Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 58

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

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797

MONTGOMERY

Cook began the practice of law in Forsyth, but later re- moved to Americus.

MONTGOMERY

Created by Legislative Act, December 19, 1793, from Washington and Wilkinson Counties. Named for Major-General Richard Montgomery, an illustrious soldier of the Revolution, who fell mortally wounded at the siege of Quebec, in 1775. To express a fitting sense of the public loss, Congress ordered a monument to be executed by a noted artist of the city of Paris and to be placed in front of St. Paul's Church in the city of New York. The body of Gen. Montgomery reposed for forty-two years on the heights of Quebec; but, in 1818, it was brought to New York for final re-interment in a crypt of St. Paul's Church, where it today rests. Mount Vernon, named for the home of Gen. Washington, on the Potomac River. When organ- ized in 1793, Montgomery embraced Tattnall and Wheeler and in part Johnson and Emanuel.

The Tomb of Governor Troup. Seven miles from Soperton, on what was originally one of the numerous plantations of Governor Troup, sleeps the great apostle of State Rights. The grave is located in a clump of woods, perhaps a quarter of a mile from a private farm road and is reached by means of a foot- path running through an old field of corn. There was a movement started some time ago to remove the remains of the old Governor to Dublin, the county-seat of the county where two of his plantations-Valdosta and Val- lombrosa-were formerly located; and where his last will and testament is on file in the ordinary's office at the court-house. It is to be hoped that the great Geor- gian will not be permitted to remain long in this unvisited spot. Surrounding the grave is a massive wall of rock, giving to the little burial ground the aspect of an old castle which has fallen into ruins. In the center of the enclosure stands a handsome shaft of granite, the top of which can be seen rising above the walls. It was built by Governor Troup himself to commemorate a favorite brother, who preceded him to the grave by some eight years; and on the monument he placed this inscription :

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Erected by G. M. Troup, the brother, and G. M. Troup, Jr., the nephew, as a tribute of affection to the memory of R. L. Troup, who died Sept. 23, 1848, aged 64 years. An honest man with a good mind and a good heart.

On a marble plate, at the base of the monument, appears the inscription to the old Governor:

George Michael Troup. Born Sept. 8, 1780. Died Apr. 26, 1756. No epitaph can tell his worth. The history of Georgia must perpetuate his virtues and commemorate his patriotism. There he teaches us, the argument being exhausted, to stand by our arms.

Original Settlers. According to White, the first families to settle in Montgomery were: The Connors, the Alstons, the McMillans, the McCranies, the McLeods, the Walls, and the Adamses. (See also Wash- ington, from which county Montgomery was formed).

Gathered from various other sources, the names of some of the early settlers include: David McMillan, Mal- colm Currie, Duncan Currie, Asa Adams, John McArthur, Augus McLeod, Malcolm McMillan, Jolın McRae, Far- quhar McRae, Alexander Talmadge McLeod, William Archibald McLeod, George M. Troup McLeod, Christo- pher McRae, William D. Wall, and Jesse M. Wall.

1 Most of the early settlers of Montgomery were Scotch- inen. They possessed no connection with the band of Highlanders who came to Georgia by invitation of Ogle- thorpe and settled at Darien. The greater number of them migrated to this section of the State from the moun- tains of North Carolina, at the close of the Revolution.

799

MORGAN

Created by Legislative Act, December 10, 1807, from Baldwin. Named for General Daniel Morgan, of the Revolution. Madison the county-seat, named for James Madison, Father of the Constitution and fifth President of the United States.

Madison: Where a Madison, the county-seat of Mor-

Great Humorist gan, was for several years the west-

Began His Career. ern terminus of the Georgia Rail- road. The line was completed to this point early in the forties and the town immediately began to bristle with new life. Here Colonel C. R. Hanleiter started a paper called "The Southern Miscel- lany", to the editorial chair of which Colonel Wm. T. Thompson was called; and while editing this weekly sheet the latter began to write, over the pen-name of Major Jones, a series of letters which were destined to make him famous. Says Dr. R. J. Massey, the well- known writer, who was living in Madison at the time, now an octogenarian: "I was always anxious for Satur- day to come so that I could go to town, do the errands for the family, get "The Miscellany", mount old Bess, place the reins carefully over her neck and on the way home read Major Jones." The letters were designed to portray the real character of the Georgia cracker prior to the advent of railroads.

Two female colleges flourished here before the war- the Madison Female College and the Georgia Female College. But the religious life of Madison in the early days was not by any means apostolic. The people were backward in the matter of building churches, though an occasional religious meeting was held in the court-house. It was not until 1827-two full decades after the county was organized-that the steeple of the first little house of worship in Madison began to point heavenward. This pioneer edifice was built and occupied by the Methodists. The completion of the church witnessed a great revival in the community which fired the Presbyterians and the Baptists. For several years after the war the growth

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

of Madison was not rapid, but since the building of the Macon and Northern Railroad, now a part of the Central, it has entered upon a career of prosperity little short of phenomenal.

Kingston is no longer to be found upon the map of Morgan, but in the early thirties it was a sprightly little town large enough to contest with Eatonton for a much coveted distinction. The famous convention which met at Eatonton in 1833 to further the cause of internal im- provements petitioned the Legislature to survey a line from Augusta westward, for the purpose of constructing either a railroad or a turnpike; and Kingston competed at this time with Eatonton for the terminal honors. To- day it is one of the forgotten towns of Georgia.

When General Sherman passed through Morgan on his destructive march to the sea, during the Civil War, the only mill in his wake to escape destruction was owned be Peter Walton. It is said that the mill was saved by the intercession of the negroes who informed the officers that to destroy the mill meant starvation to the negroes of three counties. His purpose to destroy the mill was thus thwarted.

Tomb of Benjamin One mile to the south of the Georgia Fitzpatrick. Railroad, near Buckhead, on the edge of a deep wood, is the grave of an old Revolutionary soldier-Benjamin Fitzpatrick. The inscription on the yellow tombstone contains no re- ference to his military career, but the records of the county attest the part which he took in the drama of hostilities. He came of vigorous Scotch-Irish stock, and was in his thirty-second year when the Declaration of

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MORGAN

Independence was signed. Inscribed on his tomb is the following quaint epitaph, almost obliterated by time :

Sacred to the memory of Benjamin Fitzpatrick who departed this life Nov. 21, 1821, in the 75th year of his age. Remember, youth, I once was young, but three score and fifteen years have come and unto my grave I must go. Prepare, my friends for another world.

As a crude attempt at decoration there is carved underneath this inscription, by way of emphasizing the solemn adjuration of the old soldier, a coffin.

On Nov. 3, 1912, the last resting place of this revered patriot of '76 was still further marked by a handsome slab, and the exercises held under the auspices of the Henry Walton Chapter of the D. A. R. were witnessed by a large concourse of people. Master Benjamin Fitz- patrick, two years of age, the youngest descendant of the old soldier, drew the veil disclosing the neat work of art. The following program was rendered:

Invocation-Rev. C. B. Arendall. Song-" America."' Address-Judge K. S. Anderson.

Unveiling of stone by Master Benjamin Fitzpatrick. Sketch of Benjamin Fitzpatrick's life-Miss Ade- laide Douglas.

Historic Poem-Hon. P. M. Atkinson.

Song, "Lest We Forget"-Miss Hallie McHenry. Benediction-Rev. Mr. Brownlee.

Benjamin Fitzpatrick was the father of seven sons and five daughters. He is survived by many descendants rep- resenting some of the best people of Georgia and of other States. Among these are the Fitzpatricks, the Waltons, the Butlers, the Godfreys, and the Highs, of Morgan.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

The inscription on the handsome slab unveiled by the Henry Walton Chapter reads as follows:

"Benjamin Fitzpatrick, pioneer citizen of Morgan County and Revolutionary soldier, to whose memory the Henry Walton chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicates this stone, July 4, 1912."

James Ware, a patriot of '76, is buried somewhere near Madison. -

Love-Affair of Mr. On leaving the State University, in Stephens. 1832, Alexander H. Stephens taught school for several months in Madison, where he assisted Mr. Leander A. Lewis. To quote from an authorized biography of the statesman*, there is an episode connected with his sojourn in Madison, which he did not reveal until forty years later. One of the pupils at this school was a young girl, lovely in person and character, from whom the teacher learned more than is to be found in books, and he grew to love her with an affection which was all the greater because it was con- demned to silence and hopelessness. The poor student, with no prospect of worldly advancement, the invalid, who looked forward to an early death, must not speak of love or think of marrying; and he did not mention it either to her or to any one else, until more than a genera- tion had passed, and then to only one friend. So he leaves the place, traveling at night, with a violent headache and with thoughts which can be easily imagined.

Notwithstanding the beardless face and slender figure of the young teacher, he maintained discipline in the school room. Mr. Stephens alludes to this period of his

* R. M. Johnston and W. H. Browne in Life of Alexander H. Stephens, Philadelphia, 1878.

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MORGAN

life in one of his letters ; it was a time of great dejection, due to ill-health. Says he: "In after-life, I have often met my old scholars. David A. Vason, of Dougherty County, [later a judge of the Superior Court], I pre- pared for college; also his brother, the doctor, in Ala- bama. I left Madison with a good impression of the people toward me. Before I left college, I had become dispeptic, and was subject to severe nervous headaches, which increased greatly in severity while I was in Madi- son. My long walks, I am convinced were injurious to me. Before the expiration of the term, I made arrange- ments, through my old class-mate and room-made, Wil- liam LeConte, to teach a private school for his father the next year. The trustees at Madison wished to retain me, but I told them of my engagement, and we parted in friendship and with good feelings on both sides. I shall never forget the day I left the town."

Original Settlers. The first comers into Morgan, accord- ing to White, were Henry Carlton, Bedney Franklin, William Brown, Jesse Matthews, Charles Matthews, Dr. William Johnson, Lancelot John- son, Adam G. Saffold, Reuben Mann, Dr. John Wingfield, D. W. Porter, Isham Fanning, and Jeptha Fanning.

In 1810, the first session of the Superior Court of Morgan was held in the home of Fields Kennedy, near Madison, and the first Grand Jury was composed of the following pioneer settlers: Nipper Adams, James Bran- non, David Montgomery, Eli Townsend, James Mathews, William Noble, Paschal Harrison, Godfrey Zimmerman, William Randle, William Brown, Graves Harris, John Wyatt, S. Noble, C. Bond, A. J. Chadox, John Fielder, Daniel Bankston, William Swift, S. Walker, John Wal-

804

GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

ker, Nathaniel Allen, Thomas Walls, Charles Smith, John Finley, John Cook, Andrew Nutt, Joseph Peeples, Wyley Heflin, and Thomas Heard.

To the foregoing list may be added some additional names gathered from various sources: John Towns, a soldier of the Revolution, located near the site of the present town of Madison, in 1810. He was the father of Governor George W. Towns, one of Georgia's ablest Chief-Executives and a former member of Congress. The list also includes Benjamin Fitzpatrick, Jesse Thomas, and William Wright, each of whom bore arms in the great struggle for independence; John Walker, a veteran of the War of 1812; Larkin Brooks, a soldier of the Indian Wars; William Mitchell, Abner Turner, Reu- ben Massey, Terrell Speed, John Robson, Samuel Shields, Abner Zachry, William Stokes, John W. Porter, Isaac Middlebrooks, Jeremiah Ivey, David Herring, Samuel Pennington, Thomas V. Allen, a soldier of the War of 1812; Peter Walton, a native of Virginia, and one of the first volunteers in the second war with England; Robert Rogers, Joseph Pennick, Peter Gaudier, Wm. D. Phil- lips, Wm. N. Newton, James Studdard, Josiah Barrett, Thomas B. Cheney, Thomas J. Burney, Silas Atkinson, N. B. Atkinson, and a number of others who were promi- nent in the county during the half century which pre- ceded the war.

Morgan's Noted One of Georgia's most distinguished Residents. sons, United States Senator Joshua Hill, was long a resident of Madison; and here he lies buried. On the eve of the Civil War, Mr. Hill was a member of Congress. He was not only a strong Union man, but an anti-secessionist on the ground that such a remedy for existing evils was un-

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MORGAN

constitutional. In taking this view of the fundamental law, he differed widely in opinion from the great majority of his fellow-citizens in Georgia, including even most of those who opposed secession. When the famous ordi- nance was passed by the Convention in Milledgeville, on January 19, 1861, Mr. Hill was the only member of the delegation in Congress who formally resigned. The others merely withdrew, feeling that by the action of the State in seceding from the Union they had automatically been recalled from the Federal councils. Mr. Hill was an old line Whig. The course which he took was thor- oughly in accord with his patriotic convictions; but it required no small degree of moral courage to take such a step, since his action in effect acknowledged the au- thority of the United States government over a Repre- sentative from Georgia, after the State had rescinded the compact of Union. In 1868, with Dr. H. V. M. Miller, the "Demosthenes of the Mountains", Mr. Hill was elec- ted to the United States Senate; but Georgia, in the meantime, having expelled the negro element from her State Legislature, they were not seated until near the end of the term for which they were commissioned. Mr. Hill by reason of his personal influence with Presi- dent Grant, rendered the State an important service during the days of Reconstruction. In religious matters, he was strongly inclined toward agnosticism. His in- come from the practice of law was immense, and by wise investment he accumulated a fortune, which, at the time of his death, was estimated at $250,000. He was one of the most conspicuous figures in the Constitutional Convention of 1877.

David E. Butler, a man of the most versatile genius, who served the State as Indian fighter, as a lawyer of high rank at the bar, as a legislator of note, and as a Baptist divine with few equals in the pulpit, was also a resident of Madison. It was Colonel Butler who was

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

chosen by the great Jesse Mercer to draw his last will and testament, under which document Mercer University was endowed with the handsome fortune which he left. As a public speaker, whether in the pulpit or before the jury, Colonel Butler was the peer of the very foremost in a land of orators. Nathaniel G. Foster, a former member of Congress and a noted jurist, lived here, where his brother, Albert G. Foster, was also a distinguished member of the bar. Adam Saffold was a famous lawyer of Madison in the ante-bellum days, while his brother, Reuben Saffold, was a noted pioneer physi- cian. Dr. J. C. C. Blackburn, who for years edited the Madisonian, was a man of extraordinary gifts. Judge Alexander M. Speer lived here at one time, and Judge Augustus Reese made this town his home.

MURRAY

Created by Legislative Act, December 3, 1832, from Cherokee County. Named for Hon. Thomas W. Murray, a distinguished ante-bellum lawyer and legislator. Spring Place, the county-seat, so called from a noted spring in this locality, once a favorite resort of the Cherokee Indian. When first organized Murray was a large county embracing lands today included in five other counties: Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Whitefield and Walker.

Thomas W. Murray was for years a dominant factor in Georgia politics, though he died in the prime of life, without attaining to Congressional honors. He was a native of Lincoln County, Ga., where he was born in 1790. His father, David Murray, came to Georgia soon after the Revolution from Prince Edward County, Va., presumably with the colonists who accompanied General George Mathews. The subject of this sketch was a man of solid parts, not brilliant or magnetic, but industrious, efficient, and unimpeachably upright. Says Bernard Suttler :* "His personal independence led him at times to vote against the views of his party friends but his sense of honor made him proof against the wiles and schemes of the mere politician." He served in the Legislature

* Men of Mark in Georgia, edited by Ex-Gov. Wm. J. Northen, Atlanta, Ga.

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MURRAY

continuously for something like sixteen years, and, dur- ing a part of this time, wielded the Speaker's gavel. He died in the early forties, on the eve of his election to Congress. Murray County was named for him while he was still in life, a compliment to which there are few parallels.

Indian Antiquities. Colonel Charles C. Jones, Jr., in his chapter on DeSoto's march through Georgia, brings the Spanish adventurer to Coosawattee Old Town, which he identifies as the Gauxale, mentioned in the narrative accounts of the expedition. On reaching this point, the band was exhausted by hunger and fatigue. Says Colonel Jones :* "Perceiving that the Christians were killing and eating the village dogs, the native king collected and presented three hundred of them to the Spaniards. This animal was not used as an article of food by the aborigines. On the contrary, it was held in special regard. The constant companion of the master in his journey through the forest, a trusted guard about his camp-fires and at the door of the humble lodge, not infrequently were accorded to it rites of sepulture akin to those with which the owner was complimented. We wonder, therefore, at this gift, and we are inclined to interpret it rather as a euphemistic statement that these dogs were appropriated by the strangers."

Spring Place, the county-seat of Murray, is associated with the early efforts of a quaint religious sect to evan- gelize the children of the forest. Here, in the beautiful heart of the Cohutta Mountains, in 1801, the Moravians established a mission and began to labor for the spiritual uplift of the Cherokee Indians. Commissioned by the Society of United Brethren, Rev. Abraham Sterm, first penetrated the wilds of this mountain region during the

* History of Georgia, Volume I, Boston 1884.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

latter part of the eighteenth century; and, though he pressed the matter with great vigor in the council of the nation, he was refused. On a similar errand, in 1800, he failed again; but David Vann, an influential chief of mixed blood, agreed to help him this time, and land was given him on which to start his experiment. In the course of time, opposition on the part of the other chiefs was withdrawn, and the mission began to prosper. Many of the Cherokees were eventually baptized and brought into the church. There was a manual school opened in connection with the mission at Spring Place. The first wagon built by the pupils was given to the chief who contributed the land to the mission. But he was severely criticized by his tribe for accepting this present. The objection was: "If we have wagons, there must be wagon roads ; and if wagon roads, the whites will soon be among us." Another mission was established in 1821 at Oothca- loga. Both were in a flourishing condition, when removed to the west at the time of the deportation. The Cherokee Indians loved the gentle Moravians, by whom they were never deceived or defrauded.

The substantial old brick home of the Cherokee Indian half-breed, David Vann, is still standing at Spring Place. It is probably one of the oldest land-marks in this part of the State. The house is supposed to have been built in 1799, under the direction of the old chief himself, though it may not have been erected until a somewhat later period, when he came under the influence of the pious Moravians. It was acquired in 1873 by the present owner, Mr. George C. Goins, who made it his residence.

Cohutta Springs, a favorite resort of the Indians, on the waters of Sumac Creek, were held in high repute by the Cherokees because of certain medicinal virtues which they were thought to possess.

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MURRAY

Fort Mountain, a locality four miles to the east of Spring Place, was so called from a fort which was here built, according to an old tradition, by the Spanish gold- hunters under the celebrated DeSoto.

Carter's: An Impe- rial Old Country- Seat. But the most historic land-mark in this region of the State is the mag- nificent old country-seat of the Car- ters. It is beyond question the most extensive plantation in Georgia which has come down to the present time, undiminished in area, from the old feudal days; and there is no other ante-bellum home in the State which gives one a better idea of the vast scale on which the operations of the Southern planter were sometimes conducted or a happier picture of the rural life into which the civilization of the old South flowered. Here, surrounded by 15,000 acres of land, stands a well- preserved mansion famous for the house parties which have annually attracted scores of young people to this delightful haven of the mountains; and for the good cheer which an abundant hospitality has here dispensed to the stranger. The story of how it came to be acquired by the Carters from an old Indian chief has been most charmingly told in the public prints by a writer whose inspiration was caught from intimate personal contact with the scenes ; but for lack of space it must be condensed in a very few words .*

During the early part of the last century before the Cherokees, at the point of the bayonet, were deported to the new western reserve beyond the Mississippi, Farish Carter, a wealthy planter of Milledgeville, was journey- ing through this part of the State on horse-back. He was en route home, after an important business trip to Mem- phis. When he reached the fine old Indian mansion, which was destined in the course of time to become his

* Nita H. Black, in Atlanta Journal, issue of Feb. 18, 1912.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

summer residence, he stopped to rest and to refresh him- self with food. There is a local tradition which says that the name of this Indian chief was Cow-bell, and a pasture in the immediate neighborhood still bears the name of the Bell field; but the original occupant of the mansion must have been a man prominent in the councils of the Cherokee nation. He not only owned slaves but pos- sessed the means wherewith to educate his children in the East. At the foot of the hill on which the house stood, there was a spring the temperature of whose water was ice cold, on the sultriest day of mid-summer; and at the time of his arrival there was a group of red men gathered about this spring, puffing away at clay pipes and discussing with some animation the luck of one of the native hunters who had just returned from a long jaunt in the Cohutta Mountains. The impression which the locality made upon Mr. Carter was profound. It lingered with him throughout the long months which followed. Then came the stern decree of exile, which wrested the fair domain of Upper Georgia from the ' Cherokees. The land was divided into parcels and, under the old lottery system, each man who wished to acquire an interest in the new territory was given one drawing. Mr. Carter had mentally resolved, on leaving the old Indian home place, to acquire it some day by trade or purchase. The opportunity came at last. To make sure of obtaining the coveted site, he secured a number of parties to draw for him until he acquired a body of land in this neighborhood, embracing 15,000 acres of land. The vast estate has never been subdivided. Here at Rock Spring, which he called Coosawattee, Mr. Carter spent the summer months each year with his family, returning to Milledgeville when the leaves of the forest began to announce the approach of autumn. After his death, the management of the vast estate devolved upon his son, Samuel McDonald Carter, who established his residence at Coosawattee, some time in the early fifties. During the turbulent war period the estate fell a prey to the

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 58

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

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