7th Tennessee

Contact: Commander: Calvin Lee Naylor, 362 6th Street, Marysville, MI 48040

Phone: 989-964-8915

The regiment was organized at Camp Trousdale, Sumner County, just east of Nashville. It was mustered into Confederate service in July, 1861. On July 15 it entrained for the Old Dominion, reaching Staunton, Virginia, on July 25. Along with the 1st and the 14th Tennessee regiments, it formed what was known throughout the war as the Tennessee brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, under Brigadier-General Samuel R. Anderson. The 7th and 14th Tennessee were together from the original formation of the brigade until the surrender at Appomattox.

After a stop of several weeks at Big Springs, Virginia, the brigade participated in the unsuccessful Cheat Mountain campaign in what is now West Virginia. Later, it was ordered to join Brigadier-General John B. Floyd, near Raleigh Courthouse. From there, the Tennessee brigade joined Major-General Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson at Winchester in December 1861.

In February 1862, the 7th and 14th , along, with the 3rd Arkansas infantry, but without the 1st Tennessee, were placed in a brigade commanded by Major-General Theophilus H. Holmes, commander of the Aquia District. In March, the 1st Tennessee rejoined the 7th and 14th regiments to form Anderson's brigade at Evansport (now Quantico), Virginia. The three Tennessee regiments remained together for the rest of the war. They were the only Tennessee regiments to spend their entire term of service in the Virginia theater.

In May 1862, Colonel Hatton, 7th Tennessee regimental commander, was promoted to brigadier-general and given command of the entire Tennessee brigade. However, at the Battle of Seven Pines later that month, Hatton was killed. The Maryland-raised General James J. Archer assumed command of the brigade. (He maintained it actively until his capture at Gettysburg. Archer was paroled 13 months later, but died of illness shortly afterwards: October 24, 1864.) Archer's brigade was placed in Major-General Ambrose P. Hill's division, and in June 1862 consisted of the 5th Alabama battalion, 19th Georgia regiment, 1st , 7th and 14th Tennessee regiments, and Braxton's battery of artillery. As part of this line-up, at the engagements at Mechanicsville and Gaines Mill, the 7th Tennessee suffered 72 casualties and had every field officer either killed or wounded.

In August 1862, Hill's division was ordered to join Stonewall Jackson's corps. At the Battle of Cedar Run on August 9, the regiment suffered 34 casualties. At Second Manassas, the regiment was commanded by Major S. G. Shepard. In rapid succession there followed the engagements at Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown in September 1862. By this time, the whole brigade was down to 350 men. (To put this in some perspective, a properly constituted single regiment ought to have had 1,000 men, though by the mid-war period not many regiments were properly constituted. A properly constituted brigade might be expected to have had at least four regiments.)

The regiment had a brief respite at Berryville, Virginia, in early fall 1862. In November, however, orders were received to join General James Longstreet at Fredericksburg. During the famous battle there on December 13, 1862, the regiment took 38 casualties. Shortly afterwards, at the time of the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, the 13th Alabama infantry regiment was added to the brigade and remained with it to the end of the war. The brigade opened the fighting at the battle with the capture of a strong point in front of the Chancellor House. Following Chancellorsville and the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia, Archer's brigade was placed in Major-General Henry Heth's division of Hill's 1st corps.

The Pennsylvania campaign followed, culminating in the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 3, 1863, Archer's brigade, along with 13,000 other troops, stepped into history in what was to become known as Pickett's Charge. While Archer's men were actually in line to the immediate left of Pickett's division and penetrated the Federal lines momentarily, they, like their Virginia brethren were unable to hold onto their position in the face of insurmountable forces.

Bibliography

Co. D of the 7th Tennessee Regiment (C.S.A.). (n.d.). History of the 7th. Retrieved January 3, 2010, from A Short History of the 7th Tennessee Infantry Volunteers: Archer's Brigade: http://www.7thtennessee.org/