George Hillyer George Hillyer ( March 17 , 1835October 2 , 1927 ) was an American politician , serving as the 29th Mayor of Atlanta , Georgia , as well as a state assemblyman and senator . He was also an officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Biography . Hillyer was born in Athens , Georgia , one of eight children of Judge Junius Hillyer , a United States Congressman and solicitor of the U . S . Treasury . He graduated from Mercer University in 1854 , studied law , and , starting in 1857 , served two years in the Georgia General Assembly . He was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Chicago , Illinois . He married Ellen Emily Cooley , and raised a family . With the outbreak of the Civil War , he raised a Walton County company known as the " Hillyer Rifles " in the late spring of 1861 . The men were mustered into the Confederate Army on June 13 , with Hillyer elected as the captain of Company C of the 9th Georgia Volunteer Infantry . He and the regiment were sent by train to Virginia and assigned to the newly created brigade of George " Tige " Anderson in what became the Army of Northern Virginia . Hillyer saw extensive fighting at Fredericksburg ( briefly commanding the regiment ) and Gettysburg , where he fought at the famed " Wheatfield " on July 2 , 1863 . The 9th Georgia lost half of its 340 men in the fight , and Hillyer ' s company suffered considerable losses . With all the senior officers wounded or killed , Hillyer assumed command of the regiment for the rest of the Gettysburg Campaign , and wrote the official report of the 9th Georgia ' s service in the battle . Hillyer resigned his captain ' s commission in November 1863 to become an auditor for the Western & Atlantic Railroad at the request of Governor Joseph E . Brown , who preferred a military man for the role as the railroad was the main supply route for General Joseph E . Johnston ' s Confederate army . Early in 1864 , Hillyer organized the State Road Battalion ( consisting mainly of railroad men ) and he was placed in command of the defenses of the railroad with the rank of major . Seeing action against cavalry raiders during the Atlanta Campaign , Hillyer performed well , but the railroad eventually fell to the Union Army . He and his remaining men surrendered to Federal officers on May 10 , 1865 . Starting in 1870 , he served four years as a Democrat in the Georgia Senate . He served as the Georgia delegate to the United States Centennial Commission that planned and organized the country ' s Centennial celebrations and the International Exhibition of 1876 . He was Judge of the Superior Courts of the Atlanta Circuit for several years before resigning . In 1885 served one term as mayor of Atlanta , during which time he became an expert on municipal water services , publishing several related articles and serving on the Atlanta Water Commission for many years . For many years , he was on the board of trustees for Spelman Baptist Seminary , as well as Vice - Chairman for the Georgia Railroad Commission . He died at the age of 92 and was buried in Atlanta ' s Oakland Cemetery . Writings . " My Gettysburg Battle Experiences " ( edited by Gregory A . Coco ) , 2005 , Thomas Publications ( Gettysburg , PA )