Few structures in Sandersville have witnessed the scope of history endured by The Brown House. It has stood for hundreds of years bearing witness to two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Civil War. In the latter, the house would take on a role that would become its claim to infamy as the single greatest destructive force to hit the state of Georgia paid a visit, and took shelter under its roof one day in 1864.

The Brown House was constructed in 1850 by Nathan Haines. Brown House Museum Director Mary Alice Jordan said that as far as historians can tell, Haines sold the house right away to William Gainer Brown. The Browns named the home Woodlawn Terrace.  Brown lived in the home with his wife Mariah and their five children when the state legislature voted in the capital city of Milledgeville for Georgia to secede from the Union in January 1861. Brown, like almost all of his friends and neighbors, joined the Confederate army.

William Brown was one of the first to enlist from Washington County, Jordan said.  The war continued for four years and after the fall of Atlanta, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and 62,240 men began the infamous March to the Sea. They entered Sandersville in late November in 1864. In the early morning hours of Nov. 26, 1864, Sherman marched into town, then took up refuge in The Brown House. At least one historical account gives a portion of his reasoning as the houses location, being perched on top of a hill, allowed him to oversee the main street in town. The street is now named North Harris Street.

While staying in The Brown House, the troops camped in a field across the road. Sherman used the home for a base of operations and made military preparations. According to Jordan, Sherman decided to take a nap while in the home that afternoon and subsequently gave the house its greatest legacy. He slept on a fainting couch that is still on the premises and is part of the museum display.

Later that evening, Sherman dined with Mariah and her four surviving children: a 15-year-old daughter, and 12-, 10- and 8-year-old sons. Jordan said experts told her that Shermans own men would have likely prepared the generals food rather than risk his poisoning at the hands of the Confederacy. Sherman later left the Brown House and returned to his march to the sea, ravaging the food supply of the town and burning the Washington County Courthouse and several other buildings in town however sparing most of the homes.

During the war, families often buried their valuables to keep Union troops from looting them. According to Jordan, the Browns had a young daughter, Tallulah, who died around the age of 4 and was buried in the yard. The story surrounding the death of the child is that the Browns cook saw Union soldiers digging at the gravesite and chased them off.Legend has it that the cook took a large kitchen knife and told the soldiers, ÒYou men better get away from this baby’s grave!  The men left without disturbing the grave further.

William Brown achieved the rank of captain while serving in the Confederate army and returned home slightly wounded. He traveled to Savannah where Jordan said he helped get salt from the seawater. He was captured by the Union army and spent the remainder of the war in the hold of a ship. He eventually returned home and was elected to fill the remainder of the term of the state representative. He was elected to a second term and went to the Georgia General Assembly in the stateÕs new capital city of Atlanta.

He was killed on the streets of Atlanta by carpetbaggers, Jordan said. His body was brought back on the train and he was escorted by legislators. His wife met him at the station like she said she would. The wake and funeral were held at the house.  Brown is buried in the Sandersville city cemetery.

Four generations of Browns lived in the house through the years. Around 1975 the house was last occupied by a Brown. When she was moved to a nursing facility, the home stayed vacant for about 15 years. During that time, the house stood hidden behind overgrown vegetation. Vandals made off with some of the antiques that remained in the home. The furnishings left were sold by the family and the house was neglected. Beehives took up residence in the chimneys as bats and rodents claimed the structure. Members of the Washington County Historical Society saw the potential of the home and by 1980, were in touch with descendants who were able to sell the house to the Oconee Electric Membership Corporation. Through a pre-arranged deal, the EMC sold the home to the society and the renovation plans began.Two descendants of the Brown family were still living, one in Texas, the other in California.
Those two descendants came back every fall, Jordan said.  The California descendant is still living. They have given us things and information about the family through the years.

The Washington County Historical Society purchased the house in September 1989. In 1990, committees were selected and began working. Even during renovation, visitors came to the site.  People were always interested to see what we were doing with it,Ó Jordan said.
Classes were held on the site and the renovations were underway. At least three Civil War reenactments have been held at the house as fundraisers for its upkeep. One benefactor in particular has been instrumental in the success of the Brown House renovation. Dr. Charles Ouzts donated much of the period furniture that is in the home.

It was meant to be, because people gave of their money and of their time, Jordan said. People have given us back things that they had bought out of it.
The renovation of The Brown House took 10 years to complete. It now serves as the headquarters for the historical society, which moved into the home in October 1999. Events held at The Brown House are usually fundraisers.When we have something there, its usually something that helps promote the museum,Jordan said.
Outside of the house, near the purported gravesite of William and Mariah Browns daughter Tallulah, a memorial garden is planted. A local Boy Scout Eagle project features a sundial and historic markers. The sundial was given to the museum when it was downtown at the old city jail. It was moved to The Brown House following the completion of the renovation.

Inside the home, the rooms are furnished with period antiques and accessories the ceiling molding, doors and floors are all original. There are displays throughout the home are historic in nature and coincide with the overall historic education mission the society hopes to offer.
There is an antique bottle collection, a war room featuring weapons and mementos from the Civil and World Wars including a shotgun that William Brown received from English guests he entertained at his home. Brown used that same gun on the battlefield during the Civil War. There is also a large display of patent models that are on loan to the museum from the Patent Office Museum in Washington, D.C.

The homes dining room features a soup tureen that was most likely used during ShermanÕs meal shared with the Browns. The home also has a display of silverware that was produced by an itinerant silversmith who lived on the property. He melted down William BrownÕs silver Mexican coins and fashioned them into eating and serving utensils.

The home also has a peculiar display featuring renowned poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The story accompanying a photo and handwritten note from the famed poet and educator centers on Pauline Paris, who had to complete a project for her elementary school class.
Paris wrote to Longfellow and asked the poet to describe himself and to send a photograph if he could. She concluded the request, telling Longfellow that if he didnÕt respond, she would be laughed at by the other children in her school.

Paris, along with the children in her school who were amazed at her boldness to ask such a thing of Longfellow, was pleasantly surprised when Longfellow responded with the photograph and a note simply reading, You shall not be laughed at. He died six months later.
Years later, Paris traveled to Cambridge, Mass. and called on Longfellows daughter and saw the same photograph in her home. She told the daughter, ÔThatÕs my picture.Longfellows daughter then shared a story with Paris.

Her father refused to have his photograph taken although his family implored him to do so. Then he received a letter from a little girl in Sandersville, Ga. that so moved him that he hired a professional photographer to take his photo.

The Washington County Historical Society is the rich resource for disseminating information on the historical background of Sandersville and the remainder of Washington County. The society has published From Cotton to Kaolin, A History of Washington County, Georgia,Ó a definitive volume of the history of the area. The society has most recently published an Historical Survey of Shermans March to the Sea. The book includes information on the Union Armys routes as they traveled through Georgia including their encampments and skirmishes with Confederate troops. For more information on either of these two titles, visit the Washington County Historical Society at The Brown House Museum on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m. or call (478) 552-1965.

The William Brown family moved into their home around 1850 and brought to it a legacy of documented and unmatched magnitude by hosting Gen. Sherman as he marched through, bisecting the south and crippling the Confederacy during the most contentious period in American History. Today, the legacy of The Brown House lives on and although not inhabited any longer by the Brown family, the house maintains an unmistakable role in the rich tapestry that has been woven through the years into the history of the state of Georgia.

Article by: Jonathan Jackson