The winter of 1862-63 was spent near Port Royal. Except for picket duty, all was quiet in the 44th. When Lee reorganized the army in January, the 12th and 21st Georgia regiments joined the brigade in place of the North Carolina units, making it an all-Georgia brigade. It was then moved to the division of Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes, in Stonewall Jackson’s storied II Corps.

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On April 29, 1863, the brigade was ordered back to Fredericksburg in response to Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s feint toward the old battlefield of the previous December. On May 1, the men moved to the Orange Plank road near Chancellorsville. That night, Lee and Jackson planned their famous flank attack to destroy the Federal right wing. The next day, the 44th Georgia, with the rest of the brigade, started at sunrise in a northern direction, then turned left toward the west, in order to circle the unsuspecting enemy.

Rodes’ division, which had led the flanking maneuver, was assigned the first line of battle, stretching for a half-mile on each side of the Plank Road and squarely on the exposed Federal right.

The next day, May 3, the brigade assaulted enemy entrenchments near the Chancellor House and drove the enemy away, but at a heavy loss. The 44th Georgia lost 13 killed and 64 wounded. Company I was down to 36 men. The regiment as a whole numbered 348 men and 35 officers.

On July 1, the brigade quick-marched to the sound of the guns at Gettysburg, going into line on the extreme left. When the entire Union XI Corps appeared in front of the brigade, the situation became grim. The enemy occupied Oak Hill in front of the Georgians, and immediately began a flanking movement to the left. Doles’ men fought on the defensive for an hour until Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon’s brigade of Maj. Gen. Jubal Early’s division came up on the left, linked up with Doles’ regiments and attacked.

The Federals fought valiantly but soon were flanked and had to retreat. With Doles and Gordon pressing home their assault, the retreat became a rout and compelled the entire Federal defense north of Gettysburg to give way. During the pursuit of the routed enemy, Doles’ men came under fire from an unexpected source. Doles reported later, “My line was subjected to and did receive a severe fire from one of our own batteries, from which fire I lost several men killed and wounded.” The offending battery was not identified.

The brigade was drawn up in line of battle on July 2 to support Early’s attack on Cemetery Hill. For whatever reason, Rodes did not order the advance, and the men, except for heavy skirmishing, remained where they were until the 5th, when the Confederate army retreated. In the action at Gettysburg, the 44th Georgia lost 10 killed, 49 wounded and 9 missing. A survivor summed up the matter: “There was an awful fight for three days. I don’t think we gained anything there.”

Following the Mine Run campaign, the brigade went into winter camp near Orange Court House and, except for a bitter winter march in February, rested until May 4, 1864. The Wilderness campaign began for Doles’ brigade on May 5, when it went into line of battle in the right rear of Brig. Gen. John M. Jones’ brigade of Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson’s division. The Federals attacked before Jones had his men deployed and routed the Confederates already in place, exposing Doles’ left, held by the 4th Georgia. The regiment wheeled left to meet the flank attack while the 44th Georgia and 12th Georgia engaged on their front, buying precious moments for Lee’s army. A timely counterattack by Gordon’s men relieved the Union pressure and restored the Confederate line. On the 6th, the 44th and its sister regiments participated in a night attack on the Union right flank, which, had not darkness intervened, might have forced the entire Federal line out of position. Losses in the hard-fighting 44th Georgia for the two days of combat in the Wilderness were 14 killed, 29 wounded and 2 captured.

Three days later, the brigade was in line at Spotsylvania, occupying the center of the western side of a large bulge in the line known as “the Mule Shoe.” The 44th Georgia was at the center of the brigade. The entrenchments were a scant 200 yards from a pine forest that concealed enemy movements. On the evening of May 10, the Federals bombarded Doles’ sector, then launched an overwhelming attack. Doles’ men fought obstinately against 5-to-1 odds. Union Colonel Emory Upton paid tribute: “The enemy sitting in their pits with pieces upright, loaded, and with bayonets fixed, ready to impale the first who should leap over, absolutely refused to yield the ground.”

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