The town of Cumming (incorporated 1834) is named in honor of Col. William Cumming, distinguished Georgian, born July 27, 1788, son of Thomas Cumming and Ann Clay, daughter of Joseph Clay, of Savannah. William Cumming graduated from the College of New Jersey at Princeton and studied law at Gould's Law School, Litchfield, Connecticut. The War of 1812 brought him military prominence. Captain of the Augusta Independent Blues in 1812, he was commissioned Major, USA, in 1813, and appointed Adjutant General of the Northern Army the following year with the rank of Colonel. In 1815, however, he resigned from the Army and the Board of War, on which he served. Although in 1818 he was appointed Quartermaster General of the Army by President Monroe and, in 1847, Major General by President Polk, he declined both appointments and spent the remainder of his life in Augusta, where he died February 18, 1863.
A series of duels in 1822 with Senator George McDuffie of South Carolina received nationwide attention and illuminated the larger political controversy between proponents of states' rights (Cumming) and those favoring a strong central government (McDuffie).
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