USA > Tennessee > The military annals of Tennessee. Confederate. First series: embracing a review of military operations, with regimental histories and memorial rolls, V.1 > Part 18
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As Vaughn's brigade was not in reserve, but on the main line, just to the
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right of Maney's brigade, and actively engaged, Gen. Johnston is in error about the reserve. But he continues:
"After maintaining the contest for near three-quarters of an hour, until more of their troops lay dead and wounded than the number of British that fell in Gen. Jackson's celebrated battle of New Orleans-the foremost of their dead lying against our works-they retired unsuccessful, because they had encoun- tered intrenched infantry unsurpassed by Napoleon's Old Guard, or that which followed Wellington into France out of Spain."
It is worthy of remark that our gun-barrels became so hot that we could scarcely hold them, and the rays of the sun poured down oppressively.
As said before, Gen. Vaughn's brigade occupied that portion of the line im- mediately on the right of Gen. Maney's. Next to the First and Twenty-seventh were the Eleventh and Twenty-ninth Tennessee regiments, bearing an equal share of the heavy onslaught. But it was at the Angle that the enemy seemed determined to try to break the Confederate line; and as we were taken at a very great disadvantage-the Rock City Guards having no head-logs-we can claim a greater share of the honor in the repulse of a force outnumbering us twenty or thirty to one.
The Federals received a severe chastisement, three hundred and eighty-five men lying dead in front of the First and Twenty-seventh, and four hundred and fifteen in front of Vaughn's brigade, besides an unknown number of men wounded. Gens. McCook and Harker were among the slain in our immediate front. Each of their lines, three of the seven, coming up the hill, was broken under the fire from our line, and as the fourth line appeared, the battery opened a galling fire into their ranks, throwing them into utter confusion and dismay. Defeated, they retired under the cover of the hill, and kept up an incessant firing as long as we remained at that point. Under the hill, and to the west of our line, they commenced min- ing, with the intention of blowing us up on the 4th of July. The loss of the First and Twenty-seventh was twenty-seven men, killed and wounded.
But we have already dwelt too long on the battle, and must now refer briefly to what transpired after this memorable occasion. From here, on the 2d of July, Gen. Johnston fell back six miles south of Marietta, thence across the Chattahoo- che. The regiment engaged in the battles of the 20th and 22d of July, nobly sus- taining itself. Its loss in the battle of the 22d was very great, and many who were wounded on that occasion were disabled, and never returned to the army.
As on other occasions, so in the battle of Jonesboro, on the 19th and 20th of August, the First and Twenty-seventh bore a distinguished part. But the re- moval of Gen. Johnston from the command of the Army of Tennessee produced a depressing effect upon all the Tennessee troops, and Gen. Hood, who had been assigned to the command of the army, determined, after the battle of Jonesboro, to begin an aggressive movement.
Recrossing the Chattahoochee army moved in a north-westerly direction, and on the 5th of October Gen. French's division engaged the enemy at Allatoona, Ga. This attack proving unsuccessful, Hood continued his march until he reached Dalton on the 13th of October, when he engaged the enemy with on'y partial success. Moving thence across Alabama, he reached Decatur, and soon began his movement into Middle Tennessee. During all this almost unparal- le'ed marching, though greatly reduced in numbers from killed, wounded, and
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sick, the First and Twenty-seventh were always at their post ready for duty. And so they came back into Middle Tennessee, many passing by their homes; they came on until the army was in sight of Nashville, taking part in the en- gagements at Spring Hill and Franklin, and finally in the battle of Nashville on the 15th and 16th of December, and then retreated with the army out of Ten- nessee.
The defeat at Nashville on that cold December day, and the retreat that fol- lowed, will never be effaced from the memory of the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee. Scattered, cold, the piercing north-west wind chilling them through and through; wet, hungry, ragged, and in a great many instances barefooted; re- treating over the frozen ground before a well-organized and well-disciplined army, the remnant of the Army of Tennessee found its way across the swollen Tennes- see; and the First and Twenty-seventh regiments, after halting at West Point, Miss., a short while, after a long and tedious journey through Mississippi, Ala- bama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, rejoined the Army of Ten- nessee at Bentonville, in the latter State, where Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had again assumed command. Participating in the battle of Bentonville, the First and Twenty-seventh Tennessee fell back with the army to Greensboro, N. C., where Gen. Johnston, on April 26, 1865, surrendered the army, and the Southern Confederacy collapsed.
Leaving High Point, N. C., on the 3d of May, we arrived at Greeneville, Tenn., on the 17th; leaving there on the 19th, we reached home on the 21st, having seen four years of arduous service. The remnant of the Twenty-seventh Tennes- see went home from Nashville about the 25th.
It is worthy of remark that Gen. Cheatham's division, in April, 1862, when or- ganized at Corinth, Miss., numbered eight thousand men, and lost in killed, wounded, and missing, thirteen thousand five hundred. There were additions of other regiments, and recruits from time to time; so there were no doubt on its rolls as many as fifteen thousand men during the war. The Rock City Guards started with three hundred and thirty-four men rank and file, and there were just twenty-seven men of the three companies present at the surrender. There were on the rolls of the First Tennessee eleven hundred and sixty-seven, and one hundred and twenty-five at the surrender. In this volume there is published a partial list of the killed of companies A, B, and C, of Rock City Guards-compa- nies B and C being correct; and also Company L.
NOTE -The writer of the preceding article was a private in Company C.
A member of this regiment has published a remarkable book, entitled: "1861 rs. 1882. Co. Aytch, Manry Grays, First Tennessee . Regiment; or, A Side-show of the Big Show. By Sam R. Watkins, Columbia, Tenn.
'Querque ipse miserrima vidi Et quorum pars magna fui.'"
Nashville, Tenn .: Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House. 1882. 8vo, 236 pp.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
COMPANY L, FIRST TENNESSEE REGIMENT.
THE Stevenson Guards, of Nashville, Tenn., were organized on the - day of May, 1861. James M. Hawkins was elected Captain; Anthony S. Camp, First Lieutenant; George Richards, Second Lieutenant; Joseph W. Fulcher, Third Lieutenant. The company had on its roll fifty-eight members, and was after- ward increased to one hundred; was mustered into the State's service after organ- ization, and was immediately assigned to duty on provost guard in the city of Nashville, Tenn., and did duty as such (day and night) up to the evacuation of Nashville, on the 1Sthi day of February, 1862.
The Stevenson Guards, Captain J. W. Felts's company, and Captain Robert Cattles's company-all Nashville companies -- and a Mississippi company, formed a battalion, and elected Captain J. M. Hawkins, Major. Lieutenant A. S. Camp, having been previously appointed Assistant Quartermaster, was assigned as such to the battalion, and continued as Quartermaster in the army until the close of the war. The battalion thus formed was sworn into the Confederate States serv- ice, and on the 22d day of February, 1862, marched to Murfreesboro, Tenn., and was attached to Gen. W. H. Carroll's command. When the army moved to Shiloh, Tenn., the battalion was left at Decatur, Ala., to guard army supplies and the railroad bridge across the Tennessee River. The battalion remained at De- catur, under the command of Col. Biffle, post commander, with a regiment of cavalry, and a short time thereafter was ordered to Corinth, Miss., where it was encamped until the reorganization of the entire army; and owing to there being quite a number of old men in the Nashville companies, an order was issued from head-quarters to consolidate the three Nashville companies into one company, which was done. Joseph W. Fulcher was elected Captain ; George Richards, First Lieutenant; James Phillips, Second Lieutenant ; and Pat Blunkall, Third Lieutenant. Major James M. Hawkins was ordered to report to Gen. B. F. Cheatham for duty, and was placed upon his staff, and remained in that service till the close of the war.
The company numbered one hundred and six men, and was at once attached to the First Tennessee Regiment (Maney's), Col. Hume R. Field, commanding, and was known as Co. L, First Tennessee Regiment. The company was with the regiment froni that time until the close of the war in 1865; was in every battle fought, and was always ready for any emergency; lost quite a number in each battle. Lieut. Blunkall was killed at Rocky Face in Georgia; Lieut. Richards was discharged on account of sickness; George Mckinney was elected First Lieutenant at Dalton, Ga .; Lieut. Phillips was wounded at Murfreesboro, and put on detached duty; Capt. Fulcher was wounded at Chickamauga, Ga., and gave up the command to Lieut. Mckinney temporarily. At the close of the war there were about - members who, with Capt. Fulcher and Lieut. Mckinney, surren- dered in North Carolina, and returned to their homes in Nashville, Tenn.
GEORGE A. REDDICK, Sergeant and Committeeman, Co. L, First Tennessee Regiment. LIEUT. GEORGE MCKINNEY, SERGT. WILLIAM ALLEN, CAPT. A. S. CAMP, Sub-committee.
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
THE HANGING OF SAM DAVIS. BY J. B. KILLEBREW, NASHVILLE, TENN.
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THIs young man, of exemplary habits, and of a courage that nothing could daunt, was the son of C. L. and Jane Davis, born on Stewart's Creek, one and a half mile from Smyrna, and was at the time of his execution about nineteen years of age. He entered the army in 1861, joining Dr. Ledbetter's company of the First Tennessee Regiment; and it was but a short time before his bravery, pru- dence, zeal, and undoubted patriotism recommended him to his commanding officer as one eminently suited to perform the arduous and dangerous duties of a scout. He was accordingly detached from his regiment and made a member of Coleman's Scouts. Toward the close of October, 1863, it was considered highly important to the success of Bragg's movements that the strength of the Federal fortifications in Middle Tennessee should be accurately known, and to procure this information young Davis was selected. He set out on this dangerous mission, and after accomplishing all that was expected or desired, he was arrested on his return within the Federal lines, on the 20th of November, with a plan of the fortifica- tions of Nashville, Pulaski, and of all places of importance in Middle Tennessee, on his person. The accuracy of these plans and the minuteness of detail showed at once that his informant was a man holding a high position among the Federal engineers; and when questioned about his sources of information, Davis candidly admitted that the plans had been furnished by an officer high in command, but resolutely refused to give his name, though a free pardon was offered, and a safe return within the Confederate lines.
Gen. Dodge, the post commander, immediately convened a Military Commis- sion for the trial of Davis on the following charges and specifications:
"Charge first. Being a spy.
"Specification: In this, that he, Samuel Davis, of Coleman's Scouts, in the service of the so-called Confederate States, did come within the lines of the United States forces, in Middle Tennessee, for the purpose of secretly gaining informa- tion concerning these forces and conveying the same to the enemy; and was arrested within the said lines, on or about November 20, 1863. This in Giles county, Tennessee.
"Charge second. Being a carrier of mails, communications, and information from within the lines of the United States army to persons in arms against the United States Government.
"Specification: In this, that the said Samuel Davis, on or about November 20, 1863, was arrested in Giles county, Tennessee, engaged in carrying mails and in- formation from within the lines of the United States forces to persons in armis against the United States Government."
To which charges and specifications the accused pleaded as follows: To the specification of first charge, "Not guilty ;" to the first charge, "Not guilty." To the specification of second charge, "Guilty; to the second charge, "Guilty."
After a patient investigation of several days, the following were the finding and sentence :
"The Court finds the accused as follows: Of the specification to first charge, 'Guilty ;' of the first charge, 'Guilty.' Of the specification of second charge,
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'Guilty;' of the second charge, 'Guilty.' And the Commissioner does therefore sentence him, the said Samuel Davis, of Coleman's Scouts, in the service of the so-called Confederate States, to be hanged by the neck until he is dead, at such time and place as the commanding General may direct; two-thirds of the mem- bers of the Commission concurring in the sentence.
"Finding and sentence of the Commission approved. The sentence will be car- ried into effect on Friday, November 27th, 1863, between the hours of 10 o'clock A.M. and 6 o'clock P.M. Brig .- gen. T. W. Sweeney, commanding Second Division, will cause the necessary arrangements to be made to carry out this order in the proper manner.
"The Military Commission, of which Col. Madison Miller, Eighteenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, is President, is hereby dissolved.
"By order of Brigadier-general G. M. Dodge:
"J. W. BARNES, Lieut. and A. A. G."
The prisoner was informed of the finding and sentence of the Military Commis- sion by Captain Armstrong, the local Provost Marshal, and, though manifesting some surprise at the severity of the punishment to be inflicted, he bore himself heroically, and showed not the quiver of a muscle. He wrote the following affecting letter to his mother and father:
" PULASKI, Giles County, Tenn., Nov. 26, 1863.
"Dear Mother : O how painful it is to write to you! I have got to die to- morrow morning-to be hanged by the Federals. Mother, do not grieve for me. I must bid you good-by for evermore. Mother, I do not hate to die. Give my love to all. YOUR DEAR SON.
" Mother: Tell the children all to be good. I wish I could see all of you once more, but I never will any more.
"Mother and Father: Do not forget me. Think of me when I am dead; but do not grieve for me; it will not do any good.
" Father : You can send after my remains, if you want to do so. They will be at Pulaski. Tenn. I will leave some things, too, with the hotel-keeper for you.
"Pulaski is in Giles county, Tennessee, south of Columbia."
Copied from his little book:
"Met Coleman in the road-one package tied up, letter sealed, twelve miles from Mount Pleasant-half an hour in the road; staid all night with him six months before.
" Had sick leave from the army three weeks; staid near Columbia awhile-at Gillespie's house, five miles out.
"Smyrna, twenty miles from Nashville and Stevenson railroad.
" Brother and sister members of the Methodist Church.
" Would not care about the mode of death being changed to shooting.
"Hope something may turn up some day to let the officers that convicted me know that I am innocent.
"Mrs. C. L. Davis, Smyrna Post-office, Rutherford county, Tenn."
Later in the day Chaplain Young visited him, and found him resigned to his fate. After prayer by the Chaplain, he inquired in relation to the news of the day, and being told that Bragg was defeated, he expressed the deepest regret. The
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scaffold for the execution of the prisoner was built upon an elevation on the east side of the town, near the college, and immediately in front of the house now occupied by James McCallum, Esq., a position that can be seen from almost every part of the town. At precisely ten o'clock on the morning of Friday, the 27th of November, 1863, the arms of the prisoner being pinioned, he was placed on a wagon, seated on his coffin (a refinement of cruelty), and conveyed to the scaffold. Davis stepped from the wagen and seated himself on a bench at the foot of th: scaffold, glancing occasionally at the coffin as it was being taken from the wagon. He displayed no trepidation, but calmly and quietly turning to Capt. Armstrong, asked how long he had to live, and on being told just fifteen minutes, said in substance that the rest of the battles would have to be fought without him. Capt. Armstrong, turning to him, said: "I am sorry to be compelled to perform this painful duty." To which Davis replied, with a smile: "It does not hurt me, Captain; I am in- nocent, though I am prepared to die, and do not think hard of you." Captain Chickasaw then approaching, asked the prisoner if it would not have been better to have saved his life by disclosing the name of the officer who furnished the facts in relation to the fortifications, etc., and intimated that it was not yet too late, when the prisoner answered with much indignation: "Do you suppose that I would betray a friend ? No, sir; I would die a thousand times first. I will not betray the confidence of my informant." Then, committing a few keepsakes to Mr. Lawrence, a Methodist minister, he mounted the scaffold with a serene coun- tenance, in company with Chaplain Young, whom he requested to pray with him. After a prayer, the delicacy and appropriateness of which may be well questioned under the circumstances, the prisoner stepped upon the trap and paid the severe penalty of devotion to right and principle. He died with the calmness of a phi- losopher, the sternness of a patriot, and the serene courage of a martyr. Neve: did a deeper gloom spread over any community than spread over that of Pulaski. when Davis's tragic fate was made known. The deed was openly and boldly stig- matized by the common soldiers as a needless assassination; men and women, in every part of the town, indulged in unavailing moans, and even the little children, with terror depicted on their countenances, ran about the streets weeping with un- controllable grief. No man ever awakened a deeper sympathy. His sad fate is one of the touching themes of the county; and whenever his name is mentioned the tear rises unbidden to the eye of the oldest as well as the youngest. His memory is embalmed among the people as a self-immolated martyr to what he conceived a pure and holy duty-the preservation of the sacredness of confidence. This case furnishes a melancholy example of the atrocities still permitted under the usages of civilized warfare.
After the lapse of over twenty years, in reviewing, all the facts connected with this sad affair, it must be admitted that there were many mitigating circumstances in the case of this dauntless young soldier, which pleaded powerfully for clen- ency from the post commander. He was captured fifteen miles from Pulaski; he pretended to no disguise, but had on at the time of his capture his arms and the Con- federate uniform. It is true that plans of the fortifications in Middle Tennessee were found upon his person ; but no proof further than his own admission was adduced to show that he was in possession of them in any other capacity than as a courier or letter-carrier, and might. in the discharge of his duty as such, have involuntarily got within the lines. In addition to all these, his youth, his intel-
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ligence, his unflinching constancy under the severest trials and the greatest temp- tations, and his heroic conduct to the last, certainly should have induced a noble- hearted commander to give the prisoner the benefit of any doubt.
NOTE .- The foregoing article has been revised for this volume. It originally appeared in " The Annals of the Army of Tennessee," etc., edited by Dr. Edwin L. Drake, Lieutenant-colonel, C. S. A., Vol. I., pages 294-298. 1878.
[Every effort was made to procure a likeness of this heroic youth, so as to give a full-plate steel-engraving, but in vain. To mark his transcendent merit the above detailed account is given, although the plan of this work leaves " Bio- graphical Notes" for a final volume .- EDITOR.]
Oficial.] FIELD AND STAFF, FIRST TENNESSEE INFANTRY.
First organization : Colonel, George Maney; Lieutenant-colonel, T. F. Sevier; Major, A. M. Looney; Adjutant, R. B. Snowden; Surgeon. W. L. Nichol; Assistant Surgeon, J. R. Buist ; A. Q. M., Samuel H. Ransom ; A. C. S., George W. Menees.
Reorganization: Colonel, Hume R. Field ; Lieutenant-colonel, John Patterson ; Major, John L. House; Adjutant, Thomas H. Mckinney; Surgeon, J. R. Buist; Assistant Surgeon, W. R. Hughes; A. Q. M., M. B. Pilcher; A. C. S., George W. Menees.
Consolidation of First and Twenty-seventh regiments: Colonel, Hume R. Field; Lieuten- ant-colonel, John L. House; Major, A. C. Allen; Adjutant, Thomas H. Mckinney ; Surgeon, J. R. Buist ; Assistant Surgeon. W. R. Hughes; A. Q. M., A. S. Camp.
Samuel H. Ransom, A. Q. M., k. at battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
POSTSCRIPT .- The First Tennessee Regiment was organized at Nashville, Tenn., on May 2. 1861 ; the companies comprising it being from the counties of Davidson, Maury, Williamson, Giles, and Rutherford. After organizing, it was ordered to Camp Harris, Lincoln county, and from thence to camp of instruction, in Robertson county. After two months' drill and disei- pline, it was ordered to Virginia, and served in Western Virginia, under Generals Lee and Loring, until December, 1861, when it was ordered to Winchester, to report to General Stone- wall Jackson. Feb. 1, 1862, it was ordered to Knoxville, Tenn., and from there to Corinth, Mi-s., which place it reached in time to participate in the battle of Shiloh. The regiment remained at Corinth until its evacuation by General Beauregard, and was in the memorable campaign in Kentucky, under General Bragg. It has participated in every battle of note since its reorganization, and the numbers left on the various fields of carnage attest the se- verity of the engagements and the gallantry of both rank and file. Having always served in the division of General Cheatham since the battle of shiloh, the regiment deserves a portion of the fame of that glorious division. and although now serving in the division of General W. H. T. Walker, among strangers, it will ever so bear itself as to maintain that good name.
COMPANY A. Lanier, T. B., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., ; Spence, Joseph, k. at the battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, 1862. Ky., Oct. 8. 1862. Hardy, C. E., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
Wiggins, E. T .. k. at the battle of Perryville, ! ] Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
Bryan, W. M., k. at the battle of Perryville, Knight, W. H., k. at the battle of Murfrees- Ky., Oct. 8, 1862. boro, Dec. 31, 1862. Clark, J., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Newsom, W. MI., k. at the battle of Murfrees- boro, Dec. 31, 1862. Oct. 8, 1862. [Oct. 8, 1862. Jones, S. R., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky.,
COMPANY B.
Hamilton. R. S., k. at the battle of Perryville, | Buster, C. H., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., O. t. 8, 1562. Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
Irwin, A. H .. k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 3, 1862.
Goodhar, A. J., k. at the battle of Perryville, K., Oct. 8. 1862.
Culley, D. V., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1802.
Fraser, S., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862
Davis, C. L .. k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862. Blakely, J. D., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
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Moore. A. B , k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., ; Smith, M. A., k. at the battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, 1862. Ky., Oct. 8, 1802.
Wherry, J. M., k. at the battle of Perryville, | Myers, J. H., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862. Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
Wharton, N. E., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky, Oct. 8, 1862.
Smith, James K. P., k. at the battle of Perry- ville, Ky., Oct. 8. 1862.
McNish, Joseph, k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1×62. Keeling. George, d. at Grand Junction, Miss., May 22, 1862.
COMPANY C.
Hampton, Second Lieutenant G. T., k. at the ! McClure, Stephen, k. at the battle of Perry- battle of Perryville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862. ville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1802.
Leonhardt, Edward, k. at the battle of Perry- | Burke, Robert W., k. at the battle of Murfrees- boro, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1962.
ville, Ky., Oct. 8, 1862.
Henry, R. S., k. at the battle of Perryville, Ky.,
Oct. 8, 1862.
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