The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-20

that second Lieut.. NJ. II. Hopkins, or
Company B OF the Guards, resigned to
take the post of adJutant OF the regi-
ment, which was then ct Fort Pulaski
C. II. Olmstead was then its colonel.
Lieut.. j. c. Habersham, Of the Guards,
also resigned to become surgeon of the
regiment.
This account will make II clear to you
that Capt Davenport was never lieuten-
ant colonel of the regiment. He became
first lieutenant of the Guards in Capt.
Richardson's time. Capt Richardson
died in February, 1852 Capt. Jas. P.
Screven was then elected. and, after him,
in 1858, Capt. John Screven. Capt. Dav-
! export remained first lieutenant until the
Guards formed their bAttah n in 1-61
Then he became captain of Company r,
and held that commission until the
spring of 1862, when he resigned to take
the captaincy of the Tattnal Guards.
While 1 am upon this subject. l men
ton, for the Information of you old Blu s
who may not know the fact
that when the Independent Vol
officers were Capt. Jno. W. Anderson,
First Lieut.. Jno. E. Davis, Second Lieut..
F. 8. Barlow, En- ign A. r. Lawton,
Lieut.. Barlow ult mate'y resigned to take
command of the Oglethorpe Light In
fantry Thus the Guards and the Blues
both contributed to the formation of the
Oglethorpe Light Infantry. Their first
captain was Jno. N. Lewis, an honorary
member of the Guards. Their first
lieutenant was VIM. b. Jackson, who had
been sergeant in the Guards as be-
fore mentioned. Their Captain Barlow
had been an officer in the Blues.
Il take pleasure, also, in recalling this
circumstance: When our Captain Rich
ardson died, in 1852, the Blues acted as
the funeral escort the Qua ds marching
behind the hearse as mourners, without
arms. This circumstance was stror gly
recalled to my mi at the funeral Of our
Capt. Geo. w. Sill $, when the Blu
again were the funeral escort. Through
these and other events, in which the his
tory of the two corps has been much in
termingled these two ancient organiza-
ons, almost coeval, ought to
have the kindest feelinges for
each other.
you are quite RI hit in saving hat
was the designer of the flag of Georgia
yet not l alone, for I had the concur
renee of yourself and Capt. Wheaton, of
the Chatham ARTILLERY. Do you not re-
member that we were all three members
of a board of officers appointed by the
Governor to revise the laws about the
volunteers, that we used to meet a my
house one afternoon in every week to
make our revision and that the act of
1879 was the result of our work? 1t was
at that same time that we agreed to rec
ommend the flag, which was adopted at
the same session of the Legislature (acts
1883. I'D. ! recollect that you thought il
was perhaps too much like the first Con-
federate flag. But the design was not ia
vored for that reason. For my part, that
was no objection. You were the ranking
officer of the board, and did preside at
the final meeting of the board in Atlanta,
which recommended both the flag and the
act of 1879.
"One thing more, viz, the rank Of lieu
tenant colonel, prescribed for battalion
commanders by che act of 1879. The pro-
blem was how to make it sure that the
ranking officer of volunteers in Georgia
should always be white man. In order
to effect that, our board recommended
that all the volunteers in the state should
be organized in battaions; that there
should be no regiments at all except the
First Volunteer Regiment in Savannah,
which, though it was not a full regiment,
was incorporated as such; and that the
rank of every battalion commander should
be that of lieutenant colonel This made
ii certain that the colonel of the First
Volunteer Regiment of Georgia would al
ways be the ranking officer of volunteers
In the state, and there would be so many
battalions of white men, that 1t would be
almost certain, in case of temporary
vacancy in the command of the regiment,
| that the ranking officer would still be a
| white man. l am by no means sure that
| the present arrangements about the vol
unteers are an improvement on the act
OF 1879.
"At the expense of very long letter
of which I fear you will be tired, l have
not only answered all your questions, but
have given you an outline of the origin
of the regiment. You may accept 1t as
absolutely correct, so far as it goes, but
cannot forbear to express any surprise
that there should not be many now in Sa-
vannah who know these things as well
as do.
II ought to add to the above that when
Gov Brown took possession of Fort Pu-
laski in January, 1861, the troops ordered
to the service were Capt Screven. with
fifty men of the Guards, Capt Barlow
with Atty of the Oglethorpe Light Infan-
try and Capt. Claghorn with thirtyfour
of the Chatham Artillery. l understand
that Capt. Claghorn, with his detachment
went under the order of Col. Lawton,
commanding the regiment. If so, the ar
tillery must have belonged to the regi-
ment for if they did not their orders
must have emanated from the Governor
himself 1t was certainly understood
though cannot affirm it, that Capt. Clag-
horn and his detachment went under or
ders from Col. Lawton."