Kirby Smith has long been A Favorite Son

Edmund Kirby Smith was born in 1824 in St. Augustine where his father was a lawyer and a judge. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1845 and served under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. He taught math at the academy and served in the cavalry on the western frontier. After accompanying the Mexican Boundary Commission, his botany reports were published by the Smithsonian Institution. In 1861, Smith resigned from the U.S. Army to join the Confederate forces. Commissioned as a colonel, he rose to the rank of general. After the war he became president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company, chancellor of the University of Nashville and professor of mathematics at the University of the South at Sewanee. He died March 28, 1893, the last surviving full general of either army.

Edmund Kirby Smith’s popularity in Florida is noted by his selection as one of the state’s two citizens chosen for inclusion in the Capitol building’s National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. A Congressional law dating to 1864 allowed each state to contribute two statues featuring a citizen of the state “illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.” One of Florida’s selections for this honor was Kirby Smith, and the other was John Gorrie.

 In 1914, a marble statue of John Gorrie, created by C. Adrian Pillars, was given by the state of Florida. The Kirby Smith statue, also a Pillars’ work, but in bronze, was given by the state in 1922. As the Hall crowded, Congress allowed the statues to be dispersed throughout the Capitol Building, and today the Kirby Smith statue is located in the Hall of Columns.
 

Obituary for Dr. A.H. Darnes Reveals Respect of the City’s Citizens
..........
 
 

Excerpted from the newspaper, The Evening Telegram (Jacksonville, Florida)

Tuesday, February 13, 1894

 The largest number of people ever gathered within the walls of any church in this city was at Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church yesterday to attend the funeral of Dr. A. H. Darnes, deceased. Long before the appointed time for the ceremonies to begin, people could be seen coming from every direction wending their way towards the church, and by 1 o’clock p.m. the church was already crowded.” The deceased stood high in the estimation of the people of the city, both white and colored, and was one of the most prominent colored masons in America. The procession started from the parlors of undertaker Clark on Forsyth Street and was led by the Union Coronet [sic] and Excelsior bands, both of which played sacred music. The Knights of Archer and other masons were…attired in full regalia and made a credible appearance much admired by everybody. … The body was enclosed in …in a beautiful rosewood casket… Rev. J.E. Lee officiated, and eloquently did he speak from the first chapter of Joshua, and said that he wished he had time to explain the possibilities of men of our race such as Darnes… The Rev. J.R. Scott read the ritual services. Just at this time, two pigeons flew to the top of the church and remained there. Some of the people present said that t’was angels that came to guard the soul home to heaven. Dr. Darnes, the deceased, was about 48 years of age, and had been a popular practicing physician in this city for about 16 years, and rendered valuable services during the smallpox and yellow fever epidemics. … The internment was in the old city cemetery [sic], and the body was followed there by a procession of people. … At least 3,000 people attended the funeral.
 

James Weldon Johnson’s memories of City’s first Black physician

 A goldmine of early Jacksonville history, James Weldon Johnson’s autobiography, Along This Way, offers the following fond account of Dr. Alexander Darnes:

 When I was perhaps ten years old, a strange being came to Jacksonville, the first colored doctor. He practiced…a number of years and made a success, but he had a hard uphill fight. Few were the colored people at the time who had the faith to believe that one of their own knew how to make those…marks on a piece of paper that would bring from the drugstore something to stand between them and death. Dr. Darnes made himself a big chum to Rosamond [brother of James Weldon Johnson] and me, and we liked him tremendously. He constantly brought us some of the odds and ends so much prized by boys. He once gave us fifty cents apiece for learning the deaf and dumb alphabet within a given time. …. But best of all, Dr. Darnes was an enthusiastic fisherman, and he opened up a new world of fun and sport by teaching us how to fish.

 In April 1884, The New York Globe reported that A.H. Darnes was becoming one of the sound businessmen of Jacksonville and that he had a large and handsome residence in an upper class section of the city. The home and office were located in the same structure on Ocean Street.

 The Florida Times Union offered a short tribute to Dr. Darnes after his death stating he was “universally esteemed by all who knew him” and noted his valuable services during the 1888 yellow fever epidemic. The article also observed Dr. Darnes’ prominence in the Masonic order; Darnes was the Florida Deputy Grand Master and High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Washington, D.C. at the time of his death.

Back to Home Back to Journal