The Appling Grays were organized on July 6, 1861 as a volunteer company at
Holmesville, Georgia. The first officers were Captain Osgood A. Lee, 1st
lieutenant Alfred S. Hall, 2nd lieutenant Lawrence W. Clay and 2nd lieutenant
Dr. Zedekiah W. Little.
The Appling Grays practiced their drills in preparation for being sent into war
at an old camp meeting ground known as Campground. It was located near Bishop
Creek about three miles South of the present town of
Graham. It has been told that they were so anxious to go into action that
instead of waiting to be supplied with uniforms by the government that they
hired a tailor to come and cut out the uniforms and the wives, sisters and
sweethearts sewed their uniforms while they drilled.
The company departed Appling County on August 27, 1861 for instruction at Camp
Stevens in Griffin, Georgia. There it was organized as Company "I" of
the 27th Regiment in the Georgia Volunteer Infantry. This Regiment was composed
of men from Henry, Pike, Bibb, Jackson, Taylor,
Talbot, Appling, Quitman and Clay counties. It shipped out to Richmond Virginia
in October of 1861 and totaled 428 men in 1862. It was assigned to General
Winfield Scott Featherston's Brigade. It was later
commanded by General Gabriel Rains, and after
September 1, 1862 by General Alfred Holt Colquitt and was part of Colquitt's
Brigade along with the 6th Georgia. The regiment was in D. H. Hill's division
and later in Jackson's corps.
The regiment was prominent on many battlefields in the Virginia theater as a part of the Army of Northern Virginia. It was
engaged in battles at Yorktown, Williamsburg, and Seven Pines (Fair Oaks). At
Seven Pines the Grays distinguished themselves in action and were part of the
two regiments that overran the enemy lines thus forcing them to retreat in
defeat. In this action the Grays' Captain Osgood A. Lee was killed while
leading his company. Elisha Duncan Graham was elected Captain in his place.
They were at Mechanicsville, Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines Mill, Cold Harbor, Chickahominy, Glendale, Frazier's Farm, Charles City Cross
Roads, New Market Cross Roads, Willis Church, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill
in the Seven Days battle around Richmond. They also fought in Maryland in
September 1862. They helped hold Turner's Gap at the battle of South Mountain.
Three days later they were in the thick of the battle at Sharpsburg (Antietum), where they were in the "cornfield", at
Hagerstown Pike and helped to hold out on Hill's left flank at "Bloody
Lane". The Grays were lightly engaged at Fredericksburg in December, 1862
The 27th had been in D. H. Hill's Division until he was reassigned to North
Carolina in May of 1863 when they became part of Robert Rhodes' Division. In
May of 1863 Colquitt's Brigade was in the Battle of Chancellorsville where it
sustained 31 causalities. As a unit of Jackson's Corps, Colquitt's Brigade took
the lead in the great flank march that surprised and routed half of Hooker's
Army. Very Shortly after that battle, Lee transferred the depleted Brigade to
Hill in North Carolina. They served in defense of the Georgia, Florida and
Carolina coast including being stationed on the beach in front of Battery
Wagner after the assault on by Union forces. The Appling Grays and the 27th
Georgia were instrumental in the Confederate Victory at the Battle of Olustee
(Ocean Pond), Florida February 20, 1864.
The 27th Georgia returned to Virginia for the 1864 Spring
campaign with General Lee. They fought in the following battles: Drewry's Bluff, Spotsylvania, 2nd
Cold Harbor. During the siege of Petersburg the Appling Grays helped to hold
Colquitt's Salient and were at the battle of the Crater. They were involved in
holding Richmond in late 1864 and were active in the battles at Weldon Railroad
and Fort Harrison.
They Grays were then in battles at Fort Fisher, Wilmington, Kinston, Averysboro and Sugarloaf in North Carolina. In 1865 the
27th Georgia fought under General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of Tennessee
at Bentonville in North Carolina and surrendered with him at Greensboro, North
Carolina on April 26, 1865