On Saturday morning, April 7, 2018, 33 University of North Georgia-Gainesville students and 12 family, friends, and…

Posted by Douglas Young on Saturday, April 7, 2018

The University of North Georgia-Gainesville’s Politically Incorrect Club, led by Dr. Douglas Young, joined 33 University of North Georgia-Gainesville students and 12 family, friends, and sweethearts to tour perhaps the most historic spot in all of northeast Georgia, the legendary Piedmont Hotel Museum Gainesville GA on April 7, 2018.

From 1876 to 1895, the Piedmont Hotel was run by the acclaimed Gen. James Longstreet, a decorated and wounded hero of both the Mexican-American War and the War Between the States. Afterwards, he was the only Confederate — or Union — general to courageously and publicly come out in favor of full civil rights for the former slaves, including equal voting rights. In fact, this brave patriot’s commitment to equal rights for all Americans almost cost him his life.

So many thanks to this fine museum’s wonderful curator and The Longstreet Society‘s long-time former president, the Hon. Richard Pilcher, for kindly hosting and enlightening us about the general and some of the many major American figures who stayed at the Piedmont. These include President Grover Cleveland, a young future President Woodrow Wilson, Atlanta Constitution editor Henry Grady, Uncle Remus Tales’ author Joel Chandler Harris, Confederate General Joseph Johnston, and Union General and Congressman Dan Sickles.

 

The award winning Politically Incorrect Club takes three trips a year to the Piedmont hotel.