THE FIFTIETH ALABAMA INFANTRY.
The Fiftieth Alabama regiment was organized at Corinth in 1862, from two battalions recently enlisted. Placed in Gladden's brigade it fought at Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862, with a loss of 123 killed and wounded, out of 700 men engaged. It was called at first the Twenty-sixth, but as there was already a regiment by that name, it was, after July, 1863, known as the Fiftieth. It was in the battle of Bridge Creek, May 28, 1862, with a loss of 2 killed. In June, 1862, the regiment was placed in General Gardner's brigade, with the Nineteenth, Twenty-second and Thirty-ninth; moved into Kentucky and lost about 20 men in a fight with General Sills' division. Transferred to Deas' brigade, it fought with conspicuous gallantry at Murfreesboro, winning the commendation of its division commander, General Withers, and losing 80 men in killed and wounded. It spent the remainder of the winter at Tullahoma; was for a time consolidated with the Thirty-ninth, under command of Col. H. D. Clayton, and in July it was numbered the Fiftieth, and was alternately commanded by Col. J. G. Coltart and Lieut.-Col. N. N. Clements. At Chickamauga it lost 100 men, out of 500 engaged, and it also lost heavily at Missionary Ridge. It wintered at Dalton, and did arduous duty on the retreat to Atlanta, being engaged nearly every day, and losing heavily in the bloody battles around Atlanta during the last week of July, 1864.
The regiment moved into Tennessee with Hood, and was badly mutilated at Franklin. It then proceeded to the Carolinas and distinguished itself at Kinston, where a line of skirmishers, 40 strong, under Capt. E. B. Vaughan, captured a stand of colors and 300 men of the Fifteenth Connecticut. After April 9th it was consolidated with the Twenty-second, Twenty-fifth and Thirty-ninth, under Col. Harry T. Toulmin, and it was surrendered at Greensboro, N. C.
Col. John G. Coltart, who first led the regiment, was
