Savannah Cadets

Barrycdog

Major
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Location
Buford, Georgia
The Savannah Cadets company were organized on May 17, 1861, for home protection of Savannah. Membership was limited to boys between the ages of 14 and 17. The company was accepted into the service of the state of Georgia in February 1862 and joined the 54th Regiment of Georgia Volunteers, Confederate States Army, in May 1862 for the remainder of the Civil War. They surrendered with the army of General Joseph E. Johnston on April 27, 1865, in North Carolina.

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How much action and i wonder if they were held back a bit so as to keep from wasting the youngsters.
 
According to this link 67 men mustered into the 54th Georgia in 1861. At the surrender, one lieutenant and 12 men; 13 out of 67. Of course not all were necessarily killed or wounded, but it's a measure of the cost to the 1861 volunteers.

The source is the National Guard magazine, not by any means definitive, but something to start with.
 
According to this link 67 men mustered into the 54th Georgia in 1861. At the surrender, one lieutenant and 12 men; 13 out of 67. Of course not all were necessarily killed or wounded, but it's a measure of the cost to the 1861 volunteers.

The source is the National Guard magazine, not by any means definitive, but something to start with.
I suspect that they must have also drawn replacements as well, so the total number who served in the company was over 67. Also according to that link, the company took 94 men with them to Dalton, and they lost 12 men out of 20 in the battle of Atlanta (four months after arriving in Dalton). So they must have had their ranks replenished at some time if they had 13 at the surrender, but had only 8 men left in July, '64.

The 54th Georgia Infantry were in Hugh W. Mercer's Brigade, which was mostly made up of GA regiments who were previously serving as garrison troops on the East Coast. They were sent to Dalton in April, 1864 to join the AoT under Mercer. The brigade was in Walker's Division, Hardee's Corps.
 
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The cadets did not need to see action to lose men. Disease was a big killer and disabler. Then of course there were KIAs, wounds, desertions and even details. More vets could easily have appeared years later than made it to the surrender. Still, service in the ACW, particularly among the young men of seceding states was terribly hazardous.
 
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