USA > Georgia > Floyd County > Rome > A history of Rome and Floyd County, State of Georgia, United States of America; including numerous incidents of more than local interest, 1540-1922, Volume I > Part 37
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"'For you I cannot wish those many years on earth which is the customary greeting. I know enough of life's meridian, of its fleeting joy and con- stant cares to feel that the happiest home is where the soul is freed. But for me my prayer would be that you who first held me up to the light of day should close my eyes. A selfish prayer, at least, that I may so live that, like you, some golden light may be reflected in my evening days!
" 'God's will be done! May He guide you and me and all of us! My heart is with you always!'"
For quite a while Mrs. Bartow's daughter, Theodosia (Mrs. Edward E. Ford), was the principal of a girls' school at Cave Spring. This place be- came known as "Woodstock," and it was conducted by Mrs. Ford before and after the war; it was once owned by the Nobles, of Rome. The Bartows were the principal donors of the Epis- copal church at Cave Spring, and sev- eral of the old-time residents remem- ber them with deep affection. Mrs. Bartow died at about 80 years of age. She was a kindly and true Southern gentlewoman, typical of a race that is no more.
GEN. NEAL DOW PRISONER OF A ROMAN .- It is not commonly known that Neal Dow, once Mayor of Port- land, Me., and a general in command of colored soldiers during the Civil War, was taken to Libby Prison, Rich- mond, Va., probably in 1863, by Leon- idas Timoleon ("Coon") Mitchell, brother of Mrs. Hiram Hill, of Rome. "Little Neal" Dow, as he was known, had carried his negro troops against the Confederate works at Port Hudson, Mississippi River, La., May 28, 1863, had lost 500 in killed and wounded from his brigade, and himself had been wounded twice. Subsequently he was captured and put in prison at Mobile. Feeling was so intense against him there on account of the fact that he had led colored troopers that it was deemed best to remove him north. A Roman, "Coon" Mitchell, member of the Rome Light Guards of the Eighth Georgia Infantry, was selected to take him.
The route, for sake of safety, was through New Orleans. Gen Dow, dress- ed as a private, was taken there, and lodged over night at a hotel. Some- how the secret got abroad and a crowd of angry people gathered at the hotel, demanding the body of the prisoner. The proprietor sent word to the room of captive and escort to flee. Mitchell had been guarding his charge and had had little sleep; had not re- moved his clothing; but in spite of his fatigue he smuggled Gen. Dow out of a rear passageway and caught a train at a way station and landed him at Richmond. Gen. Dow was later ex- changed for Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, neph- ew of Robt. E. Lee.
Gen. Dow got his commission as brigadier from President Lincoln and was regarded as a capital prize by the Confederate hosts. He was a great temperance leader and as prohibition candidate for president in 1880 he re- ceived 10,000 popular votes. He died at Portland Oct. 2, 1897, at the ripe old age of 93.
"Coon" Mitchell himself, it will be remembered, was imprisoned shortly after the war by Capt. Chas. A. de la Mesa for his participation in a Con- fedcrate uniform in the tableau "The Officer's Funeral" at Rome. Capt. de la Mesa was in charge of the Freedmen's Bureau at that time, and objected to the presentation of the tableau as an insult to the United States flag.
Mitchell was born in March, 1839, hence was 24 when he took "Little Neal" in tow. He died a good many
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years ago and was buried in the Sol- diers' Section of Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta.
"GINRUL" VANDEVER AND "THE WIDOW LUMPKIN."-When Maj. William Vandever, of Sherman's Army, took charge of Rome in 1864, one of the early callers at his head- quarters (whether by official invita- tion or otherwise it is not known) was the handsome widow of Judge John H. Lumpkin, congressman, who had died four years before. A state- ly ex-congressman from Iowa and a splendid gentleman, General Van- dever had been cited for bravery on many a battlefield, but he was a married man and there was undoubt- edly no justification for the gossip which wagging tongues soon spread concerning his "affair" with Mrs. Lumpkin, who, by the way, had been Miss Mary Jane Crutchfield, daughter of Col. Thos. Crutchfield, of Chatta- nooga. Mrs. Lumpkin lived on Eighth Avenue in Rome's finest home, five blocks from the General's headquar- ters.
However, the tongues did wag, and on numerous occasions connected the names of the two in a way that must have been embarrassing to both, but furnished them considerable amuse- ment at the same time.
Enter a mischievous young Rome woman determined to protest in her own way at the Yankee occupation, as General Vendever's carriage passed by.
"Ginrul, Ginrul, may I stop you a moment ?"
"Hold up there, Bob; let's see what the lady wants. What can I do for you, ma'am?"
"Ginrul, would you be kind enough to lend me a pianner?"
"Madam, I'm sorry, but I've got no piano."
"Why, Ginrul, I hearn ye had seven at the Widow Lumpkin's!"
Mrs. Thos. Hawkins, formerly the beautiful and cultured Miss Pauline Bryant, whose father was prosperous in a comfortable estate on the Cave Spring road, got a pass through the lines and appeared at General Vende- ver's headquarters ("Bill Arp's" old home on Fourth Avenue) and asked for protection from marauding bands of soldiers. Her husband was away with the "Rebels" and she was practi- cally alone in a great big house. General Vandever courteously offered
her a guard, to which she replied feel- ingly:
"Oh, General, I can not express my gratitude! I can only hope that be- fore you die you will succeed in win- ning the heart of the Widow Lump- kin !"
Mrs. Hawkins went through trials second to none during the war. After the evacuation of Rome Capt. Jack Colquitt maintained a band of bush- whackers around Rome, Cave Spring and Cedartown who had formerly been members of a Texas unit opposing Sherman's attack on Rome. This band traveled under the name of Colquitt's Independent Scouts. A foraging party of Union soldiers having gone out in wagons toward the present site of
Lindale the Scouts ambushed it in front of the Bryant-Hawkins home, killed several men and stampeded the horses. In retaliation Gen. Jno. M. Corse, of Pennsylvania, the Northern commander, claiming Mrs. Hawkins' husband and son had led the attack- ing party, caused the home to be burn- ed to the ground. It was stated by neighbors that Mrs. Hawkins had time to save only the family Bible; also that a soldier invited her to rescue the portraits of her ancestors, to which she replied contemptuously, "I would not lower myself to accept such an invitation! I will stand here and watch it all burn together! The piano and the funiture and the grand- father clock are equally sacred to me !"
Mrs. Hawkins was then arrested and sent to share the roof and the scanty wardrobe of sympathetic friends.
*
STORY OF THE WHITE PA- POOSE .- Mrs. Pattie Wright Stone, of Farill, Ala., contributes the fol- lowing story of Alexander Thornton Harper, of Cave Spring, who married Miss Elizabeth Whatley Sparks, the girlhood sweetheart of Gen. John B. Gordon :
"On Mar. 28, 1832, there was born in Vann's Valley, near the beautiful Little Cedar Creek, to Thornton Har- per and his wife, Frances Long Rich- ardson, a baby boy named Alexander Thornton. On the night of the third day of the child's birth there came a knocking at the door of the Harper log cabin. At that time the valley swarmed with Red Men, and well did the in- mates of the forest home know when- ever a red knuckle rapped.
"'Oh, dear, dear, it's the Indians,'
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Mrs. Harper whispered, and with one hand she drew her baby nearer her breast, and with the other gathered up little Elizabeth, their only other child.
"'Don't be alarmed, "Chick," reas- sured the husband. 'There is no harm in them.
"Mr. Harper opened the door and in filed several Cherokees, the leader of whom said with a grunt and in gut- tural tones, 'Indians want to see white papoose.'
"It was the first white child born in Floyd County.
""'Give white papoose to Indian; In- dian hold him in his arms.'
"Mr. Harper, confident of the In- dian's good intentions, placed his young son in the Red Man's arms, and then each Indian insisted on holding the baby in turn, and on scrutinizing the little fellow to determine how the Great Spirit had made him so pale instead of red. When the baby told them in his own peculiar way that he wanted to go back to his mother, the Indians knew it was not the sound of the brown papoose. They went away reverently and were swallowed up in the gloom of the nearby forests.
THE HOTEL ARMSTRONG in fire of Mar. 8, 1921. Note burning cupola and fireman at top of ladder.
"Mr. Harper was a pioneer of the highest type, and his savage neigh- bors admired his humanizing quali- ties. On one occasion an Indian boy was sentenced to receive 40 lashes for horse theft, and he pleaded that Mr. Harper be allowed to apply the pun- ishment.
"The valley was full of game and the Indian boys hunted much on their fleet footed ponies. Often they would expend a quiver of arrows at wild turkeys and come home laden with the great black birds; they also killed deer and exchanged the venison for beads and other things the settlers had to offer.
"Mr. Harper built the first house of size in that neighborhood. It was a two-story affair and was known as the White House. Practically all the other establishments were log cabins, with a room on each end and a pas- sageway through the middle, or a sin- gle room without hall. He made his plantation blossom with slave labor brought from South Georgia. Pres- ently there were five white papooses instead of two, and when Alexander and Elizabeth had grown up some- what they used to play with the In- dian boys and girls. The boys played a game with thick stones shaped like wheels. These would be rolled across an open space and shot at with ar- rows, and the side which scored the most hits was declared the winner.
"Once when Alexander and Eliza- beth were playing with a lot of pearls and wampum in a bureau drawer at David Vann's home they heard some- body ask Mrs. Vann if she were not afraid the pale-faces would drive the Indian out. 'No,' she answered scorn- fully, 'right now I could sound the war whoop and a thousand braves would answer from forest and field.'
"Little did she realize how soon the Indians were to march sullenly by for the west as Alexander and Eliza- beth hung on the fence and waved them farewell. We have their val- leys, rivers and hills and they are gone to the land of the setting sun; but so has the little white papoose gone to the happy hunting ground of Heaven. On Saturday, Jan. 2, 1905, Alexander Thornton Harper died at his Cave Spring home. ‘A noble man has gone to that reward promised the faithful in Holy Writ. He fought the good fight, he kept the faith throughout the allotted years of life and now enjoys that bliss accorded the righteous who die in the Lord.' "
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A FAMOUS LEAP-YEAR PARTY. The Rome News of Dec. 29, 1920, car- ried the following story :
Only two more days of Leap Year,- two more days and then a lapse of four long years!
Look before you leap, young ladies of Rome, but leap while ye may! Next year, 1921, is not divisible by four to a nicety, nor is it divisible by twos or couples if the plaints of the hard time croakers are to be taken seri- ously.
'Twas the same in the old days, and 'tis the same now. The love song is sung in season and out. Fair maids sing it one year in four and handsome men the remaining three.
Back in 1860, just before the muffled drums started beating for the Civil War, there resided in Rome a young bachelor by the name of George T. Stovall, member of one of Georgia's most prominent families, who in ad- dition to being a lawyer, wrote ed- itorials for The Rome Courier.
He was one of the first to fall in the First Battle of Manassas in 1861. His senior editor on The Courier was M. Dwinell, who was also a bachelor, and who went away with Stovall as a second lieutenant in the Rome Light Guards. The Courier having no so- ciety editor Jan. 27, 1860, a leap-year party was handled in the editorial col- umn as follows by Bachelor Dwinell :
"It was our pleasure on last Friday night to attend a most delightful party gotten up and entirely managed by the young ladies of Rome. Everything was arranged in excellent good taste and the young ladies played the gallants most admirably. They showed that they not only knew how to gracefully receive the attentions of the sterner sex but also that they can most charm- ingly bestow them. It was a sweet season of joyous hilarity, mirth and social amusements,-a genuine 'feast of reason and flow of soul.' There are many more young gentlemen than young ladies in the place, and if the former did not all get special invita- tions, we see no reason why they should be growling about it. The ladies deserve great credit for the pleasing exhibition they made of their 'rights' for the coming year. May they all live long and happily and each be the pure center of sacred household joys."
Having read this squib in the proof, Bachelor Stovall wrote the following: "Now, we wish to say a word or two on the subject. All that sounds very
nice and pretty coming from our ed. itorial senior, and although he insists we must not, we will say it, senior in years as well as editorial experience. He can afford to write that way about Leap Year parties when he gets a spe- cial invitation to go and has an escort. But there are two sides to every ques- tion and we are on the other side of this one, for we did not have a 'pecu- liar institution' in embryo to come and hand us a sweetly-scented billet doux written in the most delicate chirog- raphy, respectfully soliciting the pleas- ure of our company.
"It is true we did get through the postoffice a sort of general invitation or permission or something of the kind which seemed to say 'If you are not afraid to come by yourself, you can come, or you can stay away, just as you please; if you come you can take care of yourself, and if you stay away, nobody will miss you anyhow.'
"We have never done anything we know of that makes us deserve such treatment. We have never been caught disturbing the midnight slumber of anybody's hen roost or in mistaking another man's pocket for our own. We don't recall ever having said that won- en were intellectually inferior to Be- con, or Newton or Bonaparte or J. . Caesar or Pompey or Solomon or Brig- ham Young or Joe Brown, and we are satisfied we have never compared them to a huge fodder stack with a little piece of ribbon or turkey feather flut- tering from the top of it. However much we have thought all this, we have prudently kept it to ourselves; but we vow we won't do so any longer!
"On the other hand, ever since we had heard there was to be a Leap Year party we had been studiously at- tentive and polite to every one of the 'Dear (Bah!) creatures.' Whenever we have met them on the street we have invariably tipped our hat as gracefully as we knew how and smiled a little sweeter than we ever thought we could before, and ever can again; and in one or two instances we fol- lowed them several blocks hoping we might have an opportunity of picking up and returning to its owner a glove or a handkerchief she may have 'un- intentionally' dropped.
"And yet, after all this, not one of them offered to escort us to the party; and we waited as patiently as Job un- til 9:30 that night. Then hope and our fire going out about the same time, we concluded to follow their ex- ample and stroll up to the city hall,
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A TRULY COSMOPOLITAN ASSEMBLAGE.
In this group are three physicians, a lawyer, a sheriff, a merchant, a mining engineer, a minister and a college professor. They are, left to right, Dr. Harry, Huzza, Dr. Geo. R. West, of Chattanooga, and Lyle B. West; Edwin Watters, Rev. R. B. Headden, long pastor of the First Baptist church; Judge Robt. D. Harvey, Jake C. Moore, Robt. D. Van Dyke, of Atlanta; Prof. Jos. Lustrat, of Athens, and Dr. Geo. B. Glover, of Monticello, Fla.
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only to see how many and who were there. We very foolishly went in by way of testing the matter a little fur- ther, and just as we expected, nobody came to ask us to promenade or insist on our singing Jeremiah, or to play the elephant or any other animal, or to ask us how we were enjoying the evening, or even to inform us of the state of the weather.
"One young lady (bless her sweet soul) did offer to take our hat, and it was such an extraordinary act of at- tention that we would have given it to her if it had not cost us five dollars and was the last one we had. We were satisfied from what we saw that our senior's rhapsodies are all put on, for he was a most neglected wall flow- er. It may be called spite or spleen, but to us the whole affair was a per- fect humbug.
"We would rather eat sour grapes any time than attend one for half an hour. The man that started the idea of giving up for twelve months the dearest privileges of his sex to a par- cel of unappreciative and capricious women deserved a coat of tar and feathers, and on Friday night we had the great satisfaction of burning the wretch in effigy and singing his re- quiem.
"So far as any advancement of our own from a state of single blessedness to one of double wretchedness is con- cerned, when we record in our journal the events of 1860 we will simply leave a blank page.
"We think Patrick Henry could have made the expression a great deal stronger if he had said 'Give me Lib- erty or give me Leap Year!' We only wish it were 1861; we would see how far another Leap Year would catch us in this fix again. As it is we have a notion to spend the balance of this one in Utah. There we reckon the ladies are not so independent. Leap Year indced !"
Bachelor Dwinell read the proof on the above sally by Bachelor Stovall and tacked on the following:
"Our junior has fully justified the fable of the Fox and the Grapes. We pity him; but since he wrote the above we discover unmistakable signs of convalescence and assure the ladies that he will be in his right mind in a few days."
CARRYING ON .- The following items from The Rome Weekly Courier, Vol. 20, New Series No. 1, Thursday, Aug. 31, 1865, will give further in-
formation on the status of Rome and Romans directly after the Civil War:
To Former Patrons .- Greeting: On the 16th of May, 1864, the last number of this paper was published. The Fed- eral forces occupied Rome on the next day, and since then, up to about the first of last May, it was not deemed prudent for such a 'Reb" as we have been to engage in any permanent busi- ness in Rome.
Some three months since we returned to the old office and found it in great confusion. What a pickle it was in, to be sure! Stands, tables, cases, presses, stones and stove pipe, impos- ing stone, cabinets, racks and every- thing else all turned topsy-turvy; and then the whole chawdered up and beaten to pieces with sledge hammers and crowbars until the office looked like the Demons from the Infernal Re- gions had been holding high carnival there.
Of course we felt bad. It looked very much like "Othello's occupation was gone!" It would do no good to think hard things and still less to say wicked words; we at once resolved that as for us and our house, we would arise and go back to the old fold again. Well, the first thing to be done was to take the Amnesty Oath. Now, about that we felt a little like the keeper of a cheap boarding house did about eat- ing crow, after he had forced down a little for a wager. He said he could eat crow, but he "didn't hanker arter it!" We took the oath and have been feeling better ever since. It was prob- We ably just the medicine needed. would advise every citizen of the state to embrace the first opportunity to take the Oath of Allegiance. It is as little as could possibly be asked of us: after four years of most determined and earnest effort to disrupt the Fed- eral Nation, and besides it is really our duty to give an honest pledge that hereafter we will give a full and cor- dial support of that government, which after all our sins against it proposes now not only to pardon (with a few exceptions) but also to spread over us the aegis of its protecting wings.
Having taken the Oath, we went in- dustriously to work and with the as- sistance of one good printer, by pick- ing up the debris, assorting the type, patching some machinery and buying a little (with borrowed money), we are now enabled to come out with the paper as you see it. It is our deter- mination to publish a first-rate family newspaper, giving the subscriber as
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much reliable and interesting informa- tion on Commercial, Political and Mis- cellaneous subjects as the columns will contain. All Military and Govern- ment orders and Proclamations that pertain to the people of this section will be published as soon as received. The paper will be neither partisan nor sectarian, but we shall do all in our power to support President Johnson and the Provisional Governor in their present policy of restoring the Empire State of the South to its once proud position in the great family of States.
Wanted-One Thousand Subscribers to This Paper-Our rates are low. The paper will be the best News Paper we can possibly make it. Terms, $1 for three months; $2 for six, or $4 for 12 months. We will take in payment currency or produce, anything we can eat, drink or wear, at market price; also clean cotton or linen rags at 2 cents per pound. No name will be entered on the Subscription Book until the paper is paid for, and the paper will be stopped as soon as the time paid for expires.
Bill Arp .- We are promised a series of communications from this inimitable wit and satirist. Probably we may have one article from him next week.
Important Military Order .- Capt. Kyes, commandant of this post, re- ceived telegraphic dispatch from Gen. Steedman on the 29th inst. or- dering that no cotton shall be shipped from this place after that date until further orders. It is supposed that this order is general throughout the cotton states, and that all cotton will have to remain where it is for the present- one object of this order is to prevent the stealing of cotton that is now car- ried on to such a shameful extent in some sections.
Taking the Oath .- While Capt. Heirs was Provost Marshal, from June 10 to July 26, he administered the Oath to 342 persons; since August 14 Jesse Lamberth, ordinary of the county, has administered it to 770, making the total number up to noon yesterday 1,112, and still they come.
Schools in Rome .- Arrangements are made for a good number of ex- cellent schools for the children of Rome and vicinity. Mrs. Dr. Brown still continues her school at the former place. Mrs. Reeves has returned and will reopen her school on Monday next. See Advertisement. Mrs. Susan Smith is also about to commence another school, and Misses Maggie Riley and Mattie Sawrie each have prosperous
schools now in operation. Mrs. J. W. M. Berrien also has a fine school, and Mrs. Jennings, her sister, teaches mu- sic. Mr. Nevin has a school for boys that we understand is well patronized and doing well.
Rolling Mill and Machine Shop .- We are pleased to learn that H. M. An- derson & Co. are preparing to rebuild their rolling mill. Messrs. Noble Brothers are also arranging to rebuild their Machine Shops and Foundry, and we hope ere long to hear the genial hum of machinery all along Railroad Street as in times before the war.
Business of Rome .- The business of this place has increased nearly 100 per cent a week for the last three months. We now have twelve dry goods stores, nearly all keeping more or less hard- ware, crockery and groceries; seven family grocery stores, two wholesale and retail grocery stores, two hotels, three eating saloons, six bar rooms, two billiard rooms, two livery stables, etc., and all doing a good business.
"Home Again."-Nearly all the for- mer citizens of Rome and vicinity have returned and others intend coming soon. Among those who are still ab- sent are Dr. H. V. M. Miller, who is now in Macon but still claims Rome as his home and will soon return; A. M. Sloan, now in Thomasville, but ex- pects to move back in October; D. R. Mitchell and Dr. Jas. B. Underwood, now in Valdosta, intend to return this fall; Wade S. Cothran, now at Valula, is expected soon; Jno. R. Freeman, now at Flat Shoals, Meriwether County, is due before Christmas; Asahel R. Smith expects to move here again in a short time. In fine, nearly every one of the former residents are certain to return, and before long Rome will be herself again.
Must Ladies Take the Oath ?- "The orders are very plain on this subject. The ladies are required to take the Oath before taking their letters. By command of Maj. Gen. Steedman, S. B. Moe, Adjutant." The above is an extract of an order received by our Postmaster in reference to ladies re- receiving letters by mail.
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