The Confederacy's Crack Combat Brigade

[Rebforever]

Was that the unit who threw the rocks at 2nd Manassas when they ran short of ammo?

I can't answer that. I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

[General JJ]

Was that the unit who threw the rocks at 2nd Manassas when they ran short of ammo?

They were technically two different brigades - the stalwart defenders of the railroad cut were the Second Louisiana Brigade. However, the 9th Louisiana was transferred from the First Brigade to the Second in July. So that regiment did indeed fight at both the Coaling and the railroad cut.

I remember hearing or reading that the Second Louisiana Brigade had the nickname the "Pelican Brigade", I don't recall the origin of the nickname.

 

[bayouace]

I can't answer that. I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Louisiana Tigers. Also known to charge with knives when out of ammo.
@Polloco

 

[Rebforever]

Louisiana Tigers. Also known to charge with knives when out of ammo.
@Polloco

I believe they made the attack at the Coaling with their knives out. They were stabbing horses as well as soldiers. Bloody bunch.

 

[51st Georgia]

Yes Barksdale's brigade was excellent consistently. But I also have to give credit to their division mates Kershaw's brigade. Solid group of men there

 

[Stone in the wall]

I believe they made the attack at the Coaling with their knives out. They were stabbing horses as well as soldiers. Bloody bunch.

When Jackson caught Union forces at Front Royal unprepared and by supprise. It was Wheat's notoriously unruly Tigers attacking right behind the 1st Maryland. It was Richard Taylor and the Louisiana Brigade that moved under fire over lapping the Union right and storming Bower's Hill that over ran and broke the defenses at 1st Winchester.

 

[Rebforever]

When Jackson caught Union forces at Front Royal unprepared and by supprise. It was Wheat's notoriously unruly Tigers attacking right behind the 1st Maryland. It was Richard Taylor and the Louisiana Brigade that moved under fire over lapping the Union right and storming Bower's Hill that over ran and broke the defenses at 1st Winchester.

Yep. Stonewall watched the attack from The top of Prospect Hill which is now a cemetery.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Firstly, I am not attempting to hijack this thread. It has been decades since I made a detailed dive into A of the P, A of NV operations. My much older & wiser self reads through my 1st Louisiana folder with a very different eye.

Wheat was the real deal & the unit he led were singularly effective. Yet, the Tigers & other elite regiments were frittered away in strategically insignificant operations.

Napoleon gathered especially effective fighters into his Old Guard. The "gran-pères" were held back until the decisive moment where their shock value would matter most. Just the sound of their drums & resounding manly rhythmic shouts of, "Vie à L' emperuer!" was enough to send opposing infantry into a panicked retreat. Was there any attempt to concentrate the shock troops of the A Of NV into an Old Guard?

Clearly, Lee's tactics were not delivering the knockout blow that would shock the Northern public into a negotiated independence. Absent the missing / captured, the KIA total on both sides was almost identical in virtually every battle in the Virginia Theater. Could the elite shock troops rightly extolled in this thread, concentrated into storm battalions have tipped the 50/50 balance of KIA's in Lee's favor?

I will be interested to read what you Eastern War folks have to say.

 

[Cavalier]

The Guard of Counsels became the Imperial Guard in 1804, the year that Napoleon became the Emperor. Napoleon set the requirements for entry into it as 10 years of service, participating in several campaigns and a clean record and he "personally passed on every buck private admitted into its ranks". It is my impression that Napoleon was very hesitant about committing the infantry elements of the Old Guard on the battlefield whereas the cavalry and artillery elements were more frequently engaged, (source, Swords Around The Throne, John R. Elting, 1988, page 103 to 205).

Just an opinion, but I don't think that any Civil War armies were "professional" enough, or long serving enough to form elite brigades of what might be called shock troops.

I have believed for some time but have no source for this, that McClellan intended that the regular U.S infantry regiments and artillery batteries of the Army of The Potomac be considered as his Old Guard, but that also is just an opinion. I am not at all sure that he used them that way.

John

 

[WScott]

I'm going along with the Louisiana Tigers, as long as it includes the 14th Regiment. When you have a total of 27 men (14th Louisiana) surrendering at Appomattox you know they fought long and hard.

 

[east_beast]

The 26th NC deserves a shoutout. They drove the Union's "Iron Brigade" off McPherson's Ridge on the first day of Gettysburg and then they were the unit that made the furthest advance in Pickett's Charge. They also saved Lee's right flank at the Wilderness.

The 49th NC deserves a shoutout. They were one of the units that held the Crater at Petersburg and when Lee made his last ditch effort the 49th took Fort Stedman and made the furthest advance of all the units in what could fairly be considered the last offensive effort of the war by the Confederacy.

 

[Stryker65]

I know it's a large unit, but I'd say Walker's Greyhounds were the best fighting force for the CSA. A bunch of LA-Tigers-like men, and Walker really whipped them into shape. They apparently marched faster than the Stonewallers, which explains how in the Red River and Camden campaigns, the division defeated the forces in Louisiana quickly before rushing back to Arkansas and beating up the Union invasion there.
-Stryker

 

[Dacluver]

You know I had come across some similar comments regarding Pat Cleburne's troops, and after looking deeper into the praise of 'finest troops', I found it was rooted in their drill instruction and ability to hold formation during battle. Much of the training these troops received while encamped had a great impact on their fighting abilities, and much of that success can be attached to their regimental and brigade commanders.
Lubliner.

It makes me think of Shelby Foote complimenting McClellan for all the drill the army of the Potomac did while he was in command. All of that drill they did early in the war then when finally paired with competent commanders was part of their success.