​Deciding I need to write my 2nd Mississippi Regimental History like you would when you start to "eat an elephant...one bite at a time," I am pleased to announce my self-published FREE PDF e-book entitled "The Second Mississippi Infantry Regiment: An Introduction to the Full Annotated Roster." It has some 450 pages and includes information on all the 1,888 members of the 2nd Mississippi (of which I am aware at any rate) as well as some additional statistical introductory material. I hope this to be the first in several volumes on the history of this hard-fighting regiment. (Just click on the book cover to open and download the PDF).

In what would be his final flanking maneuver, Grant brilliantly shifted his army south of the James River and moved on Petersburg.  This move caught Lee by surprise and he reacted with caution.  He maintained Hill’s Third Corps north of the James until June 18th.  By that point in time, he was finally convinced that Petersburg was truly Grant’s objective.  During the next six weeks, the 2nd Mississippi, as a part of Davis’ Brigade, crossed the James River five times in response to Federal threats, but did not engage in battle.[1]

Davis’ Brigade was being held in reserve in Petersburg on August 18th, when the Federal V Corps seized the tracks of the Weldon Railroad at Globe Tavern.  Heth moved at noon with Davis’ and Henry Walker’s Brigades to throw back the Federal incursion.  The brigade had, however, detached about a third of its strength to continue working on Confederate entrenchments.[2]

The Confederates covered the three miles in the intense summer heat and deployed in line of battle on both sides of the railroad.  Davis was to the right, or west side, of the tracks.  The Confederates, facing south, could only see Union skirmishers stretched across a cornfield.  Logic told them that a line of blue infantry awaited them in the woods beyond, but they had no idea that their two under-strength brigades were about to assault an entire Union corps.[3]

Screaming their Rebel yell, the gray line moved to the charge.  Although the Federal brigade of Brigadier General Joseph Hays was deployed and ready about 30 yards into the woods, Davis’ Brigade overlapped both flanks of the Federal line and sent them reeling back in disorder.  Regrouping, the regiments of the brigade continued their advance and ran into a second Yankee defensive line some 40 yards beyond the first.  The Federal brigade of Colonel Nathan Dushane loosed a deadly volley into the gray lines and forced them back about 50 yards.  The Union advantage was only temporary however, as the Confederates also managed to flank his position and soon put Dushane’s men to disordered flight.  The Federal V Corps commander, Major General Gouvernor Warren, reacted quickly to these initial Southern successes.  He rapidly assembled a strong defensive line backed by a heavy concentration of artillery in a clearing on the other side of the woods.  When Davis’ men emerged from the woods, they suddenly found themselves facing triple their strength of infantry “stiffened” by several artillery batteries.  By 2:30 p.m., the Confederate offensive had played out and the men constructed a line of entrenchments to defend their gains while awaiting reinforcements.[4]

The next day, August 19th, both sides fed more men into the battle around Globe Tavern.  Thinking the Federals had weakened their lines to concentrate their main effort in fighting to the east, the 2nd Mississippi and other regiments of Davis’ Brigade were ordered to assault the lines to their front.  They carried out the order, but found the Federal entrenchments just as strongly manned as the previous day.  The attack was beaten back and the Confederates returned to their own lines.  The remainder of the day passed without major activity in Davis’ sector.  The following day, Davis’ Brigade was relieved by reinforcements.  However, by this time the Federal troops had a firm grip on the railroad and could not be driven off.  Thus, Lee lost another vital artery into the Richmond-Petersburg stronghold.  Grant had paid a high price for the Weldon line, but was slowly tightening his grip on Lee’s army.[5] The 2nd Mississippi suffered 28 casualties during the two-day fight.

As might be expected, the morale of Lee’s army was deteriorating rapidly with extended duty in the Petersburg trenches.  However during an August inspection of the brigade, the Inspector General found “…the arms and accouterments in very bad condition in all the regiments except the Second, Col. J. M. Stone, and Eleventh, Maj. R. O. Reynolds.  In the Second they were good; in the Eleventh very good, clean inside and bright outside…”[6]  Thus the fighting spirit of the two veteran Mississippi regiments in Davis’ Brigade remained unbroken (although receiving praise, the 2nd never seemed able to outshine its sister regiment in the eyes of the Inspector General’s office).

As a part of Grant’s Fifth Offensive late in September 1864, his army attacked both Confederate flanks along the Petersburg-Richmond line.  On the Federal left, the V and IX Corps tested the gray defenses.  Heth’s Division, positioned in reserve near the center of the Petersburg defenses, rushed to counterattack the Federal incursion.  Heth was able to blunt the Union assault on September 29th before Davis arrived to help.  On the following day, Heth planned an attack against what he believed was a Federal V Corps’ flank that was “in the air.”  As the situation developed however, the general quickly discovered that he had been mistaken.[7]

In a punishing rainstorm, the division deployed on either side of Squirrel Level Road, facing south.  Instead of a coordinated attack, Heth fed his units into action piecemeal against Warren’s Federals.  In contrast to the open flank he expected to find, Heth discovered to his dismay that the Union line had been bent back on the right so that it now faced north, squarely across the path of the attacking Confederates.  The strongly entrenched Federals sent the Confederates streaming back in utter disorder.[8]

The Petersburg front remained fairly stable until October 27th, when the 2nd Mississippi fought its last battle of 1864.  Hancock’s and Warren’s corps, under orders from Grant, moved to circle the left of the Confederate line and interdict the Boydton Plank Road.  In a repeat of previous such moves, elements of A. P. Hill’s Third Corps intercepted the Federals at Burgess’ Mill and drove them back.[9]

For the next five months, the 2nd Mississippi settled into the “routine” of trench warfare.  Many aspects of their life in the trenches would become familiar to their grandchildren in France more than fifty years later.  Few casualties were suffered, but constant diligence was required because enemy sharpshooters and artillery shells, especially the high-trajectory mortars, were an ever-present threat.

By early 1865, the 2nd Mississippi was reported to be under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Blair, who had been promoted and exchanged following his capture in the Railroad Cut at Gettysburg. Colonel Stone was dispatched with a detail of several men on January 8, 1865 to return to Mississippi.  He was to recruit and try and round up absentees in an attempt to rebuild the brigade’s depleted numbers.  Several companies of the regiment were consolidated at this time because they had been so severely reduced.  The 2nd Mississippi probably mustered fewer than 150 effectives at this point in time.  With Colonel Stone's departure, Lieutenant Colonel Blair became the last acting commander of the 2nd Mississippi.[10]

On March 25, 1865, Lee decided to gamble on an attack against Fort Stedman to try and break Grant’s stranglehold on Petersburg.  Major General John B. Gordon was to lead the attack.  As a diversion, elements of Davis’ Brigade demonstrated against the Federals at Hawks’ Farm.  Gordon captured the fort, but could not hold it against the overwhelming Federal counterattacks.

Less than a week later, Grant’s army launched an all-out series of attacks that were intended to break Lee’s thin lines at Petersburg and finally end the siege.  On April 1st, Federal cavalry and infantry moved well around the Confederate right flank and launched an attack on Pickett’s section of the line at Five Forks.  The gray line crumbled, and Grant secured a hold on the Southside Railroad.  Richmond was now untenable.

The following day, the Federal army initiated attacks all along Lee’s Petersburg lines, penetrating in many areas and causing the Southern defenses to disintegrate.  In the area where Heth’s Division was positioned, east and northeast of Burgess’ Mill, the Union VI and II Corps pushed through the gray defenders and began to roll up the line from their right to left, driving west.  The 2nd Mississippi was in position near the southern end of the line at Hatcher’s Run, which was swollen from recent rains and impassable to infantry.  When the Federals broke through to the regiment’s left, the 2nd Mississippi was trapped with Federal troops converging on three sides and the raging stream to their rear.  Pressed back to the bank of Hatcher’s Run, most of the regiment would be taken prisoner, but a few desperate individuals may have made it across the rushing water to freedom only to be surrendered a week later at Appomattox Court House.[11]

For the one hundred [12] proud veterans of the 2nd Mississippi trapped on the east bank of Hatcher’s Run, captivity was only minutes away.  The men had one final task to accomplish on behalf of their regiment, however.  They were determined that the colors of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry Volunteers would never again become a Yankee trophy.  Private Nathaniel M. Bynum tore the flag from its staff and hid it inside his jacket.  He would keep it securely hidden while a prisoner of war until paroled and released from Ft. Delaware.[13]

And so, as the last ragged Rebel soldier was led away from the rushing waters of Hatcher’s Run and into captivity, the 2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, one of the hardest fighting units in the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia, passed into Civil War history. 


[1] O.R., 40, pt. 2, pp. 662-663.

[2] O.R., 42, pt. 1, pp. 428-429.

[3] Ibid., p. 455.

[4] Ibid., pp. 474, 480-481.

[5] Ibid., p. 504.

[6] O.R., 42, pt. 2, p. 1273.

[7] Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, vol. 3 (New York, 1974), p. 561.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid., p. 573-574.

[10] Sibley, The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1, pp. 174, 184, 193, 212.  Stone never made it back to his regiment.  He was with a group of several hundred men on their way back to their units at Petersburg, when Stoneman’s cavalry raided Salisbury, NC in mid-April 1865.  Stone, combative to the end, agreed to help lead a defense of the town with these men and the local defense troops.  However, outnumbered and outflanked by Stoneman’s rapidly moving forces, most of the defenders were taken prisoner.  Stone was sent to Johnson’s Island where he was paroled on June 25, 1865.  He was elected Mayor of Iuka later that same year.

[11] Jubal A. Early and others, eds.  Southern Historical Society Papers, vol. 15 (Richmond). pp. 284-285. CMSR.  In addition to the 99 members of the regiment captured at Hatcher’s Run on April 2, 1865, one officer – the surgeon, James J. Holt, the Quartermaster Sergeant, J. M. Cayce, and 18 privates were listed on the April 9, 1865 Appomattox parole rosters for the 2nd Mississippi.  Most of these men were probably on detailed or detached status from the regiment at the time.  Few, if any, from the group captured at Hatcher’s Run escaped.

[12] CMSR.

[13] Letter, Bynum to Rowland, August 1, 1916, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Acc. No. 68.42.  In 1916, George Washington Bynum of Corinth, Mississippi, who, along with N. M. and four other brothers, were members of Company A, sent the tattered battleflag to the Mississippi State archives in Jackson.  He wrote the following letter to the archives director, Dunbar Rowland:
 
You have one flag of the 2d Miss. in your keeping which was captured in the famous railroad cut at Gettysburg July 1, 1863 and returned by the Government some years since; this one I send you was supplied by the QuarterMaster’s Department on July 2 [1863], and was courageously borne through shot and shell to the ramparts of Little Round Gap, Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 and on the retirement of Gen. Lee from Pennsylvania through all the bloody battles of Virginia until the Surrender of the Regiment April 2, 1865 at Hatcher’s Run, where my brother, N. M. Bynum tore it from the flag staff, concealed it beneath his little gray jacket and carried it through prison at Ft. Delaware.  W. H. Byrus [he actually means W. H. Byrn], the color bearer, brought it home from prison.

Unfortunately for Lee, Grant’s reverses in the Wilderness fighting did not result in a Federal withdrawal back North to refit and regroup as had been the case with other Union commanders.  Instead Grant once more attempted to pass the Army of the Potomac around Lee’s right flank.  Lee again countered by shifting his forces to Spotsylvania Court House and beat Grant to his objective.  The new Confederate line rested its left on the Po River near the Block House Bridge and faced northwest, while the right flank curved around to the south beyond the Fredericksburg Road and faced generally east.  The 2nd Mississippi occupied a position with Heth’s Division in reserve behind the far-right flank.[1]

Grant, on the morning of May 10th, sent Hancock’s II Corps across the Po River in an attempt to turn the Confederate left flank.  This venture would appear to have offered little chance for success however, for the Po turned south beyond the Confederate flank and would have to be crossed a second time by the Federals in order to reach the Confederate rear.  When Hancock found that the closest bridge across the Po that led to the rear of the Southern lines was well guarded, he dispersed his troops in search of another crossing place.[2]

Lee dispatched Major General Jubal Early, temporarily commanding the Third Corps, to engage the Federals probing his left flank.  Early put together a combined arms task force consisting of Heth’s Division reinforced by additional cavalry and artillery.  From the right of the Confederate line they marched entirely across the rear of the Army of Northern Virginia and crossed the Po River well south of the area recently occupied by the Federal II Corps.  Heth deployed his division in a line facing north with Davis’ Brigade on the left.[3]

Although Grant had ordered Hancock to bring his men back across the Po, Brigadier General Francis C. Barlow’s Division was still south of the river at 2:00 p.m. when it was struck by Early’s troops.  The 2nd Mississippi supported several assaults against Barlow in the area of Talley’s Mill.  These attacks were unsuccessful until the Confederates were able to infiltrate troops around the Federal flank and rear.  The Federals then fell back across the river with the Confederates in pursuit.  The action came to a halt when the Southerners came within artillery range of the Union guns across the river.[4]

Mission accomplished, Early returned to the right end of the Confederate line on the afternoon of May 10th.  On May 12th, the day of the Federal assault on the “Bloody Angle,” Davis’ and Walker’s Brigades of Heth’s Division were unsuccessfully attacked by the Federals, probably by Major General Thomas L. Crittenden’s division of Burnside’s IX Corps.[5]

With Grant’s army continually trying to move around the Confederate right, the next fighting occurred along the North Anna River from May 23rd to May 26th.  Davis’ Brigade, near the left end of the Confederate line, saw little action at this time.  Another move by Grant around the Confederate right brought the two armies to a new set of lines that overlapped those of the old Gaines’ Mill battlefield of 1862.  Here Grant foolishly ordered a series of assaults that were bloodily repulsed by Lee’s entrenched Confederates at Cold Harbor on June 3rd.  Again, the 2nd Mississippi, stationed with Heth’s Division at the far left of the Confederate lines near Bethesda Church, was not involved in the heaviest fighting although it did suffer some additional losses.  For the combined losses of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, the 2nd Mississippi reported 24 killed and 107 wounded.  Its strength at the beginning of The Wilderness is unknown, but based on statistical estimates using a portion of the bimonthly muster roll data, the regiment probably had about 280 effectives in its ranks.[6]



[1] O.R., 36, pt. 1, pp. 63-64; William D. Matter, If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (Chapel Hill, 1988), p. 129, 132-133; Supplement, 6, pt. 1. p. 706.

[2] O.R., 36, pt. 1, p. 65; Matter, Spotsylvania, pp. 131-135.

[3] O.R., 36, pt. 1, p. 1029; Matter, Spotsylvania, p. 134.  Gordon C. Rhea, The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864 (Baton Rouge, 1997), p. 136.  The exact disposition and composition of Early’s command on May 10th is unknown.  It is assumed that Davis is again in personal command of his brigade since he reported back for duty on May 6th and took command of elements of his brigade that had become separated from Colonel Stone at that time.

[4] O.R., 36, pt. 1, pp. 191, 357; Matter, Spotsylvania, pp. 141-148; Rhea, Spotsylvania Court House, p. 140.

[5] Supplement, 6, pt. 1, p. 707; Matter, Spotsylvania, pp. 235-237; Rhea, Spotsylvania Court House, p. 299.

[6] Supplement, 6, pt. 1, p. 708.  CMSR.

​Bynum, George W.
Company: A
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: 2nd Sergeant
Joined: Wednesday, May 1, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Student
Age: 21
Enrolled at: Tishomingo Co., MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Leeth
Promoted: Yes
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Single
Residence Rienzi, MS
Service Summary: Also see Ham's Regiment of Mississippi Cavalry and the 11th Consolidated Mississippi Cavalry. Promoted to 4th Corporal on 4/22/1862. Apparently captured near Shepherdstown, VA and paroled on 9/25/1862. Promoted to 3rd Corporal on 10/16/1862. Promoted to 2nd Sergeant on 7/1/1863. Listed as AWOL since 2/1/1864 and deserted. Appointed Adjutant in Harris' Battalion of Cavalry (Miss State Troops) while on furlough without a regular transfer or discharge from his company.

​
Bynum, Joseph N. 
Company: A 
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Saturday, September 21, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Student
Age: 19
Enrolled at: Rienzi, MS
Enrolled By: Lt. Davenport
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Single
Residence Rienzi, MS
Service Summary: Wounded on 6/27/1862 at battle of Gaines Mill. Discharged on 4/3/1863 on surgeons certificate of disability due to wounds received at Gaines Mill.

Bynum, Marcus W.
Company: A
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Monday, September 30, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Physician
Age: 25
Enrolled at: Iuka, MS
Enrolled By: Lt. Davenport
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Married
Residence: Rienzi, MS
Service Summary: Discharged on 7/17/1862 -- substitute provided.

Bynum, Nathaniel M.
Company: A
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Saturday, March 1, 1862
Term (yrs): 3
Occupation: Student
Age: 17
Enrolled at: Jacinto, MS
Enrolled By: Lt. Clayton
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Single
Residence: Rienzi, MS
Service Summary: Captured at Petersburg (Hatcher's Run) on 4/2/1865. Released from Fort Delaware on oath on 6/11/1865.

Bynum, Turner
Company: A
Initial Rank: 1st Corporal
Final Rank: First Sergeant
Joined: Wednesday, May 1, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Clerk
Age: 19
Enrolled at: Tishomingo Co., MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Leeth
Promoted: Yes
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Single
Residence: Rienzi, MS
Service Summary: Promoted to 5th Sergeant circa Nov/Dec, 1861. Promoted to 3rd Sergeant about Mar/Apr, 1862. Promoted to 2nd Sergeant about May/Jun, 1862. Wounded at Gaines Mill on 6/27/1862. Promoted to 1st Sergeant in Sep/Oct, 1864 time period (while a POW). Captured at Gettysburg on 7/3/1863. Taken to Fort Delaware. Released on oath on 6/11/1865.

Bynum, William L. D.
Company: A
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Saturday, September 21, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Farmer
Age: 27
Enrolled at: Rienzi, MS
Enrolled By: Lt. Davenport
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Married
Residence Rienzi, MS
Service Summary: Note on CMSR jacket says to also see 7th Miss Cavalry Regiment (Partisan Rangers). Wounded on 6/27/1862 at battle of Gaines Mill. Transferred to 7th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment (elected 2nd Lt.) on 11/5/1862.

I will be using some of my upcoming posts to include a photo and a short bio of a member of the regiment. I don't have many, especially wartime photos of members in uniform, but I have collected a few over the years. Who knows, one of the folks may just be a distant relative of one of my blog visitors. This is a photo of Daniel Dodd, Company G (Pontotoc Minute Men) of Pontotoc County:

Private Dodd enlisted on Monday, May 1, 1861 from Pontotoc County. He was enrolled by Captain Miller. He was 21 years of age, single, a farmer by occupation. He was killed in battle at 2nd Manassas on August 29, 1862.

Oh, I should add his physical description from his Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) also. He was six feet tall, dark complexion, hazel eyes, and dark hair.

​I always found something haunting about his photo. A young life, so full of potential, snuffed out, like so many others during our Civil War.

Allen, John H.
Company: B
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Saturday, March 1, 1862
Term (yrs): 3
Occupation: Carpenter
Age 28
Enrolled at: Ripley, MS Enrolled By: Capt. Buchanan
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: North Carolina
Marital Status: Married
Residence: ?
Service Summary: Shot himself in hand on 6/6/1862. Discharged on 7/28/1862 due to gunshot wound to hand resulting in amputation of left arm.

Byrn, William H.
Company: B
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Wednesday, April 15, 1863
Term (yrs): 3
Occupation: ?
Age: ?
Enrolled at: Ripley, MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Storey
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: Yes
Born: ?
Marital Status: ?
Residence: ?
Service Summary: Captured at Petersburg (Hatcher's Run) on 4/2/1865. Sent to Fort Delaware. Released on oath on 6/11/1865.

Gray, Isaac N.
Company: B
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Wednesday, May 1, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Farmer
Age 23
Enrolled at: Tippah Co., MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Buchanan
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: ?
Marital Status: ?
Residence: ?
Service Summary: Wounded on 8/28/1864. In hospital at Richmond. Furloughed 40-days from 9/23/1864.

​Holcombe, George P.
Company: B
Initial Rank: Private
​Final Rank: Private
Joined: Monday, March 3, 1862
Term (yrs): 3
Occupation: Student
Age 16
Enrolled at: Ripley, MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Buchanan
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: Mississippi
Marital Status: S
Residence: ?
Service Summary: Wounded at 2nd Manassas on 8/29/1862. Sent to hospital. Returned to duty. Wounded at Gettysburg (date not given) and furloughed for 40-days from 7/22/1863. Captured in Tippah Co., MS by the 7th Kansas Cavalry while on wounded furlough on 9/9/1863. Sent to Alton, IL on 10/3/1863. Transferred to Fort Delaware on 2/29/1864. Exchanged on 12/5/1864. Still on disabled list as of 3/14/1865 at Lauderdale, MS.

​​Wolf, Alexander D.
Company: B
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Private
Joined: Wednesday, May 1, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Farmer
Age 33
Enrolled at: Tippah Co., MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Buchanan
Promoted: No
Roll of Honor: No
Born: ?
Marital Status: ?
Residence: ?
Service Summary: Wounded (in face) in battle at 1st Manassas on 7/21/1861. Returned to duty on 8/9/1861. Discharged due to disability on 12/4/1862.

Byrn, Lucas H.
Company: B
Initial Rank: Private
Final Rank: Sergeant
Joined: Wednesday, May 1, 1861
Term (yrs): 1
Occupation: Clerk
Age 23
Enrolled at: Tippah Co., MS
Enrolled By: Capt. Buchanan
Promoted: Yes
Roll of Honor: No
Born: ?
Marital Status: ?
​Residence: Ripley, MS
Service Summary: Acting Sergeant Major from 9/29/1862. Detail duty as acting Assistant Quartermaster since 12/21/1862. Detailed as ambulance sergeant since 4/25/1864 by medical examining board. AWOL since 2/15/1865. Paroled at Memphis, TN on 5/25/1865.

Unfortunately, this beautiful piece of art is in a private collection. But I did manage to obtain photographs of this unusual carved ornamental powder horn that belonged to Private James C. Knight, Company I, Cherry Creek Rifles (Pontotoc County), 2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment.

​Photos by Robert H.C. Alton, as seen in Stratagem 1861, Early Civil War Tactics and the Battle for the Potomac.

​Private James C. Knight was 20 years old when he enlisted on Wednesday, May 1, 1861. He was enrolled in Pontotoc County by Captain Herring in Company I, Cherry Creek Rifles. His occupation was listed as "farmer." He was wounded at Sharpsburg on 9/17/1862. Furloughed. Returned to duty. Captured at Gettysburg on 7/3/1863. Died at Fort Delaware on 4/17/1865 of pneumonia. Locality of grave: "Jersey Shore."

Spring of 1864 brought with it renewed campaigning.  On May 2nd, Confederate lookouts near their camps in Virginia south of the Rapidan River detected signs of unusual activity in the Union camps across the river.  Major General Ulysses S. Grant had come east with the title of Commander of the Armies of the United States and had been promoted to Lieutenant General.  Although he would retain Meade as the nominal commander of the Army of the Potomac, for the remainder of the war it would be Grant who actually directed the army’s military operations.  On May 4th, Grant put the Army of the Potomac in motion and crossed the Rapidan heading south.  He hoped to be able to pass around Lee’s right quickly enough to avoid combat in The Wilderness, and into more open ground, more favorable to his advantages in numbers and firepower.  Lee however, wanted to pin Grant down in the thick second-growth forests and thickets where the Federal numerical and artillery advantages would be at least partially neutralized.[1]

Heth’s Division was in the Third Corps’ vanguard on May 5, 1864 as it marched northeast on the Orange Plank Road to intercept the Army of the Potomac.  The corps’ commander, A. P. Hill, was ill and within days would have to temporarily turn over his command to Major General Jubal Early.  Joseph Davis, the brigade commander, was also on the sick list and was replaced by his very capable senior colonel, John M. Stone of the 2nd Mississippi.  Colonel Stone’s capacity for higher command was very soon to be put to the test.[2]

Heth’s Division reached the vicinity of the intersection of the Plank and Brock roads in the early afternoon and found it occupied by units of John Sedgwick’s VI and Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps from the Army of the Potomac.  The division fanned out on both sides of the Plank Road, Colonel Stone’s [Davis’] Brigade to the left, Brigadier General John Cooke’s North Carolina brigade in the center astride the road itself, and Brigadier General Henry Walker’s Virginia brigade to the right.  Brigadier General William Kirkland’s brigade of North Carolina troops was held in reserve.  The Confederates prepared hasty breastworks and prepared to receive the anticipated attack.  Stone’s sector covered a frontage of about five hundred feet on the left of the division line, about nine hundred feet north of the Plank Road along the ridge bordering Wilderness Run.  Accounts indicate the initial deployment was with the 26th Mississippi on the extreme left, with the 42nd Mississippi to its right.  The 55th North Carolina was to the right center of the brigade and the 2nd Mississippi, 11th Mississippi, and 1st Confederate Battalion filled in the area to the left and right of the 55th North Carolina.  With Colonel Stone now acting brigade commander, the 2nd Mississippi was placed under the temporary command of Captain Thomas J. Crawford of Company G.[3]

Successive Federal assault waves hit Heth’s line as Hancock sent his forces in piecemeal.  After two hours of assaults, all of which had been bloodily repulsed, the Union attack crested at about 5:00 p.m.  By this point in time, Hancock had finally succeeded in massing his infantry for an effective blow and drove the Confederates back a quarter mile.  After another hour of fighting, having withstood seven separate assaults and with no help forthcoming, Stone was about to order what would have almost certainly been a suicidal counter-charge to try and stabilize his front.  Finally, about 6:30 p.m. Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas’ Georgia brigade of Wilcox’s Division arrived to relieve Stone’s men who were in the process of preparing to sacrifice themselves to hold the position until nightfall.  A counterattack would no longer be necessary.  Stone pulled his battered brigade back to regroup in the deepening shadows. After dark, Colonel Stone was ordered to move south of the Plank Road to the right of the Confederate line near Popular Run and about a mile below the Plank Road.  Like other regiments in the brigade, the 2nd Mississippi suffered severely in killed and wounded during the first days’ fighting.[4]

Hancock’s II Corps attacked again at dawn on May 6th.  The attack swept down on the flank of Wilcox’s Division and routed it.  Heth’s Division also began to give way.  Stone’s Brigade alone held firm while the Federal masses swept past on their left and continued to hammer at their front for two hours.  Except for Stone’s Brigade, Heth’s Division was put out of action for the remainder of May 6th.[5]

About 6:30 a.m., Longstreet finally arrived with First Corps reinforcements.  The Texas Brigade began the counterattack (in the presence of General Lee, himself) with a charge on the north side of the Plank Road and other fresh troops continued to throw back the Federal advance.  Thirty minutes later, Stone’s men were relieved and moved to the rear.  However, twice later that day, Colonel Stone volunteered his brigade to support Confederate counteroffensives to help stall the Federal advance, including Longstreet's crushing assault into Hancock’s flank ("You rolled me up like a wet blanket...").  When again placed on the defensive, the 2nd Mississippi held its position against continuing Federal attacks until dark.[6] The 2nd Mississippi, as well as the other units in Davis's (Stone's) brigade paid a high price in killed and wounded at The Wilderness.[7]



[1] Gordon C. Rhea, The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864 (Baton Rouge, 1994), pp. 49-54; O.R., 36, pt. 1, p. 1028.

[2] Ibid., p. 96; Rhea, Wilderness, p. 193; Robert Garth Scott, Into the Wilderness with the Army of the Potomac (Bloomington, 1985), p. 27.

[3] O.R., 36, pt. 1, pp. 189-190, 319; Scott, Wilderness, p. 73; John Michael Priest, Nowhere to Run: The Wilderness, May 4th & 5th, 1864 (Shippensburg, 1995), p.147; Confederate Veteran, vol. IX (1901), p. 165.  Robert F. Ward in Lee’s Sharpshooters by W. S. Dunlop (Morningside House, Inc., 1982), pp. 368-369.  There is still apparently some confusion as to the exact disposition of Stone’s regiments.  Contemporary accounts also put the 11th  Mississippi on the extreme left of the brigade.  Since the Twenty-sixth was later pulled out of line and moved to the opposite flank, and the Forty-second became separated from the rest of the brigade during the fighting, the Eleventh might have ended up on the left end of Stone’s line at some point in time.

[4] O.R., 36, pt. 1, pp. 190, 320, 951-952; Scott, Wilderness, pp. 87-88; Rhea, Wilderness, pp. 232-233.  Among the wounded, for the second time during the war, was the author’s great-grandfather.  He was hit in the left shoulder and lower jaw by one or more Minié balls in the fighting north of the Orange Plank Road at The Wilderness on May 5th.  Although he survived the war, the wounds left him permanently disabled.  His days as a member of the 2nd Mississippi were over.

[5] Scott, Wilderness, p. 115; Supplement, 6, pt. 1, p. 706.

[6] O.R., 36, pt. 1, p. 1055; Scott, Wilderness, p. 146, 165; Rhea, Wilderness, pp. 301-302, 356-357, 400.
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[7] Davis's Brigade suffered horrendous losses at Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, Davis's Brigade mustered about 2,300 men in four regiments (2nd, 11th, and 42nd MS and 55th NC). By the time of the Battle of the Wilderness, the brigade had added the 26th MS and the 1st Confederate Battalion to it's ranks and still only numbered about 1,690 men. The 2nd Mississippi numbered between 280-285 effectives, down from the 492 it brought into action at Gettysburg on July 1st. By the end of the two-days fighting at the Wilderness, the brigade would have suffered some 586 casualties (killed, wounded, captured and missing). The 2nd Mississippi lost 110 men of that total.