Dennis Fletcher Hammond (December 15, 1819October 31, 1891) was the 18th mayor of the American city of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He was in office from 1871 to 1872.

Early life and education

Hammond was born in the Edgefield District of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Career

He moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

where he was a lawyer and, from 1855 to 1861, judge in the superior court Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit. In

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he was politically influenced by William Markham and became a

Radical Republican The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They ca ...

supporting

black suffrage Black suffrage refers to black people's right to vote and has long been an issue in countries established under conditions of black minorities as well as, in some cases (notoriously South Africa under apartheid and Rhodesia), black majorities. Un ...

. When Markham refused to run for mayor, Hammond did and was able to briefly unite working-class whites to win the office. This was the last-gasp of Republican power in

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

-era Atlanta. The Hammond administration was known for its commitment to law enforcement, including enforcement of the Sunday liquor laws.

Personal life and death

After serving one term as mayor, he moved to

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, in 1880.. He died there a decade later.

References

1819 births 1891 deaths Mayors of Atlanta Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans 19th-century mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state) {{GeorgiaUS-mayor-stub