The Confederate Ninth Tennessee Infantry

Book excerpt: A military history of one American Civil War battle unit based on soldiers’ correspondence, memoirs, war records, and obituaries. Here is the story of the Confederate Ninth Tennessee Infantry, known as the “Southern Confederates,” one of the most well-educated, zealously religious, and unbelievably gallant groups of men to engage in the American Civil War. Using the soldiers’ actual letters, memoirs, war records, and obituaries, James R. Fleming documents this immortal “band of brothers,” which included five of his own ancestors, as they endure the privations of life on the western front. This valuable historical and genealogical resource also includes discussions of the battles at Columbus, Perryville, and Atlanta, as well as the regiment’s Order of Battle and each soldier’s service record. The Confederate Ninth Tennessee Infantry contains a wealth of archival information taken from primary sources. The letters and reminiscences of Capt. James I. Hall, an educator who joined the war to watch over his young students, are published here in full for the first time. The author has also included C. B. Simonton’s detailed contemporary account of the unit’s organization, as well as transcripts of the speeches given at the presentation and acceptance of the company’s first flag. Mr. Fleming also features a regimental chronology and a roster containing approximately eleven hundred official war records from the Compiled Service Records. Praise for The Confederate Ninth Tennessee Infantry “This volume is a worthy contribution to the regimental history genre. . . . Useful for anyone interested in the Ninth or any of the campaigns and battles in which the regiment participated.” —William H. Mulligan, Jr., The Civil War News “Nothing brings an event alive more than the words of the actual participants. . . . A must read for anyone interested in the history of Tennessee troops in the Civil War.” —Connie Slaughter, historian, Wilson’s Creek National Military Park “Civil War buffs, this book’s for you.” —Charles D. Townsend, National Genealogy & Heraldry, Fellowship of Rotarians