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GC 976.1 AL51b no.2 1748553
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02342 401 0
STATE OF ALABAMA Department of Archives and History, THOMAS M. OWEN, Director BULLETIN NO. 2
HISTORY
OF THE
FIRST REGIMENT
ALABAMA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
C. S. A.
BY EDWARD YOUNG McMORRIES, Ph. D. A Private of the Perote Guards, Co. C., 1861, Co. G., 1862-1865; and an Original Member of both the Company and Regiment.
MONTGOMERY, ALA .: THE BROWN PRINTING CO .. PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 1904.
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TO THE
SOLDIERS, THE SAILORS AND THE WOMEN OF THE
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THEIR DESCENDANTS FOREVER, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
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1748553
PREFATORY NOTE.
The History of the First Regiment, Alabama Volunteer In- fantry, Confederate States Army, contained in this volume, was prepared by the author in response to the request of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, for a series of Narrative Histories or Historical Sketches of Alabama Commands in the War between the States, 1861-1865. This series was early pro- jected as one of the activities of the Department, and every effort has been made to secure the compilation of accurate and authen- tic historical sketches of the several commands-regiments, bat- talions and batteries-which are entitled to representation.
In order to stimulate the early completion of the series and to afford a suitable model for further work, this sketch is issued in the present form. It presents in a clear and sympathetic way the story of the regiment, its organization, sketches of its offi- cers, its engagements, prison life, and hardships, with numerous incidents of thrilling interest. Prof. E. Y. McMorries, the author, has performed a difficult task with delicacy and an earn- est desire for the truth. It has been to him a labor of love, the entire work being done without compensation. He has a reward, however, in that he will receive the grateful plaudits of all sur- vivors of this gallant command, and of the families of those who have passed away. He has coupled his name with the history of the regiment in an imperishable way as its annalist and histo- rian.
THOMAS MCADORY OWEN, Director. Department of Archives and History of the State of Alabama. Montgomery, August 2, 1904.
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CONTENTS.
Title
I
Dedication
3
Prefatory Note 5
Contents
7
Introduction
9
Chapter
I. Penssacola Campaign, 1861
13
Chapter II. Island Number Ten Campaign, and Prison Life, 1862 34
Chapter
III. Port Hudson Campaign, 1862-1863.
48
Chapter IV. Meridian, Mobile, and Georgia Campaigns, 1863-1864 71
Chapter
V. The Tennessee Campaign, 1864
82
Chapter
VI. Campaign in the Carolinas, 1864-1865.
93
Chapter VII. Reminiscences and Incidents 95
Chapter VIII. Dead of the First Alabama Regiment at Madison, Wis .; and Mrs. Alice Whiting Waterman .120
Chapter IX. Official Report of Col. (Surgeon) I. G. W. Steedman; and his Reminiscences of Prison Life .129
Index .137
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STATE OF ALABAMA Department of Archives and History THOMAS M. OWEN, Director BULLETIN NO. 2
HISTORY
OF THE
FIRST REGIMENT
ALABAMA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY C. S. A. BY
EDWARD YOUNG McMORRIES, Ph. D.
A Private of the Perote Guards, Co. C., 1861, Co. G., 1862-1865; and an Original Member of both the Company and Regiment.
MONTGOMERY, ALA .: THE BROWN PRINTING CO .. PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 190.
INTRODUCTION.
It is well known that for twenty years I have resisted urgent appeals of surviving comrades to write a history of the First Alabama Regiment. Even now I yield my consent to undertake this sketch only after fully realizing that unless I write it, the regiment will be left without any record, and that it will be bet- ter for the regiment to have a poorly written record than none whatever. I am fully aware of my incompetence to do the sub- ject justice ; and the insistence of Col. I. G. W. Steedman, the distinguished commander of the regiment during the war, and of Thomas M. Owen, the able and active Director of the Depart- ment of Archives and History, are to a large degree responsible for the final appearance of the work.
The following personal allusions are necessary in order to gratify the natural desire of readers to know the opportunities I have had by experience and observation for ascertaining the facts and incidents here recorded. I was an original member of the "Perote Guards," organized at Perote, Bullock (then Pike) county, in 1859, and composed mostly of students of the Perote Institute and of young business men of the town; left Perote with the company Feb. 12, 1861, and the next day was mustered into the service of Alabama at Girard by a Captain Thom; was organized with the company into the First Regiment Alabama Volunteers at Barrancas, Fla., about a month later, which regi- ment, by consent of men and officers, was transferred to the Con- federate service about April 1, 1861 ; remained with the regiment until its surrender with the Army of Tennessee, April 27, 1865, at Greensboro, N. C .; participated in every battle and campaign of the regiment except the march from Lovejoy Station, Ga., to Tuscumbia, Ala., in the fall of 1864; and shared the fate of the regiment in military prison in 1862 at Camp Butler, near Spring- field, Ill.
With Vergil, I feel that I can justly say :
"Quaeque ipse miserrima vidi Et quorum pars magna fui."
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
AUTHORITIES AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION.
The principal printed authorities and other sources of infor- mation for this Sketch are: (1) Accounts of battles and cam- paigns published during and subsequent to the war by the pres- ent writer in the Southern Advertiser, Troy, Ala., the Herald and Times, Union Springs, Ala., and the Advocate, Greenville, Ala .; (2) Authentic clippings from newspaper and periodical press ; (3) Unpublished manuscript notes by the present writer, made contemporary with the occurrences ; (4) Confederate Mili- tary History (1899) in 12 vols., edited by Gen. Clement A. Evans; (5) Southern Historical Society Papers, in several vol- umes ; (6) Willis Brewer's Alabama : Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men (1872) ; and (7) Company K, First Alabama Regiment, or Three Years in the Confederate Service, by Lieut. Daniel P. Smith (1885; 12 mo. pp. 146.) In the compilation I have had the use of data and material, printed and reminiscent, collected by Col. Steedman and other surviv- ors of the command.
Over all a memory, perhaps unfortunate in never forgetting, has exercised a rigid yet conservative censorship.
RECORDS OF THE REGIMENT.
- After a strenuous effort for several months it has been possi- ble to secure from other than official sources, muster-rolls of only four of the thirteen companies of the regiment, besides that preserved in Smith's History of Company K. The following are the companies whose muster-rolls have recently ( 1902) been compiled, with the names of the survivors performing this all- important work: Perote Guards, Company G, Private D. S. Bethune, Sergeants Hector McLean, Dan McLean, Thomas B. Miles ; Talladega Rifles, Company D, Lieut. D. Z. Goodlet, and S. R. Wheeler ; Tallapoosa Rifles, Company A, Lieuts. John H. Sanford, O. W. Lockett, Sergeant James H. Lowry ; Rough and Ready Pioneers, Company E, Lieut. F. P. Bledsoe. The rolls have been placed with the Alabama Department of Archives and History to supplement the original records on file there.
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Introduction.
SCOPE OF THE WORK.
Within the limits of this sketch neither individual records nor company history can have any place except in so far as they may form an essential part of regimental history. The heroic deeds of every member of the regiment would be of inestimable value, if possible to obtain ; but it would require a volume many times greater than this to contain them. Therefore, the author, ' from a desire to be just to all, feels it his duty to omit special mention of any.
REUNION OF THE REGIMENT IN IS98.
Although not strictly pertinent, I deem it proper to present here a brief account of the reunion of the regiment in 1º98.
About twenty survivors met with Col. I. G. W. Steedman in the dining hall of the hotel at Shelby Springs, Ala., July 9, 1898, and organized under the title of "First Regiment, Alabama Vol- unteers, C. S. A." Col. I. G. W. Steedman was chosen Presi- dent; E. Y. McMorries, Vice-President ; J. M. Thornton, Sec- retary ; and Samuel R. Wheeler, Treasurer.
To those who attended, it was truly "a feast of reason and flow of soul," thus to mingle with our immediate comrades of the mighty past, recount the scenes of our sufferings, achieve- ments, and disappointments, and enjoy the presence of our hon- ored and distinguished commander. It was a memorable occas- ion in the history of the regiment. We all marked that in Col. Steedman the asperity of the military man had disappeared, and that, in its stead, a high and noble nature had been mellowed by age into one of decided sociability and strongest sympathy. A comrade remarked: "In the army I always greatly admired Col. Steedman as an officer, but now I love him." Those who did not attend this reunion can form no conception of Col. Steed- man's intense fondness for the members of his old regiment. The night we organized he read to us, while tears chased each other rapidly down his cheeks, accounts of our dead buried in the Con- federate cemetery at Madison, Wis., and other Northern prisons. He greatly appreciated the coming of comrades to meet him, and especially of the comrade who had come thirty miles from Tallapoosa county in a wagon with his family. To him he gave an engraved portrait of himself on parting.
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
On this occasion the preparation of a history of the regiment was discussed, and the writer was importuned to undertake the task. The assurances of help and assistance then given have done much to nerve him to the task.
ENDORSEMENT BY COL. STEEDMAN, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
After the labor and pains expended in the preparation, it is gratifying to quote the following commendatory words from Col. Steedman :
"I have carefully reviewed the manuscript of this historical sketch of the First Regiment alabama Volunteers, C. S. A., as writ- ten by Prof. E. Y. McMorries, of Plantersville, Ala. The history of the campaigns in which I was personally engaged is correct in the general facts as well as in details. Our survivors and friends owe a debt of gratitude and thanks to Prof. McMorries for thus recording the history of our regiment, nearly forty years after the actual oc- currences. The illustrations, except the photographs accompanying the text, are printed from original drawings in my possession. These drawings were made upon the spot by actual participants. They are not artistic and finished, but are valuable additions to the history of this heroic command."
After I had completed the sketch, it was printed in the Mont- gomery Advertiser, Oct. 26, Nov. 2, 9, 23, and 30, 1902. Its publication called forth several commendatory expressions from many sources. My attention was also directed to some minor errors. For all these expressions I am profoundly grateful.
The writer is under lasting obligations to Dr. Thomas M. Owen, for his hearty cooperation, for general editorial revision, proof-reading, and the supervision incident to publication ; to Prof. Henry S. Halbert for a careful reading of the manuscript, and assistance in proof-reading ; and to Col. I. G. W. Steedman of St. Louis, Mo., for numerous letters of sympathy and encour- agement, for the loan of several volumes of Confederate Military History, maps, plans of battle, etc., for furnishing at his own ex- pense all illustrative cuts, for the deep and unremitting interest he has taken in the sketch, and for his invaluable criticisms of the manuscript.
E. Y. McMORRIES, Regimental Historian, Plantersville, Alabama. Co. G, Perote Guards.
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CHAPTER I.
PENSACOLA CAMPAIGN, 1861.
THE REGIMENT ORGANIZED.
This sketch begins with the organization of the First Regi- ment Alabama Volunteers at Barrancas Barracks, near Fort Barrancas, Fla., February, 1861.
The companies composing the regiment were: the Eufaula Pioneers, Capt. John Clark; the Eufaula Rifles, Capt. Alpheus Baker; Perote Guards, Capt. George W. Daw- son,; Wilcox True Blues, Capt. I. G. W. Steedman; the Alabama Rifles, Talladega, Capt. J. H. Johnson; Clayton Guards, Capt. Jere . N. Williams ; Guards of the Sunny South, Capt. Y. D. Conyers ; Tallapoosa Rifles, Capt. J. D. Meadows ; Rough and Ready Pioneers, Capt. A. H. Owens; Red Eagles, Capt. Ben Lane Posey.
These companies had been previously mustered into the service of Alabama for twelve months, before leaving their State, but a few weeks later were transferred to the Confeder- ate service, becoming the first regiment, not only from Ala- bama, but from any other State of the Confederacy.
The following officers were elected : Henry D. Clayton, Col- onel; I. G. W. Steedman, Lieutenant-Colonel; Jere N. Wil- liams, Major.
The staff were : S. H. Dent, Adjt .; Henry R. Shorter, Com- missary ; L. F. Johnson, Quartermaster ; J. D. Caldwell, Sur- geon; Walter Curry, Assistant Surgeon.
Lieut. Ramsey became captain of the Wilcox True Blues, and Lieut. Maybury captain of the Clayton Guards.
Braxton Bragg was major-general commanding the troops; Gens. A. H. Gladden and R. H. Anderson commanded their re- spective brigades.
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
THE PENSACOLA CAMPAIGN.
The scene of the regiment's service the first year of the war was the vicinity of the lower portions of Pensacola bay, between the navy yard and the mouth of the bay, about five miles dist- ant.
Of the physical features, forts, etc., of the locality, I may speak briefly.
Pensacola bay, receiving the waters of the beautiful Escam- bia river flowing almost due south, is formed by the interposi- tion of Santa Rosa island lying due east and west, and, there- fore, at right angles to the course of the river as it approaches the gulf ; and deflected westward past the city of Pensacola and the navy yard, curves gracefully southward from this latter point into the gulf between the western extremity of the island and a projecting spur of the main land about thirty-five miles below the mouth of the river. Fort Pickens, by far the most formidable fortification in this vicinity both in structure and armament, stands upon this extremity of the island, and Fort McRee is due west just across the bay about one and one-half miles distant, the two forts forming the outpost defenses of the harbor.
On the north side of the harbor or mainland from the navy yard to Fort McRee, are successively Warrenton, Marine Hos- pital, Barrancas Barracks, Fort Barrancas, Fort Redoubt, Old Light House and New Light House. These points occupy ele- vations from ten to thirty feet above tide water, Fort Barrancas and Old Light House being the highest, while Forts Pickens and McRee rise from the white sandy beach, down close to the water's edge. Fort Redoubt, designed as a place of retreat and continued resistance in case of Fort Barrancas falling into the hands of the enemy, is half a mile inland, and directly in rear of the latter with which it is connected by an underground passageway. It was used by the Confederates as an arsenal.
Santa Rosa island, a few feet above sea-level, from a quarter to half a mile wide, interspersed with clumps of gall-berry slashes, great banks of white sand and sea-drift, with here and there an old scaly, gnarly sea-coast pine, with not even a fisher- man's hut or other sign of human habitation save the grim, gloomy old castle of Fort Pickens, stretches away to the east many miles beyond the horizon.
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Pensacola Campaigni, 1861.
Previous to the arrival of the companies of the regiment, Lieut. A. J. Slemmer, commanding United States forces, had surrendered all the forts and public buildings on the mainland to Alabama and Florida volunteers; and, with a small squad of regulars, had retired to Fort Pickens. Thus the stars and stripes were flying from the battlements of the latter, while the lone star of State sovereignty, soon to be supplanted by the stars and bars of the Confederate States, floated from all the forts and public buildings of the former.
The personnel of the regiment was remarkable for the youthfulness of its members, and for notable men as privates in its ranks. Of the former, perhaps not more than 25 per cent. had reached their majority, while not 10 per cent. had passed twenty-five. The prevailing ages were from 18 to 21 in ranks, with quite a number from 15 to 18. The average age among officers could not have exceeded 30. Lieut .- Col. Steedman was only 26. Most of these young men were from homes of wealth and culture, of the best Southern families, and, in- flamed with resentment against the North for long-continued aggressions upon the rights of the South, as well as by the recent John Brown raid in Virginia, had quitted these sur- roundings of luxury, and, in many instances, classic halls of learning, and had seized their muskets and gone to battle. Nor less conspicuous and heroic were the conduct and spirit of the "wool hat boys" who, with no property interests involved, equalled the zeal and loyalty of their wealthy comrades in de- votion, courage, sacrifice and duty. Neither space nor ability permit me to pursue further this tempting line of thought. Crown him historian laureate, the genius of whose pen shall adequately portray and reflect to future generations the war spirit of the South in 1861! All thinking classes in the South knew that the "irrepressible conflict" had come and must be met.
Of notable men as privates in our ranks were Edward C. Bullock, a distinguished barrister; Judge John Cochran, an eminent jurist; and James L. Pugh, who upon the secession of Alabama a few weeks before, had resigned his seat in the Fed- eral house of representatives. These men, in blouse, army shirts, trudging along at drill through the deep sand beneath a burning sun, or pacing their beats, or pushing a wheelbarrow of sand to construct a battery, were familiar sights to us all
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
during our twelve months' service at Barrancas. They were dubbed "high privates." The following year private Bullock raised and led to the front the 18th Alabama regiment, but he shortly after died; private Cochran resumed the practice of law; private Pugh was elected to the Confederate States Con- gress, where he remained to the end of the war, and since the war he has served three terms in the United States Senate. He now (1904) resides in Washington, D. C.
By such illustrious examples as the above, of which no peo- ple ever furnished so many notable instances as the Southern States at the beginning of the war, the position and service of the Confederate soldier in ranks had been emphasized and dignified ; and this fact may be put down as the most powerful factor in the evolution of that sublime courage and irresistible prowess of the Southern soldier. There was no office-seeking, it being considered as high an honor to be a private as to be an officer. Men were elected to positions for their fitness to com- mand, and not on account of culture, wealth, or family pres- tige. Of course, men of superior advantages in all these re- spects were elected to office, but as a rule each was elected on his own individual merits. Nothing more plainly exemplifies the big-heartedness of the Southern aristocrat than this eleva- tion of so many of his inferiors socially, and his steadfast loy- alty to, and support of these officers from start to finish. Never before was an army organized on such broad basis of liberality, and never was there an army before commanded by such an able corps of officers. Mutual respect and confidence was the natural result.
Until about the Ist of April our regiment was quartered at Barrancas Barracks and Fort Barrancas. Many messes had negro cooks, and men hired to do all their laundry and other drudgery. All wore neat clothes, drew as daily rations a pound each of beef and baker's bread, occasionally supplemented with boxes of provisions from home.
Most of the companies of the regiment had been organized several years before the war, and had been under the command of efficient officers and had, therefore, reached Barrancas quite proficient in company drill, but they had no experience in bat- talion drill. We now entered the full routine of soldier duty : company drill in the morning, battalion drill in the afternoon, guard and police duty, and all other duties. Military regula-
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Pensacola Campaign, 1861.
tions began to be enforced and penalties to be inflicted for vio- lation. A cordon of guards was kept around the encampment and along the beach; no ingress or egress was permitted without a pass; no intoxicants were allowed within the lines. Whether rising or retiring or whatever else, everything must obey the taps of the drum. Guards were constantly bringing in one or more prisoners and dumping them in the guard house amid frantic execrations of the prisoner that he had come to war to fight for his rights, that he had lost all his rights by the tyranny of his officers, and that he wouldn't stand it. Raw troops and their officers both have a hard time until the former learn that a soldier's first and highest duty is to obey orders, and the latter how to command.
COL. HENRY D. CLAYTON.
Col. Clayton drilled the regiment the first two months, but having been assigned to court-martial duty practically left the drilling of the regiment to Col. Steedman for the rest of the year. Col. Clayton was a fine officer, afterward's becoming one of the ablest major-generals in the Confederate service. But both by native endowments and education he was a lawyer, politician, and man of letters; serving many years after the war as a distinguished circuit judge, losing in the Democratic State convention the nomination for Governor of Alabama by only a few votes. He was president of the Alabama State University when he died. In private as well as in public life, he was a man of most exemplary purity of character, and greatly loved by all the people of the State. His son, Henry D. Clayton, Jr., has ably represented (1904) the third congres- sional district of Alabama in Congress, and another son, Bert- ram Clayton, represented, for several terms, a New York con- gressional district.
COL. I. G. W. STEEDMAN.
Col. I. G. W. Steedman combined all the inborn elements of a military man with a thorough military education, having graduated from the South Carolina Military Academy in 1856. Since it was he who, in 1861, made the First Alabama regiment one of the very best drilled in the Confederate army, thus lay- ing the foundation for its subsequent distinguished career, F 2
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First Alabama Regiment, C. S. A.
may be permitted to speak briefly at this point of his family, service, and characteristics. He was born in Lexington dis- trict, S. C., in 1835, where three generations of his family had lived before him. His great-grandfather, John Steedman, from the north of Ireland, settled in Lexington many years be- fore the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, George Steed- man, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, as were also his maternal ancestors. His father, Reuben Steedman, served the last six months of the Civil War in the militia of South Caro- lina under the official call for the enlistment of all men under fifty-five years of age. Four other sons of Reuben Steedman be- sides the colonel, were in the Confederate service.
Immediately after graduating from the military academy, Col. Steedman began the study of medicine, attending the South Carolina Medical College one term; then coming to Ala- bama he continued his professional studies under the preceptor- ship of his uncle, Dr. D. J. Fox, in Wilcox county, and finally receiving his diploma from the Medical Department of the University of Louisiana in 1859. He was engaged in the prac- tice of medicine with Dr. Fox when Alabama seceded. Prompt- ly volunteering, he was mustered into the service of Alabama as captain of the Wilcox True Blues in February, 1861, and ordered with his company to Fort Barrancas, near Pensacola, Fla. Within a month the company became Co. A, First Regi- ment Alabama Volunteers; and, as stated, he was elected lieu- tenant-colonel of the regiment. At the reorganization of the regiment in February, 1862, he was unanimously elected col- onel, and held this rank and position to the close of the war, though during a large portion of the time he was a prisoner-of- war.
His first experience under fire was the bombardment of Fort Pickens, Nov. 22 and 23, 1861. In March, 1862, he was ordered with his regiment to Island No. 10, Mississippi river, and was put in command of the heavy batteries on the east bank of the river. There he exhibited in a high degree all the quali- ties of an able commander, and under most trying and disad- vantageous circumstances until compelled to surrender after a siege of four weeks by Federal gunboats and infantry. Suf- fering at the time of the surrender with pneumonia, he was sent as a prisoner first to St. Louis, where he was held six weeks; thence to Columbus, ()., where he was paroled for a month
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