Historic Marker Honors Macon’s Role in Healing Wounded Soldiers During Civil War

MACON, Georgia  (41NBC/WMGT) – During the Civil War, Macon played a huge role in hospitalizing thousands of wounded soldiers.

150 years later, the memories of the hospitals and doctors who treated those patients are alive and well.

Wednesday, a historic marker was placed outside the former home of one of those doctors, Dr. James Mercer Green.

The antebellum house, which is painted pink now, is on Poplar Street across from Saint Joseph’s Church.  It was built just after the war ended.

Green was a prominent Macon physician during the war.

Chairman of the Macon Sesquicentennial Committee, Bill Elliott, says people are coming from all over the world to see some of the war’s most interesting sites.

“We need to preserve all our history–even history people don’t necessarily agree with,” says Elliott.  “There’s a tremendous amount of interest in the Civil War in the tourist industry.  We hope to capitalize on that interest.  We’re in the middle of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.”

Elliott says Macon was second to only Richmond, Virginia, in the number of hospitals in the south during the Civil War.