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Butts History
Cont. from page 3
HOLINESS CAMP
MEETING, 1906
The fifteenth annual camp
meeting of the Indian Springs
Holiness Camp Ground Asso
ciation commences Thurs
day evening, August 9th,
continuing ten days, closing
with the evening service on
the 19th.
There will be five services
each day, and among the
prominent Christian workers
who will be present and lend
their assistance will be Rev.
Joseph H. Smith, of Redland,
California, Rev. Budd Robin
son and Rev. William Huff, of
Texas.
The musical feature of the
meetings will be in charge of
Mr. Charlie Tillman, the
noted singer who has for a
number of years so success
fully led the singing with his
pure, sweet voice.
The services will be held at
the Tabernacle, which was
erected in 1893, is situated in
a natural amphitheatre,
being a perfect auditorium,
having a seating capacity of
about 2,000. It is conserva
tively estimated that be
tween 25,000 and 30,000
persons annually attend
these Meetings, and the
indications point to a large
increase in attendance this
year, the Southern Railway
offering the usual reduced
rates.
With the addition of anew
hotel on the grounds, a
number of large new cot
tages, plenty of pure spring
water, the comforts and
conveniences are largely
increased.
This enterprise was
launched in 1891 on a plot of
ground midway between
Flovilla and Indian Springs,
and bordering on the dummy
railroad connecting the two
points. The original tract of
ten acres, donated by friends
in the two towns and
adjoining country, was en
larged by the purchase of
twenty-four acres.
The first Trustees were W.
A. Dodge, S. H. Hunter, W. T.
Garbutt, T. L. Thrower, J. H.
Curry, Mr. Murrah, J. P.
Martin, W. T. Lott, J. W.
Evans, (Ashburn, Ga.), J. W.
Evans, (Flora, Ga.), H. A.
Hodges, and G. W. Mathews.
First Officers: President,
G. W. Mathews; Treasurer,
W. A. Dodge; Secretary, H.
A. Hodges. Mr. Dodge was
the real leader of the Camp
Ground movement; after
wards became the President
and remained so till his death
in February, 1904.
The trustees at present
are: G. W. Mathews, J. W.
Evans, Flora, Ga., J. B.
Martin, T. L. Thrower,
Joseph Mabett, C. D.
Tillman, R. F. Burden, H. P.
Myers, M. D. Smith, F. C.
Benson, W. K. Meeks, W. O.
Butler.
The fourteen previous
camp meetings held upon
these consecrated grounds
have a steady increase in
depth of work and spiritual
power. Their promise to the
spiritual life and health of the
Church at large in the State is
best realized by those best
acquainted with their char
acter and history.
The little rock-ribbed
Spring only a mile distant is
the chief reason that the
camp grounds were estab
lished here, it being easily
accessible to those who
attend, and also desire to
drink this wonderful medi
cinal water. It is estimated
that fully 50,000 persons
annually make their pilgri
mage to Indian Springs,
coming from every southern
state and many from the
north.
Information from D.A.R.
Phamphlet (1906)
FLOVILLA
Flovilla was first called
East End. later it was called
Heards Station for J. W.
Heard. Flovilla, “Villa of
Flowers” is the name it was
later called and has been
used until the present.
Flovilla has many impor
tant businesses, one being an
undertaker’s establishment,
operated by Mr. George
Elder, Mrs. Add Nutt’s
father. Some of the business
es from 1900-1923 were two
banks, two drug stores,
several warehouses, a gin, a
cafe, hotel, furniture store,
an up-to-date mercantile
store, two churches, two
doctors, a lawyer, a black
smith shop, a jail, city hall,
post office, and Southern
Railway depot. (Courtesy of
citizens of Flovilla, Misses
Willie Smith, Jewel Smith,
Mrs. Bob Thompson, and
Mrs. Add Nutt).
In The Macon Telegraph of
January 1923, the following
news item appeared, “Flo
villa, COMMUNICATION
CUT OFF as 18 stores
BURNED DOWN. Disaster
started from blacksmith
shop. None inured. Eighteen
of the principle businesses
were totally destroyed . . .
Damage estimated at $50,000
.. . Buildings destroyed
were: post office, city hall,
city jail, White’s Drug Store,
gin, Dozier’s Bank Bldg.,
Negro Methodist Church,
Negro lodge, Preston’s Ware
house, Lawson’s two ware
houses, J. T. Edwards and
Sons Warehouse, Smith’s
Brick Warehouse, and
Smith’s Mercantile Store.
The Macon Telegraph, cour
tesy of Miss Willie Smith.
Captain W. F. Smith was
among Flovilla and Butts
County’s outstanding citi
zens. He rode horseback
from Atlanta to Macon in an
effort to get the E. T. V. and
G. R. R., now the Southern
Railroad, to go through Butts
County and Flovilla. The
railroad was built in 1881.
With Messers. Lindsey and
Elder, he built the Flovilla-
Indian Springs railroad,
known as the Dummy. In 1909
he and his associates
acquired a franchise and
built a street car tract from
the Southern’s rail depot to
the business section of
Jackson. He failed to
receive encouragement and
this is thought to have
hastened his death which
came in 191-2. Before his
death, he secured a
franchise to run a lighting
system through Jackson.
Obituary, The Jackson
Progress-Argus,
March 22,1912
JACKSON DAM
“Jackson Throws Open
Her Gates To the Central
Power Company. -The com
pany was assured of the
hearty co-operation of the
citizens of Butts County.
“Mr. C. W. Lane, of the
firm of Lane Bros, and
Company, one of the best
known firms in the country,
is on the site superintending
the construction.”
Jackson Argus, May 15,1908
After securing the lighting
franchise for Jackson, Cap
tain Smith went in search of
the most available water
power to generate electri
city. He said, “I found it
where the present dam is
now located.” The first step
was in the purchase of 58
acres, known as the old
Thomas place, and next, the
purchase from Mr. William
Hodges, of a mill site just
above the Thomas place. In
looking at the shoals above
and below and also the
towering cliff on either side,
he saw the immense quanti
ties of fine granite for
building purposes.
Mr. S. C. McCandless
became interested and pur
chased 95 acres on the Jasper
County side of the Ocmulgee
River, known as the Byar’s
place. It was on these
properties that the great dam
was constructed. Mr. Mc-
Candless interested Mr.
Harold Mallet of Jackson and
they together bought all of
the power rights from the old
Byars place to Dempsey’s
Ferry. They felt that the best
way to interest capital was to
“combine all power from
Lamar’s Mill to the head of
the river.” When Mr. Lamar
was shown the site where the
dam is now located, he said,
“I am astonished. I did not
know Butts County had
anything like this in it.”
About this time C. F. Howe,'
an engineer, came through
looking for water power.
Captain Smith, in telling of
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
their conversation, said, “I
showed him what I had and
explained my purpose of
development.” Mr. Howe
said, “You are going to spoil
a big thing by a little one.
Sell your holdings to me and I
will help you to make a
development from which you
can have power cheaper than
you can develop it yourself.”
Captain Smith further said,
“We agreed and Mr. Henry
Howe and Mr. Thomas
Carling of Macon bought our
holdings and they went ahead
and made several other
purchases.”
The Central Georgia
Power Company backed by
New York Capital had the
dam built.
L. N. Fornum was in
charge of the engineers. J. G.
White Company, one of the
largest construction corpora
tions in the county, secured
the contract to build the dam.
Information is from news
clippings in a scrapbook
prepared by Mrs. Joe Varner
and presented to Captain
Smith in his last illness. The
letter that accompanied the
book, together with the
scrapbook, is in the posses
sion of his daughters at
Flovilla, Mrs. Bob Thomp
son, Misses Willie and Jewel
Smith.
Since Captain Smith was a
citizen who liberally contri
buted his time and resources
for the development of Butts
County, it is interesting to
know that copies of the Butts
County Argus, April 5, 19, 26,
May 10, 17, 24. 31. 1877.
published by Captain Smith
and Stone and The Middle
Georgia Argus, of July 4,
1878, edited by Captain Smith
and T. W. Morrow are in
possession of his three
daughters, Mrs. Bob (Alice)
Thompson and Misses Jewel
and Willie Smith who reside
in Flovilla.
His obituary in the Jackson
Progress Argus stated that
Captain Smith edited his
papers by a brass lamp on a
Washington press.
The family also has a copy
of The Head-Light published
by Captain Smith at Flovilla
in 1903.
Heavy Damage
Caused By Rain
The Central of Georgia
Power Company was the
heaviest loser. The coffer
dam and trestles above and
below the dam, washed
away, entailing $75,000 to
$lOO,OOO damages.
Butts County Argus,
March 4,1910
Dam Completed
Dam completed and water
now filling the Reservior
.... The power plant is
one of the largest in the
South, several hundred men
have been working on it (day
and night) for the past two
years. It represents an
expenditure of about three
million dollars. The power
will be used in Forsyth,
Griffin, Macon, Monticello,
Jackson, and other places in
Middle Georgia.”
Butts County Progress,
Nov. 25,1910
S On October 17, 1781, British General Cornwallis bade
his troops lay down their arms at Yorktown. This was
to be the last major action of the Revolutionary War.
Coleman’s Garage
And Body Shop
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
IRON SPRINGS
COMMUNITY
Information Compiled for
Community Project
The Community was
named Iron springs, because
there is a spring in the
community with iron in the
water.
Early settlers discovered
this spring and named it. It
has been called Iron Springs
since.
The oldest school in the
community was consolidated
with Oak Hill School, and for
several years there was a
consolidated school in the
community; then it was
consolidated with other
schools in the county to form
the one school in the county
at the seat of Jackson. At the
site of the oldest school in the
community, a club house has
been built.
In 1900 a dummy line ran
through the community; also
a stage coach route. Both
original churches still stand,
Pleasant Grove Congrega
tional and Union Ridge
Christian. These have been
remodeled in recent years.
There are two cemeteries
in the community, one being
a family cemetery and the
other an Indian Cemetery.
There is an old soldier’s
grave near the Community
House which was marked
several years ago by the
D.A.R.
Today there are a good
number of new homes,
remodeled homes, and all
homes in the community
have electricity and pumps
to furnish running water.
The history of this little
community dates back as far
as the oldest person living
can remember and as far as
he or she knows only by
tasting the water was the
name given it. Several gins
have been run in the
Community but these have
all been torn down and
replaced by farms.
Information by Mrs.
Mildred Ballenger
Indian Cemetery:
The Indians in death, as in
life, rest in a large wooded
area beneath the under
brush.
The wild honeysuckles and
dogwood send forth their
fragrance and beauty in the
Springtime, and the rainbow
colored leaves hover over it
in the fall. In the sleet and
snow their graves are
blanketed with the new fallen
leaves. Among the graves is
one memorial still standing
to a Revolutionary War
Soldier, “Rich D. Speake, 3 S.
C. Mil, Rev. War.”
New Farmer’s Phone Ser
vice Put in to
Iron Springs
“The Southern Bell Tele
phone Company has made a
contract for the connection of
anew farmers line with the
Jackson Exchange.” This
service will provide tele-
THURSDAY, JULY 1. 1976
phone service to the follow
ing farmers: J. M. Maddox,
J. L. Maddox, R. H.
Henderson, William Preston,
J. D. Thomas, T. J. Linkous,
J. O. Cole, L. M. Maddox,
Mrs. S. A. Lemons, and
others.
Butts County Progress,
Nov. 1910
BLOOD-STAINED LETTER
TELLSA
FRIGHTFUL TALE
By Bernice McCullar
Georgia heroine of an
Indian murder covered her
dead husband with her last
garment.
There is a blood-stained
letter in the library over at
the university in Athens that
would make the hair curl on
the back of your neck.
In fact, there are two
letters, though only one with
the blood on it. Yet the other
is still more frightful.
Together they tell a tale that
reminds you of those lines in
Shakespeare’s Hamlet:
“I could a tale unfold
whose lightest work
would harrow up thy
soul, freeze thy young
blood, Make thy two
eyes, like stars, start
from their spheres,
Thy knotted and com
bined lockes to part,
And each particular
hair stand on end, Like
quills upon the fretful
porcupine.”
This is the story of
Georgia’s Antigones
whether two or three, you
figure out. At any rate, this
story is better than that of
Sophocles because it is true.
His was the stuff that dreams
are made of.
You probably remember
that in Sophocles’ popular
drama (which the old Greeks
liked so much that they made
him a general), a sister is not
allowed to give a decent
burial to her dead brother
because he had charted a
different course from that of
the powerful rulers.
Georgia’s Antigone -a girl
named Jane pulled off her
last garment, and stood there
in the dignity of her
nakedness, to spread it over
her dead, to keep the fowls of
the air and the merciless sun
away from the one she had
loved. Her mother or aunt
in another letter plays an
Antigonean role also.
The story is an old one. You
probably read it in school in
your history books, though
they pass it lightly. It is the
story of the Greek chief
William Mclntosh, killed by
his people because he signed
the treaty which they said
gave away their lands to
the white man. Mclntosh was
first cousin to Georgia’s
colorful Gov. George Troup.
You can see the house where
the treaty was signed any
time you want to drive down
to Indian Springs, between
Jackson and Forsyth.
But the bloody tragedy had
its setting in Mclntosh’s
residence up near Roopville.
Mclntosh was a man of
Scotch and Indian ancestry.
He became a brigadier
general when he fought with
the American forces in the
Florida campaign. His
cousin, Gov. Troup, was
violently in favor of ridding
Georgia of the Creeks, so
much that he had Georgia at
odds with the Federal
Government, and caused
much vexation of spirit to
President Monroe and John
Quincy Adams.
Mclntosh himself came to
believe that the way of peace
was for the Creeks to give up
their Georgia lands and go
West. In fact, he signed at
Indian Springs on Feb. 12,
1825 —a treaty ceding, the
Creek lands in Georgia to the
state for $400,000 and as
many acres in the West. For
this, he got the tract that is
now the Mclntosh reserva
tion, which was to be his
doorstep to doom and death.
The Creeks refused to
accept this treaty. They
named Menewa, a rival
leader, as Mclntosh’s execu
tioner. He took a hundred
Indians with him, went to the
Mclntosh house, drove all
whites away, and brutally
murdered Mclntosh and an
aid by firing a fusillade of
more than a hundred bullets
into them. They tied up Col.
Samuel Hawkins, Mclntosh’s
son-in-law and husband of his
daughter Jane. They kept
him tied up from before
daylight until 3 o’clock the
next afternoon. They were
waiting for their chiefs to
come and pronounce his
sentence. It was death.
They would not give Jane -
who piteously begged for it
anything to cover the body of
her dead husband. She had
left on only one garment.
This she took off to cover her
beloved dead.
Her pitiful letter relates
the story. It is probably the
most tragic letter ever
written in Georgia. But right
next to it in the university
©ttitJtomlfppKiinjs
From a Great American Flower Shop
by permission of THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE
The winter of’77: Party season for the British. A turning
point for the Patriots.
We’ve faced a heartbreaking retreat from New York
and across New Jersey. 3,000 men are British prison
ers, and Washington is foresaken by many of his own.
The British generals figure it’s only a matter of time
before we give up and beg the King’s pardon. But the
British are a trifle too smug. We recross the Delaware
and, battle after battle, surprise the enemy and defeat
him. It s on to Saratoga, where our victory becomes a
turning point. It gives us courage through the longest
winter at Valley Forge. While we suffer cold, starvation
and sickness at Valley Forge, the British elite continue
to party with their Loyalist friends in Philadelphia. But
we learn something. Not to give up. The nation learns,
too. And the rest is history, $
JACKSON
FLOWER SHOP
library is a similar letter
written by one of Mclntosh’s
two Indian wives, yet
carrying the signature of
them both. > Peggy and
Susannah. You read it
wondering which one wrote
it. Could they both write?
Jane’s letter, sent to Col.
Campbell and Maj. Meri
wether, was written on May
3, 1825. It reads, “My dear
friends, I send you this paper
which will not tell you a lie.
but if it had 10 tongues, it
could not tell you the whole
truth. On the morning of 30 of
April, at the break of day, my
Father’s house was sur
rounded by a party of hostile
Indians . . .
They took away the best of
Father’s money and pro
perty, and destroyed the rest,
leaving the family no
clothing (some not even one
rag) nor provisions. Brother
Chilly was at Father’s and
made his escape, with a
white traveling man (Note:
Chilly set out for Milledge
ville to carry the dreadful
news to the Governor).
It was before daylight and
he was not discovered . . .
While murdering my beloved
Father, they were tying my
husband, Col. Sam’l. Haw
kins, with cords . . . Not
content with spilling the
blood of my husband and
father, these barbarous men
refused my hand the ‘painful
privilege of covering his body
up” - here Jane is confused,
and speaks of both her dead
as one- “They stript me of
my two best friends in one
day. Stript of property and
stript of clothes ... yet
more painful than all the
rest, that the body of my poor
murdered husband should
remain unburied, to be
devoured by the birds and
beasts. Was ever poor
woman worse off than I?”
She wrote of the high
waters that prevented help
from getting to them. “We
are in a dreadful condition. I
don’t think there will be one
ear of corn made in the
Nation. Most people have
fled to DeKalb and Fayette
counties, and are too much
alarmed to return. I am
afraid you think I make it
worse than it is, but how
could that be? For it is worse
of itself than any pen can
write. I mock me when I try
to speak of it. After I was
stript of my last frock but
one, humanity and duty
called on me to pull it off and
spread it over the body of my
dead husband, which was
allowed no other covering.
Which I did as a farewell
witness of my affection.
I was 20 miles away trom
any friend (but my sister
Catherine who was with me)
and had to stay all night in
the woods surrounded by a
hundred hostile Indians who
were constantly insulting and
affrighting us. And now I am
here with only one old coat to
my back and not a morsel of
bread to save us from
perishing, or a rag or blanket
to cover my poor little boy
from the sun at noon or the
due (sic) at night, and I am a
poor distracted orphan and
widow. If you think Proper, I
wish this to be published.”
Signed, Jane Hawkins.
The letter of the two wives
of Gen. William Mclntosh
was sent to the government
itself, addressed to the U. S.
Commissioner. Written in a
fine script -but by which
wife, I would like to know -
the letter is a vivid as Jane’s.
What’s more, this is one with
the bloodstains.
And the late Col. Telamon
Cuyler, that interesting Ed
wardian from down near
Gray who gave this condition
to the university, had the spot
analyzed and it IS blood. The
writer of this letter also
speaks of seeking a covering
for their dead.
Cont. on next page