U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
Jacksonville Marches Off To War, 1861-65
This article is compiled by Julian Williams.
Telfair County voted against secession.
They did not believe leaving the Union was the best thing to do.
But when it came its people supported their State in its decision to sever ties with the Union.
Many Georgia statesmen realized the gravity of such a decision.
Among these were our own representatives, James Williamson and Hugh McLean.
But the air was filled with excitement - to many it had become a glorious cause, even backed up by the Almighty, for the defense of states' rights versus the ever intruding tentacles of a federal government gone too far.
The ugly issue of slavery was not faced.
Its resolution would come in time - so rationalized a people hardened to the established economic mold - one that had to be broken, sooner or later.
The Civil War would hasten the "sooner."
As the young men, and some not so young, prepared their fields for leaving they did not realize how long they would be gone from the plow - from the breaking up of the earth.
Sadly, for many, the earth would be broken up to receive them - much too soon.
For all, the wives would have to assume the great responsibilities of managing the home place:
Leave the corn upon the stalks, John
Potatoes on the hill,
And the pumpkin on the vine, John,
I'll gather them with a will.
Then take your gun and go, John,
Take your gun and go.
Ruth can drive the oxen, John,
And I can use the hoe.
And go they did.
Floris Perkins Mann recorded that on July 21, 1861, the people assembled at Jacksonville (then the county seat) to organize the first military unit.
The affair was represented by all parts of the county and an "elegant barbeque" had been prepared.
Miss Sadie Bussey presented a beautiful flag (war banner) to the new regiment.
Luke Campbell received the flag on behalf of his comrades.
Note the dramatic and descriptive language used in the acceptance speech:
"Kind and patriotic ladies:
To me, the most unworthy of my comrades in arms, has been assigned the distinguished honor of receiving at your fair hands this beautiful standard of colors. In thus accepting it we are not unaware of the grave and weighty responsibility that we assume. We know full well that we dare never turn our footsteps homeward - till Victory has perched upon this banner; for if there is one crime upon which woman frowns with more awful displeasure than another, it is that of cowardice."
The county contributed more than three hundred men to the fighting forces of the Confederacy.
Some of the units were the Georgia 5th and 7th, Company I, Georgia 20th, Company H, and the Georgia 49th, Company B. Others from Telfair joined the Georgia Hussars and other units.
Presently we will look at the activities of the Company B, Telfair County Volunteers, the 49th Georgia Regiment, CSA.
The unit was organized at Camp Davis, near Guyton, Georgia, on March 22, 1862.
Along with the 49th were the 48th, 50th, and 51st Georgia.
From training and throughout the war, the 49th, like other units, was plagued with sickness.
In fact, for all soldiers in that horrible conflict, it is said that for every one who died by the bullet, two died of sickness and disease (and infection).
The regiment traveled from Camp Davis to Goldsboro, North Carolina, on the first leg of a long and hard journey.
Already the following became casualties from Company B (Telfair County):
James Roberts, died of typhoid fever, Wilmington, NC, April 9, 1862.
John L. Garrison, died at Goldsboro, NC, April 16, 1862.
Kenion (or Kenan) Howard, died at Richmond, VA, on April 21, 1862.
William N. Wilson, died of fever, April 28, 1862.
Abraham D. Powell, died of fever, Richmond, VA, April 29, 1862. Note: Other sources show an Abraham D. Powell surviving and reaching Chester, SC, in April of 1865 (end of war).
William H. Webb, discharged because of rheumatism, Goldsboro, NC, May 24, 1862.
The war was the saddest thing ever for the country.
And sad for the ones who had to endure the longing and anxiety brought about by loved ones wounded and dying on the field of battle.
Suddenly there was a new awareness of God and the brevity of physical life:
By the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray.
