The 61st Georgia Volunteer Infantry (also called the 26th regiment at one time) was assembled at Charleston, South Carolina in May 1862. The 7th Georgia Battalion was the foundation drawn on for establishment of this new regiment.
During this time the regiment was brigaded under Brigadier General Alexander Lawton who had proposed formation of an elite brigade of Georgia troops to repel the threat posed by McClellan's advance from Williamsburg on the Confederate capital at Richmond. Later the brigade would be commanded by Brigadier General Gordon and finally by Brigadier General Evans. The brigade served with the Army of Northern Virginia and is often found in research named as the Lawton-Gordon-Evans Georgia Brigade named for its three principal commanders.
The Lawton-Gordon-Evans Georgia Brigade was initially comprised of six regiments, which besides the 61st Georgia Volunteer Infantry included the 13th, 26th, 31st, 38th, and 60th Georgia Volunteer Infantries. This brigade was raised at the call of Georgia Governor Joe Brown for the defense of the Georgia coast following the bombardment of Fort Sumtner in 1861.
The regiment began service as part of the Lawton-Gordon-Evans Georgia Brigade by participating in the Seven Days Battles in and around Richmond, Virginia, June 1862, later went with General Early to the Shennadoah Valley and continued to fight in numerous engagements until surrender at Appomattox in April 1865.
The 61st Georgia Volunteer Infantry regimental service included: Seven Days Battles June 1862, Gains Mills, 27 June 1862, Malvern Hill, 1 July 1862, Bristoe Station, 27 August 1862, Groveton/Brawner's Farm, 28 August 1862, Second Bull Run or Manassas, 29-30 August 1862, Sharpsburg/Antietam, 17 September 1862, Fredericksburg, 13 December 1862, Chancellorsville, 29 April-5 May 1863, Winchester, 13-14 June 1863, York & Wrightsville, 28-29 June 1863, Gettsyburg, 1-3 July 1863, Battle of the Wilderness, 5-6 May 1864, Spotsylvania Court House, 10-12 May 1864, Monocacy, 9 July 9 1864, Winchester/Opequon Creek, 19 September 1864, Fisher's Hill, 22 September 1864, Cedar Creek, 19 October 1864, Hatcher's Run, 5-7 February 1865, Hares Hill/Fort Steadman, 25 March 1865, Appomattox Court House, 9 April 1865.
The strategy described in Lee's letter was speeded along on 16 June 1862 when the order went out for Jackson to move his army without further delay and join Lee's peninsula offensive.
As General Jackson's troops marched closer to Richmond, McClellan ordered fortification of Porter's positions north of the Chickahominy and established a second supply base at Harrison's Landing on the James River, allowing him the flexibility to move north or south when the Confederates mounted an attack.
A heavy skirmish south of the Chickahominy on 25 June 1862 prompted Lee to force his attack on the following day. General Jackson's army, still on the march, was nowhere near the point of attack. Marching his troops relentlessly for days following Lee's summons, Jackson bivouacked at Hundley's Corner on the afternoon of 26 June 1862, within three miles of the hard fighting underway at Beaver Dam Creek.
The 61st Georgia arrived with General Jackson's column and received its baptism of fire at the battle of Gaines Mill, 27 June 1862. Spurred on by General Richard Ewell's "Hurrah for Georgia," they formed a line of battle and advanced through a heavy wooded area until they met the enemy. The 61st Georgia along with the other Georgia regiments of Lawton's brigade were the first Confederates engaged in this battle, meeting the Union army near Cold Harbor. The regiment advanced into Boatswain Swamp on the far left of the Confederate line at 5:00 PM "in perfect order through the woods and sticky-wet soil." Casualties this day were light.
| 
|
