Our church intersession team was wandering around Albany’s oldest cemetery today trying to find the grave of Nelson Tift, the founder of Albany.

Jen called letting me know where she was and that they found another important grave. So I decided to do some quick web research to see if I could find out info on Tift’s grave which would be helpful to the team.

I didn’t find anything helpful and in the end they found it on their own.

But…

While perusing through some grave information from the cemetery I stumbled on this name:

A. W. Cosby
Mar. 15, 1839
Sept. 6, 1894
Co. E. 4th. Ga. C. S.A

Since it was such a detailed tombstone description, I was curious if I could track down any information on the regiment or Mr. Cosby.

A little searching brought me here.

There I found this:

So there he was.

It made me wonder all sorts of things like was he born in Albany? How did he end up in Albany? Did he fight for the duration of the Civil War or did he join later? Base on his birth date, I would assume he joined with the rest in 1861.

Looking at the unit history of the 4th Georgia Regiment I was stunned. The regiment fought in almost every major battle the Army of Northern Virginia participated in. The fact that any of the men survived from enlistment until the end of the war is amazing:

Near Seven Pines (skirmish) – June 15, 1862
Seven Days Battles – June 25 – July 1, 1862
Beaver Dam Creek – June 26, 1862
Gaines’ Mill – June 27, 1862
Malvern Hill – July 1, 1862
South Mountain – September 14, 1862
Antietan – September 17, 1862
Fredericksburg – December 13, 1862
Chancellorsville – May 11-14, 1863
Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863
Bristoe Campaign – October 1863
Mine Run Campaign – November – December 1863
The Wilderness – May 5-6 1864
Spotsylvania Court House – May 8-21, 1864
North Anna – May 23-26, 1864
Cold Harbor – June 1-3, 1864
Lynchburg Campaign – May – June 1864
Monocacy – July 9, 1864
3rd Winchester – September 19, 1864
Fisher’s Hill – September 22, 1864
Cedar Creek – October 19, 1864
Petersburg Siege – May – June 1864 – April 1865
Fort Stedman – March 25, 1865
Appomattox Court House – April 9, 1865

And now this man is buried and forgotten in a cemetery in Albany, Georgia.

I love history and I love cemeteries.