Book Description

“A thoroughly researched account of a legendary Confederate infantry regiment that will be of deep interest to the legion of Civil War buffs.” —Richard M. McMurry, author of Two Great Rebel Armies The Fifth Texas Infantry—“The Bloody Fifth”—was one of only three Texas regiments to fight with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Much like the army in which it served, the Fifth Texas established a stellar combat record. The regiment took part in thirty-eight engagements, including nearly every significant battle in the Eastern Theater, as well as the Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Knoxville campaigns in the Western Theater. Based upon years of archival research—complete with photos and original maps—John F. Schmutz’s “The Bloody Fifth” is the first full-length study to document this fabled regimental command. “The Bloody Fifth” presents the regiment’s rich history from the secession of the Lone Star State and the organization of ten independent east and central Texas companies, through four years of arduous marching and fighting. The Fifth Texas’s battlefield exploits are legendary, from its inaugural fighting on the Virginia peninsula in early 1862 through Appomattox. But it was at Second Manassas where the regiment earned its enduring nickname by attacking and crushing the Fifth New York Zouaves. Schmutz’s book, which also details the personal lives of these Texas soldiers as they struggled to survive the war some 2,000 miles from home, is a significant contribution to the growing literature of the Civil War. “The most comprehensive, thoroughly researched account of the [Fifth] Texas Infantry . . . belongs in the library of every serious student of the Civil War.” —John Michael Priest, author of “Stand to It and Give Them Hell”