RECOLLECTIONS OF THE GREAT WAR
BY A.W. SPARKS.
THE WAR
Between the States,
--- AS ---
I SAW IT.
-------------
Reminiscent, Historical and Personal
--- BY ---
A. W. Sparks.
-----------
1901.
-----------
LEE & BURNETT,
PRINTERS'
DEDICATED TO The Children Of The Veterans Of The Lost Cause,
ROSS
The story here told, by one of that band,
In memory, harnessed with thought,
Journeyed back, through years, to
And to you, this message was brought.
BY
- The Author
INDEX.
Right of Secession.............................. 9
Hot Year........................................ 11
The Great Comet................................. 11
Election of Mr. Lincoln......................... 12
The
Col. W. B. Sims................................. 14
Company Officers................................ 14
Horse Race...................................... 16
Gen. Cooper's Indians........................... 17
Capt. Stuart's death............................ 22
Col. Stanwaite.................................. 26
Extracts from Victor M. Rose.................... 29
Gen. Seigle at Bentonville...................... 32
Whistling Dick.................................. 34
C. C. Carr...................................... 36
Col. D. W. Jones................................ 37
Recollections of March.......................... 41
At
March to
Blank........................................... 47
Gen. McCook..................................... 51
The Ruin of Surrender........................... 55
Gen. Ross' Report............................... 56
In
President Davis' Fame........................... 61
Marshall Arsenal................................ 64
9th
3rd
1st
Organization
of 6th
Death of Capt. Harris........................... 81
Gen. Van Dorn................................... 88
Retreat from Elk Horn........................... 89
Dismounted
to cross the
Quotation from Judge Hogg....................... 91
Ross' Brigade................................... 98
Detail for Recruits............................. 100
Messenger Order................................. 102
Captain of
Gen. Granger and Van Dorn....................... 107
Fall of
Return to
Ross and
Mabry with
Discipline...................................... 123
Visiting the Hospital........................... 124
Nicknaming...................................... 128
Artillery service............................... 129
Small funeral................................... 131
Parson Ische.................................... 132
Quent Boothe.................................... 133
Old Butch's recollection........................ 134
The beginning of the end........................ 137
Adenda.......................................... 140
The close and reconstruction.................... 142
John H. Reagan's speech......................... 144
Gen. L. S. Ross................................. 153
Gen. Jno.
Gen. J. W. Whitfield............................ 176
Col. D. W. Jones................................ 177
Col. Jack Whorton............................... 178
Col. John H. Broocks............................ 179
Col. Elkanah Greer.............................. 181
Col. H. P. Mabry................................ 182
Capt. Chas. S. Stuart........................... 186
Capt. Perry Evans............................... 187
Capt. Jas. English.............................. 188
Lt. Lade Miller................................. 188
Lt. Buster Haynes............................... 189
Lt. John A. Coplin.............................. 189
Lt. Wm. Chambers................................ 190
Lt. Henry Haynes................................ 190
Lt. Wm. Moore................................... 191
Hon. O. N. Hollingsworth........................ 191
Northern view................................... 195
Your Servant,
A. W. Sparks
PREFACE.
On
The secretary was ordered to gather and compile all matter of a
reminiscent or historical nature that pertained to the services of
Ross' Brigade,
in clippings were placed before the Historical Committee on August
9th, 1898, in reunion assembled at
following report as taken from minutes:
The committee on History then offered the following report:
We have examined the manuscript submitted by our secretary,
comrade, A. W. Sparks, and cheerfully indorse it as correct, in the
main, and consider it as a fair and impartial history, of the
principal part taken by the Ross Brigade in the lost cause, and it, in
our opinion, together with the history written by our late comrade,
Victor M. Rose, would make a history, not only interesting to the
survivors of the Brigade, and their families, but to all ex-
Confederates and lovers of the dear Southland, and we would be pleased
to see it in book form and in the library of at least all the Brigade.
There would be in the book a great deal of matter that will be both
interesting and instructive, particularly to the young and the
families of the old soldiers, such as amusing and thrilling incidents,
of camp and field life, together with extracts from the writings and
speeches of prominent speakers, and statesmen, on the cause and
justice, of the war. We therefore indorse and recommend its favorable
consideration by this Association.
Respectfully,
H. C. DIAL, Major 9th
E. O. WILLIAMS, Capt. Legion,
P. F. ROSS,
T. J. GEE, Capt. 3rd
EDWIN HAWKINS, Col. Legion
DAN COFFMAN, 6th
M. G. MILLER, 9th
The report was adopted and the committee continued.
On August 9th, 1899, in reunion assembled. The Historical
committee then made verbal report of their labors during the past year
through E. O. Williams chairman, in which he informed us of valuable
papers that had been added to files in possession of that committee.
The Association ordered the Secretary as custodian of papers to hold
them subject to order of said committee.
On August
8th, 1900, in reunion assembled at
the labors of Historical Committee were continued.
On August 14th, 1901. In reunion assembled at Sulphur Springs,
- and A. W. Sparks, custodian of all the papers was ordered to place
all matter in his hands before Capt. Sid S. Johnson, publisher of The
Confederate Soldier, who was with his help ordered to at once prepare
for the press and have printed in book form, all papers in his hands
pertaining to the services of Ross' Brigade of Texas Cavalry that
would tend to instruct, or entertain our children, and others who may
be pleased to read. In obedience to orders, from the Ross Brigade
Association, this volume is here presented - as result of our labors.
A. W. Sparks.
INTRODUCTORY.
This volume has been compiled from the recollection mostly of a
private soldier in the war between the States, and goes to the public
for what it is worth, hoping that it may meet an appreciated public.
It was written in a reminiscent way, as the events of the great
struggle has been impressed on the memory of the long-a-go. The
Author claims not to be fully prepared to give the reading public a
volume of such a comprehensive a nature, but hopes that a generous
public may find many facts that will be of interest that the mantle of
charity may be thrown around him in this, his first and likely the
only effort of his life, to put in print, a book.
History, if it be true, is made up from the most important and
smally events of a people who tried to maintain their rights, as
justly and patriotically belongs to a free people. With such in view
will risk the criticisms of the public and hand this volumn down to
future generations that in the end many facts culled from it may find
its lodgment in History from the pen of one more able than
THE AUTHOR.
RECOLLECTIONS OF
THE GREAT WAR.
-----------------------
CHAPTER I.
----------------------------
It will be needless for me to write that I was raised in the
State of
government in allowing no colonies to settle within thirty leagues of
the
that section of
churches, school houses and other institutions were far behind other
parts of the State, hence it follows that the
sons or daughters of this section of
the "Great War," will be weilded by those without college training or
any other claim to high literary attainments. And so this writer,
expecting no name with the literary and no fame from the public,
places his "Recollections," with all their faultiness, before the
people, hoping that from these rude scrolls some historical facts may
in future be gleaned by wiser heads and placed before generations now
living and those yet unborn, that will teach them that the pioneer
citizens of
only the common people possessed of convictions that had grown and
developed with them, that had become part of their very nature and
were strong even unto death, as was demonstrated on many a battle
field.
"States Rights" was the keynote, "States rights" was the great
question above all other questions in American Politics, and its
features, pro and con, had occupied the minds of our greatest
statesmen for more than fifty years. "States Rights within the
had been the battle cry in Congressional halls, and was the common cry
throughout all the thinly settled South and West, and was re-echoed
from the great central cities of
Democracy, States Rights was the sheet anchor and boon of our fathers,
the hope of the Nation and the cause of secession, and was defended by
the strong arm of the South, for it was the common cause of the rich
and the poor, the high and the low, the wise and the ignorant, with
armies small in number and poorly equipped. "Asked for Secession and
met Invasion" in four long years of bloody war for States Rights and
liberty. Thirty and three years have elapsed since the last gun was
fired, since the last Southern soldier laid down his arms and accepted
a
forces of the
faithfully with all the laws of the
wherein he might reside in after life, for the consideration of amity
and protection from the
been faithfully kept on both sides, but few exceptions having come to
my knowledge. And to-day among the few survivors of the men who
fought those battles none are more loyal to the powers that be, none
more free from strife and none are more willing that the true cause of
the conflict should be fully known, and the wrong placed where justice
tips the scales. We are the men who fought the battles for States
Rights, we are the men who surrendered to the armies of the United
States, we are the men who claim our citizenship as a birth-right, and
we love our inheritance.
State right of secession was surrendered and coercion was
victorious in arms, and these things were thus settled and are legally
settled right. We have accepted the final and our lives have been
made to fit those decrees of arms. But the mind, not subject to arms
or legislation, remains much the same stubborn and unyeilding to-day
as it was the day we enlisted as a
the death and to stand before the missles of war on many fields of
battle. Thus to-day as in the past the Southern cause to the South
was right, and if each of the graves of our dead should be represented
in future history by a simple exclamation point the future historian
would be impressed with its great importance to future republics that
may be the homes of liberty loving people.
These recollections will commence with the year 1860, when the
writer was a mere boy in his sunny teens, who the reader is to see as
a common farmer boy with only enough education to read and write, but
without any more knowledge of the language than would be gathered from
such books as could be found on the shelves of the pioneer settler. A
few histories such as would be used in our common schools, the county
paper filled with such matter as might suit the editor, and you have
the sum total of the information of the writer at the time of which I
write, and with these disadvantages take into consideration the long
lapse of time, together with the poisoned and cowed mind while
undergoing the struggle for bread to sustain life, and your generous
nature will make all the apology that will be asked when you are
familiar with the aim and purpose of this writing, which is to
disabuse the minds of our children, who have been taught that we, in
the great war, were rebels and engaged in a rebellion against the
collegiates, for such erroneous belief to exist. Hence this attempt
at writing what we feel to be the truth, asking God to bestow such
wisdom upon the writer that he may make plain the truth to the end
that children of the Southern States may read and realize that they
are not the children of rebels to be placed under the ban of public
opinion, but are children of patriots, law loving, law abiding and law
defending patriots, who have fought the bloodiest battles known to
civilization for the constitution, for liberty and for right and who
are proud of their record. After thirty years of humiliation, filled
with threats, filled with toadying honors to those who beat us,
without repentance, we stand realizing that:
"Our crime seems worst to human view,
But God will judge between the two."
CHAPTER II
The year 1860 was one of those hot years; it was a hard year on
the people of
United States Senate, hot in Congress, hot at the State capitols, hot
with threats both North and South. "Secession! coercion!" was heard
from the stump, it was read from pamphlet and paper, it resounded in
legislative halls, it was in the mouths of people of all classes. In
the South it was "Secession in order to preserve the rights of the
constitution."
In the North it was "Coercion to preserve the
There was no middle ground upon which to compromise, and statesmen
were at their wits end. The muttering of war was on the horizon; all
knew it, all dreaded it, but all agreed that it must come. War was in
the air, and great was the rejoicing in the South when we heard of
sympathizers in the great cities North,
whom we expected great help in money, munitions and men for the coming
struggle, which hope, let me say, never materialized. It was WAR from
the plowhandles to the pulpit; it was war from the head of the family
who talked and read it to the children; it was war that was sung by
our sisters and sweethearts, and it was war in our hearts, and that
war hangs now upon our memories. As if to add to the great political
heat the weather of that summer was distressingly hot and numbers of
villages throughout
cumbustion, as the thermometer reached 114 degrees Fahrenheit in the
shade at my father's house where I was staying, and sulphur matches
caught fire and burned their heads off in the little wooden boxes in
which they were kept. I here record this fact as it was under my own
observation, and our house would have been burned had the fire not
been discovered in time to prevent. So hot was politics that it was
generally agreed that the burning was the work of incendiaries sent
from the North to burn us out so that we could not resist invasion in
the then expected war. Such were the conclusions of a mad people.
THE GREAT COMET.
It was during this heated summer that the great comet of Charles
V. made its appearance about midway in the eastern heavens, just south
of the Zodiacal belt. The people had been looking for it, for it had
been announced by astronomers as approaching the sun, and from the
position of this earth in her orbit it was feared by some of those
eminent in science that it would strike the earth and destroy it. We
could almost see to read by its light. The body of the comet was
about three diameters larger than the planet Venus when at her point
of greatest brilliancy, and was in color fiery red, like unto the
planet Mars, and the tail was about twenty degrees long and two
degrees wide. For three months it was always to be seen in its glory.
I afterward learned that it was arrested in its rapid progress toward
the sun and was held for about three months by the attraction of
Jupiter's moons and passed with them around that planet. This comet
was the theme of learned conversation; old men and women said it was
a sign of war, and comets always came to foretell fearful wars. This
comet disappeared in September 1860.
CHAPTER III
The election of Mr. Lincoln as President was the signal for
withdrawal, and the States South, one by one, withdrew from the United
States, Senators and Congressmen came home, and with the other States
to the laws of the
to bear arms. The call was regularly made by the Governor through the
several county officers, and men were regularly commissioned to raise
companies to defend "
fact that under the laws of
people to have refused to respond to this legal calling, for the
legislative and executive bodies had declared us no longer connected
with the
to remove all her possessions from
had been discontinued and the
States under the heading "Foreign News." In short,
the Union to my mind and I must go and fight for
freight" as a traitor, to a foreign country - a thought I could never
entertain for a moment.
father, the guardian of my sister and the home of my boyhood, God
direct in the right, but right or wrong, I fought for
see no honorable course for
liberty, their all for
statesmen I have never doubted, while for the causes that led to these
ends I take pleasure in referring you to the words of A. H. Stephens,
of
as the works of others both living and dead, not least among whom is
that eminent Texan who has served his State as a member of the
Confederate Cabinet and afterward as Senator in the
Congress from
In a recent communication to the Confederate Veteran Gen. Clement
A. Evans says:
"The South did not attempt nullification or rebellion or any form
of unlawful resistance to our government. It did not dissolve the
Union or even attempt its dissolution: for how may our
been lawfully dissolved? By one method alone, and that is by the
agreement of all the States.
Our
by one State or by a majority of the States, but by all the States;
but the South made no call for such a measure, preferring to leave
each State to act for itself according to its pleasure, and
accordingly each seceding State dissolved its own connection with the
Union, and left the government of the
President, the Congress, the courts, the army and navy, the
constitution and the flag, together with every function of government,
were left in power and in place. Suppose the State had resolved to
remain in the Union, and had marched its army toward
resist the inauguration of President Lincoln. That would have been
rebellion: the overt act would have been treasonable; the failure of
it would have made it a felonious crime, and its success would have
imperiled free government on this continent; but no State rebelled,
no statesman plotted a conspiracy, no soldier committed treason. In
lawful and dignified measures the South sought an honorable
separation, and, with equally honorable acquiescence in its failure,
re-entered the
forever.
Such is the record of the lawful course of the South in
separating from the
a record of the civil administration of Confederate States government
which will bear the severest criticism, and has won the rare encomium
from a noble soul beyond the seas, who said:
No nation ever rose so fair,
None fell so free from crime."
CHAPTER IV.
I enlisted
for
Titus Co.,
Company I, 9th
were mostly young men between the age of 18 and 25, yet a few old men
had enlisted, most of them having their sons in the same company.
This writer first met with the company in the town of
the appointed day for marching to the camp for instruction. Chas. S.
Stuart was elected Captain and Laad Miller 1st Lieutenant, James
English 2nd Lieutenant, Buster Haines 3rd Lieutenant. All of the
sergeants and corporals, not now remembered, were good men and filled
their station with apparent dignity. In the afternoon we were
presented with a beautiful flag by some of the
some appropriate remarks, to which Capt. Stuart responded in a
business like way. As tactics were unknown, we faced to the right in
column of twos with guns advanced and received orders to march. A
few miles out from town we encamped for the night, and one soldier at
least was busy examining the horses, guns, and knives of the company
which were varied as the circumstances of the many soldiers who
composed the company.
There were rifles, flint and steel, but most of them were full
stock percussion muzzle-loading machines that had been in family use
for killing bear, deer and other wild animals, which at that time were
abundant. Double-barrel shot guns were the favorite arms, and there
were many different stamps, from the "
cast barrel. Not a few pistols were in the command, and they were in
great demand by the officers, who expected to use them as side-arms,
but it is worthy of notice that each soldier carried a huge knife,
usually made from an old mill file, shaped by the blacksmith and
ground according to the fancy of the owner. The horses were a fair
average of the
company that had strains of noted blood in their veins. The clothing
of the men was light and unsuited for hard service, but almost all
wore long boots made of
front of the leg to protect the knee. Most of our blankets were
pieces of carpets taken from floors to be used as bedding during the
war.
The march to Brogden Springs was completed in about four days
without any event now remembered, except an effort on the part of our
officers to display the company as though they were well disciplined
soldiers, an effort which completely failed. When we reached the town
of Sherman, then only a village of probably not more than four or five
hundred inhabitants, who were supplied with a one-horse mail and two
or three stores, where all kind of merchandise were offered on sale,
the company was ordered to march through in good order and not break
ranks under any circumstances until a halt should be called, when
those who wished could go to town to do the needed errands. But
behold, when we had made our stately march through the populous city
there were present only about forty of the one-hundred and fourteen
men who constituted the rank and file of the Titus Grays. Captain
Stuart was sad, and I do not believe he ever got over his sadness, on
account of the behavior of his company. After a short halt those in
line marched to the camp which was about ten miles from
encamped. The night was passed without sleep, for every few minutes
the noise of some arriving squad was echoed for a distance equal to
the most powerful voices, who came in by twos, by fives, by trios, all
apparently mellowed on some kind of an intoxicant found in the
village. Some were quarreling, some had been racing, some had been
fighting, some were cursing, some were singing, and when we reached
The company was encamped on the branch below the spring in a
beautiful grove, and the first military duty ever assigned to the
writer was to go on guard with his gun and prevent soldiers from
watering their horses above a certain line where water was taken for
camp use.
I had great difficulty in performing the duty, as citizens of the
country and visitors seemed unable to realize that while in our camp
they were subject to the same water restrictions as the soldiers.
They would ride into the water and inform us that we had nothing to do
with them and I have no doubt that serious troubles would have been
the result if it had not been that our guns were not allowed to be
loaded. One member of the company emphasized his order to let no man
ride into the water with the butt of his gun on the head of an
offender, and after this we had less trouble.
Other companies were encamped near by when we arrived, and almost
all the men had some peculiar stripe or badge which was soon known as
the company uniform. I will here say that our company was known by a
blue stripe on the shoulders of our jackets, Captain Duncan's company
had a black stripe, Captain Hart's had yellow and others had red.
Our time was occupied in drilling and training of our horses in
single companies until all the companies were in camp and the field
officers elected. W. B. Sims was elected Colonel. He was a large man
and of fine appearance and had a voice equal to the modern fog horn.
Quail was elected Lieutenant-Colonel. He was not so large ad
Sims, but what he lacked in stature was more than made up in grace.
He was the finest appearing horseman I had then ever beheld; he was
the military man of the regiment, and best in drill. Major N. B.
Towne was also a fine looking officer and commanded greatest respect
among the soldiers. He rode a pided horse, about the best horse in
the regiment. Dr James Robertson was appointed surgeon, he being a
private of Stuart's company, a man of great skill, as was afterward
shown. Dr. Prewitt, also of Stuart's company, was made Assistant
Surgeon and D. W. Jones, of the same company, was appointed Adjutant,
after which the Captains met and drew lots for their position in
regimental line with the following result:
Capt. T. G. Berry, Company A. Tarrant County.
" Sid. Smith, " B. Fannin "
" J. E. McCool, " C. Grayson "
" M. J. Brinson, " D. Tarrant "
"
J. C. Hart, " E.
" M. E. Duncan, " F. Titus "
"
L. D. King, " G.
" J. D. Wright, " H. Lamar "
" Chas. Stuart, " I. Titus "
J. H.
Williams, Co. K. Hunt and
W. B. Sims was appointed Quartermaster and Capt. J. D. Wright was
made Commissary.
Lieutenant E. L. Dohoney was elected to succeed Capt. Wright and
commanded Company H.
After the election of officers and the formation of the regiment
which, I think, was on October 14, 1860 (we had been previously sworn
into the State service, date not remembered, but I think we served the
State about three months before we were mustered into the confederate
service), we were reviewed by Colonel Sims, who made us a speech in
which he told us "we were soldiers enlisted for the war, and from that
day we were to regard war, civil war, as our profession, and in life
it is the duty of every man to study, to understand his profession,
and that his purpose would be to make us effective soldiers;" a
purpose he evidently carried out to the letter, for I do not believe
Col. Sims ever thought of anything else but war. While he commanded
the regiment his commands were positive, his discipline form, yet his
nature was noble, lovable and brave. He was a born commander among
men and, no doubt, would have scored his name high in rank but for his
early disabilities.
After the regiment was formed we were drilled mostly in
battallions, Lieutenant-Colonel Quail commanding the first and Major
Towne the second, with Col. Sims always on the field to note the
progress of his young professionals, and it was during this schooling
that I first heard of trial by court martial. I do not remember the
names of the court, but recollect that Lieutenant Miller was a member
from company I. The trial was at Col. Sims' headquarters tent and the
case, as I remember it, was of some poor fellow who had stolen
something, probably clothing or bedding, from members of his company.
The charge was formally proven, the judgment of the court was "guilty"
and the penalty was that he be dishonorable discharged and to the
music of the fife and drum marched through all the camps to the outer
guard line, where he was to receive his belongings and depart, never
to return. The order was carried out to the letter, and never before
had I seen a man so debased. His face was covered with that shame
that cannot be transfered to this paper. It was hideous; it bespoke
that he was even too low in manhood's scale to be killed by the
country's enemy. I never knew his name or what became of him only
this I know "He was drummed out of the camp." There was also another
case but whether it was tried as in the court martial I do not
recollect, but think it was, the crime as charged, all that I remember
is that he was hanged to a tree until he was dead and no tears were
shed at his burial. His crime I think, was committed outside of our
lines and citizens were the witnesses, but he, a soldier, was tried
and executed in our camps. He was called Major Bell, and, I remember,
claimed to be "Old Montgomery of Kansas," a noted drill master. These
events of discipline that secured in my memory had a great influence
on the command. Disgrace and death were the penalties, the former
being considered most severe.
CHAPTER V.
As time glided by, we soon discovered that Captain Duncan of
company F rode a very fine horse, as black as a crow and his
(
Our Captain Stuart, of company I, also rode a very fine and fleet
horse that we, of company I, considered the fastest on earth and were
longing for the day when our bay could get a chance at their black to
show what he could do with him on a running match, but Captain Duncan
seemed uninclined to run his horse and Capt. Stuart was very religious
and would not allow betting even on his own horse. Company H gave us
no peace but tantalized us on every occasion with the superior
breeding and fleetness of their horse, while we well knew that the
world knew no finer horse than our bay. So we just could not stand
it; we could not bet and run our horse and they would not run for
fun. It so happened that each of the captains had a large silver spur
which were just alike, and we concluded this ought to be the stake.
Each would have freely given his spur to match the other, but we could
not allow such an opportunity to pass without trying the speed of the
horses. Our best judges concluded that our horse was the better at
three-fourths of a mile, and they thought that theirs would do better
at one mile or more, and much caviling was the result. Finally our
horse racer, an old man who had been considerably stirred by their
constant bullying, publicly declared that "Stuart's bay horse can beat
distance from one to one thousand miles," and by way of emphasizing
his speech, turned on a string of oaths that apparently settled the
matter beyond dispute.
Then they came at us. Next Saturday the day, one mile the
distance, the sand bar opposite the camp the place; each horse to
carry such rider as his friends selected. When the race was made it
was the event of the camp and the betting was wonderful and high.
When Saturday came, at the appointed hour, the sand bar was measured
and the people were lined up on each side of the imaginary track by
thousands. There were bets on six hundred yards, judges and polls at
the half mile, at three-quarters, at seven-eights and lastly at one
mile; the race for the spur. Captain Stuart was not present and the
only notice he appeared to take of the matter was when we started with
his horse he spoke to the sergeant with some interest, saying,
"Orderly, if you run my horse over three-quarters you had better put a
light rider on him," then turned into his tent.
When we got to the river, four or five miles, company H was
there, the ground measured and polls established at the several
stations along the line. The black was ridden by an Indian boy and I
was to ride the bay.
We were stripped and mounted and the Indian got the word on me.
The bay was in fine condition and of such high mettle as to be
unmanagable, but we finally got off after much worry to my horse. The
Indian got a few feet the start, but I passed him at the quarter, was
a full lenth ahead at six hundred yards and twenty feet ahead at
three-quarters, but as I had never been through the course I mistook
the seven-eighths pole for the last and gave my horse a pull, and as
he was failing any way the black horse passed him and went out a full
length ahaid and I lost the Captain's spur. I felt so bad over it
that is not yet pleasant for me to think of it, for I surely rode the
best horse. Still if you find a member of company H yet alive I
believe he will crow over their victory.
Shortly after this we were mustered into the Confederate service
by Col. W. C. Young, Oct. 14, 1861, and took up the line of march for
the seat of war, crossing Red River near where
The next camp of note was at Boggy Depot, where we spent the
night. Boggy Depot is situated on Boggy Creek and was a noted trading
point where many trinkets and notions were sold by the Indians. The
soldiers of the regiment bought quite a lot of these gaudy things and
on the march next day presented all the colors of the rainbow in
fringes, hankerchiefs, shawls, etc.
From this point Captain Whaley was sent in advance to procure
subsistence for the men and horses, and this writer was one of the
detail to go with him. At Lamb's Gap Capt. Whaley was making a
purchase of a hog for meat from an Indian who spoke but very little of
the language. About all I could make out was that the hog was big and
fat and wild and that he, the seller, could go to the mountains and
kill him, the hog, for the price named. The trade was made and the
Indian, mounted on his pony, with his six shooter without the
revolving apparatus, set out for the mountain and brought the hog in,
and, behold, when the hog was delivered HE was an old woods sow in a
very short time of bringing pigs.
I remember no incident worthy of note from this camp to North
same squad was some ten miles further up the river gathering up
supplies. We were in camp when a small negro Indian boy on a horse
rode up. After some conversation with Capt. Whaley he rode away at a
gallop, uttering a curious scream, terminating in something resembling
the gobbling of a turkey, which the Captain said was the Indian war-
whoop, and meant mischief to us. We were encamped near a building
called a
saddled for fight or flight, while the Indians in every direction
appeared to be in great excitement, and we afterward learned that a
detachment left that night to join Chief Hapothlehola, who with his
braves was further up the river pressing General Cooper who commanded
the Confederate Indian forces. Early next morning we rejoined our
command.
During our absence a large detachment, in fact nearly the whole
regiment, except a strong wagon guard, that was left in charge of the
baggage, had started on a forced march up the river to reinforce Gen.
Cooper who was had pressed by the yankees and their Indian allies,
under an old chief named Hapothlehola, known among our allies as
"Gouge."
Gouge had once been a great warrior of the Creek Nation and was
at enmity with the family of McIntosh, the reigning chief, and in
order to revenge his hatred had assembled all the least civilized of
his own tribe, together with allies from other tribes, and espoused
the cause of our common enemy with his Seminoles. (The word Seminole
in the Creek tongue means wild.) Gen. Cooper in command of some
Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Cherokees was hard pressed by Gouge
and the Seminoles and their allies.
We joined the detachment about day light in the morning while
they were on a rapid march and without a halt each man fell into his
respective company. The march was long and tiresome, only a short
halt was made about noon to eat the small ration and refill the
canteens with water. Many times during the march we were forced to
cross streams in one single narrow path that probably had been made by
buffalo and other wild animals, which caused considerable delay. The
distance was probably 70 or 75 miles, and it was late at night before
we were with Cooper. The last ten miles probably was made after dark.
Gen. Cooper's Indians received us with a great joy as we marched
through their camp and fired us a grand salute, which we returned with
about the same unmilitary regularity. After passing through the camps
we were encamped for the remainder of the night. I afterward learned
that Gen. Cooper had the detachment marched through his camp to
inspire greater confidence among his braves, most of whom were
Indians, one company alone whites, Capt. Otis G. Welch commanding,
from
I have neglected one item which may be of interest to the reader
which I will now speak of as memory presents it to my view. At the
time we were mustered into the service of the Confederate States as
each man had furnished his own equipment they were all inspected and
valued, and we were to be paid for them according to that valuation.
My horse was a large black gelding, and the valuation of my effects
was as follows:
1 horse----------------------------------------- $100 00
1 Saddle, rawhide skeleton,--------------------- 25 00
Saddlebags, ------------------------------------ 4 00
2 blankets, (1 fine) --------------------------- 7 00
1 bridle,--------------------------------------- 2 00
1 gun, common double barrel shot gun, ---------- 25 00
Underclothing, 4 shirts, 4 drawers ------------- 8 00
Coat and pants,--------------------------------- 16 00
Boots,------------------------------------------ 6 00
Canteen, cup, knife, belt and etc--------------- 3 00
Total------------------------------------------ $186 00
This total of $186.00 I give you as a fair average of the outfit
of the private
but are substantially correct.
Our first day here was a novel and busy one, for while our horses
took a short an much needed rest, ten days rations of raw beef, flour
and corn meal were issued and we were ordered to cook them up for a
march. How shall we cook them was the question, as all our kettles,
pans and ovens were far away with the wagons we had left behind.
Major Rose said we were then novices in the art of ration making, and,
after many years, this writer acknowledges he is still a novice under
the same conditions. The only advantage that a life of experience has
given me that would improve my first ten days rations of meal and
flour is that then the meal was made up and cooked separate and was
bad to crumble, while the flour was sad and stony when made into
bread; now I have learned to mix the meal and flour together, by
which means these two great faults would in a measure be overcome.
But to resume; we built fires on the rocks, and after brushing away
the ashes made a cake of bread baked on one side and dried on the
other. Some made ash cakes and roasted them in the ashes, some got
rocks and set them before the fire after the manner of Johnie cakes,
and many more devices were used. A good, nice stick would do with the
flour dough, but with the meal it would not answer for lack of
cohesion. During the day and early night the rations were all cooked,
after a manner, and the remainder of the night was spent in watching
our Indian friends prepare for battle in a war dance.
Many people seem to think the Indian war dance is a frivolous
affair; but from my observation it is really a very serious ceremony,
that is just as necessary for the Indian before his battle for life or
death as is prayer for the Christian on like occasion.
Going over among the Indians I found that they were gathering
together for the dance, and when they had assembled a spokesman arose
and in a very earnest manner spoke some words to his braves in his
native tongue, they giving him the most profound attention. I did not
understand his language, but afterward learned from an Indian that his
speech in substance was about as follows:
"Friends, Hapothlehola, one of our race who has been honored and
loved by his people, has become mad with his brothers and has gathered
to him all the wild tribes and has marched them to our homes.
We offered to meet him as a friend and brother, but he turned his back
to us, then we sent him a white flag by our young warrior and he
painted it red, a sign of war, and sent us this. (Here he displayed a
huge club shaped like a chicken's head, with blood and hair in its
bill.) This scene was met with screams and gobbles which lasted for
some minutes, when a few guns were fired and silence was restored and
the speaker went on: "What does this mean? Ask the old men who have
lived beyond the "Great Water" and they will tell you it means WAR!
It means that they will kill our children, it means that they will
burn our houses, it means they will take away our squaws, it means
they will drive off our cattle; and when we have grown weak for want
of food they will hunt us down in the mountains and scalp us like
wolves." (Here the speaker was again drowned in a series of yells.)
The glimmer of the low campfires made the painted bodies of the
Indians look like demons rising from the infernal regions. This
lasted probably twenty minutes and was finally brought to a quiet with
renewed gobbles, when the orator resumed: "Friends, will you swear
before the Great Spirit that you will defend your own, even though
your life-blood should be given? Will you swear that you will never
take ease again until the last of those who seek to do us harm are
driven over the border? Then let us paint our faces, a sign that we
look no more upon the squaw until her enemies are no more; then will
our little ones bask in the shade on the banks of their brooks, then
will the squaw know that we are no cowards and will have no fears, for
she will be kept a wife of her people by the arms of our braves." At
this juncture a ring was filled with painted Indians, all marching in
a side-like manner, stepping high and fast while they chanted a
strange song. Others soon joined them, and thus was the time passed
until I had to look to my last ashcake which was burnt beyond
recognition, but it went into the bag and we ate it. Some corn had
also been issued to us which we were ordered to shell and place in a
sack to be carried for our horses. Thus a busy day and night was
spent in making ready for a heavy march, which we knew lay before us,
for Gen. Cooper's Indian scouts had reported that the enemy had broke
camp and was retreating towards the northwest. At an early hour on
the following morning the bugle sounded and the regiment fell into
line, each man having strapped to his saddle, his ten day's rations
and about one peck of shelled corn, besides blankets and forty loads
of shot and powder for his arms, canteen, cup, etc. Lieutenant
Colonel Quail was in command and while in line he told us that we were
to march after the enemy until overtaken and beaten, which would be in
a wild and unsettled country and explained to us the great importance
of economizing our rations for ourselves and horses, as our efficiency
depended altogether on what we then carried.
He also caused a blue and a red string to be issued to each man
to be tied around his left arm, which he explained was a badge to be
worn by our allies, both white and Indians, and that the opposing
forces would wear a piece of a corn shuck, either plaited in his hair,
or otherwise connected with his head dress, and that we should know
all such to be enemies, and further to let no Indian or white man pass
us without the badge, and impressed it upon us as of life and death
importance.
While in line Cooper's Indian warriers were marched by us in
columns of two, first McIntosh at the head of the Creeks, a large
regiment, I suppose 1300; then the Choctaws and Chickesaws, about
500; then Captain Welch's company of Texans, about 100, and last 9th
Texas Cavalry, about 800 were commanded by Colonel Quail and Major
Towne. Col. Sims, as I recollect, was in charge of the train guard,
left at Northfork town, to proceed to a given point on the Arkansaw
river and await our return. The Indian warriors, as I noticed were
well supplied with rations, and rode small ponies and were dressed in
a garb ranging from a common gent's suit to a breech clout and
blanket, most of the full bloods wore only the latter, their faces
were painted in such a manner that many of them were frightful to even
look upon, there seemed to be no particular design in the manner of
their painting, but each one seemed to have been painted according to
the fancy of the artist but the most common way of painting appeared
to be about three lines of deep red from the edge of the hair down the
forehead and met between the eyes, then a large red spot on either
cheek that would resemble the outline picture of the sun with
spangles, all of red, sometimes black spots, too, were painted and
sometimes the eyes were made red, and the mouth outlined to each ear
and some were painted black down to the eyes, then the balance of the
face red, and many hideous looking faces told of desperate purposes,
but if any of them bespoke any rank or had special meaning I failed to
learn them. Some had head coverings that were the skins from the
heads of buffalo, bear, panthers, cougars, calves, etc., and quite a
number wore the horns taken off with the hide of buffalo, and others
wore no head covering, only a single feather like it might be plucked
from the tail of a turkey, eagle, buzzard, or anything else that the
wearer might fancy. I noticed one old warrior on foot who carried a
long full stock rifle, he wore leggings and mockasins in addition to
his breech clout and a feather about four feet long that had been
taken from the tail of a peafowl was his complete wardrobe. He only
spoke one word in English and that was, No! We called him "Old Pap"
and he answered to the name with his positive No! to anything that was
spoken to him. There were quite a number of squaws that were among
the warriors in camps but how they traveled and when, I never learned
the Indians. No matter how full or scant his apparel was sure to have
the badge of red and blue on his arm. Their arms were as varied as
their apparel and were old rifle, guns and bows and arrows mostly, and
in this motleyed assembly we marched upon the enemy, a force I
suppose, all toll, would number from 2500 to 2800 men.
CHAPTER VI.
INDIANS.
Col. Quail placed a guard on our flanks and we moved out about
six or eight miles and we came upon their vacated camps and Captain
Stuart and a part of his company were sent out to examine the vacated
camp and report, in order to estimate the strength and equipage of the
enemy and this writer thus being favored, had an opportunity of
exploring the camp and in a measure gratifying the curious that had so
great a hold upon me.
There were signs of wagons, quite a number of ponies and cattle
in huge droves, and more than 2,500 fires had been built on either
side of the creek for more than a mile of its course, there were signs
of tents and bones of animals, but the camp had been so completely
burned over that it was very difficult to determine their trail, for
each wagon had apparently selected its own road through the grass and
the fire had almost obliterated every trace of the vehicles in many
places, but we found that they had moved in a Northwest direction and
their trail sign could be discovered for a distance of several miles
in width, and in this scattering manner they had moved for several
days, probably for fifty miles, before they appeared to consolidate in
the trail, which we, on the second or third day out, found to be well
beaten and plainly marked, and at intervals we found the fires while
yet burning, appearing to have been left a few hours. The Videtts of
the enemy were nearly always to be seen in front to the right or left
and occasionally in the rear, as we marched. Mr. Rose, in his book,
says we sighted their camp and fought them on the fourth day out, but
to the best of my recollection it was the ninth or tenth day out. We
crossed creeks and riverlets and the Indians gave us the names of the
larger ones, among others, I remember Deep Fork, Salt Creek and
Stinking Fork of the
and huge mountains could be seen in the distance to the left and in
front, and the supply of bread had become scarce when I first realized
my extreme hunger, when Thos. English, a member of Capt. Stuart's
company, remarked that he could eat a piece of a dead dog, which were
plentiful on the trail, having been killed a time sufficient to swell
them and gave the appearance of fine condition of fat. Within the
next twenty-four hours which remark was sanctioned by almost all who
heard it. From that moment on I was hungry. I was suffering. I was
extremely hungry.
On one evening a cow had got away from the enemy and was coming
back the trail and was immediately butchered but did not much more
than sharpen our appetites and the last of the bread was exhausted.
The Indians, we noticed had small sacks of some parched meal that they
called Arbusca. I succeeded in getting a small package, probably a
gill for a quarter of a dollar, and I used it as directed, that is
stirred about a spoonful into a pint of water and drank it. It was
splendid. I afterwards learned that it was made of corn parched and
ground, mixed with a wild herb root called chuck-a-way and sweetened,
and by the aid of such things as we could gather we managed to live
but our hunger was most unbearable. We halted on the banks after
crossing the Arkansaw river and upon looking around under some Burr
oak trees, we found a lot of acorns. They eat well and we replenished
our provision store to the full extent of the supply - probably five
or six to the man - and not knowing the effect of such food we munched
from the supply in our pockets on the march until the chase and
battle, which occurred later that evening. I have neglected to
mention that during the march for the past few days that a Vidette,
most always to be seen on our left flank had, several times been the
occasion of a lively chase and many had been the shots fired at him
and his horse. I had more than once chased him only to be easily
left, which was mortifying to my pride for I rode a horse "Old
Napoleon" that to my mind was equal to the best and I could scarce
realize that any living man could ride a living horse away from me
when I was mounted on "Old Pole" but that scout could leave me with
apparent ease, but there seemed to me each time for chase a reason why
"Old Pole" was left which I firmly believed would not occur again.
The horse was white, very white, and the rider appeared to be small
and without beard and of a light complexion, and carried arms that
were long range. Both rider and horse appeared to be proof against
any arms that we carried, and our superstition had led us to believe
he was an enchantment and it was shared alike with our Indian allies.
The white horse was the subject of a large part of our conversation
and each of us believed that he had fired the gun that reasonably
would have killed him, but he was still seen this time in front. And
while yet munching at our acorns and resting our horses the scouts
reported the village of the enemy only six or eight miles distant, and
Colonel Quail began immediate preparations for his capture. Captain
Stuart was placed in command of the advance and called for his company
to forward with a renewed energy. Each man was thrilled for we felt
the long chase would have come to an issue and we all felt that
victory was ours. Major Rose, in his work, explains the plans of
attack, but I was so carried away with the thought of Captain Stuart's
bay horse. I had no doubt but he would catch the Gray and I felt like
"Old Pole" would be a very close second, and with these thoughts
uppermost in my mind I did not know or care how the others were
disposed of, for my aim in the battle was to kill or capture the white
horse and the famed rider. I never looked for anything but Captain
Stuart and his company. We rode out on the high prairie and just
south of east of our position and in plain view quietly stood the
white horse and his ever alert rider mounted. On either side of the
Vidette at a distance of 400 or 600 yards there were some small creeks
with lower lands on which there was some timber, the tops of which
could be seen for four or five miles, where the prairie appeared to be
shut in by the streams coming together, forming a landscape view that
would be represented by a sharp letter V and about midway between the
two projecting prongs.
The company was first ordered front into line and from this
position could see the smoke as it arose from the camp of the enemy
along both streams to the left and to the right, and straight in front
at about 600 yards distance was the only living object that I saw who
had, while we were performing said manouver, set the grass on fire.
This was about 3 o'clock, Nov. 19th, 1861. Captain Stuart then
ordered an advance, with eyes set on the gray horse the soldiers could
not be held back with a line, but like beasts of prey they flew at the
Vidette, each man hoping to get within range before he reached cover.
Away we went, my heart swelled that "Old Pole" was still kept a close
second to Captain Stuart's noted bay. We soon had him on the run and
we reserved our fire hoping to get him, though we followed him to his
den. By some means as if by magic he managed to fire the prairie
several times while on the run, which was a long one, for the Vidette
rode for the juncture of the two creeks - and we close after him.
When within 40 or 50 yards we received a volley of balls and arrows
that were discharged by a hidden enemy who had concealed themselves
behind the bank, but from our close proximity we saw them when they
raised to fire upon us. Captain Stuart discharged his pistol that he
carried in his hand and reigned up his horse with the command of "left
into line" and as the company dashed into line each man discharged his
piece into the half hidden ranks of the Indians. The company was
rapidly and nicely forming with a good effect when on the extreme left
of the line Lieutenant English called to those of the left to aim to
the left as the Indians were now enfilading our line with a seven
fire. Captain Stuart carried one of those peculiar pistols that were
so constructed that their use required the use of three fingers, the
second and third fingers were used to cock the pistol and the first,
which was used to shoot by pulling the trigger as with an ordinary
pistol, and while Captain Stuart was firing he would raise the muzzle
of the pistol up and fire as his arm was on a downward movement, and
while his hand was raised after cocking his pistol, he was struck in
the forehead by a large ball that passed out a little to the left of
the center of the back of his head, and he made an unusual noise and I
looked and he was falling forward and to the right of his horse, which
he held well in gather with the left hand, firmly holding the bridle
when the body fell, it so turned that the hand raised with the pistol
fell across the front of the saddle and the force of the grip
discharged the pistol and the ball passed very close to my face,
"fearful close." The ball that killed him on passing out of his head
threw a large wad of his brain upon the sleeve and collar of my coat.
One of our Lieutenants, seeing the rapid movements of the enemy,
ordered us to retreat and load as retreating, an order that was obeyed
with some sulliness, and as soon as loaded our guns were immediately
discharged upon our pursuing enemy who were peppering us with deadly
aim, aided by the glare of the light from the burning prairie as set
by their famed scout. It was about sundown when we first fired into
their camp, and dark soon aided them to keep concealed, and by the
reason of the firelight they continued the fight until late at night,
we disputing every inch of the ground for more than two miles, and I
was getting enough of it and beginning to wonder where the regiment
was, when all as a flash of electricity the prairie was in a long,
smooth line of fire from the regiment, who had, by separating and
taking a part of our Indian force with each division, had as
completely ambushed the Indians as they had ambushed Stuart's company
on the beginning of the fight. A loud roar told us of our relief and
we though thank "God" we had passed through the line and now we had
nothing to do but look on. The fight was very severe for only a short
time, when the yell of our Chocktaws and Chickesaws, whom we had by
this time learned to distinguish, told us of the victory. The route
was complete and was only followed to the limits of skylighting from
the prairie fire now burning furiously in all direction. The fight
was called off, our regiment to the call of the bugle and the Indians
to a peculiar whoop known to themselves.
We encamped for the remainder of the night in line, each man in
arms while a strong chain guard kept watch, while the regiment slept.
CHAPTER VII
The earliest signs of approaching daylight found us ready to
renew the battle but as light appeared our advance found the enemy
gone. He had utilized the remainder of the night in a rapid but
noiseless retreat and as before there was no trail to be followed, for
when they slip off no two of them appear to travel the same trail.
But the fruits of our engagement was to be seen in their deserted
camp. There were about twenty wagons, mostly loaded with Indian
plunder, consisting of hides of animals used for bedding, and many
curious things that to me were without name or value and were all very
dirty. There was one wagon loaded with provisions, but I was told had
all been poisoned before they left it and a strong guard was placed in
charge of it to prevent the men from eating before it could be burned.
I know it was burned in the presence of starving men. The wagons were
of modern make and in good condition, for I remember it was here I saw
my first striped thimble skinned wagons. Besides these wagons there
were large herds of stock and we soon had plenty of beef without bread
or salt, and horses without number were gathered but poor and in a
starving condition. We burned all the wagons and most of the plunder,
but some of the soldiers appropriated a lot of
hides that had been prepared and used for bedding. And in addition
there were taken quite a lot of prisoners who were duly turned over to
their own race, and we gathered up the wounded and dressed their
wounds and buried our dead among the rest. Our beloved Captain
Stuart, who had been regarded by his company much like a child regards
its father, and the deep sorrow we felt for him will never be
expressed in words on paper. I will only say our greatest hopes were
buried with him.
It was a very difficult matter to go over the whole field and
find all the dead but as several of us had seen the Captain fall it
was our special lot to bury him, and we found him, but not before he
had been seen by the enemy, for he fell within one hundred yards of
their camp. His body was striped but he was not scalped, which led me
to believe that his body had been found only by the camp squaws, for
the warriors would have scalped the body - all the others of our dead
were scalped. At the time of his death Captain Stuart had in his
pockets some Burr Oak acorns, as I have before stated, and these
acorns were arranged in a line upon his naked body - more like the
work of children at play than the acts of warfare. We wrapped him in
a blanket and placed the body on a horse and conveyed it several miles
from the spot where he fell and under cover of the darkness we made a
grave with only our hack knives and neatly wrapped in a blanket with a
vault covered with flat stones, we placed the body and filled the
grave, after which we burned some brush upon the place to hide all
signs of a grave where we left him. Our losses in this engagement
were several, but their names and company were not known to me, some
we found had been tortured to death with fire, others shot, and we had
several wounded, one or two severely. They were moved by means of a
horse litter, one poor fellow I recollect that had his jaw broken and
if there ever was a time when a man needed his jaw it was when we had
only tough beef, and no way to cook it but to broil, but we managed to
make a broth for this man and he lived for years after the war.
On the morning of the 21st we started to our wagon train, then
camped on Arkansaw river not far
above
an santa eastern direction and down the river there was no road or
trail and the principal trouble was crossings on the creeks, etc. We
camped on Deep Fork in a nice valley, and it was here that I first
remember the great scorge, the measles, we had a case in our mess, his
name was Monroe King, and as the night was a wet one, I well remember
the tent we made him of a single blanket pegged down over him to
protect him from the storm. He is now dead.
On the following day we continued our journey down the river and
as well as I now recollect it was on the second or third day of our
travels that we came to the first settlement, but we found no person
on the place and no living animal, but on riding into the little
enclosure we noticed that the little field had been cultivated in
wheat, and in a small crib the crop had been housed in the sheaf, the
stubble had been cut very high and bundles were very long which was
evidence of the great heighth of the grain. It must have been five
feet or more tall when growing. A guard was placed around the little
crib and a sergeant at once proceeded to issue the grain to the men, a
small handfull to each man, who without further ceremony, proceeded to
rub out the grain and eat it raw. It tasted fine, for it was the only
bread we had eaten for four or five days.
The next encampment that I recollect was when we found plenty of
cattle and goats and we butchered a plentiful supply that only wanted
salt to satisfy our great hunger. On the following morning each man
was ordered to carry a ration for the next night, and we each carried
a good sized chunk of broiled meat on the march, which was continued
down the river, most of the time near its banks. The march was
continued until about 3 o'clock in the evening, when a halt was
called, and we were ordered to eat our food, which we devoured with
great relish. About the hour of starting, I first learned that our
wagons were encamped only a short distance down the river, and a
quickened march soon brought us in sight of the long wished
encampment, where we were to again be filled. I was hungry, and it
appeared to be the want of salt that gave me the greatest annoyance.
On reaching the camp we found that our comrades had prepared for us.
A great heap of biscuits lay on the pan and the skillet was heaped
with good brown slices of mess pork, but to my dismay each man was
ordered to eat only one biscuit with one slice of meat, then feed his
horse five ears of corn and after he had eaten to water him at the
river about 300 yards distant, then he could have the second and to
feed and water as before. This order, I suppose, was a precaution to
prevent us and our horses from over-eating. A wise precaution it must
have been, when I remember that the biscuits were large and each man
soaked his bread well in the salted grease and proceeded to eat with
that relish that experience only could realize. There were throngs of
men and horses going and returning from the water which was kept up to
far into the night, this writer making three trips, each time
devouring his alloted ration and on the fourth biscuit, I had enough,
thank God. I had enough once more, and on the following day no
serious results are remembered, but we rested, we slept, we ate and
slept again, thus was ended our first soldier experience on an Indian
campaign. We were absent from our train twenty one days, to the best
of my memory. We were greatly fatigued and our horses in bad shape,
the men mostly in fair health but a few cases of the dreadful scorge
"measles" had been reported, a disease which afterwards proved very
destructive to the regiment.
We had a large surplus of Indian ponies that had been brought in
from the capture and I think that each soldier named his captured pony
Gouge, in honor to his former associations.
After we reached the wagons and had filled up we learned that our
Indians would celebrate the victory with a scalp dance and I went to
see them. At their camp they had a circle, in the center of which was
planted a bush with a great number of limbs, and on these limbs were
fastened the scalps taken in the battle. The usual war whoop was
sounded and the same solemn chant and the dancers with paint and arms
were performing various quicksteps, "much like a recruit marking
time," but were beating slowly around the ring. When at a given
signal a warrior was seen to jump into the ring with knife and hatchet
in his hands. He made many fierce high jumps as though expecting an
enemy, who soon made his appearance on opposite side of the ring,
making the same demonstrations, apparently not seeing each other,
while the others kept up the chant and march. When they first saw
each other they played the cat and tried to slip on each other, when,
after a time at this, one made a dash for the other and a high clear
jump he is out of the way, and before a recovery they leap at each
other like game chicks for a period of several minutes, when finally
one will fall while the other stands proudly over his victim waving
high above his head a knife and bends down and with a quick movement
of the arm apparently he takes off his scalp amid a deafening, howling
roar that I cannot describe.
Our camp at this place was in the neighborhood of some good farms
and forage for our horses was in great plenty and we rested and ate
and drank of this great bounty. And it was no great while until we
again wished for more active life. Within a few days we were moved to
English was elected captain, an honor which I think was justly
merited, as it was to his keen perception and great presence of mind
that the company had made such a good fight at
While at
many were sick and the burial service was of daily occurrence.
CHAPTER VIII
waters of the Arkansaw river, and is beautifully situated on the north
and east banks of the two above named rivers, and consisted of a
beautiful square, surrounded with small wooden buildings and at the
time of which I write the only armament consisted of two block houses
made of logs and situated at opposite corners of the square, one at
the northwest and the other on the southeast corners. Each was made
of nice hewn logs and were about 14 feet square, to a heighth of about
8 feet the walls became larger on all sides, were set out about three
feet on each side, making the upper rooms about 20 feet square. They
were closely connected between the logs and no opening with the
exception of one small door made thick and heavy, there were port
holes chiseled in the walls large enough to contain the muzzles of the
guns and so cut that the guns could be brought to bear on any place
facing that side of the house.
connecting the Creek and Cherokee nations. Quite a number of
Cherokees lived in or about the Fort, most of them were mixed blooded
people and were well educated, and many of them seemed to be wealthy,
and their generosity was never surpassed by any people, especially in
the care of our sick.
Gen. Cooper's command was encamped a few miles up the river on
the
enemy was again on the hostile move, and it was about this time I
first saw the regiment of Col. Stanwaite, a fine looking body of men.
I was told they were Indian blood, but if they differed from any other
regiment in soldier appearance I could not detect it. So different
were they from other Indian soldiers that I had met. Col. Drue also
had a regiment of Cherokee Indians which were unlike Stanwaites'
regiment, as they all appeared to be full bloods, or as the Indians
would say, tubbus. It was only a few days until we again started out
to meet Hopothleholu at this time reinforced with the regiments of
Stanwaite and Drue. We met and passed these regiments daily on the
march up the Arkansaw and across
the
joined with Gen. Cooper, who encamped his forces on the night of Dec.
8th, near the village of the enemy, who was again in great force.
During the night, some communications were passed between the opposing
forces, as I understood, with a view to peace. But about midnight we
were called into line of battle and told that the regiment of
Cherokees under Col. Drue had deserted and all gone to the camp of
Hopothleholu and as they knew our position and force, we were
momentarily expecting an attack. I was too sleepy to stay awake and
our officers walked the line to see that every man was in readiness to
meet the expected, when Lieut. Haynes of Company I passed along and
found me asleep. He was a large man and of fine physique and had
endurance equal to any Indian, and to impress me with importance of my
vigilance, he in short order, jerked a limb from a sapling and
proceeded with a courtmartial, not exactly in military style, but much
after the style of a parent with his little boy, he gave me a good
whipping, an act that I have always regarded as one of great kindness,
it drove sleep from my eyes. Lieut. Haynes never reported me to the
commanding officer and therefore, through his manly kindness I avoided
a courtmartial, and from that time ever afterwards I endeavored to
show to him my appreciation by my fidelity to him, and when Lieut.
Haynes was to perform any duty, my chief delight was to be numbered
with his men. He seemed glad to have me.
At the break of day on the following morning, Dec. 9th, 1861, we
marched out and started down the river on retreat. I supposed that we
were not strong enough after our loss of one regiment, which served to
reinforce the enemy; but in the sequel found that our retreat was to
call him from his stronghold in the mountains, so we could better get
at him. We had marched only a few miles down the river, and while
crossing a good large creek, we heard the rattle of guns and the
chatter of the Indians, which told us of the approach of the enemy.
Col. Sims formed the regiment and dismounted the men out on a high
prairie, and gained the timber in time to meet their advance.
The fighting was hot and we drove them some two miles up the creek
(Birds Creek), to a point where the hills come up sharp to the creek
in a rough and broken way that furnished the retreating foe the needed
shelter. Col. Sims called the regiment to horse for the purpose of
giving chase, but from the lateness of the hour we did not follow. We
encamped for several days and nights on the creek, just below the
battle ground. The battle lasted for three hours. We buried all of
our dead, and after fully exploring the field I was told by an old man
that this was the bloodiest battle that the red man had known since
the battle of the famous Horse Shoe. Those who should know best, said
that our enemy lost at least 500 on the field, besides the wounded and
prisoners. Our losses were not so great, probably 300 would be a
large estimate, but of the 9th, our losses were not so heavy as at
Round Mountain, and our sufferings were not so severe, for we could
well care for the wounded. On the night after the battle, there fell
about three inches of snow, and it was my lot to be on guard over the
prisoners that had been taken by our command, about 40 that were
accommodated at a large fire made of logs. Here I witnessed the most
complete package of human beings that it has ever been my fortune to
witness. They selected the smokey side of the fire and all stood in a
circular crowd and by some known means all reclined at one time in
such a manner that the legs of each which were covered with leggings
of hide, formed a bed for the body of another, and so that all were
accommodated, and the blankets that they wore were spread so as to
completely cover them head and all, so that the sleeping Indians in
bed occupied a space that would not have accommodated one-fourth their
number of Texans. The circle looked like it might be 12 feet across
and about 2 feet deep, and was solid Indians, over which this writer
kept vigil during the snow storm. Not a sound or a movement did I
discover from the living mass, and I was filled with wonder, to think
how they could endure the ravages of the "itch" and "lice" (with which
all were well stocked) without even scratching, and while thus
meditating upon the good qualities of Indians as bed-fellows, they all
at once uttered a howl that was a good representation of the howl of a
pack of wolves. This howl awakened the relief guard, who jumped, each
with his arms, expecting a great outburst for their liberty, but not a
movement was made, but they slept of sulled as peacably as before
until daylight, when the guard raised the cover from the pile, which
they understood as a command to get up. They that day turned over to
some Indians who told me they were Cawpaws. They were slimmer made
and darker than other Indians. I do not know what became of our
Indian prisoners, as they were all given into the hands of their own
nationality and whether executed or loosed I never knew, but this I do
know, we had no prisoners returned to us.
We again
fell back to
killing our friends, where we remained awaiting upon the sick and
burying the dead, until the arrival of Col. McIntosh, when another
campaign was inaugurated. McIntosh at the head of the 3rd, 6th, and
11th regiments and Whitfield's battallions marched upon the enemy,
then encamped on a small creek, which the Indians called Oostenarly.
And Col. Sims again at the head of the 9th marched up the river to
join Gen. Cooper above
engagement which Maj. Ross called Chenstancerlie. Read history Ross'
Brigade, pages 44, 45, 46, 47 and 48, to which it is my purpose to add
these pages.
CHAPTER IX
Taken from Victor M. Rose' History as follows:
I regard it needless to say that our Indians never failed to
paint and dance before entering into a battle, and always danced over
the scalps after a battle. This act was the end. After the scalp
dance the paint was washed off.
Christmas eve night we were encamped in a grove on a beautiful
little stream that emptied into the Arkansaw river, and after the
guard mount, quite a number of the soldiers, considering the holiday
season, concluded that we would celebrate the approaching festive
holiday and in a noisy manner proceeded with the hilarities of the
wild and wooly soldier. Col. Sims at once sent us orders to retire
without further noise. This order was received with great protest.
Not even free on Christmas. So we thought best to send a delegation
to Col. Sims and ask him to allow us a little recreation, as it was
Christmas. This writer was with the delegation who went to Col. Sims'
quarters with the request. I well remember him reclining before his
campfire, half dressed and wrapped with his blanket, with saddle,
sword and pistols all within easy reach, while his famous horse stood
munching only a few yards from his bed. A change was noted from the
fine cultured citizen of a few months ago to the professional warrior,
such was his theory and convictions, and his life demonstrated his
convictions. On making our errand known to him he only arose to a
sitting posture on his couch, and his answer was: "No! Sons, No!
remember you are soldiers, and I, as your commander, have promised to
keep you at all times in a manner that you shall be able to render to
your country the most effective service, and while we rejoice with the
season, we must make no demonstration, for we are in the front of a
savage enemy and know not when he may strike at us. No! go to your
beds and sleep, and husband all your energies for the hard service
that is yet before us." It is needless to say we went to bed, and the
camp was quiet till the shrill note of the bugle told us that it was
Christmas morning, saddle up and on the march and from day to day thus
continued for many cold and starving days into the mountains and on
the plains. Pikes Peak was seen and pointed out as in view for
several days and rations gave out, and it was on this campaign where
the Indian pony was tested as food. Will say it was good to the
hungry men, the only disgusting thing about it was the smell, while it
was roasting it smelled like a sweaty horse. See Ross' Brigade
History, page 48. I here want to record what I saw on this march of
endurance: On one day and night the sleet fell and accumulated on
guns, sticks, and all objects to a thickness of more than one inch,
and during this time many of our Indians had no hats or head covers,
and "Old Pap," before spoken of, wore his peacock feather trailing
down his back with enough ice on it as to be as large as his arm, and
on passing those Indians many of them had not more apparel than would
cover one half the naked body - but game to the last, they never
complain. The country was mountain and plain and in this cold and
starved condition the scenery was not attractive. There were no game
or other food, but ice, wind, snow, sleet and starvation was our
experience, and as a result of the great midwinter march only a few
worthless ponies and a small number of prisoners was all that I ever
knew, as a result for so much suffering. We returned by long weary
marches to our wagon train which we met in a beautiful valley on the
north bank of the Arkansaw river, called Tulcy town. There was only
one single house in the valley and I learned it was a sweat house used
by the Indians in curing disease. Hot sweat and cold baths. It was
here that I saw the scene that I have heard described in savage life
of running the "gauntlet." I did not see the commencement for I only
knew what was going on, when I heard the report of arms and saw the
great commotion among the Indians and rode to the scene as soon as I
could get to them. From what I saw the Indians had formed themselves
in a manner to command the way for the runners and if fleetness save
them, they were out of the hands of their tormentors. I saw but one
take the run, he was a long slim Indian prisoner, I do not know his
tribe and I do not know whether it was his first run or not, but am of
the opinion that he had made the race with his companions and had run
through unhurt and had been recaptured and given a second run, as many
had been killed before I got there, but let that be as it may, I saw
him run and "Oh my God!" it was a run not only for life, but from
cruel captors. As he started, clubs and tomahawks were hurled at him,
knives and stones, then arrows from bows, and after that, guns were
fired at him, in short, the air was full of deadly missles after him.
I think that each class of arms were discharged from certain limits,
thus probably ten steps for knives and tomahawks, fifteen or twenty
steps for war clubs and stones, and thirty to forty for bows and
arrows, and the balance for guns and pistols, probably none shot under
sixty steps, but the runner made it out with a knock-down and ran like
a ghost and a great howling multitude after him, and I fully believe
if he had been in a broken country he would have baffled them all but
it was smooth, level prairie and he ran east down the river for more
than one mile, and the mob after him and finally he disappeared behind
the bank of the river and his pursuers close after him. He ran down
the sand bar for two or three hundred yards and came to an old Burr
Oak that stood on the bank where the waters had washed the earth from
a part of the roots, which promised him shelter and, like the rabbit
pursued by a pack of hounds, he hid himself amid the roots of the oak
under the embankment. He was followed, dragged out and dispatched
among a howling din of his captors. My heart was touched with such
cruelty. I still recollect the scene and have no patience with baby
policy when it comes to governing the Indians.
From Tulcy town we again moved to Fort Gibson and found that many
of our sick had died of measles, and while Col. Sims was in command of
that post it appears that our flag was nearly always at half mast and
a funeral possession was of daily occurrence. In the graveyard
southeast of Fort Gibson are buried many of the 9th Texas Cavalry.
Orders were finally received to retire down the river to Horsehead
bayou for winter quarters. I think it was about the middle or last of
January when we took up the line of march to winter quarters. We left
the Indians with great rejoicings and none seemed inclined to remain
in the B. I. T. or beautiful Indian Territory. Van Buren was the
first town that we struck that was peopled with our own race and kept
on "top bug juice" and it is not necessary to say that we here took
Christmas notwithstanding heroic efforts of the officers to keep us
sober. We encamped that night near the residence of Dr. Throuston, a
noted doctor, who in the early days of Texas was well known on account
of his family medicines which were a household necessity. A wag in
our company claimed that the regiment were not drunk but affected by
the medicinal power from encamping near the doctor's labratory.
Recovery was gradual but by the time we got to the alloted ground for
a permanent camp we were duly sober.
Horsehead is the name of a creek and we occupied land known as
the Slidell place. Each mess set about building, as fancy as
inclination suggested. Twelve men was the required number for a mess
and our mess cut logs and hauled them in and in a short time had our
house fit for habitation and moved in. It was a log cabin about six
feet high to the eaves and covered with split boards on ribpoles that
were held in place by other poles for weighting down the roof, a dirt
floor and a huge fireplace built with stone and mud, and six feet from
the rear of the shanty there was a log put across the house and upon
this was framed a wide bed, the full width of the house, and under
this scaffold bedstead was storage for feed, saddles and all such
things as have need to be kept dry, and at night we made a huge fire
and our feet were well warmed and we felt like we were settled for
life. We had a lot of sick and we built a cabin for the sick, also
one for the guard. These winter quarters were called "Cantonment
Slidell" and we wrote to our friends from these camps, and quite a
number of us got letters from home which were the first that we had.
The effects of the winter exposure was telling in the broken health of
the soldiers, many were suffering with "dysintery" and our surgeon,
Dr. James Robertson, appeared to have only opium as a remedy and the
hour of 10 o'clock a.m. was the sick call, when he usually came over
the sterotyped questions and issued three small opium pills and
appeared to be greatly surprised that the disease did not respond to
his treatment, but alas in many cases it came to stay and solitary
soldier's graves tells of its ravages. The only sport we had at this
camp was horse racing, in which we tried the speed of some of the
Arkansaw stock to our sorrow. One little gray horse belonging to an
old hayseed beat one of our best horses, but as the man who was beaten
still lives, I will let him tell of his defeat. After only a short
stay we were ordered to join McCullough at Fayetteville and again we
took the line of march, and in a few days were encamped on Boston
Mountain. While in this camp with two other companions this writer
went without leave in search of game, and in search of game a few
miles out we had the luck to kill a fine large hog, which we proceeded
to skin in the usual style and while thus engaged, a squad of cavalry
rode up to us and charged that we had fired guns on their post of duty
and would be forced to explain the causes to the officers on duty,
hence with an arrest we were marched to headquarters. It was a
regiment of Gen. Price on post there. We not knowing, had killed our
hog very near their videts. We explained to the officer who and what
we were, and by him suffered to return to our camp. By way of
compensation for the trouble we had caused, we left with them one-half
the hog. While in this camp we again heard from home, as our officers
furloughed at Fort Gibson, returned, and with a lot of recruits,
letters, clothing compliments from dear ones at home. I do not know
the number of recruits received here, for at the death of Captain
Stuart I had nothing further to do with the company papers. We had a
fine position on the main road south from Fayetteville and were daily
expecting an engagement, the enemy was nearing the town and we in line
of battle, six miles south, on the top of the mountain, thus
overlooking the quiet little town. When the enemy's advance reached
the town, our pickets burned the public buildings. It was a grand
sight and curious it was to me, to think that men would erect a
courthouse today and admire it as a grand improvement, and tomorrow
will apply the torch of destruction with a joyous hand, such was the
case when we burned Fayetteville, Ark., but the enemy came no nearer
than the burned town, but halted, encamped and turned back after
remaining about one week. About this time, March 1st, 1862, Majors
Ross and Whitfield made the ride for the rear of the enemy, where Maj.
Ross took Keitsville with a number of prisoners (Maj. Ross in his
History Brigade, page 55, says Maj. Ross commanded companies G and I,
of the 3rd Texas Cavalry) but let that be as it will, I will say that
he also carried a detachment from the 9th Texas Cavalry that my
recollection says, was commanded by Lieut. Haynes, of Company I, 8th
Texas, and I know of some of my companions, one at least, now living,
that was in the Keitsville raid. The first time any of us were ever
commanded by Gen. L. S. Ross, quite a number of our company were with
Maj. Ross. I have here made this statement not as a criticism on
Major Ross' book but merely to correct his error, and to show that the
9th Texas Cavalry took a part in all engagements in reach of us to the
day of paroles.
I suppose this gallant exploit of these detachments was the
probable cause of the falling back of Seigles and Curtis' forces.
(See Rose' History, Ross' Brigade, pages 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 and 60).
CHAPTER X.
It was on the morning of March 5th, 1862, that I first saw the
forces of Gen. Seigel with uniforms and glittering arms as they moved
from Bentonville, and while thinking of their grandeur received orders
to "forward, quick time, march!" and soon heard the rattle of small
arms and roar of artillery in the engagement as told by Major Rose on
page 56 of his History of Ross' Brigade. our encampment that night we
called Camp Stephens and early next morning the battle of Elkhorn
began by the Federal artillery opening upon our lines. The 9th Texas
being the nearest to the battery were the first to reach the guns and
company K, the center and guide company of the regiment, was the first
to plant a flag on that battery. Company K alone lost 23 men in this
conflict and from that day the flag of that company became the colors
of the 9th Texas Cavalry. It was not a red cross, but a small
brownish red silk flag, in the center of which was a crescent moon and
thirteen five-pointed silver stars. It was trimmed with silk fringe
and was attached to a dark mahogany colored staff with a gilded spear
head at the top. It is still in the possession of Maj. Dial, who was
3rd Lieutenant and commanded company K in the battle. This
description is here given to clear up some controversy the veterans
are having as to our first battle flag. After this battle the flags
of the other companies were furled. I do not know whether it was
because company K was the color company, or because it was the first
flag we ever planted on an enemy's battery that caused it to become
the regimental colors, but this I know, it was adopted and became the
flag of the 9th Texas Cavalry, and we dressed upon it, we carried it,
we loved it, and, as proof that we never lost it, its dilapidated
remains can yet be seen at our annual reunions, where it is recognized
by the veterans now living. After the battle of Elkhorn I never saw
the flag of the Titus Greys or any of the other companies, but was
informed by our officers that they had all been sent to Austin Texas,
and were there in the safe-keeping of the Governor.
On the taking of the battery the Indians under Col. Pike were
highly elated and many of them straddled the guns and rode them in joy
over the victory. The gunners were all killed and nearly all the
horses, only team enough being left to move one gun.
Many incidents worthy of note occurred here, one of which I call
to mind as showing the difference in warfare with raw recruits and a
trained army. While the engagement was at its hottest one federal who
thought it was time to surrender with hands up-lifted in token of
surrender ran up to a member of company K, Bill Ripley, who not
understanding his gestures deliberately dealt him a blow on the head
with the butt of his gun, prostrating him with his dead comrades.
Bill ruined his gun, as it was badly bent, but he hung to it and used
it during the remainder of the battle. Another instance I will here
relate: As before stated, there were only horses enough left to carry
off one gun of the captured battery, which was immediately taken from
the field. Three guns were left standing just as they had been last
used upon us until night, when Capt. L. D. King of company D sent a
detail from his company to cut them down or otherwise destroy their
efficiency, as we could not use them. One of the guns had a charge
placed in the muzzle that had not been rammed down when the battery
was taken, and the ramrod was lying by the soldier who had fallen with
it in his hands. Seeing this, suggested to the detail that they could
load the guns perchance have them do some execution for us while
undergoing the process of destruction. The thought was put into
execution, each gun being filled to the muzzle with available
ammunition, whether grapeshot, case or canister the young soldiers
neither knew nor cared. By a labored effort they succeeded in loading
the guns and rolling them to a place from which the enemy could be
seen. After taking what they thought to be deliberate aim they
proceeded to build huge fires of brush and rails under the guns, which
they reasoned would become sufficiently heated to discharge their
contents into the Federal ranks.
After making all right they lighted the fires and rejoined the
regiment. Nothing of the matter was known to the officers until about
2 o'clock on the morning of the 7th when the whole earth appeared to
be jarred by the rapid and continued firing. The alarm was general,
for it was a terrible roar; it appearing as if the artillery of both
armies had been massed during the night and had now opened upon the
sleeping lines. The alarm was terrible until one of the detail
remarked: "It's nothing only our battery firing on 'em."
I suppose each commander reported that he was attacked by his
opponent during the night; at any rate our officers were on the alert
until daylight, when Van Dorn and Seigel, apparently by mutual
consent, separated without further fighting.
I have heard and read a great many comments setting forth the
reasons for the strange conduct of these two commanding officers on
both sides, and it is my conviction that Van Dorn withdrew for want of
a commander, and Seigel withdrew because he thought Van Dorn had
received heavy reinforcements and had planted a battery in a position
commanding his lines of defense. We will probably never know all
about it, and much of what we do know will be disputed.
The army fell back to the wagon train, which was encamped on
Boston Mountains, where we rested for only a few days, then started in
the direction of our winter quarters on Horsehead Creek. Before
reaching that point our line of march was turned toward Des Arc on
White river, where we were dismounted and embarked for Memphis,
following the 3rd Texas, as told on page 64 of Major Rose's book.
Our horses were sent back to Texas by a detail for that purpose,
each company's horses being sent to the soldiers' homes. It was while
serving on this detail that the writer got acquainted with the Buffalo
gnat, an insect of the fly species, that proved very destructive to
our horses, and especially destructive to our mules, of which we had
quite a number.
Our march was tedious, each man leading four horses, and as they
were all saddled we had much difficulty in keeping the saddle blankets
in proper place, and the roads were rough and muddy. We crossed the
Arkansaw river at Little Rock, and from thence to Texas by any route
by which we could cross the many streams, which were filled to
overflowing from the heavy rains that had continued to fall during our
march.
We passed by Hot Springs, then only a small village with one
small wooden hotel and two or three stores. I remember the Springs in
their native appearance. At the foot of the mountain on the little
creek bank there was a clear, cool spring that supported a little
branch, such as may be seen in any mountainous country, and about
half-way up the mountain was the first hot spring. The water was hot
enough to burn the mouth, but we could drink it by taking small sips
as one drinks hot coffee. Further up the hill, near the top, was a
large and ugly hole of water that was scalding hot, and about this
spring was much hog hair, for the people in the vicinity had been
scalding hogs in the spring. Leaving Hot Springs we had no trouble
until we reached Red River, which was full from hill to hill, and we
were forced to ferry across the bottom for one and one-half miles and
then jump our horses into water three feet deep. It was during this
ferriage that buffalo gnats killed so many horses and mules. Finally
we reached Mt. Pleasant, delivered our horses and visited our mothers
and sisters.
CHAPTER XI.
We got the horses disposed of about the first of June, and about
the first of August we were ordered to rejoin our regiment on foot as
infantry, and were called to rendezvous at Paris, Texas. A few days
later we took up our line of march for the army then in Mississippi on
the Central railroad. We had been on the march several days and were
encamped on Red River near Myrtle Springs; the men were in bad
spirits, threatening mutiny, when we received orders to return to our
homes back in Texas, to gather up our horses and carry them back to
the brigade. There was great joy in the camp over this order. We
returned to our homes and proceeded at once to gather up the horses
and company I reported to Lieutenant Miller at Mt. Pleasant, Texas.
This was about the middle of September, 1862, as noted on page 80 of
Major Rose's book. We soon resumed the march for the army by way of
Shreveport, Monroe and Vicksburg.
Nothing outside the usual daily routine occurred on this march
until near Vicksburg, when a body of the enemy was reported only a few
miles to our left. We hastened with all possible speed to reach
protection under the guns at Vicksburg, passing within range while a
sharp cannonade was going on between the forts at Vicksburg and some
gunboats just behind the bend and opposite Gen. Grant's "cut off
canal," some five or six miles west of the city. I thought we passed
uncomfortably close to these huge iron monsters, but soon found that
all their shots were fired at the city, and passed far over our heads.
One shot from about the lowest battery in Vicksburg fell near our
line while we were advancing, and after striking the ground passed
near where the writer was urging his four bronchos to a quick time
march. When it stopped I got a fair look at it; saw that it was
round and supposed it to be a shell, as it was some 10 or 12 inches in
diameter, thrown from a mortar six or eight miles away. We reached
the river and went into camp at the Fair Grounds and watched the
exploding shells until night, and were finally lulled to sleep by the
soothing notes of "Whistling Dick," whose voice is still remembered as
one of the sublime things of life.
On the following morning we moved out from Vicksburg, a movement
that was sanctioned by this writer, as there was no particular
facination in a city where the iron shells were paying constant
visits, the destructive power of which was telling in many places. I
well remember a huge hole in the hard street that had been excavated
by an exploding shell that looked as if it might have killed half a
company.
We moved up the ridge between Yazoo City and Jackson, by way of
Goodman, and at the end of three days were near our regiment. Our
last camp was at Duck Hill, twelve or fifteen miles from where the
regiment was camped, and so great was the mental strain that a number
of the men slipped off from our camp, visited the regiment and
announced the horses, and the next morning there were several of the
regiment in our camp. We moved to the regiment, which was encamped
near Grenada, and delivered our charges into their hands. We carried
clothing and letters for the boys, and that day was spent in a general
rejoicing. The few recruits who came with us appeared much dejected
when they saw what discipline means when applied to the ranks of an
army, and I remember one recruit who belonged to my mess while we were
with the horses, and joined our old mess when we returned to the
regiment. Lieutenant J. A. Coplin was a member of the mess and as we
were preparing the camp he gave some order to the recruit which the
latter seemed to think was unauthorized, and responded to the order by
giving Coplin a cursing. Coplin was high tempered and thought to
initiate the recruit by a genteel thrashing.
When it was found that they were too equally matched for comfort, each
tried to foul the other with weapons, but they were parted before any
harm was done. After an explanation the matter was satisfactorily
arranged and was never known to but few, consequently no arrests were
made and nothing was said of the fight, which was a close one.
I have no data from which to write, but think it was from about
the middle of November to the 9th of December, 1862, that we remained
near Grenada, where we were remounted. While here we were reviewed by
a number of officers, among them Major-General Maury. He was a small
man and did not make the appearance the writer supposed a Major-
General should, for he was remarkably plain, even more so than any of
his staff, even his Orderly looked more like an officer than did the
General himself, but soldiers who pointed him out to me said that in
courage and wisdom he was second to no man in that army.
A few days later we were again on review before President
Jefferson Davis, General-in-Chief C.S.A., and after passing in review
we were consolidated in block to listen to a speech from the
President, who spoke from his horse.
President Davis appeared to be about fifty years of age, was tall
and thin, with bony hands and long fingers, high cheek bones and high
forehead; had blue eyes, a sharp nose, thin lips, a wide square set
mouth. He appeared to me to be in bad health, his looks suggesting
dyspepsia or nervousness from overwork. He was neatly dressed in
Confederate grey with gold buttons, but I recollect no ensignia of his
rank. With him were some members of his cabinet, among them, I think,
John H. Reagan. Many of them were gaudily dressed, but I do not now
remember their names and rank.
After we were formed, the President in a clear, calm voice
addressed us. I was at least fifty yards away, but so clear was his
speech and so close the attention that much of his address was clearly
understood.
I do not now remember much of what he said, more than the thanks
he bestowed upon us for manliness and soldierly bearing. To Missouri,
Arkansas and Texas he spoke in turn, and then to Mississippi. The
latter he reminded that he too was a Mississippian, his home, his all
was there , and if that State fell into the hands of the enemy he
would suffer in common with them. He finished by telling us that the
fight would continue until our independence was gained or our last
resource exhausted; and somehow I got it into my head that if all the
States east of the Mississippi river were taken, we would continue the
fight in the West and Mexico, and only end when driven into the
Pacific Ocean.
So after that speech I thought no more of the end of the war, for
I felt it was to have no end while one of us lived.
It was no great while after we were remounted that a detachment
was sent near to Vicksburg to guard the waterways and keep the
Commanding General posted as to the movements of the enemy on the
river. I am not positive as to who commanded this expedition, but
believe it was Lieutenant-Colonel Barnhart. Will say that this part
of the cavalry was not on the Holly Springs affair, which started out
about the 12th of December, 1862. For a full history of this affair
the reader is referred to Maj. Rose' History, pages 131-132, from
which it had its conception within the Ross Texas Brigade, who took no
small part in the execution of that maneuver, (see pages 84, 85 and 86
of Major Rose's History.) which was dashingly executed on the morning
of December 22, 1862.
CHAPTER XII.
I here recall an incident that has left a lasting impression on
at least the name of a private soldier of company I. 9th Texas
Cavalry. C. C. Carr, a slender stripling, about 19 years old, with
black hair and eyes, was noted for his quaint sayings, possessed a
peculiar talent for mimicry, was always ready for anything and never
surprised or nonplussed at anything that presented itself before him.
When the 9th Texas reached the square a woman informed Carr that an
officer of the enemy was quartered in a house close by, and he
forthwith set out to effect his capture. He left the ranks in a run,
and into the house he went with a long old rusty musket, (Carr never
kept his gun bright) and demanded the officer's surrender. The
Federal seeing no chance for escape while looking down the muzzle of
Carr's old musket, surrendered, but being of a military turn of mind,
thought it was not the proper thing to hand his arms over to an
inferior in rank and asked for an officer to receive his sword. "What
is your rank?" asked Carr.
"I am Colonel _____ of _____ regiment, U.S.A." was the reply.
"All right, that is my rank; I am Col. C.C. Carr, 9th Texas
Cavalry, C.S.A." politely responded Carr reaching for the sabre with
his left hand, while he kept the muzzle of his musket uncomfortable
close to his prisoner's head with his right, "turn out without delay;"
and he brought him in a prisoner of war, and from that event he was
called Colonel Carr in his company and by his comrades, a name he
still wears and to which we think he is justly entitled.
So generally was the title bestowed that I think he must have
forgotten his given name Charlie for once about a year after this when
a part of the command made an attempt on a Yankee forging train and
were repulsed, routed and run over near Satartia, Miss., by a large
force of Cavalry and were scattered like young partridges his in the
weeds, etc. After the Yankees had moved off and we were looking over
the field, among others, Carr was missing. After hunting for him for
some time we called out for Carr! Carr!! Charlie Carr!!! and no
answer. We were beginning to feel bad, and fear him dead, or mortally
wounded, as we were near where he was last seen. Still calling Carr!
Carr!! Charlie Carr, when one of our company suggested that we call
Carr! Carr! Colonel Carr! when to our joy and surprise he answered
rising up from his hiding place in the weeds, answering here am I sir!
He had heard us before but was not certain that it was not the enemy
calling for him and as he had no desire to be made a prisoner refused
to answer, but on hearing his name as it was called in his mess knew
his friends. He still lives, loved and respected as Colonel Carr. As
a soldier he was happy and careless and a vein of humor ran through
his soldier life that caused many a hearty laugh. With him there were
no alarms, there were no surprises - young, hearty and willing. He
was always ready for duty, either foraging or fighting. To him it was
the same jolly war, In heat or cold, rain or shine, he was the same
roggish Col. Carr. As a citizen, no one is more loyal, in business
none more accommodating, and in his community none more enterprising.
As an honored soldier, an honorable citizen, long may he live to honor
and be honored by his native home, Texas.
The movements of the Brigade are well told by Maj. Rose, page 92
of the March to Tennessee and the battle of Thompson's Station, in
which the Texas Brigade all lost heavily. And by the way, it was here
that General Van Dorn made the capture of Lieut. Colonel Shafter and
his command. It was a hard fight but it was victorious to our arms.
It was fought about the 7th of March, 1863. The writer has no data
from which to write, but recollects it to have been a bloody battle,
lasting about five hours, and hotly contested all that time. A part
of the time this writer fought in ranks with 3rd Texas.
CHAPTER XIII.
This writer will now speak of the officers of the 9th Texas
Cavalry, as the data from this will be taken from a small diary that
was kept by Col. Dud W. Jones, who has heretofore passed with but few
words, as little could be learned of him, a fact that Maj. Rose
regrets. See page 150, History Ross' Brigade. D.W. Jones was the
grandson of Jesse Jones, a pioneer of the Northeast section of Texas
and one of the first settlers of that part of the State, now known as
Lamar county. He was the son of Henry Jones and Martha Heron Jones,
who came to Texas and settled in Lamar county in the year 1836, and in
1840, removed to Titus county and settled on a farm, three miles from
Mt. Pleasant, where Dud W. Jones was born (1840). He was the second
son of a family of five children - two girls and three boys, none of
whom are now living. The only member of the family now living is a
half sister - Mrs. Mattie E. Nugent, who now resides on the old Henry
Jones homestead, near Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and from whom these dates
are learned. His early education was from his mother and the common
schools. After he grew up he attended a school at Coffeeville, Texas,
known as the Murray Institute, which was at that time one of the best,
if not the best, school in that part of Texas. He left school to
enlist as a private soldier in the Titus Greys, Company I, 9th Texas
Cavalry.
As a boy, he was studious, and a lovable boy - a great favorite
with his father's slaves, and as if by nature was the arbitrator among
the children of the household and farm.
After the surrender he traveled over the United States for about
one year and returned to his father's home in 1866, and was elected to
represent Titus county in the convention that framed the present
constitution; removed to Houston in 1867 and entered the practice of
law, in a firm of Jones & Barzizer, and was editing a paper at
Houston, the Vidette, one of Houston's first dailies. He died of
hemorage of the bowels, in July 1869, and was buried at Houston, and
his father Henry Jones erected a tombstone at his grave.
As Mrs. Nugent was very small at the time of his death she
remembers but little of him, only that the distance then so great that
he was dead and buried before the family knew of his sickness. He was
appointed Adjutant of the regiment on its organization and served as
such until the reorganization in May, 1862, and at that time was only
22 years old, but was familiar with all the duties of a commander of a
regiment.
He was of light complexion, with dark hair and brown eyes, slim
and of good heighth, 5 feet 10 or 11 inches, and was by habit
scrupulously neat, and very precise in all his communications as well
as dress, "a great ladies man," and much of his diary is given to his
enjoyment with them when not on duty. He was always studious, and
kept his books with him when possible. He established a library for
the 9th and it contained many valuable volumes. In July 1863, his
diary speaks of his loosing his Shakespeare and going back to hunt it.
If this writer should sum up his nature in a few words it would be:
Dress, his pride; books, his glory, and war his profession, while a
soldier. At his death his papers were all lost, and the only writing
now known is the small pocket diary kept by him from April 1863 to
April 1864, and much of it is so finely written and from exposure to
wet weather cannot be read. He was greatly beloved by his men and
considered by his superiors to equal at arms with any regiment in the
service of equal numbers. This writer believes that he being the
youngest Colonel was more restive and more apt to stir up the enemy
and bring about an engagement. He was brave and generous, and filled
the position he occupied at least, to the satisfaction of the
Department at Richmond as well as his immediate commanders.
He appears to be a little vain and fond of compliments,
especially from his superiors. Will copy from diary April 23, 1863:
"We are still in camp near Spring Hill, we drill, Gen. Van Dorn comes
out to see us drill, he remarked that the 9th Texas Cavalry was the
best horsemen in the "world" and inferior to none in drill. The
weather still fine, April 24, 1863, we drill again, Gen. Van Dorn is
out again, the 3rd Texas looses a horse in the charge, a few ladies
are out, the weather is nice, April 27, 1863, Maj. Bates and I go to
Spring church, a large congregation, a good sermon, return to camp,
stake off encampment, ride back to town, again send in our cards, are
accepted, promise to go to church, it rains, we do not go." And thus
from day to day he faithfully records his movements of drill and of
picket duty. While near Spring Hill, Tenn., on Sunday April 24, he
got permission from Van Dorn to go on a scout with 150 men, moves back
to Rodger's Bridge, pressed a wagon, load it with bacon and flour,
Federals come in sight and fire on us, feed again at Hillsboro and
return to camp. On the 8th we had review, on the 11th the Federals
come out and we go to meet them. After this he notes we have roll
call three times a day, an item many of us recollect, as it was very
inconvenient to soldiers of the line. On Monday the 20th of April,
had corps review, Gen. Gragg's Inspector General is out. On Monday
April 29, he writes: "About six o'clock this morning a courier
arrives and reports that Col. Brooks, of the Legion, had been attacked
on picket and the Federals had captured 120 of his men, burned all his
wagons and camp equippage, and the 9th and 3rd are ordered out to
assist them. We moved out, but they got back before we could cut them
off, but they had a close race. On the 29th, he tells of Van Dorn and
movements at some length. On May 7th, 1863, about seven o'clock a.m.,
Dr. Peters shot Gen. Van Dorn, dies about 10 o'clock. On the 8th we
are ordered out to see the funeral of Gen. Van Dorn" and he thus gives
the order in which they march. They escort with crape on their arms.
The hearse drawn by two black horses the staff, then Armstrong's
Brigade go to Columbia and we go to camp, cook two days rations and go
on picket. The we have constant picket fighting until the 19th of
May, when we move out for Mississippi again, and are encamped near
Canton on June 5th, thus showing a long forced march, some days as far
as 30 miles. Again we hear the voice of "Whistling Dick" as he
bellows defiance at Vicksburg near 40 miles away. From this time
until the fall of Jackson, about July 17, fighting occurred almost
every day in the front of the Federals, then we move to the rear and
kept them constantly annoyed, fighting nearly every day. On Monday,
July 27, the Federals were all fallen back on the river and all was
quiet. We were encamped on Pearl river, near Jackson, and our
headquarters were at Brandon, when we received Gen. Johnston's famous
order No. 14, granting one furlough to every 25 men. Furloughs were
soon drawn and sent up, but returned on 31st for discriptive roll of
the furloughed, and on Aug. 1st, we got our baggage from Okalona, on
the 2nd, we move down to Balton, had some skirmishing until the 10th,
when Col. Jones' leave of absence came back approved, and he starts
home, but is baffled and concludes to visit Richmond and Lee's army.
He records his travels from Brandon by Meridian, Demopalis to Atlanta,
Ga., had many difficulties in his travels, gets there the 15th, then
to Knoxville and over the mountains, compliments the Roanoke Valley,
then to Lynchburg, which he says is a nice place. On Friday, Aug. 21,
he is there, and says it is a day of fasting and prayer, business all
closed, reaches Richmond at 6 a.m. on the 22nd, and stops at the
Ballard House, finds the city gay and lively. On Sunday Aug. 23,
1863, he goes to St. Paul's church and sees the president and his
staff, or cabinet, 24th he visits the War Department and finds Maj.
Dodson reinstated and his own commission, gets some new clothes and
visits the hospital, finds it in charge of Dr. Dundly, of Palestine,
Texas, goes to theatre. On the 27th, he notes that the Yankees come
within five miles of Richmond and skirmish with cavalry, and on the
28th, the alarm was given and all took up arms, 3,000 men in arms, the
department battallion visit the A.Q.M. to get some cloth, fails, 30th
goes to Pittsburg, visits Mr. Geo. Griscom, then to Wilmington, stop
at Rock Mound, says that tar is the principal product, and carts the
principal transportation. Yankees had been there, Augusta after he
leaves Charleston, where he is fired upon, stops at Planter's Hotel,
and September 8th he visits the powder mill and says it turns out 900
pounds of powder each day and thus gives the formula 75 per cent
nitre, 15 per cent coal and 10 per cent sulphur, then back to Atlanta,
goes to theater, says it is a poor thing, then to Montgomery, on
leaving there the boat was small and a big crowd, Capt. Graves shoots
a negro for sauciness, the soldiers takes Graves from the police, on
to Selma, sees the Q.M. Ordinance officer, Capt. Graves is arrested
and carried to Mobile and reaches Meridian on Saturday, Sept. 12th,
1863, then to Brandon, where the Q.M. furnishes a wagon to Canton,
Col. Quail is with him, at Canton he sends out for the ambulance at 12
o'clock, 16th Col. Jones and Col. Quail go out to camp. From this
date to Oct. 28th, he fills the space with scouts and picket duty all
along Big Black, Clinton, Balton and Edwards Depot and Brownsville,
when he notes that Gen. Whitfield has 90 days furlough and goes to
Texas, has his horse stolen, and on the 29th takes his departure. On
Nov. 21st he notes that Augereye and I go to select a camp and see
Gen. Jackson at Livingston, the only time I note of his using any
slang or nickname. The scouting and picket duty was still kept up
until about December the 20th, when we start out to carry some guns to
the Trans-Mississippi Department. We move out on the 22nd of
December. Monday June 16th, 1863, is sick, haws the services of Dr.
March, Col. Berry in command, June 19, terrific firing at Vicksburg,
Col. Ross is detached and retires, June 13th I finish the Voyages of
Columbus, Oct. 20th reads DeAlbins, Nov. 8th read the Bible, Nov. 7th
read DeAlbins Reformation, finish at 10 p.m., Reformation - 25th reads
Nelson on Infidelity, Nov. 4th finishes Luthers Reformation, Nov. 18th
read Romulus, 22nd reads Deuteronomy, 23rd studies Wheeler. From July
5th to 14th he tells of the Federal's advance to Jackson, and from the
15th to 20th tells of Jackson's raid to the Federal rear, July 24th he
calls an assembly of the officers and resolutions are passed for the
improvement of the regiment, July 28th inspection by Gen. Hardis,
inspector naked horses and equipage. Tuesday August 24th notes the
Brigade gets whiskey at Benton, pours out the whiskey, Sept. 5th at
Charleston sees the mammoth gun and torpedo boat, goes to an island
gets a fine view of the defences and blockading fleet, seven Monitors
and Ironside Yankees fired upon them with battery, October 18th notes
had a fight, captured seven prisoners and killed a few negroes, on the
19th he notes our men came in from Snadgrey whipped, Nov. 6th had a
brush with Yankees, Capt. Dials' men got 100 blankets, 8th Evans and
Trotter report, on 12th commences to write a history, on the 19th he
notes the 6th Texas Cavalry have left us and Baggus crosses the river,
Big Block is meant, November 25th bad news from Bragg, on 28th sits on
examining board, 24th cross the river at Moors Bluff. December 20th
got orders to get ready for the field, 21st is spent in getting ready,
22nd pass through Brownsville and camp at Wiley, 23rd pass through
Vernon camp near Moors Bluff, 24th commence to cross at 3 a.m., the
3rd goes by Goodman, the 6th and Legion cuts up a fuss, 25th move
through Decentville camp near Lexington, 26th pass Lexington and Black
Hunch camp near B.H., it rains, Dr. Stuart has an adventure, 27th pass
Sedon and stop to cross at Bendox Ferry, Legion swims, 3rd crosses in
boats, 28th, 6th crosses, the 9th, the boat is sunk, nobody hurt, we
raise it and let it float, all over at 9 o'clock, camp, 29th we march
and camp at Martins all night, the Legion goes ahead to cross the
river, 30th we take the march for Sunflower, the roads are in
desperate condition, we swim the Sunflower river and camp out two
miles, it rains all night, 31st it turns cold, snows, freezes and is
extremely cold, our wagons come up, we remain in camp, January 2nd,
1864, remain in camp, the Ordinance train is ordered back, can't go,
Jones suggests consign the arms on the horses, his men agree, each man
carries three guns, the roads frozen all the way, 3rd we take the line
of march, with guns strapped to our horses through the mud to Bogue
Phalia, we cross and move out in the night, camp in the mud, 4th we
move out at 1:30 o'clock a.m. cross Dur Creek at Ruxege Bridge, then
up the creek 8 miles, camp at Courney's quarter, it rains all day, the
ditches overflow, we are 7 miles from Greenville, on Mississippi
river, January 5th the 9th Texas was sent ahead as advance guard, it
snows, we feed at Smith's Bridge, move out at dark, go to the river at
Marlins quarter, haul a flat boat to the river with four yoke of oxen
and succeed in crossing 266 guns, the boat washed below, the men got
wet, January 6th after breakfast we start to where the flat landed, a
Yankee boat passes down, one up, we attack the Delta, we made her, we
landed on the opposite side, we attempt to cross more guns but failed,
we move out and camp near Black bridge, "freeze out," January 7th
ordered to move at a moments warning, lay in camp all day, horses
saddled, January 8th move out at 3 o'clock a.m. and find we cannot
cross, ordered back, lay in camp till 1 o'clock p.m., move out to the
Mound place on William's Bugo, camp near Coplins, the 3rd were sent
back to the river and left their guns, January 9th moved at 10 a.m. to
Coutneys and remain all night, bitter weather, Friday January 10th,
1864, move at sunrise, Jones commands 9th and Legion to carry the guns
to the river and there with Capt. Alderson and five men to cross
there. We leave the river at 1:30 o'clock p.m. and camp at Coplins.
Sam (the negro) loses his star. 11th move at sunrise and overtake the
command at Buckner's bridge and feed, the Legion crosses at night,
12th we cross Bogue Phalia after the Brigade and move through the
bottom to our train, camp with the wagons, 13th remain in camp till 10
o'clock a.m., move down the river to Johnston's farm, cross and camp,
14th we move on the Moma bridge road and camp at Martins, I put on
clean clothes, 15th we move at 8 a.m. to Honey Island and finally camp
near the Allen place, the regiments commence crossing. From this
place the diary tells of our forced march via Sugarlach and Starkville
to assist Forest, who is hard pressed by the enemy. We reach Ash
Creek postoffice and learn of their route and turn back and thus ends
his little diary, which is now old and yellow from exposure, and is
with great difficulty deciphered but enough of this is given to give
the reader a fair insight into the nature of Col. Dud W. Jones."
CHAPTER XIV.
The reader will note that this writer has followed the diary of
Col. Jones and will now speak of the events as recollected from his
own observation.
The march to Tennessee was long and muddy and over much road that
was of clay and would work into ridges as all the horses would attempt
to step in the same plane and drag the mud, thus forming miles of
ridges running across the road and the horses to clear them were
forced to walk as if walking over logs, which was very straining on
them, and greatly injured them, but we finally reached the Tennessee
river and crossed at Florence on a ferry boat into a land of plenty.
This writer thought it was a glorious country. There was no scarcity
of provision or forage, corn or meat, not the stinted little pile of
tythe corn, and the few thin bacon sides that we had been accustomed
to see, but corn is plenty - great houses of corn, corn for sale for
Confederate money, corn to feed to cavalry horses, corn for the mules,
great houses of corn, and bacon shoulders, sides and hams, yes, enough
of hams to get a full ration of ham for all - even the privates.
Glorious country! Think of corn and fodder in plenty for 10,000
horses and red-spotted gravy for that number of hungry soldiers that
could be foraged in time for a camp of cavalry in a country not
previously prepared and you can form some idea of that glorious
country. The praises of officers are still sung in bravery and daring
and occasionally we see a word of commendation in honor of those who
gathered subsistence, but this writer wants to record that executive
ability of first order was always shown by Van Dorn's commissary of
subsistence. His name is not now remembered but his fame, we private
soldiers consider, should stand alongside with Napoleon, Lee, Grant
and others of like fame, but greatness in like matters is too soon to
be forgotten, but all old soldiers of the corps, will bear testimony
that, like old Van Dorn, he fought all that came in his way regardless
of numbers, and his old A.Q.M. supplied all things that he could get
regardless of expenses.
After Crossing the Tennessee river we had plenty, and our horses
soon improved and our spirits soon became more buoyant, in short our
effectiveness was never better. We had quite a number of little
fights and were in a measure victorious, the most noted of which was
at Thompson's Station. Our division, the Ross Brigade and Armstrong's
Brigade then forming Jackson's division. Gen. Jackson was a big burly
man, had red hair and beaird, and at that time looked to be about 40
years old and would weigh about 200 pounds and was possessed of a kind
of military air that to us Texans was repulsion. He was always
accompanied by his "Orderly" who was to our views a servant, as we
never saw him do anything but to wait on the General. He held his
horse and assisted the General in mounting and dismounting and in many
other things that we thought would be equally as well performed by a
negro, and to our minds it savored of nobility a distinction
distasteful to us. So you see we had no love for our Major-General.
At Thompson's station was the first general engagement that this
writer ever had of observing him on the field and his department on
that day was so gallant and commanding, that all of our little
dislikes were forgotten and his stock in our estimation rose out of
sight, for from that day he was so endeared to us that we felt his
orderly was occupying a post of honor for he proved himself a general
equal to any task set before him, and we soon became convinced that
there were not enough men north of the Mason and Dixon line to scare
him.
On the morning of that fight he was on the field and his
encampment close enough to this writer to closely observe his
movements.
About daylight our videts were driven into the reserve on the
Franklin Pike and the information was brought by a courier, he spoke
only a word to one of his aids and proceeded with his toilet for he
was preparing for his breakfast and his servant was brushing his coat.
In a short time a courier from Gen. Armstrong informed him that the
enemy was driving his pickets, only a word to one of his aids and he
proceeded with his morning meal, a third courior arrived when he
dispatched his escort, and gave orders for the Texas Brigade to saddle
up and leave the horses in line and move forward to a position about
half a mile in advance, where we hid ourselves behind a stone fence
with orders not to show ourselves and to hold our fire until we had
orders. The skirmish was lively in front and it was not long before
we could see them advancing and driving our skirmishers across the
valley in front of us, we all wanted to see them and the officers had
great difficulty in keeping the boys' heads down. One member of Co.
I, 6th Tex. had managed to make a hole in the stone fence from which
he told us of the movements. Let me see, cried half a dozen of the
boys and in turn several of the boys looked, until finally one soldier
appropriated the peep hole and refused to yield it on demand when the
originator made a formal demand for the hole as his right and
emphasized his claim with a strike at the usurper which led to a
fight, both parties were arrested and removed to the ends of the
company and guarded by a corporal, while we awaited orders to fire.
Fire and charge came at the same time. A few moments later and the
wrath of the soldiers was cooled in the general engagement. - See
History 92, 93, 94, 95.
There were many other engagements of more or less note but we
were in good trim, well fed, and able to fight, and we let no good
opportunity pass without a fight. There were much surprising of
pickets and going into the enemies camp. Two of our brigade were
caught at Franklin and shot by order of Garfield, who was afterwards
president of the United States. Other events of this campaign is well
told in Rose's Brigade History, 98, 99, 100, 101, and 102, and the
reader will find much of interest. More especially Gen. Granger's
effort to capture Van Dor's corps and our hurried and bloody ride up
Duck river and through the brakes. See Rose's History Brigade, page
98.
CHAPTER XV.
On our return to the old camp near Spring Hill Gen. Jackson had
new flags made for his division and they were given to us near Spring
Hill. The 4th regiment's flags were all alike and were adopted by
order of Gen. Jackson and the same is now seen at our reunions and the
flag of the 9th Texas is now in the hands of John Moreland at Cumby,
Texas, held as custodian by order of the survivors of the brigade.
After the death of Gen. Van Dorn the corps was broken up. The
Texas Brigade, and the Brigades of Cosby and Furguson formed a
division under Jackson and were ordered to Mississippi and Gen. Forest
with the other Division remained in Tennessee.
A long march through a devastated country was the result and a
month later we were in the vicinity of the doomed city - Vicksburg.
The name itself suggests to the mind of our old brigade hard service
and bloodshed. We encamped for a few days on the river near the town
of Canton, and distance of probably 30 miles and could hear the roar
of the battle, both cannon and small arms, a fact that will be
questioned by many for it is not believed that musketry could be heard
to so great a distance, but so it was, we heard it. A terrible roar
and the distinct sound of cannon, and another curious thing of that
fight was that the artillery at Vicksburg was heard in Franklin
County, Texas, a distance of at least 300 miles. Vicksburg has been
called the slaughter pen of the Confederacy. The reason this writer
will not attempt, but strange it may appear to some, simple it may be
to the wise, but one of the problems of the war that probably may
never be revealed is why the cities of Memphis and New Orleans were
surrendered with so little blood and Vicksburg with her defences the
cause of so much bloodshed. Memphis was taken with small loss. New
Orleans was surrendered with less than 300 men in killed, while the
reports show that our losses were 54,415 men killed, wounded and
prisoners in the defences of Vicksburg, an army that was larger than
were ever at any time assembled under any one of our generals.
It was on the 3rd day of June, 1863, that we commenced picket
duty in front of Vicksburg. It was fighting every day - sometimes a
detachment or a company or a regiment, but it was fighting every day.
We lost heavily in killed and wounded in small engagements that never
had a name in history, but on July 4th the 9th and 3rd Texas take
Brownsville and Bolton, and Ross with the 6th and Legion take Clinton.
The 9th and 3rd capture 85 prisoners including 6 officers, 11 wagons
and 2 ambulances, which caused some delay, as the command was to
reunite at Vernon at 12 o'clock, and on the 17th about ten miles from
Canton attack a large train. They open upon us with a battery, we
then move to Canton, burn the depot and retire across the river at
some shoals ford and encamp and so continues the services throughout
the summer and winter of '63 and early in '64 after crossing the guns
to Arkansas as before said, we start for Georgia.
CHAPTER XVI.
Thus far in our campaigns we have had some notes - meagre they
were but their assistance has kept up the dates to a reasonable
correctness but it is from memory alone I now write.
After disposing of the guns as before stated in Jan. 1864 we set
out on a slow march halting and counter-marching between Central and
M.O. railroads until about the middle of February we were near
Tuscaloosa, Ala., from which place a detachment was sent into the
northern counties to drive out some Bushwhackers that were annoying
all parties within their limit. It was a dull march and all the enemy
we encountered were only a few at a place, for they wisely scattered
on our approach and we found none to direct us, however, we succeeded
in a measure but many laughable scenes are still recollected in the
search for offenders. They were hidden by their women who were not
slow to give us a piece of their minds and mostly a good large piece
and convenient they would emphasize that opinion with a club.
On one occasion it was made known that a small number of those
men were housed up near our camp and a detachment was duly sent out to
being them in. On knocking at the door the officer was informed that
there was no one at home but some helpless woman. The officer assured
them of perfect safety but informed them that his duty compelled him
to make search in the house for men. They still refused to open the
door and the officer ordered it knocked from the hinges. Two men were
ordered in to strike a light while the remainder stood outside ready
to protect them. The room was large and appeared to have been
constructed for a schoolhouse and on striking a light it revealed four
bedsteads, each appearing to contain two persons, a lot of dresses and
shoes were to be seen, but no pants, some of the shoes wee extra
large, one pair of heavy leather about No. 11's was mentioned by the
searcher, upon which, one of the inmates a woman arose in bed saying,
"them's my shoes and you just let them alone and get out of here."
The soldier insisted that they were the shoes of a man; that no woman
wore so large a shoe, especially so delicate a lady as was speaking to
him.
This appeared to rouse her worser nature and she left the bed
pretending to show him her foot but when that member was firmly set on
the floor, she dealt him a right-hander full in the face that would
have done credit to either Corbett or Fitzsimmons. The blow nearly
stunned him for it was unexpected hard and full in the face, blinding
and dazing him. He staggered, recovered and apparently thought for a
moment, then in a businesslike way he quietly called upon God and all
present to witness that he made no war upon women and affirmed that
his good right arm should always be used to protect women but finally
wound up by swearing that no living person should treat him thus and
go unpunished upon which he dealt her a blow in the pit of the stomach
that laid her flat on the floor. All rushed in and the sequael
revealed three women and five men.
CHAPTER XVII.
After remaining in camp on the river below Tuscaloosa, Ala., for
some days three comrades of 3rd Texas were drowned at a fish trap.
After our scout for Bushwhackers in North Alabama, we set out east on
a long and wearisome march through a poor country occupying many days,
our officers were very rigid in their discipline, General Jackson's
orders were very stringent, and much of the time he kept quite a lot
of the men walking and keeping the Provo Guard busy guarding those
walking and leading horses, those walking were suffering penalties for
disobedience in riding off from their ranks. This writer walked for
three days and had an opportunity of examining the soil over which we
passed and he pronounced it poor and rocky, much of it unfit for
cultivation and was mostly settled with a very poor class of farmers.
We crossed the Coosa river on a railroad bridge. In course of time
passed through Gadsden. It looked to be a good town but I could never
tell what use the people had for a town in that poor country. While
we encamped for the night at Gadsden I had occasion to call at a
dwelling house near by the camp and on my entry into the house a
little negro girl seemed to be about 12 or 14 years old gathered me
around the neck crying "Lord Mars Tommie" I knowed yu would come
tonight "Mistis Mars Tommie's come" and so she kept hugging and
swinging to my neck and I could not get shut of her. An old lady
walked in but the negro girl still held me around the neck endeavoring
to kiss me all over the face and neck. I finally succeeded in putting
her off with force and stood before the old lady very much
embarrassed. I wanted to get some thread to mend my clothing but so
bad was my scare that I really forgot my mission. I suppose the girl
was crazy. From here we passed over the spurs of the mountain and I
bought some cloth and stopped on the roadside and got some pants made,
they were greatly needed, and with the work of a couple of women
between the setting and rising sun were made by hand. During the
latter part of this journey feed was very scarce, one night we had
nothing for our horses. We were glad to reach a little place called
Powder Springs for we learned that we were now in Georgia.
Our next encampment of note was near Rome at which place we met
the enemy and had a severe fight, the 3rd and 9th Texas suffering
most. I think we lost about 150 men in killed and wounded, and as we
were so far from home our ranks were not refilled and our losses told
in the fighting numbers of our brigade from this to the end of the
war. Here we held the field and encamped for several days, the enemy
giving us but light skirmishes. This I think, was March 7th, 1864,
and was the commencement of our Georgia campaign, which I think, was
112 days long, as I recollect that Gen. L. Sol Ross, I think about the
battle of Jonesboro, in one of his orders read to us of the service in
that state which was that we had been in the state of Georgia 112 days
and during that time had fought 108 pitch battles and had captured
3,000 prisoners, 4,000 stand of arms, 8 pieces of artillery and 12
stand of colors, and on entering the state we mustered something over
1,700 men and at the date on which the order was read we then had
something over 700 men rank and file. This is from memory, but I
believe that many of our comrades will recall in mind the order and I
think it is approximately correct, and hope that these may call forth
a copy of the original order.
While at Rome I learned that we were on the extreme left of Gen.
Johnston's army of the west. Ross' Texas Brigade and Armstrong's
Mississippi Brigade with some other small squads of cavalry formed
Jackson's Division of cavalry and Gen. Forest with Wheeler and other
commands were on the extreme right. Army facing the advancing enemy
north, and the divisions of infantry forming the lines between us and
the cavalry.
In a few days we witnessed the first great movement. All was
still in our front but the wagons with baggage were moving to the
rear, and preparations were made to quickly burn the two bridges
spanning the two little rivers whose waters flowed on two sided of
Rome. Early in the morning the lines of the enemy were advanced and
our skirmishers kept things warm for them and the brigade kept in line
ready for the fight and the rattle of musketry and the boom of cannon
told of the general movement all along the line. We fell back and
then stuck fire to one of the brigades and now were in the town.
Merchants with doors opened and soldiers supplying themselves with
things of which we stood in need and a great amount of things that
were of no possible use to us. I got a fine supply of tobacco, quite
as much as I had the room to carry, and on leaving the town I
recollect that quite a number of soldiers wore high top stove pipe
hats, and when we were grouped the assembly resembled a colored
conference that I witnessed a quarter of a century later, we moved out
and burned the other bridge, for several days we skirmished along a
crooked creek, called Pumpkin Vine.
Fight and fall back was the order and I thought there was more
fighting than falling back, but just as soon as we left one hill to
take a position on the next, the one left was occupied by the enemy,
shot and shell were at all times in the air.
Near a little place called Burnet Hickory I recollect some who
came to our line on the road and told us a pittiful story of wrongs
and indignities that they had suffered only a short time before our
arrival. And here we commenced a fight which continued and we were
driven before a strong force of infantry for some miles, disputing
every inch of the ground. Gen. Ross had a horse shot here, while
directing the planting of a battery. I was up a small tree locating a
gun that was shelling our line with the General's field glass in my
hand and an officer or two were under the tree on horseback when the
shot hit him from a sharpshooter far out at flank. Bill Moore was
sent with our company to dislodge them. He found them in force and we
had a sharp bout, and the engagement soon became general and continued
in fury, without ceasing until the hard fought battle of New Hope
church, lasting 3 days about May 25th, 26th and 27th. We were driven
all day. I have no idea how far to New Hope church we were, when a
heavy line of Infantry was seen in our rear formed with some hastily
constructed breastworks which stood at nearly a right angle to the way
the enemy were driving us. We fought along the line for some distance
as our line deflected to our left and the engagement was hot on
Cleaburns left wing before we retired through a gap between two
commands and dismounted and lay down for the night. The fighting was
terrible to a late hour in the night, a bloody field was the result.
In this position we lay for many days and the infantry quickly
constructed breastworks and the enemy did likewise and soon two yellow
banks of earth told of the line of the contending armies which were
occupied about a week or ten days when the enemy swung around our left
and within another week our left rested on last mountain, then to the
right and after considerable fighting our right fell back to the
Kenesaw mountain when again our lines were strongly fortified and the
enemy taking advantage of some sharp ravines succeeded under cover of
night to dig ditches very close to our lines in some places near
enough to swap tobacco by tossing it over into the enemy's pits. For
a long while both armies lay still and the Yankees in some places dug
mines under our works and blew them up but with no success. It was
here that Gen. Polk was killed, and I afterwards learned that the news
of his death was written on a bayonet and thrown over into the enemy's
line. As our brigade was now in works not far distant I could go over
to see the mountain works when not on duty.
Our horses were left in the rear with a detail who cared for them
and we took the trenches as did the infantry. Our rations were cooked
and served to us at night by soldiers detailed for that purpose and
consisted on one pone of corn bread baked without sifting and a small
slice of bacon to each.
This writer has neglected to tell of a circumstance that occurred
sometime about the first of the year, 1864. As the Confederate States
were hard pressed some power not known to me established at Euphala,
Ala., a hospital for disabled men from Texas, and the Ross Brigade set
about aiding in its maintainance and D.W. Jones, Colonel of the 9th
Texas Cavalry, to this end organized "The Lone Star Band" of ten men -
one from each company - and when the order was received it appeared
that it was understood, that from our company "Blank" was the detail
and I will here say that musicians belonged to the Infirmary Corps but
we Texans kept all men in line of battle and never excused even the
Infirmary Corp only when in active labor on the field hospital. The
opposing armies met on May 25th general engagement at New Hope, as
before said, and the battle raged until late at night, and the Ross
Brigade lay in a gap connecting two commands of the infantry. Just in
front of us the field was bloody and all night long the pick and
shovel flew in the construction of breast works and the morning showed
the line of battle in a long yellow line of earth works.
About daylight orders come to send Blank to report to Dr.
Robertson for duty. Mounted, and forthwith he repaired to the rear,
mounted his horse (Mountain Bill) and about one and half miles further
to the rear he came upon Dr. Robertson, March and others at a grave
filled with wounded. He duly reported, and his horse was taken and
harnessed to an ambulance and he, after getting his breakfast, was put
to work building an arbor, meantime the battle roared in the distance
and ambulances were discharging the wounded almost constantly. About
10 o'clock on the 26th, Dr. Robertson ordered Blank to take a dead man
out and bury him. How? where? were questions asked, and were
answered: Any way decent, and at any suitable place. Two of the men
laid the dead soldier on a wide plank one at each end, and carried him
a short way from the Arbor and with much labor succeeded in making a
grave, there buried his body. Hot, tired and hungry he returned and
to his surprise Dr. Robertson spoke of our unnecessary delay in the
work and at once put him to assisting in the construction of some
strong scaffolds to be used as operating tables. Sturdy posts were
cut from sapling oaks and driven into the ground and cross pieces
nailed to them at the directed height, then planks laid on those
pieces to form the tables, others continued that new graveyard who had
more experience and soon had a ditch wide enough to hold a soldiers
body placed crosswise and as they died they were intered as the ditch
was dug and at the same time filled on those before buried, a great
economy in labor greatly needed for in that graveyard thus started in
a less time that 20 days. There were more than 700 then intered. But
after finishing the tables to the satisfaction of Dr. Robertson, Blank
was ordered to go to "Old Charlie," the cook, and get a lot of parched
coffee and take the same to a house and grind it for use of the
wounded. Blank got the coffee, about a gallon in an old flour sack,
damp from recent rains, and duely walked to the house as directed. He
was shown an old wornout mill nailed to the wall in the kitchen and
proceeded to grind, a job Blank never forget while I knew him. The
handle of the mill had been split off and only the wire swerved as a
handle. Wet coffee won't grind and the old slick mill haggled and
chewed and Blank turned until after dark, then returned to the camp in
no fine mood with about half the coffee mashed and ground, as it
passed from the old mill.
Dr. Robertson was worried and mad. He gave Blank some short
plain talk that enkindled in the heart of Blank a hatred that
conquered his heart and for Dr. Robertson he held no love but was
compelled to do his bidding without murmur which he resolved to bear
to the end, his heart become morose and he only answered back with a
look of defiance.
Dr. James Robertson was a native of Virginia and was entitled by
birth and rank to F.F.V.A. A degree in society realized only by those
distinguished personages from that historic state. He was a gentleman
of the old school trained from infancy in those peculiar traditions of
that state which admitted no superiors, and only men of like training
as equals, as a man kind hearted and generous to his equals and at the
same time unapproachable to his inferiors, a man of quick temper and
cold austere nature, his religion, Catholic, his politics were at all
times, set forth in the "Richmond Whig" in habit he was usually
correct, though he sometimes drank a little free, in manners he was
lofty, in conversation pedastic and in appearance dignified and cross.
In his profession he was at the top, his opinion was received as
law, they were never disputed, as a surgion he was the best, no man
handled the knife and saw with a nerve so steady, and none equaled him
in neatness and dispatch, he was untiring in energy and industrious in
life, he either did all the talking or none of it, he spoke only a few
words to his associates and they were all to the point, his mind was
made up quickly and from his judgment he never swerved, and last but
not least he was a chronic grumbler.
He enlisted a private, was appointed a surgeon, his advance was
steady and at this time ranking Major and senior surgeon general in
the corps.
After supper the nurses were told off into watches for the night,
two nurses to be up at the time to attend the wounded and the others
to rest until their appointed watch.
Dr. Robertson had his cot prepared and retired early, and Blank,
with the other nurses, prepared to make his spread when the Dr. called
to Blank and told him to spread his blanket down by the side of his
cot, when he could be had if wanted, the blanket was spread and he
retired wondering if he was to be the personal property of the Dr. or
was he still a soldier, sleep found him in the same wonder. During
the night the Dr. called Blank! Blank!! Blank!!! all short men are the
same way, but I suppose he is tired too. Blank get up and bring a
light and let us try to stop the blood from that fellow's leg. Look
in the pannier and get me the chloroform, I will fix the bonnet, hurry
up.
Such was about what he heard on awakening and increased his
wonder, but up and the light was soon at hand and the Doctor made a
more thorough examination of the bleeding wound, then shook his head
saying, we can do nothing, and back to our bunks we went. On getting
up the following morning he found the nurses had not called for him
during the night and he spoke of it apologizingly, but the Doctor said
you were not wanted.
This was ever afterwards the same. Blank slept in easy reach of
the Doctor and was only disturbed at night by the Doctor in person.
The battle still raged and the day was put in at the operating
table, the Doctor using Blank as though he was trained to the
business, and when he was awkward was sure to get a sharp rebuke.
That evening while the Doctor and his assistant were taking off a leg
and Blank in curiosity, while holding the bonnet was watching the
subjects eyes while under the influence of chloriform and as
expressions changed the Doctor stormed "take it away, you have killed
him," and down he laid the knife and commenced a heavy and rapid
manipulation in the patient's stomach. He was restored but Blank was
frightened almost to death. Thus days passed to weeks, nothing
pleasant from the service, and no kind word from the Doctor, Blank
felt his littleness and worthlessness. It was on the eve of the
second day Whit Philips, of Third Texas, was brought in wounded,
gunshot through the body. The Doctor laid him down on the table and
cut out the big ball from the back and with the ball came a piece of
the leather strap, gunstring and a piece of a checked shirt that had
passed with the ball through his body. Whit was suffering terribly
and some instruments were needed that we did not have and none were
nearer than Marietts, at the medicine purverors' office and must be
brought in the shortest possible time and there was some talk among
the Doctors and nurses about who should go, but the matter was brought
to a short conclusion when Dr. Robertson quietly said Blank is to go.
It was nearly sundown and the horse belonged to Jack Philips - a
fine sorrel horse, and the only word Jack said was, "he will last you
back." Blank mounted and the Doctor said, as he gave his letter,
"don't stay until they are all dead." On the back of the letter was
written: "Important, no delay," and as he rode out Dr. March held his
watch and called out "time off." To Lost Mountain and to Marietta was
a long gallop. A good summer rain fell and a sharp fight was noted as
he went down. On reaching the purveyor's office at Marietta he rode
up to his tent and delivered his letter and without a moment's delay,
he handed him the box of instruments with the envelope of the letter
carried. Just at this time a servant of the purveyor's office was
taking some bread from a skillet and Blank asked for some of it. Yes,
said the Purveyor, and drink this, handing a cup of spirits which
served greatly to refresh him and off to the hospital he rode. The
horse was apparantly jodded and required some urging. The roads were
fine. Near Lost Mountain during the evening a raiding party had ran
into our lines and had burned some wagons which were now burning. A
few dead men and horses showed that there had been some fighting. The
horse was giving down but on he urged, it was dark, and the dead were
more plentiful. Some were in the road. The horse jumped over an
object in the road and a poor wounded man cried out: "Oh my God,
don't ride over a dying man." The voice was under the horse, it
scared the animal and gave him new life and he continued his journey,
and as he delivered the box Dr. March called out 11:40. Fifty miles
in five hours is the best on record.
Blank could not dismount for his long ride had paralyzed his body
and he sat helpless. Blanket the horse and let him stand twenty
minutes, then give him a little water and some green feed, only a few
bites, commanded Dr. Robertson, "but first look to the man commanded
Dr. March" they took him down and placed him on a blanket, gave him a
dram and he went to sleep. He was up the next morning but very stiff
and sore.
Dr. Robertson was fond of entertaining his friends and they drank
freely and when it was found that the supply of spirits had run down
the Doctor never failed to insinuate that Blank had drank it. Blank's
heart was filled with bitterness towards him in retaliation and
considered the Doctor's insinuations low flung.
In course of time the wounded were sent to Atlanta and other
hospitals and it was known that we were to fall back. We had some
that could not be moved, among them one poor fellow that could not
swallow, that Blank had been giving sustainance to through a piece of
bark that he had slipped from a spout and inserted into his stomach
through which he poured water and soup, and another "Claib Rigsby"
that had a gunshot wound through the lungs and could not lie down had
to sit up and Blank had constructed a kind of perch pole upon which
his teeth were hung as he eat, leaning forward to rest and sleep and
upon which his teeth had hung day and night for many days while from
another upright a small gourd supplied a drip of water sufficient to
keep the bandages wet and cool, from a small hole in the bottom
trained to fit and fall on the wound (will here say to the doctors who
may read these pages that cool water was all the dressing that they
used for many days).
As some of these wounded had to be left, nurses were to be left
with them and as a matter of course would be taken prisoners and when
relieved sent north to "camp chaise" which they regarded as a polite
name for shoal.
Accordingly lots were cast, and it fell to Blank to be left a
prisoner. Blank felt relieved at the fate of fortune and the wounded
felt glad for Blank was their favorite and he felt that in a northern
prison he might suffer more in body, but in mind he felt it would be a
great relief, for his hatred to Dr. Robertson had grown with his
services and he now regarded that officer as a cold scientific machine
actuated by a philosophic aparatus that served him as life, and he
felt that the Doctor regarded him as a worthless, thieving, idiot,
unworthy of the least consideration.
On the morning of the evacuation the Doctors had all arrangements
made as the line formed up Dr. Robertson asked who is to be left among
you. One of the nurses told him that we had cast lots and that Blank
was to be left. Dr. Robertson sat on his horse still one moment, then
let his eye pass down the line of faces, and his eye met the eye of
Blank, there was something in that look that had never been seen
before, it was not the eye of cold Dr. Robertson, it was an eye that
Blank had never before seen, and spoke to the heart of Blank in a
language the mouth knows not. Dr. Robertson said Blank will do no
such thing but will go with me, and ordered Blank to get into the
ambulance beside the driver, and to go along with the "doctors." It
is needless to say Blank was surprised, a change came over his heart,
his hatred vanished like a morning fog, for there he first learned of
the true Dr. Robertson.
On the other hand many years later the doctor's estimate of Blank
was given to the medical board assembled in Hopkins county on an
occasion when Dr. T.J. Lynch had Blank carried before that body for
examination as to qualification in handling drugs in Dr. Lynch's
office. Dr. Robertson was the president, and when Blank went before
the body, after greeting him cordially, introduced him to the doctors
by saying, that the doctors present could examine to their full
satisfaction, but he would say from personal knowledge gained in a
long period of hospital work with Blank that he was fully competent to
perform any duty that he would undertake safe, and conservative, he
had found him faithful and just, moral and upright and one of the
best, if not the best unprofessional help he had ever had in his long
experience in hospital work.
The examination was light but to the satisfaction of all
concerned.
I have written this chapter to demonstrate one of the great
mistakes of life as in the experience of Blank. How great was his
mistake, how putrid the heart, how hard the services, when considered
unappreciative, and rendered in hatred to a military despot, shielded
by a military mask that hid all of a better nature.
How pleasant and even joyous the same task when performed under
the loving fatherly direction of the kind manly and ripened wisdom of
those whom we serve. Such is the personal of Blank and the greatest,
wisest and best of our army surgeons. May he sleep in eternal peace.
Such are Blank's feelings towards Dr. Jas. E. Robbertson.
Now here we append this moral good
As together here we prod our way;
Let love shine in our soldierhood,
As a light to the coming day.
- Blank.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE NURSE.
I had neglected to tell you in the last chapter the finale of our
hospital as told by Blank. After all of the wounded were moved off
except only a very few, that had no hopes of recovery and one of the
nurses was left to care for them. Knowing that they would soon fall
into the hands of the enemy we supposed that all had died or been
taken north.
Great was our surprise some three or four weeks later when on one
warm evening up drove an ox wagon and two of the wounded we had left
on a rude bed that had been constructed of leaves and blankets and our
nurse stepping along by the side of a boy that was driving. On making
inquiry, all had died but four after we had left there and when the
Yankees come up they never paroled or molested any of them, and as two
of them were from Georgia and got able to help themselves he had
placed them in some houses nearby with citizens, then he got a wagon
and put Dave and Claib (two Texans Ross' Brigade), in it and brought
them up and paid the boy for the wagon and team in stores and utensals
that he had left at the hospital. They were forwarded on to Atlanta
and the nurse fell into ranks.
This illustrates the great resources grasped by illiterate but
determined soldiers, there was no faults in the make up.
Some one has said that we are the creatures of circumstance, and
circumstance shall be the apology for the digression in the thread of
this recollection for nothing created can be less faulty than its
creater.
I believe I told you that in time we fell back to the Kenisaw
Mountains, well we did, yet I believe most of writers ignore that fact
but I will tell you that the ground was torn up all along, earth works
here and there, and will here say there was no large tract of land
west of the railroad from Burnet Hickory to Atlanta but what had been
stained with blood.
The infantry were always digging works and moving and again
digging and I recollect while near Kenisaw that the infantry had been
moving to the right and we were moved up and occupied their vacated
works and skirmished all day, at night were moved still further
towards the right in the ditches and were halted and all halts meant
rest and rest is always better in sleep and I did enjoy sleep. We
were not allowed to speak above a whisper and (Jody Candle) and I
agreed to a small sleep, we lay down, I went to sleep and it seemed to
me that during that sleep some one whispered forward to the right but
I heeded not, sleep was too good.
Sometime later I was awakened by soldiers coming into the works
and talking in low tones, it was very dark, but instinct told me who
they were. I raised up and stepped off and as I went I heard the word
Halt! Halt! By this time I was running, I knew not where, and the
further I run the more frightened I become, until at last I come to a
farm without fence (war farms soon loose the fence) and in it I could
see a wagon and some soldiers. After a little I saw they were issuing
ordinance and had at times a dim light, but I knew none of them, but
thought that they were Confederates, so I walked up and asked a
soldier for the Ross Brigade, he looked at me strangely and said, why
have you gone crazy? Such was the effect of the scare that I did not
know my own messmate to whom I was speaking. Daylight soon come and
found us on a high hill to the left of the Kenisaw Mountain, in front
of a heavy line of infantry, moving on us. There were a large number
of cannons planted on the hill and with the early morning opened a
heavy cannonade with shell which we could see bursting back of their
line. The officer in charge of the guns next to me would say place
some more the same, then just to the right, and so on, which I watched
with curious interest for as I saw they did no damage to the line but
on its getting lighter I could see other lines behind the first one.
A little after sun up they moved on to us, I could see them coming up
the hill in front for fully half a mile to the left and several miles
on the right ten miles of battle deep, on they come colors flying,
bands playing and soldiers with bright guns and fixed bayonets, all at
a "right-shoulder shift" skirmishers only a few steps in advance and
they did all the shooting, their batteries at intervals advancing and
firing. It was a most wonderful sight to behold, more than 60,000 men
is sight moving as only trained soldiers can move. They moved like a
blue cloud arising. Our batteries were working, our lines of
skirmishers were run in and at about 600 yards we gave them our first
volley. The lines would quiver, but only for a second double charge
with grape and conister was heard from the batteries, another volley
from our rifles at about 300 yards showed a tremble like a handful of
shot thrown into a stream, no effect. The din was terrible, the smoke
soon made things dark, the whole sky was clouded with smoke and the
sun looked as a huge ball of fire but its rays were obstructed before
they touched the earth. The man next to me was shot in the thigh and
fell with a groan.
I felt glad when my officer ordered me to assist him to the
ambulance a short distance in the rear. I had not gone far before I
saw that our batteries were withdrawing and by the time I had my man
stowed away I joined my command in the retreat and then I realized
that Sherman had taken our position with but one line of his men
firing upon us. I was discouraged. I had really seen an army and
only once in life. Our next halt was in the hills across the river
from Atlanta, I suppose a distance of 12 or 14 miles from that city
and I do not know that the army of the west made a stand but it was
many days before we crossed the little river Chatahoochie. We were on
the left side of the railroad from Atlanta to Rome, and a few miles
out from the river. Jackson's division fortified a hill that was
nearly round and there we stayed with no infantry support on our
right. I suppose this was done to hold Sherman's army in check until
the army had crossed over the river but we had all things made ready
and our lines well fortified good rifle pits in advance for our picket
line and the enemy well in front. It was here we fought for five or
six days on a bloody field that in the annals of history has no name.
It was here that one of my comrades was wounded while he was in the
rifle pit with me, and there was no connection with the main force of
our Brigade only in the night. We went on duty after dark and
remained until the next night before we were relieved. Our pit was
made of fence rails that met at an angle on a small oak tree. I
suppose 8 or 10 inches in diameter. I was on duty in this same pit
after helping to construct it and was on duty in the pit when the oak
toppled over, after having been cut in two with only small arms.
Minnie balls constantly digging into the tree cut it so that it turned
to one side but was not cut from the stump.
It was on this post where Mat Millerford was shot through the
foot. We had been fighting all the morning and our guns had got dirty
and hot and our custom was to pour some water from the canteen into
the gun and churn with the rammer, then pour it out and pop a cap on
the tube to clean them. Water was scarce and we could get no more
until after dark and we concluded to let our guns cool and sat
ourselves down in the pit to talk and await the cooling, which is a
slow process in hot weather. Mat lay down on his back and elevated
his foot a little too high and a Yankee sent a ball through it. It
must have hurt terrible for Mat was very sick and pale, but he neither
grunted or groaned, but suffered agonies that it would take a medical
man to explain. I bound his foot up with a piece of his shirt and wet
the wound from the scant supply of water in the canteens and used both
guns the remainder of the day. Mat got well and come back to Texas
and when I last met him he was a "preacher."
Late in the evening just about dusk a Yank called out to our
line, "Johnnies" lets rest "all right" was returned than all was still
for probably an hour, and in their works or just back of them they had
some sort of speaking as it was more than 100 yards from our pit I
could not get the thread of the discourse but thought it was preaching
and I climbed to the top of the pit and was sitting on the high bank
of earth fanning with my hat and listening I noticed nearly all Ross'
Brigade picket at the same. A few feet in front of me on the ground I
happened to notice something move and at once began to make a scramble
to get back into the pit when just at that time a line of Yanks rose
up and each one of them commenced pelting us with stones, we fell off
them pits and gave them a volley from our guns, they ran back to their
works and resumed the old routine of constant firing. Relief came and
our lines were withdrawn to the main line of works which were
surrounded and stormed from nearly all quarters on the following
morning and Jackson's Division of cavalry left a hot and bloody field
that has never had the honor of a name. Armstrong's Brigade was on
our right and having a fearful time, and we heard a yell of the Yanks
that told that they had taken a part of his line. Col. Jones on Ross'
right dispatched this writer to Gen. Ross informing him of the fact
that Armstrong's works on the right were taken and that the Yanks were
driving them upon us. I was not more than three or four hundred yards
to the left. I found Gen. Ross watching the workings of our little
Alabama battery and directing its play. He was in the open field and
as I rode up he reined his horse to meet me and with a salute I
delivered Col. Jones' verbal dispatch. Just at this time a cannon
ball passed between the two horses and so close to my horse, (Mountain
Bill) that it injured his eyes. He never saw well after this. Ross,
if it excited him in the least, I could not detect it, his order was
to immediately present his compliments to Gen. Armstrong and tell him
to hold his position.
Well I thought it a hot time for the exchange of compliments but
it was military. Back I went at top speed and before I found Gen.
Armstrong I ran into the federal lines and was called upon to halt,
back I fled to get out of their range which was obstructed by a pine-
top in a few jumps and it is needless to say that Ross' dispatch was
delivered to Gen. Armstrong later that day several miles to the rear
of that position.
We crossed Chatahoochie river just above old Sandtown, on a
pantoon bridge and encamped in the hills beyond and placed pickets at
all the crossings and along the river from the railroad down to the
mouth of the Sweetwater. The enemy were fighting on the extreme right
and nearer to Atlanta. Long before we crossed in a few days after
this the famed McCook's cavalry raid crossed at Sandtown, and started
to our rear. Shortly after dark they came down to the river and
commenced laying their pontoons and our officers were immediately
informed of their movements for our outpost was within 300 yards of
the pantoon and I do not think that there was an hour during the night
that communications were not sent to our headquarters. The pickets
were not relieved until after 4 o'clock a.m. and the command was on
its way after them when we joined our company. Two men now living
were on that post that night and can testify to the truthfulness of
the above which I have written, especially as I have heard it said and
read that Gen. Jackson did not know of McCook's raid until he had a
day the start of him, but Gen. Jackson knew as well as did McCook all
of his movements and the Ross Brigade were in Palmetto Station by
eight o'clock after they had left about 4 o'clock that morning and by
10 o'clock we were fighting them. They burned everything in their
way. Some quartermaster's wagons belonging to Gen. M.D. Ectors'
Brigade were among the burned. We followed them all day and into the
night when they met some obstruction and turned back further west. We
fought them on the turn and followed them all night fighting all the
way and by daylight had them well on the run. I recollect at a large
creek called Flint river they set fire to the bridge and erected some
breastworks of rails to keep us from extinguishing the flames. They
left a company to hold the bridge, but some one found a way a little
above the bridge and Col. Jones with the Ninth Texas swam the stream
and made prisoners of the bridge force of guards and on we went until
late in the evening near Noonah after a hard fight we took them
prisoners of war. McCook and a part of his staff rode out while the
force was occupied with the surrender.
They first released their prisoners that they had captured
consisting of the minor officers connected with the quartermaster's
office and commissary and the teamsters and others whose duties kept
them in the rear, then they marched out about 2,000 strong, and laid
down their guns. Then this writer fell off his horse fast asleep.
The next day had advanced considerable before I awoke in the midst of
a dense crowd of sleeping Yankees and I was so bewildered that it took
me several moments to realize who I was and where, and the
surroundings. My arms were upon me but my horse was gone, I knew not
where, I was hungry and tired and my haversack was empty, I picked up
a Yanks haversack, (ours were of white ducking, theirs of black oil
cloth) and ate some raw bacon and hard tack and set out to get me a
horse and saddle. I got a good mount from the great number, grazing
nearby. The only difficulty was fear of getting a mount belonging to
some Confederate soldier which would be a cloud on future title, but I
got an officers rig - horse, bridle, saddle and blankets, roll, sabre,
etc. The last two items were dispensed with as I had no use for them,
for I was never much impressed with the sabre as they always appeared
to be more an appendage to dress than a real war implement but quite a
number of the brigade had wounds from the sabre and they were ugly,
cruel looking wounds. Among those now remembered was my chum Lum
Dees, Company F, Ninth Texas, a big fat boy about 20 years old, that
looked to be as soft as a woman and one would have thought he could
have been dispatched with an ordinary walking cane, but a Yankee
trooper gave him one of his best efforts at a front cut which was only
lightly parried with a six shooter Lum was using and was received on
Lum's head covered only with a light felt hat. It was a fearful
looking wound, but Lum held his ground and if alive, now has a scar
from the top of the head will down the cheek. I noted this wound, as
he was my chum.
Well the prisoners were soon sent off under escort, the stock
gathered up, the wounded taken to a farm house the dead buried, the
dead horses and mules placed on heaps of logs and burned up, the arms
picked up, the vehicles parked and the little battery carried to the
part when this writer at his leisure examined his first rapid fire
breech-loading artillery, which I will not here describe as such
things are so common now, will only say that they were dandies, but
the Yanks had tried to break off the loading cranks and broken the
Telescope used in sighting the pieces. There were four pieces all
alike rifles and carried balls about the size of a goose egg, made to
fit the rifles in the bore of the guns, and it is needless to say they
shot true and had a long range.
CHAPTER XIX.
If an old soldier ever should read these pages he will realize
the ruin on a surrendered field, but if not an old soldier no pen
could give an idea of the ruin soldiers will make of their equipage
before they will surrender, batterymen will take axes and cut the
spokes in the wheels that carry the guns, soldiers will break their
guns against trees and logs and the teamsters will blow up the
ordnance and waste is the rule, the greater the better. Such was this
field.
On placing a wounded man in the yard of a farmhouse on the field
the writer discovered a United States officer in the house with his
side arms in his belt and demanded their surrender, this the officer
refused, the lady of the house left the room and ran up a flight of
stairs and the officer followed her and the writer joined the party
stating the consequence to a further refusal, the officer swore that
he would never surrender his arms to his country's foes and things wee
assuming serious features, the officer hesitated, the woman screamed
with fright, others soon followed on the stairs, the writer nervous
over the situation. While he attempted to count ten seconds the
officer unclasped his belt reluctantly and with quickness clasped it
around the body of the screaming woman then walked down stairs a
prisoner.
Mrs. G_____ was a true Southern woman and her house was made a
field hospital. She afterwards gave the writer the officer's arms and
spoke of her fright pleasantly. As it fell to the duty of the writer
to remain on the field until the last of the wounded were removed to
the hospital at Noonon he was at her house for 8 or 10 days and in
that time became more acquainted. There were five union doctors and 8
or 10 nurses left with the Federals and 8 or 10 of us left to bury the
dead and care for the wounded, and we explored the field and many
curious citizens came to see the ground and a large lot of negroes
came and we put them to work.
While the Southern army occupied the works around Atlanta there
were other raids sent out to cut off all communication but all failed.
I recollect another raiding party that started out nearly from the
same place as McCook but failed as we were so close on to them that
they scattered and some of them got away in little squads. They
struck the Georgia Central railroad at a place called Rough and Ready.
We took them nearly all prisonors. I think it was led by Gen. Steele.
While at Atlanta the heaviest part of their rallies was upon the
right wing of our army and towards the last of summer they succeeded
in flanking the city and the army evacuated and Gen. Hardie took a
stand at Jonesboro and I think that this was the bloodiest field I was
ever on, but it is not my purpose to tell of battles, the movements of
armies, but to tell of what I saw and how it was understood by a
private soldier.
At Jonesboro I noticed that the ditches were crosswayed for the
artillery with the dead and I saw more than one place where the
carriages had been crossed over the ditches after being filled with
the dead and only a small amount of earth covering them. At Jonesboro
I saw a tree shot off some distance above ground and the body of the
tree was cut in two as it was falling. From this point we started
into Tennessee under Hood. This battle was fought about the first day
of September, 1864. The long and continuous march into Tennessee was
a severe service and the cavalry, expecially Ross' Brigade, was in
constant service, the van guard on the advance and the rear guard on
the retreat, yet no great battle was fought before we reached
Franklin, Tennessee, on Nov. 30th, in which our arms were victorious
but a victory too dearly bought to suggest pleasant memories and
services for cavalry were extremely severe as we were nearly the whole
of the time under the galling fire of the enemy's best gunners until
after the great and last general engagement at Nashville Dec. 15th and
16th, 1864.
REPORT OF THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF ROSS' TEXAS CAVALRY.
Headquarters Ross' Brigade, I.C.D., Corinth, Miss., Jan. 12, 1865
Captain:
I have the honor to submit the following report of the part
performed by my brigade in the late campaign into middle Tennessee:
First, however, and by way on introduction, it is proper to
premise that we bore a full share in the arduous duties required of
the Cavalry in the Georgia campaign and were particularly active
during the operations of the army upon the enemy's line of
communication.
October 24th, in compliance with orders from division commander,
I withdrew from my position near Cave Springs, Ga., crossed the Coosa
River at Gadsden the day following and by rapid marches arrived in
front of Decatur, Ala., on the evening of the 29th. Was here halted
to observe the movements of the enemy while the army rested at
Tuscumbia. On the morning of Nov. 8th, a strong reconoitering party
consisting of three Regiments of Infantry and one of Cavalry, coming
out from Decatur on the Courtland road, was promptly met and after a
sharp skirmish driven back with some loss. The next day, being
relieved by a portion of Gen. Roddy's command, we retired down the
valley to Town Creek and rested until the 18th, when we were ordered
across the river at Florence, and moving at once to the front of the
army, took position with the other Cavalry commands on Shoal Creek.
Nov. 21st, all things being ready for the advance, we were
ordered forward, following in rear of Armstrong's brigade. The
effective fighting strength of my command at this time was as follows:
3d reg. Texas Cav. 218; 6th Reg. Texas Cav. 218; 9th Reg. Texas Cav.
110; 27th Reg. Texas Cav. 140; making a total of 686. With this
small force we joined the advance into Tennessee, strong in heart and
resolved to make up in zeal and courage what was wanting in numbers.
The day after crossing Shoal Creek, Gen. Armstrong having still the
advance, came up with Federal cavalry at Lawrenceburg. The fighting
was chiefly with artillery, Captain Young's battery being freely used
and to good effect. About sunset the enemy withdrew in the direction
of Pulaski. Early the next morning I was ordered to take the advance,
and move out on the Pulaski road. About twelve miles from
Lawrenceburg came up with the Federal pickets and drove them in. The
Third Texas now dismounted and with two squadrons from the Twenty-
seventh Texas moved forward and attacked the enemy, forcing him from
his successive positions and following him up so vigorously as to
compel the precipitate abandonment of his camps and all his forage.
The next day, having still the advance, when within five miles of
Pulaski we changed direction to the left, following the route taken by
the enemy in his retreat the evening before, and arriving about noon
in sight of the little village - Cambellsville - I found a large force
of Cavalry, which proved to be Hatch's Division, drawn up to resist
us. Lieut. Col. Boggers was ordered promptly to dismount his
Regiment, the Third Texas, and move it to the front. Young's battery
was hurried up from the rear, placed in position, and supported by the
Sixth Texas (Colonel Jack Wharton commanding) commenced shelling the
enemy's lines. In the meanwhile the 9th Texas and Legion, were drawn
up, in column, in the field to the right of the road, to be used as
circumstances might require. These dispositions completed, I watched
with interest, the effect of the shelling from our battery, and very
soon discovered from the movements of the enemy, an intention to
withdraw, whereupon, believing this to be the proper moment, I ordered
everything forward. The 9th Texas and Legion led by their respective
commanders, Colonel Jones, and Lt. Col. Whitfield, rushed forward at a
gallop, and passing through the village fell upon the enemy's moving
squadrons with such irresistable force, as to scatter them in every
direction, pursuing and capturing, numbers of prisoners, horses,
equipments, small arms, accoutrements and four (4) stands of colors.
The enemy made no effort to regain the field from which he had been
driven, but while endeavoring to withdraw his broken and discomfited
squadrons was attacked vigorously in flank, by a portion of Gen.
Armstrong's brigade, and his route made complete. The last of his
forces, in full flight, disappeared in direction of Lynville about
sunset, and we saw nothing more of them south of Duck river. Our
loss, in the fight at Campbellsville, was only five (5) men wounded,
while our capture (I found upon investigation) summed up to be 84
prisoners, and all their horses, equipments and small arms, four (4)
stands of colors and 65 beef cattle. Without further opposition, we
arrived the next day in front of Columbia, and took the position
assigned us, on the Chapel Hill pike. Nov. 26th we remained in front
of the enemy's works, skirmishing freely, and keeping up a lively
demonstration. On the morning of the 27th being relieved by the
infantry, we were ordered over to Shellyville pike, and camped the
following night, on Fountain Creek. Crossing Duck river, the next
morning, at the mill, nine miles above Columbia, we were directed
thence, to the right (on Shellyville road), and when near the
Lewisburg and Franklin pike, again encountered the Federal Cavalry. A
spirited engagement ensued, begun by the 3rd Texas, which being
dispatched to attack a train of wagons moving in the direction of
Franklin, succeeded in reaching the pike, but was there met by a
superior force of Yankees, and driven back. Seeing this I had Col.
Hawkins to hurry his regiment (the Legion) to the assistance of the
3rd and ordered a charge, which was made in gallant style, and
resulted in forcing the Yankees from the field in confusion and with
the loss of several prisoners and the colors of the "7th Ohio
Cavalry." In the meanwhile, Col. Wharton, with the 6th Texas, charged
into the pike to the right of where the 3rd and Legion were engaged,
capturing an entire company of the "7th of Ohio Cavalry," three (3)
stands of colors, several wagons loaded with ordnance, and a
considerable number of horses with their equipments. The 9th Texas
(Col. Jones), having been detached early in the evening to guard the
road leading to our right, with the exception of a slight skirmish
with the enemy's pickets, in which several prisoners were taken, was
not otherwise engaged during the evening. It was now after night and
very dark. The enemy had disappeared from our front, in direction of
Franklin, but before establishing camps, it was thought prudent to
ascertain, if any force had been cut off and yet remained between us
and the river. Col, Hawkins was therefore, ordered up the pike with
his regiment to reconnoitre, and had proceeded but a short distance,
before he was met by a brigade of Federal Cavalry. An exciting fight
ensued, lasting about half an hour, when the enemy having much the
larger force, succeeded in passing by us, receiving as he did so, a
severe fire into his flanks. This closed the operations of the day,
and we were allowed to bivouac, well pleased with the prospect of
rest, after so much fatiguing exercise.
At "Hunt's cross roads" the next day, where the other commands of
Cavalry took the left, and moved upon Spring Hill, my brigade was
advanced upon the road to Franklin. Afterwards, in obedience to
orders of the Division Commander, we turned towards Thompson's
Station, being now in the rear of the Federal Army, which still held
its position on Rutherford's creek. The Yankee Cavalry, completely
whipped, had disappeared in the direction of Franklin, and did not
again show itself that day. When near Thompson's Station, I
discovered a few wagons moving on the pike, and sent Col. Jones, with
the 9th and Legion, to intercept and capture them. At the same time,
the 6th and 3rd Texas were drawn up in line, and a squadron from the
latter dispatched to destroy the depot. Col. Jones was partially
successful, capturing and destroying one wagon and securing the team.
He then charged a train of cars, which came up from the direction of
Franklin, when the engineer, becoming frightened, cut the engine loose
and ran off southward. The train, thus freed, began to retrograde,
and in spite of the obstructions thrown in its way and the efforts of
the men to stop it, rolled back under the guns of a blockhouse and was
saved. The guard, however, and all the men on the train were forced
to jump off, and became our prisoners. I now had the railroad bridge
destroyed, in consequence of which, the engine that escaped from us
and another became the prizes of our Army the next day. In the
meantime, the enemy at the depot, observing the approach of the
squadron from the 3rd Texas, set fire to all of his valuables,
including a train of cars loaded with ordnance, and evacuated the
place.
Having accomplished all that could be effected in the station, we
withdrew, late in the evening, dropping back to the left of Spring
Hill and halted, until I could communicate with the Division
Commander. About midnight, I received the order, directing me to
again "strike the pike" and attack the enemy's train, then in full
retreat to Franklin. Moved out at once to obey the order, guided by
an officer of Gen. Forrest's staff, who knew the country. When within
half a mile of the pike, I dismounted three(3) of my regiments,
leaving the Ninth Texas mounted, to guard their horses, and cautiously
advancing on foot, got within 100 yards of the enemy's train without
being discovered. The Legion (Col. Hawkins, commanding) having the
advance, fronted into line, fired a well directed volley, killing
several Yankee and mules and rushed forward, with a yell, producing
among the teamsters and wagon guards a perfect stampede. The Yankees
lost 39 wagons, some of which were destroyed, and others abandoned for
the want of the teams which we brought off. We captured also several
prisoners. Remaining in possession of the pike for half an hour, we
withdrew upon the approach of several bodies of infantry, which coming
up in opposite directions, by mistake, got to shooting into each
other, and fired several volleys, before finding out their error.
Having remounted our horses, we remained on the hill overlooking the
pike, until daylight, and saw the Yankee army in full retreat. While
this was passing, a regiment of cavalry, appearing in an open field in
our front, was charged by the Sixth Texas, completely routed and
driven behind his infantry column. Soon after this, we again pushed
forward, keeping parallel with the pike, upon which our infantry was
moving, crossed Harpeth river in the evening, about 3 miles above
Franklin, only a small force of the enemy appearing to dispute the
passage. Half a mile from the river we came upon a regiment of Yankee
cavalry drawn up in line. This the Ninth Texas at once charged, and
routed, but was met by a larger force, and in turn, compelled to give
back, the enemy following in close pursuit. The Third Texas now
rushed forward, checked the advancing squadrons of the Yankees, and
then hurled them back, broken and disorganized, capturing several
prisoners, and driving the other back upon their heavier lines. The
gallant bearing of the men and officers of the Third and Ninth Texas
on this occasion, is deserving of special commendation, and it affords
me much gratification, to record to the honor of these noble
regiments, that charges made by them at Harpeth river, have never
been, and cannot be surpassed by cavalry of any nation. By the charge
of the Third Texas, we gained possession of an eminence, overlooking
the enemy's position, and held it until late in the evening when
discovering an intention, on the part of the Yankee commander, to
advance his entire force, and being without any support, I withdrew to
the south side of the river again. Very soon the enemy advanced his
whole line, but finding we had recrossed the river again retreated and
during the night withdrew from our front. The next day, we moved
forward, arrived in front of Nashville Dec. 3rd and took position on
the Nolensville pike 3 miles from the city. Just in our front was a
line of works, and wishing to ascertain what force occupied them, I
had two squadrons of Sixth Texas to dismount, deploy as skirmishers
and advance. We found the works held only be the enemy's skirmishers
who withdrew upon our approach. After this, being relieved by our
infantry, we retired to the rear with orders to cook up rations. On
the morning of Dec. 5th, the brigade was ordered to Larergne; found
there a small force of infantry, which took refuge inside the fort,
and after slight resistance, surrendered upon demand of the Division
Commander. Moving thence to Murfresboro, then within a few miles of
the city, the enemy's pickets were encountered, and after a stubborn
resistance driven back by the Sixth and Third Texas, dismounted. A
few days after this, Major Gen. Forrest invested Murfresboro with his
cavalry One (1) division of infantry.
The duty assigned my brigade, being to guard all the approaches
to the city, from the Salem to the Woodbury pike, inclusive, was very
severe, for so small a force, and almost every day there was heavy
skirmishing on some portion of our line. Dec. 15th, a train of cars
from Stevenson heavily laden with supplies for the garrison at
Murfresboro, was attacked about 7 miles south of the city, and
although guarded by a regiment of infantry, two hundred strong, was
captured and burned. The train was loaded with sugar, coffee, hard
bread and bacon and carried full 200,000 rations. The men guarding
it, fought desperately for about an hour, having a strong position in
a cut of the railroad, but were finally routed by a most gallant
charge of the Sixth Texas, supported by the Third Texas, and 150 of
them captured. The others excaped to a blockhouse near by. The next
day in consequence of the reverses to our arms at Nashville, we were
withdrawn from the front of Murfresboro; ordered across to Trianna,
and thence to Columbia, crossing Duck river in the evening of the
18th. Dec. 24th, while bringing up the rear of our army, the enemy
charged my rear guard at Lynville, with a heavy force, and threated to
break over all opposition, when the Sixth Texas, hastily forming, met,
and hurled them back, administering a most wholesome check to their
ardor. At the moment this occurred, our columns were all in motion,
and it was of the utmost importance, to break the charge of the enemy
on our rear. Too much credit, therefore, cannot be given the Sixth
Texas, for gallant bearing on this occasion. Had it failed to check
the enemy, my brigade and probably the entire Division, taken at a
disadvantage might have suffered severely. At Richland creek, where
the Cavalry took position later in the day, I was assigned a position
on the right of the railroad, and in front of the creek. Soon
afterwards however, the enemy moving as if to cross above the bridge,
I was withdrawn to the south side of the creek, and taking position on
the hill near the railroad, skirmishing with the enemy in my front,
holding him in check, until our forces had all crossed the creek. We
were then ordered to withdraw and passing through Pulaski, again
crossed Richland creek and camped near Mr. Carter's for the night.
The next day my brigade alternating with Gen. Armstrong in bringing up
the rear, had frequent skirmishes with the enemy's advance. Nine
miles from Pulaski, when the infantry halted, and formed, I was
ordered on the right. Soon after this, the enemy made a strong effort
to turn our right flank, but failed, and was driven back. About the
same time the infantry charged, and captured his artillery,
administering such an effectual check, that he did not again show
himself that day.
This done, we retired leisurely, and after night, bivouacked on
sugar creek. Early the following morning, the Yankees still not
satisfied, made their appearance and our Infantry again made
dispositions to receive him. Reynold's and Ector's brigades took
position and immediately in their rear I had the Legion and 9th Texas
were ordered forward, and passing through our Infantry, crossed the
creek in the face of a terrible fire, overthrew all opposition on the
further side, and pursued the thoroughly routed foe, near a mile,
capturing 12 prisoners and as many horses, besides killing numbers of
others. The force opposed to us here and which was so completely
whipped, proved, from the statements of the prisoners to be "Hammond's
brigade of Cavalry."
After this, the Yankees did not again show themselves and without
further interruption we recrossed the Tennessee river at Bain bridge
on the evening of the 27th of December. Our entire loss during the
campaign sums up as follows:
Killed Wounded Captured Aggregate
COMMAND Of. En.Mn. Of. En.Mn. Of. En.Mn.
Third Texas
Cavalry........ 2 3 22 1 2 30
Sixth Texas
Cavalry........ 6 3 19 1 29
Ninth Texas
Cavalry........ 4 17 1 22
Texas
Legion......... 6 6
Total.......... 12 6 64 1 4
87
We captured on the trip and brought off, five hundred and fifty
(550) prisoners as shown by the records of my Provost Marshall, nine
(9) stands of colors, several hundred horses and their equipments and
overcoats and blankets sufficient to supply my command. We destroyed
besides, two trains of cars, loaded, one with ordnance and the other
with commissary stores, forty or fifty wagons and mules and much other
valuable property belonging to the Federal army. My brigade returned
from Tennessee with horses very much jaded, but otherwise in no worse
condition than when it started, its morale, not in this least affected
nor impaired by the evident demoralization which prevailed to a
considerable extent throughout the larger portion of the army.
Before closing my report I desire to record an acknowledgement of
grateful obligations to the gallant officers and brave men whom I have
the honor to command. Entering upon the campaign, poorly clad and
illy prepared for undergoing its hardships, these worthy votaries of
freedom nevertheless bore themselves bravely and I did not hear a
murmur, nor witness the least reluctance in the discharge of duty
however unpleasant. All did well and to this, I attribute in a great
measure the unparallelled success which attended all our efforts
during the campaign.
To Col. D.W. Jones, Col. E.R. Hawkins, Col. Jack Wharton and Lt.
Col. J.L. Boggers, who commanded their respective regiments and Lt.
Col. P.F. Ross and Maj. L.B. Wilson, Sixth Texas; Lt. Col. I.T.
Whitfield and Maj. B.H. Nosworthy of Legion; Major A.B. Stone, Third
Texas, and Maj. H.C. Dial, Nonth Texas, also Captains Gurly, Plummer,
Killough and Preston, Lieutenants Alexandre and Lykes, members of my
staff I feel especially indebted for earnest, zealous and efficient
co-operation. These officers upon many trying occasions acquitted
themselves with honor and it affords me pleasure, to be able to
commend them to the favorable notice of the Brigadier General
Commanding.
I have the honor to be Captain,
Very Resp't.,
Official
Your Obedient Servent
A.A.G. "sg"
L.S. Ross
Brig. Gen'l. I. C.
CHAPTER XX
We finally reached our old stamping ground in Mississippi about
midway between Jackson, Vicksburg and Yazoo City where we encamped,
keeping up pickets and picking up squads and foraging parties till the
final close, which was first made known to us by returning prisoners,
who told us that Gen. R.E. Lee had surrendered, which news created no
great sensation for we all knew that the end was nigh and the terms
were the only questions asked and our heats grew lighter when we
learned the terms of Lee's surrender. The Yankee pickets told us from
their posts on the opposite of Big Black river and in a short time
Johnston's surrender was made known and the terms were published in
General Order No. _____. (See Stephens History Appendix). All were
satisfied. Previous to this order at a meeting of the brigade in
which the situation was being discussed there were propositions
offered that we do not surrender, but break up into squads and
continue a guarilla warfare in the Trans-Mississippi department.
"Yes!" shouted Tomykins of the 9th, the leaves will soon be green and
our horses can live on the grass and this brigade can take all the
supplies we want from any corps of Yankees that ever invaded Southern
soil. We will fight them to the end, as long as life blood flows in
the veins of any man that has followed Ross. Cheers and shouts echoed
up and down the line and it seemed that this thing might be. Just at
this time an officer spoke. I do not recollect the name but think it
was Capt. Kellough, of Gen. Ross' Staff.
He told us of the situation in Mexico, as an attempt to crown a
head in that neighboring Republic by those European powers, which he
explained was contrary to the Monroe Doctrine and that complications
were now likely rising that would plunge the United States now in a
weak and depleted condition in a war with France at that time supposed
one of the most powerful nations of the earth and that we would soon
be called upon to stand in defence of the United States against France
in Mexico. We will take paroles go home and get ready to fight for
our country. Great enthusiasm prevailed in our brigade, we were all
ready to go. Johnston's terms of surrender in our minds confirmed
these statements and I here note that this was the prevailing thought
in military circles, and the thoughtful can now look back on the
situation and verify its truthfulness.
Thus quietly the situation was discussed and supposing that we
had still another and more serious war against our liberties. We all
agreed to surrender and one or more of our officers went to Jackson
with the muster rolls and in a few days returned and issued paroles
without a single United States soldier within our camp.
Our artillery was parked and arms stacked to be token to Jackson.
The old flag was taken from the staff and folded up as a relic. Our
side arms were all retained with horses, saddles and all other
equipage and the only difference that the writer really saw was the
officers ceased to command or to advise, and the command was
disbanded, as well as I now recollect was April 27th, 1865. At the
time of disbanding we were informed that the United States would
furnish transportation for us to our homes and all that wanted to go
to Texas were directed to be at the city of Vicksburg for embarcation
of May 5th.
The small amount of commissary stores were issued, not enough
however, to last us to the appointed time for rendesvou (place of
meeting), but enough to last two or three days. Well, we had plenty
of time to think the matter over, as there was no rush, for it was not
more than forty miles to Vicksburg. So we ate and slept and organized
for our home trip. This writer in a party of five agreeing to share
fortune and fate sat out together (two of the five disabled from old
wounds).
As we had plenty of leisure and a very little money, we thought
it would be a good time for visiting. Accordingly we visited a friend
near Bolton and put in a day visited Jeff Davis' farm and
surroundings. Of course Mr. Davis was not at home, but we could see
the signs of wealth gone to waste, everything showed signs of its days
of splendor. Buildings, lawns, drives, all showed the lavished
expenditure of money. Such as in those days could be found in
Mississippi among what was termed "secluded society," all of whom it
appears had endeavored to excell in grandest display of selfish
extravagance.
There was nothing unusually striking in the place more than could
be found in many other like places except perhaps, Jeff Davis' private
library, which my friend informed me, was valued at $30,000, and was
at that time scattered out among the neighboring residents as a means
of hiding its value and identity. My friend told me of several places
that had books belonging to the library and showed me two large boxes
filled with Davis' books besides dozens of volumes in his shelves
mixed with his own books. Such was the strategy used by the
President's neighbors to preserve for him his valued library.
While examining the President's books in the large library hall
of my friend Col. P_____, I noticed upon the wall a very fine portrait
of a beautiful woman life size in very fine frame, a picture that
would call attention an any gallery, for finest execution as well as
sublime beauty. I asked Col. P_____ from what master hand such work
had come and lamented an ugly hole in the beautiful cheek of the
picture. The subject said he, was my wife and was done by __________
at Paris, France, and Oh! it is my dear dead "mama!" and an old Yankee
stuck her there in the face, stuck in a small voice of his little
daughter, Jennie, a little tot six or seven years old that was
following us unnoticed. Turned and looked at the little girl, her
face was covered with tears and her favor showed her story to be true.
I heard no more of Col. P_____ story of the picture, but Jennie told
me that a soldier with his bayonet on his gun pierced the picture
causing the ugly break in the sacred canvass. Col. P_____ was broken
up at the surrender and in poverty moved back to New York state, his
former home, and may God have healed the wound in little Jennie's
heart that was made when the careless soldier pierced the unoffending
canvass. We bade our friends goodby, and next visited the Robertson
farm.
James and John Robertson of circus fame are well known all over
the world, but people doubted sometimes when they advertised Southern
Circus, and few know that they raised on this farm many of their
finest horses for the ring as well as many rare and curious animals.
James Robertson, Sr., of the firm, was at home and received our little
party with as much apparent distinction as though we were the court of
crowned heads of Europe he bid us welcome, and entertained us in his
gardens of rare plants and turned on the spray from his costly
fountains and while the rainbows played he told us of the habits and
homes of his wonders in plants and flowers. Then he took us a walk in
his park and showed us the animals, Elk, Deer, Yack, Llama and sacred
cattle and many others. He showed us the pool with its island for the
fowls, Swans, Geese, and other like fowls with their young, then to
the stables where he had horses and camels from all countries,
imported at fabulous costs, then to his tables loaded with the best,
and such service as I had never before witnessed.
After supper we were shown to a room large enough to accommodate
all. His wardrobe he opened to us remarking modestly, that he too,
was not much ahead of the average soldier on account of Uncle Sam's
vigilence in the blockade business but to help ourselves if there was
anything we could use. After a bath and clean linen we had all gone
to bed. A rap at the door and some servants entered with trays and
baskets. Robertson come in and informed us that he still had one
basket of champagne and that he was arranging to enjoy the last or the
war with Ross' Brigade, the last to surrender, of that army, in his
last champagne. Well, with the lost cause we did not lose our
appetites and with eating and drinking and toasting the night was
spent, and on the following morning we answered to the bell at
breakfast, from the ragged soldiers of the evening before to passable
looking gentlemen, but I must confess my head felt very curious, and
that his entertainment beat his street parade and great shows
combined.
Taking leave of our host we moved down towards Big Black bridge.
That was the Yankee line. Jest before we got to the guards we met
some paroled soldiers who told us that the guard had taken their
pistols away from them and we would better leave our arms or conceal
them. We stopped and with a fire unsoldered one side of our canteens
and took off our pistols and by taking them apart succeeded in placing
the pistols in the canteens, all but one, which we hid in a patch of
briars. At the bridge we halted and showed our papers and allowed to
proceed. On our way to Vicksburg we met a company of colored troops,
all of them wearing crape on their left arms, and the officers had
crape on their sabres. On asking the cause was told of the death of
Mr. Lincoln.
On reaching Vicksburg we noted a small monument on the roadside,
and learned that it was set up on the spot where Gen. Pemberton
surrendered the city, long lines of earth works and the ruins of mines
all showed that there had been some war around the old city. Many of
the brigade had preceded us and were encamped at the fair ground,
others joined us and we by this time formed a good size squad. On the
way to our quarters we passed through one of the principal streets and
on the street we passed a colored school and as we passed the
schoolhouse the pupils all greeted us with R-e-b reb. e-l, rebel.
Some of the boys returned the salute with an Indian gobble. Some of
our ex-officers demanded silence, and we passed without further notice
and encamped for the night at the fair ground. The river was very
full all over the bottom and good large boats were running out the
main road opposite to the city. On the following day we embarked for
home on the Fairchild with a barge alongside for our horses. After
getting all aboard and taking on a good lot of bacon and hard tack we
set out down the river. Old Glory streamed from the front and our
flag was hoisted on the rear of the steamer, but on passing some
gunboats that were on duty, they hailed us, and we were forced to
round to until they sent a boat to us, which caused some delay, and it
was thought best on this account to take down Ross' Brigade flag, so
it was done. There were only a very few Yankee soldiers on board the
boat and they occupied the ladies cabin, and the rest of space was
filled with Texans and Louisianians stowed as thick as black birds.
It was too hot inside and too damp outside and very uncomfortable. As
we came down the river we met a transport going up with the Federal
prisoners from Tyler, Texas, and if possible they were stowed thicker
than were we on the Fairchild. We had to keep in a shape to equalize
the weight as all to one side would cause our boat to creen to a
dangerous degree but without event of note we reached the mouth of Red
river and rounded the point on the home stretch. Then up to Fort
Jenicia where the officer of the Fairchild told us he would have to
land us, as the river from that point had torpedoes in it and was
dangerous. We landed at the fort. On the following day we started
our horses home but as I had some cripples with me I took chances to
make it up the river. There was a steamer at the warf and we boarded
her and demanded that they take us to Shreveport. The boats crew
protested that the boat was unsafe and crippled, but that was no go.
We started up the river and had run but a short while before we found
that her captain was truthful and we hailed the steamer Gen. Hodges as
she was coming down the river laden with cotton bales and told him
that we were under the necessity of taking his boat back up the river.
He protested but we landed him on the river bark and rolled off 700 or
800 bales of cotton and placed a good lot of rails from a neighboring
farm as full on board and proceeded up the river. After he found that
his boat had to go back he became more cheerful and our voyage up was
without event.
As soon as a plank from the Gen. Hodges touched the shore it was
filled with soldiers and packs, many with crutches all anxious to get
ashore. Here we scattered in all directions. Most of the Titus Greys
lived near Dangerfield and they started for Jefferson. Many met with
friends and conveyance and as my parents lived in the west part of the
country near the Hopkins county line a crowd of us, eleven in number,
set out for the town of Greenwood. We had only gone outside the city
limit until we come upon a camp of a supply train from Gilmer on their
return. It is needless to say that we rode up to Marshall.
CHAPTER XXI
At Marshall we learned that the Arsenal would be blown up that
night and if we needed anything there we could draw it, so when we
come up we drew arms for eleven Springfield rifles and 1,000
cartridges, that is one case. We had not gone far before we were too
heavily loaded. We made a dry camp about five miles west and in the
night sometime, the Arsenal was blown up. It made a terrible noise.
On the following morning we set out to walk home. We divided out to
get something to eat and after eating we walked on, never getting two
meals at the same place. At Pittsburg we met with some hunters with a
deer and they gave us supper and from Pittsburg we made it to Catons
Mill and close by there was a distillery where we all separated, and
alone I tramped back to my father's house. I got home about the 27th
of May, 1865.
I have neglected to tell you that my mother had written to me in
almost every letter to send her a pair of cotton cards if I had an
opportunity, and if I come to bring the cards and at Vicksburg I
bought a pair of cards and stripped the card teeth from the board
backs and rolled them in my pack and on getting home I delivered the
cards, but the formed lines of trade beat me home and they were not
needed.
On getting home I found that my brothers had preceded me and were
expecting me with a crowd of friends. All the young ladies in the
neighborhood were present.
My mother in her great joy gathered me about the neck and at the
same time her yard dog gathered me by the leg and between the two my
reception was full warm for I was lame for several days, but I was too
happy to complain.
I have thus given in this awkward manner the result of my
personal recollections of the war between the states with some
incidents that have a fixedness on my memory, not of their great
importance but because I remember them and am writing my memorage,
believing it to be in the main true, but faulty in the manner in which
it is told.
I have now given you the cause of the war as I saw it, together
with the war as I saw it and will now give some of the effects of the
war as I realized them.
It will now be my purpose to tell you of the Titus Greys, as you
have already been told that they served first under Brig. Gen. Cooper
of the Indian department, Brig. Gen. McCullough at Elk Horn, in the
Trans-Mississippi department under Generals Price and Van Dorn and
with them were transferred to the army of the west under the orders of
all of their Division and brigade generals in the army of the west.
At Elkhorn battle after the death of Gen. McCullough my
recollection is that a part of the brigade was under orders of Col.
Pike and the remainder under orders of Col. Griffith. After
dismounting we were in part under the command of Brig. Generals Hogg,
Phifer, Cobel, Griffith, Whitfield, Mabry and Ross and have done
fighting under Pinion, Chalmers, Morgan, Forest, Wheeler and others.
After the death of Gen. Van Dorn his cavalry corps was separated.
Maj. Gen. Bradford Forest took one Division and Maj. Gen. William
Jackson the other Division. The two Divisions were about equal, their
services were about the same. They (the Generals) were both from the
same state, Tennessee, both brave men and nothing has been written in
honor of General Forest and his brave followers that was not justly
merited for no truer men or braver hearts ever shouldered arms for
Confederate defence than the Division commanded by General Bradford
Forest. Let their deeds of clash and daring shine on the pages of
history and let their fame be sung in grand anthems to younger
brothers in arms that are now departing over the seas, but let us
remember the Gen. W.H. Jackson, who commanded the other Division
fought equally as many successful battles, captured fully as many
prisoners, arms, colors, and other property as did the immortal
Forest, and today while the world looks wonderingly on the deeds of
the lion Forest, there are those who can see in the background the
unsung man whom we know to have been the military peer of Forest on
any field who like Forest had the heart of a lion, but with it he has
the modesty of a woman. See General Jackson when his war record.
Our field officers as I now remember:
Col. Bradford Sims was wounded at Elk Horn and was forced to
retire.
Col. Towne was wounded at Corinth and retired.
Col. D.W. Jones surrendered the 9th and was paroled at the end of
the war.
Lt. Col. Quail resigned on account of defective eyesight and
returned home.
Lt. Col. Berry was killed in battle in the Georgia campaign,
Jonesboro.
Maj. Towne elected Col. on the re-organization.
Maj Dodson resigned his commission and visited us in the winter
of 1873.
Maj. Dial returned to Texas, his home, and is our only field
officer now living - Died 1899.
Dr, James Robertson, surgion, rank captain, promoted.
Dr. March, rank Lieutenant, promoted surgion, rank captain.
Do not remember our other doctors' whereabouts.
Chaplain Ischey killed at Noonan, Ga.
Adjutant Jones elected Lt. Col. at the re-organization.
Adjutant Ezelle resigned from some cause not now remembered.
Adjutant Griscome was paroled and returned to Texas with company
D. 9th Texas Cavalry.
Sargt. Major Trivilion lived through and came home.
Our company officers during the war were as follows to my best
recollection.
Capt. Chas. Stuart killed at Round Mound.
Capt. Jas. English resigned to serve west.
Capt. Perry Evans, took command of a scouting party after the
fall of Vicksburg and he never afterwards did service with the
company.
Lt. Load Miller resigned, cause not now remembered.
Lt. Buster Haynes killed at Corinth.
Lt. Jas. English elected captain after the loss of Capt. Stuart.
Lt. John A. Coplin killed in Mississippi.
Lt. Henry Haynes in command of the company from fall of Vicksburg
to the close of the war and surrendered and came home with the
company.
Lt. William Moore returned to Texas with his company.
Lt. Wm. Chambers, I do not recollect his whereabouts at the close
of the war, but feel sure he lived through the war but have never met
him. Since learned he lives near Huntsville, Ala.
CHAPTER XXII.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THIRD REGIMENT TEXAS CAVALRY-
MARCH TO MISSOURI - BATTLE OF OAK
HILLS - INCIDENTS, ETC.
The year of grace one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one dawned
amidst the most portentious clouds that had ever lowered above the
political horizon of America since the stormy period in which the
sovereignty of the states had their birth, nearly one hundred years
before.
Abraham Lincoln had been elected president of the United States
by the suffrages of a sectional party whose only vitality and power of
cohesion consisted of antagonism against the South and her most
cherished principles and institutions; and his induction into the
high office was construed by the people of that devoted section as the
beginning of the "irrepressible conflict," so long and so often
elaborated by Mr. Seward, amid the approving cheers of delighted
Northern audiences.
The declaration of Mr. Lincoln himself, that "this country could
not remain half slave and half free," had always been regarded south
of "Mason and Dixon's line" as a declaration of war; and, now that
the aggressive and fanatical Northern Republicans had, by taking
advantage of the suicidal folly of the democratic party, placed
themselves in a position to give weight to the declaration, the South
recognized the only alternative but submission, left her, and
reluctantly accepted the saucy gage of battle thrown, as a forced
tender, by her fanatical foe, and proceed to stake her all upon the
brutal arbitrament of arms - a tribunal through whose precedents of
unwritten law flow the turbid pollutions of Might and Butchery, and
not the limpid stream of Right and Justice - relying, with sublime
confidence, upon the justice of her cause and the valor of her sons.
But it is not our province, here, to recapitulate all those
causes that precipitated the tempest of war upon our unhappy country.
Suffice it to say, that the sectional administration at Washington
gave the South no alternative. Mr. Lincoln and his advisers affected
to regard secession, per se, as a declaration of war, and the
Confederate government only obeyed the dictates of prudence and reason
in anticipating the storm by commencing a vigorous attack upon Fort
Sumpter. The first gun on that occasion met an affirmative response
from the hearts of nearly all the people of the South, as it also
inflamed the rage of those at the North. All hopes of a compromise
were now at an end; the line of demarcation was drawn; the work of
pacific statesmen had ceased, that of the turbulent soldier was to
begin; and, in the South many original Unionists now accepted the
situation of affairs, and cast their lots with their states and
people.
It is supposed there are traitors and tories to every cause, and
though that of "Dixie" was no exception to the general rule, in the
Southern states, properly so styled, there were probably fewer of this
nefarious class, at the beginning, than ever appeared in any
revolution of like proportions and radical character. We say that
this was so at the beginning. Degraded human nature never struggles
to oppose the flood-tide that promises success. Even venal prosperity
never lacks for servile minions to chant its paeans in tones of
adulation. And many original secessionists underwent a moderation of
their fire-eating proclivities with each Southern reverse, until, with
that climax of catastrophes at Appomattox, they had completed the
entire circle, and hailed the coming Yankees as original "Houston
Union men." Inquisitive reader, don't ask to glance even at the roll
of this Legion of Dishonor. Many now reside in palatial residences,
and are families of influence - yet they made the poor, bleeding
corpse of the assassinated Confederacy, the stepping-stone to wealth,
position, and power. The tocsin of war met a prompt, affirmative
response, and every hamlet, village, and city was soon the scene of
warlike preparation. The best element of society were the first to
volunteer. Youth, ever ardent, was conspicuous by its numbers; and
schools and colleges dismissed their classes to swell the ranks of the
embryo army. And right here, let the fact be recorded, that the best,
the bravest, the hardiest, and less complaining soldiers were mere
boys from sixteen to twenty years of age.
This period was pre-eminently the era of the parlour knight.
West Pointers, who had never seen West Point turned up whenever
occasion required it. Scarred veteran from Nicaraugua sprung up as if
by magic, and the author, alone, formed the personal acquaintance of
at least twelve hundred survivors of the immortal six hundred who
charged at Balaklava. Thus, every crossroads store, where ardent
spirits were kept, could boast its own live military man to perfect
its "Beauregard Rifles," or "Jeff. David Grays," in the manual of arms
and evolutions of the line. What ever became of these "Major
Savages," "Colonel Desparades," and "General Seviers" - pronounced
"Severe" - is not positively known. It is thought their ardor
moderated just before the time for marching, and that they
subsequently formed a portion of that delectable fraction of our
population who contributed so much to advance the cause through their
arduous labors in smuggling cotton to the Yankees. Some ensconsed
themselves in bomb-proofs about the Quartermaster and the Commissary
Departments; while others developed alarming symptoms of disease that
found, in the last shots fired, a speedy and radical cure.
At this time, too, the latent fact was revealed that many an old
plodding citizen was a real military strategist. Such "natural-born
generals" would gather an admiring crown upon the street corners, and
proceed to demonstrate with what ease Washington City could be
captured. We never stopped short of the capital in those brave old
days; and, perhaps, had the tide been taken just here at the flood,
but a dashing leader, the capture of Washington could have been
effected. Who knows? The author remembers ascending Red river in the
month of May, 1861, fresh from his studies at Centenary College, and
anxious to reach his native State and join a company before the war
was over; for the eloquent "stump" statesmen did not hesitate to
affirm that the end of their days would witness the close of the fifth
act of the serio-comic drama. On board the same steamboat - the
"Texas" - were Colonel Elkanah Greer and Captain Harris, both just
from Montgomery, Alabama, the seat of the Provisional Government of
the Confederate States, with their commissions.
Colonel Greer, immediately upon his arrival in Texas, issued a
call for men, and designated Dallas as the point of rendozvous. The
various companies soon arrived, and were mustered into the Confederate
service for the period of "one year, unless sooner discharged;" so
little did we comprehend the magnitude or duration of the struggle
into which we were entering! Those words seemed a bitter sarcasm when
twelve months afterward we were sworn in again, without invitation,
"for three years, or the war."
The regiment was organized on the 13th of June, 1861, and as two
other regiments had been raised in the State (for frontier
protection), this was styled the Third Regiment of Texas Cavalry.
Walter P. Lane, of Harrison county, was elected Lieutenant-Colonel,
and G.W. Chilton, of Smith county, was elected Major.
The following companies composed the regiment:
Co. A, Harrison county, T.W. Winston, Captain.
Co. B, Rusk county, R.H. Cumby, Captain.
Co. C, Cherokee county, Frank Taylor, Captain.
Co. d, Hunt county, _____ Hale, Captain.
Co. E, Shelby county, D.M. Short, Captain.
Co. F, Kaufman county, Isham Chisholdm Captain.
Co. G, Marion county, H.P. Mabry, Captain.
Co. H, Wood county, Johnson Russell, Captain.
Co. I, Cass county, William Bryan, Captain.
Co. K. Smith county, David Gaines, Captain.
Captain Harris had previously received his commission as
Quartermaster; and Captain Armstrong, of Company B, was appointed
Commissary of Subsistence. Lieut. M.D. Ecter received the appointment
of Adjutant. Dr Wallace McDougal, of Company C, was appointed
Surgeon, and Dr. Daniel Shaw, of Company B, Assistant Surgeon. Abner
Rogers, Company G, was names Sergeant-Major. The companies averaged
something over one hundred men each, and the regiment thus organized
was probably 1,200 strong.
The hospitality of the good citizens of Dallas must not be passed
over in silence. Each citizen vied with his neighbor in the warmth of
his reception of the various companies; and, finally, a mammoth
collation was spread, consisting of all the delicacies of the season,
by the patriotic and liberal people, around which the soldiers were
formed in line and "invited" to charge. The Hon. R.B. Hubbard and
Major G.W. Chilton improved this occasion of good cheer by the
delivery of eloquent and patriotic speeches to the citizens and
soldiers.
Our stay at Dallas was protracted by the non-arrival of the
wagon-train, with arms, from San Antonio, until July 6th. Captain
John J. Good had organized an artillery company at Dallas, which was
attached to the regiment, and, with it, took up the line of march, on
July 9, 1861, for the scene of operations in Missouri. In the MS. of
my lamented predecessor in this work, I find that many of the ardent
youth of the regiment had become smitten with the charms of the Dallas
fair, and tore themselves away from the parting scene with reluctance,
hugging the cheering hope of a sacred tryst when the cruel war was
over. Alas! how many manly forms came not to the long looked-for re-
union! Through tempest and storm, they were true to their troth; and
go, maidens, who plighted your vows with the young heroes, to the
lines of Corinth, Iuka, Oak Hills, Atlanta, Elk Horn, and where the
forlorn hope led the hazardous escalade, you'll find them "sleeping
the sleep that knows no waking" on "this side of the river." "No
useless coffins enclose their breasts." No marble shafts point the
pilgrim's steps to the hero-patriots' tombs. Their old, worn blankets
were their only shroud; for the weary and struggling Confederacy
stabbed before and behind, was too poor to bury the patriot that she
was unable to feed, and fell, herself a murdered power, as much in the
house of her friends, as by the hands of her enemies.
The arms received by the regiment were of a very inferior quality
- old United States carbines, shot guns, squirrel rifles, etc.
Company A was partially armed with Colt's revolving rifles and six-
shooters, while two companies received no arms until within the
borders of Arkansas. In arms and ammunition, we certainly were no
match for the enemy, who had an abundance of weapons of the latest
improvement. Our wagon-train consisted of United States wagon,
captured at San Antonio and the mules bore upon their flesh the plain
imprint of Uncle Sam's brand. Even the Mexican teamsters simply
continued the service in the Confederate army which they did not
terminate in the United States army. An idea may be had of the kind
of work the average Texas soldier imagined he would be called upon to
perform in battle, by the huge knives carried by many. Some of these
knives were three feet long, and heavy enough to cleave the skull of a
mailed knight through the helmet and all. I think they were never
used in the butchery of the Yankees, and, ere the close of the first
year's service, were discarded altogether. But great was the
confidence of the Texas soldier in his own prowess. To whip the
Yankees, five to one, was considered the minimum of good fighting, and
they seldom encountered on the field a less superiority of numbers;
and this was by no means the greatest advantage possessed by the Union
forces over their adversaries. Yet the Southern Cross, time and
again, led them to victory, which, alas, was never improved; and
their deeds justify the assertion, that, with other counsels at the
head of affairs, they would have proven victorious in the end. In
fact, they were invincible against any power save that brutal grinding
away by attrition, which the enemy was forced to adopt, and decline
the combat on the open field, man to man.
Those were brave old days, we have said, and State Sovereignty
cropped out on all occasions. To us, Texas was the "nation;" to her
alone we owed allegiance. We were allied with the other Southern
States, not indissolubly joined. Each company had a flag, and, in
addition to its alphabetical designation, bore some other name
suggested by the spirit of the times. Thus, Company A was the "Texas
Hunters;" Company G, the "Dead-Shot Rangers," etc.
The regiment proceeded on its march, without incident, until the
Red river was reached. We crossed at Colbert's Ferry into the Choctaw
Nation, and encamped about a mile beyond. The river was quite low
when the men and horses were ferried over. The wagon-train was
leisurely crossing, the sky above was without the fleck of a cloud,
when suddenly was heard the distant murmur of a coming rise; the
murmur deepened into an ominous roar, as the angry waters were
precipitated down the mountains, and the flood was upon us. In the
brief period of thirty minutes, the swollen torrent reached from bank
to bank, and it was with difficulty that the train was saved; indeed,
Captain Dunn's MS. records the loss of one or two wagons.
We found our Choctaw allies abreast of the times, and earnestly
preparing for war. This people were not behind their Texan
compatriots in their hospitality to the men of the regiment, and
numbers - men, women, and children - flocked to the camp to see the
"warriors." And as the Choctaws were, so were the Creeks, Cherokees,
and Chickasaws. Let the record here, once for all, suffice for each
and every one of these noble tribes. We brought the conflict upon
them, and involved them in the common ruin that overwhelmed us both;
but as long as a tattered Confederate flag fluttered in the breeze,
these "untutored children of the forest" rallied beneath its folds,
with unabated fealty to the cause of the South. But if it be imagined
that they are all literally untutored, the fact will not have been
attained. To illustrate; One day, in the Cherokee Nation, a number
of men dining at the residence of a prominent citizen, whose daughter,
a young and beautiful girl, presided at the head of the table. A
gallant young officer was profuse in his compliments to the pretty and
intelligent girl. He finally declared that she bore a striking
resemblance to the portraits of Anne of Austria, including, even the
world-renowned pouting lips, with their slight vermilion tinge. The
young lady, not at all abashed by this comparison with the royal Anne,
replied: "While I may not boast a regal, or even a patrician descent,
I can claim that the blood of three of the most noble nations on earth
courses through my veins - the Cherokee, the Creek, and the American."
And this was delivered with a graceful toss of the head that would
have done honor to fair Gabrielle d'Estrees, whose siren charms
seduced France's greatest king from the path of honor, virtue and
duty.
En route for Fort Smith, Arkansas - the country was fertile, well
watered and timbered. Near Big Blue, we passes through a beautiful
little Cherokee village, amid the "vivas" of the men, the smiles and
waving of handkerchief by the ladies - the latter of whom presented
the Colonel with a regimental flag. From the Big Blue to the Porto, a
distance of ten miles, is a hilly, rocky, and broken country.
Here was encamped Colonel Cooper's Indian regiment, and we had
the pleasure of witnessing a war-dance one evening. A tree, about six
or ten inches in diameter, was denuded of its bark to a height of
eight feet, and around this "war-pole" the warriors danced, chanting a
deep, guttural, and monotonous drawl the while. The faces of the men
were hideously painted, and they were arrayed in habiliments so
fantastic that Harlequin himself would have been in the height of
fashion. In the dubious moonlight, their weird figures seemed like
some phantasm, while the cadence of the low and monotonous chant
almost lulled the hearer into a lethargy. When the shrill war-whoop
sounds from a single throat, echoed and re-echoed by the rocks and
hills, startling the eagle in his eyrie, and the wolf from its covert,
immediately upon the dying echoes a thousand braves cried forth the
savage sound, which, reverberating from rock to rock, amid the distant
mountains, sounds like the very elements themselves were in discord.
At Fort Smith, we learned that Lyon and Siegel were pressing
Price, who was retiring, before their superior numbers, toward the
Arkansas line. Here the wagontrain was left, together with the sick
men, disabled horses, etc., in command of Lieutenant Milburn, and the
regiment, reduced to light marching order, hastened on to report to
Gen. Ben McCullough, the Confederate commander, those headquarters
were supposed to be somwhere near the Missouri line. Over the Boston
mountains the command marched, the picturesque scenery of which
extorted exclamations of admiration from all. Arkansas has been
styled, with some degree of justness, the Scotland of America, and,
perhaps, some future Scott will spring up in the midst of that
romantic landscape and recount, in epic numbers, the deeds enacted
there when Titans grappled for the possession of the soil. Each day,
nay, each hour, brought us tiding of the enemy's advance. That grand
old Nestor of the Southern cause, Sterling Price, unable to stem the
current of dark invation, was leisurely retiring. As we neared the
scene of operations, the demonstrations of welcome, on the part of the
inhabitants, became more marked, until the town of Fayettville was
reached, where an enthusiastic ovation awaited us. Men, women, and
children were transported with joy, and, amid the booming of "anvil"
cannon, deafening cheers, and the waving of handkerchiefs, wished us
"God-speed."
The next night we encamped near Elk Horn tavern - a field
destined soon to become famous in the history of the war between the
States. The headquarters of General McCulloch were reached about the
1st of August, on Cane Creek. The Missouri State Guard, commanded by
General Price, had formed a junction with McCulloch's forces, and the
two commanders were awaiting re-enforcements. The Missourians
probably numbered 5,000 effective men. McCulloch's immediate command,
consisting of the Third Louisiana Infantry and Third Texas Cavalry,
did not exceed 2,000 men; and General Carroll, with about 2,000
Arkansas militia, completed the number of effective men under the
Southern flag. All, save the Louisiana regiment, commanded by Colonel
Louis Hebert, were poorly armed, the latter having Mississippi rifles,
were a well-uniformed, disciplined, and brave regiment. Thus, we
ascertain, that the Confederate forces did not exceed 9,000 men, and
they mostly raw recruits, with no drill instruction, and but little
discipline. The enemy probably numbered 12,000 men, but this
disparity in numbers is of but little moment when the greater
disparity of arms, discipline, and munitions of war, generally, are
taken into account. The enemy was largely composed of United States
regulars, and his volunteer regiments, too, were armed with the latest
and most improved weapons. The hostile armies were separated from
each other by an interval of about five miles; upon which semi-
neutral ground the Missouri cavalry was incessantly engaging that of
the Federals in skirmishes and affairs of outposts. Here were seen,
for the first time by our command, evidences of that vandalism which
characterized the Federal soldiery throughout the war, and with which
we were soon familiarized. A farm-house, deserted by its inmates at
the Yankees' approach - which act proclaimed their Southern sympathies
- had been occupied by the soldiers, and the most reckless waste and
destruction indulged in, apparently, in a mere spirit of wanton
deviltry. Here we filled our haversacks with three days' rations, and
drew ten rounds of ammunition. When the eighty rounds are remembered
that we drew daily, and fired away, too, in the Atlanta campaign, this
first year's soldiering seems like a "tempest in a tea-pot" - not that
we didn't have warm work, for the brave and ill-fated Lyon struggled
stubbornly for victory even when all home had fled his cause. With
the break of day, the advance commenced; the Missouri cavalry in
front, the infantry in the center, and the Texas regiment on the felt,
or rear. All were in momentary expectation the "ball would open," but
the wily Lyon, doubtful as to the numbers of McCulloch's recent re-
enforcement, preferred to retire himself, and, by skillful
manoeuvring, compel the Confederate generals to discover their real
strength. Since crossing the Missouri line, each man had acted as his
own purveyor of supplies, and those supplies consisted almost
exclusively of green corn, consequently, we were wolfish, and indulged
in bright fancies of capturing the Federal army, bag and baggage (that
always was the programme in those brave old days), and thereby
bettering our commissariat.
Late in the afternoon of August 2, we encamped on the field
destined to go down to the latest posterity as the "Battle-field of
Oak Hills." Price's army occupied the road leading to Springfield;
McCulloch's troops were encamped on, and adjacent to, Wilson Creek,
about one and a half miles in the rear of Price. Lyon had retired to
Springfield, which town he now occupied. For several days we remained
in camp here. Scouting, skirmishing with the enemy's pickets, and
procuring forage for man and beast, principally occupied the attention
of the men. Captain Frank Taylor, of Company C, made a gallant dash
into a detachment, guarding a train loaded with supplies for Lyon,
routing the detachment, taking a number of prisoners, and capturing
the entire train.
On the afternoon of August 9, orders were issued to prepare three
days' rations, clean up guns, and be prepared to advance on
Springfield, at a moment's notice. The men hailed the order with
acclamations of delight, but just about sun-setting, the order to
march was countermanded, by reason of the threatening aspect of the
heavens, and the men ordered to lie on their arms. This latter order
extinguished the fires of enthusiasm, but, as the sequel proved, it
was a precaution that saved the army. For, had we been negligently
encamped, expecting no advance by the enemy, instead of achieving a
victory, we must inevitably have been routed and captured, surrounded
and surprised, as we were. And had we advanced upon Springfield, as
originally intended, Price's column would have encountered Lyon's main
force in the dark of the plutonian night, and been annihilated by it.
The charge has been made, and denied, that the Confederate generals
had no pickets stationed that night, in consequence of the expected
advance. It does not seem possible that two officers, having the
experience and reputation for prudence and caution that both Price and
McCulloch enjoyed, would have thus left their commands to surprise.
But if pickets were stationed, they were of no service, for the first
intimation our regiment had that the enemy was near, was the report of
Siegel's cannon and the whistling of shell just overhead.
Lyon and the Confederate commander had conceived the same plan of
attack, and resolved to execute the same at about the same time, thus
furnishing one of the most singular synchronisms that we ever remember
having read of in this or any other war. In pursuance of this plan,
Siegel was to turn the entire Confederate position, by taking a
circuitous line of march, and open fire at daylight from his position
immediately in our rear. Lyon was to advance in command of the main
force, leisurely, not discovering his advance to Price until Siegel's
signal-gun announced him in position. The entire plan of battle, so
far, was carried out to the letter. Siegel formed in our rear, and
his cannon beemed our reveille that morning. On our side, the
surprise was complete. Price had intimation that the enemy was upon
him a few moments before the artillery opened. Instantly, the
command: "To horse!" was given, and the regiment marched out into an
open field to await orders from General McCulloch. In passing a rail-
fence, the second battalion of the regiment became cut off from the
first, and took up position in column of fours near the scene of the
late camp. Siegel, however having changed his position by crossing
the creek, now opened upon them a heavy fire of grape and canister.
Being without a head, and having no orders to execute, Captain H.P.
Mabry, a cool, brave and determined officer, assumed command, and by a
skillful movement, extricated the battalion from its unpleasant
position.
By this time, the battle had become general. Lyon had opened
upon Price along his entire line, and the Louisiana regiment and
Arkansas infantry were engaging Siegel warmly. The rattle of
musketry, and the thunder of artillery, were deafening. The hoarse
shells groaned their solemn warning high in air, and the whistling
minnie-balls sounded many a poor fellow's requiem; while the shouts
of the combatants rose often above the pandemoniom of battle. The
brave Louisianians would have routed Siegel alone, as they charged his
left wing, driving it back in the utmost confusion. No so the brave,
but raw militia. The enemy - United States regulars - were pressing
them heavily, and their line was beginning to waiver, when General
McCullough rode up to Colonel Greer, and, in a few words, pointed out
the state of affairs, and directed him to charge the advancing enemy.
"Boys," shouted Colonel Greer, "remember you are Texans! Forward!
trot! gallop! charge!" The enthusiastic shouts that greeted the
latter order would have done justice to Cooper's Choctaw warriors.
On! irresistibly on! the regiment swept. They were upon the Federals
before a bayonet was fixed, and over the routed blue-coats it swept
with the impetuosity of an alpine avalanche, as revolver and rifle
dashed out many a life.
This sealed the fate of Siegel's command. They were routed and
flying before the victorious Confederates, in all directions. Siegel,
adopting the cry of the French at Waterloo: "Save himself who can!"
succeeded in saving his bacon by the swiftness of his steed, and
furnished a literal illustration of the truth of the doggerel:
"He who fights and runs away,
Will live to fight another day."
Siegel disposed of, General McCulloch hastened, with his entire
command, to the assistance of General Price who was hard pressed by
his vigorous assailant. Captain H.P. Mabry, in command of a squadron,
continued the pursuit of Siegel's broken and demoralized columns.
Price and his brave Missourians had sustained the brunt of the battle,
unaided, against greatly superior numbers. Charge after charge, the
brave and determined Lyon made at the head of his columns in person.
Learning of Siegel's discomfiture, he fought with haste and
impetuosity, but kept his men well in hand; and had he not fallen,
the issue, possible, might have been different. His fall was the
signal for the shameful flight of his army, which deserted the dying
hero-chieftain to the mercies of his triumphant, but magnanimous,
enemy. They were unworthy of their leader; for, however much we may
denounce the fanatical views of Lyon, and his intense hatred of every
thing Southern, there is no question as to his being a strategist of
the highest order of genius, and as brave and resolute to execute, as
he was cool and sagacious to plan. He had maneuvered Price out of
Missouri, and outgeneraled both Price and McCulloch, at the battle of
Oak Hills. Had Siegel maintained his position with any credibility,
Lyon could have put into execution other plans, which, doubtless, his
fertile resources afforded him. But, as it was, he had no alternative
but to strike as hard and rapidly as possible, thus reducing an
excellently planned battle, in which science should have performed a
conspicuous part, to a mere brute contest. Though defeated, he
displayed remarkable traits of character that stamped him as a master
mind; and, had he lived, he certainly would have attained to eminence
in the profession of arms. He sealed his convictions with his life's
blood - falling within twenty steps of Price's line, where the
missiles of death, like the Persian arrows at Thermopylae were so
numerous as to obscure the light of the sun - and his foemen upon that
well-contested field, willingly drop this pebble above his tomb.
As tending to further illustrate the subject, and, at the same
time, present both sides of the question, as the readiest means of
reconciling the discrepant statements of parties attached to different
commands, on that memorable occasion, the annexed interview of T.L.
Snead, Chief of Staff to General Price, with a correspondent of the
Cincinnati Enquirer, is reproduced:
"Lyon," said Colonel Snead, "was the greatest man I ever knew.
That has been my statement everywhere. I always felt it, and always
said it. The day we had that memorable interview of six hours with
him at the Planter's House, St. Louis, he was Jeff. Davis over again,
but not as narrow and prejudiced as Davis. He was Davis, however, in
intensity and tenacity, and about the leanness and height of Davis.
We were to hold the interview in order to see if war could be
prevented. I am the survivor of it. Claib Jackson and Sterling Price
were the ablest politicians of Missouri; Price at the head after the
death of Colonel Benton. I was the Governor's secretary. Lyon came
there with Frank Blair, jr., and General Conant. Such was his force,
clearness, and real genius, that he met these old politicians at every
point, conceding nothing, but never discourteous, his reason and his
will equal. The whole party felt him to be the master mind, and the
Federal historians do not err when they put him down as the greatest
general they produced - greater than any produced on both sides west
of the Mississippi river. Lyon advanced into that room, a little,
red-bearded, red-haired, precise, positive, plain man. He sat down,
and crossed one leg over the other stiffly, and his face was serious
and stern. He spoke each word separate from the other, pronouncing
the little words, like my and to, with as much emphasis as the longer
ones. He raised his right arm, automatically as the conversation
proceeded, and brought it down with a jerk, the forefinger extended,
yet never speaking higher or lower than at first. We felt the sense
of war and government in all his bearing. 'I shall take but a small
part in this conference,' said Lyon; 'Mr. Blair is familiar with this
question, and knows the views of my government, and has its full
confidence;; what he has to say will have my support.' Yet, in half
an hour, he took the case out of Blair's mouth, and advanced to the
front, and Frank Blair was as dumb as he had been. The United States
could never have been typified by a more invincible mind and presence.
It was three o'clock when the meeting broke up. The last attempt
Jackson made, was to have both sides agree not to recruit troops in
Missouri. Lyon arose: 'Rather than agree that my government shall
concede to your government one iota of authority as to one man to be
recruited, one inch of ground of this State to be divided in
allegiance, or neutralized, between my government and your government,
I will see all of us under the sod.' Then taking out his watch
stiffly, he said: 'You shall have safe conduct out of my lines for
one hour. Meantime, you can get your dinner.' It was now three
o'clock. We took our dinner in haste, and left St. Louis by an
express-train, and, if we had not burned the bridges behind us, he
would have caught us before we reached Jefferson City, for he marched
at once. Price had soldierly respect for him, and delivered up his
body from the field of battle. It was found deserted a second time in
the streets of Springfield. I then gave it to Mrs. Phelps, wife of
the present Governor of Missouri, and sent men to bury it in the
grave-yard at Springfield. Lyon followed us with a determination
unparalleled in that war, and he went under the sod, in fulfillment of
his vow." (Mr. Snead was Price's Adjutant-general at the time of the
battle, as McIntosh, of Georgia, was McCulloch's). "McIntosh was a
better soldier than McCulloch, who was indecisive and faint of
confidence. Price was a fine old officer, who had never lost a
battle, and felt, like all Missourians, that the place to fight Lyon
was in Missouri, and not to fall back to Arkansas. McCulloch
commanded the Confederate army proper of 3,000 men. Price commanded
the Missouri State Guard of 8,000 men. The Confederate government,
including Jeff. Davis, seemed indifferent about Missouri, and did not
reguard her as having properly seceded. Price was a Major-General -
McCulloch only a Brigadier. The latter hesitated about marching upon
Springfield, and was inclined to return to Arkansas. One day, Price
rode up on his horse. He had a loud voice, and a positive address,
and always spoke to McCulloch as if he considered the latter an
inferior.
"Do you mean to march into Missouri, and attack General Lyon,
General McCulloch?'
"I have not received permission from Mr. Davis to do so, sir,'
answered McCulloch; 'my instructions leave me in doubt whether I
would be justifiable in doing so.'
"Now, sir, said Price, still in a loud, imperious tone, 'I have
commanded in more battles than you ever saw, General McCulloch; I
have three times as many troops as you have; I am of higher rank than
you are, and I am twenty years your senior in age. I waive all these
things, General McCulloch, and , if you will march into Missouri, I
will obey your orders, and give you the whole command, and all the
glory to be won there.'
"McCulloch said he was then expecting a dispatch from Mr. Davis,
and would take Price at his word, if it was favorable. The dispatch
came, and the army advanced, with McCulloch in supreme command. After
McCulloch had advanced awhile, he again grew irresolute, and instead
of moving on Springfield direct, he halted out at Wilson's Creek,
twelve miles or so south of that city, Price rode up to him one day,
and found him making diagrams on the ground with a stick. Price
bawled out: General McCulloch, are you going to attack Lyon, or not?'
McCulloch said that he was undecided. 'Then,' cried Price, 'I want my
own Missouri troops, and I will lead them against Lyon, myself if they
are all killed in the action; and you, General McCulloch, may go
where in the devil you please.' McCulloch was thus exasperated into
promising an attack. It was arranged to move on the very night that
Lyon moved, and by three columns, upon Springfield. In anticipation
of this movement, McCulloch drew in his pickets, and seeing some
clouds and threatening weather arising, he ordered the troops to lay
on their arms, and did not again advance his pickets. This led to the
complete surprise effected by Lyon in the morning. At four o'clock,
on the morning of the battle, August 10, 1861, McCulloch rode over to
Price's headquarters, which were pitched in a sort of cow-yard, by a
little farm-house down in a hollow. While Price, McCulloch, Churchill
and Snead were taking breakfast at the earliest dawn, a man came in
from the front, where Rains was posted, and said he had an important
message. The Yankees were advancing full 30,000 strong, and were on
Rains' line already. 'O, pshaw!' exclaimed McCulloch, 'that is only
another of Rains' scares.' They then went on eating, until another
man came and reported that the enemy was not more than a mile away,
and right on Rains' column as they lay on their arms. McCulloch again
said it was nonsense; but Price was excited. He thundered out to
Snead: 'Order my troops, sir, under arms, and in line of battle at
once, and have my horses saddled!' He had hardly spoken these words,
when the little group of men looked up from the cow-yard to where the
hills were rising, line on line, above them, and on the clear, morning
perspective, they saw Totten's battery unlimbered on the top of a
hill, less than three-quarters of a mile distant, and before he had
thrown the first shot, Siegel's battery in the rear also pealed out,
and the balls from those two cannon crossed each other right over the
hollow in which Price's troops were lying. The surprise was perfect.
General McCulloch hastened back to his headquarters, and put his
troops in motion against Siegel. In a very little time, Siegel was
whipped out. Price, in the meantime, had to encounter Lyon. The
contest was spirited and deadly, and the weather like fighting in a
furnace. Price's columns were reeling before Lyon's attacks, when he
sent Colonel Snead to ask McCulloch if he could spare him a battalion
of Missourians that were not properly in McCulloch's command.
McCulloch then placed himself at the head of the Missouri column, with
certain other troops, and came back over the field to Price's relief.
It was this re-enforcement that caused the death of Lyon, as Colonel
Snead believes; for, seeing fresh troops advancing on the Southern
side, Lyon waved his sword, and let the counter-attack, and was shot
dead. It was but a few minutes after Lyon fell before the battle
ceased."
The foregoing is reproduced, in justice to the Missourians, for
the reader must understand that there was foolish antagonism
engendered between the troops of the rival generals, which was fanned
into a blaze by a silly controversy conducted through the public
journals of the land, by one Mr. Tucker, on the part of General Price,
and by John Henry Brown, on the part of General McCulloch, which
seriously impaired the efficiency of the army. But, in justice to
"Ben McCulloch" - name ever dear to every true Texas - we can not
allow the charge of indecision to rest against the character of him
who was decided in all things. His summary disposal of Siegel was the
highest evidence of prompt decision. We would not detract one iota
from the well-earned fame of Price and his noble Missourians, but it
is but justice to place on record the fact that Ben McCulloch
displayed the high qualities of a commanding general on that occasion.
He comprehended the situation at a glance, and decision came as if by
intuition. He shared all the dangers of the field with the meanest of
his men. But, as it will be more appropriate in a future chapter to
dwell at length upon the character of General McCulloch, we will
dismiss the subject until that time.
In Company A, Third Texas Cavalry, was an unadulterated specimen
from Erin, of the name of B. Thomas. Mr. Thomas rode an incorrigible
horse, who would eat the tether that bound him to a tree, and, being
loose, he would devour whatever was eatable in camp. This equine
marauder had pursued his evil bent to such an extent, that many of the
victims had become exasperated, and declared if Mr. Thomas did not
devise means for securing the horse, they would kill him - the horse.
As Mr. Thomas would have rather suffered crucifixion, head down, than
to have been left afoot in Missouri, he procured a chain and padlock,
with which he managed to secure the marauder. When Siegel's battery
opened just before day on that memorable morning, and the bugle rang
out "to horse!" Mr. Thomas discovered that the mechanism of his lock
was not perfect, for the "bloody thing wouldn't worruck." Siegel
advanced, and the camp-ground became a battle-field. No one thought
of Mr. Thomas until the command returned to camp in the evening, when
lo! there stood the horse unscathed, and locked securely to a tree
that had been literally peeled by the bullets. "Be the vargin!"
exclaimed a husky voice from the dense bushes upon the creek; "boys,
is the storm over till last?" It was Mr. Thomas, who had sought
refuge in the bushes from the "inimy;" and, strange indeed, he had
been as miraculously preserved as had the horse.
Another member of the same regiment was wounded in the charge
upon Seigel's command, and left upon the field for dead. A party of
Federal fugitives passing that way, robbed him of hat, boots, money.
The ghouls felt his pulse and pronounced him dead, else he believes
they would have administered the coup de grace with a bayonet. An
original character, of the same regiment, was Mr. Brazil, who
originally hailed from Buncombe county, Tar river, North Carolina.
Mr. Brazil had a dozen ears of green corn on the fire when Seigel
opened the matinee, which he swore he wouldn't leave for all the d-d
Dutch in hell - for, be it known, that Lyon's army was composed so
largely of Germans, that they were not called by the Confederates
"Yanks," but "Dutch." When Mr. Brazil was satisfied the corn was
cooked thoroughly, he took the dozen ears up in his arms, mounted his
"war hoss," and with his old musket, as long as a fence-rail, lying in
his lap, went jogging along in the direction he supposed the regiment
had taken, while all his faculties were centered on an ear of corn
upon which he was munching. "Hello! my man!" exclaimed an officer, as
he rode up to one of Siegel's regiments, "Where are bound, so early?"
"O, by _____," exclaimed Brazil, with his mouth full of corn, "I am
gwine to ketch me a Dutchman, I am, you bet!" "Take him in boys,"
fell upon the startled ears of the astonished Brazil, like the knell
of doom. Mr. Brazil says they did "take him in," and "put him
through," too, over a hundred miles of rocky road, at double-quick,
afoot, to Rollo. The author certifies that Mr. Brazil, on his return
to the command, was the worst used up man he ever saw. This episode
gave Mr. Brazil a decided distaste to active operations in the field,
and he became a teamster, and held the post unto the last. The love
of lucre tempted him to substitute for another, after the expiration
of his year's service; but he had it expressly stipulated that he was
to retain his berth in the wagon-train.
When Siegel's shot began to fly pretty thick, brave, good old
Captain Hale, who made no military pretensions, called out to his
company: "Git in a straight row, here boys! This is the war you all
have hearn talked about! Them's the cannon; them's the muskets;
that great big screeching thing is a bung-shell; and them little
fellows that sing like bumble-bees, are minie-balls! Git in a
straight row; we're gwine to work now!" And the brave old man and
his gallant "boys" did good work on that memorable day.
The Third Texas Cavalry occupied the town of Springfield the day
succeeding the battle, and the regimental flag was hoisted above the
court-house, during which ceremony Major Chilton delivered an eloquent
address to the assembled citizens and soldiers. Many Southern
sympathizers, imprisoned merely for opinion's sake, were released from
confinement in the county jail.
The body of the ill-fated Lyon was delivered to Mrs. Phelps, wife
of the then member of Congress from the Springfield district, and at
the present writing (1878), the Democratic Governor of Missouri, by
whom it was interred on the premises of their homestead, two miles
north of the town.
The author regrets that he can give no sketch of the life of the
gallant, though unfortunate, Lyon.
The Federal loss in the engagement was severe - probably
amounting to 1,000 killed, and twice that number prisoners and
wounded. The Confederate loss did not exceed 250, all told. General
McCulloch, after exchanging for the few Confederates in the hands of
the enemy, dismissed the remainder of his prisoners, telling them that
he had rather fight, than feed them.
The route of the Federal army was complete, and had the
Confederate cavalry pursued, as the Prussians did at Waterloo, not a
man would have reached St. Louis, which city - and it was the key to
the West - must, undoubtedly, have been occupied by the Southern army.
Unfortunately, there is recorded but few instances in which the
Confederate soldier improved the advantages of victory. Had the enemy
been pressed at Manassas and Oak Hills, Washington and St. Louis would
have rewarded the efforts of the Confederates with bright promises of
speedy and complete success. Secession, though it might have been a
constitutional remedy, i.e., in conformity to the spirit of the
organic law, was a Caesarian remedy, of so radical a nature as to be
resorted to only in the extremest case. By abating no right under the
Federal compact, the occupation of Washington would have been the
possession of the government. The true policy, and only hope of the
Confederacy, was in a spirited and aggressive warfare. Everything
should have been subordinated to efforts calculated to render the army
efficient. One year should have ended the war; and if would done so,
could Southern statesmen have foregone the pleasure of spliting
theoretical hairs, and came to the aid of the army with a tender of
the resources of the whole country. The army performed its duty; the
men performed prodigies of valor, and the officers were unsurpassed by
any on the planet. But the crisis did not develop a single statesman
capable of comprehending the magnitude of the struggle. Happily, now,
these issues will arise no more to distract the American people from
the high road to prosperity. If this Union is destined ever to be
rent asunder, the entering wedge will not be applied by the South.
This much is certain.
CHAPTER XXIII.
ARRIVAL OF THE SIXTH TEXAS CAVALRY - INCIDENTS
OF THE CAMPAIGN - MABRY AND JOHNSON'S GALLANT FIGHT -
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF COLONEL GREER.
Captain Mabry pursued the routed and flying column of Siegel to a
mill, situated on a creek some five miles from the field, capturing
150 prisoners. "And," says the MS. of Captain Dunn, "the road was
thickly strewn with dead Federals." Siegel managed to retain
possession of one piece of artillery up to this time, but, Mabry
pressing him so close, he now consigned the whipped dog of war to the
depths of the stream. No official account has been given to the
public, so far as we know, of the losses sustained by the enemy in the
battle. The fighting was at very close range, and the mortality
immense. The dead and wounded literally encumbered the ground. With
the exception of Mabry's pursuit, the enemy was allowed to seek safety
in flight. An energetic pursuit by 1,000 cavalry would have bagged
the whole fugitive mass; for never was defeat more thorough and
demoralizing. The loss of the Texas regiment did not exceed ten
killed and thirty wounded.
After the battle, the sad duty devolved upon survivors to afford
the wounded relief, and give to the dead the poor burial rights that
they could. The duty of interring the enemy's killed also devolved
upon the Confederate and Missouri soldiers, as the humane Siegel made
no proposals to perform that obvious duty himself. Field hospitals
were erected for temporary use, at the most convenient points, and the
merciless surgical saw and knife commenced their work. The Southern
forces occupied Springfield the next day, and to that town the wounded
were speedily removed. The author, being one of the wounded, and in
hospital, can certify that the excruciating sufferings of the poor
fellows, exceeded the heart-rending scenes of the battle-field itself.
Here reclines a poor Arkansian, in a half-sitting position, being
supported by rolls of blankets, with a minnie-bullet through his
bosom. Each laborious respiration produces the fatal death rattle in
his throat, and, though science knows the signet of death is fixed
upon his clammy brow, the humane surgions labor to alleviate his pain.
Gradually the breathing becomes less frequent, and the horrible
gurgling rattle more weird and prolonged. A silence ensues, and then
a rustling from his distorted mouth, like the noiseless flapping of
angel's wings which we hear, independent of the external sense, and
the suffering soldier has passed from earth, with a smile of ineffable
sweetness and confidence breaking upon his lips. Does he, in passing
the intermediate sphere, with one foot on the shores of Time, catch a
glimpse of the cheering promise beyond? None now may know. Many
other touching scenes might be added to this; but being in close
proximity to the Arkansian, and an eye-witness of his death, the
picture has remained stamped upon my mind as vividly as on that August
day in 1861. General McCulloch, with that humanity characteristic of
all noble natures, visited the hospitals in person, and had a cheering
word for every sufferer.
The Missouri army commenced an immediate advance, and, to the
deep chagrin and mortification of the Confederate army, we were
suffered to remain in ignoble quietude, while our brave allies were
winning the new laurals at Lexington, and on the other fields.
Whoever an authority was responsible for the fatal course that refused
co-operation with General Price, was guilty of the most egregious
folly capable of being committed by a man having the least pretension
to reason and common sense. Engaged in the same cause, Price's defeat
would been our loss, as his victories were our gain. Yet we remained
idle spectators, while the poorly-clad veterans of Missouri's "Old
Guard" carried their "Grizzly Bears," from victory to victory, until
overwhelming forces checked their splendid career; then, without
sustaining a reverse, they sullenly retired, disputing every foot of
ground with the giant enemy. No brighter page will adorn the history
of contemporary struggles, than the magnificent campaigns of these
barefooted boys, led by their grand old chieftain. If heroism in the
field, and Spartan fortitude in the midst of suffering and privations,
had been acceptable sacrifices to the god of war, the rich libation of
their blood would have invoked, successfully, the genius of victory to
perch upon their banners. But so it was not decreed in the chancery
of Heaven.
General McColloch's forces remained encamped in the south-western
portion of Missouri, doing little else than cooking and eating the
wholesome and abundant rations furnished them by the commissariat,
until Fremont's vain-glorious advance to Springfield, driving Price
before him, when the Confederate army retired to the "Cross Hollows,"
seemingly a favorite position of Gen McCulloch. But as the Sixth
Texas Cavalry joined us previous to this time, we will now take a
brief review of its organization, regretting that the meager data
available renders it impossible to go more into details. For the
Sixth deserves the highest eulogium that can be pronounced in its
praise. Composed, like the other regiments that early left the State,
of the very best young men in the country, it could be relied upon to
accomplish any feat of daring within the prowess of human bravery and
daring.
In August, 1861, Colonel B. Warren Stone, of Dallas, was
commissioned a Colonel, by the President of the Provisional
Government, and immediately issued a call, inviting the formation of
companies. On the 6th of September following, the subjoined companies
were organized as the Sixth Regiment of Texas Cavalry, and were
mustered into the service of the Confederate States, at Camp Bartow,
in Dallas county, by Colonel Garland:
Co. A, Kaufman county, _____ Harden, Captain.
Co. B, Kaufman county, John S. Griffith, Captain.
Co. C, Dallas county, Fayette Smith, Captain.
Co. D, Grayson county, _____ Bowen, Captain.
Co. E, Van Zandt county, Jack Wharton, Captain.
Co. F, Dallas county, _____ Gray, Captain.
Co. G, McLennan county, P.F. Ross, Captain.
Co. H, Bell county, _____ White, Captain.
Co. I, Henderson county, H.W. Burgess, Captain.
Co. K, Collin county, J.W. Throckmorton, Captain.
Each company averaged something over 100 men; the regiment
aggregating 1,150. An election of field officers was immediately
held, the Colonel also submitting his name for the approval of his
men. The election resulted as follows:
B. Warren Stone, of Dallas county, Colonel.
John Summerfield Griffith, Lieutenant-Colonel.
Private L.S. Ross, of Company G, was elected Major.
Lieutenant D.R. Gurley, of Company G, was appointed Adjutant.
Captain A.J. White, of Dallas, Quartermaster.
Captain _____ _______, of Collin County, Commissary of
Subsistence.
The regiment soon moved up to Collon county, and encamped near
McKinney, and while in camp at this place, was reviewed by Colonel
Garland. The regiment being well mounted and well clad, presented a
fine appearance, upon which they were handsomely complimented by
Colonel Garland. The "sound of resounding arms" had fallen on their
ears, and the boys were eager impatience itself to get to the front,
and bear a hand in the efforts of Mr. Abraham Lincoln to make history.
After a few days' stay at McKinney, the regiment took up the line of
march for Missouri, being, for the convenience of obtaining forage
divided into three divisions, of which Major Ross commanded the first,
Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith the second, and Colonel Stone the third.
This order of march was continued until Red river was crossed, when
the various divisions were consolidated again at Northtown. At this
point, information reached Colonel Stone that a large body of hostile
Indians were driving the command of colonel Cooperback. The regiment
immediately commenced a forced march in the direction of Fort Gibson.
Having reached this place, the news was more definite and confirmatory
of the reports before received. Hopotheohola, a veteran chief, who
had fought with the hostiles at Talladega and Horse Shoe, had gathered
together the disaffected of all the tribes, and, under the designation
of "Pin Indians," had taken the field in sufficient numbers as to
compel the Confederate Indians Superintendent, Colonel Cooper, to
retire before him. From Fort Gibson, the regiment continued the
forced march up the Verdigris. But the wily old chief, hearing of
Cooper's anticipated re-enforcement, turned about and retreated in the
direction of Kansas, burning and laying waste the country along its
route. Hopeless of overtaking the hostiles, as his horses were
already much jaded, Colonel Stone countermarched and returned to Fort
Gibson. From there the regiment proceeded leisurely to Camp Walker,
in Missouri, where were pitched the headquarters of General McCulloch.
After reporting to General McCulloch, the regiment then proceeded to
Carthage, where General McCulloch was concentrating his cavalry,
preparatory to making a raid into Kansas.
On September 28th, the patriot Governor of Missouri, Claiborne F.
Jackson, who, like the rejected Son of Man, literally, had not where
to lay his head within the broad domain of the Commonwealth over which
he was titular Chief Magistrate, with his staff and escort, approached
Carthage. Colonel Greer proceeded, at the head of his regiment, to do
the honors of the day to the almost fugitive Governor, and escort him
into town. The Governor reviewed the regiment, and took up his
quarters in the town. On the night of the 30th, he delivered an
eloquent defence of the secession of Missouri, to a large concourse of
citizens and soldiers. Standing upon the steps of the court-house,
his silvery hair reflecting the mellow beams of moonlight, he
presented a picture of Justice wronged, and the impotency of Virtue,
alone, to cope with the minions of Might and Wrong. In this address,
Governor Jackson imparted to us the first intimation of the proposed
invasion of Kansas. In speaking of the enormities perpetrated by the
ruthless Kansas "Jayhawkers," upon the defenseless citizens of the
border counties of Missouri, he raised his trembling hand aloft and
exclaimed: "In ten days, we will turn upon them the most ruthless
invasion known to man since the razing of Jerusalem to the earth, and
burn the accursed land from Dan to Beersheba!" This retaliatory
programme, it is supposed, would have been carried out, had not the
intelligence reached General McCulloch, at that time, of General
Price's retreat from Missouri, closely followed by General Fremont.
This General, it is said assumed the consequence of an eastern satrap,
and so encumbered was he with the immense wagon-train necessary to
transport the delicacies of his luxurious camp, that he made but a
desultory pursuit of General Price; and, like the dog in pursuit of
the wolf was not extremely anxious to overtake him. The short march,
from St. Louis to Springfield, proved enough active campaigning for
General Fremont, and, in the latter town, he established his court,
and remained until the commencement of the winter season in St. Louis,
when he removed his court to the gay capital of his satrapy. Hearing
of Fremont's departure, General McCulloch hastily placed himself at
the head of a cavalry force of which our Texas regiments and
Whitfield's Battalion formed an integral part, and made a rapid march
to Springfield, only to find that General Fremont, having rusticated,
sufficiently, had leisurely returned to St. Louis.
While Fremont was encamped at Springfield, General McCulloch
ordered Captain Mabry with his company G, and Captain Cumby with
company B, both of the Third Texas, to proceed to Springfield, or as
near that town as they could, without risking too much the capture of
their commands, and to ascertain approximately the number of the
enemy, the number of his guns, and all other information concerning
him they could obtain. When within about ten miles of Springfield,
these brave officers were met by a regiment of Missouri cavalry that
had been skirmishing with the enemy's pickets, the commander of which
informed them that Fremont occupied the place with 50,000 men, and
that they had better turn back, as their capture would be certain, if
they proceeded any further in that direction. But these brave and
conscientious officers did not think they had fulfilled the spirit of
their instructions, and resolved to pursue their present course and
risk the consequences. They proceeded to within eight miles of the
town, and ascertained of a Southern sympathizer, at whose house they
had halted to make inquiries, that the enemy was full 35,000 strong,
and that his forces were encamped immediately within the limits of the
town. It was judged inadvisable to proceed any further with the men;
and, at the suggestion of the dauntless Mabry, Cumby remained in
charge of the two companies, and himself, accompanied by Captain Alf.
Johnson and a thoroughly reliable guide, set out, determined to obtain
the information desired by General McCulloch. They proceeded without
incident to within one mile of Springfield, and here fastening their
horses, entered the town afoot, and made for the house of a well-known
Southern lady. From her they learned that the enemy was reported to
be 30,000 strong. Dispatching the guide for a Southern gentleman,
from whom the desired information could be obtained, Mabry and Johnson
proceeded to regale themselves with a warm supper that had been
prepared for them. After supper, Mabry went out into the front yard
to ascertain if all was right, and his quick eye immediately
discovered the fact that the house was surrounded by Yankees. Turning
to re-enter the house, he was accosted by a party of five or six, who
demanded his surrender and yielding up of his arms. Pretending to
comply, the dauntless man drew his bowie knife and plunged it into the
heart of the spokesman, who dropped dead at his feet. This was the
signal for a terrific onslaught. The infuriated Yankees closed in on
him, while revolver after revolver rung out its murderous report.
Mabry slashed right and left in the darkness with his trusty knife,
and other foemen, undoubtedly, felt the keenness of its edge. But he
is now shot through the right hand and the friendly knife drops from
his nerveless grasp at his feet. Drawing his revolver with his left
hand, he retreats around the house to where Johnson is engaged with a
number of enemy; for, upon the first report of fire-arms, Johnson
jumped out of the window, and was met by a number of men, who demanded
his surrender. His only reply was from the muzzle of his shot-gun.
Emptying both barrels of which, he, too, drew his six-shooter and
continued the bloody fray. Mabry having rejoined him, the two kept
the enemy at bay as they retired from the scene, Johnson supporting
himself upon the shoulder of Mabry, as he was severely wounded in the
hip. The indomitable men proceeded thus until they reached their
horses, when they made for Captain Cumby and the two companies. The
faithful guide, hearing the uproar, immediately retraced his steps,
and procuring their overcoats, letters, etc., rejoined them at camp.
Take this episode in all its bearing, and, I suppose, it stands
unparalleled in all the hair-breadth escapes of the war for cool
courage and indomitable will. Julius Caesar was no braver than H.P.
Mabry, and the writer has often thought that, if Mabry had commanded
at Vicksburg, there would have been no surrender, of that place, and,
ergo, no necessity for the sad finale at Appomattox Court-house.
After reaching the command, the two wounded heroes had time and
leisure to realize how hazardous had been their mission, and how
narrow their escape. Their clothing was literally perforated by the
enemy's balls, and it seemed that the hand of death had been averted
only by a miracle. Of Captain Mabry's subsequent career, our
narrative will deal. Captain Johnson was afterwards appointed to a
Colonelcy, for his gallantry on this occasion, and was the commandant
of Arkansas Post, when that place fell into the hands of the enemy.
He was taken prisoner and died in St. Louis. After the
reconnoissance, at Springfield, General McCulloch retired toward the
Arkansas line, and, about December 6, 1861, the various regiments went
into winter quarters.
The winter encampment of the Third was selected at the mouth of
Frog bayou, on the Arkansas river and that of the Sixth a few miles
below. Captain Harris, the energetic Quartermaster of the Third,
procured a saw-mill, and soon material for the erection of comfortable
shanties, was in abundance. As there were no rumors of war here, the
boys commenced a life of pleasure and social dissopation in the
fashionable circle of Frog bayou. Dances - regular old-fashioned
"bran-dances" - were the order of the night; and animated jig and
reel followed the lively twanging of many an Arkansaw Ole Bull's
fiddle. Many of the boys here obtained furloughs for the purpose of
visiting their homes. Gen. McCulloch went to Richmond, Virginia, the
permanent capital of the Confederacy, and Colonel Greer obtained leave
of absence to visit his home, which left the army in command of
General McIntosh, and the regiment in command of Lieutenant Colonel
Lane.
CHAPTER XXIV.
DEATH OF CAPTAIN HARRIS - BATTLE OF CHUSTENAHLAH -
WINTER QUARTERS - KINDNESS OF MRS. GREER, ETC.
Early in December, the Third Regiment was called upon to mourn
the loss of their good old quartermaster. In superintending the
sawing of timber, Captain Harris carelessly allowed his clothing to be
caught by the teeth of the circular saw, and, ere the team could be
stopped, his body was fearfully mangled. He survived a day or two,
and died. No regiment in the service had the good fortune to possess
a better quartermaster than he, and his loss was long and seriously
felt by the men.
The festivities alluded to in the preceding chapter were at their
height - like the celebrated ball at Brussels, immortalized by Byron -
when the rude blast of war broke upon the diverting scene, and
summoned the gay Adonis from blushing sweetheart and nimble-toed jig,
to ruder scenes in the march, the bivouac, and the deadly charge. The
irrepressible Hopotheohola daring the rigors of winter as he had
braved the frosts of time had again flung his seditious standard to
the breeze and defiantly thrown down the gage of battle to General
Cooper, who immediately commenced a periodical retreat.
Simultaneously with the reception of the intelligence, Colonel
McIntosh ordered out the cavalry, consisting of the Third, Sixth, and
Eleventh (Young's), Texas Regiment, and Whitfield's Battallion
(Texas), the latter two of whom had bur recently joined us. Placing
himself at the head of the column, McIntosh gave the signal for the
march to commence. At Van Buren, where the command crossed the
Arkansaw river, McIntosh's regiment of mounted infantry fell into
line. A forced march was here begun, which terminated only when Fort
Gibson was reached. The weather, previously very pleasant, now became
extremely cold. The ground was frozen, and the men suffered much from
the bitter cold. Passing through Fort Gibson, the command crossed a
large prairie, and entered the woods beyond, through which flowed the
Chustenahlah creek, a beautiful and wild mountain brook. From this
point, the smoke from the enemy's camp-fires was plainly visible,
rising from the summits of the mountains in the distant perspective.
The command halted on Chustenahlah creek until midnight, when Colonel
Lane, throwing forward Company E (Third Regiment), Captain D.M. Short
commanding, as an advance guard, the command resumed the line of
march. The march was continued all night without an incident to vary
the dull monotony. About 9 p.m., Captain Short came upon the enemy's
pickets, and drove them rapidly in upon the main body. The command
soon arrived upon the scene, when it was discovered that the enemy was
posted upon the summit of an almost inaccessible mountain. The
sagacious and experienced Hopotheohola had selected a position
impregnable by nature, and the veteran chieftain, with his more
youthful lieutenant - Halleck Tschustenuga - were riding up and down
the lines, speaking words of confidence, and imparting hopes of
promise, in an effort to rouse their warriors to as sublime a devotion
to the cause, and reckless disregard of consequences, as filled their
own stoical bosoms. The warriors, painted in the most hideous manner,
and clad in the most outlandish garbs, were perpetrating fantastic
antics before high heaven, and the cat-like enemy ready for the fatal
spring below. Some gobbled, in imitation of the turkey-gobbler;
others, fired by a spirit of emulation, apparently, rivaled the coyote
in howling; the game viking of the barn-yard would have recognized
his "cock-a-doodle-doo," in the wild pandemonium of sounds, as would
the panther, the catamount, and even the domestic dog.
Colonel McIntosh determined to charge the almost perpendicular
mountain, on horseback. Upon the side next us there was but little
timber to afford us shelter from the unerring marksmen covered by
their works, but there were large, craggy rocks to be scaled, and
bottomless gulches to be passed. The command was immediately deployed
into line. The Sixth, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John S.
Griffith, on the right; the Third, commanded by Lt.-Col. Lane, in the
center; the Eleventh, commanded by Colonel Wm. C. Young, on the left;
McIntosh's battalion of infantry supporting the line. Slowly the
command marches to the very base of the last elevation, and the
enemy's sharpshooters are commencing to fire. But the impetuous
McIntosh, who can not brook a tardy skirmish salutation, orders the
charge, and the intrepid Lane and Griffith, responding, call on their
men, and a thousand frenzied yells reply, as a thousand excited horses
plundge madly up the steep ascent, and a thousand rifles pour such a
leaden hail into the ranks of the astounded and terified Indians, that
no effort is made to hold the works, and the victory is won were the
battle had fairly begun.
A vigorous pursuit was immediately commenced, and many hand-to-
hand fights to the death occurred; for, however impotent the Indian
may be fettered by disciplined organization, and individually, he
knows no personal danger, and, taking his life in his hand, will
accept the challenge to mortal combat with the odds against him of ten
to one. The Indians scattered in all directions - having Kansas,
however, for the objective point - and built fires, or rather made
"smokes," in order to divert the pursuers, and cause them to relax the
pursuit. One instance of their stoical indifference to death will
suffice: An old warrior fired upon a party of eight or ten from
behind a tree. The men did not wish to kill him, and used even
entreaties to induce him to surrender; but, with death imminent, he
continued to load his old rifle with a sublime indifference never
attained by the Cynic philosophers of Greece, and, having loaded, he
cooly proceeded with the priming, when his admiring foes were
compelled to dash out his brave old like. "Only an Indian killed!"
but who knows what the hopes were that this old man had founded upon
his cause? Go, votaries of the "Lost Cause," to the crumbling stones
of your dismantled alters, and invoke if ye can, the spirit of 1861.
It is dead! dead in soul and body, and no wraith even represents it
in the phantom processions of the shadowy land of Weir! The victors
at Atlanta and Appomattox holds it even lighter than you regard the
cause of the poor old warrior, lying there in the silent wilderness
before you, with his crimson life-tide ebbing and splashing away!
Unhappy man, in the brief span of life, is but a puppet! The Roman
emperor weighs not more in the balances of Divine Justice than does
the savage Indian; each leaves the impress of his foot upon the sands
of time, and the first returning wave obliterates all trace of empire
and tribe alike.
An inventory of the captured prisoners and property showed: Two
hundred and fifty women and children: forty or fifty negroes; five
hundred head of ponies; seventy or eighty wagons; one hundred head
of beef cattle; five hundred head of sheep; ten thousand (more or
less) dogs; besides buffalo-robes, beads, belts, and other trinket
too numerous and infinitesimal to name. One article found among the
trinkets, invaluable by reason of its age and antecedents, was a
silver medal, struck in commemoration of a treaty of peace concluded
between the Creeks and the British Government, in the year 1694. What
became of this souvenir, the author knows not; but hopes it has been
returned, ere this, to its original owners.
The loss of the command was slight, but no correct list, it is
thought, of the casualties, in now extant. Lieutenant Durham, a young
and promising officer of Company B, Third Regiment, was mortally
wounded, and died soon after. Company A, of the Third Regiment, was
ably commanded by Orderly-Sergeant R.B. Gause, whose many noble
qualities deserve that he should be mentioned; but the author knows
no eulogium that he could pronounce in his praise more appropriate
than that pronounced by the great Napoleon on Baron Larry; "He was,"
said the Emperor, "the most virtuous man I ever knew."
The United States had stirred up this revolt among the Indians,
the United States rifles with which they were largely armed, amply
demonstrated. But the emissaries of the Federal Government were
powerless again to cause the Indian to offer himself as food for
powder and lead. The crushing defeat of Chustenahiah put a period to
all hopes of creating a diversion in that direction. Poor old
Hopotheohola, who had done all that individual sagacity and
intrepidity could, with the limited means at his command, fell a
victim to his discomfitted warriors' desire for revenge and blood. He
was assassinated by unknown parties soon after the battle. The
campaign proper terminated with the battle of Chustenahlah, and the
command of Colonel McIntosh returned to their respective quarters. In
the case of the Third Regiment, the boys were glad enough to return to
their comfortable quarters, and resume the social duties and pleasures
that had been so unceremoniously broken up by the late call to arms.
Colonel Greer, soon after this, returned, being accompanied by his
charming and good lady. We have spoken elsewhere of the angelic
ministrations of Mrs. Greer, at the bedside of the sick soldiers, and
would again repeat all that we there wrote; and did the language
admit of more positive expressions, they should be employed in
commendation of her Christian deeds.
About the latter portion of February, the men who had been home
on furlough reported for duty, and many fresh volunteers came, also,
to swell the ranks of the regiment. Of course, these neophytes in the
art of war looked upon their veteran friends of twelve months' service
as perambulating military encyclopedias of useful knowledge. The
veteran felt his importance, and, oracle-like, delivered his replies
to the many questions by metaphorical allusions, and with an air of
freezing indifference. A new recruit, upon one occasion, desired to
be informed, by a veteran friend, how many Yankees he had killed. The
impossibility of ascertaining this fact, in a general engagement, was
shown by the veteran. "Did you ever kill one?" persisted the recruit.
"Did you ever shoot one, and see the blood spout out - see it,
yourself?" "It is better," replied the veteran, "to be in doubt
whether we ever killed one, than to have the conscience tormented with
the belief that we killed them all." This was satisfactory.
While in winter-quarters, as Adjutant M.D. Ector was attempting
to suppress some boisterous noise in the camps of one of the
companies, he was assaulted by two of the men, who were subsequently
court-martialed, and sentenced to be dishonorably discharged and
drummed out of the regiment. The sentence was severe, and the
unfortunate men, who had proved themselves good and brave soldiers,
felt the disgrace deeply.
The negroes, and a portion of the women and children captured at
Chustenahlah, were kept under guard at this post for several weeks.
What ultimately was the fate of the poor unfortunates, we know not.
They presented a forlorn and pitiful picture - bereft of all they held
dear - and the author's heart, on more than one occasion, when out in
sympathy to them.
INCIDENTS, ETC.
On the evening of the 25th, as the Third Texas was busy in the
work of pitching camp, two hundred warriors, as if they had emerged
from the bosom of the earth, were discovered in line of battle, not
exceeding one-half mile, in the immediate front of the regiment,
calmly contemplating the actions of the busy and unconscious men
before them. Major Chilton rode out about halfway toward them, and
signified, by signs, for one to approach him, which request was
immediately complied with. The Indians refused to speak the American
language, by which token Major Chilton was soon convinced that they
were hostiles, and abandoned the conference; whereupon, the silent
cavalcade as mysteriously disappeared in the mountains as it had
appeared. Just before night, on this evening, Sam Martin, an old
Indian fighter, discerned the smoke of the hostile encampment rising
above the summits of the mountains, in the dim distance, and forthwith
reported the fact to Colonel Lane, and from this movement, all fears
of the enemy' retreat were dispelled.
Hopotheohola had, at one time, exercised the functions of Chief
of the Creek Nation, and was displaced by the able and favorite "White
King," McIntosh, who was succeeded by his son, Chili, who, as chief,
concluded a treaty with General Pike, on the part of the Confederate
States, in 1861. A bitter feud existed between Hopotheohola and the
McIntosh family, and for Chili McIntosh to expouse the cause of the
South, was sufficient reason why his hereditary enemy should cast his
fortunes on the opposite side. The full-bloods generally sided with
Hopotheohola, while the wealth and intelligence of the tribe arrayed
themselves under the banner of the legitimate chief, McIntosh, who
proved himself an able leader, a sagacious ruler, and a man of
unswerving fidelity to the cause he had espoused. Indeed, there were
instances in which the civilized Indians signalized themselves for
high courage, fortitude and chivalry, that would have reflected credit
on knights of the "Round-Table;" conspicuous among whom must always
stand the names of Chili McIntosh and Colonel Stan Waitie.
Colonel McIntosh's plan of campaign comprised the capture of the
enemy as well as his defeat; and, to this end, Colonel D.H. Cooper,
commanding an Indian brigade, to which was temporarily attached the
Ninth Regiment of Texas Cavalry, and Whitfield's Texas Battallion -
both of which organizations, subsequently, were integral parts of
"Ross' Brigade" - marched up the Arkansas river with the object of
cutting off the retreat of the enemy, while the command of Colonel
McIntosh, as before stated, marched up the Verdigris, and attacked
Hopotheohola on the heights of Chustenahlah. The immediate object of
the movement was defeated by the precipitancy of the attack, and the
immediate giving way of the Indian line. But the indefatigable
Whitfield, the gallant Colonel Sims of the Ninth, and Colonel Cooper,
with his brigade of friendly Indians, pursued them far into the
inhospitable plains. (The pursuers were forced to turn back, as their
rations were consumed, and they had already tested the quality of
broiled horse-flesh. The plains wee utterly destitute of game. The
weather was intensely cold, and, in addition to the pangs of hunger,
the men suffered no little from this cause.)
Major G.W. Chilton, of the Third Texas Cavalry, while acting with
conspicuous gallantry, was wounded by a rifle-ball, slightly, in the
head; but, disregarding which, he remained at his post until the last
gun was fired. Major M.J. Brinson of the Ninth Texas Cavalry, bore
himself, throughout the engagement, with marked gallantry; and, by
his fearless demeanor, contributed no little to the final result. The
author's friend, Harry Bell, of Company A, Third Texas Cavalry, was
severely though not mortally, wounded by a frightful bullet-hole in
the right breast.
At Fort Gibson, Lieutenant-Colonel Lane obtained leave of
absence, and returned home, leaving Major G.W. Chilton in command of
the Third Texas Cavalry which leisurely continued the march to winter
quarters.
At Van Buren, Major Chilton munificently "stood treat," and
purchased a barrel of choice whisky, which the boys of the regiment
disposed of by drinking frequent "potations pottle deep," and all got
as merry as merry could be, and many didn't get home till morning, and
some, only after the lapse of two or three days; but, in the case of
these latter, whether their absence was attributable to the effects of
Arkansaw corn-juice, or to Arkansaw belles, deponent sayeth not.
One of the unostentatious heroes of Chustenahlah, was B.S.
Triplett, the author's friend, and to whom he was indebted for many an
act of kindness. Brave and loyal "Old Tripp," after passing through
the hundreds of battles and skirmishes of the four years of war, fell
just at its close by the hands of an assassin. Perhaps it was better
so! He never lived to look upon the "conquered banner," and to feel
that experience of death in life that he had outlived his usefulness.
Death is generally accounted the ultimate loss; but death often
relieves life of many burdens too grievous to be borne; and, it is
doubtful, if we should not look upon the write horse and his specter
rider as friends of humanity, instead of remorseless foes.
CHAPTER XXV.
VAN DORN ARRIVES AND ASSUMES COMMAND - ELK HORN -
DEATH OF MCCULLOCH AND MCINTOSH - INCIDENTS, ETC.
The peaceful, semi-domestic scent that characterized the sojourn
in winter-quarters, were of short duration, for soon the summons came
for us to mount and go forth to meet a more powerful foe than the one
so recent vanquished on the heights of Chustenahlah. The heroic Price
had made a winter campaign into Missouri, and the "Old Guard" had
added fresh laurels to their fame by the victory of Drywood, and on
other fields. About the middle of February, General Curtis took the
field, at the head of about 40,000 men magnificently equipped, and
abundantly provided with all the murderous machinery of war. Price
had halted at Springfield, purposing to spend the remainder of the
winter there, in the reorganization of his army. In an address to the
people of Missouri, he eloquently exclaimed: "Give me 50,000 men, and
Missouri shall march to victory with the tread of a giant!" At
Carthage, in the autumn past, a quorum of the Missouri Legislature had
convened, and formally severed her connection with the United States,
and, in conformity to this "Act," General Price was mustering the
State Guard into the Confederate service; and, in the midst of his
labors, he was apprized of the enemy's advance. The brave old man did
not move until the enemy was upon him. Then, placing his raw recruits
in front, with the immense wagontrain, that he had filled with
supplies from the fertile fields of Missouri, he commenced his slow
and stubborn retreat. And woe to the enemy's column that had the
temerity to beard the old lion in his den when he defiantly stood at
bay, as he often did, to give his train some, for they were invariably
driven from the field by the dauntless veterans of Lexington and
Drywood. Dispatches announcing the warlike situation of affairs
beyond the line, were sent General McCulloch, and soon his forces were
en route for the theater of action.
Intelligence reached us that the enemy had drived General Price
beyond "Cross Hollows," and that he was making demonstrations on the
town of Fayetteville. In passing the Boston mountains, the weather
was intensly cold, and the men, though warmly clothed, suffered no
little. On either side of the road, the precipitous mountains rose
hundreds of feet overhead, while gigantic icicles hung pendant from
the overhanging rocks, like huge stalactites, and, glittering in the
brilliant rays of the cold winter sun, looked like the suspended
spears of giants. On entering Fayetteville, the Third Regiment passes
the bivouac of the Third Louisiana, our old comrades on the field of
Oak Hills, who now welcomed us with extravagant demonstrations of joy.
Between these two regiments there was an affectionate spirit of
comraderie, from the battle of Oak Hills unto the last. Brigaded
together during the Iuka and Corinth campaigns, the bonds of
friendship became more earnest and binding with daily association.
The intrepid regiment, in the veins of many of whose members the best
blood of Louisiana coursed, constituted a portion of the ill-fated
garrison of Vicksburg, and occupying a bastion during the siege that
was blown up, its ranks were literally decimated, and but few of the
intrepid and generous Frenchmen lived to return home and recount the
proud story of their heroic carreer. The author is grateful that he
has been allowed to offer even this inadequate tribute to their worth.
Great was the contrast between our entry into Fayetteville, now,
and eight months before. Then, the people had faith in the puissance
of the Confederate soldiers, and they hailed the flag of Dixie as the
harbinger of protection. Now, since defeats had destroyed the
prestige of Southern arms, they looked upon our advent with apathy,
seeming to think that the hand of fate was upon them, and that no
earthly prowess could avert the blow. Like the French, our people
grew despondent with reverses. They did not remember the high old
Roman way: While the legions of Hannibal were encamped before the
city, the very ground occupied by them was put up for sale to the
highest bidder, as a means of obtaining funds for the prosecution of
the war, and brought fabulous prices. But the despondency of the good
people of Fayetteville, in the present instance, was not without
foundation, for the Missouri army was in retreat, and McCulloch's
infantry yet remained in position of the Van Buren road, in the Boston
mountains. Halting in the town, we had the opportunity of "reviewing"
the Missouri army as it defiled past us en route for the new position
in the mountains. General Price, assuredly, had the most
multitudinous and variegated wagon-train ever concentrated on the
continent. Every species of wheel vehicle, from the jolting old ox-
cart to the most fantastically-painted stage-coach, rolled along the
road. The men were well clad, and presented a fine, soldierly
appearance. Starting out, originally, as militia, the Missouri army
had an entirely disproportionate number of Brigadier-Generals, and the
facetious boys cried out, "Here's your army of Brigadier-Generals and
stage-coaches!" The cavalry were assigned to the duty of picketing in
front of the enemy, and various skirmishes, of but little interest,
took place. Finally, the cavalry was withdrawn, and the enemy's
cavalry occupied the town of Fayettevelle for a week or two, and then
fell back on Bentonville, at which place, also, was the division of
Siegel. General Curtis, with the main portion of the army, occupied a
very strong position, near Elk Horn tavern.
The Confederate forces, in the Boston mountains, occupied the
main road leading from Van Buren to Fayetteville. The Missouri army
took up position on the "Cane Hill" road. The two armies remained
substantially in this position until Major-General Earl Van Dorn
assumed command of both Price's and McCulloch's divisions, about March
1st, 1862. And thus a period was put to the unseemly wrangling as to
precedence, that had formally characterized the intercourse of Price
and McCulloch with each other, and which, at times, very seriously
impaired the efficiency of both armies. About this time, two
expeditions were started to the enemy's rear, with the object of
destroying whatever material of war access could be had to. Companies
G and I, of the Third Regiment commanded by Major L.S. Ross, of the
Sixth Regiment, composed one of the detachments, and Company F, of the
Third, was ordered to report to Major Whitfield, which, with his
battalion, constituted the other. Major Ross was ordered to ride
around the enemy's left wing, and Major Whitfield around the right.
Ross succeeded in reaching the rear of the main force., and, at
Keitsville, captured a number of prisoners, horses and mules, and
burned an immense train, containing a vast amount of military stores,
and brought all of his men in safely, with no loss. Major Ross won
the highest compliments from the commanding General, for his dashing
gallantry and skillful conduct throughout the affair. The skill and
sagacity displayed in this raid, by Major Ross, gave token of that
splendid career which the near future had in store for him.
Major Whitfield was not so successful, as his horses were too
jaded to perform the long and rapid march necessary in affairs of this
nature. On the 28th of February, General Van Dorn arrived, and
assumed command of the combined Missouri and Confederate forces, and
immediately preparations for an advance were then made. The army took
up the line of march on the 2nd of March. The weather was bitterly
cold, but such spirit had the new commander infused into the hearts of
the men, by his energetic actions, that the signal to advance was
hailed with enthusiastic shouts, and other demonstrations of joy.
Gen. Van Dorn accompanies Price's column, while General McCullough had
command of the infantry portion of his late army. General McIntosh,
who had recently received his commission of Brigadier-General,
commanded the cavalry. During the advance, the Sixth regiment
captured a commissary train and fifty prisoners. The march proceeded
without incident, until the morning of the 5th. The weather continued
cold, and snow had been falling for a day or two, and the earth was
covered by the cold, white carpet, to the depth of three or four
inches. Price's division had made a detour to the right, for the
purpose of turning the enemy's left flank, and gaining his rear - a
move that was crowned with success. McCullough advanced upon the main
road to Elk Horn tavern. McIntosh, on the left, headed for
Bentonville. From the highlands, two miles south of the town, we
could see Siegel's infantry retreating. Quick as thought, we obliqued
to the left, and passed around the town, having for an object the
cutting off of Siegel's division. But the cunning old fox,
calculating exactly where we would enter the road again, placed his
division, 10,000 strong, in ambush, and the first intimation we had of
the position of affairs, was the firing upon our advance-guard,
Company B. Third Regiment, Captain Cumby commanding. The Third
Regiment was in the advance, and the men apprehensive of no danger.
Many were walking, leading their horses, to get warm by the exercise.
Bang! bang! went the guns, fired at Cumby's company, and, quick as
thought, McIntosh drew his saber and ordered the bugle to sound the
charge. It may be imagined that the regiment was thrown into great
disorder. Yet the impetuous young general led the assault, sword in
hand, up to the very muzzles of Siegel's guns. A deafening roar of
artillery, and rattling of musketry, greeted the charging column, and
minnie-balls, grape and canister chorused through the air. The
regiment was repulsed! Had such a thing been whispered before as
possible, every man in the regiment would have denounced him as a
calumniator, who mouthed the suspicion. The intrepid McIntosh, amid a
shower of balls, grasped the flag, and, waving it above his head,
implored the men to rally for another charge. But brave, simple-
hearted old Captain Hale stood up in his stirrups, the tears trickling
down his snow-white beard, and exclaimed: "This here regiment are
disgraced forever! I'd a rather died right thar than to a give arry a
inch!" Brave old Captain Hale! He was a diamond in the rough, and
his men regarded him more in the light of a kind father than that of
an officer, and when the time came for the election of officer, after
the first year's service had expired, his "boys" begged him to remain
with them as their Captain. we were serving, then as infantry, and
the feeble old man here informed them that he could not make one day's
march afoot. Whereupon, the "boys" held a consultation, and it was
determined upon that they would purchase their beloved old Captain a
horse and buggy! Did ever man govern before with such unanimous and
full consent of the governed? The loss of the regiment in this affair
was ten men killed and twenty wounded. The command camped at "Camp
Stephons" the night of the 5th. The snow fell all night. The command
was in motion two hours before day, and all felt assured that a few
hours would usher in the firs act of the drama. En route to the field
of battle, we passed the Indian Brigade of General Pike, all of whom
were painted, in conformity to the horrid custom of their people.
Soon the thunders of Price's guns announced that the "Old Guard" were
in position, in the enemy's rear, and Gen. McCulloch at once advanced
a brigade of infantry composed of the Third Louisiana and several
regiments of Arkansas troops, against the Federal left. As McIntosh,
at the head of several cavalry regiments, came on the field, marching
by fours, in the following order" Third Texas on the right; Sixth
Texas on the right center; Ninth Texas on the left center; and
Brooks' battalion of the left through an open field, in parallel
lines, by hours, a Federal battery, supported by a brigade of
infantry, opened upon us at a distance of about 500 yards. General
Ben McCulloch was just passing the Third Regiment, with a Confederate
battery, and, as the first Yankee shell went crashing through our
ranks, commanded, "Wheel that battery into line!" - probably the last
order ever uttered by this true and staunch son of Texas. The gallant
McIntosh ordered the bugle to sound the charge, and waving his saber
overhead, led the furious and irresistible charge. Like the impetuous
rush of an avalanche, the mad columns swept over the field, in the
midst of a tempest of iron hail, the thunders of artillery, the yells
of the combatants, and the groans of the dying and wounded. They are
upon the enemy! and the iron dogs of war are hushed. The combatants
become intermixed, and the gunners are cut down at their posts. The
Stars and Stripes go down, and the Red Cross of the South waves in
triumph above the scene of destruction. But the work of slaughter
does not stop here. The infuriated cavaliers charge the supporting
infantry, in the teeth of a most destructive storm of musketry, and,
routed, they fly from the field! The Third Regiment did not engage in
the brilliant affair, as it remained to support the Confederate
battery before alluded to. By this time, McCulloch's infantry were
warmly engaged with the enemy, about eight hundred yards in front of
Pea Ridge, and the interminable volleys of musketry told how hotly
contested was the fight. The Third Regiment was dismounted, and
placed in line of battle just behind the crest of Pea Ridge, as a
support to the infantry, and with orders not to abandon the Ridge
under any circumstances. Gen. McCulloch, very early in the action,
imprudently ventured too far in front of his own lines, to reconnoiter
the enemy's position, and this was the last ever seen of the brave and
conscientious old Texas chief. The impetuous McIntosh, who was at
home only amidst the raging of wild elements, and who courted the
missions of danger with a fondness not surpassed by the affection of a
lover for his mistress, led an Arkansas regiment of infantry against
the enemy, soon after his dashing cavalry charge, and fell at the very
muzzles of their guns, sword in hand. The author regrets exceedingly
that he has no data upon which to predicate any sketch of the life of
this daring young Georgian. He was the soul of honor and chivalry;
the beau sabreur of the Western army; and, had he lived, would have
written his name high upon the memorial roll of Fame. With McIntosh,
there was no intermediate rest between death and glory. To add to the
misfortunes of the Confederate forces, on this ill-starred field,
Colonel Hebert, of the Third Louisiana, who, after McIntosh, was the
next ranking officer in McCulloch's division, was taken prisoner. It
was evident, from the firing, that the brave old Missourian was slowly
dragging the main force of the enemy before his indomitable "Grizzly
Bears," and the unbroken succession of the volleys from cannon and
rifles, which sounded like one continuous roll of thunder, proclaimed
the deadly nature of the conflict. And had McCulloch and McIntosh
lived; had Hebert been spared us; or had Colonel Greer known that
the carnival of death and misfortune had devolved the command upon
himself; the enemy before us, too, would have been driven back upon a
common center, where but the alternative of surrender or destruction
awaited the Federal army. As it was, these brave Louisianians and
Arkansians, without a fear, manfully breasted the terrific storm of
shot and canister poured into their ranks by an enemy who outnumbered
them in the ratio of five to one, throughout the entire day, and
yielded never one foot of ground. The continued absence of general
McCulloch and McIntosh excited the suspicions of Colonel Greer that
all was not right, and he dispatched private John N. Coleman, of
Company A, Third Regiment, to go in quest of the Generals, and
ascertain if no further disposition of the reserve was to be made, for
that experienced officer well knew that the brave and weary
Louisianians and Arkansians in our front should be re-enforced or
relieved by a fresh division entirely.
Mr Coleman soon returned, saying that he could ascertain nothing
in regard to the whereabouts of either Generals McCulloch or McIntosh,
but that he had seen the Adjutant-General of each, neither of whom
could give any account of their chieftains. Mr. Coleman, however,
stated that he had met Lieutenant-Colonel Lane, who had been detached
from his regiment, and placed in command of another cavalry corps;
that Lane wished Greer to meet him at a log-house, immediately in rear
of his brigade, where they could hold a consultation, and arrive at
some determination as to what course should be pursued in the strange
and anomalous state of affairs. Thither Colonel Greer repaired,
without the loss of any precious time. It was decided by these
officers, to withdraw the troops to the main road, about one-half mile
in rear of our present position, and dispatch a courier to General Van
Dorn, announcing the critical condition in which this wing of the army
was placed. At 11 p.m., with no guard but the friendly darkness, Mr.
John N. Coleman set out on his hazardous mission, in the prosecution
of which it was necessary to describe the semi-circumference of the
circle of which the enemy's center was the pivot, and pass his flank,
all the while exposed to imminent danger of being captured by the
cavalry covering that wing of the army. Coleman arrived at General
Van Dorn's head-quarters at one o'clock, with the dispatches, which
imparted the first intelligence to the General that all was not right
with McCulloch's division. General Van Dorn instructed his Assistant
Adjutant-General, Major Dabney H Maury, to write Colonel Greer an
order, directing him to withdraw the entire division, and lead it
around the enemy's right flank, to the position occupied by the
Missouri division. Coleman, with a sagacity superior to that of his
chief, refused to bear the order, in writing, for, if he was captured,
and unable to destroy the paper, the enemy would come into possession
of the fact that calamity had occurred to that division, and at once
inaugurate measures to prevent the desired concentration, when General
Van Dorn consented that it should be transmitted verbally. Coleman
returned about 2 a.m., and Colonel Greer at once undertook the
hazardous task of complying with the directions of General Van Dorn.
Mr. Coleman, for the eminent services rendered on this occasion, was
recommended by Colonel Greer for promotion, and was, accordingly,
commissioned Regimental Commissary of Subsistence, with the rank of
Captain. subsequently, on the formation of the Texas Brigade, he was
named Commissary for the Brigade, with the rank of Major. He deserved
the highest meed of praise for the cool courage, devotion to the
cause, and penetrating sagacity manifested on this occasion. Major
Coleman had the misfortune to lose both his feet, a few years ago, by
a railway accident. He resides in the city of Marshall, Harrison
county, Texas, respected by all his neighbors, and beloved by his
comrades of the old Brigade. The division reached the head-quarters
of Gen. Van Dorn about daylight, and, after a few sporadic charges on
the enemy, and some desultory firing, apparently without spirit or
object the "Army of the West," which had never before turned its back
to the foe, sullenly retired from the scene, leaving the defeated
enemy in possession of the field. Van Dorn was urgently pressed by
General Beauregard, the Department Commander, to re-enforce him at
Corinth, Mississippi, with all his available force, for almost
simultaneously with the battle of Elk Horn, the terrible tragedy of
Shiloh had been enacted, and General Beauregard was now confronted by
an overwhelming force, commanded by Major-General Halleck. Van Dorn
acted with haste, but so consummate had been all his preparations,
that had it not been for the death of McCulloch and McIntosh, the
battle of Elk Horn would have been one of the most crushing defeats to
the enemy known in modern times; for, surrounded as he was defeat
meant capitulation or destruction. even had he organized a continued
and vigorous attack by the combined divisions, the evening of March
8th, 1862, would have ushered into history a splended Confederate
victory. The soldiers, every one of whom felt that the beaten enemy
was not entitled to the possession of the fields of battle, and its
necessary sequence - the meed of victory - quitted the contest with
reluctance, feeling that they had been defrauded of their well-earned
dues, and many were the anxious glances turned to the rear by the
retreating army, in the vain hope that the enemy would attempt a
pursuit. But nothing was more distant from the intentions of General
Curtis and his Lieutenants. They had had sufficient work, and were
content to let "good enough alone." "By the gods!" exclaimed
"Colonel" H. McBride Pridgen, a private of Whitfield's battalion, in
describing the battle to friends at home, "we whipped them! we
butchered them! we exterminated them! and I don't believe there was
but one man that excaped to tell the tale, and he stole my blankets!"
Upon this statement of the gallant "Colonel" Pridgen, hangs a tale."
Whitfield's battalion had been dismounted, in order that it could
participate in the battle as infantry, which it did, and as the Third
Regiment was marching to the battle-field, on the morning of the 6th,
"Colonel" Pridgen, who, foot-sore and weary, had sat down by the
roadside, enveloped in a huge, gray, double blanket, in one corner of
which was worked, in scarlet worsted, "H. McBride Pridgen." Being
acquainted with nearly every man in Company A, he desired some one to
allow him to ride behind him to the battle-field. Robert R. Wright
invited the fatigued man to mount behind him, which he did, and
rejoined his command on the battle-field. In the heat of the action,
his huge blankets became too cumbersome, and he laid them on the
ground, but the line being force back by the enemy, the "Colonel's"
blankets were not recovered. He gave them up for lost, and, at the
dreary bivouac fire, often afterwards spoke in touching terms of his
friendly blankets. Time wore on, and Van Dorn's command was
transferred to Mississippi, and had the honor of whipping the corps
d'armm of "Headquarters-in-the-Saddle" Pope, at the battle of
Farmington, capturing his camp and all its contents. After the
battle, the boy engaged, to a moderate extent, in pillaging his
deserted stores, Imagine my surprise, when the redoubtable "Colonel"
Pridgen rushed up, holding a large, double, gray blanket in his hands,
in the corner of which still shone the legend in crimson letters: "H.
McBride Pridgen!" "By the gods!" he exclaimed, "I have found the
blankets I lost at Elk Horn, Arkansas." This was a strange
coincidence, but the circumstance is true.
The bodies of the slain generals were recovered from the field by
members of their respective staffs. It is believed that the body of
the lamented young Georgian was buried in Van Buren, Arkansas, and
that of General McCulloch, conveyed to Texas, by Colonel Brown, his
old friend, and a member of his staff. General Ben. McCulloch came to
Texas, at a very early day, and fought at the battle of San Jacinto.
He was a celebrated Indian fighter, and, among other creditable
affairs with the savage foe, defeated the daring band of Comanches
that burned Linnville, in the battle of Plum Creek, in the year 1840.
Subsequently, he engaged in the Mexican war, as commandant of a
guerrilla battalion, that performed many eminent services during the
war. As a citizen Ben. McCulloch had the respect and confidence of
all who knew him. He filled several public positions of trust, and
acquitted himself, in the discharge of his duties, with as much credit
to the probity of his character as to his business capacity. He was
among the first appointments of Mr. Davis, receiving the commission of
Brigadier-General, and was assigned to the command of the Arkansas
District - a command involving, probably, more vexatious questions for
solution than any other in the Confederate States. To say that
General McCuloch acquitted himself with credit in his administration
of the affairs of his district, and that he retained the confidence of
his government to the last, is eulogium sufficient to satisfy his most
exacting friend. General McCulloch was very abstemious in his
appetites, and indulged in none of the small vices. The character of
none of the sons of Texas could more properly be chosen as an exemplar
for the youth of the land. Ben. McCuloch was dear to all true
Texans. May the grass grow green above his soldier-mound!
CHAPTER XXVI.
RETREAT FROM ELK HORN - RESCUE OF ARTILLERY - EM-
BARKATION AT DUVALL'S BLUFF - MEMPHIS -
CORINTH, ETC,. ETC.
The soldierly conduct of Private Polk Dye, of Company F,
Thief Texas Cavalry, in the battle of elk Horn deserves mention.
Having lost his horse, he joined temporarily a company of the Third
Louisiana Infantry, and stood the brunt of battle with that noble
regiment all day. In the last of many charges made by the regiment,
his arm was broken by a minnie-bullet. He was assisted to his own
regiment by his comrades of the day, who paid him high compliments for
his coolness and courage.
As our wagon-train had been ordered back to the Arkansas river,
when Colonel Greer made the move to rejoin General Van Dorn, the
command without rations, and the men presented the most gloomy and
dejected appearance possible to conceive. By some unaccountable
oversight, the entire part of artillery belonging to McCulloch's late
division, in withdrawing from the field, were suffered to take a road
leading to the north. Just as we had bivouacked, after the third
day's march, hungry, gloomy and dispirited, orders came for the Third
Regiment to saddle up and return in quest of the artillery, which had
been heard from, and to escort it to the army. Mechanically the men
obeyed, and were soon retracing their march in gloomy silence. In the
morning we met Captain Good, having in charge his own and other
batteries. Instead of losing our own artillery, as many feared was
the case, we ascertained that he had brought off one more piece than
we had carried on the field. Finally, after many days' wrestling with
the "grim and unrelenting enemy," hunger, we reached our winter-
quarters, where the wagon-train awaited us, with an abundance of
rations. Replenishing the inner man, we hurriedly resumed the march
for Little Rock, and from thence to Duvall's Bluff, at which place, to
our utter astonishment, we were ordered to be dismounted, our horses
sent to Texas, and the men embarked on a steamboat and transported to
Memphis, Tenn., en route to Corinth, Miss. Notwithstanding the fact
that we reguarded this order as a breach of faith, totally at variance
with our contract, yet the men being impressed with a correct idea of
the critical condition in which recent reverses had placed the
Confederacy, yielded their own inclinations, with patriotic zeal and
devotion to the cause, and complied. The Third Regiment embarked on
board the steamboat "Scotland," and soon were steaming down White
river. The stream was flooded to overflowing, as was the "old fathers
of waters." After a trip without incident, the regiment arrived at
Memphis, and encamped in the suburbs of the city for several days.
Finally, we departed by train for Corinth, and soon reached that
disease-infected point. Here General Beauregard was in command of an
army variously estimated at from 35,000 to 75,000 men. We opine the
former figures came nearest the truth.
Without memoranda or data of any nature of the other regiments
that subsequently composed the brigade, a narrative of whose services
we are purposing now to commit to paper, can not be followed through
all their individual movements, as can that one of which the author
was a member; and if, seemingly, more prominence is given the Third
than to the others, the author would beg his comrades to assign the
effect to the cause just stated. He would not detract one iota from
the well-earned fame of any. To him the Legion - Ninth, Sixth, and
Third - are one, and he only wished he could be invested with the
means of according even-handed justice to all, as assuredly he has the
will to do so. At Corinth, the Third Regiment was placed in a newly-
organized brigade, over which was placed Brigadier-General Hogg.
General Hogg was a Texas gentleman of many commendable social and
domestic qualities, and was a veteran of the Mexican war, having
served as a private in Wood's regiment. General Hogg soon fell victim
to the brooding malaria of that plague-infected place.
Colonel Louis Hebert, of the Third Louisiana, though a prisoner
in the hands of the enemy, was promoted Brigadier-General, and to this
brigade the Third Texas Regiment was transferred. The brigade, in the
absence of General Hebert, was commanded by Colonel J.W. Whitfield, of
the First Texas Legion. This brigade did not participate in any of
the actual fighting at the battle of Farmington, in which the vain-
glorious Pope was driven back, in disgrace, by one division of Van
Dorn's corps d'armee, and his camp captured, though it did an
unpleasant amount of marching, with the object of cutting Pope off
from the ford of Hatchie creek. But that doughty warrior was too fast
for us, as we arrived just in time to witness the crossing of his
rear-guard. Thus time passed in drilling, skirmishing, and physicing,
- for fully one-half of the men were prostrated by camp dysentery -
until May 8, 1862, which day had been designated as the time for the
re-organization of the regiment, by the election of field and company
officers: Captain Robert H. Cumby, of Company B, was elected Colonel;
Captain H.P. Mabry, of Company G, Lieutenant-Colonel; and Captain
Barker, Major. Dr. Zeb. Shaw was appointed Surgeon; J.N. Coleman,
Captain and Commissary; E.P. Hill, Quartermaster; O.N.
Hollingsworth, Adjutant, and Wm. H. Gee, Sergeant-Major.
A.B. Stone, Captain Co. A; Giles S. Boggess, Captain Co. B;
James Jones, Captain Co. C; R.S. Dabney, Captain Co. D; Preston B.
Ward, Captain Co. E; R.F. Dunn, Captain Co. F; S.C. Noble, Captain
Co. G; J.W. Lee, Captain Co. H; _____ Gren, Captain Co. I; Sid. S.
Johnston, Captain Co. K.
As both Colonel Cumby and Lieutenant-Colonel Mabry were in bad
health, and unable to assume the command, Major Barker requested
Colonel Lane to retain command of the regiment awhile longer, to which
request Colonel Lane consented.
During this campaign, the enemy advanced his lines slowly and
with the greatest caution; for he had been made to feel the steel of
his less numerous opponent on the sanguinary field of Shiloh, and to
respect his prowess. Disease was the insidious and fatal enemy that
the Southern army had to yield to, finally. Day by day, the ranks of
the men on duty grew thinner and thinner. The hospitals were crowded,
and thousands were sent to asylums far in the rear. The evacuation
was voluntary, on the part of General Beauregard, and dictated by the
soundest policy. The movement was affected in the face of the enemy,
without confusion or the loss of a cartridge. Preparatory to this
retrograde move, the trains were so taxed, in the removal of supplies
and munitions of war, that many of the sick could not obtain
transportation, and these poor unfortunates were the 10,000 prisoners
alleged to have been captured by Major-General "Head-quarters-in-the-
Saddle" Pope, over which he crowed so lustily in the papers of the
North, and for which he was considered the hero to instruct the Army
of the Potomac in the ways to victory - with what success, the reader
knows who has perused an account of his passage at arms with brave old
"Stonewall" Jackson, at second Manassas.
Previous to the retreat, there transpired many acts of daring and
intrepidity on the part of Southern commands in the unnumerable
skirmishes, and affairs of outposts, that daily occurred. In one of
several, the cool courage and soldierly bearing of the Third was so
marked as to call from the commanding General a complimentary notice
that was read on parade to the entire army. On June 29th, heavy
skirmishing was going on in our immediate front, and the regiment was
ordered out to support the skirmishers. On the advanced skirmish line
the command was drawn up in line of battle, and an advance ordered by
Lieutenant-Colonel Lane, who, on the right, led the men in person,
while the brave and young Major Barker, performed a similar duty on
the left. The firing increased in volume as the regiment advanced,
until Colonel Lane ordered the charge, which was responded to by
deafening yells on the part of the men. A deadly volley of musketry
was poured into the line of yelling, charging Texans, who, with
bayonets fixed, rushed, with the impetuosity of a tornado, over all
obstructions, and, though numbering but 256 rifles, drove the 11th
Ohio and 18th Missouri infantry regiments, numbering full 1,000 men,
in confusion and dismay, from the field. The regiment sustained a
loss of thirty kills and fifty-five wounded. Among the former was the
brave young Major Barker, whose high soldierly bearing on this and
former occasions, won the admiration of all. The contest was warm,
short, and decisive, as thirty minutes would have covered the whole
time of the entire action.
The author can not refrain from reproducing, in this connection,
a vivid description of this gallant action, from the pen of Judge
Hogg, who was a member of the Third Texas Regiment: "On the morning
preceding the evacuation of Corinth by the Confederates under
Beauregard, in May, 1862, we made a considerable demonstration on the
front of our lines, in order to hoodwink the enemy, while the material
and main bulk of the troops were withdrawn. Among the forces ordered
out was the Third Texas Cavalry, dismounted, under command of Colonel
W.P. Lane. About sunrise on the 28th of May, the regiment was ordered
to "double-quick" to re-enforce the skirmishers, who were being
heavily pressed by a force of the enemy of vast numerical superiority.
After passing through an immense abatis and over a formidable chevaux
de frise, we came up with our advanced skirmishers, and in full view
of the enemy's position, which was in a valley about three hundred
yards distant, covered by a jungle of black-jack underbrush that
completely veiled them from our view, while our position afforded no
cover except large oaks, and we were denied their protection when it
interferes with our alignment. As soon as we were discovered by the
enemy, a galling fire was opened upon our line, and from the volumes
of smoke that boiled up from the corps, and the deafening roar of the
musketry, we were apprised of the fact that the encounter would be
stubborn and deadly. The battle opened in earnest, now, and the
firing became terrific. There were only 246 of our regiment well
enough to participate in the engagement, and, owing to the enemy's
heavy overbalance of numbers, and their more advantageous position, it
behooved every man to avail himself of whatever protection the timber
afforded. Each man took his tree, and, after discharging his fire-
lock and re-loading in that position, would advance to the next cover
and repeat the performance. Colonel W. P. Lane, Major James A.J.
Barker, and Adjutant Orlando Hollngsworth were the only mounted
officers on the field, and, thus exposed, were excellent targets for
the enemy's sharpshooters. We advanced but a short distance in the
aforesaid manner, when Lane's favorite command, "Charge!" was given,
to dislodge the enemy from the stronghold. At the spellword,
"Charge," each Texas quit his cover, and dashed with wonted
impetuosity upon the opposing ranks. The forest resounded with their
dreadful shout, which sent a chill of terror to the hearts of the
invaders. In full run, the Texans, with the fury of madmen, close of
the lurking enemy whose skill and power are spent in vain to check
them. Over three thousand rifles are belching forth their death-
fraught charges into the slim line of the brave 246 - still they come!
Their wake is covered with the best blood of the nation - yet they
rush! They reach the fire-breathing thicket, and, without a halt,
they plunge into its thorny bosom, when, in one chaotic stampede, the
gallant brigade of Indianians, that Uncle Sam had entrusted with
honor's post, made their shameful exeunt, leaving about forty of their
dead and a like number of their wounded on the field. The flying
enemy was pursued until the sound of the "long roll" in the main camp,
warned the impetuous Lane that prudence counseled a halt. Of the boys
from Cherokee, we found the brave young Abner Harris dead; Wallace
Caldwell - the beloved, the noble Wallace - languishing under a mortal
wound, and John Lambert severely wounded.
"Many were lamented on that day, but none more than that prince
of nature's nobleman, the talented and chivalric Major James A.J.
Barker, the pride of his regiment. He fell while gallantly cheering
his men on to victory, as he had done on many a well-fought field.
His gallantry and general superiority was the theme of every tongue
that knew him. His name was inseparably connected with our ideas of
valor, magnanimity, truth, candor, and fidelity. "The Major had a
presentiment of evil, and so informed his intimate friends on the
morning of the battle. The dying here fell into the arms of John
Myres and Lem. Reed, who bore his inanimate form from the field of his
death and his glory."
The author made many attempts to obtain a copy of the
complimentary address issued to the army, by Gen. Beauregard, on this
occasion, but regrets that all his efforts were unavailing. If such a
copy is extant, he hopes to be able to procure it, should a second
edition of this work be demanded.
CHAPTER XXVII.
General Beauregard executed the movement of retiring from Corinth
in a masterly manner. Captain S.S. Johnston, Company K, of the Third,
was on picket duty at the time of withdrawal, and, in the hurry of the
moment, Colonel Lane neglected to relieve them. The army had
proceeded some miles when the absence of gallant old Company K, was
remarked. The courier who bore captain Johnston the order to "fall
back," found him, with his twenty-five Texans, boldly confronting
Halleck's 100,000. Texas had many brave and daring sons to be proud
of, but not one more deservedly so than Captain Sid. S. Johnston - now
the modest, unassuming citizen of Tyler, Texas.
General Halleck seemed satisfied with the occupation of Corinth,
and halted his victorious legions at that point.
The Confederate army retired to Tupelo, on the Mobill and Ohio
railroad. The greater portion was soon transferred, under General
Bragg, to Tennessee. One corps d'armee remained at Tupelo, composed
of the divisions of Generals Maury and Little, the whole commanded by
Major-General Sterling Price. For several months, the corps remained
here, with no incident to break the dull monotony save the daily
"guard mounting" and drill. About the time General Bragg commenced
his advance into Kentucky, the camp was removed up the railroad to
Saltillo, about fifteen miles north of Tupelo. From this point
General Price made a rapid march of Iuka, where General Rosecranz was
posted with about 10,000 men - General Grant being at Corinth. fifteen
miles above, with as many more. So complete was the surprise, that
General Rosecranz evacuated the town without removing or destroying
any of his immense stores collected there. Consequently, the
Confederates reveled on "Yankee" rations during their short-lived
possession of the place. Price's position was an extremely hazardous
on here, and not a night passed but an alarm was sounded. Our cavalry
was extremely inefficient, and the enemy was expected on either of
three fronts. When the crisis came, after a week of anxious watch,
the army was drawn up on line of battle on the Corinth road, about
three miles from Iuka, awaiting the enemy, who, it was reported, was
advancing on that road. When suddenly, a breathless courier dashed up
to General Price with the astounding information that the enemy was
advancing on Iuka from the south side, and that nothing interposed
between him and the town save a company of cavalry, who could offer
him no opposition. Hebert's Brigade, composed of the First Texas
Legion, Third Texas Cavalry (dismounted), Third Louisiana Infantry,
and Fortieth Mississippi Infantry - the whole commanded by General
Louis Hebert - was ordered to "double quick" to the threatened point.
Arriving, the Third Texas was deployed as skirmishers, and drove the
Federal sharpshooters back on the reserve. The brigade was now formed
in line of battle, and King's (Confederate) battery opened fire. This
was immediately responded to by the enemy's artillery; at the same
time, the firing of small arms became general, and, as the opposing
lines were not exceeding three hundred yards apart, considerable
execution was done. As Generals Price and Little were conferring,
just in the rear of the Third Texas the latter received a rifle-ball
in the forehead and fell from his horse into the arms of Sergeant T.J.
Cellum, of Company A, Third Texas, dead. General Price dismounted and
hastened to the side of the fallen general, whose spirit, alas, had
already flown. To Cellum, the old hero said, with moistened eyes and
husky voice: "Bear his body from the field, my sons; and remain with
it, yourself, until I can join you." That night, when the storm of
battle had lulled, the form of General Little was consigned to a
hastily-dug grave, "by the light of the lanterns dimly burning."
A forward movement was now ordered, and as the brigade marched
with slow and solemn tread down a slight declivity in the direction of
the enemy, a little dog was observed trotting along in advance of the
line, apparently oblivious to the thunders of artillery, the rattle of
rifles, and the whizzing of missiles that literally filled the air.
The fate of the brave little rebel dog was never known. Arriving at
the base of the declivity, the command "double-quick," was given. The
enemy now redoubled his exertions. None pieces of artillery were
brought to bear, and the threatened point re-enforced. "Charge!" was
the next command uttered by brave little creole Hebert, and the
Confederates, yelling like demons reveling in a saturnalia of death,
pushed forward at the top of their speed. They are met, full in the
face, by the iron contents of the nine cannon, and, like a tree torn
by the hurricane, waver for a moment. "On, men, on!" shouts the
impetuous Frenchman, and the Confederates distinctly hear the command
of the enemy: "double charge of grape and canister!" They know what
the result will be if the cannon are not taken before they can be
again fired. Their comrades lie around them dead and dying. Of five
colonels, not one remains. Death is abroad in his fury; but to
retreat is more dangerous than to advance! The men hesitate but a
moment, and raising again the demoniac yell, dash madly forward and
reach the guns just as the double load is being driven home. In vain
did the infantry support attempt to come to the rescue of the guns -
their charges on the Confederate line were as impotent as the beating
of the waves on the sides of Gibraltar. The Confederate loss was
simply terrible. In the Legion, and Third Texas, one-third of the men
were killed or wounded. Their loss was greater from the fact that
their position was immediately in front of the death-dealing
artillery.
Where all displayed such heroism, it would seem invidious to make
distinctions; but the author cannot refrain from mentioning the name
of brave young Lieutenant Dan. H. Alley, of Company G, Third Texas,
whom he witnessed, in the hottest period of the charge, sword in hand,
calling to his men, "Come on, boys!"
Col. H.P. Mabry, commanding Third Texas, received a severe wound
that fractured an ankle; Colonel J.W. Whitfield was wounded severely
in the shoulder; Col. Gillam, of the Third Louisiana, received a
half-dozen wounds, that incapacitated him for active service. Captain
Odell, Brigade Commissary, was killed.
The author feel excusable in mentioning the death of his friend,
John Sherrod, who was killed at his side - a grape-shot passing
entirely through the body.
Night put an end to the carnage. General Price became convinced
that General Grant had re-enforced General Rosencranz, and that his
retreat would be cut off, resolved to anticipate events, and about 9
p.m., commenced a retrograde movement in the direction of Baldwin,
Mississippi. The enemy did not attempt a pursuit, as he was satisfied
with the test of metal at Iuka. All the wounded, unable to march,
fill into the hands of the enemy. But, at this period, the humane
system of paroling prisoner was in operation, and it was not until
some months later that both sides disgraced the American name, and
libelled humanity, in their inhuman treatment of prisoners.
A characteristic anecdote is told of Colonel Mabry, who fell into
the enemy's hands. The printed parole offered him to sign, read "the
so-called Confederate States," etc. The punctilious officer refused
to attach his name to the instrument, alleging that the Confederacy
was an established fact; and as Colonel Mabry was about as firm in
his convictions as old Cato of Rome, he was given a parole in which
the obnoxious words did not occur. and all Confederate soldiers will
remember that their paroles, at the general surrender, read
"Confederate States," etc. - a phraseology of respect accorded to the
punctilious honor and manly firmness of Colonel H.P. Mabry, of Texas.
An incident in regard to General Hebert: As the Third Texas was
being thrown forward as skirmishers - the enemy still advancing and
firing - an officer of the regiment asked of the General, who was
superintending the movement, "General, must we fix bayonets?" "Yes,
sir!" shouted the impatient officer; "What for you have ze bayonet,
if you no fix him? Yes by gar; fix him! fix him!"
At Baldwin, General Price was met by General Earl Van Dorn, who
had advanced from Vicksburg with about 5,000 men - General Price's
force was about twice as many. With this force, General Van Dorn, who
now assumed the command, commenced a rapid advance on Corinth -
probably the strongest fortified place in the South - occupied by
General Rosencranz and 30,000 men. The fatiguing march was attended
by no incident until the morning of the first day's fight, when, just
at daybreak, three distinct shocks of an earthquake wee felt, and
constructed by many as of ominous import.
It is not the province of the author, in this connection, to give
the details of operation unconnected with the immediate operations of
the four regiments that composed Ross' Brigade; and as that brigade
had not yet been organized, difficulty is experienced in correctly
drawing the line. Suffice it to say, the four regiments participated
in this fatal battle, and bore themselves, as they always did, with
soldierly daring and bravery. They charged the outer line of
breastworks, over abatis of fallen timber; they scaled the works
through bristling rows of chevaux de frise, and silenced the seige
guns on the ramparts by capture. During the night of the first day's
fight, the Confederate army was drawn up in line of battle, Price
occupying the center, and bivouaced on their arms. The signal for
attack the next morning was a discharge of ten pieces of artillery by
Price. As agreed upon, the ten cannon were discharged simultaneously,
just at daybreak, and the army rose to its feet as one man. A
desperate charge was immediately made upon the inner lines, which were
also taken in many places, though at a fearful cost of life. All know
how short-lived was this ephemeral success. It is enough to recount
the catastrophe, without attempting to designate the cause. The
charging columns were not supported as they should have been, and
were, consequently, driven from the town, to which they had penetrated
in the frenzy of the charge, and back across the breastworks, which
they had purchased at such a fearful cost, only to lose again. That
some one was culpable, is not to be disputed; but to designate the
individual in the province of the general historian, and not the
author of this circumscribed narrative.
A disorderly retreat was now commenced, with the enemy in close
pursuit. Villeqigue's Brigade, only, of the whole army, preserved
sufficient discipline to interpose any impediment in the way of the
triumphant enemy.
In advancing to Corinth, General Van Dorn had left the wagon-
trains at the bridge of the Hatchie river; and the Texas Legion,
consisting of about 500 efficient men, together with other
detachments, numbering possibly 500 more, constituted the guard left
to preserve the sole means of retreat, and secure the train from
capture. And now, to add to the gravity of the situation, General
Hulburt and Ord came down from Grand Junction with a corps about
10,000 fresh men, rendered enthusiastic by the news of the victory,
and gained possession of the brigade, after an obstinate contest with
the guard; in which action the "Old Legion" bore itself with
conspicuous gallantry, and suffered heavily in killed, wounded, and
prisoners.
Previous to the capture of the bridge, however, Colonel L.S.
Ross, in command of a brigade numbering not more than 700 rifles for
duty, were thrown across the stream to support the Confederate guard,
commanded by Brigadier-General Moore, who was overwhelmed by numbers,
and his heterogeneous force almost disorganized, ere the arrival of
Ross. Moore urged Ross to retire behind the stream, and pointed out
the futility of his sustaining an attack from the advancing enemy, who
numbered near 10,000 fresh men. Colonel Ross maintained his position,
however, until his superior in rank, General Maury, ordered a retreat.
To extricate his brigade from the hazardous position it now occupied,
demanded prudence, skill, and courage, and that Colonel Ross effected
his delicate maneuver, in the face of overwhelming numbers of troops
flushed with victory, speaks volumes in his praise.
The triumphant enemy now held the bridge, and nothing intervened
between him and the Confederate wagon-train but Ross and his little
brigade, who maintained their position with a heroism not excelled by
either side during the whole course of the war. Finally, General
Maury brought up the brigades of Generals Phifer and Cabell, and this
force kept the enemy at bay, during a brief crisis in the history of
the Army of the West, that momentarily threatened a disastrous
catastrophe. The routed and disorganized columns of Van Dorn and
Price, closely pursued by Rosencranz, were now arriving upon the scene
in a state of demoralization that made "confusion worse confounded."
In the rear of this straggling mass, the gallant Villepihue, at the
head of his brigade, was offering such opposition to Rosencranz as his
paucity of numbers would justify. But neither Villepihue nor Maury
could hope to maintain their positions, against such fearful odds,
long.
It appeared that the "Army of the West" was confronting its fate
at last on the banks of this turbid and impassable stream. Events had
reached a crisis, and disaster seemed imminent. Generals Van Dorn and
Price hold a hurried interview. The head of the column is turned to
the left of the road, and the forlorn retreat is resumed down the
river. A mounted detachment is hastened down the stream to a point
some ten miles distant, where the remains of an ancient mill-dam are
said to exist. Upon this foundation, the "pioneers" hastily improvise
a bridge ere the head of the column appears. Over this providential
bridge the army passes, and frees itself from the enveloping folds of
the enemy. a sigh of relief excapes ten thousand hearts when they
realize their excape from the very jaws of destruction. Strange to
relate, not a wagon was lost, not a gun - though so demoralized was
the army that, had the enemy maintained a vigorous pursuit, the
consequence must have proved fatal to the Confederates. General
Rosencranz, with the humanity characteristic of the brave, caused the
Confederate dead, upon the fields of Corinth and Hatchie, to be
properly interred. The rave Colonel Rodgers, of the Second Texas
Infantry, who fell, sword in hand, upon the death-swept ramparts, the
foremost man in one of the deadliest assaults of modern times, was
accorded a soldier's burial, with all the honors of war, by his
admiring enemies. Such acts as this, half redeems the depravity of
man, and partially beguiles the horrors of war. The beaten army
retired to Holly Springs; where, however, it was not suffered long to
remain, as General Grant, who has been rather appropriately styled the
"Modern Sphynx," placed his legions in motion, with the city of
Vicksburg as the objective point.
It was evident to the most obtuse, that the fortunes of the
Confederacy in that quarter were desperate, and that, unless something
extraordinary was attempted, Vicksburg must become the prey of the
Federals. The defeated army contained, in its own ranks, the medium
through which its deliverance was to be obtained. Three thousand five
hundred cavalrymen were destined to achieve this result - an exploit
unsurpassed in the annals of war, and which revolutionized the art of
war in America, at least, by assigning the cavalry-arm to a position
of importance it had never before occupied.
For his defeat at Corinth, Major-General Earl Van Dorn was
superseded in the command of the "Army of the West" by lieutenant-
General J.C. Perberton.
ROSS' BRIGADE.
I.
No more the bugle's ringing blast,
Now sounds "to horse!" throughout the camp;
No more the charger, dashing fast,
In gore his quiv'ring fetlocks tramp;
No more the "Red Cross" proudly waves
Defiance to the haughty foe;
No more the crimson battle waves
Of human blood, now ebb and flow.
II.
No more as when the "cool Old Chief," (1)
His life gave up in sacrifice,
Does glory lead the path to grief,
Where tears and sobs may not suffice;
No more as when the "dashing boy," (2)
A stranger, came to do and dare,
Is life exchanged for fames's alloy,
Like empty bubbles, light as air.
III.
Still we recall those scenes with pride,
And mark each incident, though light;
The bivouac, the cheerless ride,
The skirmish, and the deadly fight.
First in the front of each advance,
Last in the rear of each retreat;
The Cossack Ranger's ready lance,
Was ever poised the foe to meet.
IV.
And when the "modern Sphynx" arrayed -
With will to match against the fates -
His legions which had ne'er essayed
In vain the storm of city gates,
Delay'd proud Vicksburg, was thy doom,
By spectral men of noiseless wings,
Who lit, with lurid, glare, the gloom,
That hung a pall o'er Holly Springs.
V.
A pandemonium, Spring Hill heard,
When Whitfield led, through shot and shell,
The "Legion," "Sixth," the "Ninth," and "3rd,"
And triumphed o'er a mimic hell.
With Yazoo glories, bursts enlarge,
As recompense for all our loss,
Where fortune in the dashing charge,
Conferr'd the "wreath and stars" on Ross. (3)
VI.
Around the lines of Corinth, where
Disease, an ally of the foe,
Rode on the pestilential air,
And claimed its dues of death and woe;
And 'round Atlanta's ditches red,
Where Valor failed to cope with Might,
We left at rest our priceless dead,
Athwart the field from left to right.
VII.
No marble shaft may point the way,
No epitaph the tombs disclose,
Where death's still line, in grim array,
Unheeded find their last repose.
But far beyond, the phantom line
In silence holds the dim parade,
Where radiant suns forever shine,
"Across the river in the shade."
(1) "Cool Old Chief" - General Ben. McCulloch.
(2) "The Dashing Boy" - General McIntosh killed at Elk Horn.
(3) "Wreath and stars" - insignia of a general officer.
NOTE. - Among the bravest and best that ever shouldered a musket
for the cause of Dixie, was the author's friend, comrade, and
confident, Alonzo P. Hope, of Company A, Third Regiment, who, although
wounded in the hip at Corinth, continued at his post, rejecting all
tenders of a discharge from the service until the end. Mr. Hope now
resides near Marshall, Texas, upon his farm, respected by all who know
him.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
While encamped at Tupelo, the following orders were issued,
relative to the remounting of the Texas Brigade:
"HEAD-QUARTERS, DISTRICT OF THE TENNESSEE,
"TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI, AUGUST 23rd, 1862.
"Special Orders, No. 19 - (Extract)
"Brigadier-General Little will detail two commissioned officers
and three men of the Third Texas Cavalry (dismounted), Colonel Mabry
commanding, to bring from beyond the Mississippi river, the horses
belonging to that regiment.
"By Order of MAJOR-GENERAL PRICE.
"James M. Loughborough, A.A.G."
"First Division, District of the Tennessee,
"Head-Quarters, Post at Saltillo, Mississippi,
August, 1862.
"Special Order, No. 16.
"Captain J.N. Coleman, A.C.S.; First Lieutenant Logan, Company
K; Sergeant-Major W.H. Gee, private Robert I. Haywood, Company G, and
private J.D. Davis, Company E, are hereby detailed to bring from
beyond the Mississippi river the horses and men belonging to the Third
Texas Cavalry.
"By Order of BRIGADIER-GENERAL LITTLE.
"W.C. Shamburg, A.A.G."
"Head-Quarters, Third Texas Cavalry, camp near Saltillo,
Mississippi, August 23rd, 1862.
"Special Order, No. 1.
"The men belonging to this command, who were detailed under order
No. ___, issued by Major-General Van Dorn, Des Arc, Arkansas, April
1862, to carry the horses belonging to this command to Texas, are
required to report to Captain John N. Coleman, at Marshall, Texas, for
duty.
"H.P. MABRY,
"Colonel, Commanding Third Texas.
"Captain Coleman will receive recruits for the various companies
as follows:
"Company A, Captain A.B. Stone, five men.
"Company B, Captain J.W. Wynne, five men.
"Company C, Captain J.A. Jones, twenty men.
"Co. D, Captain R.S. Dabney, twenty-two men.
"Company E, Captain P.B. Ward, fourteen men.
"Company F, Captain R.F. Dunn, nine men.
"Company G, Captain E.S. Noble, ten men."
At Lumkin's Mills, another brief halt was obtained, and while
here the Texans, who were brigaded together at Holly Springs, learned
of the arrival of the anxiously-expected horses. Alexander Selkirk
hailed not with greater joy the first glimpse of the white sails that
were to bear him from solitude, than did these men hail the arrival of
their horses. It was announced that the horses were but a few miles
distant. Orders arrived to prepare for another retreat; retreat had
become a work nauseous, and the men were actually ashamed to retreat
further. Brigades, divisions, corps passed the Texas camp. They had
concluded, after consultation, not to march without their horses.
When the drums beat to "fall in," the sound was absolutely drowned by
the deafening cries, "Horses!" "Horses!" General Whitfield, the
brigade commander, made them an appeal to duty, but the boys knew that
"Old Whit" wished them mounted, and, at all events, that he "was with
them" in any thing short of desertion. General Maury now appeared,
and appealed to the men to proceed. Their sole reply was "Horses!"
"Horses!" In despair the general turned away, and rode to overtake
his retreating division.
Colonel Griffith, who was, at the time, in command of the Sixth
Texas regiment, had his regiment called into line, and, after a calm
review of the military situation, he showed how necessary it was for
the maintenance of discipline, how infectious and fatal
insubordination would prove, and appealed to the men not to tarnish
their own honor, and place a bar sinister upon the escutcheon of
Texas. He promised them that they should be mounted soon, and without
the loss of honor, and concluded by inviting all who were disposed to
remain at the post of duty, to return to their camp and prepare for
the march. All responded but one solitary individual. To him,
Griffith said: "Go, sir, and obey orders, or I will run you through
with my saber!"
The effect of Griffith's appeal had the influence necessary to
lead all the other regiments into the performance of duty, and saved
them the lasting disgrace that such mutinous conduct, if persisten in,
was sure to attach to their names. Heretofore, he had led them to
victory over their enemies; he had, in this instance, led them to
triumph over their baser passions; and the moralist would not
hesitate to say that the latter was the most splendid victory of the
two. Happily, the old brigade was never afterwards pervaded by so
mean a spirit.
Similar orders to the foregoing were issued in regard to the
other regiments of the Texas Brigade; but, like much other data
referring to this work, was inaccessible to the author. This is
regretted, and was sought to be obviated, by every effort that
promised the slightest success, but only to be met with defeat.
Footworn and weary, the defeated army took up the line of retreat
from Holly Springs, for what point they knew not, for it was but too
apparent that General Grant could drive the Army of West Tennessee
into the Gulf if he so wished. Never did the Confederate Cross trail
in the dust as at this time. The army was demoralized by the crushing
defeat at Corinth; a defeat that burst upon them like a cyclone from
a cloudless sky, in the very moment of victory. General Price took up
the line of march from Abbevile to Grenada, as soon as it was evedent
that General Grant intended another advance. General Van Dorn had
already made Oxford his headquarters. Just before Price evacuated
Abbeville, Colonel Griffith, in command of the Texas brigade, occupied
the left wing, which rested on the Tallahatchie, near Toby Tuby ferry.
This energetic and restless officer kept a vigilant watch on the
enemy's movements, and, discovering a detached column of some five
hundred cavalry, on the extreme right of the Federal position asked
and obtained permission of General Van Dorn to attack them. Returning
to his command, Griffith caused forty rounds of ammunition to be
issued to each man, and, after completing other necessary
arrangements, was in the act of crossing the river, when orders
arrived from General Van Dorn, countermanding the previous one, and
directing Colonel Griffith to proceed down the Tallahatchie, via
Panola, cross the Tokona, and thus placed himself in the rear of
General Washburne, who, at the head of an unknown force, was
threatening Grenada, with a view of intecepting General Price's
retreat. General Van Dorn's directions were for Griffith to harrass
Washburne, by unexpected attacks upon his rear, and thus retard his
movements, until General Price could bring off his large wagon-train,
wounded, artillery, etc. With his usual energy, Griffith made the
necessary dispositions for the care of his wagon train, and, within an
hour, was ready to set out upon this unexpected expedition. The
Brigade consisted of the Legion, Third and Sixth Texas Cavalry, and
Captain McNall'y battery of four guns. After a forced march to the
Tokona, it was discovered that all the fords were strongly guarded,
and that it would be impossible to penetrate the enemy's rear. In
this dilemma, Griffith boldly determined to throw his little brigade
in Washburn's immediate front, and risk the safety of Price's retreat
upon the issue. The odds were terrible, but he argued that if his
brigade was cut to pieces, that the salvation of the army would have
been purchased cheaply enough - a disinterested decision, worthy a
hero. In pursuance of this resolution, he proceeded up the Tokona,
and hastily communicated this decision to General Van Dorn, who
immediately replied, in the following bried dispatch, which, however,
gave Colonel Griffith full authority to act as he should elect:
"HEAD-QUARTERS,
DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI AND EAST LOUISIANA,
OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI, December 1st, 1862.
"Colonel Griffith: I am directed by the General commanding, to
say, that if you carry out what you propose, it will be that he
desires. He has no instructions to give. The army has now fallen
back, and will be tonight on the Tokona.
"I am, respectfully,
"R.W. MEMMINGER, A.A.G."
But the readiness of Griffith to assume grave responsibilities,
when he deemed that the interest of the cause was to be subserved
thereby, as exemplified in his charge, contrary to orders, at
Chustenahlah, now asserted itself, and he was deep into the practical
execution already of his project to strike Washburne in front, when
the above dispatch reached him. The Tokona was passed, and the head
of the column was nearing the enemy, in the neighborhood of Oakland.
From a few stragglers from the enemy's ranks, it was learned that
General Washburne was in command of eight or ten thousand infantry,
and about two thousand cavalry. Griffith's brigade numbered not more
than twelve hundred effective men. It was a bold stroke, conceived by
the daring Texan, but demanded by the exigencies of the occasion. In
consequence of the rapidity of the march, the battery was left in the
care of a number of the men whose horses were too jaded to proceed.
On the night of the second, learning that the enemy's cavalry were
occupying Preston, the irrepressible ranger dashed into that place,
but only to discover that the "blue-coats" had retired to Mitchell's
Cross Roads, on hearing of the arrival of the Confederate cavalry at
Grenada.
On the morning of the third, learning that Washburne, at the head
of his whole force, was moving on the town of Oakland, Griffith
immediately determined to meet him at the junction of the road he was
marching upon with the Charleston road, and a half mile beyond town.
Colonel Boggess, of the Third, was directed to make a demonstration on
his left and rear; Captain Jack Wharton, commanding the Sixth, took
position of the Charleston road; Colonel Hawkins, commanding the
Legion, together with Major J.H. Broocks, temporarily commanding three
detached companies, constituted the center. Major Broocks, being in
the advance, speedily opened the engagement by a vigorous attack,
which was met by the enemy with s spirited return. Colonel E.R.
Hawkins dismounted his men under the cover of a slight natural
elevation, and moved up in excellent order on the right of Broocks.
(At the battle of Oakland, Sergeant Cellum, of the Third Texas, at the
head of thirty men, penetrated the enemy' rear, and captured several
wagons loaded with commissary supplied, killing several of the guard,
and making some twenty prisoners.) The battle was now general, and
the gallant Hawkins, and the veteran Legion, maintained their position
against a force outnumbering them in the ratio of ten to one. The
artillery of the enemy literally poured into their devoted ranks grape
and canister with a rapidity and precision of aim rarely exceeded,
Griffith, true to the boldness of his original conception, ordered a
charge upon the battery, and the brave fellows, responding with a yell
of triumph, irresistible charged in the wake of their gallant leaders,
and took the murder-dealing funs; and, without a moment to reform
their disordered line, attacked, and drove from the field, the
infantry that was supporting the battery. The enemy now planted
another battery on their right, and opened a cross-fore upon the
Legion. Colonel Griffith ordered Captain Wharton to dismount his men,
and take the battery. The brave Wharton was eagerly complying with
this order, when intelligence reached Colonel Griffith that the enemy
was outflanking his left. The Texans were immediately summoned to
horse, as the safety of the command demanded a speedy withdrawal from
the enfolding lines of the enemy's superior numbers. This delicate
maneuver was performed, under fire, in perfect order, and line of
battle reformed in the suburbs of Oakland. The spirited engagement
had continued fifty minutes, and the loss on the side of the enemy was
considerable. The Texans lost ten men. General Washburne did not
wish another repetition of the dose, and , with the friendly cover of
the night, retired to the cross-roads.
This engagement, small in itself, was of vital consequence to the
army of Price, in that it drove form its rear an army of 12,000
Federals. General Washburne evidently imagined that he was confronted
by a division of Van Dorn's army, for had he known the inconsiderable
number of his assailants, it is not probable that he would turned his
back to them. The boldness and spirit of Griffith's attack was
sufficient data upon which to predicate such a hypothesis. Of course,
during the presence of Washburne's force in the rear of General Price,
the trains on the railroad had ceased to run. Colonel Griffith
immediately forwarded to General Price some fifteen trains, with which
to facilitate his retreat. Thanks to the boldness of the victors at
Oakland, the brave old Missourian was enabled to save all his stores,
and reached Grenada, on the south of the Yallabusha river, in due
course.
The distracted and suffering army of West Tennessee was now
allowed a respite from the alarms of battle; but how long it would
continue, no one presumed to know; all feared that the victorious
Grant would soon push onward. General Van Dorn was, at this time,
superseded in the command of the army by Lieutenant-General J.C.
Pemberton. Of the organization of a cavalry corps, to be commanded by
General Van Dorn, and the conception of the Holly Springs expedition,
vide "Biography of General Griffith," in this volume.
The army of General Pemberton, numbering about 25,000 illy-
disciplined, poorly-clothed and fed men, occupied the town and
vicinity of Grenada. General U.S. Grant was in command of 75,000
disciplined, and thoroughly supplied and equipped men, accustomed to
victory, and occupied the town of Coffeeville. Memphis was General
Grant's base of operations, and Holly Springs an intermediate depot,
where had been accumulated immense stores of supplies and munitions of
war. This latter place was garrisoned by about 2,500 men. In
compliance with orders from General Pemberton, Colonel Griffith
reported to General Van Dorn for duty, with his brigade, on December,
12, 1862, composed and officered as follows:
Ninth Texas Cavalry - Colonel D.W. Jones commanding.
Third Texas Cavalry - Lieutenant-Colonel J.S. Boggess,
commanding.
Sixth Texas Cavalry - Captain Jack Wharton, commanding.
First Texas Legion Cavalry - Major J.H. Broocks, commanding.
In addition to the Texas Brigade, General Van Dorn's command
comprised the brigade of General W.H. Jackson, composed of Tennessee
and Mississippi cavalry, and the Missouri Brigade of Colonel
McCulloch, the whole aggregating about 3,500 men. The object and
purposes of the expedition were enveloped in absolute secrecy, and Van
Dorn set out from Grenada, it is believed, on the night of December
19, and pursued the hasty march all night and the next day.
Passing through the beautiful town of Pontotoc, the hungry
troopers were enthusiastically welcomed by the noble and patriotic
citizens at the place; and trays, dishes, and baskets of the choicest
edibles were offered on all sides, and pitchers of wine and milk as
well. No halt was allowed, and the men pursued their mysterious way
munching the welcomed "grub" dispensed by the fair hands of Pontotoc's
good, and beautiful and noble heroines. O, peerless ladies of
Pontotoc, though the mists of twenty years becloud the mind's eye, and
interminable leagues intervene between us, the courtly Griffith, and
his surviving "rebels," salute you! You who were radiant maidens,
then, and had, perchance, plighted your vows with those of a soldier
lover, are matrons now. Time despoils the cheek of its damask, but
the heart, like old wine, grows the better from the effects of age.
May your clime continue to produce a type of womanhood as noble and
exalted as your own; for emulation will find, at the standard of
your excellence, an ultima thule beyond which there can be no
progression!
General Van Dorn had dispatched a trusty spy, well acquainted
with the place, to Holly Springs, to ascertain the number and position
of the enemy, and to accurately locate the picket on the Ripley road.
The command proceeded at a brisk pace, in a northerly direction, and
crossed the Holly Springs road three miles north of the Ripley road.
Here the Federal scouts hitherto hanging on the Confederate rear,
returned to their camp, satisfied that having passed Holly Springs so
far to the left, that the object of the rebel raid was to be found in
Tennessee. The command halted at 3 p.m., on the 21st, and the men
regaled themselves on broiled pork and luscious sweet potatoes.
General Van Dorn summoned Colonel Griffith to his presence, and
imparted to him the plan of the purposed attack. The spy returned
with accurate data as to all necessary information, and further stated
that the Yankees, apprehending no danger, were preparing for a grand
ball. The command was disposed of as follows: Jackson's Brigade on
the right, Griffith's the center, and McCulloch's the left. At
nightfall, Van Dorn counter-marched, and proceeded back to the Ripley
and Holly Springs road, and thence to Holly Springs, moving by columns
of fours, and guns uncapped. Silently, Jackson leads his brigade to
the right, and McCulloch his to the left, and the meshes of fate are
encircling the unconscious Federals.
Guards had been left at all the houses in the immediate vicinity
of the line of march, and other precautions taken to prevent the
possibility of the intelligence of Van Dorn's return passing into the
city. Slowly and cautiously, the command moves along through the
darkness, like some monster serpent, conscious of its ability to seize
and crush its prey. Lieutenant Hyams, of General Van Dorn's staff,
was dispatched on the delicate mission to capture the picket, without
the discharge of a gun, for one pistol-shot would apprise the
slumbering Federals of the presence of their enemy. That the mission
of this young officer was an entire success, speaks volumes in praise
of his bravery, coolness, and sagacity. The enterprise contained the
elements of ninety-nine failures to one of success. General Van Dorn
directed Colonel Griffith to charge at the head of the Sixth and Ninth
into the town. "And take care," added the General, "that you do not
find a hornet's nest at the square!" With drawn saver, Griffith
places himself at the head of the charging column. "Forward, at a
gallop!" he commands, and the squadrons move down the road; and, err
the suburbs are reached the bugle's shrill, harsh blast sounds the
charge upon the crisp morning air, and shouting, yelling rebels
disturb the slumbers of Federal soldiers and citizens alike. The
former emerge from their tents to be informed that they are prisoners
of war; and the later - mostly women and children - to shout:
"Hurrah for Van Dorn! Hurrah for the Confederacy!! Hurrah for Jeff
Davis!!!" Little children bring forth miniature Confederate flags
that they have been forced to conceal since the "Yankees" came;
beautiful young ladies wave their handkerchiefs, and matrons implore
the protection of God for the charging soldiers. Tears of joy gush
forth from many an eye, and manly voices grow husky from emotion. O,
that entry into Holly Springs was the incident of a life-time!
Colonel Griffith posted the Third, under Colonel Boggess, in the
square, and detailed the Legion, at the insistance of General Van
Dorn, to guard the prisoners. Colonel Broocks faithfully performed
this duty, as indeed he always did, and kept his men well in hand, and
none of the Legion engaged in the subsequent plundering of the stores
that ensued. Colonel Broocks had four men detailed from each company
at a time, and, in a decent manner, these procured whatever they
wished of the captured property. This conscientious officer allowed
no prisoner to be robbed of his individual property, and while he thus
honored himself and his State, he kept the bright escutcheon of the
Confederacy untarnished. A regiment of Iowa troops were seen forming
line just out of town, and Colonel Griffith ordered Colonel Jones for
form his regiment - the Ninth - so as to charge them down the street.
A flag of truce was no raised in a camp to the left, and Griffith
dispatched an aid to receive the surrender: in the meantime, placing
himself by the side of the gallant "boy colonel," Jones, they lead the
Ninth in a headlong charge against the Iowa warriors; disperse them,
take their colors, and many prisoners.
Colonel Griffith now dispatched to General Van Dorn: "The
'hornet's-nest' is ours!" and joined Colonel Boggess in the square.
Many ladies - some still in a dishabille - throng the square; all
rejoicing, all excited, and none looking to future consequences. They
point out to Griffith the house occupied by Mrs. Grant, the paymaster,
and the chief quartermaster. Colonel Griffith sent guards to arrest
all the officers domiciled in houses, and to the house occupied by
Mrs. Grant, at which were several of the General's staff. Griffith
detailed ten men, in the special charge of Colonel Boggess, as a
guarantee that the ladies should be treated with deference and
respect. But a few minutes elapsed when a messenger from Boggess
announced to Colonel Griffith that three ladies denied him entrance to
the house. Griffith, fearing some rudeness might be committed,
repaired to the scene immediately, when Colonel Boggess exclaimed: "I
can not execute your orders without the exercise of violence to these
ladies!" Mrs. Grant, stepping forward, said: "And you, sir, make war
upon women, do you?" "On the contrary, madam," "replied the knightly
Griffith, doffing his plumed chapeau, and bowing profoundly to the
lady; "we leave that to our enemies!" But the ladies continued to
"hold the fort," and Griffith, addressing the soldiers, said: "Men,
offer no redeness to the ladies; if they will not allow you to pass
through the gate, tear off a picket from the fence, and flank them;
if you are denied admittance at the door, go around them, and find
ingress through a window. You must search the house for concealed
prisoners, but do not touch the hem of the garment of one of these
ladies." The men commenced tearing off the pickets to the right and
left of the gate, when Mrs Grant relented, and politely invited them
to enter through the gate, at the same time protesting that there were
no men in the house. One officer was found in the house. Colonel
Griffith placed a guard over the house for the protection of the
ladies, while the command remained in town.
McCulloch's Brigade now arrived at the square, and some of the
men broke into a sutler's store, and commenced an indiscriminate
pillage. Col Griffith, knowing that the infection would become
contagious, appealed to the men, in the absence of their officers, to
desist. His appeals to the Missourians were, however, futile; and
soon Tennesseeans, Mississippians and Texans vied in the work of
pillage; the latter nationality, however, always keeping a sharp look
out for their commander. Of course, all this was wrong, was
destructive of discipline, and would have proved fatal in its
consequences had a few hundred Federal troopers dashed into the town;
but the poor, ragged, half-starved fellows deserved all they got, and
more. Never did an army undergo as complete a transformation in
external appearance in so short a time. The grimy, ragged rebel of a
moment ago, now appears with the uniform coat of a Federal colonel on
his back, a plumed hat on his head, and his feet and legs are encased
in patent-leather cavalry boots. In vino veritas! at least one would
have imagined as much to judge from the frequent and liberal potations
indulged by, alas! too many. Cigars were plentiful, and about three
thousand of them were kept puffing at a time. The property captured
and destroyed was extimated at over $5,000,000 worth. Besides the
stores that were filled with goods of the sutlers and the government,
immense quantities of bacon, pork, flour in sacks, hard bread, coffee,
etc., etc., were stacked in piles as high as a man's head, and in rows
a quarter of a mile long at depot. Great quantities of arms and
ammunition were found. The court-house was the magazine and contained
an immense quantity of ordnance stores, bomb-shells, powder, etc.
This was fired as the command left the city, and the exploding pieces
sounded, at a distance, as if a battle was in progress.
The dream of John S. Griffith was realized - the blow had been
struck, and it only remained to be seen what effect it would have in
causing the great Federal captain to change his plans for the
reduction of Vicksburg.
As the fifth act of the drama, in this connection, does not
properly pertain to our narrative, it will only be remarked, en
passant, that the result was all that had been hoped for. General
Grant withdrew his forces from that front to Memphis, and inaugurated
his celebrated movement down the Mississippi river, directly against
Vicksburg, and the Texas Brigade was summoned from the mountains of
distant Tennessee, to attend the obsequies of the Army of West
Tennessee, on July 4, 1863.
The following incidents attracted the attention of the another
during the brief sojourn of the distinguished Southern party at the
headquarters of General Grant. Our fortunes had undergone such
remarkable changes in the last few hours, that nothing now could
possible surprise us. We had stepped from privation to plenty, and
many were disposed to inaugurate a jubilee, inspired by the spirit of
John Barleycorn, Esq.
Here comes Pennington, of the 3rd, with $20,000 in crisp new
greenbacks that he had discovered. He'd dispose of the batch for five
dollars in silver. Despairing of drinking all the whiskey, and having
engagements elsewhere the rebels knock the heads of the whisky barrels
in, and the streets of Holly Springs, literally, are flooded with
whisky. A big, red-headed Irishman, in his shirtsleeves, but wearing
a Federal officer's trowsers, called Colonel Mulligan - whether
derisively or not, quien sabe,? - takes advantage of the sudden
decline in liquors, and drinks confusion to his enemies with the
pillaged whisky of his friends. "Ye coom like thaves in the dark!"
cries the melo-dramatic Colonel Mulligan. Is this the way to make war
on a civilized people? But ye'll nivir, no nivir, escape!" "Release
the prisoners in the jail," is the next order. We find many Federal
soldiers incarcerated, some of whom join the ranks of shadow of a
charge being preferred against them. But shade of Brian Boru! who
had we here else than Mr. B. Thomas? O, inimitable son of the Emerald
Isle! My old comrade, whose loyal friendship was as true as steel,
and whose aversion for guard duty was stronger than his hatred of the
devil, what fate hath befallen thee since we parted so long ago under
the "Stars and Bars?" Mr. Thomas informs us that he is under sentence
of death as a spy. "And if ye hadn't come, it was shooting me they
would the day afther the morrow. I'm glad to see yez, boys, and glad
yez canteens are full."
"O, I am not find of wurruck,
It was niver the gift of the Bradies,
Be sure I'd make a most illigant Turruck,
For I'm fond of tobaccy and ladies!"
Mr. Thomas did not exaggerate his case a particle. He was
discharged from the Third Texas after the conclusion of the first
year's service, as being over the age of re-enlistment; whereupon he
engaged in the business of a sutler to the regiment. In quest of
necessaries for his shop, Mr. Thomas ventured into the enemy's lines
as affording a more varied market from which to select his purchases,
with the result already remarked.
Colonel Griffith, as elsewhere stated, commanded the "Texas
Brigade" in this, perhaps, most remarkable campaign of the war, and
was the second to no officer in the corps, in contributing to its
unparalleled success. He charged at the head of the Texans into the
city, and his black plume waved in the thickest of the fight at
Middleburg and Davis, Mill. Cool in the hottest fever of battle, he
was brave even unto rashness. But happly his temerrity and
impetuosity were held in subjection by a sagacious intelligence, and
prudence characterized all his actions. General Griffith is no less a
gentleman of letters and culture, than of action on the field, and he
would grace any civil position in the State - that he would consent to
occupy - with profit to the people and honor to the office. His
friend, the author, looks forward to his civil preferment with happy
anticipations; knowing, full well, that Texas has no truer son upon
whom she could confer her honors in art compensation for the arduous
services that he has rendered her, on distant fields, which made the
Texan name glorious.
Upon the immediate capture of Holly Springs, an indescribable
scene of pillage ensued. In some commands, soldiers no longer
recognized their officers, and apparently, all subordination and
discipline were lost sight of. It was, doubtless, a diverting scene
to the prisoners, who longed in their hearts to see a few hundred of
their blue-coated comrades come charging into town, and route the
greedy rebels who were sacking it. And, in truth, this would not have
been impossible, had the evil continued unchecked. But seeing some of
his own brigade catching the disgraceful infection, Colonel Griffith
appealed to them to remain at their posts of duty, and not disgrace
the fair fame of the Confederacy by such riotous conduct. But some of
the men not heeding the soldierly appeal to their noble natures, the
determined chieftain drew his sword, and, in language more forcible
than polite, vowed that he would constitute himself the custodian of
Confederate honor, and drove the delinquents, at its point, back into
the ranks.
The Texans bore the brunt of each engagement of this expedition.
Where ever opposition was encountered the gallant Griffith led his
Texans through the revel of death, and wherever the conflict deepened
most, his sable plume, like the oriflamme of Henry of Navarre, was
seen. To the sterling soldierly qualities of Colonel John S.
Griffith, was the Confederate cause indebted, in no small degree, for
this success, which, in its results, exceeded those of many of the
most stubbornly-contested battles of the war.
The prisoners captured in Holly Springs numbered between 2,800
and 3,000. But of infinitely more value than the paroling of these,
or the destruction of the vast accumulation of supplies, was the
rendering of Holly Springs a strategic of no further importance in the
"Great Captain's" campaign against Vicksburg.
About four o'clock in the afternoon, and as soon as the work of
paroling the prisoners was accomplished, the command resumed the march
northward. Nothing occured, worthy of mention, until the fortified
position of "David' Mill" was reached, just beyond the Tennessee line.
Here a force of some three or 400 Federals were ensconced in a
palisade fort, having an impassable stream in its front, across which
the assailants must move over a foot-bridge, exposed to the fire from
the fort. A curious contrivance, employed here, was a cannon mounted
on a hand-car, which, from the facility with which it could be shifted
from position to position caused the Confederates considerable injury
and annoyance. The Texas Brigade was dismounted and marched to the
attack in fine spirits, led by the intrepid Griffith. Colonel
Griffith ordered Colonel Broocks, with the Legion to cross the stream
above the bridge on some logs, and assail the position in flank. This
movement the gallant Broocks executed in excellent order, and had
General Van Dorn not called Griffith from the attack in front, to
resume the march into Tennessee, the place must inevitable have been
taken by the Confederates. The engagement was warm, and the Texans
left about twenty dead upon the field, and twice that number wounded.
At the bridge, in going to the attack, and in retreating from the
field, volley after volley was poured into their ranks, wholly exposed
to the enemy's aim, as they defiled across the narrow causeway, and
deployed into line on the other side of the stream. The engagement
continued, without intermission, for about three hours, when General
Van Dorn, seeing the futility of his attacks on the fortified position
without guns, called off the men. Again must the gauntlet be run at
the fatal bridge, and again did the vigilant enemy improve the
occasion by a free use of their rifles. A Confederate hospital was
erected on the field, and in charge of Assistant-Surgion Eugene
Blocker, of the Third Texas.
Northward, again the indefatigable Van Dorn led the march, and,
in the afternoon of the next day, came in the neighborhood of Bolivar,
Tennessee, at which place was a considerable force of the enemy.
General Van Dorn amused them by a skirmish with the Tennesseeans and
Mississippians, while the Texans attacked a strongly fortified
position at Middleburg, a few miles distant. One prominent feature of
this position was a blockhouse, absolutely impregnable to attacks by
small arms. The position was stormed again and again, but no foothold
could be gained, and General Van Dorn, despairing of success,
abandoned the undertaking late in the afternoon.
The writer omitted to state, in its proper connection that the
railroad track was town up at various points between Holly Springs and
Bolivar, and the telegraph wires cut. The object of the expedition
was now attained, and the column turned to retrace its way by a
circuitous route. The Federal cavalry were making super-human efforts
to capture Van Dorn, and endeavoring to intercept the column a force
of cavalry and mounted infantry, not far short of 10,000 men, were
employed. Frequent skirmishes were had with this force on the return,
the last of which occurred at Ripley, Mississippi.
The month of January was passed by the Texas Brigade in doing
picket duty, and in scouting expeditions in and about Water Valley.
There being no longer any immediate need of cavalry in Mississippi,
the command of General Van Dorn was ordered to Tennessee. Before
commencing the long and fatiguing march, Van Dorn issued his
celebrated "Order No. 5," in which he prescribed the minutest roles
for the government of his corps, wheather in camp or on the march.
Proper distances were prescribed to be observed on the march between
companies, regiments, brigades, and divisions; a regular system of
bugle calls was formulated: chalenges and replies of videttes, etc.,
etc. - the whole concluding with the impetuous declaration: "Cavalry
knows no danger - knows no failure; what it is ordered to do, it must
do!" The seemingly interminable march to Tennessee was wearisome in
the extreme, and utterly devoid of interesting incident. The army of
General Bragg was encamped at Tullahoma and Shelbyville. His left
flank was threatened by a force of about 10,000 men under General
Granger at Franklin. The object of Van Dorn was to confront this
force, and prevent, if possible, its further advance in the direction
of Duck river. This stream was crossed over a pontoon bridge at
Columbia, and the column proceeded to Spring Hill, on the pike
connecting Columbia and Franklin. Several skirmishes were had with
the enemy in the neighborhood of Franklin; when, finally, about March
5, 1863, General Granger determined to put a period to Van Dorn's
annoyances, and, affecting to despise the prowess of his adversary,
dispatched Colonel Coburn with 3,000 infantry, a battery of artillery,
and about 500 cavalry, to drive the audacious rebel across Duck river.
Van Dorn met the expeditionary column at Thompson's Station, near
Spring Hill: and, while engaging him in front with the Texas Brigade,
dispatched General Forest - who had reported to him for duty - to gain
the enemy's rear. The Texans made charge after charge, upon the line
of the enemy, and the author would bear witness to the bravery and
soldierly bearing of Colonel Coburn, who fought with a valor worthy of
better issue. Outnumbered, surrounded, and being attacked by the
impetuous charges of the Texans every moment, he finally raised the
white flat, and surrendered to General Van Dorn in front of the Texas
Brigade. The prisoners surrendered were about 3,000, as the cavalry
and artillery escaped. Again, the author regrets that he is unable to
present anything like an accurate estimate of the Confederate loss. A
comrade of the author, in a late letter, says: "I think all the
estimates place the loss of the Texas Brigade too low. The legion
carried into the battle 225 men, after leaving one-fourth of the whole
to hold the horses; and, my recollection is, that the killed and
wounded of the legion numbered seventy-five. Company E, came out of
the fight with only half its number (twenty-eight) unhurt. Those true
gentlemen and splendid officers, Captain B.H. Norsworthy (afterward
promoted Major) and Lieutenant Lipscomb Norvell, being of the severely
wounded. The victory was indeed dearly bought by our brigade, no
matter from what other quarter attempts have been made to appropriate
the honors of it. With feelings of mingled pride and sadness, I
continually, in my mind, look back upon the scenes of that day, and
hear voices that are no longer of this world. Captain J.W. Bazer,
commanding Company H of the Legion, with kindness of heart,
intelligence and iron nerve stamped on his countenance, severly
wounded, but continuing duty on the field until shot dead.
Lieutenant Alley, of Company G of the Legion, always the
gentleman and soldier, in face and bearing, his black plume waving in
the thickest of the fight until mortally wounded. Captain James A.
Broocks, commanding Company C of the Legion, with his clear, ringing
voice: "Come on, Company C!" The author would bear testimony to the
daring and chivalry of Captain Broocks, who, upon that occasion,
seemed to court the mission of danger like a Salasin bearing a charmed
life. But he was struck down in his ripe manhood. To Colonel John H.
Broocks, his brother, the dying patriot said: "John, take this sword
(their venerable father had given it to him), and tell father that I
died in performance of my duty." Noble words - example worthy the
emulation of Southern youth for all time! Lieutenant C.H. Roberts,
company C of the Legion, true and brave, was killed at head of his
company. Privates Spoon, Elezer Davis and John Bryant of the Legion
and Drew Polk and David B. Nicholson of Company E. Third Texas
Regiment, always distinguished for soldierly qualities, were all slain
in close proximity. The engagement continued, without intermission,
about five hours; and, so deadly and stubborn was the nature of the
contest, that at times bayonets actually clashed, and hand to hand
fights to the death were not uncommon. Here fell one of nature's
noblemen - Wyndham, First Sergeant of Company A, Third Texas. In the
morning of manhood, he left his Louisaiana home, and came to tender
his services, and his life, to the cause of the South. Pure in his
character, of a high and lofty nature, and talents far above
mediocrity, Wyndham we justly regarded by his friends as a young man
of great promise. Alas, what fond, proud hopes went down with him!
He sleeps all alone, far from the home and friends of his youth,
without a slab of marble to mark the spot; but he lives in the hearts
of all who knew him:
"For none knew him but to love,
None named him but to praise.!
If the capture of Holly Springs was the most important cavalry
exploit of the war, the battle of Thompson's Station was not by any
means the least. As an effort has been made to detract from the hard-
earned fame of the Texas Brigade on this occasion, the author refers
to a "defense" published in the Waco Examiner and Paron, and which has
been endorsed by a number of officer of the Texas Brigade as being
correct and just in all particulars, save that the loss in killed and
wounded is underestimated.
Though not exactly in its proper connection, the original
organization of Whitfield's Legion will be given here, together with a
statement of its participation in the battle of Iuka. As this data
came anonymously by mail, the author does not know to whom his thanks
are due for the same: "Whitfield's Legion was organized April 1,
1862, by the addition of nine new companies to Whitfield's Battalion,
the companies of the old battalion, to-wit: A, Captain E.R. Hawkins;
B, Captain Murphy; C, Captain John H. Broocks; and D, Captain John
T. Whitfield; carrying with them into the Legion the same letter
designations respectively that they had in the battalion. Major J.W.
Whitfield was elected Colonel without opposition. The organization
was not completed until April 19, when Captain E.R. Hawkens was
elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and Private S. Holman, Major. The command
was composed of eleven companies from Texas and two from Arkansas, up
to, and a short time after the reorganization, when the Arkansas
Company B - Captain W. Catterson - was transferred to an Arkansas
command. At the re-organization' (May 8, 1862), all the field
officers were re-elected, and the companies were commanded by the
following officers: A, Captain J.N. Zackry; B, Captain W. Catterson
(vice Captain Murphy); C, Captain John H. Broocks; D, Captain John
T. Whitfield; E, Captain B.H. Norsworthy; F, Captain Ben Griffin;
G, Captain Ed. O. Williams; H, Captain _____; I, Captain Jesse M.
Cook; K, Captain _____; L, Captain _____; M, Captain O.P. Preston;
N, Captain _____. Major Holman resigned, and Captain John H. Broocks
was promoted in his stead. On may 9, 1863, Colonel Whitfield was
appointed Brigadier-General, after which, Lieutenant-Colonel Hawkins
was promoted Colonel, Major Broocks, Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain
John T. Whitfield, Major.
"On September 19, 1862, the Legion participated in the Battle of
Iuka. It occupied the position on the right of the brigade. When the
skirmishers were driven back, Colonel Whitfield ordered a charge. The
Third Texas, which had been thrown forward as skirmishers seeing us
advance, fell into ranks with us, and thus formed - as one regiment -
we captured the Ninth Ohio battery, driving the enemy before us. The
Forty-second Iowa attempted to make a right-wheel, so as to enfilade
the line, but three companies, and about seventy men of the Third
Texas, charged, and drove it in confusion from the field. In this
engagement, the three Cook brothers, of the Legion, greatly
distinguished themselves for cool intrepidity and loyal devotion to
the flag of the Confederacy. Ensign Ivey Cook was shot down, severely
wounded, when his brother, Samuel, seized the regimental colors, and
waved them with a cheer of triumph. But he advanced but a few steps,
when he, too, was shot down; when a third brother, young Andrew Cook,
grasped the staff from his relaxing hold, exclaiming: 'The flag shall
wave, though the entire Cook family is exterminated in the attempt!'
Colonel Whitfield was severely wounded. The loss of the regiment was
107 killed and wounded. On October 5, 1862, the Legion participated
in the engagement at Hatchie Bridge, while the battle of Corinth was
in progress. We were first formed on the north bank of the river;
were then moved to the south bank, and formed in line, with the river
in our rear. We were attacked by an overwhelming force and driven
back. Our loss was very great in prisoners, as the bridge was torn in
pieces by the enem's shell, and the means of passing the stream was
difficult and dangerous. Our loss, during the engagement, was ninety-
seven in killed, wounded, and prisoners."
The author regrets that he does not know to whom he is indebted
for the above extract; but, knowing the general correctness of the
statements given, he has no hesitation whatever in embodying it in the
narrative of the services of the Texas Brigade.
A TEXAN'S ESTIMATE OF GENERAL W.S. HANCOCK, U.S.A.
I.
Hancock, the smiling Muse lights on thy name,
With stylus ready to record thy fame;
The legend reads upon the tablet traced -
In letters that may never be effaced.
II.
In war the superb soldier's matchless blade,
Gleamed first and last along the lines array'd;
When Peace arose with crown of olive wreath,
His tempered steel was first to seek its sheath.
III.
Though others in the drama bore conspicuous part,
He won the fortress of his foeman's heart;
The civic chief, by all the sections blest,
Who knew no North, no South, no East, no West?
NOTE. - During the march of the 20th, Colonel Griffith galloped to the
head of the column, and rode with Gen. Van Dorn an hour or more.
Griffith represented to the General that, inasmuch as he was the
originator of the expedition, he should be granted the post of honor;
or, in other words, bear the brunt of the fighting; that his
regiments, having served as infantry, would be more efficient than
those drilled purely as cavalry. General Van Dorn readily acquiesced,
and took occasion to thank the Colonel for having, in such
complimentary terms, suggested himself as the commander. He also
complimented Colonel Griffith on the conception of such a bold ruse de
guerre, which promised such sterling results to the cause.
NOTE. - Upon the entry of the Confederates into Holly Springs, Colonel
Griffith was informed that General U.S. Grant had just departed, on a
special train, for Memphis; and the locomotive that bore the modern
Caesar and his fortunes, could even then be located by the smoke
escaping from its chimney. A delay of five minutes, on his part,
would have materially checked that tide in his affairs, that was
bearing him on to fortune and fame.
NOTE. - At the insistance of Colonel Broocks, their regimental
commander, honorable mention is made of the following officers and men
of the "Legion," as their due for soldierly qualities exhibited on all
occasions:
Lieutenant Thompson Morris, Company I, first Texas Legion.
Captain J.M. Cook, Company I, First Texas Legion.
T.M. Bagby, Company F, First Texas Legion.
Lieutenant Snell, Company F, first Texas Legion.
Sergeant M. McQuistain, Company G, First Texas Legion.
Captain Dave Snodgrass, illegally promoted from a lieutenancy in
his own company, to the captaincy of another, by virtue of General
Bragg's autocratic ukase of 1862.
John J. Pleasants, Company C, First Texas Legion.
Captain Ed. O. Williams, Company G, First Texas Legion.
Lieutenant W.B. Walker, Company D, who lost an arm in the battles
around Atlanta, while at the post of duty.
Rev. R.W. Thompson, the able and efficient Chaplain of the
Legion.
The author cheerfully adds to these the names of Ulysses
Hairgrove, Company K, Third Texas Cavalry, who was as brave as he was
always willing and ready for battle. First Sergeant Thomas j. Cellum,
Company A, Third Texas Cavalry, who was always at his post and ready
to take a hand in any thing that might turn up. Hays Alston, R.A.
Godbold, Fannin Montgomery, and Jack Phillops, of the same company and
regiment, recur to the mind; but, where all were actuated by motives
the most disinterested and patriotic, it would seem inviduous to make
distinctions by the special mention of any.
CHAPTER XXIX.
After the battle of Thompson's Station, the brigade encamped near
the village of Spring Hill, on the Columbia and Franklin pike, for a
week or ten days - a respite from service of which both horses and men
stood much in need. But General Granger finally moved down the pike
with an overwhelming force. Van Dorn retired in the direction of
Columbia, sullenly disputing every inch of ground. As the recent
heavy rains had caused the streams to rise, and more rain threatened,
General Van Dorn very sagaciously crossed the wagon-train and battery
of artillery over the river. General Granger's force now occupied the
position of a horse-shoe, extending from the river on the right of Van
Dorn, to the river on his left. The Confederates were enveloped in
the folds of the anaconda-like enemy; and, to complete the picture of
their seemingly wretched condition, the pontoon-bridge was swept away,
leaving a swollen, roaring torrent in their rear. General Van Dorn
recognized the desperation of the situation, and addressed himself at
once to redeam it; and, on this occasion, he unquestionably showed
those qualities of quick perception, rapid decision, and indomitable
pluck, that characterizes the captain of genius. An attack, in force,
was made on the enemy's extreme right, which forced him to draw re-
enforcements from the left to come to the rescue of the threatened
wing, thus leaving an outlet which the sagacious Van Dorn was not slow
to improve. Placing himself at the head of the Third Texas Cavalry,
the General led the way, followed by the remainder of the corps.
Granger was surprised and chagrined to see his wily adversary elude
his grasp, in what he, doubtless, deemed the moment of victory. Van
Dorn took up the line of march for Shelbyville, and, crossing the
river at that point, returned to Columbia. The pontoon was soon
repaired, and the corps was, ere many days, in front of Franklin, to
which post the discomforted Granger had retraced his steps. The
brigade, while here, was engaged in doing very arduous picket duty,
and in foraging almost under the guns of the enemy. Frequent
skirmishes, and partial engagements, took place; though the
redoubtable Granger did not again venture out of his stronghold. The
Legion, while doing picket duty in an advanced and very exposed
position, was surprised one night by the enemy, and suffered some
loss.
While encamped here, the assassination of General Van Dorn
occurred. This was one of the severest blows to the Confederacy.
Cavalry, pre-eminently, was the arm upon which the South should have
relied, as by rapidity of movement, the deficiency in numbers could in
a measure, have been obviated. Van Dorn, Stuart and Forest, with
10,000 well mounted and well armed men, would, undoubtedly, have
accomplished great results. As we have seen, Van Dorn frustrated
Grant's army of 75,000 men with barely 3,000 troopers, and the results
of the capture of Holly Springs was just the same as if Pemberton had
driven Grant to Memphis; and, in a humanitarian sense, much greater,
since the butchery was avoided. Forest, with 5,000 men, fell upon
Smith and Grierson, and crushed them, though they had full 15,000 men.
Had this column joined Sherman at Meridian, as doubtless was the
intention, the Georgia campaign had never been, for Sherman would have
marched to Mobile, and the end would have been.
The circumstances attending the killing of General Van Dorn
belong to history, and the public have a right to demand the whole
truth, and, whatever delicacy of feeling we may have in regard to
invading the sacred precincts of the domestic circle, vanish, when
circumstances have invited the inexorable stylus of history to secure
a record in the case; yet the author has no relish for such episodes,
and is glad that another has kindly performed most of the unpleasant
duty of reciting the causes of the homicide, and so relieved from a
very uncongenial task. There were no witnesses to the unfortunate
act. The writer was encamped within three hundred yards of the house
at the time, and can but gave the report as current then. The
headquarters of General Van Dorn were at the residence of Major
Chairs, a few rods from the house of Dr. Peters. On the morning of
the homicide, the General rose from the breakfast table in advance of
his staff, and proceeded alone to his office, where he found Dr.
Peters waiting. The latter presented a pass to Franklin, to the
General for his signature. Van Dorn took the paper, sat down to the
desk to sign it. Peters, standing behind him, awaited the final
stroke of the pen, when he drew a Smith & Wesson revolver and fired,
the ball entering the back of the head, and lodging just under the
surface above the right eye. The assassin, licensed by the pass,
mounted his horse, and a few minutes gallop passed him through the
enemy's lines. Peters was subsequently apprehended and tried in
Mississippi by a Confederate court, and acquitted. The following
account of his arrest, as given by Lieutenant Dan. H. Alley, Company
G, Third Texas Cavalry, will prove of interest;
"I was in command of General W.H. Jackson's scouts, and, in 1864,
with five men, was on a reconnoitering expedition in Bolivar county,
Mississippi. One evening we had struck camp - that is to say, we had
scattered out among the houses of the immediate neighborhood, two or
three in a place, so as not to crowd or impose upon the citizens.
Walter Boster and another man, whom I do not now recall, but think he
was John Nelson, when to a house about a mile distant, and, in a very
short time, Boster came back to me, and reported that he thought Dr.
Peters was at the house where he was stopping, but was not sure. I
introduced him to return, and keep out a strict watch during the
night, and ascertain, if possible, if the suspected person was Peters;
and that if he ascertained, beyond doubt, that it was Peters, to
arrest and hold him. After supper the ladies of the family and Dr.
Peters were engaged in a game of cards. The lady of house was a niece
of Peters. Accidentally, one of them called his name, so as to leave
no doubt, on the mind of Boster, as to his identity. Shortly after
his he laid off his pistols, a pair of Smith & Wesson, with one of
which he killed the General. Boster now arrested him. He made no
resistance - probably because they 'had the drop on him'. He appeared
very much incensed at such a procedure, and forthwith dispatched a
negro messenger for me, desiring that I 'come over' and explain. I
sent Boster instructions to guard him until morning when I would come
over 'and explain.' I went over early the next morning. He demanded
my authority for causing his arrest, etc. I informed him that I was a
Confederate officer, and that I arrested him for the killing of Major-
General Earl Van Dorn, and that there was a standing order for his
arrest. He desired to know what disposition I would make of him. I
informed him that I reported to Brigadier-General W.H. Jackson, and
that he was destined to that officer's headquarters. He stated that
he knew I was a Texan, and that I intended to kill him, as he had
learned that the Texas Brigade had vowed vengeance against him. I
assured him that he would be protected so long as he conducted himself
docilely. He slept none, but was engaged in writing the greater part
of the night. I presumed he was writing his will, as he evidently
believed we would kill him. On our way to headquarters, he talked
freely about the affair; abused his wife, and General Van Dorn, but
was more bitter against Mrs. Peters than the General. He said that he
had parted with her once before for a similar offense, committed in
connection with a man other than General Van Dorn. He stated that he
only condoned her fall from virtue on account of his children. He
told me that he had caught Van Dorn at his house two nights before the
killing; that Van Dorn ran out of, and under the house; that he
pursued and dragged him forth by the hair of the head, Van Dorn was
intoxicated at the time, and begged for his life, which he spared on
condition that he would visit his house no more, and that he would
sign writings to that effect; and also admit, in writing, that he
(Van Dorn) had been too intimate with his wife. On the morning of the
murder, he stated that he visited the office of Van Dorn to have him
comply with these promises, and that Van Dorn Exclaimed: "Take the
door, you _____ puppy!" whereupon, he drew his pistol and fired. I
took him to General Jackson's headquarters, which were situated about
fifteen miles from Canton, Mississippi. Efforts were made to take him
from me by writ of Habeas Corpus, but I informed them that I would
oppose any such attempt with force, and that, if they forced me to
extremities, I would kill him myself, in preference to surrendering
him. General Jackson had him conveyed to Meridian, where the court
was in session for the trial of all military causes. I learned,
subsequently, that he was tried and acquitted, and that he returned
home, and took to his bosom the twice-discarded wife. Of this last
statement, however, I cannot vouch, as it is merely hearsay. As well
as I can remember, the scouts with me at the time were Walter Boster -
killed near Atlanta, Georgia in a personal difficulty, (he was as
brave a man as ever lived) - Edgar Dade, J.W. Grime and John Nelson;
the former were Texans, the latter a Mississippian. Very much of his
conversation in regard to Mrs. Peters and Van Dorn was unsuitable for
print, and I have, consequently, omitted the greater portion of it.
The funeral of the dead General was very impressive and solemn.
The command was mounted, and drawn up on either side of the street.
The body, in a metalic casket, was laid in the hearse; in the head of
the coffin reposed his Mexican sombrero, bearing a gold Texas star;
along the breast reposed his gold-hilted sword, a present from the
State of Mississippi; at the foot of the coffin stood his military
boots. Following the hearse was his horse, bridles and saddled. As
the hearse passed down the lines, the officers and men saluted their
dead chieftain with the saber; and, though extremest silence reigned,
many an eye was moist. Especially did his escort seem to realize
their loss. They were men of the old army, who had followed the
fortunes of the dashing "Major" into the Confederate army, and had
come to look upon the General as little children do a father. We
repeat, that the death of General Van Dorn was a great calamity to the
Confederacy. Upon the death of the General, the cavalry corps was
broken up; General Forest, with his division, remaining in Tennessee,
and the brigades of Whitfield (Texas), Cosby and Ferguson, were
organized into a division, over which was place Brigadier-General W.H.
Jackson, a cultured gentleman, and a brave, efficient officer, and a
native of the State of Tennessee.
Grant had now inaugurated his titantic operations against the
heroic city of Vicksburg, and Jackson's Division was ordered to the
scene of operations. Probably a month was consumed in the arduous
march, which afforded no incident worthy of note. Several days before
we arrived in the vicinity of the doomed city, the terrible artillery
duel, that was progressing day and night, could be distinctly heard.
The city being closely invested, there remained but little for the
cavalry to do but cover the front of the relieving army being
organized by General Joseph E. Johnston. Preparations were finally
made for crossing the Big Black river - and Breckinridge's Division,
with the pontoon-train, were actually on the bank of the river - when
intelligence came of the surrender. Immediately, the Confederate
infantry fell back to Jackson, and the cavalry was left to dispute the
advance of General Sherman, who marched on Jackson at the head of near
$30,000 men. During these operations, the Texas Brigade was commanded
by General J.W. Whitfield - Colonel Ross being in temporary command of
another bridge and operating in the Tennessee valley. {Typist wonder
of the above dollar mark typesetting error}
During the three day's of Sherman's march from Vicksburg to
Jackson, the command was under fire incessantly, and often and again
did the impetuosity of their attacks force Sherman to deploy a
division to clear the audacious troopers from his front. The "siege
of Jackson," so-called, the retiring of Johnston to Brandon, and,
eventually, the departure of Sherman for Vicksburg, are all too well
known to require repetition here. Vide conclusion of this chapter for
additional details.
During the remainder of the summer and autumn, the Texas Brigade
remained in front of Vicksburg, having an occasional skirmish to break
the dull monotony of camp-life.
About this time - in the fall of 1863 - General Whitfield, whose
health was feeble, sought service in the Trans-Mississippi Department,
and Colonel L.S. Ross, of the Sixth Texas Cavalry, was named
Brigadier-General, and assigned to the command of the Texas Brigade.
So identified did the General become with his brigade, that ever
afterward it was known as Ross' Brigade. General Ross was quite young
when the "wreath and stars" were conferred upon him, but he had been
incured to war from his youth up. His father Captain S.P. Ross, was,
in the early days of Texas, a compatriot of Ben McCulloch, Hayes,
Chevallie, and did good service on the exposed frontier against savage
Indian and marauding Mexican. Under the brave father's lead, the no
less gallant son took his first lessons in war, and the truthful
incidents connected with the youth of General Ross, if presented in
print, would appear as a romance. The strong individuality of Gen.
Ross marked him from the commencement of the civil war, while his
magnetic nature, and noble qualities of head and heart, made him
almost the idol of the whole brigade. The boys were proud of their
dashing young General, and I doubt if he would have accepted a Major-
General's commission, unless conditioned that the old brigade should
remain with him. As one instance, among hundreds that could be given,
I copy from a recent letter from B.P. Simmons, who was a gant soldier
of the Sixth Texas Regiment of Cavalry, showing the affection that
exited between the General and the men:
"I was with the command at the battle of Corinth, where I was
wounded; and, right here, I wish to make mention of General Ross (God
bless him!), who assisted me in getting off the field of battle. I
had the calf of my leg shot away in a charge we made on Friday
evening, when I was conveyed back to the hospital - I suppose some
three miles to the rear - and was placed on a blanket between Goodson
King and Spearman, both belonging to Company D, Sixth Texas. Both of
them had their legs shattered by grape shot. King died that night,
and Spearman the next morning about eight o'clock. As the army
retreated on Saturday morning, General Ross placed me on his own
horse, and carried me safely out of danger."
This is an incident that we read of in the exploits of ideal
heroes in romances; but how seldom do we ever come upon the incident
verified, as in this instance?
General Ross was fortunate in the selection of his staff
officers. Captain D.R. Gurley, than whom a more perfect and
accomplished gentleman does not exist, was the Assistant Adjutant-
General, and served his chief, throughout the war, with intelligence,
fidelity, and signal courage. Next to the General, I doubt if Captain
Gurly was not the most popular man in the brigade.
In January, 1863, the brigade was sent to guard a train, loaded
with arms for the army, in the Trans-Mississippi Department. The
weather was bitter cold, the smaller streams being frozen over. The
men were thinly clad, and suffered terrible. The roads in the swamp
being found impassable by wagons, the rifles were taken from the
boxes, and each man, from the General down, took two guns and carried
them to the river, where, with much difficulty, they were crossed over
- an artillery duel, between a gun-boat and the Confederate battery,
being in progress all the while.
celebrated raid through
theater of operations. An expedition of gun-boats and transports,
started up the Yazoo river about the same time that
To this latter expedition, General Ross paid his attention. The enemy
landed at Sartartia, and attacked Ross' Brigade, which was drawn up in
line of battle just out the village. The Texans repulsed the enemy,
who were mostly negroes with white officers, and closely pursued them
to the water's edge, when Ross retired from the guns of the boats.
The action was sharp, hot, and decisive. Gen. Ross was at the head of
his column, encouraging his men by word and example. The repulsed
enemy steamed up the river.
At
enemy in his floating fort. The Texan sharpshooters soon caused the
port-holes to be closed, and the enemy turned, and retreated down the
river. Had not General Ross been called to the assistance of General
Polk, who commanded the Confederate army in front of
not at all problematical that he would have driven the enemy down the
Yazoo, and forced him to seek refuge behind the walls of
double-quick march now commenced for Gen. Polk. General Ross fell in
materially retarded that General's march.
At Marrion, Ross engaged the greater portion of the Union army
all day in skirmishes, as if intending to attack in force. Here
who, with 15,000 men, was en route from Memphis Join him, intending,
perhaps, when thus re-enforced, to march against and capture Mobile.
Smith was advancing down the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, confronted by the
indomitable Forrest. Ross was ordered to proceed, with the utmost
dispatch, to General Forrest's assistance. Off the Texans started;
but, on the second day, intelligence reached Ross that Forrest had
routed his enemy, and that the demoralized army of Smith was flying in
confusion toward Memphis. This startling intelligence was sufficient
to cause General Sherman to retrace his steps, also. General Ross was
now ordered to the Yazoo, to complete the job he had just commenced
when ordered away - i.e., clear the river and valley of the enemy.
The column took up the line of march for Bentonville - distant from
Yazoo city about ten miles, and being connected with it by a plank-
road. The brigade passed through the village, and were encamping -
two regiments, in fact, had gone into camp, and the battery was
planted facing down the Yazoo road - when, like a clattering
apparition, two of the Texas scouts dashed into camp hotly pursued by
about two hundred negro cavalry. The battery gave them a startling
salute that emptied several saddles, then General Ross mounted his
horse, and shouting: "Charge them!" went clattering down the road,
followed by his men, in enthusiastic confusion. The "black apes," as
the boys called the negro soldiers, were pursued into the lines of
Yazoo city, and the weary and victorious Texans camped about a mile in
front of their lines. Finally, after one or two days spent in
skirmishing, General Ross determined to attack them. A detachment of
ten men from Company A, Third Texas, drove in the pickets, which
movement was followed up by the advance of the whole brigade. The
enemy was driven into their bomb proofs, which were so effectually
sealed by the Texas sharpshooters, that not a Federal gun could be
heard. The Texans charged into the city, and drove the enemy aboard
of the gun-boats, and these iron monsters fount it convenient to ride
at anchor in the middle of the river. The guns of the boats were
practically useless at such short range, as the river being higher
than the country immediately around, the shells passed harmlessly over
the heads of the Texans into the hills.
NOTE. - During the operations on the Yazoo, two young men of the Sixth
Texas were brutally murdered by the enemy, after surrender; and thus
was inaugurated an informal "war to the knife," which claimed many
victims who otherwise would only have experienced the rigors of
captivity.
Night closed the scene, and General Ross drew off his men to the
camp of the previous evening, intending to pay his respects to the
enemy again in the morning. But the command of the "black apes" did
not wish another repetition of the "sealing-up process," consequently,
he discreetly slipped aboard his boats, weighed anchor, and steamed
for Vicksburg, to compare notes of failure and disappointment with
General Sherman. The remainder of the campaign was confined to
repelling raids from Vicksburg until about the last of April, when
General Ross was ordered to re-enforce the army of General Johnston in
North Georgia. This long march was prosecuted in a somewhat leisurely
manner, the command often halting, for several days, to recuperate.
One of these halting-places was Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at which point
two member of Company A, Third Texas - Harvey Gregg and ____ Gray -
were drowned in the Black Warrior river.
Ross' Brigade reached the army of General Johnston as it was
crossing the Etowah river, and was immediately assigned to duty at the
front. From this time on, the fall of Atlanta, the brigade was daily
under fire. For two months the men did not change their apparel,
partook on only cold rations, and, during most of the time, were
exposed to heavy rains - both from the clouds, and from the throats of
the enemy's guns. The engagement at New Hope church was a brilliant
action, and reflected luster on Texas arms. General Ross brought on
the engagement, and the brigade with those of Granberry and Ector,
repulsed, with heavy loss, a greatly superior corps of the enemy.
General Johnston warmly congratulated the troops engaged, upon the
immediate field of battle.
The lines of Sherman were now fast closing around Atlanta, yet
the wily old chief of the Confederates disputed, stubbornly, each inch
of ground, and every advance of the Northern army was dearly paid for.
Sherman became impatient, or doubted the eventual success of his
movement in front, and had recourse to cavalry raids in the rear of
the Confederate position with a view to cutting their lines of
communication. General McCook, with an expeditionary force of cavalry
numbering about 5,000, passed the left flank of the Confederate
position, and gained the rear; but so closely was he pursued by the
Texas Brigade and the Eighth Texas Cavalry (the Terry Rangers), that
but little opportunity was allowed him to destroy the railroad.
Finally, he was brought to bay near Jonesboro, and attacked so
vigorously, that his forces were demoralized, many were captured, and
the remainder put to flight. Not being fully satisfied with the
result of McCook's failure, General Sherman dispatched General
Kilpatrick on a similar mission.
NOTE. - In this engagement fell William L. Thornton, the pride of his
regiment and friends. Texas never possessed a son who gave greater
promise than he. Daring and brave to a fault, he was sensitive, and
refused promotion frequently tendered.
The Legion was on picket. This brave old regiment, handled by
its gallant Colonel, John H. Broocks, contested the ground to the
last, but was compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers, and
Kilpatrick turned the flank of the Confederate position, and proceeded
to the rear; but the vigilant Ross soon had his men in the saddle and
in pursuit. A little after daylight, Ross struck the enemy in the
flank, and inflicted considerable loss on him. But the unnumerable
attacks made on this raiding column by Ross' Brigade, are now
impossible of description. Suffice it to say, that no opportunity for
attack was allowed to go unimproved. Finally, Kilpatrick attempted to
enter Lovejoy Station, and finding a division of infantry there,
retired. General Ross had formed his brigade in the enemy's rear,
expecting to be supported by the brigades of Cosby and Ferguson -
neither of which put in an appearance. Finding the infantry too
strong for him, and meeting with an unexpected attack from Ross in the
rear, Kilpatrick attempted to intimidate the Texans by a furious
shelling, and then charged through the line - a feat by no means
remarkable, when we consider that Ross did not have exceeding five
hundred men, and Kilpatrick as many thousands. Add to this the fact
that the Texans were dismounted, and armed with short guns - not
having a bayonet in the brigade - and it will not be wondered at that
they did not repulse a cavalry charge ten times their number. Ross
lost two or three men killed and wounded, and about thirty prisoners,
many of whom escaped the first night.
Scarcely had the charging column passed the line, when the
indomitable Ross had his bugler to sound the rally and, in an
incredibly short space, renewed his unceasing attacks upon the enemy's
rear. From this time on, Kilpatrick found no rest, and, evidently,
was bent upon the sole plan of making the best of his way out of a bad
scrape. He was somewhat more fortunate than his predecessor, McCook ,
and made Sherman' lines in pretty good order. As the author was
captured in the charge of Lovejoy Station, the remainder of the
narrative is told as it was told to him. Nothing like a minute
description has been attempted in the hasty tracing of the Georgia
campaign. Each day was a battle, without characteristics to
distinguish it from the battle of the day before, or that of the next
day; and that campaign, being, as it was, one series of contests,
will always defy the efforts of the conscientious historian. He may
deal with it in the concrete - in the abstract, never.
ADDENDA IN REGARD TO THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG, AND OTHER OPERATIONS
OF THE YEAR 1863
The Texas Brigade, in command of General J.W. Whitfield, took up
the line of march from Maury county Tennessee, for the purpose of re-
enforcing the army of General Johnston, who was attempting the
deliverance of Pemberton's beleaguered legions in Vicksburg, on May
19, 1863. On arriving in Mississippi, Colonel L.S. Ross was placed in
command of a brigade composed of his own regiment, the Sixth Texas
Cavalry, and Colonel Pinson's regiment - the First Mississippi Cavalry
- and dispatched on an expedition in the Tennessee valley. The
remainder of the Texas Brigade commenced duty on the line of the Big
Black, which service consisted of frequent skirmishes with the enemy
on the other bank, picket duty, scouting expeditions, etc. The head-
quarters of General Whitfield were established at Bolton's Depot.
The vigilant and courageous Colonel Broocks, and this veteran
Legion, signalized themselves upon this field by valuable and
conspicuous services rendered on more than one occasion; among which,
we are enabled to record the following: One day the Federals were
grazing some one hundred and fifty beeves in threatening proximity to
the line of demarcation - the river. Colonel Broocks, upon his own
motion, silently crossed the river, and, by a rapid movement,
dispersed the guard and captured the cattle; all of which he
delivered to the Commissary of the brigade, much to the gratification
of his not overfed comrades of the other regiments.
On July 5th, the Legion went on Picket duty in its turn. On the
6th, General Sherman commenced advancing eastward, and 16,000 of his
men crossed at Messenger's Ferry. The Legion was posted, in a
slightly-elevated wood, on the east side of the river, and commanded
an open field through which the enemy must pass. The position was one
eminently adapted to a stubborn defense, and the gallant Broocks
improved its natural advantages by a determination truly heroic, to
hold his ground until re-enforcements should come to his aid, or he be
driven from the field by the mere momentum of overwhelming odds. For
four hours did the Legion hold the position against all efforts of the
enemy to dislodge them; and it was only after the Federals had gained
a foothold on the eminence, and, despairing of assistance, that the
iron-willed officer consented to lead his men from the field rendered
glorious by their valor; a movement which the brave Texans executed
with perfect order. The report of prisoners taken on the field,
represented the Federal loss as very heavy, and rumor stated that
General Osterhaus was wounded, or killed. The primary cause of the
stubborn resistance of the Legion, was the appearance of an impostor,
who represented himself to Colonel Broocks as a Confederate officer,
and showed a dispatch purporting to come from General Johnston, in
which the commander doubted the fall of Vicksburg, and urged Colonel
Broocks to dispute the advance of the enemy until he could ascertain
the strength of the force in his front. The Legion leisurely fell
back to the line of the Ninth Texas Cavalry, about two miles distant,
which regiment had come forward to relieve the Legion. Although his
men and horses sadly needed rest, food and sleep, Colonel Broocks
complied with the urgent request of Colonel Jones, of the Ninth to
form the Legion in supporting distance of his regiment. The enemy
soon began the advance, and opened upon the Ninth with artillery and
deafening volleys of small arms. Colonel Broocks hastened to the
assistance of his brave young comrade, Colonel Jones, and continued to
dispute the ground with the enemy, foot by foot, from position to
position, until ten o'clock at night, when the storm of battle lulled.
The contestants slept upon the field, in the midst of their respective
killed and wounded, separated by but a few hundred yards. General
Whitfield, with the Third Regiment, came up in the night, and, with
the early dawn of the morning, the contest was renewed with redoubled
exertions on either side. On every foot of ground, from Bolton's
Depot to Clinton, a distance of eight miles, did the brave old
Whitfield, and his indomitable veterans, struggle with the
overwhelming numbers of Sherman, and force them to pay dearly for
every advantage gained.
At Clinton, the brigade remained two or three days, as the enemy
did not advance. At the end of this time, and when one-half of the
brigade was absent from camp in quest of forage for the horses,
excepting the Legion, the Federals resumed the offensive. General
Whitfield dispatched Colonel Broocks immediately to the support of the
skirmishers, and soon the Legion, formed in an open field upon a
slight elevation, the cynosure of hundreds of admiring eyes, was
engaged with the enemy. With such coolness, tact, and decision, did
the gallant Broocks handle his men on this occasion, that he elicited
the thanks of his superiors in command, and won for himself, and his
incomparable Legion, the admiration of all. A young Mississippian,
who was in the lines of the enemy, and present in the field-hospitals
the night of the engagement, subsequently reported the killed and
wounded of the enemy as approximating near one hundred. The loss of
the Legion was slight.
Late in October, 1863, the Legion, commanded by its brave and
efficient Colonel, E.R. Hawkins, together with Company E, of the Third
(Lieutenants Soap and B.T. Roberts), were ordered to report to Colonel
L.S. Ross, commanding the temporary brigade before mentioned, to which
had been added Willis' Battalion of Texas Cavalry. It had been the
original purpose of the expedition for Ross to re-enforce General
Forrest, and, together, attempt the capture of Memphis. But, at
Grenada, Ross learned that General Forrest was otherwise engaged, and
had, consequently, abandoned his purpose in regard to the original
conception. Colonel Ross was summoned, with his command, to Pontotoc,
Mississippi, by General S.D. Lee; and his brigade, together with that
of General Ferguson, and some companies of artillery, were organized
into a division. The command was reviewed at Pontotoc by General
Joseph E. Johnston, and there witnessed the hanging of a Federal spy,
who was dressed in Confederate uniform, and who, probably, was a
member of the Fourth Illinois Infantry.
From Pontotoc, the division moved into North Alabama, where
General W.T. Sherman, at the head of some 30,000 men, was marching
along the railroad, up the Tennessee river, en route to re-enforce the
beaten army of Rosecranz, at Chattanooga. General Lee proceeded to
disputed the passage of the valley with the enemy, and so skillfully
did he employ the limited means at his disposal, that General Sherman
found it impossible to make the celerity of movement necessary to
arrive at Chattanooga in time to succor his comrades there. The
fighting was incessant, and the weather bitter cold, which called upon
the thinly-clad men for the exercise of all the fortitude and
endurance that they could summon.
Colonel John H. Broocks, with nine companies detailed from the
Sixth Texas, Legion, and First Mississippi, was dispatched to destroy
the railroad from Bear creek, eastward. This was an arduous and
fatiguing task, but the men performed it faithfully - burning the
ties, heating the rails, and bending them double. While in the
performance of this duty, Colonel Broocks was apprised of the fact
that General Lee had fallen back on Bear creek, and was preparing to
give battle. Broocks promptly repaired to the scene at the head of
his nine companies, and participated in the spirited engagement which
ensued. But it was in vain that General Lee attempted, with his small
force, to check the progress of Sherman's legions. He was driven from
the field by the mere weight of numerical superiority. General
Sherman crossed the Tennessee thirty-five miles below Tuscumbia, and
thus avoiding the lion in his way, proceeded to his destination.
Colonel Ross now set out for Mississippi with his command, and,
at Okolona, the Legion left for the brigade proper, which was now
commanded by Colonel H.P. Mabry, of the Third - General Whitfield
having, in consequence of continued ill-health, gone home. The Legion
reported to Colonel Mabry at a point about twenty miles west of the
town of Canton. General Ross, with the remainder of the brigade -
Sixth Texas, First Mississippi, and Willis' Battalion - moved
northward from Okolona to intercept a body of Federal cavalry who were
raiding in that section. Ross met the body in battle, defeated it,
and drove it into Memphis, when he returned to Canton, and assumed
command of the Texas Brigade; Colonel H.P. Mabry, at the same time,
being assigned to the command of a brigade in the cavalry corps of
Lieutenant-General N.B. Forrest. From this period, until the
termination of the war, it is believed Col. Mabry remained with the
cavalry corps of Gen. Forrest; commanding, at first, a brigade, and,
subsequently, a division. The author regrets, exceedingly, that he
has no data upon which to predicate a narrative of the sterling
services of the gallant Mabry while attached to this command. But to
have won the confidence and esteem of the incomparable Forrest to such
a degree that he would not consent to part with his Texan Lieutenant,
should have sufficed for the ambition on any man. Of Colonel H.P.
Mabry, it can be truthfully said that he possessed all the higher
qualities that enter into the heroic composition; and, through his
accomplishments as a ripe scholar and profound jurist, he is no less
conspicuous in the walks of civil life than he was on the field.
Colonel Mabry has a future that will yet shed a luster on the annals
of Texas.
In the progress of the fight with McCook, Lieutenant T.J. Towles,
of Company G, Third Texas Cavalry, was dangerously wounded, and
remained, for some time, within the lines of the enemy. Says
Lieutenant Towles:
"As I was sitting, with my back to a tree for support, my
clothing saturated with blood, from the loss of which I was very faint
and weak, General McCook, accompanied by some members of his staff,
halted in front of me and the General remarked: 'Major, you appear to
be suffering.' I replied that I thought I was mortally wounded, and
requested surgical aid. The General replied that he could not even
give his own wounded the necessary attention, and said,
apologetically: 'You have been a soldier long enough to know how
these things are, and you must not think hard of me.' He wished to
know what forces were opposing him on the immediate field. I replied
that he could form as correct an estimate of their numerical strength
as I could, as the divisions of Jackson, Wheeler, and Roddy were
present; whereupon, he remarked to his staff: 'We must get out of
this!' and immediately rode away."
This revelation of Lieutenant Towles explains the panic with
which McCook's men were seized, when General Ross, soon after, bore
down upon them in the headlong charge which routed and dispersed them.
Too much praise can not be accorded this brave officer for his
fortitude and loyal devotion to his country's cause, though suffering
from excrutiating pains that amounted to agony. Captain Towles is now
a prosperous merchant of Camden, Van Zandt county, Texas, and is
worthy the homage of all who love the true, the noble, and the brave.
Long may his voyage of life be fanned by the breezes of
prosperity, is the wish of his friend, the author. Lieutenant T.J.
Towles was long the brave, vigilant, and efficient commander of the
brigade scouts, and as such, was the eyes and ears of the command. In
the discharge of this hazardous service, he won the confidence of his
commanding general, and he always slept with a sense of security when
the faithful Towles was on duty. Lieutenent Dan H. Alley performed a
similar duty for the division commander, General W.H. Jackson, and was
always equal to any emergency that might arise. Of him we have spoken
elsewhere.
During the Mississippi campaign, the chivalrous Lieutenant Hill
Taylor commanded the brigade scouts, and during the intervals between
his engagements with the enemy, found time to cement one upon the
basis of love with a faire ladie of Silver Creek, whom he led to the
hymeneal alter when the "cruel war was over." Distinguished as
solitary scouts, or spies, the names of B.S. Triplett, and J.W.
Montgomery - the present efficient Sheriff of Rains county - were pre-
eminent. Triplett fell at the hands of an assassin, as elsewhere
stated, but Wiley Montgomery is winning as many encomiums in the civic
walks of life, as he did in the more hazardous paths of war. He is
worthy of all the honors his fellow-citizens may confer upon him. -
[Taken from Rose' History beginning with Chapter XXII.]
CHAPTER XXX.
OF THE EXTREMES OF OUR WAR.
The extremes, to which the Southern states were driven, by the
blockade may be worthy of not for all the luxuries of life were
withheld and nothing to eat, or wear was allowed to enter our posts
and as the south was almost exclusively a farming country, very few
factories had been established and such machinery as was used in the
manufacture of the goods, wares, etc., was urn to its utmost capacity
and was soon worn out, or worthless. Coffee soon played out, and
there was none, and great was the complaint, for coffee was the drink
at all Southern tables. Spices and black pepper, soon followed,
ginger and nutmegs, also numbered with the things that were, salt
there was none imported, and was soon worth a fancy price. Axes,
shovels and all manner of tools used on the farm soon became worn, and
the enginious blacksmith performed an operation he called upsetting or
beating them out and seen all the farmers tools bore the marks of the
awkward and unskilled mechanic and the ever faithful housewife
contrived a system of substitution for the needed foods and condiments
for the table, and in many places a small gourd was used as a
substitute for the broken china and was passed down the table
sometimes on a china saucer or tin plater or another section of a
larger gourd and filled with substitute for coffee, made of corn,
wheat, beans, potatoes, okra, either one or two or more mixed as most
suited to the taste of the housewife. And will here say that this
writer has tried them all and none of them were satisfactory, but
about the best substitute is made from equal parts of beans and goober
peas parched black and well made into a decoction and creamed and
sugared very highly passed very well at the end of the second year for
coffee anywhere in our lines.
But of all the inventions there was nothing that equalled
ingenuity of the woman in the spinning and weaving fabrics for
clothing from the cotton field to the garment. All apparel was
wrought by the hands of Southern women picking the seeds from the
cotton, carding into rolls and spinning into thread warp and woof and
the weaving into cloth, then the dyeing, shrinking were all to be
carefully done before the fabric was ready for the garment, all of
this required a special aparatus. The cords, the wheel, the loom, the
warping bars, with harness sleight, shuttles, etc., were to be found
at every farmhouse and were under the sole direction of the farm women
and was the pride of the household. The wheel, loom and harness were
usually made by some mechanic of the neighborhood, but the shuttle and
sleigh were the handiwork of some special artist, often were sent for
50 miles to purchase a sleigh or shuttle and at the end of a long
journey with a wagon $2.50 or $3.00 would pay for the goods wanted.
The wheel was not specially an article of pride and any wheel was good
that run lightly and true enough not to cost the band, but the loom
was a huge structure made of heavy timbers with double mortices and
all angles strongly braced and held in place by a system of draw
wedges that fitted to holes in the tenants after passing through its
mortice in the upright frame then a high bench on which the weaver
sat, completed the outfit. It was a huge affair, stout as a bridge
and large beyond reason, for it would fill any room in the house until
one could scarcely pass without a severe bump against some of its many
parts. This writer has often thought that a loom in the kitchen and a
wheelbarrow in the back yard are both dangerous, or were before we had
electric lights, for the loom will bump you when and where you feel
safest and a wheelbarrow will throw you farther and in a direction
least calculated, of any two things now remembered.
But the cards, there was the trouble before the war they were
worth 50cts a pair, simple little hand cards on two small boards with
handles in the middle of each at right angles and marked Joshua
Whitmore No. 10 cotton cards. They soon became scarce and the price
was soon one dollar, then five, ten, twenty-five, fifty and one
hundred dollars then not to be had at any price. This same little
cotton cards, without cards was to be without clothing and no
substitute could be made to work, no one could make them, not even to
imitate or substitute for them. If there was any other maker except
whitmore he was not known in the South, and as our backs became bare,
we realized what it means to blockade our ports. No clothing from
home this winter, our folks have no cotton cards, was heard in the
army. If to be had send us some cotton cards, wrote our mothers and
sisters. Times was looking squally in Texas and the want of cards was
felt in the army. This writer and his messmate had one pair of pants
that were presentable between them, the other pair were badly worn at
the first and second angles and when on duty the man out wore the
breechess, which were duely changed on relief.
But Texas women were in the fight to stay, and our women always
on the lookout for cards by some means learned that cards could be
bought for gold at Charleston, S.C., and forth with Mr. A.E. Brooks of
Mt. Vernon, Texas, an old merchant, was dispatched across the
continent, with no lines of travel but such as were constantly
disturbed and in many places cut off and held by the enemy and across
rivers and mountains, through a country devastated by the armies of
both opposing factions. He started attended by the prayers of the
women and he braved all opposing elements and after about four months
of hardships and disappointing privations he returned and brought the
real genuine Whitmore's No. 10 cotton cards to the joy of the women
and to the relief of much suffering.
Mr. Brooks is still living a whole and jovial old man and can
still tell of his journey across the continent after cotton cards, and
many of us people believe his good works will be rewarded in the next
world, where we feel he should be made a Card-i-nal.
DISCIPLINE IN THE ARMY.
It was just before the fall of Vicksburg and while the pickets
were constantly exchanging shots, that this writer was detailed a
musician, and as such was at his post as infirmary to his command
which duty was in part to care for the wounded in battle, and as all
hands were needed in front a detachment was sent to Jackson and were
placed under an officer on provost and fatigue duty, guarding
prisoners, picking up straglers, and keeping the negroes at work of
the fortifications around that city.
And while thus on duty, about the 6th of July, 1863, he received
a message by a wounded soldier, that his brother was mortally wounded
at Queenhill and was carried to the Hospital at Clinton, some ten
miles away, and to come.
Early the next morning he went to the officer in command and
asked a permit to visit him at Clinton. He was told he could not go.
Upon which denial he thought of a Texas mother and sisters and a dying
brother, flashed like lightning through his mind and set him wild, and
in this state of mind he informed that officer that he would go if he
had to fight his way, and spoke it in a manner very unbecoming an
inferior, and said officer at once proceeded to have him arrested,
upon which the writer discharged a pistol at said officer and left for
Clinton. The ball only grazed his arm.
On reaching Clinton all was confusion, the doctors were dressing
wounds and my brother lay pale upon a cot still bleeding, he appeared
to know me but did not seem to realize the surroundings for the doctor
had him under the influence of opiates. The Doctor Vandyke would not
allow me to talk to him, as he was shot through the lungs, and to look
at him was more than I could bear, so I walked out and lay down and
ten thousand thoughts passed my sore and troubled mind. I could only
stay a few minutes, for the enemy were already in the town and the
last line of our army's rear guard were then passing.
Again I went to the doctor and told him the particulars, took out
my purse, which contained about three hundred dollars of Confederate
script, and gave it to the doctor with the request that he save him if
possible, and in case he should die, to give him a coffin if to be
had, and mark well the grave, for I fully intended to carry the bones
to his mother's home, if I should ever go to that place. And if "Oh
that hope" he should live to write me or my command and if so we could
not be separated long again. This writer took a long look at his pale
face and in his frenzy he called for mother. A weakness then
overshadowed the troubled mind and no note was kept of time.
The rattle of small arms was the first recollection, and the
clatter of horses feet told of the enemy's advance a few balls passed
over us and I again was a soldier, awakened as from a sleep and I
aroused to realize that I had no arms with me but stubbornly I left
the lighted hospital, only a brush harbor, and started out through
fields, for the enemy had all the roads, and wandered not knowing or
caring whither, but in some woodland a mile or two from the sickening
scene I ran upon a vidette who duly took me in, it was dark but on
giving my name and Regiment was told that I was in the hands of Mack
Blair of the Third Texas Cavalry. An explanation followed and Mack
stood guard while the writer dozed in a troubled and unsound sleep.
It was beginning to brighten up in the east when the relief came
and we went back to the Third Texas Regiment where breakfast was
served of bread cold and meat raw, and on getting the full story Mack
and his messmates advised me to go back to Jackson and report for duty
just as if nothing had happened. This advice was against the
intention of the writer, but the Ninth Texas was on duty on another
road and would be hard to reach and I could not think of leaving the
Confederate States' service without letting my messmates and officers
know the full reason.
Reluctantly I returned to Jackson and was duely arrested and
charged with disobedience in the face of the enemy and was placed
under guard. In a few days, the courtmartial sat in the State house
at Jackson and there Generals Hardie and Polk and another, not now
remembered, with their clerks sat to try criminals. The soldier was
guarded by Mortimer Hart of Company E, and it did not take them two
minutes to decide and my guard was ordered to do something. Not
understanding just what it was, we walked out and Mort informed me
that I was clear. Again the sprit of war thrilled my veins, and again
were vows renewed to fight to the last for the Confederacy.
Some of the officers never did appear to approve of my conduct.
Among them will name Col. Dud W. Jones, but Col. Tom Berry was kind
enough to say in my hearing that I was not to be blamed, and Captain
Haynes was ever afterwards my friend and his sympathy appeared real
for he had lost from his side a noble brother.
After the trial this writer went back to his company and never
knew or cared whether those earthworks around Jackson were finished or
not. It was only a few days after this when a fever set up and he was
left at a farmhouse for many days. On convalescing returned to the
command and found that the enemy had again fallen back to Vicksburg
and left only a small force to guard those little stations and Jackson
had only a moderate guard.
Had not been in camp but a short while when Dr. Vandike called
for me in our camp as he was returning from the hospital to his state
of Georgia. He informed me that my brother was still alive and with
good care would get well. He told me that his wounds were running
goodmatter and doing well.
Of course to see him was then all my thought, and on consulting
Col. Jones, was informed that it would not be practicable. Col. Berry
said I could go. Captain Haynes said go if I chose and told me I
should not be reported for a reasonable time. I think five days was
the limit and my messmates said go. And go I did, and will tell you
of my trip on a new page.
VISITING THE HOSPITAL.
As no leave of absence would be granted to me - only the promises
of some of the officers - my conclusions were to go and see my
brother, a distance of not more than twenty miles, as our encampment
was between Jackson and Brannon, but it was held by the Yanks and the
Confederates had a lot of scouts and the fears were if the
Confederates got me I would be a supposed deserter, and if the Yanks
got me I would be a supposed spy. So there were fears on either side
and I must make it without the knowledge of either. Such were my
thoughts on making my visit.
Early in the morning I rode out from the camp, only one or two of
my messmates knowing where I intended going, and after their promises
to make it the best possible for me I rode away, and as soon as I
cleared the camp I took a little by-road that led in a direction that
suited my purpose. This road led in between some farms and into the
Peal river bottom some five or six miles below Jackson. It was all
woodland and nice high bottom. Soon I come to the river, it was a
pretty, clear stream, as its name indicates, and I felt sure that I
could cross it any place that the banks would admit. I soon found a
trail down to the sandbar and the opposite looking fair. It was only
the work of a few minutes to undress and swim it once across. I
started for Clinton avoiding the roads, for I knew that they were all
picketed. The day was dark and drizley after the morning, and I soon
discovered that I had lost my bearings and was lost, but finally come
to a lane that led in a direction to intersect the Jackson and Clinton
road. I followed it and to my surprise soon came in sight of a body
of Yankee cavalry going in direction of Jackson and I awaited until
they all passed and were gone, then I ventured out into the main road
and took the road for Clinton. I had only traveled a short time then
on looking up I discovered two Yankee troopers coming towards me, but
some distance away just there to my great relief I discovered a weak
place in the fence to my left and through it I passed out of the lane
into a corn field on a good run which brought me to the back side near
a mile from the road, as they did not follow me, I tied my horse in
some woodland and fed him with some corn from the field and left him
to eat while I went to the top of the hill to reconnoiter the
situation. When I got out on the hill I could see a town I took to
be Clinton and no sign of any one after me. Being very hungry I ate
my ration that I had with me and I now discovered that it was late in
the evening and concluded to make it dark before I left this retreat,
and lay down to take a nap in the field at a distance from my horse
lest I should be surprised and made a prisoner. I was awakened by a
rain falling upon me and it seemed to be getting late and appeared
dusky. I returned to my horse and again to the road and the rain
increased and it soon became very dark, but I rode slowly in direction
of the town. The rain appeared to increase with the darkness. I soon
come in sight of the town light and as my plans had been matured I put
them to the test of effect.
On the roadside stood a small house with no yard fence (as most
of the yard fences had been burned by the Yankees) and I rode up to
the door and knocked for some time and finally a man came to the door,
I told him my business, that I was a soldier and wanted him to take my
horse and saddle and keep it and if I did not return on the next night
it was to be his, he gave me the keys to a box-made house that stood
near the house and told me to take all things into it and leave them,
which I did, unsaddled my horse and haltered him up in the smoke
house, leaving my saddle and overcoat, haversack, etc., in his smoke
house. I then went into his room where he had some supper prepared
for me. I learned from his that all the wounded had been taken to the
college building which was used as a hospital and that the Yankees
were on picket near the house just down the hillside and the reserve
was over at Clinton, about one mile and a half away, and the guard
stood all the time at the hospital and that the Yankee surgions were
then attending the wounded. After getting all the details that my
friend was in possession of I bid him good bye and shook his hand with
the warmth that I felt, just here there was a curious occurrence that
I have never understood. When I bade him good bye, he said to me that
the woman, (who was clearing the dishes from supper) also wanted to
say good bye. I shook her hand and discovered that she was a negro
woman and was crying. I felt that she too was a friend.
When I again started out I found it was still raining and I made
my way towards town, I slipped along and soon discovered the pickets
on horseback, two standing together in the road and I took down the
ditch that ran along the road and with the water was soon past the out
post and slowly crawled along down the hill in the mud and slush.
There was a flat branch at the foot of the hill some forty feet wide,
but not deep and the water made some noise among some logs just below
the road, while here I heard the relief coming down the hill from town
on horseback and I sat down in the water among the logs until they
passed on, and the return was made while here in the water, I took to
shivering, not cold, but shook so bad that I thought I would die soon,
but I looked up the hill and saw the light in the large brick hospital
and resolved to go ahead and not shake and as I was wet and muddy I
felt that I could not be worsted, so on I went up the deep ditch on
the roadside which led up to the hospital fence. While crawling up
the ditch on my hands and feet my hand fell on the amputated limb
(leg) of some poor hospital sufferer, and at once I knew that I was
crawling through the cess pools of the hospital, and then I realized
the sickening stench and it made me very sick, yes very sick. I
finally made it up to the fence, and after washing off as good as I
could for there was plenty of water and was raining like blazes, I
crawled out to the fence to look. A guard stood at each gate and
there was some passing that I supposed were the doctors and nurses,
going in and out.
The house was a large brick build with wide halls crossing in the
center and leading to large doors on three sides and to a window in
the rear which opened to the cistern only a few feet from it and was
used only by the nurses in attendance. As I could see them often
getting fresh water. I crawled around towards that window intending
to climb the fence but on my way I discovered that some pailings were
off and an opening had been made probably by hogs and I made it
through the fence and was soon alongside the house wall and the nurses
passed near me when they come for water. I stood against the wall for
a long while and finally the doctors all left the wards and went out
through the gates. All soon became still and I stole along the cots
to try and see the face of my brother but all my efforts were vain.
Finally I sunk down by the window and awaited until a nurse come for
water and as he stepped over the window sill I gently took a hold of
his foot. He stooped to see what it was and I whispered to him my
message.
He was kind, his name was Joe, and he told me my brother was in
his ward and was doing well and that I should see him, to await till
later, he would arrange as soon as it was safe. Later he came for me
and led me into his mess room and hastily stripped me and gave me a
hospital shirt and drawers and took my clothes in charge, as these he
said, were all I would need, and there to my surprise I found that I
had worn a big pistol and my spurs which he handled with forebodings.
But he put them through a trapdoor under the stove and I felt that
they were well hid. Then he led me to a clean bunk next to my brother
in the same row. He was asleep and knew nothing of my coming. I
looked at him as he slept and thought of war, the horrors and
inconveniences of war. The wounded lay on single bedsteads arranged
in rows like unto pews in a church and it had so happened that one man
that had occupied the next bunk to my brother had died the day before
and had just been buried and his bunk cleaned up in time for me to
occupy so close a position.
As I had said my brother was asleep when I took the bed he looked
weak and thin and showed that his sufferings had been severe. In
short, he appeared to me to be much older, for as I studied his
sleeping face that was plump and full when he was well now looked
shrunken and the seams that connected the division of the skull could
be plainly traced. He did not look like my brother, he looked like a
thin old man. His nose was too sharp and his lips too thin and flabby
and I fancied that his hair was a shade or two too dark and there I
discovered that he was ugly and not the jovial, good natured and
lovable brother who was always ready to take hard duty off of me, but
an old ugly, pevish and cross looking patient lay before me that had
little favor of my brother. Thus pondering in mind my eyes kept
searching new features in the face and the lights grew dim, and I
could only see an outline of a poor old man at least sixty years old
and the lights were more dim - dim I was asleep. After a long
wetting, weary, scared, then dry clean clothes, a clean bed, sleep
will surely follow. I do not know how long I slept, but a voice
whispering near me awoke me, and all I heard was "your brother has
come," that is him on Bullard's bunk. I looked over, and to my joy
that ghastly look had left him and his open eye told too well it was
brother. Our hands met, I felt his bony fingers and I knew my brother
and his look changed and those fancies were driven away with the first
look from his kind eyes. The nurse then dressed his wounds and I
discovered that his wounds rested on oil cloths, which protected his
bed and these cloths were often changed for cleanliness, and at each
change the wounds were gently sponged, and it was here I was astounded
for Dr. Vandyke told me that when he left him his wounds were running
"good matter." Well, on this oil cloth there was about one-half pint
of the most offensive pus that I had ever beheld, and of course I felt
he was worse for this could not be called "good matter." My fears
were not fully allayed until I had a long talk with him and he assured
me that he was improving.
I kept my bed all the day following and matured plans for sending
him to Texas as soon s he should be able to go, and when night again
came and all was still I left as I had entered and outside in the dark
I put on my clothes over the hospital shirt and drawers and had much
less difficulty in evading the guards. I found the people sound
asleep, but got my horse and saddle and rode some four or five miles
out and on the backside of a farm I fed my horse and slept until the
sun was up in the sky on the following day. My route lay much the
same on my way back as the way I went but had slept too long to make
the trip in one day, but early on the second day I rode into camp, and
performed some extra duty for being absent without leave.
Slowly the Yanks retired and became less vigilant in their guard
and one by one the wounded at Clinton were either removed or had died,
until only one doctor was left in charge, and no guard, and as the
nurses were noncombatants I had less difficulties each time I repeated
the visits, and last in the fall, before he could sit up but a little
while, I put him on my horse one evening late and carried him away.
We got out a mile or two and in a woodland encamped for the night.
Next morning we moved on and would rest and let him sleep, then move
again, and during the day managed to get him to a house eight or ten
miles north of Clinton, when I got the people to promise to care for
him, and I left him and returned to camp. He was now much nearer camp
and I could visit him often, and in a few weeks he was again in camp.
While in camp he relapsed and was confined to his room all
winter, but early in the following spring he was able to go with some
furloughed men to Texas and I felt gratified that he again did see our
mother.
CHAPTER XXXI.
NICK NAMING. - "SORGHUM SEED."
Company I, of the Ninth Texas Cavalry, as has been told you, had
a few boys that would take a little intoxicants whenever and wherever
they could find it, and it had to be very scarce if they did not find
it. So it was nothing unusual for us to have one or two of those
happy spirits to entertain in camp on the march, and, in short, in any
country where whiskey was to be had, we were liable to have a drunk
man at any hour, on our hands for entertainment. We usually had a man
especially appointed to do the host known as the Guard "Provo," and he
usually had appointments for the purpose known as the "guard house"
and as such entertainments were strictly secluded, all soldiers had an
aversion to receiving an invitation to attend the festivities held by
that officer in his special quarters, and as a consequence, the
effects of the beverage were always kept hidden as long as there was a
possibility of excaping punishment.
But I want to here write that if the reader has no experience
that a spirit that was in those days distilled from the seeds of
"sorghum" had a capacity for reaching further and striking harder, and
hitting its victims in more different ways than any intoxicant ever
before known. So it was, when we knew a man of a known nature, acting
the reverse an explanation would be fully made with the word "sorghum
seed." When the profane man was prayerful and when the gambler was
heard singing a hymn, we at once thought "sorghum seed." When the
stingy man was liberal and the proud man was social, some one would
say "sorghum seed." When our officers grew kind and extended
sympathy, and sweet women throwed us kisses from the palatial
residences that we were passing, all would think "sorghum seed," and
so universal did the word become known as a synonym of drunk, crazy,
deceit, that it put a quietus on all lofty thoughts and plans, and was
considered a denial or the opposite, for any act or expression, and
any truth was known as no "sorghum seed."
On one occasion a young soldier that had taken a little taste of
something and (of course hoped to keep the matter hid) was
expostulating with the man who cut the beef for the companies and gave
that dignified gentleman his views on cutting up the beef and spoke it
as though his experience and knowledge had extended through years of
cutting of beef for soldiers. "Yes, said he." I always cut my beef
"so and so" and issued it to sergeant of companies "so and so" and I
can inform you that my methods were always satisfactory and my beeves
fed more men to the number of pounds and did it more successfully than
did those in the same army who did their work in the awkward and
bungling ways that you now are following. The astonished butcher now
laid down his cleaver and asked: "Do you know anything about it?"
"Did you ever butcher for an army?" If so, in what war? "Of course I
do." And have butchered for one of the grandest armies that ever
shouldered arms, and whose valor was ever questioned and whose blood
poured as freely as the fountain of the Aleganies - in what war!
interrupted the butcher excited and breathless. Why in the! in the !!
in the "Trajion war" and that's not sorghum seed either stoutly and
earnestly claimed the soldier. No, no, there is no "sorghum seed" in
that chimed in the crowd of hearers with a roar of laughter that fact
can be established by our "Pro Vo" upon which that officer called our
Trajion Butcher to one side for a conference against the protest of
those who had been listening.
"Old Butch" as we always called him maintained throughout the war
that there was no "sorghum seed" either in him or his statement, but
at some of our recent reunions it has been hinted that his messmates
at that time did really suspect "sorghum seed" and since the war, upon
cool and mature thought, still maintain that his statements were
undoubtedly based on "sorghum seed."
CHAPTER XXXII.
ARTILLERY SERVICE.
Old Butch tells his story. It was when we were dismounted and
marching that the Artillery would often pass us with men riding on
horseback, men riding on the horses that drew the guns, men riding on
the horses that followed with the Caisons, two men riding on the
limber chests and four men riding on the Caisons, all looked happy and
I come to the conclusion that I would rather serve a soldier in a
battery as then I would get to ride. I did have to walk, it so
happened that at the battle of Hatchie Bridge, after we had crossed
back over the bridge, our battery was planted on the hill and a sharp
Artillery duel was going on. While we lay in line to support it the
men who served the guns were exposed to a telling fire and soon the
Artillery company had suffered such a loss that more men were required
to fill the places of those that had been killed or disabled. An
officer of the Battery rode down to our brigade line and asked for
some men to help them to work the guns. This I thought was my time to
get an easy position where I could ride. I knew the fighting was
heavy but I did not care for the fighting so that I could get to ride.
Our officers called for volunteers and I walked out, reversed my
gun and stuck the bayonet into the ground and reported for duty. They
put me at No. ___ and showed me what to do, carry ammunition, grape
and canister to the gun. I knew nothing of the drill and was as
awkward as a raw recruit. After firing a few rounds from the position
the guns limbered up and moved, leaving me with a charge between the
chest and gun. I did not have a chance to get on and when they all
moved off I had to run after them and carry the charge only a short
distance until the gun was again planted and we gave them a few
rounds, which kept me on the run, when just as I delivered the charge
the man No. ___ that rammed the charge fell, and I gathered the ramrod
and sent the charge home or rammed it down. It was discharged and
again after several shots were fired that I rammed the gun was
limbered up and gone, leaving me with the ramrod to run after it. The
jolt from the discharges had deafened me and my nose was bleeding in a
stream. My head was aching and the gun was leaving me with the
rammer. As soon as the gun was stopped I ran up and a gunner showed
me where to place the rammer in its rack, and I went to the branch
near by for water. Good Lord, I was hot and did not want any more
Artillery service for my experience that evening was a lot of hard
work and no place to ride. The Artillery moved off while I was vainly
trying to stop the blood from my nostrils, but I did not care, for I
was fully disgusted with the Artillery branch of the service.
After I got the blood stopped and was cool and felt able to
travel the army was all gone. I was neither Artillery nor Infantry,
but was a straggler and was with a lot of other stragglers, and
followed on. The rearguard was still fighting and holding the enemy
in check and officers were urging the stragglers along with all the
encouragement and threats that the language furnishes. But I
straggled along. I want to here say that all of the military starch
is knocked out of a soldier when he straggles. Yes! and a straggler
looks bad but he feels worse. No citizen can realize how bad a
straggler feels, but in order to convey you some idea of how he feels
you may take him as he looks and multiply that by about 400 and you
will then have a slight conception of an army straggler. Low down,
cowardly, mean, shirk, not worthy of the name of a man, much less a
soldier. That is the kind of a crowd I felt to be in, so I just quit
it.
I turned off the road and wandered in an oblique direction
hunting for something to eat, which I knew I could not find until
about dark. I met with Gilbert, my messmate. He gave me a part of
what he had and we then traveled to overtake the brigade.
It was getting late at night and after walking several miles we
came upon a fire, around with lay some half dozen soldiers, all of
them appearantly asleep, and we saw that they had potatoes in the fire
roasting. We squatted down and began rolling them out and as Gilbert
rolled them out I put them into our haversacks. One fellow on the
opposite side of the fire raised up and rubbing his eyes asked: "Boys,
is your taters done yit?" Gilbert answered "No!" upon which he again
sunk down to sleep, and we continued rolling the potatoes as long as
we could find any. Then we very deliberately walked off. We had got
about twenty steps off when this sleeping friend raised up to a
sitting posture and saw that the potatoes were gone. I wish you could
have seen him as I did when I looked back. His face the picture of an
amazement and fear a sense of loss and horror about evenly distributed
is the best I could make of it, as he called Boys! Boys!! Boys!!! did
you see them _____ d___ thieving rascals come and git all of our
taters and walk off before our eyes. We were off in the dark too far
for to see them when the corps gave vent to their feelings in
expressions really unkind towards us. I will not repeat them, but I
suppose this is about the average act of stragglers. On the following
morning we were in our own camps and answered "here" when the sargeant
called our names, but I will here say that my head felt as though it
might resemble in empty nail keg.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A SMALL FUNERAL.
It was in the latter part of 1863. - We were encamped at a school
house, between Big Black and Yazoo rivers. All of the people had
moved out, as there was fighting almost every day among the scouts,
and the people who had lived there were all gone, we knew not where.
Seldom a night was passed without some disturbance, and our orders
were to keep a close watch, for the enemy were scouting near our camp,
which was back between the rivers. While out of post two videtts some
400 or 500 yards in advance of the relief company, in the night heard
some one coming towards the post, they whispered to each other and
made ready to give and receive the usual shots that were so often
exchanged from that post. Slowly the form advanced to within 50
yards, another whisper between the guards, then on it came to within
25 yards. A strange looking object to be prowling in the night. The
sharp click of two carbines was the signal of readiness, but before
the fire was discharged one of the guards called out, "Halt," in the
still night, the object came to a stand but never changed its form
sufficient to determine what it was. It looked too large and too low
foe an enemy, but still it stood with two guns held upon it. "Who
comes there" asked the guard? "It is me and major," squeaked the
small voice of a child! Well come here and tell us what you want,
said the guard, upon which the object came forward and set down a box
at the roadside and when asked what it was, answered "It is my little
brother." The boy looked to be ten or twelve years old, and we
learned from him that his baby brother had died after a long sickness,
and he, with his mother, lived seven miles from the school house and
they wanted to bury the baby in the grave yard there, and as it was
too far for his mother to come with him, they had placed the baby in
the light pine box and he had placed it upon his shoulder that morning
to carry it to the burial ground and it was so unhandy that he got
along so slow that he was belated into the night. Poor little boy,
tired and wornout, without food, he had brought that box from home to
bury it, seven miles. His father was gone to war and they had no
horses or wagon. The only living animal they possessed was a big
trusty dog named "Major," who walked by the boy's side and looked into
his face with as much concern as thought to say I too, am in the
affair.
The boy was told that he would have to stay with the guard until
relief came and then he would be taken back to camp and that our
captain would tell him what he should do, his only regret was that
mother would not understand and would be uneasy till he got back home,
he moved his box a little back to one side of the road and, he and the
dog lay down by it and the boy was soon sleeping that sweet sleep that
none but tired boys enjoy, the dog, too, appeared to sleep almost as
soundly as the boy, while those soldiers stood watch and thought over
the sufferings of this cruel war, which claimed even little white
headed innocent boys as victims of its cruelty.
Relief finally came and when those two guards went back to the
reserve one of them carried the box in front of him and the other had
the boy up behind him and the dog followed and looked up at the
procession as if wondering why arrangements were not also made for him
to ride.
When in camp he with his charge was duely presented to the
sergeant on duty and was given some meat and bread and a blanket to
sleep upon, which he kindly divided with his dog and all sought sleep.
Early next morning Capt. Hayns made a detail who soon made a little
grave and the body was there buried after which the boy and dog were
dismissed and told to go home and stay with his mother, which he did,
carrying many little gifts from the soldiers - do not know his name.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PARSON ISCHE.
It is but a short stop from the sublime to the rediculous, and
that step was often taken, and strange, but true it is , that memory
retains things best when presented to the mind in contrast. The Holy
Scriptures teach us of Heaven and Hell, the greatest possible
contrast, and I hope the reader will excuse the little story that is
here recorded. While in the State of Georgia, our Chaplain was named
Ische. He was a very devoted and good man, and his services were
always marked with the devotion which always delineated the mortal to
the immortal. I mean he was a man in body and his devotions were to
God in spirit. He usually selected some shady grove near the camp,
and if it were possible he called us to prayers with him in the grove
every Sunday, and when on the march, after we were in line each
morning he always prayed for us, and if Sunday was a day of rest he
always had preaching and as he passed along through the camp he would
find the boys playing cards, chuckaluck, or some game like unto them,
which was usually on a blanket spread down on the ground for a table
and all the players sat around on the ground while playing, he would
sometimes stop and look on a moment until the seven was out or the
throw made, when he would say: "Come on now, we are going to
preaching," and such was our great love for this good man that we all
went with him. He would teach us as none but God's chosen can teach,
and strove to impress us that "God" was the "God" of individuals and
the "God" of nations and that all things in war or peace, would work
together for the food of all that would love and trust in "Jesus
Christ," and I will just here say that such an hope was all the light
we had in those dark hours of war. "Thank God for Hope."
Well, I was going to tell you the rediculous that called this
good parson to my mind this morning. In one of his services he had
occasion to speek of the loves and the fishes with which Jesus fed the
great multitude and his congregation were very attentive as they sat
on the ground or leaned against the trees. All appeared to go with
the speaker back to the shores of Galilee and to stand with him to
witness the great miracle with that multitude when just at this time a
soldier, some distance from the speaker, so much carried away,
hollowed out "Bully for Christ," I wish we had him for our
commissary." A glance at the soldier told of his earnestness. There
was no effort at wit or sacreleges, but his long gaunt face and his
long hands told us too plainly that like that multitude he, too, was
enhungered. This rude appearing speech never appeared to disturb him.
A mere g glance at the soldier filled his heart with an earnest pity
that shone from his face and his words like a gentle mantle, soon
covered our sufferings and lit the light of hope and our hearts felt
thankful, and today when we write and our mind goes back to record the
ridiculous scene we realize that there is nothing common or unclean
that He has prepared for us, and while the young will realize the
ridiculous there are those whose hairs are gray that will read with
moist eyes while the mind again will live in the past, and witness
that congregation and its surroundings.
Parson Ische was a small man in body, fair skin and blue eyes,
which were large and earnest, square mouth and quick spoken. He was
always ready to fight or to pray. He lived up close to God and died
in his service. He was killed by a federal soldier while on his knees
administering to a wounded companion near Newnan in the state of
Georgia, and God has erected a monument of love and sweet memories
over his earthly remains that reaches from earth to heaven in the
hearts of those who knew him, "For their good words do follow them"
but to the world he rests in an unmarked trench filled with
Confederate dead east of Newnan and near Johnston's ole mill, five
miles from that town in the state of Georgia. May peace, sweet peach
reign in the hearts of those who tread over his clay, was the
teachings of Parson Ische.
QUINT BOOTHE.
The complications of battle lines are so varied, and
complications too intricate for one to attempt to describe that I will
not attempt to describe any position of the constantly changing fronts
of the two contending armies while we sojourned in Georgia, during the
season of 1864, but will say that our front was upon an average about
twenty miles long from extreme left to right and was constantly
undergoing changes in curves and angles of varied degrees, to suit the
grounds in greatest vantage, to-day the line was measurably straight,
to-morrow it might front only a part of the line while the remainder
would front on a different angle, so it was the infantry were in
trenches in lines not always exact parallels but close proximity in
some parts and more distant at other places, like two great serpants
they lay, always on the move yet never moving for the lines could be
seen at good distance for each line was well marked by its embankment
of red clay, each night was a season in which each contending general
strove to gain some advantage and each morning showed some new
earthworks. General Sherman's tactics was to flank us from our
position and avoided to great extent a battle, and his movements were
mostly on our flanks and fronts were almost daily changing, and when a
line varied and fell out of sight a line of skirmishers was sent out
to find them and when they were found the guns told where they were
located and a command was then advanced and fought them a sufficient
time for our officers to determine their strength and position, this
was termed developing the enemy, this part usually fell to the cavalry
service and most of the men we lost while in Georgia, was developing
the position and strength of the enemy.
It was about the first week in August, 1864, that near Atlanta,
Georgia, on our left, the lines of the enemy very suddenly gave way
and our command was advanced and were cautious by feeling their way
against a line of skirmishers who were stubbornly disputing our
advance. We were in a rough woodland and our skirmishers were three
or four hundred yards in advance. When by a rouse a Yankee cavalry
officer attempted to capture one of our brigade, a member of Company
A, Ninth Texas Cavalry. Quint Boothe was his name and he was
skirmishing with the enemy in his front and about the time he had
emptied his pistol. The officer showed himself from his hiding place
in some bushes near by and spurring his horse made directly for
Boothe, who upon seeing him so close upon him, spurred his steed to
meet him and on attempting to shoot discovered that his pistol was
empty. Just before the horses met Boothe threw his pistol at his foe,
who in turn shot the horse that Boothe was riding, a dead shot, and
again raised his arm to shoot. Boothe's horse fell forward and as the
horse fell, Boothe gathered his adversary in his arms and pulled him
from his saddle and both fell to the ground, the Yankee rather on top
and a life and death struggle ensued. They were both tall, well made
men of average make-up. Boothe the taller, but the Yankee the
heavier. Boothe from his great length succeeded in turning himself on
top, but on turning he threw his leg over with great force and struck
it against a sharp rock that projected from the ground just inside the
right knee cutting a fearful gash causing that member to become
painfully helpless. Once on top he gathered his man by the throat and
soon had him limp a prisoner while Boothe held his pistol wrenched
from his hand to his head and told him that he was wounded, to assist
him to mount upon the living horse and walk before or he would kill
him. The Yankee chose to assist his captor to the saddle and Boothe
pale and bleeding marched his prisoner into our lines, riding the
prisoner's horse and guarding him with his own pistol.
Boothe's leg was always afterwards stiff and as he was disabled
he was placed in charge of our Ordnance wagon for the remainder of the
war.
CHAPTER XXXV.
This writer visited "Old Butch" for the purpose of filling out
some things that happened while he was absent from the command. He
found the old man hale and having a good time, and as jovial as a boy
of twenty, and after we had supper, on being informed of the object of
the visit "Old Butch" said yes, I remember pretty well most of the
events, but have great difficulty in fixing of dates, but I can't
write for you, for there is too much of it, for it is a bigger task
than I will undertake at my age and then when you get the material for
our book, and it is placed in the hands of your committee, they will
glean out the best stories and sell them to some magazine and they
will publish them as stories which I fear will be the last of your
book of memories by old soldiers, but the writer not to be put out by
these fancied objections called upon "Dollie," his youngest daughter
(ten years old) who furnished her "school tablet" and he jotted down
the following:
"As you remember, we were dismounted at Des Arc on White river,
and took a boat for Memphis, where we camped for four to five days,
where we learned that island No. 10 had fallen into the hands of the
enemy and that the battle of Shilow had been fought. From Memphis we
took the cars for Corinth, and first went into camp on the west side
of the town and while there spent the time at Picket and scout duty.
We had a great deal of sickness. I think the Ross Brigade was all in
the same division and my recollection is that Gen. Hogg was in
command, but at that time my knowledge of military affairs extended
but little passed the regimental limits (and I cared fully as little
about them as I knew) but it was here that we went into an election of
officer on reorganization.
Major Towne was elected Colonel of the Ninth Texas Cavalry
"dismounted." D.W. Jones, Lieutenant Colonel, Dodson, Major and John
Adkins, Adjutant, and in our Company "I" Ninth Texas Cavalry
"dismounted." Perry Evans was elected Captain, Buster Haynes, First
Lieutenant; Henry Haynes, Second Lieutenant, and John A. Coplin,
Third Lieutenant. Our camp was then moved out on the east of Corinth
and we had some scouting and skirmishing at intervals all along.
"Yes, I saw Gen. Beauregard quite often, but do not recollect of
hearing his voice in conversation, but he was always neatly dressed
and presented quite a military appearance. Any one would know him as
an officer of high rank."
While east of Corinth there was some Artillery fighting and we
often were called into line to support the battery while engaged, and
it was in a fight of this kind on Chambers Creek, that our Colonel was
wounded in a very singular way. We were in line to the rear and
supporting the battery that was engaging a battery of the enemy at
good long range. Shells were bursting in the air and we were
discussing their skill in gunnery, etc., when a shell struck the
trunnion of one of our pieces knocking off the trunnion and
dismounting the piece, the shell bursting and killing two or three men
around the gun and the fragments striking in our line, one piece
striking a tree, another striking a soldier, as he lay on the ground
in the forehead and taking off all the top of his head. Still another
piece of the shell struck the gun of one of the soldiers which was at
his side lying on the ground causing it to discharge its load into the
leg of Col. Towne, a fearful wound thus inflicted near the knee joint
and our Colonel thus disabled, was taken from us and never again
joined his Regiment. Colonel Jones was thus placed in Command of the
Ninth Texas Cavalry.
Our armies retreated from Corinth in a short time after this
without a general engagement. The enemy threw up some rockets for
signals on the night of the evacuation which were seen by the whole
army, and were both curious and beautiful. We retreated to Tupilo and
my recollection is that our Brigade was commanded on that retreat by
Colonel Stone of the Sixth Texas. "It was on this retreat that we
impaled the pig on the bayonet." "Old Jack" was with me and we wanted
some meat but we had orders not to discharge a gun and the problem was
how to get a hop without shooting, but we had fallen out of ranks and
were straggling behind and had found a bunch of pigs and were driving
them along to a place where we could capture one without noise, and
had them in a lane and a log lay parallel with the fence and "Old
Jack" was stationed at the end of the log with fixed bayonet and the
pigs were between the fence and the log, when to our dismay Colonel
Earl rode up and ordered us to "move on." We don't belong to your
command answered "Old Jack." Move on or I will have you arrested,
shouted Colonel Earl, and as things looked serious I hurried the pigs
and "Old Jack" impaled one on his bayonet, and shouldering his gun
with the pig fast on the bayonet, we marched out at quick time.
Our first stop was at "Tupilo," where we stayed only a short
time, then we were moved to Moorsville, where we were encamped till
late summer. It was here we got our soldiers' schooling. Two
Regiments, the Sixth and Ninth, were placed under Major Fifer, and the
other two, Third and Legion, under Gen. Hebert. A movement, I think
was for the purpose of separating as the four Regiments were too bad
to use as soldiers when they were all together. Major Fifer was an
old West Pointer and we thought a hard citizen, but in truth a fine
officer, whose knowledge and services we still appreciate, for he was
surely a great man and well fitted for the purpose of making soldiers
out of wild Texas boys, no small job you can be assured. We hated him
to start on for no other reason than that he was a soldier and
methodically correct in all of his commands and movements.
An order was issued and duly read on dress parade that Major
Fifer would take command and was to be respected and obeyed a
Brigadier-General and he with untiring energy commenced the labors of
drilling four hours every day. He worried with us, he stormed at us,
he cursed at us, he put us to severest tests, he punished us, and was
finally rewarded by pronouncing us the best and most efficient Brigade
of the army, and from the hatred expressed at the start, a warmth
deeper than respect still remains with us that in our old age we feel
a love for Gen. Fifer. In order to illustrate some of his labors,
will tell of a circumstance that occurred with his raw Texans. He had
a guard mounted and one post was at the creek where we got our using
water and he, to try his guard, attempted to ride into the water. The
guard was sitting down on a log when he rode up, the guard commanded
him to "halt," raising his gun and informed him that he could not ride
into the water. The general appeared to be very wrath and asked the
guard by whose orders he presumed to halt his commanding officer, the
guard answered that he did not know whose orders it was, but he
supposed it was "Old Fifer" or some other d___d old galloots and I'll
Kill yer if yer go in thar.
Many laughable jokes are still told of Gen. Fifer, and not a few
speak of his bravery as shown on the fields of Corinth.
From Marsville we went back to Tupilo, then to Iuka, but we did
not all get into the fight at that place. Only a part of the Ninth
and Sixth, but all the Third and Legion were engaged. We, of the
Ninth, were on reserve and a few shells fell among us, lost but few.
We rested on the field at Iuka that night, and next morning was rear
guard for Prices' army corp to Bay Springs, where we stayed several
days, and from there we went to Ripley, then to Corinth. On the night
before the engagement at Corinth, we camped at Hatchie river and moved
up to Corinth, and as the day progressed the engagement became
general, and the fighting was hot and heavy all day. In the evening
we ate our snack in line. I had captured a haversack that contained a
large piece of raw bacon and cut it in two slices while lying on the
ground, and gave each comrade a slice among the rest. Lieutenant
Buster Haynes asked for a slice, which had to be thrown to him, but he
got it and ate it only a few minutes before he was killed. He was
shot through the heart, and only said, "Boys, I am wounded." He was
taken a little back and placed beside a log, but was dead. We lost
many men on that evening and lay on our arms all night. I was
detailed from the company that night to go to the Ordnance wagon for
ammunition and started for the wagon some distance in the rear, but
soon found that I could a supply on the field by using the cartridge
boxed of the dead and from that source supplied the needed ammunition
of all caliber used. Early next morning we were moved to the left and
soon joined into a general engagement and rapidly advanced upon their
works on the left of where I was. I saw our men scale the works and I
got to the bar pits, but we could not cross the works in front of
where I was, for it would have taken ladders, the Sixth Texas
succeeded in getting into the works to our left. Our adjutant fell,
Capt. Ross of the Sixth fell wounded, and all of our field officers
lost their horses, except Col. L.I. Ross, who rode out. From the
works we were repulsed and come out in disorder, but were soon
reformed and marched at a double-quick to Hatchie Bridge, some six
miles away, and crossed the river under a hot fire and it was here
that a grape shot struck my gun and cut one barrel in two and knocked
me back, I believe, thirty feet. It deadened my arms and hurt my head
and breast so bad that I could not get upon my feet. I could not
crawl and I just had to wiggle behind the horse that stood near by. I
lay there and kicked and grinned until I happened to see the army
moving back on a double-quick in bad order. I saw the Sixth Texas
flag fall and captured the only flag that was ever lost by our
brigade. They were all running towards a bend in the river, just then
a man on a horse ran by me and I happened to think that it was time
for me to run. I jumped up and got my piece of a gun and flew. "You
did not bring that piece of a gun did you?" Yes, you better believe I
did, I'll tell you a soldier sticks to his gun, he can't leave it, I
saw it tried that morning by Captain Evans. He carried a gun at
Corinth, and when we ran out I saw him try to throw it down, but he
could not, until we got clear out, then he succeeded in throwing it
down and drew his saber for form his company. I ran with the man on
horseback to where I saw them jump into the river. Then we turned and
ran for the bridge. We were about even till we started down the bank
when I got the start of him and beat him across, about a neck ahead.
We got over on the hill and formed to support the battery, (Bledsaw
battery) and the fire of the enemy was so severe that the battery had
to have some recruits from the Ninth Texas Regiment. I volunteered to
serve it, and while there learned some battery sense that I have not
yet forgot. While I was serving the battery the command moved off to
the mill and crossed the river, and in attempting to get with my
command I fell in with the advance of the enemy and asked for
something to eat I was told that they had nothing to eat but powder,
and as I had partaken of a sufficiency of that article I stepped to
one side and quickened speed and finally come upon some of our
stragglers.
Back to Ripley and to Lumkin's Mill, where a part of the boys
were mounted, I believe the Third Texas, Then we went to Abbieville
and did police duty, then to Oxford and to Cofeeville hard pressed. I
was not at Oakland, but at Grenada we got our horses, and there is
where I met you, and after that you recollect what happened as well as
I do, for you know that after we got our horses that was the first
duty of any note that we did. Will say only this, that at Holly
Springs I got my horse shot and when the bullet hit him in the charge
he jumped as high as this ceiling and fell with me in the road and I
fully believe that fifty horses at least ran over me before I could
roll into the ditch, but none of them hurt me and I jumped up and ran
back to some stables where I had noticed some horses and selected me a
mule and a good saddle, and while at this I saw a Yankee crouched in
one of the stalls and as I ordered him out I saw another, and heard
something above and called out to those above to come out, as I was
going o fire the hay. Eight prisoners were the result.
Here "Old Butch" lost the thread of his discourse and fell to
telling of the intelligence and fleetness of the mule he got and of
her pride while arrayed among cavalry horses - and her only a mule -
when the old clock struck eleven and we separated for the evening.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
During these latter days, when the fate of the Confederacy was
trembling in the balance, and Titans grappled for the possession of
the "Gate City," the scene shifts so frequently that the camera fails
to retain an impression. The visit of President Davis; the removal
of General Johnston; the placing of General Hood in command of the
army, are events yet remembered. Then came Sherman's erratic move to
the rear, which sealed the fate of Atlanta. In all these rapid
movements Ross' Brigade bore its banner with honor, and signalized its
prowess on twenty of the bloodiest fields of the tragic drama.
It was theirs to lead the Confederate advance; theirs to
participate, as infantry, in the stubborn fight, and theirs, finally,
to cover the gloomy retreat. While the infantry were enjoying short
respites of repose in camp, from their arduous duties in the field,
Ross' men formed a cordon of safety between them and the enemy - where
sleepless vigilance was the price of security. No historian will ever
recount the many acts of individual heroism performed in the wild
mountain passes of North Georgia by the Texas scout; no record will
ever keep for admiring posterity the midnight attack and repulse. The
future will but know the general legend, that Ross and his braves were
tried by ordeals that taxed to their utmost the highest qualities of
our nature, and that they came forth from the fiery saturnalia of a
demoniac war as gold purified from the crucible. True to every trust,
their sublime devotion wavered not, nor did their heroic exertions
relax even when the hand of Fate had written the Confederacy's epitath
above the hopes of its people, and craven manhood deserted the colors
of their allegiance, and sought ignoble security behind the
devastating lines of the enemy. The last rally of the bugle found
them as ready to mount as did the first, when cheered by the smiles of
wives and sweethearts in far distant Texas.
It is not our province to follow the rapid moves of the columns
on this gigantic field of war. Sherman commenced his "march to the
sea," and Hood set out for Nashville. General Ross was ordered with
his brigade to take the advance, and to proceed to the vicinity of
Decatur and Tuscumbia, Ala. This march was performed quietly enough,
as no enemy at all was encountered. At Decatur, General Ross awaited
the arrival of General Hood, who, with the main army, arrived in a few
days, and went into camp, remaining there nearly a week, to allow rest
and refreshment to the tired men. During the halt, however, activity
reigned in the commissary and ordnance departments; and the necessary
ammunition and provisions were gotten ready for the purposed campaign.
Again, Ross was ordered to take the advance. The Tennessee river was
crossed, and the column headed for Nashville. At the Tennessee river
the enemy's cavalry was encountered; but, after several spirited
engagements, General Ross drove them from his front. The march was
necessarily slow and tedious. The cavalry of the enemy was re-
enforced by overwhelming numbers, and, no sooner had Ross driven a
body from his front, than he was attacked by a fresh contingent, which
arduous service told heavily on men and horses. Even the night
brought but little relief, for both General and men were in arms
during the entire night. Thus Ross led the advance into Tennessee,
literally cutting a pathway through the multitudinous enemy for the
march of Hood's army. A few miles south of Pulaski, Tenn., a large
force was descried drawn up in line of battle, and occupying a very
advantageous position. Ross did not hesitate a moment, but commenced
preparations to attack. Though it was evident that they out-numbered
the Texans in the ration of ten to one. The Legion was deployed to
the left; the Ninth to the right, and the Third and Sixth advanced as
the center. All thought a hotly contested engagement was imminent.
But, after some heavy skirmishing, the enemy, evidently thinking
discretion the better part of valor, left the field precipitately, and
fell back on Pulaski. At this place, General Ross discovered the
enemy posted in force, and so dispatched General Hood, in the
meantime, however, annoying the Federals with his skirmishers and
sharpshooters. Hood came up with the army, and directed Ross to turn
the left flank of the enemy, and gain his rear. Seeing Ross in the
execution of this movement, the enemy abandoned his position, and once
more retired in the direction of Nashville, to which point all the
clouds of war seemed now converging for the coming storm. Ross
pursued the retreating Federals; and, from Pulaski to Columbia,
scarce a moment passed that the eager Texans were not on their heels.
In this pursuit many prisoners were taken, and some wagons. At
Columbia it was understood that the enemy would give battle.
Cheatham's Division had been sent lower down the river to cross, so as
to gain the enemy's rear. Arriving in front of Columbia, General Hood
directed General Ross to cross Duck river some miles above the city,
and gain the enemy's rear - a move he executed with neatness and
dispatch, taking position on the pike between Spring Hill and
Franklin. General Ross at once dismounted his men, and attacked the
enemy in his front (Federal rear) with vigor. Simultaneously with the
report of Ross' guns, General S.D. Lee attacked the enemy in Columbia.
It evidently was Hood's design that Cheatham should have re-enforced
Ross' Brigade with his division of infantry, and capture the army of
Schofield at Columbia. Lee drove the enemy into town; and Schofield
bent his energies now to drive Ross from his rear - now become his
front - that he could retire. All that day the unequal contest raged.
The brave young hero was dismounted and at the head of his columns;
and his clear, ringing voice was often heard above the din of
conflict, encouraging his men to maintain the unequal grapple.
Anxiously, but in vain, did Ross look for Cheatham. He felt that his
skeleton brigade could not much longer stand up before the terrible
odds pitted against it. The long hours seemed interminable in their
weary course; and the guns of the enemy thundered their vomitings of
iron hail into the decimated ranks of the Texans. The field of battle
was the narrow turnpike, and the vast numbers of the enemy did not
avail as they would on the open field. To the deafening volleys of
the enemy's fifty guns, the unerring rifles of the Texans defiantly
replied. In vain did the Federal infantry charge the position time
after time, as if to sweep, by mere weight of numbers and momentum,
the audacious Texans from their path. But Ross, sword in hand, his
face blackened with the smoke of battle, met them each time with a
counter-charge, to retire, when the spasmodic death-grapple was over,
sullenly to his old position. Ross appeared as personating the
character of Leonidas in the pass of a western Thermopylae. Finally,
the sun set as if ashamed to witness the scene of slaughter. As the
thunders of battle lulled temporarily, the groans of the wounded -
poled on the narrow pike indiscriminately with the dead - were heard
often begging in piteous accents for water. Ross learned from a
citizen that General Cheatham was not more than a mile distant.
Assuredly, then, the long and anxiously-expected re-enforcement will
soon arrive. This hope imparts to the indomitable young chieftain new
resolution, and nerves his heart with determination to hold the pass
at all hazards. He communicates the high and unselfish resolve to his
men, and is answered by cheers of enthusiasm. They feel that they
hold in their hands the key of the position; and that the muse of
history is contemplating their acts. They appreciate the magnitude of
the trust reposed in them, and swear to be faithful at the price of
life itself.
Doubtless, General Hood imagined that it was the legions of
Cheatham that were staying the progress of Schofield's divisions, and
felt that the victory was in his grasp. And, if Cheatham had come,
how different would have been the result. Hood did all that it was in
the power of mortal man to do. His orders were disobeyed, and
Napoleon himself would have failed, under similar circumstances. But
the lull in the storm of battle was only temporary. Again the enemy,
with re-enforcements drawn from the front of Lee, where the combatants
had ceased for the night, renewed the contest with redoubled efforts.
He was struggling for existence, and desperation characterized his
attempts to extricate himself from the enveloping lines of the
determined Confederates. The darkness of the night was lit up by the
lurid glare of a hundred cannon, and their thunders reverberating
among the rocks and hills, sounded as if pandemonium had settled upon
the earth. Volley after volley of musketry rattled along the lines;
the groans of the wounded; the piles of the dead; the shrieks of the
combatants; formed a picture in the stygian darkness terrible and
sublime! Charge after charge the enemy make on the Texan position;
but the indomitable Ross never failed to accept the gage, and always
met them on halfway ground. Often the combatants were mixed in
inextricable confusion, and friend could not be distinguished from
foe. Thus, throughout the entire night did the demoniacal conflict
rage; but Ross held the pike! With the morning's dawn the enemy
ceased firing in front, and concentrated all his available force of
infantry, cavalry, and artillery upon the position held by Ross, who,
by the mere force of numbers and the utter exhaustion of his men,
retired sorrowfully from the pike that had witnessed his unparalleled
defense. The Texans retired but a short distance from the field, and
sought that repose so much needed, while the army of Schofield was
pouring through the gap thus formed, and leading Hood on to the fatal
field of Nashville. Had Cheatham re-enforced Ross on the pike, the
campaign would have closed at Columbia in a glorious Confederate
victory.
Having rested the greater portion of the day, the shades of
evening found Ross and his men in the saddle. The enemy was
retreating on Franklin; and being stretched along the single pike
presented a tempting opportunity to a daring leader to make reprisals
- an opportunity that Ross did not neglect. The night was spent by
the Texas Brigade in making sudden attacks upon this line; and many
prisoners, and wagons containing commissary and quartermaster stores,
were captured. The town of Franklin was well fortified, and,
doubtless, General Schofield imagined he would be allowed to remain
here unmolested - a supposition not justified by the results, for
General Hood, immediately upon his arrival, made preparation for and
assault. General Ross was dispatched to the right, and up Big Harpeth
river, which he crossed. The Texans were here encountered by
Brownlow's celebrated "Gray Horse," an excellent body of cavalry. The
Ninth Texas was thrown forward as skirmishers; the General holding
well in hand the Third, Sixth, and one battalion of the Legion, the
remainder of that regiment having been left across the creek as a
support. The enemy attacked the Ninth furiously; and, by force of
numbers, drove them back. Ross, seeing the condition of affairs,
placed himself at the head of his men and charged. The "Gray Horse"
met the onset gallantly by a counter-charge, and the two opposing
lines absolutely passed through each other; probably an incident
without parallel in the whole course of the war. (In his desperate
encounter with the "White Horse," Colonel Jones, of the Ninth, ran his
sword through a Union trooper, and broke it off at the hilt, the blade
remaining in the body of his adversary. No one was more conspicuous
for daring bravery, in this engagement, than Lieutenant W.J. Cavin, of
company A, Third Texas Cavalry. Sergeant T.J. Cellum, in this
engagement, slew in single combat a Union officer, who refused to
surrender; himself receiving three pistol-shot wounds in the deadly
duel.) Many hand-to-hand fights ensued; and several of Ross' men
were afterward mounted on gray horses captured in the fight.
Especially worthy of mention was personal combat between a Federal
non-commissioned officer and J.C. Pritchett, of Company E, Third
Texas. Mr. Pritchett killed his man and captured his steed. Again
the "Gray Horse" prepared for another charge. The liberty is taken to
quite the language of Lieutenant B.T. Roberts, Company E, Third Texas,
to whom the author is indebted for the incidents of the Tennessee
campaign: "General Ross told his men to stand firm; that he was
there to lead them. He called on the Ninth to rally on him, which was
readily done. The enemy, in the meantime, were bearing down on our
line furiously; when General Ross, standing straight in his stirrups,
shouted 'Forward!' and with drawn saber led the charge in person. At
once the opposing lines clashed, and for some time it seemed doubtful
which would yield. Ross was ubiquitous, and seemed to bear a charmed
life; and was heard to exclaim at the crisis of the engagement,
'Boys, if you don't run, the will!' and they did. The Texans pursued
Brownlow until the fugitives found refuge in night."
While Ross was engaging the "Gray Horse," Hood was storming the
ramparts of Franklin. Upon the retreat of the enemy from Franklin,
Ross was still kept to the right, and in advance, following the enemy
to the very suburbs of Nashville. While General Hood was investing
Nashville, General Ross was ordered to cut off re-enforcements to
Thomas, expected from Murfreesboro. This he did effectually,
capturing stockades and stations between Nashville and Murfreesboro.
The result of this brief campaign was three hundred and fifty
prisoners, and an immense train loaded with commissary supplies - an
invaluable acquisition to General Hood at the time. But General
Hood's successes - dearly bought - were at an end. The disastrous
battle of Nashville dissipated the hopes of an advance. Indeed, the
issue now was the existence of his routed columns. Ross covered the
retreat, and hung on the rear of Hood's demoralized army, a barrier to
the eagerly-pursuing Federals. This, says Lieutenant Roberts, was the
severest service experienced during the war. It being late in
December, the weather was intensely cold - freezing all the time - the
men were thinly clad, poorly fed, and dejected and disheartened. The
Texans were called upon to repulse twenty charges of the enemy's
cavalry a day. Nor did night relieve them of their arduous duties;
for often they were compelled to stand in line of battle throughout
the cold night. But Ross and his men were true to the trust reposed
in them, and interposed, as a barrier between the beaten army and its
victorious enemy, until the Tennessee river was crossed, which ended
the campaign, and virtually, the services of Ross' Texas Brigade. The
author would say no more; but point to the record contained in this
imperfect narrative of their services.
ADDENDA.
Through the kindness of Rev. John Hudson, of Hutto, Williamson
county, Texas, the author was given access to the diary of his
brother, Rev. Edward Hudson, who had been appointed by Colonel
Griffith, Chaplain of the Sixth Regiment, Texas Cavalry. Mr. Hudson
served some time as a private in Captain "Pete" Ross' company, and
bore all the dangers, privations, and hardships, incidental to that
position, until promoted Chaplain. In an engagement between Ross'
Brigade and the command of General McCook, in July, 1864, near Noonan,
Ga., Chaplain Hudson, who accompanied his regiment into the
engagement, discovered one of his acquaintances dangerously wounded.
He called to a comrade to assist him in removing the wounded man to a
place of safety. The two men dismounted, leaving their horses in care
of a third, and immediately proceeded to succor their wounded friend.
Having accomplished this humane act, they returned for their horses,
but discovered that the enemy had advanced considerably, and that
their horses were gone. Chaplain Hudson, caught upon the field, the
horse on a Union trooper, mounted him, and proceeded in a line
diagonally across the field in quest of the missing horses. He was
fired upon by a body of the enemy, his horse killed, and himself
dangerously wounded. In a recent letter to the author, Rev. John
Hudson writes: "At his own request, General Ross had him carried to a
private house, and there he remained until the close of the war. Levi
Fowler remained with him, and finally brought him home. General Ross
(although I never met him) and Levi Fowler occupy a very warm, sacred
place in my heart, because of their kind humane, brotherly treatment
of my dear brother. He remained but a short time near Waco; received
s suit of clothes and some money from the boys of his old regiment, as
a token of their esteem, and went from there to Kemp, Kaufman county,
and taught school four years. He resumed preaching soon after
settling in Kaufman; but was compelled, in consequence of the results
of his wounds, to occupy a sitting posture whenever doing so; and he
so continued to preach until his death, which occured August 17, 1877.
He preached a great deal; rode two years as a missionary in the
bounds of the "Bacon Presbytery." But he was a great sufferer all the
time. His health finally failing, I brought him to my home in
Williamson county. He bore his affliction with great fortitude and
resignation. His death was one of great peace and triumph; not a
dimming veil or cloud obscured his mental horizon."
From Mr. Hudson's diary the following facts in regard to General
Ross' campaign in Tennessee valley, in 1863, are gained; and for
which the author is especially thankful, inasmuch as all his efforts,
to obtain data, upon which to predicate a narrative of this brilliant
campaign, have been unavailing. As little else than the dates, and
briefest mention of movement, in a general way, are given the brief
story of one of the most successful cavalry expeditions of the war
must remain, for the present, at least, but partially told. But to
the diary: "On September 26, 1863, the Sixth Texas Cavalry, and the
First Mississippi Cavalry, Left Richland, Mississippi under the
command of Colonel L.S. Ross. At Pontotoc the command was reviewed by
General Joseph E. Johnston. Taking up the line of march again, the
brigade passed Tupelo, the scene of our infantry encampment the
previous summer. From this town, on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, the
brigade proceeded to Tuscumbia, Alabama, on the Tennessee river, where
the Fifteenth (Union) Army Corps was stationed. General Ross
immediately inaugurated a system of surprises, attacks, etc., that
annoyed the enemy intolerably for the space of six days, during which
period, night and day, the confused enemy knew not at what moment we
would attack him, nor from what point of the compass the attacking
party would come. Finally, the Union corps, though numbering nearly
ten thousand men, were forced to retire from the Memphis & Charleston
Railroad, which it was their duty to hold, and leave it in the
possession of their adversary who could not count over twelve hundred
rifles.
The enemy was forced to cross the Tennessee river at Eastport,
and fall back upon Corinth; thus retarding their purposed re-
enforcement of General Rosecranz's army which was operating against
the army of General Bragg in East Tennessee. After considerable
maneuvering, the brigade made a rapid dash on Moscow, where we had a
very spirited fight with the enemy there posted; thence back, via
Holly Springs and Grenada, to Canton, where the remainder of the old
brigade were encamped. We here parted with our comrades of the First
Mississippi - than which no regiment was composed of more perfect
gentlemen or brave soldiers. After this expedition, a feeling of
comraderie always existed between the Sixth Texas and the First
Mississippi. Soon after the arrival of the Sixth Regiment, the
brigade moved, in charge of a train of wagons loaded with arms and
ammunition for the trans-Mississippi Department. Mention of which is
made in its proper place in the narrative.
While the brigade was encamped at Canton, many horses were
afflicted with a malady somewhat resembling "blind-staggers," which,
in most instances, proved fatal. The General cause assigned, was
grazing on a vegetable called "sneeze-weed," of all which the author
is ignorant, save only the effects.
Mr. J. Wylie Montgomery, of Company A, Third Texas Cavalry, and
at present the efficient sherriff of Rains county, Texas, deserves
special mention for his daring bravery in battle, and for his sagacity
as a scout, in which peculiarly dangerous service he was long
employed, and rendered services of incalculable value to the brigade
and division commanders. He is deserving, in all respects, the
confidence of his fellow-citizens.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE CLOSE AND RECONSTRUCTION.
After the war, and back at home as I looked upon the old farm,
everything bespoke poverty. My mother and sisters and sweetheart too
as well as all others of my female acquaintances, were clothed in the
coarsest kind of homespun. It is true they had ingeniously woven
lints of different colors together so as to form rude flowers but it
was so coarse, poor girls. Their shoes were of coarse half-tanned
cowhide, hard and rough, or some wore shoes made of cloth with only a
leather bottom, that they had made themselves on bad shaped lasts,
that had been constructed by rude craftsmen who apparently had not a
single idea of the outlines of a beautiful foot.
Their hats were made of straw, course straw, but bleeched to snow
whiteness and a very few had hats made of pasteboard and in an
ingenious and painstaking method covered with the snowy down from the
common gander, and I will here say that one of the finest pieces of
art that it has ever been my fortune to examine was such a hat, but in
this coarse harness they were still pretty, their eyes were just as
bright, their smiles were just as sweet, their dimpled cheeks and
panting lips just as expressive, as are those of her refined and
fashionable sisters of today.
Mother looked older and careworn and it took me several days in
the study of her sweet face, to again locate that sweet beauty that
was so prominent in the days of boyhood, for some of her teeth were
gone and her raven black hair was tinged with gray and some mean old
ugly lines had furrowed her cheeks and her eyes once black large and
sparkling, were faded and were now large gray kind eyes, and some
furrows on her forehead showed that she had passed through the war in
anxious trouble - but day by day those lost beauties returned, the
cheeks like an opening flower, soon were lit with that old time love
beauty that boys can always see in a mother's face that probably no
others can, and when her teeth were reset by the dentist, I forgot or
never again saw her wrinkles, for she was still my good and beautiful
mother until her death at the age of 76 years.
Father and all the others of our neighboring men had grown rough
and coarse and I do not think, that old soldiers ever make great
advance towards an improvement.
There were a few negroes on the old farm that were fat and sleek,
rotund and happy, and like the rest welcomed us back with that love
that can never be explained to this generation (I mean a kind of love
that negroes and whites from long association had borne towards each
other) that old folks can explain but the younger races can not
understand, for the war killed that love.
Then I thought of the cost of the war. We have no means on earth
of fixing a value on human anxiety, no unit or multiple that will
express degrees of trouble. Tears, yes there were enough of tears
shed probably to have floated our lost warship, "the Maino," and some
poetic mind has fixed a value on tears as equal to diamonds of the
first water, and if we should take this valueation we might truthfully
say it cost a sea of diamonds of tears alone.
Mr. Stephens said that there were about 1,000,000 of lived lost
in that war. Let us suppose that each and every one of these was an
able-bodied man, able to fight the battles of a Christian nation, and
as such fell. The world in all its great advances has never yet fixed
a price on Christian blood for atoms of blood can have no equal in
ounces of gold or silver and I will here write X as an unknown value
for each of 1,000,000 of lived lost. In moneys, bonds and other
obligations, with property destroyed, those who know have placed the
cost of the war between the states at the sum of $8,000,000,000, a sum
at that time equal to more than three-fourths of all the assessed
wealth of all the United States and a sum equal to all the coined gold
and silver of the world.
With these great losses the United States discharged about
1,050,000 victorious soldiers from service from a devastating campaign
and about 150,000 Confederates were surrendered and paroled, this
being the nucleus and condition upon which reconstruction was to be
built.
By proclamation it was soon learned that the authorities of the
United States would deal with us as individuals, and also as states.
As individuals we had each a parole, and by proclamation we were
promised amnesty. Amnesty for past obedience to state laws. Well,
this to my mind was a queer thing. My parole said I must obey the law
of the United States and the state wherein I should reside, but it
failed to show which I should give precedence in case they should not
harmonize. I thought of course, that as the state enacted all the
laws pertaining to the individual and adjusted all matters wherein
citizens were interested and the United States enacted laws to govern
states as communities, that I should do right in obedience to state
law, but I found that the man who had disobediently skulked the state
law and fled from her legal executive and joined the United States and
helped to thrash Texas, was to be accounted loyal. And I, who had
obeyed the laws, was to be called a rebel and accounted disloyal,
while he, whose views were so large that his patriotism ran outside
our lawmakers, was to be accounted not a law breaker, but a patriot,
and as such he received his reward.
He has been to died, he has been given office, his reports have
been received to the exclusion of others, he has been pensioned from
the common fund for his disobedience to the laws of his state.
We have lived neighbors and are still neighbors, and belong to
the same church. Our children go to the same school and read of the
Rebellion, and this writing shall be given to them and some great day
some great mind that loves liberty, that loves patriotic loyalty and
is free from radicalism may decide which one of us is the rebel.
Will you now go with me a few steps further. Is the acts of the
nation calculated to imbibe in us a high opinion of law, I mean state
law, that law that governs our every day actions, or will it give a
tendency to belittle state law? Has it taught us that the court of
arms is the highest tribunal on earth and all laws should be
subservient thereto? Has it shaken our confidence? If so, what shall
we do to restore confidence?
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE GREAT CIVIL WAR.
(Chapter XXXVIII taken from Dallas News.)
Nashville, Tenn., June 22, 1897. - Hon. John H. Reagan of Texas,
the only surviving member of ex-President Davis' cabinet, delivered
the following address here to-day before the United Confederate
Veteran's association:
Compatriots, Ladies and Gentlemen: This great assemblage and
this interesting occasion calls up many memories of great events. It
brings into review the able and earnest discussions which preceded the
year 1861, on the great questions which led up to the war between the
states: the separation of the members of the Thirty sixth congress:
the action of the southern states in passing the ordinances of
secession: the organization of the government of the Confederate
States of America: the commencement of hostilities at Charleston
harbor: the call for volunteers by President Lincoln: the enthusiasm
with which men on both sides volunteered to enter the great struggle:
the separation of husbands and fathers from wives and children, of
sons from fathers and mothers, of brothers from sisters, and of lovers
from their sweethearts, with eyes bedewed with tears and hearts
throbbing with patriotism, to enter the camps of instruction, make the
long marches and engage in the fierce conflicts of battle. It brings
into review the assembling of mighty armies, their toilsome marches,
the sickness and suffering in camps, the thousands of skirmishes and
battles, participated in by hundreds of thousands of brave men, the
sufferings of the wounded and the great number who fell on each side
as martyrs to their patriotic devotion to the caused they believed to
be right and just, in the greatest war of modern times, a war in which
hundreds of thousands of brave men lost their lives, and which left to
the future a vast army of mourning widows and children, and sorrowing
relatives and friends, and which caused the sacrifice of billions of
dollars worth of property. And it calls up our remembrance of the
great labor and sacrifices of our noble women in caring for the
children and the aged at home and in preparing and sending to the
armies clothes and food for their loved ones, and in ministering to
the sick and wounded in the hospitals.
Upon the foregoing facts the inquiry arises: Why all this
suffering and death between a people of the same country, the same
race and in a general way of the same political and religious
opinions?
AFRICAN SLAVERY AN INHERITANCE
My answer is that it was an inheritance from the governments of
Europe and from our ancestors, which raised a question involving too
much of the social and industrial structure of society, and too much
of property values, to admit of adjustment in the ordinary methods of
negotiation and compromise. And its decision was therefore submitted
to the arbitrament of war.
I say it was an inheritance because the authorities, including
the crowned heads of Great Britain, France and Spain, and the Dutch
merchants, planted African slavery in all the American colonies. And
in their times they and the priesthood justified this on the grounds
that it was a transfer of the Africans from a condition of barbarism
and cannibalism to a country where they could be instructed in the
arts of civilized life, and in the knowledge of the Christian
religion.
The institution of African slavery thus found its way into all of
the thirteen American colonies, and it existed in all of them at the
date of the declaration of American independence in 1776. And African
slavery existed in all but one of these colonies at the time of the
formation of the constitution of the United States in 1789. There
were at that time those who objected to it as violating the principles
of human liberty. But notwithstanding such objections, the wise and
great men who formed the constitution, recognizing the existing
industrial and social conditions of society which had grown out of the
existence of African slavery, incorporated in it the following
provisions:
THE CONSTITUTION RECOGNIZES AND PROTECTS SLAVERY.
Article 1, section 2, paragraph 3, is as follows:
"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several states which may be included in this union according to their
respective numbers, which may be determined by adding to the whole
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other
persons." Thus recognizing slavery and the partial representation of
slaves in congress.
Article 4, section 2, paragraph 3, provides that: "No person
held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up on the claim of the party to whom such service or labor
may be due." Thus providing for the protection of the rights of the
owners of slaves by requiring their return to their masters when
escaping from one state into another.
Article 1, section 9, paragraph 1, provides as follows: "The
migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now
existing may think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by
congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty may be imposed on
such importation not to exceed $10 for each person." Thus not only by
the foregoing provisions recognizing African slavery, but making
provision for the continuance of the slave trade for twenty years
after the adoption of the constitution.
The Old and the New Testament Scriptures recognize slavery, and
it is justified by the history of other nations.
Those who defended the institution of slavery quoted the Old
Testament Scriptures, and the advice of Christ our Savior, as given in
the New Testament, and the example of the nations of the past in
justification of its existence.
AGITATION OF THE QUESTION.
From early times there were those who questioned the rightfulness
of slavery, possibly without sufficient consideration to the character
of the different races of people. This feeling grew first with the
philanthropic and religious classes until at last it was seized upon
by political demagogues as an available method of political agitation
and declamation by office seekers. It grew until mobs, legislatures
and courts repudiated the constitutional provisions, and the laws of
congress and the decisions of the supreme court of the United States,
which protected slavery in the states, where it existed, and required
the rendition of slaves when they escaped into other states. The
agitation of this question gathered in strength and violence until it
resulted in civil war in Kansas, followed by the raid of John Brown
and his followers, who invaded the state of Virginia for the purpose
of inciting the negroes to a war of races. And because he was
lawfully arrested and convicted and hung by the authorities of the
state of Virginia for levying war on the state, in an effort to bring
about a horrid war between the negroes and whites, many of the
northern churches were draped in mourning, and many of the northern
people applauded his efforts and eulogized this felon as a here and a
martyr. This was followed by the nomination and election of a purely
sectional anti-slavery ticket for president and vice president of the
United States, and during the congress which immediately preceded the
secession of the southern states thirty odd measures of compromise
were introduced in one or the other branch of congress in the hope of
securing the adoption of a policy by which the union of the states and
the rights of the states and of the people could be preserved and the
war prevented. Each of these propositions of compromise was
introduced either by a southern man or by a northern democrat, and
every one of them was received with hooting and derision by the
republican members, as the Congressional Globe of that period will
show. And the southern members were told that they had to submit to
the will of the majority, plainly showing that our people could no
longer rely for the protection of the rights of the states or of the
people, on the enforcement of the provisions of the constitution and
the laws of the United States. Could any people have submitted to all
this who were worthy of liberty and good government?
DISCUSSED TO VINDICATE TRUTHS OF HISTORY.
You must understand that I do not make this recital for the
purpose of renewing the prejudices and passions of the past, but only
for the purpose of showing to our children and to the world that the
ex-confederates were not responsible for the existence of African
slavery in this country, and were not responsible for the existence of
the great war which resulted from the agitation of that question, and
that they were neither traitors nor rebels.
Comrades, by the law of nature I can, at most, be with you but a
few years longer, and I feel it to by my duty to you and to posterity
to make these statements of the facts of history, which vindicate us
against the charge of being either rebels or traitors, and which show
that we were not the authors of a "causeless war, brought about by
ambitious leaders," but that our brave men fought and suffered and
died, and our holy men of God prayed, and our noble women suffered
patiently and patriotically all the privations and horrors of a great
war, cruelly forced upon us, for the purpose of upholding the
constitution and laws of the United States, of preserving the rights
of the several states to regulate their own domestic policies and of
protecting the people against spoliation and robbery by a dominant
majority, some of whose members, because the Holy Bible sanctioned
slavery, declared that they wanted an "antislavery God," and who,
because the constitution of the United States recognized and protected
slavery, declared that it was a "league with hell and a covenant with
death."
Whatever may have been said in the past in the defense of the
institution of slavery, and whatever may now be thought of the means
by which it was abolished in this country, the spirit of the present
age is against it, and it has passed away, and I suppose no one wishes
its restoration, if that were practicable. Certainly I would not
restore it if I had the power. I think it better for the black race
that they are free, and I am sure it is better for the white race that
there are no slaves.
Some great Macaulay of the future will tell these grand truths to
posterity better and more forcibly than I can in this brief address,
and will by reference to history, to the sacred Scriptures, and to the
constitution of the United States, as made by our revolutionary
fathers vindicate the patriotism and the heroic virtues and struggles
of our people.
WHY THE WAR WAS NOT AVOIDED.
In later times those not familiar with the facts to which I am
referring have asked the question: "Why was this great question not
compromised?" stating that it would not have cost a fifth of the
money to pay for and liberate the slaves that the war cost, and that
in that way the tens of thousands of valuable lives of good men might
have been saved, and all the attendant suffering prevented.
The first answer to that question is that the slaves in the
United States, at the beginning of the war, were estimated to be of
the value of $3,000,000,000, and if they were to be liberated common
honesty required that it should have been at the expense of the nation
which was responsible for its existence. The republicans and the
anti-slavery people were then a majority of the whole people, and had
full possession of the federal government, or were ready and
authorized to take possession of it. And they demanded that the whole
loss to arise from the freeing of the slaves should fall on their
owners and on the southern states. They never proposed, and would not
have consented, for the federal government and the northern people to
pay any part of the cost of freeing the slaves. Their patriotism was
not of the kind which would cause them to assume a part of the burden
of correcting what they claimed to be a great national wrong. And
that, too, a wrong, if it was a wrong, which we inherited from other
and older nations, and which was incorporated in our social and
industrial systems, and sanctioned by our constitution, state and
federal, in the organization of the governments. The agitators were
willing and anxious to be patriotic and just at the expense of other
people.
The second answer to it is that the industrial social systems of
southern states were so interwoven with the interest of slavery that
the people then believed the freedom of the slaves without
compensation meant the bankruptcy of the people and the states where
it existed to be followed probably by a war of races. I am speaking
of what they then believed. As an evidence that our own people in the
earlier days of the republic recognized the necessity of acquiescing
in the social and industrial conditions which had grown out of African
slavery, history tells us that General Washington, who was an
extensive slaveholder, was made commander-in-chief of our
revolutionary armies. He was the president of the convention which
formed the constitution of the United States, and was elected as the
first president of the United States, and was re-elected to that
position. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe, General Jackson,
Mr. Polk and General Taylor were each elected president of the United
States, and all of them were the owners of slaves. They, like the
framers of the constitution, recognized that this country had
inherited a condition of things in this respect in which it became
necessary to acquiesce. I do not assume to know whether, if a
proposition to pay for the slaves had been made, it would have been
accepted.
Such a sacrifice as that which was demanded of the southern
people has not in the world's history been submitted to by any people
without an appeal to the last dread abritrament of war. And ours were
a chivalric, intelligent, proud and liberty-loving people, and if they
had submitted to this sacrifice without a struggle they would have
proven themselves unworthy to be free men and unworthy of the proud
title of being Americans. And I say now, with deliberation and
sincerity, in view of all the calamities of that war, if the same
condition of things could again occur I would rather accept those
calamities than belong to a race of cowards and surrender the most
sacred rights of self-government to the clamor of a majority over-
riding the constitution and demanding terms so revolting to our sense
of justice.
THE HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE.
In this connection I desire to say that it has been frequently
asserted of late years that at the conference between President
Lincoln and Secretary Seward of the federal side and Messrs. Stephens,
Hunter and Campbell on the confederate' side, at Hamptons Roads, on
the 3d of January, 1865, that President Lincoln offered the
confederates $400,000,000 for the slaves if they would abandon the war
and return to the union. This story has assumed various forms to suit
the rhetoric of the speakers and writers who have given it currency.
I wish to assert most solemnly that no such offer in any form was
made. All the papers relating to the Hampton Roads Conference are
given in "McPherson's History of the Rebellion," as he calls it. They
show that the joint resolution for amending the constitution of the
United States was passed by congress, submitting to the states the
question of abolishing slavery in the United States, two or three days
before the date of that conference. The report of the commissioners
on the part of the confederacy, which was published at the time, shows
that no such an offer was made or referred to in that conference. The
statement of President Davis, and that of President Lincoln and of
Secretary Seward, shows that no such offer was made or talked of at
that conference. This false statement has been often made. It is
disproven by every man who was there, and by every paper which has
been written by or for the men who were there. Neither President
Lincoln nor any other man on the federal side would have dared to make
such an offer at that time. It was stated at the time, and I believe
the statement to be true, that the congress hurried the joint
resolution above named through so as to forestall the possibility of
any such proposition. The object of this untruthful statement was no
doubt to cast odium on the confederate president and authorities by
trying to show that they would accept no terms of peace, and were
responsible for the continuance of the war. President Davis appointed
Vice President Stephens to go to Washington in 1864, ostensibly to
secure a renewal of the cartel for the exchange of prisoners; but the
real purpose of his mission was to see President Lincoln for the
purpose of ascertaining on what conditions the war could be
terminated. But he was not permitted by the federal authorities to
pass through their military lines. Then he appointed the
commissioners to the Hampton Roads conference for the same purpose.
And afterwards in 1865, he authorized General R.E. Lee to try to
negotiate through General Grant for the same purpose. I mention these
facts to show that it is a mistake to suppose that President Davis
neglected any means in his power to end the war on honorable terms,
and mention them because of the many misrepresentations which have
been made on this subject. He could not have made public all he did
in this respect, at the time, without discouraging our army and
people. And if at any time he had proposed or consented to
unconditionally surrender he would have been in danger of violence at
the hands of our own people. Neither he nor they proposed or intended
to surrender unconditionally unless overpowered.
RECONSTRUCTION - RESTORATION.
After the overthrow of the confederate government and the
surrender of the confederate armies, the work of the restoration of
federal authority in the southern states was commenced, while the
excitements and passions and prejudices of the war were in the blaze,
and were intensified by the assassination of President Lincoln, with
which it was then unjustly assumed the confederate authorities had
some connection, but which was regarded by them as most unfortunate
for the people who had adhered to the fortunes of the confederacy.
Under the state of feeling which then existed on both sides it
was hardly to be expected that a wise and temperate policy of
reconstruction would be adopted. While many of the churches of the
northern states were resolving and some of their ministers of the
religion of Christ were preaching a crusade of hate, proscription and
revenge against the southern people. The plan adopted for the
restoration of the union and pacification of the southern people was
to deprive them of all political rights, put them under military rule
and suspend the right of the writ of habeas corpus, so that there
could be no relief or redress for any wrong done to a citizen, however
unlawful or outrageous. Our citizens were subject to arrest by the
military authority without an affidavit, or formal charge, or legal
warrant, and to detention without knowing what the charges against
them were, and to trial by a drumhead court-martial, without the
intervention of a jury.
A large part of the southern states had been devastated by war,
the people had exhausted their resources in the endeavor to maintain
their cause, and tens of thousands of their bravest and best men had
either fallen in battle or died in the service. Beaten in battle,
denied political rights and the protection of law, governed by
unfriendly military authority and by the negroes, carpet baggers, and
scalawags (and I mention them in the order of their respectability),
plundered and robbed by employees of the treasury department and
constantly menaced by loyal leagues, composed of the elements above
named, their condition seemed to be as hopeless as can well be
imagined.
If under the providence of God the life of President Lincoln
could have been spared so that reconstruction and the restoration of
the union could have been brought about under his supervision and that
of the officers and soldiers who fought the battles of the union, I
believe the country would have been saved from the introduction of
abnormal military governments which are so unfriendly to civil rights
and political liberty and so contrary to the genius of our government,
and that the people of the southern states would have been saved from
much of the enormous sacrifices and suffering which they were
compelled to endure during the period of reconstruction, the
demagogues in politics the unchristian persecutions by religious
bodies and the thieving treasure officials would not have had so wide
a field for their operations.
NOT PLEASANT, BUT NECESSARY.
It is unpleasant to me to make the foregoing recitals and the
more so because the purpose for which they are made may be
misunderstood or misrepresented. The restoration of peace, good
government, the rule of law and of good will between those who were
once enemies is as gratifying to me as it can be to any other citizen.
But the charge has been constantly made since the war that the
confederates were robbers and traitors, and the effort is all the time
being made to educate the rising generation into the belief that their
fathers and their mothers were rebels and traitors, and therefore
lawless criminals. Without malice against any of our fellow citizens
I feel it to be my duty to the memory of our heroic dead, to their
surviving associates and to those who are to come after us, to make
the foregoing statements in vindication of the truths of history, and
in justification of the patriotism, the manhood and love of justice of
those who defended the lost cause and offered their all in an effort
to preserve their constitutional rights against the aggressions of a
hostile majority.
NOW OF A COMMON GOVERNMENT.
And now that we are again citizens of the United States; living
under the same government and constitution and flag, our late
adversaries ought not do desire to degrade us in the eyes of
posterity, and if they would be wise and just they should not wish to
place our people in history in the position of being unworthy of the
rights, liberty and character of citizens of our great and common
country.
And while I have accepted, and do accept, in good faith, the
legitimate results of the war, and while I am, and will be, true to my
allegiance and duty to our common government as any other citizen can
be, I shall insist on my right to tell the truths which show that in
that great struggle we were guided and controlled by a sense of duty
and by a spirit of patriotism, which caused us to stake life, liberty
and property in a contest with a greatly superior power, rather than
basely surrender our rights without a struggle.
It is fitting and proper at this point that I should refer to a
matter which fitly illustrates the character of the southern people.
There was never a time during all the perils and suffering of
reconstruction that men of prominence who had been on the confederate
side could not have obtained positions of honor and emolument under
the federal government if they would have consented to surrender their
convictions and betray their people. A very few did so and thereby
earned an everlasting infamy. But nearly all of them stood by their
convictions and preserved their honor, and thereby proved themselves
worthy of citizenship in the greatest and proudest government on the
earth.
Having attempted to fulfill an unpleasant duty in what I have so
far said, I now turn to the consideration of more pleasant subjects.
From the desolation, absence of civil government and political
rights and of law throughout the southern states less than thirty
years ago, we now, in all these states, have good civil government,
good laws faithfully enforced, liberty protected, society reorganized,
peace and industry re-established, with many valuable enterprises put
into successful operation, and with a steady and wonderful increase in
population, wealth and the comforts of civilized life. This
constitutes the greatest and proudest vindication of the capacity of
our people for local self government, and is a grander and nobler
achievement by our people than was ever obtained by war. It is a the
triumph of their capacity for self government and shows that our
people are worthy of the possession of the political power and
religious liberty which they now enjoy, and which shows them worthy of
political equality with those who were once our enemies. In this
great centennial exposition of Tennessee we have before us a
magnificient exhibition of the results of southern enterprise and
prosperity to gladden the hearts of our people and to gratify the
pride of the people of this great state. And to-day the people of the
South are as earnest in their attachment to our common government as
those of any other part of the union and would make as great
sacrifices, if need be, in defense of our government as could be made
by any other part of the American people. Enjoying peace and liberty
today, we can refer with pride to the courage and heroism of our
soldiers in the late war and to the gallantry and skill of our
officers. And when impartial history comes to be written we do not
doubt but that it will be seen that they were never excelled in the
qualities of patient endurance and manly courage by any other people.
CHARACTER OF SOUTHERN LEADERS.
The names of Jefferson Davis, R.E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Albert
Sydney Johnson and many others of our heroic leaders, will go into
history illumined by a halo of courage and skill and purity of life
and patriotism unsurpassed by any other names in history. As
indicating the faith of President Davis in God, and his devout
earnestness, I recall attention to the closing sentence of his
inaugural address, after his election under the constitutional
government of the confederacy, made on the 22d day of February, 1862.
Raising his hands, at the close of his address, and looking towards
the heavens, he said: "And now, O God, I commit my country and her
cause into Thy holy keeping." Thus showing the solemnity with which
he assumed anew the duties of president of the confederacy.
THE WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY.
History notes with its richest praise the matrons of Rome. They
were no doubt worthy of all that has been said of them. But their
honors cluster about them when Rome was a great and victorious nation.
This is not said to their discredit, but to contrast with them the
noble and devoted women of the confederacy, the grandeur of whose
lives and conduct was exhibited in a cause in which the odds were
greatly against their country, in which great sacrifices were
necessary, and in which success was at all times doubtful. I never
felt my inability to do justice to any subject so keenly as I do when
attempting to do justice to the character, service and devotion of the
women of the confederacy. They gave to the armies their husbands,
fathers, sons and brothers with aching hearts, and bade them goodbye
with sobs and tears. But they believed the sacrifice was due to their
country and her cause. They assumed the care of their homes and of
the children and aged. Many of them who had been reared in ease and
luxury had to engage in all the drudgery of the farm or shop. Many of
them worked in the fields to raise the means of feeding their
families. Spinning wheels and looms were multiplied where none had
been seen before, to enable them to clothe their families and furnish
clothing for the loved ones in the army, to whom, with messages of
love and encouragement they were, whenever they could, sending
something to wear or to eat. And like angels of mercy they visited
and attended the hospitals with lint and bandages for the wounded and
medicines for the sick and such nourishment as they could for both.
And their holy prayers at all times went to the throne of God for the
safety of those dear to them, and for the success of the confederate
cause. There was a courage and a moral heroism in their lives
superior to that which animated our brave men, for the men were
stimulated by the presence of their associates, the hope of applause
and by the excitements of battle. While these noble women in the
seclusion and quietude of their homes were inspired by a moral courage
which could come only from God and the love of country. I hope we are
to have a Battle Abbey, and if we should the honor of our Southland
demands that at the same place there should be s splendid monument
erected to commemorate the constancy, the services and the virtues of
the noble women of the confederacy. And since the war some of our
grand and noble women, the widow of President Davis, the widow of
Stonewall Jackson and the widow of Colonel C.M. Winkler of Texas have
earned the gratitude of our people by books they have furnished us,
containing most valuable contributions to the literature of the war
and supplying a feature in it that no man has or could supply.
To illustrate the character and devotion of the women of the
confederacy, I will repeat a statement made to me during the war by
Governor Letcher of Virginia. He had visited his home in the
Shenandoah valley, and on his return to the state capital called at
the house of an old friend who had a large family. He found no one
but the good old mother at home, and inquired about the balance of the
family. She told him that her husband, her husband's father and her
ten sons were all in the army. And on his suggestion that she must
feel lonesome, having had a large family with her, and to be now left
alone, her answer was that it was very hard, but that if she had ten
more sons they should all go to the army. Can ancient or modern
history show a nobler or more unselfish and patriotic devotion to any
cause?
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE WAR.
There have been and there may be still those who affect to speak
lightly of the confederacy, but a cause and a country which it
required more than four years of terrible war, and armies of more than
two million men, and which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands,
the expenditure of billions of dollars, and the sacrifice of other
billions of dollars worth of property to overcome, can hardly be
belittled by any honest or sensible man. We can well afford to await
the verdict which history will render on the men and women of the late
confederacy.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
GENERAL LAURENCE SULLIVAN ROSS.
Texas, though her annals be brief, counts upon her "roll of
honor" the names of many heroes, living and dead. Their splendid
services are the inestimable legacies of the past and present, to the
future. Of the latter, it is the high prerogative of the State to
embalm their names and memories as perpetual exemplars to excite the
generous emulation of the Texas youth to the latest posterity. Of the
former, it is our pleasant province to accord them those honors which
their services, in so eminent a degree, entitle them to receive. Few
lands, since the days of the "Scottish Chiefs," have furnished
material upon which to predicate a Douglas, a Wallace, or a
Ravenswood; and the adventure of chivalric enterprise, errant quest
of danger, and the personal combat, were regulated, together with the
knight's armorial trappings, to the musty archives of "Tower" and
"Pantheon," until the Comanche Bedouins of the Texas plains tendered,
in bold defiance, the savage gauntlet to the pioneer knights of
progress and civilization. And, though her heraldic roll glows with
the names of a Houston, a Rusk, Lamar, McCulloch, Hayes, Chevallie,
which illumine the pages of her history with an effugence of glory,
Texas never nurtured on her maternal bosom a son of more filial
devotion, of more loyal patriotism, or indomitable will to do and
dare, than the subject of this brief sketch.
Laurence Sullivan Ross was born in the town of Bentonsport, Iowa,
in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
His father, Captain S. P. Ross, removed to Texas in 1839, and cast his
fortunes with the pioneers who were blazing the pathway of
civilization into the wilds of a terra incognita, as Texas then was.
Captain S.P. Ross was, for many years, pre-eminent as a leader against
the implacable savages, who made frequent incursions into the
settlements. The duty of repelling these forays usually devolved upon
Captain Ross and his neighbors, and, for many years, his company
constituted the only bulwark of safety between the feeble colonists
and the scalping-knife. The rapacity and treachery of his Comanche
and Kiowa foes demanded of Captain Ross sleepless vigilance, acute
sagacity, and a will that brooked no obstacle or danger. It was in
the performance of this arduous duty that he slew, in single combat,
"Big Foot," a Comanche chief of great prowess, and who was for many
years the scourge of the early Texas frontier. The services of
Captain S.P. Ross are still held in grateful remembrance by the
descendants of his compatriots, and his memory will never be suffered
to pass away while Texans feel a pride in the sterling worth of the
pioneers who laid the foundation of Texas' greatness and glory.
The following incident, as illustrative of the character and
spirit of the man and times, is given: "Captain Ross, who had been
visiting a neighbor, was returning home, afoot, accompanied by his
little son 'Sul," as the General was familiarly called. When within a
half mile of his house, he was surrounded by fifteen or twenty mounted
Comanche warriors, who commenced an immediate attack. The Captain,
athletic and swift of foot, threw his son on his back, and out-ran
their ponies to the house unhurt amid a perfect shower of arrows."
Such were among the daily experiences of the child, and with such
impressions stamped upon the infantile mind, it was but natural that
the enthusiastic spirit of the ardent youth should lead him to seek
adventured upon the "war-path," similar to those that had signalized
his honored father's prowess upon so many occasions. Hence, we find
"Sul" Ross, during vacation from his studies at Florence Wesleyan
University, Alabama, though scarcely twenty years of age, in command
of 135 friendly Indians, co-operating with the United States cavalry
against the hostile Comanches. During this campaign the dashing Major
Earl Van Dorn led an expedition against the hostiles in the Wichita
mountains, which culminated in the hotly-contested battle of the
Wichita, in October, 1858. In this engagement, the red warriors of
Captain "Sul" Ross, led by their intrepid young white chief, performed
prodigies of valor, and to the sagacity, skill, and bravery of Ross
was the complete annihilation of the hostiles, in a great measure,
attributable. In the moment of victory, Ross was felled to the earth
by receiving two dangerous wounds, by a rifle-shot which pierced his
arm and side, and was borne from the field on the shields of his
faithful and brave Indian retainers. In the heart of the engagement,
and before being shot down, Ross discovered a little white girl, a
captive, among the Indians. Immediately upon her discovery was her
rescue determined upon, and, a murderous melee, was effected. For the
particulars of which, as well as of the fortune of "Lizzie Ross," vide
the concluding pages of this memoir. For conspicuous gallantry on
this occasion, Major Van Dorn, upon the field of battle, drew up a
recommendation, which was signed by all the officers of the gallant
old Second United States Cavalry, addressed to the Secretary of War,
asking the promotion of Captain Ross, and his assignment to duty in
the regular army. The venerable General Winfield Scott, Commander of
the United States Army, wrote an autograph letter to the wounded young
leader, complimenting, in the highest terms, the noble qualities
displayed on that trying occasion, and tendered him his friendship and
assistance. Captain Ross made no attempt to use the recommendation of
the United States officers, whatever, but, as soon as his wounds
admitted of travel, he returned to college, and graduated in 1859.
Immediately upon his return home, Captain Ross was placed in
command of the rangers on the frontier, by appointment of Governor Sam
Houston, and repaired forthwith to his post of duty. In December,
1860, at the head of sixty rangers, Captain Ross followed the trial of
a large body of Comanches, who had raided through Parker county, to
their village on the head-waters of Pease river. Though proverbial
for vigilance and cunning, Captain Ross succeeded in effecting a
complete surprise, and in the desperate encounter of "war to the
knife" that ensued, nearly all the warriors bit the dust. So signal a
victory had never before been gained over the fierce and warlike
Comanches, and ever since that fatal December day, in 1860, the
dispirited Comanche "brave" dates the dissipation of that wand of
invincibility which it seemed the "Great Spirit" had thrown around
them. The blow was as sudden, and as irresistible, as a thunder-bolt
from a cloudless sky, and as crushing and remorseless as the hand of
fate itself. Ross, sword in hand, led the furious charge of the
rangers, and Peta Nocona, chief of the tribe, arose from his last
sleep on earth, aroused by the demoniacal saturnalia in the midst of
which his warriors were melting away like snow-flakes on the river's
brink, to strike, at least, an avenging blow ere the night of death
had drawn its sable curtains around and above his devoted tribe.
Singling out Ross, as the most conspicuous of his assailants, with
eyes flashing and never steeled by the crisis of fate, Peta Nocona
rushed on the wings of the wind to the revel of death. The eagle eyes
of the young ranger took in the situation at a glance, and he welcomed
the redoubtable chief to the contest with a smile. Desperate was this
hand-to-hand grapple, for there was no alternative but victory or
death. Peta Nacona fell covered with wounds at the feet of his
conqueror, and his last sigh was taken up in mournful wailings by the
fugitives fleeing from this village of blood and death. Many of these
latter perished on the inhospitable plains, in a fruitless endeavor to
reach their friends and allies on the head-waters of the Arkansas
river. The immediate fruits of this victory were 450 horses and all
their accumulated winter supplies. But the subsequent results are not
to be computed on the basis of dollars and cents. The spirit of the
Comanche was here broken, and to this crushing defeat is to be
attributed the pacific conduct of these hitherto implacable foes of
the white race during the civil war - a boon to Texas of incalculable
value.
It was in this engagement that Captain Ross rescued "Cynthia Ann
Parker," after a captivity of twenty-five years, or since the capture
of "Parker's Fort," in 1830 (see Thrall's History of Texas, page 455,)
near the site of the town of Groesbeck, Limestone county. General
Ross corrects the statement of Mr. Thrall, to the effect that Cynthia
Ann Parker was dressed in male attire, nor was there much doubt as to
her identity, as in conversing with her, through the medium of his
Mexican servant, who had also been a captive to the Comanches and
perfectly conversant with their language, there was but little doubt
on the part of Ross as to who his captive really was; and he
dispatched a special messenger for her uncle, Colonel Parker. In the
meantime, sending Cynthia Ann to Camp Cooper, so that Mrs. Evans, the
wife of Captain (after Lieutenant-General) N.G. Evans could properly
attend to her necessities.
After the carnage had ceased, Captain Ross discovered a little
Indian boy lying concealed in the tall grass, expecting, in conformity
to the savage customs of his own race, to be killed immediately upon
discovery. Ross, with kind words, placed the little follow upon his
horse behind himself, and took him to camp. The little captive was
named "Pease," in honor of Governor E.M. Pease. Captain Ross took
"Pease" home, and properly cared for him, and he is now with his
benefactor, a full-blooded Comanche Indian, though a civilized and
educated gentleman.
Captain Ross sent the shield, bow, and lance of Peta Nocona to
Governor Houston, who placed them in the archives at Austin, where
they now remain, encrusted and stained with his blood. In a letter,
recognizing the great service rendered the State by Captain Ross in
dealing the Indians this crushing blow, Governor Houston says: "Your
success in protecting the frontier gives me great satisfaction. I am
satisfied that, with the same opportunities, you would rival, if not
excel, the greatest exploits of McCulloch or Jack Hays. Continue to
repel, pursue, and punish every body of Indians coming into the state,
and the people will not withhold their praise."
But the tempest of sectional hate, that had so long been
distracting the country, was now culminating into a seething, whirling
cyclone of war, and such a spirit as Ross could not remain confined to
the mere border foray, when armed legions were mustering for the
titantic strife; he, therefore, tendered his resignation to Governor
Houston, who, in recognition of the services rendered by Ross, had
appointed him his aide-de-camp, with the rank of Colonel. Ross'
resignation drew from Governor Houston the following letter, than
which a more gratifying testimonial of his worth and services could
not be tendered a young man of scarce twenty-three years of age:
"EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, AUSTIN, TEXAS,
"February 23, 1861.
"Captain L.S. Ross,
"Commanding Texas Rangers:
"Sir - Your letter of the 13th, tending your resignation as
Captain in the ranging service of Texas, has been received. The
Executive regrets that you should think of resigning your position, as
the state of the frontier requires good and efficient officers. He
is, therefore, unwilling to accept your resignation. * * * The
Executive has always had confidence in your capacity as an officer;
and your deportment, as a soldier and gentleman, has met with his
entire approval. It is his desire that you at once increase your
command to eighty-three, rank and file, and take the field again.
"Very respectfully,
"[Signed]
"Sam Houston."
Captain Ross called Governor Clarke's attention to the necessity
of entering into treaty stipulations with the Indians on our frontier;
and Major Van Dorn also urged the same measure upon the Governor, and
suggested Captain Ross as the most proper person to conduct the
negotiation on the part of the state, as it was well known he had the
full confidence of the "Texas Indians," whom he commanded in the
Wichita campaign. In response to these suggestions, Governor Clarke
wrote Captain Ross as follows:
"Austin, July 13, 1861.
"Captain L.S. Ross:
"Dear Sir - When you were here a few days ago, you spoke to me of
the disposition of the Indians to treat with the people of Texas. At
the time you did so, I was so crowded with business that I was unable
to give to the subject the consideration its importance demanded. I,
nevertheless, concluded and determined to adopt and carry out your
suggestions. I would be pleased for you to inform me whether it may
now be in time to accomplish the objects you spoke of, and, if so,
whether you would be willing to undertake its execution. You
mentioned, I believe, that a day was fixed by the Indians for the
interview, but that you informed them that by that time Texas could
not be ready.
"Very respectfully,
"[Signed]
"Edward Clarke."
In pursuance of this programme, Captain Ross received his
credentials from the Governor, and, taking with him me. Downs, of the
Waco Examiner, and two or three more young friends, set out for the
plains. Arriving at Gainsville, Ross met an Indian trader, whom he
knew, named Shirley, whose brother was an interpreter, and both of
whom lived in the Indian country. He was about to engage the
assistance and co-operation of these men, when he learned that General
Pike had been commissioned, and was then en route to Fort sill to
enter into treaty stipulations with the Indians, on the part of the
Confederate government. Captain Ross, deeming that the interests of
Texas could be best subserved by non-action, as certainly all expense
and responsibility was obviated, did not attend the interview; nor,
indeed, did he allow to transpire the nature of his business in that
section, at all though, through the medium of Shirley, Jones, Bickle,
and one or two other white men living with the Indians, all of whom
were well known to Ross, the Indians were fully prepared and anxious
to enter into friendly relations with the South; so, that when
General Pike arrived the ground lay fair before him, and he found no
difficulty in arranging the terms. Captain Ross, who had been in
correspondence with the above-named white residents of the Indian
section, realized the importance of prompt action on the part of the
South, before commissioners of the United States could have
opportunities for seducing the Indians from their natural friends.
Finding that the Confederacy was moving to the accomplishment of the
same object, Ross possessed too much sagacity to invite a conflict of
authority between Texas and the Confederacy as was the case in some
other States by a too liberal interpretation of the sovereign
prerogative of the States; and, while saving Texas the expense of the
negotiation, and all responsibility in the matter, silently
contributed to the accomplishment of General Pike's mission. The
value of this treaty to the South can not well be overestimated. It
not only obviated the necessity for the presence of a considerable
force on the frontier which was required elsewhere, but it actually
contributed to the augmentation of the Confederate ranks. This great
service rendered Texas, and particularly to the immediate frontier,
was wholly unselfish and gratuitous, and it is believed the true
statement of the case, now, for the first time, finds itself in print.
Seeing the consummation of this important affair well under way, Ross
returned to Waco and joined, as a private, the company of Captain P.F.
Ross, his elder brother. This company was, with others, consolidated
into the Sixth Regiment of Texas Cavalry, at the city of Dallas,
Texas, and L.S. Ross was elected Major, and commissioned as such
September 12th, 1861. In this same regiment, ex-Governor J.W.
Throckmorton was Captain of Company "K," and John S. Griffith
Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel B. Warren Stone being the Colonel. The
regiment immediately took up the line of march for General Ben
McCulloch's army in Missouri. The regiment participated in the battle
of Chustenahlah (Creek Nation) with distinguished gallantry, December,
1861, and in the three days' battle at Elk Horn, or Pea Ridge,
Arkansas. Just previous to this latter engagement, Major Ross was
dispatched upon a raid, at the head of a detachment of about 300 men,
composed of companies of the Third and Sixth Texas Cavalry, in the
enemy's rear. This delicate expedition, demanding the consummate
address of a prompt and decisive commander, was attended with eminent
success, General Ross capturing numbers of prisoners and destroying
immense quantities of quartermaster and commissary stores.
The "Army of the West," composed of the division of the lamented
McCulloch and General Price, were transferred to the Cis-Mississippi
Department to re-enforce General Beauregard at Corinth, Mississippi,
where he was confronted by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The
sixth Texas, as were the other cavalry regiments, was dismounted, and
their horses sent to Texas. At Corinth, the command was engaged in a
number of outpost affairs until in May, when the first year's service
having expired, the regiment was reorganized, and Major L.S. Ross was
elected Colonel. Immediately upon his election he was assigned to the
command of the brigade in which his regiment was incorporated, in the
following order from division head-quarters:
"HEAD-QUARTERS JONES' DIVISION,
May 26, 1862.
"Special Orders No. II - (Extract.)
"1. Colonel Laurence S. Ross will immediately assume command of
Roane's Brigade, Jones' Division, Army of the West.
"By command of
"L. JONES, Major-General
"Charles S. Stringfellor, A.A.G."
Colonel Ross, with his characteristic modesty, declined the
honor, and prevailed with General Jones to allow him to remain in
command of his own regiment, and General Phifer was subsequently
placed in command of the brigade. The summer of 1862 was spent in the
camp at Tupelo, Mississippi; the time being principally employed in
drilling the regiments, in the case of the dismounted Texans in
transforming natural troopers into unwilling infantrymen. The next
engagement of importance was the storming of Corinth, and the struggle
at Hatchie bridge for the temporary salvation of the "Army of the
West." And, as an authorative elucidation of the part borne by Ross
and his men, on those trying occasions, the following letters from
General Dabney H. Maury and General Pryor are adduced:
"HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
"MOBILE, ALABAMA, October 6, 1863.
My Dear Colonel:
"General Jackson asked me to have some colors made for his
division. Please send me, at once, the names of the battles in which
my old Texas regiments were engaged prior to coming under my command
as I wish to have them placed on their colors. I always think of the
behavior of the Texans at Corinth, and at the Hatchie, next day, as
entitled to rank with the very "gamest" conduct displayed by any
troops in this war. It does not seem to be generally known, but it is
a fact, that the fragment of my shattered division withstood the
attack of Ord's corps, and sucessfully checked it until the shole
train of the army had changed its line of march. For about an hour
the remnant of Phifer's Brigade, commanded by Colonel L.S. Ross, held
the Hatchie bridge, and with the light batteries, kept the enemy back.
Then Cabell's brigade came up, and the fight was maintained
exclusively by my division until we were ordered to retire, which was
done in a deliberate and soldierly manner. I often reflect, with
satisfaction, on that fight as one of the most creditable to the
troops engaged of which I have any knowledge, and I do not believe any
thing is known of it outside of the division. No regiment can have a
more honorable name upon its flag than "Hatchie," and, to my certain
knowledge, no regiment can more justly and proudly bear that name on
its colors than the Sixth Texas Cavalry.
"With kind regards, Colonel, I am truly yours,
"[Signed]
"DABNEY H. MAURY."
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, June 4, 1867.
"General L.S. Ross,
"Waco, Texas:
"My Dear Sir - I am requested by General Forrest who is
completely immersed in business connected with a large railroad
contract in Arkansas, to acknowledge the receipt of your very esteemed
favor of the 21st ult., and to return his, and my own, sincere thanks
for your report. You may very well suppose I took great interest in,
not only reading your summary of operations while with Forrest, but
also in seeing, for the first time the high testimony General Maury
bears to your old regiment at Hatchie bridge. For, you will remember,
I was with you, on your staff, on that occasion, and have always taken
some little credit to myself for the assistance I was so fortunate as
to be able to render to your brigade that day. I was the first to
discover that Moore's Brigade, which we had crossed the river to
support, as also another command (Whitfield's Legion, I think), had
both been scattered, or destroyed as organizations, and that your
small brigade, of less than 700 men, was about to be assailed by
Hulburt's whole army. I remember that I gained this information from
General Moore, whom I accidentally met retiring from the front, all
alone on the bank of the river, and immediately communicated to you,
with the request of Gen. Moore that you should 'fall back' across the
stream, or you would be overwhelmed in ten minutes, or less time, by a
force of at least 8,000 men; I remember that you refused, at first,
to comply with Moore's request, and sent Captain D.R. Gurley and
myself to General Maury for orders, who, upon ascertaining the facts,
immediately dispatched you the order to retire. Then, at 'common
time,' the brigade was moved by the left flank to the road leading to
the bridge (without letting the men know, at first, that they were
falling back), when the order to 'file left' was given, and the
command brought off in good order, quietly and safely, with the
exception of a portion of the extreme right, which, misunderstanding
the first order, moved by the 'right flank' instead of the left, and
so became separated, and near a hundred of them captured. Withdrawing
to the east bank of the Hatchie river, and taking position on a little
ridge two or three hundred yards distant, the brigade there made the
gallant stand for several hours, to which General Maury so
complimentarily alludes. With best regards to my friend Gurley, whom
I shall always remember as one of the best, truest, and most efficient
of men I ever knew,
"I remain, my dear sir, very truly yours,
[Signed]
"J.A. PRYOR."
But as the foregoing pages of this narrative deals with the
services of Ross in the Confederate army, it would be a useless
repetition to repeat what has already been said, unless having a
direct bearing upon General Ross individually, or tending to
illustrate some trait of character.
The defeated Confederate army retreated, via Holly Springs to
Grenada, Mississippi, near which place the four Texas regiments were
remounted, as already stated. Then came the Holly Springs raid, which
forced Grant to retire to Memphis, Tennessee, thus delaying the
Vicksburg catastrophe twelve months. Then the march to Tennessee, and
the brilliant action at Thompson's Station, in which three thousand of
the enemy were captured. Then the long and tedious march to
Mississippi for the relief of beleaguered Vicksburg, and the
innumerable affairs in the performance of this duty; the fall of
Vicksburg and retreat to Jackson, on every foot of which road Ross'
Brigade disputed stubbornly the advance of Sherman. The services of
Colonel Ross were fully appreciated by his superiors in rank, and he
was placed in command of a brigade composed of the First Mississippi
Cavalry and the Sixth Texas, and dispatched to the Tennessee valley,
conducting a brilliant campaign, against vastly superior forces, by
land and river. In testimony of the high appreciation in which they
held Colonel Ross, the following testimonial of the officers of the
First Mississippi Cavalry is adduced:
CAMP FIRST MISSISSIPPI CAVALRY,
"December 21, 1863.
"Colonel L.S. Ross:
"The officers of the First Mississippi Cavalry desiring to
express their appreciation of you as an officer, have designated the
undersigned as a committee to communicate their feelings.
"It is with profound regret that they part with you as their
Brigade Commander, and will cherish, with kind remembrance, your
generous and courteous conduct toward them, and the gallant bearing
you have ever displayed in leading them in battle. The service, with
all its hardships and privations, has been rendered pleasant under
your direction and leadership. They deplore the circumstances which
render it necessary that they should be taken from your command, but
feel confident that, in whatever field you may be called upon to
serve, the country will know no better or more efficient officer. Our
regrets is shared by all the men of the regiment, and you carry with
you their best wishes for your continued success.
"In conclusion, allow us to say, we are proud to have served
under you, and with your gallant Texans, and hope yours , and theirs,
and our efforts in behalf of our bleeding country, will at length be
crowned with success. Very respectfully,
"W.V. LESTER, Captain Company K.
"J.E. Turner, Captain Company I.
"J.A. King, Captain Company G."
Lieutenant-General Stephen D. Lee wrote Mr. Seddon, the Secretary
of War, October 2, 1863: "Colonel L.S. Ross is one of the best
disciplinarians in the army, and has distinguished himself on many
battle-fields, and his promotion and assignment will increase the
efficiency of the most reliable troops under my command."
General D.H. Maury wrote from Mobile, Alabama, October 6, 1863:
"During the battle of Hatchie, Colonel L.S. Ross commanded his
brigade, and evinced such conspicuous gallantry, that, when called
upon to report to the War Department the name of the officer who had
been especially distinguished there, and at Corinth, I reported the
name of Colonel L.S. Ross to General S. Cooper, Adjutant and
Inspector-General of the Confederate States Army."
Hon. F.R. Lubbock, while a member of the President's staff at
Richmond, Virginia, wrote General Ross: "I have learned, with pride
and great satisfaction, of the good behavior, and gallant conduct, and
high-bearing of the Texas soldiers, and particularly of Ross'
Brigade."
General W.H. Jackson, commanding Cavalry Division, wrote the
Secretary of War, October 1, 1863: "I regard Colonel L.S. Ross as one
of the best disciplinarians, and one of the most gallant officers, in
the 'Army of the West'."
General Joseph E. Johnston wrote the Secretary of War, October 3,
1863, urging the promotion of Colonel Ross.
All this was done positively without the solicitation of Colonel
Ross, and, in point of fact, without his knowledge and consent. The
first intimation that Ross had the honor to be conferred upon him, was
the reception of his commission as a Brigadier-General, in the
presence of the enemy, before Yazoo City. The appointment sought the
man, and there was no one amid all that galaxy of glory, who wore the
"wreathed stars" during the stormy period of the war, more deserving
the honor than Laurence Sullivan Ross.
We may merely mention the most salient features of the campaigns,
henceforth, which, like the rounds of a ladder, bear us, step by step,
to the end.
Sherman commenced his memorable march from Vicksburg to Meridian.
Ross harassed his columns in front, rear, and flank incessantly, and
retarded the Federal advance until the defeat of Smith's corps, by
Gen. Forrest, near West Point, caused Sherman to abandon the idea of
marching to Mobile, as he subsequently did to Savannah. Ross was now
dispatched, in post-haste, to the Yazoo valley, up which stream a
Federal flotilla was ascending, accompanied by a land force of 3,5000
men.
The spirited battles of "Liverpool," "Satartia," and "Yazoo
City," were fought, each resulting in a complete victory for Ross, who
drove the Federals on board their transports, ant, though protected by
ironclad gunboats, drove them down the Yazoo and into Vicksburg. The
following testimonial of the citizens of Yazoo City, to the services
of Ross and his brigade, is a volume in itself:
"YAZOO CITY, February 6, 1864.
"General L.S. Ross:
We the undersigned, citizens of Yazoo City, do hereby tender you,
and your gallant command, our heartfelt thanks for the noble manner in
which you have repelled the enemy, though far superior in numbers,
thus saving us from the insults and other indignities which they would
have heaped upon us.
"[Signed]: W.H. Mangum, John M. Clark, S.H. Wilson, Alex. Smith,
James P. Thomas, Jr., M.P. Dent, R.M. Grail, H.B. Kidd, Mark Berry,
S.D. Hightower, F.M. Cassels, John Smith, D. Kearney, R.C. Shephers,
W.L. Stamford, S.C. Goosey, Richard Stephens, S.T. Pierse, F.
Barksdale, F.G. Stewart, ____ Gibbs, Louis Franklin, J.W. Barnett, C.
Hollingworth, Louis Rosenthral, A. Asher, M.L. Enlich, John Hagman,
Jacob Hagman, A.H. Montgomery, Captain O.T. Plummer (Volunteer and
Conscript Bureau), Captain W.J. Blackburn (Volunteer and Conscript
Bureau), B.J. Harris, James Schmitt, W. Ragster, R.B. Powell, R.R.
Callahan, J.O. Dwyer, J. Bradley, C. Swann, Joseph Carr, J.W. Campton,
Samuel Goodwin, J.S. Wallace, Fred Knabke, John S. Murphy, ____
Murphy, J. Mozer, John Reilly, James Carter, James P. Murphy, J.
Mozer, John Reilly, James Carter, James P. O'Reilley, H.C. Tyler,
Thomas R. Smith, Hiram Harrison."
The brigade was ordered from the Yazoo section to re-enforce the
army of General Johnston, in Georgia. The engagements during this
campaign were of almost daily occurrence. Ross' Brigade, at times,
constituted a portion of the Confederate line in front of Sherman,
and, at other times, was engaged in repelling, fighting, and capturing
Federal raiders in the rear of General Johnston's army. In the
advance to Nashville, Ross and Armstrong were the eyes of Hood, and,
in his defeat and retreat, their two brigades absolutely saved the
army from annihilation. But, as has been aptly said, the tide of
Confederate success reached its greatest height in Pickett's charge
upon Cemetery Heights, and Hood's ephemeral successes were but the
spasmodic efforts that precede final dissolution. The end came; and
the commencement of the end dates from the day that General Johnston
inaugurated his ignoble retreat by retiring from Dalton, Georgia. Had
he assumed the offensive there, the Confederacy would have been spared
the sad catastrophe that befell it.
It is not pleasant to contemplate these heroic men struggling
against an iliad of woes. They had borne their banners on the highest
waves of victory, and stood as conquerors on the Ohio itself.
Now, footsore and weary, ragged, famished, after nine-tenths of their
numbers had been offered as sacrifices upon the altar of duty, they
stood contemplating the inevitable. The rest is known of all.
General Ross returned to his home, near Waco, and, with his
interesting family, lived the quiet and honorable like of a farmer.
Since his twentieth year, he had shared all the vicissitudes of a
soldier's life. The golden morning of life had been spent, without
the hope of fee or reward, in the arduous duties and dangers of the
battle field. He now sought repose, content to remain on
"The Sabine farm, amid contiguous hills,
Remote from honors and their kindred ills,
But, in 1873, his friends called him from retirement by electing him
Sheriff of McLennan county. In this position he remained several
years, and so efficient were his services, that he was styled, by
those who had opportunities for judging, "The model Sheriff of Texas!"
Voluntarily retiring from office, he again sought the privacy of his
country home. In 1875, he was elected a member of the Constitutional
Convention that framed the present organic law of Texas. As tending
to illustrate, in some degree, the part borne by General Ross and the
policies advocated by him in the prosecution of this grave duty, a few
extracts are reproduced from the leading journals of the time. The
Waco Daily Telephone, of November 8, 1877, in a rather hostile review
of the Constitution, and especially of Article V. (the Judiciary),
says:
"Judge Ballinger and General Ross protested against their action
(the "Rutabagas"), but were overslaughed. * * * Our readers will
remember the unanswerable argument of General Ross against the
reduciton of the judges, salaries, and judicial districts, against
which the "Rutabagas" opposed - not their arguments, but their votes."
The State Gazette, Colonel John D. Elliott, editor, said:
"We can never refer to the name of General Ross without feeling
an inspiration of admiration scarcely ever equalled in our experience
of life. He is one of nature's noblemen - as artless and
unostentatious as a child, as courageous and heroic as ever bore the
image of man, and as able as the ablest of the land. His record in
the Constitutional Convention showed him as exalted a patriot and
statesman as the man of letters and thorough representative of the
people. He is eminently fitted for the highest trust of the
Commonwealth. We know of no citizen of the State who would add
greater luster in her chief magistracy than General Sul Ross."
The following letter is from the pen of Colonel John Henry Brown,
and appeared in the columns of the Dallas Morning Call:
"Another Richmond! - A Good Man for Governor - Enthusiastic
Suggestion of General Sul Ross, of Waco. - A soldier-boy on the
frontier - a leader of Indian scouts under Van Dorn while yet a youth
- the gallant boy Captain who rescued Cynthia Ann Parker after twenty-
five years captivity - a private soldier winning his way up to a
Brigadier-Generalship - the hero of more than a hundred battles and
fights - the modest and educated gentleman - for five years the model
Sheriff of the State, and in the Constitutional Convention displaying
the highest qualities of eloquence and enlightened statesmanship - why
may not his thousands of friends present his name for the position of
Chief Magistrate of the State he has so nobly, and ably, and
disinterestedly served since he was thirteen years old? Why not? He
has never intimated such a wish; but his friends claim the right to
mention him name. Ask the people of the whole frontier - ask the
people of his large district - ask his neighbors - ask the thirty
thousand ex-soldiers who know his deeds, and see what they all say.
They will send up one grand shout for Sul Ross."
All of which the Telephone endorsed in the following language:
"General Ross' sound, practical abilities, are unquestioned, and
few men are more justly esteemed. We believe he would fill any
position which he consents to accept, with ability, faithfulness, and
dignity. We do not know, however, that he would consent to become an
aspirant, this time, for the gubernatorial office. We do know,
however, that he will never intrigue or scheme for the position; and,
if tendered the nomination, it will be a voluntary offering by the
State at large, without reference to local or personal predilections
and efforts. Under those circumstances, General Ross would make a
governor equal to any Texas ever had.
Such, in brief, is a hasty synopsis of the life of General L.S.
Ross. The foregoing pages of this narrative attempt to elaborate some
of the incidents in his career that won for himself the confidence of
his superiors in rank, and for his brigade the ecomium of all.
Nothing like a complete history of Ross, or his brigade, is claimed
here. At this late day, in the absence of all documentary material to
use in the construction, that desideratum is impossible of attainment;
and, with the conclusion drawing nigh, the author feels like
exclaiming: The half has not been told; and the fragment here
preserved falls far short of doing the subject justice! Probably, no
general officer who commanded troops in the late war, drew them in
closer sympathy to himself than General Ross. Each man of his brigade
regarded his dashing young chieftain as a personal friend. As Junot
was prompt to resent a fancied insult to Napoleon, so would the
troopers of Ross have drawn their sabers at any allusion disparaging
to their idolized leader. Brave unto rashness himself - he had seven
horses shot under him in the course of the war - yet he was solicitous
of the welfare of his men, and all his plans of attack or defense
contained, in an eminent degree, the element of prudence. Often, with
his skeleton brigade, he seemed tempting the wrath of the Fates, and
as risking all upon a single cast of the die; but no mission of
danger ever appalled his men, for, following his dashing and seemingly
reckless lead, they again and again plucked "the flower safety from
the nettle danger."
In the disastrous retreat of Hood from Nashville, the brigades of
Ross and Armstrong were the palladiums of hope to the discomfited
army; and had it not been for their interposing shields, Hood's army,
as an organization, would have ceased to exist ere a passage of the
Tennessee river could have been attained.
A characteristic letter from the General's pen will conclude this
sketch of his life - a letter written in the expectation that no eye
save the author's would ever scan its pages - as tending to illustrate
somewhat those noble qualities of heart that so endeared him to his
men. The noble sentiments expressed are characteristic of the man.
General Ross was recently elected to a seat in the State Senate,
distancing his competitor by an unparaleled majority, and running two
thousand votes ahead of his own party ticket. Apropos to General
Ross' opposition to the "Judical Article" of the State Constitution,
it is gratifying to his friends to know that five years of experience
has demonstrated his wisdom in pronouncing the article, on the floor
of the Convention, "wholly inadequate to meet the wants of the great
State of Texas, and that, as a system, it must prove in the end more
expensive than the one sought to be displaced." As the Democratic
party in convention at Dallas demands, through the "platform," an
amendment to the Constitution to meet this particular want, a more
emphatic and unqualified vindication of General Ross' course in the
Constitutional Convention could not be frames.
"Waco, Texas.
"VICTOR M. ROSE,
"Victoria, Texas:
"My Dear Friend - Your kind letter did not reach me promptly, but
I hasten to assure you of my approval of the commendable work you
design. You will probably remember that, during the war, Captain
Dunn, whose health had failed, detailed to write a full and accurate
history of the operations of the brigade, and I furnished him with all
necessary data - orders, papers, etc., - so as to render his duty of
easy compliance; but, unfortunately, he died in Alabama, and this
information was received, together with that, that my trunk and papers
entrusted to his care had fallen into the hands of the enemy. In my
trunk was found twenty stands of colors and other trophies which we
had captured from the Federals. My memory is too defective to be
relied upon at this late day for much valuable information, but such
as I can trust, I will gladly give you; and I feel warranted in
saying, that Captain Gurley, and others of our comrades, will aid you
in your noble work, which, I trust, you will not delay for the
endorsement of any one.
"I was glad to hear from you. Indeed, every few days, by letters
or calls from my noble, brave boys, am I assured that they remember me
kindly. No church-man ever loved to tell his beads as I love to
recount their valor and their loyalty in the discharge of a solemnly-
conceived duty. Long after I was thoroughly satisfied they knew they
were being called upon to follow a "will o' the wisp" to their utter
discomfiture - naked, footsore, and famished as they were, yet, with
heroic devotion, they met every peril unflinchingly, and encountered
every hardship unmurmuringly. I hope steps will be taken soon to
bring about a happy reunion of all those who are still living, and
then we can take steps to honor and embalm the memory of the dead.
"I would be pleased to have suggestions from any, or all, of our
comrades everywhere, as to the practicability of getting up some kind
of an organization, and I am ready to concur in any plan devised. My
health is not very good. I contracted a cold from exposure in the
Mississippi swamp when we were crossing over those arms, and it
eventually settled on my lungs, and from that time I have suffered
much from bronchitis, and have often thought consumption would ensue.
I am farming, and making enough to provide for the wants of myself and
wife, and six children. Happily, my early training upon the frontier,
among the early pioneers of Texas, inculcated no very extravagant
desires. Please remember me to all my "boys," and tell them that if
we are never permitted to meet en masse on this earth, when we "cross
over the river" we shall enjoy a grand and glorious reunion, and have
a long, long time to talk it all over.
"Very truly your friend,
"[Signed]
"L.S. ROSS."
FROM MINUTES OF 1899.
Whereas, since the last reunion of the survivors of Ross' Texas
Brigade, we have been called to mourn the death of many of our
comrades, which we realize as a constant reminder that we too must
soon cross over the river to join those comrades who have gone before.
Yet, while we remain on the lands where we have fought life's battle,
ties of friendship bind our hearts in memories that are sweet in the
bitter past, and our tears fall in sympathy with those bereaved.
Therefore, be it Resolved, That deep sympathy be extended by this
Association, to the relatives of our departed comrades.
And that, in the death of our leader, Gen. L. S. Ross, his
family have lost a kindred endeared by all the ties of a loving
nature, his friends lose a pleasant companion and Texas loses one of
her best and most honored citizens, whose strong arm was ever ready to
defend her institutions and whose counsels have been freely given in
shaping her wisest and best policies. And we, of the Ross Brigade,
will mingle our tears with those who weep for we realize that we have
lost a brave commander, a wise counselor, a true comrade, and faithful
friend, in the death of Gen. Laurance Sullivan Ross.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
GENERAL JOHN S. GRIFFITH.
In that galaxy of glorious stars, whose effulgence yet lights the
memory of the "Lost Cause," though its sun has forever set, none
shines with a steadier glow than that consecrated to the name and fame
of John S. Griffith. Where palladins seemed to contend in generous
emulation for the plaudits of fame, and individual heroism was the
daily rule, it would seem invidious to make distinctions. But we can
accord all the honors, that are so eminently his due, to this gifted
son of Texas, without the disparagement of any one.
Unselfish in his characteristics; brave, though sagacious, as
becomes a commander; patriotic in all his impulses; had health been
vouchsafed to him, a career of glory and usefulness would have crowned
his efforts with success. As it was, by his consummate address on the
hotly-contested field of Oakland, and as the central figure of the
Holly Springs campaign, he gave ample evidence that he possessed, in a
pre-eminent degree, those lofty, necessary qualities that can only fit
a man for command in battle. General Griffith was more than a dashing
cavalryman, for his analytical mind penetrated far beyond the
immediate shock of battle, and took in the salient features of the
campaign as a whole. It was he who conceived that master stroke of
policy, and was the most efficient agent of its execution - "the Holly
Springs Raid." He saved the army of Pemberton, in dubitably, by the
movement; and, consequently, delayed the fall of Vicksburg many
months. On the field of Oakland, he performed for the same army
duties, of scarce less vital moment. But we anticipate. John S.
Griffith was born in Montgomery county, Maryland, on the 17th day of
June, A.D. 1829. His father, Michael B. Griffith, was the son of
Captain Henry Griffith, of the Revolutionary army, and a lineal
descendant of the historical Llewellen ap Griffith, of Wales. To the
influence of his pious mother, who was a daughter of General Jeremiah,
and Elizabeth Crabb, a beautiful, cultured, and accomplished lady,
whose energy, will, and fortitude were sufficient to surmount the many
obstacles and misfortunes that beset her pate amid the vicissitudes of
life, the subject of this sketch has ever attributed whatever success,
under Providence, he has achieved. His parents started in life in
affluent circumstances. But forced by some losses in his business
(mercantile) Mr. Griffith removed to Jefferson City, Missouri, in the
year 1835; and from the latter place to Portland, Missouri, in 1837.
Misfortune attended all his efforts to improve the long series of
losses, until when reduced to the paltry capital of one thousand
dollars, he removed, April 15th, 1836, to San Augustine county, Texas,
with a family of six children, three of whom were girls.
In common with the pioneers of early Texas colonization, theirs
was a lot of hardship and privation. Flour cost twenty-five dollars
per barrel, and bacon fifty cents per pound. In this situation of
affairs, which would have impaired the energies of a man more
accustomed to the smiles of success, the father seemed for a space to
despond; but the heroic wife and mother rose superior to the
occasion, and her high qualities of energy and endurance - and above
all, hope eternal, though its realization had been so often deferred,
shone with a noon-tide glow that promised to dispel the lowering
clouds of adversity that hovered above the devoted heads of her little
ones. Such a mother! It is wonderful that her heroic son should now
recall, with moistened eye, her unequal struggle in that frontier
home? Her example, though subserving its immediate objects, had a
result far more distant and lasting, for it molded in the nature of
the boy the admirable qualities that made John S. Griffith a leader of
men. How true is the saying of the great Napoleon, that the mother's
qualities, good or bad, are always imparted to the son!
This struggle with adversity as accepted without a murmur by
young John S., the second son, and, doubtless, he there learned many
practical lessons, which had much to do in forming the character of
the man. He received, chiefly, at home, the rudiments of an English
education; and, in 1850, commenced business as a clerk in a
mercantile establishment. In the following year, he set up on his own
account as a merchant, operating wholly on borrowed capital. Thanks
to his industry and economy, the business prospered remarkably; and
our young merchant, in December, 1857, was united in marriage to Miss
Emily, daughter of John J. and Mrs. Jane Simpson, of Nacogdoches
county, Texas. His business affairs continuing to prosper, he
removed, in the year 1859, to Kaufman county, where he engaged in the
raising of live stock in connection with his mercantile pursuits.
At the sound of the first tocsin of war, in 1861, Capt. John S.
Griffith was called to the command of a volunteer company of cavalry
raised at Rockwall, Texas. Captain Griffith tendered the services of
his company to Colonel E. Greer, whose regiment, the Third Texas
Cavalry, however, was already full. So ardent were the Rockwall boys,
that their leverla Captain offered Colonel Greer to defray their
expenses for three months out of his own purse, if allowed to become
attached to the regiment for that space. Why they were not allowed to
do so, and as many other companies as desired, must always remain a
mystery - seeing that Gen. Price was being driven out of Missouri by
an overwhelming Federal force, and that General McCulloch, with a few
Arkansas militia, was awaiting the arrival of the only two regiments
coming to his assistance, the Third Texas Cavalry and Third Louisiana
Infantry. Of course, Colonel Greer had no option in the premises, as
his authority extended no further than the organization and command of
his own regiment. But it is on interest to discover right here, at
the inception of the contest, the commencement of that fatal series of
maladministration which contributed more to the wreck of the
Confederate cause than the armies of the invader. The battle of Oak
Hills was won through a combination of fortuitous circumstances; and
the South relapsed into fancied security. Had we been beaten there,
the result may have aroused the Southern administrations to a sense of
the magnitude of the struggle in which they were actors, or hastened
the final catastrophe; either of which conclusions was preferable to
the protracted, often desultory, and seemingly hopeless manner in
which the war was waged on the part of the South.
But Captain Griffith had not long to wait; as soon as Colonel B.
Warren Stone commenced the organization of the gallant old Sixth Texas
Cavalry, the Rockwall boys were incorporated in this regiment as
Company B. and was officered as follows:
John S. Griffith, Captain.
Amos Dye, first Lieutenant.
E.P. Chisholm, Second Lieutenant.
James Truett, Third Lieutenant.
F.M. Nixon, Orderly-Sergeant.
M.B. Cannon, Second Sergeant.
A.C. Richardson, Third Sergeant.
F. Chisum, Fourth Sergeant.
A.W. Hedges, First Corporal.
A. Cummins, Second Corporal.
B.L. Williams, Third Corporal.
John R. Briscoe, Fourth Corporal.
John O. Heath, Ensign.
Allen Anrick, Bugler.
Upon the organization of the regiment, Captain Griffith, who was
already a popular favorite with his comrades, was elected Lieutenant-
Colonel. The regiment proceeded, as elsewhere stated in these pages,
to Arkansas, and reported for duty to general Ben McCulloch. Their
service here consisted of foraging, scouting expeditions, picket duty,
etc,; though the gallant Price and his immortal "Old Guard" were
struggling under the "Grizzly Bears" against overwhelming odds. Had
the Texans been consulted, they would have sped to the assistance of
their struggling Missouri allies. In December, 1861, Colonel
McIntosh, in command of a battalion, each from the Third and Sixth
Texas Cavalry, the former commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel J.S.
Griffith, Whitfield's (Texas) Battalion, and Young's Regiment,
Eleventh Texas Cavalry, and a battalion of First Arkansas Cavalry,
marched to the relief of General Cooper, who was being driven back by
superior forces of hostile Indians. The enemy was encountered on the
heights of Chustenahla, and routed (as elsewhere detailed). The
following letter from the gallant and heroic General W.P. Lane will be
of interest:
"MARSHALL, TEXAS, February 4, 1881.
"Victor M. Rose, Exq.:
"My Dear Sir - I delayed answering your letter, hoping to find
some one more conversant with the incidents of our fight at
Chustenahlah than myself: but failing to find any one who would
volunteer to do so, I will endeavor to present my recollections of the
campaign. In Christmas day, 1861, we moved from camp to attack the
Indians, who, we learned, were some ten miles distant. Our force
consisted of battalions of Third, Sixth and Eleventh Texas Cavalry,
and Captain Bennett's company, all under command of McIntosh. My
battalion being in advance, I detached Captain D.M. Short, with thirty
men, to reconnoitre, and to drive back a small party that the enemy
had sent out to review us. Finally, Captain Short sent me word that
the Indians were posted on the hills in force, and were complacently
awaiting our attack. Colonel McIntosh then placed his force in the
following order: Sixth Texas, Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith commanding,
on the right; Third Texas, Lieutenant-Colonel W.P. Lane commanding,
in the center; the Eleventh Texas Cavalry, Colonel Young commanding,
together with Bennett's company, on the left. He then ordered me,
with the Third, to charge the hill on horseback. The hill was very
steep, and just possible for a horse to ascend. I replied that I
would do so with pleasure; and added, 'but if I do not carry the
position?' He replied, that, in that event, he would dispatch the
Sixth and Eleventh to my aid. I replied, 'All right, but if I do not
carry the position I will be at the bottom before the re-enforcements
can arrive.' I gave the order for the men to dismount and tighten
girths. I then informed the boys that when the command to charge was
given, the quicker we got among the Indians the fewer empty saddles we
would have. We charged in good style, carrying the hill, and throwing
the Indians into confusion. At the same time, Colonel Griffith, on my
right, and without orders, led his battalion in a gallant charge, and
the Eleventh, and Captain Bennett's company, simultaneously swept
around the hill on the left, thus completing the discomfiture of the
enemy. Our loss was small; some eight or ten men killed, and
eighteen or twenty wounded. In my battalion, Lieutenent Durham was
mortally wounded, and Major G.W. Chilton slightly. The battle
effectually broke up the Indians. We took several hundred prisoners,
horses, cattle, sheep, and other property, too numerous to mention.
"Yours, truly,
"WALTER P. LANE."
When Colonel McIntosh placed the Sixth in position on the right
of the line, his instructions to Colonel Griffith were to await
further orders. But Colonel Griffith, seeing the intrepid charge of
Lane had dislodged the Indians, who were retiring across a deep gulch
to the right, very correctly decided that the opportune moment had
arrived for striking a decisive blow. Not a moment was to be lost;
and, with saber in the left and revolver in the right hand, he led his
command in a dashing charge over a seemingly impassable ravine, and
spurred his horse up its almost precipitous banks, and was the first
of the command to engage in the desperate hand-to-hand encounter that
ensued. Emptying his revolver, he borrowed another of one of his
captains, and continued the running fight until it was also emptied,
when he had recourse to his saber. During the melee, Colonel Griffith
became separated from his men, and encountered an Indian who was
loading his rifle. The Colonel charged upon him, and the Indian
recognizing the absence of fear in his opponent, seized his gun as a
club. It had been the intention of Griffith to run him through with
his saber as he passed him; but now decided to ride him down; and
with that purpose reined his horse full upon him, but the Indian
agilely stepped aside, and aimed a tremendous blow at his opponent,
which knocked the plumed hat of the Colonel to the ground. But
simultaneously with the Indian's blow Griffith dealt him a terrible
stroke with his saber of the side of the head. Lieutenent Vance
opportunely came up and dispatched the Indian.
Griffith now, after a hasty survey of the field, discovered that
the enemy were re-forming their lines upon an eminence in front; and
that his own men were scattered, every one acting on his own hook.
The rally was sounded, and line of battle being formed, when Captain
J.W. Throckmorton (since Governor of Texas) rode up to the Colonel and
informed him that Lieutenant Gabe Fitzhugh had fallen. Colonel
Griffith loved his brave young subaltern, and the announcement of his
untimely death brought a tear to his eye. "Comrades!" he exclaimed to
the eager men, "Fitzhugh has been killed, and there are his slayers!"
About three hundred of the Indians now occupied the rocky eminence in
front, and were fully prepared for the threatened attack. "Forward,
my brave men!" exclaimed the Colonel, as at their head he dashed up
the steep, and among the painted, howling savages, as trusty rifles
and repeating pistols were dashing out lives on every side. The men,
animated by the ardor of their commander, and by the recklessness of
his bearing, fought as if the issue depended upon each individual's
exertion. Driven from this position, it was only to retire a short
distance and take up another position; and thus four separate charges
brought Griffith and his gallant rangers into a hand-to-hand contest
with the enemy.
At four o'clock in the afternoon Griffith called in his weary
men. They had been engaged incessantly since morning, and were now
six miles from the heights of Chustenahlah, where Colonel Lane had so
gallantly opened the ball. The enemy had had enough, and were in full
retreat. In returning, Colonel Griffith gathered up many wagons,
teams, ponies, and other live stock, together with many negroes, women
and children, and arrived at camp about night fall. Colonel Griffith
soon reported to Colonel McIntosh to apologize for his disobedience of
orders. Said Griffith: "Colonel McIntosh, I felt so well assured
that you would have ordered me to do just what I did, had you been
present that I unhesitatingly assumed the responsibility; and since
the merit of the move has been tested by its success, I shall in my
official report of the engagement state that I moved in conformity to
your direction." McIntosh replied that success was vindication; and
he further took occasion to compliment the gallantry of Griffith
throughout the series of actions. This compliment coming from a man
absolutely a stranger to fear, was no idle frame work of unmeaning
words.
In the battle of battles, for it was a series of separate
encounters, or Chustenahlah, Colonel Griffith had his horse shot under
him, his clothing was perforated by rifle balls, and a tuft of his
whiskers shot away; yet, Saladin-like, as if bearing a talismanic
charm, he escaped unhurt, save the blow received with the clubbed
rifle, at the hands of the Indian.
At the reorganization of the regiment, near Corinth, in May 1862,
Colonel Griffith, against the solicitations of many friends, and,
possibly, in violence to the promptings of a commendable ambition,
declined to become a candidate for Colonelcy, and was re-elected to
his former position of Lieutenant-Colonel. Colonel Griffith took this
decision in consequence of failing health, and the necessity of his
visiting home for a brief space; it being understood, at the time,
that the Lieutenant-Colonel, or Major, would be detailed to return to
Texas on recruiting service.
During General Price's retreat from Abbyville, the Federal
General, Washburn, at the head of a considerable force, undertook to
intercept the retreat, by marching upon the rear of the Confederate
position, and threatened the trains and wounded of Price's corps.
Colonel Griffith commanded the Texas Brigade at the time, and attacked
Washburn on the field at Oakland, inflicting a heavy loss on him, and
driving him from the field - vide battle of Oakland). For the daring
gallantry displayed on this occasion, he was the recipient of
complimentary letters from General Maury, Price, Jackson and others.
The result of the battle at Oakland gave General Price an open road to
Grenada, which town he reached in safety, and his weary men were soon
seeking the respite from toil, vigilance, and privation, which they so
much needed. The campaign was now virtually concluded for the winter;
and Colonels Broocks and Griffith often conversed upon the most
profitable employment that the cavalry could be assigned to. It was
self-evident, that, as matters now stood, they were only consuming the
supplies that should be economized for the infantry, which was less
able to forage independently. They agreed that the Confederate
cavalry, of the Army of the West, should be "massed," and moved into
the enemy's lines, where they could repel all smaller bodies, and
escape any force too strong to encounter in battle. Thus was the
system of heavy cavalry-raiding first advocated. Colonel Griffith
adopted this conclusion, and sought to apply it practically to the
existing situation of affairs. The Confederate army, beaten in
battle, outnumbered by the enemy in the ration of five to one, poorly
clad, poorly fed, pay in arrears, was discontented, not to say
demoralized. General U.S. Grant confronted them at the head of a
force that was puissant; and the coming spring must inevitably
witness another contest against fearful odds, and the army of the West
Tennessee again defeated, driven into Vicksburg, where its doom would
be but a question of time. Colonel Griffith became convinced that of
Grant's long line of communication, with his base of supplies at
Memphis, the most vulnerable point was Holly Springs, at which place
immense quantities of army stores had been collected, and a garrison
of about 2,5000 men left to guard it. Griffith brooded over this
subject, and reviewed it in every conceivable light. A cavalry corps
should be organized; the enemy's rear entered, and Holly Springs
taken, and all the supplies destroyed; then the railroad should be
destroyed as far in the direction of Memphis as possible. Surely this
would draw Grant out of Mississippi, and give the Confederate
authorities ample time to devise some plan for the defense of the
country, and to concentrate sufficient forces with which to execute
it. Becoming assured of the feasibility of his project, Colonel
Griffith determined to broach the subject to the Commanding General,
Lieutenant-General J.C. Pemberton, although he had no acquaintance
with him. To this end, he drew up the following letter, which many of
the field officers of the brigade also signed at his invitation:
"HEAD-QUARTERS TEXAS BRIGADE,
"CAMP WHARTON, MISS., December 5, 1862.
"Lieutenant-General J.C. Pemberton:
"The undersigned, officers of the First Texas Brigade of Cavalry,
disclaiming any desire to dictate to the Commanding General his plan,
or line of operations he should pursue, would yet beg heave modestly
to suggest the propriety of a cavalry expedition into the enemy's
rear. We are the more bold to do so, and have less fear of the
misconstruction of our motives, when we remember that you have been so
recently placed in command over us; and that the multitudinous cares
incidental to your responsible position have necessarily, thus far,
precluded an examination of the position of the enemy, and as to what
is the best employment in which the cavalry under your command, could
be engaged. We, therefore, respectfully submit, if you will fit up a
cavalry expedition, comprising three or four thousand men, and give us
Major-General Earl Van Dorn, than whom no braver man lives, to command
us, we will penetrate the rear of the enemy, capture Holly Springs,
Memphis, and other points, and, perhaps, force him to retreat from
Coffeeville; if not, we can certainly force more of the enemy to
remain in their rear, to protect their supplies, than the cavalry
could whip if we remained at the front.
"Very respectfully,
"JOHN S. GRIFFITH,
"Commanding Texas Cavalry Brigade.
"E.R. HAWKINS,
"Commanding First Texas Legion.
"J.H. BROOCKS,
"Major First Texas Legion.
"JILES S. BOGGESS
"Lieut.-Colonel Third Texas Cavalry.
"D.W. JONES,
"Lieut.-Colonel Commd'g Ninth Texas Cavalry.
"JACK WHARTON,
"Captain Commanding Sixth Texas Cavalry."
Colonel Griffith forwarded this letter immediately to General
Pemberton, and, no one not acquainted with the restless energy of the
man, can imagine the night of consuming anxiety and suspense that he
passed in awaiting a reply. To his sagacious mind, the memorial
suggested the last card left the Confederacy to play with any chance
of winning on this board. The Army of West Tennessee must be
inevitably crushed whenever Grant should place his legions in motion
to execute the fiat of his will. General Pemberton promptly replied
the next day, in the following letter:
"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT MISSISSIPPI
"GRENADA, December 6, 1862.
"Colonel:
You will furnish me with a report of the events subsequent to the
engagement of Oakland. I wish to see you personally, if circumstances
will possibly admit of it.
"Very respectfully,
"J.C. PEMBERTON,
Lieutenant-General."
The Commanding General desired a personal interview with the bold
ranger who dared to chalk out a campaign to his chief. In the
interview which followed, General Pemberton informed Colonel Griffith,
that the proposition commended itself to his consideration with much
force, and that he would give it careful consideration, etc.
About the 12th, or six days after the interview with General
Pemberton, Colonel Griffith received orders to report to General Van
Dorn, who was now actively engaged in preparing for the long desired
expedition in rear of the enemy. General Van Dorn's command consisted
of the Texas Brigade, Colonel Griffith commanding, 1,500 men;
Jackson's Tennessee Brigade, 1,200 men; McCulloch's Missouri Brigade,
800 men: The whole amounting to about 3,500 men. For an account of
this famous expedition, the reader is referred to the proper chapter
in the body of the narrative.
The services exacted of him, on this expedition, proved so great
a demand upon his vital forces that the health of Colonel Griffith,
never robust, was seriously impaired; and, in the summer of 1863, he
tendered his resignation, and returned to Texas.
The following testimonial from the officers of the "Whitfield
Legion," will serve to show, in some degree, the esteem in which
Colonel Griffith was held by his comrades:
"CAMP FIRST TEXAS LEGION,
"Near Spring Hill, Tennessee, May 10, 1863.
"Lieutenant-Colonel John S. Griffith:
"Dear Sir - We, the undersigned, officers of the First Texas
Legion, having learned that, in consequence of continued ill health,
you have tendered your resignation, we can not, in justice to our
feelings, permit you to quit the service without this testimonial of
our appreciation of your services while commanding the brigade, of
which our regiment is a part. You were ever the faithful and
efficient officer, and, at the same time, the kind and courteous
gentleman. Rest assured, sir, that whether you go to some other
branch of our country's service, or to your home in the State that we
all love so well, you will carry with you the confidence and esteem of
the officers and men of the First Texas Legion. With heart-felt
wishes for your future welfare, we remain respectfully,
"J.H. BROOCKS,
"Lieut.-Colonel Commanding Legion.
"JOHN T. WHITFIELD,
"Major Texas Legion.
"B.H. NORSWORTHY,
"Captain Company E, First Texas Legion.
"C.D. PRESTON,
"Company M, first Texas Legion.
"J.N. ZACHRY,
"Captain Co. A, First Texas Legion.
"J.M. INGRAM,
"Captain Co. C, First Texas Legion.
"B.M. IRWIN,
"First Lieutenant Co. A, Texas Legion.
"W.T. ROGERS,
"Second Lieutenant Co. A, Texas Legion."
Upon his return to Texas, Colonel Griffith was elected a member
of the Tenth Legislature, in which body he occupied the responsible
position of Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. On March
1st, 1864, he was appointed Brigadier-General of State troops, by
Governor P. Murrah, and placed in command of District No. 2, which was
composed of the counties of Kaufman, Ellis, Navarro, Hill, McLennan,
Limestone, Freestone, Leon, Roberson, Falls, Bell, Williamson, Milam,
Burleson, Brazos, Madison, Coryell, Bosque, Erath, Hamilton, Comanche,
Lampasas, San Saba, Brown, Easterland, Callahan, Coleman, McCulloch,
Mason, Kimble, Menard, Concho, Runnels, Taylor and Johnston. The
duties of the Brigadier-Generals of the State were, "to encourage and
form volunteer companies and organizations, of such persons as are not
subject to militia or other duty, for local defense, and all necessary
police regulations in the counties where such companies may be
raised." In his efficient and faithful discharge of the onerous
duties encumbent on him in this position, Colonel Griffith elicited
the complimentary mention of Governor Murrah, in his message to the
Eleventh Legislature. General Griffith continued in command of the
"Second District" until the termination of hostilities.
The result of the war left him comparatively poor, he having some
twenty-five or thirty slaves; but, with indomitable will, energy, and
pluck, upon which his vital forces expend themselves, General Griffith
entered the race of life again, and, by dint of industry and good
sense, he has accumulated a handsome fortune, and resides in Terrell,
Kaufmann county, Texas, once more in affluent circumstances.
In 1876, he was elected a member of the Fifteenth Legislature,
upon which body devolved the duty of placing in operation the "new
constitution." He was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Public
Printing, and was successful in defeating the printer in an effort to
obtain illegitimate gains at the expense of the State. So assiduous
were his labors in this body, that he earned the reputation of being
an industrious and untiring legislator. He was, indeed, a "watch-dog"
over the public treasury; and lobbyists, shysters, chevaliers
d'industrie, shunned him as if his presence was a fatal upas. He was
attacked in the newspapers by the printer, who became exasperated at
being foiled in his "little game." Griffith responded, and
demonstrated the proposed fraud; and, backed by the opinion of the
Attorney-General, he had the satisfaction of seeing the "printer"
leave the ring demolished in reputation, and all his calculations
"pied." Several statutes bear the impress of his statesmanship -
especially that one making drunkenness in civil officers a
misdemeanor. This statute alone is a living monument to his probity
of character, and is a work of which he may justly feel proud.
In conclusion, but little remains to be said. General Griffith
is yet, comparatively, a young man; and the author, his friend, hopes
that he may be spared, by the grim specter of the glass and scythe,
yet many years, in which event, he will make much more biography for
the second sitting. General Griffith is a gentleman of pleasing
address, and his heart is as big as Texas, and as open as his sleeve;
of an ardent temperament, he is often impulsive, but never rash nor
unjust; his mind is acute, penetrating, and sagacious, and thoroughly
analytical in the examination of practical details, while his judgment
is clear and perspicuous. In short, General Griffith is a Napoleonic
embodiment of restless energy and indomitable will, guided by an
equally balanced mind, who would not have occupied a subordinate
position in whatever sphere of life his lot had been cast. In the
management of his private estate, he has proved himself to be a
consummate business manager - commencing with nothing, and having
accumulated two fortunes.
In his conduct of the operations of the command at Oakland,
Chustenahlah, and Holly Springs, he appeared to the world as a
natural-born general, and overlapped West Point in its own peculiar
province. As a legislator he stood primus inter pares, and left the
lobby-lined chambers with hands unsmirched and reputation clean.
Though unsolicitous for office, and retiring in his disposition,
General Griffith would shed honor on the chief magistracy of the
State, and his administration of the people's affairs would certainly
be in the interest of the people. The following anecdote is
illustrative of the General's impetuosity: Upon one occasion he was
detailing the exciting scenes attendant upon the Confederate entry
into Holly Springs, and especially the earnest welcome extended the
rebels by the ladies when his auditor asked: "And how did you feel,
General?" "Feel!" exclaimed the excited veteran: "I felt as if I
could have charged hell, and captured the devil, if the Almighty had
commanded me to do so!" On one thing certain, if the General ever
does enlist under the banner of the Lord, he will be one of the last
to think of giving up the fort, for he goes into every thing with his
whole soul - he is never a half-measure man.
As a further testimonial of the regard in which General Griffith
was held by his brother-officers, the following letter, from the
gallant Jackson, will speak for itself:
"HEAD-QUARTERS FIRST CAVALRY CORPS,
"Spring Hill, Teen., May 8, 1863.
"Lieut.-Colonel J.S. Griffith:
"Colonel - Permit me to offer the testimonial of my high
appreciation of you as a gallant, competent, and meritorious officer
of unexceptional moral character. It affords me great pleasure to
refer to the valuable services rendered by your command at Oakland,
Mississippi, in repulsing, and routing, a superior force of the enemy,
advancing upon Granada, and thereby saving our retreating army; also
the gallant and signal service of yourself, while we were together,
and commanding separate brigades, on the raid to Holly Springs and
West Tennessee. Please accept the assurances of my highest
consideration, and with many regrets that your continued ill-health
compels you to leave this corps, and a wish that you may soon regain
your health sufficiently to enter the service again.
"I remain, very respectfully,
"W.H. JACKSON,
"Brigadier-General Commanding Cavalry Corps."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
GENERAL J.W. WHITFIELD.
General J.W. Whitfield was born in Williamson county, Tennessee,
in the year 1818, and received such limited education as the "log
school-house" of the time afforded. Early in life he pursued the
calling of a farmer, but his strong individuality, and marked
character, soon called him to public station; and, for eighteen years
with scarce an intermission, he represented his district in both
branches of the State Legislature. He served, with marked gallantry,
through the Mexican war, and upon its cessation, was appointed Indian
Agent to the wild tribes in Kansas. General Whitfield was a resident
of Kansas at the inception of the slavery troubles attendant upon the
application of that State for admission into the Union, espousing the
pro-slavery side of the controversy. Whitfield was the first delegate
sent from Kansas to the Federal Congress, defeating the anti-slavery
candidate, Reeder, by a handsome majority. In the turbulent era of
murder and pillage that ensued, the greater portion of his property
was swept away; and when, finally, Kansas was given over to
abolitionism, Whitfield, impoverished, removed to Lavaca county,
Texas, and resumed the avocation of a farmer. The rude blast of
internecine was however, soon broke upon the quiet scene of his
pastoral life, and the brave old veteran responded by buckling on his
sword, and summoning his neighbors to follow him. Starting out as a
captain of a company, his command was augmented to a battalion of four
companies by the time he reached General McCulloch's quarters.
During, and after the campaign that culminated in the battle of Elk
Horn, his battalion was increased to a legion of twelve companies,
than which, there was not a braver, or more efficient, organization in
the Confederate army. General Whitfield relinquished the command of
the brigade in 1863, and retired to the Trans-Mississippi Department.
In personal appearance, General Whitfield was marked, being over six
feet in height, and straight as an arrow - he looked every inch the
soldier. Of his service in the Trans-Mississippi Department, the
author has no data upon which to predicate a narrative.
After the termination of the war, General Whitfield continued to
reside on his farm, near the village of Vienna, in Lavaca county,
Texas, engaged in peaceful pursuit through the evening of life, until
the autumn of 1879, when he responded to the summons of the specter
with the hour-glass and scythe, and took up his solitary march across
the river into that undiscovered country in which his departed
comrades had pitched their silent camp. There, with Van Dorn,
McCulloch, McIntosh, Jones, and others, he awaited the arrival of the
rear-guard upon the scent to complete the grand re-union of the Texas
Brigade, in the shade of the lotus-trees of the Summerland.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
COLONEL D.W. JONES.
Colonel D.W. Jones was, it is thought, a native Texan, and was
born about the year 1842, as he was but eighteen years of age at the
commencement of the war.
At the first notes of the approaching storm, he quitted his
studies at Maury Institute, Columbia, Tennessee, and proceeded to his
home at Mt. Pleasant, Titus county, Texas. He entered the Ninth Texas
Cavalry, Colonel W.B. Sims, commanding, it is thought, as a private
soldier, and served as such during the first year of the war, through
the campaign in the Indian Territory and in Missouri.
Upon the re-organization of the Ninth Texas regiment, near
Corinth, Mississippi, in 1862, though a beardless boy of scarce twenty
years of age, D.W. Jones was triumphantly elected Colonel of the
regiment; and that he was worthy to be the recipient of this very
high honor, the author can bear positive testimony, based upon
personal observation.
It was a familiar sight, in the "Army of the West," to see the
bronzed and bearded faces of the veterans of the gallant old Ninth
following the lead of their handsome and chivalrous boy Colonel. The
losses of this regiment were unusually severe, and, at the close of
the struggle, nine out of every ten men, who had started, failed to
respond at roll-call.
The author again expresses deep regret that he was unable, after
the most assiduous efforts, to obtain data upon which to recount the
immediate services of the regiment.
Colonel Jones served in the first Constitutional Convention of
Texas after the war, and died soon afterward in the city of Houston,
where he lies buried in a neglected grave.
Peace to his ashes!
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
COLONEL JACK WHARTON.
Colonel Jack Wharton was born December 1, 1832, in Washington
county, Maryland, and, at an early age, studied law under the
celebrated Otho Scott, practicing his profession until 1857, with
considerable success in the courts of his native State. At this
period, he located in Kansas, where the political feeling was of such
a nature, that no Southern man, with any degree of pride for the land
of his nativity, could rise in his profession. With all the vim and
vitality of a man determined not to be subdued by the passions and
prejudices of this eventful period, he started for Salt Lake City, in
1858, with General Harney, who being ordered back, he left for
California under Captain W.S. Hancock - now Major-General - acting as
Quartermaster of the Sixth Regiment of Infantry.
After remaining some time in California, he returned to
Baltimore, where he remained several months, visiting old friends. It
was at this period he established, in Texas, an extensive horse ranch,
on the line of Kaufman and Van Zandt counties, about two hundred miles
west of Shreveport. Here he remained until the war commenced, when he
enlisted, as a private soldier, in a company organized in his
neighborhood, and which, subsequently, became attached to the Sixth
Texas Cavalry. Upon the definite organization of the company, Wharton
was elected Captain. Henceforth, the history of the man, and of the
regiment, are indissoluble. He served through all the campaigns,
battles, advances, and retreats in which the regiment and brigade were
engaged, until the final catastrophe. Upon the appointment of General
L.S. Ross to the rank of Brigadier-General, Wharton, who had been
elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, was promoted to the
Colonelcy. After the conclusion of the war, he returned to his stock
ranch in Texas, where he remained until 1867, when he was invited by
the Southern Pacific Railroad company, to take charge of their works
from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Marshall, Texas, with head-quarters at
the former place. After the completion of the railroad, he came to
New Orleans, where he has resided since 1868.
Colonel Wharton has held many important offices of honor and
trust in the State - such as Assessor of Taxes, Secretary of State
under Governor Warmouth, Adjutant-General under Governor Kellogg,
which place he held until the meeting of the Packard Legislature, when
he resigned the office of Adjutant-General, and accepted the position
of Clerk of the Superior Civil Court, an office just created, and
which was the most lucrative in the gift of the Governor. After the
downfall of the Packard Government, he was appointed, by President
Hayes, Marshal for the State of Louisiana, from June 15, 1878, which
office he holds at the present time, and for four years from the date
of commission. Colonel Wharton has an agreeable personal appearance,
is a fluent conversationalist, and always a boon companion, and
welcomed by bon vivants. As an officer in the field, he was surpassed
by none in personal courage, sagacity, and devotion. We believe the
Colonel never married.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
COLONEL JOHN H. BROOCKS.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Jackson,
county of Madison, State of Tennessee, October 12, A.D., 1829; was
the son of the late General Travis G. Broocks - a native of Virginia -
and of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Broocks, a native of Alabama, General
Broocks removed with his family, to San Augustine, Texas, in the year
1837. John H. was educated at the Wesleyan College, at San Augustine,
and at the San Augustine University. His acquaintance, however, with
the practical relations of life, was formed in the counting-room of
his father, who did an extensive mercantile business in San Augustine.
At the commencement of the Mexican war, young Broocks joined, as a
private soldier, the company of Captain O.M. Wheeler, of Colonel Woods
regiment of Texas Cavalry, and rendered efficient services in this new
and stirring field of operations until the cessation of hostilities.
Returning home, Mr. Broocks entered into the mercantile business at
San Augustine, at which place he continued to reside until about the
year 1852, when the spirit of adventure and enterprise led him to
migrate to California in company of his brother, the late Captain
James A. Broocks, and Captain A.D. Edwards, now of Terrell, Texas. In
this virgin field, the young Texans first essayed mining, and then
worked as hired hands on a hay and small grain farm; and, finally, as
merchants, operating under the firm name of J.H. Broocks & Co., at
"Shaw's Flat," in Ptoulumne county. While in this business, they did
their own freighting with ox-teams, over execrable roads a distance of
sixty-five miles.
Having been quite successful in his business pursuits, Mr.
Broocks returned to San Augustine, Texas, in 1854, and was united in
marriage to Miss Elizabeth J. Polk. In 1855, he retired from
mercantile pursuits to his farm near San Augustine, where he has
continued to reside ever since. When Texas called upon her sons to
march to battle in defence of constitutional government, in 1861, she
found not one more ready to respond to the summons than John G.
Broocks. A company was formed in San Augustine, and adjoining
counties, of which he was elected Captain. Captain Broocks at once
set out at the head of his company to join the army of General Ben
McCulloch, in Missouri. Before, or at the time of reaching the army,
a battalion was formed of four detatched companies, commanded by
Captain J.H. Broocks, Captain J.W. Whitfield of Lavaca county, Texas,
Captain Murphy, of Arkansas, and Captain Brooks, of Arkansas. Captain
Whitfield was elected Major of the battalion. Subsequently, Captain
Brooks' company was transferred to Colonel McIntosh's Arkansas
regiment, and Captain E.R. Hawkins' Texas company joined the
battalion. Under this organization, the battalion served in the
campaigns against the hostile Indians in the winter of 1861, and at
the battle of Elk Horn, in March, 1862. After the campaign in March,
an accession of eight more companies was had, and the First Texas
Legion was organized with J.W. Whitfield, Colonel; E.R. Hawkins,
Lieutenant-Colonel; and ____ Holman, Major. Major Holman resigned
soon after his election, and Captain John H. Broocks was promoted
Major. Subsequently, in 1863, Colonel Whitfield was promoted
Brigadier-General, Lieutenant-Colonel E.R. Hawkins, Colonel, and Major
Broocks, Lieutenant-Colonel. Captain J.T. Whitfield was promoted
Major. We reproduce, in this connection, Colonel Broocks' statement
in regard to the action at Oakland, Mississippi, as tending to
elucidate, in some measure, the account of the same in the body of the
narrative.
General Price was retreating from Abbeville, followed by a large
supply-train. A considerable force of the enemy was disembarked from
transports on the Mississippi river, and by rapid marches, sought to
strike the train in flank. Generals Hovey and Washburne, we believe,
commanded this expedition, which amounted to about 4,000 infantry, 500
cavalry, and 12 guns. Nothing interposed between the unprotected
train and this daring Federal column, but the Texas Brigade of about
1,500 men. Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith realized the gravity of the
situation, and appreciated the value of prompt action. Says Colonel
Broocks:
"The Legion, Colonel Hawkins commanding, and three companies as
an advance-guard, under my immediate command, fought Washburne's
advance fifty-six minutes, near Oakland, Mississippi. We charged, and
captured two guns, one of which, only, we brought off the field, as
the team attached to the other were killed. Lieutenant -Colonel
Griffith, commanding the brigade, was present, and in the charge,
bearing himself most gallantly, and but for an accident, we perhaps
would have captured Washburne. The Legion was driving the enemy in
some confusion. The Sixth Texas had arrived, dismounted, and were
ready to join in the fight. The Third Texas, Lieutenent-Colonel J.S.
Boggess commanding, had been dispatched to the enemy's rear, and
directed to dismount and attack. At this interesting state, Colonel
Griffith received a report (false) that we were being outflanked.
Placing credence in the report, he retired his men, and fireing
ceased. Colonel Boggess who was just ready to attack in the rear at
this time hearing the firing no more in front, did not attack. Thus
an excellently planned engagement was suffered to pass by default.
But the Legions' spirited attack had discomfited the enemy, and,
undoubtedly, saved from capture the wagon-train of General Price. Had
Colonel Griffith's original plan been carried out, it is probable we
would have captured the greater portion of the Federals present. Some
idea may be had of the spirited nature of the engagement, from the
fact that sixty-four cannon-shots were fired during the fifty-six
minutes of action. After we were called off from the charge, the
enemy recovered from the confusion caused by our unexpected charge,
and their long lines of infantry, 'double-quicking' into position,
revealed too much force for Colonel Griffith to again venture an
attack."
The enemy accorded the Texans equal respect, and immediately
retired from the field, and returned to the protection of their iron-
clads on the Mississippi river.
Owing to the ill health of the gallant Hawkins, Colonel Broocks
was very often left in command of the Legion, in which responsible
station he acquitted himself always with credit, and won the love of
his men and the confidence and respect of his superiors in rank. The
Confederacy bore upon its rosters the name of no braver, or truer man
to its cause, than that of Colonel John H. Broocks. Colonel Broocks
has, since the termination of the war, lived a somewhat retired life
on his farm, in the midst of his many friends, and surrounded by his
interesting family. His name has been repeatedly mentioned in
connection with a seat in the State Senate; and, though eminently
fitted to grace the councils of State, he has persistently declined
the honors which his fellow-citizens would gladly confer, contenting
himself with the laborious and unremunerating position of Chairman of
the Democratic Congressional District Committee. Colonel Broocks is
an educated gentleman - a man of firm will, fixed opinions, and the
courage to advocate the same at all proper times. Though it seemed
that the moral obliquity of "our army in flanders" had seized the
Confederate army, yet the author can testify to the Roman simplicity
and stern exercise of morality by Colonel Broocks, at all times; and
never did he hear a profane expression escape his lips. These pages,
though in an inadequate manner, testify to the heroism of Colonel
Broocks; but of the many high qualities, both of head and heart, of
which he is possessed, none may know except those who are drawn into
personal contact with him. If heroic services on the battle field,
augmented by capacity, probity, and patriotism, entitle a man to civic
preferment, then is Colonel John H. Broocks entitled to the highest
office in the gift of the people of Texas. His friend, the author,
cheerfully pays this simple tribute to his sterling worth, with the
confident hope that he will et respond to the solicitations of his
fellow citizens, and give to the councils of the State the benefit of
his ripe experience, and practical knowledge of men, and political and
economical questions.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
COLONEL ELKANAH GREER.
Colonel Greer was born in Marshall county, Mississippi, in the
year 1825; received a liberal education, which was just completed at
the breaking our of the Mexican war. Though but twenty years of age,
he was among the first to volunteer as a private in the First
Mississippi Rifles, the colonel of which regiment was Jefferson Davis.
Upon the organization of the command, it reported for duty to Genral
Taylor, beyond the Rio Grande. At the battles of Monterey and Buena
Vista, in both of which it participated, so signal were its services,
that a grateful country expressed admiration for the conduct of both
officers and men. Colonel Greer returned home with the regiment on
the expration of their term of service; and, though but twenty-one
years of age, was prevailed upon, by his admiring fellow-citizens, to
become a candidate for Major-General of militia, defeating General
James D. Alcorn, a very popular man, for the position. Under General
Greer's control, the militia was organized, drilled, and properly
disciplined.
In 1848, he removed to Texas, and soon after, was united in
marriage to Miss Anna Holcombe, of Marshall, Texas, eldest daughter of
Colonel B.L. and Mrs. Anne Holcombe, a beautiful young lady, possessed
of rare charms of both mind and heart. General Greer located at
Marshall, and devoted his attention to the civil pursuits of planting
and merchandizing. Being an ardent State's rights Democrat, he was
deeply interested in the weighty pursuits of planting and
merchandizing. Being an ardent State's rights Democrat, he was deeply
interested in the weighty events of 1859 and 1860, which seemed to be
culminating into war. General Greer, at this time, probably enjoyed a
political influence not surpassed by that of any man in Texas. He was
appointed, in 1859, "Grand Commander" of the secret orgaization known
as the "K.G.C's," for the State of Texas, and employed himself in the
organization of subordinate commanderies throughout the State. He
manfully opposed the conservative policy of Governor Sam Houston, in
1860, and was urgent in his advocacy of a call for a sovereign
convention. Upon the formation of the provisional government, at
Montgomery, Alabama, Colonel Greer received the first colonel's
commission issued to a Texan and proceeded immediately to organize the
Third Regiment, of Texas Cavalry. Of his services in connection with
that regiment, the foregoing narrative speaks. At the expiration of
the first year's service, Colonel Greer declined re-election to the
colonelcy of the regiment, though he would have had no opposition (so
high was he held in the esteem of the men), and returned to Texas.
Of his services in the Trans-Mississippi Department, the author
can not speak. Colonel Greer was brave, cool in danger, quick to
grasp the situation of affairs in the most critical juncture, and as
prompt to act. To these high qualities as an officer, he combined
those of the gentlemen - kindness and conscientiousness. Since the
conclusion of the war, Colonel Greer has lived quietly and somewhat
retired, upon his estate near Marshall, Texas, respected and loved by
his neighbors.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
COLONEL H.P. MABRY.
Colonel H.P. Mabry was born in the village of Laurel Hill,
Carroll county, Georgia, October 27, 1829. His father, whose
Christian name he bears, originally came from North Carolina, settling
in Georgia in 1805. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and in the
campaigns against the Creek Indians. The father died while yet the
son was but a youth. Young Mabry was deeply impressed with the
necessity for an education; and as his patrimony was inconsiderable,
he encountered many privations and hardships in the prosecution of his
cherished object. After attending this "country school" for a few
months, young Mabry was prepared to enter college - prepared
intellectually, but by no means financially. To obviate this
difficulty, he entered a store as salesman at a salary of five dollars
per month, and in addition to this, he soon found night employment in
the postoffice. By the most rigid economy, he was enabled, after two
years incessant labor, to enter the University of Tennessee, located
at Knoxville. Here, by his studious habits and gentlemanly
deportment, he won the confidence of the college faculty, and the
respect of his fellow students. But his means were not sufficient to
bear him through the entire course, and was compelled to lay aside his
cherished books, and go forth into the world to earn sufficient means
to defray his collegiate expenses. Thus did the indomitable boy earn
an education by his own industry and perseverance. This indomitable
will, and fixedness of purpose, thus early displayed, continued, in
after years, to be the most marked characteristic of the man. Not
many years after the completion of his education, he removed to
Jefferson, Texas, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1854, he was
united in marriage to Miss Abbie Haywood - a most estimable lady,
worthy to be the wife of a hero - the daughter of W.H. Haywood, Esq.,
a planter living near Jefferson.
Soon after his marriage, Colonel Mabry commenced the study of
law, was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon a lucrative
practice. He was elected to a seat in the Legislature, in 1856, and
again in 1859, and was re-elected to the same position, and held a
seat in the House of Representatives, in 1861. Upon the secession of
Texas, Colonel Mabry returned home, and organized a military company,
at the head of which he marched against Fort Wichita. The Federal
forces abandoned the fort at his approach, and retired. Captain Mabry
occupied the place until May 28, when he was relieved, and, with his
company, reported to Colonel Greer for duty, and his company was
assigned the position of Company G, in the Third Texas Cavalry, the
first regiment that left the State of Texas. as Captain of Company G,
and as Colonel of the regiment, the foregoing narrative deals. He was
absolutely fearless, and cool to indifference in the midst of danger,
and his indomitable will seemed able to grapple with fate itself in
the formulation of destiny. He ought to have been a Lieutenant-
General, and placed in command of Vicksburg. The "Modern Sphynx"
would have found in H.P. Mabry a foeman worthy of his steel. General
Robert Toombs, of Georgia, has been credited with the saying, that
West Point defeated the Confederacy. Certainly, proven merit did not
receive reward by promotion at the hands of Mr. Davis, as justice and
the efficiency of the service required. As better illustrating the
respect and esteem in which Colonel Mabry was held by those best
qualified to judge his merits, the following communications to the
Secretary of War are introduced:
"HEAD-QUARTERS, SNYDER'S MILLS,
Yazoo River, March 30, 1864.
"Hon. James A. Seddon:
"Sir - I have the honor to recommend for promotion to the rank of
Brigadier-General, P.A.C.S., Colonel H.P. Mabry, Third Regiment, Texas
Cavalry, having been near him in the field since July, 1861; having
had him under my command, in my brigade, for many months; having seen
him tested in camp, on the march, and on various hard-fought fields, I
can, unhesitatingly, and do, cheerfully, recommend him for a higher
rank, as a meed to merit and distinguished service. He was severely
wounded in Missouri, in 1861, and still more severely at the battle of
Iuka, on the 19th of September last, when he and his gallant regiment
most heroically bore what I considered the brunt of the fight. As a
man of correct principles, of soldier-like deportment, of good
finished education, of unquestioned coolness, bravery, and sagacity,
of systematic and determined character, and as a disciplinarian, I can
fully recommend him as highly fitted to take command of a brigade, and
I feel sure that his success would be satisfactory to the War
Department, the President, and the country.
"I remain, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,
"LOUIS HEBERT,
Brigadier-General, P.A.C.S."
"HEAD-QUARTERS TEXAS CAVALRY BRIGADE,
"March 27, 1864.
"Hon. James A. Seddon:
"Sir - Having learned that the interest of the service demands
the appointment of another Brigadier-General in Major-General Lee's
Cavalry corps, the undersigned officers, of the Texas Brigade
cheerfully recommend to your favorable consideration, the peculiar
claims of Colonel Mabry, Third Texas Cavalry. He has been faithfully
engaged, in the service of his country, since July, 1861; twice
severely wounded, and by gallantry and rigid discipline, has won the
universal approbation of his superior officers. For force of
character, resolution, prudence, indomitable courage, energy, and
ability, he has no superior in the cavalry of the Department.
"L.S. ROSS, Brigadier-General.
"E.R. HAWKINS,
"Colonel first Texas Legion.
"D.W. JONES,
"Colonel ninth Texas Cavalry.
"P.F. ROSS,
"Lieut.-Colonel Third Texas Cavalry."
"HEAD-QUARTERS ARMSTRONG'S DIVISION,
"Near Canton, Miss., March 29, 1864.
"General S. Cooper,
"Adjutant and Inspector-General, Richmond, VA.:
"General - I have the honor to recommend Colonel H.P. Mabry,
Third Texas Cavalry, for promotion, to be placed in command of a
brigade now in my division. Although Colonel Mabry has never served
under my immediate command, I can recommend him, as he commanded a
regiment (Third Texas Cavalry, dismounted), in General Hebert's
Infantry Brigade, in which I commanded the Third Louisiana Regiment.
I consider him an excellent disciplinarian (especially needed in the
cavalry), and one of the most competent, in every respect, that can be
selected. His regiment, which is the best qualification, is one of
the best disciplined, and most efficient, in the service.
"I have the honor to be, with respect, your obedient servant,
"FRANK C. ARMSTRONG,
Brigadier-General."
"HEAD-QUARTERS LEE'S CAVALRY DEPARTMENT,
"Canton, Miss., March 29 1864.
"General S. Cooper,
"Adjutant and Inspector-General, Richmond, Va.:
"General - I have the honor to recommend that Colonel H.P. Mabry,
Third Texas Cavalry, be appointed Brigadier-General, and assigned to
the command of the brigade recently commanded by Brigadier-General
Adams. Colonel Mabry entered the service when the war first broke
out, and has continued therein ever since, except when temporally
absent on account of two wounds received in battle. I consider him
the best disciplinarian in my command. He has distinguished himself
in most of the engagements of the West, and has often been
complimented for his gallantry and good conduct. I desire Colonel
Mabry as a permanent commander of the brigade to which he is now
temporarily assigned.
"I am, General, yours respectfully,
"S.D. LEE, Major-General."
"Meridian, Miss., June 23, 1864.
"General S. Cooper,
"Adjutant and Inspector-General, Richmond, Va.:
"General - I have the honor to enclose a return of the brigade
commanded by Colonel H.P. Mabry. It is the brigade recently commanded
by Brigadier-General Wirt Adams, who now commands a division
consisting of the brigades of Generals Gholson and John Scott, in East
Louisiana. Mabry's Brigade was in his command, but is now in North
Mississippi. General Adams has immediate charge of the country from
Grenada to New Orleans. I consider Colonel Mabry one of the best
officers I have met in the army, and much desire his promotion.
Should it not be deemed proper to appoint him in this Department, and
to his present brigade, I trust he may be promoted and assigned
elsewhere.
"Yours, respectfully.
"S.D. LEE, Major-General."
[Beginning with Chapter XXXIX, taken from Rose's History.]
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
CAPTAIN CHARLES S. STUART.
Charles S. Stuart was born unto Charles and Susan Arthur Stuart
on July 2nd, 1808, in Knox county, Kentucky, and with his parents in
early life moved to Henry county, Tennessee, where he gained his
education from the common schools. His father died in Perry county
Tennessee, and afterwards his mother, Susan Arther Stuart, was again
married to Colonel Miller, and the family removed to Yallabusha
county, Mississippi, and settled near Coffeeville in the year 1833,
where Charles S. Stuart was married to Martha Cox in 1836, and unto
them were born eight children, five girls and three boys, and as told
in this narrative he was killed in battle and buried at Round Mound.
Of his family, his widow, Martha Cox Stuart now lives with her
daughter, Mrs. C.A. Smith, at Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Two others of the
family still live - Mrs. S.J. Stephens, also at Mt. Pleasant, and Mrs.
Nellie Stuart, of Ft. Worth, Texas.
Captain Stuart moved with his family to Texas in December 1841,
and settled a farm in Red River district eight miles west from Mt.
Pleasant, Texas, where he lived and raised his family, and from his
enterprise and public spirit he became well known as one of those
staunch pioneers of North Texas.
He loved Texas and was ever watchful in her development into
homes for an enlightened and prosperous people, and his name can still
be found at the head of the list in many grand efforts by the early
settlers. The schoolhouse for the early training of the children and
the church house for the worship of the God of the pioneer settler
were his pride. His house was known to the pioneer of Texas as a
place of hospitable entertainment, and among his neighbors he was
respected and loved. He was a consistent member of the Methodist
church, in which he officiated as steward, he was a royal arch mason
and stood high in that institution of selected friends, and by his
industry had accumulated a fine property and owned a number of slaves,
which he regarded as a special care entrusted to his hands and was
never cruel. And he was one of the foremost men in building a good
and comfortable home and surrounding it with beauties in plants and
domestic animals and became noted for the extra fine developments in
the breeding of his stock.
He raised a company of soldiers, not rebels but of law-abiding
Texans, who loved Texas and raise their arms in her defense. He was
elected Captain and led them in accord with his convictions which he
at all times was in readiness to defend.
He died as he lived, at his post, and was buried in the wilds of
nature, and sweet memories of his goodness and his ever upright walk
is all the monument that marks the sacred precincts where his body
rests. Thus passed an early settler of Texas and one of nature's
noblemen.
And God forbid that the happy throngs of bright and educated
Texas boys and girls that have feasted from the fields that he planted
and drank from the fountains that he opened unto them, while in the
giddy world should ever be so forgetful as to connect his name with
"Rebel."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
CAPTAIN PERRY EVANS.
Captain Evans was the youngest son of a family of eleven children
born unto John Evans and Nancy Plumber Evans and was born in Breathitt
county, Tennessee, on Aug. 1837, and attended the common schools of
that country until his father moved to Texas in 1851, and settled in
Titus county, three miles north from Mt. Pleasant, where shortly
afterwards his father died, and at an early age he took charge of his
mother's business and successfully conducted a stock ranch for her
during her long widowhood. A part of the time he ranched cattle in
Palo Pinto county on the Kuchi creeks, but afterwards he conducted a
grocery business at Mt. Pleasant from which place he enlisted a Texas
soldier, in Stuart's company, and was afterwards elected captain as
told in the narrative.
Capt. Evans was a true type of the pioneer stockman, he was
medium in size and of dark complexion, dark hair and eyes, had a slow
soft voice, and a modest of retired appearance, never spoke loud or
became excited and his nature was kind when he was not mad, but when
he became mad his reason became lost or dethroned and he was fierce as
a tiger and would act as in desperation. He was usually cool and said
but little, and was always brave and ready for service, he alone kept
his counsels and had few confidants, as a Captain he performed his
duty without a word and to me his face always wore that cold
expression that neither was susceptible to love or hatred, but was
always just "Cap" after the fall of Vicksburg. He was detailed a
scout and was given men of his own selection, he made his selection
from the 9th Texas to suit "Cap" and failed to carry his quota of men
from his own company and many of us considered that he either doubted
our valor or capacity, and consequently had went back on us, and as a
leader we never afterwards became fully reconciled to his course, but
he cared not a straw, he was only "Cap."
He was expert with a gun and his greatest joy seemed in the
training of his neighbor's boys how to shoot a deers or trap a big
fish and his home became a great resort to the sport loving youth.
His "gun" "and his dogs were the best" and his aim and judgment were
never questioned. He was liberal in his gifts to all institutions,
the church, the Sunday School and all other institutions, he supported
liberally with his means, but never with his presence.
His home was the home of the sport in the chase, on the hunt, in
the fishing party he was the life and leader. Thus he lived and died
in April 1890 and was buried on his ranch, where his remains repose
amid the things he loved in life. He died as he lived, only "Cap."
He was never a member of the church or any other social
institution - he was only Captain Perry Evans.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
CAPTAIN JAMES ENGLISH.
James N. English was the son of Col. Campbell English and Mrs.
Martha Crisp English, and a second son of a family of seven children -
four boys and three girls. He was born in Greene county, Missouri,
and moved to Texas with his parents in 1836, and settled in Red river
district near the town of Mt. Vernon, in now Franklin county, Texas.
His early education was from his parents and common schools of the
country, and graduated at Independence, Texas, in 1859. He enlisted
in the Titus Greys, Company I, Nonth Texas Cavalry, from the home of
his father.
From his boyhood he was very entertaining and fond of jokes and
had a pleasing address. He was kind and lovable as a boy, and by
nature a leader among his companions. He stood six feet and was of
light complexion, with keen and expressive blue eyes and was by nature
fearless; had a loud voice and used it freely. He was elected second
Lieutenant in our organization and from his commanding bravery at
Round Mound where he succeeded in handling the company to great
advaintage. After our Captain Stuart had fallen he appeared as if by
general consent to be entitled to fill his place as captain, to which
place he was duly elected over Dud W. Jones, afterwards our gallant
Colonel.
He commanded his company with distinction at Birds' Creek and Elk
Horn, and was always in the hardest and hottest of the battle, and was
never known to fail to be present in the longest and most tiresome
scout.
His health became impaired from exposure and hardships and he was
forced to resign his position to the great regret of his company. On
returning to Texas he again organized and commanded a company on the
Texas border, and after the war he entered the practice of law at
Cleburne, Texas, from which place he has served in the State
Legislature, and has filled other offices of prominence and trust, and
at this writing hi is known as a good lawyer, and a prominent citizen
loved and respected by all who know him.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUTENANT LADE MILLER.
Lieutenant Lade Miller, the First Lieutenant of the Titus Greys,
was a tall raw-boned man of dark complexion, black hair and eyes. He
was about forty-five years old and one of the first settlers of this
part of Texas. I do not know the day or place of his birth, but
recollect that he was one of the leading men in the days of early
settlers.
He was not a military man, he seldom spoke, and when he did it
was in short and pointed sentences. He was very firm and had his
convictions, and they were never changed. He was too good to his men,
they never asked a favor but it was granted, whether it was consistent
with military rule or not, for he was a law unto himself, and unto
that law alone he gave precedence. He resigned and went home, I
suppose, because it suited him.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUTENANT BUSTER HAYNES.
Buster Haynes was a native of Henry county, Tenn., and his
education was from the common schools of that state. He was a brother
of Henry Haynes, who survived the war.
Buster was a large portly man with a face as fair and smooth as a
baby's, light hair and blue eyes and a jolly companionable, good
fellow. He was a great favorite and a principle of justice was a
ruling feature in his makeup. I suppose he must have been a law
student and was the company's arbitrator and any differences could be
decided by what Buster said.
He was beloved by all. He fell at Corinth and was lamented
throughout the existence of the war.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUTENANT JOHN A. COPLIN.
Lieutenant Coplin was of Irish descent and red complected and
with his tinge of Irish brogue joined in all the merry sports so
common among the soldiers, had blue eyes, light hair and a ruddy fair
complexion.
He was a brave man, but never appeared to realize that he was an
officer only filling his place with few words spoken. He was always
lively and had jokes for all. I have failed to gather any data of his
family. He was killed in Mississippi in 1893.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUTENANT WILLIAM CHAMBERS.
Lieutenant Chambers went with the Titus Greys from Dangerfield,
Texas, and could learn nothing of his early life or training, but
think his parents were among the first settlers of that town and am
impressed that his father was a merchant of that town and think that
Lieutenant Chambers was brought up in that business. He was well
educated and by nature inclined to be more dignified than the ordinary
soldier. He was rather small in stature, dark complected, was very
brave and daring, and as a private soldier he distinguished himself
for his bravery on almost every battle field and his cool bravery gave
to him high standing in his command.
After he became an officer he appeared to take less interest than
when a private and on going into a fight always carried a gun. He was
sullen in nature and never a favorite with his superiors. He became
careless and neglected his company and was not with us at the
surrender, but learned that he married and settled in Mississippi.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUTENANT HENRY HAYNES.
Lieutenant Henry Haynes was a native of Tennessee, and in his
youth moved with his parents to Mississippi, and his home was near the
famed battlefield, Corinth, and was the senior of the two Lieutenant
Haynes, was married in the State of Mississippi to Miss ____ Petty,
and moved with his young wife to Texas and settled near Mt. Vernon
where he opened a farm with his slaves and from there enlisted as a
private soldier.
He was large and portly, of fine physique, and of sanguine
temperament and a born commander. He commanded the company after
Captain Evans was sent a scout and from a military standpoint was our
best Captain. He was never promoted but commanded the company in our
hardest campaigns.
He would share his bed, food or any of his possessions with any
of his men and had sympathy for all suffering, but would not tolerate
grumbling. His life as an officer was all business, he was greatly
beloved by his men and by his superior officers, considered one of the
best officers in Ross' Brigade.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUTENANT WILLIAM MOORE.
Lieutenant Moore was a small man of rather dark complexion, and I
never knew anything of his family, but have heard him tell that in his
early life he worked at brick and pottery.
He was kind and friendly and would never be taken from his dress
to be an officer, but he rendered to the company good and efficient
service during the whole of his career. As an officer he was brave
and careful, but always ready to fight. Have never met him since the
war.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
HON. O.N. HOLLINGSWORTH.
Orlando N. Hollingsworth was born in Calhoun county, Alabama,
April 5, 1836, and removed, with his mother, to Rusk county, Texas, in
December, 1845, his father having died the earlier part of the last-
mentioned year. He laid the foundation of his education in the common
schools of the country, and graduated from the University of Virginia,
in 1859. He responded, among the earliest, to the call of the South,
in 1861, for volunteers, and enlisted as a private soldier in the
company of Capt. R.H. Cumby, which comprised many of the best young
men of Rusk county. His soldierly qualities, and executive capacity,
soon secured him promotion to the responsible station of Adjutant of
his regiment, the Third Texas Cavalry, in which position he served
with credit to himself and profit to the service, until he was
seriously wounded in the assault on Corinth, in 1862, and permanently
unfitted for service in the field. He returned to Texas, and became
interested in the cause of education - a cause in whose behalf he has
expended much pecuniary means and the best years of his life. Coronal
Institute, located at San Marcos, Texas, was founded by Captain
Hollingsworth, in 1864-6, and was long presided over by himself.
Subsequently, he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction,
and, on the abolition of that office by constitutional amendment, he
was appointed Secretary to the State Board of Education, a position
which he now most efficiently fills. In addition to his clerical
labors in connection with office, Captain Hollingsworth founded, and
conducts, the Educational Journal, a timely and invaluable adjunct to
the cause that he has espoused. Mr. Hollingsworth is comparatively a
young man; has had some experience in practice at the bar, and served
one term in the State legislature. Of a benevolent disposition, kind
in all his impulses, and highly intellectual, he has always exercised
a wholesome, moral influence wherever his services have been required.
If merit meets with a just reward, Mr. Hollingsworth may be regarded
as a man with a future, and to whatever position he may be called in
the service of the State, the people may rest assured of having at
least one pure, and honest, and industrious public servant.
CHAPTER XL.
REMINISCENCES OF CAMP CHASE.
Kilpatrick succeeded in getting away from Lovejoy Station with
about thirty or forty of the Texas Brigade, among whom are now
remembered: Captain Noble; Lieutenants Teague, Moon and West;
Privates Crabtree, Pirtle, Nidever, Mapes, "Major" White, Reuben
White, Fluellen, and Ware. The march of the prisoners to the lines of
General Sherman was fatiguing in the extreme. The confederates had
been in the saddle for three consecutive days, during which time they
had partaken of not one regular meal; and the Union troopers were
almost as destitute of rations, though what little they had was
generously divided with their famished prisoners. The prisoners were
well treated by their captors. It was only the "home guard" who
delighted in misusing these unfortunates of war, just as the
professional politician on either side refuses even now to be
placated. The men who confronted each other in battle were too brave
to feel pleasure in inflicting pain on a prisoner. The braves of
Hancock, Custer, McClellan, and Rosecranz are not the men who have
kept the "bloody shirt" waving; nor are the men of Joe Johnston,
Beauregard, Maxy, and Ross, found among the impracticables, who, like
his excellency, the late President Jeff. Davis, imagine the
Confederacy still exists. General Sherman's convention with General
Johnston expressed the sentiments of the soldiers on either side.
Arriving at Sherman's quarters the prisoners were placed in the "bull-
pen," and given a "square" meal of "hard-tack" and "sow-belly," as
crackers and bacon were called by the Federals. In the "bull-pen"
were a number of whining, canting, oath-seeking hypocrites and
sycophants, who, with the characteristic zeal of new converts,
employed their time in maligning every thing connecting with their
suffering section, and in extolling the superior civilization of the
North. The fiery and impetuous Crabtree could not brook this
despicable servility, and he undertook to do battle, singly and alone,
in vindication of the South. A lively "scrimmage" was on the tapis,
Crabtree knocking his opponents right and left, when the guard
interposed on behalf of the new converts, whom every brave Unionist
secretly despised. After a day or two spent here, the prisoners were
placed on the cars and conveyed to Nashville. Here the forlorn
fellows were placed in the yard of the penitentiary, and kept for
several days, as General Wheeler was in the vicinity with a large
force of cavalry, and a rescue was feared. Finally, by rail again,
the prisoners were taken to Louisville, Kentucky. Upon entering the
guard-house, each prisoner was required to deposit, in a large tub
near the door, his pocket-knife, money, and whatever else of value he
possessed. No account whatever was taken of the articles so
confiscated, nor did the prisoners ever hear of their property again,
or compensation for the same. The journey from Kentucky's metropolis,
through Cincinnati and Columbus, to Camp Chase, distant four miles
from the capital of Ohio, was without incident, save the escape of
Lieutenant A.J. West, of the Sixth Texas. Some time before reaching
Louisville, and while the cars were flying at the rate of forty miles
an hour, the night being intensely dark, this daring officer jumped
from the train, and, strange to say, suffered no accident or injury
from the rash leap. He made his way through the enemy's lines in
safety to his own command.
Camp Chase was situated near the Sciota river, so said, for,
during the author's sojourn of near nine months in those delectable
quarters, he had no opportunity for observation beyond the prison
walls. The "Camp consisted of three" prisons," designated
respectively, "No. 1," "No.2," and "No. 3." In "No. 1" officers
exclusively were confined. "No's and 3" accommodated the 20 or thirty
thousand privates on hand - a number sufficient to have averted the
catastrophe at Petersburg. The "prisons" were enclosed by a plank-
wall upwards of fifteen feet high. On the top of this wall a guard,
consisting of about twenty "posts," was stationed, with doubtless
another line on the out side below, as certainly a heavy "relief" was
always immediately on hand. A slight ditch, or furrow, on the inside
of the wall, and parallel with it, was the "dead-line," over which no
"Reb might venture, unless desirous of making himself the target of
the vigilant guard. The quarters of the prisoners consisted of
comfortable frame buildings in two rows, and fronting upon a common
street. The houses were capable of containing near two hundred
prisoners. Bunks in tiers of three formed the sleeping
accommodations. Colonel W.P. Richardson commanded the post, and
Lieutenant Sankey was Provost Marshal. The rations consisted of three
crackers and about four ounces of white fish per day. Sometimes the
bill of fare was varied by the issuance of beef and flour, but not in
quantities exceeding the above estimate. In consequence of such short
rations, the prisoners were constantly experiencing the pangs of
hunger, and that some died absolutely of sheer starvation, the writer
is indubitable certain. Three men occupied a bunk, and sometimes
during the night one would die, when not unfrequently the remaining
two would actually contend over the corpse for his rations and
blankets. Men here - many - lost all self-respect, and the worst
passions of our nature predominated over the good. Though the
prisoners were not allowed money, yet they were given "sutler's
checks" in lieu, ranging in denominations from five to fifty cents.
The sutler's shop abutted against the wall, and through a crevice,
about three inches wide and six in length, a prisoner, blessed with
the possession of these coveted checks, could purchase stationery,
needles and thread, guttapercha buttons, tobacco, and a few other
immaterial articles. Anything, however, in the nature of provisions
or clothing was under the severest ban. Nothing eatable entered the
prison walls save the meager rations doled out to the half-famished
men. Many of the prisoners, addicted to the use of tobacco, would
occasionally sell one meal per day for five cents, with which to
purchase a half-dozen chews of the weed. In this way a considerable
trade sprang up, and several prisoners conducted quite a grocery
business. One, a Georgian, Waddell of name, earned quite a
considerable little sum of money. The old skin-flint converted his
bunk into a store, and here haggled with the starving wretches who
brought their rations to exchange with him for a small piece of
tobacco, or extolled the flavor of the same rations to some would be
purchaser who had the "sutler's checks" to pay for the luxury.
Robberies were not unfrequent, and an incorrigible Englishman -
who was the subject of quite a voluminous correspondence between Lord
Lyons and Mr. Seward - was frequently punished. This wretch was
sometimes fastened to a cross, and his face laid directly under the
spout of the pump, though the weather was bitter cold, and the water
pumped into his face until respiration would be suspended. At other
times, he was placed in a barrel having holed through which the arms
protruded, and in this novel jacket he would be compelled to "mark
time" in the snow for hours.
The author remembers meeting in prison No. 2, a young Illinoisan,
who represented himself as tee county judge at Paris, Illinois,
imprisoned simply because he was accused of being a "copperhead."
To add to the calamities of the wretched men, the small pox broke
out among them, and from twenty to thirty of the poor fellows were
carried out in rude coffins each morning to the "silent camping
ground." Of the small company of Texans, Reuben White and Al. Nidever
died.
An old Frenchman is remembered - they called him "Old Bragg," who
had been blown up at Vicksburg with the gallant Third Louisiana
Regiment, and captured. "Old Bragg" had one leg missing, one arm and
one eye gone, and the poor old fellow's mind was sadly impaired. His
whole thought was bent upon an exchange of prisoners, and each morning
he would arise at daylight from his hard bunk and announce: "Boys, ze
exchange he come today; say tell me so last night!" and forthwith he
would begin to pack up his scanty effects and hobble to the prison
gate, where he would remain the greater portion of the day in
expectation of being called to commence the glad journey to his
sunkissed Louisiana. This was his programme, without material
variation, for several months. The poor old fellow finally died
before the "exchange came," and sleeps in that silent camp, with
thousands of his comrades, in the midst of a people who have no
flowers to strew upon the rebel's grave.
It may be noted that quite an industry sprung up in the
manufacture of gutta-percha rings and other trinkets, which went to
swell the traffic of old Waddell.
About the only diversion afforded within the walls was in walking
around the camp, and, thus engaged, could be seen thousands of aimless
men, unless the desire to "kill time" be an aim, walking around and
around the camp like tigers, bears, and lions in their cages.
The author can not refrain from acknowledging the kindness of a
fellow-prisoner, Mr. John D. Miller, of Victoria, Texas, who, though
in a separate prison, managed to convey some of the desired checks to
him. And, though lucre is not welcomed at any time, this certainly
was the most heartily unwelcomed and thoroughly appreciated of any
ever received, before or since.
Thus the winter passed. The spring came. Lincoln's brutal
assassination startled the prisoners, and the surrender of Lee
destroyed the last vestige of lingering hope. Applicants for the oath
now became so numerous, and, as they were treated with such contempt
by the "reb to the last," that it was deemed best to separate them,
giving the rebs prison No. 3, and the "razor-backs," as the applicants
for the oathe were called, prison No 2. About this time Colonel
Hawkins, of Tennessee, gained access to prison No. 3, and made the
boys a brief, but eloquent, "talk," concluding: "Remain true to the
cause of Dixie; and, if our worst fears are realized, we can be able
to say with King Francis at Tavia, 'All is lost but honor'." This
manly utterance was applauded by the ragged, half starved patriots to
the echo.
Finally the "exchange came," though poor "Old Bragg" slept too
soundly to hear the summons, and the prisoners were conveyed south in
batches of 500. The squad in which the author left proceeded by rail
to Cairo, and thence down the Mississippi river to New Orleans. At
Cairo, the kind-hearted citizens vied with each other in their
contributions to the necessities of the miserable Southerners.
Without disembarking at New Orleans at all, the prisoners were
steamed back to Vicksburg, and here disembarked under the auspices of
a negro guard. This was the most humiliating experience of the whole
period of captivity. The noble ladies of Vicksburg interested
themselves in ministering to the necessities of the Confederates. The
Texans were especially indebted to Miss Nora Roach - whom to call an
angel, is but to compliment the saintly host that ministers around the
"great white throne." At Vicksburg, Ross' miserables were paroled,
and soon en route for their Texan homes. The Unionists, while heaping
merited censure on the Confederate authorities for the mal-treatment
of Federal prisoners at Andersonville, and other Southern prisons,
deny the charge of mistreatment of Confederate prisoners themselves.
In support of what is here stated, as being the rule at Camp Chase,
from September, 1864, until May, 1865, the author refers to any
truthful Confederate there confined within the period specified. They
could not have been treated worse and live, for many absolutely died
of starvation. An exchange of prisoners was demanded in the interest
of humanity. The Washington administration refused to sign a cartel
because it would give the South what she most needed - men. The
Confederacy was unable to properly feed her own soldiers in the field.
The Washington administration were well advised of this fact, yet it
allowed Union prisoners to die of ill-treatment, when one word
pronounced by Lincoln and his advisers, would have freed them.
Posterity will judge correctly who is responsible for the graves at
Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, Rock Island, Andersonville, Richmond, and
other pens North and South.
NOTE: - During the trying days in Camp Chase, there were some who
never relaxed in their fealty to the South, and who never forgot that
they were gentlemen. Among these it is a pleasure to name James
Arnold, Sixth Texas Cavalry, now of Wartrace, Tennessee; James
Crabtree, J.D. White, Perry Pirtle, William Fluellen, of the Third
Texas Cavalry, and John D. Miller, of Victoria, Texas.
[Chapter XL, taken from Rose's History.]
CHAPTER XLI.
GLEANINGS FROM THE PRESS SHOWING SOME GENERAL
HISTORICAL FACTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE
CONFEDERATE WAR.
THE LOSS BY ONE WAR.
This estimate copied below is made by a Northern man from a
Federal standpoint. We copy without comment, as the figures are not
on our side of the war between the States:
"The first battle of Bull Run cost the North 3,000 soldiers and
the South 2,000. At Shiloh 13,000 Federals and 11,000 Confederates
fell. On the "seven days' retreat" the two armies left behind them
33,000 men. Antietam weakened the Northern by 12,000 and the Southern
by 26,000. At Gettysburg 23,000 Federals and 32,000 Confederates were
mowed down. In the siege of Vicksburg the Southerners lost 31,000
men. The three days in the Wilderness cost the North 38,008.
Sherman, in his glorious march to the sea, left 37,000 soldiers
between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Corinth has a record of both armies
of 16,000; Fredericksburg, 17,000; Chancellorsville, 28,000;
Chickamauga, 33,000; Spottsylvania, 35,000, and Stone's Run, 37,000
men. And so the horrors might be multiplied.
"Official records show that in the armies of the North 44,000
were killed in action during the war, 49,000 died of wounds, 186,000
died of disease and 25,000 died form caused unknown, making a total of
304,000 deaths of Northern soldiers. But these numbers do not include
those who died at their homes from wounds and disease. It is not too
high an estimate to place the deaths in the North from the war at
350,000. And for every Northerner that fell it is not too high an
estimate to place the 700,000 lives destroyed in one short war. That
struggle multiplied threefold the death rate of ordinary times, and
took, not the children, the aged, the sick and the weak, but the very
flower of the nation's manhood.
OUR WAR FOOTING - INTERESTING HISTORICAL FACTS.
The total number of Regiments, Battalions and Legions comprising
the Confederate army during the war 1861 - 1865 were 834.
Number of Regiments 637; of these 536 were Infantry, 124 Cavalry
and 13 Artillery.
Number of Battalions 145; of these 67 were Infantry, 28 Cavalry
and 50 Artillery.
Number of Legions 16; of these 13 were Infantry and 3 of
Cavalry. There are no exact records, but best estimates place the
number at 600,000 men.
Alabama Regiments Inf., 57 Cav. 3 Arty.
Arkansas Regiments 34 6
Florida Regiments 9 3
Georgia Regiments 67 10
Kentucky Regiments 11 9
Louisiana Regiments 31 1 1
Maryland Regiments 1
Mississippi Regiments 51 5 1
Missouri Regiments 15 6
N. Carolina Regiments 60 5 4
S. Carolina Regiments 33 7 3
Tennessee Regiments 70 12
Texas Regiments 22 32
Virginia Regiments 64 19 4
Confederate Regiments 8 6
CONFEDERATE STATES PROVISIONAL ARMY.
Generals 2
Lieutenant Generals 21
Major Generals 99
Brigadier Generals 480
Colonels 1319
Surgeons - Army 834, Navy 22 856
Assistant Surgeons - Army 1668, Navy 10 1678
Passed Surgeons 41
Hospitals 425
Total Medical Corps 3000
The non-seceding states in 1860 had a population of men between
the ages of 18 and 45 years of 4,559,862. The seceding states had a
like population of 1,064,193 - over 4 to 1.
The border states gave to the south an army of 19,000 men, and
the slave-holding states returned the compliment by furnishing to the
United States an army of 89,009 men - over 5 to 1.
The aggregate enrollment in the United States army for the four
years war was 2,865,028 men. To oppose this force the aggregate
enrollment of the seceding states was 600,000 men. Thus New York and
Pennsylvania furnished 736,786 fighting men, while Illinois, Ohio and
Indiana responded to the Union call with 768,635 fighting men, and New
England states with the border and slave states responded with 679,586
men; and in addition to this the states west of the Mississippi river
(not counting Missouri) joined Delaware, New Jersey and the District
of Columbia with 99,337 negroes served to swell the numbers to 614,532
men. Thus providing four armies, either of them equal in numbers and
larger than the whole of the Confederate forces.
Of the numbers above stated the United States lost in killed and
died from wounds received in battles 110,070 men - about 4.7 per cent.
While the Confederate losses from like causes was 74,000 men or
about 9 per cent., the largest number of men in modern warfare that
ever fell around their standard. Compared with other modern wars the
Germans in the Franco-German war 3.1 per cent.; the Austrian war in
1886 2.6 per cent., and the Allies of the Crimean was 3.2 per cent.,
and in closer comparison the Light Brigade that made the renowned
charge at Ballaklava carried into the charge 673 men rank and file,
and lost 247 men of that number, or 36 per cent., while 73 Regiments
of the United States army sustained losses of over 50 per cent. in
single engagements, and of the Confederate army more than 50 Regiments
sustained losses of more than 50 per cent. From records at hand we
find First Texas at Antietam 82 percent., the Twenty-First Georgia at
Manassas 76 per cent., the Twenty-Sixth North Carolina at Gettysburg
71 per cent., the Eighth Tennessee at Stone River, 68 per cent.; the
7th S. Carolina at Manassas, 66 per cent., the First Alabama at
Chickamauga, 64 per cent.; the fifteenth Virginia at Antietam, 58 per
cent.; the Sixth Alabama at Seven Pines, 66 per cent., and many
others, well known in smaller commands, will show equal losses, while
we see the heaviest loss in the Franco-German was sustained by the
Third Westphalia Regiment at Mars-la-tour, which was 49 per cent.
Take the army of Tennessee and Mississippi under Gen. Braxton
Bragg, Sept. 19, 20, 1863, and from the report of that officer, from
an army of 40,000 men his loss was 17,095 at Chickamauga, thus
recording the bloodiest battle ever fought with gunpowder, to say
nothing of Murfresboro, Dec. 31, 1862, and Jan. 1, 1863, where the
same army lost one-third in killed and wounded. Thus is shown the
hardest fought battles of civilization and the bloodiest fields known
in the whole of Christendom.
The reports from the medical department show the defenses of
Vicksburg from the battle of Baton Rouge, Aug. 5, 1862, to the
evacuation of Jackson, Mississippi, July 19, 1863 the Confederate army
lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners 54,415 men - an army larger
than was ever assembled on any one battlefield under any Confederate
general.
From Jan. 1862 to July 1863, a period of 19 months, over 400,000
wounds were treated by the medical corps.
Of 600,000 men enlisted, the surgeon-general estimated that there
were killed and died from wounds and disease 200,000, or one-third of
the aggregate enlistment. That 200,000 were prisoners of war and held
indefinite periods by the United States. That out of the remaining
200,000; 100,000 were discharged, over age, or disabled and deserted
and 100,000 were surrendered.
COMPARISONS.
General Shafter, June 20th, 1898, with 35,000 men, arrives at
Santiago; 22nd, lands; 25th, encircles Santiago; July 3d, Admiral
Sampson's fleet destroys the fleet of Cervera - captures 13,000
prisoners. July 8th, Shafter demands the surrender of the Spanish
army at Santiago; 10th, bombards their forts; 12th, again demands
surrender; 14th, General Toral, commanding Santiago, formally
surrenders about 24,000 Spaniards.
General U.S. Grant, February 1863, moved an army to invest
Vicksburg, first by way of Holly Springs, then by Chickesaw Bayou,
then by Williams Canal, then by Lake Providence, then by Yazoo Pass,
then by Steele's Bayou, then by Miliken's Bend and New Carthage, cut
off, and then finally sent his army down the west side of the
Mississippi river, to Grand Gulf, and attacked from the rear and
below; fought at Port Gibson, at Raymond, at Jackson, at Edwards
Depot and Big Black river and after receiving reinforcements
augmenting his army to 150,000 men, laid siege to Vicksburg, which
lasted four months, and finally General Pemberton surrendered less
than 30,000 men.
Steel met steel.
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In this way ends, "Recollections of the Great War." I had heard of
this book throughout my life, from my father and other relatives, but
had never seen a copy. This re-creation was typed from a book loaned
me by my Uncle P.G. Hightower who anyone reading this text is in debt.
In copying, I tried not to change the text, even the spelling, but
during the work it became obvious that some errors were made by the
typesetter and were corrected. The page numbers in the Index were
changed to reflect a different size of paper.
The book which I now copy, is worn and yellowed from the many years.
The binding is separated, and often pages are torn. The faded pages
easily bring thoughts of the faded hopes of the Lost Cause.
The writer told of many people but little of himself. He was raised
in
in the
hopefully (with this effort) will not be forgotten. I think it would
please him to know that another "old soldier" undertook this effort to
keep his work from loss.
-- David J. Hightower