USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 42
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Volume II.
Volume II.
Walker and McPher- son Killed: Battle- field Memorials. Volume II.
Applying the Torch to Atlanta : A Me- tropolis in Flames.
Volume II.
Rehabilitation : There is nothing in the annals of The Phoenix Rises. American cities to surpass Atlanta's phenomenal record in emerging from the fiery furnace of Civil War. At the close of hostilities in 1865 the famous Confederate citadel was literally a "parched desert." The very streets were obliterated by the ruins. There were not a dozen struc. tures standing within a half mile of the old car shed. It was a picture of desolation upon which the returning veterans of Lee's army looked; and when added to the pathos of defeat it was well calculated to subdue the stoutest heart. But instead of brooding over the ashes these gray knights turned with resolute and hopeful faces to the future bent upon retrieving with the implements of progress the disasters of the sword. Today with a popu- lation of 200,000 souls, the chief city of a great empire State and the trade emporium of a vast region of country, she constitutes in very truth a splendid sequel which the New South has written to the Appomattox of the Old.
Never was Atlanta more thoroughly democratic than during the period of rehabilitation. Distinctions of rank, like the highways were wiped out of existence. Men of note in the community like Capt. Evan P. Howell, Col. Robert F. Maddox, Judge George Hillyer, Major Camp- bell Wallace, Col. Robert J. Lowry, and others worked side by side with the laborers. As early as 1865 General Austell organized the pioneer national bank of the
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Southern States; John H. James, some two years later, built the first Peachtree home, a residence which he after- wards sold to the State of Georgia for a Governor's mansion ; block after block of splendid business property rose; and from every point of the South came sturdy men of affairs to share in the fortunes of the growing city whose destiny was assured. There also came at this time quite a contingent from the North, including H. I. Kimball, who built the famous hotel. Without crediting General Sherman with any benevolent intentions, the evil wrought by him in the city's destruction was to some extent overruled for good. The burning of Atlanta served to advertise the strategic and commercial im- portance of the town, causing not a few of his own followers to locate here. There was no perpetua- tion or revival of strife. It was the spirit of the new order of things which quickened the pulse beat of the young metropolis; and Henry W. Grady, the great paci- ficator, whom she sent to the North, in 1886, truthfully voiced the local sentiment, when he said in his own charm- ing way: "I want to tell General Sherman, who is con- sidered an able man in our parts, though kind of careless about fire, that, from the ashes which he left us in 1864, we have built a brave and a beautiful city, that, somehow or other, we have caught the sunshine in the brick and mortar of our homes and have builded therein not one ignoble prejudice or memory." During the first decade, after the war, a fourth railroad entered the town, the State Capital was removed from Milledgeville to Atlanta, and the erstwhile obscure and insignificant little village of Terminus became the Militant Gate City of the South. Some of the many strong and useful men who became identified with Atlanta at the close of the war, in time to aid in the work of rehabilitation were as follows:
Bain, Donald M. Bass, Prof. Wm. A.
Beck, Lewis H. Block, Frank E. Boylston, Henry
Boynton, Charles E.
Boynton, Hollis A.
Brown, Joseph E.
Brown, Julius L.
Brotherton, William H.
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Adair, A. D. Adair, G. B. Bullock, Gov. Rufus B.
Hillyer, Judge Junius
Hillyer, Judge George
Hillyer, Henry
Burke, Capt. J. F. Calhoun, Dr. A. W.
Hirsch, Joseph
Hopkins, Judge John L.
Candler, Asa G.
Hurt, Joel Inman, Hugh T.
Clayton, Judge W. W. Chamberlain, E. P.
Inman, Samuel M.
Coker, F. M.
Jackson, Capt. Henry
Connally, Dr. E. L.
Kimball, H. I.
Cox, Wm. B.
Kirkpatrick, John C.
Crane, Benj. E. Crew, B. B.
Kiser, Marion C.
Currier, Chas. E.
Langston, T. L.
Daniel, John B.
Lochrane, Judge O. A.
DeGive, Laurent
Love, Dr. Wm. A.
Dodd, Green T.
Marsh, Edwin W.
Dodd, Philip
Moore, Wm. A.
Dodson, Wm. C.
Miller, Dr. H. V. M.
Elsas, Jacob
Neal, John
English, Capt. James W.
Oglesby, J. G.
Erskine, Judge John
Orme, Dr. F. H.
Fitten, Major John A.
Parrott, George W.
Fox, Dr. Amos Garrett, Wm. J.
Peel, Wm. L.
Gholstin, Louis
Phillips, Harvey T.
Goldsmith, J. W.
Porter, J. H.
Grady, Henry W.
Richards, Robert H.
Gramling, John R.
Romare, Paul
Gramling, W. S.
Roy, Dr. G. G.
Grant, John T.
Russell, W. A.
Grant, Wm. D.
Ryan, John
Haas, Jacob
Sanders, Wm. C.
Harrison, George W.
Slaton, Major Wm. F.
Harrison, James P.
Spalding, Dr. R. D.
Harrison, Zadoc D.
Speer, Major D. N.
Hemphill, Wm. A.
Turner, Dr. J. D.
High, James M.
Wallace, Major Campbell
Hill, Hon. Benjamin H.
West, Gen. A. J.
Hill, John M.
White, Dr. Wm. H.
Hill, L. J.
Whitner, Major John C.
Hill, L. M.
Van Winkle, E.
Hill, W. Rhode
Wylie, James R.
Atlanta : An As an educational center Atlanta is Educational Center. rapidly acquiring a recognized prestige among Southern cities. The Georgia School of Technology, one of the largest
Pattillo, W. P.
Kiser, John F.
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
industrial plants in the country, is located here. In response to a practical need of the time for home- taught men to superintend our factories and to engineer our works of construction, Hon. Nathaniel E. Harris, of Bibb, in the summer of 1882, introduced a resolution in the Georgia Legislature authorizing the appointment of a committee to gather statistical information looking to the establishment of a school of Technology in Georgia. The resolution passed both houses; and the committee appointed thereunder visited numerous institutions throughout the North and East. As the result of this legislative inquiry, a school was recommended on the general plan of the Worcester Institute. But the Legis- lature was not ready to act. The idea was new and the necessity for retrenchment in expenditure was argued as a reason for postponement. Colonel Harris was not dis- couraged. He inaugurated at once a campaign of educa- tion. He took the stump. In the State elections he made it an issue; and finally by dint of the Herculean efforts exerted by this far-sighted Georgian, a bill was enacted into law creating the Georgia School of Technology. This was in 1885. Colonel Harris is rightfully regarded as the founder of this great institution and in recognition of his eminent service to the State, he was given the de- gree of Doctor of Laws by his alma mater, the University of Georgia. The first executive head of the institution was Dr. Isaac S. Hopkins, a former president of Emory College, under whom the new methods of instruction started in a small way experimentally on the campus at Oxford. He gave the initial impetus to the work of organization. Captain Lyman Hall, a man of wonderful administrative talent succeeded him, but he died in har- ness while the institution was enjoying the rich fruit of his labors, to be in turn succeeded by the present official head, Dr. K. G. Matheson. The Georgia School of Tech- nology constitutes an important part of the University system. It was located in Atlanta for the reason that the project met with substantial encouragement on the part
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of the business men of this city who tendered a site for the purpose and because of the obvious advantages be- longing to such an industrial market.
In the summer of 1912 a movement was launched to revive in Atlanta a famous institution formerly located near Milledgeville: historic Oglethorpe University, the alma mater of Sidney Lanier. The suggestion aroused widespread popular interest. Subscriptions were prompt- ly raised, an extensive tract of land on Peachtree Road, near Silver Lake, was donated and initial steps taken to lay the corner stone of the main college building in May 1913, at which time three General Assemblies, of the Presbyterian church were scheduled to meet in At- lanta. (See Vol. II.) Agnes Scott College at Decatur only six miles distant is virtually an Atlanta institution. One of the best military schools in the South is located at College Park, under the Presidency of Col. J. C. Wood- ward-the Georgia Military Academy; and here also is located Cox College, a famous institution for the educa- tion of Southern girls under the executive oversight of Dr. William Crenshaw. Within the city limits there are quite a number of high grade seminaries for young ladies including the Washington Seminary, the Woodbury School, Miss Hanna's School and a number of others. At one time Mrs. Ballard's School was a prosperous local institution. Mary Johnston, the famous novelist, received her education in part at this school. Headed by the Marist College, of Atlanta, the institutions for boys are also widely known throughout the South. The city possesses a splendid system of public schools. Organized in 1872 by Prof. Bernard Mallon, they were subsequently superintended for a period of thirty years by Major Wm. F. Slaton, whose mantle has since fallen upon the shoul- ders of his son, Prof. Wm. M. Slaton, an accomplished educator. The various colleges and seminaries on the
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GEORGIA's LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
outskirts of the city for the education of the colored race represent an aggregate investment of several millions of dollars and confer upon Atlanta the distinction of being educationally the most important center for the colored race in the world.
Historic Memorials : The Ben Hill Monument. On May 1, 1886, in an angle where the two Peachtrees intersect, the handsome marble statue of Benja- min H. Hill, Georgia's foremost orator, was unveiled with impressive ceremonies. It is estimated that twenty thousand people witnessed the dramatic spectacle. The occasion was rendered doubly historic by the presence upon the platform of the illus- trious ex-President of the Confederate States, then an aged man verging upon four-score years. Major J. C. C. Black, of Augusta, pronounced the oration in addition to which short addresses were delivered by Mr. Davis, the honored guest of the State, by Hon. Heny D. McDaniel, Governor of Georgia, and by Dr. R. D. Spalding, president of the Hill Monument Association. General Clement A. Evans offered the prayer of invoca- Mr. Davis Comes From Mississippi. tion and Henry W. Grady introduced the speakers. In presenting the illus- trious former chieftian to the vast as- semblage, Mr. Grady characterized him as the "South's uncrowned king." The scene of tumultuous enthusiasm which followed resembled an ocean swell. More than half the audience was composed of Confederate soldiers, whose joy at the sight of the aged leader knew no bounds ; and it was fully ten minutes before the rapturous ap- plause subsided. As Mr. Davis arose to speak, the scene upon which he gazed seemed to renew his youth. Tall and erect, there was not the suggestion of a stoop in his shoulders nor the hint of a quaver in his clear voice, which rang like a bugle to the utmost limits of the crowd.
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In the course of his short address, Mr. Davis alluded feelingly to the great Georgian, who had been the recog- nized champion of his administration in the Confederate Senate.
Said he: "If I were asked from Georgia's history to name three typical men I would choose Oglethorpe the benevolent, Troup the dauntless, and Hill the faithful."
General Longstreet One of the most dramatic incidents Given an Ovation. of the unveiling was the appearance upon the platform of Lieutenant- General James Longstreet. The old soldier had been under the ban for more than twenty years. Due to his affiliation with the Republican party at the close of the war-though his motives were patriotic and honest- there followed an estrangement amounting almost to ostracism. Nevertheless, he was included among the invited guests. At the last moment, he decided to make the trip from Gainesville to Atlanta, and the exercises were just about to begin when General Longstreet was seen on the outskirts of the crowd-clad in Confederate gray and mounted on horseback. Without a moment's delay he was brought to the platform, where, with out- stretched arms, Mr. Davis greeted the old hero of Gettys- burg; and naught save the heroic memories of the sixties was remembered. It is needless to attempt a description of the scene which followed. Shouts filled the air. Hats rose skyward in numbers which almost eclipsed the sun. It gave evidence of the fact that time had healed the old wounds-when an audience which had met to honor the great orator who had pronounced the most withering anathemas upon Reconstruction could at the same time forget the wormwood and the bitterness of the past.
Again the name of Longstreet seemed to thrill the very air.
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
At the conclusion of the address of Dr. Spalding, who formally tendered the monument to the State, Captain Joseph F. Burke, the marshal of the day, removed the veil.
The life-like statue of Mr. Hill, portraying him in his characteristic mood of profound meditation-as he ap- peared so often when seen upon the streets-was the work of the eminent sculptor, Alexander Doyle, of New York, who chiseled it of the finest quality of Italian mar- ble. The inscriptions upon the monument are as follows :
On the south side:
"Benjamin Harvey Hill. Born September 14, 1823. Died August 16, 1882. This monument is erected by his fellow-citizens in commemoration of the indomitable courage, unrivaled eloquence and devoted patriotism characterizing the illustrious dead."
On the east side:
Member of the House of Representatives of Georgia during 1859 and 1860. Member of the Convention of 1861. Beloved in private life, distinguished at the bar, and eminent in public relations, he was at all times the champion of human liberty."
On the west side:
Member of the Provisional Congress of the Con- federate States. Senator of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. Member of the House of Repre- sentatives of the United States from 1875 to 1877; and Senator of the United States from 1877 to the date of his death."
On the north side:
"We are in the house of our fathers, our brothers are our companions, and we are at home to stay, thank God."-Amnesty Speech, January 11, 1876. "Who saves his country, saves himself, saves all things, and all things saved do bless him. Who lets his country die, lets all things die, dies himself ignobly, and all things dying curse him. "-Notes on the Situation. "The Union under the Constitution knows no section, but does know all the States."-Speech in the United States Senate, June 11, 1879.
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Several years ago the statue of Mr. Hill was removed from the intersection of the two Peachtrees to the corri- dors of the State Capitol, where it stands near the stair- way, in the northern wing.
On the original site a memorial fountain in honor of Judge John Erskine was donated to the city by his daughter, Mrs. Ward, of New York.
The Grady Directly in front of the new city hall, on Monument. Marietta street, stands the bronze statue of the South's great orator-journalist, Henry W. Grady. The statue, which represents Mr. Grady in the act of delivering an address, was reared by means of con- tributions from every part of the Union-a tribute for which there is neither a precedent nor a parallel in American history, when viewed in connection with the fact that he held no office in the gift of the peo- ple, and died an unpretentious private citizen. At the time of his death-though barely thirty-nine years of age -he wielded an influence upon national affairs, which no Senator or Representative in Washington surpassed.
Governor David B. Hill, of New York, while still an occupant of the executive mansion in Albany, delivered the address at the exercises of unveiling, which occurred in the fall of 1891.
The inscriptions upon the monument are as follows :
On the south side: "Henry W. Grady. Journalist, Orator, Patriot. Editor of the Atlanta Constitution. Born in Athens, Ga., May 24, 1850. Died in Atlanta, December 23, 1889. Graduated at the State University in the year 1868. He never held or sought public office. 'When he died he was literally loving a nation into peace'."
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
(Continued)
On the north side:
"This hour little needs the loyalty that is loyal to one section and yet holds the other in enduring suspicion and estrangement. Give us the broad and perfect loyalty that loves and trusts Georgia alike with Massachusetts- that knows no South, no North, no East, no West; but endears with equal and patriotic pride every foot of our soil, every State in our Union." Boston, December, 1889. "The citizens standing in the doorway of his home-contented on his threshold-his family gathered about his hearthstone-while the evening of a well-spent day closes in scenes and sounds that are dearest-he shall save the Republic when the drum-tap is futile and the barracks are exhausted." University of Virginia, June 25, 1889.
The Gordon On the north-west corner of the Capitol
Monument. grounds, where Washington street is inter- sected by Hunter, stands the impressive equestrian statue of Lieutenant-General John B. Gordon, the Chevalier Bayard of the Confederacy, afterwards Governor of Georgia, United States Senator, and Com- mander in Chief of the United Confederate Veterans.
The handsome bronze memorial to the illustrious soldier and civilian was unveiled on May 25, 1907 in the presence of a vast concourse of people.
General Clement A. Evans-to whom was entrusted the command of Gordon's division at Appomattox-de- livered the principal address of the occasion.
Others who participated in the impressive exercses were: Judge William Lowndes Calhoun, president of the Gordon Monument Association, who read a report; Hon. Joseph M. Terrell, Governor of Georgia, who presided; Major Charles W. Hubner, who read an ode appropriate to the occasion; and Captain Nathaniel E. Harris, who formally tendered the monument to the State of Georgia. Dr. Wilber F. Glenn, D. D., a gallant Confederate soldier, offered the prayer of invocation, while the Reverend
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Richard Orme Flinn, D. D., pastor of the North Avenue Presbyterian church, pronounced the benediction. The latter was formerly pastor of the church at Kirkwood, where General Gordon was an elder.
The cost of the monument, in round numbers, was $22,500, of which sum $15,000 was appropriated by the Legislature of Georgia.
It was designed and executed by the famous sculptor, Solon H. Borglum, of New York. One hundred promin- ent citizens of the State constituted the Gordon Monu- ment Association, of which Captain W. L. Calhoun was president. The commissioners on behalf of the State were: Governor Joseph M. Terrell, General Clement A. Evans, General W. W. Gordon, Judge Sampson W. Harris, Captain Robert E. Park, Captain W. L. Calhoun. Captain W. H. Harrison, Captain Nathaniel E. Harris, and Captain John W. Clark. The secretary was Profes- sor Joseph T. Derry and the treasurer Mr. Eugene H. Thornton. Captain Robert E. Park was made vice- president.
As portrayed by the sculptor, General Gordon is mounted upon his famous charger, "Marye," in the act of reviewing a column of troops, and both horse and rider are at ease. It is not without signifigance that the great soldier's face is turned toward the North. Says Prof. Derry: "The General's famous mare was captured from the Federals at the second battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in May 1863, when Gordon's brigade recaptured the line on Marye's Heights. During the advance, this blooded mare came rushing into Gordon's line without her rider, but equipped with saddle-blanket, saddle, and bridle. She was at once taken by a staff officer to General Gordon whose horse had been disabled in the charge. General Gordon mounted the captured animal and rode her through the campaign and into several other engagements later in the war."
On the front of the solid pedestal of Georgia granite is chiseled in raised letters :
"GORDON."
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
There are two bas-reliefs of bronze embedded in the granite pedestal on either side. One portrays General Gordon in the famous battle scene at Spottsylvania, C. H., on May 12, 1864, when clutching the bridle of General Lee's horse, in the midst of a heated engagement, he urged the great soldier to fall back to the rear. It was this dramatic incident which caused General Gordon to be dubbed "the Man of the Twelfth of May," and which furnished the theme of Judge Robert Falligant's famous poem. The other bas-relief represents General Gordon as a civilian, in the act of making an address; and under- neath the figure are carved the words :
" Senator Governor
Patriot. "
Mrs. Frances Gordon Smith and Mrs. Caroline Lewis Gordon Brown-both daughters of the illustrious hero of Appomattox-drew the veil.
Bordering the walk at the main entrance to the capitol on Washington street, there are two ponderous brass mortars, both of which are trophies of the Spanish- American war. They were turned over to the State of Georgia by the Federal Government in recognition of the gallantry of the State troops. They are handsome pieces of ordnance, engraved in the most artistic manner. To quote Senator A. O. Bacon : "If the published reports are correct, the State which in proportion to population fur- nished the greatest number of soldiers to the late war was the State of Georgia .* There is one of these guns on either side of the walk, and the inscription upon each in duplicate is as follows:
"This gun captured by American troops at the bat- tle of Santiago de Cuba, July 17, 1898."
* Speech delivered in the U. S. Senate.
7
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The Spencer Directly in front of the main entrance to Monument. the Terminal Station, at the extreme end of the wide plaza, on Madison avenue, stands a bronze statue of the first president of the South- ern Railway-Samuel Spencer. At the time of his death, which occurred in a wreck near the border-line between Virginia and North Carolina, Mr. Spencer was on a hunt- ing expedition. It was just before the hour of dawn, on Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1906, that the end came to this useful Georgian. Worn out by official labors, Mr. Spencer sought to recover his buoyant tone of spirit by needed relaxation ; but his great work for the npbuilding of the South was finished. The statue is cast in bronze of heroic size and is mounted upon a pedestal of solid gran- ite. It portrays Mr. Spencer seated in his chair and looking upon the animated scene produced by the con- verging lines of the great railway system which his con- structive genius called into existence. On the pedestal is chiseled an ornamental border of fruits.
The Peace Memorial.
Piedmont Park: Piedmont Park, on the north side, occupies an area of ground which during the summer of 1864, wit- nessed one of the reddest carnivals of the Civil War. But for more than a quarter of a century this old battle ground has been consecrated to the sentiment of peace. It furnished a site for the famous series of Piedmont Expositions, the first of which was held in 1887, when President Cleveland was the city's guest of honor. The initial achievement of Mr. Grady's constructive genius was registered in the success of this project, at least so far as it bore fruit in the development of the South's material resources. Here it was in 1895 that the Cotton States and International Exposition was held: an enter- prise of colossal magnitude, which served to place At- lanta in the metropolitan class of cities. Here, too, the Daughters of the American Revolution have deepened
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GEORGIA 'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
and intensified the national sentiment by establishing permanent chapter homes; and here, too, on October 10, 1911, at the main entrance to the park, on Fourteenth street, was unveiled the Peace monument: an artistic memorial in bronze commemorative of the mission of peace undertaken in 1879 by the Gate City Guard-At- lanta's oldest military organization.
It bespeaks an unexampled growth in the grace of forgetfulness for a company whose origin dated back to the year 1855-whose enlistment under the Confederate flag coincided with the toesin's first call-whose member- ship almost to a man was born and reared under the old regime at the South-thus to conceive the idea of invad- ing the North on a mission of peace, in the year 1879.
Yet such was the errand which took the Gate City Guard to the North, under the command of Captain Joseph F. Burke.
The stopping-places of the company included Wash- ington, D. C., Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, Pa., New York City, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Hartford, Conn., Boston, Mass., and other important centers; and wherever these bearers of the olive branch halted they were greeted with the most enthusiastic acclaim. The whole country rang with plaudits of approval; and it seemed to be the uni- versal comment among the representative newspapers that more was accomplished by this trip toward solidify- ing the nation than by all the speeches delivered in Con- gress, since the South's return to the Union.
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