32nd Mississippi Infantry

Company A -- Tishomingo Avengers, aka Tishomingo Rifles (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company B -- W.R. Nelson Guards (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company C -- Tishomingo Rebels (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company D -- Lowrey Guards, aka Lowrey Rebels (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company E -- Hatchie Tigers (raised in Tippah & Tishomingo Counties, MS)

Company F -- Southern Farmers (raised in Tallahatchie County, MS)

Company G -- Lowrey Invincibles (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company H -- Beauregard Rifles (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company I -- Johnston Avengers (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

Company K -- Buckner Boys (raised in Tishomingo County, MS)

The history of this regiment begins with the Fourth Regiment of sixty-day troops (see same), which went into camp at Corinth, under Gen. Reuben Davis, in December, 1861, and was ordered to Kentucky in the same month.
The regiment is also called Second Regiment, Army of Mississippi, in a return of election of officers in the Lowrey Guards. At the expiration of the term of service Colonel Lowrey raised a regiment for the war, of which his former command was the nucleus. There are no rolls or statements of organization of the Thirty-second in this department, but there are rolls of the Fourth Regiment. The War Regiment was mentioned in the correspondence of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, March 18, 1862, he writing from Decatur, Ala., advising that 300 men in Tishomingo County, who belonged to the Twenty-sixth Regiment, and were desirous to join the war regiment then being raised by Colonel Lowrey, be organized in three companies and attached to the new regiment. The field officers were commissioned to date from April 3, 1862, and the return of April 30 shows an aggregate present of 960, present and absent 1,239.
In May the regiment was assigned with the Thirty-third to S. A. M. Wood's Brigade, Hardee's Corps. The army under Beauregard remained at Corinth until May 29, holding the fortified lines around their encampment against the army under General Halleck, without any serious encounters. At the close of May the army was withdrawn to Tupelo, and General Bragg, taking command, transferred the main body to Chattanooga in July, whence they marched into Kentucky, reaching Glasgow September 13.
Early in October the Union troops advanced against Hardee at Perryville, and the battle of the campaign was fought there October 8. Wood's Brigade, of Buckner's Division, was in the line at the left of Cheatham's Division, and joined in the successful charge. "Cheatham and Wood captured the enemy's battery in front of Wood and among the pieces and among the dead and dying was found the body of Gem James S. Jackson, who commanded a division of the enemy at that point." (Hardee's report). General Wood was wounded and Colonel Lowrey, who took command of the brigade, and two other Colonels, upon whom the brigade command devolved, were wounded. The Thirty-second must have suffered heavy loss, but the official reports are very meager regarding this campaign. General orders, December 21, 1862: "The regiments of the brigade of Brigadier-General Wood, which, on the memorable field of Perryville, participated in the gallant and desperate charge resulting in the capture of the enemy's batteries, will, in addition to the name of the field on their colors, place the cross-cannon inverted."
The army retreated to East Tennessee through Cumberland Gap, moved to Chattanooga and advanced into Middle Tennessee where the battle of Murfreesboro was begun December 31, 1863. Colonel Lowrey, with his regiment and the Third Confederate, December 22, was guarding the line of railroad between Normandy Station and Fosterville, and General Breckenridge was ordered to send a regiment, not less than 250 strong, to relieve him. But it does not appear that the Thirty-second had an opportunity to take part in the battle. From this battle-field the army fell back to the Shelbyville line, and thence in the summer of 1863 to Chattanooga, and thence in September into Georgia.
Colonel Lowrey in July was commanding the brigade, which then included the Thirty-second and Forty-fifth Regiments and Hawkins' Battalion, with the Sixteenth, Thirty-second and Forty-fifth Alabama, in Cleburne's Division of D. H. Hill's Corps. In the battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, 1863, Colonel Lowrey commanded the Thirty-second and Forty-fifth Regiments consolidated. Lowrey's command was the right regiment of the brigade, with Hawkins' sharpshooters on his right. They did not go into the fight until late in the evening of the 19th, when they moved against the strong position General Thomas had taken on the Chattanooga road, Cleburne advancing from the direction of Chickamauga Creek. Captain Williams' company of the Forty-fifth, deployed as skirmishers, first encountered the enemy, and the battle was joined fiercely, Thomas' first line making desperate efforts to hold their position at a fence. "When we reached the further side of the field," Wood wrote, "many of the enemy still remained behind their defenses, and shots were exchanged at twenty paces. In crossing this field Colonel Lowrey greatly distinguished himself by his continued exertions in urging forward his command." The Federals were driven from these defenses, and Lowrey's men took thirty prisoners. Next day, Sunday, Cleburne was ordered against Thomas' main line of log works, which were, on ground unknown to him and of the most difficult character, and the stern firmness with which he and his men and Baucum's Regiment drove off the enemy and resisted his renewed attacks without doubt saved the right of the army."
Then followed the campaign on the Kenesaw Mountain line and the retreat across the Chattahoochee, when the army was put under the command of General Hood. In Hood's attack at Peachtree Creek, July 21, the brigade supported Stevens' Georgia Brigade, which was repulsed. After a little skirmishing, losing 41 killed and wounded, Lowrey was relieved by Mercer's Brigade. That night they marched to Atlanta and next day were skirmishing along the Augusta Railroad, losing 48 killed and wounded. July 22, they marched with Hardee and made the flank attack called the battle of Atlanta.
The Thirty-second had to cross a miry glade and advance through a brigade that had been repulsed, but, Lowrey wrote: "The Thirty-second Mississippi rushed forward almost to the works, when one-third of the command fell at one volley and two color bearers were killed in quick succession." Lowrey declared he never saw a greater display of gallantry than the charge of the brigade; they failed because a thin line of exhausted men cannot take breastworks held by twice their numbers. The regimental casualties were 18 killed, 45 wounded, 23 missing.
Following is the organization at the battle of Atlanta:
Colonel W. H. H. Tison, wounded. Adjutant--J. W. Smith. Ensign H. N. Patton, killed.
Company A Captain D. F. Reynolds, Second Lieutenant D. W. Rogers (wounded), Orderly Sergeant T. N. Gibson (killed), Sergeants W. R. Sherrill (wounded), W. G. McLearen (wounded), D. J. Wood (missing).
Company B--Captain J. L. Kennedy, First Lieutenant Ed. Harwell (lost leg); First Sergeant S. D. D. Gambrel (lost leg), Sergeant J. D. Agnew (missing).
Company C--Captain J. W. Swinney, First Sergeant William Kincard (wounded).
Company G -- Captain F. S. Norman, Acting Lieutenant-Colonel (killed); Lieutenant B. F. Dilworth, commanding company; First Sergeant J. L. McLean (wounded).
Company E--Captain J. M. Cotton (killed), First Lieutenant Thomas Moody (wounded), Second Lieutenant W. W. Nance, Sergeants John Stewart (killed), M. N. Meeks (missing).
Companies F and K--Lieutenant F. C. Bryant, commanding; Sergeants B. B. Miller (wounded), T. W. Crabb (wounded), E. Anderson (wounded).
Company G--First Lieutenant Charles Cleary, wounded.
Company H--Second Lieutenant W. D. Storment, wounded.
Company I--Second Lieutenant E. T. Smith, captured.
The brigade remained several days in position, east of Atlanta, then was placed in the lines around the city, where in seven days it lost 2 killed and 20 wounded. August 3-6 they were moved near Eastpoint. August 30, General Lowrey was put in command of Cleburne’s Division, and Col. John Weir took command of the brigade.
In the battle of August 31, near Jonesboro, they drove a Federal line across Flint River and captured four cannon. September 1, in another part of the field, they fortified, and lost in killed and wounded from artillery fire. General Lowrey commanded Cleburne's Division in this battle, and when Govan's Brigade gave way, he and Lieut.-Gen. Hardee rode rapidly forward into the battle and encouraged Granbury to hold fast. Weir's Brigade was on the left of Granbury, about a mile north of Jonesboro. The brigade loss July 20 to September 1 was 115 killed, 491 wounded, 104 missing.
September 2, near Lovejoy's Station, Lowrey's Division repulsed the attack of the Federal Division of Thomas J. Wood, an action in which General Wood and a remarkably large number of his officers and men were wounded. At the close of the campaign Captain Andrew E. Moody commanded the Thirty-second and Eighth Mississippi consolidated. Lowrey's Brigade, with Cleburne's Division, took part in the October, 1864, campaign on the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad, including the capture of Dalton, moved thence to Gadsden, Ala., skirmished in front of Decatur, and crossed the Tennessee River November 13. November 21 they marched from Florence in a snow storm, advanced to Columbia, crossed Duck River and attacked Stanley's Division at Spring Hill, November 29, an engagement in which there was considerable loss on both sides, next day followed the Federal forces to Franklin and participated in the assault on the evening of November 30, Cleburne's Division on the right of Cheatham's Corps, near the center of the Confederate line. "The advance was a magnificent spectacle," wrote Col. Ellison Capers, "bands playing, general and staff officers riding in front of and between the lines, a hundred battle-flags waving, and bursting shells wreathing the air with great circles of smoke." The advanced line of the enemy was driven back in confusion and numbers captured. But the main Federal line, behind parapets, and protected by a crossfire of artillery, defied the impetuous valor of the assailants. The loss of life was frightful. General Cleburne was killed, and more than sixty brigade and regimental commanders were killed or wounded. Among the wounded was Colonel Tison of the Thirty-second.
The Federal troops fell back to the lines around Nashville, and when Hood's army took position December 2 Lowrey's Brigade was placed on the extreme right, at the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad cut, two and one-half miles from the city. The aggregate present of the brigade December 13 was 837. Maj. Andrew E. Moody was in command of the Eighth and Thirty-second Mississippi. General Lowery commanded the division after Cleburne's death until the arrival of J. A. Smith, the senior Brigadier. In the battle of Nashville, December 15-16, the division repelled all assaults on the first day, and on the second, moved to the Granny White pike, fought gallantly until overwhelmed in the general disaster. They recrossed the Tennessee River December 26 and marched into northeast Mississippi.
In the organization of the army of Gen. J. E. Johnston, near Smithfield, N. C., March 31, 1865, the remnant of Lowrey's Brigade was commanded by Lieut.-Col. J. F. Smith, the Eighth and Thirty-second Mississippi being consolidated under the command of Capt. H. W. Crook. April 9 the Fifth, Eighth, Thirty-second Regiments and Third Battalion were consolidated as the Eighth Mississippi Battalion, Capt. J. Y. Carmack commanding. With Sharp's and Manigault's Brigades likewise consolidated, it was included in the brigade command of General Sharp, in D. H. Hill's Division, Lee's Corps. The army was surrendered April 26, 1865, and paroled at Greensboro.

(from Dunbar Rowland’s “Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898”; company listing courtesy H. Grady Howell’s “For Dixie Land, I’ll Take My Stand”)
Record of Events for Thirty-second Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, March 1862-April 1864

Mark Perrin Lowery, Colonel
William Henry Haywood Tison, Colonel
F.C. Karr, Major
James W. Swinney, Major
J.H. Stevenson, Surgeon
William C. Cross, Surgeon
D.A. Linthicum, Sugeon
T.J. Talliaferro, Surgeon
B.Bishop, A.S.
A.B. DeLoach, A.S.
W.M. Morton, A.S.
B.L. Cook, A.S.
J.M. Bynumer, A.S.
J.A. Hughes, Act. A.S.
J.F. Arnold , A.Q.M.
J. M. Roberts, A.C.S.
Tom Tison, A.C.S.
John W. Smith, Adj.
D.D. Fitzgerald, Chap.
M.C. Hanks, Chap.
Harlin H.(?), Ens.
Officers of Company A
Tisomingo Rifles

J.G. Lowery, Jr., Captain, r. April 29, 1863
J.M. Bynum, 1st Lieut., r. Feruary 9, 1863
F.C. Carr, 2nd Lieut., to Major
J.F. Burge, 2nd Lieut., r. to Major
D.M. Rogers, 2nd Lieut., r. May 20, 1862
D.F. Reynolds, Captain
John D. Neill, 2nd Lieut., r. June 28, 1862
John R. Moon, 1st Lieut.
David W. Rogers, 2nd Lieut.
William P. Hamman, 2nd Lieut.
William H. Jones, 2nd Lieut.
Officers of Company B
Willam R. Nelson Guards

William R. Nelson, Captain, died November 5, 1862
W.P. Magee, 2nd Lieut., r. July 3, 1862
William Norton, 2nd Lieut., r. July 3, 1862
John V. Humphrey, 1st Lieut., died December 2, 1862
James Kennedy, Captain
A.J. Taylor, 2nd Lieut., r. February 4, 1863
L.M. Guy, 1st Lieut., dropped October 31, 1863
Edward B. Harwell, 1st Lieut.
John D. Bills, 2nd Lieut.
W.F. Rowan, 2nd Lieut.
Officers of Company C
Tishomingo Rebels

J.W. Swinney, Captain to Major
Frank M. Hughes, 1st Lieut. to Captain, r. July 10, 1862, my great-great uncle.
John B. Yates, 1st Lieut., died July 22, 1864
J.S. Burns, 2nd Lieut., r. August 16, 1862
J.W. True, 1st Lieut.
J.H. Echols, 2nd Lieut., dropped June 23, 1864
S. Dalton, 2nd Lieut.
Pvt. M.L.D. Cunningham, my great-great grandfather.
Officers of Company D
Lowrey Rebels

F.S. Norman, Captain, killed July 22, 1864
James H. Buford, 1st Lieut., r. May 25, 1863
J.L Madden, Captain
B.F. Dilworth, 1st Lt.
G.L. Boyd, 2nd St.
T.B. Settle, 2nd Lt.
Officers of Company E
Hatchie Tigers

John N. Scally, Capt.
James M. Cotton, Capt., died July 22, 1864
Thomas Moody, 1st Lt.
William W. Nance,2nd Lt.
W.V. Carlock, 2nd Lt., dropped June 28, 1864
Officers of Company F
Southern Farmers
Alexander To be continued...

Texans in the Civil War

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