Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 17

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148

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UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY

and one name be used by the various chapters came from her. Mrs. Raines organized a chapter at Savannah, soon after Mrs. Goodlett began her initial labors in Nashville, though she had contemplated this step at an earlier period.

On September 10, 1894, a meeting called by Mrs. Goodlett, at the suggestion of Mrs. Raines, was held in Nashville, for the purpose of agreeing upon some basis of union for the several chapters; and there were present at this meeting, the members of the Nashville chapter, Mrs. J. C. Myers, a visiting friend from Texas, and Mrs. L. H. Raines, of Savannah. The meeting was called in the rooms of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac, U. C. V., and it was Mrs. L. H. Raines who drafted the Constitution of the new order, after the Constitution of the United Con- federate Veterans, which she obtained from John P. Hick- man, secretary of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac.

The officers chosen were Mrs. Caroline Goodlett, pre- sident; Mrs. L. H. Raines, vice-president; Mrs. J. C. Myers, whose place was afterwards supplied by Mrs. Kate Cabell Currie, vice-president; Miss May White, vice- president; Mrs. John P. Hickman, secretary; and Mrs. M. Massey, treasurer. The objects of the organization were to be : Memorial, Historical, Benevolent, Educa- tional, and Social. It was first called the National Daugh- ters of the Confederacy, but at the Nashville convention, in 1896, it was changed to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, on motion of Mrs. A. T. Smythe, of Charleston, S. C.

you so very appropriately remarked, we should have one name and one badge all over the South."

Also Mrs. P. G. Robert's report: Mrs. Robert, of Missouri, was appointed to secure documentary evidence from Mrs. Goodlett and Mrs. Raines. This was honestly and fairly done, without bias or prejudice. The following is her report:

"Resolved: That the documentary evidence furnished in the case chiefly by Mrs. Goodlett's own letters prove that Mrs. L. H. Raines, of Georgia, first suggested the plan of uniting all the women of the South in one organi. zation which has developed the United Daughters of the Confederacy." (Article in the "Athens (Ga.) Banner" of April 26, 1912, by Miss Mildred Rutherford, historian-general, U. D. C.)

CHAPTER XLVIII

Origin of the Southern Cross of Honor

T HERE is nothing more sacred to the heart of the Confederate veteran than his Cross of Honor. It is something which he can transmit to his children. It testifies to his heroism on the field of battle, and, com- ing from the gentle Daughters of the Confederacy, it possesses for him a value more precious than rubies. The originator of this beautiful idea was a lady of Athens: Mrs. Mary Ann Cobb Erwin. The daughter of an illus- trious statesman and soldier, Gen. Howell Cobb, she was one of the first to lay flowers upon the graves of the heroic dead and to lend her loving aid to the erection of monuments. But the sense of an unfulfilled obligation to the living heroes of the South weighed upon her heart, until finally like an inspiration there flashed into her mind this thought : why not bestow upon the old soldiers of Lee an emblem of some kind, like the famous Cross of the Legion of Honor? The suggestion was received with the most enthusiastic approval. At a meeting of the United Daughters of the Confederacy at Hot Springs, Ark., in 1898 it took the assemblage by storm, and a committee was appointed by the President to procure designs. Mrs. Erwin, with characteristic modesty, preferred to remain in the background. She was placed on the committee, but withdrew. At the next annual meeting in Richmond, Va., the emblem proposed by Mrs. Sarah E. Gabbett, of At- lanta, was adopted; while at the same time the office of Custodian of the Cross of Honor was bestowed upon her.

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THE SOUTHERN CROSS OF HONOR

Miss Rutherford, of Athens, served in place of Mrs. Erwin on the committee. The other members were: Mrs. Sarah E. Gabbett and Mrs. Helen Plane, both of Atlanta. The committee was afterwards enlarged and given au- thority to formulate rules. When the idea was finally perfected it was made to include not only veterans but also descendants of deceased Confederate soldiers and sailors. In compliment to Mrs. Erwin, the first Cross of Honor bestowed by the Daughters of the Confederacy was awarded to her distinguished husband, Judge Alex- ander S. Erwin, of Athens; and if any other veteran received his trophy at an earlier period it was not the intent of the organization .*

* The writer's authority for these facts is two-fold: (1) The Minutes of the Ninth Annual Meeting of the U. D. C., held at New Orleans, November 12-15, 1902; and (2) The Resolutions adopted by the Cobb-Deloney Camp of Confederate Veterans, at Athens, Ga., in May, 1900, published at the time and also reprinted in the "Athens Banner" of April 26, 1912.

CHAPTER XLIX

Copse Hill: The Home of Paul H. Hayne

F OURTEEN miles from Augusta, on the line of the Georgia Railway, near Grovetown, where it occu- pies an isolated spot in the midst of the pine bar- rens, stands an odd-looking bungalow to which, with the adjacent area, has been given a name still fragrantly familiar to the world of letters-"Copse Hill." It was for many years the sylvan home of the Southern laureate, Paul H. Hayne. Though a native of Charleston, S. C., and a scion of one of the oldest families of the Palmetto State, Mr. Hayne came to Georgia at the close of the Civil War. In the bombardment of Charleston, his bean- tiful home was destroyed by fire, including his ample library and many precious heir-looms. With the few fragments which he saved from the wreck, he betook him- self to this quiet retreat. His health was always fragile, and he hoped to find balm in the atmosphere of his adopted home. Here he resided with his family until his death. In this rudely constructed little cottage, many if not most, of his poems were written. From the wood- land paths near by through which he loved to wander he caught his out-door inspirations; and here amid hard- ships and trials he struggled with disease and sang his songs until Copse Hill became a famous spot, "hallowed by the glorifying glamour of genius."

There have been many descriptions of the home of Mr. Hayne, but none more vivid than the one which the

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poet himself gives in speaking of a visit made to him in the summer of 1866 by William Gilmore Simms. He calls it, "an extraordinary shanty which seemed to have been tossed by a supernatural pitchfork upon the top of the most desolate of hills, and there prompted by some devilish cantrip-slight to build itself into uncouth ugli- ness.''1 The interior accommodations were not at vari- ance with the external characteristics, for the poet adds2 : "If memory serves me right, we had three mattresses and a cot, and for supplies a box of hardtack, two sides of bacon, and fourscore, more or less, of smoked herring. Of cooking utensils there were a frying-pan, a gridiron, with three bars, and a battered iron pot." Years after- ward Maurice Thompson visited Hayne. The cottage had been somewhat improved by the deft hand of Mrs. Hayne, but it was still "an arid perch for a song-bird, this windy, frowsy, barren hill." The chairs, the table, the shelves, had been made of dry-goods boxes. In the main room, not only the walls but the ceiling overhead wore ornamen- tations made to add effect with pictures from illustrated journals. Hayne's writing desk, at which he stood to make his poems, had been a carpenters work bench. Says Dr. Edwin Mins3: "In this simple home-almost as crude as Thoreau's hut on Walden Pond-Hayne spent the remainder of his days, only once or twice going on a visit to his native city, and once as far as New England to see the poets with whom he had such intimate corres- pondence and to whom he had written some of his tender- est poems-at once the expression of his interest in poetic art and of his broad national spirit. Here he received visits from young poets to whom he extended advice and gave inspiration. Here also he exchanged letters with such far away English poets as Swinbourne and Tenny- son. Perhaps no Southern poet ever carried on such an extensive correspondence with so many distinguished men

1Library of Southern Literature, Vol. V, p. 2269. Sketch of the poet by Edwin Mims, Atlanta, 1907.

"Ibid, 2269.

*Ibid, 2269-2270.

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of letters." In 1882, the complete works of Mr. Hayne were issued from the press of D. Lothrop and Co., of Boston.

Major Charles W. Hubner, of Atlanta, himself a poet of rare gifts, was an intimate friend of the noted laureate and was at his bedside during his last hours. He speaks feelingly of the childlike trust, of the sublime faith, of the beautiful resignation which characterized the pathetic scene of farewell. He also attended the funeral, in com- pany with Charles C. Jones, Jr., and James R. Randall, kindred spirits and intimate friends of the deceased poet. Says Major Hubner, in speaking of the impressive obse- quies :* "The whole city was in mourning. The people not only admired him as a poet but also loved him as a man whose life illustrated the best qualities of the chiv- alrous race from which he sprang, for his heart was constantly animated by a passionate and insistent love for the true, the good, and the beautiful. A very touching feature of the funeral day was the presence of several thousand children, who lined the streets as the sorrowful procession passed on its way to the cemetery. The pres- ence of these children testified to their love for their distinguished friend and verified the sweet sentiment of one of his own lines: 'The children loved him, so he sleeps in peace.' " As yet the grave of Mr. Hayne is unmarked by any memorial stone, though it is beautifully kept. In the possession of the Hayne Circle of Augusta there is now a fund for the erection of a monument to the lamented poet. Doubtless the members hope to in- crease the sum on hand. At any rate, the city of Augusta will not be long without a monument of the most sub- stantial character to the silent laureate of the South.

Mr. William H. Hayne, the poet's son, himself also a poet of reputation, in a letter to the author, writes thus in regard to Copse Hill. Says he: "It is much in

*Representative Southern Poets, by Charles W. Hubner, New York and Washington, 1906.

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the condition in which my parents left it, except that I have not the means to keep it in ship-shape as a sailor would say. Most of my father's library is there, and I keep the place insured. Edmund, an old servant, is the only care-taker I have, and he shares my hope that I may never be compelled to let Copse Hill pass into other hands."*

*Letter written by Mr. Hayne to the author of this work. .

CHAPTER L

Richard Henry Wilde: Augusta's Monument to the Author of the "Summer Rose."

T HOUGH neither Hayne nor Randall have yet been honored with civic monuments, there stands on Greene street, in the city of Augusta, a substantial shaft of marble bearing the name of another Georgia poet : Richard Henry Wilde. He was a member of Con- gress, an oraor of no mean distinction, an author whose work on Torquato Tasso, in two volumes, attracted wide attention, and a lawyer who possessed rare gifts as an advocate; but Mr. Wilde is today remembered chiefly by reason of a fragment which he composed in an idle mood :

"My life is like the summer rose, That opens to the morning sky But ere the shades of evening close Is scattered on the ground to die. But on the rose's humble bed The sweetest dews of night are shed As if she wept such waste to see; But none shall weep a tear for me."

"My life is like the autumn leaf, That trembles in the moon's pale ray, Its hold is frail, its date is brief- Restless and soon to pass away. Yet ere the leaf shall fall and fade The parent tree shall mourn its shade, The wind bewail the leafless tree; But none shall breathe a sigh for me."

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RICHARD HENRY WILDE

"My life is like the print which feet Have left on Tampa's desert strand; Soon as the rising tide shall beat This track will vanish from the sand, But still, as grieving to efface, All vestige of the human race, On that lone shore loud mourns the sea, But none shall ere lament for me."

Lord Byron pronounced this poem the finest from the pen of an American author, and, though we possessed no literature of which to speak, in the time of "Childe Harold," the tribute is none the less expressive of the bard's enthusiasm. Mr. Wilde wrote other poems of merit; in fact, the above poem is incorporated in one of greater length; but nothing from the pen of the author will compare with this gem. Because of the fact that he seldom dropped into verse and was a man absorbed in other lines of work, there were various claimants to the authorship. Moreover, he was made the victim of a prac- tical joke by a classical scholar of Savannah, who trans- lated it into ancient Greek, copied it on a yellow parch- ment, and gave it to an old clergyman whom he wished to deceive, telling him that it was a poem written by Alcaeus, who lived six hundred years before Christ. The alleged discovery of an ancient document created quite a furor in the world of letters. But the whole affair was explained afterwards by Mr. Anthony Barclay, the inno- cent cause of the trouble, whose desire for amusement produced, for the time being, a sensation which involved both hemispheres and deceived even the elect.

Mr. Wilde was a native of Ireland. He was born in the city of Dublin, September 24, 1789; but coming to America at an early age he located in Augusta for the practice of law and attained to the highest public honors.

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Losing his seat in Congress by reason of Whig reverses, he spent three years in Florence, Italy, where he gathered the materials for his famous work on the mad Italian poet. Later he moved to New Orleans, where he became the first professor of constitutional law in the University of Louisiana. But on September 10, 1847, he fell a victim to the yellow fever. His remains were brought to Geor- gia and interred on the Sand Hills, but were subsequently exhumed and taken to the city cemetery in Augusta, where they now repose .*

On the Greene street monument to Mr. Wilde appear the following inscriptions :

(West)

RICHARD HENRY WILDE.

Born Sept. 24, 1789.

Died Sept. 10, 1847.

(South) Poet-Orator-Jurist-Historian-Statesman (East) "My life is like the summer rose That opens to the morning sky . But ere the shades of evening close Is scattered on the ground to die." (North) Erected by the Hayne Lyterary Circle, of Augusta, Georgia, 1896.

* Consult: "Reminiscences of Famous Georgians," by Lucian Lamar Knight, Vol. I, Chapter XV, Atlanta, 1907; "Wilde's Summer Rose," an authentic account of the origin, mystery and explanation of Hon. R. H. Wilde's alleged plagiarism, by Anthony Barclay, Esq., Savannah, 1871; Lewis Parke Chamberlaine, in sketch of the poet, Vol. XIII, Library of Southern Literature, p. 5789 et seq., Atlanta, 1909.

CHAPTER LI

Torch Hill: The Home of Dr. Francis O. Ticknor

F IVE miles south of Columbus, on an eminence over- looking the country for leagues around, stood the home of Dr. Francis O. Ticknor, the famous Geor- gia poet, whose lyrics of the Civil War period today rank among the American classics. He called the place "Torch Hill" because of an Indian tradition which made it the scene of a battle, fought in the early days, by torch- light.1 Settling here soon after his marriage to Rosalie Nelson, whose father was an officer of the war of 1812 and later a member of Congress from Virginia, Dr. Tick- nor made "Torch Hill" his home for the remainder of his life and here, during the Christmas holidays of 1874, at the early age of fifty-two, he sheathed his golden pen forever. The surroundings were most exquisite. Says Paul H. Hayne, in speaking of the plantation abode of lis comrade in song :2 "Anything more picturesque than the view therefrom it would be hard to imagine. The house overlooks for miles on miles the Chattahoochee Valley, full of waving grain-fields and opulent orchards. With the poet's love of everything sweet and pure and natural, he soon surrounded his home with flowers and

1 Mr. John T. Davis, of Columbus, is the present owner of Torch Hill. The original home place built by Dr. Ticknor has been destroyed, but the old buggy house still remains and the big cedars are also there. Just north of the old home site Mr. Davis has built two handsome summer dwellings.

2 Paul H. Hayne, in his Introductory Notice to The Poems of Frank O. Ticknor, M. D., Philadelphia, 1879.

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fruits. In the spring and summer I have heard it de- seribed as a perfect Eden of roses; while towards autumn the crimson foliage and blushing tints of the great mel- low apples, especially if touched by sunset lights, caused the "Hill" to gleam and glitter as with the colors of fairy-land. Here, in this peaceful nest, Tieknor lived for nearly a quarter of a century, exceptionally blessed in his domestic relations, though more than once the Dark Presence whom no mortal can shun entered his household to leave it for a season desolate. Here he dreamed high dreams and beheld pleasant visions. Art opened to his soul not one alone, but several of her fairest domains. He was a gifted musician, playing exquisitely upon the flute, and a draftsman of the readiest skill and taste. Still 1 picture him always as pre-eminently the poet, with every natural endowment purified and strength- ened by scholarly culture."

Dr. Tieknor was an active physician. It was only at intervals, when he could snatch a moment's leisure from his professional engagements, that he resigned himself to his poetic moods. He caught most of his inspirations in going the rounds of his country practice, for, in travel- ing over the familiar roads, his mind was free to wander, and not a few of his best poems were drafted on the backs of his prescription blanks. Perhaps his most famous poem is "Little Giffen." But scarcely inferior to this rare gem is his "Virginians of the Valley." Dr. Tieknor's style is terse. Says Mr. Hayne :* "Most poets dally with their conceptions but this one seizes his idea at once, thrusts it into a position of strong relief, fastens it there and is done. Technically speaking his style is dynamic." With respect to "Little Giffen," Dr. Al- phonso Smith observes: "In the simplicity of its pathos, the intensity of its appeal, and the dramatic compression

* Ibid.

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of its thought, it ranks among the best short poems of American literature." For many years Dr. Ticknor was unnoticed in the anthologies. At last, however, he has come into his own, and there are today few up-to-date collections of verse, in any wise representative in char- acter, from which the author of "Little Giffen" is excluded.

On Friday, March 1, 1912, the pupils of the Columbus High School, instead of observing Arbor Day in the usual manner, took advantage of this opportunity to sig- nalize the fact that a poet of Columbus was not without honor in his home town; and, on this occasion, a memorial tablet of marble was unveiled to Dr. Ticknor, one of the sweetest of the South's lyric singers,-thus attesting, after the lapse of more than forty years, the charm of melody which this unforgotten wizard still weaves. The program began with a recitation by Miss Mary Lou Downing, who gracefully rendered one of Dr. Ticknor's poems, after which a splendid paper on the poet was read by Mr. Albert Peacock. The size of the tablet is eighteen by twenty-four inches. It occupies a place of prominence in the lower hall and contains the following brief in- scription :

Erected to the memory of Francis Orray Ticknor by the class of 1912.

CHAPTER LII

St. Elmo: Its Memories of Augusta Evans Wilson

H ALF a mile to the northeast of Columbus, at an elevation of some sixty feet above the level of Broad street, loom the picturesque towers of St. Elmo Institute, a school of wide note for the education of Southern girls. It is situated in a grove of splendid oaks and elms, while the adjacent grounds contain ex- tensive vineyards, a lake spanned by artistic bridges, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and numerous other out- door attractions. The handsome building is surrounded on every side by a covered colonade, in which there is ample room for exercises when the weather is inclement. Captain James J. Slade, one of Georgia's veteran edu- cators, is the official head of the institution. Here the gallant General Henry L. Benning-"Old Rock" of Con- federate fame-wooed and won his beautiful bride. But the picturesque environment is also fragrant with the associations of a writer, famous throughout the land- Augusta Evans Wilson. It was here that she often visited her aunt, Mrs. Seaborn Jones; and years afterwards, when the school was named for her, she wrote: "Many of the happiest years of my girlhood were spent in this lovely home, and I thank you most cordially for the com- pliment of linking St. Elmo with the grand old mansion which is endeared to me by hallowed and precious recol- Jections."

Mrs. Wilson was a native of Columbus. She was born at Wynnton, a little suburb of the town, on May 8, 1835.

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The stately home in which the great Southern novelist first saw the light of day, was afterwards the residence of Colonel Louis F. Garrard; but at the time of Mrs. Wilson's birth it was the home of her grandmother, Jane Vivian Howard. On reaching the age of ten, the future novelist removed to Texas with her father; and here, at the age of sixteen, she wrote "Inez," a story of the Alamo, supposed by some critics to be her best produc- tion. Mrs. Seaborn Jones, the young author's aunt, was then living in the old home today occupied by Captain Slade's school. At this place, Miss Evans became a visi- tor before completing the manuscript of "St. Elmo," and the unfinished story was read to her aunt for appro- val. It was not the original purpose of the author to unite the two principal characters of the story, St. Elmo and Edna Earl, in the bonds of wedlock; but in deference to the critical judgment of her aunt, she amended the plot to this extent. Captain Slade bought the handsome old mansion from the Jones estate, and here he opened a select school for young ladies to which most appropri- ately he gave the name: "St. Elmo."1

1These facts in regard to St. Elmo were obtained by Colonel Charles J. Swift from Colonel Robert Howard, a first cousin of the famous novelist, and embodied in a letter dated May 3, 1912.

CHAPTER LIII

Sidney Lanier: Macon's Memorial to the Master- Minstrel

O N October 17, 1890, the poet's birthday, there was unveiled with impressive ceremonies, in the public library of his native city, a bronze memorial bust of the illustrious bard who has immortalized in literature the "Song of the Chattahoochee" and the "Marshes of Glynn." The bust is almost an exact reproduction of the famous original, placed by admirers of the poet in the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Md., the scene of Lanier's last labors. On the occasion of the un- veiling there assembled in Macon an intellectual host to pay homage to one of the master- minstrels of his time. The late Chancellor Walter B. Hill delivered the principal oration, while the memorial ode was read by William H. Hayne, of Augusta, the gifted son of Paul H. Hayne, the noted laureate. There were also tributes of song from Harry Stillwell Edwards, of Macon, and from John B. Tabb, of Baltimore. President D. C. Gil- man, of the Johns Hopkins University, sent a letter which was read at the exercises, extolling the rare genius of the illustrious dead. The handsome bust was presented to the city of Macon by a kinsman, Mr. Charles Lanier.

Though dying at the early age of thirty-nine, an in- valid from the time of his imprisonment at Point Lookout, the poet was an unwearied toiler. Besides his poetry, he wrote a novel entitled: Tiger Lilies; two volumes of essays; two volumes of lectures; a book on Florida;

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three books for boys; a volume of letters; and two volumes of exceptionally suggestive criticism. He pos- sessed a passion for mathematics ; was a musician as well as a poet; became famous as a player on the flute; and while a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins was also a member of the Peabody Orchestra of Baltimore. He lacked some of the qualities of the popular singer, and doubtless will never be acclaimed by the masses ; but each year deepens the solid foundations upon which the superstructure of his fame is grounded. Perhaps it will not be wide of the mark to call him the poet's poet. His little volume of verse is today critically studied in the great universities of Europe; and by establishing the fundamental unity between music and poetry, twin-arts, whose inspirational fires are mingled in his rythm, Lanier has achieved a distinction in the realm of letters which puts him in the class with Tennyson and makes him one of the mountain- peaks of song.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 17

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148