William Whitman was born and raised in Athens Georgia and came to Ringgold in 1847 and established himself as a merchant. He married Cornelia Young and when she died he married her sister.
In November 1863, the family had a front window view of the Battle of Ringgold Gap and Whitman's store was destroyed.. At the end of the day 25 Union Soldiers rode into the yard and informed the family that General Grant would use the house as his HQ. The family stayed in the home and though NOT unionists, they served the General and his staff. According to the family diaries he gave dolls to the Whitman daughters. The youngest (3) accepted her's while the oldest (11) threw her's down in anger. The General offered Mrs. Whitman 425 as rent but she would only accept Confederate currency. After Grant moved on, General Sherman ordered the town burned but the Whitman house was spared.
The house remained in the family for a while after Whitman's death in 1886 but sold the property in 1902 to J.A. Smith who left it to his daughter, Mrs. U.S. Anderson and she left it to her daughter Mrs Doris Anderson Hudson. It remains in their family to this day and is used for family events.
Andy Sarge
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