CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS SANDERS, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE AMERICAN IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL. A WORTHY AND DISTINGUISHED ASSOCIATE.
By A. W. Van Hoose, president brenau college-conservatory, gainesville, ga.
On August 3d, 1908, there died at his home in Gainesville, Ga., one of the most remarkable men that it has been my good fortune to meet.
Descended on his father’s side from Rev. Moses Sanders, a Baptist preacher who emigrated from England to this country in the year 1765, and on his mother’s side from Thomas Smythe, a man distinguished for his great learning and for the many sweet poems that came from his pen, an Irishman, who with a party of friends, left Dublin, Ireland, in 1798 and made his home in Charleston, S. C., Colonel Sanders combined in his nature, disposition and temperament, the very best characteristics of the English and Irish, whose descendant he was.
For twenty years I knew him intimately, and I have no hesitation in making the statement that he was one of the most remarkable men of the generation in which he lived.
If I were asked in what respects he was remarkable, I would answer, First in his broad patriotism and deep love of country. Although he was little more than a boy when Georgia, in which state his parents had settled, seceded and issued her call for her sons to take up arms in defense of principles which they knew to be right, young Sanders, who had received a splendid military training at the Georgia Military Academy, was one of the first to respond to his country’s call, and during all those years of carnage and bloodshed, he gave his best strength, mental and physical, to the cause of the Confederacy. For distinguished bravery and great ability in military matters, he was soon made Colonel of the 24th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers and in the battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Harper’s Ferry, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House and other great struggles, the Confederacy had no braver soldier or more efficient officer than he. At Spottsylvania, he was severely wounded and his command suffered greatly; he was captured at Sailor’s Creek, May 6, ’65, and until July 25th, suffered the awful horrors of the Federal Prison at Johnston’s Island. During the war, he was offered the rank of Brigadier-General, but with that modesty which characterized his whole life, he declined the honor.
While he loved the cause of the Confederacy with all the ardor of his great soul, when Lee surrendered at Appomatox, Colonel Sanders ceased fighting and applied himself diligently to building up the waste places of his beloved country and to making a competency for himself and family, and the great success which attended his efforts in both instances is the second reason that I would assign for calling him a remarkable man. In 1871, he married Miss Fannie Amelia Scarborough, who until the day of his death, was a blessing and an inspiration to him. Together they came to Gainesville, a little mountain village, in 1871, immediately after their marriage, to build their home and fortune. By industry, economy and great business ability, Colonel Sanders succeeded in amassing a splendid estate, and at the same time was always first in his contributions to any public enterprise or private charity. No one will ever know how many cases of distress he relieved; for he obeyed the Scriptural injunction and never allowed his left hand to know what his right hand was doing. The writer of this sketch, was often at the State Bank, of which Colonel Sanders was President for many years, and has seen numbers of the old veterans, unfortunate men of all classes and even the negroes of the city, ask for aid and never once were they refused. On the day that he died, I heard numbers of men, with tears in their eyes, say, “I have lost the best friend that I ever knew”; his funeral services were attended by every class of people in our city and country, and after his more intimate friends came and with streaming eyes looked into the face of him who had befriended them for so long. Such a funeral has been accorded but few men in our country. Colonel Sanders was also remarkable for his literary and scientific attainments. Although he professed to be only a business man, he was a great student of men and affairs; he was a great reader of history and the record of all nations, from the earliest period to the present day, was an open book to him; he had traveled extensively and the literature and civilization of Europe and Egypt and the Holy Land, were so fully and accurately impressed upon him, that he could entertain his friends by hours in recounting his experience as a traveler. But best of all, Colonel Sanders was remarkable in his childlike devotion to and faith in Jesus Christ, the Man of Galilee, in whose footsteps he had followed for many years. He was one of the very few men of my acquaintance who, though devoted to his business, always kept a Bible in the President’s office of the State Bank, and oftentimes have I called to see him only to find him immersed in the beauties of the great prophecies of Isaiah, or reading the Songs of David, the sweet singer of Israel, or studying the life and character of Him who came into the world to save men from their sins. For years, he was a pillar in the Baptist Church of this city; he always taught a class in Sunday School and his presence there was always an inspiration to the Superintendent. During an intimate acquaintance for more than twenty years, I do not think that I ever heard him speak an unkind word of any one and when the summons came, his house was in order and he was ready to meet his Master and give an account of the deeds done in the body. I was with him very often during his last illness and his faith in the promises of Him whom he had served so long and so faithfully, was beautiful and sublime. Not a word of business care or anxiety was heard around the sick bed of Colonel Sanders; he seemed in constant communion with God, and though he had large financial interests, in these last days he made no mention of them.
To the writer of this sketch, his death was a great personal loss; when I began the work of building a school for girls in Gainesville nearly twenty-five years ago, Colonel Sanders was my friend and supporter; during all the years of struggle and trial in the early days of the school he gave me the benefit of his advice and counsel and never refused any financial assistance when called upon to extend it. It was his confidence in a struggling young man that often nerved my arm and heart to continue the work which I had undertaken. And when the end had come, and I looked upon that face, calm and sweet, having the appearance of one who had only fallen asleep, I thought of the words of the great poet and said to myself:
“His life was gentle,
And the elements so mixed in him,
That Nature might stand up and say to all the world,
Here was a man.”