Atlanta And Its Builders, Vol. 1 - A Comprehensive History Of The Gate City Of The South. Thomas H. Martin
as secretary. The resolutions adopted are reproduced below:
"Whereas, It is now probable and almost certain that an Abolition candidate will be elected to the chief magistracy of the Union upon the avowed and undisguised declaration on his part and on the part of his supporters, that this common government shall be administered for the destruction of the rights and of the institutions of the Southern States in the Union, and
"Whereas, We recognize the right of any sovereign state to withdraw from the partnership of States whenever in her sovereign capacity she may determine that the objects of the Confederacy have been perverted, or not carried out in good faith, therefore,
"Resolved, That we as citizens of Georgia acknowledge our allegiance to the Federal government, and that in the event of the election of Abraham Lincoln, we pledge ourselves to maintain at all hazards, and to the last extremity, any course that may be adopted for self-defense against the Federal power.
"Resolved, That if any Southern State may determine to secede from the Union, we will by all means in our power assist her in resistance against any effort on the part of a black Republican administration to coerce her back into the Confederacy.
"Resolved, That it is the sacred duty of Southern men in the present alarming crisis to forget past political and partisan differences, and to unite together as brethren of one household, in determined opposition to the policy of a black Republican party."
This organization was perfected and continued its existence with much enthusiasm until Georgia seceded from the Union. At one of its meetings following the announcement that Lincoln had been elected to the presidency, the following resolution was adopted amid wild applause:
"Whereas, News having reached us that Abraham Lincoln has been elected president of the United States by a dominant Free Soil majority, whose sole idea is the destruction of our constitutional rights, and eternal hostility to our domestic institutions, therefore,
"Resolved. That as citizens of Georgia and Fulton county, we believe the time has come for us to assert our rights, and we now stand ready to second any action that the sovereign state of Georgia may take in asserting her independence by separate state action, or in unison with her sister States of the South in forming a Southern Confederacy."
At this meeting strong secession speeches were made by such prominent and conservative citizens as Sidney Root. The roster of the "Minute Men" by this time contained the names of a majority of the adult male population of the city and county.
On the 10th of November, a rousing meeting of the organization was held to hear a speech by Hon. Lucius J. Gartrell, member of congress from the Atlanta district. Colonel Gartrell endorsed unqualifiedly the objects and efforts of the organization and made a fiery speech in which he declared that a Southern Confederacy would be an established fact within the next six months.
As a relic of those stirring times, it may prove of interest to give the vote of Atlanta and Fulton county in the presidential election of 1860. In the Atlanta precinct the vote stood: Douglas, 335; Breckenridge, 835; Bell, 1,070. The vote of Fulton county, exclusive of Atlanta: Douglas, 327; Breckenridge, 1,018; Bell, 1,195.
Another enthusiastic meeting of the association was held in the courthouse on the 12th of November. A committee composed of Green B. Haygood, Thomas L. Cooper, Luther J. Glenn, Jared T. Whitaker, Amos W. Hammond, Thomas C. Howard and Logan E. Bleckley was appointed to draft resolutions urging Georgia to hold a state's rights convention, in imitation of South Carolina, and adopting a secession ordinance, if such was the majority's will. The resolutions as adopted advocated petitioning the legislature, then in session at Milledgeville, to provide bylaws for the election of delegates to a state convention to consider Federal relations; approving the recent special message of the governor recommending the arming of the state forces at the earliest possible moment; recognizing the sovereignty of the state and its consequent right of secession; pledging their obedience to such action as a state convention might see fit to take, and expressing the solemn opinion that the only recourse of the South in the present grave crisis lay in the withdrawal of its several commonwealths from the Federal Union.
At a meeting held on December 3, blue cockades to be worn by the "Minute Men" were presented to the organization by Mrs. John W. Leonard and accepted with resolutions of thanks.
At this meeting, a committee of public safety was appointed, with powers to summon before it all suspected characters, and to rid the community of such obnoxious persons as were hostile and dangerous to the rights and interests of the city or state. This committee was composed of Sidney Root, F. Williams, Elias Holcomb, G. W. Anderson, J. T. Lewis, Frank Walker, T. L. Cooper, N. R Fowler, A. M. Orr, B. N. Williford, William Gilbert, James E. Williams, J. R. Rhodes, Benjamin May, B. M. Smith, W. F. Westmoreland, C. H. Chandler, J. H. Lovejoy, E. T. Hunnicutt, S. W. Jones and William Barnes.
A grand secession demonstration to ratify the selection of local delegates to the state convention was held on December 10th. The delegates nominated by Atlanta were Luther J. Glenn, Joseph P. Logan and James F. Alexander. Fiery patriotic speeches were made at this ratification meeting, by the delegates and other leading citizens, and the demonstration concluded with a grand torchlight procession. The great crowd gave three cheers and a tiger for South Carolina.
From that time on a regular secession campaign was inaugurated throughout the state, and mass meetings were held almost nightly. On the 22nd of December, the Hon. Howell Cobb addressed the people of Atlanta in the forenoon, and Hon. Henry R. Jackson in the afternoon. The object of the big gathering and procession was to ratify the action of the Palmetto State in seceding from the Union. At night, an effigy of President Lincoln was burned in front of the Planter's hotel.
On February 7th, a mass meeting was held to extend an invitation to the states of the South to hold a general secession convention in Atlanta, in accordance with a suggestion of the Virginia legislature. The following resolutions were adopted:
"Whereas, We find in the public prints of the country, the report of a series of resolutions that have been introduced into the legislature of Virginia, recommending the holding of a Southern convention or conference in the city of Atlanta, and
"Whereas, We, the citizens of Georgia and the city of Atlanta, believe it not only fit and proper, but the imperative duty of the Southern States of the American Union, in this important and alarming crisis of our national affairs to meet together by their representatives, duly commissioned for that purpose, in a spirit of fraternity, to counsel with each other as to the best remedy by which the constitutional rights of the South may hereafter be fully respected and preserved in the Union, or if the aggressions of the dominant section should be continued, to devise some peaceable and efficient plan by which the rights, honor and integrity of the South may be preserved out of the Union, therefore,
"Resolved, That the citizens of Atlanta, in mass meeting assembled, without distinction of party, and only recognizing ourselves as belonging to a common country with common honor and common interests to preserve, do most cordially sympathize with and heartily respond to the spirit and object of the resolutions above referred to, and now pending before the Virginia legislature.
"Resolved, That we most cordially offer the hospitalities of the city to the convention or conference, and pledge ourselves to make ample and appropriate provision for the accommodation of said delegates, and for the Southerners generally, and do hereby open to them our hands, hearts and homes.
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be duly certified ty the chairman and secretary of this meeting, and that the mayor of the city, in his official capacity, be requested to transmit them to the governor of Virginia, with a special solicitation that they be presented to the General Assembly of that State."
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