The 16th Georgia is one of those regiments on which information is relatively scarce. It is explained in part by an article in The Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 1, Spring 1995: John A. Cobb, the son of Howell Cobb (who raised the regiment) believed that two-thirds of the troops in the 16th regiment were functionally illiterate. He remarked that "about one-third of the men in the regiment can't write their names, so the pay roll has a good many X-marks on it, and about one half of those that write ... can't read." The article goes on to break down the occupations of the men in companies A and D: Farmer - 134 (76.5 %), laborer - 15 (8.6 %), carpenter - 7 (4.0 %), miller - 3 (1.7 %), overseer - 3 (1.7 %), carriage maker - 2 (1.1 %), cropper - 2 (1.1 %), sawyer - 2 (1.1 %), tenant - 2 (1.1 %), and cabinet maker, clergyman, clerk, ditcher, and peddler one each (0.6 % each). Seventy (39.4 %) came from landless households, 66 % percent owned no slaves at all, and 85 % owned five or fewer slaves.

Walton Ginn of Company H wrote a brief history of his participation in "A War Story," published in the Franklin County Register of 5 July 1887 (possibly still online). Of greater interest is the detailed diary of surgeon Robert P. Myers. Circa June 1863 around 50 men and three officers from the 16th were reassigned to form Company C of the new 3rd Georgia Battalion.