{"id":267,"date":"2013-02-09T21:24:40","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T03:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/dickson2\/?p=267"},"modified":"2017-06-10T07:40:58","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T12:40:58","slug":"11th-tennessee-infantry-volunteers-1861","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/dickson\/11th-tennessee-infantry-volunteers-1861\/","title":{"rendered":"11th Tennessee Infantry Volunteers (1861)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The situation was bleak in the spring of 1861. The threat of war due to Northern invasion inched ever closer to Tennessee. Just a few weeks earlier however, February 9 to be exact, Tennesseans had voted 557,798 to 69,675 to remain in the Union. Then, on April 12, 1861, the batteries around South Carolina\u2019s Charleston Harbor belched forth their fury against the beleaguered United States\u2019 garrison, Fort Sumter. Five days later, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers from different states to march into the South and put down the “rebellion.” Tennesseans would not stand idly by and allow what she perceived as aggression to go unchecked. Immediately, Governor Isham G. Harris responded to Lincoln\u2019s call for troops by stating that his state “would not furnish a single man for coercion, but 50,000 if necessary for the defense of \u2018our rights and the rights of our southern brethren\u2019” (Benjamin F. Cooling,\u00a0Forts Henry and Donelson: The Key to the Confederate Heartland.\u00a0Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987, 4). With this, many companies of volunteers came forward to enlist in the service of their state. On June 8, 1861 a second vote was held to determine Tennessee\u2019s stance with the Federal Union. This time, the vote would be much different. Tennesseans voted 105,000 to 47,000 to leave the Union (Thomas L. Connelly,\u00a0Civil War Tennessee: Battles and Leaders\u00a0Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1979, 3-4).<\/p>\n

Troops were now being raised all across the state, particularly in Middle and West Tennessee. Companies of men consisting of about 100 men each were being organized in the various counties. Ten companies were then organized together to form a regiment.<\/p>\n

One regiment in particular, the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0Tennessee Infantry Volunteers, was comprised of men from several Middle Tennessee counties. Davidson County furnished three companies, Dickson County furnished three companies, Hickman County furnished one company, while Humphreys supplied two companies, and Robertson County furnished one company. With the companies formed, the men left their various communities and traveled to Nashville to the present day location of Centennial Park. Here they where sworn in to military service and issued uniforms. On the afternoon of May 14, after being sworn into the service of their state, all of the companies except the company from Robertson County were moved by rail to Camp Cheatham, near Springfield, Tennessee. Here, the men would receive their military training. Not long after the boys were at Camp Cheatham, they were joined by the Robertson County company.<\/p>\n

On May 22, the companies were joined together to form the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0Tennessee Infantry Regiment, and an election was held to choose field and staff officers. James E. Rains, the former editor of the Nashville Banner and the district attorney general for Davidson, Williamson, and Sumner Counties, was elected colonel of the new regiment. The lieutenant colonel was Thomas P. Bateman, a Mexican War veteran and a lawyer from Centerville, Hickman County, Tennessee. Hugh R. Lucas from Humphreys County was elected major. Thus with the regiment organized, the structure was as follows:<\/p>\n

Field and Staff:<\/strong><\/p>\n