History of Columbus, (Muscogee County) Georgia United States of America

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Biographies:

Jesse H. Campbell, clergyman, was born in McIntosh county, Ga., Feb. 10, 1807, son of Jesse H. Campbell. He was educated at Sunbury under a private tutor, and at the University of Georgia. He began to preach at the age of seventeen, and was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1830. He preached at Macon, Ga., and later at various places throughout the south. For five years he was the agent for foreign missions in Georgia, and afterwards became an evangelist for the state at large. During the civil war he was a voluntary missionary in the army. He was a member of the board of trustees of Mercer university, and was instrumental in establishing colleges for women at Lumpkin and Cuthbert, and the Georgia deaf and dumb institution at Cave Spring. He is the author of Georgia Baptists: Historical and Biographical. He died at Columbus, Ga., April 16, 1888.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Sutton Selwyn Scott, author, was born in Huntsville, Ala., Nov. 26, 1829; son of James Greene and Ann (Biddle) Scott; grandson of John or Ijohn Scott, great-grandson of John or Ijohn Scott, who emigrated to this country from Scotland, and settled on a plantation in Dinwiddie county, Va., near the line separating it from Brunswick county. He was graduated from East Tennessee university (University of Tennessee), A.B., 1850; began the practice of law at Huntsville, Ala., about the year 1855; was a member of the state legislature from Madison county, 1857?58 and 1859?60; was elected at the latter session of that body a trustee of the University of Alabama; was one of the committee appointed by Gov. A. B. Moore of Alabama to meet Mr. Davis, the Confederate president-elect, at West Point, Ga., Feb. 16. 1861, and escort him to his inauguration at Montgomery; and served as Confederate commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1863 to the close of the war. He was married at Columbus, Ga., Nov. 10, 1864, to Loula Marie, daughter of William and Polly (Bass) Hurt of Russell county, Ala. He settled upon his plantation near Uchee, Ala., 1865, and after that time was mainly engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a delegate to the Alabama constitutional convention, 1875; to the Democratic national convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, 1880; a member of the state legislature from Russell county, 1884 and 1890; U.S. commissioner to adjudicate claims in New Mexico and Colorado, 1885?87, and chairman of the commission to the Indians of Utah, 1894?96. He is the author of: Southbooke-Southern Tales and Sketches (1880); The Mobilians, or Talks about the South (1897); and contributions to numerous periodicals. In 1903 he was residing in Auburn, Ala.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Dudley Chipley, railway manager, was born at Columbus, Ga., in 1840; son of Dr. William S. Chipley, and a grandson of Rev. Stephen Chipley, both natives of Lexington, Ky. He was educated at the Kentucky military institute, near Frankfort, and at Transylvania university, Lexington. When the civil war began he enlisted in the Confederate army as sergeant-major of the 9th Kentucky regiment, was afterwards made adjutant and was appointed as the officer to collect and formulate the record of the Kentucky troops, with rank of captain, which work he performed without neglecting his duties in the field, but the records were burned at Augusta, Ga. He was wounded at Shiloh and again at Chickamauga. After the war he settled at Columbus, Ga., became prominent in the city government and projected and commenced the construction of the Columbus and Rome railroad. Subsequently he took charge of the southern interest of the Baltimore and Ohio and Virginia Midland roads, and in December, 1876, he became general manager of the Pensacola railroad. He also established a steamship line to Havana, and another to Cedar Keys. He left those roads to become superintendent of the Mobile and Montgomery railroad, together with the leased line from Montgomery to Selma, and at the same time bought the Columbus and Rome road. In 1881 he resigned all other interests to build the Pensacola and Atlantic road, which he had projected and chartered, and of which he became vice-president. He was mayor of Pensacola three years, resigning in his fourth term. He was also chairman of the Democratic committee and represented Escambia county in the state senate. He was a candidate for the U. S. senate in 1897, and after a close and exciting contest his opponent was declared elected. He was a founder of the Florida Chautauqua and its home, De Funiak Springs, Walton county, Fla. He died in Washington, D. C., Dec. 1, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Milton Smith, governor of Georgia, was born in Twiggs county, Ga., Oct. 24, 1823. He learned the blacksmith's trade, attended Culloden Academy, Munroe county, Ga., and in 1846 was admitted to the Columbus bar, where he settled in practice. He served in the Confederate States army as major, 13th Georgia infantry, and was promoted colonel in 1862. He fought in the Army of Northern Virginia, under Lee, and was badly wounded at Cold Harbor. He was a representative from Georgia, in the 2d Confederate States congress, from Feb. 22, 1864, to the close of the session. He returned to the practice of law, and was a representative in the Georgia legislature, and speaker of the house, in 1870. He was governor of Georgia, as successor to Rufus B. Bullock, who resigned in November, 1870, having been chosen by special election, ordered by the legislature, held Dec. 3, 1871, and was re-elected in 1872, serving, 1872?76, and declining a renomination, in 1876. He died at Columbus, Ga., Nov. 25, 1890.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor