Francis S. Bartow was a licensed attorney turned politician, who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and became a political leader of the Confederate States of America. Bartow was also a colonel in the Georgia Militia commanding the 21st Oglethorpe Light Infantry during the early months of the American Civil War. Bartow was a delegate from Georgia's 1st congressional district to the Southern Convention in Montgomery, Alabama becoming an inaugurating member of the Confederate Provisional Congress—leading efforts to prepare local forces in the aftermath of secession, protracting into The American Civil War of 1861–65.
Bartow c. 1860
Marker of 1936
Memorial and bust of Francis S. Bartow in Savannah's Forsyth Park.
Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, also known as the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a unicameral congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing body of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States from February 4, 1861, to February 17, 1862. It sat in Montgomery, Alabama, until May 21, 1861, when it adjourned to meet in Richmond, Virginia, on July 20, 1861. In both cities, it met in the existing state capitols which it shared with the respective secessionist state legislatures. It added new members as other states seceded from the Union and directed the election on November 6, 1861, at which a permanent government was elected.
Image: Alabama Capitol NW 1886
Image: Virginia Capitol 1865
Howell Cobb