite of his

blacks that they were kept apart so that they might controversial opposition both to the United States

be "separately fleeced," Watson declared: "The involvement in World War I and the military draft as

accident of color can make no difference in the well. He lived to serve on two years in the Senate

interest of farmers, croppers, and laborers" (Wood- and spent most of that time engaging in near-hysterical

ward, 220-21).

verbal attacks on the army, his fellow senators, and

members of the cabinet. He died of a cerebral hemor-

rhage on September 26, 1922.

Thomas Edward Watson, 1856-1922

59

Early in his career Watson brought hope and encouragement to the downtrodden farmers and laborers who became his devoted followers. In later years, however, the deaths of his children and the political reversals and frustrations he had experienced left him bitter, intemperate, and subject to temporary periods of insanity. As a result, the angry brilliance which had shed so much light on the grave problems of the southern farmer finally spent itself in frenzied attacks on evils which existed only in the mind of

Tom Watson. Ironically, in a period of self contemplation at age twenty-six, Watson had penned a likely epitaph for his tragic life: "I have imagined enemies where there were none: been tortured by indignities which were the creatures of my own fancy ..." (Woodward, 19).

by James C. Cobb

60

Rebecca Latimer Felton, writer and crusader for

reform, became an important factor in Georgia poli-

tics in a period when convention discouraged femi-

nine participation. In assisting her husband's political

career, and in her own independent career, she be-

came a thorn in the side of Georgia's Democratic

establishment. She gained fame as an outspoken Throughout the Civil War, the Feltons cared for

advocate of political and social reform. In 1922, wounded Confederate soldiers in Cartersville, then in

on a brief interim appointment, she became the first Macon, as Dr. Felton tried to move his family out of

woman to sit in the United States Senate.

the path of war. The suffering Mrs. Felton saw among

Rebecca Latimer was born on June 10, 1835, near the wounded, and experienced within her family,

Decatur, Georgia, the daughter of a prosperous mer- made a deep and lasting impression. At the end of

chant and farmer. Unlike many southern men of his the war the Feltons returned to their house in Car-

time, Mr. Latimer held as deep a concern for the edu- tersville which had escaped destruction. They joined

cation of his daughters as he did for his son. Rebecca in their community's rebuilding work; in 1866

attended boarding school in Oxford, then an academy they established a school in the Methodist church.

in Decatur. She graduated from the Madison Female Dr. Felton re-entered politics in 1874, as a con-

College in 1852, sharing first honors. A year later gressional candidate. The people in his district, the

she married Dr. William Felton, a widower, from "Bloody Seventh," were mostly small farmers, a

Cartersville. Felton had given up medical practice group that felt left out of the "New South" politics

for the Methodist mi'nistry and farming. A former of Georgia's conservative Democratic, or "Bourbon,'"

member of the state legislature, he was twelve years party leaders. Dr. Felton ran as an independent,

older than Rebecca. Rebecca Felton gave birth to representing an agrarian protest against Bourbon

five children; four died in childhood.

control. He won three terms in Congress before the

Democratic party displaced him. From 1884 through

1890, he represented Bartow County in the state

legislature.

Rebecca Latimer Felton, 1835-1930

Mrs. Felton took an active part in all of his cam-

paigns. Aware of public disapproval of women in

politics, she at first avoided publicity. Later, however,

she worked openly, acting as her husband's campaign

manager. She fiercely attacked Dr. Felton's political

enemies, accusing them of corruption and misrule.

During Dr. Felton's legislature career, she effectively

assisted him in promoting prohibition, state support

for education, penal reforms, and fighting to end the

convict lease system. After he retired from politics,

she struck out on an independent career.

Mrs. Felton crusaded effectively for a separate

women's penal institution in Georgia. The legislature

created the Training School for Girls and appointed

her to the Board of Managers. She also played an im-

portant role in promoting the passage of Georgia's

1908 prohibition law. She campaigned long and hard thy causes. For example, in advocating women's 61

for Georgia's ratification of the Nineteenth Amend- suffrage she promised that extending the vote to white

ment, giving women the right to vote. In this in- women would help keep black people out of the

stance, she failed.

political process. Sometimes she advocated vio-

Mrs. Felton probably exercised her greatest in- lence as a means of controlling race relations. She

fluence upon public opinion as a writer. In 1899, retained these convictions throughout her long

Hoke Smith, publisher of the A tlanta journal, en- career as a writer and a reformer.

gaged her to write a column for his statewide Semi-

Even after Dr. Felton's death in 1909, Mrs. Felton

Weekly };'clition. Through this medium she spoke to continued her involvement in politics. She attended

Georgia's rural population. In addition to advice on the 1912 Progressive party convention, as well as the

making farm life more attractive to young people, 1924 Democratic convention. In 1922 Governor

a primary concern, she gave advice on matters of Hardwick recognized Rebecca Felton's contribution

morals and manners. She continued to attack state to the state of Georgia by appointing her to the

and national politicians, and to crusade for social United States Senate following the death of Tom

reform. Also, she wrote two books, My Memoirs Watson.

of Georgia Politics (1911) and Country Life ill Geor-

The Senate recognized her credentials on Novem-

gia in tlze Days of My Youtlz (1919). The first scath- ber 21. On November 22, she gave a speech, then

ingly attacked a number of important political yielded to Watson's elected successor, Walter George.

figures and defended her husband's career. The She became the nation's first female senator at the

second provided a good antidote to the romanticized age of 87. Her honorary appointment cleared the way

versions of the Old Sou th left by more conservative for other women to hold national office. She died in

writers.

Atlanta on January 22, 1930. Her pioneer efforts on

While Mrs. Felton held advanced views on many behalf of woman's rights and social reform had filled

social issues, her opinions on race relations were a very long, controversial, and uscfullifetime.

in line with those of most white southerners of her

generation. Like many progressive reformers, she of-

ten used racial prejudice to promote otherwise wor-

by Von V. Pittman, Jr.

62

Hoke Smith was one of the most successful reform for control of his party in 1896, he opposed the

governors in Georgia's history and a leading southern silverite faction led by William Jennings Bryan, but

progressIVe.

when Bryan won the presidential nomination Smith

He was born in 1855, the son of a professor of felt that maintenance of white supremacy in the

Greek and Latin at the University of North Carolina. South demanded that he support the Democratic

In 1872 the elder Smith moved to Atlanta and affili- ticket. This put him at odds with Cleveland, and he

ated himself with the public school system. In spite resigned from the cabinet in 1896.

of his father's profession, young Smith had little ex- Smith's career as a reformer did not begin until

posure to formal education, but his keen mind and he was sure that the Populist threat had been de-

the tutelage he received at home made up for this stroyed; only then did he feel safe in forming a coali-

handicap. After reading law for only a short period, tion with the agrarian crusader Tom Watson which

Smith won admission to the bar at age eighteen and would move him more toward reform. He advocated

his natural inclination for politics enabled him to more effective control of the railroads as well as the

become chairman of the Fulton County Democratic establishment of a state highway commission and

Executive Committee before he was twenty-one. In also attacked the notorious system which allowed

1887, after establishing a highly successful law prac- convicts to be leased as laborers to private employers.

tice he purchased the A tlanta Journal and began to By 1906, Smith was strongly identified with the

use it as a political organ.

progressive reform element within the state, and he

Ultimately Smith came to be known as a liberal won the governorship with the support of Tom

reformer, but in the 1890s he was a conservative Watson. In order to win Watson's backing, however,

Democrat who supported Grover Cleveland and Smith had to reassert his belief in white supremacy.

helped him carry Georgia in 1892. As a reward,

One of Smith's opponents in 1906 was the more

Cleveland appointed Smith secretary of the interior. conservative Clark Howell, editor of the rival Atlanta

When the question of silver coinage became a major Constitution. The two men and their newspapers

political issue in the 1890s, Smith allied himself engaged in an anti-Negro campaign which inflamed

with the conservative "Gold Bugs" who wanted to white prejudices and culminated in the Atlanta race

keep the country on the gold standard. In the battle riot of that year. During the campaign, Smith upheld

Hoke Smith, 1855-1931

disfranchisement as a means of ending the corrupt lasting significance: the Smith-Lever Act, which 63

vote buying and intimidation which he claimed sur- created a nationwide agricultural extention service,

rounded Negro voting. In 1908, although he failed to and the Smith-Hughes Act which provided for in-

win re-election, Smith's call for disfranchisement struction in agriculture, homemaking, and other

finally bore fruit as the state adopted the literacy skills in the public schools. Smith also supported

test and the grandfather clause. His principal bio- prohibition enforcement legislation, but opposed

grapher attributed Smith's white supremacist stand to universal woman's suffrage, arguing that determina-

political opportunism (Grantham, 178), but what- tion of voting requirements should remain the pre-

ever his motives, his actions helped to earn southern rogative of the individual states.

progressivism its "for whites only" label.

When war began in Europe in 1914, Smith fought

Smith won a second term as governor in 1910, but to make belligerents respect American rights of in-

shortly after his inauguration the legislature elected ternational trade, and became an outspoken advocate

him to fill the unexpired term of United States of preparedness. Smith supported United States entry

Senator A. S. Clay. Smith did not vacate the office into the war but he objected to the expansion of ex-

immediately but remained long enough to insure that ecutive prerogatives which occurred during the con-

his reform program would be enacted by the legisla- flict. After the war he favored ratification of the

ture. During the years that Smith served as governor Versailles Treaty with Henry Cabot Lodge's reserva-

the General Assembly moved to improve the state's tions attached, while President Wilson insisted that

roads, eliminated the convict lease system, gave an the treaty not be amended. In the long run Smith

enlarged railroad commission new jurisdiction over paid dearly for his stand on the treaty, for it appeared

public utilities, and passed the first state-wide pro- to many Georgians that he had acted as a pawn of

hibition law though Smith preferred local option on Lodge and the Republicans. In 1920, he lost his bid

the matter.

to remain in the Senate to Tom Watson, an old ally

In 1914 Smith won a full term in the Senate, turned adversary. Smith returned to Atlanta after

where he became a pioneer spokesman for agricultural leaving the Senate and lived there until his death in

and vocational education. He was a co-sponsor of 1931.

two pieces of legislation which proved to be of

by James C. Cobb

r
64
Oak Hill, the stately antebellum home of Martha Berry. Here she entertained the many visitors who came to the school.
Martha Berry, 1866-1942

poor weather and inadequate transportation, limited

the number of children the schools could serve.

Also, Berry felt that the children were reverting to

apathy between school terms. Against her family's

wishes, she deeded her inheritance to the schools,

established a board of trustees, and founded a board-

ing school for boys, which opened on January 13,

Martha McChesney Berry devoted most of her life- 1902. From the beginning, Berry stressed vocational

time to the pursuit of opportunity and education for education. She wanted the students to be able to re-

some of the nation's poorest children. The Berry turn to their homes with skills that would enable

Schools grew from a simple day school in a cabin into them to improve the standard of living in the moun-

a modern educational complex on a campus of tains.

33,000 acres near Rome, Georgia. Although she per- The expense of the day and boarding schools

sonally had a limited formal education, she developed quickly depleted her inheritance. Needing money

a system of vocational education that has served as a desperately, she made the first of many trips to

model for other school systems. She received eight New York in 1902, and raised over $1,700. On later

honorary degrees in recognition of her contributions trips, she received donations from many philanthro-

to education, and the Roosevelt Memorial Medal pists, including Andrew Carnegie and Adolph Ochs,

for service to the nation. She became the first female publisher of the New York Times. Henry Ford, not

member of Georgia's Board of Regents in 1932.

known as a generous man, became a frequent visitor

Martha Berry was born on October 7, 1866, at to Berry Schools and, ultimately, their largest single

Oak Hill plantation near Rome, Georgia, the daughter benefactor.

of a planter and cotton merchant. After instruction Berry used most of the money to expand facilities

by private tutors at home, she received her only and take in more students. With encouragement from

formal education at an expensive finishing school in President Theodore Roosevelt, she opened a girls

Baltimore. Disliking both the school and the city, she boarding school in 1909. In 1926 a junior college

returned home after only one year. Following her opened; it expanded to a four year program in 1930.

father's death in 1887, she and her mother took over Due to these rapid expansions, Berry had to work

the management of the plantation.

harder each year to obtain money. She began to

The Berry family hoped that Martha, as a pros- organize "pilgrimages" of wealthy visitors to the 65

perous young heiress, would marry well and settle campus, visits that she planned very carefully. One

into a conventional life. This, however, was not to be. businessman, very flattered to see his portrait in

One Sunday afternoon, as she was reading in a cabin every building, did not know that a student was

on the plantation, three small ragged boys startled preceding him, rehanging the same picture over and

her. She invited them in, told them Bible stories, and over. Most visitors made donations, and left with a

had them promise to return the next Sunday. Every very favorable impression of the schools.

week more children attended, then adults began to All students worked in the farms and shops operat-

accompany them. As the crowds grew, Berry moved ed by the schools. In this way they could pay all or

her Sunday school to an abandoned church at nearby part of their tuition and expenses. During some

Possum Trot. Soon she opened three more Sunday periods, as few as 8 percent of the students could

schools, travelling each week into isolated areas which afford to make even minimal tuition payments. In

ministers seldom visited.

addition, all students shared in the housekeeping

The people who attended Berry's services, the tasks. This program of hard work, on the job training,

mountaineers, or "highlanders" of the southern Ap- and a communitarian spirit became known as the

palachians, for the most part, lived in deep poverty. "Berry Way."

Fiercely independent, most of them were still trying Martha Berry never retired. She continued to over-

to farm worn out land using obsolete methods. see the operation of the schools and to make fund

Their children, largely ignored by the state, were raising trips well into her seventies. In August, 1941,

growing up illiterate and unskilled. Berry decided to in very poor health, she entered an Atlanta hospital.

commit herself to providing these children with an Never regaining strength enough to return to Mount

education and an opportunity to improve their Berry, she died the following February. She was

quality of life.

buried on the school grounds, near the chapel.

She established a day school on the plantation, The Mount Berry schools continue to flourish.

then with help from the local school board, three Thousands of children and young adults have passed

others. However, she quickly became dissatisfied. through the campus entrance, which is marked by

The long distances between farms, made worse by a sign, "The Gate of Opportunity."

by Von V. Pittman, Jr.

Margaret Mitchell gained immediate fame in 1936

with the publication of Gone With the Wind, a

massive romantic novel of the Civil War era. Critics

lavished praise upon the book, and compared Mitchell

favorably with Mark Twain and Leo Tolstoi. Gone

With the Wind won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for

fiction. The public bought more than 1,000,000

copies in six months - an unprecedented phenome-

non. More than 25,000,000 people paid to see the

motion picture version in its first six months' release.

Subsequently, Mitchell's novel has become a popular

classic, recording sales in excess of 12,000,000 copies

by 1965. Translations have appeared in twenty-five

languages.

Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta on Novem-

ber 8, 1900. As a child she listened for hours to the

highly detailed and colorful reminiscences of Con-

federate veterans and others about the Civil War and

Reconstruction. In addition, she started composing

stories at a very early age. Both of these childhood

66 influences would later bear heavily upon the creation

of Gone With the Wind. She attended the city's

public schools and then Washington Seminary in

Atlanta. In 1918 she enrolled in Smith College,

Northampton, Massachusetts, hoping to go on to

medical school after graduation.

Mitchell left Smith after only a year. Following her

mother's death, her father needed her as his house-

keeper and hostess. This was the first of several major

reverses. Her social career failed after the Atlanta

Junior Leagu.e denied her membership. Her first

marriage ended tragically in desertion in 1922 and

divorce in 1924. After all of these disappointments, "Peggy" Mitchell married John Marsh in 1925.

Mitchell decided to go to work as a reporter.

In the first year of their marriage, the Marshes lived

Because the city editor of the A tlanta journal under the shadow of heavy debts and low wages.

refused to hire female reporters, Mitchell became a Margaret declared: "John and I are going to live poor

feature writer for the journal's Sunday magazine. as hell and get out of this jam." They did. John

She soon earned the respect of the male staff mem- Marsh's career advanced rapidly, enabling Margaret

bers through her vivid feature stories, her willingness to leave the journal in 1926.

to perform dangerous stunts as a photographer's At her husband's suggestion, Margaret started

model, and her ability to adapt to the strenuous working on a novel late that year. She first decided

life style of reporters in that era.

upon her story line, then wrote the last chapter.

She wrote the others in random order, stopping

often for revision and research. In 1929, she put the

novel aside. During the next five years she occasional-

ly revised some chapters, although she considered

the story "substantially" complete.

Margaret Mitchell, 1900-1949

Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh vividly portrayed
* Mitchell's Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in
the movie version of Gone With the Wind.

Harold Latham, a vice-president of the Macmillan characters differ from the genteel class usually pre-

Company, persuaded a very reluctant Margaret sented in Confederate novels. Mitchell researched

Mitchell to let him see the manuscript. She apolo- her facts carefully. In particular, her accurate use of

getically turned it over to him in rough draft form, medical and economic history introduced elements

minus an opening chapter. Latham immediately not found in the sword-waving Civil War novels of

realized that the novel was "something of tremen- her day. Margaret Mitchell's theme of survival under

dous importance." Macmillan quickly offered a con- adversity, set in a romantic narrative, appealed to a

tract. Prior to publication, Mitchell rechecked her public grown weary of the gloomy reality of the

facts, decided upon a title, and changed the heroine's Great Depression. She, however, wrote about survival

name from "Pansy" to "Scarlett."

and triumph from the perspective of her own white, 67

The sudden immense fame and success after the well-to-do background, and used many stereotypes,

publication of Gone With the Wind in 1936 took a particularly of blacks. Her treatment of the Recon-

severe toll. Mitchell suffered exhaustion and tempo- struction period helped to perpetuate the dated

rary blindness. Visitors, correspondence, and legal "tragic era" view.

problems, including a ridiculous plagiarism suit, While some of the greatest works in American

provided constant interruptions. These problems literature appeared in the 1930s, Gone With the

intensified after the Atlanta premiere of the film Wind became the public's overwhelming choice.

version in 1939.

Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara are among the best

The demands on Mitchell's time and energy abated known characters in American fiction. Both the book

in the late 1940s. As life returned to normal, she and the motion picture version continue to enjoy

expressed a desire to resume her writing, perhaps with enormous success.

* two more novels about the history of Atlanta. The
Marshes decided to go to a movie on August 11, 1949. From the MGM release Gone with the Wind

As they crossed Peachtree Street, a speeding car struck Margaret. She died five days later.
Gone With the Wind rests in the tradition of the

1939 Selznick International Pictures, Inc. Copyright renewed, 1967, Metro-GoldwynMayer Inc.

plantation romance and the mythology of the Lost

Cause. However, it is much stronger than many other

novels of that category; its story is more important

than either the time or location. The strong central

by Von V. Pittman, Jr.

seeking re-election in 1938. The president determined

to oust George from office by endorsing another

Walter Franklin George, who served thirty-four candidate in the 1938 senatorial primary in Georgia.

years in the United States Senate, became widely Speaking at Barnesville, Georgia, in August, 1938,

known for his courageous conservatism and his will- Roosevelt asked voters to support Lawrence S.

ingness to cast aside political considerations in the Camp, the United States district attorney for north

interest of formulating a viable cold war foreign Georgia, instead of George.

policy.

George, who had hoped to avert a direct confronta-

Born on a tenant farm in Webster County, Georgia, tion with the immensely popular Roosevelt, calmly

in 1878, George established himself as an orator accepted the challenge. He wisely refrained from any

during his youth. At age fifteen, he amazed a Masonic direct attack on the president but struck out at his

convention with his talents, and at twenty he won an White House advisors and warned that the New

intercollegiate speaking contest with an oration on Dealers in tended to re-enact the "horrible persecu-

the Constitution. In his youth devotion to oratory tions" Georgia had endured during Reconstruction.

made his private conversational manner reserved and Attempting to capitalize on racial fears, George

formal, and in later years even members of his family focused attention on a proposed anti-lynching bill

referred to him only as "The Senator."

which Roosevelt actually did not support. When the

George graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Mercer votes were counted George had won handily over

University in 1900 and went on to the law school Camp and turned back a strong challenge by Eugene

there which would one day bear his name. The young Talmadge, whose attempts to label George a New

lawyer quickly acquired political connections and in Dealer had been spoiled by Roosevelt's intervention.

1906 became solicitor general of the Cordele Circuit.

George won the respect of many Americans by his

After serving as a judge of Superior Court and the fight with Roosevelt, and he completed his rise to

Court of Appeals, George became an associate justice national prominence by becoming the chairman of

of the Georgia Supreme Court in 1917.

the Senate Finance Committee in 1941. Initially,

In 1922, he won the righ t to succeed the legendary George hoped the United States could avoid involve-

Tom Watson in the Senate by capturing the support ment in the war in Europe and he opposed Roose-

of the state's powerful business interests and Watson's velt's attempts to engage in trade with the Allies on a

68 south Georgia supporters as well. During the cam- "cash and carry" basis. By the end of the war, how-

paign George favored rigorous enforcement of pro- ever, George seemed to have become more of an

hibition and restrictions on immigration, while op- internationalist. He supported the formation of the

posing entry into the League of Nations. In 1928, United Nations, and as chairman of the Senate

he was the state's favorite son presidential nominee at Foreign Relations Committee worked closely with

the Democratic National Convention.

President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles

In 1932 George opposed the nomination of Frank- in formulating American foreign policy. [n 1955,

lin D. Roosevelt as the Democratic candidate but George sounded one of the first calls for a summit

went on to support him in the campaign. Although conference of the major powers and rallied Demo-

George found most of Roosevelt's New Deal pro- cratic support for Eisenhower during the Formosa

grams offensive, he did support measures such as the cnSIS.

Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Tennessee George's critics pointed out that he seemed to serve

Valley Authority. Like many other conservatives, primarily the influential business interests in the

George refused to support Roosevelt's plan to re- state, and George did little to dispel this impression.

organize the Supreme Court so that he could appoint He was not a friend of labor although he did support

more liberal justices who would be less inclined to a plan to allow disabled workers to collect social

find New Deal legislation unconstitutional.

security benefits at age fifty.

George was an accomplished student of the Consti- On matters of race George made his position

tution and his prominent role in defeating the bill had plain: "We have been very careful to obey the letter

angered Roosevelt who vowed to oppose the major of the Federal constitution. But we have been very

Democratic opponents of court packing who were diligent and astute in violating the spirit of such

amendments and such statutes as would lead the

Negro to believe himself the equal of a white man.

And we shall continue to conduct ourselves that

way" (New York 'fillies, Aug. 5, 1957). Southern

senators gathered in George's office to frame a

denunciation of a Supreme Court civil rights de-

Walter Franklin George, 1878-1957

69

clslon, but compared to the "last ditch" resistance urged by his Georgia colleague, Richard B. Russell, the soft spoken George's statements on race seemed out of tune with the raucous spirit of defiance which was sweeping southern politics.
In 1956, faced with a challenge from the youthful Herman Talmadge whose political style seemed more suitable for dealing with threats to the "Southern Way of Life," the seventy-eight year old George saw his support dwindle and dejectedly withdrew from the campaign, citing his age and ill health as the factors which prompted his decision.

Prior to his death in 1957, George served as ambassador to NATO and as a special advisor to President Eisenhower. In spite of his failure to represent the economic interests of Georgia's farming and laboring classes, Walter F. George earned lofty tributes for his constitutional conservatism and his support for a bipartisan cold war foreign policy.

by James C. Cobb

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the most effective crusaders for human dignity and brotherhood in the history of the United States. A champion of civil rights who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King worked tirelessly through persuasion and non-violent protests to bring black Americans near the threshold of equality.
The son and grandson of Baptist ministers, King was born in Atlanta in 1929. He graduated from Morehouse College and studied at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, before receiving his doctorate from Boston University. His studies in philosophy interacted with his fundamentalist upbringing to produce the fervent, yet highly articulate orator who was to become the central figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Although he had come in contact with the writings of Mohandas Gandhi at Crozer, King never fully associated Gandhi's teachings with his own passive resistance philosophy until the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. As a young pastor in that city, King led blacks in a boycott after a black woman was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat on a bus to a white. The boycott, which lasted more than a year, was the beginning of a long struggle that occupied King's remaining years.
In 1960 King returned to his native Atlanta to serve as assistant minister at his father's church and 70 head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which he had helped to found. The years that followed brought many accomplishments and some major disappointments. King led protests in Birmingham in 1963 which sparked interracial violence and received enough publicity to stir the national conscience and influence the Kennedy administration to rethink its priorities on civil rights.
Later in 1963 King led the most momentous march of his career. On August 28 of that year an estimated 250,000 people, between 75,000 and 95,000 of them whites, attended the march on Washington. The mood of the day was a mixture of excitement and deep emotionalism. Performances by Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary, Odetta and Mahalia Jackson set the stage for King's now famous speech wherein he described his dream of the "day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!' " Although the march probably did not alter the thinking of many civil rights opponents, old socialist crusader Norman Thomas ex- "I Have A Dream," March on Washington, August, 1963. pressed the reaction of those who participated and Flip Schulke, Black Star. many who did not when he said, "I'm glad I lived long enough to see this day" (Lewis, 225).
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

Less than a year after the march on Washington

Congress passed the most far-reaching civil rights

legislation in the nation's history. The Civil Rights

Act of 1964 barred discrimination on the basis of

race in all public accommodations. No longer could

restaurants, hotels or theaters refuse service or

entertainment to a person because of the color of

his skin. Another important provision of the act

prohibited firms which employed more than twenty-

five persons from refusing to hire anyone because of

race, religion, sex or national origin.

In 1965 violence broke out following demonstra-

tions led by King in Selma, Alabama, a city where

only slightly more than 2 percent of the eligible black

voters were allowed to register. Congress reacted with

the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which forced south-

ern registrars to use only age, citizenship, and time of

residence as criteria for determining eligibility to

vote. The new measures empowered the attorney

general to send federal examiners to register voters

in problem areas. The landmark civil rights legislation

of the 1960s was attributable in part to the tireless

crusading of Martin Luther King.

Although he enjoyed many successes, King's career

was not without its diasppointments. His protest

tactics were most effective when white adversaries

like those in Birmingham engaged in open physical

brutality which attracted national attention. More

71

reserved behavior by his opponents, such as that of

officials in Albany, Georgia, was likely to frustrate

King's efforts. As a result his victories often came at

the price of terror, physical abuse and occasionally,

death.

Increasingly, angry blacks, tired of seeing pro-

testors beaten and killed for demanding their rights,

began to refer derisively to the cautious, ministerial Near the end of his life King also lost support

King as "De Lawd." King's decision to obey a federal because of his strong criticism of United States in-

injunction against marching from Selma to Mont- volvement in the war in Vietnam. Still, when an

gomery brought much criticism from the leaders of assassin killed Martin Luther King in early April,

more militant organizations like SNCC and CORE. 1968, he destroyed the black man's Moses, who, if

By the mid-sixties the frustrations and humiliations he failed to lead his people into the promised land,

of non-violent protests led many blacks to embrace brought them much closer than they had ever been.

the philosophy of separatism with its vague but in- The accomplishments and aspirations of Martin

spirational slogan, "Black Power." Like King, the Luther King stand as a reminder of the long and

separatists sought equality of opportunity for blacks, continuing struggle to make the nation's promise

but they proposed to achieve it by unifying blacks of freedom and opportunity a reality for all Ameri-

into a powerful, culturally distinct interest group, cans.

which could use its influence to demand rather than

plead for change.

by James C. Cobb

Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. served the state of

Georgia as an elected official for fifty years. His dis- end segregation in the South and to extend full

tinguished career in the United States Senate extend- citizenship to black Americans. Joining other south-

ed thirty-eigh t years, over half of his lifetime. Recog- ern senators, he encouraged resistance to the Supreme

nizing him as an authority on military affairs, presi- Court's 1954 school desegregation decision, and

dents sought his advice and support in times of inter- helped in watering down President Eisenhower's

national crisis. He also exercised considerable influ- civil rights bills. President Johnson managed to push

ence in domestic affairs through his powerful chair- the comprehensive Civil Rights Act of 1964 through

manships, his mastery of parliamentary procedure, Congress only after the Senate overcame an eighty-

and his leadership of the southern bloc in the Senate. three day filibuster, led by Russell.

In 1969, he became president pro tempore of the

Russell's civil rights record marked him as a sec-

Senate, ranking third in line to the presidency.

tional candidate in his unsuccessful bid for the

Richard Russell was born in Winder, Georgia, Democratic presidential nomination in 1952. Also,

on November 2, 1897. His father would become while he held great power in the Senate, called "a

chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court in 1923; senator's senator," he lacked mass appeal and never his mother was named Georgia's "Mother of the achieved great personal popularity outside Georgia.

Year" in 1950. Russell received all of his formal

After World War II, Russell served as chairman of

education in Georgia, graduating from the University both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the

of Georgia in 1918 with a Bachelor of Laws degree. Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee.

He served in the navy in World War I, then returned In addition to promoting a strong defense posture,

to Winder, and quickly emerged as the "boy wonder" Russell and Congressman Carl Vinson, chairman of

of state politics.

the House Armed Services Committee, used their

Russell won election to the Georgia House of power to help build an annual billion dollar military

Representatives in 1920, at the age of twenty-two, related payroll in Georgia. He assumed the chairman-

and rose to Speaker of the House in 1927. At age ship of the most powerful of all senate committees --

thirty-three, he became the nation's youngest governor. Appropriations - in 1969. In addition to his senate

Taking office in 1931, in the depths of the Great De- duties, Russell served on the Warren Commission

pression, he brought sweeping reforms to state govern- investigating the death of President Kennedy. Lyndon

72 ment. He engineered a reduction in the number of Johnson once divided senators into two groups

state agencies from 102 to 17 and established a state - minnows and whales. Richard Russell was definite-

purchasing agency. This reorganization also included ly a whale.

the establishment of a unified university system.

In spite of their frequent disagreements with

These measures, along with major tax reforms, re- Russell on domestic policy, presidents after World

sulted in a 20 percent reduction in the state's budget. War II valued his advice on foreign policy problems,

Russell's record of reform and fiscal conservatism and frequently sought his support for their programs.

provided a springboard for his election to the U.S. Russell advised against intervention in Vietnam be-

Senate in 1932. Throughout the remainder of his cause he feared a long and bloody war. However,

career he faced serious opposition for re-election only he pledged his support if intervention should take

once; in 1936 he defeated Eugene Talmadge by a place. When President Johnson called in his military

margin of two to one.

and civilian advisors to discuss the 1968 bombing

Russell supported most of President Roosevelt's halt, he invited only one senator - Richard Russell.

economic programs in his first term. He served as

In chronic poor health after contracting emphy-

floor leader for the Rural Electrification Act and sema in 1958, Russell continued to work twelve-hour

promoted the passage of the Farmers Home Ad- days. He remained a bachelor, explaining that politics

ministration Act. He authored the School Lunch kept him too busy for marriage. Purposely avoiding

Program Act - a measure that always provided him most of Washington's social whirl, he usually spent

deep satisfaction. In his second term, Russell became his evenings in his apartment reading. Besides his

more conservative and began to separate himself from serious reading, which included each day's Congres-

Roosevelt's programs. Th is growing opposition did sional Record and newspapers from Washington and

not, however, extend to national defense programs, Georgia, he enjoyed keeping track of baseball and

which Russell firmly supported.

football scores.

Senator Russell consistently opposed all civil rights

Richard Russell died in Washington on Janu-

legislation, beginning with his first term in the Senate. ary 21, 1971. Georgia had lost one of its most in-

Citing a states' rights philosophy, he led the Senate's fluential and effective spokesmen, and the Senate one

southern bloc in resistance to every bill designed to of its most powerful leaders.

Richard Brevard Russell, Jr., 1897-1971

73
by Von V. Pittman, Jr.

The Editors

The Authors

DR. JAMES C. BONNER, one of Georgia's fore-

most educators and writers, is a native of Heard

County, Georgia. He is a graduate of the University of

Georgia (A.B. and M.A.) and the University of North

Carolina (Ph.D.).

During his forty-three-year teaching career he

served as professor of social sciences and history at

DR. KENNETH COLEMAN is currently a pro- West Georgia College (1933-41), Randolph-Macon

fessor of history at the University of Georgia in Women's College (1942-44), and Georgia College in

Athens, a post he has held since 1955. He was born in Milledgeville (1944-69). Prior to retirement, Dr.

Devereux, Georgia, and grew up there and in Atlanta. Bonner served as chairman of the Department of

A graduate of the University of Georgia (A.B. and History and Political Science at Georgia College and

M.A.) and the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D.), he as chairman of the University System of Georgia

also taught at the Atlanta Division of the University Committee on Graduate Work and Faculty Research.

of Georgia, now Georgia State University, from 1949

A recognized authority on Georgia history and

to 1955.

the history of agriculture in the southern United

Dr. Coleman has published several books on Geor- States, he has authored or co-authored twelve books.

gia history including The American Revolution in His prolific writings have also included thirty articles

Georgia, 1763-1789 (Athens, 1958), Confederate and more than a hundred book reviews for many

Athens (Athens, 1967), Georgia History in Outline scholarly journals, among them the prestigious

(Atlanta, 1955; Athens, 1960), and Georgia Journeys, A merican Historical Review. He has contributed

74 1732-1754 (Athens, 1961), a work coauthored with reference articles to the Encyclopaedia of Southern

Sarah Gober Temple.

History and the Dictionary ofAmerican History, and

Early in the Bicentennial year of 1976 he will has authored ten articles in The Encyclopaedia

publish Colonial Georgia: A History and the first Brittanica, including the 10,000 word section on

volume of a resumed work, The Colonial Records of the state of Georgia. He has been the recipient of

the State of Georgia. Dr. Coleman has been a member numerous awards and was recognized as "Georgia

of the Georgia Commission for the National Bicenten- Author-of-the-Year for Non-Fiction Writing" by

nial Celebration since its inception, and is coeditor the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists in

of the series of booklets on the Revolution in Georgia 1972.

which are being jointly published by that commission Previously a member of the executive councils

and the State Department of Education.

of the Agricultural History Society and the Southern

Historical Association, Dr. Bonner has also served

JACKIE M. ERNEY is currently the Bicentennial with the Georgia Historical Commission and the

Coordinator of the Georgia Department of Archives Georgia Heritage Advisory Commission. His pro-

and History, a position she has held since January of fessional activities have also included memberships on

1975. An honors graduate of the University of the editorial boards of The Journal of Southern

Florida, Ms. Erney holds the B.A. degree in J our- History, Agricultural History and the Georgia Histor-

nalism and Communications.

ical Quarterly.

A native of Miami, Florida, she has edited and Dr. Bonner's active retirement since 1969 includes

produced publications since 1966 and has worked current memberships in the Georgia National Register

for several public relations agencies as a graphic Advisory Commission and the Georgia Commission

arts specialist and copywriter. In her current position for the National Bicentennial Celebration. Now

Ms. Erney is responsible for creating the Georgia serving as consultant to the Mississippi Park Com-

Archives Traveling Exhibit Service (GATES), and all mission, he is also secretary-treasurer of the Lockerly-

joint publications of the Georgia Department of Arboretum Foundation. Dr. Bonner currently resides

Archives and History and the Georgia Commission in Milledgeville where he continues to write and

for the National Bicentennial Celebration.

publish.

JAMES C. COBB is a native of Hart County,

Georgia, and was educated in the public schools

there. In 1969, he graduated with honors from the

University of Georgia with an A.B. in History and an

ROGER A. MARTIN is a Ph.D. candidate at the

Education minor. In 1969 and 1970, Mr. Cobb taught University of Georgia with a major field of study in

social studies at Loganville High School in Loganville, Colonial America. A native of Belton, South Carolina,

Georgia. In 1972, he received his M.A. in History he holds the A.B. degree from Furman University in

from the University of Georgia. He served as a teach- Greenville, South Carolina, and the Master of Divinity

ing fellow for three years at the University of Georgia degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in

while pursuing Ph.D. studies under the direction of Decatur, Georgia.

Professor Numan V. Bartley. in 1975, Mr. Cobb

In 1960, Mr. Martin received Furman University's

received his Ph.D. in History.

Endel Award for "excellence in history," and in 1963

He has published articles in the Georgia Historical he was awarded a fellowship for graduate studies by

Quarterly and Washington State University's Research Columbia Seminary. From 1963 to 1971, he served as

Studies and has reviewed books for the American pastor to Presbyterian churches in Columbus and

Historical Review, the Georgia Historical Quarterly Cartersville, Georgia and as campus minister at

and the Atlanta Historical 1Vlagazine. Mr. Cobb has Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

presented papers before the Georgia Historical So-

Since September 1973, he has been teaching at

ciety and at the Symposium on Georgia Studies. He the University of Georgia while writing his disserta-

is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of History at tion under the direction of Professor G. Melvin

the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, Herndon. Recent winner of the D.A.R. Bicentennial

where he teaches courses in American History and Grant for the State of Georgia, he expects his doc-

the American South.

toral degree to be conferred upon him in June, 1976. 75

Mr. Martin is also past-president and a member of

JAMES M. GIFFORD received the B.A. degree the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society at the

from Maryville College in 1967 and the M.A. degree University of Georgia.

from Middle Tennessee State University in 1970.

A research assistant in the University of Georgia's VON V. PITTMAN, JR. is currently working

Institute of Higher Education, Mr. Gifford is cur- toward the completion of the ph.D. in American

rently writing his dissertation in history under the Diplomatic History at the University of Georgia. His

direction of Professor F. N. Boney.

dissertation is being prepared under the direction of

Mr. Gifford has read six papers before professional Professor Lester D. Langley of the university's

societies and has published articles and reviews in history faculty. A native of Sandersville, Georgia,

the Georgia Historical Quarterly, Tennessee Historical Mr. Pittman received his A.B. in American History

Quarterly, Louisiana Studies: An Interdisciplinary from the University of Georgia in 1967 and his M.A.

Journal of the South, and Washington State Uni- in 1972.

versity's Research Studies. He recently had an article

Mr. Pittman has been a teaching fellow in history

accepted for publication in the lincyclopedia of at the University of Georgia since 1972 and is a

Southern History.

member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Alpha Theta

He has been the recipient of four major awards: scholastic honor societies. He also serves as a member

the William Bacon Stevens Award for "excellence in of the editorial advisory board of the phi Kappa phi

the writing of Georgia or Southern History," 1974; Journal, a scholarly publication with nationwide

the Joe Brown Connally Scholarship in Georgia circulation.

History, 1974; the Phelps-Stokes Fellowship in black

He recently had an article published in Washington

history, 1973; and the Colonial Dames of America State University's Research Studies and has also had

History Scholarship in Georgia history, 1973. A book reviews published or accepted for publication in

member of Phi Alpha Theta and Pi Gamma Mu, he several scholarly journals, including: Journalism

is also actively involved in the work of several state Quarterly, the Georgia Historical Quarterly, and the

historical societies.

A tlanta Historical Society Bulletin.

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~~

*Coleman, Kenneth. The American Revolution in Georgia,
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Credits and Acknowledgements

All photographs in this volume were provided by

the Georgia Department of Archives and History with

the exception of: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (p. 70),

courtesy of Flip Schulke, Black Star; Sidney Lanier

(p. 40), courtesy of the University of North Carolina

Press; Joel Chandler Harris (p. 56), courtesy of

Woodruff Library, Special Collections, Emory Uni-

versity; Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh (p. 67), cour-

tesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.; Dr. Crawford W.

Long and painting of the first administration of

ether anesthesia (p. 38-39), courtesy of the A. W.

Calhoun Medical Library, Emory University. These

photographs cannot be reproduced in any form

without the express permission of the original copy-

right holder.

For their help in the production of this book the

editors wish to thank the following: Flip Schulke,

photojournalist, Black Star; Minnie Clayton, Martin

80

Luther King Center for Social Change; Norman

Kaphan, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.; Linda Mat-

thews, Woodruff Library, Special Collections, Emory

University; Joan Spring, A. W. Calhoun Medical

Library, Emory University; and Malcolm M. McDon-

ald, editor-in-chief, University of North Carolina

Press. Thanks are also due to Mr. Ben W. Fortson, Jr.,

secretary of state, and to the Georgia Commission

for the National Bicentennial Celebration, Mr. A. K.

Johnson, executive director.

The text materials and accompanying bibliogra-

phies in this volume were prepared by the authors:

James C. Bonner, Roger A. Martin, James M. Gifford,
James c. Cobb, and Von V. Pittman, Jr.

The following schools contributed to the selection

of the twenty-nine Famous Georgians: Georgia State

University, Georgia Tech, Oglethorpe University,

University of Georgia, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta

University and Emory University.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Editors: Kenneth Coleman and Jackie M. Erney Art Direction: Michael A. Kreski, PIDS
Photography: J. Buckley Photography
Typesetting: Jan Clopton Composition, Inc. Printing: Porter Printers, Atlanta, Georgia