Taylor County Confederate Monument

Thank you to Dan Phillips and Ms. Johnnie, Librarian, who located this on Microfilm for this page

Memorial Day 1915

THE BUTLER HERALD
Butler, Taylor County, Georgia, May 2  1911

MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVATION
    A CREDIT TO TAYLOR COUNTY

Rev. S. B. Cousins  Orator of the Day.  He
Paid Beautiful Tribute to Dead Heroes
          of the Confederacy

  Under the auspices of the Wallace-Edwards chapter of the Daughters of
Confederacy, Memorial Day was most fittingly observed in Butler Wednesday.
 The exercises were attended by more people than ever before on a similar
occasion in Butler.  The unveiling of the handsome confederate monument,
recently erected on the court house square, was also an important feature of
the day�s exercises, as was also the bestowing of crosses of honor to about a
dozen veterans.  They were presented by the Daughters and pinned on the lapel
of coat of each veteran by Mrs. J E Davant one of the foremost members of the
organization.

  Owing to threatening weather the crowd assembled in the court house, which
accommodated about half of those who had hoped to hear the address.

  About fifty or more of the old vetereans were present and they were given
the best chairs near the speaker.  They brought their old muskets and other
souvenirs of war times.  One of the most prominent veterans in the county
attracted attention by being the only one dressed in his gray uniform that he
wore so worthily in the great strife.  The old wartime yells stirred the
audience.  After the address the veterans fired their guns the reports of
which sounded like real wartime.

  The school children and the brass band assisted in the music and other
exercised of the day.

  At 11:15 Hon. A. S. Wallace introduced the orator of the day, Rev. S. B.
Cousins, of Montezuma, who was showered with congratulations at the close of
his address.  He eulogized the gallant soldiers, the faithful and noble women
of those trying days and good ladies of the present time who are doing such
splendid service in marking the graves of confederate dead, in one of the
ablest and most eloquent tributes ever listened to in this county.  Mr.
Cousins spoke for thirty minutes.  The address showed that to the subject he
had given deep study and careful research.

  He began with the days of the Revolutionary war, speaking of the patriotism
of the Southerners and their loyalty to the union, and told of the oft
asserted right of the New England states to withdraw from the union at any
time they saw fit.

  Then a minute history of the causes that led up to the secession of the
Southern states, and the organization of the Confederacy; a comparison of the
strength of the two armies and loyalty of Georgians to the cause; the
decisive battles of the war and the surrender of Lee; paid a fitting tribute
to the generosity of Grant and told of the trying days of reconstruction.

  The speaker closed with an eloquent tribute to the noble women of the
South, their loyalty to the Lost Cause and the hardships they had borne; with
an expression of his confidence in the future of Georgia, her sons and her
daughters.

  This was the first time Mr. Cousins had visited Butler and our people were
indeed charmed with him.

  After the address the crowd assembled about the monument and the veiling
was withdrawn.  Misses Eva Rhodes, Mae Rawls, Hortese Davant and Janet
Wallace pulled the cords. [Eva Rhodes was the daughter of John and Frances Caldwell Rhodes of Butler. She later married Lester Royal, also of Butler.]

  A sumptous dinner was served to the veterans by the Daughters in the sample
room north of the court house.

  The graves of all veterans buried in Butler were covered with the season�s
sweetest flowers in the forenoon.

The Butler Herald November 22, 1910 Page Three

To The People Of Taylor County

The Daughters of the Confederacy who have been more patriotic and have done more to perpetuate the history, deeds of valor and sacrifices of the men and women of the Sixties, than all other combined agencies, come to you with a patriotic request. - That you respond to their call in liberality to assist them to pay for a marble shaft to be erected on the Court House Square in Butler, Ga., and to be unveiled April 26, 1911.  Said shaft has been contracted for at a cost of $1,175.00.

This shaft is to be erected in loving memory and honor of all confederate veterans, more especially to those sons of old Taylor soil who dated to do and did do at their country's bidding, the greatest feats of bravery and sacrifice which have been recorded in any nation's history.

They quit their homes of peace and plenty and went to meet in deadly combat the invaders of their beloved Southland.  Many dropped by the wayside, a few still abide.

Counties around us and throughout the South have erected these memorials to their sons.  Will old Taylor be less loving and patriotic than our neighbors around us?  Nay, nay.  Then we ask you to donate as God has prospered you.

We have appointed Mr. A.S. Wallace to receive and receipt for any amounts, which you may donate.

Mr. A.S. Wallace and others will be appointed to solicit subscriptions, but do not wait to be solicited, but forward any amount you will donate to A.S. Wallace, Secty. and Treas., Monumental Fund, Butler, Ga.  Should by chance this appeal be seen any former Taylor County citizen or friends we will appreciate your donation.

Help us in this cause of love and duty and we will be under obligations to you until death do us part.

Daughters Of Confederacy A.S. Wallace, Secty. and Treas.

The Butler Herald Tuesday, April 4, 1911 Page Three

Confederate Monument to be Unveiled April 26th

A handsome Confederate statuary of Italian marble, 20 feet in height, is now being erected on the courthouse grounds thru the enthusiastic spirit of the Wallace- Edwards Chapter Daughters of Confederacy.

The monument was purchased sometime ago from the National Marble and Granite Co., of Marietta, Ga., who have sent here to superintend the work of erection, Mr. E.L. Brewer, formerly of the county, but now of Atlanta.  The foundation for the monument is being substantially laid, it being of brick and cement 10 feet square and 4 feet from the bottom to the surface of the ground.

When the work of erection is completed, which will be probably this week, the beautiful statuary will be veiled and remain so until Memorial Day, April 26th when with appropriate exercises the veiling will be removed.  Rev. Solon B. Cousins, the Baptist minister of Montezuma, will be the orator of the day.

The Memorial Day exercises of this year will be the most extensive since the organization of the local chapter.  In fact, with the unveiling of the monument, it is expected to be a great day for Butler and Taylor County.  Everybody in whose veins there is a spark of patriotism is cordially invited to be here on Wednesday the 26th and take part in the exercises sacred to the memory of the heroes of the Sixties.

A program in full of the exercises of the day will be published later in these columns.

The Butler Herald Tuesday, April 11, 1911 Page Three

Local Paragraphs

Miss Eva Rhodes, Janet Wallace, Hortense Davant and Mae Rawls will pull the cord that will unveil the Confederate monument on April 26th.  The monument if now in position on the courthouse square, the beautiful statuary of a brave Confederate soldier looks with fixed eyes and an expression of satisfaction to the south.  The address will be delivered by Rev. Solon B. Cousins, of Montezuma.

The Butler Herald Tuesday, April 18, 1911 Page Three

Program For Memorial Day

Unveiling Confederate Monument - Wednesday, April 26th

1. Song, America

2. Prayer, Rev. Earl W. Anderson

3. Song

4. Delivering Crosses of Honor

5. Delivering prize for best essay

6. Song

7. Introduction of Speaker

8. Address

9. Volleys fired by the veterans

10. Unveiling Monument

11. Song, Dixie, by school

12. Decorating Soldier's Graves

13. Dinner for veterans

Program subject to change.  We urge all the Daughters to attend the exercises.  Be sure to wear your badge; we want to make this 26th the very best we have ever had.  Lets all meet at the Bowling Alley early Wednesday morning in order to make what preparations that are necessary before the exercises begin.

We hope all the Daughters and as many others who can will help us honor the Old Veterans, and send a nice waiter to the Bowling Alley early Wednesday morning. The Old Veterans are fast passing away and we will not much longer have the privilege of thus honoring them.

We will need from sixty to seventy-five cedar wreaths. We would be so glad to receive any help we can get. We do not want a scarcity.

We trust each veteran will supply himself with an old army gun, loaded, to be used in firing the volley.  We also want the veterans to give us the famous "Rebel Yell."

Any assistance on any of these points that we can get will be thankfully received.  The wreaths can be made the last of the week if convenient.

The Daughters

The Butler Herald Tuesday, April 18, 1911 Page Three

Veterans, Take Notice!

The boys that wore the Gray in the Sixties are requested to be present on April 26th, Memorial Day, to witness the unveiling of the Confederate monument, which has been erected in the courthouse square and is a beauty.

Comrades, come prepared to make a liberal donation to help the Daughters who have labored so faithful to pay for the monument.  I trust that every patriotic citizen of Taylor County will take pride and feel that it is the duty they owe to the dead heroes to help pay this debt.

Our annual dues must be paid the same day in order to entitle us to representation in our general reunion, which will meet May 16th at Little Rock, Ark.  Come early and bring your muskets.

Yours to serve,

A.J. McGee, Commander Butler, Ga., April 10, 1911

She was the daughter of William Posey Edwards and Shady McLendon Edwards, and was only 14 months old when her father enlisted in Co. F., 27th Georgia Infantry in Oct 1861. Laura started the chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1901 naming it after her father and Col William Sharp Wallace--Wallace-Edwards Chapter. Laura served as an officer for twenty years, and during that time, the Confederate Monument was purchased and placed on the courthouse square in Butler. It was through her efforts that many soldier's graves were marked with headstones and every year a Confederate Memorial Day was held.

Memorial Day Celebration 1915

Letter, to the editor of the Butler Herald from Col. W.L. Grice, on the subject of who authored the poem amongst other things.

The Butler Herald
Tuesday, April 27, 1915
Page One
Distinguished Visitors
Col. W.L. Grice and Mrs. Grice arrived in the city Sunday and during their delightful stay in the city are guests of Col. and Mrs. H.P. Wallace. Yesterday was a memorable day with Col. Grice when it was that he mingled with and received the warm handshake of so many of his old war-time comrades here in attendance upon memorial day exercises. Although in his 83rd year, Col. Grice is a well-preserved man. Providence has smiled abundantly upon him, has never been sick a day in his life, and is today a remarkably active man for one of his age. Mrs. Grice, who is herself in the 75, is a charming lady of the antebellum type. This venerable and esteemed couple have the congratulations of their many Taylor County friends.

Butler In The Olden Time

By Col. W.L. Grice
Mr. Editor:
On a recent visit to your town, the first in many years, I was the guest of Henry P. Wallace, who is the son of my old friend and law partner, Wm. S. Wallace, than whom Taylor County never produced a better citizen.

It has occurred to me that a rambling sketch of the town and people as I saw them sixty years ago might be interesting to some of your readers, and hence by your leave, I will undertake to give from memory a short account of some of the men and things of the antebellum times.

Butler was incorporated in the year 1854, and the commissioners designated in the charter were: C.Y. Perry, Ezekiel Royal, James T. May, Isaac Mulkey and P.C. Carr. I settled there in the fall of the next year, and the law card of Grice & Wallace which was published in the Macon Telegraph for several years bore the date of December 10, 1855, as I remember it. I have been a subscriber to the paper from that day to this except while in the army.

Four preachers and five lawyers had preceded me to the newly settled county site. The preachers were James T. May, Dr. James Griffith, Wm. W. Corbitt and E.H. Wilson. All of these were Methodists except the last, but none of them had the care of churches.

The lawyers were Hopkins Holsey, Daniel W. Miller, W.W. Corbin, Benjamin F. Reese and X.B. LeSeuer. Col. Wallace and Julius H. Holsey came to the bar soon after my arrival. W.H. Caldwell and John Walker were the practicing physicians. Dr. A.L. Edwards and Dr. Dugger came later.

John Sturtevant was ordinary of the county; James T. Harmon, clerk; and W.W. Wiggins, sheriff. If I remember correctly Sanders W. Durham was pastor of the Baptist church and Wyatt Brooks of the Methodist.

The Justices of the Inferior Court were T.J. Riley, Hiram Drane, A.M.K. Swift, R.B. Rucker and ------. (line drawn, no name given)

The Judge of the Superior Court was E.H. Worrill and Col. Jack Brown was Solicitor. Brown was succeeded by Thaddeus Oliver. His son, the Rev. Hugh F. Oliver, now deceased, always insisted that his father was the author of "All is Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight," and that he and his brother, now Capt. James Oliver, of the U.S. Navy, were "the two in the low trunnell bed."

Hugh Oliver investigated the matter as far as possible and he published the result of his investigation in a newspaper. There was much evidence including letters from men who read the verses in manuscript, going to show that Thad Oliver was the author of the verses, and that Mrs. Ethel L. Beers obtained them from a fugitive copy which was carried to the north presumably by some returning prisoner. Mrs. Beers first published the poem in a Philadelphia paper over her own name.

Of course nearly all northern publishers ascribe the authorship to her; but Hugh Oliver's investigation satisfied many that his father wrote the poem while in the camp in the early part of the war; and not appreciating its merits, he died before it was given to the public and before any question was raised as to its author. But some copies had been taken by Mr. Oliver's friends in (paper torn) it was said a few (paper torn) leaflets and distri (paper torn).

Among the (paper torn) Butler were J. (paper torn) Smith, J.B. Wright and John H. Bruce.

Robert Scandrett was railroad agent, James R. Hudson kept the principal hotel, and Wm. A. Graham taught the town school. There was no public school in those days. Still other prominent citizens whom I knew and remember were Jesse Stallings, the Montforts, Willis McLendon, Thos. H. Brown and Wm. H. Heard.

The Neislers, Batemans and McCrarys were also prominent families in the town and county. I think the late John A. Childs was about the last business man who was identified with the early history of the place.

Political feelings ran high in the county before the war and the two parties were about equally divided. The American or Know Nothing Party in 1855 sent A.H. Riley to the senate and A.J. McCants to the house of representatives. Every county then had a senator. At the next election in 1857, the democrats elected T.J. Riley (brother of A.H. Riley) to the senate and J.J. McCants (brother of A.J. McCants) to the house, thus reversing the politics of the county in two years as expressed in the legislative election.

A few of the original houses in the town remain. The courthouse still stands, but the interior has been somewhat changed. The old wooden jail is gone. I ought to remember that building for I spent a night in it. A client of our firm (W.R. Lowe by name) was ordered by the Judge on an exparte showing to turn over to a Receiver certain valuable papers or else go to jail.

My partner and I thought it important for our client to retain possession of the property; and we advised him to go to jail assuring him the judge would turn him out as soon as he heard our side of the case, but the judge could not hear it under ten days.

Our client finally agreed to go to prison, provided one of his lawyers would stay with him at night. It struck my youthful mind that it was not right for me to prescribe medicine for another which I was unwilling to take myself, so I agreed to the terms of my friend, and late in the evening I was locked up with him.

Before retiring for the night some of our friends on the outside informed us that the sheriff had gone to a party some distance in the country, carrying the jail keys with him. This news disconcerted my room mate and we discussed our situation in case of fire or sickness or other emergency. My friend became nervous. What my feelings were is none of the business of the reader. Suffice it to say that the next morning our client surrendered the property and was liberated from prison.

Let me add in justification of the opinion and advice of Mr. Lowe's counsel that at the end of ten days the judge heard our side of the case and promptly discharged the Receiver and restored the property to my client.

My visit to Butler was exceedingly pleasant. There have been many changes for the better - better streets, better houses, better stock. The people are friendly and hospitable. But I found more familiar names in the cemetery than familiar faces on the street. Still there were a few left of the friends of my early manhood. These met me with a cordial grasp of the hand, and (paper torn) from me with a fervent (paper torn) bless you."

W.L. Grice
(paper torn) lle, Ga. (Note:Hawkinsville)

NOTES:
Burial: Houston County
Evergreen Cemetery

 Washington L. Grice
   (b 22 Feb 1832, d 9 Mar 1925).  
CSA.  In thee, O Lord, do I
   put my trust.

 Martha V. Warren Grice
   (b 18 Jul 1840, d 1 Jan 1926).  
The Lord is my shepherd; I
   shall not want.
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ga/houston/cemeteries/evergr.txt

============== From page 341, Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida. (I have seen a copy of this book. It was not copyrighted.)

Col. Washington L. Grice, attorney, Hawkinsville, Ga., was born in Carroll County, Ga., February 22, 1832. He is the son of Garry and Ann (Lamar) Grice, the former for North Carolina and the later from Georgia. Garry Grice was a farmer and held various responsible county offices; was judge of the inferior court, tax-collector, census taker, and server in the legislature one term. His death occurred in 1879, at the age of seventy-four. His wife died in 1841.

These parents had three children, viz.: Q.C., married a Miss Gray and is living in Fayette County; T.C., wife of M.L. Yates, is living in Douglas County.

Washington L. began teaching at eighteen years and taught for four years with good success. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1854, and has practiced continuously since, with the exception of the time spent in the war. He enlisted May 24, 1861, in the Sixth Georgia regiment, but was afterwards transferred to the Forty-fifth, of which he was lieutenant-colonel. March 4, 1862, he was elected major and served until the spring of 1864, when he resigned to serve the legislature. He afterward served in the State militia in Captain W.H. Pruden's battery. On the promotion of Col. Simmons he became lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-fifth Georgia by appointment.

At the close of the war he again resumed practice of his profession, serving as judge of the Macon court for a while, but retiring, as he did not desire official life. He was married in 1870 to Miss Mattie V. Warren, daughter of Gen. Eli Warren, of Perry, Ga. To this unio were born two boys, Warren and Herbert. Col Grice is a member of the Methodist Church, and his wife is a member of the Baptist Church. The Colonel is an enterprising business man, as well as a reliable and influential citizen.

Note: page 813 contains a sketch of Col. Wm. S. Wallace that mentions Col. Grice thusly: Referring to Col. Wallace, "He was reared in Talbot. He read law, and in 1855 was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with Judge W.L. Grice, then of Butler, and practiced with him until after the war......."

Source Information: Ancestry.com. Georgia and Florida Biographies [database online]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003. Original data: Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida. Chicago, IL: F.A. Battey & Company, 1889.