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SERVICE HISTORY OF WOFFORD’S BRIGADE

CAMP McDONALD, GEORGIA

The Legion’s regiments formed and trained at Camp McDonald in Big Shanty, now Kennesaw, Georgia. The camp of instruction sat in the open fields across Hwy 41, then called the Wagon or Stage Road, from the Lacy Hotel. The site is now occupied by the Southern Museum of Locomotive and Civil War History. The Lacy Hotel was a breakfast stop on the Western & Atlantic Railroad and would be made famous the next year as the site where the Great Locomotive Chase began. While at Camp McDonald, the recruits were trained by the teenage cadets of the Georgia Military Academy which at that time sat where the Marietta City Club Golf Course is now across Powder Springs Road from the Marietta City Cemetery. The future brigade trained until early August, 1861 when close to 2000 citizens came to Big Shanty to see them off. They marched in grand review before Governor Joseph Brown. A mock skirmish drill and cavalry charge by the Phillip’s Legion cavalry ended the review along with a speech from the Governor.

MOVING OUT AND THE PENINSULA CAMPAIGN

Following being drilled, the Phillip’s Legion moved to Lynchburg, Virginia to take part in the campaign against and advancing Federal army under William Rosecrans. They camped the winter and skirmished with the Federals in the vicinity of Cotton Hill, West Virginia. The winter was brutal to the Legion and it suffered several casualties from disease. It then moved to the South Carolina coast where it was stationed in the Bluffton area.

Cotton Hill, WV.

Cobb’s Legion, 16^th Georgia, and the 24^th Georgia were brought to the front and went into action during the Siege of Yorktown from April to May of 1862. They skirmished with the Federals at Lee’s Mill and endured artillery duels during their time there.

The 18^th Georgia took an indirect path to join with what would become Wofford’s Brigade. They were actually assigned to Wigfall’s Texas Brigade as the lone Georgia regiment next to the rowdy 1^st, 4^th, and 5^th Texas. In early March of 1862, Louis Wigfall would resign and the Colonel of the 4^th Texas, John Bell Hood, would take command. They would fight the Battle of Eltham’s Landing with little effect then be engaged again at the Battle of Seven Pines

The 18^th can be see under Hood’s command in the top left.

Cobb’s Legion, 16^th Georgia, and 24^th Georgia would next see action at Malvern Hill.

Here Cobb’s Legion and the 16^th and 24^th Georgia can be seen on various positions assaulting the Federal lines.

Harper’s Weekly sketch of the Battle of Malvern Hill

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