Research Down Rabbit Holes

Near my house, there is an old family graveyard and the ruins of a chimney. I have driven by it a hundred times but the other day, I stopped and decided to take a look. There were two flat markers, a tombstone and an obelisk. Putting my head up to the bars of the fence, I found that the tombstone and obelisk were for the same individual. Noah Marion Harris - 10th Georgia Infantry. He died on May 22, 1862. That was interesting. On the tombstone he is listed as a Major and on the obelisk as a Colonel. Same date of death so that was odd.

Today, I decided to Google the guy and see what I can find on him. Other than he was dead and buried in Walton County, I could not find much. So I went on to look up his unit, the 10th Georgia Infantry. They were raised in 1861 and formed in Virginia. They participated in an action on the Black River on July 24th, 1861 and later in Williamsburg, VA in May 4th, 1862. But this was the closest battle I could find to the death of Col/Maj Harris. It is quite possible that if he was wounded at Williamsbug, he may have taken days to die.

So I started looking for any actions fought by the 10th Georgia in "The War of the Rebellion: AA Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies." This huge work is a fantastic resource to anyone interested in the American Civil War. While scrolling through things, a quote from General McClellan jumped off the page at me and I found it very funny. July 19, 1861, the general wrote a note to Colonel Townsend and had this to say about the actions of his subordinates in the West Virginia campaign.

"In Heaven's name give me some general officers who understand their profession. I give orders and find some who cannot execute them unless I stand by them. Unless I command every picket and lead every column I cannot be sure of success."

I was amused by this. Anyway, still looking for more info on the 10th GA. Who knows what I will dig up. I did find that a student wrote a history of the unit for their master's thesis. Will have to try to get a copy through interlibrary loan.