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At the beginning of 1860, the anti-federal sentiment in Atlanta was at the eruptive point. Hatred of the Abolitionists of the North was especially pronounced, and the first expression of public disapproval of this element came in the form of a proposition to boycott the wholesale merchants of New York, who were known to be anti-Southern in their feelings. The local newspapers published lists of native Georgians or natives of other Southern states who were engaged in the wholesale trade in New York or other large Northern cities, and called upon the businessmen of Atlanta to give them the preference when they ordered goods. On the 6th of January, 1860, the Intelligencer said:

"For many years past the Southern merchants have been accustomed to purchase a large portion of their goods in New York and other Northern markets. Charleston, Savannah, and other Southern cities have been almost altogether neglected in the great furore for Northern purchases. Late movements in reference to the slavery question have caused a healthy reaction among Southern merchants, and we hear of heavy complaints being made of the great falling off of Southern trade and patronage. This is good; the physic begins to work. We have long desired to see this corrective applied for the many grievances of which we have so long complained as having been inflicted upon us by Northern fanaticism. The true policy is to withhold the supplies which we have so long furnished Northern merchants, and there will soon come a torrent of opposition to Abolitionism from the enterprise and capital of the North, which will drive fanaticism from the whole country."

Subsequently there was an organized movement among certain of the more radical citizens of Atlanta to bring such pressure to bear upon the local merchants, through boycott or otherwise, that they would not patronize a Northern wholesaler who was not known to be a Southern sympathizer. A number of Atlanta businessmen signed an agreement to purchase goods from none but friends of the South, and to give Southern wholesalers and importers the preference in their purchase whenever possible.

In the midst of this political excitement a well-attended mass meeting of businessmen was held to take some action respecting what was regarded as the unjust discrimination of the railroads against Atlanta in the matter of freight tariffs. This meeting was held on the 24th of February, 1860. Dr. D. Young acted as chairman, and A. M. Eddleman, secretary. After a long and spirited discussion, in which the leading merchants participated, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:

"Whereas, All the undersigned, merchants and business men of Atlanta, believing it to be for our mutual interest and for the public good, do hereby form ourselves into a mercantile association for the purpose of strength and counsel, to build up the business of Atlanta, and to successfully compete with any city of the South, and for the purpose of remedying the present unjust discriminations against our city, in freights and the commerce of the city.

"Resolved, That by concerted action we will be better protected, not only as Southern men, but as merchants, and that we will feel ourselves in honor bound to impart such information to the association as may be useful to our section and the protection of our trade.

"Resolved, That we look upon the discrimination of Charleston and Savannah in favor of Nashville and other cities in freight as unjust and oppressive, and objectionable to our interests as a commercial city, and that we will treat all those cities fairly and honorably to get a reduction from those ports to Atlanta.

"Resolved, That we will, individually and collectively, use our best endeavors to make Atlanta a port of entry, believing it would be of benefit to ourselves, our state, and the general government.

"Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to form a constitution and by-laws for this association, and for other purposes, and to report at a meeting to be held on next Friday night."

156 Atlanta And Its Builders

The committee appointed under the foregoing resolutions consisted of J. B. Peck, S. B. Robson, W. M. Williams, Dr. John L. Hamilton and Judge S. B. Hoyt. At the same meeting, another committee was appointed to look into the matter of freight discrimination, consisting of Sidney Root, William McNaught, William Herring, John R. Wallace, A. K. Seago, William H. Barnes, E. M. Seago, P. L. J. May, and Judge Hoyt.

This organization was quite active for a few weeks, but with the outbreak of the war came to naught. One of its secret purposes was to discriminate in favor of Southern wholesalers doing business in the North.

In common with her sister cities of the South Atlanta was much interested in the movement represented by the organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle. "General" Bickley, the organizer and promotor of the movement, appeared in Atlanta with other leaders of the mysterious order, in the spring of 1860, and addressed a large mass meeting of Atlantans with the object of enlisting them in the chimerical scheme which was the ostensible object of the Knights of the Golden Circle. After the meeting, a number of citizens appointed an advisory committee to report on the desirability of effecting the organization of a lodge of the order in Atlanta. This committee made the following report:

"Impressed with the necessity of vigilance and determination in the defense of the constitutional rights of the Southern or Slave States, threatened with an irrepressible conflict by and through which these states are to be despoiled of those rights; warned by active aggressions, insurrectionary movements, murder most foul, and the advance onward to political power of the abolition sentiment, it is time to prepare for an ominous future, to guard all that which we constitutionally possess, and as far as in our power may be, to extend Southern sentiments. Southern institutions, and Southern civilization, therefore,

"Resolved 1. That we recognize in the aims of the Knights of the Golden Circle, as set forth by General Bickley, of Virginia, Major Henry Castilanos, of Louisiana, and Colonel N. J. Scott, of Alabama, a movement which we heartily commend, because the Slave States of this Union have in them their success guaranteed, not only for the continuance of the domestic institution of slavery in their midst, but also its extension south, with all other elements of Southern civilization.

"Resolved 2. That this meeting returns its warmest thanks to the distinguished General Bickley, Major Henry Castilanos and Colonel N. J. Scott, for the valuable information imparted to it, and do most cordially commend them and their course to the respectful and patriotic consideration and support of our fellow-citizens of Georgia and the South."

Subsequent meetings were held, and when he left Atlanta, Bickley left behind him the nucleus of a flourishing lodge, which was industrious in its efforts to raise the "sinews of war," which most deeply interested the prime movers of the Knights of the Golden Circle. A goodly sum of money was turned over to the state "central committee" for propaganda work in the South. Later Bickley was held up as a fraud by prominent Southern papers, but his movement had attracted a very large following by the breaking out of hostilities between North and South, and hundreds of deluded Southerners journeyed to the Rio Grande to mass for the movement on Mexico, which was the prime object of the organization fathered by Bickley, according to him. He proposed to send thousands of armed Southern young men to assist Juarez in establishing his authority in Mexico against Miramon's machinations to overthrow the republic and establish a dictatorship, which, once accomplished, would result in the establishment of negro slavery in Mexico and a political alliance between that republic and the Southern States for the perpetuation of the institution, and if need be, its defense against Abolition fanaticism in the North. Bickley prophesied eventually a great Southern slave republic, formed from the slave states of the United States and Mexico, strong enough to dictate terms to all Yankeedom, and rich enough and enterprising enough, with King Cotton as the basis of its prosperity, to control the commerce of the Western Hemisphere. It was a great scheme, but it dissolved like a child's soap bubble when the guns of Fort Sumter announced that the South had crossed the political Rubicon.

Stephen A. Douglas, the candidate of the Northern Democracy for president in the race against Abraham Lincoln, visited Atlanta while making his stumping tour of the Union, and delivered a public address in the city on October 30, 1860. Although among state's rights enthusiasts, a large audience heard the distinguished speaker respectfully. Before the meeting was held the following pertinent questions were propounded to the "Little Giant" by the executive committee of the Breckenridge and Lane party of Fulton county, with the request that he make categorical answer in his speech:

"1. Has not each state the sovereign right to decide for itself what shall be sufficient cause for withdrawal from the Union?

"2. If upon the election of Abraham Lincoln any of the Southern States, in sovereign convention assembled, should decide to withdraw from the Union, would the Federal government have a right to coerce her back into the Union, and would you assist the Federal government in so coercing her?

"If you answer that the right of secession is only the right of revolution inherent in the people, then would not the citizens of said state withdrawing, by exercising the right of revolution, be acting as rebels and traitors to the Federal government, and would you aid in their punishment as such?"

Judge Douglas took notice of the questions at the opening of his brilliant speech, but said they were impertinent, because the same questions had been put to Mr. Breckenridge. He contended, however, that in the very nature of it, the Union must be perpetual or liberty fall; that no adequate cause for the secession of any state could exist as the republic was organized, and that the talk of danger from foreign aggression was preposterous. His speech made a strong impression on his hearers, complimentary to his ability, but gained him few votes.

The day following Douglas's address, a "Minute Men Association" was organized at the armory of the Atlanta Grays, the object of which was "to organize in the city of Atlanta, and in Fulton county, men of all parties, not as partisans, but as true Southern men, a body to be known as the 'Minute Men of Fulton County,' to bind themselves to stand by the state rights of the South, their honor, their homes, and their firesides, against a black Republican government." Dr. W. F. Westmoreland presided, and W. S. Bass ford acted as secretary. The resolutions adopted are reproduced below:

"Whereas, It is now probable and almost certain that an Abolition candidate will be elected to the chief magistracy of the Union upon the avowed and undisguised declaration on his part and on the part of his supporters, that this common government shall be administered for the destruction of the rights and of the institutions of the Southern States in the Union, and

"Whereas, We recognize the right of any sovereign state to withdraw from the partnership of States whenever in her sovereign capacity she may determine that the objects of the Confederacy have been perverted, or not carried out in good faith, therefore,

"Resolved, That we as citizens of Georgia acknowledge our allegiance to the Federal government, and that in the event of the election of Abraham Lincoln, we pledge ourselves to maintain at all hazards, and to the last extremity, any course that may be adopted for self-defense against the Federal power.

"Resolved, That if any Southern State may determine to secede from the Union, we will by all means in our power assist her in resistance against any effort on the part of a black Republican administration to coerce her back into the Confederacy.

"Resolved, That it is the sacred duty of Southern men in the present alarming crisis to forget past political and partisan differences, and to unite together as brethren of one household, in determined opposition to the policy of a black Republican party."

This organization was perfected and continued its existence with much enthusiasm until Georgia seceded from the Union. At one of its meetings following the announcement that Lincoln had been elected to the presidency, the following resolution was adopted amid wild applause:

"Whereas, News having reached us that Abraham Lincoln has been elected president of the United States by a dominant Free Soil majority, whose sole idea is the destruction of our constitutional rights, and eternal hostility to our domestic institutions, therefore,

"Resolved. That as citizens of Georgia and Fulton county, we believe the time has come for us to assert our rights, and we now stand ready to second any action that the sovereign state of Georgia may take in asserting her independence by separate state action, or in unison with her sister States of the South in forming a Southern Confederacy."

At this meeting strong secession speeches were made by such prominent and conservative citizens as Sidney Root. The roster of the "Minute Men" by this time contained the names of a majority of the adult male population of the city and county.

On the 10th of November, a rousing meeting of the organization was held to hear a speech by Hon. Lucius J. Gartrell, member of congress from the Atlanta district. Colonel Gartrell endorsed unqualifiedly the objects and efforts of the organization and made a fiery speech in which he declared that a Southern Confederacy would be an established fact within the next six months.

As a relic of those stirring times, it may prove of interest to give the vote of Atlanta and Fulton county in the presidential election of 1860. In the Atlanta precinct the vote stood: Douglas, 335; Breckenridge, 835; Bell, 1,070. The vote of Fulton county, exclusive of Atlanta: Douglas, 327; Breckenridge, 1,018; Bell, 1,195.

Another enthusiastic meeting of the association was held in the courthouse on the 12th of November. A committee composed of Green B. Haygood, Thomas L. Cooper, Luther J. Glenn, Jared T. Whitaker, Amos W. Hammond, Thomas C. Howard and Logan E. Bleckley was appointed to draft resolutions urging Georgia to hold a state's rights convention, in imitation of South Carolina, and adopting a secession ordinance, if such was the majority's will. The resolutions as adopted advocated petitioning the legislature, then in session at Milledgeville, to provide bylaws for the election of delegates to a state convention to consider Federal relations; approving the recent special message of the governor recommending the arming of the state forces at the earliest possible moment; recognizing the sovereignty of the state and its consequent right of secession; pledging their obedience to such action as a state convention might see fit to take, and expressing the solemn opinion that the only recourse of the South in the present grave crisis lay in the withdrawal of its several commonwealths from the Federal Union.

At a meeting held on December 3, blue cockades to be worn by the "Minute Men" were presented to the organization by Mrs. John W. Leonard and accepted with resolutions of thanks.

At this meeting, a committee of public safety was appointed, with powers to summon before it all suspected characters, and to rid the community of such obnoxious persons as were hostile and dangerous to the rights and interests of the city or state. This committee was composed of Sidney Root, F. Williams, Elias Holcomb, G. W. Anderson, J. T. Lewis, Frank Walker, T. L. Cooper, N. R Fowler, A. M. Orr, B. N. Williford, William Gilbert, James E. Williams, J. R. Rhodes, Benjamin May, B. M. Smith, W. F. Westmoreland, C. H. Chandler, J. H. Lovejoy, E. T. Hunnicutt, S. W. Jones and William Barnes.

A grand secession demonstration to ratify the selection of local delegates to the state convention was held on December 10th. The delegates nominated by Atlanta were Luther J. Glenn, Joseph P. Logan and James F. Alexander. Fiery patriotic speeches were made at this ratification meeting, by the delegates and other leading citizens, and the demonstration concluded with a grand torchlight procession. The great crowd gave three cheers and a tiger for South Carolina.

From that time on a regular secession campaign was inaugurated throughout the state, and mass meetings were held almost nightly. On the 22nd of December, the Hon. Howell Cobb addressed the people of Atlanta in the forenoon, and Hon. Henry R. Jackson in the afternoon. The object of the big gathering and procession was to ratify the action of the Palmetto State in seceding from the Union. At night, an effigy of President Lincoln was burned in front of the Planter's hotel.

On February 7^th, a mass meeting was held to extend an invitation to the states of the South to hold a general secession convention in Atlanta, in accordance with a suggestion of the Virginia legislature. The following resolutions were adopted:

"Whereas, We find in the public prints of the country, the report of a series of resolutions that have been introduced into the legislature of Virginia, recommending the holding of a Southern convention or conference in the city of Atlanta, and

"Whereas, We, the citizens of Georgia and the city of Atlanta, believe it not only fit and proper, but the imperative duty of the Southern States of the American Union, in this important and alarming crisis of our national affairs to meet together by their representatives, duly commissioned for that purpose, in a spirit of fraternity, to counsel with each other as to the best remedy by which the constitutional rights of the South may hereafter be fully respected and preserved in the Union, or if the aggressions of the dominant section should be continued, to devise some peaceable and efficient plan by which the rights, honor and integrity of the South may be preserved out of the Union, therefore,

"Resolved, That the citizens of Atlanta, in mass meeting assembled, without distinction of party, and only recognizing ourselves as belonging to a common country with common honor and common interests to preserve, do most cordially sympathize with and heartily respond to the spirit and object of the resolutions above referred to, and now pending before the Virginia legislature.

"Resolved, That we most cordially offer the hospitalities of the city to the convention or conference, and pledge ourselves to make ample and appropriate provision for the accommodation of said delegates, and for the Southerners generally, and do hereby open to them our hands, hearts and homes.

"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be duly certified ty the chairman and secretary of this meeting, and that the mayor of the city, in his official capacity, be requested to transmit them to the governor of Virginia, with a special solicitation that they be presented to the General Assembly of that State."