Greene-Fulton-Gwinnett County GaArchives News.....How the Declining Days of the Veterans Will Be Spent at Georgia Soldiers’ Home June 9, 1901
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Denise Murphy denisemurphy13@msn.com May 13, 2006, 8:02 pm

The Atlanta Constitution June 9, 1901
By Ethel McClintock May

A visit to the new Confederate Veterans’ home is like turning back the pages 
of history for a whole generation. An old time atmosphere still clings to 
these gallant veterans, whose declining years are now spent in recollections 
of a glorious past. The burdens of life have been gently lifted from their 
weary shoulders by a fostering commonwealth, so that the last days of those 
who gave their youth and valor for their country’s salte may be passed in 
peace and happiness.

It is a sight to rejoice the heart of the most hardened cynic to go out to the 
home and see the pleasure of the throng  of inmates who have so newly come to 
make this their final dwelling place. In their spontaneous joy and ingenuous 
delight with the whole surroundings these battered and weather-beaten old 
soldiers are like a crowd of school boys. Next to their war records the 
entrance into the home is regarded by most of them as the crowning event of 
their careers.

“Why, this is the most beautiful place in the world,” said Mendl Levy, an aged 
veteran, the first to enter the home. “They treat us right here; they treat us 
like gentlemen. Every one of us is lucky to be here. It is finer even than I 
had expected.”

Mr. Levy doesn’t seem to yet to have recovered from the effect which the 
sudden sight of so much grandeur evidently had upon him. He walks about over 
the big corridors with a sense of absolute possession, still wondering at it 
all, and half afraid lest he may wake up and find himself again in the world, 
homeless and unfriended.

Levy was by birth a Polish Jew, coming when a young man to America to escape 
the hostilities in how own land, only to find himself in a new country rent 
asunder by civil war. He took up arms in the cause of the south and fought 
straight through the war, “except,” he said, “when I was wounded and had to 
lie paralyzed for months.” A bullet in the neck cut short his military 
usefulness and produced a total paralysis of one side of his body, which he 
has, happily, since outgrown.

“But the wounds were not the worst of it,” said Levy. “It was the hardships 
that killed the men.

“Just let me say right here that a soldier never does see a good time,”

Levy evidently had no illusions as to the allurements of a soldier’s life. He 
spoke with conviction.

“Why, one time in West Virginia we went four days without food—not a mouthful, 
and a soldier can’t live as long as Dr. Tanner,” he added. Dr. Tanner was the 
man who made a forty days’ fast. “And that when we hadn’t even any shoes to 
our feet. The forests were tracked with blood where the soldiers passed.

“No, I haven’t anybody in the world,” said Levy, changing his stick from one 
hand to the other from time to time as he talked, to aid his conversational 
efforts. To one of such typically semitic characteristics a walking stick is a 
great conversational handicap. Levy embodies the traits of his race, as the 
following incident witnesses. “No, I didn’t marry then, and now it’s too late. 
(Levy is only seventy.) You see, it was one big reeak,” he _________ in a rich 
Hebrew guttural. “I might haf got cheaded in a vife. A good voman ees an 
anchel, bud a mean one, she ees a nyena!”

So Levy is ending a bachelor’s career among his comrades for the neglect of 
early matrimonial opportunities. After the war he “sold goods” until old age 
and feebleness impaired his usefulness and he entered the home with all the 
joy of prince claiming his realm. He is still pondering over his good luck, 
and continues to congratulate himself and each of his mates as they arrive.

Every day increases the number. Among the arrivals Tuesday was F.M. Bearden 
from Madison. Mr. Bearden served all through the war, losing an eye, however, 
and his face still bearing the deep track of a bullet.

“I was one of six brothers who enlisted,” said Mr. Bearden. “And not one of 
them was lost. This was most unusual in the confederate army, where nearly 
every home had offered its tribute of life. Only two of my mother’s boys were 
injured. My brother here lost an arm.”

The other Mr. Bearden, who had come to bring his less fortunate brother, had 
many narrow escapes. Shot five times in one engagement, he seemed to have a 
charmed life. One ball tore a hole through his hat brim. Another glanced off 
of his canteen, one made a flesh wound in the hip, his clothing was pierced by 
another, and a last went through the right lung.”

“Except a slight sting as it goes in, a bullet wound doesn’t hurt at all, at 
first,” said Mr. Bearden. “It feels like a bee sting a little, but you don’t 
realize that you’re hurt. When the ball went in my chest I would not have 
noticed it at all in the excitement of the fighting, only that striking the 
big muscles controlling the arm, it caused my hand to fall open and drop my 
musket. The arm was limp, but otherwise I felt no pain. Seeing I was shot the 
men from the relief service came with a stretcher to carry me from the field, 
but I could walk all right, so I let them go on to the others worse off than 
I.”

Many of the incidents related by these old veterans unconsciously showed the 
unselfishness and consideration of the soldiers toward each other and their 
fortitude in suffering.

A New England Veteran. 
To understand the breadth of the home as an institution one has only to talk 
to some of the inmates. For instance, James F. Murphy, an old veteran who 
served throughout the war in a Georgia _________ is a native New Englander. 
Reared in Boston, he was twenty years old before he ever came south, where he 
at once enlisted. Levy, a Polish Jew, receives a rightful reward for honorable 
service and reaps in old age the gratitude of his adopted country.

Curran Becton, from Jefferson county, is one of the most interesting 
characters. Each one of them, however, has some stirring reminiscences to 
relate. Whenever one sees a group gathered together on the shady galleries one 
may know that absorbing stories are being told. Some of the men have met old 
comrades of war at the home whom they had not seen for thirty years.

As to the present day feeling toward their erstwhile enemies, there is quite a 
difference of opinion. Levy says that, The Lord commands us to forgive our 
enemies, but” said he, “it’s mighty hard to love anybody who has stood up with 
a gun and made a target of you. And those yankee speculators tried to come 
down here and buy up this soldiers’ home, but they couldn’t keep it away from 
us” he added, somewhat hazy as to the cause of delay in establishing the home.

Another old soldier who had done noble service said that he thought there was 
very little bitterness left, especially among those who were the real 
sufferers.

There were the first to forgive.

In regard to the kind of uniform which will be adopted, one of the veterans 
said it wouldn’t surprise him if it were a gray one. In fact, if they tried to 
put a blue one on him he’d have to leave! The new uniform, which will be in no 
way compulsory, and which will be prescribed only on special days, will 
doubtless be the old confederate uniform.

The general feeling among the men is unmistakably one of contentment and 
entire delight with their new surroundings. Everything possible is done for 
their comfort and pleasure and the place itself is naturally attractive.

“It transcends my most sanguine expectations,” said J.C. Ford, of Company K, 
Fourth Georgia. “We are all pleased more than we believed possible, and we 
knew that it was going to be very nice.”

J.L. Collier, of the Twenty third Georgia, agrees to that and testifies to the 
fine fare provided for the veterans. “They give us good food,” said he, “and 
it’s well cooked, too.” When Mr. Collier was questioned as to how he happened 
to go to the home he said it was ________ and laziness he reckoned. A general 
air of “livin’ easy” satisfaction seems to prevail.

W.B. Clements, of the Twenty-seventh Georgia, served full time in the war 
without serious injury himself. “But the worst of it was seeing the boys 
around fall on the field. The man beside you to fall dead at your feet or your 
companion to keel over in your arms, that was the worst of fighting. ____ an 
could get used to bullets, hissing ______, but he couldn’t get hardened to 
_______ his old companions fall dead or _____med.” In an active engagement 
there was rarely any evidence of fear _______ring the exciting, but even the 
oldest soldier always hates to go into a _____t.”

Beautiful Situation.
The home is beautifully situated on a fine elevation surrounded by sloping oak 
groves. The large frame building faces west and offers a fine outlook on all 
sides, and from the cupola which overlooks Kennesaw and Lost mountain in the 
distance. Electric cars running every half hour arrive after a pleasant ride 
of five miles partly through pretty country of green field or shady woodland. 
It takes exactly half an hour. This accessibility to the city is a convenience 
to visitors, but a questionable advantage, it is said, for the inmates. They 
are too often tempted to wander, and, like proverbial idle hands, sometimes 
find a bit of mischief. In other cities where confederate homes are located no 
barkeeper was ever known to refuse a treat to a wearer of the old gray uniform.

The entrance to the house is particularly attractive. A massive brick and 
marble fire-place adorns the reception hallway, where growing plants and 
ferns, as well as cut flowers, are artistically placed. The great open hearth, 
which in winter will blaze with cheery, cracking logs, is now a mass of 
foliage. Two converging stairways lead from there to the second story.

The Henry Grady room, furnished by Mrs. William King and the children of The 
Weekly Constitution, who contributed $123 to the home, is a large chamber on 
the east side. A handsome full length, life-size oil portrait of Mr. Grady 
will soon be hung in this room. It is being done by Mrs. Gregory, who has 
already two portraits in the memorial hall of President Davis and of Governor 
Candler.

The dining room is a large, comfortable apartment, the kitchen is the pride of 
the institution. It contains an elegant range capable of providing for ten 
times the present number of inmates. Two cooks, a man and a woman, furnish 
good food for the home.

All the bedrooms are pleasant, cheerful, nicely furnished chambers. They 
contain fireplaces, though the large public apartments are heated by furnace. 
The rooms are for one and two persons. Neat single beds, comfortable arms 
chairs, rugs, dressers, washstands, etc., supply every convenience. Even 
toilet articles and comfortable slippers are found in some of the rooms. 
Various organizations and individuals have contributed to the furnishing of 
different bedrooms. Sixty-five dollars is the sum generally allowed, but many 
are much more expensively equipped. The rooms now furnished include those 
given by the Atlanta fire department, Macon Volunteers, Bibb County Veterans, 
Marion C. Kiser, Third Georgia regiment; Harry C. Fischer, Camp A. Wheeler’s 
cavalry; Ladies’ Memorial Association of Atlanta; Georgia Military Cadets’ 
Association, William Bealer Hibbs, Junior Order United American Mechanics of 
Atlanta, Enterprise Council, No. 1, Junior Order United American Mechanics of 
Atlanta, Eight Georgia and Fourth Georgia regiments; Ladies’ of Augusta, Order 
of Robert E. Lee, Mrs. Joseph E. Brown and Joseph E. Brown.

The daily life of the inmates will offer various kinds of pastime, as well as 
useful occupations for those who are able and desire. Most of the veterans 
show a disposition to lo some kind of work, which is encouraged by all such 
institutions as conducive to the happiness and well being of the men. Some few 
are nearly or wholly incapacitated, but the majority are healthy and 
intelligent. J.C. Ford, company K, Fourth Georgia, is one of the most interest 
and enterprising of the veterans. He served all through the war until he was 
imprisoned with many of his comrade for ten months at Elmira shortly before 
the surrender. “It was a bitter thing for us then to take the oath of 
allegiance,” said Mr. Ford, “but General Lee advised us to do it.”

Mr. Ford advocates establishing a garden plot, where each of the men can have 
a little space to cultivate and beautify. On a larger scale a fine kitchen 
garden could be so acquired. But even though at first they only cared for a 
few flowers or plants it would be a good thing. Many of the men show a great 
love for flowers and appreciate most heartily such gifts from the ladies who 
have sent them. All are enthusiastic in their praises and gratitude to the 
Georgia women, without whom the home would have been impossible. They 
especially requested this fact be mentioned and the ladies of Atlanta told 
that they will always be welcomed and honored guests at the home.

Rising hour is, according to the habit of old soldiers, an early one, with 
breakfast before 7 o’clock. Chapel services are held for those who desire and 
the day may be spent at one’s own devices. Many of the men read a great deal. 
A cheerful library offers some good books and daily papers are sent free to 
the inmates. The public attitude is one of extreme liberality in all respects 
to the confederate veteran. Often little groups may be seen gathered about 
some old war history, each chapter and picture of which suggests some 
thrilling personal incident from one of the number. Shady woods tempt them to 
strolls about the grounds. A fine spring nearby makes an objective point to 
get a cooling draught, though a good cold well beside the home offers 
excellent water. A glimpse into one of the chambers often reveals a picture of 
retrospective contentment as some old veteran solaces himself with a 
comfortable pipe.

Mr. Wilson, the superintendent, is an excellent man for the place. A veteran 
himself, but young and robust, he holds a firm but kindly hand over the 
household. His left arm bears the traces of his war service, a shattered 
forearm bone and disabled hand interfering with its use. Mr. Wilson is a 
wholesome, hearty, even tempered person and generally beloved by the men.

The matron, Mrs. Thomas, wife of a deceased veteran, lends a home-like air to 
the place and cares with motherly gentleness for the comfort of the old 
soldiers. When seen last week she was setting out some plants which had been 
given to the home. Both Mrs. Thomas and Mr. Wilson were formerly from Augusta.

Colonel Randolph Talks.
Colonel N.V. Randolph, president of the Richmond home, visited the Atlanta 
institution last week and spoke most commendably of the new home in comparison 
with the one established by the R.E. Lee Camp.

“Virginia’s annual appropriation is $35,000,” said Colonel Randolph, “for the 
support of 250 men. For twelve years the state has contributed this amount, 
which is considered only a fair appropriation.” Georgia gives $15,000, but her 
home is not so large. The Georgia pensions, however, are very liberal, over 
$600,000, amounting to double that of any other state.

“In the Richmond home,” continued Colonel Randolph, “there have been over 
1,500 men. Their average age is sixty-six years, the oldest being ninety-four 
and the youngest fifty-three. The home was first intended to cover the entire 
southern states and there have been 129 inmates from other states. But after a 
state appropriation was made only those who served from Virginia were 
received. The home was supposed two years before state patronage was extended, 
beginning with $10,000 and being afterwards increased.”

The Richmond home is managed by a board of visitors, of which Colonel Randolph 
is president. He is a gallant type of Virginia cavalier and gave distinguished 
service with Mosby’s men in the Forty-third battalion cavalry, where he won 
the rank of major. 

“The Atlanta Soldiers’ Home bids fair to be one of the finest in the country,” 
said Colonel Randolph. “It is much more extravagantly furnished than ours at 
Richmond. The situation is magnificent and the home opens most suspiciously. 
The gentlemen who stood by it for so many years deserve great credit—and the 
ladies too,” h gallantly added, “for I understand that here, as with us, the 
ladies bore a great share of the work in establishing the home. Of all the 
confederate homes and there are several, in Louisiana, which as the first, 
opening in 1882, in Virginia following in 1883, in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, 
Maryland, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Alabama about to establish one, none 
will surpass this one just opened in Atlanta. We would do well to take dots 
from it already.”

Those who have already entered the home are:

W.J. Aldred, Twenty-eighth Georgia, Washington county; Peter Baughn, Thirty-
eighth Georgia, Oglethorpe county; Curran Becton, First battalion Georgia 
sharpshooters, Jefferson county; Francis Bearden, Sixteenth Georgia, Morgan 
county; William G. Clarke, First Florida, Sumter county; John A. Clements, 
Eighth Georgia, Talbot county; W.B. Clements, Twenty-seventh Georgia, Fulton 
county; J.L. Collier, Twenty-third Georgia, Gordon county; Robert Davis, 
Twelfth Mississippi and Fifteenth Kentucky, Dooly county; E.F. Elliott, Third 
Georgia and Forty-fourth Georgia, Putnam county; James Ford, Fourth Georgia, 
Fulton county; Edward A. Furlow, Third Georgia, Morgan county; Mortimer 
Faries, First battalion Georgia sharpshooters, McIntosh county; DeWitt C. 
Goza, Twentieth Georgia, Fulton county; Edward Garbin, Twentieth Georgia, 
Chatham county; W.H. Hanes, Fourth Georgia, Gordon county; E.V.P. Hann, Second 
Kentucky cavalry, Whitfield county; J.C. Harris, Fiftieth Alabama, Forsyth 
county; Melton Garralson, Third Georgia, Walton county; W.F. Hayes, 
sharpshooters Polk county; A.C. Hayes, Tennessee corps, Fulton county; A.B. 
Holt, First cavalry, Whitfield county; W.B. Hunter, Seventh Georgia, Troup 
county; J.B. Hunnicutt, Twenty-second Georgia, Gwinnett county; Frank 
Leverett, Georgia militia, Morgan county; T. Jones, First state troops, Warren 
county; Charles Lankford, Third Georgia, Greene county; J.J. McConnell, Troup 
Artillery, Habersham county; G.W. Miller, First Georgia cavalry, Cobb county; 
J.N. Mills, Fifty-sixth Georgia, Whitfield county; Amos Moore, ordnance 
department, Fulton county; James F. Murphy, Fourth Georgia, Jasper county; 
Nicholas Overby Third Georgia, Fulton county; G.S. Paul, Walthal’s battalion, 
Fulton county; V.M. Rogers, South Carolina artillery, Cobb county; W.F. 
Sanders, First Georgia cavalry, Johnson county; James Stevens, Ninth Georgia, 
Fulton county; William Rouse, Eleventh South Carolina, Burke county; Sam Beck, 
Thirty-seventh Alabama, Fulton county; A.W. Newman, Fifth Georgia, Pulaski 
county; W.D. Wade, First South Carolina cavalry, Richmond county.

Three of the aged veterans arrived on Saturday morning, others came in during 
that afternoon, while still others arrived yesterday and were all sent to the 
home.

Superintendent James L. Wilson, of Putnam county, for several weeks past has 
been on duty and has had supervision over the repair work which has been going 
on at the home. Mrs. J.P. Thomas, of Augusta, the matron, has been in the city 
for several days.

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