The Louisiana in the Civil War Message Board - Archive

Re: Col. C.R. Wheat Report -Manassas

Same man. He was something of a soldier of fortune prior to the Civil War. See Charles Dufour's fine biography.

Only the Tiger Rifles company of Wheat's battalion wore Zouave uniforms. In time the battalion was called the Louisiana Tigers, and that nickname eventually rubbed off on all of the Louisiana regiments in the Army of Northern Virginia.

LSU took its nickname or mascot Fighting Tigers from those regiments, although it might be argued that the name was only from Wheat's battalion. David French Boyd, a former staff officer to Richard Taylor, was president of the school at the time. There is some element of the Washington Artillery involved because its logo included a tiger's head. Sherman was a strong supporter of LSU after the war because he had been its first president or superintendent when it was the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. He furnished Boyd with several cannon and some rifle muskets for the cadets to use in drill.

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Col. C.R. Wheat Report -Manassas
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Re: Col. C.R. Wheat Report -Manassas