The Georgia in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Unmarked Confederate graves in GA

Ms. Krebs,

My apologies, I assume you are referring to Bainbridge, Georgia in Decatur County, correct?

The only way you can identify individual graves is if a list or grid identification exists with some organization within the town or county such as the Historical Society or Cemetery organization that may exist.

The "iron crosses" you mention were/ are placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy over the years. You may want to contact the existing chapter and see if they have any records or if the local historical society/ library has the records of the past chapters that show when "iron crosses" may have been placed on the graves in that cemetery. You may also want to look at the past local papers to see when a ceremony may have taken place to emplace these markers. This could potentially give you names (MAYBE) but unlikely give you the exact grave.

The other issue you are going to run into is that these are soldiers that may have been buried during the war and the record was lost on who was buried there and they were marked with the markers postwar by the women of the community and these soldiers like so many others will be Unknown.

I am curious about your ancestor's War Between the States service. Given his name, I assume he was named after General Wade Hampton but General Wade Hampton did not reach national prominence until the time of the Civil War and after (mostly after). Prior to the Civil War he was only a South Carolinian politician (elected in 1852) and was a Senator from 1858-1861(I am not sure if U.S. or State). Post-war, he was elected to the governorship of South Carolina twice and served as a U.S. Senator until 1891. His popularity and influence in Georgia would have been very limited prior to the war. Was your ancestor's family from South Carolina? Was there another ancestor that served with General Wade Hampton and named his child after him and that child died in 1895/1896?

Some food for thought. I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html

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