Brief History of the 6th Alabama Cavalry Regiment http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/statewide/civilwar/6thalcav.txt =============================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed and copyrighted by: Michael Flanagan ================================================================================ - This history compiled and edited by: Michael Flanagan P.O. Box 4001 Humble, TX 77347 Primary sources for this were the regimental history written in the early 1900's on file at the Alabama State Archives, and the "Official Records of the War of Rebellion". BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SIXTH ALABAMA CAVALRY REGIMENT: REGIMENT FIELD & STAFF - Colonel C. H. COLVIN of Pike County, AL ... Lt. Col. WASHINGTON T. LARY, who captured at Ten Islands in July 1864 ... Major E.A. McWHORTER, also captured at Ten Islands ... THOMAS REESE, Sergeant Major .... C.H. McCALL, Surgeon ... __ WILLIS, Quartermaster ... J.A. ROBERSON, Adjutant. COMPANY C - SAMUEL C. "Fred" VAUGHAN, Capt. ... THOS. J. WORTHY, 1st Lt. ... JOHN GREEN, 2nd Lt. ... SAMUEL DENNIS, 3rd Lt. ... CHARLES SMITH, First Sgt. ... J.C. COPELAND, 2nd Sgt. ... HOLLIS RILEY, 3rd Sgt. ... A.J. VESSELS, 1st Corporal. The Sixth Alabama Cavalry Regiment was organized near Pine Level in the spring and early summer of 1863 as part of a brigade commanded by Brigadier-General JAMES HOLT CLANTON (1827-1871), a Montgomery attorney and a veteran of the Mexican War in 1848 as a Private. In November 1861, CLANTON had raised and commanded the 1st Alabama Cavalry as a Colonel, a regiment that served with distinction at the bloody Battle of Shiloh (April 1862). In June or July 1862, Colonel CLANTON turned over command of the 1st Alabama Cavalry to Colonel WILLIAM W. ALLEN following a dispute with General BRAXTON BRAGG on whose staff he had briefly served after Shiloh at Farmington. Disputes were a very common occurrence between BRAGG and his subordinate commanders. In January, 1863, Alabama Governor JOHN GILL SHORTER asked that then-Colonel CLANTON, his special aide-de-camp, be allowed to immediately raise a regiment from men in the southeastern counties of Alabama for the defense of that thinly-defended part of the state, which was where much of the desperately-need salt was manufactured. The area had recently been subjected to Federal raids in Coffee County, and was felt to be vulnerable to "hostile incursions from Pensacola", a problem compounded by a great deal of uncertainty as to who was actually in charge of defending that region. Because the targeted counties had become so denuded of manpower during the first two years of the war, the pool from which Clanton had to recruit was so limited that he made many concessions and inducements which resulted in a brigade that, in the words of Department of the Gulf Commander Major-General DABNEY, were comprised primarily of "... men who have entered the army very reluctantly." The problem especially applied to the infantry units, where many of the men were paid substitutes, impressed conscripts, foreigners, men who had previously been exempt from service - in general, men from the "poorer classes" who felt they had very little to fight for. The brigade formed by CLANTON in 1863 included units that were ultimately known as the Sixth and Seventh Alabama Cavalry, the Sixty- First and Fifty-Seventh Alabama Infantry, and two batteries of artillery - one of which was commanded by CLANTON's brother, a Captain. In early 1864, the Eighth Alabama Cavalry was added. The Sixth Cavalry Regiment consisted of eight companies of Alabama men and two companies from Florida. On March 1st, just two weeks prior to his 18th birthday, ANDERSON HARWELL enlisted in Troy (Pike County) in Company C, which was made up mostly of men from Tallapoosa County. We can only guess at Anderson's enthusiasm for service, but he was promoted fairly soon to Sergeant despite his youth. Certainly his parents, now in their mid-50's and with three other sons in the 8th Confederate Cavalry, had deep concerns. Although still under strength, on May 1, 1863, Colonel CLANTON was ordered by the War Department in Richmond to send cavalry and infantry units to Pollard, where it engaged with a column of the enemy that moved out from Pensacola. By July 13th, the Sixth Alabama Cavalry Regiment's strength was 500-600 men, but the exigencies of war delayed complete organization of the full brigade until September. In a letter to the Adjutant & Inspector General in Richmond dated Sept. 19th, General CLANTON reported: "[In August] and until very recently, owing to the disorganized condition of my command, the greater portion of it being detached and at various times ordered to different points to meet anticipated raids and incursions of the enemy both in Mississippi and Alabama, it has been impossible to receive reports from the detached commands of my brigade. My command, with the exception of the [Sixth] Alabama Regiment Cavalry (detached and at the front on outpost duty), is now concentrated at Pollard, Ala., and all embarrassments being now removed, I hope in a few days to be able to forward complete rolls showing the organization of my brigade." In early December 1863, the dubious quality of the recruits in the brigade's infantry regiments came back to haunt CLANTON, and permanently changed the mission of all regiments in the brigade. 60 of 300 men - nearly all from the two infantry regiments - laid down their arms while on picket duty near Gonzales (about 15 miles from Pensacola), and refused to fight as part of an orchestrated plan by the 'Peace Society', a secret organization with special identifying handshakes and signals. The so-called 'Peace Men' had earlier roots among officers and enlisted men in units of BRAGG's Army of Tennessee, especially in East Tennessee. CLANTON addressed the problem swiftly and decisively. The military courts that tried the mutineers completely vindicated CLANTON, and the cavalry regiments do not appear to have been involved. However, the reputation of the entire brigade among senior C.S.A. officers was permanently stained, and all regiments remained suspect as to their reliability despite their subsequent peformance on the battlefield. The regimental elements of the brigade seldom fought together as a unified command - they were quickly dispersed to 'temporary' assignments in other commands away from the home territory that had been their original mission and reason for existence. In February 1864, CLANTON and his brigade were ordered to North Alabama, with headquarters in Gadsden (Etowah County), on the east bank of the Coosa River. Their mission was to protect the coal and iron sections as well as the public works at Selma, and to organize and complete the Eighth Alabama Cavalry. The Sixth Cavalry, which was then at Meridian, MS, was ordered to join CLANTON in Gadsden, where it was subsequently involved - with few losses - in several skirmishes with elements of the 15th and 16th U.S. Army Corps near Decatur, Danville and the Paint Rock River. In the savage fighting of the Atlanta-Dalton campaign in May-June 1864, the regiment lost quite a number of men during the several weeks that they were attached as part of FERGUSON's and ARMSTRONG's brigades. CLANTON was detached from his command at the time and was assigned to the staff of General LEONIDAS POLK, who had been sent to reinforce General JOHNSTON during the fighting at Resaca, Adairsville and Cassville north of Atlanta. CLANTON reportedly received the thanks of the General and his staff for his services. POLK, who was the Episcopal bishop of Louisiana before the war, was killed on June 14th. By June 30th the regiment was returned to CLANTON's command. In mid-July, a portion of the Sixth and Eighth Alabama Cavalry regiments resisted ROUSSEAU in Alabama at Ten Islands, on the Coosa River, losing a number killed and captured. The demise of CLANTON's forces came when the Confederates overlooked the need to destroy the ferries and flat boats upstream near Greensport, which allowed a portion of the 8th Indiana Cavalry, commanded by Major HARRISON, to cross the river unnoticed while CLANTON, from a strong defensive position on the east bank of the Coosa, opposed the main Federal force at the ford - the same ford used in 1813 by General Andrew Jackson in his famous campaign against the Creek Indians. On the morning of July 14th, Major HARRISON attacked CLANTON from the rear and flank, completely taking the Confederates by surprise. Federal estimates put Confederate casualties at 15 killed, 40 wounded and 8 taken prisoner, which was more than 30% of CLANTON's total 200-man force that opposed the enemy's 2,300 in the engagement. Included in the Confederate losses was most of CLANTON's staff - Captains ROBERT ABERCROMBIE of Florida (acting Adjutant) and MOORE, and Lieutenant THOMAS JUDKINS of Montgomery, were all killed in action. Lt.Col. W. T. LARY and Major McWHORTER of the Sixth Cavalry were captured, and Capt. BAT. SMITH of Dallas County and Lt. HYER of Florida were wounded. By January 1865, the inevitable outcome of the war was very clear to everyone. As the war wound down, CLANTON relieved General ALPH. BAKER at Pollard, and beat back a raid of the enemy soon after. Transferred by mid-February to West Florida in the vicinity of Canoe Station, the 700-man Sixth Alabama Cavalry fought STEELE's column in a running battle at Bluff Spring on March 25, 1865. Its loss was severe, suffering heavy casualties at Cotton Creek and the Big Escambia bridge near Pensacola, where Sergeant ANDERSON HARWELL and 128 others, including 18 officers, were taken prisoner. General CLANTON himself was seriously wounded and captured in that battle, and on March 27th was even pronounced to be about to die by U.S. Army officers - he didn't. This was the last major engagement for the Sixth Alabama Cavalry. The remnant of less than 200 men sporadically fought General WILSON's column, and laid down their arms at Gainesville with the surrender of the rest of the Department of Alabama, Mssissippi & East Louisiana. Three weeks after General LEE's surrender in Virginia, ANDERSON HARWELL was paroled from the prison camp at Vicksburg, where he had been sent following initial processing at Ship Island off the coast of Biloxi. BATTLE REPORTS OF THE SIXTH ALABAMA'S LAST MAJOR ENGAGEMENT: STATEMENT OF: Pvt. J. G. CHILDS, Company B, 6th Alabama Cavalry, 2/25/1865. CHILDS was one of 3 Confederate deserters captured at Canoe Station. {Anderson Harwell was then a Sergeant in Co. C of the same regiment}. "The Colonel commanding regiment at Carson Station sent an order to officer commanding picket post at BUDD WILLIAMS' house to send three men out as scouts to approach as near the enemy's line as it would be safe, and to see if there would be an advance soon." "At Mobile they have not enough men to defend the place against an attack. I do not know exactly what force they have at Mobile, but am sure that the Fifteenth Confederate Cavalry and the Eighteenth Alabama Infantry are there. It is the general impression that the Confederates will leave Mobile as soon as attacked and withdraw toward Montgomery, destroying the railroad from Tensas Landing to Pollard." "I know nothing about the force at Blakely or Greenwood, but heard that ARMISTEAD's brigade was at the latter place. At Canoe Station is the Sixth Alabama Cavalry, about 700 strong, Colonel C. H. COLVIN commanding; the Eighth Alabama Cavalry, about 600 strong, Colonel LIVINGSTON commanding, and two companies of a Mississippi cavalry regiment." "There are three companies of militia near the Little Escambia bridge, and, I think, between 300 and 400 infantry at the Big Escambia bridge. They have fears that a raiding party of about 15,000 men will leave Barrancas as soon as the roads will permit. The majority of HOOD's army was sent to South Carolina, but many deserted at the railroad stations between Pollard and Montgomery; and at Montgomery a whole brigade of CHEATHAM's division (Alabama men) left the train en masse and went to their homes, determined not to return. " "The Mobile papers of the 22nd give the news of the evacuation of Charleston and Columbia by the Confederates and occupation by the Federal forces, and also that SHERMAN is advancing in the direction of Richmond. REPORT OF: Lt.Col. ALGERNON S. BADGER, 1st Louisiana (U.S.) Cavalry Report of Operations March 25, 1865 near Escambia River, Fla "My advance, Capt. FREEMAN's company B, came upon the vedettes {sentry outposts} of the enemy near Cotton Creek. Four of these men were captured. From them the information was elicited that Clanton's rebel brigade, consisting of the Sixth and Eighth Alabama Cavalry, was in the vicinity. At Cotton Creek the enemy, about 100 strong, was posted behind a breastwork, disputed the crossing." "I caused three companies of my command to dismount and advance over the creek. The enemy immediately retired. I pushed forward to Mitchell's Creek. The enemy had fired the bridge and otherwise obstructed the crossing, but contrary to my expectations made a feeble resistance at this point. The fire was speedily extinguished and the bridge repaired." "I received instructions from General LUCAS {Brig.Gen. THOMAS J. LUCAS, the brigade commander} to advance with my regiment and a battalion of the Second New York Cavalry under Major VAN VOAST, as rapidly as possible, and engage the enemy, if I deemed it expedient. " "About 11:00 a.m. my advance, under Captain FREEMAN, came upon the enemy strongly posted on the north bank of Canoe Creek. The force consisted of Clanton's brigade, about 600 strong dismounted and formed in line of battle, commanded by General CLANTON in person." "Major IVES, with Lieutenant RUSSELL's company A, proceeded to the right flank. I ordered Captain FREEMAN to charge across the creek and up the opposite bank, and followed with the remainder of my command. It took a few minutes' time to close up and form the First Louisiana Cavalry in order to charge." "At this time the enemy's fire was very heavy. Without waiting for the battalion of the Second New York Cavalry to cross, I ordered the First Louisiana to charge. Major IVES at this moment appeared on the right. The regiment swept down upon the enemy, breaking their line instantly." "The charge continued about four miles, prisoners being secured all the time. The pursuit continued seven miles, to the Escambia River, where the bridges having been destroyed by the retreating rebels prevented further pursuit." "The victory was complete. The enemy was demoralized to such a degree that arms, clothing, and in fact everything that impeded their flight was thrown away, and scattered along the road and through the woods. The following are some of the results of the affair: Brigadier-General CLANTON, commanding, severely wounded and a prisoner; 18 commissioned officers and 111 enlisted men prisoners {Sgt. ANDERSON HARWELL, who had turned 20 just 11 days earlier, was among them}." The casualties in my command were 1 officer killed, 1 wounded, 2 enlisted men killed, 2 wounded. The number of the enemy's killed and wounded I am unable to furnish.". EXCERPTS FROM REPORT OF: Maj.Gen. FREDERICK STEELE, U.S. Army, 4/12/1865, Commanding forces operating from Pensacola Bay, Fla. "On the 20th of March, the column at Pensacola moved on the road toward Pollard. The head of the column reached a point eleven miles and the rear only four miles from Pensacola that day, a heavy rain having set in which rendered the roads almost impassable ... it became necessary to corduroy the roads. The streams were higher than they had been for many years ...". "On the 25th, LUCAS' cavalry brigade, in advance, drove the enemy from a line of log defenses stretching across a narrow ridge over which the road passed. This work commanded the road and crossing over Cotton Creek. General LUCAS was directed to push on until he should get possession of the bridge over the Big Escambia, and to pursue the enemy so closely that he could not destroy the bridge." "At Mitchell's Creek the enemy partially destroyed the bridge and made a stand on the opposite bank, but was driven from his position. At Bluff Springs the enemy, under command of Brig. Gen. JAMES H. CLANTON, drew up in order of battle, skirmish line dismounted." "General LUCAS immediately charged, completely routing the enemy, killing and wounding some, and capturing 119 prisoners. Among the latter were 18 commissioned officers, including the General commanding, who was severely wounded. Of those who escaped capture, some sought refuge in the swamps and the rest were so hotly pursued to Big Escambia bridge that some of them, not knowing that a span had been swept away by the flood, jumped into the river and were drowned with their horses."