The Ex-Bourbon Soldiers That Fought For the Confederacy

BY: Tom Frascella                                                                                                                                     January 2016

 As was previously written, in late November 1860, following the election of Abraham Lincoln as the 16^th President of the United States, southern “slave” States began to seek separation from the Union of States. Chatham Wheat a Garibaldi officer and an American southern born sympathizer negotiated with Giuseppe Garibaldi for the release of Bourbon prisoners of war held in Neapolitan prisons on condition they would agree to fight for the southern cause with the Louisiana Militia. Wheat had formally been a politician in Louisiana. Wheat as well as other officers in Garibaldi army were no longer needed after Victor Emanuel’s arrival. Some of these men, like Wheat, now sought further military adventure and opportunity. For the Americans among Garibaldi’s force that adventure was shaping up in the possible conflict between southern and northern States in the U.S.

 For the Italian Bourbon soldiers languishing as P.O.WS the alternative prospect of protracted imprisonment and possible death seemed a very unpleasant likelihood. It is known that Wheat’s offer of freedom and employment did induce some Italian prisoners to “volunteer” for American service.  It was Wheat’s hope to raise a brigade of men for service in this manner. Exact records of the number of men raised through the offer of release are unavailable but estimates place the number at between 880 and 2,000 soldiers. A Civil War brigade would generally require between 2,000 and 3,000 men. So Wheat’s recruitment appears to have been at least partially successful in reaching its goal of a brigade strength unit.

 Convincing Bourbon P.O.Ws to join a foreign cause was one problem. A second problem was how to get the “volunteers” from the Neapolitan prisons to America. This logistical problem also had its solution in the cessation of Garibaldi’s role in the defeat of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. While Garibaldi had maintained in the early stages of his invasion that his campaign was independent of Piedmont, once Victor Emmanuel II arrived the deception was no longer needed. Garibaldi and his forces had relied on naval transport and supply from “independent” ships gathered and commanded by his American Admiral De Rohan.

 Again once Victor Emmanuel II and his fleet arrived the rag tag private vessels of De Rohan’s fleet were without work. It would appear that as De Rohan’s vessels became available they were directed to take the Bourbon “volunteers” to New Orleans. In all between four and five of De Rohan’s ships ferried Bourbon prisoners/soldiers to New Orleans between December 1860 and April 1861.

 The fact that De Rohan participated in this transport may account for some of the hostility that De Rohan received after the Civil War. The U.S. State Department chose not to support De Rohan claims when he sought U.S. help to recover funds he claimed were owed him by the Italian Government. These funds were directly related to personal funds De Rohan had used to purchase vessels for the Garibaldi Campaign.

 In considering the U.S. State Department’s non action on De Rohan’s claims it must be considered that De Rohan had two well-known brothers who fought in the Civil War conflict. His oldest brother, who he hated, was a famous Admiral in the Union Navy so the Union War Department was not sympathetic to De Rohan. His other brother had raised two regiments for the south and was commissioned a Confederate General. Later in the war Confederate General Dahlgren was appointed Commissioner of the Coast Guard protecting the Upper Mississippi River from Union intrusion.

 At any rate arrangements were made for transportation by De Rohan’s ships and Wheat left for America in December of 1860. It appears that he arrived near the beginning of January in Louisiana.  The State was on the verge of formally declaring its secession from the Union, mobilizing its militia, and designing a militia operation to seize Federal property within the State. For Wheat the timing was perfect to propose his raising and leading a volunteer militia brigade. He looked to old Filibuster supporters for money to equip his brigade and was confident of the arrival of his well-trained foreign troops to provide the bulk of the recruitment. The problem for Wheat was that events were moving toward military action faster than his preparations to compose a brigade allowed. As a result it appears that he had only a few Italians available and was forced to recruit from the docks and wharfs of New Orleans. Most Louisiana volunteers were readily joining other local Louisiana units. The docks with their accumulated dregs of society provided the most productive recruiting base Wheat could muster on such short notice.

 I should say a little something about the New Orleans of 1860 as it was in many ways unique among southern cities. First it had almost 170,000 citizens which made it the largest of all of the southern cities of the rebellion. In fact New Orleans population was equal to the combined population of the next four largest cities in the south. The city itself was the most ethnically diverse city in the south. Unlike most southern regions the majority of the population was Catholic. Only about 13-15% of its citizens were White Angelo-Saxon Protestants. It was also the most affluent and commercially active of the all of the southern ports and cities so it was one of the main economic engines of the initial Confederacy.

 Wheat’s picking for recruitment from the men of the docks shows a desperation on his part to establish his position in the military as soon as he could. These men recruited from the docks were considered among the lowest class of New Orleans “white” society.  They were as a group considered by their fellow New Orleans citizens as unreliable, undisciplined, and chronically unemployed. They were also in the opinion of most prone to thievery and drunkenness. The companies that Wheat managed to recruit from the docks were a mixture of ethnicities but the majority were Irish immigrants, about one third of the force. Most of the rest of the battalion size force were French/French Creole and a small number of Italians. Probably only a man of Wheat’s aggressive temperament, size and strength would have even considered trying to mold these men into a fighting unit. Even, with all of his ambition he was only able to recruit the equivalent of about 5-6 companies, a company having about 100 men.

 As I said whatever Wheat’s plan for organizing his “brigade” his timetable was over taken by the political events in Louisiana and elsewhere in the south. The then Governor of Louisiana Thomas Moore was an ardent separatist. He hastily convened a convention of politicians representing only about 5% of the State and orchestrated a Declaration of secession on January 8, 1861. On the same day he ordered the Louisiana State Militia to seize all of the Federal Forts in the State. Of particular importance were the forts that guarded the lower Mississippi River and the lake above New Orleans.  Many of the fortifications contained officers and men loyal to the South and the fortresses especially Forts Jackson and St. Phillip which guarded the lower Mississippi fell into the Governor’s hands without much resistance within days of cessation. Again, Lincoln was still two months out from being sworn in and did not have the power or authority to order resistance to the takeover.

 Wheat continued his efforts to recruit local men in New Orleans and await the arrival of Italian “volunteers”. His ability to wait was cut short with the eruption of actual fighting and the attack on Fort Sumter in in April a month after Lincoln was sworn in. At that point Wheat had only amassed about 500 enough only to organize a battalion. Apparently the bulk of his Italian volunteers had not arrived as yet.

Wheat decided to initiate his service to the Louisiana Militia with what he had. He was commissioned a Major in the Louisiana Militia, as he only commanded a battalion strength untrained unit. He and his battalion were sent to Camp Moore 80 miles north of New Orleans in May. Although the point was to further organize and train his men even this opportunity was contracted by rapidly occurring evemts. In addition his displacement to Camp Moore actually separated him from any later arriving recruits from Italy.

 Apparently Major Wheat was a flamboyant individual and outfitted his men accordingly. In addition his five companies each took on individual unit names, one of which was a mostly Irish company which called itself the Tiger Rifles. Wheat’s unit eventually became part of what be the 1^st Louisiana regiment training at camp Moore. Although Wheat’s battalion had less than six weeks training it was sent with the regiment to northern Virginia to Manassas in June 1861.

 I would note that by the spring of 1861 Louisiana was forming a number of untrained militia units rapidly, including the 8^th, 10^th and 6^th Louisiana regiments. As a result those Italians who landed in New Orleans after Wheat’s departure were scattered among various companies and units. From the records I have read it appears the largest contingent of about 500 Italian volunteers landed with the 6^th Louisiana but the 10^th also acquired a significant number.

 As for Wheat, he and his battalion, like much of the assembled Confederate force at Manassas had little time for additional training as a result of what was about to occur. However the assembling of an increasingly large Confederate force in northern Virginia did not go unnoticed in Washington. Public tension over the easy striking distance between northern Virginia and Washington D.C. increased pressure on Lincoln’s newly formed cabinet to do something. In addition Lincoln hoped that a show of equal or greater counter force would bring the war to a quick and decisive conclusion.

 Lincoln settled on a plan for a quick and decisive strike at the heart of the Confederacy. He ordered Union General Irvin McDowell, leading 35,000 also poorly trained men, to launch an offensive designed to capture the southern Capitol of Richmond in mid-July 1861. McDowell followed his orders dividing his force into three columns. McDowell’s column after travelling only a short distance encountered approximately 23,000 also poorly trained Confederate soldiers assembling at Manassas in northern Virginia. It should be noted that the distance between Manassas and Washington D.C. is about 32 miles.

 The Confederate forces were under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard. Many people wrongly think that General Robert E. Lee commanded all southern forces and especially the army of northern Virginia but not at this early stage in the war. It was General Beauregard who had led the attack and capture of Fort Sumter three months earlier. Further it was with General Beauregard that the Confederate Government had placed the defense of the Capitol of Richmond.

 General Beauregard personal and family history are interesting. Beauregard was born and raised in Louisiana. His family had been a part of Louisiana’s French colonial nobility and French colonial administration. His mother was the granddaughter of Marie De Reggio who was born an Italian Count in Alba, Italy. So General Beauregard on his maternal side had Italian ancestry. Count de Reggio had been trained as an officer and served in northern Italy. Eventually he offered his services to the French Crown. Apparently his heroic actions in French service got the attention of the French King and he was appointed a Captain in the French army. Subsequently his career in France led to an appointment by the French King as Captain General of Louisiana when it was a French colony. The resulting appointment lead to the family relocating to the American-French colony of Louisiana.

                                                                                      First Manassas

 When the two opposing forces met in mid-July 1861 the battle that followed, known as the First Battle of Bull Run in the North and First Manassas in the south, represented the largest assemblage of American military forces in U.S. history to that date. Never before in American history had almost 60,000 American soldiers ever assembled for battle, tragically they assembled for battle among themselves in a “brother against brother” conflict. The battle that followed also marked the worst single day casualty numbers sustained by American forces to that time in any battle as well. First Manassas was not only a harbinger of the nature and toll of the war that would follow, it also dispelled any notion that a quick and relatively bloodless campaign was possible.

 During First Manassas Wheat’s command found itself in the thick of the Union army’s attempt to flank the Confederate forces. By all accounts the unit performed well, laying down consistent fire and occasionally charging superior Union forces, successfully denying Union advances for most of the day. It also sustained heavy casualties. Eventually those heavy losses forced the unit to pull back to a more defensive position. There they may have been overwhelmed by the continuing Union advance but for the arrival of reinforcements of a Virginia regiment under the command of a relatively unknown commander named Thomas Jackson. The redoubled defensive position helped turn the tide of the battle and earned Jackson his famous nickname “Stonewall”.

 The Confederate army won the battle turning back the Union forces who retreated to Washington in disarray. The Confederate army also was in disarray making it impossible for them to follow up with a counter-offensive against the Union capitol. First Manassas would become the first engagement where Italian immigrants in America squared off against each other on opposite sides of the American Civil War conflict.

 First Manassas was the battle where the Tiger Rifle company name began to be applied to the whole of the battalion which then became known as Wheat’s Tiger Battalion, and later still the Louisiana Tigers. Wheat himself was severely wounded leading a charge against Union forces at this battle. According to historic accounts he was shot through the chest with a musket ball that pierced his lung. In those days field doctors would triage the wounded basically telling each conscious wounded soldier who they could help and who was beyond help. If you can imagine being wounded and told by the field doctor that you were beyond hope and expected to die that was the state of battlefield medicine at the time. Wheat was told that his wound was fatal which meant he received little if any actual medical attention, maybe his wound was dressed, but essentially he was left to die. His reported response the doctor’s prognosis was that “he did not feel like dying yet”. In fact he astounded his doctors, given the severity of the wound by not dying. He not only recovered from this wound and lived but eventually regained enough strength during several months of recuperation to return to his unit and combat several months later.

 The timing of this near fatal combat injury to Wheat in July 1861 probably goes a long way toward explaining the somewhat confusing and mysterious service assignment of the ex-Bourbon “volunteers”. Especially those that arrived in New Orleans after April 1861 during the early months of the Civil War. It is likely that as previously said that Wheat was forced by the rapidly escalating military tensions to organize a unit before the vast majority of his recruits from Italy arrived in port. He then was forced to take his battalion strength unit off to Virginia in June where within four weeks of arrival it engaged in battle at Manassas before even that unit was adequately trained. During that battle he was wounded with what was perceived as a mortal wound and was not expected to recover. He was therefore replaced as commander of the battalion and any expectation that he would compose a larger military unit under his command was probably dismissed as improbable by his superiors.

 So his being near mortally wounded in mid-July resulted in his being temporarily relieved of command of the battalion. This in turn had two consequences for both the surviving men of his battalion and those Italians arriving in New Orleans. Those that were assembled in Virginia were given a new commander. In addition those Italian recruits who were arriving in New Orleans were then assigned to various newly forming Louisiana units, not a unified brigade. The pattern of sending replacement into units, merging devastated units and forming new units was a continuing and fluid process in both the Union and Confederate armies throughout the war. So the dolling-out of the Italian volunteers would have been normal procedure at the time.

 It is amazing given the state of medical treatment in 1860 that Wheat recovered from a musket ball shot through the chest and lungs. But in the months that it took to recover his health, things did not go well with his newly formed New Orleans’ battalion. As I said many of those enlisted were chronically unemployed wharf people either Irish immigrants or Creole by background.

 Wheat after he was wounded was apparently replaced with a weak and ineffective commander. Discipline and organization of the battalion suffered. This was a unit hastily assembled from largely men who were inexperienced. Prior to First Manassas the unit had had less than three months of training together.  While no one questioned the fighting credentials of the unit, their camp manners left much to be desired. In fact, most Confederate units steered clear of the drunken, belligerent actions and insubordinate attitude on display by many in Wheat’s battalion. Had Wheat not eventually recovered it would have been interesting to see how the unit would have been disciplined.

 The overall negative behavior of the unit’s Irish companies, may have further discouraged Wheat’s superiors from merging the battalion with the newly arriving Italian recruits in New Orleans after Wheat recovered. It is hard to determine if some of the complaints were “Nativists” inspired. I should point out that there were no negative comments regarding the French Creole or Italian elements in Wheat’s battalion but the Italians were a small percentage and the creole were native born. The complaints seem to center entirely on the Irish troops. The lack of discipline probably was blamed by the regiments commanders as much on Wheat’s lax attitude as the former commander of the battalion as on the men.

 Wheat eventually returned to his battalion and reestablished, by force of character his authority over his unruly men. He did this in time for the unit to participate in what Civil War history calls the Shenandoah Valley Campaign from February 1862-June 1862 and Seven Day’s Campaign. During these encounters Wheat’s unit, now known as the Louisiana Tigers again fought well in battle often delivering very professional and accurate volleys of rifle fire upon Union forces. The Shenandoah Valley Campaign was critical to the survival of the Confederacy in the first year of the War. It is in this campaign during a series of small battles that General Thomas Jackson bested a number of much larger Union forces and stopped once again a Union advance on Richmond.

 Wheat’s Battalion continued to suffer substantial casualties in both the Shenandoah Valley and later Seven Days campaigns. It was during the later engagement specifically at Gaines Mill that Wheat was wounded a second time on June 26^th 1862. This time he could not will himself to recover and he died of his wounds on June 27^th 1862. The former weak commander was reinstalled as the commander once again and the remnants of the unit again began to become belligerent and insubordinate. Apparently the Commanding Confederate General Taylor had seen enough of that behavior and promptly executed several of the Irish soldiers in order to reinstate discipline. Ultimately however due to substantial casualties the unit was disbanded and absorbed into other Louisiana companies. However, the military legend of the hard fighting, hard living Louisiana Tigers lived on with a later unit adopting the name if not the behavior. In the late 19^th century Louisiana State University honored the original Tigers by adopting the name as their own fight name. Interesting the name originates with a local unit comprised of a significant number of immigrant soldiers, not native Louisianans.

 While most of this was taking place it would appear from the records I have seen that many, between 350 and 800, of the Italian “volunteers” had remained in Louisiana units still stationed in and around New Orleans. At least this is true between April 1861 and April 1862. It also appears that some of them may have been referred to as Garibaldi’s Legion, a name that must have been particularly difficult for Bourbon ex-soldiers to accept. We know of at least one battalion size group and location because of their participation and reference in Union documents concerning the battle/surrender of New Orleans.

                                                                            Battle for New Orleans

 Part of the Union’s early plan for the defeat of the Confederacy was designed by General Winfield Scott and dubbed operation “Anaconda”. As the name would imply the plan called for the economic strangulation of the southern States by naval blockade of its coast and cutting off commerce along the Mississippi River. In the early part of the war the Union had insufficient naval forces to effectively implement such a plan. However, as the Union naval forces grew the blockade eventually became more effective along the coast.

 By January 1862 the Union Navy was prepared to begin its campaign to close the mouth of the Mississippi River to commerce and seize New Orleans. The operation was placed under the command of U.S. Admiral Farragut and resulted in the U.S. Navy successfully passing the key Confederate Forts of Jackson and St. Philip south of New Orleans in April 1862. The naval warships then bypassed New Orleans to attack Fort Pike located to New Orleans’ north.

 When Farragut had successfully gained advantage over New Orleans defensive fortifications the City itself became defenseless. As the City lies below River level any bombardment would quickly lead to the breach in the dike system and the total destruction of the City. The City contained almost 170,000 residents.

 The Confederate General in charge of the City’s defenses recognized his position and the risk of catastrophic destruction of property and lives. He ordered the stripping of all artillery from the fortifications in and around New Orleans which were then sent to Virginia and the retreat of the Confederate forces to northern Louisiana. He could not risk the damage to the City and its large civilian population from a confrontation.

 When most of the Confederate army in New Orleans had retreated from the City and its surroundings the local City government realized that it would be some time before the Union navy could land a force large enough to maintain civil order within the city. The concern arose that in the absence of military authority, rioting, looting, arson and possibly sabotage of the dikes might occur. The potential sabotage to the dikes whether by Union gunboats or Confederate sabotage would nevertheless be catastrophic and needed to be avoided.

 At the last moment before the arrival of the U.S. Navy it was decided by Confederate General Judge to leave behind about 12,000 men, three regiments, to maintain order in the City. Of those about 3,000 were from northern Louisiana, 3,000 were local French Creole, about 6,000 were European immigrant troops including between 350-800 Italians and several hundred free Black citizens of the City.

 Even once the Union forces began to arrive they were not there in sufficient numbers to maintain order causing General Judge with the cooperation of Union officers, to slowly withdraw his forces and in essence maintaining orderly transfer of authority. Ultimately, the majority of troops left to formally surrender the City to the Union Army was the 6^th Louisiana Regiment of which the so called European Guards composed of roughly 4,500 were a major part. Among the 6^th Regiment’s numbers were 2,500 French/Creole, 800 Spaniards, 500 Italians, 400 Germans/Dutch/Scandinavians and 500 Swiss.

 The formal transfer of military power between the Union forces under General Butler and the 6^th Louisiana Volunteers resulted in a formal mustering out ceremony of the Louisiana soldiers. As a result their names were recorded in Union documents which survived the war. As some may be interested in the list I am attaching it below. The list contains 341 names which were found in an online article with the Caption below.

                                                             Italians in the Confederate Army

                                                                      New Orleans Post Surrender

 After the takeover of New Orleans and southern Louisiana by Union forces created a unique situation in the early going of the Civil War. A relatively small union force was present to maintain control of a very large civilian population deep within the south. The vast majority of the civil population were southern sympathizers and had no fondness for the occupiers. As a result tensions within the City ran high. The Union commander General Butler had a militia rather than regular army background. As he only had about 5,000 troops within City limits the threat of civil disobedience and riot was very real. Butler had a unique way of settling the hostile population into a position of compliance. It was Butler who had settled the riots of early 1861 in Baltimore by declaring that the personal property of those showing or acting as southern sympathizers, including slaves, would be declared contraband and be confiscated. This resulted in an effective tool which ultimately was expanded on during the course of the war.

 He repeated that confiscation and contraband policy in New Orleans as a way of dealing with the population. Additionally, he armed freed slaves as civilian guards to the alarm of most white New Orleans residents. His most controversial edict as military commander was the issuance of Order #28. It may be the only time a U.S. commander issued an order that potentially encouraged sexual assault on civilian women. Essentially permitting Union Troops to treat any women in New Orleans who showed disrespect for the Union authority to be considered “women of the night”.

 As to the Italian volunteers from New Orleans they rejoined their Louisiana Regiments and continued to fight. After Major Wheat’s death in the summer of 1862 all ex-bourbon soldiers fighting in Louisiana regiments requested that all reference to Garibaldi be stricken in their identification. Many of these units became attached eventually to the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Robert E. Lee after the southern forces were nationalized. The European brigade was sometimes later in the War referred to as Lee’s Foreign Legion. The casualty toll on this unit was huge, although some continued to serve up to Lee’s surrender in 1865. It is my understanding that by the time of Lee’s surrender there were only 18 enlisted men left in the unit and it had long since lost by attrition the ability to be considered a distinct force.

 I believe that probably as much as 90% of the Italian ex-Bourbon soldiers who fought for the south were either killed or wounded in service during War.

 One interesting side note, during my research I came across an interesting story by Bruce Sterling published July 31, 2009 regarding Wheat and the Italian volunteers. I am not going to recite it here but It offers some of the facts recited above and a picture of a metal boot talisman that Sterling attributes to Wheat as a token that he distributed to his Italian volunteers.

                                                               Picture of metal boot talisman contained in the story by Bruce Sterling.

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