Atlanta's Rhett Butler. . .

An article in Like the Dew: A Journal of Southern Culture and Politics claims that Richard Peters, one of Atlanta's founders and a former railroad man who built a blockade company during the Civil War as the man behind Rhett Butler.  Atlanta's Rhett Butler draws parallels between Butler and Peters, as well as George Trenholm.   E. Lee Spence wrote a book, Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The Real Rhett Bultler and Other Revelations claiming Trenholm was the inspiration for Rhett Butler.   As a character, Butler was younger then both men when he ran the blockade, and an outcast in most of Southern society.  Both Peters and Trenholm were wealthy, married and had families before the Civil War started, and merely used the war as a new way to diversify their holdings.  It's a short, but interesting little article.

Though neither man meets the dashing description of Rhett Butler, and neither has the moustache or full lips.

Richard Peters in 1848

George Trenholm during the Civil War.