Arms of Hardee's Corps on the Cusp of the 1862 Kentucky Campaign

.69 caliber "buck and ball" ammunition was the most type carried by the troops of Hardee's Corps in the summer of 1862, comprising 77% of the long arms carried by the troops of Patton Anderson's Division, and roughly 61% of Wood's division.

As I have been gathering material for an upcoming study of the Kentucky Campaign of 1862, I was delighted to discover the following a pair of reports detailing the arms carried by the troops of General William J. Hardee's corps in the summer of 1862.

The first of these reports concerns the arms carried by Brigadier General J. Patton Anderson's division. Assembled by Major James M. Kennard, chief of ordnance on the staff of Major General William J. Hardee, the ‘Consolidated Return of Arms of the 2nd Division, Left Wing, Army of Mississippi’ details the weapons carried by each of the four brigades of the division. While it does not call out specific arms issues of each regiment (I would love to have that detail), it does provide an incredible view of the diversity of arms this division carried into Kentucky.

Overall, Kennard reported that the division carried a total of 5,998 weapons in four categories: 

.54 caliber Mississippi rifles: 52             (1%)

.58 caliber Enfield/Minie rifles: 1,049   (17%)

.69 caliber Springfield muskets: 4,632    (77%)

.75 caliber British muskets: 265             (4%)


The report, written on August 23, 1862, while the division was camped near Chattanooga, Tennessee and poised to move into Kentucky, was discovered among the Major Kennard’s military file from the National Archives and hosted by Fold3. The details for each brigade are provided below.   

First Brigade- Brigadier General John C. Brown

Infantry Regiments: 1st Florida, 3rd Florida, 41st Mississippi

Arms: 51 .54 caliber Mississippi rifles (3%), 292 .58 caliber Enfield/Minie rifles (16%), 1,452 .69 caliber Springfield muskets (81%), total arms, 1,795

Artillery: Battery A, 14th Battalion, Georgia Light Artillery

Arms: 2 3-inch rifles, 2 6-pdr smoothbores, 2 12-pdr howitzers

 

Second Brigade: Brigadier General Daniel W. Adams

Infantry Regiments: 13th, 16th, 20th, and 25th Louisiana

Arms: 425 .58 caliber Enfield/Minie rifles (29%), 937 .69 caliber Springfield muskets (65%), 88 .75 caliber British muskets (6%), total arms, 1,450

Artillery: 5th Company, Washington Light Artillery

Arms: 2 6-pdr smoothbores and 2 12-pdr howitzers

 

Third Brigade: Colonel Samuel Powell

Infantry Regiments: 45th Alabama, 1st Arkansas, 24th Mississippi, 29th Tennessee

Arms: 784 .69 caliber Springfield muskets (95%), 38 .75 caliber British muskets (5%), total arms 822

Artillery: Barret’s Missouri Battery

Arms: 2 3-inch Rifles and 2 12-pdr howitzers

 

Fourth Brigade: Colonel Thomas M. Jones

Infantry Regiments: 27th, 30th, and 34th Mississippi

Arms: 1 .54 caliber Mississippi rifle, 332 .58 caliber Enfield/Minie rifles (17%), 1,459 .69 caliber Springfield muskets (76%), 139 .75 caliber British muskets (7%), total arms 1,931

Artillery: Lumsden’s Alabama Battery

Arms: 2 6-pdr smoothbores and 2 12-pdr howitzers

          


        An undated report in located adjacent to the above report in Kennard’s file provides the arms for the entirety of Hardee’s wing broken down into two divisions: “Jones’ Division,” and “Wood’s Division.” Based on what I have seen in the O.R., it appears this organization of Hardee’s Wing dates from around July 1862, a month or so before the detailed report of Anderson’s Division mentioned above. Based on the regiments listed in Jones’ division from a June 30, 1862, organizational table, it appears that Jones’ Division (under the command of Brigadier General Samuel Jones) morphed into Anderson’s Division with a modified brigade structure by August 1862. So, the regiments listed above in Anderson’s report would apply below.

          The arms listed in this earlier report show for Jones’ Division show a total of 4,735 weapons as follows:

.52 caliber rifles: 121 (2.5%)

.54 caliber Mississippi rifles: 50 (1%)

.57 caliber Enfield rifles: 1,551 (33%)

.69 caliber muskets: 2,788 (59%)

.75 caliber British and Belgian muskets: 225 (5%)

          The other organization, “Wood’s Division,” refers to a brief command held by General Sterling A.M. Wood, a brigade commander under Hardee in the June 30, 1862, organizational table. The regiments contained within Wood’s command largely composed General Patrick R. Cleburne’s divisional command in the latter part of 1862. That said, it contained some significant differences from Anderson’s division in how it was armed in July 1862 as shown below. Major Kennard reported a total of 6,925 weapons as follows:

 .54 caliber Mississippi rifles: 53 (less than 1%)

.57 caliber Enfield rifles: 143 (2%)

.58 caliber Enfield/Minie rifles: 2,522 (36%)

.69 caliber muskets: 4,207 (61%)

 

          The five brigades of Wood’s division were organized as follows on June 30, 1862:

First Brigade: Colonel John Richardson Liddell

Infantry Regiments: 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Arkansas

Second Brigade: Brigadier General S.A.M. Wood

Infantry Regiments: 16th Alabama, 32nd Mississippi, 33rd Mississippi, 44th Tennessee

Third Brigade: Brigadier General Patrick R. Cleburne

Infantry Regiments: 15th Arkansas, 2nd Tennessee, 5th (35th) Tennessee, 24th Tennessee, 48th Tennessee

Fourth Brigade: Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke

Infantry Regiments: 3rd Confederate, 25th Tennessee, 29th Tennessee, 37th Tennessee

Fifth Brigade: Colonel Alexander T. Hawthorn

Infantry Regiments: 33rd Alabama, 17th Tennessee, 21st Tennessee, 23rd Tennessee

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