George P. Burdell - Southern Philanthropist
An original work of art dedicated to a record-breaking
47 pound chicken was destroyed by Sherman's troops in
a drunken rage after their realization that by burning
all the crops in the area, they were stuck eating grits
until they marched back home.
In 1923, Burdell took a year off from college to go door
to door, selling Confederate Army memorabilia, to raise
money to restore the monument. In that year, he knocked
on every door in the then-small towns of Atlanta, Decatur
and Marietta.
At the end of the year, after deducting living and travel
expenses, Burdell had enough to convince a local artist,
David "Bo" Jefferson Davis, to start on the new monument.
The local papers took notice and set up funds. The money
poured in. After the now-famous
Big
Chicken was completed and paid for, the leftover funds
bought a huge tract of land outside Marietta which was
turned into Kennesaw Battlegrounds - a monument to the soldiers
who died in the War Between the States.
Copyright 1995, RRU News Network, Austin, TX.
Miles O'Neal <meo@rru.com>