Former Home Henry R. Jackson: Union Army Headquarters, 1865

This building, now the quarters of a private Club, was erected in 1857 for Edmund Molyneux, British consul at Savannah, and served as his residence and as the Consulate until Molyneux's return to England in 1863. In 1865 the Molyneux house was appropriated by the Union army as headquarters for General O.O. Howard and his successor, Gen. Wm. F. Barry. Representatives of the family claimed that furnishings valued at more than $10,000.00, including part of the famous Molyneux wine cellar, were damaged or removed during the Federal occupation. The mansion was purchased from the Molyneux family in 1885 by Gen. Henry R. Jackson and was the home of that illustrious Georgian until his death in 1898. Jackson equally distinguished himself as lawyer, soldier, diplomat and poet. He was Judge of the Eastern Circuit of Georgia (1849--'53) and in 1859 was special prosecutor for the United States in the celebrated case of the slave ship "Wanderer". He fought in the Mexican War and won distinction in the Confederate army as a brigadier general. He was ambassador to Austria (1854--'58) and minister to Mexico (1885--'86). A gifted poet, the best known of Jackson's poems is "The Red Old Hills of Georgia".