Georgia Militia at Bummers 2009

[Coatsy]

Gents,

I've had numerous inquiries about the Georgia Militia aka the Southern forces at Bummers. And yes some folks did not even know that there was going to be an opposition at the event. (not that the Georgia Militia was a big opposition historically :)) Yes there will be home for folks wanting to attend Bummers in 2009 who are ‘Southern Inclined”. We are planning on recreating the 11th Georgia Militia Reg. who was one of the units that made initial contact with Sherman’s forces as they started south from Jonesboro and Lovejoy.

As announced earlier we have chosen the battalion commander for the 11th Georgia Militia. Mr. Robby Mitchell (of Georgia, naturally) has agreed to command the recreated militia. I consider Robby an expert when dealing with Joe Brown’s Pets so we will be ably led.

There will be more information about company commanders for the Georgia Militia coming in the next few weeks. Also, the “Southern” half of the event staff decided to let the individual companies be “regionally” influenced. So basically we are looking at having companies from the Trans Miss, the West and the East.

Of course we’ll post more information later. Mark “Bummers” on your calendars for 2009.

[Coatsy]

All here is a book list that ALL folks who plan on participating as the Georgia Militia need to read. Amazon.com is a great place to look for these sources.

1) Bragg, William Harris. Griswoldsville. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2004.

2) Scaife, William R. and Bragg, William H. Joe Brown's Pets: The Georgia Militia, 1862–1865. Macon, Georgia: MercerUniversity Press, 2004.

For these and other sources, please visit our history page of the Bummers web site at:

http://www.bummers09.com/History.html

[Pritchett Ball]

I just ordered JOE BROWN'S ARMY by William Harris Bragg, yesterday

Kevin Dally

[Coatsy]

Kevin, very very good choice sir! That book is simply amazing. The narrative of the book itself is a very good reas. Also the appendices have great information concerning the men who enlisted in the Georgia Militia.

[lukegilly13]

Coatsy,
Sent you a PM concerning this as well....however, I wanted to see if I could spur a discussion. I noticed on the event website, the confederate guidelines suggest "Citizen-Style Shotguns or Citizen Hunting Rifles." Does this include kentucky rifles and pennsylvania rifles? If so, would they/should they be converted to percussion rifles or should they be flintlock?

[Coatsy]

Luke and all,

Don't go to far back in time with the weapons. Civilian style flint locks of 19th century time frame (up to and including the Civil War), or older percussion types are what we are looking for. I'll defer to my pards Kiev and Jordan for more information on this.

[Kiev Thomason]

Coatsy,
Sent you a PM concerning this as well....however, I wanted to see if I could spur a discussion. I noticed on the event website, the confederate guidelines suggest "Citizen-Style Shotguns or Citizen Hunting Rifles." Does this include kentucky rifles and pennsylvania rifles? If so, would they/should they be converted to percussion rifles or should they be flintlock?

For saftey I would say yes...the should be percussion.Also the weapons on hand from the state were still in use.The shotguns and such should be in small numbers.These types of weapons might have been left overs to supplement the new gents pressed into service by Joe Brown .The list on the website is in order of how they should be in ranks.

[OldKingCrow]

I have said it before: this event looks to be amazing..I was lying in my blanket at Westville thinking of Joe Brown's Pets and those militia troops across Georgia coming from similar small towns.

Please get someone to take discreet but good photos.

[jdgiv]

Sir,
My 2nd great grandaddy was, as they say, a member of Joe Brown's Pets
In the battles from Resaca to Lovejoy he was in Hoods division as Captain, where he was wounded, rejoining his company in time for the defense of Savanna and surrounding with Johnson in Carolina.
He , being 50 years old in '64, should say a lot .
By the way, he was never pardoned or granted one.
Jamie Gould

[Coatsy]

"I was lying in my blanket at Westville thinking of Joe Brown's Pets and those militia troops across Georgia coming from similar small towns."

When we all were marching around to the Sgt Pepper Martinet Mitchell I thought to myself "Hmmm Sort of looks like what we want for the militia at Bummers." Kiev and Jordan thought the same.

Folks interested in being one of Joe Brown's pets next November ought to take a gander at the Westville AAR thread and look at the pictures of the new recruits. (Try not to stare at the grandeur of Robby's coat)

[huntdaw]

Oooooweeee! That be some coat! That Mr. Mitchell is some gentleman by golly!:)