The Confederate Army 1861–65 (5)

Tennessee

The ordinance of secession taking Tennessee out of the Union was adopted on May 6, 1861, and the next day the “Volunteer” state entered into a military league with the Confederate States. The celebrations accompanying these events were described in the Nashville Daily Gazette several days later as “nothing more or less than a grand, spontaneous outburst, in which the whole people, men, women, and children participated. Immediately after dark, a number of … military companies were parading the streets, and with banners flying and drums beating, they proceeded through the city, until coming to the Public Square. Before reaching that point, however, a large crowd had assembled, and by the time the rear of the military procession made its appearance, the square was one moving mass.”

Among the units rallying to the colors that May evening were the Rock City Guard, the Hickory Guards and the Shelby Dragoons. The former expanded into three companies and enlisted in the 1st Tennessee Infantry, commanded by Colonel George Maney. On April 6, 1862, they would make a gallant charge on the bloody battlefield of Shiloh which helped force the Federals back to the Tennessee river. The Hickory Guards served as Company A, 20th Tennessee, and fought at Fishing Creek in Kentucky where their commanding officer, Joel L.Battle, was commended for “marked ability and courage.” The Shelby Dragoons also campaigned in Kentucky, as part of Frank N.McNairy's 1st Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, and were later involved in effecting the release of 2,000 sick Confederate prisoners during the occupation of Booneville, MS, in 1862.

With an aggregate strength of 186,652 officers and enlisted men, and organized into 110 regiments, 33 battalions and 54 separate or independent companies or batteries, Tennessee troops served the Confederacy with distinction in all the main areas of operation throughout the Civil War.

Although events stemming from the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12-13, 1861, had stirred the martial spirit of the people of Tennessee, their militia system at that time was typically both small and antiquated.

On paper it consisted of approximately 160 regiments of non-uniformed beat militia formed into four divisions, which were scattered throughout the state. About 50 companies of uniformed volunteer militia existed, being mainly attached to regiments located in the regions of Nashville and Memphis. By July 1858, the volunteer companies in Memphis had formed into a battalion which, on March 22, 1860, was organized under Col W.H.Carroll as the 154th Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers (using a number in the old militia series dating back to 1842).