USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > History of Savannah, Ga.; from its settlement to the close of the eighteenth century > Part 8
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While these events were in progress, recruits rapidly poured in and the Guards hastened to effect the permanent battalion organization. The plan was to form two companies, A and B, by assigning members to them; and complete the organization by formal elections for officers, and to elect Captain Screven major of the battalion. But at this juncture
Eng 'in 50 Hernan
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the then adjutant-general of the State maintained that there could not be a battalion of so few companies as two, commanded by a field officer. To obviate this difficulty as many officers as were necessary consented to go one grade lower. Thus organized, the officers of the corps, if it may be so styled at that time, were as follows: Captain John Screven, cap- tain commanding company A ; first lieutenant, W. S. Basinger ; second lieutenant, Gilbert C. Rice; ensign, J. C. Habersham. Company B; captain, A. C. Davenport ; first lieutenant, George W. Stiles ; second lieutenant, Thomas F. Screven; ensign, M. H. Hopkins.
The battalion was mustered into the service of the Confederate States in March, 1861, for two months, and during this period was assigned to duty as the garrison of a battery at Thunderbolt. At the end of this time the corps returned to Savannah and was dismissed, but shortly after it was again mustered for six months, and immediately sent to take charge of a much heavier battery on Green Island, near the mouth of the Vernon River.
At the end of their second period of enlistment the members of the corps resolved to again muster for the war. They were informed that the battalion would be accepted as an independent organization and a field officer to command, if three companies could be formed .. A third company was formed by taking as many members from Companies A and B as could be spared. The following officers were then chosen : Company A, captain, W. S. Basinger ; first lieutenant, Thomas F. Scre- ven ; second lieutenants, William H. King and Frederick Tupper. Com- pany B, captain, George W. Stiles; first lieutenant, Edward Padelford, jr. ; second lieutenants, Edwin A. Castellaw and George D. Smith. Company C, captain, Gilbert C. Rice ; first lieutenant, George M. Tur- ner ; second lieutenants, John R. Dillon and Eugene Blois. The organ- ization was approved by the adjutant general of the State, and commis- sions were issued to the officers above named. The corps was mustered into service for the war in March, 1862. This terminated the connection of the Guards with the first volunteer regiment. John Screven was com- missioned by the Confederate government major of artillery, and assigned by General A. R. Lawton to the command of the Savannah Volunteer Guards Battalion.
The first service of this corps as a separate battalion was at Fort Boggs,
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a fine large work on the bluff, about two miles below the city, overlook- ing Fort Jackson and the river, and constituting the extreme left of the inner line of defense. In the spring of 1863 Major Screven resigned the command of the battalion as the management of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad-a line of communication and supply very important to the Con- federate government-required as president, his personal attention. Cap- tain Basinger succeeded him as major, Lieutenant T. F. Screven became captain of Company A, and the other officers went up each one grade, Sergeant P. N. Raynal being elected to the junior lieutenancy.
The battalion remained in charge of Fort Boggs until July, 1863, when it was sent with the First Volunteer Regiment and the Twelfth Georgia Battalion to reinforce the troops at Battery Wagner, and in the celebrated siege of July 11, took a prominent part, four of the Guards be- ing killed and three wounded. Battery Wagner was abandoned late in August, 1863, and the Guards were ordered to Sullivan's Island to occupy Battery Marion. Here it remained until the following May, and during this period the troops were under almost constant fire.
In May, 1864, the Guards were ordered to Virginia to join the army of General Lee. Arriving in Virginia the corps was stationed at Mat- toax to guard the bridge where the Richmond and Danville Railroad crosses the Appomattox River. In this sort of duty the corps remained until the following October. It was then ordered to the general line of the army and posted in the trenches on the north side of the James River, near Chaffin Bluff. Here the Guards passed the severe winter of 1864-5, enduring every hardship to which the illy equipped Confederate troops were subjected during this trying time. When General Lee's army was forced to abandon Richmond in April, 1865, fears for the result of the war began to creep into the minds of the most sanguine. Th's famous retreating march of General Lee was continued for several days, but on April 6 the rear guard was brought to bay near Sailor's Creek. General Gordon's corps was the true rear guard, but in the various operations and movements of that day General Ewell's corps got into the rear by force of circumstances. General Custer Lee's division, to which the Guards were attached, was in General Ewell's corps.
In the battle at Sailor's Creek the Guards took a prominent part, be- ing placed so as to receive the first onset of the enemy. The attack was
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unsuccessful, the enemy being driven off with the loss of two regimental flags and many killed, but with serious loss to the Guards also. The bat- talion then returned to the original line to take its part in the main bat- tle. But again they were put in the same manner as before. The enemy was checked, but all of the Guards who escaped with their lives were made prisoners. It was afterwards ascertained that the enemy lost in the encounter 275 men, and of the Guards numbering 85 men engaged, 30 were killed and 22 wounded, every officer but one being killed or wounded. The killed were buried on the field by the enemy. The remains of such as could be identified were, at a later day, brought to Savannah and buried in the lot of the corps at Laurel Grove cemetery. The survivors were sent -the wounded to hospitals, the unwounded to Northern prisons-some to Point Lookout, the major and lieutenant-general to Johnson's Island. But the closing scene of the great struggle was then taking place, and a few days after the battle of Sailor's Creek, the surrender of General Lee's army ended the war. The members of the Guards held as prisoners of war were soon after released and sadly wended their way homeward, to face as best they could the new difficulties that lay before them.
After the close of the war no effort was made to reorganize any of the volunteer military companies of Savannah as long as the "carpet- bag " government was in power. The Guards by occasional meetings and by at- tending in a body the funerals of deceased members, endeavored to main- tain their corporate existence, and to preserve their property. But when James M. Smith became governor of the State-his elevation being the virtual overthrow of the "carpet- bag" government-the corps, encouraged by him, determined to resume its usual functions. A large number of new men joined, officers were elected, the present uniforms adopted, and on the 19th day of January, 1873, the first parade of the corps after the war occurred. Major Basinger was re-elected to command the corps, and in 1879, in pursuance of a law of the State then passed which required all battalion commanders to be lieutenant-colonels, such a commission was sent to him, and the corps was numbered third in the list of volun- teer infantry battalions.
Colonel Basinger resigned in August, 1882, and Lieutenant-Colonel . William Garrard, the present popular commander, was elected to succeed him. Colonel Basinger was a member of the corps for thirty-one years,
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and was distinguished for his devotion and high soldierly qualities. He was longer in chief command than any of his predecessors, and in peace and war he sustained the honor of the corps with loyalty, intelligence and skill.
The commissioned officers of the battalion under Major Screven were as follows: Company A,-Captain, W. S. Basinger; lieutenants, Tho- mas F. Screven, W. H. King, John F. Tupper. Company B .- Captain, G. W. Stiles; lieutenants, Ed. Padleford, E. A. Castellaw, George D. Smith. Company C,-Captain, G. C. Rice; lieutenants, G. M. Turner, John R. Dillon, Eugene Blois. Lieutenant Dillon, acting adjutant. Captain G. C. Rice, acting quartermaster. Lieutenant W. H. King, act- ing commissary.
After Major Basinger assumed command Lieutenant T. F. Screven was made captain of Company A, and the following became lieutenants, namely : P. N. Raynal, W. E. Gue, and W. D. Grant, and E. P. Starr was appointed adjutant of battalion. After the war ended the officers under Major Basinger were: Company A,-Captain, George W. Stiles ; lieutenants, P. N. Raynal, A. A. Winn, E. P. Starr. Company B,-Cap- tain, T. F. Screven ; lieutenants, J. C. Habersham, H. H. Woodbridge, Malcolm Maclean. Company C,-Captain, John R. Dillon; lieutenants, F. R, Sweat, H. C. Cunningham, John Reilly. Lieutenant Sweat was afterwards appointed adjutant, and Lieutenants Raynal and Cunningham became respectively captains of their companies, and the following be- came lieutenants at various times, namely : C. J. Barie, C. R. Maxwell, H. R. Symons, W. F. Symons, Cuthbert Barnwell, Joe C. Thompson, L. C Strong, M. A. Barie, J. A. Cronk, J. W. Fretwell, W. P. Hunter (ad- jutant). Major Basinger became lieutenant-colonel in October, 1879. Thereafter the following became commissioned officers in the battalion : Lieutenants O. H. Lutburrow, I. G. Heyward and W. H. Turner, be- fore Lieutenant-Colonel Garrard took command. The present commis- sioned officers of the battalion are: Lieutenant-colonel, William Garrard ; adjutant, Wm. P. Hunter; quartermaster, John Kollock; judge-advocate, R. R. Richards ; commissary and treasurer, John M. Bryan ; sergeant- major, R. E. L. Daniels ; quartermaster-sergeant, C. E. Dieterich. Com- pany A - Captain, W. W. Williamson ; first lieutenant, T. P. Huger ; second lieutenant, Frank Screven ; first sergeant, - Hutton. Com-
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pany B,- Captain, Thomas Screven ; first lieutenant, T. D. Rockwell ; second lieutenant, G. S. Orme; first sergeant, G. M. Gadsden. Com- pany C,- Captain, John Reilly ; first lieutenant, W. W. Rogers ; second lieutenant, G. W. Cann ; first sergeant, J. Ferris Cann.
Soon after the election of Lieutenant-Colonel Garrard steps were taken to provide for the battalion a suitable armory building. The loca- tion secured was the site of the old State arsenal. In 1885 the erection of the building was commenced and one year later the armory was thrown open to the public on the occasion of a grand bazaar. It was IIO feet long, 60 feet in width and 64 feet from the street pavement to the deck of the domed roof and had three fronts, facing north on Presi- dent street, west on Whitaker street, and south on York street. The cost of erection was about $60,000, and it was considered the finest military building in the South. This fine structure, which was no less the pride of the battalion than of the citizens of Savannah, was totally destroyed by the destructive fire of April 6, 1889. It was insured for $50,000, and with characteristic energy the battalion has begun preparation to erect a new armory which will rival in beauty the one destroyed.
The Guards have erected monuments to two of their deceased com- manders. The first is a plain marble shaft in Bonaventure Cemetery (formerly the family seat of the Tattnalls) to Captain Tattnall, and bears the following inscription on its western face :
SACRED to the memory of EDWARD FENWICK TATTNALL, who died in Savannah, on the 21st day of November, 1832, aged 44 years. Erected by the Savannah Volunteer Guards, which corps he for a period of years commanded, as a tribute of affection for his qualities as a Man, a Soldier, and a Patriot. Muncia parva quidem, sed magnum testantur amorem.
Near by, in the same enclosure, is the tomb of his brother, Commo- dore Josiah Tattnall, one of the most honored of the honorary members
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of the Guards. On this significantly rests the effigy of a sheathed sword, and it bears the following inscription :
COMMODORE JOSIAH TATTNALL, U. S. AND C S. N. Born near this spot Nov. 8, 1785. Died June 14, 1871.
The second monument erected by the corps is in Laurel Grove Ceme- tery to Capt. Richardsone-a tasteful marble shaft with the following in- scriptions. On the eastern face: "Erected by the Savannah Volunteer Guards in token of their regard for a beloved commander, and of their admiration for his virtues as a citizen." On the western face, on a shield within a bay wreath supported on cannon: "Cosmo P. Richard- sone." On the southern face : "Born January 24th, 1804." On the northern face : " Died February 6th, 1852."
Within a few feet of the resting place of Captain Richardsone is that of his friend and immediate successor in command, Captain J. P. Screven.
In Laurel Grove Cemetery the Guards hold two burial lots, numbers
46 and 726. In the former are interred Privates S. F. Ripley and John D. Carter, who died of yellow fever respectively in 1854 and 1876, and Privates T. L. Robertson, John Maddox, John Johnson, A. F. Whitlock and James D. Pardue. In this lot also is one grave containing the re- mains of eleven members of the battalion, who fell at Sailor's Creek, the last battle of the Army of Virginia, namely : King, Turner, Rice, Abney, McIntosh, Rouse, Millen, Gordon, Vickers, Cook, and Barie, removed from Virginia along with Rice, James, Myddleton, Bowne, Grant, and Bennett, who are interred in their respective family lots. In lot number 726 (the gift of first Lieutenant Thomas J. Bulloch) are interred Privates Thomas D. Morel, James M. Mallette, Frederick Myers, and James O. A. Simmons.
Independent Volunteer Battalion of Savannah .- During the first part of the century the volunteer and uniformed companies of Savannah formed a part of the First Regiment, First Brigade, Georgia Militia, and paraded on stated occasions side by side with the " unterrified," un-uniformed, undisciplined companies of the " beats," as they were called. These or- ganizations were but burlesques upon what a military command should be, and it is not to be wondered at that the volunteers became restive under the enforced associations. The desirability of forming a battalion
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exclusively from the volunteers was most apparent. Steps were taken to that end, and on January 20, 1852, a bill was approved by which it was enacted :
"I. That the volunteer companies now existing in the city of Savan - nah and belonging to the First Regiment, First Brigade, First Division Georgia Militia be and the same hereby are organized and erected into a separate battalion, which shall be called the Independent Volunteer Bat- talion of Savannah, and be no longer a part of the said First Regiment. .
"II. That any other volunteer companies of foot which may here- after be organized in the city of Savannah shall be attached to said bat- talion until the number of said companies shall be eight, when the said companies shall be organized and erected into a regiment, which shall be called the Independent Volunteer Regiment of Savannah, and said regi- ment shall not consist of less than eight or more than fourteen com- panies."
Section three of the act vested the command of the Independent Volunteer Battalion in a lieutenant colonel, with full regimental staff.
At the date of the passage of the above act the following were the volunteer companies affected by it, and which consequently formed the Independent Volunteer Battalion of Savannah : Chatham Artillery, Cap- tain John B. Gallie ; Savannah Volunteer Guards, Captain James P. Scre- ven, organized 1802 ; Republican Blues, Captain John W. Anderson, organized 1808; Phoenix Riflemen, Captain W. H. C. Mills, organized 1830; Irish Jasper Greens, Captain John Devanney, organized February 22, 1843 ; German Volunteers, Captain J. H. Stegin, organized Febru- ary 22, 1846 ; DeKalb Riflemen, Captain John Bilbo, organized 1850. The whole was under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Alexander R. Lawton.
The Oglethorpe Light Infantry was organized under Captain John N. Lewis in January, 1856, and became a part of the Independent bat- talion, completing the eight companies to the regimental formation, when the battalion became the Independent Volunteer Regiment of Savannah.
The act of January 20, 1852, was in part and substance amended as follows :
Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., that the regiment formed under the sec- ond section of said act shall be known as " The First Volunteer Regiment
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of the State of Georgia," and may embrace as many infantry corps formed in said city, as may choose to conform to the regimental organization.
Section 2. Provided for full field and staff.
Section 3. Provided that the rights and privileges accruing to said regiment shall not fall by the consolidation of two or more companies, or the withdrawal or dissolution of one or more companies, but the same shall vest in and be enjoyed by the corps composing the Volunteer Regiment.
Section 4. Withdrew the regiment from the First Brigade Georgia Militia and placed it exclusively under the command of its own officers.
Under the re-organization conformatory to this act the following officers were elected and commissioned :
A. R. Lawton, colonel ; George W. Stiles as lieutenant-colonel, and . W. S. Rockwell as major. Bulloch Jackson was appointed adjutant ; John Fraser, paymaster ; J. D. Fish, surgeon ; J. W. Johnston, assistant surgeon. No further change occurred among the list of officers until the beginning of the war, when C. H. Olmstead was made adjutant in place of Bulloch Jackson, who resigned.
An account of the first service of this regiment in behalf of the Con- federacy, will be found in the chapter devoted to the war period, as well as the changes in officers which followed in the first year of the war.
The regiment was reorganized by an order from the Confederate de- partment headquarters in October, 1862, to conform to the requirement of actual service. The following companies were made to compose the regiment :
Company A,- First Company Irish Jasper Greens, Captain John Flannery.
Company B .- Second Company Irish Jasper Greens, Captain James Dooner.
Company C,-Republican Blues, Captain W. D. Dixon.
Company D,-City Light Guard, Captain S. Yates Levy.
Company E,-Irish Volunteers, Captain John F. O'Neill.
Company F,-Coast Rifles, Captain Screven Turner.
Company G,-Tattnall Guards, Captain A. C. Davenport.
Company H,-Second Company Oglethorpe Light Infantry, Captain James Lachlison.
Company I,-German Volunteers, Captain C. Werner.
Company K,-Washington Volunteers, Captain John Cooper.
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Field and Staff .- Colonel, Charles H. Olmstead ; lieutenant-colonel, W. S. Rockwell; major, M. J. Ford ; adjutant, Matthew H. Hopkins ; quartermaster, Edward Hopkins; commissary, E. W. Drummond ; sur- geon, W. H. Elliott ; chaplain, S. Edward Axson.
Non-commissioned Staff .- Sergeant-major, F. M. Hull ; commissary- sergeant, W. H. Boyd ; quartermaster-sergeant, William C. Crawford ; ordnance-sergeant, Thaddeus F. Bennett.
During the winter, Captain Edward Hopkins died and was succeeded by Captain F. M. Hull, who was appointed quartermaster.
The service that followed the reorganization of the regiment is best told in the following language of its commanding officer, Colonel Olm- stead :
"For many months the regiment continued to do service at various points on the coast. Companies A and B at the Savannah River bat- teries, Company C at Fort McAllister, Companies D, E and F at Fort Bartow, Causton's Bluff, and Companies G, H, I and K in the lines around the city, at Isle of Hope, and Whitmarsh and Wilmington Islands. Again was Company C fortunate-a second time, on February 1, 1863, it took part in repulsing a vigorous attack of the iron-clad monitors upon Fort McAllister. It was a brilliant affair, and the garrison handsomely earned the laudatory order from General Beauregard which authorized them to inscribe the name Fort McAllister upon their colors.
" Early in July, 1863, Companies G, H, I and K, in concert with the Eighteenth and Twelfth Georgia Battalions were hurried over to Charles- ton to assist in meeting the attack upon that city, which had just devel- oped itself at the lower end of Morris Island. The Georgians, number- ing five hundred or six hundred men, were thrown into Battery Wagner on the night of July 10, and at daybreak on the following morning took part in repelling a vigorous assault made by General Gillmore with a strong storming column. In this action Captain Werner, of Company I, was killed while bravely meeting the attack. Here the First Regiment met again its 'friends the enemy,' of the Seventh Connecticut, that com . mand being one of the leading regiments in the assault. A number of them surrendered to the men who had been captured by them the year before." Of subsequent service at Wagner, it is scarcely necessary to write in detail, but a clear idea of the character of the service there may
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be gained from the following account, written by Major Robert C. Gil- christ, of Charleston, himself one of the most gallant and efficient of the defenders of the fort :
"' Night and day, with scarcely any intermission, the howling shell burst over and within it. Each day, often from early dawn, the new Iron- sides, or the six monitors, sometimes all together, steamed up and deliv- ered their terrific broadsides, shaking the fort to its centre. The noise- less Cœhorn shells, falling vertically, searched out the secret recesses, al- most invariably claiming victims. The burning sun of a Southern sum- mer, its heat intensified by the reflection of the white sand, scorched and blistered the unprotected garrison, or the more welcome rain and storm wet them to the skin. An intolerable stench from the unearthed dead of the previous conflict, the carcasses of cavalry horses lying where they fell, in the rear, and barrels of putrid meat thrown out on the beach, sick- ened the defenders.
"' A large and brilliantly colored fly, attracted by the feast, and un- seen before, inflicted wounds more painful, though less dangerous than the shot of the enemy. The food, however good when it started for its destination, by exposure, first on the wharf in Charleston, then on the beach at Cummings' Point, being often forty-eight hours in transition, was unfit to eat. The unventilated bomb-proofs filled with smoke of lamps and smell of blood, were intolerable, so that we endured the risk of shot and shell rather than seek their shelter. The incessant din of its own artillery, as well as the bursting shells of the foe, prevented sleep. Then, as never before, all realized the force of the prophecy : " In the morning thou shall say, would God it were even ! and at even thou shall say, would God it were morning ! for the fear of thine eyes, wherewith thou shall fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shall see."
"In the spring of 1864, mighty preparations were made by both Fed- eral and Confederate authorities for what was felt would be the decisive campaign of the war. Every effort was made to recruit the armies of the Confederacy to the greatest possible extent. Troops were withdrawn · in every direction from the sea coast and sent to the armies of Lee and Johnston. The scattered companies of the First Regiment were brought together, and on a lovely spring morning the command left Savannah to join the army under General Joseph E. Johnston in North Georgia,
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nearly 1,000 officers and men being in line. The regiment joined the army at Lost Mountain, in the vicinity of Marietta, on the day after the battle of New Hope Church. It was assigned to General Mercer's brig- ade in Walker's division, Hardee's corps, the other regiments in the brigade being the Fifty-fourth Georgia, Colonel C. H. Way, the Fifty- seventh Georgia, Colonel William Barkaloo, and the Sixty-third Georgia, Colonel George Gordon. The morale of the army at that time was of the highest type. There was on the part of every man unbounded confi- dence in the sagacity and generalship of our distinguished leader, and doubt as to the ultimate issue of the campaign, found no lodgement in any heart. There was in the movements of the men an elasticity and alertness indicative of high spirit and a bouyant belief in the success of our arms.
" From that time onward the First Regiment bore honorable part in the history of the army. The grapple between Generals Johnston and Sherman was without resting spells. Every day the two armies felt each other in sharp fights on the picket lines, in fierce artillery duels and sometimes in desperate charge against fortified positions.
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