USA > Tennessee > Shelby County > Memphis > The Old Guard in Gray. Researches in the Annals of the Confederate Historical Association. Sketches of Memphis veterans who upheld her standards in the war, and of other Confederate worthies.. > Part 6
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Lieutenant Collier took part in the following engagements, after being mounted : Thompson's Station, Tenn., March +, 1863 ; Brentwood, Tenn., Davis's Mill, April 5, 1863 ; Frank- lin, Tenn., Leighton, Ala., Day's Gap, Ala., April 30 ; Town Creek, Ala., Triune, Tenn., in May ; Harpeth river, in May ; Triune, Tenn., Franklin and near Franklin June 26; Tulla- homa, Tenn., July 1, 1863 ; Gordon's Mill, Ga., September 13, 1863 ; Chickamauga, Tenn., September 19 and 20; Mis- sion Ridge, Tenn., September 21; Charleston and Athens, Tenn., September 26. After the engagement of the 21st at Mission Ridge General Forrest was ordered with his com- mand into East Tennessee, and had much hard fighting. Near Athens a shell struck Lieutenant Collier's left ankle and passed through his horse, exploding at the same time. The horse fell on Collier's right leg. Phil. Mallon, a member of the company, pulled the animal off and it immediately expired. The wounded man was taken to a farm house, where, after the fight was over, General Forrest and staff made headquarters that night. September 26, 1863, Lieuten-
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ant Collier's leg was amputated just below the knee, General Forrest assisting to hold him. The general manifested great sympathy and sent the young man back to Cleveland in his private ambulance ; thence he was sent to the hospital at Marietta, Ga., and rapidly recuperated. As a matter of his- tory it may be mentioned here that two weeks after this event Major McDonald was killed at the battle of Farming- ton. Captain Phil. Allin succeeded him, T. F. Patterson became captain and W. J. P. Doyle was made adjutant.
Lieutenant Collier has lived in and near Memphis since the war and became a member of this Association many years ago.
COLLIER, C. M., is a native of Hampton, Va. His first service was with Commodore Pendergrast, on the frigate Columbia, having joined the navy at the age of 16. Later he served under Commodore Barron on the frigate Wabash on the Mediterranean station. Upon his return home he was transferred to the coast survey service commanded by Captain John N. Maffitt, who during the civil war commanded the Confederate steamship Florida.
When the war opened Captain Collier was in command of the coast survey schooner Varina, in New York harbor. He repaired to Richmond and was commissioned lieutenant in the Confederate States Marine Corps, but was soon after transferred to the regular army as lieutenant of artillery and placed in command of Fort Powhatan on James river. He participated in the first battle of Bull Run as aid to General Joseph E. Johnston and remained with the army of Northern Virginia until made Superintendent of the Powder Works at Augusta, Ga. ; was next with General Stephen D. Lee in the ordnance department, and when paroled in Geor- gia he had attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He mar- ried a Georgia lady and since the war has lived in Memphis. He became a member of this Association at an early day in its history.
CLUSKEY, M. W .. Captain and A. A. I. G., and after- ward A. A. G. of Preston Smith's Brigade; was severely wounded in the Georgia campaign, and never entirely recov-
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ered; was elected by soldiers in the Army of Tennessee to the Confederate Congress at Richmond in August, 1864. and served there until the end of the war. Afterward was one of the editors of the Avalanche for a year or two; also edited a paper in Louisville. Ky .; married there, and died some years afterward in the 70s. Was proposed for membership by- Colonel John W. Dawson of this Association and elected February 3, 1870.
COX, J. J., born March 1, 1848, in Washington county, Miss., sent to the University of Mississippi, at Oxford, and was there when the war broke out. He tried to enlist, but was rejected on account of his youth. June 22, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-eighth Mississippi Cavalry, and was in all the campaigns of his command until the 30th of November, 1863, when discharged. While a member of Company D he was frequently complimented by his officers and mentioned in general orders. Both General S. W. Ferguson and Major-General W. T. Martin requested that he be commissioned and assigned to duty on their staffs, but was rejected on account of his youth. He re-entered the army and was assigned to the secret service. He made a trip into Vicksburg, staying a week at the headquarters of Gen- eral George B. McPherson ; going up to Memphis he was arrested and ordered to prison in the " Irving Block," but escaped on the street, ran into the old Worsham Hotel and was secreted by a young lady. Making his way to the trans- Mississippi he served one year on the staff of Brevet-Brigadier General O. P. Lyles, by whom he was promoted to first lieutenant for leading a forlorn hope, and was assigned to duty as Acting Adjutant of the Twenty-third Arkansas Light Infantry. In January, 1865, he resigned and was appointed master's mate in the navy by Commodore Robinson, in com- mand at Mobile, Ala., and assigned to the Alabama, but finding the blockade of Mobile impassable he rejoined his old company in the Twenty-eighth Mississippi Cavalry. As General Forrest was about to surrender he ran away to avoid being paroled, and returned home. Soon after the close of the war he went to Frankfort. Ky., and entered the Kentucky
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Military Institute, where he finished his education. He then went to planting cotton on his father's old plantation in Washington county, Miss .; remained until 1873, when he went to Dallas, Texas. In 1874 he joined the Texas State service as a private in the First Infantry ; was soon pro- moted to first lieutenant and captain, in which rank he served until 1878, when he was promoted by Governor R. B. Hub- bard, and the appointment was confirmed by an election by the officers, to be colonel of the Third Infantry, Texas State Troops. In 1878 he obtained leave of absence and joined the Mexican revolution against Diaz, holding the rank of colonel of cavalry. While serving in Mexico he lost his wife, who died at Greenville, Miss., with yellow fever. He then resigned his commission in the Texas service and returned to cotton planting on his grandfather's old plantation in Washington county, Miss. In 1885 he went to Marion, Crit- tenden county, Ark., and became the editor of the Marion Reform newspaper. In 1895 sold out and settled in Memphis. In 1885 he joined the National Guards, State of Arkansas, as first lieutenant, was promoted to captain in 1891, and at present holds that rank, being Captain of Company E, Second Regiment, Infantry. Captain Cox is in business in Memphis.
He joined this Association in June, 1896, and accompa- nied Company A, Confederate Veterans, to the reunion at Richmond. He was in the cast of the drama of " Johnson's Island," a war play written by Colonel C. W. Frazer and produced successfully both in Memphis and Richmond, he taking the part of General Trimble.
DAWSON, JOHN W., Lieutenant-Colonel One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee; entered the service in April, 1861, and served for four years when not incapacitated by wounds. Admitted to membership in this Association July 15, 1870; was a wholesale merchant; served as Vice-Presi- dent and as Secretary of this Association, but lived only a few years afterward, as he never fully recovered from his wounds; was married, but left no children. The universal testimony of his men and comrades was that a more gallant man never lived.
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CAPT. JAMES DINKINS.
DINKINS, JAMES, was born near Canton, in Madison county, Miss., April 18, 1845. In 1860 was sent by his par- ents to the North Carolina Military Institute at Charlotte, from which place he enlisted with about 190 other cadets for six months in the First North Carolina Regiment, which was organized at Raleigh April 11, 1861, with D. H. Hill as col- onel. Served in that regiment until term of enlistment expired, having participated in the first battle of the war, " Big Bethel ;" joined Company C, Eighteenth Mississippi Regiment, Griffith's Brigade (subsequently Barksdale's and Humphries') ; served as private in Company C until April 22, 1863. Took part in all the battles in which the regiment was engaged, including Leesburg, Gain's Mill, Malvern Hill, 6
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Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg. He was appointed first lieutenant of cavalry in the Confederate States army April 22, 1863. The appointment was made at the request of General Sims of Georgia. The latter was wounded at Sharpsburg some distance in advance of the line. Young Dinkins ran to his assistance and succeeded in getting him under cover, which circumstance attracted General Sim's attention.
During his term of service in the Eighteenth Mississippi he was known by the title of " Little Horse," because he never broke down on the march, nor was he ever sick during the war; was always cheerful and ready to play a joke on the others. After appointment in the regular army was ordered by the President to report to General J. R. Chalmers, com- manding the troops in North Mississippi. After reporting to General Chalmers he was appointed to staff duty, in which capacity he served until the battle of Nashville, when he was assigned to Company C, Eighteenth Mississippi Cavalry, and commanded that company at the close of the war. Was with General Chalmers in all the exciting and daring movements under General Forrest, from Fort Pillow, Okolona, Harris- burg, Brices Cross Roads, Paris Landing, Johnsonville, Col- umbia, Spring Hill, Franklin on to Nashville.
Married in November, 1866, to Miss Sue Hart of Canton, Miss., and has two children, boy and girl. On his maternal side is related to the Davidsons, Baxters, Bvevards, Springs, Myers and Bleeckers of North Carolina. On the paternal side to the Hendersons, Craigs, Spotswoods ( "Cousin Sally Dillard " ), Jones, Kendricks, Greers and Blockwoods. His great great-grandfather commanded a regiment in the Revo- lution, which assisted in driving the British from Mecklen- burg City. Since the war has been connected with railroad interests.
DASHIELL, GEORGE, enlisted as a private in Company B, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee, April 28, 1861; became paymaster of Cheatham's Division, and served as such until the spring of 1863; was then ordered by the war depart- ment to report to General N. B. Forrest, and served with him
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as chief paymaster of his corps until the surrender at Gaines- ville, Ala. Was paroled May 9, 1865, and was one of the early members of this Association.
DAVIS, ISAAC N., Major on General Forrest's staff ; entered the service February 28, 1861 ; paroled May, 1865. Proposed for membership by W. A. Goodman, W. D. Strat- ton and J. H. Erskine, and elected April 28, 1870.
DESAUSSURE, CHARLES A., born in Beaufort District, S. C., September 21, 1846 ; of Franco-Swiss descent en pater- nal side and English stock on maternal side. Enlisted Octo- ber, 1862, in Beaufort Volunteer Artillery (continuous organ- ization since 1800) at Pocotaligo, S. C., Captain H. M. Stuart commanding. This battery was then attached to Walker's Brigade, in charge of the lower coast defenses of South Caro- lina, the special object being to defeat the determined efforts of the Federal forces, under Admiral Farragut, to cut the Charleston & Savannah Railroad, the base line between those two cities. The battery participated in the battles of Poco- taligo, Honey Hill, Tullifinny, Averysboro, Smithfield and Bentonville, besides numerous minor engagements. It also took part in the coast defenses at Adams Run and on John and James Islands before Charleston. After leaving the coast before Sherman, the battery was incorporated into Burnet Rhett's Battalion of Artillery, Hardee's Corps, A. P. Hill's Divison, Johnston's army, and was finally paroled at Greens- boro, N. C., in May, 1865.
Mr. DeSaussure has been engaged in the railroad passenger service since the war, and at this writing (1896) is General Pas- senger Agent of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad and lo- cated at Memphis, Tenn .; joined this Association several years ago and became a member of Company A, Confederate Vete- rans, and has since been an active and most valued member : was with the company at Chattanooga in 1895 and at Richmond in June-July, 1896, on which occasion he not only slept in the barracks on the straw with "the boys" and marched with them in the grand procession, but looked after their interests in various ways, and secured for them and the ladies
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in attendance from Memphis through transit each way with- out change in the quickest possible time -- thus showing that he is thoroughly practical as well as in sympathy with com- rades and friends.
DICKINSON, J. R., First Lieutenant Company K, Forty- seventh Virginia Regiment, Army of North Virginia; enlisted July, 1861; was wounded three times at Seven Pines, lost his right arm at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862, and was offered a discharge, but preferred to remain and perform light duty in the enrolling service at Richmond ; was First Lieutenant of President Jefferson Davis' Guards when he left Richmond and went with him as far as Abbeville, S. C. Paroled May, 1865. Admitted to Confederate Historical As- sociation March 15, 1895.
DICKSON, BARTON, Captain Company A, Sixteenth Alabama Regiment ; enlisted May, 1861 ; was under Zollicof- fer in the early part of the war. Paroled May, 1865.
DONELSON, R. S., private Company H, Thirteenth Ten- nessee ; enlisted April, 1862; was wounded at Chickamauga and permanently disabled ; was furloughed to the hospital, where he remained unable to do active duty until the close of the war ; paroled May, 1865, in Memphis. Admitted to the Confederate Historical Association April 14, 1896.
DOUGLASS, C. A., private Company E, North Mississippi Regiment; enlisted March 27, 1861 ; was wounded the 23d day of August, 1864, at Abbeville, Miss., and paroled the 11th day of May, 1865. Joined this Association some years ago.
DOUGLASS, I. E., was at first a private in Company I, First Tennessee Cavalry, but does not remember exact date of enlistment. Went out with Captain M. J. Wicks : later was under Captain Jackson ; still later under Captain A. C. Bettis ; was elected or promoted to third lieutenant April, 1862. Later was promoted to captain and assistant quar- termaster and assigned to duty with Wharton's Regiment, afterward Harrison's. Then promoted to rank of major and assistant quartermaster Wharton's Division, Wheeler's Corps,
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but never received a commission as major. Paroled May 10, 1865. Became a member of this Association at an early day.
DROESCHER, A. R., entered the service as a private May 8, 1861, in Forrest's old regiment ; paroled May 12, 1855, after fighting all through the war. Entered this Association upon his own motion July 15, 1870. Died some years ago in Memphis.
DuBOSE, J. J., was born in Shelby county, Tenn., educated in the schools of this county and city, and at the Cumberland University at Lebanon, where he took a full course of law. Enlisted early in the war in the Ninth Arkansas Regiment; was in Bowen's Brigade, and was in active service at and around Columbus, Ky .; was at Feliciana, passed through Nashville and on down the line to the battle of Shiloh. After that was transferred to General Hindman in the Trans-Mis- sissippi Department, with rank of first lieutenant ; was pro- moted to captain and made chief inspector and ordnance officer for the Department of North Arkansas and the Indian Territory. He participated actively in the Banks campaign, and was in the last battle at Yellow Bayou. After that he was with General Magruder and rendered special service ; was sent into the Federal lines several times to obtain infor- mation. The last time he came out to find that the surrender had taken place. Returning to what had been headquarters, he found all deserted and he the only soldier left. He was never captured, wounded or paroled. After the war he came to Memphis, practiced law, edited the Public Ledger for a year or two, resumed the law again, took an active part in local politics, and was elected to the State Senate and served one term. Married a Miss Polk of Columbia, Tenn. Served one term as Judge of the Criminal Court, and returned to the practice of law, in which he is now (1896) actively and suc- cessfully engaged. He became a member of the Confederate Historical Association July 1, 1869.
DUFF, WILLIAM L., entered the service in May, 1861, and remained four years ; was successively Captain, Major and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventeenth Mississippi In-
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fantry and afterward raised and was Colonel of the Eighth Mississippi Cavalry in 1863, and was in Chalmers's brigade, Forrest's command. Became a member of this Association May 26, 1870.
DUNN, W. C., enlisted March 28, 1861, as a private in Company C, Ninth Mississippi Regiment, for twelve months; mustered out of service at Grand Junction in April, 1862; joined Company G, Fourth Mississippi Cavalry in July, 1862. Surrendered and paroled at Gainesville, Ala., May 12, 1865.
DUPUY, JOHN J., enlisted as a private in the Shelby Grays of Memphis, from which, it is said, there were more officers commissioned than there were names on the original roll. This became Company A, Fourth Tennessee Infantry, whose first battle was Belmont. J. J. Dupuy was in that and in most of the battles of the Army of Tennessee, and received wounds enough to have killed half a dozen men ordinarily. At Shiloh he received a minnie ball in the right arm while on the skirmish line after his regiment had captured a seven- gun battery. He was in the battle of Perryville, and at Camp Dick Robinson was detailed as aide-de-camp on the staff of Colonel Strahl, commanding brigade, and served in that capacity until after the battle of Murfreesboro. At Shel- byville he was commissioned. Adjutant of Rapley's Battalion of Sharp Shooters from Arkansas, composed of 400 men. He reached the command at Bayou Pere on the retreat in front of Grant, and was in the battle of Baker's Creek and Big Black Bridge, and then was locked up in the siege of Vicksburg, during which he received a flesh wound from a shell one night during a sortie. At the surrender of Vicks- burg he was the senior lieutenant of the only two officers of the battalion left and turned over a roll of forty men. When Lieutenant Dupuy's parole expired he returned to his old command, became aide-de-camp to General Strahl, and was with him in close touch to the end of his military life. At the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, Lieutenant Dupuy was wounded three times by a volley from sharp-shooters, and lingered between life and death for months. Went to Vir-
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ginia on crutches; heard the last guns fired by Lee's army, and was paroled at Lynchburg.
Afterward lived in Bolivar, Tenn., and served two terms (sixteen years) as attorney-general of his district; came to Memphis in 1886, and has since practiced law here. He comes of illustrious Hugenot ancestry ; was a typical, high- toned soldier and is yet a sentimental Confederate, and has expressed a desire to be buried as his two soldier brothers were, in a plain, simple, unostentatious style. He was ad- mitted to this Association May 4, 1895.
DWYER, JOHN, born June 21, 1840, in Limerick, Ireland. Enlisted in Company L, Fifteenth Tennessee, Colonel Chas. Carrolls' Regiment, April 10, 1861, and was elected first lieu- tenant ; served in Bushrod Johnston's Brigade; was wounded in battles of Shiloh and Kenesaw Mountain ; captured at Kenesaw June 21, 1864, and released 16th of February, 1865 ; paroled April, 1865 ; has since lived in Shelby county, Tenn. Is a member of this Association.
EDMONDSON, E. A., enlisted in April, 1861, in the Bluff City Grays, Forrest's Regiment ; served through the war and was paroled at Gainesville, Ala., May, 1865. Admitted to this Association December 9, 1890.
ELAM, E. E., private Company A, Eleventh Texas; en- listed April or May, 1861; was crippled by a fall of his horse at Chickamauga ; furloughed January 15, 1865, in South Car- olina to come home and recruit; returned on horseback to South Carolina and met his company, which had been sur- rendered and was coming home; paroled at Grenada, Miss., May, 1865. Admitted to C. H. A. March 10, 1896.
ELAM, W. S., enlisted November 18, 1861, in Jones' Bat- tery ; after the twelve months' service expired became a member of Company I, Second Kentucky Cavalry, Morgan's command; was wounded at Green River Bridge; captured at Mill Creek, Ohio, and released from prison after the sur- render. Admitted to C. H. A. July 17, 1895.
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ELCAN, ARCHIBALD LIEBIG, born near Belmont, Fay- ette county, Tenn., October 20, 1844. George Hooper Elean. his father, was born in Buckingham county, Va., in 1800, and removed to West Tennessee in 1819. locating in Fayette county, where he died in 1855. A. L. Elcan received his early education in the neighborhood schools and at the Tipton Male High School at Covington. Tenn .; was mustered into the Confederate service in Captain Sam. T. Taylor's Company of Cavalry in March, 1862, before he was 18 years old. and served as private secretary for Captain Taylor until trans- ferred to Company B, Seventh Regiment Tennessee Cavalry; was with this regiment in all the campaigns under Colonel W. H. Jackson (afterward general) and Generals Armstrong and Van Dorn in West Tennessee and North Mississippi until the early part of 1863. when, together with Company B, he was detached for special service at Major-General Loring's headquarters, and took part in all the operations under Gen- eral Loring looking to the relief of Vicksburg, and in the siege of Jackson. Miss., and the retreat of the army from Jackson to Meridian ; rejoined the Seventh Tennessee Regi- ment in February. 1864, and followed General N. B. Forrest in his campaigns to the close of the war; was wounded by the side of General Forrest at Prairie Mound, Miss., February 22, 1864, in a charge on the enemy, led in person by General Forrest on foot, his horse having been shot a few minutes before; was appointed First Sergeant Company B on night of June 9, 1864, in place of Sergeant W. N. Mason, who was killed, leaving the company without a muster roll, which necessitated a hard night's work for him to make a roster of the company and get everything ready by daybreak, when they were ordered forward to Brices Cross Roads; was with the company in Middle Tennessee under Generals Forrest and I. Hood in the advance to and retreat from Nashville; made a midnight search alone and rescued a detachment of Company B from a perilous position right under the enemy's line around Nashville. There was great rejoicing in the company when they were brought in. Continued with the company on the retreat from Nashville until his horse was shot in an engage-
usager Gens, B. J. Cheatham.
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ment with the enemy at Richland creek; then made his way to the rear, crossed Tennessee river and rejoined the company in time to go with the command to Selma, Ala. He and Lieutenant H. T. Sale of Company B were ordered to close up the rear by General Wirt Adams, which they did, and surrendered with the company at Gainesville, Ala., in 1865.
After the war he read medicine, took a full college course, and practiced in Tipton county ; served as a member of the Legislature, was also a justice of the peace, and belonged to several medical societies. Removed to Memphis in 1888 and has since practiced here successfully, and joined the C. H. A. several years ago. Has written much for the medical papers and the daily and weekly press. He was married November 4, 1869, to Miss Bettie Taylor, daughter of Dr. Joshua Swayne of Carroll county, Tenn. Their children are Joshua Swayne, Lucy Elizabeth, Nathaniel Henry, Rosalie Eva and Pauline Thompson Elean.
ELDRIDGE, J. W., entered the army as private in the " Beauregards," Captain W. Y. C. Humes, April 12, 1861, and continued in the service until the surrender in 1865. Governor Harris soon after his enlistment as private appointed him one of the three General Assistant Quartermasters of the State, and ordered him to report for duty to General B. F. Cheatham in May, 1861, at Union City, Tenn. He assumed the duties assigned, but soon resigned the place and sought more congenial service in the field. Was commissioned cap- tain of artillery by the Secretary of War, and ordered to raise a battery and report to General Albert Sydney Johnston for duty. This he did, and joined the Confederate forces at Bowl- ing, Green, Ky. After the retreat from Kentucky, his com- mand followed the Army of Tennessee and participated in all of its campaigns. Resigned his captaincy in December, - 1862, at Shelbyville, in favor of his nephew, Eldridge Wright, who lost his life in the battle of Murfreesboro. Was then appointed major of artillery and ordered to report for duty . to General A. P. Stewart at Shelbyville; was chief of the artillery of his division and was acting with him in that capacity until he was promoted to command of another corps
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