Background and Introduction: Part III

A Sketch of the History of the Second Mississippi Infantry Regiment:
Background and Introduction: Part III

After Mississippi seceded from the Union and began to raise companies of state troops, the men from the then four counties of northeast Mississippi – Tishomingo, Tippah, Itawamba and Pontotoc – began enrolling in February and March of 1861.[1]  These companies would initially be assigned to the Second Regiment, Mott’s Brigade, State Army of Mississippi.  Once they became part of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry Volunteers, the independent companies were assigned letters as follows: 

• A – Tishomingo Riflemen, Tishomingo County
• B – O’Connor Rifles, Tippah County
• C – Town Creek Riflemen, Itawamba County
• D – Joe Matthews Rifles (or Beck Rifles), Tippah County
• E – Calhoun Rifles, Itawamba County
• F – Magnolia Rifles, Tippah County
• G – Pontotoc Minute Men, Pontotoc County
• H – Coonewah Rifles, Pontotoc County
• I – Cherry Creek Rifles, Pontotoc County
• K – Iuka Rifles, Tishomingo County
• L – Liberty Guards, Tippah County[2]

It should come as no great surprise that the compiled service records show that most of the men identified themselves as farmers or planters.[3]  Unfortunately, this categorization does not necessarily allow this occupation to be classified under the “skilled,” more or less “semiskilled,” or “unskilled” breakdown as has been done in some other recent regimental studies.[4]  In order to successfully do this, the service records would need to be correlated with census data (especially property value and slave ownership) since the term “farmer” could encompass several social classes ranging from farm laborer all the way to plantation owner.


[1] Following the Civil War, the four original northeastern counties were partitioned into several additional ones.

[2] Dunbar Rowland, Military History of Mississippi (Spartanburg, 1978), pp. 40-43.  It should be noted that Company L, the eleventh company, was not organized until March 5, 1862 and did not join the regiment, then at Fredericksburg, until April 6, 1862.  In trying to analyze specific regimental actions, an eleventh company complicates matters somewhat.  The “standard” formation for the companies of a regiment when forming a battle line is a two-line arrangement for each company with the companies deployed in the following manner (as viewed from the rear of the regiment, left to right): B, G, K, E, H, C, I, D, F, A.  With the addition of Company L, by following the preceding deployment logic, the arrangement should be B, G, K, E, H, C, I, D, L, F, A.  Thus, it is assumed that Company L is normally deployed with the right wing of the regiment between Companies D and F. However, although this was the "standard" alignment of regimental companies, in many cases, dependent on the seniority of the company captains and other factors, they could be switched around.

[3] CMSR.  Upon closer examination, it was found that there was no real distinction between the two terms as used in the compiled service records.

[4] Edward J. Hagerty, Collis’ Zouaves: The 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War (Baton Rouge, 1997), pp. 78-79.