USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > History of Nashville, Tenn. > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
168
HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
vention, the two-thirds rule being resorted to, however, to make the defeat a certainty. Mr. James K. Polk became the nominee of the party instead of Mr. Van Buren, and with the effective aid of the Abo- litionists, who were driven from the support of Mr. Clay by his famous Alabama letter, was elected President. Mr. Polk was known to be strongly in favor of annexation. The rallying cry of the Democratic party in 1844 was: "Polk, Dallas, and Texas."
In the meantime a treaty of annexation had been concluded with Texas by Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of State, on April 12, 1844, but this treaty was rejected by the Senate by a vote of 35 to 16. This treaty fixed the western boundary of Texas at the Rio Grande, thus taking in the coun- try between the Rio Grande and the Nueces, which had been in peaceful possession of the Spaniards since 1694, as the province of Coahuila. In this disputed territory lay the germs of the war with Mexico. Notwith- standing the fact that Mr. Polk had been elected by the aid of the Aboli- tionists, and the fact that he had received far less than a majority of the popular vote, his election was interpreted as an indorsement of annexa- tion, and those members of Congress who had been in doubt as to what attitude to assume toward the subject made haste to align themselves on the side of annexation; and, as a result of this adjustment, when a vote was taken on a joint resolution of the two houses of Congress (the treaty having failed in the Senate, as above stated) in favor of annexation, the vote stood 120 for to 97 against it. It is important to note, therefore, that Texas was not admitted into the Union by treaty. The United States agreed to admit Texas as all the other States had been admitted-that is, it was required that Texas should hold a new Constitutional Convention, adopt a new Constitution, submit this to a popular vote, and if carried, submit it to the supervision of the Congress of the United States; and, if approved by that body, the State was to be admitted. All this was agreed to by Texas, and thus that State became a member of the Union just as had all the other States.
The first part of the above-mentioned joint resolution was: " That Con- gress doth consent that the territory properly included within and right- fully belonging to the republic of Texas may be erected into a new State, to be called the State of Texas, with a republican form of government to be adopted by the people of that republic, by deputies in convention assem- bled, with the consent of the existing Government, in order that the same may be admitted as one of the States of this Union."
The consent of Congress was given upon certain express conditions, the most important of which was the third, as follows: "New States of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to the said
0
Theo & Buttre
169
MILITARY HISTORY.
State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter by the consent of said State be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution ; and such States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory ยท lying south of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, north latitude, com- monly known as the Missouri compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without slavery, as the people of each State asking admis- sion may desire. And in such State or States as shall be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri compromise line, slavery, or involun- tary servitude (except in punishment for crime ), shall be prohibited."
An amendment was added to the joint resolution, called the "Walker Amendment," making it discretionary with the President of the United States to proceed under the joint resolution or to negotiate a treaty with Texas, as is usual in such cases. President Tyler chose the method by joint resolution, and on the last day of his term sent his nephew to Texas, with official dispatches inviting that republic to immediate entrance into the Union. The Texas Congress accepted the offer June 8, 1845, and a convention at Austin, Tex., on July 4, 1845, ratified the action of Con- gress.
Mexico regarded the annexation as an act of war, and it is remarkable that many of the most prominent public men of the United States had ex- pressed themselves as entertaining the same opinion. President Polk was thus inaugurated with the certainty of a war upon his hands.
The boundary line between Texas and Mexico had not been adjusted, Texas claiming to the Rio Grande, while Mexico claimed to the River Nueces. The boundary dispute, therefore, was transferred to the United States, as was also the war between Texas and Mexico.
In the meantime, on June 15, 1845, General Zachary Taylor had been ordered by the Secretary of War of the United States to embark at New Orleans with his troops for a point on the Rio Grande in Texas, to pro- tect what, in the event of annexation, would be the western boundary of the United States. This order was complied with on July 2, 4. On Au- gust 23 General Taylor was ordered by Secretary of War Marcy to ac- cept volunteers from Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and at the same time one thousand regular troops were sent to him from New York. On October 18 General Taylor was ordered to drive all Mexicans beyond the Rio Grande, and to hold Point Isabel on that river. On January 13, 1846, he was ordered to march to the Rio Grande opposite Matamoras, maintaining the use of the river for the pur- poses of navigation, and to disperse any attacking body of Mexicans. On March 21, 1846, General Taylor left Corpus Christi and marched to the
170
HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
Rio Grande, without taking any notice of a Mexican officer's warning that for him to cross the Colorado would be considered by the Mexican Government as an act of war. The Mexican Government thereupon de- clared war upon the United States, and sent an order, April 4, to General Arista to attack the troops under General Taylor with every means in his power. Thus, while the war was begun by the United States, it was first declared by Mexico.
Having thus presented some of the more important general facts con- nected with the origin of the war with Mexico, it is now intended to re- cite such local incidents as may be of interest in this connection.
The Nashville Texas Emigrant Society was organized in 1841. Its pur- pose was to aid such persons as might desire to do so to emigrate to Texas. Mr. Jabez Dean was its agent. For some time he was in Texas on business for the Society, and arrived in Nashville March 23, 1842, di- rect from Galveston. He brought with him Galveston papers down to the 13th inst., containing news of the invasion of Texas by fourteen thou- sand Mexicans, under General Arista. According to Mr. Dean, the Tex- ans were preparing to give the Mexicans a warm reception. Arms and ammunitions of war were abundant, he said, and there was little proba- bility that further supplies would be cut off by the United States.
On March 10, 1842, President Sam Houston issued a proclamation, calling upon all subject to military duty to hold themselves in readiness to repair equipped to the scene of action at the call of Texas. The next day President Houston wrote from Galveston to P. Edmunds, Consul of Texas at New Orleans, to the effect that if any of the people of the Unit- ed States should emigrate to Texas, each individual must bring with him a good rifle or musket, with a cartouch-box, or shot-pouch and powder- horn, with at least one hundred rounds of ammunition, and enter the service for six months, subject to the laws of Texas. No other emigrants would be received, as they would be of no use in the defense of the coun- try. The Committee of Safety at Galveston, anticipating the action of the authorites of the State, sent three gentlemen to New Orleans to take such measures there as would aid emigrants and friends to Texas to reach the young republic with timely assistance. These gentlemen were J. G. Watrou, Joseph C. Megginson, and Dr. Levi Jones. According to a let- ter in the New Orleans Picayune, from Commodore J. Wilkinson, dated April 24, 1842, the United States frigate "Macedonia " left Tampico April 14, and four hundred men were on their march from the south to join five hundred to be sent from Tampico to Matamoras.
A meeting of the friends of immediate annexation was held at the court-house in Nashville on May 18, 1844. Several speeches were made,
171
MILITARY HISTORY.
which were ridiculed by the opponents of the cause. The Nashville Whig said that international law was so learnedly expounded that had the speeches been made in the Senate of the United States they would cer- tainly have convinced "the grave and reverend seigniors" of that body of the expediency and justness of the measure.
Another meeting was held on Saturday, May 25, at the same place, at which the speakers were a young gentleman from Illinois and a student from the University of Nashville, both of whom were in favor of imme- diate annexation. No resolutions were passed at this meeting.
A meeting was held on July 13, in the Sixth Ward, which was addressed by A. O. P. Nicholson in favor of Polk and immediate annexation.
A meeting was held in Barnwell County, S. C., about this time, at which the following resolution was passed:
" Resolved, That if Texas be not sooner annexed, we deem it expedi- ent that a convention of the friends of immediate annexation be held in Nashville, in the State of Tennessee, on the first Monday in August next ; and that, should this suggestion meet with the approval of friends else- where, we will meet again at this place on the first Monday in July, and appoint delegates to said convention."
One of the speakers at this Barnwell County meeting said that "the only issue before the South should be ' Texas or disunion.'"
A portion of the citizens of Tennessee were profoundly moved at the prospect of a convention being held in Nashville for the avowed purpose of preparing to take steps looking toward a dissolution of the Union un- less Texas were annexed to the Union; and a called meeting, of which Dr. J. E. Manlove was President, was held on July 6 to protest against such a meeting in this city. John Reed and Preston Hay were the Sec- retaries. Dr. John Shelby introduced a series of resolutions, setting forth that several public meetings had been held in different portions of the South, at which resolutions had been adopted favoring the assembling at Nashville of friends of immediate annexation in August, 1844; and that, as it was evident that the convention proposed to be held in Nash- ville was only a means toward an end, and that end to present deliberate- ly and formally the issue, "Annexation of Texas, or the dissolution of the Union," etc .; "and that we, citizens of Davidson County, while we never have interfered and never will interfere with the arrangements of any political party, divided on the political questions of the day, and while we absolutely repel the charge of designing any such interference as totally unfounded and unjustifiable, yet when we see men of any party in any quarter of this nation announcing as their motto 'Texas or dis- union,' and singling out the city of Nashville as a place of general con-
172
HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
ference in order to the formality and solemnity in the presentation of that issue, we feel it not only to be our sacred right, but also our solemn duty to protest against the desecration of the soil of Tennessee by any set of men holding within its borders a convention for any such object."
There were two other resolutions similar in tone and import to this, and all of them were unanimously adopted.
While the tone and temper of the people of Tennessee were thus op- posed to annexation or disunion, and while the Whigs carried on the Presidential campaign of 1844 in opposition to annexation, yet when the conflict of arms came at Palo Alto, then the Nashville Whig said: "If we do not act with vigor and with decisive effect, we shall lower our- selves immeasurably in the eyes of the world. Let Mexico, therefore, be summarily and thoroughly thrashed! It is what she richly deserves at the hands of the United States, and what the United States owe to themselves to let her have." And this notwithstanding the fact that the Whig had taken the ground that to annex Texas while she was at war with Mexico would be on the part of the United States an act of war against Mexico.
General Zachary Taylor, from his camp near Matamoras, under date of April 26, 1846, addressed a communication to the Hon. Isaac John- son, Governor of Louisiana, informing him that hostilities had actually commenced between his forces and the Mexicans; that four regiments had been called for from Texas, and calling on the Governor for four regiments from Louisiana.
On May 2 Major-general Edmund P. Gaines, at New Orleans, informed the Governor that Colonel Hunt and others of his staff had been instruct- ed to promptly furnish every supply that might be needed for the health and comfort of the troops that Louisiana might raise, and the Governor on the same day made a call on the State for the four regiments re- quired by General Taylor.
The first company organized in Nashville for the war was called the " Nashville Blues." On Saturday, May 9, 1846, this company, through a committee appointed for the purpose, consisting of John L. Munroe, W. R. Bradfute, and Fred Jonte, tendered their services to Governor A. V. Brown, and resolved to hold themselves in readiness for any emergency that might occur. On May II the Governor replied that up to that time no requisition had been made upon him by the general Government, but that he thought it would come in a few days.
On the 13th Governor Brown issued "Order No. I" to the volunteer companies of the State, quite a number of which had been formed, who had drawn and had in their possession any of the public arms, set-
173
MILITARY HISTORY.
ting forth specifications as to the proper organization of a volunteer com- pany-viz .: one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, and not less than fifty privates. For the next few weeks the streets of Nashville responded to the stirring sounds of martial music. Volunteer companies from every quarter of the State tend- ered their services to the Governor. After the "Nashville Blues," the next company to offer its services was one from Wilson County, tendered by Governor Jones, which he intended to command himself. On the same day (May 16) Robert C. Foster, 3d, commander of the " Harri- son Guards" in the political campaign of 1840, started out to raise and organize his old company, and by night had eighty men ready to march at a moment's notice. On Monday following the " Texas Volunteers " were on the public square, ready for duty. Thus by May 18 Nashville had three companies organized and anxious to go to the war. By May 20 " Hickory Cavalry " had reported to the Governor, besides ten other com- panies from different parts of the State. The Union and the Planters' banks each offered to loan the Governor $100,000, in case it was needed to carry on the war.
A requisition finally came from the general Government upon Tennes- see for one regiment of cavalry and two regiments of infantry. On May 24 Governor Brown issued a proclamation in accordance with the requi- sition from the Secretary of War, in which he apportioned the troops asked for in the following manner: From the first division (East Tennes- see ), seven companies, four of infantry and three of cavalry; from the second division, eight companies, six of infantry and two of cavalry; from the third division (the second and third divisions comprised Middle Tennessee), nine companies, six of infantry and three of cavalry; and from the fourth division (West Tennessee), six companies, four of infan- try and two of cavalry. The major-general commanding in each division was required by the Governor to furnish the quota of volunteer compa- nies specified according to the organization aforesaid. Major-general Brazelton had charge of the first division; Major-general Campbell, of the second division, with head-quarters at Nashville ; Major-general Brad- ley, of the third division, at Jackson; and Major-general Hays, of the fourth division, with head-quarters at Memphis. The Governor desig- nated Memphis as the general rendezvous for the troops from Ten- nessee.
The seven infantry companies were required to be in Nashville by the 8th of June, where suitable arrangements were made for their transporta- tion to Memphis. On May 15 the cavalry companies were to go by land to Memphis. By May 26 nineteen companies had offered their services
174
HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
to the Governor from the second and third divisions of the State. Of these the following had been accepted, and were officered as follows:
Harrison Guards: Captain, R. C. Foster; first lieutenant, Adolphus Heiman; second lieutenant, George E. Maney.
Nashville Blues: Captain, B. F. Cheatham; first lieutenant, William R. Bradfute; second lieutenant, E. Eastman.
Tenth Legion, from Gallatin: Captain, S. R. Anderson; first lieuten- ant, W. M. Blackmore; second lieutenant, Perrin L. Solomon.
Dixon Springs Volunteers: Captain, L. P. McMurry; first lieutenant, William Bradley: second lieutenant, James McLanahan.
Union Boys: Captain, W. B. Walton; first lieutenant, Samuel High ; second lieutenant, Charles W. Dixon.
Polk Guards: Captain, R. A. Bennett; first lieutenant, J. M. Shaver ; second lieutenant, Patrick Duffey.
Besides these, there were two companies of cavalry accepted. Milton A. Haynes was appointed by the Governor to inspect and muster the vol- unteers into the service.
By June I Captain Walton's and Captain McMurry's companies, from Smith County, had arrived in Nashville; as also had Captain Frierson's, from Bedford County; Captain Whitfield's, from Hickman County; Cap- tain Anderson's, from Sumner County; and Captain Alexander's, from Lawrence County.
The First Tennessee Regiment was organized June 3, by the election of General William B. Campbell as colonel; Captain Samuel R. Ander- son, of Sumner County, lieutenant-colonel; Richard B. Alexander, of Smith County, first major; and Robert Farquharson, second major. First Lieutenant Adolphus Heiman, of the " Harrison Guards," was ap- pointed adjutant ; Dr. McPhail, surgeon; and Dr. W. D. Dorris, assistant surgeon.
An interesting incident occurred on June 5, the occasion being the pre- sentation of a flag to the First Tennessee Regiment by the senior class of the Nashville Female Academy. It took place in front of the academy building. The flag was a beautiful one, of fine blue silk, with a deep orange fringe. On one side it had the words " E Pluribus Unum" in- scribed over a large eagle, bearing in its talons the words, " First Regi- ment Tennessee Volunteers; " and underneath these the motto, "Weep- ing in solitude for the fallen brave is better than the presence of men too timid to strike for their country." An address was delivered by the Prin- cipal of the academy, Rev. C. D. Elliott, who had inspired the motto, after which Miss Irene Taylor, a niece of General Zachary Taylor, pre- sented the flag to Colonel Campbell on behalf of the class. After a
175
MILITARY HISTORY.
brief response by Colonel Campbell, the flag was delivered to the stand- ard-bearer of the " Harrison Guards."
The regiment, composed of twelve companies, had an aggregate of ten hundred and forty men, and embarked on the 4th and 5th of June for New Orleans, amid the tears, cheers, and farewells of friends and specta- tors, who had come from all parts of Middle Tennessee to witness the sight, and lined the Cumberland River for miles. The regiment had been ordered by Governor Brown to proceed to New Orleans, and there report to Major-general Edmund Pendleton Gaines.
On June 5 Captain Allison's company of cavalry, from Smith County, passed through Nashville, on their way to Memphis ; and on Sunday, June 7, the company of Captain Marshall, of Stateville, and that of Major Mil- ton A. Haynes, raised in Giles County, reached Nashville, and were mus- tered into the service of the United States.
The regiment that left Nashville on the 4th and 5th of June embarked at New Orleans on June 17, in three sailing vessels, for Brazos, which place they reached on July 7; and on arriving on the Rio Grande, they were assigned to the brigade of General Quitman. Disease and death soon made sad havoc in the ranks of this regiment, and those who on ac- count of sickness were unable to serve their country in Texas were dis- charged and permitted to return home. The first of these returning vol- unteers reach Nashville September 1, 1846. Of these there were four, and two others arrived in a day or two afterward. One other, who had started home with the six mentioned, died just after crossing the Balize. This was John Clymer. On October I about twenty more of the Nash- ville volunteers returned home from the same cause, and reported the health of the troops in Texas as quite poor. Two of the "Harrison Guards " had died - Obadiah Purtle and James Holland. On Sep- tember 4, when a requisition was made upon the First Tennessee Regi- ment for five hundred men for the Monterey expedition, it could muster only four hundred and eighty-six. Bennett's, Walton's, and McMurry's companies brought out for this expedition only from twenty-five to forty- eight men each. On Sunday, October 4, 1846, about two hundred sick men from the First Tennessee Regiment arrived in Nashville.
The battle at Monterey was fought September 21, 1846. The first Tennessee Regiment lost twenty-eight men killed in that action, and seventy-seven wounded, the total number of men belonging to the regi- ment engaged in the battle being but three hundred and seventy-nine. The following is a list of the killed: Company C, Privates John B. Por- ter and William H. Robertson; Company D, Sergeant John A. Hill and Private B. F. Coffee; Company E, Second Lieutenant S. M. Putnam
176
HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
and Private E. W. Thomas; Company F, Privates B. H. Dalton and Mi- chael Crantz, R. C. Locke and J. H. Raphfill mortally wounded; Com- pany G, Privates Isaac Inman Elliott, H. Martin, and Benjamin Soaper ; Company H, Private Henry Collins; Company I, Privates James H. Al- lison, James H. Johnson, James B. Turner, and R. D. Willis; Company K, Captain William B. Allen and Privates Joseph K. Burket, J. M. L. Campbell, A. J. Eaton, A. J. Gibson, Tinsley Glover, A. J. Pratt, Will- iam Rhoades, J. W. Saunders, and G. W. Wilson.
Of the charge upon the fort at Monterey, Colonel Campbell, in a letter to Allen A. Hall, editor of the Nashville Whig, wrote: "My regiment went early into the action, on the morning of September 21, and was or- dered to sustain some regulars who were said to be attacking a fort at one end of the city. When I arrived within point-blank musket shot of the fort no regulars were visible. They had filed to the right and taken shel- ter behind some houses, and had got into the outskirts of the town, so that my command was left exposed to the most severe discharge of mus- ketry and artillery that has ever poured upon a line of volunteers. They bore the fire with wonderful courage, and were brought to the charge in a few minutes, and rushed upon the fort and took it at the point of the bayonet. It was gallantly done. The Mississippi regiment sustained mine most gallantly in the charge."
It was this statement by Colonel Campbell that led Colonel Jefferson Davis, of the Mississippi regiment, to publish a counter statement to the effect that his regiment was the first in the charge and into the fort; and when his attention was called to the fact that his regiment lost only nine in killed and forty-seven in wounded he said that was because his regi- ment was so far in advance that the enemy's shot, aimed at the body of the army, passed over their heads. This claim on the part of Colonel Da- vis was of course very galling to Tennessee State pride; but the people of this State contented themselves as best they could with such evidence to the contrary as they could collect, among which was the official re- port of General Butler, in which he said that when the advance was about to be made he ordered Colonel Campbell's regiment, which was in the rear, to take the place of the Mississippi regiment, which at the time oc- cupied a position in front, thus placing Colonel Campbell in front. Lieu- tenant-colonel Anderson, in a letter from Monterey, dated September 27, 1846, to George F. Crockett, Esq., of Gallatin, said: "When we com- menced our march by the left flank the Mississippi regiment was on our left. We filed past them, and they followed in the march."
Captain B. F. Cheatham, in giving a description of the battle, said that a deadly fire of cannon, grape, and musketry continued to be poured from
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.