Coca-Cola has become one of the most valuable brands on the planet. Coca-cola has admitted to using a marketing approach to influence people’s purchasing decisions, proving that people make emotional purchasing judgments. It is widely regarded as a happiness ambassador. It is believed that consuming Coca-Cola provides a significant percentage of happiness. But did you know who invented Coca-Cola?
Coca-Cola was created by a Confederate veteran who became addicted to morphine after the Civil War. John Stith Pemberton began experimenting with various drug mixtures until he discovered a cocaine-based variation that he thoroughly appreciated.
Who is John Stith Pemberton?
John Stith Pemberton was a pharmacist and Confederate States Army veteran best remembered for inventing Coca-Cola. He created an early form of what would become Coca-Cola in May 1886, although he surrendered his rights to the drink shortly before his death.
He was wounded with a saber during the Battle of Columbus in April 1865, and his subsequent morphine addiction drove him to experiment with various painkillers and toxins. Finally, this resulted in the recipe for Coca-Cola, which was eventually altered.
Pemberton was born in Knoxville, Georgia, on July 8, 1831, and spent his boyhood in Rome, Georgia. James C. Pemberton and Martha L. Gant were his parents. The Pembertons were of English descent; their direct paternal ancestor Phineas Pemberton and his family from Lancashire sailed from Liverpool to Maryland aboard the ship Submission in 1682, finally settling in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Pemberton enrolled in the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon, Georgia, and graduated with a medical degree in 1850. His prominent ability was chemistry. After practicing medicine and surgery for a while, Pemberton started a drug store in Columbus.
He met Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis of Columbus, Georgia, a student at Wesleyan College in Macon, and was known to her friends as Cliff. In 1853, they married in Columbus. Charles Nay Pemberton, their only child, was born in 1854.
In August 1888, Pemberton died of stomach cancer at 57. He was also impoverished and addicted to morphine at the time of his death. His remains were returned to Columbus, Georgia, and buried in Linwood Cemetery. His grave headstone is engraved with symbols indicating his Confederate Army service and Freemasonry membership. His son Charley continued to sell his father’s recipe, but Charles Pemberton died of opium addiction. (Source: Coca-Cola)
The Divorce of Pemberton and Coca-Cola
Dr. Pemberton was utterly unaware of the beverage’s potential. He gradually sold off pieces of his company to numerous partners until he died in 1888.
Pemberton became very sick and nearly bankrupt shortly after Coca-Cola was introduced to the market. He began selling the rights to his medicine to his Atlanta business associates, ill and desperate. He was motivated to sell since he still suffered from expensive morphine addiction.
Pemberton had a hunch that his recipe would someday become a national drink; therefore, he tried to keep a piece of the company to pass down to his son.
However, Pemberton’s son desired the money, so in 1888, Pemberton and his son sold the remaining share of the patent to Asa Griggs Candler, an Atlanta pharmacist, for US$1,750, which is equivalent to US$47,230 in 2020 purchasing power. (Source: Coca-Cola)