USA > Tennessee > History of the Twentieth Tennessee regiment volunteer infantry, C.S.A > Part 19
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three killed and wounded and three hundred and forty-two missing, while Willich's Brigade did not loose so many killed and wounded as Kirk, but had about seven hundred captured, McCook lost in this charge eleven guns.
Cleburne's Division was in the second line in the rear of Mc- Cown. McCown went a little too far to the left in the swing to the right, and left a gap between his right and Polk's left. Cleburne at once unmasked Mccown and moved up and filled this gap.
General Baldwin's Federal Brigade, which was Johnson's re- serve, was ordered up and hastily formed and made a stubborn fight, but he too had to fall back, and he and his brigade barely escaped from being captured. Here Baldwin lost Simonson's Battery of four guns. Baldwin attempted to rally his men in a woods in his rear, but was soon forced out of them by the vic- torious Confederates.
Davis, who was next on the left of Johnson, as soon as he dis- covered what disaster had befallen Johnson, formed his right Brigade under Post, at right angles to the rear, just as Willich had done on Johnson's right early in the action to prevent a flank attack, and in a few moments, he, Davis, felt this Rebel tornado strike his division, the brigade of Baldwin and the regi- ments of Johnson's Division had been rallied and brought into line with Davis. McCown and Cleburne were pressing this line, and about this time two brigades of Wither's Division rushed upon the two brigades of Corlin and Woodruff, and they were reinforced by Sill's Brigade of Sheridan's Division; here the Confederates were checked for a while.
The Confederates reformed their lines and brought up the brigades of Maney and Vaughn of Cheatham's Division ; the Confederate lines were moved forward, again, but had to fall back again. It was here that General Sill attempted to follow the little advantage that he had gained, and was killed, and when he fell his brigade retired. Cleburne was now forcing Davis, until Davis' lines were perpendicular to the lines of Sheridan. It was at the apex of these two lines that the gallant Cheatham, with his four Tennessee Brigades had a death struggle with Davis and Sheridan, but he forced them to retire.
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Hardee, with the victorious Divisions of Mccown and Cle- burne that had swept Johnson, Kirk and Willich from the field, now compelled Post with his Brigade to fall back to the Nash- ville Pike with the loss of one gun. After Post had retired, Davis's flank was so exposed and pressed that he, too, had to fall back to the railroad cut ; but before Davis did retire Corlin and Woodruff put up a very stubborn fight, and only yielded when their entire brigades were threatened to be captured.
Hotchkiss' Battery was now placed in position to help rally the men. Woodruff was being sorely pressed, but he rallied his brigade and made a counter charge that sent the Confederates back some distance.
About this time Davis was trying to form a new line just north of the Wilkerson Pike, but failed. Woodruff had partially rallied his brigade, but as soon as they received one volley from the Confederates they broke and fled across to the railroad. After Woodruff's ammunition gave out his troops passed to the rear and could not be rallied.
Now Mccown and Cleburne had forced Davis's and Johnson's Divisions back to the railroad, Cheatham and Withers were pressing Sheridan and Negley, and now the whole Federal's right wing had been driven back to the railroad, where they were making a death struggle to keep from being cut off from their base. It was here that the shattered and worn out ranks of Mc- Cown, Cleburne, Cheatham and Withers were massed together and tried to dislodge the demoralized forces of Johnson, Davis, Sheridan, and Negley, reinforced by the fresh divisions of Palmer and Rousseau that had done but little fighting up to this time.
Sheridan, in falling back to this new line, lost eight of his guns. It would be superhuman for these troops that had been engaged since daylight to dislodge a superior force largely reinforced by fresh troops.
General Rosecrans, early in the morning, had remained on the west bank of the river on an elevated point to watch Van Cleve and Woods crush Breckinridge, and entrusted the affair of the right wing to McCook; but before Crittenden, who commanded Rosecran's left wing, could get Van Cleve and Woods in shape to attack Breckinridge, a courier came from McCook stating that
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Johnson's Division had been shattered and his guns captured, and that he, McCook, wanted help ; and in a few minutes more, another messenger came with the sad tidings that Davis was hard pressed and falling back ; and a third courier came, saying that Baldwin's and Johnson's reserves had been ordered in and had been cut to pieces, and driven back with the loss of Simon- son's Battery.
General Rosecrans sent a courier at once to Crittenden, to tell him to hold on and let Breckinridge alone, for we will need you on the right, for that fellow Hardee, who gets up so early in the morning didn't give McCook and his men time to get up, and get their breakfast. Rosecrans's entire right wing was being shattered or driven back, and the victory that the Commanding General described to his corps commanders the night before, had miscarried.
General Rosecrans saw at once that it devolved upon his per- sonal efforts to save his army, so he galloped to the center, found General Thomas, and ordered Rousseau's Division to go at once into the cedars and help what was left of McCook's Corps. He sent a courier to Crittenden to send Van Cleve from Breckin- ridge's front westward across the river as a reserve at the rail- road cut ; and to tell Woods not to cross to the east side, but move at once to the new line and keep Haskall's Brigade in re- serve. General Rosecrans now placing his batteries on the high ground near the railroad, supported by two fresh divisions of Van Cleve and Wood, made one of the most desperate stands of the day, and here the Confederate advance was checked although they made four assaults, they did not have the men to dislodge the enemy. The fighting was now being done about the railroad and the Round Forest, which was east of the railroad. Rose- crans regarded the Round Forest of great importance.
During the morning Donelson's Brigade of Cheatham's Division, in their desperate fight around the Cowan House, was severely injured from the enemy's guns that was posted in the Round Forest.
No troops now being in front of Breckinridge, by 12 m., Bragg ordered Breckinridge to send the Brigades of Adams and Jackson to the west side of the river. They arrived about 2 p. m. and
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MAJOR FRED CLAYBROOKE. See page 401.
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assaulted the Round Forest, which by this time was well rein- forced by Rosecrans, and they were repulsed. Two hours later the Brigades of Palmer and Preston of Breckinridge's Division arrived. The Twentieth Tennessee was in Preston's Brigade. We were formed in line after wading the river, about six hun- dred yards from Round Forest, Preston's Brigade' on the right and the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment on the right of the Brigade, with the Sixtieth North Carolina, that had never been in an engagement before, on our left, which with the First, Third, and Fourth Florida Regiments composed Preston's Brigade. We formed in an open field, and moved forward under heavy shelling until we struck a picket fence. Only the Twen- tieth Tennessee Regiment came in contact with that fence, when Col. T. B. Smith gave the command, "By the right flank, tear down that picket fence, March!" This command caused a great deal of laughter among the boys of his Regiment, but it was the last laugh that many of these brave fellows ever had. We tore a hole in the picket fence and went through by the right flank, formed in line of battle, then double quicked and caught up with the brigade, while under a severe fire from sharp-shooters, and heavy shelling.
The brigade moved straight down by where the Cowan House was in the morning, but which was burned during the day; here the Twentieth Tennessee became separated from the rest of the brigade, which went to the left of the railroad cut and the Twen- tieth Tennessee went to the right in a straight line towards the Round Forest, from whence a heavy fire was emanating. After we passed the intersection of the railroad and the pike, we en- tered a cotton field about four hundred yards wide that lay in front of Round Forest.
The Regiment, single handed and alone, entered this cotton field, moving on Round Forest, and when we had gone about half way it got so hot for us we were ordered to lie down, with nothing to protect us but cotton stalks. The Yankee Infantry had now turned loose on us, we couldn't go forward without re- inforcements and they could not be gotten up to where we were, and we didnt want to go back, so we stayed there until it was useless to stay any longer.
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Colonel Smith having ordered us to fall back, and every man for himself, if ever you saw a lot of men get out of a place in quick time the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment did it, I being one of the foremost.
While we were lying in line in the cotton field, a neighbor boy who went to school with me and my mess mate in the army, was lying by my side, and when the order to retreat was given, he and I sprang up together and just as we had started to the rear, a minnie ball struck him in the upper part of his thigh and it seemed to me that he jumped four feet into the air and fell ; his thigh bone was terribly shattered, and he fell into the hands of the enemy, and I never saw him any more until after the war. This boy was John (Dike) Crocker, and he was a splendid soldier.
In this charge, our colonel was wounded, our color bearer, J. M. Smith, who was a brother of our colonel was killed. A number of our killed and wounded were left in the cotton field, we were so close under the enemy's guns that we could not bring them off. The Twentieth Tennessee Regiment fell back some three hundred yards, near the crossing of the Pike and railroad, everything was in confusion, our colonel wounded and our color bearer killed. It was here I saw as gallant a feat performed by Major Fred Claybrooke as was witnessed on any field of our Civil War. In this confusion, Major Claybrooke, who was on a very large horse, took one of our color guards by the name of Isaac Hyde up behind him with the colors, while under fire from the enemy's sharpshooters and artillery ; he rode up and down our line, rallying our men until he restored order, and then faced them by the right flank, and double quicked them down under a bluff of rocks at the river edge. Here the river makes a bend to the north. The regiment was here halted and faced the bluff and cotton field. By this time the enemy had moved four or five hundred troops down across the cotton field in rear of the fence on the bluff.
Major Claybrooke, when his regiment was sufficiently protected by the bluff, halted his men, faced them to the front, ordered them to fix bayonets, scale this bluff and drive the enemy back out of the cotton field. The bluff ranged from six to ten feet
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high, and the highest part of the bluff was in front of the left wing of the regiment. When the order to charge was given those of us on the left wing had some trouble in scaling the bluff; Company B., our extreme left company, had considerable diffi- culty, we had to go up between two rocks. The first man was killed, the second wounded, and I was the third man but was not touched. Before all of the left wing had gained the top of the bluff, the right that had but little difficulty had entered the cotton field and swung around to the left and bagged about seventy-five of the enemy, and the remainder fell back across the cotton field under the protection of their guns.
When this charge was made as I cleared the crevice between the rocks, the enemy had fallen back, and a Federal soldier had gotten on the side of the fence next to our line and some one had killed him. I at once seized the dead Yankee's gun and fired at a retreating Federal not forty steps away, with a rest of the gun on the top rail of the fence. I don't think he even looked back.
In scaling this bluff, we lost Captain Watkins of Company I., and Lieutenant Frank Crosthwaite of Company E., two of the bravest officers we had. The Regiment that evening had in killed and wounded eight officers, forty-six enlisted men, and five missing, total fifty-three ; out of three hundred.
It was now nearly dark, the gallant Claybrooke marched his Regiment and prisoners a few hundred yards to the rear, where he received orders to rejoin his brigade nearly half a mile west in the cedar glade, which he did, and in rejoining the brigade we were ordered at once to furnish a detail of forty men from the regiment to go on picket. I was detailed as the officer of the pickets, and reported at once there in the cedars and darkness to a staff officer who led us through the thick cedars where Cheatham with his Tennesseeans had fought over during the day, and the ground was strewn with the dead and wounded. We were placed on the picket line in front of Preston's brigade, with instructions that no one was in front of us but the Yankees and they only about one hundred yards away. My line being established, it was my duty as an officer to visit the different picket posts at intervals during the night. The night was cold and clear, the ground frozen to the depth of about one inch.
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While I was making my rounds, about one o'clock a. m., I heard quite a halloahing and moaning some fifty yards in the rear of my picket line. I told my picket to keep a sharp lookout and I would go back and see what that noise was. I crept back up a little rocky ravine until I was within a few yards of the noise and discovered, as I had expected, a wounded soldier. I asked, "To what command do you belong?" He said "Eighteenth Regulars, and that he was badly wounded and had been left here, and was nearly frozen to death." He asked me to make him a fire at his feet. I told him that I was a Confederate and on picket just in front of him, and by making a fire would draw the picket fire from the Yankee's pickets. He begged me so pitifully, and as he was down in a ravine, I took the chances, and searched around among the rocks and got some cedar limbs and made him a fire and gave him some water, placed his head on his knapsack and made him as comfortable as possible. He said to me that "the Eighteenth Regulars had fought some Tennessee Volunteers in this cedar brake that day, and they fought more like regulars than any volunteers that he ever saw." He further said, that they had killed and wounded nearly all of his regiment.
The poor fellow had bled and laid on the cold ground until life was nearly gone. When I left him I told him if my line was not attacked or ordered away, that I would come back before day and look after him. I went back in about two hours, but he had crossed over and was sleeping the soldier's sleep and I could do no more for him. I returned to my duty, and next day as I was on the picket line for a while near this spot, I counted seventeen minnie balls in one cedar tree not over twelve inches in diameter, up six feet high, and twenty-two dead Federals within fifty feet of this tree.
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The Twentieth Regiment lay in these cedars all day on New Year's Day, 1863, and that night, and until about two o'clock on the second of January (Friday), when we were ordered to the extreme right to participate in that ever memorable charge of General Breckinridge.
On January 2, Rosecrans had crossed Van Cleve's Division under Beatty over to the east side of Stone River, with the
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brigades of Beatty, Price, Fyffe, and Grider's and Drewry's Batteries with one brigade of Palmer as a reserve on the extreme left. Negley's Division was placed in reserve on the west bank of the river, but in supporting distance of those on the east side ; there was also on the west bank of the river fifty-eight pieces of artillery massed for the support of Van Cleve if he should be driven back.
The troops on the east side of the river occupied high ground, and the guns of these troops would flank the right of Polk's Corps that rested on the west bank of the river near the Cowan House; so if Polk should continue to hold his position, Van Cleve must be dislodged, and Breckinridge with his division was assigned this task.
Breckinridge received his orders about two o'clock on Friday, the second of January, to this effect, and marched his division from the west side to the east side of Stone River near his original position. He now formed his command in two lines, with two brigades in each line in a skirt of woods. At this juncture Genl. Gideon J. Pillow, who had just reported for duty, was assigned to the command of Palmer's Brigade, and Colonel Palmer returned to the command of his old regiment, the Eight- eenth Tennessee.
The Brigades of Pillow and Hanson formed Breckinridge's front line. Pillow on the right, Hanson on the left, Adams and Preston the rear line. Preston on the right, Adams on the left, and four batteries, viz : Anderson's Georgia Battery, Wright's Tennessee, Cobb's Kentucky and the Fifth Battery of Washing- ton Artillery, and ten twelve pound Napoleon guns under Capt. F. H. Robertson.
Breckinridge sent a courier back to General Bragg at 3 : 30 o'clock, saying that he would be ready to move at four o'clock. It was understood between Bragg and Breckinridge that when the latter was ready to move, that the guns on the right of Polk's Corps would open on Rosecran's center in order to keep up a diversion. So, promptly at four o'clock, Polk's guns opened, and Breckinridge moved out into the open field and at once Drewry's Battery and the guns of Negley's Division that were on the west bank of the river, opened on him with telling effect,
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but he moved across the field about five hundred yards before he struck the first line of Beatty's, who was in command of Van Cleve's Division. This was a short and bloody struggle, he was soon driven back on his second line about two hundred yards in the rear, and in twenty minutes more Breckinridge was moving both lines of Beatty's in a confused mass back to the river about three hundred yards in their rear and pressing them closely, and as the Federals descended the east bank down to the water's edge, so that they unmasked the pursuing Confederates, the fifty- eight guns turned loose on Breckinridge's gallant men, some of whom on the left of his line had crossed the river, and there met Negley's Division ; and in this confused condition could not stand a division of reinforcements and the fifty-eight pieces of artillery. So it was here, if a soldier ever saw the lightning and heard the thunder bolts of a tornado, at the same time the heavens opened and the stars of destruction were sweeping every- thing from the face of the earth, if he was in this charge he saw it. The division fell back across the field exposed to this terrible artillery fire, and as Breckinridge's troops began to retire, Col. John F. Miller, who commanded the right brigade of; Negley's Division, ordered his brigade to cross the river and follow up Breckinridge's retreating command. Bragg being informed that Breckinridge, after he had so gallantly taken the high point that he was ordered to take, was forced to retire by superior numbers, sent Genl. Patton Anderson with his brigade to help him. This brigade was thrown in between the retreating troops and the ad- vancing Federals of Negley's Division, and Breckinridge's troops rallied on each wing and held their line during the night and un- til ordered away next day.
As there was no fighting going on, on the Confederate's left, Cleburne was also ordered to the right on Friday night but was not engaged.
Now as to the part the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment took in Breckinridge's charge. We were the right Regiment of Pres- ton's Brigade, which made the Twentieth Tennessee the extreme right of the second line. Wright's Battery was attached to Pres- ton's Brigade. As the two lines moved out from the woods where we formed and were going across the field towards the enemy, and
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as soon as our front line was engaged, Lieutenant Colonel Laven- der, who commanded the Twentieth Tennessee, seeing that the enemy's line extended about two hundred yards beyond ours, he moved his regiment by the right oblique until he unmasked our front lines. This gave us only a single line. Here the Fed- erals had two lines; this was done about one hundred yards from a fence about forty yards behind which the front line of Yankees were laying. At this time Wright's Battery was rushed up in support of the Twentieth Regiment. As soon as we were un- masked, the front line of Yankees poured a volley into the Twentieth Regiment that made them stagger and waver like a drunken man.
A soldier by the name of William Nevins, who was just on my left, lost his leg from this volley. The regiment pressed for- ward to the fence and had orders to lie down behind it. This put the two lines about forty yards apart, the Yankees were standing, and we were lying behind the fence. We had the ad- vantage, and the slaughter was terrible. I carried an Enfield rifle in this charge, and at this fence I dropped down in a corner that no other Confederate happened to be in and saw three Fed- erals standing by an oak tree. While I was laying as flat as I could in the fence corner, one of them shot at me and knocked off a piece of rail across my back. I returned the fire with a good rest on the rail for my gun. Another one shot at me and tore off a large portion of rail against my left breast, and by this time I had fired three shots, and the order was given to charge.
The Regiment did not take time to climb the fence, but caught the fence about the third rail from the bottom, and the fence, line and all went over together. The first line of Yankees fell back to their second, we pressed them so closely, in twenty minutes the whole mass was going back to the river, and the whole Federal force that lapped us so far on our right, with no one in front of them except Wright's Battery that was shooting at them from a right oblique, fell back. As the Twentieth Regi- ment passed over the fence, we were soon upon the ground that was occupied by the front line of Federals, and it was the straightest and prettiest line of dead Yankees I ever saw.
It was here between these two lines that was formed by the
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Federals that I saw as gallant an act performed as was that of Napoleon at the Bridge of Lodi. Every one of the color guards of the Twentieth Regiment had gone down except Frank Battle, a son of our first Colonel. The colors were the center guide of the Regiment. Capt. W. G. Ewin was the right and I was the left guide, and Frank Battle with the colors the center guide was forty yards in advance of any of us. The color staff had been shot in two twice, and the colors were so heavy that the boy could scarcely carry them. He fell down on the ground, and we thought he too was killed, when Capt. W. T. Ridley, of Com- pany E., sprang forward to pick them up, when young Battle said, "I just laid down to tie them to a portion of the staff," and by this time the line overtook him, when he had wrapped the colors around him and was again in front. We were now crowding them back to the river on their masked batteries ; but we soon had to fall back, but not before the Twentieth Regiment had captured two hundred prisoners.
Wright's Battery was supporting the Twentieth Regiment close up, and was being most ably officered and bravely served. Its gallant Captain E. Eldridge Wright was killed, his First Lieutenant, J. W. Mebane was wounded, but succeeded in getting off a portion of his battery. The brave battery had lost so heavily that in the retreat it did not have enough men to get all its guns away, one gun had only one boy left and he was not able to limber up his piece. He had fought it with a Spartan courage until the enemy was so close to him to remain longer would be death or capture, and he gave it up. This young lad was Luke E. Wright, a brother of the Battery's heroic Captain. He served gallantly through the war and is now Governor of the Phillippine Islands.
As the Twentieth Tennessee retreated back over the ground that we had driven the Federals from, we would load and turn and fire back at them, and when we reached the ground near the fence where we first met them, as I loaded my gun and turned to fire, a minnie ball struck me in the left breast, and I was left there a good portion of the night in the rain. The wound was not so severe but it cut a furrow about five inches long over my heart.
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