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1st Alabama Infantry

HISTORICAL NOTES*:

This regiment was the first to be organized under an act of the State legislature authorizing the enlistment of troops for 12 months. The companies rendezvoused at Pensacola in February and March 1861, and about the 1st of April organized and elected regimental officers. The men were recruited from Barbour, Lowndes, Macon, Pike, Talladega, Tallapoosa, and Wilcox counties.

Transferred to the army of the Confederate States soon after, it remained on duty at Pensacola for a year, occupied chiefly in manning the batteries and taking part in bombardments on 23 Nov 61 and 1 Jan 1862. A detachment was in the night fight on Santa Rosa Island. As the oldest regiment in Confederate service, it was the first called on to reenlist for the war, at the end of the first year, and seven of the companies did so.

Ordered to Tennessee, the regiment, 1000 strong, reached Island No. 10 on 12 March 1862, In the severe conflict there, all but a remnant of the regiment were captured. Those who escaped were organized into a battalion which was part of the garrison at Ft. Pillow, and afterwards fought at Corinth. Those captured were exchanged in September, and the regiment rendezvoused at Jackson, MS, having lost 150 by death in prison, and 150 casualties since and during the siege of Island No. 10. At once ordered to Port Hudson, they participated in the privations of that siege. They were again captured on 9 July 63, about 500 men, after losing 150 k and w. The privates were paroled and the officers kept in prison until the peace. The men were exchanged in the fall, and they joined Gen'l Joseph E. Johnston in Mississippi, 610 strong.

The regiment was then at Mobile and Polland, and it joined Gen'l Johnston at Alatoona. In Gen'l James Cantey's Brigade, it fought at New Hope, and it was afterwards transferred to Gen'l William Quarles' Brigade, in which it served until the end. It participated at Kenesaw Mountain, lost considerably at Peach Tree Creek. In the assault on enemy lines at Atlanta, 28 July, the regiment won fresh renown but lost half its strength. They moved with Gen'l John Bell Hood into Tennessee and lost heavily at Franklin and Nashville. Transferred to North Carolina, it took part at Averysboro and Bentonville, and about 100 men surrendered at Goldsboro.

Upwards of 3000 names were on the rolls at different times during the war, including those companies that did not re-enlist.

OFFICERS:

Cols. Henry D. Clayton (until reorganization)
Isaiah G. W. Steedman (captured at Island No. 10 and Port Hudson)
Lt. Col. I. G. W. Steedman (promoted)
Lt. Col. Michael B. Locke (wounded, captured at Port Hudson)
Major Jere N. Williams (until reorganization)
Major Samuel L. Knox (captured at Island No. 10 and Port Hudson, but escaped from the latter; wounded at Atlanta; KIA at Franklin while commanding regiment)
Adjutant S. H. Dent (resigned)
Adjutant Samuel D. Steedman (captured at Island No. 10 and Port Hudson).

ASSIGNMENTS:

BATTLES:

Island Ten
Port Hudson
The Atlanta Campaign
Franklin, TN

ROSTERS:

Tallapoosa - James D. Meadows; captured at Island Ten and Port Hudson; murdered by the guard at Johnson's Island.
Pike - Augustus H. Owen; resigned. J.H. Wood.
Lowndes - Y. D. Conyers; resigned. John T. Stubbs; captured at Island Ten and Port Hudson.
Wilcox  - D. Wardlaw of Ramsay; captured at Island Ten and Port Hudson.
Talladega - Joseph H. Johnson; resigned. R.H. Isbell; captured at Port Hudson.
Pike - George W. Dawson; till re-organized. M.B. Locke; captured at Island Ten; elected lieutenant colonel. R.H. Riley; captured at Port Hudson.
Barbour - Alpheus Baker; resigned. (Company disbanded at the end of the first year.)
Barbour - John W. Clarke. (Company disbanded at the end of the first year.)
Mobile - Ben Lane Posey. (Company disbanded at the end of the first year.)
Barbour - J. W. Mabry; no re-elected.  Richard Williams; captured at Island Ten; wounded and captured at Port Hudson.
Barbour (1862) - Wm. H. Pruitt; captured at Port Hudson.
Montgomery and Autauga (1862) - J. F. Whitfield; captured at Island Ten and Port Hudson.
Macon (1862) - C. A.Stanton; captured at Island Ten; resigned.  C. C. Knowles; captured at Port Hudson.

FLAGS:

1st Alabama Infantry, Co. I-K, Wilcox True Blues, no photo
(Wilcox True Blues were first Co. K, later Co. B)

1st Alabama Infantry, Co. C-G, Perote Guards
(Perote Guards were first Co. A, later Co. C)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
REFERENCES:

*Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record and Public Men by Willis Brewer, 1872

List of the Dead Buried at Confederate Rest, Madison, Wisconsin

DEAD OF THE FIRST ALABAMA REGIMENT AT MADISON, WIS. and MRS. ALICE WHITING WATERMAN

In another place I have spoken fully of our prison life in 1862. Here I shall pay a slight tribute to the brave men and boys of our command who fell in the first flush of the struggle, almost before the issues of the war had been fully presented, or before the combatants settled down to the grim years of sacrifice and achievement before them.

The following is a list of Confederate dead buried in the Confederate cemetery at Madison, Wis., one hundred and five of whom belonged to the First Regiment Alabama Volunteers, C. S. A., with company, regiment and date of death in 1862, reported to the Wisconsin State Historical Society by James R. Stuart, October, 1893.  [Sixty-three of those listed were members of the 1st Alabama, Tennessee & Mississippi Regiment and were NOT members of the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment.  These men are not listed here but on the 1st Alabama, Tennessee & Mississippi Regiment page.]

SOURCE: McMorries, Edward Yount. History of the First Regiment Alabama Volunteer Infantry

 

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The Alabama Civil War Roots' webmaster, James D. Allen, passed away February 5, 2003.  His tireless dedication to making available information on all our Civil War ancestors will always be our inspiration.  We dedicate the continuation of this site to him.  Jimmy, we miss you.

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