Interwoven Lives

CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS FROM GEORGIA

James Monroe Edwards - 4th Georgia Regiment, Company A

  • Residence: Talbot County, Georgia
  • Enlistment Date: 10 March 1864
  • Distinguished Service: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
  • Side Served: Confederacy
  • State Served: Georgia
  • Unit Numbers: 314 314
  • Service Record: Enlisted as a Private on 10 March 1864
  • Enlisted in Company A, 4th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 10 March 1864.
  • Surrendered Company A, 4th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 09 April 1865 in Appomattox Court House, VA
He was nineteen and living in Talbotton, Talbot County, GA at the time he enlisted. His daughters later regretted that they had not paid more attention to his stories of his time in the Civil War. When he came home he married Mattie Rebecca Ammons in December of 1867, who was the daughter of his step-father, Richard Ammons. Their marriage was brief; after giving birth to two children Mattie died in 1873. A few years later he married Hannah Quintinie Herndon and they lived together until her death in 1908. He became a Methodist minister and is buried at his church in Fredonia, Alabama, in a place of honor at the front of the church. He was much beloved during his long life.

Since he entered the war so late, these are the engagements he took part in:

  • Lynchburg Campaign, Virginia (5/64 - 6/64)
  • Wilderness, Virginia (5/5/64 - 5/6/64)
  • Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia (5/8/64 - 5/21/64)
  • North Anna, Virginia (5/23/64 - 5/26/64)
  • Petersburg Siege, Virginia (6/1/64 - 4/1/65)
  • Cold Harbor, Virginia (6/1/64 - 6/3/64)
  • Monocacy, Maryland (7/9/64)
  • Fort Stevens, Washington, D.C. (7/12/64)
  • Third Winchester, Virginia (9/19/64)
  • Fisher's Hill, Virginia (9/22/64)
  • Cedar Creek, Virginia (10/19/64)
  • Fort Stedman, Virginia (3/25/65)
  • Appomattox Court House, Virginia (4/9/65)

History of the unit...
4th Regiment, Georgia Infantry
4th Infantry Regiment, organized in April, 1861, at Augusta, Georgia, recruited its companies in the counties of Talbot, Troup, Macon, Gordon, Twiggs, Dougherty, Jasper, Baldwin, and Sumter. The unit served in the Department of South Carolina and the Department of Georgia before moving to Virginia. Assigned to A.R. Wright's Brigade during the Seven Days' Battles, it later served under Generals Ripley, Doles, and Cook. It fought in many conflicts from the Maryland Campaign to Cold Harbor, then was involved in Early's Shenandoah Valley operations and the Appomattox Campaign. The regiment reported 15 killed and 78 wounded at Malvern Hill, 22 killed and 119 wounded in the Maryland Campaign, and 29 killed and 115 wounded at Chancellorsville. Of the 341 engaged at Gettysburg, fifteen percent were disabled. On April 9, 1865, it surrendered with 7 officers and 93 men. The field officers were Colonels Philip Cook, George Doles, and William H. Willis; Lieutenant Colonels William F. Jordan, John J. Matthews, Edwin A. Nash, and David R.E. Winn; and Majors F.H. DeGraffenried, Robert S. Smith, and Charles L. Whitehead.

John Turner James - 13th Georgia Infantry, Company E

  • Enlistment Date: 14 March 1862
  • Distinguished Service: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
  • Side Served: Confederacy
  • State Served: Georgia
  • Unit Numbers: 348 348
  • Service Record: Enlisted as a Private on 14 March 1862
  • Enlisted in Company E, 13th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 14 March 1862.
  • Surrendered Company E, 13th Infantry Regiment Georgia on 09 April 1865 in Appomattox Court House, VA
Turner James was 28 when he enlisted. When he came home from the war, he married Jane Penelope Williams. They had one son Benjamin in 1867. After surviving so much during the war, in 1868 Turner fell into a stream, contracted pneumonia and died. Jane never re-married.

History of the unit...
13th Regiment, Georgia Infantry
13th Infantry Regiment [also called Bartow Light Infantry] completed its organization in June, 1861, at Griffin, Georgia. Its members were recruited in the counties of Pike, Randolph, Early, Muscogee, Meriwether, Fayette, and Troup. This regiment first served in Western Virginia, then in December was ordered to Charleston, South Carolina, where it reported to General R.E. Lee. During the spring it fought at Whitemarch Island and soon moved back to Virginia. Brigaded under Generals Lawton, John B. Gordon, and C.A. Evans, it served with the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor. The regiment was then involved in Early's Shenandoah Valley operations and the Appomattox Campaign. The unit lost 9 killed and 19 wounded at Second Manassas, had 48 killed and 166 wounded at Sharpsburg, and sustained 13 casualties at Second Winchester. Of the 312 engaged at Gettysburg, more than forty percent were disabled. It surrendered 12 officers and 161 men. The field officers were Colonel John H. Baker, Marcellus Douglass, Walton Ector, and James M. Smith; Lieutenant Colonels S.W. Jones and Richard Maltbie; and Majors James A. Long and John L. Moore

Chancellorsville
When he assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, Gen. Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker promised to reverse the long string of Union defeats in the East. In April, with an army of 130,000 men, he prepared to challenge Lee, whose army of 60,000 was massed in Virginia, near Fredericksburg. While holding Lee’s attention at Fredericksburg, Hooker dispatched a force around the town to attack the Confederate flank. Hesitant to use his reserves at such a critical juncture, he chose to withdraw to a defensive position at Chancellorsville, Va. With little hesitation, the combined forces of Lee and Jackson fell on Hooker’s army and, in a fierce three-day battle (May 2–4), inflicted such heavy casualties that Hooker was forced to retreat. Chancellorsville was also a costly battle for the South. Lee lost nearly one-fifth of his men, as well as his brilliant general, Stonewall Jackson.
CIVIL WAR, AMERICAN, [Internet]. 2006. The History Channel website. Available from : http://www.history.com [Accessed 10 Dec 2006].

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