Unattached Who Served

Letter from Lt. Col. Garvin to Col. Withers dated March 1, 1864.
(Andersonville, Sumter County, GA.)
Dear Col.

        By orders from the Adj. General's office while we were enroute for Meridian, MS, this regiment was temporarily detailed as a prison guard for the garrison at this place.  It is the wish of the officers and men of the regiment that this detail be made permanent.  And you would lay us under renewed obligations by using your influence with the department to have it made permanent.
        The regiment, you are aware, has been decimated by the casualties of battle.  It has won for itself some enviable fame upon almost every battle field in VA.  It needs recruiting now more than any other regiment from the State of Alabama.  It certainly has as many claim for a little respite from active service in the field as any other regiment and the situation here is particularly favorable to it's being easliy recruited if it is permanantly located here for awhile.  As soon as it's ranks are filled it is the desire of all to return to the Army of Northern Virginia, where all our honors have been won.  By being detached here this can be done any time without any interference with this army in the field.
        It is here our duties will be sworn and arduous, but at the same time this posting is one which will catch those chaps at home who wish to avoid this war.  After these kinds are netted we will be ready again for the field.
        Hoping that you will lay this matter before the department and secure for us a permanent detail at this post, (as we are on the grounds) before other arrangements are made I remain,
Jno. S. Garvin Lt. Col.
Commanding Regt.

Colonel Edward Asbury O'neal
            Colonel O'Neal was born September 20, 1818 in Madison County, Alabama and he died November 20, 1890 in Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama.  He was the son of Edward and Rebecca Wheat O'Neal.
            O'Neal was educated at Green Academy and at LaGrange College, from which he graduated in 1836.  He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and began his law practice in Florence.  In 1841 he was appointed to the office of solicitor of the the fourth circuit and served four years.  In 1848 he was unsucessful in his candidacy for election to the Thirty First Congress.
            E. A. O'Neal's son, A. M. O'Neal, resigned from West Point Academy when Alabama succeeded from the Union.  Edward A. O'Neal joined the Confederate Army on June 4, 1861 as a Captain.  In Richmond he was promoted to Major in the Ninth Alabama Infantry Regiment on June 26, 1861.  On October 21, 1861 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the same Regiment.  This was followed by a promotion to Colonel on February 16, 1862 and re-assignment to the Twenty-sixth Alabama Infantry Regiment.
            While commanding the 26th Alabama Regiment, he was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines May 31, 1862.  While leading Rhodes' Brigade at the battle of Boonesboro (South Mountain) on September 14, 1862 he was severely wounded.  He was put in Command of Rodes' Brigade at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.  He was again wounded at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863.  At Gettysburg his inexperience at the Battalion level spelled disaster as he made an attack with only three of his five Regiments which was quickly repulsed.  Because of this a recommended Promotion to Brigadier-General was withdrawn by President Davis.  He fought as a Colonel throughout the rest of the war even though he commanded at Brigade level several more times. He commanded Battle's Brigade late 1863 and Cantey's Brigade in Georgia June and July of 1864.  In late 1864 he was sent home to recruit and he signed the oath on May 12, 1865.
            After the war O'Neal resumed his law practice in Florence.  In 1875 he was elected to serve as delegate to the Constitutional Convention.  He served as the chairman of the Committee on Education.
            O'Neal was elected Governor of Alabama in 1882 and reelected in 1884.  At the end of his second term as Governor, O'Neal returned to Florence where he lived until his death in 1890.  His former house still stands and there is bridge named after him in Florence.