The 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that fought for the Confederacy in
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. The regiment was formed in the summer of 1861 and served until it surrendered in 1865.
Organization
The 3rd Florida Infantry was formed near
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
, in July, 1861. Its companies were recruited in the counties of St. Johns, Hernando, Jefferson, Duval, Wakulla, Madison, Columbia, and Suwannee. In Company C, the average age of the eighty-seven enlisted men was twenty-five, with the youngest being fifteen and the oldest forty-four. The unit served along the coast at Talbot Island and Cedar Keys, then moved to Mobile. After fighting at
Perryville it was assigned to Preston's, Stovall's, Finley's, J.A. Smith's Brigade, and during December, 1862, consolidated with the
1st Florida Infantry Regiment along with other units from Florida to become the
Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee
The Florida Brigade was a Confederate States Army unit during the American Civil War. It fought as part of the Army of Tennessee in the Western theater of the American Civil War, Western theater of the war. The brigade was formed in November 1863 ...
. It was organized with 950 officers and men, and the 1st and 3rd lost twenty-six percent of the 23 in action at Chickamauga. In December, 1863, this command totaled 240 men and 119 arms, but only a remnant surrendered in April, 1865. The field officers were Colonel William S. Dilworth; Lieutenant Colonels Lucius A. Church, Elisha Mashburn, and Arthur J.T. Wright; and Major John L. Phillips.
Companies
Service history
Much of the unit was armed with the
Enfield rifle, which were supplied to the regiment late in March 1862. Around the same time, a portion of the regiment defeated a small U.S. naval force that was attempting to land near
New Smyrna. Sometime in late-April, early-May 1862, the regiment was gifted a new battle-flag made by a group of women from Jefferson County. The flag had the motto “We Yield But in Death.” The regiment adopted a stuffed wildcat as their mascot, which traveled with its owners; Company C, who were dubbed “The Hernando Wildcats.”
The 1st and 3rd were engaged at Murfreesboro and Jackson, then participated in the campaigns of the Army of Tennessee from
Chickamauga to
Bentonville.
Engagements and Battles
1862
*New Smyrna (Companies E & H were involved)
*
Skirmish of the Brick Church
The Skirmish of the Brick Church was the first land engagement in Northeast Florida between the Union Army and Confederate Army of the American Civil War. It was fought on March 24, 1862 and resulted in the first Confederate victory in Flori ...
*
Kentucky Campaign
The Confederate Heartland Offensive (August 14 – October 10, 1862), also known as the Kentucky Campaign, was an American Civil War campaign conducted by the Confederate States Army in Tennessee and Kentucky where Generals Braxton Bragg and ...
**
Battle of Perryville
The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive (Kentucky Campaign) during the Ame ...
1863
*
Battle of Murfreesboro
*
Vicksburg Campaign
The Vicksburg campaigns were a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi ...
**
Siege of Jackson
*
Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 18–20, 1863, between the United States Army and Confederate States Army, Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a U.S. Army offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southe ...
*
Battles for Chattanooga
The Chattanooga campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga i ...
1864
*
Atlanta Campaign
**
Battle of New Hope Church
The Battle of New Hope Church (May 25–26, 1864) was a clash between the Union Army under Major General William T. Sherman and the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General Joseph E. Johnston during the Atlanta Campaign of the American ...
**
Battle of Dallas
The Battle of Dallas (May 28, 1864) was an engagement during the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. The Union army of William Tecumseh Sherman and the Confederate army led by Joseph E. Johnston fought a series of battles between May 25 ...
**
Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta took place during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply hub of Atlanta, Union forces ...
**
Battle of Ezra Church
The Battle of Ezra Church (July 28, 1864), also known as the Battle of Ezra Chapel and the Battle of the Poor House saw Union Army forces under Major General William T. Sherman fight Confederate States Army troops led by Lieutenant General J ...
**
Siege of Atlanta
*
Battle of Spring Hill
The Battle of Spring Hill was fought November 29, 1864, at Spring Hill, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. The Confederate States Army, Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Lieutenant General ( ...
*
Battle of Franklin
The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, in Franklin, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin–Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army. Confederate L ...
*
Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 18 ...
1865
*
Carolinas Campaign
**
Battle of Bentonville
The Battle of Bentonville (March 19–21, 1865) was fought in Johnston County, North Carolina, near the village of Bentonville, as part of the Western Theater of the American Civil War, Western Theater of the American Civil War. It was the last ...
See also
*
Florida Civil War Confederate Units
References
{{Reflist
eHistory ArchiveCivil War Soldiers and Sailor System
Units and formations of the Confederate States Army from Florida
1861 establishments in Florida