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 15
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Among the many notices of the press which have come to hand, there are none . that we value more highly than that of the Nashville American. From the outset it has extended a helping hand and a strong arm to the ANNALS, and from its out- spoken praise we feel justified in hoping that it is not disappointed in its expect- ations of its protege; for such is the relation a grateful heart would own to so ser- viceable a patron. We reprint below a portion of The American's notice :
"The May No. of THE ANNALS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE AND EARLY WEST- ERN HISTORY has reached our table. The conductor of this invaluable literary en- terprise is performing an important work in the preservation of historical data of the most valuable character, and deserves the support and gratitude of his country and of the descendants of those whose heroic achievements were the rich legacy they left to their survivors. If an augury of the permanent success of this praiseworthy en- terprise were needed, this May No. of THE ANNALS assuredly furnishes it. Its ma- terial and make-up indicate the thoroughness of the work undertaken. * THE ANNALS appears on the finest quality of book paper, and the typography is a model of the art. The numbers should be carefully preserved. Bound in a vol- ume, they will make a handsome library edition, and one the intrinsic value of which will increase with years, and serve a righteous purpose in preserving and maintaining the truth of history."
W TE have received from W. W. Fergusson, of Carthage, Tenn., late Lieu- tenant in the Topographical Engineers C. S. A., two maps of the battle- field of Shiloh. One of these is entitled, "Field of Shiloh at 5 A. M., Sunday. Tracing from copy of office map. Scale, 7sin. to I mile." This map places the Confederate lines, as they were directed by General Johnston, parallel, except as to the reserves, which were in column. Reckoning by the scale, the hostile lines were about two miles apart, which we think is a mistake as to Hardee's left wing.
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The distance traversed by Cleburne's Brigade to reach Sherman's position we have always regarded as less than one mile, but observation under such circum- stances is by no means reliable. Lieutenant Fergusson writes: "I preserved all of my maps and tracings but two-one of Chickamauga and the other of 'Dead Angle,' west of Marietta. (This map is in Southwestern Georgia, at Dr. Magru- der's.) I have two of Shiloh; one a copy of office map (engineers), tracing, here- with enclosed, and a copy of which was sent to the War Department at Richmond soon after our return to Corinth. This was made up from information and obser- vation. The other is one I made from what I saw. The best map I saw was captured from the Yankees in the winter of 1862-3, while I was with General Price in Mississippi. Saving a few details of a minor character, it was in distance and general topography the best I have tested. It was lithographed, but I can- not remember by whom. The engineer corps was the pulse of the army, and first felt the direction and movement, and a true map is always a test and often a solution of controversy."
E RRATA .- Mistakes will occur in spite of vigilance. For "G. W. Cooper," p. 70, read W. C. Cooper.
In Davidson's Diary, "Colonel Brend" should read Colonel Brand. Major Brent commanded the Red River Fleet in this expedition, and without this expla- nation the names of these two gallant officers might be confounded.
B ACK numbers of the ANNALS can be obtained on application to. the pub- lisher, A. D. Haynes, 3712 Union street, Nashville, Tenn., or the editor at Fayetteville, Tenn. Copies will be for sale at the principal book-stores throughout the country.
CORRESPONDENCE.
-
Dr. E. L. Drake-Dear Sir :- The Tennessee Historical Society, at its last meeting, passed a vote of thanks to you for your proposition to publish in your valuable magazine any papers of interest emanating from the Society. I take pleasure in communicating the fact to you.
Very respectfully,
ANSON NELSON, Rec. Sect'y.
Nashville, Tenn., May 17, 1878.
. ......
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ANNALS ARMY OF TENNESSEE
EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
Vor. I. { NASHVILLE, TENN., JULY, 1878. ¿ No. 4.
VICKSBURG DURING THE SIEGE.
How the Iron Crown of the Mississippi Was Fruitlessly Defended -- Thrill- ing Incidents of Life in the Beleagured City-A Campaign of Mis- conception-People Dwelling in Caves and Living on Air.
BY EDWARD S. GREGORY. [Concluded.]
Notable Episodes.
HERE were, it is true, occasional breaks in the heavy monotone- of time and things. One of these was the sinking of the gun- boat " Cincinnati," on May 26th. With notable audacity, this vessel attempted to run suddenly upon and close with the batteries at the north end of the city, which were manned by a gallant command of Tennesseeans, and constituted the protection of the garrison's extreme left wing. As soon as she began steaming down the river, and even before she had passed the bend, the "Cincinnati " became the target of a concentrated and powerful cannonade, which was made none the less steady and effective by the Federals' own heavy fire. Before she reached the middle of the stream, it was evident that her vitals were wounded. Reversing her course, she steamed heavily up the current, that only succeeded in running ashore on the west bank a little above the extremity of the isthmus. Forty of her people had been killed or hurt. The glory of this victory was short-lived, seeing that the heavy rifled-guns of the steamer were promptly removed from her decks and fe-mounted near the spot of the wreck. They were her avenging spir- Its; if not doing more damage, certainly causing more fear by the in-
VOL. I, NO. IV .- I.
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tense and hideous hiss of their conical balls' passage and explosion, than even the heaviest of the smooth-bore mortars effected.
A great fire broke out on the night of June 6th-the Federal account; say caused by the explosion of their shells. There was nothing to do except to remove articles of value from the houses within its range. A great crowd collected, notwithstanding the concentration of the - mortar-fire, and yet there were no remembered casualties. The whole block was burned, of course, and the wonder is only one.
On the 21st of June, a mine, constructed in McPherson's front, was sprung under that part of the Confederate line occupied by Hebert's Brigade of Louisianians-immediately under the Thirty-first regiment. I believe. The mine was a failure, and the truthful chroniclers of the time report it did more harm to the diggers than the under-dug. He- bert's men had their revenge, too, on the troops that had been moved up close to take advantage of the panic that did not ensue; among other things, rolling down on their heads bombs with fuses cut short. which hardly had time to leave the Confederates' hands before they burst.
An Irishman's Courageous Feat.
A Lynchburg man performed, late in the siege, a feat never hereto- fore recorded, and of courage worthy of the honest Irish blood that flowed in his veins. Major Mike Connell, having resigned his com- mission in a Memphis regiment, as having passed the age of service. undertook to convey a large purchase of sugar from somewhere in Louisiana to its owner in Virginia. He had maneuvered it as far as Vicksburg, and there the siege settled on it. After awaiting its issue from week to week, being satisfied that he could accomplish no good by remaining, and was only one more mouth to be fed out of next te nothing, Major Connell decided to make his escape. He intimated his purpose to the numerous Virginians in the city and to other friends, and received from these a great budget of letters, which was all his load. Waiting for a stormy night, he laid himself flat in the bottom of a dug-out, just large enough to hold him, and was pushed out to take the chances of the Mississippi's arrowy current. He drifted, by good luck, between the gun-boats and guard-boats around them, and late next day was swept by a turn of the stream to the east bank near Rodney, and struggled through swamps and across bayous to terra firma. Borrowing somebody's mule (on what terms history is silent), he made his way painfully across the country to the nearest station on the Mo-
.
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AND EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
bile and Ohio Railroad, whence he took cars for Mobile. His letters were mailed, and a six weeks' brain fever was the penalty paid for his hardihood. Not many letters have seemed to come so nearly out of the grave as did these missives to their astonished recipients.
Other people went and came between the garrison and the world outside. Others started who never reached their destination; some were captured and some deserted. General Johnston had ten dis- patches from Pemberton during the siege, but the number received from him was smaller. How these messengers made their way in and out I have no means of knowing; perhaps through the woods and be- tween the intricate system of hills and vales that surround the city, and perhaps in disguise as citizens of the country. One of the desert- ers was a youth named Douglass, a native of Illinois, who had lived several years in Texas, and was supposed to be "loyal" -- our way. It was he who refreshed the correspondents with the news that Mrs. Pemberton (in Alabama) had been killed by a mortar-shell. There were reports, from time to time, of the flitting of Lamar Fontaine- one of the numerous poets for whom the authorship of "All Quiet Along the Potomac To-night" is claimed-between the garrison and the outside world. I do not know if they were true or no.
A Grapevine Line.
Once in a while authentic information from official sources of the enemy's proceedings reached General Pemberton in a way they did not suspect. Just prior to the siege, the alphabet of the Federal signal corps was communicated to Captain Maxwell T. Davidson, the very valuable officer in command of the signal corps of M. L. Smith's Di- vision, from the Bureau at Richmond, and was required to be commit- ted to memory by his men. It may be said, apropos, that we always had the Federal alphabet during the war, and I suppose they had ours. The Confederate signal station on the Devil's Backbone, a high hill run- ning along the river to the north of the city, commanded a Federal sig- nal station on the isthmus, and every motion of its flags and lamps was readily seen by the officer in charge of the former-a very alert and in- telligent Creole named Matthew H. Asbury. Asbury made the watch- ing of the Federal flags the business of his life, and hardly ever missed a communication of those exchanged between General Grant and Ad- miral Porter. By this means, the first intelligence of Banks' attack upon and repulse from the works of Port Hudson was received and
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communicated to headquarters. A more noticeable feat remained to be achieved by the alert Louisianian. After Pemberton's last proposi- tion was submitted to Grant, there elapsed an interval during which its fate was uncertain. The bombardment was still suspended; this was the night of July 3rd, and an ominous and awful quiet reigned over all the scene-less welcome, no doubt, to the hearts of many than the ut- most fury of the bombardment. Suddenly the lamps flashed, and then began swinging, and their message was traced, letter by letter and word by word, not only by the eyes for which it was designed, but by others, if possible, more keen and eager. It said, in effect, to Admiral Porter (being sent by the general in command), that a council of the generals was, in the main, opposed to the paroling of the surrendered garrison, and thought it would be better to send the whole party North, but that he (General Grant) had ruled otherwise, on the principle that the gar- rison was probably demoralized enough to spread the same feeling wherever they went in the South, and that he could not spare suffic- ient guards and transports to send them to Northern prisons, because their absence would interfere with his proposed advance into the country. (I do not pretend to give the words.) Asbury mounted a horse and dashed into town, and found a grave council of generals in silent session at Pemberton's headquarters, awaiting the verdict. With intense feeling he laid before them the intercepted dispatch which ful- filled their hopes or their fears. With never a word more the council of war broke up-the stroke had fallen. When the garrison marched out, Captain Davidson concealed the sheets containing all the dispatches in- tercepted during the siege between his cap and its lining, but lost them in after years, and was unable to respond to my desire to have their very language for this paper.
The signal corps headquarters in the city was a room in the court- house, and its station was the cupola of the same. The court-house was set on the highest point of the town, and the cupola formed the most prominent feature of its river facade, except, perhaps, the soar- ing light spire and gold cross of the Catholic Church, which was, I be- lieve, never defaced by the fire of the enemy. Whether this were chance or intention, is another study. I suspect Porter's Pats and Mikes didn't want to hurt it. Far otherwise with the Temple of Jus- tice. The Federal papers say it was the general center of their fire, and so say I, who was in it. The building and grounds were struck twenty-four times or more, and yet but one shell was fatal in its effects.
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That came at midnight, crushing through the roof and passing below to the marble pavement of the ground floor, exploded and flung two poor fellows against the wall with such mutilation that their mothers would not have known their dead darlings. They were Mississippi militiamen ; their comrades above suffered only less cruelly. The heavy shell passing through the court-room, which was packed with sleeping men, struck squarely a massive iron railing that inclosed the seats of the lawyers and witnesses, and scattered its fragments on every hand. Legs were broken, heads crushed-all manner of injury inflicted. This one shell killed and disabled fourteen men; and, by strange fatality, two more men of those who went out to bury the two first killed, lost their lives on their way to the grave-yard. This in- closure, also, the beautiful City Cemetery, was riddled by the plung- ing shot. That was, doubtless, an accident of war. It was charged that the Federals did fire on the Marine Hospital, which was full of wounded men, and over which the yellow flag was hoisted. It was struck frequently, and wounded men wounded anew; but whether by aim or accident, I do not know.
A Flock of Canards.
No history of the siege would be complete without some detailed allusion to the ceaseless generation of sensational reports within and without the city, both North and South. Considering the"fertility of inventions then displayed, it is a wonder that the coming American novel has never come. There may have been something in the sul- phurous atmosphere more favorable to the stimulation of genius than belongs to the ordinary environment. Munchausen was prosaic to the fellows who wrote and talked and were believed at that time. The Richmond papers pathetically complained of the "telegraphic genius at Jackson." The telegraphic geniuses at Young's Point and Milli- ken's Bend were far greater masters of the art of fiction. I will men- . tion a case that preceded the investment. On the 3d of May, the tug "Sturgis," with two barges loaded with 400,000 rations and medical supplies, was ordered to pass the batteries, and tried to do so, carrying a picked guard. The late A. D. Richardson, representing the New York Tribune, Junius Henri Browne, of the Times, and somebody else of the World, volunteered for the passage. At: 12:45 the tug was ex- ploded by the batteries' fire, several men killed, others drowned, and the scribes and Pharisees, clinging to bales of hay, with which the
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barges were fortified, drifted to land, were picked up and conveyed to a room in the court-house with other victims. They were treated as handsomely as circumstances allowed, and Richardson, in particular, a hearty fellow, made almost too good an impression ; for he was so thoroughly full of faith in the resources of the Union and in the ap- proaching downfall of Jeff Davis, that he cast a shadow of doubt over some young brethrens' breasts. They were all soon exchanged, going home by way of Richmond. They saw a few things from the windows of jails and cars; and if you want to read circus bills, consult the let- ters which they wrote from Fortress Monroe !
Another correspondent of the Tribune essayed to describe the pas- sage of eight gunboats on the 16th. He was evidently not so ven- turesome as Richardson, and his picture reads as those pictures look of shipwrecks which no soul survives, in the illustrated papers, "by our special artist." His coquetry with truth consisted in describing, as a mysterious and dreadful beacon that rose out of the earth at Vicksburg, the homely fact that some of the shanties in De Soto were set on fire to assist the aim of the artillery. The scene was terrific, and, no wonder, took on it for this correspondent a supernatural ex- pression. But the war-maps that were published were the greatest feats-quite distancing the creations of Ptolemy and Psalmanazar. The Herald had one representing "rebel batteries in the streets ;" "rebel redoubts" on the same; "masked batteries" lying around loose ; a tall signal station whose architect was the artist, and the Ma- rine Hospital at the wrong end of the town. And every day some new version of victory thrilled across the wires. One hundred women were killed the first day, was one statement ; a woman and two children fell at the first fire, said another. . General C. C. Auger telegraphed, on the 23d of May, that "deserters report that General Pemberton has been hanged by his own men !" 3,600 shells lodged in the town in one hour, said somebody else. One paper gave a detailed statement of the amputation of General Sherman's leg. Another said, "the cit- . izens demand the surrender of Vicksburg, and Pemberton refuses !"
Another said Pemberton had answered, with profane violence, the charge of his men shooting poisoned balls. In the city the reports took shape mainly with reference to the supposed movements of John- ston and E. K. Smith. One day the forces had gone to Memphis to cut Grant off from his supplies, a report that provoked a poem from a gallant, gay boy named Cannon (afterward killed), which had this refrain :
"Damn Memphis and strategy-Vicksburg's the place,. And I am, dear Joseph, your Cannon, in haste."
----
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AND EARLY WESTERN HISTORY.
Next time it was Milliken's Bend that had been captured (there was a right there). And then Kirby Smith had crossed the river at Natchez, and had a division at Young's Point; and so on, over and over, like the dreams of fever. General Johnston appears, from his dispatches, to have really believed that assistance could be expected from the Trans-Mississippi Department ; a strange delusion, which might even appear, in the minds of the prejudiced, an attempt to transfer the re- sponsibility of events. One of the rumors that somehow reached us in Vicksburg was that Virginia had elected a Union State ticket and was making ready to desert the Confederate cause. The joke of this story consists in the circumstance that Governor William Smith, known as " Extra Billy," bravest of soldiers and staunchest of rebels, headed the ticket described as "Union !"
The End Approaching.
. In order that the circumstances under which the surrender was finally made and the train of events which served to make it inevitable may be fairly judged, I condense the dispatches exchanged between Generals Johnston and Pemberton after the siege began. The first of the series has been given. On May 25th, General Johnston wrote that he was coming, and asked Pemberton what route he ought to take. On the 29th he wrote that he was too late to save Vicksburg, but would assist in saving the garrison. On June 3rd, Pemberton wrote that he had heard nothing from Johnston since May 29th, that the man bringing musket-caps had been captured, and that he hopes General Johnston will move on the north of the Jackson road. On the 7th, Johnston again wants to know how co-operation can be effected. On the same day, Pemberton writes of the enemy's intrenching, the good spirits of the men, and that he had twenty days' provisions. On the 10th, Pem- berton says the enemy is bombarding night and day with seven mortars and artillery, and that he is losing many officers and men. He will hold out while he has any thing to eat. Activity is urged by General Pem- berton in a dispatch of the 15th.
On June 14th and 15th, General Johnston writes Pemberton that he can only hope to help save the garrison, and asks for the details of a plan of co-operation. He also holds out the hope of General Dick Taylor's reinforcing the outside army with 8,000 men from Richmond, La. On the 21st, Pemberton suggested, as his plan, that Johnston should move at night to the north of the railroad, while he marched
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by the Warrenton road, by Hankinson's ferry, to which Johnston was to send two brigades of cavalry and two batteries. Snyder's Bluff was also suggested as his objective point. By verbal message, General Pem- berton said the army for his relief ought not to be less than 40,000 men. General Johnston asserts that his force never amounted to more than two-thirds of this minimum. On the 22d, however, he still engages to make a trial, but recommends that General Pemberton cross the river rather than surrender. On that date, General Pemberton asked General Johnston to treat with Grant for the surrender of the place without the troops. On the 27th, General Johnston declines to nego- tiate, and makes another flourish of Kirby Smith. No other dispatches were received. After dispatching Pemberton that he would advance to see what could be done on the 7th of July, he examines the country to the north of the railroad, and is satisfied that nothing can be effected. When he has just begun the like examination of the southern line, he hears, on the 4th, of the surrender of the town and its defenders. General Johnston was again too late. ,
On the 3d, the white flag went up for a parley. The first proposi- tion of General Pemberton, which was delivered by Major-General Bowen and Colonel Montgomery, suggested that the terms of surren- der should be left for decision to three commissioners on either side. General Grant, courteously receiving the flag of truce, made answer. rejecting the proposal of commissioners as unnecessary, and suggest- ing a personal conference with the general of the defense, whose gal- lantry and stubbornness he highly lauded. At 3 o'clock P.M. the two commanders met in what is described by some correspondent who. perhaps, never saw the place, as "a small vale, where the apricots and fig trees had bloomed in happier times." The same correspond- ent says the two men had been personal friends in the same "happier times." Certainly the bearing of General Grant was all that magna- nimity and the sympathy of the brave could inspire. General Pem- berton's proposition, however, that the men should march out, was met with the blunt qualification, "not except as prisoners of war." After the conference between the generals, Grant's ultimatum was sent by General\Logan and Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson. Pemberton's proposed amendments were that the men should stack arms and march out, and that the rights of the citizens should be guaranteed. Gran: rejected the amendments, contending that every officer and mar should be paroled over his own signature, and he would not be re-
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stricted with respect to the citizens. He allowed each soldier, how- ever, to carry his private kit, the officers their side-arms, and the field- officers their horses. These terms were accepted, and the white flag remained on the works.
The Army of Occupation.
. The suspension of the firing had prepared the minds of the men and citizens for the event which many had long perceived to be written in the book of Fate. Yet was there great reaction and great sorrow when the Iron Crown of the Mississippi, a fortress maiden as Namur and vic- torious as Shumla, became the enemy's prize. During the night many officers went wandering sadly around the town, taking a last look at its honorably scarred homes and ploughed streets, and making farewell to the heroic citizens whom they knew. A load was, no doubt, lifted from the hearts of the surrendered, but a new load, that seemed even heavier, was deposited in its place. What feeling the people had made no pub- lic demonstration ; for they prudently returned to their homes, and made the best shift that the time allowed, reserving their sorrow for their own home-circles. When the poor, wasted garrison rose out of the long im- prisonment of the trenches to stack the weapons they had used so well, many reeled and staggered like drunken men from emaciation and from emotion, and wept like children that all their long sacrifice was unavail- ing.
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