The Chatham Artillery started out as a standing militia unit—one of the oldest in the nation, formed in 1785.
Now, as with all things Southern, if something is worth doing, it’s worth having a party afterwards to get drunk and talk about it. Or alternatively, having a party beforehand to get drunk and boast about what is to come! The Chatham Artillery apparently took this not so much as truism, as pure Gospel. The story goes that the ladies would make their special tea-fruit punch, and then each of the officers, on his own and unbeknownst to the women, or more importantly, to each other, would take it upon himself to spike the punch with his favorite liquor. And a good time was had by all…. Now punch was made to be spiked, but these folks made it an art form. The Chatham Artillery Punch first became famous outside Georgia, when the New York Herald Tribune published the formerly secret recipe. (Darn New York papers, publishing military secrets even back in the 1930s!) They described the punch thusly:
This is the punch that knocked out Admiral Schley when he visited Savannah in 1899 after the Spanish War. Admiral Cervera’s Spanish shells were harmless to the brave American admiral, but (Chatham) Artillery Punch scored a direct hit which put him out for two days.
