According to an Atlanta newspaper, Southern Confederacy, issues of 10/2/1862 and 12/30/1862 John McGee was wounded slightly in the thigh at Manassas on 8/29 and slightly in the breast at Fredericksburg on 12/13/62.
Two companies, A & B, were from Atlanta (Fulton Co.) and the other eight were from the nearby counties Campbell (merged with Fulton in 1932), Coweta, Heard, Carroll (2 companies), Henry, Paulding, and Cass (later Bartow).
A book that puts the Jackson Guards in the context of broader Irish participation in the war is Clear the Confederate Way!: The Irish in the Army of Northern Virginia by Kelly J.O’Grady. It includes several anecdotes from John Keely, a lieutenant and later captain of Company B.
I’d like to find out more about your ancestor (and possibly other McGee relatives), but will be out of contact for a couple of weeks. I’m going to try to include below a rough narrative of engagements of the 19th Georgia Regiment.
George Walker
On completion of basic training at Camp McDonald at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), Georgia, the Nineteenth Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was ordered to Lynchburg, Virginia on August 2, 1861 and departed the next day. The trip was made by rail through Tennessee. In Lynchburg the regiment suffered greatly from disease and remained there about a month. The regiment was ordered to the garrison at Manassas Junction and a little over two months later was moved to the front at Occoquan where they were assigned to a brigade commanded by Colonel Wade Hampton in the division of General Chase Whiting. Duty in the winter of 1861-1862 was primarily that of establishing entrenchments along the Occoquan River and involved little more than skirmishing.
This advanced line was abandoned by General Joseph Johnston in March 1862 and Whiting’s Division fell back to Fredericksburg. When General McClellan and the U.S. Army of the Potomac moved to Newport News, General Johnston concentrated his forces on the peninsula near Yorktown. Whiting’s Division was a part of the reserve force under General G. W. Smith. Yorktown was abandoned on May 3, 1862 and the retreat up the peninsula began, Smith covering the withdrawal as rear guard. Smith’s force passed through the troops halted at Williamsburg and was uninvolved in the fighting there.
On May 7, 1862 Whiting was tasked with fending off the Union troops making an amphibious assault at Eltham’s landing on the Pamunkey River near West Point and thereby threatening Johnston’s line of march toward Richmond. The brigades of Hampton and J.B. Hood were given the task of containing the beachhead. It was the first real combat seen by the Nineteenth Georgia Regiment. With the threat to his flank neutralized Johnston marched past the road to West Point and Whiting’s division again became the rear guard.
At the end of May was fought the battle of Seven Pines (or Fair Oaks) outside Richmond. Whiting’s division was engaged near Fair Oaks under the direct observation of Generals Johnston and Smith. When Johnston was wounded, command of the army fell briefly to Smith. But General Smith was soon incapacitated by illness and General Robert E. Lee, advisor to President Davis, became commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
The army then underwent some reorganization, which included the transfer of the 19th Georgia to the “Tennessee Brigade” of General James J. Archer. Archer’s Brigade became a part of A. P. Hill’s new division, called by Hill the “Light Division.”
A month after taking command Lee took the offensive. Working in concert with Stonewall Jackson’s troops just recalled from the Shenandoah Valley, Lee in a series of battles known as the Seven Days, pushed McClellan away from Richmond. He paid a great price in lives lost and did not utterly destroy his foe as he had wished.
The first battle was one of the bloodiest of the war for the 19th Georgia. On the 26th of June, 1862 at Mechanicsville the regiment lost 185 men of the approximately 400 who went into battle. When Jackson could not launch a planned flanking movement, Confederate attackers under A.P. Hill and James Longstreet were repelled by Union forces entrenched in a strong position. However, Union forces withdrew during the night to an even stronger position.
At Gaines’ Mill the 19th Georgia was initially held in reserve, but was soon thrown into the fighting and made little progress. After much fighting all along the line, J.B. Hood’s Texans made a breakthrough, but darkness prevented a decisive victory.
A.P. Hill’s troops rested a day, then on June 29th crossed the Chickahominy River. On June 30th Hill and Longstreet attacked at Frayser’s Farm, but again darkness intervened. The final battle of the series was at Malvern Hill and under fire from a strong Union artillery position on the hill supported by gunboats in the James River, Confederate forces suffered greatly, although the Light Division was not heavily engaged. McClellan had successfully shifted his line of supply from the York River to the James River and was now safe under the protection of the gunboats.
In August the Light Division was made a part of Stonewall Jackson’s corps and fought at Cedar Mountain. This was followed by fighting at Manassas Junction, the second battle of Manassas, and Chantilly (Ox Hill). Lee was moving toward Maryland and soon had crossed the Potomac, invading U.S. territory for the first time. Jackson was sent back across the river to capture the important military base at Harper’s Ferry, (West) Virginia. Jackson quickly gained the advantage of position and the Union contingent of over 12,000 men was surrendered. Jackson was called to rejoin Lee, but he left Hill’s Division to count the spoils and parole the prisoners.
McClellan had cornered Lee at Sharpsburg, Maryland (Antietam Creek) and the fighting was desperate. Confederate forces were outnumbered and had the Potomac River at their backs. By a forced march on September 17, A.P. Hill was able to arrive in the nick of time to help fend off the Federals and allow Lee was to retreat across the river. In rear-guard action Hill’s Division fought at the ford in Shepherdstown on the Virginia side of the Potomac and successfully delayed the pursuers.
Confederate forces bivouacked near Martinsburg and then Winchester. As the troops recuperated they engaged in destruction of the railroads in the region. The 19th Georgia was involved in an action at Castleman’s Ferry in early November and was not long thereafter marching for Fredericksburg.
On December 13, 1862 the 19th Georgia was engaged in what was its costliest battle of the war in terms of total casualties. Due to a gap in Hill’s defensive line Union troops were able to get behind the left side of Archer’s Brigade and were able to take a large number of prisoners with whom they retreated as the larger Union effort failed. Union forces did not attack the next day and soon they retreated across the Rappahannock for the winter.
In January 1863 the 19th Georgia was exchanged for an Alabama regiment from the brigade of General Alfred H. Colquitt thus making Colquitt’s brigade entirely Georgian. Little happened along the Rappahannock until May when a well planned Union attack began. At Chancellorsville Colquitt’s brigade fought under Jackson in his most famous flanking action. The Confederates completely thwarted the Union advance but Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded. A shadow was cast over Colquitt’s decision-making during the fight and soon his brigade was transferred out of the Army of Northern Virginia, first to North Carolina and then to South Carolina.
In Charleston, South Carolina the 19th Georgia rotated through the harbor defenses, including Fort Sumter and Battery Wagner, spending much of the time encamped on James Island. In February 1864 Colquitt’s Brigade was sent to Florida to help stop a Union advance inland from Jacksonville. Colquitt provided the primary on-field leadership in the Confederate victory at Olustee (Ocean Pond). After about two months in northern Florida, Colquitt’s troops were on their way back to Charleston, but were diverted back to Virginia. They were assigned to a division under General Robert F. Hoke and fought at Drewry’s Bluff in May and then at Cold Harbor in June.
Following the Union defeat at Cold Harbor, General Grant crossed the James River and shifted his focus to Petersburg as the gateway to Richmond. Colquitt’s brigade was involved in the defense of Petersburg for the next few months including the Battle of the Crater. In late September 1864, Hoke’s division moved back north of the James River for the unsuccessful attempt to retake Fort Harrison. They stayed in the redrawn defensive lines near Fort Harrison until late December and then were transferred to North Carolina.
By January 1865 Hoke’s division was engaged in the defense of Wilmington, North Carolina. Following the loss of Fort Fisher in the middle of the month Wilmington was lost as the last major port for blockade runners. Within a month the Union forces had taken the city. Hoke and other troops under General Braxton Bragg moved inland to join forces with remnants of other commands consolidating under General Joseph Johnston to oppose the march of General William T. Sherman through the Carolinas.
Hoke’s Divison fought at the battle of Wise’s Forks near Kinston, North Carolina in early March 1865. On the 19th of March, Johnston—often criticized during the war for giving ground—went on the offensive at Bentonville. The Confederates had early success but the numbers against them were ultimately overwhelming. They retreated, still trying to guess at Sherman’s strategy and attempt to disrupt any union with Grant’s forces.
On April 9th Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Johnston then commanded the largest remaining part of the Confederate military. But the situation was deemed hopeless and on April 26, 1865 Johnston agreed to terms of surrender with Sherman, effectively ending the war. The 19th Georgia was among the many regiments paroled near Greensboro, North Carolina.