Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat

 

1^st Louisiana Special Battalion

 

 

       Chatham Roberdeau Wheat was born in Alexandria, Virginia, April 9, I826; his father being an Episcopal clergyman, and of an old Maryland family; his mother a granddaughter of General Roberdeau, a Huguenot, and the first general of the Pennsylvania troops in the Revolutionary war; who built a fort at his own expense, and advanced the outfit for our first Commissioners to the court of France. Mr. Wheat was graduated A. B. at the University of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1845, Having been chosen the year before, the representative of his literary society in the junior competitive exhibition of oratory, he departed from the established usage by making an extemporaneous address, which gave bright promise of the eloquence for which he became afterwards distinguished.

       He was reading law at Memphis at the breaking out of the Mexican war, and was among the first to volunteer.  His father, then rector of Christ church, Nashville, had written to advise him to wait awhile, and promised he might go if there should be another call for volunteers.  Before he could get his father's letter (the mail by stage being then four days between the two cities), one was received from him, to this effect: “Dear Pa, ‘a chip of the old block,’ I knew you would be ashamed of me if I did not volunteer as soon as the call came.  My name I am proud to say, is the very first on the list have been unanimously elected second lieutenant in a company of cavalry.  Please send 'Jim' by some careful hand." This was a fine blooded horse, whose dog-like training and wonderful sagacity made him a chief actor in many scenes both tragic and comic, and a universal favorite in his master's regiment.

            He had served in the 1^st Tennessee Mounted Infantry as a lieutenant during the Mexican War, upon the expiration of the twelve months for which they had enlisted, this regiment was disbanded at Vera Cruz, and most of the men returned home; but Wheat raised a company of one hundred and four men, and was chosen captain.  The night before they left the city he was seized with vomito, or yellow fever.  In a hammock swung between two mules he was carried up to Jalapa, where he arrived in an insensible condition.  As soon as he was able he reported to General Scott, and was detailed for special service as a separate command.  His men being well mounted, handsomely uniformed, splendidly equipped and perfect in drill, “did the ornamental," as he laughingly said, “on great occasions for general officers, and triumphal entries into conquered cities.” Accompanying a party making a reconnaissance, as they drew near the city of Mexico he pushed ahead, and was the first to catch a distant view of the city as it lay, to use his words, “glorified by the morning sun in the midst of the loveliest landscape the eye ever beheld.” Captain Wheat was several times honorably name in General Scoffs official reports, for important services and gallantry in the field.

       His command having suffered severely in killed and wounded, he was sent home, soon after the taking of the city of Mexico, to fill up his ranks with new recruits.  These he soon obtained at Nashville, where a flag was presented to his company by the young ladies of Christ church school; on which occasion the colorbearer had on a complete suit of armor helmet, breastplate, & c... of polished brass taken from one of Santa Anna's bodyguard.

       Returning to Mexico, Captain Wheat was detained at Jalapa till the close of the war.  He used to regret that the government of the United States did not keep permanent possession of what he pronounced the finest country in the world ; insisting that the present occupants were as incompetent to develop its resources as the Indians whom the Spaniards had supplanted. He thought it would be a charitable proceeding, as in the interest of civilization and reformed Christianity. He regarded the corrupt church in Mexico as the curse of the country.

       After the war, he moved to New Orleans, where he began his career as a Filibusterer--or mercenary--participating in several expeditions to Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua and there Captain Wheat settled and resumed the study or law.  He was admitted to the bar in1847.  He early acquired considerable reputation as a criminal lawyer.  His very first effort resulted in the acquittal of one of his former command, charged with murder, and after the senior counsel had given up the case as indefensible.

       In 1848 Captain Wheat was elected one of the representatives from the city of New Orleans to the State Legislature. He also canvassed the State for the Whig candidates in the pending, Presidential election, by request of the Central Committee, and had no little success as a stump speaker.  His father having deprecated his frequent introduction of Scripture language and illustration into his political speeches, he was equally surprised and aggrieved, saying he had found nothing so telling and effective with the masses, and that he had not felt it to be a desecration of God's word; for which, though familiar with it from his childhood, lie always had the profoundest reverence.

       And now we come to the period when he entered upon a new military career and that has been much misunderstood as to its character and motives, and was generally stigmatized as “Filibustering.” His was a far nobler purpose.  He was induced to join General Lopez' first Cuban expedition not only from an impulse of philanthropy, but from a patriotic purpose, i.e., to maintain the equilibrium of the States by strengthening the South.  Several prominent statesmen, who were also his warm personal friends, urged him to embark in an enterprise which promised great national benefits as well as personal fame and fortune.

       In the coming sectional strife, which was then casting its shadow before, he and his friends fondly believed that the acquisition of Cuba as a new slave State would enable the South to withstand the further aggressions of Northern fanaticism, and maintain her rights under the Constitution.  Several leading men had promised their open cooperation as soon as it was expedient.  The public authorities did not interfere, and the expedition sailed from New Orleans with the sympathy and good wishes of the entire community.  So far from being regarded as Quixotic, it was universally expected to be completely and at once successful.  The Cubans were represented as only awaiting the landing of an organized force with a supply of arms and ammunition, to rush into its ranks and fill up its skeleton regiments with patriots panting for freedom.  To those who quoted the philosophic aphorism, “Who would be free themselves must strike the blow," Colonel Wheat (so commissioned by the Cuban Junta was used to say, " Suppose a weak woman gagged, manacled, gudgeoned, and completely in the power of a brutal ravisher, would you hesitate a moment to attempt her rescue even at the risk of your life?  Every sentiment and instinct of manhood answers, No! A thousand times, No!" It was from General Lopez that he got the full information which won him to the cause of Cuban independence.  All their subsequent intercourse did but deepens his first favorable impression of Lopez, as a pure patriot, an accomplished soldier, and a truly Christian gentleman.

       In planning this first expedition, special care was taken not to compromise the neutrality of our own government.  The place of rendezvous was in mid-ocean, beyond the limits of the United States.  There the “emigrants," as they called themselves, were first formally made acquainted with their destination and its, ulterior objects.  The task was devolved upon Colonel Wheat.  The vessels were lashed together, all hands on deck, and amid the silent sea his ringing voice was distinctly heard as he thus addressed them:

 

“Fellow citizens, I hold in my hand a paper delivered to me by one of General Lopez' aids, the seal of which he told me to break when in latitude 26' N. and long. 87' W., which point we have now reached.  I find on opening this paper that I am directed to remain near this point until May 7, when he expects to leave New Orleans on the Creole.  Tomorrow we are to sail on a direct line to the Belize, and by Thursday may expect to see the Creole and the old General. I  have addressed you as fellow-citizens, but long before the sun shall sink beneath this world of waters we shall have done what will throw us beyond the protection of the glorious ' Stars and Stripes,' under whose auspices we have sailed thus far.  We shall organize our little band into a skeleton regiment, for the purpose of landing on the island of Cuba, and wrenching it from the grasp of Spain, its cruel oppressor.  The moment we organize, that moment we forfeit the protection of our own government, and we have no right to sail under her flag.  But, like Hagar when she went forth from the tent of Abraham, we still have a right to call on Him who buildeth up the feeble and destroyeth the mighty, and doeth that at all times amongst the sons of men which seemeth to good in His sight; to succor the distressed and deliver from their oppressors them that suffer wrong.  I shall therefore henceforth address you as ' Soldiers of the Liberating Army of Cuba.’ 'We then fellow soldiers, leave arrived at the point for which we sailed. Although most of you ostensibly sailed for Chagres, yet you all knew where you were really bound, and for what.  Do any here object to landing in Cuba a week sooner than he expected when he left home?  Do any grudge to the Cubans that boon of freedom which it is our purpose to bestow a few days in advance of the expected time? No! I feet that I address those who are not only imbued with the glorious principles of equal rights themselves, but who will seek the post of danger at any time for the purpose of extending them to all who may desire their beneficial influence on their political and social systems.  “It has been well said that we live in an age of progress, and no circumstance could be more indicative of this onward march than this expedition.  When civilization, was in its infancy, nation made war upon nation for conquest and booty, more recently, they have gone to war for principle.  Such was the case in the American Revolution; and the memory of Lafayette and our French allies is hallowed in every American heart for coming to the assistance of our fathers in their struggle for freedom and independence, after they had themselves taken up arms against the misrule and oppression of the mother country.  But the march of mind is onward, and philanthropy does not now await the uprising of the oppressed before going to their assistance, as was the case in Texas, but hastens to help by striking the first blow for the downtrodden, as we shall do for the Cubans.  Does any one doubt the propriety of our undertaking remainder that it is our duty to do to others as we would have them do to us? Does any one fear to do it?  Let him return." [Just at this point the Cuban flag was run up to the masthead and flung to the breeze.] “Liberators, behold your flag three cheers for Cuba!  Soldiers of the Liberating Army of Cuba, if we have not been enlisted by the Cubans themselves, we have undertaken the most philanthropic and praiseworthy enterprise of ancient or modern times-that of giving liberty and equality to an oppressed and degraded people, who have now neither civil nor religious liberty.  Only let them be true to us and to themselves, true to humanity and its inalienable rights, and ere long, instead of their flower-scented air being laden with the sighs and groans of dungeoned captives, it shall resound with the shouts of deliverance and the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God, the gracious Giver of every good and perfect gift. Yes! All the people of the land shall hail you as their benefactors for the bestowment of those blessings which are the proud portion of our own dear native land,

 

‘The land of the free and the home of the brave.’

 

You are aware, fellow soldiers that we have come from the United States without arms, without organization, without previous concert to commit any act which may compromise the peace and dignity of our own government.  Nor do we intend to violate international law, unless revolution be so considered; and we must make ourselves successful, and secure the acknowledgment of Cuban in­dependence.  Then, soldiers of the Liberating Army, while you gaze on the Lone Star of Cuba, resolve to make it the bright beacon to victory and renown.  You will now proceed to divide yourselves into ten equal companies, forming a skeleton regiment, and select your officers; after which they will draw lots for rank.  And may success attend not only this, but every other effort on the western continent yes, in the whole world, to eradicate the last germ of monarchy.”

 

       While the Creole was getting water at the island of Mujeres, nearly the whole of the Mississippians and Louisianans determined to abandon the expedition.  Colonel Wheat's eloquence was again called into requisition, and, assembling the men upon the beach, he addressed them in a brief but stirring speech, which so rekindled their enthusiasm that they unanimously resolved to persevere in their undertaking.

       The place of landing on the island of Cuba, as it turned out, was ill chosen; and without concert or cooperation with the Cubans, the invaders were unable to hold it.  In the night attack upon Cardenas, Colonel Wheat was severely wounded, and when they had returned to the steamer they narrowly escaped capture by the Spanish warship Pizarro. The “Filibusters," as because of their failure they were now first called, pursued by the Pizarro, found refuge in the harbor of Key West.

       Colonel Wheat did not accompany Lopez in his second expedition, having been providentially prevented, very much to his chagrin at the time; though, as the event showed, most merciful for himself for his strong attachment to Lopez would have made him cling to his friend and share his fate with the gallant Crittenden.

       It was a generous sympathy with the oppressed everywhere, and not a mere restless spirit of adventure, which next led Colonel Wheat to join Carravajal in his effort to put down the church party in Mexico, and give that beautiful land our free institution instead of the effete misrule of a licentious priesthood.  And again, when Walker, who had been his classmate at college, was in imminent peril of his life, after his defeat at Rivas, faithful to his friend in adversity, he hastened to his relief.  It was in Nicaragua that he met with the most wonderful of his numerous escapes from death. The explosion of the boiler of a steamboat blew from the hurricane deck into the river, but so entirely without injury that he swam to the shore with ease, taking a wounded man with him. 

       When Alvarez “pronounced “against Santa Anna and the church party in Mexico, Colonel Wheat accepted a command in the patriot army.  As general of the artillery brigade, when Alvarez became President, he received permanent rank and pay under his administration, with official commendation and thanks for his services.  When afterwards, by reason of age and its infirmities, Alvarez resigned the presidency and retired to his hacienda, at his earnest solicitation, General Wheat went with him.  The old hero would fain have persuaded him to remain there for the rest of his life as his adopted son. But being now in the fullest flush of a matured manhood, he could not be content with a life of inglorious ease; and as the world was just then beginning to resound with the name and exploits of Garibaldi, General Wheat determined to gratify a long-cherished wish to see Europe, now become doubly attractive by the rapid march of events in the historic changes of governments and peoples.  He landed in England and joined a party of congenial spirits who were going to Italy for the purpose of tendering their services to Gari­baldi. Italy, and rising to the rank of general in the Italians army.

       They stopped a few days in Paris, and General Wheat had a most informal, but also a most agreeable exchange of salutations with no less a personage than the Empress Eugenie herself. Having driven the entire Bois de Boulogne she had alighted from her carriage, and, followed by her ladies in waiting, was walking leisurely down a shaded avenue, when General Wheat, arm in arm with an English officer, came suddenly before the Empress.  His friend, from the impulse of his national sentiment that no one may presume to come unannounced and without previous permission into the presence of royalty, turned instantly and beat a hasty retreat.  Not so the General, who, believing that the Empress would not resent his reverent salutation to the woman, tendered his homage by expressive look and gesture, and the lovely Eugenie promptly acknowledged it by a bright smile and a gracious inclination of the head.  It would make a pretty picture that interchange of grave, sweet courtesies.  For General Wheat was a man of as noble and commanding pres­ence, as she of queenly grace and beauty.  Over six feet in height, and finely formed, he had a dignified carriage and a polished ease of manner and address.

       General Wheat's reception by Garibaldi was in every way gratifying a hearty welcome and the offer of a position on his staff. Promptly accepting it, he engaged at once in active service; and in several engagements which quickly followed, his dash and gallantry were the frequent theme of the army correspondents of the English press.

       The troubles at home, however, gave another sudden turn to his career.  As soon as he heard of the secession of the Southern States from the Federal government, he hastened back to England and took the first steamer for New York.  His friend, General Scott, urged him to fight again under the old flag, promising his influence to procure for him an eligible position in the Federal army.  General Wheat had a great affection for his old commander, and a still greater for the old flag. It was, therefore, a most painful sacrifice to sever those ties which had been made more sacred by much service and suffering in their behalf but he felt the call of a still higher and holier duty, and he obeyed; it was to stand in the lot, and to share the fortunes of his own people and kindred and family.  In the spirit which animated that purest of patriots, R. E. Lee, and from a like stern sense of duty, he gave his hand with his heart in it to the South.

       Stopping but a day at Montgomery.  Alabama then the seat of the Confederate government, to learn the situation of affairs and the probable opening of the campaign, he hurried on to New Orleans, where he hoped to raise a regiment of volunteers for immediate ser­vice.  Before his arrival the Governor of the State, by authority of the Convention which passed the “Ordinance of Secession," had put in commission all the officers of the large force already raised.  But at the call for volunteers to go to Virginia, where it was certain the Federal government would strike the first blow, General Wheat organized five full companies in a few days.  And but for his impatience to join in the first fight, then thou-ht to be imminent, he could easily have raised a regiment.  Making all speed with his bat­talion (entitling him, of course, only to the rank of Major-a secondary consideration with one who thought more of the cause than of himself), he arrived at the front in time to take that conspicuous part in the first battle of Manassas which made ever after the " Louisiana Tigers " a terror to the enemy.  Major Wheat had called the first company raised the “Old Dominion Guard." But another company named " The Tigers," and having the picture of a lamb with the legend " as gentle as " for its absurd device (lucas a non lucendo), exhibited such reckless daring and terrible havoc in their hand-to- hand struggle with the head of the attacking column, that the name of "Tigers," as often as " Wheat's Battalion," was thereafter its popular designation.

In 1861, when his native South declared its independence, Wheat rushed home to New Orleans to raise a regiment to defend the newly proclaimed Confederate States of America. Re-establishing his old recruiting station at 64 St. Charles Street, near the docks, he attracted three already forming companies, Captain Robert Harris' "Walker Guards," Captain Alexander White's "Tiger Rifles" and Captain Henry Gardner's "Delta Rangers," to his banner and formed a fourth on his own, the "Old Dominion Guards." The men of these companies were largely Irish immigrant dockworkers or ship hands who inhabited the southern edge of the city, near the Mississippi River. Recruited from New Orleans' teeming waterfront more than lived up to its pugnacious nickname--Wheat's Tigers--One observer expressed a widely held view that they were the "lowest scum of the lower Mississippi...adventurous wharf rats, thieves, and outcasts...and bad characters generally." At least some of the men, especially those in Harris' Walker Guards, were also former filibusters who had served with Wheat in Nicaragua back in 1857. They mustered into service in their old filibuster uniforms--off-white cotton drill trousers, white canvas leggings, red flannel battle shirts and broad-brimmed, low-crowned straw hats. Once enlisted, the men also wrote provocative slogans--such as "Lincoln's Life or a Tiger's Death," "Tiger by Nature" or "Tiger in Search of Abe"--on their hat bands.

 

Wheat next worked on outfitting his nascent command in the Zouave fashion. Zouaves were originally Algerian units that served in the French army and were considered among the elite fighting forces in the world. The Algerians wore their traditional, flamboyant uniforms during their French service, inspiring a sartorial style that was duplicated by Northern and Southern regiments during the Civil War. To uniform his Tigers as Zouaves, Wheat enlisted the support of A. Keene Richards, a wealthy New Orleans businessman and one of Wheat's former filibuster financiers [Alexander Keene Richards (1827-1881)]of Georgetown, said to be the richest man in Kentucky before the Civil War, with a then-astronomical income of $200,000 a year. He pursued a passion for improving thoroughbred blood stock on his 600-acre Blue Grass Park farm, inherited from his grandparents who raised him after his parents died in the 1833 [cholera epidemic]. The men were issued red wool fezzes with blue tassels; loose-fitting red woolen, placketed battle shirts; red woolen sashes; dark-blue wool, waist-length Zouave jackets with red trim; blue-and-white striped sailor's socks; blue-and-white striped cotton pantaloons cut in the baggy Zouave fashion; white canvas leggings and black leather grieves. Wheat uniformed himself in a dark-blue, double-breasted frock coat and trousers and looked much like a field grade officer in the U.S. Army. He also sported a buff general's sash to commemorate his filibuster commission in the Mexican and Italian armies. For headgear, he wore a red, French-style kepi bedecked with gold lace to denote his rank.

 

1^st Louisiana Special Battalion

 

Company “A”, Walker Guards (Orleans).  Robert A. Harris

Company “B”, Tiger Rifles (Orleans).  Alex White.

Company “C”, Delta Rangers (Orleans).  Henry C. Gardner, resigned July 1, 1862; Thaddeus A. Ripley.

Company “D” (1st), Catahoula Guerrillas (Catahoula), transferred to 7th Louisiana Battalion October 1.1861.  Jonathan W. Buhoup.

Company “D” (2nd), Old Dominion Guards (Orleans), organized as Company E, became independent company mounted infantry September 1, 1862.  Obadiah P. Miller.

Company “E”, Wheat's Life Guards (Orleans), added September, 1861. Robert G. Atkins

 

By early April 1861, all the New Orleans units that intended to volunteer for Confederate service gathered at the Metairie racetrack, two miles northwest of the waterfront. There, Wheat's men were issued Model 1841 "Mississippi" rifles that had been seized from the U.S. arsenal at Baton Rouge in January 1861 and large bowie-style knives. With their new weapons and accouterments, mostly Mexican War surplus, the Tigers were quickly introduced to military drill and discipline by Wheat. Once drill was over, the Tigers drank, played cards or fought, often disrupting camp. On May 13, Wheat was ordered to move his rowdy companies to Camp Moore, in northern Louisiana. Wheat hoped to attract four more companies to his command to form a full regiment, but he was unsuccessful. His rough Zouaves actually repelled potential allies. One man wrote of Wheat's Tigers: "I got my first glimpse at Wheat's Battalion from New Orleans. They were all Irish and were dressed in Zouave dress, and were familiarly known as Louisiana Tigers, and tigers they were too in human form. I was actually afraid of them, afraid I would meet them somewhere in camp and that they would do to me like they did to Tom Lane of my company; knock me down and stamp me half to death." Wheat was forced to stand by while seven other men with less military experience were commissioned colonels and their assembled companies were mobilized into Confederate service in regiments. Spurred to desperate action, he decided to make a deal with state officials to commission him a major and to recognize his four companies temporarily as the 1^st Louisiana Special Battalion. With his status thus secured, Wheat hoped to attract four    or five more companies and become the colonel of the soon-to-be organized 8^th Louisiana Regiment. In the political wrangling that followed, Henry Kelly, not Wheat, became commander of the 8^th Louisiana. With Kelly's ascension, Captain J.W. Buhoup's company of Catahoula Guerrillas voted to leave Kelly's command and throw in their lot with Wheat's special battalion. Unlike the rest of the battalion, the Catahoula Guerrillas consisted of sons of wealthy planters, doctors and lawyers from Catahoula Parish in northern Louisiana. Outfitted in dark-gray battle shirts and blue kepis, they were complete social opposites from Wheat's New Orleans dockworkers. By June 6, Wheat felt that he could no longer wait for regimental command. He resolved to take the five companies that he had, about 415 men total, muster them into Confederate service and head for Virginia. In so doing, he gave up his bid to form a regiment from his special battalion, and his unit was officially named the 2^nd Louisiana Battalion by state officials. To the officers and men of the battalion, however, they would always be known as the 1^st Louisiana Special Battalion, or simply as Wheat's Tigers. On June 13, Wheat's battalion entrained for Virginia. Passing through Mississippi and Tennessee, the Tigers arrived at Manassas Junction, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard's assembly area, on June 20. As the men disembarked at the depot, some soldiers from the 18^th Virginia Regiment noticed that several of the Tigers had been bucked and gagged for disorderly conduct.

 

The battalion was subsequently assigned to Colonel Philip St. George Cocke's brigade, stationed well forward of the army, north of Centreville. Upon arrival, Wheat requested the honor of holding the most advanced position of the Confederate Army. Cocke obliged and sent the Tigers up to Frying Pan Church, just south of the Potomac River. The Tigers were in fact so close to the Potomac, the northern boundary of the Confederate States, that they could hear the Yankees' 4^th of July celebration in Washington. Wheat and his Tigers were not alone for long. They were joined by two troops of Virginia cavalry under Captains John D. Alexander and William R. Terry and by Colonel J.B. Sloan's 4^th South Carolina Infantry. The whole lot, probably to Wheat's dismay, was put under the command of Colonel Nathan Evans of South Carolina. Evans' men began conducting light infantry operations, patrolling and setting up ambushes.

 

While at Frying Pan Church, the battalion fought its first action on July 14. The Federals tried to force a crossing at Seneca Falls on the Potomac, 15 miles northwest of Washington. The place happened to be guarded by Company “B’ of the Tiger Rifles. “They had a nice little skirmish,” Wheat reported, "killing three of the enemy and [their] loss was one man shot in the leg (both legs broken)." Zouave James Burnes [not in Booth] was the man wounded in the engagement, making him the first of the battalion's many battle casualties.

 

At the First Battle of Manassas of all the units that took the field at the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, none exceeded the flair and intensity of the 1^st Louisiana Special Battalion, "Wheat's Tigers." On July 16, Evans was ordered to withdraw from his advanced post and redeploy behind Bull Run Creek with the rest of the army. His command, now designated a brigade, was assigned to guard the extreme left of Beauregard's line that extended from Sudley and Poplar fords in the north to Farm Ford and the Centreville-Warrenton Stone Bridge in the south. Making his headquarters at the Van Pelt House, which was situated atop a ridge some 900 yards west of the Stone Bridge, Evans located his main camp on the western slope of the ridge, shielding it from Federal view. Once the brigade was emplaced, Evans had his men cut away the foliage on the western slope of Van Pelt Ridge down to the creek, clearing fields of fire. Farm Ford, Wheat's responsibility, was left in its natural state. Its only road was on the west, or Confederate, side of Bull Run. Off to the west, continuing up the ford road, was the imposing Carter mansion, which was located on the south side of the road. The mansion, an 18^th -century Georgian-style house, was on the northeastern slope of a ridge that continued in a southwesterly direction toward the Manassas-Sudley Road. Beyond the mansion another 500 yards or so, the Farm Ford road forked again. To the right it led off to the northwest, toward Sudley Ford, on the Manassas-Sudley Road. To the left it led southwest atop the ridgeline, past a quaint house owned by Edgar Matthews, and then on to the Manassas-Sudley Road. On July 18, Union Brig. General Irvin McDowell's 35,000-man army opened hostilities by probing Beauregard's defenses several miles south of the Stone Bridge at Mitchell's and Blackburn's fords. Convinced that Beauregard's defenses were too strong to force a crossing there, McDowell decided to shift the bulk of his army to the north and west and attack Beauregard's left soon after dawn on Sunday, July 21. For this new attack, Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler's division was to be sent in first. Tyler was to march his division out of Centreville and down the macadamized Warrenton Turnpike to feint at the Stone Bridge. Meanwhile, the main column, two divisions commanded by Colonels David Hunter and Samuel Heintzelman, would march down a rough road and turn Beauregard's left at Sudley Ford. At about 3:30 on the morning of the 21^st, Evans' pickets, deployed on the east, or enemy, side of Bull Run, reported that they heard commands in the woods beyond. Half an hour later, their fears were realized when they saw some shadowy figures approaching their position through the dark woods without identifying themselves. Determining that the force was not friendly, the pickets broke the morning silence and opened up on them.

Wheat quickly got his men up and led Captain Buhoup's Catahoula Guerrillas forward to reinforce Captain White's company, picketing Farm Ford. In the meantime, Colonel Sloan of the 4^th South Carolina formed the rest of his regiment into line of battle and sent two companies forward to reinforce his picket line. Private Drury Gibson of the Catahoula Guerrillas remembered, "We were anxious to meet the enemy, in fact our hearts jumped or joy when we saw their bayonets through the distant forest." With characteristic restlessness, Wheat decided to cross the creek and investigate. Riding across the creek into a field on the other side, Wheat spied a Federal column waiting on the pike. Soon after he entered the clearing, Wheat was spotted and forced to make a hasty retreat back to his side of Bull Run. As Wheat splashed back across Bull Run, Evans began to receive reports that an even greater danger was brewing to his far left, near Sudley Ford. Captain Edward Porter Alexander, the army's principal signal officer, had spotted movement and a brief metallic flash several miles to his northwest. Determining that this was a force to be reckoned with, Alexander quickly sent a message down to Evans: "Look to your left, you are turned." At about 7:30 a.m., a full three hours after the skirmish began, Evans, in consultation with Wheat, determined that the Federal attack to his front was merely a feint and resolved to deploy his brigade, under fire, to meet the new threat. Informing Beauregard and Cocke of his intentions and leaving four companies to hold the Stone Bridge, Evans ordered his remaining 11 companies, all of Wheat's battalion and six of Sloan's companies, plus a section of guns, to head toward the Carter mansion to stop the Federal turning column.

Wheat led his men up the road to the Carter mansion. There he deployed the battalion behind a split-rail fence about 400 yards north of the house. Once done, he led his gray-clad Catahoula Guerrillas forward as a picket and then continued up the path in the direction of Sudley Ford. While Wheat conducted his reconnaissance, Lieutenant George Davidson's two-howitzer battery arrived, and Evans deployed them on the Tigers' left, about 100 yards north of the house. From there, they could sweep the road and field to their front. Next came Sloan's six companies, which Evans deployed in reserve behind Lieutenant Davidson's guns. About 15 minutes later, Wheat came galloping back down the road with the alarming news that the Federals were not coming down the country road as expected, but instead were heading straight down the Manassas-Sudley Road toward the Warrenton Turnpike. Evans decided to move his command once again, toward the Manassas-Sudley Road. Evans led his command, with Wheat's battalion in the van, farther to the left by skirting the southern base of the ridge that stretched from the Carter mansion down to the Manassas-Sudley Road. About 500 yards from the road, in a small vale between Buck Hill and the southern slope of Matthews Hill, Evans ordered Wheat to peel his battalion off to the right, up Matthews Hill and to the right of a rectangular pine thicket. Before ensuring that Sloan's right and Wheat's left connected properly, Evans rode down to the pike to place Davidson's fieldpieces in the new position, leaving Sloan and Wheat to their own devices. To make matters worse, before he left, Evans had instructed Sloan "to open fire as soon as the enemy approached within range of muskets." While Evans rode back to the pike and Sloan began his deployment, Wheat cautiously moved his men ahead, across a rivulet and up past the pine thicket, where he momentarily    stopped to assess his position. His battalion was at the bottom of Matthews Hill, which was actually an undulating ridge that ran northeast and southwest. Immediately to his left, perpendicular to his battle line was a cornfield enclosed by a split-rail fence. To his rear was the pine thicket. To his front, about 50 yards away, was a swale continuing up the slope another 300 yards or so, where the ridgeline topped off. There, at the crest, a fence-enclosed farm lane that connected the Manassas-Sudley Road with Edgar Matthews’ house bisected Matthews Hill. Wheat decided to deploy the bulk of his battalion in the swale, with both flanks touching a fence line, while he led his skirmish company, the Catahoula Guerrillas, forward up the slope. As Wheat led the Guerrillas up the hill, Sloan sent out his own company of skirmishers through the pine thicket, apparently unaware of Wheat's location. Creeping through the tangled pines, unable to see more than 20 yards, some of the Palmetto Staters spotted movement to their front. Remembering Evans' orders to open fire as soon as the enemy approached, the trigger-happy skirmishers fired into the leftmost company of Wheat's battalion, which was shuffling into the culvert. In the salvo that followed, the South Carolinians mortally wounded two men Hugh McDonald and James Wilson from White’s Company “B”. Aroused, the Tigers got up, turned about and returned fire; a small battle could have ensued then and there if Wheat had not rushed down the hill on his horse and straightened out the matter. At about 9:15, soon after the friendly fire incident,

Wheat crested Matthews Hill with his Catahoula Guerrillas. He was ready to order up the rest of his battalion when he spotted Federal skirmishers spilling out of the woods to his front, about 200 yards away. Instantly, he ordered Buhoup's men to get down and take cover behind the split-rail fence. The enemy had arrived. The Federal skirmishers whom Wheat spotted belonged to Colonel John Slocum's 2^nd Rhode Island of Colonel Ambrose Burnside's brigade, the lead element of McDowell's main effort. Behind the 2^nd Rhode Island, stacked up on the Manassas-Sudley Road, was Captain William Reynolds' Battery A, 1^st Rhode Island Light Artillery, the 2^nd New Hampshire, the 71^st New York and the 1st Rhode Island. Behind the 1st Rhode Island were Colonel Andrew Porter's brigade, which consisted of Captain Charles Griffin's battery, a battalion of recently recruited U.S. Marines, the 8^th, 14^th and 27^th New York, a battalion of U.S. Army Regular infantry, and a battalion of Regular cavalry. As the Federal skirmishers began to ascend Matthews Hill, Wheat ordered his pickets to open fire. Reacting quickly, the startled Rhode Islanders dropped to the ground and returned fire as best they could. After about five minutes of this, Colonel Hunter ordered Slocum to take the hill. In the face of this full-blown regimental attack, the first seen on American soil in more than 40 years, the Guerrillas were able to hold out for only a few minutes. As the Rhode Islanders closed in, Wheat ordered Buhoup to fall back down the slope and re-form to the left of the Tiger Rifles, who were still sheltered in the culvert. Wheat would now be forced to fight a reverse-slope defense. At 9:30, Hunter, Slocum and the men of the 2^nd Rhode Island swept across the top of Matthews Hill, seizing it for the Federals. At that moment, Evans' entire line, including Davidson's guns, let them have it. "A perfect hail storm of bullets, round shot and shell was poured into us," remembered Private Sam English of the 2^nd Rhode Island, "tearing through the ranks and scattering death and confusion everywhere." The Rhode Islanders somehow held on to their newly won position. This enabled Hunter    to bring up the next unit in his line of march, Captain William Reynolds' battery of six rifled guns. Under intense enemy fire, Reynolds' guns were rushed forward into battery on the east side of the Manassas-Sudley Road, linking up with the 2^nd Rhode Island's right    flank. For almost an hour, the two sides blazed away at each other at close range. Hunter and Slocum, the 2^nd Rhode Island's division and regimental commanders respectively, were wounded during the exchange. By 10 a.m., Matthews Hill was enveloped in thick smoke; visibility was cut to a mere 50 yards. The Federals, silhouetted atop Matthews Hill, made a much better target than the Confederates did, masked as they were by the culvert and the cornfield. Wheat sensed that the Federals were ready to break and thought that another push would drive them from the hilltop. 

Wheat ordered his men to leave their position and move up the hill, guiding to the left and sweeping diagonally over the fence and into the smoke-covered cornfield, which would mask their forward movement. Wheat's timing and sense of the situation were off, however. He should have launched his counterattack soon after the 2^nd Rhode Island crested the ridge. That was the time when they were the most vulnerable. A little after 10:15, now almost an hour later, the Rhode Islanders were much better ensconced. In small groups, the Tigers made their way slowly but surely through the hazy cornfield as Federal shot and shell buzzed over their heads. About 50 yards from the Federal line, to the right-front of the 2^nd Rhode Island, the Tigers began to emerge from the cut-up stalks of corn. After a few more minutes, once the officers were able to concentrate their men as best they could, Wheat ordered a charge. The Tigers bolted from the shrouded cornfield, firing their last round, and ran full-bore at the Federal line. Some slung aside their rifles and brandished their bowie knives in preparation for close-quarter combat. To one member of the 2^nd Rhode Island, the charge "seemed to me to be the most terrible moment of this terrific contest." When the Tigers were within 20 yards of the Federal line, the 2^nd Rhode Island gave a hideous scream and racked the Confederates with musketry. The lone volley was so powerful, well-timed and decisive that Wheat's charge was stopped cold, and most of the Tigers careened off to the left, retreating down the hill toward Sloan's position. "Never will I forget," proclaimed one of Reynolds' artillerymen, "how [Wheat's] rebel flag looked as it bobbed out of sight under the hill." The situation was now critical for Evans. His relatively stable right, once held by Wheat, was gone. Union cannons were systematically slaughtering his precarious left, held by Sloan. Worse yet, the enemy, after much delay, were bringing up reinforcements for the 2^nd Rhode Island. On the other side of the road, above Wheat's new position, Colonel Andrew Porter was bringing up his brigade. A full Union division, about 5,000 men, now faced Evans' 1,100 Confederates. While the Federals formed to dispose of Evans' pesky command, about 800 yards to Evans' rear, on the northern slope of Henry Hill, a new player entered the fray as Confederate Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee drew his ad hoc brigade into position. He formed his troops so that they had a full view of the contest on the opposite height.

From his higher position atop Henry Hill, Bee could see that Evans was holding out against incredible odds. He sent a courier down to the hard-pressed South Carolinian to urge him to fall back to Henry Hill, a position that was stronger than the one he currently occupied. But Evans instead dared Bee to come down and support him. Faced with Evans' intransigence, Bee reluctantly led his men forward. "Here is the battlefield," he said,” and we are in for it!" Under heavy enemy artillery fire, Bee marched his command forward across the pike, up and over Buck Hill, and onto the slope of Matthews Hill, where he sent his lead regiment, the 4^th Alabama, up through the pine thicket and into the same swale that Wheat had held a few minutes before. The 2^nd Mississippi, next in line, was sent to the left of the 4^th Alabama, linking up Sloan's depleted 4^th South Carolina. Bee's last two regiments, the 7^th and 8^th Georgia, under Colonel Francis Bartow, moved to extend the Confederate right toward the Matthews house. Bee had arrived none too soon, for the advance elements of Heintzelman's Federal division had began to arrive to support Burnside's stymied line.

Wheat, out on his own and under steady fire from Union infantry and artillery, believed that he was "in the face of a very large force; some ten or twelve thousand in number." Despite the preponderance of enemy fire, he ordered his men to advance from the shelter of the woods and into the field of cut hay to connect with the rest of Bee's command. Only a handful of Tigers obliged, however, and even they moved reluctantly out into the field, where they concealed themselves behind some haystacks as best they could. In the process of ousting the rest of his men from the woods, Wheat was hit by a Minié bullet that whizzed down from the top of Matthews Hill. The bullet clipped his left arm, drilled into his left side and perforated one lung before passing out the other side. Wheat fell to the ground, and a group of his men, including Captain Buhoup, quickly surrounded him and rolled him onto a blanket. Then they began to lug their burly   commander back to the wood line. The enemy fire was so galling that Wheat shouted, “Lay me down, boys, you must save yourselves!” His pleas were ignored. As Wheat was dragged into the relative safety of the woods, the battalion's color-bearer threw his bullet-ridden flag over him to help stop the bleeding. A few minutes later, a mounted officer rode up to Wheat to rush him to the nearest field hospital. Wheat's wounding proved momentous. Once he was evacuated, the battalion, with no field officer to rally it, broke up and melted away, the men heading for the rear, some following Wheat himself. Their withdrawal eventually unhinged the rest of Bee's line, which was already pressed beyond the breaking point.

By noon, Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions had wrested control of Matthews Hill from the Confederates. Once they reached the pike, the men of General Tyler’s division, who had finally pushed through Sloan’s four remaining companies at the Stone Bridge, joined them. General McDowell also arrived at the field and, happy with how the battle had evolved thus far, decided to press the attack. As McDowell concentrated to deliver the coup de grâce, the bulk of Bee's shattered command retreated south and east, across the pike, up the northern slope of Henry Hill, and into a patch of woods. There they were joined by Colonel Wade Hampton's battalion of South Carolinians, just arrived from the Confederate right. Hampton agreed to continue his march down to the pike in order to cover Bee's retreat. After a brief fight, Hampton's men, fighting alone, were also overwhelmed by McDowell's advancing forces and forced to fall back to Henry Hill.

The next Confederate units to arrive at Henry Hill included Brig. Gen. Thomas Jackson's brigade of five Virginia regiments and Colonel Eppa Hunton's 8^th Virginia Infantry. These units were able to form a sturdy line in front of the woods on the eastern slope of Henry Hill. Thus shielded by Jackson's "wall," Evans, Bee and Bartow were able to consolidate their scattered commands with the help of General Beauregard himself, just arrived at Henry Hill. Like Wheat's battalion, Sloan's 4^th South Carolina was broken up into companies. Four of its companies, one-time defenders of Matthews Hill, attached themselves to Hampton's Legion. Another company attached itself to the 49^th Virginia Infantry. The other five companies of Sloan's regiment fell back to the Lewis House, where they attached themselves to the remaining Zouaves of Wheat's battalion.

While Beauregard was busily constructing an entirely new line atop Henry Hill, McDowell sent his army forward. As the Federal advance moved into the woods, however, it was hit unexpectedly by fire from Colonel Arthur Cummings' blue-coated 33^rd Virginia Infantry. In the fight that followed, the confused Federal infantry broke and retreated back up the Manassas-Sudley Road. As they did so, from the south, 150 troopers from Colonel J.E.B. Stuart's 1^st Virginia Cavalry charged right into their disorganized mass, routed the infantrymen and drove them farther up the road. Seizing the opportunity, Jackson immediately ordered his whole line forward. During the ensuing back-and-forth fighting at Henry Hill, Colonel Robert Withers and his 18^th Virginia Infantry Regiment were ordered to remove themselves from Bull Run and reinforce Beauregard's line on Henry Hill. Withers recalled that he was ordered to move forward past the McLean House through a mass of retreating men. "As many of these were unhurt," said Withers, "I urged them to go back with us into the fight; all refused except two 'Tigers,' who, from their brogue were evidently Irish." One of the Louisianans, continued Withers, "ran up the slope to an orchard occupied by the skirmishers, got behind an apple tree, and fired two or three times, when he was shot through both legs. He squatted down, and turning his head over his shoulder, called to his comrade: 'I say, Dennis, come up here and give them hell, for they've got me!”

With more forces at his disposal, Beauregard ordered his whole line to advance and drive the Federals from Henry Hill. During the attack, the Zouaves from Wheat's battalion like the rest of the line were hit by a Federal fusillade. Lieutenant Thomas Adrian of Company “B” fell with a leg wound [hip]. Seeing the Tigers' subsequent hesitation, Adrian, while lying on the ground and bleeding profusely, shouted: "Tigers, go in once more, go in my sons, I'll be great gloriously God damned if the sons of bitches can ever whip the Tigers!" Apparently inspired by Adrian's plea, the Tigers, with the rest of Bee's line, rallied, turned and drove the Federals back. Subsequently a tiger Zouave, Robert Richie reported to the New Orleans Daily Delta: "Our blood was on fire. Life was valueless. The boys fired one volley, then rushed upon the foe with clubbed rifles beating down their guard; then they closed upon them with their knives, 'Greek had met Greek,' the tug of war had come.... [It] did not seem as though men were fighting, [But as if there] were devils mingling in the conflict, cursing, yelling, cutting, and shrieking."

By dusk, McDowell's army was driven totally from the field and retreated all the way back to Washington. The first great battle of the war had ended in Southern victory. Wheat's little band of Louisiana Tigers had been instrumental in bringing about the   Southern success. Its actions on Matthews Hill gave Beauregard time to shuffle enough forces to make a stand on Henry Hill. And on Henry Hill, the place where the Federals were ultimately driven back, the Tigers again distinguished themselves, charging and then holding a section of guns. Beauregard noted that the Tigers and the balance of Evans'   brigade “maintained their stand with almost matchless tenacity ...dauntless courage and Lee's Tigers.”

Although the doctors had given up Wheat, he surprised everyone and recovered from his wound.  His long convalescence, however, allowed the good order and discipline of the tigers to suffer because no one else apparently could keep them in line.  Moreover, along with the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th Louisiana Regiments, the 1^st Special Battalion was reorganized into Gen. Richard Taylor’s brigade.  Although Taylor called them “Gentle tigers,” it is apparent he regarded them as poor soldiers.  And the tigers, bored with inactivity and in the proximity of Richmond and easy liquor, seemed to bear Taylor’s opinion out.

On one occasion 12 Tigers took on an entire company of the 21^st Georgia and came out second best.  As one of the battered Louisianians moved off he turned to growl, “Wheat’s battalion can clean up the whole damned 21^st Georgia anytime.” In November, Dennis Cochrane and Mike O’Brien were arrested, Courts Martialed and executed by firing squad, a penalty Dick Taylor demanded to set an example and restore discipline.

Although this drastic penalty greatly hurt the convalescing wheat, it apparently had the desired effect, for the “gentle Tigers” soon shaped up.  They were ready when the call came for them to join Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley as part of General Richard Ewell’s 8^th Brigade.  When General Jackson first saw a company of dog tired “Cajuns” from Louisiana dancing at the end of a long hike, he called them “thoughtless fellows for serious work.”  The subsequent Valley Campaign soon proved Jackson wrong.

At Front Royal on May 23, 1862, in a rousing fight the 1^st Maryland and the Louisiana tigers drove the thousand Federal troops before them and captured the town and virtually the entire opposing force.  But once again, ever ready for fun and games, several tigers dressed in captured Union blues and took a train down the railroad to the Federal-held town of Markham.  They tricked several Union soldiers to ride with them.  “The hospitable Rebels, wrote Lucy Buck in her diary, “not only extended the ride to front Royal, but also gave them lodging and board there.”

Banks retreated from Middletown followed by Jackson and the Louisiana tigers.  On May 25 the Battle of Winchester was fought with results similar to those of Front Royal. Jackson wrote, “The road was literally obstructed with the mingled and confused mass of struggling and dying horses and riders.” Jackson and Taylor had thrown a scare into Washington and rumors were rife that an invasion was imminent.

After Jackson rejoined Lee on the Chickahominy for the defense of Richmond the Seven Days battles of the Peninsular Campaign broke out, taking a heavy toll on both sides. Jackson knew the Union was drawing the noose tighter on his escape route and hoping to catch him in a trap.  Outnumbered four to one, he turned and made a lightning like withdrawal and escaped the Federal trap.  At the Battle of Port Republic, which occurred on June 9, Wheat’s Tiger fought with fists, stones, and knives in a fierce know down drag-out melee.  In order to prevent the Federal troops from recovering the artillery, Wheat himself allegedly cut the horses’ throats.  An impassioned news paper reporter wrote, “For an hour men ceased to be men . . . they fought like demons-they died like fanatics. . . They can see nothing for the smoke, but what they hear is a sound like hungry tigers turned loose to tear each other to death.”

The brigade participated in the Battle of Gaine's Mill, to be his last on June 27. In that fight, Major Wheat was shot through the head leading the battalion who lost 5 other men killed and 16 men were wounded. “He fell as he had lived; brave to a fault, high-minded and furious, the idol of his battalion.” The battalion was so reduced in strength by the end of the Seven Days' Campaign, and the men were so hard to control following Wheat's death that it was recommended that the battalion be disbanded. The remnants were then attached to Captain Atkins, and old companion of Wheat who had gone into service with him after "First Manassas", but on August 9, 1862, the Special Order nº 185 of the Army of Northern Virginia clearly stipulated that:

 

“The battalion of Louisiana Volunteers commanded by Major R. C. Wheat, deceased, having been reduced to not more than 100 men, will be disbanded, and the men comprising same will be transferred to the Louisiana regiments serving in Virginia.”

 

This occurred on probably on August 15, during the war, 39 men of the battalion were killed, 15 died of disease, 2 were executed, and 1 died in an accident and its remaining 100 men were transferred to other Louisiana units serving in the Army of Northern Virginia. Various reports have the Tigers in different locations after they were disbanded; White according to one veteran attached a flag to a ramrod and leading the troops up Culp's Hill on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg and was wounded. On February 19, 1863 White it is said sent a letter to the Government (with a list of followers appended) outlining a scheme to run a river boat down the Mississippi River to attack the Federal fleet. Another recollection had O. P. Miller leading some remnants of the Tiger Zouaves as a mounted cavalry [Captain Miller's Independent Company Mounted Rifles] in Wartburg, Tennessee around June 6, 1863 and a group of stragglers murdered him while guarding stores.

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Drane, J. W. "Louisiana Tigers at Fair Oaks, Va." Confederate Veteran, XIV (1906), 521.

Dufour, Charles L. Gentle Tiger: The Gallant Life of Roberdeau Wheat.  Baton Rouge, I957.

Laurence, Debra N. "Letters from a North Louisiana Tiger." North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, X (1979), I30-47.

Minnich, J. W. "Picturesque Soldiery." Confederate Veteran, XXXI (1923), 295-97.

Moore, Alison.  He Died Furious.  Baton Rouge, 1983.

-----.Old Bob Wheat-High Private. Baton Rouge, 1957.

"Sketch of Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat." Southern Bivouac, II (1883-84), 385-92.

Steffen, Randy, and Ronald E. Youngquist.  "1st Special Battalion, Louisiana Infantry (Wheat's Tigers), 1861-1862." Military Collector and Historian, XI (1959), 10.

Steuart, Richard D. "Wheat's Tigers and Others." Confederate Veteran, XXXI (1923), 326.

Schreckengost, Gary. American Civil War: "The Fatal Blunder of the Day". (Artillery deployment at Bull Run)

Wheat, Leo.  "Memoir of Gen. C. R. Wheat, Commander of the 'Louisiana Tiger Battalion.’ “Southern Historical Society Papers, XVII (I889), 47-60.