The public is invited to attend this free event at 3:00pm in the auditorium of the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center on South Main Street. Reception and book signing to follow.
The program is co-sponsored by the Morgan County Landmarks Society, the Morgan County Historical Society, and the Cultural Center.
The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center will host a book launch on Sunday, May 4 at 3pm for Dr. Bradley R. Rice, author of Joshua Hill of Madison: Civil War Unionist and Georgia’s First Republican Senator, 1812-1891. This comprehensive biography of the life and times of Hill was just released by Mercer University Press, publisher of numerous books about Georgia and regional history and politics. The public is invited to this event, at which Dr. Rice will speak about his work and take questions from the audience.
Joshua Hill was a United States Congressmen before the Civil War and a U. S. Senator afterward. He is locally celebrated as “the man who saved Madison” during the Civil War. In Joshua Hill of Madison, Dr. Rice carefully documents Hill’s personal life, political perspectives, and public service. Hill, who vigorously opposed secession, was serving in the House of Representatives at the outbreak of the Civil War. He resigned from Congress and returned to Madison for the duration of the conflict. Hill suffered the loss of a beloved son, who was killed-in-action after joining the Confederate Army against his parents’ wishes. Of particular interest to local readers is Dr. Rice's detailed examination of Hill’s legendary actions in the fall of 1864. He met with General William T. Sherman in Atlanta to discuss peace feelers, and then when the famous March to the Sea approached Madison, Hill met with Federal army leadership. During the Reconstruction period after the war, Joshua Hill became Georgia’s first Republican U.S. Senator, and it would be more than a century before another Republican would represent the state in the nation's upper chamber.
Author Dr. Bradley R. Rice spent several years researching and writing this biography. Although Hill's important role in the history of mid-nineteenth century politics has often been discussed in works about the period, Rice's work is the first comprehensive analysis of Joshua Hill’s life. Madison native and acclaimed writer Philip Lee Williams declared, "Rice gives us the first full scholarly picture of this crucial figure in the history of the South before, during, and after America's worst nightmare." Dr. Rice is a past president of the Georgia Association of Historians and author of several previous scholarly books and articles who retired to Madison after a long career as a college professor and administrator.
