Trivia 4-24-18 Not all of us!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Trivia Master

The Keeper of Knowledge
Forum Host
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
This Confederate company joined the regiment on May 4, 1861. They were smarter than most soldiers when they signed up. On July 3, 1863 this small company experienced the unthinkable. They suffered 100% casualties in their brave advance on the Brian Farm during Pickett's charge. A marker can be found north of the Copse of Trees documenting their furthest advance. If that wasn't enough, this regiment was honored in the twentieth century by having an opera written about them.

What is the Company and regiment that experienced this horror?

credit: @Wallyfish
 
The University Greys (or Grays) were Company A of the 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Part of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Greys served in many of the most famous and bloody battles of the war.

The rifle company joined the 11th Infantry at its inception on May 4, 1861 after Mississippi seceded from the Union. Their name "University Greys" derived from the gray color of the men's uniforms and from the fact that almost all of the Greys were students at the University of Mississippi. Nearly the entire student body (135 men) enlisted; only four students reported for classes in fall 1861, so few that the university closed temporarily.

The most famous engagement of the University Greys was at Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, when the Confederates made a desperate frontal assault on the Union entrenchments atop Cemetery Ridge. The Greys penetrated further into the Union position than any other unit, but at the terrible cost of sustaining 100% casualties—every soldier was either killed or wounded.

After Gettysburg, the depleted Greys were merged with Company G (the "Lamar Rifles"). The unit continued to fight until the last days of the war.

The story of the University Grays is memorialized in an opera composed by Dr. Arthur Kreutz who was Professor of Music at the University of Mississippi using text from the book of the same name by Zoe Lund Schiller. The opera was published by Ricordi of New York in 1961. A copy of the score resides in the library of the Northern Illinois University. The opera was given its first performance in 1961 at the University of Mississippi under the auspices of the Department of Music.]]. (Wikipedia)
 
The Hibriten Guards, Company F of the 26th North Carolina State Troops (Infantry) hold this unfortunate distinction.

Edit - Sorry, Tailor Pete, although you are correct that Company F of the 26th NC suffered 100% casualties during the Battle of Gettysburg, I can find no evidence that they satisfy the other clues given in the question, particularly the one about having an opera written about them.

Welcome to CivilWarTalk and to the trivia game, anyway. Hope you'll come back and play again.

hoosier
 
Last edited by a moderator:


11th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry Regiment--- Company A


11th-Mississippi-Infantry-Memorial-Bryan-Barn-2.jpg


 
Company A, 11th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry. The University Greys most of which were students at the University of Mississippi. The story of the University Grays is memorialized in an opera composed by Dr. Arthur Kreutz who was Professor of Music at the University of Mississippi using text from the book of the same name by Zoe Lund Schiller.
source-https://civilwartalk.com/threads/teachers-regiment.105392/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top