Philemon Tracy

Editor of the Georgia (Macon) Telegraph and a lawyer, he was elected to the Georgia State Senate in 1859. Although not a prime physical candidate - he was terribly nearsighted and walked with a limp - he was elected Major of the 6th Georgia Infantry on the organization of the regiment on 26 May 1861. He was wounded in the head and leg at Seven Pines, VA on 31 May 1862 and was furloughed home to recover.

He rejoined his regiment on the evening of 16 September at Sharpsburg. As the next senior officer, he took command of the regiment after Lieutenant Colonel Newton was killed early on 17 September, but was shot in the thigh, his femoral artery cut, and died soon after. General D.H. Hill reported "The modest and heroic Major Tracy, of the Sixth Georgia, met there, too, a bloody grave."

His body was recovered by his uncle Judge Phineas Tracy of Batavia, NY, who passed him off as a Federal officer and had him buried in Batavia.

His basic service from the Roster,1 with personal details from Mark Dolby on his Confederate Activities Behind Enemy Lines page, and a "tribute" in the Savannah Republican of 13 October 1862, thanks to Laura Elliott. His picture from a photograph in a Johnston family album discovered by the staff of the Johnston-Felton-Hay House in Macon, GA, published in the Macon Magazine online. Tracy's sister Anne married William Butler Johnston and they built that house (1855-60). Thanks to Andy Cardinal for the pointer to that excellent picture. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married the widow Caroline Matilda Rawls Walker (1833-1858) in 1857 but she and their only child died in childbirth in March 1858.

His brother General Edward Dorr Tracy, Jr. was killed at Port Gibson, Mississippi on 1 May 1863 in command of a Brigade.

06/27/1831; Macon, GA

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD; burial in Batavia Cemetery, Batavia, NY