OFF TO COLLEGE
CHAPTER IV
IN
the fall of 1857, I started from home for Oglethorpe University in Georgia. I took the stage at Gainesville, Alabama, went to Greensboro, then to Selma, crossed the Alabama River just at sunset, and all night long I sat with the driver watching the horses as they moved up and down hill until just at daybreak we rolled into Montgomery. As we came in sight of the city the stage-driver began to blow his horn, the dogs began to bark, and with a few sharp cracks of the long whip the horses struck up a lively gait. Thus we were ushered into the city of Montgomery, Ala.-coming in in style. I felt the impulse of the moment and though I had been jolted and jostled all night, without any sleep, yet I was soon wide-awake and felt the importance of the situation. We pulled up at the Exchange Hotel, my trunk was deposited on the sidewalk and I left standing beside it. What to do next was a puzzling question in my mind just at that time. Day was just breaking and the night air was real chilly, but this being my first experience in traveling, I took a seat on my trunk, not knowing what else to do, and awaited the approach of day. Some of the hotel attaches tried to persuade me to come on the inside, but I pre (Page 34) ferred to remain out on the sidewalk until the sun should appear and give me light enough to see around me. I was shivering with cold before daylight came in full, and I was at last forced to submit and allow my trunk to be deposited with the hotel baggage and myself deposited by a stove in the office. Breakfast came on bye and bye and I was as hungry as a wolf and I am sure no one at that table enjoyed that meal more than I. I inquired about the train, its leaving time for Columbus, Ga., and how I was to get there with my trunk, etc. The kind clerk attended to all these things for me and saw me safely on the "Omnibus" destined for the Western of Ala. R. R. with my trunk checked and sent on to accompany me on the train. This was my first railroad experience. The big engine with its long train of cars puffing and wheezing on the track looked like some huge animal and the whole thing was too big for me to comprehend except by degrees. After riding for hours and hours I began to feel at home and was fixing myself for a nap when there was a mighty rumbling, jerking and a sudden crash, the passengers being hurled here and there, and then a complete stop. Our car had run off the track. Fortunately no one was hurt. We reached Midway, a small station two miles this aide of Milledgeville, Ga. Here I got off and soon found my way to the college grounds. After securing a (Page 35) boarding house where I could eat and sleep, I stood my examination and was placed in the sophomore class. The routine of college life began and I was soon broken in and worked steadily in the harness until the opening of 1861.War clouds were gathering all over the Southland and the mutterings of the thunder could be heard. In the fall and winter of 1860 the whole South was filled with anxiety and excitement. The great presidential election of that year had come off and Mr. Lincoln was the successful candidate. This was the cause of great alarm everywhere in the South as the dread of war filled the minds of every one. My father was a Union man, i.e., opposed to secession, and voted the Bell and Everett ticket. As the weeks passed the excitement became more and more intense, and it soon reached such an alarming extent that even the schools were affected by it. Oglethorpe was no exception. A convention to discuss the situation called to meet in Milledgeville to decide whether or not the state should secede from the Union and cast her lot with South Carolina and other states that had already withdrawn. Oglethorpe being so near the capital I took a deep interest in this movement. Some of the greatest minds in Georgia were to be in this convention, such men as Toombs, Stephens, Hill, Howell, L. R. R. Cobb, and H. R. Jackson. We boys were on tiptoe to see and hear it all. When the day (Page 36) came we were there and were not disappointed in witnessing the grappling of the giants and listening to the flow of eloquence. Hill and Stephens were opposed to secession, but Toombs was boiling hot for it and the crowd seemed to be with him. Probably no more eloquent addresses were ever made than were made on this occasion. The eloquence of Toombs has been compared to the roar of thunder, whilst that of Stephens was as the flash and play of lightning. The entire student body was in a state of utter confusion after this convention. We had been organized into a military company some time previous to this, had elected a captain and other officers of our own number, the Governor had furnished us with guns, and we were in a high state of proficiency in military tactics. Every day some one would tap the college bell and the students would respond promptly. Once assembled they would discuss what we were to do in case of war. There were some very intelligent young men among them and we were often harangued by these, they always advising us to go to the front and spill our life's blood like water for the defense of our state and homes? Some advised that we go on to the front in our then organized condition, with the same officers, guns, etc. But others wished to go home and join some of the home companies, which were being organized everywhere. Our usefulness as college students was (Page 37) at an end. There was no place in our heads for books as they were already filled to overflowing with the war spirit of the times. After thinking over the matter seriously for some time. I finally decided to pack my trunk and take the train for Alabama and if I was to go to the war it should be from my old home and with my old home friends.
Family Record and War Reminiscences
by William Frierson Fulton, Jr.
Livingston, AL, 1919
Transcribed by James W. Martin