11th Alabama Infantry

Confederate Regiments & Batteries * Alabama

The 11th Alabama Infantry Regiment was organized in Virginia in June of 1861 and was surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April of 1865. It mustered 1,192 men during the Civil War, of whom 270 were killed or mortally wounded and 200 died of disease.

1861
June The 11th Alabama Infantry Regiment  was organized at Lynchburg, Virginia under Colonel Sydenham Moore, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen F. Hale and Major Archibald Gracie.
July Arrived in Winchester and attached to General Kirby Smith’s Brigade
1862
January Attached to Wilcox’s Brigade of Smith’s Division, Potomac District
April Major Gracie and Captain Young M. Moody of Company A returned to Alabama to raise the 43rd Alabama Infantry Regiment
May 7 Captain George Field of Company B was promoted to major.
May 31- June 1
Battle of Seven Pines

The regiment suffered 9 killed and 49 wounded. Colonel Moore was mortally wounded and died on August 25, 1863.

From General Wilcox’s report:

The leading regiment, the Eleventh Alabama, Col. Sydenham Moore, of my brigade, was ordered to the front. Colonel Moore with two companies dislodged the enemy, receiving two wounds, one of which proved mortal …. His loss is scarcely reparable. Lieut. Walter E. Winn, adjutant of the Eleventh Alabama, was much distinguished for his zeal and courage …. Lieut.-Col. S. F. Hale of the Eleventh Alabama, though commanding the Ninth Alabama, was conspicuous for the skill with which he managed his regiment. Captains Tayloe and Holcombe were wounded in the first day’s fight, the former seriously.
June 25 – July 1
Seven Days Battles

Total casualties reported were 76 killed and 240 wounded.
June 27
Battle of Gaines’ Mill

Lieutenant Colonel Hale, Lieutenant W. C. Faith and 27 other men were killed and 129 were wounded
June 30
Battle of Frasier’s Farm (Glendale)

The 11th Alabama lost 49 killed and 121 wounded in a bayonet charge across open fields, including the commanding officers of the regiment and eight companies. These included Colonel Greene, who was mortally wounded; Major Field, who was wounded; Captains Stephen E. Bell, William M. Bratton, Thomas H. Holcombe, and James H. McMath and Lieutenants A. B. Cohen, T. J. Michie, and A. N. Steele, killed; Captain Walter C. Y. Parker, mortally wounded; Captain John C. C. Sanders wounded, and Captain Abner Newton Steele, died in service.
August 30
Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run)

The regiment lost 25 casualties
September 11 Major Field resigned. Captain Richard J. Fletcher of Company E was promoted to major.
September 14 – 15
Siege of Harpers Ferry
September 17
Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam)

The 11th Alabama Infantry was commanded by Major John C.C. Sanders. It lost 3 killed and 26 wounded, and lost its colors to the 57th New York Infantry.

From the first of two tablets for Anderson’s Division on the battlefield:

Anderson’s Division comprising the Brigades of Cumming, Wright, Pryor, Mahone, Featherstone and Armistead crossed the Potomac at Blackford’s Ford about daybreak and between 8 and 10 A. M. arrived upon this part of the field. Armistead’s Brigade was sent to the support of McLaws in the Dunkard Church Woods and the other five Brigades were disposed in the Apple Orchard and on open ground either side of it, between this and Piper’s Lane. The Division advanced in support of a part of D.H. Hill’s Division, then heavily engaged and after a stubborn contest in which portions of the Division reached this point, it was repulsed with heavy loss and fell back to Piper’s Lane and the Hagerstown Pike.
December 13
Battle of Fredericksburg

The regiment suffered 3 killed and 5 wounded; Colonel John Caldwell Calhoun Sanders was in command
1863
June 1 Wilcox’s Brigade of Anderson’s Division transferred to the new Third Army Corps under Lieutenant General A.P. Hill.
May 3 – 4
Battle of Salem Church (Bank’s Ford)

Lieutenant O. L. Strudwick and15 other men were killed and Captain Benjamin T. Higginbotham and 76 other men were wounded. Higginbotham resigned on August 12 due to his wound. General Wilcox’s report gave the regiment credit for a captured Union flag, and Colonel Sanders praised  Private J. C. J Ridgeway.
July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg

The regiment lost 7 men killed and 69 wounded out of 311 men engaged. Colonel Sanders was wounded, Major Richard J. Fletcher lost a leg, and Lieutenant Colonel Geoge E. Tayloe took command of the regiment.

From the brigade monument at Gettysburg:

July 2. Formed line here in forenoon. The 10th and 11th Regiments taking position on the right after a severe skirmish with the Union outpost. Advanced at 6 P. M. and broke the Union line on Emmitsburg Road capturing two guns and pursuing rapidly took many prisoners and six more guns. At Plum Run was met by a heavy fire of artillery and fresh infantry and being unsupported after severe losses fell back without being able to bring off the captured guns.

July 3. Took position west of Emmitsburg Road in support of artillery. Soon after Longstreet’s column started an order was received to advance and support it but smoke hiding the oblique course of Pickett’s Division the Brigade moving straight forward found itself engaged in a separate and useless conflict and was promptly withdrawn.

July 4. In line here all day and at dark began the march to Hagerstown.
August 25 Colonel Greene died of his wound from Frasier’s Farm.
1864
February 3 The regiment was commended by General Lee for its reenlistment for the duration of the war.
Spring Colonel Sanders returned from recovering from his wound.
May 5 – 7
Battle of the Wilderness
May 8 – 12
Battle of Spotsylvania

The regiment lost 65 casualties in a week. Colonel Sanders took command of the brigade on May 12 when General Perrin was killed.
May 31 Colonel Sanders was promoted to brigadier general, commanding the Alabama Brigde
May 31 – June 4
Battle of Cold Harbor

Captain John James was killed
June-July
Battles around Petersburg

The regiment suffered 80 casualties since June, including Captains James L. Brazelton and Lemuel Harris and Adjutant R. Y. Ashe, killed, and Captain Richard M. Kamedy, wounded.
July 30
Battle of the Crater

James N. Keeton (Company G) captured a Federal flag.
August 21 Colonel John Sanders was killed at the Weldon Railroad while commanding the brigade as senior colonel.
September 7 Major Fletcher was retired to the Invalid Corps.
October 27 Captain Joseph C. Cadell killed in fighting around Petersburg
1865
February 5 – 7 Lost 76 men in fighting around Petersburg
April 1 – 9 Retreat to Appomattox as part of Forney’s Brigade, Mahone’s Division, Third Corps
April 9
Appomattox Court House

The 11th Alabama Infantry Regiment surrendered 125 men under the command of Captain Martin L. Stewart.