USA > Tennessee > History of the Twentieth Tennessee regiment volunteer infantry, C.S.A > Part 29
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miles from the city of Nashville, on the Franklin Pike. General Hood at once sent the following order to General Bate :-
" HEADQUARTERS, OVERTON HOUSE, Dec. 2, 1864. " Major-General Bate :-
"General Hood directs me to say that citizens reported some 5,000 Yankees at Murfreesboro. General Forrest will send some of his cavalry to assist you. You must act according to your judgment, under the circumstances, keeping in view the object of your expedition, viz., to destroy the railroad. This report is sent you for what it is worth.
"A. P. MASON, "Colonel and A. A. General."
General Bate on the next morning moved his command diag- onally north across the country, and struck the N. & C. R. R. at Overall's Creek, five and one half miles north of Murfreesboro, while he sent Colonel Hill with his little squad of cavalry to his right in the direction of Salem, to keep him posted as to his right flank. Bate at once drove in the Yankee pickets at the Overall Creek blockhouse, and brought up Chalaron's battery and opened fire on the garrison. The battery was supported by three regi- ments of the Florida brigade. Jackson's brigade was put to tearing up the railroad, and Smith's brigade was held in reserve. About noon the Yankees showed some force on the opposite side of the creek, but were dispersed by a few shells from our battery. Late in the evening the enemy returned reinforced with infantry and cavalry, and about sundown turned our left flank and charged Chalaron's battery. This charge was met by Smith's brigade and repulsed.
The gallant Chalaron in the meantime was throwing into the Yankees double charges of grape and canister. While this assault was on, our battery was being roughly handled. The Yankees attacked the Florida brigade under Colonel Bullock, and drove it back to the creek, and wounded Colonel Bullock. To meet this advance General Bate threw Jackson's brigade forward, and with one volley repulsed this part of the enemy's line, and drove them across the creek, and we held the field.
The Twentieth Tennessee Regiment was still in Smith's brig- ade in this expedition. General Bate, after ten o'clock at night,
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fearing that he might be cut off by the superior force of the Yankees, fell back across Stewart's Creek for the night. In this engagement General Bate lost 15 killed, 59 wounded, and 13 missing-total 87. General Bate said that he had every reason to believe that the enemy's loss was greater than his, as he buried a number of their dead the next day.
On the morning of December 5, General Bate with his com- mand moved to attack the blockhouses at Read's Branch and Smyrna, but on his approach the Yankees evacuated, and Bate's men took what stores they had left, burned the blockhouses and bridges, and destroyed several miles of railroad. While these operations were going on, General Forrest arrived with his two divisions of cavalry and two brigades of infantry and artillery.
General Forrest, being General Bate's senior, took charge of all of our forces operating against Murfreesboro. Forrest at once quit tearing up the railroad, as Bate was doing, and began offensive operation against Murfreesboro, which was strongly fortified and well garrisoned. This was against Bate's judgment and orders that he had received from General Hood, but he, like a soldier, obeyed his superior in rank.
General Forrest now attempted to draw his lines south and west of the town. While Forrest was getting his lines in position, the Yankees were seen crossing Stone's River above the town, and coming around on Forrest's right on the Salem Pike. General Forrest had in his command now his two divis- ions of cavalry and five little brigades of infantry, viz., T. B. Smith's, Jackson's, and Finley's, of Bate's division, Sear's of French's division, and Palmer's of Stevenson's division.
General Forrest ordered General Bate to put the infantry in line at once near where the Wilkerson Pike crosses Overall's Creek, which he did in the following order : Sear's brigade on the right, Palmer's in the center, and Finley's Florida brigade on the left, with Smith and Jackson in reserve. Before we had time to make much preparation for defense the Yankees were upon us. Bate was ordered to throw his two reserve brigades, Smith's and Jackson's, to the front line. The battery under Chalaron was placed as best we could. The first appearance of the enemy was driven back, but they were reinforced and came
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LT. W. J. McMURRAY, Co. B. See page 417.
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back again and turned our left flank, when General Forrest ordered the whole line to move to the left, when Sear's and Jackson's brigade moved too far to the left, and Palmer's and Finley's were halted in some temporary works. Smith was thrown into the gap between them at right angles with the pike, and was in full view of the enemy not two hundred yards away, who was advancing and driving in our skirmishers. Our cavalry were falling back on our right. This attack was very sudden. After their first attack was driven back, we thought they had retreated to Murfreesboro. Smith's brigade and the right of Jackson's were fiercely attacked while getting into posi- tion, but they drove the enemy back in good style. A portion of the Yankee line struck Finley's and Palmer's brigade diagonally, and they were driven back.
General Bate stayed on the line with Smith and Jackson, while the Yankees occupied the line vacated by Finley and Palmer. Here Smith changed front to rear with his left battalion and held his ground until ordered away, and crossed Overall's Creek without being molested, and joined Palmer, Finley, and Sear's brigade and cavalry. Of the latter General Bate says, if they were seriously engaged on either flank, he never knew it.
On December 9, Smith's brigade of Cleburne's division relieved General Bate's command in front of Murfreesboro, and Bate rejoined his corps in front of Nashville. Forrest laid siege to Murfreesboro, and kept the Yankees closed in until after the battle of Nashville, when he was ordered to join Hood's retreat- ing army at Columbia.
On December 17, Gen. W. H. Jackson's division of cavalry captured a train of cars loaded with 60,000 rations and the Sixty-first Illinois Regiment, all bound for Murfreesboro.
Bate now returned to his command at Nashville only a day or two before the battle, and found the Confederate lines formed with Lee's corps in the center, resting on both sides of the Frank- lin Pike, Cheatham's corps on the right extending over to the N. & C. R. R., and Stewart's corps on the left extending beyond the Hillsboro Pike.
On General Bate's journey from Murfreesboro to Nashville, a
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distance of thirty miles, over a rough and rocky country, the face of which was covered with mud and ice, with one-third of his men barefooted, he joined Cheatham's corps, which was Hood's right. The Nolensville Pike at Rain's Hill was the center of Cheatham's corps. Bate's division on their arrival formed in line of battle just west of this pike.
On December 15, Thomas who was in command of the Yankees, moved out his army and attacked Hood's left under A. P. Stewart, and his right under Cheatham. The enemy appeared in strong force and attempted to turn Stewart's left, but was warmly received. Stewart being out-numbered and out-flanked, Hood sent the brigades of Manigault and Dea of Jackson's division of Lee's corps to help him. These brigades were thrown in line parallel with the Hillsboro Pike. The Yankees that evening captured Redoubts No. 4 and 5, located near this pike. A battery was brought up from Loring's divi- sion, and put in position, supported by these same two brigades. but they gave way and the battery was captured, which let the enemy gain the rear of Walthall's and Loring's divisions. Here Walthall put up a gallant fight, but had to retire his line, and Stewart's corp formed a new line between the Granny White Pike and the Franklin Pike. Night now closed the conflict on this part of the line.
On the right a portion of Cheatham's corps was attacked by Major-General Steadman at Rain's Cut on the N. & C. R .R., with the following regiments which composed his command: Twelfth, Thirteenth, and One Hundredth United States (colored) Regi- ments, under command of Colonel Charles R. Thompson of the Twelfth (colored) ; the Fourteenth, and Seventeenth (colored) Regiments under Col. William R. Shafter, later of Santiago fame; the Forty-fourth and a detachment of the Eighteenth (colored) under Col. T. J. Morgan; the Sixty-eighth Indiana and Eightieth Ohio, and a battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Grosvenor ; and the Twentieth Indiana and the Eighteenth Ohio Bat- teries. These constituted the column of about 5,000 which assaulted a portion of Cheatham's line at Rain's Cut on the N. & C. R. R. on the forenoon of December 15, and the principal part of the attack was borne by Granberry's brigade of Cleburne's old
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division, 300 strong, and Turner's battery. The Confederates held their fire until the assaulting column was at short range, and then their work was terrific.
There was a small pond made from the embankment of the railroad, and quite a lot of these poor deluded negroes rushed into it for shelter, and were killed until the pond was black. Lieutenant-Colonel Grosvenor, in his report, said that one of his captains and one hundred men gained the interior of the Confed- erates' works. The colonel was simply mistaken, he could not . have massed enough negroes in front of Granberry's Veterans to carry their works without first killing all of them, when the fact was they did not lose a man. These troops of Steadman's were nearly all negroes and bounty jumpers who had seen but little service before, and did not know what was waiting for them, as they lined up and moved forward as on dress parade; at the first volley from the Confederates it was a race between the deluded negroes and their white officers, who should get to cover first.
This assault did not last over five minutes from the time the firing began, and the Yankees lost, in killed, wounded, and miss- ing, 825. The fire of the Confederates was so deadly that Gros- venor, Shafter, and Company did not make a single effort to take care of their wounded, and the only object they had in view was to get to a place of safety. And yet Captain Osborne, who was in command of the Twentieth Indiana Battery, in his official report stated that he stayed there and kept up a cannonade until night, which was false, because as soon as Cheatham's men delivered this volley, they were ordered to the left of Stewart's corps, three miles away, and no troops were left on this part of the Confed- erate line. But the captain might have been so badly frightened that he was shooting at imaginary rebels. This affair is known among the Confederates as the " sham battle."
Cheatham's corps on the evening of the 15th was transferred to the left of Hood's line, and on the morning of the 16th Thomas, with Wilson's cavalry, attempted to turn Hood's left, that was held by Govan's brigade of Cleburne's division; and by superior numbers it was done, but not until General Govan and Colonel Greene, his next officer in rank, were both severely wounded.
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The loss of this position gave the enemy a big advantage, and Colonel Hume R. Fields, who was in command of Carter's brig- ade of Cheatham's old division of Tennesseans, was ordered to retake the position lost by Govan, which he did, and at once de- ployed his whole brigade in a skirmish line in order that he might cover the enemy's front. He sent word at once to General Cheatham to send him support, but Cheatham sent word back not to expect support, for there was none; but later Colonel John H. Anderson of the Eighth Tennessee, who was in command of Gist's old brigade, was sent to Field's support.
Late in the afternoon of the 16th Bate's division, that was oc- cupying a hill, was subjected to a terrific cannonade. The troops on the left of Bate's division gave way, which affected the brigades of Jackson and Tom Benton Smith of Bate's division. They gallantly held their ground until surrounded, and were nearly all killed and captured. It was here that the brave, gen- erous, and manly W. M. Shy, Colonel of the Twentieth Tennes- see Regiment; was killed, and the place is now known as Shy's Hill. When the death of this brave young officer was made known to his mother, who lived near Franklin, only a few miles away, it is said that she remarked that she would to God that she had a hundred sons to die for such a cause. With such a mother could Colonel Shy have been anything but a brave soldier ? Lodi had her Lannes, Trafalgar her Nelson, Franklin her Cle- burne, and Nashville her Shy.
The death of the gallant Shy and the capture and wounding of General Tom Benton Smith, who was so long the Colonel of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment, with two-thirds of its number either killed, wounded, or captured on this fatal field, nearly anni- hilated this glorious band, who had faced the storms of war for four long and eventful years.
General Smith, in command of Tyler's old brigade of Bate's division, was surrounded by the enemy and compelled to sur- render. When he was being carried to the rear, one-half mile inside of the Federal lines, a cowardly Federal dressed in a ma- jor's uniform, rode up to him, although he was a quiet prisoner, and began to curse and abuse him. General Smith made no re- ply, and the Federal finally struck him over the head with a
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sword three times, which felled General Smith to his knees. The only reply that Smith made to this cowardly assassin was, "I am a disarmed prisoner." These strokes fractured Smith's skull, from the result of which he has been confined in the State lunatic asylum nearly ever since the war. Is it possible that this cow- ardly wretch could have been anything other than a Yankee bounty jumper, or perhaps a Southern deserter? One is as good as the other.
This fact was given to your writer by Monroe Mitchell, a private of Company B, Twentieth Tennessee Regiment, and Lieut. J. W. Morgan of Company F, who said that they were eye witnesses of the whole affair.
The Confederates, late in the afternoon, made their last stand on Overton's Hill, about six miles from Nashville, where they repulsed the Yankees once or twice on this part of their line, but contending against three to one, and being flanked on both sides, were compelled to give way, and all was confusion. The battle was lost, and Hood's little army was in full retreat. An effort was made to rally the men on the range of hills at Brentwood, ten miles from Nashville, but it was nearly dark and raining, the enemy were pressing our left from the Granny White Pike in the direction of Franklin, and would soon be in the rear of Hood's men.
It was here at Brentwood, in the midst of this disaster, that a ludicrous occurrence took place between a private soldier and a staff officer. It was this: The different officers were trying to rally the men. About this stage of retreat a young staff officer, who had been off on a furlough for a few days, arrived upon the scene. He rode to and fro, backward and forward across the pike, yelling at the top of his voice, " Halt here, men, halt, form line here. Halt, there is no danger down there," pointing down toward the valley, where Hood's little army had been contending against three to one all day. An old soldier who had been in the fight all day and was nearly exhausted, with powder all over his face and his garments of rags covered with mud, was trying to keep out of the way of the victorious Yankees. This young officer rode up to him and halting him in the road, said, " Where are you going? Halt, and form in line here, there is no danger
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down there." The old soldier said to the staff officer, "You go to hell, I've been there."
General Stephen D. Lee, who was ordered to cover the retreat, remained behind with Clayton and Stevenson's divisions, and went into camp that night about 10 P. M. seven miles north of Franklin with these two divisions, while the rest of the army bivouacked all along the pike to Franklin, and some even crossed the Harpeth River that night.
On the next morning, the 17th, the Confederate cavalry was driven in by a vigorous charge of the Yankee cavalry, which as- sault was checked by Pettus' Alabama brigade, Stovall's Georgia brigade, and Bledsoe's battery. The enemy was now pressing our rear guard, and trying to throw a force in General Lee's rear by the different roads that led into the pike between him and Frank- lin, but these forces were checked for a short time by Gibson's brigade of infantry and one of Buford's cavalry regiments.
The enemy was very bold, and did all they could to make Hood's retreat a perfect rout. General Lee crossed the Harpeth at Franklin, and on account of several thousand wounded from the battle of Franklin being in town, he with his rear guard passed on through, in order not to endanger the wounded from the enemy's artillery fire.
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Captain Coleman, of Lee's staff, with a body of pioneers, burned the bridge over the Harpeth while under a heavy fire from the Yankee sharpshooters. About 4 P. M., some two miles from Franklin, the Yankee cavalry made a bold assault on our rear guard. A more determined effort was never made to rout a rear guard than was this one, and it continued into the night. This assault was repulsed by the brigades of Pettus and Stovall, while Lee's flanks were covered by cavalry under that gallant officer, Brigadier-General Chalmers. General Lee was wounded in the foot about I P. M., but retained command of the rear guard until dark.
The Confederates continued to retreat, and the rear guard of Cheatham's corps was overtaken at Spring Hill the next day. They turned on the pursuing Federals and gave them quite a check. The gallant Stevenson, who was in command of Lee's corps after General Lee was wounded, was gradually making his
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way back to Spring Hill, and at times was nearly surrounded by the enemy, but he held his command intact, fighting and retreat- ing until he reached Columbia, and crossed Duck River.
General Forrest, who was in command of all of the Confeder- ate cavalry on this campaign, was at Murfreesboro with a portion of his cavalry and two brigades of infantry when the Battle of Nashville was fought; so Hood when he saw that the Battle of Nashville was lost, sent a courier at once to General Forrest to abandon Murfreesboro, and moved his command across the country by way of Shelbyville and joined him at Columbia. But Forrest's wagon train, with the sick and wounded, was at Triune, only twenty-two miles from Nashville, on the Nolens- ville Pike, so he ordered these to meet his command at Lillard Mills, about half way between Shelbyville and Columbia, on Duck River. Here Forrest crossed over a portion of his com- mand, when the river, which was rising, became past fording, and he was compelled to push his way down the north bank of the river to Columbia, where he arrived on the evening of the 18th, and next morning crossed his command over the river.
It was here that General Hood ordered General Forrest to take charge of the rear guard in connection with Major-General E. C. Walthall, who was to organize a division of infantry to assist him, and General Walthall chose from the army, for this select purpose, the brigades of Reynolds, Ector, and Quarles from his own division; and of Featherston from Loring's division ; and of Maney and Strahl from Cheatham's old division; and of Smith from Cleburne's division. These seven brigades, it was expected, would make about 3,000 men, but the seven only num- bered 1,601 ; but this 1,601, led by that embodiment of courage and skill, E. C. Walthall, was simply invincible. He was one of the youngest major-generals in the army, but when Hood's re- treating host learned that Walthall would command the infantry of the rear guard, they felt safe. They knew that where Wal- thall led, the men that he had selected would follow. Although one third of them were barefooted and without blankets and had but little to eat, yet this little band with Forrest's cavalry had beaten and punished the Federals day by day, until General Thomas, who commanded the Federal army, was forced to
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admit that Hood's rear guard was firm and undaunted, and did their full duty to the last. General Forrest said of this little band, that its leader displayed the highest qualities of a soldier, and his men, although one third of them were barefooted, bore their suffering without a murmur, and were ever ready to meet the enemy.
Hood's army retreated by way of Pulaski, and thence to Bain- bridge on the Tennessee River, which place they reached on December 25, Christmas Day, and crossed over on pontoon bridges on the 26th. Our gallant rear guard, after they left Columbia, had a battle at Richland Creek near Pulaski, and again at Pulaski, also just south of Pulaski at Sugar Creek.
The Yankees followed with three corps of infantry to Pulaski, and their cavalry pushed on to the Tennessee River, where Hood's rear guard finished crossing on the 27th. The Thirty-ninth North Carolina Regiment under Col. D. Coleman was the last of Hood's infantry to cross. To show the spirit, wit, and fun there was in the Confederate soldier, while half clad and half starved and barefooted, and fighting three to one, I will relate this: On the retreat near Pulaski, the roads were muddy and crowded, and every soldier was pulling along as best he could. General Hood and staff were passing, and as they were about to crowd an old soldier out of the road, he struck up this song, where General Hood could hear it,-
"You may talk about your dearest maid, And sing of Rosa Lee, But the gallant Hood of Texas Played hell in Tennessee."
The spirit of these soldiers was further shown in the official report of Col. Keller Anderson, of the Fourth Tennessee, to General Hood, when he said: "For the first time in this war, we lost our cannon. Give us a chance, and we will retake them."
In the loss of artillery at Nashvile there were three twelve- pound Napoleon guns that were in Turner's Mississippi battery. These guns were captured by Cheatham's division at the Battle of Perryville, and had been turned effectively against their former owners on the fields of Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and all through the Georgia campaign and at Franklin. It was to
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these guns that Col. Keller Anderson, of Cheatham's Tennessee division, had reference when he said: "Give us a chance, and we will retake them."
Now let us sum up Hood's campaign in Tennessee. He crossed the Tennessee River, coming in on November 21 at Tuscumbia and Florence with an army of about 26,000 of all arms of the service. He assaulted Schofield's works at Franklin with 16,000 of his army, and lost 4,500, and then moved on to Nashville with an army of 23,000 men. Bate's division of 1,600, which he sent to Murfreesboro, left Hood only 21,400 to invest Thomas inside of the forts of Nashville with an army of 30,000, and that army was soon reinforced to 60,000. Before the battle of Nashville was fought, General Bate had only three brigades of about 1,500, for he had lost about 100 at Stewart's Creek, and the others at Wilkerson Pike, hence two other brigades were sent from Hood's army to Murfreesboro to join Bate. This left Hood's army to fight the battle of Nashville of December 15 and 16, with not more than 22,000 infantry, of which, in these engagements, he lost in killed, wounded, and missing 4,462, leaving him with less than 18,000 infantry to get out of Tennessee in the dead of winter, from an army of three times their number, well clothed and well fed.
It does look as if " Pap Thomas," had he had any military strategy at the battle of Nashville, when with his superior force he had routed and turned Hood's left wing and left center, might have pressed on in the Granny White Pike, which led in the direction of Franklin, and beaten Hood's disorganized force there, and forced them to surrender by cutting off their retreat or compelled them to go east over a muddy country to meet Forrest's command on its way south from Murfreesboro. It is a wonder that Hood ever recrossed the Tennessee River with a single organization.
This campaign of Hood's in Middle Tennessee lasted for thirty-four days. After he recrossed the river, he moved his army to Tupelo, Miss., where they could rest and reorganize ; and his official returns, which were made January 20, 1865, while at Tulepo, showed an effective strength present of 16,913, after nineteen Tennessee regiments, mostly raised in West Ten-
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