USA > Georgia > Greene County > History of Greene County, Georgia, 1786-1886 > Part 34
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
Mrs. Jane A. Fambrough
Miss Martha E. Fambrough
Mrs. Virginia E. Burgess
Mrs. Peggy Freeman
Mrs. Sarah E. Ray
Mrs. Mary Short
Mrs. Martha Edmondson
Mrs. Francis E. Nelson
Mrs. Lucy Thomas
Mrs. Susan Walls
Mrs. Alla Ray
Mrs. Nancy Ray
Mrs. Augusta E. Burgess
Mrs. Martha Francis
Miss Adeline Freeman
Miss Jane H. Wragg
Lorenza, Servant, Dr. Poullain
Lige, Servant, Dr. Poullain
John, Servant, Dr. Poullain
Clayborn, Servant, Dr. Poullain
Caty, Servant, Dr. Poullain
Mrs. Mary W. Anderson
Mrs. Mary E. Kimbrough
Mrs. Marv A. Credille
Miss M. F. Credille
Mrs. James W. Jackson
Mrs. M. R. Hobbs
Mrs. H. Hobbs
Miss E. F. Hobbs
Miss Mary Jenkins
Mrs. Sarah Chapman, Tal'ro.
Mrs. Rebecca Lacy, Tal'ro.
Miss Josephine Moore, Tal'ro.
Miss Martha A. Reynolds, Tal'ro.
Miss S. A. R. Reynolds, Tal'ro. Mrs. T. L. Johnson, Tal'ro.
Name
Mrs. Nancy Reynolds, Tal'ro.
Miss Roberta E. Moore, Tal'ro.
Mrs. Martha Jordan, Tal'ro.
Miss Nancy W. Peek, Tal'ro.
Miss Jane M. Peek, Tal'ro.
Miss Susan E. Peek, Tal'ro
Mrs. Olivia Harris, Tal'ro.
Miss Georgia A. Reynolds, Tal'ro. Mrs. A. Lightfoot, Tal'ro.
Mrs. Sarah J. Parker, Tal'ro.
Mrs. Mary A. Moore, Tal'ro.
Miss Corine C. Moore, Greene
Miss Ann Grant
Mrs. W. W. Moore
Miss Matilda V. Moore
Miss Eliza J. Moore
Mrs. M. M. Jackson
Mrs. Sarah Grant
Mrs. Phiriby Alexander
Mrs. Cora Groat
Mrs. M. A. Credille
Miss Julia H. Holtzclaw
Mrs. Fannie A. Morgan
Mrs. Elizabeth Durham
Mrs. Nancy C. Durham
Mrs. Matilda Z. Durham
Mrs. M. E. Jackson
A soldier's wife
Mrs. John Perdue
Miss P. Pardee
Mrs. Dr. J. M. Davant
Mrs. James Cocroft
Mrs. H. Cocroft
Mrs. W. F. Davant
Mrs. Pheriba A. Pierce
Mrs. Anna Baugh
Mrs. Walter Griffin
Miss M. A. West
Miss E. J. West
Mrs. Margaret West
Miss Claudia Weaver
Mrs. Sarah G. McHenry Rose, a servant
Miss Mary P. Johnson, Taliaf.
Mrs. Celia Ann Johnson, Taliaf.
Mrs. James A. Preston, Greene
Mrs. John Wilson
Miss E. A. Wright
Mrs. H. B. Poullain
Mrs. Sarah G. McHenry
Miss Marion McHenry Pleasant, a servant Rose, a servant
Mrs. Martha Jean (Janes)
Mrs. Junius Poullain
Mrs. Sallie Wright
417
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
Miss Josephine Echols
Mrs. L. A. Peek
Miss Miriam Echols
Mrs. Sara G. McHenry
Miss Mollie C. Echols
Mrs. Nancy Colclough
Miss Hattie Wheeler
Miss Susan E. Colclough
Miss Mary C. Wheeler
Miss Sara A. Colclough
Mrs. Winifred Haley
Mrs. Anna A. Whitlaw
Miss Rebecca D. Colclough Name Mrs. Martha Alfriend
Mrs. S. A. Hogg
Mrs. H. E. Johnson
Miss Ann McDaniel
Miss M. J. Hogg Miss M. A. Hogg
Marilla, servant of E. D. Alfriend
Mrs. Martha B. Jewell
Manerva, servant of E.D. Alfriend
Mrs. Sarah F. Colclough
Mrs. Jane K. Lundy
Mrs. L. E. O'Rear
Miss Mary J. Lundy
Miss Ellen J. O'Rear
Miss Fannie Spencer
Miss Sallie E. Lundy Adrian, serv't of L. W. Lundy
Mrs. C. G. Spencer Mary, servant of Mrs. Spencer
Lydia, serv't of L. W. Lundy
Miss Julia E. M. Sanders, Cov.
Miss Lizzie Wright
Miss Laura McWhorter
Mrs. Caroline Credille's serv't
All of the above sent to Ira R. Foster, Atlanta, Ga., on January 23, 1863.
This roll call of our noble women who knitted and skimped while their fathers, brothers, and sweethearts fought, and many never returned, comes too late for them to see their names re- corded in history ; but some of their children and grandchildren will no doubt feel grateful that their names and efforts have been preserved.
The great deeds of soldiers are recorded in history, but too little has been recorded of the efforts of the noble women whose love, prayers, and sacrifices sustained them while they fought.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no record of the women who met trains conveying troops and administered to their needs, but from hearsay, we know there were many who render- ed valuable service at Greensboro, Union Point and other places in our county. 'Wayside" became famous among the soldiers for the loving services rendered by the good women of Union Point; and the name of Mrs. Jennie Hart Sibley was revered by many who passed that way. Let us hope that the names of those who knitted, made bandages and rendered other valuable serv-
Mrs. James L. Brown Sarah, a little serv't of
James L. Brown
Miss Jane E. McWhorter
Sarah, servant of E. D. Alfriend
418
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
ices for the soldiers in the World War have been preserved; and we trust that the Red Cross Chapters at Greensboro, Union Point, White Plains, Woodville, Penfield and such other points as maintained chapters will furnish a full list of those who en- gaged in this noble service. Mrs. Noel P. Park took the lead in organizing Red Cross Chapters throughout the county; and, while the writer was chosen chairman, headed all the money- raising campaigns, and furnished a work room free of rent, and has continued as chairman to date (1935), he wants those who did the work and gave their money to have all the glory. How- ever, we must not forget that the Greensboro Herald-Journal gave liberally of its space and money, not only during the World War, but for every roll-call, and every emergency call since ; but it is to impersonal to merely mention the name of the paper, so we will come right out and say we are indebted to "Uncle Jim" Williams and his able son and co-editor, Carey J. Wil- liams whose name is on the list of "Who's Who" in American Journalism. We thank both "Uncle Jim" and Carey for their loyalty and contributions.
"JEFF SHUCKS"-JEFFERSON DAVIS' CURRENCY By T. B. Rice
During the last year of the Southern Confederacy, its cur- rency had become so depreciated in value that it took a vast roll to pay for what a few dollars would buy in normal times : so the "darkies" began calling it "Jeff Shucks"-the term, shucks, was often applied to many things that were valueless. Another phrase, quite common in the long-ago was, "chips and whet- stones". This term was applied to the payment of obligations with other things than money. For example; if you asked a "darkie" if Mr. So-and-so had paid him he would say, "yesser, he paid me in chips and whetstones." In other words, many Southerners had to pay for labor, and other things, with such as they had, and the "coin of the realm" was as scarce as hen teeth.
This reminds me of a story told by Mr. M. M. Morgan, a retired Rural mail carrier, in telling of the poverty among
419
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
some of the people he served, he said; "As I stopped my old gray horse to deliver some mail, and started off, an old lady said; "Mr. Morgan, can't you wait a minute, I want to mail a letter and I aint got no money to buy a stamp, but my old hen is on the nest and she will lay in a minute or two, and just as soon as she lays I will give you the egg for a stamp."- Mr. Morgan waited.
When "Jeff Shucks" played out, and when times got a little better-but still bad enough, a few conscienceless men, mostly Carpetbaggers, used other means to rob "cuff"-mean- ing uneducated "darkies". They paid them in Mexican dollars which, at that time, were worth fifty cents on the dollar in U. S. coin ; but "cuff" soon discovered that the Mexican dollars were only a little better than "Jeff Shucks", so this racket soon came to an end.
The following poem was written on the back of a Con- federate bill, by S. A. Jonas of Richmond, Virginia, given him in payment of his services as a soldier :
THE CONFEDERATE NOTE By Major S. A. Jonas
Representing nothing on God's earth now, And naught in the waters below it, As the pledge of a nation that's dead and gone. Keep it, dear friend, and show it. Show it to those who will lend an ear To the tale that this paper can tell
Of liberty born of the patriot's dream, Of a storm-cradled nation that fell. The days rolled by and weeks became years,
Too poor to possess the precious ores, And too much of a stranger to borrow,
We issued today our promise to pay, And hoped to redeem on the morrow. But our coffers were empty still;
Coin was so rare that the treasury'd quake If a dollar should drop in the till.
But the faith that was in us was strong, indeed, And our poverty well we discerned, And this little check represented the pay That our suffering veterans earned. We knew it had hardly a value in gold, Yet as gold each soldier received it;
It gazed in our eyes with a promise to pay, And each Southern patriot believed it.
420
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
But our boys thought little of price or of pay, Or of bills that were overdue; We knew if it brought us our bread today 'Twas the best our poor country could do. Keep it; it tells all our history over, From the birth of the dream to its last; Modest, and born of the angel Hope, Like our hope of success it passed.
(S. A. Jonas, Richmond, Virginia)
S. A. Jonas wrote many articles of much credit in both prose and poetry, but his best claim for perpetual remembrance is the above poem which he wrote on the back of a Confederate note.
CONFEDERATE HALF-DOLLARS By T. B. Rice
The writer has had much to say, recently, about Confeder- ate money, Jeff Shucks, etc, etc; but he made no reference to Confederate coinage of gold and silver. As a matter of fact, its' circulation.
The following articles, by B. F. Taylor, Dr. M. S. Brown, and Ben C. Truman, all three of which appeared in The Con- federate Veteran under dates of February, 1908, August, 1908, and April, 1909, seem to prove that very few Confederate coins were issued; and they were issued as proofs and never put into circulation. (Here are the three articles published by the Con- federate Veteran)
Note: Some years ago, a lady in Nashville, Tenn., claimed to have a five-cent piece on which there is a cotton boll, for which she has been offered $1,000.00. Whether this is claimed to be a Confederate coin, the writer knoweth not. (He is also, indebted to Mrs. Sarah H. Hall of Athens, Ga., for the above.
CONFEDERATE COINAGE-THE HALF DOLLARS
By Dr. M. S. Browne, Winchester, Ky.
The United States had a mint at New Orleans, La., and in January, 1861, the State took charge, turning it over to the Confederate Government in February, retaining all the old of- ficers : Superintendent, William A. Elmore; Treasurer, A. J.
421
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
Guirot; Coiner, Dr. B. F. Taylor; Assayer, Howard Mills- paugh ; Refiner and Melter, Dr. M. F. Bonizano.
In April, Mr. Memminger, Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States, accepted a design engraved for a half dollar, one side bearing a seven-starred shield, which rep- resented the number of States then composing the young Con- federacy. Above the shield was a liberty cap, and entwined around them stalks of cotton and sugar cane with the inscription, "Confederate States of America," encircling all. The back was Uncle Sam's old half reproduced with its thirteen starred god- dess of liberty, and on the lower rim, "1861." The dies and press were made in New Orleans, from which only four coins were struck, when on April 30, 1861, by order of Mr. Mem- minger, Secretary of the Confederate States Treasury, coinage by the Confederacy was forever suspended by reason of the impossibility of obtaining silver bullion.
Of the four half dollars coined, one was kept by Dr. B. F. Taylor, coiner, and paid out inadvertently as fare on a street car in New Orleans a few years later. Another, which was pre- sented to Dr. Ames, of New Orleans, was stolen soon after the close of the Civil War by a servant in the employ of the doc- tor's family. Still another, which was given to Professor Biddle, of the University of Louisiana, was loaned to a kinsman and by him lost. This much was learned from friends in New Orleans and the archives in Washington, D. C., more than ten years ago without any unusual effort; but of the fourth coin I could only get: "It was sent to the government at Richmond." Sup- posing that it was sent to the Secretary of the Treasury, I have written hundreds of letters and spent more than a decade of fruitless effort in trying to locate the coin thought to have been in Mr. Memminger's family; but my only reward has been to get a fair history of the "restrikes" of these celebrated coins, which "restrikes" are widely distributed, and each holder there- of thinks his a genuine Confederate half dollar. The first I knew appeared at Cartersville, Ga., about 1865, and I have located several on a line from the mountains of Northeast Georgia and Western Carolina, through Alabama and Missis- sippi to Texas, all dropped by emigrants in wagons, making me
422
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
believe that some Federal soldier from that section had a hand in the original theft of the dies from the mint when New Orleans was captured by Commodore Farragut. The dies were taken to New York, and there the person who stole them gathered more than five hundred of 1861 half dollars of United States mintage and stamped the reverse side with the stolen die, and commenced putting them out as from the Confederate mintage. A few years later secret detectives of the United States Treasury captured and destroyed these dies.
In December 1909, I learned from a reputable house in New York, dealers in rare coins, that what is called the New Orleans Confederate die was in the hands of a New York numis- matist and cost him $100, and that he still used this die to supply the trade. You can find Confederate half dollars quoted at about $50 in catalogues of any dealer in coins and stamps, and this seems to be about the price at which these "frauds" have al- ways been disposed of.
In a clipping from the New York Herald last month I see a Mr. Edgar H. Adams, of Brooklyn, New York, displayed a Confederate dollar at a public meeting of a Numismatic Society of New York City, and also a letter from President Davis, writ- ten in 1879, stating that a Confederate half dollar was taken from his trunk at the time of his imprisonment. Thus I seem to have found the missing half dollar. It went to President Davis and not to Mr. Memminger, and was in the trunk of President Davis aboard the prison ship off Old Point when Captain Hud- son and his raiding party, as described by Mrs. Davis in her "'Memoirs," went aboard the ship and "rifled" the trunks and other baggage of the President's family.
So the four half dollars, comprising the "all" of the Con- federate coinage, are now accounted for and each lost to the world beyond recognition, for I take it for granted that the originals could never be differentiated from the numerous "re- strikes" abroad in the land, unless Mr. Adams can prove his coin to be the one stolen from Mr. Davis's trunk on board the prison ship in Hampton Roads the day after the landing of President Davis in Fortress Monroe as a prisoner.
423
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
THE LAST SILVER DOLLAR
'Tis the last silver dollar left shining alone,
All its bright companions are wasted and gone;
No coin of its kindred, no specie is nigh,
To echo back softly its silvery sigh.
You must leave me bright dollar, the last of my few:
Since thy mates have departed skedaddle, thou, too.
Thus kindly I send thee to wander afar
In a night of shin plasters, thou glimmering star.
So soon may I follow when thou art no more, And I wreck of starvation on currency-less shore. When full purse ne'er jingles and shiners have flown, O who could feel wealthy on pictures alone.
The above poem by Harvey O. Judd was written in Atlanta in 1864, while he was a lieutenant on General Wofford's staff. Rev. Harvey O. Judd was nearly forty years an Episcopal minister. He preached at St. Pauls Episcopal Church, in Macon, the last eleven years of his life.
Section IV RECONSTRUCTION
The South lay beaten and prostrate, willing to concede de- feat, but never dreamed that the victors would put the iron heel of the military on the necks of those left. The sense of helpless- ness of a conquered people is the most tragic feature of any war. The South was without law and but for the fortitude of the women at this time, things would have been most hopeless. The story of the Southern women can never be told, for now who knows of starvation, sick children with no medicine or help, no education or money. No one can conceive of the hardships suf- fered during these years. The few men that came back from Northern prisons were ill and weak with no hope of the future. A few slaves remained faithful and to them should be a monu- ment erected for they had every temptation to plunder, burn and steal from the ones who had owned them.
The freed slaves were untrained in managing their own affairs and fell into idleness and crime. The carpet-bagger and scalawag began exploiting the Negro vote. The white men were disfranchised and Federal troops took charge of the elections. Negroes in lines a half mile long were marched to the polls and voted and thus county and state officers were elected and then
424
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
occurred an orgy of misrule and conduct which can never be forgotten. Homes were burned, assaults occurred and murders were committed and there was a panic never experienced, even when the Indians' massacres threatened.
Under stress of this situation there suddenly arose the, "Invisible Empire". Both white and black were warned to change their way of doing and those who refused were punished. Jeff Long, Negro of Macon was made postmaster of that city and on a jury to decide the fate of some Klansmen arrested, there were eleven Negroes and one white man. All of the tra- verse jury were Negroes.
Anyone interested in learning the real conditions in the South during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War should read the book, "The Tragic Era," by Claud Bowers. Westbrook Pegler said in a daily column: "It does make a fellow sore to see what the Germans or Nazis have been doing to their captives, but a recent peek into an old Congressional document giving the minority report on the investigation of the original Ku Klux Klan reminds me that only 65 years and a few before that, we Americans of the Northern tier were doing pretty much the same thing to the people of the defeated and destitute South. We thought up more devilment to humiliate, persecute and rob those Southern people, a marvelously brave and durable foe in war, our own nation and personal kin, than any of us are likely to remember now, if we ever know."
"We sent among them some of the dirtest grafters and common thieves that the human race has ever produced, to its shame. Hitler himself couldn't out clever some of the nasty and remorseless ingenuities by which we taxed their property away and sneered their human rights and civic rights out of existence. The wonder is, not that the Southern politician waved the bloody shirt as long as they did, but that the Southern people ever did have the bigness of soul to forgive, forget and cooper- ate again. It wasn't only the awful, malicious brutality of what we did so much as the repulsive character of the swine whom our government selected to do it, all of them, incidentally, had good sound Anglo-Saxon or Aryan names, too."
425
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
Judge James B. Park of Greensboro, lived through the days of Reconstruction and he made this statement which I quote from the Herald-Journal written on July 29, 1941 : "When Sherman's army left Atlanta, Ga. they came down the Ga. railroad through Madison, Ga. and burned the railroad bridge across the Oconee river and then came on down the west side of the river to where we lived, three miles south of the bridge. When the Yankees appeared my mother sent for an officer and told him that she was alone with several small chil- dren, that her husband was away and that he was a Mason, and that she would appreciate his kindness if he would see that she and the children were protected from the Federal soldiers. The officer stationed a guard at the front and back doors for three days as the soldiers were passing by and the family was not molested. The Federals did burn the three story mill on the river, stole all of the mules, horses, hogs, cows and provisions. For years afterwards we had little to eat except cornbread, fish and the few vegetables which we grew, sometimes a meat from a more fortunate neighbor and syrup. The only salt we had was filtered out of the dirt on the smokehouse floor.
I have never wanted any cornbread since that time, as that was the main dish. When the mill burned the house also caught fire, but my mother got wet blankets and got them to the roof where a slave, old Cyrus smothered out every spark that caught.
After the close of the war my father told Cyrus that he would give him a home on his place as long as he lived and that he would never suffer for anything. Once while my father was away Cyrus was arrested for vagrancy and locked up in Madison. My father reached home during the night after a long trip, but when he heard about Cyrus being in jail he rode fourteen miles horseback and went on Cyrus's bond, and when the trial came up he made such a plea that the jury found him not guilty. I took care of Cyrus after my father's death, and as long as he lived which was until 1907. Only two out of 100 slaves left our plantation at freedom on Nov. 1864. I know that my father always treated his slaves with kindness and would never let the overseer mistreat them.
426
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
In Greene Co. Ga. just as it was in all of the South after the war, ignorant ex-slaves filled the legislative halls of Geor- gia and were the tools with which the "Carpet-bag" Governor Bulloch and his henchmen used to fleece the State.
Acts of Congress passed on March 2 and July 19, 1867 read: "Until the admission of said state of Georgia, by law to representation in Congress and for this purpose the State of Georgia shall constitute the Third Military District."
The Court House Square was dotted with the tents of the army of occupation and the officers paid heed to such tales of woe as the recently freed slaves saw fit to tell on their former owners, and thus many vanquished foes were unjustly humiliated as a result of the fabricated lies told by some worthless Negro.
In 1868 Georgia was restored to Statehood, but the State House Officers were a motley crew. Abe Colby, Negro, repre- sented Greene County; Bradley, a negro convict, was in the Senate and other similiar characters were considering claims of those who wanted to be elected to the United States Senate. The candidates to be considered were: Alex. H. Stephens, Joseph E. Brown, Joshua Hill, Foster Blodgett, A. K. Ackerman, J. L. Seward, H. G. Cole and Herschell V. Johnson.
Rufus Bulloch was the "Carpet-bag" Governor and Abe Colby, Negro, offered again for re-election in Greene Co. but the white people had had enough and were determined to defeat him at any cost. All elections were held under the supervision of Federal Troops. The Negroes outnumbered the whites three to one and they were strong for Colby. The evening before the election was to be held, One Federal Officer and twelve Privates were sent to see that the Negroes went in office. These Federal soldiers were given a good supper, by the whites and a full understanding as to the program the next day. Each soldier was to take a good look at the candidate Colby and appear friendly to him, they were also to be gruff to the whites. A few nea: fights were staged. On election day this was carried out and in the afternoon, two privates slipped out and went into a store and climbed out on the roof of the building that commanded a clear view of the courthouse, then they hid behind a parapet
427
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY
wall. In the event Colby was elected they were to kill Colby when the signal was given. However the election managers did some good counting of the votes and Colby was defeated, there- fore it was unnecessary for "Yankee" bullets to remove the ignorant and distasteful lawmaker.
After Colby's defeat his drinking and insolence led to his "Waterloo". He insulted a lady on the streets of Greensboro and he was soundly thrashed and put on an out going train and told never to come back. No one ever saw him again.
Every man who had a part in getting the government back in the hands of the white people are dead now and only two men who wore the gray are living here and they are in the nineties. (1941)
The Yankees were quartered here until about 1872, and when at last the unwelcome guests departed people lifted up their eyes and souls to a better day, and knowing that a hun- dred years would pass ere the South could fully rise from the crushing blow of defeat and years of Reconstruction.
Nothing will solidify a people like standing together against an invader and being beaten, for there is brotherhood in misery. The South cannot forget the Civil War, for it looks at us from Confederate monuments in every town and a hundred thousand tombstones, thousands of war books and the hotels and highways named for our Generals. Most homes have pre- served, grandfather's sword or gun, or the cannon ball that was imbedded in the house, or letters written from the front during the heat of the war.
After 1872 the Democrats got control and the Klan dis- banded. Georgia arose from the ashes of Sherman's torch, and it has taken a hundred years to get on her feet again.
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.