Roster of the Battalion of the Georgia Military Institute Cadets
In the Confederate Army service in the Civil war from May 10th, 1864, to May 20th, 1865.Prepared by Ex-Cadet Robert L. Rodgers, Member of Company B, Atlanta, Ga.
In May, 1864, and previous to that date, the Georgia Military Institute, at Marietta, Ga., was composed of the various professors and cadets. They were interested in the prospect of soon being ordered ‘to the front,’ and the old ‘G. M. I.’ campus was an interesting scene of active preparations of the boys to go to war. About the first of May studies were practically abandoned, in the contemplation of active duties in the field. At that time the faculty of the institute was composed of splendid professors, distinguished as educators, namely:General Frank W. Capers as Superintendent and Instructor in Military Tactics and Engineering.
Captain James S. Austin, Commandant of Cadets and Professor of English Literature.
Captain Victor E. Manget, Professor of French.
Captain John M. Richardson, Professor of Higher Mathematics.
Captain Paul Eve, Professor of Mathematics and English Branches.
Rev. John W. Baker, Chaplain of the Institute, and Professor of Belle Lettres.
Dr. E. J. Setze, Physician and Surgeon G. M. I.
Major Dobbs, Quartermaster and Commissary.
About the first of May, 1864, orders were received for the battalion to prepare for active service. Equipments of army guns and accoutrements, knacksacks, haversacks and canteens were received and issued to the cadets. They were intensely interested in these preparatory events. The battalion was divided into two companies in the duties at the Institute, Company A and Company B, composed of boys 16 to 18 years of age, and in the same way they entered the army service. [307]
General Capers was placed in command as major of the battalion. Commandant James S. Austin was assigned as captain of Company A. Professor V. E. Manget was assigned as captain of Company B. The other officers of the companies were members of the cadet corps.
Rations of ‘hardtacks’ and bacon were issued, and pretty soon things began to take on the aspect of active war, The first duties were in acting as provost guard about the city of Marietta, and other general duties incident to their position at that time, in the rear of General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate army.
In a few days an order was received for a detachment of cadets to be sent to Resaca, and there, on the 14th of May, 1864, the detail of cadets were first under fire from the guns of the Federal enemy.
A Federal officer, Lieutenant James S. Oates, of the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry, writing of the ‘marching through Georgia’ and of the first day's fighting in the battle of Resaca, says: ‘It was during the advance of that day that we came in contact with the Georgia Cadets, from the Military Institute at Marietta, who had come out from the woods at Resaca and formed their line behind a rail fence. After a volley from the cadets, which killed several of our men, our regiment charged them.’
Thus it is shown and acknowledgedby one of our opponents that the cadets were intrepid and effective in their very first engagement.
At the time of entering the service the roster of the Battalion in the respective Companies A and B was substantially as follows:
General Frank W. Capers, commanding the Battalion, under the title of Major Capers, of the G. M. I. Cadets. Died in Charleston, S. C., January 1892.
Sergeant-Major, and Quartermaster of Battalion, Cadet John A. Fitten, Atlanta, Ga. Died, 1895 in Atlanta.
Adjutant of Battalion, Cadet Jack F. Crutchfield, Macon, Ga. Died in Macon, 1905.
Following is the roster of Companies A and B, with first and last known address. Those marked with * are known to be dead:
Company A.
Captain James S. Austin, Marietta, Ga.; Waterman, California.First Lieutenant, Cadet Lodowick J. Hill, of Washington, Wilkes Co., Ga. [308]
On entering the service, First Lieutenant Hill was Adjutant of the Battalion. At Oconee River Bridge he was selected and appointed as Ordnance Officer, by Major General Henry C. Wayne. After the evacuation of Savannah, he was appointed Assistant Inspector General on the staff of General R. W. Carswell. He lives now in Atlanta, Ga.
*Second Lieutenant, Cadet Frank E. Courvoisier, Savannah, Ga. Died in 1896, at Fort Royal, S. C.
Third Lieutenant, Cadet James R. McClesky, Athens, Ga. Now minister of gospel at Covington, Ga.
First Sergeant-Major, and Adjutant of Battalion, Cadet Paul Faver, of Fayetteville, Ga. Lives there now and is a popular physician.
Orderly Sergeant, Cadet W. E. H. Searcy, Griffin, Ga.
*Second Sergeant, Cadet Cary Wood Henderson, Covington, Ga. Died in Atlanta, Ga., since the war.
*Third Sergeant, Cadet Theodore A. Elyea, Atlanta, Ga. Died in Atlanta, since the war.
Fourth Sergeant, Cadet J. W. Symmes, Brunswick, Ga.
Fifth Sergeant, Cadet J. Scott Todd, West Point, Ga. Lost right arm in battle at Oconee River Bridge, Nov. 1864. Now popular and distinguished physician in Atlanta, Ga.
Corporal, Cadet J. A. Arnold.
(I cannot now remember names of the other corporals of company A.)
Privates of Comany A.
Adams,——.Adams,——.
Akers,——.
*Alexander, A. H., Forsyth, Ga. Killed by cannon ball at Atlanta, 1864.
Arnold, F., Coweta county, Ga.
Arnold, Park, Coweta county, Ga.
Atkinson, B., Brunswick. Now doctor at Tarboro, Ga.
*Bellingrath, Herman, Atlanta, Ga.
*Blanton, Benjamin P., Atlanta, Ga Died Sept. 1904.
Bozeman,——.
Bridges, ——.
Brooks, B. E., Hattiesburg, Miss.
Brumby, E., Marietta, Ga. [309]
Brumby, J., Marietta, Ga.
Burroughs, J.
Cabaniss, E., Forysth, Ga.
Cabaniss, H. H., Forysth, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
*Campbell, Jos. F., Mobile, Ala., died in Galveston, Texas, in 1904.
Carlton, ——,
*Cashin, Ed., Augusta, Ga. Anderson, S. C.. Died Oct. 11, 1897.
Clarke,——.
Cockerell, ——.
Crutchfield, Wm. Ambrose, Macon, Ga.
Dabney, ——. *D'Antignac, Frank, Augusta, Ga., died since the war.
Dorsey, J., West Point, Ga., Opelika, Ala.
Dozier,——.
*Edwards, J. Polk, Opelika, Ala. Died there since the war.
Elliott,——. Everett, ——. Fitzpatrick, ——., Madison, Ga.
Flake, Warren W., DeKalb county, Ga. Jacksonville, Texas.
*Foster, A. W., Madison, Ga.
Freeman, ——.
Gary, J.
Gary, W.
Gould, ——.
Green, John M., Atlanta, Ga.
Hamilton, Thomas A., Columbia county, Ga. Birmingham, Alabama.
Hardee, J.
*Hardee, W. P.
Harlee, ——.
Harrington, Henry P., West Point, now New York.
Harris, John.
*Haslem, George, Perry, Houston county, Ga.
Hawkins, J. C., Merriwether county, Ga.
Head, George M., Monroe county, Ga.
Hill, A. W., Washington, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
Hill, Thomas A., Washington, Ga. [310]
Hinton, John.
Holland,——
Holmes, John H., LaGrange, now Wetumpka, Alabama.
Huger, ——, Charleston, S. C.
Jones, H. P., Burke county, Ga.
Jones, Henry, Burke county, Ga.
Jones, W. D., Burke county, Ga.
*Jones W. (Jr.,) Burke county, Ga. Died in 1864.
King, (Barrington,) Marietta, Ga.
Kollock,——, Savannah, Ga.
Land, J. H.
Lane, W. S.
Latimer, Charles T.
Leseuer,——., S. C.
Lester, T. G., Lexington, Ga.
Livingston,——.
Lovett, Robert O., Screven county, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
McClellan,——, was from Florida.
McLeod, George, Cobb county, Ga.
McCleskey, L. L., Athens, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
McHenry, W. S., Madison, Ga. *McWhorter, Madison, Green county, Ga. *McWhorter, Robert Ligon, Green county, Ga.
Mann, Charley, Perry, Ga. *Marshall, C., Perry, Ga.
Mims,——.
Mims, W. H.
Myrick, G. D., Milledgeville, Ga.
Myrick, J. D., Dovedale, Baldwin county, Ga.
Napier,——, Macon, Ga.
Nevett, ——, Savannah, Ga.
Owens, James, Macon county, Ga.
*Parsons, William H., Johnson county, Ga.
Pattillo, George, Cartersville, Ga.
Pearce, J. W., Decatur, Ga. [311]
*Plant, Robert H., Macon, Ga. Died in 1903. President of a bank.
Randall, Bush, Cobb, Ga. Decatur, Ga.
Redding,——.
Reese,——.
Robert, W. H., Lagrange, Ga. Now druggist in Denison, Texas.
Robinson, A., Meriwether counter, Ga.
Robinson, E., Meriwether county, Ga.
Roddy, R. L., Forsyth, Ga.
Rucker, Jeptha H., Athens, Ga.
Rucker, TinsleyW., (‘Tinnie’), Athens, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
*Ryan Lawrence T., Hawkinsville, Ga.
Sapp, A. J.
Sciley, B.
Schley, G.
Schofield, ——, Macon, Ga.
Sheppard, W. T., West Point, Ga. Boston, Mass.
Shumake, W., Harris county, Ga.
Slappey, A. B., Marshallville, Ga.
Smith, Archibald A., LaGrange, Ga.
Smith, H. H.
*Smith, W., Crawford county, Ga. Died in service, 1864.
Solomon, W., Gordon, Ga.
Spain,——.
Taft, W., Charleston, S. C.
Thurman, Jas. T., Atlanta, Ga.
*Tilson, Mitchell, Darien, Ga.
*Turnbull, J. J., Banks county, Ga.
Waitzefelder, Abraham, Milledgeville, Ga. New York City.
Walker, C.
Walker, J.
Waters, Byron B.
Watson, ——.
*Williams, C. Howard, Columbus, Ga. Died in Atlanta, Ga., 1895.
Williams, M.
*Woodward, James P.
Wynn, Joseph H., Newnan, Coweta county, Ga.
[312]
Color guard.
*Color Sergeant, George C. Coleman, Harris county, Ga. Was killed at Aberdeen, Miss., in 1896. Co. B.Color Corporal, Julius L. Brown, Milledgeville, Ga. Atlanta, Ga. Son of Governor Joseph E. Brown, the War Governor of Georgia. Co. A.
*Color Corporal, A. J. Hulsey, Atlanta, Ga. Co. A.
Color Corporal, Thomas W. Milner, Cartersville, Ga. Co. B.
Color Corporal, Henry W. Dewes, Forsyth, Ga. Kirkwood, Ga. Co. B.
*Color Corporal, Henry A. Dunwoody, Co. A. Cobb, county, Darien, Ga.
Company. B.
Captain, Victor E. Manget, Marietta, Ga. Professor of French at G. M. I. Living now at Marietta, Ga. Minister of the Gospel.*First Lieutenant, Cadet Charles H. Solomon, Macon, Ga. *Second Lieutenant, Cadet P. Hazlehurst, Macon, Ga. *Third Lieutenant, Cadet Steele White, Savannah, Ga.
Fourth Lieutenant, Cadet Frank Einstein, Macon, Ga. New York, N. Y.
Sergeants.
First Sergeant, Cadet T. A. Ward, Greensboro, Ga. Last heard of was in Alabama.Second Sergeant, Cadet Tom Bussey. Died in 1893.
*Third Sergeant, Cadet Isaac P. Harris, Covington, Ga. Died at Atlanta, Ga., in 1899.
*Fourth Sergeant, Cadet Seaborn Montgomery, Ellaville, Schley county, Ga. Died in service 1864.
Corporals.
Cadet B. Frank Lee, Fort Valley, Ga. Thomaston, Ga. Later was made Third Sergeant in Co. B, to take place of I. P. Harris, promoted to Lieut.Cadet C. W. Linn. *Cadet Thomas Acree, Talbotton, Ga.
Cadet J. K. Anderson, Edgefield county, S. C. Wounded in in line, and died at Atlanta, August, 1864. [313]
Cadet J. H. Stokes, Lumkin, Ga.
*Cadet Stephen G. Jordan, Washington county, Ga. Died May 23d, 1904.
Privates.
Allen, J. L., Bainbridge, Ga. Chipley, Ga.Atkinson, R. H., Macon, Ga.
*Baker, W., West Point, Ga.
Beall, Bignon,——. Billingslea, Clay, Green county, Ga.
Bolger,——., Charleston, S. C. *Bomar, W. A., Atlanta, Ga. Died 1905.
Bostick,——
Bozeman,——.
Brantley,——., Atlanta, Ga.
Breese, W. E., Charleston, S. C. Brevard, N. C.
Brown, C., Cuthbert, Ga.
*Brown, R., Americus, Ga.
Bryan,——., Chattanooga, Tenn.
Burt, F., Marietta, Ga. Came from South Carolina.
*Bussey, Nathan, West Point, Ga. Died in Soldiers' Home, 1904.
Calhoun, O., Abbeyville, S. C.
Cameron, H. C., Harris county, Ga. Columbus, Ga.
Chaney, T. G., Ellaville, Ga.
Coleman, J. D., Harris county, Ga. Aberdeen, Miss. Brother of George C.
*Collier, William E., Fort Valley, Ga.
Commander,——. Tampa, Fla.
*Culverhouse, Augustus, Knoxville, Ga.
Compton, Lymon H., Milledgeville, Ga.
Cunningham, D., Talbot county, Ga.
*Dean, Jesse, Atlanta, Ga.
*Dean, W., Atlanta, Ga.
Dunwoody, ——
Faver, J. D., Washington, Ga., Atlanta Ga.
Goldsmith, Tom B., DeKalb county. Simpsonville, S. C.
*Goldsmith, Paul, Atlanta, Ga.
Goode, Samuel W., Lumpkin, Ga. Atlanta, Ga. [314]
Gould,——.
*Griffin, J. W., Lowndes county, Ga.
*Griffin, Samuel, Lowndes county, Ga. (Brothers.)
Grubbs, James W., Waynesboro, Ga.
Guyton,——.
Harris, W.
*Heidt, C. B., Savannah, Ga.
Hitchcock, Winfield, Hancock county, Ga.
Holliday, George H., Atlanta, Ga.
Holmes,——.
Hood. M. F., Hamilton, Harris county, Ga.
Hudson, J. M., Hamilton, Harris county, Ga.
Hunt, T. J., Harris county, Ga. Columbus, Ga.
Hunting, ——.
Johnston, A.
Johnston, Malcolm, Baldwin county, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
Johnston, T.
Jones, D. A., West Point, Ga.
*Jones, H. B., Columbus, Ga.
Jones, W. M., Hamilton, Ga.
*Jordan, Edmond, Washington county, Ga. Died 1864.
Kollock, ——, Savannah, Ga.
Lamar, Lucius J., Milledgeville, Ga.
Lamar, Ophilo V., Ellaville, Ga.
Lee, Lewis T., Fort Valley, Ga. Jasper, Tennessee.
Lee, Oscar, Atlanta, Ga.
*Lewis, Hal T., Green county, Ga. Died in 1903. Supreme Court Justice.
Little, W. W., Harris county, Ga. West Point, Ga., R. F. D. I.
Loftin, Frank S., Franklin, Heard county, Ga. Franklin, Ga.
Loud,——.
Luckie, Alfred T., Covington, Ga. Athens, Ga.
*Mabry, J., Houston county, Ga. Died 1864.
Markley, Wm. A., Greenville, S. C. Commerce, Texas. [315]
Marsh, Clayton H., Cartersville, Georgia. Wounded at Oconee Bridge battle, died in Savannah, Ga., November 1864.
McClatchey, W. Penn, Marietta, Ga. Chattanooga, Tenn.
Mays,——.
*McLeod, John, Emanuel county, Ga. Died 1864.
*Mobley, Reuben B., Hamilton, Harris county, Ga. Died July, 1904.
Moore, J., Weston, Ga.
Moore, W. F., Marietta, Ga.
Mousseau,——, Charleston, S. C.
Myrick, A. B., Milledgeville, Ga. Mississippi.
*Myrick, W. E., Milledgeville, Ga. Died in Mississippi, 1867.
Newsome, Willard H., LaGrange, Ga.
Parrott,——.
Partee,——.
Patillo, W. F., Harris county, Ga. Decatur, Ga.
*Persons, Robert T., Fort Valley, Ga.
Persons, Thomas, Marietta, Ga.
Rahn, James M., Guyton, Effingham county, Ga.
Remshart, G. Horace, Savannah, Ga.
Reynolds, Homer V., Cobb county, Marietta, Ga.
Richter, M. L., Madison, Ga.
*Reynolds, Fletcher P., Covington, Ga. Died at Marietta, 1889.
*Robertson, ——, Meriwether county, Ga. Died since the war.
Rodgers, Robert L, Washington county, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
*Sanders, O. A., (‘Cube,’) Covington, Ga. Died in Atlanta, 1883.
Sharp,
Shropshire, Andrew J., Coweta county, Ga. Atlanta, Ga.
Shoemake, W. W., Troupe county, Ga. Died 1865.
Smith, Richard R., Washington county, Tennille, Ga.
Smith, Thomas N., Washington county, Tennille, Ga. (Brothers.)
Spencer, Samuel, Columbus, Ga., now President Southern Railway Company, and lives in New York City. [316] Staten,——.
Stevens, N. C. (‘Dick,’) Ellaville, Ga. Now doctor at Ama, Louisiana.
Stevenson, V. K., Nashville, Tenn. New York.
Stotesbury, ——
Tenant, Marietta, Ga.
Thomas, Isaac, Forsyth, Ga.
Traylor, R. B., Harris county, Ga. Chipley, Ga.
Ulmer——,
Vance,——.
*Villard, W. D., South Carolina. Died in Atlanta, Ga., 1897.
Walton, Taylor, Lumpkin, Ga., Texas.
Waters, J. C., Marietta, Ga.
Wesson, M., Albany, Ga.
Wesson, T., Albany, Ga.
Wilcox,——
Williams, O. S., Hamilton, Harris county, Ga.
Williams, T.
*Wright, B. F., Covington, Ga.
Wright, C.
*Young, Thomas, Valdosta, Ga.
Casualties in the Battalion.
Cadet Corporal Anderson, of Greenville, S. C., was wounded in knee during siege of Atlanta, and died August 11, 1864, two days later, in hospital.Cadet F. E. Courvoisier, of Savannah, Ga., was wounded in hip in August, 1864, siege of Atlanta. He recovered. Died in Port Royal, S. C., 1896.
Cadet A. H. Alexander, of Forsyth, Ga., was killed instantly by a solid ball from a six-pounder cannon, passing entirely through his body, in siege of Atlanta, August 12, 1864.
Cadet A. T. Luckie painfully wounded in eye in 1864.
Cadet Samuel W. Goode painfully wounded in the arm, near shoulder, at Atlanta, in July or August, 1864.
Cadet Griffin slightly wounded on nose in 1864.
Cadet W. E. Myrick wounded in head at Oconee bridge, on Central railroad, in November, 1864. Died in Mississippi, 1867.
Cadet Sergeant J. Scott Todd was wounded in arm, which was [317] amputated at once, at Oconee bridge, over Oconee river, on Central railroad, in Washington county, Ga., on November 23, 1864, in charge on Yankee pickets in Oconee swamp. He is now Dr. J. S. Todd, of Atlanta, Ga., and surgeon of Georgia Division of U. C. V.
Cadet Thomas A. Hamilton, of Columbia county, Ga., now of Birmingham, Ala., was severely wounded in shoulder at Oconee bridge, over Oconee river, on Central railroad, on November 25, 1864.
Cadets Commander, W. Baker, Edmund Jordan, Mabry, John McLeod and G. Smith, died in the service by disease contracted while serving in the trenches around Atlanta.
Cadet Marsh was mortally wounded by minie ball in right groin, in charge on Yankee pickets at Oconee river, Oconee bridge, on the Central railroad, in Washington county, Ga., on the 23d of November, 1864. He was carried on train to Savannah, Ga., and died in hospital there on the 26th of November, 1864.
This battalion was a conspicuous organization in the Confederate service, in the Western army, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. The battalion served under General Hood, and was a noted battalion of youths from the celebrated military school, the Georgia Military Institute. The boys were in excellent discipline, splendidly drilled, and with fine courage and great enthusiasm and patriotic spirit. They were a marked battalion of as fine mettled youths as ever went to any war for any country.
Major F. W. Capers was proud of his ‘boys,’ as he affectionately spoke of them. When they were under severe artillery fire at Turner's Ferry, over Chattahoochee river, Major Capers said he was very proud of them, and spoke in very high compliment of them, as exhibiting a cool courage and skill, remarkable in every respect, and he said that he believed that if he had a full division of such boys he could repulse the whole Yankee army.
Major-General Henry C. Wayne was in command of the forces with which the cadets served, as they confronted Sherman's army, on the ‘Marching through Georgia.’ General Wayne, in his official report of February 6, 1865, gives account of the distinguished conduct of Georgia cadets in the campaign through Georgia. His report is fully set forth in the official war records, series 1, volume 53, supplement, on pages 32 to 37 inclusive, in serial [318] No. 111. On page 36, General Wayne says: ‘I would conspicuously mention Majors Hartridge and Capers, and Captains Talbot, Pruden, Austin and Warthen. The gallantry of these gentlemen cannot be surpassed. To Major Capers I am under the greatest obligations. His qualifications for military command are of the highest order, and entitle him to a prominent position. They have been brilliantly illustrated by the corps of cadets, whose gallantry, discipline and skill equal anything I have ever seen in any military service. I cannot speak too highly of these youths, who go into a fight as cheerfully as they would enter a ball-room, and with the silence and steadiness of veterans.’
The Georgia Cadets were the last organized Confederate soldiers on duty east of the Mississippi river, and their last service, as the first, was on provost duty, guarding the city of Augusta, Ga., and the Confederate arsenals and army stores at that city. They obeyed the last order of a Confederate officer, Major-General Lafayette McLaws. The order was issued after the surrenders of General Lee and General Johnston, and was dated May 1, 1865, and they served under that order till the 20th day of May, 1865, when they were relieved from their duties by a Yankee garrison, who came to Augusta to take charge of the city and Confederate supplies there.
The order of General McLaws is in copy, on page 420, in the volume 53, of series 1, supplement, of the official war records. It is as follows:
