The Independent Rangers from Union Parish were organized during the summer of 1861 and left home on July 20, 1861 to report to Camp Moore. They traveled by rail from Monroe to Camp Moore through Vicksburg and Jackson in Mississippi arriving at Camp Moore two days later. Members of this company filled important leadership positions for the 12th Louisiana Infantry regimental headquarters throughout the war. The names of men who held regimental or brigade staff positions are listed here with an asterisk behind each. This company is the only company that retained it's Camp Moore alpha designation [Company "E"] after the May 10th, 1962 re-organization.

1st Lieutenant John C. Knott was elected Major of the regiment in August 1861 at Camp Moore and served until May 1862. He was not reelected during the May 10th re-organization at Fort Pillow and relieved from duty.  Major Knott thereafter served as a recruiting and enrollment officer at Monroe and was responsible for enlisting many of the recruits who afterwards joined the regiment.

1st Lieutenant Evander M. Graham served as Regimental Adjutant from November 1861 through January 1862 when he was elected Captain of Company E to replace D. L. Hicks.  Hicks resigned due to poor health. Graham commanded the company until he was appointed Acting Assistant Adjutant General on Colonel Thomas M. Scott's brigade staff in March 1864. He served in this capacity throughout the Atlanta and Tennessee campaigns during 1864. Because his AAAG assignment was viewed as temporary, 1st Lieutenant James R. Fuller was not promoted to Captain. Graham was wounded at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864 and rejoined the regiment in North Carolina in early April 1865. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on April 9, 1865 and surrendered the regiment at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26, 1865.

All of the regimental Sergeant Majors came from this company. Leonidas G. Smith was promoted from 4th Sergeant of Company E to Regimental Sergeant Major in September 1861 when the regiment reached Columbus, Kentucky.  However, he was discharged for an unstated cause six weeks later. Hermann Brunner who joined the company on August 29, 1861 at Union City, Tennessee may have replaced him on a temporary basis. Brunner officially served as Sergeant Major from May 1862 until his death at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864. Samuel H. Tignor was captured and paroled at Vicksburg  but reported back to the company in September 1863 and served as a private in the ranks until late 1864. Promoted to Sergeant Major upon the death of SGM Brunner, Tignor was captured when the Confederate line was overrun at Nashville on December 16th. James Hardy Jackson appears as the Regimental Sergeant Major in the final roster prepared for the surrender of the regiment at Greensboro, North Carolina at the end of April 1865.

Men from this company were active in post war affairs.  Graham was a prominent in Union Parish politics, and others were active in Confederate veterans local camps. The Graham family letters and the letters of Sergeant George Washington Bolton of this company have provided a good deal [but by no means all] of the primary source material documenting movements of the 12th Louisiana Infantry during its four year existence.

COMPANY E ROSTER

The Compiled Military Service Records are organized alphabetically by regiment. 

This company roster was derived from the author's 12th Louisiana database

and is not available as such from the National Archives.

Copyright registered with the Library of Congress.

Data presented below shows (1) name as it appears in the Compiled Military Service Records with spelling variations (2) rank/positions held within the company, and (3) initial enrollment data. Camp Moore volunteers are designated by the letters CM. Volunteers who joined after the regiment left Camp Moore are designated by the year of their enrollment. Asterisks indicate service at regimental or higher headquarters.

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