Posey's Mississippi Brigade

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Carnot Posey

"Posey's brigade gallantly maintained its position against great odds, and checked the farther advance of the enemy." - From the report of division commander Richard H. Anderson on the battle of Chancellorsville, May 1863


About the Brigade: This was a Mississippi brigade. In fact, it was sometimes called the "Second Mississippi Brigade." The original commander was General Winfield Scott Featherson, but in the Third Corps it was commanded by General Carnot Posey (mortally wounded in the ankle at Bristoe Station) and General Nathaniel Harris.

Image of General Carnot Posey, commander of the Brigade

The brigade fought together as a unit from the Seven Days until Appomattox. It was transferred into the Third Corps along with the rest of Anderson's Division prior to the Gettysburg Campaign and remained in the Third Corps for the duration of the War. The Brigade was made up of the 12th, 16th, 19th, and 48th Mississippi Regiments.

12th Mississippi

  • Maj. James Raiford Bell (12/05/31-02/12/06)
  • Of Holmes Cty; wounded at Seven Paines and captured August 1864
  • Maj. John R. Dickens (ca. 1822-?)
  • North Carolinaian; disappeared in 1862
  • Col. Richard B. Griffith
  • Confederate General
  • Col. Merrie B. Harris (ca. 1829-08/15/65)
  • Of Copiah Cty; severely wounded at Weldon RR; died of wounds
  • Col. Henry Hughes
  • Maj. William H. Lilley (ca. 1837-02/17/63)
  • Wounded in Seven Days; died in railroad accident
  • Col. William H. Taylor (?-?)
  • Born in Virginia; elected to state legislature 1863
  • Lt. Col. Samuel Beauchamp Thomas (07/17/25-06/13/1907)
  • Mexican War veteran and Hinds Cty sherriff wounded at Fraziers Farm and Petersburg

16th Mississippi

  • Lt. Col. Seneca McNeil Bain (ca. 1835-ca. 1900)
  • NY born Pike Cty teacher captured at Weldon Railroad; postwar Texas doctor
  • Col. Samuel E. Baker (ca. 1829-05/12/64)
  • Killed at Spotsylvania
  • Maj. Thomas Jefferson Bankston (?-?)
  • Lt. Col. Robert Clarke (?-?)
  • Col. Edward C. Councell (ca. 1833-09/10/64)
  • Mortally wounded and captured at Weldon Railroad
  • Lt. Col. Abram Morrell Feltus (10/06/33-05/12/64)
  • Of Woodville; graduate of U. Penn killed at Spotsylvania
  • Col. Carnot Posey
  • Lt. Col. James J. Shannon (ca. 1825-?)
  • Resigned winter 1862 due to disease
  • Maj. Thomas R. Stockdale

19th Mississippi

  • Maj. Benjamin Allston (02/26/33-?)
  • Of Charleston SC; graduate of Citadel and minister; later served on Kirby Smith's staff
  • Maj. Robert Aaron Dean (12/29/36-?)
  • Of Marshall Cty; post-war state legislator. Died after 1912.
  • Lt. Col. James H. Duncan
  • Col. Nathaniel Harris
  • Col. Thomas J. Hardin (ca. 1830-05/12/64)
  • Of Marshall Cty; killed at Spotsylvania
  • Col. Lucius Q.C. Lamar
  • Col. Christopher Haynes Mott (06/22/26-05/06/62)
  • Of Livingston Cty KY; Holly Springs lawyer & Mexican War vet killed at Williamsburg
  • Col. John Mullins
  • Col. Richard Wright Phipps (10/01/33-10/21/1912)
  • Marshall Cty TN native; top in class at U. Miss; postwar MS legislator; died in Florida
  • Maj. Thomas R. Reading (ca. 1841-?)
  • Of Vicksburg; aide to General Wilcox; resigned fall 1863
  • Maj. Abner Smead
  • Lt. Col. Ward G. Vaughn (ca. 1824-?)
  • Of Oxford. Wounded at Williamsburg

48th Mississippi

  • Col. Joseph McAfee Jayne (ca. 1827-?)
  • Of Covington Cty; wounded Chancellorsville, captured at Sayler's Creek
  • Maj. Levi C. Lee (?-?)
  • Of Graysport; wounded in thigh and arm at Fredericksburg
  • Lt. Col. Thomas B. Manlove
  • Lt. Col. William S. Wilson

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