USA > Georgia > Muscogee County > Columbus > Prominent incidents in the history of Columbus, Ga., from its first settlement in 1827 to Wilson's Raid, in 1865 > Part 17
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Mr. Robert Aldworth was accidentally killed on his place near Columbus, on the 22d of February. He struck a negro, with whom he had some difference, with the butt of his gun, and the shock discharged it, the load passing into his body and killing him in a few minutes.
Cotton sold in February at 75 to 80 cents, Confederate money. The following quotations of other articles are copied from the Sun of Feb. 26th : Bacon $4 to $5 per lb., Pork $2 75 to $3 50, Lard $3 75 to $4 50, Butter $5 to $6, Eggs $3 50 to $4 50 per dozen, Beef $2 to $2 50 per lb., Corn $14 to $16 per bushel, Sweet Potatoes $12 to $16 per bushel, Salt $1 10 to $1 25 per lb., Chickens $4 to $5 each, Osna- burg $6 per yard, Sorghum Syrup $12 to $16 per gallon, Cane do. $16 to $20, Sugar $7 to $10 per lb., Sole Leather $14 to $15 per lb .; Irish potatoes $50 to $60 per bushel.
On the 8th of March, the stable and carriage house of Mr. William Beach, on Randolph street, and the residence of Mr. Peter Preer, adjoining, were destroyed by fire.
About the first of April a difficulty occurred on the streets between Dr. A. C. Wingfield, a physician of established repu- tation and much respected citizen, and Dr. -- Rossey, in which pistol shots were exchanged, and Dr. Wingfield was killed. Dr. Rossey was acquitted on the ground of justifiable homicide. He was only a transient resident of Columbus.
PERSONAL.
The M. E. preachers for this year were-A. Wright, P. E .; W. P. Harrison, St. Luke's ; Jos. S. Key, St. Paul's ; J. R. Lit-
177
MARRIAGES.
tlejohn, Girard ; J. T. Ainsworth, Factory Mission; W. W. Robison, Colored charge.
At the County election held on the 4th of January, the fol- lowing Judges of the Inferior Court were chosen : J. R. Ivey, J. J. McKendree, John Quin, D. B. Thompson.
W. A. Brannon and F. M. Brooks were Justices of Upper District, and J. A. Whiteside and R. W. Milfoed of the Lower. George Meredith and J. Shoup, Constables.
MARRIAGES.
January 1-George W. Allen and Bethany Higden ; 2, Christopher C. Col- lins and Jessie A. Bridges; 3, Ephraim M. Tilton and Winney Long; 8, James D. Malam and Martha E. Johnson; 10, Newton A. Horn and Sarah Bell ; Henry Sillman and Nancy Halley ; 12, William T. Hill and Polly Peck ; 15, John W. Jones and Sarah Jane Bertram ; 17, William Smith and Sarah I. Caffs ; 18, William J. Slatter and America S. Greenwood; 19, James Baet and Louisa Jane Blake ; Julius Emerich and Hannah Finiler ; 29, David Bal- lard and Eliza Ginn.
February 1-Thomas K. Wynn and Mary Lucinda Shelby ; 6, James Cor- den and Sarah J. Allen ; 12, Charles F. Duncan and Mary E. Campbell ; 15, John W. Wright and Mary L. Hardaway ; Marcus Fish and Rosa Taylor ; 16, James H. Ames and Lucy A. Smith ; James K. Hughes and Julia A. Coleman ; 20, Redd G. Williams and Permelia Ann Biggers ; 23, William A. Foster and Martha L. Skinner ; George W. King and Nancy Horton ; Thomas A. Power and Elizabeth McSwain ; David C. Stratten and Emily Crawford.
March 2-David W. Stubbs and Nelly C. Miller ; 5, William B. Holmes and Laura J. Maxwell ; Andrew J. McDonald and Ann Manning; 6, Samuel E. Wells and Mary Ann Florence ; 9, Richard M. Goodroe and Rebecca J. Smith; 12, Francis Hewson and Caroline C. Mahan ; 13, James W. McDonald and Puss Mobley ; 19, John Finney and Mary Benton ; James B. Hathcock and Sarah J. Cattle; 23, Thomas R. Guice and Vernie McJunkin; William C. McCarty and Fannie P. Butt; William D. Amyet and Jarusha Simmons ; John S. Stephens and Rebecca Pilkinton ; 26, Thomas C. Preddy and Sarah J. Kelly ; Peter R. Hyatt and Sarah Lascar ; Solomon Clark and Minerva Patillo ; 28, Francis W. Jenkins and Mary Ann Ward ; Charles W. Lefler and Mary A. Ward; 30, Fleming Hodges and Martha A. Bozeman; 31, A. W. Humphries and Elizabeth L. V. Taylor.
April 2-Josiah Coskins and Lucinda Gardner; 5, John S. Smith and Sallie C. Hanks ; 9, LeRoy Kilgore and Martha Goodale ; Frank Lindsey and Laura Leake; 13, A. H. Chandler and Mary E. Pullum ; 18, John W. Good- loe and Eliza A. Lewis ; 29, James A. Clegg and Frances Blackstock ; Charles F. Reese and Mattie A. Wade; 30, William J. Wolf and Sarah Ann Jones.
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THE WILSON RAID.
In April, news of the approach through Alabama of a large Federal raiding party under command of General Wilson, caused a sensation in Columbus, which was quickened into a state of alarm and excitement when the enemy reached and captured Montgomery. Many refugees from that city and other parts of Alabama fled to Columbus. The local military authorities organized all the available forces for defense. The preparation was hasty, troops mostly wholly inexpe- rienced, and the arms generally very inferior. The military authorities determined with these to attempt a defence of the city. The enemy arrived in sight of Columbus, on the Ala- bama side of the river, on Sunday, the 16th of April. We copy from the Enquirer, of June 27th, (which was the first number of a paper issued in the city after the raid,) an account of the attack and capture of the city :
On Sunday, the 16th of April, the last battle of the war, on this side of the Mississippi river, was fought in Girard, Alabama, opposite this city.
The Confederate troops consisted of two regiments of the Georgia State Line, Waddell's battery, some of the forces of Gens. Buford and Wofford, a small number of the Georgia reserves, the organized companies for local de- fense in this city, besides a number of citizens of Columbus and a few hastily collected reserves of Russell county, Alabama-numbering in all, perhaps, two thousand men. The outer fortifications, that had been constructed for the defense of the city, were abandoned for the want of men to defend so long a line, and the troops were drawn into a line of rifle pits, extending from Dr. Ingersoll's hill to the "upper bridge," over the Chattahoochee ; this line em- bracing the Opelika railroad and the upper bridges, and two fortifications near the ends of the trenches, in which batteries were placed. A considera- ble portion of the excavation and embankment forming this line of defense was thrown up on the morning of the day of battle. The lower, or "city bridge," was not encircled within the line, but the plank on the Girard end had been torn up on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning every prep- aration was made to fire and destroy this bridge in the event of an attempt by the enemy to force its passage.
The first appearance of the Federal forces was about two o'clock, P. M., when their advance drove in the Confederate pickets on the Hurt's bridge or lower Crawford road. It appears that at Crawford the advancing forces had divided and took the two roads from Crawford to this city, and that the col- umn on the upper and shorter road awaited the arrival of the other to make the first demonstration. The Confederate pickets, or scouting party, retreated into the town, closely followed by the Federals, who were within good rifle range
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THE WILSON RAID.
and firing briskly at the retreating party. This advance was met by a fire from a small Confederate force near the creek bridge in Girard, and from the battery on the red hill near the upper bridge, and was soon compelled to re- tire. A 'portion of this party, however, made a dash at the lower bridge, firing through it when they found their passage stopped by the tearing up of the flooring. The order was then given to fire the bridge, which was quickly carried out, and it was soon wrapped in flames. In the execution of this order, Capt. C. C. McGehee, of one of the Naval Iron Works companies, acted with conspicuous gallantry. In this first brush two or three men on each side were killed and several wounded.
From two o'clock until dark no attack was made by the Federal troops, though it was evident that they were arriving in considerable numbers and were preparing for the conflict. They showed themselves in small squads on most of the hills commanding a view of the city and of the Confederate line of de- fense, and the men and their horses took shelter behind these hills and in the small timber along the western suburbs of Girard. The Confederate batter- ies, meantime, were engaged in shelling the eminences on which these demonstrations were made, and the general conviction in the city was that the Federals were making preparations for shelling Columbus at night. All the Federal forces, we believe, were mounted men, and the sequel proved that they had but two or three, if so many, pieces of artillery with them on Sunday afternoon.
Thus matters continued until night had fairly set in. It was a clear but dark night. About eight o'clock the Federals, dismounting their men, made a vigorous charge upon a portion of the Confederate line. It was met steadi- ly by the Confederate forces, and the musketry firing was for some time sharp and rapid. The batteries also opened upon the assailants, and to those unused to the din of battle it appeared as if the destruction of life must nec- essarily be great. The attack was repulsed. Again and again the Federal forces, deepening their columns, advanced under cover of the night, to the assault, and again they met by a continued roll of musketry, at close quarters, and by the bellowing cannon in the fortifications. But the Confederate line of defenses was a long one to be manned by so small a force, and a single line of raw troops, even in trenches, could not be expected long to hold out against the constantly compacting and reinforced columns of their assailants. Before the line had been broken, however, it was discovered that a squad of the Federal troops had by some means made their way to the Girard end of the upper bridge and were actually holding the bridge at that end, in rear of the line of defense! How they gained this position is not yet fully known. It is generally supposed that it was by making their way, either in disguise, or under the shelter of some ravines and the darkness of the night, through the line in the neighborhood of the railroad bridge, and coming down on the bank of the river. This successful manæuver proved very embarrassing to the further defense of the city. Orders from headquarters in Columbus were intercepted on their way to the battle-field in Girard, and no communications
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THE WILSON RAID.
could be kept up, nor any general understanding of the progress of the fight obtained. In a short time there was a promiscuous rush for the bridge. Friend and foe, horsemen and footmen, artillery wagons and ambulances, were crowded and jammed together in the narrow avenue, which was "dark as Egypt," or "Erebus," for that bridge had no gas fixtures and was never lighted. How it was that many were not crushed to death in this tumul- tuous transit of the Chattahoochee, seems incomprehensible. The Confed- erates had no reserved forces, except a few squads for guard duty, in the city, and very little resistance was made after the Federals had crossed the bridge. But nearly all the known casualties on the Confederate side nevertheless oc- curred on this side of the river. The chivalric and lamented Col. C. A. L. Lamar fell while gallantly endeavoring to rally a squad of Confederates at the city end of the bridge. So did the noble and much-regretted young Alexander W. Robison, who was killed at the bridge. Judge Waddell, of Russell coun- ty, was shot and mortally wounded on the upper part of Broad street. Mr. J. J. Jones, the local editor of this paper, and Mr. Evan Jones of Apalachi- Capt. S. Isidore Guillet, Col. Von Zinken's chief-of-staff, was killed on the Girard side, while gallantly doing his duty. If there were any other Confederates killed on that side of the river, we have not been able to learn their names. Mr. - Smith, a watch- maker of this city, and an Englishman by birth, was killed on Broad street ; and we hear that two young men, whose names are unknown to us, were killed near the brickyard, in the eastern suburbs of the city. These are all the deaths on the Confederate side of which we have any knowledge.
· cola, were also killed on Broad street.
We have no means whatever of making an estimate of the Federal loss in this fight. The darkness of the night prevented any view of the ground while the battle was going on, and the victors held the field and all access to it afterwards. Had the attack been made in the day time the loss of the assailants must have been much greater than it really was, and there is every reason to believe their casualties were quite numerous.
Northern papers state that Gen. Wilson telegraphed that he captured about one thousand prisoners. The Confederate troops that escaped were scattered in every direction, some on either side of the river, and the organization so hastily collected to defend the city was dispersed to as many quarters as those from which it had been brought together.
Maj. Gen. Howell Cobb was the ranking officer of the day, but the direct command of the troops in the field was assigned to Col. Leon Von Zinken, whose coolness and intrepidity were conspicuously displayed and acknowl- edged as well by the Federals as the Confederates.
The fight was gallantly maintained on both sides. The Union troops have made ready acknowledgment of the courage with which the Confederates, for mostly raw troops and all hastily thrown together, stood their ground ; and the attack of the Federals was made and followed up with an unquailing spirit.
It is plain that an error was committed in making the line of defense too
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GEN. WILSON'S REPORT.
long. Had the railroad bridge been partially destroyed, and the line shor- tened and doubled around the upper bridge, a much stouter and more pro- longed resistance could have been made. But the Federal force would have taken the city in spite of the best dispositions made with our limited means, for they could have sent a large body of troops to cross the river either above or below the city, and have entered it from the Georgia side while they were making demonstrations against the force in Girard.
A very large quantity of cannon, small arms, ordnance and commissary stores fell into the hands of Gen. Wilson, and were destroyed.
We have called this the last fight east of the Mississippi. There was a sharp fight at West Point on the same day, but earlier in the day. There may possibly have been a brush or two in Western North Carolina after the 16th of April, but nothing like a battle of any importance. A fight occurred two or three weeks later in Western Texas, near the old Palo-Alto battle ground, in which the Confederates were successful; and this closed the fight- ing of the civil war, so far as we have any advice.
GEN. WILSON'S REPORT.
We make on next page extracts from Gen. Wilson's report of his raid through the South, including the capture of Columbus. Only two or three statements call for notice here, either be- cause of their incorrectness, or because they serve to explain some incidents about which there was doubt. Gen. Wilson admits a loss of twenty-five men killed and wounded in the attack on the Confederate position on the Alabama side of the river. He states that his advance, which dashed through Girard about two o'clock p. m. on the 16th, would have cap- tured the lower bridge had the Confederates not fired it. This seems to settle the disputed question as to the propriety of firing the bridge at that time, because Gen. Wilson's asser- tion shows that Gen. Upton's advance had orders to make an attack on the bridge, whether they would then have captured it or not. The report does injustice to the Confederates in not stating that their line of defence around the upper bridge, &c., was a single one and long drawn out, and that the four or five hundred Federal troops, for whom he claims the honor of breaking through the Confederate lines, did not really encounter one-half their own force. It also con- firms the statement that the Federal forces had, in some man- ner not yet clearly explained, obtained possession of the
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GEN. WILSON'S REPORT.
bridge in the rear of the Confederates before the line of the latter was broken through.
Gen. Wilson's statement of the work of destruction by his orders at Columbus is evidently only approximately correct. In some respects it exaggerates, and in others falls short of the extent of the vandalism. The general estimate of the amount of cotton destroyed puts it at but little over one-half of his statement. He burnt two printing offices (those of the Sun and Times) and some private buildings, of which he makes no mention. It was claimed that the private buildings were unavoidably burnt because of their contiguity to estab- lishments operated in aid of the Confederacy. There was only one paper mill (the Rock Island) in this section, and therefore only one could have been destroyed.
CAPTURE OF MONTGOMERY.
In the march from Selma, LaGrange's Brigade of McCook's Division was given the advance. The recent rains had rendered the roads quite muddy, and a small body of Rebel cavalry, in falling back before LaGrange, destroy- ed several bridges, so that our progress was necessarily slow.
At seven a. m., April twelfth, the advanced guard reached Montgomery, and received the surrender of the city from the Mayor and Council. Gen. Adams, with a small force, after falling back before us to the city, burned ninety thousand bales of cotton stored there, and continued his retreat to Mount Meigs, on the Columbus road. Five guns and large quantities of small arms, stores, etc., were left in our hands and destroyed.
Gen. McCook assigned Col. Cooper, Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, to the com- mand of the city, and immediately began the destruction of the public stores. Major Weston, of the Fourth Kentucky, with a small detachment of his reg- iment, made a rapid march to Wetumpka, swam the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, and captured five steamboats and their cargoes, which were taken to Montgomery and destroyed. Early on the fourteenth the march was resum- ed. I instructed Brevet Major General Upton to move with his own division directly upon Columbus, and to order LaGrange, with his brigade, to make a rapid movement upon West Point, destroying the railroad bridges along the line of march. I hoped to secure a crossing of the Chattahoochee at one or the other of these points.
Minty followed Upton by the way of Tuskegee. McCook, with a part of his division, remained a few hours at Montgomery to complete the destruc- tion of public stores. Shortly after leaving his camp, near Montgomery, La- Grange struck a force of rebels under Buford and Clareton, but drove them in confusion, capturing about one hundred and fifty prisoners.
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ATTACK ON AND CAPTURE OF COLUMBUS.
About two p. m. of the sixteenth, General Upton's advance-a part of Alex- ander's brigade-struck the enemy's pickets on the road and drove them rap- idly through Girard to the lower bridge over the Chattahoochee at Columbus. The rebels hastily set fire to it and thereby prevented its capture. After securing a position on the lower Montgomery road, Gen. Upton detached & force to push around to the bridge of the factory, three miles above the city. He then made a reconnoisance in person and found the enemy strongly post- ed in a line of works covering all the bridges, with a large number of guns in position on both sides of the river. He had already determined to move Winslow's Brigade to the Opelika or Summerville road and assault the works on that side without waiting for the arrival of the Second Division.
I reached the head of Winslow's Brigade of the Fourth Division at four o'clock, and found the troops marching to the position assigned them by General Upton. Through an accident, General Winslow did not arrive at his position till after dark, but General Upton prepared to make the assault in the night, and coinciding with him in judgment, I ordered the attack.
Three hundred men of the Third Iowa Cavalry, Col. Noble commanding, were dismounted, and, after a slight skirmish, moved forward and formed . across the road under a heavy fire of artillery. The Fourth Iowa and Tenth Missouri were held in readiness to support the assaulting party. At eight and a half o'clock, p. m., just as the troops were ready, the enemy at a short distance, opened a heavy fire of musketry, and with a four gun battery, be- gan throwing canister and grape. Generals Upton and Winslow in person, directed the movement ; the troops dashed forward, opened a withering fire from their Spencers, pushed through a slashing abatis, pressed the Rebel line back to their outworks, supposed at first to be their main line. During all this time the Rebel guns threw out a perfect storm of canister and grape, but without avail.
Gen. Upton sent two companies of the Tenth Missouri, Capt. Glassen com- manding, to follow up the success of the dismounted men and get possession of the bridge. They passed through the inner line of works, and, under cover of darkness, before the Rebels knew it, had reached the bridge lead- ing into Columbus.
As soon as everything could be got up to the position occupied by the dis- mounted men, Gen. Upton pressed forward again, and swept away all oppo- sition, took possession of the foot and railroad bridges, and stationed guards throughout the city.
Twelve hundred prisoners, fifty-two field guns in position for use against us, large quantities of arms and stores fell into our hands. Our loss was only twenty-five killed and wounded. Col. C. A. L. Lamar, of Gen. Cobb's staff, formerly owner of the "Wanderer," (slave trader) was killed.
The Rebel force was over three thousand men. They could not believe they had been dislodged from their strong fortifications by an attack of three hundred men.
When itis remembered that these operations gave to us the city of Colum-
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GEN. WILSON'S REPORT.
bus-the key to Georgia, four hundred miles from our starting point, and that it was conducted by cavalry, without the inspiration from the great events which had transpired in Virginia-it will not be considered insignifi- cant, although shorn of its importance.
Gen. Winslow was assigned to the command of the city.
CAPTURE OF WEST POINT.
After much sharp skirmishing and hard marching, which resulted in the capture of fourteen wagons and a number of prisoners, LaGrange's advance reached the vicinity of West Point at ten A. M., April 16th, with Beck's Eighteenth Indiana Battery and the Second and Fourth Indiana Cavalry. The enemy were kept occupied till the arrival of the balance of the Brigade. Having thoroughly reconnoitered the ground, detachments of the First Wis- consin, Second Indiana, and Seventh Kentucky Cavalry dismounted and prepared to assault Fort Tyler, covering the bridge. Col. LaGrange describes it as a remarkably strong bastioned earthwork, thirty-five yards square, sur- rounded by a ditch twelve feet wide and ten feet deep, situated on a con- manding eminence, protected by an imperfect abattis and mounting two thirty-two pounders and two field guns.
At one P. M. the charge was sounded and the brave detachment on the three sides of the work rushed forward to the assault, drove the Rebel skir- mishers into the fort, and followed under a withering fire of musketry and grape to the edge of the ditch. This was found impassable ; but without falling back, Col. LaGrange posted sharp-shooters to keep down the enemy and organized parties to gather material for the bridges. As soon as this had been done he sounded the charge again ; the detachment sprang forward again, laid the bridges and rushed forward over the parapet into the work ; capturing the entire garrison-in all, two hundred and sixty-five men. Gen. Tyler, its commanding officer, with eighteen men and officers killed, and twenty-eight severely wounded. Simultaneously with the advance upon the fort the Fourth Indiana dashed through the town, secured both bridges over the Chattahoochee, scattering a superior force of cavalry which had just arrived, and burned five engines and trains. Col. LaGrange highly com- mends the accuracy and steadiness of Capt. Beck in the use of his artillery.
Col. LaGrange destroyed at this place two bridges, nineteen locomotives, and two hundred and forty-five cars loaded with quartermaster, commissary and ordnance stores. Before leaving he established a hospital for the wounded of both sides, and left with the Mayor an ample supply of stores to provide for all their wants.
Early on the morning of the seventeenth he resumed his march toward Macon, passing through LaGrange, Griffin and Forsyth, and breaking the railroads at those places. He would have reached his destination by noon of the twentieth, but for delay caused by an order to wait for the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, which had gone through Columbus.
DEPARTURE FROM COLUMBUS.
The afternoon of the seventeenth I directed Col. Minty to resume his
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GEN. WILSON'S REPORT.
march with his Division on the Thomaston road toward Macon, and to send a detachment forward that night to seize the Double bridges over Flint river. Capt. Van Antwerp, of my staff, accompanied this party. By seven o'clock A. M. the next day he had reached the bridges, fifty miles from Colum- bus, scattered the party defending them, and took forty prisoners.
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