Letter from William Thomas Fincher to Joseph T. and Martha Fincher
Febuary 21st 1863
Dear Father and Mother
I am now on my way to Savannah we ar on the Cars and three days rations Cooked I am well and hop that thes feau lines may find you enjoying the same blessing we held our election yestarday and Cap Story 2 was elected Colonel Eavens 3 Lieutenant Colonel Capt. Womble 4 Magor Lieutenant Thornton 5 started home to day ther was several that got furlow to day wayed Turner is at hom he promised to see you for me I am very well satisfyed as I stated in my other leter I have not any thin to write to you so I will Close give my love to all the connection
Your son as ever
W. T. Fincher 6
You must excuse my short leter as I have to stand up in the Car and write on a box
NOTES
Much of the information provided in these notes is from the book, Joe Brown's Army, by William Harris Bragg, Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 1987.
1 Griswoldville was a station on the Central of Georgia railroad where the Joe Brown Volunteers had first assembled on Monday, February 16, 1863. Regimental elections were held at Camp Wayne, west of Griswoldville, on February 20. 
2 Richard Lawson Storey (age 40), a farmer from Wilkinson County, was elected regimental commander.
3 Beverly D. Evans (born 1826), an attorney from Sandersville who already had seen service in the Confederacy, was instrumental in the organization of the 2nd Regiment, Georgia State Line.
4 D. W. Womble (age thirty-six), was a farmer from Upson County.
5 There were two lieutenants named Thornton in Co. D, Second Regiment, Georgia State Line: 2nd Lt. Ruben Y. Thornton and 3rd Lt. Henry H. Thornton.
6 Thomas, son of Joseph T. and Eliza Barrett Fincher (deceased), wrote this letter to his father and step mother soon after the inception of the 2nd Regiment, Georgia State Line. The Sandersville Central Georgian for 11 February 1863 printed this notice of the first rendezvous for the regiment:
Attention Joe Brown Volunteers! You are hereby ordered to parade at Sandersville MONDAY 16th instant at 12 o'clock M. for inspection and pay and to be formally enrolled in the State Service, pursuant to orders from the Adjutant and Inspector General. Every member of the company will be expected to be present and no excuse considered valid that acocounts for his absence. Each member will bring with him a Blanket, Quilt, or Counterpane, as the State cannot furnish these articles or a proper substitute for them, and also at least two days' rations to subsist on, preparatory to take the cars for Fort Valley, Houston County, Georgia, the place of rendezvous designated. [Joe Brown's Army," Bragg, p.38]The place of rendezvous was later changed to Griswoldville.
For additional information about the two regiments of the Georgia State Line, please visit the following web sites:
- The Georgia State Line, by Ricky Ray
- Civil War Through the Eyes of a Common Soldier, As Told in the Letters of Joseph Travis Fincher of Pike County, Georgia
Page updated 7 July 2000.