The 5th Mississippi Infantry at Shiloh

Ole Miss

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These companies, from the eastern part of the state, formed the Fifth Regiment, Fourth Brigade, of Mississippi Volunteers, known as the Army of Mississippi, and the organization of the regiment was completed by the election of field officers 5 September, 1861, at Enterprise.

Company A -- Red Rovers (raised in Monroe County, MS)
Company B -- Bogue Chitto Rangers (raised in Neshoba County, MS)
Company C -- Lauderdale Springs Greys (raised in Lauderdale County, MS)
Company D -- New Prospect Greys (raised in Winston County, MS)
Company E -- Pettus Rebels (raised in Winston County, MS)
Company F -- Winston Rifles (raised in Winston County, MS)
Company G -- Barry Guards (raised in Chickasaw & Choctaw Counties, MS)
Company H -- Noxubee Blues (raised in Noxubee County, MS)
Company I -- Kemper Rebels, aka Kemper Guards (raised in Kemper County, MS)
Company K -- Scotland Guards (raised in Neshoba County, MS)

Aggregate original enrollment, 736 officers and men. Enlisted for twelve months; re-enlisted in 1862.

Colonel Albert E. Fant did not submit an official report after the battle and the 5th Mississippi was only mentioned briefly by General Chalmers so I am posting the Shiloh National Military Park Facebook article about the 5th Mississippi in the next post.
Regards
David
 
The 5th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry at Shiloh

To celebrate the dedication of the New Mississippi Monument in the park we will be featuring different Mississippi units and their actions at the Battle of Shiloh. Next is the 5th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was raised from counties in east Mississippi from July to August 1861, and was organized with the election of officers in Enterprise, Mississippi in September 1861.

Albert E. Fant the Captain of the Noxubee Blues was elected Colonel and the unit was sent to Pensacola, Florida. When the regiment reached Pensacola they were issued accoutrements and flintlock smoothbore muskets at Warrington, Florida in November. When Fort Donelson fell to the Union in February 1862, the 5th Mississippi was sent to Corinth, Mississippi, where they joined the brigade of Gen. James Chalmers. At Shiloh on April 6, 1862, it was the fourth regiment in the brigade column and was left behind in the first charge of the brigade through the Federal camps. The Fifth came up, and joined in the attack on Col David Stuart’s Brigade next to the 10th Mississippi Infantry, which was the leading regiment, and was an active in the hard fighting the rest of the day. They began to suffer casualties in their first action. Private John Nash of Company B was wounded in the left and witnessed his cousin Ira killed, “A ball struck the back of his head tearing away the skull and brains. The poor boy fell forward and never spoke again though he did not die until late that night.”

Toward evening, near the river, they were engaged at Dill Branch Ravine with Grant’s last line in a stubborn battle across a deep ravine. Captains R. J. Armstrong of Company A, and T. C. K. Bostick of Company I were killed while gallantly leading their companies and Captain John Weir of Company D was wounded. Colonel Fant and Major Stennis, Chalmers reported, were conspicuous in the thickest of the fight. At Shiloh the 5th Mississippi would suffer an estimated loss of 105 casualties out of the estimated 405 engaged.

After the siege of Corinth the 5th Mississippi, they would see heavy action again at Stones River, where Lt. Col. Walter Sykes was wounded and again at Chickamauga where Sykes, leading the regiment, was killed. John Weir, who had been elected colonel in July 1863, would lead the regiment during the Atlanta Campaign where they would suffer heavy losses in the Battles of Atlanta and Jonesboro. At the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864 the 5th Mississippi was part of Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s Division and would suffer heavy losses including Col. Weir who was wounded. By the end of the war in North Carolina, the Fifth, Eighth and Thirty-second Regiments and Third Battalion, were consolidated as the Eighth Mississippi Battalion, Capt. J. Y. Carmack commanding.

https://www.facebook.com/ShilohNMP/posts/the-5th-mississippi-volunteer-infantry/955842791172374/
Regards
David
 
1558055368680.png

C. S.
Chalmers' (2d) Brigade,
9th MISS., 7th MISS., 5th MISS., 10th MISS.,
Withers' (2d) Div., Bragg's Corps,
ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


The above named regiments, and two companies of
the 52d Tenn., in order from left to right as above,
attacked the enemy from this position at 11 a.m., April
6, 1862.
 
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