Nathan Henry Bass Sr.

Background

Nathan was born on October 1, 1808, in Putnam County, Georgia, United States. His parents were John Hicks and Rebecca Bass.

Career

In 1840 Nathan Henry Bass Sr. moved to the frontier of Floyd County, Georgia. Bass became a successful planter and in 1850 moved to Macon, Georgia, where he became active in Southern business expansion.

Along with Herschel V. Johnson and Eugenius A. Nisbet, Bass was appointed to address the people of Georgia on the alternative courses of action for Democrats in the state following the breakup of the Charleston convention. Bass himself refused to recognize the Richmond Democratic convention which nominated John C. Breckinridge for president in 1860.

But in 1861, he supported secession and called for a Confederate cotton planters’ convention in the hopes of directing the planting powers to support the war effort. He served in the provisional Confederate Congress in 1861, and he nominally supported the administration. He refused to stand for election to the first Confederate Congress.

Instead, Bass returned to Macon and served the state government as an advisor on the international cotton market. After the war, having lost his wealth, he became a farmer in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia.

Achievements

• As a prominent Georgian supporter of the Confederate States at the beginning of the Civil War, Nathan Henry Bass, Sr. entered Confederate politics. He was elected and represented the Georgia State in the Provisional Confederate Congress.

Politics

Bass, who supported Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency in 1860, was a member of the unionist minority in the state delegation to the Charleston Democratic convention.

Connections

Nathan and his wife, Caroline Flournoy, had four children.

Father:

John Hicks Bass

1763-1850

Mother:

Rebecca Bass

Brother:

Charles Eaton Bass

1796-1843

Sister:

Sarah Floyd Bass Marcus

1798-1867

Sister:

Nancy Virginia Bass McCraw

1800-1874

Sister:

Mary Bass DeJarnette

1812-1868

Sister:

Martha Blanton Bass Frazer

1812-1868

Brother:

Lewis Harper Bass

1847-1894

Wife:

Caroline Flournoy Bass

1812-1900

Son:

Josiah Flournoy Bass

1838-1918

Son:

John Hix Bass

1842-1890

Son:

Nathan Henry Bass

1843-1914

Daughter:

Julia Bass Leavell

1853-1932

colleague:

Herschel Johnson

colleague:

Aristides Nisbet

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977