The Col. William H. Stiles/ Hon. Warren Akin Camp #670 -
Camp History
Our Cartersville Camp #670 was originally organized March 14, 1912, with the title of The General William Tatum Wofford Camp #670, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Although no original records exist, one of the charter members of this camp was Robert C. Freeman. His father was the editor of The Cartersville News, and camp Commander of the United Confederate Veterans camp. The Camp was organized as an answer to a plea from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In the The Cartersville News, Jan 18, 1912, the United Daughters of the Confederacy State President Mrs. Walter D. Lamar made a plea to form a camp of Sons of Confederate Veterans. She said our young men are the hope of this great universe. Through them the "Fires of Patriotism" shall be kept burning and traditional truths established. Soon our veterans will all have "crossed over the river to rest in the shade of the trees", and unless our young men organize and carry on the work of their fathers, the truth will be forever hushed. In a later article in The Cartersville News, dated Feb 15, 1912, Local UCV elects new officers and discussed organization of a camp of Sons of Confederate Veterans. Still later, in The Cartersville News, dated March 7, 1912, UCV Camp held regular meeting and appoints a committee to work on organization of a camp of Sons of Veterans. Finally, The Cartersville News March 14, 1912, Sons of Confederate Veterans organize the Camp's first meeting held at the Cherokee Club and organized by the great grandson of Nathan Bedford Forrest III. The camp was to be the General William T Wofford Camp 670. Charter Members were A. J. Collins, 1st Lt. Commander, H. L Ingram, J. A. Ingram, W. A. Ingram, H. E. Felton, Bruce Wofford, J. H. Wofford, L. P. Lewis, W. H. Lumpkin, Commander, W. T. Goode, W. H. Wikle, W. W. Callaway, R. C. Freeman, W. C. Walton, J. R. Whitaker, Adjutant, John H. Law, B. E. Day, W. H. Lumpkin. The April 4 issue of The Cartersville News reports the addition of the following new members- C. T. Jones, Charles. M. Milam, Dr. F. V. Turk, Joseph Calhoun, John Calhoun, and W. T. Milhollin. The last record found in local newspapers about this camp was in 1932 when then Camp Commander Charles Milam died.The Camp was re-chartered March 29th 1990 as The Col. William H. Stiles/ Hon. Warren Akin Camp #670. One of the members during the re-charter was Robert Crowe, Camp Historian, who researched the previous articles.
Camp Namesakes
Col. William Henry Stiles
William Henry Stiles I was from Savannah, GA. He was elected to the U.S. Congress March 1843 to 1845 representing Cass County, GA. After the completion of his term, President James K. Polk Appointed Stiles as Charge d’ Affairs for the U.S. at the court of the Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna, Austria, from 1845 to 1849. During this time the Revolutions of 1848 occurred, and Stiles served as a mediator between Hungarian freedom fighter Louis Kossuth and the Imperial throne. He later returned to Georgia and wrote his two volume history of the revolutions entitled Austria in 1848-49. In 1855 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives and became its Speaker. In 1858 he was elected to the Georgia Senate, but in 1861 he failed in an attempt to become Georgia’s Governor. In 1861, the War of Northern Aggression came and Stiles raised the 16th Georgia Regiment and became it's Colonel. His son William Henry II was the Captain of Company H in the 16th Regiment. They saw their most extensive fighting in Fredericksburg in 1862 and the younger Stiles was wounded. In 1864, William Henry I resigned his Colonelcy over a disagreement with Confederate officials as to the protection of North Georgia. He later moved to Terrell County, Georgia, became ill, and later died at Andrew Lows house in Savannah in December 1865. He was buried in the Laurel Grove Cemetery near his brother Benjamin. William Henry Stiles II died in 1878 from injuries inflicted by a bull which opened up his old war wound. William Henry II and his wife Eliza C. Gordon produced a large family including a William Henry III. Information from The History of Euharlee by the Euharlee Historical Committee.
CSA Representative Warren Akin
Col. Warren Akin was born in Elbert County, Georgia on October 9th 1811. After an indefinite period of public school education, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He moved to Cassville, Ga. in 1836 where he became a prominent attorney. In addition he was candidate for Governor of Georgia, 1860; member of Georgia State Legislature, 1861-63; Representative from Georgia in the Confederate Congress, 1864-65. He was an active member and preacher at the Cassville Methodist Church. Akin preached to Georgia soldiers encamped near Richmond during his second session in Congress. I. W. Avery described Akin this way, "He was a self made man, possessing dedicated ability, and every effective speaking power, and as much purity of private character as any man we have ever had in Georgia. Akin was a small man in physique, but had a voice of remarkable compass, both shrill and deep, with a particular ringing quality in its high notes. Akin had no superior, and few equals in his circuit. No man in his section enjoyed a larger share of the individual public esteem than he." In the spring of 1865, Akin returned to Bartow County and resumed his law practice in Cartersville, GA. He died there on December 17, 1877, buried at Cassville." Description from the book, Letters from Warren Akin, Confederate Congressman. C/O Etowah Valley Historical Society
Stiles Akin Camp #670