MORE on the NAMING of TALLULAH

The Obituaries of Captain Pearce Horne and Tallulah Johnson Horne

MADISON COORDINATOR’S NOTE: The following two obituaries are important to Tallulah history. The first concerns the engineer who was in charge of construction of the 1850’s railroad through Tallulah. He is credited with naming the town after his childhood sweetheart from Georgia whom he later married during the Civil War. The second obituary is of this sweetheart and later wife, Tallulah Johnson Horne – the daughter of a former Governor of Georgia.

The story is that Horne was ready to lay out the railroad through the town of Richmond when he became infatuated with a wealthy widow, presumably Henrietta Amis, who persuaded him to route the railroad through her property north of Richmond and, after he did so, immediately lost interest in him. Whereupon he named a watering station “Tallulah” in honor of his childhood sweetheart in Georgia. Whether this is true or not is suspect. In 1857, when Tallulah Station was named, Henrietta Amis was 36 years old (from 1860 census) and Horne was only 20. Though not impossible, it seems improbable that a twenty-year-old male would become “infatuated” with a widow sixteen years his senior. Whatever the circumstances, the town apparently was named for Tallulah Johnson who later married Horne. RPS dicksevier@gmail.com

These obituaries were found in the Robert L. Moncrief Collection and were contributed by Stephen Moncrief of Oxford, Mississippi.

TAKEN FROM DALTON, GEORGIA PAPER – September 4, 1903

CAPT. PEARCE HORNE, OF THIS CITY, MEETS HIS DEATH. REMAINS ARRIVED MONDAY

And in Presence of a Large Congregation in St. Mark's Church Funeral Services Tuesday.

Capt. Pearce Horne, of this city, died last Thursday night at Littleton, New Hampshire, the immediate cause of death being a cold caught while driving with a friend.

The news reached here Friday morning and came as a shock to this entire community, in which Capt. Horns was greatly beloved, and where he was recognized as one of the leading citizens in this section of the state. An added tinge of sadness to this death was the fact that just a short time prior to the arrival of the fateful message his family had received a letter from him, written in a most cheerful spirit, containing assurances of his physical well-being and declaring that he was enjoying his stay among the mountains of New Hampshire.

For a number of years, Capt. Horne had been a sufferer from asthma, and it was his custom at this season to seek a higher altitude, where the dry atmosphere afforded him relief.

The remains reached here Monday night, and Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock the funeral services were held in St. Marks Episcopal Church, the large convention in attendance attesting to the high esteem in which the deceased was held in his own home. Rev. C. B. Hudgins, of Rome, impressively read the beautiful service for the dead, and appropriate music, softly rendered, gave further solemnity to the scene.

Gen. B. M. Thomas and Messrs. W. C. Martin, R. J. McCaw, J. W. Black, J. V. Lafitte, and S. B. Felker officiated as pall bearers, Numerous floral offerings, handsome in design, covered the casket and altar of the church - further tokens of the love and respect he and his family compelled.

Surviving Capt. Horne, besides his widow, are nine children as follows: X. K. Horne of this city; Pearce Horne of Washington, D. C.; Beckwith and Will Horne of New York; Mrs. Frank Baker and Mrs. H. A. Russell, Jr. of Dalton; Mrs. W. W. Johnson, Charlotte, N. Q. and Misses Annie and Carrie Horne, also of Dalton.

Words of sympathy are vain. Could they avail how freely were they offered here. Mere language cannot assuage the grief which time alone can mitigate; yet in Dalton many hearts are beating in unison of sorrow with those whose bereavement bows them down, and who feel with them much of the pain they suffer.

The following sketch of the life of Capt. Horne was written by an old Confederate soldier, one of his companions in arms:

“Captain Horne was born in Milledgeville, Georgia, about 1837; educated in the Milledgeville Male Academy and Oglethorpe University at Midway, Ga.; was in charge of the construction of the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas railroad (now the Vicksburg & Shreveport railroad, part of the Q & C. system) of which his father, J. H. Horme, of Milledgeville, became the superintendent, and from it, in 1861, was appointed the second lieutenant in the First Georgia Regulars, at that time in Toomb's brigade, afterwards G. T. Anderson's (Tige) brigade of Jones' division, Longstreet's corps, army of Northern Virginia. He served in that regiment until near the close of the war (Civil), when he was transferred to some other department of duty.

In the seven days' battle around Richmond, at about sunset, July 1, 1861, on the last day of those battles, as the regiment was moving into position to make the awful charge upon the batteries of the Federal army, located on Madison Hill, Lieutenant Horne was wounded slightly by a round shot. It is seldom that soldiers ever see a shot which strikes on or near them. But on this occasion the regiment was moving by a flank over the crest of the hill, where it was obscured from the view of the Federal batteries by timber, but there was an open space between the timber and its position, so that shots which passed over the timber or through it coming toward us could be seen. This particular shot was a round shot, was seen as it came towards us, struck the ground, ricocheted and after that struck and killed one man, wounded another, struck Lieut. William A. Williams, breaking his arm, breaking his sword and crippling him for life; then struck Lieut. Horne on the hand knocking him down, so that the litter bearers took him on a stretcher, carrying him to the field hospital at the foot of the hill. Before the regiment made its final charge on the batteries, we were astonished to see Lieutenant Horne back with his company - Company H- (Capt. Miller Greve's Company) leading it. He often said afterwards that he saw the shot coming; that it would have struck him about the center of the body, but that he jumped up and that it struck his hand and knocked him down.

He was again wounded in the second battle of Manassas, August 30, 1862. The regiment in that battle took into it one hundred and seventy muskets, losing seventeen officers and one hundred and ten muskets. Lieutenant Horne was shot in that battle by a minnie ball, which entered his neck on one side and came out at the other, and had the appearance of having gone through the bone of the neck. The bullet caused the neck when it healed, to be so painful, and required him to hold his head up, as the men said, that this among other things led to his transfer from the regiment.”

His father was a merchant and was one of the first to become a contractor for the building of railroads. In partnership with Walter Mitchell, Nathan Hawkins, Stith P. Myrick, and, it may be, others, they were engaged in building the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad when the Civil War began.

His mother was a Miss Kenan, as sister of the Hon. Augustus H. Kenan, one of the leading lawyers of Georgia, who represented in congress, and in the Confederate congress, the Milledgeville district, and also a sister of the Hon. Mike Kenan, who represented Glynn county in the Georgia legislature, and was one of the largest and most successful planters in southeastern Georgia.

He married, during the Civil War, Miss Tallulah Johnson, daughter of Ex-Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia. Gov. Johnson was candidate for vice-president in 1860, was opposed to secession and did not hesitate to say that secession was suicide, but when Georgia seceded, in perhaps the greatest speech ever made in Georgia, as a member of the Georgia constitutional convention of 1861, whilst announcing that, in his judgment, secession was a mistake, he recognized that his allegiance was first due to Georgia, and pledged himself to abide by her and her people to maintain her rights under it. The mother of Mrs. Horne was a descendant of Col. William Polk, who served as a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary War under Washington, was wounded in the battle of Brandywine and under Gen. Green was wounded in the battle of Eutaw Springs. From Col. Polk was descended Mrs. Susan S. Rayner, of Mineral Wells, Texas,one of the few surviving real daughters of the revolution, and from him also descended President James K. Polk, the Bishop Gen. Leonidas Polk, who was killed at Pine Mountain in command of an army corps in the Confederate army, and also a host of Polks who reside in Middle and West Tennessee.

Lieutenant Horne, when transferred, became a Captain. He died on September 4_, 1903 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where he had gone for the summer on account of hay fever.

After the Civil War, he became the leading farmer of North Georgia, and was prominent in all the affairs of the state.

He leaves a widow and a large family of children. His widow resides at Dalton, Ga. where most of his children reside.

Rapidly the last of us are “Crossing over the river to rest under the shade of the trees:"

(Taken from Dalton, Georgia paper - June 17, 1925)

PIONEER GEORGIA WOMAN DIES

Mrs. Tallulah Johnson Horne daughter of former Governor of Georgia, Herschel V. Johnson, and a relative of President James K. Polk, and herself one of the state's most distinguished women, died at her home in Dalton, Wednesday, June 17th, at the age of 85.

Dalton, Ga., - Funeral services for Mrs. Tallulah Johnson Horne, 85, will be held at the residence here Friday afternoon, at 4 o'clock, conducted by the Rev. C. P. Wilcox of St. Luke's Episcopal church, Atlanta.

The death of Mrs. Horne removes from this community one of its most prominent citizens of distinguished ancestry. She was the widow of Captain Pearce Horne, a gallant officer of the Confederate army, to whom she was married in 1862, coming here soon after their marriage.

Mrs. Horne was the daughter of the Honorable Herschel V. Johnson, former governor of Georgia, United States Senator, member of the Congress of the confederacy, Circuit Court Judge, and the recipient of many other political honors and a candidate for vice-president of the United States on the tickets with Stephen A. Douglas. She was the niece of James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States. She possessed a striking personality and inherited a strong intellectuality from her distinguished ancestors.

She is survived by 5 daughters, 4 sons, 25 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

The family has been the recipient of many messages of condolence from all over the south and other sections of the country, and numerous beautiful floral offerings from sympathetic friends attested the high esteem in which she has held.