History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 41

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 41

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" After Houston's term in Congress expired he was elected Governor of Tennessee, successor to Gen. William Carroll. During his Governorship he married Miss Allen, who was a member of a large and influential family in Sumner and Smith Counties. Gen. Carroll, after being out of office two years, was again eligible, and declared himself again a candidate in opposition to Houston. The first meeting of Houston and Carroll in the canvass occurred at Cockrell's Spring, in the month of April, at a battalion muster. I was at that time sheriff of the county and colonel of the militia, and, at the request of Houston, drilled the regiment on that day. IIe desired me to fully acquaint myself with the popular sentiment, and communicate it to him after the speaking, which I did, affording him much gratification. He left the muster-ground Saturday afternoon for the city, and I accompanied him as far as the residence of Mr. John Boyd, in sight of the city, and then returned to my own home, leaving him in high spirits. I went into the city Monday morning early, and while registering my name at the Nashville Inn, the late Daniel F. Carter, who was at the time clerk of the hotel, said to me, ' Havo you heard the news ?' I replied, ' No. What news ?' He replied, 'Gen. Houston and wife have separated, and she has returned to her father's home.' I was greatly shocked, having never suspected any cause for separation. Asking where Gen. Houston could be found, Mr. Carter replied that he was in his room, but could not be seen. I went immediately to his room and found him in company with Dr. Shelby. He was deeply mortified and refused to explain the matter. I left him with Dr. Shelby a few minutes, and went to the court-house on business. When I returned I said to him, ' You must explain this sad occurrence to us, else you will sacrifice your friends and yourself.' He replied, 'I can make no explanation. I exonerate this lady fully, and do not justify myself. I am a ruined man ; will exile myself, and now ask you to take my resignation to the Secretary of State.' I replied, 'You must not think of it,' when he again said, ' It is my fixed determination, and my enemies, when I am gone, will be too magnanimous to consure my friends.' Seeing his determination, I took his resignation to the Secretary of State, who received it. The following morning he went in disguise to the steamboat, accompanied by Dr. Shelby and myself. He wrote me afterwards that he was not recognized until he reached Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas River, where he met a friend, of whom he exacted a promise not to make him known. He went up the river to Fort Smith, thence to the Cherokee Nation to his old friend Jolly, a noted Indian whom he knew

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when sub-agent. He remained in the nation some time, and on one occasion passed through Nashville with a dele- gation of Indians, on their way to Washington, in the full garb of a Cherokee. From the nation he went to Texas and settled at St. Augustine, commencing there the practice of law with John Dunn, of this county, son of Michael C. Dunn, and there remained until the breaking out of the Texas revolution. He soon raised an army, and was made commander-in-chief of the Texas army, and at the battle of San Jacinto captured Santa Anna, President of Mexico, which closed the war. He sent Santa Anna and Gen. Am- brose as his prisoners through Nashville, on their way to Washington, under the charge of Col. George W. Hooley, formerly of Nashville. Gen. Houston was then made pres- ident of the Republic of Texas, and, after its annexation, was senator in Congress from that State, then was made Governor, and at the commencement of the war was opposed to secession and rebellion, was deposed by the Legislature, and soon after died. Some years previous to his death he professed the Christian religion and became a consistent member of the Baptist Church."

To this interesting sketch we add a few notes. The wound which Gen. Houston received at the battle of the Horseshoe was a very dangerous one, and nearly cost him his life. In April, 1816, he sailed for New York, where he remained several weeks, and, with health somewhat im- proved, returned to Tennessee by the way of Washington. He was stationed in Nashville, Jan. 1, 1817. In Novem- ber of the same year he was appointed sub-agent for the Indians, and being called to Washington on business con- nected with the agency, he resigned his position as lieuten- ant in the regular army March 1, 1818, returned to Ten- nessee, and settled in Nashville.

We find in a notice we have seen of Gen. Houston the following personal description : "Gen. Houston stood six feet six inches in his socks, was of fine contour, a remarkably stout, well-proportioned man, and of commanding and gal- lant bearing ; had a large, long head and face, and his fine features were lit up by large, eagle-looking eyes ; possessed a wonderful recollection of persons and names, a fine ad- dress and courtly manners, and a magnetism approaching to that of Gen. Jackson. He enjoyed unbounded popularity among men, and was a great favorite with the ladies."

During the trip alluded to through Nashville to Wash- ington with some of the Cherokee chiefs, in 1832, he was upon a mission which he had undertaken to the govern -. ment in behalf of the Cherokees, to relieve them from the wrong and injustice of the traders and agents, and he suc- ceeded in having five of them put out of office .*

In a letter to his father-in-law, written shortly after his separation from his wife Eliza, Gen. Houston explained the cause of that event : " She was cold to me, and I thought did not love me; she owns that such was one cause of my unhappiness. You can think how unhappy I was, united to a woman who did not love me." In the same letter he fully vindicates her character for virtue : " If mortal man had dared to charge my wife, or say aught against her virtue, I would have slain him."

* American Cyclopædia.

He afterwards married an estimable woman in Texas, whom he left a widow at his death with seven children, none of whom had attained their majority. He died at Huntsville, Texas, in June, 1863, aged seventy-three years.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-47.

Causes of the War-How it was Begun-Part taken in it by Soldiers of Tennessee and Davidson County-Campaigns and Battles-Com- panies in the Third Tennessee-First Tennessee-Colonel, after- wards Governor William B. Campbell-His Gallant Military Con- duct and Important Civil Services.

THE causes which led to the Mexican war were largely due to the spirit of adventure and military prowess of citi- zens of Tennessee, displayed in accomplishing the independ- ence of Texas in 1836. Many of these adventurers were from Davidson County, the most prominent of whom, and one to whom has been accorded the largest share in that result, being Gen. Samuel Houston, who had won great dis- tinction in the Creek war, and besides representing Tennes- see in Congress had been her chief magistrate in 1827. He early espoused the cause of the Texan revolution, and his military talents soon placed him at the head of the army. His connection with this movement soon brought to his standard a large number of his old comrades and friends in Tennessee, by whose aid he won the important battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, in which the Mexican army was destroyed and the Mexican President, Santa Anna, was taken prisoner.

On the admission of Texas into the American Union in 1845, Gen. Zachary Taylor was ordered to Corpus Christi, at the mouth of the Neuces, to protect the frontier from a threatened Mexican invasion. As Mexico still claimed the right of sovereignty over Texas, and particularly that part included between the Rio Grande and the Neuces, as be- longing to the State of Tamaulipas, Gen. Taylor remained at that point until the 8th of March, 1846, awaiting the result of negotiations between the two governments, which proving unsatisfactory, he made a general forward move- ment on that date and occupied Point Isabel, near the mouth of the Rio Grande. He soon after advanced to a point opposite Matamoras, where he erected a work after- wards called Fort Brown. On his arrival here Gen. Am- pudia, commanding the Mexican forces, addressed him a letter, in which he required him to withdraw beyond the Neuces or take the consequences, to which, of course, he paid no attention. Some effort having been made against bis line of communications by the Mexican cavalry, he re- turned with his main force to Point Isabel, leaving a gar- rison in the fort. After his departure a heavy bombard- ment was opened on the fort, during which the commander, Maj. Brown, was killed. On the 7th of May, Gen. Taylor started on his return with two thousand three hundred regulars and Texas Rangers for the relief of the garrison, and on the 8th encountered Gen. Ampudia with a consider- able force drawn up on the plateau of Palo Alto to dispute

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THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-47.

his advance. An engagement ensued mostly with artillery, ending in the retreat of the Mexicans with the loss of six hundred men killed, wounded, and missing. The Ameri- can loss was six killed and forty-four wounded. On the 9th a still larger force, now amounting to six thousand men, was found posted in a ravine at Resaca de la Palma, and was overthrown with a loss of one thousand men, the American loss being one hundred and ten. Thus began the Mexican war.

Hostilities having been anticipated, many companies had already been organized in Tennessee, and when Governor Aaron V. Brown issued his call for two regiments of in- fantry and one of cavalry, amounting in all to twenty-cight hundred volunteers, such was the military spirit of the volunteer State that over thirty thousand of her citizens applied to be received into the service. Two companies from Davidson were accepted on account of their previous organization and excellence in drill. These were the Nash- ville Blues, commanded by Capt. B. F. Cheatham, and the Harrison Guards, commanded by Capt. Robert C. Foster (3d). These companies entered the First Tennessee Regi- ment, which rendezvoused at the Nashville race-course, and organized on the 3d day of June, 1846, by the election of Capt. William B. Campbell, of Smith County, colonel ; Capt. Samuel R. Anderson, of Sumner, lieutenant-colonel ; Richard Alexander, of Smith, first major; and Robert Farquharson, of Lincoln, second major. First Lieut. Adol- phus Human, of the Harrison Guards, was appointed ad- jutant ; Dr. McPhail surgeon ; and W. D. Dorris assistant surgeon. Before leaving for the stirring theatre of war an interesting and memorable ceremony was performed in the beautiful grounds of the Nashville Female Academy, consisting of the presentation of a beautiful banner by the young ladies of the graduating class to the regiment, bear- ing this inscription, " Weeping in solitude for the fallen brave is better than the presence of men too timid to strike for their country." The regiment was composed of twelve companies, and had an aggregate of one thousand and forty men. Its embarkation in steamers for New Orleans on the 4th and 5th of June was witnessed by a vast throng of friends and kindred, who came from every part of Middle Tennessee and lined the banks of the Cumberland for miles. Embarking at New Orleans in three sailing-vessels, on the 17th of June, the regiment reached Brazos or San- tiago July the 7th, and on arriving on the Rio Grande was put in the brigade of Gen. Quitman. Disease and death from climatic causes soon made such havoc in its ranks that when the requisition came on the 29th of August at Camargo for five hundred men for the march on Monterey, the necessary complement was difficult to fill. A number of the sick were here discharged and sent back to their homes. A reorganization was now made reducing the number of companies to ten, and the regiment with the First Mississippi Rifles, Col. Jefferson Davis, formed into a brigade under Gen. Quitman. The march for Monterey was taken up on the 7th of September, and the brigade arrived in sight of its walls on the 19th, encamping in the beautiful grove of St. Domingo, five miles from the city, where the entire American army, six thousand strong, was collected. On the next day (Sunday) great activity pro-

vailed, betokening that the American general was not wanting in those necessary qualities of the commander,-enterprise and decision ; litters were prepared for the wounded, sug- gestive of blood-spilling, and reconnoissances made by the general officers and the engineers. A battery of ten-inch mortars and twenty-four-pounders was established within one half-mile of the enemy's works. On the 21st the bat- tery opened fire on the walls of the city, and the various regiments moved up to their chosen positions. The morn- ing was beautiful, and the lofty peaks of the Sierra Madre were outlined against the bluest of skies.

At the base of the mountain occupying a plateau lay the city, divided by the San Juan. On the east stood the citadel of Taneria and the Block Fort, and on the west the stronghold known as the Bishop's Palace. The plan of operations was to attack the Bishop's Palace, the securing of which would command the city, while the left wing was to make a diversion and strike as opportunity was given. One company of the First Tennessee was left to guard the camp, while the rest, three hundred and fifty strong, marched down the road and filed to the left with its left in front, fol- lowing the shallow ravines to reach its position. On com- ing opposite Fort Taneria sharp volleys of musketry and the deep roar of artillery told that the work had begun sooner than was expected. The Seventh Regulars had dashed forward, and being badly cut up, had the discretion to retire a short distance and make a detour under shelter further to the left. At the first sound of conflict in their vicinity the men of the First Tennessee became crazed with an ungovernable ardor to go forward and mingle in the fray, as is very commonly the case with high-strung fellows on entering their first battle. It took but a few minutes for them to arrive on the scene. Their baptism was bloody. In the mad excitement of the moment they rushed tumult- ously forward without halting to form line of battle, pre- senting a living lance-head against the grim wall whence flashed a score of cannon and thousands of small-arms. As the column still left in front poured over a ridge and started down the slope, a round shot striking in the soft stone a short distance off rose and, raking the rear of Com- pany K's line, tore and gashed a fearful gap in Company I, cutting off legs, arms, and heads to the number of a round dozen. That was like the pictures of war they had seen in books (and rarely seen outside of books), a mere incident common to every battle, and the brave fellows pressed on and soon came under the range of the musketry from the walls and tops of houses. At eighty yards some one had the discretion to give the order to fire, and the Mexican heads, which until then had showed thickly along the walls, disappeared under cover, and from that time on escopets only where visible firing wildly and at random. This alone saved the column from utter annihilation. The men now halted and opened a rapid fire, and as that from the walls began to slacken, an impetuous rush was made, the parapets were gained, and the beautiful gift of the Tennessee girls was the first to float on the battlements of Monterey. Out of the three hundred and fifty who had accomplished the perilous feat of placing it there, one hundred and five had fallen. The city capitulated on the 25th, the Mexi- can army being allowed to march off with a single light

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battery. An armistice of four months followed, and on the 14th of December the regiment set out for Tampico, four hundred miles to the southward, to join in Gen. Scott's movement against Vera Cruz. On March 1st, eight com- panies embarked at Tampico ; on the 5th arrived at Anton Lizardo. The landing was effected at the harbor of Sacri- ficio, four miles below Vera Cruz, in surf-boats on the 9th, and preparations were made at once for the erection of bat- teries. A detail from the Harrison Guards was put under charge of Capt. Robert E. Lee, of the engineers, and was conducted by him to a point within half a mile of the walls of the city, where unobserved the site of the celebrated marine battery was laid out. The batteries opened on the 22d and fired until the 27th ; on the 29th the city sur- rendered, with its strong castle of San Juan de Ulloa, to an army of ten thousand Americans. During the invest- ment the First and Second Tennessee had a spirited little affair at the Madeline Bridge on the 26th, which though strongly barricaded was carried by a dash with the loss of only two or three killed. April the 9th Scott's army took up the line of march via the National Road for the city of Mexico, and Plan Rio, in the vicinity of Cerro Gordo, was reached on the 12th. On the 18th the assault was made on each wing, the Tennesseeans being on the left. The strong city fell at a blow. Fortune favored the First Ten- nessee, but its fellow, the Second, suffered terribly while entangled in the thorny chapparal in front of a strong for- tress. On the 20th the victorious army started for Jalapa. Here Gen. Scott issued an order for the return and dis- charge of the regiment, its term of enlistment being nearly out, and its numbers fearfully reduced by disease and battle. It soon after was embarked at Vera Cruz with an aggre- gate of three hundred and one, and on reaching New Or- leans was honorably discharged.

COMPANIES IN THE THIRD TENNESSEE.

Gen. Scott having lost heavily by battle and disease in reaching the city of Mexico, the government called upon the Governor of Tennessee for two more regiments. Upon the requisition being made known, Capt. B. F. Cheatham, late commander of the Nashville Blues in the First Ten- nessee, set to work with characteristic energy, and in a short time had raised a regiment, to the command of which he was unanimously elected. Two of the companies were from Davidson, respectively under the command of Capts. W. R. Bradfute and Daniel S. Trigg. The regiment was mustered into the service October the 8th, 1847. On its arrival at Vera Cruz it was formed into a brigade, with the Third Indiana, Col. Joseph H. Lane, and the Fourth Ten- nessee, Col. Waterhouse. Col. Cheatham being the senior officer was assigned to the command, and ordered to convey a heavy train of wagons and pack mules to the city of Mexico. This he successfully accomplished by the 8th of December, without the aid of infantry or cavalry. The Third Ten- nessee did not become engaged in action with the enemy, but it won the reputation of being the best drilled and dis- ciplined volunteer regiment in the service.

The display of energy and military aptitude by Col. Cheatham in the Mexican war were but the foretokenings of the splendid reputation he was to win a few years later

on a broader field, and in a mightier contest, as a major- general in the service of the Confederate States.

The First Tennessee Regiment was composed in part of soldiers from Davidson County, and was commanded by Col. William Bowen Campbell, afterwards Governor. He was a native of Tennessee,-a home-bred, a self-made, genuine Tennessee American, of the type of Washington. He de- serves a high place in the gallery of the " worthies" of Ten- nessee. It is not an easy matter to draw and sketch his life, or to appreciate him. He was a solid and not a sur- face man. It requires more time and thought, reflection and patience to appreciate such a man than is ordinarily given to the subject.

He filled and performed the duties of a lawyer, attorney- general, judge, congressman, soldier, Governor of his State, and citizen and man. While living and acting he was re- spected and esteemed by every man ; and by all who knew him and were brought near to him his character was felt. Respect and esteem followed; it was not and could not be withheld. He was a well-developed man, physically, morally, and mentally, and a noble specimen of manhood. In stature he was six feet high, finely formed, deep chested, broad shouldered, with a well-formed head, well set on his shoulders, his hair of light brown, eyes of a light blue, benevolent and expressive. Standing on his feet, upright and erect, yet easy and free; a man in whom one might and would confide, and feel he would certainly do to trust in peace and war. He was warm, genial, and eminently social. His voice smooth, of moderate tone, rather low than loud, a soft, persuasive, friendly voice ; yet there were in his firm face, eye, air, and bearing and form great strength and power, capable of passion, energy, and wrath ; one whom it were dangerous to arouse; one who could and would and did command when the occasion required it; one who could face the cannon's mouth with perfect presence of mind and self-control.

He needed no paper or parchment to attest his stock or his ancestry ; he was of the real royal blood of the Anglo- American best-of the true lineage of the Anglo-Saxon. Of Virginia descent, of that hardy, brave, enterprising people that had crossed the mountains and settled in South- western Virginia, then a wilderness, and made their homes in Washington County, adjoining East Tennessee. Of a family connection which was distinguished for its courage and manhood in the war of independence, and had given three soldiers and heroes to the battle of King's Mountain, and subsequently a chief magistrate-Governor David Campbell-to Virginia. He was born Feb. 1, 1807, with- in twelve miles of the present site of Nashville. He in- herited from his Campbell ancestry a sensitive temperament, and from the Bowens a large magnanimity both of soul and mind. He was related, through his paternal grand- mother, to Gen. William Campbell, one of the heroes of King's Mountain. His grandfather, David Campbell, from whom Campbell's Station, in East Tennessee, took its name, took part in that engagement as a soldier in Col. William Campbell's regiment. Through his mother he was related to Lieut. Reece Bowen, of the same regiment, who in that engagement, while in a hazardous position, fell, pierced in the breast by a rifle-ball, and almost instantly expired.

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passou, Tell, pierc Jours Tater Tthe breast by a rifle-ball, and almost instantly expired.

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Engraund by Samuel Sartain, Phil?

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THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-47.

From these three different ancestral lines there met in his veins the blood of those hardy patriots who turned the tide of American defeat, and gave to indepencence the morning of its day long delayed.

His father, David Campbell, a plain farmer, brought up his family to industry, economy, and good morals. His mother, Catherine Bowen Campbell, was a remarkable woman of the old school, industrious, pious, and patriotic. Reared in the midst of Revolutionary traditions and the alarms of Indian warfare, patriotism was with her a passion. With few books at her command, she in girlhood stored her memory with a few of the best. To her latest years down to fourscore the mention of any deed of heroism brought from her well-stored memory apt poetical responses garnered from Scott, Burns, Campbell, and Moore. A love of truth and of country she transmitted in intense form to her son.

He himself told this anecdote of his mother "in the day that tried men's souls" to a few friends, tears trickling down his manly cheeks. He had been all of his life a " national man," and had been baptized on the field of battle under the old flag; was a soldier and a good and true one, and a man of weight and influence throughout the whole State. He was tendered the command of the Tennessee forces in aid of the Rebellion. It was urged upon him. He declined. His declination was published and well known. Being told of this she said, " William, I was proud of you at Monterey; I was proud of you when the people elected you Governor, but I am now prouder of you than ever since you refused to fight against the flag of your country."

Having been brought up on the farm, one of a large family, and having his own living to earn and character to form, Campbell adopted the calling of the law, and arose to eminence and distinction in the region of country in which he lived. He began the practice of law at Car- thage, Tenn., and was married to Miss Fanny I. Owen, daughter of Dr. John Owen, in 1835. His ability as a lawyer was the ability of common sense, knowledge of life and men and affairs, private and public. It was substantial justice : " What was right between man and man."

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 41

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013