The 5th Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment entered into service on September 1, 1862, when the elements of two preceding battalions were combined. Many of the men entering the regiment had seen service with the secessionist Missouri State Guard. James McCown was the regiment's first colonel. After playing a minor role at the Battle of Iuka on September 19, the regiment then fought in the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3 and 4th. After being only lightly engaged on the 3rd, the regiment charged the Union lines on the 4th, capturing a fortification known as Battery Powell. However, Union reinforcements counterattacked and drove the regiment from the field. In early 1863, the regiment was transferred to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, where it built fortifications. The unit spent part of April operating in Louisiana, before again crossing the Mississippi River to return to Grand Gulf.
On May 1, the regiment fought at the Battle of Port Gibson, where it and the 3rd Missouri Infantry Regiment charged the Union line in an attempt to turn the enemy's exposed flank. However, the two regiments missed hitting the Union line on the flank, and instead hit an area with greater support. After heavy fighting, the two regiments were forced to retreat. On May 16, the regiment joined a large assault in the Battle of Champion Hill. The Confederate charge at Champion Hill captured two important battlefield features, but Union reinforcements and a lack of ammunition forced the men to retreat. After being routed at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge on May 17, the regiment entered the defenses of Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the Siege of Vicksburg the regiment helped repel Union attacks on May 19 and 22nd. On June 25 and July 1, the regiment opposed Union attempts to break the Confederate lines by detonating black powder beneath the Confederate defensive works. The Confederate garrison of Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, and the men of the 5th Missouri Infantry were paroled. After being exchanged, the 5th Missouri Infantry was combined with the 3rd Missouri Infantry to form the 3rd and 5th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Consolidated); the 5th Missouri Infantry ceased to exist as a separate unit.
McCown retained command of the new unit after the consolidation. The consolidated regiment fought at the Battle of New Hope Church in May 1864, at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in June, and in the Siege of Atlanta. On October 5, the regiment fought at the Battle of Allatoona before being nearly annihilated at the Battle of Franklin on November 30. In February 1865, the regiment was transferred to Mobile, Alabama, where it surrendered during the Battle of Fort Blakeley on April 9, ending the men's combat career.
Background and formation
At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the state of Missouri did not secede, even though it was a slave state. However, Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson continued to push for secession and mobilized pro-secession elements of the state militia. The militiamen were encamped outside St. Louis, where a federal arsenal was located. In response, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon of the Union Army dispersed the camp in the Camp Jackson affair on May 10. This action was followed by a riot in St. Louis. On May 12, Jackson formed the Missouri State Guard as a pro-secession militia unit and appointed Major General Sterling Price, a veteran of the Mexican-American War, to command the unit. After a June 11 meeting between Price and Lyon indicated that a peaceful resolution to the turmoil was not possible, Lyon forced Jackson out of the state capital of Jefferson City on June 15. After Lyon defeated a Missouri State Guard force at the Battle of Boonville on June 17, Price and Jackson retreated into southwestern Missouri.
Price was later reinforced by Confederate States Army troops commanded by Brigadier General Ben McCulloch. On August 10, Lyon attacked the combined Confederate and Missouri State Guard troops. In the ensuing Battle of Wilson's Creek, Lyon was killed and his army defeated. Afterwards, Price began moving northwards. This campaign culminated with the capture of Lexington in September. In October, Union forces began concentrating near where Price was encamped, leading the Missouri State Guard to retreat back to the southwestern portion of the state. In November, Jackson and the pro-secession elements of the state legislature voted to secede, joining the Confederate States of America as a government-in-exile. The anti-secession elements of the state legislature had previously held a vote in July rejecting secession. After Union forces began to threaten Price's position in southwestern Missouri in February 1862, the Missouri State Guard fell back to Arkansas, where it joined forces with Major General Earl Van Dorn. Price himself entered Confederate service, receiving a commission as a major general. In March, Van Dorn was defeated at the Battle of Pea Ridge, giving Union forces control of Missouri. The men of the Missouri State Guard also began transferring to Confederate States Army units.
The 5th Missouri Infantry Regiment became part of the Confederate States Army on September 1, 1862. To form the regiment, a portion of Hedgpeth's Missouri Battalion was combined with McCown's Missouri Battalion; a number of the men had formerly been part of the Missouri State Guard. James McCown was the regiment's first Colonel, Robert Bevier was the first lieutenant colonel, and Owen A. Waddell was appointed major. When the muster, which took place at Saltillo, Mississippi, was completed, 618 men were listed on the regiment's rolls. As of the date of organization, the regiment contained ten companies, designated with the letters AK and I; all were Missouri-raised.
Service history 1862
After organizing, the regiment was designated the 5th Missouri Infantry Regiment despite the 6th Missouri Infantry Regiment having formed first. After joining the First Missouri Brigade, the regiment saw light action at the Battle of Iuka on September 19, 1862, where it suffered five casualties. The regiment was next engaged at the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3 and 4th. At Second Corinth, the regiment was in Colonel Elijah Gates' brigade of Brigadier General Louis Hébert's division of the Confederate Army of West Tennessee. On the first day at Corinth, Gates' brigade entered the action around 4:45 p.m., when it moved to aid Brigadier General Martin E. Green's brigade. However, Green ordered a charge after only one of Gates' regiments, the 2nd Missouri Infantry Regiment, had fully deployed. The Confederate charge broke the Union outer line, but Price decided not to attack the interior Union lines on the night of the 3rd, instead choosing to wait for the next morning.
On the morning of the 4th, Gates' brigade was part of a Confederate attack against the Union interior line; the attack was aimed at a fortification known as Battery Powell. Much of the Union infantry broke and routed as the Confederate attack neared the Union position. After reaching Battery Powell, the 5th Missouri Infantry fired a volley into the fortification, which cut down or dispersed the Union artillerymen still defending the position. One Missourian later wrote that the inside of the fortification was "one of the bloodiest places [he] ever saw." The colorbearer of the regiment was mortally wounded while crossing the wall of the works, and McCown was shot in the wrist. Six of the regiment's company commanders had fallen during the attack. Some of the men of the regiment turned captured cannons against the Union army. As a whole, Gates' brigade was able to break a hole in the Union line that was long. However, the Confederate attack was not supported, and the Union troops were able to regroup. The 5th Missouri Infantry was soon exposed to crossfire. A Union counterattack eventually swept Gates' brigade, including the 5th Missouri Infantry, from the ground they had taken; the regiment suffered 87 casualties over the course of the battle. The regiment then spent the rest of 1862 encamped in northern Mississippi.
1863 Louisiana expedition and Port Gibson
In March 1863, the regiment was transferred to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, where it built fortifications overlooking the Mississippi River. In early April, the regiment was sent across the Mississippi River into Louisiana as part of a scouting force commanded by Colonel Francis M. Cockrell. After arriving in Louisiana, the Missourians encamped near where Negro Bayou and Bayou Vidal connected. Not long after arriving, the task force participated in two small actions near James' Plantation. On April 15, Company F was part of a small force Cockrell led in a surprise attack on a Union outpost at Dunbar's Plantation. While the Confederates captured the supplies at the outpost, the defenders of the outpost, elements of the 49th Indiana Infantry Regiment and the 120th Ohio Infantry Regiment, escaped. On April 17, the Missourians retreated back across the river into Mississippi, as the Union Navy had occupied New Carthage, Louisiana, threatening the security of the Confederate position. After returning to Grand Gulf, the units of the First Missouri Brigade were given new battle flags. The flags bore a Latin cross on a blue background with a red trim.
On April 30, elements of the Union Army of the Tennessee commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant landed on the Mississippi side of the Mississippi River. Brigadier General John S. Bowen, Confederate commander at Grand Gulf, was tasked with delaying the Union advance at Port Gibson. The Confederate force at Port Gibson consisted of the troops of Green, Brigadier General William E. Baldwin, and Brigadier General Edward D. Tracy. Bowen sent the 3rd, 5th, and 6th Missouri Infantry Regiments, Guibor's Missouri Battery, and a portion of Landis' Missouri Battery to Port Gibson under the command of Cockrell. Green's brigade was forced to retreat in the face of a Union attack, but a secondary line was formed from Baldwin's brigade, part of Cockrell's force, and the rallied survivors of Green's brigade. Meanwhile, the 6th Missouri Infantry was sent to the Confederate right, where Tracy had been killed. The 3rd and 5th Missouri Infantry were kept as reserves for the early portion of the battle. The combined strength of the two regiments was approximately 700 to 800 men.
The two Missouri regiments were later sent to attempt to turn the exposed Union right flank. However, heavy trees and underbrush confused the Confederates, and the attack fell on the Union right-center, instead of the flank. The Missourians came into view of the Union position at about 12:30p.m. After coming under Union artillery fire, the two Confederate regiments attacked the Union line, striking the brigades of Colonel James R. Slack and Brigadier General George F. McGinnis. The 3rd Missouri Infantry fought with McGinnis' brigade, and the 5th took on Slack's. The 5th Missouri Infantry had been aligned perpendicular to Slack's flank, and the regiment's attack broke through the line of two of Slack's regiments. After advancing through the cover of a canebrake, the regiment attacked the 29th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, which had little combat experience. The 29th Wisconsin Infantry suffered heavy casualties, but Union reinforcements arrived, driving the Confederates back into the cover of a ravine. Union troops pressed the Confederate position hard, with the lines sometimes only apart.