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 23
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FORT DONELSON, Feb. 15 .- The enemy having invested our lines, it was de- termined to attack them, which we did this morning at five and a half o'clock.
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General Pillow led the attack upon the enemy's right flank, and after a most ob- stinate and sanguinary conflict, succeeded in driving the enemy from his position, and forcing him back toward his left flank.
General Buckner led the attack on the right, in which many of his troops dis- played great determination. General Johnson (B. R.) led his command with firmness and spirit in the conflict. Nothing could exceed the steady and deter- mined courage of many of our troops, with numbers much less than half of the eneiny.
We maintained a successful struggle, which continued for nine hours, and re- sulted in driving the enemy from the field with a loss on his part of 1,250 killed and wounded, of whom 1,000 were killed. About 300 prisoners were taken. We captured six pieces of artillery and over 1,000 stand of arms. Our loss amounted to about 500 killed and wounded.
The reproduction of these dispatches has been regarded as necessary to a correct understanding of the panic which prevailed in Nashville on the announcement of the fall of Fort Donelson. They inspired almost unbounded confidence, and nearly every one seemed to feel that the contest of Sunday (the 16th) would result in a victory for the brave men who had held out so gallantly and successfully for four days against a vastly superior force. A large concourse of people from the surrounding country, eager to hear the news from Fort Donelson, had assembled in the city on Saturday, and the successive extras that were issued, announcing the result of the fight as it progressed, were bought up and their contents devoured with the greatest avidity. On every corner the exploits of the Confederates formed the staple of conversa- tion, and the highest tributes were paid to Southern valor. The ex- citement ran higher Saturday night, if possible, than during the day, and the dispatches, as they came in, were listened to with an eager- ness which plainly told the interest that was felt in the contest which then hung, as it were, upon the evenly poised balance of fate. Still, there were those who feared for the result of Sunday's work, since the Federals were being so largely reinforced by fresh troops. They felt that the fate of Fort Donelson hung upon the next day's fight, and that the Federals would go into the contest with the advantages all in their favor, having fresh troops, while the Confederates were worn out with four days' terrible fighting. Notwithstanding this was the feeling of quite a number, the great body of the people of Nashville retired to their couches strongly impressed with the belief that the Confeder- ates, who had already fought four days with victory seemingly theirs, would conquer on the fifth.
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So passed Saturday night in Nashville. How different at Fort Don- elson, the sequel will show !
The Great Panic-Its Rise and Progress.
Before 10 o'clock Sunday morning a rumor, vague and indefinite, it is true, that Fort Donelson had surrendered, and that the entire Con- federate force had been taken prisoners, had found its way into the streets of the city, and was spreading with a rapidity which only such rumors can spread. It was the rebound which was least expected by the great mass, and it assumed the most terrible proportions as it trav- eled. This rumor was accompanied with the statement that General Buell, with thirty-five thousand men, was then at Springfield, only twenty-five miles distant, and that a fleet of Federal gun-boats had passed Clarksville, and would reach here by 3 o'clock in the after- noon, by which time Buell's army would arrive in Edgefield, when the city would be shelled, without notice, and laid in ashes. These ru- mors created a consternation which it would be impossible to portray. A reign of terror and confusion ensued, the like of which was never witnessed in Nashville. "How is this?" asked a gentleman the writer met as he was going up town to learn the facts in regard to the rumors alluded to. "We whipped the enemy badly all day yester- day," he continued, "and now, so early in the morning, it is an- nounced that all is lost." I assured him that the affair was as much a mystery to me as to him, when, with the exclamation, "I can't un- derstand it !" he hurried to his home to quiet, if possible, the "better half."
The town was in a perfect tumult-a furor that lashed into a phrenzy those who were regarded perfect models of the calm and passionless --- and the wave was spreading with fearful rapidity. Not a man was there in all the goodly city who stepped forth to tell the people that there was no cause for the alarm to which they had given way. It was understood that the intelligence of the fall of Fort Donelson had been communicated to Governor Harris by General Johnston, and that it was from the former the rumor proceeded. His office at the Capitol was besieged by anxious inquirers, and he was appealed to, through one of his aids, to issue a proclamation setting forth the facts as far as they were in his possession, which, of itself, would quiet the people : that if left the victims of conjecture, the most wild and improbable stories would obtain, causing a panic without a parallel, because with-
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out a sufficient cause, while a simple statement of the facts as they really existed, without any attempt at explanation, would have a ten- dency to allay the excitement that then existed: The Governor, how- ever, declined to issue a proclamation. Some thought that General Johnston should issue a proclamation, others that the Mayor should, and still others that the editors of the respective papers, who were quite proficient in "making the worse appear the better part," should issue extras assuring the people that matters were not half so bad as they appeared. Nothing, however, was done to quiet the people, who were almost deranged with excitement, and hundreds were seen hurry- ing to and fro, preparing to flee, as for dear life, before the approach of an enemy they feared but little less than if they had been semi- barbarians.
The services at the churches were generally discontinued, in conse- quence of the excited state of the public mind, and, unfortunately, some of the pastors, in dismissing their congregations, added to the : intensity of the excitement instead of allaying it. Many of those who attended one of the churches, misapprehending, perhaps, the purport of what the pastor said, returned home and reported that he had ad- vised his hearers to quietly retire from the city, for fear of an insurrec- tion. We cannot think that such advice was given, but he was so un- derstood by a number of his congregation, and it produced the most painful apprehensions in the minds of those who heard him, as well as those to whom they communicated their impression of what he said. A moment's reflection, however, should have satisfied every one that there was no danger to be apprehended on this score from the servile or any other portion of our population.
About this time (say It o'clock) a report was put in circulation, as coming from Governor Harris, that the women and children must be removed from the city within three hours, as at the expiration of that time the enemy would shell the place and destroy it. This outrageous story created the most terrible alarm wherever it went, and it spread like wildfire.
It is due to Governor Harris to say that he never intimated any such thing. There is no doubt, however, that this rumor hurried hundreds from the city, as the contradiction traveled much slower than the orig- inal story. Men and women were to be seen running to and fro in every portion of the city, and large numbers were hastening with their valuables to the several railroad depots, or escaping in private convey-
. VOL. I, NO. V .- 3.
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ances to some place of fancied security in the country. The hire of private conveyances was put up to fabulous prices, and it was only the wealthy that could enjoy the luxury of a ride on that day. Large numbers, in their eagerness to escape from the city, left on foot, carry- ing with them such articles as they wished to preserve, either as me- mentoes or for their comfort, and, of course, these must necessarily have been few.
Upon the receipt of the intelligence of the capitulation of Fort Don- elson, General Johnston advised Governor Harris to remove the arch- ives of the State to some place of safety, as it might become necessary to evacuate Nashville. In accordance with this suggestion, the arch- ives were packed up and shipped in a special train during the after- noon of Sunday to Memphis, whither they were accompanied by the Governor and heads of departments. The Legislature met at an early hour of the morning, and went through the formality of adjourning to meet upon the call of the Governor, and the following notice was served on the members :
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Nashville, February 16, 1862.
The members of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee will assemble at Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday next, the 20th inst., for the despatch and trans- action of such business as may be submitted to them. ISHAM G. HARRIS.
This temporary removal of the seat of government was done in ac- cordance with a resolution adopted by the two houses of the General Assembly in secret session a few days previous.
We were at the Capitol a short time before the Legislature met. Messengers had been sent around to hurry up the laggard members. and those who were present strolled about " from pillar to post," from door to window, eagerly gazing for the appearance of some fellow- member, so as to get a quorum. Their faces presented the most inter- esting study we have ever beheld in human nature. The actions of all told how eager they were to get away from "the doomed city." We had heard of "long faces," but that scene beat any thing we had pic- tured from the most extravagant stories. Anxiety and fear struggled for the mastery in almost every countenance, and in one or two in- stances where the latter had manifestly asserted its supremacy, that " pallor which sets upon the brow of death," was but too visible where the ruddy glow of excellent satisfaction was marked the day before.
It is said the members of the Legislature presented rather a ludi. crous appearance as they trudged off toward the depot of one or the
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« ther of the railroads, each one with his trunk on his back or carpet- sick and bundle in hand. As it was next to impossible to procure a vehicle to convey one even to the depot, those who chose not to wit- ness the promised exhibition of fire-works by General Buell and Com- modore Foote, "stood not on the order of their going."
These movements of the Governor and Legislature had a tendency to increase the excitement, while the passage through the city at an early hour in the day of a large portion of General Johnston's army from Bowling Green, was another incentive to the growth of the panic, which continued to spread until it seemed to have seized upon almost every one. Go where a person would, the question met him at almost every other step, "What are you going to do?" or, " What shall I do?" To the former, the most frequent reply was, "I don't know," with here and there an exception, " I shall stay and take care of my family." Very few appeared inclined to give advice in the midst of such a panic, even to their most intimate friends, so that the second question was rarely answered, and each man was left to decide for himself whether he should leave the city, and go, he knew not where, nor for why, or remain and take his chances with those who had prudence enough to stay quietly at home, and those-more fortu- nate-who could not get away.
Every available vehicle was chartered, and even drays were called into requisition, to remove people and their plunder, either to the country or to the depots, and the trains went off crowded to their ut- most capacity, even the tops of the cars being literally covered with human beings. It was a lamentable sight to see hundreds of families thus fleeing from their homes, leaving nearly every thing behind, to seek protection and the comforts and luxuries they had abandoned among strangers.
A large number of citizens left the city from fear of fire. They had been led to believe that the town would be shelled during the afternoon or night at furthest, and reduced to a heap of ruins. These went only a short distance into the country, and returned as soon as they felt they could do so with safety.
No effort was made to allay this frightful panic. Had a proclama- tion been issued by some of our authorities, civil or military, statin .; the facts as they existed so far as known, that of itself would, in all probability, have assured the people, and reason might have assumed its place again before the scenes we have referred to, and others over
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which a mantle should be drawn, were enacted. There may have been "a military necessity " for the course that was pursued in this matter, but the people were wholly unable to appreciate such reti- cence, when a few words would have gone far toward quieting their fears.
Early in the day the yellow flag was hoisted over a number of build- ings occupied as hospitals. Over one business house we noticed the British flag floating. The Bank of Tennessee, with its effects, was re- moved to Columbia, and several of our bankers gathered up their specie and other valuables and carried them to some point which they regarded as more secure than Nashville. The Planters', Union, and City Banks were the only ones that remained, but whether they re- tained their specie is not known to the public.
Much anxiety was manifested to know General Johnston's purposes in regard to holding the city, many favoring and others opposing such a policy. So clamorous were the people upon this point, that, during the afternoon, General Washington Barrow, the Senator from David- son county, who had remained at home to share with his people the . fate that might befall them, in company with Mayor Cheatham, vis- ited General Johnston, at his headquarters in Edgefield, to ascertain what he should do in this behalf. General Johnston informed them that his army was not then in a condition to make a stand here, and that he should make no effort to defend the city. On their return, Messrs. Barrow and Cheatham addressed the crowd assembled upon the Public Square, informing them that they had General Johnston's assurance that he would not hazard the safety of the city by attempt- ing to hold it, and they advised the people to remain quietly at home in the pursuit of their ordinary avocations, and expressed the convic- tion that they would not be molested. Mayor Cheatham also stated that upon the approach of the Federals he should, in company with a committee of our wisest, most discreet citizens, go out under a flag of truce to meet the Commanding General and make a formal surrender of the city, and that he should negotiate for the best possible terms for the protection of the rights and property of the citizens. He further stated that the provisions in the commissary stores, which could not be removed by the Confederate authorities, would be distributed among the people, so that there need be no fear of suffering for the want of the necessaries of life by those thrown out of employment by the state of things now upon us. These assurances quieted somewhat the
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minds of the people, especially those who feared the shock of a battle in the immediate vicinity of the city.
Three o'clock came, and still time sped on, but neither General Buell's army nor the gun-boats had arrived. By this time the people began to understand that General Buell's army could not, by any pos- sibility, have got to Springfield, so that the fears of danger from that source were quieted. It was given out, as coming from a high official, that the gun-boats would reach here about 12 o'clock that night, and this was used to keep up the panic.
Great fears were entertained that the torch would be applied to the city during the night, and an urgent appeal was made to General Johnston for protection against incendiaries. A regiment of Missouri troops was detailed to guard the city, and faithfully did they perform the duty assigned them. The night was passed in a degree of quiet which was surprising as well as gratifying.
Thus passed the most exciting Sunday we ever witnessed in Nash- ville.
(Concluded in September number.)
THE HAMPTON ROADS COMMISSION.
Another Reply to Colonel Colyar.
[THE following letter was written by the Honorable Ethel Barksdale, in answer to inquiries addressed to him, and is, by his permission, submitted to the Editor of the ANNALS for publication.]
D EAR SIR :- A paper is contributed to THE ANNALS OF THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE by Honorable A. S. Colyar, a member of the Confederate Congress, containing statements which deserve no- tice from members of that body interested in the vindication of the truth of history. He states that resolutions were before the House in the latter part of 1864 and 1865, instructing President Davis to accredit a commission to the United States to treat for peace, and naming the commissioners in the resolution, and that the resolutions were not pressed to a vote in consequence of a pledge given by the " particular friends of Mr. Davis" that the persons named would be appointed.
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Furthermore, that surprise was felt by the advocates of the resolution " when they learned for the first time after the commissioners had re- turned that they had been clothed with no power except, to treat on the basis of independence," &c. As the letter of instruction was pub- lished at the time, or its contents were well known to Mr. Stephens and others of the commission, and through them were communicated to those who advocated the appointment of the commission, this latter statement of Mr. Colyar awakens astonishment. It is proper to state, moreover, that while resolutions of inquiry into the resources of the Confederacy were passed by the Congress, none looking to a settle- ment upon any other than "the basis of independence " would have received respectful consideration by a majority of that body. From the statement that President Davis authorized a pledge that, if the res- olutions referred to were not pressed, he would appoint the commis- sioners therein designated, I must emphatically dissent, as a member of the body, who participated in its deliberations and was conferred with by the President upon the very subject under discussion. I was fully informed of the deliberations of the President and his Cabinet in reference to the commission from the beginning; of the motives that influenced his action, and of the persons deemed best suited for the responsible and delicate duties which they would be required to per- form; and I am sure that, if he had authorized the pledge mentioned by Mr. Colyar, I would have been cognizant of the fact. I believe he will bear me out in saying that no such promise was exacted, and that none was made. The commission was appointed to satisfy a pub- lic belief, which had been busily propagated by malcontents and ob- structionists, that an honorable peace could be obtained by negotia- tion ; and, in order to leave no ground for the charge that the commis- sion was not appointed in good faith, Honorable A. H. Stephens, the recognized leader of the peace party, was placed upon it. His asso- ciates (Honorable R. M. T. Hunter and Judge John A. Campbell) were, also, gentlemen of ability, and enjoyed the confidence of the Southern people. The mission resulted as had been anticipated : the United States authorities were unwilling to treat for peace. They de- manded an unconditional surrender. Any proposition short of this demand would have been rejected; and this the commission were given to understand. If they had gone with a proposition in their mouths for the establishment of peace on any other terms, the result would have been the same, and I am at a loss to know the cause of
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Mr. Colyar's surprise and regret, in view of the determination of the United States Government to be satisfied with nothing less than the absolute surrender of the Confederate armies, and the submission of the Southern people to such laws as they might choose to dictate.
The opinion has been industriously circulated by a class of persons that Mr. Davis was a bloody-minded, ambitious man, who delighted in the carnage produced by a state of war, and that he discouraged every attempt to establish peace and to put an end to the strife. Nothing could be more untrue. It must be recollected that his duties, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Confederate States, were clearly defined. He had taken an oath to maintain and defend the Govern- ment of the Confederacy, and he had no power to "treat" it out of existence. He could not have done so without betraying his trust and the people who had confided to him the responsibilities of his high office. But, within the limit of his authority, no opportunity was . lost to establish peaceful relations with the United States Government. Repeated efforts to that end were made by the Confederate Authorities. Immediately after the organization of the Confederate Government, commissioners were sent to Washington to assure the United States Government of the desire of the Confederate States for peace, but they were not received. Soon after the United States commenced hostilities,'Mr. Davis again attempted to open communication with the United States Government by addressing a letter to Mr. Lincoln, of which a military officer was the bearer; but General Scott, then in command of the U. S. armies, would not even permit the officer to pass through his lines, and no answer to the letter was ever received. The attempt was renewed, when, at the instance of President Davis, Vice-President Stephens sought permission to visit Washington with a view to a conference; but he was not permitted to proceed further than Fortress Monroe. Unwilling to leave any means untried to restore peace, consistent with the honor of his Government, in Jan- uary, 1865, he addressed a letter to Mr. F. P. Blair, of Maryland, who had been permitted to visit Richmond, designed for President Lincoln, informing him that he would either receive or send commis- sioners to negotiate for peace. This communication resulted in the Hampton Roads Conference, in which the Confederate Commissioners were distinctly notified that no treaty or arrangement of any kind would be entered into with the Confederate Government, or with any seperate State ; and that no arrangement for a permanent peace would
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be made except upon the condition of an absolute and unconditiona: surrender. The attempt to throw upon President Davis the failure to negotiate successfully for peace, is as unjust to him as the attempt t. make him responsible for secession and the war, when he was but the selected agent of the Southern people for the execution of their will.
Mr. Colyar refers to statements which were made to him by Honor. able John B. Baldwin, a member of the Confederate Congress from Virginia, designed to throw censure upon the President for obstruct- ing attempts at procuring peace by negotiation. It is not my inten- tion to dispute the statement of Mr. Colyar further than it is contra- dicted by an address which was signed by Mr. Baldwin with others. for the instruction and guidance of the people of the Confederate States while the war was in progress. It contained these words: "The course of the United States Government has proved that it did " not desire peace, and would not consent to it on any terms that we could! "possibly concede. In proof of this, we refer to the repeated rejection of "all terms of conciliation and compromise ; to their contemptuous refusal "to receive the Vice-President (Mr. Stephens), who was sent to nego- " tiate for softening the asperities of war, and their scornful rejection "of the offer of a neutral power to mediate between the contending " parties. . Until some evidence is given of a change of "policy, on the part of the Government of the United States, and " until assurance is given that efforts at negotiation will not be "spurned, the Congress are of the opinion that any direct overtures "for peace would compromise our self-respect, be fruitless of good. "and interpreted by the enemy as an indication of weakness." This paper Mr. Baldwin, who is cited by Mr. Colyar, signed and sent out to his Southern countrymen.
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