Cemetery Works
Boulder, Colorado, USA
established 2001
Columbia Cemetery
American Civil War Soldier's Stories
Richard H. Whiteley, Sr.
Richard H. Whiteley, Sr.
1st Sgt. / 2nd Lt. / Capt.     Co. H
5th Georgia Infantry, CSA

Captain / Major     Co. A / Field & Staff
2nd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, CSA
Died 23 Dec 1890, 59.8 years of age.

Richard H. Whitely enlisted as a 1st Sergeant on 11 May 1861. His residence was listed as Decatur County, Georgia

Richard H. Whitely was mustered into Company H, 5th Georgia Infantry, CSA, regiment on 11 May 1861. He served more than 8 months; 11 May 1861 to 31 Jan 1862.
He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 18 June 1861 and to Captain on 31 Jan 1861.
He was discharged for promotion on 31 Jan 1861.

Richard H. Whitely was commissioned as a Captain of Company A, 2nd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, CSA, on 31 Jan 1862. He served more than 37 months; 31 Jan 1861 to beyond 26 Mar 1865, the date of the surrender of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
He was promoted to Major on 27 Mar 1863.
He transferred from Company A to Field and Staff, date not know.
He was surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee, CSA, on 26 Apr 1865 at Bennett House, Durham Station, NC.

While Richard H. Whiteley was in service, the 5th Georgia Infantry regiment was posted to Pensacola, Fla., and was engaged in a single battle, the assault on Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, Fla., on 08 - 09 Oct 1861; a tactical battle against the Federal Gulf Blockading Squadron.

While Richard H. Whiteley was in service, the 2nd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, CSA, was engaged in the following battles which had a direct impact on the course of the war and / or a decisive influence on a campaign:
  • Murfreesboro [Stones River], Tenn., 31 Dec 1862 - 02 Jan 1863
  • Chickamauga, Ga., 19 - 20 September 1863
  • Chattanooga_III [Missionary Ridge], Tenn., 23 - 25 November 1863
  • Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., 27 June 1864
  • Peachtree Creek, Ga., 20 July 1864
  • Atlanta, Ga., 22 July 1864
  • Jonesborough, Ga., 31 August - 01 September 1864
  • Franklin_II, Tenn., 30 November 1864
  • Nashville, Tenn., 15 - 16 December 1864
  • Bentonville, NC, 19 - 21 March 1865


    Other information regarding Richard H. Whiteley:
  • born on 22 Dec 1830 in the north of Ireland to a Presbyterian family
  • immigrated to the USA in 1836/7 with parents and siblings; initially settled in Charleston, SC and later Augusta, Greensborough, Clarke County, Bainbridge, Georgia
  • in 1839 apprenticed as a 'factory boy' in the cotton and woolen textile mill outside Augusta; progressed from 'factory boy' to weaver to mill owner, by 1860
  • married Margaret Devine on 29 Nov 1849 in Greensborough, Ga.; 10 children, born in Georgia; five died in infancy or childhood
  • naturalized a US citizen on 08 Feb 1854
  • studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Bainbridge, Georgia, in 1860
  • a Douglas Democrat, he opposed secession,
  • after the war returned to Bainbridge, Georgia, where he cooperated with the Freemen's Bureau and became active in the Republican Party; helped write the Republican authored Georgia state constitution
  • "When the question of reconstruction was brought up he favored the policy of congress and opposed the action of President Johnson, maintaining that the first duty of southerners was to unconditionally accept the results of the war"
  • in fall of 1868 he was appointed solicitor-general of the southwestern circuit
  • served as a US congressman [House of Representatives] 2nd District of Georgia in the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd Congress from 22 Dec 1870 to 03 Mar 1875
  • in 1870 he established the Bainbridge Sun, a Republican newspaper,
  • in 1872 was a delegate to the national Republican convention held in Philadelphia, Penn.
  • defeated by re-election for 44th Congress and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the 45th Congress
  • moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 1877 where he practiced law; acknowledged as Boulder's best trial lawyer
  • on 12 Aug 1884 divorced Margaret [nee Devine] Whiteley and married Mary G. Strickland
  • died on 26 Sept 1890
  • buried in Columbia Cemetery, Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado; one of seven Confederates interred there

    Sources
  • A Scalawag in Georgia: Richard Whiteley and the Politics of Reconstruction, by William Warren Rogers, Jr., University of Illinois Press; 11 May 2007; portions available via Books.Google.com
  • Boulder Genealogical Society's Columbia Cemetery Burial Index
  • Historical Data Systems, Inc., Duxbury, MA 02331
  • NPS CWSSS Regimental Histories
  • NPS CWSSS Battle Summaries

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