Birth: Dec. 18, 1836 Colleton County South Carolina, USA Death: Oct. 15, 1910 Echols County Georgia, USA
Bio from Confederate Ancestors of the Members of the Finley's Brigade SCV Camp #1614
George Washington Chitty, son of James M. and Rachel T. Chitty, was born on December 18, 1838. According to the Huxford Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia Volumes, he was born in Colleton District, SC, and brought by his parents to Lowndes County at age three.
In 1856, he married Sarah Drawdy, daughter of Levi Drawdy and Rebecca Carter, and they raised eleven children. The Chitty property would be cut out of the lower portion of Lowndes and become a part of Echols County in 1858.
George W. Chitty enlisted as a private in the Clinch Volunteers on March 4, 1862. He was shortly thereafter transferred to the Valdosta Guards, a Lowndes County company that would become Company D when the 50th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was officially organized near Savannah, Georgia in March 1862.
Private George Chitty was one of the many 50th Georgia volunteers who contracted disease shortly after enlisting. In May 1862, he was sent to a hospital in Macon. In July he was sent to a hospital in Savannah, and was not able to return to his company until August. In October he was again hospitalized in Richmond until mid December.
In July 1862, the 50th Georgia was assigned to General Thomas Drayton's brigade, David R. Jones' division, James Longstreet's command, Army of Northern Virginia. The regiment would participate in at least forty-five engagements during the better part of the next three years, including Second Manassas, Fox's Gap, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Knoxville, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Cedar Creek and Sailor's Creek. George Chitty was slightly wounded at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863. In February 1864, he was promoted to 1st Sergeant. Chitty received a serious wound to his left hand at Petersburg on June 19, 1864, and was hospitalized in Richmond prior to being furloughed home to recuperate for the remainder of the war (hospital records state Sgt. Chitty was "wounded in V.S.L. L hand Min B"). He was paroled at Thomasville on May 18, 1865.
George W. Chitty attempted to continue farming after the war, but his prior wound and lingering effects from his wartime illnesses made it difficult. He was elected Tax Collector of Echols County in January 1871, but resigned the next year. In 1895, he applied for and received a Georgia Confederate Pension for the rest of his life. He lost a finger and a portion of his left hand as a result of the wound suffered at Petersburg, causing the hand to be drawn inward to such an extent as to render it almost useless. He also suffered from a very severe form of chronic bronchitis, along with chronic hepatitis, which left his almost totally infirmed during his later years.
George W. Chitty apparently moved to Lowndes County in 1899, and lived there until returning to Echols County around 1903.
An article in the Valdosta Daily Times, dated April 29, 1899, reported, "Rev. G.W. Chitty, formerly of Echols, was in the city yesterday and was a pleasant caller to the Times office. Mr. Chitty bears the distinction of having hauled the first wagon load of goods ever brought to this city, and as he looks over the town and sees what has been accomplished since that time, he is proud of the distinction."
In 1907, the Valdosta Chapter No. 471, United Daughters of the Confederacy, bestowed the Southern Cross of Honor upon Chitty. (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_of_Honor#Recipients)
George Washington Chitty died at his home in Echols County on October 15, 1910. His wife Sarah had preceded him on September 18, 1905. They are buried in Sardis (Carter) Cemetery, Echols County, Georgia. Chitty is the ancestor of camp member James W. (Jim) Parrish.
Family links:
Spouse:
Sarah Drawdy Chitty (1838 - 1905)
Children: James A. Chitty (1857 - 1916)* Lula Bradford (1870 - 1915)* Milton Aaron Chitty (1873 - 1923)* Leonard B Chitty (1876 - 1942)* Lawrence Manswell Chitty (1878 - 1958)*
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