See William E. Dodd, The Life of Nathaniel Macon (Raleigh, N.C., 1903); E. M. Wilson, The Congressional Career of Nathaniel Macon (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1900).
[1] Their names are associated in Randolph-Macon College, named in their honour in 1830.
MÂCON, a town of east-central France, capital of the department of Saône-et-Loire, 45 m. N. of Lyons on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906), 16,151. Mâcon is situated on the right bank of the Saône facing the plain of the Bresse; a bridge of twelve arches connects it with the suburb of St Laurent on the opposite bank. The most prominent building is the modern Romanesque church of St Pierre, a large three-naved basilica, with two fine spires. Of the old cathedral of St Vincent (12th and 13th centuries), destroyed at the Revolution, nothing remains but the Romanesque narthex, now used as a chapel, the façade and its two flanking towers. The hôtel de ville contains a library, a theatre and picture-gallery. Opposite to it stands a statue of the poet Alphonse Lamartine, a native of the town. Mâcon is the seat of a prefecture, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a chamber of commerce. There are lycées and training colleges. Copper-founding is an important industry; manufactures include casks, mats, rope and utensils for the wine-trade. The town has a large trade in wine of the district, known as Mâcon. It is a railway centre of considerable importance, being the point at which the line from Paris to Marseilles is joined by that from Mont Cenis and Geneva, as well as by a branch from Moulins.
Mâcon (Matisco) was an important town of the Aedui, but under the Romans it was supplanted by Autun and Lyons. It suffered a succession of disasters at the hands of the Germans, Burgundians, Vandals, Huns, Hungarians and even of the Carolingian kings. In the feudal period it was an important countship which in 1228 was sold to the king of France, but more than once afterwards passed into the possession of the dukes of Burgundy, until the ownership of the French crown was established in the time of Louis XI. In the 16th century Mâcon became a stronghold of the Huguenots, but afterwards fell into the hands of the League, and did not yield to Henry IV. until 1594. The bishopric, created by King Childebert, was suppressed in 1790.
MACON, a city and the county-seat of Bibb county, Georgia, U.S.A., in the central part of the state, on both sides of the Ocmulgee river (at the head of navigation), about 90 m. S.S.E. of Atlanta. Pop. (1900), 23,272, of whom 11,550 were negroes; (1910 census) 40,665. Macon is, next to Atlanta, the most important railway centre in the state, being served by the Southern, the Central of Georgia, the Georgia, the Georgia Southern & Florida, the Macon Dublin & Savannah, and the Macon & Birmingham railways. It was formerly an important river port, especially for the shipment of cotton, but lost this commercial advantage when railway bridges made the river impassable. It is, however, partially regaining the river trade in consequence of the compulsory substitution of drawbridges for the stationary railway bridges. The city is the seat of the Wesleyan female college (1836), which claims to be the first college in the world chartered to grant academic degrees to women; Mercer university (Baptist), which was established in 1833 as Mercer Institute at Penfield, became a university in 1837, was removed to Macon in 1871, and controls Hearn Academy (1839) at Cave Spring and Gibson Mercer Academy (1903) at Bowman; the state academy for the blind (1852), St Stanislaus’ College (Jesuit), and Mt de Sales Academy (Roman Catholic) for women. There are four orphan asylums for whites and two for negroes, supported chiefly by the Protestant Episcopal and Methodist Churches, and a public hospital. Immediately east of Macon are two large Indian mounds, and there is a third mound 9 m. south of the city. Situated in the heart of the “Cotton Belt,” Macon has a large and lucrative trade; it is one of the most important inland cotton markets of the United States, its annual receipts averaging about 250,000 bales. The city’s factory products in 1905 were valued at $7,297,347 (33.8% more than in 1900). In the vicinity are large beds of kaolin, 30 m. wide, reaching nearly across the state, and frequently 35 to 70 ft. in depth. Macon is near the fruit-growing region of Georgia, and large quantities of peaches and of garden products are annually shipped from the city.
Macon (named in honour of Nathaniel Macon) was surveyed in 1823 by order of the Georgia legislature for the county-seat of Bibb county, and received its first charter in 1824. It soon became the centre of trade for Middle Georgia; in 1833 a steamboat line to Darien was opened, and in the following year 69,000 bales of cotton were shipped by this route. During the Civil War the city was a centre for Confederate commissary supplies and the seat of a Treasury depository. In July 1864 General George Stoneman (1822-1894) with 500 men was captured near the city by the Confederate general, Howell Cobb. Macon was finally occupied by Federal troops under General James H. Wilson (b. 1837) on the 20th of April 1865. In 1900-1910 the area of the city was increased by the annexation of several suburbs.