USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 43
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It was to commemorate the great victory of peace achieved by the knights of this gentle crusade that on October 10, 1911, the Peace monument was unveiled at Piedmont Park. Besides the visiting military companies from various parts of the State, the following organiza- tions from the North and East, came to Atlanta to return the friendly visit made by the Gate City Gnard in 1879 and to aid in welding the sections more closely together :
The Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston, Colonel Everett C. Benton, in Command.
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The Boston Light Infantry, Captain Conrad M. Gerlach.
The Boston Light Infantry Veterans, Colonel William H. Jackson.
The Putnam Phalanx of Hartford, Conn., Major Bigelow.
The Old Guard, of New York, Major S. Ellis Bright.
The Governor's Foot Guard, of Hartford, Conn., Company No. I, Major Frank L. Wilcox.
The State Fencibles of Pennsylvania, one battalion, Major Thurman T. Brazer.
The State Fencible Veterans of Philadelphia, Captain Emanuel Forth.
The Richmond Light Infantry Blues, Virginia Nat- ional Guard, Colonel J. Edgar Bowles.
Besides these historic organizations-some of which were more than a century old-the United States army was represented by Brigadier-General Albert L. Mills, of the Department of the Gulf; and the various local camps of the United Confederate Veterans attended in full strength.
The occasion was also graced by Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, President-General of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution; by Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, Governor of Connecticut; and by other distinguished guests.
One of the beautiful features connected with this gala event in Atlanta was the visit of the veterans of the Boston Light Artillery to Oakland cemetery, where a wreath of flowers was placed on the Confederate monu- ment and a speech was made by the gallant commander, Colonel William H. Jackson.
At the exercises of unveiling, Governor Simeon E. Baldwin, of Connecticut, delivered the principal address. The other speakers on the program were Colonel Joseph F. Burke, marshal of the day; Mayor James H. Preston, of Baltimore, Md., Mayor Edwin L. Smith, of Hartford, Conn., Colonel William H. Jackson of Boston, Mass., and Governor Hoke Smith, of Georgia.
Despite a downpour of rain, there was no break in the well-ordered ranks of the magnificent pageant, which
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division after division, filed from the State Capitol to the base of the monument at Piedmont park.
The memorial consists of an artistic group in bronze, seven feet in height, surmounting a pedestal of granite, the height of which is ten feet. The group represents the angel of peace, with outstretched wings, standing be- side a soldier who is about to fire his musket, but, per- suaded by her voice of entreaty, desists. Lettered upon a tablet of bronze, embedded in the front of the pedestal is the following inscription :
"The Gate City Guard, Captain G. Harvey Thomp- son, in the conscientious conviction of their duty to uphold the cause of the Southern Confederacy, offered their services to the Governor of Georgia, and were enrolled in the Confederate army, April 3, 1861.
"Inspired with the same sincerity of purpose and accepting in good faith the results of the heroic strug- gle, the Gate City Guard, under the command of Captain J. F. Burke, desiring to restore fraternal sentiment and ignoring sectional animosity, on October 6, 1879, went forth to greet their former adversaries in the Northern and Eastern States, inviting them to unite with the South in healing the nation's wounds, in a peaceful and prosperous reunion of the States. This mission of peace was enthusiastically endorsed by the military and citizens in every part of the Union, and this monument is erected as an enduring testimonial to their patriotic contribution to the cause of national fraternity. Dedicated October 10, 1911, by Simeon E. Ballwin, Governor of Connceti- cut, and Hoke Smith, Governor of Georgia."
There is also a monogram with the Latin quotation: "In bello paceque primus." In the rear of the monu- ment is a tablet containing the names of the official rep- resentatives of the cities by which the Guard was enter- tained on this famous tour. On the two sides are tablets containing the names of the local committees.
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The Erskine Memorial Fountain, which stood for years at the intersection of the two Peachtrees, where it succeeded the Ben Hill monument, has recently been removed to the north entrance to Grant Park. This fountain was a gift to the city made by Mrs. Willard Ward of New York, in honor of her father, Judge John Erskine, a distinguished occupant of the Federal Bench in Georgia during the days of Reconstruction. The me- morial was unveiled in 1895. Judge Erskine, though a Republican appointee, greatly endeared himself to the people of Georgia by giving the State judicial protection at a time of great lawlessness when Georgia was at the mercy of her foes. He was a native of Ireland.
Grant Park: Its Grant Park, on the south side, occupies Memorials of the Civil War. another part of the bloody field over which Hood and Sherman wrestled for the possession of Atlanta, in the famous battle of July 22, 1864. Unlike Piedmont Park, which memorializes the sentiment of peace, Grant Park is an extensive museum, rich in historic souvenirs and relics of the Civil War. It was on the wooded heights to the east of the park that two distinguished Major-Gen- erals fell on opposing sides in the battle of Atlanta- General William H. T. Walker, wearing the Confederate colors, and General James McPherson, the Federal. Both sites have been marked by appropriate memorials.
The area of ground included within the park is liter- ally seamed with breast-works, over which time has deftly woven a mantle of verdure, while up and down the trenches great oak trees have risen from the acorns which fifty years ago took root in the soft earth which was here watered by the blood of expiring heroes. At the main entrance to the park, on the west side, stands the Cyclo- rama, which depicts on canvass some of the most dra- matic scenes and incidents connected with the battle
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which was here fought-one of the bloodiest in the entire history of the Civil War. Directly across the park, on an eminence, near the east side, is Fort Walker, an earth- work, built circular in form and named for the noted Confederate officer, who was killed while leading a charge, in this neighborhood. The exact spot on which General Walker fell is perhaps a mile distant. Behind the ram- parts have been planted a number of heavy guns, gath- ered together from various sources and here preserved as relics. The fort is of post-bellum construction.
To the south of Fort Walker stands the famous ""Texas", an engine which figured in one of the most thrilling episodes of the Civil War period. It was this plucky little engine that overtook and captured the famous "General", which was seized in 1862 by a party of raiders, under the command of Captain James Andrews. Had this bold exploit on the part of the Fed- erals been erowned with success, the means of communi- cation between Atlanta and Chattanooga would have been destroyed, the Tennessee stronghold taken by the enemy. and the territory of Georgia instantly invaded, with the result that the Confederacy might have been overthrown and the war ended, at least two years earlier. It was Hon. John M. Slaton-afterwards Governor-who in 1910 while State Senator introduced the bill which pro- vided for the preservation of the "Texas", then barely more than a mass of old iron encumbering the Western and Atlantic Railroad shops. But no legislative appro- priation was made and the funds for making the neces- sary repairs were raised by public subscription.
To the north of Lake Abana-a picturesque sheet of water-there are some interesting relics of the Spanish- American War; and in the same area of ground stands a monument which has lately been erected by the city of Atlanta to Colonel Lemuel P. Grant, the generous public benefactor who in 1882 deeded to the city one hundred acres of beautifully wooded land to be used for park purposes. This distinguished engineer was one of the great railway pioneers and magnates of Georgia. Be-
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sides the historic relies to which reference has been made, the park contains an up-to-date zoological garden, is adorned with statues and fountains, and is charmingly threaded by ornamental walks and driveways. Much of the transformation which has here taken place is due to Mr. Dan C. Carey, the park manager. who has laid the whole continent under tribute for artistic ideas.
Fort McPherson, a military post established by the United States government in Atlanta, at the close of the Civil War, commemorates the gallant Federal officer, Gen. James McPherson, who fell in the famous battle of July 22, 1864. It is located 4 miles from the town center and is reached by two lines of railway : the Central of Georgia and the West Point. One of the finest military roads in the South gives it direct communication with Atlanta. Fort McPherson has recently been raised fron a regimental to a brigade post. The Georgia Home for Confederate Soldiers is located on an old battle-ground, some two miles to the south-east of Grant Park. It was inspired by Mr. Grady's famous editorial in the Consti- tution : "Come Back Home, Major Stewart." The build- ing is a handsome structure, surrounded by a beautiful grove of forest oaks. The corner stone was laid in the early nineties by Hon. John S. Davidson, Grand-Master of the Masonic Lodge of Georgia.
How the "General" was Captured: The Story of the Famous Andrews Raid.
Atlanta's Great Newspapers.
Volume II.
Volume II.
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Snap Bean Farm: The Home of Uncle Remus.
Volume II.
Woodrow Wilson : An Incident in his Career as a Lawyer.
Volume II.
Fulton's As the seat of Georgia's State government
Distinguished and the great railway center of the cot-
Residents. ton belt, Atlanta possesses a somewhat lengthy roster of distinguished residents, though it was not until the Civil War period that the future Gate City of the South became an important cen- ter of population. Chief-Justice Logan E. Bleckley heads the list. He first came to Atlanta in 1842 as book- keeper for the Western and Atlantic Railroad, at which time the village-then known as Terminus-contained less than five hundred inhabitants. Judge Bleckley was a jurist, a wit, a philosopher, a mathematician, and a poet-one of Georgia's rarest intellects.
Another ante-bellum resident of wide note was Gen- eral L. J. Gartrell. He located here in the fifties, and represented this district in Congress before the war. He afterwards became a Confederate Brigadier General; and, on the field of Manassas, caught the wounded Bar- tow in his arms. As a criminal lawyer, he met no supe- rior at the Georgia bar.
Since Atlanta became the capital in 1868 the follow- ing Chief-Executives have held office here: Rufus B. Bullock, Benjamin Conley, James M. Smith, Alfred H. Colquitt, Alexander H. Stephens, James S. Boynton, Henry D. McDaniel, John B. Gordon, William J. Northen, William Y. Atkinson, Allen D. Candler, Joseph M. Ter- rell, Hoke Smith, Joseph M. Brown, and John M. Slaton.
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Ex-Governor Joseph F. Brown-Georgia's War Gov- ernor-made Atlanta his home during the period of Reconstruction. After locating here he became succes- sively Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, President of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, and United States Senator from Georgia.
The old Brown mansion on Washington street is one of Atlanta's historic land-marks.
His distinguished son, afterwards Governor, became a resident of Cobb sometime in the eighties.
It was in Atlanta that the great Benjamin H. Hill hurled his immortal phillipics against the measures of Reconstruction. The Davis Hall speech was delivered here in 1867 and the Bush Arbor speech in 1868. Subse- quently Mr. Hill removed to Atlanta from Athens; and after representing this district in Congress-where his tilt with Blaine gave him a national reputation-he was elected to the United States Senate, but died before his term expired. During the Civil War period, Mr. Hill was a member of the Confederate Senate, in which body he was the recognized spokesman and champion of Mr. Davis.
The old Hill home on Peachtree street-just a block south of where the great statesman's monument for- merly stood-is today occupied by Mrs. Bell's boarding establishment.
Judge John Erskine, a native of Ireland and a jurist of note, came to Atlanta, in 1866, from Newnan, Ga., under an appointment to the Federal Bench, from Presi- dent Andrew Johnson; and, during the days of Recon- struction, when the State was overrun by carpet-baggers who sought to make capital out of the misfortunes of the Southern people, Judge Erskine, by means of legal safe- guards, protected the residents of his district to the full extent of his power, and thus placed the State under lasting obligations to his patriotism.
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Though an ardent Union man, Judge Erskine took no active part in the Civil War.
His appointment to this high office was made chiefly upon the recommendation of another distinguished resi- dent of Atlanta-General Alfred Austell. The latter was a personal friend of the President, whom he had known since boyhood, when they romped together among the hills of East Tennessee.
General Austell, in 1866, established in Atlanta the first national bank organized in the South after the war -the famous Atlanta National Bank.
Brigadier-General George T. Anderson-better known as "Tige" Anderson-was for years after the war At- lanta's chief of police. He subsequently removed to Anniston, Ala.
Brigadier-General Clement A. Evans, a distinguished officer of the Civil War, who commanded General Gor- don's division at Appomattox, lived here. After the war General Evans became a Methodist minister. He was at one time a candidate for Governor against William Y. Atkinson, but withdrew from the race sometime before the election. As a member of the Prison Commission, however, he rendered the State an important service; and his old comrades-in-arms elected him to succeed General Stephen D. Lee as commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans. General Evans delivered the orations at the unveiling of both the Davis monument in Richmond and the Gordon statue in Atlanta.
While occupying the office of Secretary of State, Gen- eral Philip Cook, another gallant veteran of the Civil War lived here; and at his death the mantle of this faith- ful public servant fell upon the shoulders of his distin- guished son, Hon. Philip Cook, the present incumbent- a coincidence without a parallel in the history of the commonwealth.
Brigadier-General Alfred Iverson, Jr., here spent his last days.
Dr. H. V. M. Miller-"the Demosthenes of the Moun- tains"-came to Atlanta from Rome, Ga., in 1867. He
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already possessed at this time a state-wide reputation as a campaigner, and in the following year was elected to the United States Senate, but was not seated until the last hours of the session. Dr. Miller was a skillful prac- titioner, a distinguished educator, a brilliant orator, and a cultured man of letters.
Governor William J. Northen and Governor Joseph M. Terrell, after leaving the executive chair, became per- manent residents of Atlanta. The former, at the head of a bureau of immigration, was an instrumental factor in the upbuilding of south Georgia. The latter was ap- pointed by Governor Brown to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Alexander S. Clay, in the United States Senate; and, except for an unfortunate illness, might have been his own successor.
Governor Candler, after retiring from office, rendered the State an important service by compiling Georgia's Colonial, Revolutionary, and Confederate records, for which purpose he maintained an office in Atlanta, though his home was in Gainesville. On the death of Governor Candler, his unfinished work devolved upon Governor Northen.
Governor Slaton was a resident of Atlanta, at the time of his elevation to the Governorship. As President of the Senate, he succeeded to the chair of State, on the resignation of Governor Smith. In 1912 he was elected Governor of the State by one of the largest majorities ever polled ..
Chief-Justice Osborne A. Lochrane, on being elevated to the bench of the Supreme Court of Georgia, in the early seventies, became a resident of Atlanta. He was one of the most brilliant of Georgia's orators, an Irish- man who possessed the characteristic wit and fire of the Emerald Isle. On leaving the bench, he became general counsel for the Pullmans.
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Here also lived during his tenure of office, Chief- Justice Hiram Warner-one of Georgia's most illustri- ous jurists. Prior to the war, Judge Warner was a member of Congress, defeating the afterwards famous Benjamin H. Hill.
Chief-Justice James Jackson, on assuming the ermine of the Supreme Bench, in 1875, established his home in Atlanta, where he continued to reside until his death. Before the war he was a member of Congress from the Athens district. Judge Jackson was one of Georgia's purest public men. He was a grandson of the famous old Governor who exposed the Yazoo fraud.
Chief-Justice Thomas J. Simmons was a resident of Atlanta only during his tenure of office. He was always associated in the popular thought with Macon; but Chief- Justice Fish-the present distinguished occupant of this high seat-has by long residence become thoroughly identified with his adopted home.
Since the Supreme Court was established in Atlanta, in the late sixties, the following members have occupied the Bench: Richard F. Lyon, Dawson A. Walker, Iverson L. Harris, Joseph E. Brown, Henry K. McCay, W. W. Montgomery, Robert P. Trippe, Logan E. Bleckley, James Jackson, Martin J. Crawford, Willis A. Hawkins, Alexander M. Speer, Samuel Hall, Mark H. Blandford, Thomas J. Simmons, Samuel Lumpkin, Spencer R. Atkinson, William A. Little, Henry G. Lewis, Joseph R. Lamar, Andrew J. Cobb, Henry G. Turner, Samuel B. Adams, John S. Candler, William H. Fish, Joseph Henry Lumpkin, Marcus W. Beck, Beverly D. Evans, Horace M. Holden, Samuel C. Atkinson, and Hiram Warner Hill.
When the Court of Appeals was organized in Atlanta some five years ago, it was constituted as follows: Ben- jamin H. Hill, Richard B. Russell, and Arthur G. Powell.
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The last named member of the court has since resigned to enter the practice of law in Atlanta; and J. R. Pottle has succeeded him on the Bench.
William H. Pope, a distinguished jurist, who recently resigned the office of Chief-Justice of New Mexico to accept from President Taft an appointment to the Fed- eral Bench, was for years a resident of Atlanta, where he spent his boyhood days; and Henry L. Rosenfeld, a dominant figure in the insurance world of New York, received his educational outfit in the Atlanta public schools.
Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, ex- Governor of New Jersey and ex-President of Princeton University, began the practice of law in Atlanta. He was admitted to the bar, in 1882, under George Hillyer, whose signature was affixed to his license. But the future chief-evecutive of the nation found clients somewhat scarce. He was even at this time a philosopher and a scholar-perhaps too much of both to insure his imme- diate success. What most lawyers took for granted were the things which he was most anxious to know. He wished to get at the bed-rock principles; and finding that he could not satisfy his intellectual hunger at the practice of law, he relinquished the profession, became a fellow in history at Johns Hopkins, where he wrote and pub- lished his first book entitled: "Congressional Govern- ment-A Study in the Science of Politics". Here he discovered his life-work and struck his gait on the royal road to success.
Henry W. Grady, the South's greatest editor, became identified with journalism in Atlanta in 1870, but it was not until 1876 that he joined the staff of the Constitution. At this time an interest in the paper was purchased by Captain Evan P. Howell, a man of fine judgment and
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of great enterprise, who offered Mr. Grady a position. The latter, having experienced a series of disasters in Atlanta-due to the fact that his methods were far in advance of the times-had purchased a ticket to New York and was about to take the train, when this tender was made. He accepted the offer; and here he found immortality, first as an editor, afterwards as an orator. More than any other man of his day, he was instrumental in promoting brotherhood between the sections and in stimulating the industrial development of the South.
As editor-in-chief of the Constitution, Hon. Clark Howell has been a worthy successor to Mr. Grady. He has been Speaker of the House and President of the Senate of Georgia, has served for years on the National Democratic Executive Committee, and has delivered ad- dresses on numerous public occasions.
John Temple Graves, the present distinguished editor of the New York American, was for years a resident of Atlanta. He was first identified with the Journal, after which he edited successively the News and the Georgian. As an orator, Colonel Graves enjoys an international fame. It was from his celebrated eulogy of Grady that the sentiment inscribed upon the latter's monument in Atlanta was taken-"And when he died he was literally loving a nation into peace."
Here lived Nathaniel J. Hammond, a member of Con- gress from 1879 to 1887. On the floor of the national House of Representatives, Colonel Hammond ranked with Carlisle and Randall.
Milton A. Candler-another Congressman from this district-though a resident of Decatur, maintained an office in Atlanta for the practice of law; and here his distinguished younger brothers have lived for years- Warren A. Candler, the Bishop; Asa G. Candler, the financier; and John S. Candler, the jurist.
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John B. Gordon and Alfred H. Colquitt-two of Geor- gia's most illustrious sons-both soldiers, both Govern- ors, and both United States Senators, lived at Kirkwood, a suburb of Atlanta, only four miles distant.
Judge Junius Hillyer. an ante-bellum Congressman and a jurist of note, spent his last years in Atlanta, and here his son, Judge George Hillyer, occupied a seat on the bench and served the city as mayor.
Judge John L. Hopkins, the Nestor of the Georgia bar, who, at the ripe old age of eighty-four, was still a tower of intellectual and moral strength, became a resi- dent of Atlanta in the late sixties. His work on "Per- sonal Injuries" is a legal classic. The State Legislature. in accepting his revision of the Code of Georgia down to the year 1912, paid to him a tribute without precedent in the history of this commonwealth.
Two of the State's most distinguished jurists lived here : Judge John Collier and Judge Cincinnatus Peeples.
Georgia's present junior United States Senator, Hon. Hoke Smith, became a resident of Atlanta in 1873, at which time he located here for the practice of law. In 1893. President Cleveland appointed him Secretary of the Interior. In 1906. he became Governor of Georgia. Defeated for re-election in 1908. by Joseph M. Brown, due to certain political complications. he was victorious over Mr. Brown in 1910: and within six months after beginning his second term of office he relinquished the Governor's chair to assume the Senatorial toga.
Though Atlanta is best known to the world as a metropolis of trade, the Gate City of the South is not without claim to distinction as a literary center ; for here lived the most famous man of letters which this section has produced since the war-Joel Chandler Harris. the renowned creator of Uncle Remus. His home at West End has been purchased by popular subscription and con- verted into a permanent memorial to the great author.
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Here lived Professor William Henry Peck, a writer of historical fiction, whose serials for the New York Ledger often brought him as much as $5,000 each.
Dr. John William Jones, a distinguished Baptist clergyman and a noted author, lived for years in Atlanta. He was chaplain of Washington College during the en- cumbency of General Lee as president and was made the official biographer of the great soldier. His writings include "Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes and Letters of Robert E. Lee," "Christ in Camp," "The Memorial Volume of Jefferson Davis," and several others. Dr. Jones, at the time of his death, was chaplain-general of the United Confederate Veterans.
The celebrated novelist, Mary Johnston, was educated in Atlanta at the famous seminary founded by Mrs. Bal- lard, and the equally well-known writer of fiction, Lillian Bell, spent her girlhood days here.
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