Hayes Lowe
17th Bttn. Sharpshooters
Sat Mar 3 07:46:59 2001


The following is from a draft of one of my as yet unpublished books:

"17th Alabama Infantry Battalion, Sharpshooters
A Battalion of Gladden’s Brigade (through the Battle of Shiloh)
A Battalion of Gardner’s Brigade (until the Battle of Murfreesboro)
A Battalion, then Regiment, of Deas’ Brigade (thereafter)"

"The 17th Alabama Infantry Battalion, Sharpshooters, was formed in June 1862, and composed of only two companies (Company A and Company B) from the 19th and 39th Alabama Infantry Regiments. This Battalion was under the same brigade as the 19th and 39th Regiments. No records of the unit have been found after August 1864. Apparently it was disbanded and the men were returned to there regiments. These are probably some of the men of the 19th whose attendence at various musters are marked “On Special Duty”, or similar notations."

"Company A was formed with men assigned from the 19th."

I don't think that you will find much in the way of a unit history, although Dr. Ken Jones may a little on his Alabama unit histories page. I think that you will have to look at the overall brigade histories, or the history of the 19th to see where and what the 17th was doing. The 17th is listed separately in most "Orders of Battle", of which many are listed on the internet.

The following is a list of engagements of the 19th, and I would think that it is probably the same for the 17th SS Bttn.

Engagements: Shiloh, Farmington, Miss., Bridge Creek, Miss., Munfordsville, Ky., Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, skirmishes between Dalton and Atlanta [Rocky Face Line, Resaca, New Hope, Noonday Creek, Alabama Hill, Kennesaw Mountain, Augusta Railroad, Ezra Church], Battle of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville, Kingston, Bentonville, and Salisbury.

You'll also note that in my draft I show that the 17th SS Bttn. was raised to regiment size later in the war. I don't recall where I saw that information, and I doubt that it is correct.