Category Archives: Eighteenth Georgia

Colonel Solon Z. Ruff

SOLON Z. RUFF, colonel of the 18th Georgia which followed the Phillips Georgia Legion in the attack on Fort Sanders, was a graduate of the Georgia Military Institute and a professor there until the war began, according to the web … Continue reading

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19th Century Weapon: The steam train

“In today’s world of tanks, bombers and submarines, it’s perhaps hard to believe that the train was once an amazingly mobile weapons platform. They might be locked to their rails, but for over a century trains were the fastest means … Continue reading

Posted in Boy Battery, Eighteenth Georgia, Eighteenth Mississippi, Eighth Georgia, Gen. Benjamin Grubb Humphreys, Gen. James Longstreet, Seventeenth Mississippi, Sixteenth Georgia, The Phillips Georgia Legion, Thirteenth Mississippi, Twenty-First Mississippi | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The battle’s sesquicentennial

One hundred fifty years ago at dawn today, four seriously-under strength Mississippi and Georgia regiments attacked the earthwork Fort Sanders on Knoxville’s west side. The very subject of Knoxville 1863, the novel—this blog—and the book itself. I suppose there will be … Continue reading

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Eighteenth Georgia, Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Reenactors, Seventeenth Mississippi, The Phillips Georgia Legion, Thirteenth Mississippi | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Gettysburg’s 150th

I’m not sorry to be missing Gettysburg’s 150th anniversary these next three days. Too much of the occasion will be taken up by reenactment events, which reenactment participants call “impressions.” But too many of the reenactors are too corpulent and all … Continue reading

Posted in Boy Battery, Civil War armament, Civil War clothing, Eighteenth Georgia, Eighteenth Mississippi, Eighth Georgia, Gen. Benjamin Grubb Humphreys, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. Lafayette McLaws, Gen. William T. Wofford, President Abraham Lincoln, Reenactors, Seventeenth Mississippi, Sixteenth Georgia, The Phillips Georgia Legion, The Sesquicentennial, Thirteenth Mississippi, Twenty-First Mississippi | Tagged , | Leave a comment

William Tatum Wofford

Wofford’s Brigade cooperated with the Mississippi Brigade in the attack on Fort Sanders, as it had on the second day at Gettysburg five months earlier. But brigade commander William Tatum Wofford was absent, home in Georgia attending the unexpected funeral … Continue reading

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Fort Delaware

Captain James Lile Lemon of the Eighteenth Georgia was one of the Knoxville POWs sent to Fort Delaware, on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River southwest of Wilmington. At least 2,400 Confederate prisoners died there and are buried in … Continue reading

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The Eighteenth Georgia

One of the battle flags of the 18th Georgia Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, apparently when it was part of Hood’s Texas Brigade. After Sharpsburg/Antietam, it was brigaded with other Georgians. At Knoxville it was part of Wofford’s Georgia Brigade which … Continue reading

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Col. Ruff’s burial place

Officially, history doesn’t know where Colonel Solon Z. Ruff of the Eighteenth Georgia is buried. The Eighteenth Mississippi’s Captain Gart Johnson told Confederate Veteran Magazine Ruff was shot down at the edge of the ditch along with Col. Kennon McElroy … Continue reading

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