GILMER COUNTY, GA - Newspapers Col. Wm. P. Milton 1872

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William P. Milton

These newspaper articles that appeared at the time of
William P. Milton's death.  William P, his father
William Hamilton Milton (one of the earliest
physicians in Gilmer), his brother Pinkney Harrison
Milton and his brother Lafayette "Fate" Milton, are
all mentioned in George Gordon Ward's Annals of Upper
Georgia Centered in Gilmer County.


The trail to the obituaries had its beginning in the
book Burials and deaths reported in the Columbus
(Georgia) Enquirer 1832-1872 by Buster W. Wright,
1984.  [Credit to Dan and Trish Ainsworth, also Milton
descendants.]  The relevant entry reads: "MILTON, Col.
William P. of Elijah [sic] Ga., shot; 16 Aprl. 1872 (7
May 1872)."  [The May 7 date refers to the publication
date.]

The full article from The Weekly Enquirer, Columbus,
Georgia, Tuesday, May 7, 1872, reads:

"Col. Wm. P. Milton, of Elijah [sic], Ga., a gallant
Confederate officer, was basely shot on the night of
the 16th inst., and killed almost immediately.  The
unknown assassin shot him through the window of his
house, just as he had risen from the supper table and
was talking with his children.  Col. M. was a delegate
to the State Convention that passed the ordinance of
secession, and was a man of much influence in his
section."

This information might have been picked up from the
Cartersville Standard and Express of May 2, 1872.  It
had an article that read as follows:

"ASSASINATION OF COL. MILTON

We received the following commmunication last week,
concerning the assasination of Col. Wm. P. Milton --
one of Gilmer's best citizens:

ELLIJAY, GA., April 23, 1872

Mr. Editor: -- Our town and vicinity were suddenly
thrown into a state of intense excitement on Tuesday
night, 16th inst. by the sad event of the
assassination of Col. Wm. P. Milton.  Col. Milton was
shot by some one unknown, about one hour after dark.
Just as he rose up from the table at supper and was
lingering by the table talking to his little children,
the assassin shot through a window and made his
escape.  The shot proved fatal in about 30 or 40
minutes after it was fired.

By the death of Col. Milton, our town and county have
lost one of our most worthy citizens.  Col. Milton was
a high-toned, honorable gentleman, in the full sense
of the term;  was a man posessed of an open, frank,
genial disposition, whose heart abounded with
benevolence.  Col. M. has been engaged for years in
the mercantile business, and was a successful,
energetic business man, possessed of fine business
qualifications.

Col. Milton was a delegate to the Convention when the
State seceded, and entered the Confederate army at the
beginning of the war in the 11th Reg't as Lieutenant,
in wihch capacity he served for twelve months or more,
and was then elected Captain in the 39th Reg't Ga.,
and was promoted to Colonel of that Reg't, which
position he filled till the surrender of Gen. J. E.
Johnson. [he was actually promoted to Lieut. Col. of
the combined 39th and 56th on April 9, 1865, and
fought in the Carolina campaign until the surrender at
Greensboro on April 26.]  As a soldier and an officer,
Col. Milton was of the stamp that all truly brave men
admire:  he fought through the war with that bravery
and prowess that his many fellow-soldires and comrades
in the "Lost Cause" will remember till life's latest
evening.  Col. Milton leaves behind, his widowed
companion and three little children to mourn his loss;
besides a large circle of relatives and friends that
will long remember his deeds of kindness and charity. 
May that arm that is higher than they, be a stay and a
staff unfailing, to his bereaved family through the
further pilgrimage of this life.

Atlanta Constitution please copy."

The Daily Constitution of Atlanta did publish this
obiturary, nearly word for word, on May 4, 1872.

William P's son Lafayette Henry Milton was 4 when his
father was shot, right in front of him.  I've seen and
heard several versions of the assassination story.
Lafayette told his children that it was thought that a
couple of ruffians who had been reprimanded by William
P earlier that day (in the "Cobb and Milton" store
next door to his home) were the culprits. 

(Since Lafayette didn't marry until 1914, this story
came to me fairly directly, through his daughters Lois
and Ruth, whom I have met.)  Even though William P's
brother Pinkney was sheriff at the time, the murder
was never solved.

Soon after his murder, his widow, Nancy Caroline
Roberds Milton, daughter of Alfred B. Roberds and
Nancy Deweese, went by ship to New Orleans, Louisiana,
where her youngest brother, Robert Henry Roberts, met
her and escorted her to Erath County, Texas.  (Her
brothers Garrett, Gideon, Creed, Henry, and Alfred,
and her sister Elizabeth, had all moved from Gilmer to
Texas between 1860 and 1872.)  By 1880, she had moved
to Trinidad, Colorado, where her brothers Garrett and
Gideon had moved @ 1874.  Although William P. Milton
left a considerable estate, she found herself moving
from Texas to Colorado to New Mexico to Arizona, back
to Colorado, and back to Arizona, sometimes living in
her own home but more often living with one of her
children.  She died in Phoenix in1924, less than 24
hours before her brother Robert Henry Roberts died of
a completely unrelated cause.  The Phoenix newspaper
published an article on the coincidence.

William Hamilton Milton (William P's father) died in
Gilmer on May 11, 1863, while his son was at
Vicksburg.  I don't know where he was buried, and
would certainly like to know.  One might have hoped
for a memorial from the Oak Bowery Masonic Lodge,
since both William H and William P were members, but
the Oak Bowery Lodge was in the midst of its "longest
meeting," having been in session in 1861 when war was
announced, and never having been formally adjourned.