Printed form: 'Statistics of Hampton's Legion (Infantry), Organized June 1861', filled in by hand

Scanned page 161 of Book 1 — Scan of original. Open full size →

A single sheet of a printed form, faded blue ink for the printed lines, filled in by hand in brown ink. The form is creased and worn at the edges.

Printed instructions (top)

Officers receiving these blanks in duplicate are earnestly solicited to contribute to the history of their commands by filling one of them, as far as they may be able, without waiting to hear from any other person, and return it, however imperfectly filled, within ten days, to E. P. Alexander, Columbia, S. C. (A return envelope is enclosed.) If desired, retain the duplicate for more perfect information and return within three months — but please return. Please send with first returned copy all known addresses of surviving field and staff officers of your own or other regiments or brigades of Longstreet’s Corps.

Form headline

STATISTICS of [Hampton’s Legion (Infantry)] Regiment, Organized June 1861, Disbanded 186_

Brigades section (left)

Brigades in which regiment served at different periods.

A printed table headed:

BRIGADE COMMANDER. | DATE: From / To | Other regiments composing brigade.

Filled in:

Colonel Wade Hampton | 1861 — July 1862 | 16 North Carolina (Col. Stephen Lee Comdg.) 19 Georgia 14 Georgia Stephen D Lee’s Battal. co. of artillery

A long handwritten paragraph runs along the left margin and across the lower form lines:

under Genl. Whiting Comdg. “Forces at Dumfries”. Col Hampton occupied the line of the Occoquan, after [Seven] Pines the Regt. went with Jackson just before Mechanicsville & until after the battle around Richmond, then it was put in Hood’s Command.

Right column header (printed)

List of all field and staff officers, and all captains of companies, who ever served in battle with regiment. Note, in remarks, opposite name of each officer killed or disabled, the fact and date. Where same officer was promoted through several grades, let his name appear in each. Attach more paper, if needed, and sign.

Battles table (left, lower)

List of battles and skirmishes in which regiment was engaged, with strength, loss, and average number of rounds fired in each case. If official figures can be furnished, underscore them in each case. Attach paper if needed.

Filled in entries (NAME column stacked with multiple engagements):

July 21st 1861 | 1st Manassas | 600

Occoquan

Yorktown

[Seven] Pines

Battles around Richmond with Jackson

6 Divisions

Officer roll (right)

A long list of names in the right column, with remarks. Columns headed RANK. | NAME. | REMARKS.

Col Wade Hampton

~~Lt Col J. B. Griffin~~

Lt Col Benj. J. Johnson — Killed 1st Manassas

" " J. B. Griffin — Wounded

Major Jas Conner — Wounded at Mechanicsville 27 June 1862 afterwards ~~made~~ after he had been detached from the Hampton Legion and put in command of the 22nd North Carolina [Renter’s?] Brigade. Col Conner was afterward put in retired service as President of Corps Court Ewell’s Corps and thence at Genl. Lee’s request promoted to rank of Brigadier and put in command first of Lane’s Brigade and afterward of Kershaw’s.

Captn. Drs. T. Darby — Surgeon

" Walter B. Taylor — Asst.

" C. L. Goodwin — D. M.

Thomas Bigg — Commissary

Lieut Theodore Barker — Adjutant

Drs Darby & Taylor were both, subsequently, made full Surgeons with rank of Major. So with D. W. Goodwin and Commissry. Bigg both subsequently promoted to Major & 2 [illegible].

AI Notes

A printed Confederate-veteran post-war questionnaire (printed in faded blue ink) headed ‘STATISTICS of [Hampton’s Legion (Infantry)] Regiment, Organized June 1861, Disbanded 186_’. The form was issued by E. P. Alexander of Columbia, S.C. for compilation of regimental histories of Longstreet’s Corps. The blanks have been filled in by hand in brown ink. Heavily annotated with notes on brigade composition, battle history, and a roll of officers including Hampton, Griffin, Conner, Goodwin, Barker, and surgeons. Several handwritten passages are extremely difficult to read.

Form continues at the lower edge of the sheet; some lines lost to fold and damage.

The form is a postwar regimental-history questionnaire circulated by Confederate veteran E. P. Alexander of Columbia for the reconstruction of Longstreet’s Corps. Hampton’s Legion was a combined-arms unit raised at his own expense in early 1861 by Wade Hampton III — six infantry companies, two of cavalry, one battery of artillery — drawn heavily from SC’s planter elite. The infantry fought at First Manassas on 21 July 1861, where Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Johnson is confirmed among the killed. The Legion lost 121 of ~600 engaged that day, helping capture Ricketts’ Battery on Henry House Hill; Hampton himself was wounded in the face. The Legion’s branches were eventually broken up and reorganized into separate infantry, cavalry, and artillery commands.