Tag Archives: {The Civil War in South Georgia}

June 16, 2013 · 9:21 AM

150th Anniversary Commemoration of the Burning of Darien

150th Anniversary of the Burning of Darien GA Civil War Sesquicentennial Confederate Reenactors in Period Clothing in front of Adam Strain Building Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

Missy Brandt & Will West, who were instrumental in making yesterday’s commemoration a reality, pose in front of Darien’s Adam Strain Building, which survived (with damage) the town’s burning.

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On June 11, 1863 the seaport of Darien was vandalized and burned by Federal forces stationed on nearby St. Simons Island. The town was largely deserted, most of its 500 residents having sought refuge inland. Lost were public buildings, churches, businesses and most private residences. Conducting the raid were units comprised of among the first African-American troops to serve the Union cause, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers under Col. Robert G. Shaw, and the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers under Col. James Montgomery. The burning of Darien, undefended and of little strategic importance, was one of the most controversial events of the Civil War. (Text of  historic marker placed by the Lower Altamaha Historical Society and the Georgia Historical Society in 2001). The movie Glory was based loosely on the story of the 54th Massachusetts.

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Reenactors of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Encampment get ready for the parade .

150th Anniversary of the Burning of Darien GA Civil War Sesquicentennial 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Black Union Reenactors Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

For a larger selection of photos from the event, please visit

http://vanishingcoastalgeorgia.com/2013/06/16/150th-anniversary-of-the-burning-of-darien/

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April 22, 2013 · 8:25 AM

Corporal Harmon A. Riggs, Lower Lotts Creek Cemetery

Confederate CSA Veteran Harmon A. Riggs Headstone Lower Lotts Creek Primitive Baptist Church Bulloch County GA Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

(5 September 1843 – 27 November 1914)

Company C, 47th Georgia Infantry, CSA

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March 17, 2013 · 10:00 AM

Rountree Grocery & Elam-Egypt Baptist Church, Egypt

Egypt GA Effingham County Old Country Store Grocery Baptist Church Ghost Town Americana Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

Now listed for sale, the old Rountree Grocery was operated by Frank Rountree, whose wife Nita ran the post office. The Elam-Egypt Baptist Church can be seen in the background.

http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/category/egypt-ga/

I’ve finally solved the mystery (to me) of the origin of Egypt’s name. Confederate Major General Lafayette McLaws purchased 1572 acres in Effingham County in January 1870. His daughter, Virginia, wrote that the plantation was “named Egypt because of the fine corn raised there. The house was quite large, two stories and a very high attic–a nice porch downstairs and upstairs with columns…(there were) eight large rooms with high ceilings, large closets in each, and every one with a nice fireplace. In those days there were no toilet facilities, no electric lights. There was an outdoor kitchen, also one on the large back porch.”

Confederate Major General Lafayette McLaws Public Domain Image Founder of Egypt Georgia Credit Brian Brown Vanishing Media USA 2013

Lafayette McLaws, Major General, CSA

(15 January 1821 – 24 Jul7 1897)

This material was found at John C. Oeffinger’s wonderful tribute site to General McLaws, based on his book, A Soldier’s General: Major General Lafayette McLaws, Chapel Hill, UNC Press, 2002.

http://asoldiersgeneral.com/index.html

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February 10, 2013 · 4:45 PM

Emmaus Church, Charlton County

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint St. George Charlton County GA Primitive Vernacular Board and Batten Architecture Near St. Marys River Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

Located just south of St. George is this iconic primitive style church. I can’t locate anything about its history or construction, but it’s well-maintained.

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint St. George Charlton County GA Primitive Vernacular Board and Batten Architecture Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013________________________________________________________

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint St. George Charlton County GA Primitive Vernacular Board and Batten Architecture Side View Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013________________________________________________________

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint St. George Charlton County GA Primitive Vernacular Pine Lumber Board and Batten Church Working Artesian Shallow Well Pump Water Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

Two things you rarely see anymore: the artesian well-fed pump pictured above works! The privy seen below is one of two on the grounds, as there’s obviously no plumbing. I believe the church must still be used for homecomings and funerals, at least.

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint St. George Charlton County GA Vernacular Privy Outhouse Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013________________________________________________________

The cemetery is nicely kept; the earliest graves date to the late 1800s, so perhaps that’s a clue to the origins of the church building.

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint George Charlton County GA Primitive Vernacular Board and Batten Architecture Near St. Marys River Pioneer Cemetery Picture Image Photograph © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013________________________________________________________

Emmaus Baptist Church Saint St. George Charlton County GA Confederate Private Henry E Gainey Jr Headstone Iron Cross Confederate Flag CSA Civil War Picture Image Photograph © Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

Private Henry Gainey, Jr. Company G, 26th Georgia Infantry (1840 – 1864)

Private Gainey was likely killed in action, as his grave is marked with a Confederate Iron Cross. Beside his grave is that of another Gainey, probably his brother, who was in the Confederate service in nearby Florida.

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January 1, 2013 · 11:51 AM

Unknown Confederate Dead, McMillan Burial Ground

Vidalia GA Toombs County McMillan Burial Ground Cemetery Primitive Baptist Church Unknown Confederate Dead Headstones Historic Marker Sick Wounded Civil War Sesquicentennial Picture Image Photo © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

In this section of the old McMillan Burial Ground are the graves of unknown Confederate soldiers. An historic marker, recently placed in observance of the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, notes: “As fighting intensified in central Georgia in the summer of 1864, caravans of wagons evacuated sick and wounded Confederate soldiers from Macon’s overcrowded Ocmulgee Hospital. Caravans coming down the Old Savannah Road stopped at this cemetery and buried soldiers who had died en route to hospitals further south.”

Vidalia GA Toombs County McMillan Burial Ground Cemetery Primitive Baptist Church Unknown Confederate Dead Historic Marker Sick Wounded Civil War Sesquicentennial Picture Image Photo © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013________________________________________________________

A monument was also placed in this section of the cemetery, with a poem by late Civil War reenactor Sergeant Benjamin R. Gormley. It first appeared in his book Haunted Fields, in 1985.

Vidalia GA Toombs County McMillan Burial Ground Cemetery Primitive Baptist Church Unknown The Southern Dead Poem by Reenactor Sergeant Benjamin R Gormley Picture Image Photo © Brian Brown Vanishing South Georgia USA 2013

“The Southern Dead”

The Southern dead are sleeping
In a thousand Southern glens. . .
The moss and willows beckon
With the breath of Southern winds.

Though the blood-stained cross of St. Andrew
Is tattered now and furled. . .
They bore it high on every field
And o’er every ocean of the world.

It wasn’t through their failing
That the gleaming turned to rust. . .
And the dreaming of a Nation
Is enshrined within their dust.

Some would have their deeds forgot,
Their monuments swept away. . .
But while Southern blood flows in our veins,
Those knaves shall never see the day.

Teach your children of their story,
Of battles, lost and won. . .
They must keep memory’s light a-burning
Till Southern rivers cease to run.

The Southern dead are sleeping.

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November 21, 2012 · 2:49 PM

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, 1888, Rebecca

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church was organized in 1876 by a missionary preacher, James R. Fields, who had several other nearby churches in his charge. At the time of its founding, Rebecca was known as Grover; the present church building dates to circa 1888. One of the more interesting rules of church decorum (essentially a set of governing by-laws):

“If any member of the Church shall give a party of dance…they shall consider themselves cited to conference.”

To view a PDF of the church history:

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/county/turner/pleasanthill.html

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Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery

Allen Smith (26 March 1822 – 21 May 1898)

Mary Smith (4 J uly 1827 – 6 May 1913)

Martha Ann J. Rountree (7 November 1833 – 25 October 1913)

Private J. Robert McElmurray, Company B, 8th Battallion, Georgia State Guards, CSA

(1843 – 1931)

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September 10, 2012 · 10:03 AM

Houston County Confederate Monument, 1908

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August 8, 2012 · 10:49 PM

Slave Cabins, Gascoigne Bluff

Visit some favorite sites on St. Simons and learn more about these cabins:

http://georgiacoast.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/slave-cabins-gascoigne-bluff/

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July 31, 2012 · 12:47 PM

Ball’s Ferry, Oconee River

A ferry on the Oconee River at the border of Washington and Wilkinson counties was first established by Revolutionary War veteran and Wilkinson County pioneer John Ball some time before 1816.

On Nov. 24, 1864, the 1st Alabama Cavalry reached Ball´s Ferry to secure it for the passage of the Left Wing (15th and 17th Corps) of Gen. Sherman´s army, which had left Atlanta on Nov. 15th on its destructive March to the Sea. Finding the boat on the east bank, guarded by Confederate pickets, the cavalrymen moved up stream, crossed on rafts, and dislodged the pickets, but developed a larger force approaching the ferry and were forced to recross the river under fire.  On the 25th, the head of the 15th Corps (Osterhaus), which had marched via Irwinton and Myrtle Spring Church, and that of the 17th Corps (Blair), which had followed the railroad from Gordon to Toombsboro, destroying it enroute, arrived. They found the defenders well entrenched on the east bank, with skirmishers up and down the stream. Osterhaus´ infantry and the 12th Wisconsin Battery engaged them in front while Blair´s infantry crossed upstream and worked through the swamps to their rear. Their position turned, the Confederates withdrew without serious loss.  Pontoon bridges were laid by the 1st Michigan Engineers and, by noon on the 26th, the troops were crossing. The 15th Corps moved to Irwin´s Crossroads, the 17th Corps to the forks of the Oconee-Irwins roads. By noon on the 27th, the last of the trains had crossed and the bridges were being taken up and loaded in their wagons.

Local citizens had long lobbied for a bridge but Governor Eugene Talmadge was vehemently opposed to the idea. On 31 March 1939, thanks to the foresight of Governor E. D. Rivers a modern bridge spanning over 1680 feet of the river and floodplain below was dedicated and the ferry dismantled.

Ball’s Ferry has a nice boat landing and open picnic area, easily accessible via a dirt road located beside the historic marker on the Wilkinson County side of the river.

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April 11, 2012 · 11:25 AM

Confederate Headstones, New Hope Cemetery

Private David Reed Rowell, Clinch’s Battery, Georgia Light Artillery

1845 – 1915

S. W. Lynes

29 April 1842 – 28 March 1921

(CSA Iron Cross/Southern Cross of Honor)

E. B. Jones (CSA Iron Cross/Southern Cross of Honor)

23  March 1847 – 7 February 1911

Rebecca Jane Jones – 2 July 1851 – 26 March 1930

The Southern Cross of Honor has two distinct incarnations. They first honored men for specific deeds during the war, similar to a Bronze Star or Purple Heart. The present and more common version was conceived by Mary Ann Erwin at Atlanta in 1898. She was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and they saw this as a way to properly honor anyone who had given loyal service to the cause. They were first given as medals, and then as grave markers, and today, similar memorials are issued by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

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