Macon's Bill Elliott will tell you that the Civil War didn't end at Appomattox but in Macon with the surrender of Confederate Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb at the Macon City Hall building.
Cobb and four subordinates surrendered to Union Gen. James H. Wilson after a Confederate sentry was shot and killed on the front porch 11 days after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
The surrender in Macon on April 20 also happened four days after what is referred to as the "last major battle of the Civil War" in Columbus.
"A lot of people don't know that,: said Elliott, who is working with about a dozen people trying to garner support for Georgia's Civil War Heritage Trails.
The organizing committee is working to beat a January 2011 deadline to have trail markers in place for the sesquicentennial or 150th anniversary of the War Between the States.
"This is a way to inspire interest in the trails, and the trails are an excellent way to commemorate the sesquicentennial," said historian Jim Barfield, who has served on the trail organization’s board.
Read the complete story at macon.com
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