USA > Tennessee > History of the Twentieth Tennessee regiment volunteer infantry, C.S.A > Part 15
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B. W. Petway was the only survivor of this Company present at the re-union in 1903. He was severely wounded in the knee in front of Atlanta, July 22, 1864; was left on the field and taken to the Federal Hospital. Three months later, and after recovering from his wound, he was brought to Nashville, and confined in the penitentiary ; in November, 1864, he was taken to Camp Douglas, and in March, 1865, he was sent to Point Lookout, Md., to be exchanged, reaching there April 1, 1865, where he was held until he was paroled, June 20, 1865.
Tom Duncan, colored (Black Satin), who was one of the most faithful men in the Regiment, was always at his post to cook and wash for Company K, and was a great favorite with the Regiment ; and if he is dead he deserves a Confederate monu- ment.
AUTHOR'S NOTE.
In preparing the Company Histories every possible means has been ta- ken to secure correctness, especiailly as regards the data in the "Roster', of eacht company. These company histories were all type-written prior to the annual Re-union held in Rutherford County in 1902. On that occa sion, the survivors of each company collected apart from the others and the large concourse of visitors, and while one member of the company read over the history of that company, the others offered such suggestions, additions, alterations and corrections as collectively and individually they deemed . best and in accordance with their recollection and memory.
Again, at the Re-union held in the Senate Chamber of the State Capitol in 1903, the same procedure was resorted to, and each company history was carefully gone over by those present, the survivors of each company being assembled together apart from the others. Despite these precautions cer- tain errors have occurred, some typographical and due to faulty proof-read- ing and corrections, and others, matters of detail that was overlooked, and not detected untill the sheets had gone to press. They are as follows.
Page 75, fifth line "W. E. Demors," should read W. E. De Moss.
" 99, in "Co. C." insert : W. Baker, Killed at Shiloh.
In the Rosier of Co. C., the name of P. N. Matlock does not appear al- though he was one of the most gallant soldiers in this gallant company. He was wounded in the shoulder at the first battle of Murfreesboro. Was transferred to cavalry, having been commissioned by the War Department as First Lieutenant of Carter's Scouts, July, 1863. He was again wounded in
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left thigh at Sulphur Trestle, Ala. He was parolled at Gainesville, Ala. May, 9th, 1865.
After the war he studied medicine and received his degree of M. D. at the Nashville Medical College, now Med. Dept. Univ. of Tenn., and is now engaged in an extensive and successful practice in Obion Co., Tenn. He is Past Grand Master of the G. L., F. & A. M. of this state. He is an honora- ble and honored citizen, highly esteemed and respected by all who know him.
Page 100. "Jas. Huggins, In Soldier's Home." He was not a member .of Co. C., or of the 20th, Tennessee. Regiment.
Page 101. "W. T. Mize. Dead." Not dead but a very live employee of the N. C. & St. L. R. R.
Page 106. "M. L. Covington, Killed at Hoover's Gap, June 22, 1863," should be June 24th.
Page 121, tenth line, "Co. B." should read "Co. E."
I also desire to state that the very full History of Co. E., was written by Ralph J. Neal, a member of that Company, who went through it all "from start to finish," and while it is more voluminous and goes more into detail than the history of any other company written by myself, being in fact a replication of Regimental History, yet being the history of his company as well as that of the Regiment from his standpoint, and as remembered by him, for this reason it is given so much more space than the other Com- pany Histories. It is the picture of the varying and trying scenes through which the Regiment passed as it appeared to him, as the subsequent Section, Part III, or "Regimental History" gives the views as presented to me, with such other facts and incidents as I could collate. W. J. McMURRAY, M. D.
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COL. JOEL A. BATTLE. See page 386.
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PART III.
REGIMENTAL HISTORY.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORY.
This gallant command was raised in Middle Tennessee. At the beginning of our civil war a number of companies, as fast as organized, were sent to Camp Trousdale to be organized into a regiment. Camp Trousdale was on the L. & N. Railroad, just south of the Tennessee and Kentucky State line.
When a sufficient number of companies (ten) had arrived at this camp, the Twentieth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry was or- ganized by the election of Joel A. Battle, of Davidson County, who was Captain of Company B, as Colonel ; Moscoe B. Carter, also of Williamson County, who was Captain of Company H, as Lieutenant-Colonel ; and Patrick Duffey, of Smith County (now Trousdale) as Major, he being Captain of Company K.
The regimental staff was composed of Dr. James Franklin, of Sumner County, Surgeon ; John H. Morton, of Davidson County, as Assistant Surgeon ; John Marshall, of Williamson County, Quarter Master ; M. M. Hinkle, of Davidson County, Commis- sary ; Alex Winn, of Williamson County, Adjutant ; John Ed- mondson, of Williamson County, Chaplain ; Twist Marshall, of Williamson County, Wagon Master ; and E. L. Jordan, Assist- ant Wagon Master.
The ten companies that composed this Regiment at its organi- zation, which was about the first of June, 1861, numbered 900 men, and after the organization was completed, it got down at once to hard company and regimental drilling.
It was said of our Colonel, by other troops then camped near us, that the Colonel of the Twentieth Tennessee did not know but three commands, viz., " form line," "fix bayonets," "for- ward, march." And these same troops, in the other regiments also said that the field band of the Twentieth Tennessee Regi- ment did not know but two pieces to play ; one was " The Bob- tail Horse," and the other "The Girl I Left Behind Me."
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About nine-tenths of this regiment were country boys, and nearly all of our officers were from the country, (we had but few officers who had even a limited military education.)
There were at Camp Trousdale at this time four other Ten- nessee regiments whose organization had just preceded ours, viz : Seventh Tennessee, commanded by the gallant Robert Hutton, who was killed at the battle of Seven Pines, Va. ; Sixteenth Tennessee Regiment, that was led through some of the hardest fought battles of the war by that game old man of the moun- tains, Col. John H. Savage, who ought to have been a Brigadier General before the first year of the war closed ; Seventeenth Tennessee, commanded by Colonel Newman, and was afterwards made famous by the leadership of that knightly soldier and genial gentleman, Albert S. Marks; and the Eighteenth Ten- nessee, that was commanded by that urbane and scholarly gen- tleman and soldier, J. O. Palmer, of Murfreesboro, who had the honor of bringing the remnant of that battle-scarred band of Tennesseans back to their homes after the surrender of General Joe Johnston at Greensboro, N. C.
While the Twentieth Regiment was undergoing strict disci- pline at Camp Trousdale, the boys were giving the officers a great deal of trouble by slipping through the guard lines and get- ting whisky in the adjacent country.
One morning when the guard was mounted, a country boy by the name of James Stevens was placed on duty, with strict in- junctions not to let any one pass the line without a written pass, except General Zollicoffer. The soldier began his beat ; in a short while, sure enough, General Zollicoffer did come, and the soldier halted him and said, "Who comes there? " The General said, "It's General Zollicoffer." The soldier replied, " You can't pass here." The General said that "he had a right to pass," to which the soldier said, " You can't come that game on me ; if I would let you pass, in fifteen minutes there would be forty Zollicoffer's here."
These four regiments and Rutledge's First Tennessee Battery composed a brigade, and was entrusted to the command of Briga- dier General Felix K. Zollicoffer, but soon after the brigade was formed, the Seventh and Sixteenth Regiments were ordered to
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Virginia, and soon after that, the Seventeenth, then the Twen- tieth, Battle's Regiment.
About the 23rd of July, Col. Battle received orders to strike tents and board the cars for Virginia. This was our first break- ing up of camp, and we had more baggage than we knew what to do with.
The route was by way of Nashville, where we arrived in the forenoon, and the ladies of Nashville had an elegant dinner for the boys of Battle's Regiment spread in the old Female Academy grounds, on Church Street, then in charge of that grand old educator, C. D. Elliott. In this school were many of the sweet- hearts, sisters and afterwards wives of the boys of Battle's Regi- ment.
As the sun began to hide itself behind the western hills, the train on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad pulled out for the east, carrying with it Battle's Regiment ; there was shaking of hands, shedding of tears, and vows of love when the parting time came.
Next morning about ten o'clock, we pulled up at Chattanooga, one hundred and fifty-one miles distant with the loss of one man who belonged to Company H, by the name of C. M. Shelton, who fell from the train and was killed.
We only remained in Chattanooga long enough to change cars, when we pulled out for Knoxville, distant one hundred miles and arrived there next morning ; but we could not be forwarded at once to Bristol, and had to lay over several hours, and during this time a great many of the regiment indulged too freely in East Tennessee's apple brandy and became very boisterous. Our Colonel ordered the sober portion of the regiment to put the drunken portion in a mule pen near the depot ; this was done with some difficulty and when the work was completed a large per cent. of the regiment was in the pen.
After several hours delay Maj. Campbell Wallace, who was in charge of transportation from Knoxville to Bristol, had us on our way. When we arrived at Bristol, after a journey of one hundred and three miles, to our great surprise and chagrin we were ordered into camp; many of the boys thought because we
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Igo HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH TENNESSEE REGIMENT
were stopped here that the war would be over before we would get into a fight.
While at Bristol we camped some two weeks about one mile from town near a big spring, one of the finest that it was my pleasure to ever see ; and in after days, while on the long and hot marches, and while laying on the different battle fields, wounded, I thought that I would almost give up life if I could only spend but one hour by the side of that clear, pure, crystal fountain. While here the mountaineers would come into camp and bring huckleberries to sell to the soldiers, these were the first I ever saw, and I had but one objection to them, it took all of our sugar to sweeten them and left none to put in our coffee. (We we getting coffee that early in the war.)
It was also here that the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment re- ceived its first stand of colors, made and presented by the ladies of Nashville, the presentation speech was made by Capt. Albert S. Marks, a young lawyer of the Seventeenth Tennessee Regi- ment, who was camped near by, and it was a splendid oratorial effort.
About the latter part of August 1861, Battle's Regiment was ordered back to Knoxville and went into camp near the Fair Grounds, and went at once to hard drilling. It was here that we met for the first time the Fifteenth Mississippi Regiment, commanded by Col. W. S. Statham, E. C. Walthall, Lieutenant Colonel, and Brantly, Major ; between whom and the Twentieth Tennessee afterwards sprang up quite an intimacy.
It was also about this time that several prominent Union men of East Tennessee made their escape across the mountains into Kentucky, among them were Wm. G. Brownlow, Horace Maynard and Thomas A. R. Nelson. Captain Rutledge with the First Tennessee Battery of six guns, joined us at this place, also the Sixteenth Alabama Regiment under command of Col. W. B. Woods. The Tennesseeans here felt very much chagrined when we saw that the Fifteenth Mississippi were armed with Mississippi rifles with sword bayonets, and the Sixteenth Ala- bama with percussion cap muskets, and they armed with the old antiquated flint lock muskets, that carried one large round ball
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and three buckshot, which was but little service in wet weather. (We received these arms while at Camp Trousdale.)
About the fifteenth of August, the right wing of the Twen- tieth Tennessee Regiment under Colonel Battle and Lieutenant Moscow Carter was ordered by General Zollicoffer to Jacksboro, forty miles north of Knoxville in the direction of Cumberland Gap, while the left wing of five companies, was left at Knox- ville under command of Major Pat Duffey. In about ten days, Major Duffey received orders to join Colonel Battle at Jacksboro. I belonged to this wing, and it was the first regular marching we had ever done, and this little batallion was scattered along the road for several miles. A little incident occurred on this march that furnished the boys of the left wing of the Regiment a by-word for the rest of the war. Major Duffey, who never fell out with a soldier for giving him a drink of "apple jack," was riding a few hundred yards in advance of the batallion ; came to the forks of the road and took the wrong road. He was so full that he never looked back to see if the batallion was following him until he had gone about a mile, and when he did discover his mistake, he at once wheeled his old roan and came back at a lively speed, halloahing, "Where in the h-1 is the batallion?"
The old soldier was taken from his horse and allowed to rest by a large spring, and Patrick was soon himself again. The batallion camped the first night on the banks of Clinch River, and the next evening about dark we reached Jacksboro with blistered feet and skinned heels.
The Twentieth Regiment remained at Jacksboro about two weeks. While here I heard one of the most impressive sermons preached by Rev. Fountain E. Pitts, to the soldiers of the Twentieth Regiment, that I heard during the war. Rev. Mr. Pitts was afterwards Colonel of the Eighty-fourth Tennessee Regiment. While here we blockaded some mountain passes that led over into Kentucky.
We were next ordered to Cumberland Gap, forty miles further up Powell's Valley, which we reached about sundown on the second day, tired and worn out, and many of us thought that we could go no further ; but orders came for us to cook three days' rations, and be ready to move at twelve o'clock that
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night, which we did, and passed through Cumberland Gap over to Cumberland Ford, in Knox County, Ky.
Battle's Regiment arrived at this point in great haste, as we were told that it was a stratigetical point, and the enemy was trying to beat us there. This was fourteen miles north of Cum- berland Gap. (I believe that Battle's Regiment was the first Confederate Infantry to pass through this gap.)
The different Regiments of the brigade soon followed, viz : Fifteenth Mississippi, Sixteenth Alabama, Eleventh, Seven- teenth and Nineteenth Tennessee, McNairy's Batallion of Cavalry and Rutledge's Battery which composed Zollicoffer's Brigade, at Camp Buckner or Cumberland Ford. While here several false alarms were gotten up to test the men, and after the alarm was over we would return to camp. Several knock- downs took place on account of some criticizing the conduct of others.
While Zollicoffer was at Cumberland Ford, the Federals oc- cupied Barboursville, eighteen miles further north, with a lot of East Tennessee and Kentucky Bush-whackers. This nest, General Zollicoffer determined to break up, so an expedition against them was fitted out, composed of two companies from the Eleventh, two from the Seventeenth, two from the Twen- tieth Tennessee, two from the Fifteenth Mississippi, and Mc- Nairy's Batallion of Cavalry, all under the command of Colonel Battle. We were ordered to proceed by night march to Bar- boursville and engage the enemy at day light next morning. In forming our lines early in the morning, the fog being heavy, the command had some trouble in passing a small bridge, and while in that condition, some of the enemy's pickets fired on it. Colonel Battle took in the situation at once, and in order to frighten the enemy, he hallowed out in a ringing voice, " Make way men, make way, and let the artillery come forward." When in fact he did not have a piece of artillery nearer than Cumberland Ford, eighteen miles away ; but the bluff worked, and in one hour's time Barboursville was in the hands of the Confederates, and the only casualties were Lieutenant Powell of the Nineteenth, who had accompanied the expedition, and an old sow that was fired into by a company of the Twentieth
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Regiment while in a corn field, who thought she was a lot of Yankees. The poor old hog was literally riddled with buck and ball from those flint-lock muskets at close range.
Colonel Battle and his Command returned to Camp Buckner in triumph from their first field of battle. Also, while at Camp Buckner, General Zollicoffer learned that the enemy was at Goose Creek Salt Works, so an expedition was fitted out against that place, which captured the place and procured a quantity of salt, but found no Yankees. While here .the Twentieth Regi- ment ' was strongly recruited from boys at home, who saw that they would have to join the army ; also while here the Command had to deal with their first deserters, two soldiers who had de- serted were captured and court-martialed, and the sentence was, "to cut a hole in a sugar hogshead for each, and let them put their heads through it so the weight of the hogshead would rest on their shoulders; then the regiment was formed on dress parade and the deserters were marched in front of the line in this condition, with the regimental band playing, 'The Bob-tail . Horse' behind them;" they were then escorted to our outer lines and let go.
It was also from Camp Buckner that Generat Zollicoffer moved against Wild Cat or Rock Castle, by the way of Bar- boursville and London, and as we passed Laurel Bridge we had a light skirmish.
Wild Cat was a Federal Camp in the Rock Castle Hills in Pulaski County, Ky., so the battle at this place was called by the Federals, the Battle of Rock Castle, and by the Confederates, the Battle of Wild Cat.
On the day that we reached Wild Cat, the Twentieth Regi- ment in advance, and just before we reached Rock Castle River, our advance guard came upon the enemy's pickets, a few shots were exchanged and the Federals ran in, leaving one of their number dead at his post. He proved to be a Captain Merriman from East Tennessee who had gone North and joined an Ohio Cavalry Regiment. This was the first dead Federal that we had seen. When the enemy's pickets ran in, the Twentieth Regi- ment was ordered to open ranks and let McNairy's Battallion of Cavalry pass; they crossed the river at once, and a number of
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shots were fired. Then about dark, the Twentieth Regiment was ordered to cross, and we plunged into the river nearly waist deep, it was cold and swift. We went over, tore down a fence, and formed a line of battle and were ordered to load ; in a few minutes we were ordered back across the river, and in about half an hour we were ordered the third time to wade Rock Castle River. We then lay on our arms and threw out pickets, and when the details were being called to go on picket for the first time in the face of the enemy, every soldier's heart was in his mouth.
I was unfortunate enough to be called, and was led high upon the side of the mountain, wet, hungry, cold and frightened badly, and remained there until just before day when we were withdrawn to take part in the advance. The Twentieth was again in the advance with left in front, but before the engage- ment was opened Battle's Regiment was withdrawn, and nearly all of the fighting on the part of the Confederates was done by . the Eleventh Tennessee under Col. Jas. E. Rains, and the Seventeenth under Colonel Newman. These two regiments lost, eleven killed and forty-two wounded, and as night approached General Zollicoffer withdrew his command and camped on the ground that he occupied the night before; and before daylight the next morning he ordered a retreat back over the same road that he had advanced, without being persued by the enemy.
As far as the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment was concerned only one company (B) was engaged, and its action will be found in the history of that company.
The Federal Command at Wild Cat was composed of the Federals about five hundred strong who were driven out of Bar- boursville by Battle's expedition on the nineteenth of September, 1861, which were reinforced by two Kentucky regiments under Col. T. T. Garrard of the Seventh Kentucky. This command was attacked by General Zollicoffer on October twenty-first, and while the battle was in progress the Federals were reinforced by General Schoopff with five regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery of artillery, and when the fight was over, both parties retreated, Zollicoffer to Cumberland Gap, and the Federals back to Camp Robinson. This ended the Wild Cat Campaign.
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After General Zollicoffer had gotten his command all up after his Wild Cat Campaign, he moved south, went down the Cum- berland Mountains by way of Wartburg and Jimtown, and then north by way of Monticello, Ky., to Mill Springs, on the south bank of the Cumberland River; on this march and at Mill Springs, he was reinforced by several commands.
Zollicoffer at once crossed over several regiments of his com- mand to the north side of the Cumberland; at this place the river makes a bend to the south, then again to the north, making a complete horse-shoe ; the Confederates fortified across the neck of the horse-shoe, and pitched their tents behind their fortifications. This was the situation of the Confederates on the Upper Cumberland, about the middle of November, 1861.
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson, who was at this time in com- mand of the department of the West, had established a line of defence from Columbus, Ky., on the west, running east through Bowling Green to Mill Springs on the Upper Cumberland. Gen. Leonidas Polk was in command at Columbus, Gen. Simon B. Buckner at Bowling Green, and Zollicoffer at Mill Springs.
There had been all the while much concern by both sides about the attitude of Kentucky. She was, it is true, a Southern Slave State, allied to the South by blood and institutions, yet, she was a border State and on good terms with her Northern neighbors. She saw the storm coming. There was no great secession or republican sentiment in the State at this time.
To prove this, we will analize the vote of Kentucky for Presi- dent in 1860. There was cast in this election 145,852 votes. Breckenridge and Lane who represented Southern Democracy, received 52,836 votes; Douglass and Johnson who represented Northern Democracy, received 25,644 votes; Bell and Everett, who represented the Constitutional Union Ticket, received 66,016 votes; and Lincoln and Hamlin, while they had no ticket in Kentucky received 1,366 votes. We will see from this vote, if the Democrats had been united, instead of losing the State by about 13,000 votes, they would have carried it by 12,464; and furthermore, the platform of three of the parties were antago- nistic to the Republican platform. In January, 1861, Kentucky called a convention to consider the status of her affairs, and on
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the twenty-first a resolution was introduced, first, declaring with regret that Kentucky had heard that resolutions had passed the General Assemblies of the States of New York, Ohio, Maine and Massachusetts, tendering to the President men and money to be used in coercing sovereign States of the South into the Federal Government.
This resolution of regret was adopted unanimously. A second resolution was introduced, viz : "Whenever the States above named should send armed forces to the South for the purpose of coercing a Sovereign Southern State, we will unite with our brethren of the South as one man and resist the in- vasion at all hazzards and to the last extremity." This resolu- tion was carried by a vote of eighty-seven to six, thus showing the feelings of Kentucky toward the South.
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