Samuel Guthrie, whose Ray City, GA family connections have been the discussion of earlier posts, was a Confederate veteran. His unit, Company E, 54th Georgia Volunteers, fought all over Georgia; at Dug Gap, Kennesaw Mountain, and Atlanta, and other battle locales. Matthew Hodge Albritton, James Baskin, William Gaskins, George W. Knight, William Lamb, Jeremiah May, Rufus Ray, and Samuel Sanders among other Berrien countians also served in this Company. On April 20-21, 1865, two weeks after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox the 54th Georgia Volunteers, under the command of General Howell Cobb, joined in the last, futile defense of Macon.
After the war, the Federal records reported the circumstances:
Macon, Ga.,
April 20, 1865.2nd Cavalry Division, Military Division of Mississippi.
This affair was the last engagement of Wilson’s raid through Alabama and Georgia. When within 20 miles of Macon the advance division encountered a Confederate cavalry command of 400 men. By a series of brilliant charges by the 17th Ind. the enemy was driven from behind every barricade where he took refuge and was completely routed, throwing away arms and ammunition in the haste of his flight.
When nine miles out of the city a Confederate flag of truce was met announcing an armistice between Sherman and Johnston, but Col. Robt. H. G. Minty, commanding the advance, refused to honor it and gave it five minutes to get out of the way. The Federals then continued the charge and dashed over the works into the city, which was surrendered by Gen. Howell Cobb.
The results of the capture were 350 commissioned officers, 1,995 enlisted men, 60 pieces of artillery, a large amount of small arms, and all public works.
The casualties were not reported.
Source: The Union Army, Vol.,6 p.,580
In his memoirs, General James Harrison Wilson wrote
“It is a matter of history that Cobb was not only one of the largest slaveholders, but an original secessionist, whose proudest boast was that his state followed him, not he his state. Nor is there any doubt that from the first he threw his whole heart and fortune into the Confederate cause, but he was sagacious enough to know when Lee and Johnston surrendered and Davis became a fugitive that the end had come and from that moment he did all in his power to restore order and confidence and to help earnestly in the work which pressed upon me at Macon.”
Samuel Guthrie lived through the War and mustered out on 10 May 1865 at Tallahassee, FL. He returned to his home in Berrien County where he lived out the rest of his days.
Related Posts:
- Dicey Guthrie Watson
- Ray City Carnival Photos
- Eyewitness Accounts of the Berrien Tiger
- Early Account of the Berrien Tiger, 1849
- The Misadventures of Mr. Stewart
- Ray City Love Story Told by Betty M. Williams
- John Guthrie ~ Ray City’s Musician Extraordinaire
- Effie Guthrie and the Knight Brothers of Ray City, GA
- Martha Guthrie: Babe of the Indian Wars
- Checking on Citizens Bank of Ray City
- The Marriage of John David Miley and Lessie Lee Guthrie
- Herman Knight Guthrie ~ 1948 Junior Class President
- The Grand Jury of 1868, Berrien County, Georgia
- Stella Wright ~ Seeress of Ray City, GA
- Samuel Guthrie Heirs in the Supreme Court of Georgia, 1920
- William Guthrie and the Bloody Battle of South Mountain
- Portrait of James and Sarah Guthrie
Ray City History Blog 
George Washington Knight and the Populist Party « Ray City History Blog said,
May 30, 2011 at 2:44 pm
[…] and Atlanta, and other battle locales. Matthew Albritton, James Baskin, William Gaskins, Samuel Guthrie, William Lamb, Jeremiah May, Rufus Ray, and Samuel Sanders, among other Berrien countians, also […]