Comparative Analysis of Local Companies 

In order to understand what happened within the three companies from the part of Columbia County which is now the eastern half of McDuffie County that mustered into the Army of Northern Virginia, following is a brief overview.  If one should need further information, one should consult the books or the author.
 
The first recruitment dates:
  • 16th GA, Ramsey Volunteers: July 15, 1861
  • 10th GA, Thomson Guards: May 11, 1861
  • 48th GA, Hamilton Rangers: March 4, 1862
 
The recruitment stations:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: Reedy Creek Church, Appling Courthouse, Kiokee Church
  • Thomson Guards: Thomson Depot
  • Hamilton Rangers: Thomson Depot, Appling Courthouse, Grahamville, SC
 
Primary areas of recruitment:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: Berzelia, Kiokee, Raysville, Sawdust (Harlem), Lombardy (Dearing), and Reedy Creek (panhandle of Warren County)
  • Thomson Guards: Thomson, Wrightsboro, Mistletoe, and Leah
  • Hamilton Rangers: Thomson, Wrightsboro, Panhandle area of Warren County
 
Number of men recruited before the company saw its first battle:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: 81 men, 8 more from Columbia County joined in VA in September 1861
  • Thomson Guards: 104
  • Hamilton Rangers: 118 (87 in March 1862 and 31 in May 1862)
 
Total recruited over the course of the war:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: 101 total; 12 sets of brothers; 3 sets father-son
  • Thomson Guards: 128 total; 19 sets of brothers
  • Hamilton Rangers: 131 total; 23 sets of brothers; 2 sets father-sons
 
Ramsey Volunteers:
  • The average age of all soldiers was 24.5 years.
  • The oldest recruits were John Briscoe, 49 years old in 1861; Abner Prather 47 years old in 1861; Robert Wheeler 46 years old in 1861.
  • The youngest recruits were Ike Vale Ballard, 13 years old in 1861 and George Washington Johnston 14 in 1861 - enlisted 1 August 1864.
 
Thomson Guards:
  • The average age of all soldiers was 20.25 years
  • The oldest recruits were William Sills, 35 years old in 1861, and Noah Stone, 36 years old in 1861.
  • The youngest recruits were John Ad C. Prather, 11 years old in 1861 and enlisted 9 April 1864; Henry Cleveland Calhoun 12 years old in 1861 and enlisted in September 1862; James Bland, drummer, 13 years old in 1861 and enlisted May 11 1861.
 
Hamilton Rangers:
  • The average age of all soldiers was 26.34 years.
  • The oldest recruits were Alexander Wesley McDonald, 55 years old in 1861; Roderick Lassiter, 42 years old in 1861; Minor Jones, James Bosworth, and William Granade were all 41 years old in 1861.
  • The youngest recruit was Henry Solon Wheeler, 14 years old at recruitment in March 1862.
 
Captains of the Ramsey Volunteers:
  • Robert Joshua Boyd, July 1861 - July 1862. Killed in action at Malvern Hill, Virginia
  • Rinaldo Addison Lansdell, 28 July 1862 - 29 January 1863. Cashiered at Fort Loudon, Tennessee
  • George David Darsey, 29 January 1863 - 6 May 1864.  Severely wounded at Wilderness, Virgini
     
Captains of the Thomson Guards:
  • William Johnston, May 1861 - 1 June 1863. Severely wounded at Sharpsburg, Maryland
  • William Green, March 1862 - 14 October 1863. Killed in action at Chancellorsville, Virginia
  • John Thaddeus Stovall. Promoted in January 1864 at Fort Loudon, Tennessee
     
Captains of the Hamilton Rangers:
  • Thomas James Hamilton, 27 February 1862 - 22 April 1863.  Hemorrhage of lungs
  • David Thaddeus Wilson, 13 April 1863 - 24 November 1864.  Severe wounds at Mechanicsville, Virginia, and again at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia
  • Thomas Rienzi Burnside was acting captain of the company at the end of the war
 
Deaths:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: 101 soldiers mustered, 21 were killed in action, 22 died of disease
  • Thomson Guards; 128 soldiers mustered, 23 were killed in action, 21 died of disease
  • Hamilton Rangers; 131 soldiers mustered, 26 were killed in action, 20 died of disease
 
Amputees:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: Andrew J. Adams, William Henry Jones, James Warren Stanford, Columbus M. Wall
  • Thomson Guards: Wiley Wood Acre, Thomas Joseph Herrin, Wright Smith, Albert E. Wiley, Hezekiah Wesley Young
  • Hamilton Rangers: Roderick W. Lassiter, Jesse Daniel Montgomery
 
Widows and orphans:
  • Ramsey Volunteers: 15 widows and 48 orphans
  • Thomson Guards: 8 widows and 13 orphans
  • Hamilton Rangers: 17 widows and 40 orphans
Source:  Holley, Thomas Earl.  Company K, Hamilton Rangers, Forty-Eighth Georgia Infantry Regiment, Major General Ambrose Wright's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate States of America - The Officers, the battles and a genealogy of its soldiers.  Fernandina Beach, Florida:  Wolfe Publishing, 2007,  page 13.
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