CONFEDERATE TENNESSEE TROOPS
23rd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry (Martin's)
23rd Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Trousdale, Sumner County, Tennessee, in August, 1861. Organized with ten companies, it was consolidated into eight after the Battle of Shiloh. The men were recruited in the counties of Maury, Smith, Lawrence, DeKalb, Bedford, Rutherford, Marshall, Perry, Cannon, and Coffee. After being involved in the conflicts at Shiloh, Munfordville, and Perryville, it was assigned to B.R. Johnson's Brigade and in November, 1863, consolidated with the 17th Regiment. The regiment participated in the Battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, moved to Knoxville, then was ordered to Virginia. Here it fought at Drewry's Bluff, took its place in the Petersburg trenches, and was active in the Appomattox Campaign. It took 570 effectives to Shiloh and lost twenty-six percent of the 201 at Perryville, twenty-three percent of the 272 at Murfreesboro, and fifty-four percent of the 181 at Chickamauga. On April 9, 1865, there were 4 officers and 52 men at the surrender. The field officers were Colonels Richard H. Keeble, Mathias Martin, James F. Neill, and Horace Ready; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cantrell; and Majors John G. Lowe and George H. Nixon.