Georgia was the 5th state to suceed from the Union on January 19, 1861. Georgia provided 133,486 of her sons for the war effort which translates to 3.5% (ranked 11th out of 44 states and territories) of the total men who served on both sides of the conflict. There were a total of 549 raids, skirmishes and battles in the state. Georgia had ? Confederate P.O.W. Camp at Americus, Andersonville (Camp Sumter, Castle Reed), Atlanta (East Point, Fulton County Jail), Augusta, Blackshear, Dalton, Fort Pulaski*, Macon (Camp Oglethorpe, Smith Slave Mart), Marietta, Millen (Camp Lawton), Savannah (3 prisons-Camp Davidson) and Thomasville.
In 1861, a new provision was added to Georgia's code requiring the governor to supply regimental flags to Georgia militia units assigned to fight outside the state.
These flags were to depict the "arms of the State" and the name of the regiment. In heraldry, "arms" refers to a coat of arms, which is the prominent design -- usually shown on a shield -- located at the center of an armorial bearing or seal. Arms usually appear on seals, but they are not synonymous with seals.
The code gave no indication as to the color to be used on the arms or the flag's background, though militia flags probably would have been on a field of blue.
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