The Story of Josiah Sibley (1809-1888)

Barrycdog

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The Story of Josiah Sibley (1809-1888)

A prosperous cotton merchant from Augusta, Sibley was a well known capitalist throughout the south. He was also the director of several railroads. In fact he was one of the founders of the Western and Atlantic railroad, the tracks of which ran right by the house and for which Atlantic Avenue is named. During the war, he shipped cotton to England using blockade runners. Mr. Sibley went on to make another fortune running railroads, banks, and mills during the reconstruction period after the civil war ended.

Josiah Sibley moved to Georgia in 1821 at the age of 13 and went into business with his brothers buying and selling anything they could make a profit from. Over time, Josiah assumed sole control of the company they founded. At the outbreak of war, in 1861, Josiah Sibley, along with many other merchants, started buying and stockpiling huge amounts of flour, lard, and other commodities. This mercantile practice contributed to drying up supplies of these goods, resulting in the prices going sky high. He then resold the goods from his warehouses for a huge profit. Publicly, Josiah Sibley wasn't a very popular figure.

Josiah’s second wife, Emma Eve Longstreet, was the first cousin of Confederate General James Longstreet. All five of Josiah’s sons enlisted in the confederate army at the outbreak of the civil war. One of them died after being wounded in 1864.

By 1863, Sibley had prospered enough to purchase the Gardner-Sibley house as a “summer home.” Marietta at the time was considered a resort town. A place where the southern elite congregated to spend leisurely summer evenings far removed from the front lines of the war raging between the states. The family affectionately dubbed it “Cottage Hill.”

War Comes to Marietta

In 1864, Union General Sherman and the Army of the Cumberland invaded Georgia. One of the infamous fights that occurred during this campaign was the confederate victory on Kennesaw Mountain. Despite winning the battle, the union army outmaneuvered General Johnston’s outnumbered confederates, pushing them back to the Chattahoochee River. In late June, 1864, General Sherman’s army occupied Marietta and burned it to the ground.

The Gardner-Sibley home is within direct visual sight of Kennesaw Mountain. There were stories in the Sibley Family of the home being “battle scarred” after the war. And there is another reference to the home having taken damage from shellfire during the fighting around Marietta.

The Home Miraculously Escaped Destruction

It makes sense that General Johnston’s confederate army would have avoided destroying the home as they retreated, as was their practice. Josiah Sibley was wealthy, politically well-connected, and married to General Longstreet’s cousin.

One of the rumours about the Gardner-Sibley House is that it was spared the torch by General Sherman’s troops because a british or US flag was hanging and an englishman was living there (who later committed suicide). With five sons in the confederate army, and being extremely proud of their heritage, I really find the story of a british or US flag hanging out the window to be a stretch of the truth. Perhaps it was a story invented after the war by the poorer citizens and slaves that had seen their homes burned and lives destroyed while the rich powerful merchant’s summer home remained standing. I can find no contemporary sources that give any credit to the flag story. Even General Sherman’s memoirs of the Atlanta Campaign make no mention of the incident, which would be extremely unusual given the level of detail Sherman’s writing contains. The earliest mention of the story I can find is in the caption of a snapshot taken in 1942. In some versions, it is a US flag, in others, a british flag. There are also no documented suicides which have occurred in this location that I have been able to locate.It also doesn’t make sense that an englishman would be residing in the Sibley family’s vacation house.

Did a Former Slave Save the Home?

Josiah Sibley was a slave owner. There were several instances of his slaves gaining their freedom. One of Josiah’s former slaves, Seaborn Evans, was granted freedom by Mr. Sibley and became one of the first Liberian colonists in Africa. The two seemed to be very friendly, and went as far as to correspond with each other for several years after Evans gained his freedom.

Jacob Reiley, General Sherman’s cook during the campaign, was a former slave that was owned by Josiah Sibley. It is a very real possibility that Mr. Reiley was present at Cottage Hill that summer and gained his freedom when the union army took control of the area. Is it possible that General Sherman’s cook may have helped spare this home from the torch? Seaborn Green, the former slave that immigrated to Liberia, continued on friendly terms with the Sibley family after gaining his freedom. Is it possible that that Mr. Reiley felt the same way? Mr. Reiley would have been one of the tens of thousands of former slaves following the union army through Georgia. Jacob’s service records indicate that he was finally able to officially enlist in the US Army on January 11th, 1865, after Sherman’s army reached Savannah.

The Sherman and Longstreet Connection

Sherman graduated West Point in 1840, Longstreet in 1842, and by all accounts Longstreet was extremely popular, well known, and well liked by his classmates. Sherman and Longstreet also served together during the Mexican American war in 1846. Could General Sherman, out of professional courtesy or some type of friendship, have spared the home due to its family connection with General Longstreet?

Was Josiah Sibley a Union Spy?

There’s also a slim chance that Mr. Sibley may have been involved in espionage activity. Spies were not an uncommon phenomenon during the War between the States. Josiah was born in New England, most of his family lived there, he came from a long line of patriots, and voted against secession in 1861. Could anti-confederate activities be the reason his home was spared? or just a Union sympathizer status could have saved it.

Defensive Position

Given the home’s proximity to the railroad line, I think it is probable that the house was simply used by union soldiers guarding the rail line as a bivouac or defensive position and then abandoned. Its location on the hill would make sense for it to make the perfect lookout/defensive position. Threats to the railroad prior to the capture of Atlanta were a real concern. Prior to Sherman beginning his “March to the Sea” and living off the land, the railroad was the union army’s lifeline. The railroad was extremely vulnerable to confederate cavalry raids and was well defended. Soldiers, given a preference, would prefer to sleep indoors than outdoors. I think this is the most likely scenario.

This is all purely speculative as to why this house was spared while the majority of the rest of Marietta and Smyrna were burned. At this point, with no eyewitness accounts, the details are lost to history.

A Long Life

By financial standards, Josiah Sibley certainly came out ahead at the end of the Civil War. Although the south’s economy was destroyed, Mr. Sibley was in the position to invest money in rebuilding it. In the end, he had 14 children altogether.

After Josiah died in 1888, at the age of 80, his large family continued to enjoy Cottage Hill as a summer getaway.

The property would stay in the Sibley family until 1941. The federal government condemned the property to incorporate it into the air force base at the outbreak of World War 2 and the property became Bell Bomber Plant (later Lockheed)

The house sits on a hill overlooking Atlantic Avenue, near the intersection of Atlanta Rd. and S. Cobb Drive. It sits behind a barb wire fence, keeping away the curious. The weeds and trees are overgrown. Lonely, unloved, and in disrepair. The memory of happy summers and laughing families have been long forgotten.

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