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22ND
MISSISSIPPI INFANTRY
REGIMENT
Dunbar
Rowland’s
"Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898"
with
supplement by H. Grady Howell
Command Organization
Officers
Headquarters Staff.
Colonels-- D. W. C. Bonham,
died November, 1861; Frank Schaller, James D. Lester.
Lieutenant-Colonels-- James
S. Prestidge, Frank Schaller, H. J. Reid, Charles G.
Nelms.
Majors-- Thomas C. Dockery,
James S. Prestidge, Martin A. Oatis, Charles G. Nelms.
Surgeons-- W. Moseley, died
1862; Meares, G. C. Phillips.
Assistant Surgeons-- G. C.
Phillips, B. F. Kittrell.
Company A,
Mississippi Greys, of
Lawrence
County; mustered into State service at Monticello 27 April, 1861
Captain-- James S. Prestidge,
promoted Major; M. A. Oatis,
promoted
Major; S. Gwin, wounded at Atlanta.
First Lieutenant-- M. A. Oatis.
Second Lieutenant-- S. Gwin
Third Lieutenant-- T. H. Smith.
Company B, Hinds Light Guards, of
Hinds
County, mustered
into State service at Raymond 1 May, 1861
Captain-- George W. Elliott.
Lieutenant-- Jerome Peyton.
Second Lieutenant-- John R. Russell
Third Lieutenant-- James S. Brown.
Company C, Sarsfield Southrons, from
Vicksburg, Miss.
Captain-- Felix Hughes.
First Lieutenant-- Eugene Hughes.
Second Lieutenant-- Michael W. Hughes.
Third Lieutenant-- W. S. Skiffington.
Company D, Rodney Guards, of
JeffersonCounty, mustered
into State service at Rodney 2 May, 1861.
Captains-- Samuel D.Russell, died at Iuka, 1862 ; John D.
Rendall.
First Lieutenant-- John D. Rendall.
Second Lieutenants-- William R. Burke, killed at Baton Rouge; John
W. Gibson.
Third Lieutenants-- James H. Golden, Robert Mackie.
Company E, Liberty Guards, of Amite
County, mustered
into State service at Liberty 29 April, 1861.
Captain-- Samuel J. W. Nix.
First Lieutenant-- George P. Gardner.
Second Lieutenants-- Thomas L. Herndon, W. G. Walker.
Third Lieutenants-- Drury C. Godwin, A. H. Davis.
Company F, De Soto Rebels, De Soto County.
Captain-- Chas. Nelms.
First Lieutenant-- T. C. Dockery.
Second Lieutenant-- D, T. Oliver.
Third Lieutenant-- D. T. Lauderdale.
Company G, Black
Hawk Rifles, of Carroll County, mustered into
State
service at Black Hawk 30 April, 1861. (See Black
Hawk
Rifles for a roster of members of Company G)
Captains-- H. J. Reid, elected Lieutenant-Colonel;
George W.
Standley.
First Lieutenant-- George W. Standley.
Second Lieutenant-- John D. Usher.
Third Lieutenant-- John B. Ware.
Total enrollment, 110; killed, 18; died, 10.
Company H, Lafayette Farmers, from
Lafayette County.
Captain-- James F. Smith.
First Lieutenant-- John C. Evans.
Second Lieutenant-- John. T. Farmby.
Third Lieutenant-- C. S. Wand.
Company I, Swamp Rangers, of Washington
County, mustered
into State service at Greenville 23 March, 1861.
Captain-- William A. Percy, Colonel of First Regiment sixty
days.
First Lieutenant-- Leroy B. Valliant.
Second Lieutenants-- Benjamin F. Comegys, Wm. Lan Gay.
Third Lieutenants-- William L. Gay, promoted Captain, wounded at
Atlanta.
Lieutenant Roth, killed at Atlanta.
Company K, Pegues Defenders, from
Lafayette County.
Captain-- J. D. Lester.
First Lieutenants-- G. H. Lester and Mich. Davis.
Second Lieutenant-- Will Rayburn.
Third Lieutenant-- W. R. Hartsfield.
Unit History
This
regiment was
formed at Iuka in the summer of
1861 of companes that were early organized but had not been able to get
into regiments for active service. They were requireed to enlist "for
the war." Company E was mustered into the Confederate service at
Liberty July 25, and then went to the camp at Iuka. Company D was
mustered in at Corinth by Colonel Posey and sent to Iuka. Company G,
after its
organization,
waiting vainly for orders, lost many members who joined other commands
in the field; after the battle of manassas reorganized and enlisted for
the war, arrived at Iuka July 30, expecting to join the Twentieth
Regiment.
It being full, Captain Reid and Captain Nix went to Richmond and
secured
the enrollment of their commands as independent companies. September 10
they were ordered to Memphis, Tenn., where Colonel
Bonham had gone with his incomplete regiment, the Twenty-Second.
These reminiscenses illustrate the formation of the regiment.
On July 1 Governor Pettus reported that Bonham's Regiment was
raised "for the war," but this appears to have been anticipatory.
Adjutant-General Cooper telegraphed to General Clark at Corinth July
31, 1861, "Capt. James D. Caulfield's company, Liberty Guards, accepted
by President to be part of one of the two Mississippi regiments at
Iuka. Order these regiments as soon as organized to Lynchburg."
Bonham's Regiment
was
completed at Memphis, and on September 23{1861} reported
to General Polk at Columbus, Ky., where they remained until after the
battle
of Belmont, Novermber 7, of which they were spectators, without being
called
into action. After this they were ordered back to Union City, Tenn.,
and
thence marched to Fulton, Ky.,
the night of October 1. October 6 they
went
into winter quarters at Camp Beauregard, in Graves County, Ky.,
and remained there until Christmas, making several expeditions
meanwhile
to Mayfield and Columbus, and once marching in the night to within six
or eight miles of Paducah. There were many sick and a considerable
number
died, among them Colonel Bonham,
of pneumonia,
in November. The regiment was reported November 30, 795 present, and a
part of the brigade of Gen. John S. Bowen at Camp Beauregard. After
Christmas
they were moved to Clarksville, and thence to Bowling Green, December
29,
where they were in winter quarters until February 12, when, on account
of Grant's advance to Fort Donelson, General Johnston was compelled to
retire to Murfreesboro, Tenn. They were at Nashville the day of battle
at Fort Donelson and could hear the artillery. The regiment was about
580
strong in January and was brigaded with the Twenty-fifth Mississippi
under
Bowen.
After the retreat to Murfreesboro they were transferred
to the remnant of Zollicoffer's Brigade, which had retreated from the
battle of Fishing Creek, Ky. Lieutenant-Colonel
Schaller was in
command of the regiment and Colonel Statham, of the Fifteenth, in
command of the brigade, February 23 {1862}.
They reached their old camp at Iuka in March, and after
the Federal gunboats appeared on the river below Pittsburg Landing the
regiment, under Colonel Schaller, engaged in frequent movements to
Eastport. March 26 Schaller reported that his artillery had
disabled the gunboat Lexington
on the previous day, but he was removing
the artillery by order of General Crittenden and would evacuate
Eastport that day.
Statham's Brigade was part of Breckenridge's "reserve
corps" in the organization before the battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862,
and in that battle fought under the command of Breckinridge,
participating in the captured of Pretiss' Division, and at the close of
the first day were on the front line, occupying the heights overlooking
the Tennessee River, under the fire of the gunboats.
The casualties of the regiment at Shiloh were
heavy. Colonel Schaller and Major ____ were so severly wounded as
to be disabled for further service, and Lieutenant-Colonel ____ and
three Captains died on the field.
(According to archive records, Surgeon W.
Moseley died April
10. Lt-Col.
Charles G. Nelms died at Corinth on April 15 due to wound received at
Battle of Shiloh. Officers killed in battle included: Capt. John
C.
Evans, Co. H, and Capt. David C. Lauderdale, Co. F. Lt.
W. R. Burke, Co. C, was killed Aug 6. 2Lt.
Thomas
Murray, Co. C died at Vicksburg on May 28 of wounds received at
Shiloh. Capt. Thomas C. Dockery of Company F was wounded at Shiloh).
After this the regiment served in the lines around Corinth during Halleck's siege and
participated in the engagement at Farminton,
April 27. Upon the evacuation of Corinth, May 29, the
Twenty-second and Fifth Kentucky were detailed as rear guard for the
left wing and remained on the banks of the Tuscumbia south of Corinth
until the evening of June 1, engaged in almost uninterrupted fire with
the Federal pickets. Courires sent to order them back failed to
reach them, and they made a night march to Baldwin, June 1, through a
country occupied by Federal outposts, and rejoined the army (I. E.
Hirsch's sketch.) They moved from Baldwin to Tupelo, encamped at Kunewa June 12-22, suffering
terribly for water, and then joined in the movement of Breckingridge's
command to Vicksburg, where
they were encamped at Bovina and at Four Mile bridge, picketed the
river below the city, engaged in the attempt to surprise the Federal
fort eight or ten miles below the city and capture the mortar
boats. Being discovered in this movement they were exposed for
some hours to a heavy fire from the fleet, including the Brooklyn, and
there were several casualties, mainly from falling timber. This service
in July, in intense heat, disabled a considerable part of the
command. They were witnesses of the naval battle of the ram
Arkansas.
Following is the return of the Twenty-second in
"Breckenridge's Division, Army of the Mississippi, Vicksburg, July 20,
1862": Col. F. Schaller, Lieutenant-Colonel Prestidge, Adjutant
Fitzpatrick, Quartermaster W. M. Jayne, Commissary Captain Jones,
Assistant Surgeon G. C. Phillips. Part of Fourth Brigade.
July 29 they left Vicksburg under the command of General Breckinridge,
and moved to Camp Moore, La.,
whence they marched to the attack on the Federal force at Baton Rouge. The Twenty-second,
greatly reduced in numbers, was commanded in the battle of August 5 by
Capt. Felix Hughes, who received a mortal wound at the head of his men
leading the brigade in a gallant attack. The casualties of the
regiment were: 13 killed and 34 wounded, which was equaled in that
battle by only one other command in Clark's Division, the Thirty-first
Mississippi. General Clark himself fell with a wound supposed to
be mortal, and his aide, Lieutenant Yerger, remained with him on the
field where they were captured. General Clark, his aides; Lieutenants
Spooner and Yerger, and Captain Hughes and Adjutant Fitzgerald were
commended by Breckinridge for gallant conduct.
August 7 Breckinridge's troops marched to Fort Hudson and began
the fortifications there. August 24 they started back to Jackson, Miss., where they arrived
on the 29th and were given a rest of twelve days at Sulphur Springs.
Under the command of General VanDorn the Twenty-second, Fifteenth and
Sixth Regiments, Caruther's Battalion and the First Missouri formed the
brigade of Gen. John S. Bowen, in Lovell s Division. VanDorn advanced
to the vicinity of Grand Junction, Tenn, in September, while General
Price, in eastern Mississippi, advanced to Iuka and fought the battle of
September 19. VanDorn and Price then united at Ripley and advanced ten
days later to Pocahontas, Tenn., whence they marched to attack
Rosecrans at Corinth. At Chewalla the Twenty-second surprised a
Federal outpost and captured a number of prisoners, with slight
casualties.
In the attack on the 3d against the outer line of works,
Bowen, Rust and Villipigue attacked a hill at the crossing of the State
line road and railroad, on which was posted artillery, with rifle pits
extending north and south. General Lovell reported that "the hill
was carried mainly by the Ninth Arkansas and Twenty-second Mississippi,
each vieing with the other in the dashing gallantry of their
charge." The Federals abandoned the position so hurriedly that
they left one Parrott gun. Captain Lester, commanding the
regiment, was mentioned for gallantry. Concerning the captured
gun, known as "Lady Richardson," General Rust acknowledged, in his
report, that the Twenty-second Mississippi, under Captain Lester, was
entitled to a full share of honor. General Bowen claimed the
capture of the gun, and said the Twenty-second despecial mention for
their gallant charge. The regiment was with the brigade in the
advance of the 4th, coming under a destructive artillery fire, and
shared the duties of rear guard on the retreat of the army across
the Tuscumbia River, taking part in the action of October 5. On
the march to Holly Springs
there was continual skirmishing for the rear guard. At Coldwater,
where General Pemberton took command early in November, they skirmished
November 9 and fell back to Abbeville. When Grant advanced from
Memphis along the railroad, they fell back, after several days'
skirmishing, to Oxford, Water Valley and Coffeeville, where there was a
considerable engagement December 5. December and January they
were in winter quarters at Grenada.
January 31 (1863}
the Twenty-second was assigned to Rust's Brigade, Loring's Division,
the Mississippi regiments of which constituted Featherston's Brigade
after February. In February the regiment went into camp on the
Big Black River near Edwards, and March 1 they moved to Chickasaw Bayou.
May 30 (1863),
brigade
present 1,916, Col. Frank Schaller commanding regiment. July 30,
Lieut.-Col. H.
J. Reid commanding regiment.
{ Frank Schaller was a German immigrant
living in South Carolina. He briefly assigned to a regiment in
Louisianna and then to the 5th Texas Regiment before being assigned to
the 22nd Mississippi Regiment. He arrived at Camp Beauregard, KY,
on 5 November 1861. Due to illness, he was absent 18
months. Colonel Reid officially took over as commander on 30
July, 1863. Source:
"Soldiering For Glory"; the Civil War Letters
of Colonel Frank Schaller, Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2007.}
March 19 (1863),
General Featherston was ordered with his brigade to Snyder's Bluff, whence he took
steamer with the Twenty-second and Thirty-third Regiments and a section
of artillery up Sunflower River to Rolling
Fork, where Col. S. W. Ferguson had preceded him with his
command from Greenville. They engaged the five Federal gunboats
under Admiral Porter and Sherman's land forces on April 20th and
throughout a period of nearly ten days, until the expedition withdrew
through Black bayou. April 22 a considerable Federal force was
landed on one of the dry spots and an attempt made to cut off the two
Miss regiments. The total Confederate losses in the skirmishes
were 2 killed and 6 or 8 wounded. In his report of the Rolling
Fork campaign Featherson mentioned Capt. W. R. Barksdale,
Adjutant-General; Lieut. A. N. Parker, Aide; Lieut. W. A. Drennan,
Ordinance Officer; E.M. AcAfee{sic, McAfee},
Volunteer Aide; Major E. H. Cummins, Engineer Officer of Maury's Staff.
(These are names of officers on staff with higher command and not with the 22
Mississippi.)
When the gunboat{no reference?}
had escaped in Black River, the regiment was taken to Fort Pemberton, at the confluence of
the Yalobusha and Tallahatchie{Greenwood, MS}
where Pemberton was withstanding another expedition of gunboats from
the Mississippi River which had come down the Yazoo Pass. Here
the famous steamer, Star of the West,
fired upon at Charlseton harbor January 9, 1861{months before start of
the war}, and captured off Galveston, was sunk as an obstruction of the
Tallahatchie. When the high water began to subside the Federal
fleet retired.
{Notes: Fort
Pemberton is
located just west of
Greenwood,
MS, only a few miles from my boyhood hometown. Commercial ship Star
of the West was first ship fired
upon at Fort Sumter in January
1861,
months before initial bombardment. It was captured by Confederate
cavalry at Galveston, TX and served as support ship for CSS Arkansas.}
The brigade moved to Grenada and took train for Vicksburg about the time Grant
landed his army at Bruinsburg below that city. After much
marching and countermarching in the vicinity of Vicksburg they were
near Edwards May 12.
Advancing, on the night of May 15, the regiment went into bivouac not
far from the camp of an artillery company which they supposed was
Confederate, and the surprise was great early in the morning when the
battery opened fire upon them. A hasty retreat was made in which
General Loring and his staff took part, and the camp was necessarily
abandoned. (Hirsch's sketch.) During the next day, May 16,
the battle of Baker's Creek was fought by Lee and Stevenson, on the
left of Loring, while a large Federal force lay quietly in front of
Loring, except for the artillery, in which General Tilghman was killed,
and repeated feintsof advance for position. Late in the evening
Featherston's Brigade was moved, after urgent orders to Loring, from
the right wing to the left, to reinforce Stevenson and Lee. The
brigade was put in position, Loring reported, to protect the rear of
the retreating forces and to cover the falling back of Buford's
Brigade, which duty was ably and gallantly executed. Featherston
reported his engagement as a skirmish, in which his brigade behaved
well, advancing twice and retiring when so ordered. On the
retreat they followed General Loring, who considered it dangerous to
cross the ford of Baker's Creek in their rear, and moved down the creek
westward, and finally, in the night, marching past and through Federal
bivouacs, they moved to Crystal Springs, and thence on the 21st to
Jackson. The only casualties of the brigade in the battle were in
the Twenty-second Regiment--John McCrossen, Company D, mortally
wounded, and John Berry, Company F, slightly wounded
Under the command of General Johnston they moved to
Canton and thence to the Big Black
River. Captain Russell, of the Twenty-second, commanded
the scouts in an expedition June 4 for the capture of a foraging party
along the Big Black. When Vicksburg surrendered they fell back to
Jackson, served in the fortified line (near the Moody place), besieged
by Sherman July 9-16, and then fell back to Morton. The winter
quarters were at Goodman.
General Polk took command of the army, and as Sherman advanced from
Vicksburg to Meridian, in February, 1864,
Loring's Division moved to Morton and thence to Demopolis, Ala.
Early in April, 1864, under orders to reinforce Johnston in Georgia,
they moved to Montevallo, Ala., and thence to Rome, Ga.
The regimental commanders during the Atlanta campaign were
Major Martin A. Oatis, Lieut.-Col. H.
J. Reid, Col. William N. Brown, Maj. James M. Stigler of
regiment and First Battalion consolidated.
The regiment arrived
at Resaca May 12, opened the
battle on the 13th, was in reserve the next day and was under fire
until
the evacuation on the 16th. Featherston's Brigade skirmished at Cassville,
and on the Dallas and New Hope Church line was in heavy skirmishing and
under bombardment night and day. May 31 the brigade was ordered forward
to feel the Federal position, and lost 24 killed and 98 wounded. At the
base of Kenesaw
Mountain, near marietta, June
27, the brigade repulsed
the Federal attack in their front. In general orders William Dennis,
Company
B; William Hatswell, Company C; and D. M. Dye, Company E, of the
Twenty-second
Regiment, were commended for gallantry, July 9. In the battle of Peachtree
Creek, July 20,
the regiment was commanded by Major Oatis, who
was
severly
wounded, Captain J. T. Formby succeeding him. In this battle Company G,
Captain Standley, was deployed as skirmishers. After the regiment had
occupied
the Federal rifle pits on the picket line, they advanced and were
compelled
to cross a boggy marsh in which some of the bravest and best men were
killed
by the terrible fire that was concentrated upon them. Yet they went on
and drove the enemy from a line of rail works they were building, but
were
forced to retire to avoid capture. The casualties, 24 killed, 64
wounded,
5 missing.
Ensign Michael
Meagher, Private J. T. Longino, Company
A, and Sergeant Harrison Bailey, Company B, all were shot down while
carrying
the colors. Adjutant C. V. H. Davis, while performing the same duty,
and
encouraging the men, was killed. Lieutenant Lea, Company C, bore the
flag
during the rest of the engagement. A newspaper report mentioned also
Captains
Gay, Farmbry, Hughes, severly wounded; Lieuts. Underwood, Roth, Blalock
and Huntley, killed. At the evacuation of Atlanta the regiment was in
battle
at Rough and Ready, Jonesboro
and Flint River. Roll of Honor, published
August 10, 1864: Private J. W. Patterson, Company C, for meritorious
conduct
whilst on picket duty, July 9, 1864; William Dennis, Company B; William
Hatswell, Company C; D. M. Nye, Company E.
In the October, 1864,
campaign on the Chattanooga
and Atlanta Railroad, Featherston's Brigade captured the Federal post
at
Big Shanty; was with Loring's Division in the capture of Acworth, and
with
Stewart's Corps in the destruction of the railroad between Dalton and
Resaca,
after which they moved through the mountains to Gadsden, Ala.,
skirmished
at Decatur, October 26-29, and moved thence to Tuscumbia.
November 20 they
crossed the Tennessee River with
Stewart's Corps, the old Army of Mississippi, then reduced to
12,684
aggregate present, in its nine brigades. By December 9 the aggregate
present
was only 8,155, of which 1,208 were in Featherston's Brigade. November
26 they confronted Schofiled at Columbia, on
the 29th they marched
toward Spring
Hill,
on the 30th they followed Schofield to Franklin on
the
Harpeth
and joined with Cheatham's Corps in the memorable assault upon the
Federal
works. "The color bearers of the Third and Twenty-second
planted
their colors on the enemy's works, and were wounded and captured with
their
colors." (Featherston). Of the brigade 76 were killed, 200 wounded, 76
missing. In the investment of Thomas' army at Nashville Loring's
Division
held the front of the corps, a line of one mile across the Granny White
pike, supported by redoubts on the summit of five hills. Maj. Martin A.
Oatis was in command of the regiment on 10th. December 15 Thomas
attacked,
carried two of the redoubts and broke the line. A second line was
formed,
Loring's Division formed a new line and checked the flank attack.
December
16 they repulsed every attack until the line was broken on their left.
On both days many were captured. At Columbia, December 20,
Featherston's
Brigade was one of the seven selected for Walthall to command as the
rear
guard of infantry, remaining in the face of the enemy until the rest of
the army had gained two days start. December 21 the brigade was
reported
727 aggregate, the Twenty-Second, 104. On the retreat they were in
battle
with their pursuers at Anthony Hill and Sugar Creek, gallantly and
successfully,
December 25-26.
They crossed the
Tennessee River, December 28, and
marched to winter quarters near Tupelo.
About the first of
February, 1865, the remnant
of Loring's Division began the movement to reinforce General Johnston
in
the Carolinas. They were ordered forward from Augusta, Ga., to Newberry,
S. C., February 25. In the Carolina campaign against Sherman
they
participated
in the battle of Kinston,
March 10, and Bentonville,
March 19-21, on
the
19th making a gallant and successful charge, but with heavy loss.
Organization
of army under Gen. J. E. Johnston, near Smithfield, N.C., March 31,
1865,
Featherston's Brigade commanded by Major Martin A. Oatis, the
Twenty-Second
Regiment by Captain G. W. Standley. April 9, First, Twenty-Second and
Thirty-Second
Regiments and First Battalion consolidated as the Twenty-Second
Regiment,
Col. Martin A. Oatis commanding. Hostilities were suspended April 18,
the
army was surrendered April 26 near Durham Station, and paroled at
Greensboro.
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history ~~~
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