John Gordon Coltart (January 27, 1826 – April 16, 1868) was a Confederate States Army officer who held regiment, brigade and division command during the American Civil War.
During the antebellum period, Coltart became a businessman in Huntsville. He captained the local volunteer militia company and at the beginning of the war rose to battalion command at Pensacola. Coltart served as lieutenant colonel and colonel of the 7th Alabama Infantry Regiment, expanded from his battalion, during 1861 and early 1862. However, his troops refused to enlist under him due to his reputation for strict discipline and instead Coltart was placed in command of the new 26th Alabama Infantry Regiment just before the Battle of Shiloh.
Wounded leading the regiment at Shiloh, Coltart held temporary brigade command at Stones River. He was detached for conscription duty due to the consolidation of the regiment in early 1863. Returning to command of the regiment, redesignated as the 50th Alabama, Coltart led it at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and in the Atlanta Campaign. Again in command of Zachariah C. Deas' brigade at the Battle of Atlanta, Coltart was wounded at the Battle of Ezra Church, knocking him out of action for the rest of the campaign. Coltart led the 50th Alabama again during the Franklin–Nashville campaign. In the final weeks of the war, he commanded Daniel Harvey Hill's much-reduced division at Wyse Fork and Bentonville. Briefly serving as a country sheriff, Coltart died in an insane asylum three years after the end of the war.
Antebellum period John Gordon Coltart was born on January 27, 1826, in the town of Huntsville, Alabama, the son of Scottish immigrant Samuel Coltart, one of the founders of the town and its former mayor. He became a bookseller, druggist and insurance agent in Huntsville. Coltart became wealthy through his businesses, and in 1855 organized and captained the local volunteer militia company, the socially prestigious Madison Rifles. His brother, Robert, served as first sergeant.
American Civil War
Pensacola, Tennessee and Kentucky Following the secession of Alabama, Coltart's Madison Rifles entered state service and departed for Mobile on March 26, 1861. From there, the company was sent to join Braxton Bragg's Confederate forces at Pensacola besieging the Union-held Fort Pickens. Coltart was elected lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Alabama Battalion, which included the Madison Rifles as its Company E, on April 2. Coltart was re-elected as lieutenant colonel when the regiment was expanded into the 7th Alabama Infantry Regiment on May 18. The Madison Rifles became Company D of the latter under Captain Oliver B. Gaston. The 7th Alabama spent most of 1861 building fortifications and other routine duties at Pensacola, a relatively quiet part of the war, and suffered more deaths from disease than enemy action. Due to the frequent absence of the regiment's colonel, S. A. M. Wood, Coltart was often left in command of the unit, and became unpopular for his insistence on strict military discipline. Private John W. James of the regiment recalled that Coltart, though a "good military man," was "wanting in that something which inspires the confidence of men." Despite this, Coltart was considered by his men to be physically brave in combat.Notes on the History of Co. E, Louisville Blues, 7th Alabama Infantry Regiment, from conversation with John W. James of Montgomery in folder 2, 7th Alabama Infantry Regiment regimental history files at Alabama Department of Archives and History
In November, the 7th Alabama was sent to Chattanooga to suppress the East Tennessee bridge burnings, a Southern Unionist uprising against the Confederacy. Wood delegated command of the regiment to Coltart in its attempted dispersion of a guerrilla camp up the Tennessee River from Chattanooga and the subsequent roundup of suspected Unionists. While near Chattanooga, Coltart forbade the men of the regiment from going out for wood and water without being accompanied by a sergeant and limiting the number of men who could be out of the lines, causing a near-mutiny in his old company. Other disciplinary problems arose due to alcohol, with a civilian being publicly whipped for selling the soldiers whiskey.
After the suppression of the uprising, the regiment joined Albert Sidney Johnston's Army of Central Kentucky at Bowling Green, Kentucky, in December. The regiment spent the winter in routine duties and building fortifications. After Wood was promoted to brigade command there, Coltart succeeded him as colonel of the regiment on February 5, 1862. The 7th Alabama served in the rear guard of the army later that month as it retreated to Corinth, Mississippi, after a series of Confederate defeats in early 1862. When Confederate forces in the Western theater of the war united at Corinth in March, the service terms of the companies of the 7th Alabama began to expire. Due to Coltart's unpopularity, the men of the regiment refused to re-enlist under his command. Addressing the unit, Coltart blamed the officers of the 7th Alabama, claiming that "the truth is it is yourselves that want office and are afraid that you will not get it." Generous re-enlistment incentives were in vain and the regiment was accordingly disbanded in late March as its companies were discharged from service. Most of its men re-enlisted in other Alabama units.Letter, James T. Brooks to Thomas M. Owen, 24 June 1910 in folder 4, part 3, 7th Alabama Infantry Regiment regimental history files at Alabama Department of Archives and History
Shiloh and Corinth
Just before the Battle of Shiloh began, Coltart became colonel of the newly formed 26th Alabama, taking command of the regiment while it camped at Monterey on the night of April 3. The 26th Alabama had only just received its last four companies on March 31, allowing it to be expanded from a battalion to a regiment. However, it was an understrength unit with only 440 men present for Shiloh, in which the 26th Alabama formed part of Gladden's brigade of Withers' Division in Bragg's Corps, together with the 21st, 22nd, and 25th Alabama, the 1st Louisiana Regulars, and Robertson's Alabama Battery.
In the movement to the battle on the morning of April 6, Gladden's brigade became disorganized while crossing a creek, with the 1st Louisiana Regulars forcing the 26th Alabama out of alignment. The 26th Alabama ended up on the far right of the brigade, which charged Miller's brigade in the Spain Field around 8:00 a.m. The regiment was "hotly engaged" as Gladden's Brigade suffered heavy losses in the Spain Field but ultimately drove back the Union troops and captured their camp. The 26th Alabama halted for almost an hour along a fence line near the camp under the crossfire of duelling artillery batteries. Renewing the attack, the brigade engaged the Union troops 500 yards in front of the fence line, and the 26th Alabama moved to the left to counter a flanking attempt by the retreating Union troops. In this position the regiment found itself under heavy fire that it could not respond to, being masked by a retreating Confederate battery to its front. Shifting right after twenty minutes in this situation, the 26th Alabama advanced into an open field, where Coltart was severely wounded in the foot and the regiment suffered heavy losses.
26th Alabama Lieutenant Colonel William D. Chadick succeeded to command of the regiment while Coltart had his wound dressed. Returning to the battle, Coltart advised Chadick to retreat seeing the "exhausted condition of the regiment" but Chadick decided to keep the unit in action, anticipating victory. Coltart's return to the fight was brief due to the severity of his wound. He was able to return to the regiment around 4:00 p.m. while it was resting in the rear, and ordered the regiment to move a few hundred yards back for the night. The 26th Alabama had been heavily engaged during the first day and lost more than half of its men. However, before the battle began on the morning of April 7, Coltart was forced to leave to return to Corinth for treatment.
After the end of the fighting, the Confederates retreated back to Corinth. During the withdrawal from the city at the end of the Siege of Corinth, Brigadier General Joseph Wheeler took over command of the brigade, which formed the Confederate rear guard, mounting a series of skirmishes and burning bridges to delay the pursuing Union troops. Coltart led the 26th Alabama in Wheeler's force during rearguard actions on the Monterey road on May 28 and 29.
Invasion of Kentucky and Stones River
With Gardner's Brigade of Withers' Division in Polk's Right Wing of Bragg's Army of Mississippi, Coltart led the 26th Alabama during the Confederate invasion of Kentucky that began in August 1862, but Withers' Division was detached and thus missed the Battle of Perryville, the major battle of the campaign. Zachariah C. Deas of the 22nd Alabama was promoted to brigadier general in December to replace Gardner, but fell ill, leaving Colonel John Q. Loomis of the 25th Alabama temporarily in command for the Battle of Stones River. The brigade was part of Withers' Division of Polk's Corps of the Army of Tennessee for the battle, and consisted of Coltart's 26th Alabama, together with the 19th, 22nd, 25th and 39th Alabama Infantry Regiments, the 1st Louisiana Regulars, the 17th Alabama Sharpshooter Battalion, and Robertson's battery.. On December 30, the day before the battle began, the 26th Alabama helped stop the Union advance by Carlin's brigade.
Loomis' Brigade was the first sent into the attack an hour behind schedule at 7:00 a.m. on December 31, having been shifted to Cheatham's Division on the night of December 30–31. Loomis led the brigade northwest from the woods east of the Widow Smith House into an open field, with the woods on the opposite side of the field held by Woodruff's brigade supported by artillery. The 26th Alabama advanced on the left of the brigade between the 39th and 22nd Alabama. However, Loomis was not yet out of the woods when he was wounded by a falling tree limb, taking him out of the fight. Command of the brigade fell to Coltart. Despite suffering heavy losses to Union fire, the brigade continued forward and routed the opposing 25th Illinois and 81st Indiana on its right. Pursuing, the Confederates were caught by enfilading from the 35th Illinois, which Coltart reported "raked down our lines with heavy damage to us." The 25th Illinois and 81st Indiana rallied, pushing the right of the brigade back to their original positions. The right of Coltart's brigade had also encountered initial success against Sill's brigade, but was driven back by a simultaneous counterattack.
On the night of January 2–3, Coltart's Brigade, having been shifted back to Withers' Division, was moved up to support Chalmers' Brigade under Colonel Thomas W. White in preparation for a renewed attack on the Union positions in the Round Forest. The Union troops were forced out by the attack of Coltart's Brigade that morning, and both sides skirmished throughout the day. At dusk, the Union troops attacked through rain into the Round Forest again with two regiments from Beatty's brigade and Spears' fresh brigade following an artillery bombardment from Van Pelt's battery. Coltart's and White's Brigades were forced to retreat by the attack, losing 48 captured, but the Union troops abandoned their gains an hour later, allowing the Confederates to reoccupy their old positions. Fearing Union reinforcements and with the rising Stones River threatening to split his army, Bragg decided to retreat and Withers' Division began moving out from the battlefield on the morning of January.4.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga