The Fourth Alabama Painting by Don Troiani

Fifth Brigade, Army of the Potomac

Mapping the Civil War, featuring rare maps from the Library of Congress, including the position of Captain F B Schaeffer's infantry battalion

Mapping the Civil War, featuring rare maps from the Library of Congress, including the position of Acting Major F B Schaeffer's battalion infantry

Schaeffer's Battalion Infantry

ACTING MAJOR F B SCHAEFFER
Commanding a provisional battalion of infantry on 21 July, 1861.

Unlettered Company Beauregard Rifles: First Lt. E H Cummins
First Lieutenant E H Cummins commanding as Captain F B Schaeffer was acting major commanding the battalion. The company was subsequently assigned to the 1st Virginia Infantry, Company F, on 23 July, 1861 and relieved from duty on 7 September, being redesignated Company C, 1st Regiment Virginia Artillery. On 13 November, 1861, the company was mustered out of service.

As Captain F B Schaeffer, commanding the National Rifles and former United States Army officer, a District of Columbia militia company, refused to take the oath of loyalty, Colonel C P Stone, Inspector General of the District of Columbia, refused his majors commission and terminated his captaincy. He left for Alexandria taking with him the secession members of his company after which the union members formed a new company under Captain J R Smead (See the 6th Virginia Battalion Volunteers).

Unlettered Company Crescent Blues, Company B: CAPT. Mcg C Goodwyn
The company was temporarily attached to the battalion, by Special Order No.94 on 6 July, 1861, and temporarily attached to the 49th Virginia Infantry during September, 1861. The Crescent Blues was assigned to the Washington Battalion Infantry, St Paul's Foot Rifles, Company C, on 1 October 1861, and attached to the Washington Battalion Artillery as sharpshooters. Captain McG C Goodwyn was field officer and acting major of the battalion with First Lieutenant W G Crump commanding the company.
Unlettered Company New Market Guards: CAPT. H N B WOOD
The company was temporarily attached to the battalion, by Special Order No.94 on 6 July, 1861 and assigned to the 49th Virginia Infantry, Company C, during August 1861.

Sources

"On the morning of the 21st, they were associated with the Beauregard Rifles, a Washington City company, and the New Market Guards, a Virginia company, all under the command of Captain Schaeffer, of the Beauregard Rifles, and ordered to support Latham's Battery a company of Lynchburg Artillery."

"A second and third time the acting Major of the Battalion directed a retreat, stating (so it is said) that the day was lost, and that to remain was to court swift and certain destruction. Captain Goodwyn then remarked that he and his company had come there to fight, and not to retreat, and begged to be permitted to remain. The permission was given, and Captain Goodwyn then called for volunteers. His call responded to by about fifty members of his own company; including Lieutenants Saunders and De Lisle, and a portion of the Beauregard Rifles. The rest of the battalion retired under orders of the commander. Captain Goodwyn and his followers continued to support Latham's Battery until they charged and captured Griffin's Battery (three piece) and turned its guns on the enemy."

"Goodwyn fell in with Col. Kershaw's, South Carolina Regiment, just as it was making the final charge on the enemy, and participated in the pursuit of the flying federalists as far as Centerville."

The Daily Delta, 13 August, 1861: Jackson Barracks – Historical Military Data on Louisiana Militia, Volume 113, pp. 10–15

"II. Capt M Goodwin's Company Crescent Blues, Louisiana Volunteers, and Capt H N B Wood's Company Virginia Volunteers, will be temporarily detached and take position at the Stone Bridge across Bull Run, on Centreville Turnpike, and will be reported to Capt F B Schaeffer, who will command the Battalion and give special attention to their military drill, instruction, and discipline."

A Life in Letters: Lieutenant Colonel Robert A Hardaway in the Civil War and the New South, 6 July, 1861

"He inspected the division, thus increased, consisting of the 2nd and 8th South Carolina regiments, the shattered remnants of Hampton's Legion, about 150 strong, whom we had received, (what with the killed, wounded, and those attending them, few were left in the field,) ans one company – partly of Marylanders, and partly of Crescent Blues of New Orleans."

The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry etc., Volume 2: Charleston Mercury, 29 July, edited by Frank Moore

"We remained long enough to inquire after the Crescent Blues, the fine independent corps commanded by that gallant and accomplished young officer, McGavock Goodwyn. The Blues are now attached to the 49th Virginia regiment, commanded by ex-Governor Smith, of whose gallant conduct in the battle of the 21st General Beauregard speaks in the most glowing terms."

The Daily Delta, 25 August, 1861: Jackson Barracks – Historical Military Data on Louisiana Militia, Volume 113, pp. 159–160

"The Crescent Blues, we believe, acted as an artillery company, and had charge of a battery".

The Daily Delta, 24 July, 1861: Jackson Barracks – Historical Military Data on Louisiana Militia, Volume 111, pp. 130–134

"This company was composed of members of the Pelican Hook and Ladder Fire Company of New Orleans. It went to Virginia unattached and fought at Manassas with two other independent companies. In September, 1861, it was attached for one month to the 49th Virginia Infantry."

Lee's Tigers: The Louisiana Infantry in the Army of Northern Virginia, by Terry L Jones

"The National Rifles of Washington was a District of Columbia Militia Company. Captain Francis B Schaeffer led the majority of his hundred-man company across the river into Virginia service. They became Company F, 1st Virginia Infantry, called the Beauregard Rifles."

Marylanders in the Confederacy, by Daniel D Hartzler

"The Beaureguard Rifles were mustered into the service of Virginia at Camp Pickens on 22 June, and at First Manassas the company was part of a provisional battalion under Captain F B Schaeffer's command. E H Cummins, First Lieutenant, was in command of the Rifles at the time of the battle and their transfer to the 1st Virginia Infantry."

The Virginia Regimental Histories Series, First Virginia Infantry, Third Edition, byL A Wallace, Jr.

"This ink and watercolour manuscript map shows the position of Captain Schaeffer's command at First Bull Run, and brings home the knowledge that the height of the corn, the depth of the river, and the landmark poplar tree all had some effect on the battle."

Captain F B Schaeffer's Battalion of Infantry is illustrated on a hand-wrought copy of a lithogragh based on sketches by Captain S P Mitchell of the 1st Virginia Infantry.

Mapping the Civil War, featuring rare maps from the Library of Congress, by Christopher Nelson

The Virginia Regimental Histories Series, Forty-ninth Virginia Infantry, First Edition, No.547 of 1000, by L Reidenbaugh

Miscellaneous Disbanded Virginia Light Artillery, First Edition, No.372 of 1000, by R H Moore II

A Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units 1861–1865, by Arthur W Bergeron, Jr.

A Guide to Virginia Military Organisations 1861–1865, Revised Second Edition, by I A Wallace, Jr.

Notes

The battalion was temporarily organised on 6 July, 1861, from three unattached companies of volunteers, and assigned to the Fifth Brigade, Army of the Potomac. The Washington Battalion Infantry, St Paul's Foot Rifles, Chasseurs-a-pied, 7th Louisiana Battalion Infantry, was organised at Manassas on 1 October, 1861, when the Catahoula Guerrillas, 1st Special Battalion Louisiana Infantry, and the Crescent Blues, Company B, were added to the 1st Company Foot Rifles commanded by Captain H St Paul de Lechard. The battalion was assigned to the Washington Battalion Artillery as sharpshooters under the command of Major H St Paul de Lechard.

On 25 July 1861, the Army of the Potomac was reorganised and the Beauregard Rifles was assigned to the 1st Virginia Infantry, the Crescent Blues, Company B, to the Washington Battalion Infantry, and the New Market Guards to the 49th Virginia Infantry.