Macon Telegraph Feb 2, 1895
The Old Man Remembered
The Governor Rewards a Faithful Old Negro Servant
Atlanta Feb 1st (special) Governor Atkinson today made an appointment in which there is a nice story of sentiment. The appointment was that Robert Atkinson, a negro servant in the Atkinson family before the war, to be a janitor at the capitol. When the governors oldest brother John P. Atkinson, went into Confederate Service, the negro Robert accompanied him to the front, and when he received a gunshot wound that gave him his death, it was Robert who carried him off the battlefield, and later brought him to his father’s hearthstone to die.
When Governor Atkinson was elected he promised the faithful negro a place if he should want it. A few days ago the request for his promised place came, and true to his promise, the governor at once made a place for him.