Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 2 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin

      CHAPTER I. AFTER THE SURRENDER

      While there were quite a number of "irreconcilables" in Atlanta when the war closed — men whose hearts were in the sepulcher of "The Lost Cause." and who faced the future without the courage of hope — vastly the greater number of Atlantans were full of optimism, energy and enterprise. The dominant element of the city's population were imbued with the spirit of compromise, so far as Federal relations were concerned, and sought to make the best of a situation that could not be remedied. Andrew Johnson had succeeded to the presidency, and the South had hope that radicalism would be tempered with justice. On the 24th of July, 1865, a public meeting was held in Atlanta to consider questions of great political moment and adopt suitable resolutions thereon. The call for the meeting was signed by Mayor James M. Calhoun. John M. Clarke. W. R. Venable. J. L. Dunning, J. W. Manning and John Silvey. In explaining the objects of the meeting, the call said it was "to afford all good and true men the opportunity of expressing their honest and loyal sentiments with an earnest determination to preserve our common country and its matchless institutions on a basis that shall be true to principle and safe for all conditions both at home and abroad."

      A large crowd of representative citizens attended, and after the meeting had been called to order, Mayor Calhoun was chosen for chairman, and B. D. Smith, secretary. In explaining the object of the meeting. Mayor Calhoun said it was to give the people of Atlanta an opportunity to express their desires on the great questions of returning to the Union, on the organization of civil government in Georgia, and on the complete restoration of law and order. For himself. Mayor Calhoun declared, he could say truly and with pride that he had never favored the destruction of the Union founded by the republic's reverend fathers, and that it was the fondest desire of his heart to return to it. He continued: "On returning to the union of our fathers, while it will be our right as citizens to claim the protection of our country's flag — the stars and stripes, emblematic of the union of the states and of our nationality — it will also be our solemn duty to protect and defend it, and that with our lives, if necessary. Under it, in times that are gone, many of us have fought the enemy of our common country: and let us again resolve, should it ever become necessary, that we will do so again; and if, as a people, we have erred in the past, let us try to make compensation for our errors in the future: let us not cherish and keep alive any unkind feelings for the people of any section of our reunited country, but rather cultivate feelings of kindness, friendship and confidence."

      The sentiments expressed by the mayor were endorsed by other speakers, and the following committee was appointed to draft resolutions for the consideration of the meeting: John M. Clarke, Jared I. Whittaker, Alfred Austell, James L. Dunning and G. W. Adair. The resolutions brought in by the committee were as follows: