USA > Georgia > Coffee County > Ward's History of Coffee County > Part 8
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Just at the close of the war the country was filled with "runaway" negroes. The mother and her three little boys lived all alone. One dark dreary evening in the summer time, when the thunder roared and the lightning flashed, a big black negro walked up to the door and asked for something to eat. The mother gave him something and he left. He was hardly out of sight, when the rain poured in perfect torrents and darkness settled down as black as Egypt. The mother was much afraid the negro would return to find shelter and rob the home. She put the boys to bed and pre- pared for the worst. She fastened the door, got the hatchet and put it under her pillow, blew out the
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tallow dip and then kneeling by her bedside she com- mitted herself and her boys to the Great Father of us all. We never heard of the negro any more, but the pale outline of that mother in the dim fire light, as she kneeled in prayer on that dark stormy night, has followed me through all the years.
A Coffee County Home in 1864, Scene 2
A pine - knot fire blazed on the hearth. A widow puts her three orphan boys to bed. She is busy with her spinning as roll after roll is drawn into finest thread. The night is cold. Above the whirl of the wheel could be heard the moan of the cold wind on the "The wheel turns around and around, And the cotton is drawn out into the finest thread." outside. At last the broach is finished and she turns aside to make up the fire and see that the children are covered and warm. Two boys sleep on a bed made down on the floor and they get first attention. She puts her busy hands on their heads and then cautiously feels of their feet.
Turning away from these, she goes to her own bed where the baby boy lies asleep snug and warm. When each child has received attention she goes back to the wheel to spin and to think. The wheel turns around
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and around and the cotton turns into finest thread. She stares vacantly at the fire and occasionally at her work. Just four years ago, her husband went to the war and never came back. Great tear drops came to her eyes as she thought of him and kept watch over his boys. Her eyes grew dimmer and dimmer and the wheel turned slower and slower. Soon the wheel and the widow both stood still. A tired hand hung heavy on the wheel and a great burden on the widow's heart. Neither could move. The wind was still, the fire burned low and not a sound was heard. The widow prayed. The burden lifted from her heart, strength came to her hand, the wheel started, and music with the wheel. Song after a song she sang, and prayer after prayer she said.
Late at night mother and children were all asleep, but one little boy did not sleep till his mother lay down, he heard the busy wheel and cold winds outside; saw his mother's tears and heard his mother's prayers. The fire, the wheel-the woman-the boy. As long as I live and winter winds blow, will I remember the spinning wheel and my mother's prayer in the long, long ago.
A Wiregrass Home in 1865, Scene 3
John F. Ward was a member of Company C, Fiftieth Georgia. He died in March, 1863, and is buried in an unknown grave in Virginia.
The following lines were selected and dedicated to his memory.
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"There's a grave on the hillside, A lonely, sunken grave, Where grow the tall rank grasses Above the fallen brave, Where summer's sun smiles warmly Where winter's snow lies deep, Where, o'er the unknown dreamer Unbidden voices weep.
"There's a grave on the hill, O wind, Pass by with plaintive moan, Bend low the grass above it, And sigh 'Unknown, Unknown !' Stoop down, O heavy rain cloud, And drop a pitying tear, If thou dost mourn earth's chosen, Oh, spend thy sorrow here !
"There's a grave on the hill, O Father, Thy searching voice shall yet Rouse up the sleeping soldier, For thou dost not forget, There's a lonely grave on the hillside, But, oh, before thy throne, The humble shall be honored The unknown shall be known !"
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The father sleeps in an unknown grave in Virginia, while the mother rests in the soil of Coffee County. On a plain marble slab beneath a Confederate Flag you will find these words :
Sacred to the Memory Sarah A. Ward. Born May 3, 1834, Died October 25, 1918. Widow of John F. Ward,
Company C, Fiftieth Georgia.
Now sleeps in an Unknown Grave
near Fredericksburg, Va.
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A Tribute to the Women of the South
Everybody will concede that before the War Be- tween the States, under the slavery system, southern womanhood was esteemed the highest type in the world. Social weakness and depravity among the women of the South from bottom to top were matters scarcely known. In this respect, the social civiliza- tion of the South was the age of chivalry preserved and perpetuated. Our women also were noted for their health and for a certain maturing of beauty more and more adorable and attractive as the silver threads appeared among the hair. How beautiful my dear old grandmother looked on the seventieth an- niversary of her birthday and the fiftieth of her marriage. A few wrinkles were there, to be sure, but the proud head was crowned with a white fleece of honor and unapproachable beauty. Her eyes were as bright and clear as on that night when she looked into the soul of my grandfather and there read se- curity and return for all her honor and her love, fifty years before.
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The Women of the South
Not Homer dreampt, nor Milton sung, Through his heroic verse, Nor Prentiss did with wondrous tongue, In silver tones, rehearse ; The grandest thing that ever yet, Moved brush, or tongue or pen, A theme in radiant glory set, To stir the souls of men, THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.
Who bade us go with smiling tears? Who scorned the renegade? Who, silencing their trembling fears, Watched, cheered, then wept and prayed? Who nursed our wounds with tender care, And then, when all was lost,
Who lifted us from our despair And counted not the cost? THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.
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Coffee County in War
Coffee County has done her full share in furnishing soldiers and fighting the battles of her country.
Coffee County was created in 1854. She sent her full share of soldiers to the war with the Seminole Indians in Florida in 1858.
In 1861 the Confederate War called more than 300 soldiers into service from Coffee County. 1898 we had the Spanish American War on our hands. In 1917 the World War made a call for men and supplies and Coffee County responded with more than 600 men. We were also asked by our country to cut sugar and many other things out of our diet in order that we might have these necessary things for our soldiers.
Coffee County has always fought on the side of victory except in the Civil War, and in that conflict the most horrible of all, we believe that some great principles of government were saved to our country.
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JAMES K. HILLIARD
Clerk of the Superior Court-elected 1856-January 15th, 1858. Clerk of the Inferior Court January 15th, 1858, to January 10th, 1860. First Lieutenant of Company C, 50th Ga. Reg. He built the first hotel in Douglas.
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English Gold
The Civil War ended 1865. Mr. Har- graves' two sons and two or more of his sons-in-law had been in the army. Con- ditions, generally, were so disturbed by the war that Mr. IIargraves did not make any special ef- fort to get his money from England, until the war was over. Sometime in 1866, CAPTAIN CUYLER W. HILLIARD, Mr. Hargraves held Husband of Teresa Hargraves, daughter of Abram Hargraves who received $70,- 000 from his estate in England. Cap- tain Hilliard made two trips to Eng- land for the money. a consultation with his relatives and friends and it was decided, that his son-in-law, Captain Cuyler W. Hil- liard, and his son, Abram Hargraves, Jr., be sent at once to England for the money. It was regarded as a big undertaking, as well as a very expensive one, but there was much at stake and so preparations were made for the journey.
The first thing they needed was money to pay ex- penses; and while Mr. Hargraves was a well-to-do farmer, and had plenty of property, there was little money in the county at this time, by reason of the fact that Confederate money was dead and but little silver and gold could be had. After searching among friends and relatives of the family, money was found and
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strange as it may seem, Mr. C. A. Ward, Sr., loaned Mr. Hargraves $300.00 in ten cent pieces.
The next thing in order was to have prepared a power of attorney, and such other legal papers as were neces- sary in order that they might receive and receipt for the money in England. After securing the money and legal papers, Captain Hilliard and Abe Hargraves, Jr., went to Savannah, and there they took a steamer to New York and from New York they went to Lanca- shire, England.
Soon they found the place and location of the gold, but when they presented their papers and introduced themselves, the banker looked at them in a sort of inquiring way and said, "Your papers are all right, but who are you?" It seems that their identification was not sufficient to satisfy the bankers that they were the persons named in the power of attorney. The banker told them that the papers had been executed for several months and that where so much money was involved it was possible for the papers to be stolen or to fall into the hands of strangers, and in that way the bank would be deceived, and the money paid over to persons who had no right to it.
No explanation or argument by Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Hargraves could convince the banker that they were the proper persons. And so the only thing to be done was to return home and get proper papers of identification. Captain Hilliard returned to Georgia to get proper papers prepared and in due course of time returned to England. Mr. Hargraves had remained in England and married an English girl; and so, after proper papers of identification were presented, the business was adjusted. They began their prep- arations for their return home. What to do with
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so much money and it all in gold was a serious question. $70,000.00 in gold weighs about two hundred and seventy-three pounds. It was finally decided to place the money in a strong cedar box and take it on the ship with them. And so, Captain Hilliard and Mr. Hargraves, Jr., and his young English wife, took their box of gold on the ship and bid old England a long farewell.
In due course of time they reached New York. They took their box of gold to the hotel and as English gold with its pounds and crowns, would be a strange thing in Wiregrass Georgia, they decided to have the English gold exchanged for American gold. They bought a plain iron safe and into this iron safe they placed the American gold with its eagles and dollars, and set sail for Savannah, Georgia, then out to old Tebeauville, now Waycross, Georgia, and then out by private conveyance to the old Hargraves farm, a distance of forty miles, or more. This farm is about eighteen miles southeast of Douglas, Georgia, on the Seventeen-Mile Creek.
So much money in the possession of one man in Wire- grass Georgia soon spread to every home in the county.
I shall tell you more about this gold at another time. Many of his friends and relatives paid him a visit and to every near relative he gave a twenty dollar gold piece. Mr. Hargraves was a man who did not let money turn his head. He remained the same plain old man, following the same pursuits of life, feeding his hogs, fishing, looking after his mill and cattle, and giving the same attention to his farm now, that he did before receiving his fortune. In a short time he divided most of the money among his children. None of them receiving less than $5,000.00, and some of them more than that.
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Wherever the money went, you would see a white house spring up, and those who occupied the home owned and used a horse and buggy-a very rare thing in Coffee County at that time (1873). The coming of this amount of money in gold at this time to Coffee County, so soon after the Civil War, when money was so scarce, made a great impression upon the people of Coffee County. Every one who was old enough to know anything at that time remembers well when Abram Hargraves received his gold from England.
The little iron safe that first held the English gold is now owned by Hon. J. M. Denton. It was sold by the administrators of the Hargraves' estate to Hal Peterson, and the administrator of the estate of Hal Peterson sold it to J. M. Denton.
Abram Hargraves, Jr., who went to England with Captain Cuyler W. Hilliard for the $70,000 of English gold. Also the wife of Abram Hargraves whom he married in England.
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Regulators
No people in the South were more patriotic and enthusiastic in the Confederate War than the men and women of Coffee County. Many of them were the sons and daughters of sturdy stock from Virginia. Most of them had been reared on the frontier, had fought in the Indian Wars, and were fighters both by blood and by training. But conditions were all against them and by the fall of 1864, the Confederacy was falling to pieces. Sherman had marched through Georgia, burned Atlanta, captured Savannah and many of our soldiers who were at home on furloughs, were not able to return to their commands, and were compelled to re- main at home. And as a consequence many true soldiers were called "Deserters." Others had lost heart and came home to stay, let the consequences be what they may. The Confederate Government needed every soldier in line at this time and details were sent to arrest all the deserters and take them back to the front. Many soldiers and details were killed by each other. In all this time of stress and trouble funny things would happen. I give you one instance: Old Bill Wall, as he called himself, was one of the fellows who remained at home. Mr. Benajah Pearson made complaint that "Old Bill Wall" and his bunch were eating his sheep and hogs. Mr. Wall heard the com- plaint and sent Mr. Pearson the following verses ; which he composed for the occasion.
"If it is my choice to stay at home, and the woods in beauty roam ;
Pluck the flowers in early spring, and hear
the little songsters sing !
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"Why, then, should I, for the sake of gain, leave my conscience with a stain.
A traitor! who could hear the name with no respect for age or fame; Who, for the sake of a little gold, would have his friends in bondage sold ?
I would rather take the lash than betray them for Confederate trash.
"You say they kill your sheep and cows, You say they take your hoss and your plows, You say they took your potatoes away, You said they dug your grave one day. All of this may be true ;
It makes me sorry for you.
"Yet, sir, if I, these men betray and they were all taken away, And they did not in the battlefield fall, They would then come back and kill 'Old Man Bill Wall'."
About the time the Confederacy went to pieces and for a few years afterwards there was much lawlessness in the country. And some of the best citizens of the county organized themselves into a band of "Regula- tors" for the protection of the country. They held the lawbreaks in check for a while and did a lot of good until our courts could be organized and put in mo- tion. I will give you one instance of the character of their work: A widow and her three little boys lived on a little farm, in the wildwoods of Coffee County. A few years before their father went to the war and never came back. He was sleeping in an unknown
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grave, in Virginia. About noontime two men in a. wagon drove up to the little home and told the lone woman that they were peddlers and wanted to get dinner and sell her some goods. But it seems they had another purpose in view, and when the insult came the woman grabbed a board and was in the act of striking the man nearest to her when they begged like dogs for mercy, got into the wagon and left. News of the occurrence spread in the neighborhood. As soon as dark came a fire was kindled in the neighborhood which meant danger was near. The "Regulators" jumped in their saddles and soon the clatter of hoofs was heard and the clans were gathering in defense of Southern womanhood. Far into the night a man came up to the house where the woman lived and called her. She went to the front cautiously thinking it might be the peddlers returning, but a voice called out in a friendly tone and said, "We want some matches please mam." The woman recognized the voice, but she asked who it is that wants matches? The man said, "We are two peddlers. Our wagon broke down on the edge of the creek and we need a fire." The woman recognized the man's voice and the man's walk. She knew he was a friend and he only told her that he was a peddler to let her know that they were there to defend her against any and all who might insult and attack her. And so these brave men, these Con- federate soldiers, these Regulators lay around this woman's home at night to defend her and her little boys at any cost.
These were the times that tried men's souls. A county and a people that came through a time like that, were well prepared to overcome all difficulties.
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An Ideal Wedding
In the fall of 1867 the announcement was made that Mr. Sydney Hargraves and Miss Mary Lott would be married in December. They were distant relatives. Mr. Hargraves, a grandson, and Miss Lott, a great grand-daughter of "Mother Jones." Miss Lott lived with her widowed mother, Mrs. Mark Lott, about ten miles Northeast of Douglas, and Mr. Hargraves lived with his father, about eighteen miles southeast of Douglas.
This marriage was celebrated in the usual way for the better class of country people in that day and generation. Preparation was made for the invited guests who were supposed to include all the near rela- tives and many friends of the contracting parties.
The best cook in the country was employed to super- intend for a week at the Lott home, and supervise all preparations for the occasion. Also bake cakes, pies, and goodies of every sort.
A beef and several hogs, chickens by the score, and turkeys a plenty were used in the wedding supper. One cake of immense size called the "wedding cake" required the skill of a cake artist. It was supposed to have all the frills and furbelows which the last word in cake making required. A ring was placed in this cake and when the cake was cut by the wedding party, the person who received the piece of cake containing the ring, was said to be the next one to get married. Everything was done on a big scale, nothing was spared in time or money to make the occasion memo- rable. Not only was "the big pot put in the little pot," but all the pots were put on. A sugar boiler, contain-
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ing sixty gallons, was made full of rice pilau. When the wedding day arrived, people came from all direc- tions. They came in carts, wagons, on horse back, and many of them came a-foot. All of the Lott negroes, old Cap, Aunt Martha, Sam, Ann and all the others were there, nice and clean, spick and span, all lined up to see Miss Mary get married. As the evening passed and the sun was getting low in the west, the crowd gathered about the front yard. Some thing great was going to happen in that family pretty soon. The groom and his best man, each riding white horses, and his four attendants were hiding in the woods, awaiting the signal for them to appear. Miss Mary and her attendants were in readiness.
Just as the sun went down, the signal was given to the groom and his party. The feet of horses were heard rumbling in the distance. Soon the two white horses, leading, were seen and then all the others came in view, and with increasing speed they dashed up to the front gate. Those in the party were Sydney Har- graves, the groom ; Lewis C. Wilcox, Daniel Lott, Mark Lott, Jessie Lott, J. M. Denton, and Jim Lankford.
When they arrived they quickly alighted from their horses and rushed into the house. They were met at the door by the bride and her .attendants. The mar- riage ceremony was performed by Moses Kirkland, a Justice of the Peace.
After the usual formal congratulations, supper was announced. A large table had been prepared in the yard; dozens of candles on the table and around about furnished light for the occasion. In addition to candles, fires were built in the vard around the prem- ises, to light up the grounds.
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The wedding party had been provided with a table of honor. The other people ate at a long table. There was plenty for all, both white and colored. From supper time until ten o'clock was spent in a social way, talking with old friends and relatives, renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. At ten o'clock, dancing began. Old Lewis Lott, colored, played the fiddle for them. Uncle Lewis was in all his glory as he played the fiddle. He leaned back in his chair, patted his foot and yodled his voice in unison with the music and dancing. Old Captain "beat the strings" and business was lively.
The Infair
The next night the Infair was held at the home of the bridegroom, thirty miles away. Only people of wealth in those days could afford to have both a wedding and an Infair. The wedding supper was given by the bride and the supper at the Infair was given by the bridegroom.
Old Uncle Abe Hargraves had made great prepara- tions for the Infair and it was in keeping, in every way, with the times and all that was expected of the occasion.
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The Constitution and the Flag
During the Confederate War many people who were able and patriotic bought patriotic quilts and put them on their beds. Patriotic quilts were printed tops and quilted like other quilts. The patriotic quilt had printed in large letters a motto like this: "The Consti- tution and the Flag." This motto was intended to teach the household in that home that it was not the home of a rebel but on the contrary was the home of a patriotic citizen fighting in the Confederate army.
In old testament times the Jews wore quotations from their law on their arms and sometimes around their foreheads but it remained for the Confederate Soldier to wrap his babies and cover his bed with the emblem of his devotion to his country.
I wonder if one of those patriotic quilts can be found in Coffee County at this time, 1930?
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Railroads in Coffee County
The Brisbane Railroad
The earliest project to build a railroad within the confines of Coffee County was that known as the Bris- bane railroad, having the eastern terminus at Mobley's Bluff on the Ocmulgee river in the northwestern corner of the county and the western terminus was to be Al- bany on Flint river in Dougherty County.
The project was conceived in New York City in 1856. The survey was made in 1857 and was a bee-line be- tween the two points and enroute touched two county seats-one was Irwinville in Irwin county and the other Isabella in Worth County. The survey and grading was in charge of a man by the name of Brisbane, from whom it took its name. He came here from New York City and with him a large force of Irish laborers who were to do the grading. The work of grading went well for more than a year. It was executed upon the idea that a locomotive could not pull a train of cars up a grade and the roadbed was perfectly level so far as it went. The grading was completed from Mobley's Bluff to a point beyond Isabella, said to have been within twelve or fifteen miles of Albany.
Brisbane and his New York co-projectors met with financial troubles supposed to have risen because of the threatened war between the North and the South. He failed to meet his payrolls and the men, finding themselves without money with which to provide them- selves with food and clothing, were forced to quit and seek other employment.
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Hon. Nelson Tift, the founder of Albany, became interested in the project; he was anxious for its com- pletion which would unite the navigable Ocmulgee river with what could be made a navigable Flint river with this means of transportation; it appeared to him a very progressive movement and promised much to his embryo city-Albany. Hence he loaned much time and influence in an effort to straighten out the financial impediment and complete the road into Albany. The war came on and this splendid project had to be aban- doned. It was so near and yet so far from Albany. Mr. Tift was a Connecticut man.
However, the failure of this railroad project was not without benefit to Coffee County. It left within its borders some very desirable citizens from the ranks of the Irish laborers. Lands were cheap, could be bought on credit and on the most liberal terms. Many of these young Irishmen became attached to the coun- try and the people with whom they were thrown in contact. They decided not to return to New York but remain in South Georgia and wisely determined to buy lands and settle down to farming and stock-rais- ing for which the country was admirably adapted. They prospered because they were thrifty and ener- getic. They settled along the line of the railroad they had attempted to build. Among those who settled in Coffee County are remembered the names of Neugent, McGovern, McDonald, O'Brien, Nowland and Spivey. Their descendants are still in this territory and have grown into a host of fine people and citizens.
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