Historian Charles Misulia discusses the Battle of Columbus, Georgia in 1865 in this Abbeville Institute webinar. Support the Abbeville Institute at abbevilleinsti...
Great presentation! Three generations of my family are buried at Linwood Cemetery. My great-grandfathers from Columbus worked for the Central of Georgia Railroad and its war-period predecessors. That area seems underrated considering its contribution to the war effort.
My G-G-GF was an 18 y.o. Private in Waddell's artillery battalion that was apparently defending Girard. Whether they served artillery pieces or as infantry, I have no information. There seem to be no surviving records in the Alabama Archives for that unit (I believe an artillery battalion at reduced strength) and notes there suggest it lost its record books during their route by Union forces. I am unsure where they were positioned. My G-G-GF was from near Hopewell Methodist Church in Russell (now Lee) County, within 20 miles of Girard. When about 16, he joined (I believe) a state cavalry force ("4th Alabama"), which makes sense if he then joined, or was assigned to, an artillery unit, because they both used horses. He probably received some nominal instruction and undoubtedly knew how to hunt, but whether he was a competent infantryman (or even a cavalryman) at 18, under the circumstances, I seriously doubt. Soon after the war around 1870 he married, raised a family, became a successful farmer, and moved north toward the LaFayette area in Chambers County in 1880. He was not wounded. No family stories survive of his service except that he was in the battle for Columbus. We know very little about his service except for his State war claims information. He died in about 1916. Given that Alabama has no unit records for Waddell's battalion during that period and my family has no anecdotes, my assumption is that his 18 y.o. adventure was not retold often. I thank Mr. Misulia for his scholarship and book. I hope my G-G-GF points to other local veterans who tried to do their duty as they saw it. I also hope it inspires others to investigate Union veterans and their experiences after that war, too. (Being a Union veteran myself, I find ALL veteran experiences after our service interesting to study.) About 27 years ago I visited one (assumed) trenched area on one of the heights above Phenix City where Hwy 280 turns east into Columbus on the bypass (i.e. on the right side when traveling south). At the time there was new construction and I had to walk through a newly cleared cut in the hill and scrambled up the steep side. The site was surrounded by a chain-linked fence with a gap-which I entered and looked around. It looked like an infantry position, not an artillery emplacement. I was interested in the battle and had driven around Phenix City to identify old emplacements. At the time I was using Jones' (1976) Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson's Raid Through Alabama and Georgia and found it to be a good reference. I believe the museum was still the miniscule, but very informative, "Confederate Naval Museum" focused on the Confederate brown water navy in the Chattahoochee/ Apalachicola rivers, or else it had just changed its name to receive more and better funding. It had some brief information about the battle, but great books for sale. The city library was also helpful, especially its archive. I had also bought a topographic map of the area, which helped. The old maps in Jones' book and the topo map helped point toward the old entrenchments, including the one I visited. While I could see remnants of entrenchments, and there were maybe a couple of historic signs in the twin cities, there was no explicit commemoration of the battle more substantial. Still, it was fun, interesting, and commemorative in its own right, to explore Columbus, Phenix City, and the outlying areas around them for signs of that battle. I had fun with Jones's book and have no doubt Misulia's will be even more fun to use as a guide. I look forward to reading this new work and its more detailed approach.
In 1961 we lived at 609 Dillingham in Phoenix City (Gerard), which from the map appears to the road that led to the southernmost bridge, just a few blocks from the house. Wish I had known the history then.
Confederate industrial activity wasn’t confined to the major centers. The Tannehill furnaces of Tuscaloosa County, for example, were a major supplier of pig iron for the massive naval works at Selma. There was also significant iron production elsewhere in central Alabama during the war period. (This pattern was repeated throughout the CSA.) The CSA didn’t have time to achieve industrial parity with the North and Britain. Even so, it was clearly on a trajectory of manufacturing-based self-reliance. The Confederate government was directly and heavily involved in the industrialization process. The Confederate leadership understood that the South didn’t have the luxury of fighting an ideological war. The Southern government involved itself in production activities only because it needed factories, etc. In other words, there was no deeper ideological purpose behind its actions in that area.
Charles is one my dad's childhood best friend. My dad was over at there house so much he had a bedroom there. We now live in that home
Growing up I lived in Buena Vista (GA) near Columbus. I had no idea a Civil War battle in Columbus. Nice video. Thanks.
Great presentation! Three generations of my family are buried at Linwood Cemetery. My great-grandfathers from Columbus worked for the Central of Georgia Railroad and its war-period predecessors. That area seems underrated considering its contribution to the war effort.
as a proud Amaerican from "L.A." (lower Alabama) , I appreciate you research and your post.
Good info and I am sorry the south lost.
My G-G-GF was an 18 y.o. Private in Waddell's artillery battalion that was apparently defending Girard. Whether they served artillery pieces or as infantry, I have no information. There seem to be no surviving records in the Alabama Archives for that unit (I believe an artillery battalion at reduced strength) and notes there suggest it lost its record books during their route by Union forces. I am unsure where they were positioned. My G-G-GF was from near Hopewell Methodist Church in Russell (now Lee) County, within 20 miles of Girard. When about 16, he joined (I believe) a state cavalry force ("4th Alabama"), which makes sense if he then joined, or was assigned to, an artillery unit, because they both used horses. He probably received some nominal instruction and undoubtedly knew how to hunt, but whether he was a competent infantryman (or even a cavalryman) at 18, under the circumstances, I seriously doubt. Soon after the war around 1870 he married, raised a family, became a successful farmer, and moved north toward the LaFayette area in Chambers County in 1880. He was not wounded. No family stories survive of his service except that he was in the battle for Columbus. We know very little about his service except for his State war claims information. He died in about 1916. Given that Alabama has no unit records for Waddell's battalion during that period and my family has no anecdotes, my assumption is that his 18 y.o. adventure was not retold often. I thank Mr. Misulia for his scholarship and book. I hope my G-G-GF points to other local veterans who tried to do their duty as they saw it. I also hope it inspires others to investigate Union veterans and their experiences after that war, too. (Being a Union veteran myself, I find ALL veteran experiences after our service interesting to study.)
About 27 years ago I visited one (assumed) trenched area on one of the heights above Phenix City where Hwy 280 turns east into Columbus on the bypass (i.e. on the right side when traveling south). At the time there was new construction and I had to walk through a newly cleared cut in the hill and scrambled up the steep side. The site was surrounded by a chain-linked fence with a gap-which I entered and looked around. It looked like an infantry position, not an artillery emplacement. I was interested in the battle and had driven around Phenix City to identify old emplacements. At the time I was using Jones' (1976) Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson's Raid Through Alabama and Georgia and found it to be a good reference. I believe the museum was still the miniscule, but very informative, "Confederate Naval Museum" focused on the Confederate brown water navy in the Chattahoochee/ Apalachicola rivers, or else it had just changed its name to receive more and better funding. It had some brief information about the battle, but great books for sale. The city library was also helpful, especially its archive. I had also bought a topographic map of the area, which helped. The old maps in Jones' book and the topo map helped point toward the old entrenchments, including the one I visited. While I could see remnants of entrenchments, and there were maybe a couple of historic signs in the twin cities, there was no explicit commemoration of the battle more substantial. Still, it was fun, interesting, and commemorative in its own right, to explore Columbus, Phenix City, and the outlying areas around them for signs of that battle. I had fun with Jones's book and have no doubt Misulia's will be even more fun to use as a guide. I look forward to reading this new work and its more detailed approach.
Interesting history lesson
In 1961 we lived at 609 Dillingham in Phoenix City (Gerard), which from the map appears to the road that led to the southernmost bridge, just a few blocks from the house. Wish I had known the history then.
Can you do the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road? $20 the American Battlefield Trust will ignore that one 😂
Confederate industrial activity wasn’t confined to the major centers. The Tannehill furnaces of Tuscaloosa County, for example, were a major supplier of pig iron for the massive naval works at Selma. There was also significant iron production elsewhere in central Alabama during the war period. (This pattern was repeated throughout the CSA.)
The CSA didn’t have time to achieve industrial parity with the North and Britain. Even so, it was clearly on a trajectory of manufacturing-based self-reliance.
The Confederate government was directly and heavily involved in the industrialization process. The Confederate leadership understood that the South didn’t have the luxury of fighting an ideological war. The Southern government involved itself in production activities only because it needed factories, etc. In other words, there was no deeper ideological purpose behind its actions in that area.
Something about all the giggling didn't quite sit right with me. Still, I appreciate the presentation.
Thank God! I thought the channel had been completely taken over by the garbage ai rock music.
I tried to tell him!!!
He seems a little too excited about Union tactics.
Typical Grant willing to slaughter 10,000 men for one man