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Civil WarReconstruction & Gilded Age

The Archibald Howell Home

Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia

Marker Inscription

The Archibald Howell Home. Here, in the spring of 1865, Gen. Henry M. Judah had his headquarters and saw evidence which helped him make a decision of much importance to local people. Since no crops had been grown here on the battlefields in 1864 and, as the surrender had paralyzed economy and government, local people lacked foods, funds and employment. Judah, seeing that aid was needed to prevent suffering, proposed to issue corn and bacon to the needy until a crop could be made. The issue, approved, was made and these rations did much to put Georgians and their economy on a sound basis. 033-111 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1956

Erected by Georgia Historical Commission

The Story

In the spring of 1865, as the Confederacy collapsed, Union Gen. Henry M. Judah made his headquarters at the Archibald Howell Home in Marietta. Surveying a countryside stripped of crops by the 1864 fighting and an economy paralyzed by surrender, Judah proposed issuing corn and bacon to destitute local families until they could plant again. The approved rations helped stave off hunger and steady the region through the first hard months of peace.

Why it matters

It captures a rarely told moment of reconstruction beginning at the point of a former enemy's compassion, as occupying forces helped a defeated South avoid famine.

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Related people

  • · Henry M. Judah
  • · Archibald Howell

Related events

  • · American Civil War
  • · Reconstruction

Themes & tags

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