5th Infantry Regiment was assembled at Richmond, Virginia, in October, 1861. Its members
were recruited in the counties of Harris, Colorado, Leon, Walker, Montgomery, Washington,
Jefferson, Liberty, Milam, Polk, and Trinity. As a part of Hood's Texas Brigade it served under
Generals Hood, J.B. Robertson, and J. Gregg. The unit participated in the difficult campaigns of
the Army of Northern Virginia from Seven Pines to Cold Harbor except when it was with
Longstreet at Suffolk, Chickamauga, and Knoxville.
It fought in the Petersburg
trenches north and south of the James River and around Appomattox. This regiment
contained 341 effectives in April, 1862 and lost more than half of the 409 engaged at Gettysburg. It surrendered 12
officers and 149 men. The field officers were Colonels James J. Archer, Robert M. Powell, and
Jerome B. Robertson; Lieutenant Colonels Walter B. Botts, King Bryan, and John C. Upton; and
Majors Paul J. Quattlebaum, Jefferson C. Rogers, and David M. Whaley.