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46th North Carolina Infantry

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Muster In: Organized in April 1862.1
Muster Out: April 9, 18652

Commander(s):
Colonel William L. Saunders
William L. Saunders 46th NC3

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister
Alexander C. McAlister 46th NC4

Commander 3
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army5

  • Commander:
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Second Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army6

  • Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister7
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Third Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army8

  • Commander:
    • Colonel William L. Saunders9
    • Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister10
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army11

  • Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister12,13
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army14,15

  • Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister16
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army17

  • Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister18
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army19,20

  • Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister (November & December 1864)21,22
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army23,24,25,26,27

  • Commander:
    • Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. McAlister (detached in late February and sent to North Carolina with the 7th NC and two companies each from the regiments of Cooke’s Brigade)(January & February 1865)28,29
    • Colonel William L. Saunders (January 1865)30,31
    • ? (after McAlister was detached and sent to North Carolina)(February 1865)32
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:
  • Note: On February 27, 1865, two companies each of the 15th, 27th, 46th, 48th, and 57th NC were detached and sent with Lt. Colonel Alexander C. McAlister of the 46th North Carolina to the state of North Carolina, there to enforce the Conscription Act and protect the area from Union raiding parties.  They never returned to the Siege of Petersburg and surrendered with Joseph Johnston’s Army in North Carolina in May 1865.33

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle: Cooke’s Brigade | Heth’s Division | Third Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army34,35

  • Commander:
    • ? (March & April 1-2, 1865)36,37
    • Colonel William L. Saunders (April 9, 1865)38
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles39:

  • Petersburg Siege (June 1864-April 1865)
  • Skirmish at White Oak Swamp (June 15, 1864)40, of Company G, met his death.”]
  • Globe Tavern (August 18-21)
  • Reams’ Station (August 25, 1864)
  • Jones’ Farm (September 30, 1864)
  • Squirrel Level Road (September 30, 1864)
  • Harman Road (October 2, 1864)
  • Hatcher’s Run (February 5-7, 1865)
  • Petersburg Final Assault (April 2, 1865)
  • Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865)

Bibliography:

    Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

    Sources:

    1. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 145-146 ↩
    2. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 145-146 ↩
    3. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 3 (Nash Brothers: 1901), p. 62 ↩
    4. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 3 (Nash Brothers: 1901), p. 62 ↩
    5. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 112 ↩
    6. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 112 ↩
    7. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 112 ↩
    8. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 121 ↩
    9. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 121 ↩
    10. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 121 ↩
    11. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 131 ↩
    12. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 131 ↩
    13. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 3 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 77-80, 82: “The bayonet was freely used in this affair, and Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. McAlister distinguished himself by his daring in leading the regiment to the muzzles of the cannon.” ↩
    14. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 139 ↩
    15. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1312. ↩
    16. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 139 ↩
    17. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 148 ↩
    18. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 148 ↩
    19. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 156 ↩
    20. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 165 ↩
    21. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 156 ↩
    22. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 165 ↩
    23. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 174 ↩
    24. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1173: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General R. E. Lee, January 31, 1865”; This list contains many commanders who were not there.  They were the “official” commanders but may have been gone on leave.  I have used none of the leaders from this list as a result. ↩
    25. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1182: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, January 31, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from January 26-31, 1865, and the leaders should be accurate for this time frame. ↩
    26. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 184 ↩
    27. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1271: “Organization of the Infantry and Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, February 28, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from February 28, 1865.  However, leaders listed are from January.  I’ve chosen to ignore the leaders and just use this source for the organization of the order of battle. ↩
    28. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 174 ↩
    29. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 184 ↩
    30. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 174 ↩
    31. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1182: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, January 31, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from January 26-31, 1865, and the leaders should be accurate for this time frame. ↩
    32. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 184 ↩
    33. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 3 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 77-80, 82: “27 February Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. McAlister was detached from the regiment and with the writer as Adjutant, assumed command of a force of about six hundred men and was assigned to duty in the counties of Randolph, Chatham, Montgomery and Moore, North Carolina. This force was composed of the Seventh North Carolina, Major James G. Harris commanding, and two companies each from the Fifteenth, Twenty-seventh, Forty-sixth, Forty-eighth and Fifty-fifth North Carolina Regiments, designed for the protection of that section from raiding parties of the enemy, as also to preserve order in enforcing the Conscript Act. This force was actively employed until General Johnson’s army arrived near Greensboro, when it was attached to General D. H. Hill’s Division until paroled by General Sherman.” ↩
    34. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 193 ↩
    35. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 202 ↩
    36. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 193 ↩
    37. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 202 ↩
    38. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 3 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 77-80, 82: “At the surrender the regiment was commanded by Colonel W. L. Saunders.” ↩
    39. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: North Carolina by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 145-146 ↩
    40. Clark, Walter. Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-’65, Volume 3 (Nash Brothers: 1901), pp. 77-80, 82: “15 June the regiment was engaged in White Oak Swamp for some hours—losing about twenty-five men. Here it was that Lieutenant Robert A. Small ↩

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