Colonel Isaac Avery's North Carolina Brigade and Brigadier General Harry Hays' Louisiana Brigade, known as the fierce "Louisiana Tigers", charged across the rolling Culp Farm and struck the Union positions at the base of the hill. Louisiana Tigers at the Battle of Gettysburg

During the Civil War the Thomas legion recruited more than two thousand five hundred officers and men (included 400 Cherokees), and they were distributed in infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The artillery battery, John T. Levi's Light Artillery Battery (a.k.a. Louisiana Tigers), formerly served in the Virginia State Line Artillery and was added to the legion on April 1, 1863.

John T. Levi's Light Artillery Battery, later named Barr's Light Artillery Battery, was initially known as the Virginia State Line Artillery. When it disbanded and reformed as Levi's Light Artillery Battery on April 1, 1863, and into Thomas' Legion, some of the soldiers formerly served in one of the regiments within Hay's Louisiana Brigade, a.k.a. Louisiana Tigers. Hence, the name Louisiana Tigers was adopted. Another version: Hay's Louisiana Tigers and the Virginia State Line Artillery both served in the Army of Northern Virginia. When the Virginia State Line Artillery disbanded and reformed into Thomas' Legion as Levi's Light Artillery Battery, they liked the name Louisiana Tigers and adopted it. Regardless, Hay's Brigade has first right to the name. 

Original "Louisiana Tigers"

Brigadier General Harry Hays' Louisiana Brigade, known as the "Louisiana Tigers," charged across the rolling Culp Farm and struck the Union positions at the base of the hill. The nickname for Hays' men came from former members of the original Louisiana Tigers or Wheat's Battalion, raised in 1861 but disbanded after Major Robert Wheat's death. The remaining Tigers were transferred into the various regiments of Hays' command where the other Louisiana soldiers had taken a liking to the nickname and the fame attached to it.

The Battery in 1865

In 1864, Captain John T. Levi transferred command of the "light artillery battery" to Captain John W. Barr. In April 1865, Union and Confederate commanders recorded the battery in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies as an active battery: General Martin (O.R., 1, 49, pt. 1, p. 1048), General Stanley (O.R.,1, 49, pt. II, p. 309), and Lt. Colonel Stringfield (Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions From North Carolina in the Great War 1861-65, Vol. III, p. 761). 

Recommended Reading: The First Louisiana Special Battalion: Wheat's Tigers in the Civil War (Library Binding). Description: From the little-known Filibuster Wars to the Civil War battlefield of Gaines' Mill, this volume details the fascinating story of one of the South's most colorful military units, the 1st Louisiana Special Battalion, aka Wheat's Tigers. Beginning with a brief look at the Filibuster Wars (a set of military attempts to annex Latin American countries into the United States as slave states), the work takes a close look at the men who comprised Wheat's Tigers: Irish immigrant ship hands, New Orleans dock workers and Filibuster veterans. Continued below... 

Commanded by one of the greatest antebellum filibusterers, Chatham Roberdeau Wheat, the Tigers quickly distinguished themselves in battle through their almost reckless bravery, proving instrumental in Southern victories at the battles of Front Royal, Winchester and Port Republic. An in-depth look at Battle of Gaines' Mill, in which Wheat's Tigers suffered heavy casualties, including their commander, completes the story. Appendices provide a compiled roster of the Wheat's Tigers, a look at the 1st Louisiana's uniforms and a copy of Wheat's report about the Battle of Manassas. Never-before-published photographs are also included.

 

Cherokee Battalion and Life Guard

Recommended Reading: Irish Rebels, Confederate Tigers: A History Of The 6th Louisiana Volunteers (Hardcover). Description: The first book-length treatment of an important Confederate regiment composed mostly of Irish immigrants who were involved in most of the important Civil War battles in the East. About the Author: James P. Gannon is a former reporter and bureau chief with the Wall Street Journal and former editor of the Des Moines Register. Jim and his wife Joan run the Old Sperryville Bookshop in Sperryville, Virginia.

 

Recommended Reading: Confederate Artilleryman 1861-65 (Warrior). Description: This title guides the reader through the life and experiences of the Confederate cannoneer - where he came from; how he trained and lived; how he dressed, ate and was equipped; and how he fought. Insights into the real lives of history's fighting men, and packed with full color illustrations, highly detailed cutaways, and exploded artwork. Continued below...

 

Recommended Reading: Lee's Tigers: The Louisiana Infantry in the Army of Northern Virginia (Civil War) (Louisiana State University Press). Description: Sometimes called the "wharf rats from New Orleans" and the "lowest scrapings of the Mississippi," Lee's Tigers were the approximately twelve thousand Louisiana infantrymen who served in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from the time of the campaign at First Manassas to the final days of the war at Appomattox. Terry L. Jones offers a colorful, highly readable account of this notorious group of soldiers renowned not only for their drunkenness and disorderly behavior in camp, but for their bravery in battle. It was this infantry that held back the initial Federal onslaught at First Manassas, made possible General Stonewall Jackson's famed Valley Campaign, contained the Union breakthrough at Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle, and led Lee's last offensive actions at Fort Stedman and Appomattox. Continued below...

Despite all their vices, Lee's Tigers emerged from the Civil War with one of the most respected military records of any group of southern soldiers. According to Jones, the unsavory reputation of the Tigers was well earned, for Louisiana – like all states – had its share of criminals, drunkards, and deserters in its commands. The author spices his narrative with well-chosen anecdotes-among them an account of one of the stormiest train rides in military history. While on their way to Virginia, the enlisted men of Coppens' Battalion uncoupled their officers' car from the rest of the train and proceeded to partake of their favorite beverages. Upon arriving in Montgomery, the battalion embarked upon a drunken spree of harassment, vandalism, and robbery. Meanwhile, having commandeered another locomotive, the officers arrived and sprang from their train with drawn revolvers to put a stop to the disorder. "The charge of the Light Brigade," one witness recalled, "was surpassed by these irate Creoles." Lee's Tigers is the first study to utilize letters, diaries, and muster rolls to provide a detailed account of the origins, enrollments, casualties, and desertion rates of these soldiers. Jones supplies the first major work to focus solely on Louisiana's infantry in Lee's army throughout the course of the war. Civil War buffs and scholars alike will find Lee's Tigers a valuable addition to their libraries.

 

Sources: Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers; Walter Clark, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865; D. H. Hill, Confederate Military History Of North Carolina: North Carolina In The Civil War, 1861-1865; Weymouth T. Jordan and Louis H. Manarin, North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; National Archives and Records Administration; Library of Congress: American War Casualty Lists and Statistics; William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War.