Schley-Randolph County GaArchives News.....COMRADES OF THE FIFTH GEORGIA VOLUNTEERS May 1929 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Harris Hill http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002514 November 28, 2003, 8:40 am The Confederate Veteran The Confederate Veteran Vol. XXXVII No. 5 May 1929 COMRADES OF THE FIFTH GEORGIA VOLUNTEERS The following comes from O.F. Ansley, of Dallas, Tex. (1901 Forest Avenue). "If there is a member of the 5th Georgia Volunteers living, under Col. Charles P. Daniels, at the surrender, I wish he would write to me, so we can arrange to meet in Charlotte during the reunion." "This is important. If Ican find one or two members of the 5th Georgia, we may be able to recover our flag. We lost the flag December 9, 1864, at Coosahatchie, S.C. Tip Barnes was our flag bearer. He was wounded in this fight. Lieutenant Eason picked the flag up, and he was killed; then Lieutenant Harp picked it up, and he was killed. Captain Young, of the 154th New York Regiment, saw these three go down, and he got the flag from Lieutenant Harp's body. Captian Young lived in Elmira, N.Y., and at the reunion of the 5th Georgia in Macon some twenty years after the war, he returned the flag to us. At Tampa, in 1927, there were four of the 5th Georgia there--Chapman, of Georgia; Jones, of Alabama; Harp, of Florida; and myself. At Little Rock, last year, I was the only one of the four left; hence I may be the only member of the 5th Georgia living. I was a member of Company F. Additional Comments: Company F was the "Cuthbert Rifles" of Randolph County. There are a couple of Ansleys on it's roster, O.F. Ansley is not amongst them. Perhaps a record keeping oversight. There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the flag/flags of the 5th Georgia today. One of their original flags, the 2nd National, is today part of the collection located in the Augusta Museum of History. It's likeness can be viewed on the the Schley County GenWeb page under the 5th Ga. Military section. Mr. Thomas Pryor "Tip" Barnes was the 5th Georgia's color bearer for the entire war. He survived the wound described above with the amputation of a toe and kept "a" flag, as a sacred treasure, until his death in October of 1905. Thereafter, a struggle ensued between the family and several of the living Co. G veterans as to whom should maintain possession of that flag that was so dear to both factions. The flag was kept by a daughter of Tip Barnes and there is a touching plea on her behalf for this position from the Ellaville paper at this time. The flag according to Barnes family descendants was originally presented to the company (or regiment?) by the wife of it's beloved Col. W.T. Black and was reputed to have been made by her from portions of her own silk wedding dress. Was this the 1st National flag of the 5th Georgia? Was it a Co. G, flag? Was it the flag returned by Captain Young? We may never know. The flag that Tip Barnes daughter kept after his death was reputedly lent to a Dr. Chapman, of Americus, for a Memorial Day event and was never returned. http://www.rootsweb.com/~gaschley/g5th.htm This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb