(June 2008) Enlarge St. Stephen�s Episcopal Church (1841)
 
Richard Edling photo

(June 2008) Enlarge St. Stephen�s Episcopal Church (1841). The church suffered considerable abuse during Sherman�s occupation. While it was used to quarter Federal horses, soldiers poured molasses into the pipe organ to �sweeten� the sound. The original roof was damaged when the state magazine was exploded. A new organ was donated in 1909 by New Yorker George W. Perkins, who had heard about the damage wreaked by Sherman's troops
 
Richard Edling photo

(June 2008) Enlarge The Old State Capitol, the site of the famous Secession Convention, is considered the oldest public building in the U.S. built in Gothic Style. It served as the seat of Government of the State of Georgia from 1803-63, and was twice partially destroyed by fire. Restored in 1943, the exterior of the present building is a replica of the original. The beautiful Gothic gates at the north and south entrances to the square were constructed in the 1860s, after the Civil War, of bricks from the arsenal and magazine destroyed by Sherman's soldiers. Today the old state capitol is used by Georgia Military College. The Secession Convention convened here Jan. 16, 1861, and three days later passed the Secession Act by a vote of 208-89. However, three years later, visiting Yankees repealed the secession ordinance in a mock legislative session, featuring drunken and rowdy soldiers. Gen. W.T. Sherman's men did less damage to the town than what was probably expected by Georgians at the time. His provost guard, which camped out on the statehouse square, burned the brick State Arsenal on the North side, and exploded the brick magazine on the opposite side. Churches were damaged, as was the interior of the statehouse and the state library. Sherman burned the State Penitentiary where Georgia College is located today, but spared two large cotton warehouses, a textile factory, a flourmill and a foundry reportedly because they were owned by Northerners or foreigners
 
Richard Edling photo

(June 2008) Enlarge 1864 bridge piers on the Oconee River, near Milledgeville
 
Richard Edling photo