Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-11-14

Georgia battalion, which he had been
largely instrumental in organizing, He
served through the war for four years
until the surrender, latterly as adju-
tant on the brigade staff of Gen. Will
liam T. Wofford with the rank of adju-
tapt general and chief of staff. He
participated in the battles of Frank
lin. Tenn, Chickamauga, and in. ali
the lighting around Atlanta. as well as in
many of the engagements of the western
army.
In the stirring times that immediate
" preceded the war, he was one of the
bitter opponents of secession. He
fought it with all the determination
that was in him. He helped to carry
Baftow county in a vote against that
radical act. But when Georgia did Sc
cede and war was on, ne was one Of
Athe first to step to the front and de-
clare his'loyalty to what the state had
done. And in the years that followed.
he proved himself as gallant soldier
as ever wore a uniform.
A RECoNSTRUCToR.
And then after the war. when sensibii-
tiles were raw and feelings were bitter,
ne was one of the leaders in the regen-
Grafton of the stricken south. Scalawags
overran Georgia. Barlow county had its
to profit like human buzzards by the de-
vastation of war. They infested his own
neighborhood until he laid aside the ways
of peace and used violence upon them,
risking himself single-handed against
their combined lot. lAnd he saw them
scatter
once, in the early '7Os, he was mem
Der of the lower house of the Georgia
legislature. But he was never man to
= at .<.,-x &afIr
and quick action. He was more at home
where words were less highly regarded;
and he never attempted to re-enter poll
tics.
: He was a man who did not know the
meaning of fear. He was quite natural
In his disregard of personal danger. He
had the confidence of a man who knows
his own physical might and steady nerve.
IN DAYS OF PEACE.
After the war, Mr.. sGray returned to
Adairsville. He took UP merchandising,
and until few years ago. when advanc-
ing age counseled him to retire and rest.
was one of the best known and most
honest-dealing merchants of that whole
countryside He was a farmer from his
early boyhood, save the times when he
was roaming westward or soldering.
His father before him gave him right
full inheritance to his pioneer ways,
James Gray, the father, penetrated from
North Carolina down into Georgia, To-
eating first in Columbia county. then in
Carroll, and then permanently in Cass
county which afterward became Barlow.
The elder Mr.. Gray was the father Of
several children, of whom the deceased
gentleman was the last survivor.
On June r. 1909, an automobile in which
were his son, James R. Gray. and sew
eral guests, passing in front Of his house
on its way from Atlanta to a good roads
meeting in Dalton, stopped there for
few moments.
AS HE WAS IN LIZ r. F.
Mr.. Gray greeted the party at the
roadside where he played as. boy 20
years ago. says the story of the Incl
dent, published in The Journal or that
day.
Eighty years of winter and summer
have passed over his head but they have
left it little sllvered. Nor have they bent
him nor broken him, for he stands as
straight in his tracks as a university
squad youth and his voice is deep and
full-toned. He is a remarkable living
demonstration of the healthful and pre-
sentative qualities of the north Georgia
air in which he was-born and raised.
Mr. Gray is the father of James r. Gray.
editor of The Journal. His son, himself
proud grandfather. was one of the par
ty that stopped to pay the vigorous old
gentleman of pioneer Georgia their re-
spects on his own Threshold.