USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 75
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
1028
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS. MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
staff were either killed or wounded. At the battle of Shiloh, where he made his first appearance, then in com- mand of a regiment only, he captured Gen. Prentiss, with 2,000 men. In the Carolinas alone he is said to have dis- abled over 5,000 Federals, with only a minimum of loss to his own troops. He protected the rear of Bragg's army, when the latter made his retreat from Kentucky; and at Chickamauga, with 3,780 men, he made a raid in the rear of Gen. Rosecrans, in which he destroyed 1,200 loaded wagons, killed 4,000 mules, blew up 300 ammuni- tion wagons, and captured the fortified town of McMinn. ville, with 600 prisoners. Gen. Bragg accorded him the highest meed of praise for his vigorous and effective sup- port. In the famous Atlanta campaign he brilliantly re- enforced Gen. Johnston; and while inflicting serious dam- age in the rear of the Federal army he prevented Gen. Sherman from committing a lot of pillage on his march to the sea. It was due largely to Gen. Wheeler that the city of Augusta, his birth-place, escaped the fate which over- took Atlanta. The sphere of his operations covered nine States. Such was the celerity of his movements and the foree with which he delivered his blows that Wheeler's cavalry became literally a besom of destruction and a synonym of terror to the Federals. His capture at any time after his first appearance on the scene at Shiloh would have filled the whole of Yankeedom with rejoicing. Subsequent to the war he compiled a manual of arms entitled : "Wheeler's Tactics." For a number of years he ably represented the State of Alabama in Congress; and when the Spanish-American War began, though a gray- haired veteran of sixty-two, he volunteered his services to the United States Government. He was commissioned a Major-General of Volunteers and served both on the island of Cuba and in the Philippines. At the battle of Santiago, despite an order from Gen. Shafter to fall back he pressed forward with victorius results. It is said that in the heat of the engagement, he forgot himself for the moment and exclaimed : "Charge them, boys, the Yankees are running." Gen. Wheeler was everywhere acclaimed
1029
WHEELER
with enthusiastic plandits and was the means of welding the sections more closely together. At a reunion of Con- federate Veterans he appeared on the floor in his Federal uniform, but the ovation which he received was none the less cordial. He was rewarded for his gallantry with a commission in the regular army, which he accepted. Gen. Wheeler died while on a visit to a sister, in the city of New York, on Jan. 25, 1906, in his seventieth year. He is buried in the National cemetery at Arlington, on the banks of the Potomac River, where his grave in front of Gen. Lee's old home is marked by a superb monumental shaft, one of the handsomest on the grounds. Hon. Wil- liam J. Harris, the present chairman of the State Demo- cratic Executive Committee of Georgia is a son-in-law of Gen. Wheeler. Mr. Harris has twice represented his dis- trict in the State Senate; and his brilliant work for Woodrow Wilson, in the recent campaign of 1912, has given him a prestige which will doubtless eventuate in higher honors.
On January 1, 1913, the first election of county officers for the new county of Wheeler was held with the following results : Judge Wm. B. Kent, Ordinary; John D. Brown, Clerk of the Superior Court ; J. F. Wright, Sheriff; J. A. Martin, Tax Collector ; Daniel Pope, Treasurer ; E. Miller, Surveyor ; J. J. Brantley, Coroner and T. F. Williams, .J. R. Samner, and Thomas Kent, County Commissioners. Hon. Douglas McArthur was chosen the county's first representative in the General Assembly of Georgia.
Original Settlers. See Montgomery from which county Wheeler was formed.
Referring to the above list, it was Judge Wm. B. Kent who drafted and introduced the bill to create the
1030
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
new county of Wheeler. He was then a representative in the State Legislature from Montgomery County. Hon. Walter S. McArthur, a strong factor for years in State legislation, was a resident of what is now Wheeler.
WHITE
Created by Legislative Act, December 22, 1857, from Lumpkin and Habersham Counties. Named for Colonel John White, of the Revolution, whose gallant exploits in the neighborhood of Savannah, won for him a secure niche in the hall of heroes. Cleveland, the county-seat. Origin of the name unauthenticated, but doubtless in honor of Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland, one of the officers in command at the battle of King's Mountain. The name first given to the county-seat was Mount Yonah; but it was later changed to Cleveland.
Relics of a Forgotten
Volume II. Race.
The Legend of As preserved by White, the legend of Na- Nacoochee. coochee differs somewhat from the tradi- tional account given by Mr. Williams, but the greater weight of authority belongs to the latter, who was a life-long resident. But according to Mooney, there is no basis in fact for either of these legends. He says that the name of the valley interpreted to mean "the evening star" is not a word of Cherokee origin, and that possibly it came from the Creeks.
Under the personal supervision of the Rev. John K. Coit, a consecrated minister of the gospel, the Presby- terians of Georgia have started a splendid school at Sautee for the mountain boys and girls. It is called Na- coohcee Institute. The school overlooks the far-famed valley, in which the great Chattahoochee River is cradled. The atmosphere is saturated with Indian traditions, and in the back-ground looms the imperial brow of Mount
NACOOCHEE VALLEY, THE CRADLE OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER.
1031
WHITE
Yonah. If environment plays any part in the formation of character, there is here afforded an unsurpassed gym- nasium for developing the youth of Georgia in the finer things of the spirit. Some idea of the possibilities of this work for the mountain children may be gleaned from the phenomenal success of a much older school near Rome. (See article on Mount Berry : How the Sunday Lady of 'Possum Trot Won the Mountains).
Where Gold was It was in the upper part of this First Discovered in county, on Duke's Creek, the name North Georgia. by which the Nacoochee River was formerly known, that the yellow metal was first discovered by the whites, in 1828; and prior to the opening of the rich gold fields of California, the North Georgia mines were supposed to contain the largest deposits of the precious ore to be found anywhere in the world. From an authoritative work on the sub- ject,* issued by a former State geologist, the following brief paragraph is quoted: "The earliest discovery of gold in this county-and probably in Georgia-was in 1828 by a negro servant of Major Logan, of Loudsville, Ga. While on his way from Rutherford, N. C., where gold mines had just been opened, he was attracted by the similar appearance of the soil along Nacoochee River, tested it in a broiler, and found gold. The discovery was made in a branch on the Lovelady place. At this time, the Cherokee Indians had left Nacoochee and Loudsville valleys, and were beyond the Chestatee, to the west. The lands left by them in this region had been surveyed into lots of two hundred and fifty acres each, and sold to the settlers. It is presumed that the Cherokees did not know of the existence of gold in this region, up to the time of this discovery, although fabulous housewife tales of such discoveries are current."
*Gold Deposits in Georgia, by W. S. Yeates, pp. 32-34, Atlanta, 1896.
1032
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Original Settlers. See Habersham, from which county White was formed.
To the pioneer list may be added: Major Edward Williams, George W. Williams, Edwin P. Williams, Jolin Glen, James Glen, Thomas M. Kimsey, William Kimsey, Calvin H. Kytle, Elijah Starr, Dr. Joseph Underwood, Abner Dumagan, and W. A. Reaves.
The Bells, the Hendersons, the Jarrards, the Courte- nays, the Kennimers, and other families were early set- tlers in the neighborhood of Cleveland. Here, a distin- guished member of the present Georgia delegation in Congress, Hon. Thomas M. Bell, spent his boyhood days.
WILCOX
Created by Legislative Act, December 22, 1857, from parts of three counties: Dooly, Irwin, and Pulaski. Named for Major-General Mark Wilcox, a distinguished officer of the State militia and a dominant figure in State politics during pioneer days in Middle Georgia. Abbeville, the county- seat, named for the famous district in South Carolina, settled by French Huguenots and long the home of the great Nullifier, John C. Calhoun. Originally, Wilcox included parts of two other counties: Ben Hill and Turner.
Major-General Mark Wilcox, Legislator and soldier, was born on the frontier belt of Georgia, in what after- wards became the county of Telfair, in 1800. His father, John Wilcox, was one of the earliest settlers to pene- trate into this region of the savage wilderness. The elder Wilcox being a man of means gave his son the best educa- tional equipment which the times afforded. Consequently Mark Wilcox soon became a leader in local affairs. He first held the office of high sheriff, after which he was sent to the General Assembly of Georgia, and in both
1033
WHITFIELD
houses served with distinction. Partial to military life, he became a Major-General in the State militia, and by reason of his prominence as an officer, at the time of his election to the Legislature, he was made chairman of the committee on military affairs. General Wilcox is said to have been a man of fine personal appearance and to have made a superb figure on horseback. He was also an ideal Legislator, advocating economy within proper limits, but opposed to the parsimony which checks development. He did not approve of banks loosely establishing branches at remote points and he strongly favored the repeal of charters when they failed to redeem obligations in gold. He was one of the first to advocate a Supreme Court, to urge an asylum for the insane, to suggest a division of the State into Congressional districts, in lieu of the old method of electing' Congressmen on general tickets. He was furthermore a pioneer of railway development in Georgia, espousing with great zeal the construction of the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which he lived to see completed. General Wilcox married the eldest daughter of General John Coffee. His death occurred in 1850, while he was still in the prime of life; and he died pos- sessed of large means.
Original Settlers. See Dooly, Irwin, and Pulaski, from which counties Wilcox was formed.
To the list may be added : Major Adolphus A. F. Reid and Dr. Dunean F. McCrimmon. .
i
WHITFIELD
Created by Legislative Act, December 30, 1851, from Murray County, originally Cherokee. Named for the great pulpit orator of the Church of England, who founded the famous Bethesda Orphan House, at Savannah- George Whitefield. Dalton, the county-seat, was originally known as Cross Plains. The name was changed to Dalton in compliment to John Dalton, a civil engineer, who came to this place from the North several years prior to the Civil War and who, realizing the possibilities of the site, drew the plans for a town and made the original survey of the land .* The correct spelling of the county name is Whitefield, but the first "e" was dropped to make the spelling conform to the pronunciation.
Authority: Judge Joseph Bogle, Ordinary of Whitfield County.
1034
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Recollections of George Whitefield.
Volume II.
Dalton: The Joseph E. Johnston Monument. Dalton, the county-seat of Whit- field, is not only a progressive trade center but a citadel of historic memories connected with the iron days of the sixties. Here the great modern Fabius, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, quartered his army during the win- ter months preceding the eventful Atlanta campaign of 1864, the result of which was the final overthrow of the Confederate government. With the single exception of the great Commander-in-Chief himself, it is doubtful if the war period of American history, produced the equal of this superb strategist; and to what extent his removal, on the eve of the battle of Atlanta, hastened the vortex of disaster in which the Confederacy was at last engulfed, will doubtless continue to the end of time to be an un- solved problem. His reinstatement by Gen. Lee came too late to reverse the tide of misfortune which was hasten- ing the Confederacy toward Greensboro and Appomat- tox ; but is served to call popular attention in a most im- pressive manner to one of the great tactical blunders of the Civil War.
Much of the prestige which Dalton has since come to enjoy in a commercial way is due to the peculiar advant- ages of location which caused Gen. Johnston to make this little metropolis of the mountains a base of operations. It was here that he waited for Gen. Sherman to offer him battle, but the wily old torch-bearer was too shrewd a player at the game of war to assail a position from which it was a foregone conclusion that he could not oust his enemy even with the help of superior numbers. But the pent-up enthusiasm of the Confederate troops for an en- gagement of some kind needed an outlet : so here occurred the famous snow-battle, traditions of which abide where ever an old veteran of Johnston's army survives. In view of the fact that a whole library of literature has
1035
WHITFIELD
been written on the Atlanta campaign, it is not a little singular that the great soldier who out-maneuvered Gen. Sherman at almost every turn of the road over which the two armies marched should have gone so long without a monument, even in his own native State of Virginia.
But history is full of such ingratitudes. It was reserv- ed for the town of Dalton to erect the first memorial shaft in the South to Gen. Johnston. The suggestion came from the late Col. Tomlinson Fort, of Chattanooga, who, in a Memorial Day address delivered here a number of years ago, advocated this step and made a handsome sub- scription to the fund. To the patriotic task of erecting this monument, the members of the Bryan M. Thomas Chapter of the U. D. C., devoted themselves with an ardor which knew no abatement. On October 24, 1912, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, the monument was unveiled with impressive ceremonies. It was a gala day in the calendar for Dalton. Business was suspended, and there was literally no turning of wheels except to swell the splendid pageant. The following account of the exercises is taken from one of the newspaper reports .* It reads as follows :
The first monument erected to the memory of Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston, C. S. A., was unveiled here this afternoon at 2 o'clock, the exercises being preceded by a luncheon in honor of the out-of-town guests at the Elks club rooms at noon. The exercises opened with band music, "Southern Melodies, " after which the invocation was offered by Rev. W. R. Foote, pastor of the First Methodist church of Dalton. The following program was carried out:
Song, "How Firm a Foundation"-Quartette.
Ode to Joseph E. Johnston-Robert Loveman, southern poet and reader.
Introduction of Speaker-Hon. W. C. Martin, of Dalton.
Address-Judge Moses Wright, of Rome.
"Design of Monument"-Miss Belle Kinney, of Nashville, Tenu., sculptor.
Unveiling of Monument-Miss Suesylla Thomas.
Presentation of Monument to State and City .- Hon. M. C. Tarver, of Dalton, State Senator.
* Atlanta Journal, issue of Oct. 24, 1912.
-
1036
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Acceptance for State-Hon. S. P. Maddox, of Dalton.
Acceptance for City-Mayor J. F. Harris, of Dalton
Facing the East, the statue of General Johnston, cast in standard United State bronze, stands at "parade rest," surmounting a base of Georgia granite, The base is in the form of a semi-circle, rising in three tiers which diminish in size until the huge block of granite, on which stands the figure, is reached.
From the rear of the monument two large arms, resting on concrete, extend outward and forward, being jointed to the base; the arms are handsomely carved in laurel leaves.
At the front of the stone on which the statne rests is inscribed the following directly beneath the laurel wreath:
Joseph E. Johnston 1807-1891
Brigadier-General U. S. A., General C. S. A. "Given command of the Confederate forces at Dalton in 1863, he directed the seventy-nine days cam- paign to Atlanta, one of the most memorable in the annals of war "Erected by Bryan M. Thomas chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Dalton, Georgia, 1912."
Original Settlers. As gathered from various sources, some of the pioneers of Whitfield
were : Benjamin Clark, James Mitchell, David W. Mitchell, Capt. John W. Bogle, Dr. Charles P. Gordon, Dr. W. J. Manly, Capt. Agrippa P. Roberts, Joseph Bogle, D. C. P. Clark, J. M. Jackson, F. A. Thomas, Dickson Talia- ferro, and others. Besides these, the Gilberts, the Sapps, the Scotts, the Calhouns, the Tarvers, the Hamiltons, the Smiths, the Broadwicks, and the Longleys have been influential families in Whitefield since the county was or- ganized.
Benjamin Clark was the first settler at Tunnell Hill. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a volunteer in
1037
WHITFIELD
the War for Texan Independence. He died in Whitfield at the age of 84. The region of country in the neighbor- hood of Dalton is rich in Indian lore. Many localities still retain the musical names which were given to them by the red men, while the Cherokee rose, a flower indigenous to this section, grows everywhere in riotous profusion, recalling the now almost forgotten but once powerful tribe of Indians whose name it bears. The breast-works erected in the vicinity of Dalton during the Civil War are still to be seen, but some of them are now covered by large trees.
Whitfield's Distin- The celebrated Gen. Duff Green, one
guished Residents. of the most picturesque characters in American public life, was for twenty- five years a resident of Dalton. He was a power in nat- ional politics during the stormy ante-bellum period. It is said that when Jackson and Van Buren were in the White House no other one man exercised greater influence over political affairs in the United States than did Gen. Green. He was by profession an editor but held diplomatic posts under both Federal and Confederate governments. Pass- ing through Georgia on one occasion he stopped at Dal- ton. The country in this part of the State so completely captivated the old man that he afterwards made it his home; and here the remainder of his life was spent. He reached the ripe old age of 95 years. Toward the end of his eventful career, Gen. Green was seldom seen with- out his long staff, which gave him somewhat the appear- ance of a Peter the Hermit.
Judge Dawson A. Walker, an ex-memebr of the Su- preme Court of Georgia, at one time the Republican nomi- nee for Governor, became a resident of Dalton on retiring from the Bench in 1868, and here he lived until his death.
Dalton was for years the home of Colonel Leander M. Trammell, the Georgia Democracy's Earl of Warwick. It
.
1038
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
was through the influence of Colonel Trammell that the nomination of Joseph E. Brown for Governor of Geor- gia in 1857 was effected. As Chairman of the State Dem- ocratic Executive Committee, he also presided over the famous gubernatorial convention of 1880, when a failure of the Colquitt forces to secure a requisite two-thirds majority of the convention caused two candidates to be recommended : Governor Alfred H. Colquitt, the majority candidate and Judge Thomas M. Norwood, the minority candidate. Only a masterful parliamentarian could have maintained order in this turbulent assemblage of Demo- crats. Colonel Trammell was a member of two Constitu- tional Conventions, served the State in the Senate and on the Railroad Commission, and was an unwearied worker in the interest of others, never of himself.
His son, Paul B. Trammell, a distinguished financier of Dalton, is also at present a member of the State Rail- road Commission.
Here lived for many years Gen. Bryan M. Thomas, for whom the local U. D. C. Chapter was named. He was a gallant brigade commander during the Civil War. For a short while he was deputy U. S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia under Gen. Longstreet. He then established a private school which enjoyed a liberal patronage, and finally, in 1891, he became Superintendent of the public schools of Dalton, a position which he held for the remainder of his life.
Judge Olin Wellborn, afterwards a member of Con- gress from Texas and still later a Judge of the Federal Court for Southern California, lived at one time in Dalton.
Here Patrick Calhoun, the street railway Colossus, whose gigantic operations have ranged from New York to Cleveland and from Cleveland to San Francisco, was reared.
Dalton was also the boyhood's home of a noted jurist
1039
WHITFIELD
who, while serving a term in Congress as a Representa- tive from the State of Texas, was elevated to the Federal Bench-Judge James Gordon Russell. He was educated at the University of Georgia, where he and Hon. Paul B. Trammell were room-mates. They both graduated in 1878. Judge Russell is said to have been one of the seven eminent lawyers whose names were considered for the United States Supreme Court by President Taft.
Two of Georgia's best known men of letters, Will N. Harben and Robert Loveman, the former a novelist of international reputation, the latter a poet of recognized genius and of high rank, were reared in Dalton, a town which they still call home.
To the list of distinguished Daltonians may be added : Colonel Jesse A. Glenn, a gallant Confederate officer, whose nomination for Brigade Commander was pending when the war closed; Hon. William C. Glenn, his son, a brilliant former Attorney-General of the State, author of the famous "Glenn Bill," under which millions of dol- lars were recovered in taxes from the railroads of Geor- gia; Judge C. D. Mccutchen and Judge Robert J. Mc- Camy, jurists of note; Frank T. Hardwick, a wealthy financier; Dr. Charles P. Gordon, philanthropist and surgeon; Martin P. Berry, a distinguished educator; Richard Sapp, a pioneer representative; I. E. Shumate, lawyer and journalist; William H. Tibbs, a legislator; Frank T. Reynolds, a journalist; and Judge James A. Maddox. The celebrated wit of ante-bellum days, Judge William H. Underwood, was also at one time a resident of Dalton. Dr. Hugh K. Walker and Dr. Mark A. Matthews, who afterwards preached to the largest congregations on the Pacific coast, at one time served the Presbyterian church of Dalton. This is also the home of Anthony J. Showalter, who composed the famous hymn : "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," an anthem today sung in every civilized tongue throughout Christendom.
1040
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
WILKES
1
Created by the State Constitution of 1777, from lands acquired by the Royal Governor, James Wright, from the Indian tribes of Georgia, in satis- faction of debts due the traders. Named for the celebrated John Wilkes, a member of Parliament, who strenuously opposed the measures which produced the Revolutionary outbreak in America. Mr. Wilkes was one of the earliest martyrs in England to the right of a Free Press; and for acrimonious strictures upon the King's speech, in one of the issues of his paper, which he called "The North Briton", the bold editor was committed to the Tower of London. On a writ of habeas corpus he was afterwards brought before Lord Chief-Justice Pratt, the Earl of Camden, who pro- nounced his commitment illegal and discharged the prisoner. For a subse- quent offence, he was expelled from the House of Commons; and following the appearance of his Essay on Woman, which stirred the Kingdom, resulting in a suit for libel which went against him, Mr. Wilkes withdrew to France, where he remained until a change of ministry gave him an unoh- structed path back to England. Fortune once more smiled upon him. after a series of imprisonments; and, while still incarcerated, he was chosen an alderman from one of the most populous wards in London. He next returned to Parliament where he boldly espoused the side of the Colonies. Oppression in every form kindled the wrath of this fearless champion of popular rights, who, despite his recognized faults, wrote a brilliant page in the history of modern freedom. Washington, the county-seat of Wilkes, named for General Washington, was the first town in the United States to hear the name of the illustrious Commander-in-Chief of the American armies. Wilkes originally embraced Elbert, Lincoln, and Oglethorpe, and in part Madison, Taliaferro, Warren, Hart, McDuffie and Greene.
Historical Tradi- tions : Original Settlers.
It was in the county of Wilkes-whose territory was opened to settlement in 1773 -- that the hearth-stone fires of Upper Georgia were first kindled by the Anglo-Saxon. The county, therefore, possesses a history which antedates the struggle for independence. It also contains the ances- tral seats of hundreds of families which have since scattered over the entire Southland. The hands of im- migrants who settled Wilkes were of an altogether differ- ent character from those who settled the Georgia coast; and in the main they followed the southward trails which ran along the Blue Ridge Mountains. Consequently the frontier settlements in this region of the Province did not spring from the coast settlements planted by Oglethorpe, but resulted from an altogether different impulse of colonization and constituted an independent community of pioneers, The rapidity with which this portion of the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.