Mr. Plant led a very busy life in Augusta. He lived with his wife at the hotel, and, when she was travelling in the North in the summer, he had his office, for convenience, on the same floor as his bedroom. It had been his habit to keep pad and pencil by his bedside, so that when there came to his mind a matter that called for attention he at once put it down on his memoranda. He was constantly receiving reports from his express offices all over the South. There came to him, for adjustment, many questions of management that were perplexing and urgent, so that he was often on the road, called away at short notice, north, south, or southwest. Complications, great, varied, and numerous, were superinduced by the civil war. The railroads were often seized by the contending armies, offices were raided, and confusion worse confounded heaped troubles thick and fast upon the president of the company, sufficient to have crushed a man of ordinary brain and nerve. But Mr. Plant was not the man to give way to difficulties,—only coolly to plan, determine, execute, and conquer.
The following communication in memorandum form, from one intimately acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Plant while in Augusta, Georgia, will be found suggestive of the busy life he led, and will prove valuable in furnishing the dates when he lived in that city, and the location of his various residences while there. Moreover, its sequel sounds like the plot of a good novel.
“Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Plant became residents of Augusta, Georgia, in 1854. Captain W. and his wife moved to that city in 1855. Both families boarded at the Eagle and Phœnix Hotel, and thus became acquainted. The Eagle and Phœnix was on Broad Street, and is now believed to be the property of Mr. Plant. Mr. Plant was busy organizing and developing the express business, was continually on the road, and made frequent visits to the North. He moved to the Globe Hotel about the summer of 1856. Captain W. and his wife moved to the Trout House, in Atlanta, Georgia, early in 1858, and Mr. and Mrs. Plant joined them there and spent the summer months with them, while Mr. Plant still made Augusta his headquarters and was constantly on the road.
“On Mr. and Mrs. Plant’s return to Augusta in the fall of 1858, they took residence at the Planter’s Hotel, then kept by Mr. Robbins. In the spring of 1859, Mr. and Mrs. Plant, leaving their young son Morton, with Captain W. and his wife in Atlanta, visited New Orleans and remained there during Mardi Gras. Their stay, however, was much shortened by the demands made upon Mr. Plant’s time and attention by the celebrated Maroney robbery. Mrs. Plant’s health, which had been failing for some time, was rapidly growing worse. Mr. Plant’s movements were thus handicapped, and his trips necessarily became shorter and more frequent. Captain W. and wife moved to Athens in April, 1861. Mrs. Plant intended to spend the spring and summer of 1862 with them, but their plans were broken up by her death, at the Planter’s Hotel, Augusta, February 28, 1862.
“Mr. Plant visited Athens shortly after the funeral, and remained several weeks; from thence important business called him back to Augusta. Health began to fail him and he visited Athens again in the following year. It was at this time that his friends prevailed upon him to pay a visit to Europe in the hope that his strength would be restored to him.
“In illustration of the good memory which Mr. Plant possessed for a past kindness, the following interesting story is told. The narrator was sitting in his office talking with Mr. Plant, when the latter suddenly turned from him to a clerk to instruct him in the following words. ‘While I remember it, I want you to write to Mrs. W. to say that her request that we take charge of her money is granted. We will take it and give her six per cent., this will give her —— dollars to pay for her board, and we will add to it —— dollars, which will keep her comfortably among her friends.’
“The amount added was very nearly one and a half times as large as the interest on the moderate amount of insurance which her deceased husband had placed on his life before he died.
“Then when all arrangements for this poor widow’s comfort had been made with the treasurer, Mr. Plant, not supposing that I had ever heard of the woman, explained that long years ago, when his first wife was sick in Augusta, this now widowed woman was very kind to her and also to his son Morton who was then a very little child. This was thirty-six years ago, but it was as fresh in Mr. Plant’s memory, and as near to his heart as if it had occurred only a few weeks ago. Little did this good woman think at the time she rendered this kindly service to a delicate wife, that thirty-six years hence it would be paid back to her with compound interest. It may be truly said that ‘bread cast upon the waters shall return after many days.’”
The Southern Express Company rendered very valuable services to the men engaged on both sides during the Civil War, by carrying packages, boxes, and parcels of all descriptions free of charge,—medicines, and comforts of various character, that made the hard life of the soldier a little easier, and gladdened his heart with the evidences that he was remembered tenderly in his far-away home. This service was especially acceptable on the occasions of exchange of prisoners, when clothing and money were the special needs of the men.
The benediction of many a brave heart, now still in death, rests upon the kindly services of the Southern Express Company so generously given during the four years of the bloody struggle.