Confederate Sharpshooter Major William E. Simmons: Through the War with the 16th Georgia Infantry and 3rd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters

This new biography on Major William E. Simmons (1839-1931) emphasizes his experiences as an infantry officer in the Army of Northern Virginia. Three years after graduating from Emory College, Simmons joined the first company in his home county and received his commission. He was later promoted to Captain in the elite 3rd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters of Wofford's Brigade. In 1864, he became acting commander of the brigade's sharpshooter battalion. A wealth of information from Simmons' journal and personal papers includes encounters with Generals Nathan Bedford Forrest and George Armstrong Custer. There are also accounts of his miraculous escape from Crampton's Gap at South Mountain, his regiment's heroic efforts at the Bloody Lane in the Battle of Sharpsburg, the Sunken Road at Fredericksburg, the Peach Orchard and Wheat Field at Gettysburg, and his sharpshooters' key role at Cold Harbor and Wofford's flank attack at the Wilderness.