A 'FAIR' WOMAN'S LOVE ALMOST FOILED SHERMAN'S GEORGIA MARCH

by Beverly L. Pack

Zora Fair, a frail woman of medium height, lived in the small Georgia town of Oxford, the site of Emory College. Imbued with a strong spirit as well as a passion for her family and small town, she decided to travel to Sherman's headquarters in Atlanta and learn what she could.

Disguised as a black woman looking for her husband who had run away to go to "Marse Sherman," Fair began the forty-mile trek to Atlanta. Several days later she reached the colonial mansion on Peachtree Street (afterwards known as Leydon House) which Sherman used as a headquarters. Waiting outside General Sherman's office, she overheard the plan to divide the Union Amy of 70,000 men and travel by Macon and Milledgeville, then meet and lay siege to Savannah. Sherman's route was to lead by Covington and Fair's beloved Oxford.

Hastily, Fair began the trek back to Oxford. On her way a sentinel demanded the password. Her silvery voice had betrayed her. Without halting, she quickened her step, and the sentinel fired -- Fair fell among the weeds at the roadside and feigned death. Later, she cautiously rose, saw the way was clear and continued her journey home. On blistered and swollen feet, Fair finally traversed the forty miles in less than three days. On her arrival she wrote a detailed note to General Joseph Johnston at Lincolnton, North Carolina, revealing Sherman's route as she knew it. She bravely signed her own name to the document.

Unfortunately for Fair and the South, Federal scouts captured the mail bag containing her letter. Soon after, Union troops began the search for Fair, who sought refuge in the homes of friends. When those places became unsafe, Fair fled into the cold, dreary November night to "The Rock," a romantic spot two miles from the town. Fortunately, for the delicate fugitive with blistered feet and aching limbs, Union troops abandoned the search after three days and Fair returned home.

Many were the tragedies and heartbreaks when Sherman "smashed things to the sea," but none more touching than the grief of Zora Fair over the desolation of the beautiful Georgia land. She had risked her life to turn back Sherman -- and fate denied her the chance. It was like a butterfly against a hurricane. The girl seemed crushed. The fatigue and exposure of her experience as a spy seriously injured her health. She returned to her native Carolina to spend her last days, and there died a few months after leaving her cherished Oxford.

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