A Journal of the American Civil War: V2-4

By Theodore P. Savas

Balanced and in-depth military coverage (all theaters, North and South) in a non-partisan format with detailed notes, offering meaty, in-depth articles, original maps, photos, columns, book reviews, and indexes.

Features “The 11th Mississippi in the Army of Northern Virginia,” by Steven Davis and “The 32nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry,” by John M. Coski.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Savas Publishing
• Release date: Dec 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781954547223

Book preview

…Like Leaves in an Autumn Wind:

The 11th Mississippi Infanfry in the

Army of Northern Virginia

Steven R. Davis

¹

No more disorderly mob of men were ever got together to make an army,² was how Sgt. James D. Love described his regiment, the 11th Mississippi Infantry. Only a few days after the April 14, 1861 surrender of Fort Sumter, trainloads of eager Mississippi volunteers began arriving at Corinth, Mississippi. It was a colorful and chaotic scene as each company, often wearing an elaborate uniform of its own design, carried its distinctive flag proudly through the streets and camps.³

On May 4, the 11th Mississippi was formed at Corinth from 10 of the earliest companies to arrive. William H. Moore and Phillip F. Liddell, both gentlemen of means, were elected colonel and lieutenant colonel, respectively. The companies drew lots and were assigned letters as follows:

A-- University Greys, Lafayette County

В -- Coahoma Invincibles, Coahoma County

С -- Prairie Rifles, Chickasaw County

D -- Neshoba Rifles, Neshoba County

E -- Prairie Guards, Lowndes County

F -- Noxubee Rifles, Noxubee County

G -- Lamar Rifles, Lafayette County

H -- Chickasaw Guards, Chickasaw County

I -- Van Dorn Reserves, Monroe County

К -- Carroll Rifles, Carroll County⁴

The Noxubee Rifles had served together for over a year as a state militia company and, along with the Chickasaw Guards and Prairie Guards, had participated briefly in the siege of Fort Pickens, Florida. The University Greys was formed by students from the University of Mississippi with a 19-year old senior, William B. Lowry, as its captain. One of the Confederacy’s wealthiest companies was probably the Van Dorn Reserves of Aberdeen. Each man was furnished with a tailored uniform, a Colt revolving rifle and a purse of gold. The company also carried a war chest containing several thousand dollars. Of the 11th Mississippi as a whole, one author wrote that Perhaps no regiment entered the service with a larger number of professional men in its ranks. Physicians were especially represented, both as officers and privates.⁵

The new regiment soon boarded a train for Virginia, arriving at Lynchburg on May 13 and at Harpers Ferry three days later. The 2nd Mississippi, under Col. William C. Falkner, had arrived a few days before. The 2nd and 11th would be together almost continually for the rest of the war.⁶

On May 23, 1861, the army inspector general reported that The two regiments from Mississippi…are not satisfied with their arms which are chiefly of the old flint-lock musket altered into percussion. …One of these regiments, under the command of Colonel Moore, is very superior to the other, under Colonel Falkner… .[The 11th] seems to take much pride in its appearance and is endeavoring to improve itself by military exercise.⁷

One private described his time at Harpers Ferry simply as hard drilling, trampling down acres of fine red clover.⁸ Pvt. T. M. Daniel wrote that the regiment had a ‘high old time’ occasionally until strict discipline became established. He once smuggled a half gallon of whiskey into camp inside a plugged watermelon. To dispense what he labeled his stimulant, Daniel inserted a straw into the melon, then buried the fruit in the back of his tent with only the straw protruding. When the boys wanted a drink they would lie down and suck the straw. Only two swallows were allowed, then the fellow would be choked off.⁹

On May 23, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived to take command of the growing force at Harpers Ferry. The 2nd and 11th Mississippi, along with the 4th Alabama and 6th North Carolina Infantry Regiments and the 1st Tennessee Battalion, were formed into a brigade under the command of Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee. On June 15, Johnston led his army back from its dangerously exposed position at Harpers Ferry to Winchester, located some 30 miles to the southwest in the Shenandoah Valley.¹⁰

On July 16, Union Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s army marched out of Washington against Gen. p. G. T. Beauregard’s Confederate Army of the Potomac at Manassas. The Confederates decided to stand their ground and reinforce Beauregard from the Valley with Johnston’s army. Elements of Johnston’s army, including the 11th Mississippi, left Winchester for Manassas on July 18. Johnston’s soldiers traveled by foot to Piedmont where they boarded trains for the ride east. About noon on July 20, when it came time for the 11th to board, there was room left on the cars for only part of the regiment. Companies A and F and Lieutenant Colonel Liddell joined the 2nd Mississippi on the train which carried Joe Johnston himself; the remaining eight companies waited impatiently for another train.¹¹

Dawn of July 21 found Companies A and F, the 2nd Mississippi, and the 4th Alabama posted in reserve behind the Confederate line along Bull Run. The rest of Bee’s Brigade was still in Piedmont or en route to Manassas. Ironically, both Beauregard and McDowell massed their forces on their respective right flanks, planning to strike the other’s left flank. When McDowell’s attack materialized first, Beauregard assumed it was a feint and sent only two incomplete brigades, Bee’s and Col. Francis s. Bartow’s, to the threatened area. After an exhausting four-mile jog, Bartow’s Georgians and Bee’s Mississippians and Alabamians came upon Brig. Gen. Nathan Evans doggedly holding his ground against a much larger Federal force at Matthews Hill. The move against the Confederate left was no feint.¹²

Bee and Bartow advanced through Evans’ spent troops and engaged the enemy. The men fought bravely, but as more Federals arrived the numbers opposite the Rebel line became overwhelming. In the ensuing retreat the regiments of Bee’s Brigade became separated; the two companies of Mississippians fell back behind a newly-formed line on Henry Hill being held by the brigade of Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson. The men of the University Greys and Noxubee Rifles were probably out of earshot when Bee rallied the 4th Alabama with the words which gave Stonewall Jackson his immortal nickname. Nor did they see Bee fall mortally wounded soon afterward.¹³

In the rear of Jackson’s line the scattered and winded troops from Bee’s and Evans’ brigades were met by reinforcements being rushed from other parts of the field and straight off the cars at Manassas Junction. Lieutenant Colonel Liddell rallied his two companies and, along with a company of the 4th South Carolina, joined three companies of the 49th Virginia to form an ad hoc regiment under Col. William Extra Billy Smith. Beauregard ordered Smith and his polyglot command into the line on Jackson’s left. It was about 1:00 p.m. when the Mississippians reentered the fray, and the battle soon became a fierce melee of infantry, cavalry and artillery, in which the participants were scarcely able to tell one side’s uniform and flag from the other’s. Charge and countercharge continued until 4:00 p.m., when fresh Confederate reinforcements struck the Union flank and broke the morale of McDowell’s troops.¹⁴

As the Federal retreat became a rout, the men of the 11th Mississippi joined in rounding up the hundreds of beaten Yankees who could not get away. One of the prisoners was Brig. Gen. Orlando Willcox. The wounded captive told Liddell how much he admired the magnificent horse he rode and offered him $1,000 in gold for the animal. Liddell thanked the general, but said that, inasmuch as the horse was a gift from the University of Mississippi, it would not do for him to sell the animal. So bemused were Liddell’s men by the incident that they prevailed upon him to rename the horse Willcox.¹⁵

While Companies A and F were receiving their baptism of fire, the rest of the regiment was fighting a battle of a different sort. Finally entraining on the morning of July 21, they were within earshot of the battle when a horseman rode up to the locomotive and shouted to the engineer, Stop the train, for God’s sake; the Yanks have the road!¹⁶ As the train squealed to a halt, the eight companies of the 11th Mississippi scrambled off and formed ranks in the woods beside the tracks while the train reversed course and chugged back to Piedmont for the rest of the brigade. Although no Yankees appeared, Pvt. C. c. Chambers described an unusual battle fought next to the tracks:

…Company B, swinging into line, stirred up a bushel of the biggest bumble bees I had ever seen. Of course, it caused much scurrying, and Captain Green, of Company G, seeing our men running, and a few of his company, charged down the line, swearing at the men for running, but when a few bees popped him he just about wore out that big plume he had in his hat. It was many a day before he heard the last of it.¹⁷

When the eight companies finally reached Manassas that evening they hurried to the front only to find that the battle was over. The men of the University Greys and Noxubee Rifles tallied their losses at seven killed and 21 wounded. The following morning the freshly-minted veterans took their late-arriving and envious companions on a tour of the field. The next night the weather turned cool and it began to rain, and for two days the men huddled in the open without tents or rations. Many of the men were still weak from measles and other camp ailments, and the Mississippians fell ill by the score. Colonel Moore joined the growing ranks of the disabled after he accidentally shot himself in the foot with his pistol. He was soon furloughed home to recover and, from there, submitted his resignation, which was accepted on April 4, 1862.¹⁸

After Manassas, the armies of Johnston and Beauregard were merged under Johnston’s command. William Henry Chase Whiting, a Mississippian, was promoted to brigadier general and given command of Bee’s former brigade. We now have Whiting, a civil engineer, for our Brig. Gen., wrote one unhappy private of the llth Mississippi, and we are very much displeased with him[;] he is nearly all the time drunk.¹⁹

The 11th Mississippi saw no action for the remainder of 1861. Wintering on the lower Potomac, the men built crude cabins for themselves to protect against the cold weather. The Confederacy was unable to provide winter clothing for its armies, so the men had to make do with what they could get from home. R. c. Bridges of the University Greys wrote home that I am tolerable comfortable, only I want a blanket oh so bad….An overcoat, too, would not be objectionable.²⁰ Pvt. w. p. Heflin of the Neshoba Rifles recounted a more light-hearted aspect of winter camp:

When we were in winter quarters there would be a detail made every day to go to the butcher pen and most of them when they went would get some horns and they would make blowing horns for pastime. It seemed that most all the men had a blowing horn, sometimes one company would break loose blowing the horns and another company would answer them and from that the whole regiment would follow suit. On one occasion the colonel sent word to the officer of the day to stop that horn blowing or that he would put him under arrest. As fast as he would go from one company to another they would break loose to blowing behind him, he did all he could but could not stop it… . For a long time the 11th Mississippi went by the name of the homed regiment.²¹

With the new Union commander, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, threatening to take the offensive, Johnston moved his forces out of winter quarters on March 8, 1862, taking them south to Fredericksburg. When McClellan later shifted his Army of the Potomac by water to Fort Monroe, Johnston countered by moving his army, on April 8, to Yorktown.²² On the way to