Senior Reserves were created by the Confederate government to replace able-bodied men who had been serving in rear areas as guards at prisons, depots and hospitals. They were not expected to serve as first-line combat commands, but sometimes did so as the war situation deteriorated.

There at least two good news accounts of the fighting at Coosawhatchie in a Charleston newspaper. Confederate victories at this stage of the war were few and far between, so this was a notable event.

In a letter written many years after the war, Col. Fannin of the First Georgia Reserves says he survived the attack on Fort Tyler and surrendered it to Federal officers on April 16, 1865.

From time to time we come across paroles written at Macon Ga. by officers of Wilson's Cavalry on April 20-21, 1865. It's not clear to me whether these soldiers happened to be at Macon when Wilson's troopers entered the town, or were picked up along the road and paroled there. Perhaps both situations occurred. In either case, soldiers who received paroles would have immediately been released to go home unless they were unable to travel due to illness or wounds.

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