Category Archives: Newton Rifles

The “stillness” at Appomattox

Posted on April 9, 2013 by

The pittance that was the 13th Mississippi Regiment at Appomattox Courthouse played no recorded role in the events surrounding General Lee’s formal surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865. It was the Christian holy day of … Continue reading →

Posted in Captured at Saylor's Creek, H. Grady Howell Jr., Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Jess N. McLean, Mississippi, Muster Rolls, Newton Rifles, The Minute Men of Attala, The Pettus Guards, The Spartan Band | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Captured at Saylor’s Creek

Posted on April 6, 2013 by

One hundred and forty-eight years ago this morning, on a cloudy Thursday, the Army of Northern Virginia fought its last battle. It was little more than a skirmish, actually, though it extinguished Humphreys’ Mississippi Brigade and most of the 13th … Continue reading →

Posted in Captured at Saylor's Creek, Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Newton Rifles, The Alamutcha Infantry, The Kemper Legion, The Secessionists, The Spartan Band | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Desertions reached epidemic proportions

Posted on March 18, 2013 by

S.A. Gerald of Matagorda, Texas, wrote Confederate Veteran magazine after the war: “…for two or three months [in 1865]…I was on detail on the ‘dead line,’ on duty at night, the only object being to catch any who might desert to the Yankees.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Muster Rolls, Newton Rifles, Siege of Petersburg, The Minute Men of Attala, The Pettus Guards, The Secessionists, The Spartan Band, The Winston Guards | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Battles: Cold Harbor

Posted on August 23, 2012 by

On the night of May 31, 1864, the First Corps, including the 13th Mississippi Regiment, marched for Cold Harbor. Plans called for getting onto Grant’s left flank and rolling it up while the rest of Lee’s army attacked Grant’s front. … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles: Cold Harbor, Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Jess N. McLean, Newton Rifles, The Alamutcha Infantry, The Kemper Legion, The Lauderdale Zouaves, The Minute Men of Attala, The Pettus Guards, The Secessionists, The Spartan Band, The Winston Guards, Wayne Rifles | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Poore Boys In Gray

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

Ralph Poore, a onetime Utah newspaperman, is the latest descendent of a 13th Regiment soldier to write a book about his ancestor—two of them, actually, his great uncles the privates Francis Marion Poore and John F. Poore of the Newton … Continue reading →

Posted in Jess N. McLean, Mississippi, Newton Rifles | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The 13th at Old Capitol Prison and Fort Delaware

Posted on July 27, 2011 by

Of the sixteen soldiers of the 13th Mississippi who were captured on Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg on May 3, 1863, fourteen were sent to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington City, according to Jess N. McLean. He lists them as … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles: Fredericksburg, Newton Rifles, The Kemper Legion, The Lauderdale Zouaves, The Minute Men of Attala, The Pettus Guards, The Secessionists, Wayne Rifles | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Four lieutenants demoted

Posted on June 9, 2011 by

Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill said it was snowing at dress parade on the morning of March 12, 1863, when an order from Gen. Lee was read to the regiment. The order said that four 13th lieutenants whom a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fredericksburg, H. Grady Howell Jr., Jess N. McLean, Newton Rifles, The Alamutcha Infantry, The Spartan Band, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Reprise: Clara Barton & the 13th

Posted on May 14, 2011 by

Painting by famed Civil War artist Mort Kunstler of Red Cross-founder Clara Barton on December 15, 1862, at Chatham Plantation near Fredericksburg, VA,  serving a Confederate POW—identified as Captain Thurman Thomas of the 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. Or was he? … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles: Fredericksburg, H. Grady Howell Jr., Jess N. McLean, Newton Rifles | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Colonel Carter’s report

Posted on April 22, 2011 by

On Dec. 28, 1862, Col. John W. Carter, commanding the 13th Regiment at Fredericksburg, wrote the following report to Gen. Barksdale of the regiment’s fight on Dec. 11: GENERAL: In accordance with your order, I marched my regiment, at about … Continue reading →

Posted in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, Battles: Fredericksburg, Newton Rifles, The Kemper Legion, The Secessionists, The Spartan Band | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Among the dead

Posted on January 26, 2011 by

More than forty years after the war, Robert Stiles, the Richmond Howitzers’ memoirist, recalled that the bloody defeat at Malvern Hill in 1862 depressed much of the gray army. “The demoralization was great and the evidences of it palpable everywhere. … Continue reading →

Posted in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, Battles: Malvern Hill, Battles: The Seven Days, Jess N. McLean, Newton Rifles, The Alamutcha Infantry, The Kemper Legion, The Pettus Guards, The Winston Guards, Wayne Rifles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment