A Volunteer Army of Tennessee Pre-Dates the United States
TNSG HISTORY
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The Tennessee State Guard, as the original militia of the state, was actually formed during the Revolutionary War.
The unit traces its roots to the Battle of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, during the War for Independence. Some four hundred volunteers crossed the mountain to fight the British. The volunteer force was so effective and wreaked such havoc on the British troops, Colonel Patrick Ferguson, under Cornwalis, made the threat that if the Tennesseeans did not desist from their opposition to the King, he would "march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword!"
This threat was met with an additional 1,000 volunteers, who turned the tide at Kings Mountain and sent Cornwallis back to the Chesapeake. In just over one hour, the volunteers without benefit of orders, formal military training, uniforms, provisions or even promise of pay, totally decimated the highly-skilled British troops. Every last Red Coat was either dead or captured, the dead including Col. Ferguson.
During the War of 1812 volunteers from Tennessee once again answered the call of service by serving with the State Militias until their General Andrew Jackson was asked to take charge of all Federal forces in an effort to stop the British from taking New Orleans. During the Battle of Horseshoe Bend the Tennesseeans earned a great victory over the "Red Stick" group of renegade indians that had been terrorizing the frontier. Following this they followed "Gen'l Andy" to New Orleans where they defeated the British in a decisive victory.
A small band of volunteers from Tennessee jumped into the fray to assist Texas in gaining their independence from Mexico. Col. David Crockett and several volunteers traveled the long journey only to end up at a little mission in San Antonio, Texas better known as The Alamo. After several days of delaying the Mexican Army to protect and allow a fellow Tennesseean - Sam Houston - to reorganize the Army of the Republic of Texas, they were all killed
The title "Volunteer State" was forever formalized during the Mexican War in the late 1840s when native Tennesseean, President James K, Polk, requested the state to provide one regiment of cavalry and two of infantry ... ten times that many volunteered.
Although split by regional differences, the spirit of volunteerism continued throughout the War Between the States. Tennessee was the location of the second most number of battles and conflicts of the war. Three regiments of State Guardsmen were the first to answer the call of the Confederacy to defend Virginia.
The War Between the States
The 4th Tennessee Infantry Regiment
Is Organized In Shelby County – 1861
As the United States of America approached its 85th birthday in 1861, forces were being drawn together that would eventually tear the country apart. A war between the states was about to erupt under the leadership of the federal government. It would be called a Civil War. War it was. Civil it was not.
On May 15, 1861, the 4th Tennessee Infantry Regiment was organized in and around Shelby County in west Tennessee and became part of the Provisional Army of Tennessee.
In August of that year the 4th was transferred to Confederate service and defended the Southern cause until April 26, 1865 when the 4th Tennessee, barely able to muster enough men to fill half of a regular infantry company, finally surrendered. Paroled on May 1, 1865, the remaining men of the 4th Tennessee began their long, lonely and sad walk to their homes and farms.
They carried their rucks, meager rations, hunting rifles – which the Union forces allowed so they could feed their families once they returned home – and the occasional horse. Although probably none carried all of the above items, they all carried the fullness of pride and honor for having proven their courage and bravery on the fields of battle from Shiloh to Nashville, Corinth to Chickamauga.
Even though weary from years of walking, starving, fighting and dying, the citizen soldiers of the 4th Tennessee carried their heads high knowing they had done all that was asked of them – and more – and left only respect in the hearts of their victors.
During their service with the Confederacy the 4th Tennessee served under Generals Hood, Johnston, Stewart, Forest and other Division Commanders, all under the command of General of the Army of the Confederate States of America, General Robert E. Lee.
Baptism of Fire - The Battle of Shiloh – 1862
The 4th Tennessee, under the command of Colonel Rufus Neely, joined a brigade that included the 12th Louisiana and marched to Columbus Kentucky, joining Major General John McCowan's Division.
After wintering there and at New Madrid, Missouri, the 4th was ordered to Corinth, Mississippi, arriving on 2 April 1862 with 512 men present for action.
Four days later the 4th Tennessee got its baptism of fire as Confederate and Union forces met at Shiloh.
Assigned to BGN Charles Clark's division and BGN Alexander Stewart's Brigade, the 4th was joined by 13th Arkansas, 5th and 33rd Tennessee Regiments and a Mississippi artillery battery.
On the extreme right of the Confederate line, the 4th held its ground throughout the battle and was commended for valiant action in storming and capturing a Federal battery. The cost, however, was high as 191 men were killed or wounded in the charge.
Overall, in two days of battle the 4th Tennessee lost almost half its effective force.
Following Shiloh the 4th was moved to Corinth, Mississippi.
Corinth to Kentucky to Tennessee – 1862
The 4th Tennessee Regiment was reorganized after the Battle of Shiloh, with Otho French Strahl as colonel. With the Army, it went through the siege of Corinth , the withdrawal to Tupelo, and the subsequent move to Chattanooga, via Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama.
On 17 August 1862, the march to Kentucky was begun. Colonel Strahl marched the 4th Tennessee through Sparta, Pikeville and Gainesboro, Tennessee, to Munfordville, Kentucky, which was captured on 19 September 1862.
In this campaign the entire brigade had been reinforced with the addition of the 24th and 31st Tennessee Infantry Regiments.
There followed the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, on 18 October 1862, in which the 4th Tennessee suffered 85 casualties, nearly half the total loss of the engaged regiments.
Having to fall back from the field of battle, the 4th Tennessee joined the brigade as it headed for Murfreesboro by a long and circuitous route through Knoxville to Bridgeport, Alabama, then north through Tullahoma to Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
With so many of the regiment dead or wounded, the brigade had to reconstitute the fighting force under its command before the next battle. This would happen at Murfreesboro.