Joseph T. Derry , A. M. , Author of School History of the United States; Story of the Confederate War, etc., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 6, Georgia
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[238] brigade; the Thirty-second and Fifty-fourth regiments, and Anderson's brigade, which arrived in September, including the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh and Fifty-ninth. Capt. J. R. Haines, commanding the Twenty-eighth, was killed September 5th by a mortar shell, and General Colquitt's aide, Lieut. James Randle, was mortally wounded August 29th. Others killed were Capt. C. Werner, First volunteers, July 11th, and Capt. A. S. Roberts, August 24th. Two batteries of the Twenty-second artillery were also there, and the Chatham and Chestatee batteries, light artillery. The Fifth regiment and Twenty-first and Twenty-fourth battalions of cavalry were likewise on duty in the vicinity of Charleston during the active siege operations of 1863.

In the memorable defense of Fort Sumter, which was maintained after the walls had been pounded into dust piles, defying the utmost capabilities of the powerful guns of the Federal fleet, Georgians had equal honors with South Carolinians, and the blood of the two States mingled on that historic spot. On the December day when the magazine exploded and a destructive fire raged in which many of the killed and wounded were burned, the Sixth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Georgia regiments furnished half the victims. On one occasion, when Fort Sumter was undergoing a heavy bombardment, the flagstaff was cut in two and the flag came down. Sergt. William M. Hitt and Private Bob Swain, both of the Twelfth Georgia battalion, witnessed the fall of the colors. At imminent risk of their lives, they restored the flag to its proper position, the sergeant standing by the pole while Swain mounted upon his shoulders in order to get a good start on his perilous climb. This exploit was mentioned in general orders. Another member of the Twelfth battalion, Private Hood Hitt, risked the fire of the enemy to get a little piece of the flag for a memento of his service in Fort Sumter.