The Cassville Confederate Cemetery, situated in a peaceful country setting, is the final resting place for 300 unknown soldiers of the Civil War. The cemetery lies just west of the eastern ridge where Confederate troops prepared to do battle. Their trenches remain along with a Confederate Monument placed in honor of those who died at the hospitals in Cassville. In May 1899 the Cassville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy honored the dead by placing headstones at each of the graves.

With the unknown is the grave of General William Tatum Wofford, a lawyer and community leader, who was one of the three Cass County representatives who voted against seceding from the union. Wofford served as a Cavalry Captain in the Mexican War and achieved the rank of Brigadier General in the Civil War. On January 23, 1865 General Wofford was placed in command of Confederate troops in North Georgia to protect the citizens from bushwhackers and guerrillas. In his final act of service to the Confederacy, General Wofford surrendered the last Southern troops east of the Mississippi, on May 12, 1865 here in Kingston.

Many personal stories about the Civil War in Cassville can be found in the letters of Warren Akin, founder of the oldest law firm in Georgia, still in business today. Akin argued the first case of the Georgia Supreme Court in Cassville.

One story that has been handed down and represents the spirit of the people of this region, is the story of the John F. Milhollin family. Mr. Milhollin served as clerk of the inferior court from 1855 until he enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861. Killed in Virginia, his body was returned to Cassville some time in the summer of 1864. His wife and children remained in their home across the road from the cemetery. When the order came on November 5, 1864 to destroy Cassville, their home, along with the rest of the town, was burned.

The family escaped, with few belongings, to the cemetery. There in the misty rain and smoke, they took the planks covering John Milhollin's grave. Using the planks and some quilts, they constructed a makeshift tent against the cemetery fence. There they spent a rainy night across the road from the smoldering ruins of their home.

The next day 14-year-old John, now the man of the family, found an abandoned slave cabin four miles from Cassville, and the family moved in and began again.

Young John grew to be a very old man, and for all those years he continued to call Cassville home. Like so many people who lived through the war, the family had done what was necessary to survive. That was life in war time.

Location: Cassville
Directions: I-75, exit 295, Cassville-White Road, located about 7 miles north of Cartersville off US Highway 41 to Cassville Road.
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Date added: November 16, 2003
Last update: December 3, 2003