314 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



ingston's grandfather was a soldier in trie Revolutionary 

 War. He is of Scotch-Irish descent. After leaving 

 school he spent most of his time, prior to the war between 

 the States, in overseeing his father's slaves thus having 

 the advantage of his father's direct and valuable instruc- 

 tions on the farm. He entered the army in 1861, at 

 Richmond, Virginia, as a private in Cobb's Legion. In 

 March, 1862, he joined the Western Army under General 

 Bragg, and remained in the service of the Confederate 

 States until the close of the war, receiving his parol May 

 24, 1865. Returning home, with nothing left but a wife 

 and three children, he bought, on time, one of his father's 

 plantations, and with free negros began what proved to be 

 a successful farmer's life. He is still living on the same 

 farm with many of the conveniences and luxuries of life 

 surrounding him. 



In 1869 he was elected a member of the Executive 

 Committee of the Georgia State Agricultural Society, an 

 organization of great power and good in Georgia until the 

 organization of the Farmers' Alliance. In 1871 he was 

 elected one of the Vice- Presidents of that association and 

 was successively re-elected Vice-President from his Con- 

 gressional District without opposition until February, 

 1884, when he was unanimously elected President, to 

 which position he was re-elected for several successive 

 years, finally resigning. He was elected Vice-President 

 of the Georgia State Alliance in August, 1888, and in 

 January, 1889, upon the resignation of Rev. H. R. Jack- 

 son, President of the State Alliance, became President. 

 In August, 1889, ne was elected President. His public 

 life has been a success. He served his county in the 

 lower branch of the State Legislature from 1874 to 1879. 

 In 1882 he was elected to the State Senate. In all his 

 legislative career he espoused the cause of the people 

 against monopolies and combines and was considered the 



