SavingTara

09/01/2024

Tonight, August 31, 1864 the Confederate Army in Jonesboro under General Hardee is frantically digging entrenchments and positioning their lines to hold out against the mass of blue that will surely attack the next day. Make no mistake both sides know how many troops the other side has on the field.

General Sherman, headquartered at Renfroe plantation at 138 and 85 Hwy has heard from his scouts that prisoners report no more than 25,000 in Gray while captured Federals tell their Confederate captors that three corps numbering 60,000+ are converging on Jonesboros center. The only folks that are clueless as to the situation is Confederate Commanding General John Bell Hood in Atlanta and Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond Va. Believing the Federals are trying to slip into Atlanta from the south Hood orders half of the southern army in Jonesboro to march north up the rail line toward Atlanta. Now, Hardee’s Army in Jonesboro numbers less than 15,000.

It is said that as SD Lees men prepared to march north they each slipped out of line and left their extra ammunition behind with those filling the thin line that hoped to halt the coming assault.

On September 1,1864 Northern General Sherman orders Stanleys XIV Corp to move south down Jonesboro Road, Logan’s XV Corp to move east to assault the curved line around the Warren House and Blair’s XVII Corp to move east thru the area in a line stretching from the old Lee Street Elementary, south to College Street.

When the attack started at 4:00 PM, Confederate rifle and cannon fire cut down whole companies of men. But they continued to charge forward in a mass that a Texas soldier said was like a cattle stampede. The overwhelming numbers of Federals charging with bayonets allowed them to over run the yard around the Warren House and creating a hand to hand fight that one officer described as “dreadful”. As Absalom Baird led his men into the yard they were met with Confederate bayonets and one of his men yelled out, “surrender you damn Rebels” and the response was, “to hell you say”. Baird said men in blue and gray “squared off” using the bayonet drill they had both learned (from a book written before the war).

In the yard of the Warren House Kentucky citizens in Yankee blue met Kentucky citizens in Gray and they killed one another with anything they could find. Confederate General Govan was captured along with 600 of his men ONLY after the northern troops grabbed him and held him down. Nearby a Confederate officer was heard to scream, “never give up, never give up” as his Yankee counter part yelled, “follow me lads, Michigan forever”!

General Sherman, watching the battle from the west began, “dancing a jig” and shouting, “by God we’re rolling them up like a sheet of paper”.
But as the Union broke thru in the Warren House Yard, Carters southern troops were hurried from the far left of the line and they, “came running” to fill the gap. Meanwhile Cleburnes troops commanded by Hiram Granbury and General Lewis, “refused the line” swinging like a set of doors and firing into the path that the Yankees were charging thru. This re-established the line and the fight was halted by the darkness.

Haddees command withdrew south at night fall linking up with Hood at Lovejoy. The next morning September 2, 1864 the mayor and city council will surrender Atlanta to Sherman’s scouts.

Four more Medals of Honor will be awarded to Union soldiers in the fight around the Warren House (making a total of six). Hood will blame the loss of Atlanta on General Hardee and the (according to Hood) lack of fight in the Confederates at Jonesboro.

I’ll see y’all on the off ramp.

08/31/2024

On this day, August 31, 1864, the citizens of Jonesboro (no more than 500) awoke to find 25,000 Union soldiers eating breakfast entrenched along a battle line west of Jonesboro on the high ground.

A mile to the east, in the town itself, 25,000 Confederates under General Hardee were preparing their attack. The plan was for Confederate General Cleburnes command on the left to attack the Federal right near the Flint River Road and turn their flank, while the Confederates under S. D. Lee attacked due west across what is now Hwy 19-41. Standing at the intersection of old Hwy 138 and 19-41 looking west,… Confederate Generals under S. D. Lee were Stevenson on the left of 138, Clayton on the far right near Valley Hill and Patton Anderson in the middle leading their men due west in a long line of death with fixed bayonets.

General Patton Anderson rode ahead of his men into the face of the Federal XV Corp under General John A. (Black Jack) Logan. Logan said he could hear Gen Anderson encouraging his men over the sound of the guns, adding…. “it was a shame he was my enemy, I was so proud of him”.
Anderson was shot in the face but survived to return to his command at the end of the war the following April.

The Federals under Kilpatrick were able to foil the attack by Cleburne and turn their cannons on the Confederate left and break their, “grand assault”…. But not before stubborn Confederates planted their battle flags in the 15th corps earthworks. Soldiers in gray, dying in the hot afternoon sun sought shade under the little cabin that stood across from what is now the Tara Garden Chapel. Many of them carved their names in the sill where they lay as a makeshift headstone.

To the south, Colonel Allen Candler,
former history teacher in Jonesboro lay wounded and waiting for help from the women (his former students) of the Camp plantation to come to his aid. Col Candler would lose his eye and his classroom to become Governor of Ga. in 1898. Hs said he considered himself lucky at the end of war to have, “one wife, one baby, one eye and one silver dollar”!

Nearby Candler lay the Catholic Chaplin, Father Bleimel, of the 10th Tenn. He was killed giving, “Last Rights” to Col Grace of Alabama. They were removed from the field that night and buried in what is now the old Jonesboro Courthouse front lawn. At that time it was the home of Catholic and Confederate Robert Kennedy Holiday, cousin to Margaret Mitchell.
Years later Father Bleimel and Col. Grace will be reinterred in the Confederate Cemetery and later moved to Alabama.

The Confederates, unable to drive the Federals out of Jonesboro retreated into town, placing themselves between the northern troops and the last remaining rail line into Atlanta. Their lines extending only as far south as North Avenue (old 138) and north to the Guy Warren House where the line turns right and crosses the track just below the present city police department headquarters.

The next day, September 1, 1864, Federal troops with a combined force of 75,000 will move west to east in a “grand assault” on the Confederate lines now drawn up in a fishhook. Union Gen Stanley’s IV Corp is moving south down Jonesboro road to meet the Confederates facing north. General Logan’s IV Corp will move due east in a frontal assault on the Confederates facing east while Blair’s XVII Corps cuts the rail lines from the College Street Crossing south. General Sherman will watch the battle from the high ground west of the town.

At the end of the days battle, September 1, 1864 the Union Army had lost less than 200 men while the Confederates had lost close to 4,000. Two Union soldiers were awarded Medals of Honor for their valor on the first day and four more will be awarded to soldiers in blue fighting in the Warren House yard on September 2, 1864.

Near the large center stone in the present day Patrick Cleburne Confederate Cemetery stands a small marker with the name Robert Henry Lindsey of the 4th Kentucky Infantry of the Confederate States. Lindsey was 22 years old when he was killed carrying the colors as part of Cleburnes assault on the Federal flank. He had been sited for his bravery carrying the colors at the battle of Chickamauga and now his bravery was once again on display at the front of the line, resulting in his untimely end.

The Kentucky soldiers in Cleburnes command referred to themselves as, “the Orphans” because their state remained in the Union (although there is a star for Kentucky in the Confederate flag) and so they were without a home,… unable to return to see family and friends while serving in the southern army. Statistically the Orphan Brigade had more casualties than men because they could not go home to recuperate and thus stayed to fight.

One the back side of Lindsey’s stone, the side facing the battle field the last line of text reads, “An orphan still”.

I’ll see y’all on the off ramp!

08/30/2024

By August 30,1864 the civilians of Jonesboro, Georgia had seen war first hand. Only a few weeks earlier, Union General Judson Kilpatrick had sat astride his horse on Jonesboro’s Main Street cursing the Confederates while his men burned the rail lines and ransacked the homes.

Mrs Haines only had time to grab her children and flee as Union troopers rode into her house and up the stairs to the second floor (their sabers scoring the wall along the stairwell). There they dismounted and ransacked the bedrooms, taking the family Bible, Mrs Haines tortoise shell calling card case and the battle worn flag of the Clayton Dragoons (all later returned after being found on the dead bodies of Union soldiers near Lovejoy station).

The troopers then unlimbered an artillery Battery of the Chicago Board of Trade in the Haines front yard (at the current Jonesboro Post Office) and began firing on local militia at the railroad platform (the present Confederate Cemetery). They then moved south to Lovejoy before being driven back to Atlanta by Confederate Cavalry.

Now (August 30, 1864) the Union Army is arriving from Atlanta by the northwest, making a, “grand left wheel” at the Renfroe Plantation (Hwy 85 and 138) and they will dig in on a four mile front. Their northern end will be the Orr Plantation (Stately Oaks original site) and south past the Flint River Road. General Sherman will make his headquarters at Renfroe and report that he can see the church spires in Jonesboro from his position.

Mrs Haines, having survived Kilpatricks attack will now be camping in a ditch along the road south to the Camp Plantation. Southern soldiers marching from Atlanta and moving into Jonesboro from the east will stop by their fire and say hello. One young soldier named Graham promises to write them after the war, “but we never heard from him again and can but assume he sleeps with the dead of Jonesboro”….He does.

The next day, August 31, 1864 Confederate General John Bell Hood in Atlanta will order General Hardee now in Jonesboro to “attack and drive the Federals across the Flint River”. It will be the first of the two day battle that will destroy Jonesboro, seal the back door to Atlanta, open the door for Sherman’s March to the Sea and insure Lincoln’s reelection and the wars end.

And it will leave a trail of stories from Jonesboro to Lovejoy that Atlanta native, Margaret Mitchell will share with the world. The stories that I am driven to tell.

I’ll see y’all on the off ramp.

07/25/2024

Historian Peter Bonner is rebuilding the sprawling movie set, which has been abandoned for 75 years. Let’s hope his vintage Confederate uniform doesn’t get dirty.

07/22/2024

Today Sharon and I had to make a trip to Atlanta and so we stopped for a late lunch at Six Feet Under on Memorial Drive and then a walk thru Oakland Cemetery.

There was a lot of work being done there but we were able to see Kenny Rogers grave near Bobby Jones and check on the garden of stone containing the remains of soldiers involved in the Battle of Atlanta on this day in 1864.

As we passed the old sextons office and bookstore on our way out, we stopped at the grave of Dr. Noel D’Alvigny the only Doctor to stay behind in Atlanta during its burning by Sherman’s army and he is credited with saving the Atlanta Medical College (now Emory University).

Gone With the Wind fans will want to remember him as the model for Dr. Meade.

I’ll see y’all on the off ramp!

05/06/2024

I have a few copies of The Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project. I don’t plan on ordering anymore to autograph and sell so if you’d like one you can go to my savingtara.com website and on the book link there is a button. I’m moving ahead with a new book sharing the true stores in GWTW.

The Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project was the first book I published about the Tara facade. I created the book to prove that Tara was not destroyed in Hollywood nor had it rotted in the barn. That Tara existed and was ready to welcome the world to her door.

When I agreed to take on this project for the Talmadge family my goal was to reassemble the most iconic pieces, put them on display and give tours. By setting up the website and Facebook site I hoped to create interest and build brand. And then by selling books I hoped to pay back everything I bought for the project (I received no funding from Talmadge, State or Local Tourism or rich benefactors it all came out of my pocket).

I’ll see y’all up at the gate.
Peter

05/04/2024

Since I’m no longer working with the museums I’m “rehoming” a lot of my displays.

Many years ago I loaned a pair of children’s boots to the road to Tara museum for their Bonnie Blue Butler display. They had a reproduction of Bonnie’s blue riding habit and the mannequin needed some nice boots,… so I pitched in.

I also loaned them a pair of high top shoes for a child that they displayed with some other items.

Both the boots and shoes are in great condition and could be worn in movies, plays or living history. And the price I’m asking for them is less than what you’d pay for reproductions.

I’ll post photos here but if you are interested let’s talk via messenger and leave this space open for the usual craziness that follows most of my posts.

I’ll be posting more display items but prefer to do it a little at a time. I do accept cash app and Venmo and such and if you are local we can meet up. I will also provide a letter on my business stationary that attests to their use in the GWTW Museum (and I’ll sign it with my real name!) 😉

I have been truly blessed to be giving the opportunity to tell stories for a living and become caretaker of some great items large and small. It’s time to share some of these things so others can enjoy.

I’ll see y’all on the off ramp.

03/04/2024

A few days ago we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the savingtara project. Ten years ago this month I called for volunteers to come to Lovejoy, Ga and help me begin the work needed to clean up, inventory and then assemble the “hero pieces” of the most iconic movie house ever known,… Tara.

The first thing we did was remove the old motorcycles, go carts and general junk that was mixed in, then we took on the task of putting an inventory tag on each piece and posting it to a master list. My plan was to reassemble the pieces of Tara that were seen in close up in the movie and then give guided tours of the site to creat interest and build brand. Tara was tagged when it arrived in Lovejoy in 1980 so we did have a list to help us search and identify pieces but many had been broken apart after so many years.

The Facebook site went to 25000 likes and many people, “met me at the gate” which was the electronic gate that blocked access to the 3500 acre Talmadge property were Tara tested in the old dairy barn. In July of 2019 the Tara facade (the original windows, doors and side porches) was sold as one lot (and Tara’s front doorway sold on another separate lot) on an online auction held by Profiles in History in Callabasas, CA.

The auction house used my descriptions and photos for their catalogue and I was tasked with meeting the movers who arrived first in a small truck but had to return with a large tractor trailer to haul Taras massive front porch roof. During the project I posted many stories and photos at the savingtara.com website and many here also.

I’m glad to see Tara is still popular with groups on the internet, and I hope to update my book of there stories, the battle of Jonesboro AND of course the amazing story of how Tara survived all these years. Thanks for the continued support.

I’ll see y’all up at the gate!

Saving Tara is a Peter Bonner project restoring the famous home from Gone With The Wind - Tara, the source of strength for Scarlett O'Hara

01/15/2024

In recognition of the Rev. M. L. King holiday I’ll not focus on those who have tried to proclaim themselves the new leaders of the civil rights movement while turning our country back to a segregated society based on special privilege for special groups. Kings message of “content of character over color of skin” is both Biblical and logical.

When I used to meet the tour buses at the Jonesboro Depot I could look across the street at a little building where a former slave named Alonzo Herndon cut hair. Years later he moved to Atlanta and thru more hard work and saving he opened The Crystal Palace in the Markham House Hotel where the most important visitors to Atlanta were photographed standing on the balcony just above his double doors. He later got involved in politics, and then insurance, founding the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. He died one of the wealthiest men in America.

Rather than spending his life bemoaning his birth, he learned a trade that gave him a living and a spot in society and from there proved himself in business and the community as he bought real estate and created the life insurance company. Along the way he hired some of the best to help him with his books and taxes.

Our son Jason owns a barber shop (Apache) in Saint Augustine and he often said the story of Herndon and a quote I found gave him the motivation. Herndon said, “I didn’t want to cut hair, but it grows and I figured I’d get lots of repeat business”. Jason has been successful, has a wife and two children and has seen Heendons statement in his daily life.

I have often quoted Galatians 3:28 and I think Rev King would give a loud “amen” to it today….

3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.

I’ll see y’all on the off ramp!

12/20/2023

All of the book orders have gone out! Thanks to all who ordered the books. I do send them with tracking so your order won’t just disappear! If you get your book(s) and you have a problem then send me a message and I’ll take care of it. I don’t have a staff, it’s just me.

But that’s enough business talk.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

The photo is of our tree and our Dickens tree.

Peter

12/16/2023

For those who may now be watching Gone With the Wind and wondering, “was Tara real”… yes, it was. Tara was based on Margaret Mitchell’s great grandfather Fitzgerald’s Plantation and his family was the model for the O’Hara’s. Of course Marge Mitchell described it and Hollywood then made it begged and more opulent.

As for the movie set Tara, it remained on the lot in Hollywood until 1959 when it was dismantled and shipped to Atlanta to be the center piece of a museum. But, a demand from the Mitchell estate (then controlled by Margaret’s brother) that the estate receive 51% of the proceeds of the museum caused the investors to say, “no” and return all the moneys and put Tara in storage where it remained until 1980 when Betty Talmadge bought it and stored it in her barn.

It was there in 2014 when I received the contract from Talmadge to reassemble the hero pieces, build brand, write books and share Taras story on tours and video. That I did as I assembled the most famous pieces. And in 2019 the Tara facade and Taras front doorway were sold by Profiles in History.

I still have a few copies of The Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project if you’d like to see the first photos and information I put out to provide Tara was real and still available for tours.

Simply got to savingtara.com and click on the book link. I’ll receive your payment, sign a book and send it to you. Hurry, I’ll be sending out the last few books over the next couple of days so it has a chance of arriving by Christmas.

I’ll look for you at the gate.

12/11/2023

For anyone interested in The Official Guide to the Saving Tara Project, I have a few books left that I can send out before Christmas. Once they are gone I’ll have to get some from my publisher if there is any left.

I published this book right after the savingtara Facebook was born. A lot of folks contacted me to say they had heard that all of Tara had been burned on the backlot in Hollywood to make way for a new movie. Others were told that Tara still existed as part of other old sets on the Hollywood backlot and still others were told that Tara was a real house in Georgia that no longer existed.

Lester Holt of ABC News caused the biggest uproar when he reported that, “a guy in Georgia (me) had bought an old barn and found Tara in it (I didn’t)”. And since a lot of folks had known of Tara since it showed up in Georgia in 1960, I received a good number of angry messages calling me a liar. In fact, I published a blog post entitled, “I didn’t find it and I don’t own it”… to explain that Tara was still in the Talmadge barn and I had been contracted by Talmadge to build brand, generate interest and bring in tourists.

This book sold many thousands of copies thru bookstores, Amazon, savingtara and the GWTW museums. It is the first book ever published that told Tara’s story, and showed the work being done.

If you’d like a copy (or copies) simply go to www.savingtara.com and clink the book link. I’ll of course sign your book and send it outright away.

I’ll look for you up at the gate!