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 16
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To Logan's Division was assigned the duty of taking possession of the captured town. The boys in blue entered by the north end of Cherry street, and made a grand procession a's they stepped by in ex- tended line, their flags waving, their officers glittering in full uniform, and the air torn with the glad shouts that went up from victorious throats. Logan himself stood on the east portico of the Court-house and looked, with swelling pride and profound gratification, on the scene so picturesque and historic. He dropped some emphatic excla- mations as to the joy it gave him to hear the boys cheer. By-the-by, the fact has never been published, but is no less true, that a company of Illinois soldiers, on the Southern side, once constituted part of the Vicksburg garrison, though it went to pieces long before the siege. Some of their unassigned officers-I well recollect one named Parker -may still have been there.
In the main-nay, almost without exception-during the five days oc- cupied by the paroling of the garrison, the Federal army of possession
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conducted itself in an exemplary manner. The men who had leave to go over the city expressed the greatest curiosity as to the caves and other objects of interest, and were mad to lay hands on relics. The wall-paper copies of the Citizen were in great demand. A general officer, who I think was Grant, accompanied by a full suite, some of whom were full of other exhilarations than success, went up to the cupola of the court-house, and came back chanting the "Star- Spangled Banner," and brandishing as a trophy an old signal flag that had been carelessly left there. I well remember the silent general in the midst of them, who must have been Grant. During all this time I heard but two phrases of offense to the Confederates, and one of these offenders was a drunken newsboy selling copies of Harper's Weekly, whose front page was garnished with a picture of Beall's execution. The other, an officer, walking up the iron stairway of the Court-house and noticing the name of the Cincinnati maker moulded on it, damned the impudence of the people who thought they could whip the United States when they could n't even make their own staircases.
The Hegira.
The paroling of the men in duplicate was rapidly effected by means of printed forms and a full staff of clerks, who filled in the names and commands of the soldiers and officers. One of these was retained by the prisoner, the other for the government by the paroling officials. The examination of knapsacks made on the lines was carelessly done and with many apologies by officers, who seemed to be ashamed of the service. During the five days, full rations had been issued by the commissaries of General Grant to the whole garrison, sick and well, the whole amounting to 31,000 people, of which but 18,000 were effectives. They consisted mainly of hard-tack and rich Western bacon; and many a Confederate can say, on the conscience of his stomach, that he never ate any thing that tasted better.
The armies parted with mutual good-will, as is the case with foemen who are worthy of each others' steel. But the discontent of the dis- armed captives began to gather volume and to speak in no bated breath very soon after the lines were passed. The march, owing to the feeble state of the men, was very painful and tedious. Jackson was left to the north, and the column's first sight of streets was when, after four days, the town of Brandon, ten miles east of Jackson, was reached. It had been generally supposed by the men that their pa-
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roles gave them the right to go home as soon as they could get there and without restrictions. Many had already deserted to the Trans- Mississippi, despite the aid of Federal guard-boats to check the vream. But when, at Brandon, it was learned that the cars would not receive them to take them home, and that they were to march to Enterprise, and there go into paroled camp, their indignation burst all bounds. Efforts were made, by moving the switch, to throw the trains on which General Johnston was removing supplies from Jackson from the track ; and the officers had to draw and threaten to use their side- arms before the mob could be subdued. One man got up in the plaza of Brandon, and offered to be one of fifty to go and hang Pemberton, the traitor. What further befell these mad patriots, I cannot, as a spectator, narrate, for a sick leave enabled me to depart on the last train from Jackson that went east; riding to Enterprise on the top of a freight car at the end of a long train, and exposed to worse risk, I be- lieve, for those forty miles, than even in the Vicksburg court-house. I ought to remark that one pleasing feature of the march through Mis- sissippi was the habit which women and children had of coming out to the fences and inquiring what made us surrender Vicksburg.
The demoralization of the garrison extended beyond the State. At Demopolis the guard of the provost marshal came down to the wharf to stop the prisoners who had gotten so far, and to put them in parole- camp at that point. The prisoners attacked them, broke through the line, and flung some of them into the gutter. They soon yielded to reason, however, and surrendered their paroles to the provost marshal. And this was the last that I saw of the ill-starred garrison until, at En- terprise, Mr. Davis told them that Bragg would pave Rosecrans' way in gold, if he (Bragg) could get the Federal general to attack him on Lookout mountain, with more of the same sort; and where Johnston, following, spoke more to the point in saying : "Soldiers, I hope to see you soon, with arms in your hands, in the presence of the enemy !"
Who Was to Blame ?
The answer is, everybody-nobody. There were great adverse odds, to begin with. General Grant, according to Badeau, had 130,000 men at his disposal with which to effect the reduction of Vicksburg ; while the effectives of Johnston and Pemberton combined-and they were never combined-never reached one-third that number. General Johnston was too sick, when he arrived at Jackson, to take command
-
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in the field (" Narrative," page 187), an illness which "infected the very life-blood of our enterprise," like the Earl of Northumberland's. General Johnston covers the whole ground in saying of General Pem- berton, " His design and objects and mine are founded on exactly op- posite military principles." General Johnston was not in accord with the Richmond government, and General Pemberton was not in accord with General Johnston. Those whom God had put asunder, man had joined together. Mistaking and distrusting each other, neither one did as well as he might have done without the other. General Pemberton thought the objective of the campaign was to save Vicksburg or make a fight for it, and in this was supported by the administration. Gen- eral Johnston thought the safety of the army was the first considera- tion, that the enemy might still be confronted, no matter what position he might have gotten.' Each accuses the other of slowness, and each, probably, is right. General Pemberton, brave man, stout fighter. doubtless, and faithful to the South as any native son-a fidelity never doubted by the intelligent among his men-was deliberate, slow of as- suming responsibilities, perhaps not equal to the movement and man- agement of large bodies, and utterly devoid of personal magnetism. What character General Johnston has as a soldier history has already, in part, decided. In military resources, perhaps, no captain of the South excelled him; but at Jackson he was flustered by a responsi- bility, suddenly assumed, and for which his mind was not schooled ; between which and the discharge of duties well grasped in advance, there is the same difference as between "2 o'clock in the morning courage " and the ordinary daring of the soldier who obeys orders and feels the contact of his comrade's elbow.
General Pemberton is said to have felt keenly the injustice done him with respect to the fall of Vicksburg. At one time during the siege, when some exaggerated victory was reported in Richmond, the press almost smothered him with laurels. The Dispatch said that Beaure- gard and Lee had both urged his promotion, and that Johnston had fairly begged for him to be his chief-of-staff! But public sentiment told a different tale when failure befel his arms. Assigned to com- mand of the artillery around Richmond, he was greeted with jeers by the men as he rode down the lines. Ever since the war, General Pem- berton is said to have felt most deeply the odium attaching to him as the man who surrendered Vicksburg and sundered the South. It is a cu- rious fact that no portrait of him appears among Confederate collec-
.......
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tions. I never saw him in person, but I do him the bare justice of recording my own conviction that his fealty to the cause which he poused was beyond all peradventure of suspicion; that he did the very best he could ; that he acted in accordance with his orders from Richmond ; and that he departed no further from his immediate orders than did General Loring from his at Edwards' Depot --- an act of inde- pendence for which General Johnston warmly lauds the latter.
Finis.
The effect of the surrender, North and South, was immense. At Washington, Mr. Seward, in response to a serenade, was ready to swear that even old Virginia would soon be asking forgiveness on her knees. He never saw Virginia in that posture ; but it may be doubted whether, after Vicksburg and the twin tragedy of Gettysburg, there was ever any vital hope in the Southern heart, except among the soldiers. The army kept its high crest and stern front to the last, and died only with annihilation ; but many a Vicksburg prisoner, gone home, spread the tale of disaster and the influence of dismay among simple folk whose faith never rallied. There were desperate battles afterward, and occasional victories, but their light only rendered deeper the ad- vancing and impending shadow of ultimate failure. The world is familiar with the story. Magnifying, as they deserve to be, the hero- ism of the garrison and the community of Vicksburg, and the " vin- dictive tenacity" with which Pemberton held it till the last spark of hope had faded, I believe that the surrender was the stab to the Con- federacy from which it never recovered; and that no rational chance of its triumph remained after the white flag flew on the ramparts of the terraced city and the dumb guns around it no longer spoke defiance to its foes.
NINE MONTHS IN A NORTHERN PRISON.
BY SERGEANT G. W. D. PORTER, 44TH TENN. REG'T.
[THE following brief sketch of prison life at Elmira, New York, by Sergeant Porter, adds another bit of information to the already voluminous record of the treatment of Confederate prisoners. In contrast with the conduct of Colt, Beale and the hog-backed Scotchman, it affords us real pleasure to record in these pages the kindness and gentlemanly demeanor of Lieutenant Groves, the cashier of the
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prison bank. We have been informed that on several occasions this officer sough: out privately the prisoners about to leave on parole, and restored them the balance of their money, of which he was the custodian, but which he had been com. manded to withhold, being unwilling to stain his conscience by perpetrating a wrong action, of which technically he himself was guiltless. We know Sergeant Porter, and give full credence to his statement in regard to the ration of food and fuel which was the daily allowance at Elmira. He was one of the bravest of the brave, and it was his aim that set on fire a Federal gunboat at Swift creek, in the attack on Fort Clifton, below Richmond, Va., for the heroic defense of which Lieutenant F. M. Kelso and his little band of Tennesseeans received the thanks of General Beauregard, in a general order. With justifiable pride we may add that these men were of General Bushrod Johnson's Division, which be- longed to the Army of Tennessee, but, by good fortune, reached the front of Petersburg in time to join lines with their brethren of the East, and bottle But- ler at Bermuda Hundreds.]
E LMIRA is one of the oldest cities in the State of New York. . It is situated on the Chemung river, in a beautiful valley surrounded by an almost endless range of peaks and mountains, from which most of the timber has been cleared, leaving a landscape dotted with farm- houses, fields of buckwheat and other grain. It was here, in 1776, the Battle of Chemung was fought, between General Sullivan and the celebrated Iroquois Chief, Thayendanega. He was a half-breed. edu- cated in Connecticut, and was commissioned a colonel in 1775, by the English Crown. He was infamously known to the whites as Joseph Brandt. His cruelties were enacted in the heat of battle, and insti- gated by the wrongs his people had suffered at the hands of the whites. Cruelty and cowardice often go hand in hand, but Brandt was brave, and his cruelty to his enemy was only a religious duty naturalized in the savage character through the custom of many ages. His motto was, doubtless, that " war is cruelty," and not open to the amenities which humanity would seek to interpose against its horrors.
When I think of Elmira in connection with its historical associations, I am tempted to institute a comparison between Joseph Brandt, the savage, and some of the commandants of her prison-house in 1864, with its thousands of ragged, sick and starved tenants. Brandt was an Indian, tutored from his cradle to deeds of cruelty-these, the representatives of a civilization which boasts of having reached its highest type in this, the nineteenth, century of the Christian Era. But this might be called the ravings of hate, and the Democratic Congress-
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man from that District might rise and call me a liar, and affirm that there was no lack of food, fuel and clothing among the Confederate prisoners at Elmira. But to our narrative.
The writer, with about five hundred other prisoners of war, arrived at Elmira about the first of August, 1864, after a confinement of forty- five days at Point Lookout. I spent the first day in a thorough exam- ination of my new abode, and its advantages as a home until fortune would release me from its durance. It contained several acres of ground, enclosed by a plank fence about fourteen feet high ; some three feet from the top on the outside ran a narrow footway, or para- pet, of plank, supported by braces. On this the sentinels walked day and night, being enabled from this height to command a view of the entire prison. On the inside, large globe lamps were ranged at regu- lar intervals, which were lighted shortly after sunset. and extinguished after fair day-light, thus rendering it impossible, even in the darkest night, for anyone to approach without being discovered. Near the center of the enclosure, and on the north side, was the main entrance, by large folding doors. East of this point, on the outside, about fifty yards from the enclosure, was a large observatory, upon which hun- dreds would crowd daily to get a view of the prisoners-many to gloat, perhaps, on their sufferings ; some to gaze in wonder and awe upon the ragged, bob-tailed crew who had on many fields conquered their best armies; and some, no doubt, to sigh for an exchange of these men for fathers, sons and brothers who were suffering kindred miseries at Libby, Salisbury and Andersonville. A single tree-a walnut- stood opposite the observatory, and its shade was particularly grateful during the month of August.
The south, or rear, line of the enclosure stood on the bank of the Chemung. Through the center ran a deep channel, cut by the river at high tide, the upper and lower ends of which were dry part of the year; the middle always contained water to the depth of two feet or more. During the hot months, the prisoners suffered greatly from heat at night, owing to their crowding in tents. In October, materials and tools were furnished, and wooden barracks were built. During our tent life, two blankets- were furnished to six men; one stick of green pine or hemlock, from four to six feet long and rarely over six inches in diameter, was the daily allowance of fuel for six men; no tools were allowed to cut and split it. J. W. Daniel was woodchopper for our mess, patiently hacking the wood in two with an old case knife,
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and splitting it with the aid of a railroad spike and a rock. The rou- tine of roll-call was most exactingly carried out in spite of bad weather, no one being allowed to break ranks under the most urgent circum- stances until the signal was given. Owing to the diet, crowding and other unwholesome surroundings, bowel complaints were exceedingly common and severe, and the requirements of the disease often subjected the unfortunates to a brutish befouling of clothing and person while standing in ranks awaiting the leisurely completion of a simple routine task.
Majors Colt and Beale were at times not only unkind, but unjust and oppressive. Beale, on one occasion, aroused all of the inmates of the prison on a bitter cold night, and made them stand in line until he as- certained how many had United States overcoats, and where they got them. He then had the coats carried to his quarters, where the tails were cut off, and the mutilated garments restored to their owners. These officers had men tied up by the thumbs to make them reveal suppositious plots. An instrument of torture called the "sweat box" will bear describing to the uninitiated. They were made of stout planks, of different dimensions, so as to gauge the victim's size. They were secured upright to a post, with a hinged door, and when a culprit could be squeezed in, so much the better for the violated law. An aperture for the nose was the only evidence of charity in their con. struction. When a prisoner was to be committed, he was marched to successive boxes until one was found to suit; with his back to the en- trance and his arms close to his side, he was thrust in and the door closed with a push and fastened.
Ward inspection was held every Sunday morning by a captain or lieutenant. On these occasions none were excused from attendance --- the presence of every man had to be verified; and if any were found in the privies, or on the road therefrom, they were dragged to the guard-house, where a mysterious performance added terror to the situ- ation. The guard-house had two rooms-the rear one for prisoners ; as the victim entered the door a blanket was dropped over his head, and he was forced to the floor and robbed of every thing he had. He was then left half-suffocated, without an opportunity of knowing who did the deed. Many of the Federal officers were brutes in the human form. One, whose name I have forgotten, was a fiend. He was a tall, humped-back Scotchman, nicknamed by the boys "Old Hog- Back," but he was a hog all over. On several occasions I have seen
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him kick sick men off of the walk with his heavy boots, simply be- cause they were too feeble to get out of his way quickly enough, or did not care to get out in the mud and water to let him pass. I hope some reader of the ANNALS may, perchance, remember his name and report it, so as to impale his memory with the infamy of wanton cru- elty to helpless and defenseless fellow-creatures.
Lieutenant Groves, the cashier of the prison bank, was, in every respect, a gentleman, and, for his kindness and humanity, his name is gratefully remembered by every inmate of the Elmira Prison who come in contact with him.
Threats of retaliation for the Fort Pillow affair were often circulated io induce men to take the oath. At one time, it was put out that lots. were to be drawn for men to be placed on gunboats under fire of Sum- ter and other forts. To an officer who was threatening me with such terrors, I replied : " Put me down on that list as a volunteer. I would be delighted with the exchange, and think I can stand any thing your men can." I was determined to brag a little, just to cut his feathers, and I succeeded.
My gorge, bile, spleen and phlegm will rise somewhat yet at the recollection of the quantity and quality of the food doled out at the model humanitarium at Elmira in the years 1864-5. I have long since gotten over the sense of soreness begotten of the knocks and hurts incident to honorable warfare; but Elmira, somehow, when I happen to think of it, will play the deuce with my patriotism and loy- alty to my country in thought, not act, but only at these times. Ah well ! I'd live it down and die content if I was only sure that "Old Hog-Back " will not be able to cheat the devil out of his own. Prove me this, and I am " truly loyal." But here's the ration : The strong sustained life on four ounces of sour light bread and three ounces of salt beef or pork for breakfast; for dinner, the same amount of bread was allowed, and, in lieu of the meat, a compound called soup, but in reality nothing more than hot salty water, in which bags of peas or beans had been boiled, but which were carefully removed and kept for other uses than to make animal heat for cold, starving prisoners of war. This salt-water diet will account for the large number of cases of scurvy and dysentery which carried off so many. A great number of the men were in rags, and but a small quantity of clothing was issued by the United States Government. Of that received from home and friends, the amount was restricted, and only obtainable on
VOL. I, NO. IV .- 2.
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a permit approved at headquarters. When the mercury got down to 35 degrees below zero in the winter of 1864-5, I saw numbers of my comrades with frost-bitten hands, feet, ears and faces.
For the truth of these statements, I am willing to abide by the evi- dence of hundreds of living witnesses North and South. Moore, Colt and Beal, of the prison authorities, could tell a tale if they would. They surely can remember an order that was to deprive a prison full of half-starved wretches of all food until they produced a barrel of beans which had been stolen by their own underlings. They can re- call the fact that only one stove was allowed to each hundred men, and only half enough fuel for use, while hundreds of wagon-loads were stacked on the premises. But the graves of dead Southern sol- diers at Elmira tell a tale, before which every utterance of the lip or pen is dumb in comparison.
COLONEL COLYAR'S PAPER.
General R. E. Lee's Views of the Military Situation in the latter part of 1864-He foresees his inability to hold Richmond-Action thereon by the Confederate Congress in secret sessions-Sudden termination of pro- ceedings by request of President Davis.
[THE paper of the Honorable A. S. Colyar, of Tennessee, is a most interesting expose of certain events attending the declining days of the Confederacy, and now discussed for the first time, we believe. It is a singular circumstance that Mr. Stephens, in his " War Between the States," makes no allusion to these pro- ceedings, with which he must have been familiar, by virtue of his position and subsequent connection with the Hampton Roads Conference. The knowledge of this state of things, probably, had great weight with President Davis in influ- encing his action on the Blair proposition, which presented but a forlorn hope, at best. Our readers will remember that this aimed to arrange an Armistice, pend- ing which both governments were to make common cause in vindicating the prin- ciple of the Monroe Doctrine, which was then being violated by the French oc- cupation of Mexico. According to Mr. Stephens, President Davis was greatly disappointed by the failure of the Conference to accomplish this result, but was roused to a sterner resistance on learning the terms proposed by Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Seward. Propositions for the accommodation of existing difficultie, may have been in order before the result of this Conference was announced, but not afterward. Unconditional submission and surrender of the doctrine of State Rights and the institution of slavery, with no guarantees except the limited use
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« the pardoning power lodged in the Executive, left the South nothing in honor to do but fight it out to the bitter end. In the state of public sentiment, a con- d'usion reached at this stage through diplomacy, involving the loss of every thing fought for, would have left the feeling of an unsettled, undecided quarrel to tankle in the hearts of the Southern people, and would have been more danger- ces to future pacification than all the acts of the conquering party have been unce. In truth, such action could not have been acquiesced in voluntarily at :Ast time, under the circumstances, and only actual overwhelming physical force, crushing out all hope, was competent to bring about such a result.]
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