Loring's Division at Fort Pemberton
(Vicksburg Campaign)
March 12-19, 1863
Major General William Loring
1st Brigade:
Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman
54th Alabama Infantry- Colonel A. Baker
8th Kentucky Infantry- Colonel H.B. Lyon
20th Mississippi Infantry- Colonel D.R. Russell
23rd Mississippi Infantry- Colonel J.M. Wells
26th Mississippi Infantry- Colonel A.E. Reynolds
Company C, 14th Mississippi Artillery Battalion- Captain J. Culbertson
2nd Brigade:
Brigadier General Winfield S. Featherston
3nd Mississippi Infantry- Colonel T.A. Mellon
22nd Mississippi Infantry- Lieutenant Colonel H.J. Reid
31st Mississippi Infantry- Colonel J.A. Orr
33rd Mississippi Infantry- Colonel D.W. Hurst
1st Mississippi Sharpshooter Battalion- Major W.A. Rayburn
Company C 1st Mississippi Light Artillery- Captain L.A. Collier
3rd Brigade:
Brigadier General John C. Moore
37th Alabama Infantry- Colonel J.F. Dowdell
42nd Alabama Infantry- Colonel J.W. Portis
35th Mississippi Infantry- Colonel W.S. Barry
40th Mississippi Infantry- Colonel W.B. Colbert
2nd Texas Infantry- Colonel Ashbel Smith
Bledsoe's Missouri Battery- Captain H.M. Bledsoe
Miscellaneous
Units
37th Mississippi Infantry- Colonel O.S. Holland
7th Tennessee Cavalry- Colonel J.G. Stocks
Waul's Texas
Legion- Colonel T.N. Waul
Company B, Pointe Coupee Artillery- Captain W.A. Davidson
Company A, Pointe Coupee Artillery- Lieutenant J.J. Thompson
Tobin's Tennessee Artillery- Captain T.F. Tobin
Detachment of the 21st Louisiana
Company A, 22nd Louisiana Infantry- Lieutenant J.E. Lambert
Naval Detachment- Lieutenant F.E. Shepperd
2nd Missouri Cavalry- Colonel R. McCulloch
2nd Arkansas Cavalry- Colonel W.F. Slemons
Blythe's Battalion, Mississippi State Troops- Major G.L. Blythe
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Source: The Vicksburg Campaign by Edwin Bearss
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Thank you for your input concerning the park's web site. The corrections have been passed along to the person in charge of the site.
In answer to your questions:
1. Companies that made up the 1st & 2nd infantry battalions:
The Legion ( Waul's Texas) was composed principally of men from the 9th Texas Infantry Regiment [ Nichols ]and the 3rd Texas infantry Battalion. Both units were originally 6-month Texas state units which were mustered out of the Confederate army early in 1862. The Legion was organized with 12 companies at Brenham, TX, in early 1862, and divided into two battalions later in 1862.
2. Company left behind at Fort Pemberton:
After the defense of Fort Pemberton, Waul's Legion was divided with two-thirds ordered to the defense of Vicksburg, and one-third (300 men) remaining at Ft. Pemberton, and later sent to defend Yazoo City. These troops consisted of Major H.W. Bridges Battalion, containing the companies of Captain J.W. Stell (Co. B), and Captain B.F. Weeks and Captain Robert Voigt (Co. C).
[ Bridges Arkansas Cavalry Battalion
This unit was attached to Brig. Gen. J. W. Whitfield's 2nd Brigade of Brig. Gen. William H. (Red) Jackson's Cavalry Division, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Relief, Department of the West and was commanded by Maj. Henry W. Bridges. [Refer to Edwin Bearss' The Vicksburg Campaign, Volume III, page 1152.]
Gen. Jackson's division was ordered from the Department of Tennessee about 26 May 1863 and was headquartered near Canton, MS on 4 June 1863, at Vernon, MS on 13, 18, 21 & 23 June 1863.] NPS @ VicksburgI hope this information is of use to you in your research.
Virginia S. DuBowy
Park Guide
Vicksburg National Military Park
3201 Clay Street
Vicksburg, MS 39183
601-636-0583, ext 2962
Fax: 601-636-9497
A Brief History of Fort Pemberton
Location: Greenwood, MS, at junction of U.S Hiways 82 and 49E
In the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign, General Grant tried several attacks on the city on the bluff. One plan was to send troops on transports down the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers into the back door instead of down the heavily defended Mississippi River. He cut the Mississippi River levee in February which flooded the several bayous between the Mississippi and Tallahatchie Rivers, making a navigable connection. Twenty-two transports (with 5000 troops), two ironclads, two rams and six light draft gunboats made up the first expedition, which was later reinforced with another brigade and additional vessels. It took several weeks to make the 200-mile trip as the bayous were narrow and tortuous. The flooded rivers allowed the gunboats to clear the river bottoms but it also caused many to loose their smokestacks and upper structure when they contacted the low-hanging trees.
Appraised of the Federal plans the Confederate General John C. Pemberton ordered a fort to be constructed to block the enemy forces. The engineers selected a location where the Tallahatchie makes an abrupt easterly turn and, after joining with the Yazoo River, it loops back within a few hundred yards of the Tallahatchie. This allowed room for only two gunboats at a time to approach the Confederates works and attack with only their forward guns. The fort was hastily built of cotton bales covered with earth, and named Fort Pemberton. It had but a few light guns, and a very accurate 8-inch rifle. The fort was manned by 1500 men under command of Brig. Gen. W.W. Loring. The flooded area limited any infantry movement by land. To further impede the enemy's advance down the Yazoo River, the steamship "Star of the West" was loaded with cotton bales and sunk in the channel. This "Star of the West" was one of the Federal mechant ships captured at The Federal Flotilla arrived at Fort Pemberton on March 11th, and the two ironclads attacked at 1000 yards, but both were damaged after several attempts to reduce the fort. The Confederate gunners placed one well-aimed shot through the forward gun port of the first ironclad. The Federal fleet retired to the Mississippi. Grant's attempt to reach Vicksburg by the Tallahatachie-Yazoo route had failed.
Greenwood (Leflore Co.), March 11, 1863, Confederates under Maj. Gen. William Loring construct Fort Pemberton of earth and cotton bales near Greenwood, at the junction of the Yazoo and Tallahatchie rivers, to deflect Federal advance again st Vicksburg under Maj. Gen. Ulysses Grant; March 11, 13, 16, April 2 and 4, engagements with the Federal Navy's Yazoo Pass Expedition (by Moon Lake, Yazoo Pass, and Coldwater and Tallahatchee rivers, Feb. 24 - April 8) at Fort Pemberton; May 27, 1863, un successful Confederate attack on Union gunboats nearby.