In May of 1861, Wiregrass Georgia prepared for the coming Civil War. In Berrien County,GA General Levi J. Knight drilled his company of Berrien Minute Men. The Brooks County Rifles assembled under the command of Captain John Clark Mounger, and in Lowndes County, the Lowndes Volunteers were led first by Captain George T. Hammond, then by Captain James Patterson.
On May 28, 1861, the Savannah Republican published a letter from Valdosta, GA with a report on the crops and military matters of South Georgia.
1861-may-28
Savannah Republican
May 28, 1861Crops and Military Matters in Southern Georgia.
Valdosta, Lowndes county Ga.,
May 23d, 1861Mr. Editor: Thinking that it would be of some interest to your readers to hear of the condition of the crops and of the military preparations of Southern Georgia, I have concluded to furnish them, through the columns of your valuable paper, with the necessary information.
First, in regard to the crops: they are very promising. Corn looks well, and the oat crop was never better. Potatoes, sugar cane, and cotton, notwithstanding the backwardness of the spring, are growing off finely, and everything up to the present time, as we have had fine seasons of rain, indicates a heavy yield to the husbandman in harvest time.
As to military preparations, the county is alive with volunteers, and all eager for a fight with the Abolitionists. Our citizens have liberally contributed funds to equip and prepare for service the poor men connected with the companies, and also to supply with provisions and clothing the destitute families of those who shall enter the service. And I would say to Governor Brown, as an humble citizen not presuming to dictate to him his duty, while he stands at the helm of State, if he wishes to sustain the reputation of the Empire State of the South for bravery and skill in marksmanship during the present campaign, by all means select as many companies as possible from Southern Georgia, for the men of this portion of the State are accustomed to handle the plow and the rifle. They can toil and shoot with great accuracy, and, as an evident fact, it is said on good authority, that there is not a man in Gen Knight’s company of volunteers,in Berrien county, numbering eighty, rank and file, but who can kill a deer one hundred yards with rifle running. The men composing the company are tall, active and efficient – the men for the camp and the battle field – and all they ask is a showing. There is also the Lowndes Volunteers, composed mostly of active and brave young men, commanded by Captain Patterson, their former Captain, George T. Hammond, having resigned. This company is now in camp, drilling and preparing themselves for the field; also, the Brooks Rifles, commanded by Captain Mounger, and others that might be mentioned; but suffice it, Mr. Editor, Southern Georgia is ready and prepared for any emergency, and if old Abe or any of his hirelings should attempt to invade our shores they will be swept off like the Egyptian flies before the winds of the Sahara.Lowndes.
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- William W. Knight Writes Home About Old Yellow and Men of the 29th Georgia Infantry
- The Poetry of Mary Elizabeth Carroll
- Levi J. Knight ~ Settling Lowndes County 1827-1836
- Levi J. Knight ~ Wayne County Beginnings
- Thomas M Ray Founded Ray’s Mill in 1863
- Berrien Minute Men and Civil War Stories
- John W. Hagan Witnessed “Unholy War” and the Execution of Elbert J. Chapman
- Confederate Letters of John William Hagan
- Levi J. Knight Reports Indian Fight of July 13, 1836
