The Phillip's Legion's Infantry Battalion formed the infantry component of this Georgia unit. As originally organized in 1861 the Legion contained six infantry companies (A -F) and four cavalry companies. During the spring of 1862, three new infantry companies, L,M and O, were recruited in Cobb and Bartow counties and added to the Infantry Battalion. These nine companies, retaining their original company letter designations, served throughout the remainder of the war. Like almost all Civil War Legions, the infantry and cavalry battalions of the unit were separated early in the war (July 1862).
As was the case with almost all Civil War units, the Legion's Infantry was frequently known by an alternate designation derived from the name of its commanding officer. Names of this type used by or for the unit are : William Phillips' Infantry Seaborn Jones, Jr.'s Infantry Robert T. Cook's Infantry E. Sandy Barclay's Infantry John Norris' Infantry Joe Hamilton's Infantry.
Shortly after being mustered into Confederate service at Lynchburg, Va. on August 9th 1861, the unit was ordered into the mountains of western Virginia (today's West Virginia) to serve in the Army of the Kanawha under General John B. Floyd. The unit endured brutal winter weather and disease until December 16, 1861 when it was ordered to South Carolina. The unit, now expanded with the addition of companies L, M & O, next served in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. In July of 1862 the Battalion returned to Virginia as part of Thomas Drayton's mixed Georgia, South Carolina brigade, joining the Army of Northern Virginia. It was reassigned to General T R R Cobb's Georgia brigade in November of 1862 and continued to serve with the ANV until the late summer of 1863 when it was moved west to Georgia along with two divisions of Longstreet's Corps, serving in the Army of Tennessee at Chattanooga and later in the Department of East Tennessee during the Knoxville campaign. Returned to Virginia in April of 1864, the unit again served in the Army of Northern Virginia. In August of 1864, the unit joined the Army of the Valley District where it served in the Shenandoah Valley until November, 1864. Once again returned to the Army of Northern Virginia, the Battalion served in that Army for the duration of the war.
Specific higher command assignments of the unit are:
Oct. 16, 1861-Floyd's Brigade, Army of the Kanawha.
Nov. 12, 1861-First Brigade, Army of the Kanawha. January 1862
-Attached, Sixth Military District of South Carolina, Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
June 1, 1862-Attached, Fourth Military District of South Carolina, Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
July 17, 1862-Drayton's Brigade, D.R. Jones Division, Longstreet's Command, Army of Northern Virginia.
Nov. 26, 1862-Cobb's Brigade, McLaw's Division, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. January 7, 1863-Wofford's Brigade, McLaws Division, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
September 1863- Wofford's Brigade, McLaws Division, Longstreet's Corps, Army of Tennessee November 1863-Wofford's Brigade, McLaws-Kershaw's Division, Department of East Tennessee
May 1, 1864-Wofford's Brigade, Kershaw's Division, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
August 31, 1864-Wofford's Brigade, Kershaw's Division, Army of the Valley District. November 1864-Woffords-Dubose's Brigade, Kershaw's Division, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
December 1864-DuBose's Brigade, Kershaw's Division, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
Phillip's Legion, Georgia Volunteers --- Col. William Phillip's in command (until his resignation 2/13/1863)
Infantry Battalion --Lt. Col. Seaborn Jones Jr. (resigned 7/4/1862), Lt. Col. Robert Thomas Cook (KIA at Fredericksburg 12/13/1862), Lt. Col. Elihu S."Sandy" Barclay, Jr. (resigned 12/31/1863 due to wounds received in 1862), Lt Col Joseph Hamilton Company A. - "Greene Rifles" - Phillip B. Robinson (resigned Oct 1861), Oliver P. Daniel (resigned 4/27/1863), Frederick C. Fuller (KIA at Spotsylvania 5/10/1864), - Daniel Benjamin Sanford - Greene County Company B -"Dalton Guards" - Robert Thomas Cook (promoted Lt Col commanding battalion, KIA at Fredericksburg 12/13/1862), Thomas Hamilton - Whitfield County Company C - "Habersham Rifles" or "Habersham Volunteers" - Elihu S. "Sandy" Barclay, Jr. (promoted to Major of battalion), John S. Norris (promoted to Major of Battalion), - Alexander Smith Erwin - Cobb and Habersham Counties "
Company D -"Polk Rifles" -
Captain Henry Frank Wimberly (resigned 10/3/1862) , John Luthur Dodds -
Lieutenant Julius Algernon Peek- Polk County.
Company E - "Blue Ridge Rifles" - Joseph Hamilton (promoted to Major of battalion), Hardy D. Price (MWIA at Fredericksburg 12/13/1862), William H. Barber (resigned 6/29/1864), Capt. Jesse M. McDonald - - Lumpkin County. Company F. - "Lochrane Guards" - Jackson Barnes (resigned 9/12/1862), Patrick McGovern - Bibb County. Company L. - "Blackwell Volunteers" - James M Johnson (KIA at Knoxville 11/29/1863) , James Fletcher Lowrey (MWIA at Sailors Creek 4/6/1865) - Cobb County. Company M - "Denmead Volunteers" - James Franklin McCleskey (resigned 2/1/1863), Samuel Young Harris (MWIA at Sailors Creek 4/6/1865) - Cobb County. Company O - "Marrietta Guards" - Thomas K. Sproull (resigned 4/25/1863), - Henry Johnson McCormick - Cobb and Bartow County.
Phillip's Georgia Infantry Legion participated in more than fifty engagements during its wartime career:
October 1861 - Engagements at Cotton Hill, Va (now W.Va.)
August 5, 1862-Engagement, Malvern Hill, Virginia
August 23, 1862 - Engagement, Beverlys Ford, Virginia
August 25, 1862 - Engagement. Waterloo Bridge, Virginia
August 29 - 30, 1862 - Battle of Second Manassas
September 6 - 22, 1862 - Maryland Campaign
September 14, 1862 - Fox's Gap, (on South Mountain) Maryland (called Battle of Boonsboro by the south)
September 17, 1862 - Battle, Antietam, Maryland (Called Battle of Sharpsburg by the south)
September 19 - 20, 1862 - Skirmishes, Williamsport, Maryland
October 26 - November 10, 1862 - Operations against Loudon, Faquier and Rappahannock Counties, Virginia
December 12 - 15, 1862 - Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia
April 27 - May 6, 1863 - Chancellorsville Campaign
May 1 - 5, 1863 - Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia
June 3 - August 1, 1863 - Gettysburg Campaign
July 2 - 3, 1863 - Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
July 5 - 24, 1863 - Retreat to near Manassas Gap, Virginia
September 22 - 24, 1863 - Engagements near Chattanooga, Tennessee
September 25 - November 13, 1863 - Siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee
November 14 - December 23, 1863 - Knoxville Campaign
November 15, 1863 - Skirmish, Little River, Tennessee
November 17 - December 4, 1863-Siege, Knoxville, Tennessee
November 29, 1863 - Assault, Forts Sanders, Knoxville, Tennessee
January 16 - 17, 1864 - Operations about Dandridge, Tennessee
January 17, 1864 - Action, Dandridge, Tennessee
January 26 - 28, 1864 - Operations against Dandridge, Tennessee
January 27, 1864 - Engagement near Fair Garden, Tennessee
May 4 - June 12, 1864 - Overland Campaign
May 6 - 7, 1864 - Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia
May 8 - 15, 1864 - Battles of Spottsylvania Court House, Laurel Hill, Ny River, Fredericksburg Road, Virginia
May 12, 1864 - Assault on the Salient, Spottsylvania court House, Virginia
May 22 - 26, 1864 - Operations on the line of the North Anna River, Virginia
May 26 - 28, 1864 - Operations on the line of the Pamunkey River, Virginia
May 28 - 31, 1864 - Operations on the line of the Totopotomoy River, Virginia
June 1 - 12, 1864 - Battles about Cold Harbor, Virginia
June 16, 1864 - Assault, Petersburg, Virginia
June 16- August, 1864 - Siege Operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia
June 18, 1864 - Assault, Petersburg, Virginia
July 27 - 29, 1864 - Demonstration on the North Side of the James River and engagements at Deep Bottom,( Darbytown Road), Strawberry Plains and New Market Road, Virginia
July 28, 1864 - Engagement, Malvern Hill, Virginia
August 7 - November 28, 1864 - Operations against Sheridans's Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley
August 16, 1864 - Engagement, Cedarville, Guard Hill (Front Royal), Virginia
September 2-3, 1864 - Action, Bunker Hill, West Virginia
September 19, 1864 - Battle of Opequan, Winchester, Virginia
September 22, 1864 -Fisher's Hill, Woodstock, Virginia
October 19, 1864 - Battle, Cedar Creek, Middletown and Belle Grove, Virginia
December 1864-April 2, 1865 - Siege Operations against Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia
March 28-April 9, 1865 - Appomattox Campaign
April 6, 1865 - Battle of Sailors Creek, Virginia
April 9, 1865 - Engagement, Clover Hill, Appomattox Court House, Virginia
April 9, 1865 - Surrender, Appomattox Court House, Virginia
An examination of the paroles granted at Appomattox Court House shows that slightly more than ninety officers and enlisted men of Phillip's Georgia Legion were still with the unit when it surrendered.
For information about Phillip's Legion contact , Kurt Graham
