Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 493
stern old warrior -relaxed. In the midst of his pain and anguish a
smile passed over his countenance, and from that moment until the day
of his death he would permit no one except "Mom Sarah" to minister
to his wants.
General Lee's sojourn at Dungeness lasted two months. He breathed
his .last on March 25, 1818, and was laid to rest in Georgia's bosom.
As soon as the fact of his demise was made known, all the vessels in
Cumberland Sound displayed colors at half mast. The funeral was
attended by army and navy officers who were on duty at the mouth of
the St. Mary's River, and by detachments from both wings of the coast
defence. Minute-guns were fired from the flagship—the John Adams—
while the body was being lowered into the tomb and at the close of the
services at the grave, a salute was fired. Nothing was omitted in the
way of formal honors, to show a nation's sorrow for the loss of an illus
trious soldier and patriot. Sometime in the early '30s, two marble
slabs, one to be put at the head and the other at the foot of the grave,
were sent to Dungeness by Major Lee, the old hero's eldest son; and they
were at once placed in position by Mr. Nightingale over the last resting
place of "Light Horse Harry."
Prior to the Civil war, the question of the removal of General Lee's
body to Virginia, the state of his birth, was discussed by the Legislature
in session at Richmond and commissioners to superintend the execution
of the trust were duly .appointed. But the outbreak of hostilities shortly
ensued; and nothing further could be done at this time. For years
.after the war, the state was too harrassed by debt and too exhausted
by the ravages of conflict, to undertake this labor of love. But in 1912
another movement looking toward the transfer of the old soldier's body
to Virginia was successfully launched, and within a few months there
after the remains of "Light-Horse Harry" Lee., after having reposed
for nearly a century in Georgia soil, were taken to Lexington, Virginia,
there to repose in the chapel of Washington and Lee University beside
the ashes of an illustrious son, Robert E. Lee.
Difficulties of various kinds beset the early growth of Franklin Col
lege. But the year 1819 marked a new era in the fortunes of this insti
tution. Dr. Moses Waddell was in the summer of this year called by
the board of trustees to take the presidency of Franklin College. Accept
ing the board's invitation, Doctor Waddell removed at once to Athens, re
linquishing his school in'the upper part of South Carolina. Before com
ing to Athens, he had taught with great success and was considered one
of the foremost educators of his day. His pupils included such men
of eminence as John C. Calhoun, William H. Crawford, George McDuffie,
Hugh S. Legare. Instantly the waning pulse-beat of Franklin College
began to revive. New life was infused into the institution. • Doctor
Waddell reorganized its faculty, raised its curriculum, increased its roll
of students, and made it the crowning glory of a life already illustri
ous with honor and usefulness.
Georgia, as we have already seen, in the experiments of William
Longstreet on the Savannah River, was a pioneer in applying steam as a