Willis Howton

Civil War, Confederate Army, Private, 26th Alabama (O'Neals), Company A, "Dixie Boys" (The Little Regiment that could)

Born September 10, 1827 in Fayette County, Alabama. Not on National archive list but provided on list by survivors. Died in 1893 in Brown County, Texas.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fdmoore/company_a...

Twenty-Sixth Alabama

Infantry Regiment

This regiment was organized at Tuscumbia in the summer of 1861, and soon after went to Virginia. It was in camp of instruction at Richmond during the fall and winter, and in March 1862 was moved to Yorktown, and placed in the brigade of Gen. Rains of Tennessee. It was under fire there for six weeks, with few casualties. Gen. Jos. E. Johnston led the regiment into position at Williamsburg, where its loss was inconsiderable. At Richmond it was placed in the brigade of Gen. Rodes of Tuskaloosa - shortly after re-organized so as to embrace the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Twelfth, and Twenty-sixth Alabama regiments - and lost 22 per cent of its numbers in casualties at Seven Pines. The Twenty-sixth was also hotly engaged at Gaines' Mill, Frazier's Farm, and Malvern Hill, emerging from the effects of those terrible struggles with only 300 of the 600 with which it entered, the others having gone down in the carnage of battle. The regiment was in the van of the army as it moved over the Potomac and fought at Boonsboro and Sharpsburg, losing in those two battles 10 killed and 45 wounded. Having wintered on the Rappahannock, the Twenty-sixth was present at Fredericksburg. In the grand advance of Jackson's corps at Chancellorsville - Col. O'Neal leading the brigade - the regiment lost very heavily, but its colors floated at the front. It then moved into Pennsylvania, and took part in the battle of Gettysburg, with a loss of 7 killed, 58 wounded, and 65 missing. Retiring with the army into Virginia, the Twenty-sixth skirmished at Kelly's Ford and Mine Run. During the winter, the Alabama legislature petitioned to have the regiment sent home to recruit its thinned ranks, and it remained a short time at Pollard. Ordered to Dalton in the spring of 1864, it was placed in Cantey's brigade, and lost gradually but largely in the almost incessant battle from Dalton to Atlanta. Having marched with Gen. Hood into Tennessee, the regiment was badly cut up at Nashville, and only a remnant surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina, to which place it had been transferred with the forces.

http://www.archives.state.al.us/referenc/alamilor/26thinf.html

1880: US Fed Census, Precinct 2, Brown, TX

links

• http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/110531/person/-2124827928

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• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 31 2017, 20:34:01 UTC