USA > Georgia > The bench and bar of Georgia: memoirs and sketches. With an appendix, containing a court roll from 1790-1857, etc., volume II > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
The author is indebted to Col. King for a letter from which the following is an extract :-
Col. Foster was a man of decided ability, and, during the time he practised at the Ocmulgee bar, occupied a very high position as a lawyer. He was not a graceful speaker, but he possessed the foundation of all true eloquence,-strong, vigorous, common sense. He was at all times exceed- ingly courteous and gentlemanly to the bench and bar, punctual, high- minded, and honorable in all his dealings.
On the occasion of the death of Col. Foster, the Columbus bar held a meeting which testified to his amiable character and great professional ability. The press was warm in its praises, and the public mind in Georgia has long since settled his rank as a faithful public servant and a man of exalted qualities.
The author closes this memoir with an extract from a letter which he received from the late Senator Dawson in 1851, a tribute the more impressive, because death has since hallowed it :-
Col. Thomas F. Foster was admitted to the bar in 1816, and located himself in this place, (Greensboro,) was elected a member of the Legis- lature three or four times, (at an early day,) was elected a Representative in Congress three or four times, removed from Greensboro to Columbus in 1835, and died in the year 1847. But you can procure the resolutions on his death, &c. from the editors of the Columbus Enquirer.
Col. Foster, by his energy and talents, rose rapidly and successfully in his profession. He was a sound lawyer, and able in the discussion of legal questions,-also among the best jury-lawyers or advocates in the circuit. He was social, frank, honorable, &c. in his professional inter- course ; had good humor, was engaged generally in his circuit in import- ant cases, and had the confidence of his clients especially, and the regard and respect of the intelligent in all parts of the State. He was no ordi- nary man. I settled also in my native county in 1818, and was one of the colonel's competitors, and knew him intimately, individually, and professionally, and, if I had time to write out many anecdotes in our pro- fession connected with himself, Longstreet, and myself, it would form an interesting chapter : but Judge Longstreet has a talent peculiarly suited for such a detail.
XVII.
CHARLES P. GORDON.
THIS gentleman was a native of Wilkes county, State of North Carolina, and was born in the year 1791. His father, Chapman Gordon, was a soldier in the Revolution, under the command of Captain Benjamin Cleaveland, and was engaged in the fiercely- contested action of King's Mountain,* October 7, 1780, on the borders of North and South Carolina.
The rudiments of his education were obtained in the neighbor- hood where he was born. He thence entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he graduated with considerable credit in 1813. Returning to his native State, he read law with Judge Murphy, late Reporter of the Supreme Court, and was admitted to the bar in 1815. He located for practice in Wilkes- boro, the county site of Wilkes, and was for a short time solicitor of the county. The only impediment to his early success was a diffidence of character which was constitutional with him. Modesty in his case, if not in every other, was the companion of merit. He was always retiring in his manners, though really of a social disposition. Except among his friends and intimate acquaint- ances, he was rather taciturn, and did not contribute his share of entertainment. He found it impossible to appear free and cheerful in the presence of strangers. Many an elevated mind knows how to sympathize with such timidity, such self-distrust.
While Mr. Gordon was at college, he formed an attachment which afterward induced him to revisit Carlisle, where he married Miss Barbara Galbraith, of that town, on the 10th day of June, 1817. In the year 1819 he removed from North Carolina to Georgia and settled in Eatonton, Putnam county, where he opened a law-office. His native modesty retarded his practice, and he remained briefless for about twelve months, all the while applying himself diligently to his studies, and being at his post for such business as might be offered him. He had never cultivated the art
* For a description of this battle see Wheeler's History of North Carolina, vol. ii. p. 104. The loss of the British and Tories was 1105 men; loss of the Whigs, 60
63
64
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
of pleasing the crowd,-of mixing familiarly with the people, and in manifesting all those tender civilities which pave the way to popular success. His heart was in the right place ; his legal quali- fications were respectable, his judgment sound; and yet his progress was slow at the bar. He obtained only a small share of practice in the face of such competition as he met in Stephen Willis Harris, Eli S. Shorter, and Milton Cooper, the leading members of the Eatonton bar. The opportunity of making his début at length came; and he at once convinced the profession and the public that his intellect was of the most solid, practical order, and that his course was onward. Business began to flow in upon him rapidly, and in less than ten years he ranked among the able men of the Ocmulgee bar, with a steadily-increasing practice.
Soon after the defeat of the Troup judges at the session of the Legislature in 1825, Judge Shorter, then resuming the practice of his profession, offered a partnership to Mr. Gordon, which was accepted. The firm of Shorter & Gordon was one of the strongest in the State. Their practice was large and profitable, and was not confined to their own circuit. In those days the Superior Court of Twiggs county attracted a full bar ; and there might be seen at the same term such lawyers as Seaborn Jones, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, William H. Torrance, Samuel Rockwell, Eli S. Shorter, Christopher B. Strong, Oliver H. Prince, Edward D. Tracy, Robert A. Beall, Washington Poe, and others of established character in the pro- fession. At one term-perhaps in 1826-Walter T. Colquitt and Hiram Warner, not then known to fame, were among those in attendance. When Judge Shorter omitted to visit Twiggs court, Mr. Gordon supplied his place at the bar.
A little circumstance may be here related as occurring in 1832, or thereabout, which, it was said, drove both Shorter and Gordon from that court.
A well-known citizen of Macon, considerably advanced in yeårs and of great wealth, had retained Messrs. Shorter and Gordon as standing counsel. The litigation in which he was engaged was quite extensive, and some of it very curious. Among other posses- sions he owned land on opposite sides of the Ocmulgee, and had resolved to permit no fishing on his property, except by his leave. In the shad-season, several poor men residing in Bibb crossed over, fastened their canoes to the Twiggs side, and threw out their nets for fish in the river. To warm themselves, they kindled a fire on the bank, burned pine-knots, and probably increased their comfort by adding a few sticks of other wood to the flame. This was the
65
CHARLES P. GORDON.
only " breaking the plaintiff's close and treading down his grass" for which his counsel were instructed to bring an action in Twiggs Superior Court, because it was for a trespass on the realty. The defendants employed a gentleman* who had just retired from the bench of the Southern circuit, and his partnert in the practice, whose modesty alone forced him afterward from the bar. The trial came on : the plaintiff, trembling with bodily infirmities, yet resolute, appeared in court with his title-papers, scowling vengeance on the poor fishermen who had dared to trample on his rights,- "the grass aforesaid."
The evidence showed a legal trespass of a very harmless cha- racter. Mr. Gordon argued the case for the plaintiff by stating the law, and maintaining that because the plaintiff was rich it was no reason why justice should be denied where a plain case of damage had been made out; for the law presumed damage when- ever a trespass was committed. The effort was up-hill, a heavy strain to counsel, and the jury looked as if they had no disposition to encourage him by nods or smiles of approbation as he dwelt on the strong points of his argument. After Mr. Gordon closed, the junior counsel of the defendants launched forth in a vein of good- humored yet convulsive ridicule, and blowed the case so completely that the jury in five minutes returned a verdict for the defendants. Whereupon the plaintiff instantly paid the cost and entered an appeal, declaring that he would " give it to the rascals next time." While the appeal was pending in the grass-fish case, Mr. Gordon found it inconvenient to attend Twiggs court, and the action was transferred into the hands of a gentlemant who, as an advocate, (a former Representative in Congress,) evinced a high order of talent and very refined and uniformly-courteous address. His speech for the plaintiff was calmly logical, and was a fair specimen of Westminster deduction from small premises. The ex-judge, who was behind none of his compeers in blandness of manner, then touched the spark to the magazine of fun in the case, and away it exploded, causing much suppressed laughter, even at the expense of Mr. Gordon, who was accused of deserting his large practice in the court rather than appear in so pitiful a case or seeming to
* Hon. Thaddeus G. Holt, now of the city of Macon.
+ Allen Fleming, Esq., then of Marion, but who for the last eight or ten years has been the Agent of the Marine and Fire Insurance Bank at Griffin.
į John A. Cuthbert, Esq., then editor of the Federal Union, now a resident of Mobile, Alabama, and late judge of the county court.
VOL. II .- 5
66
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
offend his rich client by a refusal,-a case so unequal, so much power on the one side and so much weakness on the other, as to remind one of a whale making war upon a minnow, if nature ever permitted such contests; a case where a rich man grudged a few straggling fish in a public highway (for all rivers in Georgia were such) to the poor families who looked to it for their daily support. The special jury readily gave a concurring verdict for the defend- ants. A motion was made for a new trial, on which a rule nisi was granted, and taken to the Convention of Judges, who advised a dismissal of the rule. Thus terminated the case, and through it the services of Mr. Gordon in the only court where the author heard him speak.
The manner of Mr. Gordon before the jury was sometimes very boisterous : that it was habitually so, the author cannot affirm. Why he adopted this method of address may be accounted for on the principle that one extreme usually begets another. He was constitutionally diffident, as has been elsewhere remarked ; and, to overcome that barrier, he wrought himself into an artificial passion which, as it glowed, gave impetus and activity to his intellect. He found great assistance in this way. There is more philosophy in it, more hidden power, than occurs to a mere spectator. To say that Mr. Gordon was earnest would be a tame expression. He rose to a high pitch of excitement, thundered and gesticulated so vehemently that it seemed he was willing to upset creation rather than his client should be wronged. Nor would his sincerity be suspected ; for his soul, the very muscles of his face, and his whole manner, united in proclaiming that he was on the side of truth, reason, and justice, and, of course, that his adversary was in a false position. At all events, he was frequently victor in cases very forbidding in the commencement. He was above all tricks or duplicity in his profession. What he aimed to do he accomplished boldly and openly, yet with a manner so engaging, so kind, so utterly free from ill-nature or petulance, as to endear him to his brethren.
Mr. Gordon was several times elected in succession to both branches of the Legislature from Putnam county, in each of which he occupied a high rank for talents and business-qualifications. The author regrets that he has not a copy of the journals at hand from which to trace his public career. Such was his admitted skill, that he was selected by the House of Representatives to prosecute articles of impeachment against a lottery-commissioner who was placed on his trial before the Senate for fraud and mal-
67
CHARLES P. GORDON.
practice in office. His speech in summing up the evidence and authorities is said to have been a masterly performance, and sufficient alone to class him with the soundest lawyers and most intelligent legislators of the day. Haying no report at command, the author can only speak from reliable tradition on the subject.
The author could not do justice to the character of Mr. Gordon as fully by remarks of his own as by quoting those of a corre- spondent,* who, from his relation and opportunities, could give more complete testimony :-
He had an unblemished moral character ; was a member of the Pres- byterian Church; was among the first to favor the great temperance- reformation in this State. He was a true and devoted friend, fond of the endearments of domestic life, and spent much of his leisure time in social intercourse with his wife and children. He had a taste also for agricul- tural and horticultural pursuits, and was among the first to introduce and cultivate successfully the vine in Middle Georgia. He succeeded admira- bly in making very superior wine from grapes grown by himself at Eaton- ton, where he had a small vineyard, which occupied much of his hours of leisure and recreation when freed from the labors of the circuit. He was fond of the society of friends, and enjoyed a good story or a good joke, and the wit and repartee of easy, social conversation, as much as any man, and sometimes indulged himself in little sallies of wit and humor, both at the bar and in private social intercourse,-but never of the ribald cha- racter. For, though by no means puritanical in his deportment, he was very circumspect in his walk and conversation through life. He never lowered the dignity of his nature by the use of vulgar or obscene language. His language in public and private was always chaste and grateful to the ear. And even in his forensic arguments, when called upon to deal with corruption and crime, and in exposing vice and fraud and holding up the iniquity and depravity of human conduct in its true light, he used a Damascus blade which rarely failed to sever and divide between the joints and the marrow and open up to view the foul subject under dissection : still, the blade lost nothing of its polish and brightness by the keenness of its edge or the dexterity with which it was used.
He was emphatically an honest man,-a noble specimen of a Southern lawyer; at all times true and faithful to his client, without ever compro- mitting the dignity or integrity of the profession by descending to any of the tricks or arts of the pettifogger to secure success. He never sought or took an advantage of an adversary; was liberal and generous toward opposing counsel in the management of a cause, yet tenacious of what he conceived to be the rights of himself and client both in law and in fact. Therefore it was that he entered into his cases and prosecuted them with great zeal and unflagging interest.
As a statesman or politician, his views were enlarged and liberal. He favored all projects that looked to developing the abundant resources of the State, and of advancing her political condition by enlightening her people through schools and colleges,-encouraging agriculture and aiding com-
* General George W. Gordon.
68
BENCHI AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
merce by all the facilities that combined Legislative and Executive effort could give. He was, in fact, one of the pioneers in that great system of internal improvement by railroads which has done so much to elevate our State among her sisters and add so much to the wealth, convenience, and happiness of her people. I believe he was the projector, or setter-on-foot, of the first railroad-convention that assembled in our State. It held its meeting at Eatonton, and was attended by many distinguished Georgians as delegates, among whom I now remember Col. William Cumming, of Augusta, and Judge Nicoll, of Savannah, (your humble friend, then quite a young man, was a member,) and I believe the Hon. John P. King, of the former place .* This Convention put the ball in motion in Georgia; and it has rolled on and on, till, in less than thirty years, we have seen accomplished what the wildest and most visionary theorist never dreamed of at that day. We looked for and expected great things, but not wonders and prodigies. We did not expect to scale mountains, o'erleap gulfs, span rivers, and penetrate into the very bowels of the earth.
In the private walks of life my brother was very exemplary, being sober, temperate, and discreet in all things,-was very evenly-tempered and conciliatory, yet firm and decisive in purpose. I regret very much that I cannot furnish you with a specimen of his private, familiar corre- spondence. I had a number of his letters; but they have all been lost or destroyed. We were in the habit of corresponding and communicating our views to each other for many years before his death, (he having been my guardian after the death of my father, who died when I was quite young.) I also read law with him : therefore a very peculiar and inti- mate brotherly affection existed between us, which causes me to regret the more that I cannot afford you access to his familiar letters, for there you would have a fuller insight into the true character of the MAN.
He died at Eatonton on the 8th day of October, 1836, of bilious fever, and I believe his disease was developed immediately after arguing an im- portant cause in Newton Superior Court, in which he felt a good deal of interest. He was Senator elect from the county of Putnam at the time of his death. He left a widow (who is still living) and five children,- one son and four daughters: one of the latter has since died.
Enough has been said to place the merits of Charles P. Gordon fairly before the public. Nothing more is necessary. His record is a bright one, without stain or blemish. It was not only a great loss to his family, but a public misfortune, that a man of his worth and usefulness should have died at the comparatively early age of forty-five years. His venerable mother is still living, at the age of ninety years, (or was living in February, 1857.)
* The Convention at Eatonton was held in September, 1831. Maj. Thomas Stocks presided, and William Turner acted as Secretary, assisted by Sampson W. Harris, late Representative in Congress from Alabama, whose lamented death has been recently announced. Major Joel Crawford was also a delegate, besides a num- ber of other prominent citizens from different sections of the State. The Hon. William B. Bulloch was a delegate from Chatham, but was too indisposed to take his seat in the Convention. Dr. Charles West was in from Liberty. The author, though not of the prominent class, was a delegate from Twiggs county, with his colleagues, Col. Nimrod W. Long, now of Alabama, and the late Matthew Robert- son, Esq. The Rev. Adiel Sherwood presented each delegation with a copy of the map which first appeared in his Gazetteer of Georgia.
69
CHARLES P. GORDON.
Mr. Gordon was the father of six children, two of whom died young and unmarried. The other four-three daughters and a son -are all married. The latter, A. G. Gordon, Esq., resides in East Florida, and is a planter. His eldest daughter, Mary, married John M. Flournoy, a planter, who resides at Wynnton, near Co- lumbus. Virginia married Dr. Charles Abercrombie, of Alabama, and resides in that State, five miles from Columbus. The other daughter, Sarah, married Col. Joseph C. Watkins, of Liberty, and resides near Midway, in that county.
It is as remarkable as it is melancholy that Judge Shorter, about the same age, should have died within two months after Mr. Gordon passed away. They were both eminent in their profession, had been partners, and had both acquired a large property by their own labors. But the tomb will have its tenants, regardless of honor and wealth. On this level all meet at last. So far from obscuring, death has only given new lustre to the name of CHARLES P. GORDON, which will ever continue to occupy a high place in the forensic annals of Georgia.
NOTE TO THE MEMOIR.
It has been shown in the preceding pages that Mr. GORDON was mainly instrumental in getting up the first Internal Improvement Convention ever held in Georgia. The official proceedings of that body are copied from the Georgia Journal of November 3, 1831.
JOURNAL OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION.
EATONTON, Monday, September 26, 1831.
A considerable number of the delegates appointed to take into con- sideration the practicability and expediency of promoting internal im- provements in this State convened in the church, in the town of Eaton- ton, on Monday, 26th September, 1831.
On motion of Mr. Irby Hudson,-
Resolved, That the Hon. Thomas Stocks be, and he is hereby, appointed President, and that William Turner, Sampson W. Harris, and William Wilkins, Jr., Esquires, be appointed Secretaries, of the Internal Improve- ment Convention.
The following delegates from the counties hereinafter named were then announced,-viz. :
From the county of Bibb-Oliver H. Prince and William B. Rogers.
Butts-Irwin Case and James H. Starke.
Campbell-Martin Kolb and Edmund B. Thompson.
Chatham-William B. Bulloch, Mordecai Myers, John C. Nicoll, and Thomas Young.
Columbia-Nathaniel Bailey, Edmund Bowdre, James F. Hamilton, and George W. Hardwick.
70
BENCH AND BAR OF GEORGIA.
Coweta-William B. Cobb and James Thompson.
Effingham-John H. Hines and Clem Powers.
Fayette-Finley G. Stewart and Nathaniel Blanchard.
Greene-Thomas Dawson, Thomas G. Janes, and Thomas Stocks.
Hancock-Joel Crawford, John Graybill, James B. Ransom, and Wil- liam Terrell.
Harris-Henry J. Harwell.
Heard-William H. Houghton and John T. Leftwich.
Henry-Abner Davis, Francis C. Manson, and Amasa Spencer.
Jasper -- William B. Burney, Eli Glover, Alexander McDonald, and William Williamson.
Jefferson-John H. Newton.
Joncs-James Gray, Thomas Hamilton, and Thomas Moughon.
Liberty-John Dunwoody and Charles West.
Meriwether-Alfred Wellborn.
Monroe-Thomas N. Beall, George W. Gordon, and N. B. Williams.
Morgan-Stewart Floyd, William Porter, John B. Walker, and John Wingfield.
Muscogee-John Milton.
Newton-William D. Conyers, Charles H. Sanders, and Josiah Perry. Pikee-John Neal and John B. Reid.
Putnam-Henry Branham, Irby Hudson, L. W. Hudson, W.W. Mason, and James A. Meriwether.
Richmond-William Cumming and John Moore.
Talbot-Samuel W. Flournoy and Charles Pace.
Taliaferro-Marcus Andrews, Absalom Janes, and Simon Morris.
Twiggs-Nimrod W. Long, Stephen F. Miller, and Matthew Robertson.
Upson-James R. Cox and Moses Wheat.
Warren-Gray A. Chandler.
Washington-William Hurst.
Wilkinson-Thomas Gilbert.
Mr. Irby Hudson moved certain rules for the government of the Con- vention ; and the same, being taken up amended, were agreed to.
Mr. Prince then offered certain resolutions concerning the subject before the Convention ; and, some debate being had,
Mr. Cumming offered the following resolution,-to wit :
Resolved, That a committee of nine be appointed, to report to this Con- vention the best mode of proceeding to the discussion of the purposes for which its members have assembled; and the same, being read, was adopted by the Convention.
The Convention then adjourned to half-past two o'clock P.M.
Monday evening.
The Convention met pursuant to adjournment, when the President an- nounced the appointment of the following members on the committee to report the best mode of proceeding to the discussion of the purposes of the Convention,-namely : Messrs. Cumming, Nicoll, West, Prince, Mil- ton, Crawford, Branham, Wingfield, and Conyers.
The Convention then adjourned to 9 o'clock to-morrow morning.
Tuesday, September 27, 1831.
The Convention met pursuant to adjournment. Mr. Cumming, from the committee appointed to suggest to the Convention a course of pro-
71
CHARLES P. GORDON.
ceeding, presented a report, and the same, being read, was taken up by paragraphs, several amendments made, and agreed to as follows,-to wit :
The committee appointed to suggest a course of proceeding to this Convention has the honor to report the following resolutions, the adoption of which it recommends :-
1st Resolution. This Convention earnestly recommends a system of internal improvement to the patronage of the State.
2d Resolution. The Convention recommends that the Legislature authorize the Governor to employ a competent engineer or engineers to make a minute and careful survey of the principal lines of commercial communication in this State, with reference to their fitness for railroads, turnpikes, or canals, and to diffuse among our fellow-citizens generally the topographical information thus obtained.
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.