An Uncompromising Secessionist: The Civil War of George Knox Miller, Eighth (Wade's) Confederate Cavalry

2. Early Months at War: 31 May 1862 - 17 April 1862

On 19 April 1861, two days after a state convention meeting in Richmond declared the Old Dominion out of the Union, George Knox Miller left Charlottesville and the University of Virginia to return to Talladega, Alabama, to enter Confederate military service .1 Anxious to reach home as quickly as possible, he traveled directly southwest—through East Tennessee—rather than repeating his roundabout 1860 journey through the Carolinas and Georgia. For that reason he did not visit Celestine in 1861.2 In Talladega, as all across the newly organized Confederacy, citizens feverishly went about the business of preparing for war. Longdormant militia companies came to life and drilled daily in the streets or on the courthouse square in anticipation of being called to active duty in the state’s defense. Meanwhile, young men, eager to rush off to war, ®ocked to join elite, highly trained “volunteer companies” that locally prominent men organized (technically as a part of the militia) to be available for immediate service. Three years earlier South Carolina–born Andrew W. Bowie, a prosperous (twenty-three slaves, 380 acres of land), locally respected attorney and a Mexican War veteran, thirty-six in 1858, had organized in Talladega and had been elected captain of “an amateur cavalry company [formed] for the purpose of drilling, military discipline, [and] perfecting the members in the arts of horsemanship and the various feats of the tournament.” The company required each of its horsemen to provide his own mount and uniform . The members named their club the Mountain Rangers.3 Soon after John Brown’s October 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, 2 Early Months at War 31 May 1861–17 April 1862 Virginia (now West Virginia), the Alabama Legislature, alarmed at Brown’s effort to stir up a major slave rebellion, authorized formation of the Alabama Volunteer Corps (AVC)—an elite eightthousand -man military force. The units comprising the AVC would be better prepared than were their comrades in the traditional militia companies and would hold themselves ready to respond immediately should the governor call upon them to defend the state against invasion or rebellion. The Mountain Rangers became part of the Volunteer Corps.4 No known record shows when Knox Miller joined the Mountain Rangers. His letters of 31 May 1861 (with its endorsement) and of 7 January 1863 imply that he enlisted in the company prior to its entering Confederate—as opposed to state—service. He may even have joined in 1858, 1859, or 1860 while at his father’s home between sessions at the University of Virginia.5 Alabama did not call the Mountain Rangers into active service immediately after her secession. Through the state’s chief executive the company offered itself to the Confederate government. When Miller reached Talladega late in April 1861, it seems from his letters, problems—the nature of which cannot now be ascertained— had arisen about the company’s entering active service at either the state or the national level. Many of the Rangers, fearing that they might not get into the war at all, therefore withdrew from their company and joined other local units. Miller af¤liated with a company that styled itself the Talladega Davis Blues. Within a short time, the problems that had bedeviled the Mountain Rangers had been resolved, and in July the unit was ordered to active duty as part of Alabama’s quota of troops for the Confederacy. Miller then rejoined his old company. He soon received an appointment as corporal, and Captain Bowie chose him as “secretary” of the unit. Owing probably to his education and legal training Miller, meanwhile , found himself assisting in the many administrative tasks involved in raising and organizing troops and mustering them into active service He also managed to pass the bar examination and wrote Celestine that, in addition, he spent part of his time drilling some of the new soldiers, thus implying that he had had experience in some sort of organized military unit—possibly one of the stu31 May 1861–17 April 1862 / 31 dent companies at the University of Virginia during the 1860–61 school term or during earlier service as a member of the Rangers or some other militia unit. 31 May 1861 [Undated endorsement by Miller:] Letter from Talladega May 31st, 1861—writer at home getting ready for the war, &c., &c. Address Talladega, Ala. Talladega, May 31st, 1861 My Dear Friend [Celestine McCann]: This long, long time I have...