Alan J. Pitts
3rd Company "K"....
Tue May 15 10:46:31 2001


The Lowndes County unit became 3rd Company "K" when the regiment reorganized on April 27, 1862. The "Haymouth Guards" was a new command formed on April 8, 1862, of new recruits and reenlistments from 1st Company "E", 6th Alabama Infantry. Captain Daniel W. Johnson was killed at Gaines Mill, June 27, 1862.

Discrepancies concerning the place of enlistment are not uncommon. The example provided here is not uncommon. Notasulga was the site of Camp Watts, one of two "Camps of Instruction" established in Alabama. The other was Camp Buckner at Talladega, AKA Camp of Instruction No. 2. Men enrolled by county conscript officers were sent to one of these two camps and usually assigned to a front-line infantry unit.

With regards to conscripts, sometimes the place of enlistment was simply shown as Camp Watts, but usually it will read Notasulga. Sometimes the place of enlistment may be cited as a collection point or rendezvous such as Greenville. Other times it refers to the residence of the conscript. It may be a general reference such as Coffee County, or a specific place, such as Coffee Springs. To further complicate matters, the place of enlistment may also be shown as the place where the conscript was when he joined a military unit, such as Orange Court House VA or Tullahoma TN.

A veteran filing for a pension usually thought of himself as being in Confederate service from the time he first enrolled, so pension applications usually name a place near the veteran's war-time home.

To clear up the reorganization issue, regiments seem to have been assigned to brigades in 1861 based on term of enlistment. For instance, the regiments in Wilcox's Brigade had enlisted for a three-year term, while the those in Rodes' Brigade were enrolled for twelve months only. When the Confederate Congress passed the Conscript Law on April 16, 1862, men belonging to twelve-month regiments were allowed to reenlist in their original company or join another one. Enough veterans and new recruits were available to reconstitute the regiments of Rodes Brigade, while other twelve-month units such as the 2nd and 7th Alabama disbanded.

I don't know the reason why some regiments reassigned company letter designations while others did not. For instance, the 12th Alabama was a twelve-month regiment, but retained all its original company letters. All company designations in the 3rd, 5th and 6th Alabama were changed. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has an answer to this question.