It seems that there are no other links on the internet to information about this regiment's history. I am posting some brief information from Confederate Military History and a bibliography on this regiment. I do this in honor and remembrance of the men who served with this regiment, lest they be forgotten. Dedicated to :
William H. Poulk a second cousin four times removed was born on 15 December 1819 in Wilkinson County Georgia, the son of John Poulk Jr. and Caty Waters. On 12 January 1842 when William was 22, he first married Elizabeth Prevatt, in Decatur County, Georgia. She was born on 17 August 1825 in North Carolina and died in Georgia on 2 March 1861. William second married Eliza Simpson in 1862 in Decatur County, Georgia. William enlisted as a private in Company A private on 25 April 1862. He died of pneumonia in a Confederate Hospital in the Tallahassee, Florida area on 17 August 1864 at the age of 44. National Archives Microfilm Box, Roll, and Record: 000226, 0048, 00003712
At the organization of the Fifty-sixth regiment Georgia volunteers the field officers were: Col. E. P. Watkins, Lieut.-Col. J. T. Slaughter, Maj. M. L. Poole, Adjt. James N. Bass. The captains were: (A) J. P. Brewster, (B) J. M. Martin, (c) J. A. Grice, (D) W. S. Monroe, (E) J. F. Albert, (F) P. H. Prather (killed), (G) E. M. Streetman, (H) J. M. Parish, (I) J. M. Cobb, (K) B. T. Sherman. In the spring of 1862 the regiment was sent to east Tennessee, where it served in Stevenson's division in the recapture of Cumberland Gap and the advance into Kentucky. In the fall of that year it was sent to Mississippi, sharing with other regiments of the division in the battles and privations of the campaign which ended with the surrender of Vicksburg. After being exchanged it participated in the battle of Missionary Ridge and the Atlanta and Tennessee campaigns of 1864. In the spring of 1865 part of it was consolidated with the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-ninth under the name of the latter, and part with the Thirty-sixth and Forty-second as the Forty-second Georgia. It served in the campaign of the Carolinas, which closed with the surrender near Goldsboro. During its service Captain Brewster became major, and J. H. Harrison, captain of Company K.
Organization of the Companies of the 56th Regiment
Company A: Campbell and Coweta County men
Company B: Carroll County men
Company C: Carroll County men
Company D: Hall County men
Company E: Fulton County men
Company F: Cobb County men
Company G: Milton County men
Company H: Carroll County men-Carroll Invincibles
Company I: Carroll & Coweta County men
Company K: Heard County men
Bibliography-56th Georgia Infantry
Confederate Military History, Extended Edition. Vol. 7: Georgia. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot,
1987. See p. 127 for a brief unit history.Crute, Joseph H., Jr. Units of the Confederate States Army. Midlothian, VA: Derwent Books,
1987. Ref. See pp. 113-14 for a concise summary of the regiment's service.Cuttino, George P., ed. Saddle Bag and Spinning Wheel, Being the Civil War Letters of George W.
Peddy, Surgeon, 56th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A. Macon, GA: Mercer U, 1981.Georgia State Division of Confederate Pensions and Records. Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of
Georgia, l86l-l865. Vol. 5. Hapeville, GA: Longino & Porter, 1959. pp. 836-917. Unit roster.
Jones, Charles E. Georgia in the War, 1861-1866. Atlanta, GA: Foot & Davies, 1909. See p. 33 for an incomplete list of unit officers.Sifakis, Stewart. Compendium of the Confederate Armies:...Georgia. NY: Facts on File, 1995.
pp. 270-71The following manuscripts may be found in the US Military History Institute Archives:
Davis, Martin J. - CWMiscColl
Thomas Christmas O'Mary, and John Arnold members of the 56th Georgia Volunteers wrote letters home. Many of these letters tell of the experiences of this men at Dyersburg, Chattanooga, Vicksburg and Dalton. You can read these letters at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~somary/letters.html
© 2001 John Griffin