Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 71

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

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his officers and men, while 28 were severely wounded. The Federal loss was 7 killed and 29 wounded. At West Point, two bridges, 19 locomotives, and 245 cars loaded with quartermasters, commissary, and ordinance stores, were reported destroyed by the Federal commander."

Incidents Recalled Residing in West Point, at the time by Mrs. Grant. of Wilson's celebrated raid, was Mrs. William D. Grant, then a young girl. Her daughter, Sarah Frances, became in after years the wife of Gov. John M. Slaton. Mrs. Grant vividly recalls the engagement above described. "Sunny Villa", the home of her father, Colonel William Reid, a wealthy citizen of West Point, lay in the track of war. Says she: "I remember the day when Gen. Tyler was killed. He had given my father but a few days before a gold- headed cane and a pair of silver Mexican spurs. The cane I still have. Wilson's raiders were everywhere around us. At this time, they were under the command of Colonel LaGrange. After the battle, they fell back and crowded into our yard and we gave up our keys. I saw that a camp of protection was needed and I went out among the officers and asked: 'Is there a West Pointer here?' for I had known many excellent West Pointers, among them Col. John Berry and Col. Leroy Napier. 'Yes', was the reply, whereupon a young lieuten- ant presented himself. I asked him for a camp of pro- tection for father's house, and he immediately established one there, and a guard was kept near the house until danger was passed. My mother turned her home into a hospital, where we nursed many of the soldiers. Two brave boys died under our roof, but we could never trace the relatives of either to tell of the last sad moments which we tried to make easy."

Two years after the war, Mrs. Grant, then Sallie Fannie Reid, became the wife of Capt. William D. Grant. The latter was then a young lawyer, whose scholarly

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tastes inclined him to literature rather than to finance. Mrs. Grant was somewhat dubious of the Captain's ability as a practical man of business to provide for two; and it was not without some misgivings that she took the marital step. But she followed the beckoning finger of Destiny to learn ere long that, underneath the polished veneer of this man of books, there lay concealed a genius for finance destined to make him a powerful factor in the uplift of his section from the ruins of war. He became a builder of railroads, a constructive force in the State, and a leader of the hosts of industrial progress. At the time of his death, Capt. Grant was the largest individual tax-payer in Georgia, and one of the foremost figures of his day in the financial world of the South. It was in the Reid home, at West Point, that the future mistress of the executive mansion, Mrs. John M. Slaton, was born.

The Arrest of Mr.

Hill.

Volume II.

On April 26, 1901, the handsome Confederate monu- ment in West Point was unveiled with impressive ex- ercises. Mr. L. L. Knight, of Atlanta, delivered the address of the occasion. At the time of unveiling, Miss Bessie Lanier was the President of the Ladies' Memorial Association, and one of the most zealous workers in be- half of the monument. On October 30, 1912, a handsome shaft to the heroes of the South was unveiled in the public square at LaGrange by the local chapter of the U. D. C. The address was delivered by Colonel L. C. Levy, of Columbus. The ladies most prominent in the movement to erect the monument were: Mrs. E. G. Nix, President; Mrs. C. E. Gay and Mrs. A. V. Heard.

Original Settlers. White gives the original settlers of Troup as follows: E. S. Harris, John E. Morgan, William H. Cooper, Joseph Bird, James Cul-

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berson, Silas Tatom, W. C. Mays, Robert Hall, Adam Harden, John Harden, James Ringer, John Fendley, William J. Sterling, Nicholas Johnson, Samuel Reid, James Herring, John Herring, Howell W. Jenkins, James Mattox, Archibald Harris, Gideon Riddle, Colonel David W. Morgan, Jeremiah Robbins, James Jones, John Sip, A. M. Lane, James R. Laws, Jacob Gerard, James Adams, James W. Fannin, Sr., Isaac Ross, General S. Bailey, Henry Rogers, William Dougherty, Lewis Muckleroy, David Culverson, H. L. Wilkinson, Josephus Sparks, James Love, Isaac Mitchell, Joel D. Newsome, James Flowers, M. Mattox, P. Hightower, W. Horton, Dr. Charles Cannon, H. S. Smith, James Amos, George H. Traylor, Rev. C. W. Key, John E. Gage, R. H. Lane, Thomas Cameron, and John Hill.

John P. Warnock, a Sergeant in the patriotic army, was granted a Federal pension in 1839 for his services in the first war with England.

Troup's Distin- LaGrange was for years the home of guished Residents. the great orator and statesman who wore the toga of two national Sen- ates and whose thunderbolts of eloquence, hurled at the military power during the days of Reconstruction, will reverberate in Georgia while the pillars of her Constitu- tion endure-Benjamin Harvey Hill. But there also lived here a host of distinguished men. General Hugh A. Haralson, a brave soldier, a profound lawyer and a member of Congress, was long a resident of LaGrange where his ashes lie buried. The name of this beloved Georgian is perpetuated in one of the counties of the State. Two of his daughters married illustrious men : Gen. John B. Gordon and Chief-Justice Logan E. Bleck- ley. The great Walter T. Colquitt lived for a while in

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LaGrange, where two of his wives are buried; but the Judge himself sleeps in Columbus. He was three times married.

Here lived the famous War Horse of Troup, Julius C. Alford, who served Georgia with distinction in both branches of the General Assembly and in the halls of Congress and who afterwards removed to Alabama, where his last days were spent. Judge Benjamin H. Hill, Chief-Judge of the State Court of Appeals, and his gifted brother, the late Charles D. Hill, long the brilliant solici- tor of the Atlanta Circuit, were both reared in LaGrange. Here lived Dr. R. A. T. Ridley, a noted man in his day, who was no less a power in politics than in medicine. His son, Dr. F. M. Ridley, a resident of LaGrange, is like- wise an eloquent public speaker and a leader in public affairs. Here lived Dr. H. S. Wimbish, who was long a master-spirit in the professional and civic life of the community; and here lived Judge E. Y. Hill, a gifted jurist, who represented Georgia in the State Senate and who was narrowly defeated for Governor by George W. Towns.

Two of the ablest members of the Atlanta bar were reared in LaGrange-Albert H. Cox and William A. Wimbish. The gifted Southern novelist, Maria J. West- moreland, whose books were widely read just after the war and who wrote a number of dramas which were staged with pronounced success during the days of Re- construction, lived here for some time. The great wizard of finance, William S. Witham, who directs the affairs of more than a hundred banks, was born in LaGrange. At the age of 18, almost penniless, with no immediate pros- pects and with no influential friends, he made his way to New York, where he formed a business connection which started him upon the road to fortune. Judge F. M. Longley, a former State Senator and a well-known and much-beloved Georgian, lives in LaGrange. This was also the home of Judge Benjamin H. Bigham, a jurist of

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note. Here lived Nathan L. Atkinson a strong pioneer citizen who, with R. A. T. Ridley and John S. Hill, repre- sented Troup in the Constitutional Convention of 1865. Colonel John H. Traylor, a wealthy planter, who served in both branches of the State Legislature, a leader of the reform element of the Democratic party and at one time a candidate on the populist ticket for Governor of Geor- gia, lived and died in Troup.

TURNER

Created by Legislative Act, August 18, 1905, from parts of four counties: Worth, Irwin, Wilcox, and Dooly. Named for Judge Henry G. Turner, a noted member of Congress, afterwards an occupant of the Supreme Bench of Georgia. Ashburn, the county-seat.

Henry Gray Turner represented Georgia with dis- tinction in the National House of Representatives for sixteen years, after which, with judicial qualifications of the highest order, he graced the ermine of the State's Supreme Bench, serving in this latter capacity until forced to relinquish public life by the stern edict of en- feebled health. But, in stoic fidelity to official obligation, he waited until the vital cords were gripped by the fatal malady which ended his illustrious career. Judge Turner was a native of North Carolina, in which State he was born near the town of Henderson, on March 20, 1839, of sturdy Scotch-Irish parents. The best educational ad- vantages were given to the lad whose bright mind even at an early age prefigured a career of great promise ; and after completing his academic studies, he matriculated first at the University of North Carolina and then at the University of Virginia. He began his life's work as a school teacher-in which respect he was not unlike other great staesmen of his time. For a while he taught in Alabama, winning a reputation which crossed the State line and brought him an overture from Brooks County, Ga., where he established his permanent home. At the outbreak of the war, he enlisted in the Savannah Volun-

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teer Guards and went to the front as a private but in less than a year he became Captain of Company H.in the 23rd North Carolina regiment of volunteer troops. The young officer was severely wounded at Gettysburg and suffered the tortures of Northern imprisonment, first at Sandusky and then at Johnson's Island. At the close of the war, he began the practice of his profession at Quit- man, Ga., where he married Miss Lavinia Morton, a daughter of Judge James O. Morton and where his solid and substantial gifts as an advocate soon brought him to the front at the Bar.

Three terms of service in the Legislature warranted the people of his district in giving him a wider arena for the exercise of his talents and he was sent to Congress where he remained consecutively for sixteen years. As chairman of the committee on elections his reputation be- came national in extent. Due to the fact that a majority of the electors in his district were not in agreement with him upon an important issue, in regard to which he could not surrender his convictions, this well equipped and broad-minded statesman voluntarily withdrew from the public councils. He resumed the practice of law at Quitman; but, after eight years of retirement, he was appointed without solicitation on his part to fill a seat made vacant on the Supreme Bench of Georgia. The en- tire State rang with approval of the Governor's action.

Judge Turner possessed the Roman integrity of character and the calm equipoise of mind which well be- fitted this lofty station; his temperment was eminently judicial. But he was barely seated upon the Bench before it was found that his health was seriously undermined by a disorder, the roots of which lay doubtless in an old Gettysburg wound. Immediate relief from the mental strain of judicial labor was demanded. He went to Balti- more hoping to find relief in surgery; but the skillful physicians declined to perform an operation on account of his wasted strength.

Keenly disappointed but patiently resigned he started back to Georgia. On the way, he stopped to rest at the

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home of his brother, in Raleigh, N. C., where, on June 9, 1904, the pulse-beat in his withered arm grew still and the majestic peace of death settled upon his noble brow. Judge Turner was in manner dignified and reserved. It was only on great occasions that his habitual quietude of speech became impassioned. There was no meretricious display of rhetoric in the legal efforts of Judge Turner. His masterful arguments were addressed to the reason; and he spoke at ordinary times with an unruffled com- posure of mind suggestive of deep waters. In stature he was of medium height, while his complexion was swarthy, his eye lustrous with thought, and his whole frame in- dicative of hidden power. He literally died in the service of the State; nor is it a matter of wonder that when a new county was created among the pine stretches of South Georgia it should have been given the name of this faith- ful public servant. His position on the money question was fully justified by the logic of events, proving his deep insight into profound problems of government; and his manliness of conduct, in preferring to yield his seat in Congress rather than renounce allegiance to fixed prin- ciple, when there were temporary differenes of opinion between his constituents and himself, furnished conclusive evidence of his statesmanship. Tried in the fiery crucible the true metal of his character was revealed. Tested by the touchstone of an adverse public sentiment his patriot- ism was found to be pure gold.

Original Settlers. See Worth and Irwin, from which counties Turner was formed.

John S. Betts, who founded the town of Ashburn, and who, since 1891, the date of incorporation, has con- tinuously held the office of mayor, was one of the first settlers to cast his lot in this region of pines. Here, in

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association with his kinsman, Mr. John West Evans, he built a sawmill, and from time to time constructed short railway lines which were merged into longer ones after the timber was cut, and thus became permanent links in the railway development of Southern Georgia. From an obscure hamlet of some dozen families, grouped about his pioneer industrial plant, he has seen the little town of which he is mayor blossom into a cultured community of 2,500 souls.

But he shares the honors of pioneerhood in the de- velopment of this section with a wealthy land baron who occupied a seat in the last Senate of Georgia; James Simon Shingler. Though a native of South Carolina, Mr. Shingler has long been identified with the fortunes of this State; and for more than a quarter of a century has lived at Ashburn. He is the owner of 23,000 acres of land in Georgia and a stockholder in some score of enterprises, engaged in developing the State's marvel- ous resources. Like Mr. Betts, he is an unpretentious, simple-hearted, and courtly gentleman of the old school; but with an intellect of the keenest penetration, far. sighted and well-balanced.

On the list of Turner County's early pioneers belong also the following names: D. H. Davis, G. B. Gorday, E. R. Smith, H. W. Bussey, W. B. Dasher, J. T. Fountain, W. A. Greer, Messrs. Cowan and Carr, T. J. Shingler, W. A. Shingler, J. Lawrence, Mr. Gilmore, R. L. Betts, G. T. Betts, C. W. Evans, J. L. Evans, J. B. Bozeman, M. S. Cantey, J. R. Burgese, J. F. Jenkins, W. R. Jenkins, John B. Hutcheson, J. H. Pate, R. L. Tipton, J. A. Comer, the Mckenzies, the Paulks, the Hancocks, the King's, the Spradleys, etc.

Ashburn : A Story of About the year 1889, when the Beginnings. Georgia Southern and Florida Rail- road was pushing its way through the heart of the pine belt of South Georgia, Mr. W. W. Ashburn, of Eastman and Mr. J. S. Betts, who was then

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a resident of Demsey, in Dodge County, Ga., made a trip along the line of the road in search of a location for a saw mill plant. Trains were then running as far as Cordele, and from this point, Messrs. Ashburn and Betts, travelling in a buggy, followed a narrow trail through the almost unbroken pine forest, as far south as Sycamore. Attracted by the beautiful rolling country and splendid pine forests, they selected a site in what was then Worth County, two miles north of the village of Sycamore and immediately began negotiations for the purchase of land. They bought large tracts from the estates of W. B. Johns- ton, of Macon, and D. H. Davis, a native, and still a resi- dent, of this section. Mr. Betts, with his partner, the lamented J. W. Evans, immediately moved a small mill to the new location and began clearing and sawing timber for the erection of shanties to house the plant and to furnish shelter for the families which came with them. By the time all were located, the road was completed to Valdosta and one train a day was running from Macon to that place.

But there was no station at the mill; and Sycamore was the nearest depot where passengers could board the trains. The shipping was also done from that point. About the time Mr. Betts and Mr. Ashburn made pur- chases of land in this locality, Mr. J. S. Shingler, of East- man, came prospecting for a turpentine farm. He also purchased large tracts of land and brought over his fam- ily and operatives for a turpentine still, which he built about a mile from the saw mill of Mr. Betts. The small mill at first owned by the latter was replaced in time by one of the largest saw mill plants in South Georgia, set- tlers poured in, and apart from the commissary and general store owned by the company, three other store houses for general merchandise were built. These pioneer establishments were Shingler and Lawrence, managed by Mr. J. Lawrence now editor of the "Wire- grass Farmer"; W. A. Murray and Co., and G. B. Gor- day. Associated with W. A. Murray and Co., was Mr. Gilmore, now a citizen of the town of Rebecca, on the

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A. B. and A. road in the eastern part of Turner. Mr. Gorday is still one of the leading merchants of Ash- burn. The large amount of business done by this wide- awake settlement induced the railroad authorities to make it a station. But the citizens did not like the name which was first given the town and Mr. J. S. Betts and Mr. W. W. Ashburn were asked to select a name. Mr. Betts sug- gested that it be called Ashburn, in Mr. Ashburn's honor, and thus it was named. Mr. Ashburn, having large in- terests elsewhere, soon sold his share of the land recently purchased to J. S. Betts Co. and J. S. Shingler, after which he took no further part in the development of the town which bore his name, except that he gave the land on which to build a church. Along with Mr. J. S. Shingler came his brother, T. J. Shingler, who afterwards removed to Miller County, and a cousin, Mr. W. A. Shingler.

The above mentioned pioneer citizens laid the founda- tions for the city of Ashburn, with her prosperous busi- ness enterprises, her splendid public schools and her handsome houses of worship. Among the substantial business men of today are a number who have developed with the town, to-wit : R. L. and G. T. Betts, brother and son of Mr. J. S. Betts ; C. W. and J. L. Evans, brother and son of the late J. W. Evans; and Messrs. J. B. Bozeman, M. S. Cantey, J. R. Burgess, and J. F. and W. K. Jenkins. About the time Ashburn was settled, other enterprising men were settling and developing other places within the present county limits :- at Dakota, W. A. Greer, who has since became a citizen of Ashburn; at Worth, Cowan and Carr; at Sycamore, E. R. Smith, H. W. Bussey, W. B. Dasher, and J. T. Fountain. The last four of these have dropped from the ranks, but among the substantial citi- zens of the enterprising town of Sycamore are some of the sons who survived them: Wilber and E. R. Smith, Stanley Bussey, and W. P. Fountain. In years to come the names of these pioneer citizens of Turner will be mentioned with honor .*

* Historical facts furnished by Mrs. J. S. Betts, of Ashburn.

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Created by Legislative Act, December 14, 1809, from Wilkinson County. Named for General John Twiggs, an illustrious soldier of the Revolution, who commanded an independent body of troops. Jeffersonville, the county- seat, named for Thomas Jefferson, the Sage of Monticello. Marion, the original seat of government, named for General Francis Marion, of South Carolina, is no longer represented on the map.

The Revolutionary War period of American history brought to the front no braver officer than General John Twiggs. There is unfortunately a lack of definite infor- mation in regard to his early life, but he is supposed to have been a native of Maryland. He was also a mill-right by trade and of good English stock. Some time prior to the outbreak of hostilities he removed to Georgia, accom- panying John Emanuel, whose daughter Ruth he married. As the result of this alliance, he became the brother-in-law of David Emanuel, afterwards Governor of Georgia. Establishing his home on a plantation to the south of Augusta, in the parish of St. Paul, he at once identified himself with the Georgia patriots, among whom his genius for command and his handsome physique made him an acknowledged leader. He first appears upon the scene in 1779, soon after the reduction of Savannah, at the head of an independent body of troops. Uniting forces with the famous Few brothers, William and Benjamin, from the upper part of the parish, a column of some 250 men was formed, which immediately thereafter defeated 400 men under Colonel Brown, while enroute to join some Tories in the county of Burke. He then lay in wait for another partisan corps under Captain Sharp which was close behind with re-inforcements for Colonel Brown, and when they were seen to encamp an attack was order- ed. It was not long before the Tories were put the flight; and Captain Joshua Inman, who led the assault is credited with having killed three men with his own blade. This engagement took place at Burke Jail on the site of the present town of Waynesboro.

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Following the victory of the Americans at Kettle Creek, Colonel Twiggs, in association with his brother officers, Hammond and McIntosh, surprised seventy British regulars at Herbert and either killed or captured the whole detachment. Despite the collapse of General Lincoln's campaign, Colonel Twiggs struck more than one vigorous and effective blow during the dark days whichi ensued. His exploits at this time kindled fresh hope and courage in the hearts of the despondent patriots of Geor- gia. To checkmate the notorious McGirth, he formed a post on the Ogeechee which served as a rallying point for the Americans; and, when a body of troops under Captain Conklin, leaving Savannah about daybreak, in the spring of 1780, reached the American camp shortly before the noon hour, they were promptly driven back. Later, Colonel Twiggs defeated a company of grenadiers under Captain Muller, at Hickory Hill and also routed a party under McGirth himself. In 1781, he joined Greene's army on the southward march and, under this superb soldier, participated in the final overthrow of the British power. For his gallant services to the State, he was given the rank of Major-General in the State militia, be- sides extensive tracts of land. He also represented the State in treaty negotiations with the Indians at Augusta, in 1803, whereby the extensive domain, afterwards erected into Washington and Franklin Counties, were added to the territory of Georgia. When General Elijalı Clarke invaded the Indian country and sought to estab- lish an independent republic beyond the Oconee River, Twiggs and Irwin acted as intermediaries between Gen- eral Clarke and Governor Mathews in an effort to bring about an abandonment of the project. On the retirement of Governor Mathews from office there followed in inter- regnum of two months, during which time General Twigg's as the ranking officer of the State militia was requested to take charge, but he entertained some doubt of the pro- priety of this course and modestly declined to do so. The evening of his days was spent at his home near Au- gusta, where he enjoyed to the last the unbroken confi-

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dence and esteem of the people of Georgia. Major Gen- eral David E. Twiggs was a son of this gallant soldier and patriot.

Marion : A Lost Only a weather-beaten little negro shack, Town. in the last stages of decay, survives today at the old cross-roads, where formerly stood one of the most important inland towns of the State, a great rendezvous during court week for lawyers of the most eminent distinction and a thrifty center of trade in the early ante-bellum period; the once wide- awake little town of Marion. It was located at a point equi-distant between Jeffersonville and Bullard-six miles from each. The population of the village exceeded 1,000 at a time when there were few towns of this size in the State. It possessed a bank, a post-office, a school- house, and several good hotels, with ample accommoda- tions. The original survey of the Central Railroad was made to Marion; but the iron horse was an untried ex- periment in those days. The people of the little rural community objected to the intruder on the ground that it might endanger live-stock and demoralize the poultry. yard. So the line was built to Macon, a town which be- came in time the metropolis of middle Georgia. Some of the most aristocratic old families of the State lived at Marion, including the Forts, the Fannins, the Wimber leys, the Griffins, the Tarvers, the Tharps and many others of equal prominence ; but when the county-seat was changed to Jeffersonville after the war and the condi- tions of life were sadly different, they began to scatter. Other localities were more attractive to them; and soon there was left of the little town of Marion naught but a waste of abandoned homes and a wealth of fragrant memories.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 71

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