Oak tree in memory of Robert Toombs
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Toombs, Robert
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Oak tree in memory of Robert Toombs
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The Toombs Oak was a tree that once stood on the University of Georgia campus, right outside of the Chapel and very close to Demosthenian Hall. There is a great deal of legend behind the oak tree, which was named in honor of Robert Toombs, the Secretary of State of the Confederacy.
Toombs, who attended UGA from 1824-1828 and was an active member of the Demosthenian Literary Society, caused several problems due to his poor behavior during his time at university and was expelled twice, the last time just a semester before graduating. Before his final dismissal, he had been chosen as the class speaker at his graduation ceremony. Toombs, determined to fulfill this duty and hoping to annoy university faculty and staff one last time, stood by the oak tree outside of the chapel during graduation and gave a loud speech, so boisterous that those in attendance left the ceremony and walked outside to listen to him speak.
The oak became known as Robert Toombs Oak, and it is said that when the Confederate general died on December 15, 1885, lightning struck the tree. The remaining oak tree was chopped down by 1908, and the Demosthenian Society took a part of the stump to keep in their hall. Today, the Demosthenians still incorporate the stump into their meetings by standing on it to make election speeches. Their sister society, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Society at the University of North Carolina, has another portion of the tree as well. The spot where the oak tree once stood is now denoted by a sundial, and a historical marker in honor of the Robert Toombs Oak was also placed beside Demosthenian Hall in March 1985.
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Oak tree of unknown size
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The historical marker on the former site of the Toombs Oak reads as follows:
A majestic oak tree once stood on this spot and one of the University's most endearing legends also flourished here.
Robert Toombs (1810-1885) was young, and boisterous when he was dismissed from Franklin College in 1828. Five decades later it was said that Toombs returned on the next commencement day after he was expelled and spoke so eloquently under the tree that the entire audience left the chapel to hear him. Later, it was said, that the tree was struck by lightning on the day Toombs died and never recovered. The tree finally collapsed in 1908 and the remains were cut into mementos that have since been handed down by alumni.
Robert Toombs was a lawyer, planter and statesman. He served in the Georgia House 1837-1840, 1842-1845, in the U.S. Congress 1845-1853, the U.S. Senate from 1853 until he resigned in 1861. Toombs was Secretary of State of the Confederacy then a brigadier general in the C.S.A. He also played a major role in Georgia's Constitutional Convention of 1877.
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Toombs, Robert
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1828
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1908
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