Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/69

Rh Reading a war story about General George Paul Harrison in a Western paper, the editor of The Post called on General Harrison a few days since and had an interesting talk with him on the war and his experiences.

General Harrison was born twelve miles from Savannah, on Monteith plantation, on the Georgia side of the river, and was reared by well-to-do blue-blooded parents, his father being related to Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, whose name was attached to the Declaration of Independence, and whose descendants included the ninth and twenty-ninth Presidents of the United States.

The boyhood days of General Harrison were spent on the plantation, and he became an expert rider and marksman, with a soldierly tendency. This being true, he was sent to the Georgia Military Institute, at Marietta, where he remained till January 3, 1861, when he laid aside school books and took up the rifle and sword, the South having cut loose from the United States. He took part with the Georgia troops in the seizure of Port Pulaski, a few days later enrolling as second lieutenant in the 1st Georgia Regulars. He made for himself such a record at Port Pulaski that Governor John Brown made him military commandant of his school, the Marietta Institute, where ,he remained till May, when he graduated and received a diploma. Again he joined his regiment and went with it to Virginia, where he was made adjutant.

(During this time his father, George Paul Harrison, Sr., had joined the army. He served during the war, reaching the distinction of brigadier-general)