USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 65
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The first bank ever chartered in Georgia was the Bank of Augusta, whose charter dates dated back to the year 1810.
Augusta Chartered : At the session of the General As- 1798. sembly in January, 1798, an act was passed incorporating the City of Au- gusta. Thomas Cumming became the first intendant. The office of Mayor was not created until 1818. The members of the first Town Council of Augusta were: George Walker, James Pearce, Robert Creswell, Andrew Innis, Isaac Herbert, and William Longstreet. They met at the house of Mr. Nathaniel Durkee and chose Thomas Cumming to serve as Intendant and Joseph Hutchinson as Clerk.
Wm. Longstreet : His Experiments With the Steam- boat Antedate Robert Fulton's.
Volume II.
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Georgia's Oldest
The Medical College of Georgia, at College of Medicine : Augusta, now the medical depart- 1828. ment of the State University, is the oldest college of medicine in Geor- gia. It was founded in 1828 by Dr. Milton Anthony, a pio- neer in the healing art, whose life was unselfishly devoted to the uplift of his profession and whose death in the great epidemic of 1839 brought to him in the zenith of his career the halo of martyrdom. His boyhood days were spent in the county of Wilkes; but he settled in Augusta for the practice of medicine, and early became prominent for his initiative and vigorous type of intellect. In 1825, with a few others, he applied to the Legislature for the appointment of a State board of medical examiners, whose duty it should be to meet annually at Milledgeville, examine applicants, and grant licenses to practice medi- cine in Georgia. His plan was adopted, and Dr. Anthony was unanimously chosen president of the examining board. In 1828, encouraged by not a few of his co-work- ers, he succeeded in obtaining a charter for an educational plant. It began in the modest role of an academy of medicine, but later it became an institute, and finally a college, full-fledged and well-equipped. At first there were only three professors. These were Dr. Anthony, Lewis D. Ford, M. D. and William R. Waring, M. D. In 1832, the last named physician resigned, but four addi- tions were made to the faculty: Dr. Louis A. Dugas, Dr. Joseph A. Eve, Dr. Paul E. Eve, and Dr. John Dent, rais- ing the number of professors to six.
The first graduating exercises were held on April 17, 1833, at the institute, and in the winter following it be- came by legislative enactment the Medical College of Georgia. The lot on which the present building stands was donated by the trustees of the Richmond Academy and immediately thereon an elegant structure was built upon the classic model, with massive Doric columns. It was completed in 1835. The first board of trustees was composed of the following eminent physicians of the State: Drs. W. R. Waring, John Carter, Lewis D. Ford,
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I. P. Garvin, B. A. White, J. G. McWhorter, W. P. Mc- Connell, W. H. Weems, W. P. Graham, T. P. Gorman, A. Jones, Milton, Anthony, J. I. Boswell, Thomas Hoxey, J. P. Screven, W. C. Daniel, Richard Banks, Henry Hull, John Dent, Thomas Hamilton, Nathan Crawford, O. C. Foot, and John Walker. The last effort made by Dr. Anthony for his profession was to secure for it proper medical literature. To this end he established the South- ern Medical Journal, of which he was for several years the editor. In the lecture room, on the first floor of the college building, has been placed a tablet which bears the following inscription :*
"In memory of Milton Anthony, M. D., Founder of this College. A martyr to humanity and to the duties of his profession, during the fatal epidemic of 1839. Cheered by Religious Faith through the Griefs and Trials of this life, he passed from the cure of the sick to the sleep of the just, amid the tears and blessings of the poor. True to his own favorite maxim that a virtuous will is almost omnipotent, he overcame by study the defects of education and, patiently toiling to eminence, bequeathed to posterity a noble example of genius and industry, animated and directed Patriotism and benevolence."
Tomb of Dr. Buried within the enclosure of the col- Milton Anthony. lege grounds, amid the scenes of his former activities, and in the very shadow of the noble edifice which constitutes the most appropriate monument to his memory, repose the mortal remains of Dr. Milton Anthony, the founder of the institu- tion. Though more than seventy years have come and gone over his grave, the fragrance of his name is still sug-
* Eugene Foster, M. D., in Medical History of Georgia, a work incor- porated in Memoirs of Georgia, Historical and Biographical, Vol. II, pp. 148, 173; also Men of Mark in Georgia, Vol. II, p. 51.
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gestive of the Arabian myrrh. On the horizontal slab which covers the tomb the following epitaph is inscribed in Latin:
" Mortale quisquid caduit his depositum, Milton Anthony, M. D., Conditor collegei medici Georgiensis Exegit monumentum aere perenius Vixit annos quinqua- ginta Obit de xix Septembris A. D. MDCCCXXXIX.
Richmond in the In 1845, the city of Augusta furnished Mexican War. a company of soldiers to the Mexican War. It was called the Richmond Blues and was annexed to the Georgia Regiment of Volunteers, in command of Colonel Henry R. Jackson, of Savannah. The officers of the company were as follows: Captain, D. W. Dill; 1st Lieut., J. Phinizy ; 2nd Lieut., A. H. Mc- Laws; Sergeants, W. Phillips, D. D. McMurphey, R. H. Ringgold, and J. F. Glover; Corporals, S. Johnson, H. Baker, A. Phillips, and G. Gordon. 93 members enrolled.
Sand Bar Ferry.
Volume II.
Historic Augusta, like Savannah, is rich in historic
Monuments. monuments. Not less than three of these are commemorative of Confederate valor. The magnificent shaft of marble on Broad street is one of the finest monumental structures in America, rising to the colossal height of 85 feet. On the four corners at the base are statues of four Confederate Generals : Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, William H. T. Walker, and Thomas R. R. Cobb, the last two of them Georgians. On the pinnacle of the monument is the figure of a private sol- dier. He is leaning at ease upon his musket and gazing intently before him as if waiting for an order to move forward into action. The work was executed at Carrara,
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Italy, at a cost of $17,331.35. The shaft and Confederate. the statues are wrought of Italian marble. The broad pedestal is of granite. On Octo- ber 31, 1878, the monument was unveiled with impressive ceremonies. Hon. Alfred. H. Colquitt, "the hero of Olustee," then Governor of Georgia, delivered an ad- dress, and quite a number of distinguished visitors were present. The inscriptions on the monument are as fol- lows :
East: Our Confederate Dead. West: Erected A. D. 1878 by the Ladies Memorial Associa- tion of Augusta, in Honor of the Men of Richmond County, who died in the Cause of the Confederate States.
North: In Memoriam: "No nation rose so white and fair None fell so pure of crime." South: Worthy to have lived and known our gratitude; worthy to be hallowed and held in tender remem- brance; worthy the fadeless fame which Confederate Soldiers won, who gave themselves in life and death for us ;- for the honor of Georgia, for the Rights of the States, for the liberties of the people, for the sentiments of the South, for the principles of the Union, as these were handed down to them by the fathers of our Common Country.
In front of St. James M. E. Church, on Greene Street, is another Confederate monument. It was erected by the Sabbath School of this church in memory of twenty-three teachers and pupils who fell during the Civil War. The cost of the shaft was $5,400. It was unveiled December 31, 1873.
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Augusta's third Confederate monument-the first if considered with respect to age-is the huge chimney stack of the old Confederate powder works on the canal. The famous powder works were destroyed long years ago but this splendid and impressive pile still survives a witness- bearer to posterity of the heroic memories of the Civil War. It towers like a Colossus above the great factories around it; while a tablet of marble embedded in the side tells of the part which is played in the historic drama.
Directly in front of the Court House, on Greene Street, stands an obelisk of granite, which, though severely plain in character, is by no means the least impressive of Au- gusta's memorial shafts. It is the monument to the Georgia Signers of the Declaration of Independence. The ceremonies of unveiling occurred on July 4, 1848; and Judge William Tracy Gould, the distinguished jurist and law teacher, was the orator of the occasion. The ad- dress of Judge Gould was a masterpiece of elo- Signers. quence, ornate in style and patriotic in senti- ment. Underneath the monument, repose the ashes of two of the Signers, Lyman Hall and George Walton. The other Signer, Button Gwinnett, is supposed to have been buried in Savannah, on the outskirts of which city he fell mortally wounded in a duel with General Lachlan McIntosh. But the most exhaustive search failed to disclose his tomb. The remains of Lyman Hall were brought to Augusta from an old burial ground in Burke County, near the Savannah River. Governor Walton was living in Augusta at the time of his death; but for nearly half a century he rested by an abscure country wayside in Richmond.
Memorial to Patrick Walsh.
Volume II.
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There is also on Greene Street an attractive monu- ment to the famous orator and poet, Richard Henry Wilde, whose brief lyric, "My Life is Like the Summer Rose" has numbered him among the immortals.
Richmond Academy : Not long after a trading-post was The Oldest of Georgia Schools. established in Augusta, the Parish of St. Paul was created; and, later, on one of the lots in the embryo town, adjacent to St. Paul's Church, was built the Acad- emy of St. Paul's Parish. The maintenance of the insti- tution was to be derived in part from the sale of lots on the commons to the south of the town. During the Revo- lution, the name of St. Paul's Parish was changed to the County of Richmond and with it was changed also the name of the school. The trustees of the academy were likewise the town council of Augusta, in which capacity they continued to act after the change of name; and for many years subsequent to the Revolution we find the trustees of Richmond Academy directing the affairs of the city of Augusta. Soon after the establishment of independence, the academy was moved from the lot on which it then stood to the site which it occupies at present. During the visit of President Washington to Augusta, in 1791, a ball was given in honor of the nation's Chief- Executive in the main room of the academy; and the President also attended an examination at the school and presented prizes to the successful competitors in an ora- torical contest. Augustin S. Clayton, afterwards a mem- ber of Congress, was one of the prize winners. Richmond Academy is the oldest educational plant in Georgia. It. is still a flourishing institution of high character and of great usefulness. William H. Crawford, the distin- guished diplomat and statesman, was once a tutor in Rich- mond Academy; and some of the State's most eminent public men were educated at this pioneer seat of learning.
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Georgia's Oldest To the city of Augusta belongs the
paper.
Surviving News- credit of possessing the oldest news- paper in Georgia: the "Chronicle and Constitutionalist." It is the outgrowth of two very early sheets which were years ago combined : the Chronicle, founded in 1785, and the Constitutionalist, founded in 1799. Much of the history of Georgia has been reflected in the columns of this time-honored journal, and in those of the papers which united to form it; nor is it invidious to say that few organs of public opinion in the South have been so dominant in shaping platforms and policies. The old "Chronicle" itself was formerly a compound. Back in the forties sometime, its owners purchased the Sentinel, a paper edited by Judge Long- street, whose pen could be trenchant and caustic as well as playfully humorous. It was the era of polemics; and bitter beyond anything known to recent years were the acrimonious controversies of ante-bellum days. The olive-branch was unknown. Harsh words almost invariab- ly ended in personal encounters, and quarrels over trifles were frequently adjourned to the field of honor; but the fear of bloodshed operated as no deterrent to men of Cavalier antecedants. In 1850, John M. Smythe, assis- tant editor of the paper, after the Chronicle and the Sentinel were combined into one sheet, fought a duel with Tom Thomas, in which the former, at the third fire, was shot in both thighs. During the decade before the war, the old Constitutionalist, under James Gardner, was the most powerful newspaper in Georgia; and according to ('olonel T. W. Avery the highest political honors were easily within the reach of Mr. Gardner, but he failed to grasp them by reason of an early indiscretion .* V. M. Barnes, its editor in 1865, was a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of the same year. The two Wrights, Ambrose R., who afterwards became a Confederate Ma- jor-General, and Gregg, his son, were brilliant writers on the staff of the same paper. Patrick Walsh, who was long editor-in-chief after the final consolidation, a power in
* Isaac W. Avery in History of Georgia, 1850-1881.
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State politics and in local affairs, finally became a United States Senator. thus realizing the unfulfilled dreams of James Gardner. Among the other gifted members of the staff have been James Ryder Randall. the author of "Maryland. My Maryland." perhaps the greatest war lyric in any language : and Pleasant A. Stovall. now editor of the Savannah Press. Under the successful manage- ment of Thomas W. Loyless, its present editor. the Chronicle and Constitutionalist, is still one of the most influential papers in Georgia, maintaining the high stand- ard of its best traditions.
Copse Hill: The Home of Paul H. Hayne. Page 224.
Origin of "Maryland, My Maryland," Randall's Great War Lyric. Page 45.
Story of Wilde's Famous Poem : "My Life is Like the Summer Rose." Page 22S.
The Seizure of the Arsenal. Volume II.
President Taft: An It has been the privilege of Augusta Honorary Augustan. to entertain within her gates more than one Chief-Executive of the nation. The first of the number to visit the city was President Washington in 1791. Later. in 1919, came President Monroe and again. in 1899. came President Mc- Kinley. But the Chief-Executive to confer the greatest compliment upon Augusta was the late occupant of the
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White House : William H. Taft. Subsequent to his elec- tion but prior to his inauguration, Mr. Taft sojourned for several weeks on the Sand Hills. Again in the spring of 1911 he made the town a visit; and after completing his term of office in 1913 he came directly to Augusta for an extended sojourn. When the silver wedding anni- versary of Mr. and Mrs. Taft was celebrated in the White House, quite a number of Georgians were present, including several from Augusta; and one of the most conspicuous of the many elegant tributes which the happy event called forth was one from Augusta; an ex- quisite silver service, the gift of three official bodies- the Chamber of Commerce, the Cotton Exchange, and the Merchants and Manufacturers Association. It con- sisted of a punch bowl with a capacity of thirty-six pints, a salver, a ladle, and twelve cups. On the hand- some tray was engraved the following inscription :
To President and Mrs. William Howard Taft
1888. June Nineteenth 1911.
from Friends and Admirers Augusta, Georgia.
Both the bowl and the cups were tastefully inscribed with an old English "T."
During his visit to Augusta, Mr. Taft made the ac- quaintance of an eminent member of the local bar: Hon. Joseph R. Lamar. Fascinated by his engaging person- ality, he was not less deeply impressed by his legal scholarship; and the result of this acquaintance was the appointment of Judge Lamar, notwithstanding the fact that he was a life-long Democrat, to a seat on the Supreme Bench of the United States. It may be said in this con- nection that Mr. Taft has been wholly non-partisan in his choice of many other distinguished men to high posi- tions. He appointed as his Secretary of War, a Demo- crat, John M. Diekinson. He elevated to the Supreme
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Bench another Southern man who was both a Democrat and an ex-Confederate soldier, Judge Horace H. Lurton, of Tennessee; and finally he promoted to the high office of Chief-Justice of the United States, an ex-Confederate soldier and a Democrat: Judge Edwin D. White, of Louisiana. It is worthy of note, in connection with the administration of Mr. Taft, that during his term of office more vacancies occurred on the Supreme Bench than during the official tenure of any other President in the history of the Government.
The Boyhood's Home of President Wilson.
But Augusta is bound to the White House in Washington by a still more intimate tie. It was here that the present distinguished occupant of the executive mansion spent his boyhood days, while his father, the noted Dr. Joseph R. Wilson, was pastor of the old First Presbyterian Church, on Telfair street. One of the earliest teachers of President Wilson, in Augusta, was the well known educator and historian, Professor Joseph T. Derry, who at this time conducted a private school and among the other famous pupils whom he taught here was the brilliant Judge Joseph R. Lamar, one of the present members of the Supreme Court of the United States. Professor Derry is still living in Atlanta, where he holds an important office at the State Capitol and enjoys vigorous health for one of his years. The golden anniversary of his marriage lacked only a few days of coinciding with the nomination of Governor Wilson at Baltimore, and there was not a more jubilant man in the State than Professor Derry over the action of the Democratic Convention. He was also one of the most enthusiastic and tireless workers for Governor Wilson's election.
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Major Archibald Butt: A Hero of the Titanic.
Volume II.
The Augusta Canal : Perhaps the chief factor in the How it Came to be building of present-day Augusta Built. has been the little ribbon of water which turns the ponderous wheels of her factories and kindles the industrial music of her un- numbered spindles. Everyone has heard of Augusta's famous canal; but the story of how it began to call forth the mills which today occupy the banks of the stream is an unfamiliar recital. It was Colonel Henry (. Cum- ming who first conceived the idea. Some who were not so well versed in reading the future as this far-sighted man of affairs ridiculed the suggestion and lampooned the seer. But at the earnest request of Mr. Cumming who was profoundly convinced in his own mind of the need of this canal, if the Savannalı's marvelous water-power at this point was to be effective, an examination of the falls above the city was begun by Mr. William Phillips, an engi- neer. Within a short time thereafter, at a meeting of citizens friendly to the enterprise, Mr. Phillips submitted a report, in which he recommended the project. This was in 1844. Some few months later a route was surveyed, after which the work of building the canal was promptly commenced and vigorously prosecuted. On November 23, 1846, water was admitted into the first level. Subsequent extensions were made from time to time, but it was not until 1876 that the canal as it appears at the present day was completed. It is nine miles in length, generates a capacity estimated at 14,000 horse power and given to the consumer at a mere nominal cost, while it turns the wheels of seven large cotton factories, one silk mill, two flour mills, three machine shops, and one lumber plant, besides the electric light and power station and the city water-works. The wisdom of the project has been de- monstrated in golden multiples of gain. Augusta's
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noblest work of internal improvement, it has paid for itself many times over, and stands today a monument to the early Augustan in whose prophetic dreams it was long ago foreshadowed.
Summerville : "The Sand Hills."
This beautiful suburb of Augusta has long been famous for its distin- guished residents and for its elegant old time mansions. The United States Arsenal, which was seized by the local volunteer troops, at the outbreak of the Civil War, is located here. For years the Arsenal was used simply as a store house, but, in 1875, when the system of arsenals was reorganized by the United States government, it became an important military post. The Augusta Arsenal is the only one south of Philadelphia and east of San Antonio. Due to the extreme dryness of the climate on the Sand Hills, there is said to be no better place on the continent for the storage of guns. At Sum- merville were located the homes of Governor John .Mil- ledge, of Governor Charles J. Jenkins, of Colonel Charles C. Jones, Jr., and of a number of other prominent Geor- gians. But not the least of the attractions of Summerville is the famous Bon Air Hotel, a favorite winter resort for wealthy tourists. It was built by the celebrated Dr. Wil- liam H. Tutt, of New York, who originally planned it as a summer home for his family; but, believing that the time had come when a great hotel for the accomodation of wealthy patrons during the winter season could be sus- tained by Augusta, he altered his plans to suit this in- spirational idea; and the palatial Bon Air Hotel was the result.
Hepzibah: Old Sixteen miles south-west of Augusta, in Brothersville. an area of pines, is one of the oldest of Georgia settlements, possibly antedating even Augusta. The modern name of the place is Hepzi- bah; but when the little town began to blossom amid the
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primaeval solitudes it was called Brothersville. Mr. Walter A. Clark, of Augusta, has charmingly introduced the old settlement to literature, in a work entitled: "Brothersville: A Lost Arcadia." We are largely in- debted to him for the facts contained in this sketch. A(- cording to Mr. Clark, the large number of curious Indian relics found in the neighborhood of Hepzibah, including some very rare fragments of pottery, justifies the belief that an old Indian village was here located. The abor- iginal inhabitants of this section of Georgia were the Uchees, a subordinate tribe of Indians who occupied the territory now embraced within Burke, Jefferson, Colum- bia and Richmond Counties and who gave allegiance to the Creeks. Not far from Hepzibah is an ancient mound which may possibly contain the bones of some old Uchee chief. The Murray road which passes through Hepzibalı was once an Indian trail. It was probably used by Gal- phin in traveling from his home at Silver Bluff below Augusta to his trading post at Old Town on the Ogeechee River.
Perhaps the earliest of the pioneer settlers was Thomas Walker, a native of Pennsylvania. He is sup- posed to have settled in this vicinity about the year 1745. His descendants are legion, a fact which produces little astonishment when we are told that he lived to be ninety years of age and was four times married. Elijah Walker, whose wife was a niece of President James K. Polk and a cousin of General Leonidas Polk, was his son; and Colonel Alexander C. Walker, a man of some note in ante- bellum days, was his grandson.
Though not included among the direct offspring of this old pioneer resident, Major Freeman Walker, a for- mer United States Senator from Georgia; General Wm. H. T. Walker, who was killed in the battle of the 22nd of July, near Atlanta; General Valentine Walker, and Madame Octavia Walton LeVert belonged to the same family connection.
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Elisha Anderson and Robert Allen settled in this neighborhood between 1757 and 1774.
Edmund Murphey, a soldier in the Revolution, re- ceived in 1784 a grant of land in this locality and built a home within the present limits of Hepzibah. He was the son of Nicholas Murphey, who accompanied Oglethorpe to Georgia, on the latter's return voyage in 1736 and who served for five years in his majesty's troop of rangers, for which he was given an acre of land in Angusta and 200 acres to the south of the town. Edmund Murphey is said to have been the first white male child born in Au- gusta. The date of his birth was November 24, 1745. The old Murphey place at Hepzibah is still in the posses- sion of Edmund Murphey's descendants. Dr. Eugene E. Murphey, of Augusta, is the present owner.
The list of pioneer settlers also includes Absalom and Aaron Rhodes, Charles and Edward Burch, Thomas Hill, and others.
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