Augusta, Georgia - History (part 17 of 17)

The dealings begun in this modest way between these lads - both newly arrived in Georgia - developed in after years into large and profitable transactions covering the staple commodities of this region. Both of them became prominent merchants, and accumulated large fortunes. When Mr. Sibley fixed his home in Augusta it was a frontier town of only some six thousand inhabitants. Its trade, however, transcended what might ordinarily have been expected from a population of that size. Communication with the coast was maintained by means of boats ascending and descending the Savannah River. Cotton from an extensive region here found a ready market ; and from this point were obtained supplies of various sorts which were consumed not only in Middle and Upper Georgia, but also in Alabama, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. The wagon trade with distant points was extensive. The commercial activity of Augusta was pronounced, and mercantile ventures were generally remunerative. Mr. Royal Sibley dying in 1822, Mr. Josiah Sibley continued with his brother Amory until 1828, when he was admitted into partnership with him. Under the firm name of A. & J. Sibley these gentlemen opened a business establishment as wholesale and retail merchants and dealers in cotton, in the town of Hamburg in South Carolina. For many years after its completion that village formed one of the termini of the South Carolina Railroad. Great difficulty was experienced in obtaining permission for that corporation to cross the Savannah River and connect with Augusta. Hamburg was then a thriving town, and considerable business was transacted within its limits. Between fifty and seventy thousand bales of cotton were annually sold in its streets. Taking advantage of the situation, and in a large measure monopohzing this trade, the brothers Sibley for several years conducted a large and lucrative business at this point. In 1849 Mr.- Amory Sibley who, for some time, had filled the office of president of the Mechanics Bank, and was one of the foremost cotton buyers of this region, died. Prior to this event Mr. Josiah Sibley had purchased his brothers interest in the concern and had been conducting on his own account the business which had been built up by the firm of A. & J. Sibley. In 1853 he associated in partnership with himself his eldest son, Mr. William C. Sibley. The firm was then known as J. Sibley & Son. Two years afterwards, Hamburg having entered upon a period of decadence, and the facilities for conducting business operations being superior on the Georgia side of the Savannah River, J. Sibley & Son removed to Augusta. As they respectively attained unto manhood, Samuel, George, and Robert - sons of Mr. Josiah Sibley - were successively admitted as members of the firm, which was thereafter known as Josiah Sibley & Sons. By this partnership was an ex- tensive and profitable business carried on in purchasing and shipping cotton, and also in the sale of that commodity on commission. No mercantile house in Augusta stood in higher repute. By none were more important commercial transactions negotiated.

Mr. Josiah Sibley retired from active business in 1874. Until his death, which occurred in the village of Summcrville, Richmond county, Ga., on the 7th of December, 1888, he gave his personal attention to the management of his large estate, and to supervising his planting interests, in which he was deeply concerned.

In association with Mr. Langley and others, he was, in 1870, instrumental in organizing the Langley Manufacturing Compan)^ As a leading director he always manifested the liveliest interest in the success of that establishment, over the fortunes of which his son. Major William C. Sibley, presided with so much ability.

His zeal in developing the material interests of the community with which he was so long and so intimately associated was further manifested in his liberal contribution of time, money, and influence toward the erection and equipment of the Sibley Cotton Mill in Augusta, than which there is no more substantial or attractive manufacturing establishment in the South. In token of the universal respect and esteem in which he was held, and as a recognition of his valuable aid in this important behalf, this extensive and beautiful mill was named in his honor. It is an ornament to the region ; and, under the capable management of Major William C. Sibley, gives promise of a profitable future.

While never an office holder or a seeker after political preferment, Mr. Sibley was always public-spirited, and prompt to bear his share of the responsibilities which a community has the right to impose upon its rich and influential members.

For many years he w-as a director in the Mechanics' Bank, and also in the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. In 1867 and 1868 he was a member of the city council of Augusta, and, at one time was of the committee which devised the scheme for retiring the bonded indebtedness of the city of Augusta by means of a sinking fund. With the enlargement of the city canal, with the conduct of the Augusta Land Company, and with the administration of the affairs of the Augusta Orphan Asylum, he was closely identified. In his religious belief Mr. Sibley was a Presbyterian, and his charities in support of the ministrations of religion and the promulgation of Christianity were constant and liberal.

The distinguishing traits of his character were absolute integrity, inflexible honesty, admirable business sagacity, tireless industry, and generous, though discriminating philanthropy. He neglected no obligation, and was a pillar of strength and confidence in the community. His influence was always exerted in the support of justice and right, and he has left an impress for good upon his day and generation.

Mr. Sibley was twice married : First on the 25th of July, 1 83 1 , to Miss Sarah Ann Crapon, the daughter of William and Hannah Crapon, of Providence, R. I. Eleven children were the fruit of this marriage, to wit: William Crapon, born May 3, 1832; Henry Josiah, born November 19, 1833, died July 25, 1864; Samuel Hale, born September 9, 1835, "^i^d December, 1884; Sophia Matilda, born October 16, 1837 '. George Royal, born July 19, 1839, died July, 1887 ; Fannie Maria, born October 13, 1841, died December 20, 1842; Mary Lois, born September 3, 1843, diegl February 23, 1864; Alice Maria, born February 9, 1846; Robert Pendleton, born February 17, 1848; Caroline Crapon, born February 21, 1850, died November 16, 1858, and Amor^^ Walter, born June 19, 1852. Mr. Sibley's second wife was Miss Emma Eve Longstreet, of Richmond county, Ga. To them four children were born, namely, John Adams, born September i, 1861 ; James Longstreet, born August 4, 1863; Mary Bones, born March 29, 1865, and Emma Josephine, born February 23, 1867.

In his domestic relations, in his intercourse with his fellow-man, in his business transactions, and in his association with church and community, Mr. Sibley's conduct was marked by purity, probity, liberality, public spirit, and Christian integrity. He was emphatically a just, an honest, an influential, and a God fearing man.

THOMPSON, JP2SSE, was born in Camden, South Carolina, July 19, 1843, and is the son of Starling and Margaret Thompson. He moved with his parents to Augusta in 1854, and here his early education was principally received. His father was a carpenter and builder, and as soon as his son was old enough to engage in work he entered the employ of W. H. Goodrich, a well known builder. Before he had made much advance in his chosen occupation, the civil war began, and in January, 1861, he entered the Confederate service as a member of the First Carolina Regiment, and remained with this command until the end of its period of enlistment. He then re-enlisted in Blodgett's Artillery, of Augusta, and at the reorganization of the army in 1862, at Yorktown, he was made a first lieutenant of a company, and served in that capacity until the war closed

After the war he returned to Augusta, and entered the employ of a firm engaged in building and manufacturing carpenter's supplies. In 1868 he became a member of this firm by purchasing the interest of one of the partners, the firm at this time being known as McMurphy & Thompson, the individual members, besides the subject of this sketch, being A. M. McMurphy and W. K. Thompson. W. K. Thompson retired in 1872, when G. S. Heindel became a partner under the firm name of Thompson & Heindel. No change occured in the firm until about five years ago, when Mr. Heindel died. The present firm of Jesse Thompson & Co. was then formed, which besides the senior partner, is now composed of Louis Thompson, A. G. Sherman and William S. Gregg, all three of whom were formerly in Mr. Thompson's employ.

During the earlier years of the existence of this firm, besides dealing in lumber and the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, contracting and building represented an important feature of the business, and many of the public and private buildings in the city were erected by them, but of late years their lumber and manufacturing business has engrossed their entire attention. Their business has steadily grown from year to year, and at the present time at their well equipped plant on the corner of ^plale and Centre streets about ninety men are employed.

Several years ago they established a saw- mill in Emanuel county, where lumber for their factory is sawed. For the purpose of bringing their supplies to the city they built in 1880 a railroad since known as the Midville and Swainsboro Railroad. It is twenty-two miles in length, and runs from Midland on the Georgia Central to the county seat of Emanual county. As the country along the line of this road became developed, a general railroad business was secured by the line. Since May, 1888, it has been operated under a separate charter, Mr. Thompson being general manager and principal owner. Three saw- mills are now located on this line, the one operated by Jesse Thompson & Co. employing about sixty men.

In the development of the business with which he has been so long connected, Mr. Thompson has achieved well deserved success He is and has been for years the main factor in its prosperity, and has given it his almost undivided attention. The line of his efforts have all been in the direction from which Augusta has reaped substantial reward, and his success has been to the material advancement of the city. As a business man he has the entire confidence of the business community, while his standing as a citizen both in public and private life is above reproach. In 1885 '^^ organized the Augusta Ice Company for the manufacture of ice, of which he has since been president. He was also one of the directors of the Augusta National Exposition. He is a member of the St. James Methodist Church, of which he has been one of the Stewarts for the last four years, and was a most liberal contributor towards its remodeling and construction in 1888. Often solicited to enter public life he has steadfastly declined to become a candidate for office. Public station has no charm for him, while his private business commands all of his time and energies.

Mr. Thompson was married in 1868 to Miss Jane Fulghum, of Augusta, who died in April, 1885. Seven children were born to them, all of whom are living. Mr. Thompson's present wife was Miss S. A. Stubb, of Augusta, to whom he was married in June, 1887.

KING, JOHN PENDLETON. Among those who attained an exalted standard of excellence in the community in which they resided, who promoted the mental, moral and material development of their age and State, and the record of whose lives constitute an abiding example for the guidance and emulation of the coming generations was the Hon. John Pendleton King, of Augusta, Ga. His career was adorned by purity, honesty, courage, fidelity and patriotism ; and the achievements and acts of a life dignified by a constant and illustrious manifestation of these cardinal traits are eminently worthy of narration.

He was born April 3rd, 1799, near Glasgow, Barron county, Ky., and was the son of Francis King, formerly of Hanover county, Va , and Mary Patrick, of Pendleton District, in South Carolina. Soon after his birth his father moved to Bedford county, l^enn., where his schooling began at the age of nine years. He boarded at the school during the week, making his way there and back on horseback. In his sixteenth year, provided by his father with a sufficient sum of money and a good horse, he set out for Columbia county, Ga., the home of a maternal uncle. On the way he crossed Tennessee River at Lowery's Ferry, the reservation of old John Lowery, the Cherokee Chief, and was so struck with the beauty of the place, that years afterward, when it was on the market he bought it, and it is now in the possession of his son.

After a short sojourn in Columbia county he went to Augusta, where, in 18 17, he entered Richmond Academy, one of the oldest institutions of learning in the United States, and by unremitting industry he was enabled to acquire a fair education. Upon completing his academic course he commenced the study of law in the office of Major Freeman Walker, then a leading lawyer and accomplished orator in Augusta, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1819, before he reached his majority. The young attorney rapidly acquired a large and lucrative practice, which was largely augmented soon after his admission to the bar by Major Walker, who, having been elected to the United States Senate, showed his confidence in young King by transferring to him his own practice.

Money came to him easily. Wealth earned for him ease, and at a time when most men are striving to redouble their fortunes young King leisurely sailed for Europe in December, 1821, where he spent two years, and added to his practical knowledge the benefits of travel and the study of language, manners and men. He was at a receptive age. His activity had not been impaired by long drudgery and impending age. His travel was worth more to him than it could ever be again. He mastered systems and observed methods. So that when he returned to his home in Augusta he had blended with his technical training and professional skill a wider range of information. In Paris he made the acquaintance of General Lafayette, then about to pay a visit to the United States as the invited guest of the American Congress. On the ocean voyage he sailed on the same vessel with Mr. King, and during the journey they became intimately acquainted and a lasting friendship was formed. After the distinguished gentleman had made a trip through the North, visiting

Boston, New York, Washington, and all the other principal cities, he visited Augusta in the fall of 1825. Here he was entertained by Mr. King, who accompanied him through the cit\-, where he was received with the highest honors. On the occasion of his reception Mr. King was selected to deliver the address of welcome

The panic of 1825 greatly increased litigation and enlarged the profits of the legal profession, and after a few years successful practice Mr. King retired in 1829 to give his whole attention to his large estate and extensive private interests. He showed a striking aptitude for the law ; his mind was of that clear and analytical caste, and his reasoning powers so exact and incisive as eminently to fit him for the discussion of legal propositions. If he had adhered to the law and his ambition had led him in the direction of professional preferment, he could have reached and would have adorned the highest judicial positions in the land.

In 1830 he attended a convention called for the reform of the State Constitution, in which the important question of the equalization of representation was strongly advocated by him. It was opposed, however, by so many local interests that it failed to be ratified by the people.

He was appointed by Governor Lumpkin in 1831 judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a position he held but for a short time, long enough, however, to give him the title by which he was so long afterwards known. In 1833 he was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of Georgia of that year. In this body he greatly distinguished himself; he was a Jackson Democrat and took the lead of that party in the convention By his debates in the convention, and especially by his discussions with the late William H. Crawford, he gained a reputation as one of the ablest and most eloquent men in Georgia.

In the fall of 1833, while attending to some private business in Vicksburg, he received intelligence that, without being a candidate, he had in his absence been elected to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate occasioned by the resignation of the distinguished statesman, George M. Troup. This was a great compliment to Judge King's abilities to award him, unsought, the successorship to so gifted and accomplished a gentleman as Governor Troup, but a still higher one when at the termination of the unexpired term of two years he was re elected for the full term of six years. Appointed to this high office in his thirty-fourth year he enjoyed the peculiar privilege of being the youngest senator of his time, if not of any time in the history of the Senate. In those days the great intellectual gladiators were figuring upon the floor of the American Senate; Calhoun, Webster and Clay, Benton, Wight, Buchanan, Bayard, and Forsyth were there, and many grave questions were before the country demanding wise and patriotic .solution. Andrew Jackson was president, of whom it was aptly said " his every step was a contest, and every contest a victory." It was at a time like this, when not only the questions of currency and finance springing out of the action in regard to the National Bank, but also the questions arising upon the disposition to be made of the public lands, the removal of the Indians across the Mississippi, internal improvements by the general government, the tariff, the French spoliation bill, the reception ot abolition petitions, and many other important questions were demanding settlement, that Judge King entered the United States Senate and took and maintained a high position. Speaking but seldom, he took part in the debate upon most of these grave issues, and at once won position in that body as a man of fine abilities and culture, and as an inductive reasoner and logical debater whose powers were of superior order. As evidence of this many compliments from senators and warm discussions maintained with him by the ablest in that body might be adduced. But it will suffice for this purpose to mention the fact that Thomas H. Benton himself, one of the first men in the country, and noted alike for his powers as a logician and his vast and varied learning, in his speech delivered in the Senate on the French spoliation bill, took occasion to specially compliment the speech of Judge King, delivered in the Senate on the same subject. He said, among other things : " The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. King) has given a valid and able picture of the exertions of the United States government in behalf of these claims. He has shown that they have been paid, on our part, by the invaluable blood of our citizens. Such is the fact, etc." But in his most interesting and readable book, entitled, "Thirty Years in the United States Senate," Mr. Benton pays a further compliment to Judge King, by reproducing in it a short debate between him and Mr. Calhoun, and which is adverted to here, and will be briefly noticed for the purpose of illustrating a characteristic trait exhibiting itself through the whole life of the subject of this sketch. Mr. Calhoun had asked for the appointment of a special committee, to which should be referred so much of the president's message as related to mail transmission of incendiary publications. This was opposed by Mr. King, of Alabama, and Mr. Grundy, the chairman of the committee on post-offices and post-roads, on the ground that that was the appropriate committee for such reference. Mr. Calhoun insisted, however, on his view that the committee should be a special one, and be appointed mainly from that section whose security and rights were threatened by this unlawful use of the mails, arid the Senate yielded to his wish and permitted him to name the committee, which he at once proceeded to do, as follows: Mr. Calhoun, chairman ; Mr. King, of Georgia ; Mr. Manguni, of North Carolina ; Mr. Davis, of Massachusetts ; and Mr. Linn, of Missouri. A bill and report was soon brought in by the committee - a bill subjecting to penalties any postmaster who should knowingly receive and put into the mail a publication or picture touching the subject of slavery. When the report was read a motion was made to print 5,000 extra copies of it. This motion brought several of the committee to their feet, among them Judge King, who protested that some of the views (Mr.

Calhoun had injected into it some of his pccuHar nuUification views) were not concurred in by him, though many parts of the report had his hearty concurrence. It was also the view of Judge King that by giving to the matter such special prominence, excitement would be engendered, and thus produce injury rather than benefit. In the progress of the debate Judge King used the following sententious and somewhat severe remarks, to wit : " That positions had been assumed and principles insisted upon by Mr. Calhoun not only inconsistent with the bill reported, but he thought inconsistent with the Union itself, and which, if established and carried into practice, would hastily end in its dissolution." Without quoting further from this discussion let it be remembered that the sole use designed to be made of the quotation given is to present in bold relief a striking characteristic of the man, and which has ever given his opinions and position commanding weight and influence, to wit: his selfreliance and manly independence of thought and will, the ever sure indicia of strong intellect and the unfailing harbinger (when wisely restrained in limits of prudence and modesty, as was the case with him) of usefulness and success.

It was no ordinary compliment for Mr. Calhoun to suggest his name first on that special committee. Lesser men than Judge King might have been so flattered by it as not to have been conscious of a subordination of their own views and convictions on grave questions raised in committee to the masterly power and will of this truly great statesman. Not so with Judge King. Nothing could bend or swerve his mental independence, and the debate, which was participated in by Clay, Webster and others, will show with what vigor and ability he boldly dissented from the great Carolinian. Many and very interesting extracts might be introduced here from his various speeches while in the Senate on the questions of deep public concern in that day, that would go to show the high capacities of their author for the duties then devolved upon him, and excite regret that his inclination led him away from a position of so much distinction and responsibility, and for which he was so eminently fitted. He had no toleration for injustice, but demanded equality and equity in all matters, and he ever especially opposed the practice of officials taking liberties, even to the smallest extent, with the public property or funds entrusted for the time to their guardianship.

In his speech on the bill to prohibit the sales of the public lands except to actual settlers, the question before the Senate being on the motion of Mr. Clay to strike out the fourth section, which contained the pre-emption principles, he said he viewed the bill as establishing a system of partiality, plunder and perfidy - a system in which those who had the least merit would make the most profitable speculations. If the bill passed at all, he was indifferent as the details of it ; perhaps it would be better for the country if it should pass in the worst shape in which it had been presented. It was not surprising that it should be popular with those who were to be greatly benefited by it ; but that those whose constituents were to be plundered should tamely submit was not and ought not to be expected. But he was much mistaken if this measure could be protected from the discontent and indignation with which the great majority of the United States always visit a course of injustice and oppression. They should recollect that the public lands were public treasure, and belonged as much to the whole people of the United States as the money in the treasury, and should be protected precisely in the same way, and should be distributed among the States with as much equality as possible. A very large portion of the property was acquired by the common blood and treasure of the old thirteen States, and the other portion was purchased with the money of the whole derived from the taxation on the consumption of the country, the consumers being principally in the old States.

Senator Bayard, father of the present distinguished senator of that name, followed Judge King, and spoke in very eulogistic terms of his speech, commencing with the remark, " he had listened with great delight to the senator from Georgia, who has given a true exposition of facts as connected with the speculation going on in public lands and the effects which would result from passing the bill."

This speech was one of the ablest dehvered on that question, and no man can read it now without understanding how it was that Judge King so thoroughly commanded the attention of the senators, as he always did, when he went fully into the discussion of a question.

He has been from his youth up an eminently practical man. One short sentence uttered by him in passing, while making a speech of much power in the Senate on the currency question, plainly but fully illustrates his character in this particular. Said he : " We should never resort to theory when we have the lights of experience to guide us."

Soon after he had taken his seat as a senator from Georgia, alongside of the eloquent and powerful Forsyth, a proposition was being discussed that Judge King instantly condemned as being an unauthorized attempt to bestow favor upon the representatives of the people in an unconstitutional way.

The resolution authorized the purchase of thirteen copies of the American State Papers, and Messrs. Frelinghuysen and Ewing explained that the work was indispensible to members of Congress in the performance of their legislative duties and was already printed ; and the object was only to supply those new senators (Judge King was one of them) who had not yet obtained them. Judge King opposed the resolution on constitutional grounds, " that it was taking money out of the treasury for the purchase of books for private libraries of members without an appropriation by law ; and that any other works might, with the same propriety, be purchased, and to any amount and extent." He admitted " that works might be purchased which were necessary for the use of the members in performance of their public duties ; but that they should be confined to the office, and not given as an absolute property to the officer; " and he moved, though unsuccessfully, to lay the resolution on the table for the balance of the session. He also and for the same reason opposed the clause in the appropriation bill for the purchase for members of Congress of the " Docu-j mentary History of the United States." He said he should vote to strike out the clause from the bill, and should thus vote against the amendment of his colleague. He thought there was no more authority in Congress to set up a book shop tiian to set up a millinery shop, to buy books for members than, to buy bonnets for ladies. He referred to the constitutional powers of Congress, and declared from none of them was the authority derived. He expressed the belief that the work, if authorized, would cost the government three or four millions of dollars. He disclaimed any intention to cast censure upon the contractors, but was of the opinion that the contract was erroneously and unconstitutionally entered into ; and that the secretary of State had been taken in.

This has been a fixed principle of Judge King's whole life when dealing with funds not his own, as many will admit, who know with what pertinacity and uncompromising hostility he has, as president of the Georgia Railroad, opposed any and every species of deadheadism.

Although a thorough Union Democrat he did not at all times approve and endorse every feature of party policy put forth by those who claimed to be the leaders ; and he would thus sometimes subject himself to severe criticism anp censure from the merely partisan press and politicians. Even in those days of high party excitement and passion he differed with some of the measures of the Jackson administration, for then as ever through his whole life he was opposed to what he considered extremes, and always had the fearless, independent manhood and honesty to oppose them, even when advocated by his warmest political friends.

But the jars and wrangling and constant excitement incident to political life were unsuited to his tastes and habits of thought, and some of the party press of the State having censured, unjustly as he thought, a very notable speech he made against some of the leading measures of Mr. Van Buren's administration, he, in 1837, pi'omptly resigned the trust committed to his charge and retired into private life. " No like abandonment of politics from personal disgust," says Alexander H. Stephens, " has ever occurred in the history of the United States." It may be added here that he never afterward accepted political preferment, and his career thus exhibits the rare distinction, unparalleled perhaps in our political history, of having held but one political office, and that the highest - the office of United State senator.

Judge King had served throughout as a Democrat, but never as a demagogue. He always declined to be a partisan. He bitterly opposed the nullification theories of Mr. Calhoun; he did not justify the removal of bank deposits by President Jackson ; he declined even to sanction the efforts of his own colleague.

Forsyth, to furnish the Senate with important documents at public expense. He fought the system of pre-emption of public land, and made a record against monopoly and money power in every form. He voted with his party when Democracy seemed right, and fought them openly whenever they went wrong. He was fearless, honest, unyielding and resourceful, blunt, candid and impetuous, and was always practical and profound.

The monetary affairs of the country, through reckless legislation, were at this time in a most disordered condition, and great financial misery existed everywhere. Commercial enterprises in Georgia as elsewhere were completely paralyzed, and the affairs of the Georgia Railroad being in an embarassed state, he was pressed by the shareholders to assume its management. This road was commenced in 1835, and was projected to connect Augusta with Atlanta by way of Madison, with a branch line to Athens. When Judge King assumed the management, in 1841, it was only completed as far as Madison. Having agreed to take charge of its affairs for a period of two years, he placed his own private fortune and credit at the command of the company, and ere long by good management and close economy, put it on a safe and remunerative footing; He completed the main line to Atlanta and the branch to Athens without calling upon the stockholders for a dollar, and the earnings of the road increased to such an extent under his management that besides paying large dividends for many years he had, at the beginning of the war in 1861, a surplus of something over $1,000,000 in hand. During the war the rolling stock and track of the road was almost entirely destroyed by Sherman's raiders, the loss aggregating nearly $3,000,000. The restoration was necessarily very gradual, and it has only been within recent years that it has been put in as good condition as before the war.

In his first report to the stockholders after the war in 1866, treating of the discouraging outlook and of the political restrictions in business, Mr. King says: "The question occurs, how long is this condition to continue ? The directors are no politicians or prophets, but they will venture a prediction, which accords with their hopes, that it cannot continue long. Our hopes rest upon the obvious truth that the interests of the people of the whole United States are identified with our own. However passion and prejudice may obscure the truth for a time, it will soon be seen and felt that the great industrial and consuming classes and the governing class are in a position of antagonism to each other. Every material condition at the North and West is much concerned in the rapid restoration of Southern industry. To the navigating, commercial, financial, mining, manufacturing and agricultural interests Southern products are vastly important, and to some of them these interests are almost vital. Let conviction of these obvious truths penetrate the national heart, and the contest cannot last long."

previous to the war it was a bank of issue. It has always had a large deposit and discount business, and from the status given it by the wealth and standing of its stockholders, ranks probably higher than any other banking institution in Georgia.

Perceiving the necessity of connecting the Georgia Railroad with the southwestern part of the State, Judge King in the early years of his connection with railroad operations built the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, and under his direction as its president it became one of the most profitable railroad enterprises in the country, though like other Southern roads it suffered considerable losses during the war.

Judge King remained in active control and management of the Georgia Railroad until May, 1878. During this long period - over a third of a century - he was a leading spirit in the railroad development of the South, and to no one is the State of Georgia more indebted for its present facilities than to him. Commencing with the incipient stages of railway transportation in America he found a field where his great talents could be more congenially employed than in the political arena, and with all the energy of his nature, unusual executive and administrative ability, he gave himself up heart and soul to the material development of his State and section. He succeeded in his endeavor as he had succeeded in every thing he undertook, but in that success the people of the whole State shared, and are still reaping the immeasurable benefits of his exertions.

Judge King while connected with railroad management studiously abstained from politics, but in 1865 he was prevailed upon to take a seat in the Constitutional Convention of that year, where his sound judgment, patriotism and eminently practical wisdom largely influenced its action. James Johnson was the provisional governor of Georgia under President Andrew Johnson's plan of reconstruction, and all looked forward with confidence to the re-admission of the Southern States to the Union on the known liberal terms of President Lincoln, but the dispute between President Johnson and Congress defeated these moderate measures, and rendered the work of the convention nugatory.

Judge King was one of a few public-spirited citizens of Augusta who projected the Augusta Canal, which was commenced in 1845, ^"<^ ^^s also an influential stockholder in the early days of the Augusta factory.

At the time of his retirement from railroad life Judge King had nearly completed his four-score years, and he then withdrew from active business into the retirement of private life. For nearly forty years he was president of the Georgia Railroad, For ten years he had been living a retired life. His winters were passed in the wooded seclusion of the Sand Hills; his summers sped away on the heights of North Carolina, and the lengthening shadows, sloping peacefully to the horizon, seemed to trace in heroic outlines the characters of a remarkable life. After a brief illness of only a few days, he died of congestion of the lungs on Monday, March 19, 1887.

In reviewing the career and achievements of Judge King we find in his stately and symmetrical character much to admire, much that is worthy of emulation. By his own energy, integrity, physical and mental activity, and unswerving devotion to justice and right he attained a high place in the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and might have won a still higher niche in the temple of political fame had not his tastes and inclinations drawn him from the political arena to the financial world, where his remarkable abilities, natural and acquirec^, could find fitting scope. He was a close student and a vigorous and forcible writer, as his numerous contributed articles to the journals of the day during important political crises so clearly revealed. Well versed in the public affairs of his own country, in which he was thoroughly abreast of the time, he also had an intimate knowledge of political affairs in the old world. To his high courage and indomitable will were added many of the social virtues, and while ever a resolute antagonist when occasion demanded, he was also a genial friend and warm sympathizer with human distress and suffering. Through every movement of his business and private Hfe there shone a rigid and unflinching integrity which never yielded to any stress of circumstances, and was never misled by any plausible consideration of policy. In his public career and private life he was recognized as an upright, honest man, who turned aside with manly and unwavering detestation from the devious paths into which the managers of great business enterprises are often tempted, and he passed away at an age allotted to few men, not only without a stain on his professional, public or business record, but conspicuous among all who knew him for his unbending integrity.

The rector of St. Paul's beautifully says of his declining years. " He gathered a library such as none but a man of wide reading and rare intellectual taste could ever collect. The masters of the world's thought in literature, in history in science and philosophy looked out from the shelves where he had enthroned them They had been the companions of his life, in the Senate of the United States, in his office or in his home. But in his last years there was one book which seemed to separate itself from all other books, and gradually absorbed the whole study of his later life. Day after day and sometimes far into the night in the soft glow of the lamp- light, I have seen him with his New Testament before him, as only a man of trained mind can absorb himself, in the untiring study of that book of good."

Mr. King married in 1842 the only daughter of Mr. John Moore Woodward, of New York City. Their eldest daughter married (first) in 1872, the Hon. Henry Wodehouse, of the British Embassy in Paris, who died the next year in diplomatic service in Athens, Greece, and (second) the Marquis of Anglesey in 1880. The second daughter married John Berrien Connelly of Burke county, and the third, Louise Woodward King, died unmarried in 1879. The latter was distinguished at home and abroad for her active efforts on behalf of dumb ani- mals. She obtained the enactment of a State law for the prevention of cruelty to animals, and organized a society for the purpose of enforcing that law. She was also the originator and founder of the Louise King Home for Widows in this city. The only son, Henry Barclay King, who married in 1884 a daughter of Mr. O. E. Cashin, of Augusta, graduated with honors at the University of Oxford, England, in 1867.

YOUNG, Wn.LIAM B., of Augusta, was born in Columbia county, Ga., in 1838, and is the son of Allen C. and Elizabeth (Dye) Young, the former of English and the latter of Irish descent, his paternal ancestors being among the early settlers of Maryland and Virginia. In 1844 he came with his parents to Augusta where his early education was received in the Augusta Eree School. At the early age of twelve years he began a practical business career as a clerk, serving in that capacity for four years. He then was employed for three years in the car shops of the Georgia Railroad. Then to further perfect his business education he attended school for one year, after which he became bookkeeper in a grocery store. In 1859 he became a partner in the grocery house of James A. Ivey & Co., and at the time when the war between the States began was conducting a successful business.

At the time of the beginning of hostilities Mr. Young was a member of the Richmond Hussars, a well-known military company organized prior to the war. This company volunteered in the defense of the Confederacy in the early part of the year 1861, Mr. Young at the time being first corporal. It was assigned to Cobb's Georgia Legion, General Hampton's command. General Stuart's corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, serving in this department of the army during the entire progress of the war. Corporal Young was promoted to rank of first lieutenant in 1862, and in 1863 was made captain'of the company. Captain Young participated in all the severe fighting in which his command engaged until his capture by the Federals in 1864, including the battle of Seven Pines, engagements around Richmond in 1862 - conspicuous for the destructive battle of Cold Harbor and Malvern Hill; second battle of Manassas, Harper's Ferry and Sharpsburg, the heavy cavalry fighting by General Stuart around Fredericksburg, which included the battle of Brandy Station and Culpepper. This service was followed by the battle of Chancellorsville, General Stuart's almost constant cavalry fighting between Leesburg and the Blue Ridge and his famous raid through Maryland and Pennsylvania. The battle of Gettysburg and the memorable engagements in the Wilderness quickly followed. In one of the cavalry raids in the Wilderness, Captain Young was captured, and for fourteen months was confined as a prisoner of war at the old capitol prison, Washington, D.C, and at Fort Delaware. During his period of service Captain Young was wounded three times, but was never incapacitated for duty. For the first three years of the war few took part in more active, continuous field service than

Captain Young. Through it all he bravely and courageously did his duty and gained a record as a soldier, of which he has a right to feel a justifiable pride.

After his release as prisoner of war in 1865 Captain Young returned to Augusta and secured employment as bookkeeper, continuing in such service until 1873. He then became a member of the wholesale grocery firm of Young & Hack, retiring in 1886 after a very prosperous career in this line of trade.

In 1870 Captain Young was elected a member of the city council of Augusta, and has served the city almost continuously in this capacity ever since. He has proved a most valuable member of the city government, and has been foremost in advocating all public improvements, being ever ready to devote his time and energies to whatever has promised to promote the best interest of the people. He has served on all the important committees of the council, and has been chairman at different times of the committees on finance, canals, streets and drains, police, health, waterworks and engine. His long experience in the management of city affairs has made his services especially valuable, and feware more often consulted concerning questions of public policy, or whose suggestions are more favorably received by the people He has also taken a deep interest in the cause of popular education and for the last ten years has been a member of the board of education of Richmond county.

In the business life of Augusta for several years Captain Young has been an important factor. In 1881 he was made president of the Richmond Factory, and his management of this enterprise since has been highly satisfactory. He was secretary and treasurer of the Augusta, Gibson and Sandersville Rail-- road from the inception of the enterprise until it was completed, and has since been a director. He was a director in the Augusta and Knoxville Railroad, and now holds a similar relationship to the management of the National Exchange Bank, the Augusta Savings Bank, and is a director and secretary of the Augusta and Chattanooga Railroad, now in course of construction. Since 1886 he has been cashier of the Augusta Savings Bank, his duties in the management of this institution and of the Richmond Factory principally engaging his time and energies.

Since 1859 Captain Young has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has taken a deep interest in the workings of this ancient order. He has held various offices of high rank and has been grand commander of Knight Templars of Georgia, the highest position in the State. He was an active worker in securing the erection of the Masonic Hall in Augusta, and is a member of the board of trustees.

Captain Young is one of the most liberal and progressive citizens of Augusta, and cheerfully extends his aid and influence to all deserving public enterprises. As a business man his career has been highly successful and in every way commendable. His personal integrity is above reproach, and his connection or identification with any movement insures public confidence in the undertaking. He is a man of the most exemplary habits, agreeable and affable in disposition and easily wins and holds his friends. His life has been an active one, and his career is alike honorable to himself and worthy of imitation.

He was married in 1871 to Miss Key, daughter of Rev. Caleb Key. They have three children, two boys and a girl. Their home is a happy one and here Captain Young finds his chief source of happiness.

WALSH, Hon. PATRICK. Few men of the present generation have done as much for Georgia as the Hon. Patrick Walsh, of Augusta ; and no man in the city has done more for the advancement of that municipality. Alike in State and local matters Mr. Walsh has for years been a safe adviser and steadfast friend.

Mr. Walsh was born in Ballingary, County Limerick, Ireland, on January I, 1840. While he was of very early age his father and two brothers emigrated to America and settled in Charleston, S. C, where, in 1852, Mr. Walsh joined them in company with his mother and sisters. Here the future editor at once went to work, being apprenticed to the Charleston Evening Nezvs to learn the printer's trade. At the age of eighteen he was master of the typographic art, and became his own man as a journeyman printer. The press he adopted as a profession, and with the foresight and prudence so characteristic of his nature at once devoted himself to a careful preparation for the manifold requirements of that most exacting calling. Like so many other men who have wrought themselves forward into honorable prominence in the grand arena of life, Mr. Walsh was confronted at the outset of his career with that true saying :

The yearnings of the lad for an education which should fit him for the career his ambition depicted were chilled by the hard necessity of daily toil ; but difficulty is only a spur to one of the right mettle, and Mr. Walsh fought the battle of life and the struggle for knowledge simultaneously. Just as Alexander H. Stephens taught school by day and studied law by the glare of lightwood knots at night, just as Hugh Miller used mallet and chisel from dawn to dusk, and then far into the hours of darkness wrought out the geological secrets of the earth, so during the academical hours of the day Mr. Walsh was a most diligent student at the Charleston High School, and in the afternoons and at night worked as a compositor in the newspaper offices of the city. By this untiring double industry he soon found himself prepared to enter college and with a modest fund in hand to sustain him while further pursuing his studies, and in 1859 became a student of that venerable and renowned seat of learning, Georgetown College, in the District of Columbia. His progress here was rapid, and but for the gathering war-clouds which then began to overshadow the country, he would have graduated in due course with distinguished honors. But in December, i860, South Carolina seceded; in April, 1861, the sullen boom of the opening gun reverberated through Charleston Harbor; and forthwith closing his books the student returned home and joined the Meagher Guards, one of the companies of the First South Carolina Rifle Regiment, then on duty on SulHvan's Island. On the reorganization of the South Carolina forces the Meagher Guards became the Emerald Light Infantry, and Mr. Walsh was commissioned as one of its lieutenants and stationed at Castle Pinckney. His two brothers also entered the Confederate service. Then the blockade becoming established the pinch of want became felt throughout the unfortunate, beleaguered Confederacy. An aged father and mother and two dependent sisters demanded assistance, and on Mr. Walsh as the youngest son and brother was devolved the sacred task. In August, 1862, he came to Augusta in search of employment, and became a printer on the Constitutionalist. In January, 1863, he was promoted to be local and night editor, the latter a most responsible position in those times, when each night the wires brought news of life and death.

In 1864 Mr. Walsh,, in conjunction with Mr. L. T. Blome, then an Augusta journalist, and afterward for a quarter of a century the valued and efficient clerk of the city council, began the publication of the Pacificator, a weekly paper which obtained an extended circulation throughout the South, and was continued until June, 1865. In founding this journal Mr. Walsh foresaw the approaching end of the struggle, so glorious and yet disastrous, and with his usual sagacity sought to outline a policy which might secure the South honorable terms. For months he was so far in advance of public sentiment that his efforts failed to meet response, and when, finally, the Confederate government aligned itself upon his idea and sent Vice-President Stephens to negotiate at the famous Hampton Roads Conference, the golden moment had passed, and nothing remained but to await in silent heroism the bitter end.

Mr. Walsh's prescience in public affairs has been often signally manifest, but this early manifestation of the soundne.ss of his judgment is almost unknown. Had his views been acted upon promptly, as they were ultimately, by the Confederate government, precious blood would, in all human probability, have been spared, and years of agony, impoverishment, and retardation averted.

In November, 1866, Mr. Walsh severed his connection with the Constitntionalist, and became one of the editorial staff of the Chronicle and Sentinel, then published by Mr. Henry Moore, and edited by General A. R. Wright. After the death of General Wright, Mr. Moore sold his interest in the paper in May, 1873, to Mr. Walsh and Mr. H. Gregg Wright, son of the general. Mr. Wright edited the paper with great brilliancy and power, and Mr. Walsh managed its affairs and directed its policy so wisely and so well that in 1877 it absorbed the Constitutionalist, its rival for over half a century. Upon the consolidation, the name of the paper was changed to the Chronicle and Constitu- tiojialist, but in 1885, the centennial of the Chronicle, the latter portion of the name was dropped, thereby resuming the original style under which the journal first appeared in 1785. The career of the Chronicle from 1866 to the present time is well known. It has steadily risen in dignity, value and influence, until at this hour it is without a superior in the field of Southern journalism. From 1866 to the date of this writing, the firm and cautious hand of Mr. Walsh has been at the helm, and while in the vicissitudes of twenty-three eventful years there have at times been divergencies of view between the Chronicle and current public opinion, the verdict of time has almost uniformly been in favor of the paper. Sometimes the helmsman sees rocks not discernible to the crew ; not infrequently the sentinel on the watch-tower discerns perils not apparent to the garrison. The record of the CJironiclc on the public questions of the last quarter of a century is probably unparalleled for wisdom of position and accuracy of view.

The value of such a journal to the city, the State, and the whole South is beyond estimation, and if Mr. Walsh had done nothing else than to build up so potent an auxiliary for good, his life would be a benefaction to the people whose interests he has watched and whose welfare he has guarded. But, to adopt a phrase from Shakespeare, "the people know a good man when they find him," and the popular favor has brought Mr. Walsh forth to do them service in other than journalistic fields. In looking over the history of the past twenty years we find that in times of exigency. State or municipal, Mr. Walsh has been looked to and relied on.

In 1870, when, after a period of turmoil and distress, the government of the State reverted back into the hands of its own people, the public attention, no longer fixed on the glitter of bayonets, was directed to measures of industrial improvement, Augusta in particular shared this impulse, and in 1870, and again in 1871, and in 1872 Mr. Walsh was elected a member of the city council. In this body he strongly favored the enlargement of the Augusta canal, a work which was carried into execution some few years later, and has made the city one of the most important centers, if not, indeed, the most important cotton manufacturing city in the South. In 1872 Mr. Walsh was elected to the Legislature, re elected in 1874, and again in 1876. During this extended term he made himself prominent by much legislation of general interest. In particular he was largely instrumental in securing the holding of the State Constitutional Convention of 1877. He was a warm and effective supporter of every measure looking to the development of the mining and the manufacturing interests of the State. He favored exempting from taxation for ten years money invested in woolen mills, cotton factories and iron furnaces; and advocated State aid to the Atlantic and Gulf, the Northeastern, and the Marietta and North Georgia Railroads. He was in favor of all legislation having in view the furtherance of the moral, educational, and material interests of

Mr. Walsh also favored the State granting pensions to maimed Confederates ; and at the instance of some benevolent ladies of Augusta had a statute enacted which makes cruelty to animals a criminal offense - humane and honorable legislation, which has been perfected and strengthened in late legislatures, and has saved man's humble friend and servant a world of agony and torture.

In the South Carolina campaign of 1876 Mr. Walsh signally manifested his wisdom as a political leader, and his power as a political writer, by his course in reference to the conduct of the canvass in that State. The spectacle of this proud State of his early home bowed down between negro supremacy on the one hand and Federal bayonets on the other powerfully appealed to his heart. How to effect deliverance was the burning question of the day in which Georgia took almost as deep an interest as the people of the Palmetto State themselves. Mr. Walsh counseled a straight out ticket and a square fight for the control of the State by its own citizens. This policy was advocated by the Chronicle with a power and persistency that was eloquence itself The wisdom of this aggressive course under the then peculiar environments of the State was doubted by some, but as usual Mr. Walsh's sagacity was vindicated by results. The redemption of South Carolina from misrule became an accomplished fact, and after sixteen long years of turmoil and anxiety the State was once more represented in Congress by her own sons.

In 1880 Mr. Walsh's soundness of judgment again manifested itself in a signal manner. Governor Colquitt was a candidate for re-election as governor of Georgia. A fight unprecedented in the political history of the State was made upon him, and in the most exciting convention ever held in Georgia, a powerful and talented body of delegates steadily resisted his candidacy, iterating and reiterating that he was not the people's choice. Mr. Walsh took issue with this statement, and carried the majority of the convention with him, but so bitter was the contest and strong the opposition that no regular nomination was made Governor Colquitt was re-elected by an overwhelming majority, and Mr. Walsh's prescience most signally manifested. During this struggle some of the most influential members of the convention, representing the minority, approached Mr. Walsh and tendered him their support if he would consent to become a candidate for the nomination. But this offer was declined, as Mr. Walsh could not reconcile it with his duty to accept a nomination if tendered under such circumstances. He considered that it would be the betrayal of a trust and the desertion of a friend who had placed his cause in his keeping.

In 1884 Mr. Walsh was one of the delegates from the State at large to the Chicago Convention. He was made the member of the National Democratic Executive Committee from Georgia, and had his advice been heeded the vie- tory ol 1SS4 woiikl have been duplicated in 1888. With all his power he stro\H" at^ainst the atloption of the polic\- outlined in the Mills Hill as certain to result in disaster to the National DenuH'racy. l\li". Walsh believes in the polic}' of protection to American interests, lie thinks that the tarifl" should be so arranged as not only to afford the necessar\- revenue for the support of the government, but to protect, at the s.inie time, all le<;itimate American industries. The labor ami the capital of the country, in \vhate\'er business engaged, whether in agriculture, manufactures ov mines, is entitletl to the protection of the go\'eriinient from foreii^n competition, not for monopoh' or for extortion, but to enable our people to recei\e fair ciMiipensation tor their capital, labor and products.

Mr. Walsh h.is been an earnest supporter of all movements looking to better government for the Irish people. lie consiilcrs it the duty of American citizens to aiil in e\'ery way the people of Ireland, as well as the people of other countries who are strugi^ling tor their rights against the oppressimi and t\ ranny of numarchial governments. He believes that the agitation of Irish grievances, ciMistant ajipeals to the intelligent public opinion of the world, and moral su|)piMt and substantial aid from the Irish and their sj-mpathizers in the United States will result in the triumph of those principles in Ireland essential to the peace and happiness of her people.

In August, i8()6. Mr. Walsh niairied Ann Isabella, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John 1'^. McDonald, of ICdgefield District, S. C. She has been to him his best counselor and dearest friend. Whatever success he has achieved in life has been due kirgeU' to her who has blessed him with the ad\ice, the aftection ami the lo\e of a devoted wife.

In appearance Mr. Walsh is a striking personage, thick set, well knit, firm in his bearing. He has a kind, friendly face, a clear, blue eye. and a countenance oi'Wn illuminated with a genial glow. In speaking, his voice is strong, his gestures emphatic, and his manner so earnest and impressive as to command attention. He writes as he speaks, with dignit)', decision, candor and strength. His integrit\- is spotless; his friends, legion, as befits a character, which, uuiler e\ery test, luis [)ro\en the pure L;old of fitlelity and truth.

. irClH'.LL, ROIUCKT M., was born at Lynchburg, Ya., on April 12, '' 1845, and is a son of Robert M. and Mary Mitchell. His parents were of Scotch descent, their .incestiMS ha\ing emigrated from Scotland and settled in America in 1732. The youth and boyhood of the subject of our sketch were piissed at home. He was educated at the cit\' schools and Lynchburg Military College.

When he left the school room the greatest war of modern times had just begun, and he immediatelx' cast his fortune with the people of his section, and on April 17, 1861, entered the Confederate service as lieutenant of Company

A, Eleventh Virginia Regiment, Kempers Brigade, Picketts Division, Army of Northern Virginia, and served in all the memorable engagements of this commaiul until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, including the battles of Hull Run, First Manassas, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Harrison Landing, Second Manassas, l^oonsboro, Antictam, Plymouth, Drnry's Bluff, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Five f\)rks. He was four times wounded in action, and dangerously so during Grant's left flank movement on Richmond. In the famous charge of Pickett's division on Cemetery Heights, at (Gettysburg, Captain Mitchell commanded the left wing of the regiment, and while leading his command was wounded in the side and arm, after passing the historic rock fence where the storming column pierced the Federal center. During this destructive battle to the valiant members of Pickett's division, he escaped capture and was at the roll call of the division on the night of July 3, 1863, when only 400 men of the 5,500 who entered the engagement answered. There are few, if any incidents in the war between the States which furnish a more inspiring and heroic picture than the daring charge of " Pickett's men" on this occasion, and their courage and valor adds one of the brightest pages to the military annals of our times. Mr. Mitchell shared all the dangers and hardships of this justl)' distinguished portion of the Confederate army, and was in command of the F.leventh Regiment until the battle of Five Forks.

i'^or two years subsequent to the war, Mr. Mitchell engaged in mercantile pursuits, but in 1868 he moved to California, and until 1870 was engaged in mining operations near Yreka, Siskiyou county, lie then passed two years in Texas and Mexico, but in 1872 moved to Augusta, Ga., from Virginia, where in November of the following year he was married to Miss Lucie Reaney, the younger daughter of Mr. William Reaney, of McDuffie county. They have had four children - three daughters and a son - in order of birth as follows: Marie A., Hattie R., Fannie L., and Robert M., jr.

For five years prior to 1883 Mr. Mitchell was connected with the staff of the Augusta CJironicle and Constitntiotialist, and in the field of jom-nalism displayed unusual ability, but it was not the kind of work calculated to call forth the best resources of his nature. That opportunity came in the fall of 1883, when he conceived the project of building a railroad from Augusta to Sandersonville. At this time he was [jractically without capital, and many doubted the feasibility of the plan. But with unlimited faith in the enterprise and backed almost solely by a strong determination to succeed, he went to work with all the energy of his nature. He enlisted capital, and in a short time organized the company which has since been known as the Augusta, Gibson and Sandersville Railroad Company. Work was soon commenced, and during the period of construction all of the financial management of the venture fell upon Mr. Mitchell, and so well did he succeed in this i)articular that when the road was completed and opened for business, in December, 1886, there was not a dol- lar of debt against the company for its construction. This road has been in successful operation since ; has paid its way, and to-day its bonded indebtedness per mile is perhaps smaller than any other road of the same length in the country. Mr. Mitchell was elected president in 1883, and from that time to the present, as canvasser for subscription to the original capital stock, as negotiator of its securities and as general manager of the road, he has shown such good business judgment and such excellent administrative ability that he has annually been elected to the presidency of the company.

In 1886 he organized the Augusta, Edgefield, and Newbury Railroad Company, afterwards known as the Georgia and Carolina Midland. He was made president of the company, and under his administration some sixty-five miles of this line were graded, but the management and extension of roads in Georgia demanding his attention, he retired from the presidency. The road was then consolidated with the Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad Company, Mr. Mitchell declining a most advantageous offer from the authorities of the consolidated roads.

The completion and successful operation of the Augusta, Gibson and Sandersville road has but feebly demonstrated to Mr. Mitchell the feasibility and possibility of other lines which he has projected, using the present road as a basis. One of these projected lines extends through Eatonton, Monticello, and Griffin, to Birmingham, Alabama. The company also holds a charter for a road through Hawkinsville and Albany to St. Andrew's Bay, and the same privilege to construct a line from Augusta to Thomasville.

For the purpose of developing and building up towns and selling land on the line of the Augusta, Gibson and Sandersville road, and the projected lines, the Central Georgia Land Company was formed in 1888, with an authorized capital of $1,000,000. Of this company Mr. Mitchell is president.

As a railroad builder and manager, Mr. Mitchell has shown remarkable shrewdness and clear business foresight. He is well fitted by nature for the field in which, in a brief space of time he has made such rapid strides. He possesses in a large degree that energy, determination, and patience which does not understand defeat. He has the power to most forcibly impress upon others his own clearly defined views, while at the same time he begets their confidence and secures their co-operation. What he has already accomplished, important as it is to the prosperity of Augusta, is but a foretaste of what he hopes to achieve for the upbuilding of the city.

Personally Mr. Mitchell is a genial, affable gentleman, easily makes and retains friends, is fond of social intercourse, but finds his chief pleasure within the family circle. He is a hard worker, enthusiastic in any project he undertakes, and when once embarked in an enterprise he follows it persistently until success is secured. In the material prosperity of Augusta he has already become an important factor, and in the years to come his career promises much of good to the State and city of his adoption.

Index

congress, 70 Articles of capitulation at surrender of Augusta, 123. Assembly of 1780, inconsistency of, 97. the recalcitrant, of 1772, 50. the self-styled, 93. " A State of the Province of Georgia," etc.,

25. Athletic Association, the, 294. Augusta, abandonment of, by the British, 80. absence of courts, at, 33 act of incorporation of, 161. after the surrender of, 125. agriculture and trade of, in 1739, 27. amicable relations between the settlers of, and the Indians, 33. and Savannah Town, communication between, 25. at the close of the eighteenth century, 148. attack upon, in 1779, 73. Bartram's description of, 56. birthplace of the cotton gin, 388. changes in charter of, 159. Augusta Chronicle, article in, on Longstreet's steamboat, 146. Augusta, city of, incorporation of the, 135. contradictory statements published concerning the progress of, 27. danger to the people of, through French influence with the Indians, 39. death rate of, 270. description of, about 1800, 148. designated as capital of the state, 82. detailed account of capture of, from the British, 113 et seq.

date, 29. first appearance of the drama in, 144. first church built in, 35. first fort built at, 30. first legislative meeting at, 83. first military body at, 30. first minister in, 35. first newspaper in, 137. honorable financial record of, 191. importance of as a cotton center, 431. intendants and mayors of, 136 (note), 191. legislation affecting, 132 et seq. letter of Oglethorpe from, 31. loss of, to the British, 74. maintenance of the garrison at, 32. _, Manufacturing Company, 417. memorandum of Stephens concerning, 32. named in honor of the princess, 25. natural advantages of the country at the date of settlement of, 30. occupation of, by the Bnti-sh, 102. only visit of Oglethorpe to, 31. " Petersburg and Savannah River Steam and Pole Boat Navigation Company of Northeastern Georgia, The," 474. plan of, 150 et seq. population of, in 1791, 137.

the National, 359. Citizens', of Augusta, 364. City Loan Association and Savings, 363. City Loan and Savings, of Augusta, 363. City, of Augusta, 364. City, the, 347. the Commercial, 361. Georgia Railroad, 359. Banking and Railroad Company, Georgia, 347. laws, penal, 264 et seq. system as regulated by law, 349, et seq. Bank. Manufacturers', of Augusta, 364. Mechanics', the, 344. Merchants' and Planters', 342. National Exchange, of Augusta, 359. Planters' Loan and Savings. 362. president's annual and semi-annual statements required of, 332. reports, annual, 333, et seq Savings, of Augusta, 363. Union, the, 346. Banks, ante helium 338.

Bart ram, William, impressions of, in 1773, 56. Bench and bar, members of the, in public affairs, 246. Bicycle Club, the, 294. Biography of : work of, 266 et seq. Bowen, Commodore Oliver, death of, at Augusta, 165. Brick, manufacture of, 430. Broad street, rectification of lines of, 160. Brown, Thomas, affair of, 66.

completion of, 188. effects of enlargement of, 415. enlargement of, 413. history of, 401, et seq. litigation over the, 412. Carr's Fort and Kettle Creek, result of the battles at, 79. Carr's Fort, the operations at and loss of. 75. Catholic church in Augusta, 380.

Knights of America, the 298. Catholics, discrimination against, 368. Charter, surrender by the trustees of their, 36. Chemical works, the Georgia, 425. Cheering prospects of 1782, 101. Chief Justices John Glen, William Stephens, 219; John Wereat, George Walton, 220; Henry Osborne, 221 ; Nathaniel Pendleton, 223.

of the Atonement, 372. Civil war, labors of the women in, 180. opening of, 177. troops called for, for the, 179. Clarke, Colonel, expedition of, to regain Augusta, 104.

scheme of Oglethorpe and Percival, 153. Colored churches, 385. Commercial Club, the, 292. Commissions to sell city lots, 152, 157. Committee to appoint delegates to the national congress, 84.

431. culture, rise of, 438. duties, British discrimination in, 393. early transportation of, 440. factories, establishment of, 399 et seq. factory, Bellville, 396.

evidence that Whitney was the inventor of, 164. infringements upon, 389. legislative, action concerning, 388. Whitney's, 387 et seq. machinery, first in the State, 395.

seq. roll of Judges of the city, 250. superior, letters patent of, 204. Courts, absence of records of early Richmond county, 218. appeals in, 209. common law, 200.

superior, under act of 1778, 214. under the State constitution of 1777, 213. Cracker," the, 439. Cremation, practiced by the Indians, 21. Creeks, depredations of, in 1767, 49.

DAVIE'S, Myrick, resolution upon the death of, 100. Davis, David, fidelity of, 128. Debts, release of, against Indians, 51. De Lacey, Roger, Indian trader, 30. Delegates to Congress in 1781, 99. Deplorable condition, resultant of the Civil politic, 93. Distress following war of 1812, 169. Douglass, David, communication of, regarding address of citizens of Augusta, 41. representative, 35. Drama, the, 291.

Education, free, benefactions to, 318. Educational board, county, 310. early, system, 301. fund, 310. Effects of the capture of Augusta upon the chief Justice's, 202. Fertilizers, manufacture of, 420. Finances, condition of the State, 82. Flouring mills, the Augusta, 428. Fort James, 52.

Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals the, 295. vote of, cast in favor independence, 05. wealth and prosperity of, at begining of Civil war, 179. Government, difficulty in conducting the State, 82.

HABERSHAM, Hon. James, advocacy of slavery by, 35, Habersham, Major, Joseph, arrest of, 72. Hale, Samuel, mayor for ten years, 171. Hall, Dr. Lyman, delegate to the Continental Congress, 03.

extract from statement concerning Savannah River, 403. Hastings, Captain Theophilus, 24. Hayne Circle, the, 297. Hebrew Church, 384. Hickman, Colonel H. H., enterprise of in the

ICE Companies, the Jackson Street, 428. The Polar and Augusta, 428. Immigration retarded by Indian outbreaks, 55. Incidents of the Revolution, epitome of, 72. Incorporation, act of 1789, 158.

whites, 17 et seq. tribes, territorial domains of the, 19. warlike strength in 1708, 50. Indians, address to, by Captain Stuart, 45. agricultural methods of the, 19. cession of lands by, to cancel debts to traders, 50. congress of. at Augusta in 17G3, 44. cremation practiced by, 21. danger of hostility of, averted by Oglethorpe's wise policy, 33 et seq. disruption among, caused by French malignancy, 39. effects of influx of foreigners among the, seq. introduction of small-pox among, by Carolina traders, 34. kindliness of, towards the settlers, 33. mission of Oglethorpe to the Creek, 31 et tribal connections of the, 17 et seq. unsatisfactory relations with, 143. use of copper by the, 22. wrath of, appeased by Governor Reynolds, 42. written and sculptured records of, 21. Indigo, cultivation of, 437. Industrial Home, the, 296. Inhumanities practiced under CornwaUis's

JACKSON'S legion, treason in, 127. Jones, Charles Colcock, jr., biography of, part II. 19. Jones, Dr. Noble Wymberley, 50. Judges, roll of superior court, 246. Judicial districts, division of the State into, the State formed into three, 228. establishment, the present, 218. establishment under the colonial government, 197. powers, assumption of, by provincial congress, 71. provisions of early charters, 193. Judiciary, meager information relative to the

KENT, Lieutenant, complaint of, concerning the civil affairs of the government, 34! Kettle Creek, engagement at, 77. King, John Pendleton, biography of, part II,

LADIES' Memorial Association monument, 180, et seq. La Fayette, visit of, to Augusta, 170. Lands, details of regulations for sale of, 52. Lawlessness and rapine, reign of, 90. Laws, obnoxious, 194.

Lee. Colonel, brilliant exploit of, 113, et seq. Lee's surrender, effect of, in Augusta, 186. Legislation affecting Augusta, 132 et seq. paucity of, during the Revolution, 71. weak attempts at royal, 92. Legislative interest in religious matters after the Revolution, 371.

McCALL, Captain, statement of, relative to treason in Jackson's legion, 128. McCoy, William 10., liiograpliy of, part II, 24. Machine Works, the Augusta, 42'J.

dillerencea between and Walton, 04. review of case of, by tlu; House of Assembly, 00. Manufacturing ('ompany, the Augusta, 417. the John P. King, 421. the Perkins, 430. the Sibley, 420. Martm John, (fleeted governor in 1782, 101. Masonic fraternity, the, 298. Matthews Ooveinor, anecdote of, 107; death

'' Mechanics, the Augusta Association of," 159. "Medical Academy of (ieor(i;ia," 252. Me<li(;al College, erection of, 254. " Medical College of Georgia, The," 254. " Me<Iical Institute of the State of Georgia, comments upon, 32. only visit of, to Augusta, 31. planting of the colony of Georgia by, 17. recommendation of, in favor of O'Brien, 30. Ornaments of the Indians, 23. Orphan Asylum, the Augusta, 296.

PACK-IIOKSES and flat-boats, 430. parishes, division of the province into, etc., in 1758, 37. Patriotism of the people, 1 1 0. Peace treaty with the Indians in 1774, 5.5. Penalty for counterfeiting, in rules of Bank of

Augusta, 332. Personal daring, instances of, 80. Phini/.y, Charles IT., biograi)hy of, part II, 2.5. Phini/.y, John, reminiscent tostunony of._ 173. Physicians, early, in Richmond county, 2.51. Physicians, eminent:

Antony, Dr. Milton, 271. Carter, Dr. John, 272. Cunningham, Dr. Alexander, 272. Dugas, Dr. Louis Alexander, 273. Eve, Dr, Joseph Adams, 270. Fendall, Dr. .Jo.seph II. M., 272. Ford, Dr. Lewis Saussure, 275. Garvin Dr. Ignatius P., 273. Newton, Dr. George M., 273. Watkins, Dr. Auder.son, 272. Physicians, leading, followed by sons and relatives in the profession, 277. State Board of, 253. Pickens, General, ordered to Augusta, 113. Political sentiments, serious divisions in, 59. Pope, General, rule of, 187. Pottery made by the Indians, 23 Presbyterian Church in Autrusta, 372 et seq. Presidential tours, contrast between, 143. Priber, Christian, attempt of, to prejudice the

Railroad, the Augusta and Summerville, 510.^ the Augusta and Port Royal, .508. the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta, 507. the Augusta, Gibson and Sandersville,

Reconstruction, congressional, 187. Records, written and sculptured, of the Indians, 21. Red Men, Independent Order of, 299. Reid Chief Justice, incidents in the life of, communication of, to the council, 42. gifts to the Indians by, 36. miliLiiry recominendations of,'37. Richmoinl Academy, origin of, 157. Richmond county, a natural manufacturing center, 398.

Poultry and Pet Stock Association, The, 294. Rivalry between Augusta and Savannah, 159. Riverside Mill", the, 421. Roll of chief justice.s, superior court judges, condition of the Slate upon the fall of, 72. operations of General Wayne around, 129. powder magazine, seizure of, 65. provincial congress at, 67. surrender and evacuation of, 130. Savannah River, act for improvement of in 1786, 446.

of Augusta, 25. rapid growth of trade at, 24. transfer of Indians from, to Augusta, 25. Savannah Valley, convention of people of, 458. Savings Bank, Augusta, 338. Savings Institution, the Augusta. 362. Scholastic year, 327. School act of 1843, 312. of 1852, 313. of 1858, 317. age, change of, in 1859, 313. appropriations, necessity for, 313. Colored High, 325. fund, augmentation of in 1858, 313. funds, report of Governor Jenkins upon, 321.

system, change in, in 1840, 312. system, disruption of, by Civil War, 317. system, early general, 303. system in 1828, 308. system, the poor-, 304. teachers' certificates, method of procuring,

Augusta public, laws regulating, 324. colored, enactments concerning, 321. division of, 327. examinations in, 326. Governor McDonald upon the, 312. Governor Scliley upon the, 310. house committee report upon, 305. in 1830, 310. in 1839, 311. poor-. 307.

323. regulations governing admission of pupils to, 320 Seminole war, Augusta troops in, 172. Senatus Academicus, the. 302. Settlements increase of, 52.

bodies, 39. Tomo-chi-chi, Indian chief, 17, 29. Traffic, rules for, witli the Indians, 29. Transportation, early, 436. Travelers' Protective Association, the, 298. Treaty of November 10, 1763, between the opinion of, regarding Augusta, 132. Ware, Nicholas, 169. Waterworks, introduction of, 176. Wayne, General Anthony, Savannah, occupied by, 130.

296. Woman's Exchange, the, 296. Wright, Governor, admission of, of his inability to suppress the indications of revolt, 62. assurance ot, to Lords Commissioners,

48 et seq. decisive stand taken by, with the Indians, 54. expression of, concerning the rebellion, 71. fidelity of, to the Crown, 64. flight of, 72. letters of, upon the siege of Augusta,

263. report of committee appointed to inquire into the, 255 et seq. reports concerning, from various cities, 258 et seq. resolutions of the Augusta Medical