USA > Georgia > Jones County > History of Jones County, Georgia, for one hundred years, specifically 1807-1907 > Part 10
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December 22th, 1837.
1 to R. E. Macarty, 1 to Spencer Riley, 1 to Thomas Morris, 1 to Wm. Mimms, 1 Wm. Wilkinson, 26th, 1 to Stanford on 28th, 1 to John Fanner, 1 to A. B. Bell on 27th.
1. Subpoena for Thomas Low, Dec. 13th, 1871.
2. Subpoena for John Kerbo, Dec. 13th, 1871.
3. Subpoena for James Jordan, Dec. 13th, 1871
4. Subpoena for John Kincannon, 14th.
5. Subpoena for R. McInvale, 14th.
6. Subpoena for Jacob Cobb, -4th.
7. Subpoena for Richard Leveritt, 15th.
8. Subpoena for John Rogers, 15th.
9. Subpoena for John Kerbie, 16th.
10. Subpoena for Wm. O. Pratt, 16th.
11. Subpoena for Turner Hunt, Jr., 16th.
12. Subpoena for Walter H. Roberts, 16th.
8 Subpoenas issued for defendant.
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Samuel Suel, James Suel, Jacob Barber, Joshua Suel, John Bramford, Wm. Sheft, Wm. Lowe, Wm. H. Flewellen, Thos. McGehee.
Sept. 26th 4 Subpoenas for def't.
M. W. Stamfer, Wm. Philips, John Bransford, Arthur Johns.
October 4th for def't. 8 Subpoenas.
Daniel Vowell, Campbell Barton, Martin Malone, Wm. D. Nolls, John Barber, Jr. 6. __ , 7. __ , 8. __. October __ th 12 Blanks.
1 to Peter Clower, 1 to H. Bowen, 1 to Sarah Williams, 1 to John T. Booth.
October 19th, 1837, 24 Subpoenas for the defendant.
James E. Slatter, Wm. C. Slatter, S. W. Slatter, Acension L. Acee, Mary Hunter, G. W. Millirons, W. H. Brooks, Geo. S. Kennedy, Robert Hicks, Lewis Tanner, Levin Tanner, Thomas Pitckett, Wm. B. Snellings, Daniel Culpepper, Nathan Horn, E. M. Amos, Robert Clark, Wm. P. Harris, Wm. Braysae, Coalson Bilyen, G. Booth, Jr., John T. Booth, Thomas Belyen, Jno. Slatter.
1 Subpoena for Wm. J. Carter, Dec. 18th, 1837.
CHAPTER IX. Clouds of War-1860
After the Revolution, the picture of this part of the country looked fairer and better and so it grew for eighty years of ex- traordinary accomplishment until the black curtain of the Civil War descended to blot it all out.
During this period of prosperity there was time for leisure, culture and cultural leadership. The South produced poets, auth- ors, thinkers, and leaders in civic affairs; the influence of the South in Washington for a time overshadowed the rest of the country.
From John S. Tilly's book, "Facts the Historians Leave Out," we find that four of the first five Presidents came from the
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South, seven of the first ten, and ten of the first sixteen were all sons of the South. To mention a few of the contributions of the South to the nation. The first Continental Congress which sent to the English King our declaration of rights had for its Presi- dent, Peyton Randolph, the agitation for armed resistance to the English crown was Patrick Henry, the author of the Declara- tion of Independence was Thomas Jefferson, the commander-in- chief of the war of the Revolution was George Washington, the "father" of the adoption of the Constitution was James Madi- son. Jefferson promoted the Louisiana Purchase nearly doubling the area of the United States. Andrew Jackson led our armies to victory at New Orleans and Polk guided our government dur- ing the war with Mexico securing about one million miles of new territory including Texas, New Mexico and California. John Marshall was chiefly responsible for the early prestige of the Supreme Court.
The protective tariff raised the prices of manufactured articles purchased by the Southerners without increasing the prices of raw products which were for sale in the South. The tariff re- stricted the foreign trade of the South. The conflicting economic interests which grew out of divergent geographical conditions gave the North great commercial and industrial advantages. The South with its long hot summers, rainfall and rich soil and the fact that cotton could be cultivated by cheap slave labor caused the institution of slavery to be widely adopted.
As British oppression had justified a war for independence so now in the opinion of many Southerners, industrial oppression could justify another struggle for liberty. Slavery was not the sole cause for secession. It is interesting to note that when the South formed a new government in 1861 a clause prohibiting protective tariffs was included in the Constitution of the Con- federacy. States' rights under the Constitution was a great issue.
The culture here was intensely English, as much as was Vir- ginia from where most of it came. Cotton was king of the trade and the aristocrats who drew their patents from him were the planters. Slaves had first been brought to the colonies soon after the settlement of Jamestown, by the Dutch and later by the New
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England ship captains and the traffic went on with Africa for more than one hundred years.
In the North the slaves were never profitable, the negro was not suited to do the work in the shops and mills, nor was he suited for the cold climate. The agricultural south suited him better as to climate and as to work. The work was manual, un- complicated and routine ; plowing, planting, cultivating and pick- ing, from February to December. He liked the South and was thriving in it.
After 1853 the rift between the North and South began to widen. From 1832 on to 1861 was a long period of a cold war. The North wished to buy cheap and sell high. The North became envious of the wealth and prestige of the South and attributed the difference to slave labor, not caring to remember the colleges and magnificient art galleries they had were endowed with Salem slave-ship money. This New England clique in press and pulpit were not content to mind their own business but must attempt to reform their neighbors, so they started a campaign of villification and misrepresentation against the South which went on and on until it exploded in a clash of arms, unleashing a horror of which they never dreamed. A million lives were sacrificed, a national debt incurred, the pensions all of which would have more than paid for the value of the slaves many times. According to the laws of the United States supported by decisions of the Supreme Court, the slaves were property as much as real estate. Remem- ber that the Southerners neither stole nor captured their slaves, bear in mind always that they bought them from Northern slave- importers, and paid large sums of money for them.
"Facts the Historians Leave Out" by John S. Tilly page 9 says : "Robert E. Lee the South's leading General, not only had freed his slaves but had declared that slavery was a moral and political evil. It was his view and that of Stonewall Jackson that the best men in the South opposed the system, and that they would welcome a sane movement to be rid of it. Only one in fifteen Southern whites ever owned a slave." In Jones County there were Creek Indians who owned slaves as well as Negroes. One Negro, at what is now Bradley, owned four slaves.
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Of course slavery was an ugly blot on American history and many slaves were owned here; so we deserve our share of the blame. The Southerners did not however, think it right that the North, which had grown rich by the traffic, should undertake to free them by force, without repaying to their owners one cent of the purchase money.
There were fanatics in the North who were unwilling to work out a plan to gradually free the slaves without bringing ruin on the South. The fire-eaters preached hatred of the Southern people and slavery, they encouraged the millions of slaves to rise against their masters and burn and murder at will. With one-third of the South, slaves, a prospect of uprisings brought terror to every Southern home. This and other acts of an un- friendly section, led the Southerners to leave the Union to form their own government, one which would give protection to their families and homes. Propaganda helped to bring about the Civil War as much as anything else. Yes, the Southerners were haugh- ty and proud and little disposed to consider the institution of slavery a pertinent topic to be discussed only among themselves. It was a question that might have with calm deliberation, been settled amicably by statesmen, but the agitation was begun and carried too far by rabid preachers and agitators and when an attempt was made in the eleventh hour to avert the pending catastrophe, too much passion had been aroused on both sides for a settlement to be possible. The war was a clash between divergent civilizations and rival economies, Northern powers seeking to exploit the South as a colony, which they did for ten years after the South conceded defeat.
Many Northerners moved into the South prior to 1840 and became successful planters and slave owners and also were ex- treme secessionists.
"In her early days Georgia had forbade slavery and looked on it as an evil, but she held to States rights to deal with it in her own boundaries. To the South it was a matter of honor, dignity and equality in the Union and the safety of her citizens. As thie North and South arrayed themselves against each other they lost their reason, they no longer sought to understand each other. They even parted their Christian union and sought God
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in opposite directions. The Union was divided in religion, poli- tics and every feeling of regard, friendship and many families were divided.
"Georgia's golden age in the nation's history was to fade away with the rest of the Southern states as the bonds of friendship snapped and a four-year bitter war was fought, and worse than the war came the ten years of blundering reconstruction." ( "A Short History of Ga." by E. Merton Coulter.)
Jones Countians were greatly concerned with the develop- ments in the nation's political affairs during the year 1860. The selections of candidates for the Presidency, the platforms of the opposing parties, the threat to slavery as an institution and the likelihood of secession by the Southern states. This produced a pattern of tensions and emotions and strong feelings in local politics. There were many in Jones county who strongly opposed secession, some of them were leading men. The State Convention at Milledgeville, the State Capital, sustained the National Dem. Charleston Convention on April 23.
Many Jones Countians went over to Macon to hear Stephen A. Douglas and Alexander Stephens speak from a street near the old depot, both of them urging deliberation of action and preservation of the Union on Oct. 31, 1860.
On Jan. 19, 1861 the Ordinance of Secession was passed (in Milledgeville) by 208 to 89; a cannon was fired, several times. All dissenters signed the ordinance as a pledge of their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor to support the State. Back at Clinton the message came from Milledgeville; some were cry- ing, some were joyful, the Independent Blues put on a drill and fired several salvos, and the church bells rang. The many people opposing secession here, now lined up with the State and the die was cast.
Signing the Ordinance of Secession in Baldwin Co. at the Capitol in Milledgeville, from Jones County were : James Mad- ison Gray, age 47, born in Georgia. His occupation was a planter. He owned at that time 64 slaves, his real property value was $21,000 and his personal property was $55,000. That year the books show that he made 163 bales of cotton, 145 bu. of wheat
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and 3,000 bu. of corn. On the Hill motion he voted, "No," on secession he voted "Yes." (Gray did not serve as a soldier.)
The other signer from Jones County was Peyton T. Pitts, 48 yrs. old, a planter, owner of 84 slaves, real property value was $62,000 and personal property valued at $62,000. He had made 138 bales of cotton that year, 110 bu. wheat and 4,700 bu. of corn. Peyton T. Pitts was born in Jones County, and voted "Yes." (He served as a soldier. )
Georgia was the most populous state in the deep South in 1860 and probably the strongest economically. Delegates were ap- pointed to meet at Montgomery, Ala. to organize the Confed- erate States of America.
"On secession, this may prove interesting to know, that when in 1803, New England leaders grew white with rage over the idea of admitting Louisiana into the Union. Senator Plummer of New Hampshire said: 'The Eastern States must and will dissolve the Union and form a separate government of their own, and the sooner they do this the better.' Sen. Pickering of Mass. said 'I rather anticipate a new Confederacy exempt from the corrupt influence of the aristocratic Democrats from the South ... there will be a separation ... the British Provinces (of Canada), even with the consent of Great Britain, will be- come members of a great Northern Confederacy'." (John S. Tilly, "Facts Historians Leave Out," p. 38.)
"Then in 1814, New England held its famous "Hartford Con- vention" which plainly considered secession from the Union. Not only in 1814 but in 1845, John Quincy Adams and fellow New Englanders so opposed the admission of Texas that they openly urged withdrawal from the Union. 1845 was just fifteen years before the Southern secession, so when at last the South acted, it only followed an example suggested by New England, first in 1803, again in 1814, and still again in 1845. What indeed, was the American Revolution but a secession of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain? We hail one as a glorious revolution, and the other as an infamous rebellion." (Ibid., p. 41.)
And so in Georgia other generations were to be born before prosperity returned and a new era dawned. And so the Old South would now be only a memory to be recalled in songs, such
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as "Bonnie Blue Flag," "Dixie," The Yellow Rose of Texas," "Somebody's Darling," "Lorena," "Gen. Lee's Grand March," "The Conquered Banner" and others. As Bruce Catton wrote in "Confederate Legend," "The Confederate fighting man fought for a star-crossed cause and in the end was beaten, but as he carried his slashed red battle flag into the dusky twilight of the Lost Cause he marched into a legend that will live as long as the American people care to remember anything about the Amer- ican past. The war was cruel, brutal and exhausting-and yet somehow the legend glows with color and gaity and life. Men who saw the night coming down about them could somehow act as if they stood at the edge of dawn. They had an antic tough- ness about them. Things were finally too much for them, but down inside they were never quite licked because there can be something about human beings which in the last analysis is un- conquerable. They are all gone now with their tattered flags and their stained and faded uniforms, but they still speak to us through song and story. The Southern Confederacy, a nation for four years against all odds, kept a spirit of hopeless yearn- ing, a sense of drama and high destiny, hot pride, humor, a zest for action which ranked the Confederate private with the great- est fighting men the world has ever known. Back home were the wives or mothers, sweethearts and girl friends, who believed in the Southern cause with a passionate intensity that even the arrival of Yankee armies could not dim. They would sparkle with mocking defiance at the Federal officers, exulting in their own proud unconquerability. They gave up their all and stood back of their men to the end with the last help in foods and clothing they could get together, enduring terrific hardships."
If you could have asked a Confederate soldier why the South seceded, he would probably have given the following reasons : ("Facts the Historians Leave Out" by John S. Tilly) : 1. Our States went into the Union with the understanding that they had the right to withdraw. When membership proved unhappy we exercised that right. 2. We were sick and tired of being gypped by harsh tariff laws which enriched the North at our expense. 3. We were fed up with insane abuse from a group of South-hating fanatics. 4. Northerners had inspired murderous
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slave uprisings ; why should we sit silently by and wait for more ? 5. The Republicans preaching hatred for the South, had elected a President, who as we had every reason to know was not our friend. 6. We had bought our slaves from Northerners; it seem- ed hardly fair for the North to take them away from us without at least returning some of the money which we had paid for them. 7. With New England lording itself as superior to all other sections, why should we continue to tolerate such snobbish airiness ? 8. We had no idea of making war on the North. Lin- coln's reinforcement at Sumter brought about the bombardment. All that we wished and planned was to go our own way and be let alone.
CHAPTER X.
War 1861-1865-Jones County
The Great American Tragedy which took a million lives and untold treasure was spent in taking lives and destroying property of vast numbers of patriotic people who fought for what they believed to be right. It destroyed, political, industrial and social systems of the South and set it back over a hundred years. The sad feature of that vast tragedy was that it could have been averted more than once.
"The first great error was in adopting the Secession Ordi- nance without exhausting every possibility of an adjustment be- tween the North and the South as there was a strong sentiment against secession. The next great error was by President Lincoln in refusing overtures for a peaceful settlement before a shot had been fired. An earnest effort was made for a peaceful separation from the Union by a Commission composed of : Martin J. Craw- ford of Ga., John Forsyth of Ala., and A. R. Roman of La. who visited Washington, D. C. and asked for peace. At first Pres. Lincoln was disposed to accept overtures of peace but there were fire eaters in the North as well as the South and when seven Northern Governors called on Mr. Lincoln and urged
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him to subdue the South and offered supply troops for that pur- pose, Mr. Lincoln seems to have yielded to that influence for he soon reinforced Fort Sumter and the Confederate States con- sidering this an act of war, the Confederate Gov. ordered Major Anderson to take the Fort. On April 12, 1861 the shot fired on Fort Sumter was the electric spark that exploded the powder magazine. The war was on, with the approval of Mr. Lincoln. The North said the South began the war by firing the first shot on Fort Sumter and the South claimed the North began the war by sending to Charleston a hostile fleet with the declared inten- tion of reinforcing the Fort, which left no alternative but to reduce the fort or surrender Charleston."
("History of Ga.," by Cooper. )
The South had legal rights in a great wrong, the North could only do its duty to civilization by breaking its obligations. It was a conflict between legally fortified wrong and unconstitu- tional and high-handed right. Someone has said that Providence gave the victory to civilization, against the forms of law, heroic devotion to a beloved duty, and as grand a chivalry as the world ever knew.
The South was to drink the bitter cup and the era of hate was to poison the South as well as the North for many years to come. Only the part of the war specifically dealing with Jones County will be dealt with in this chapter. The Battle of Sunshine Church and Griswoldville and the letters and articles telling of the Fed- eral armies in the county, will be used.
Address of Victor Davidson, April 26, 1941, at the unveiling of the marker commemorating the Battle of Sunshine Church.
It was during the fateful July days of 1864, Sherman's over- whelming forces were battering at the gates of Atlanta. The disastrous blunder of removing General Joseph E. Johnston commanding the defending Confederate forces and replacing him with Hood had been made. Hood's foolhardy tactics had quickly resulted in heavy losses and every one could see that it was only a question of time before Atlanta was doomed to fall into Sherman's hands.
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General Joseph E. Wheeler, one of the greatest cavalry gen- erals of all time, was continuously outwitting and defeating his outnumbering Federal cavalry. Commanding one of his cavalry brigades was the gallant General Iverson who had been born at Clinton, and whose military prowess had been demonstrated on a hundred battlefields.
Thus, in the latter part of July, we find Sherman calling a council of war of his cavalry Generals, Stoneman, Garrard, Kilpatrick and McCook. A plan was agreed upon for the cutting of Hood's line of communications south of Atlanta, the utter crushing of Wheeler's Cavalry which was guarding the railroad south of Atlanta, by a combined attack of Sherman's entire cavalry forces.
This was to be followed by the execution of one of the most daring plans of action ever attempted in warfare up to that time. It was the origin of the famous "Panzer" attacks which Hitler has so well perfected, and which the civilized world is now in so much dread. At Stoneman's request, he was to make a bold dash south, capture Macon, release the 1100 federal officers held prisoners there ; press on to Andersonville and liberate and arm the 30,000 prisoners there and turn them loose upon the country in the rear of Hood's army. However, Sherman's peremptory order was that Wheeler who was in the vicinity of Lovejoy must first be destroyed, and the railroad leading to Macon be cut.
But Stoneman became so enthused over the possibilities of his expedition that he could not wait, and, leaving it to the other cavalry generals to attack Wheeler and cut the railroad, his command being in the vicinity of Decatur, he set out for Macon by way of Covington, Monticello and Clinton, passing by Sun- shine Church one mile south of Round Oak on July 28th. Then followed his repulse on Dunlap Hill at Macon, and the begin- ning of his retreat back up the road over which his cavalry had so recently marched, an expedition which he so confidently ex- pected to make him a place in history as one of the nation's greatest military leaders.
At Sunshine Church was one of the most remarkable victories achieved by the Confederate forces. It was won by sheer daring on the part of Brigadier General Alfred Holt Iverson's men in
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attacking superior forces. Stoneman's repulse at Macon had dis- heartened his men. The false news of a large body of cavalry arriving in Macon made them fearful of a rear attack and they were hastening back to the protection of Sherman's army.
The original plans made by Sherman and his cavalry Generals to destroy Wheeler's cavalry near Lovejoy having miscarried, and Wheeler, learning of Stoneman's advance down the east banks of the Ocmulgee River, caused him to detach General Iverson with his brigade, together with that of Allen's and Breckenridge's, to pursue Stoneman. Wheeler's orders to Iver- son were not to attack Stoneman if the time or place was favor- able, but were : "Attack him wherever you find him."
Stoneman had the start on Iverson, but the latter by forced marches crossed the river and arrived in the vicinity of Sunshine Church on the night after the Battle at Macon. Advance guards learned of Stoneman's retrograde movement, and communicated this information to Iverson, who began preparing his line of battle on the ground of his own choosing squarely across the road along which Stoneman was retreating. All the rail fences in the neighborhood were used in the erecting of breastworks.
Lines of skirmishers were posted down the road towards Clinton with orders to engage Stoneman, who had ordered his men to continue through the night their hasty retreat. All night long the federal brigades under Capron and Adams fought these skirmishers, who gradually fell back towards their main line. At dawn on the 31st of July, 1864, the battle began in earnest. Stoneman took personal command of his advanced lines and throughout the entire day was under fire. On his left, he placed Adams' Brig. with part of Capron's; on his right, the remainder of Capron's. His artillery was also under his personal command and posted on the hill now known as Stoneman's Hill (Samuel Gordon property ). He realized that his men were on the verge of becoming panic stricken, and, that the escape of his men de- pended upon their being able to break through the forces op- posing them. A general advance on foot was now ordered against Iverson, Stoneman leading. At first driving in the outposts, Stoneman was now met by heavy fire from Iverson's men con- cealed behind the barricades made of fence rails. Then with a
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yell Iverson's men charged Stoneman on foot. Unable to with- stand the attack, Stoneman's left was turned. Detachments of Iverson's cavalry charged the enemy on the right flank. Unable to break through, Stoneman's command fell back, Iverson's men continuously engaging them.
If we are to believe the official reports of this battle made by the brigade commanders of Stoneman forces, never did soldiers fight as did Iverson's; never such telling rifle fire; never such artillery precision; never did the wild rebel yell cause such consternation in their ranks. Iverson's men seemed to be every- where. If driven back at one point, they rallied and drove back Stoneman's men.
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