Sons of Confederate Veterans and re-enactors from the southeast will gather beneath war-torn battle flags on grassy fields in Old Clinton once again this weekend to defend it against Sherman’s Savannah-bound army.

Grizzled veterans to beardless recruits—both blue and gray—will re-enact the battles as the sounds of musketry and the rolling of cannon thunder will rattle windows in homes nearby when the Old Clinton Historical Society (OCHS) presents its 27th annual ‘War Days’ May 3-4.

This year’s re-enactment has an added dimension with the celebration of Clinton’s bicentennial. OCHS President Earlene Hamilton said Clinton was settled in 1808 on the remote western frontier of Georgia one year after Jones County was established.

“In recognition of this milestone in history, this year’s event will include a cannon salute just prior to the battles in celebration of Clinton’s 200th birthday,” she said.

In looking for an appropriate way to mark the occasion, Hamilton said the cannon salute seemed the fitting tribute to the bustling community that was at its peak during Civil War times.

Hamilton said she has been informed that a scale model confederate ironclad from the Confederate Naval Museum in Columbus may be on exhibit in Clinton for the weekend.

War Days begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, with the call to colors for the Confederate and Union troops camped in historic Clinton, and the calendar will appear to have rolled backwards when the streets of Clinton and the authentic camps open to the public at 10.

The events begin again Sunday morning and include a church service at the McCarthy-Pope House at 11 a.m.

The primary fund-raiser for OCHS, War Days began as part of a spring celebration with a few re-enactors being invited as almost an afterthought to the festival. The popularity of the re-enactment so enhanced the event that War Days emerged as the center of the activity.

Clinton will be full of life with activities both days as food vendors, arts and crafts booths, and Civil War clothing and memorabilia shops line the city’s historic streets.

Entertainment is presented throughout the day, and camp closes at 5 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Added attractions of cemetery rambles and guided tours of Clinton will be available, according to Hamilton, but the times will not be released until this weekend. Times for the walking tours will be posted at the OCHS tent.

The cemetery ramble is a tour of the Clinton Cemetery located next to Clinton United Church. The historic cemetery covers 17 acres and is the largest 19th century cemetery in the county.

It is believed that burials were made in the cemetery as early as 1810, and Jones County historian Earl Colvin said he has found inscriptions as early as 1812. He said many prominent Jones Countians are buried in the cemetery, including Robert Vines Hardeman, and at least 25 Confederate veterans are buried on the grounds. Daniel Newnan Smith is the highest ranking officer buried in the cemetery and was brigadier General of the Fifth Georgia militia.

James Madison Gray, the man for whom the county seat was named, and Samuel and Louisa Griswold were also laid to rest in Clinton. Colvin said the history of the cemetery tells much of the story of Jones County and the families at the heart of its growth.

One of the most impressive events of War Days is a memorial service held Saturday evening at 8 p.m. The 16th Georgia, Company G, Jackson Rifles, CSA, Inc., lead a service in the Clinton Cemetery to honor Clinton’s Confederate soldiers, and the service brings to light the universal sacrifice of courageous men and women during times of war.

Narration begins for a re-enactment of two Civil War battles, the Battle of Sunshine Church – which actually took place in Round Oak – and the Battle of Griswoldville – which took place on fields near Clinton – at 1:35 p.m. May 3 and 4. Saturday is the Battle of Sunshine Church and Sunday is the depiction of the tragic Battle of Griswoldville, which has been called Georgia’s Gettysburg. The battles begin at 2 p.m.

Admission to War Days is $5 for adults and $3 for youngsters 18 and under. Children under the age of 6 are admitted free.

Clinton is located 12 miles northeast of Macon, one-and-one-half miles southeast of Gray, just one block west of Highway 129. For more information about War Days and the coordinating events, contact Hamilton at 986-6383 or the Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce at 986-1123.

Saturday: Battle of Sunshine Church

A single historical marker marks the location of the Battle of Sunshine Church, July 31, 1864, where the Confederate cavalry under Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr. deceived U.S. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman into surrendering 600 men, artillery, and a train to a smaller force. Stoneman was part of Sherman’s Great Cavalry Raid, designed to destroy the railroad south of Atlanta in a great pincer move, with Edward McCook’s forces sweeping from the west and Stoneman’s from the east.

Stoneman’s 2,112 men were working their way toward Andersonville hoping to free Union prisoners at Camp Sumter and had torn up tracks in Gordon, McIntyre, Toomsboro, and Griswoldville. Approaching Macon, Stoneman encountered entrenched Georgia Militia under Gen. Howell Cobb. He briefly shelled Macon before retreating northward, abandoning his plans. The next day, his cavalry ran full stride into 1,300 Confederate cavalry under Iverson sent to intercept him. Iverson, a native of nearby Clinton, was familiar with the terrain and organized his men appropriately.

Stoneman, believing himself surrounded, surrendered on a hill that today bears his name. His black guide, Minor, was immediately hanged from a nearby tree, and the Confederates were preparing to do the same with Stoneman when Confederate officers halted the execution. It is reported that when Stoneman learned he had been captured by a force half his size, he openly wept. Stoneman was imprisoned in Macon, many of his soldiers were sent to Andersonville, and his horses helped turn the Kentucky Orphan Brigade into mounted cavalry.

Two of Stoneman’s brigades, Col. Horace Capron’s and Lt. Col. Silas Adams’, escaped east then north from Sunshine Church, working their way to Athens and Winder. Capron’s brigade was destroyed at King’s Tanyard near Winder by Confederate cavalry under Col. William Breckinridge, which pursued Capron from Sunshine Church; and Adams’ made it back to Federal lines. Approximately one-half mile south of the historical marker titled “The Stoneman Raid” on the east side of the tracks is Stoneman Hill.

Sunday: Battle of Griswoldville

According to The Civil War in Georgia, an illustrated travelers guide by Richard J. Lens, the Griswoldville area was the scene of several significant events during the Civil War. This area witnessed the destruction by U.S. Gen. George Stoneman’s cavalry until they were stopped at Round Oak by Confederate cavalry under Gen. Alfred Iverson Jr. When Sherman’s right wing moved through the area during his ‘March to the Sea’, it was attacked by much inferior Georgia Militia forces, resulting in a tragic and unnecessary slaughter at Griswoldville.

Remembered as the only significant battle opposing Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’, the battle occurred unintentionally at Griswoldville, when vastly outnumbered Georgia Militia, made up mostly of inexperienced old men and boys, made a futile attack on part of the Right Wing of Sherman’s army. Some call this the Gettysburg of Georgia.

Griswoldville was named for the brilliant entrepreneur Samuel Griswold, who came to the town of Clinton from Connecticut in 1820. Griswold established the first iron foundry in Georgia and a factory for making cotton gins. After the Georgia Central railroad was built between Savannah and Macon in the 1840s, Griswold purchased 4,000 acres and moved his operation two miles south to Griswoldville, located 10 miles east of Macon, so that he could be on the railroad.

Here he had an enormous factory that produced cotton gins, a saw mill, a grist mill, and factories that produced bricks, soap, furniture, and candles. He built a three-story, 24-room mansion for himself, a church, and 60 cottages for his slaves and workers. In 1862, Griswold converted his gin factory into a pistol factory, where he manufactured more than 3,500 Colt’s Navy Repeaters or Brass-frame Confederate Colts, prized weapons in the Confederacy.

Nov. 21, 1864, Union Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry, operating on the Federal right flank during the “March to the Sea,” destroyed the town, burning everything except Griswold’s home, the slave cottages, and a worker’s residence. The Confederate commander in charge of defending Georgia, William J. Hardee, realized that Macon was not a target, and assumed that Augusta, with its arsenal, foundry, and other facilities, was Sherman’s real objective. Hardee ordered the local militia in Macon to reinforce Augusta.

Nov. 22, 1864, these troops, made up of 4,350 inexperienced troops and artillery under the command of Gen. Pleasant J. Philips, marched eastward on the Georgia Central railroad and ran smack into smaller detachments of the advancing Federal Army, just past the smoldering ruins of Griswoldville. Philips found a battle-hardened Federal brigade under Brig. Gen. Charles C. Walcutt numbering 1,513.

The Yankees were armed with Spencer repeating rifles and cannons and were located on the crest of Duncan Ridge with flanks on a swamp and railroad embankment. Without orders from superiors, Philips formed his lines for battle and attacked across an open field, trying to cross a swampy creek and charge up a hill. His men made seven assaults, coming within 50 yards of the Yankees before being repulsed by blistering fire.

The Confederates reported losses of 422 wounded and 51 killed, and the Union reported 79 wounded — including Gen. Walcutt — and 13 killed. Union Col. Charles Wills later wrote of the battle, “Old gray haired men and weakly looking men and little boys, not over 15 years old, lay dead or writhing in pain. I pity those boys. I hope I never have to shoot at such men again. They knew nothing at all about fighting, and I think their officers knew as little, or else certainly knew nothing of our being there.”

In one spot, Federals found a 14-year-old boy with a broken arm and leg. Next to him, “cold in death, lay his father, two brothers, and an uncle. It was a harvest of death,” wrote a Union soldier. Today, the battlefield is in private ownership, but historical preservation groups have the goal of preserving it. One can go to the site of Griswoldville, located at a crossroads next to the train tracks, read state historical markers, and get a general sense of what occurred.