In the last years of the American Civil War, Irwin County gained the nickname of theRepublic of Irwin due to theUnionism of many of its residents.[4] Thelocation where Jefferson Davis was captured[5] is located in Irwin County near Irwinville.
The territories ofAppling, Irwin, andEarly counties were land newly ceded in 1814 and 1818. These counties were created by a legislative act on December 15, 1818. All or portions of Irwin's five adjacent counties were created from Irwin county along with all ofCook,Colquitt,Lanier, Lowndes, counties and portions ofAtkinson,Brooks,Echols, Wilcox, and Worth counties. Irwin was divided into 16 districts of 20 miles and 10 chains square with lots of 70 chains square containing 490 acres according to the Act of 1818. In 1820 each lot was priced at $18, but by 1831 the price was down to $5 per lot.[6]
Irwin County had 372 white residents and 39 slaves in 1820, when the census covered a large portion of central south Georgia. In 1825, Lowndes County was formed out of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 16th land districts in what was then the southern half of the county. In 1830, the county had 1,066 whites, 109 slaves, and 5free people of color. In 1840, Irwin County had 1,772 whites and 266 slaves. In 1850. Irwin County had 2,874 whites, 459 slaves, and 1 free person of color. In 1853,Worth County was formed out of part of Irwin County. In 1854, Coffee County was also formed from Irwin. In 1860, Irwin County had 1,453 whites and 246 slaves. It was one of a few counties in Georgia outside of mountainous northern Georgia with slaves accounting for a small percentage of its population.
During theAmerican Civil War, like the United States in general, Irwin County was also ideologically divided. The county was one of the poorest at the time in Georgia. It was home to a number ofSouthern Unionists who opposed secession and the Confederacy. The county also provided several regiments to the Confederate Army including:
Company F "Irwin Volunteers", 49th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
In May 1863, several companies of Duncan Lamont Clinch Jr's Fourth Georgia Cavalry were charged with searching Irwin County for deserters. They spent a month searching the county, but were only able to find twenty-two deserters on May 22, the day they arrived. The deserters were sent to Savannah for enlistment or prosecution.[7]
A prominent Unionist in the county was Willis Jackson Bone. He lived west of Irwinville, near theAlapaha River. He was a miller and operated a steam-powered mill on what was then Bones Pond and presently Crystal Lake. Because he was a gristmill operator, Bone was exempt from conscription. During the Civil War, he helped a number of escaped slaves, Confederate deserters, and escaped Union prisoners hide in the swamps along the river. In February 1865, Bone and a large assembly of others gathered in Irwinville. Those assembled declared Irwin County part of the Union again. A lieutenant of the local militia protested the action, but was knocked down with a musket by Bone. Three cheers forAbraham Lincoln followed. The assembly then took after the lieutenant and the enrolling officer Gideon Brown. They and other Confederate sympathizers were chased out of town and threatened with death if they should return.[8][9] Willis Jackson Bone was hanged near his pond in late April 1865 after he killed a local justice of the peace named Jack Walker while Bone was bringing food to an escaped slave named Toney. Walker had tried to take Toney into custody.[10]
A few months later, Irwinville became the site of the capture ofConfederate PresidentJefferson Davis. Davis was on his way from the capital of theConfederacy atRichmond, Virginia to board a ship with his family and flee to safety inEngland, Davis stopped at a hotel in Irwinville owned by Doctor G.E. White on the evening of May 9, 1865. There he conversed and socialized with the locals and no one had suspected that they were in the presence of a man of such esteem. Davis and his family moved to an encampment beside a nearby creek bed only a couple of miles from the hotel after they were done talking with the citizens of Irwinville and sometime in the early morning of May 10, the encampment was alarmed by the sound of gunfire. Davis tried to escape towards the creek wearing an overcoat and his wife had tied her scarf around his shoulders, but members of theFirst Wisconsin andFourth Michigan Cavalry Regiments captured him. He was taken toFortress Monroe, Virginia and held for two years.[11] The location is now theJefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 363 square miles (940 km2), of which 354 square miles (920 km2) is land and 8.4 square miles (22 km2) (2.3%) is water.[12]
The majority and entire central and western portion of Irwin County, bordered by a line running southeast fromFitzgerald, is located in theAlapaha River sub-basin of theSuwannee River basin. The eastern corner of the county is located in theSatilla River sub-basin of theSt. Marys-Satilla River basin[13]
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 9,666, 3,617 households, and 2,090 families residing in the county. The median age was 40.5 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 101.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.4 males age 18 and over. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.[26][27]
There were 3,617 households in the county, of which 32.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 30.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[27]
There were 4,158 housing units, of which 13.0% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.8% were owner-occupied and 27.2% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.4%.[27]
^Huxford, Folks (1978).The History of Brooks County 1858-1948. Reprint Company. p. 10.ISBN0871522845.
^Williams, David; Williams, Teresa Crisp; Carlson, David (2002).Plain Folks in a Rich Man's War: Class and Dissent in Confederate Georgia. University Press of Florida. p. 171.ISBN0813028361.
^Williams, David; Williams, Teresa Crisp; Carlson, David (2002).Plain Folks in a Rich Man's War: Class and Dissent in Confederate Georgia. University Press of Florida. pp. 183–184.ISBN0813028361.
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