Louisiana Tigers - The Seven Days

The Seven Days

In late spring, Jackson's force was sent eastward to participate in the Peninsula Campaign. Following Wheat's death at the Battle of Gaines' Mill and with but some 60 officers or men under Capt. Harris, the Tiger Battalion was merged with Coppens' Zouaves within the Army of Northern Virginia. The combined unit was heavily depleted during the Northern Virginia Campaign and the subsequent Maryland Campaign, where its leader, Colonel Auguste Gaston Coppens, was killed. The amalgamated battalion was disbanded shortly after the Battle of Antietam and the men dispersed among other units.

Battle of Gaines' Mill

From Schreckengost, Gary: The First Louisiana Special Battalion: Wheat's Tigers in the Civil War (McFarland, 2008): Hearing the sounds of battle to their right front, sounds that should not have been heard, the men of D.H. Hill’s division picked up their pace and headed for the front. Being the first unit to arrive on the Confederate left and unsure of the situation, Hill deployed his division parallel to the Unionists, facing their batteries posted on the clear eastern slope of Turkey Hill near the McGehee House. Jackson arrived soon after with Elzey’s brigade of Ewell’s division in front. Because he too was confused by the situation—his wing was supposed to turn the enemy from Gaines’ Mill—he ordered Ewell to steer the rest of his division to the right and skirt the tree line that paralleled the interconnecting Cold Harbor Road while he got his bearings.

As the Louisiana Brigade pulled off to the right toward New Cold Harbor, passing behind Elzey’s and Trimble’s brigades, Jackson rode by and uncharacteristically stopped to talk with Major Wheat. Henry Kyd Douglas, of Jackson’s staff remembered: "While was directing the movements of his divisions and personally seeing the formation of his line, he passed the battalion known as the 'Louisiana Tigers' commanded by Major Bob Wheat. By his brave, reckless, and generally loose men and their gallant, big-hearted commander, General Jackson was regarded with superstitious reverence. No two men could be more unlike than 'Old Jack' and Bob Wheat, but the latter’s affection for was akin to adoration. I never passed by command that did not stop and ask me how 'the Old General' was, sometimes half a dozen times a day, and generally adding, 'God bless him.' This day Major Wheat, looking like a mounted Falstaff, was on horseback as passed his battalion. When the General approached rode up to, with uncovered head, and almost bluntly said, 'General, we are about to get into a hot fight and it is likely that many of us may be killed. I want to ask you for myself and my Louisianans not to expose yourself so unnecessarily as you often do. What will become of us, down here in these swamps, if anything happens to you, and what will become of the country! General, let us do the fighting. Just let me tell them that you promised me not to expose yourself and then they’ll fight like, er, tigers!' As he spoke he looked up frankly in Jackson’s face, who was listening attentively. Then suddenly, taking Wheat’s hand and shaking it, Jackson said, “Much obliged to you, Major. I will try not to go into danger, unnecessarily. But Major, you will be in greater danger than I, and I hope you will not get hurt. Each of us has his duty to perform, without regard to consequences; we must perform it and trust in Providence.” They separated and as rode away he said, 'Just like Major Wheat. He thinks of the safety of others, too brave ever to think of himself."

Soon after his surprisingly cordial meeting with Jackson, Wheat, “superbly uniformed, as he usually was, his large handsome figure the better set off for the splendid clay-bank horse he was riding,” rode up to his friend, Major Boyd, and said: “Major, just look at my Louisiana planters! I’d like to see any 5,000 button makers stand before them this day!”

A little after 4:30 P.M., as the one hundred or so ragged men of Wheat’s Battalion waited in the wood line, Colonel Walter Taylor, Lee’s adjutant, galloped up to Ewell and implored him to throw his division into battle to prevent the Federals from launching a counter-attack on the heels of the Hills’ failed assaults. Ewell quickly obliged and sent the Louisiana Brigade in first, angling toward the right, heading toward A.P. Hill’s pressed division; Trimble’s brigade went in second, on Seymour’s left, and Elzey’s brigade went in third, angling to the left and toward D.H. Hill’s division.

Seymour led his Pelican Staters across the dusty road and into a large field that used to be the site of one of Porter’s encampments. Once they crossed a dirt track that ran straight to the top of Turkey Hill, the Tigers and others passed through the shattered elements of Brig. Gen. Richard Anderson’s Georgia brigade of A.P. Hill’s division that was pulling back from the battle area. Advancing a little farther, the Louisianans began to take horrific artillery fire from Federal guns posted atop Turkey Hill, killing or maiming several. Unbeknownst to the men of the Special Battalion—who were most probably on the extreme left of Seymour’s line, adjoined with the 9th Louisiana—they were being thrown into the absolute worst part of the line as they were headed straight for a precipitous bend in the creek where the sturdy 32nd NY and the 33rd and 95th Pennsylvania (Gosline’s Zouaves) had the area in a complete crossfire. To make matters even worse for Seymour’s doomed brigade, the aforementioned Federal units were supported by Battery L/M, 3rd U.S., deployed fifty yards further up the hill near the Watt House, General Porter’s headquarters.

Once the Louisianans crossed the field, stepping over the dead and wounded of Anderson’s shattered brigade, they entered the woods and began a quick descent toward the creek. For a while, all was quiet. That damned Yankee artillery couldn’t reach them any longer—thank God—and the Federal infantry could not yet be seen. Descending the wooded slope, passing through the felled timber, the Tigers plunged into the cool knee-deep waters of Boatswain’s Creek, shrouded by the thick smoke left from the previous battle and shielded by its steep, three to four foot high sandy banks. About fifty yards above them, however, on the clear ridge opposite, sat the first line of Federal breast works, manned by the 33rd and 95th Pennsylvania and the 32nd New York regiments. From their dominant positions, the Federal volunteers, who could just barely see the Pelican Staters milling about in the creek bed below, opened a withering fire. At that moment, Colonel Seymour plunged into the creek, horse in tow, and ordered his men forward. “To halt before such a volcano was madness,” remembered Harry Handerson of the 9th Louisiana. “The only hope was to storm it rapidly.”

As the Louisianians vaulted over the embankment, however, they were blasted by another volley of Federal musketry, instantly killing, among others, Colonel Seymour, who was hit several times in his head and body. The entire brigade quickly became pinned down as it was caught in a cross fire of epic proportions: Gosline’s Zouaves were firing into their left, the 33rd Pennsylvania was firing into their front, and the 32nd NY was firing into their right. Private Handerson later commented, “Now was the critical moment when a voice of authority to guide our uncertain steps and a bold officer to lead us forward would have been worth to us a victory.”

That man was none other than Roberdeau Wheat. Knowing that it would be suicide to stay put or to retreat back into the creek, Wheat determined to once again lead his intrepid filibusters in a bold up-hill assault against an entrenched enemy. He turned around, looked through the smoke, found a few of his Tigers, and ordered another one of his brazen charges. But this time, there was apparently too much confusion, too much enemy fire. As such, Wheat gallantly charged up the hill, daring others to follow him. He got to within twenty-five yards of the Federal breastworks, manned by Philadelphia Zouaves from Colonel John M. Gosline’s 95th Pennsylvania, when he was hit by a Yankee bullet which passed through one eye and out the back of his head, killing him instantly. Henry Handerson remembered: "Just then, a little to my left and perhaps ten paces in advance of our line, I noticed Major Wheat picking his way slowly and carefully through the dense underbrush, quiet and determined apparently, but uttering no word and followed by none of his own, or, indeed any other command. A moment later he fell motionless, seemingly without a groan or a struggle, and I knew his restless career was ended. At the same time a comrade just to my left fell with a groan and turned upon me a beseeching look which I could not resist."

All hell was breaking loose. Command was broken to pieces. Men went down by the score. Unable to withstand it any longer, the soldiers of the once stalwart Louisiana Brigade, like Anderson’s before it, retreated up the slope hauling away as many of the wounded with them as possible.

As the beaten Tigers spilled out of the wood line and headed back toward Old Cold Harbor, they ran into some of Trimble’s men who were marching toward the front. The heroes of Manassas, Front Royal, Winchester, and Port Republic tried to warn their Valley brethren of the futility of attacking such position frontally. “You need not go in,” one Tiger declared, “we are whipped; you can’t do anything!” Another reportedly said: “Boys, you are mighty good, but that’s hell in there!” And one teary-eyed Zouave proclaimed: “They have killed the Old Major and I am going home. I wouldn’t fight for Jesus Christ now!”

Trimble heeded the Louisianans’ warning and attacked a little more to the left, more toward Elzey’s brigade. He also seemed to have rallied some companies of the scattered Louisiana Brigade for a brief time and continued his advance. Trimble wrote: "I formed my force, increased on our left by the fragments of the regiments which had been rallied, as nearly as parallel with the line opposed to us as I could judge by their fire through the woods, and then rode along the line, distinctly telling the men, in the hearing of all, that they were now to make a charge with the bayonet and not stop one moment to fire or reload...under the enemy’s fire the advantage over us, posted as he was in a good position, and strengthened by fallen timber, to obstruct our advance, and that the quicker the charge was made the less would be our loss. Leading them on with perfect confidence in their pluck the regiments advanced firmly and gallantly, receiving heavy volleys of the enemy’s fire from the opposite height without returning it."

As the battle once again became heated, however, Trimble ordered the Louisianans to “withdraw out of fire because they were still somewhat confused.” With Taylor still in an ambulance in the rear and Seymour dead, Colonel Leroy Stafford of the Ninth Regiment took charge of what was left of the Louisiana Brigade. He reported simply, “I took command of the Brigade and was ordered by General Trimble to form the troops in line of battle near the edge of the wood; this was done.” Once Ewell’s division was fully committed, Captain Brown rode up from Old Baldy’s headquarters to help rally the bushwhacked Louisiana Brigade and two companies from the 15th Alabama of Trimble’s brigade who were moving to the rear. He wrote: "As I went down the road from towards the swamp, men came rushing out of the bushes on the right. I had seen troops of other commands coming out of these as we came up, but these I knew to be Louisianians and to leave a gap in our line. Colonel Cantey of the 15th Alabama with two of his companies also came out; but they as well as Colonel Stafford’s 9th Louisiana and parts of the 8th Louisiana and 7th Louisiana were in some sort of order and soon came under the control of their officers. I concluded that my first duty was to rally these men as Seymour had been killed, to get someone to take command of the brigade. It took three quarters of an hour of hard work. We formed just behind a little crest; on the flank of Trimble’s two regiments and when the line was in some sort of order. I reported to the condition of affairs and set off to find General Ewell. Trimble ordered the officer in command (Stafford, I believe, Hays being wounded at Port Republic) to go back out of fire across the road, as he found his men somewhat nervous where they were and let them be till needed."

As the shattered Louisiana Brigade continued to pull back toward Old Cold Harbor, General Taylor was brought forward in an ambulance. He remembered: "It was a wild scene. Battle was raging furiously. Shot, shell and ball exploded and whistled. Hundreds of wounded were being carried off, while the ground was strewn with dead. Dense thickets of small pines covered much of the field, further obscured by clouds of smoke…. The loss of my command was distressing. Wheat was gone, and Seymour, and many others. I had a wretched feeling of guilt, especially about Seymour, who led the brigade and died in my place. Brave old Seymour! I can see him now, mounting the hill at Winchester, on foot, with sword and cap in hand."

It was now past 5:30 P.M. and Lee’s attack was completely stalled. In all, he had elements of five divisions on the battle line, all of D.H. Hill’s, most of Ewell’s, Winder’s, and Longstreet’s, some of A.P. Hill’s, and one two-brigade division, Whiting’s, in reserve. The Federal line, it seemed, was impregnable. Lee resolved to break through, however, committed all of his forces, however, and sent them on a headlong charge against Porter’s line. Sixteen brigades of infantry, a full 32,000 men, would smash Porter’s remaining 25,000 if it was the last thing they did. At 7:00 P.M., an hour before dark, the attack was ordered. Private McClendon remembered: “All being ready, the command ‘charge’ was given, we raised a yell and dashed down the slant pell mell…yelling all the time, expecting a hand-to-hand encounter when we reached their line.”

The Special Battalion, as with the rest of the Louisiana Brigade, did not participate in the final and decisive assault against Porter’s V Corps, an attack that went down in history as one of the most desperate and extraordinary assaults of the war. Before long, with the seemingly insurmountable Federal line breached in multiple points, McClellan ordered Porter to retreat to the south side of the Chickahominy using Woodbury’s, Alexander’s, and Grapevine bridges before he and his heroic men were totally cut off. And although his important York River supply line was effectively severed by Lee’s advance and his men were pushed back from the very gates of Richmond, McClellan did not publicly admit defeat and instead deployed his army along the southern bank of the Chickahominy—another strong position—hoping to once again bludgeon “the Rebel Secesh” and blast them into oblivion in their own back yard.

All told, the battles at Mechanicsville and Gaines’ Mill, days one and two of what later became known as the “Seven Days Battle,” cost Lee 8,751 men (8 percent of his command) and McClellan 6,837 (7 percent of his command). Of this, the Louisiana Brigade lost 174 (29 dead and 142 wounded) and the Tiger Battalion, suffering the most in the brigade, lost 22 soldiers (about 11 percent), including its gallant commander, Major Roberdeau Wheat, Lieutenant William Foley of the Old Dominion Guards and Lieutenant Charles Pitman of the Delta Rangers, who were killed, and Privates Mark Jordan, Thomas Maloney, and Dennis Ryan from the Delta Rangers, who were wounded. Three other men, not specified in the records, were also killed, and sixteen others were wounded.

This left Captain Robert Harris, who was left in charge of the Special Battalion after Wheat’s gruesome death, with about sixty men and four officers—barely a company. With Harris’s unsolicited elevation, Lieutenant W.V. Kinnan commanded what was left of the Walker Guards as Lieutenant John Coyle and Lieutenant Edward Cockroft had been wounded at Port Republic and Lieutenant E.B. Sloan had resigned his commission in December 1861. Lieutenant Thomas Adrian, the brave warrior from Manassas who “loved war,” still commanded the remaining Zouaves of the Tiger Rifles after Captain White was wounded at Port Republic. Captain Henry Gardner of the Delta Rangers, one of the founders of the battalion, resigned his commission immediately after the Gaines’ Mill debacle (he probably feared for his life) and his tiny company was more than likely commanded by Sergeant Michael Horan as Lieutenant Frank McCarthy was killed and Thaddeus Ripley was wounded, like many other officers, at Port Republic. Lieutenant John Keenan, originally a drummer, now commanded the Old Dominion Guards, Wheat’s old company, as Captain Obedia Miller had been sent home after his Manassas wounding and Lieutenant William Foley was killed in the most recent battle. Captain Robert Going Atkins, the Irish soldier of fortune and Wheat’s associate, still commanded the Life Guards, and was now second only to Harris in the battalion command structure.

After the Seven Days, in late-July, in a controversial move, Robert E. Lee and the Confederate War Department decided to disband Charles Dreux's 1st, Robert Harris's 2nd (formerly Wheat's), William Bradford's 3rd, and Henri St. Paul's 7th Louisiana Battalions, their men being transferred to beef up existing regiments. The survivors of Wheat's Battalion were assigned to Coppens's 1st Louisiana Zouave Battalion (until it was disbanded after Sharpsburg), 1st Louisiana Brigade, under Brig. Gen. Harry Hays (Brig. Gen. Taylor was promoted to major general and transferred west to command the District of West Louisiana). To commemorate the memory of Wheat's Tigers, the 1st Louisiana Brigade became known as the "Louisiana Tiger Brigade" until the end of the war. Special Order 185, dated August 9, 1862, officially disbanded Wheat's Battalion: "The battalion of Louisiana Volunteers commanded by Major Wheat, deceased, having been reduced to not more than a hundred men, will be disbanded, and the men compromising the same will be transferred to the Louisiana regiments serving in Virginia." Some of the officers, however, chose to be transferred to the Western Theater, like Major Robert Harris and Captain Alexander White, who was captured by Grant's army at Vicksburg in 1863.