Editing John Stith Pemberton

{{short description|American pharmacist, inventor of Coca-Cola (1831–1888)}}
{{About|the American druggist|other people named John Pemberton|John Pemberton (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = John Pemberton
| image              = John Pemberton.jpg
| caption            = Pemberton, before 1888
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1831|7|8}}
| birth_place        = [[Knoxville, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1888|8|16|1831|7|8}}
| death_place        = [[Atlanta]], Georgia, U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Old City Cemetery (Columbus, Georgia)|Old City Cemetery]]
| nationality        = [[United States of America|American]]
| known_for          = Inventor of [[Coca-Cola]]
| education          = Reform Medical College of Georgia
| spouse             = Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis
| children           = Charles Nay Pemberton
| occupation         = [[Pharmacist]]
| module             = {{Infobox military person
| embed         = yes
| branch        = [[Confederate States Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1861–1865
| rank          = [[Lieutenant Colonel]]
| commands      = 
| unit          = Third Cavalry Battalion of the [[Georgia State Defense Force|Georgia State Guard]]
| battles       = [[American Civil War]]
*[[Battle of Columbus (1865)|Battle of Columbus]] {{WIA}}
| awards        = 
}}
}}

'''John Stith Pemberton''' (July 8, 1831 – August 16, 1888) was an American pharmacist and [[Confederate States Army]] veteran who is best known as the inventor of [[Coca-Cola]]. On May 8, 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later become Coca-Cola, but sold the rights to the drink shortly before his death in 1888.

He suffered from a sabre wound sustained in April 1865, during the [[Battle of Columbus (1865)|Battle of Columbus]]. His efforts to control his chronic pain led to [[morphine addiction]]. In an attempt to curb his addiction he began to experiment with various painkillers and toxins. The development of an earlier beverage blending alcohol and cocaine led to the recipe that later was adapted to make Coca-Cola.

==Background==
Pemberton was born on July 8, 1831, in [[Knoxville, Georgia]], and spent most of his childhood in [[Rome, Georgia]]. His parents were James C. Pemberton and Martha L. Gant.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rome Area History Museum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqxpBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |title=Legendary Locals of Rome |date=2014-12-01 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-4867-4 |page=47 |language=en |access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

Pemberton entered the [[List of defunct medical schools in the United States|Reform Medical College of Georgia]] in [[Macon, Georgia]], and in 1850, at the age of nineteen, he earned his medical degree.<ref name="MIT">{{Cite web |title=John Pemberton |url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/john-pemberton |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005020749/https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/john-pemberton |archive-date=October 5, 2023 |access-date=December 20, 2018 |website=[[Lemelson–MIT Prize|Lemelson-MIT Program]] |language=en-US}}</ref> His main talent was chemistry.<ref>King, Monroe M. "John Stith Pemberton (1831–1888)." ''New Georgia Encyclopedia''. June 13, 2017. Web. September 11, 2017.</ref> After initially practicing some medicine and surgery, Pemberton opened a drug store in Columbus.<ref name="MIT" />

During the [[American Civil War]], Pemberton served in the Third Cavalry Battalion of the [[Georgia State Defense Force|Georgia State Guard]], which was at that time a component of the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]]. He achieved the rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]].<ref name="MIT" />

==Personal life==
He met Ann Eliza Clifford "Cliff" Lewis of [[Columbus, Georgia]], known to her friends as "Cliff", who had been a student at [[Wesleyan College]] in Macon. They were married in Columbus in 1853. Their only child, Charles Nay Pemberton, was born in 1854.

They lived in a [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] cottage, the [[Pemberton House (Columbus, Georgia)|Pemberton House]] in Columbus, a home of historic significance which was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on September 28, 1971.<ref name="guide">[https://books.google.com/books?id=O1KpXC4dDSkC&pg=PA23 George B. Griffenhagen, ''A Guide to Pharmacy Museums and Historical Collections in the United States and Canada'', Amer. Inst. History of Pharmacy, 1999, pp. 23–24]</ref><ref name="cromie">Alice Cromie, ''Restored America: A Tour Guide: the Preserved Towns, Villages, and Historic City Districts of the United States and Canada'', American Legacy Press, 1979, p. 135 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vIDYAAAAMAAJ Alice Cromie, ''Restored towns and historic districts of America: a tour guide'', Dutton, 1979, p. 135]</ref><ref name="NRHP">{{NRISref|version=2006a|dateform=mdy|access-date=December 20, 2018|refnum=71000283|name=Pemberton House}}</ref>

==Founding Coca-Cola==
In April 1865, Pemberton sustained a sabre wound to the chest during the [[Battle of Columbus (1865)|Battle of Columbus]]. He soon became addicted to the [[morphine]] used to ease his pain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ldsp01.columbusstate.edu:8080/xmlui/handle/11075/598 |title=Richard Gardiner, "The Civil War Origin of Coca-Cola in Columbus, Georgia", ''Muscogiana: Journal of the Muscogee Genealogical Society'' (Spring 2012), Vol. 23: 21–24. |access-date=March 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325045053/http://ldsp01.columbusstate.edu:8080/xmlui/handle/11075/598 |archive-date=March 25, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9ceLzaeHsZAC&pg=PA80 Dominic Streatfeild, ''Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography,'' Macmillan (2003), p. 80.]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFRd2MMrtiUC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152 Richard Davenport-Hines, ''The Pursuit of Oblivion,'' Norton (2004), p. 152.]</ref>

In 1866, seeking a cure for his addiction, he began to experiment with painkillers that would serve as [[opium|morphine]]-free alternatives.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=15DbTPvCWs0C&pg=PA36 John McKay, ''It Happened in Atlanta'' (Morris Books, 2011), 36.]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MVhOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 Jeremy Agnew, Alcohol and Opium in the Old West, 173.]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SDSGCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT184 Albert Jack, ''They Laughed at Galileo''], p. 184</ref> His first recipe was "Dr. Tuggle's Compound Syrup of Globe Flower", in which the active ingredient was derived from the buttonbush (''[[Cephalanthus occidentalis]]''), a [[Toxin|toxic]] plant.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pemberton's Globe Flower Syrup |url=https://sites.google.com/a/columbusstate.edu/dr-gardiner-s-course-materials/pemberton-s-globe-flower-syrup |access-date=April 7, 2025 |agency=Columbus State University |publisher=Enquirer |date=March 18, 1866 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101014709/https://sites.google.com/a/columbusstate.edu/dr-gardiner-s-course-materials/pemberton-s-globe-flower-syrup |archive-date=November 1, 2020 |location=Columbus, Georgia}}</ref> He next began experimenting with [[coca]] and [[coca wine]]s, eventually creating a recipe that contained extracts of [[kola nut]] and [[Turnera diffusa|damiana]], which he called [[Pemberton's French Wine Coca]].<ref>Dominic Streatfeild, ''meth: An Unauthorized Biography,'' Macmillan (2003), p. 80.</ref><ref>Richard Davenport-Hines, ''The Pursuit of Oblivion,'' Norton (2004), p. 152.</ref>

According to Coca-Cola historian Phil Mooney, Pemberton's world-famous soda was created in Columbus, Georgia and carried to Atlanta.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/03/27/1514591/columbus-helped-make-cokes-success.html#ixzz1HpAME5HE |title=Tim Chitwood, Columbus ''Ledger-Enquirer'' |access-date=October 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110115355/http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/03/27/1514591/columbus-helped-make-cokes-success.html#ixzz1HpAME5HE |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> With public concern about drug addiction, [[major depressive disorder|depression]], and [[alcoholism]] among war veterans, and "[[neurasthenia]]" among "highly-strung" Southern women,<ref>John Shelton Reed, ''Minding The South,'' University of Missouri Press (2099), p.171.</ref> Pemberton's "medicine" was advertised as particularly beneficial for "ladies, and all those whose sedentary employment causes nervous prostration".<ref>''American Soft Drink and the Company that Makes It, ''Basic Books: enlarged 2nd edition (2000), p.24.</ref>

In 1886, when [[Atlanta]] and [[Fulton County, Georgia|Fulton County]] enacted [[Temperance movement|temperance]] legislation, Pemberton had to produce a non-alcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca.<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/15/is-this-the-real-thing-coca-colas-secret-formula-discovered/|title=Is This the Real Thing? Coca-Cola's Secret Formula "Discovered" by This American Life – TIME.com|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=February 15, 2011 |last1=Adams |first1=William Lee }}</ref> Pemberton relied on Atlanta drugstore owner-proprietor Willis E. Venable to test, and help him perfect, the recipe for the beverage, which he formulated by trial and error. With Venable's assistance, Pemberton worked out a set of directions for its preparation. 
[[File:1888AsaGCandlerCoLIPACKownER.jpg|right|thumb|195px|Standing in the open doorway to the pharmacy, atop the stoop, is John Pemberton in April 1888 at 47 Peachtree Street, Atlanta.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/10/prweb10056746.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118203741/http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/10/prweb10056746.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 18, 2012|title=Coca-Cola's Dr. Pemberton May Not Be 'The Real Thing!'|date=October 27, 2012|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>]]
He blended the base syrup with [[carbonated water]] by accident when trying to make another glassful of the beverage. Pemberton decided then to sell this as a fountain drink rather than a medicine. [[Frank Mason Robinson]] came up with the name "Coca-Cola" for the [[alliteration|alliterative]] sound, which was popular among other wine medicines of the time. Although the name refers to the two main ingredients, because of controversy over its [[cocaine]] content, [[the Coca-Cola Company]] later said that the name was "meaningless but fanciful". 
Robinson handwrote the [[Spencerian Script|Spencerian script]] on the bottles and ads. Pemberton made many health claims for his product, touting it as a "valuable brain tonic" that would cure headaches, relieve exhaustion, and calm nerves, and marketed it as "delicious, refreshing, pure joy, exhilarating", and "invigorating".<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Birth of a Refreshing Idea - News & Articles|url=http://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history/the-birth-of-a-refreshing-idea|access-date=September 30, 2020|website=www.coca-colacompany.com|language=en}}</ref>
<!--The original formula allegedly called for 8.46&nbsp;mg of cocaine, while an average dose of the street drug is between 15 and 35&nbsp;mg. Coca-Cola was originally advertised as a cure for morphine and opium addictions among a multitude of other health benefits.{{fact}}-->

==Pemberton sells the business==
[[File:Pemberton Sign Knoxville Georgia.JPG|thumb|A sign in [[Knoxville, Georgia]], commemorating John Pemberton]]

Soon after Coca-Cola hit the market, Pemberton fell ill and nearly bankrupt. Sick and desperate, he began selling rights to his formula to his business partners in Atlanta. Part of his motivation to sell was that he still suffered from expensive continuing morphine addiction.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSAChoqpnHUC&pg=PA34|title=For youth God, Country and Coca-Cola|page=34|isbn=9780465054688|last1=Pendergrast|first1=Mark|date=March 17, 2000|publisher=Basic Books }}</ref> Pemberton had a hunch that his formula "someday will be a national drink," so he attempted to retain a share of the ownership to leave to his son.<ref name="books.google.com" /> However, Pemberton's son wanted the money, so in 1888, Pemberton and his son sold the remaining portion of the patent to a fellow Atlanta pharmacist, [[Asa Griggs Candler]], for $300 (USD),<ref name="MIT" /> which in 2022 purchasing power is equal to $9,372.88 (USD).<ref>[http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1888?amount=300 U.S. Inflation Rate, $300 in 1888 to 2022]</ref>

==Death==
[[File:John Pemberton's Grave.jpg|thumb|The grave of John Pemberton in [[Columbus, Georgia]]]]
Pemberton died from [[stomach cancer]] at the age of 57 on 16 August 1888. At the time of his death, he was poor and had become increasingly addicted to morphine. His body was returned to Columbus, Georgia, where he was buried at [[Old City Cemetery (Columbus, Georgia)|Linwood Cemetery]]. His grave marker is engraved with symbols showing his service in the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] and his membership as a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]]. His son Charles continued to sell his father's formula, but six years later Charles Pemberton himself died, having succumbed to [[opium]] addiction.<ref name=Pendergrast2000>{{cite book|last=Pendergrast|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Pendergrast|title=For God, country, and Coca-Cola: the  definitive history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it|edition=2nd|chapter=The tangled chain of title|pages=34–46|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York|year=2000|isbn=978-0465054688}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{Citation
|pmid = 3276011
|last=Schoenberg
|first=B S
|publication-date=Jan 1988
|year=1988
|title=Coke's the one: the centennial of the 'ideal brain tonic' that became a symbol of America
|volume=81
|issue=1
|periodical=South. Med. J.
|pages=69–74
|doi = 10.1097/00007611-198801000-00015
}}
*{{Citation
|pmid = 11621277
|last=King
|first=M M
|publication-date=1987
|year=1987
|title=Dr. John S. Pemberton: originator of Coca-Cola
|volume=29
|issue=2
|periodical=Pharmacy in History
|pages=85–89
}}
*{{Citation
|id = American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
|last=Hasegawa
|first=Guy
|publication-date=March 1, 2000
|date=March 1, 2000
|title=Pharmacy in the American Civil War
|volume=57
|issue=5
|periodical=American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy
|pages=457–489
|doi=10.1093/ajhp/57.5.475
|pmid=10711530
|doi-access=free
}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|John Pemberton}}
* [https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/the-chronicle-of-coca-cola-birth-of-a-refreshing-idea ''The Chronicle Of Coca-Cola: Birth of a Refreshing Idea''] at [[The Coca-Cola Company]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pemberton, John}}
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:19th-century American pharmacists]]
[[Category:Coca-Cola people]]
[[Category:Confederate States Army officers]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Crawford County, Georgia]]
[[Category:People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:American Freemasons]]
[[Category:Inventors from Georgia (U.S. state)]]