Dougherty County Georgia Archives - Obituaries - J. Frank M. McCollum 1899 Submitted by Debra Boswell Crosby ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ Albany Herald, June 1899 "F. M. McCollum Dead - A Member of the Dougherty Hussars - That Sabre Charge" The subject of this sketch was a Dougherty County raised boy. Soon after attaining his majority he volunteered in the cavalry company know as the "Dougherty Hussars", which left Albany in August, 1861 for Virginia where they were organized into "Cobb's Legion". He was elected to a lieutenancy in his company and served to the close of the war. There are some of "Cobb's Legion" still lingering on the shores of time, who remember Frank, and the sabre charge - the hand to hand conflict where he received a ball from a navy revolver through the left forearm, the ball flattening between the bones and penetrating the left breast of his coat then ranging downward, inflicting a wound on the left side and many other similar instances which weld men together in the nearest possible fellowship. These comrades in arms are entitled to know something of his last days. He was taken with a chill on the 6th of May, accompanied by congestion of the liver. the best medical skill was promptly secured but while under treatment other symptoms even more serious developed and death came to his relief on the 14th of May. J. F. McCollum returned to Dougherty County after the close of the war, and figured there through the days of reconstruction and the earliest experiences with free labor. Politically, he was a democrat, refusing positively to organize with the young mans democratic club for fear he would be called upon to do something inconsistent with his idea of propriety, but always an active advocate of the cause of his party. Religiously he was a Methodist, strong and unswavering in the faith and doctrine promulgated by that church. He saw in it's teachings the hope of salvation, and as the stormy period of war passed away he began to study upon the teachings of the church of his choice, which he made the standard of life and to which he held strong in death. Below I give you a few extracts from a letter written by his attending physician: "As regards his Christian life you need no testimony from me. He was entirely ready. I was intimately associated with him for six years before he died, and I can conscientiously say he was one of the best men I ever knew. He was a ripe Christian, holding himself in readiness for the summons at any time. He left ??nneance of testimony as to his readings. He said soon after he was taken, I can tell you, Lonnie, they may say what they please about dying, but aman in my condition has no time to think about getting ready to die, and repeated the same thought later on. "He said, 'I want to say for the good of you all, and myself, too, don't put off getting ready to die until you are in my fix, you will have no time to think about it then.'. It was a treat to be alone with him, his high conception of the Christian life, his encouraging words, his very self was an inspiration to me." J. F. McCollum was born at Monroe N.C. Sep 9, 1838 and died at Polkston, N. C. May 14, 1899, leaving a wife and six children to mourn their loss. "We shall reach the river side, Some sweet day, some sweet day; We shall cross the stormy tide, Some sweet day, some sweet day." A. S. McCollum Baconton, Ga Jun 9, 1899