The Commanders:
Rodes Alabama Brigade
Robert Emmett Rodes, born in Lynchburg, VA, on 29 March 1829. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1848 and then served as an instructor until 1851 when he went to Alabama to begin a career as a civil engineer. He married and worked for the Northeast & Southwest Alabama Railroad as chief engineer, but just before the Civil War began, he accepted a professorship at VMI. Rodes was appointed Colonel in the 5th Alabama and fought at 1st Manassas after which he was commissioned Brigadier General, 21 October 1861. He, with his brigade, was part of Major General Daniel H. Hill's Division. During the Peninsular Campaign, Rodes' Brigade fought at Seven Pines (where Rodes was wounded), Gaines' Mill, and Malvern Hill and suffered 50% casualties. After Rodes' recovery, he led his brigade in rear guard action at South Mountain, MD; at Sharpsburg, his brigade helped hold the Confederate center at the "Bloody Lane" where Rodes was again wounded. Again, the brigade suffered severe losses, and it was not engaged at Fredericksburg. Fall and winter enlistments brought the ranks up once more, and Rodes was made division commander when Hill was sent to North Carolina. Rodes led Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson's flank attack at Chancellorsville and won him a promotion to Major General. At Spotsylvania, Rodes led the brilliant counterattack at the "Mule Shoe", but four months later, 19 September 1864, at the third battle of Winchester, he was killed directing a counterattack that allowed Jubal Early's army to retreat safely.
Edward Asbury O'Neal, born 20 September 1818, in Madison County, Alabama Territory, he attended LaGrange College (graduated 1836) and began the practice of law in Florence, AL, in 1840. He was active in local politics and the secession movement. At the outbreak of war in 1861, he joined the 9th Alabama Infantry and elected major, then lieutenant colonel. In 1862, he received a commission as colonel of the 26th Alabama Regiment and fought in Virginia through 1863 (Peninsular, Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg campaigns). O'Neal took command of Rodes' Brigade when Rodes was promoted to division command. However, his performance did not qualify him for promotion. At Gettysburg, for example, he kept to his 26th Regiment and allowed the other brigade regiments to flounder. His brigadier's commission was delayed and General Robert E. Lee appointed Brigadier General Cullen A. Battle brigade commander, angering O'Neal enough that he requested a transfer. President Jefferson Davis canceled the promotion and sent O'Neal and his regiment to the Atlanta front. After the fall of that city, O'Neal was relieved, sent to duty with the Conscription Bureau in Alabama, and served out the war there. O'Neal resumed his legal and political activity during the Reconstruction period and was elected governor of Alabama in 1882 and 1884. After he retired to Florence, he died there, 7 November 1890.
Cullen Andrews Battle, born 1 June 1829, in Powelton, Georgia. Without formal military training, Battle was a capable combat officer who learned the art of war with his troops. He distinguished himself as first a regimental, then a brigade commander. Battle moved with his family to Eufaula and entered the state university to study law. He became an attorney in 1852 and was an ardent secessionist. He joined a local militia company and offered his services to Alabama immediately after the state seceded. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel in the 3rd Alabama Infantry Regiment and saw his first action at Seven Pines. He was then promoted to colonel and the regiment joined Rodes' Brigade where Battle continued to serve until war's end. At South Mountain, 14 September 1862, Battle faced 3 veteran Federal brigades while defending a barren hill north of the gap. In the onslaught, the 3rd Alabama broke, but Battle reacted with cool efficiency; likewise, at Antietam defending the "Bloody Lane," Battle and his men fought courageously. Rodes' Alabama Brigade, held in reserve, saw limited action at Fredericksburg, but at Chancellorsville, Battle participated in the division's surprise attack against the Union right flank. His performance at Gettysburg earned him promotion to brigadier general (on 25 August, dating from 20 August, 1863) and command of (now) Battle's Alabama Brigade. During the battles of 1864, the Alabamians suffered heavy casualties at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and in the Shenandoah Valley. In this last campaign, Battle led his brigade in a brilliant counterattack at 3rd Winchester before he was severely wounded at Cedar Creek (19 October 1864). The wound was incapacitating throughout the rest of the war. After the surrender, Battle resumed his law practice in Alabama. He was elected to Congress in 1868 but refused to take the "ironclad oath." He eventually moved to New Berne, North Carolina, where he edited a newspaper. He died in Greensborough, 8 April 1905.
