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some battalions and the First Volunteer Regiment of Georgia, organized prior to the war and commanded by Col. A. R. Lawton. This officer, under instructions from Governor Brown, on the morning of January 3, 1861, before the secession of Georgia, had with detachments from the Oglethorpe Light Infantry of Savannah, the Savannah Guards and the Chatham Artillery seized Fort Pulaski, and a few days after secession was accomplished occurred the taking of the Augusta arsenal by the Augusta Independent Battalion and other troops, as already told in this chapter.

In March the government of the Confederate States called upon Georgia for troops for Pensacola, Florida. The governor accordingly issued a call for volunteers. The enthusiastic response was the tender of their services by 250 companies. From these 250 companies ten were

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ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS Vice-President of the Confederate States, Member of Congress and Governor

formed into a regiment at Macon and organized as the First Regiment of Georgia Volunteers, with James N. Ramsey as colonel. These were sent to Pensacola and about six weeks later to Virginia, where in the Laurel Hill campaign they were the first Georgia troops to experience actual war.

The First Independent Battalion of Georgia, under Maj. Peter H. Larey, consisting of four companies, was also sent to Pensacola, to which was added a company under Capt. G. W. Lee from Atlanta, being the first troops that had gone from Georgia to Pensacola.

The Georgia Secession Convention, prior to its adjournment at Milledgeville to meet in March at Savannah, had authorized the equipment of two regiments, to be either all infantry or infantry and artillery as the governor should decide. Before the organization of these two regiments could be completed active hostilities began. Therefore the companies already formed were consolidated into one command under Col.

Charles. J. Williams and turned over to the Confederate Government as the First Georgia Regulars.

Thus we see there were three First Georgia regiments. But since the First Regiment of Georgia Volunteers under Col. James N. Ramsey were the first of the three to experience real war, the men of that regiment always felt that they had the clearest right to the name. They were camped on the outskirts of Richmond, when Big Bethel, the first field engagement of the war, was fought and won by North Carolina and Virginia troops. President Davis made a speech to them the day before their departure from Richmond for Staunton, whence after a few days' rest they began their march across the Shenandoah, Allegheny and Cheat Mountains to join the little army under Brig.-Gen. Robert S. Garnett at Laurel Hill. Here they skirmished successfully for several days with McClellan's advance troops and, when the flank of Garnett's position at Laurel Hill had been turned by the fall of the post at Rich Mountain, shared with Garnett's troops the severe hardships of a retreat conducted with great skill by their gallant leader until his death at Carrick's Ford, where the Federal pursuit was halted. Reaching at last Monterey, where they were met by reinforcements under Brig.-Gen. Henry R. Jackson, of Georgia, and went into camp, they heard with delight the news of the first great pitched battle of the war at Manassas, the thunder of whose artillery had been heard by them at intervals on that ever memorable 21st of July, 1861, the reverberations from that distant field rolling through valleys between hills and mountains far away to the northwest and exciting wonder and many conjectures, until late that night a courier rode into Monterey with the report of overwhelming victory.

To the Virginians and Georgians of the lamented Garnett's little army how thrilling was the story of the stand of the "Stonewall Brigade," of Bee, the gallant Carolinian, who shortly before his death had uttered the words which gave to Jackson and his men the name which they were to make immortal; of Francis S. Barton, whose Seventh and Eighth Georgia shared equal glories with "Stonewall" Jackson's men and Jones' Fourth Alabama. The last words of Barton, "They have killed me, but never give up the fight," were like a bugle call to valorous deeds that found an echo in the hearts of southern patriots ready to do or die in the cause. of home and native land.

At the time of the first battle of Manassas, Georgia had organized 17,000 men, had armed and equipped them herself at an expense of $300,000, When in September, 1861, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding the Department of the West, called upon the governors for arms, Governor Brown was compelled to reply with great regret: "There are no arms belonging to the state at my disposal. All have been exhausted in arming the volunteers of the state now in the Confederate service in Virginia, at Pensacola and on our own coast, in all some twentythree regiments. Georgia has now to look to the shot-guns and rifles in the hands of her people for coast defense, and to guns which her gunsmiths are slowly manufacturing.

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Allowing for re-enlistments and reorganization of commands, Georgia from first to last gave to the cause of the Confederate States ninety-four regiments and thirty-six battalions, embracing every arm of the service.

There were commissioned from Georgia the following general officers:

Major-Generals-Howell Cobb, Lafayette McLaws, David Emanuel Twiggs, Wm. H. T. Walker, Ambrose Ransom Wright and Pierce M. B. Young. Brigadier-Generals-E. Porter Alexander, George T. Anderson, Robert H. Anderson, Francis S. Barton, Henry L. Benning, Wm. R. Boggs, Wm. M. Browne, Goode Bryan, Thomas Reed Rootes Cobb, Alfred H. Colquitt, Philip Cook, Charles C. Crews, Alfred Cumming, George Pierce Doles, Dudley M. Du Bose, Clement A. Evans, Wm. M. Gardner, Lucius J. Gartrell, Victor J. B. Girardy, George P. Harrison, Alfred Iverson, Henry Rootes Jackson, John K. Jackson, A. R. Lawton, Hugh W. Mercer, Paul J. Semmes, James P. Simms, Wm. Duncan Smith, Moxley Sowel, Marcellus A. Stovall, Bryan M. Thomas, Edward Lloyd Thomas, Robert Toombs, Claudius C. Wilson and Wm. T. Wofford. Of these Brig.-Gen. Clement A. Evans commanded a division for the last five months of the war and it is said that commissions as major-general had been made out for him and for Brig.-Gen. Henry L. Benning just before the collapse of the Confederacy.

Georgia furnished three lieutenant-generals, Wm. J. Hardee, John B. Gordon and Joseph Wheeler, the latter of whom became a citizen of Alabama and congressman from that state. General Gordon commanded a corps for the last five or six months of the war and was informed that his commission as lieutenant-general had been issued just before the fall of Richmond and Petersburg. Lieut.-Gen. James Longstreet who made his home in Gainesville, Georgia after the war, was, like Gordon and Evans, a private member of Atlanta Camp No. 159, U. C. V., and all that was mortal of him sleeps in Georgia soil.

The naval officer of highest rank from Georgia was Commodore Josiah Tattnall.

Of civil officers of the Confederacy and members of the military staff of President Davis, the following were from Georgia: Vice President Alexander H. Stephens; First Secretary of State Robert Toombs; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Philip Clayton; John Archibald Campbell, assistant secretary of war; Alexander Robert Lawton, quartermastergeneral of the Confederate States; Isaac Munroe St. John, commissarygeneral; Wm. M. Browne, an Englishman by birth, but a citizen of Georgia, assistant secretary of state; and James D. Bullock, naval agent to England.

The military operations in Virginia during the fall of 1861 were most important. The First and Twelfth regiments of Georgia Volunteers served in the division of Brig.-Gen. Henry R. Jackson of the army commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Cheat Mountain campaign, in which there were hard marches, skirmishes and heavy picketing, but no battle. They also served under Henry R. Jackson in the battle of Greenbriar River, October 3, 1861, repulsing the attack of General Reynolds, and until the end of the fall scouted and skirmished from the foot of the Alleghanies to the summit of Cheat Mountain. Early in December the First Georgia, now in Loring's division, left the mountains and, marching through the lovely Valley of the Shenandoah, joined the army under "Stonewall" Jackson, camped just outside of the patriotic little City of Winchester.

The Twelfth Regiment of Georgia Volunteers remained with Edward

Johnson, now a brigadier-general, and on the 13th of December, 1861, acted an heroic part in the brilliant little victory at Camp Alleghany.

In the fall of 1861 there was a gubernatorial election. Gov. Joseph E. Brown had already been twice elected to this high office, and never in the history of the state had anyone held the governorship for three consecutive terms. But some of the most influential men in Georgia urged Governor Brown to run again.

Hon. Eugenius A. Nisbet was nominated by the opposition. But the vote stood 46,493 for Brown, 32,802 for Nisbet, a majority of 13,691 for Governor Brown.

On December 12, 1861, in the old First Presbyterian Church of Augusta-one of the most famous of the state's ecclesiastical landmarks— the first general assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church met, and here what is known as the "Presbyterian Church in the United States" was organized. Rev. John R. Wilson, D. D., the father of our present great chief-executive, President Woodrow Wilson, was then pastor of the Augusta church. He was also the general assembly's first stated clerk. Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer of New Orleans preached the opening sermon and was the general assembly's first moderator.

CHAPTER VI

GEORGIA'S COAST DEFENSES FOUND TO BE INADEQUATE-GEN. GEORGE P. HARRISON ORGANIZES A BRIGADE OF STATE TROOPS-LACK OF ARMSGEN. F. W. CAPERS AND GEN. WM. H. T. WALKER ALSO ORGANIZE BRIGADES THE COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT-THOMAS BUTLER KING SENT TO EUROPE-GEORGIA SPENDS $1,000,000 TO EQUIP FORT PULASKI-COMMODORE JOSIAH TATTNALL ORGANIZES A MOSQUITO FLEET THE FAMOUS STEAMSHIP FINGAL, AFTER EVADING THE BLOCKADE, ENTERS SAVANNAH HARBOR WITH MILITARY SUPPLIES, INCLUDING 10,000 ENFIELD RIFLES CAPT. JAMES D. BULLOCH, ITS COMMANDER-GEN. HENRY R. JACKSON PUT IN COMMAND OF STATE TROOPS-REGIMENTS ORGANIZE IN GEORGIA DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR-ALL ENLISTMENTS FOR TWELVE MONTHS, BUT MANY RE-ENLIST AT THE EXPIRATION OF THIS TERM-THE SECOND GEORGIA BATTALION OF INFANTRY-How IT WAS ORGANIZED-CAPT. PEYTON H. COLQUITT IN CHARGE OF FORTIFICATIONS AT SEWELL'S POINT, VIRGINIA-THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS AUTHORIZES ENLISTMENTS FOR THE WAR-ORGANIZATION TO ENLIST UNDER THE NEW TERMSCOBB'S LEGION-PHILLIPS' LEGION-LIST OF REMAINING GEORGIA COMMANDS, WITH THEIR VARIOUS FIELDS OF OPERATION.

Written in coöperation with Prof. Joseph T. Derry.

Early in September, 1861, Governor Brown having visited the Georgia coast and having found the defenses inadequate, appointed George P. Harrison brigadier-general of state troops and ordered that he organize a brigade and arm it as far as possible with army rifles, and supply the balance with country rifles and shot-guns. This brigade was rapidly formed of volunteers eager for the service and was soon in good condition. F. W. Capers, likewise commissioned soon, had another brigade in readiness, while a third brigade was speedily put in readiness by Brig-Gen. W. H. T. Walker, lately of the United States Regular Army.

During this period Ira R. Foster acted as state quartermaster general and Col. J. I. Whitaker as state commissary general. Hon. Thomas Butler King had been to Europe as commissioner to arrange for direct trade. Georgia had spent $1,000,000 in equipping Fort Pulaski and other fortifications, in arming and maintaining troops and in other expenses of the war, including steamers for coast defense.

Commodore Josiah Tattnall, a native of Georgia, who in the United States Navy had won distinction in China and Japan and was now in the Confederate service having been appointed commodore in March, 1861, had been diligently at work all summer and with such guns as could

Vol. II-10

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