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Bulloch History by Roger Allen
Company C. of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment of Infantry
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Note: The following was inadvertently left out of the third part of a series on Confederate Cavalry regiments who came from parts of southeast Georgia.

    In the summer of 1861, as the War Between the States ramped up, men from Emanuel and Bulloch Counties formed Company C. This infantry company (which was known over time as Old Company A., New Company D, and Company M.) eventually became known as the “Ben Hill Guards.”
    It was named after Benjamin Hill, a Georgia legislator who served as a Confederate Senator for the duration of the War Between the States. After the war, he once again served in both the U.S. House and Senate until his death.
    Company C. was one of 11 infantry companies that along with the “Jo Thompson Lancers” and "Hanleiter's Battery of Artillery” formed “Wright’s Legion,” which was commanded by Colonel Augustus R. Wright. The first company commander was Capt. John B. Higdon.
    New commander Col. George Washington Lee converted this force into an artillery unit. Company C then became known as the “Ben Hill Artillery” (and for a short while as “McLeod’s Artillery”) of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment of Georgia Volunteer Infantry.
    Senior officers in the 38th Regiment objected to Company C commander Capt. William S. McLeod (sometimes spelled McCloud) assuming command of the artillery unit. He had done so after regimental commander Col. Lee and his assistants were all injured in battle.
    New commander Col. George Washington Lee converted this force into an Artillery unit. Company C then became known as the “Ben Hill Artillery” (and for a short while as “McLeod’s Artillery”) of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment of Georgia Volunteer Infantry.
     Senior officers in the 38th Regiment objected to Company C commander Capt. William S. McLeod (sometimes spelled McCloud) assuming command of the artillery unit. He had done so after regimental commander Col. Lee and his assistants were all injured in battle.
    He was, they said, too young, disorganized, and reckless. The senior regimental officers even accused him of “gambling and cavorting” with his men. While his subordinates may have loved him, eventually he was removed from this command.
The Thirty-Eighth Regiment served with distinction in Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, fighting at Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Sharpsburg, Second Manassas, and at the Siege of Knoxville.
 
  Company D. of the Sixty-First Regiment of Infantry
    What started out as Company B (also called “Tillman’s Company”) of the Twenty-Sixth Regiment of Georgia Infantry was formed at Eden on Sept. 10, 1861. Nicknamed the “DeKalb Guards”, their company commander was Captain Henry Tillman, while their battalion commander was Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Lamar.
    The DeKalb Guards were named after Baron Johann De Kalb, a German officer serving in the French Army, fighting with American forces. He was killed while fighting in the American Revolution. The “Tattnall Rangers” and the Montgomery County “Sharp Shooters” joined the Bulloch County “DeKalb Guards” in Eden.  All three companies proceeded by rail to Guyton (then known as Whitesville) to receive additional training.
All three companies were then ordered to go to Savannah. They served on Jekyll Island and at Bethesda near Savannah for some nine months, and then went to Charleston. It was at this time that the 116 men of the Bulloch unit were reorganized as Company D of the Seventh Battalion of Georgia Volunteer Infantry.
    Majors Henry Tillman and then Stephen Kennedy Sr. were their company commanders, while Lt. Col. Charles A. Lamar was now their regimental commander. The “Tattnall Guards,” the “Tattnall Volunteers,” and the “DeKalb Guards” were “too heavy” with men, so it was decided to create a new company.
    Thus, Company K. came into existence. 1st Sgt. E.F. Sharpe of the Tattnall Rangers became this unit’s captain. With the addition of the extra company, the Seventh Battalion now was large enough to become the Sixty-First Regiment of Infantry.
    The Sixty-First marched virtually non-stop for eight days in order to join Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces at Richmond, earning them the nickname of “Stonewall’s Foot Cavalry.
    The men of the Sixty-First fought with the Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Manassas.
    The four men of Company D that were still walking surrendered to Gen. U.S. Grant’s forces at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.
 
    
For more information on the men assigned to specific units, please see Smith Callaway Banks’ seminal work entitled “A Roster Of Confederate Soldiers of Bulloch County, 1861-1865, available at the Statesboro Regional Library
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