Unit Re-designations

[John Cooley]

Some units, mine included, have been re-designated.
I assume, since I have not heard back from Fancy yet, this is to fall in line with Historical Unit Re-designations but ...

I can only speak about Cobb's Legion (GA) Infantry and Cavalry, as I have not researched the others, so here is what happened Historically ...
The Higher Command could not grasp the new and innovative Combined Arms concept so the Legion was disbanded AS A SINGLE UNIT before it saw it's first combat.
However, the individual units retained their Original Legion designation until 1864.
Even after they were re-designated 9th GA Cavalry the Officers and Troopers refused to be referred to as anything other than Cobb's Legion Cavalry.
The Infantry retained their original designation for the length of the war.

Per the National Park Service ...
"Cobb's Legion was organized by Howell Cobb during the spring of 1861 and soon moved to Virginia. The legion was composed of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, but did not serve as one command. The artillery company was an independent unit known as the Troup Light Artillery and its history is given under that name.
The cavalry battalion included men from Richmond, Fulton, and Dougherty counties and contained six companies. Later five more were added and the unit served with eleven until July, 1864.
At that time one company transferred to Phillips' Georgia Legion. Its strength now totaled 526 officers and men. Also its designation was changed to the 9th Georgia Cavalry, but was rarely used."

The Book Titled ...
Cobb's Legion Cavalry: A History and Roster of the Ninth Georgia Volunteers in the Civil War by Harriet Bey Mesic
contains a History, Final Disposition of it's Troopers and Biographies of the officers and the nearly 1500 men of the regiment.
There are numerous instances of the rancor and derision this re-designation caused and instances of Refusal to use the new Designation.
None of which occurred before 1864.

I hope this info helps.

[John Cooley]

Perhaps this time line snapshot will be of assistance ...

Lieutenant Colonel William Gaston Delony was named major on May 23, 1862. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on November 2, 1862. On September 13, 1862, he assumed command of the cavalry battalion after Lieutenant Colonel Young was wounded. He remained second in command of the Legion until mortally wounded and captured at the Battle of Jack's Shop, Virginia, on September 22, 1863, dying on October 2, 1863, in the Stanton Hospital in Washington City as a POW.
This shows it was still Cobb's Legion Cavalry and not 9th GA Cavalry until AT LEAST September 22nd 1863.

If further proof is helpful I can list excerpts from ...
Cobb's Legion Cavalry: A History and Roster of the Ninth Georgia Volunteers in the Civil War
by Harriet Bey Mesic
and
The Legion's Fighting Bulldog: The Civil War Correspondence of William Gaston Delony, Lieutenant Colonel of Cobb's Georgia Legion Cavalry, and Rosa Delony, 1853-1863
by Vincent Joseph Dooley and Samuel Norman Thomas Jr.

Both, of which, I own.

[John Jones]

In support of my Regimental Commander (forgive me if I am somewhat biased), I offer the following results of a basic trawl through historical American newspapers for the years 1861 to 1865.

Chronicling America - Library of Congress online newspapers [Online]. Available at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Search term used - 'Cobb Cavalry'

Summary of most relevant references references:

The New York herald., August 08, 1862,
Records the presence of a Regiment of Cobbs cavalry as one of two at Malvern Hill

Memphis daily appeal., August 11, 1863
Reference to Col Pierce Young of the Cobb Cavalry Legion being wounded in the side at Brandy Station

The daily dispatch., November 24, 1862
Reference to Cavalry Company A, Cobbs Legion in connection to a runaway slave who had served as a bodyservant.

The daily confederate., May 13, 1864
Reference to Cobbs Cavalry arm in connection with casualty lists

Conversely a search using the terms 'Ninth Georgia Cavalry', '9th Georgia cavalry' and '9th GA cavalry' produced no results.

The key point to note is the retention of the Cobbs cavalry name in newspaper reports into at least May 1864, and possibly as late as November 1864 (although there may be some confusion with other Cobbs units so I left that one out). There are no newspaper references to the 9th Georgia Cavalry either before or after the apparent change of designation, and, as has been stated by General Cooley, it is almost certain that the cavalry units retained the Cobbs name.

This was just a quick dip into the archive, and as with all research, things may change as more information comes to light. However, it seems fairly compelling to me that there is little justification for re-designating Cobbs Cavalry as 9th Georgia in September 1862.

John Jones,
Sergeant
Cobbs Legion Company C

[John Cooley]

Great finds Gentlemen ... I thank you for your efforts and knowledge.

Let me also point out an example from the life of Wade Hampton ...
On July 28th 1862 he was transferred, as a Brigadier General, to the ANV.
He assumed command of Cobb's Legion Cavalry, Hampton's Legion Cavalry, The Jeff Davis Legion, 1st North Carolina and 10th Virginia Cavalry.
Thus, in this example, the War Department was still referring to them as Cobb's Legion Cavalry less than 2 months before the Battle of Antietam.

[John Cooley]

They were not re-designated 9th GA Volunteer Cavalry, as noted above in S. O. 161, until 11 JUL 1864.

Seems rather cut and dried to me but ...
If The WoR Devs wish to re-designate our unit we need to change the recruitment thread title
FROM
Cobb's Legion (GA) - Company C - Georgia Troopers - The Grey Ghosts (NA/EU)
TO
Cobb's Legion Troop C / 9th GA Cavalry Company C (NA/EU)

This is because we will follow our unit's historical actions by continuing to call ourselves Troopers of Cobb's Legion Cavalry despite the wishes of Higher Command.
Thank you

[Bravescot]

Hey, my company tool is now 13th Penn Reserves. I'm not budging from the 42nd, but am happy to accept the company tool's slightly different name.

[Dutchconfederate]

Richmond Howitzers Company 1 is not the correct name correct name should be Richmond Howitzers 1st Company part of the battalion 1st 2nd & 3rd company not company 1 2 3 but... yeah thats a small detail I guess compared to Stone and John and their renamed companies..

[John Cooley]

OK then, here come some excerpts from the aforementioned books ...

In the book titled: Cobb's Legion Cavalry: A History and Roster of the Ninth Georgia Volunteers in the Civil War
by Harriet Bey Mesic
March 9th, 1863 General "Lee issued the Order to separate Cobb's Cavalry from Cobb's Infantry into distinct organizations with the objective of raising each to Regimental strength."

In the book titled: The Legion's Fighting Bulldog: The Civil War Correspondence of William Gaston Delony, Lieutenant Colonel of Cobb's Georgia Legion Cavalry, and Rosa Delony, 1853-1863
the time line given cites March 30th, 1863 "Confederate Order 104 Officially designates the Legion cavalry as the 9th Georgia Cavalry Regiment".
It also notes ...
"The Legion cavalry's members refused to be so designated and continued to refer to themselves as Cobb's Georgia Legion Cavalry and they never adopted or used the official designation."

[John Cooley]

Not enough?
Ok then .. let's hear from the Union who fought against Cobb's Cavalry, shall we?

William N. Pickerill of Co F 3rd Indiana Cavalry wrote the following in his Journal ...
"The Confederate cavalry, which proved to be the Cobb Legion, dashed through the bars our men had laid down for them and slashed into our rear with their sabers, while a portion of their force fired into us from inside the fence."

This incident occurred at Quebec Schoolhouse, in Burkittsville Maryland, a mere 3 days before the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam).
Even the Union knew they were called Cobb's (sometimes Cobb) Cavalry, at this point of the war.

[John Cooley]

Further, I realize this is in the Historical Discussion Section but, since there has been no reply from a Dev, perhaps we ought to have it moved to somewhere they might frequent more often?
Maybe the Suggestions and Ideas Section is more appropriate and visible?
Thanks

[John Cooley]

Bumping in hopes of getting this Error fixed.

[Hinkel]

To be honest, I don't understand your request :cool:

You are speaking of the company tool? So which unit should be re-named how?
An ingame unit?

[John Jones]

Not wishing to steal Gen Cooley's thunder but I suppose the first question is why was Cobb's Cavalry (amongst other units) re-designated 9th Georgia Cavalry in the Company Tool? Apologies if I missed a thread on the explanation.

If it was to bring units into alignment with historical designations during the Maryland Campaign, then fine but as has been pointed out above, the 9th Georgia did not come into being until 1864 and well after Antietam and therefore it appears an error has been made in the Company Tool.

I would therefore respectfully request that the 9th Georgia Cavalry be returned to it's rightful designation as Cobbs Legion Cavalry.

I remain, Sirs,
Your Obedient Servant,
John Jones, Sgt
Cobbs Legion Co. C

[John Cooley]

Spot on Sergeant.

Company Tool shows us as 9th GA when that unit designation is Incorrect.
Cobb's Cavalry was not referred to as 9th GA until S.O. 161 Dated 11 JUL 1864.

Hope that was clearer.

[Hinkel]

Ah alright, no problem.
The name change will be added later today :)

[John Jones]

Ah alright, no problem.
The name change will be added later today :)

Very many thanks!
Sgt Jones

[John Cooley]

You have our eternal gratitude.
/salute

[GeorgeCrecy]

Hey there John Cooley,

I'm afraid that I have to retract the promise given by Hinkel, and I apologize ahead of time for the back and forth. I also apologize my attention was not brought to this thread sooner, as I was under the false impression that I had already subscribed to this part of the forum. That's been fixed now.

In any case, looking at some of your sources, particularly the book "Cobb's Legion Cavalry: A History and Roster of the Ninth Georgia Volunteers in the Civil War" - which by the way I would draw your attention to the subtitle of - the information there does not lend credence to your request, and is part of why we changed the designation in the first place. On page three it states: "Within months, it was discovered that the logistics of cavalry and infantry serving in the same unit created impossible problems. Although the cavalry and infantry battalions of Cobb's Legion were not officially separated from one another until March 9, 1863, they actually stopped serving together as a consolidated command in the summer of 1862."
Furthermore, and particularly relevent to our issue, "When the cavalry battalion reached regimental strength, it was redesignated as the 9th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Cavalry but continued to be referred to as Cobb's Legion." This is particularly of use to us, because we can tell exactly when the unit got to be of regimental strength. Just a few pages in on page six there is the list of companies and their respective mustering dates:

Company A - August 17, 1861 Company B - July 30/August 14, 1861 Company C - August 15, 1861
Company D - August 10, 1861 Company E - March 15, 24/April 9, 1862 Company F - March 25, 1862
Company G - July 3-29, 1861 Company H - February 16-29, 1861 Company I - February 13/April 21, 1862
Company K - February 2-6, 1862 Company L - March 17, 1862

The page ends with another important quote, "Civil War units were sometimes known by alternate designations. Often these were the names of the commanding officer. Cobb's Legion Cavalry was also called the Cobb Legion and Young's Cavalry (for Pierce Manning Butler Young)."

So the answer to our hard to at first delineate riddle is that, even factoring in the time needed for the units mustered in 1862 to get to join with the rest of their comrades, they would have been redesignated as the 9th by the summer of 1862, though as you said they also continued to call themselves Cobb's Legion despite - or in spite of - the change. Your mention of July 11, 1864 is also mentioned in the book, but only in the context that the 11th company was split off to bolster the Phillips Legion cavalry, which I again quote from page three.

So while the name is going to stay as the 9th GA in the company tool, I would highly encourage you to continue to call yourselves the Cobb's Legion, because as you stated it was the preferred name used by the troopers and nearby superior officers themselves in spite of what the desk jockeys back in Richmond had designated for them.


90499050

[Bravescot]

Awkward....https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?4182-Cobb-s-Legion-(GA)-Company-C-Georgia-Troopers-The-Grey-Ghosts-(NA-EU)&p=80470&viewfull=1#post80470

[GeorgeCrecy]

Like I said, it was an unfortunate misunderstanding, and I do apologize to all that I didn't catch this thread sooner. It was only brought to my attention yesterday.

[John Cooley]

No Worries ... is Alpha, after all, and you are still building the game.
Much will change along the way to completion.

/ride off to speak with the Troopers to decide what our path forward will be.

@Bravesquat
Nope, simply a case of "right hand not knowing what the left is doing" and we will do what we always do ...
make adjustments and persevere through any hardships or travail.

[John Cooley]

With this Ruling Reversal .... We respectfully request that our Recruitment Thread be retitled.

II-[Cobbs C] Cobb's Legion Troop C / 9th GA Cav Co C (NA/EU)

https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?4182-Cobb-s-Legion-(GA)-Company-C-Georgia-Troopers-The-Grey-Ghosts-(NA-EU)

Thank you

[GeorgeCrecy]

Hello there,

With the help of Fancy, your thread has been changed to the requested name.

George

[John Cooley]

You are a scholar and a Gentleman, Sir.
Feel free to lock the thread, if no longer needed.