The Miller Rifles left Rome about May 15, 1861. It was one of the ten companies forming the Eighth Georgia Volunteer regiment as organized in May at Richmond, Va. The company was named in honor of Dr. H. V. M. Miller, of Rome, one of the most distinguished physicians in the south.
Col. Francis S. Bartow was in command and Lieutenant Col. W. M. Gardner, of Rome; Major T. L. Cooper and Adj. J. L. Branch regimental officers.
The regiment was ordered to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, and joined the forces commanded by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. It was one of the few regiments which bore the brunt of the fighting in the first battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861, in which the loss in killed and wounded was fearful.
The regiment served through the war in a brigade commanded first by Gen. Jones and later by Gen. George T. Anderson, better known as “Tige” Anderson. They formed a part of Longstreet’s corps in the army of Northern Virginia, and participated in nearly every battle in which Gen. Lee’s army was engaged, and surrendered with him and the army on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox, Va. Of the sixteen officers when the company was organized, only three were living at the time the above record was filed:
Col. John R. Towers, A. C. Morrison, first corporal, and F. L. Miller, musician.
The Miller Rifles was afterwards known as Company E, Eighth Georgia Regiment Volunteers.
|W. W. Ware|
Recruits Received in 1862
H. I. Ware
Source: Miller Rifles, Floyd County, Georgia, on-line