Category Archives: The Pettus Guards

A letter home, Jan. 25, 1865

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Dick Stanley

In early 1865, the last winter of the war, the remnant of the 13th regiment was in trenches, defending Richmond, between the New Market and Darbytown roads east of the capital city. These were days of little military activity but much privation … Continue reading →

Posted in The Pettus Guards | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Christmas 1864: A serenade by the band

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Dick Stanley

There wasn’t a good Christmas noted by a 13th Regiment letter writer, diarist or memoirist after 1861 in Leesburg. That was the last one where food was plentiful with all the comforts, even if furloughs had been revoked. Christmas 1862 was … Continue reading →

Posted in Fredericksburg, The Pettus Guards | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The “stillness” at Appomattox

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Dick Stanley

The less-than-one-company-sized 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 … 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 , | 12 Comments

Desertions reached epidemic proportions

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Dick Stanley

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 , | 4 Comments

Defending Richmond

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Dick Stanley

There’s little extant information about the activities of the 13th Regiment and the rest of Kershaw’s division from November 1864 to early April 1865. Historians report no more than that the division was posted on the Nine Mile Road near … Continue reading →

Posted in Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Jess N. McLean, Siege of Petersburg, The Pettus Guards | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Battles: Berryville

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Dick Stanley

History has dismissed the Battle of Berryville, Sept 3-4, 1864, as a minor engagement. But it was major enough for the diminished 13th Regiment and the rest of the Mississippi Brigade. The federals under Gen. Phillip Sheridan were moving south … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles: Berryville, Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Jess N. McLean, Shenandoah Valley, The Pettus Guards | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Reward for the capture of a deserter

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Dick Stanley

According to independent historian Jess McLean, a Mississippi newspaper ran a notice in late June, 1864, that was signed by Captain William F. Brown, company commander of the Pettus Guards. The headline: $30,000 REWARD [presumably Confederate money] and the text: “I … Continue reading →

Posted in Correspondence, Humpreys Mississippi Brigade, Siege of Knoxville, The Pettus Guards | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Battles: Cold Harbor

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Dick Stanley

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