OVERVIEW:
5th Infantry Regiment completed its organization at Montgomery, Alabama, in May, 1861, and proceeded to Virginia. Its companies were from the counties of Barbour, Clarke, Lowndes, Talladega, Dallas, Sumter, Monroe, Greene, and Pickens. At the Battle of First Manassas, the 5th was part of General Ewell's Brigade, but was not actively engaged. During the balance of the war it served under Generals Rodes, O'Neal, and Battle. The unit was prominent in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia from Williamsburg to Cold Harbor, then fought with Early in the Shenandoah Valley and in the Appomattox operations. During April, 1862, it had a force of 660 men, but lost 27 killed and 128 wounded at Seven Pines and forty-one percent of the 225 at Malvern Hill. The regiment reported 24 killed, 133 wounded, and 121 missing at Chancellorsville, and of the 317 at Gettysburg, more than sixty percent were disabled. It surrendered with 4 officers and 53 men. The field officers were Colonels Josephus M. Hall, E. Lafayette Hobson, A. C. Jones, C.C. Pegues, and Robert E. Rodes; Lieutenant Colonel John T. Morgan; and Major Eugene Blackford.