E. W. Tarrant letters

E.W. Tarrant enlisted in the Warrior Guard of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on 16 April 1861. The Warrior Guards, under Col. R. E. Rodes, moved to Montgomery and there became Company H of the Fifth Alabama Infantry Regiment and then accompanied the new Confederate government when it moved to Richmond, Virginia. Once in Virginia, the 5th Alabama became part of the brigade under the command of General G.P.T. Beauregard. Although Tarrant was wounded at Manassas on 17 July 1861, the 5th Alabama was not a part of the larger battle on 21 July.

In the spring of 1862, the Warrior Guards was broken up, with approximately 50 soldiers being withdrawn back to Tuscaloosa as the nucleus of Fowler's Battery, under Captain W. H. Fowler.Tarrant was one of the last to sign up with Fowler, but had hopes to be able to transfer to Lumden's Battery where his father was a lieutenant.

According to the writer of the document, E.W. Tarrant was a lieutenant in Tarrant's Battery. He was in the battles of Farmington, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Resaca, Cassvill, New Hope, Kenesay, Atlanta, Nashville, and Fort Blakely. He was captured at Blakely and sent as a prisoner to Ship Island, where he sat out the rest of the war. He returned to Tuscaloosa in May 1865.

After the war, Tarrant moved to Texas and died on 19 November 1921 in Bryan, Texas.