The 49th Georgia Infantry, composed of companies from ten central and south Georgia counties, was originally organized at Camp Davis at Guyton, on the Central of Georgia Railway. From Guyton, near Savannah, the 49th was hurried north by rail to Goldsborough, N. C., where their military drilling was completed almost before it began. Brief the training was, as the regiment was quickly called on to the defense of Richmond, arriving in the Confederate capital on May 28.

The events leading to the hurried mobilization northward began on March 23, barely two weeks after Gainer's enlistment, when the commander of the Union army in the east,

General George B. McClellan, began landing troops at the tip of the Virginia "peninsula." To meet the threat growing at Yorktown, between the mouths of the York and James Rivers, President Jefferson Davis' chief military advisor, General Robert E. Lee, moved elements of Johnston's Army of Northern Virginia south from positions along the Rapidan River.

Arriving at the Confederate lines held near Yorktown by General John B. Magruder's small force, Johnston immediately declared the position untenable. Over the following month, each time McClellan prepared to attack Johnston he found his adversary had pulled back toward Richmond. By May 26, when Lee finally met with Johnston to ascertain his plans, McClellan's forward lines were within six miles of downtown Richmond where his troops could hear church tower clocks striking each hour.

Fearing the transfer of additional Union troops if he waited any longer, an event which would have brought McClellan's numerical advantage to three to one, Johnston advised Lee that he had at last decided to attack. On May 28, the day the Pulaski Greys and the rest of the 49th Georgia arrived at Richmond, they were immediately assigned to a newly formed, but undersized, division later dubbed the "Light Division." The Light Division was the first division command of General Ambrose P. Hill and their names remained linked throughout the war.

Johnston's plan called for A. P. Hill's new troops to join General G. W. Smith's division on May 29 for an advance north across the Chickahominy River toward Mechanicsville. When news arrived that morning, however, that the Union troops north of the Rapidan were not en route to join McClellan, the green 49th was spared its baptism of fire. Johnston instead planned to assault the single Federal corps south of the Chickahominy, that of General E. D. Keyes, camped east of Richmond at the hamlet of Seven Pines. After heavy rains all night on May 30, the rebels began to move east on three roads leading toward Seven Pines. Movement along the Nine-mile, Williamsburg, and Charles City Roads was snarled and slow delaying the engagement until midafternoon. While the 49th and the rest of A. P. Hill's division remained north of the Chickahominy, on the Confederate left, guarding the swollen river crossings from Federal advance, the bungled battle known as Seven Pines was fought to a stalemate. Confederate advances near Seven Pines were more or less offset by Federal gains two miles north at the York River Railroad station at Fair Oaks.

As the battle sputtered to a close near sundown Johnston rode his horse forward to give his men the order to sleep in their lines of battle for the next day's resumption of fighting. Near the front he was struck by a shell fragment, unhorsed and seriously wounded. Returning that evening to Richmond from Johnston's headquarters, President Davis prevailed upon General Lee to take field command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Following the close of the Seven Pines battle, having been spared the intensity of that conflict, the 49th Georgia remained on guard at crossings along the Chickahominy River until June 26. Here they were joined by three other Georgia regiments, the 14th, 35th, and 45th, to form the brigade of General Joseph R. Anderson. Fully integrated with the rest of the army now, they awaited the new commander's plan of action.

In mid-June Lee arrived at his plan and began to implement it. After considering and rejecting Johnston's Seven Pines strategy, i. e., frontal assault below the Chickahominy, Lee determined to aim his offensive at McClellan's supply base north of the Chickahominy at White House Landing on the Pamunkey River, upstream from the York. A strike north of the Chickahominy would fall upon McClellan's only corps there, General Fitz John Porter's.

On June 16 Lee ordered General Thomas J. Jackson to bring his army from the Shenandoah Valley to join the peninsula offensive. With Jackson's 18,500 men and another 6500 up from North Carolina with General T. H. Holmes, Lee narrowed his odds to about 85,000 Confederates facing 105,000 Federals, split by the river. He hoped to hold McClellan's force of 75,000 south of the river in check with 30,000 of his own, while throwing 55,000 men in the divisions of Jackson, James Longstreet, D. H. Hill, and A. P.Hill down the north bank of the river, crushing Porter, and cutting McClellan off from his base at White House Landing.

By June 25 McClellan had learned of Jackson's approach and begun fortifying Porter's positions north of the Chickahominy. Unknown to Lee, McClellan also ordered transport ships to begin removing supplies from White House Landing, down the Pamunkey and York and up the James River to Harrison's Landing, in the event he could not hold on north of the Chickahominy.

The Seven Days' Battles began with a heavy skirmish south of the Chickahominy provoked by McClellan on the 25th. Lee ordered his attack to commence on the 26th even though Jackson's men were still hard on the march, many miles from the point of attack. The redhaired and redbearded A. P. Hill had donned his customary red wool battle shirt at 8:00 a. m. as the Light Division awaited word that Jackson was in position on their left.

At 2:00 p. m., having held his division in check for seven hours with no word from Jackson, Hill ordered his men to commence crossing the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge. The Light Division pushed rapidly through Mechanicsville, forcing the Federals back toward prepared defensive positions along Beaver Dam Creek.

With dust clouds to the north signalling that Jackson's approach was at hand, Hill ordered his inexperienced troops to assault the Beaver Dam Creek fortifications. They were followed in turn by both Longstreet and D. H. Hill. In the fighting which followed, however, they were never joined by Jackson's division. Reaching Hundley's Corner, just three miles from the fighting, Jackson halted his men's tiresome march.

Hill's advance at Beaver Dam Creek was met and repulsed by Porter. Though the assault was all futility, Anderson's brigade was distinguished. The 49th Regiment had a bloody introduction to war's reality at Beaver Dam Creek, its colonel, A. J. Lane, becoming one of the first members of the regiment wounded in battle.

In later reflections on that day at Mechanicsville, D. H. Hill said, "We were lavish of blood in those days, and it was thought to be a great thing to charge a battery of artillery or an earthworks lined with infantry . . . . The attacks on the Beaver Dam entrenchments were the kind of grandeur which the South could not afford."

By nightfall the battle drew to a close, leaving both Lee and Richmond in precarious positions. At 3:00 a. m. on the 27th, however, Porter's corps was on the march six miles down river to an even more favorable position, east of Powhite Creek. After sunrise the Light Division again led off the advance toward the previous day's Union positions. Along Beaver Dam Creek, however, they found only skirmishers left behind by Porter

and quickly scattered them. Following after Porter, Hill's men moved down along the

Chickahominy, encountering the first Federal resistance at Gaines Mill. From 12:30 to

2:00 p. m. Hill's men struggled before forcing their way across Powhite Creek.

Expecting to soon be joined by the divisions of D. H. Hill, Longstreet, and Jackson,

approaching on a northerly march around Porter's right toward Cold Harbor, Hill again

forced a desperate attempt to break the Federal lines with his green division. Porter's

army held strong positions on high ground east of the creek, a swampy mire called

Boatswain Swamp between them and their pursuers. Anderson's young Georgia

brigade again found itself in the midst of the fighting, which Hill described thusly: "My

division was . . . engaged [a] full two hours before assistance was received. We failed to

carry the enemy's lines, but paved the way for the successful attacks afterward."

The successful advance to which he referred came after 4:00 p. m. when Longstreet

took up positions to Hill's right and Jackson and D. H. Hill approached from the left. Lee

ordered an all out assault and the Federal center was breached by General John Bell

Hood's Texas brigade. Yet again, at dawn on June 28, Porter was found to have

successfully withdrawn, this time abandoning the north bank of the Chickahominy and

burning the bridges behind him. Lee's way was open to White House Landing and

McClellan's threat north of the Chickahominy was ended.

By all accounts the affairs at Gaines Mill and Boatswain Swamp had been

Confederate victories, though the cost was high and the result of questionable value,

given the consolidation of Federal forces south of the river. Confederate losses for the

two days came to 8500, while Union casualties were counted at 6837.

Saturday, June 28, passed in uneasy silence for the rebels north of the Chickahominy.

Unsure of McClellan's intentions, the rebel soldiers spent the day wandering the field in

search of lost comrades, burying those found fallen, and sleeping away their

accumulated fatigue.

Early Sunday came information confirming McClellan's movement south toward the

James River. Lee decided to attack the Federal column at its point of greatest peril, as

it crossed White Oak Swamp. Magruder's division, to be supported by Jackson and D.

H. Hill, was ordered to attack the Federal rear north of the swamp on Sunday afternoon,

June 29, while General Benjamin Huger, supported by Longstreet and A. P. Hill, moved

south of the swamp toward the head of the Union column for a Monday attack.

Late on Sunday Magruder reached his point of junction with Jackson, but Jackson

was not there to join him. After a lengthy wait, Magruder's division, including Marion

Gainer's veteran 8th Georgia Regiment, pressed on alone toward the swamp, only to be

repeatedly repulsed in fighting at Savage Station.

All afternoon Jackson's division mysteriously remained north of the Chickahominy

despite the fighting near at hand. Overnight the last of McClellan's army passed across

the swamp and Lee had lost another opportunity to deal with McClellan in parts.

On Monday, June 30, Lee had his last clear shot at McClellan, no longer divided, but

still on open ground. As previously planned, Longstreet and A. P. Hill moved toward the

Glendale crossroads on Darbytown Road, with Huger and Holmes along their flanks on

parallel paths. At midafternoon Lee had still no word from Holmes or Huger. Jackson,

with his own and D. H. Hill's divisions, again failed to cross White Oak Swamp in pursuit

of the Federal rear at White Oak Bridge or at a nearby, lightly defended ford. Fearing

the loss of the day's opportunity, Lee sent Longstreet first, then A. P. Hill, forward south

of Glendale at Frayser's Farm.

Anderson's brigade was held until near the end of the battle at Frayser's Farm. Just

as they started into the fray President Davis rode along their line urging the 49th

Georgia and the other regiments forward. As they advanced in the growing darkness

they marched into the midst of a concentration of Union troops they mistook for friends.

When contact was made the mistake proved deadly. General Anderson was wounded

and brigade command passed on to Colonel E. L. Thomas.

In the two hours of fighting before sundown at Frayser's Farm the rebels carried the

field, but with heavy losses. Moreover, the victory came too late to have real meaning, as

the Federal supply train reached the James at about the time the fighting, essentially a

rear guard action from the Union point of view, had begun.

At dawn on July 1, the last of the Seven Days, the Union lines at Glendale had been

abandoned. Thirteen Confederate divisions crowded into one narrow roadway to pursue

them southward. At 1:30 p. m. the lead elements faced Union artillery hub to hub along

the heights at Malvern Hill.

Hoping the long week of fighting and retreating had finally strained the Federals to a

breaking point, Lee ordered the final attack of the campaign. He arrayed Jackson, D. H.

Hill, and Huger from left to right, holding Longstreet and A. P. Hill's divisions in reserve.

What was now Thomas' brigade, including the Pulaski Greys, remained in position

along the Darbytown Road, never directly engaged as the Confederate artillery was

smashed by the superior Union guns and the infantry charges of D. H. Hill, Huger, and

Magruder were repulsed.

In the aftermath of his victory at Malvern Hill, McClellan again fell back, this time on

July 2 to Harrison's Landing on the James, where he was protected by the guns of the

Union fleet. In the days that followed, Lee also pulled back, to positions nearer

Richmond.

While McClellan waited at Harrison's Landing, the intentions of three other large

Federal forces remained for Lee to consider: General John Pope's army near

Manassas, a second force at Fredericksburg, and Burnside's force still aboard

transport ships at Fort Monroe awaiting deployment wherever the best opportunity

presented itself.

During this first week after Malvern Hill Lee reorganized his army into seven divisions

composing two disparately sized "wings" or corps, the larger five-division group

assigned to Longstreet. Jackson's smaller corps was originally composed only of his

own former division and that of General Richard Ewell.

On July 12 the waiting for an indication of Union strategy ended as Pope moved south

on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad to occupy Culpeper, thirty miles north of the

Virginia Central railroad hub at Gordonsville. Here any Union advance threatened to

sever the rail link between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley. In response, Lee

hurried Jackson and Ewell north by rail. By July 19 Jackson was in Gordonsville and

calling for additional troops with which to engage Pope. Lee responded by sending the

Light Division, answering Jackson's request and resolving a growing feud between

Longstreet and Hill.

On July 27 Lt. Gainer, the 49th Georgia, and the balance of Thomas' brigade were on

their way to join Jackson. For some it was the beginning of their role in the glory of the

Army of Northern Virginia, but for Gainer July 27 was the first day of the last month of his

life.

Burnside's Federal division began unloading from transports at Aquia Creek near

Fredericksburg on July 31. On August 3 the balance of McClellan's peninsula army was

striking camp at Harrison's Landing for transport to the same northern Virginia

rendezvous.

An August 6 demonstration by McClellan before Confederate pickets at Malvern Hill,

followed by no advance, convinced Lee that the Union forces were preparing to

withdraw. On the 7th he wired Jackson to advance against Pope before his 44,000

troops near Culpeper were reinforced. His thinking one day ahead of Lee's, however,

Jackson had already moved north and occupied Orange on the date of Lee's order.

On August 8 Jackson led his corps, now numbering 25,000 with the addition of Hill,

north across the Rapidan River, while Pope sent an 8000-man Federal division south

from Culpeper to meet and stall the advance. Jackson, already quarreling with Hill, kept

his plans secret from all of his subordinates. Partly in consequence of this secrecy, the

march north on the 8th and the morning of the 9th was confused and delayed.

The Confederates were badly strung out, with Hill far to the rear, when, near 2:00 p. m.

on the afternoon of August 9, the head of their column encountered General Nathaniel P.

Banks' Federals west of Cedar Mountain. A long range artillery duel erupted and lasted

till after 4:00 while Jackson awaited Hill's troops' arrival.

Shortly after 4:00 the artillery battle died and a furious Union assault crashed through

the Confederate left. Jackson rallied and stiffened the resistance there just as Hill's

division arrived. The Light Division opened ranks, allowing their whipped comrades to

fall back, then attacked with a vigor that threw back the Union advance which had so

nearly swamped Jackson's left.

Hill's division, Thomas' brigade among them, routed and pursued the Federals

beyond twilight. When Jackson at last called off the pursuit, within six miles of Pope's

main force at Culpeper, Union losses had amounted to 2381, Confederate to 1276. In

his report on the battle at Cedar Mountain, Hill mentioned Thomas' Georgians

prominently:

"Thomas formed his line of battle along a fence bordering a cornfield, through which

the enemy were advancing. After a short contest here, the enemy was hurled back. . . .

The enemy had now been driven from every part of the field, but made an attempt to

retrieve his fortunes by a cavalry charge. . . . Much credit is due Thomas' brigade for the

admirable manner in which it acted under very discouraging circumstances."

After two days of uneasy proximity Jackson fell back toward Gordonsville on the 12th,

claiming a victory but leaving the strategic situation much as it had been before Cedar

Mountain. A day later, sure of McClellan's final withdrawal from the peninsula, Lee

ordered Longstreet's corps north and followed them to Gordonsville.

After Lee's arrival at Gordonsville a series of Confederate maneuvers, aimed at

trapping Pope between the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers, came to naught. By

Sunday August 24 it was clear to Lee that Pope now had thousands of extra troops

close by at Fredericksburg and that it would be necessary to take an action which would

prevent the junction of the Union armies.

Late on the evening of the 24th Lee issued the order to divide the army for a daring

attack. Longstreet would remain along the Rappahannock with four Confederate

divisions facing ten Federal ones, while Jackson's three divisions (Hill, Ewell, and

Taliaferro) circled Pope. By dawn on August 25 Hill's Light Division had followed Ewell's

west, beyond the cover of Bull Run Mountain, then north. They marched thirty-one dusty

miles that day and twenty-five more the next, all without Pope's knowledge.

On the 26th Jackson's force reached the Manassas Gap Railroad and followed it

southeast across the mountain at Thoroughfare Gap. Before evening fell the 49th

Georgia and the rest of Jackson's corps had accomplished the essence of their orders.

Having covered fifty-six miles in two days, they arrived at Bristoe Station well in Pope's

rear with enough daylight left to rout a small garrison of Federals there, sever the

Orange & Alexandria Railroad linking Pope to Washington, and destroy three supply

trains.

The following morning, leaving a rear guard at Bristoe, Jackson sent Hill's division on

to Manassas Junction where Pope's supply base was located. Here the Pulaski Greys

and the balance of Hill's and Taliaferro's divisions enjoyed a daylong feast courtesy of

the U. S. Army commissary department and a big drunk courtesy of the large number of

sutlers' wagons in the vicinity.

After dark the party was joined by Ewell's division which had staved off an attack by a

division of Federal infantry at Kettle Run near Bristoe, signalling that Pope had at last

gotten the message that Jackson was in the neighborhood. At midnight Hill's division

was sent north on the Warrenton pike toward Centreville, while Ewell's and Taliaferro's

divisions moved west to Groveton.

On August 28 Hill's division marched west from Centreville, taking up positions late in

the day along Jackson's left, north of the engagement already underway at Groveton. Hill

reported the disposition of his forces on the morning of August 29, along an unfinished

railroad right-of-way extending southwest from Bull Run, as follows:

"Friday morning, in accordance with orders from General Jackson, I occupied the line

of the unfinished railroad, my extreme left resting near Sudley Ford, my right near the

point where the road strikes the open field, Gregg, Field, and Thomas in the front line,

Gregg on the left and Field on the right . . ."

The balance of Jackson's corps stretched for two more miles along the rail cut ending

at the Warrenton pike. Longstreet's corps, having cleared Thoroughfare Gap the

previous afternoon marching in Jackson's footsteps, soon arrived to Jackson's right,

south of the turnpike. Pope, now well aware of Jackson, but still ignorant of Longstreet's

presence, hurled all his might against Hill, on Jackson's left, seeking to break through

between the brigades of Gregg and Thomas.

For ten long hours on August 29 Hill's three frontal and three reserve brigades

absorbed and repulsed six headlong Federal assaults, fighting at times only with rocks,

abundant along the railbed. Jackson sidled four brigades from Taliaferro and Ewell to

Hill's support during the long afternoon but Lee was unable to convince Longstreet to

advance on the right to relieve the pressure.

Finally, well after 5:00 p. m., Longstreet sent Hood's division forward on a "forced

reconnaissance" on the right, finally diverting Pope's attention and bringing the day's

fighting to a confused close.

In turning back the furious charge of Union General Phil Kearny's division at

midafternoon the Pulaski Greys had their finest moment. The 49th Georgia, along with

the 14th South Carolina of Gregg's brigade, of all the regiments in the field that day,

drew praise for their heroic stand in the reports of both Jackson and Lee. From

Jackson, this description:

"About 2 o'clock P. M. the Federal infantry, in large force, advanced to the attack of

our left, occupied by the division of General Hill. It pressed forward in defiance of our

fatal and destructive fire with great determination, a portion of it crossing a deep cut in

the railroad track, and penetrating in heavy force an interval of nearly 175 yards, which

separated the right of Gregg's from the left of Thomas's brigade. For a short time

Gregg's brigade, on the extreme left, was isolated from the main body of the command.

But the 14th South Carolina regiment . . . with the 49th Georgia, left of Colonel Thomas,

attacked the exultant enemy with vigor and drove them back across the railroad track

with great slaughter."

General Lee, of the same scene, recorded:

"[A] large force advanced to assail the left of Jackson's position, occupied by the

division of General A. P. Hill. The attack was received by his troops with their

accustomed steadiness, and the battle raged with great fury. The enemy was repeatedly

repulsed, but again pressed on to the attack with fresh troops. Once he succeeded in

penetrating an interval between General Gregg's brigade, on the extreme left, and that

of General Thomas, but was quickly driven back with great slaughter by the 14th South

Carolina regiment . . . and the 49th Georgia, of Thomas's brigade. The contest was

close and obstinate: the combatants sometimes delivering their fire at ten paces."

The fighting ended with little resolved on the 29th so far as the larger issues were

involved; but the matter was settled finally for Lt. Warren Gainer. Along with 32 other

members of Thomas' brigade who died at Manassas, Gainer perished on the unfinished

railroad that day.

Of course the time of Warren Gainer's death is not known, whether it came in the in

the closing of the gap that saved Gregg's brigade and allowed Jackson to hold the

Confederate left can not be said. His death did come among the friends and neighbors

of his Pulaski company, all far from home. Nor was Warren far from his family on the day

of his death. As the battle raged on the rail cut, across the Warrenton pike Marion

Gainer waited with Longstreet for the attack that came too late for his brother.

On the day following Lt. Gainer's death Pope again assailed Hill's front. This time, as

the Federal attackers were strung out before Jackson, Longstreet's artillery opened

from the Confederate right. Pope's charge wavered and gave way. The countercharge

which followed as the Federal attack faltered turned into a rout reminiscent of the earlier

battle on the same ground. While the numbers killed and wounded were comparable on

both sides at the Second Battle of Manassas, the extent of Lee's victory was signalled

by the 9000 prisoners taken.

Two days later, in the closing skirmish of the Second Manassas Campaign, members

of the 49th symbolically avenged the death of Warren Gainer and their other comrades.

They were surprised at dusk, near Chantilly, when Union General Kearny rode into their

midst, the very man whose troops had so bloodily engaged their line on the 29th. When

Kearny ignored their calls to surrender and turned to ride away, the volley which followed

unhorsed and killed him.

The campaign was, from Pope's perspective, at an end. He withdrew his army to the

capital fortifications. Lee, on the other hand, viewed the events on the plains of

Manassas as the opportunity to seize the initiative from the Union army. This he did

before the autumn came with his first invasion of Maryland.

The 49th Georgia Infantry went on with A. P. Hill to Harpers Ferry and Antietam in

September and fought at Fredericksburg before the end of 1862. In 1863 they served

with Hill through Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, and on raids into the

Shenandoah Valley and in the Morefield Valley of West Virginia. After the 49th wintered

near Orange, their 1864 campaign began in the Wilderness, followed by Spotsylvania,

Second Cold Harbor, and the trenches at Petersburg. In 1864, Marion Gainer laid down

his life in Virginia as well.

Nearly three years after Joseph Warren Gainer was interred on the field at Manassas

the Pulaski Greys were finally reduced to nothing more than a corporal's guard in the

fighting at Fort Steadman on March 25, 1865. A week later, on April 2, A. P. Hill himself

was killed during the final flanking of the Petersburg entrenchments and the rebel

withdrawal up the Appomattox River.

The 27,000 men who remained in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox

were not alone in heading south that spring. On May 10, 1865, Anne Maria Delamar

Snell Gainer married for the third time, with the benefit of a pre-nuptial agreement to an

opportunistic Marylander named George Weast. Weast ultimately disappeared under

mysterious circumstances during Reconstruction, but Anne Maria held on to the family

farm, raised Warren Gainer's two daughters to adulthood, and died in 1894, at the age

of 73. She is buried near her farm in Pulaski County in the Powers Cemetery. The exact

location of Warren Gainer's grave at Manassas is unknown but his returning comrades

reported it to be under an apple tree.

Ellsworth Bussell