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History of Gilmer County"By 1830, the Cherokee Nation consisted of most of northwest Georgia, plus adjoining areas in Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Even while Cherokee Indians remained on their homeland in Georgia, the General Assembly on Dec. 21, 1830 enacted legislation claiming "all the Territory within the limits of Georgia, and now in the occupancy of the Cherokee tribe of Indians; and all other unlocated lands within the limits of this State, claimed as Creek land" (Ga. Laws 1830, p. 127). The act also provided for surveying the Cherokee lands in Georgia; dividing them into sections, districts, and land lots; and authorizing a lottery to distribute the land. On Dec. 26, 1831, the legislature designated all land in Georgia that lay west of the Chattahoochee River and north of Carroll county as "Cherokee County" and provided for its organization (Ga. Laws 1831, p. 74). However, the new county was not able to function as a county because of its size and the fact that Cherokee Indians still occupied portions of the land. On Dec. 3, 1832, the legislature added areas of Habersham and Hall counties to Cherokee County, and then divided the entire area into nine new counties -- Cass (later renamed Bartow), Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, and Union -- plus a reconstituted and much smaller Cherokee County. Cherokee lands were distributed to whites in a land lottery, but the legislature temporarily prohibited whites from taking possession of lots on which Cherokees still lived. By 1833, however, whites began occupying areas of Gilmer County." Cite: Historical Atlas of Georgia Counties
Original Cherokee settlements were Board Town (on the upper Ellijay River), Mountain Town, Turnip Town (now White Path), Cartecay, and Cherry Log. Within the community of Ellijay, the Ellijay and Cartecay Rivers come together to form the Coosawattee River. The county seat of Gilmer County is Ellijay. The county now has one additional incorporated community, East Ellijay. Other communities in Gilmer County include Mountaintown, Boardtown, Cartecay, and Cherry Log. The Cherokee Homelands
"3d. The THIRD DISTRICT, shall be called by the name of COOSAWATEE, and bounded as follows; beginning at the widow Fool's Ferry on the Oostannallah river, where the Alabama road crosses it, along said wagon road eastwardly; leading towards Etowah town to a large creek above Thomas Pettit's plantation, near to the Sixes, and up said creek, north eastward, to its source; thence a straight course to the head of Talloney creek, up which the Federal road leads, thence a straight course to the head source of Potatoe Mine creek ; thence a straight course to the head of Clapboard creek ; thence a straight course to the most southern head source of Cannasawgee river ; thence a northwestern course to Cannasawgee river and to strike opposite to the mouth of Sugar creek into the Cannasawgee river, and to be bounded by the first and second Districts. " The Civil War
Most of the settlers in the Gilmer County area became small yeoman farmers. There were few slaveholders in the area. In early tax records, Gilmer is shown to have been the poorest county in the state. With the relative natural geographic isolationism of the mountains, folks in this area did not originally buy into the 'Glorious Cause' of the Civil War quite like the wealthy plantation owners of the southern part of the state. Even though Georgia was part of the Confederate States of America, researchers should consider that their ancestors may have opted to fight for the Union. "Disaffection [with the Civil War] in Georgia was of considerable extent; as already noted, the Peace Society existed in West Georgia and was in communication with the peace organization in Alabama. Either this order or the Order of the Heroes of America, which had a large membership in North Carolina and Tennessee just across the Georgia line, or perhaps both organizations, existed also in North Georgia. As has already been stated, there was much opposition to secession in this section of Georgia in 1861, and disaffection toward the Confederacy was manifested from the beginning. In Green, Sumter, Milton, Troup, Pickens, Fannin, Lumpkin, Newton, Rabun, Union, Gilmer, and practically all of the other mountain counties which had bitterly opposed separation in 1861, the Union sentiment remained strong and many refused to lower the Stars and Stripes after the ordinance of secession was passed. " Disloyalty in the Confederacy "At first the promise of gold brought a rapid influx of settlers to upcountry Georgia. Small villages sprang up and gave the appearance that more development was only a matter of time. However, these towns proved to be only gold mining boom towns, and most people who inhabited them during the gold rush years were there for the promise of quick wealth. When the gold played out, most of these people went on to the next strike. Those who stayed or arrived after the gold strike would call the Upcountry home and make their living as farmers, not goldminers. Upcountry counties were small. The mountains isolated people from one another; with inadequate roads and dense wilderness, few people traveled far to court and other community functions. Parts of the Upcountry were isolated from Georgia itself. The Upcountry was Georgia's last frontier, a region very different from the plantation belt and the yeoman farms of southeast Georgia. " "Soldiers wrote home to their families and government to express their anxieties over bands of armed soldiers and deserters roaming the mountain counties and preying on the citizenry. The first indications of the problem came from citizens in Whitfield and Gilmer Counties in December 1862. A "Minister of Gospel, Whitfield County," described a local band of partisan rangers who roamed the county, taking horses and stealing corn. "Can there be no relief granted to us Can you not form us a home protection for our wives and children Wee look to you for protection will you grant it to us We must have help or our country is ruined." Later that month, a captain from Gilmer County asked Governor Brown for permission to form a local unit to protect the citizens from wandering bands of deserters who had taken up quarters in the mountains. " "With conditions at home and at the front building to a breaking point, the next phase of the mutiny was the collective act of insubordination. The method employed by the mutineers was simple. Using the cover of darkness or the opportunity afforded by scouting or picket duty, Georgia Upcountry soldiers crossed into the Union lines, surrendered themselves, and took the oath of allegiance to the United States. Not every soldier who tried this succeeded, but as Union records prove, a substantial number successfully negotiated the trip. " "The size of the desertion problem provides some indication of collective action; however, it is not the only factor that supports the assertion that the desertions were a group reaction. Because Civil War armies recruited locally, and regiments were formed from companies of men assembled from the same or nearby counties, the soldiers shared communal roots prior to the war that carried over into the army. The fact that so many of these men were from the same mountain region indicates a shared culture and economic conditions that provided a common motive for deserting. A close examination of the individual units shows that desertion occurred not only along county lines but along regimental lines, as well. Of the twenty-one units with the largest numbers of deserters to the enemy, nineteen were from the Army of Tennessee. The companies that formed these regiments were made up of Upcountry Georgians. For example, the First, Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Georgia were heavily manned by Upcountry Georgians. The Thirty-Ninth Georgia was made up entirely of men from Murray, Whitfield, Dade, Walker, Chattooga, and Gilmer Counties. " A Higher Duty: Desertion among Georgia Troops during the Civil War. Moonshiners and Revenuers
"In Gilmer County, Georgia, Deputy Marshal Charles Blacker and a fourman military detachment captured a still-house and four local men they found inside. Private O'Grady was stationed outside to halt anyone approaching. According to the army's report of the incident, two men did approach, whom O'Grady challenged three times. The trooper said that one, later identified as John Emory, an old man who owned the still, drew a pistol and fired. O'Grady said that Emory shouted, "Take that you Yankee son of a bitch." Fortunately for the soldier, only the percussion cap exploded. O'Grady shot back, wounding Emory, who was later found dead. Emory's friends had a quite different version of the episode. They said that "Emory was merely trying to find out why the four men were arrested when O'Grady shot him without warning. O'Grady and two other soldiers, they said, then hid the body in a nearby creek bed, covering it partially with brush. Emory's wife found it the next morning. The county coroner testified that Emory's wound was fatal and that he must have fallen immediately. Bloodstains and beaten-down grass indicated that the troopers had dragged the body to conceal it. The men may have hidden the body because they were afraid of military discipline, since their commander had cautioned them against shooting except in self-defense. All the soldiers were indicted for murder by the state, but they were released after transfer of the case to the federal court, where a largely black jury declared them not guilty. " Revenuers & Moonshiners: Enforcing Federal Liquor Law in the Mountain South, 1865-1900 After The Railroad...
"Railroads were the key to the South's economic reconstruction. Almost immediately after the war, Georgia legislators allocated large sums -- nearly one million dollars -- to repair the W&A and thereafter launched numerous schemes to promote privately owned railroad companies. A new line connected Dalton to Rome in the early 1870s, and a road from Atlanta reached even mountainous Ellijay, the Gilmer County seat, in the eighties. " Creating the Modern South: Millhands and Managers in Dalton, Georgia, 1884-1984 "Ellijay existed as a remote mountain community until the Marietta and Northern Georgia Railroad (later the L and N) arrived in 1884. This prompted something of a boom in the timber industry, but the area remained relatively isolated until the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway (Georgia 515) was completed in 1991. The new highway provided easy access from metropolitan Atlanta to the surrounding wilderness areas and made Ellijay a popular destination for nature lovers and sportsmen. Sixty-five percent of Gilmer County is public land, and Ellijay lies at the center of an area dominated by the rugged Cohutta Chattahoochee National Forest Mountains and Rich Mountain Wilderness (both in the vast Chattahoochee National Forest) and Carters Lake, which boasts the deepest man-made lake east of the Mississippi River. " The New Georgia Encyclopedia [online] The Textile Mills
"A Georgia textile mill song recalled the fact that women and children constituted most of the work force in many mills, and not all women were satisfied with their circumstances."
Dixie's Forgotten People: The South's Poor Whites |
© 2005 by the S.C. Rankin and L.W. Geiger ... All rights reserved
County Co-Coordinators: L.W. Geiger and S.C. Rankin
Ellijay became the seat of the county government in 1834. It is located on the west bank of the Ellijay River, and was the site of an Indian village and bears an Indian name whose meaning (perhaps) meaning "place of green things" or "fresh green vegetation" place. When the Cherokee people called this land home, Ellijay was located in an area that is referred to as Middle Settlements. 
An interesting description of this area prior to the Cherokee Removal period (known as the "Trail of Tears"), may be found in this document signed by Chief R. Hicks of the Cherokee Nation, called "
The era of Reconstruction brought new violence and confrontation to the North Georgia area. Violent confrontations between soldiers and moonshiners were rare, but they did occur. 
"During the decades following the Civil War poverty became institutionalized for Southern poor whites. They now produced products within the economic system, but this did not improve either their economic condition or their standing within the community. Those who remained on the land were plagued by one-crop agriculture, sagging cotton prices, and poor health, all of which hastened their slide into tenancy. Thousands sought a better life in coal camps and mill villages, but they improved their lot only marginally if at all. "