- Collection:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Title:
- Fitzgerald
- Creator:
- Brown, Brian
- Date of Original:
- 2003-12-17
- Subject:
- Fitzgerald (Ga.)
Cities and towns--Georgia - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Ben Hill County, 31.75978, -83.22046
- Medium:
- articles
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- text/html
- Description:
- Encyclopedia article about the town of Fitzgerald, Georgia. Fitzgerald, the seat of Ben Hill County, is located in the heart of south central Georgia, twenty-five miles northeast of Tifton. Settled in 1896 by a land company under the direction of Philander H. Fitzgerald, the town is best known as a place of reconciliation among Civil War veterans. Fitzgerald, a former drummer boy in the Union army, had become a pension attorney with a thriving practice in Indianapolis, Indiana. His interest in the welfare of his fellow veterans was well documented in the publication of the widely read weekly newspaper American Tribune. Through his involvement Fitzgerald conceived the idea for a soldiers' colony in the more hospitable South. Georgia governor William J. Northen was eager to settle some of the sparsely populated areas in the wiregrass region of the Coastal Plain, and after some negotiation they settled on the area around the site of the former turpentine village of Swan on the Ocmulgee River.
- Metadata URL:
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/fitzgerald/
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- If you wish to use content from the NGE site for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, you must request and receive written permission from the NGE. Such requests may be directed to: Permissions/NGE, University of Georgia Press, 330 Research Drive, Athens, GA 30602.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: "Fitzgerald," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
- Original Collection:
- Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
- Holding Institution:
- New Georgia Encyclopedia (Project)
- Rights:
-
