George P. Burdell - Southern Philanthropist

An original work of art dedicated to a record-breaking 47 pound chicken was destroyed by Sherman's troops in a drunken rage after their realization that by burning all the crops in the area, they were stuck eating grits until they marched back home.

In 1923, Burdell took a year off from college to go door to door, selling Confederate Army memorabilia, to raise money to restore the monument. In that year, he knocked on every door in the then-small towns of Atlanta, Decatur and Marietta.

At the end of the year, after deducting living and travel expenses, Burdell had enough to convince a local artist, David "Bo" Jefferson Davis, to start on the new monument. The local papers took notice and set up funds. The money poured in. After the now-famous Big Chicken was completed and paid for, the leftover funds bought a huge tract of land outside Marietta which was turned into Kennesaw Battlegrounds - a monument to the soldiers who died in the War Between the States.


Copyright 1995, RRU News Network, Austin, TX.
Miles O'Neal <meo@rru.com>