Jim Martin
Grasping at straws
Mon Jul 16 10:48:38 2001


Hayes,

I've searched for these gentlemen before when you've posted earlier messages on the board regarding the 5th Alabama Dragoons. As you know, I research the 5th Alabama Battalion (Van de Graaff's) and I'd like to know of them to see if any references might actually be about my little battalion.

As I looked at the inscription information on the "Old Barn Antiques", and I also have seen other of these plates, I wonder if there is any possibility that this could be a company of the "5th Confederate Infantry" aka, Walker's 40th Tennessee Regiment? Could the designation "CSA 5th" mean "Confederate Fifth Infantry" and the "Alabama Dragoons" be their nickname or simply their designation as an Alabama unit? You know there were four companies of Alabamians in the 5th Confederate, but I've never seen anything which identifies the company nicknames or local unit designations.

Here's another guess, two companies,"E" and "F", of the 5th Alabama Battalion (Van de Graaff's), aka 8th Infantry Battalion, were transferred in early 1862 to the 55th Virginia Infantry and became companies "L" and "M" of that regiment. In other companies of the 55th Virginia there are two units with "Dragoon" included in their name. I do not know the local unit designations of companies "L" and "M". Could one of these companies have been, for a short time, member of the 5th Alabama Battalion and identified their company with its unit type designation "Dragoons"?

Just some food for thought. Like the subject line says, I'm just grasping at straws.

Jim