James Calhoun (Atlanta politician)

James Montgomery Calhoun was born on February 12, 1811, at the Calhoun settlement on Long Crane Creek in Abbeville County, South Carolina, to Rebecca (née Tonnyhill) and William Calhoun. His father was a cousin of Democrat John C. Calhoun. Around 1827, Calhoun moved to Decatur, Georgia, to live with his brother Ezekiel. He attended a village school ran taught by David Kiddoo for two years and began studying law in 1831 under Hines Holt. He was admitted to the bar in February 1832. ==Career==

Following his admission to the bar, Calhoun practiced law in Decatur. During the Creek War of 1836, he was a captain and commanded a cavalry company at Fort McCrary. Politically, Calhoun was a Whig in a largely Democratic district but was still elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 1837 from DeKalb County. From 1840 to 1850, he practiced law with his brother-in-law William Harris Dabney in DeKalb County. He also practiced law with B. F. Martin, A. W. Stone, and his son William Lowndes Calhoun. He also owned farms. He served in the Georgia State Senate in 1851. In 1852, Calhoun moved to Atlanta. He served in the Georgia State Senate, representing Fulton County from 1855 to 1856. He was a member of the judiciary committee. He was vice president of the 1860 Constitutional Union Convention. Mayor of Atlanta Calhoun served four one-year terms as its mayor from 1862 to 1865. In 1863, he commissioned a volunteer militia to defend his city. When Union troops under the command of William T. Sherman drew near during the Atlanta campaign, much of the population of Atlanta, including Calhoun's wife and children, fled the city. This reduced the population of Atlanta from around 22,000 to less than 3,000 when the Confederate Army of Tennessee retreated from the city on September 1, 1864. Calhoun surrendered the city to Union forces under Sherman on September 2, 1864, writing, "Sir: The fortune of war has placed Atlanta in your hands. As mayor of the city I ask protection of non-combatants and private property." A marker now stands at the corner of Peachtree Street and Alabama Street indicating where the surrender took place. Sherman replied by ordering the evacuation of the remaining civilian population of Atlanta on September 7, 1864. Calhoun and the city council protested this order, claiming that most of those who had not fled could not leave on account of their age, sickness, pregnancy, or destitution. In response, Sherman wrote back, accusing the Confederates of hypocrisy for invading Union territory and inflicting pains on American citizens, but only complaining when the reverse was done to them: Union soldiers under Sherman occupied the city for two months and burned much of it on November 15, 1864, in preparation for the March to the Sea. ==Personal life==

Calhoun married Emma Elizabeth Dabney, daughter of Anderson W. Dabney, in 1832. His wife died in 1860. He lived on Washington Street in Atlanta. Calhoun died on October 1, 1875, in Atlanta. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery. ==References==