Historic Old Capitol Building - Milledgeville, Georgia

Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville

Removed from the crowded streets of Atlanta by 100 miles and a century of time, the Gothic revival architecture of Georgia's Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville is as historic as it is beautiful.

Founded in 1803 and designed using a plan inspired by both Savannah and Washington, D.C., Milledgeville was a planned city intentionally located near what was then the geographic center of the expanding state. The community was only one year old when the Georgia Legislature voted on December 11, 1804, to designate Milledgeville as the permanent state capital of the state.

Old Capitol Building

In 1805 the legislature appropriated $60,000 for the construction of a magnificent new capitol building and work began that same year. The main part of the building was still not finished two years later when military troops escorted a train of wagons from the former capitol in Louisville to the new capitol. Milledgeville would remain the capital city of Georgia for the next 61 years.

The building was expanded in the 1820s and 1830s and given its fascinating Gothic revival design. It is the oldest public structure in the United States of the Gothic revival style and has survived despite several fires, its occupation by Union troops during Sherman's March to the Sea and the movement of the state government to Atlanta in 1868. Sherman's men even held a mock legislative session in the building, "repealing" the state's ordinance of secession and doing thousands of dollars in damage.

The Old Capitol Building is now a treasured landmark located on the campus of Georgia Military College. The ground floor is home to the Old Capital Museum and the beautiful park-like setting is open to the public daily. To read more of the history of this remarkable historic building, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gaoldcapitol.

Grave of Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt - Macon, Georgia

Grave of Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt

Near the northern edge of Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, a historical marker points out the final resting place of one of Georgia's greatest heroes of the Civil War.

General Alfred H. Colquitt was born in Walton County, Georgia, on April 20, 1824, and went on to graduate from Princeton College before achieving distinction as a staff officer during the Mexican War. Rising to the rank of major by the time the war ended, he returned home to Georgia and continued his law career until the outbreak of the War Between the States in 1861.

Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt

Colquitt served a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives prior to the war, but did not seek reelection, opting instead to serve in the Georgia State Legislature until 1861 when he became a delegate to the state's Secession Convention.

Entering the Confederate service, he rose rapidly in rank due to courage under fire and became a brigadier general in 1862 after performing noteworthy service during the Peninsula Campaign. On February 20, 1864, he commanded the main battle line at the Battle of Olustee, Florida, which ended in a dramatic Confederate victory and achieved note as the bloodiest battle of the war for the Union (based on the number of men engaged). Georgians still remember him as the "Hero of Olustee."

A fierce opponent of the North's Reconstruction policies after the war, he was elected Governor of Georgia in 1876. He went on to serve in the United States Senate until his death in 1894 at the age of 69.

To learn more about Colquitt's remarkable life, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/colquittgrave.