6th Mississippi Infantry Regiment

The volunteer companies that made up the 6th Mississippi were organized in the spring and summer of 1861, originally for state service, and were then mustered into Confederate service on August 24, 1861 at Grenada, Mississippi, with an original total strength of 601 men and officers. The colonel of the regiment was John Jones Thornton, a slaveowner and physician who had been a delegate to the Mississippi state secession convention in January 1861. Despite voting against leaving the Union and being the only delegate who refused to sign the state's ordnance of secession, Thornton quickly volunteered for the army soon after the convention adjourned. The Regiment was then sent Kentucky where it joined Patrick Cleburne's brigade. In Kentucky the Regiment suffered from serious outbreaks of disease that reduced the total effective strength at one point to only 150 men. The Regiment was moved to Corinth, Mississippi after the fall of Fort Donelson to Union forces in February, 1862. ==Shiloh==

As part of Cleburne's brigade, in General William J. Hardee's Third Army Corps, the 6th Mississippi took part in the Battle of Shiloh on April 6–7, 1862. On the morning of April 6 the Regiment advanced against the Union lines at Rhea field alongside the 23rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, but their advance was impeded by a bog and the obstacles of the Federal camp. 60 men of the Regiment reformed ranks for a counterattack led by Captain A.Y. Harper, The 6th Regiment suffered a 76% casualty rate at Shiloh, earning it the nickname of "The Bloody Sixth". A monument to the 6th Mississippi was dedicated at Shiloh National Military Park in 2015, located at Rhea field where the troops of the Regiment fell in battle. After Shiloh, the Regiment was sent to camp at Corinth and reorganized. Colonel Thornton resigned, Robert Lowry was elected as the new Colonel, and A.Y. Harper was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. The Regiment was assigned to General John S. Bowen's brigade in Major General John C. Breckinridge's reserve corps and transferred to a supporting position near Vicksburg, Mississippi in the summer of 1862. ==Vicksburg and Knight Company==

Bowen's brigade, including the 6th Regiment, was assigned to Major General Earl Van Dorn's corps and sent to fight at the Second Battle of Corinth in October. The brigade then acted as Van Dorn's rear guard during the retreat from Corinth, and later returned to the Vicksburg area to prepare for the Union advance on the city. At the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, the Regiment engaged in skirmishes with Union troops, These men were Newton Knight's band of Unionist guerillas who had disrupted Confederate control of Jones County and the surrounding region. The Confederate troops under Lowry fought skirmishes with the guerillas and summarily executed 9 of Knight's men by hanging. Despite these efforts, the Confederate forces did not capture Knight or stop the flow of desertion and Unionist resistance in Mississippi. The 6th Regiment lost 1 killed and 2 wounded in operations against Knight's Company. ==1864-1865 campaigns==

In May 1864, the 6th Regiment was sent to Georgia to join General John Adams' brigade during the Atlanta campaign. The 6th fought at the Battle of Resaca, Battle of New Hope Church, Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Battle of Peachtree Creek, and the Battle of Atlanta. The Regiment then joined the Franklin–Nashville campaign, and Colonel Lowry of the 6th Mississippi took command of Adams' brigade after General Adams was killed in the Battle of Franklin on November 30. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Borden took command of the regiment after Lowry's promotion, commanding the regiment at the Battle of Nashville in December. During the final stages of the war, the 6th was sent to take part in General Joseph E. Johnston's Carolinas campaign, fighting at Kinston, North Carolina and the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865. The Regiment, along with the rest of Johnston's command, surrendered at Durham, North Carolina on April 26. ==Commanders==

Commanders of the 6th Mississippi Infantry: • Col. John J. Thornton, wounded at Shiloh, resigned 1862. • Col. Robert Lowry, promoted to Brigadier General, 1865. Governor of Mississippi, 1882–1890. • Lt. Col. Enoch R. Bennett • Lt. Col. A.Y. Harper • Lt. Col. Thomas J. Borden ==Organization==

Companies of the 6th Mississippi Infantry: • Company A, "Rankin Rough and Readies" of Rankin County. • Company B, "New Guard" of Rankin County • Company C, "Quitman Southerns" of Leake County. • Company D, "Lowry Rifles" of Smith County. • Company E, "Lake Rebels" of Scott County. • Company F, "Crystal Springs Guard" of Copiah County. • Company G "Rockport Steel Blades" of Copiah County. • Company H, "Simpson Fencibles" of Simpson County. • Company I, "Rankin Greys" of Rankin County. • Company K, "East Mississippi Greys" of Scott County. ==See also==