Macon, Georgia - Historical Record of Macon and Central Georgia : Containing Many Inter (part 6 of 8)

sional acts of that date, and only through a most ardent attachment for the Union of their fathers, submitted, for the last time, to another compromise, in which they again yielded their rights. Among the resolutions to which they solemnly pledged themselves, was the following :

'^That the State of Georgia, in the judgment of this Convention, 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 upon the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia, or in places subject to the jurisdiction of Congress, incompatible with the safety, domestic tranquility, the rights and the honor of the Slaveholding States j or any refusal to admit as a State any territory hereafter applying, because of the existence of slavery therein ; or any act prohibiting the introduction of slaves into the territories of Utah and New Mexico ; or any act repealing or materially modifying the laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves."

The Convention of i86i, like that of 1850, was composed of the best material in the State, in both wisdom and patriotism. There were but few young men in the assembly and these were guided by the experience and purity of the aged counsellors who had for a long series of years been an honor to the State, renowned in the National Congress, and distinguished in public, as well as private life, for their unsullied deportment and exemplary characters. Among the county delegations none were better known to the State, and enjoyed higher esteem from their fellowcitizens than the one from Bibb county. The names of Washington Poe, Eugenius A. Nisbet and John B. Lamar, are inseparably associated among the most honored in the history of Macon, and are among the purest recorded in the galaxy of the State.

Colonel Lamar was a gentleman of the noblest type of honor and chivalry, refined in manners and highly educated. He had served in the Legislature and been elected to Congress. The honors of office were forced upon him contrary to his inclinations. Possessing much wealth, he preferred the ease of private life to the honors of any public office. He was devoted to the works of the standard authors, and being gifted with a bright mind, he acquired high literary attainments. He was a most interesting and perspicuous writer, and his contributions upon various subjects ever attracted complimentary attention. Though possessing a great determination of character, he was noted for his modesty, which was of female delicacy. The most distinguished quality in his noble nature was his unostentatious benevolence. No man ever lived in the community who had been more generous to the poor. He was also liberal to several important benevolent institutions and to the church, and exercised a deep interest in their success.

Contrary to the urgent solicitations of his friends, who thought his services to his country more valuable at home, he entered the Army of Virginia as Aid to his brother-in-law. General Howell Cobb. On the i6th of September, 1862, during the battle at Crampton's Gap, where two thousand Confederates heroically held the pass against fifteen thousand Federals, in riding alone through a storm of the enemy's bullets to deliver an important command, a fatal minnie ball pierced his left breast, and he poured forth his blood as freely as he had most patriotically appropriated his purse, for the Confederate cause.

Hon. E. A. Nisbet, before his removal from Morgan county to Macon, in 1837, had already acquired a State reputation as a polished scholar, learned in the law, and a prudent statesman. He was at this time but thirty-four years of age, and had served four terms in the House and three in the Senate of his State, and was one of the most influential members in either branch of the Assembly. At the session of the Senate in 1830, he, in a masterly speech, advocated the establishment of a Supreme Court ; though the bill was lost it was renewed in 1845 passed. Mr. Nisbet was elected one of the Justices on the organization of the court, and on the expiration of his term was re-elected. In 1838 he was elected to Congress, and on the very opening of that Body he made his maiden speech on the New Jersey contested election, which gave him a high reputation in Congress and in the country. Personal embarrassments, arising from a debt upon which he had become security, induced him to resign his seat in Congress, and to devote his labors to the practice of the law. He was fond of literature, and as familiar with the writings of the most eminent authors as he was with the intricacies of the law, and probably delivered more literary addresses and wrote more literary articles for the leading papers than any other lawyer in the State. In politics he belonged to the Jeffersonian school. He had been an advocate of the Union and the Constitutional rights of the States. In i860 he supported Mr. Douglas for the Presidency, and favored some system of co-operation, in the hope that the Union might be spared the horrors of civil war. When the last hope disappeared he submitted to the will of his native State, and introduced the ordinance of secession. He was one of the delegates representing his State in the first Congress at Montgomery, and at Richmond. After the close of the war he continued the practice of the law until his health, worn out by a long and laborious life, began to fail, when he retired from the practice, and death soon followed. He professed religion in early life, and was made a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church in Madison, and on his removal to Macon, in 1837, was made an Elder of the same church in Macon, which office he held until his death. He was frequently Superintendent of the Sunday-school and teacher of the Bible Class, and a delegate to the Presbyterian Synods and General Assemblies. He was an early advocate of a high standard of education, and was a Trustee of the State University, at which institution he had graduated, bearing off the honors of his class. The degree of LL.D., was conferred upon him by both the State and Mercer Universities. He died in March, 1871.

Hon. Washington Poe settled in Macon in 1825, just two years after the first trees of the forest were felled to build the town. Among the early lawyers at the Macon bar with Mr. Poe was Oliver H. Prince, John W. Campbell, Christopher B. Strong, Edward D. Tracy, and Charles J. McDonald. They were all men of high character and distinguished for their varied intellectual talents. Mr. Poe survived them all. Of all the members of the Macon bar, or the bar of the Flint Circuit, Mr. Poe commanded the largest share of practice for the longest time. He was an indefatigable worker, and until his health began to fail a few years before his lamented death, he was laboring as industriously in his office as at any period of his life. Two years after his arrival in Macon, he was chosen Intendant of the growing town, and the administration of his first office was marked with that inflexible respect for the majesty of the law and the impartial application of its requirements that ever characterized the various offices that he so worthily filled. In 1831, he was elected Solicitor of the Circuit. It was at this notorious period that lawlessness was rife in Macon. There were a band of adventurers headed by sharp and desperate men. Riotousness flourished ; murders were committed and the assassination of the officers of the law was commonly threatened. The peace of society was disturbed and alarms pervaded the community. Mr. Poe, in his calm and dignified manner, but with all the firmness and eloquence for which he was distinguished, assailed before the courts these straggling transgressors of the law. He had taken a solemn oath as Solicitor General, to prosecute the violators of the law, and he regarded that his failure to comply with that oath was as an act of perjury and as great a sin as if he had been the perpetrator of the crime, or offence, committed. Threats at his own life did not deter him from his duty. On several occasions where the sheriff was intimidated from making arrests, the Solicitor, always unarmed himself, accompanied that officer to the armed lodgings of the trespasser, and without violence, secured his arrest. During the election riot in 1840, when a party of excited men broke through the windows of the basement of the court-house, overpowered the managers and destroyed the ballot box. Mr. Poe was Mayor of the city. He at once addressed the excited multitude, urging them to dispel all excitement and aid him in the exercise of his municipal authority. By prompt and determined action he quelled the disturbance, and, without the use of a weapon, brought every unfortunate disturber of the peace to confinement, to await his trial before the proper court. The brandishing of weapons and the threats of assassination had no effect upon the Mayor; he had been ^Gnured to danger " in the discharge of his solemn duty, and was ''unknown to fear."

Mr. Poe was a citizen of Macon and a practitioner of law for more than half a century ; as a citizen, he and Mr. Simri Rose, when others had passed away, were regarded the two remaining fathers of the city ; and there is not a single year of that long period in which he saw two generations of useful citizens pass away, that the press of the city had not chronicled his name in honored association with many of the rising institutions, enterprises and events of interest in the course of its history. He was a natural orator, brilliant and impressive. In State or other conventions in which his counsels were so often sought as a delegate, he was among the leading members in discussson upon the floor, or in arranging the most important business in the committee room. In 1844, he was elected to Congress ; but to the deep regret of his constituency, he resigned the office as pressing business demanded his presence at home. He would creditably have filled any office in the gift of his State, but the duties of his profession and his domestic attachments prevailed over the allurements of public honors which his numerous friends had often urged him to accept. His speech before the Georgia Convention of 1850, at Milledgeville, which was so highly applauded throughout the State at the time, was but one of the many he had delivered, so characteristic of his elegance of style, purity of thought and finished argument. His writings were clear, forcible and ornate. In 1828, he became a member of the Presbyterian church, in 1829 was made a ruling elder, and continued in the office until the day of his mournful death, the ist of October, 1876, having passed his seventy-sixth birthday on the 13th of July preceding. His connection with his church dated almost with its origin. In 1826 he was instrumental in the foundation of the first Bible Society in Macon and delivered an address in its behalf. His early life was a link in the chain that connected the present with the last century. He was a participant in the exercises in the first court-house, a small wooden room on Mulberry street, in honor of the memory of Jefferson and Adams, who died July 4th, 1826; and in that room he was employed in the trial of the first murder case in the county. He was active in the organization of the first schools, churches, railroads and nearly every other institution that the city had enjoyed - a history of his life and his experience would be a history of Macon. Apart from his family circle there is no place in his busy life where he is more missed than in the church and its prayer-room, where he and his beloved brother member in the eldership, Judge Nisbet, so long worshipped and aided in teaching the Divine word, and by their exemplary conduct, vindicated the sincerity of their profession. By a mourning church and community, the remains of these two venerable citizens were deposited in Rose Hill Cemetery ; the remains of Colonel Lamar, after the close of the war, were brought home and laid in the same burial grounds on the banks of the Ocmulgee, where

"We notice that three members of the Convention now sitting, to-wit : Messrs. Hall, of Clark, Nisbet, of Bibb, and Stapleton, of Jefferson, were in the House of Representatives in 1827, from their respective counties, except Judge Nisbet, who, then quite a young man, served his first session as a Representative from Morgan county. A new generation has grown up since, and we are happy to see so honorable a specimen of our public men thirty-three years ago still in service, vigorous in health, and fired with the patriotism of other days, when ' Troup and the Treaty ' was the watchword to victory. These gentlemen were present at the inauguration of Governor Forsyth, in 1827, and saw the illustrious Troup deliver his Seal of State to his successor, who afterwards became distinguished as a

Senator in Congress, and Secretary of State under the administrations of Presidents Jackson and Van Buren. Georgia, in her new position as a Republic, delights to cherish the names of her brilliant men who have passed away."

The first disunion speech ever made in the United States House of Representatives was by Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, in regard to the Louisiana Enabling Act, January 14th, i8i I. He said :

I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are virtually dissolved ; that the States which compose it are free from their moral obligations, and that as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for a separatio7i, amicably, if they can, violently if they must."

He was called to order by Mr. Poindexter, of Mississippi, who considered the utterance as very nearly akin to treason. Mr. Quincy repeated his assertion, committed it to writing and left the matter with the Speaker, who decided it out of order. Mr. Quincy appealed from the decision of the Speaker, and was sustained by a vote of fifty-six to sixty-three in his right as the Representative of New England to invent disunion ! !

The Confederate States

On the 23d of January, the Convention elected delegates to represent the State of Georgia in the Congress of Seceded States, to meet at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 4th of February. The Representatives elected were Robert Toombs, Francis S. Bartow, Martin J. Crawford, Eugenius A. Nisbet, Benjamin H. Hill, Howell Cobb, Alexander H. Steptiens, Thomas R. R. Cobb, Augustus R. Wright and Augustus H. Kenan. They were instructed to co-operate with the other States in forming a temporary or Provisional Government, not to extend beyond the period of twelve months, and to be modeled as nearly as practicable on the principles of the Government of the United States of America. The Congress met as designated, seven States being represented : South Carolina, Alabama, Florida,

Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Hon. Howell Cobb was elected President of the Congress. The new Constitution was made and adopted on the 8th. General Jefferson Davis was elected, on the following day. President of the new Government. He was not a candidate for the high office, and was at his home in Mississippi, at the time the honor was conferred upon him. He preferred another office - the command of the army of the States. Mr. A. H. Stephens was elected Vice- President, contrary to his expectations, for he also was no candidate. A constitution for the permanent Government was adopted unanimously by seven States on the nth of March.

Mr. Davis arrived at Montgomery and was inaugurated President of the Confederate States of America on the i8th. Shortly after his inauguration. President Davis, in accordance with an Act of Congress, sent three Commissioners to the seat of the United States Government, for the purpose of effecting friendly relations between the two Governments, and amicably adjusting all differences that existed.

Mr. Buchanan's term was just about to expire, and the whole country were awaiting with great anxiety the inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln, that they might know the policy of his administration. The Commissioners arrived at Washington just before his inauguration.

After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln and the selection of his Cabinet officers, the Commissioners from the Southern Confederacy, on the 1 6th of March, addressed his Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, a communication, frankly and courteously informing him of the object of their mission. Several days elapsed and no reply was received. The Commissioners then dispatched their Secretary to Mr. Seward, urging him for a reply. At this time Judge Nelson, of the Supreme Court of the United States, had informed Judge Campbell, an Associate Justice of the same Court, of an interview he had just had with Mr. Seward, who expressed a "strong disposition in favor of peace, and that he was greatly oppressed with a demand of the Commissioners of the Confederate States for a reply to their letter, and that he de- sired to avoid making any at that time it possible." In the hope that inspires the exalted patriot to make the last struggle to save his country from civil war, Judge Campbell and Judge Nelson immediately called upon Mr. Seward, without the knowledge ' even of the Commissioners, and was gratified to be informed by him of the desire of Mr. Lincoln and himself to avoid a collision between the two governments.

The United States had already sanctioned an act of war by allowing Major Anderson to remain in Fort Sumter after he had destroyed the works at Moultrie, and stole into Sumter under the cover of night. The great question to which the eyes of the whole country were directed, was: Would Mr. Lincoln attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter, when such an effort would be, undoubtedly, an act of war on his part. From the assurances that he received personally from Mr. Seward, Judge Campbell, on the same day, wrote to the Commissioners, " that he felt entire con- , fidence that Fort Sumter would be evacuated in ten days, and that no measure changing the existing status, prejudicially to the Confederate States, was at present contemplated, and the demand for a reply to the communication of the Commissioners from Mr. Seward ought not to be pressed at that time." Mr. Seward was informed by Judge Campbell of this communication to the Commissioners. Mr. Seward actually went further in his assurances, for he stated that Sumter would be evacuated before a letter from Judge Campbell could reach Montgomery informing Mr. Davis that there was no intention to reinforce the Fort. The Commissioners, therefore, from this high authority, communicated by two of the purest men in the country, waited for some time before making another demand for a reply to their note. They communicated the statement to President Davis, who forwarded it to General Beauregard at Charleston.

[ More than the ten days had elapsed when General Beauregard discovered that in place of preparing to evacuate Fort Sumter the garrison was employed in strengthening the fortifications, which fact was made known to the Commissioners at Washington. Judge Campbell and Judge Nelson then again interviewed

^Ir. Seward on two occasions, and were by him informed "that the failure to evacuate Fort Sumter was not the result of bad faith, but was attributable to causes consistent with the intention of the engagement, and that as regarded Fort Pickens, notice would be given of any design to alter the existing status there." This was also transmitted to the Confederate President and to Geneial Beauregard, as had been the other assurances.

On the day of the last interview with Mr. Seward, Judge Nelson left Washington and expressed himself entirely satisfied with the assurances given him in relation to Sumter by Mr. Seward. Judge Campbell had another interview with Mr. Seward, and remained in his office until he (Seward) had gone on a visit to President Lincoln and returned with the information that there would be no attempt made to supply the Fort without informing Governor Pickens, and there had been no change in his former opinions.

On the 17th of April it became known that the Relief Squadron had left New York and was destined for Charleston. Judge Crawford, one of the Commissioners, called on Judge Campbell, who was induced to address the State Department again, referring to the unsettled conditions existing, and asking if the assurances given in their intercourse which he had communicated to the Commissioners, had been changed. The only reply received was an enveloped paper with the words, " Faith fully kept as to Sumter; wait and see." On the same day, information had been received in Washington by the Commissioners that Governor Pickens had already been informed that Sumter would be provisioned, "peaceably if permitted, or otherwise by force." Several other efforts were made by Judge Campbell to have an explanation from Mr. Seward without avail ; he called at his office and at his house, but he was absent. On the 12th of April two letters were addressed to Mr. Seward by Judge Campbell, inquiring how it was the bombardment at Fort Sumter had occurred. The first letter was delivered by its author at his own door. One week after, no reply being received, a duplicate was

The whole country was astounded at the announcement of the base duplicity of the Lincoln Government - the President and Secretary of State practicing before the world such deceit and untruthfulness. The people now began to learn of what stuff the boasted leaders of the party of ''high moral ideas" was composed.

The Commissioners, on the 9th of April, addressed Mr. Seward a final letter, in which they set forth to the world a detailed and unanswerable statement of the abominable acts of deceit and willful disregard of truth. In this letter the Commissioners reminded the wily and unscrupulous Secretary of State that they had come to Washington on a mission of peace, and among other declarations, stated :

"Whatever may be the result, impartial history will record the innocence of the Government of the Confederate States, and place the responsibility of the blood and mourning that may ensue upon those who have denied the great fundamental doctrine of American Liberty, that ' Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,' and who have set naval and land armaments in motion to subject the people of one portion of the land to the will of another portion. Your refusal to entertain these overtures for a peaceful solution, the active naval and military preparations of your Government, and a formal notice to the Commanding General of the Confederate forces in the harbor of Charleston that the President intends to provision Fort Sumter by forcible means, if necessary, are viewed by the undersigned, and can only be received by the world, as a declaration of war against the Confederate States."

Upon the approach of the United States fleet to Charleston harbor. General Beauregard demanded the evacuation of Fort Sumter by Major Anderson, who replied that his sense of honor and obligation to his Government prevented his compliance. By instructions from the Confederate Government, General

Beauregard notified Major Anderson that if he would state the time he would evacuate, and agree that, in the meantime, he will not use his guns against us, unless ours should be employed against Fort Sumter, the effusion of blood would be avoided." Major Anderson again refused to consent to the terms.

Bombardment Of Fort Sumter

At daylight on the morning of the 12th of April, fire was opened by Beauregard upon the Fort, which was returned. The bombardment continued for thirty-two hours. It was the grandest scene, with all of its surroundings, ever witnessed in America. The house-tops and every building in the " Queen City of the South" were covered with men, women and children, while every available foot of ground along the magnificent battery was occupied by the excited spectators. Visitors from various parts of Georgia assembled there to witness the first battle of the war between the States. There were no less than forty thousand persons beholding the fiery storm of shot and shell that belched forth from both sides, with volcanic profusion, grandeur and terror. At half-past twelve o'clock, p. m., on the 13th, the stars and stripes were lowered from the ramparts of Sumter, and the cannonading ceased. The shouts of joy that went up throughout the Confederacy and from other Southern States were unequaled.

The Magnetic Telegraph had announced that the United States fleet of war of thirteen vessels were off at Charleston harbor, and that their intention was to reinforce Fort Sumter. It was also publicly announced that General Beauregard was directed by his Government to resist their entrance in the harbor, and if Major Anderson declined to evacuate his position, to reduce the Fort. Hence, thousands of persons visited Charleston to witness the scene. On the announcement of the opening of the bombardment, every city and village, where a telegraph office was located, turned out near its entire population who assembled around those offices to hear the progress of the Sumter engagement. The greatest enthusiasm was at Montgomery,

Alabama. The telegraph office there occupied the second story of one of the most prominent buildings in the city, located on the corner of two of the widest and most prominent streets, and at the head of another street. From eight o'clock on the morning of the 13th, the crowd began to swell until it had numbered many thousands in the vicinity of the office. The innumerable inquiries made over the wires about the fate of Sumter would have excluded all other business had not the Divisional Superintendent instituted a plan of announcement to give the earliest result to the people. Near each office along the telegraph line from Charleston to New Orleans, a squad of drilled artillerists were stationed with one or more pieces of ordnance. The Fort was in view of the office at Charleston. So soon as the familiar, but then foreign flag of the United States, was lowered, a signal was to be given by the Charleston telegrapher, over the wires, to New Orleans, when a Confederate salute would be fired. At half-past twelve o'clock, p. m., of the memorable day, the Charleston office announced the falling of the old flag, and while the white flag was ascending in its place on Sumter, the news had reached New Orleans, and

The volleys fired in each city were as simultaneous as though each cannon had been touched by the same electric spark. In two minutes after the first announcement. Judge Walker, the Secretary of War, received the laconic dispatch from General Beauregard : " Sumter surrendered. 'Nobody hurt' on our side." The dispatch was caught by all of the cities, and amid the glad shouts of the people and the ringing of the town bells, each river between Charleston harbor and the Gulf of Mexico reverberated the echoes of the thundering artillery upon their banks until it appeared like the roaring billows of the Atlantic had commingled with the great Father of Waters in proclaiming a loud hallelujah over the triumphant event.

command until the following day, the 14th. He was treated with every courtesy by the Confederates, and, with his command, was permitted to retain all of their private effects, and to salute their flag with fifty rounds of fire. They were transported to the United States fleet which had kept at a respectful distance from the Confederate batteries.

The intelligence of the fall of Sumter spread through the realms of 'Hhe best Government the sun ever shone on," socalled, as rapidly as it did through the South. The excitement at the North was intense, and such as can only be raised by the spirit that actuated it - ^-revenge. The old flag was their shibboleth and their rallying cry, and the worshippers of the sainted John Brown swelled the shout of vengeance to the greatest gratification of those wise men of the East," the seven Governors, who had urged Mr. Lincoln to commit the overt act which created the fire upon their flag.

On the following day; the 15th, the telegraph conveyed over the country the notorious proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, calling for seventy-five thousand troops to suppress the rebellion in the seceded States, calling upon them to furnish their specified quota. But the unexplained action of the Administration in its deception of the country in regard to the mission of the Relief Squadron, had already turned four States towards a union with the Confederacy, and they shortly afterwards united their fortunes with it. They spurned President Lincoln's authority, and four more States declined, also, at that time to recognize it.

Such were the momentous events in the history of the country which brought about the war in 1861, and in which the citizens of Macon and Bibb County acted so prominent a part.

No county in the Confederacy contributed more troops to the war during the whole period of four years, in proportion to its population, than Bibb. Before the first gun was fired in Charleston Harbor, Macon sent several companies to the seaboard of Georgia for State defense. Twenty-six companies of infantry, artillery and cavalry were scattered on the hundreds of battle grounds (afterwards) from the navy yards, at Pensacola and Fort Morgan, in Mobile Bay, throughout every State, to the Potomac River, and in Maryland and Pennsylvania, besides furnishing a number of companies for home defense.

On the 4th of March, i86i, the Confederate Congress, in assembly at Montgomery, Alabama, adopted the " Stars and Bars " as the flag of the Confederate States. At three o'clock, p. m., of that day, the first flag of the young Republic was hoisted over the Capitol of Alabama, where the Congress was in session, and received an artillery salute. It was on the same day that Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated President at Washington City. The design of the banner was telegraphed throughout the Confederacy, and on the night following the same day, Mrs. Thomas Hardeman, with her accustomed patriotism and energy devoted her labor the whole of that night to the making of the first flag of the Confederacy which waved upon Georgia soil. It was presented to the Floyd Rifles early on the morning of the 5th, and thrown to the breeze from their armory, receiving from the proud recipients the first salute fired in the State in honor of the Confederate colors.

On the 19th of April, 1861, the Rifles and Volunteers were summoned to the defense'bf Virginia, in the Confederate service. They left on twenty-four hours' notice, and arrived at Norfolk in three days, having the honor of being the first troops outside of the boundaries of the Old Dominion to arrive in defense of her homes and friends. The two companies, in connection with two others from Georgia, were formed into the famous Second Georgia Battalion, by the election of Captain Thomas Hardeman, of the Rifles, as Major.

In May, 1862, the Arsenal at Savannah, under the charge of Colonel R. M. Cuyler, was removed to this place, and the extensive Foundry establisment of the Messrs. Findlay, with all of its machinery, was appropriated for the use of that important department, while a dozen of the largest storehouses and other buildings were occupied for the deposit of a great variety of articles connected with the Ordnance Department. Over three hundred and fifty artisans and workmen, and, at one period, as many as five hundred, were kept constantly at work in the manufacture of cannon, shot, shell, saddle harness, leather work, etc. The twelve pounder Napoleon guns made by the Arsenal were the pride of the army, and all of the work turned out was of a character that redounded to the merit of the establishment and the superior proficiency of the machinists. The Laboratory and Armory establishments kept as many more operatives engaged in the manufacture of smaller weapons, cartridges, etc. Their work, too, was high testimony to the mechanical skill and ingenuity of the Southerners. It developed the fact that the Southern man was, when the occasion required, the equal in the science of mechanism to any other in the country. There were also numerous other smaller institutions, such as sword, button, enamelled cloth, match, soap and wire factories.

Being in the center of the State, and at that time the center of the Confederacy, the Treasury Department established a Depositary in Macon, appointing W. B. Johnston, the Premier in conduct of its operations. Atone time there was $1,500,000.00 in gold under the protection of this institution. This Depository took the highest rank of any similar office outside of Richmond, which being the Seat of Government and the centre of war, was naturally the greatest distributing point. The Macon- Depository counted in and took up ;$i5,ooo,ooo.oo in seven days in February, 1864, during the funding of the first issue of Confederate notes.

As the Federal standard had been planted on the coast of Georgia, and the invaders in overwhelming numbers were gradually advancing into Tennessee, and so many Georgians were in the armies in defense of the frontier States, it became necessary to establish an army of reserved forces for the protection of the State, consisting in the greater part of the old men, the youths, the feeble and infirm, and the operatives in the departments. To the organization and command of this special military department, General Howell Cobb was detailed from the army of General Lee, who at once established his '' Headquarters of the Army of Georgia Reserves" in Atlanta, in 1863, and removed to

Macon in 1864. The appearance of General Cobb in his native and beloved State, and by whom he was venerated for his valor, patriotism and prudence, infused a new spirit of zeal among the desponding. He soon organized armies throughout the State, and protected it from invasions by the enemy on the coasts, and from raiders in the mountains, besides acting as an important auxiliary to the armies in Tenneseee and North Georgia.

After the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederacy was cut off from the sources of commissary supplies, and as the invaders advanced, Georgia was the main State to supply the Confederate armies west of the Alabama river with food. The tythe system of raising produce had been adopted, and the fertile lands in Southwestern Georgia which had so long been whitened with fields of cotton to supply the many manufactures in Old England and New England, were now verdant with the waving corn, and became like the Egyptian lands of Joseph and the Pharaohs, the granaries of food for the people and the armies. From its its many facilities, by diverging railroads, for transportation, Macon became an important point for Quartermaster and Commissary departments, which in a great degree swelled the military operations of the post.

The peculiarly favorable advantages of the location of Macon, surrounded with an abundance of wood for fuel, fountains of pure water, and healthy climate, unselfish, hospitable and patriotic families, whose earnest labors in their noble work for the period of four years, will challenge a better record from any community in the world, all conspired to render it a suitable place for hospitals.

Early in the war a Society was organized by the noble and self-sacrificing women of the city, under the title of the '' Ladies Soldiers' Relief Society." It was organized April 27th, 1861, by the election of Mrs. Washington Poe, President, Mrs. Thomas Hardeman, Vice-President, Miss M. E. Bass, Secretary, and Miss Julia Wrigley, Treasurer. The first public meeting was held on the ist of May, 1861, when the Constitution was adopted, and the efforts of the Society directed to the furnish- ing of "lint bandages and garments to the sick and wounded soldiers in the field." An executive committee was elected and sub-committees appointed over the different classes of work to be performed. It was soon found necessary to amend the Constitution and enlarge the field of operations, so as to supply clothing for the troops of Bibb county and furnish hospital supplies to the sick and wounded. Two hundred and two members had been added to the Society before the ist of September, including an auxiliary society, consisting of a little band of juvenile patriots, who completed and contributed in two months thirty-six pairs of drawers, twenty pairs of socks and thirtythree shirts. The presentation of the children were accepted and an appropriate resolution passed :

" That the thanks of this Society are due and tendered to the band of Hittle patriots ' for their donation, as well as for the industry with which they ply their needles in the noble cause, and that we commend their zeal and patriotism as worthy of imitation."

On the 19th of July Mrs^ L. N, Boykin was chosen Secretary in place of Miss Bass, resigned, and held the office, with Mrs. Poe as President, until the close of the war. The amount of funds raised and disbursed by this Society during the first seven months of its operation and expended for the purposes intended, was ^7,391.95, besides having a large quanty of useful material for camp and hospital service donated to it. As the war became more extensive and more troops were sent to the field the duties of the Society proportionately increased. During the year 1862, Mrs. E. J. Johnston was made Treasurer of the Society and Chairman of the Committee on Hospital Supplies.

In the fall of the same year another institution was founded, which continued in its most praiseworthy operation until after the close of the war. There were a great many sick and disabled soldiers from the battle-ground and camps en route to their places of destination that were suffering for food on the trains. For their relief the was established. A company of ten citizens purchased the old Macon Hotel, and placed it under the charge of the Relief Society, who converted it into a hospital and eating house for the disabled soldiers on the trains, and it proved to be one of the most useful and necessary works of the Society.

During the first three years of the war, as numerous and terrific as were the battles, the women of the South, to their eternal glory, almost clothed their heroes, and supplied the hospitals with lint bandages and other articles. When their supplies at home were exhausted there was another field of increased labor. There was an army, in numbers, of disabled troops, crowding the hospitals. There were, in 1864 and 1865, no less than six thousand in and around Macon, a number equal to the white population of the city, including the women and children. Every State, from Maryland to Texas, both inclusive, had numbers of their gallant sons receiving the kindest ministrations from the hands of the fair daughters of Macon, and to whom many in their last hours gave the assurance of the hope of a victory more gloriously triumphant than that of any proud "Army with Banners."

The following report of a speech made by Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, in August, 1863, is descriptive of the patriotism and suffering of the armies at that time :

<<Mr. Stephens said that soon after the first great battle of Manassas, duty called him to our camps near that point. He went over the grounds on which that conflict had taken place. The evidence of the terrible strife were still fresh and visible all around. The wide-spread desolation, the new-made graves, and the putrid animal remains not yet removed by the vultures, fully attested what a scene of blood it had been. While surveying the hills and defiles over which the various columns of our men and the enemy passed and were engaged on that memorable day, among other things that crowded themselves upon his mind, were two dying expressions reported to have been uttered in the midst of the battle. One was by a soldier on the side of the en- Q emy, who, falling and weltering in his blood, exclaimed : ' My God ! what is all this for ?' The other was by the lamented Bartow, who said : ' Boys, they have killed me, but never give it up !' These two exclamations were made at no great distance apart, and perhaps near the same time. ' What is all this for ?' Mr. Stephens said he could but think the question was pertinent to both sides, and most pertinent from him who uttered it, addressed to all his invading comrades and those who sent them. Well might he there, in the agonies of death, in the din and dust of strife, in the clangor of arms and the thnnder of artillery, ask : 'What is all this for ?' Why this array of armies ? Why this fierce meeting in mortal combat ? What is all this carnage and slaughter for ? The same question is still as pertinent to those who are waging this war against us, as it was then. Why the prolongation of this conflict? Why this immense sacrifice of life in camp, and the numerous battles that have been fought since ? Why this lamentation and mourning going up from almost every house and family from Maine to the Rio Grande, and from the Atlantic and the Gulf to the Lakes, for friends and dear ones who have fallen by disease and violence in this unparalleled struggle ? The question, if replied to by the North, can have but one true answer. What is all this for, on their part, but to overturn the principle upon which their Government, as well as ours, is based - to reverse the doctrine that Governments derive 'their just powers from the consent of the governed?' What is it for but to overturn the principles and practice of their own Government from the beginning? That Government was founded and based upon the political axiom that all States and Peoples have the inalienable right to change their Government at will ! * *

" Well may any and every one. North or South, exclaim : 'What is all this for?' What have we done to the North? When have we ever wronged them ? We quit them, it is true, as our ancestors and their ancestors quit the British Government. We quit as they quit- upon a Constitutional Right. That question they determined for themselves, and we have but done the same. What, therefore, is all this for ? Why this war, on their part, against the uniform principles and practice of their own Government ? It is a war, in short, on their part, against right, against reason, against justice !

" It asked on our side, 'What is all this for?' the reply from every breath is, that it is for home, for firesides, for our altars, for our birth-rights, for property, for honor ; in a word, for everything for which freemen should live, and for which all deserving to be freemen should be willing, if need be, to die ! "

Until the last of July, 1864, Macon had escaped the attacks of the enemy's raiding regiments. While Sherman was pouring his storm of shot and shell into Atlanta, the country surrounding that place was frequently infested with raids, which extended their depredations into Alabama, and eastward, beyond Covington, Georgia, destroying railroad property and plundering the unprotected families in the towns and through the country. Raids were now the order of the day. On the 29th of July, Captain Dunlap, commanding a party of scouts, reported a large body of Federal cavalry on the Clinton road, who were rapidly approaching Macon. All of the militia at this place were immediately ordered under arms. Governor Brown, being in the city, issued a proclamation, calling upon every man, citizen or refugee, who had a gun of any kind, or could get one, to report at the court-house, with the least possible delay, to be formed into companies to aid in the defense of the city. The citizens responded promptly, and by seven o'clock, on the morning of the 30th, two thousand men were posted in line of battle between East Macon and Walnut Creek. On the evening of the 29th, a battalion of six hundred Tennesseans, under command of Major John W. Nisbet, had arrived from Andersonville, on their way to Atlanta, also about one thousand of State militia, who were destined to the same place. These bodies of troops were detained at Macon several days for its defense, and to their accidental arrival at that time, which swelled the little army of defenders of the city, may be attributed the retreat of two thousand five hundred Federal cavalry under General Stoneman. The Confederates, together with a battery of three pieces under Captain Peschke, were placed under command of Colonel J. B. Gumming, who formed them, on the 29th, on the Clinton road, and they became the left of the line. A battery under Major Edwin Taliaferro, was stationed on a hill beyond Fort Hawkins. Lieutenant Colonel Findlay's Georgia Reserves were between this battery and Cumming's command.

On the west side of the river, Company B, Macon Volunteers, under Captain B. F. Ross, a company of operatives from the Macon Factory, under Major M. R. Rogers, a company of convalescents from the hospitals, under Lieutenant Colonel C. M. Wiley, the Fireman Guards, Lieutenant Nicoll, and the Silver Greys, (a full company of aged gentlemen) under Captain J. R. Armstrong, were posted on the Vineville road. On the morning of the 30th, the cavalry of Stoneman made their advance within about three miles of East Macon. The troops on the west side of the river were ordered to march to East Macon, and on reaching the bridge heard the sound of battle to the left. They were under the command of Colonel Gibbs, and were marched to the right of Major Taliaferro's battery, leaving the Silver Greys to guard the Central Railroad bridge. Colonel Gibbs' command formed the right of the line. The enemy had placed a battery at Dunlap's farm, and fired shot which fell freely around the suburbs of the city, without any serious damage. One shot fell into the heart of the city, on Mulberry street, tearing away a portion of a column in front of the house of Mr. Asa Holt.

The battle commenced upon the left wing. Gumming ordered Peschke's battery to reserve their fire until the Federals were within two to three hunered yards of their front. They were then coming down the Milledgeville road. The battery opened ' with a well directed fire, when Nisbet's battalion was ordered to charge. The militia and Findlay's command were held in reserve to follow the battalion if necessary. On the charge being made, and the fire of Peschke's battery kept up, the enemy retreated towards Cross Keys. During this engagement Gumming lost seven killed and twenty-six wounded. Stoneman had formed a line of three hundred sharp-shooters, in the meantime, who engaged the right wing under Colonel Gibbs, which, in marching between Fort Hawkins and the position they took along the farm of Mr. George W. Adams, gallantly stood their fire until ordered to return it. They fired with a good effect and put the enemy to a hasty retreat. During this engagement Colonel Gibbs' loss was two killed and nine wounded.

General Stoneman, on leaving Atlanta, had distributed his command in three columns. One was to advance on Macon by coming down the road via Griffin and Forsyth, and engage the local forces at Macon in the rear, while he, with the other two columns, was to meet the first column at Macon. The first column was intercepted by a portion of Hood's army]between Griffin and Atlanta. When Stoneman arrived at Clinton he was surprised to learn that the city bridge at Macon had been carried away by a freshet a short time before, and that General Joseph E. Johnston was at Macon. He apprehended that Macon had been reinforced from Hood's army at Atlanta. On arriving near Macon his delusion was increased by the number of troops he saw in his front, and by the rapid and continuous fire from Major Taliaferro's battery. Finding that he could not capture the city, he kept one column of about eight hundred to one thousand men, principally sharp-shooters, with a couple of rifled pieces of artillery, to make a feint on the town while he marched another column upon several undefended points on the Central Railroad, tearing up the track and burning the bridges over Walnut creek and the Oconee river ; destroying cars and locomotives at Gordon and Griswoldville, and committing the usual amount of destruction at those and other places along the route for which the raiders were noted.

On the evening of the 30th they retired from before Macon. ^ On August ist they were met by a portion of Wheeler's cavalry, under General Iverson, at Sunrise Church, near Clinton, and after a short battle, surrendered. The main body of the enemy was not in the battle at Sunshine, and succeeding in making their escape. Five hundred prisoners, with General

Stoneman, were marched into the city by General Iverson, and for several days a large number were caught in the woods and brought in as captives. All of Stoneman's artillery and over one thousand splendid eight-shooter rifles, and a large number of horses were captured.

It was attacked by a division of United States cavalry with the object, probably, of destroying the valuable workshops which had been established there by the Chief of Ordnance, General Gorgas. The place had neither entrenchments nor garrison. Fortunately, however, two regiments of the militia promised me while commanding the army, by Governor Brown, were passing on their way to Atlanta. Their officers were serving in the army as privates, so they had none.

With them, and as many of the mechanics of the workshops and volunteers of the town as he could find arms for, in all fifteen or eighteen hundred. General Cobb met the Federals on the high ground east of the Ocmulgee, and repulsed them after a contest of several hours, by his own courage and judicious disposition, and the excellent conduct of his troops, who heard hostile shot then for the first time."

" Stoneman had not obeyed his order to attack the railroad before going to Macon and Andersonville, but had crossed the Ocmulgee river high up near Covington, and had gone down that river on the east bank. He reached Clinton and sent out detachments which struck the railroad leading from Macon to Savannah, at Griswold station, where they found and destroyed seventeen locomotives and over a hundred cars; then went on, burned the bridge across the Oconee, and reunited the division before Macon. Stoneman shelled the town across the river, but could not cross over by the bridge, and returned to Clinton where he found the retreat obstructed by a superior force. There he became bewildered and sacrificed himself for the safety of his command. He occupied the attention of the enemy by a small force of seven hundred men, giving Colonels Adams and Capron leave, with their brigades, to cut their way back to me at Atlanta. The former reached us entire, but the latter was struck and scattered at some place further north, and came in by detachments. Stoneman surrendered and became a prisoner until he was exchanged some time after, late in September, at Rough and Ready."

During this time another excitement was raging at the North. The administration party met in Convention and nominated Mr. Lincoln for re-election, with Andy Johnson for Vice-President. Their platform entirely endorsed all of the acts of the Lincoln administration, urged a continuance of the war until the South was annihilated, or subjugated to an unconditional surrender. The Reconstruction party, or Copperheads, as they were called, denounced many of the acts of Lincoln, declared the war a failure on his part, and favored a Convention of all the States in the old Union to take measures to stop the war and effect a reconciliation. This party united with another who professed, while they favored the war, they were opposed to the extravagant, barbarous and exacting spirit in which it had been conducted. Upon this platform General McClellan was nominated for President, and Mr. George Pendleton for Vice-President. This new party was rapidly gaining strength, and presented an admirable and formidable array of talent in its leaders. But the opposition held that all-important ''arm of service" in war as well as peace - the Treasury Department; and the machines were set in motion with double-quick celerity for making new greenbacks and bonds, upon which the Annihilation party "foraged" liberally, a custom, by the way, which they kept up quite as effectually for ten years after the close of the war, until a " Rebel House of Representatives," so-called, at Washington, interposed its Archimedean arms as a lever to check the fly-wheel of the ponderous machine.

The Convention which renominated Mr. Lincoln recommended the issue of ^500,000,000.00 more to continue the war. With the prospect of so much money to forage upon, an in- creased supply of mercenaries from abroad, as well as at home, was easily obtained to reinforce the armies of the best government the world ever saw," and to buy up the ballots necessary to keep the heads of that government in power.

Atlanta was evacuated on the night of the ist of September, and as Stoneman kept up telegraph communication to Chattanooga and Nashville, the news was quickly sent to Washington, and spread with greater eclat throughout the North, and had an important influence upon the political parties there, of which General Sherman said : "A Presidential election then agitated the North. Mr. Lincoln represented the National cause, and General McClellan had accepted the nomination of the Democratic party, whose platform was that the war was a failure, and that it was better to allow the South to go free to establish a separate Government whose corner-stone should be slavery. Success to our arms was, therefore, a political necessity, and it was all-important that something startling in our interest should occur before the election in November. The brilliant success at Atlanta filled that requirement, and made the election of Mr. Lincoln certain."

The Reconstruction policy was again revived in Georgia, under the suggested plan of ''Separate State Action." On the loth of September, Governor Brown addressed a letter to General Hood, v/ithdrawing the State militia from his army, stating that they had been placed there for the defense of Atlanta, and that since the city had fallen, they were needed on their farms to gather the crops of corn, sorghum, etc., which were needed for the maintenance of the people. This was telegraphed to Mr. Lincoln, as well as the rumors of a strong Reconstruction party being organized in the State, which was regarded at the North as a " latent enmity in Georgia against the administration of President Davis." The President of the Confederacy called upon Governor Brown for his militia to be retained with General Hood's army. Governor Brown declined the request. On the 23d of September, President Davis visited Macon, and at the solicitation of a large number of citizens, who had convened at the Baptist Church, on hospital and other benevolent purposes, he appeared and made them an address. Though Mr. Davis' visit was unexpected, the meeting of the church was very large ; the male portion of the audience consisted almost entirely of the gray-haired sires of the community. The President expressed himself hopeful of the success of the Confederacy, notwithstanding the fall of Atlanta ; that he had removed General Johnston because he would not fight. He was very severe upon the campaign of that officer, and the dissentions which had been fomented in Georgia prejudicial to his own conduct of the war. He repelled the charge of sacrificing Georgia for the security of Virginia, and laid the charge to Governor Brown, whom he severely denounced. He stated that the armies had been reduced two-thirds by sickness of the troops and absence without leave. He made an eloquent appeal to the citizens everywhere, and the women particularly, to induce the absentees to return to their posts. He declared his purpose to retrieve the fall of Atlanta by sending Hood's army to the rear of Sherman to destroy the Federal source of supplies, etc., and thus force the enemy into starvation, or a retreat which would be worse than that of Napoleon from Moscow. The Macon papers containing a full report of the speech reached Atlanta in two days after its delivery, and was telegraphed to Washington, and thence throughout Lincolndom. The Radical press then teemed with publications of the Civil war in the State of Georgia - the withdrawal of the militia by Governor Brown - the Reconstruction party in the State - two-thirds of the Rebel army absent without leave - the Johnston-Brown-Davis emeute^^' etc., etc., which was just the very information the Lincoln party wanted to influence their Presidential election. The announcement of the Davis-Hood programme gave the Federals time to prepare for its undertaking, and another army was raised under General Thomas to meet Hood in Tennessee.

It will be a physical impossibility to protect the roads, now that Hood, Forrest, Wheeler and the whole batch of devils are turned loose without home or habitation. I propose that we break up the road from Chattanooga forward, and that we strike out with our wagons for Milledgeville, Millen and Savannah. Until we can depopulate Georgia it is useless for us to occupy it; but the utter destruction of its houses, roads and people will cripple their military resources. By attempting to hold the roads we will lose one thousand men each month, and will gain no result. I can make this march, and make Georgia howl ! "

All of the Federal sick and wounded, and the immense amount of stores which had accumulated at Atlanta, and at other places along the State Road, were removed to Chattanooga, and the work of destruction resumed when the army passed down the road to Atlanta.

Here was a strange spectacle presented ; two hostile armies moving in opposite directions, Hood into Tennessee and Sherman down into Georgia. Preparations were now made for the "Grand March to the Sea." All of the Confederate families which had sought refuge in Atlanta from the Tennessee line down the track of Sherman's devastation, together with the inhabitants of that ill-fated city, had been banished from its limits, about the middle of September, to seek a shelter wherever they might find it. In vain did General Hood and the municipal authorities of Atlanta protest against such a barbarous order. They presented all the sufferings that would fall upon the women and children, the decrepit and the sick, in all of its horrors. General Sherman refused to revoke his order, and in reply to ^ their appeals, originated the expression, that according to his conception, "war is cruelty, and you cannot refine it." To leave a monument to his cruelty, that the credit of his authorship of the expression might live in history, after expelling the innocent refugees and inhabitants of Atlanta from their homes, he, on the 14th of November, witnessed the conflagration of the city by his own order, and remained over on the 15th to destroy such buildings as had escaped the day previous, that might be used for hostile purposes, which meant the return of the exiled women and children to their homes after he had left it.

During the March to the Sea " another attack was made on Macon. The- march commenced on the 15th, with two divergent lines to threaten Macon and Augusta, while the main column, of infantry, proceeded in the center, and all were to concentrate at Milledgeville, the objective point, and continue thence to the coast. General Kirkpatrick's cavalry, supported by Ostenhau's corps, was to feign on Macon. They made their appearance three miles east of the city on the 20th and 21st, where they were met by the militia and the local companies, and after some sharp firing on both sides, retired to Griswoidville.

On the 2 2d, a sanguinary battle occurred at that place, between General G. W. Smith, in command of the Georgia militia, and a Federal brigade, under General Walcutt. The Federals retired two miles from Griswoidville, where they entrenched themselves. They were armed with Spencer repeating rifles. The Confederates advanced within fifty yards of the entrenchments under a most ierrific fire, which they stood with great firmness. Six hundred and fourteen of them were killed and wounded, so rapid was the fire from the enemy. The loss of the latter was not known, though General Walcutt was severely wounded. The weather was intensely cold, and many of the wounded militia froze to death on the field. This battle was entirely unnecessary, and reflects no credit upon the officers in command of the Confederate forces. In his "Memoirs," descriptive of "The March to the Sea," General Sherman states:

"About seven o'clock, a. m., on November i6th, we rode out of Atlanta on the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps, and reaching the hill just outside of the rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22d, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us, lay Atlanta smouldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city. Away off in the distance, on the McDonough road, was the rear of Howard's column, their gun barrels glistening in the sun, the white-topped wagons stretching away to the South, and right before us, the Fourteenth Corps marching steadily and rapidly, with a cheery look and swinging pace, that made light of the thousand miles that lay between us and Richmond. Some band, by accident, struck up the anthem of ' John Brown's soul goes marching on,' the men caught up the strain, and never before or since have I heard the chorus of 'Glory, glory, hallelujah' done with more spirit or in better harmony of time and place."

After relating a number of humorous incidents along the march, his visit at Covington, etc., the destruction of railroads, and the burning of bridges, he says :

" We found an abundance of corn, molasses, meal, bacon and sweet potatoes. We took a good many cows and oxen, and a large number of mules. In all these the country was quite rich, never before having been invaded by a hostile army. The recent crop had been excellent, had been just gathered and laid in for the winter. As a rule we destroyed none, but kept our wagons full and fed our teams bountifully. The skill and success of the men in collecting forage was one of the features of this march. . Each brigade commander had authority to detail a company of foragers, usually about fifty men, with one or two commissioned officers, selected for their boldness and enterprise. Tnis party would be dispatched before daylight with a knowledge of the intended day's march and camp ; would proceed on foot five or six miles from the route traveled by their brigade, and then visit every farm and plantation within range. They would usually procure a wagon or family carriage, load it with bacon, corn meal, turkeys, ducks, chickens and everything that could be used as food or forage, and then would regain the road usually in advance of their train. When this came up they would deliver to the brigade commissary the supplies thus gathered by the way. Often would I pass these foraging parties at the road- side, waiting for their wagons to come up, and was amused at their strange collections - mules, horses, even cattle, packed with old saddles and loaded with hams, bacon, bags of corn meal, and poultry of every character and description. Although this foraging was attended with great danger and hard work, there seemed to be a charm about it that attracted the soldiers, and it was a privilege to be detailed on such a party. Daily they returned mounted on all sorts of beasts which were at once taken from them and appropriated to the general use ; but the next day they would start out on foot again only to repeat the experience of the day before. No doubt many acts of pillage, robbery and violence were committed by these parties of foragers, usually called ' bummers,' for I have heard since of jewelry taken from women, and the plunder of articles that never reached the commissary ; but these acts were exceptional and incidental." * * *

On the 2 2d, he camped within eight miles of Milledgeville highly pleased with his adventures and the execution of one of his orders: 'Oo forage liberally," when an unexpected incident occurred at his camp, which he narrates as follows :

"The afternoon was unusually raw and cold. My orderly was at hand with his invariable saddle-bags, which contained a change of under-clothing, my maps, a flask of whisky and bunch of cigars. Taking a drink and lighting a cigar, I walked to a row of negro huts close by, entered one and found a soldier or two warming themselves by a wood fire. I was talking to an old negro woman, when some one came and explained to me that if I would come further down the road I could find a better place. So I started on foot and found on the main road a good double-hewed log house. I sent back orders to bring our horses and saddles up to this house, and orders to conduct our head- I quarters' wagons to the same place. In looking around the room, I saw a small box, like a candle-box, marked 'Howell Cobb,' and, on enquiring of a negro, found that we were at the plantation of General Howell Cobb, of Georgia, one of the leading rebels of the South, then a General in the Southern army, and who had been Secretary of the United States Treasury in Mr. Buchanan's time. Of course we confiscated his property, and found it rich in corn, beans, peanuts and sorghum molasses. Extensive fields were all around the house. I sent word back to General Davis to explain whose plantation it was, and instructed him to spare nothing. That night huge bonfires consumed the fence rails, kept our soldiers warm, and the teamsters and men, as well as the slaves, carried off an immense quantity of corn, and provisions of all sorts."

General Sherman states that he left Atlanta with "sixty-two thousand two hundred and four effective men, and that the most extraordinary efforts had been made to purge this army of noncombatants and of sick men, for we knew well that there was to be no place of safety save with the army itself ; our wagons were loaded with ammunition, provisions and forage, and we could ill afford to haul even sick men in the ambulances, so that all on this exhibit may be assumed to have been able-bodied men, well armed, well equipped and provided, as far as human foresight could, with all the essentials of life, strength and vigorous action." He continues :

"I reached Milledgeville on the 23d, with the left wing, and was in full communication with the right wing, at Gordon. The people of Milledgeville remained at home, except Governor Brown, the State officers and Legislature, who had ignominiouly fled, in the utmost disorder and confusion ; standing not on the order of their going, but going at once ; some by rail, some by carriages, and .many on foot. Some of the citizens who remained behind described this flight of the ^ brave and patriotic ' Governor Brown. He had occupied a public building known as the 'Governor's Mansion,' and had hastily stripped it of carpets, curtains and furniture of all sorts, which were removed to a train of freight cars, which carried away these things - even the cabbages and vegetables from his kitchen and cellar - leaving behind muskets, ammunition and the public archives. The only troops left to defend the Capital was a small

General Sherman remained in Milledgeville a day and entertained himself, reading newspapers from all the South, while some of the officers of his army (in the spirit of mischief) gathered together in the Hall of Representatives, elected a Speaker, and constituted themselves the Legislature of the State of Georgia. A proposition was made to repeal the ordinance of secession, which was well debated, and resulted in a repeal by a fair vote ! Meantime orders were made for the total destruction of the Arsenal and its contents, and of such public buildings as could be easily converted to hostile use. On the 24th, the Federals left Milledgeville, two corps going down the railroad towards Savannah, effectually destroying cross-ties, rails, bridges, depots and all other property of that road. Sherman met them with the twentieth corps at Sandersville, where he says he met some '' rebel cavalry deployed before the town, which were driven in and through it by our skirmishers. I myself saw the rebel cavalry apply fire to stacks of fodder standing in the fields at Sandersville, and I gave orders to burn some unoccupied dwellings close by. On entering the town I told certain citizens, who would be sure to spread the report, that if the enemy attempted to carry out their threat to burn their food, corn or fodder, in our route, I would most undoubtedly execute to the letter the general orders of devastation made at the outset of the campaign. At Sandersville I halted the left wing until I heard that the right wing was abreast of us on the railroad. During the evening a negro was brought to me who had that day been to the station, Tennille, about six miles south of the town. I enquired of him if there were any Yankees there, and he answered ' yes. ' He described in his own way what he had seen : ' First, there come along some cavalrymen, and they burned the depot ; then come along some infantrymen, and they tore up the track and burned it,' and just before he left they had 'sot fire to the well!' On approaching the coast he described the army as in "good position and good condition, hav-

On his arrival at Ossabaw Sound, December 13th, the Commander of the Grand March to the Sea reports to the Secretary of War, at Washington :

" The army is in splendid order, and equal to anything. The - weather has been fine, and supplies were abundant. Our march was most agreeable, and were not at all molested by guerrillas.

We have not lost a wagon on the trip, but have gathered a large supply of negroes, mules, horses, etc., and our teams are in far better condition than when we started. My first duty will be to clear the army of surplus negroes, mules and horses. We have , utterly destroyed over two hundred miles of rails, and consumed i stores and provisions that were essential to Lee's and Hood's | armies." 1

The foregoing are the salient occurrences in the march from | Atlanta to the sea by sixty-two thousand two hundred and four Federal soldiers, as related in the " Memoirs of W. T. Sherman - wTitten by himself."

Loud and wild were the paeans sung by the press and pulpit, ' Federal Congress and Cabinet, orators and politicians throughout the United States over this "Grand March to the Sea."

To the great credit to General Sherman's record of the "agreeable" excursion, he makes no such boast of it as being a remarkable military achievement ; to the contrary, he says that he marched "unobstructed and without opposition to his in- ] fantry column, while on the wings the cavalry had only occasionally some slight skirmishes."^

" Such little freaks as taking the last chicken, the last pound of meal, the last bit of bacon, and the only remaining scraggy cow from a poor woman and her flock of children, black or white, not considered, came under the order of legitimate business. Even crockery, bed covering or clothes are fair spoils. j As for plate or jewelry, or watches, these were things rebels had J no use for. Men with pockets plethoric with silver and gold coin ; soldiers sinking under the weight of plate and fine bedding materials ; lean mules and horses with the richest trappings of Brussels carpets, and hangings of fine chenille ; negro wenches, particularly good looking ones, decked in satin and silks, and sporting diamond ornaments ; officers with sparkling rings that would set Tiffany in raptures, gave color to the stories of hanging up or flushing an old ' old cuss ' to make him shell out. A planter's house was overrun in a jiffy, boxes, drawers and escretoires were ransacked with a laudable zeal, and emptied of their contents. If they were ample the depredators were satisfied, and went off in peace ; if not, everything was torn and destroyed, and most likely the owner was tickled with sharp bayonets into a confession where he had his treasures hid. If he escaped and was hiding in a thicket, this was prima facie evidence that he was a skulking rebel, and most likely some ruffian, in his zeal to get rid of such vipers, gave him a dose of lead, which cured him of his secesh tendencies. Sorghum barrels were knocked open, and beehives rifled, while their angry swarms rushed frantically about. Indeed, I have seen a soldier j knock a planter down because a bee stung him. Should the pounded out of ^400.00 pianos with the ends of muskets; mirrors were wonderfully multiplied, and rich cushions and carpets carried off to adorn teams and war-steeds. After all was cleared out, most likely some set of stragglers wanted to enjoy a good fire and set the house, debris of furniture, and all the surroundings in a blaze. This is the way Sherman's army lived in the country."

''We have consumed the corn and fodder in the region of country thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah, as also the sweet potatoes, cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry, and have carried away more than ten thousand horses and mules, as well as a countless number of their slaves. I esti- mate the damage done to the State of Georgia and its military resources at ^100,000,000.00, at least ^20,000,000.00 of which has inured to our advantage, and the remainder is simple waste and destruction^

After sacking Milledgeville, the Capital of the State was temporarily removed to Macon. The Legislature had been in session two weeks before the near approach of the enemy, when it adjourned on the 17th of November. The Annual Message of the Governor expressed considerable dissatisfaction at the administration of President Davis. It warmly advocated the calling of a Convention of representatives of all the States, in the hope that an armistice might result, and a peaceable solution of the troubles between the sections at war, attained. The Senate passed a resolution highly complimentary to President Davis, and endorsed his administration in terms of warm approval. Before the resolution reached the House the Legislature adjourned. At the same time the Governor had prepared another message, in which he levelled a serious charge against President Davis, and urged the Legislature to censure the acts of the President. The message was published after the adjournment of the Legislature.

Unfortunately there was no harmony between the President of the Confederacy and the Governor of Georgia. The latter became offended at the action of the former as early as May, 1861, when the troops from Georgia were, over the head of its Governor, accepted into the Confederate service and stationed in the defense of Virginia.

Before the fall of Atlanta, while General Johnston was in command of the Confederate army at that point. Governor Brown implored President Davis for the aid of Forrest's or some other forces, to destroy Sherman's communication in the rear along the line of the State Road. The President replied he had no force to send to his aid ; that every command was needed where it was operating and could not be spared. Then were hurled bitter denunciations against the President, which had an injurious influence upon the Virginia army. It was declared that Georgia had sent fifty regiments into the Virginia service, besides troops to other States, and now she was being overrun and could not call for her own sons to defend their native soil. Governor Brown insisted that Atlanta was as important to Georgia as Richmond was to Virginia ; the loss of Atlanta would be the loss of Georgia, and that Georgia was as important to the Confederacy as Virginia.

With the horrible fate of Atlanta before them, the people of Macon expected to see their fair city laid in ashes. It was densely crowded with refugees from other cities, the families rendered homeless by the devastation of Sherman's army, and the wounded from the battles around Atlanta and in North Georgia. Sherman was apprehensive that Hood, Forrest, Wheeler and Beauregard had united and would chase him with the fleet awaiting him at Ossabaw Sound, hence he would not risk the time to destroy Macon in his eagerness to reach the sea.

The effect of Sherman's "howl" through Georgia was that it made the people more resolute, and dispelled, in a great measure, the hopes of the advocates of the Reconstruction policy. Early in February of the following year, Messrs. Stephens, Campbell and Hunter reported the result of their Hampton-road Conference with President Lincoln and Mr. Seward upon the subject of reconstruction, which was far from being acceptable to the Southern people. There was not a single just or liberal concession made on the part of Lincoln and Seward. They knew of the great reduction of numbers in the Southern armies, the destruction of military stores and the destruction of the means for transportation of troops and supplies, and the exhausted condition of the Richmond Treasury. Their utterance was nothing less than "unconditional surrender" subject to the clemency of the United States Executive.

The Confederate Cabinet and Congress declined to seek any further conference looking towards any favorable adjustment with Mr. Lincoln. Congress adjourned after making General Lee Commander-in-Chief of the military operations, and expressing much complaint at the inefficiency of the President's Cabinet. Before they adjourned they were made aware, in

''That the Treasury was without funds, and that ^500,000,000 were needed to carry on the war. There was but a small amount of gold in hand, and the Treasury had actually been buying up its own currency at ^60.00 for ^i.oo in gold."

General Lee reported the armies were without force enough to do what was required of them ; that he could neither maintain his own lines before Richmond nor remove from them.

The Commissary General reported that unless the railroads south of Virginia were opened and gold furnished to purchase provisions, the army of Virginia could not be supported.

The Ordnance Department reported heavy losses of workmen and machinery. The destruction being made by General Sherman in the Carolinas, made matters worse.

The Legislature of Georgia convened in Macon about the middle of February. The Governor's message was an unusually long one, taking up two pages of the Macon Telegraph - fourteen full columns - of which by far the greater part was a review of the administration of President Davis, and arguing the necessity of a State Convention to urge the deposal of the President and a secession of Georgia from the Confederacy.

Hons. B. H. Hill and L. Q. C. Lamar came from Richmond to Georgia, and addressed the citizens at Macon and throughout the State in defense of the administration of President Davis ; they opposed the call of any convention as being unwise and impolitic, and denounced the reconstruction movement of Governor Brown.

At the special invitation of a large number of influential citizens, General Howell Cobb addressed the people at Ralston's Hall, on the i6th of February. The hall was densely crowded. Every word that fell from the lips of the distinguished speaker, though he spoke for two hours, was received with profound at- tention, and frequently with prolonged applause. He made a bold and earnest defense of President Davis, and extolled the heroism and self-sacrifice of the soldiers in his armies. He deplored the disasters which had befallen the country, and believed with a united action and firm resolve the South would be triumphant. He saw no good to arise from any State Convention. The Confederacy was only a combination of States, with a head to represent the wishes of the whole. As Mr. Lincoln had refused to recognize the Confederacy and to treat with its head, he would not recognize one of its States, unless it turned its bayonets upon the others, and that no man could render Lincoln a better service than to destroy the confidence in our own people in the ability and integrity of their Government.

The Legislature adjourned in March, rejecting the adoption of the Governor's recommendation to call a convention of delegates to consider the policy of separate State action.

On the 9th of April, General Lee surrendered the Virginia armies, Richmond having been evacuated by the President and a portion of his Cabinet a week before, who removed to Greensboro, North Carolina, to be in consultation with General Johnston, who was in command of twenty five thousand men, the last remnant of the old Confederate army.

On the 1 8th of April an armistice of forty-eight hours was made between Generals Johnston and Sherman, and terms of peace proposed, to be ratified by the heads of the two governments. On the 19th, General Johnston returned to Greensboro and learned there was $37,800 00 in silver, the remainder of the Confederate Treasury, deposited there. As the troops were about to be disbanded, he ordered the amount, which was in Mexican silver dollars, to be distributed among them, as they had been in service many months without pay.

President Davis had removed to Charlotte, North Carolina, with three members of his Cabinet, who approved of the terms of the Johnston-Sherman Convention of the i8th. On the 24th General Johnston received a communication from General Sherman stating that the authorities at Washington had disapproved of the terms of peace agreed to between them, and that the armistice would cease. The two Generals then had another interview, and on the 26th, concluded the terms tor a cessation of hostilities and the disbandment of the armies. During this time occurred

The Surrender Of Macon

The following account of the occupation of Macon by General Wilson was prepared by the writer and published ' in the Telegraph and Messenger, April 20th, 1875.

To-day ten years ago General Wilson entered and took possession of Macon. The Daily Telegraph and Confederate was published up to the 2istof April, 1865. The editors and printers vacated the office on the entrance of the Federal cavalry.

" There was no paper until the 4th of May following, when a small sheet was issued called the Macon Evening News, printed by a combination of printers.

The Macon Daily Telegraph made its appearance again on the nth of May under the control of Messrs. Clayland & Dumble. The Telegraph accepted the situation, and being under military surveillance, made no reference to the exciting scenes during its suspension after the surrender of the city. We are, therefore, thrown upon the resources of memory for the information we now write, and though many important incidents may have escaped us our statement may be relied upon as correct as far as we give it.

" General Wilson had the best equipped cavalry corps that had ever been in the United States service. It numbered, according to his own report, when he reached Macon 13,500 strong, with splendid trains of provision wagons, pontoons and every appliance necessary for a destructive raid. His horses and mules were the best stock that could be produced in the country. He had marched through the wealthiest counties in Alabama and appropriated to his service the best animals that the rich planters of that State possessed, and was enabled to move at the rate of fifty miles per day.

" He met General Forrest with a small and exhausted force near Selma, Alabama, and after a desperate fight succeeded in driving back the Confederate heroes. At this time Wilson's force amounted to fifteen thousand troops.

At Selma, Wilson met with stubborn resistance by Forrest's command and the citizens of the place. By overpowering numbers he stormed the city and entered it, and reached Montgomery, forty-five miles from Selma, in twelve hours march.

' ' There were some small forces of Confederates at Montgomery, who burnt all the cotton in the city rather than it should be destroyed by the enemy. The cotton was taken out of the warehouses, piled on the river banks, and the torch applied to one hundred thousand bales. On entering that city Wilson fired the railroad buildings and buildings which had been used for Confederate purposes. He continued his work of destruction on his march to Columbus, which place he reached in two days. Here he was opposed by General Howell Cobb with a small force of Georgia Reserves on the night of the 15th of April. General Cobb was on the field, commanding in person. His whole force did not amount to two thousand five hundred. It was so dark during the engagement that a squad of Federal cavalry rode up to General Cobb's position and had a conversation with him without recognizing him. Our feeble forces there were scattered, and as soon as possible, were drawn off on a retreat. We chronicle the battle at Columbus as the last one of the war.

"Wilson burned near one hundred thousand bales of cotton at Columbus. He burned three cotton factories, the railroad and other buildings, besides some private property. After resting two days and provisioning his army, and gathering thousands of negroes, he proceeded on his march of devastation to Macon. He divided his army, sending a portion towards West Point and LaGrange, thence via Thomaston to Macon. The plan was for the two columns to meet at Macon, destroy the city, and proceed to Augusta, and thence to join Sherman's army in the Carolinas.

''The impression in Macon was, up to the 19th, that Forrest was in the rear of Wilson, and was driving him forward. They had overestimated Forrest's force and greatly underrated Wilson's, until General Cobb made a hair-breadth escape, and arrived in Macon. Every preparation was made for a resistance here. Every man capable of standing on his feet was ordered to the entrenchments, and arrangements made to barricade the streets with the many cotton bales in the city. In the event that we were overpowered, precaution had been taken by General Cobb to destroy all of the whisky in the city, so as to prevent the horrors of a drunken army among defenseless women and children. About two thousand five hundred barrels of corn whisky was destroyed.

"At twelve o'clock, m., April 20 th, a telegram was received by General Cobb from General Beauregard, stating that Johnston and Sherman had agreed upon an armistice which would close the war, and to halt General Wilson's advance on the spot where this communication could reach him.

"The telegraph lines had been frequently interrupted between Macon and Augusta, and beyond the latter point for several days, and no information was received about the armistice and the affairs in Virginia until Beauregard's dispatch came to hand.

" General Cobb, and other officers with him, now regarded the war as closed. Under flags of truce officers were despatched upon every road leading into Macon from the West, bearing the following communication, which General Fry, commanding the Confederate forces at Augusta, had received from General Beauregard, with directions to transmit it to the Federal officers in Georgia :

' I have made an agreement with the Confederate Generals for a suspension of hostilities until certain terms are approved at Washington. These terms embrace the disbandment of all the Confederate armies, and a firm and lasting peace. You will,

Col. J. L. Morgan, accompanied by several others, met the Federal advance fourteen miles from Macon, and related the object of his mission. The advanced troops sent him and his party a mile to the rear to communicate with General Wilson, who waved his hat and shouted "peace," as soon as he heard the news, but refused to halt on the ground. He said he would only stop when he had reached and captured Macon.

" Colonel Morgan, during the excitement, having a very fleet horse, made his escape, and reached Macon, by extraordinary riding, two hours in advance of the enemy, and related to General Cobb, Wilson's intentions. General Cobb had withdrawn all his forces from the entrenchments, and they were disbanded. With the exception of a few companies of reserves, the forces consisted of citizens, invalids from the various hospitals and artisans in the various workshops, the whole not exceeding two thousand five hundred men.

" The advance of the enemy arrived at Tattnall Square about half-past six p. m., without any resistance. General Cobb sent Colonel R. M. Cuyler, under a flag of truce, to General Wilson with duplicates of dispatches from Generals Sherman and Beaureguard, and to inform him that under the rules of war, when an armistice had taken place he had instructed his men not to fire a gun ; and that as he considered the war at an end he had disbanded his forces. He insisted upon Wilson halting upon the ground where the first communication had reached him through Colonel Morgan. Wilson replied that he would recognize no instructions from Sherman through Confederate mediums of communication ; that he would allow General Cobb five minutes to surrender the city, or he would fire upon it. General Cobb then replied that as he was without the means of resistance, and the enemy were within his entrenchments, he was compelled to ceive General Wilson and his staff at his office. Colonel White, with several other officers, was sent by Wilson to make the terms of the surrender, and the Commanding General, with his staff, came in about two hours after, at nine p. m. Generals Cobb and Wilson discussed the propriety, at some length, of the Federals entering the city under the rules of war. Wilson agreed to keep his troops out of the city, except such as were necessary for a military guard. General Cobb and staff were then paroled ; but Wilson took very good care to keep a strict guard around General Cobb's house. Wilson asked what extent of commissary stores were on hand, and stated that the remainder of his army would reach Macon in three days, when he would require supplies for fifteen thousand men and twenty thousand animals.

" This was the first information we had ever received of the extent of Wilson's forces. General Cobb replied he did not have more than enough to last him three days. Wilson then telegraphed to General Sherman : ^ The city of Macon and its garrison surrendered to my command to-night. Besides many subordinate officers, I have captured Generals Cobb,' Smith, Mackall and Robinson - four Generals in all - and a very large amount of government property, etc.'

General Wilson and staff took possession of the Lanier House as his abode, and on the following day they occupied the rooms opposite that hotel, which had been the headquarters of General Cobb, for his office. Many of the Federal soldiers entered the city the night of the 20th, and until their removal from Macon, committed many depredations by insulting the ladies, robbing their residences and pillaging generally.

''On the night of the 22d, the soldiers set fire to two blocks on Mulberry street, and a portion of the buildings on each, comprising valuable property, was destroyed, including the Methodist Depository and the printing establishment of Burke & Boykin. Several other attempts at incendiarism were made on the following day, but the fire was suppressed without serious damage.

of Macon, and had there been a resistance to their entrance, the city would undoubtedly have been sacked and laid in ashes. To the prudence of General Cobb in the destruction of the liquor and the. disbandment of his small forces are the citizens indebted for the escape of the city.

In some streets the whisky poured in streams, and as it settled in pools, for days afterwards could be seen numbers of the invaders gathering the fiery liquid in cups and buckets. The very atmosphere was impregnated with its vapors.

General Wilson's rule in Macon was that of a tyrant. He was not possessed of a single magnanimous quality or liberal sentiment. He was known in the Virginia army as Spooney" Wilson, and from his seizures of private property here, which he appropriated to his own individual use, he sustained the reputation he had won in Virginia.

'^He boasted in his official correspondence of the capture of Macon as the grand achievement of his military career. If there be any glory in it, there is certainly no true soldier who would envy him in its enjoyment. He left Macon leaving not a regret or a friend behind him."

Chapter Ix

Macon as it is - Location - Temperature - Railroad Center - Statistics - Commercial, Manufactures, Water Power and Timbers - Banks AND other Institutions - Educational - Schools, Academies AND Colleges - Churches - Benevolent Societies - Newspapers and Printing - Fire Department - Railroads - Public Library - Horticultural and Agricultural - Rose Hill Cemetery - Central City Park - Military - Ladies' Memorial Association - Monument TO the Heroic Dead.