Milledgeville, Georgia

City: Milledgeville

County: Baldwin

State: Georgia

Lat/Long: 33.0667, -83.2167

Located in central Georgia approximately thirty miles northeast of Macon, Milledgeville is the county seat of Baldwin County. The Georgia General Assembly established Milledgville in 1803 to serve as the new state capital and county seat of the newly-formed Baldwin County. In 1806, the General Assembly incorporated it as a town, and the state government moved from Louisville. A year later, builders completed the new state capitol, and over the next three decades, Milledgeville became home to the Georgia State Penitentiary (1808), the Executive Mansion (1838), and the Georgia State Hospital (1842). In 1836, the General Assembly incorporated Milledgeville as a city. It remained the state capital throughout the antebellum and Civil War years. General William T. Sherman occupied Milledgeville in November 1864 during his March to the Sea, sparing the town itself, but ransacking the state capitol and burning the penitentiary. Milledgeville remained the state capitol until 1868, when it was moved to Atlanta.

Robert J. Wilson, "Milledgeville," New Georgia Encyclopedia 08 June 2017, https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/milledgeville, accessed 2 January 2020; Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 764; Frank R. Abate, ed., American Places Dictionary (Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1994), 2:190; Paul T. Hellmann, Historical Gazetteer of the United States (New York: Routledge, 2005), 149-50.