More than five dozen regiments from Georgia fought for the Southern Confederacy; one of these was the 66th Georgia Infantry. Raised and commanded by early-war veteran James Cooper Nisbet; the 66th assembled at Macon in summer 1863; suffered through a winter of discontent in Dalton; charged into enemy fire at Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta; and slogged through the rain and mud of Franklin and Nashville before surrendering. LAST TO JOIN THE FIGHT chronicles the service of this penultimate Georgia Confederate unit. Drawing on newspapers; letters; and diaries; this book details the hard realities of service in a Civil War regiment. Yet it also assesses the often-flawed memories of Colonel Nisbet; and plumbs census records to reconstruct the social makeup of the 66th. A sample group of more than 500 men displays the extent of poverty in the ranks; and considers how variables in a soldier's age; family status; home location; or economic background determined devotion or desertion. Concluding pages view the regiment s survivors in the postwar period; amidst hard times and historical forgetfulness. The story of the 66th Georgia Infantry has never been told before. LAST TO JOIN THE FIGHT offers not a noble epic about valiant fighting men; but rather the bloody-ground truths about the Civil War from the vantage point of those who entered it towards the end.
#4142956 in Books 1998-09 #File Name: 0879281235
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