From a profile of Chamberlain in the war
He then took part in the Appomattox Campaign. Given a brigade command, Chamberlain continued to act with courage and resolve. On March 29, 1865, his brigade participated in a major skirmish at Lewis' Farm (Quaker Road) during Grant's final advance. Despite losses, another wound in the left arm and chest, and nearly being captured, he was successful and brevetted to the rank of major general by President Abraham Lincoln.
From Chamberlain's book "The Passing of the Armies"
Segment about fight at Lewis Farm
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Reed: Links to web sources
Germans in the 185th
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mstone/1860-70.html
Casualties
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfTable.htm
http://tioga.nygenweb.net/civiln17.htm
Lucius Randall, son of Orrin Randall, was killed at Gravelly Run, March 29th, 1865; Orrin Reed was killed in the same battle -- from History of Solon, NY
http://history.rays-place.com/ny/solon-ny.htm
NY State Military Museum - page for the 185th
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfMain.htm#photos
Newspaper clippings
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfCWN.htm
Photo: 1st Lt. Hiram Clark
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfPersonClarke.htm
New York history
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/MilAffairsNY.htm
Short history of the 185th
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyononda/WAR/18thregiment.html
David Weber ancestors included
ALFRED RORAPAUGH (1842-1881)
Company G, 185th Regiment, New York Infantry
Ezra Carter (Bunnell says Carter, CA Bunnell and Reed shot Mar 29 1865 in Battle of Gravely Run) Segment comes from Ancestors of Adam Gethman Gibbs
Lucinda A. Tanner, born 05 Dec 1842 in Freetown, Cortland Co.?, NY; died 22 Nov 1898 in (buried) Marathon, Cortland Co., NY; married Color Corporal Ezra C. Carter; born Bet. 1841 - 1842 in Freetown, Cortland Co., NY; died 29 Mar 1865 in Civil War Battle of Gravelly Run.
Complete list of 185th - US GenWeb archives
John Thirsk Duggleby - wounded March 29, 1865 at Gravely Run
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mstone/1860-70.html
Casualties
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfTable.htm
http://tioga.nygenweb.net/civiln17.htm
Lucius Randall, son of Orrin Randall, was killed at Gravelly Run, March 29th, 1865; Orrin Reed was killed in the same battle -- from History of Solon, NY
http://history.rays-place.com/ny/solon-ny.htm
NY State Military Museum - page for the 185th
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfMain.htm#photos
Newspaper clippings
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfCWN.htm
Photo: 1st Lt. Hiram Clark
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/185thInf/185thInfPersonClarke.htm
New York history
http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/MilAffairsNY.htm
Short history of the 185th
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyononda/WAR/18thregiment.html
David Weber ancestors included
ALFRED RORAPAUGH (1842-1881)
Company G, 185th Regiment, New York Infantry
Ezra Carter (Bunnell says Carter, CA Bunnell and Reed shot Mar 29 1865 in Battle of Gravely Run) Segment comes from Ancestors of Adam Gethman Gibbs
Lucinda A. Tanner, born 05 Dec 1842 in Freetown, Cortland Co.?, NY; died 22 Nov 1898 in (buried) Marathon, Cortland Co., NY; married Color Corporal Ezra C. Carter; born Bet. 1841 - 1842 in Freetown, Cortland Co., NY; died 29 Mar 1865 in Civil War Battle of Gravelly Run.
Complete list of 185th - US GenWeb archives
John Thirsk Duggleby - wounded March 29, 1865 at Gravely Run
Reed: Jeffrey Wood's book on the 185th
This is a posting from Wood on the Guestbook/forum In the 185th section at Cortland.edu
Name: Jeffrey Wood
E-Mail: PA198th@aol.com
Homepage Title: Under Chamberlains Flag
Homepage URL: http://Underchamberlainsflag.com
My book on the 185th New York and the 198th Pennsylvania Volunteers is now available either through your local bookstore or contacting me at Underchamberlainsflag.com. It was written for the decendants of the me who fought in the 185th New York and the 198th Pennsylvania to bring their story forward that has somehow fallen through the cracks of history. As a fellow decendant, please do not hesitate in contacting me regarding my research, experiences while researching or my collection. You are the focus audience of my book and I hope I have honored the men of Chamberlain's 1st Brigade as I intended.
Jeffrey Wood
Name: Jeffrey Wood
E-Mail: PA198th@aol.com
Homepage Title: Under Chamberlains Flag
Homepage URL: http://Underchamberlainsflag.com
My book on the 185th New York and the 198th Pennsylvania Volunteers is now available either through your local bookstore or contacting me at Underchamberlainsflag.com. It was written for the decendants of the me who fought in the 185th New York and the 198th Pennsylvania to bring their story forward that has somehow fallen through the cracks of history. As a fellow decendant, please do not hesitate in contacting me regarding my research, experiences while researching or my collection. You are the focus audience of my book and I hope I have honored the men of Chamberlain's 1st Brigade as I intended.
Jeffrey Wood
Reed: Material on the Cortland.edu website
Guestbook for the 185th
Posted on the Cortland.edu website:
During the 1930s and 1940s, the nephew of Charles A. Bunnell, Herman E. Bunnell, wrote several items for a newspaper in the near vicinity of Marathon, New York. Unfortunately, when the pieces were clipped neither the banner nor date was recorded. Charles E. Bunnell has been kind enough to transcribe two of these articles which make mention of the 185th and to send them to me.
An article from the Marathon [NY] Mirror, May 13, 1865 contributed by Charles E. Bunnell of La Plata, Maryland, whose great-grandfather, Charles Arnold Bunnell, was in the 185th and was killed March 29, 1865.
A Letter from Charles A. Bunnell to his brother, William H. Bunnell, November 30, 1864
Farmville, Va
Camp 185th NYV
Apr 16th 1865
Mr Bunnell
Dear Sir
Yours of the 7th at hand. You are right in supposing W.A. Bunnell should read C. A. Bunnell.
The shock of battle on 29th came late in P.M. and darkness came on long before our wounded & dead were brought. I was engaged until near midnight in burying the dead. Your Bro. fell so far from the position held during the night that his body was not found until morning. He was then found dead & buried by some of his comrades in the woods near where he fell.
The spot is on the "Lewis Farm" near the left of our line of battle & was marked. I had not become so intimately acquainted with him as to know his spiritual condition. This I regret much,
He was shot through the heart & must have died instantly. Seargt. Holmes saw him fall
Posted on the Cortland.edu website:
During the 1930s and 1940s, the nephew of Charles A. Bunnell, Herman E. Bunnell, wrote several items for a newspaper in the near vicinity of Marathon, New York. Unfortunately, when the pieces were clipped neither the banner nor date was recorded. Charles E. Bunnell has been kind enough to transcribe two of these articles which make mention of the 185th and to send them to me.
An article from the Marathon [NY] Mirror, May 13, 1865 contributed by Charles E. Bunnell of La Plata, Maryland, whose great-grandfather, Charles Arnold Bunnell, was in the 185th and was killed March 29, 1865.
A Letter from Charles A. Bunnell to his brother, William H. Bunnell, November 30, 1864
Farmville, Va
Camp 185th NYV
Apr 16th 1865
Mr Bunnell
Dear Sir
Yours of the 7th at hand. You are right in supposing W.A. Bunnell should read C. A. Bunnell.
The shock of battle on 29th came late in P.M. and darkness came on long before our wounded & dead were brought. I was engaged until near midnight in burying the dead. Your Bro. fell so far from the position held during the night that his body was not found until morning. He was then found dead & buried by some of his comrades in the woods near where he fell.
The spot is on the "Lewis Farm" near the left of our line of battle & was marked. I had not become so intimately acquainted with him as to know his spiritual condition. This I regret much,
He was shot through the heart & must have died instantly. Seargt. Holmes saw him fall
Reed: Cortland area history
The 76th New York Volunteer Infantry was one of the most famous of the New York units in the Civil War. It was raised in 1861 primarily from Cortland County and the surrounding areas (about a third of the men were from the Cherry Valley area). The 76th was in most of the major battles the Army of the Potomac fought from Second Bull Run through Petersburg, at which time the three-year enlistment of most of the men ran out and the 300 or so men remaining from the 1,100 who left Cortland either returned home or transferred to other units.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the 76th New York was one of the first infantry regiments on the field, holding down the extreme right of the Union line on the first day. The regiment took huge casualties in that battle - nearly one-third of its strength - including its commander Major Andrew J. Grover, the first infantry officer killed in the battle.
26,000 residents in 1860 census
Marathon, Cortland, Cincinnatus, Homer, McGraw
Powell C. PLUM enlisted in Cortland September 1864, in Company F, 185th Reg't N.Y. Vols. Though in full vigor of manhood, and seemingly in perfect health at the time of enlistment, the changes of climate was too much for him. He was taken very sick soon after arriving in Virginia and after nearly two months of severe suffering died December 15, 1864, at the hospital at City Point, Virginia.
George F. Winters enlisted with Captain STROWBRIDGE, and was mustered into the United Sttates service with Company F 185th Reg't N.Y.Vols. September 23d, 1864. Within one week of mustering he was in front of the enemy, near Petersburg, Virginia. He acquitted himself nobly as a soldier, participating in the battles of Peoble's Farm, Thatcher's Run, Weldon Roads, 2d Thatcher's Run, and Gravelly Run, and was killed in battle near Five Forks on the 29th day of March, 1865. We delight to honor his manhood.
HARRISON GIVENS was born at Dryden, N.Y., March 8, 1839. Enlisted in the service of the United States as a private in Company F, 185th New York State Volunteers, at Cortland, N.Y., Aug. 29, 1864, for the term of one year. Was discharged in the field, near Petersburg, Va., Dec. 12, 1864, by reason of promotion. He was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, with rank from Sept. 1, 1864. He was discharged by reason of disability Dec. 29, 1864. Just previous to his leaving the service he was severely attackd by pleurisy, which he contracted by taking a severe cold while doing duty on picket, and which undoubtedly permanently injured his health. He died at Cortland, N.Y., June 23, 1877, of consumption, leaving his wife surviving him. He was respected by all who knew him.
This is the grave of Joseph H. Kinney, the youngest soldier that lies buried in this cemetery. When but seventeen summers had passed over his head he enlisted in Cortland, in September 1864, in the 185th Regiment New York Volunteers, and was rejected on account of age and size. He again enlisted two weeks later in Norwich, N.Y., for the same regiment. He participated in all the battles of his regiment until the [25th?] of March, 1865, when in that short but terrible battle klnown as the battle of Gravelly Run he was instantly killed - shot through the head by a bullet from the enemy's gun.
Reed: Description of Gravely Run
Google map link
Posted on Cortland.edu website by H. E. Bunnell
During the 1930s and 1940s, the nephew of Charles A. Bunnell, Herman E. Bunnell, wrote several items for a newspaper in the near vicinity of Marathon, New York. Unfortunately, when the pieces were clipped neither the banner nor date was recorded. Charles E. Bunnell has been kind enough to transcribe two of these articles which make mention of the 185th and to send them to me.
NEWSPAPER: Unknown; possibly Whitney Point NY Reporter
DATE: March or April 1935
AUTHOR: Herman E. Bunnell
PHOTOCOPY WITH COMPILER
The Battle of Gravely Run
On March 29, 1865, the battle of Gravely Run in Virginia was fought in which the 185th New York regiment and the 198th Pennsylvania regiment were engaged. The Col. of the 198th was badly wounded and his horse killed and they fell back and left the 185th without support. The Confederate fire was close and rapid. About 180 men in the 185th were hit and over 30 killed. Company G. had perhaps more casualties than other companies. I think they carried the flag. Among the killed in Co. G. were 2nd Lieutenant Miner, color bearer Ezra Carter, Charles A. Bunnell and ___ Reed. One man who was in the battle said they were marching through the brush and one line of men rose and fired then dropped. Then another line rose and fired and dropped, and a third line also. One veteran who had been through the war said the Confederates fired a regular blizzard of bullets into the unsupported 185, the worst that he had ever seen.
Isaac Sherwood said that as they were going in that Lieut. Miner came along and said, "Maybe we will never drink again together." and handed him a drink and in a few minutes he was killed.
Gravely Run was fought between 4 o'clock and dark.
Charles A. Bunnell was killed in the brush and lay where he fell until the next morning. The next morning he was buried and his grave marked and Ezra Carter was buried in the open.
After Gen. Lee had surrendered Mr. George Tanner was sent down to get Ezra Carter's body and he also brought back Charles Bunnell's body. He got an escort of soldiers to go with him. They got Carter's body and then went to look for Bunnell's and found it. He shouted and the soldiers came with bayonets fixed, thinking he might have been attacked. There were guns lying about and they picked them up and put one in each coffin. Father (Wm. H. Bunnell) bought one of them. It is an Enfield musket made in England in 1863. It was picked up in the road and on the stock were wheel marks where it had been run over. The musket is marked R. I. S. It may have been a Confederate gun, as they had a good many of those English guns.
The 185th was marched and fought until April 9th and was in the battle line at Appomattox..
On one 9th of April I saw Isaac Sherwood and said to him, "Where were you a certain number of years ago?" He said, "I don't know." I told him Gen. Lee surrendered that day. Then he said, "I was in the battle line and saw the white flag come out and we were glad to see it."
The first Lieut. Hiram Clark sang "Hail Columbia" and marched his men behind the fence and they squatted down and a shell came over and struck and killed him -- the last man killed in the army of the Potomac. The 185th and other infantry regiments were called foot cavalry.
Another man in Co. G. was Abram Holland, brother-in-law of Charles A. Bunnell. He was on a furlough and said he would never come back alive. When he went in the battle of Gravely Run he gave his money and papers to the captain and said he would be killed but he came out without a scratch. Later he had the measles and died in a hospital in Washington. He was recovering from measles but so homesick. His wife, Sarah Bunnell Holland received two letters in the same mail. One said, "Come to Washington at once." The other said that he was dead.
John Gardner Bunnell went and got the body. It was buried in East Berkshire.
Steve Wood, the drum major was called out one night to play the long roll summoning the men to battle. They came out saying, "Where's the battle." The officer said, "Fall in line." They marched them off for a distance. It was for a drill. I told Clem. Arnold about it and he said he lost his hat that night. Ezra Carter and Reed are buried in the Marathon Cemetery. Bunnell was buried in the Berkshire cemetery.
=================
Fighting Dick and his Fighting Men
By George Skoch | Civil War Times
(Lt. Gen. Richard Heron Anderson’s Corps, referred to sometimes today as the Fourth Corps. )
Lee’s defeat at Fort Stedman sparked Union attacks against his weakened perimeter. “Several days passed this way,” Anderson wrote, “The enemy frequently feeling our lines, evidently under an impression that we were about to retire from them.”
By March 29, Anderson could muster only about 1,600 rifles to cover each of the three miles in his zone of command. That morning his thinning ranks along White Oak Road were a target of Grant’s spring offensive to cut the South Side Railroad and drive Lee out of both Petersburg and Richmond.
Three Union cavalry divisions under the aggressive Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan pushed beyond Anderson’s right flank toward Dinwiddie Court House. The Union V Corps, under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren, followed closely before peeling away from Sheridan’s powerful mounted columns to march northward on the Quaker Road, which pointed like an arrow at the heart of Anderson’s Corps. Meanwhile, Union Maj. Gen. Andrew Humphrey’s II Corps pressed Anderson’s left flank.
Rebel pickets felled trees across Quaker Road and opened a brisk fire, but failed to stop Warren’s infantrymen from crossing Gravelly Run, where the bridge spanning the deep stream lay in ruins. Anderson hurled Wise’s and Wallace’s brigades at the Union spearhead near the Lewis Farm, east of the roadway, and Moody’s and Ransom’s brigades soon joined the melee. “The firing,” remembered one of Ransom’s veterans, “became as heavy…as I ever heard.”
The battle raged through pinewoods and clearings, skirting Quaker Road for nearly two hours. Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain, whose brigade bore the brunt of Anderson’s assault, reported, “nothing but the most active exertions of field and staff officers kept the men where they were….” The battle finally turned when Warren fed several regiments and four Napoleons into the action. Near dusk, Anderson retired “into the breastworks” along White Oak Road, having lost more than 300 men against 380 Union casualties.
=======================
NY Times clipping (PDF)
Book view: The Longest Night By David J Eicher
Posted on Cortland.edu website by H. E. Bunnell
During the 1930s and 1940s, the nephew of Charles A. Bunnell, Herman E. Bunnell, wrote several items for a newspaper in the near vicinity of Marathon, New York. Unfortunately, when the pieces were clipped neither the banner nor date was recorded. Charles E. Bunnell has been kind enough to transcribe two of these articles which make mention of the 185th and to send them to me.
NEWSPAPER: Unknown; possibly Whitney Point NY Reporter
DATE: March or April 1935
AUTHOR: Herman E. Bunnell
PHOTOCOPY WITH COMPILER
The Battle of Gravely Run
On March 29, 1865, the battle of Gravely Run in Virginia was fought in which the 185th New York regiment and the 198th Pennsylvania regiment were engaged. The Col. of the 198th was badly wounded and his horse killed and they fell back and left the 185th without support. The Confederate fire was close and rapid. About 180 men in the 185th were hit and over 30 killed. Company G. had perhaps more casualties than other companies. I think they carried the flag. Among the killed in Co. G. were 2nd Lieutenant Miner, color bearer Ezra Carter, Charles A. Bunnell and ___ Reed. One man who was in the battle said they were marching through the brush and one line of men rose and fired then dropped. Then another line rose and fired and dropped, and a third line also. One veteran who had been through the war said the Confederates fired a regular blizzard of bullets into the unsupported 185, the worst that he had ever seen.
Isaac Sherwood said that as they were going in that Lieut. Miner came along and said, "Maybe we will never drink again together." and handed him a drink and in a few minutes he was killed.
Gravely Run was fought between 4 o'clock and dark.
Charles A. Bunnell was killed in the brush and lay where he fell until the next morning. The next morning he was buried and his grave marked and Ezra Carter was buried in the open.
After Gen. Lee had surrendered Mr. George Tanner was sent down to get Ezra Carter's body and he also brought back Charles Bunnell's body. He got an escort of soldiers to go with him. They got Carter's body and then went to look for Bunnell's and found it. He shouted and the soldiers came with bayonets fixed, thinking he might have been attacked. There were guns lying about and they picked them up and put one in each coffin. Father (Wm. H. Bunnell) bought one of them. It is an Enfield musket made in England in 1863. It was picked up in the road and on the stock were wheel marks where it had been run over. The musket is marked R. I. S. It may have been a Confederate gun, as they had a good many of those English guns.
The 185th was marched and fought until April 9th and was in the battle line at Appomattox..
On one 9th of April I saw Isaac Sherwood and said to him, "Where were you a certain number of years ago?" He said, "I don't know." I told him Gen. Lee surrendered that day. Then he said, "I was in the battle line and saw the white flag come out and we were glad to see it."
The first Lieut. Hiram Clark sang "Hail Columbia" and marched his men behind the fence and they squatted down and a shell came over and struck and killed him -- the last man killed in the army of the Potomac. The 185th and other infantry regiments were called foot cavalry.
Another man in Co. G. was Abram Holland, brother-in-law of Charles A. Bunnell. He was on a furlough and said he would never come back alive. When he went in the battle of Gravely Run he gave his money and papers to the captain and said he would be killed but he came out without a scratch. Later he had the measles and died in a hospital in Washington. He was recovering from measles but so homesick. His wife, Sarah Bunnell Holland received two letters in the same mail. One said, "Come to Washington at once." The other said that he was dead.
John Gardner Bunnell went and got the body. It was buried in East Berkshire.
Steve Wood, the drum major was called out one night to play the long roll summoning the men to battle. They came out saying, "Where's the battle." The officer said, "Fall in line." They marched them off for a distance. It was for a drill. I told Clem. Arnold about it and he said he lost his hat that night. Ezra Carter and Reed are buried in the Marathon Cemetery. Bunnell was buried in the Berkshire cemetery.
=================
Fighting Dick and his Fighting Men
By George Skoch | Civil War Times
(Lt. Gen. Richard Heron Anderson’s Corps, referred to sometimes today as the Fourth Corps. )
Lee’s defeat at Fort Stedman sparked Union attacks against his weakened perimeter. “Several days passed this way,” Anderson wrote, “The enemy frequently feeling our lines, evidently under an impression that we were about to retire from them.”
By March 29, Anderson could muster only about 1,600 rifles to cover each of the three miles in his zone of command. That morning his thinning ranks along White Oak Road were a target of Grant’s spring offensive to cut the South Side Railroad and drive Lee out of both Petersburg and Richmond.
Three Union cavalry divisions under the aggressive Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan pushed beyond Anderson’s right flank toward Dinwiddie Court House. The Union V Corps, under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren, followed closely before peeling away from Sheridan’s powerful mounted columns to march northward on the Quaker Road, which pointed like an arrow at the heart of Anderson’s Corps. Meanwhile, Union Maj. Gen. Andrew Humphrey’s II Corps pressed Anderson’s left flank.
Rebel pickets felled trees across Quaker Road and opened a brisk fire, but failed to stop Warren’s infantrymen from crossing Gravelly Run, where the bridge spanning the deep stream lay in ruins. Anderson hurled Wise’s and Wallace’s brigades at the Union spearhead near the Lewis Farm, east of the roadway, and Moody’s and Ransom’s brigades soon joined the melee. “The firing,” remembered one of Ransom’s veterans, “became as heavy…as I ever heard.”
The battle raged through pinewoods and clearings, skirting Quaker Road for nearly two hours. Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain, whose brigade bore the brunt of Anderson’s assault, reported, “nothing but the most active exertions of field and staff officers kept the men where they were….” The battle finally turned when Warren fed several regiments and four Napoleons into the action. Near dusk, Anderson retired “into the breastworks” along White Oak Road, having lost more than 300 men against 380 Union casualties.
=======================
Virginia, Dinwiddie County, March 29, 1865
US Major General Philip H. Sheridan arrived near City Point after his raid through central Virginia. Grant launched his spring offensive on March 29 and sent Sheridan with three cavalry divisions to turn the right flank of CS General Robert E. Lee’s Petersburg defenses. Sheridan was to attack Lee if he moved out of his fortifications. If he did not, the cavalry commander was to wreck the Richmond & Danville Railroad and the South Side Railroad, Lee’s last supply lines into Petersburg and Richmond. As the cavalrymen rode toward Dinwiddie Court House, they were supported by two infantry corps: the V Corps, under US Major General Gouverneur K. Warren, and the II Corps, under US Major General Andrew A. Humphreys.
The 17,000-man V Corps crossed Rowanty Creek on the Vaughan Road in the rain on March 29 and turned north on the Quaker Road, with US Brigadier General Joshua L. Chamberlain’s brigade in the vanguard. Forcing passage across Gravelly Run, Chamberlain approached the fields of the Lewis farm. The brigades of CS Brigadier Generals Henry A. Wise and William H. Wallace were waiting on the other side, entrenched along the tree line. CS Lieutenant General Richard H. Anderson ordered them forward to crush Chamberlain before he could be reinforced. The Confederate attack pushed back the Federal left, but Chamberlain, although wounded, rallied his troops with the help of a four-gun battery. Reinforced, Chamberlain counterattacked and captured the enemy’s earthworks. The Confederates retreated to White Oak Road where they had prepared a strong line of trenches.
Estimated Casualties: 381 US, 371 CS
==========================
NY Times clipping (PDF)
Book view: The Longest Night By David J Eicher
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Reed: Correspondence
The So. Calif. Genealogical Society reports the availability of photos of US Civil War Soldiers. 80,000 are indexed. You can call (717-245-3434) or write Michael J. Winey, Curator - Dept. of Army - US Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA 17013-5998. Needed is the soldier's name, state, regiment and company. If the picture is found, you will receive a photocopy & info on how to order a print.
From: Alfred W. Crosby [mailto:acrosby@nantucket.net]
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 7:26 AM
To: Ric Manning
Subject: Re: Civil War battle of Lewis Farm
Dear Ric,
Thanks for your letter. it is one of the very, very few pieces of corroborative evidence I have that the skirmish at Lewis Farm ever happened or that Elisha Crosby ever really existed. His death somehow near killed the family. War, y'know, just may be bad for people. If you find any more pertinent information, please tell me,
Al
On Jul 3, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Ric Manning wrote:
Hello Prof. Cosby,
I can across your 1998 article “Consequences of the Skirmish at Lewis Farm” in American Heritage while looking for details about that particular battle. I also have an ancestor who, like Elisha Cosby, was wounded in that fight on March 29 and died the next day at City Point. Orrin C. Reed, my great-great-great grandfather, had enlisted at Cortland County served in Company G of the 185th Regiment. Lt. Hiram Clark, who is mentioned in your article, was also in that company.
I had found very few details about the fight on that particular day and I appreciated your description. I have been reading about Joshua Chamberlain, the hero of Gettysburg, and was surprised to learn that he was in command of that operation.
If you have any more information about that battle or research sources you could point me to, I would be very appreciative.
Thanks again for an good read.
From: Alfred W. Crosby [mailto:acrosby@nantucket.net]
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 7:26 AM
To: Ric Manning
Subject: Re: Civil War battle of Lewis Farm
Dear Ric,
Thanks for your letter. it is one of the very, very few pieces of corroborative evidence I have that the skirmish at Lewis Farm ever happened or that Elisha Crosby ever really existed. His death somehow near killed the family. War, y'know, just may be bad for people. If you find any more pertinent information, please tell me,
Al
On Jul 3, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Ric Manning wrote:
Hello Prof. Cosby,
I can across your 1998 article “Consequences of the Skirmish at Lewis Farm” in American Heritage while looking for details about that particular battle. I also have an ancestor who, like Elisha Cosby, was wounded in that fight on March 29 and died the next day at City Point. Orrin C. Reed, my great-great-great grandfather, had enlisted at Cortland County served in Company G of the 185th Regiment. Lt. Hiram Clark, who is mentioned in your article, was also in that company.
I had found very few details about the fight on that particular day and I appreciated your description. I have been reading about Joshua Chamberlain, the hero of Gettysburg, and was surprised to learn that he was in command of that operation.
If you have any more information about that battle or research sources you could point me to, I would be very appreciative.
Thanks again for an good read.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Woodfin: Family and brothers
SC Woodfin's obit says four Woodfin brothers enlist together at Lavern, TN, (or at Knoxville - UDC album) Oct. 14, 1862. Moses, 35, White (Hugh Lawson), 22, Tom, 18, and Samuel, 22 (according to his obit) or 24 (according to birth date 1838).
Obit said Tom was killed in December before battle of Murfreesboro. Also says Moses and White captured and sent to Union Prison in Rock Island. Confirmed by Ancestry search of prison records list Moses and H.L. Woodfin.
Moses - Co. B 45th Infantry - captured 12-4-1863 Chattanooga, Battle of Missionary Ridge.
Description of Rock Island prison.
Ancestry.com Confederacy list of soldiers shows T Woodfin enlisting in TN18 Inf., Company F.
From Murfreesboro Post story about Battle of Stone's River:
http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=6224
It was a case of so close, yet so far away for the Confederate infantrymen who were encamped around their hometown, but not free to come and go. For those from nearby counties like Cannon and DeKalb and the temptation to just go home must have been strong. After all, most of the troops had just volunteered for a year.
Wisely, its commanders gave the unit some leave in December 1862 in the days before the Battle of Stones River. Historian Larry J. Daniel recounted what followed in his “Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee.” Soldiers from the 45th returned to camp loaded with holiday treats, cakes, cookies, pies and other battlefield rarities. Cleverly, the men of the 20th Tennessee hatched a battle plan of their own. They challenged the 45th to a snowball fight. While the battle was being hotly contested, a raiding party from the 20th sneaked into the 45th’s camp and made off with many of the sweets.
Bedford County Biographical Index
MOSES WOODFIN, farmer, was born in Bedford County, Tenn., March 7, 1829, and of English-Irish lineage. His father, Samuel Woodfin, was born in Buncomb County, North Carolina, in 1791, and about 1815 married Maria Barnhill, a native of South Carolina, born December 9, 1798, and to them were born fifteen children. The father died April 29, 1863, and the mother in the same county March 8, 1863. Our subject received a good practical education and has followed farming as his chief occupation. He learned the trade of wheelwright which he followed in a regular way for over fifteen years. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Confederate Army, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry, and participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. At Chickamauga he was wounded and at Missionary Ridge he was wounded again, captured, and taken to Rock Island, Ill., where he remained a prisoner until the end of the war. September 11, 1856, he was married to Miss Rachel A. Clark, daughter of William Clark, and the fruits of this union were eight children--three sons and five daughters; the sons are William J., Samuel N. and James A. P.; the daughters: Mollie E., Emma L., Alice, Ida and Maggie L. Mr. Woodfin is a Democrat, a Mason, and he and wife and five children are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Woodfin, our subject's wife, was born in Rutherford County, Tenn., August 9, 1835. Her father was born in North Carolina, in 1807, and her mother in 1817. Her father died October 20, 1881, and was of Irish lineage. Our subject's grandfather, Nicholas Woodfin, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was distinguished for his gallantry and bravery on many occasions. Our subject's father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of New Orleans.
Woodfin family history
Edward, John and Thomas Woodfin were born in Cheshire County, England. Early in the spring of 1718 the three brothers sailed for America. In the fall of that year they landed on the shore of the Old Dominion after a trying voyage with many months of hardships. They were almost exhausted when they landed and were practically without food. From the port of entry they gradually made their way up the James River section searching for new homes. They settled in James County, Virginia which later became, and still is, Powhatan County, Virginia.
Samuel's father, Samuel
Samuel Woodfin II was a civil engineer. Samuel served in the Indian War and the War of 1812 at the Battle of New Orleans.
Samuel Woodfin, the son of Nicholas and Hannah Woodfin was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, on April 9, 1789. He was a civil engineer. He married Mariah Barnhill of Union, South Carolina, who was born December 9, 1796 and died March 8, 1863 in Fosterville, Tenn. Samuel Woodfin was one of the first volunteers to the call of Andrew Jackson from Rutherford County, Tenn., and was a valiant soldier in both the Indian Wars and in the battle of New Orleans against the British in 1812. Samuel Woodfin died at Fosterville April 29, 1863. To this union were born fifteen children
Grandfather Nicholas fought with a Militia company from Ohio in the War of 1812
Capt. Joel Collins Company lists Pvt. Nicholas Woodfin
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohbutler/cyc/093.htm
Nicholas Woodfin served in the Indian War in 1774, the War of Independence as an Indian spy, and the War of 1812.
(Source: United Daughters of the Confederacy by Turner Publishing Company 1999)
Samuel willed Nicholas: to Nicholas Woodfin a mare and colt, 3 cows and 4 sheep
Samuel Chase was one of 15 children.
Four brothers who enlisted
Thomas 19
Hugh 22
SamC 24
Moses 33
Obit said Tom was killed in December before battle of Murfreesboro. Also says Moses and White captured and sent to Union Prison in Rock Island. Confirmed by Ancestry search of prison records list Moses and H.L. Woodfin.
Moses - Co. B 45th Infantry - captured 12-4-1863 Chattanooga, Battle of Missionary Ridge.
Description of Rock Island prison.
Ancestry.com Confederacy list of soldiers shows T Woodfin enlisting in TN18 Inf., Company F.
From Murfreesboro Post story about Battle of Stone's River:
http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=6224
It was a case of so close, yet so far away for the Confederate infantrymen who were encamped around their hometown, but not free to come and go. For those from nearby counties like Cannon and DeKalb and the temptation to just go home must have been strong. After all, most of the troops had just volunteered for a year.
Wisely, its commanders gave the unit some leave in December 1862 in the days before the Battle of Stones River. Historian Larry J. Daniel recounted what followed in his “Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee.” Soldiers from the 45th returned to camp loaded with holiday treats, cakes, cookies, pies and other battlefield rarities. Cleverly, the men of the 20th Tennessee hatched a battle plan of their own. They challenged the 45th to a snowball fight. While the battle was being hotly contested, a raiding party from the 20th sneaked into the 45th’s camp and made off with many of the sweets.
Bedford County Biographical Index
MOSES WOODFIN, farmer, was born in Bedford County, Tenn., March 7, 1829, and of English-Irish lineage. His father, Samuel Woodfin, was born in Buncomb County, North Carolina, in 1791, and about 1815 married Maria Barnhill, a native of South Carolina, born December 9, 1798, and to them were born fifteen children. The father died April 29, 1863, and the mother in the same county March 8, 1863. Our subject received a good practical education and has followed farming as his chief occupation. He learned the trade of wheelwright which he followed in a regular way for over fifteen years. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Confederate Army, Forty-fifth Tennessee Infantry, and participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. At Chickamauga he was wounded and at Missionary Ridge he was wounded again, captured, and taken to Rock Island, Ill., where he remained a prisoner until the end of the war. September 11, 1856, he was married to Miss Rachel A. Clark, daughter of William Clark, and the fruits of this union were eight children--three sons and five daughters; the sons are William J., Samuel N. and James A. P.; the daughters: Mollie E., Emma L., Alice, Ida and Maggie L. Mr. Woodfin is a Democrat, a Mason, and he and wife and five children are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Woodfin, our subject's wife, was born in Rutherford County, Tenn., August 9, 1835. Her father was born in North Carolina, in 1807, and her mother in 1817. Her father died October 20, 1881, and was of Irish lineage. Our subject's grandfather, Nicholas Woodfin, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was distinguished for his gallantry and bravery on many occasions. Our subject's father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of New Orleans.
Woodfin family history
Edward, John and Thomas Woodfin were born in Cheshire County, England. Early in the spring of 1718 the three brothers sailed for America. In the fall of that year they landed on the shore of the Old Dominion after a trying voyage with many months of hardships. They were almost exhausted when they landed and were practically without food. From the port of entry they gradually made their way up the James River section searching for new homes. They settled in James County, Virginia which later became, and still is, Powhatan County, Virginia.
Samuel's father, Samuel
Samuel Woodfin II was a civil engineer. Samuel served in the Indian War and the War of 1812 at the Battle of New Orleans.
Samuel Woodfin, the son of Nicholas and Hannah Woodfin was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, on April 9, 1789. He was a civil engineer. He married Mariah Barnhill of Union, South Carolina, who was born December 9, 1796 and died March 8, 1863 in Fosterville, Tenn. Samuel Woodfin was one of the first volunteers to the call of Andrew Jackson from Rutherford County, Tenn., and was a valiant soldier in both the Indian Wars and in the battle of New Orleans against the British in 1812. Samuel Woodfin died at Fosterville April 29, 1863. To this union were born fifteen children
Grandfather Nicholas fought with a Militia company from Ohio in the War of 1812
Capt. Joel Collins Company lists Pvt. Nicholas Woodfin
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohbutler/cyc/093.htm
Nicholas Woodfin served in the Indian War in 1774, the War of Independence as an Indian spy, and the War of 1812.
(Source: United Daughters of the Confederacy by Turner Publishing Company 1999)
Samuel willed Nicholas: to Nicholas Woodfin a mare and colt, 3 cows and 4 sheep
Samuel Chase was one of 15 children.
Four brothers who enlisted
Thomas 19
Hugh 22
SamC 24
Moses 33
Tullahoma: Spencer rifle
From Murfreesboro Post:
In a scene that couldn’t be repeated today an inventor walked into the White House in 1863 with a rifle and a supply of cartridges.
That man was Christopher M. Spencer, a former employee of Samuel Colt.
The Connecticut native walked past the sentries and straight into President Abraham Lincoln’s office.
The discussion that followed led to a meeting the following afternoon. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton joined Lincoln and Spencer for some target practice near the still incomplete Washington Monument.
Eventually, the U.S. government ordered some 13,171 rifles and carbines along with some 58 million rounds of ammunition.
Spencer had invented his rife in 1859 and patented it in 1860 before the start of the Civil War, but the government had been slow to appreciate its value. It was a seven-shot repeater that had a firing rate of between 14-20 shots per minute, compared to the two or three shots per minute of a conventional Springfield muzzleloading rifle.
It was a magazine-fed, lever-operated rifle chambered for the 56-56 Spencer rimfire cartridge. Cartridges were loaded with 45 grains of black powder with the bullet approximately .52-caliber.
The lever extracted the used shell and fed a new cartridge from the magazine. The hammer was then manually cocked. Once empty, the tube magazine could be rapidly loaded either by dropping in fresh cartridges or from a device called the Blakeslee cartridge box, which contained up to 10 tubes with seven cartridges each, which could be emptied in the magazine tube in the butt stock of the rifle.
Despite the impressive accuracy and firepower, the Spencer had its critics among the military establishment. With its rapid fire, more ammo was necessary. The cartridges were expensive, and because of the number of rounds needed, units would need larger wagon trains. The cartridges were also very smoky and a soldier firing at maximum capacity would create so much haze it was difficult to see the enemy. The price of the repeaters was also a sticking point. Springfields cost $18 a piece compared to $40 for a much heavier Spencer.
The weapon was first adopted by the U.S. Navy and finally the Army, but Spencer was allowed to do demonstrations for Union armies. He captured the attention of the Gen. William S. Rosecrans and the generals of the Army of the Cumberland during a demonstration in Murfreesboro.
Spencer’s repeater proved ideal for mounted infantry and cavalry.
Col. John T. Wilder’s Brigade” bought its own Spencers after witnessing the demonstration at Murfreesboro. Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer was another early advocate. Two regiments of his Michigan cavalry used the repeaters with great effect during the Gettysburg campaign on the East Cavalry Field and at Hanover, Penn.
In a scene that couldn’t be repeated today an inventor walked into the White House in 1863 with a rifle and a supply of cartridges.
That man was Christopher M. Spencer, a former employee of Samuel Colt.
The Connecticut native walked past the sentries and straight into President Abraham Lincoln’s office.
The discussion that followed led to a meeting the following afternoon. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton joined Lincoln and Spencer for some target practice near the still incomplete Washington Monument.
Eventually, the U.S. government ordered some 13,171 rifles and carbines along with some 58 million rounds of ammunition.
Spencer had invented his rife in 1859 and patented it in 1860 before the start of the Civil War, but the government had been slow to appreciate its value. It was a seven-shot repeater that had a firing rate of between 14-20 shots per minute, compared to the two or three shots per minute of a conventional Springfield muzzleloading rifle.
It was a magazine-fed, lever-operated rifle chambered for the 56-56 Spencer rimfire cartridge. Cartridges were loaded with 45 grains of black powder with the bullet approximately .52-caliber.
The lever extracted the used shell and fed a new cartridge from the magazine. The hammer was then manually cocked. Once empty, the tube magazine could be rapidly loaded either by dropping in fresh cartridges or from a device called the Blakeslee cartridge box, which contained up to 10 tubes with seven cartridges each, which could be emptied in the magazine tube in the butt stock of the rifle.
Despite the impressive accuracy and firepower, the Spencer had its critics among the military establishment. With its rapid fire, more ammo was necessary. The cartridges were expensive, and because of the number of rounds needed, units would need larger wagon trains. The cartridges were also very smoky and a soldier firing at maximum capacity would create so much haze it was difficult to see the enemy. The price of the repeaters was also a sticking point. Springfields cost $18 a piece compared to $40 for a much heavier Spencer.
The weapon was first adopted by the U.S. Navy and finally the Army, but Spencer was allowed to do demonstrations for Union armies. He captured the attention of the Gen. William S. Rosecrans and the generals of the Army of the Cumberland during a demonstration in Murfreesboro.
Spencer’s repeater proved ideal for mounted infantry and cavalry.
Col. John T. Wilder’s Brigade” bought its own Spencers after witnessing the demonstration at Murfreesboro. Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer was another early advocate. Two regiments of his Michigan cavalry used the repeaters with great effect during the Gettysburg campaign on the East Cavalry Field and at Hanover, Penn.
Tullahoma: Wilder
THE BATTLE OF HOOVER'S GAP
(A Paper read by General Wilder before the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, in 1907; printed in Sketches of War History, VI, 168-174.)
(Note on Wilder: John Thomas Wilder (Jan. 31, 1830-Oct. 20, 1917), soldier and industrialist, was born in Hunter Village, New York. The son of Reuben and Mary Wilder, John T. Wilder served as an apprenticed draftsman in a millwright plant in Ohio. In 1852 Wilder established a millwright plant of his own in Greensburg, Indiana and worked there until the outbreak of the Civil War.)
On 3 o'clock on the morning of June 24th Wilder's bri-gade passed south through Murfreesboro and took the ad-vance of the Fourteenth Corps, with General J. J. Reynolds following as the advanced division of Thomas' infantry. The mounted infantry moved forward at a quick walk towards Hoover's Gap, ten miles south of Murfreesboro, where a bri-gade of cavalry under General A. Buford stood guard to pre-vent the passing of our forces. Hoover's Gap was a narrow valley through a line of lumpy hills, some four miles in ex-tent and about three hundred feet high, the hills being wood-ed and thickly grown with underbrush and green briers, making it impracticable for cavalry. The turnpike, a good macadamized road, wound through this narrow pass some four miles in extent, following the little brook, one of the headwaters of Stone's River.
Our advance guard, consisting of five companies of the Seventy-second Indiana and twenty-five brigade scouts, all under Lieutenant-Colonel Kirkpatrick, Seventy-second Indi-ana, came suddenly on the enemy's pickets about a mile north of the entrance to the gap. We at once charged them at a gallop in a column of fours, surprising and dispersing Bu-ford's command, who were in bivouac at the gap, routing them in disorder, without even time to saddle or mount their horses, and the brigade pushed on through the gap, and not even a scout or messenger of the enemy being ahead of us to give the alarm to the enemy's infantry, under General Bate, supposed to be at the summit of the gap, where the turnpike descends to the valley of the Garrison fork of Duck River, running west at right angles to the line of Hoover's Gap. I decided to move rapidly on, intending to surprise the enemy's infantry, the same as we had surprised and dispersed their cavalry. Judge of my astonishment, when we reached their supposed position, to find no force there. Looking down the valley to the village of Beech Grove, two miles to the west, down the valley of the Garrison fork, we could see the tents of an encampment. I at once halted the command, dismount, and deployed three regiments of my force in a line across the road and gap, with the flanks retired, keep-ing the Ninety-eighth Illinois in reserve, put the Eighteenth Indiana Battery in position to cover any advance of the ene-my, and sent Lieutenant-Colonel Kirkpatrick, with his five companies and the scouts, to stir up the enemy, which they did in fine style. General William B. Bate commanded the brigade, which belonged to General A. P. Stewart's division of four brigades of infantry, placed along the valley of Garrison fork, and seemed to be entirely unaware of our advance. Many of the officers of Bate's brigade were at a spring hold-ing a Masonic picnic in honor of St. John, it being the 24th of June, St. John's day. Colonel Kirkpatrick rode into their camp and had time to take seven wagons loaded with tobac-co out with him and bring them back to our men, who had "tobacco to burn." General Bate, supposing it to be a cav-alry dash, aroused his men and came speedily up to attack us. We allowed him to come within about one hundred yards up a gentle slope in front of our line when we opened a ter-rible fire from our Spencer rifles, and Captain Lilly poured double-shotted canister from his ten-pound Rodman guns in-to their lines, which staggered and repulsed them with severe loss. Bate's Twentieth Tennessee Infantry tried to turn the right flank of the Seventeenth Indiana in the forest at our right, when the Ninety-eighth Illinois quickly moved up the hill and doubled them up by a charge on their left, hurling them back in confusion out of reach, and they were compelled to retreat beyond reach of our file, and other troops were sent to their assistance. Then they came up more cautiously, and opened on us with two batteries at a distance of about half a mile, with a rapid fire, which did little execution. While this was going on, Captain Rice, adjutant-general of the division, came riding speedily to the front with orders from General Reynolds to me to fall back immediately, as the division was six or eight miles in our rear, having stopped to repair a bridge, without letting me know of it. I told him I would hold this position against any force, and to tell General Reynolds to come on without hurrying, as there was no danger of our being driven out of the position. Capt. Rice repeated his order for me to fall back, and I told him I would take the responsibility of remaining where I was, and that if General Reynolds were on the ground he would not give such an order. Capt. Rice said that he had no discretion in the matter, and that if I did not obey the order he would put me in arrest and give the command to Colonel Miller, who would fall back as ordered. I declined to obey the or-der of arrest, and requested Captain Rice to return to Gen-eral Reynolds and tell him we had driven their force back, and could not be driven by any forces that could come at us. He then left just as the second attack was being made., This move was repulsed without difficulty, and when the enemy had fallen back out of range, General Rosecrans, with General Thomas and General Garfield, came riding up with their staff and escort. General Rosecrans came up to me and asked what we had done, and I told him in a few words, and also told him I had taken the responsibility of disobeying the order of General Reynolds to fall back, knowing that we could hold the position, and also felt sure that General Reyn-olds would have approved of my action had he been present. General Reynolds just then came riding up in advance of his forces, and General Rosecrans said to him: "Wilder has done right. Promote him, promote him," and General Reynolds, after looking over the situation said to me: "You did right, and should be promoted and not censured."
(A Paper read by General Wilder before the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, in 1907; printed in Sketches of War History, VI, 168-174.)
(Note on Wilder: John Thomas Wilder (Jan. 31, 1830-Oct. 20, 1917), soldier and industrialist, was born in Hunter Village, New York. The son of Reuben and Mary Wilder, John T. Wilder served as an apprenticed draftsman in a millwright plant in Ohio. In 1852 Wilder established a millwright plant of his own in Greensburg, Indiana and worked there until the outbreak of the Civil War.)
On 3 o'clock on the morning of June 24th Wilder's bri-gade passed south through Murfreesboro and took the ad-vance of the Fourteenth Corps, with General J. J. Reynolds following as the advanced division of Thomas' infantry. The mounted infantry moved forward at a quick walk towards Hoover's Gap, ten miles south of Murfreesboro, where a bri-gade of cavalry under General A. Buford stood guard to pre-vent the passing of our forces. Hoover's Gap was a narrow valley through a line of lumpy hills, some four miles in ex-tent and about three hundred feet high, the hills being wood-ed and thickly grown with underbrush and green briers, making it impracticable for cavalry. The turnpike, a good macadamized road, wound through this narrow pass some four miles in extent, following the little brook, one of the headwaters of Stone's River.
Our advance guard, consisting of five companies of the Seventy-second Indiana and twenty-five brigade scouts, all under Lieutenant-Colonel Kirkpatrick, Seventy-second Indi-ana, came suddenly on the enemy's pickets about a mile north of the entrance to the gap. We at once charged them at a gallop in a column of fours, surprising and dispersing Bu-ford's command, who were in bivouac at the gap, routing them in disorder, without even time to saddle or mount their horses, and the brigade pushed on through the gap, and not even a scout or messenger of the enemy being ahead of us to give the alarm to the enemy's infantry, under General Bate, supposed to be at the summit of the gap, where the turnpike descends to the valley of the Garrison fork of Duck River, running west at right angles to the line of Hoover's Gap. I decided to move rapidly on, intending to surprise the enemy's infantry, the same as we had surprised and dispersed their cavalry. Judge of my astonishment, when we reached their supposed position, to find no force there. Looking down the valley to the village of Beech Grove, two miles to the west, down the valley of the Garrison fork, we could see the tents of an encampment. I at once halted the command, dismount, and deployed three regiments of my force in a line across the road and gap, with the flanks retired, keep-ing the Ninety-eighth Illinois in reserve, put the Eighteenth Indiana Battery in position to cover any advance of the ene-my, and sent Lieutenant-Colonel Kirkpatrick, with his five companies and the scouts, to stir up the enemy, which they did in fine style. General William B. Bate commanded the brigade, which belonged to General A. P. Stewart's division of four brigades of infantry, placed along the valley of Garrison fork, and seemed to be entirely unaware of our advance. Many of the officers of Bate's brigade were at a spring hold-ing a Masonic picnic in honor of St. John, it being the 24th of June, St. John's day. Colonel Kirkpatrick rode into their camp and had time to take seven wagons loaded with tobac-co out with him and bring them back to our men, who had "tobacco to burn." General Bate, supposing it to be a cav-alry dash, aroused his men and came speedily up to attack us. We allowed him to come within about one hundred yards up a gentle slope in front of our line when we opened a ter-rible fire from our Spencer rifles, and Captain Lilly poured double-shotted canister from his ten-pound Rodman guns in-to their lines, which staggered and repulsed them with severe loss. Bate's Twentieth Tennessee Infantry tried to turn the right flank of the Seventeenth Indiana in the forest at our right, when the Ninety-eighth Illinois quickly moved up the hill and doubled them up by a charge on their left, hurling them back in confusion out of reach, and they were compelled to retreat beyond reach of our file, and other troops were sent to their assistance. Then they came up more cautiously, and opened on us with two batteries at a distance of about half a mile, with a rapid fire, which did little execution. While this was going on, Captain Rice, adjutant-general of the division, came riding speedily to the front with orders from General Reynolds to me to fall back immediately, as the division was six or eight miles in our rear, having stopped to repair a bridge, without letting me know of it. I told him I would hold this position against any force, and to tell General Reynolds to come on without hurrying, as there was no danger of our being driven out of the position. Capt. Rice repeated his order for me to fall back, and I told him I would take the responsibility of remaining where I was, and that if General Reynolds were on the ground he would not give such an order. Capt. Rice said that he had no discretion in the matter, and that if I did not obey the order he would put me in arrest and give the command to Colonel Miller, who would fall back as ordered. I declined to obey the or-der of arrest, and requested Captain Rice to return to Gen-eral Reynolds and tell him we had driven their force back, and could not be driven by any forces that could come at us. He then left just as the second attack was being made., This move was repulsed without difficulty, and when the enemy had fallen back out of range, General Rosecrans, with General Thomas and General Garfield, came riding up with their staff and escort. General Rosecrans came up to me and asked what we had done, and I told him in a few words, and also told him I had taken the responsibility of disobeying the order of General Reynolds to fall back, knowing that we could hold the position, and also felt sure that General Reyn-olds would have approved of my action had he been present. General Reynolds just then came riding up in advance of his forces, and General Rosecrans said to him: "Wilder has done right. Promote him, promote him," and General Reynolds, after looking over the situation said to me: "You did right, and should be promoted and not censured."
Tullahoma: Letters by member of Wilder's cavalry
Two letters written by Col. James Connolly, taken from Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland, 1959
pg. 89
Wartrace, Tenn., July 5, 1863
Dear wife:
At length I have a little time to devote to you, but the mail leaves for Murfreesboro so soon that I will not have time to scarcely commence telling you all I want to, and this letter, be it ever so short, must get off in this mail, for you have been waiting and watching too long now. I feel good all over this morning, happy as a lark, and I can't tell why, unless it is because we have seen so much hard service, within the past 12 days, have worked so well and fought so well as to win the applause of our fellow soldiers, and that I am through it all safe. Our brigade has rendered notable service in this great army, so much so, that General Rosecrans, two days since, sent a letter of congratulation to our brigade commander saying that we would be mentioned in "orders" as soon as possible, and requesting that 300 men from the several regiments of the brigade, should be sent to his headquarters to serve as his "body guard." You may think this a trifle, but soldiers are in some respects like children, and are pleased with trifles.
On the morning of June 24th, at 3 o'clock, we left camp 5 miles north of Murfreesboro, and started to the "front," in advance of everything. As we passed through the camps in Murfreesboro, the rattle of drums, sounding of bugles, and clatter of wagons, told us plainly that the whole army was to follow in our wake, and we knew full well, from the direction we were taking, that a few hours march would bring the brigade to some of the strongholds of the enemy, so there was silence in the column as we moved along through the mud, and every ear was strained to catch the sound of the first gun of our advance guard that would tell us of the presence of the enemy.
Soon after daylight a heavy rain commenced falling which continued without interruption all day and night, and has continued ever since, with only a few hours cessation at a time. About noon the first gun was fired, and then we pushed ahead rapidly, for we were nearing the formidable "Hoover's Gap," which it was supposed would cost a great many lives to pass through, and our brigade commander determined to surprise the enemy if possible, by a rapid march, and make a bold dash to pass through the "Gap" and hold it with our brigade alone until the rest of the army could get up. We soon came into the camp of a regiment of cavalry which was so much surprised by our sudden appearance that they scattered through the woods and over the hills in every direction, every fellow for himself, and all making the best time they could bareback, on foot and every other way, leaving all their tents, wagons, baggage, commissary stores and indeed everything in our hands, but we didn't stop for anything, on we pushed, our boys, with their Spencer rifles, keeping up a continual popping in front. Soon we reached the celebrated "Gap" on the run.
This "Gap" is formed by a range of hills that run westwardly from the Cumberland mountains, and the pike runs for about two miles through between these hills; the valley is barely wide enough to admit the passage of two wagons side by side, and the hills upon either side command the valley completely; as we swept through the valley with our 1,500 horsemen on a gallop we noticed the lines of entrenchments crowning the hills, but they were deserted; the enemy was surprised and flying before us, so we pushed onward until we passed entirely through the "Gap," when a puff of white smoke from a hill about half a mile in front of us, then a dull heavy roar, then the shrieking of a shell told us we could advance no further as we had reached their infantry and artillery force. But we had done enough, had advanced 6 miles further than ordered or expected possible, and had taken a point which it was expected would require a large part of the army to take; but the serious question with us now was: "Could we alone hold it in the presence of superior force?" We were at least 12 miles in advance of our army, and from prisoners we learned that we were confronted with 4 brigades of infantry and 4 batteries. The mail is ready. Will continue story in another letter.
Your husband.
Wartrace, Tenn., July 5, 1863.
Dear wife:
Having hurried off the piece of a letter which I so abruptly closed a few moments ago, so as to get into the mail, I now resume my talk with you. As soon as the enemy opened on us with their artillery we dismounted and formed line of battle on a hill just at the south entrance to the "Gap," and our battery of light artillery was opened on them, a courier was dispatched to the rear to hurry up reinforcements, our horses were sent back some distance out of the way of bursting shells, our regiment was assigned to support the battery, the other three regiments were properly disposed, and not a moment too soon, for these preparations were scarcely completed when the enemy opened On us a terrific fire of shot and shell from five different points, and their masses of infantry, with flags flying, moved out of the woods on our right in splendid style; there were three or four times our number already in sight and still others came
pouring out of the woods beyond. Our regiment lay on the hill side in mud and water, the rain pouring down in torrents, while each shell screamed so close to us as to make it seem that the next would tear us to pieces.
Presently the enemy got near enough to us to make a charge on our battery, and on they came; our men are on their feet in an instant and a terrible fire from the "Spencers" causes the advancing regiment to reel and its colors fall to the ground, but in an instant their colors are up again and on they come, thinking to reach the battery before our guns can be reloaded, but they "reckoned without their host," they didn't know we had the "Spencers," and their charging yell was answered by another terrible volley, and another and another without cessation, until the poor regiment was literally cut to pieces, and but few men of that 20th Tennessee that attempted the charge will ever charge again. During all the rest of the fight at "Hoover's Gap" they never again attempted to take that battery. After the charge they moved four regiments around to our right and attempted to get in our rear, but they were met by two of our regiments posted in the woods, and in five minutes were driven back in the greatest disorder, with a loss of 250 killed and wounded.
On that part of the field an incident occurred worthy of mention; for it shows the spirit of the men of this brigade. A corporal of the [17th] Ind. was shot through the breast at the first fire; he had always said, as indeed all our men do, that the enemy should never get hold of his "Spencer" to use it; he hadn't strength to break it so he took out his knife, unscrewed a part of the lock plate and threw it away, rendering the gun entirely useless, he then fell back amid the storm of bullets, lay down and died.
We held our ground with continual fighting until 7 o'clock in the evening, when we discovered a battery coming up to our support as fast as the horses could run, and such a cheer as was sent up does one good to hear. In a few minutes our new battery was opened and we all felt better. We were nearly exhausted with the rapid march since before daylight in the morning, the continual rain, the half day's fighting, and nothing to eat since about two o'clock in the morning, yet the prospect of assistance nerved the men to maintain the unequal conflict a little longer. About half past seven in the evening along came a weary, jaded regiment of infantry, trying to double quick, but it was all they could do to march at all; we greeted them with such lusty cheers as seemed to inspire them with new vigor, and they were soon in position; then came two more regiments of infantry, weary and footsore, but hurrying the best they could to the dance of death; then just at dark came our Division Commander, with his staff, and riding along our lines gave words of cheer to his brigade that had fought so long and well. In a few minutes up came General Thomas, our corps commander, his grave face beaming with delight as he grasped our brigade commander by the hand and said: "You have saved the lives of a thousand men by your gallant conduct today. I didn't expect to get this Gap for three days."
By this time darkness had put an end to the fighting, but there we lay on that hill side in line of battle all night, and I think I slept as well there, without blankets and soaking wet, as I ever did at home. At 3 o'clock in the morning two other brigades came up and took our places in line, so as to be in readiness to renew the fight in the morning, and we fell back to eat and rest. On the morning of the 25th, at daylight, the fight was renewed by the enemy; a heavy skirmish fire was kept up all day, and heavy cannonading, we having 6 batteries in play at once and the enemy an equal number. On the morning of the 25th, too, the sound of McCook's fighting on the Shelbyville road, some 9 miles to our right, reached us, and it was kept up steadily all day.
On the morning of the 26th, Gen. Rosecrans, who had come out to the "Gap," ordered Thomas' corps to advance and our Division was placed in the advance of the corps, our brigade in the advance of the Division and our regiment in the advance of the brigade. We started about ten o'clock.
The enemy fell back before us without firing a shot and beat a rapid retreat for Tullahoma. We moved on all day and encamped within 4 miles of Manchester on the night of the 26th; on the morning of the 27th our regiment started in the advance and went to Manchester on a gallop, we swept by the deserted fortifications of the town on a full run, and while the citizens were at their breakfast tables we dashed into the public square, scattered out in small parties, and in five minutes every street and alley was occupied by Yankees, the town was surrounded, and a rebel major and about 50 soldiers, left as a rear guard, were captured and marched to the court house. I was immediately ordered to take 100 men and pursue some rebels who were said to be escaping by the McMinnville road; in a few minutes I was off without a guide and pursued the rebels about 4 miles but my horses were worn out and theirs fresh, so I had to give up the chase and return.
We went into camp at Manchester in the afternoon, and during the whole day Thomas' corps and most of Crittenden's came up and went into camp. We were now within 11 miles of Tullahoma, that has so long been the boasted stronghold and hope of the rebs. On the night of the 27th an order came to march at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, with none but serviceable horses, capable of enduring a very long and fatiguing march, and the men to take along nothing to eat but five days' rations of salt. As soon as that order came we knew it meant hard work for our brigade, so the Col. and myself sat down under a tree and wrote very brief letters to our respective wives, not knowing when they would ever hear from us again, and I guess it is doubtful whether those letters got through.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 28th I was in the saddle and wasn't out of it again until one o'clock on the morning of the 29th. The brigades left Manchester at 6 o'clock in the morning, and soon leaving the road, we struck off into the woods until we struck an unfrequented road winding around the base of the Cumberland mountains. Here our regiment was detached from the brigade, and the object of the expedition made known, for the first time, to the field officers, viz: to cut the railroad between Tullahoma and Chattanooga at as many points as possible. Our regiment was to strike the railroad at Allisonia, the first station south of Tullahoma, destroy a bridge there, then follow the railroad and meet the rest of the brigade at Cowan, just in the corner of Alabama, where we were all to engage in filling up a tunnel so as to prevent reinforcements coming from Chattanooga to Tullahoma. This we were to do provided we could without being captured.
Our regiment branched off from the brigade, following bridle paths through the woods, and swimming the swollen streams that came tumbling in angry torrents from their mountain sources near by. After traveling about 30 miles we suddenly came in sight of the road leading south from Tullahoma, and to our surprise the road was filled with rebel wagon trains, infantry and batteries of artillery moving southward rapidly. Bragg's army was slipping away and we didn't have the strength to stop it. How little did they think, as they were moving along, 12 miles in the rear of Tullahoma, that a regiment of Illinois Yankees was in the woods, within easy musket range of them, quietly watching their movements and noting their numbers. But oh! how the men chafed, as they saw flag after flag pass us and we did not dare attack them. To attack would have been madness, for there was a whole Division (Withers) with infantry, artillery and cavalry, so we lay quiet for more than an hour while they were passing, then noiselessly countermarched, intending to return to where we left the brigade and follow its trail until we overtook it, but when we reached the point at which we left it it was one o'clock in the morning, and we found that Gen. John Beatty's brigade had come there during the day and was encamped.
We concluded to halt there until four o'clock in the morning, so as to rest our horses a little, and send a despatch to Rosecrans informing him how the enemy were evacuating Tullahoma. Col. [Monroe], of my regiment, wrote out the despatch, and I, being acquainted with Gen. Beatty, sent it to him together with a note requesting him to send a courier from his command with it to Gen. Rosecrans. Beatty did so, and after our three hours' rest, we started on the trail of the brigade, at 4 A. M. on the morning of the 29th, and soon started up the Cumberland mountains in a terrible thunder storm. When we reached the summit of the mountains the elemental war was raging in its greatest fury; the reverberations of the thunder rolled through the valleys below us, and the lightning appeared to be flashing below our feet, all this, combined with the dangerous character of our expedition, was enough to try the nerves, but no one dared to fall out, for that would be certain capture at least. About noon of the 29th we struck the railroad again, after descending the mountain side, and found the track torn up, rails bent and scattered all around; we knew this meant that the rest of the brigade had been more fortunate than we and had accomplished their task before the enemy's column reached there, so we pushed on hopefully, and about 2 P. M. when within about five miles of the Alabama line, we overtook the brigade resting in a deep wooded valley.
There was a river in front, so swollen by the continuous rain as to be impassable, and we were compelled to give up the design of destroying the tunnel, and just as an order was issued for us to prepare to bivouac for the night without fires, our pickets on our south front came rushing in saying that the enemy was advancing on us in force.
A rapid retreat was immediately ordered, and back we all started, striking directly into the mountains, without looking for roads. We traveled in the mountains until midnight, then descended from the mountains, single file, by a narrow bridle path, and bivouacked in the valley until morning, without having any very clear idea of where we were. At daylight on the morning of the 30th we started again on our backward march, reaching Manchester again on the evening of the 30th, but when we reached there most of the army had gone forward to Tullahoma. Rosecrans, immediately on receiving our despatch, ordered the army forward and the next night it occupied Tullahoma. Not more than two hours before our advance reached Manchester on our return there, General Stanley, who commands all the cavalry of this army, in an interview with Rosecrans, said that our brigade would never get back, that it would certainly be surrounded and captured, and indeed they were still discussing the probability of our capture when our brigade commander, covered with mud and soaked with the steady rain of 7 days, dismounted from his jaded horse before the door of Rosecrans tent and walked in upon the astonished Generals to make report. Rosecrans reply was: "All right [Wilder], I know you now. Take your brigade any place you can find forage and rest yourselves until you are again needed. I want you to furnish me a body guard of 300 of your men."
We bivouacked the night of the 30th at Manchester and on the morning of July 1st moved out into a beautiful valley where food and water were abundant, and turning our horses loose let them eat all day while we slept. July 1st we had no rain, but
pg. 99
with the exception of that day, it has rained every day since we left Murfreesboro, and from the morning of June 24th to the morning of July 1st we lived in the rain, slept in the mud and rain and were as wet as fish in the river all that time, but it has not caused me a moment's sickness, and I feel first rate after it all. Some officers of the brigade have gone to the hospital, some have tendered their resignations and we used up 500 horses. From the time we left Manchester until our return there our horses had nothing to eat except what leaves and grass they could nip as we went along, and they got so that they would eat blankets, saddle skirts and anything else they could get into their mouths. I have frequently read of such privations but never believed it to be true, but I know such things to be true now; yet with all its risk and privations I love this kind of service and would like to be engaged in it all the time. That trip will never be fully reported, there was too much rough work in it, consequently we had no reporters with us, but we are satisfied; every soldier in this army knows our brigade now, and that is a distinction more highly prized than a dozen newspaper puffs.
On the 3rd of July we came to this place for rest, and spent the 4th, yesterday, in sleeping and trying to clean up a little.
If it had not rained yesterday I should have gone over to Shelbyville, 8 miles from here, to see Colonel Reid of the 121st Ohio, who, I understand is in command of that place. Shelbyville is a Union place, and the loyal citizens there had an old fashioned 4th of July celebration yesterday. The Tennessee troops are deserting Bragg in numbers and coming into our lines, and unless Bragg is reinforced greatly within the next four weeks Rosecrans will destroy him, as it looks to us here now. Everything looks favorable now; all our armies are moving at the same time for the first time since the war began, and if Dix and Meade will do anything in the east the rebellion will fade with the autumn leaves. We may, however, be too sanguine
pg. 100
in this army; we don't look for a defeat, we don't count on a retreat; with Rosecrans to lead we think we can go anywhere in the confederacy.
Many wealthy, influential people in this section of Tennessee are intensely loyal, and I expect Shelby county, Tennessee, is as loyal today as many a county in Ohio. I do wonder if men will be permitted to openly advocate the election of Vallandingham as Governor, in Ohio?
We shoot such men on sight down here and it would be quite as just to deal with them the same way up there. Never mind, many of us will live to get home again, and a day of retribution will come upon those cowards who have been operating with our enemies. Please let father and mother know I am well and all in one piece yet.
Your husband.
pg. 89
Wartrace, Tenn., July 5, 1863
Dear wife:
At length I have a little time to devote to you, but the mail leaves for Murfreesboro so soon that I will not have time to scarcely commence telling you all I want to, and this letter, be it ever so short, must get off in this mail, for you have been waiting and watching too long now. I feel good all over this morning, happy as a lark, and I can't tell why, unless it is because we have seen so much hard service, within the past 12 days, have worked so well and fought so well as to win the applause of our fellow soldiers, and that I am through it all safe. Our brigade has rendered notable service in this great army, so much so, that General Rosecrans, two days since, sent a letter of congratulation to our brigade commander saying that we would be mentioned in "orders" as soon as possible, and requesting that 300 men from the several regiments of the brigade, should be sent to his headquarters to serve as his "body guard." You may think this a trifle, but soldiers are in some respects like children, and are pleased with trifles.
On the morning of June 24th, at 3 o'clock, we left camp 5 miles north of Murfreesboro, and started to the "front," in advance of everything. As we passed through the camps in Murfreesboro, the rattle of drums, sounding of bugles, and clatter of wagons, told us plainly that the whole army was to follow in our wake, and we knew full well, from the direction we were taking, that a few hours march would bring the brigade to some of the strongholds of the enemy, so there was silence in the column as we moved along through the mud, and every ear was strained to catch the sound of the first gun of our advance guard that would tell us of the presence of the enemy.
Soon after daylight a heavy rain commenced falling which continued without interruption all day and night, and has continued ever since, with only a few hours cessation at a time. About noon the first gun was fired, and then we pushed ahead rapidly, for we were nearing the formidable "Hoover's Gap," which it was supposed would cost a great many lives to pass through, and our brigade commander determined to surprise the enemy if possible, by a rapid march, and make a bold dash to pass through the "Gap" and hold it with our brigade alone until the rest of the army could get up. We soon came into the camp of a regiment of cavalry which was so much surprised by our sudden appearance that they scattered through the woods and over the hills in every direction, every fellow for himself, and all making the best time they could bareback, on foot and every other way, leaving all their tents, wagons, baggage, commissary stores and indeed everything in our hands, but we didn't stop for anything, on we pushed, our boys, with their Spencer rifles, keeping up a continual popping in front. Soon we reached the celebrated "Gap" on the run.
This "Gap" is formed by a range of hills that run westwardly from the Cumberland mountains, and the pike runs for about two miles through between these hills; the valley is barely wide enough to admit the passage of two wagons side by side, and the hills upon either side command the valley completely; as we swept through the valley with our 1,500 horsemen on a gallop we noticed the lines of entrenchments crowning the hills, but they were deserted; the enemy was surprised and flying before us, so we pushed onward until we passed entirely through the "Gap," when a puff of white smoke from a hill about half a mile in front of us, then a dull heavy roar, then the shrieking of a shell told us we could advance no further as we had reached their infantry and artillery force. But we had done enough, had advanced 6 miles further than ordered or expected possible, and had taken a point which it was expected would require a large part of the army to take; but the serious question with us now was: "Could we alone hold it in the presence of superior force?" We were at least 12 miles in advance of our army, and from prisoners we learned that we were confronted with 4 brigades of infantry and 4 batteries. The mail is ready. Will continue story in another letter.
Your husband.
Wartrace, Tenn., July 5, 1863.
Dear wife:
Having hurried off the piece of a letter which I so abruptly closed a few moments ago, so as to get into the mail, I now resume my talk with you. As soon as the enemy opened on us with their artillery we dismounted and formed line of battle on a hill just at the south entrance to the "Gap," and our battery of light artillery was opened on them, a courier was dispatched to the rear to hurry up reinforcements, our horses were sent back some distance out of the way of bursting shells, our regiment was assigned to support the battery, the other three regiments were properly disposed, and not a moment too soon, for these preparations were scarcely completed when the enemy opened On us a terrific fire of shot and shell from five different points, and their masses of infantry, with flags flying, moved out of the woods on our right in splendid style; there were three or four times our number already in sight and still others came
pouring out of the woods beyond. Our regiment lay on the hill side in mud and water, the rain pouring down in torrents, while each shell screamed so close to us as to make it seem that the next would tear us to pieces.
Presently the enemy got near enough to us to make a charge on our battery, and on they came; our men are on their feet in an instant and a terrible fire from the "Spencers" causes the advancing regiment to reel and its colors fall to the ground, but in an instant their colors are up again and on they come, thinking to reach the battery before our guns can be reloaded, but they "reckoned without their host," they didn't know we had the "Spencers," and their charging yell was answered by another terrible volley, and another and another without cessation, until the poor regiment was literally cut to pieces, and but few men of that 20th Tennessee that attempted the charge will ever charge again. During all the rest of the fight at "Hoover's Gap" they never again attempted to take that battery. After the charge they moved four regiments around to our right and attempted to get in our rear, but they were met by two of our regiments posted in the woods, and in five minutes were driven back in the greatest disorder, with a loss of 250 killed and wounded.
On that part of the field an incident occurred worthy of mention; for it shows the spirit of the men of this brigade. A corporal of the [17th] Ind. was shot through the breast at the first fire; he had always said, as indeed all our men do, that the enemy should never get hold of his "Spencer" to use it; he hadn't strength to break it so he took out his knife, unscrewed a part of the lock plate and threw it away, rendering the gun entirely useless, he then fell back amid the storm of bullets, lay down and died.
We held our ground with continual fighting until 7 o'clock in the evening, when we discovered a battery coming up to our support as fast as the horses could run, and such a cheer as was sent up does one good to hear. In a few minutes our new battery was opened and we all felt better. We were nearly exhausted with the rapid march since before daylight in the morning, the continual rain, the half day's fighting, and nothing to eat since about two o'clock in the morning, yet the prospect of assistance nerved the men to maintain the unequal conflict a little longer. About half past seven in the evening along came a weary, jaded regiment of infantry, trying to double quick, but it was all they could do to march at all; we greeted them with such lusty cheers as seemed to inspire them with new vigor, and they were soon in position; then came two more regiments of infantry, weary and footsore, but hurrying the best they could to the dance of death; then just at dark came our Division Commander, with his staff, and riding along our lines gave words of cheer to his brigade that had fought so long and well. In a few minutes up came General Thomas, our corps commander, his grave face beaming with delight as he grasped our brigade commander by the hand and said: "You have saved the lives of a thousand men by your gallant conduct today. I didn't expect to get this Gap for three days."
By this time darkness had put an end to the fighting, but there we lay on that hill side in line of battle all night, and I think I slept as well there, without blankets and soaking wet, as I ever did at home. At 3 o'clock in the morning two other brigades came up and took our places in line, so as to be in readiness to renew the fight in the morning, and we fell back to eat and rest. On the morning of the 25th, at daylight, the fight was renewed by the enemy; a heavy skirmish fire was kept up all day, and heavy cannonading, we having 6 batteries in play at once and the enemy an equal number. On the morning of the 25th, too, the sound of McCook's fighting on the Shelbyville road, some 9 miles to our right, reached us, and it was kept up steadily all day.
On the morning of the 26th, Gen. Rosecrans, who had come out to the "Gap," ordered Thomas' corps to advance and our Division was placed in the advance of the corps, our brigade in the advance of the Division and our regiment in the advance of the brigade. We started about ten o'clock.
The enemy fell back before us without firing a shot and beat a rapid retreat for Tullahoma. We moved on all day and encamped within 4 miles of Manchester on the night of the 26th; on the morning of the 27th our regiment started in the advance and went to Manchester on a gallop, we swept by the deserted fortifications of the town on a full run, and while the citizens were at their breakfast tables we dashed into the public square, scattered out in small parties, and in five minutes every street and alley was occupied by Yankees, the town was surrounded, and a rebel major and about 50 soldiers, left as a rear guard, were captured and marched to the court house. I was immediately ordered to take 100 men and pursue some rebels who were said to be escaping by the McMinnville road; in a few minutes I was off without a guide and pursued the rebels about 4 miles but my horses were worn out and theirs fresh, so I had to give up the chase and return.
We went into camp at Manchester in the afternoon, and during the whole day Thomas' corps and most of Crittenden's came up and went into camp. We were now within 11 miles of Tullahoma, that has so long been the boasted stronghold and hope of the rebs. On the night of the 27th an order came to march at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, with none but serviceable horses, capable of enduring a very long and fatiguing march, and the men to take along nothing to eat but five days' rations of salt. As soon as that order came we knew it meant hard work for our brigade, so the Col. and myself sat down under a tree and wrote very brief letters to our respective wives, not knowing when they would ever hear from us again, and I guess it is doubtful whether those letters got through.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 28th I was in the saddle and wasn't out of it again until one o'clock on the morning of the 29th. The brigades left Manchester at 6 o'clock in the morning, and soon leaving the road, we struck off into the woods until we struck an unfrequented road winding around the base of the Cumberland mountains. Here our regiment was detached from the brigade, and the object of the expedition made known, for the first time, to the field officers, viz: to cut the railroad between Tullahoma and Chattanooga at as many points as possible. Our regiment was to strike the railroad at Allisonia, the first station south of Tullahoma, destroy a bridge there, then follow the railroad and meet the rest of the brigade at Cowan, just in the corner of Alabama, where we were all to engage in filling up a tunnel so as to prevent reinforcements coming from Chattanooga to Tullahoma. This we were to do provided we could without being captured.
Our regiment branched off from the brigade, following bridle paths through the woods, and swimming the swollen streams that came tumbling in angry torrents from their mountain sources near by. After traveling about 30 miles we suddenly came in sight of the road leading south from Tullahoma, and to our surprise the road was filled with rebel wagon trains, infantry and batteries of artillery moving southward rapidly. Bragg's army was slipping away and we didn't have the strength to stop it. How little did they think, as they were moving along, 12 miles in the rear of Tullahoma, that a regiment of Illinois Yankees was in the woods, within easy musket range of them, quietly watching their movements and noting their numbers. But oh! how the men chafed, as they saw flag after flag pass us and we did not dare attack them. To attack would have been madness, for there was a whole Division (Withers) with infantry, artillery and cavalry, so we lay quiet for more than an hour while they were passing, then noiselessly countermarched, intending to return to where we left the brigade and follow its trail until we overtook it, but when we reached the point at which we left it it was one o'clock in the morning, and we found that Gen. John Beatty's brigade had come there during the day and was encamped.
We concluded to halt there until four o'clock in the morning, so as to rest our horses a little, and send a despatch to Rosecrans informing him how the enemy were evacuating Tullahoma. Col. [Monroe], of my regiment, wrote out the despatch, and I, being acquainted with Gen. Beatty, sent it to him together with a note requesting him to send a courier from his command with it to Gen. Rosecrans. Beatty did so, and after our three hours' rest, we started on the trail of the brigade, at 4 A. M. on the morning of the 29th, and soon started up the Cumberland mountains in a terrible thunder storm. When we reached the summit of the mountains the elemental war was raging in its greatest fury; the reverberations of the thunder rolled through the valleys below us, and the lightning appeared to be flashing below our feet, all this, combined with the dangerous character of our expedition, was enough to try the nerves, but no one dared to fall out, for that would be certain capture at least. About noon of the 29th we struck the railroad again, after descending the mountain side, and found the track torn up, rails bent and scattered all around; we knew this meant that the rest of the brigade had been more fortunate than we and had accomplished their task before the enemy's column reached there, so we pushed on hopefully, and about 2 P. M. when within about five miles of the Alabama line, we overtook the brigade resting in a deep wooded valley.
There was a river in front, so swollen by the continuous rain as to be impassable, and we were compelled to give up the design of destroying the tunnel, and just as an order was issued for us to prepare to bivouac for the night without fires, our pickets on our south front came rushing in saying that the enemy was advancing on us in force.
A rapid retreat was immediately ordered, and back we all started, striking directly into the mountains, without looking for roads. We traveled in the mountains until midnight, then descended from the mountains, single file, by a narrow bridle path, and bivouacked in the valley until morning, without having any very clear idea of where we were. At daylight on the morning of the 30th we started again on our backward march, reaching Manchester again on the evening of the 30th, but when we reached there most of the army had gone forward to Tullahoma. Rosecrans, immediately on receiving our despatch, ordered the army forward and the next night it occupied Tullahoma. Not more than two hours before our advance reached Manchester on our return there, General Stanley, who commands all the cavalry of this army, in an interview with Rosecrans, said that our brigade would never get back, that it would certainly be surrounded and captured, and indeed they were still discussing the probability of our capture when our brigade commander, covered with mud and soaked with the steady rain of 7 days, dismounted from his jaded horse before the door of Rosecrans tent and walked in upon the astonished Generals to make report. Rosecrans reply was: "All right [Wilder], I know you now. Take your brigade any place you can find forage and rest yourselves until you are again needed. I want you to furnish me a body guard of 300 of your men."
We bivouacked the night of the 30th at Manchester and on the morning of July 1st moved out into a beautiful valley where food and water were abundant, and turning our horses loose let them eat all day while we slept. July 1st we had no rain, but
pg. 99
with the exception of that day, it has rained every day since we left Murfreesboro, and from the morning of June 24th to the morning of July 1st we lived in the rain, slept in the mud and rain and were as wet as fish in the river all that time, but it has not caused me a moment's sickness, and I feel first rate after it all. Some officers of the brigade have gone to the hospital, some have tendered their resignations and we used up 500 horses. From the time we left Manchester until our return there our horses had nothing to eat except what leaves and grass they could nip as we went along, and they got so that they would eat blankets, saddle skirts and anything else they could get into their mouths. I have frequently read of such privations but never believed it to be true, but I know such things to be true now; yet with all its risk and privations I love this kind of service and would like to be engaged in it all the time. That trip will never be fully reported, there was too much rough work in it, consequently we had no reporters with us, but we are satisfied; every soldier in this army knows our brigade now, and that is a distinction more highly prized than a dozen newspaper puffs.
On the 3rd of July we came to this place for rest, and spent the 4th, yesterday, in sleeping and trying to clean up a little.
If it had not rained yesterday I should have gone over to Shelbyville, 8 miles from here, to see Colonel Reid of the 121st Ohio, who, I understand is in command of that place. Shelbyville is a Union place, and the loyal citizens there had an old fashioned 4th of July celebration yesterday. The Tennessee troops are deserting Bragg in numbers and coming into our lines, and unless Bragg is reinforced greatly within the next four weeks Rosecrans will destroy him, as it looks to us here now. Everything looks favorable now; all our armies are moving at the same time for the first time since the war began, and if Dix and Meade will do anything in the east the rebellion will fade with the autumn leaves. We may, however, be too sanguine
pg. 100
in this army; we don't look for a defeat, we don't count on a retreat; with Rosecrans to lead we think we can go anywhere in the confederacy.
Many wealthy, influential people in this section of Tennessee are intensely loyal, and I expect Shelby county, Tennessee, is as loyal today as many a county in Ohio. I do wonder if men will be permitted to openly advocate the election of Vallandingham as Governor, in Ohio?
We shoot such men on sight down here and it would be quite as just to deal with them the same way up there. Never mind, many of us will live to get home again, and a day of retribution will come upon those cowards who have been operating with our enemies. Please let father and mother know I am well and all in one piece yet.
Your husband.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Chickamauga battle report - William R. Butler
Chickamagua after battle report: Report of Lieut. Col. William R. Butler, Eighteenth Tennessee Infantry. HDQRS. EIGHTEENTH TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS, Near Chattanooga, Tenn., September 28, 1863. SIR:I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the Eighteenth Tennessee Volunteers, in the late battle of the Chickamauga: About 3 p. m. Saturday, September 19, the Eighteenth Tennessee Volunteers, under command of Col. J. B. Palmer, 320 strong, was ordered forward with Brown's brigade, and upon the right of the same, to relieve Clayton's brigade, then under fire of the enemy. The conduct of both officers and men as the regiment moved forward in the charge was truly gratifying. Regardless of the thick woods, the crest of the hill to be gained, and the galling fire of both musketry and artillery from the enemy, the line, without faltering, moved in perfect order, passing some pieces of the enemy's cannon and reaching the crest of the hill, at which point we received a most destructive enfilanding fire of artillery, thinning our ranks at a fearful rate. Just about this juncture, the regiment retired, many of the members, however, remaining on the crest of the hill until the brigade that relieved us moved up. This hurriedly written report, gotten up at short notice, fails to mention the gallant conduct of many meritorious officers and men, but the writer respectfully requests a suspension of publication until the colonel commanding recovers from a severe wound received at the same time and place, from whom a more complete detailed report of the operations of the regiment may be received. All the field officers having been wounded, the regiment was placed in command of Capt. Gid. H. Lowe, who will furnish a report of the operations of the same on Sunday. A list* of casualties of the two days' fighting is hereunto attached. Respectfully submitted. W. R. BUTLER, Lieut. Col., Comdg. Eighteenth Tennessee Volunteers. [Capt.] H. J. CHENEY, Assistant Adjutant-Gen. Source: Official Records CHAP. XLII.] THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN. PAGE 374-51 [Series I. Vol. 30. Part II, Reports. Serial No. 51.]
Woodfin: TN18 battles
Notes
Woodfins at Tullahoma
TN GenWeb Project
45th Tennessee Infantry
http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csainf/csa45.html
In the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863, Brown's Brigade, commanded first by Colonel J. B. Palmer, later by Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow, formed part of Breckinridge's Division. At this time, the brigade was composed of the 18th, 26th, 28th, 32nd, and 45th Tennessee Regiments, pluS Moses' Battery, with the 32nd on detached service. The regiment suffered only a few casualties on December 31, but in the charge by Breckinridge's Division in the afternoon of January 2, it lost heavily, total casualties amounting to 113. On January 19, 1863, the 45th reported 323 present for duty, out of 449 present.
During March and April, 1863 the regiment was stationed at Fairfield; and on June 26, just after the affair at Hoover's Gap, Lieutenant General William J. Hardee, in a note to Major General A. P. Stewart, wrote "The 45th is at Shilob Church. If you retrogade, bring it back with you and consider it under your orders. The rest of Brown's Brigade, except the 26th, is at Tullahoma."
History of the 32nd Tennessee Infantry
http://www.rugglesrag.com/lookout/OLD-LOOKOUT-DO-NOT-USE/32nd_tennessee_volunteer_infantr.htm
They were encamped there until the Army of Tennessee withdrew from Murfreesboro and went into winter quarters at Tullahoma, TN.
At this time, Col. John C. Brown, of the 3rd TN, was promoted to Brigadier-General and given his brigade: the 18th, the 26th, the 32nd, and 45th regiments, all of Tennessee troops.
In June of 1863, they were marched to Beech Grove, then towards Woodbury, TN. Here, they had hoped to cut off federal troops before they passed through a gap in the mountains. The federals had found out about the trap and withdrawn. They then marched back to Beech Grove and on to Wartrace, TN.
The 45th Tennessee fights at Chickamauga, Stones River
By MIKE WEST Managing Editor
The Murfreesboro Post
http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=6224
But the charge was still scheduled for 4 p.m. with the lateness of the hour, Bragg thought, not giving the Union troops time to counterattack.
However, Union Maj. General Thomas L. Crittenden spotted the Confederates building for an attack. Crittenden ordered his chief of artillery, Maj. John Mendenhall, to gather all available artillery in the area.
Mendenhall assembled a huge battery of 58 cannons on the west bank of McFadden’s Ford.
Breckinridge’s men, including the Rutherford County troops in the 18th and 45th Regiments, charged.
Palmer, relieved of brigade command by Gideon Pillow an hour earlier, rejoined the 18th.
Pillow, after the attack began, was found cowering behind a tree by a furious Breckinridge, who ordered him forward.
The Confederate’s dislodged VanCleve’s men, who were now commanded by Col. Samuel Beatty.
Screaming the infamous Rebel yell, they pursued the Union troops across Stones River. When they were in range, Mendenhall fired over his own troops into Breckinridge’s men. The huge battery was firing more than a hundred cannon blasts a minute.
The fight lasted less than 20 minutes with the Confederates suffering more than 1,700 causalities. Stones River literally ran red with their blood.
Bragg had thrown away victory at Stones River.
Col. Anderson Searcy’s regiment had 113 causalities during that brief encounter. Col. Palmer suffered three major wounds, but survived. Brig. Gen. Hanson was killed.
Bragg retreated to Tullahoma where on Feb. 16, 1863; the 45th was reassigned to Maj. Gen. B.F. Cheatham’s Brigade of Polk’s Corps. On Feb. 28, Brown (Palmer’s) Brigade got a new infusion of men in the form of the 23rd Tennessee.
The 45th was stationed at Fairfield in March and April 1863. After the Battle of Hoover’s Gap, it was transferred again to Maj. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s Division. Fortunately, the unit did miss the fight at Hoover’s Gap where Union Col. John T. Wilder first “premiered” the firepower of the Spencer repeating rifle.
Links
Reunion photos
Rutherford Co. pension apps
Includes Hugh White Woodfin - not Samuel
Sons of Confed Veterans - Tenn Division
Library of Congress photos
Selected battles
Nashville
Leaders Army of Tennessee
Life in camp
Nicholas Woodfin - lawyer in Buncombe Co NC
Military history forum - connect with others in the TN18
Also in Co. F - James Knox Polk Marbury
Samuel Woodfin's units
1862
Nov-Dec
Breckinridge's Division - 1st Corps - Army of Tennessee
1863
Jan - May
Brown's Brigade - Breckinridge's Division - 2nd Corps - Army of Tennessee
Battles:
Jan - Murfreesboro / Stones River
NPS Battlefield | NPS | Hazen's monument | Stones River reports
May - Sep
Brown's Brigade - Bate's-Stewart's Division - 2nd Corps - Army of Tennessee
Battles:
June - Tullahoma Campaign
Description: BlueGray Trail | AOTC | Wiki |
Sep - Oct
Brown's Brigade - Stewart's Division - Buckner's Corps - Army of Tennessee
Battles:
Sep 19-20 - Chickamauga
Descriptions/reports
Lost 135 of 330. Col. Palmer wounded, out until summer of 64
** Woodfin out **
Nov 23-25 - Chattanooga/Missionary Ridge - Moses & Hugh captured
Nov 12 - 18th Joins with 45th under Maj Gen Carter Stevenson Div., 1st Corps (Nov-Feb)
Troops sent to Chattanooga where they surround Rosecrans' Union forces in the city.
18th is on Lookout Mountain.
Missionary Ridge
Defeated CSA troops retreat to Dalton, Ga. SC Woodfin joins them there.
1864
Feb - Apr 65
Brown's Brigade - Stevenson's Division - 2nd Corps - Army of Tennessee
STEVENSON'S DIVISION - Maj. Gen. CARTER L. STEVENSON.
Brown's Brigade - Brig. Gen. JOHN C. BROWN.
3d Tennessee (Volunteers), Lieut. Col. Calvin J. Clack.
18th Tennessee, Lieut. Col. William R. Butler.
26th Tennessee, Capt. Abijah F. Boggess.
32d Tennessee, Maj. John P. McGuire.
45th Tennessee, } Col. Anderson Searcy
Battles:
May 5-11 - Rocky Face Ridge
May 14-15 - Resaca
May 25-Jun 4 - New Hope Church
Jun 20 - Powder Springs Road
Jun 27 - JKennesaw Mountain
July - Chattahoochee River
July - Sep - Atlanta siege
Battle of Atlanta
Regt. in line north of the city. Gets outflanked, suffers heavy casualties. Lt. Col. Butler escapes with remanents and joins with TN 3rd.
Nov 12 - Palmer resumes command of consolidated troops.
Regt. returns to Tenn in effort to draw Sherman north
Nov 27 - TN 18/3rd Occupies Columbia
Nov 30 - Franklin - 18th arrives too late to fight
Detached to join Nathan Bedford Forrest and was not engaged at Nashville.
Rear guard during retreat from Nashville
Battle of Nashville
Dec 27 - Last troops to cross Tennessee River - 17 troops and 3 servants present.
1865
Battles:
Feb-Apr - Carolinas campaign
Apr 26 - Johnston surrenders
TN 18th
Organized June 11, 1861; Confederate service August 7, 1861; reorganized September 26, 1862; formed field consolidation with 26th Tennessee Infantry Regiment October, 1863; formed Company "I", 4th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment April 9, 1865; paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina May 1, 1865.
FIELD OFFICERS
* Colonel-Joseph B. Palmer Wiki page
* Lieutenant Colonels-A. G. Carden, William R. Butler.
* Majors-Samuel W. Davis, W. H. Joyner.
CAPTAINS
* Milton R. Rushing, John G. McCabe, Co. "A". Men from Cannon County.
* W. H. Joyner, James W. Roscoe, Co. "B". Men from Sumner and Davidson Counties.
* Joseph B. Palmer, William R. Butler, Richard L. Stephens, John W. Oslin, Co. "C". Men from Rutherford County.
* H. J. St. John, M. E. St. John, Co. "D". "St. John's Guards." Men from Cannon County.
* Gid H. Lowe, Co. "E". "The Ashland City Guards." Men from Cheatham County.
* Benjamin F. Webb, Co. "F". Men from Rutherford and Bedford Counties.
* A. J. McWhirter, John Dick, Joseph B. Matthews, Co. "G". Men from Davidson County.
* B. Grand Wood, Thomas G. Curlee, Co. "H". Men from Rutherford and Cannon Counties.
* A. G. Carden, William L. Putman, Z. W. Williams, Co. "I". Men from Wilson County.
* W. J. Grayson, William P. Bandy, Co. "K". Men from Wilson County.
Of the field officers, Colonel Palmer was promoted to brigadier general November 15, 1864. Lieutenant Colonel Carden resigned, and Major Davis was not re-elected at the reorganization.
The companies from which this regiment was formed were organized in various Middle Tennessee counties during May 1861. They assembled at Camp Trousdale, where the regiment was organized, and where it was transferred to Confederate service.
A Field and Staff report from Lieutenant Colonel William R. Butler dated March 31, 1864 at Dalton, Georgia, gave the following information as to the history of the regiment up to that date: "This regiment was organized at Camp Trousdale June 11, 1861; sent to Bowling Green, Kentucky, September 1, under General Buckner; sent to Fort Donelson in February; participated in that fighting; captured February 16, 1862; in prison till September 16, 1862; exchanged at Vicksburg; reorganized at Jackson, Mississippi; sent to Murfreesboro; placed in Breckinridge's Division and took active part in the engagement at Stone's River, especially on Friday evening; was in the fight at Chickamauga in Division of Major General Stewart; lost 144 men killed and wounded; was not much injured in Battle of Missionary Ridge. We were then in Stevenson's Division and are at present. Temporarily consolidated with 26th Tennessee, October 8, 1863."
During this period the regiment was reported at Camp Trousdale in July, 1861 with 883 men armed with flintlock muskets. On September 28, 1861, under the command of Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner, it was reported in the brigade commanded by Colonel John C. Brown. along with the 3rd and 23rd Tennessee Regiments. At Fort Donelson, half of Baldwin's Brigade was attached to Brown's Brigade. The 18th reported 685 men.
Battle of Chickamauga
Reinforced by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps from the Army of Northern Virginia and a division from Mississippi, Bragg laid a trap for Rosecrans in the hills of northwestern Georgia. Advancing south, the Union general encountered Bragg's army at Chickamauga on September 18, 1863. Fighting began in earnest the following day when Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas attacked Confederate troops on his front. For most of the day, fighting surged up and down the lines with each side attacking and counterattacking.
On the morning of the 20th, Bragg attempted to flank Thomas' position at Kelly Field, with little success. In response to the failed attacks, he ordered a general assault on the Union lines. Around 11:00 AM, confusion led to a gap opening in the Union line as units were shifted to support Thomas. As Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook was attempting to plug the gap, Longstreet's corps attacked, exploiting the hole and routing the right wing of Rosecrans' army. Retreating with his men, Rosecrans departed the field leaving Thomas in command. Too heavily engaged to withdrawal, Thomas consolidated his corps around Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge. From these positions his troops beat off numerous Confederate assaults before falling back under the cover of darkness. This heroic defense earned Thomas the moniker "The Rock of Chickamauga." In the fighting, Rosecrans suffered 16,170 casualties, while Bragg's army incurred 18,454.
Siege of Chattanooga
Stunned by the defeat at Chickamauga, Rosecrans retreated all the way back to Chattanooga. Bragg followed and occupied the high ground around the city effectively putting the Army of the Cumberland under siege. To the west, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was resting with his army near Vicksburg. On October 17, he was given command of the Military Division of the Mississippi and control of all Union armies in the West. Moving quickly, Grant replaced Rosecrans with Thomas and worked to reopen supply lines to Chattanooga. This done, he shifted 40,000 men under Maj. Gens. William T. Sherman and Joseph Hooker east to reinforce the city. As Grant was pouring troops into the area, Bragg numbers were reduced when Longstreet's corps was ordered away for a campaign around Knoxville, TN.
Battle of Chattanooga
On November 24, 1863, Grant began operations to drive Bragg's army away from Chattanooga. Attacking at dawn, Hooker's men drove Confederate forces from Lookout Mountain south of the city. Fighting in this area ended around 3:00 PM when ammunition ran low and a heavy fog enveloped the mountain, earning the fight the nickname "Battle Above the Clouds." At the other end of the line, Sherman advanced taking Billy Goat Hill at the north end of the Confederate position.
The following day, Grant planned for Hooker and Sherman to flank Bragg's line, allowing Thomas to advance up the face of Missionary Ridge in the center. As the day progressed, the flank attacks became bogged down. Feeling that Bragg was weakening his center to reinforce his flanks, Grant ordered Thomas' men to move forward to assault the three lines of Confederate trenches on the ridge. After securing the first line, they were pinned down by fire from the remaining two. Rising up, Thomas' men, without orders, pressed on up the slope, chanting "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" and broke the center of Bragg's lines. With no choice, Bragg ordered the army to retreat back to Dalton, GA. As a result of his defeat, President Jefferson Davis relieved Bragg and replaced him with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
Tullahoma
The successful Union campaign in Middle Tennessee in the summer of 1863 was a turning point in the Civil War. In just eleven days, and with very little fighting, the Army of the Cumberland maneuvered the Confederate Army of Tennessee completely out of Middle Tennessee. The campaign secured an agriculturally productive region for the Union, set the stage for the major battles around Chattanooga that fall, and led to the crucial struggle for Atlanta the following year.
The campaign was part of two years of conflict along the railroad extending from Nashville through Chattanooga to Atlanta. The first clash occurred on Stones River near Murfreesboro at the end of 1862. From a military standpoint, the battle ended in a draw, but on January 3, 1863, Confederate General Braxton Bragg retreated, moving his army south to a twenty-mile-long front in the Shelbyville-Tullahoma area.
The next move belonged to Union Major General William S. Rosecrans. Despite proddings from President Abraham Lincoln, Rosecrans refused to budge from his Murfreesboro base until he was satisfied his army was ready. When Rosecrans finally moved on June 23, 1863, he followed a brilliant plan: go around Bragg's army, sever its line of supply, reinforcement, and retreat along the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, and force the Confederates to turn around and fight. At the very least, the Southerners would have to retreat to protect their lifeline south.
The range of hills separating the two armies figured prominently in Rosecrans's plan. Avoiding the easy advance around the hills on the western edge of the front, Rosecrans chose the difficult route directly through the hills on the east. To confuse the Confederates, he sent large parts of his army in several directions.
The Confederates held at Shelbyville and Liberty Gap near Bell Buckle, while the main Federal thrust went through Hoover's Gap on the Murfreesboro-Manchester Turnpike. By June 27, Union troops were at Manchester in the Confederate rear. Bragg had no choice but to retreat to Tullahoma. Over the next several days, Bragg's army made successive retreats to Decherd and Cowan, before the final retreat over the mountain to Chattanooga on July 3.
Incessant rain slowed the Union advance, and Rosecrans was not able to strike Bragg's army before it got away. But Rosecrans did achieve his secondary goal of forcing the Confederates out of Middle Tennessee. The battleground then shifted to the Chattanooga area.
The Federals deployed about 77,000 men in the Tullahoma campaign and the Confederates 44,000. The Union losses totaled 550 captured, wounded, and killed. The Federal forces captured 1,634 Confederates, but the number of Confederate wounded and killed is not known.
Woodfins at Tullahoma
TN GenWeb Project
45th Tennessee Infantry
http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csainf/csa45.html
In the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863, Brown's Brigade, commanded first by Colonel J. B. Palmer, later by Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow, formed part of Breckinridge's Division. At this time, the brigade was composed of the 18th, 26th, 28th, 32nd, and 45th Tennessee Regiments, pluS Moses' Battery, with the 32nd on detached service. The regiment suffered only a few casualties on December 31, but in the charge by Breckinridge's Division in the afternoon of January 2, it lost heavily, total casualties amounting to 113. On January 19, 1863, the 45th reported 323 present for duty, out of 449 present.
During March and April, 1863 the regiment was stationed at Fairfield; and on June 26, just after the affair at Hoover's Gap, Lieutenant General William J. Hardee, in a note to Major General A. P. Stewart, wrote "The 45th is at Shilob Church. If you retrogade, bring it back with you and consider it under your orders. The rest of Brown's Brigade, except the 26th, is at Tullahoma."
History of the 32nd Tennessee Infantry
http://www.rugglesrag.com/lookout/OLD-LOOKOUT-DO-NOT-USE/32nd_tennessee_volunteer_infantr.htm
They were encamped there until the Army of Tennessee withdrew from Murfreesboro and went into winter quarters at Tullahoma, TN.
At this time, Col. John C. Brown, of the 3rd TN, was promoted to Brigadier-General and given his brigade: the 18th, the 26th, the 32nd, and 45th regiments, all of Tennessee troops.
In June of 1863, they were marched to Beech Grove, then towards Woodbury, TN. Here, they had hoped to cut off federal troops before they passed through a gap in the mountains. The federals had found out about the trap and withdrawn. They then marched back to Beech Grove and on to Wartrace, TN.
The 45th Tennessee fights at Chickamauga, Stones River
By MIKE WEST Managing Editor
The Murfreesboro Post
http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=6224
But the charge was still scheduled for 4 p.m. with the lateness of the hour, Bragg thought, not giving the Union troops time to counterattack.
However, Union Maj. General Thomas L. Crittenden spotted the Confederates building for an attack. Crittenden ordered his chief of artillery, Maj. John Mendenhall, to gather all available artillery in the area.
Mendenhall assembled a huge battery of 58 cannons on the west bank of McFadden’s Ford.
Breckinridge’s men, including the Rutherford County troops in the 18th and 45th Regiments, charged.
Palmer, relieved of brigade command by Gideon Pillow an hour earlier, rejoined the 18th.
Pillow, after the attack began, was found cowering behind a tree by a furious Breckinridge, who ordered him forward.
The Confederate’s dislodged VanCleve’s men, who were now commanded by Col. Samuel Beatty.
Screaming the infamous Rebel yell, they pursued the Union troops across Stones River. When they were in range, Mendenhall fired over his own troops into Breckinridge’s men. The huge battery was firing more than a hundred cannon blasts a minute.
The fight lasted less than 20 minutes with the Confederates suffering more than 1,700 causalities. Stones River literally ran red with their blood.
Bragg had thrown away victory at Stones River.
Col. Anderson Searcy’s regiment had 113 causalities during that brief encounter. Col. Palmer suffered three major wounds, but survived. Brig. Gen. Hanson was killed.
Bragg retreated to Tullahoma where on Feb. 16, 1863; the 45th was reassigned to Maj. Gen. B.F. Cheatham’s Brigade of Polk’s Corps. On Feb. 28, Brown (Palmer’s) Brigade got a new infusion of men in the form of the 23rd Tennessee.
The 45th was stationed at Fairfield in March and April 1863. After the Battle of Hoover’s Gap, it was transferred again to Maj. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s Division. Fortunately, the unit did miss the fight at Hoover’s Gap where Union Col. John T. Wilder first “premiered” the firepower of the Spencer repeating rifle.
Links
Reunion photos
Rutherford Co. pension apps
Includes Hugh White Woodfin - not Samuel
Sons of Confed Veterans - Tenn Division
Library of Congress photos
Selected battles
Nashville
Leaders Army of Tennessee
Life in camp
Nicholas Woodfin - lawyer in Buncombe Co NC
Military history forum - connect with others in the TN18
Also in Co. F - James Knox Polk Marbury
Samuel Woodfin's units
1862
Nov-Dec
Breckinridge's Division - 1st Corps - Army of Tennessee
1863
Jan - May
Brown's Brigade - Breckinridge's Division - 2nd Corps - Army of Tennessee
Battles:
Jan - Murfreesboro / Stones River
NPS Battlefield | NPS | Hazen's monument | Stones River reports
May - Sep
Brown's Brigade - Bate's-Stewart's Division - 2nd Corps - Army of Tennessee
Battles:
June - Tullahoma Campaign
Description: BlueGray Trail | AOTC | Wiki |
Sep - Oct
Brown's Brigade - Stewart's Division - Buckner's Corps - Army of Tennessee
Battles:
Sep 19-20 - Chickamauga
Descriptions/reports
Lost 135 of 330. Col. Palmer wounded, out until summer of 64
** Woodfin out **
Nov 23-25 - Chattanooga/Missionary Ridge - Moses & Hugh captured
Nov 12 - 18th Joins with 45th under Maj Gen Carter Stevenson Div., 1st Corps (Nov-Feb)
Troops sent to Chattanooga where they surround Rosecrans' Union forces in the city.
18th is on Lookout Mountain.
Missionary Ridge
Defeated CSA troops retreat to Dalton, Ga. SC Woodfin joins them there.
1864
Feb - Apr 65
Brown's Brigade - Stevenson's Division - 2nd Corps - Army of Tennessee
STEVENSON'S DIVISION - Maj. Gen. CARTER L. STEVENSON.
Brown's Brigade - Brig. Gen. JOHN C. BROWN.
3d Tennessee (Volunteers), Lieut. Col. Calvin J. Clack.
18th Tennessee, Lieut. Col. William R. Butler.
26th Tennessee, Capt. Abijah F. Boggess.
32d Tennessee, Maj. John P. McGuire.
45th Tennessee, } Col. Anderson Searcy
Battles:
May 5-11 - Rocky Face Ridge
May 14-15 - Resaca
May 25-Jun 4 - New Hope Church
Jun 20 - Powder Springs Road
Jun 27 - JKennesaw Mountain
July - Chattahoochee River
July - Sep - Atlanta siege
Battle of Atlanta
Regt. in line north of the city. Gets outflanked, suffers heavy casualties. Lt. Col. Butler escapes with remanents and joins with TN 3rd.
Nov 12 - Palmer resumes command of consolidated troops.
Regt. returns to Tenn in effort to draw Sherman north
Nov 27 - TN 18/3rd Occupies Columbia
Nov 30 - Franklin - 18th arrives too late to fight
Detached to join Nathan Bedford Forrest and was not engaged at Nashville.
Rear guard during retreat from Nashville
Battle of Nashville
Dec 27 - Last troops to cross Tennessee River - 17 troops and 3 servants present.
1865
Battles:
Feb-Apr - Carolinas campaign
Apr 26 - Johnston surrenders
TN 18th
Organized June 11, 1861; Confederate service August 7, 1861; reorganized September 26, 1862; formed field consolidation with 26th Tennessee Infantry Regiment October, 1863; formed Company "I", 4th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment April 9, 1865; paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina May 1, 1865.
FIELD OFFICERS
* Colonel-Joseph B. Palmer Wiki page
* Lieutenant Colonels-A. G. Carden, William R. Butler.
* Majors-Samuel W. Davis, W. H. Joyner.
CAPTAINS
* Milton R. Rushing, John G. McCabe, Co. "A". Men from Cannon County.
* W. H. Joyner, James W. Roscoe, Co. "B". Men from Sumner and Davidson Counties.
* Joseph B. Palmer, William R. Butler, Richard L. Stephens, John W. Oslin, Co. "C". Men from Rutherford County.
* H. J. St. John, M. E. St. John, Co. "D". "St. John's Guards." Men from Cannon County.
* Gid H. Lowe, Co. "E". "The Ashland City Guards." Men from Cheatham County.
* Benjamin F. Webb, Co. "F". Men from Rutherford and Bedford Counties.
* A. J. McWhirter, John Dick, Joseph B. Matthews, Co. "G". Men from Davidson County.
* B. Grand Wood, Thomas G. Curlee, Co. "H". Men from Rutherford and Cannon Counties.
* A. G. Carden, William L. Putman, Z. W. Williams, Co. "I". Men from Wilson County.
* W. J. Grayson, William P. Bandy, Co. "K". Men from Wilson County.
Of the field officers, Colonel Palmer was promoted to brigadier general November 15, 1864. Lieutenant Colonel Carden resigned, and Major Davis was not re-elected at the reorganization.
The companies from which this regiment was formed were organized in various Middle Tennessee counties during May 1861. They assembled at Camp Trousdale, where the regiment was organized, and where it was transferred to Confederate service.
A Field and Staff report from Lieutenant Colonel William R. Butler dated March 31, 1864 at Dalton, Georgia, gave the following information as to the history of the regiment up to that date: "This regiment was organized at Camp Trousdale June 11, 1861; sent to Bowling Green, Kentucky, September 1, under General Buckner; sent to Fort Donelson in February; participated in that fighting; captured February 16, 1862; in prison till September 16, 1862; exchanged at Vicksburg; reorganized at Jackson, Mississippi; sent to Murfreesboro; placed in Breckinridge's Division and took active part in the engagement at Stone's River, especially on Friday evening; was in the fight at Chickamauga in Division of Major General Stewart; lost 144 men killed and wounded; was not much injured in Battle of Missionary Ridge. We were then in Stevenson's Division and are at present. Temporarily consolidated with 26th Tennessee, October 8, 1863."
During this period the regiment was reported at Camp Trousdale in July, 1861 with 883 men armed with flintlock muskets. On September 28, 1861, under the command of Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner, it was reported in the brigade commanded by Colonel John C. Brown. along with the 3rd and 23rd Tennessee Regiments. At Fort Donelson, half of Baldwin's Brigade was attached to Brown's Brigade. The 18th reported 685 men.
Battle of Chickamauga
Reinforced by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps from the Army of Northern Virginia and a division from Mississippi, Bragg laid a trap for Rosecrans in the hills of northwestern Georgia. Advancing south, the Union general encountered Bragg's army at Chickamauga on September 18, 1863. Fighting began in earnest the following day when Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas attacked Confederate troops on his front. For most of the day, fighting surged up and down the lines with each side attacking and counterattacking.
On the morning of the 20th, Bragg attempted to flank Thomas' position at Kelly Field, with little success. In response to the failed attacks, he ordered a general assault on the Union lines. Around 11:00 AM, confusion led to a gap opening in the Union line as units were shifted to support Thomas. As Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook was attempting to plug the gap, Longstreet's corps attacked, exploiting the hole and routing the right wing of Rosecrans' army. Retreating with his men, Rosecrans departed the field leaving Thomas in command. Too heavily engaged to withdrawal, Thomas consolidated his corps around Snodgrass Hill and Horseshoe Ridge. From these positions his troops beat off numerous Confederate assaults before falling back under the cover of darkness. This heroic defense earned Thomas the moniker "The Rock of Chickamauga." In the fighting, Rosecrans suffered 16,170 casualties, while Bragg's army incurred 18,454.
Siege of Chattanooga
Stunned by the defeat at Chickamauga, Rosecrans retreated all the way back to Chattanooga. Bragg followed and occupied the high ground around the city effectively putting the Army of the Cumberland under siege. To the west, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was resting with his army near Vicksburg. On October 17, he was given command of the Military Division of the Mississippi and control of all Union armies in the West. Moving quickly, Grant replaced Rosecrans with Thomas and worked to reopen supply lines to Chattanooga. This done, he shifted 40,000 men under Maj. Gens. William T. Sherman and Joseph Hooker east to reinforce the city. As Grant was pouring troops into the area, Bragg numbers were reduced when Longstreet's corps was ordered away for a campaign around Knoxville, TN.
Battle of Chattanooga
On November 24, 1863, Grant began operations to drive Bragg's army away from Chattanooga. Attacking at dawn, Hooker's men drove Confederate forces from Lookout Mountain south of the city. Fighting in this area ended around 3:00 PM when ammunition ran low and a heavy fog enveloped the mountain, earning the fight the nickname "Battle Above the Clouds." At the other end of the line, Sherman advanced taking Billy Goat Hill at the north end of the Confederate position.
The following day, Grant planned for Hooker and Sherman to flank Bragg's line, allowing Thomas to advance up the face of Missionary Ridge in the center. As the day progressed, the flank attacks became bogged down. Feeling that Bragg was weakening his center to reinforce his flanks, Grant ordered Thomas' men to move forward to assault the three lines of Confederate trenches on the ridge. After securing the first line, they were pinned down by fire from the remaining two. Rising up, Thomas' men, without orders, pressed on up the slope, chanting "Chickamauga! Chickamauga!" and broke the center of Bragg's lines. With no choice, Bragg ordered the army to retreat back to Dalton, GA. As a result of his defeat, President Jefferson Davis relieved Bragg and replaced him with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
Tullahoma
The successful Union campaign in Middle Tennessee in the summer of 1863 was a turning point in the Civil War. In just eleven days, and with very little fighting, the Army of the Cumberland maneuvered the Confederate Army of Tennessee completely out of Middle Tennessee. The campaign secured an agriculturally productive region for the Union, set the stage for the major battles around Chattanooga that fall, and led to the crucial struggle for Atlanta the following year.
The campaign was part of two years of conflict along the railroad extending from Nashville through Chattanooga to Atlanta. The first clash occurred on Stones River near Murfreesboro at the end of 1862. From a military standpoint, the battle ended in a draw, but on January 3, 1863, Confederate General Braxton Bragg retreated, moving his army south to a twenty-mile-long front in the Shelbyville-Tullahoma area.
The next move belonged to Union Major General William S. Rosecrans. Despite proddings from President Abraham Lincoln, Rosecrans refused to budge from his Murfreesboro base until he was satisfied his army was ready. When Rosecrans finally moved on June 23, 1863, he followed a brilliant plan: go around Bragg's army, sever its line of supply, reinforcement, and retreat along the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, and force the Confederates to turn around and fight. At the very least, the Southerners would have to retreat to protect their lifeline south.
The range of hills separating the two armies figured prominently in Rosecrans's plan. Avoiding the easy advance around the hills on the western edge of the front, Rosecrans chose the difficult route directly through the hills on the east. To confuse the Confederates, he sent large parts of his army in several directions.
The Confederates held at Shelbyville and Liberty Gap near Bell Buckle, while the main Federal thrust went through Hoover's Gap on the Murfreesboro-Manchester Turnpike. By June 27, Union troops were at Manchester in the Confederate rear. Bragg had no choice but to retreat to Tullahoma. Over the next several days, Bragg's army made successive retreats to Decherd and Cowan, before the final retreat over the mountain to Chattanooga on July 3.
Incessant rain slowed the Union advance, and Rosecrans was not able to strike Bragg's army before it got away. But Rosecrans did achieve his secondary goal of forcing the Confederates out of Middle Tennessee. The battleground then shifted to the Chattanooga area.
The Federals deployed about 77,000 men in the Tullahoma campaign and the Confederates 44,000. The Union losses totaled 550 captured, wounded, and killed. The Federal forces captured 1,634 Confederates, but the number of Confederate wounded and killed is not known.
Woodfin: Correspondence
Subject: RE: Samuel Woodfin obit
7-4-2009
Hello "Cousin" Ric,
I was delighted to get your message. Samuel Chase Woodfin is my great grandfather. I'll be happy to share all I have, but this morning I have not enough time. Maybe this afternoon I'll get to it.
My uncle, William R. Woodfin, is still living, and he is the grandson of Samuel Chase Woodfin. Although most of my Woodfin kin settled in or around Kimball and So. Pittsburg, TN, Uncle Billy lives in Idaho. He and his wife are Mormons so they take their ancestry search very, very seriously.
I don't think I've ever seen a photo of Samuel Chase, so I would love it if you could email me a copy. bibachner@comcast.net
Thanks for writing!
Talk to you later,
Barbara
7-4-2009
Hello "Cousin" Ric,
I was delighted to get your message. Samuel Chase Woodfin is my great grandfather. I'll be happy to share all I have, but this morning I have not enough time. Maybe this afternoon I'll get to it.
My uncle, William R. Woodfin, is still living, and he is the grandson of Samuel Chase Woodfin. Although most of my Woodfin kin settled in or around Kimball and So. Pittsburg, TN, Uncle Billy lives in Idaho. He and his wife are Mormons so they take their ancestry search very, very seriously.
I don't think I've ever seen a photo of Samuel Chase, so I would love it if you could email me a copy. bibachner@comcast.net
Thanks for writing!
Talk to you later,
Barbara
Woodfin: Research and sources
Books
An eyewitness to the dark days of 1861-65; or a private soldier's adventures and hardships during the war.
N J (Noah Jasper) Hampton, Nashville, 1898
Book held at
Kentucky Wesleyan College Library
3000 Frederica St
Owensboro, Kentucky United States 42302-1039
Voice: (270) 926-3111
Database: Kentucky Wesleyan College Library
Location: S (Shelved in the Heritage Room. Does not circulate.)
Call Number: 973.7 H229
Microform at
Cincinnati/Hamilton Co. Library
The Cainsville Guards : Civil War experiences of Company I, 18th Tennessee Regiment
Author: Howard Lytle Givens
Publisher: Jackson, TN : Main Street Pub., 2005.
Tennessee State Library & Arch
Nashville
Tennessee's battered brigadier : the life of General Joseph B. Palmer, CSA
Robert Owen Neff
Franklin, Tenn. : Hillsboro Press, ©2000.
** Avail on Amazon
Moore, J. C. "Diary of a Confederate Soldier." Edited by Larry G. Bowman and Jack B. Scroggs. Military Review, 62 (February 1982), pp. 20-34. [18th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A.]
** Can't find online or in WorldCat
Sumner County, Tennessee In the Civil War
Chapter Four
By Edwin L. Ferguson
Privately Printed by the Author, 1972
Jamison, Robert D. and Jamison Camilla. Excerpt from "Letters and Recollections of a Confederate Soldier: 1861-1865". 1863.
----------------------------------------------------------
18th Tennessee Infantry Regiment
Company B
Organized on June 11, 1861. Mustered into Confederate Service Aug. 7, 1861.
Colonel - Joseph B. Palmer.
Lieutenant Colonel - A. G. Carden and William R. Butler.
Major - Samuel W. Davis and W. H. Joyner.
Co. B, Captain - W. H. Joyner, James W. Roscoe.
Men from Sumner and Davidson Counties.
Organized June 11, 1861. Mustered into Confederate Service Aug. 7, 1861. After organization at Camp Trousdale the regiment was sent to Bowling Green, Ky. Sent to Ft. Donelson, on the Cumberland River in Stewart County, Tenn. Was surrendered Feb. 16, 1862. Sent to prison at Camp Butler, Ill. Exchanged at Vicksburg, Miss. Sept. 16, 1862. The regiment had 685 effectives at Fort Donelson, suffering 52 casualties. It took an active part in the Battle of Murfreesboro losing 166 killed and wounded, out of 430 engaged.
At Chickamauga, Ga. lost 144 killed and wounded. Was not badly hurt at Missionary Ridge, only one casualty.
On Jan. 19, 1863 the regiment reported 430 men, of which 305 were able for duty.
After wintering at Dalton, Ga. they fought in the Atlanta Campaign including Rocky Face Ridge, Reseca, New Hope Church, Powder Springs Road and Chattahoochee River suffering severely in killed and wounded. During the seige of Atlanta they were under continuous fire for twenty-six days. Here they were outflanked and the greater part of the regiment captured.
The 18th was in Hood's Invasion of Tennessee but did not arrive at Franklin in time for the battle. The Brigade was detached to join Gen. Forrest at Murfreesboro and so missed the Battle of Nashville. They were then sent to North Carolina to join Gen. Johnston's Army under the command of Gen. Palmer. Surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. Gen. Palmer was directed to conduct the Tennessee troops home. Paroled May 1, 1865.
Notes
Moore, J. C. "Diary of a Confederate Soldier." Edited by Larry G. Bowman and Jack B. Scroggs. Military Review, 62 (February 1982), pp. 20-34. [18th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A.]
Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, a prominent state military and political leader, built the Italianate residence at 434 E. Main St. in 1869. Highlighted by a filigree cast iron porch and paired arch windows, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
And just who was Joseph Benjamin Palmer?
He was lawyer, prominent politician and, ironically, a Union man. The house was built after the Civil War as a gift to his bride. His career provides an important lesson about Middle Tennessee before and during the war and reconstruction.
His regiment was to participate in some of the most hellish battles of the Civil War, including Stones River, Chickamauga, the defense of Atlanta and Gen. John Bell Hood's invasion of Middle Tennessee.
Gen. Joseph Palmer and his regiment will be a recurring topic as The Post recounts The Battle of Stones River and the impact of the Civil War on Murfreesboro.
An eyewitness to the dark days of 1861-65; or a private soldier's adventures and hardships during the war.
N J (Noah Jasper) Hampton, Nashville, 1898
Book held at
Kentucky Wesleyan College Library
3000 Frederica St
Owensboro, Kentucky United States 42302-1039
Voice: (270) 926-3111
Database: Kentucky Wesleyan College Library
Location: S (Shelved in the Heritage Room. Does not circulate.)
Call Number: 973.7 H229
Microform at
Cincinnati/Hamilton Co. Library
The Cainsville Guards : Civil War experiences of Company I, 18th Tennessee Regiment
Author: Howard Lytle Givens
Publisher: Jackson, TN : Main Street Pub., 2005.
Tennessee State Library & Arch
Nashville
Tennessee's battered brigadier : the life of General Joseph B. Palmer, CSA
Robert Owen Neff
Franklin, Tenn. : Hillsboro Press, ©2000.
** Avail on Amazon
Moore, J. C. "Diary of a Confederate Soldier." Edited by Larry G. Bowman and Jack B. Scroggs. Military Review, 62 (February 1982), pp. 20-34. [18th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A.]
** Can't find online or in WorldCat
Sumner County, Tennessee In the Civil War
Chapter Four
By Edwin L. Ferguson
Privately Printed by the Author, 1972
Jamison, Robert D. and Jamison Camilla. Excerpt from "Letters and Recollections of a Confederate Soldier: 1861-1865". 1863.
----------------------------------------------------------
18th Tennessee Infantry Regiment
Company B
Organized on June 11, 1861. Mustered into Confederate Service Aug. 7, 1861.
Colonel - Joseph B. Palmer.
Lieutenant Colonel - A. G. Carden and William R. Butler.
Major - Samuel W. Davis and W. H. Joyner.
Co. B, Captain - W. H. Joyner, James W. Roscoe.
Men from Sumner and Davidson Counties.
Organized June 11, 1861. Mustered into Confederate Service Aug. 7, 1861. After organization at Camp Trousdale the regiment was sent to Bowling Green, Ky. Sent to Ft. Donelson, on the Cumberland River in Stewart County, Tenn. Was surrendered Feb. 16, 1862. Sent to prison at Camp Butler, Ill. Exchanged at Vicksburg, Miss. Sept. 16, 1862. The regiment had 685 effectives at Fort Donelson, suffering 52 casualties. It took an active part in the Battle of Murfreesboro losing 166 killed and wounded, out of 430 engaged.
At Chickamauga, Ga. lost 144 killed and wounded. Was not badly hurt at Missionary Ridge, only one casualty.
On Jan. 19, 1863 the regiment reported 430 men, of which 305 were able for duty.
After wintering at Dalton, Ga. they fought in the Atlanta Campaign including Rocky Face Ridge, Reseca, New Hope Church, Powder Springs Road and Chattahoochee River suffering severely in killed and wounded. During the seige of Atlanta they were under continuous fire for twenty-six days. Here they were outflanked and the greater part of the regiment captured.
The 18th was in Hood's Invasion of Tennessee but did not arrive at Franklin in time for the battle. The Brigade was detached to join Gen. Forrest at Murfreesboro and so missed the Battle of Nashville. They were then sent to North Carolina to join Gen. Johnston's Army under the command of Gen. Palmer. Surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. Gen. Palmer was directed to conduct the Tennessee troops home. Paroled May 1, 1865.
Notes
Moore, J. C. "Diary of a Confederate Soldier." Edited by Larry G. Bowman and Jack B. Scroggs. Military Review, 62 (February 1982), pp. 20-34. [18th Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A.]
Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, a prominent state military and political leader, built the Italianate residence at 434 E. Main St. in 1869. Highlighted by a filigree cast iron porch and paired arch windows, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
And just who was Joseph Benjamin Palmer?
He was lawyer, prominent politician and, ironically, a Union man. The house was built after the Civil War as a gift to his bride. His career provides an important lesson about Middle Tennessee before and during the war and reconstruction.
His regiment was to participate in some of the most hellish battles of the Civil War, including Stones River, Chickamauga, the defense of Atlanta and Gen. John Bell Hood's invasion of Middle Tennessee.
Gen. Joseph Palmer and his regiment will be a recurring topic as The Post recounts The Battle of Stones River and the impact of the Civil War on Murfreesboro.
Roster TN 18 Regiment
Company F
Marbury, James Knox Polk - Pvt
Horton, Mason Dodson - Pvt
Samuel Tucker Gillespy identified as Assistant Surgeon of 3rd Tennessee(Lillard's) Infantry CSA, E Company. He had just completed one year of medical school at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1860. After Lee's surrender in April, 1865, the brigade was ordered to North Carolina, and rendezvoused at Charlotte, North Carolina where they formed part of the escort for President Jefferson Davis until the surrender at Washington, Georgia May 9, 1865.
William DEATHERAGE commenced for himself in life by joining the Confederate army, Company A, Twenty-sixth Tennessee Infantry Regiment, on the 15th of June, 1861, and served about four years. He participated in sixteen hard-fought battles, the principal ones being Fort Donelson, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Taylor Ridge Gap, Swamp Creek, Resaca, New Hope, Marietta, Jonesboro, Columbia, Franklin, Nashville; was with Forrest at Murfreesboro the second time, Columbia. Bentonville, Chickasaw Mountain, etc. He surrendered on the 5th of April, 1865, at Greensboro, N. C.
Army of Tennessee Order of Battle
Woodfin's regiment in AOT battles
Stones River
Dec. 31 1862 - Jan. 2 1863
Corps: W. J. Hardee
Division: John Breckinridge
2nd Brigade - Col. J. B. Palmer / Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow
18th Tennessee: Col J. B. Palmer, Lt. Col. W. R. Butler
26th Tenneessee: Col. John M. Lillard
28th Tennessee: Col P. D. Cunningham
32nd Tennessee: Col Ed. C. Cook
45th Tennessee: Col A. Searcy
Moses' (Georgia) battery: Lt R. W. Anderson
Chickamauga
Sept. 10-18, 1964
Corp: MG Simon Bolivar Buckner
Division: MG A.P. Stewart
Brown's Brigade: John C. Brown
18 TN - Palmer
26 TN - John Lillard
32 TN - Edmund Cook
45 TN - Anderson Searcy
23 TN Battalion
Chattanooga - Missionary Ridge
Sept. 21- Nov. 25, 1863
Corps: John Breckinridge
Division: MG Carter Strevenson
Brown's Brigade
3rd Tennessee
18th-26th Tennessee: Ltc William R. Butler, Maj William H. Joyner (w)
32nd Tennessee: Maj John P. McGuire
23rd Battalion-45th Tennessee: Col Anderson Searcy
Atlanta Campaign
May 7 - June 27, 1864
Corps: John Bell Hood
Division: Carter Stevenson
Brown's Brigade
3rd Tennessee
18th Tennessee
26th Tennessee
32nd Tennessee
45th and 23rd Tennessee
Battle of Atlanta
July 22 - Sept. 2, 1864
Corps: John Bell Hood
Division: Carter Stevenson
Brown's Brigade - Col. Palmer
3rd Tennessee - Ltc Calvin Clack
18th Tennessee - Ltc W. Butler
26th Tennessee - Col Richard Saffell
32nd Tennessee Capt. Thomas Deavenport
45th and 23rd Tennessee - Searcy
Franklin
Nov. 30, 1864
AOT Gen Hood
18/26 Regiment detached - not in the battle
Nashville
Dec. 15-16, 1864
AOT Hood
Corps: Stephen D. Lee
Division: Carter Stevenson
Brown & Reynolds Brigade - Col. Palmer
60th North Carolina - Maj James T. Huff
3rd-18th Tennessee - Ltc William R. Butler
23rd-26th-45th Tennessee - Col Anderson Searcy
32nd Tennessee - Col John P. McGuire
54th Virginia Infantry - Cpt William G. Anderson
63rd Virginia Infantry - Ltc Connally H. Lynch
Carolinas Campaign
Mar. 7-10, 1865
AOT Joseph Johnston
Corps: William J. Hardee
Division: Benjamin Cheatham
Palmer's Brigade
1st Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 1st, 6th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 27th, 28th, and 34th Regiments, and 24th Battalion): Ltc Oliver A. Bradshaw
2nd Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 11th, 12th, 13th, 29th, 47th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 154th Regiment): Ltc George W. Pease
3rd Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, and 41st Regiments): Col James D. Tillman
4th Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 26th, 30th, 32nd, 37th, and 45th Regiments, and 23rd Battalion): Col Anderson Searcy
Stones River
Dec. 31 1862 - Jan. 2 1863
Corps: W. J. Hardee
Division: John Breckinridge
2nd Brigade - Col. J. B. Palmer / Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow
18th Tennessee: Col J. B. Palmer, Lt. Col. W. R. Butler
26th Tenneessee: Col. John M. Lillard
28th Tennessee: Col P. D. Cunningham
32nd Tennessee: Col Ed. C. Cook
45th Tennessee: Col A. Searcy
Moses' (Georgia) battery: Lt R. W. Anderson
Chickamauga
Sept. 10-18, 1964
Corp: MG Simon Bolivar Buckner
Division: MG A.P. Stewart
Brown's Brigade: John C. Brown
18 TN - Palmer
26 TN - John Lillard
32 TN - Edmund Cook
45 TN - Anderson Searcy
23 TN Battalion
Chattanooga - Missionary Ridge
Sept. 21- Nov. 25, 1863
Corps: John Breckinridge
Division: MG Carter Strevenson
Brown's Brigade
3rd Tennessee
18th-26th Tennessee: Ltc William R. Butler, Maj William H. Joyner (w)
32nd Tennessee: Maj John P. McGuire
23rd Battalion-45th Tennessee: Col Anderson Searcy
Atlanta Campaign
May 7 - June 27, 1864
Corps: John Bell Hood
Division: Carter Stevenson
Brown's Brigade
3rd Tennessee
18th Tennessee
26th Tennessee
32nd Tennessee
45th and 23rd Tennessee
Battle of Atlanta
July 22 - Sept. 2, 1864
Corps: John Bell Hood
Division: Carter Stevenson
Brown's Brigade - Col. Palmer
3rd Tennessee - Ltc Calvin Clack
18th Tennessee - Ltc W. Butler
26th Tennessee - Col Richard Saffell
32nd Tennessee Capt. Thomas Deavenport
45th and 23rd Tennessee - Searcy
Franklin
Nov. 30, 1864
AOT Gen Hood
18/26 Regiment detached - not in the battle
Nashville
Dec. 15-16, 1864
AOT Hood
Corps: Stephen D. Lee
Division: Carter Stevenson
Brown & Reynolds Brigade - Col. Palmer
60th North Carolina - Maj James T. Huff
3rd-18th Tennessee - Ltc William R. Butler
23rd-26th-45th Tennessee - Col Anderson Searcy
32nd Tennessee - Col John P. McGuire
54th Virginia Infantry - Cpt William G. Anderson
63rd Virginia Infantry - Ltc Connally H. Lynch
Carolinas Campaign
Mar. 7-10, 1865
AOT Joseph Johnston
Corps: William J. Hardee
Division: Benjamin Cheatham
Palmer's Brigade
1st Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 1st, 6th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 27th, 28th, and 34th Regiments, and 24th Battalion): Ltc Oliver A. Bradshaw
2nd Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 11th, 12th, 13th, 29th, 47th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 154th Regiment): Ltc George W. Pease
3rd Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, and 41st Regiments): Col James D. Tillman
4th Tennessee Consolidated (comprised 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 15th, 18th, 20th, 26th, 30th, 32nd, 37th, and 45th Regiments, and 23rd Battalion): Col Anderson Searcy
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Reading list
Under Chamberlain's Flag : The Stories of the 198th Pennsylvania and the 185th New York Volunteers by Jeffrey L. Wood
April 1865: The Month That Saved America (P.S.) by Jay Winik
Military History Online Forum - add your ancestor to his unit.
Also in Co. F:
Name: James Knox Polk Marbury Rank: Private Company: F
James K. Polk Marbury was with Co. F., 18th Tenn. Confederate Inf. Married Harriet Harris. Is listed as applying for stay at Confederate Veterans Hospital in Nashville. May have died there ca. 1914. Applied for a pension in 1910. Neither he nor his family owned slaves.
Contact Name: Joe Mode jmode@mindspring.com
Factasy - Civil War facts and info
April 1865: The Month That Saved America (P.S.) by Jay Winik
Military History Online Forum - add your ancestor to his unit.
Also in Co. F:
Name: James Knox Polk Marbury Rank: Private Company: F
James K. Polk Marbury was with Co. F., 18th Tenn. Confederate Inf. Married Harriet Harris. Is listed as applying for stay at Confederate Veterans Hospital in Nashville. May have died there ca. 1914. Applied for a pension in 1910. Neither he nor his family owned slaves.
Contact Name: Joe Mode jmode@mindspring.com
Factasy - Civil War facts and info
Friday, July 3, 2009
Woodfin: NJ Hampton book excerpts
An eyewitness to the dark days of 1861-65; or a private soldier's adventures and hardships during the war.
By Noah Jasper Hampton, Nashville, 1898
Printed by the author
Excerpts
Hampton was 16 when he left home and joined "Buck" Joyner's company - Co. B of the 18th Tennessee Infantry
Jan. 2, 1896
Stones River
"When the signal gun fired we marched forward, elbow to elbow, into the jaws of death." They marched across a cornfield and up a western slope. . . "They opend on us with fifty pieces of grape and canister, besides the musketry. This charge lasted about twentry-five minutes. Our men were mowed down until there were gaps of about twenty steps. I myself shot 34 cartridges. We were compelled to fall back, and that gave the enemy a chance to take good aim at us."
"During this charge our colonel, J. B. Palmer, was wounded three times, three flag bearers shot down, twenty-two bullet holes shot in the banner, and a flagstaff cut half in two."
The Confederates withdrew to Wartrace, then to Cattanooga, then they gave up Chattanooga. His unit ca,ped in Jasper, then moved to Chackamauga Creek on Sept. 18.
Sept. 19 - morning, waded a creek over knee deep.
" My three days of rations gave out in twenty-four hours as I was a hearty eater. . . my comrades called me 'Long Hungry.' "
"There was such a volume of smoke we could not distinguish the enemy from our own men ten steps away. Longstreet's Corps made a right flank movement on the battery and infantry, and our regiment, thinking that they were our enemies, fired a volley into them, killing and wounding thirty or forty of our men."
Cold that night. . stayed on the field with the dead. Some smoked and when they would light up, the Federals fired a volley. His teeth chattering. "I imagined I was playing 'Dixie.' I would have played 'Yankee Doodle' if it would have stopped the firing."
Sept. 20
Morning - fresh attack near Snodgrass Hill and Union artillery. Firing for six hours. "The woods caught fire burning our wounded men before we could take them up."
Captured the hill and Kelly Field. Palmer wounded again.
Sept. 22
Marched 11 miles to Missionary Ridge and camped for two months "in plain view of the enemy." There was no firing and "we became very friendly exchanging tobacco for coffee and reading each other's newspapers when the officers were not watching us.. Our lines were only one hundred yards apart."
Senjt to Lookout Mountain
Nov. 25 - Back to Miss Ridge
When he heard the signal for the Federals to advance, he stood on the breastworks to watch.
"As far as I could seethere was nothing but solid lines of battle moving toward us from every direction. It seemed as though the earth was on fire. The volumes of smoke formed dark, heavy clouds, and nothing could be heard but the roar of cannons and musketry, which echoed from hill to hill. The pitiful groans of the wounded and dying men were lost in the din of battle. A portion of the hillside was literally covered with dead and wounded soldiers."
Evacuated down the southern slope of Mss Ridge. . back to Dalton Ga. There was plenty to eat and new recruits. March 22 was an all-day snowball fight.
April 25 1864
Sent northeast to Rocky Face Ridge, about five miles from Dalton.
May 2 - saw 14 men from North Carolina lined up and shot for desertion. Few days later fought with Sherman's forces. His brigade on top of a ridge. At night on picket duty the Yanks wopuld call out "o Johnny Reb don't roll any rocks down on us." They would answer "All right Billy Yank, if you don't shoot."
Resaca
On the march to Resaca, ended up behind TN32, which started shooting at the 18th in near dark.
Evening of May 14 - repelled a Federal force in the woods.
"For 71 days we were not out of hearing distance of small arms."
May 23 - New Hope Church - Sltoona Pass
May 27 - New Hope - seven days of shooting
Kennesaw Mountain - Standing on a hill near Johnston and Polk when Polk killed Next day was the battle.
Through Marietta - July 7
Chattahoochie River - July 22
At Peach Tree Creek when Union Gen. McPherson killed. He was surrounded by Confederates and tried to gallop away.
Hampton captured - sent to Camp Chase in Columbus OH - near starvation - one loaf of bread for five men - and smallpox.
Feb. 65 - exchanged fopr Union prisoners - returned home to Sumner County.
By Noah Jasper Hampton, Nashville, 1898
Printed by the author
Excerpts
Hampton was 16 when he left home and joined "Buck" Joyner's company - Co. B of the 18th Tennessee Infantry
Jan. 2, 1896
Stones River
"When the signal gun fired we marched forward, elbow to elbow, into the jaws of death." They marched across a cornfield and up a western slope. . . "They opend on us with fifty pieces of grape and canister, besides the musketry. This charge lasted about twentry-five minutes. Our men were mowed down until there were gaps of about twenty steps. I myself shot 34 cartridges. We were compelled to fall back, and that gave the enemy a chance to take good aim at us."
"During this charge our colonel, J. B. Palmer, was wounded three times, three flag bearers shot down, twenty-two bullet holes shot in the banner, and a flagstaff cut half in two."
The Confederates withdrew to Wartrace, then to Cattanooga, then they gave up Chattanooga. His unit ca,ped in Jasper, then moved to Chackamauga Creek on Sept. 18.
Sept. 19 - morning, waded a creek over knee deep.
" My three days of rations gave out in twenty-four hours as I was a hearty eater. . . my comrades called me 'Long Hungry.' "
"There was such a volume of smoke we could not distinguish the enemy from our own men ten steps away. Longstreet's Corps made a right flank movement on the battery and infantry, and our regiment, thinking that they were our enemies, fired a volley into them, killing and wounding thirty or forty of our men."
Cold that night. . stayed on the field with the dead. Some smoked and when they would light up, the Federals fired a volley. His teeth chattering. "I imagined I was playing 'Dixie.' I would have played 'Yankee Doodle' if it would have stopped the firing."
Sept. 20
Morning - fresh attack near Snodgrass Hill and Union artillery. Firing for six hours. "The woods caught fire burning our wounded men before we could take them up."
Captured the hill and Kelly Field. Palmer wounded again.
Sept. 22
Marched 11 miles to Missionary Ridge and camped for two months "in plain view of the enemy." There was no firing and "we became very friendly exchanging tobacco for coffee and reading each other's newspapers when the officers were not watching us.. Our lines were only one hundred yards apart."
Senjt to Lookout Mountain
Nov. 25 - Back to Miss Ridge
When he heard the signal for the Federals to advance, he stood on the breastworks to watch.
"As far as I could seethere was nothing but solid lines of battle moving toward us from every direction. It seemed as though the earth was on fire. The volumes of smoke formed dark, heavy clouds, and nothing could be heard but the roar of cannons and musketry, which echoed from hill to hill. The pitiful groans of the wounded and dying men were lost in the din of battle. A portion of the hillside was literally covered with dead and wounded soldiers."
Evacuated down the southern slope of Mss Ridge. . back to Dalton Ga. There was plenty to eat and new recruits. March 22 was an all-day snowball fight.
April 25 1864
Sent northeast to Rocky Face Ridge, about five miles from Dalton.
May 2 - saw 14 men from North Carolina lined up and shot for desertion. Few days later fought with Sherman's forces. His brigade on top of a ridge. At night on picket duty the Yanks wopuld call out "o Johnny Reb don't roll any rocks down on us." They would answer "All right Billy Yank, if you don't shoot."
Resaca
On the march to Resaca, ended up behind TN32, which started shooting at the 18th in near dark.
Evening of May 14 - repelled a Federal force in the woods.
"For 71 days we were not out of hearing distance of small arms."
May 23 - New Hope Church - Sltoona Pass
May 27 - New Hope - seven days of shooting
Kennesaw Mountain - Standing on a hill near Johnston and Polk when Polk killed Next day was the battle.
Through Marietta - July 7
Chattahoochie River - July 22
At Peach Tree Creek when Union Gen. McPherson killed. He was surrounded by Confederates and tried to gallop away.
Hampton captured - sent to Camp Chase in Columbus OH - near starvation - one loaf of bread for five men - and smallpox.
Feb. 65 - exchanged fopr Union prisoners - returned home to Sumner County.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Reed: NY185 battles
Quaker Road
Source: The Union Army, vol. 5QUAKER ROAD, VA
Source: The Union Army, vol. 5QUAKER ROAD, VA
MARCH 29TH, 1865
(Also known as Gravelly Run)
Quaker Road, Va., March 29, 1865. 1st Division, 5th Army Corps. When Gen. Grant began, on the morning of March 29, to extend his lines to the left, to envelop the right of the Confederate works in front of Petersburg, the 5th corps, Maj.-Gen. G. K. Warren commanding, moved out at 3 a.m. to the junction of the Vaughan and Quaker roads where a junction was to be effected with the left of the 2nd corps. About 5 o'clock the enemy's skirmishers were driven away from the crossing of Rowanty creek, and at 8 o'clock the head of Warren's column reached the cross-roads. About noon he received an order from headquarters to move up the Quaker road to the little creek called Gravelly run.
Description of Gravelly Run from
"Happiness is not my companion"
By David M. Jordan
Description from Encyclopedia of the American Civil War
By David Stephen Heidle
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