The 12th Georgia

Our History

Mustered June 1861, Virginia

Total mustered: 1,350–1,400
Casualties: 240, combat. 90-100, disease.

Command Surrendered: 5 officers, 60 men in April 1865.  Lt. Col. Scruggs (Commanding Laws Brigade)​

Officers: Colonels Z. T. Conner, Edward Johnson, and Edward Willis; Lieutenant Colonels Mark H. Blanford, Isaac Hardeman, Willis A. Hawkins, T. B. Scott, and Abner Smead; and Major John T. Carson.

Major Engagements: 

Western Virginia Campaign – July–September 1861
Cheat Mountain Campaign – September 1861

Jackson’s Valley Campaign – March–June 1862
• Battle of McDowell – May 8, 1862

Seven Days’ Battles – June 25–July 1, 1862
• Oak Grove – June 25, 1862
• Mechanicsville – June 26, 1862
• Gaines' Mill – June 27, 1862
• Garnett's & Golding's Farm – June 27–28, 1862
• Savage's Station – June 29, 1862
• Glendale – June 30, 1862
• Malvern Hill – July 1, 1862

Second Manassas (Second Bull Run) – August 28–30, 1862
Antietam (Sharpsburg) – September 17, 1862
Chancellorsville – April 30–May 6, 1863
Gettysburg – July 1–3, 1863
Cold Harbor – May 31–June 12, 1864

Early’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign – June–October 1864

Appomattox Campaign – March–April 1865

The 12th Georgia Infantry Regiment completed its organization in June 1861 at Richmond, Virginia. Its companies were drawn from the counties of Sumter, Jones, Macon, Calhoun, Muscogee, Dooly, Putnam, Bibb, Lowndes, and Marion. Ordered first to Western Virginia, the regiment served under H. R. Jackson and took part in Robert E. Lee’s Cheat Mountain operations. It then became part of the commands of Edward Johnson, Elzey, Trimble, Doles, and later Cook, fighting in Jackson’s Valley Campaign. At the Battle of McDowell in May 1862, the regiment suffered heavily, losing 175 men, a sobering introduction to the hard service that would define its record.

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From the Seven Days’ Battles through the Maryland Campaign, the 12th Georgia fought with the Army of Northern Virginia in some of the war’s most severe engagements. It lost 45 men at Groveton during Second Manassas and 59 at Sharpsburg. At Chancellorsville, the regiment reported 12 killed and 58 wounded, and at Gettysburg, it sustained losses equal to sixteen percent of the 327 men engaged. In Brett W. Martin's memoir of Company F, a Dooly County soldier, the experience of campaign life emerges in personal detail: long marches, hunger, exposure, and the strain of battle, yet also steady loyalty to comrades and officers. His recollections give a human face to the casualty figures recorded in official reports.

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The regiment remained in the Army of Northern Virginia through the Battle of Cold Harbor and later served in Early’s Shenandoah Valley operations in 1864. By the spring of 1865, years of combat and disease had reduced its ranks to a fraction of their original strength. During the Appomattox Campaign, the survivors marched and fought in retreat until surrendering in April 1865. Only five officers and sixty enlisted men remained to stack their arms. From its organization in Richmond to its final days in Virginia’s interior, the 12th Georgia’s history reflects both the broad sweep of Confederate campaigns and the individual endurance recorded in the words of the men who served within its ranks.

Reenacting the 12th Georgia Co F

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A Faithful Portrayal of the Soldiers & Families of  Georgia during the War Between the States

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