Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsSome Georgians Did Most of Their Fighting In Georgia
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
The Civil War can sometimes be confusing as to who fought where and for what reasons. Why did some men stay closer to home and why did some men leave home altogether and fight in other states? To answer some of these questions, we have to look at the mindset or general thinking of the times. Some people are content to chalk it up to the unacceptable practice of slavery and be done with it. Other things also came into play. For instance, southern states did not view themselves beholden to any central government - hence, the use of the term "confederacy" - an alignment of states (and a weak one at that) who all agreed that they didn't like the strong Federal government telling them what to do. A southern state also did not like another southern state telling it what to do or not to do - the same went for "the Confederacy."
A prime example of this thinking can be seen in how the individual southern states got along between and among themselves. For instance, take transporting goods between the State of Georgia and the State of South Carolina. Might near impossible to do it by the railroads. Why? Because each state had its own size of railroad track! Goods coming to Georgia from South Carolina had to stop at the border, be loaded off the South Carolina train and reloaded on the Georgia train because the sizes of the railroad tracks were different - they didn't match!
And Governor Joe Brown of Georgia was forever fussing with President Jefferson Davis about the bad deal Georgia was getting in the War. To begin with, he wanted Jeff to know that Georgia was not taking orders from anyone. He impressed upon him that Georgia had seceded from the Union because the Union was trying to dictate to his state. Now, his honor, Jefferson Davis was trying to do the same thing! Furthermore, he did not cotton to the practice of taking all the Georgia men off to foreign battle fronts while his state, with its remaining population, was left unprotected. So, he retained some of these men, albeit the very young and those a little older in age than your average soldier. They made up a body of fighting men known as the State Militia.
Around Telfair and Jacksonville, those men made up the 7th Georgia Regiment, Company I. You probably won't find their names in Lillian Henderson's Confederate Rosters but you will find that they bled and died just like all the others.
A friend I was talking with sent me some of those names and I also went back to Floris Perkins Mann's History of Telfair County and got some of these names. We will look at some of those today:
Major Daniel F. McRae - Served in the commissary department from Telfair and Coffee counties. He was severely wounded at Griswoldville. One of his sons became a general in the U.S. Army. A grandson, Marion B. Folsom, became U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). Folsom was also was one of the chief architects of the Social Security Act.
- Simon Browning - Participated in all battles of his company.
- Wright Collins - Went to Florida after the War - died there.
- Captain John Cravey - My great-great-grandfather. He fathered 20 children by three wives and died the day the last child was born. Said to have been seven feet tall. Buried at Campbell Cemetery between Rhine and Jacksonville. His grandson, Zack D. Cravey, became Comptroller General of the State of Georgia.
- Allen Hulett - Mustered out in 1865. Farmed near birthplace.
- Miles A. Burnham - Married Rebecca Coffee of Jacksonville, Georgia.
- Greene Brewer - He was quite a noted fiddler in this section.
- Henry Brewer - Brother of Greene Brewer. Was a noted boat builder.
- H.P. Dopson - Became mail carrier at age of 12; at one time carried mail from Jacksonville to Ocmulgeeville in Coffee County. Until recently, Dopsons were still connected to postal duties in Jacksonville, Georgia.
- T.C. Fletcher - Became a carpenter and lived in happy bachelorhood in Helena.
- William Fletcher - Brother of T.C. Was a farmer near Temperance.
- William Harrell - Farmed after the War. Married Elizabeth McRanie on May 16, 1861.
- Blunt Keel - After the surrender, he moved to Lowndes County where he died and is buried there.
- J.H. Lowrey - Wounded at Griswoldville.
- T.C. Laslie - Also served some of time with the 49th Georgia Regiment, Company B.
- James H. Lindsay - Disabled from further service by a severe wound at Griswoldville. Also previously served in the Indian War under Captain Sparrow. Married widow of Peter White who was slain at first battle of Manassas. His widow survived him a number of years and drew pensions for his services in the Indian War and Confederate Army.
- D.H. Maloy - Lived near Milan. He invented the iron screw press for packing cotton and also invented a plow with a heel which became the famous "Dixie Plow."
- Cornelius McRae - Died 1864 in Army.
- John McRanie - Served with honor till the surrender. Married Anna Ryals, January 27, 1858.
- John Mimms - Joined as a private soldier.
- Lt. John Powell - First Lieutenant. Killed at Battle of Griswoldville.
In another article, we will look at some of the other men in the 7th Georgia Militia, Company I.
Griswoldville was not as far away as Gettysburg, but the bullets were just as real and earthly death was just as permanent.
