Quartermaster Operations in the Forty-Second Virginia Infantry Regiment

QUARTERMASTER OPERATIONS IN THE FORTY-SECOND VIRGINIA INFANTRY REGIMENT John D. ChapL· Successful military operations depend on timely and continuous logistics support. Equipment, clothing, subsistence, and ordnance provided at critical times during operations enable commanders to exploit battlefield success and widen the range of tactical alternatives. Continuity of logistics support during the Civil War became more crucial in view of the seasonal nature of the campaigns, which generally included an eight- to ten-month fighting season offset by a two- to fourmonth "winter quarters" season during which active operations usually ceased. Regular, consistent logistics support enabled an army to avoid exhaustion before the fighting season ended, and, during the winter quarters season, limited the consequences of exposure to the wet, cold, and snow of fall and winter. Furthermore, an army that achieved continuous supply during the winter quarters season would be better prepared to begin combat operations in the spring. Studies of both the Army of Tennessee and the Army of Northern Virginia have established how the inability of the Confederate supply system to provide timely and continous support affected combat operations of armies and corps.1 However, supply organization and operations of the regiment—the smallest tactical unit possessing its own logistical capability—and the impact of supply on combat at that level lack a detailed analysis. Such an analysis, a microcosmic view, would 1 Richard G. Goff, Confederate Supply (Durham, N.C: Duke Univ. Press, 1969); James L. Nichols, The Confederate Quartermaster in the Trans-Mississippi (Austin, Tex.: Univ. of Texas Press, 1964); Douglas S. Freeman, Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command, 3 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1946); Thomas L. Connelly, Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1972) and Autumn of Glory: Army of Tennessee, 1862-1865 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1974). b CIVIL WAR HISTORY not only provide depth to previous studies of larger organizations, but would also promote a better understanding of how the success of those larger organizations ultimately depended upon the performance of the regiment. The quartermaster records of the Forty-second Virginia Infantry Regiment provide a basis for closely examining the impact of logistics at the small unit level. Moreover, the Forty-second appears to have been a typical Confederate regiment in several respects. For example, only three of the officers of the Forty-second possessed any formal military training from West Point or the Virginia Military Institute.2 Regimental leaders became competent, but were not exceptional; only two would achieve the rank of full colonel. The men were primarily farmers, with a scattering of mechanics, tradesmen, and a few professional people, principally lawyers and doctors.3 Like many Confederate regiments, the Forty-second saw extensive service. Following duty in western Virginia in 1861, the regiment served with General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Army of the Valley District through June 1862. The Forty-second then participated in all the operations of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, until the surrender at Appomattox in 1865. At times, the regiment performed brilliantly. In the "Deep Cut" along the unfinished railroad at Second Manassas the regiment expended its ammunition, then stood fast, throwing rocks at the enemy. Other times, the Forty-second's record was abysmal. For example, it refused to go forward at Chancellorsville and fled the field in the battle of the Wilderness. Furthermore, as in many other Confederate regiments, death in the Forty-second came principally from causes other than battle. Battle action claimed 179 men of the Forty-second, while 270 died of disease, imprisonment, accidents, execution by firing squad, and deaths from causes not specified in the records.4 The most common element shared by the Forty-second and the other regiments of the Confederate army was the seasonal nature of 2 Virginia Military Institute, Register of Former Cadets (Lexington, Va., 1957), 9, 13; William McCauley, History of Roanoke County, Salem, Roanoke City, Virginia (Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co., 1902), 56. 3 Occupations were drawn from: National Archives and Record Service, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers who Served in Organizations from the State of Virginia (Microfilm No. M324, Rolls 871-76), hereafter cited...