Alan J. Pitts
Re: Mobile City Battalion....
Tue Apr 24 10:17:05 2001


Here's what I have on that company:

Company “C” of Mobile County “Slaughter Guards”

Capt. Frederick Baudouin. Cashiered July 27, 1864.
Capt. E. Oscar Zadek. Promoted Captain July 28, 1864. Paroled at Mobile, Alabama, April 18, 1865.

Also called the “German Guards”, members held elections on August 7, 1863, at Mobile, Alabama. Muster rolls from late March and early April of 1864 refer to this command as Company “B”.

I believe these men named their company for General Slaughter, who commanded part of the defenses of Mobile in 1863. When I have a good opportunity, I'll check to see if his name appears on roll. I should've explained that I reviewed all the service records without making notes on each service record, my purpose being to understand the organizational structure of this unit. I have notes on each company and its captains as you see above, as well as a summary on the unit as a whole.

From what I could learn, the Mobile City Battalion was expected to carry out basic military functions without being considered as front-line troops. In modern terms, I would describe them as military police. What they did was important but you wouldn't read about them in accounts of the seige of Mobile. To the best of my knowledge, they were never involved in any battles or skirmishes.