| First Kentucky Brigade | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1861 – 1865 |
| Country | Confederate States of America |
| Branch | Mix of infantry, cavalry, and artillery |
| Size | Brigade |
| Nickname | The Orphan Brigade |
| Engagements | Battle of Shiloh
|
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
John C. Breckinridge Roger W. Hanson Benjamin Hardin Helm Joseph Horace Lewis |
The Orphan Brigade was the nickname of the First Kentucky Brigade, a group of military units recruited from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to fight for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The brigade was the largest Confederate unit to be recruited from Kentucky during the war. Its original commander was Major General John C. Breckinridge, former Vice President of the United States and candidate for President, who was enormously popular with Kentuckians.
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Units of the Orphan Brigade were involved in many military engagements in the American South during the course of the war, including the Battle of Shiloh. In 1862, Breckinridge was promoted to division command and was succeeded in the brigade by Brig. Gen. Roger W. Hanson. At the Battle of Stones River, the brigade suffered heavy casualties in an assault on January 2, 1863, including General Hanson. Breckinridge—who vehemently disputed the order to charge with the army's commander, General Braxton Bragg—rode among the survivors, crying out repeatedly, "My poor Orphans! My poor Orphans." noted brigade historian Ed Porter Thompson, who used the term in his 1868 history of the unit. The term came from how the Confederacy viewed the Kentucky (a union state) soldiers.[1] The term was probably not in widespread use during the war, rather, it became popular after the war among the veterans.
The Orphan Brigade lost another commander at the Battle of Chickamauga, when Benjamin Hardin Helm was mortally wounded on September 20, 1863, and died the following day. Major Rice E. Graves, artillery commander, was also mortally wounded.[2]
The Orphan Brigade served throughout the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, then were converted to mounted infantry and opposed Sherman's March to the Sea. They ended the war fighting in South Carolina in late April 1865, and surrendered at Washington, Georgia, on May 6–7, 1865.[3]
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