Visitors at fort near Savannah can see flag returned by descendant of Yankee officer, personal items of Rebel officer who grew up nearby

Emmett Rifles flag (left, Georgia State Parks)

For reasons I cannot fully explain, a Civil War artilleryman I blogged about years ago occasionally saunters back into my mind. I find him fascinating.

Maj. William Zoron Clayton joined the Federal army while living in Minnesota, served in numerous campaigns – including Shiloh, Vicksburg, Atlanta and the March to Sea – lost his first wife during the war and moved to his native Maine afterward. He operated several businesses and died at age 94 in Bangor on the eve of the 1929 stock market crash.

The reason I first wrote about Clayton was the decision by his great-grandson, Robert Clayton, of Isleboro, Maine, to return a flag that his ancestor took home as a war trophy. 

Bob Clayton mailed the flag to coastal Georgia -- 147 years after Fort McAllister’s capture.

W.Z. Clayton at some point had expressed hope that the Emmett Rifles flag “be return(ed) to Savannah or Atlanta sometime.”

The flag was unveiled to much fanfare in April 2012 at Fort McAllister State Historic Park, where the Emmett Rifles, a Savannah militia unit, served during the war

I recently called Bob Clayton, 74, to reminisce and to learn more about his ancestor’s siblings who also served during the war.

While W.Z. joined the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery, three brothers served with the 1^st Maine Cavalry. Rufus ended up in Minnesota, where he died in 1900. Collamore died in Minnesota, apparently in 1936. Edmund did not survive the conflict. Wounded at Brandy Station, he was captured two years later and shipped to Andersonville prison in Georgia, where he died of disease in 1864.

Lt. Col. McAllister items

Bob Clayton said his father recalled conversations with an elderly W.Z. Clayton.

“He told me how his grandfather was chasing a Confederate on horseback and the Confederate galloped off the road and came back on it. Because he did that my great-grandfather was able to capture him.”

The veteran spoke about landmines that were placed around Fort McAllister.

“He remembered seeing a train with a bunch of Confederate prisoners heading somewhere and he really felt sorry for them.”

According to a 1900 Grand Army of the Republic account of the Atlanta campaign, Clayton was the chief of artillery for the 4^th Division of the 17^th Corps. He and a signal officer were the first to enter Fort McAllister after its surrender on Dec. 17, 1864, and the Rebel commander surrendered the flag that Clayton kept.

Bob Clayton has a few relics from the war, including a guidon of the 1^st Minnesota and a Bible that belonged to W.Z. The Bible was captured during battle and returned to him decades after the war. Bob has a map of his great-grandfather’s travels during the Civil War, letters and insignia.

Jason Carter, park manager at Fort McAllister, says the Emmett Rifles flag “is kind of a highlight of the tour.” Staff members tell visitors about how the banner disappeared for 150 years and was returned by Clayton, who stopped by the park one day while on vacation and mentioned having it.

Exhibits in museum (Georgia State Parks)

“It’s probably by far the most valuable thing in there,” Carter said of the site’s museum.

The flag is directly across from an exhibit that opened in December 2017.

A saber, spurs, uniform vest and other items belonged to a Confederate officer who served at the fort early in the conflict and is from the family that owned the surrounding property.

The items, including a photograph of Lt. Col. Joseph Longworth McAllister, were donated by descendant Carolyn C. Swiggart, an attorney in Greenwich, Conn.

McAllister, 43, died June 11, 1864, at the Battle of Trevilian Station, a Confederate victory in central Virginia. The lieutenant colonel with the 7^th Georgia Cavalry fought to the last, throwing an emptied gun at Federal troops just before he was cut down by bullets.

Like Bob Clayton, Swiggart has not returned to McAllister since the dedications of their gifts. “I am happy that the objects are ‘back home’ and on display,” she told the Picket this week.

Panorama showing the two exhibits (Georgia State Parks)

Homecoming: Hundreds celebrate return of Civil War battle flag to Georgia fort

• Facebook gallery of the activities

Richmond Hill, Ga. -- With a chorus of "Hip, Hip, Hooray! and the firing of a cannon, Georgia on Saturday officially welcomed home a Civil War battle flag captured nearly 150 years ago.

Robert "Bob" Clayton of Islesboro, Maine, great-grandson of Union artillery Maj. William Zoron Clayton, had the honor of pulling the cannon's lanyard.

Maj. Clayton kept the banner, one of five seized Dec. 13, 1864, when thousands of troops overran 230 Confederate defenders at Fort McAllister, southwest of Savannah.

"In my house it was a war trophy, a piece of fabric," Bob Clayton told park visitors. "It belonged here, not on my wall."

A general contractor, Clayton last year donated the flag to Georgia, which conserved the silk flag and found a prominent position in the museum.

Clayton, 67, was the guest speaker at the unveiling of the Emmett Rifles flag. The Savannah militia unit was one of several that served at McAllister.

The flag was originally presented to the Emmett Rifles by Mary Knox and other women on April 4, 1862.

"Over the years, I would look at the flag and think of the ladies of Savannah stitching the flag," said Clayton, who spoke about 100 yards from the Ogeechee River as pleasure boats sliced the smooth water.

Clayton, speaking outside the museum under Spanish moss and dappled sunlight, carried a small Bible (below) that has a large part in the story of the flag's return.

After moving into his father's house about 20 years ago, Clayton and a son looked through cardboard boxes and discovered old letters and flags, including that of the Emmett Rifles.

He displayed the flag, but over the years was mindful of a note that was stored along with it:

“To be return(ed) to Savannah or Atlanta sometime.”

Also among the family possessions was the Bible the elder Clayton's first wife, who died during the Civil War, gave him when he went off to join the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery. Clayton, a native of Maine, had moved to Minnesota by then to farm.

W.Z. Clayton, then a sergeant, lost the Bible on April 6, 1862, at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, where he was wounded in the thigh. He carried the ball the rest of his life.

The Bible was recovered by a Rebel, and then recaptured by Union forces two years later near Atlanta. The Bible changed hands a couple more times, and eventually was returned to W.Z. Clayton -- more than 50 years after the end of the war. W.Z. Clayton (right) died in Bangor, Maine, at age 94 in 1929. (The Picket will have a more detailed article on the Bible in the next couple of days)

"I think this kind act led to one good turn deserves another," said Bob Clayton.

The descendant told the audience he believes W.Z. Clayton empathized with the outnumbered men in gray who tried to block Sherman's March to the Sea. W.Z. Clayton was allowed to walk into the fort after it was taken because he was then chief of artillery for the 17th Corps.

Fort McAllister guarded the back door to Savannah, engaging in duels with Union ironclads sizing up and trying to soften the defenses on the Ogeechee River.

In the end, that tactic didn't work. Like other river forts during the Civil War, McAllister's garrison fell to land troops.

A couple of years ago, the younger Clayton visited Fort McAllister while vacationing in Charleston, S.C.

He spoke with Fort McAllister State Historic Park manager Danny Brown.

"What would you think if I said the Emmett Rifles flag is hanging on my living room wall?" Clayton recalls telling Brown.

Brown on Saturday recognized Bob Clayton for the donation.

"In all the time of my career, 34 years, I have never had someone return a battle flag to us," Brown said.

Four other flags were captured by the Federals that day. One of the garrison flags is in the museum. A Clinch Rifles flag is privately held, and a Confederate national flag is at the state Capitol in Atlanta. The identity and whereabouts of the fifth flag is not known.

Saturday's celebration included music, musket and artillery demonstrations and drilling and talks by a few dozen re-enactors and living historians who portrayed the Emmett Rifles. Patrons also took in a screening of a new documentary, "Savannah in the Civil War." (Photo above, bugler Buddy Jowers)

Previous Picket coverage on the flag return:
• Detailed photos of the returned Confederate flag
• A closer look at Savannah's Emmett Rifles
• Profile of Union officer who captured flag

Part 3 of returned flag: Yankee officer from Maine lived a truly American life

The Picket previously reported on a descendant of a Union officer returning a captured flag to Fort McAllister, Ga., which defended Savannah during the Civil War. A second installment provided a closer look at the Emmett Rifles, to whom the flag belonged. This concluding report describes the amazing life of that Union artillery officer (photo below).

Accompanied by a signal officer, Maj. William Z. Clayton, 29, trudged into Fort McAllister on Dec, 13, 1864, the first Union soldiers to enter the overrun fortification near Savannah.

Garrison commander Maj. George Anderson placed at least five flags -- including that of the Emmett Rifles militia unit -- into Clayton’s hands, weathered by years of farming and soldiering.

The honor of receiving tokens of surrender must have been bittersweet for Clayton.

Clayton’s first wife, Lizzie, died of tuberculosis in May 1864. Clayton may not have yet known that Edmund, the older of his three brothers to serve in the Union cavalry, had died in October 1864 at Andersonville prison camp which, like McAllister, was in Georgia.

Besides a heavy heart, Clayton carried into the earthen fortification on the Ogeechee River a musket or rifle ball in his left thigh, a wound he suffered at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, when his unit made a heroic stand.

Having two horses shot from beneath him at Shiloh, Clayton would suffer other privations and see countless men succumb to horrific wounds or disease in the following three years.

His unit, First Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery, served at Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg, Kennesaw, Ezra Church and Atlanta, among other campaigns, before joining Major Gen. William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea.

After the fall of Savannah, Clayton carried with him the Emmett Rifles flag during the war’s concluding battles in the Carolinas, including Bentonville, N.C, in March 1865.

Clayton and his descendants kept the silk banner in Illinois and Maine for nearly 150 years, until a great-grandson, Robert “Bob” Clayton, earlier this year made good on his ancestor’s wish to have it returned one day to Georgia.

The flag was recently conserved by the state and will be formally dedicated March 15, 2012, at Fort McAllister Historic Park, according to park manager Daniel Brown. Bob Clayton is among the invitees.

Clayton’s is the story of hundreds of thousands others who fought for the blue and gray: Young men who left family farms and joined military units, hoping to share in the grand adventure.

The artilleryman wrote Lizzie less than two weeks before he saw action at Shiloh’s famed Hornet’s Nest (right).

“I think this is going to be the final blow to Rebellion and if so we shall be discharged this summer some time,” Clayton wrote near Pittsburg Landing, Tenn.

His prediction was not to be.

He took up a plow, then weapon

William Z. Clayton packed a full life into his 94 years, winning praise as a soldier, businessman and public servant.

He was a land speculator, farmer, undertaker, grocer, lumber yard owner and liquor agent. A prominent citizen in Bangor, Maine, Clayton served on various city boards. He was a longtime member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the preeminent Union veterans organization.

Clayton lived the quintessential American life, traveling west from Maine while only 19, caught up in the pioneer spirit of the times.

After first going to Wisconsin, he settled in southern Minnesota and worked the land. Clayton Township, east of Austin, Minnesota, was renamed in his honor in 1873.

According to an 1884 document housed in the Austin (Minn.) Public Library, “The soil is a dark, rich loam,” ideal for growing grass and cereal crops.

The Civil War broke out in 1861, when Clayton was 25. The First Battery of Minnesota Light Artillery was mustered at Fort Snelling on Nov. 21, 1861, and was issued two 12-pound howitzers and four brass-rifled Parrott guns.

The unit traveled to Paducah, Kentucky, in early spring 1862. It would face its first real test April 6-7 at Shiloh.

Crushing the 'monster'

Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston chose Corinth, Miss., a major transportation center, as the staging area for an offensive after the fall of forts Henry and Donelson to Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (below) and his Army of the Tennessee.

Federal forces, including Clayton’s battery, were rushed to the region.

On March 26, 1862, the young sergeant wrote to Lizzie back home in Minnesota.

Clayton described a long boat ride and eating raw pork and hard bread.

“When we got to Pittsburg Landing we found plenty of unburied rebels that the gunboats had killed which preceeded (sic) us,” he said in one letter, part of a Minnesota Historical Society collection.

Clayton expected a fight.

“We have got 85 rounds of shot for each gun and we think we shall begin to throw some of them in a few days,” he wrote. “I shall be glad when the monster is crushed for it is a curse to our Country.”

The light artillery unit drilled in 10-acre field with five to eight other batteries. Horses glistened with sweat in the warm spring weather.

“We may be well-drilled but when it comes to the tug of battle we may not be what we think we are. I know of one that can run if Secesh gits (sic) after him and I have a Horse that can fly. But we expect to whip them and are bound to. These woods will be strewn with the dead if we do not whip them,” Clayton wrote his wife.

He likened the Southern rebellion to a “poisonous serpent.”

Already wounded, escaping death

On the morning of April 6, Johnston attacked and surprised Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh) before Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell Army of Ohio could join him.

Some Federals made determined stands and by afternoon, they had established a battle line at the sunken road, known as the “Hornet’s Nest,” according to the National Park Service. Repeated Rebel attacks failed to carry the Hornet’s Nest, but massed artillery helped to turn the tide as Confederates surrounded the Union troops and captured, killed or wounded most.

Clayton later wrote at least two letters about the Hornet’s Nest to his parents in Maine.

In the first, he told them he was hobbling around on clutches as he convalesced.

“Mother you need not give yourself any uneasyness (sic) about me for the Ladies of this place are doing everything for our comfort that a mother do,” the soldier wrote from a St. Louis hospital. “The ball in my leg does not trouble me much. If it ever troubles me I will have it cut out.”

His correspondence in June 1862 gave a gritty and riveting account of the Shiloh battle.

Before the fighting, Clayton endured two weeks of the “Tennessee Quick Step,” the soldiers’ moniker for dysentery and diarrhea.

The sergeant was trying to fill his canteen at a spring on the morning of April 6 when the unit was told to get the battery ready for action.

They received heavy Rebel fire. A captain had his horse shot from under him and a driver was killed instantly by a ball through the head. Although the battery was “belching fourth their messingers (sic) of death,” the unit had to retreat because of a lack of infantry support, Clayton wrote.

Confederates attacked with fixed bayonets.

“We should have lost everything there and all been taken prisoners in a moment more.”

Clayton spied a cavalry horse with an empty saddle and rode it until the steed was fatally wounded by a shot to the shoulder.

The battery regrouped on a dirt road near Duncan Field and received support from Iowa troops. It poured canister and double canister into attacking waves of Confederates for six hours at the Hornet’s Nest (monument, above).

“We gave them shot and shell as fast as they could receive it.”

But the Confederates killed horses and sharpshooters began to pick off cannoneers.

Clayton first suffered a flesh wound in one of his lower legs late in the afternoon. Then came the more serious injury.

“I saw one of my best boys fall and in came a shot and killed my horse and I jumped from him and just as I raised to my feet I received my wound,” he wrote. The round “paralised” his left leg and he sat against a tree, revolver drawn because he expected to be bayoneted. Clayton witnessed others being shot.

“I looked towards the guns and as I peaked out from the tree a ball struck the tree right in the rainge (sic) of my face but it struck the tree just far enough to glance the ball and carry it by my face knocking the bark into my face. My gunner was with me and jerked me back.”

The Minnesotans, unlike thousands of others in blue, avoided capture at Shiloh. A general wrote that Clayton should be promoted for his service that day.

Buell’s army arrived that night. Johnston had been mortally wounded earlier and his second in command, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, took over, plotting the next day’s action.

“Beauregard ordered a counterattack, which stopped the Union advance but did not break its battle line,” according to the National Park Service battle summary. “At this point, Beauregard realized that he could not win and, having suffered too many casualties, he retired from the field and headed back to Corinth.”

The Union won a costly victory.

“He carried the ball in his leg the rest of his life,” Bob Clayton, who lives in Isleboro, Maine, said of his great-grandfather.

Amazing return of Bible

Lizzie gave William a Bible before Shiloh.

The soldier wrote of losing gear, including the Bible, when Confederates overran his battery’s camp early in the fighting.

A Confederate officer wrote his name in the Bible, according to Bob Clayton.

A Union soldier apparently got possession of the book in Atlanta. He mailed it to the elder Clayton in Maine.

William Z. Clayton was promoted lieutenant after Shiloh and replaced Capt. Emil Munch -- seriously wounded at the Hornet’s Nest -- as battery commander. He later became a captain and brevet major.

The Minnesota battery saw action in most of the major western campaigns that followed Shiloh. A plaque (left) at Vicksburg lists Clayton’s contributions and he wrote reports after fighting at Kennesaw Mountain and Ezra Church during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign. By then, the First Battery had new 3-inch rifle Rodman guns.

Clayton was promoted to chief of artillery for the Fourth Division, 17th Army Corps, and rode from Atlanta in early autumn 1864 toward his date with destiny at Fort McAllister.

Fort stood up to ironclads, not infantry

Fort McAllister stood as a stubborn sentinel on the Ogeechee River. As long as it held, Sherman would have a tough time resupplying his army as he besieged Savannah in December 1864. McAllister also provided access to vital bridges and railroads.

Among the scant defenders by this time were the Emmett Rifles, Company F, 22nd Battalion, Georgia Heavy Artillery, formed before the war in Savannah.

The Rifles normally comprised between 50 and 95 members. Although they first believed they would serve in the infantry, the company served as artillerymen.

“A large part of the fort is still there,” said Roger S. Durham, author of “Guardian of Savannah,” a book about McAllister.

Unlike the brick and supposedly impregnable Fort Pulaski on the Savannah River, McAllister had a unique design of earthworks that thwarted the Union navy during seven assaults. But it was designed to fight ships, not large numbers of troops.

Its low, shell-resistant walls and earth and sand construction made it easier to repair after naval assaults.

But malaria, isolation and boredom were tough on the garrison, which could take cover in a central bombproof.

“It was not a pleasure cruise,” according to Durham.

During 1862 and 1863, Fort McAllister repelled seven Union naval attacks by elements of the blockading forces offshore and in nearby Ossabaw Sound, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

The Emmett Rifles flag includes two dates: Feb. 1, 1863, when the ironclad USS Montauk led an attack, and March 3, 1863, when the Confederates rebuffed four ironclads whose weapons damaged the fort during an eight-hour bombardment.

McAllister commander Maj. John B. Gallie died during the Montauk attack. The fort’s beloved pet mascot, Tom Cat, died during the March 3 combat.

“The death of the cat was deeply regretted by the men, and news of the fatality was communicated to General Beauregard in the official report of the action,” according to a historic marker at the site.

Sherman’s March to the Sea spelled doom for Fort McAllister and, soon after, Savannah.

On Dec. 13, 1864, more than 3,000 forces in blue overwhelmed the 230 defenders at Fort McAllister. Only 25 members of the Emmett Rifles were on duty. The fight was over in 15 minutes.

After horrors of war, a long life

The war, of course, was not quite over when Sherman delivered Savannah to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas present.

The army chased and battled Confederate units in the Carolinas over the next three months.

Clayton received the honor of leading a 100-gun salute when the Union flag was unfurled over the South Carolina Capitol in Columbia. He was chosen by Sherman in “recognition of his gallant and distinguished services.”

The Minnesota artillery unit fought its last major battle at Bentonville and participated in the army’s Grand Review in Washington after the war ended.

Clayton and his comrades were mustered out July 1, 1865, back at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis.

The veteran married Laurette Knowles and had six children, including son Charles, who operated the family’s 2,000 acres and cattle at Clayton Township.

Clayton worked the summers in Minnesota and winters in Bangor until his later years, when he lived full time in Maine. He died there in 1929.

In January 1900, a fellow member of the Grand Army of the Republic wrote a letter in support of Clayton’s candidacy to lead the state chapter (department).

“A gallant and distinguished soldier of the Union Army, an honorable and estimable citizen of the State of Maine, a fraternal, charitable and loyal comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic, we present him as a candidate on the platform of his public record and his private worth and ask our comrades to join with us in giving effect to the recommendation of his old commander, ‘he ought to be promoted.’”

Clayton won his last promotion.

Photos of First Minnesota Battery flag and of veterans next to artillery piece courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society

The computer ate my homework ...

You may recall the first two of three Picket articles on a Savannah militia unit's flag being returned to Fort McAllister in Georgia.

I had my notes ready to go for part three, concentrating on the Union soldier who ended up with the flag after the fort fell to Union forces in December 1864. My computer decided to take a long breather and I had no backup, except for some printed notes (yes, there is a lesson here).

Regardless, I will have it posted before the end of the month -- promise. In the meantime, here are the first two reports:

• Maine resident returns flag to Ga.
• Southerners rushed to join home units

Part 2 of flag returned 147 years later: Savannah militia units were caught up in war fever

Last month, the Picket reported on a descendant of a Union officer returning a captured flag to Fort McAllister, Ga., which defended Savannah during the Civil War. The flag belonged to the Emmett Rifles, a volunteer militia company. This installment provides a closer look at the Rifles and the Republican Blues, with whom they served.

What a parade it was. Onlookers lined the streets of Manhattan, curious about these dashing young men who had just arrived from the South.

Dressed in woolen uniforms and toting knapsacks, Savannah’s Republican Blues marched smartly to the sounds of their own band as they made a grand entrance, writes Jacqueline Jones, author of “Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War.”

The venerable volunteer militia unit enjoyed all that New York society could offer that week in July 1860. As guests of the New York Light Guards, the company wined and dined, marched, drilled and enjoyed ceremonial dinners and receptions. Their tall plumed bearskin hats, dark blue dress coats and white pants made them look almost regal.

The Republican Blues, the New York Times gushed, boasted “some of the wealthiest and most honored citizens of Savannah.”

At the time, it wasn’t uncommon for exclusive companies to travel to other cities, where they enjoyed the camaraderie of their fellow armed and uniformed volunteers. After all, Jones writes, white elites of the North and South shared kinship and educational and business ties.

The Blues sailed back to Savannah to find a region in turmoil, martial spirit growing as the country began to split. The election of a Republican president appeared more and more likely. Abolitionists railed against slavery as Southern politicians defended states rights.

A rush to enlist in the militias

One of the oldest and renowned militias in Savannah, the Blues had a rich history.

They saw service in Florida during the War of 1812.

“The unit’s members were professional, well-drilled, and prepared to defend the nation, the Constitution, their state, and their community,” writes Roger S. Durham in “The Blues in Gray.”

“Over the years, membership in the Republican Blues became a tradition passed from father to son, from generation to generation, and as such, the ties that bound these men together became very strong,” according to Durham.

Volunteer militia units, largely made up by immigrant groups, particularly the Irish, saw their ranks swell in the months leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.

In the summer of 1860, young men rushed to join the Blues, Oglethorpe Light Infantry, Georgia Hussars, the Jasper Greens, Montgomery Guards, among other companies – and a new group, the Emmett Rifles.

Augustus Bonaud, a Frenchman from Marseilles, organized the Emmett Rifles and served as its commander for more than two years.

“They were more or less formed in the war fever,” said Jim Dunigan, 31, of Savannah, who participates in the Republican Blues and Emmett Rifles (left) living history group programs at Fort McAllister and other locations.

The Blues were among the better trained and professional of the militia units, akin to the National Guard of today.

Jones depicts prewar Savannah as a city determined to uphold its society and plantation-based economy.

“Together, with the fire companies, the militias provided white men with the near-universal experience of parading and drilling, and provided many bankers and hotel keepers with the title of lieutenant or colonel – testament to the overwhelming physical force that undergirded the system of slavery,” she writes.

In November 1860, Jones writes, the Blues unveiled a secession flag. Imprinted on the flag was a coiled snake and the words “Don’t Tread on Me.”

The drums of war were quickening.

Militia companies, part of the First Regiment Georgia Volunteers, seized Fort Pulaski (right) in early 1861 shortly before Georgia voted to secede from the union.

But after the fall of Hilton Head, S.C., Confederate coastal strategy was rethought. Savannah could be defended, but Georgia cities such as Darien and Brunswick, closer to Union warships, could not. Georgia’s barrier islands were abandoned in late 1861.

Durham’s book features the Civil War journal of William Daniel Dixon, a leader in the showcase Blues.

After firing the first shots in defense in Georgia and serving at Pulaski and Tybee Island, the Blues were deployed to Fort Jackson, on the edge of Savannah. They were soon joined by the Emmett Rifles.

Drilling, drilling and more drilling

The Rifles comprised between 50 and 95 members throughout the war. Although they first believed they would serve in the infantry, the company, like the Blues, served as artillerymen at Jackson and, later, at Fort McAllister, the vital fort southwest of Savannah on the Ogeechee River.

Service was not easy. Malaria and other diseases were prevalent, stalking soldiers and civilians like. Daily routines included mustering and drilling.

The dreariness of garrison duty and other distractions occasionally took their toll. Dixon’s journal provides accounts of drunkenness, absence without leave and desertion. According to Dunigan, the Emmetts did not maintain their equipment well and were not considered an elite unit.

Still, "they gave (of) themselves for the defense of the city," Dunigan told the Picket.

"They were not tested in combat until the naval attacks at Fort McAllister and to all accounts they stood up to it manfully, shoulder to shoulder with the Blues," according to Durham.

At Fort Jackson, on April 4, 1862, four months before they were sent to McAllister in the first of two deployments, the Rifles hosted a group of Savannah women who had supported the troops.

Officers of the company “drafted resolutions expressive of our thanks to our lady friends for their kindness shown towards the Company,” according to an article in the April 7, 1862, issue of the Daily Morning News of Savannah.

“We tender to Miss Mary Knox our sincerest thanks for the beautiful banner presented by her to the company.”

The banner was the flag returned earlier this year to Fort McAllister.

The newspaper also made note of “Glorious News from the West.” Confederate forces garnered a decisive victory against the Federals at Corinth, Miss., according to the article.

The fighting coincided with the Battle of Shiloh, which Dixon wrote was a complete victory for the South. Historians consider the outcome essentially a Union victory.

On Dec. 13, 1864, shortly before Savannah fell, the Emmett Rifles would lose their flag to a Union officer who fought at Shiloh.

Credits: Sketch of Republican Blues in camp appeared in Harper's Weekly; photo of Emmett Rifles living history group, courtesy of Jim Dunigan; newspaper article, courtesy of Georgia Historical Society.

READ PART 3: The man who returned the flag, William Zoron Clayton, was wounded at Shiloh, led a full life.