USA > Arkansas > A pictorial history of Arkansas, from earliest times to the year 1890. A full and complete account, embracing the Indian tribes occupying the country; the early French and Spanish explorers and governors; the colonial period; the Louisiana purchase; the periods of the territory, the state, the civil war, and the subsequent period. Also, an extended history of each county in the order of formation, and of the principal cities and towns; together with biographical notices of distinguished and prominent citizens > Part 40
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General Grant was placed in command of the armies in Vir- ginia and Tennessee. Two grand campaigns were planned to take place simultaneously, one to be led by General W. T. Sherman against Johnston, the other to be led by Grant in person against Lee.
In this latter campaign events transpired with rapidity. After the great battles at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and other points the armies manoeuvered until they came to Cold Harbor. Here, on the 3d of June, was fought the bloodiest battle of the whole campaign, and the Federal Army was beaten with great loss. From here Grant moved to Petersburg, where he laid close siege to the defenses, and for ten months it was one grand and continuous combat.
The principal incidents of this siege were the mining of the works, and the unsuccessful effort to capture them upon the
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explosion of the mine, called "The Tragedy of the Crater ;"' the battle for the Weldon Railroad, August 18th to 2Ist, 1864, and the attack on Reame's Station, August 25th.
Point by point Grant drew nearer and nearer to the be- leaguered city, until the end of the year found him well nigh closed down upon it.
The campaign in Tennessee was conducted with equally sanguinary results.
General Joseph E. Johnston assumed command of his army December 27th, 1863. He found it poorly provided with either food or clothing; a large number of the men barefooted, and 6,000 without arms. By the last of April he had brought it to a pitch of perfection, unexcelled by any army the South ever had in the field. It numbered 37,652 infantry, 2,812 artillerymen, with 112 guns, and 2,392 cavalry- men, a total of 42,856 men. To this was opposed Sherman's Army, consisting of 98,797 men, with 254 guns, to which was afterwards added three divisions of cavalry, numbering 14,000 men, making a grand total of 112,819. This great force was divided into the Army of the Ohio, under General Schofield, numbering 13,559; the Army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, 60,773, and the Army of the Ten- nessee, under General James B. McPherson, 24,465.
Among the promotions and assignments which took place during this preparatory time, while the army was lying at Dalton, General D. H. Reynolds had been made a Brigadier- General, of date March 5th, 1864, and was commanding the brigade formerly commanded by General E. McNair, and called McNair's Brigade, but from this time on known as Reynold's Arkansas Brigade. It comprised the First and · Second Arkansas Riflemen, dismounted ; the Fourth, Twenty- fifth and Thirty-first Arkansas Infantry, and after May 25th, 1864, the Ninth Arkansas exchanged for the Thirty-ninth North Carolina.
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On the 4th of May, the forward movement of the Federal Army began. On the 5th, 6th and 7th there was skirmish- ing between the advance guard of the two armies. On the 8th, at about 4 o'clock, P. M., Geary's Division of Hooker's Corps attacked the First and Second Rifles of Reynold's Brigade, at Dug Gap, near Dalton, they being at the time under the command of Colonel J. A. Williamson. These regiments were soon joined by Grigsby's Brigade of Ken- tuckians. The increasing sound of musketry indicated so sharp a conflict, that General Hardee was requested to send Granberry's Texas Brigade of Cleburne's Division, and to take command himself. These accessions soon decided the contest, and the Federals were driven down hill. From the beginning of these movements, for 120 days, there was scarcely an hour in the day or night without the sound of musketry and artillery.
It was not, however, General Sherman's intention to make an attack in force at Dalton, but simply to feign there and make a lodgment at Resaca, 18 miles in Johnston's rear. Accordingly, flanking Dalton, he pushed on to Resaca, which he reached by nightfall of the 13th of May. General John- ston, detecting the flanking movement, withdrew his army from Dalton before IO A. M. of the 13th, and marched rapidly to Resaca, reaching there just as the Federal forces were en- countering Loring's Division a mile from the station. The delay which Loring secured, enabled Johnston to select ground and form his line, and as he did so, the Federal Army was forming in front of them. Hardee's Corps, with Cleburne's Division, occupied the center. That night was spent in en- trenching, and by morning both armies had a fair show of defenses. Those of the Confederates, however, were much slighter than the Federals, because they had the most inade- quate supplies of entrenching tools. On the 14th of May spirited fighting was maintained by the Federals along the whole front, a very vigorous attack being made on Hindman's
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Division and Hood's Corps, which was handsomely repulsed. Conditions being favorable, General Hood was ordered to attack with Stewart's and Stevenson's Divisions, and two brigades from Hardee and two from the left. The attack was made at 6 o'clock, P. M., and was well executed, and be- fore dark the Federals were driven from their ground. In this battle Colonel J. A. Williamson, of the Second Arkansas Rifles, was wounded, losing his leg.
On the 15th, fighting commenced early in the morning, and continued until night with such vigor that the Federals, opposite Hindman's position, several times pressed up to the Confederate entrenchments, but each assault was repulsed, and with great loss. The number stated by General Sher- man was 2,747.
While the main battle was in progress, General Sherman sent a force to construct a pontoon bridge over the Oosten- aula river, to gain Johnston's rear, and as soon as it was per- ceived that his flank had been turned, Johnston was obliged to fall back, and accordingly, that night he withdrew and halted next at Adairsville, which he reached on the morning of the 17th. An attack was meditated here upon the col- umns of the Federals, which, from the nature of the roads, were expected to divide ; and Generals Polk and Hood were placed for the purpose. The division of the Federal forces took place just as was anticipated, but by a singular move- ment General Hood, acting upon a misunderstanding of their location, let them get by him without attacking, and so the entire plan was frustrated and lost.
Sherman having again worked round his flank, Johnston was obliged to fall back. That night he withdrew, and pass- ing through Kingston took up an admirable position at Cass- ville, with Hardee's Corps on the left. General Johnston said it was the best position he had seen occupied during the war, and he intended to deliver here the great battle of the campaign. The Federals got into position shortly after John-
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ston did, and skirmished freely until dark, and it appeared that a battle was imminent. That night a council of war was held. Generals Polk and Hood gave their opinion that they could not hold their respective positions if attacked, owing to the supposed possibility of their being subjected to an enfilading fire. General Hardee, who was not near so strongly posted as the others, expressed confidence in being able to hold his ground. Yielding to the dissatisfaction of the two Generals, Johnston ordered a retreat, and took up a new position with Polk and Hardee, at Dallas, and Hood, at New Hope Church.
On the 25th of May, Hooker attacked Hood's position, at New Hope Church, in an action which lasted for two hours, but met with a bloody repulse; 16 field pieces charged with canister and 5,000 muskets fired at close range, played upon Hooker's lines as they advanced again and again to the assault, causing fearful carnage. The Federal loss was stated by General Sherman to be 2,400. On the next day, the 26th, only skirmishing and entrenching took place, but on the 27th the battle was renewed. About half past 5 o'clock in the afternoon of that day, the Fourth Corps, and a division of the Fourteenth of the Federal command, endeav- ored to turn the Confederate right, at Pickett's Mill and the road leading from Burnt Hickory, but the movement, after being impeded by cavalry, was met by two regiments of Cleburne's Division, which held the right; and two brigades of his second line, brought up in aid of the first, the whole numbering 4,683 muskets. The Federal formation was so deep that its front did not equal that of the two opposing brigades ; hence, they were greatly exposed to musketry fire. They advanced until their first line was within 25 or 30 paces of the Confederates, and only retired when 700 men had fallen in their places. They conducted themselves with the utmost courage and intrepidity.
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The scene of this struggle was in a dense wood, with thick under growth, broken by hills and ravines, where nothing could be observed at a distance, and where neither side could see what was going on, except at the immediate point of con- . flict. The Federal loss in this engagement was about 3,000, of whom about 500 were killed ; and that of Cleburne was 85 killed, and 363 wounded. Among other captures the Con- federates took 1,200 small arms.
'On the 28th of May, General McPherson, at Dallas, made an effort to draw out of that place, in order to move on farther, but on the beginning of the movement General Hardee attacked him with great fury, and a battle of some consequence occurred in which the Confederates were repulsed, with a loss stated by General Johnston at 300, but with prob- ably much more than that to the Federals, as much of the fighting was at close range, and their formations were close and solid, while those of the Confederates were open and deployed.
This assault, which was by Bates' Division, of Hardee's Corps, upon General John A. Logan's Corps, composed of Harrow's, Smith's and Osterhaus' Divisions, was an extremely sanguinary contest. Three guns of the First Iowa Battery, which had been run out near the skirmish line, were captured by the Confederates, but they could not take them off. The assaulting columns were caught by both a front and a cross- fire from the breastworks. They charged straight up to the works, and though suffering terribly, were not driven off until they had inflicted heavy loss on the Federais, some of their best officers being among the killed and wounded.
Sherman now pushed forward to Allatoona and secured the Allatoona Creek from Ackworth to its mouth, again turning Johnston's flank, and was preparing to strike a new and heavy blow, when Johnston made one of his clean retreats in the night of June 4th, and fell back to a new line-running
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from Brush Mountain to Lost Mountain, with Pine Top, a de- tached hill, near the center, which was occupied by Bates' Di- vision.
On the IIth of June, the Federal left occupied the high ground beyond Noonday Creek, its center a third of a mile opposite Pine Top, and its right beyond the Marietta road.
At this time the Confederates received re-inforcements of a division of 5,000 Georgia militia, under General Gustavus W. Smith, who were placed to guarding the bridges and ferries of the Chattahoochie river, for the safety of Atlanta. The Fed- erals also received the accession of General Frank P. Blair's corps of 10,000 men, from Huntsville, thus making up for their losses, which, up to this time, had amounted to 9,000 men. General Johnston had at other times also received re-inforcements of Canty's, Loring's and French's Divisions, Martin and Jackson's Cavalry and Quarles' Brigade, rais- ing his force at this date to 59,248, the highest number he ever had.
Finding the position at Pine Top untenable, Johnston fell back on the 16th of June to a new line on the high grounds beyond Mud Creek, where Hardee's Corps was placed and where sharp skirmishing was kept up. Find- ing that the position developed a weak place at the junc- tion of Hardee's lines, and those of Loring, successor to Polk who had been killed at Pine Top, Johnston next day fell back to Marietta; but finding the position here too extended for his strength, concentrated his forces on Kenne- saw Mountain, which he occupied June 19th and began to fortify. This was a point of great natural strength, and here occurred perhaps the greatest battle of the campaign.
On the 17th of June, General Lucius E. Polk, of Helena, the ranking Brigadier of Cleburne's Division, was wounded by a cannon ball, carrying away a part of his leg .. Although desperately wounded, he recovered and survived the war, but was not able to render service again. After he was disabled,
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his brigade, which had become quite small, was consolidated with one of the other brigades, and no longer maintained a separate existence.
On the 22d of June, after the occupation of the mountain, General Hood made a forced night-march, and appeared sud- denly on the flank of Schofield and Hooker, and delivered there a desperate attack. Hindman's and Stevenson's Divis- ions, in a gallant charge, captured and for a time held an ad- vanced line of breast-works at Culp's Farm. General Hood then prepared to lead them against the main line of the Fed- eral position, but in making the necessary formation the two divisions were subjected to a destructive fire of artillery and musketry, which compelled them to desist from further attack and retire, having sustained heavy loss-General Johnston says, fully 1,000 men.
On the 27th of June, General Sherman attempted to carry the Confederate position on Kennesaw Mountain. The action began with a furious fire of artillery kept up over a line ten miles long. At 9 o'clock, A. M., the assault was made and lasted for two hours and a half. With great intrepidity, the Federal columns moved up the mountain side, even up to the very entrenchments themselves, and were time and again driven back with frightful losses. Soldiers never behaved more admirably or fought with greater courage and determin- ation. Many fell against the Confederate parapets ; some were killed in the trenches themselves. In Hardee's front the dead, which lay there for two days, were several times counted, and numbered more than 1,000. Thirty-two field- pieces, shotted with cannister, played upon their ranks at short range, aside from the musketry fire. By half past eleven o'clock the battle was at an end, and the attack had failed. It was the most sanguinary struggle of the campaign up to that date. The Confederate loss was comparatively small ; General Sherman stated it at 630, other writers at 808. They had been protected by entrenchments and their. line was not
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broken at any point. The Federal loss was immensely greater ; it is stated as having been 6,000.
Major Knowles, of the 25th Arkansas Infantry, was killed near the western end of Kennesaw Mountain, where his regi- ment was posted.
The result of this battle demonstrated to General Sherman the futility of attempting to take Kennesaw by direct assault, and he accordingly put into effect his oft-repeated flank move- ment, by interposing between the Confederates and Atlanta. This placed Johnston in jeopardy again, and he was compelled to retreat. Having prepared a new set of earthworks at Smyrna camp ground, six miles below, he abandoned the strong position at Kennesaw and fell back to Smyrna. On the morning of July 3d, Sherman turning his spy-glass to the Kennesaw crest, saw his pickets crawling cautiously up the hill. The strong works from which so many distressful blows had been dealt him were found vacant. When the time came for retreat, a road was trimmed out straight down the mountain, and every gun was safely run down it between sundown and dark, except two guns of Guibo's Battery on the extreme left, which were lowered over a declivity by means of ropes.
General Thomas took up the pursuit, and skirmishing went on up to the Smyrna works. The Confederates made a stand here, and there was farther skirmishing, sharp and continu- ous, but finding that Sherman was massing troops on his right, they fell back on the morning of July 5th to a new and admirably prepared line of earthworks on the high grounds overlooking the valley of Peach Tree Creek. General Sher- man said of these works, that they were the best line of field entrenchments he had ever seen.
At this juncture of affairs, General Johnston was removed, and General John B. Hood was placed in command.
General Hood assumed command July 18th. The army which Johnston turned over to him numbered, according to
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report of July roth, 1864, 36,901 infantry, 3,755 artillery- men and 10,270 cavalry ; total, 50,926. Soon the Federals advanced across Peach Tree Creek, and General Hood sallied out of his entrenchments and delivered battle, beginning at 3 o'clock of July 20th. The combat lasted four hours. The troops became commingled, and fought hand-to-hand, and at the end of that time the Confederates were driven back within their entrenchments, leaving their dead and wounded on the field. Their loss was stated at 4,796, to 1,710 of the Fed- erals.
General Hardee would have continued the contest, but an order from Hood took away Cleburne's Division, to interpose before the rapid advance of McPherson on the defenses of Atlanta, and when this had been accomplished, they were moved to Bald Hill and placed in the trenches, in order to make secure the right of Hood's line, as Bald Hill was an important outpost.
Since the promotion of Hood, General Frank Cheatham had been assigned to the command of Hood's Corps, and A. P. Stewart had been placed in command of Polk's Corps.
In this battle of Peach Tree Creek, the Arkansas troops were in the heaviest of the fight, and met with severe losses. The Seventh Arkansas was almost completely wiped out of existence. Their numbers had become so reduced as to ren- der it necessary to consolidate them with the Sixth Arkansas, but after this engagement scarcely any of them were left. They were of Cleburne's Division, in Hardee's Corps, which was hotly engaged during the entire battle, and fought with the fiercest energy.
On the 19th of July, Reynolds' Brigade, with the Fifteenth Mississippi, under command of General Reynolds, had a handsome affair at Moor's Mill, just at the outer line of de- fenses, in which the Federal attack was repulsed.
On the 2 Ist of July, a severe battle occurred at Bald Hill, near Atlanta, lasting all day long, and accompanied with
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great loss of life to both sides. In Cleburne's Division, which lay south of the Augusta Railroad, formed with Smith on the right, Govan in the center, and Lowry on the left, just cross- ing the road ; the loss was about 300. One shell alone killed 6 men outright, and wounded II others, as they sat in the trenches. The works they held were poorly constructed, and subject to an enfilading fire, as well as being exposed to sharpshooters. That night they withdrew from these de- fenses for a flank movement by Hardee.
On the 22d of July occurred the battle of Atlanta, on the Decatur road, the most severe battle since Kennesaw Moun- tain. After the battle of Peach Tree Creek, General Hood had withdrawn into the defenses of Atlanta, but detaching Hardee's Corps, comprising the divisions of Bate, Maney, Walker and Cleburne, who had been withdrawn from Bald Hill, they set out at midnight and made a night march of 15 miles by Cobb's Mill, enveloping Sherman's left flank. Having rested his men somewhat, Hardee, at about mid-day, opened the attack with success, breaking the Federal line of General John A. Logan's Division, and driving them before him with loss of two batteries. By the aid of new batteries, which Sherman sent to his aid, Logan checked the Confed- erate advance' at this point, and having rallied a force, drove back the Confederate line. General Frank P. Blair's men repulsed the front attack of Cheatham and Maney's Divisions, and then springing. over their parapets fought Bate's Division from the other side. The battle continued until night, when Hood again yielded the field to Sherman, and withdrew. The losses to the respective sides, in this stubbornly contested battle, were about equal, and are given as 4,000 to each. On the Federal side, Major-General James B. McPherson, Com- mander of the Army of Tennessee, was among the slain.
The Arkansas troops lost heavily in this engagement, and particularly in officers. Some of their best and most valuable ones were among the killed and wounded.
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In the First Arkansas Infantry, Colonel John W. Colquitt was severely wounded, losing his right foot. After his being wounded, the command of the regiment devolved on Captain F. G. Lusk, of Company "K," who remained in command until August 19th, when he was transferred to the Trans- Mississippi Department. After this engagement, Captain Lusk and one other commissioned officer were all that were left for duty out of the entire field and staff of the regiment.
In the Second Arkansas Rifles, dismounted, Lieutenant- Colonel Smith was killed during a charge made by the left wing, a Minie ball striking him in the left breast, and killing him instantly.
In the Fifth Arkansas, Colonel John Edward Murray, of Pine Bluff, was killed at the head of his regiment; while gal- lantly leading it. At the time of his death he was only 22 years of age, but his commission as Brigadier-General had been received by him on the day of the battle shortly before going into the engagement. He was a brave and efficient officer, and his loss was greatly lamented.
In the Eighth Arkansas, Colonel G. F. Baucum was severely wounded, and Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson Wat- kins, of Little Rock, was killed while mounting the parapet of the Federal works. After the conclusion of the war the remains of Lieutenant-Colonel Watkins and those of Colonel Murray, of the Fifth, were disinterred from the battle-field, and were brought to Little Rock, and the two are buried side by side in Mount Holly Cemetery, as they had been buried side by side on the battle-field.
General Sherman now began to draw his lines closer and closer around Atlanta, endeavoring to cut off Hood's source of supplies. On the 28th of July Hood made a sortie, and attacked him with great fury at Ezra Church, where a des- perate and prolonged battle occurred, with advantage to the Confederates at first, but in which they were finally repulsed, with heavy loss.
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General Sherman now settled down to the regular siege of Atlanta, approaching it day by day, digging trenches and rifle-pits. This went on for 28 days, the besiegers being all the while subjected, day and night, to a galling fire of mus- ketry and artillery, and losing many men thereby. His effort, however, still was to reach southward, and cut Hood's lines of communication and supply. For this purpose he made a complete wheel with his armies, so that the right would reach and occupy Jonesboro, a point on the railroad, 26 miles from Atlanta, not fortified, the movement being preceded by Kilpatrick's Cavalry. To repel this movement Hood sent Hardee, by rail, with about half his corps, to hold Jonesboro. On the 20th of August, General Reynolds, in command of part of his brigade, and the Forty-eighth Ten- nessee, encountered Kilpatrick's Cavalry at Lovejoy Station, 30 miles southeast of Atlanta, on the Savannah Railroad, and repulsed them after a sharp engagement.
On the 3Ist of August the Federal column, under General O .. O. Howard, successor to McPherson, reached Jonesboro. At 3 o'clock of that day, General S. P. Lee attacked Logan and Ransom's Divisions in a stubborn and hotly contested battle, which lasted some hours, but was more the prelude to the heavier action of the next day than a distinct engagement of itself. Cleburne's Division, which was slightly engaged, having been moved to Jonesboro the night before, suffered some loss.
That night large re-inforcements were received by the Fed- erals before Jonesboro, making five corps in their formations there, one only being left to watch Atlanta ; and to meet these, Hardee had less than half of a depleted corps. All night the Confederates were moving for positions and entrenching. When morning came, the defenses were only half completed, and were not a half a mile long, but behind them the resolute defenders took their places to contend with more than six times their numbers.
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The Federal attack, which commenced in the forenoon, was slow and hesitating, and did not fully open until the afternoon was well advanced. At that time, however, a determined at- tack was made, and was kept up until night-fall. The Fed- erals came up in succeeding lines, line after line, but were met without flinching, and were repelled one after another. At the point where Govan and Granberry's Brigades joined be- hind their line of defenses, which were mere logs and unfin- ished trenches, the fighting was the heaviest. The assailants were met with a continuous storm of musketry and cannon, until the ground in front of them, which was an open field, was dotted blue with the dead, dying and wounded. But on and on trudged the incessant flood of the assailants. It was more than mortal man could do to hold out long against that impetuous attack, and in a fierce rush by the very momentum of the mass, they broke over the insufficient breast-works at that point, making prisoners of General Govan and about 300 of his men, and capturing a battery which the division had them- selves captured at Chickamauga, and had used ever since."
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