John Stith Pemberton (July 8, 1831 – August 16, 1888) was an American pharmacist and

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

veteran who is best known as the inventor of

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

. On May 8, 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later become Coca-Cola, but sold the rights to the drink shortly before his death in 1888. He suffered from a sabre wound sustained in April 1865, during the Battle of Columbus. His efforts to control his chronic pain led to

morphine addiction Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

. In an attempt to curb his addiction he began to experiment with various painkillers and toxins. The development of an earlier beverage blending alcohol and cocaine led to the recipe that later was adapted to make Coca-Cola.

Background

Pemberton was born on July 8, 1831, in

Knoxville, Georgia Knoxville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Crawford County, Georgia, United States. It is the county seat of Crawford County. The community is part of the Macon metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Knoxville h ...

, and spent most of his childhood in

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...

. His parents were James C. Pemberton and Martha L. Gant. Pemberton entered the Reform Medical College of Georgia in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

, and in 1850, at the age of nineteen, he earned his medical degree. His main talent was chemistry. After initially practicing some medicine and surgery, Pemberton opened a drug store in Columbus. During 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 ...

, Pemberton served in the Third Cavalry Battalion of the Georgia State Guard, which was at that time a component of the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

. He achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Personal life

He met Ann Eliza Clifford "Cliff" Lewis of

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, known to her friends as "Cliff", who had been a student at

Wesleyan College Wesleyan College is a Private university, private, Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's Colleges in the Southern United States, women's college in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1836, Wesleyan was the fi ...

in Macon. They were married in Columbus in 1853. Their only child, Charles Nay Pemberton, was born in 1854. They lived in a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

cottage, the Pemberton House in Columbus, a home of historic significance which was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on September 28, 1971.George B. Griffenhagen, ''A Guide to Pharmacy Museums and Historical Collections in the United States and Canada'', Amer. Inst. History of Pharmacy, 1999, pp. 23–24
/ref>Alice Cromie, ''Restored America: A Tour Guide: the Preserved Towns, Villages, and Historic City Districts of the United States and Canada'', American Legacy Press, 1979, p. 13
Alice Cromie, ''Restored towns and historic districts of America: a tour guide'', Dutton, 1979, p. 135
/ref>

Founding Coca-Cola

In April 1865, Pemberton sustained a sabre wound to the chest during the Battle of Columbus. He soon became addicted to the

morphine Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

used to ease his pain. In 1866, seeking a cure for his addiction, he began to experiment with painkillers that would serve as

-free alternatives. His first recipe was "Dr. Tuggle's Compound Syrup of Globe Flower", in which the active ingredient was derived from the buttonbush (''

Cephalanthus occidentalis ''Cephalanthus occidentalis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae that is native to eastern and southern North America. Common names include buttonbush, common buttonbush, button-willow, buck brush, and honey-bells. Descripti ...

''), a

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

plant. He next began experimenting with

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

and

coca wine Coca wine is an alcoholic beverage combining wine with cocaine. One popular brand was '' Vin Mariani'', developed in 1863 by French chemist and entrepreneur Angelo Mariani. At the end of the 19th century, the fear of drug abuse made coca-based ...

s, eventually creating a recipe that contained extracts of

kola nut The kola nut ( Yoruba: ''obi'', Dagbani: ''guli'', Hausa: goro, Igbo: ''ọjị'', Sängö: ''gôro,'' Swahili: ''mukezu'') is the seed of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and ...

and

damiana ''Turnera diffusa'', known as damiana, is a shrub native to southern Texas in the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. It belongs to the family Passifloraceae. Damiana is a relatively small, woody shrub th ...

, which he called

Pemberton's French Wine Coca Pemberton's French Wine Coca was a coca wine created by the druggist John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca-Cola. It was an alcoholic beverage, mixed with coca, kola nut, and damiana. The original recipe contained the ingredient cocaethylene ...

. According to Coca-Cola historian Phil Mooney, Pemberton's world-famous soda was created in Columbus, Georgia and carried to Atlanta. With public concern about drug addiction, depression, and

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

among war veterans, and "

neurasthenia Neurasthenia ( and () 'weak') is a term that was first used as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves. It became a major diagnosis in North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after neurologist Georg ...

" among "highly-strung" Southern women, Pemberton's "medicine" was advertised as particularly beneficial for "ladies, and all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration". In 1886, when

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 ...

and Fulton County enacted temperance legislation, Pemberton had to produce a non-alcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca. Pemberton relied on Atlanta drugstore owner-proprietor Willis E. Venable to test, and help him perfect, the recipe for the beverage, which he formulated by trial and error. With Venable's assistance, Pemberton worked out a set of directions for its preparation. 1888AsaGCandlerCoLIPACKownER

He blended the base syrup with

carbonated water Carbonated water is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, either artificially injected under pressure, or occurring due to natural geological processes. Carbonation causes small bubbles to form, giving the water an effervescent quali ...

by accident when trying to make another glassful of the beverage. Pemberton decided then to sell this as a fountain drink rather than a medicine. Frank Mason Robinson came up with the name "Coca-Cola" for the

alliterative Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a List of narrative techniques#Style, litera ...

sound, which was popular among other wine medicines of the time. Although the name refers to the two main ingredients, because of controversy over its

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

content,

the Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

later said that the name was "meaningless but fanciful". Robinson handwrote the

Spencerian script Spencerian script is a handwriting script style based on Copperplate script that was used in the United States from approximately 1850 to 1925, and was considered the American '' de facto'' standard writing style for business correspondence prio ...

on the bottles and ads. Pemberton made many health claims for his product, touting it as a "valuable brain tonic" that would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion, and calm nerves, and marketed it as "delicious, refreshing, pure joy, exhilarating", and "invigorating".

Pemberton sells the business

Soon after Coca-Cola hit the market, Pemberton fell ill and nearly bankrupt. Sick and desperate, he began selling rights to his formula to his business partners in Atlanta. Part of his motivation to sell was that he still suffered from expensive continuing morphine addiction. Pemberton had a hunch that his formula "someday will be a national drink," so he attempted to retain a share of the ownership to leave to his son. However, Pemberton's son wanted the money, so in 1888, Pemberton and his son sold the remaining portion of the patent to a fellow Atlanta pharmacist,

Asa Griggs Candler Asa Griggs Candler Sr. (December 30, 1851 – March 12, 1929) was an American business tycoon and politician who in 1888 purchased the Coca-Cola recipe for $238.98 () from chemist John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. Candler founded the ...

, for $300 (USD), which in 2022 purchasing power is equal to $9,372.88 (USD).U.S. Inflation Rate, $300 in 1888 to 2022
/ref>

Death

Pemberton died from

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

at the age of 57 on 16 August 1888. At the time of his death, he was poor and had become increasingly addicted to morphine. His body was returned to Columbus, Georgia, where he was buried at Linwood Cemetery. His grave marker is engraved with symbols showing his service in the

and his membership as a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. His son Charles continued to sell his father's formula, but six years later Charles Pemberton himself died, having succumbed to

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

addiction.

References

External links

*
''The Chronicle Of Coca-Cola: Birth of a Refreshing Idea''
at

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pemberton, John 1831 births 1888 deaths 19th-century American inventors 19th-century American pharmacists Coca-Cola people Confederate States Army officers Deaths from cancer in Georgia (U.S. state) Deaths from stomach cancer in the United States People from Crawford County, Georgia People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War American Freemasons Inventors from Georgia (U.S. state)