17th Georgia Volunteer Infantry

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The 17th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised from eight different counties in Georgia (mostly in the western part of the state) and officially organized in Atlanta from August 12 to August 15, 1861 and armed with British Enfield pattern rifles. The following is how the regiment was organized by company;

From here, the unit was sent to Virginia via the railroad through Tennessee and Lynchburg, Virginia. The unit's first colonel was Colonel Henry L. Benning, a prominent lawyer and judge in Muscogee County (Columbus). The unit was brigaded with the 1st, 2nd, 15th, and 20th Georgia Infantry Regiments. The 1st Georgia transferred out in October 1861 when the army was being restructured. The 17th eventually became part of Toombs' brigade, D.R. Jones Division, Army of the Potomac. The unit saw its first combat on the Peninsula under the commander of Major General Benjamin Magruder as he opposed the Federal Army landing of Major General George B. McClellan in May 1862. After periods of intense rain and small actions, the 17th Georgia fell back towards Richmond and did not participate in the counter attack led by General Joseph E. Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines. After this battle, General Robert E. Lee took command of the army and renamed it the Army of Northern Virginia.

However, the unit did not rest for long. On June 27, 1862, the 17th Georgia, along with the rest of Toombs brigade, engaged Federal forces at the Battle of Garnett's Farm. The regiment secured the left flank of the brigade while the 2nd and 15th heavily engaged the enemy and lost many killed and wounded. The following day, after a grueling 20 mile march in the hot sun, the unit stopped to rest. On July 1, the 17th Georgia participated in the final day of the Seven Days Campaign fighting at the Battle of Malvern Hill. The brigade lost almost 300 men killed and wounded during the Seven Days, including two regimental commanders and two adjutants.

In mid July, the regiment left it's positions on the peninsula and moved back towards Richmond. It was then that the Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized into two Army Corps. The First led by General James Longstreet, the Second by General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The 17th Georgia was placed with Toombs brigade, and Jones' Division, in the 1st Corps. The regiment moved north at this point, and engaged at the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) where it suffered heavily. On August 30, 1862, the 17th Georgia and the rest of Toombs' brigade engaged the Federal Army of Virginia under the command of Major General John Pope. The regiment walked onto the battlefield at Second Manassas with 200 men and left the field with only 99. The brigade had lost a total of 37 killed and 294 wounded, but it was another victory.

The Army of Northern Virginia now moved north and crossed the Potomac River for the first invasion of the North. The campaign culminated with the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) On September 17, 1862. Toombs brigade performed magnificently and defended the entire right wing of General Lee's army and prevented the Army Corps of Ambrose Burnside from crossing Antietam Creek. For most of the Battle, the 17th Georgia was guarding the 1st Corps supply train, but did participate in the last fight of the day with the "Light Division" of Major General A.P. Hill. In all the brigade suffered 160 casualties...but inflicted more then 2,300 on the enemy (a 34:1 ratio).

The 17th Georgia moved south out of Maryland with the army and took up positions on the south side of the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was at this point that Colonel Benning was given command of the entire brigade and Colonel Wesley Hodges assumed command of the regiment. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, the brigade was not heavily engaged and suffered only two wounded and two killed. It was shortly after Fredericksburg that the division, along with General George Pickett's Division, was sent south to southern Virginia to forage for the rest of the army. As the unit marched through Richmond, they received a new division commander, the bold and brash John Bell Hood. The previous commander, Major General David R. Jones had died of sickness on January 15, 1863. It was at this point the brigade was issued new uniforms from the Richmond Depot, most likely the Type II uniforms. After several months in the Suffolk area with two other Confederate divisions, Hood's division returned to join Lee's army, but missed out on the stunning Southern victory at Chancellorsville.

With the loss of General Jackson at Chancellorsville, the army was again re-organized into three Army Corps, each consisting of three divisions. The 17th Georgia remained in Benning's Brigade, which was assigned to Hood's Division in General Longstreet's First Army Corps. The regiment now moved north once more and engaged the Federal Army of the Potomac on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg. The unit was part of the attack into the Devil's Den at the foot of Little Round Top. That day, the brigade captured 300 prisoners and several 10-pounder Parrott rifles. In addition, the brigade (along with Robertson and Law's brigade), secured Houck's Ridge and Devil's Den, driving off Ward's brigade of the 1st Division, 3rd Corps, Army of the Potomac (124th Pennsylvania, 99th Pennsylvania, 20th Indiana, and 4th Maine). The unit did not participate in the fight of the third day, but it had lost over 300 men killed and wounded and two more regimental commanders.

The unit was then shipped to the Western Theater along with most of Longstreet's Corps and participated in the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. The 17th also particpated in the East Tennessee campaign, the Wilderness campaign, the Cold Harbor/Mechanicsville campaign, and the Siege of Petersburg. The unit surrendered at Appomattox Court House along with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865.

There is currently a living history organization which portrays Co. K of the 17th Georgia in Columbus, Georgia.

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