7. The Mott House

7. The Mott House

Built by slave labor, the Mott House was completed in 1839 for James Calhoun who was both a mill owner and the city’s mayor. James, cousin to vice-president of the United States John Calhoun, was one of the major land speculators who benefited from fraudulent claims to Creek land. James Calhoun then moved west and became Governor of the Territory of New Mexico. A subsequent owner, Colonel Randolph Mott, was both a union sympathizer and a businessman who supplied confederate troops. When Union General James Wilson took control of Columbus, Mott offered his home as Wilson’s headquarters.
Worsley, E. (Summer-1954), "Board of Regents of the University of the University System of Georgia", The Georgia Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 218-227.

Picture: The Mott House (Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.).