Gordon County, Georgia
Cemeteries
RESACA CONFEDERATE CEMETERY
Source: "History of Gordon County, Georgia"
Calhoun, Ga.: Press of the Calhoun Times, 1934
Submitted to Genealogy Trails by K. Torp
RESACA CONFEDERATE CEMETERY
A wooded tract seven miles north of Calhoun, Georgia, capital of Gordon County, and two miles above Resaca, Georgia,
on the Western and Atlantic railroad, is the last resting place of about four hundred southern boys who fell in
the bloody two days' battle fought there on May 14 and 15, 1864, between the forces of Johnston and Sherman in
the War Between the States. After the battle was over the Federal dead were removed, but those who had made the
supreme sacrifice in defense of their beloved Confederacy remained entombed where they lay in shallow, makeshift
graves or merely covered with loose earth. The plantation of Col. John F. Green, father of Major John Green, superintendent,
at that time, of the Georgia railroad, lay within the battlefield area, and his daughters, with sensibilities stirred
by the thought of southern patriots taking their eternal sleep in these scattered, improvised excavations, conceived
the idea of sponsoring a movement to have the bodies collected and reinterred in a plat to be known as a Confederate
cemetery. It is said that Miss Pyatt Green with the help of an old negro slave, dug the first grave in her flower
garden. Miss Mary J. Green, aided by a negro girl, gathered the bones of two soldiers hastily buried, wrapped them
in matting, and gave them decent sepulture beside their comrade.
Such was the feeble beginning of Resaca Confederate Cemetery, first of its kind in Georgia, and one of the first
two in the Southern States, the cemetery at Winchester, Va., having been established at the same time. The ladies
of Resaca formed a memorial association to raise money for financing the undertaking.
There were thirteen members and the following officers: President, Miss Mary J. Green; Vice-president, Mrs. J.
W. Hill; Treasurer, Mrs. S. W. Bachman; Secretary, Miss L. Green. An appeal for funds resulted in a liberal response,
free-will offerings amounting to two thousand dollars coming from a number of states. Col. Green donated the ground
for the cemetery, comprising two or more acres within the battlefield section. It was cleared of under-growth,
and surrounded by a picket fence, after which the bodies of the dead were removed tenderly and placed in graves
symmetrically arranged within the inclosure. As expenditures had exceeded receipts by five hundred dollars, the
General Assembly was asked to pay the deficit, the bill being introduced by Major Moses and seconded by Hon. Dunlap
Scott, both of whom were veterans of the 1860's, and there was no trouble in securing its passage. Elaborate and
fitting dedicatory services were planned with addresses by General Howell Cobb and Bishop Stephen Elliott, but
they pleaded inability to control their emotions on such an occasion, and the dedicatory address was delivered
by Dr. John Jones, a Presbyterian preacher, for many years chaplain of the Georgia senate. The association continued
its patriotic service, erecting marble headstones, keeping the grounds in order, and observing memorial days with
suitable exercises and decoration of graves. These commemorative exercises, held annually on the anniversary of
the Resaca battle, attracted large crowds who were given the privilege of excursion rates, and trains made special
stops for participants both going and returning. Forest fires and decay destroyed the wooden fence that inclosed
the cemetery, and, in the 1890's, an iron fence was built and other improvements were made largely through the
efforts of Mrs. E. J. Simmons, of Calhoun, for many years president of the Memorial Association and an untiring
worker. She headed, also, a successful movement to place a memorial stone in the cemetery at that time. The monument,
which is 4 ft. high, 2 1/2 ft; wide, and 13 in. thick, bears this inscription:
GEORGIA CONFEDERATE VETERANS
We sleep here in obedience to law;
When duty called, we came;
When country called, we died.
Erected by Gordon County.
Mrs. Simmons's activities in the patriotic undertaking of preserving the memory of those who wore the gray was
a continuation of her humanitarian efforts to aid sick and wounded Confederate soldiers during the War Between
the States. She died Sept. 5, 1907, and, at her request, was given burial in Resaca Confederate cemetery, where
she sleeps her last sleep among those she loved so well
A storm blew down many large trees near the cemetery, ruining the iron fence and causing other damage. Hon. O.
Calbeck, at that time representative of Gordon County in the General Assembly of Georgia, aided by the U. D. C.
chapters of Gordon and Fulton counties, and also by Miss Green, secured from the legislature an appropriation of
fifteen hundred dollars for the cemetery. The money was used for the erection of a stone wall around the lot and
an imposing entrance of Stone Mountain granite, Mr. W. L. Hillhouse, builder. Two large iron gate posts bear-ing
the Confederate cross of honor, an arch inscribed with the name, Resaca Confederate Cemetery, and two lower posts,
studded with minie balls gathered from the battlefield, adorn the entrance. Later presidents of the Memorial Association
were Mrs. W. L. Hines and Mrs. W. A. Hill, both of Calhoun.
In 1908, at the suggestion of Confederate veterans, the cemetery property was deeded to the state of Georgia. In
1926, the Gordon County Chapter U. D. C, No. 923, erected a marker commemorative of the battle of Resaca, choosing
a site on the right of Dixie Highway going north, a few miles below the scene of the conflict.
A RESACA BATTLEFIELD INCIDENT
Dr. John Jones, chaplain of the State Senate of Georgia for a number of years, told this strange but true story:
"During the War Between the States, among the beard-less boys who enlisted in the Confederate army, was the
eighteen-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jethro Jackson of Griffin, Georgia. This brave boy met his death in the battle
of Resaca on the Western and Atlantic railroad. His comrades buried him in a pine coffin constructed of rough planks
torn from a bridge.
"In 1866, when peace had spread her wings over the land, Mr. Jackson, after receiving instructions from a
comrade of the dead boy relative to the location of the grave, went to the battleground at Resaca for the purpose
of moving his son's remains to Griffin, but, al-though a thorough search was made, the place of burial could not
be found, and the broken-hearted father re-turned home.
"A few nights afterward, he dreamed that his son came back to him, and, standing by the bedside, said, 'Father,
I am buried under a mound which was thrown up by the Yankees after I was killed. You will know the mound it. Go
and take me up and carry me home to Mother."
"So strong was the impression made on Mr. Jackson by this dream, he returned at once to Resaca, taking with
him one of the comrades who had buried his son. The mound was found with the pokeberries growing upon it as described
in the dream. An excavation was made revealing a rough pine coffin a few feet below the surface of the earth. It
contained the body of young Jackson.
He was fully identified not only by the. coffin, but by his shoes, a recent gift from the father, and by the name
marked on his clothing.
"The remains of the young soldier were placed in a fine casket, and ''carried home to Mother."
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