Georgia Militia

Last updated

The Georgia Militia existed from 1733 to 1879. It was originally planned by General James Oglethorpe before the founding of the Province of Georgia, the Crown colony that would become the U.S. state of Georgia. One reason for the founding of the colony was to act as a buffer between the Spanish settlements in Florida and the British colonies to the north. [1] For background with respect to the region's Native Americans, see the Yamasee War (1715–1717) and Cherokee–American wars (1776–1795).

Contents

Gordon Smith states, "'ante-bellum' Georgia was in an almost constant swirl of 'war or rumors of war'" due to the presence of Tories, Indians, bandits, privateers, and border disputes with France and Spain. "Central to the American concept of a republican democracy, composed as it was of citizen-soldiers, the militia system was essential to the political and social structure. The basic building blocks at the bottom of the Georgia Militia pyramid were the general militia districts. Formally established pursuant to the Militia Act of 1784, these theoretically contained one company of at least sixty-three men … the governor as commander-in-chief. ... "The General Militia Acts of 1803, 1807, and 1818 directed that all district male residents from eighteen to forty-five years old, except those exempted by laws such as ministers, enrol in their district company and perform regularly scheduled drills, at the designated unit muster ground." [2] Campaigns included the American Revolutionary War, 1775–1783, the Oconee Wars, 1787–1797, The Embargo Wars, 1807–1812, the War of 1812, 1812–1815, the First Seminole War, 1817–1819, the Second Seminole War, 1835–1843, the Creek War of 1836, 1836–1837, the Cherokee Disturbances and Cherokee Removal, 1836–1838, and the Mexican–American War, 1846–1848. [3]

Three brigades of militia under the command of Brigadier General Pleasant J. Philips engaged U.S. forces on November 22, 1864, near Macon, Georgia, in the Battle of Griswoldville, the first battle of Sherman's March to the Sea. On April 16, 1865, in response to Wilson's Raid through Alabama, militia forces under the command of Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler engaged U.S. soldiers at the Battle of West Point. The desperate Battle of Columbus (1865), fought the same day, would prove to be one of the last battles of the American Civil War east of the Mississippi River.

Notable generals

Notes

  1. ↑ The Historical Society of the Georgia National Guard
  2. ↑ Smith, pp 21–22
  3. ↑ Smith, pp 5-9
  4. ↑ Smith, P. 257
  5. ↑ Smith, P. 275
  6. ↑ Smith p. 283
  7. ↑ Smith, p. 285
  8. ↑ Smith, p. 287
  9. ↑ Smith, p. 289
  10. ↑ Smith, p. 291
  11. ↑ Smith, p. 292
  12. ↑ Smith, pp 293–294
  13. ↑ Smith, p. 294
  14. ↑ Smith 297
  15. ↑ Smith, pp 299–300
  16. ↑ (Ref 20 - see \Cowan\Cowan Library Research0001.pdf file)
  17. ↑ Smith, p. 303
  18. ↑ Smith, 312
  19. ↑ Smith, p. 315
  20. ↑ Smith, p. 325
  21. ↑ Smith, p. 330
  22. ↑ Smith, p. 331
  23. ↑ Smith, pp 331–332
  24. ↑ Smith, p. 335
  25. ↑ Smith, p. 337
  26. ↑ Smith, P. 343
  27. ↑ Smith, pp. 343–344
  28. ↑ Smith, p. 345
  29. ↑ Smith, p. 346–347

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Pickens (congressman)</span> Revolutionary War militia general in South Carolina (1739-1817)

Andrew Pickens was a militia leader in the American Revolution. A planter and slaveowner, he developed his Hopewell plantation on the east side of the Keowee River across from the Cherokee town of Isunigu (Seneca) in western South Carolina. He was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives from western South Carolina. Several treaties with the Cherokee were negotiated and signed at his plantation of Hopewell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creek War</span> 1813–14 US Indian War

The Creek War, was a regional conflict between opposing Native American factions, European powers, and the United States during the early 19th century. The Creek War began as a conflict within the tribes of the Muscogee, but the United States quickly became involved. British traders and Spanish colonial officials in Florida supplied the Red Sticks with weapons and equipment due to their shared interest in preventing the expansion of the United States into regions under their control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William O. Butler</span> American general and politician

William Orlando Butler was a U.S. political figure and U.S. Army major general from Kentucky. He served as a Democratic congressman from Kentucky from 1839 to 1843, and was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee under Lewis Cass in 1848.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Jones Semmes</span> Confederate officer in the American Civil War

Paul Jones Semmes was a banker, businessman, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Adair</span> Governor, Senator, Representative, and pioneer from Kentucky

John Adair was an American pioneer, slave trader, soldier, and politician. He was the eighth Governor of Kentucky and represented the state in both the U.S. House and Senate. A native of South Carolina, Adair enlisted in the state militia and served in the Revolutionary War, during which he was twice captured and held as a prisoner of war by the British. Following the War, he was elected as a delegate to South Carolina's convention to ratify the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Cavalry</span> Former U.S. Army division (1775–1950)

The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army. The United States Cavalry was formally created by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861 and ceased as a distinct Army branch in 1942. The name "cavalry" continues to be used as a designation for various specific United States Army formations and functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrose R. Wright</span> American Confederate Army General

Ambrose Ransom "Rans" Wright was a lawyer, Georgia politician, and Confederate general in the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George J. Stannard</span> United States Army officer (1820–1886)

George Jerrison Stannard was a Vermont farmer, teacher, government official and Union general in the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermont National Guard</span> Unit of the US Army National Guard for the State of Vermont

The Vermont National Guard is composed of the Vermont Army National Guard and the Vermont Air National Guard. Together, they are collectively known as the Green Mountain Boys. Both units use the original Revolutionary War-era Flag of the Green Mountain Boys as their banner. In 2009, they had 2,600 members.

Benjamin Taliaferro was a politician and United States Representative from Georgia. He had served in the Revolutionary War, reaching the rank of captain. An attorney, he was later appointed as a judge of the county court and the Georgia Superior Court. He also served in the Georgia Senate and as a delegate to the state's constitutional convention of 1798.

Jett Thomas was an American military officer, politician, and builder who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and participated in the early construction of the University of Georgia.

Thomas Glascock Jr. was an American politician, soldier and lawyer. His wife was Catherine Rector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcellus Augustus Stovall</span>

Marcellus Augustus Stovall was an American soldier and merchant. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War. After the war, he resumed business and civil interests.

William Weer was a lawyer, attorney general for Kansas and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is notable for his service in the Trans-Mississippi Theater early in the war and later for being dismissed from the army following a court-martial.

Twenty-four current units of the Army National Guard perpetuate the lineages of militia units mustered into federal service during the War of 1812. Militia units from nine states that were part of the Union by the end of the War of 1812, plus the District of Columbia, are the predecessors of eighteen units that currently exist in the Army National Guard. Two of the four units derived from Virginia militias are in the West Virginia National Guard; at the time of the War of 1812, West Virginia was still part of Virginia. Only two current units, the 155th Infantry, a component of the Mississippi National Guard derived from militia units organized in the Mississippi Territory and the 130th Infantry, a component of the Illinois National Guard derived from militia units formed in the Illinois Territory, are from states or territories west of the Appalachians. Unfortunately, no militia units from the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio or Tennessee, or from the Indiana, Michigan, Missouri or Louisiana Territories, where militia units played a major role in the fighting, have survived as units in the modern Army National Guard.

George Paul Harrison Sr. was a brigadier general in the Georgia militia from 1856–1861, commander of the 1st Brigade in the Georgia State Troops and a colonel in Georgia's First Military District in 1864–1865 during the American Civil War. He was a prisoner of war for several months near the end of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C.C. Crews</span> American physician

Charles Constantine Crews was an attorney, physician, railroad executive and Confederate Colonel in the American Civil War. Between 1862 and 1865, he participated in most of the Western Theater cavalry campaigns of Major General Joseph Wheeler, initially leading the 2nd Georgia Cavalry and eventually a cavalry brigade.

Charles Rinaldo Floyd was an American planter, politician and military leader most famous for his leading the Trail of Tears out of Georgia and for his Okefenokee Campaign during the Second Seminole War. He wrote one of the first published accounts of the Okefenokee Swamp. His diary portrays elite planter life on the Georgia frontier.

Allen Daniel Jr. (1772-1836) was a major general in the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia State Senate, and the namesake of Danielsville, Georgia, county seat of Madison County. Fort Daniel, built at Hog Mountain in Gwinnett County, Georgia in 1813 was named in his honor.

References

See also

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.