USA > Tennessee > History of the Twentieth Tennessee regiment volunteer infantry, C.S.A > Part 37
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In 1861, when every one knew that the war was on, Ben Seaborn stepped forward and offered his services to his native State, and joined a company that was being raised at the Hermitage by Capt. Timothy Dodson. This company became Company I of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment. Ben Seaborn was one of its corporals.
Just after the battle of Shiloh, April 15, 1862, he was elected orderly sergeant, and a few days later, May 8, 1862, at the re- organization, he was elected third lieutenant. He was wounded and promoted to second lieutenant at the battle of Murfreesboro, was also severely wounded and promoted to first lieutenant on the field of Chickamauga, and was afterward made captain of Com- pany I. After the battle of Missionary Ridge he was wounded twice slightly.
Captain Seaborn surrendered with Gen. Joe Johnston at Greensboro, N. C., at the close of the struggle. He now lives in, and for several years has represented, the sixteenth district of Davidson county, in the county court.
A. L. FUQUA, M. D.
Written by DEERING J. ROBERTS, M. D.
A. L. Fuqua was born and reared in Davidson county, about nine miles from Nashville, in the Stone's River section. In May,
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1861, he joined Company I, commanded by Capt. Timothy Dod- son. While at Camp Trousdale he was sent home on sick furlough, and only rejoined his company on its retreat from Fishing Creek, meeting it at Livingston, Tenn. Except when sick for three weeks at Corinth, just after the battle of Shiloh, he was with his command every day until captured near Law- renceburg, after the battle of Franklin, in which he was wounded, He participated in all the battles in which the Twentieth was engaged, viz., Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Hoover's Gap, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Resaca, on the line from Dalton to Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Franklin, Tenn. He was wounded at Franklin and at Missionary Ridge. After his capture at Lawrenceburg, he was taken to Camp Morton, where he was confined until the close of the war, when he was paroled.
Returning home, he again attended school, and then studied medicine, receiving his degree of M. D. at the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Nashville. Locating near McWhirt- ersville, he has been continuously and regularly engaged since in the practice of his profession. His post-office address is Donelson, Tenn.
CAPTAIN ROBERT D. ANDERSON.
Written by DEERING J. ROBERTS, M. D.
The subject of this biographical sketch was born near the mouth of Turnbull Creek, on the banks of "Big Harpeth," about one mile north of Kingston Springs. His grandfather came from near Charleston, S. C., in 1798, his father, then a lad, accompany- ing, and they lived in the "Old Stone Fort" until 1802, when with a colony, including the Woodwards,, Pegrams, Thompsons. Myses, Dunns, and others, they moved westward to the Harpeth lands. His grandfather and father lived among the Indians until they left that section.
James Anderson, the father of "Capt. Bob," joined Capt. Allen Thompson's company of the First Tennessee Volunteers, com- manded by Col. Dick Carroll, Lieut., Col. Sam Houston, Major Stump, in 1812, and was engaged in the battle of Emuckfaw. His term of enlistment having expired, he returned to his home,
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and later again enlisted and served through the battle of New Orleans, receiving a sword wound in the head. After this battle he was discharged, and returned to his home on the banks of the Harpeth.
James Anderson married Miss Sarah Hughes, of Williamson county, and they had twelve children born to them, Robert D. being the ninth. In 1840 he sold his farm on the Harpeth to Wilson Thompson, and moved to Madison county, near Jackson, and lived there one year, when he returned to Middle Tennessee and bought a farm near Centreville, Hickman Co. After five years he sold this, and bought a farm in Perry county, five miles below Linden. Robert was about grown at this time, and learned the blacksmith's trade. He bought a shop at Linden, and lived there from 1850 until 1856, when he married and moved to a farm sixteen miles below Linden. This place he sold in 1860, and bought a farm and mill six miles below Linden, and was living there when the war commenced.
He helped to organize and was elected lieutenant of the "Perry Guards," Capt. Louis Shy commanding, which became Company G of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment. He was promoted to be captain of the company, served with it through the battles of Fishing Creek and Shiloh, and resigned his commis- sion while at Vicksburg, on a surgeon's certificate of disability, his system having become impaired by chronic malaria and bowel troubles, and wounds received in these two severe engagements.
After the battle of Murfreesboro, having to some extent re- covered his health, he reported to General Bragg, who ordered him to report to Major Winn, in the quartermaster's department of the Army of Tennessee. He was placed in charge of a detail, and collected and secured a large amount of supplies, such as leather, cattle, hogs, etc., much needed by our troops.
Before the year 1863 had got far on its way, he raised a com- pany of cavalry, and reported to Col. W. S. Hawkins of Wheel- er's scouts. In October of that year he was captured and sent to Johnson's Island, remaining there until February, 1864, when he was sent through the lines for exchange, reaching Richmond March 6 following. He then returned to Middle Tennessee, although it was inside the Federal lines, raised another company
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of cavalry, and reported to Col. J. B. Biffle. He was wounded in the thigh in a skirmish near Beardstown, Tenn., and was not again able for duty until Hood came into Tennessee, when he reported to General Forrest, and remained with him until his surrender at Gainsville, Ala.
During the "Brownlow Regime" after the war, Perry county was a little too hot for "Captain Bob," so he went to Jackson, Tenn., opening a blacksmith shop there.
His first wife, whom he married before the war begun, died in 1866, leaving him one child. Two years later he married again, and this wife, with three children, are living. He has given all his children a good education and a fair start in life, and all are now grown and prospering.
For the last eighteen years Captain Anderson has been living at Linden, the county seat of Perry county. He is respected and esteemed by all who know him. He was a good soldier, is a kind father, a model man, and a splendid citizen.
DEERING J. ROBERTS, M. D.
Deering J. Roberts, son of John and Eliza Roberts, and a brother of Albert Roberts, was born in Nashville, Tenn., May 20, 1840. He was educated in the private schools of Nashville until his seventeenth year, when he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. A. R. Griffith, matriculated in the Medical Department at the University of Nashville, in October, 1858, and received his degree of M. D. in the spring of 1860. He practiced in Miss- issippi, and in Williamson county, Tenn., until the spring of 1861, when he enlisted as a private in Company C, Rock City Guards, Maney's First Tennessee Regiment, having passed his examina- tion as assistant surgeon before the State Medical Board, but declined a commission, preferring to go as a private soldier. He served with the First Tennessee for twelve months, having been twice detached and placed on hospital duty. In April, 1862, he was assigned to duty with the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment as acting assistant or contract surgeon, and was the only medical officer the regiment had until after the battle of Baton Rouge, when a Dr. Lee of Mississippi was assigned also as contract
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surgeon, and served as junior to Dr. Roberts until just before the battle of Murfreesboro. At this time Dr. Roberts passed his examination before the C. S. Army Medical Board and was com- missioned Assistant Surgeon, Dr. J. F. Fryar being assigned to this regiment as surgeon. Six months later and just before the battle of Hoover's Gap, Dr. Roberts passed his examination be- fore the Board for promotion, and was commissioned Surgeon and assigned to duty with the Twentieth, Dr. Fryar being trans- ferred to another regiment. From this time until the battle of Franklin, Dr. Roberts was continuously on duty as surgeon of the Twentieth Tennessee. He was well liked and extremely popular with both commissioned officers and enlisted men. His colonel said of him on one occasion, that the only fault he had to find with him, was that he was "too fond of being at the front."
After the battle of Franklin he was left in charge of the wounded of Bate's division, and remained with them after the battle of Nashville, when he was sent by the Federal authorities down to Nashville, and was placed in charge of the Confederate wounded at the Gun Factory Hospital, in which were over 1,200 wounded from the fields of Franklin and Nashville. He with other Confederate surgeons was relieved from duty here on Jan. 10, 1865, and were sent around by way of Louisville, Cin- cinnati, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and Fort Delaware to Fortress Monroe, and from there through the lines, reaching Richmond, Va., Jan. 28, 1865. He rejoined his command, the Twentieth, and was with it at the surrender of General Jos. E. Johnston's army, and received his parole at Greensboro, N. C.
Since the close of the war, he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Kentucky, where he married in 1867; in Sumner county, Tenn., and for the last twenty-five years in Nashville. He was for ten years professor of Practice of Medi- cine in the Medical Department of the University of Tennessee, and is now lecturing on that branch in the Medical Department of the University of the South. He was surgeon at the Tennessee State Penitentiary during the four years of Governor Bate's ad- ministration, and had a lower mortality than any one who pre- ceded or succeeded him in this office. He was for four years a member and secretary of the Nashville Board of Health. He
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was chairman of the Section on State Medicine of the American Medical Association in 1884, his address before the general meet- ing being highly commended. He was president of the Tennessee State Medical Association in 1902, and has been its secretary for the past two years. He has been secretary of the Nashville Academy of Medicine, and has done much during his five years service as its executive officer to build it up. In 1879, he with Drs. Duncan Eve, George S. Blackie, and T. C. Dow, established the Southern Practitioner, he being its editorial manager. He succeeded to the entire control, ownership, and management of this journal four years later, and since then has been its editor and proprietor, gaining for it the largest circulation of any monthly medical periodical in the South and Southwest. For the past four years he has been the secretary and treasurer of the Association of Medical Officers of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy.
He has a wife, nee Miss Rachel L. Breeding, formerly of Adair county, Kentucky, six sons, two daughters, and five grand- sons.
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PART V.
HOW THE WAR WAS WAGED BY THE FEDERALS.
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HOW THE WAR WAS WAGED BY THE FEDERALS.
We believe that we have shown that the South came into pos- session of negro slaves honestly and fairly, having paid our Northern brothers, from whom we bought them, every cent they were worth, and we held this property strictly under an agreement that we made with them in 1787.
We also think that we have set forth the doctrine of State's Rights as taught by the New England States, which has always been an underlying principle of the Constitution, that could always be brought out by any State in the form of secession, when said State thought that her rights had been trampled upon.
We hope that we have shown to our readers that secession was justifiable even from a Northern standpoint, and the North could not wage war upon the South without overriding the Constitution, which they did, and continued to do; and when this was done and actual war had been forced upon the South, let us see how it was conducted by the North.
We may ask, " What were the rules laid down by the Federal Government for the control and carrying on of civilized warfare by their armies, as demanded by modern civilization?"
RULE I. Private property, unless forfeited by crime or by of- fenses of the owner against the safety of the army or the dignity of the United States, and after conviction of the owner by court martial, can be seized only by way of military necessity for the support or benefit of the army of the United States.
RULE 2. All wanton violence committed against persons in the invaded country, all destruction of property not commanded by the authorized officer, all robbery, all pillage or sacking, even after taking a place by main force, all rape, wounding, maiming, or killing of such inhabitants, are prohibited under penalty of death, or such other severe punishment as may seem adequate for the gravity of the offense.
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RULE 3. Crimes punishable by all penal codes, such as arson, murder, maiming, assault, highway robbery, theft, fraud, burg- lary, forgery, and rape, if committed by an American soldier in a hostile country against its inhabitants, are not only punish- able as at home, but in all cases in which death is not inflicted, the severer punishment is preferred, because the criminal has, as far as in him lay, prostituted the power conferred on a man of arms, and offended the dignity of the United States.
These three rules were the important provisions adopted by the Federal Government for the control of their armies. Now let us see whether or not they respected their own rules.
Gen. Geo. B. McClellan, who was one of the first Federal generals of any note in our Civil War, and who was a trained and educated soldier, recognized these principles and acted upon them.
So, on July 7, 1862, he wrote to President Lincoln from Harri- son's Landing, Va., saying :-
" This rebellion has assumed the character of a war. As such it should be conducted on the highest principles of Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State; in any event, it should not be a war upon population, but against armed forces and political or- ganizations. Neither confiscation of property, political execu- tion of persons, territorial organization of States, nor forcible abolition of slavery, should be contemplated for one moment.
"In prosecuting the war, all private property and unarmed persons should be strictly protected, subject only to the necessity of military operations.
" All property taken for military use should be paid or re- ceipted for, pillage and waste should be treated as high crimes, all unnecessary trespass should be sternly prohibited, offensive demeanor by the military towards the citizens promptly re- buked."
This is the way that an educated soldier and gentleman thought the war ought to be conducted.
If our readers will take the time to follow up the history of the Army of the Potomac while under Mcclellan, and then under
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its other commanders, he will see the difference between civi- lized warfare and barbarous warfare.
General McClellan would have guards placed around private houses, with orders to shoot any soldier who should dare to intrude and molest private property or insult women and chil- dren. How different were the orders from the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac two weeks after McClellan was relieved. Here is Pope's first order :-
" The people of the valley of the Shenandoah and through- out the region of the operations of this army, living along the lines of railroad and telegraph and along the routes of travel in rear of the United States forces, are notified that they will be held responsible for any injury done to the track, line, or road, or for any attack upon trains or straggling soldiers by bands of guerrillas in their neighborhood.
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"Safety of life and property of all persons living in the rear of our advancing armies depends upon the maintenance of peace and quiet among themselves, and of the unmolested movement through their midst of all pertaining to the military service.
" They are to understand distinctly that this security of travel is their only warrant of safety. It is therefore ordered, that whenever a railroad, wagon road, or telegraph is injured by parties of guerrillas, the citizens living within five miles of the spot shall be turned out in mass to repair the damage, and shall besides pay to the United States in money or in property, to be levied by military force, the full amount of the pay and subsistence of the whole force necessary to coerce the perform- ance of the work during the time occupied in completing it. If a soldier or a legitimate follower of the army be fired upon from any house, the house shall be razed to the ground, and the in- habitants sent as prisoners to the headquarters of the army. If an outrage occurs at any place distant from settlements, the people within five miles around shall be held accountable, and made to pay an indemnity sufficient for the case."
We defy investigation in the history of modern warfare to find anything emanating from a general commanding an army, as cowardly and as cruel as this order. Just think of it; the women, children, and non-combatants, living within five miles
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of the rear of an invading army, ordered to protect it from the incursions of the opposing army, or upon failure to do this, whether from inability or any other cause, to forfeit their lives or their property, or both !
Again, this same commander, on July 23, 1862, issued the following order :-
" Commanders of army corps, divisions, brigades, and de- tached commands will proceed immediately to arrest all dis- loyal male citizens within their lines, or within their reach, in rear of their respective stations. Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and will furnish sufficient security for its observance, shall be permitted to remain at their homes and pursue, in good faith, their accustomed avocations. Those who refuse shall be conducted south, beyond the extreme pickets of this army, and notified that if they are found any- where within our lines, or at any point within our rear, they will be considered spies, and subjected to the extreme rigor of military law, viz., death by hanging."-" The Army under Pope," by Ropes, pages 175 - 177.
This last order Mr. Jno. C. Ropes, of Boston, a distinguished Northern writer, one generally fairer to the South than others who have written from that locality, criticises most harshly, and he does this, too, although he is about the only apologist, so far as we have seen, of this bombastic and incompetent Federal officer.
General Steinwehr, one of Pope's brigadiers, seized innocent and peaceful inhabitants and held them as hostages, to the end that they should be murdered in cold blood should any of his soldiers be killed by unknown persons, whom he designated as bushwhackers.
On the very day of the signing of the cartel for the exchange of prisoners between the Federal and the Confederate authorities (July 22, 1862), the Federal Secretary of War, by order of Mr. Lincoln, issued an order to the military commanders in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louis- iana, Texas, and Arkansas, directing them to seize and use any property belonging to any of the inhabitants of the Confederacy which might be necessary or convenient for their several com-
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mands, and no provision was made for any compensation to the owners of private property thus seized and appropriated.
This order was such a flagrant violation of the rules of civilized warfare,-those adopted by the Federal government itself, as herein-before quoted,-that the Confederate government sought to prevent its being carried into execution by issuing a general order, dated Aug. 1, 1862, denouncing this order of the Federal secretary, and those of Pope and Steinwehr, as acts of savage cruelty, violative of all usages of war, and as converting the hos- tilities heretofore waged between armed forcs into a campaign of robbery and murder against unarmed citizens and peaceful tillers of the soil, and by way of retaliation, declared that Pope and his commissioned officers were not to be considered as soldiers, and therefore not entitled to the benefit of the cartel for the parole of future prisoners of war, and ordered that if Pope, Steinwehr, or any of their commissioned officers were captured, they should be kept in close confinement as long as the foregoing orders remained in force. (See Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. I, pages 302, 303. )
Gen. Robt. E. Lee, on receiving this order from the Confederate authorities, at once sent a communication to the general command- ing the United States army at Washington, in which, referring to these orders of Pope and the Federal War Department, he said :-
"Some of the military authorities of the United States seem to suppose that their end will be better attained by a savage war, in which no quarter is to be given and no age or sex is to be spared, than by such hostilities as are alone recognized to be lawful in modern times. We find ourselves driven by our enemies by steady progress towards a practice that we abhor, and which we are vainly struggling to avoid."
He also says :-
"Under these circumstances, this government has issued the accompanying general order (that of Aug. 1, 1862) which I am directed by the President to transmit to you, recognizing Major- General Pope and his commisioned officers to be in a position which they have chosen for themselves,-that of robbers and mur-
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derers, and not of public enemies, entitled, if captured, to be treated as prisoners of war."
At this day it may be safely said that there are few, if any, either in the North or in the South, who will question either that General Lee knew the rules of civilized warfare, or that he would have denounced those who were guilty of violating these rules, as robbers and murderers had they not been justly entitled to that distinction ; and let this be distinctly borne in mind, that the order of the Federal Secretary of War was issued by order of the President, Mr. Lincoln, and if he ever rebuked Pope, Steinwehr or any of the others, to whom we shall hereafter refer, for their out- rages and cruelties to the Southern people, the record, so far as we can find, is silent on the subject.
On Nov. 28, 1862, Gen. R. H. Milroy of the Federal Army had an order sent to Mr. Adam Harper, a man eighty-two years old, and a cripple, one who had served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and who was a son of a Revolutionary soldier who had served throughout that war, which was as follows :-
Mr. Adam Harper. SIR: In consequence of certain robberies which have been committed on Union citizens of this county by bands of guerrillas, you are hereby assessed to the amount of two hundred and eighty-five dollars ($285) to make good their losses, and upon your failure to comply with the above assessment by the 8th day of December, the following order has been issued to me by General Milroy :--
"You are to burn their houses, seize all their cattle, and shoot them. You will be sure that you carry out this order to the letter. You will inform the inhabitants for ten or fifteen miles around your camp, on all the roads approaching the town upon which the enemy may approach, that they must dash in and give you notice, and upon any one failing to do so, you will burn their houses and shoot the men.
"By order of Brig .- Gen. R. H. Milroy."
H. KELLOGG, Captain Commanding Post.
Could the most brutal savagery of any age exceed the unreason- ing cruelty of this order? (See Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. I, page 231.)
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But we must go on. In the earlier part of the war, Gen. Wm. T. Sherman knew and recognized the rules adopted by his Gov- ernment for the conduct of its armies in the field, and so on Sept. 29, 1861, he wrote to Gen. Robt. Anderson, at Louisville, Ky., saying, among other things :-
I am sorry to report that in spite of my orders and entreaties, our troops are committing depredations that will ruin our cause. Horses and wagons have been seized, cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens taken by our men, some of whom wander for miles around. I am doing, and have done, all in my power to stop this, but the men are badly disciplined, and give little heed to my orders or those of their own regimental officers."-"Sherman's Raid," by Boynton, page 23.
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