L. Windsor Smith – GA to TN

Part of the ‘Smith family history’ series

After South Carolina seceded in December 1860, six more southern states followed suit by February 1861, including Georgia. On January 19, 1861 members of the Georgia Secession Convention voted, with 208 votes in favor of secession, and 89 opposed. On February 8th 1861, the Confederate States of America was formed from the following states, in order of secession:

1. South Carolina (12/20/1860)
2. Mississippi (1/9/1861)
3. Florida (1/10/1861)
4. Alabama (1/11/1861)
5. Georgia (1/19/1861)
6. Louisiana (1/26/1861)
7. Texas (2/1/1861)

My guess is that secession made Larned uncomfortable and on April 4, 1861 he sells a property on Whitehall to N. E. Gardner. Later, there is some contention about this sale, and a subsequent sale from Gardner to Lewis Scofield. Ultimately this leads to a Georgia Supreme Court case not settled until 1874 (Scofield v. McNaught). The property in question was another Whitehall Street storefront, but is not the same one Larned purchased from his brother-in-law Robert M. Spencer in 1851. The contemporary address is 101 & 103 Peachtree Street SW, but at the time the property also extended back to Broad Street so would include 86 & 90 Broad St SW. The description of the property is as follows:

Commencing on the northwesterly line of Whitehall street, fifty-two feet from Hunter street, and running back parallel with that street to the back line of the said lot two hundred and ten feet, more or less, thence parallel with Whitehall street, southwesterly fifty-three feet, thence parallel with Hunter street, towards Whitehall street, one hundred and twenty-six feet, thence parallel with Whitehall street, southwesterly one foot, thence parallel with Hunter street eighty-four feet, more or less, to Whitehall street, and thence fifty-four feet to the place of beginning.

Just over a week after this sale the Battle of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina marks the beginning of the Civil War. Around this same time an additional Smith family property was presumably sold to Judge Richard F. Lyon, but further research needs to be done to determine exactly what property it was.

It is impossible to know whether the Georgia secession and/or outbreak of the Civil War was the motivation, but at some point before July 1861, Larned has purchased farm land in Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee and presumably moved there. The property (outside of Chattanooga) was purchased from one Meredith Webb Legg, but the details of the sale have not been researched yet. I do not know exactly where the property was located, and I also do not know if the sale preceded Tennessee’s secession on June 8, 1861.

While I don’t think we can necessarily draw any conclusions from this, it is interesting to note that Bradley County was strongly opposed to secession. The City of Cleveland’s website states:

On June 8, 1861 Bradley County voted on the issue of secession from the Union. The vote total was 507 for and 1,382 against. This is unique among Southern counties, and is evidence of a healthy political discourse in Cleveland. For such a young community to dissent with the overwhelming opinion of its state is truly stunning. Although Bradley County opposed secession, the state of Tennessee as a whole cast 102,172-47,328 to secede from the Union.

In 1863 Union troops took Cleveland. In doing so they destroyed the copper rolling mill at Copper Hill, and confiscated the Broad Street Methodist Church building for use as a hospital. It is said that Cleveland flew the Union flag for almost the entirety of the Civil War, even while under the control of the Confederacy.

Whatever the reason for the move, it proved to be literally short-lived for Larned. On July 4, 1861 Robert Windsor Smith writes the following letter to his uncle in Atlanta William McNaught (more on him later):

7/4/1861 letter transcription

Cleveland, July 4th, 1861
Mr. McNaught

Dear Sir,
Father is still very sick. The Dr. thinks that he is better, but if he is he recovers so slowly that it is hardly perceptible.
He is not able to tell me what he wishes to be done, so we will have to trust to your better judgment.
Mother received Aunt’s letter yesterday.

Yours Truly
R W Smith

On the same date another note appointed William McNaught as his “full and lawful agent for the transactions of all kinds of business, real or personal in the state of Georgia”:

Larned Windsor Smith died in Cleveland, TN on July 7, 1861 at the age of 59. Robert was twenty years old. Last summer I was traveling back to Atlanta from Kentucky and was able to locate Larned’s grave in Cleveland.

Up next we will look at the details of Larned’s Tennessee last will as well as some background on William McNaught who would serve as the administrator of his estate in Georgia.