Military...

Military Resources for Carroll County

Generals of the Civil War  

The War for Southern Independence:

22nd Mississippi Infantry

(from Dunbar Rowland’s "Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898"; company listing courtesy of H. Grady Howell’s "For Dixie Land, I’ll Take My Stand’)

Company A -- Mississippi Greys (raised in Lawrence County, MS)

Company B -- Hinds Light Guards (raised in Hinds County, MS)

Company C -- Sarsfield Southrons (raised in Warren County, MS)

Company D -- Rodney Guards (raised in Jefferson County, MS)

Company E -- Liberty Guards (raised in Amite County, MS)

Company F -- DeSoto Rebels (raised in DeSoto County, MS)

Company G -- Black Hawk Rifles (raised in Carroll County, MS)

Company H -- Lafayette Farmers (raised in Lafayette County, MS)

Company I -- Swamp Rangers (raised in Washington County, MS)

Company K -- Pegues Defenders (raised in Lafayette County, MS)

Colonels -- D. W. C. Bonham, died November, 1861; Frank Schaller, James D. Lester. Lieutenant-Colonels -- James S. Prestidge, Frank Schaller, H. J. Reid, Charles G. Nelms. Majors -- Thomas C. Dockery, James S. Prestidge, Martin A. Oatis, Charles G. Nelms. Surgeons -- W. Moseley, died 1862; Meares, G. C. Phillips. Assistant Surgeons -- G. C. Phillips, B. F. Kittrell.

This regiment was formed at Iuka in the summer of 1861 of companies that were early organized but had not been able to get into regiments for active service. They were required to enlist "for the war." Company E was mustered into the Confederate service at Liberty July 25, and then went to the camp at Iuka. Company D was mustered in at Corinth by Colonel Posey and sent to Iuka. Company G, after its organization, waiting vainly for orders, lost many members who joined other commands in the field; after the battle of Manassas reorganized and enlisted for the war, arrived at Iuka July 30, expecting to join the Twentieth Regiment. It being full, Captain Reid and Captain Nix went to Richmond and secured the enrollment of their commands as independent companies. September 10 they were ordered to Memphis, Tenn., where Colonel Bonham had gone with his incomplete regiment, the Twenty-second. These reminiscences illustrate the formation of the regiment.

On July 1 Governor Pettus reported that Bonham's Regiment was raised "for the war," but this appears to have been anticipatory. Adjutant-General Cooper telegraphed to General Clark at Corinth July 31, 1861 "Capt. James D. Caulfield’s company, Liberty Guards, accepted by President to be part of one of the two Mississippi regiments at Iuka. Order these regiments as soon as organized to Lynchburg."

Bonham's Regiment was completed at Memphis, and on September 23 reported to General Polk at Columbus, Ky., where they remained until after the battle of Belmont, November 7, of which they were spectators, without being called into action. After this they were ordered back to Union City, Tenn., and thence marched to Fulton, Ky., the night of October 1. October 6 they went into winter quarters at Camp Beauregard, in Graves County, Ky., and remained there until Christmas, making several expeditions meanwhile to Mayfield and Columbus, and once marching in the night to within six or eight miles of Paducah. There were many sick and a considerable number died, among them Colonel Bonham, of pneumonia, in November. The regiment was reported November 30, 795 present, and a part of the brigade of Gen. John S. Bowen at Camp Beauregard. After Christmas they were moved to Clarksville, and thence to Bowling Green, December 29, where they were in winter quarters until February 12, when, on account of Grant's advance to Fort Donelson, General Johnston was compelled to retire to Murfreesboro, Tenn. They were at Nashville the day of battle at Fort Donelson and could hear the artillery. The regiment was about 580 strong in January and was brigaded with the Twenty-fifth Mississippi under Bowen.

After the retreat to Murfreesboro they were transferred to the remnant of Zollicoffer's Brigade, which had retreated from the battle of Fishing Creek, Ky. Lieutenant-Colonel Schaller was in command of the regiment and Colonel Statham, of the Fifteenth, in command of the brigade, February 23.

They reached their old camp at Iuka in March, and after the Federal gunboats appeared on the river below Pittsburg Landing the regiment, under Colonel Schaller, engaged in frequent movements to Eastport. March 26 Schaller reported that his artillery had disabled the gunboat Lexington on the previous day, but he was removing the artillery by order of General Crittenden and would evacuate Eastport that day.

Statham's Brigade was part of Breckenridge's "reserve corps" in the organization before the battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, and in that battle fought under the command of Breckenridge, participating in the capture of Prentiss' Division, and at the close of the first day were on the front line, occupying the heights overlooking the Tennessee River, under fire of the gunboats.

The casualties of the regiment at Shiloh were heavy. Colonel Schaller and Major -- [name not given] were so severely wounded as to be disabled for further service, and Lieutenant-Colonel -- [name not given] and three Captains died on the field.

After this the regiment served in the lines around Corinth during Halleck's siege and participated in the engagement at Farmington, April 27. Upon the evacuation of Corinth, May 29, the Twenty-second and Fifth Kentucky were detailed as rear guard for the left wing and remained on the banks of the Tuscumbia south of Corinth until the evening of June 1, engaged in almost uninterrupted fire with the Federal pickets. Couriers sent to order them back failed to reach them, and they made a night march to Baldwin, June 1, through a country occupied by the Federal outposts, and rejoined the army. (I. E. Hirsch's sketch.) They moved from Baldwin to Tupelo, encamped at Kunewa June 12-22, suffering terribly for water, and then joined in the movement of Breckinridge's command to Vicksburg, where they were encamped at Bovina and at Four Mile bridge, picketed the river below the city, engaged in the attempt to surprise the Federal fort eight or ten miles below the city and capture the mortar boats. Being discovered in this movement they were exposed for some hours to a heavy fire from the fleet, including the Brooklyn, and there were several casualties, mainly from falling timber This service in July, in intense heat, disabled a considerable part of the command. They were witnesses of the naval battle of the ram Arkansas.

Following is the return of the Twenty-second in "Breckenridge's Division, Army of the Mississippi, Vicksburg, July 20, 1862"; Col. F. Schaller, Lieutenant-Colonel Prestidge, Adjutant Fitzpatrick, Quartermaster W. M. Jayne, Commissary Captain Jones, Assistant Surgeon G. C. Phillips. Part of Fourth Brigade. July 29 they left Vicksburg under the command of General Breckenridge, and moved to Camp Moore, La., whence they marched to the attack on the Federal force at Baton Rouge. The Twenty-second; greatly reduced in numbers, was commanded in the battle of August 5 by Capt. Felix Hughes, who received a mortal wound at the head of his men leading the brigade in a gallant attack. The casualties of the regiment were: 13 killed and 34 wounded, which was equaled in that battle by only one other command in Clark's Division, the Thirty-first Mississippi. General Clark himself fell with a wound supposed to be mortal, and his aide, Lieutenant Yerger, remained with him on the field where they were captured. General Clark, his aides, Lieutenants Spooner and Yerger, and Captain Hughes and Adjutant Fitzgerald were commended by Breckenridge for gallant conduct.

August 7 Breckinridge's troops marched to Port Hudson and began the fortifications there. August 24 they started back to Jackson, Miss., where they arrived on the 29th and were given a rest of twelve days at Sulphur Springs. Under the command of General Van Dorn the Twenty-second, Fifteenth and Sixth Regiments, Caruther's Battalion and the First Missouri formed the brigade of Gen. John S. Bowen, in Lovell's Division. Van Dorn advanced to the vicinity of Grand Junction, Tenn., in September, while General Price, in eastern Mississippi, advanced to Iuka and fought the battle of September 19. Van Dorn and Price then united at Ripley and advanced ten days later to Pocahontas, Tenn., whence they marched to attack Rosecrans at Corinth. At Chewalla the Twenty-second surprised a Federal outpost and captured a number of prisoners, with slight casualties.

In the attack on the 3d against the outer line of works, Bowen, Rust and Villipigue attacked a hill at the crossing of the State line road and railroad, on which was posted artillery, with rifle pits extending north and south. General Lovell reported that "the hill was carried mainly by the Ninth Arkansas and Twenty-second Mississippi, each vieing with the other in the dashing gallantry of their charge." The Federals abandoned the position so hurriedly that they left one Parrott gun. Captain Lester, commanding the regiment, was mentioned for gallantry. Concerning the captured gun, known as the "Lady Richardson," General Rust acknowledged, in his report, that the Twenty-second Mississippi, under Captain Lester, was entitled to a full share of honor. General Bowen claimed the capture of the gun, and said the Twenty-second deserved special mention for their gallant charge. The regiment was with the brigade in the advance of the 4th, coming under a destructive artillery fire, and shared the duties of rear guard on the retreat of the army across the Tuscumbia River, taking part in the action of October 5. On the march to Holly Springs there was continual skirmishing for the rear guard. At Coldwater, where General Pemberton took command early in November, they skirmished November 9 and fell back to Abbeville. When Grant advanced from Memphis along the railroad, they fell back, after several days' skirmishing, to Oxford, Water Valley and Coffeeville, where there was a considerable engagement December 5. December and January they were in winter quarters at Grenada. January 31 the Twenty-second was assigned to Rust's Brigade, Loring's Division, the Mississippi regiments of which constituted Featherston's Brigade after February. In February the regiment went into camp on the Big Black River near Edwards, and March 1 they moved to Chickasaw Bayou.

May 30, brigade present 1,916, Col. Frank Schaller commanding regiment. July 30, Lieut.-Col. H. J. Reid commanding regiment.

March 19 General Featherston was ordered with his brigade to Snyder's Bluff, whence he took steamer with the Twenty-second and Thirty-third Regiments and a section of artillery up Sunflower River to Rolling Fork, where Col. S. W. Ferguson had preceded him with his command from Greenville. They engaged the five Federal gunboats under Admiral Porter and Sherman's land forces on April 20th and throughout a period of nearly ten days, until the expedition withdrew through Black bayou. April 22 a considerable Federal force was landed on one of the dry spots and an attempt made to cut off the two Mississippi regiments. The total Confederate losses in the skirmishes were 2 killed and 6 or 8 wounded. In his report of the Rolling Fork campaign Featherston mentioned Capt. W. R. Barksdale, Adjutant-General; Lieut. A. N. Parker, Aide; Lieut. W. A. Drennan, Ordinance Officer; E. M. AcAfee, Volunteer Aide; Major E. H. Cummins, Engineer Officer of Maury's Staff.

When the gunboat had escaped in Black River the regiment was taken to Fort Pemberton, at the confluence of the Yalobusha and Tallahatchie where Pemberton was withstanding another expedition of gunboats from the Mississippi River which had come down the Yazoo Pass. Here the famous steamer, Star of the West, fired upon at Charleston harbor January 9, 1861, and captured off Galveston, was sunk as an obstruction of the Tallahatchie. When the high water began to subside the Federal fleet retired. The brigade moved to Grenada and took train for Vicksburg about the time Grant landed his army at Bruinsburg below that city. After much marching and countermarching in the vicinity of Vicksburg they were near Edwards May 12. Advancing, on the night of May 15, the regiment went into bivouac not far from the camp of an artillery company which they supposed was Confederate, and the surprise was great early in the morning when the battery opened fire upon them. A hasty retreat was made in which General Loring and his staff took part, and the camp was necessarily abandoned. (Hirsch's sketch.) During the next day, May 16, the battle of Baker's Creek was fought by Lee and Stevenson, on the left of Loring, while a large Federal force lay quietly in front of Loring, except for the artillery firing, in which General Tilghman was killed, and repeated feints of advance for position. Late in the evening Featherston's Brigade was moved, after urgent orders to Loring, from the right wing to the left, to reinforce Stevenson and Lee. The brigade was put in position, Loring reported, to protect the rear of the retreating forces and to cover the failing back of Buford's Brigade, which duty was ably and gallantly executed. Featherston reported his engagement as a skirmish, in which his brigade behaved well, advancing twice and retiring when so ordered. On the retreat they followed General Loring, who considered it dangerous to cross the ford of Baker's Creek in their rear, and moved down the creek westward, and finally, in the night, marching past and through Federal bivouacs, they moved to Crystal Springs, and thence on the 21st to Jackson. The only casualties of the brigade in this battle were in the Twenty-second Regiment -- John McCrossen, Company D, mortally wounded, and John Berry, Company F, slightly wounded.

Under the command of General Johnston they moved to Canton and thence to the Big Black River. Captain Russell, of the Twenty-second, commanded the scouts in an expedition June 4 for the capture of a foraging party along the Big Black. When Vicksburg surrendered they fell back to Jackson, served in the fortified line (near the Moody place), besieged by Sherman July 9-16, and then fell back to Morton. The winter quarters were at Goodman. General Polk took command of the army, and as Sherman advanced from Vicksburg to Meridian, in February, 1864, Loring’s Division moved to Morton and thence to Demopolis, Ala. Early in April, 1864, under orders to reinforce Johnston in Georgia, they moved to Montevallo, Ala., and thence to Rome, Ga.

The regimental commanders during the Atlanta campaign were Major Martin A. Oatis, Lieut.-Col. H. J. Reid, Col. William N. Brown, Maj. James M. Stigler of regiment and First Battalion consolidated.

The regiment arrived at Resaca May 12, opened the battle on the 13th, was in reserve on the battle line next day, meeting the attack of McPherson, repulsed a charge May 15, and was under fire until the evacuation on the night of the 16th. Loring's Division brought up the rear. Featherston's Brigade skirmished at Cassville, and on the Dallas and New Hope Church line was in heavy skirmishing and under bombardment night and day. May 31 the brigade was ordered forward to feel the Federal position, and lost 24 killed and 98 wounded. At the base of Kenesaw Mountain, near Marietta, June 27, the brigade repulsed the Federal attack in their front. In general orders William Dennis, Company B; William Hatswell, Company C; and D. M. Dye, Company E, of the Twenty-second Regiment, were commended for gallantry, July 9. In the battle of Peachtree Creek, July 20, the regiment was commanded by Major Oatis, who was severely wounded, Captain J. T. Formby succeeding him. In this battle Company G, Captain Standley, was deployed as skirmishers. After the regiment had occupied the Federal rifle pits on the picket line, they advanced and were compelled to cross a boggy marsh in which some of the bravest and best men were killed by the terrible fire that was concentrated upon them. Yet they went on and drove the enemy from a line of rail works they were building, but were forced to retire to avoid capture. The casualties, 24 killed, 64 wounded, 5 missing. Ensign Michael Meagher, Private J. T. Longino, Company A, and Sergeant Harrison Bailey, Company B, all were shot down while carrying the colors. Adjutant C. V. H. Davis, while performing the same duty, and encouraging the men, was killed. Lieutenant Lea, Company C, bore the flag during the rest of the engagement. A newspaper report mentioned also Captains Gay, Farmbry, Hughes, severely wounded; Lieuts. Underwood, Roth, Blalock and Huntley, killed. At the evacuation of Atlanta the regiment was in battle at Rough and Ready, Jonesboro and Flint River. Roll of Honor, published August 10, 1864: Private J. W. Patterson, Company C, for meritorious conduct whilst on picket duty, July 9, 1864; William Dennis, Company B; William Hatswell, Company C; D. M. Nye, Company E.

In the October, 1864, campaign on the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad, Featherston's Brigade captured the Federal post at Big Shanty; was with Loring's Division in the capture of Acworth, and with Stewart's Corps in the destruction of the railroad between Dalton and Resaca, after which they moved through the mountains to Gadsden, Ala., skirmished at Decatur, October 26-29, and moved thence to Tuscumbia.

November 20 they crossed the Tennessee River with Stewart's Corps, the old Army of Mississippi, then reduced to 12,684 aggregate present, in its nine brigades. By December 9 the aggregate present was only 8,155, of which 1,208 were in Featherston's Brigade. November 26 they confronted Schofield at Columbia, on the 29th they marched toward Spring Hill, on the 30th they followed Schofield to Franklin on the Harpeth and joined with Cheatham's Corps in the memorable assault upon the Federal works. "The color bearers of the Third and Twenty-second planted their colors on the enemy's works, and were wounded and captured with their colors." (Featherston). Of the brigade 76 were killed, 200 wounded, 76 missing. In the investment of Thomas' army at Nashville Loring's Division held the front of the corps, a line of one mile across the Granny White pike, supported by redoubts on the summits of five hills. Maj. Martin A. Oatis was in command of the regiment on the 10th. December 15 Thomas attacked, carried two of the redoubts and broke the line. A second line was formed, Loring's Division formed a new line and checked the flank attack. December 16 they repulsed every attack until the line was broken on their left. On both days many were captured. At Columbia, December 20, Featherston's Brigade was one of the seven selected for Walthall to command as the rear guard of infantry, remaining in face of the enemy until the rest of the army had gained two days’ start. December 21 the brigade was reported 727 aggregate, the Twenty-second, 104. On the retreat they were in battle with their pursuers at Anthony Hill and Sugar Creek, gallantly and successfully, December 25-26.

They crossed the Tennessee River, December 28, and marched to winter quarters near Tupelo.

About the first of February, 1865, the remnant of Loring's Division began the movement to reinforce General Johnston in the Carolinas. They were ordered forward from Augusta, Ga., to Newberry, S. C., February 25. In the Carolina campaign against Sherman they participated in the battle of Kinston, March 10, and Bentonville, March 19-21, on the 19th making a gallant and successful charge, but with heavy loss. Organization of army under Gen. J. E. Johnston, near Smithfield, N. C., March 31, 1865, Featherston's Brigade commanded by Major Martin A. Oatis, the Twenty-second Regiment by Captain G. W. Standley. April 9, First, Twenty-second and Thirty-third Regiments and First Battalion consolidated as the Twenty-second Regiment, Col. Martin A. Oatis commanding. Hostilities were suspended April 18, the army was surrendered April 26 near Durham Station, and paroled at Greensboro.