Regimental History: The origin of the term came from the "Tiger Rifles," a volunteer company raised in the New Orleans area as part of Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat's 1st Special Battalion, Louisiana Volunteer Infantry (2nd Louisiana Battalion). A large number of the men were foreign-born, particularly Irish Americans, many from the city's wharves and docks. Many men had previous military experience in local militia units or as filibusters. They (and the regiments that later became known as the Tigers) were organized and trained at Camp Moore.
The famous filibuster Roberdeau Wheat, returning from Italy in the spring of 1861, intended to raise a company of New Orleans troops and then a full regiment for Confederate service. And once he proved his mettle in battle, he’d no doubt gain a brigadier’s star. As such, on April 18, 1861, just a few days after U.S. Fort Sumter was attacked by Confederate forces in an expression of their sovereign rights, the New Orleans Daily Crescent carried the following announcement: "We understand that our friend, Gen. C.R. Wheat, is about to raise a company of volunteers, to serve in the Army of Louisiana. His headquarters are on 64 [Saint] Charles [Street], where we advise all friends of a glorious cause to repair and enlist."
Wheat called his company the "Old Dominion Guards" to commemorate his native state’s (Virginia) recent secession from the United States to join the Southern Confederacy. With the help of Obedia Plummer Miller, a well-established New Orleans attorney, Wheat quickly recruited fifty or so men to his company, mostly expatriate Virginians, men like Henry S. Carey, a relative of Thomas Jefferson’s, Richard Dickinson, who would become Wheat’s adjutant, and Bruce Putnam, a towering man who became Wheat’s intimidating sergeant major.
24-25 June 1861: " These men were a hard lot, and when they reached the camp at Manassas on freight car was pretty nearly full of men under arrest for disorderly conduct, drunkenness, etc., most of whom were bucked and gagged as some my men reported who were at the station when they arrived. " {Withers, Robert Enoch, Autobiography of an Octogenarian, 1907}
23 May 1862: " I shall never forget the style in which Wheat's Battalion passed us … Their peculiar Zouave dress, light stripped, baggy pants, bronzed & desperate faces & wild excitement made up a glorious picture. " {Cambell Brown, quoted in Jones, Terry, Wheat's Tigers, Pg. 57}Event DaysTuesday: Training/Linebattle 7:30 PM EST
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Thursday:Training/Linebattle 7:30 PM EST
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Saturday:Training/Linebattle 7:30 PM EST
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Sunday: Training/Linebattle 3:30 PM EST
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Sunday: Training/Linebattle 7:30 PM EST
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