From Bleeding Kansas to family feuds

How did the Border War in Kansas have an effect upon Northwest Georgia? From 1855 till 1859, when Federal troops finally stopped the bloodshed along the Missouri-Kansas Border, it was a bloody place to be living. The Kansas-Nebraska Act had declared that by popular vote the residents of Kansas could decide if the state would enter the Union as a Free State or a Slave State. This caused a debate that went from the Halls of Congress through the entire country. Both sides then began sending in settlers.

But then along came John Brown, whose men hacked up five pro-slavery men with broadswords, and the shooting war was on.

Meanwhile, back in Cass County, we have two families that have drawn their line in the sand. Dr. Thomas Hamelton, an eminent physician and scholar, stood far above the average of his class. His sons were Charles A. Hamelton, George P. Hamelton, and Algernon S. Hamelton. The good doctor was of the “States Rights” party and was a “Fire eater” of the first class, as were his sons. Dr. Hamelton had already donated a $1,000 to the pro-slave forces in Kansas in hopes of making it a slave state.

The other family was the Johnsons. Col. Lindsey Johnson was the “Union” candidate, who like Dr. Hamelton, was a rich and powerful man in the community. He had two sons, Bill and Jeff.

There was an election at a States’ Convention. Dr. Hamelton was the “States’ Rights” candidate, and Col. Johnson was the “Union” candidate. They met in Adairsville to debate the issues.

Jeff Johnson had said something derogatory about Dr. Hamelton, and Charles had in turn made a remark about Jeff. On the day of the debate, they had no sooner

arrived when Jeff knocked Charlie head over heels off a high porch. Hamelton arose with a pistol in hand. Johnson (noted for being a good shot) drew his also. Hamelton fired first and shot Jeff Johnson through the groin. George P. Hamelton, who was off to one side about 50 yards away, drew his pistol and fired five times, three times at Jeff and twice at Bill. He hit no one. While George P. was firing, Charlie was prevented by one or two people from firing a second shot at Jeff. When George ran out of bullets, and Charlie was being held back by friends, Jeff shot Charlie through the left breast. The shot whirled Hamelton around and Jeff shot him in the back, with the bullet exiting the right breast, causing Hamelton to fall. As he fell to his knees, with his rump in the air, Jeff shot him again, this time the bullet tore along his back.

Jeff turned around and saw George P. Hamelton charging at him with a long dirk. He shot George P. in the hip, spinning him around, and then fired his last round, hitting George again in the hip, knocking him to the ground.

There they lay, Johnson and two Hameltons, all badly wounded, and as a dozen doctors at the scene said, fatally wounded. Unfortunately for the world and the peace of society, all three got well.

But it ain’t over. Dr. Hamelton then challenges Col. Johnson to a duel, which he accepts, and chooses broadswords. Dr. Hamelton refused to fight with an “unusual weapon” with his being 40 pounds lighter than the colonel’s. So the doctor had the Johnsons indicted for “an aggravated riot,” which was a penitentiary offense.

Rome attorney John H. Rice, later to become a judge, defended the Johnsons and won the case. I think it was strange that the citizens carried the jurors out of the courtroom on their shoulders and marched them around the public square. The Hameltons got out of sight fast.

The good doctor died before the war and is buried in Rome’s Myrtle Hill Cemetery. The Hamelton boys all went to Texas, and then got involved in the Missouri-Kansas Border War. Charles Hamelton became the leader of a band of pro-slave southerners from the Deep South. They were involved in many raids and murders, but on the 19th of May, 1858, Charles Hamelton led the raid on what was to become known as the “Marais des Cygnes” massacre, where Free State and Union men were marched out of town, lined up in a ditch and murdered. Fortunately, all that were shot didn’t die, but a lot did.

This would be the last major event of the “Kansas War.” After this event the Hameltons went back to Texas. In 1861 Charles raised a company and fought throughout the war with Lee in Virginia. His younger brother, Algernon, was killed in one of the battles in that state. George P. followed his father’s profession and became a physician, settling in Mississippi and practicing medicine till he died. Charles came back to Georgia and settled in Jones County, which had been his father’s home county. Charles died in the late 1870s.

After the war, Bill Johnson got into an argument in Rome with Bill Arp (this was the real Bill Arp, not Charles Smith, who wrote under that name). Johnson invited him into the street. Arp replied that he didn’t wish to fight and didn’t have a gun. Bill Johnson laid one on the bar and said he was going out and cross the street, if Arp didn’t come out he was going to come back in the bar and kill him. Arp waited a few minutes, picked up the gun, walked outside and shot Bill Johnson. Passersby carried him to the “Choice House” where he died the following week.

Jeff moved to Chattooga County, married and had four sons and a daughter. He had the reputation of being the meanest man in the county. He became embroiled in another family feud. This time it was the Weaver family, across the state line near Gaylesville. How the feud came about and ended is a book long story. But we can say that Jeff was involved in a killing on the downtown streets of Summerville, and not to long afterward he was heading to his home near Chattoogaville. His driver stopped and let the horse drink at the creek in Lyerly. About 50 yards past the creek, gunmen stepped into the road and shotgunned Jeff and his driver to death. It was never investigated, seems like the county just said good riddance.