Francis Fontaine (May 7, 1845 – May 3, 1901) was an American

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soldier, plantation owner, newspaper editor, poet and novelist from the state of

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Early life

Francis Fontaine was born on May 7, 1845, in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

.Francis Fontaine (1845-1901)

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Francis Fontaine
, Georgia Center for the BookHubert H. McAlexander, 'Francis Fontaine (1945-1901)', in ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia Companion to Georgia Literature '', Hugh Ruppersburg (ed.), John C. Inscoe (ed.), Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2011, pp. 145-14

/ref>McAlexander, Hubert H. "Francis Fontaine (1845-1901)." ''

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''. 04 September 2013. Web. 08 October 2014.Francis Fontaine Diary (SMC 97)
Columbus State University His father, John Fontaine (1792-1866), had served as the mayor of Columbus from 1836 to 1837, and he was a planter. His mother was Mary Ann Stewart. He was educated at the

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Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth larges ...

.John C. Inscoe, ''The Civil War in Georgia: A New Georgia Encyclopedia Companion'', Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2011 p. 12

/ref> During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

of 1861-1865, he joined the

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and served as a private and aide-de-camp. He fought at the

Battle of Peachtree Creek The Battle of Peachtree Creek was fought in Georgia on July 20, 1864, as part of the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. It was the first major attack by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood since taking command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee ...

Career

After the war, Fontaine inherited his father's plantations and managed them, becoming a planter in his own right. In 1874, Fontaine co-founded '' The Columbus Times'', a newspaper in his hometown of Columbus, Georgia. He then served as a state diplomat, encouraging European immigration to the state of Georgia. In 1877, he was elected to a convention to write the new state constitution. In 1878, his poem entitled ''The Exile: A Tale of St. Augustine'' was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. The theme of the poem was the massacre of

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s by Spanish forces in

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in 1565. The poem received negative reviews from ''

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'' and the '' Evening Post''. He went on to publish three novels, including ''Etowah: A Romance of the Confederacy'', which received good reviews from critics.

Personal life and death

Fontaine married Mary Flournoy in 1870, and they had a son and a daughter.James Edmonds Saunders, ''Early Settlers of Alabama'', Genealogical Publishing Com, 2010, p. 29

/ref> In 1885, he remarried to Nathalie Hamilton. They resided in Atlanta, Georgia. Fontaine died in Atlanta, Georgia on May 3, 1901, at the age of 55. He was buried at Lindwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''The Exile: A Tale of St. Augustine'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1878).

Non-fiction

*''The State of Georgia: What It Offers to Immigrants, Capitalists, Producers and Manufacturers, and Those Desiring to Better their Condition'' (1881).

Novels

*''Etowah: A Romance of the Confederacy'' (1887). *''Amanda, the Octoroon'' ( J. P. Harrison, 1891).Google Books
/ref> *''The Modern Pariah: A Story of the South'' (1892).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, Francis 1845 births 1901 deaths Writers from Columbus, Georgia Writers from Atlanta Confederate States Army soldiers American planters 19th-century American poets American male novelists 19th-century American novelists American male poets 19th-century American male writers