Macon, Georgia - Historical Record of Macon and Central Georgia : Containing Many Inter (part 5 of 8)

A Southern Rights Mass Meeting convened in Macon on the 2 2d of August. It was attended by delegates from a majority of the counties in the State, and by distinguished representatives of the party from Alabama and South Carolina. The Convention organized by electing ex-Governor Charles J. Mc- Donald and the venerable Hon. Christopher B. Strong as Presidents. Nine Vice-Presidents and two Secretaries were elected. After addresses by the Presidents, Hon. R. B. Rhett, of South Carolina, spoke for two hours in advocacy of the great prin- ciples of State Rights. He was followed by Hon. William L. Yancey, the fiery orator of Alabama, in a most thrilling speech of equal length. Col. Cochrane, of Alabama, then followed with much force. After an adjournment for an hour to partake of a barbecue, the Convention re-assembled and was addressed by Hon. Walter T. Colquitt and W. H. Stiles, in able speeches. During the evening many other speeches were made in various parts of the city.

The resolutions adopted by the meeting were firm and patriotic. They endorsed the proceedings of the Nashville Convention, and insisted upon the adoption of the "Missouri Compromise Line."

In Congress the excitement was unabated. An amendment was offered to Mr. Clay's bill relative to Utah, which provided that "when the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be admitted as a State, it shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of her admission ; " the same was applied to the Government of New Mexico. Under this agreement California was admitted as a separate State into the Union on the 9th of September, 1850, and Congress adjourned on September 30th, after

On September 23d, Governor Towns issued his proclamation a session of nine months and twenty-five days, to the people of Georgia, appointing the 25th day of November for the election of delegates from the respective counties to attend the Convention at Milledgeville, on Tuesday, the loth of December, to consider the late Acts of Congress.

The political excitement, already intense, began now to increase until the day of the election of delegates to the Milledgeville Convention. Public meetings were held in every county in the State by both parties, each proclaiming its respective platform with a declaration of principles.

On the 28th of September the Union party of Bibb county held a large meeting at the court-house, over which Hon. T. G. Holt presided, and in his introductory address he declared the issue to be momentous : The subject to be considered was

Union or Dissolution. After a brilliant address, Hon. Washington Poe submitted a set of resolutions favoring the Congressional acts, which were passed with great enthusiasm. Large committees and a great many officers were appointed, consisting of both Whigs and Democrats, to work for the interest of the party.

The Southern Rights Party rallied in strength at the courthouse on October 8th. Thomas King, Esquire, was called to the chair, and J. H. Morgan and A. H. Colquitt appointed Secretaries. A committee of twenty-four were appointed to prepare a preamble and resolutions. During the retirement of the committee Colonel T. C. Howard addressed the meeting in a bold and eloquent style. Colonel Bailey, Chairman, returned with the committee and submitted the platform on the basis of Southern Rights, with Union and Constitutional Equality. After the adoption of the platform and resolutions exciting speeches were made, and a committee appointed to select candidates to be supported by the Southern Rights Party of Bibb.

On the 7th of October Hon. A. H. Stephens addressed the Union Party, and those opposed to secession or dissolution; and on November 5 th Hon. Howell Cobb addressed a large Union meeting of the citizens of Bibb at Hardeman's new warehouse. Both parties had nominated their strongest and most available men, and the contest, which was wild all over the State, closed on the 25th of November by a large majority for the Union tickets. In Bibb one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven votes were polled. The Union delegates, Robert Collins, Washington Poe, A. P. Powers and William Scott, were elected. The highest Union vote was for Dr. Collins, being one hundred and sixty-one over the highest on the opposition ticket.

On the loth of December the delegates met at Milledgeville, and the convention was organized by calling Judge Edward Y. Hill to the Chair and Robert S. Lanier, Secretary. Every county was represented and every delegate in his seat. The Hon. Thomas Spalding, the only surviving signer of the Con- stitution of the State, was chosen President by acclamation. Hons. W. B. Wofford and Andrew J. Miller were chosen Vice- Presidents and R. S. Lanier continued Secretary. A committee of thirty-three was appointed to report business for the Convention. At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 13th, Hon. Chas. J. Jenkins, Chairman of the Committee of thirty-three, presented the report. After some little discussion the Convention adjourned until three p. m., when it reassembled and adopted the report by a vote of two hundred and thirty-seven to nineteen.

The report was written by Mr. Jenkins ; it was a masterly and powerful production, and compared favorably with the best writings of Jefferson and Troup. By its adoption the Convention declared that the State of Georgia will and ought to resist, even as a last resort, to a disruption of every tie which binds her to the Union, any action of Congress incompatible with the safety, domestic tranquility, the rights and honor of the Slaveholding States.

A gloom was cast over the community on the receipt of the intelligence that on the 4th of October, about two o'clock, a. m., the bark, Isaac Mead, from New York, was run into by the steamship Southerner, and sunk in five minutes. There were twentysix passengers on the Mead, all of whom except two, Mr. Bradley, of the firm of Wood & Bradley, of Macon, and a Mr. Stanton, perished. Among those who were lost were Mrs. Lyman Barnes and Mrs. Bradley, of Macon ; also, Mr. Hezekiah Granniss, and Miss Harriet L. Granniss, of Connecticut, who contemplated living in Macon.

The year 1850 closed, notwithstanding the tremendous political excitement, with very favorable commercial advancement. Cotton brought from ten to eleven and a half cents throughout the year; new enterprises were being introduced; the burnt districts were being built up, presenting a greatly improved and more substantial style of buildings ; the population of the city was increasing, and many new and elegant residences were being erected.

perous, particularly at the South. The people had entirely recuperated from the effects of the panic during the last decade, and no population on the globe were in a more thriving condition than that in the Sunny South.

The city finances had been wisely managed, and the heavy debt that once hung like a portentious cloud over the city was nearly extinguished. The official report of the Mayor, George M. Logan, was published on the 9th of January, showing the gratifying statement that the debt had been reduced to $60,- 512.85, and from the resources of the city that ^10,000.00 of the bonded debt could be paid annually without embarrassment to any of the city's interest.

The citizens of Vineville were aroused about midnight, on February 7th, by an alarm of fire in the house occupied by Mrs. Swinden. The well rope was found cut, the bucket missing, and the doors of the house heavily barred. Suspicions were excited that Mrs. Swinden and the four children had perished in the flames. After the building had fallen in, and the fire had somewhat subsided, their remains were discovered. From the testimony given before the inquest, and from other facts elicited, there was no doubt that Mrs. Swinden, in a fit of mental derangement, murdered her four children by cutting their throats with a razor, then fired the house, and either cut her own throat or voluntarily perished in the flames.

To the honor of the benevolent projectors, a movement was made this year for the foundation of a system for the Education of the Blind. On April the i8th. Dr. J. M. Green assembled a few citizens at the Council Chamber for the purpose of taking some action in regard to the education of the blind children of the State of Georgia. Hon. E. A. Nisbet was called to the Chair, and A. R. Freeman acted as Secretary. At this meeting measures were adopted that laid the foundation of the establishment, in Macon, of the Academy for the Blind in the State of Georgia. Upon this subject, an extract from a published letter, April 30th, 1852, from the Rev. J. H. Campbell, says; "While I was acting as Commissioner for the Deaf and Dumb I naturally had my attention turned to the blind, and in 1845 ^ happiness to secure an Act for the education of the former class, so as to include the latter. That amendment will be found in the Laws of 1845, 25." Under the Act an appropriation

On May 5th, Mayor James Smith, formerly of Clinton, Georgia, died at the age of sixty-six years. He had been a prominent lawyer and citizen of Macon for many years. He was a member of the Board of Commissioners to lay off the county of Bibb and town of Macon. The names of the Commissioners were James Smith, Oliver H. Prince, Abner Wimberly, Pleasant Phillips and William Hamilton.

The anniversary of Ireland's Patron Saint was enthusiastically celebrated on March 17th. O. A. Lochrane established a reputation for oratory by an address that he delivered on this occasion. At nine p. m. a large party sat down to sumptuous tables at the Washington Hall, and ^'Hibernia" resounded in toast, speech and song until daylight.

Hon. Christopher B. Strong died suddenly in Perry, on the night of the 3d of May. He was regarded as ^^the Father of the Bar ' ' in his circuit, and his death was deeply mourned. His remains were brought to Macon and with due honors interred in Rose Hill Cemetery.

Hon. A. H. Stephens addressed the citizens of Bibb at the court-house on September 2 2d. His speech was declared the most powerful effort during the campaign in vindication of the compromise measures, and the Georgia Platform.

On October 29th the Planters' Convention of the Southern States assembled in Macon, and a large number of delegates of prominent gentlemen from Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and a multitude from all parts of Georgia were in attendance. They organized by the election of ex-Governor Moseley, of Florida, President ; eleven prominent delegates from distant States and two G^rgians Vice- Presidents; Nathan Bass and J. Knowles, of Georgia, and William P. Gould, of Alabama, Secretaries.

At the same time the Georgia Agricultural Fair was held, and continued three days. Ten States were represented by distinguished delegates. It was a gala week in Macon, and the large gathering was composed of the flower of Georgia and other States. This Society had its origin in a meeting of about sixty gentlemen, who met at Stone Mountain in 1846. Each of the gentlemen paid one dollar and made a premium list to the extent of the fund, $60.00, and had a Fair twelve months thereafter, which was held in a ten-pin alley near the mountain. At the first meeting for organization two jacks were the only articles exhibited. The display at the Exhibition of 1851 would have been creditable to any State in the Union.

The following publication by one of the most worthy citizens of Georgia appeared in the Milledgeville Recorder, October of the same year, is reproduced as

An Interesting Reminiscence

"In 1819, I was attracted to Fort Hawkins by the assembling of the Creeks in the neighborhood to receive the annuity due them from the Government of the United States. David Brydie Mitchell, a Scotchman by birth, who had been Governor of the State, was then Indian Agent. On the evening of my arrival I saw the big warrior, the most striking specimen of Indian greatness, the Little Prince, the speaker of the tribe, and its greater orator, and General McIntosh, its most gallant Chief. They were in consultation with the Agent about the affairs of their people. On the morning of the next day I crossed the Ocmulgee river and went into the encampment of the Indian people, who had assembled to be fed by the Government and receive their share of the annuity. It was in a forest of tall spreading trees which covered the hills and valleys along the river ; there was no undergrowth to mar the beauty of the landscape. Many thousand Indians were standing or squatted in little groups around fires which the coldness of the morning made necessary for comfort. I was invited to take breakfast with the family of the Little Prince. The speaker was employed in his official duty of getting together the chiefs for a council to be held during the day. He could not, therefore, be present with his guests. His wives were engaged in cooking when I walked up to the place pointed out as the Little Prince's fire. The bed on which the great orator slept was close by, not made up. It consisted of a pile of leaves covered over with skins, and only wide enough for a single person. Whilst I and several others were around the food set before us, getting at it as we could with our fingers and knives, a deer was seen bounding through the groups. Every Indian was immediately on his feet. They gave such a yell as will never again reverberate along the banks of the Ocmulgee river.

'' Whilst I was in the encampment, standing on the bank, I saw several logs floating on the river, the middle of which had been scooped out so as to make them hollow. They were called canoes, and were fastened by grape vines to snags or trees on the water's edge. An Indian occasionally got into one of them, seated himself on the hind end, and with a board made small at one part for the grasp of the hand, and at the other broad to press against the water, paddled himself across the river, along whose current steamboats are now moving as if by magic.

The big warrior, at this meeting of the chiefs, wore a coarse, dirty cotton wrapper. An eagle's or other long feather, hung from the heads of many of the young braves as they stood or stalked about. Strings of colored beads were around the necks of the squaws. Every head was bare and a moccasin was on every foot.

" The Indians, their encampment, the bounding deer and fearful yell, has been brought distinctly to my imagination by the account of the Agricultural Fair proposed to be held at the same place. , The dress, looks and manners of the Indian chiefs and squaws were very different from what will be exhibited by the gentlemen and ladies who will be assembled at the Fair. The place where the Indian encampment was, has undergone a wonderful change in thirty-two years It is probable , that not one tree which stood upon the hills and in those valleys when I saw them, now remain. Warehouses, bank houses, churches, colleges, splendid dwelling houses, shops of business and industry now stand where trees then stood.

'^Our British ancestors, in times long past by, used to hold fairs in every precinct. The people went to them to barter what they had for what they wanted, to get drunk, bruise each other's faces with their fists, and break each other's heads with their cudgels. What a contrast between the fighting, bartering fairs of Old England and those of Young Georgia, where the beauty and refinement of the ladies vie with the science and skill of the gentlemen; the famous blooded and finely formed animals of the farmer, with the well made tools of the mechanic ; the productions of the agriculturalist, with the fabrics of the manufacturer ; and where crowds of the courteous and the thinking control the rudeness of the uncultivated. The object of the Georgia Fair is to improve agriculture, encourage the arts, extend knowledge and expand social feelings. They tend to give to many who would otherwise be careless of their country's good, interest in the thought, ^'this is my own, my native land."

"When the old man who writes was young, more than half the territory of the State was occupied by Indians, the least improvable of all the races of men. They are all gone. The places which once knew them is now occupied by the best population of the most improved countries. If the glorious promise derived from the past shall be realized in the future, Georgia is destined to be the brightest star in the galaxy of the Union." the thermometer fell to zero. On the 19th a fire originated in a store on the west side of Cherry street, near Second. It was one of the most destructive fires that ever occurred in the city. It extended until the whole square was laid in ashes, except the brick residence formerly owned and occupied by Major James Smith, corner of Second and Poplar streets, and the warehouse of Hardeman & Hamilton, corner of Poplar and Third ; the latter contained six thousand bales of cotton. Eighteen stores, besides outbuildings were consumed. The night was extremely cold, and the water froze in the hose of the fire engines. In May another fire occurred on Third street, which was arrested by blowing up a building on the Cherry street alley ; eight buildings were destroyed.

On June 29th, Henry Clay died in Washington City, having passed the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth. The papers were dressed in mourning on their next issue. Judge E. A. Nisbet was appointed to deliver a eulogy upon his life and public sevices.

The death of Daniel Webster, the last of the ''great trio," occurred at his residence at Marshfield, Massachusetts, on the 23d of October. The Macon papers were draped in mourning, and measures were adopted to render a suitable tribute to his memory.

Died, in the vicinity of Macon, on the 20th of February, of pleurisy, Eleazer McCall, Esq., aged about fifty-six years. He was located at Fort Hawkins before the city of Macon was laid out, and had been a resident of the city, or vicinity, since 1819. He was the first Justice of the Peace elected in East Macon District, when the county was organized. He had ever been esteemed as one of our most upright and enterprising citizens. He was interred on the 21st at the burial ground on Fort Hill, by Macon Lodge, No. 5, of which he was Senior Warden when It was organized in 1824, and its Master in 1828. He was also captain of the Bibb Cavalry during its campaign in the Creek War.

Cotton was selling at seven to eight and a quarter ; the ruling price throughout the last year was seven to ten cents. ^ The receipts of 1852, and also that of 1853, had fallen off thirty thou-

On March ist, the City Council subscribed ^10,000.00 to the Macon Gas-light Company. The capital stock was first $42,- 000.00, all subscribed to in the city. Mr. A. J. White was elected President of the Company.

The attention of Council was engaged during the year in devising plans to procure water for the extinguishment of fires, and the organization of a Fire Department with a superior class of machines to those in use, which were found to be totally inefficacious.

Among the improvements by the citizens in the summer, James A. Ralston was erecting a handsome range of brick buildings on Cherry and Third streets ; and on Scond street the Baptists commencing the building of a new Church.

The business over the Macon and Western Railroad had increased wonderfully within the past five years. The trains on one day in January, 1854, were loaded with freights from Nashville to Macon. The road between Nashville and Chattanooga had just been finished. The freight lists showed that there had been an immense business with Maccn, and that it was the most prominent depot tor the distribution of Tennessee produce in the State. Atlanta was now becoming a thriving city.

Another war was inaugurated between the citizens and the railroads. There had just been a bill introduced in the Legislature to authorize the consolidation of the Macon and Western and the Central Railroad Companies. A meeting of the citizens of Macon convened on the 14th of January to give expression to the public opinion on the subject. His Honor E. L. Strohecker, Mayor of the city, was called to the Chair, and Simri Rose appointed Secretary. On motion, the Chair appointed L. N. Whittle, J. B. Lamar, George Patten, Peter Solomon and Thomas C. Nisbet a committee to report business for the action of the meeting. The committee retired, and on returning reported, in substance, that the consolidation or amalgamation of the roads would submit the commerce and interests of Macon to the control of a monopoly, and permit it to discriminate in the charges and transportation of freight against the city. Among other declarations it was

Resolvedy That our Senator and Representatives are requested to oppose the passage of any law the object of which may be to consolidate and unite the Central Railroad with any one or more railroads coming into Macon under one and the same charter ; and that they urge the passage of a law repealing all acts now of force allowing the Central or any other railroad company to lease other roads or to use and work them with their own."

On April 17th Macon was visited with another very destructive fire, which swept the buildings on the block located on the southeast corner of Mulberry and Third streets. The two new engines that had been ordered by the Council had just arrived, and were baptized at this fire into their first service. There were many other fires in the county and city during the year.

Ex-President Fillmore, and his Secretary of the Navy, John P. Kennedy, honored Macon with a visit on the 20th of April, and received a lively demonstration of the gratitude of the people for his unsectional and patriotic administration. A committee of citizens met him on the Muscogee Road and escorted him to Macon, where he was met by the military and a large procession of citizens and escorted in a carriage drawn by six splendid gray horses to the Lanier House. In the presence of a large multitude he was welcomed in behalf of the citizens to the hospitality of the city by Hon. Eugenius A. Nisbet, in an address of characteristic grace and eloquence.

In reply, Mr. Fillmore expressed "surprise and gratification at the cordiality and enthusiasm which he had received throughout his tour, which was more grateful to him as he held no official position and was not a candidate for any. In referring to the circumstances under which he had assumed the responsibil- ity of the Gerneral Government, and to the prominent events of his administration - the passage of the compromise measures - he claimed for himself simply an honest purpose and a sincere desire rightly to administer the Government according to the Constitution and laws of the land. With regard to the compromise of 1850, he remarked there was one feature of that settlement, the fugitive slave law, which was exceedingly odious to the people of the North which, when he opposed, he knew he was sacrificing himself to his best friends, but it was simply designed to carry out the plain provision of the Constitution, the Constitution he had sworn to defend, and he signed the bill. There were other features in that settlement distasteful to the South, distasteful, perhaps, to many before him, but it was made; it gave peace and quiet to the country. If the discharge of that duty involved sacrifice, he had cheerfully made it, and was amply compensated for it, even by the cordial welcome he had received in Macon.

" He was followed by Mr. Kennedy, (Horse-shoe Robinson,) in a lively speech, full of pleasant humor which produced much laughter and applause. He paid fine compliments to the State of Georgia, and particularly to the ladies, whom he declared were the ruling power in this good State without their knowing it, or at least caring to declare it ; he recommended them to Mr. Fillmore, who possessed a kind eye and warm heart towards that class. ' '

Mr. Fillmore was a large, portly gentleman, with a handsome, honest face, and very pleasing address. A grand soiree was given to the distinguished guests in the evening, at the Lanier House, where the beauty of the city was most smilingly, gracefully and elaborately displayed. The ex-President proved himself to be a very good judge of female beauty ; in fact, he was a connoisseur in his gallant criticisms. He was also very popular with the ladies ; with some more than others, for besides his high and honest public character, good looks and pleasing manners, he was a fresh widower with a competency.

with that terrible scourge, the yellow fever, which continued until frost. The weather in the month of August was excessively hot. The thermometer at Macon was not less than ninetythree degrees ; it stood generally at ninety-eight, and frequently at one hundred to one hundred and three degrees. Yet the city remained healthy during the entire summer. The citizens of Macon united with the Council in extending aid to the sufferers during the prevalence of the pestilence. The sympathies of the people in the country were aroused, and they nobly responded in sending in money and provisions to be sent to Savannah. Macon became a place of refuge for many of the famlies on the seaboard ; some members brought the seeds of disease with them and died in this place ; and though there were often a dozen strangers sick with the disease in one day in Macon, it did not prevail as an epidemic.

The Governor of Georgia appointed the 2 2d of November as a day of thanksgiving. Macon having so miraculously escaped the ravages of the epidemic, the Mayor issued a proclamation simultaneously with the Governor, appointing the same day, to be specially observed. The Synod of Georgia being in session at the Presbyterian Church, that body supplied all of the pulpits in the city, and the day was religiously observed.

Ex-Governor George W. Towns expired at his residence in this city on the 15th of July, of paralysis, of which he was first attacked in 1851. He was born in Wilkes county, Georgia, in May, 1801. Soon after he attained his majority, he moved to Mongomery, Alabama, where, after fitting himself for admission to the bar, he devoted himself to the practice of the law. Returning to his native State, he established himself at Talbotton, Georgia, where he resided until called to the Gubernatorial Chair in 1847. frequently represented his county in the

General Assembly of the State ; and was elected to Congress in 1834, 1836, and again in 1845, before his term of office expired was elected Governor of his State, and re-elected to that office in 1849. buried on the 17th of July, a large con-

On September 2 2d, a great conflagration took place, burning more than one-half of the square between Second and Third streets, and fronting on Mulberry. The two blocks on Mulberry were totally destroyed, extending as far back as the alley dividing the two blocks fronting on Cherry street. The buildings were nearly all of wooden structure. The greater part of the property was insured, and though the fire was the most extensive that ever befell the city, the loss was not great. Among the buildings consumed was the old ''Washington Hall." Upon its ruins, were soon built the handsome Washington Block, which, with the other buildings erected, are among the most creditable to the appearance of the city.

The General Passenger Depot, on Fourth and Plum streets, for the accommodation of passenger trains of all the railroads, was completed in December, at a cost of ^100,000.00. It is an elegant and durable structure well arranged for all its purposes. Opposite to it, at the same time, was completed Brown's Hotel, a first class establishment, named for its owner and proprietor, E. E. Brown. It was enlarged after the war, destroyed by fire in 1878, and rebuilt and reopened the same year.

On March 29th a fire broke out in a stable in the rear of the Floyd House. It soon spread over the whole square, and it was with great difficulty that the Floyd House and the Market House were saved. The latter was saved through the exertions and daring of a noted negro, popularly known as "Lit Young." For this gallantry he was made an honorary member of Protection Fire Company, No. i. The loss of property by the conflagration was Si 4. 000. 00, of which there was insured $8,950.00.

On the 5th of August, Mr. L. O. Reynolds, President of the Southwestern Railroad Company since February, 1849, the Warm Springs, in Virginia. He was succeeded by R. R. Cuyler, who had been the President of the Central Railroad Company every year since the death of Mr. Gordon, its first President in 1842. The e'xtent of the Southwestern Road in opera- tion in 1855, was ninety-two miles. The report of George W. Adams, Superintendent, stated from the time the road was completed to Fort Valley, in July, 1851,- down to August ist, 1855, that two hundred and sixteen thousand five hundred and sixteen passengers had been transferred over it, and only one person of that number had been injured, and the injury he incurred was the result of his own carelessness.

Solomon Humphries, a free negro, age fifty-four, died in this city on the 8th of August. He was a resident of the city from its earliest settlement. For many years he was a prosperous merchant and cotton dealer. He was one of the oldest merchants in the city and was respected for his uprightness and strict integrity in business by all of the Macon merchants. He was well known in Savannah, Charleston and New York as a merchant of reliability -and honor. His funeral was preached by the Rev. Robert L. Breck, of the Presbyterian Church, (white,) of which he was an old member, and the oldest merchants of Macon attended the ceremonies.

A large fire occurred on November 20th. It broke out in the buildings of James A. Ralston, corner of Third and Cherry streets, and extended to the warehouse of Hardeman & Sparks, on Third and Poplar, and half way up the block on Cherry street. Loss ^100,000.00, partly covered by insurance.

January, 1856, was an unusually cold and disagreeable month. After heavy rains, snow and sleet fell, with much hail, such as had not been witnessed for many years. Thousands of the trees, which were the boast of the city, were either broken down or shorn of their branches. The storm was a general one, and extended through several States, from Virginia to Louisiana. The snow fell heavily, and remained on the earth several days. A number of impromptu sleighs were made for the occasion, and the streets, sidewalks and roads were enlivened by the novel ringing of the merry bells.

A very exciting State election took place this year. There were three candidates for Governor: H. V. Johnson, Democrat, Garnet Andrews, American, and Overby, a Temperance candidate. The majority for Johnson was more than two thousand over the others combined. In Bibb the American ticket was successful, electing their candidates to both the Senate and House. The American or Know-Nothing Party, as it was most commonly called, originated in 1853 and 1854. It was a secret organization, and was very popular for a few years, particularly in the many cities. The party succeeded in carrying a large number of States. Its principal object was opposition to foreigners holding office, and its motto was: "Americans must rule America." After the death of Clay and Webster the old Whig Party became almost extinct, and their followers joined the Know-Nothing Party, which survived but a few years.

Henry G. Ross, Esquire, died in this city on January 7th, 1857, fifty-six years old. At the time of his death it is believed that he was the oldest resident of this city, having settled at Fort Hawkins, then the frontier of Georgia, in the year 1818. He was the second Clerk of the Superior Court elected in this county after its organization, which office he held until 1856, and his books are a record that he was a model for system and correctness in the performance of the duties of his office. He was deputy clerk in the same office on the organization of the Court and County in 1823, and remained in it until succeeded by his son, Albert B. Ross, in 1856. The latter is the present incumbent, and has held the office, except when in the service of the army during the late war, since the resignation of his father.

The month of January, 1857, like the same month the last year, was very cold. On the i8th snow fell, and on the 19th the mercury fell to eight degrees above zero ; the lowest point last year was twelve degrees.

The sad intelligence of the death of Major Matthew Robertson was received on February nth. He died at his residence in Harris county. He was the first proprietor and editor of the Georgia Messenger^ at Fort Hawkins in 1823.

Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, the gifted authoress, died at Marianna, Florida, of Pneumonia, on the nth of February. As an authoress she had few superiors in the United States. She had lived in Georgia, and secured the esteem of all who knew her. Her daughter, the wife of the Rev. J. O. Branch, inherits much of her mother's talent, and is now, (1879) engaged at her residence in Savannah writing an interesting narrative, entitled, ''Anabel's Secret." The plot is developed in California, of which State the authoress was a recent resident.

The amount of buildings this year was estimated at $400,000. Most of the burnt blocks of Mulberry, Second and Third streets were being rapidly built up with handsome brick stores, and the "Washington Block" of 1857 presented a pleasing contrast to the "Washington Hall" of 1856.

In the month of June the stockholders of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad Company had their first meeting on the 26th, and effected an organization by the election of Hon. A. E. Cochran and Hon. James Houston, of Brunswick, George Walker, of Pulaski, E. E. Crocker, of Twiggs, Captain B. F. Ross, T. R. Bloom and L. N. Whittle, of Bibb, to complete the Board of Directors. At a subsequent meeting the Board unanimously elected Judge A. E. Cochran President, and E. C. Rowland Secretary and Treasurer. The meeting passed a resolution of thanks to Elam Alexander, for valuable services in behalf of the road. No one in the community had manifested more zeal or greater energy in the enterprise than Mr. Alexander.

The State Democratic Convention assembled in Milledgeville on June 24th, and after twenty ballots for candidates for Governor, on the evening of the 26th Judge Joseph E. Brown was nominated.

Governor H. V. Johnson having called a convention of the military companies of the State at the Capital for a grand review on the 4th of July, there was no celebration of the day by the military in Macon. Eighteen companies and a vast crowd of citizens assembled at Milledgeville. The Cadets from the State Military Institute were present, and to their credit, when cigars and wine were handed to the soldiers, they, with one accord, refused to partake of either. A few enthusiastic patriots in Macon jubilated by the discharge of an immense number of fire crackers, and an artillery practice with an old cannon, which they hauled around on every street. They made more noise than was heard at Milledgeville.

In October the Southwestern Railroad Company completed their line to Cuthbert and Albany, and were making arrangements to extend their prosperous enterprise to Eufaula and Fort Gaines.

In September Mr. Wadley resigned the Superintendency of the Central Railroad. He was presented by the company and its operatives with a handsome tea service of twenty-six pieces, in testimony of their confidence in him as an officer, and their esteem for him as a citizen and friend. The set was of the most massive silver and chased in a style of elegance. It was handsomely ornamented with engravings of the principal objects of interest connected with the road, such as the depot and workshops in Savannah, a train of cars, etc., etc., with the initials W. M. W. engraved on each piece, and in the centre of the salver the inscription : \Y. M. Wadley, from the Officers, Mechanics and Employees of the Central Railroad Company, Savannah, September, 1857."

Emerson Foote, the skilled and accomplished Engineer and Superintendent of the Macon and Western Railroad was appointed to succeed Mr. Wadley on the Central. Upon leaving the former road, the Board of Directors presented him with two splendid pieces of silver plate, as a testimonial to his able and faithful services as Superintendent of the Macon and Western Railroad for eleven years. The presentation was made in a highly complimentary speech by Nathan C. Monroe, of the Board. Mr. A. L. Tyler succeeded Mr. Foote.

The 5th and 6th of June were the two greatest gala days ever in Macon. The Memphis delegation consisted of two hundred citizens, including many ladies, who had been on an excursion to Charleston and Savannah, and were en route home, via Macon. The military, firemen, city officials, and citizens generally united in extending the visitors a most generous welcome. All of the carriages in the city were at their disposal, and the man- sions of the wealthier citizens open to their service. The hotels were also open to their reception at the expense of the city, where a large number of the gentlemen were quartered and feasted. At night a grand soiree was given at the large and magnificent saloon over the Passenger Depot, and an elegant supper prepared at the Brown House. There were toasting and wineing, music and dancing, while sweet flowers and sweeter smiles were profusely interspersed. "A thousand hearts beat happily, and all went merry as a marriage bell." The delegation was composed of the very flower of Memphis society, and on their arrival home the press of that city were exultant in high compliments to the city of Macon.

The business season opened in the Fall with highly flattering prospects. The merchant and agriculturist had been alike successful. Cotton in September readily sold from twelve to fifteen and a half cents per pound. But there was a financial storm arising in the North and West that burst as sudden upon the country as a thunder clap that follows the concussion of two clouds. There had been an immense jobbing in stocks on Wall street, an over-trading in the West, and a heavy speculation in Western lands. The largest Northern and Western Railroads were declared insolvent, with a loss of several hundred millions each. The largest firms in New York, Boston and Philadelphia were failing. Many banks that greatly extended their circula tion beyond the legal amount, at heavy rates of interest, were crowded with a rush for a redemption in specie on their bills ; and during the month of October, the telegraph every day announced the suspension of banks and the failure of the largest Northern houses. At the North, factories were stopped, and many establishments, having a large force of employees, were forced to suspend operations. The panic soon reached the South, and the alarm became widespread. The South Carolina banks suspended, and by the first of November every bank in Georgia, except three, also suspended. Every enterprise and industry in Georgia had never been in a more prosperous condition ; the people were generally free from debt, and they could afford to stand the panic. But a powerful opposition was raised against the banks for suspending, and their action was brought before the next Legislature in December. A new Governor had just been inaugurated. He was unknown to the masses of the people, but was accepted and elected by his party upon the recommendations of his friends from the Cherokee Circuit over which he had presided as an upright Judge, and in which he had been a devoted and consistent Baptist. He acquired more fame for a short time during the first part of his administrations, and more abuse and extenstve notoriety afterwards than any other public man in the State.

The suspension by the banks was a violation of their charter, and they asked indulgence for the act from the Legislature. After much discussion and legislation, the Legislature passed a bill similar in some respects to that of 1840, allowing the suspension for about a year, with some requirements, restrictions, etc. Governor Brown opposed the measure and returned the bill accompanied by a long and bold remonstrance, with his veto attached. He believed in the simplest and most lucid way of book-keeping, with all of the debits on one side of the sheet, and the credits on the other, and that the balance on either side should show the amount to "a quarter of a cent," and he affirmed that he would use his every power to enforce the banks to comply with their charters. The Legislature, however, passed the bill over the Executive veto. The determination of the Governor acquired for him considerable popularity with the masses of the people.

The panic did not last long. The effects for the short time were very disastrous at the North and West, but only moderate at the South. The banks near all resumed in six to eight months. The Northern Legislature required exhibits of their banks, and it was surprising to see what vast amounts of specie they had on hand. It was believed a "corner" had been arranged among them to contract so as to aggravate the financial panic and speculate largely by purchasing valuable property, whose prices were tumbling down.

On the 5th of February, 1858, Thalberg, the celebrated pianist, and Vieuxtemps, the equally renowned violinist, performed before a very large and brilliant audience at Ralston's Hall. Both of the performers had reached the climax of fame in Europe, and were considered beyond all rivalry. The splendid vocalists to the company were Madame Johanson, Signor Adavarini. The beautiful and charming Miss Kemp, a young American contralto, furnished an excellent variety to the performance. The 'combination was a famous event in musical history.

On March 19th, Keller's grand entertainment, the Young America Ballet Corps," comprising sixty artiste, performed three nights at Ralston's Hall. They presented a pageant never before witnessed in the city, and carried the vast audience every night by storm.

During the month of March there was much religious interest in the several Churches. The Presbyterians were holding daily prayer meetings. The Rev. Dr. Stiles, of New Haven, once the beloved pastor, and among the earliest ministers of the Macon Church, preached to large congregations. In the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Elliott was officiating, and at the Baptist Church, Mr. Kennedy, the eloquent Boy Preacher, attracted a large crowd. He was logical, eloquent and interesting.

The yellow fever again made its horrid appearance in Savannah in the early part of the Fall of this year, and though not as extensively prevalent as in 1854, many valuable lives fell victims to its destructive work. Among them was the lamented Emerson Foote, who had been for one year residing in Savannah, as General Superintendent of the Central Railroad. He died on the 30th of September, aged forty-eight years.

On October 27th, Mr. George W. Adams, General Superintendent of the Southwestern Railroad Company, and who held that position since the beginning of the operation of the road, in 1851, was called to succeed Mr. Foote on the Central Railroad. Upon resigning his old position the Directors of the Company presented him with a handsome and costly silver service in appreciation of his long and efficient services. Mr.

Virgil Powers, who had experienced twenty-four years of service as civil engineer, and chief of that department on the Southwestern Railroad since 1852, was appointed to succeed Mr. Adams, retaining his position at the same time as engineer, which two positions he held in 1876, when he was, at the choice of a combination of railroads, called to his present position over the Southern Railway and Steamship Association.

The locomotive, " Wm. M. Wadley," accompanied by Daniel Gugel, brought to Savannah, October 23d, from Macon, nineteen box and twenty-one open cars, making forty in all, with one thousand three hundred and fifty bales of cotton. The ^'Wadley" was considered the best locomotive on the road, and was manufactured, in every part, at the workshops of the Company, in Savannah, by Mr. William Burnes.

While the Marsh children were performing at Ralston Hall, on December 27th, in conclusion of one of the scenes of the Naiad Queen, little Mary Marsh, in the act of retreating backward from the audience, came in contact with the flame of a light. It set fire to her gossamer dress, and so severely burned her before the fire could be extinguished that she died the following day. One of her companions and Mrs. Marsh were also burned in assisting her, but not dangerously. The alarm and excitement among the audience was very great, but was soon quieted and the performance stopped. Never had the death of a child created such universal sadness in the community. A monument was erected to her memory over her remains in Rose Hill, and at its base, in a glass case can be seen at this time the wreath the unfortunate little favorite wore on the evening of the fatal accident.

At a meeting of the citizens, called by the Mayor and Council on the 30th of December, to ascertain the feelings towards a subscription to the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, it was

Resolved, < That the Mayor and Council of the City of Macon are instructed to subscribe ^200,000.00 to the capital stock of that Company when a like sum shall be bo7ia fide subscribed by other parties : Provided, the same be paid on the bonds of the city bearing seven per cent, interest, and the amount subscribed by the city shall be expended in the construction of that part of the road nearest Macon."

Some dissatisfaction having been expressed by a few citizens to the investment of so large an amount by the City Council to the new railroad project, another meeting was held on the 8th of January following, at Concert Hall, which was largely attended. The original resolution offered by Mr. Whittle authorizing the subscription of ^200,000.00 by the Council was readopted, with only twelve dissenting voices.

The effects of the panic was now (1859) subsiding, and cotton was selling freely in January at ten and eleven and a half cents. The largest sale made in Georgia by one planter occurred this month. Colonel Joseph Bond disposed of his entire cotton crop of 1858, amounting to two thousand two hundred bales, to Mr. T. R. Bloom, of this city, and the net proceeds amounted to over ^100,000.00. This was the largest crop of one season made by one planter in the State.

Soon after this unprecedented and important achievement in the agricultural history of the State, the community was shocked and pained to hear of the death of Mr. Bond, which took place near one of his many well regulated plantations in Southwestern Georgia, on the 12th day of March. A former overseer, whom he had discharged, had maltreated one of his slaves, and for resenting the offense the overseer shot him. He died half an hour afterward. His remains were brought to Macon and buried from the Presbyterian Church by the Bibb Cavalry, of which company he was an esteemed officer, and a large concourse of friends. He was the largest cotton grower and most successful planter in the State. Notwithstanding his devotion to his extensive planting interests, which he managed with the highest order of system in every department, he was a useful, liberal and enterprising citizen of Macon, and his death was greatly mourned.

them. In respect to the memory of young John Lamar, and the veterans, Hons. Peter Stubbs and A. P. Powers, no sentiment was proposed or spoken except to the beloved and esteemed deceased.

Died, in this city, on November 30th, of pneumonia, Mr. Robert Findlay, aged about fifty-two. He was a native of Scotland, and came to this city in 1836, in charge of steam machinery for the Monroe Railroad. He put up and run the first locomotive on that road to Forsyth. Some time afterwards he started a little shop for castings, which expanded into a large business, of which he was the founder in Middle Georgia, with the most extensive buildings for that purpose in the State. He was a man of much public spirit, intelligence and usefulness, and his death was a public loss.

On August 19th, Mr. J. C. C. Burnett finished the census of the city and county. The population of the city was 7,453 ; county, 7,447; total, $14,990. Whites, 8,950; slaves, 6,003; free negroes, 37. There were about 2,000 inhabitants on the environs v/ho were not included in the city returns.

In the history of America, and more particularly of the Southern States, the period of which we now write, was the most remarkable for general prosperity. It was the golden era of the Southern States. Wealth and happiness abounded. All commercial institutions, agricultural and mechanical industries were in a thriving condition. The revenue derived from the products of Southern industries alone paid into the national treasury threefourths of the expenses of the General Government, though but a mite of the vast amount of the Congressional appropriations was expended upon Southern soil. Unaided by the Government, the South had acquired its unparalleled wealth and prosperity through its own energies and industries. The homes of the planters in the country abounded in comforts and luxuries, while the residences in the cities were embellished with the most ornamental productions of nature and of art ; and in them a profuse hospitality was dispensed by as pure and refined society as the world ever witnessed. This period of the augmenting glory of the South may be compared to the brilliant and peculiar one of Athens, when under the administration of Pericles, that was the ''eye and light of Greece," and was the most splendid and prosperous in Grecian annals. But the laurels in the comparison will be awarded to the gallant Southern States from the fact their own people by their individual energies and industry obtained their own wealth, and in their enlightened advancement built their own cities and established their own refined and cultivated society; while Athens was decked and ornamented at the expense of plundered provinces, and the luxuries dispensed among the Athenians were at the expense of the State.

On September the ist, the cotton receipts at Macon reached ninety-six thousand eight hundred and ninety-five bales, which was the largest number of bales received since the opening of the Central Railroad. Cotton was now selling at eight to eleven and a half cents. r-

There were published at this time five large weekly newspapers in the city, and each of them well patronized with large subscription lists, and more than two pages of advertisements.

In i860, Mr. .Isaac Scott, President of the Macon and Western Railroad Company, submitted the Fourteenth Annual Report on the 3d of January, the fiscal year closing on the last day of November. It makes the extraordinary exhibit of a railroad company out of debt, not owing a dollar, either of floating or funded debt, and with a cash balance of ^130,591.94 in the treasury. A dividend of nine per cent, was declared.

" During this whole period the credit of the Company has always been maintained. More than the entire capital has been paid back to the stockholders in dividends, and now, at the close of this year, it stands unencumbered by either floating or funded debt, and worth fully its cost to its owners."

A beautiful flag, prepared under the auspices of Frank S. Bloom, as a donation to the Jackson Artillery, by Messrs. L. N. Whittle, L. M. Lamar, W. B. Parker, J. B. Ross, P. E. Bowdre,

Ira H. Taylor, Albert Mix, Robert Collins, E. Alexander, P. Tracy, O. G. Sparks, J. M. Boardman and T. R. Bloom, was presented in due form in the presence of an admiring throng of ladies and gentlemen, in front of the Lanier House, on March 1 6th. Judge Phil. Tracy presented the standard in a beautiful speech, which was handsomely responded to by Captain Theodore Parker in behalf the company. The flag was proudly waved to the music of the Star Spangled Banner. The corps, after a drill and salute, partook of a collation at Terpsichorean Hall. The company adopted the United States Regulars uniform. They numbered eighty-six members, and made an imposing appearance.

On May ist. His Excellency Edward Blondeel Van Cuelebroeck. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, arrived in Macon from Washington City. The object of his mission was an interview with the Direct Trade Commissioners of the Cotton Planters' Convention, who were soon to take their departure to Europe. The Commissioners, Hon. Thomas Butler King, Colonel Thomas and Hon. Howell Cobb, of Houston, were also in .the city.

of Arms of Georgia thereon. The Jackson Artillery paraded with a flag of the Southern Confederacy, with but fifteen stars, and their standard bore for its device the old arms of Georgia, "The Snake," and the motto: Noli me tangere^

Within the last few years there was a growing desire on the part of the people of Augusta and Charleston to build a more direct line of railroad between Macon and Augusta, and the project found many friends in this city. On January 17th the City Council, at a meeting.

Resolved^ That the city of Macon has seen with great interest the movements of Augusta and Charleston to build a more direct line of railroad to this place, and that at the proper time Macon and her citizens will do their part of the work. ' '

On the 15th of February a vote of the citizens of Augusta was taken upon the propriety of their Council subscribing half a million of dollars towards the building of a Macon road. The total number of votes cast was eight hundred and thirty-six, of which eight hundred and twenty-three were favorable to the city's subscription, and only thirteen against it.

On February 6th the first annual meeting of the stockholders of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad took place. The capital stock so far amounted to ^565,525. The President reported sixty-six and a half miles of the road to be under contract, and that the total cost of the road was estimated at ;^2,i76,7i2. The former Board was re-elected.

On May the i6th and 17th the stockholders convened at Augusta. L. N. Whittle, from the Committee on Subscription, reported the subscription lists showed ^1,013,200.00 had been subscribed to the stock, and that the amount exceeded the requirements of the charter for an organization of the company. A Board of Directors were then elected, and the Macon and Augusta Railroad Company was organized. Mr. S. D. Head was elected President. The survey of the route for the road was made by George H. Hazlehurst. The City Council of Ma-

On December 12th the Belgian Fair was inaugurated in Macon, with a most varied assortment of Belgian and Southern wares and articles of innumerable descriptions. The city was crowded with strangers, and every available vehicle for many miles around was brought into requisition. At nine a. m., the Governor and L'egislature arrived in a special train, under the care of the President of the Central Railroad. They were received on the Fair Grounds at Camp Oglethorpe, by the Jackson Artillery," with a salute of Fifteen Guns.

The inaugural ceremonies were introduced with an address from Colonel Nathan Bass, after which he introduced Judge Stone, of Alabama, the Orator of the Day, who gave a masterly address upon slavery, its origin and history, and its association with the agricultural and political destinies of^the South.

In the evening the Macon Battalion paraded under the command of Captain Robert A. Smith, and elicited great admiration by their brilliant and soldierly appearance.

At the exhibition Charleston and Baltimore were handsomely represented in every class of elegant goods that dazzle the eyes of the ladies, and of more substantial goods that attract the gentlemen. Baltimore displayed over ^50,000.00 worth of goods.

The foreign exhibition was a very large one, and to thousands of spectators was a very interesting novelty in the extensive variety of useful, ornamental and curious things.

The Cotton Planters' Fair was in session at the same time, and operated in connection with the Belgian Exhibition. The combined fairs lasted about two weeks, with most successful displays and operations. It was the grandest and longest display ever made in the State, and in variety the largest that had been made in the South. From the political agitations that prevailed throughout the country for six months and that was now shaking

At the close of this year the improvements which had been made in the city were gratifying in every respect. The receipts of cotton were over one hundred and two thousand bales, the largest since the railroad had been opened to the seaboard in 1843. contracts for building the Brunswick Road were being executed with energy and fidelity. The first cotton over that road was received on the 20th of December, shipped by W. R. Phillips, from Twiggs county, to Messrs. Coats & Woolfolk, of this place. For the last three years the sales of merchandise were far in excess of any previous period. The number of stores and handsome dwelling houses had rapidly increased, and presented a handsome appearance in their improved style of architecture. Several buildings of a public character had been erected of substantial and expensive nature. There were seventeen new stores built during the year, all of the first-class, and sixty-seven new dwellings, and not one of either class were advertised for rent or without a tenant. The increase of travel to the city required more hotel accommodations, and to meet the patronage the Granite Hall was having large additions made, and a new hotel, the Stubblefield House, was nearly completed. The Lanier House was also having an extensive addition and expensive improvements which were nearly finished ; the work of enlargement commenced on the 5th ot June and comprised the addition of another story, together with sixty feet front, making one hundred and twenty-five feet front in all, adding forty-eight new rooms, thirty of which were large rooms, for families only ; two commodious stores, barber saloon and bathing-rooms, etc., were on the first floor.

The Georgia Conference, in 1859, established a large Book Depository in Macon, at the corner of Mulberry and Second streets, under the charge of Rev. J. W. Burke and a Board of Directors, from various parts of the State, which was now in a most flourishing condition and doing a very large and successful busi- ness. For a long time there had been but two prosperous weekly newspapers. Every effort to establish a permanent daily had failed. In connection with his mammoth weekly, Joseph Clisby, since the ist of February of this year, supplied the wants of the community with a substantial and interesting daily morning paper, and at heavy expense to his office, he gave the latest telegraphic reports. There were four other weeklies, well patronized, which was a high evidence of the prosperity of the people. There were also four job printing offices doing a promising business. Every railroad company, bank, factory and corporate company was thriving and paying remunerative dividends upon the stock invested.

Chapter Viil

Political Agitation - Charleston Convention - Milledgevili.e Convention - Richmond and Baltimore Conventions - Four Presidential Candidates - Visit of Douglas and Stephens - Election of Lincoln - Public Meeting - One Million Dollars for Defence - Secession of South Carolina - Major Anderson - President Buchanan - Seizure of Forts - Crittenden Compromise - Convention of States - All Hope Lost - Secession of Georgia - Poe, Nisbet and Lamar - The Confederate States - Mr. Lincoln and the Confederate Commission - Bombardment of Sumter - Bibb County Troops - Macon During the War, Arsenal, Workshops, Depository - Georgia Reserves - Ladies' Soldiers Relief Society - Wayside Home - Speech of Mr. Stephens - Battle near Fort Hawkins - Capture of Stoneman - Federal Politics - Reconstuction Policy - President Davis and Governor Brown - Sherman's March to the Sea - Reports OF Sherman and his Army Correspondent - The Hampton Roads Conference - Macon the Capital - The Legislature and Governor Brown - Separate State Action - Davis, Hill, Lamar AND Cobb - The Surrender - Johnston-Sherman Armistice, Etc. - The Surrender of Macon and Incidents.

The glorious prosperity of the last decade was not permitted to continue. Its doom had long been determined by the jealous sectionalists of the North, even at the peril of the dissolution of the Union and the most deplorable of all calamities - civil war.

On different occasions, within forty years, had the Southern States submitted to the yielding of their rights as equal members of the Union, merely for the sake of its preservation. Emboldened by so many concessions the Black Republican party, composed of abolitionists and religious fanatics who worshipped the spirit of the pirate John Brown as their god, adopted the fictitious story of Uncle Tom's Cabin as their Bible, and proclaimed the ^'irrepressible conflict " as being of divine origin, and therefore a "higher law" than the Constitution of their country, which they denounced as being a " league with hell and a covenant with the devil," created new subjects and introduced obnoxious measures to provoke a more terrific sectional strife. Several of their States had passed acts prejudicial to Southern interests, and of decided unconstitutionality.

The right of a Territorial Legislature to exclude the slaveholders from settlement within its borders was among the prominent discussions in Congress and in the States, and it was again shaking the stability of the Union. The Republicans were gaining rapidly in political control at the North, and many of the Democrats, it was afterwards discovered, for the sake of that popularity which is courted for the security of promotion or continuance in office, were pandering to their sentiments. The posi- ^ tion of the Territorial agitation was the noted one to be explained by the respective parties in the choice of candidates in the Presidential campaign of i860. .

On the 23d of April, the Convention of the National Demo- , cratic party assembled at Charleston. Hon. Caleb Cushing was ! made Chairman of the Convention. On motion, he appointed ' a committee of one from each of the thirty-three States represented to draw up the usual platform and declaration of principles to be adopted by the party. The committee were in session three days with great dissensions prevailing among its members, and greater still in the body of the Convention. Two platforms were submitted by the committee ; the first by a majority of seventeen members, which readopted the Cincinnati platform of 1856, with an additional declaration upon the new issue, that^ " all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle t with their property on the Territory without their rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation." To this additional plank the greater part of the Northern delegates objected, and voted against.

a satisfactory explanation of the vital question, and less lucid upon others, was accepted by those who opposed the majority report. On the ist of May, as there was no prospect for a reconciliation, the fifteen Southern States, with Oregon and California, seceded from the Convention and organized independently by the election of Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, as Chairman, and adopted the name of the Constitutional Democratic Convention. They resolved to assemble again at Richmond, on the i8th of June, if their action was approved by their constituency in their respective States.

The remainder of the original Convention on the 3d of May passed a resolution to adjourn, and to meet in Baltimore on the 2ist of June, and requested States unrepresented by the seceders to supply the vacancies with delegates. In this Convention Hon. Stephen A. Douglas was the favorite candidate for the Presidency.

Benjamin F. Butler was one of the leading men in the Convention, and cast his vote sixty -three times for Jefferson Davis ^ as his choice for the Presidency of the United States.

On the return of the Georgia delegates meetings were held in various places, endorsing their action in seceding and appointing delegates to a State Convention, to be held at Milledgeville, to consider the situation of the party.

In the meantime two other parties had held National Conventions. The Irrepressible Conflict ' ' party assembled in Chicago, on the 20th of May, and nominated Hons. Abraham Lincoln for President and Hanibal Hamlin for Vice-President.

The American Party assembled in Baltimore on the 9th of the same month, under the name of the Constitutional Union Party, and adopted no other platform than to pledge themselves to the full support of the Constitution and laws of the country. They nominated Hons. John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President.

On June 2d, a meeting was held by a party in Macon who disapproved of the action of the seceders at Charleston, and resolved that seventeen delegates be sent from Bibb county to the

Milledgeville Convention, not for -the purpose of taking seats, but in the event that Convention failed to send delegates to Baltimore, and sent delegates to go to the Richmond Convention, with instructions to attend the Baltimore Convention, on certain conditions only, then the delegates from this county would act in concert with such portion of the Milledgeville Convention or other National Democrats in the appointment of a delegation to represent the National Democrats of Georgia in the Baltimore Convention." The Chair appointed the delegates.

The meeting was ably addressed by Hons. E. A. Nisbet and Barnard Hill, declaring the necessity of a representation at Baltimore, to consolidate the Democratic Party on a satisfactory platform and selection of candidates.

On June the 4th, the Convention assembled at Milledgeville, and on the 5th, the majority report passed by two-thirds, sustain- I taining the seceders at Charleston, and reappointed them to the 1 Richmond Convention with instructions to attend the Baltimore Convention ; but if certain contingencies were not complied i with they should withdraw and attend the Richmond Convention. The minority report recommended the appointment of twenty delegates to Baltimore with certain propositions, the adoption of which they would ask of that Convention. The minority delegates held a meeting at which thirty counties were represented by one hundred delegates ; Judge Hiram Warner presided. Governor H. V. Johnson, Judge Hiram Warner,

Both sets of delegates attended the respective Conventions at Richmond and Baltimore. The Richmond Convention met and adjourned over to await the action of the Baltimore Convention.

The Georgia delegation to Baltimore, being appointed by a minority of their State Convention, were not admitted. As no unanimity could be produced between the two Conventions, | they organized separately, and on the 25th of June the Baltimore delegates nominated Hon. Stephen A. Douglas for President, ^ and Benjamin Fitzpatrick for Vice-President ; the latter afterwards declining, H. V. Johnson was nominated to the vacancy. The seceders nominated John C. Breckenridge for President and Joseph Lane for Vice-President. Hon. Caleb Cushing resigned his position as President of the Baltimore Convention during its session, joined the Richmond delegates and became their President ; Benjamin F. Butler also seceded from the Baltimore Convention and went to Richmond. Both Cushing and Butler afterwards became notorious supporters of Mr. Lincoln's party and conspicuously undistinguished officers in his army.

On the reception of the telegrams announcing the nomination of Breckenridge and Lane, a very large meeting was held at the court-house endorsing the nomination, by a large majority of the Democrats of Bibb, and one hundred guns fired in honor of the occasion. Clubs were formed by each of these political parties, and they worked vigorously for their respective candidates. The election of any of them would have been a blessing to the country, while the defeat of all proved its curse.

On October 31st, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas visited Macon with his beautiful and charming wife. He was accompanied by Hon. A. H. Stephens. There was a large crowd assembled in Macon from the surrounding counties to hear the opinions of these two eminent statesmen upon the issues which were distracting the country. Many persons were introduced to them at the Lanier House ; but the crowd being so large, Mr. Douglas was brought to the balcony, where, after acknowledging the welcome extended, he merely remarked that they should hear from him and the great intellect and purest statesman of the country, Mr. Stephens, also, in explanation and defense of the principles upon which the equal rights of all citizens could be harmoniously maintained in the Union.

The large passenger depot building and grounds were selected for the accommodation of the vast assembly to hear the two distinguished statesmen. Over five thousand persons, irrespective of party, had gathered there and on the broad streets along the front and sides of the depot. Whatever may have been the dif- ference of political opinions, the people had a very high respect for the ability and patriotism of the two 'Hittle giants." The Breckenridge and Bell men were either largely in the ascendant in numbers and the appearance of the multitude was imposing, particularly in order and decorum. At two, p. m.. Judge E. A. Nisbet introduced Mr. Stephens, who spoke an hour and a half in review of the political trouble for so many years, and advised calmness and deliberation in action ; recommended a co-operation for the preservation of the Union. He had every confidence in the candidates of the Baltimore Convention, and believed all parties could unite upon them and embrace their principles, for none possessed a higher degree of patriotism, honor and determination to maintain to the letter the Constitution and the laws.

'' Mr. Douglas followed, and spoke until five o'clock, p. m. He was again highly complimentary to Mr. Stephens and endorsed all that he had spoken. He made a lucid explanation and vigorous defence of his Squatter Sovereignty theory. He made a sharp attack upon the Secessionists and argued with force against secession as a constitutional right. The speech was forcible, plain, argumentative and national in its spirit. It was received with respect and courtesy by all present and with much enthusiasm by his own friends and the advocates of Mr. Bell."

On November 7th, the election took place throughout the country and never was there an election that excited more earnest feeling. For the first time in the history of American Presidents, the fate of the nation was involved. With four candidates before the people, the result was by many gloomily anticipated.

In the Electoral College, Lincoln had i8o; Douglas, 12; Breckenridge, 72, and Bell 39, being a total of 303, of which Mr. Lincoln had a majority of 57 over the combined vote of his three opponents.

The official returns from all of the State were not known until two weeks after the election ; but on the morning following the election, the 8th instant, sufficient returns had been received from the Northern States to indicate the triumph among them of their champion of the "irrepressible conflict" party, and that the South must prepare for her threatened subordination.

On the day of the election, all hope in the South was even lost, and a public meeting of the citizens of Macon convened for the purpose of adopting measures to secure their political and domestic welfare in view of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President. Hon. Washington Poe was called to preside over the meeting. He made a few introductory remarks and urged the exercise of calmness and deliberation, and advised, at the same time, firmness and determination in the action of the meeting. On motion, a committee of ten was appointed by the Chair to report business for the meeting. The meeting adjourned until half-past seven o'clock, p. m. for the report of the committee. On reassembling in the evening, Captain Robert A. Smith submitted the following

" The original thirteen States of the United States were organized out of the thirteen distinct Colonies of Great Britain, . wholly separate and independent of each other ; and when they separated from the mother country, they did it as separate confederated communities, and were in the treaty of peace so recognized by the King, for he treated with them by name, as thirteen distinct Sovereign Powers. These powers, or separate nations, confederated and united by treaty and alliance for their mutual defence, conceding to each other as a whole certain specified powers ; but never surrendering the one to the other, or one part to the other part of the Confederacy, their sovereignty ; hence they constituted United States or Sovereign Confederated

Powers, and of course absolute equals without regard to size or population. The government which they formed for the Confederacy was only their agency to protect weak communities, not a government for their populations, where majorities ruled ; for had it been so, the six largest States would now be entitled to govern all the rest, for these have a greater population than all the balance united. The Sovereigns were composed solely of white men, and they formed governments only for white men.

. Blacks were numerous amongst them all, but were everywhere regarded not only as servile subordinates, but as chattel property, and were so recognized by the laws of all and each of the Confederates, and so treated as commodities of commerce in the Constitution of the Confederacy, and in all treaties between them and foreign powers. But slave labor soon proving uprofitable in the inhospitable climate of the North, the slaves were transferred further South and slavery was prohibited by the States North. And no sooner was this done, than these States commenced, and have continued their aggressions upon the States further South ; and this they did, avowedly, to lessen the political power of the South, and enhance their own. This was boldly proclaimed by their great leader. Senator Rufus King, upon the floor of the Senate. The men of that day were too magnanimous and manly to conceal their designs under the hypocritical mantle of philanthropy.

'' That the Southern people have suffered and are suffering from the North, wrongs too grevious to be borne, let facts be submitted to the just judgment of a candid world.

After the South had voluntarily surrendered to them the vast empire northwest of the Ohio, they insisted upon the prohibition of slavery west of the Mississippi and kept Missouri out of the Union until they forced the South, unwisely, to consent to a compromise by surrendering to them territory enough for twelve States and retain to herself territory only enough for three ; and yet after enjoying its benefits they have ever since repudiated the obligations of that Compromise whenever it might inure to the benefit of the South.

" Their citizens, without rebuke and without punishment from their tribunals, have for a long series of years stolen and carried away our slaves ; when we have asked for redress they have replied with mockery.

"They have by their State Legislature, nullified within their borders the most explicit injunction of the Federal compact binding them to surrender fugitive slaves, and their Courts have sustained such unconstitutional laws.

" Their citizens have uniformly mobbed, maltreated, and in several instances put to death Southern citizens when seeking to reclaim their lost or stolen property within their dominion, and in no instance have the wrong doers been tried or punished by their tribunals.

"Their citizens have, in several instances, come within the slaveholding States and stolen and carried away our slaves, and their Governors have refused to surrender on demand the felons as fugitives from justice, on the ground that it can be no crime to steal a slave.

" Sixty-eight of their prominent members of Congress have without rebuke subscribed for, patronised and encouraged the publication and the circulation of a book that recommends to the slaves the indiscriminate massacre of their masters and the re-enactment of the horrors of St. Domingo upon our wives and daughters.

"The notorious thief and murderer, John Brown, with his band of assassins, failing to effect such a massacre and paying the penalty of the law with his life - is canonized as a saint by many of the presses, pulpits and thousands of their citizens, and no mark of censure is branded upon them but rather approbation and increased patronage.

" They have driven out citizens by hired assassins with Sharp's rifles, out of our common territory, purchased with the blood and treasure of our citizens ; and then to deceive the world, have pretended such territory was not adapted to slave labor, when it is notorious that such labor is more profitable in States bordering on such territory than in any other part of the country.

^'They have prohibited the common hospitality of civilized nations to our citizens traveling through or visiting in their State, by taking from them their domestic servants who may be in attendance upon their sick families, while citizens from the North annually travel through and remain in the South, unmolested, with whatever servants they may prefer.

" They have crowned their long series of insult and wrong, by putting over us, without our aid, and in contempt of our protest and remonstrance, a man - as President - whose sole claim to their popular regard, is his avowed pledge to maintain an ^'irrepressible conflict " for our destruction.

" It therefore becomes our duty, a duty which we owe to ourselves - our country - and our posterity - to arrest these aggressions and take prompt and effectual measures for the protection of our rights. Therefore,

" Resolved, That the Senator and Representatives of the county of Bibb, be requested, at the earliest possible day, to introduce into the Legislature of Georgia a bill for the speedy call of a Convention of the people of the State, to take such action and devise such measures as will protect themselves and families from impending ruin.

Resolved, That our Senator and Representatives be requested to introduce and support a bill for the procuring of a sufficiency of good arms to every male citizen subject to military duty.

Resolved, That we recommend to our fellow-citizens of Georgia in every county, to proceed at once to organize and arm themselves as well as they may be able for their protection . against impending dangers.

The committee recommended the adoption of resolutions, for the appointment of a "committee of safety," and for the organization of ^Minute Men."

The resolutions for the organization of Minute Men were adopted, as well as the whole of the report, which was reread and adopted by sections, by a rising vote amidst deafening applause. On November 9th, the Constitution for the organization of Minute Men was adopted and published.

The Legislature having convened, the Hon. Thomas R. R. Cobb made his first political speech in an address before that body and the public on the 12th, in favor of prompt State action and Independence; and on the 15th, the Senate passed unanimously a bill appropriating ^1,000,000.00 to be used at the discretion of the Governor for putting Georgia in a state of military defence. The House with unanimity passed the same bill.

On the 2 2d, a proclamation for a Convention of the people of Georgia was issued from the Executive office. The election of delegates according to the act of the Legislature was to take place on the 2d day of January next, each county to elect the same number of delegates as it was entitled to members in the General Assembly. The delegates were to convene at Milledgeville on the i6th January.

While the great political storm was raging throughout the country, the banks in all of the States commenced the suspension of specie payments. A bill was passed in the Georgia Legislature for their relief. The Governor returned it with his veto. The House of Representatives passed it again on the ist of December by a vote of one hundred and eight to twenty ; the Senate also passed it again.

Among the many speeches made to the people of Bibb county, Hons. Washington Poe and E. A. Nisbet addressed the Minute Men and the public on December ist ; Senator Toombs spoke for two hours on the 3d, and T. R. R. Cobb, by special invitation of the Minute Men, addressed them at Concert Hall on the 8th. The distinguished speaker held the attention of his audi-

Precisely at the hour the ordinance of secession passed in South Carolina, twelve m., December ist, one hundred guns were fired in Macon amidst the ringing of bells and the shouts of the people. At night, a procession of fifteen hundred persons was formed, with banners and transparencies, and as they marched, another salute of one hundred guns were fired, while the bells kept up a lively ringing.

The year i860 closed with another startling event, which produced an intense excitement throughout South Carolina and the whole country. There was an explicit understanding between Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, and President Buchanan, that no hostile operations should occur on the waters around Charleston where the forts were situated ; consequently, every courtesy had been extended by the noble Charlestonians to Major Anderson, the commandant of the garrison at Fort Moultrie. On the 25 th of December, under the cover of the darkness of night. Major Anderson spiked the guns, burnt the fort, and removed to Fort Sumter with his command of ninety-eight men. This act was the first casus belli committed. It amounted to nothing less than a declaration of war. The commissioners from the young Republic of South Carolina had arrived at Washington to treat with the foreign Government of the United States, and complained in a respectful communication to the President of the action of Major Anderson, and asked an explanation of his unexpected removal to Fort Sumter. The President gave no satisfactory explanation ; his reply was evasive \ he stated that ''while Major Anderson had no orders to remove his garrison to Fort Sumter, it was in his discretion to make the change." The President declined to remove the garrison from Sumter, and refused to recognize the official capacity of the commissioners.

General Floyd, the Secretary of the War Department, at Washington, considered that his department had been dishonored by the duplicity of the Government, and resigned his of- fice. Hon. Howell Cobb had also resigned, on the loth, the Secretaryship of the Treasury. President Buchanan's term of office was soon to expire, and the closing part of his administration was marked with vaccilation and the determination to avoid any responsibility in the crisis that was overwhelming the country.

The commissioners published all of their correspondence with the President, which fully justified their course and exposed the duplicity and temerity of the latter.

The Palmetto Republic began to increase the defence along her coast, and her Legislature notified the United States Government that any attempt on their part to reinforce Fort Sumter would be met with resistance.

The Governor of New York had, about this time, seized a large amount of property consisting of arms, etc., belonging to the State of Georgia.

Governor Brown, on the 24th, ordered the militia at Augusta to march out to the United States Arsenal, near that place, and take possession of it.

The introduction of 1861 found the South preparing for a new Confederacy of its own States, after every effort towards a reconciliation in Congress had failed. On the 3d of January, Governor Brown, of Georgia, arrived in Savannah, and despatched a corps of one hundred and fifty of the city military, under Major A. R. Lawton, to seize Fort Pulaski and the Savannah defences. This was considered necessary, as the Harriet Lane, a United States vessel of war, had attempted to run up to Fort Sumter with war supplies and reinforcements. As she approached within range of one of the Carolina batteries, a shot was sent over her bow to notify her of her intrusion. She then hoisted the United States colors and continued towards the Fort A dozen more shots were fired, two of which struck with some damage. She then wheeled and took to flight. She would have gone to Savannah afterwards, had not the Georgians anticipated her intentions.

in the whole Union and civil war seemed imminent, Senator Crittenden, whose term would expire with the Congress in session, made the most powerful efforts of his long and honored career to save the Union and avert the impending clash of arms.

He offered a set of resolutions in Congress recommending that the alarming discussion between the Northern and Southern States, as to the rights of the latter in the common territory, be settled by constitutional provisions which shall give equal justice to all sections, and restore peace in the distracted country.

The provisions were the extension of the old Missouri Compromise Line, permitting slavery in all the new territory South, and excluding it North of that line ; and returning fugitive slaves to their owners. Thousands of petitions from all parts of the country, particularly from the most populous cities, were sent to Congress, urging the members to adopt the resolutions. Of the efforts of Mr. Crittenden a prominent Southern Gazette said :

^^We can scarcely conceive of a spectacle which has in it more of the moral sublime than this brave old man struggling for the salvation of his country. If * J^/us ^nias ' excites our admiration in bearing old Anchises from the flames, how much more this venerable Father of the Senate struggling to rescue from the scorching blaze of sectional fury the precious deposit of the Constitution and the Union. Oh, ' Old Man Eloquent,' a thousand blessings on thy venerable head ! Surely the spirit of Henry Clay has decended on Crittenden ; the mantle of that Elijah has come upon Elisha, and invested him with tenfold power. As we see this aged and patriotic statesman pleading day after day for the salvation of his country, it is no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that one of ' the sages of 1776 has arisen from the dead, and is interceding i for the salvation of the Republic with those who are more dan- 1 gerous enemies of its peace and liberties than the minions of I George the Third. Whatever betide the Union, the noble ef- a forts of Crittenden will command the respect of mankind and |jj the admiration of posterity." ^

Representative from this Congressional District, Hon. Thomas Hardeman, wrote to his friends of the Co-operation party in Georgia, that his last hope for a reconciliation had vanished ; that the House had refused to receive the resolutions, or to even grant them the poor boon of being printed. He urged Georgia to act in co-operation with her sister States for their mutual protection.

On the nth of February, another effort was made by a Convention of States, which assembled at Washington, to arrange some compromise which would settle the political troubles. The States represented were Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, with forty-three delegates; and from the free States New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island and Illinois, with fifty-one delegates. The delegates from each of the States were among their ablest statesmen. The conference terminated on the 27th, after adopting a few proposed amendments to the Constitution ; the one upon slavery being substantially the same as the Missouri Compromise ; even this was rejected by Congress, and the resolutions of Mr. Corwin substituted: ^'That the Constitution remain as it is," etc., were adopted.

Ihe Georgia State Convention

. Met in Milledgeville on January, i6th. Hon. H. L. Penning, of Muscogee, was called to the chair for the purpose of organization. The proclamation of Governor Brown, calling the Convention, was read, and the Secretary proceeded to call the roll. Three hundred and one delegates were seated. There was a motion to elect a permanent President by ballot, when the names of Hons. George W. Crawford and Alexander H. Stephens were proposed. Mr. Stephens withdrew his own name, and proposed that the nomination of Mr. Crawford should be unanimously affirmed. Mr. Crawford was then declared President by acclamation. After a brief address by the chair, Mr. Albert R. Lamar was elected Secretary. A committee of three i was appointed to wait upon Hon. James L. Orr, Commissioner j from the foreign State of South Carolina, and Hon. John G. ; Shorter, Commissioner from the foreign State of Alabama, and invite them to seats on the floor.

The proceedings of the second day, the morning of the 17th, were opened by prayer, as had been those of the first day. "Tears bedecked the cheeks of many a manly face, and a responsive 'amen,' followed the divine when he asked God to bless every conclusion, be it for peace or war, for union or disunion, to which the Convention shall arrive. He closed by asking God to bless the action of this Convention to the good of the people of Georgia, of the Cotton States of the South, of the North, and the whole world. He asked God to stand by us in this extremity to save our firesides, preserve peace and defend our liberties."

Communications were then read from the States of South Carolina and Alabama through their Commissioners, explaining the causes that led to the secession of those States, and inviting the co-operation of Georgia. On motion of Mr. Stephens the Commissioners were invited to address the Convention, which | they did in a speech of half an hour, both recommending the co-operation of Georgia in the formation of a Southern Confederacy.

Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Convention, it is the duty of Georgia to secede from the present Union, and to cooperate with such other States as have, or shall, do the same, for the purpose of forming a Southern Confederacy upon the basis of the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, That a committee of seventeen be appointed by the chair to report an ordinance to assert the rights, and fulfill the obligation of the State of Georgia to secede from the Union."

After some discussion the vote was taken, resulting in ayes, one hundred and sixty-five, nays, one hundred and thirty. The chair appointed the committee with Judge Nisbet as chairman.

An Ordinance

" To dissolve the union between the State of Georgia and other States united with her under a compact of Government entitled ^ the Constitution of the United States of America.'

''We, the people of the State of Georgia, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by the people of the State of Georgia in the Convention of 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified and adopted, and also all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly, ratifying and adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

" We do further declare and ordain, that the Union now subsisting between the State of Georgia, and the other States, under the title of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Georgia is in the full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State."

The yeas were two hundred and eight, and the nays eightynine, being a majority of one hundred and nineteen for the adoption of the ordinance. The President then said it was his pleasure to declare that the State of Georgia was Free, Sovereign AND Independent.

Hon. Linton Stephens then offered a brief preamble and three resolutions, which passed unanimously, and which the following is the substance of the whole :

Resolved, That all members of this Convention, including those who voted against said Ordinance, as well as those who voted for it, will sign as a pledge, the unanimous determination of this Convention to sustain and defend the State in this, her chosen remedy, with all its responsibilities and consequences, without regard to individual approval or disapproval of its adoption."

All the members then signed the Ordinance as it passed, except six, who only differed as to the mode of action, but pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the support of the State. The objects of the Convention were therefore declared unanimously agreed to.

At half-past two o'clock, p. m., the firing of a gun from the Capitol grounds, and the hoisting of the Flag of Georgia on the flag-staff of the Capitol announced to the people the passage of the ordinance of secession. The whole city was in rapturous commotion. Tears of joy fell from many eyes, and words of congratulation were uttered by every tongue. The artillery from the Capitol Square thundered forth the glad tidings, and the bells of the city pealed forth a joyous welcome to the new-born Republic."

The secession of the State of Georgia was not the result of the storm of political excitement. Resistance to Northern aggressions had been agitated for more than forty years. As early as 1825, Governor Troup assembled the Legislature to take action upon the course of President Adams in setting aside the treaty which had been made at the Indian Springs between the chiefs of the tribes and the United States Commissioners, Messrs. Campbell and Meriwether, which required the removal, according to an obligation of long existence, on the part of the Federal Government, of the Indians from Georgia by that Government. The treaty had been ratified by President Monroe a day or two before the inauguration of his successor. The Legislature, though politically opposed to the Governor, endorsed the wisdom of his measures, and as the '' argument was exhausted," they were ready to stand by their arms !'' The bristling Federal bayonets on the soil of Georgia were withdrawn, and in a short time, so were the Indians.