Nineteenth Century

 

Based on the collections of the Georgia Historical Society, the following online educational exhibit has been prepared for students and educators. Eleven events from the nineteenth century have been identified and are illustrated with a brief description and examples of supporting primary documents.

 

For larger images of the visual materials presented, you may click on the thumbnails within each section. Click on the thumbnails of documents to enlarge them, or for hard-to-read documents, click on the link to transcript for a typed version of the text.

 

War of 1812	Central of Georgia Railroad	Reconstruction
S.S. Savannah	Cotton Cultivation	Yellow Fever
Georgia Gold Rush	Slavery	Spanish-American War
Cherokee Removal	Civil War

War of 1812

 

The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain between 1812 and 1815. The United States hoped to remove the British presence in North America which threatened them on the frontier and coastline, while also moving in on Britain's hold on Canada. However, the United States was unprepared for war and had almost no regular army on which to draw. After the U.S. looted and burned public buildings in the capitol of Upper Canada, British forces seized and burned numerous buildings in Washington including the president's house.

 

Bolling Hall to William Jones, 11 January 1812, Washington, D. C. MS 448 William Jones Papers, Item 11
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Typed transcript

 

In the end, the Americans were unable to conquer Canada and the British were unable to invade and threaten any vital part of the United States. Two and a half years of hostilities ended in a stalemate, neither side able to claim true victory, and the basic relationship between the two nations remained unchanged. The Treaty of Ghent officially ended the war and restored status quo. The boundary between British Canada and the United States remained unchanged, however the major side effect from the war was a new feeling of nationalism among the Canadians and less cooperation with their American neighbors to the south.

 

Mossman Houstoun to William Jones, 1 July 1812, Savannah, Georgia MS 448 William Jones Papers, Item 15

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During the War of 1812, William Jones was a Captain in the 8th Regiment, United States Infantry, with the duty of recruiting troops. Jones received orders and correspondence from prominent Georgians of the period regarding state and national politics, military supplies and movements, and relations with England. In early January 1812, Bolling Hall wrote Jones from Washington D. C., that Congress had passed a bill to raise additional troops in defense of the country against the threat of England. On July 1, 1812, Mossman Houstoun sent orders to Jones to march his recruits to Augusta where they would report to Captain D. E. Twiggs. Three years after Congress voted to raise troops, in February of 1815, David M. Laffitte wrote William Mills from Savannah declaring that the defenses at Savannah were strong and "Peace is almost certain."

 

David M. Laffitte to William Mills, 17 February 1815, Savannah, Georgia MS 563 William Mills Papers, Item 2

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Typed transcript

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Locate text of the Treaty of Ghent and discuss the terms of the treaty and how they affected each side.
2. Find maps and images of the United States capitol before and after the burning and discuss how this event may have shaped the capitol we know today.
3. Discuss how the relationship between Americans and Canadians along the border changed as a result of the war.

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S. S. Savannah

 

The S. S. Savannah was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, marking a significant milestone in technology and travel.

 

S. S. Savannah, n.d. VM 2003 Mills Bee Lane Visual Materials, Folder 5, Item 2

 

Originally built as a sailing ship, the Savannah was launched in New York's East River on August 22, 1818. The ship was then purchased by the Savannah Steamship Company, owned by Savannah businessmen like William Scarborough, and fitted with steam engines and side wheels. The 380-ton ship's wheels were made of wrought iron and were designed to detach from the axles, fold up like fans, and rest on the decks while the sails were in use. Originally, pitch pine was used as fuel and the ship could travel up to a speed of ten knots.

After being brought down the coast to Georgia, the S. S. Savannah departed from Savannah, Georgia, under the command of Captain Moses Rogers on May 22, 1819, bound for Liverpool, England. The engines were used about two-thirds of the time, the sails used the rest of the time to conserve fuel. She arrived in Liverpool on June 20, 1819, after about four weeks. In Liverpool, hundreds of visitors came on board to examine the machinery and marvel at the ship. After stopping in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Russia, the steamship returned to Savannah on November 30, 1819.

 

S. S. Savannah Logbook Entry, 9 June 1819 MS 708 S. S. Savannah Papers, Item 2

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Typed transcript

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Visit the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum at 41 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Savannah.
2. Look at images of sailing ships and steamships. Discuss the differences between the two.
3. Talk about how technology has changed where we can go and how long it takes us to get there: horse, train, automobile, airplanes, space shuttles, etc.

 

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Georgia Gold Rush

 

Gold was first found in north Georgia in 1828 in Habersham County. A gold fever broke out and many prospectors moved into the region, lands of the Cherokees, and began mining for gold. A United States branch mint for coining gold was established in Dahlonega, Georgia, the center of the gold region. Dahlonega, located in Lumpkin County, was previously a small Native American village named Tauloneca, meaning "yellow money." For a number of years, gold mining in the northern portion of Georgia was profitable, until the more valuable gold mines of California were discovered.

 

 

Ebenezer S. Rees to Thomas Fletcher, 11 May 1833, Darien, Georgia MS 650 Ebenezer Rees Paper

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In 1833, Ebenezer S. Rees (1790-1842), a long-time cashier of the Bank of Darien, wrote Thomas Fletcher to say that the Bank of Darien had an agent in the gold region who could supply a considerable quantity of gold each year and requested that Fletcher inform him of the price he would be willing to pay.

 

 

N. B. Lee to Samuel Barnett, September 1836, Auraria, Georgia MS 49 Samuel Barnett Letter
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Typed transcript

 

Samuel Barnett of Wilkes County, Georgia, drew two lots in the Gold and Land lotteries of 1832 and 1833. In 1836, N. B. Lee wrote Barnett from Auraria, Lumpkin County, Georgia, describing gold mining in Auraria and several of the individuals who had drawn lots and were working the mines, including Henry Laughter, Albert J. Semmes, and Judge Garnett Andrews. Auraria, within the lands of the Cherokee Nation, was settled in 1832 by miners; the name means "gold mine." Lee talked about the Cherokees and the mines and mentioned General John E. Wool who was in charge of removing the Cherokees from the region.

Teaching Tips:

1. Discuss how the discovery of gold in northwest Georgia led to the displacement of the Cherokee people.
2. Look up mining and metal terms to help better understand the Lee letter.

 

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Cherokee Removal

 

Following the Creek Wars of 1812-1814, the United States and the State of Georgia began pressuring the entire Cherokee Nation to move to Arkansas where a tract had been set aside for them freeing up land in Georgia for white settlement. However, the majority of the Native American group refused to leave their lands. Cherokee leaders maintained that they were the original inhabitants of America, an independent nation not bound by U. S. law and protected by treaties made with the Federal government.

 

Lexicon of the Cherokee Tongue Prepared by Jacob R. Brooks for Colonel W. W. Hassard, n.d. MS 93 Jacob R. Brooks Paper

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The issue came to a head with the election of Andrew Jackson as president and the discovery of gold in the Dahlonega gold fields within the Cherokee lands in 1829. Jackson was an open advocate of removal of the Cherokees, regardless of previous treaties, calling the Native American tribes east of the Mississippi "a conquered and dependent people." Congress passed the Indian Removal Bill in May 1830. The Cherokees appealed to the United States Supreme Court without satisfaction, the Court ruling that they were "domestic dependent nations" with no legal right to bring suit against Georgia laws. The result was widespread plunder and seizure of Cherokee villages, farms, and lands.

Eventual removal by the United States Army of the main body of the Cherokee Nation to a western reserve was achieved through a series of forced expulsions and migrations over a period of several years. Several thousand Cherokees lost their lives along the "Trail of Tears," as the removal became known, as they were given no choice but to migrate west. Georgia took possession of the lands ceded by a treaty in 1835.

Jacob R. Brooks, a Major in the United States Army, became an Indian agent for Cobb County in 1833. He prepared an inventory of the Cherokee language, including nouns, numerals and several miscellaneous questions or terms, for Colonel W. W. Hassard of Glynn County.

 

Inventory Notebook of Property Belonging to the Cherokees of Floyd County, Georgia, 1838 MS 927 Cherokee Indian Papers, Folder 3, Item 10
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Typed transcript

 

 

In May and June of 1838, James Hemphill and Joseph Watters sold Cherokee property in Hightower River [Etowah], Floyd County. A notebook was kept listing the Cherokee owner, description of the property and amount it was sold for (see sample pages from notebook).

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. For additional information on the Cherokee people consult H. T. Malone's Cherokees of the Old South (Athens, c.1956).
2. Follow the "Trail of Tears" on maps and discuss where the Cherokees settled and how it may have impacted other Native American tribes.

 

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Central of Georgia Railroad

 

In 1834, a survey was made between Savannah and Macon for the purpose of establishing a rail route between the two Georgia cities. In 1836, the Central Railroad was granted a charter and the building of the railroad, starting at Savannah, began at once. It took several years to build, and in 1843, the first passenger car arrived at the temporary depot set up outside of Macon. The original road was 190 miles long and, at the time it was completed, was the longest railroad in the world built and owned by one company.

By 1840, there were a total of 636 miles of railroad graded in the State of Georgia, more than in any other state in the Union at that time. In addition to the Central Railroad, the Georgia Railroad (chartered in 1833) left out of Augusta, and the Western & Atlantic Railroad set out from Georgia towards the Tennessee River through Cherokee county. The Western & Atlantic, built by the State of Georgia, was started at a spot off of the Chattahoochee River where the Central and Georgia railroads would end.

By 1845, the Georgia Railroad was completed to the Western & Atlantic at a point originally called Terminus. The town that grew up around the meeting point was then called Marthasville in honor of Governor Wilson Lumpkin's daughter. However, it was soon renamed Atlanta and became the center of the railroad system for the whole state.

 

 

Seventh Report of the Engineer of the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia, 1841 MS 1362AN-75 Central of Georgia Railway Company Records, Engineering Department, Annual Reports, 1841
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The engineer of the Central Railroad presented an annual report to the investors of the railroad company updating them of the progress of the construction of the railroad. In 1841, L. O. Reynolds, Chief Engineer, submitted the seventh annual report describing the condition and construction of the railroad beds and rails. It took almost ten years to plan and construct the first leg of the Central Railroad.

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Discuss how the railroad opened the western frontier lands of Georgia to settlers and business.
2. Discuss how the Civil War affected Georgia's railroad system.
3. Find Georgia's first three railroads on a map from the 1840s or 1850s. Discuss how they related to each other to shuttle goods and people from one point to another in the state.

 

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Cotton Ball, picked 1915 A-1361 Georgia Historical Society Artifact Collection, Item 470

 

Prior to the American Revolutionary War, cotton was not a viable crop in Georgia. In 1786, sea island (also known as long-staple) cotton was introduced and successfully cultivated along the coast of Georgia. Inland, the upland or short-staple cotton was grown. However, until the invention of the cotton gin, upland cotton was very labor intensive, being hard to separate from the seed. The cotton gin allowed planters to clean one hundred pounds of cotton a day as compared to only five or six pounds per day by hand. Eli Whitney's invention made the raising of cotton profitable and cotton soon became the chief source of wealth in the southern Cotton States (including Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama).

During the early 1800s, a cotton district developed around Columbia, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia. The cotton was grown on inland plantations and then transported by river to Charleston and Savannah where commission agents (factors), bankers, merchants and shipping services provided planters with connections to the markets in the northeast and England. Following 1815, there was an enormous cotton boom. Cotton continued to be an important crop and defining force in life for Georgia and the South well into the 20th century. At one time, Georgia raised more cotton than any other part of the world, and in 1936, farmers in Georgia sold $67 million dollars worth of cotton.

 

"On the Cotton Gin, And Introduction of Cotton," by Thomas Spalding, 20 January 1843, published in the Southern Agriculturist (March 1844) MS 750 Spalding Family Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, Item 10

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Thomas Spalding (1774-1851) was a planter, architect, builder and politician who lived on Sapelo Island along Georgia's coast. He was the largest producer of sea island cotton in Georgia and introduced the crop of sugar cane to the state. Spalding wrote a number of articles on agricultural subjects, including "On the Cotton Gin, And Introduction of Cotton." The article, describing the history of cotton cultivation, was published in the Southern Agriculturalist in the March 1844 issue. Spalding's production of cotton spanned the first half of the 19th century.

 

Charleston Advertisement for Cotton Seed, 1886 MS 406 Hughes-Folsom Papers, Folder 8, Item 121

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The exportation of cotton through Charleston and Savannah reached its peak during the 1880s and 1890s. In 1886, Henry T. Williams was advertising long staple cotton seed in Charleston.

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Discuss the various crops planted in Georgia today.
2. Discuss how rice cultivation along the coast may have differed from cotton cultivation.
3. Discuss how the institution of slavery and the production of cotton were related.

 

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Slavery

 

The institution of slavery first began in the American colonies in 1619 when a Dutch war vessel arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, and sold twenty African slaves to colonists. Soon slavery spread throughout all the colonies. The greatest number of slaves was concentrated in Virginia and the southern colonies where agricultural work required great amounts of physical labor. The southern colonies soon grew dependent on a slave system and slavery became the basis of social order. The invention of the cotton gin and the growing importance of the cotton crop directly led to the increased importance of slave labor to work the vast fields of cotton. Slavery was not only very profitable for southern planters, but also for northern manufacturers producing cotton cloth.

 

Bill of Sale for Slave Named Wade to W. R. Phillips for $1,020, 19 November 1859, Macon, Georgia MS 1562 Wiley M. Pearce Slave Bill of Sale

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Typed transcript

 

 

Slaves were considered property and were bought, sold and traded like any other commodity. The sale and auction of slaves was commonplace in most southern cities. For instance, Wiley M. Pearce sold a male slave, named Wade, to W. R. Phillips for $1,000 in 1859 in Macon, Georgia. Owners, or masters, controlled the movements of their slaves. Those traveling without permission could be considered runaways or fugitives and brought back by force. Slaves were forbidden to learn to read or write.

From the 1840s on, there was a national discussion on slavery, not only if it was right and humane, but how it related to the western territories. By this time, slavery was largely confined to the southern states dependent on cotton, tobacco and sugar. Many northerners did not want slavery to spread beyond states in which it already existed. Abolition societies were formed throughout the North whose efforts were aimed at bringing about the emancipation (freeing) of the slaves. The Compromise of 1850 settled the question of whether California would be a slave state or a free state. After much debate, the compromise admitted California as a free state, slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia, more stringent laws regarding the return of fugitive slaves were enacted and the question of slavery in the rest of the new territory would be left for the inhabitants to settle.

 

 

Emancipation Proclamation Ribbon, n.d. A-1361 Georgia Historical Society Artifact Collection, Item 353

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The slavery debate played an important part in the Civil War as an example of states' rights. During the Civil War, President Lincoln issued a proclamation (Emancipation Proclamation) declaring that from January 1, 1863, on, all persons held in slavery in the states in rebellion against the United States (with exceptions in Tennessee and parts of Louisiana and Virginia) should be free. The proclamation had little effect upon most of the slaves in southern states while the war was still going on. Many knew their freedom or enslavement depended on the success or failure of the Confederate Army. The outcome of the war finally settled the question of slavery, "over all our land no man held in bondage to another."

 

See the Civil War entry for more information on the events of the war.

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Look at slave trade maps to see the various routes slaves were imported to the United States and where they were coming from (Africa, the Caribbean, etc.).
2. Discuss the idea that no person can be the property of another. Talk about the constitutional amendments that reflect these ideals.

 

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Civil War

 

The presidential election of 1860 renewed hostility between the northern free states and the southern slave states when Abraham Lincoln was elected, the southern states feeling outnumbered. On December 20, 1860, a convention of South Carolina delegates met in Charleston and passed an "Ordinance of Secession." Within six weeks, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas followed. On February 4, 1861, these seven states held a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, and organized the Confederate States of America government, adopted a constitution and elected Jefferson Davis president. After Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee also withdrew from the Union, and the Confederate capital was moved to Richmond, Virginia. The seceded states argued that all states had entered the Union of their own free will and could secede if they felt the Constitution, as an agreement between the states, was not being respected. The South maintained that the North was distinctly hostile to slavery and the election of Lincoln reinforced that anti-slavery feeling. The South wanted a peaceable separation and the North expected the seceding states to return to the Union.

 

Secession Ribbon, n.d. A-1361 Georgia Historical Society Artifact Collection, Item 517

 

In April 1861, a United States' fleet sailed to Charleston to strengthen the United States Army at Fort Sumter. The Confederate states accepted this as an act of hostility. Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard demanded surrender of the fort. Major Anderson, of the U. S. Army, refused to surrender. On the morning of April 12, 1861, the first shot was fired from a Confederate battery. A thirty-four hour bombardment of the fort followed before Anderson surrendered the fort and the Confederate flag was raised. The South declared that the North began the war by sending reinforcements. The North declared the South began the war by firing the first shot.

Four years of a long and bitter struggle followed. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to United States General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, in the face of overwhelming forces. Within a few weeks, General Johnston surrendered his Confederate army to General Sherman and the war was over. The war settled the policy of secession, the Union shall be unbroken, the United States being one nation.

 

Lafayette McLaws' Resignation from the United States Army, 14 March 1861 MS 2087 Lafayette McLaws Collection, Box 1, Folder 2	Lafayette McLaws' Commission to the Confederate States of America Army, 23 March 1861 MS 2087 Lafayette McLaws Collection, Box 1, Folder 3
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Typed transcript	Typed transcript

 

Lafayette McLaws (1821-1897), a native of Augusta, Georgia, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1842. He served in the U. S. Army on the Texas frontier and distinguished himself during the Mexican War (1846). When Georgia seceded from the Union, he resigned his commission from the United States Army and joined the Confederate States of America Army as a Major. He served with distinction throughout the Civil War, rising to the rank of Major General. After the War, he returned to Georgia. In 1875, he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the First District of Savannah and served as postmaster at Savannah from 1876 till 1884 (he was appointed to both of these posts by President Ulysses S. Grant).

 

 

Robert Hamilton Harris to Martha "Mattie" Love, c.1861-1863, Sapelo Island, Georgia MS 2135 Robert Hamilton Harris Collection, Item 7
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The war touched every person in the United States, those in government, those in the military and those left behind at home. Robert Hamilton Harris (1842-1929), of Thomasville, Georgia, served in Company A, 29th Regiment of the Georgia Infantry. On October 13, 1863, Harris married Martha "Mattie" Love (1845-1900). Several of Harris' letters to Mattie, before and after they were married, have been preserved. In them Harris discusses life as a soldier and reflects on the separation of loved ones during this period.

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Discuss other examples of civil war and how they impact a country.
2. Talk about Civil War events or battles that occurred within your school's vicinity.

 

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Reconstruction

 

Following the close of the Civil War, the nation began the process of rebuilding itself back into one nation. Under President Andrew Johnson, reconstruction, or the restoration of the seceded states to their places in the Union, began. In May of 1865, Johnson issued a proclamation of pardon to nearly all those engaged in the war. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified prohibiting slavery in the United States. Most of the southern states held state conventions where the ordinances of secession were repealed, the 13th Amendment was adopted, and war debt declared null and void.

 

Pardon of William Jones by President Andrew Johnson, 25 August 1865 MS 449 William Jones Paper
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The United States Congress thought the President was being too lenient with the former Confederate states. Some leaders considered the South was conquered territory and denied southern representatives their seats. Congress made several new laws to protect the freed slaves, including the 14th Amendment which guaranteed all African Americans full citizenship. They required each southern state to adopt the 14th Amendment before they could be readmitted into the Union. In 1867, the ten states still out of the Union were placed under military rule and organized into five military districts. Each district was under the command of a military governor. Within one and a half years, seven of the states agreed to Congress' demands, adopted the 14th Amendment, and had their representatives readmitted into Congress.

 

In 1869, Congress proposed the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote to all men. All southern states finally agreed to the new amendment and it went into effect in 1870. Georgia was the final state readmitted into the Union in January 1871. After four years of war and six years of dissension, the Union was finally restored.

William Jones was a planter in Columbia County, Georgia. Following the Civil War, Jones was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson on August 25, 1865. On December 5, 1865, Jones took an amnesty oath pledging to support and abide the Constitution of the United States.

 

Harvey Magee Watterson to Andrew Johnson, 30 October 1865, Milledgeville, Georgia MS 842 Harvey Magee Watterson Paper
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In a portion of a letter from Harvey Magee Watterson to President Andrew Johnson, written on October 30, 1865, Watterson recommended that Federal troops be removed and civil authority reestablished.

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. Find out who the first African American man in Congress was.
2. Discuss programs aimed at aiding newly freed slaves (Freedman's Bureau, 40 Acres and a Mule, etc.).
3. Discuss what minority groups were left out when the 15th Amendment was passed.

 

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Yellow Fever

 

On August 11, 1876, a fatal case of yellow fever developed near Savannah's eastern docks. Within two weeks, 1,066 Savannahians had died in the epidemic that followed. By September 1876, 5,000 of the 28,000 residents had fled Savannah. Yellow fever was a scary and mysterious disease bringing on a sudden and painful death. Early symptoms included chills, followed by a fever, back pains, and jaundice (yellow-green tint to the skin) which gave the disease its name. After uncontrollable hemorrhaging from the mouth, nose and stomach, death often soon followed. About  sixty percent of those infected died and the disease usually ran its course in about six or seven days.

 

Savannah's first major yellow fever epidemic occurred in 1820 when 666 people died. In the 1854 epidemic, 1,040 people died. Locals who could afford to leave fled the city and businesses shut down. The 1876 epidemic was a turning point in Savannah's medical history and the public's responsibility for sanitary conditions. Many of Savannah's doctors blamed local climate and sanitary conditions, while another group believed the disease was brought into the port from ships and sailors. Following a yellow fever outbreak in the Mississippi Valley which killed 20,000 in 1878, the Federal government became more involved in public health reform. We now know that yellow fever is caused by a virus carried by a female mosquito species native to Africa but common in Southern cities. Epidemics always ended in the autumn when frosts killed the mosquitoes. Both groups of physicians ended up to be right: each epidemic began as an import from a tropical climate; and local conditions, including standing water, contributed to the breeding of mosquitoes and  spread of the disease.

 

Alexander R. Lawton to Charles P. Greenough, 11 September 1876, Gainesville, Georgia MS 194 Sarah Alexander Cunningham Collection, Box 1, Folder 5, Item 74

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Typed transcript

 

 

During the 1876 Yellow Fever epidemic, the Lawton family of Savannah escaped to Gainesville, Georgia, to wait out the disease. While there, Alexander Robert Lawton wrote Charles P. Greenough on September 11, 1876, discussing the fever.

 

 

Teaching Tips:

1. What other diseases have created this kind of panic in the United States (ex. Polio, AIDS)?
2. Discuss how education and misinformation contribute to panics.

 

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Spanish-American War (War of 1898)

 

On February 15, 1898, the United States' warship Maine was blown up during a peaceable mission in Havana, Cuba. Nearly 300 crew members were killed. At the time, Spain was in control of Cuba. The United States declared war against Spain and President William McKinley called for volunteers to go to Cuba. Over 3,000 Georgians volunteered and training camps were set up at several locations in Georgia, including Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Griffin and Macon.

Commodore Dewey, commander of the American naval fleet at Hong Kong, was ordered to find the Spanish fleet in the Philippines and destroy it. On April 30, 1898, Dewey's squadron moved into Manila Bay and, after a four hour battle, defeated the Spanish fleet. At the same time, the United States attempted to block the harbor of Santiago de Cuba by sinking the coal ship Merrimac. The sinking did not go as planned and Major General William R. Shafter landed 16,000 men on the Cuban coast and charged the hills of El Caney and San Juan.

On July 3, 1898, Admiral Cervera, the Spanish commander, tried to evacuate his fleet from the harbor leading to a battle with the American ships. After the battle, 600 Spaniards were killed, Cervera taken prisoner, Santiago surrendered, and the three-month war over. A peace treaty was signed in Paris on December 10, 1898 in which Spain agreed to evacuate Cuba and surrender their territories of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam to the United States. In return, the United States agreed to pay Spain $20 million.

 

 

Nelly Kinzie Gordon's Account of the Death of Charles Perry, August 1898 MS 318 Gordon Family Papers, Box 4, Folder 51, Item 1212

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William Washington Gordon, II (1834-1912) was a graduate of Yale University, a cotton factor and commission merchant in Savannah. He fought in the Civil War under General Stuart. After the war, he served in the Georgia House of Representatives. Gordon entered the Spanish-American War as Brigadier General of the United States Volunteers. In 1857, he married Eleanor "Nelly" Lytle Kinzie (1835-1917), of Chicago. During the Spanish-American War, Nelly tended to sick and wounded soldiers being sent home by train from a camp in Fernandina, Florida, where they were overwhelmed with typhoid fever. When one of the young volunteers, Private Charles Perry, died on the train, Nelly brought his body to her home in Savannah, had him embalmed and sent properly on to his family in Indiana. Her benevolence was noted in the newspapers, and acknowledged by the boy's family and pastor.

 

Telegraph from N. J. Perry, parent of Charles Perry, to Mrs. William W. "Nelly" Gordon, 24 August 1898, Goshen, Indiana MS 318 Gordon Family Papers, Box 4, Folder 51, Item 1207	Pastor B. B. Royer to Mrs. William W. "Nelly" Gordon, 25 August 1898, Goshen, Indiana  MS 318 Gordon Family Papers, Box 4, Folder 51, Item 1209
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Teaching Tips:

1. How did the Spanish-American War change the United States' power in Latin America and the Pacific?
2. Discuss how the Spanish-American War was a unifying event for northerners and southerners after the Civil War, giving them the opportunity to work together and be proud of their country as a whole.

 

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