Charles Wallace Howard was born in 1811 in Savannah, Georgia. After graduating from college he attended seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. He was ordained a Presbyterian minister and, in 1838 traveled to England to research the colonization records for the State of Georgia.
Reverend Charles Howard
In the late 1830s Charles Howard moved to Cass County and bought 800 acres of land north of Kingston and along the Connesaga River. During that time the county lines were redrawn, and Cass County underfoot became Bartow County.
He lived in South Carolina for a time and worked as a pastor at a Huguenot Church before moving to Spring Bank. In 1852, the Howards opened a school on the property that drew students from wealthy families throughout the area.
The Howard family was wealthy, owned slaves, four hundred sheep, horses, employed private nurses, and more. In addition to the school, within one hundred years, he and his family built a giant home, many outbuildings, and even a natural cement factory with dual lime kilns.
During the Civil War, Charles was a confederate Captain stationed with Hardee’s Corp at Dalton, Georgia. In the spring of 1864, he announced the retreat of the Confederate Army to his family and headed home. The Confederate soldiers arrived at the Howard plantation, changed clothes, and set up a position a few hundred yards from the house near the railroad tracks.
There was a brief skirmish and the Yankees retreated, regrouped, and attacked the Howard plantation. The Confederates fled south four miles to fight at another property. The fighting resulted in 135 Yankees being killed and 18 taken prisoner. When it was over, many of the Confederates made their way back to the Howard estate. By the next day the Union Army retreated.
Later, the Howard home was broken into by rogue Yankees. Union soldiers stormed the estate, breaking down doors and pillaging each room. Within fifteen minutes they had ruined or stolen many of the items in the house. Some of the men chased the Howard women upstairs. Luckily, an officer arrivec and reprimanded his men. Shortly thereafter, another officer arrived to help clear the house. Later, the officers returned to make a list of the damaged and stolen property to compensate the family.
Lithograph of Spring Bank – Charles Howard’s 800-acre plantation
The next day, a black housekeeper from the land where the battle happened four miles away, told how their property was raided. She had escaped the house and found her way to Union General McPherson. When she described what happened to her stolen items, and how she was hit by the men, General McPhearson made the Union soldiers line up for identification. The housekeeper located the man that stole her master’s watch and demanded it back. Luckily, General McPhearson was just and got her master’s watch back. Instead of hanging him,as punishment, the soldier was forced to walk a great distance and to be placed in a ball and chains.
Over the course of a week, the Yankees would periodically come and stay at the property. Nearly all the Howard’s helpers had fled. All their chickens and most of their supplies had been eaten or used. For the first time in their lives, the Howard daughters had to take up the mantle of their own care.
Over the next weeks, they were repeatedly visited by Union soldiers who used their land for grazing their horses. The women were repeatedly bothered by the enlisted about food. One day the Howard ladies had a discussion with a Union soldier from Kentucky. The soldier asked them how they viewed the Yankees. The Howard women proclaimed they’d rather deal with a dead Yankee, than a live one. In their opinion, Dead Yanks were harmless.
Nearly six months later, Sherman and his men came to Kingston. On November 7, 1864, while there, Sherman received orders from Ulysses S. Grant to march from Atlanta to the Sea. This was a new type of war for the American military, similar to the slash and burn tactics of the Russians.
Harpers Weekly magazine cover showing Union troops in Kingston, GA 1864
The daughter of Charles Howard, Frances Howard, wrote an account of the Civil War events that took place at her plantation titled In and Out of the Lines. It wasn’t published until 1905.
Several members of her family are believed to have inspired the characters for Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, including her sister, Ella, (Nellie in the book) who is thought to
be the inspiration of Scarlet O’ Hara.
Ella Susan Howard (1860)
‘the inspiration for Scarlet O’ Hara’
Howard’s Cement factory 1911
The Cement factory stopped production in 1912 and was closed. Today, there are ruins of the kilns remaining at the former Howard Cement Company, north of Kingston, GA and not far from Spring Bank.
Ruins of the Howard Hydraulic Cement Company
The last daughter and final carrier of their immediate family surname, Sarah W. Howard, died in 1929. In 1974, the Howard plantation home at Spring Bank burned down. Bartow County purchased 40 acres of the former plantation in 1976 and maintains it as a park for the public.
The family cemetery plot is located at the site also. There are eleven memorials located there.
34.258548 - 84.959220 - Coordinates of Kiln
34.25746 – 84.86176 – Coordinates of Spring Bank House
34.25631 – 84.96195 - Coordinates of Howard Family Cemetery
Comments