Ely F.
Glover
Private "Southern Rifles" Co. D
3rd Al., joined 1861, Reg. Inf. Capt Richard H. Powell
ARMY OF THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA.
Authority-Compiled roll by ; Stinson of Co. D published in the Union Springs Herald. Sept
1905
Alabama Pension Number 33760 from Index of Confederate Military Records.
3rd Alabama Infantry Regiment
The Third Al.Infantry Reg. was organized at
Montgomery in April, 1861. It was the first AL command that was sent to VA. Mustered
into service at Lynchburg, 4 May, the regiment was ordered to Norfolk. There it was
in a temporary brigade with the 1st and 12 VA, under Col. Jones M.
Withers, who was soon after succeeded by Col. William Mahone. For 12 months, the 3rd
remained at Norfolk and there reenlisted (but saw no active service). Norfolk was
evacuated, 5 May 1862, and the regiment fell back with the army. At Seven Pines, it was
held in reserve the first day and was badly cut up the second, losing 38 k and 122 w. Two
weeks later it was attached to Gen. Robert E. Rodes' Brigade, which now consisted of the
3rd, 5th, 6th, 12th and 26th AL regiments.
The brigade, led by Col. John B. Gordon of the 6th, participated in the week of battle
before Richmond, as part of Gen. Daniel H. Hill's Division. The 3rd lost 207 out of 345
men and officers at the repulse at Malvern Hill and mustered with only 180 men shortly
after that. They recruited quickly to rise to 300 men. Hill's Division was not
engaged at Cedar Run or 2nd Manassas, but it moved with the army, and the 3rd AL was the
first to plant the "stars and bars" in MD. At Boonsboro, the fighting was
prolonged and desperate, as it was at Sharpsburg. The 3rd moved back into VA with the
army, and it was in line of battle at Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville, it was in Gen'l
Stonewall Jackson's Corps in the assault on Hooker, and in the two days, lost 24 k and 125
w. In the second MD campaign, the 3rd moved with Gen'l Richard S. Ewell's Corps, to which
it now belonged, as far as Chambersburg, PA. It lost heavily at Gettysburg, fighting both
days with credit, and sharing in the privations of the retreat. After the return to VA, it
skirmished at Mine Run and wintered at Orange Courthouse. Now under Brig. Gen'l Cullen A.
Battle, the regiment bore a conspicuous part in the battles of The Wilderness and
Spotsylvania, losing many. In the fighting at 2nd Cold Harbor, it charged the enemy and
again lost heavily. It was with Gen'l Jubal Early in the Valley, and in MD, taking part in
the demonstration against Washington, DC, and in the pursuit of Union Gen. David Hunter.
At Winchester, it's loss was heavy, and it suffered again at Cedar Hill, but it protected
the rear of the retreating army.
Placed in the trenches at Petersburg, the 3rd dwindled away by attrition until only about
40 men surrendered at Appomattox.
Of 1651 names on the roll, about 260 were lost in battle, 119 died in the service,
and 605 were discharged or transferred.
Field and staff officers: Cols. Jones M. Withers (Mobile; promoted);
Tennent Lomax (promoted; KIA);
Cullen A. Battle (Macon; wounded, Sharpsburg.; promoted);
Charles Forsyth (Mobile); Lt. Cols. Tennent Lomax (promoted);
Cullen A. Battle (promoted); Charles Forsyth (promoted);
Robert M. Sands (Mobile); Majors Cullen A. Battle (promoted);
Charles Forsyth (promoted); Robert M. Sands (wounded, Gettysburg; promoted);
Richard H. Powell (Macon; wounded, Spotsylvania);
and Adjutants Charles Forsyth (promoted); Isaiah A. Wilson
(Macon; resigned); Alfred R. Murray (Mobile; transferred);
Samuel B. Johnston (Macon; KIA, Seven Pines); Mirabeau B. Swanson
(Macon; transferred); Alexander H. Pickett (Macon; transferred);
and David R. Dunlap (Mobile; wounded, Cedar Creek)
Captains and counties from which the companies came:
Mobile: Robert M. Sands (promoted);
T. Casey Witherspoon (wounded, Sharpsburg, and captured)
Mobile: William H. Hartwell (resigned); John R. Simpson
(wounded, Sharpsburg; relieved); Arthur Robbins (wounded)
Macon: W. G. Swanson (until reorganization);
Robert L. Mayes (KIA, Seven Pines);
Charles J. Bryan (wounded, Malvern Hill; resigned);
William Thomas Bilbro (KIA, Spotsylvania);
T. Alexander Etheridge (wounded)
Macon: Richard H. Powell (promoted);
E. Troup Randall (wounded, Chancellorsville; retired);
John R. McGowan (wounded, Spotsylvania) Mobile: Archibald Gracie (resigned);
John F. Chester (wounded, Seven Pines; mortally wounded, Winchester);
John T. Huggins Montgomery: F. W. Hunter (resigned);
Watkins Phelan (wounded, Seven Pines; KIA, Petersburg);
W. A. McBryde Montgomery: W. G. Andrews (company transferred to artillery at the end of 1
year)
Lowndes: M. Ford Bonham (wounded, Gettysburg, Winchester)
Coosa and Autauga: Edward S. Ready (wounded, Seven Pines, Boonsboro (and captured there);
detached and promoted); Louis H. Hill (resigned); B. F. K. Melton
Mobile: Louis T. Woodruff (resigned); John K. Hoyt (detached);
George H. Dunlap Macon (1862): J. L. W. Jelks (died in service, Richmond);
Richard W. H. Kennon (wounded, Malvern Hill; retired);
Francis M. Germany (wounded, Gettysburg; retired);
Robert T. Rutherford
History: "A sketch of 12 months service
in the Mobile Rifle Company
by an unidentified member," Al. Historical Quarterly, XXV (1963),
pp. 149-189. Henry Hotze / Three Months in the Confederate Army (University,
AL: University of Alabama Press, 1962) J. B. Stamp, "Ten months experience
in Northern prisons" Al. Historical Quart., XL (1956), pp.486-198.
Historical info is from the Civil War Center a must site for all
researchers
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