Wearing United Confederate Veterans Reunion Medals

Camp #1633 is named in honor of David Walker Payne. David was the sixth child of Moses Payne and Elizabeth Payne and was born on the 26th of May 1842 in Union County, Georgia. David's older brother John joined Smith's Partizan Rangers in 1862.David Payne enlisted in the Twenty-Third Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company K, "Young Cane Volunteers," at Camp McDonald, Big Shanty, Georgia in August of 1861. Another company, Company B, "Choestoe Guards," was also mustered into the 23rd at the same time. The 23rd G.V.I.R. was sent to Virginia.

The 23rd fought and fought well in all the major battles of the Army of the Peninsula and the Army of Northern Virginia except Gettysburg, the 23rd being at Charleston, South Carolina. During the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), the bloodiest day in American history, David Payne saw his comrades and neighbors fall and die at Bloody Lane and in the Cornfield. At Chancellorsville, he and almost all of his regiment were taken prisoner after saving Genl. Jackson’s artillery and wagon train. They were imprisoned at Fort Delaware, "The Andersonville of the North," and then exchanged, the last exchanges of the war.

Colquitt's Brigade of which the 23rd G.V.I.R. was part was transferred to the southern coast. The regiment served in North Carolina and was engaged during the battles around Charleston, South Carolina in 1863 including Battery Wagner and Fort Sumter. David Payne was “blown up by a shell” at Battery Wagner. While the 23rd and other regiments were being transported by steamer in Charleston harbor, their ship was accidently sunk by "friendly fire" from Fort Moultrie.

The Colquitt's Brigade was sent to Florida to help stop the Yankee advance there. David was wounded in the Battle of Ocean Pond at Olustee, Florida. David's brother, Nathaniel, of the 29th Alabama Infantry Regiment earlier died of disease at Camp Jackson, Florida.

In 1864, Colquitt's Brigade and the 23rd G.V.I.R. was returned to Virginia and the trenches of Petersburg. The regiment was 300 yards from the “Crater” at Petersburg. In August 1864, David Payne was transferred to the 2nd Engineer Regiment. Attached to the First Engineers, he was wounded in the desperate fighting during the firing of the High Bridge to cover Lee’s retreat from Richmond in 1865. The Engineers were surrendered with Lee's Army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. However, David Payne and the fellow men of his detachment did not physically surrender until several days after the Army of Northern Virginia's surrender.

He then returned home to Jones Creek and married Martha Walker. They had four children. He was active in the Captain T. J. Butt Camp # 1127 United Confederate Veterans in Blairsville. David died on May 22, 1929. He helped found Pleasant Hill Church (1861) in Union County, Georgia where he is buried.

Pvt. David Payne's Grave