USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 1 > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02022 263 1
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THE HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF GEORGIA
From 1850 to 1881, V.1 EMBRACING THE
THREE IMPORTANT EPOCHS:
The Decade Before the War of 1861-5; The War; The Period of Reconstruction,
WITH
PORTRAITS OF THE LEADING PUBLIC MEN
OF THIS ERA.
BY I. W. AVERY.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.
NEW YORK : BROWN & DERBY, PUBLISHERS, 21 PARK PLACE.
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1729512
THIS VOLUME IS
Dedicated
TO THE
PEOPLE OF GEORGIA,
A LUSTROUS PART OF
Whose Strong State Life is Herein Pictured.
THE
UNEMBELLISHED RECORD
Of Elen and Deeds IS A
VIVID EPIC -
OF
VALOR, GENIUS AND STATESMANSHIP.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof01aver_0
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ERRATA.
Page 7, seventh line from bottom, "Tombs " should be "Toombs." Page 58, thirteenth line from bottom, "Navy " should be "Treasary." Page 79, fourth line from bottom, "T. R. Christian " should be "J. T. Taylor."
Page 19, fifteenth line from bottom, "Wm. Smythe " should be "J. M. Jones."
Page 389, fifth line from bottom, "was" should be " were."
Page 494, twenty-ninth line from bottom, "Gamett " should be "Garnett."
Page 510, twenty-fifth line from bottom, "John" should be "James." Page 617, third line from bottom, "Camak " should be "Orme."
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1
V
PREFACE.
WHATEVER may be thought of the estimate of men or dis- cussion of events in this book, the fact will stand unchal- lengeable that no volume ever had richer material for the Historian's pen. It has been a labor of love to portray this dear and powerful mother . State of ours, and I have felt that no one could do a better service to her people than to show her to the world as she is. There is no true Geor- gian who will not thrill with pride at the portraiture of individual manhood and state majesty. And whatever of criticism may be justly due to an imperfect execution of a good aim will be tenderly softened by the home reader's perception of the author's conscientious desire and faithful attempt to present the great reality of our matchless com- monwealth.
The general reader, lacking the stimulus of state interest, can yet find an ample theme, for study and admiration in the decisive agency of Georgia upon those massive questions of slavery, secession and reconstruction, which have shaped the affairs of this nation for the last half century. No na- tional record of the colossal events, belonging to that mo- mentous period of human civilization, can be complete or intelligible that lacks the potential impress of Georgia act and statesmanship. That this State furnished the molding
vi
PREFACE.
spirits of the Southern Confederacy, and that the stupend- ous endeavor at an independent nationality expired upon Georgia soil, must ever give to our Commonwealth the un- fading interest and profound thought of all philosophical students of history.
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CONTENTS.
PART I. THE DECADE BEFORE THE WAR OF 1861-65. CHAPTER I.
GEORGIA AN IMPERIAL COMMONWEALTH,
PAGE.
3
CHAPTER II.
THE START OF GOVERNOR BROWN'S STRONG LIFE, .
CHAPTER III.
GOVERNOR BROWN'S MARKED CAREER AS A STATE SENATOR IN 1849, .
16
CHAPTER IV.
HERSCHELL V. JOHNSON AS GOVERNOR, .
24
CHAPTER V.
GOVERNOR BROWN'S SCRATCH NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR IN 1857,
31
CHAPTER VI.
BROWN DEFEATS BEN. HILL IN A HARD CANVASS,
39
CHAPTER VII.
BROWN'S ELECTION AS GOVERNOR THE PRECURSOR OF A STRIKING ERA OF
CHANGE,
47
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIERY BATTLE OF THE BANKS, 58
CHAPTER IX.
THE WAY GOVERNOR BROWN GASHED INTO OLD CUSTOMS, .
6S
CHAPTER X.
THE SPIRIT OF 1858 IN GEORGIA, .
76
CHAPTER XI.
Gov. BROWN'S SUPERB PUBLIC ENDORSEMENT AND RENOMINATION, CHAPTER XII.
THE GUBERNATORIAL TUSSLE BETWEEN GOV. BROWN AND WARREN AKIN, . . 93
CHAPTER XIII.
A HOT CHAPTER OF GATHERING REVOLUTION,
103
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV. PAGE.
THE FATAL SPLIT OF THE NATIONAL AND GEORGIA DEMOCRACY IN 1860, . 114
CHAPTER XV.
THE MOMENTOUS CLOSE OF THE LAST YEAR OF PEACE, 1860, 124
CHAPTER XVI.
135
THE STUBBORN BATTLE IN GEORGIA OVER DISUNION, CHAPTER XVII.
THE MOST VITAL CHAPTER OF GEORGIA HISTORY-HER SECESSION FROM THE UNION,
143
PART II. THE BLOODY HARVEST OF WAR.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE PRINCELY PROSPERITY GEORGIA STAKED ON THE WAR, 161
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RAPE OF THE GUNS,
171
CHAPTER XX.
THE BIRTH OF THE CONFEDERACY AND THE SHADOW OF WAR, 180
CHAPTER XXI.
THE BLAZING WAR FEVER OF THE FIRST OF 1861, .
191
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PRECEDENT OF A CENTURY OVERTHROWN, AND BROWN MADE GOVERNOR
THE THIRD TIME,
201
CHAPTER XXIII.
Gov. BROWN'S STORMY TIME WITH THE LEGISLATURE OF 1861-2, 212
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ORGANIZATION OF STATE TROOPS UNDER MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY R.
JACKSON, 224
CHAPTER XXV.
BROWN AND DAVIS IN THEIR GREAT TUSSLE OVER CONSCRIPTION, 232
CHAPTER XXVI.
A GLOOMY CHAPTER OF WAR'S RAVAGE,
CHAPTER XXVII. 246
THE INCREASING WAR FEVER OF 1863, . 258
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE FIRST HALF OF THE MOST THRILLING YEAR OF GEORGIA ANNALS, 1864, . 268
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CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER XXIX. PAGE.
SHERMAN TEARS ATLANTA FROM HOOD, . 281
. CHAPTER XXX.
SHERMAN'S PEACE EFFORT AND FAMOUS MARCH TO THE SEA, . 300
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE CLOSING THROES OF THE REVOLUTION, AND THE TRAGIC END,
317
PART III.
THE RECONSTRUCTION TRAVESTY AND A SUPERB REHABILITATION.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE TRANSITION PERIOD OF PURE BAYONET RULE, 335
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S
PLAN, 345
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE SECOND IRON-HANDED AND WHIMSICAL PHASE OF RECONSTRUCTION, . . 357
CHAPTER XXXV.
A THROBBING CHAPTER OF RECONSTRUCTION HARLEQUINADE, ENDING WITH
GOV. JENKINS' REMOVAL, 369
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE FEVERISH MARCH OF EVENTS IN 1868, 381
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE FAMOUS LEGISLATIVE EXPURGATION OF THE BLACKS, 394
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Gov. BULLOCK'S DESPERATE ENDEAVOR TO RE-ENACT RECONSTRUCTION, . 407
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A BURNING CHAPTER OF FOLLY AND SHAME, .
419
CHAPTER XL.
THE TWIN INFAMIES OF PROLONGATION AND FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT, . . 435
CHAPTER XLI.
THE DOWNFALL OF THE RECONSTRUCTION REGIME, AND BULLOCK'S RESIGNA-
TION AND FLIGHT, 452
CHAPTER XLII. $64
THE FINAL ACT OF JOYOUS STATE REDEMPTION,
x
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLIT.
PAGE.
GEORGIA'S FAMOUS EXPURGATION OF FRAUDULENT BONDS, . 475
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOV. JAMES M. SMITH, 501
CHAPTER XLV.
GOV. ALFRED H. COLQUITT AND HIS MAGNIFICENT MAJORITY, 515
CHAPTER XLVI.
GOV. COLQUITT'S BRILLIANT FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION, .
528
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE EXTRAORDINARY CRUSADE OF HOSTILITY TO GOV. COLQUITT, .
537
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE POWERFUL HISTORIC GEORGIA TRIUMVIRATE, COLQUITT, GORDON, AND . 553
BROWN, .
CHAPTER XLIX.
Gov. COLQUITT RECOMMENDED FOR GOVERNOR BY THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY
AND EXCITING POLITICAL CONVENTION OF GEORGIA ANNAL ... 568
CHAPTER L.
GOV. COLQUITT'S OVERWHELMING RE-ELECTION, 589
CHAPTER LI.
THE JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE OF GEORGIA, 609
CHAPTER LII.
THE RAILROADS, RESOURCES AND FUTURE OF GEORGIA, . 631
APPENDIX.
A .- GEORGIA OFFICERS WHO SERVED IN THE CIVIL WAR IN IRE CONFED- ERATE SERVICE, 657
B .- CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN JEFFERSON DAVIS, PRESIDENT OF THE CON- FEDERACY, AND JOSEPH E. BROWN, GOV. OF GEORGIA, ON CONSCRIT- TION, 695
C .- ORIGINAL COMMUNICATION OF MRS. MARY WILLIAMS, IO THE COLUMBU'S (GA.) TIMES, SUGGESTING THE DECORATION DAY CUSTOM, 715
ILLUSTRATIONS.
LIST OF STEEL PLATE PORTRAITS.
PAGE.
1. I. W. AVERY, (Frontispiece.)
2. JOSEPH E. BROWN, AT. 29, 23
3. Jos. HENRY LUMPKIN, 54
4. C. J. MCDONALD, 76
5. HOWELL COBB, 111
6. H. V. JOHNSON, . 125
7. ROBERT TOOMBS, 140
8. GEO. W. CRAWFORD,
10. E. A. NISBET, 209
11. HENRY R. JACKSON, 227
12. JEFFERSON DAVIS, . 233
13. B. H. HILL, 255
14. W. T. SHERMAN, 274
15. JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, 280
16. JAMES B. McPHERSON, 282
17. W. J. HARDEE, 313
18. C. J. JENKINS,
352
19. JOSHUA HILL, 398
20. O. A. LOCHRANE, 456
21. HIRAM WARNER, 493
22. THos. M. NORWOOD, 494
23. ALFRED II. COLQUITT, 519
24. CAMPBELL WALLACE, 554
25. JOSEPH E. BROWN, 563
LIST OF ENGRAVED PORTRAITS.
26. W. II. STILES, 34
27. JOHN E. WARD, 51
28. MRS. M. WILLIAMS, 242
20. A. R. LAWTON. . 294
2. THos. HARDEMAN, 3.51
31. R. E. LESTER, . 400
150
9. ALEX. H. STEPHENS,
181
il
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE. 506
Supreme Court Group, 515
523
557
574
Augusta Chronicle and Constitutionalist's Group, 610
Atlanta Constitution Group, 614
47. CHAS. H. SMITH, "Bill Arp." -
48. JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, " Uncle Remus."
49. W. T. THOMPSON, " Major Jones." Humorists, . 623
50. R. M. JOHNSTON, Author "Dukesboro Tales," etc.
625
51. C. C. JONES, JR., 52. E. W. COLE, 53. E. P. ALEXANDER,
54. WM. M. WADLEY,
55. J. P. KING, 56. L. P. GRANT, 57. G. J. FOREACRE,
Georgia's Railway Kings, 637
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32. J. B. GORDON, 33. JAMES JACKSON, 34. MARTIN J. CRAWFORD, 35. ALEX. M. SPEER, 36. A. O. BACON,
37. L. J. GARTRELL, 38. L. N. TRAMMELL, 39. PATRICK WALSH, 40. A. R. WRIGHT, 41. JAS. R. RANDALL, 42. HENRY C. MOORE, 43. JAMES GARDNER, 44. N. P. T. FINCH, 45. W. A. HEMPHILL, 46. EVAN P. HOWELL,
V
1-2
PART I.
The Decade before the War OF 1861-5.
3
CHAPTER I.
GEORGIA AN IMPERIAL COMMONWEALTH.
A Leader in the august Sisterhood of States .- Her Superior Individuality .- Her Adventurous Citizenship .- The Theater of Great Events .- The Most Potential Southern State in the War of 1861 .-- Her Affluence of Public Men in the Last Quarter of a Century .- The Leading Instrumentality of Joseph E. Brown.
THE annals of no State in this expansive Union will show a record more illustrious, and also more picturesque in coloring, than our goodly Commonwealth of Georgia. She was one of the original colonies, the historic thirteen, that won independence in the forever famous revolu- tion of 1776, and formed the basis of our present marvelous nationality. Founded in 1733 by that noble English gentleman, Sir James Oglethorpe, and embracing the princely scope of territory extending from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi river, from which has been cut and formed several of our finest Southern states, Georgia has from that early day to the present maintained the luster of her origin, and illustrated in peace and war, in arts and arms, in achievement and states- manship, in population and progress, the virtue, independence and power of a free, intellectual and Christian people.
Among all of the great commonwealths of the Union, there is, per- haps, no single one as royally endowed by nature as Georgia. There are larger states, there are states surpassing her in individual lines of production, but in the possession of a lavish variety of resource, Georgia is the foremost. Whether we regard her versatile agricultural fertility, her varied mineral wealth, her manufacturing possibilities or her commercial advantages, she has them all in affluent profusion; and superadding to these a healthy climate ranging from the purest of mountain air to the fresh buoyancy of her ocean border, a prodigal possession of crystal springs and rivers, and scenery variedly picturesque, and it is no exaggeration to claim for her a leading position in the august sisterhood of the United States.
Her career has had a romantic character, befitting her superior 'individuality. Hers has been a continuously dramatic destiny. Georgia, from her founding in 1323, has made a luminous chronicle of eventful emprise and stirring meident. There seems to have been from the first
4
GEORGIA'S BRILLIANT PUBLIC MEN.
an adventurous quality in her citizenship that has shown itself in unusual accomplishment. She has exerted a marked influence in every line of her growth and phase of her progress. She has been the theater of startling surprises and great operations. Both in military and in civil matters she has had uncommon prestige and achieved striking experi- . ences. Especially in the wars that have convulsed the country has Georgia been conspicuous and brilliant. In both revolutions of 1776 and 1861 her soil was the arena of momentous and decisive movements, that gave her renown and imparted vital direction to the final result. In the great civil war, so fresh in our memories, she played a role that, take it all in all, was in some respects the most striking and eventful of any Southern state.
It has been her fortune, both before and during the late war, to have conflicts of argument, involving fundamental principles in our government, with the national administrations, that have alike given the state celebrity and illustrated the independence of her state authori- ties. The fact is that Georgia has antagonized every measure of the Federal Government, that has in her judgment encroached upon con- stitutional law or individual liberty.
The last thirty years, extending from 1850 to the present. have been a marked era in her history-an era remarkable for the momentous and tragic incidents crowded into the brief period of a little more than a quarter of a century. The agitation of the slavery question, that finally culminated in the attempted dissolution of the Union and its tragic consequences, may be said in the compromise measures of 1850, to have taken its first serious steps to the terrible end that came. It is the philosophy of compromise to procrastinate evil without curing it. And an inevitable conflict loses nothing of its savagery by abortive patch- work. The decade from 1850 to the civil crash of 1861. was a period of unconscious preparation for the mighty struggle. Amtas no state took a larger or more vital part in the conflict than Georgia when the con- fliet came, so no state contributed more potentially to the influences preliminary to it in the ten years of seething revolutionary preface. Among the public men of national fame Georgia furnished some of the most daring thinkers, and famous orators of the day. - statesmen of large ability and powerful public influence. Through her whole history Georgia has been particularly affluent in brilliant public mon. It is doubtful whether she ever shone more resplendently in this wealth of gifted characters, than during the thirty years to which reference is made. Our state affairs were, in the decade before the war, managed with
5
:
JOSEPH E. BROWN.
unusually brilliant skill, while in the national councils we had represent- atives of surpassing prominence and force.
Marking as this period of thirty years does, an era alike in the history of our state and the nation, distinctive and dramatic, in which there was not only a revolution of arms of vast magnitude, but an even greater revolution of thought and social and political systems, I have selected it for the theme of this book. Looking at the large number of able and influential men of Georgia who have figured and led in this important and dramatic period, the man above all others who has been more closely identified with the great events of this memorable epoch in Georgia and whose masterful individuality has been the most conspic- uously impressed upon these events, is the calm face and slender figure of Joseph E. Brown. His public career for a quarter of a century has been the history of his state. There is no year in this long episode of thrilling event that his instrumentality could be dropped out without creating an important blank in the picture, while no incident of the romantic record could be properly narrated that lacked the recounting of his powerful agency. From the day that, absolutely unheralded and almost unknown to the state, he was by a mysterious stroke of fortune $ placed at the helin of state, he has been the moving power in public matters. If his ideas have been temporarily vanquished he has seen them ultimately triumphant. Affluent as the state has been in remark- able men, it is a matter of material doubt if the annals of the comnon- wealth can show a character of more brain and will than Brown-a public career more valiant and dramatic than his. Bold, able, clear- headed, aggressive, placid, with unequaled powers of management, and an invincible method with the popular masses, he seized the public mind and impressed himself upon public affairs with as much force as any public man Georgia has ever had. Coming into public life when the state had a brilliant host of public men, illustrating her magnificently in eloquence, statesmanship and influence, "Joe Brown," as he has been familiarly called, immediately stepped in the very front, and has been ever since an imperious dominating leader. His public career has been a continuous surprise, bristling with dramatic alternations of popular admiration and odium, and almost uninterruptedly marked by triumphs of power clutched by marvelous exhibition of management in desperate political contests, largely flavored with the most earnest personal spirit. In all the varied vicissitudes of Georgia's history with some of the most impressive characters to dazzle publie attention, it is doubtful if any public man of her annals has filled a larger measure of public thought,
6
JOSEPH E. BROWN.
or has taken a stronger hold upon the measures and times with which he has been connected, than this indomitable type of equipoised judg- ment.
In view of Gov. Brown being the central figure of the last quarter of a century of Georgia matters, I have deemed it not inappropriate to devote a couple of chapters to his early life, not only for the interest of the work, but to throw upon the heavy facts of our grave history the illustration of so vital an agency during this thrilling period.
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CHAPTER II.
THE START OF GOV. BROWN'S STRONG LIFE.
His Progenitors .- Born of Fighting Sires .- Gameful by Heredity .- A Boyhood of Toil and Close Living .- His Immigration to Historic Gaddistown .- The United States Senate and Gaddistown .- The Famous Plow Bull .- Schooling in South Carolina .- A Pair of Steers for Board .- Remarkable Progress .- A Country School Teacher .- Reads Law in Resting Hours .- Dr. Lewis .- Brown's Fidelity to Friends .- Admitted to the Bar .- Goes to Yale College Law School .- A Practitioner of Law.
THE full name of Senator Brown is Joseph Emerson Brown. He is not a native Georgian, but was born in the adjoining state of South Carolina, in Pickens District, on the 15th day of April, 1821. He was therefore sixty years of age April 15, 1881. His birthplace was near the home of John C. Calhoun, that apostle of the doctrine of States Rights. It was here that young Brown had imbibed with the tenacity of his determined nature Calhoun's theory of state government. And it will be seen how, when he became Governor of Georgia, these decided views of state sovereignty molded his official conduct, and led him to controversies that have become historic.
It is not by any means uninteresting to trace in the life of this gentle- man the ancestral qualities that came to him legitimately by hereditary transmission. His remote progenitors on the paternal side were Scotch- Irish Presbyterians, and way back in those dismal days of English history, when civil strife would seem to have culminated its horrors in the time of James the Second, they faithfully adhered to the fortunes of William and Mary. Their home was in the vicinity of Londonderry, Ireland, and when that place was subjected to the cruelties of a length- ened siege, the ancestors of Joseph E. Brown vindicated their courage and their fidelity by an unmurmuring participation in the sufferings of that occasion. In an exceedingly vivid sketch comparing " Joe Brown and Bob Tombs," "H. W. G," in the Constitution newspaper, thus alludes to Brown's progenitors :
"Joe Brown and Bob Toombs ! Both illustrious and great-both powerful and strong-and yet at every point, and from every view, the perfect opposites of each other.
" Through two centuries have two different strains of blood, two conflicting lines of thought, two separate theories of social, religions and political life, been working out
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BROWN AND TOOMBS.
the two types of men, which have in our day flowered into the perfection of contrast- vivid, thorough and pervasive. For seven generations the ancestors of Joe Brown have been restless, aggressive rebels-for a longer time the Toombs have been dauntless and intolerant followers of the king and kingliness. At the siege of Londonderry-the most remarkable fasting match beyond Tanner-Margaret and James Brown, grand- parents of the James Brown who came to America and was grand-parent of Joe Brown -were within the walls, starving and fighting for William and Mary ; and I have no doubt there were hard-riding Toombs outside the walls, charging in the name of the peevish and unhappy James. Certain it is that forty years before the direct ancestors of General Toombs on the Toombs estate were hiding good King Charles in the oak at Boscabel, where, I have no doubt, the father and uncles of the Londonderry Brown, with cropped hair and severe mien, were proguing about the place with their pikes, searching every bush, in the name of Cromwell and the psalm-singers. From these initial points sprang the two strains of blood-the one affluent, impetuous, prod- igal-the other slow, resolute, forceful. From these ancestors came the two men-the one superb, ruddy, fashioned with incomparable grace and fullness-the other pale, thoughtful, angular, stripped down to brain and sinew. From these opposing theories came the two types-the one patrician, imperious, swift in action and brooking no stay -the other democratie, sagacious, jealous of rights and submitting to no imposition. The one for the king-the other for the people. It does not matter that the elder Toombs was a rebel in Virginia against the fat George, for that revolt was kingly of itself, and the Virginian cavaliers went into it with love-locks flying and care cast to the winds, feeling little of the patient spirit of James Brown, who, by his Carolina fireside, fashioned his remonstrance slowly, and at last put his life upon the issue."
In 1645, Brown's ancestors emigrated to America. This was some thirteen years after the settlement of Georgia by Oglethorpe. They first settled in the colony of Virginia, but subsequently removed to South Carolina, where they became worthy citizens, keeping up their stern fidelity to patriotic duty. Joseph Brown, the grandfather and namesake of Senator Brown, was a resolute Whig in the days of the Revolution of 1776, and did his part gamefully in that memorable strife. He fought in many leading engagements, including Camden, Kings Mountain and others. He was true to the rebel instincts of the blood, and upheld the colonial cause until independence crowned the long and weary contest.
Of the family of Joseph Brown the revolutionary sire, Mackey Brown, the father of Joseph E. Brown, when quite a young man sought a home in the state of Tennessee, in the middle section of that commonwealth of bountiful products. Following the intrepid impulses that came to him from his Londonderry progenitors, Mackey Brown enlisted in the war of 1812 in the brigade of General Carroll. He went with this com- mand to New Orleans, and shared actively in all of the campaigns of that war, finally fighting with " Old Hickory" in the celebrated battle of the 8th of January, 1815, which resulted in the death of General
9
GADDISTOWN.
Packenham, the British commander ; the defeat of the British army, and the election of General Jackson as President. It will thus be seen that Joe Brown comes of a fighting stock, and the unyielding combative- ness that has constituted one of the staple ingredients of his character, and a leading feature of his political life, is a quality of long-transmitted inheritance, perpetuated through generations of resolute blood and fiery trial.
Mackey Brown returned from the war to Tennessee and married Sally Rice, whose people came from England and, settling in Virginia, emigrated to Tennessee. After the marriage, Mackey Brown and his young wife moved back to South Carolina to Pickens District, where, in the quiet pursuit of an agricultural life, eleven children were born, the oldest of whom was Joseph E. Brown.
The early life of Joe Brown was uneventful. His parents were in moderate circumstances, and he grew up accustomed to farm labor. He was educated in those simple habits of living, temperate, abstemious and healthful, from which in all the elevations of his extraordinary career he has never deviated. From the early age of eight he did steady farm work until he was nineteen years old, filling in the intervals with the ordinary country schooling. Before he was grown, however, Mackey Brown left South Carolina and emigrated to Union county, Georgia, where Joseph E. Brown made the humble beginning of his wonderful career in this state. The little valley near which they settled was called GADDISTOWN.
Men make localities famous. It is the province of genius to thus emulate great events in conferring celebrity upon places. The obscure little country place of Gaddistown has earned immortality through the poor uneducated boy that arrived there in his 'teens over forty years ago. When at the close of the most protracted political and personal campaign ever held in Georgia, in which he was a leader and factor, this penniless and unlettered boy become a millionaire in wealth, all won by his own strong industry and enterprise, grasped in his powerful hand the glittering honor of a United States Senatorship by such a majority . as the most fortunate of men rarely get, the wondering populace, caught from its rural hiding place in the mountains of Georgia, far away from the whistle of the steam car, the modest locality of Gaddistown and made it a household word forevermore. Such is the spell of genius. In the badinage that flashed about the marvelous victory, Gaddistown bloomed into fame as the spot where the millionaire Senator plowed his historie bull in the days of his penniless youth, and made the modest
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