Pike County Georgia Archives News War Relicts September 25 1890
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Lynn Cunningham lcunnin1@bellsouth.net December 1, 2002, 5:09 pm

The Barnesville Gazette. Barnesville, Ga.

War Relics!
An Interesting Collection
At The Concert

The Museum of war relics at Granite Hall last Friday evening contained a very 
interesting collection of articles, and could have been studied with profit for 
some hours. Everybody was pleased with this part of the entertainment.

The first thing that attracted my attention on entering were two large pistols 
that hung on the wall, just as innocent as any other article on exhibition, but 
I at once remembered that I had often seen particular articles marked "handle 
with care," so I did not examine the pistols very carefully.

However, I learned that both of them went through the entire war and one of them

was carried by Mr. John Redding, brother of Capt. W.D. Redding. No one knows the

results of their services to the Confederacy.

The yankees carried arms that shot balls, too, for on exhibition was a minnie 
ball that on April 9, 1863 was shot through the right lung of Mr. W.H. Willis at

the battle of Chickamauga. The ball was cut from Mr. Willis's body and is now a 
valuable relic of his. It must produce a queer feeling to look upon a ball that 
came so near to producing ones death. It is about the size of the end of a man's

thumb, and the end of it is somewhat flattened. It is a valuable memento.

There was one other bullet on exhibition. It was about the same size, only it 
was very badly battered up, on account of its contact with the hard bones of a 
man's body. This is possessed by Mr. E.T. Crowder and was taken from his back 
during the war.

"This is a petrified confederate biscuit." This was the explanation of one of 
the ladies, as she pointed to an article that looked exactly like a rock, about 
the size of an ordinary biscuit. And it brings up one of the most interesting 
subjects of the war tales. Nothing is more interesting than to hear the old 
soldiers tell how little they had to eat, how poorly it was prepared, how they 
fattened on it. According to their report, which is unquestionably true, a 
petrified biscuit is an excellent sample of their fare while they fought for 
their country.

One of the prettiest things we saw was a confederate soldiers handkerchief. We 
do not suppose all the soldiers had them but some of them did. and we doubt not 
they were greatly prized. This one we speak of was a large one, on which there 
were nine correct pictures of Davis, Lee, Jackson, and others. This handkerchief

is a curiosity for this day.

In the collection were swords, pistols, knap-sacks, epaulets, flags, etc. One 
little flag attracted our attention. It was a present from a young lady of this 
section to her confederate friend. On it was a star for each confederate state 
and these two lines of poetry: "Victory or death our motto shall be, From the 
yankee fanatics we are sure to be free." No doubt, this was nerve to him on many

occasions.

War letters, wedding cards, etc., also formed a very valuable collection. In 
this we saw a letter from Mr. A.J. Blalock to Mrs. Nettie Blalock, written 
during the Seven Days fight around Richmond. It contained a full description of 
the battle, and the letter was written in great nervousness. Mr. J.W. Stafford 
was with Mr. Blalock during the battle. Those were terrible times.

There was a $500 bond of the confederate states in the museum that attracted 
considerable attention. Many had never seen one before.

There were several old papers there which were almost curiosities. One of these 
was the Ulster Co. Gazette, N.Y. This was dated January 4, 1800, and contained 
an account of George Washington's death.

There was a copy, too, of the "Southern Confederacy," published in Atlanta, 
April 3, 1863. This paper was addressed to R.W. Blalock. An almanac of 1864 
contained a list of Confederate officers. One circular, printed by the Upson 
County Pilot, was an advertisement of a festival in Culloden, for helping the 
needy and suffering soldiers. In this festival Mrs. Loula K. Rogers took quite 
an active interest. Then there was a program of the exhibition of the 
Barnesville Male School, 1860. At the time, Barnesville had a male and a female 
school. In this connection it is well to mention the picture of...  [Note: 
bottom part of newspaper deteriorated and unreadable. Continuing at the top of 
the next column...] below the picture was the following: "This is the Alma Mater

of some members of The Ladies Aid Society." The building there is a very small 
affair compared to the present structure.

There were a number of dresses, silk and other material, quilts and 
counterpanes, that were fashionable in those days, that are not at all stylish 
now.

The collection of old coins is one of the best we have ever seen. It contains 
about 250 pieces, and represents the various nations and ages of the world's 
history. It was a collection of forty years by Mr. A.J. Blalock, and now is in 
the hands of Mr. Jim Blalock. Many of the coins were obtained were obtained from

the various countries by Mr. Blalock in his travels. One we noticed, that he 
obtained from the Isthmus of Panama. Another little black coin, that was worth 
$200. The collection was a rare and valuable one.

Space forbids a further description though there are many other articles just as

worthy of mention. This was one of the most interesting features of the concert.

(Transcribed 12/1/02 Lynn Cunningham)
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