Person:Augustus Burr (2)

From the Macon County, GA, Journal and Messenger:

Nov. 1, 1865 Announce the death of Mr. A. P. BURR, who has for several months past been as associate Editor of this paper, and its principal writer. His death has been very sudden and unexpected. His age was about 48 years, having been born July 29th, 1817 ... was an apprentice in this office in the years 1835, '36 and '37, during which time he served a tour in the Seminole war, under our former associate, Col. I.G. Seymour. He was, after being Editor and proprietor of one or or two papers, foreman of this office for some time. Then Editor in Griffin, Atlanta, Marietta and Albany. Then served in the present war until severely wounded, and compelled to retire to a rural life as a quiet farmer in the vicinity of Griffin.

Here's a clipping dated Macon, 1865, in the Bible of Elam Christian. We can only speculate who wrote the article. Since this is not the obit which ran in the Journal and Messenger, it could have run in the Macon Telegraph. Elam, who was 23 at that time, was city editor of the Telegraph:

Death of A. P. Burr It is our melancholy task to announce the death of A. P. Burr, one of the editors of the Macon Journal and Messenger. He died yesterday afternoon at 1 o'clock, of congestion of the brain, after an illness of twenty-four hours. Mr. Burr had been connected with the journals of Georgia twenty years, and won a reputation as a bold, vigorous, yet chaste and elegant writer. As a man, he was of an impulsive temperament, yet all his acquaintances forgave him that, for his many good qualities of head and heart. In his death, the press of Georgia has lost an able contributor, the community a good citizen, and his family a kind husband and father. To all, we join in expressions of heartfelt sympathy at the loss of him who has fallen in the prime of his life – in the vigor of mankind.

Here's what "A General History of the Burr Family," by Charles Burr Todd, says about Augustus P. Burr:

"Mr. Augustus P. Burr was a prominent editor and man of affairs enjoying the confidence and friendship of the leading men of the day. He was among the first to advocate an independent South and one of the first to take up arms in defence of his ideas. He with his three sons were members of the 5th Georgia Regiment, which command he went through the war, being wounded in the bloody battle of Chicagmauga, Tenn., which would finally retire him from service. He devoted his eneries to the last to upholding his views, and while editing his paper, the Macon Journal and Messenger, in 1865, was arrested and confined by order of Gen. Wilson, then in command of the U.S. troops at Macon, under a frivolous pretext -- the real cause being his refusal to pander to the wishes of Wilson in the editorial management of his paper. When released by order of Wilson's superior, Gen. Steadman, then in command of the State, it was with the injunction to cease editing the paper. The failure of a cause he loved so well, and the humiliation of having to succumb to the inevitable, was too much for him, and he was stricken with paralysis of the brain and died a few weeks after his release, in 1865."

Burr was a Georgia newspaper editor and publisher who died in Macon, GA, in October 1865 after having been jailed by the Union army after he signed an oath of allegiance to the Union at the end of the CW but made light of that signing in his newspaper, the Macon Journal and Messenger. He was born July 29, 1817, so he would have been 48. He married Catharine Beasley Sept. 18, 1839, in Macon. All of this according to "Marriages and Obituaries from the Macon Messenger, 1818-1865" compiled by Willard R. Blocker.

His Nov. 1 obituary, (same source) says: "Announce the death of Mr. A. P. BURR, who has for several months past been associate Editor of this paper, and its principal writer. His death has been very sudden and unexpected. His age was about 48 years, having been born July 29th, 1817 ... was an apprentice in this office in the years 1835, '36 and '37, during which time he served a tour in the Seminole war, under our former associate, Col. I.G. Seymour. He was, after being Editor and proprietor of one or or two papers, foreman of this office for some time. Then Editor in Griffin, Atlanta, Marietta and Albany. Then served in the present war until severely wounded, and compelled to retire to a rural life as a quiet farmer in the vicinity of Griffin."

Enlisted as a private in Company F, 8th Infantry Regiment of Georgia (CSA), on May 22, 1861, and received a disability discharge on August 1, 1861

He enlisted in Co. I, 42nd Infantry Regiment, Georgia, on March 10, 1862 ---Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865 (GARosterC) Published in 1955-58 by Longino and Porter

Promoted to Full Sergeant (1861) Enlisted as private on May 10, 1861 Enlisted in Co. B., 5th Inf., Reg. GA May 10, 1861 disch. furnished substitute on 12 Sept. 1861 Enlisted in Co. B., 5th Inf. Reg. GA May 10, 1863 ---Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865 (GARosterC) Published in 1955-58 by Longino and Porter

From "History of Macon; Georgia," page 302:

"On July 20, 1865, A. P. Burr, editor of the Macon Journal and Messenger, took the prescribed amnestry oath necessary to restore citizenship and recorded in the paper that 'after the performance, we smiled.' For this deed, he was arrested, his office seized, and the publication of his paper stopped."

From Elizabeth "Jane" Milligan Treadway, great-granddaughter of A. P. Burr:

"Re. A. P. Burr: After he took the oath pledging allegiance to the Union of the U. S., he also took a drink of 'Dutch Courage'. After making a derogatory remark, A. P. Burr was imprisoned in the basement of his newspaper office at the corner of Cotton and Poplar Streets, which are still there, in Macon, Ga. The family took his meals to him 3 times a day until his death approximately 3 weeks later. The family thought that his demise was hastened by a fall on the steps while he was imprisoned. His head hit the steps, and he died. The prisoners said he fell, but the family never accepted that explanation. I knew my grandmother until her death in 1936--I was then 16 years old. It is from her, Sophronia Jane, (A.P.'s daughter) that I received this information first hand."

Here's what "A General History of the Burr Family," by Charles Burr Todd, says about Augustus P. Burr:

"Mr. Augustus P. Burr was a prominent editor and man of affairs enjoying the confidence and friendship of the leading men of the day. He was among the first to advocate an independent South and one of the first to take up arms in defence of his ideas. He with his three sons were members of the 5th Georgia Regiment, which command he went through the war, being wounded in the bloody battle of Chicagmauga, Tenn., which would finally retire him from service. He devoted his eneries to the last to upholding his views, and while editing his paper, the Macon Journal and Messenger, in 1865, was arrested and confined by order of Gen. Wilson, then in command of the U.S. troops at Macon, under a frivolous pretext -- the real cause being his refusal to pander to the wishes of Wilson in the editorial management of his paper. When released by order of Wilson's superior, Gen. Steadman, then in command of the State, it was with the injunction to cease editing the paper. The failure of a cause he loved so well, and the humiliation of having to succumb to the inevitable, was too much for him, and he was stricken with paralysis of the brain and died a few weeks after his release, in 1865."

Burr was a Georgia newspaper editor and publisher who died in Macon, GA, in October 1865 after having been jailed by the Union army after he signed an oath of allegiance to the Union at the end of the CW but made light of that signing in his newspaper, the Macon Journal and Messenger. He was born July 29, 1817, so he would have been 48. He married Catherine Beasley Sept. 18, 1839, in Macon. All of this according to "Marriages and Obituaries from the Macon Messenger, 1818-1865" compiled by Willard R. Blocker."