The members were recruited from
Barbour, Chambers, Henry, Macon, Pike, Russell, and Tallapoosa counties.
Ordered to Columbus, MS, after a short time, the regiment proceeded to Tupelo. There it
was placed in Gen'l Henry Little's Division, and in the Brigade of Col. Martin of TN, with
three Mississippi regiments.
Gen'l Dabney Herndon Maury succeeded Gen'l Little when the latter was killed at Iuka,
where the 37th was first engaged, with some loss.
The regiment took part in the Battle of Corinth, losing heavily in casualties. The brigade
commander fell at Corinth, and the 37th was thrown into a brigade with the 2nd TX, and
42nd AL, Gen'l John C. Moore commanding. The winter was spent in MS -- the regiment
retreating from Holly Springs and taking part in the repulse of the invaders at Chickasaw
Bayou. Early in 1863, the 37th was sent to the Sunflower River but went back in time to
take part in the battles of Port Gibson and Champion Hill, where its losses were severe.
The regiment was then assigned to the garrison of Vicksburg and was captured with the
fortress. Exchanged soon after, the regiment was in parole camp at Demopolis. Ordered to
the Army of Tennessee, it lost heavily at Lookout Mountain and quite a number at Mission
Ridge. The winter passed at Dalton, GA, where Gen'l Alpheus Baker of Barbour took charge
of the brigade. The regiment was then engaged at Chattanooga (73 casualties our of 407 men
present), Resaca, Noonday Creek, Kennesaw, and the battles around Atlanta. In one charge
at Atlanta, 22 July, the regimental commander and 40 men were killed outright, out of 300
men present.
During the fall and winter, the 37th was on garrison duty at Spanish Fort but moved into NC. It broke the enemy line at Bentonville, and furled its colors a few days later, with 300 of its number present out of the 1100 who took the field originally.
Field officers: Col. James F. Dowdell (Chambers Co., captured at Vicksburg and retired). Lt. Cols. A. A. Greene (Chambers Co., wounded, Iuka, Mission Ridge; KIA, Atlanta); and W. F. Slaton (Macon Co.). Majors John P. W. Amorine (Pike Co., transferred); W. F. Slaton (wounded, Corinth; captured, Lookout Mountain; promoted); and Joel C. Kendrick (Covington Co.)
[The 37th Alabama Infantry Regiment, Consolidated, was organized on 9 April 1865 by combining the original 37th Alabama with the 42nd and 54th Alabama regiments, at Smithfield, NC. The unit(s) surrendered on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, Orange County, NC. Field officers: Col. John A. Minter and Lt. Col. William D. McNeill.]
History: Harry Innes Thornton's "Recollections of the war by a Confederate officer from California," in Southern California Quarterly, vol. XLV (1963), pp. 195-218.
Historical info is from the Civil War Center a must site for all researchers