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Louisiana Tigers
The Tiger Rifles, one company in Confederate Maj. Roberdeau Wheat's battalion of Louisiana infantry, lent its name to that battalion, and shortly all the troops from Louisiana in Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia became known as Louisiana Tigers. The Tigers earned such a reputation on the battlefield for fearlessness and hard fighting that they were called upon time after time to turn around some desperate situation or to act as shock troops to break the enemy's line. -
The Battle of Bull Run
The battalion first saw combat during the First Battle of Bull Run, where it anchored the left flank on Matthews Hill long enough for reinforcements to arrive. During this action, the Tiger Battalion conducted several brazen attacks, with Roberdeau Wheat himself suffering a horrid wound. -
Uniforms
As winter set in, the Louisiana Brigade received a generous uniform issue from its state government. For the first time since the war began, every man in the brigade, except those from Captain White’s Tiger Rifles, who elected to retain their signature Zouav d’Afrique visage as best they could, gained a uniform appearance. -
Jackson's Valley Campaign
In early 1862, Wheat's Tigers were assigned Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor's First Louisiana Brigade in the army of Stonewall Jackson. They participated in his 1862 Valley Campaign, proving instrumental in Confederate victories at the battles of Front Royal, Winchester, and Port Republic. -
Battle of Front Royal
Jackson's leading brigade, under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor, deployed on Prospect Hill and along the ridge to the east. The 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA and Major Roberdeau Wheat's Louisiana "Tigers" battalion were thrown out in advance, entering the town and clearing it of Union skirmishers. The tigers played a key role in the destruction of the Union army in this battle. -
First and Second Battle of Winchester
In the First battle of Winchester the Conferderates more than doubled the men of the Union. Stonewall lead a distructive force of men into Virginia. The tigers played a major role fearlessly going to into the Union battalions first stricking weekness in Unions army given the rest of the army courage to force a Union retreat. the Second Battle was around two weeks later where the Confederecy still outnumbered the Unions soldiers with few casualties were able to come out on top. -
Battle of Port Republic
Fought in Rockingham County, Virginia, as part of Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Port Republic was a fierce contest between two equally determined foes and was the most costly battle fought by Jackson's Army of the Valley during its campaign. -
Greastest Moments
One of the Tigers' greatest moments occurred on August 30, 1862, the third day of the Battle of Second Bull Run, when members of the 9th Louisiana Infantry Regiment beat back repeated Union assaults on the Confederate lines. When the Tigers fired their last round, the flags of the opposing regiments were almost flapping together. In desperation Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Nolan shouted for the men to make use of the numerous rocks that lay scattered around the embankment. Sensing that the rebels -
Tiger's End
Following the Civil War, many former Tigers joined the Hays Brigade Relief Association, a prominent New Orleans social and political organization. Harry T. Hays, by then the local sheriff, mobilized the association during the 1866 New Orleans Race Riot. A company of former Louisiana Tigers joined the Fenian Invasion of Upper Canada on June 1, 1866 and fought the Canadian militia the next day at the Battle of Ridgeway.
The nickname Louisiana "Tigers" lives on with the Louisiana State Tigers.
