This historic building located in Camden’s downtown historic district served as the law office for Colonel Franklin King Beck. Colonel Beck, who commanded the 23rd Alabama Infantry, held General U.S. Grant’s Union troops at bay for 12 hours with a single regiment at the Battle of Big Black Ridge (Mississippi). A year later, on October 12, 1864, Colonel Beck was mortally wounded at the Battle of Resaca, Georgia. After the turn of the century, the building became the law office of Joseph Neely Miller and his younger brother, Benjamin Meek Miller (Governor of Alabama from 1931-1935), and in later years, William Joel Bonner. In 1927, this building was photographed and recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a contributing property to the Wilcox County Courthouse Historic District. In 1995, the building was acquired by the Wilcox Historical Society, and with the assistance of a grant from the Alabama Historical Commission, was restored to completion in 1999.
This building is located at downtown Camden on the corner of Planters Street and Water Street (GPS coordinates 31.991989, -87.289176).
Source: Wilcox Historical Society