The Macon Volunteers 1825-2025: 1872 Through the Spanish American War

 By Major William Carraway

Historian, Georgia National Guard

 

Post-War Reorganization

Considerable uncertainty exists regarding the number of militia units generated in the years immediately following reconstruction in the state of Georgia. In 1878, Sidney Herbert, a correspondent with the Savannah Morning News, compiled a pamphlet entitled Roster of Georgia Volunteer Military Organizations. Herbert’s collection was not an official publication of the Georgia Volunteers and was not purported to be at the time. Further, as Herbert noted in his roster, the vast majority of the enumerated companies were inactive or “dead.” Nevertheless, Herbert’s roster is reflective of the chaotic early years of the Military Department of Georgia in which units were organized locally with no established plan for assembly or training. These units were locally sustained, and their existence was largely dependent upon the interest and ability of a local community to provide sufficient recruits and space for unit assembly. Within one year of the release of Herbert’s roster, Georgia would appoint its first post-Civil War Adjutant General, Col. John Baird, and bring greater regulation to the process of accepting units into the Military Department of Georgia.

 

Whereas the numbers and status of units may be in question in the early years of the organization of Georgia Volunteers, the first units officially recognized by the GV were the Macon Volunteers and Savannah Guards, both organized on April 11, 1872. Captain George S. Jones, who had been desperately wounded leading the Volunteers at Gettysburg, resumed command of the company.[1]

 

By the end of 1872, 38 companies of GV had been organized of which all but six had Civil War lineage. Four more companies were organized the following year and two more completed organization in 1874. The period from 1875 to 1880 saw just three companies raised. In 1882, the Sumter Light Guards disbanded marking the first inactivation of a post-bellum militia unit in the Military Department of Georgia. With the loss of the Sumter Light Guards, the Georgia Militia closed out 1882 with 50 companies. By 1898, the Georgia Militia had raised 85 companies.

 

The Macon Volunteers Armory

Capt. William Carnes, Macon Telegraph, February 11, 1885, 1.

On the evening of February 10, 1885, the Macon Volunteers held a grand reception in their new armory located at First Avenue and Poplar Street. Dignitaries were ushed into the first floor which served an assembly hall doubling as a dance hall for the occasion. A reception room and gallery on the second floor allowed guests to look down on the swirling spectacle. Company offices and a banquet room, finished in polished Georgia pine, completed the second floor. The third story featured a gallery, reading room, museum, and uniform room.

 

At 9:15 pm, at the sounding of a drum, Capt. William W. Carnes, who had commanded the Volunteers since 1876, marched the Macon Volunteers into the armory preceded by the members of the building committee and board of trustees. Resplendent in their dress uniforms, the Volunteers performed a drill demonstration for the assembled guests before the ceremonial presentation of the keys to the armory.  Accepting the keys from architect D. B Woodruff, Carnes remarked that it would “ever be his duty and that of the company to protect the noble trust in a becoming manner.”[2]

 

The War with Spain

When the United States declared war on Spain April 25, 1898, the GV had an authorized strength of more than 12,000 but its actual strength amounted to less than 4,700 personnel.[3] The troops were organized into six regiments and four battalions of infantry; one regiment, one battalion, and one troop of cavalry; three batteries of artillery; a machine gun battery; and a Naval Militia.

 

Following the  declaration of war, Governor William Atkinson of Georgia called for the GV to form two regiments of volunteer infantry and two batteries of light artillery for service in Cuba. These all-volunteer units would be comprised largely of Soldiers serving in units of the Georgia Military Department. Per General Orders No. 5, issued April 28, 1898, the infantry regiments were to be composed of 12 companies with a minimum strength of 80 Soldiers while the batteries of artillery would have a strength of 121 each.[4]

 

Capt. Samuel B. Hunter

On May 4, 1898, General Orders No. 8 established Camp Northen in
Griffin, Georgia as the mustering point for volunteers to enlist for service in the infantry regiments and artillery batteries. Colonel Oscar Brown, commander of the 2^nd Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, was appointed commander of Camp Northen.[5]

 

On May 9, 1898, citizens of Macon lined the streets as the Floyd Rifles, Macon Hussars and Macon Guards, 300 strong, departed by rail for Camp Northen. [6]

They were followed the next morning by the Macon Volunteers with 75 Soldiers under the command of Capt. Samuel B. Hunter.[7] First Lieutenant Granville Conner and 2^nd Lt. Robert Hazlehurst were the other commissioned officers of the company.

 

Roster of the Macon Volunteers June 30, 1898.
Atlanta Journal, 2.

Marching in the ranks with the Volunteers was Pvt. Sidney Reid Wiley, formerly 1^st Lt. Wiley of the Floyd Rifles. Refusing a reduction in rank to second lieutenant in the Rifles, Wiley elected to enlist as a private with the Volunteers.[8]

 

From May 11 to 15, 1898, The Georgia Volunteers were mustered into 1^st and 2^nd Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiments and Georgia Light Artillery.[9] The Macon Volunteers were mustered in as Company F, 2^nd Battalion, 1^st Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment with the other Macon companies constituting elements of the 1^st Battalion.[10]

 

Living conditions at Camp Northen were decidedly spartan. The Soldiers were initially sheltered in tents with straw floors.[11] Rain fell during the first night in camp compelling the Macon Volunteers to abandon their soaked tents in favor of sheltering in the mess hall where they attempted to dry their clothes and blankets overnight.[12] Their spirits were buoyed with the arrival of two wagon loads of supplies and food that arrived at the camp compliments of the citizens of Macon.[13] Uniforms arrived at camp May 15 as did bread and other commissary supplies. That day, the Macon Volunteers suffered their first casualty as Pvt. Arthur Wilcox, attempting to reenter the camp at a late hour, fell into a ditch and broke his leg. He was sent home to recuperate.[14]

 

On May 16, the 2^nd GVI was ordered to Tampa, Fla.[15] The 1^st GVI remained at Camp Northen for more than a month as the 2^nd GVI remained in Tampa awaiting transport onward. On June 18, the 1^st GVI and Georgia Light Artillery entrained Camp Thomas in Chickamauga. The 1^st and 2^nd Battalions, 1^st GVI, arrived at Lytle, Ga. at 9:00 am with the Macon Volunteers debarking first. The Volunteers and other companies sweated in the hot sun for nearly three hours before the arrival of the 3^rd Battalion, at which point, the assembled regiment marched three miles to the vicinity of Jay’s Mill on the old battlefield. There, as at Camp Northen, the Volunteers were drenched by a torrential downpour. This time, the rain was welcome as it provided relief from the sweltering heat.[16]

 

Lytle Station, Camp Thomas, June 1898. A. W. Sidebottom

While the Macon Volunteers and the 1^st GVI were sweating in Camp Thomas at Chickamauga, and the 2^nd GVI remained encamped in Tampa, Georgia proceeded with the organization of a third volunteer infantry regiment. Authorized June 6, the unit that was to become the 3^rd GVI began recruiting efforts across the state while also attracting Soldiers encamped at Chickamauga.[17] Private Walter Harris of the Macon Volunteers was commissioned first lieutenant of Company K, 3^rd GVI. Joining Harris in the 3^rd GVI was Pvt. Robert Hodges who accepted command of Company M with the rank of captain. Hodges would resign upon the end of hostilities with Spain.[18] Private Sidney Wiley, former lieutenant in the Floyd Rifles who had given up his commission to serve in the ranks of the Macon Volunteers, was appointed first lieutenant and assigned to recruiting duty with the 3^rd US Volunteer Infantry Regiment commanded by Col. Patrick Henry Ray (not to be confused with the 3^rd GVI commanded by Col. John S. Candler.[19]

 

The United States landed troops east of Santiago Cuba and engaged the enemy at Las Guasimas June 24, 1898. One week later, Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charged up Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill July 1, and still, none of Georgia’s volunteer units had mobilized to Cuba. Spirits rose in Camp Thomas with the rumor that the 1^st GVI was to be part of a 15,000-man mobilization to Puerto Rico. Exultant, the Macon Volunteers formed a line and playfully charged the camp of the Jasper Greens of Savannah where Soldiers of both companies cheered the pending deployment.[20]

 

Hostilities ended August 12, 1898, following the destruction of Spanish naval squadrons in Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba and the successful persecution of the land campaign in Cuba. During the month, 1^st Lt. Sidney Wiley was promoted to captain and given command of Company K, later Company A, 3^rd USVI.[21]

 

The end of the war with Spain brought the welcome news from Governor Atkinson that the 1^st and 2^nd GVI and Light Artillery Batteries would return home.

On September 24, 1898, three trains, bearing the Soldiers of the 1^st GVI arrived in Macon and were greeted by booming cannons, fluttering flags, and martial music. The Macon Volunteers arrived at 9:00 am on the second train and marched to Camp Price in Central City Park for breakfast provided by the citizens of Macon. The Volunteers, and other companies of the 1^st GVI remained in camp through October when they received a 30-day furlough preparatory to their mustering out of service.[22] By the end of November, all units of the 1^st and 2^nd GVI along with the Georgia Light Artillery had mustered out. Leaving federal service, the Macon Volunteers were immediately reorganized as part of the 2^nd Georgia Infantry Regiment, Georgia Volunteers with Capt. Granville Conner commanding.[23]

 

While the Macon Volunteers did not deploy to Cuba as a unit, several Volunteers Did reach Cuba with the 3^rd GVI and 3^rd USVI. Leaving Camp Northen on November 21, the 3^rd GVI was dispatched to Savannah and sailed for Cuba on January 14, 1899, to begin occupation duty. Accompanying Harris in the ranks of the 3^rd GVI was 1^st Lt. Louis Warren, regimental chaplain, who had enlisted with the Macon Volunteers in May.[24]

 

The 3^rd GVI remained in Cuba little more than two months before sailing for home on March 25, 1899.[25] The next month, the men of the 3^rd GVI mustered out of service in Augusta, Georgia.

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[1] Military Department, State of Georgia, Official Register of the National Guard of Georgia for 1917, (Atlanta: The Adjutant General, State of Georgia 1917), 84 and 86.

 

[2] “Our Volunteers, Dedication of their Handsome Armory,” Macon Telegraph, February 11, 1885, 1&4.

 

[3] Military Department, State of Georgia, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Georgia from January 1, 1899 to October 17, 1900, (Atlanta: Franklin Printing and Publishing Company, 1900), 5.

 

[4] Military Department, State of Georgia, General Orders No. 5, Atlanta, April 28, 1898.

 

[5] Military Department, State of Georgia, General Orders No. 8, Atlanta, May 4, 1898.

 

[6] “Off to Camp,” Atlanta Constitution, May 9, 1898, 3.

 

[7] “Macon Furnishes Another Company to the State’s Troops,” Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1898, 3.

 

[8] “Macon Furnishes Another Company to the State’s Troops,” Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1898, 3.

[9] United States Adjutant General’s Office, Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain Volume 1, (Washington DC: Government Printing Office 1902), 587.

 

[10] “Macon Furnishes Another Company to the State’s Troops,” Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1898, 3.

 

[11] Linton Tedford, “Griffin Camp Very Busy,” Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1898, 5.

 

[12] Linton Tedford, “Seven Desert Camp,” Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1898, 5.

 

[13] Shirley Brooks, “Georgians Are Mustered In,” Atlanta Constitution, May 15, 1898, 4.

 

[14] Shirley Brooks, “Volunteers Get Their Uniforms, Atlanta Constitution, May 16, 1898, 5.

[15] United States Adjutant General’s Office, Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain Volume 1, (Washington DC: Government Printing Office 1902), 587.

 

[16] J. Tilden Adamson, “Georgia Troops at Camp Thomas,” Atlanta Constitution, June 19, 1898, 2.

 

[17] “Georgia to Send a New Regiment,” Atlanta Constitution, June 7, 1898, 7.

 

[18] “Governor Names New Officers,” Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1898, 5.

 

[19] “Recruiting Officer for Col. Ray – Secret Marriage Made Public,” Savannah Morning News, June 11, 1898, 11.

 

[20] “Georgia Boys Eager to Go,” Savannah Morning News, July 19, 1898, 2.

 

[21] “Resigned Under Charges Says Ray,” Atlanta Constitution, August 7, 1898, 6.

 

[22] “First Regiment Reaches Macon,” Atlanta Constitution, September 25, 1898, 4.

 

[23] “Reorganization of Macon Volunteers,” Atlanta Constitution, November 25, 1898, 3.

 

[24] Atlanta Journal, August 24, 1898, 2.

 

[25] United States Adjutant General’s Office, Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain Volume 1, (Washington DC: Government Printing Office 1902), 587.