Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 74

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

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L. Q. C. Lamar, Sr., married Sarah, daughter of Dr. Thompson Bird, an eminent physician of Milledgeville, and granddaughter of Colonel Micajah Williamson, a comrade-in-arms of General Elijah Clarke.

Eight children were born of this union, five of whom reached adult years.

L. Q. C. Lamar, Jr., the eldest, married Virginia, daughter of Judge A. B. Longstreet, president of Emory College and author of "Georgia Scenes." He located in Oxford, Miss., for the practice of law, became a mem- ber of Congress, a commissioner of the Confederate gov- ernment to Europe, a Senator of the United States, a member of President Cleveland's first Cabinet, with the portfolio of Secretary of the Department of Interior,

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and, last but not least, an Associate Justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States-one of the most emi- nent Americans of his day and generation.

The other children of L. Q. C. Lamar, Sr., were Dr. Thompson B. Lamar, who commanded the Fifth Florida regiment during the Civil War, and surrendered his heroic life, in battle, near Petersburg, Va., in 1864; Jef- ferson M. Lamar, another Confederate martyr, killed at ('rampton's Gap in Maryland; Susan, who married a Mr. Wiggins, and Mary Ann, who first married James C. Longstreet, Esq., and afterwards John B. Ross, of Macon. ,

William Bailey Lamar, an eminent lawyer and jurist, who represented Florida in Congress for several terms, is a son of Dr. Thompson B. Lamar. Judge Lamar now resides in Washington, D. C. Lucius M. Lamar, who serv- ed in both branches of the State Legislature, achieved distinction on the field of battle, and died while United States marshal for the Southern District of Georgia, was a son of Jefferson M. Lamar.

But the honors of the family are not yet exhausted. The achievements of individual members in other branches are not less distinguished.

Henry G. Lamar was an eminent jurist and states- man, who represented Georgia for several terms in Con- gress. He was also a popular candidate for Governor before the convention which nominated Joseph E. Brown, in 1857. His daughter Victoria became the first wife of Judge Osborne A. Lochrane, Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of Georgia. Another daughter married Hon. Augustus O. Bacon, afterwards United States Sen- ator.

Dr. James S. Lamar was an eminent scholar and di- vine, who wrote "The Organon of Scripture, or the Induc- tive Method of Biblical Interpretation." He married Mary Rucker, of Elbert County, Ga., and of this union

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was born Hon. Joseph Rucker Lamar, who served for several years on the Supreme Bench of Georgia, and who, though a Democrat in politics, was in 1910 ap- pointed by President Taft to the Supreme Bench of the United States, a tribute of the highest character to his professional attainments. In 1914 he was appointed by President Wilson as representative from this country to meet with representatives from Argentina, Brazil and Chili in a conference, the object of which was to accom- plish by mediation a pacification of Mexico.

Colonel Zachariah Lamar, of Milledgeville, was a dis- tinguished man of affairs. His son, John Basil Lamar, wrote "The Blacksmith of the Mountain Pass," among a number of other stories. He was killed at the battle of Crampton's Gap, in Maryland, while serving on the staff of his brother-in-law, General Howell Cobb, of Athens. Mary Ann, daughter of Colonel Zachariah Lamar, mar- ried General Howell Cobb, and from this union sprang Major Lamar Cobb, for years secretary of the board of trustees of the University of Georgia; Judge Howell Cobb, long judge of the City Court of Athens; Judge John A. Cobb, of Americus, Ordinary of Sumter County; Judge Andrew J. Cobb, formerly an occupant of the Supreme Bench of Georgia; Mrs. Alex. S. Erwin, and Mrs. Tinsley W. Rucker.

Basil Lamar was a soldier of the Revolution and a planter. Two of his sons. Peter and Ezekiel, became dis- tinguished. For years, Colonel Peter Lamar was a dom- inant figure in politics. He lived in Lincoln County and married Sarah Cobb Benning, a granddaughter of Colo- nel Thomas Cobb, of Columbia. His son, Lafayette Lamar, was a prominent lawyer, who organized a com- pany at the outbreak of the war, and died at Warrenton, Va., in 1861.

Prudence, one of the daughters of Basil Lamar, mar- ried a Winn, and became the grandmother of two distin-

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guished Georgians : Richard F. Lyon, who served on the Supreme Bench of the State, and Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, diplomat, statesman, author and divine. Dr. Curry was United States Minister to Spain and trus- tee for the Peabody and Slater funds. The State of Alabama has placed his statue in the nation's Hall of Fame, in Washington, D. C.

Gazaway B. Lamar, an early Congressman from Georgia; Colonel C. A. L. Lamar, one of the joint owners of the slave ship "Wanderer," who lost his life near the close of the war at Columbus; Rebecca Lamar, the famous heroine of the Pulaski, a vessel lost at sea, off the coast of Hatteras, in 1836; Colonel Albert R. Lamar, who was the secretary of the Secession Conven- tion and editor for years of the Macon Telegraph-a man of brilliant gifts; Joseph B. Lamar, who removed to California, and after representing Mendocino County in the Legislature was elevated to the Superior Court Bench; Rev. Andrew J. Lamar, of Nashville, Tenn., a great-grandson of Governor James Jackson; Hon. War- ren Grice, the State's present attorney-general. These and scores of others who have risen to equally high dis- tinction belong to the Lamars of Georgia.

QUITMAN

Georgetown. Georgetown was made the county-seat of Quitman when the county itself was first organized from Randolph and Stewart, in 1858, and named for Governor John A. Quitman, of Mississippi. But the town itself was not incorporated until Decem- ber 9, 1859, when the following commissioners were en- trusted with its local affairs : D. Morris, E. C. Ellington, L. C. A. Warren, N. T. Christian and John E. Riordan .* Georgetown was named for its well-known predecessor in the District of Columbia.

*Acts, 1859, p. 156.

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RABUN

Clayton. Rabun County was organized in 1819 out of Cherokee lands, then recently acquired by treaty; but it was not until December 13, 1823, that a county-seat was chosen. Clayton was at this time made the permanent site of public buildings and given a char- ter of incorporation with the following board of commis- sioners : Benjamin Odell, Edly Powell, Jolın Dillard, Ed- ward Coffee and Solomon Beck.1 The town was named for Judge Augustin S. Clayton, of Athens, and the county for Governor William Rabun. On December 25, 1821, the Rabun County Academy was chartered, with the following trustees : Chesley Mckenzie, Andrew Miller and James Dillard.2 Two of Georgia's most dis- tinguished sons were former residents of Rabun : Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley and Dr. H. V. M. Miller, a former United States Senator.

"The Demosthenes of the Mountains." Though a native of the State of South Caro- lina, it was among the mountain ranges of Rabun that the boyhood days of this distin- guished physician and orator were spent. On the political hustings, it is doubtful if either Toombs or Stephens surpassed Dr. Miller. Before he was thirty years of age, his rare powers of eloquence caused him to be dubbed "the Demosthenes of the Mountains, " and without relinquish- ing his interest in the great profession of medicine he arose by sheer force of genius to a seat in the United States Senate. As a man of broad culture, familiar with both the ancient and the modern classics, his superior has not appeared in the public life of Georgia It is to be regretted that he has left behind so little in the way of literary memorials. On account of the issues of Reconstruction, he was debarred from the upper house of Congress until the closing days of the session for which he was elected; and there was' consequently no opportunity for the great orator to distin- guish himself in this high forum. Perhaps the only fragment of his elo- quence in print is the impromptu effort which he delivered in his old age over the bier of Alexander H. Stephens.

1 Acts, 1823, p. 197.

2 Acts, 1821, p. 125.

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RANDOLPH

Hooper Alexander, Esq., a kinsman, has recently prepared for publication an excellent sketch of Dr. Miller, in which he records this estimate of him. Says he: "Dr. Miller was the wisest man I cver knew. His judgment of men was keen, his foresight of events marvelous. His education was self- acquired, his learning prodigious, his memory astounding. In medicine he was pre-eminently successful, but believed little in drugs. I have heard him say that it was doubtful if medicine had not done as much harm as good. When the merit of some remedy was argued, about which he was skeptical, and cases were cited of cures wrought, he would say: 'The Hottentots have proven by experiment that a loud noise will remove an eclipse of the sun.' In opinion he was broadly tolerant, possessed of the most implicit faith in God. In church membership he was a Methodist, and adhered closely to his church organization, though he always claimed that the present form of church government by bishops was unscriptural and opposed to Wesley 's teaching. It was also a favorite theme with him to tease his brethren of the Methodist pulpit by quoting an entry from Wesley's Journal about having baptized somebody in Savannah 'by immersion, according to the Word of God and the practice of early Christians.' It was another of his favorite themes to insist that the Presbyterian Shorter Catechism was the only proper religious system on which to bring up the young. From all which things I am led to conclude that he believed the Word of God a bigger and broader thing than any church. In personal character Dr. Miller was superb. There was no vestige of anything mean or little in his nature. He was completely and essentially a gentleman. And the one thing in this world which he hated was a lie." The Miller Rifles, a com- pany organized in Rome at the outbreak of the Civil War, was named for Dr. Miller. It was incorporated in the famous Eighth Georgia Regiment, of which the gallant Bartow was in command. The Doctor himself went to the front as the surgeon of this regiment. He was in charge of the field hospital when Bartow fell at Manassos; and the handsome oil painting of this brave officer, on the walls of the Carnegie Library in Atlanta, was the gift of Dr. Miller.

RANDOLPH

Cuthbert. In 1828, Randolph County was formed out of Lee and named for the celebrated John Ran- Randolph, of Virginia. Some twenty years before this time, Mr. Randolph had been honored in a like manner, but in protest against some of his unpopular views the. name of the first County of Randolph was changed to Jasper. But the great Virginian was now again riding the crest of the wave. Lumpkin was the original county-

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

site of Randolph, a town named for Governor Wilson Lumpkin; but when Stewart County was created in 1831 Lumpkin became the county-seat of the new county, while Cuthbert was made the county-seat of Randolph. The town was named for one of the Cuthberts, presumably Hon. John A. Cuthbert. Its charter of incorporation was. granted in 1834. As an educational center, Cuthbert has long enjoyed a wide repute. On December 25, 1837, the old Randolph Academy was incorporated with the fol- lowing board of trustees: David Holman, Oliver H. Griffith, Alexander Hendry, Thomas Jenkins and William Taylor.1 Andrew Female College, one of the best-known educational plants in Georgia, was chartered on January 15, 1854, with the following board of trustees: Andrew L. O'Brien, Henry L. Taylor, Sidney C. DuBose, Otis P. Bell and William H. Brooks.2 Cuthbert is today a wide-awake commercial town, with good banks, prosper- ons business establishments, fine schools and up-to-date public utilities.

The Cuthberts. Volume I, Pages 877-878.

Andrew Fe- male College. Volume I, Pages 878-879.

Shellman. On the site of the present town of Shellman there formerly stood a little village called Notchway. To this village in the year 1837 William F. West brought his wife and child, the latter an infant of only six months. This child, now Mrs. Eliza Ellis, is today Shellman's oldest resident. The first dwelling was a small cabin built by Wash Stanton just west of where the Central of Georgia depot now stands, and when this little structure was enlarged to meet the needs of a depot in 1858, the settlement, in honor of its first station agent, John Ward, took a new name, and became Ward's Station The line was then known as the Southwest Georgia Railroad. In 1870 the town's population was only seven souls. Today it is estimated at 1,200. In 1871 the first public build- ing was erected, with a school-room on the lower floor and a Masonic hall

1 Acts, 1837, p. 4.

2 Acts, 1853-1854, p. 116.

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on the upper. But in 1888 Colonel R. F. Crittenden and Captain H. A. Crittenden bought the negro church on the east side of town for school purposes, and when these quarters were outgrown the town raised $800 for remodeling the structure, which served until 1898, when the present property was acquired. Mr. W. F. Shellman, of Savannah, gave $100 of the above sum, and in honor of this gentleman the school became Shellman Institute, and the town itself Shellman. The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in Masonic Hall in 1876, with Rev. John West as pastor. In 1880 this denomination built its first house of worship, a structure remodeled in 1890. There was a strong Baptist community cen- tered at Rehobeth, just north of the town, as early as 1845, but the first church of this faith was not built at Shellman until 1886, and finally in 1904 the old structure was superceded by the present handsome edifice of brick. Some time in the early seventies Mr. J. B. Payne began what has been successively a saw mill, a grist mill and an oil mill. The present structure was built in 1901 by Mr. W. J. Oliver. As business increased the demand for banking facilities increased likewise, and in response to these demands came the Shellman Banking Company in 1890 and the First National Bank in 1900. Shellman's business activities have been mainly dependent upon its surrounding agricultural lands. In consequence of this fact, three guano mixing plants are supported. The first white child born in Shellman was Virginia Phelps, whose parents, Thomas Jay and Annie Phelps, were the first couple to be married in the town. The first public school teacher was Rev. R. A. J. Powell. The first member of the General Assembly from Shellman was Colonel R. F. Crittenden, 1871-1872 and 1882-1883. His successors in office from this town have been: I. A. Martin, 1894-1895, and J. N. Watts, 1911-1912. Shellman's first State Senator was Captain H. A. Crittenden, 1907-1908, followed by J. N. Watts, 1913- 1914 .*

RICHMOND

Fort Augusta : 1736. Volume I, pp. 113-117.

Treaties Made Several important treaties with the Geor-

at Augusta. gia Indians were made at Augusta. The first of these was negotiated by the royal Governor, Sir James Wright, on June 1, 1773. In sat- isfaction of certain debts due the traders, a large tract of land was ceded at this time by the Indians, including

*The data for this sketch was supplied by Mrs. Eilza Ellis and Capt. H. A. Crittenden, and compiled by Mrs. John Gordon Black, historian, as- sisted by Mrs. J. N. Watts, regent, Noble Wimberly Jones Chapter, D. A. R.

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both the Creeks and the Cherokees, whose dominion adjoined in this part of the State. Out of the lands ac- quired under this treaty was subsequently formed the large County of Wilkes, originally a sort of frontier kingdom, which became the parent of a numerous off- spring. On the part of the Crown, two commissioners signed the compact : Sir James Wright, baronet, captain- general and commander-in-chief of the Province of Georgia; and Hon. John Stewart, Esq., his Majesty's sole agent for and superintendent of Indian affairs in the southern district of North America. On the part of the redskins, it was witnessed by chiefs, head-men and warriors of both tribes. 1

During the struggle for independence both the Creeks and the Cherokees sided with the British. In conse- quence, there was a forfeiture of land to the State at the close of hostilities. On May 31, 1783, a treaty was made at Augusta with the Cherokee Indians, whereby a tract of land was acquired in the upper part of the State, out of which the County of Franklin was afterwards formed. Governor Lyman Hall, General John Twiggs, Colonel Elijah Clarke, Colonel Benjamin Few, Hon. Edward Tel- fair and General Samuel Elbert, witnessed the compact, as commissioners appointed by the Legislature of Geor- gia. There was no further trouble with the Cherokees for a number of years. On November 1, 1783, a treaty was made at Augusta with the Creek Indians, whereby a tract of land was acquired in the lower part of the State, out of which the county of Washington was sub- sequently erected. The commissioners, on the part of the State, were: General John Twiggs, Colonel Elijah Clarke, Hon. Edward Telfair, Hon. Andrew Burns and Hon. William Glascock. But the Creeks, under the bold leadership of the noted Alexander McGillivray, repudi- ated the agreement; and out of this bone of contention grew the Oconee War. The settlers in the new County of Washington were constantly harrassed by hostile incur- sions and depredations. Subsequent treaties were made-

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at Galphinton, at Hopewell, and at Shoulder Bone, but to little purpose. McGillivray was an artful dodger. At last the newly organized Government of the United States took the matter in hand. Under the personal eye of Washington, the treaty of New York was negotiated in 1790 by Secretary Knox, of the Department of War. But still further difficulties ensued, and it was not until 1796 that a final treaty of friendship and good-will was concluded at Coleraine, ratifying the treaty of New York and bringing the Oconee War to an end.

Historic Old St. Paul's.

Volume I, pp. 117-122.

Meadow Garden.

Volume I, pp. 122-125.

Sand Bar Ferry : Four miles southeast of Augusta lies A Famous one of the most famous duelling Duelling Ground. grounds in America : Sand Bar Ferry. It occupies both banks of the Savan- nah River at a point which in past years, before the old ferry gave place to the present modern steel bridge, was well adapted by reason of its peculiar environment to the purposes of a field of honor. Here, in the days gone by, personal combats without number have been fought under the Code Duello, Georgians resorting to the Carolina side and Carolinians betaking themselves to the Georgia side, each to adjust their differences according to the only mode of arbitrament which then prevailed among gentlemen. Happily this method of redress has long since passed. For more than a generation not a drop of blood has been spilled on the old duelling ground, and its hostile meetings are today recalled only by the gray-beards whose memories reach back to the old re- gime, when the duelling pistol dominated the public life of the South. But we are fortunate in finding for our

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GEORGIA 'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

readers an article which describes this noted resort of the duellist as it appeared forty years ago. It was writ- ten by Colonel James T. Bacon, editor of the Edgefield Chronicle, who often visited the spot; and, without repro- ducing the article in full, its salient paragraphs are as follows :

"There is not a spot of greater interest in any part of our country than the secluded glade known in the history of the South, of South Carolina and Georgia, especially, as Sand Bar Ferry. A commonplace nawie enough, but attached to a glade or fairy ring set apart for the conventional duel- ling ground when the Code Duello was the first resort of gentlemen in- settling personal difficulties.

"In some respects it would seem that this spot were fashioned for some such purpose, so quiet, so perfectly secluded, so easy of access and at, the same time so out of the way that a most bloody duel could be fought to- a finish before authority from any point could arrive to interfere.

"This historic duelling arena lies three miles southeast of the city of Augusta, over what was once a wheel-scarred and rugged road, heavy in places with fine sand, and again marshy where it dipped into a bit of low land or struggled through a tongue of undrained swamp. The road lies along pleasant farm lands. and plume-like elms meet in leafy arches overhead. Now it runs deep into the heart of the dim swamp, now close along the margin of the rushing, muddy, turbulent Savannah, bordered by thousands of the trailing water willow.

" This' duelling ground lies on either side of the river. With the bel- ligerents of the Carolina side, who wished to settle differences with leaden arguments, the fairy ring beneath the hoary moss-draped trees on the Georgia side was chosen as the scene of action. With those already in trouble on the latter side, the clean, firm sands of the wide river bank were preferred. On the Georgia side the famous spot might well be mistaken for the artificial work of man, fashioned with a view to the purpose which it served. The ground is as level as a dancing floor; a soft carpet of moss covers it, through which the vivid fruit of the partridge vine or ground ivy glows like the crimson stain of blood. All around tall cedars, feathery elms and towering gums, interspersed with a few black-boled pines, draped with long streamers of the funeral gray moss, shade the trav- eler from the too-ardent rays of the semi-tropical sun.

"On the left the river runs, broadening out into wide shallows, the sand: bars shoaling out from cither bank, until at low water, or during the summer months, persons standing on the further end of the bar could clasp hands across the bed of the then placid river. On the right a thick hedge of flowering juniper shuts off the view of a most prosaic object, a railroad trestle poised high, and spanning the river from bank to bank.

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On the Carolina side white chalk cliffs loom up, cut by a road that winds up and up until lost to sight over the high brow of the white bare hills."

"It is a singularly quiet place, this famous Southern duelling ground; the natural face of which seems never to change. No sound breaks the stillness, but the occasional flutter of the winged inhabitant of the bushes, the lap of the water over the sand bars, or the grinding wheels of an occasional vehicle that has just been ferried over.

" Many of the lagoons have never been explored, and just how many there are cannot, seemingly, be ascertained. Dense canebrakes, absolutely as impregnable as a stone wall, shutting out daylight in their vicinity, cut off communication except where the tilled lands skirt them, or where a narrow and tortuous passage leads into the Savannah. It is a curious phenomenon that, however high the river rises, or however low it sinks, the waters in the lagoon remain the same-weird, ghostly, mysterious, a freak of nature in her most sombre mood-spots of eternal mourning, may- hap for bygone transgressions-blots upon the fair face of nature beneath the ardent Southern sun.

"But let us climb up to the top of the high white cliffs of Beech Island, on the South Carolina side, whence spreads out the level duelling ground. The September moon is rising, and the silence is intense ; almost palpable or tangible, as it werc. The reddening gum leaves fintter in the lazy breeze-flurrying lightly over the moss with a sound that might be made by the ghostly footsteps of the things unseen. Even the bird voices seem far away and hushed; the moonlight filters through the whispering pines that complain in far-off hushed undertones; and standing there one feels as though civilization and the fret of life and the strife of man had been left many miles behind, and that the land in which it is always afternoon- if not black night-were well at hand.

"Beech Island is a fair and blessed land, but there hangs a dark and bloody fringe along some of her borders."

Poets' Monument : On April 28, 1913, a handsome gran- Mrs. Cole's Gift. ite memorial to four renowned Geor- gia poets: Sidney Lanier, Father Ryan, James Ryder Randall and Paul H. Hayne, was unveiled with impressive ceremonies, in the presence of a vast throng. The monument was a gift to the city

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

from Mrs. E. W. Cole, of Nashville, Tenn., formerly a resident of Augusta, and the speech of presentation, an exquisite literary gem, was made by Chancellor James H. Kirkland, of Vanderbilt University. This attractive memorial stands on .Greene Street, a thoroughfare noted for its numerous artistic charms. The structure consists of four ornamental pillars, resting upon a massive base and supporting a handsomely carved roof. Enclosed within is a square of granite, on the four sides of which are these inscriptions :

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 74

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