Category: Confederate Flags Heritage

What can you say about the Irish born Confederate soldier Henry Kyd Douglas?

General Robert E. Lee gave him compliments, Stonewall Jackson relied on his close service, women of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were enchanted by his flair, drama, and good looks. Even the enemy Federal soldiers held an admiration for him.  

Varina Davis, wife Confederate President Jefferson Davis once admitted, “With one exception, he was the handsomest man she had ever met.”

Douglas was born in Ireland in 1838 and his family came to America settling in western Maryland on the Potomac.  When Virginia seceded from the Union he joined the Confederacy and later wrote,  “I had no doubt of my duty… In a few days I was at Harpers Ferry, a private in the Shepherdstown Company, Company “B,” Second Virginia Infantry.”

Douglas devoted himself to the Southern cause. He served in nearly every major campaign in the Eastern Theater. Following the 1st Battle of Manassas he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and later served as the youngest member of Stonewall Jackson’s staff. He was wounded in six separate occasions during the war.

But things he did after the war were just as newsworthy as how he fought, if not more.    He flaunted his Confederate uniform in the streets of his hometown Shepherdstown, which the Federal authorities declared as “a badge of treason and rebellion, intended and designed to encourage and incite rebellion.”

Douglas wound up in a jail cell in Washington, D. C. for this, but later served as a witness in the famous trial of the Lincoln conspirators.

And that’s not all. When most men were happy to be off the battlefield to return home to their families, Douglas sat down to write a personal “colorful” and dramatic memoir, I Rode with Stonewall.  He used notes and diaries he made on the battlefield to tell his own experiences and those of the great and brave men who fought with him. He helped preserve to history these important stories. 

The original memoir remains at the Historic Sherpherdstown Museum, and was not published until many years after his death. It can be said that I Rode with Stonewall is “one of the most remarkable stories to come out of any war.”

Well done young Irish Confederate soldier!

Henry Kyd Douglas

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In March of 1865, a Jewish Confederate Captain Samuel Yates Levy wrote his father from a Union prisoner of war camp, “I long to breathe the free air of Dixie.”

Many Jewish Southerners rallied to their states and sacrificed their lives in battle. It was probably the largest ethnic group to serve the Confederacy, made up of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation young men. Jewish families had settled in the South generations before the war. Jews had lived in Charleston, S.C., since 1695.

It’s been reported that the number of Jews serving the Confederacy may have been  between 6,000 and 10,000. The Jewish population was more prosperous in the South, and the South was more tolerant to their religion than in the North.

It’s true that antisemitism existed in the South, but it was even worse in the North.  General Grant issued the infamous General Order Number 11. It expelled Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. Lincoln later demanded Grant revoke the order, but a great deal of damage had already been done to many Jewish families and communities.)

Here are a few of the outstanding Jewish Confederates:

Moses Jacob Ezekiel of Richmond fought at New Market with his fellow cadets from the Virginia Military Institute. His mother declared that she “would not tolerate a son who declined to fight for the Confederacy.”

Ezekiel later wrote in his memoirs:

“…we were not fighting for the perpetuation of slavery, but for the principles of States Rights and Free Trade, and in defense of our homes which were being ruthlessly invaded.”

Maj. Adolph Proskauer of Mobile was wounded several times. One of his officers wrote about him:

“I can see him now as he nobly carried himself at Gettysburg, standing coolly and calmly with a cigar in his mouth…. amid a perfect rain of bullets, shot, and shell. He was the personification of intrepid gallantry and imperturbable courage.”

David Camden DeLeon, known as the “Fighting Doctor” from his brave actions during the Mexican War, served as Jefferson Davis’ First Surgeon General of the Confederacy.  He felt that he had no choice but to sign on to the Confederate cause.

In North Carolina, the six Cohen brothers fought in the 40th Infantry.

The most famous Southern Jew of the era was the brilliant Judah Benjamin. Often called the “brains of the Confederacy,” he served President Davis in three positions:  Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State.

These are but a few of the many extraordinary men of the Jewish faith who fought for the South.  

It seems that the Confederate States of America fully embraced its Jewish citizens who were loyal and fought with valor and honor to persevere a way of life. Hopefully, their descendants will remember with pride and work to preserve their remarkable history.

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Nowhere in any other battle area of the Civil War was the fight between the just and unjust, between liberty and tyranny more clearly shown than in Missouri. Toughened by a rough-hewed frontier heritage, Missourians entered the war with a determined willingness to fight.

General Van Dorn wrote to Jefferson Davis about the Missourians:

“During the whole of this engagement I was with the Missourians under Price, and I have never seen better fighters than these Missouri troops, or more gallant leaders than Price and his officers. From the first to the last shot they continually rushed on, and never yielded an inch they had won; and when at last they received orders to fall back, they retired steadily and with cheers…”

Eighteen year old John James Sitton was among this group of Confederate soldiers. He  enlisted to fight, leaving behind his dream of a higher education. He soon found himself under General Sterling Price’s command as flag bearer. On a hot August day in 1861 he bravely carried the Missouri flag into one of the bloodiest and important battles of the war to date at Wilson’s Creek  With the victory, the Confederates were able to take control of southwestern Missouri.

But Sitton was not only a hard fighting warrior, but also a careful journalist. He wrote daily notes on any scrap or slip of paper, keeping a detailed record of every movement and happening during his entire service.  

His journal survived the battle and the elements against all odds. One time when Sitton buried it for safekeeping, hogs dug it up and scattered all the pages.  When he was wounded at Big Blue, Sitton put his papers in the hands of an officer who was later killed in Oregon County. He thought he had lost forever the papers and all the history in them, but he miraculously recovered the precious documents in 1866.

The writings of this Missouri Confederate soldier are forever preserved in three-volume journal, including scrapbooks, miscellaneous papers, and photographs. It is an important historical documentation of the action and life experiences of a Confederate’s view of the Civil War in Missouri.

Sitton went on to become an accomplished and outstanding citizen of the state. At the time of his death in 1915 he was eulogized as the “soul of honor” and a kind and generous man. He was one of the region’s best known citizens.

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“I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten,                                                                                  Look away, look away look away Dixie land.

In Dixie land where I was born, early on a frosty mornin’,                                                                                                     Look away, look away look away Dixie land.

Then I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! Hooray!                                                                                                                                    In Dixie land I’ll take my stand, to live and die in Dixie,

Away, away, away down south in Dixie,                                                                                                                                               Away, away, away down south in Dixie.”

Every Southerner knows this song, “Dixie.” And so did ancestors going back to the Civil War. It’s second nature to be able to sing along and not miss a word. But did you know it was written by a Northerner? And, it was born nine months before South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union and two years before the first shot was fired at Fort Sumter.

Little did songwriter Daniel Decatur Emmett know that his tune and words would become the National Anthem for the Confederacy when he wrote it in March of 1859. Emmett was simply writing a song for his employer’s upcoming blackface minstrel show. It was something he had been doing for nearly thirty years, since he was a teenager.

He got inspiration as he looked out his New York apartment window at the rainy, dreary weather. That single line “I wish I was in Dixie” played over in his mind, and soon it would be stuck in the minds of many across the country.

The song became very popular in the North. But most Southerners cared little about minstrel shows and were unaware of the song until late 1860, just about the time South Carolina became the first state to secede.

Once “Dixie” hit the South, it caught on like wildfire – even though it was written by a Yankee. Some recalled how it “spontaneously” became the Confederate anthem and noted the “wild-fire rapidity” of its “spread over the whole South.”

Confederate President Jefferson Davis unofficially endorsed it when the bandleader, who know nothing about the song, played at his inauguration in February 1861. He never formally endorsed “Dixie” but it’s been said Davis favored it as the South’s anthem. And he did own a music box that played the tune.

Within a few months song publishers reported sales “were altogether unprecedented.” Robert E. Lee tried to buy a copy for his wife, but found there were none left in all of Virginia.

Emmett had written scores of tunes, but became most well known for “Dixie.” This fact did not please him much. He reportedly told a fellow minstrel: “If I had known to what use they (Southerners) were going to put my song, I will be damned if I’d have written it.”

Well, Mr. Emmet, you did write it! And Abraham Lincoln liked it a lot. Despite ties to the Confederacy the song was one of his favorites, and he was happy to reclaim it after the war.

And on that note, you ain’t just whistlin’ “Dixie!”

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It was not easy going behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. It takes a bit of courage, cleverness, and wit to act when the opportunity arises.  Sam Watson was a Confederate soldier serving under General Polk in June 1864 about the time of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia. One night he put those skills to good work to fool a bunch of Sherman’s Yankee soldiers.

Watson began his service at the very beginning of the Civil War and stayed in the fight until the very end. After the war, he wrote a book about his war experiences. One of the stories details how he was able to cross the enemy  line, sneak into a Yankee camp, get within a few feet of Sherman’s headquarters, and observe and even talk to the Federals.

Of course, he would have to use some brilliant acting skills, too. He saw a group  of soldiers coming to relieve the picket line.  Acting as if he were just coming off  duty, Watson turned to them and asked boldly, “Captain, what guard is this?”

He answered, “Nien bocht, you bet.”  (That’s what it sounded like to him, anyway.) From that he figured this group was from a Dutch regiment, and so he moved on.

Next, he came upon an Irish regiment cooking a meal. By now he was worried that he may run into a guard demanding the verbal countersign, and be found out. So, he “… thought of the way that I had gotten it hundreds of times before in our army, when I wanted to slip the guard, and that was to get a gun, go to some cross street or conspicuous place, halt the officer, and get the countersign.”

As he stood near Sherman’s headquarters, he saw a courier leave his tent and mount his horse. As he approached, Watson boldly demands, “Halt! Who goes there?”  

The courier responded, “A friend with the countersign,”  and then came over to him and whispered in his ear “United.”  With that one simple word, Watson said said he no longer felt like a prisoner in the enemy’s camp. For the next few hours he walked freely about the camp talking to the Union soldiers.

Some men approached him at one point:  

“The person in command said, ‘Say, there! You sir; say, you, sir!’  Says I, Are you speaking to me?’  ‘Yes,’ very curtly and abruptly.  ‘What regiment do you belong to?’  Says I, ‘One hundred and twenty-seven Illinois.’  ‘Well, sir, fall in line here; I am ordered to take up all stragglers. Fall in, fall in promptly!’  Says I, ‘I am instructed by General McCook to remain here and direct a courier to General Williams’ headquarters.’

Well, the Federals bought his answer and moved on.

It was about 3 AM when the assembly call rang out.  Watson knew that in a few minutes the companies would fall in line for roll call. It was time to take what he had gathered and get out of the camp. He made it safely back to his own lines and made his report to Lt. General Polk.

Before he had entered the Federal camp that night to spy, Watson recalled in his book, “I felt like making my will.” But after successfully penetrating the camp, passing himself off as a Yankee soldier, and gaining good information, surely he was feeling confident that he had done a pretty good job – all in a day’s work.   

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Here’s how one of the men who served under Confederate General Turner Ashby described him:

“Imagine a man with thick coal black hair, heavy black beard, dark skin, large black eyes, sleepy looking except when the Yankees are in sight.  Then they do flash fire…”

General Turner Ashby came from a long line of military officers. His grandfather served in the Revolutionary War, and his father in the War of 1812.  Starting at a young age, he developed remarkable skills on horseback. He worked his farm in Virginia and formed a cavalry called the “Mountain Rangers” to protect his land and property. Later, after the Civil war began, it was only fitting that he gather his militia to go serve in the Confederate Army under Stonewall Jackson.

His exploits became legendary. He was known as “the Knight of the Valley” and “The Black Knight of the Confederacy.” His men were in awe of him, and Union soldiers, it is said, would sit around around their campfires listening to tales of this larger than life, mythic figure – General Turner Ashby.

A Union soldier once said of him, “Shot, shell, rain, hail, snow… all are apparently the same to him. He will quit a meal at any time for a chance at a Yankee.” In fact, Ashby was so fierce in battle that the Federals had him marked as a man to take down.

A British soldier of fortune named Wyndham set out with his force with the order to “bag” him. It seems Wyndham was quite the fancy dresser, and Rebels teased and made fun of him. They were not about to be taken by such a fellow. Wyndham, upset by their lack of respect: “He swore, O how he swore! The louder he swore, the louder the Rebels laughed.”

Later on that day in June 1862, a larger force attacked, and the battle was ferocious.  The Rebels were victorious, but in the rain and fog, Ashby’s horse was shot out from under him.

As he recovered the fall, he raised his sword, shouting “Charge, men! For God’s sake, charge!”  They said he was a man of few words, and when did speak, he meant what he said.

And charge they did. But at that moment, Ashby took a bullet through his heart and was lost.  It was a tragic loss for the South, but the only fitting way for a brilliant cavalry man like Ashby to go down.

Stonewall Jackson later wrote, “His daring was proverbial, his powers of endurance almost incredible, his tone of character heroic…The Confederacy had no truer or braver soldier.”

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Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan was one of the Confederacy’s most colorful and successful cavaliers and raiders. His exploits earned him a reputation for audacity and creativity that took him deep behind federal lines – the farthest north a Confederate force ever penetrated during the Civil War.                                                

Morgan grew up in Kentucky, attended college in Lexington briefly, but left to serve in the the Mexican War under Zachary Taylor. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Buena Vista. After the war Morgan became a very successful businessman and equipped a militia company, “Lexington Rifles,” with his own money.

He joined the Confederate army and quickly moved up the ranks in the cavalry. He fought at Shiloh and then served under General Bragg in Tennessee. Soon he became famous for his swift and daring raids that characterized many Confederate cavalry leaders during the war.

Morgan, “The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy,” made spectacular raids on Union-held territory. Starting in the summer of 1862, he and 900 cavaliers set out on a thousand mile ride through Kentucky. “Morgan’s Raiders,” traveling light and living off the land, wreaked havoc on the Union. They destroyed railroad and telegraph lines, seized horses and massive amounts of supplies, and captured hundreds of Yankee soldiers.  By December 1862, these raids had successfully diverted some 20,000 Union troops to secure supply lines and communications networks.

But his most ambitious and dramatic raid occurred a year later after the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Morgan with 2,400 men, going beyond his authorization, crossed the Ohio and rode hundreds of miles along the river, terrorizing Federals in southern Indiana and Ohio.  On their way back to Kentucky, Union troops under General Hobson blocked their passage, and captured Morgan and his raiders.

It was July when Morgan and his officers found themselves prisoners in the Ohio State Penitentiary. But by November the men successfully dug and tunneled their way out of the prison and escaped back to the South to return to the Confederate lines.  

Soon Morgan received a new appointment as head of the Department of Southwestern Virginia. As he was making plans for his next attack in September of 1884, Yankees made a surprise attack on his camp. A Union private, who reportedly had once served under Morgan, shot and killed the General.

General John Hunt Morgan, with his colorful and perhaps controversial reputation, is often included among leaders such as John S. Mosby,  Jeb Stuart, and Nathan Bedford Forrest as an example of the superior fighting qualities of the Southern cavalryman.  

 

Morgan’s Grave in Lexington Cemetery

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Have you ever seen the The Polk Battle Flag? It features the well-known Southern Cross, with an upright cross with the colors reversed. Here’s some things we know about the man behind that banner.

Leonidas Polk, the son of a distinguished Revolutionary War officer, was one of the South’s most beloved generals. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with fellow graduate Robert E. Lee, who later wrote about Polk: “as a model for all that was soldierly, gentlemanly, and honorable.”

During his last year at West Point, the would-be artillery officer decided to take on a new calling as a clergyman. He rose to position of Bishop in the Louisiana Episcopal Church.

For twenty years, Bishop Polk led a quiet and comfortable life of service to the church.  When the Civil War began, he traveled to Richmond to meet with his old friend, newly elected Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Davis welcomed him back to the army and commissioned him as major general.  

In early November 1861, Polk faced up-and-coming Union brigadier Ulysses S. Grant at Belmont, Mo., in what would be the bishop-general’s first battle. Grant raided and destroyed a Confederate camp. But Polk rallied his Rebel troops and drove the Yankees back, nearly surrounding Grant’s 3,000-man force, and repossessed the field.

Polk continued on the fight in battles in the West including Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga, against formidable Federal opponents – Grant, Sherman, and George H. Thomas. Henry Watterson a former staff member later wrote:

“In battle he was a daring old man, with his heart in the fray, and his best faith on the result; riding through shot and shell from point to point, unconscious of danger….”

On June 13, 1864, the evening before a Union attack, Leonidas Polk wrote to his daughter: “Do always what is right, not calculating what is expedient, but try and find out what is right, and with a pure heart and true devotion go straightforward and do it.”

The next day as Polk, Johnston, and Hardee were scouting enemy artillery positions from an exposed ridge near Marietta, Georgia. General Sherman’s battery opened fire. Polk was stuck and killed by a cannon shell.  As one man later put it, “his soul was in heaven before his head hit the ground.”

Polk’s men in a nearby gun battery cried out, “General Polk is killed!”

Johnston and Hardee both wept bitterly.  With his hand on Polk’s head, Johnston said,

“We have lost much! I would rather anything than this!”

 

But Sherman, who had always been scornful of religious devotion and the clergy, coldly reported:

“We killed Bishop Polk yesterday, and have made good progress…”

Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston wrote:

“…you are called upon to mourn your first captain, your oldest companion in arms, Lieutenant General Polk. The Christian, patriot, soldier, has neither lived nor died in vain. His example is before you, his mantle rests upon you.”

Sam Watkins, a Confederate soldier who fought throughout the entire war, later became a writer and recorded these words about Polk:

“My pen and ability is inadequate to the task of doing his memory justice.  Every private soldier loved him. Second to Stonewall Jackson, his loss was the greatest the South ever sustained.”

Yes, Polk’s Battle Flag is still flown today. And now we know why.

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It had been three long years since the first shots rang out at Fort Sumter. Both sides were growing weary of the war. General Grant had a made a plan to bring a Union victory and an end of the war. It included sending General Sherman’s army into Georgia with the mission to capture Atlanta, the critical rail and industrial hub of the South.

But first he would have to get break through General Johnston’s forces at Kennesaw Mountain, twenty miles northwest of Atlanta. The mountain peak was known “Gibraltar of Georgia.” and Johnston’s troops had already dug and erected fortifications, turning Kennesaw into a formidable earthen fortress. They were ready and waiting.

Sherman was confident about gaining an easy and quick victory. He had just pushed back General Hood at nearby Kolb’s Farm was sure General Johnston was now “spread too thin.”

At 8 AM on June 27, 1864, Sherman ordered a 200 gun frontal attack. Yankee troops made a desperate effort to storm the trenches in the steep terrain coming within yards of the troops, but were unable to break the Southern line. By 11:30 Sherman’s attack had failed. The rough terrain and intense Confederate fire combined to defeat the Union Army. It seems he underestimated the situation with Johnston and the Rebel troops.

General Joseph Johnston

Sherman later dubbed this fray as “the hardest fight of the campaign up to that date.” The battle was a victory for Johnston who lost 1,000 troops to Sherman’s 3,000, making it one of the bloodiest single days in the campaign for Atlanta.

Although this was a bitter defeat for Sherman, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain ultimately did not prevent his drive to Atlanta and the rest of Georgia. But it was his last attempt at a frontal assault during the rest of war.

Maybe he did learn that he should never underestimate the enemy.  He found out there was still plenty of spirit and determination left in hearts of the hard fighting soldiers of the Confederate Army.

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Vicksburg was a city Union Generals Grant and Sherman had fixed their eyes on as a big prize.  It was crucial they take the town as it was the only major point to connect their Eastern campaign with the Confederates to the West, the Trans-Mississippi territory. They would attack from two directions and capture Vicksburg and all of its resources.

 

The plan was in place. Troops had already occupied the nearby town of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and were guarding a huge store battle supplies in a depot.

 

But this master plan was about to be put to the test.

 

The date was December 20, 1862. As union forces slept in the occupied homes, the silence of the early morning was shattered by gunfire, Rebel yells, and the clamor of a charging Confederate Cavalry. Major General Van Dorn  had a master plan of his own – to destroy those huge supplies and thwart General Grant’s grand plans for the attack on Vicksburg.

 

The Rebels came into town from all directions, and quickly were able to capture the Union troops. But instead of making them prisoners of war, he paroled them immediately. His main focus was on destruction of the supplies not having to deal with a bunch of Yankees.

 

The Rebels took for themselves what they could carry, and then torched every boxcar of an enormous trainload full of Union goods. One estimate put the value of the supplies that went up in smoke that day right at 1.5 million dollars.

 

No, Grant and Sherman hadn’t figured on meeting up with the likes of Confederate Major General Van Dorn who dashed their dreams of a captured Vicksburg.

 

Things were looking grim for General Grant. Not only were the supplies gone, and a victory in Vicksburg, but also Confederate General Forrest had disrupted rail and telegraph lines. So, he withdrew to Tennessee. At the same time General Sherman was taking a beating at Chickasaw Bayou.

 

 

Major General Van Dorn had done his job well and won a grand victory. The raid on Holly Springs was just the kind of thing he was born to do. Yes, everyone knew how he loved the ladies and enjoyed a good drink, but Van Dorn was an aggressive fighter, and an inspiration to all the men who fought with him for the cause.  

 

One of his senior officers wrote what it was like serving under him; “I felt as if I could charge hell and capture the devil.”

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A number one worldwide product of today would not have been possible without the genius of a  Confederate Soldier. Without the Civil War, you could say the world may have missed out on something really BIG. It’s a fact that the beginnings of the world’s most famous soft drink can be traced back to a Confederate officer who fought in the Civil War.

John Stith Pemberton, a Georgia native, was a gifted chemist and pharmacist by trade before the Civil War began.  He joined the Confederate Army and served with distinction as a lieutenant colonel in the Third Georgia Cavalry Battalion.   

On April 16, 1865 during the Battle of Columbus, Pemberton was wounded in the chest by a saber. If the telegraph system been working, his battalion would have gotten the word that General Lee ended the war at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia a week earlier on April 9th, and the battle would not have happened.

Pemberton survived his wounds, but was in severe pain. To relieve his dependence on painkillers, he started to work on developing a medicine using his knowledge as chemist and pharmacist. Eventually he came up with a formula of a drink, similar to a French wine, but infused with coca (cocaine), kola nut (caffeine).  

At first he named the new concoction “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca,” and began selling it in several drugstores in Atlanta, Georgia. Temperance legislation enacted in 1886 forced him to formulate a new, non-alcoholic version of his drink.

With the help of a druggist friend Willis Venable, he created a modified recipe to blend his base syrup with carbonated water. On May 8, 1886, the first new “Coca-Cola” drink  was sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta. One thing led to another, and before long the new drink gained in popularity and was distributed worldwide.

Jacobs Pharmacy, Atlanta, Georgia

You could say no Civil War, no Coke!  If the message of the end of the war had reached General Wilson of the Union Army to prevent the Battle of Columbus, John S. Pemberton would not have been injured. Without the injury he would not have been in pain. Without the pain, he would not have searched for a painkiller replacement. If he had not been searching for a new medicine, he would not have concocted a new drink, and we would never have gotten the world’s favorite soft drink – Coke!

On the day of Pemberton’s funeral in 1888, Atlanta druggists closed their stores and attended the services as a special tribute of respect. On that hot August day, not one drop of Coca-Cola was dispensed in the whole city.  The Atlanta newspapers called him “the oldest druggist of Atlanta and one of her best known citizens.”

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