Georgia House of Representatives - 1995/1996 Sessions

HR 233 - Private Lucy Matilda Gauss Bridge; designate

Page Numbers - 1/ 2

1. Streat  167th


House Comm: Trans      /                Senate Comm: Trans      /               
House Vote: Yeas 154   Nays 0           Senate Vote: Yeas 48  Nays 0            
              ----------------------------------------                          
               House          Action         Senate                             
              ----------------------------------------                          
              2/2/95   Read 1st Time         2/15/95                            
              2/3/95   Read 2nd Time         3/6/95                             
              2/10/95  Favorably Reported    3/1/95                             
              2/14/95  Read 3rd Time         3/15/95                            
              2/14/95  Passed/Adopted        3/15/95                            
              4/6/95   Sent to Governor                                         
              4/11/95  Signed by Governor                                       
              29       Act/Veto Number                                          
              4/11/95  Effective Date                                           
              ----------------------------------------                          
                                                                                
Code Sections amended:                                                          


HR 233                                            LC 22 1521






                             A RESOLUTION

  1- 1  Designating the Private Lucy Matilda Gauss Bridge; and for
  1- 2  other purposes.

  1- 3  WHEREAS, Lucy Matilda Gauss was born near Bladensborough,
  1- 4  North Carolina, in 1812 of sturdy Revolutionary stock and
  1- 5  married Bryant Gauss shortly before the beginning of the
  1- 6  Civil War in 1861; and

  1- 7  WHEREAS, when Bryant Gauss volunteered for service in the
  1- 8  Army of the Confederacy, Lucy Matilda Gauss was reluctant to
  1- 9  stay behind, rolling bandages and weaving cloth for
  1-10  uniforms, not knowing from day to day the fate of her
  1-11  husband; and

  1-12  WHEREAS, a tall, healthy woman who could ride like a cowboy,
  1-13  hunt all day without wearying, and shoot a rifle with the
  1-14  best in her county, she chose to cut her hair, don her
  1-15  husband's clothes, oil her squirrel musket, and board a
  1-16  troop train for Virginia under the name of Private Bill
  1-17  Thompson; and

  1-18  WHEREAS, in her devotion and love for her young husband, she
  1-19  feared that he would be killed in battle and lie
  1-20  unidentified in an unknown grave; and

  1-21  WHEREAS, the volunteers from that section were neighbors and
  1-22  friends who sympathized with her fears and valued her skills
  1-23  as an expert sharpshooter, her singing voice which raised
  1-24  the soldiers' spirits during the long marches, and her
  1-25  gentle care for the wounded; and

  1-26  WHEREAS, she marched shoulder to shoulder with the other
  1-27  soldiers for days through rain and snow, slept on wet ground
  1-28  without a blanket, shared scanty rations, and, as her shoes
  1-29  wore out, left bloody footprints in the snow of northern
  1-30  Virginia; and

  1-31  WHEREAS, she was wounded in the first battle of Manassas and
  1-32  ordered to return home after her sex was discovered in the
  1-33  hospital, but she disregarded orders, rejoining her husband
  1-34  and her company, changed only by a permanent scar on her
  1-35  scalp; and



                                 -1- (Index)

                                                  LC 22 1521

  2- 1  WHEREAS, when Private Bryant Gauss was killed in the Seven
  2- 2  Days' Battle near Richmond, she was granted a permanent
  2- 3  furlough to take his body home for burial through a
  2- 4  countryside torn by two armies and filled with deserters,
  2- 5  camp followers, and wounded soldiers; and

  2- 6  WHEREAS, after the war, she moved to Savannah, Georgia,
  2- 7  married again, and did not tell the story of her war
  2- 8  experiences in Georgia until 1914; and

  2- 9  WHEREAS, the heroism of Private Lucy Matilda Gauss was
  2-10  recently revealed to her descendants by the genealogical
  2-11  research of her great, great-grandson, Perry Luther Streat,
  2-12  Jr.; and

  2-13  WHEREAS, this heroine died at the age of 112 in Nicholls,
  2-14  Georgia, having feared nothing in life except God and her
  2-15  first husband's death.

  2-16  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
  2-17  GEORGIA that the bridge over Hurricane Creek on State Route
  2-18  32, in Coffee County, Georgia, is designated the Private
  2-19  Lucy Matilda Gauss Bridge in memory of her courage.

  2-20  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation
  2-21  is authorized and directed to erect and maintain appropriate
  2-22  signs designating the bridge.

  2-23  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of
  2-24  Representatives is authorized and directed to transmit an
  2-25  appropriate copy of this resolution to her great,
  2-26  great-grandson, Perry Luther Streat, Jr., and to the City of
  2-27  Nicholls, Georgia, for display in the City Hall.


















                                 -2- (Index)