17th Infantry Regiment was organized in Stewart County, Georgia, during the summer of 1861. Its members were from Columbus and Decatur, and the counties of Webster, Schley, Harris, and Stewart. Ordered to Virginia the regiment was assigned to General Toombs' and later Benning's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. It served with the army from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, except when it was on detached duty with Longstreet at Suffolk, Chickamauga, and Knoxville. The 17th was active in the Petersburg trenches north of the James River and around Appomattox. In April, 1862, it totalled 398 men, had 5 killed and 30 wounded at Malvern Hill, and lost fifty-one percent of the 200 engaged at Second Manassas. Of the 350 who saw action at Gettysburg, twenty-nine percent were disabled, and from April 14 to May 6, there were 86 casualties, then from August 1 to December 31, 1864, the unit had 45 killed or wounded. It surrendered with 18 officers and 168 men. The field officers were Colonels Henry L. Benning and Wesley C. Hodges; Lieutenant Colonels William A. Barden and Charles W. Matthews, and Majors James B. Moore, John H. Pickett, and Thomas Walker.