USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 23
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Clisby again purchased an interest and became the Nestor of the press of Georgia. The present editor of the Macon Telegraph, Colonel Charles R. Pendleton, is one of the most virile writers and one of the most original thinkers in the journalistic ranks of the State.
Macon's pioneer military organization was the Macor. Volunteers organized April 23, 1825, under Capt. Isaac G. Seymour. It was among the first to respond to the call of Georgia for help in the Creek Indian War of 1836. At this time five companies were ordered into the service from the interior of the State and formed into a battalion at Macon under Major Mark A. Cooper: the Monroe Musketeers, Capt. Cureton, 63 men; the Hancock Blues, Capt. Brown, 63 men; the Morgan Guards, Capt. Foster, 61 men ; the State Fencibles of Putnam, Capt. Meriwether, 67 men; and the Macon Volunteers, Capt. Seymour, 92 men.
Dr. Adiel Sherwood wrote his famous Gazetteer while supplying the Baptist church in Macon between the years 1828 and 1829. He afterwards offered the resolution to establish at Penfield the famous school which later became Mercer University. He married the widow of Gov. Peter Early, but she survived only a year. Dr. Sherwood died in St. Louis, Mo., August 8, 1879, at the age of 88.
America's First Right Reverend Benjamin J. Keiley, Christian Baptism. Bishop of the Roman Catholic See of Savannah, is the authority for this unique item to the religious history of Macon. Says he: "According to tradition, Macon was the first place where Christian baptism was administered in North
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America. Two Indians were baptized by a priest with DeSoto, near the site of the present city, in 1540."
St. Stanislaus College, in Vineville, which was first organized under the name of Pio Nono College, is quite a noted seminary for the education of Catholic priests. The corner stone of the institution was laid on May 5, 1874, by Right Reverened William H. Gross, Bishop of Savannah.
Macon in the In 1845, when hostilities with Mexico com- Mexican War. menced, the Macon Guards left for the seat of war. They formed a part of the famous Georgia Regiment of Volunteers, under the com- mand of Colonel Henry R. Jackson, of Savannah. The officers of the company were: Isaac Holmes, Captain; E. L. Shelton, 1st Lieut. ; E. S. Rodgers, 2nd Lieut. ; Wm. D. Griffin, 1st Sergeant; J. B. Cumming, 2nd Sergeant ; J. A. McGregor, 3rd Sergeant; P. J. Shannon, 4th. Ser- geant; A. B. Ross, 1st Corporal; Edwin Harris, 2nd Corporal; Thomas E. Orcutt, 3rd Corporal; and R. T. McGregor, 4th Corporal. There were ninety-two men enrolled.
La Fayette's Visit. The following account of General Lafayette's visit to Macon has been preserved :* "On March 30, 1825, a signal gun announc- ed his approach to Macon, whereupon the ladies and gentlemen proceeded to form in line on Bridge street, near the ferry. He dismounted from his carriage and was received by the committee appointed and by the com- missioners of the town. On ascending the bluff he was welcomed in behalf of the citizens by James S. Frierson
* Historical Record of Macon, by John C. Butler, Macon, Ga., 1879, pp. 76-80.
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Esq., to whom the General replied A procession was then formed and he was conducted to his quarters at the Macon Hotel, afterwards the old Wayside Inn, at the foot of Mulberry street. While the procession was moving a national salute was fired. Soon after his arrival he was waited upon by the ladies who were individually introduced to him, after which came the citizens, to whom he gave a cordial grasp of the hand. He was then waited upon at his quarters by the brethren of Macon Lodge, Number 24, and addressed by Worship- ful Ambrose Baber, of the Lodge, to which the General replied. He remained about two hours and a half, during which time, in company with a large number of citizens, he partook of an excellent dinner prepared by Mr. Stovall. The following toast was given by Edward D. Tracy : "Our illustrious guest, the friend of our country, of liberty, and of men." To which the General respond- ed: "The town of Macon; may its prosperity continue to be one of the strongest arguments in favor of republican institutions." Very soon after dinner he bade an affec- tionate adieu to the ladies and gentlemen around him and resumed his carriage, whereupon another salute was fired. He was accompanied by the committee, by the commissioners of the town, and by a number of our citi- zens on horseback, for several miles on his way, and stopped for the night at the Creek Agency on the Flint River." The General came to Macon from Milledgeville, escorted by two of the Governor's aides, Henry G. Lamar and Thaddeus G. Holt. His son and his secretary accom- panied him on the visit.
Historic Wesleyan Confers First Di- ploma on Woman. Page 200
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Mercer. But Wesleyan is not the only crown jewel pos- sessed by College Hill. Somewhat to the south, on the same elevated ridge extend the handsome grounds of Mercer University, the famous educational plant of the Georgia Bapsists. In another part of this work will be found an account of the origin of this noted school, which, for nearly fifty years, was located at Penfield. The circumstances leading to the change of site may be briefly stated: When the Civil War closed, in 1865, Mercer University was sorely crippled. The little town in which the institution was then located, some seven miles to the north of Greensboro, was not upon the main highway of travel. From the disasters entailed by the war, it suffered an additional backset; and lacking recuperative power it could do nothing for the college whose doors were closed. The Baptists of the State were in no financial condition, during the days of Reconstruction, to raise what was needed to revive the institution; and for seven years it remained dormant amid the ashes at Penfield.
But the Central City of Georgia, was making rapid strides toward rehabilitation. The town was anxious to secure a male institution of high grade, and offered to furnish adequate grounds and buildings to Mercer, if the trustees would consent to remove it to Macon. Senti- ment was overwhelmingly in favor of the proposed change of location. The consequence was that in 1872 Mercer arose on the heights of Macon. Twelve free scholarships were awarded by the trustees, in perpetuity to local students, in return for the help extended. Colonel Gray a wealthy citizen of Jones County, left his entire estate to provide a fund for the education at Mercer of Jones County boys. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, the oil king, made a generous donation toward the erection of a college chapel. Not only the literary but the theological department also received an access of popularity, and soon the law department was added. The latter, under the efficient direction of Judge Emory Speer, the bril-
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liant dean, has become one of the prime nurseries of the legal profession in Georgia. The present executive head of Mercer is Dr. S. Y. Jameson.
Macon's Tribute to Under the auspices of the Sidney
Southern Women. Lanier Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, there was unveiled in the park opposite the city hall, in Macon, on June 3, 1911, a superb shaft of marble to the memory of the Southern women of the heroic war times. The monument in Macon is the second memorial of this character to be erected in Georgia, the first having been unveiled in Rome on June 3, 1910, exactly one year earlier. But an inquiry into the origin of the movement will show that from the standpoint of inspiration at least the monument in Macon antedates the monument in Rome. Due to an unfortunate handicap in the beginning, there was some delay on the part of the people of Macon in putting the idea into execution, but they are undoubtedly entitled to the credit of having conceived it first.
It was at 5:45 o'clock, on the afternoon of June 11, 1911, that the little cannon in the park announced the formal opening of the impressive exercises. There was first a prayer of invocation and then a selection of martial music, after which, on behalf of the city, Hon. John T. Moore, delivered an eloquent address. Mr. W. A. Poe, adjutant of Camp Smith, United Confederate Veterans, was then introduced. He paid an eloquent tribute to the women of the Confederacy, after which he traced the history of the movement to erect a monument in Macon. Mrs. Walter D. Lamar next spoke for the Daughters of the Confederacy, accepting the care of the monument committed to them by the veterans.
Captain Ab. F. Jones Commander of Camp Smith, acted as master of ceremonies and intro- duced the various speakers on the program, the first
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part of which was rendered in the auditorium, the last part at the monument. Upon the conclusion of the address by Mrs. Lamar, the huge veil which hid the marble column was drawn by four young ladies, reveal- ing to the vast assemblage amid tumultnous plandits, the finished work of the artist. The Daughters of the Con- federacy have planned to observe the 31st day of May each year as flower day, at which time the childen of Macon will place flowers upon the monument. Nor could any better way be devised of keeping the memory of the heroic Confederate women fresh and fragrant.
At the intersection of Mulberry and Second streets, stands an impressive monument to the heroes of the Con- federacy, consisting of a series of granite blocks upon which is mounted the statue of a Confederate soldier, wrought of marble quarried in Carrara, Italy. It was unveiled on October 29, 1879, at which time the oration was delivered by Colonel Thomas Hardeman. The speaker was introduced to the audience by Hon. Alfred H. Colquitt, then Governor. Inscribed upon the monu- ment are the following words :
Erected A. D. 1879, by the Ladies Memorial As- sociation of Macon, in honor of the men of Bibb County and all who gave their lives to the South to establish the independence of the Confederate States. 1861-1865. With pride in their patriotism. With love for their memories. This silent stone is raised, a perpetual witness of our gratitude.
Two blocks removed, on the same principal thorough- fare, is a splendid bronze statue of William M. Wadley, who was long the President of the Georgia Central Rail- road and one of the pioneers of industrial development in the South. Inscribed upon it are these four words: "Our President and Friend." The town of Wadley in Jefferson County is named for this industrial captain.
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Historic Washington Washington Place, on the hill, is Place. one of the historic homes of Macon, a seat of hospitality in the ante- bellum days, where many a brilliant social fete was held. It is said that Macon escaped destruction at the hands of the Federal army, in 1865, chiefly through the influ- ence exerted by the owner of this home: James H. R. Washington. His wife, Mary Hammond Washington, a daughter of Colonel Samuel Hammond of the Revo- lution, founded the D. A. R. in Georgia. She was also a charter member of the National Society, in the ranks of which she was the first real daughter to be enrolled. Recently a handsome marble bust of Mrs. Washington was unveiled in Continental Hall, Washing- ton, D. C.
Civil War Memories
of Macon.
Volume II.
Indian Antiquities. "The Indian mounds in the vicinity of Macon, on both sides of the river,
have always been objects of curiosity to visitors and travelers. The one most noted called the Large Mound is on the east side, about half a mile below the bridge, from which, leaving the public road, a smooth carriage road takes you to the foot of the mound, about an eighth of a mile from the river. The face of the country sur- rounding it is uneven, though having the appearance of having been formerly a level plain, and its present un- evenness may be in consequence of the overflowing of the river or the lashing of the ocean. The top of the mound is about one hundred and twenty feet above the bed of the river, about one hundred above the ravine on the south, eighty above the plain on the southwest-between the mound and the river-and not over thirty above the plain on the north. The shape approaches that of a cone flattened at the top, which contains an area of nearly a quarter of an acre. The sides are covered with large
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oaks and hickories. From the summit the trees have been removed, and some years since it was tended as a flower garden.
"Other mounds of a smaller size are near this. One situated in a secluded, romantic spot, goes by the name of MeDougald's Mound, from the circumstance of Cap- tain Robert McDougald being buried here-by his own request-while commanding the garrison of Fort Hawk- ins, about the year 1809. It is a small hillock, thirty feet high. A neat paling, on which many visitors have left their names, encloses the grave on its summit. About thirty-five years ago a brother of Captain McDougald was buried on the same spot."
"Brown's Mount, seven miles below Macon, presents a long high ridge of shell stone, several hundred feet above the bed of the river. The ridge has much the appearance of the oyster reefs off the coast. The whole m'ass appears one vast conglommeration of sea shells, the different species of which may be distinctly traced, though some parts are of the hardest flint, and others in various stages of decomposition."*
Original Settlers. According to White, the original set- tlers of Bibb were: Roland Bevins, George B. Wardlaw, B. Bullock, C. Baitman, John Doug- lass, James Henderson, Jonathan Wilder, John Loving, Thompson Bird, Jeremy Stone, Thomas Howard, Leonard Sims, Benjamin Mariner, Henry Bailey, Jere- miah Burnett, Anson Kimberly, John Lamar, B. B. Lamar, Daniel Wadsworth, Jordan Witcher, Jeremiah Baugh, Timothy Matthews, James W. Allston, A. Meri- wether, J. Bates, C. McCardell, S. Rose, James Fitz- gerald, Henry Williams, Thomas House, who was Clerk of the Superior Court for over twenty-four years; Thomas Moody, N. W. Wells, C. Bullock, and William Cummings.
* White's Historical Collections, Bibb County, Savannah, 1856.
/
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To the foregoing list may be added Hugh Mckay, a native of the Hebrides Island; Thomas Hardeman, Sr., Dr. Curtis B. Nottingham, Dr. Thompson Bird, Mortimer R. Wallis and Dr. Dudley W. Hammond.
On March 20, 1823, Hon. Eli S. Shorter, Judge, the first session of the Superior Court was held in Ma- con. The Grand Jurors were: Alexander Meriwether, Josacher Bates, Charles McCardle, James Fitzgerald, Henry Williams, John H. Beard, Charles Ingram, Thomas House, Herdy Harrold, Lewis Foy, Roland Bevins, Redding Rutland, Jonathan A. Hudson, Thomas Bates, William Cumming, Nathan Braddy, Jonathan Wilder, Henry Randolph, James Henderson, John Doug- lass, Claiborne Bateman, Burrell Bullock and George B. Wardlaw. In addition, the following Petit Jurors were drawn: Jesse Palmer, Richard Bullock, John Bullock, James B. Hamilton, John Gafford, Button Brazill, Peter Stewart, Henry Turnage, Wade Harris, Zach Williams, Jr., Edmund Jones and Thomas Williams. Charles J. McDonald, afterwards Governor of Georgia, was Solici- tor General; Nicholas W. Wells, Clerk; and E. C. Beard, Sheriff. Court was held at the residence of John Keener, Esq., a double log cabin, on the lot afterwards occupied by Simri Rose, Esq., on Beall's Hill, adjoining what is today the Mount DeSales Academy. The first Judges of the Inferior Court : were : John Davis, Tarpley Holt, C. W. Raines, D. Lawson, and L. K. Carle. The first frame house was built by Messrs. Henry G. Ross and S. M. Ingersoll. It stood near the river, at Fifth and Wharf streets. The lower story was used for a store and the upper one for a dwelling. The house was neatly built, was painted white, and for years attracted visitors to the locality, eager to see the "most ornamental building in a score of counties."
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Bibb's Distinguished The distinguished residents of
Residents. Bibb have been numerous. Oliver H. Prince, a native of Connecti- cut, who came to Georgia in early life and became a United States Senator, lived in Macon. He removed to this place from Athens, when the town was first located. The chapter in Longstreet's "Georgia Scenes," entitled "The Militia Drill," came from the versatile pen of this gifted Georgian. Mr. Prince published in 1822 a "Digest of the Laws of Georgia." Fifteen years later he went to New York for the purpose of issuing another edition; and, on the return voyage, was lost at sea, off Cape Hatteras. His wife perished with him. Oliver H. Prince, Jr., his son, was a man of unusual literary gifts but died early in life, at Athens.
Judge Eugenius A. Nisbet, one of the purest of Georgia's public men, lived here. When the Supreme Court was first organized in 1846 he was chosen by the Legislature to occupy a seat on this high tribunal, with Joseph Henry Lumpkin and Hiram Warner. He after- wards became a member of Congress. Judge Nisbet wrote the ordinance of secession which formally separ- ated Georgia from the Union.
Though a man of small stature, he was a giant in moral and intellectual strength, a profound student of the law, a gentleman of ripe culture, and a finished orator.
Governor Charles J. McDonald was at one time a resident of Macon.
United States Senator Alfred Iverson lived here for a number of years, coming to Macon from Columbus. He was a Brigadier-General in the Confederate army and a jurist of reputation.
Distinguished also among Georgia's successful busi- ness men and financiers were I. C. Plant, John B. Ross, Leroy M. Wiley, Nathan C. Munroe and J. H. R. Wash- ington.
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Chief-Justice James Jackson came to Macon at the close of the war, from Athens. Like Judge Nisbet, he was a man of stainless character, and of vigorous intel- lect. For a short period of time, after the war, General Howell Cobb was his law partner; but General Cobb died in 1868. Judge Jackson, on receiving his appoint- ment to the bench, transferred his residence to Atlanta; but after his death the remains of the great jurist were brought to his old home in Macon for burial.
Judge Richard F. Lyon, who succeeded General Henry L. Benning on the supreme bench, lived and died in Macon.
William M. Wadley, one of the early pioneers of railway development in Georgia, resided here for many years; and on the principal thoroughfare of the town stands a statue of this eminent citizen and farsighted man of affairs.
Here lived Colonel Thomas Hardeman Jr., a member of Congress, a gallant Confederate soldier, and a prince of orators. Robert U. Hardeman, his brother, Georgia's State Treasurer for a number of years, was born in Macon.
Judge Barnard Hill resided here. His son, Chancel- lor Walter B. Hill, of the State University, relinquished a lucrative practice at the Macon bar to become the official head of the State's greatest institution of learn- ing-his alma mater. He was a man of blameless character, dominated by the loftiest ideals.
Hon. Clifford L. Anderson, Georgia's Attorney- General for years, lived in Macon.
Here, in 1842, was born the greatest of Southern poets-Sidney Lanier. Subsequent to the war he estab- lished his residence in Baltimore, where he became a member of the famous Peabody orchestra and a lecturer on English literature at Johns Hopkins. Clifford Lanier,
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his brother, was also a singer of rare melodies. The father of these gifted men was Colonel Robert S. Lanier, a distinguished lawyer.
The illustrious statesman and jurist, Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, died at Vineville, a suburb of Macon, and was buried in Rose Hill cemetery, but his body was after- wards exhumed and removed to Oxford, Miss.
His kinsman, Colonel John B. Lamar who was killed at the battle of Crampton's Gap in Maryland, resided here.
Here lived also Henry G. Lamar, a distinguished ante- bellum Congressman and jurist.
Henry Lynden Flash, the celebrated war poet, lived in Macon for a number of years, where he was connected with the press. Here some of his finest lyrics were writ- ten. He afterwards removed to the West. Mr. Flash is still living, though now an octogenarian. His home is in Los Angeles, Cal.
Chief Justice Osborne A. Lochrane practiced law here in early life. He was one of the State's most elo- quent men, an Irishman of sparkling wit and of brilliant imagination.
Chief Justice Thomas J. Simmons was a resident of Macon when elevated to the Supreme bench-a man of vigorous mentality and a born jurist.
Georgia's senior United States Senator, Hon. Augus- tus O. Bacon, has been a resident of Macon since the close of the Civil War. He is one of the ablest consti- tutional lawyers and one of the best equipped debaters of the upper house of Congress, of which body he is a recognized leader. He has also wielded the gavel as President pro-tem. Succeeding to the toga in 1894, he has been three times re-elected. Major Bacon was a gallant soldier in the Confederate ranks. He was also five times in succession chosen Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. As a parliamentarian he possesses no superior.
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Judge Emory Speer, of the Federal Court of Georgia has been a resident of Macon since his first accession to judicial honors. He was for three consecutive terms a member of Congress, in which body he was independent of party affiliations. Judge Speer is a cultured man of letters, a brilliant jurist, and an orator whose eloquent voice has been heard on important occasions in every part of the continent. For years he has been dean of the law school of Mercer University and recently de- livered a series of lectures before the law students at Yale.
James H. Blount, a member of Congress for twenty years, lived and died in Macon. During President Cleveland's second administration, Mr. Blount perform- ed an important diplomatic service for the government as special envoy to the Hawaiian Islands, a mission which required peculiar tact on account of the delicate issues involved.
The present Congressman from the sixth district- Hon. Charles L. Bartlett, who, since 1895, has ably main- tained the high standard set by his predecessor, is a resi- dent of Macon.
Harry Stillwell Edwards, a writer of note, whose stories in negro dialect rank him with Joel Chandler Harris and with Thomas Nelson Page, lives here. His famous novel entitled, "Sons and Fathers," won him a prize offer of $10,000. Mr. Edwards is also a poet of rare gifts. He has for several years been the postmaster of Macon.
Two of the most magnetic and brilliant of Georgia's public men since the war, lived here-R. W. Patterson and Washington Dessau. Both were suddenly removed from life. The former was killed in Oklahoma, to which State he removed when it was first detached from the Indian Territory and opened to settlement. He once characterized the eloquence of Judge Lamar as "the
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Appian Way through which the banished cohorts of the Confederacy passed back into the heart of the Republic"; and he also said of the great jurist that "in the silken glove of courtesy he mailed the iron grip of honor." Mr. Dessau received his death summons while making an argument in the Supreme Court at the State Capitol. One of the judges had suggested to him a difficulty of law to be overcome. "Your Honor," he re- plied, "I thank you. The conflict of two minds causes the spark of truth to scientillate." It was the great lawyer's last utterance; and, with the accents of courtesy on his lips, he turned pale, staggered, 'and fell to the floor.
Hon. Nathaniel E. Harris, when a representative of Bibb in the State Legislature, framed and introduced the bill creating the Georgia School of Technology, in Atlanta.
Four distinguished Georgians, who were not in life residents of Macon, at least for any length of time, sleep in Rose Hill cemetery: Governor Alfred H. Col- quitt, Judge Richard H. Clark, General Philip Cook and Governor George W. Towns.
The eloquent Bishop George F. Pierce, while Presi- dent of Wesleyan Female College, resided in Macon for a number of years.
To the foregoing list should be added some of the members of the ante-bellum bar whose names have not hitherto been mentioned. The foremost lawyers of Macon during this period were: Judge Christopher B. Strong, Major Robert A. Beall, Hon. Washington Poe, who was elected to Congress, but declined to occupy the seat ; Judge E. D. Tracy, Judge Abner P. Powers, Judge Thaddeus G. Holt, Hon. James A. Nisbet, N. L. Whittle, Judge Carleton B. Cole, Samuel T. Bailey, William D. DeGraffenreid and Judge John J. Gresham.
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BLECKLEY
Created by a Constitutional Amendment, ratified at a popular election, held October 2, 1912, and proclaimed by the Governor, Hon. Joseph M. Brown, October 12, 1912. The new county was formed from Pulaski and named for Chief-Justice Logan E. Bleckley, of this State. Cochran, the county-seat, was named for Judge Arthur E. Cochran, a noted jurist and a practical man of affairs, who, as President of the old Macon and Brunswick Railroad, now the Southern, was largely instrumental in developing this section of Georgia.1 Judge Cochran was the first Judge of the Brunswick Circuit. He served on the Bench from 1856 to 1859, after which he retired for two years; but, resuming the ermine, he held office fom 1861 to 1865, throughout the entire period of the Civil War.
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