USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 40
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here, at the meeting place of the waters,-two centuries before Oglethorpe landed at Savannah-an illustrious cavalier of Spain was entertained in state by a king, who loaded him with royal gifts. Pickett, Irving, Jones, Shea, and others who have written on the early antiquities of the continent, identify the modern town of Rome as the "Chiaha" of the ancient chronicles, toward which the march of DeSoto was directed. The adventurous argo- naut had no sooner landed upon the shores of the new world than rumors of this Indian capital which was located somewhere among the hills, in this land of gold, began to reach him; and hither he bent the helmets of his mail-clad followers. James Mooney, who published in 1900 a work entitled: "The Myths of the Cherokee", is the only commentator who doubts the authenticity of this well established tradition. He is inclined to the belief that it was on the site of the present town of Columbus that the Spaniards camped. The following description of the locality is taken from Richard Hak- luyt's translation of an account written by "The Gentle- man of Elvas", a Portugese, who accompanied DeSoto on the expedition. It reads thus : "On the 5 day of June the Gouvernour entered into Chiaha. ... The towne was an Island betweene two armes of a River and was seated high on one of them. The River divideth itself into these two branches, two crosse-bow shots above the town and meeteth again a league below the same. The plain be- tweene both the branches is sometimes one crosse-bow, sometimes two crosse-bow shots over .. The branches are very broad and both of them may be waded over. There were along them verie good meadows and manie fields sown with maiz," etc.
Pre-historic Memo- rials : Remains of the Mound Builders Near Rome.
Volume II.
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Where an Important On October 17, 1793, the last en-
Battle was Fought. gagement between the Cherokees and the whites in Upper Georgia occurred near the forks where the Oostanaula and the Etowah Rivers meet at Rome. Human bones have been found in large numbers on this old battle-field. The fight here was occasioned by an attack of the Cherokee Indians upon Knoxville. General Sevier pursued the savages across the Tennessee line in Georgia, destroying numer- ous towns and villages along the way and finally engaging them in desperate battle near the site of the present city of Rome. So panic-stricken became the Indians, under the galling fire of the American guns, that they are said to have dug holes in the river bank, in which to secrete themselves. But they could not elude the wily Tennes- seean ; and these places of refuge became little more than catacombs, in which the fugitive Indian found only a grave for his bones. General Sevier was supported in this expedition by Colonel John Lowry, who was wounded in the arm while watering his horses at the ford of the Coosawattee. Hugh L. White, afterwards a Senator from Tennessee and a candidate for President of the United States, was in this engagement.
In honor of the hero of this decisive battle, a memorial has been erected on the battle-field by Xavier chapter of the D. A. R. It is reached by a driveway along the banks of the Coosa River and is visited annually by a large number of tourists. The monument is built of Floyd County marble, the gift of a local firm, and while not an expensive work of art is neat and substantial. The late Mrs. Robert Emory Park, then State Regent, delivered the address at the exercises of unveiling, and was intro- duced by the chapter Regent, Mrs. Charles Word. There was also an address by Colonel Harris, whose grand-
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father fought in this battle. The monument contains the following inscription :
This tablet was placed here by Xavier Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, October 10, 1910, to mark the battle-field on which, October 17, 1793, General L. John Sevier met and conquered the Indians under their leader, King Fisher.
Livingston: The In the early thirties when the State Forerunner of Rome. of Georgia was issuing land grants to the territory formerly occupied by the Cherokee Indians, the site where Rome now stands was acquired by five men, who laid off the town of Rome in the new county of Floyd. At this time the county-seat was Livingston; but the founders of the new town pro- posed to provide free ferries and bridges, and to give one-half the proceeds from the sale of town lots for a definite period, in addition to locations for county build- ings, provided the county-seat was removed to this point. The offer was accepted, and in 1834 the Legislature passed an act designating Rome as the seat of govern- ment. When the court-house was removed to Rome, Livingston was sold to a private party, who converted it into a farm.
According to the official records-see Georgia Acts, 1834-the following parties contracted for the removal of the county-site from Livingston to Rome, viz., Daniel R. Mitchell, William Smith, Philip W. Hemphill, and Zachariah B. Hargrove. The pioneer whose name is first mentioned in this list suggested the name by which the new town was afterwards known. He is therefore com- monly regarded as the founder of Rome.
Rome Builds the First Monument to the Women of the Confederacy.
Page 241.
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The Forrest On the same thoroughfare stands a superb
Monument. memorial to the great Confederate cavalry leader, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who saved Rome from destruction during the Civil War. It was erected by the Forrest Chapter of the U. D. C., an organization which has since merged into the Rome chapter. At the unveiling exercises, in 1908, Judge John W. Maddox, of Rome, was the chosen orator of the occasion. The inscriptions on the monu- ment are as follows :
Front: Erected by N. B. Forrest Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, May 3, 1908. Rear: On Sunday, May 3, 1863, Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, by his indomitable will, after a running fight of three days and nights, with 410 men captured Col. A. D. Streight's raiders, numbering 1,600 men, thereby saving Rome from destruction.
Left side:
"Forrest's capacity for war seemed to be limited only by the opportunities for its display."-Gen. Beau- regard. "His cavalry will travel a hundred miles in less time than ours will ten."-Gen. W. T. Sherman. Right side:
"He possessed that rare tact unlearnable from books, which enables him not only effectually to control his men, but to attach them to him personally with hoops of steel."-Woolseley.
Shorter. One of the most famous institutions of the land for the higher education of women is located upon the hills of Rome-Shorter College. The former location of the school having proven inadequate to the demands of expansion, Hon. J. L. Bass, a member of the board of trustees, in 1910, gave to the college his beautiful suburban home, Maplehurst, with 155 acres of land, valued at something like $75,000; and, on this magnificent campus, shaded by forest
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oaks and hickories, a superb plant is now in process of erection which will surpass, when completed, anything of like character to be found in the South, and which will indeed be rivalled by few of the great institutions of the North and East. The present head of the college, Dr. A. W. Van Hoose, is an organizer -far-sighted, resourceful, and thorough; possessed in the highest degree of the confidence of business men. The following brief historical outline is condensed from the catalogue of 1912:
"To the late Dr. L. R. Gwaltney, a man of sainted memory, is perhaps due the idea which resulted in the founding of this noted school for young ladies. He took an active part in establishing Cherokee Baptist College, but saw the need of an institution projected upon a broader basis. Without delay he addressed to Colonel Alfred Shorter a letter in which he set forth the need of such an institution. To this letter Dr. Gwaltney received no reply. Some months later he was called to the Presi- dency of .Judson Institute, now .Judson College, at Marion, Alabama. Before leaving Rome, he received a note from Colonel Shorter, asking him to call at his office. He did so and Colonel Shorter immediately referred to the letter, stating that he had delayed an answer because he was trying to mature plans for carrying out the suggestions which it contained. He proposed, if Dr. Gwaltney would decline the Judson proposition, remain in Rome, and assume the Presidency of the College, to expend a large amount of money in buying Cherokee College, erecting new buildings and leaving as an endowment a fund suffi- cient to guarantee the permanency of the institution. Matters had progressed too far to allow Dr. Gwaltney to decline the Presidency of Judson, but he urged Colonel Shorter to carry out the plans which he had suggested. Colonel Shorter then called to his aid Dr. G. A. Nunnally, his pastor, and with him, Colonel Pen- nington and other faithful friends, and expended about $125,000 in the erection of the buildings which for nearly
-
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forty years were used for the education of thousands of girls from every section of the South. He also left a large endowment for the College which sum is still intact and which has enabled the College to weather successfully many periods of financial depression."
Anecdotes of the Underwoods.
Volume II.
Cave Spring. Due to the abundance of limestone in the soil of this region, there are quite a number of grottoes and other curious formations of like character in the neighborhood of Rome. Cave Spring, a famous locality in the lower part of Floyd, has long been a favorite resort for sight-seers. The spring issues from a mountain, to the east of Vann's Valley, near Little Cedar Creek, and the force of the water is here sufficient to turn an overshot mill. Fifty yards distant from the spring is the cave, reached by a somewhat precipitous descent, sloping toward the entrance at an angle of ninety degrees. There are numerous apartments in the cave, some of which are beautifully ornamented with stalactites and stalagmites.
Says White: "About a mile and a half north-east of Rome, near Mr. Mitchell's plantation, is Nix's cave. The interior is filled with stalactites. Mr. Nix resides near the cave and is always ready to guide visitors through its numerous apartments. On Mr. Mitchell's plantation is also Woodward's cave, formerly notorious as a depository for stolen goods. The entrance is through a large rock which is nearly one hundred feet perpen- dicular."
At Cave Spring is located the Georgia School for the Deaf. It is a fact of some interest in this connection
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that the land on which the school stands was formerly a famous ball ground used by the Cherokees. They assembled here from various points within a wide radius south of Rome, where once a year they held a series of games and enjoyed a most elaborate feast. The Indians north of Rome went elsewhere. Hearn Academy, located at Cave Spring, is one of the oldest schools in this part of Georgia. The main road through Cave Spring leading to Alabama was surveyed by General John Floyd and was for many years known as the old Alabama road.
During the Civil War there was a village called Dirt Town some twelve miles north-west of Rome, on the road leading to Trion Factory, and not far from the present post office of Lavender. On September 12, 1863, a skirmish occurred here between a detachment of Gen- eral Polk's army and a force of Federal troops, at which time both armies were maneuvering for position preced- ing the battle of Chickamauga.
Floyd's Distinguished Residents. Here lived the Underwoods-father and son-William H. Underwood, a noted wit and a great jurist, who came to Rome from Elberton, in the early forties; and John W. H. Underwood, whose gift of ready repartee, whether on the bench or before the jury, was an anvil which never failed to produce fire when struck. But like sheet lightning it flashed without hurting a flower. As a politician, the younger Underwood was more successful than the elder; and besides duplicating the roles which his father ably filled, he also represented Georgia in the national House of Representatives.
John H. Lumpkin, a distinguished ante-bellum Con- gressman and jurist, lived here. He was a candidate for
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Governor in the famous convention of 1857, at which time a dead-lock resulted in the nomination of Joseph E. Brown.
Augustus R. Wright, one of Georgia's most brilliant orators, lived here. He was a noted ante-bellum Con- gressman and jurist. His two gifted sons, Hon. Seaborn Wright and Judge Moses Wright, have both inherited the paternal gift of eloquence in an eminent degree and have risen to high distinction. The former is one of the greatest temperance advocates on the American platform.
Here lived Alfred Shorter, a prince of financiers, who founded Shorter College.
The noted humorist, Major Charles H. Smith, at one time practiced law in Rome where he was a partner of Judge John W. H. Underwood.
Dr. H. V. M. Miller, a physician whose eloquence on the hustings caused him to be dubbed "the Demosthenes of the Mountains", became a resident of Rome in 1847. After the war, he removed to Atlanta, and while living at the State capital was elected by the State Legislature to a seat in the United States Senate. He continued to reside in Atlanta until his death. But the music of the Etowah was always in his heart; and today it still sings to him at the base of Myrtle Hill.
Brigadier-General Alfred Cumming, a gallant Con- federate officer, resided in Rome for more than thirty years. He left the city of hills only to be carried to his burial in the city of Augusta, his boyhood's home.
Dr. Robert Battey, one of the most eminent surgeons of his day in the South, lived here.
Colonel Benjamin C. Yancey, a lawyer of note, who served in the legislative assemblies of three separate States, spent the greater part of his life in Rome. He was a brother of William L. Yancey, of Alabama, the matchless orator of secession.
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Hon. Judson C. Clements, the present distinguished chairman of the Inter-State Commerce Commission, rep- resented this district in Congress for several years, de- feating the noted Dr. Felton.
Judge John W. Maddox, who has ably served the State both as a member of Congress and as a jurist, resides in Rome. Here, too, live Judge Joel Branham, Hon. Thomas W. Alexander, and a host of other distin- guished citizens. Nor will the list of Romans be complete without naming Donald Harper, a former resident of Rome, who has achieved fame and fortune as a counsel- lor-at-law in the city of Paris. One of the first official acts of the present Chief Executive of France was to make Mr. Harper a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, a distinction which in England is equivalent to Knight- hood.
FORSYTH
Created by Legislative Act, December 3, 1832, from Cherokee County. Named for the noted John Forsyth, of Georgia, diplomat, statesman and orator. Cumming, the county-seat, named for William Cumming, of Augusta, a distinguished lawyer and editor who fought a duel at one time with the celebrated George McDuffie, of South Carolina.
John Forsyth was one of Georgia's most illustrious orators. He was also a diplomat and a statesman of the very highest order. With the gifted Berrien he engaged in a grapple of argument which lasted for three days. It occurred in the famous tariff convention of 1829 in Milledgeville and registered the high water mark of eloquence in Georgia prior to the dramatic era of secession. From Ferdinand VII of Spain he negotiated the purchase by the United States government of the peninsula of Florida, on terms which gave satisfaction to both powers. Mr. Forsyth was a native of Frederick County, Va., where he was born in 1781. When four years old he accompanied his father to Georgia. The latter was subsequently killed in Augusta, Ga., by the noted Beverly Allen, whom he was seeking to arrest in
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the discharge of his duties as United States marshal Mr. Forsyth received his elementary instruction under the Rev. Mr. Springer, in Wilkes County, after which he obtained his collegiate education at Princeton. He settled in Augusta, Ga., for the practice of law. His rise to distinction was both brilliant and rapid. He became Attorney-General of Georgia in 1808, a Congressman in 1812, and a United States Senator in 1815; then he was made Minister to Spain in 1819, chiefly for the purpose of negotiating the purchase of Florida; on his return to Georgia he was again elected to Congress, in 1823, where he sternly voiced the demand of his State for the removal of the Indians; again, in 1829, he entered the United States Senate where he became the great cham- pion of the Jackson administration; and finally he closed his brilliant career as Secretary of State under two Chief Executives. Mr. Forsyth died at the seat of government in Washington, D. C., on October 21, 1841, in his sixty- first year, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery overlooking the Potomac River. Enclosed within an iron railing and marked by an unpretentious but solid shaft of granite, on top of which rests an urn, is the grave of John Forsyth. The inscription is as follows :
"Sacred to the memory of John Forsyth, ex-Secretary of State, who died on the 21st of October, 1841, aged sixty-one years. Fearlessly honest while in life, and in death acknowledging his God to be mighty to save."
John Forsyth married a daughter of Josiah Meigs, the first president of Franklin College, at Athens, and several children survived him, among whom were: John Forsyth, Minister to Mexico, and Julia, wife of Senator Alfred Iverson.
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Indian Antiquities. Twelve miles south of Cumming, on the road to Lawrenceville, there are several small mounds, supposed to be the graves of Cherokee chiefs. Ten miles north-west of Cumming, on the road between Canton and Dahlonega, there is an unhewn mass of granite, eight and a half feet long and two and a half feet wide with irregular converging points, on which have been carved by an unknown hand quite a number of mysterious characters, most of them enclosed within circles. There are seventeen distinct variations to be found among these inscriptions, the largest ones of which are eight inches in diameter. They are supposed to have been executed by the same race of people who built the mounds in this neighborhood.
Original Settlers. As given by White, the original settlers of Forsyth were : A. Scudder, L. Black- burn, John Jolly, W. W. Vaughan, A. Cameron, William Rogers, John Rogers, Noah Strong, L. Hudson, B. Allen, W. H. Bacon, L. D. Harris, E. Harris, George Kellogg, Mr. Julian, Alfred Hudson, and W. G. Fields.
James G. Austin and John Childers, both patriots of '76, were granted Federal pensions in 1849, while living in Forsyth, at which time they were both octogenarians.
Hon. Hiram P. Bell, one of Georgia's most distin- guished sons, was for more than fifty years a resident of Cumming, the county-seat of Forsyth. He was a member of the famous Secession Convention of 1861, by which body he was chosen a commissioner to Tennessee to urge co-operative action. During the Civil War he
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commanded a regiment, and, at the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, near Vicksburg, was severely wounded. He be- came in 1863 a member of the Confederate Congress and in 1872 a member of the United States Congress. When somewhat advanced in years, he entered the General Assembly of Georgia, and served with distinction in both branches. He published, after retiring from public life, a volume of reminiscences entitled : "Men and Things". Colonel Bell was a far-sighted man of affairs. As early as 1874 he advocated a canal to connect the Mississippi River with the Atlantic seaboard; and within the past five years a movement has been organized by some of the ablest financiers of the nation to put this magnificent scheme into effect.
FRANKLIN
Created by Legislative Act, February 23, 1784. Named for the cele- brated New England philosopher and patriot, Benjamin Franklin, who in various important matters acted as Georgia's agent in London, on the eve of the Revolution. During the struggle for independence, the several Indian tribes of Georgia sided with the British, in consequence of which there was a forfeiture of lands to the State at the close of hostilities. These lands, acquired by the State, in the treaty of 1783, at Augusta, were divided into two large counties, one in the upper part of the State, to be called Franklin: and one in the lower part of the State, to be called Washington. From each of these parent counties, a number of smaller ones were subsequently formed. Carnesville, the county-seat of Franklin, named for Judge Thomas P. Carnes, a noted Congressman, jurist and lawyer, of the early ante-bellum days. Originally Franklin embraced Banks, Jackson, Clarke, Oconee and, in part, Madison and Stephens.
Anecdote of
Judge Carnes.
Volume II.
Franklin in the Captain James Terrell, an officer of the Revolution. Revolution, lived and died in Franklin. He was one of the original settlers in this part of the State. At the time of his death he was 77 years old. Says White: "He was among the fore- most to join the standard of his country, though beset
1
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on all sides by the adherents of royalty. By reason of his distinguished services, he was soon promoted to the ('aptainey of a company, in which station he served with fidelity and honor, until disabled by a musket-ball which shattered his hip into pieces."
To the same authority we are likewise indebted for the following item: "A company of volunteers from this county, commanded by Captain Morris, was engaged in a battle with the Creeks in Pea River Swamp, in Alabama, March 25, 1837. They won for themselves a reputation which may be envied by the victors of any field. One of the Franklin volunteers was in hot pursuit of an Indian, who, finding that he must fall into the hands of his pur- suer, attempted to save himself by running in the midst of the women, two of whom seized the volunteer. He used every exertion to disengage himself from them, but they made a furious and deadly assault upon him with knives, and in self-defence he drew his bowie and with two blows killed them both."
"This section of the State was for a long time ex- posed to the ravages of the Indians. In almost every part it was found necessary to erect forts and block- houses to protect the inhabitants against the savages. Cruelties were inflicted upon the helpless women and children, the record of which would chill the blood."
Isaac Gray, a native of South Carolina and a veteran of the first war for independence, died in Franklin at the age of 81. Gideon V. Holmes and Henry Wade, both privates, were granted Federal pensions in 1849 for services in the Revolution. Thomas Farrar and Moses Guest, both patriots of '76, are buried in Franklin. The grave of the last named veteran is marked.
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The Franklin Springs, located nine miles south-east of Carnesville, were quite celebrated during the early part of the last century when numbers of people from the coast flocked hither to spend the heated summer months. But the development of railways brought other localities into prominence and the multitudes began to betake themselves to less attractive watering places along the main highways of travel.
Lavonia, the most important commercial center in the county, was named for Miss Lavonia Jones, of Elberton.
Carnesville was the home of the late Hon. James S. Dortch, a distinguished lawyer whose talents fitted him to adorn the highest public stations ; but, eschewing polit- ical honors, he devoted his rare gifts to the practice of law. Mrs. Helen D. Longstreet, his daughter, is one of the State's most intellectual women. For years she edited a weekly newspaper at Carnesville, after which she became Assistant State Librarian of Georgia. Her marriage to Gen. Longstreet occurred in 1897. She has since been a resident of Gainesville, where, following the death of her illustrious husband, she has held the office of postmistress, in which position she has made a most unique record. Contrary to established precedents, the Senate of the United States, when the time came for her reappointment, confirmed the action of the nation's chief-executive, before the ink was dry on the parchment. The recent fight made by Mrs. Longstreet for the rescue of Tallulah Falls, in which she forced the State of Geor- gia, after a heated campaign, to bring suit for the recov- ery of this property, has become historic. It is said that in making this fight for the State she spent $10,000 of her own personal funds. The names of other well-known
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