Friday, January 22, 2010

The Partisan Rangers of the Confederacy.

The Partisan Rangers of the Confederacy was a company of guerrilla or resistance fighters. The Confederate Congress passed a Bill in April of 1862, allowing the forming of these groups. Each southern State had many of these rangers, then in 1862, the Confederate Congress was asking for a amendment of the Bill which would state; “That hereafter no authority shall be granted to raise or organize bands of partisan rangers within the limits of any military district, except where the companies or regiments composing the military force of said district are filled to the maximum number.”

But The House and Senate could not agree on the amendment, and while Congress argued over the amendment the Partisan Rangers grew. By 1863, the rangers had grown so large that there were no numbers on how many there were. Congress was asked to pass a Bill, asking that each military District make a accounting of the Partisan Rangers in their districts, so Congress and Army Headquarters, could know the numbers and names of these rangers. It is not known if there was ever a true accounting of these rangers.
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1862, Colonels.

1. John B. Palmer, Fifty-eighth North Carolina Regiment (Partisan Rangers), North Carolina.

2. Dennis D. Ferebee, Fifty-ninth North Carolina Regiment (Partisan Rangers), North Carolina.

3. Robert G. A. Love, Sixty-second North Carolina Regiment (Partisan Rangers), North Carolina.

1862, Lieutenant-colonels.

1. J. H. Wingfield, Ninth Louisiana Battalion (Partisan Rangers), Louisiana.

2. William W. Proffitt, Fifty-eighth North Carolina Regiment (Partisan Rangers), North Carolina.

3. F. M. Nix, Sixteenth Georgia Battalion (Partisan Rangers), Georgia.

4. H. K. Aiken, Sixteenth South Carolina Battalion (Partisan Rangers), South Carolina.

5. James D. Webb, Fifty-first Alabama Regiment (Partisan Rangers), Alabama.

1862, Majors.

1. Joel R. Griffin, First Georgia Battalion (Partisan Rangers), Georgia.

2. J. De Baun, Ninth Louisiana Battalion (Partisan Rangers), Louisiana.

3. Samuel J. Winn, Sixteenth Georgia Battalion (Partisan Rangers), Georgia.

4. H. B. Thompson, Fifty-first Alabama Regiment (Partisan Rangers), Alabama.

1862, Captains.

1. W. K. Lane, Company North Carolina (Partisan Rangers), North Carolina.

Adjutants, with rank, etc., of first lieutenant.

1. Robert Aldrich, Sixteenth South Carolina Battalion (Partisan Rangers), South Carolina.

Congress of 1862.

That the Secretary of War be requested to communicate to this House what number of companies, squadrons, battalions, and regiments and from what States have been raised and organized as partisan rangers since the adjournment of Congress, and by what authority each commander of the said corps have raised said troops;
which was read and agreed to.

1862, Assistant quartermasters, with rank of captain.

1. O. M. Hundley, Twelfth Alabama Battalion (Partisan Rangers), Alabama.

1863, Adjutants, with the rank of first lieutenant.

1. Benjamin Green, of Georgia, to be adjutant Twenty-first Georgia Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank August 4, 1862.

2. A. J. Sykes, of Alabama, to be adjutant Fifteenth Alabama Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank September 18, 1862.

3. Philip Jones, of Kentucky, to be adjutant Tenth Kentucky Regiment, Partisan Rangers, to rank November 1, 1862.

4. M. E. Williams, of Georgia, to be adjutant Twentieth Georgia Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank October 14, 1862.

5. Thomas E. Winn, of Georgia, to be adjutant Sixteenth Georgia Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank from October 8, 1863.

1863, Assistant quartermasters, with rank of captain.

1. J. S. Ives, of North Carolina, for duty with Twelfth North Carolina Battalion, Partisan Rangers, September 30, 1862.

2. D. H. Lewellyn, of Kentucky, for duty with Second Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, Partisan Rangers, to rank October 14, 1862.

3. L. W. Trafton, of Kentucky, for duty with Tenth Kentucky Regiment, Partisan Rangers, to rank November 1, 1862.

4. John P. Dickinson, of Alabama, for duty with Fifty-third Alabama Regiment, Partisan Rangers, to rank November 5, 1862.

5. E. L. Hord, of Tennessee, for duty with Twelfth Tennessee Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank October 14, 1862.

6. J. E. Rogers, of Mississippi, for duty with First Mississippi Regiment, Partisan Rangers, to rank October 14, 1862.

1863, Majors.

1. Capt. T. W. Brevard, of Florida, to be major Second Florida Battalion, Partisan Rangers (battalion formed from unattached companies), to rank September 2, 1862.

1863, Lieutenant-colonels.

1. Maj. Samuel J. Winn, of Georgia, to be lieutenant-colonel Sixteenth Georgia Battalion, Partisan Rangers to rank from June 11, 1863.

Congress, 1864.

A bill to repeal an act to organize bands of partisan rangers, approved April 21, 1862, and for other purposes, reported back the same, with the recommendation that it do pass.
The question being on postponing the bill and placing it on the Calendar, It was decided in the negative.
Mr. Machen moved to amend the bill by adding at the end the following proviso:
Provided, That organizations of partisan rangers acting as regular cavalry at the passage of this act shall be continued in their present organizations, provided that they shall hereafter be considered as regular cavalry and not as partisan rangers.

1864, Adjutants--first lieutenants.

1. Virgil V. Moore, of Tennessee, to be adjutant Second Mississippi Regiment, Partisan Rangers, to rank from February 19, 1864.

2. W. W. Matthews, of Louisiana, to be adjutant Ninth Louisiana Battalion, Partisan Rangers (an original vacancy), to rank from September 27, 1864.

1864, Captains.

1. A. E. Richards, of Virginia, to be captain Company B, Forty-third Virginia Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank from April 6, 1864.

1864, S. F. Green, of Mississippi, to be adjutant of the Eighteenth Mississippi Battalion, Partisan Rangers, with the rank of first lieutenant in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States of America.

1864, Colonels.

1. F. Dumonteil, of Louisiana, to be colonel Fourteenth Confederate Cavalry Regiment (formed of unattached companies partisan rangers from southern Mississippi and northeast Louisiana), to rank from July 15, 1863.

1864, Majors.

1. Alexander H. Chalmers, of Mississippi, to be major battalion partisan rangers, to rank from June 1, 1863.

2. Edward Y. Clarke, of Georgia, to be major Sixteenth Georgia Battalion, Partisan Rangers, to rank from September 3, 1863.

1865, First lieutenants and adjutants.

1. William H. Mosby, of Virginia, to be adjutant Forty-third Virginia Battalion, Partisan Rangers,

1865, Chaplains.

1. William W. Berry, of Virginia, to be chaplain Forty-third Virginia Battalion, Partisan Rangers, in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States of America.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for putting this all in one place. In addition to My Irish Roots, I also have My Rebel Roots, where I show my research on Col. Marcellus Pointer, an ancestor, who ended the war in his hometown of Holly Springs, Miss., having been seriously wounded in South Carolina in Feb. 1865.

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  2. Anonymous8:47 AM

    "The Partisan Rangers of the Confederacy" is an excellent webpage. I am presently publishing a book on Confederate Irregular Warfare, 1861 - 1865 on grayguerrillas.wordpress.com

    Mr. Bertil Haggman, LLM
    Author, Sweden, Europe
    member, Sons of Confederate Veterans Europe Camp # 1612

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