NOMINATION PACKET FOR CAPT JAMES M. PONDER
 
Nomination packet for The 48th Brigade Hall of Fame
To honor CPT James M. Ponder :
Submitted by SFC Matthew R. Hanson The 148th Brigade Support Battalion


To chronicle properly and systematically the history of the Quartermaster's Department would be to write a history of the Army, of which it forms so important a part, with which it is so intimately associated, and without which it could not exist; for otherwise our Army would be but a predatory mob, organized but not supplied; dependent upon chance for its existence, and for its supplies upon forays, like the forces of the feudal barons of medieval times. 1

- Captain Oscar F. Long U.S. Army Assistant Quartermaster 1896
1 Long, Oscar F., The Quartermaster’s Department, The Army of the United States: Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-In-Chief (New York; Maynard, Merrill, & Co., 1896), Brevet Brigadier General Theophilus F. Rodenbough and Major William L. Haskin, editors.
LETTER OF NOMINATION FOR JAMES M. PONDER CAPTAIN, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES

James Monroe Ponder is hereby nominated for recognition by, and admittance to, the 48th Brigade Hall of Fame. He is the first logistics officer mentioned in the history of the 148th Support Battalion. The Battalion draws its lineage and honors as far back as the formation of the Monroe Musketeers in 1826 in the town of Forsyth, Monroe County, Georgia. These Musketeers were reorganized as the Quitman Guards in 1859. It was this unit into which the young James Ponder enlisted just prior to the Civil War, and over which he was appointed first sergeant.

On 20 April 1861, at the age of 15, First Sergeant Ponder mustered into one year of active Confederate service with the newly reorganized Company K (Quitman Guards), 1st Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry. About one of the battles in which 1SG Ponder participated, in western Virginia, one U.S. Soldier wrote: “Each [Confederate] brigade in turn, right, left and center, repelled wave after wave of attacking [Federal] troops, driving them back with galling rifle fire, and each brigade in turn came under heavy artillery fire. … The Confederates fought with a spirit they had not before shown, and yielded the ground only as they were driven.”2 1SG Ponder led the unit with the company commander, Captain James S. Pinckard, under such distinguished senior leadership as General T. J. “Stonewall” Jackson.

After his first year of combat duty and a two-month break, when the unit was mustered for a second tour of active service, 1SG Ponder was elected company commander of Company K (Quitman Guards), now assigned to 53d Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry. The 16 year old Captain Ponder led the unit for another year; through the bloodiest single day of combat in American history, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, near Antietam creek; through perhaps the greatest tactical victory of the war, at Chancellorsville, Virginia, near Fredericksburg, when the 53d Georgia captured the colors of the 2d Rhode Island; and through the South’s most daring incursion into the North at Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania, when the 53d Georgia was at the Devil’s Den.

After Gettysburg, during his third year of combat duty in the Civil War, CPT Ponder was appointed Regimental Assistant Quartermaster. During his fourth year, he was appointed Brigade Assistant Quartermaster. He performed these staff officer duties under such distinguished senior leadership as Lieutenant General James Longstreet, during such engagements as Cold Harbor, Virginia, about which General U.S. Grant remarked that his order to assault the well entrenched Confederate lines was the only one he wished he’d never given, as over 13,000 Union casualties were suffered.

2 Stutler, Boyd B., West Virginia in the Civil War (Charleston, West Virginia; Educational Foundation, Inc., 1963), 110-114.
MILITARY CAREER SUMMARY OF JAMES M. PONDER CAPTAIN, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES

18 Mar 1861 – Appointed first sergeant of Company K (Quitman Guards), 1st Regiment (Ramsey's Regiment), Georgia Volunteer Infantry

20 Apr 1861 – Mustered into active Confederate service at Macon, Georgia, with duty in Pensacola, FL for two months

7-11 Jul 1861 – Present at battle of Laurel Hill (Rich Mountain), western Virginia

3 Oct 1861 – Present at battle of Greenbrier River (Camp Bartow), western Virginia

6 May 1862 – Elected company commander of Company K (Quitman Guards), 53d Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry; unit mustered into active service for second tour

1 Jul 1862 – Present at battle of Malvern Hill (Poindexter’s Farm), Virginia

16-18 Sep 1862 – Present at battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), Maryland

30 Apr-6 May 1863 – Present at battle of Chancellorsville (Fredericksburg), Virginia

1-3 Jul 1863 – Present at battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

9 Jul 1863 – Appointed Regimental Assistant Quartermaster

31 Aug 1863 – The 53d Regiment, under Colonel James P. Simms, is assigned to the 1st Army Corps, under Lieutenant General James Longstreet, as part of the Army of Northern Virginia

5-7 May 1864 – Present at battle of the Wilderness, Virginia

31 May-12 Jun 1864 – Present at battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia

Oct 1864 – Appointed Brigade Assistant Quartermaster

19 Oct 1864 – Present at battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia

Nov 1864 – Became ill, returned home to Monroe County, Georgia

25 Jan 1865 – Furloughed for 24 days

5 Mar 1865 – Appears on list of quartermasters and commissaries

7 Oct 1919 – Applied for military pension
BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES M. PONDER CAPTAIN, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES

Born 1 January 1846, died 13 August 1926.

His father, Daniel Ponder, left him $3,000 in land and property in Forsyth, a large sum in the late nineteenth century, which set him up for success in his life as a businessman after the war.

Married to Ella M. Ensign; their daughter was Abigail.

Service in the Army of the Confederate States of America 1861 – 1865.

Other possible Ponder relations in the military from Monroe County (relationship undetermined) may include: Major John M. Ponder, born 17 April 1795, died 17 May 1864. Private John L. Ponder, joined 6 May 1862, wounded at Chancellorsville, VA, 3 May 1863, appointed 2d Sergeant November 1863, captured at Farmville, VA, 6 April 1865, released at Newport News, VA, 26 June 1865.

His daughter married attorney Samuel Rutherford, from a prominent family in the area, who later became a U.S. Congressman. One of Samuel and Abbie’s daughters was Eleanor, who married Albert Bunn, from another prominent family in the area. Albert’s son, Sam, is alive and well today in Griffin, GA.

He attended the Hilliard Institute. He worked on a farm for many years before coming to town to clerk for Proctor & Ponder at their two-story brick store in Forsyth. When Proctor & Ponder went out of business, CPT Ponder and Mr. Dick Ham bought out the dry goods stock and moved into another building, doing business in that store for many years. Mr. Ponder bought out Mr. Ham's interest and moved the business twice more to new buildings.3

Years after the war, CPT James M. Ponder was still a prominent member of Monroe County and was possibly the wealthiest man in the county at the turn of the century. He was owner of a cotton mill and large amounts of farming land. He was owner of a fine house and purchased a beautiful new house for his daughter after she married. He was elected captain of the Quitman Guards association, a position he held for many years. He was president of the board of trustees of Monroe Female College. He was a Mason and finally a Knight Templar.4

He founded Bank of Forsyth and was later owner and president of First National Bank of Forsyth, two banks he founded along with other local citizens. Two of his cashiers, family friends Will and Charner Hill, from yet another prominent family in the area, learned banking from “Cap’n Ponder” and later went on to found Monroe County Bank, which is still doing business today.

3 Monroe Advertiser, 18 July 1935 4 Ibid
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR JAMES M. PONDER CAPTAIN, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES

(omitted intentionally)

Great assistance was provided by the following, in researching more detailed information about Mr. Ponder:

Elizabeth Robertson, Monroe County Coordinator, GAGenWeb Project

The Monroe County Historical Society

Ralph Bass
Paul Jossey
Jane Newton
Meredith Clapper
Evelyn Bugg
Lynn Cunningham
Ernest Morgan
Buddy Mitchell
PROPOSED CITATION FOR JAMES M. PONDER CAPTAIN, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES

James Monroe Ponder is the first logistics officer mentioned in the history of the 148th Support Battalion, a unit whose lineage and honors stretch across nearly 200 years and include infantry, armor, military police, and support roles. Before being appointed as Regimental and later Brigade Assistant Quartermaster, James M. Ponder led Company K (Quitman Guards), 1st and 53d Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiments, through more than two years of incessant maneuver and intense ground combat across the Eastern seaboard; through the bloodiest single day of combat in American history, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, near Antietam creek; through perhaps the greatest tactical victory of the war, at Chancellorsville, Virginia, near Fredericksburg, when the 53d Georgia captured the colors of the 2d Rhode Island; and through the South’s most daring incursion into the North at Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania, when the 53d Georgia was at the Devil’s Den. His record of service, in support of his ideals and in defense of his homeland, is in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon him, the lineage and honors of the 148th Support Battalion, Monroe County, and the state of Georgia.

1861: Artist’s rendering of the battle at Laurel Hill (Rich Mountain), western Virginia5

1862: Photograph of the battle at Sharpsburg (Antietam), Maryland6
5 <http://www.battleoflaurelhill.org/> 6 <http://schwartz.eng.auburn.edu/ACW/ant.html>

1863: Georgia’s 53d Regiment, under General McLaw’s Division (center of map), shown maneuvering to support the Confederate right flank at Chancellorsville to allow General Robert E. Lee to box in Union forces and to enable General T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s famous hammering and capture of the Union’s XI Corps.

Again, Georgia’s 53d under McLaw’s Division maneuvers to thwart Union attempt to encircle General Lee from Fredericksburg. This battle is considered to be one of the finest examples of tactical victory, as the Confederate forces defeated the vastly greater Union forces through superior maneuver and use of combined arms.7
7 <http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/630430c.htm>

1908

1909