Talk:Battle of Athens (1864)

Incorrect Confederate Regiment

The Confederate Regiment engaged at Athens, Alabama, on 26 Jan 1864 was the 53rd Alabama Cavalry (Partisan Rangers), commanded by Moses Wright Hannon. Lt. Col. Hannon was the commander of the 1st Alabama Cavalry from 01 Dec 1861 to 16 May 1862, when he resigned that commission after receiving permission from the Confederate Congress to raise a new regiment under the Partisan Ranger Act of 21 April 1862, that regiment being officially organized as the 53rd Alabama Cavalry at Montgomery on Wednesday, 05 November 1862.

As a side-note: At the time of the engagement in Limestone County, Alabama, Col. Hannon was in command of "Hannon's Brigade", comprised of the 53rd Alabama Cavalry (Partisan Rangers), the 24th Alabama Cavalry Battalion, and the 11th, 4th, and 29th Georgia Battalions. While still in command of the Army of Tennessee, General John Bell Hood of Texas verbally promoted Col. Hannon to Brigadier General, but no paperwork regarding this commission was received by the Confederate Congress in Richmond. On 21 Jan 1865, Maj.Gen. A.H. Iverson wrote a letter to Major General Wheeler, commander of the Cavalry Corps in which Hannon's Brigade served, recommending Col. Hannon's promotion, and on 24 March 1865 Brig.Gen. B.D. Fry sent a letter to the Adjutant & Inspector General, Gen. S. Cooper, urging this promotion, pointing out that Col. Hannon had been commanding a Brigade for over a year.

After the War, Gen. Wheeler stated that the promotion to brigadier general had been made "toward the end of the war", but that the commission had never been received. The January 1908 issue of CONFEDERATE VETERAN magazine identifies Hannon as a brigadier general in a list of "General Officers of the Regular C.S. Army", with the Date of Rank given as 1865, but no specific date noted. Whether the Confederate Congress ever received the promotion appointments from General Hood and/or Bell is not yet known, nor it is known if any commissions were ever sent for Hannon from Richmond; the surviving records of the Confederate Congress from that period, so near the end of the War, give no indications either way. Hannon was referred to in the post-War years as "General", in correspondence and other papers, and the marker on his grave in Oakwood, Texas, identifies him as "Gen. MOSES WRIGHT HANNON".

Primary Reference: Robert G. McLendon, Jr, HISTORY OF THE 53RD REGIMENT ALABAMA VOLUNTEER CAVALRY AND M.W. HANNON'S CAVALRY BRIGADE, ARMY OF TENNESSEE, C.S.A., published 2007 by BLACKHORSE PUBLISHING, Troy, Alabama. ISBN:9780980017502 LOC#2007907501 Correspondence alluded to above and all other details are also contained in the OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE WAR OF THE REBELLION (O.R.s) complied and published by the US Government Printing Office from 1870 to 1901.

submitted 15 July 2011 by JD "Doc" Darlin, Tom Green County, Texas

204.117.51.67 (talk) 13:18, 15 July 2011 (UTC)Doc Darlin

References