Francis S. Bartow

Francis S. Bartow was a prominent Georgia politician, attorney, and military officer who became one of the first senior commanders of the Confederate States Army to be killed in the American Civil War. A fiery secessionist, he served as a delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention and was elected to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States before raising a volunteer regiment. His death at the First Battle of Bull Run cemented his status as an early martyr for the Confederate cause, and his name was subsequently honored by the Confederate government and in Georgia history.

Early life and education

Francis Stebbins Bartow was born on September 6, 1816, in Savannah, Georgia, into a wealthy and established family. He pursued his higher education at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia, graduating in 1835. Demonstrating academic prowess, Bartow then attended Yale Law School, where he studied under legal scholar David Daggett before returning to Savannah to establish his practice.

Legal and political career

Bartow built a successful law practice in Chatham County and entered politics as a member of the Whig Party. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1841 and later served in the Georgia Senate. A staunch advocate for Southern rights, Bartow was a prominent delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention in Milledgeville following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. He was subsequently elected to represent Georgia in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States in Montgomery, Alabama.

American Civil War service

With the outbreak of hostilities, Bartow resigned from the Confederate Congress to raise a military unit, the Oglethorpe Light Infantry. This company became part of the 8th Georgia Infantry Regiment, with Bartow commissioned as its colonel. The regiment was quickly transported to Virginia and attached to the Army of the Shenandoah under General Joseph E. Johnston. At the First Battle of Bull Run, Bartow's Georgians were heavily engaged on Henry House Hill. During a critical charge, he was shot and killed while reportedly rallying his men with the cry, "They have killed me, boys, but never give up the field!"

Death and legacy

Bartow's death on July 21, 1861, made him one of the first, and most noted, Confederate field officers to fall in the war. His body was returned to Savannah and interred with great ceremony at Laurel Grove Cemetery. The Confederate Congress posthumously thanked him for his service, and his name was widely used to inspire Southern recruitment. In 1862, the Confederate government renamed a captured Union warship the CSS ''Bartow''. Several locations, including Bartow County, Georgia, and the city of Bartow, Florida, were named in his honor, cementing his legacy as an early icon of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy.

Personal life

In 1844, Bartow married Louise Berrien, daughter of prominent jurist John MacPherson Berrien. The couple had one son. Bartow was known for his oratorical skills, fervent states' rights beliefs, and deep connections within the political and social elite of antebellum Georgia. His personal papers and correspondence are held by institutions including the Georgia Historical Society and the University of Georgia.

Category:1816 births Category:1861 deaths Category:People from Savannah, Georgia Category:Confederate States Army officers Category:Members of the Confederate States House of Representatives Category:Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Category:People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War Category:Burials at Laurel Grove Cemetery (Savannah, Georgia)