Gazaway Lamar, one of the wealthiest and most daring entrepreneurs of the 19th century—and now buried in Alexandria’s Presbyterian Cemetery—narrowly escaped one of the most horrific maritime disasters of the era.
On June 14, 1838, Lamar and his family boarded the luxury steamship Pulaski, bound for England to witness Queen Victoria’s coronation. But just off the coast of North Carolina, the vessel exploded and sank within an hour.
The tragedy, later called the “Titanic of the South,” claimed 128 lives, including Lamar’s wife, six of their seven children, his niece, and sister-in-law.
Lamar was thrown into the sea and survived by clinging to wreckage overnight. Only he, his son Charles, and sister Rebecca were rescued.
The disaster shattered Lamar—but it also transformed him.
In the years that followed, he became deeply religious and gradually rebuilt his fortune through bold ventures in shipping, cotton, banking, and even the international guano trade. In 1839, just a year after the Pulaski tragedy, Lamar found love again and married Harriet Cazenove, daughter of prominent Alexandria merchant Anthony Charles Cazenove. Their marriage further deepened Lamar’s ties to the city where he would eventually be laid to rest.
During the Civil War, Lamar used his financial expertise to serve as an advisor to Confederate leaders—including President Jefferson Davis—earning the informal title “banker to the Confederacy.” Among his many holdings was a large tract of land in Georgia that would later become the Augusta Country Club.
After the war, he spent years fighting to reclaim property seized by the federal government—most notably his valuable cotton stores. He ultimately won a substantial judgment just months before his death.
Today, Gazaway Bugg Lamar rests in Section 43, Plot 107 of Alexandria’s Presbyterian Cemetery, near his second wife, Harriet. His grave stands as a testament to a life shaped by innovation, ambition, profound personal loss, and enduring historical complexity.