Organized for State service May 20, 1861; mustered Confederate service August 9, 1861; reorganized May 6, 1862; consolidated with 4th Tennessee Infantry Regiment December, 1862; merged into 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment April 9, 1865; paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina May 1, 1865.
FIELD OFFICERS Colonels-William E. Travis, Calvin D. Venable, Jonathan J. Lamb. Lieutenant Colonels-John D. C. Atkins, Calvin D. Venable, William C. Swor. Majors-William C. Swor, Jonathan J. Lamb, B. B. Bunch. CAPTAIN'S
In addition to these companies, Captain John W. Harris' Company "C", 46th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, the bulk of whose regiment was captured at Island Number Ten on April 8, 1862, served with this regiment as 2nd Co. "L" from this date until the fall of 1862. However, the rolls of this company are filed with the 46th Tennessee Infantry. Of the original field officers, Colonel Travis resigned because of ill health; Lieutenant Colonel Atkins was elected to Congress and resigned; and Major Swor was disabled and resigned in 1863. Of the later officers, Colonel Venable was seriously wounded at Perryville, and died in December, 1862; Colonel Lamb was killed at Ellsbury Ridge, Georgia in 1864; and Major Henry Hampton, of the 4th Tennessee, took command of the 4th/5th Consolidated Regiment.
The regiment was organized at Paris, Henry County, Tennessee, in the Provisional Army of Tennessee, and moved to Camp Brown, Union City, Obion County. Here it was reported on July 31, 1861, with 860 men present, armed with flintlock muskets. It was accepted into Confederate service at Camp Brown on August 9, 1861, and went from there to Columbus, Kentucky. It remained at Columbus until January 1, 1862, when it moved to New Madrid, Missouri where there was skirmishing and artillery fire for 13 days; thence to Fort Pillow and Memphis; and finally to Corinth, Mississippi, where it arrived on March 25, 1862.
During this period its brigade assignments were as follows:
September 7, 1861, at Columbus, Kentucky. Brigadier General Benjamin F. Cheatham's Brigade, composed of the 5th, 15tb, 22nd and 154th Senior Tennessee Infantry Regiments, and Lieutenant Colonel Blythe's 1st Mississippi Infantry Battalion.
October 24, 1861. Colonel Travis' Brigade, Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow's Division. The brigade consisted of the 5th Tennessee, and the 9th and 13th Arkansas Infantry Regiments.
January 18, 1862. Brigadier General Alexander P. Stewart's Brigade, composed of the 4th Arkansas Infantry Battalion, the 5th Tennessee Infantry, a West Tennessee Infantry Battalion, and Stewart's and Upton's Tennessee Artillery Companies.
March 1, 1862, at Madrid Bend. Colonel Travis commanded the garrison at Fort Bankhead, consisting of the 5th and 40th (Walker's) Tennessee Infantry Regiments, the 1st Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee Infantry Regiment, and Bankhead's Tennessee Battery. At this time, Major General John P. McCown was in command.
In the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, the regiment was again in Stewart's Brigade, which was in Brigadier General Charles Clark's 1st Division, Major General Leonidas Polk's Corps. The brigade was composed of the 13th Arkansas, the 4th, 5th and 33rd Tennessee Infantry Regiments, and Stanford's Mississippi Battery. For its conduct in the battle, the regiment was commended by General Polk.
At the reorganization after Shiloh, Colonel Venable succeeded Travis in command of the regiment, which remained in Stewart's Brigade for the remainder of the war, first under General A. P. Stewart, later under Brigadier General Otho F. Strahl, with some changes in the brigade make-up.
The regiment assisted in the fortification of Corinth, marched to Tupelo, thence by rail to Mobile, and finally to Chattanooga, to go with General Braxton Bragg on the expedition into Kentucky. On this campaign Major General Benjamin F. Cheatham was in command of the division, Stewart of the brigade. At the Battle of Perryville, October 8, 1862, the brigade consisted of the 4th, 5th, 24tb, 31st, and 33rd Tennessee Infantry Regiments and Stanford's Battery. In this battle the 5th suffered 90 casualties.
From Perryville, the regiment retreated via Knoxville and Tullahoma to take up station at Murfreesboro. |
At Murfreesbobo, both the 4th and 5th Tennessee Regiments had become so greatly reduced in numbers that they were consolidated for field purposes to form the 4th/5th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel Otho F. Strabl. From the Fourth Companies "A" and "F" formed Captain Gilchrist's Company; "B" and "K", Captain J. W. Lauderdale's Company; "C" and "H", Captain W. T. Cargil's Company; "D" and "E", Captain Onley's Company; and "G" and "I", Captain John T. Barrett's Company. Colonel Otho Strahl, of the 4th, and later Colonel Jonathan J. Lamb, of the 5th, commanded the consolidated regiment. From the Fifth Companies "A" and 2nd "C" formed Captain W. H. Wilson's Company of 4th/5th Consolidated; 2nd "B" and 2nd "E" formed Captain A. Wayne Caldwell's Company of 4th/5th Consolidated; 2nd "F" and 2nd "H" formed Captain E. Foust's Company of 4th/5th Consolidated; 2nd "G" and 2nd "K" formed Captain J. B. Ward's Company of 4th/5th Consolidated; 2nd "D" and 2nd "I" formed Captain B. F. Peeples' Company of 4th/5th Consolidated. Although the two regiments continued to act as a unit from this time on, separate muster rolls of the regiments, and of the original companies were maintained through April, 1864. In the Battle of Murfreesboro, beginning December 31, 1862, the 4th/5th again formed the right wing of Stewart's Brigade, and played their part in the capture of the Federal pieces captured by the brigade. The 4th/5th Tennessee had 458 men engaged and suffered 76 casualties; at Chickamauga they had 33 casualties; at Missionary Ridge, 63 casualties. On October 23, 1863 the Fifth went on an expedition into East Tennessee arriving at Sweetwater on October 29. However, it returned before the Battle of Missionary Ridge. A report from 2nd Co. "I" shows that it was part of a force which left Dalton, Georgia February 20, 1864, to reenforce General Leonidas Polk in Mississippi, but on reaching Demopolis, Alabama, were ordered back to Dalton, reaching there February 29, 1864. In his sketch of the regiment in Lindsley's Annals, Captain John T. Irion stated that after the termination of the campaign in Tennessee, Captain B. F. Peeples, with twenty five men from the 5th Tennessee, joined General Joseph E. Johnston at Bentonville, North Carolina. These men formed a part of Company "D" of the 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment which was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina, May 1, 1865. On January 3, 1863, it withdrew to Shelbyville, where it did outpost duty at Guy's Gap until June 28, 1863, when the retreat to Chattanooga began. On July 28, 1863, Colonel Strahl was promoted to brigadier general and took command of the brigade, which was henceforth known as Strahl's Brigade. The brigade at this time was composed of the 4th/5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, and 33rd Tennessee Infantry Regiments. In the Battle of Chickamauga, September 19th and 20th, 1863, the brigade was in Cheatham's Division of Polk's Corps. At Missionary Ridge, November 26, 1863, the brigade was in Stewart's Division, Major General John C. Breckinridge's Corps. By this time the 24th Tennessee was no longer in the brigade. The 4th/5th was posted in the rifle pits, in the rear of the 31st and 33rd, who were deployed as skirmishers. Driven back to the summit of the ridge, Strahl's Brigade held the line until both flanks were turned, and it was forced to retreat. The brigade helped cover the retreat to Dalton, Georgia, where it went into winter quarters until May 7, 1864. From then on, the 4th/5th was under fire in 60 of the next 71 days, almost constantly fighting in the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, to Jonesboro, Georgia. Engagements mentioned were at Dug Gap, Mill Creek Gap, Resaca, Ellsbury Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, where they were in the famous "Dead Angle," the seige of Atlanta, and the Battle of Jonesboro. From Jonesboro, the regiment marched back to Tennessee with General John B. Hood. In October, it bad reached the Tennessee River; it was at Spring Hill November 29, and at Franklin November 30. In this battle the regiment planted its colors upon the main Federal works, but at terrible cost. In this charge, the brigade commander, General Strahl, was killed. At Nashville, December 15, 1864, the regiment was in the Granny White Pike area. When the lines were broken it retreated via the Franklin Pike to Brentwood. As part of the brigade, they were in the force under Major General Edward C. Walthall, which co-operated with General Nathan B. Forrest's Cavalry Corps in covering the retreat of the army to the Tennessee River. Once across the river, the army moved to Corinth, Mississippi, where on January 5, 1865, the regiment was furloughed for 30 days with orders to assemble at West Point, Mississippi, and, almost to a man, they did. The regiment reached General Joseph E. Johnston on the field at Bentonville, North Carolina on March 19, 1865. It was placed by him in the old division, in reserve. In the final reorganization of Johnston's army on April 9, 1865, the 4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, 41st Tennessee Infantry Regiments, and a few from the 22nd (Murray's) Tennessee Infantry Battalion formed the 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment. Its field officers were Colonel James D. Tillman, Lieutenant Colonel Luke W. Finlay, and Major G. S. Deakin. The 4th/5th Regiment formed Company "D", under Captain F. Chapman, in the consolidated regiment. As such, they were surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865; paroled May 1, and started on the long journey home, by way of Asheville, North Carolina, Greeneville, Chattanooga and Nashville, thence by boat down the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers, and up the Tennessee River to their homes in West Tennessee. |
