John Stith Pemberton
Some
background information on the gentleman featured in this year's Confederate
History & Heritage Poster.
John Stith Pemberton was a
druggist in Columbus, GA, a
colonel in the Confederate Army and part of the Confederate forces that
defended Columbus from Gen. James Wilson's raiders in April 1865.
Wilson's raiders had come
through Mississippi, Alabama (where it went through Selma, Montgomery & Tallassee)
and on into Georgia. Columbus claims this was the last battle of the war but
that is doubtful. What did happen is that the Federals were too strong for the
Confederate defenders and Columbus was captured. For those who have been to the
Confederate Naval Museum and seen the gunboat, Jackson, it was scuttled to
prevent its capture by the Yankees.
Pemberton received a wound
from a saber during the battle. He was treated with laudanum (tincture of
opium) for his pain and became addicted to opium. Seeking a cure for his
addiction he developed a concoction containing extract of coca (cocaine), which
did cure his addiction. He began to sell it as Pemberton's French Wine Cola.
He moved to Atlanta, where
he sold the formula to Asa Candler who marketed it as a beverage. In my young days, some of the older folks used
to call a Coke 'a dope' even thought the extract of coca was replaced by
caffeine around 1905.
John Stith Pemberton is
buried in the Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, GA. His grave is not far from the
grave of Anna Gertrude Hood, youngest child of Gen. John Bell Hood. Asa Candler's son-in-law,
Robert Woodruff, took over the company upon Candler's death and during WWII
made Coke a world wide drink, shipping it to the soldiers overseas.
John H Land, Semple Camp SCV #2002
12 Feb 2018
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