The soldier mentioned enlisted at Carrolton GA, May 5, 1862. The 56th Georgia Regiment served in East Tennessee and Kentucky during much of 1862, being ordered to Mississippi in December. Col. Elihu P. Watkins was wounded in the Battle of Champion Hill MS, May 16, 1863. A marker in Vicksburg National Military Park shows the part of the line held by the 56th Georgia. The regiment served in Brig. Gen. Alfred Cumming's Brigade in Maj. Gen. Carter P. Stevenson's Division. Daniel Kernon signed his parole by mark on July 8, 1863.
http://www.nps.gov/vick/historyculture/56th-georgia-infantry.htm

Here's another website including information about this regiment. At the bottom of the first page you can read letters of another Carroll County soldier who served with this regiment.
http://www.nwinfo.net/~jagriffin/56th.htm

Here's an image of another Georgia soldier who enlisted in one of Alfred Cumming's other regiments. It should offer some idea of how volunteers looked shortly after enlistment --
http://civilwargazette.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/pvt-hugh-lawson-duncan-39th-ga-cummings-brigade-stevensons-division/

If you would like more information, you may wish to get a copy of this 2008 publication --
Saddle Bag And Spinning Wheel: Being the Civil War Letters of George W. Peddy, M.D., Surgeon, 56th Georgia Volunteer Regiment, C.S.A. and His Wife Kate.

Copies of Daniel Kernon's military service file, including his Vicksburg parole, are available here --