USA > Tennessee > The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and early western history, including a chronological summary of battles and engagements in the western armies of the Confederacy > Part 14
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*Colonel Jno. M. Hughes.
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THE ANNALS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE
Into this ditch a great many of the negroes jumped, and endeavored to climb up on each other's shoulders, but were beaten back and almost all of them killed. One negro, who was either drunk or crazy, crawled through a culvert which ran from the inside of the fort into the ditch, and was shot on the inside. No great number of the negroes got into the ditch, and the rest of the attacking column, having no shelter from the fire of both the artillery and infantry, was forced to give way and retire.
Thus ended the battle of Fort Gilmer, and there was no more fight- ing done on this part of the line where we were that day, though I think that part of the line occupied by Gary's Cavalry was attacked, but I never knew anything about that fight.
General Lee arrived from Petersburg during the night of September 29th, with Fields' Virginia and Hoke's North Carolina Divisions, and upon the 30th both of these divisions charged Fort Harrison, but after a desperate fight they were forced to retire, and the " stars and stripes " waved over Fort Harrison until Richmond fell. Another line of works was built around the old line, and several batteries of mortars were placed there, which kept up a pretty constant fire upon the Yankees during the rest of the war.
Fort Gilmer is about four miles below Richmond, very near the farm then owned by Mrs. Gunn, and from the nearest point of this fight to the Capital could not have been more than three miles. Had our troops given way on that day (and I think if the Yankees had known how near they were to Richmond we must have been beaten), there was nothing between us and the city ; and instead of Richmond being burned by our men, as it afterwards was, Richmond must have fallen into the hands of "Beast Butler " and drunken negroes, though to give the devil his due, we were told by prisoners that Butler was not in the fight at all, but was on the top of his big observatory at City Point, looking at it through a long telescope.
You know better than I can tell you how few opportunities a private has of knowing what is going on around him, but I have written what I remember seeing at the time and hearing the officers talk about.
With great respect to yourself, not on account of your career in the army, but for the stand you have taken since, allow me to write myself your comrade,
CHARLES JOHNSTON.
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AND EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
DR. RAMSEY'S LETTER.
[THE following letter, from Dr. Ramsey to the Vice-President of the Tennes- see Historical Society, Judge J. M. Lea, has been tendered us by Mr. Anson Nelson for publication in the ANNALS. We feel a deep interest in the work of this patriotic organization, and value its claims. upon the people of Tennes- see too highly not to render any aid through the ANNALS which will further its efficient working. At its last meeting a very important step was taken in the appointment of committees to consummate the proper celebration, in 1880, of the Centennial of Nashville's birth, which Dr. Lindsley fixes in April, 1780, as this was the time when Colonel Donelson arrived by water, from East Tennessee, with the women and children, thus furnishing all of the nec- essary elements of organized society. We have already published- in the AN- NALS, and will continue to do so, sketches intended to illustrate the Heroic Age in Tennessee History, and will labor hard to convince our people that they have materials at home full of romantic interest, and equal, in the lan- guage of advertisements, to the "best" of any era in the world's progress. We hope that Dr. Ramsey's letter will be carefully read and pondered by every citizen of Tennessee. A large majority of her people, we are ashamed to own, know little or nothing of the history of their State. There are fam- ilies who have an ancestry the equal, in knightly deeds, of those who came over to England with William the Conqueror, and yet they value the com- monest sordid considerations of daily life as worth more than this. The State Historical Society is doing a great deal to draw attention to and popularize the subject of Tennessee History, and the work will be greatly facilitated by a proper observance of the various centennial eras as they occur.]
Hon. J. M. Lea, Vice-President of the Tennessee Historical Society- My Dear Sir :----
T HERE are some topics connected with or belonging to the His- tory of Tennessee, which deserve a more special mention and elucidation than they have heretofore received. Some of these topics have been, indeed, enumerated in the circulars of the Society, ad- dressed, from time to time, to the people of the State. Of some of these little notice has been taken; others of them seem to have been entirely neglected. Allow me to refer briefly to such of them as de- mand a more specific enumeration.
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First. The discovery of our great inland sea and the first crossing of the Mississippi river, in 1542, by Hernando De Soto and his Span- ish adventurers. Our library should contain every thing that has been published in reference to this remarkable invasion, its sad termination, its important results to further discovery and commerce in North America. Irving has already made large contributions to historica! literature on this subject from the archives of Portugal and Spain ; but further research may add to the rich treasures his graceful pen has already given to us.
The same may be said of the subsequent discoveries and explora- tions of Father Marquette and of Jolliete. The maps and charts of these adventurous navigators should be in our collections in the Capitol of Tennessee. So, also, of La Salle, who, under his commission "to perfect the discovery of the Mississippi," actually built a fort and erected the arms of France upon the Chickasaw bluff near our present Memphis. Again : The founder of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana (Bienville) built Fort Assumption near the same place. Then General Gayoso, in 1782, by authority of the Spanish Govern- ment, occupied the same bluff and erected Fort Fernandina at the mouth of Margot, or Wolf river.
These names of forts, as well as of the foreign officers who erected them and made them thus historical, are here given for the purpose of suggesting to the Society that Tennessee should have, at the approach- ing Exposition at Paris, a delegate charged with the grave duty and responsible function of visiting, in person, the courts of Spain, Portu- gal and France-i. e., Madrid, Lisbon and Paris-and procure from their respective public archives and the port folios of Ministers, every paper and document which can at all bear upon and illustrate the early history of Tennessee. This is a great and important duty, and it devolves itself, primarily and imperatively, upon our State Society at its next meeting. I leave the suggestion with .you. Take it for what you and our colleagues may think it is worth, while I hasten to other topics, nearer home; and perhaps, more tangible and within our reach.
A committee of - of our most active members should take under its charge the duty of a more exact identification of all the forts, stations and battle-grounds within the State. While some of these are well known, there are others about which nothing has been well and accurately ascertained. These should be identified before even tradi- tion itself ceases to make mention. All over Middle Tennessee and
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AND EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
the earlier settled counties of East Tennessee, the face of the country . was, at their first settlement, dotted over with places of historic inter- est and martial achievement, whose exact location has been lost to the present generation. Do you know any one who can point out the spot on Red river where the cruel massacre of Colonel Valentine Sevier took place ? Or the exact route or trace by which General Robertson and his co-colonists first reached the French Lick in 1780? The Natchez trace, or the Old Factors place on it-where were they ?- etc., etc. Who can tell us by what route General Griffith Rutherford, of North Carolina, and his surveying party, reached Wolf river and its tributary Lasatia, alias Loo-se-hatchie (Anglice : Big creek), in Shelby county, in 1786? Was the route by land or water? Who has his plats, field- works, or his report of his immense survey ? e He belonged to our he- roic period, was a leading spirit in the Revolutionary War, an active member of our Territorial Legislature, and, in honor of his patriotic services, Rutherford county, both in Tennessee and North Carolina, and Rutherford creek, in Williamson and Maury counties, Tenn., de- rive their names. Do you know where he died? These and one hundred other questions of like importance suggest themselves as worthy of further inquiry and investigation.
Again : The Centennial of the first settlement of Tennessee has already passed (1868 and 1869). The chaotic and troublesome condi- tion of public affairs prevented any commemoration of it at the proper time. The Centennial of the first county organization in our State, especially the establishment of the first shire-town in Tennessee, is just at hand. Old Washington county-ancient Jonesboro, will have the great honor of leading off in the grand centennial ceremonials of our Volunteer State, our gallant and patriotic Tennessee. It will, I pre- sume, require no suggestion from us to stimulate our proud and grate- ful countrymen everywhere in Tennessee to celebrate, in a becoming manner, the civil and martial achievements of their forefathers at the recurrence of the several anniversaries of the county and town organ- izations as each respectively comes around.
It may not be inappropriate or inopportune here to observe the sin- gular coincidence and the natural sequence of the names of our Ten- nessee counties and infant villages as they successively occur in our history, and how truly they accord with the merits and the characters of our heroic period. First: Our Great Washington, then our Southern Washington, as General Greene has been not inaptly called,
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THE ANNALS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE
our General Sullivan, our General Davidson, General Nash, General Sumner, our General Knox, our own General Sevier and General Robertson and General Rutherford, and so on to the end of the chap- ter.
I have lost none of my natural, innate youthful enthusiasm for Ten- nessee history, of her early times, as I would go into ecstacies at the bare enumeration of these immortal names and these illustrious charac- ters. I am happy to believe that the spontaneous action of our masses, the filial piety and admiration of our entire people, will be suf- ficient to secure to these centennial occasions, as they shall occur from time to time, a due consideration and respect.
I may not omit one further suggestion. If there is one important defect in the past administration of the Historical Society of Tennes- see, it is this : that, heretofore, it has had no organ of its own, through which to enlighten our people and urge upon them the importance of the laborious functions assigned to us in collecting and preserving our knowledge of the past in Tennessee. This defect is radical, as I con- sider it, and should be corrected. Similar associations elsewhere have been successful only when their transactions and their plans of operation have been published to the world through their own organs, and in full detail, and not by fragmentary notices of an occasional meeting, and not seen or appreciated by the general reader, and soon lost sight of and forgotten by those absorbed in secular and ordinary pursuits. Very truly yours, J. G. M. RAMSEY.
Knoxville, Tenn., April 22, 1878.
JENNINGS' KNOB.
HERE are probably many persons living in the shadow of Jen- nings' Knob, in Wilson co., Tenn., who are unacquainted with the origin of the name. The story. as told by Captain Jennings him- self, for whom the Knob was named, is as follows :
A party of scouts from the stations on Bledsoe creek, in Sumner county, was over in Wilson on a tour of observation for Indian signs. It was a habit of the settlers to keep out men all the time, who went in succession the entire circuit of the settlement, in order to give timely warning of any hostile approach.
As the party referred to were preparing to camp late one winter
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AND EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
afternoon, Captain Jennings, who was of the number, started out to .!!! a buffalo from a herd which was near by. There was a heavy ·ret on the ground, and he found it difficult to get in good range on account of the noise of his feet on the crackling ice; but after follow- .ng the game for several miles, he at last killed a very large bull on the top of a high knob. Fearing that the meat would be injured if left until next morning, he skinned the animal and took out the viscera. By the time he had finished his task night had come, and he decided to remain with his meat, instead of seeking camp in the darkness. So, # rapping the huge hide around him, flesh side out, he lay down and dept very comfortably until morning. On awaking he found himself ightly imprisoned in the hide, which had frozen hard during the night, and now resisted all of his efforts to escape. Hour after hour rolled by in agony to the Captain. He yelled at the top of his voice for help; and strained and kicked with all of his great strength at his raw- hide enclosure, but it proved stubborn to the last degree. He doubt- ews swore many a bitter oath, for he was of a too irascible and stub- born temperament to submit tamely to any contending circumstances. Hle expected his companions to search for him, and they did, but with a great deal of caution, fearing that he had been killed by Indians. His prolonged absence could be accounted for in no other way.
The Captain, in relating the circumstance to Captain Rogan years after, says that he gave up all hope of extricating himself as the hours dore away and his companions failed to come to his rescue ; he sup- posed that they had become alarmed at his absence and had left the vicinity with the idea that he was dead, and that it was unsafe to search for his body. Truly it was a trying situation which his great strength and will had failed to overcome. To a man who had escaped Indian bullets and had swam icy rivers like a beaver, such a death was mor- trying in the extreme ; but such was the prospect he had to face alone und unaided by human power in the depths of the wilderness. We will let him relate the issue in his own words, in answer to a ques- Con as to how he finally escaped : "Wall, the sun come out in the afternoon, and this saftened the hide on top so I could git one arm out, wad when I got one arm out, I worked like pisen until I got my body :hrough."
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THE ANNALS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE
THE SOLDIER'S WAR-BAG.
A Cavalryman Swindles a Georgia Doctor .- In the winter of 1863-4, Colonel Paul Anderson, in command of Colonel Baxter Smith's Fourth Tennessee Cavalry. was ordered to recruit his horses at some convenient point in rear of the army then encamped at Dalton. He selected for this purpose a fertile valley in the western part of Georgia, where he was hospitably received by the inhabitants, and by virtue of his rank was the recipient of many little courtesies very accepta- ble to soldiers. Among the visitors to headquarters was a neighboring doctor, who intimated that he had lately come in possession of quite a treasure in the shape of a demijohn of fine apple brandy, and if the Colonel ever used anything of the kind, and as Christmas was near at hand, he would be very happy to send him over a gallon of it. The Colonel had a poor mouth for refusing, and the favor was gratefully acknowledged. But alas for the Doctor's kind intentions and the Colonel's ardent expectations!
It has always been a matter of wonder how soldiers could always find out so quickly anything to their advantage, or disadvantage as for that. Some of them seemed to have a certain divination for the whereabouts of whisky, and it rarely failed to become the prize of their stratagems. So the doctor's brandy was doomed to the common fate.
A morning or two after the doctor's visit, a soldier rode hurriedly up to his house, with a request from Colonel Anderson for him to repair immediately to his camp, as his brother was badly hurt by a fall from his horse; and further, that he preferred his aid to that of the proper regimental surgeon. The doctor showed his consciousness of the honor conferred upon him by quickly mounting his horse and riding at a rapid gait in the direction of camp, as the messenger had urged him to make all speed. After riding a mile the messenger suddenly reined up his horse, saying, "Doc., I forgot to tell you that Colonel Anderson said for you to bring a bottle of that brandy for his brother." Here was a dilemma. But time was precious. So, cursing the stupidity of the soldier, he ordered him to return and tell his wife to let him have a bottle of that brandy for Colonel Anderson's brother, while he himself pushed ahead on his surgical mission and soon arrived at his destination, bespattered with mud and glowing with excitement. To his eager inquiry as to the condition of his brother, Colonel Anderson replied "that he had no brother, and that some fellow was certainly playing a joke on him." Mortified and chagrined, he returned home to find that the cavalryman had called for the demijehn instead of a bottle of the brandy, and his wife had unwittingly given it to him. Pursuit was useless, and "that brandy" found its way safely into camp. The Colonel felt himself badly sold when he heard of it, as well as the doctor. But remarking in the hearing of some of his men that a gallon of
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AND EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
the brandy belonged to him, that amount was found at the door of his tent the seit morning.
Off for the Wars .- There are few events that befall a community which stir it core profoundly than the announcement of a state of war, and fewer still which : uch more deeply the popular. heart and dispose it to overflow in expressions of grief and sympathy, than the departure of friends and neighbors for the scene of conflict. Then, indeed, the commonest soldier becomes sanctified, as it were, into a hero, and clothed with the garb of respectability. Minor passions and interests are sunk beneath, or swept away by the common current which dominates over all, and old enemies forget their differences or become fast friends. Eyes unused to weep stream over, and wealth is prodigal of its treasure. Every form and mode of sympathy and respect are lavished on the country's defenders. Wives cling to husbands, mothers to sons, sisters to brothers, and sweethearts to lovers, in agony and foreboding of a last embrace.
And yet, these occasions have their ludicrous, as well as serious, aspects. As for instance: A long train of cars filled with some companies of the First Tennes- xe Regiment, on their way to Richmond, Va., in 1861, stood at the depot at Fayetteville, Tenn., with hissing valves, waiting the signal of departure. Thou- winds of friends crowded around to say good-bye, and hope against hope for a ufe return. Among these were an old man and his son, about to separate; both of them, in common phrase, were over "half-slewed " from the number of "just one more parting drinks" they had taken every few minutes. At last a long sav- age shriek of the engine, like a wail of despair, announced the parting moment at hand. Fresh cries and wails, and "God bless yous," went up from a thousand throats. Wrought up to the highest pitch by the parting and the parting drinks, father and son stood with locked hands in almost speechless agony. "Farewell father!" sobbed the son. "Good-bye, my dear boy," returned the father in a husky voice ; "may God bless (boo-hoo) and preserve you! Let's (boo-hoo) take a last (boo hoo) parting drink, we may never (boo-hoo) see each other (boo-hoo) this side of Heaven again." As the son turned to get on the train, the sire's ex- citement increased almost to frenzy. "God bless you my boy," he again broke forth ; " I'll be God Almighty d-d if I ain't a great mind to go, too!" The con- solations of the bottle alone sustained father and son in this trying hour. -
Don't Repeat .- Adjutant G. and Lieutenant S., of the Fourth Tennessee Cav- alry, while encamped at Tunnel Hill, Ga., wearying of the short commons of camp, left quarters one day in search of a square meal. After threading their way through the pine woods for some miles, they reached a house which gave promise of some satisfaction. They were not greeted very hospitably by the lady of the house, but she managed to provide something more than a " Lenten enter- tainment" for her unbidden guests, whose appetites, being whetted by expecta- tion, were not over-fastidious. On arising from the table they had made a clean sweep of every thing eatable,
" Leaving the bones For Davy Jones."
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THE ANNALS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE
On leaving, Adjutant G. offered the hostess a twenty dollar bill in payment of the fare. Taking it in her hand and inspecting the empty dishes thoughtfully fo; a few seconds, she returned it to the Adjutant, saying : "Mister, I see Jeff. Davis' picture on this money, and I reckon it is all right, but I wont charge you any thing this time, if you will both promise never to come back here to eat again."
Seeking a Surgeon .- Joseph B., of the Thirty-second Mississippi, sends this to the War-Bag :
- A soldier of the Sixty-third -, which was put in active service for the first time in the Dalton campaign, presented himself at a hospital in rear of the army, where the following colloquy took place between him and the Surgeon :
Surgeon .- " What is the matter with you, my man ?"
Patient .- "I've got the chronical diree and the roomaticks, and I'm dinged nigh wore out." >
S .- "How far have you come to-day ?"
· P .- " Dinged nigh on to thirty miles.
S .- " Have you ever been in a battle ?"
P .- "Lor' yes! You'd athought so if you'd bin thar. Why a bomb shell went right over our company."
An Improvised Surgeon .- Sergeant G. P. sends this to the War-Bag : Surgeon G., of the Forty-fourth Tennessee, was disposed to be stringent in the discharge of his duties, and a man at the morning sick-call had to show decided evidences of illness to get excused from drill, which was quite irksome, especially in the warm languid days of opening spring. In a case of slight indisposition, his dic- tum usually was : "Put him on light duty." This was repeated so often and so aggravatingly at times, that the doctor had some unpopularity in consequence ; but the whirligig of time brings its revenges and sets all things even. There was always some wag at hand to take advantage of any opportunity and give a thrust, especially in retaliation for some fancied injury to himself or comrades. While Cleburne's Division was encamped at College Grove, Tenn., the Forty-fourth Ten- nessee re-enlisted for the war. The event was rendered more joyous by a liberal supply of the ardent, which, by some means, found its way into camp, and the men took advantage of the license of the occasion to give the officers a wake-up shake-up generally. On reaching Surgeon G.'s quarters, this officer begged to be excused from the rather hard usuage his brother officers were receiving, saying that he was quite unwell ; and the crowd were disposed to let him go unmolested : but at this moment Bill Clenny, who had probably gotten a taste of the doctor's ·quality in previous encounters at the sick-call, elbowed his way through the mass to where his victim stood and gravely began an examination of his symptoms. This he conducted with due attention to the details usual in such cases, put- ting searching questions, inspecting the tongue and feeling the pulse. This being completed, he turned to the crowd and announced, in a loud voice, in the doctor's well-known formula : "You can put him on light duty. Trot him out." And trot him they did to their hearts' content.
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EDITORIAL:
T HE May No. of the ANNALS has been so highly complimented by subscri- bers and by the press, for the excellence of its matter and typographical finish, that we desire to return our grateful acknowledgements. An appreciation by the public of labors in its behalf is always gratifying, and such stimulus, we assure our friends, will not be lost in the future progress of this work. These evidences of awakening interest in the preservation of Confederate history are gratifying to note in contrast with the indifference to its fate which has been exhibited by our soldiers since the termination of the war. It is a record of heroic achievement of which any people under the sun might be proud, and the scars of the humblest Confederate soldier are the badge of manhood the world over.
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