Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-08-14
BEERSHEBA.
A Glimpse Mt the Piace-0en. Joseph
Il. Johnston:

To the Editors of the Union and American;
BEERsHEBA SPRINGS, Aug. III, 1861
Before the war Beersheba was the favor
tie place of resort for health and pleas
ure, during the summer months, for the
people of the South. The hotel prop
erty was improved in magnificent and
costly style by Col. John Armfeld, who
| spent over an hundred thousand dollars
in the improvements. 1t had every con-
venience looking to the comfort OF guests.
In 1868 q stock company, composed Of
leading citizens of Nashville, New Or
leans and throughout the South, was orr
ganized under a charter granted by the
Tennessee Legislature, with Col. John
M. Bass as President, who purchased Of
Col. Armfeld the property, with the
view of making Beersheba in all respects
the watering place of the South. The
object of the company was being rapidly
consummated when the war broke out. In
addition to the extensive, superb and mag
nifcent hotel building, large number
of persons from the South had improved
neat and elegant cottages, making the
appearance Of quite little city perched
upon q high and beautiful mountain ele.
Yation. The site of Beersheba for grand
and picturesque scenery is unrivaled.
The climate is the most equable and
delightful, throughout the entire summer
and autumn, anywhere to be found IN
North America. The water possesses
superior medicinal properties, and gushes
forth from the side of the mountain in
its life-giving power, clear as crystal and
almost as cold as ice.
But the desolations of grimyisaged war
which laid in waste the bright, prosper
GUS and sunny South, did not pass Beer
sheba. The place was pillaged and
sacked of all that was valuable, the
bare houses alone being permitted to
stand. The cottages, tastefully and
elegantly furnished, were rihed of their
furniture and contents and scene of
havoc and destruction took the place of
all that was so lovely and inviting. The
hotel company was never recognized
after the war, and owing to the peculiar
condition of the property being owned
by an exploded and defunct corporation,
nothing could be dona in the way Of
repairing the property and reopening the
hotel consequently Beersheba, the once
fashionable resort, where the beauty,
wealth and elegance of the South, as
sembled and passed the seasons so
pleasantly and delightfully."-, has reclined,
quiet and sublime, in the splendor and
magnificence of her glorious past. 1t
has now changed ownership and it is
hoped By next season, it will be opened
in all ofits former spendor, elegance and
renown. But notwithstanding the hotel
has not been opened since the war, and
thousands of the genial sons and fair
daughters of the South have
been deprived of the pleasures of
visiting each summer, their favorite
place of resort, there has, nevertheless,
been quite a pleasant and agreeable com
pany assembled here, the occupants Of
the numerous cottages, who form quite
little community each summer, and
spend the season most delightfully."-. Es-
pecially is this the case this season. The
cottages are all occupied by families, and
gentlemen from McMinnVille has
opened boarding house, at which some
forty or fifty persons are entertained.
He has been full to his utmost capacity
all the season, with applications from
various quarters numbered by the hun
dred. Had the hotel been opened this
season, it is believed ten Thousand per-
sons would have visited the springs.
Beersheba has been all excitement for
the past few days, expecting the arrival
of Gen. Joseph l.. Johnston who will be
the guest of Maj. A. D. Banks, formerly
a member of his staff Maj. b. is plant
ing extensively near Vicksburg, and has
here one of the most beautiful cottages
en- the mountain. Gen. Johnston is ex-
pected to remain several weeks, and as 3
matter of course we all look forward
with deep interst to the visit of this il
lustrious indiVidual-the general who
never made a mistake or committed
blunder; and had his policy during the
war been sustained, it would have res
suited either in the independence of the
South, or her restoration to equal rights
and privileges in the Union. There
might have been no Southern
Confederacy, but there would
never have been military rule In
time of peace or scallawag>carpet-b bag
| negro domination over the sovereign
States. His mighty intellect compre~
hended fully the vast extent, magnitude
and importance of the occasion, and his
plans, if he had possessed the power to
execute them, were always equal to the
emergency. His strategetic movements
around Richmond and before Sherman's
immense forces, are unparalleled in the
military history of the world. When
the history of that war is written by an
impartial hand, the name of JOSEPH +.
JOHNSTON, at present second to none,
| will shine forth in undiminished splendor
as the greatest military Captain Of that
mightiest revolution that ever shocked
| the world, y.