Legendary Sports Figure introduces new book on Georgia Cavalryman

By Gregory L. Wade · Originally published December 2017 · p. 16

Coach, author and historian Vince Dooley talks about his (Greg Wade)

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Legendary Georgia football coach Vince Dooley recently spoke to a large crowd at Nashville, Tenn.’s Traveler’s Plantation about his new book: The Legion’s Fighting Bulldog: The Civil War Correspondence of William Gaston Delony, Colonel of Cobb’s Georgia Legion Cavalry. Delony was a University of Georgia graduate and attorney when the war broke out.

The event was sponsored by The Franklin Civil War Round Table (FCWRT), The Battle of Nashville Preservation Society, and The Friends of Fort Negley.

Coach Vince Dooley, left and Cullen Smith, right. Touring the Franklin Battlefield. Greg Wade)

THE FINEST HISTORICAL ANTIQUE MILITARIA

Left to right: Mike Grainger (Civil War Trust), Cullen Smith, Ashton Dooley, Linda Boshers, Jason Boshers, Greg Wade and Vince Dooley. Before their tour of the reclaimed battlefield at Franklin’s Carter House.

Greg Wade introduces Vince Dooley.

Vince Dooley at the Georgia section of the Confederate Cemetery in Franklin. (Greg Wade)

Coach, author and historian Vince Dooley talks about his book. (Greg Wade) The Traveler’s Rest Plantation, site host, was the location of Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood’s headquarters during the December 1864 siege of Nashville. As part of the FCWRT’s monthly programing, “We wanted to bring Mr. Dooley to Nashville for quite a while so he came on the Georgia/Vandy football weekend,” noted the Round Table’s Kelly Gilfillan. After serving as a U.S. Marine, Dooley became one of the most successful college coaches of all time, winning 201 games in twenty-five seasons at the University of Georgia. This included a national championship and six Southeastern Conference Championships. Upon leaving coaching, he remained as Georgia’s athletic director from 1979-2004 and still makes Athens, Ga., his home. He has written several books about the school’s sports history as well as his passion for gardening. “As great a sports figure as he is, we wanted to bring him here for his contributions to history,” said Cullen Smith of Franklin, an active local preservationist. Dooley serves as the Chairman of the Board of Curators of the Georgia Historical Society and is a board member of the Washington, D.C., based Civil War Trust, a group dedicated to preserving Civil War and Revolutionary War battle land across the country. Dooley became interested in Colonel Gaston Delony’s story when he found letters Gaston had written to his wife, Rosa, chronicling the trials and experiences of his life in combat. “I was being interviewed and talking about these letters and another writer, Samuel Norman Thomas, heard the discussion,” Dooley said. “He contacted me about doing a book and here we are,” he told the crowd. Gaston Delony writes as a loving husband worried about his pregnant wife as well his own experiences as a soldier. The author discussed how adept at leadership Col. Delony was in the complicated task of being part of a “legion,” which Dooley explained was a single command with elements from the artillery, cavalry, and infantry. Colonel Delony was mortally wounded at Brandy Station, Va., and died a few days later. He is interred in the Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens and known as one of the first “Georgia Bulldogs.” In an amazing coincidence of history, one of Delony’s great granddaughters married Mike Steele who played for Dooley at Georgia. Steele was part of the “unit that was attacked in Somalia in 1993 inspiring the book, Black Hawk Down,” Dooley said. Noting he knew many three hundred pound men who “could run the forty yard dash in less than five seconds,” Dooley observed the toughness of some of the smallest of Civil War soldiers. “They were, pound for pound, boys who quickly became the toughest of men,” he said. Before his presentation Dooley and his nephew, Ashton Dooley, were given a tour of the reclamation projects on the Battle of Franklin battle field. He recalled visiting years ago only to find “a pizza place where Pat Cleburne was killed.” The ground is now open and interpreted battle land, part of about 140 total acres that have been recovered since 2005. After his talk at Traveler’s Rest, Dooley spent time signing books for many who were interested in both football and Civil War history. “I am a Tennessee fan but Coach Dooley is a legend and I also am big into the Civil War era,” noted Barrett Severance of Nashville. “What an honor to meet such an accomplished man,” he added.