Confederate Regular Army.

[alexjack]

I was surprised to read that the Confederate States actually had a Regular Army. I wouldn't have thought they would have had the time to organise one and I always kind of took it for granted that all regiments, battalions and batteries were volunteer organisations from the seceding states. What's the story behind Confederate Regular troops?

 

[Rebforever]

The Confederate Congress established a provisional then a permanent Confederate States Army by March 9, 1861. Control was given to the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis]

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Confederate_Regular_Troops_in_the_Civil_War

 

[Elennsar]

"What Regular troops?"

As far as I can tell, the only units ever designated "Confederate" with maybe a few companies as exceptions were just multi-state units given a "Confederate" designation to make state pride (from companies from multiple states in the same regiment) less of an issue, most of which were in the Western theater. No specifically Confederate States Regulars in this sense of say, this unit on the other side: http://www.civilwarintheeast.com/USA/US/US03.php

But I hope someone else can elaborate. On paper, there was a very definite plan for so many units of infantry, so many of cavalry, so many of artillery - I just don't know of any actually forming.

 

[alexjack]

"What Regular troops?"

As far as I can tell, the only units ever designated "Confederate" with maybe a few companies as exceptions were just multi-state units given a "Confederate" designation to make state pride (from companies from multiple states in the same regiment) less of an issue, most of which were in the Western theater. No specifically Confederate States Regulars in this sense of say, this unit on the other side: http://www.civilwarintheeast.com/USA/US/US03.php

But I hope someone else can elaborate. On paper, there was a very definite plan for so many units of infantry, so many of cavalry, so many of artillery - I just don't know of any actually forming.

Ah right so whatever I saw I must have misread. I'm trying to figure out where I saw the term 'Confederate Regulars'.

 

[Stony]

Here ya go Elenn.

The Confederate Congress established a provisional then a permanent Confederate States Army by March 9, 1861.

SOURCE- Family Search.

 

[Elennsar]

Here ya go Elenn.

The Confederate Congress established a provisional then a permanent Confederate States Army by March 9, 1861.

SOURCE- Family Search.

But did any of those units actually exist as actual formations, or did they just remain authorized but unrecruited? That's where I'm lost.

Ah right so whatever I saw I must have misread. I'm trying to figure out where I saw the term 'Confederate Regulars'.

Well, it was authorized. And we do have units with the Confederate designation - say, these guys:
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/36th_Regiment,_Georgia_Infantry_(Villepigue's)_(Confederate)

 

[Klaudly]

I wrote an article on Confederate Regular Troops, at this link:
http://www.storiamilitare.altervista.org/acsa.htm.
but it is in Italian.
The regular also had a provisional uniform that I drew:

 

[Stony]

Yes Elenn.
On May 11, 1861, the 1st NC Volunteers were formally organized. Now the 1st would go to Virginia and see its first action at Big Bethel on June 10, 1861. They would be led by Colonel D.H. Hill, brother-in-law of Stonewall Jackson. In the engagement at Bethel, Private Henry Lawson Wyatt would be the first and only death. Private Wyatt was the first Confederate dead of the war. The 1st would now return to North Carolina where it would be re-formed into the 11th North Carolina Troops and asigned to the Department of North Carolina. For the next two years the 11th would serve in eastern North Carolina. The newly formed 11th NC would be made up of ten companies: three from Mecklenburg County, two from Burke County and one from Bertie, Chowan, Orange, Lincoln and Buncombe. The 11th would now see action in eastern North Carolina. They would do provo duty around the city of Wilmington, N.C., and also see some action in White Hall and the Seige of Washington, N.C.

 

[Elennsar]

Pardon me for sounding unbelievable dense, but how are the 1st North Carolina Volunteers an example of actually formed unit of the Confederate Regular Army?

 

[ole]

As Stony and Claudio pointed out, there were Confederate Regulars but, like US Regulars, they were quite overshadowed by state volunteer units.

 

[alexjack]

Pardon me for sounding unbelievable dense, but how are the 1st North Carolina Volunteers an example of actually formed unit of the Confederate Regular Army?

Yes you beat me to it there. I was about to ask the same question. I was imagining units like '1st Regiment Confederate States Army.' I've got a book, ' Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Selected and Edited' by Ned Bradford. I think it must be in there that I saw ' Confederate Regulars'.

 

[ole]

Pardon me for sounding unbelievable dense, but how are the 1st North Carolina Volunteers an example of actually formed unit of the Confederate Regular Army?

They were accepted into the small group of Confederate Regulars.

US regulars were numbered because they came from all over. I suspect Confederate Regulars brought a little of the state pride with them.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

One of the main reasons many of the ranking former US officers joined the small CS regular army was that they would be guaranteed to out rank their counterparts in the state raised volunteer regiments.

 

[Stony]

1st Infantry Regiment State Troops was organized at the race track near
Warrenton, North Carolina, during the spring of 1861. Its members were
recruited in the counties of Chowan, Wilkes, New Hanover, Orange, Lincoln,
Hertford, Northampton, Washington, Martin, Wake, and Halifax. In July it was
mustered into Confederate service with more than 1,500 officers and men and
ordered to Virginia. The regiment was brigaded under General Ripley, Colston,
Steuart, and Cox. It participated in the campaigns of the army from the Seven
Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, was with Early in the Shenandoah Valley, and
shared in the Appomattox operations. This unit reported 142 casualties at
Mechanicsville, 75 at Malvern Hill, 160 at South Mountain and Sharpsburg,
and 15 at Fredericksburg. It lost 34 killed and 83 wounded at Chancellorsville
and forty percent of the 377 at Gettysburg. It surrendered 10 officers and 61
men in April, 1865. The field officers were Colonels Hamilton A. Brown, John
A. McDowell, and Montfort S. Stokes; Lieutenant Colonels Jarrett N. Harrell
and Matthew W. Ransom; and Majors James S. Hines, L.C. Latham, and
Tristim L. Skinner.

I can go on and on Elenn.

 

[Klaudly]

The Confederate Regular Troops were those formed by the regular soldiers recruited in 1861 and were defined as "Regular Army" or "Confederate Regular". The regiments defined as "Confederate", were actually volunteer (not Regular) units, formed by companies from different States.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Here's a good description of the CSA Regular army,

"The act of 6 mar. 1861 that organized these forces also provided
for the establishment of the Army of the Confederate States of America, a counterpart
to the U.S. Regular Army.

At the outset, Confederate officials projected this Regular force to number about
10,000 officers and men, a figure that President Jefferson Davis later cited as proof that
"the wish and policy" of his government "was peace." Early legislation called for this
force to consist of a corps of engineers, 1 regiment of cavalry, 6 regiments of infantry,
a corps of artillery (which would also handle ordinance duties) and 4 staff bureaus:
the adjutant and inspector general's, the quartermaster general's, the commissary
general's, and the medical departments. Later laws increased the number of cavalry
and infantry regiments, one of the footunits being designated a Zouave outfit, as well
as the size of the engineer corps and each staff bureau. No officer above the rank of
brigadier general would be assigned to the combat arms, while each staff department
was to be headed by a colonel.

The chief value of this force was as an administrative arm into which former U.S.
Army officers were accepted just before the shooting started. Intended as a peacetime
establishment, it lost much of its utility once it became evident that militia and
volunteers would carry the bulk of the South's combat burden and when new laws
permitted Regular officers to hold the rank in the Provisional Army as well. When
money appropriated for the raising, organizing, and equipping of Regular units was
diverted to the Provisional, the recruiting of Regulars declined sharply. In
consequence, that army attained a fraction of its intended size.

Although the Official Records mention numerous Regular units (1 battery, 12 cavalry and 7 infantry
regiments, and various independent companies of line and support troops), other
sources indicate that only 750 officers and 1,000 enlisted men served in the
Confederate Regular Army and that only 5 companies remained in existence through
most of the war."

Full text at,

http://vcwsg.com/PDF Files/The Confederate Army.pdf

 

[Elennsar]

I can go on and on Elenn.

Let's skip to the point that they're accepted as part of the Regular Army.

Because as far as I know, the 1st Volunteers/11th State Troops was always and only a regiment of the PACS - not one of the (edit: six, thank you 7th Mississippi) authorized infantry regiment for the Regular Army.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I was surprised to read that the Confederate States actually had a Regular Army. I wouldn't have thought they would have had the time to organise one and I always kind of took it for granted that all regiments, battalions and batteries were volunteer organisations from the seceding states. What's the story behind Confederate Regular troops?

At the fold 3 site, one can find a list of units designated "CSA." These were regular Confederate Army. The American Civil War Research Database lists 46,036 men combined serving in the "regular" Confederate Army & Navy.

 

[Allie]

Another example of a group not belonging to any state is Henderson's Forrest Scouts. He was authorized to draw them from all over. Not sure they count as "regulars," however.

 

[Stony]

At the fold 3 site, one can find a list of units designated "CSA." These were regular Confederate Army. The American Civil War Research Database lists over 40,000 men combined serving in the "regular" Confederate Army & Navy.

Her ya go Elenn.