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When it opened in October 1864, Camp Lawton was called “the world’s largest prison.” Operational only six weeks, this stockade near Millen, Georgia, was evacuated in the face of advancing Federal troops under General Sherman. In that brief span of time, the prison served as headquarters for the Confederate military prison system, witnessed hundreds of deaths, held a mock election for president, was involved in a sick exchange, hosted attempts to recruit Union POWs for Confederate service, and experienced escape attempts. Burned by Sherman’s troops following its evacuation in late November 1864, the prison was never reoccupied. Over the next 150 years, the memory of Camp Lawton almost disappeared. In 2010, the Confederate military prison was resurrected—a result of the media event publically showcasing the findings of recent archeological investigations. This book not only summarizes these initial archeological findings, but is also the first full-length, documented history of Camp Lawton.

This narrative provides a comprehensive history of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The book concludes that race, the Civil Rights movements, and black and white philanthropy had much affect on the development of these minority institutions. Northern white philanthropy had much to do with the start and maintenance of the nation’s HBCUs from 1837 into the 1940s. Even from 1950 to 1970, HBCUs depended upon financial support of philanthropic groups, benevolent societies, and federal and state government agencies, but the survival of HBCUs became dependent mostly on their own creative responses to the changing environment of higher education and have helped to shape our culture and society.

 

Houston Hartsfield Holloway (1844–1917) was born enslaved in upcountry Georgia, taught himself to read and write, learned the blacksmith trade, was emancipated by Union victory in 1865, and served as an ordained traveling preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1870 to 1883. He devoted the remainder of his life to his family, his blacksmith trade, and his local church. Holloway’s 24,000-word autobiography offers a rare working-class perspective on life during some of the most transformative years of US history. Footnotes provide supplementary biographical information for nearly two hundred relatives, neighbors, friends, and coworkers named in Holloway’s narrative. An appendix includes nineteen extended biographical sketches. The book is illustrated with photographs and three detailed maps of Holloway’s home neighborhoods and preaching assignments.

The Allman Brothers Band was formed in 1969 by Duane and Gregg Allman, along with Berry Oakley, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks, and “Jaimoe.” Their musical combination of the elements of rock, blues, jazz, and country was hugely successful and continues to stand the test of time. Filled with more than two hundred captioned images, this new book chronicles Jack Weston’s collection and other items of The Allman Brothers Band memorabilia from 1969–1976. Weston and Perkins discuss in detail the various categories and aspects of band collectibles from that period. The book not only highlights individual collectibles, but also explains where to find them and how to preserve them. Included are band instruments and equipment, t-shirts, apparel and merchandise, autographs, bookkeeping documents, passes, posters, tickets, programs, promotional items, vintage photographs, and more. Galadrielle Allman, daughter of the late Duane Allman, offers an introduction that is both intimate and informative. Fans of classic rock music and The Allman Brothers Band alike will find this book irresistible and prepublication interest from fans has been phenomenal.

Baptists lack a single central figure in their origins that Lutherans, Reformed, Presbyterians, and Methodists have with Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and John Wesley. Additionally, Baptists focus so heavily on the Bible for authority and key beliefs or practices like religious liberty, social justice, missions, and preaching that sometimes Baptists and other Christians forget the significant role that people play in forging and promoting those ideas and practices. This book seeks to address this shortcoming by providing an introductory text of Baptist biographies.

This book chronicles—through the eyes of a range of visitors—the first quarter century of the development of Columbus, Georgia. A planned city located at the head of navigation on the Chattahoochee River, the city underwent a remarkably swift transformation from isolated frontier town to Deep South commercial hub between its founding in 1828 and the eve of the Civil War. Included is a driving tour of historic sites that will enable readers to appreciate the town’s robust antebellum architectural heritage and better understand the contours of life within the borders of the original city carved from the wilderness nearly two centuries ago.

The Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication was founded in 1915 by Steadman Vincent Sanford who as president (1932–35) and chancellor of the University System of Georgia (1935–45), was architect of the modern University of Georgia. Its second graduate John Eldridge Drewry (1922), the school’s longest serving director and dean (1932–69), established the Peabody Awards in 1940, which remains the oldest and most prestigious award in all electronic media. This account details the evolution of a college that is among the nation’s elite, with a selective undergraduate program (juniors and seniors only) and an impressive 99.1 percent graduation rate; a national leader in its graduate research program, with study abroad programs and internships; and leadership in international research and outreach. Housed within the college are a number of centers, institutes, and certificate programs that distinguish its disciplines.

A KILLING ON RING JAW BLUFF recounts the rise and fall of Georgia’s rural population as told through the story of Charles Graves Rawlings. His life followed that of cotton-based agriculture after the Civil War and along with it the rise and fall of Georgia’s small towns. From modest beginnings as a liveryman, he acquired nearly 40,000 acres of land, as well as a bank, a railroad, and diverse other businesses. By 1920, he was one of the state’s wealthier men, with a loving wife and family, and powerful political connections. Five years later he was facing a sentence of life in prison for his role in the alleged murder of his first cousin, Gus Tarbutton.

John Fletcher Hanson was a rare combination of industrialist, journalist, and orator who spent most of his life in Macon, Georgia, rising from the ashes of the Civil War to become the leading voice of the New South. Many have assigned that role to Henry Grady, but while Grady was talking about a New South, Hanson was building one, by creating jobs, promoting Southern industrialization, and advancing educational opportunities. Georgia’s post–Civil War history cannot be fully understood without examining the life of J. F. Hanson, its most important New South advocate and industrialist. In bringing this remarkable man and his accomplishments to light for the first time, CRACKING THE SOLID SOUTH paints an absorbing picture of the economic, political, and social struggles that confronted Georgia after the Civil War and of the many ways one man shaped the course of the state’s history.

A JUST AND HOLY CAUSE? details the life of the family of Lieutenant Marcus Bethune Ely and his unit, the Russell Guards (Co. H, 54th Georgia Regiment) in the midst of one of our country’s greatest tragedies. The Russell Guards were organized in Columbus, Georgia by Captain Charles R. Russell in May 1862. Most of the recruits were from Muscogee and Harris County. These letters provide a picture of life on both the battlefield and the homefront, often touched with humor and love.

The story of the first airplane flight in Georgia has not been told correctly in more than one hundred years. The year given for this flight, 1907, is not correct, the plane identified as the first to fly never got off the ground, and Ben T. Epps, Sr. is incorrectly credited, solely, with achieving this feat. TO LASSO THE CLOUDS sets the historical record straight and brings to light the complete, incredible story of the two young men from Athens, Georgia who achieved their dream of flight. Epps and Zumpt A. Huff were described by one newspaper after that first flight as a “second pair of Wright brothers.” Most surprising of all, this book reveals their flight was the first flight of a monoplane in the United States—a record of which even they were not aware.

Of the many books written about the Battle of Gettysburg, none has included selections from the collected memoirs of the 238 chaplains, North and South, who were present at the battle—until now. Because chaplains were considered noncombatants, most were largely ignored. This unique study has brought to light many of the observations of clergymen, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish, who accompanied their regiments wherever they marched, camped, or fought. Some of the memoirs have never been published, others unnoticed for a century. Because this is the first book to approach the Battle of Gettysburg from this perspective, rosters of Union and Confederate chaplains reportedly present at the battle are also included.