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This Confederate Regiment began the war as a single company, Capt. George A. Gordon's Phoenix Rifles. Raised in Chatham County, they were unofficially attached to the 1st Georgia Volunteers (Olmstead's 1st Georgia). They were initially raised for 60 days on May 30th 1861; they re-enlisted for 6 months on August 6th; then for 3 years (or duration of the war) in February 1862. On April 26th 1862, the Phoenix Rifles split into three companies, becoming the 13th Georgia Infantry Battalion, serving along the Atlantic Coast. In December 1862, they would be joined by other companies, including the Oglethorpe Light Infantry (formerly part of Ramsey's 1st Georgia & 12th Georgia Artillery Battalion), to form a full 10 company regiment, being renamed the 63rd Georgia Infantry. George A. Gordon became Colonel; George R. Black, Captain of Company F, became Lt. Colonel; & Joseph V. H. Allen, Captain of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry (now Company A), became Major.
The regiment saw its first actions in South Carolina in 1863. With Charleston under threat, they, along with Olmstead's 1st Georgia Volunteers & Henry Caper's 12th Georgia Battalion, were sent to reinforce Beauregard's troops around that city. There, they took part in the fighting around Morris Island & Fort Wagner.
On April 23rd 1864, they were ordered to report to Ambrose Wright's Brigade in Virginia, but their brigade commander, Hugh Mercer, requested they be retained, as the rest of his brigade was ordered to report to Joe Johnston. They boarded trains for Dalton on the 28th, and arrived on the 30th. The regiment may have been the largest in the entire army of Tennessee, with 814 riflemen (closer to 900 counting officers & other combat personnel). They were assigned to Hugh Mercer's Brigade, consisting of the 54th Georgia (soon to be joined later in May by the 57th Georgia & Olmstead's 1st Georgia), and assigned to the division of William H. T. "Shotpouch" Walker.
Mercer's Brigade played a mostly peripheral role in the campaign, often losing men on skirmish lines but not being the target of significant action. One notable casualty was Lt. Reddick of Company B (the original "Phoenix Rifles"), who was killed by a sharpshooter on Rocky Face Ridge, May 9th; apparently, he was reading a newspaper behind the lines when a lucky shot got him. The regiment did lose some 12 to 15 men around Kingston & Cassville on the 19th.
Sometime in May of early June, Colonel Gordon & Lt. Col. Black left field command of the regiment to Major Allen, who'd lead the regiment until August.
On June 18th, along the Kennesaw Mountain Line, the first serious losses were sustained. In heavy fighting along the skirmish lines, the regiment sustained some 30 casualties, five of which fell upon Company A. On the evening of June 26th, 7 companies, plus 47 men from the Oglethorpes, were sent out on the skirmish line. Maj. Allen was in command of this deployment; Allen appeared to have had a rocky reputation in the brigade. He was blamed by officers of other regiments in prior engagements, when he failed to inform neighboring units on the skirmish line of his withdrawals to the main line, resulting in entire companies being swamped.
At 8am on June 27th, the 63rd came under attack from Union troops of John Logan's Fifteenth Army Corps, part of Sherman's massive assault that day. Mercer's Brigade, on the right of the division line connecting with Sam French's Division on Pidgeon Hill. Whereas the pickets of French's Division had clear ground in their front and withdrew safely into the works to repel the assault, Mercer's front was covered in a dense forest growth, which concealed the Union movement.
This was not the case for Company C, on the far right of the skirmish line, which was on the edge of the clear ground near Pidgeon Hill. They withdrew into Mercer's main line, leaving the rest of Allen's command exposed). Capt. James T. Buckner, of Company B, was on Company C's left, and reported the withdrawal of Company C to Major Allen. The two men did not realize what had actually happened, and so Allen called upon his reserve, the 47 man detachment of Lt. Blanchard, Company A, to fill the gap on the right.
This choice proved disasterous. The Union assault troops overwhelmed Allen's line. Of the 47 men in the Oglethorpe Detachment, 23 became casualties. One soldier estimated the loss in the regiment that day at 88. Exact casualties are hard to find, as Johnston's casualty reports ignored Walker's Division entirely. Indeed, exact casualties for this period are quite lacking.
The 63rd would next take part in the fighting around Atlanta. They were part of Walker's botched attack at Peachtree Creek, repulsed with the loss of 7 wounded & 1 man missing. Two days later, the brigade would take part in the final stages of the Battle of Atlanta, July 22nd 1864. They were initially in the reserve of Walker's Division for the actions along Sugar Creek. However, before they would see action, Walker was killed, elevating Mercer to command the division. Colonel Barkuloo of the 57th Georgia took command of the brigade, and was not engaged in the noon fighting against Dodge's Corps.
Instead, the brigade would be called upon by Brigadier Mark Lowrey, one of Pat Cleburne's Brigadiers, to renew the fighting around Bald Hill. Now under Lt. Col. Morgan Rawls, 54th Georgia, the brigade would charge up the southern side of Bald Hill. The brigade was stopped on the face of the Union works, not able to go further due to the strength of Union troops in the position. Rawls went down wounded, leaving Lt. Col. Guyton, 57th Georgia, in command of the brigade. By the end of the day's actions, the 63rd reported a loss of 5 killed, 43 wounded, & 5 missing, for a total of 53 casualties.
On July 25th, the brigade, now under Colonel Charles Olmstead (Mercer was all but medically retired due to old age by this stage), was reassigned from the defunct division of Walker to Pat Cleburne. This may have been done so that Cleburne, who had successfully turned the Arkansas Post rejects of Granbury's Brigade into a hard fighting brigade, could replicate his success on the hodgepodge Georgia Brigade. Due to the nature of events around Atlanta, he could only implement his new regimen upon the Georgians only after the fall of Atlanta; sadly, Cleburne was killed before the Georgians could prove themselves. Still, the brigade had the honor to carry the iconic Hardee Flags associated with Cleburne's Division to the very end of the war.
Starting August 1st, Major Allen would be in hospital with chronic diarrhea, never returning to command the regiment. From this point forward, the regiment was commanded by either Captain James T. Buckner, Company B, or Capt. Elijah J. Craven, Company C. Between July 23rd & August 23rd, the regiment reported further losses of 12 killed, wounded & missing. The brigade's August 31st inspection report (the only on file) reported the present for duty strength of the regiment, then under Capt. Buckner, at 281 officers & men, around a third the size of the regiment when it arrived in Dalton.
The regiment's next major engagement came at Jonesborough. There, the brigade took part in the botched assault on August 31st, and the defensive struggle on September 1st. However, the 63rd came out relatively unscathed, suffering only 3 wounded on the first days.
After the fall of Atlanta, the brigade would spend time in camp south of the city. On September 25th, Brigadier James Argyle Smith, a West Pointer and one of Cleburne's famed brigadiers, was assigned permanant command of Mercer's Brigade. He would lead them in the march into North Georgia & Alabama, where they prepared for the Tennessee Campaign. When the army set out, Argyle Smith's Brigade was detached from their parent division, and assigned to ferry the army's wagon train across the Tennessee River. Once this was complete on November 28th, they began to march north to rejoin their comrades. Due to this, they missed the action at Franklin, where Cleburne and half his division became casualties. In the word of one veteran, who had been assigned to escort the salt train, "salt had literally save our bacon".
The brigade would rejoin the division around Nashville on December 5th. Argyle Smith, as senior brigadier, assumed command of Cleburne's Division, leaving Colonel Olmstead in command of the brigade once more. Soon, the brigade was once more detached, this time to Nathan Bedford Forrest's Command around Murfreesboro. Along with Joe Palmer's Brigade of Stevenson's Division, they relieved William Bate's Division, and were with Forrest when the debacle at Nashville occurred. Soon enough, when the retreat began, Olmstead's Brigade was made part of Walthall's Provisional Infantry Division, attached to Forrest's Command, as part of the army's rearguard. Soon enough, the army retreated behind the Tennessee into Mississippi.
While the army stopped at Columbia, Tennessee, on December 21st, 6a report was filed for Walthall's Provisional Division. In it, the3rd Georgia reported a strength of 102 effectives, 143 total present, and 165 aggregate present; also included were 5 "servants", slaves brought along by soldiers of the regiment. To put these numbers in perspective, the regiment back in April had 814 effectives; it was now just one-eighth its original size. It seems many of the men simply deserted, as Sherman was by now occupying their homes in Eastern Georgia.
What remained of Olmstead's Brigade was transferred to the Carolinas, where they'd take part in one final battle, Bentonville. There, they were part of Argle Smith's "Division", William Bate's "Corps" (which probably numbered under 1000 men). By this point, the 63rd mustered just 100 men and 2 officers (one captain & a Lt., though who exactly they were is uncertain). They'd move forward in Bate's command, turning the flank of Carlin's Union Division before pushing on forward further, running into Slocum's second line. The color bearer, Ensign Francis J. "Frank" Stone of the Oglethorpes was wounded; Company A reported the loss of 1 killed and 3 wounded (including Stone) out of 19 men present for the assault.
After this fight, the regiment was merged with the 1st Georgia Volunteers & 57th Georgia Infantry to form the 1st Georgia Consolidated Infantry, Colonel Olmstead in command. The Oglethorpes remained intact as Company A; Companies E, F & G became Company K, officers by men from the Oglethorpes. The consolidated regiment surrendered at Greensboro with 447 officers & men.
The regiment saw its first actions in South Carolina in 1863. With Charleston under threat, they, along with Olmstead's 1st Georgia Volunteers & Henry Caper's 12th Georgia Battalion, were sent to reinforce Beauregard's troops around that city. There, they took part in the fighting around Morris Island & Fort Wagner.
On April 23rd 1864, they were ordered to report to Ambrose Wright's Brigade in Virginia, but their brigade commander, Hugh Mercer, requested they be retained, as the rest of his brigade was ordered to report to Joe Johnston. They boarded trains for Dalton on the 28th, and arrived on the 30th. The regiment may have been the largest in the entire army of Tennessee, with 814 riflemen (closer to 900 counting officers & other combat personnel). They were assigned to Hugh Mercer's Brigade, consisting of the 54th Georgia (soon to be joined later in May by the 57th Georgia & Olmstead's 1st Georgia), and assigned to the division of William H. T. "Shotpouch" Walker.
Mercer's Brigade played a mostly peripheral role in the campaign, often losing men on skirmish lines but not being the target of significant action. One notable casualty was Lt. Reddick of Company B (the original "Phoenix Rifles"), who was killed by a sharpshooter on Rocky Face Ridge, May 9th; apparently, he was reading a newspaper behind the lines when a lucky shot got him. The regiment did lose some 12 to 15 men around Kingston & Cassville on the 19th.
Sometime in May of early June, Colonel Gordon & Lt. Col. Black left field command of the regiment to Major Allen, who'd lead the regiment until August.
On June 18th, along the Kennesaw Mountain Line, the first serious losses were sustained. In heavy fighting along the skirmish lines, the regiment sustained some 30 casualties, five of which fell upon Company A. On the evening of June 26th, 7 companies, plus 47 men from the Oglethorpes, were sent out on the skirmish line. Maj. Allen was in command of this deployment; Allen appeared to have had a rocky reputation in the brigade. He was blamed by officers of other regiments in prior engagements, when he failed to inform neighboring units on the skirmish line of his withdrawals to the main line, resulting in entire companies being swamped.
At 8am on June 27th, the 63rd came under attack from Union troops of John Logan's Fifteenth Army Corps, part of Sherman's massive assault that day. Mercer's Brigade, on the right of the division line connecting with Sam French's Division on Pidgeon Hill. Whereas the pickets of French's Division had clear ground in their front and withdrew safely into the works to repel the assault, Mercer's front was covered in a dense forest growth, which concealed the Union movement.
This was not the case for Company C, on the far right of the skirmish line, which was on the edge of the clear ground near Pidgeon Hill. They withdrew into Mercer's main line, leaving the rest of Allen's command exposed). Capt. James T. Buckner, of Company B, was on Company C's left, and reported the withdrawal of Company C to Major Allen. The two men did not realize what had actually happened, and so Allen called upon his reserve, the 47 man detachment of Lt. Blanchard, Company A, to fill the gap on the right.
This choice proved disasterous. The Union assault troops overwhelmed Allen's line. Of the 47 men in the Oglethorpe Detachment, 23 became casualties. One soldier estimated the loss in the regiment that day at 88. Exact casualties are hard to find, as Johnston's casualty reports ignored Walker's Division entirely. Indeed, exact casualties for this period are quite lacking.
The 63rd would next take part in the fighting around Atlanta. They were part of Walker's botched attack at Peachtree Creek, repulsed with the loss of 7 wounded & 1 man missing. Two days later, the brigade would take part in the final stages of the Battle of Atlanta, July 22nd 1864. They were initially in the reserve of Walker's Division for the actions along Sugar Creek. However, before they would see action, Walker was killed, elevating Mercer to command the division. Colonel Barkuloo of the 57th Georgia took command of the brigade, and was not engaged in the noon fighting against Dodge's Corps.
Instead, the brigade would be called upon by Brigadier Mark Lowrey, one of Pat Cleburne's Brigadiers, to renew the fighting around Bald Hill. Now under Lt. Col. Morgan Rawls, 54th Georgia, the brigade would charge up the southern side of Bald Hill. The brigade was stopped on the face of the Union works, not able to go further due to the strength of Union troops in the position. Rawls went down wounded, leaving Lt. Col. Guyton, 57th Georgia, in command of the brigade. By the end of the day's actions, the 63rd reported a loss of 5 killed, 43 wounded, & 5 missing, for a total of 53 casualties.
On July 25th, the brigade, now under Colonel Charles Olmstead (Mercer was all but medically retired due to old age by this stage), was reassigned from the defunct division of Walker to Pat Cleburne. This may have been done so that Cleburne, who had successfully turned the Arkansas Post rejects of Granbury's Brigade into a hard fighting brigade, could replicate his success on the hodgepodge Georgia Brigade. Due to the nature of events around Atlanta, he could only implement his new regimen upon the Georgians only after the fall of Atlanta; sadly, Cleburne was killed before the Georgians could prove themselves. Still, the brigade had the honor to carry the iconic Hardee Flags associated with Cleburne's Division to the very end of the war.
Starting August 1st, Major Allen would be in hospital with chronic diarrhea, never returning to command the regiment. From this point forward, the regiment was commanded by either Captain James T. Buckner, Company B, or Capt. Elijah J. Craven, Company C. Between July 23rd & August 23rd, the regiment reported further losses of 12 killed, wounded & missing. The brigade's August 31st inspection report (the only on file) reported the present for duty strength of the regiment, then under Capt. Buckner, at 281 officers & men, around a third the size of the regiment when it arrived in Dalton.
The regiment's next major engagement came at Jonesborough. There, the brigade took part in the botched assault on August 31st, and the defensive struggle on September 1st. However, the 63rd came out relatively unscathed, suffering only 3 wounded on the first days.
After the fall of Atlanta, the brigade would spend time in camp south of the city. On September 25th, Brigadier James Argyle Smith, a West Pointer and one of Cleburne's famed brigadiers, was assigned permanant command of Mercer's Brigade. He would lead them in the march into North Georgia & Alabama, where they prepared for the Tennessee Campaign. When the army set out, Argyle Smith's Brigade was detached from their parent division, and assigned to ferry the army's wagon train across the Tennessee River. Once this was complete on November 28th, they began to march north to rejoin their comrades. Due to this, they missed the action at Franklin, where Cleburne and half his division became casualties. In the word of one veteran, who had been assigned to escort the salt train, "salt had literally save our bacon".
The brigade would rejoin the division around Nashville on December 5th. Argyle Smith, as senior brigadier, assumed command of Cleburne's Division, leaving Colonel Olmstead in command of the brigade once more. Soon, the brigade was once more detached, this time to Nathan Bedford Forrest's Command around Murfreesboro. Along with Joe Palmer's Brigade of Stevenson's Division, they relieved William Bate's Division, and were with Forrest when the debacle at Nashville occurred. Soon enough, when the retreat began, Olmstead's Brigade was made part of Walthall's Provisional Infantry Division, attached to Forrest's Command, as part of the army's rearguard. Soon enough, the army retreated behind the Tennessee into Mississippi.
While the army stopped at Columbia, Tennessee, on December 21st, 6a report was filed for Walthall's Provisional Division. In it, the3rd Georgia reported a strength of 102 effectives, 143 total present, and 165 aggregate present; also included were 5 "servants", slaves brought along by soldiers of the regiment. To put these numbers in perspective, the regiment back in April had 814 effectives; it was now just one-eighth its original size. It seems many of the men simply deserted, as Sherman was by now occupying their homes in Eastern Georgia.
What remained of Olmstead's Brigade was transferred to the Carolinas, where they'd take part in one final battle, Bentonville. There, they were part of Argle Smith's "Division", William Bate's "Corps" (which probably numbered under 1000 men). By this point, the 63rd mustered just 100 men and 2 officers (one captain & a Lt., though who exactly they were is uncertain). They'd move forward in Bate's command, turning the flank of Carlin's Union Division before pushing on forward further, running into Slocum's second line. The color bearer, Ensign Francis J. "Frank" Stone of the Oglethorpes was wounded; Company A reported the loss of 1 killed and 3 wounded (including Stone) out of 19 men present for the assault.
After this fight, the regiment was merged with the 1st Georgia Volunteers & 57th Georgia Infantry to form the 1st Georgia Consolidated Infantry, Colonel Olmstead in command. The Oglethorpes remained intact as Company A; Companies E, F & G became Company K, officers by men from the Oglethorpes. The consolidated regiment surrendered at Greensboro with 447 officers & men.
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