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Phillips, James R.: 16-year-old from Columbia County, Georgia. Enlisted as a private in Company A on 8/17/1861 at Augusta, Georgia. Value of horse $225 and horse equipment $40. Send to infirmary/recruiting camp on 11/20/1863. On sick furlough for 60 days beginning 12/25/1861. Horse killed in action near Richmond, Virginia, on 07/28/1862. Sent home to get a horse with Capt. Bostick on 09/20/1864. Was surrendered by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston on 01/26/1865. Paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina on 05/01/1865. Possibly the James Phillips who was a farm laborer from Richmond County in 1880. Was married and the father of at least three children.
Source: Cobb's Legion Cavalry: A History and Roster of the Ninth Georgia Volunteers in the Civil War, by Harriet Bey Mesic, published by McFarland and Company, 1937; Pg. 280
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James R. Phillips, C.S.A., Pvt., Co. A., Cobb's Legion, Georgia.
OVERVIEW:
Cobb's Legion was organized by Howell Cobb during the spring of 1861 and soon moved to Virginia. The legion was composed of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, but did not serve as one command. The artillery company was an independent unit known as the Troup Light Artillery and its history is given under that name.
The cavalry battalion included men from Richmond, Fulton, and Dougherty counties and contained six companies. Later five more were added and the unit served with eleven until July, 1864. At that time one company transferred to Phillips' Georgia Legion. Its strength now totalled 526 officers and men. Also its designation was changed to the 9th Georgia Cavalry, but was rarely used. The unit was assigned to General Hampton's, Butler's, and P.M.B. Young's Brigade, and participated in various conflicts from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor. Later it was involved in numerous engagements south and north of the James River. This command lost 3 officers and 41 men at Brandy Station, and sustained 21 casualties out of the 330 engaged at Gettysburg. In 1865 it was attached to T.M. Logan's Brigade, fought in the Carolinas, and surrendered with the Army of Tennessee. The field officers were Colonels Pierce M.B. Young and Gilbert J. Wright; Lieutenant Colonels W.G. Delony and Barrington S. King; and Majors Z.A. Rice and Benjamin C. Yancey.
The infantry battalion included men from Stephens, Lamar, Burke, and Carroll counties. It contained seven companies and in April, 1862, had a force of 594 effectives. The battalion served under Generals H. Cobb, T.R.R. Cobb, Wofford, and DuBose. It fought with the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days' Battles to Gettysburg, then moved with Longstreet to Georgia. Not engaged at Chickamauga, it was active in the Knoxville Campaign. Returning to Virginia the unit took an active part in the battles of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, moved with Early to the Shenandoah Valley, and saw action in the Appomattox Campaign. Its casualties were twenty-seven percent of the 248 at Crampton's Gap, 22 killed and 135 wounded at Chancellorsville, and about ten percent of the 213 at Gettysburg disabled. Many were captured at Sayler's Creek and only 1 officer and 55 men surrendered. The field officers were Colonel Thomas R.R. Cobb; Lieutenant Colonels Richard B. Garnett, Luther J. Glenn, G.B. Knight, and Jefferson M. Lamar; and Majors Ed. F. Bagley, Thomas Camak, William D. Conyers, and W.W. McDaniel.
Source: Soldiers and Sailors Database, at:
www.nps.gov/civilwar/sold...tabase.htm
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Colonel John V. Clark has as his guest Mr. James R. Phillips. Mr. Phillips is one of the eleven surviving members of the Richmond Hussars, Company A ,Cobb's Legion, who served the entire four years.
Source: The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday, March 7, 1915; Pg. 8
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The deaths in Camp No. 435, U. C. V., of Augusta, Ga., from April 26, 1921, to April 26 of the present year have been as follows:
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James R. Phillips, of Cobb's Legion, Young's Brigade, Hampton's Division; died March 3, 1922.
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-(Charles Edgeworth Jones, Historian Camp No. 435, U. C. V.)
Source: Confederate Veteran: Published Monthly in the Interest of Confederate Veterans and Kindred Topics, Volume XXX, published by S. A. Cunningham, 1922; Pg. 227
