2nd Alabama Infantry Regiment, “Magnolia Regiment”

On January 11, 1861, Alabama seceded from the Union. During April 1861, The Second Infantry Regiment was composed of companies, which flocked to the seaboard at the first call of the State, and enlisted for a year. The 2nd Infantry Regiment, called “Magnolia Regiment”, under Col. Harry Maury, was organized at Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama. Its members were raised in Calhoun, Pickens, Franklin, Monroe, Clarke, Mobile, and Jackson counties. The regiment formed the garrison at Fort Morgan, serving as infantry and artillery, until March 1862, when it was ordered to Fort Pillow in Tennessee. Here it disbanded because its term of service had expired.

Company B, “Lane Guards” under Captain Thomas C. Lanier, from Pickens County, Alabama.

Company B, “Lane Guards” - Captain Thomas C. Lanier, many men from Pickens County, Alabama.

Tho mas C. Lanier was a wealthy planter and an officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Lanier was born and raised in Pickens County, Alabama. He built a flourishing business, Sipsey Mill. He joined the newly formed Bethesda Presbyterian Church in 1838, along with his wife Sarah D. Lanier.

When the Civil War started, Lanier was elected as Captain of the Lane Guards, which became Company B of the 2nd Alabama Infantry. The regiment was organized in Lanier's native Pickens County on February 19, 1861, and his company enrolled in state service on March 18, 1861. Its members were transferred to the Confederate command at Fort Morgan, March 26. Lanier eventually became Colonel of the 42nd Alabama. He was twice wounded and fought in many major campaigns.

F ollowing the war, Colonel Lanier wrote these words:

"We … were whipped out and had to surrender. I am for peace now, henceforth and forever, and hope to never be in or near another war. Let those … who wave the bloody shirt take their guns and go forth and fight; and I hope they will make a kilkenny fight and no one left to tell the tale." -- as reported by Robert Hugh Kirksey, the former probate judge of Pickens County, Alabama.

Lan ier moved to Florida following the war and founded Lanier, Florida. He was Master of the Masonic Lodge of Leesburg, Florida in 1870.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThomasC.Lanier

42nd Alabama Infantry Regiment, “Moores Brigade”

The Alabama 42nd Infantry Regiment was organized and mustered into the Confederate service, at Columbus, Mississippi, on May 16, 1862. It was principally a reorganization of other regiments whose twelve month term of service was complete. Some of the men had served in the 2nd Alabama Regiment. Its members were from the counties of Monroe, Pickens, Wilcox, Mobile, Conecuh, Fayette, Talladega, and Marion.The regimentwas brigaded under Gen. John C. Moore of Texas.

“ Battle of Corinth” Mississippi

A month later the 42nd went into the “Battle of Corinth” with 700 men, and lost 98 killed and about 250 wounded and captured in the fighting at and near that place. It wintered in Mississippi, with Gen. Moore's Brigade being reorganized with the 37th, 40th and 42nd Alabama, and 2nd Texas regiments.

It was part of the garrison of Vicksburg, where it lost 10 killed, about 50 wounded, and the remainder captured at the surrender of the fortress. It surrendered at Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863 and was paroled there later in the month. This regiment was composed mainly of men who re-organized in two or three instances as entire companies, after serving a year as the Second Alabama Infantry.

Kennedy James K J Bailey