In
March of 1862, ten companies from the counties of middle Georgia
assembled at Camp Stephens, near Griffin, to form the 44th Regiment
of Georgia Infantry. Some owned slaves, however, the majority did
not. A few had seen a year's previous service with the Georgia State
troops garrisoning various points on the Georgia coastline. The
regiment was mustered into Confederate service on March 17, 1862. On
April 7, the 44th Georgia left for Virginia under Colonel Robert A.
Smith.
Stopping over briefly in Goldsboro, NC the regiment was brigaded
under General J.G. Walker with the 3rd Arkansas and the
1st and 3rd North Carolina and assigned to the Division of Gen.
T.H. Holmes. the division hastened by rail to Richmond to help in
the crisis of McClellan's threatening Richmond.
Once
arriving in Richmond on June 1, the men posted picket duty until the
26th. The regiment suffered its first battle casualty on June 5,
1862. After being assigned to Ripley's Brigade, the 44th Georgia
went into action at Mechanicsville on June 26. The regiment was
ordered to charge Union breastworks in the face of supporting
artillery fire across a flooded millrace at Ellerson's Mill. The
44th did so with élan, but endured one of the highest regimental
casualty rates of the entire Civil War, including the loss of Col.
Smith. Brave acts such as this would help save Richmond.
After the Seven Day's Battles, the regiment marched in the 2nd
Manassas Campaign and splashed across the Potomac River on September
5, 1862 on Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of Maryland. At the
Battle of Sharpsburg men from the 44th Georgia fell around the Mumma
Farm, the East Woods, and the maelstrom of the Cornfield. After that
battle, the regiment operated in the Shenandoah with Gen George
Doles assuming command of the brigade.
On
January 19, 1863, the 12th and 21st Georgia joined the
4th and 44th in the realignment of Dole's Brigade. These four
regiments would stay together for the rest of the war.
The
44th Georgia participated in Jackson's flank march at
Chancellorsville on May 2 and the smashing charge that afternoon,
capturing numerous prisoners and some pieces of artillery. That
stunning success was followed up at Gettysburg on the first day when
men of the 44th pursued retreating Federals through the streets of
Gettysburg itself. It was at Gettysburg that the 44th Georgia lost a
second regimental commander, Col. Samuel P. Lumpkin, in action.
After the retreat from Gettysburg, the regiment marched and counter
marched during the Mine Run Campaign before camping for the winter.
During the cold months the regiment shared picket duty on the
Rapidan River.
On May 4,
1864, the regiment broke winter camp to grapple with Union forces in
almost 60 days of constant combat. The next day, the regiment also
participated in one of the few night attacks of the civil war on the
same day. After two more days in contact with the Federals, the men
marched to Spotsylvania.
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May 10, 1864,
was the darkest day of the war for the 44th Georgia. Just before
dusk, the Federal forces massed twelve regiments in column and broke
into the brigade's breastworks. Men had time to fire at most one
shot and 200 of the 44th were instantly captured, including the
third regimental commander lost to combat, Col. William H. Peebles.
The rest of the regiment fought savagely hand to hand as documented
by many men receiving bayonet wounds. Only this desperate fighting
finally drove the Federals out and recaptured all the lost ground.
The survivors of the 44th Georgia continued fighting with the Army
of Northern Virginia at the Bloody Angle, North Anna, and Cold
Harbor. Here Gen. Doles was killed in action and was replaced by
Gen. Philip Cook.
Lee
detached Cook's Brigade and sent it with Gen. Early on the Valley
Campaign of 1864. The 44th Georgia crossed the Potomac heading north
for the third time and closed on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
with Early in mid-July before retiring. The regiment suffered in the
reverses of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek before
rejoining Lee in the Petersburg trenches for the winter of 1864-65.
Col. Peebles, recently exchanged, was wounded at Winchester and lost
to the 44th again, this time for the rest of the war.
The 44th
clawed its way into the Union line around Ft. Stedman in the Army of
Northern Virginia's last offensive action on March 25, 1865. The
regiment lost a fifth commander in action when Cpt. Thomas R. Daniel
was wounded and captured. It would evacuate its trenches one week
later and begin movement to Appomattox, but not before several
members of the regiment fought in the heroic delaying action at Ft.
Gregg.
Despite a rapid pace, hunger, and other trying circumstances, the
44th Georgia kept its march order on the way to Appomattox. The
officer ranks were so depleted that Cpt. John Tucker was loaned from
the 21st Georgia to command the regiment. Five officers and seventy
five men would answer the surrender roll before returning to Georgia
to till the soil, restart their businesses and have a reunion with
the families they had left three years and two days earlier.
Over
the course of the war, the 44th Georgia Infantry fought in over
50 major engagements and numerous, uncounted skirmishes. The
regiment would lose over 350 killed in action and over 450 wounded.
The 44th soldiers proved their bravery in each engagement. Perhaps,
though, they should be noted most for their loyalty-only four
soldiers deserted during three years of war and hardship.
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