Bill Arp

Bill Arp

Charles Henry Smith (June 15, 1826 – August 24, 1903) was a Georgia politician who as a writer used the nom de plume Bill Arp for nearly 40 years. He had a national reputation as a writer during his lifetime, and at least three communities are named for him (Arp, Ga.; Bill Arp, Ga.; Arp, Texas).

Born and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Smith enrolled at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia; however, he did not graduate. He moved to Rome, Georgia in the 1850s where he lived in Oak Hill before he sold to his collegaue, Andrew M. Sloan who sold the estate to Thomas Berry in 1871. During the Civil War, he served in 8th Georgia Volunteer Infantry (Rome Light Guards) as a major on the staff of several Confederate generals, including Francis Bartow.[1] Following the war, he returned to Rome, where he served as a Mayor, Alderman, and in the Georgia Senate.

After the war and until his death, he wrote "letters to the editor" to the Atlanta Constitution as Bill Arp. They were typically in "Cracker dialect" talking about all manner of things that he couldn't say as a public figure.[2]

He also edited newspapers in Rome, Cartersville and Atlanta and published five books: Bill Arp's Letters (1870), Bill Arp's Scrap Book (1884), The Farm and Fireside (1891), History of Georgia (1895), From the Uncivil War to Date (1903). And he was a successful lecturer as well.[3]

Smith died in Cartersville, Georgia in 1903 and was buried in that same city.

References

  1. ^ The Civil War in Georgia: 8th Georgia Infantry Regiment
  2. ^ Augusta.com Picture Story at www.augusta.com
  3. ^ Wikisource-logo.svg "Smith, Charles Henry". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.  This source says he graduated from Franklin College.

External links