Alan J. Pitts
Re: Civil War letters of Milton Hardin, 31st Ala
Wed Jul 25 11:57:09 2001


The flag of this regiment was captured at Champion Hill/Baker's Creek, May 16, 1863, and is still held by the State of Iowa. The proper letter designation for this company is "B", 31st Alabama, although the original muster roll, dated May 8, 1862, designates it as "C".

This company was the "Ralls Rifles", organized by Capt. Marshall J. Alexander at Talladega, Alabama, March 27, 1862. Members were accepted in Confederate service April 16, 1862. Captain Alexander was appointed Captain and C.S. (Commissary) May 15, 1862, to rank May 10, 1862, but resigned as Captain for health reasons on August 28, 1862. He died later that year. I presume the captain that Hardin considered the meanest in the CSA was Joseph J. Nix. Here is his service record:

Promoted Captain [September 30,] 1862; appointment recorded on April 25, 1863. Wounded and captured at Baker’s Creek, Mississippi, May 16, 1863; exchanged nearby May [20,] 1863. Wounded at Jonesboro, Georgia, August 31, 1864. Submitted resignation to join Bowie’s Company, Barbiere’s Cavalry Battalion, March 16, 1865. Paroled at Talladega, Alabama, May 19, 1865.

Evidently morale in this command wasn't very high. I've seen letters written by a member of Company "C" who was quite angry that Captain Cobb was able to resign and go home. This soldier wrote that Cobb had told his men "a damned lie" to get them to enlist and left them to shift for themselves in the mountains of East Tennessee. Evidently letters from home strongly suggested that the soldier's wife had taken up housekeeping with another man, which didn't help matters.

Capt. James Cobb was taken from his home by a group of men and hung just after the war ended. The Birmingham News ran an article about Senator Richard Shelby visiting his gravesite near Jemison some years ago. The senator claims this man as his ancestor.