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This is our first hide. Hope it's not too easy. We have permission
to place this cache on site. If you time your arrival right, stop
in and say 'hi' to those inside. Especially if you're into history.
They're open on Wed and Sat, from 10am to 2pm.
Container will hold a few small items. A pen may or may not be
there, so play it safe and bring your own. We placed an unactivated
FTF microcoin for the first to find. Also, a new trackable is
anxious to start it's geo-journey.
Congrats to Spotlighter & Nene for FTF!!!
CONFEDERATES BURIED AT WAYNESVILLE
The life of George Washington (G. W.) Nichols, born in Bulloch
County, Georgia, was felt throughout the south. Fighting with the
61st Georgia Regiment, in Northern Virginia under General Robert E.
Lee, and wounded twice, he brought back many memories of those
battles. While living out his life in Wayne County near Jesup after
the Civil War, he recorded those memories in a book for
posterity.
One of Private G. W. Nichols' contributions involved Waynesville,
now Brantley County. He wrote in 1899 that "about 40 confederate
veterans" of the Southern Confederacy were buried at Waynesville,
and that their burial place was "not being cared for."
At that time, pine trees had grown around the cemetery, and large
oak roots had penetrated the graves. Brave Confederate soldiers
were sleeping in a neglected and abandoned cemetery. The festooning
moss, hung low and tangled with underbrush, surrounded the entire
area. The whole area was one of sad neglect. Periodically,
throughout the years, some civic minded local individual would
recognize the sad condition of this cemetery and it would be
cleaned of brush, weeds, and trees, once again.
Mr. G. W. Nichols proposed that a suitable stone be erected for the
confederate veterans and that the graves be enclosed "by erecting a
neat galvanized fence." He reported that the burial ground was on
the Wiggins estate and that information concerning the location be
obtained from W. M. Wiggins and Jasper Highsmith, "both of whom
lived in Waynesville during the War of the Confederacy."
Later it was reported in the Jesup Sentinel that G. W. Nichols and
J. R. Roberson had erected a fence around the burial ground of the
veterans, and they had suggested the Wayne Chapter of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy erect grave markers. It was reported
by Mrs. A. J. Gordon of Jesup, who was a native of Waynesville,
that the burial ground was near the site of the Waynesville Baptist
Church, on the north side of the railway.
In 1906 the Daughters of the Confederacy honored the confederate
compatriots of Waynesville by erecting a memorial monument.
Reported in the Brantley Enterprise on April 5, 1928 was the
following story: "At Waynesville, about sixteen miles from Nahunta,
the County seat of Brantley County is a historic Confederate
Cemetery. Here was fought a fierce battle during the Civil War. The
brave lads in gray that fell that day were buried in the trenches
where they fell. Crude wooden head-markers were placed around the
graves. These markers have crumbled away, and this sacred site is
"a cemetery of unknown confederate soldiers." In the center of the
cemetery is a plain marble shaft bearing the simple
inscription:
“Erected 1906 To Our Confederate Dead, Jesup Chapter U. D.
C., 1861-1865.”
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Guvatf ner abg nyjnlf jung gurl nccrne gb or.