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Historic Markers
in
Lamar County, Georgia
[Click on the thumbnails to view full-size photographs]
 Gachet Home
The historic Gachet home is situated at the crossing of Towns and old
Alabama Road, called Milner Cross Roads. This road was also an
Indian trail. Benjamin Gachet, a French nobleman, fled from a San
Domingo revolution 
and settled in what is now Lamar County. On March 19th, 1825, General
Marquis de LaFayette, on his official visit to Georgia, spent the night
at the Gachet home and the noted Frenchman was doubly welcomed as a patriot
and visitor from France. This tablet was erected at the request
of the Lamar-LaFayette Chapter, N.S.D.A.R. (Ga 18 about three
miles west of Barnesville.)
Lamar
County
Lamar County was created by Act of State Assembly August 17,
1920. It was named for Lucius Quintus Cincinnatis Lamar, lawyer,
Colonel in the Confederate Army, U.S. Senator, Secretary of the
Interior and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The first officers
of Lamar County included: B. H. Hardy, Ordinary; S. J. Childers,
Clerk of Court; Z. T. Elliott, Sheriff; E. Luther Butler, Tax
Receiver; Gus Smith, Tax Collector; W. C. Jordan, Treasurer,
B. K. Crouch, Coroner; Roger H. Taylor, Surveyor; J. F. Redding,
Judge; Mrs. Mattie Barnes, School Supt.; H. M. Johnson, E. O.
Dobbs, H. J. Kennedy, Solicitors. (At the Courthouse in Barnesville.)
Federals
at Barnesville
As Wilson's Federal cavalry moved toward Macon, near this spot
on Wednesday, April 19, 1865, some of them attacked a small Confederate
force, "The Dixie Rangers." Greatly outnumbered, "The
Rangers" fought with gallantry, gradually withdrawing from
the field. A detachment from the Federal 4th Indiana Cavalry
captured the flag of "The Rangers" in this skirmish.
Federal soldiers were again in Barnesville on May 5, 1865, when
troops from the First Division, Wilson's Federal Cavalry, in
pursuit of Jefferson Davis, camped here that night. (US 41 (Ga
7) in the north edge of Barnesville.)
Confederate Hospital
During the War Between the States, 1861-1865, 155 Confederate soldiers,
wounded in the Battle of Atlanta and evacuated, died in several improvised
hospitals in Barnesville. This marks the site of the main hospital. A
marble headstone marks each soldier's grave in Greenwood Cemetery near
here. Two Federal troopers are buried with the Confederates and each Memorial
Day receive the same tribute. Among States represented are Alabama, Georgia,
Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana,
Tennessee. (US 41 (Ga 7c) in Barnesville near the depot.)
Confederate Cemetery
In this lonely spot lie the mortal remains of more than 100 unknown
soldiers of the Confederacy. Most of them were wounded while
heroically defending the City of Atlanta against overwhelming
forces of General Sherman, and died in an improvised hospital
at nearby Milner. At the time this marker was erected the graves
were
marked with plain rocks for head and foot stones,
but the
Willie Hunt Smith Chapter No. 49 of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy had undertaken to identify and mark each grave. (On
the old Alabama Road about 100 yards south of Liberty Hill Road.)
Confederate
Hospital
On this site stood one of Milner's temporary hospitals for Confederate
soldiers wounded in the Battles of Atlanta and Jonesboro in 1864.
These men were hastily evacuated south on the only railroad from
Atlanta still operated by the C.S.A. at that time. Dr. John F.
Hunt, local physician, doctors from nearby communities and townspeople
fed and cared for the wounded. 108 of these soldiers, from various
companies and several southern states, died at Milner and were
buried in a cemetery a mile from town on the Liberty Hill Road.
(US 41 (Ga 7) in Milner.)
Old
Alabama Road
This road from South Carolina to Alabama, originally an Indian
trail, became a famous stage coach route. Part of the New-York
and New-Orleans Main Line, its "excellent roads, accommodating
agents, new coaches and good horses" made it one of the
superior routes in the United States. The 18 to 25 gaily painted
coaches drawn by six horses in constant use on the Alabama road
carried the famous men of the times. Various inns along the way
entertained Martin Van Buren, Marquis de LaFayette, Henry Clay,
Elijah Clarke, James K. Polk, Andrew Jackson, Robert Toombs and
countless other travelers. (Liberty Hill Road about one mile
east of Milner.)
Gordon
Military College
Founded as Male and Female Seminary in 1852, this was a pioneer
school of its kind in Georgia. It was reorganized in 1872 as
Gordon Institute, named for General John B. Gordon, famed Confederate
soldier, Governor and Senator, who was a friend of Charles E.
Lambdin, its first president. In 1927 this school became Gordon
Military College, an Honor Military School, an accredited, nonsectarian,
five year preparatory Junior College. Graduates have won distinction
in many fields of endeavor. Senator Richard B. Russell is numbered
among its prominent alumni. (Georgia Avenue in Barnesville at
the main entrance to the college.)
Confederate
Hospitals
In July 1864 the following hospitals were in Barnesville: KINGSVILLE
HOSPITAL, Surgeon B. N. Avent. KINGSTON HOSPITAL, Surgeon George
W. McDade, Asst. Surgeon V. S. Hopping. This hospital was moved
from Kingston, Georgia. MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL, Surgeon W.
P. Westmoreland (also in charge at Milner).
This hospital moved
from Atlanta. FLEWELLEN HOSPITAL, Surgeon Miles H. Nash. The
hospital was named for Surgeon Edward A. Flewellen who lived
at The Rock and is buried in Thomaston. ERWIN HOSPITAL, surgeons
Joseph A. Groves and B. N. Avent. (U.S. 341 (GA 36) in Barnesville
about one block south of US 41 (Ga 7). |
