17th Georgia Infantry The 17th Georgia Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Organization . The regiment was raised from eight different counties in Georgia ( mostly in the western part of the state ) and officially organized in Atlanta from August 12 to August 15 , 1861 , and armed with British Enfield pattern rifles . The regiment ' s first commander was Col . Henry L . Benning , a prominent lawyer and judge in Muscogee County ( Columbus area ) . The 17th Georgia was composed of ten companies , each initially with roughly one hundred men . Initial deployment and service . The 17th Georgia was sent to northern Virginia via railroad through Tennessee and Lynchburg . It was brigaded with the 1st , 2nd , 15th , and 20th Georgia regiments . The 1st Georgia transferred out in October 1861 when the army was being restructured . The 17th Georgia eventually became part of Toombs ' brigade , D . R . Jones ' Division , Army of the Potomac . It saw its first combat in May 1862 on the Peninsula , serving in the wing of Maj . Gen . John B . Magruder as he opposed the Federal Army ' s advance under Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan . After periods of intense rain and small insignificant actions , the 17th Georgia fell back towards Richmond and did not participate in the counterattack led by General Joseph E . Johnston at the Battle of Seven Pines . After this battle , General Robert E . Lee took command of the army and renamed it the Army of Northern Virginia . However , the regiment did not rest for long . On June 27 , 1862 , the 17th Georgia , along with the rest of Toombs ' Brigade , engaged Federal forces at the Battle of Garnett ' s Farm . The 17th secured the left flank of the brigade , while the 2nd and 15th Georgia heavily engaged the enemy and lost many killed and wounded . The following day , after a grueling twenty - mile ( 32 km ) march in the hot sun , the regiment finally stopped to rest . On July 1 , the 17th Georgia participated in the final day of the Seven Days Campaign fighting at the Battle of Malvern Hill . The brigade lost almost 300 men killed and wounded during the Seven Days , including two regimental commanders and two adjutant s . In mid - July , the regiment left its positions on the Peninsula and moved back towards Richmond . It was then that the Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized into two Army Corps — the First , led by Lt . General James Longstreet , and the Second , commanded by Lt . General Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson . The 17th Georgia was placed with Toombs ' Brigade , in Jones ' Division of the First Corps . The regiment moved north and fought at the Second Battle of Manassas ( Bull Run ) , where it suffered heavily . On August 30 , 1862 , the 17th Georgia and the rest of Toombs ' Brigade engaged the Federal Army of Virginia under the command of Maj . Gen . John Pope at Second Manassas . The regiment entered the battle with 200 men and left the field with only 99 . The brigade had lost a total of 37 killed and 294 wounded . The Army of Northern Virginia then moved north and crossed the Potomac River for its first invasion of the North . The Maryland Campaign culminated in the Battle of Sharpsburg ( Antietam ) on September 17 , 1862 . Toombs ' Brigade performed well , defending the right flank of Lee ' s army and preventing the IX Corps of Ambrose Burnside from readily crossing Antietam Creek . For most of the battle , the 17th Georgia guarded the First Corps ' supply train , but did participate in the last fight of the day by assisting the " Light Division " of Maj . Gen . A . P . Hill . In all , Toombs ' Brigade suffered 160 casualties , but inflicted more than 2 , 300 on the enemy ( a 34 : 1 ratio ) . The 17th Georgia moved south out of Maryland with the army and took up positions on the south side of the Rappahannock River in Virginia . It was at this point that Colonel Benning was given command of the brigade , and Col . Wesley Hodges assumed command of the regiment . During the Battle of Fredericksburg , the brigade was not heavily engaged and suffered only two wounded and two killed . Later service . It was shortly after Fredericksburg that the division , along with General George Pickett ' s division , was sent down to southern Virginia to forage for the rest of the army . As the unit marched through Richmond , it received a new divisional commander , the bold and brash John Bell Hood . ( The previous commander , Maj . Gen . David R . Jones , had died of sickness on January 15 , 1863 . ) It was at this point the brigade was issued new uniforms from the Richmond Depot , most likely the Type - II uniforms . After several months in the Suffolk area with two other Confederate divisions , Hood ' s Division rejoined Lee ' s army in late May , but missed out on the stunning Southern victory at Chancellorsville . With the loss of General Jackson at Chancellorsville , the army was again reorganized ; this time into three army corps , each consisting of three divisions . The 17th Georgia remained in Benning ' s Brigade , which was assigned to Hood ' s Division within General Longstreet ' s First Corps . The regiment moved north once more in June and engaged the Federal Army of the Potomac on July 2 , 1863 , at Gettysburg . The regiment was part of the attack on Federals defending the Devil ' s Den at the foot of Little Round Top . That day , Benning ' s Brigade captured 300 prisoners and several 10 - pounder Parrott rifle s . In addition , the brigade ( along with Robertson and Law ' s brigades ) , secured Houck ' s Ridge and Devil ' s Den , driving off Ward ' s brigade of the 1st Division , 3rd Corps , Army of the Potomac ( 124th New York , 86th New York , 99th Pennsylvania , 20th Indiana , and 4th Maine ) . The brigade did not participate in the fight of the third day , but it had lost over 300 men killed and wounded and two more regimental commanders . The 17th Georgia was then shipped to the Western Theater , along with most of Longstreet ' s Corps , and participated in the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 . The 17th also participated in the East Tennessee Campaign , the Wilderness campaign , the Cold Harbor / Mechanicsville campaign , and the Siege of Petersburg . The 17th Georgia surrendered at Appomattox Court House , along with much of the remainder of the Army of Northern Virginia , on April 9 , 1865 . Reenactors . There is currently a living history organization in Columbus , Georgia , that portrays Co . K of the 17th Georgia .