The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-20
SAVANNAH SOLDIERY
BAsINGER's ACCOUNT OF oRGANI-
| ZATION OF COMMANDS.
MUSTERS BEFORE THE WAR.
"BEAT" COMPANIES WERE WON
DERFUL THINGS TO SEE.

|
Were FOrmed-Bond of Union Be-
tween the First Infantry and the
Guards Should lie CIOse-COI. Ba-
singer Designed the State Flag.
An interesting account OF the military
situation in Savannah before the Civil
| War is given in a letter written by Col
w. S. Basinger. formerly of Savannah.
but now of Athens, to former Col C. W.
Anderson of the First Infantry The let
ter will be of interest. too, because Of
the great knowledge 1t shows Col. Basin
ger to have of the military history of Sa-
vannah:
Directing myself, first" writes Col
Basinger. Ito the questions you put 20
me, whether the artillery, and the Hus-
! sars were attached to the First Volunteer
! Regiment of Georgia before the war, 1t
! is very easily answered. The Artillery
were, the Hussars were not. The regi.
| ment began as the Independent Voun-
teer Battalion of Savannah in 1852. At
that time the old militia laws of Georgia
| were inforced. Savannah was divided
into four militia districts, and all men of
arm-bearing age in each district were
required 90 turn out once a year for in
| struction. These districts were called
! beats The men of each beat" com
posed a company, and their officers were
elected as prescribed by the militia laws,
| and wore the uniform prescribed. But the
men were not uniformed, and the com
panies were made up only of men who
were not able to pay the heavy fines i'm
| posed for non-attendance, or to avail
| themselves of the exemptions and other
means of evadng the duty.
These beat companies and the volun-
teer companies of foot in Savannah made
| the First Regiment First Brigade, First
Division of the Georgia Militia. 1t was
| an obvious mistake to class the volunteers
as militia. for nothing can be more OBJ
vious than that they were not so. But 1t
was done, and all the volunteer companies
| of foot in the city were attached to the
| First Regiment of Georgia Militia. Of
| course, the Hussars were not so attach
| ed, for 1t would have been absurd to
| amalgamate cavalry with infantry. But
| the Chatham Artillery were a foot com
| pany, and though not expected to be
fought infantry tactics. there seemed to
be no very great incongruity in attach
ing them to a regiment of infantry.
| Now those beat companies would turn
| out, usually from 100 to 200 men, while
| the volunteers would have out only 40
| or 50. Therefore, at the rcgimental mus
tiers, it was necessary to equalize the
companies. This was done by taking from
the beat companies as many men as were
needed for the purpose, and incorporating
them for the force with the volunteer
companies. Moreover, the officers of the
| beat companies. as a rule, knew little
| or no more of tactics than their men did.
| And as each company took its place IN
| The regmental line according to the rank
| Of its captain, you may imagine the re-
suit.
This state of things became, in time,
| an almost intolerabie nuisance to the
| volunteers, who. all the time, were be-
coming more and more proficient. I don t
know with whom the idea originated; but.
| about 1851, when l became a member of
| the Guards, the volunteer companies be-
| gan TO consider whether they could not
get out of the First Regiment Georgia
| Militia. The result was the act of the
| General Assembly of Jan. 20, 1852, (acts
of 1852, page $3.50, which took all of the
| volunteer companies of foot, in Savannah.
out of the regiment, aud formed them
into the Independent Volunteer Battal-
| ion of Savannah | do not remember
now how many volunteer companies there
4 were; but there were not enough to make
| regiment. Therefore, they were made
only a battalion; and the Chatham Artil-
lery went along with the rest
81 know all this history because, to a
certain extent, I was part of it. I was
only a private, or commissioned Off
| GER. of the Guards at the time, but a ver2
active one. 1 was just commencing the
practice of law, and had an office on the
same floor with Gen. A. r. Lawton, who
was the ensign of the Blues. We were
! continually in and out of each other 5
offices. The general opinion OF the Vo!-
unteers had settled on him as the officer
to command the battalion if it should be
formed. He was willing to accept the
position. l can thus speak with CONT
dence of the origin of the battalion. |
think II highly probable, indeed, that the
act of 1852. before referred to, was drawn
either i'm his office or mine. though l can
not affirm 1t.
The battalion was formed under the
act. AS you will see by reference to the
act, the commanding officer was to have
the rank of lieutenant colonel. There was
to be no other field officer Gen. Law
ton was unanimously elected lieutenant
| colonel He chose for his adjutant
Sergt. William Bulloch Jackson of the
| Guards. And the Guards gave him per-
mission to take the post on condition that
! they should not be deprived of his SER
/ vices as one OF tnelF SefSeantS, except
on battalion parades. 1t ought to be mem
toned here that on the same day that
! the act to organize the battalion was
| passed another act was passed to in
crease the number OF beat companies
in Savannah from four to eight Thus,
the fall number of militia companies to
| form a regiment was preserved to the
First Regiment of Georgia Militia.
Now, If you will refer to the second
of f,n ~ 90
lied the battalion, you will see that it
was provided that other companies Cf
volunteers formed in Savannah should be
added to it, and that when there should
be eight companies the battalion should
| become regiment. After 1852 the
! Oglethorpe Light Infantry and the De-
| Kalb Rilemen were formed. which made
eight companies. including the Chatham
! Artillery and. i'm consequence, the act
of 1883 acts 1859, page 39O, was passed
which made the battalion a full regi-
ment, with colonel, lieutenant colonel
major and full regimental stan. Lieut.
| Col. Lawton was selected colonel Our
| friend. George stiles then a sergeant in
the Guards was elected lieutenant co'an-
/ el, with the permission of the corps. and
/ on the same conditions applied 10 Sergt
/ Jackson when he became adjutant OF the
I battalion. | don't remember who was
4 elected major. or who the adjutant was
1 Bulloch Jackson ceased to be the adiu-
! tant when the Oglethorpe Light Infantry
was formed, as he became first Lieutenant
I ..