Alan J. Pitts
How far to Union Springs?
Fri Feb 2 13:42:41 2001


Reviewing my notes, muster rolls for Companies "A", "B",
"E", "H" & "K" list the distance each member traveled from home to Union Springs. This was done so that members could be reimbursed for mileage from home to the point of induction into Confederate service. Of course this complicates matters since we don't know where 'home' was.

If look at Company "A", about eighteen men enlisted at Union Springs on Aug. 21, 1862, and about seventy enlisted at Moulton on Sept. 1, 1862. Almost all of the Union Springs group came from Franklin & Lawrence Counties; almost all soon transferred to Company "F", a Lawrence County command. Almost all of the Moulton group (like the Allens) came from Marion County. Lang C. Allen is from Allen's Factory, giveing us one "known" map location. We could find someone from Haleyville who enlisted in one of the other counties to find another point. We might also identify a man from Winston County. Since the 1860 census for Winston gives location by township/range, it's possible to use those men to help us solve the problem.

As I write I see a flaw in my logic: I've been thinking about straight-line map distances, and obviously what these men meant what actual travel mileage. This would have to translate to a smaller number of "straight-line" miles in every case, depending on the road actually travelled. I'll just have to keep that in mind.

As for the other five companies that later joined the 5th Alabama, it appears that Brown's ("C") and Patterson's ("D") were operating independently in North Alabama during the summer of 1862. Of course Patterson's had been Co. "C" of the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment and operated with that command until that command left the area wih Bragg's army in July 1862. Company "F" needed transfers from Powell's
"A" to bring it up to strength during the late fall of 1862. I don't know enough about "G" and "I" to comment; they may have been late 1862 commands. It is clear that the lettering designations were introduced by Major Warren for his battalion and carried over when the regiment was organized. As far as the War Department was concerned, the 22nd Battalion went out of existence when it approved field & staff appointments for Patterson's Regiment Feb. 13, 1863.

I'd question a direct relationship between Patterson/Warren and Roddey's 4th Cavalry as you describe. Roddey had a full complement of companies for his regiment by the late summer of 1862, and would have been interested in boosting Warren's Battalion to regimental size so he could press a legitimate claim to rank as Brigadier General, having the minimum of two regiments under his command. As an aside, late '62/early '63 documents for these two units use the name 'Roddey's 1st Alabama' and 'Roddey's 2nd Alabama' regiments for the 4th & 5th Alabama Cavalry.

Last point: I believe many of the men in Warren's command were without horses when they enlisted. Note that some men have a value listed for their horses; others don't. Capt. Powell lists two horses; a couple of men brought mules to camp as their mounts. The partially mounted condition of Warren's command provides yet another reason for his men to have been somewhat immobile until enough government horses could be had to fully mount his soldiers. Other than a brief foray to Tupelo in mid-October of 1862, it appears they remained around Cherokee and Tuscumbia until January of 1863.






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