Crescent Regiment (24th Louisiana Infantry)
From Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861-1865 by Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., pp. 130-32:
COLONELS. Marshall J. Smith, resigned July 28, 1862; George P. McPheeters, killed October 27, 1862; Abel W. Bosworth.
LIEUTENANT COLONELS. George P. McPheeters, promoted colonel July 28, 1862; George Soule.
MAJORS. Abel W. Bosworth, promoted colonel October 27, 1862; Myford McDougall.
Companies and Their Commanders
Company A, Crescent City Guards Company B (Orleans). George Soule, promoted lieutenant colonel July 28, 1862; Henry B. Stevens.
Company B, Crescent Rifles Company D (Orleans). Andrew F. Haynes, died of wounds May 20, 1862; William C. C. Claiborne, Jr.
Company C, Louisiana Guards Company D (Orleans). George H. Graham, killed April 6, 1862; Josiah T. Watts; Thomas W. Dressar, captured October 27, 1862, and did not return; Charles Hardenburg.
Company D, Beauregard Rangers (Orleans). Jules Vienne, resigned May 19, 1862; Richard S. Venables.
Company E, Twiggs Guards (Orleans). M. A. Tarleton, resigned July 29, 1862; T. Lytt Lyons, transferred; Eugene H. Holmes, captured April 20, 1863, and never returned to the regiment.
Company F, Crescent City Guards Company C (Orleans). William S. Austin; Raney Greene, Jr.
Company G, Marion Rangers (Ruggles Guards) (Orleans). George H. Helme, resigned June 19, 1862; George H. Braughan.
Company H (1st), Washington Guards (Orleans). Abel W. Bosworth, promoted major.
Company H (3rd), Crescent Blues Company A (Orleans). John Knight, wounded April 6, 1862, dropped April 23, 1862; Seth R. Field.
Company I (1st) (2nd Company H), Orleans Cadets Company B (Orleans), disbanded April, 1862. Sylvester F. Parmalee, resigned May 3, 1862.
Company I (2nd), Davidson Guards (Orleans). James D. Hill.
Company K, Sumter Rifles (Orleans). Charles C. Campbell, killed April 6, 1862; Myford McDougall, promoted major October 27, 1862; David Collie, Jr.
Company L, Alexandria Rifles (Rapides), men transferred to 16th Louisiana Regiment July, 1862. John P. Davidson, resigned June 15, 1862; Andrew D. Lewis, resigned July 4, 1862.
This state militia regiment transferred to Confederate service in New Orleans on March 6, 1862, for ninety days with 945 men. The regiment went immediately to Corinth, Mississippi, to reinforce General Pierre G.T. Beauregard's army. On April 6, the regiment played an important role in the capture of two Federal divisions at the Hornet's Nest during the Battle of Shiloh. The next day, the men supported the 5th Company, Washington Artillery, and prevented the enemy from capturing three of the battery's guns. In the battle, 23 of the regiment's men were killed, 84 were wounded, and 20 were missing. Retreating with the army to Corinth, the regiment was disbanded on June 3 by General Braxton Bragg at the expiration of its enlistment. Most of the men went into the 18th Louisiana Regiment. On September 17, the War Department reorganized the regiment and ordered it to report to General Richard Taylor in south Louisiana. The reorganization occurred at New Iberia on October 16, when Colonel McPheeters reclaimed the men serving with the 18th Louisiana. On October 27, the regiment fought in the Battle of Labadieville [Georgia Landing] and retreated with the army to the lower Bayou Teche. After spending several weeks at Bisland, the men moved to Avery Island on December 19. The regiment went to Butte a la Rose on January 11, 1863. On February 16, Companies F, G, and H, while on picket on Grand River, fired on and drove off the enemy steamer Grey Cloud. The regiment returned to Bisland on April 7 and fought in the battle there on April 12 and 13. Retreating with Taylor's army through Opelousas and Alexandria to Natchitoches, the regiment returned to south Louisiana in June. The men garrisoned Brashear City in June and July while the army conducted operations on Bayou Lafourche. During the next three months, the regiment marched with General Alfred Mouton's brigade back and forth across south Louisiana. On November 3, the 11th and 12th [Confederate Guards Response] Louisiana infantry battalions were added to the regiment at Simmesport to form the Consolidated Crescent Regiment.
Consolidated Crescent Regiment
From Bergeron, La. Confed. Units, p. 147:
COLONELS. James H. Beard, killed April 8, 1864; Abel W. Bosworth.
LIEUTENANT COLONELS. Franklin H. Clack, mortally wounded April 8, 1864; Arthur W. Hyatt.
MAJORS. Mercer Canfield, killed April 8, 1864; Hugh N. Montgomery, transferred October 17, 1864; James J. Yarborough.
Companies and Their Commanders
Company A. Seth R. Field, killed April 8, 1864; J. M. Bonner.
Company B. William B. Spencer, captured April 1, 1864; Abram H. Thigpen.
Company C. William C. C. Claiborne, Jr.
Company D. Charles D. Moore, killed April 8, 1864;W. J. Self.
Company E. Hugh N. Montgomery, promoted major April 8, 1864; Edward F. Moore.
Company F. William M. Fuller, killed April 8, 1864; H. E. H. Buck.
Company G. Charles Hardenburg.
Company H. St. Martin Rangers (St. Martin). Edward T. King.
Company I. William J. Calvit.
Company K. John Houston, resigned(?); Joseph B. Johnson.
Company L. Henry B. Stevens, transferred to Company O; J. M. Fair.
Company N. David Collie, Jr.
Company O. George W. Tyson, resigned(?); Henry B. Stevens.
Company P. L. D. DeBlanc.
This regiment was formed at Simmesport on November 2, 1863, by the addition of the 11th and 12th [Confederate Guards Response] Louisiana battalions to the Crescent (24th) Regiment. With General Alfred Mouton's brigade, the regiment marched from Simmesport to Monroe to support troops crossing weapons over the Mississippi River from the east. The brigade left Monroe on January 30, 1864, and arrived at Pineville on February 10. When General Nathaniel P. Banks's Union army began its Red River Campaign in mid-March, the brigade crossed to the south side of the river and retreated through Natchitoches toward Shreveport. The regiment played a major role in the Battle of Mansfield, April 8. In the attack on the enemy, more than 175 of the regiment's men were killed or wounded; and the regiment became the only Louisiana regiment to lose all 3 field officers in one battle. The next day, April 9, at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, the regiment saw only limited fighting since its division constituted the army's reserve force. Pursuing Banks's army back down the Red River, the regiment participated in the Battle of Yellow Bayou, May 18. Portions, if not all, of the regiment supported the 2nd Louisiana Battery in a skirmish with enemy gunboats on the Atchafalaya north of Simmesport on June 8. When the army marched through north Louisiana into southern Arkansas in the fall, the regiment remained at Alexandria and then marched to Shreveport. After several months in the garrison at Shreveport, the regiment returned to Alexandria. The brigade rejoined the regiment there in January, 1865, and occupied camps in the vicinity until spring. In May, the brigade marched to Mansfield; it disbanded there on May 19, prior to the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department.
To add to the character of this regiment: the Crescent Regiment was thought of as a "blue-blood regiment", made up of many wealthy and prominent citizens (or their sons) of New Orleans. When it joined the Army of the Mississippi at Corinth it stood out as a proficiently-drilled and uniformed regiment, but of course it was also viewed as being predominately comprised of soft, upper-class and aristocratic individuals, hence their other, more derisive nickname: the "Kid Glove Regiment". But nevertheless, it did prove itself battle worthy at Shiloh. It went on to see action in the Bayou Teche Campaign and, as the Consolidated Crescent Regiment, fought in the Red River Campaign, taking part in the famous charge of Col. Henry Gray's Louisiana brigade at Mansfield.
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