George Pipes

Pvt. Company D, 12th Louisiana Infantry

Last updated on September 17, 2000

George Pipes was a son of William H. Pipes and Louisa Dutton, one of three sons from Union Parish who served in the Confederate Army and the only son who apparently did not survive the war era. His brother Joseph was also in the 12th Louisiana and his older brother Rueben was in the 31st Louisiana. George was born about 1844, one of 8 children. His parents both died during and shortly after the war, apparently from Illness rather than from war hostilities. His father died in 1862 and his mother in 1867. Court papers from 1868 declaring the children as independent, appointing guardians and dividing the families considerable estate mention all of the childen except George, so it is assumed that he passed away sometime after returning from his short stint in the Army. His military record below indicates that he may have been ill or unfit for duty after leaving Kentucky. We will search for his death record in Union Parish.

The following information was sent to me by R. Hugh Simmons, who has granted permission to use it. He has completed a vast amount of research on the men of the 12th Louisiana and the war time activities of the 12th Infantry and maintains a Web Page on this unit.. The information comes from the Archives data on individual soldiersand is combined with his personal knowledge of the actions of the 12th Louisiana. Please note that the "Farmer Guards" were a local, Union Parish Militia unit, apparently Joseph and George were both members.

"George Pipes has a very short record of service. He enrolled on August 18th, 1861 as a private, five days after the Farmer Guards were transferred into Confederate service as part of the 12th Louisiana Infantry. The regiment was shipped by rail from Camp Moore, Louisiana on August 25th and arrived at Union City, Tennessee on August 28th. The regiment marched into Columbus, Kentucky [about 20 miles north of Union City] on September 4, 1861 along with the 11th Louisiana Infantry and the 22nd Tennessee Infantry regiments. George Pipes was discharged from service for an unstated cause on October 13, 1861 while at Columbus. Since other discharges during this period were disease related and the fact noted in the muster rolls, the best guess is that George was, for whatever reason, unable to perform the basic duties of an infantry soldier. I did not find any subsequent enrollment record in Booth's records that would indicate that he served later during the war in another Louisiana unit. This reinforces my conclusion that his discharge was for physical inability, and not for age, etc. The Confederate Conscription Act of April 1862 required enrolled Confederate service of all white male residents ages 18 to 35 years. In September 1862 the upper age limit was extended to included men up to 45 years of age. Exemptions were given for certain professional categories."

For a more detailed article about the war time activities of this unit, please see the article on Joseph Pipes, his brother.

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