Records filed as 1st (Feild’s) Tennessee Infantry Regiment
Organized May 9, 1861 at Nashville, Tennessee; mustered into Confederate service August 1, 1861; reorganized about May 1, 1862 at Corinth, Mississippi; merged into 1st Consolidated Tennessee Regiment April, 1865; paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865.
FIELD OFFICERS
- Colonels-George Maney, Hume R. Feud
- Lieutenant Colonels-T. F. Sevier, John L. House
- Majors-A. M. Looney, Hume R. Feud, John L. House
CAPTAINS
- T. F. Sevier, Joseph Vauk, Jr., William D. Kelly, Co. “A”. “The Rock City Guards,” of Nashville.
- James B. Craighead, John Patterson, Bailey P. Steele, Co. “B”. “The Rock City Guards,” of Nashville and Davidson County.
- Robert C. Foster IV, John F. Wheless, Andrew H. Brown, Co. “C”. “The Rock City Guards,” of Nashville and Davidson County.
- James P. Hanner, John L. House, Oscar F. Atkeison, Co. “D”. “The Williamson Grays,” of Williamson County.
- George Harsch, George Leascher, Co. “E”. “The Tennessee Rifiemen,” of Nashville and Davidson County.
- John S. Butler, Co. “F”. “The Railroad Boys,” of Nashville.
- George W. Campbell, Lute B. Irwin, Co. “G”. “The Brown Guards,” from Maury County, some from Hardin County.
- Abraham M. Looney, William R. Johnston, Henry I. Webster, Co. “H”. “The Maury Grays,” of Maury County.
- William Ledbetter, Jr., Co. ~”. “The Rutherford Rifles,” of Rutherford County.
- Hume R. Feud, William C. Flournoy, Co. “K”. “The Martin Guards,” of Giles County.
These were the original ten companies. Another company joined the regiment at the time of the reorganization in May, 1862, this was Company “L”, Captain Joseph W. Fulcher; a consolidation of the three companies which had originally formed the Nashville Battalion (q.v.).
Colonel Maney was promoted to brigadier general for gallantry at Shiloh, and Captain Hume R. Feild was elected colonel at the reorganization; he remained in command for the duration of the war.
The regiment first went into camp at Allisonia, Franklin County, which camp they named Camp Harris, in honor of Governor Isham G. Harris. It soon moved to Camp Cheatham, Robertson County, where it received instruction in drill and tactics. On July 10, 1861, it was ordered to Virginia, and at Valley Mountain, Virginia, was joined by the 7th and 14th Tennessee Infantry Regiments to form Brigadier General Samuel R. Anderson’s Brigade of Brigadier General William W. Loring’s Division, Army of the Northwest. As part of this brigade, the regiment took part in the abortive Cheat Mountain Campaign in West Virginia, lasting from September 10 to 15, 1861. Although a minor action, this campaign is of interest because it was General Robert E. Lee’s first campaign of the Civil War. Lee’s biographer wrote: “His first campaign had ended ingloriously.”
The regiment took part in no further actions until it was ordered on December 8, 1861 to Winchester, Virginia, where it formed part of the forces which Major General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson led on his expedition to Bath, Virginia, and the banks of the Potomac River. After this campaign, the regiment returned to Winchester, where it remained until February 17, 1862, when it was ordered to the West. For the rest of the war, the regiment served in the forces which later came to be called The Army of Tennessee.
On reaching Knoxville, the left wing, consisting of Companies “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, and was detached by Major General E. Kirby Smith, and sent to Cumberland Gap. The right wing, Companies “F’, “G”, “H”, “I”, and “K”, was sent forward, and reached Corinth in time to take an active part in the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862. The left wing did not reach Corinth until April 7, too late to take part in the battle.
At Shiloh, Maney’s Battalion of the 1st Tennessee, the 7th Kentucky, 6th Tennessee, and 9th Tennessee Regiments, plus a Mississippi battery, formed the 2nd Brigade of Major General B. F. Cheatham’s Division. Colonel Maney was assigned to command of the brigade, but by order of General A. S. Johnston, he, with his battalion, was detached to the extreme right to guard against a possible Federal attack from the direction of Hamburg. In his absence, Colonel W. H. Stephens was in command of the brigade. Colonel Maney joined the main battle about 2:30 P.M. on April 6, and was directed by General Cheatham to select his own forces to lead a charge against a Federal position which had been stubbornly defended. With his own battalion and the 9th and 19th Tennessee Regiments, Colonel Maney led a charge which broke the enemy’s lines, and led to his retreat to the river. General Cheatham described it “as one of the most brilliant, as it was certainly one of the most decisively successful, movements of the day.” On the 7th, Colonel Maney was ordered to re-enforce Brigadier General J. M. Withers, on the extreme right, who was being hard pressed, and with his battalion, led a charge which repelled the Federal advance. Major Hume R. Feild was in active command of the 1st Tennessee during the time Colonel Maney was acting as a brigade commander, and was highly commended for his efficiency.
In the reorganization following the battle Colonel Maney was promoted to brigadier general and continued in command of the 2nd Brigade, which on June 30, consisted of the 1st, 6th, 9th and 27th Tennessee Regiments, and Smith’s Mississippi Battery. General Maney continued in command of the brigade until August 31, 1864, when he was given leave of absence on a surgeon’s certificate of disability.
From Corinth, the army withdrew to Tupelo, Mississippi, and moved from Tupelo to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The brigade left Tupelo July 11, 1862, via Mobile, Montgomery, and Atlanta for Chattanooga. After only a brief pause, it left Chattanooga on August 19 for General Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky, reaching Harrodsburg, Kentucky, October 6. The regiment suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862, losing more than half of its men in killed, wounded, and missing.
As part of General Bragg’s army it retreated into Tennessee, reaching Murfreesboro in November, 1862. It was again heavily engaged at the Battle of Murfreesboro December 31, 1862.
Following this battle, in January, 1863, by order of General Bragg, the regiment was consolidated with the remnants of the 27th Tennessee Regiment to form the 1st/27th Consolidated Regiment. This was a field organization, and the regiments continued to be mustered separately except for one period of about two months, when there exists a muster roll of the lst/27th Consolidated. This field organization continued until the end of the war under the command of Colonel Hume R. Feild. The consolidated regiment was placed in Mane/s Brigade, Major General B. F. Cheatham’s Division, Lieutenant General William J. Hardee’s Corps.
It remained in camp around Shelbyville till July, 1863, when the army retreated to Chattanooga. There was little activity until the Battle of Chickamauga, September 18 to 20, 1863, where the regiment did valiant service. After Chickamauga, it was placed for a few weeks in Major General William H. T. Walker’s Division for an expedition into East Tennessee. It returned in time to participate in the Battle of Missionary Ridge, still in Walker’s Division, and helped cover the retreat to Dalton, Georgia, which it reached November 27, 1863.
In February, 1864, again in Cheatham’s Division, the regiment was ordered to Mississippi to re-enforce Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, but after reaching Demopolis, Alabama it was returned to Dalton, Georgia, At Resaca, Georgia May 16, Maney’s Brigade was attached to Major General Alexander P. Stewart’s Division, but was in Cheatham’s Division again on the 17th at Adairsville, Georgia. At New Hope Church, May 26, Maney’s Brigade was sent with Major General William B. Bate’s Division to engage the enemy near Dallas, Georgia, but returned to Cheatham’s Division the next day. It held the fort in the famous “Dead Angle” in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain June 27. After Jonesboro, when General Joseph E. Johnston was replaced in command of the Army by Lieutenant General John B. Hood, the regiment went with Hood back into Tennessee, taking part in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville, in November and Decemher, 1864. General Maney had relinquished command of the brigade August 31, 1864, and Colonel Hume R. Feild was in command of the brigade at the battle of Nashville. The brigade at this time consisted of the 4th Confederate, the 6th, 9th, and 50th Tennessee, 1st/27t~ Consolidated, 8th, 16th and 28th Tennessee Infantry Regiments.
After the defeat at Nashville, the army fell back across the Tennessee river, and the regiment halted at West Point, Mississippi for a short while. Then, after a long and tedious journey through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, it joined General Joseph E. Johnston at Bentonville, North Carolina where it was again engaged. In the final reorganization of Johnston’s Army in April, 1865, the lst/27th was consolidated with the 6th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 28th and 34th Infantry Regiments, and the 24th Battalion of Sharpshooters to form the 1st Consolidated Regiment of Tennessee Infantry. The consolidated regiment formed part of General Joseph B. Palmer’s Brigade, Cheatham’s Division, Hardee’s Corps. After the Battle of Bentonville, the regiment was surrendered by General Joseph E. Johnston at Durham, North Carolina on April 26, 1865, and was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina May 1, 1865. Out of nearly 1200 men on the rolls of the 1st Tennessee, only 125 officers and men were left at the final surrender.
The regiment left High Point, North Carolina May 3, 1865, and reached Nashville May 21, 1865.
This unit history was extracted from Tennesseans in the Civil War, Vol 1. Copyrighted 1964 by the Civil War Centennial Commission of Tennessee and is published here with their permission. This history may not be republished for any reason without the written permission of the copyright owner.