Barrycdog
Major
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2013
- Location
- Buford, Georgia
The GMI cadets started the war training troops at Camp McDonald. If your grandpa trained at Camp McDonald he almost certainly had one of these boys as his "drill sergeant."
March! March.!
March old soldier march!
Hayfoot, strawfoot,
Belly-full of bean soup—
March old soldier march!
The oldest of these Cadets was probably about 14 as the older boys had all been deployed to serve as officers in the regular army.
The Cadets saw service at Resaca, in the trenches at Atlanta, and in Sherman's front in the March to the Sea. Later they were stationed to guard the City of Augusta at the Battle of Aiken and ended the war guarding Augusta and Milledgeville.
They were the LAST troops to be relieved of duty east of the Mississippi. On May 1st, 1865, they received orders from Gen. Johnston and served until May 20th when they were disbanded.
In the defense of the bridge crossing the Oconee River south of Milledgeville on November 24, 1864, the cadets were engaged in action against the Federals. The defending force consisted of the 4th KY mounted infantry (the Orphan Brigade), commanded by acting Major, Capt. John Weller, a group of convicts in prison garb from the Milledgeville penitentiary on one flank, and a battalion of cadets from GMI on the other.
Quoting Capt. Weller:
"The convicts were dressed in prison garb, and were hardened in appearance, but calm and brave. The cadets were, of course, very young, some of them certainly not over fourteen years of age. The Federals advanced their line of skirmishers, and firing commenced. The bravery of the school boys was the glory of this fight. Several of their number were carried off wounded and dying. I can never forget the looks of one little boy as four convicts carried him on a stretcher to the rear. His handsome young face, with the flush of fever on it, and the resolute expression of his eyes, indicated that he fully realized the situation."
Four Cadets were wounded in the Oconee bridge action:
Cadet Sergeant J. Scott Todd lost an arm.
Cadet C. H. Marsh was mortally wounded.
Thomas A. Hamilton and W. E. Myrick were less seriously wounded.
When Savannah fell in December, the cadets formed the rear guard between the Louisville Road and the Savannah River. This special duty hampered them and forced them to leave behind their two brass howitzers from the Institute. Colonel Orlando M. Poe, Chief Engineer of Sherman's army, noted one brass six-pounder howitzer among the Confederate guns captured at Savannah having upon it the arms of the State of Georgia with the words "Georgia Military Institute." He suggested to Captain Thomas G. Baylor, Chief Ordnance Officer, that this cannon be sent to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Both guns finally made it back home to Marietta. One of them was mounted in the Marietta Confederate Cemetery and the second was mounted as a memorial on the site of the Georgia Military Institute campus.
You can read the full story at www.researchonline.net/timeline.htm. It is excerpted from my book, "The Boys Went Forth to War."
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March! March.!
March old soldier march!
Hayfoot, strawfoot,
Belly-full of bean soup—
March old soldier march!
The oldest of these Cadets was probably about 14 as the older boys had all been deployed to serve as officers in the regular army.
The Cadets saw service at Resaca, in the trenches at Atlanta, and in Sherman's front in the March to the Sea. Later they were stationed to guard the City of Augusta at the Battle of Aiken and ended the war guarding Augusta and Milledgeville.
They were the LAST troops to be relieved of duty east of the Mississippi. On May 1st, 1865, they received orders from Gen. Johnston and served until May 20th when they were disbanded.
In the defense of the bridge crossing the Oconee River south of Milledgeville on November 24, 1864, the cadets were engaged in action against the Federals. The defending force consisted of the 4th KY mounted infantry (the Orphan Brigade), commanded by acting Major, Capt. John Weller, a group of convicts in prison garb from the Milledgeville penitentiary on one flank, and a battalion of cadets from GMI on the other.
Quoting Capt. Weller:
"The convicts were dressed in prison garb, and were hardened in appearance, but calm and brave. The cadets were, of course, very young, some of them certainly not over fourteen years of age. The Federals advanced their line of skirmishers, and firing commenced. The bravery of the school boys was the glory of this fight. Several of their number were carried off wounded and dying. I can never forget the looks of one little boy as four convicts carried him on a stretcher to the rear. His handsome young face, with the flush of fever on it, and the resolute expression of his eyes, indicated that he fully realized the situation."
Four Cadets were wounded in the Oconee bridge action:
Cadet Sergeant J. Scott Todd lost an arm.
Cadet C. H. Marsh was mortally wounded.
Thomas A. Hamilton and W. E. Myrick were less seriously wounded.
When Savannah fell in December, the cadets formed the rear guard between the Louisville Road and the Savannah River. This special duty hampered them and forced them to leave behind their two brass howitzers from the Institute. Colonel Orlando M. Poe, Chief Engineer of Sherman's army, noted one brass six-pounder howitzer among the Confederate guns captured at Savannah having upon it the arms of the State of Georgia with the words "Georgia Military Institute." He suggested to Captain Thomas G. Baylor, Chief Ordnance Officer, that this cannon be sent to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Both guns finally made it back home to Marietta. One of them was mounted in the Marietta Confederate Cemetery and the second was mounted as a memorial on the site of the Georgia Military Institute campus.
You can read the full story at www.researchonline.net/timeline.htm. It is excerpted from my book, "The Boys Went Forth to War."
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