Greetings Brian....
I am the great grandson of George W. Lane and I am ingterested in the story that you have read regarding the twelve Union soldiers and old George. I have heard the story all my life but with a little different variation. The family version as I have been told was that George was in the vault when the hotel burned but nobody ever said that the vault was inside the hotel. The fire supposedly burned all evidence the family had that would have allowed them to claim George's body so they never got him. The story you relate makes a lot more sense and I am wondering where it came from. According to a site that I just found, George died on 12 November 1863. That is the first time in all of my research that I have seen the date of his death. I had a brochure from the hotel that described the fire and gave dates but I can not find it. I tried to get that information from the hotel and got no response.

Frank G. Westmoreland
1916 Elkeon St., Athens, Alabama