Georgia Natural Wonder #268 - Oakland Cemetery - (Civil War Remembered)

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Georgia Natural Wonder #268 - Oakland Cemetery - (Civil War Remembered)

We started our exploration of Atlanta and Fulton County with our recount of the traumatic events and battlefields of the Civil War. Fulton County was created in 1853 from the western half of DeKalb County, and only 11 years into it's existence 7,500 men are killed in the battles covered in our last few post. In searching for our next Natural Wonder we turn to Atlanta's 1st green space. Oakland Cemetery is one of the largest cemetery green spaces in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded as Atlanta Cemetery in 1850 on six acres of land southeast of the city, it was renamed in 1872 to reflect the large number of oak and magnolia trees growing in the area. By that time, the city had grown and the cemetery had enlarged correspondingly to the current 48 acres. Oakland is an excellent example of a Victorian-style cemetery, and reflects the "garden cemetery" movement started and exemplified by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts. 



As we turn from the actual Civil War battles in our post, we want to edge into Oakland by highlighting the Civil War history interred here. 

Our TRD Scrolling Nugget today comes from the Band.



Confederate section


Lion of the Confederacy - removed from Oakland Cemetery August 18, 2021.

The Confederate section of Oakland is home to an estimated 6,900 burials, of which about 3,000 are unknown. During the Civil War, Atlanta was a major transportation and medical center for the Southern states. Since several of the largest military hospitals in the area were within a half mile from Oakland, many soldiers who died from their wounds were buried here. Shortly after the war ended, a few thousand fallen soldiers from the Atlanta Campaign who were previously buried in battleground graves were moved to the Confederate grounds in Oakland. 



The area is marked by a large monument known as the Confederate Obelisk. 

 

This 65 foot  tall obelisk is made from granite quarried from Stone Mountain and was dedicated on April 26, 1874, the anniversary of Joseph E. Johnston's surrender to William Sherman. 



For a number of years, the Confederate Obelisk was the tallest structure in Atlanta. 



To the northwest, very close to the obelisk itself, are buried four Confederate generals, John B. Gordon, Lucius J. Gartrell, Clement A. Evans, and Alfred Iverson, Jr. To the south of the obelisk is a large section of marked military graves.

Formerly located in the Confederate section was the Lion of the Confederacy, or Lion of Atlanta. He rested among the unknown unmarked confederate soldiers.

 

The lion sculpture was removed by the City of Atlanta on August 18, 2021, after repeated vandalism. 

 

The lion, which guarded a field containing the remains of unknown Confederate dead, was commissioned by the Atlanta Ladies Memorial Association and carved by T. M. Brady in 1894 out of the largest piece of marble quarried from north Georgia up to that time. 



Though Brady claimed that the design was original, with a few exceptions it is actually a near copy of the Swiss Lion of Lucerne.



The Lion of Atlanta is no longer on public display and remains in an undisclosed location. 



Its future is uncertain, and it has not been returned to Oakland Cemetery. The Civil War is still being fought today it seems. 



Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, established in 1850, has 6,900 Confederates buried in its grounds, including 5 generals. It is Atlanta’s oldest cemetery. The first soldiers were buried at Oakland as early as September 1863, following the Battle of Chickamauga. 

 

Soldiers who died in Atlanta while seeking treatment for wounds or disease were also buried there before the Battle of Atlanta in July 1864. During the Battle of Atlanta, Union soldiers vandalized the cemetery; they stole nameplates, broke into crypts, and exhumed Confederate dead in order to place Union corpses in their coffins. Of special note are the 16 marked graves of Union soldiers that are buried alongside Confederate soldiers. This practice was very uncommon at the time, but was likely done at Oakland due to dwindling burial space. 

 
10,172 Union soldiers up at Marietta National Cemetery. 

Wooden markers in the cemetery were replaced by marble ones in 1890.

 

 Spot where Hood watched Battle of Atlanta in present day Oakland Cemetery.


Where Hood Watched the Battle of Atlanta Marker.


The old Williams residence is in the background.


The view of the top of the Cotton Mill mentioned in the Marker


The view of current downtown Atlanta from Oakland Cemetery

 
The old Williams residence.

The Bell Tower building as it stands today was originally the sexton's office and living quarters. Atop the tower is a bell that was formerly used to signal for workers to gather at that location, and for funerals. The basement was used as a vault for storing coffins awaiting burial. 

 

In 1998 the Bell Tower building saw extensive restoration and now serves as the offices of the Historic Oakland Foundation as well as the cemetery's visitor center.


The hilltop where Confederate General John B. Hood observed the 1864 Battle of Atlanta. Among the bones of 3,900 known and 3,000 unknown Confederate soldiers who perished in one of the most pivotal battles of the American Civil War. 

General Hood's Report

NEAR ATLANTA, July 22, 1864-10.30 p. m.
Honorable J. A. SEDDON, Richmond:

The army shifted its position last night, fronting Peach Tree Creek, and formed line of battle around the city with Stewart's and Cheatham's corps. General Hardee, with his corps, made a night march and attacked the enemy's extreme left at 1 o'clock to-day; drove him from his works, capturing 16 pieces of artillery and 5 stand of colors. Major-General Cheatham attacked the enemy at 4 p. m. with a portion of his command; drove the enemy, capturing 6 pieces of artillery. During the engagements we captured about 2,000 prisoners, but loss not fully ascertained. Major-General Walker killed; Brigadier-General Smith, Gist, and Mercer wounded. Our troops fought with great gallantry.

J. B. HOOD,General. 

5 reasons why Hood was worst Confederate General. 1. Hood was insubordinate. 2. People thought he was addicted to opium. 3. He led the Confederates into disaster at Gettysburg. 4. He single-handedly lost Atlanta. 5. He lost the entire Army of Tennessee (Franklin).

At Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, the Confederate general lost the use of his left arm to U.S. Army artillery. On Sept. 20, 1863, at the Battle of Chickamauga (Ga.), he suffered a wound in his right leg, near the hip.

 

A surgeon amputated the leg, which may have made its way with Hood—a tough man—to a house in the area. The general also spent time in Rev. Clisby Austin’s house at Tunnel Hill, Ga. In spring 1864, Austin’s house served as an HQ for William Sherman. Somewhere nearby, Hood’s leg is said to be buried, but that’s open to debate. At the edge of a stretch of woods, a marker stands for the lost limb. It makes copy editors throughout the world frown as the leg should lie not lye.


A new argument I was not aware of, this claim of drug use. There’s no doubt Hood was good at leading men into battle, but once he was wounded and became a strategist, that all changed. It led many to believe that he became addicted to laudanum. Whether he was an addict or not, the fact that he was so bad at being a general that his contemporaries thought he was high all the time says a lot about his abilities. Was he high in this image?

The vice president of the Confederacy, A.H. Stephens was buried here until he was re-interred at his home in Crawfordville, Georgia.

 
Marker is affixed to the mausoleum of Col. Joseph F. Burke in Oakland Cemetery.From the main entrance, take the third left. 


Marker is about 550 feet from there, affixed on a mausoleum on the left side of the lane.

 
Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens was later moved to his home at Crawfordville, in Taliaferro County. Buried front lawn by statue. 



We talked about all him and the AH Stephens State Park at length as we featured with GNW #130 (Part 1).

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The Generals Section

There are 5 Generals buried in Oakland. To the northwest, very close to the obelisk itself, are buried four Confederate generals, John B. Gordon, Lucius J. Gartrell, Clement A. Evans, and Alfred Iverson, Jr. We cover them in this post. General William Stephen Walker was buried elsewhere in Oakland. We will cover him in next post as we are getting a message too large.

John Brown Gordon

John Brown Gordon (February 6, 1832 – January 9, 1904) was one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted Confederate generals by the end of the American Civil War. After the war, he was a strong opponent of Reconstruction during the late 1860s. 



A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from 1873 to 1880, and again from 1891 to 1897. He also served as the 53rd Governor of Georgia from 1886 to 1890. 

Early Life

Gordon was of Scots descent and was born on the farm of his parents Zachariah Gordon and his wife in Upson County, Georgia; he was the fourth of twelve children. Many Gordon family members had fought in the Revolutionary War. His family moved to Walker County, Georgia by 1840, where his father was recorded in the US census that year as owning a plantation with 18 slaves. Gordon was an outstanding student at the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the Mystical 7 Society, but left before graduating. He studied law in Atlanta and passed the bar examination. 


John Gordon Elementary School in Atlanta now apartments. 

Gordon and his father, Zachariah, invested in a series of coal mines in Tennessee and Georgia. He also practiced law. In 1854 Gordon married Rebecca "Fanny" Haralson, daughter of Hugh Anderson Haralson and his wife. They had a long and happy marriage. They had six children. 

Civil War

Although lacking military education or experience, Gordon was elected captain of a company of the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He was present at First Bull Run, but did not see any action. During a reorganization of the Confederate army in May 1862, the regiment's original colonel, John Siebels, resigned and Gordon was elected the new colonel. Gordon's first combat experience happened a few weeks later at Seven Pines, when his regiment was in the thick of the fighting and he took over as brigade commander from Brig. Gen Robert Rodes when the latter was wounded. Shortly after the battle, the 26th Alabama was transferred to Rodes' brigade as part of an army reorganization. Its commander, Col. Edward O'Neal, outranked Gordon, and thus took command of the brigade until Rodes resumed command just in time for the Seven Days Battles. Gordon was again hotly engaged at Gaines Mill, and he was wounded in the eyes during the assault on Malvern Hill. On June 29, Rodes, still suffering from the effects of his wound from Seven Pines, took a leave of absence, with O'Neal commanding the brigade once again. During the Northern Virginia Campaign, Gordon and his regiment were kept in the Richmond area. 


Gordon portrait  

To this point the 32-year-old rising star of the Confederacy had been an inspiring leader with a seemingly charmed life. He had entered the war as captain of a group of mountain men from northwest Georgia, southwest Tennessee and northeast Alabama. The group, known as the Raccoon Roughs because of their coonskin caps, had marched from Georgia to Montgomery, Ala., to join the 6th Alabama. Although Gordon lacked any formal military training, his natural command presence and quick-thinking coolness under fire at the First Battle of Manassas had quickly earned him respect and the eventual promotion to colonel in April 1862. 

 

Even though he was only a colonel, Gordon assumed command of his brigade off-and-on during the fighting on the Virginia Peninsula. He had learned how to lead men into battle at Seven Pines, riding ramrod straight ahead of his men, bullets piercing his clothes but not his body; 


Seven Pines.

at Malvern Hill, where a bursting artillery shell blinded him temporarily; 


Malvern Hill.

and at South Mountain, where his regiment alone remained intact during a fighting retreat from overwhelming Union forces. 


South Mountain.

Assigned by General Lee to hold the vital sunken road, or "Bloody Lane", during the Battle of Antietam, Gordon's propensity for being wounded reached new heights. First, a Minié ball passed through his calf. Then, a second ball hit him higher in the same leg. A third ball went through his left arm. He continued to lead his men despite the fact that the muscles and tendons in his arm were mangled and a small artery was severed. A fourth ball hit him in his shoulder. Despite pleas that he go to the rear, he continued to lead his men. He was finally stopped by a ball that hit him in the face, passing through his left cheek and out his jaw. He fell with his face in his cap and might have drowned in his own blood if it had not drained out through a bullet hole in the cap. 

Sunken Road



John Brown Gordon lay face down in the dust and smoke swirling along a sunken farm road in Maryland. It was midafternoon on September 17, 1862. Only moments before, the tall, slender colonel had used his booming voice to rally his 6th Alabama Infantry in their defense of the Sunken Road at the Battle of Sharpsburg, despite being slowed by two gunshot wounds to his right leg and one each in his left arm and left shoulder. As his men held the road that would later be re-christened Bloody Lane, a Yankee bullet had slammed into Gordon’s face, knocking him senseless and pitching him face-down into his hat. 


Lee directs Gordon to hold the Bloody Lane.

At Sharpsburg, two brigades under Brig. Gens. Robert E. Rodes and G.B. Anderson held the center of the Rebel line along the Sunken Road. Gordon’s 6th Alabama Regiment, part of Rodes’ Brigade, held the ground closest to the Yankees, who were advancing southwest toward the road. Gordon ordered his men to wait until the Yankees were within 30 paces. Then he hollered, “Fire!” 



“My rifles flamed and roared in the Federals’ faces like a blinding blaze of lightning accompanied by the quick and deadly thunderbolt,” Gordon wrote in his memoir. “The effect was appalling.” Three more times the Yankees charged and three more times a Confederate volley stopped them. Now the Union soldiers lay down and opened fire. But Gordon’s men, who had seen so many fall at their commander’s side, felt secure with their leader and his seeming invulnerability.

“My extraordinary escapes from wounds in all the previous battles had made a deep impression upon my comrades as well as upon my own mind,” Gordon wrote. “If I had allowed these expressions of my men to have any effect upon my mind, the impression was quickly dissipated when the Sharpsburg storm came and the whizzing Miniés, one after another, began to pierce my body.” 



A ball struck Gordon in the leg, passing through his right calf. A second ball hit him in the same leg. An hour later another ball tore through his left arm, tearing tendons and muscles. A fourth struck his shoulder. Weak from loss of blood, Gordon struggled to lead his men. Seeing the right of his line in jeopardy from enfilading fire, he started to walk there but was struck by a fifth ball that slammed through his left cheek and shattered his jaw. Gordon fell face down into his hat. He noted later that he might have drowned in his own blood had not a “thoughtful Yankee” earlier given the hat a bullet hole that allowed the blood to drain out. 



Gordon told a friend later that as he lay on the battlefield, he imagined that half of his head had been shot away and that he was dead, but then he figured a dead man couldn’t move his limbs. Gordon biographer Ralph Lowell Eckert said that the colonel crawled about 100 yards to the rear, where the Confederates were forming a new line, and passed out again. 



Gordon was carried on a litter to a barn where 6th Alabama Assistant Surgeon Thaddeus J. Weatherly dressed his wounds. When Gordon revived late that night he found himself lying on a pile of straw.

“My faithful surgeon, Dr. Weatherly, who was my devoted friend, was at my side, with his fingers on my pulse,” Gordon recalled. “As I revived, his face was so expressive of distress that I asked him: ‘What do you think of my case, Weatherly?’ He made a manly effort to say that he was hopeful. I knew better and said: ‘You are not honest with me. You think I am going to die; but I am going to get well.’                                                                                                                 

Long afterward, when the danger was past, he admitted that this assurance was his first and only basis of hope.” 



Gordon’s spirited young wife Fanny, who followed her husband throughout his military campaigns, came to the barn as soon as she learned her husband had been wounded. When she reached him, she suppressed a scream as Gordon struggled to joke with her, saying he had been to an Irish wedding. 



Fanny nursed her husband for seven months. She dressed his wounds, fed him brandy and beef tea because his jaw was wired shut, and provided long hours of bedside care and devotion. When Gordon contracted erysipelas, a serious bacterial infection, in his left arm, she kept the wounds painted with iodine. With Fanny’s care and his own strong will, Gordon miraculously recovered.

Fredericksburg

Lee, impressed with Gordon's services, requested a promotion to brigadier general on November 1, 1862; which, however, was not confirmed by congress due to his wounding. After months of recuperation Gordon returned to service and received command of a brigade of Georgians in Jubal A. Early's division. Gordon returned to duty in March 1863 and was given command of a brigade of six Georgia regiments in Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Division. After leading a successful assault on Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May, Gordon was promoted to brigadier general.



As General Robert E. Lee restructured his army, Early’s Division was absorbed into Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell’s Second Corps and marched into the Shenandoah Valley as part of Lee’s second attempt to invade the North. At Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, Gordon’s brigade of 1,200 Georgians rolled up the Federal right flank north of the town and was driving the Yankees until ordered to halt by Early and Ewell, which Gordon later contended was a mistake that cost the Rebels the battle. 



When he returned to duty Lee requested a promotion again and this time congress approved it; ranking from May 7, 1863. During the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania his brigade occupied Wrightsville on the Susquehanna River, the farthest east in Pennsylvania any organized Confederate troops would reach. Union militia under Col. Jacob G. Frick burned the mile-and-a-quarter-long covered wooden bridge to prevent Gordon from crossing the river, and the fire soon spread to parts of Wrightsville. Gordon's troops formed a bucket brigade and managed to prevent the further destruction of the town. 



At the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, Gordon's brigade smashed into the XI Corps on Barlow's Knoll. There, he aided the wounded opposing division commander Francis Barlow. 



This incident led to a story (which many people consider apocryphal) about the two officers meeting later in Washington, D.C., Gordon unaware that Barlow had survived the battle. The story was told by Barlow and Gordon and published in newspapers and in Gordon's book.

Seated at Clarkson Potter's table, I asked Barlow: "General, are you related to the Barlow who was killed at Gettysburg?" He replied: "Why, I am the man, sir. Are you related to the Gordon who killed me?" "I am the man, sir," I responded. No words of mine can convey any conception of the emotions awakened by those startling announcements. Nothing short of an actual resurrection from the dead could have amazed either of us more. Thenceforward, until his untimely death in 1896, the friendship between us which was born amidst the thunders of Gettysburg was greatly cherished by both.

— John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War

Some historians choose to discount this story, despite contemporary accounts and the testimony of both men, because of Gordon's purported tendency to exaggerate in post-war writings and because it is inconceivable to them that Gordon did not know that Barlow subsequently fought against him in the Battle of the Wilderness. (Barlow, recently returned to service in April 1865, would also pursue Gordon and his troops during the Battle of High Bridge.)

Wilderness

It would be 10 months before Gordon fought again, this time at the Battle of the Wilderness near the grounds of the Chancellorsville battlefield. At the start of the 1864 Overland Campaign, in the Battle of the Wilderness, Gordon proposed a flanking attack against the Union right that might have had a decisive effect on the battle, had General Early allowed him freedom to launch it before late in the day. Gordon was an aggressive general and was described by General Robert E. Lee in a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis as being one of his best brigadiers, "characterized by splendid audacity".  As Ewell’s corps was being pushed west along the Orange Turnpike, Ewell rode up to Gordon and told him, “General Gordon, the fate of the day depends on you, sir.” Gordon wrote in his memoir that he replied, “These men will save it, sir,” although he wondered to himself how they would accomplish the feat.  



Gordon’s men charged into the Union line, only to find themselves part of that line. Thinking quickly, Gordon ordered half his command to face right and the other half to face left and attack.



The unprecedented move worked, the Federal advance was shattered, and Ewell’s men recaptured their lost ground. 



The next morning Gordon discovered that the Federal right flank was completely unprotected, but Early and Ewell were skeptical, mistakenly fearing that Yankee reinforcements had to be nearby. When Gordon finally received permission to attack late that afternoon, the assault succeeded until halted by darkness. 

Mule Shoe

On May 8, 1864, Gordon was given command of Early's division in Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's (later Early's) corps, being promoted to major general on May 14. The Yankees pulled away and began a march to Spotsylvania Court House, where Gordon—now in command of Early’s former division while Early led the Third Corps—again proved to be a superb leader. 



Inside the Mule Shoe salient, he skillfully moved his brigades to counter attacks by Colonel Emory Upton on May 10 and Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock on May 12. As Gordon rode to find the exact location of the Federals, a Minié ball whizzed through his coat, grazing his back. When an aide asked Gordon whether he had been hit, Gordon scolded the young officer for slouching in his own saddle: “Sit up or you’ll be killed!” 



As Gordon returned to his men, he found General Robert E. Lee riding his horse Traveller to the center of the line, preparing to join the charge. Gordon shouted, “General Lee, this is no place for you. These men behind you are Georgians and Virginians. They have never failed you and will not fail you here. Will you boys?” Gordon’s men yelled, “No, no, we’ll not fail him.”



Gordon took Traveller’s bridle and handed it to two soldiers to escort Lee to the rear. Gordon’s charge into what he later called “a fire from hell itself” pushed the Yankees out of the eastern side of the salient. Fighting raged into the next day, but the Confederates held on and established a new line. Gordon was promoted to major general. 



Gordon's success in turning back the massive Union assault in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (the Bloody Angle) prevented a Confederate rout. 

Monocacy

Two months later Gordon again displayed his brilliance as a leader, in the little-known but crucial Battle of Monocacy, which took place four miles south of Frederick, Md., on a blistering hot July 9, 1864. Gordon’s Brigade was part of Early’s corps, sent by Lee to rid the Shenandoah Valley of Union troops, and then cross into Maryland and threaten Washington, D.C. Early was about to do the latter when Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace forced him into battle at the Monocacy River, just 40 miles from the nation’s capital. 



Early’s forces outnumbered Wallace’s troops about 14,000 to 6,400, but Early did not want to fight and kept many of his troops in reserve. But when the going got tough, Gordon led his division to a decisive but bloody victory. Following an ill-advised and disastrous dismounted cavalry charge by John McCausland, Gordon led three brigades of Georgia, Louisiana and Virginia infantry regiments into the teeth of two brigades of Brig. Gen. James Ricketts’ division of battle-hardened VI Corps troops. 



The fighting, Gordon later said, “was desperate and at close quarters. To and fro the battle swayed across [a] little stream, the dead and wounded of both sides mingling their blood in its waters.” When the fighting concluded, he said, “a crimsoned current ran toward the river. Nearly one half of my men and large numbers of the Federals fell there.” 



The battle ended when Gordon, aided by massed artillery, flanked the remnants of Ricketts’ line on the Georgetown Pike. As Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge observed, “Gordon, if you had never made a fight before, this ought to immortalize you!” 

Shepherdstown

A month later, on August 25, 1864, Gordon received another serious wound, this time in a skirmish near Shepherdstown, W.Va. 



He left with Early for the Valley Campaigns of 1864 and was wounded August 25, 1864, at Shepherdstown, West Virginia. After having a wound over his right eye dressed, he returned to the battle. Confederate cartographer Jedediah Hotchkiss's official report of the incident stated, "Quite a lively skirmish ensued, in which Gordon was wounded in the head, but he gallantly dashed on, the blood streaming over him." Hotchkiss, wrote in his journal that Gordon’s wound was from a saber cut.  

Winchester

Three weeks later, as Union Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan moved on Winchester, division commanders Gordon and Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes found themselves with 6,000 men facing Sheridan’s 30,000. As they conferred on what to do, Rodes was mortally wounded when a shell fragment struck him in the back of the head. Gordon took command of both divisions and ordered a charge that halted the Federal cavalrymen and pushed them back. 



Gordon’s men thought they had won the battle, but Sheridan re-formed his men and routed the Confederates, even as Fanny Gordon, caught up in the retreat, pled for them to make a stand. 

 

His wife Fanny, accompanying her husband on the campaign as general's wives sometimes did, rushed out into the street at the Third Battle of Winchester to urge Gordon's retreating troops to go back and face the enemy. Gordon was horrified to find her in the street with shells and balls flying about her.

Cedar Creek

On October 19 Gordon, commanding the Second Corps in Early’s army, struck Sheridan’s men, routing two-thirds of them at the Battle of Cedar Creek southwest of Middletown, Va. 


General John Gordon surveys the Union positions through a telescope on Signal Knob, looking for any point of weakness. Behind him Jedediah Hotchkiss, mapmaker, sketches a map and takes notes.

Gordon’s plan for a final assault to sweep the Union VI Corps from the field was overruled by Early, who said the Yankees were beaten. 


Gordon pleads with Early for a second assault at Cedar Creek. 

But Sheridan re-formed the men and pushed the Confederates from the field—a victory that spelled the end for Confederate campaigning in the Shenandoah Valley. 


Sheridan leads counter attack Cedar Creek. 

Petersburg

In December 1864, Gordon was ordered to rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia as commander of the bulk of the Second Corps while Early remained in the valley. Returning to Lee's army after Early's defeat at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Gordon led the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia until the end of the war. In this role, he defended the line in the Siege of Petersburg and commanded the attack on Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865 (where he was wounded again, in the leg). Lee’s army faced a siege at Petersburg, Va., by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac—and after study and consultation, Lee ordered Gordon to find a spot to attack. Gordon chose Fort Stedman on the Union lines east of Petersburg. 



Gordon’s attack early on March 25, 1865, started well but within three hours Union reinforcements had contained Gordon’s breakthrough, which the exhausted Confederates lacked reserves to support. By 8 a.m. Gordon began to withdraw his men as a vicious Federal barrage of fire swept the no-man’s land between the lines. Some 3,500 Confederates were captured, killed or wounded, including Gordon, who suffered a flesh wound in the leg. 



That all but marked the end for the Army of Northern Virginia. Six days later, Union forces turned Lee’s right flank at Five Forks and forced the Rebels out of their Petersburg defenses and into a retreat that ended with them bottled up west of the Appomattox River. Lee had no choice but to surrender to Grant, on April 9. 



Appomattox Court House

In April 1865 he would be pursued by Francis Barlow (who had just returned to service days before) during the Battle of High Bridge in Virginia. At Appomattox Court House, Gorden led his men in the last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia, capturing the entrenchments and several pieces of artillery in his front just before the surrender. Gordon had the bittersweet honor of leading the Confederate troops in the surrender ceremonies at Appomattox Court House. As the defeated Rebels filed past their Federal counterparts, with Gordon riding at the head of the Second Corps, Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain ordered his assembled soldiers to snap their muskets from “order arms” to “carry arms” in a show of respect. Gordon instantly wheeled his horse and touched it with a spur so that the horse’s head bowed, and Gordon touched his swordpoint to his toe in salute. He ordered his men to also shift to “carry arms” to return the gesture. 



The men who served with him, enlisted and officers, also sang Gordon’s praises. “Gordon always had something pleasant to say to his men, and I will bear my testimony that he was the most gallant man I ever saw on a battlefield,” wrote John W. Worsham, a foot soldier with the 21st Virginia Infantry Regiment, who also had served under Lt. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. He wrote that Gordon “had a way of putting things to the men that was irresistible, and he showed the men, at all times, that he shrank from nothing in battle on account of himself.”

On April 12, 1865, Gordon's Confederate troops officially surrendered to Bvt. Maj. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, acting for Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, recorded in moving detail by Chamberlain:

The momentous meaning of this occasion impressed me deeply. I resolved to mark it by some token of recognition, which could be no other than a salute of arms. Well aware of the responsibility assumed, and of the criticisms that would follow, as the sequel proved, nothing of that kind could move me in the least. The act could be defended, if needful, by the suggestion that such a salute was not to the cause for which the flag of the Confederacy stood, but to its going down before the flag of the Union. 

My main reason, however, was one for which I sought no authority nor asked forgiveness. Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood: men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve; standing before us now, thin, worn, and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond;—was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured? Instructions had been given; and when the head of each division column comes opposite our group, our bugle sounds the signal and instantly our whole line from right to left, regiment by regiment in succession, gives the soldier's salutation, from the "order arms" to the old "carry"—the marching salute. Gordon at the head of the column, riding with heavy spirit and downcast face, catches the sound of shifting arms, looks up, and, taking the meaning, wheels superbly, making with himself and his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he drops the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, gives word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position of the manual,—honor answering honor. On our part not a sound of trumpet more, nor roll of drum; not a cheer, nor word nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor motion of man standing again at the order, but an awed stillness rather, and breath-holding, as if it were the passing of the dead!

Postbellum Career

Gordon went back into private business in Georgia after the war. As the government of the State of Georgia was being reconstituted for readmission to the Union, Gordon ran for governor in 1868, but was defeated. Despite that defeat, Gordon soon launched a successful political career. He was a firm opponent of Reconstruction and endorsed measures to preserve white-dominated society, including restrictions on freedmen and the use of violence. Gordon was thought to be the titular head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, but the organization was so secretive that his role was never proven conclusively. During congressional testimony in 1871, Gordon denied any involvement with the Klan, but did acknowledge he was associated with a secret "peace police" organization whose sole purpose was the "preservation of peace."  

 

Gordon was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1873, and in 1879 became the first ex-Confederate to preside over the Senate. He was a strong supporter of the "New South" and industrialization.
He became a voice for reconciliation between the North and South. At the same time, he worked assiduously to remove Federal troops from the South and, wanting to maintain prominence for Southern whites.

 

Gordon was re-elected to the Senate in 1879 and served until May 19 1880, when he resigned to go into private business once again. Word of his unexpected resignation had barely reached back to Georgia before Governor Alfred H. Colquitt had appointed Joseph E. Brown to succeed Gordon. Almost instantly, cries of corruption were heard when it was discovered Gordon resigned to promote a venture for the Georgia Pacific Railway.  



He was elected Governor of Georgia in 1886, served two terms, and returned to the U.S. Senate from 1891 to 1897. In 1903 Gordon published an account of his Civil War service entitled Reminiscences of the Civil War. He engaged in a series of popular speaking engagements throughout the country.  

  

General Gordon was the first Commander-in-Chief of the United Confederate Veterans when the group was organized in 1890 and held this position until his death. He died while visiting his son in Miami, Florida. He died at the age of 71, on January 9, 1904, three months after his memoir, Reminiscences of the Civil War, was published. 



The general even received a tribute from President Theodore Roosevelt, who summed up what many felt by saying, “A more gallant, generous, and fearless gentleman and soldier has not been seen by our country.” He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia; upwards of 75,000 people viewed and took part in the memorial ceremonies. 






Buried with his wife. 

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Alfred Iverson Jr. (February 14, 1829 – March 31, 1911) was a lawyer, an officer in the Mexican–American War, a U.S. Army cavalry officer, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served in the 1862–63 campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia as a regimental and later brigade commander. His career was fatally damaged by a disastrous infantry assault at the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. General Robert E. Lee removed Iverson from his army and sent him to cavalry duty in Georgia. During the Atlanta Campaign, he achieved a notable success in a cavalry action near Macon, Georgia, capturing Union Army Maj. Gen. George Stoneman and hundreds of his men.

Early years

Iverson was born in Clinton, Jones County, Georgia. 

 
Gen. Iverson’s Birthplace marker is at the driveway to the home, which is privately owned and not open.

He was the son of Alfred Iverson Sr., United States Senator for Georgia and a fierce proponent of secession, and Caroline Goode Holt. The senator decided on a military career for his son and enrolled him in the Tuskegee Military Institute.  

 
Father and Son.

Iverson's career as a soldier began at the age of 17, when the Mexican–American War began. His father raised and equipped a regiment of Georgia volunteers and young Iverson left Tuskegee to become a second lieutenant in the regiment. He left the service, in July 1848, to become a lawyer and contractor. In 1855, his Mexican–American War experience gained him a commission as a first lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Cavalry regiment. In that role he served in efforts to suppress the violence known as Bleeding Kansas. 
Iverson was stationed at Fort Washita, Kan., when he learned of Georgia’s secession in early 1861. After resigning his U.S. Army commission, he returned east. 

Civil War

Early assignments

At the start of the Civil War, Iverson resigned from the U.S. Army and received a commission from his father's old friend, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, as colonel of the 20th North Carolina Infantry, a unit he played a strong role in recruiting. His regiment was initially stationed in North Carolina, but was called to the Virginia Peninsula in June 1862, for the Seven Days Battles. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Gaines's Mill, in the division commanded by Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill, by leading the only successful regiment of the five that were assigned to capture a Union artillery battery. Iverson was severely wounded in the charge and his regiment took heavy casualties. Unfortunately for Iverson and the Confederacy, this battle would turn out to be the high point of his military career.  



Iverson recovered in time to rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia in the Maryland Campaign. In the Battle of South Mountain, his entire brigade was forced to retreat after their brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, was mortally wounded. Iverson's regiment ran away at the Battle of Antietam a few days later, although he was able to rally them to return to the battle. After the battle, Iverson was promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862, and given command of the brigade; causing the more senior Colonel Duncan K. McRae, who had been in temporary command, to resign from the Army. His first assignment commanding his new brigade was at the Battle of Fredericksburg, but he was assigned to the reserve and saw no action. Conflict soon resulted, however. When he attempted to name a new colonel for the 20th North Carolina, a personal friend from outside of the regiment, 26 of his officers signed a letter of protest against the action. Iverson attempted to arrest all 26 officers, but eventually cooled off. His friend was not placed as the new colonel, but Iverson petulantly refused all winter to promote any of the other candidates for the position.  


Jackson mortally wounded Chancellorsville. 

At Chancellorsville, Iverson's brigade participated in Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's famous flanking march, suffering heavy casualties (including Iverson himself, wounded in the groin by a spent shell), but managed to get less credit and notice than two other brigades in the line. Rodes’ men led the way during Jackson’s spectacular flank attack against the Union 11th Corps on May 2. Returning to the rear to get support for his flank, many of his officers concluded that he was shirking. His reasonable performance at Gaines's Mill the previous year forgotten, rumors swirled that he had achieved his command only by family political influence. 

Gettysburg

The nadir of Iverson's career was at the Battle of Gettysburg, where on July 1, 1863, his brigade of North Carolinians unknowingly marched into a tragic ambush to the northwest of town. The division of Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes began its attack from Oak Hill with the brigades of Col. Edward A. O'Neal and Iverson. The attack fell apart for multiple reasons. Rodes acted somewhat hastily, seeing limited Union forces at his front, but not that reinforcements were arriving from the town. Douglas Southall Freeman faulted Rodes for selecting two brigade commanders "who had not distinguished themselves in the battles of May" [i.e., Chancellorsville]. Because of a misunderstanding, O'Neal used only three of his four regiments and he attacked on a narrow front at a place different from where Rodes had carefully indicated. Although the two brigades were meant to attack in support of each other, there is confusion about who was supposed to move first. O'Neal's ineffective attack was repulsed, leaving Iverson's flank exposed. But the most significant problem was that the two brigade commanders chose not to lead their brigades in person, remaining behind their advance. After the battle there were rumors among the North Carolinians that Iverson was too drunk to lead, but his battle report indicated that he deliberately chose to remain behind and historians present no evidence that alcohol was involved in his decision.  Battle reports of the day offer no clear explanation, but the most plausible possibility is that Iverson was conferring with the brigade commanders on his right—attempting to clarify Rodes’ orders.



 

In the words of the historian of the 23rd North Carolina, "unwarned, unled as a brigade, went forward Iverson's deserted band to its doom." As O'Neal's men fell back, Iverson's 1,350 men began to drift left toward a stone wall behind which veteran regiments of Brig. Gen. Henry Baxter's Union brigade were hidden. 



As the Confederates approached within 50 to 100 yards of the wall, the Union soldiers opened fire, hitting at least 500 men, felling them almost in parade-ground alignment. Most of the survivors of three of Iverson's regiments were captured by a Union countercharge. 



From Iverson's vantage point, it seemed as if his brigade was surrendering, and he exclaimed to Rodes that his men were "cowards". Many of his men lay prone in battle formation while others waved white handkerchiefs. He did not realize that the former were dead or wounded and the latter surrounded and trapped under heavy fire. Upon reaching the front after conferring with Rodes, Iversen may have suffered a nervous breakdown, overwhelmed by the fate his men had suffered, possibly as many as 900 casualties, one of the most significant brigade losses at Gettysburg. 

 
(The men were later buried in shallow graves on this spot on Oak Ridge, which is known to locals as Iverson's Pits, and is a favorite site for believers in the supernatural.) Iverson was "unfit for command" for the rest of the battle. He commanded fragments of his brigade attached to the brigade of Brig. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur.  


During the retreat from Gettysburg, Iverson's brigade fought credibly against Union cavalry in Hagerstown, Maryland, but Gen. Robert E. Lee wanted nothing more to do with the tarnished officer. At Williamsport, Maryland, Lee assigned Iverson as temporary provost marshal, which removed him from combat command, reassigning his men to another brigade.  All these rumors and allegations added weight to the contempt for Iverson among his troops, but not among the high command. He was not, as rumors alleged, stripped of his command. Back in Virginia he was given command of a Louisiana brigade. That September, however, he was offered command of Georgia cavalry by Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, former general in the Army of Northern Virginia, and now commanding general of the Department of Georgia. For Iverson, it was another chance.

Georgia and North Carolina

He was removed altogether from the Army of Northern Virginia in October 1863, ordered back to Georgia to replace Maj. Gen. Henry R. Jackson in command of the state forces, headquartered at Rome. He spent several months reorganizing the Georgia troops in preparation for the defense of the state against Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. In 1864, Iverson commanded a cavalry brigade in Maj. Gen. William T. Martin's division, Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry corps, during the Atlanta Campaign.  

There was an Iverson Gate at Fort Gilliam. 

On July 29, near Macon, Iverson's 1,300 cavalrymen defeated about 2,300 under Maj. Gen. George Stoneman, taking about 200 prisoners. During Iverson's pursuit, he and his men captured an additional 500 at Sunshine Church on July 31, including Stoneman.  

 
A state historical marker stands on the west side of the highway ten miles north of Gray and is located in the center of the battlefield directly between the positions of the Union
and Confederate lines. The modern structure of Sunshine Church is a short distance further north on Highway 11.


Photo of the new marker (# R8) and re-built Sunshine Church in Round Oak

This clash of some 4,000 troops raged in and out of the woods, up and down side roads, over fences, creeks and through deep gullies. The Confederates were hitting Stoneman on all sides day and night and totally confusing him. As the fighting continued, Confederate reinforcements came up from Macon, attacking the rear of the Union force. For hours and late into the night of July 31, 1864, the two forces battled. Iverson had chosen his ground well, however, and by the time the guns finally quieted everyone knew it.



Quickly turning his force about, Stoneman drove his men hard hoping to reach the safety of Sherman's lines in Atlanta before the swarming Confederates could swallow him up. When he reached Sunshine Church, a small rural sanctuary a couple of miles south of the present church of that name, he was stunned to find Confederate soldiers dug in along a ridge and waiting for him.



The Union general had been outsmarted by Confederate General Alfred Iverson, Jr., an officer born and raised in the area and who used his knowledge of local geography to get
ahead of the Federals and pick an ideal spot to dig in. With Iverson blocking his route of retreat, Stoneman deployed his 2,100 men for battle and attacked. The Battle of Sunshine Church was underway.


This is a view of the battlefield from the site of the main Union line. Stoneman Hill, where the final surrender took place, was off to the right.

The fighting was desperate and bloody. Union troops made charges against fierce Confederate resistance and the Southern soldiers in turn counter-charged. The battle raged over a large expanse of rough, wooded country.


Iverson's Ridge The Confederate troops were positioned on the ridge in the distance when the battle began.


This view from the marker faces the ridge where the main Union line formed. The original Sunshine Church was to the right of the curve in the highway.

As the fighting continued, Confederate reinforcements came up from Macon, attacking the rear of the Union force. Now believing himself surrounded and unable to break through Iverson's lines before him, Stoneman seized on a desperate plan.

 
Stoneman and old Sunshine Church which he burned during battle. Church had two doors, one for men, and one for women. 

With part of his command, he would stay behind and wage a desperate battle while two of his brigades attempted to cut their way through and escape. It was at best a risky
plan, but Colonel Horace Capron and Lieutenant Colonel Silas Adams cut their way out and headed north. Most of Adams' men eventually reached Sherman. Capron's brigade, however, was cut to pieces at the Battle of King's Tanyard near Winder. (GNW #205)


Not sure if this marker still there. Looks like earlier same marker, just moved downtown now.


Used to be right off Hwy. 211.

Cornered on a hill that now bears his name, Stoneman surrendered. His black guide was hanged by Confederate soldiers and the general himself nearly met the same fate.
Southerners were irate over the destruction his men had done to homes and farms.


Sunshine Church today. The Battlefield is not preserved as a park, but much of the scene can be viewed from along Georgia Highway 11 north of Gray, Gerogia.

The loss in killed and wounded was not as large, as might have been expected, but these and the captured reduced the strength of the Squadron by one half. Several died in captivity, and a number lost their lives by the explosion of the steamer Sultana.


Sultana 1,864 people killled in what remains the worst maritime disaster in United States history. Titanic death toll has been put at between 1,490 and 1,635 people.

Iverson was on duty in North Carolina at the end of the war. As commander in Greensboro he watched his garrison slip away until it was unable to stop fugitive soldiers from plundering part of the city.  


Johnston surrendered at Greensboro. 

Postbellum career

After the war, Iverson engaged in business at Macon, moving to Florida in 1877 to farm oranges. A freeze in 1895 wiped him out and he moved to Atlanta to live with one of his daughters. He died there in March 1911. 

 
He died in Atlanta, Georgia, and is buried there in Oakland Cemetery.



Grave of Alfred Iverson Jr., Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia 

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Clement A. Evans (born Clement Anselm Evans; February 25, 1833 – July 2, 1911) was a Confederate army infantry general in the American Civil War. He was also a politician, preacher, historian and author. He edited a twelve-volume work on Confederate military history, so named, in 1899.

  

Early life

Evans was born in Stewart County, Georgia, near the city of Lumpkin. 

 
Gen. Evans’ Birthplace Marker. Looking west toward the actual site of Gen. Evans' birthplace.

In 1854 Evans married Mary Allen "Allie" Walton whose marriage brought eight children, three of whom died in infancy. He studied at the Augusta Law School and was admitted to the bar at the age of 18. 

 

By the age of 21, he was a county judge, and a state senator at the age of 25. With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, Evans organized a company of militia.

American Civil War

Evans was commissioned as major of the 31st Georgia Infantry on November 19, 1861, and was promoted to colonel on May 13, 1862, fighting in the Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, and Antietam. He had temporary command of Alexander Lawton's Georgia brigade from September until November 1862, seeing additional action at Fredericksburg. During the Gettysburg Campaign and the 1864 fighting at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, Evans again commanded the 31st Georgia while John B. Gordon commanded the brigade. 

 

Evans was promoted to brigadier general in May 1864 (replacing Gordon who ascended to division command) and was wounded at Monocacy. He commanded Gordon's Division/Second Corps from Petersburg to Appomattox. Evans survived five wounds during the war.

Post war life

After the war ended, he became an influential Methodist minister, advancing the “holiness movement,” a controversial doctrine that eventually split the denomination. He pastored churches in the Atlanta area, some with memberships as large as 1,000, until his retirement in 1892. 

 

Three years later, Evans authored the Military History of Georgia, heavily based upon his Civil War memoirs. He then edited and co-wrote the Confederate Military History, a 12-volume compendium, first published in 1899. Finally, he co-authored the four-volume Cyclopedia of Georgia. Regarding the war, Evans said:

If we cannot justify the South in the act of Secession, we will go down in History solely as a brave, impulsive but rash people who attempted in an illegal manner to overthrow the Union of our Country.

Evans was very active in establishing and administering fraternal veterans organizations following the war. He helped organize the Confederate Survivors Association (a regional group based in Augusta, Georgia) in 1878 and served as its first president. 

 

He was a founder of the first national Confederate veterans group, the United Confederate Veterans, in 1889 and commander of the UCV's Georgia division for twelve years.

Later life and death

Evans died in Atlanta on July 2, 1911: his body lay in state in the central rotunda of the capitol building while the state legislature adjourned for a day to attend his funeral. 

 

 

Evans was buried in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery, just a few feet away from the grave of John Gordon. 



 

His wife is buried beside him.

 

The state legislature created Evans County in the southeastern part of Georgia in 1914 in honor of his memory.  

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Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell (January 7, 1821 – April 7, 1891) was an American politician and lawyer, as well as general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Gartrell was born near Washington, Georgia. 

 

He attended Randolph-Macon College, and Franklin College (now known as the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences), the founding school of the University of Georgia in Athens. Gartrell passed the state bar in 1842 and began the practice of law in Washington.  


Gartrell Signature.

Gartrell served as the solicitor general of the northern judicial circuit from 1843 until 1847 when he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He was subsequently elected to the first of two consecutive terms in U.S. House of Representatives in 1856. 

  

He resigned from his second term in 1861 to form the Seventh Regiment of the Georgia Volunteer Infantry in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Not only was his son killed at 1st Manassas but Congressman and Col. Francis Bartow died in his arms as well. We covered Bartow extensively in (GNW #158).   






The Bartow Monument Marker and Monument. Facing north towards the Henry House.

He resigned his commission as colonel on Feb. 13,1862 to take his seat in congress. In 1862, Gartrell was elected to the Confederate Congress and served in that capacity until 1864. In 1864, he was appointed as a brigadier general in the Confederate forces.  

 

After the war, Gartrell served as a member of the State constitutional convention in 1877. He also ran for governor in 1882 but lost to Alexander Stephens.  

 

Gartrell died in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1891 and was buried in that city's Oakland Cemetery.

 

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Our GNW Gals come from the annual Tunes from the Tombs Concert in Oakland Cemetery.