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Loran Smith: “You Are My Sunshine”

LAGRANGE – It is always exhilarative to become knowledgeable about the history of Georgia towns and communities and what their signature factoid might be; to explore their history and lore is fun and uplifting.

A slave owner, lawyer, soldier, and politician by the name of Julius Caesar Alford was born in Greensboro and later settled in what is now LaGrange. When he spent time in Congress, he was known as the “War Horse of Troup,” as in Troup County, a one-time Creek Indian stronghold.

It developed that J. C. Alford overheard Gen. Marquis de Lafayette, who helped George Washington win the Revolutionary War, remark that the topography of the Troup area was like the country estate of his wife near Paris, which was named LaGrange.