Atlanta Garden #9: Handy Andy by Addie
Handy Andy recalls Atlanta's Civil War mayor James Calhoun, remembered for his leadership in a number of the city's trying situations, such as enemy occupation, giant conflagrations, refugeeing citizens, etc.
James Montgomery Calhoun (1811-1875)
Jeanne's doing two sets.
Calhoun was considered a moderate and a Unionist in a Secession-determined city. But once war began and the ranks of Democrats joined the Confederate Army James won enough mayoral votes to be elected to four one-year terms from 1862 through 1866.
Atlanta, September, 1864 before the fires and destruction
Handy Andy by Becky Collis
In June, 1864 as Union troops grew closer, James Calhoun sent his family 65 miles south to Thomaston and gave the Calhoun slaves a choice. Twenty accompanied his wife Amelia Arnold Hightower Holt Calhoun to Thomaston; thirty people set off on their own to await Union liberation.
"Such excitement there was."
Carrie's diary
James Calhoun and a group of city leaders, including Uncle William Markham, found Union Colonel John Coburn marching into town on Marietta Street and formally handed over the city.
The Mayor recalled saying: "Colonel Coburn, the fortune of war has placed Atlanta in your hands. As Mayor of the City I come to ask your protection for noncombatants and for private property," protection Sherman's Army refused to insure.
Handy Andy by Becky Brown
Her I Spy center here is a puppy.
Did the occupying officers contact their Atlanta spies? Carrie's Auntie seems to have welcomed the Union officer who spent the night, perhaps someone they had been communicating with in the weeks leading up to the surrender.
The Block
Handy Andy by Jeanne Arnieri
Handy Andy, About 1910
Ruth Finley in her 1929 book called this block Handy Andy.
It uses same pieces as #7 Grandmother's Favorite with
the half-square triangle units arranged differently.
Above the cutting
instructions for 10" and 15" blocks.
Lydia Ann Good Baker of Pulaski County, Indiana
made this version in the 20th century, recorded by the Indiana
project and the Quilt Index.
And the Michigan project photographed a late 20th-century version.
The mayor's wife Amelia is associated with this Irish Chain.
Irish Chain quilt (84" x 97") in the collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
(MESDA), attributed to Amelia Arnold Hightower Holt Calhoun (1811-1889) of Georgia.
https://mesda.org/item/collections/quilt/2412/
war.. Darn that AI-
See more about Amelia and the quilt here:
Becky Collis's, quilted bound and hanging on the wall
Three more blocks to go.
3 comments:
What a pretty quilt block. Thank you again for all of the history that you impart along with the quilt blocks.
Danice, always glad to hear from you!
Calhoun had 50 slaves, wow, obviously he wasn't one of the Whigs even "inconsistently opposed" to slavery. One wonders, with his northern/union sympathies, what he saw his fate however the war ended. Seems like a whatever way the winds blows sort of politician. Interesting history as always, thank you.
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