Fourth (Clinch's) Georgia Cavalry

Drawing from the Olustee Post Card Set.
Colonel Duncan L. Clinch Jr., son of the antebellum general officer of the United States army, commanded the Fourth Georgia Cavalry at Olustee. The unit, consisting of about 250 men, suffered six (seven?) men wounded during the battle. Colonel Caraway Smith noted in his official report that, "One of the wounded men is missing, and supposed now to be dead." Colonel Clinch was wounded in the leg during the opening part of the battle.

  • Colonel Clinch was wounded by a musket ball in the right fibula, not the thigh as reported by his seniors. He was treated on the battlefield and sent by train to the hospital at Madison. However, he was intercepted en route and taken home to his Brooks County, Georgia, plantation for recovery under the care of his wife. His wound was a very long time in healing and was still bothering him during the Atlanta campaign. In September 1864, his wound sent him to the hospital in Macon, Georgia, where he remained until almost the close of hostilities in the spring of 1865.
  • Pvt Nathaniel Lang, Company C, was also wounded, and survived.
  • 2nd Lt John L. Morgan, Company G, was wounded in the breast, neck and groin, but survived.
  • Pvt John J. Courson, Company I, received a gun-shot in the right thigh. He was sent by train to the Lake City hospital, where he later died.
  • Pvt Thomas L. Morgan, Company I, was wounded. In 1876, he died at home in Echols County, Georgia, of the wound’s effects.
  • Pvt James W. Manning, Company K, was wounded in the right leg above the knee. On 12 March 1864, the leg was amputated at Waldo, Florida.
  • There are others that may have been wounded there, but firm evidence is lacking in their cases. A candidate for the "missing" man was Private W.A. Berry, Jr., Company B, who was captured near Olustee.
[Webmaster's Note: Colonel Clinch was the only identified casualty from his regiment, as an examination of the unit CSRs did not identify the three other men listed as wounded. However, research on the 4th Georgia Cavalry by O.J. Hickox (hickox@halosip.net) resulted in identification of the names of other wounded.]


(1876-1890?) published newspaper letter from Colonel Duncan L. Clinch, Jr.
Excerpt from the Reminiscences of "Captain" William Penniman
John Marion O'Berry, Company G

External Web sites related to the Battle of Olustee
4th Georgia Cavalry: A Brief History of Clinch's Regiment
Biographical Military Sketches - 4th Georgia Cavalry Veterans


4th Georgia Cavalry Reenacting Units
(Please inform Webmaster of new additions, changes in URLs or dead links.)

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Confederate Order of Battle
Battle of Olustee home page
http://battleofolustee.org/