In Their Own Words
November 20, 1864
Yankees Stole Hats and Whiskey
From six miles east of Eatonton, planter Joseph A. Turner recorded the arrival of Yankees in his journal:
“… About 1 or 2 o’clock, 4 or 5 yankees came, professing they would behave as gentlemen. These gentlemen, however stole my gold watch, and silver spoons, besides whiskey, tobacco, and a hat or two, besides. About the middle of the afternoon, 4 more came, and got a few hats [Turner manufactured hats on his plantation] and one fiddle, and some whiskey. About night, two dutchmen came, and got some whiskey, a few hats &c.”
Source: Spencer B. King, Jr., Georgia Voices: A Documentary History to 1872 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1966 reprinted 1974), p. 301.