The Surrender of Confederate Troops at Kingston

The McCravey-Johnson house pictured above was Gen. Wofford's headquarters at the end of the war when he negotiated the surrender of the Confederate troops under his command. Gen. Judah was headquartered at Spring Bank, and it was there that the surrender documents were signed.

The large oak in the front of the house fell in the spring of 2015. Fortunately it fell into the yard and the house itself was not damaged.

On May 12, 1865, Kingston had its last wartime event when 4,000 Confederate troops were surrendered by Confederate Brig. Gen. William T. Wofford, then headquartered at the McCravey-Johnson House. This was the final surrender of Confederates troops east of the Mississippi River and ended the war in Georgia.

The surrender however, was not complete. Not everyone agreed with the surrender terms or yankee subjugation. An estimated 20,000 men emigrated to Brazil with their families and another 20,000 went to Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, and other places. The words to the post-war song, The Unreconstructed Rebel" commemorates the defiance of these men:

"I won't be reconstructed, I'm better now than then.
And for a Carpetbagger I do not give a damn.
So it's forward to the frontier, soon as I can go.
I'll fix me up a weapon and start for Mexico."

It should be noted that the Confederate States of America were never formally surrendered. While the States, Armies, forts, and some of the warships of the Confederacy surrendered over a period of time, and President Davis was captured and made a prisoner-of-war, at no time was the Confederacy surrendered.