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Nelson's Rangers  Rating:  Rating
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 Posted: Tue Jan 26th, 2010 11:31 am
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Doc C
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Need help. Currently researching a Georgian ancestor, Samuel Spencer. I know a great deal about his pre and post civil war life but very little about his civil war service. All I have on him is that he attended Georgia Military Inst., enlisted at the age of 16, served in Nelson's Rangers (? independent calvary), fought at Vicksburg, ? served with Forrest and Hood. Would appreciate any information.

Doc C

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 Posted: Wed Mar 17th, 2010 06:02 am
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5fish
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Here is something..

Capt. Nelson's Independent Company Georgia Cavalry
Nelson Rangers Capt. Thomas M. Nelson
Capt. G. G. Ragland

This company was organized 14 May 1862 and served until the end of the war. Later in the war it was known as Capt. Ragland's Company and as such was escort for General Stephen Dill Lee.

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 Posted: Wed Mar 17th, 2010 09:29 pm
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5fish
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Doc C wrote:
Need help. Currently researching a Georgian ancestor, Samuel Spencer. I know a great deal about his pre and post civil war life but very little about his civil war service. All I have on him is that he attended Georgia Military Inst., enlisted at the age of 16, served in Nelson's Rangers (? independent calvary), fought at Vicksburg, ? served with Forrest and Hood. Would appreciate any information.

Doc C


Here's a link to a gentleman John Flournoy who joined Nelson's Rangers late in 1864 and it gives you a little history of where Nelson's Rangers fought form 1864 to 1865. It seem they were General S. Lee personal escorts...

http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/bios/flournoy.txt

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 Posted: Wed Mar 17th, 2010 09:47 pm
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5fish
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Is a tale about another person that served late in the war with Nelson's Rangers...

Horace CLAPP served with this unit until the end of
September, 1863. On October 1, 1863, CLAPP mustered into Captain Thomas M.
NELSON'S Independent Company, Georgia Cavalry (also known as Nelson's
Rangers). Captain NELSON was from Dougherty County, Georgia and initially
enlisted on April 28, 1861 into Company E, of the 4th Georgia Volunteer
Infantry, from which he later resigned, and then formed his cavalry unit on May
14, 1862. The unit later became Captain George G. RAGLAND'S company, and
served as personal escort for General Stephen Dill LEE. CLAPP served with this
unit for the remainder of the war, and was surrendered at Greensboro, North
Carolina on April 26, 1865. Today, it would be considered, that he had a rich
and colorful military career…especially after having served during the entire
war, and in 3 classes of the military; the infantry, artillery and cavalry…and
because we have a nearly complete military history for a Confederate Private.

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 Posted: Wed Mar 17th, 2010 10:31 pm
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5fish
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Doc C wrote:
Need help. Currently researching a Georgian ancestor, Samuel Spencer. I know a great deal about his pre and post civil war life but very little about his civil war service. All I have on him is that he attended Georgia Military Inst., enlisted at the age of 16, served in Nelson's Rangers (? independent calvary), fought at Vicksburg, ? served with Forrest and Hood. Would appreciate any information.

Doc C


Mr. Samuel Spencer had an impressive life after the war here a link to it....

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3446400186.html

Here is some on Samuel Spencer war record...link will take you to the beginning..

http://books.google.com/books?id=Gs1fJKt_e_cC&pg=PA367&dq=Nelson+Rangers+Georgia+Cavalry&cd=9#v=onepage&q=Nelson%20Rangers%20Georgia%20Cavalry&f=false

Here is some more on Samuel Spencer....

http://books.google.com/books?id=i-cDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA420&dq=Nelson+Rangers+Georgia+Cavalry&cd=10#v=onepage&q=Nelson%20Rangers%20Georgia%20Cavalry&f=false

Mr Spencer was well known...

http://books.google.com/books?id=BjQZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT61&dq=Nelson+Rangers+Georgia+Cavalry&lr=&cd=17#v=onepage&q=Nelson%20Rangers%20Georgia%20Cavalry&f=false

Mr. Spencer dies in a train wreck...

http://books.google.com/books?id=4d5KAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA115&dq=Nelson+Rangers+Georgia+Cavalry&lr=&cd=30#v=onepage&q=Nelson%20Rangers%20Georgia%20Cavalry&f=false

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 Posted: Wed Mar 17th, 2010 10:59 pm
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5fish
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Doc C wrote:
Need help. Currently researching a Georgian ancestor, Samuel Spencer. I know a great deal about his pre and post civil war life but very little about his civil war service. All I have on him is that he attended Georgia Military Inst., enlisted at the age of 16, served in Nelson's Rangers (? independent calvary), fought at Vicksburg, ? served with Forrest and Hood. Would appreciate any information.

Doc C


I learned he joined the cavalry because he owned a horse..

http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/s05.naming.nc.railroad.town.pdf

Mr. Spencer has his own monument in Atlanta..

http://www.publicartaroundtheworld.com/Samuel_Spencer_Monument.html

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 Posted: Wed Mar 17th, 2010 11:26 pm
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Doc C
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Gills

Thanks for your help. Spencers war record has been a problem for me. As it turns out he's from the Eastern Shore of Maryland just minutes from where I now live. I have to get back down to Atlanta to see his statue.

Thanks

Doc C

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 Posted: Thu Mar 18th, 2010 01:33 pm
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5fish
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Doc C wrote:
Gills

Thanks for your help. Spencers war record has been a problem for me. As it turns out he's from the Eastern Shore of Maryland just minutes from where I now live. I have to get back down to Atlanta to see his statue.

Thanks

Doc C


I found him on a muster roll. He is on muster of Company B..of "The Battalion of the Georgia Military Cadets or G.M. I. Cadets"


http://files.usgwarchives.org/ga/fulton/military/civilwar/gmicadets.txt

I found the brief history of Georgia Military Inst. and the musters rolls I found fit the last paragraph on the first page.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3905/is_200409/ai_n9457063/?tag=content;col1

I pasting in form Wiki a brief history of combat....

GMI was established in Marietta, Georgia, on July 1, 1851. The campus consisted of 110 acres (0.45 km2).
Seven students started classes in July and twenty-eight men were in attendance by the end of the first year.[1]
GMI operated regularly until the spring of 1864 when the cadets were formed into two companies and deployed to West Point, Georgia, as a result of the Civil War.
During the course of the Civil War, superintendent Francis W. Capers sent cadets to use as drill instructors for CSA, and other cadets volunteered or were drafted[2]. On May 14, 1864, GMI Cadets fought in the Battle of Resaca and made contact with the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry regiment. After this single engagement, the cadets were pulled off the front line. [3]
The empty campus was burned by Sherman's troops on November 15, 1864. Following the Civil War, Georgia Military Institute was not rebuilt. In its place was founded North Georgia Agricultural College in Dahlonega, Georgia, as the Military College of Georgia.
To honor the legacy of GMI, the Georgia Army National Guard named its Officer Candidate School after it in 1961. In 2008, GMI returned to Marietta[4].

I think Sam Spencer embellished his military record just a little...I do not think he was in the cavalry another link.

http://www.civilwarhunter.com/gmibuttons.htm

Here's a Great Link about GMI Cadtes...

Cadets..http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ddorsey/gmi/gmihist.htm

I could put up more links about the GMI Cadets but Sam Spencer served form May of 1964 to May 1865 in the CSA. I do not think he served Forrest or Hood as a Cavalry man but as Infantry....

I found this picture of 9th IL CAVALRY and GMI Cadets at Resaca dueling it out...



http://www.frontiernet.net/~lws/Battle%20of%20Resaca2.html







Last edited on Fri Mar 19th, 2010 04:54 pm by 5fish

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 Posted: Fri Mar 19th, 2010 01:04 pm
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5fish
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5fish wrote: Here is something..

Capt. Nelson's Independent Company Georgia Cavalry
Nelson Rangers Capt. Thomas M. Nelson
Capt. G. G. Ragland

This company was organized 14 May 1862 and served until the end of the war. Later in the war it was known as Capt. Ragland's Company and as such was escort for General Stephen Dill Lee.

A summary of what I found on Nelson's Rangers:

They were muster up in Dougherty county, GA. and surrounding areas by Dr. Thomas Nelson.

They were assigned to General Kirby Smith and did his courier and escort work. They did see action at Lexington, Perryville and few others.

Capt. Thomas Nelson becomes Col. Thomas Nelson and moves to a Mississippi regiment. Capt. Ragland takes over and we find later they are doing courier and ecort work for General Stephan D. Lee.

Under Nelson Rangers the unit had like 256 men but under Ragland Rangers had like 68 men.

There was a Nelson Tift similar in age to Samuel Spencer, who joined Nelson's Rangers at its creation and stayed with the unit until it was muster out. A Nelson Tift founded Albany in 1836 so it was either his son or grandson.

I thought it odd that there was a person that lived the life that Sam Spencer promoted during his life. I bet they knew each other or Sam spencer knew of the man's story.

A thought..






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 Posted: Sun Mar 21st, 2010 08:21 pm
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5fish
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I FOUND NELSON RANGERS MUSTER ROLL...BUT NO SAM SPENCER LISTED

LINK...


http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm

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 Posted: Fri Sep 21st, 2012 08:08 pm
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spooner1956
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Curiously, several of my ancestors served with Nelson's Rangers. the Maples brothers, John and Thomas. I too have been seeking more information about the units activities.

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