The Wirz Monument - Andersonville, Georgia

Often overlooked by visitors to the nearby Andersonville National Historic Site and its National Prisoner of War Museum, one of the South's most interesting monuments stands on Church Street in the small South Georgia town of Andersonville.

Erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the stone shaft honors Captain Henry Wirz, the only person tried, convicted and executed for war crimes following the close of the Civil War.

The commandant of the Confederate prison stockade at Camp Sumter (better known as Andersonville), Wirz faced the overwhelming task of trying to care for more than 30,000 Union prisoners of war in a prison originally designed for just one-third that number. Unable to provide proper nutrition or medical assistance for the prisoners in a South being strangled by the Union blockade and cut to pieces by Northern armies, Wirz oversaw a system that resulted in the deaths of more than 13,000 men.

Much of the misery at Andersonville resulted from a decision by Union commanders, including General Ulysses S. Grant, to end the practice of exchanging Confederate prisoners of war for Union soldiers held by the South. Grant believed that the only way to end the war was by ending the South's ability to put armies in the field. By stopping exchanges, he prevented the South from retrieving p.o.w's and returning them to the front lines.

When the war ended, the population of the North was anxious for vengeance - particularly following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Captain Wirz was arrested and tried before a military tribunal in Washington, D.C. Despite evidence that he had pleaded for food and medicines to save the lives of the Andersonville prisoners, he was convicted and executed.

Passions soon cooled and Wirz was the only former Confederate executed by the Union following the war. By strange coincidence, the gallows where he met his fate stood on the site of today's U.S. Supreme Court building.

To learn more about the Wirz Monument in Andersonville, Georgia, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/andersonville.

The Little White House - Warm Springs, Georgia

Another of my favorite sites in Georgia is just down the road from Dowdell's Knob (see post of August 18, 2009).

Built by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 on a farm he bought just outside of Warm Springs, the Little White House was one of only two homes ever owned by our nation's longest serving President. It is beautifully preserved today as a memorial to the man who guided the United States through both the Great Depression and World War II.

Roosevelt first came to Warm Springs in 1924 after he heard of progress being made by polio patients who swam in water from the warm mineral springs that flowed down from the sides of Pine Mountain. He had been stricken with polio and was desperate for a cure. The water and people of Warm Springs were not able to cure the future President's body, although his swims there did improve his physical condition, but they did cure his mind, inspiring him to return to political life despite the paralysis resulting from his fight with polio.

FDR was elected Governor of New York in the years following his treatment at Warm Springs, but he had fallen so deeply in love with the small Georgia community and his people that he returned often. It was on one of these visits that he decided to buy a farm on the slopes of Pine Mountain and it was in 1932 that he built the beautiful frame home known today as the Little White House. That same year he was elected President of the United States.

Roosevelt continued to come home to the Little White House throughout his years as President and it was here, while posing for a portrait in 1945, that he collapsed and died.

To learn more about this precious Georgia historic site, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/littlewhitehouse.

Dowdell's Knob - Pine Mountain, Georgia

One of my favorite historic sites in Georgia is Dowdell's Knob. Located high atop Pine Mountain, it was a favorite spot of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Stricken with polio, Roosevelt first came to Georgia to in hopes that the natural warm springs that flowed from Pine Mountain might hold curative properties. While he did not find a cure for polio, he did find that swimming in the pools at Warm Springs was good exercise and did make him feel better.

Roosevelt fell in love with the rolling ridges and scenic views around Warm Springs and in 1932 built his Little White House just outside the community. He spent a great deal of time there after being elected President of the United States.

President Roosevelt loved to get out and explore the area, usually behind the wheel of his hand-controlled car. His favorite place to picnic was Dowdell's Knob, a ridge and hilltop that projected from the northern end of Pine Mountain. The President often spent a great deal of time there and even had a stone grill erected.

Roosevelt's grill still stands on Dowdell's Knob, which is now a part of Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park. In addition, visitors can see a statue of the President and read interpretive panels explaining the historical significance ot the site, while also enjoying the picnic area featuring the same views once enjoyed by Roosevelt himself.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dowdellsknob.

Kolomoki Mounds State Park - Blakely, Georgia

One of the most remarkable archaeological sites in the Americas is now nestled in the pines and surrounded by the peanut fields of Southwest Georgia at Kolomoki Mounds State Park.

Some archaeologists believe that the massive Native American culture once centered at Kolomoki Mounds was the most important of its era north of the powerful Aztec civilization in Mexico. Rising in around 350 A.D., the Kolomoki culture developed widespread trade networks, a highly ceremonial religion, advanced skills in art, astronomy and architecture and built a massive pyramidal mound that remains one of the largest in the United States. They also practiced human sacrifice.

One of the most amazing facts about the array of mounds that still exist at Kolomoki is that they were oriented to serve as a gigantic prehistoric calender and observatory. On the longest day of the year, for example, the sun rises from directly behind the center of the huge 56-foot high Temple Mound (or Mound A). Other mounds in the complex appear to be arranged to coincide with various constellations at key times of the year.

A major component of what scientists call the Weeden Island time period (which takes its name from a unique pottery style first documented at Weedon Island, Florida), the Kolomoki site includes the huge Temple Mound, burial mounds, a vast village plaza and other features such as an unusual "serpent-like" ravine or trench leading up to the base of the large mound.

The civilization vanished roughly 1,000 years before the first European explorers set foot on the Southern coastline. Replaced by the powerful Mississippian culture, the Kolomoki site faded away and never again regained its prominence.

Today the archaeological site is the center of a beautiful state park that features camping, picnicking, nature trails and more. The park's museum encloses most of a burial mound and visitors can follow wooden walkways into the heart of the mound where they can learn about an elaborate burial ceremony that took place there more than 1,500 years ago. The other mounds can also be explored and an interpretive trail and stairway lead to the top of the giant Temple Mound.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/kolomoki1.

Battle of Shepherd's Plantation - Stewart County, Georgia

Just up the Highway 39 from Florence Marina State Park in Stewart County, Georgia, a weathered monument sits off the shoulder of the road pointing out the site of the Battle of Shepherd's Plantation. Fought on June 9, 1836, the engagement was one of the largest fights of the Creek War of 1836.

After the disastrous raid on Roanoke by Jim Henry and the Yuchi warriors, the United States went to war against the portion of the Creek Nation that had taken up arms. General Winfield Scott was assigned to the command of the effort and in his typical plodding style slowly implemented a plan to surround a large block of Creek country with regular and militia troops.

To achieve this, Forts McCreary (sometimes spelled McCrary) and Jones were established along the east side of the Chattahoochee River in Stewart County, Georgia. By June, a force of Georgia militia had also camped at Shepherd's Plantation, a large farm between these two forts. The slave cabins and other structures of the plantation were used to house soldiers.

Despite reports of Indian activity in the area, the militia soldiers were not particularly on their guard. What they did not know was that they were being closely watched by a large force of Creek warriors, probably led by Jim Henry of Roanoke notoriety.

The opportunity for an attack came on June 9, 1836, when the soldiers at Shepherd's Plantation divided into multiple groups. Some went to Fort McCreary (just north of present-day Omaha), some went out to scout and others broke off to wash clothes.

Firing off their weapons to create the ruse of a battle in progress, the Creeks lured Captain Hamilton Garmany and his men into coming out of their quarters at the plantation to a nearby swamp to investigate. They walked right into a trap.

To learn more about at the Battle of Shepherd's Plantation and to see additional photos of the site, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/GAShepherds.

Battle of Roanoke - Stewart County, Georgia

One of the most important yet least known battles in Georgia history took place in the spring of 1836 at a site now submerged by Lake Eufaula (Walter F. George Reservoir) in Stewart County, Georgia.

The Battle of Roanoke was the primary event that opened the Creek War of 1836, the conflict that sent the Creek Nation on the Trail of Tears.

Roanoke was a prosperous new town in 1836, established on fields that had been lost to the Creeks just a few years earlier when a group of chiefs signed a treaty with the whites giving up the nation's lands in Georgia. The treaty was opposed by the majority of Creeks and resulted in the execution of the famed chief William McIntosh by his own people.

The town could be seen from the remaining Creek lands across the Chattahoochee River in Alabama and its presence was a sore thorn in the side of many of the warriors, particularly those of the Yuchi branch of the nation. Frustrated by continuing frauds and other difficulties with the whites, the Creeks launched hostilities during the spring of 1836 with a series of small but deadly raids against settlers living on Creek lands in Alabama. As the raids intensified, the Yuchi decided to take the fight across the river into Georgia. Their primary target was the hated town of Roanoke.

Moving across the river and taking up positions around Roanoke, Jim Henry and the Yuchi warriors watched the comings and goings around the town. They watched as the women and children were evacuated to nearby Lumpkin as a result of the growing tensions along the Creek frontier. And then, on May 14, 1836, they saw many of the man of the town leave to go visit their families. They attacked at 2 a.m. the next morning.

By the time the battle was over, 12 whites lay dead and the town of Roanoke was in ashes. Outraged by what Georgia newspapers called the "massacre" at Roanoke, the whites of the frontier called for the destruction of the Creeks. The war would result in the total removal of the nation from the Southeast on the Trail of Tears.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/roanoke.

The Last Major Battle of the Civil War - Columbus, Georgia

What can rightfully be called the last major battle of the Civil War took place on April 16, 1865, an Easter Sunday, for control of the industrial city of Columbus, Georgia.

Robert E. Lee had already surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia and Columbus was one of the last remaining centers for the production of military supplies in the Confederacy. Factories in the city produced weapons, swords, uniforms and other supplies and one of the largest ironclad warships undertaken by the Confederate Navy was floating in the Chattahoochee River and nearing completion. Time, however, was running out.

The Union army of General James Wilson was storming across Alabama aiming to take both Columbus and Macon. The massive Union raid had already disrupted and destroyed much of the iron industry in Alabama, demolished the Confederate facilities at Selma and captured the state and former Confederate capital of Montgomery. Wilson was now closing in on the line of the Chattahoochee.

One wing of his army, led by Colonel O.H. LaGrange, stormed Fort Tyler at West Point on the afternoon of the 16th, even as Wilson with the main body closed in on the Columbus bridges.

The primary fortifications of Columbus were located on the ridges surrounding Girard (today's Phenix City), a small community on the Alabama side of the river. The Confederates under Major General Howell Cobb did not have enough men to man the entire line, so Cobb concentrated on the forts, batteries and breastworks along the most likely avenues of attack.

Wilson tried to bypass this force by sending a column of cavalry dashing forward at around 2 p.m. in a desperate effort to seize one of the bridges. The attack failed and he was forced to bring up his full command for an assault on the Confederate defenses along the Summerville Road.

It was dark before Wilson's main attack began. At around 9 p.m., the 3rd Iowa and 10th Missouri Cavalry regiments stormed an advanced Confederate line, but came under a heavy fire from artillery and small arms in the main Southern defenses. A second charge up the Summerville Road, however, sliced through Cobb's main line and rolled over the hill and down to the Chattahoochee. Union troops became so mixed in with retreating Confederates that Southern artillerymen on the Georgia side of the river could not fire without hitting their own men.

The Federals stormed across the bridge and into Columbus. His lines in shambles, Cobb withdrew. The last major battle of the Civil War was over, but continues to be studied today because it is a classic example of confused night fighting. More fighting would still take place in Georgia, Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, but the Battle of Columbus was the last major battle of a major campaign.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/battleofcolumbus.

Providence Canyon State Park - Lumpkin, Georgia

Located just a short drive up into the hills from Fort Gaines is one of the most stunning places in all of Georgia.

Providence Canyon State Park near Lumpkin (south of Columbus and not far from the Alabama line) contains more than 1,000 acres of spectacular canyons in a part of the South where you would least expect to find them. They once even attracted famed General George S. Patton, who came out to take a look for himself when he was stationed at Fort Benning.

Making the canyons even more unlikely is the fact that they were started by the hand of man. Back in the early 19th century, farmers moved into the wilderness and cleared fields where the canyons exist today. Unfamiliar with modern conservation techniques, they plowed up and down the rolling hlls. When the rains came, plow furrows turned into gullies. Over time gullies turned into ravines and eventually into the magnificent canyons seen today. They are even known as "Georgia's Little Grand Canyon."

Now a mature Georgia state park, Providence Canyon features an array of canyons, spectacular vistas, picnic areas and nature trails that lead around the rims of the canyons and down into their bottoms.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/providencecanyon.

The Remarkable Story of Elizabeth Dill - Fort Gaines, Georgia

One of the early settlers of Fort Gaines came to the community with a remarkable story.

Elizabeth Stewart settled at Fort Gaines after being rescued by the troops of Andrew Jackson during the First Seminole War. She was the sole female surv

ivor of the 1817 battle remembered as Scott's Massacre.

The wife of a soldier then stationed at Fort Scott in what is now Decatur County, Georgia, Mrs. Stewart was making her way to the fort with 6 other wives of soldiers and 4 children. The civilians had come up the Apalachicola River aboard supply boats destined for Fort Scott. When Lieutenant R.W. Scott of the 7th U.S. Infantry came downstream to assist the flotilla, its commander took 20 of the lieutenant's able bodied men and replaced them 20 of his own men who were severely ill with fever. He also asked Scott to take Mrs. Stewart and the other wives and children on to the fort in his faster vessel.

Scott and h

is passengers had no idea that war had erupted between the United States and an alliance of Creek and Seminole warriors as a result of the U.S. Army's unprovoked attacks on the Lower Creek village of Fowltown. The battles at Fowltown enraged the Seminoles and Creeks living along the Florida-Georgia border and they swarmed to the Apalachicola River intending to cut off the flow of supplies to Fort Scott.

As Lieutenant Scott's boat neared the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers (today's Lake Seminole), the current of the river forced the vessel close to the east bank. Several hundred warriors opened fire from hidden positions in trees and brush along the bank. Scott and most of his able-bodied men went down in the first volley. The warriors then stormed the boat, killing the others.

Of the estimated 51 people on the lieutenant's boat, only 7 survived. Six of Scott's men, four of them wounded, escaped by leaping overboard and swiming away underwater. The other survivor was Eliza

beth Stewart. All of the other men, women and children on the boat were killed.

Mrs. Stewart was carried away as a prisoner and spent the next several months working as a slave of Peter McQueen's band of Red Stick Creeks. She was rescued by the Yuchi warrior Timpoochee Barnard during the Battle of Econfina Natural Bridge in 1818.

She went on to live in Fort Gaines and married John Dill, a local merchant and later a general in the Georgia M

ilitia. They raised a family in Fort Gaines and two of their homes still survive there. According to legend, Elizabeth built them with money she had collected while a captive of McQueen. As the story goes, the warriors returning from raids with wads of paper money that was of no value to them. They would simply throw it on the ground and Elizabeth would then collect it and stash it away.

To learn more of the remarkable story of Elizabeth Dill, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgaines4.

Fort Gaines, Georgia - The Forts of Fort Gaines

Fort Gaines began its history as a military post deep in the territory of the Creek Nation.

In the spring of 1816, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan L. Clinch moved down the Chattahoochee River from Fort Mitchell, Alabama, with a battalion of the 4th U.S. Infantry Regiment. His orders were to erect a new fort on the dividing line between U.S. territory and that of the Creek Nation as defined by the recent Treaty of Fort Jackson.

Clinch selected a high bluff on the east side of the river at its confluence with Cemochechoba Creek. There he and his men quickly built a rectangular log stockade with blockhouses on two diagonal corners. The soldiers had been accompanied by Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, a hero of the War of 1812, on their trip down the Chattahoochee so they named the fort in his honor.

Fort Gaines was briefly the southernmost post on Georgia's western frontier, but in May of 1816 Clinch and most of his men continued down the river to its confluence with the Flint where they built Camp Crawford (later Fort Scott).

Fort Gaines served a important role during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818. Although the fort itself never came under attack, it was an important supply point and rendezvous for soldiers moving south through Georgia to the Florida frontier.

The post was occupied for a brief time after the war before all troops in the area were consolidated at Fort Scott in around 1819. It then became the focal point for settlers who flooded into the area once the war had subsided. A second fort was built at Fort Gaines during the Creek War of 1836 and a third was erected by Confederate forces during the Civil War. Markers, a reconstructed blockhouse, and one of the surviving batteries of the Confederate fort remain today to remind visitors of the rich military history of the community.

To learn more about the forts of Fort Gaines, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortgaines3.