Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 62

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274

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JEFF DAVAS

Clark Penn. The monument is a work of art. It stands thirty-two feet high, and is built of finely polished gran- ite from the quarries of Elbert County, Ga. On the east and west sides there are imported statues of Italian marble, each of which is most exquisitely carved. On the south side of the pedestal is inscribed :

"Crowns of roses fade, crowns of thorns endure. Calvaries and crucifixions take deepest hold of humanity ; the triumphs of might are transient; they pass and are forgotten; the sufferings of right are graven deepest on the chronicles of nations. "

On the north side is seen a Confederate battle-flag with the inscription :

"To the Confederate soldiers of Jasper County, the record of whose sublime self-sacrifice and undying devo- tion to duty in the service of their country is the proud heritage of a loyal posterity."

"In legend and lay our heroes in gray Shall forever live over again for us."

JEFF DAVIS

Hazelhurst. On August 18, 1905, an Act was approved creating the county of Jeff Davis, out of lands formerly embraced within Appling and Coffee counties and designating the town of Hazelhurst as the new county-seat. For additional facts in regard to the creation of this county, the reader is referred to Volume I.

Putting Mr. Davis Dr. John J. Craven, a distinguished in Irons : The Story surgeon in the Union army, was the Told by His prison physician at Fortress Monroe Prison Physician. during the first six months which fol- lowed the incarceration of Mr. Davis. Though at first strongly tinctured with the prejudice which prevailed at

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the North in regard to the illustrious prisoner, Dr. Cra- ven, from intimate personal contact with him from day to day, came to regard his patient with unfeigned ad- miration. On relinquishing his duties at the famous pri- son, Dr. Craven published a volume entitled : "The Pris- on Life of Jefferson Davis;" and, besides containing what in the main was accepted at the South as a truthful account written by one who was in a position to know the facts, it sounded the first distinct note of friendliness which was raised at the North on behalf of the great Confederate leader. It served to put Mr. Davis in an altogether different light before his enemies, and it doubt- less operated in some measure, as a check upon the vin- dictive spirit of revenge which was clamoring for his death. Throughout the long and bitter ordeal of impris- onment, there was no hour fraught with greater humilia- tion to Mr. Davis than when a blacksmith was sent to his cell to manacle this proud chieftain of a vanquished, but brave people, nor can there be found in the transac- tions of the Federal government a blot which so impugns the humanity of a Christian nation. The subsequent failure of the government to bring Mr. Davis to trial, on the ground that he could not legally be convicted of treason, only shows the needlessness of such indignity to one who was already helpless at the mercy of his foes. After narrating the pathetic circumstances incident to the formal induction of Mr. Davis into prison life at Fortress Monroe, Dr. Craven thus tells how he was man- acled :

"On the morning of the 23rd of May, a yet bitterer trial was in store for the proud spirit-a trial severer probably than has ever in modern times been inflicted upon any one who has enjoyed such eminence. This morning Jefferson Davis was shackled. . Captain Jerome E. Tit- low, of the Third Pennsylvania Artillery, entered the prisoner 's cell, fol- lowed by the blacksmith of the fort and his assistant, carrying in his hands some heavy and harshly rattling shackles. As they entered, Mr. Davis was reclining on his bed, feverish and weary after a sleepless night, the food placed near him on the preceding day still lying untouched on the tin plate at his bedside.

" 'Well?' said Mr. Davis, as they entered, slightly raising his head.

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" 'I have an unpleasant duty to perform, sir,' said Captain Titlow, and as he spoke the senior blacksmith took the shackles from his assistant.

"Davis leaped instantly from his' recumbent attitude, a flush passing over his face for a moment, and then his countenance growing livid and rigid as death. He gasped for breath, clutching his throat with the thin fingers of his right hand, and then recovering himself slowly, while his wasted figure towered up to its full height-now appearing to swell with indignation and then to shrink with terror, as he glanced from the captain's face to the shackles-he said slowly and with a laboring chest :

"' 'My God! You cannot have been sent to iron me! '

" 'Such are my orders, sir,' replied the officer, signalling the black- smith to approach, who stepped forward, unlocking the padlock and pre- paring the fetters to do their office. These fetters were of heavy iron, probably five-eighths of an inch in thickness, and connected together by a chain of like weight. I believe they are now in possession of Major-General Miles, and will form an interesting relic.

"' 'This is too monstrous,' groaned the prisoner, glaring hurriedly round the room, as if looking for some weapon or other means of self- destruction. 'I demand, Captain, that you let me see the commanding of- ficer. Can he pretend that such shackles are required to secure the safe custody of a weak old man, so guarded, and in such a fort as this?'

" 'It could serve no purpose,' replied Captain Titlow; 'his orders are from Washington, as mine are from him.'

" 'But he can telegraph,' interposed Mr. Davis, eagerly. 'There must be some mistake. No such outrage as you threaten me with is on record in the history of nations. Beg him to telegraph, and delay until he an- swers. '

" 'My orders are peremptory,' said the officer, 'and admit of no delay. For your own sake, let me advise you to submit with patience. As a soldier, Mr. Davis, you know I must execute orders.'

"'These are not orders for a soldier,' shouted the prisoner, losing all control of himself. 'They are orders for a jailer-for a hangman-which no soldier wearing a sword should accept. I tell you the world will ring with this disgrace. The war is over; the South is conquered; I have no longer any country but America, and it is for the honor of America, as well as for my own honor and life, that I plead against this degradation. Kill me! Kill me!' he cried passionately, throwing his arms wide open and exposing his breast, rather than infliet on me, and on my people through me, this insult, worse than death.'

" 'Do your duty, blacksmith,' said the officer, walking toward the embrasure as if not caring to witness the performance. 'It only gives increased pain on all sides to protract this interview.'

"At these words the blacksmith advanced with the shackles and, see- ing that the prisoner had one foot upon the chair near his bedside, the right hand resting on the back of it, the brawny mechanic made an at- tempt to slip one of the shackles over the ankle so raised; but, as if with

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the vehemence and strength which frenzy can impart, even to the weakest invalid, Mr. Davis suddenly seized his assilant and hurled him half way across the room. On this, Captain Titlow turned, and, seeing that Davis had backed against the wall for further resistance, began to remonstrate, pointing out in brief, clear language, that this course was madness, and that orders must be enforced at any cost.

" 'Why compel me,' he said, 'to add the further indignity of personal violence to the necessity of your being ironed ?'

" 'I am a prisoner of war,' fiercely retorted Davis. 'I have been a soldier in the armies of America, and know how to die. Only kill me, and my last breath shall be a blessing upon your head. But while I have life and strength to resist, for myself and for my people, this shall not be done.

"Hereupon Captain Titlow called in a sergeant and a file of soldiers from the next room, and the sergeant advanced to seize the prisoner., Im- mediately Mr. Davis flew on him, seized his musket and attempted to wrench it from his grasp. Of course, such a scene could have but one issue. There was a short, passionate souffle. In a moment Davis was flung upon his bed, and before his four powerful assailants moved their hands from him, the blacksmith and his assistant had done their work- one securing the rivet on the right ankle, while the other turned the key in the padlock on the left. This done, Mr. Davis lay for a moment as if in a stupor. Then slowly raising himself and turning around, he dropped his shackled foot to the floor. The harsh clank of the striking chain seems first to have recalled him to the situation, and, dropping his face into his hands, he burst into a passionate flood of sobbing, rocking to and fro and muttering, at brief intervals:

" 'Oh, the shame! the shame! ' * * ₭ * *

"On the morning of May 24th, I was sent for about half-past 8 A. M., by Major-General Miles; was told that State prisoner Davis complained of being ill, and that I had been assigned as his medical attendant. Calling upon the prisoner-the first time I had ever seen him closely-he presented a very miserable aspect. Stretched upon his pallet and very much emaciated. Mr. Davis appeared a mere fascine of raw and tremulous nerves-his eyes restless and fevered, his head continually shifting from side to side for a cool spot on the pillow, and his case clearly one in which intense cerebral excitement was the first thing needing attention. He was extremely de- spondent, his pulse full and at ninety, tongue thickly coated, extremities cold, and his head troubled with a long established neuralgie disorder. He complained of his thin camp mattress and pillow stuffed with hair, adding that he was so emaciated his skin chafed easily against the slats; and, as these complaints were well founded, I ordered an additional hospital mat- tress and a softer pillow, for which he thanked me courteously. .. On quitting Mr. Davis, I at once wrote to Major Church, Assistant Adju- tant-General, advising that the prisoner be allowed to use tobacco, to the want of which, after a lifetime of use, he referred as one of the probable

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causes of his illness-though not complainingly, nor with any request that it be given. This recommendation was approved in the course of the day; and, on calling in the evening, I brought tobacco with me and Mr. Davis filled his pipe, the sole article which he carried with him from the Clyde, except the clothes which he then wore.

" 'This is noble medicine,' he said, with something as near a smile as was possible for his haggard and shrunken features. 'I hardly ex- pected it and did not ask for it, though the deprivation has been severe. During my confinement here I shall ask for nothing.'

"He was now much calmer, feverish symptoms steadily decreasing, pulse already down to seventy-five, his brain less excitable, and his mind becom- ing more resigned to his condition. He complained that the foot-falls of the two sentries within his chamber made it difficult for him to collect his the two sentries within his chamber made it di. . cult for him to collect his thoughts; but added, cheerfully, that with this-touching his pipe-he hoped to h_come tranquil. This pipe, by the way, was a large, handsome one, made of meerschaum, with an amber mouthpiece, showing by its color that it had seen active service for some time, as indeed was the case, having been his companion during the stormiest years of his late titular Presidency. It is now in the writer 's possession., having been given to him by Mr. Davis and its acceptance insisted upon as the only thing lie had left to offer."

As a medical necessity, Dr. Craven also succeeded in having removed in the course of time, the cruel shackles which bound his prisoner. He knew that Mr. Davis could never regain his normal strength while the humiliation of such indignity rested upon him; and he allowed him- self no rest until the brutal order was rescinded. With- out going into further details, Dr. Craven's association with the prisoner ended at the expiration of six months, but Mr. Davis remained an inmate of Fortress Monroe for two full years. Every effort was made by politi- cians in Washington to secure his execution : complicity in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, cruel treatment of Federal prisoners at the South, and others; but none of these trumped up charges could be substantiated. Fi- nally, it was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, headed by Chief-Justice Chase, that the charge of treason against Mr. Davis could not be successfully maintained in the American courts. He was thereupon

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admitted to bail; and, though anxious for a trial in which to vindicate himself at the bar of justice, the indictment against him was quietly dropped : a tacit recognition of the iron logie on which the South grounded her rights under the Federal Constitution.

JEFFERSON

Louisville.

Volume I. Pages 146-155.

Galphinton Fifty miles southwest of Augusta, on or "Old Town." the upper banks of the Ogeechee River, there once stood an old trading post, the origin of which probably antedates the coming of Oglethorpe to Georgia. At any rate, the traditions of the locality indicate that at an early period there were Indian traders from South Carolina in this immediate neighborhood, and, if not the first Europeans to establish themselves upon the soil of the future colony, they at least penetrated further into the interior. George Gal- phin was one of this adventurous band. He lived at Silver Bluff, on the east side of the Savannah River, where he owned an elegant mansion, conducted an ex- tensive trade with the various Indian tribes, and became a sort of potentate upon whom the dusky natives of the forest looked with awe and respect. They usually brought to him for settlement the issues on which they disagreed; and whatever he advised them to do in the matter was ordinarily the final word on the subject, for they acqui- esced in his ruling as though he were an oracle of wisdom. The trading-post which he established on the Ogeechee River was called Galphinton. It was also known as Ogeechee Town; and, after Louisville was settled, some ten miles to the northwest, it was commonly des- ignated as Old Town to distinguish it from New Town, a name which the residents of the locality gave to the

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future capital of Georgia. In the course of time, there gathered about the old trading-post quite a settlement, due to the extensive barter with the Indians which here took place at certain seasons of the year; but time has spared only the barest remnants of the old fort. The following story is told of how George Galphin acquired the land on which the town of Louisville was afterwards built. Attracted by the red coat which he wore, an old Indian chief, whose wits had been somewhat sharpened by contact with the traders, thus approached him, in the hope of securing the coveted garment. Said he :

"Me had dream last night."

"Yon did?" said Galphin. "What did you dream about ?"

"Me dream you give me dat coat."

"Then you shall have it," said Galphin, who immediately suited the action to the word by transferring to him the coat.

"Quite a while elapsed before the old chief returned to the post, but when he again appeared in the settlement Galphin said:

"Chief, I dreamed about you last night."

"Ugh!" he grunted, "what did you dream ?"

"I dreamed that you gave me all the land in the fork of this creek, pointing to one of the tributary streams of the Ogeechee.

" Well," said the old chief, "you take it, but we no more dream."

There is every reason to believe that the old trading- post at Galphinton was in existence when the State was first colonized. The settlement which gradually devel- oped around it may have arisen much later, but the his- torians are not in accord upon this point. Says Dr. Smith :* "There may have been, and I think it likely there were, sundry settlers who were scattered among the Indians and who had squatted on lands belonging to them; and it is probable that Mr. Galphin had around his settlement at Galphinton, some of his countrymen before Oglethorpe came, but I find no positive proof of it, and Colonel Jones put the emigration of the Scotch- Irish to St. George's Parish as late as 1868. I find that certainly as early as the time of Governor Reynolds, in 1752, there were grants made to men whom I know were

*Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, p. 31, Atlanta, 1900.

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in Jefferson." Be this as it may, George Galphin him- self was an early comer into this region and beyond any question Galphinton was the first locality in Georgia established by white men for purposes of commerce. The site of the old trading-post is now owned by heirs of the late H. M. Comer, Sr., of Savannah.

At Galphinton, in 1785, a treaty was made between the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, whereby the latter agreed to surrender to the State the famous "Tallassee Strip," between the Altamaha and the St. Mary's; but the compact was repudiated by the Creeks under the artful Alexander McGillivray, under whose leadership was fought the long-protracted Oconee War. Hostilities were not concluded until 1796, when a treaty of friend- ship was negotiated at Coleraine, confirming the treaty of New York, inf 1790, under which the "Tallassee Strip" was confirmed to the Indians. This much-coveted bone of contention remained in possession of the Creeks until 1814, when, as a penalty for siding with the British, in the War of 1812, they were forced to relinquish it to the whites.

. The Conven- It was at Louisville, in 1798, that the cele- tion of 1798. brated convention which framed the State Constitution under which Georgia lived for seventy years, met for deliberation. Similar gatherings had been held in 1789 and in 1795, but few amend- ments were made to the original Constitution of 1777. On bothı of these former occasions, the law-makers had embedded in the organic law, a provision debarring min- isters of the gospel from membership in the General Assembly of Georgia. Another resolution to the same effect was proposed at this time; but the great Baptist divine, Jesse Mercer, was on hand to challenge the pro- priety of such an action. When the resolution was in- troduced, he at once proposed to amend by excluding also lawyers and doctors. He succeeded in making the whole affair so ridiculous that the matter was finally dropped ; and since 1798 the legislative doors have swung wide open to representatives of the cloth.

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The Convention was composed of the following dele- gates :

BRYAN-Joseph Clay, J. B. Maxwell, John Pray.

BURKE-Benjamin Davis, John Morrison, John Milton.

BULLOCH-James Bird, Andrew E. Wells, Charles McCall.

CAMDEN-James Seagrove, Thomas Stafford.

CHATHAM-James' Jackson, James Jones, George Jones. COLUMBIA-James Simms, W. A. Drane, James McNeal. EFFINGHAM-John King, John London, Thomas Polhill. ELBERT-William Barnett, R. Hunt, Benjamin Mosely. FRANKLIN-A. Franklin, R. Walters, Thomas Gilbert. GLYNN-John Burnett, John Cowper, Thomas Spalding. GREENE-George W. Foster, Jonas Fouche, James Nisbit. HANCOCK-Charles Abercrombie, Thomas Lamar, Matthew Rabun. JEFFERSON-Peter Carnes, William Fleming, R. D. Gray. JACKSON-George Wilson, James Pittman, Joseph Humphries. LIBERTY-James Cochran, James Powell, James Dinwody. LINCOLN-Henry Ware, G. Woodbridge, Jared Grace. MCINTOSH-John H. McIntosh, James Gignilliat. MONTGOMERY-Benjamin Harrison, John Watts, John Jones. OGLETHORPE-John Lumpkin, Thomas Dnke, Burwell Pope. RICHMOND-Robert Watkins, G. Jones.

SCREVEN-Lewis Lanier, J. H. Rutherford, James Oliver.

WASHINGTON-John Watts, George Franklin, Jared Irwin.

WARREN-John Dawson, A. Fort, W. Stith.

WILKES-Matthew Talbot, Benjamin Taliaferro, Jesse Mercer.

JENKINS

Millen. Millen, the county-seat of Jenkins County, was named for Hon. John Millen, of Savannah, a dis- tinguished lawyer, who, after an unopposed election to Congress, died before taking his seat, leaving unfulfilled a career of brilliant promise in the councils of the na- tion. The origin of the town dates back to the building of the Central Railroad, but it was not incorporated until September 30, 1881, when it was given a municipal form of government. In 1905, when Jenkins County was or- ganized, the site of public buildings was located at Mil- len, the leading business men of which town were a unit for the bill. On the court-house square in Millen stands

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a handsome monument to the Confederate dead, erected under the auspices of the local U. D. C. Millen is the center of important railway and commercial activities and possesses an asset unsurpassed by any community in Georgia in its wideawake and progressive body of citizens.

JOHNSON

Wrightsville. On December 11, 1858, the new county of Johnson was organized out of lands for- merly embraced within Washington, Laurens, and Eman- uel counties, and named for the distinguished statesman and jurist, Hon. Herschel V. Johnson. The seat of gov- ernment was called Wrightsville, in honor of Mr. John B. Wright, a leading pioneer resident. The town was incorporated by an Act approved February 23, 1866, at which time the town limits were fixed at three-eighths of a mile in every direction from the county court-house. Messrs. Jeremiah Parker, Morgan A. Outlaw, N. L. Bos- tick, Charles W. Linder, and Frederick P. Reins were designated to serve as commissioners, pending an elec- tion of town officials as prescribed .* In 1884, this Act was repealed, and in lieu thereof a municipal form of government was authorized in a new charter. Wrights- ville is one of the terminal points of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad. It is an enterprising town, with wide-awake merchants, good schools, attractive homes, solid banks, and up-to-date public utilities.

Herschel V. Johnson : Both intellectually and physically Herschel V. Some Incidents Johnson was one of the giants of his day in of His Career. Georgia. He defeated the illustrious Charles J. Jenkins for the high office of Governor, a position which he filled with great ability for a period of four years. His devotion to the Union cansed him to be nominated, in 1860, for the

*Acts, 1865-1866, p. 296.

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second place on the national ticket, with Stephen A. Douglas. Though he recognized secession as a right, he opposed it as remedy for existing evils. In the secession convention at Milledgeville he was one of the most col- lossal figures, and allying himself with the anti-secessionists he made the greatest speech of his life in an effort to keep Georgia within the Union, but without success. The forces of disruption were too strong to be over- come. There is a story told to the effect that after beginning his impas- sioned plea for conservatism on the floor of the secession convention, he paused at the dinner hour, yielding to a motion for temporary adjournment. During the noon recess, he either took of his own accord or was persuaded by others to take a stimulant, in order to restore his strength after the ex- haustion of his great effort of the morning session. But the result proved most unfortunate. It is said that the conclusion of his great argument was lacking in power due to the effects of the stimulant, and that Georgia was lost to the Union largely because the great speech of Governor Johnson lacked at the close of it the splendid amplitude of power with which it began. This great Georgian was far-sighted. The disasters which were fated to follow the impulsive action of the Secession Convention were dis- tinetly foreshadowed upon his great brain, and he exerted himself to the utmost to avert the impending crisis. But the doom of Georgia was sealed. He afterwards represented the State in the Confederate Senate, at Rich- mond, and for years after the war he wore the ermine of the Superior Court Bench.

Judge Richard H. Clark,* an intimate personal acquaintance, gives us the following pen-picture of Governor Johnson as he appeared in the ear- lier days. Says he :

"The first political campaign which brought forth the powers of Gov- ernor Johnson was in 1840. It was the most exciting one this nation has ever experienced. There is no space to describe it. Suffice it to say that party rancor was at its highest pitch, and the people, including women and children, were wild with excitement. Governor Johnson was then but twenty- eight years old. His form as large and bulky, his face was smooth and beardless, and his entire make-up gave you the appearance of an overgrown boy. Expecting little when he arose, you were soon to enjoy the surprise of listening to one of the most powerful orators in the State or the Union. His bulky form gave yet more force to his sledge-hammer blows. His oratory, though powerful, was without seeming design or knowledge of it on the part of the speaker. His words escaped without the labor of utterance. His style was animated, but the speaker himself hardly seemed to be con- seious of it, so intence was his earnestness. He simply discharged his duty to the best of his ability, and left the effect to take care of itself. This campaign gave him a State reputation."

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 62

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1274

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274