The history of one of America's most amazing fighting units, the Tiger Rifles, Company B, 1st Special Battalion (Wheat's) Louisiana Volunteers, by Michael Dan Jones, is now an e-book available exclusively at Amazon.com. Of course the print edition is also available on Amazon.com as well as other online booksellers.
The Tiger Rifles were one of the most storied, and notorious, Confederate companies in the War for Southern Independence. Their unique Zouave-style uniforms brought them attention from their fellow Confederates, the Federals, newspapers and artists. The attention continues to this day among historical reenactors, historians and artists.
Their company commander, Captain Alexander White, was a man of action and violence that made him among the most notable characters on the Mississippi River prior to the war. He fully lived up to the reputation during their war. The author probes and explores the mystery behind the man that his name was an alias and that he was actually the son of a former Kentucky governor who killed a man during a card game and became a fugitive.
Jones does some historical sleuthing and comes up with some interesting possibilities to unravel the mystery and identify one very likely candidate for his real name.
Another reason for the Tiger Rifles fame is their battalion commander, Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat, who became famous in the 1850s and early '60s as a swashbuckling filibuster and soldier of fortune.
The enlisted men themselves were mostly made of Irish immigrants who had become Mississippi River steamboatmen, dockworkers and were among the most colorful, toughest, rowdiest men in the nation at that time. They made outstanding light infantry and skirmishers during the war and fought in some of the most famous early war battles, but their high jinks in camp also brought them notoriety. Their battles included First Manassas (Bull Run), Front Royal, Middletown, Strasburg, Port Republic, the Seven Days Battles, including the Battle of Gaines' Mill and the Battle of Malvern Hill. But the Tigers had become so depleted in numbers by August 9, 1862, the whole battalion was disbanded and the men discharged or distributed to other Louisiana units. Many, however, continued fighting for Southern Independence all over the Confederacy.
Their legend became so great even during the war, that all Louisianians in the Army of Northern Virginia became known as Louisiana Tigers. The nickname lives on to this day with the Louisiana State University Tigers athletic teams, as well as historical reenactment units and the Louisiana Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
