32nd Alabama Infantry Regiment explained

Unit Name:	32nd Alabama Infantry Regiment
Dates:	April 1862 to November 1863
Country:	Confederate States of America
Branch:	Infantry
Battles:	Battle of Stone's River

The 32nd Alabama Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Service

On Dec. 27, 1861, Alexander McKinstry of Mobile, Alabama wrote the Confederate States War Department requesting authority to raise a regiment. His offer to Secretary of War James Seddon included a proposal to arm each enlisted man in his regiment with a Bowie knife and a pike. At the time McKinstry already held a commission as Colonel, 48th Alabama Militia Regiment, based in Mobile County, Alabama. As an officer of militia, on Feb. 18, 1862, McKinstry purchased 854 uniform jackets and pants, 677 pair of shoes, plus shirts, great coats and flannel drawers. The Confederate Government later reimbursed the state for this clothing, suggesting that officers and men of McKinstry's 32nd Alabama Infantry Regiment receive it. The regiment entered Confederate service at Camp Goodwin, near Mobile, Alabama, Apr. 18, 1862.^[1]

Companies and Their Captains

• "A" of Washington County, Alabama, "Wilson Guards", Capt. Robert L. Bowling,
• "B" of Mobile County, Alabama, Capt. John Drew,
• "C" of Mobile County, Alabama and Baldwin County, Alabama, "John Scott Infantry", Capt. Thomas S. Eaton,
• "D" of Wilcox County, Alabama and Clarke County, Alabama, "Creagh Guards", Capt. John W. Creagh,
• "E" of Clarke County, Alabama, "Bigbee Guards", Capt. Alexander Kilpatrick,
• "F" of Choctaw County, Alabama, Mobile County, Alabama and Washington County, Alabama, "Choctaw Guards", Capt. Hampton S. Smith, Jr.,
• "G" of Clarke County, Alabama and Washington County, Alabama, "Dickinson Guards", Capt. John C. Kimball,
• "H" of Clarke County, Alabama, Capt. John W. Bell,
• "I" of Mobile County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and Fayette County, Alabama, Capt. Waller Thompson.,
• "K" of Mobile County, Alabama, "John Scott Guards", Capt. Isaac McCleveland.^[2]

On Nov. 23, 1863, this regiment and the 58th Regiment Alabama Infantry were consolidated to form the 32nd and 58th (Consolidated) Alabama Infantry Regiment.^[3]

Total strength and casualties

Abstract of the Field Return, Army of Mobile, Mar. 31, 1862.

16 officers, 579 enlisted men present for duty; 616 aggregate present; 638 aggregate present and absent.^[4]

Commanders

• Colonel Alexander McKinstry
• Lieutenant Colonel Henry Maury

See also

• Alabama Civil War Confederate Units
• Alabama in the American Civil War

Notes

1. • Letters Received by the Confederate Secretary of War, Microcopy 437 (Washington: National Archives & Records Service, 1965), reel 19, No. 8936; * Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama, Microcopy 311 (Washington: National Archives & Records Service, 1960), reel 346, Alexander McKinstry.
2. http://www.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/alamilor/32ndinf.html;
   • Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama, Microcopy 311 (Washington: National Archives & Records Service, 1960), reel 342-49, service files of captains listed.
3. • Mattie Lou Teague Crow, The Diary of a Confederate Soldier: John Washington Inzer, 1834 - 1928 (Huntsville, AL: Strode, 1977), p. 40
4. • The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; ser. I, vol. 6, p. 868.