An order was issued by the War Department October 16, 1861, "The following independent companies of Mississippi Volunteers will constitute a Battalion: Captain Lee's, Captain Blewett's, Captain Love's, Captain Crutcher's, Captain Blackwell's. The Battalion will be further increased by the transfer of Captain Kerr's Company of Mississippi Volunteers from Colonel Crump's Twenty-Sixth Regiment Virginia Volunteers. Captain Blackwell's Company will remain at Manassas until the Battalion proceeds there." October 30, "Captain William S. Wilson's Company of Mississippi Volunteers will form part of the Mississippi Battalion encamped near this city," Richmond.
John G. Taylor was promoted Major in command of the Battalion, which was reported as embracing seven companies December 13, 1861. Taylor was promoted Lt. Colonel, and William S. Wilson, Major. Captain Dudley's company G of the Battalion, then attached to the Twenty-First Regiment, was ordered to join the Battalion, which was ordered to Yorktown. The transfer of Dudley's Company was afterwards revoked, as was also the assignment of Blackwell's Company. Instead, the Colonel of the Twenty-First was required to designate some one of his other nine companies to join the Battalion. Captain T.B. Manlove's Company B, of the Twenty-First, was ordered to report at Yorktown as part of the Battalion. March 10, 1862, the companies of Mississippi Volunteers commanded by Captains J.R. Hampton, and John Kelly, were ordered to join the Battalion at Yorktown, and May 17, 1862, Captain J.E. Martin's Company, in the Fourth Tennessee, was detached and ordered to join the Battalion. July 10, 1862, the unattached companies of Captains J.H. Fields, and Rodgers at Columbus, Mississippi, were ordered to Virginia to be added to the Battalion, and form a Regiment.
The Battalion, including five companies, left the Rapidan, for the James April 6, 1862. They were detached from any brigade, with the Second Florida under Colonel Ward, in Early's Division, D.H. Hill's Corps. April 19,, they were reported as 275 effective, armed with Enfield Rifles, under General Rodes, in the entrenched line near Yorktown. With the Second Florida Regiment, under Colonel Ward, they made a brilliant sortie from the lines, dislodging the enemy form the Palmentary peach orchard. They eveacuated that line May 4, and marched through Williamsburg May 5, but were called back by the Federal attack on Longstreet. The Second Florida, and the Second Battalion were sent to the right of Longstreet's line and the rest of the Hill's Division to the left. The Second Battalion went into the fight at 5 P.M., under Colonl Ward, who was almost immediately killed. The Battalion had 5 killed, 30 wounded, and 6 missing.
After this engagement, they were attached to Early's Brigade. They fell back on Richmond, and later in May the brigade then under command of Gen. Samuel Garland, was on outpost duty on the Williamsburg Road, and in frequent skirmishes. In preparation for the attack that brought on the battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, May 31, the Second Battalion, under Lt. Col. Taylor, about 300 strong, were deployed as skirmishers and advanced through the tangled undergrowth, ponds and bogs of the forest, finding and driving back the Federal skirmishers, but coming under both a front and flank fire. Many of the Mississippians became mingled with the battle line as it came up, and so continued during the day. General Garland assisted Major Wilson in collecting someof the Battalion, of were sent to support a Georgia regiment. Col taylor also collected part of the Battalion. "I regret that circumstances did not afford that fine battalion the best opportunity for separate action that day," Gen. Garland reported. Privates Sutton (Co.A), Willis (Co.B), Williams (Co.C), Weeks, (Co.G), and Hankinson (Co.H), were recommended for the badge of honor. The casualties were 1 killed, 26 wounded, and several captured.
On May 26, President Davis assigned the Battalion to Gen. Richard Griffith's Brigade. However, the Battalion was shortly thereafter transferred to the second Mississippi Brigade, then commanded by Brig. Gen. Winfield Scott Featherston. This brigade was composed of the 12th, 16th, and 19th Mississippi Regiments, and the 2nd Battalion. The brigade was at that time assigned to Longstreet's division. They were in battle June 27, on Beaver Dam Creek, or Gaines' Mill, then advancing toward Cold Harbor, and were in battle again on the Chickahominy near the Gaines' house. The brigade, under heavy artillery fire, charged up a steep hill upon a Federal command posted in the edge of a forest, forcing the enemy back from one position to another and capturing a battery of artillery. Among the killed here were Lt. James M. Creekmore. June 30, in the battle of Glendale, or Frazier's Farm, the brigade went into battle at 5 P.M., and were attacked by a heavy force of the enemy. Lt. Col. Taylor fell with a mortal wound from which he died in a few hours. This gallant officer had resigned rank in the U.S. Army, and left his old home in Kentucky to join the Mississippi soldiery. In the two battles the Battalion lost 22 killed and 91 wounded.
In Wilcox's Division of Longstreet's Corps, the Brigade took part in the Second Manassas Campaign, in the battle of August 30, fighting in the vicinity of the stone house. The Brigade's loss was 26 killed and 142 wounded.
The Brigade took part in the capture of Harper's Ferry, and the battle of Sharpsburg, but there are no official reports. The battalion's lost 5 killed, 55 wounded.
Before the battle of Fredricksburg the battalion was designated the Forty-eighth Regiment, but was also known for a short time as the 46th Regiment, but it was as yet unchanged at the time of the battle, and was commanded by Lt. Col. Manlove. Major L.C. Lee was seriously wounded here, where the men were in line of battle for three days under artillery fire. The loss was 1 killed, and 6 wounded.
January 19, 1863, Capt. Joseph M. Jayne was promoted to Colonel and assigned to command the 48th Regiment. This was about the same time that Gen. Carnot Posey took command of the brigade.
The brigade was in camp near Fredricksburg, with occaisional picket duty on the river, until the middle of February, when it was posted at the United States Ford, whence they moved to Chancellorsville April 29, when the river had been crossed at other fords by Hooker, and from Chancellorsville to the crossing of the Mine and Plank Roads, Chancellorsville having been occupied by Hooker after their depature. The Regiment had a gallant part in the extraordinary service of Posey's brigade in the series of battles about Chancellorsville. The brigade first encountered the enemy on the Plank Road on the morning of May 1, when Lt. Col. Manlove gallantly led a line of skirmishers with good effect. In the famous charge upon the Federal breastworks about Chancellorsville, May 3, Col. Jayne was wounded. On the afternoon of the same day, the brigade was moved near to its position before the battle at United States Ford, and the 12th and 19th engaged the enemy's skirmishers. The casualties of the regiment were 10 killed, 50 wounded, and 11 missing.
After this they were at Fredricksburg until Lee's army was in motion for Pennsylvania, A.P. Hill's corps, to which they were now attached, being the last to leave the front of Hooker's army. The brigade was moved below Fredricksburg and occupied the line of the Valley Road, the 48th Regiment being thrown to the front and deployed as skirmishers along the river bank. The enemy, desiring information on the movements of Gen. Lee, on the 5th of June placed pontoons in the river and crossed a large force of infantry and artillery. After a spirited engagement the 48th Regiment was compelled by superior numbers to fall back to the line occupied by the other regiments of the brigade. The enemy did not persue. The next day, the brigade began to march to Pennsylvania, and they reached the battlefield of July 1, near Gettysburg, on the evening of that day.On July 2, they were advanced to the front of the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge.
The regiment went into battle July 2, on the left of Wright's Georgia brigade, in that part of the field where their division, Anderson's, of Hill's corps, attacked the Federal positions at the Peach Orchard and in the vicintity of Little Round Top. Wright reported that he drove the enemy from the crest of the ridge before him, a continuation of Cemetery Ridge that Pickett and Pettigrew could not carry the next day, and gained the key of the whole Federal line. "Unfortunately, just as we had carried the enemy's last and strongest position, it was discovered that the brigade on our right, Perry's Florida brigade, had not only not advanced across the turnpike, but had given away and was rapidly falling back to the rear, while on our left we were entirely unprotected, Posey's brigade, which had been ordered o our support, failed to advance." Often there were such fatalities. Posey had been instructed by General Anderson to advance but two of his regiments and deploy them as skirmishers. When Wright advanced, the 48th, under Col. Jayne, advanced on his left. On the leftof the 48th was the 19th, which pushed up the slope until a Federal battery was within 60 yards of the right of the skirmish line. To go further without dislodging this battery was impracticable, and the dislodging of it ocuoied the regiment until dark. This may explain the failure to more closely follow the advance of Gen. Wright's brigade. But the want of coordination was a strange feature of the battle for which the men were not to blame. Casualties of the regiment were 6 killed, and 24 wounded.
The brigade was for some days in line of battle at Hagerstown after this, and after the retreat to virginia they went into camp at Orange Courthouse. They were with Hill's Corps in the advance across the Rappahanock, and under a heavy fire at Bristoe Station October 14, where Gen. Posey was mortally wounded. The regiment there had 1 killed and 24 wounded. They encamped at Brandy Station, and went into line of battle November 17, at the time of the Rappahaock Bridge affair, retired thence beyond the Rapidan, and when Meade folowed went into line of battle on Mine Run. the winter was passed in camp on the Rapidan, whence the brigade was ordered to the battlefield of the Wilderness May 5, 1864, where their service was most important and gallant. Operating on or near the Plank Road, they charged and repulsed the Federal flank movement against the brigades of Davis, Perry, and Law, capturing 150 prisoners, but suffering considerable loss. Lt. Col. Manlove was seriously wounded at the head of his regiment. Two days later, a line of skirmishers under the command of Capt. W.R. Stone of the 48th, advanced and encountering a body of the enemy's cavalry, captured 80 prisoners, 107 horses and equiptments, and two guidons.
On the morning they made a hurried march to Spotsylvania Courthouse, were in action that day and the next at the Po River Bridge, and on May 12, shared the famous service of the brigade in the Bloody Angle. General Harris mentioend the gallant conduct of Courier A.W. Hancock, and Private F. Dolan, who repeatedly went after and brought up ammuniton under terrific fire which tore away the trees. Casualties May 6-12 were 9 killed, 29 wounded, and 33 missing. Officer casualties were particularly high with 12 Captains and Lietenants killed, wounded, and missing among the regiment's losses.
On this line and the North Anna line, and later at Cold Harbor, the regiment was in almost continuous line of battle for weeks, without time for a bath or change of clothing. The lines were so close at Cold Harbor that the least noise or movement of troops caused a heavy outburst of artillery and infantry fire. June 6, Gen. Harris was ordered to advance a body of picked men and fel the enemy's position. The order was executed, the skirmishers of the enemy being forced back to their main line and the fact ascertained that Grant's army had not yet begun a change of line. Over half of the force engaged in this reconaissance were killed or wounded, including the gallant Lt. Neil Dawson of the 48th, killed. for a week officers and men fell daily under the constant fire of artillery and sharpshooters. Then it was found that Grant's army was advancing on Petersburg, whence the brigade was transferred June 18. Harris' brigade participated in the battle of June 22, and aided in the defeat of the first Federal attempt at seizing the Weldon Railroad, June 24, when the brigade suffered considerable loss. The casualties in May and June were 37 killed, 76 wounded, and 14 missing.
The regiment was in the battle of Derbytown Road, north of the James River, August 18, and on the Weldon road, where the Federals had finally taken positin and entrenched August 21. In this battleCol. Jayne commanded the brigade, General Harris being sick. A sturdy attack was made by Mahone's division, but in vain, and the brigade lost heavily, the regiment having 17 wounded. For more than two months the brigade occupied Rives' Salient on the Petersburg lines, under fire of artillery and sharpshooters all day, and sharpshotters and mortars all night. Outside of this position they were in battle at Hatcher's Run, October 27. In the battle of Burgess' Mill on February 6, Lt. Col. Manlove commanded the skirmish line and while bravely encouraging his men to hold back the Federal line he was dangerously wounded, and could not be removed from the field.
In the famous deed of April 2, 1865, distinguished in the annals of military chivalry, the 48th Regiment, under Col. Jayne, was posted with the 19th Regiemnt in Battery Whitworth, from which all artilery had been withdrawn. From this position they aided materially the defense of Fort Gregg, against which the main attack was made, as well as repulsed the demonstation against their own fort, made by Harris' West Virginia brigade (U.S) and other troops. When Fort Gregg was captured, many of the 19th and 48th were compelled to surrender. Their fortification supported Fort Gregg and could not be held longer. Some escaped by dint of hard running and reached the new Confederate line that their valor had given time to establish. Col. Jayne was shot down with a bullet through his hip as he came out of the fort. The retreat westward followed, and finally the remnant of the 48th, with other survivors of the brigade, stacked arms near Appomattox Courthouse April 12, 1865.
