37th Alabama Infantry Regiment

The 37th Alabama Infantry Regiment was organized at Auburn, in the spring of 1862, under the requisition of President Jefferson Davis for 12,000 more Alabamians.

The members were recruited from Barbour, Chambers, Henry, Macon, Pike, Russell, and Tallapoosa counties.
Ordered to Columbus, MS, after a short time, the regiment proceeded to Tupelo. There it was placed in Gen'l Henry Little's Division, and in the Brigade of Col. Martin of TN, with three Mississippi regiments.
Gen'l Dabney Herndon Maury succeeded Gen'l Little when the latter was killed at Iuka, where the 37th was first engaged, with some loss.
The regiment took part in the Battle of Corinth, losing heavily in casualties. The brigade commander fell at Corinth, and the 37th was thrown into a brigade with the 2nd TX, and 42nd AL, Gen'l John C. Moore commanding. The winter was spent in MS -- the regiment retreating from Holly Springs and taking part in the repulse of the invaders at Chickasaw Bayou. Early in 1863, the 37th was sent to the Sunflower River but went back in time to take part in the battles of Port Gibson and Champion Hill, where its losses were severe. The regiment was then assigned to the garrison of Vicksburg and was captured with the fortress. Exchanged soon after, the regiment was in parole camp at Demopolis. Ordered to the Army of Tennessee, it lost heavily at Lookout Mountain and quite a number at Mission Ridge. The winter passed at Dalton, GA, where Gen'l Alpheus Baker of Barbour took charge of the brigade. The regiment was then engaged at Chattanooga (73 casualties our of 407 men present), Resaca, Noonday Creek, Kennesaw, and the battles around Atlanta. In one charge at Atlanta, 22 July, the regimental commander and 40 men were killed outright, out of 300 men present.

During the fall and winter, the 37th was on garrison duty at Spanish Fort but moved into NC. It broke the enemy line at Bentonville, and furled its colors a few days later, with 300 of its number present out of the 1100 who took the field originally.

Field officers: Col. James F. Dowdell (Chambers Co., captured at Vicksburg and retired). Lt. Cols. A. A. Greene (Chambers Co., wounded, Iuka, Mission Ridge; KIA, Atlanta); and W. F. Slaton (Macon Co.). Majors John P. W. Amorine (Pike Co., transferred); W. F. Slaton (wounded, Corinth; captured, Lookout Mountain; promoted); and Joel C. Kendrick (Covington Co.)

[The 37th Alabama Infantry Regiment, Consolidated, was organized on 9 April 1865 by combining the original 37th Alabama with the 42nd and 54th Alabama regiments, at Smithfield, NC. The unit(s) surrendered on 26 April 1865 at Durham Station, Orange County, NC. Field officers: Col. John A. Minter and Lt. Col. William D. McNeill.]

History: Harry Innes Thornton's "Recollections of the war by a Confederate officer from California," in Southern California Quarterly, vol. XLV (1963), pp. 195-218.