USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 14
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troops "now in the service enlisted for the war," December 12, 1861, was as follows:
Nineteenth, Col. C. H. Mott.
Twentieth, Col. D. R. Russell.
Twenty-first, Col. B. G. Humphreys.
Twenty-second, Col. D. W. C. Bonham.
Twenty-fourth, Col. W. F. Dowd.
Twenty-fifth, Col. John D. Martin.
Second battalion, Maj. J. G. Taylor (remainder of 1st battalion, later changed to 48th regiment).
Third battalion, Maj. A. B. Hardcastle.
First Mounted regiment, Col. Wirt Adams, (also first cavalry).
Jeff Davis Legion (including 2d battalion cavalry), Maj. W. T. Martin.
General Cooper's report of March 1, 1862, showed for Missis- sippi, eight regiments and four battalions, or a total of 8,210, en- listed for the war; and twenty-regiments and three battalions, or ã total of 19,685, enlisted for twelve months; grand total, 27,895. This spring of 1862 was the period of "reorganization," when the twelve months regiments were re-enlisted.
The seven regiments raised under the 7,000 call were not num- bered consecutively, because other regiments were organized and numbered as they were reported to the State adjutant-general. His report of May 11 and the Army of Mississippi record show the following organizations in March, April and May, and their location May 11.
Twenty-eighth (cavalry), Col. P. B. Starke, at Jackson, (Prob- ably complete in 1861.)
Twenty-ninth, Col. E. C. Walthall, at Corinth.
Thirtieth, Col. C. F. Neill, at Corinth.
Thirty-first, Col. J. A. Orr, at Saltillo. (From Orr's Sixth bat- talion).
Thirty-second, Col. M. P. Lowrey, at Corinth.
Thirty-third, Col. David W. Hurst, at Grenada.
Thirty-fourth, Col. Samuel Benton, at Corinth, (also called 37th).
Thirty-fifth, Col. William S. Barry, at West Point.
Thirty-sixth, Col. Drury J. Brown, at Corinth.
Thirty-seventh, Col. Robert McLain, at Columbus.
Thirty-eighth, Col. Fleming W. Adams, at Jackson, (afterward mounted).
Thirty-ninth, Col. W. B. Shelby, at Jackson.
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Fortieth, Col. Wallace B. Colbert.
Gordon's cavalry battalion, Lieut-Col. James Gordon, at Colum- bus, (later 2nd cavalry).
Fourteenth battalion, artillery, Maj. M. S. Ward.
Sixth battalion infantry, Lieut-Col. John W. Balfour, filling for a regiment, (46th).
First Artillery regiment, Col. W. T. Withers, completed later.
The Thirty-sixth was one of the twelve-months regiments, for coast service, renumbered and recruited for the war. Brown was commissioned colonel for this purpose March 12, a month earlier than Walthall and those following.
Next came the Conscript act of Congress, under which all white . men, within certain age limits, and except certain exemptions, without regard to State laws, were declared in the military service, subject to be taken at any time by a Conscript officer. This act, approved April 16, 1862, put "in the military service of the Con- federate States for three years or the war all persons between 18 and 35 years of age not legally exempt from military service, all twelve-months volunteers within those ages to serve two years from the expiration of their term of enlistment, and all of them under 18 and over 35 to remain ninety days unless their places are sooner supplied by recruits." (Letter of Secretary of War to Pettus).
This if enforced put an end to State troops. So Governor Brown of Georgia construed it, and took steps to nullify the law. Gover- nor Pettus replied April 26, that he had ordered an enrollment of all men subject to the conscription act. "Say to the President that he may rely on Mississippi to the last man." Later there was discussion about who was exempt. Overseers desired to be, but the President would not consent.
In the latter part of April, the governor called for 3,000 men to fill up companies under Beauregard, and urged that men embrace the last opportunity to volunteer.
In the Confederate Congress in August, the conscript law was the subject of prolonged discussion. Henry S. Foote, then a rep- resentative of Tennessee, took the ground that it was unconsti- tutional, was adopted first as an expedient, and if made permanent would subvert State sovereignty and the popular freedom. In this attitude he had some support. But the practical necessity, the "implied power" of the government to sustain itself, overcame the constitutional argument and the appeal to State rights. Congress refused to require the president to call on the governors for troops,
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and the Confederate States government assumed direct control of the persons of the citizens, although, under the constitution, people were citizens of the States and not of the Confederate States. The conscription was extended to 40 years.
Through the summer of 1862 the Confederate commandants of conscript camps were calling out all citizens not exempt. The law was unpopular and ways were found to evade it. In October, Maj. M. R. Clark, in command of the camp at Brookhaven, reported that the partisan rangers, "doing little or no service, and com- plained of by the whole community as well as the army," were made up almost entirely of conscripts who were thereby lost to the army.
In November, 1862, President Davis appealed to Governor Pet- tus and the other governors, that the vast scale of the Union oper- ations demanded the enrollment of all conscripts, the restoring to the army of the officers and men "absent without leave," the put- ting of slave labor under the command of the governors for mil- itary use, and "the adoption of some means to suppress the shame- ful extortions now practiced upon the people by men who can be reached by no moral influence, and who are worse enemies of the Confederacy than if found in arms among the invading force."
November 15, 1862, the governor wrote the war department in reply to a request for four more regiments that under the 7,000 call, fifteen regiments had been furnished, including Starke's cav- alry and Withers' artillery. "This, with the continual recruiting for Mississippi regiments heretofore formed, has so drained the State of her male population that it will be impossible to raise four regiments after taking men between 35 and 40 into Confederate service." He proposed that three regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, now enrolled in the State service, be retained in the same, subject to the orders of the department commander. There were many in these commands that were exempt from conscription under the Confederate laws. "I ask especially that the cavalry companies now in the State service be permitted to fight through the winter as now organized. For months past they have fought the enemy thirty miles beyond the Confederate lines and have given great protection to the citizens of the northwestern corner of the State. Some of them have killed, captured and wounded more Yankees than the company numbers."
Adjutant-General Hamilton's report of November, 1863, gave a list of Mississippi troops then in the Confederate States service,
-
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including the full list of regiments from First to Fortieth, inclusive, as herinbefore named. Also the following:
Forty-first, Col. W. F. Tucker.
Forty-second, (Second cavalry), Lieut .- Col. James Gordon.
Forty-third, Col. W. H. Moore.
Forty-fourth, Col. A. K. Blythe.
Forty-fifth, Col. A. B. Hardcastle, (from 3d battalion and 33d regiment).
Forty-sixth (49th) Col. J. W. Balfour. (from 6th battalion).
First Mounted regiment, Col. Wirt Adams.
Fourth battalion, cavalry, Maj. Charles Baskerville.
Fifth battalion, infantry, Maj. W. H. Kilpatrick.
Seventh battalion, infantry, Lieut-Col. James S. Terral. (also called Eighth).
Eighth battalion, sharpshooters, Maj. W. C. Richards. (also called Ninth, and Chalmers' battalion).
Tenth battalion, infantry, Maj. W. A. Rayburn. (Also called Sharpshooters-three companies from Second Confederate regi- ment).
Eleventh battalion, heavy artillery, Lieut .- Col. R. Sterling. (Also see Army of Mississippi.)
The following list embraces all other organizations in the Con- federate States service, 1861-65, mentioned in the list of the War Records office at Washington. (also see Army of Miss.)
INFANTRY.
First Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi regiment, Maj. A. P. Causler, Miss.
Second Confederate regiment, originally 25th Miss., Col. J. D. Martin.
First Mississippi and Tennessee battalion, Lieut .- Col. Henry C. Davis.
Thirteenth battalion, Maj. N. B. Harper.
Fifteenth battalion, sharpshooters, Maj. A. T. Hawkins.
Rea's battalion, sharpshooters, Maj. Constantine Rea.
Thirty-third regiment, Col. Aaron B. Hardcastle (consolidated with 45th).
Forty-second regiment, Col. Hugh R. Miller.
Forty-seventh regiment, see Second cavalry.
Forty-eighth regiment, Col. Joseph M. Jayne (from Second bat- talion).
Forty-ninth regiment, Col. John W. Balfour.
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CAVALRY.
First regiment, Col. R. A. Pinson. (originally J. H. Miller's bat- talion, next Lindsay's regiment).
Second regiment, Col. J. L. McCarthy, (originally 47th regi- ment ; also called 4th cavalry and 42d regiment).
Third regiment, Col. John McGuirk. (Third State cavalry, 1863).
Fourth regiment, Col. C. C. Wilbourn.
Fifth regiment, Col. James Z. George.
Sixth regiment, Col. Isham Harrison (from Davenport's bat- talion, State).
Seventh regiment, Col. William C. Falkner (changed from First Partisan Rangers, July, 1864).
Eighth regiment, Col. William L. Duff (consolidated with Sixth).
Ninth regiment, Col. Horace H. Miller (from Steede's Miss. and a Tenn. battalion).
Tenth regiment, Col. William M. Inge (also called Twelfth).
Eleventh regiment, Col. Robert O. Perrin (from Perrin's bat- talion State cavalry).
Twelfth regiment, Col. Charles G. Armistead, (also called 16th Confederate).
Seventeenth battalion, Maj. A. C. Steede (merged in Ninth regi- ment).
Eighteenth battalion, Lieut .- Col. A. H. Chalmers (merged in following).
Eighteenth regiment, Col. A. H. Chalmers.
Nineteenth battalion, Lieut .- Col. Wm. L. Duff (raised to 8th regiment, July, 1864).
Nineteenth battalion, Lieut .- Col. James Z. George.
Twenty-third battalion, Maj. Joseph S. 'Terry, (three Miss. companies taken out of Powers' regiment, La., Nov., 1864).
Twenty-fourth battalion, Lieut .- Col. William A. Percy.
Ashcraft's regiment, Col. Thomas C. Ashcraft (from 2d and 3d battalions State cavalry. Ham's and Lowry's (State) cavalry were consolidated with this, March, 1865).
Brewer's battalion, Alabama and Mississippi.
Chamlers' Consolidated cavalry regiment, Col. A. H. Chalmers, (part of 5th regiment and 18th battalion, March, 1865).
Collins' regiment, Col. N. D. Collins.
Garland's battalion, Maj. Wm. H. Garland, (merged in 14th Confederate cavalry).
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Ham's regiment, Col. T. W. Ham (originally Sixteenth bat- talion, State).
Harman's regiment, also called Confederate regiment.
Hughes' battalion, recruited by Col. Henry Hughes (merged in 4th regiment cavalry).
Lay's regiment, Col. Benj. D. Lay.
Lindsay's regiment, Col. A. J. Lindsay (temporary-about same as Pinson's First regiment).
Moorman's battalion, Lieut-Col. George Moorman.
Smyth's battalion, Maj. J. S. Smyth.
Stockdale's battalion, Maj. Thomas R. Stockdale (merged in Fourth cavalry).
Street's battalion, Maj. Sol G. Street (merged in 15th Tenn. cav- alry).
ARTILLERY.
See the various Army articles, Vicksburg articles, Port Hudson and Pensacola. The Connor battery, Capt. George Ralston, later Ben Wade, mustered in April, 1862, served at Grand Gulf and Port Hudson in 1862, and in the Louisiana and Red River campaigns of 1863-4.
The war department estimated that in January, 1864, the State had furnished 10 per cent of the white population in 1860 to the military service. The estimate for Georgia and Alabama was 17 per cent, for Virginia the same as Mississippi. The total of vol- unteers and conscripts put into service was estimated at 66,982. The white males between 18 and 45 in 1860 was 71,000. But the war department figured that there remained 12,000 not enlisted nor exempt.
On the same basis the department figured that 125,000 men might be obtained in the six dependable States, Virginia, the Caro- linas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Really, as conditions in Mississippi plainly showed, these States were practically ex- hausted, in January,, 1864.
The conscript report for January, 1864, showed 8,500 men ex- empt. Deserters returned to the army, 440. Men detailed on various duty : ordnance department, 405; government contractors, 247; quartermaster's department, 123; railroad service, 45; ex- press and telegraph, 28; and other duties, making an aggregate of 976.
March 4, 1864, Governor Clark demanded of the secretary of war the discharge of justices of the peace conscripted by Confed-
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erate officers. April 5 the legislature protested by resolution against the same action, but a resolution was finally adopted waiv- ing the point except as to officials named in the constitution and necessary to maintain the government.
Under the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, W. N. Es- telle, of Mobile, was appointed commissioner for the State of Mis- sissippi, March 30, '64, to appoint assistants and afford counsel to conscript officers in case the writ should be issued by any court.
May 3, 1864, Maj. Jules C. Denis was assigned as commandant of conscripts for the State of Mississippi. He organized a regi- ment of Reserves, called the First cavalry, of which he was com- missioned colonel.
In the summer of 1864, Col. William L. Brandon, of the Twenty- first regiment, was promoted to brigadier-general and assigned to command of Confederate reserves in Mississippi, with head- quarters at Enterprise. He was in charge of conscript matters thereafter.
The impressment commissioners met at Montgomery in Sep- tember to fix the prices of property to be taken for military use.
An act of the legislature, December 9, 1863, had authorized the governor to raise troops for State defense by commissioning per- sons to raise volunteer companies and regiments. January 25, 1864, from Macon, Governor Clark announced that "as many mounted volunteers (not liable to conscription in the Confederate service) as may offer will be received and mustered into the State service, to serve during the war, unless sooner discharged by the governor. All able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 years will be accepted."
In February, 1864, an act of Congress declared all between the ages of seventeen and fifty in the Confederate service, if not other- wise exempt. Local defense troops were withdrawn from State control and put under Confederate control.
Through the summer the governor raised sixteen companies- some for the war, some for twelve and some for six months. August, 1864, Governor Clark called out militia, expecting to get four or five thousand, on the urgent request of General Maury, at Mobile. A thousand had reported on the 14th and he asked Richmond for arms and ammunition, which were forwarded. In the same month the legislature waived the right of exemption for all officers of towns and cities, under 45 years, and many other officials. In September General Brandon asked the governor if he meant to enroll conscripts in the State troops. Governor Clark
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replied: "The State of Mississippi has to defend herself in fu- ture. For this defense I promise to secure volunteers for six months without regard to age. . I have no doubt of my right to them as troops of war of the States." Brandon applied to Richmond for instructions. The secretary of war replied that the conscript laws were part of "the supreme law of the land," and must be enforced, in as conciliatory a way as possible.
There followed an interview between governor and general at Meridian, and another at Jackson. The governor proposed to sub- mit the conflict of authority to the supreme court, which the gen- eral declined. "Then you must use force," said the governor ; but he agreed that if Judge Handy, chief justice, should decide against him, he would turn over the men at once. W. L. Harris was re- tained by the general, as counsel.
As a test case one Simmons was brought before Chief Justice Handy, on a writ of habeas corpus, and the opinion was against the governor. From Richmond, General Brandon was notified, "The department has no power to submit its action to the final decision of any State tribunal," but the decision of the Mississippi court would be respected in Mississippi, the Confederacy having no court to pass on such questions. The governor offered to turn over to General Brandon the State troops as organized, and in- sisted that as these troops had really been in the Confederate service for several months, they should be mustered in as they were, for payment. General Forrest, commanding the district, agreed that the State troops should be assembled at Macon for muster-in, and Gen. Richard Taylor, commanding the department, suggested that the men between the ages of 18 and 45 should be enrolled as a new regiment. General Brandon was of the opinion that the men who would form this regiment had been avoiding service from the beginning of the war. (Official Records, Ser. IV, Vol. III, 1163). He asked for orders to conscript the men and send them on to Virginia to fill up the old regiments.
The organization of negro troops was urged by many officers in Johnston's army early in 1864. A year later, on the suggestion of General Lee, the proposition was submitted to the army in Vir- ginia. General Longstreet, in asking the opinion of his corps, said it involved the necessity of abolishing slavery in the future. Humphreys' brigade nevertheless adopted resolutions of ap- proval, one of which read: "Resolved, That the efforts of the Hon. A. G. Brown and others in behalf of the measure to raise an army of negroes meet with our entire and hearty approbation."
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(A Mississippi Brigade, J. S. McNeilly, Miss. Hist. Soc. Publ., VII, 41) In the latter part of March and early in April, 1865, of- ficers of the Confederate army were detailed to organize negro troops, under an act of Congress approved by President Davis March 13, 1865. Capt. Edward Bostick was ordered "to raise a battalion of four companies of negro troops in the State of South Carolina." If any efforts were made in Mississippi it does not appear of record. Little could have been expected from such a measure, in Mississippi at least, as most of the colored population of the State, of military age, was enrolled in the Union army. "Curiously enough, the State furnished more troops to the Union army than it did to the Confederate army, the number being 545 whites and 79,000 blacks." (Garner).
The legislature in August, 1864, passed an act creating the of- fice of superintendent of Army Records, with the duty of pre- serving the rolls and records of each soldier. This was done to take advantage of an act of the Confederate Congress to encour- age and aid such historical work. J. L. Power was appointed to this office by Governor Clark, but the greater part of the troops were in the Army of Tennessee, so actively engaged that it was impossible to collect material. He made some progress, however, toward completing the records of the three Mississippi brigades in the Army of Northern Virginia. His first visit was to the brigade once commanded by Governor Clark. Of the five thou- sand who had been enrolled from time to time, from the begin- ning, only four hundred remained. Nearly 2,000 of the missing were dead. But Colonel Power succeeded in making "full and I believe accurate" rolls of the entire brigade. The brigades of Davis and Harris he did not have time to go through before the evacuation of Richmond. In seventy companies that he com- pleted (all of Humphreys' and part of Davis' brigade), the total enrollment was 9,407; 1,246 had died of disease, 1,344 had been killed or had died of wounds, 2,037 were discharged, resigned 01 retired; 652 had been transferred, 1,257 had deserted or had been dropped for absence. Total loss, 6,661. Of the 2,746 on the rolls as present or absent and accounted for, about one-third were pres- ent under arms at the surrender. From this basis Colonel Power estimated that Mississippi put in service 63 regiments of all arms, and a total of 78,000 men, accounted for as follows: died of dis- ease, 15,500; killed and died of wounds, 12,000; discharged, re- signed, retired, 19,000; deserted or dropped, 11,000; missing, 250; transferred to other commands 1,500; total loss, 59,250. He did
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not think that more than 1,200 deserted to the Federal lines. "Our reverses for the last two years of the war, the despondency, speculation and extortion of many of our people at home, the in- ability of the government to pay the troops promptly or to fur- nish them with anything like adequate supplies of food or cloth- ing, the absolute destitution of many families of soldiers, and, toward the last, the seeming hopelessness of the struggle, all con- spired to depress the soldier's heart, and caused thousands to retire from the contest when there was greater need for their services." (House Journal, 1865, appendix, 51.)
A compilation from incomplete muster rolls, by Gen. James B. Fry, shows, 5,807 killed; 2,651 wounded; 6,807 died of disease. In September, 1864, Secretary Campbell estimated that the mor- tality of the Confederate armies had averaged 50,000 a year for the four years; that 55,000 were prisoners and 50,000 permanently disabled.
Mississippi contributed to the Confederacy the president and commander-in-chief of the army, but none of the twenty-four full generals and lieutenant-generals. Of the 63 major-generals she gave five: Earl VanDorn, Samuel G. French, Will T. Martin, Ed- ward C. Walthall, and W. H. C. Whiting. Of the 291 brigadier- generals she gave 29.
Army of Kentucky. Albert Sidney Johnston, after declining the highest command in the United States army in the spring of 1861, was the first to receive from the Confederate government the rank of "General," and was assigned September 10, to com- mand west of the Alleghany mountains, including Mississippi. He established as his first line of defense of the Mississippi val- ley, camps at Columbus, Ky., Bowling Green and Cumberland Gap. In the Army of Kentucky, organized at Bowling Green, Col. W. E. Baldwin commanded a brigade, including his Fourteenth Mississippi regiment and the Twenty-sixth; Gen. Charles Clark had another brigade, in which were the First and Second (23d) regiments. In Bowen's brigade were the Twenty-second and Twenty-fifth regiments and Hudson's battery. Other commands were the Sixth and Twentieth infantry regiments, the First cav- alry, Third battalion infantry, and Swett's battery. The latter was distinguished in successful actions at Brownsville, Novem- ber 21, and Rowlett's Station, December 19. The Fifteenth and Nineteenth regiments were at Cumberland Gap, under Gen. Zol- licoffer. The latter advanced toward Mill Springs, Ky., in Jan- uary, and was attacked on the 19th by Gen. George H. Thomas.
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In this battle of Fishing Creek, the Fifteenth Mississippi, under Lieut .- Col. E. C. Walthall, were the first to meet the enemy, and this regiment and the Twentieth Tennessee fought the battle mainly. The Nineteenth was engaged, but was thrown in con- fusion by orders from General Zollicoffer, just before he was killed. The Fifteenth lost 44 killed and 153 wounded.
After this event Johnston concentrated on Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, down which Grant was moving an army by fleet, supported by gunboats. The Fourth Mississippi, which had been first with VanDorn in the Army of Virginia, was at Fort Henry. They fought in the rifle pits there February 4, and afterward marched to Fort Donelson, where they served gallantly, their colonel, Joseph Drake, com- manding a brigade.
In the battle of Fort Donelson, February 15, Colonels Baldwin and Simonton also commanded brigades. The Mississippi regi- ments were distinguished for their gallantry and heroic devotion. The Twenty-sixth, of Baldwin's brigade, advanced under heavy fire and took the pivotal position for the battle. After suffering heavy loss, the brigade made a victorious advance. Clark's bri- gade, under Colonel Simonton, followed Baldwin into action, and pushed the enemy before them for a mile and half, but lost heav- ily. The Twentieth lost Lieut. R. W. Paine among the killed, while fighting with Baldwin. The Fourteenth struggle desper- ately against the overwhelming return blow of Grant's army, which closed the day. Next day, Sunday, the Twentieth guarded the landing while General Floyd embarked his Virginians for escape, and then, with all the other troops, were unconditionally surrendered. The Mississippians at Fort Donelson were esti- mated at 3,364; killed 115; wounded 434, the remainder mainly surrendered and paroled, until exchanged. Their casualties were about half the total of the army of 14,000 men.
The remnant of General Johnston's forces was reorganized at Murfreesboro, including the Sixth, Fifteenth, Twenty-second and Twenty-fifth regiments and Hardcastle's battalion. The Ninth and Tenth were brought up from Pensacola and stationed on the river in north Alabama. In March there was a general rendezvous of all the troops in General Johnston's department, at Corinth, and the Army of Kentucky was merged in the Army of the Mis- sissippi.
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