The Flag of the Gate City Guard

During the desperate retreat of the First Georgia from Laurel Hill, the flags borne by several companies of the regiment were lost.  One of those banners was the flag of the Gate City Guard, lovingly sewn and presented by the ladies of Atlanta to the company before their departure in early 1861.  The wagon carrying the flag was wrecked by sliding into a ravine during the muddy slog over Pheasant Mountain, and the banner was retrieved by pursuing Federal troops.  At some point after the war it was returned to Gate City Guards in Atlanta.  It now resides in the collection of the Atlanta History Center, and can be viewed here.

The story of how the flag was returned to the Gate City Guard has been obscured in history.  Quite by accident, I recently came across an article from the May 29, 1901, edition of the Mansfield Ohio News, which describes in detail the transfer of the flag from a veteran in that city to the old company.  

LONG LOST BATTLE FLAG
RETURNED

TO SURVIVING SOUTHERN
SOLDIERS.

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A Silken Banner Restored to
an Atlantic Company by

George L. Emminger.

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The following story from recent issues of the Atlanta Journal is not only appropriate to the Memorial day anniversary as seeking to show the passage of the old-time sectional hate and prejudice, but will have special interest to the old soldiers and to Mansfield people in general on account of the fact that George L. Emminger, who returned the southern banner, was, until recent years, a resident of this city.

When the old Gate City Guard went to war in the stirring times of ’61, they carried a beautiful flag presented to the company by the ladies of Atlanta, through Miss Henlieter, daughter of the late C. R. Hanlieter, editor and publisher of the Southern Confederacy.  The flag, after a time, went to the enemy, and all trace of it was lost.  Now, after nearly forty years, the scarred flag has been found, and will be restored to the Gate City Guard organization, which is still maintained.

Yesterday Mr. H. H. Cabiness received a letter from Mr. George L. Emminger, of Toledo, O., to whom the organization is indebted for the return of the flag.

Mr. Emminger wrote that an old lady of his acquaintance, some time before her death, gave to his son the staff and remnants of a regimental flag captured by her brother, at what battle he did not remember.  From the remaining inscription he saw that it had been presented by the ladies of Atlanta to the Gate City Guard.

“I do not know if there are any of the members of this organization yet able to answer “roll-call” in your city or section,” said Mr. Emminger, “but if so, they would like a return to the memories of the stirring times of ’61 and ’62 by a sight of that which led them.  They can have it by the mere expression of the desire.”

Mr. Emminger stated that there was a large portion of the silk gone, but enough is left to recognize it by.

In reply to the letter of Mr. Emminger, Mr. Cabiness stated that the company would joyfully receive the flag and would (unreadable) much pleasure in associating his name with the incident of its return.  He was asked to express the flag at the expense of the company to Mr. Harry Krouse.

Mr. Krouse was a member of the Gate City Guard,
the company which left Atlanta in April, 1861, belonging to the First Georgia
regiment of volunteers.  Mr. Cabiness had three brothers in the regiment, one a captain from Dahlonega, another a lieutenant of a company from Forsyth, and still another one who left college to join the Forsyth company.  After a little service in Pensacola, Fla., this company was sent to northwest Virginia and encountered McClellan’s forces.  The First Georgia regiment, together with the other Confederate troops, retreated from a position called Laurel Hill in crossing Cheat river.  It was here a battle was fought and the flag
was lost. 

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THE BANNER RESTORED.

Last night, in their armory, the Gate City Guard received the battle-scarred banner that waved over the company when the cause of Confederacy called southern troops to the field of chivalrous valor.  It was the same flag that Atlanta ladies made with their fair hands when fathers, brothers and sweethearts enlisted for the cause in ’61.  It differed from that emblem presented to the company more than thirty years ago only through its rent and ragged aspect, eloquent evidence of the fierce encounters which befell those who followed it in battle.

The members of the old Guard were out in force to see the flag come home.  Men were present who saw the banner presented to the company by the ladies who made it.  They saw it later as it rolled down the steep side of Cheat mountain, in Virginia, when the gray clad boys were running from the Yankees, and it was the last glimpse of the flag they had until they looked
on its folds last night.

The entire membership of the active Guard was present.  Governor Candler and his staff were present, and there were members of the Confederate Veterans, Sons of Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy and members of the Ladies’ Memorial Association.  The spacious hall of the
armory was filled with the infantrymen and their friends.

The flag was returned to the company through H. H. Cabiness, who learned of its existence from a personal friend in Toledo, O.  The Ohio gentleman was George Emminger, who wrote to Mr. Cabiness, stating that the flag was in his possession.  Through Mr. Cabiness’ efforts the flag was sent to Atlanta to be returned to its original owners.

SEVERAL SPEECHES MADE.

Governor Candler made the introductory remarks to the presentation exercises last night.  He extolled the bravery of Confederate soldiers in general and the members of the Gate City Guard in particular.

Mr. Cabiness requested F. H. Richardson to make the presentation speech.  Mr. Richardson referred in the happy memory of his childhood, of the departure of the Gate City Guard to join the Confederate army, and of how firmly their gallant appearance (unreadable) his faith in the invincibility of the southern cause.  He then paid a tribute to their record both in war and the work of the righteous reconstruction of the south.  Speaking of the tattered
battleflag he was to present to Captain O’Neill in behalf of his company, he
rejoiced in the fact that it had never been the flag of oppression or a flag
that represented anything but the highest courage of men, the noblest virtues
of women and the sweetest hopes of both.  In this connection he deplored the departure of our government from the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the constitution of the United States.  He condemned the drift towards imperialism and militarism and predicted that there will be a return to those ideas of civic liberty and justice on all men which was never so nobly illustrated as they were to the men of the south who constituted the grandest army that ever stepped on God’s (unreadable), in which there were no better or more heroic soldiers than the Gate City Guard. 

THE FLAG ACCEPTED.

Captain James F. O’Neill received the flag for the company in an eloquent speech.  His sentiments went straight to the hearts of the assembly, and his speech was considered by the entire audience as one of the best that has ever been made in Atlanta on a similar occasion.

Harry Krouse, who was a member of the company during the war, and who followed the flag from the time it was presented to the company until it was lost on the retreat at Cheat mountain, gave a history of the organization.  It was both interesting and eloquent, and the audience was greatly entertained by the recital of the narrative. 

MR. CARBANISS SPEAKS.

Governor Candler then called on Mr. Cabaniss for a speech.  Mr. Cabaniss, in the center of his remarks, said: 

Mr. Cabaniss spoke briefly and said that during frequent visits to the cities of the south, northwest and west, it had been his good fortune to meet a large number of representative people of those sections.  He had not found any trace of the bitterness which had formerly existed toward the people of the south; that the good people there not only entertained the kindest, feelings toward the people of the south, but manifested such friendship, frequently in a very substantial manner.

One of the gentlemen he had met was a prominent citizen of the state of Ohio, George Emminger, who in coming into possession of this battle-scarred and time-worn flag. It was his first impulse to send it to its proper owner.  For this kindly act I honor him.

The men who fought under this flag were heroes and those who opposed them were heroes.  It was American against American from 1861 to 1865, and the great destructiveness of the battles waged proved that each side had brave, loyal and unconquerable soldiers.

I thing [sic] this flag, and all other Confederate flags should be furled, never to be unfolded upon the battlefield.  They are mementos, peerless relics, to be guarded with sacred care and undying love.

But all other American battles must be fought
under the our American flag, the Stars and Stripes.  It is our flag as much as anybody’s, and of it the late Senator Hill said:

“Southern breezes kiss it; southern skies reflect it; southern sons will fight for it, and southern heroes will die for it.”

We drop a tear as we consider the past, but we must look to the future and its reunited union, under a restored flag, as one people we will do our part in maintaining a common country in its proud position as the greatest nation in the world and aid it with all our strength in pressing forward to the beauty and majesty of its missions.

OTHER SHORT TALKS.

Colonel Robert J. Lowry, Colonel Andrew J. West, Captain T. H. Jones, a Confederate veteran who came to Atlanta several years ago from Kentucky, and Captain W. L. Ezzard, who commanded the company during the war, made short speeches.

Refreshments were served during the evening.  As the active Guard were marching to the upper room with the old flag in their midst, a (unreadable) moment occurred.

A lady who was standing near the door as the line of uniformed soldiers marched through, grasped the folds of the tattered flag and imprinted a kiss on it.  She was one of the ladies who made the flag and presented it to the company in 1861.  The incident was witnessed by the entire assembly and there were many in the crowd who could not restrain tears at the spectacle of extreme love and devotion to the lost cause and the flag by which it was represented last night.

The Gate City Guard will keep the flag in their archives.  It is  (unreadable) as one of the most valuable relics in the possession of the command.

Diary Continues

Saturday, July 13th, 1861.—At daylight this morning, our “rear guard” arose, almost shivering with cold, caused by the rain which had been steadily falling on us during the night. After a march of a mile and a half, or two miles, we came up with the brigade, and found many of the boys eating parched corn, with a relishing and greedy appetite, most of our provision wagons being upset in the mountains during the previous night. Here, I was reminded of the march of the children of Israel, under the command of Moses and Aaron, when the children began to murmur for bread, &c., &c. Every exertion was made by Capt. Crump and Lieut. Wheeler, (who came to the camp the night previous,) to procure something for their company to eat, but with little success.

After the three Virginia regiments of infantry were placed in front, and the 1st Georgia regiment bringing up the rear, we started on our weary march, the rain still pouring in torrents, and every man as wet as water could make him. We had marched but a short distance, when the Lincoln army came up in the rear, and gave us battle. The fighting continued until evening, during which we lost our commanding General. A braver or more noble and worthy man never fell on the field of battle. That he was brave and daring, we need no better proof than his conduct during this engagement. During this battle, a portion of the Georgian regiment was cut off from the main body of the army, and being among that number myself, I can speak in my future notes, only of that unfortunate squad, which consisted of Maj. Thompson, of the Field Staff, Capt. Crump and Lieut. Russell of the Walker Light Infantry, with about half their company; Capt. Pinckard, of the Quitman Guards, Capt. Jones of the Washington Rifles; Capt. Evans, of the Bainbridge Independents, and Capt. Ezzard of the Gate City Guards, together with a portion of every company in the regiment, numbering in all about three hundred. Late in the evening after we had retired some distance from the battlefield, on the side of the mountain, a council was held by the commissioned officers present to come to some determination as to our mode of getting out of the mountains, and joining our comrades. It was here determined to make our way across the mountains, through the wilderness, in search of the turn-pike leading to Staunton—Capt. Crump and Lieut. Russell, of the Walker Light Infantry, only, voting to return and fight our way through a desperate foe to our boys, being ignorant of their fate. As to the relative strength of the two armies here, I will only say that the Lincolnites out-numbered us, two to one. Maj. Thompson taking the bridle, saddle, &c., off his horse, throwing them in the bushes and turning the horse loose, we crossed the mountains, and slept during the night in a glade some two or three miles from the battle field, not, however, out of hearing of the guns of the enemy.

Sunday, July 14, 1861.—This morning at day light we started on our march through the hills, weak from hunger, and somewhat discouraged with the gloomy prospect of finding food to-day. It is thought by those of our company having maps in their possession that we are within twelve miles of the turn pike, and that we will reach it this evening. Marching through a laurel range of mountains, almost impassable, nearly all day, we halted in the afternoon, and ate freely of birch bark, and a kind of grass of week called “sheep-sorrel.” It will be remembered that a large number of our company have had nothing to eat since Thursday morning, and have been on a tedious and tiresome march since that time.

After a brief rest, we renew our gloomy march, eating bark and grass as we journey. Night finds us in a rough, rocky ravine near one of the many small, swift mountain streams that course their way through the laurel forests of this cold, dismal, and uninhabited portion of the mountains of northern Virginia. It is raining. Who can imagine our condition? our feelings? We are only kept from suffering severely from the cold, during the day by the most active exercise; and now night is upon us, and such a night! Nothing heard except the falling of the rain drops, the running of the aforesaid brook, and the croaking of a raven in some hollow tree farther up the mountains. Here we must rest for the night. We cannot move, or we might pitch from the top of a precipice into eternity. How shall we sleep? We have no blankets! We have divested ourselves of everything except what we wear, and many have had their clothes nearly torn from them by the brush in passing through the laurel thicket.

What would our mothers and sisters think, and say, if they knew our condition? I have just heard a member of the Walker Light Infantry say that he would not have his wife know of his present sufferings for a million of dollars; another said he would not have his mother made acquainted with his present situation for twice that amount. I feel around in the dark for a place to sleep. I prop myself against a tree to prevent my rolling down the mountain, and soon I am asleep. I dream—but not of HOME. Here I shiver with cold, half sleep, and half awake, until morning.

Reporting To The Home Folks

As the Valley Army rested from its grueling, tortuous march through the snow and ice, some soldiers were able to put pen to paper and get letters off to their family and friends back in Georgia. Private Wiley Leatherwood of the Gate City Guards reported that his company was in good spirits:

[W]e returned to this place, which is the hardest camp you ever saw—on the side of a mountain, so cussed steep you have to pull up by bushes. It has snowed, and it is now deep, and here we are, camped in the woods, and do not know where we will go, or what we will do. Suffice it to say, if any fighting is to be done or any marching on hand, the G. C. G’s are sure to be in for it.

While on this march, we were six days without tents or blankets, and the ground all the time covered with snow—eating a little parched corn, or a biscuit, without salt or grease so much as once in forty-eight hours, and exposed all the time to the enemy’s guns; yet for one to have heard the peals of laughter or the loud huzzas from the G. C. G’s, you would have thought them in splendid quarters; and frequently while one wing of our regiment would be fighting, the other end would be playing poker or singing and dancing.

Another Georgian was not so exuberant:

Our brigade, or at least two regiments of it, the 12th Georgia and the 3d Virginia, were in the advance—did all the advance picket and guard duty. We slept every night except three for two weeks in the snow, without tents or blankets, and for three days had not a mouthful to eat. I had thought that in the retreat from Laurel Hill we had seen the worst phase of a soldier's life, but I think I only express the feelings of a majority of our men when I say that I would rather take two such trips as that than go through the exposure and hardships of the last two weeks.

The 1st Georgia regiment, which when we left here on the 1st of January numbered nearly 700, marched with less than two hundred and fifty men. The rest had all broken down and been sent off to the hospitals; and on Tuesday morning about 100 of these had broken down, and had to stop and come back. This trip will cost the lives of over a thousand men.

Captain Samuel Crump of the Walker Light Infantry described his efforts to stay healthy in the severe weather:

Where we go to next from here, no one knows, our General properly keeping his own secrets. Our army is numerous enough to make an advance anywhere. We can drive any force before us that we advance upon. We may go to Romney, but I doubt it. If we take it, which is certain, it will be of no use to us, as we will be too far from our provisions. It is my impression that we will go into winter quarters at this camp, as we have everything we want here, wood, water, &c., and can guard all points from this place. We are all well, except colds. The exposure in this climate without tents half the time, and nothing to eat for twenty-four hours, very often, of course, will produce more or less sickness. My health and Joe’s never was better. Two things I am careful about in this climate—keeping my chest and feet always warm, wearing flannel next to me, and two pairs woolen socks always; by this means I don’t suffer from cold any more here than at home, although the ground nearly all the time is covered with snow. I have, at last, learned to take care of myself, as you will perceive.

October 3, 1861

Shortly after midnight, Union General Joseph Reynolds, at the head of nearly 5,000 troops and thirteen pieces of artillery, began his march down from Cheat Summit Fort.  His target, Confederate Camp Bartow, under the command of General Henry R. Jackson, which was located along the banks of the Greenbrier River near an old stage tavern known as Travelers Repose. 

Near dawn, Reynold's skirmishers struck a Confederate picket line under the command of Colonel James N. Ramsey of the First Georgia.  The pickets held off four separate attacks, but when the Federals brought up artillery, Ramsey ordered the troops to withdraw.  Ramsey himself was cut off from his troops as the action swirled around him.

Colonel Edward Johnson of the Twelfth Georgia, leading a detachment of about 100 men cobbled together from his regiment and the First Georgia, advanced from the fortifications to assist Ramsey's pickets.  Johnson was able to hold up the Federal advance for almost an hour, giving the troops in the breastworks time to bolt their breakfast and form up.  Finally giving way, Johnson's men streamed back toward the camp.  It was at this time that Private David Young of the Gate City Guards, the soldier mentioned in this blog's masthead, was killed.  While Johnson conducted his delaying action, Jackson deployed his troops.  The First Georgia was placed on the far right flank of Jackson's line.  "Your regiment have the post of danger," Jackson told Major George H. Thompson of the First.

The Union commander now ordered up his artillery, which went into battery just eight hundred yards in front of Jackson's redoubts.  During the next four hours, a titanic artillery duel continued between the two sides, with the thunder of the cannon echoing across the valley.  Reynolds also tried advancing troops toward each of the Rebel's flanks, but was repulsed each time.  Finally, having made no progress against the Confederate entrenchments, and observing reinforcements coming up behind Jackson, Reynolds broke off the attack and retreated back to Cheat Summit Fort. 

The Confederates celebrated their defensive victory.  After the battle, a soldier from the Quitman Guards (Company K of the First), out looking for souvenirs on the battlefield, found the flag of the 7th Indiana Regiment leaning against a tree.  The banner was presented to General Jackson and forwarded to Richmond as a trophy of the First Georgia. 

Roster Additions

As mentioned in my previous post, I've come up with additional soldiers who served in the First Georgia.  Follows is a listing of those troops - (1) is for a soldier present when the regiment formed in Macon, (2) is for one present when the regiment mustered out in Augusta:

Company B, Southern Guards

Bradford, Berry: Enlisted Sept. 1861. Transferred to Co. G, 29th Inf. Regt. Captured 15 Dec. 1864. Discharged at Camp Chase, OH, June 1865.

Brown, Samuel: (no further info)

Barnett, J. W.: Reenlisted, unit unknown. Surrendered at Greensboro, N.C., May, 1865.

Company D, Oglethorpe Infantry

Newsom, John W. (1,2)

Whitley, William (2)

Company E, Washington Rifles

Youngblood, A. (2)

Company F, Gate City Guards

Fish, John M. (2): Reenlisted, unit unknown. Captured and exchanged, location and date unknown. On detail duty in Savannah hospital 1865.

Company H, Dahlonega Volunteers

Cardin, C. R. (2)

Crenshaw, Thomas H. (1,2)

Hensley, LaFayette (1,2)

Strochan, Joseph W. (2)

Company I, Walker Light Infantry

Brown, Joseph (2)

Hooks, J. (1,2)

Company K, Quitman Guards

Banks, I. P. (1,2)

Kendrick, W. B. (2): Enlisted 1862. Reenlisted, unit unknown. Captured, date and location unknown. Paroled Washington, GA, Nov. 1865.

As always, if anyone knows of other soldiers who should be included, please let me know.

July 12, 1861

The road to Beverly is blockaded, stopping the Army of the Northwest’s retreat south. General Garnett receives a report that Federal troops are in Beverly (a mistake). With few choices left to him, Garnett decides to reverse direction and push north, hoping to reach the western tip of Maryland and then to turn back south toward Monterey, Virginia. The army does an about-face, with the First Georgia now in the rear guard. As rain continues to pour down, the troops struggle through knee-deep mud along narrow mountain paths. Much equipment is jettisoned from the wagons to lighten the load. Some of the wagons literally slide off the trail and crash down in ravines below. The Southern Guard and the Gate City Guards, Companies B and F, lose their company flags this way. By late that evening, the army reaches Kalers Ford on the Shavers Fork River, where the exhausted troops go into bivouac.

Back at Laurel Hill, Union General Thomas Morris dispatches three infantry regiments and two artillery pieces, under the command of Captain Henry W. Benham, in pursuit of the Confederates.

Baptism of Fire

150 years ago today, the First Georgia Volunteers experienced their first taste of combat.  A picket post in advance of the fortifications at Laurel Hill, manned by the Gate City Guards, was attacked by Union skirmishers.  Ordered to advance the First in support of the pickets, Colonel Ramsey divided his regiment, taking five companies around the Confederate left in search of reported Federal activity there, and sending the remaining four companies, under Lt. Colonel James O. Clarke, around the right.  Coming abreast of a hill to the right of the Gate City Guards position, Clarke was informed that Union troops were coming up the opposite side, probably trying to outflank the Guards.  Clarke sent two companies, the Bainbridge Independents and the Walker Light Infantry, further down the road to protect his flank.  Forming the Dahlonega Volunteers and the Quitman Guards into line of battle, Clarke raised his sword and led the soldiers in a charge, yelling "Up the hill, boys!  And remember you are Georgians!"  Clarke's men hit the Federals at the top of the hill.  The Independents and the Walker Light also charged up the hill in support, and after several minutes of vicious fighting, the Georgians drove the Union troops off the crest. 

The image at the top of the page, taken from Leslie's Illustrated News, shows the battle.  In the foreground are Union troops.  The soldiers in the distance on the hillside are the Georgians.

Settling In

Entrance to Fort Barrancas, Florida

War has commenced, but active campaigning is still some time off. The men of the First Georgia Regiment, recently arrived in their camps close to Fort Barrancas, near Pensacola, are settling into the daily routine. The soldiers are eager for fighting to begin, as evidenced in their letters to home:

From a member of the Oglethorpe Infantry:

The Colonel says if there is any fighting to be done, the Oglethorpes shall have front seats in the Regiment. He also says that if we are a sample of city boys, we can out work country boys two to one. It is a fact, I never saw so much willingness in any company as has been displayed by the Oglethorpe Infantry—to perform any duty which they have been called upon to do—we have been called on to do mule duty, by pulling wagons and cars. We are all well, hearty and sun-burnt. We all keep clean, as the beach is only half mile, and we go down twice a day—after reveille and after regiment parade, six P. M. We have a mail daily, and received papers regularly.

From a member of the Southern Guard:

I am proud to say to you, that our soldiers are all perfectly contented and as loyal a body of men as have ever been congregated for any purpose. It does appear to me, after conversing with the soldiers freely, that every private here has been prompted by patriotism alone, and is willing to suffer anything that the body is capable of undergoing to gain our independence. With such material to use against the invading scoundrels of Fort Pickens, you may with all confidence expect to hear that we are victorious.

Sergeant James Medlock of the Washington Rifles writes:

What Gen. Bragg’s plans are, as a matter of course, I know not. But my impression is, from what I see and hear, that if Fort Pickens is not surrendered soon, it will be taken by force of arms—and that, too, within a few days. On this point, however, there is quite a diversity of opinion. We have several guns that I believe can do the work in a short time.

And from Lieutenant Chester A. Stone of the Gate City Guards:

Pensacola is a beautiful place—magnolias and flowers of all kinds in full bloom. Our company are all well and enjoying ourselves merrily. We are ready, at a moment’s notice, to meet the armies of the Rail-Splitter, and split them worse than he ever did rails.

Departure

The time is now at hand.  Orders have been received.  In communities across Georgia, the companies selected to become part of the First Georgia Volunteer Infantry are packing up their traps and making ready to depart their homes, families and friends as they begin the great adventure.  Newspapers cheer for their home-town troops and, betraying a hint of sadness, wish them Godspeed as they go.

Newnan Banner, March 29, 1861.

ORDERS TO MARCH.—The Newnan Guards have orders to march immediately and rendezvous at Macon. Destination Fort Pickens.—They will leave here on Monday next. The Guards will muster between sixty or seventy brave men, well officered, and all prepared to take a hand in the work of ridding Southern soil and forts of the presence of the old Federal Troops of Lincoln. If a fight is necessary and nothing else will satisfy the Black Republicans, we guarantee a good account from the Guards when the ball opens.

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Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, March 29, 1861.

Under Marching Orders.

It is doubtless well known to most of our citizens, that the Oglethorpe Infantry, Capt. J. O. Clarke and Walker Light Infantry, Capt. S. H. Crump, tendered their services in aid of the Confederate States, which tender was accepted, and they were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to march upon official notice. That notice was received by the two companies yesterday morning, and they have been ordered by Adj. Gen Wayne to rendezvous at Macon on Tuesday next. They will leave this city, therefore, on Monday, at half-past 2 P.M., on the Wayneboro train. Their destination has not been announced, but it is presumed that Pensacola is the post for which they are mustered.

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Columbus Daily Enquirer, April 2, 1861.

Departed—Company D, of the Southern Guards, Capt. Wilkins, took the afternoon train for Macon, the place of rendezvous of the Georgia troops, yesterday. They were escorted to the depot by all the other city companies, and platoon salutes fired on the eve of their departure. They are a fine looking body of men, well advanced in discipline for so short an organization, and will no doubt very creditably represent our city.

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Sandersville Central Georgian, April 3, 1861.

Gone to the Wars.

Our town wears an appearance of gloom. The “soul-stirring drum and ear-piercing fife” are no longer heard in our streets. Yesterday, the “Washington Rifles,” Capt. S. A. H. Jones, acting on orders received from the Executive of Georgia, took their departure for Macon, thence to Pensacola. The “Rifles” number eighty men. They are good citizens—gallant men and true, and if there is fighting to be done around and in Fort Pickens, we predict that this gallant corps will share largely in it.

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Atlanta Daily Intelligencer, March 26, 1861.

GATE CITY GUARDS,--We understand that this excellent company of citizen soldiery, has been called into the service of the Confederate States Government. They will probably leave this city about the last of this week for Pensacola. Military companies from Newnan and Forsyth will accompany the Guards to their destination.—The Gate City Guards, has always been one of the crack companies of Atlanta, and should they be called into actual service, to make a reputation at the cannon’s mouth, we have strong faith that they will acquit themselves with honor to Atlanta, the State of Georgia, and the Government of the Confederate States.

The Mysterious Major Thompson

The Thompson Family plot in Oakland Cemetery.
George Harvey is on the left, and the tall monument in the middle
is for his father, Dr. Joseph Thompson.

While in Atlanta during my trip down to Georgia, I visited Oakland Cemetery in search of answers to a minor mystery. I recently found out that George Harvey Thompson, first major and later lieutenant colonel of the First Georgia, was buried in Oakland. During my research I was able to fairly well document Thompson’s activities before the war and during his term with the First, but after that the records get very skimpy.

George Harvey Thompson was born January 16, 1838, in Atlanta to Dr. Joseph Thompson and his wife, the former Mary Ann Tomlinson Young. Born in South Carolina, Dr. Thompson was one of Atlanta’s founding citizens and the owner/operator of the Atlanta Hotel.

Frequently known by his middle name of Harvey, Thompson attended the Georgia Military Institute, though his grades were not the best. When the Gate City Guard was incorporated in 1859, Thompson was elected the company’s first captain. In February, 1861, as Governor Joseph E. Brown began assembling his Georgia State Army, he offered Thompson a captain’s commission. Thompson was elected as major of Ramsey’s First Georgia Volunteer Infantry on April 3, 1861. During his service with the First, Thompson led the detachment of six companies which was lost in the Allegheny Mountains for several days following the retreat of the Army of the Northwest from Laurel Hill. Later, with Lt. Colonel James O. Clarke on detached service in Staunton, Thompson commanded the First at the Battle of Greenbrier River, after Colonel Ramsey was cut off from the army. In November, Lt. Col. Clarke resigned his commission and returned to Georgia. An election was held on December 3, with Thompson winning election to lieutenant colonel over Captain George M. Hanvey of the Newnan Guards. During General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Romney campaign, Thompson, along with over three-quarters of the regiment, was incapacitated by disease. Struck down by the freezing weather and hardships of the campaign, Harvey was confined to a bed in Winchester.

After the First Georgia mustered out in Augusta on March 10, 1862, Thompson returned to his father’s hotel, probably to rest, and to await his next adventure. The Atlanta Daily Intelligencer of March 13, 1862 says “We hope that promotion will follow all the field officers of the regiment—and especially that it will soon overtake Lieut. Col. Thompson of this city, than whom none more deserves it, and but few as well qualified to lead a regiment in the field.”  It is certain that Thompson planned to reenter the service as soon as possible - an advertisement in the Atlanta Southern Confederacy for May 11, 1862 reads:

Two Companies Wanted - I WANT two full Companies to complete a regiment, now being organized by authority of the War Department.  Address GEORGE HARVEY THOMPSON, or D. S. PRINTUP, Atlanta, Ga. 

Here is where we begin to lose track of Harvey.

There are some business records which place Thompson in Atlanta from June 1863 through April of 1864. According to a couple of the papers, in late December of 1863 he sold a pair of horses to the 20th Alabama Artillery Battalion in Columbus, receiving the sum of $2400.

It is known that George Harvey died on December 18, 1864. An article in the November 5, 1905, Atlanta Constitution says that he “died in service,” but gives no specifics. Thompson’s monument over his grave in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery is likewise silent on his service, simply saying: “Died December 18th 1864 Our Son GEORGE HARVEY In the 26th year of his age.” There is some other lettering below this but it has weathered to the point of being unreadable.

If anyone has more information that might shed light on which unit George Harvey served in, please leave a comment. It would be very much appreciated.