Willis chronicles Atlanta’s early years
Atlanta’s oldest newspaper was named the “Citizens Journal” because it was intended as a journal of its citizens experiences. In looking back through the earliest of the issues, it is apparent that it was exactly that.
One of those early writers was T.R.A. Willis, who in 1916, penned many colorful accountings of events that occurred before and after the turn of the century. Over the next few weeks we will reprint some of his articles, as they give a firsthand description of life in early Atlanta.
First Visit to Texas – February 1864
“Capt. P.R. Scott lived on a hill just west of where Atlanta now stands in a hewn log house. Just across on the south side of Linden Road and a little west of a south line from the house was a row of houses used for his slaves. At that time the main public road from Jefferson to Fulton, Washington, Rockport and Little Rock, AR, ran north and south about one hundred yards east of Capt. Scott’s residence, crossing Sulphur River at Line Ferry.”
[Capt. Scott’s home was located near the present west end of Miller Street.]
“On the east side of this Jefferson and Line Ferry Road and south of the present Atlanta and Linden Road, stood an old antebellum horse gin with an old-style lever press.
“There was about 100 bales of cotton stored in the seed in the gin house and pens when I passed there in 1864, which had been grown and gathered by Capt. Scott’s slaves in 1861, the year the last cotton was grown by slaves in the south. At that time all the territory from where the city prison stands (across from the fire department now [1916] (on the east, to the south line on the cemetery, to an east and west line, about 600 yards long, south of Frank Bivins present home [1916] (on Taylor Street) to the Jefferson and Line Ferry Road on the west, was a freshly opened field with a great deal of dead timber.”
An Encounter with Cullen Baker
“It is now February 1869, and I have just moved with my father to the old home place, known recently as the O’Neal farm. Although I am here permanently, I had passed through the county several times recently.
“In 1868, I traveled through the county going to and returning from Washington, AR, I crossed the Sulphur River at Line Ferry. I mention this because I was ferried across the river by Cullen Baker and his lieutenant, Kirby. From what I learned afterwards, Baker had hung Tom Orr the day before. I did not know Baker was ferryman, nor did I know that the man pulling me across was Baker. If I had, I think I would have had cold chills chasing up and down my spinal column.
“I knew of him and that he was a desperate character. He was then an outlaw and outlawed. My father and I lived in Jefferson and the morning we left there to come to look at the O’Neal farm, Cullen Baker and Kirby were brought to Jefferson in a wagon, as corpses. They had been killed two days before by Jo Davis and some friends from about 12 or 15 miles northeast of where Atlanta now stands.
“Mr. Orr, the man Baker hung (but not to death) was with Jo Davis. There was a reward of $5,000, dead or alive, hence the body was taken to Jefferson to the U.S. authorities to be identified. Jo Davis refused to participate in the reward, so Tom Orr collected the reward and moved to Texarkana. He afterwards became county judge of Miller County, AR.”
On the naming of Cass County
“Red River County, and original county, was founded in 1836 and organized in 1837. Its territory included the present counties of Bowie, Cass and Marion. In 1840 Bowie County was formed from Red River and organized in 1841. Old Boston was made the county seat. When Bowie County was formed, it included the territory of Cass and Marion. Bowie County was named for James Bowie, of Alamo fame. Cass County was created from Bowie and organized in 1846. Its territory was bounded on the north by Sulphur River, on the east by Arkansas and Louisiana, on the south by the lakes, Cypress River, a west-south line of the now Marion County and the present west lines of both Cass and Marion. Its area was 1,229 square miles, and the county was named for General Cass of Ohio.
“Here I will give a brief biographical sketch of Gen. Cass. He was born in New Hampshire in 1782. He, with his parents, moved to Ohio in 1800. In 1802, at the age of 20, he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law at Zanesville. In the war of 1812, he was colonel of the Third Ohio Volunteers, and was later appointed colonel of the 27th infantry; he was shortly afterwards promoted to brigadier general.
“At the close of the war he was appointed governor of the territory bordering on Lake Michigan. In 1820 he explored the upper lakes and head waters of the Mississippi. In 1831 he became secretary of war in President Jackson’s cabinet; in 1836 he was sent as minister to France; in 1845 he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Michigan; in 1848 he ran for president against Gen. Zachary Taylor; in 1849 he was reelected to the senate. He was again a candidate for president in 1852, resulting in another defeat; in 1856 he was an ardent supporter of Mr. Buchanan’s and was secretary of state in President Buchanan’s cabinet; in 1860 he resigned because the president refused to reinforce Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, and Gen. Cass espoused the cause of the union.
“Because he cast his lot with the union, the legislature of Texas changed the name of Cass County from Cass of Davis, in honor of Jeff Davis, president of the Confederate States. At the close of the Civil War, the name was changed back from Davis to Cass.
“Marion County was created in 1860, the year before the Civil War began, and was named for Frances Marion, the Swamp Fox of the Revolution. Its area was 384 square miles, leaving Cass with 945 square miles, its present area.”