Historical Sketch And Roster Of The Tennessee 31st Infantry Regiment

TheTennessee Thirty-first Infantry Regimentwas raised in Weakley Haywood Madison McNairy and Decatur Counties and was organized during the summer of 1861 with A. H. Bradford colonel and November 29 marched for Columbus Ky. where it remained until the surrender of Fort Donelson in February 1862. It then moved to Tiptonville then to Fort Pillow and after the battle of Shiloh to Corinth. Later it was moved to Chattanooga and then moved north campaigning through Kentucky with Bragg. At Perryville the regiment had its first heavy engagement displaying great gallantry and losing many valuable soldiers. Egbert E. Tansil succeeded Bradford as colonel. It marched south with the army and December 31 fought with conspicuous courage at Murfreesboro and retreated south with the army and in September 1863 fought in the awful battle of Chickamauga losing nearly half its men. In 1864 in the Georgia campaign it was engaged in nearly all the principal battles losing heavily in the aggregate. In the Tennessee campaign of Hood it fought at Franklin losing over half the number engaged. Col. Stafford was killed on the enemy's line to which he had penetrated. Again it fought at Nashville then moved to North Carolina where it surrendered.