George W. Hamby's Confederate Service

At long last, here's the last of the ...

"Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know"

#10  - GEORGE W. HAMBY'S FASCINATING CONFEDERATE SERVICE RECORD

Did you know one or our direct ancestors had a lengthy Confederate service record, from being both infantryman and artilleryman, to being captured in the Battle of Mobile, to serving as a Chaplain for Confederate veterans in his old age?

In the graveyard next to the Bryant-Denny Stadium, at the University of Alabama, is the grave of George Washington Hamby and his wife Laura Clark Hamby. George was my Great-Grandfather on Mom's side, the father of Grandpa, Rev. C.P. Hamby, Sr.

George was born in Decatur, Georgia and grew up nearby, until a few years before the war when his family moved to the Alexander City, Alabama area. The family story, supported by his enlistment date, is that he joined the Confederate war effort a few months shy of his 18th birthday in 1862, lying about his birthday so he could join as a company was was recruited and organized from Tallapoosa County.

He was in the 47th Alabama Infantry, Company F, until at some point during the war he was transferred to the 1st Alabama Artillery Battalion, Company E.

In the 47th Infantry, he was sent to Virginia and undoubtedly fought in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Manassas #2, Chantilly, Sharpsburg, and the Siege of Harper's Ferry. It is unclear when he was transferred to artillery battalion so we are not sure if he fought with the 47th at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and Lookout Valley.

As artilleryman, he was stationed at Fort Morgan and was one of the 400 men captured in the Battle of Mobile in August 1864. This is the pivotal battle, re-enacted each year, when Union Admiral David Farragut piloted his ironclad into dangerous waters with the famous phrase "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!"

During the bombardment, the battalion, "moved by no weak fears," handled their guns until they were knocked out of position. We are unsure what George's exact position was, but he was a private so he was probably servicing and firing the artillery.

While many of George's battalion companions were sent as prisoners of war to New York where a number of them died of Smallpox, he and a few others were sent to Ship Island to be held as a Prisoner of War for the remaining 8 months of the conflict, which ended in April of 1865.

Sandy and I have toured the ruins of Fort Morgan and imagined him busy at work at one of the cannons that were stationed at various places around the fort, until his cannon was hit by enemy fire from the bay and disabled.

The name of his unit is listed on the monument by the entrance of Fort Morgan, and he appears in the unit's muster rolls in permanent records with the misspelled name "George W. Hanby."

After the war was over and he was released a few weeks later, the family story is that he "followed the mills" working in cotton mills during reconstruction. He married Laura in 1868 and they moved to Autauga County (north of Montgomery), then to Wesson, Mississippi and finally (after our Grandpa was born) to Cottondale, near Tuscaloosa.

Here he finished raising his family and was active in Brandon Memorial (now called Trinity UMC on Alabama's campus). One of his sons is memorialized as an outstanding layman with a stained glass window in the church, and two of his sons (including Grandpa C.P. Hamby, our pistol-swinging revivalist ancestor) became Methodist preachers.

His obituary in the Methodist Christian Advocate notes that "he was a brave Confederate soldier and at the time of his death was the chaplain at Camp Wilcox U.C.V." This refers to the association United Confederate Veterans, which was organized into camps. His obituary did not indicate that he was ordained; rather, it was a lay position.

But it says a lot about his religious leadership and compassionate spirit.