WARRIOR GUARDS 1861  By:Alan J. Pitts

Date: 7/15/2002, 9:55 am

In Response To: Fowlers-Phelan or Fowlers Artillery (Carol)

This command began the war as an infantry company from Tuscaloosa County. The original captain was Robert E. Rodes, replaced by William Henry Fowler when Rodes was appointed Colonel of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment. The Tuscaloosa boys, calling themselves the "Warrior Guards", became part of this regiment as 1st Company "H".

Members had served under Captain Rodes as state troops at Fort Morgan, Alabama, from January 15, 1861, to February 22, 1861. They were accepted in Confederate service at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on April 22, 1861. The regiment organized on May 11, 1861, at Montgomery, Alabama. Two days later seven companies enrolled at Pensacola, Florida, for twelve months in Confederate service, three others enlisting on May 15, 1861. Within a matter of days the 5th Alabama went to Virginia, camping in the Manassas area of northern Virginia until March of 1862 with the Confederate Army of the Potomac.

All but eighteen members of this company reorganized as Fowler�s Battery, Alabama Light Artillery, on December 28, 1861, others joining Company �I� of the 5th Alabama Regiment.

Here's a "brief historical sketch" of the battery from the ADAH site:

Colors of Significance: Historic Flags of Mobile Point Historical Marker