Little seems to be known about Captain Mayes other than that he enlisted as 1st Lieutenant of Company C, 3rd Alabama Infantry on April 27th, 1861. The initial enlistment was to be for one year. However, he seems to have re-enlisted, as he was promoted to Captain of the same company on May 1st, 1862, only to meet his death exactly one month later (June 1st, 1862) at the battle of Seven Pines. The image shown on this page is signed, and is of the type known as a carte-de-visite, one of the first paper format uses in photography. It is a rare and splendid photograph that shows the two captain's horizontal stripes on the collar. The standard Confederate uniform for an officer had rank displayed on the collar rather than on shoulder straps, a deviation from the Federal officer's uniform. The fancy scroll stitching on the arms is called "piping", and was quite common on well made officer uniforms, typically being gold or silver in color. From the author's contacts with museum curators in Alabama, while there are no actual uniforms on exhibit from the 3rd Alabama, there is a consensus opinion that the uniform of officers for the unit was a shade of gray. The probable shade, judging from the image of Captain Mayes, was darker rather than lighter in color, and was not deep enough to call "charcoal" gray. Based on other uniform from the Mobile area, the likelihood is that the uniform coat was a type of steel gray with a slight bluish tint to it. The kepi appears to be a charcoal gray with a gold wreath and gold ornamentation. The top of the kepi (unseen in this photograph) should have a rather ornate piping design on it. Unfortunately, nobody has been able to figure out what the letters within the wreath are. They may, in fact, be numbers, but such is unlikely. The buckle probably has the letters "CS" written within the wreath, although, once again, identification of the letters is impossible, even with high magnification. A synopsis history of the 3rd Alabama Infantry shows that the regiment was recruited by Colonel J.M. Withers in April, 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama. Men of this unit were recruited in the cities of Mobile and Montgomery, and the counties of Macon, Lowndes, Coosa, and Autauga. It was the first Alabama command sent to Virginia, mustering into Confederate service with 1000 men at Lynchburg. The unit served in the Department of Norfolk and was then assigned to Rodes', O'Neal's, and Battle's Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia. They fought in many battles from Seven Pines to Cold Harbor, moved to the Shenandoah Valley with Jubal Early, and were active in the campaign that ended at Appomatox. It lost 38 killed and 122 wounded at Seven Pines and sustained 57% casualties of the 345 effectives engaged at Malvern Hill. The unit reported a further 138 casualties at Chancellosville, 91 at Gettysburg, and 5 at Mine Run. The 3rd Alabama surrendered in April, 1865 with 9 officers and 93 men, having shed their blood most gallantly for a cause that was forever lost. Back to The Zouave Vol IV No. 1 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com