The 22nd Mississippi was organized from volunteer companies assembled at
Iuka in the summer of 1861 and was then sent north to Kentucky in September to join General
Leonidas Polk's forces. The regiment went into winter quarters in Kentucky without seeing combat, but outbreaks of disease led to numerous deaths, including the original colonel of the regiment, D.W.C. Bonham, who died of pneumonia in November. The regiment then took part in the
defense of Corinth, as Union troops moved to seize the vital North Mississippi railroad junction located there. Following the Confederate retreat, the regiment moved to
Vicksburg, Mississippi to guard the strategic river city. From this location, the regiment was sent into Louisiana and took part in the Confederate attempt to recapture the state capital during the
Battle of Baton Rouge. This attack failed and the Confederates again took heavy casualties. During the fall of 1862, Confederate general
Earl Van Dorn tried to retake Corinth, and the 22nd Regiment took part in the bloody Confederate assault on the fortified Union lines at the
Second Battle of Corinth. This attempt failed, and the 22nd returned to Mississippi river region. In the spring of 1863, the regiment joined the Confederate defenders during
Vicksburg Campaign, fighting against Union forces who were seeking to capture the city along the Mississippi River. The regiment remained outside the city's defenses, fighting at the
Battle of Champion Hill and along the
Big Black River, and was not captured when Vicksburg fell on July 4. The 22nd then took part in the Confederate
retreat to Jackson, and then was sent to Georgia to join the defense of Atlanta as part of General
Winfield S. Featherston's brigade. The 22nd fought in numerous battles around Atlanta before the Confederates lost control of the city, then moved on to join General
John Bell Hood's
Franklin-Nashville Campaign. By the end of December, 1864 the regiment had been reduced to a strength of only 104 men. Following a retreat from Tennessee, and after spending the winter in camp in Mississippi, the 22nd moved into the Carolinas in the spring of 1865 to take part in their final campaign of the war. After fighting at
Kinston and
Bentonville, the regiment surrendered on April 26 at
Durham, North Carolina. ==Commanders==