The Jackson Sharpshooters were formally enrolled at Camp Moore on August 13, 1861 having arrived in camp from Jackson Parish sometime during July. Men who enrolled in Louisiana for service in this company after the regiment left Camp Moore did so at Vienna, Vernon, and Monroe. James H. Seale was elected Captain at Camp Moore and served until the following April when he resigned due to poor health. James T. Davis who had served as a Private since enrolling at Camp Moore was elected from the ranks to replace Seale on April 29, 1862 by-passing 1st Lieutenant Joseph L. Reno. Captain Davis proved to be a competent military officer and led the company until his capture at Nashville, Tennessee.  As senior company commander present after the heavy casualties sustained by the regiment at Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864, he was captured commanding the regiment during the second day of fighting on December 16th when the Confederate line was outflanked and overrun. Survivors of this fight asserted afterwards that the regiment was the last to leave its position at the stone wall.

Joseph L. Reno stepped up to the 1st Lieutenant position at Camp Moore in 1861 to replace J. C. Knott and held this posting until his death from smallpox in North Carolina in April 1865. He was wounded at Peachtree Creek on July 20, 1864 and did not return to duty with the company until the survivors of the Tennessee disaster had straggled back into camp at Tupelo, Mississippi in January 1865. Reno commanded the 12th Louisiana Infantry on the battlefield at Bentonville, North Carolina on March 19, 1865. Still in command of the regiment at the end of the month, his sudden death from smallpox ten days later at High Point is a surprise to this day!

Second Lieutenants at Camp Moore were William P. Gaar and James W. Jackson. Jackson resigned on May 22, 1862 for unstated reasons and apparently was not replaced until Dwight P. Smith, then serving as 1st Sergeant, was elected 2nd Lieutenant. Smith survived the Tennessee campaign while Gaar may have been captured at Nashville. Gaar's records end after August 1864.

William S. Otts enrolled at Camp Moore as 1st Sergeant and served in this position until the May 10, 1862 re-organization when he was not re-elected. He then returned to the ranks and served as a private until his capture and parole at Vicksburg in July 1863. Otts was replaced by Dwight P. Smith in the 1862 election who was then succeeded by Newton P. Smith when Dwight Smith moved up to the 2nd Lieutenant position in May of 1863. Newton Smith was among the wounded retrieved from the battlefield at Peachtree Creek on July 20, 1864. It is not clear from the records who fulfilled the role of company 1st Sergeant for the balance of the war.

1st Lieutenant Reno, Sergeant John E. Norris, Corporal William T. Mitchell and 13 privates were present in North Carolina in 1865. And Private Absalom B. Norris was serving as the Regimental Color Bearer of the 12th Louisiana at the end of the war in April 1865. He and Lieutenant Edgar N. Potts of Company F sewed the regimental flag around the waist of Regimental Adjutant Leonidas N. Polk the night before the formal surrender ceremonies. Norris then burned the flagstaff and Polk took the flag home to Bastrop. See the Flag Page to get more on this flag story.

COMPANY H ROSTER

The Compiled Military Service Records are organized alphabetically by regiment. 

This company roster was derived from the author's 12th Louisiana database

and is not available as such from the National Archives.

Copyright registered with the Library of Congress.

Data presented below shows (1) name as it appears in the Compiled Military Service Records with spelling variations (2) rank or positions held, and (3) initial enrollment data. Camp Moore volunteers are designated by the letters CM. Volunteers who joined after the regiment left Camp Moore are designated by the year of their enrollment. Asterisks indicate service at regimental or higher headquarters.

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LSU Class of 1965.  Geaux Tigers!!