The Confederacy's Crack Combat Brigade

[Pollaco]

How about that other set of Texans? Terry's Texas Rangers

 

[Nathan Stuart]

How about that other set of Texans? Terry's Texas Rangers

Don't know much about the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment (Terry's Texas Rangers). Believe they were one of the most effective Southern mounted units operating in the western theater.

However, in this thread, am primarily considering crack Confederate Infantry Brigades. Maybe another thread could be started to investigate some of the crack Southern cavalry units. I suspect there might have been quite a few good ones.

 

[Pollaco]

Don't know much about the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment (Terry's Texas Rangers). Believe they were one of the most effective Southern mounted units operating in the western theater.

However, in this thread, am primarily considering crack Confederate Infantry Brigades. Maybe another thread could be started to investigate some of the crack Southern cavalry units. I suspect there might have been quite a few good ones.

You're right about Infantry. I was going to mention another bunch of Texans,Walker's Texas Division (aka the Greyhounds). But as good as they were they couldn't hold a candle to Hood's Texas Brigade.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

You're right about Infantry. I was going to mention another bunch of Texans,Walker's Texas Division (aka the Greyhounds). But as good as they were they couldn't hold a candle to Hood's Texas Brigade.

Yes, looks like Walker's Texas Division (the Greyhounds) was a solid and effective infantry unit operating in the Trans-Mississippi region.

Agree about Hood's Texas Brigade. They established their fighting reputation prior to Gettysburg at places like Gaines Mill, Second Bull Run and Antietam.
Having read detailed accounts of their fighting at Devils Den and around Little Round Top at Gettysburg, could think of no better Southern shock troops to launch this assault (except perhaps for Cockrell's Missourians, who I rate at least equally as a crack fighting infantry unit).

 

[Mr King]

I still think Brig. Gen. Micah Jenkins' and his South Carolina brigade were one of the best. In my opinion that many don't know about them is because they were left out from some of the major battles in the war but always fought well. At Frasyers farm battle, Jenkins and his men fought federal troops with federal artillery on their flank but kept advancing though his men were dropping by the scores. Jenkins was the first to leap over the breastworks on his horse and when they were in hands-to-hands combat a federal officer commented, It was Greek against Greek.

 

[Coonewah Creek]

Well, although I know it'll never get the reputation it deserves because it was broken up after Sharpsburg, is the "Old Third" brigade, commanders Bee, Whiting, and Law. It was unusual in the ANV since it was made up of regiments from three different states. It contained the 2nd and 11th Mississippi, the 4th Alabama, and the 6th North Carolina State Troops. Arguably one of the hardest hitting brigades in the ANV, serving alongside Hood's Texans under Whiting and Hood prior to its dissolution. Just my "2-cents."

 

[Rhea Cole]

It would be useful to examine the fate of these hard fighting units. At the end of the Atlanta Campaign, the Kentucky Brigade had suffered 123% casualties ( not a typo. ) only 50 men were unwounded. Paroled at Vicksburg, less than 50% of the Missouri Brigade returned to the ranks. The Men who rallied were reduced to a remanent at Franklin. Only a fraction of the Stonewallers lived to sign papers at Appomattox.

Across the board, the regimental commanders, captains & lieutenants were all but exterminated. Say what you will, row upon row of trench burials & heaps of amputated limbs was a sobering fate suffered by most those elite soldiers.

It is thought provoking to consider how the tactics & lack of a strategic vision by the CSA leadership wasted those magnificent brigades.

 

[Captain Conscript]

One regiment at Cedar Mountain, the 27th Va. Not the brigade. The 27th was the brigades farthest regiment on the right. With the 1st Va on their right. When Crawford attacked the 1st Va fled, leaving the 27th's flank uncovered and open to Crawford's attack.
Stonewall Brigade proved them self's by standing toe to toe with the Iron Brigade at Brawner's Farm, and 2 days later repulsed the Iron Brigades attack from the railroad cut.
I vote The Stonewall Brigade stays. Are we doing "shock troops" or "crack brigades" here?

Not just that. After the severe campaigning of the Spring and Summer of '62 they were down to 250 men in the entire brigade. They were placed in an advanced position in the North Woods at Sharpsburg and held half of the Iron Brigade and Patrick's Brigade for nearly and hour before calling for the support of Starke's Louisiana Brigade and falling back. After being refit in the Fall and Winter of '62-'63, they were the brigade that plugged Meade's breach on the Slaughter Pen Farm at Fredericksburg. They were the brigade that counterattacked Sickles after Ramseur got a foothold on the crest of Fairview at Chancellorsville and then drove his west facing units 3/4 of a mile across the plains to the front of the Chancellor Inn capturing a strand of Federal colors and recapturing the regimental colors of an Alabama unit. They were the brigade that made the crushing flank attack on Milroy at Stephenson's Depot that captured six entire regiments and all their regimental colors. And, of course, none of this even mentions their legendary performance at First Manassas or their tide-turning flank assault at Cedar Mountain, slugfest at Brawner's Farm, and the three separate attacks they repulsed at 2nd Manassas as you have already done so.

Admittedly, the brigade was never the same after Gettysburg—maybe before. Historian Douglas S. Freeman said, it was "never itself in full might after that battle (Chancellorsville)." By the Summer-Fall of '63, the officer corps was decimated and Shenandoah Valley and bordering WVA counties had no more men to give. I have no qualms with saying there were better brigades after but for the first two years of the war, I believe the Stonewall Brigade was as good as any, if not the very best, that the Confederacy had to offer.

 

[C. Cash]

Not as widely read as many of you(still have much to learn) but Maney's Brigade at the angle of Kennesaw Mtn sure left an impression of a crack Brigade. Cleburne's several Brigades were admired by the rank and file like no others. They were the real deal.

 

[Bruce Vail]

In the course of researching the 3rd North Carolina Infantry (part of the Army of Northern Virginia) I've often wondered where the unit stood in relation to the other regiments similarly situated, either in its objective fighting ability and or its reputation among the generals and other high-ranking officer.

I've found almost nothing in my reading to indicate that it stood out in a good way, nor have I found anything particularly negative, other than a well-publicized desertion incident in late 1863. It strikes me that most ANV units were similar in the sense that they each had moments of martial glory, but that those moments were fleeting and that all ANV regiments had an overall experience of death, defeat and disgrace.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

It strikes me that most ANV units were similar in the sense that they each had moments of martial glory, but that those moments were fleeting and that all ANV regiments had an overall experience of death, defeat and disgrace.

Agree with this astute observation and comment.

 

[ErnieMac]

I'm surprised not to see the Louisiana Tigers (Taylor/Hays/York/Peck) given some consideration. Also, the Mississippi Brigade commanded by Griffith, Barksdale and Humphreys.

 

[General JJ]

I'll throw my hat in the ring for McGowan's South Carolina Brigade, and the Lawton/Gordon/Evans Brigade. Excellent shock troops, and obstinate defenders.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I'm surprised not to see the Louisiana Tigers (Taylor/Hays/York/Peck) given some consideration. Also, the Mississippi Brigade commanded by Griffith, Barksdale and Humphreys.

Me too. I have a copy of Terry Jones' Lee's Tigers on my shelf and it made a big impression on me.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

I'm surprised not to see the Louisiana Tigers (Taylor/Hays/York/Peck) given some consideration.

Agree. Through the war, the Louisiana Tigers earned a widespread formidable reputation for being fearless tough soldiers – they were both hard-fighters and hard-livers.

Although an unruly and wild bunch, they displayed ferocity in battle and fought resolutely in virtually all major battles in Virginia and suffered high casualties in these actions.

The intimidating reputation of these Louisianians preceded them. To illustrate. There is the famous story of the Pennsylvanian woman fainting, when after a Southern soldier politely asked her for food, she learned that he was from Louisiana.

Think the Tigers can properly be considered as 'shock troops'.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Agree. Through the war, the Louisiana Tigers earned a widespread formidable reputation for being fearless tough soldiers – they were both hard-fighters and hard-livers.

Although an unruly and wild bunch, they displayed ferocity in battle and fought resolutely in virtually all major battles in Virginia and suffered high casualties in these actions.

The intimidating reputation of these Louisianians preceded them.There is the famous story of the Pennsylvanian woman fainting, when after a Southern soldier politely asked her for food, she learned that he was from Louisiana.

Thought the Tigers could properly be considered as 'shock troops'.

Maj. Chatham Roberdeau Wheat was the only man credited with being able to control the 1st Louisiana. When accidentally fired upon by a South Carolina regiment, the Tigers returned fire with a vengeance. When there was nobody else to fight, they brawled with each other. Letters written home by fellow CSA infantrymen made it clear that they were frightened of the Tigers.

Wheat was a professional soldier. He participated in three invasions of Cuba, successfully invaded Mexico & joined the Gray Eyed Man of Destiny on his murderous comic opera invasions of Central America. If anybody could command the dregs of the New Orleans riverfront he recruited, it was him.

The Tigers were, indeed, shock troops… in every meaning of the word. During a particularly vicious fire fight, Wheat rode his horse within 40 yards of the enemy line & paid the price for his impetuousness. Both man & horse were shot down on a single volley. At his request, he was buried on the field.

By that time, only a small remnant of, roughly 100, of the Tigers were left. The battalion was officially disbanded in August 1862. Those deemed medically fit were dispersed to other Louisiana regiments.

Worth thing about, I June 1863 Rosecrans captured all of Middle Tennessee while suffering almost exactly the same number of casualties that the Tigers did. By September, the Army of the Cumberland had captured strategically vital Chattanooga. Earlier, he had defeated Lee & liberated almost 1/2 of Virginia. Not once in conquering vast swaths of CSA territory did Rosecrans order the kind of banzai charge that consumed the Tigers.

Ferocious men wearing Zouave costumes fighting all comers like savages is the very definition of shock troops. Of that there is no doubt. What I have come to realize is that they were consumed by a tactical doctrine that could not have won the war.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Ferocious men wearing Zouave costumes fighting all comers like savages is the very definition of shock troops. Of that there is no doubt. What I have come to realize is that they were consumed by a tactical doctrine that could not have won the war.

Believe that attribution of the nickname 'Louisiana Tigers' was eventually expanded from originally applying to Wheat's regiment to include all the Louisiana units in the Army of Northern Virginia.

The uncouth and violent ways of many of these serving soldiers seemed to reflect their antecedents prior to the war. Such actions too, would have been made more conspicuous by the distinctive colorful uniforms they wore.

From the accounts, the Tiger units may have been the most fanatical (as well as ferocious) fighters in the Army of Northern Virginia, with the possible exception of the Texas Brigade.

For most fanatical fighters, though, recklessness and fearlessness in combat often ends up with decimation of their own ranks. (Almost 12,000 soldiers served at various times during the war in Louisiana Tiger regiments; by the end of the war, apparently there were only 373 Tigers left on active duty).

Apart from any fanatical fighting reputation, thought the Tigers were moreso 'infamous', rather than 'famous', as a fighting group within the Army of Northern Virginia.

 

[Pollaco]

I would have to agree about the Tigers, whether attacking with a knife or throwing rocks you didn't want that bunch mad at you.

 

[Rebforever]

The Tigers did a number on the Union army at "The Coaling" fight in the Battle of Port Republic. Even slaughtered the horses.

 

[Pollaco]

The Tigers did a number on the Union army at "The Coaling" fight in the Battle of Port Republic. Even slaughtered the horses.

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