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  First Kentucky "Orphan" Brigade 

 What was the "Orphan Brigade?"

      The Orphan Brigade was formed in October 1861 from a group of Kentucky

      units that mustered into Confederate service in northern Tennessee and

      southern Kentucky in the summer and fall of 1861. Due to Kentucky's

      neutrality policy in the summer of 1861, men wishing to join the

      Confederacy traveled to Camps Boone and Burnett, near Clarksville, TN.

      Here, the nucleus of the Orphan Brigade was formed.

  The following units composed the Orphan Brigade at its formation:

      2nd Kentucky Infantry, organized at Camp Boone, 17 July 1861

      3rd Kentucky Infantry, organized at Camp Boone, 20 July 1861

      4th Kentucky Infantry, organized at Camp Burnett, 13 September 1861

      6th Kentucky Infantry, organized at Bowling Green, KY, 19 November 1861

      9th Kentucky Infantry, organized at Bowling Green, 3 October 1861, as the

      5th Kentucky Infantry (preliminary

      organization; final organization not complete until 15 May 1862 (Thompson,

      p. 434)

      1st Kentucky Artillery (Cobb's Battery), organized at Bowling Green, 20

      September1861

      Graves' Battery, organized at Bowling Green, 8 November 1861

      Byrne's Battery, organized in Washington County, MS, July 1861

      John Hunt Morgan's Cavalry Squadron, organized at Bowling Green, 5

      November 1861

      Some of these units left the Brigade for other organizations, and other

      units joined later. Through most of its career, the Orphan Brigade was

      composed of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th Infantry regiments, and Cobb's

      Battery.

The designation "9th Kentucky Infantry"

      for Col. Thomas Hunt's regiment. When organized in 1861, this regiment was

      known as the 5th Kentucky, and it is so-called in many period records.

      However, another regiment in Eastern Kentucky had also formed as the 5th

      Kentucky; since this regiment had perfected its organization first, the

      Confederate War Department redesignated Hunt's regiment as the 9th

      Kentucky in October 1862. To confuse the issue even further, the Eastern

      Kentucky 5th Kentucky Infantry (reorganized) joined the Orphans in

      November 1863, and served with them through the remainder of the war.

      (See Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky; Confederate

      Kentucky Volunteers (hereafter cited as AGR), Vol. I, Frankfort, 1915, pp.

      280-283, 410-411, 458-459.)

      The Orphan Brigade served all across the South, from Bowling Green, KY, to

      Baton Rouge, LA, and from Vicksburg, MS, to Camden, SC. They participated

      in most of the major battles of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, earning

      a reputation for steadiness in battle and unequaled prowess in drill.

      Following the Atlanta Campaign, the Orphans were converted to mounted

      infantry. The end of the war found them in South Carolina, where the 4th

      Kentucky Infantry fought one of the last actions east of the Mississippi

      River on 29 April 1865. The survivors of the Orphan Brigade were paroled

      at Washington, GA, on 6-7 May 1865.

     Why the name "Orphan Brigade?"

      The name "Orphan Brigade" was apparently a post-war invention by the

      veterans. It may have been in limited use by the end of the war, but it

      was not a widespread name like "Stonewall Brigade." During the war, the

      Orphan Brigade was generally known as the Kentucky Brigade, or the First

      Kentucky Brigade. There have been two theories put forward as to the

      source of the name, both are probably partly correct.

      Following the Orphans' disastrous assault at Murfreesboro on 2 January

      1863, in which they suffered devastating casualties from massed Federal

      artillery, Gen. Breckinridge rode along their lines. Distraught at the

      obvious high casualties, he cried out, "My poor Orphan Brigade! They have

      cut it to pieces!" ("E.P. Thompson," Confederate Veteran, Vol. 4, No. 11,

      November 1896, p. 368). In this battle, the Brigade commander, Gen. Roger

      Hanson, was mortally wounded. The Kentuckians again lost their commander,

      Gen. Ben Hardin Helm, at Chickamauga, further contributing to their

      feeling of being "orphaned."

      Another possible source for the name was the general situation faced by

      the Kentucky Confederates. When they left the state in February 1862, they

      were never able to return as a unit during the war. Cut off from supplies,

      recruits, and even mail from their homes behind enemy lines, the

      Kentuckians began to see themselves as "orphans" whose only home was the

      Confederate Army (Thompson (1898), p. 29).     

 Units of the Orphan Brigade

      Artillery / Battery Units

      Graves' Battery

      Cobb's Battery (1st Kentucky Artillery)

      Company Roster

     Infantry Units

      Second Kentucky Infantry,CSA

      Field and Staff

      Third Kentucky Infantry, CSA

      Regimental Roster       

      Fourth Kentucky Infantry, CSA

      Field and Staff

      Company A

      Company B

      Company C

      Company F

      Fifth Kentucky Infantry, CSA

      Company B

      Company D

      Company I

      Sixth Kentucky Infantry, CSA

      Field and Staff

      Ninth Kentucky Infantry,CSA

      Field and Staff

      Company A

First Kentucky "Orphan" Brigade Battle’s

Brigade organized 28 October 1861, Bowling Green, KY

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