USA > Tennessee > The military annals of Tennessee. Confederate. First series: embracing a review of military operations, with regimental histories and memorial rolls, V.2 > Part 48
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# The best known field batteries of the Western armies of the Confederacy appear to have been Robertson's, Carnes's, Cobb's, and Slocum's.
CAPI W. W. CARNES.
CAPT L.G MARSHALL
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
works, but wounding nobody. Gen. Polk stood at the water's edge as the boat ap- proached, and said, "Don't land that boat," supposing the crossing was about to be abandoned. The loss of the gang-plank was explained, and another, but in- ferior one, was obtained, and the huge transport returned and disembarked the . infantry and finally the two batteries. But it was now getting late in the even- ing, and Cheatham and Pillow had driven the enemy to their boats several miles above, though the camp of the Sixteenth Louisiana was taken and destroyed. Neither battery had an opportunity to open fire, but Melanchthon Smith's battery did some fine practice directly across the river in support of Cheatham's flank movement.
It should also be mentioned that when the transport failed to effect a landing at the first trial Capt. Jackson, being determined not to be too late, committed his battery to the Lieutenants, and reported to Gen. Pillow for duty in the midst of the action. The General desired to know what he was there for. Jackson replied, "I wish to act as your aid, sir, the boat having failed to land the battery." Pil- low had enough for him to do, and soon, in the execution of one of his commis- sions, the Captain's horse sunk to the ground riddled with balls; and the Captain himself thought a stick punched him as his horse fell, but directly found that he had a ball in his side. It was three months before he was again fit for duty; nor could the ball ever be extracted, nor even located.
During the night succeeding the battle the battery returned to Columbus, and there remained camped on the low ground near the railroad depot till after the fall of Fort Donelson, in February, 1862, when it moved with the army to Cor- inth, Miss.
CARNES'S BATTERY.
Shortly after the arrival here Capt. Jackson was promoted Colonel of cavalry; Lieut. W. W. Carnes was promoted Captain of artillery, and held the command till December, 1863, when he was assigned to duty under his commission as Lieu- tenant in the regular Confederate States Navy. Henceforth-that is, from about March, 1862, till December, 1863, a period of little less than two years-the bat- tery was known by the name of its new commander; and from its incessant activ- ity, not to say efficiency, "Carnes's Battery" became a name familiar to everybody in the army.
Under Capt. Carnes's administration Lieuts. Foote and Brown were soon as- signed to duty elsewhere, and only three of the former Lieutenants remained- namely, Marshall, Bond, and Cockrill. Sergeants of piece were: Vanvleck, Bai- ley, Gillam, Thompson, Wilson, and Day; Quartermaster Sergeant, Allen; Order- ly Sergeant, Finis E. White. The names of the six Corporals, Color-bearer, Trumpeter, and of others well worthy of mention, we regret to say, are not re- membered, but all knew their duties well. The battery was equipped with six guns, seventy-five well-drilled men, and upward of a hundred horses. Of the seventy-five men perhaps fifty were Tennesseans, eight or ten from Arkansas, a few from Mississippi, Kentucky, and Georgia; a few deserters from Grant at Bel- mont; a few Germans and Irish. Of the Irish it is only justice to say that the army had no better soldiers while on active duty.
The battery camped on an eligible spot three miles north of Corinth, on the Purdy road. It was winter. The water, food, forage, and air should have been good, but not one of these prime essentials to the well-being of man and beast
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
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awaited the army at Corinth. On the gently elevated ground where the battery stood you could dig a hole two feet deep anywhere, and clear but terribly nnwhole- some water would bubble up. Every mess had its own well right in its tent, if there was a tent. Springs and branches there were, but all just like the shallow well-water. The effects of this condition of air, food, and water were soon appar- ent. The horses deteriorated in spite of the industry of the faithful groom and the skill of the farrier. They almost refused water and forage. The hair disap- peared from their limbs wherever the seemingly acrid mineral mud became at- tached to them on the road, however carefully washed off at night. The men were not much better off than the horses. Several of them born and raised in the pure air of the mountain counties were unable to stand the combination, and were buried in the dark, damp woods of the vicinity. We would gladly record, and so preserve, the names of these luckless patriots, who were denied the privi- lege of falling in glorious combat-if fall they must -- and had to die so obscurely; but even their names are lost, or cherished only in the silent affection of those who are concerned neither about history nor historian.
When the battle of Shiloh began, on April 6, the battery had for a few weeks been under the orders of Brig .- gen. Charles Clark, of Mississippi. As the battery contained six pieces and only seventy-five men, the General declined to allow the artillery to accompany his brigade, more especially because he had another bat- tery with a full complement of men. Both men and officers felt solitary and half offended when the different commands moved off; for although marching orders were withheld for good reasons, those reasons could not then be appreciated. The Captain went to head-quarters at Corinth to see if orders to march could by any possibility be obtained. It was impossible, and one objection being the pancity of men, Capt. Carnes requested Col. Olodowski, Chief of Ordnance, to allow him to turn two of his guns over to the department. This being permitted, he sent two of his pieces to the depot, and then, totally without orders and on his own responsibility, ordered his command, early the next morning, to march for the battle-ground, twenty-five miles distant. The battery moved rapidly, and between 2 and 3 o'clock in the evening arrived on the field just as the firing ceased on both sides. The Captain was bitterly chagrined at not being enabled to take a more active part in that great conflict. But, in fact, as much artillery was on the ground as could be utilized; and though at one time during the first day's figlit- ing eighty of the enemy's guns were in possession of the Confederates, the latter were not able to bring off a single one of them. On the return march the battery was assigned to duty in the rear-guard, and, following all the other artillery and wagons over ground saturated with recent rains, performed some service if not as brilliant as cannonading the enemy, yet quite as essential to the safety and honor of the army.
The roads were the worst possible. The night after the second day's fight was passed in silence by the contending armies, separated by an interval of only five miles. It had been rainy weather for weeks, and now rain fell heavily during the night of the 7th, and also on April 8 and 9. The battery was two days making its way back to camp, a distance of twenty-five miles. No roads could be followed, and the army on its return marched with a front at least ten miles wide, and yet traveled in a quagmire of excoriating mud. A good many of the horses and some of the men were never the same after this abominable ordeal.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
During the remaining stay at Corinth, Carnes's Battery, having been assigned to Brig .- gen. Daniel S. Donelson's brigade, passed most of the time on picket, where the line of works crossed the Purdy road, about three miles north of the railroad crossing. The health of men and animals continued bad, but when the army retired to Tupelo, Miss., the situation was greatly improved, though even this place was deficient in good water. Here several of the men were affected with scurvy. For the first time a few desertions occurred, and there was disgust at the service.
Late in July, however, orders were received to move to Columbus, Miss., pre- paratory to an advance into Kentucky. Gen. Bragg had promised in general or- ders to "throw his banner to the breeze;" and now new energy was infused, and even sickness was heard of no more in the battery. On arriving at Aberdeen a rich and varied banquet set by the citizens awaited the column. At Macon, a station on the Mobile and Ohio railway, the guns were placed upon the train for Mobile; and thence by the Alabama River, with reinvigorating change of air and scenery, the men were wafted, luxuriously as it seemed to them, three hundred miles to Montgomery; and thence again by rail three hundred miles more to Chattanooga, among the mountains. The horses, freed from the carriages, were taken across the country, with equal benefit to themselves, in charge of Lieut. Cockrill.
On July 27 Carnes's Battery encamped in Chattanooga, about two hundred yards west of the Read House, then called the Crutchfield House, on ground well shaded with native forest-trees, but now densely covered with business and manu- facturing establishments.' Buoyant health and great expectations were legible in every countenance and were signified in every act. "The banner was on the breeze." The battery now reported to Brig .- gen. Daniel S. Donelson, Cheatham's division, Polk's corps, Army of Tennessee. Notice the slight distinction of names of the armies. "The Army of the Tennessee" was Federal, while "The Army of Tennessee" was Confederate.
On August 19 the battery, with the rest of the corps, crossed the Tennessee River by a ford near Harrison, twelve miles above Chattanooga, and the long, ex- ultant march into Kentucky began. The column crossed Walden's Ridge, passed through Pikeville, crossed Cumberland Mountain, halted a day or two near Sparta, resumed the march and crossed the Cumberland River near Gainesboro at a ford which was approached by a road running over very precipitous bluffs; thence on to Tompkinsville, Ky., where some fine artillery-horses were procured; thence on to Glasgow, where a halt of two days was made-not for rest, for every thing was in better plight seemingly than when the march began, but to pay off arrears, and perhaps for other reasons.
From Glasgow the column took the Bardstown pike, and made steady progress at the rate of twenty miles per day; arrived at Munfordville after dark on the 16th of September, and the batteries of the army were so parked as to cover at a mo- ment's notice the Federal fort on the other side of the river, garrisoned by four thousand one hundred men. The fort surrendered without a shot at 2 o'clock the next morning. On the 17th the march was resumed as if for Louisville; but for some reason, after an advance of some miles had been made, the column returned to the vicinity of Munfordville, and passed a second night on the same ground. However, on the next day the column proceeded regularly, as before, on the Lou-
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
isville road, and passing through Bardstown went into camp for a few days three or four miles east of that place. Sergt. A. Vanvleck was now, on recomienda- tion of Capt. Carnes, promoted Second Lieutenant of artillery, and Dr. Hatcher reported to the battery for duty as Surgeon, no special medical officer having be- fore been assigned to this command.
Abundant and excellent supplies of every sort and the bracing air of Kentucky had put men and horses in the best possible condition. The advance northward seemed to have reached its limit. The wear and tear of the long journey were quickly made good as if for the battle of Perryville, now in the near future. The battery moved over the fine roads to Danville, thence to Harrodsburg on the 7th of October, where the men bivouacked under the pleasant shade-trees, and at mid- night took up the march for Perryville, twelve miles distant, arriving there at day-break. The citizens thronged about the army, and the excitement was in- tense. The column had passed quite through the little town, and about 10 o'clock in the morning had to return-at least Polk's corps-to the east side on the Harrods- burg road and about half a mile from Perryville. Gen. Donelson ordered the fence to be thrown down on the right side of the road as the traveler proceeds from Harrodsburg to Perryville, and the column to enter the field. The posi- tion to be occupied was approached over very rough ground, which rose to a con- siderable height about a mile from the entrance into the field, and on this ele- vation was the line of battle. Carnes's Battery was placed in line on the crest of the ridge, and began the battle by a very rapid fire on the enemy's front, which was in plain sight about eight hundred yards off. All the artillery on both sides seemed to open fire presently, and though Gen. Bragg was a veteran of the cele- brated battle of Buena Vista in Mexico, he described the roar of artillery on this occasion as "surpassing any thing of the kind within his knowledge or experi- ence." In this position the guns of the battery were cach fired four times a min- ute for about forty-five minutes. Three horses were killed, but no casualties oc- curred among the men. Orders were received to cease firing and withdraw the battery, in order to take a more advantageous position. Time was even given to feed the horses under slight cover in a neighboring depression of ground. Gen. Bragg flitted along the line, well satisfied with the bearing of the men. About two o'clock in the evening orders were given, at the solicitation of the Captain, to take another position a mile and a half to the right of the first. The movement began at once, and so steep was the ground just before reaching the intended spot -which was a ridge, and this, too, encumbered with a high fence running longitu- dinally along its top-that the infantry, at the order of Gen. Polk, who always appeared at critical moments, had to actually push the gun-carriages against the horses, and even to help the horses themselves up. The battery was, however, moved into its place, brought into line, unlimbered, and put in action just about as quick as if the ground had been level. But the range was too great, and after a few volleys orders were given to limber up and advance. The roar was deafen- ing, and Capt. Carnes and his Lieutenants had to literally push the Corporals from the trails to permit the execution of the order. An advance of about half a mile was made over ground moderately descending, and exposed to the full blast of the enemy's batteries, which were also advancing in quest of a better position. But Carnes's Battery descended the slope, and, before the enemy could unlimber their more advanced pieces, arrived on the suniniit of the slight intervening ridge,
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
which was crowned by a rail fence on the left running perpendicular to the direc- tion of movement, and terminating at a frame barn perhaps two hundred yards distant from the left piece, while on the right front of the ridge a stone wall sup- plemented the rail fence and sheltered the advance of the Confederate infantry. The battery went into line at a trot, unlimbered, and began firing while the ene- my's more advanced detachments were doing their best to get ready. The latter pret- ty gallantly unlimbered in the hollow where they were, and returned Carnes's fire with spirit. Lieut. Cockrill had dismounted and hitched his fine gray behind the frame barn on the left, but a shot came through the barn and took off the animal's hind leg. The horse remained hitched, and only broke loose when the battery re- tired, and then he tried to follow his old comrades. The cannoneers had some cover, as the guns stood on a slight ridge, and the casualties were only two. Cor- poral Jones had his left leg taken off at the knee by a cannon-shot. Dr. Hatcher, Surgeon of the battery, tied the severed arteries in five minutes after the wound; but the shock was too great, and he died that night. Private Dukes, from Ruth- erford county, Tenn., was permanently crippled by a cannon-shot, and honorably discharged from the service on the return to his native State. The battery had exhausted all its solid shot and shell during the day, and after sundown tried can- ister; but orders were given to retire the artillery, and the infantry continued the action an hour or two longer. The battery bivouacked on the field about a mile from the last position, and calling the roll Sergeant White found that a good many of the men could not hear, having disregarded the direction given in the tactics-namely, to turn the face toward the muzzle of the piece when discharged, so as to bring the ears equally near the origin of the concussion. They soon re- covered, and became more prudent. The night was disagreeably cool, and the men lay down to rest without fire or rations; but still all were cheerful and happy. They knew they had honored themselves and the service during the day. Their battery had achieved celebrity in the last twelve hours, and members of the com- mand, when recognized, were treated with marked attention. Compliments, oral and printed, were lavished upon them, and the honorable position won at Perry- ville was maintained till the close of the war. Carnes's name became identified with this early distinction, and in subsequent years "Carnes's Battery" was the popular designation of the command, whether Jackson's or Marshall's was meant.
It is proper here to observe that in the movement to the right just preceding the battle Carnes's Battery became detached from Donelson's brigade by a mo- mentary delay in passing through a gate. Just then an officer of Gen. Wood's staff approached Gens. Bragg and Polk, standing near, when Capt. Carnes was called to them and ordered to go with the officer-Maj. Judson, as remembered-and report to Gen. Wood. Thus the battle was opened (for Carnes's Battery took the initiative in the general action, so far as the line was concerned) in front of and in support of Wood's brigade. Artillery support, however, was also soon ren- dered by Calvert's, by Lunisden's, and by Slocum's batteries. All were relieved within an hour, and Stanford's rifled guns occupied the position, the better to reach the enemy, now too distant, and also using rifled cannon. It is proper also to say that the last position taken was by consent rather than by order of Gen. Pulk. Col. Wharton, of the Texas Rangers, had suggested the position on the steep ridge, and very effective work was done there for a few minutes; but soon the enemy's long-range rifled guns began to play, when Carnes requested of Gen. Polk to be
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
allowed to move forward. The General said: "Yon came here without orders, and seem to have done good work so far. You can act as you think best, sir." Gen. Donelson, speaking of the circumstance afterward, said pleasantly: "Noth- ing succeeds like success. It's all right with your commanding Generals nou, since the unauthorized movement succeeded; but if you had failed, or got into trouble, you would all have been dismissed for acting without orders." The ene- my's ritled cannon sent a Parrot shot through the hub of the right piece, cutting off and clinching the axle, so that the wheel dragged as if locked; but a captured piece of the same caliber supplied its place.
Next morning the sun rose brilliantly, and the march began for Harrodsburg. The battery attempted to carry along one of the enemy's guns which had been taken, and as this was more than the teams were prepared for, Gen. Cheatham took an ax and chopped down one of Carnes's disabled guns, and so enabled him to carry off the captured piece, which was preferable. In the evening the battery returned to Harrodsburg, and the men took a nap under the same trees that had sheltered them two or three days before.
Next day the march was continued to Camp Dick Robinson, where the battery halted five days. Then the march was resumed, double columns occupying the road; and thus the trains, said to be forty miles long, passed through Lancaster, Mount Vernon, London, Barboursville, Cumberland Gap, Tazewell (Tenn.), May- nardville. On the evening of October 23 the battery camped three miles north of Knoxville, and on that night the snow fell to the depth of eight inches .* A halt of three weeks was here made to recuperate. The march had been rapid, and latterly through a region of country destitute of supplies. Man and beast had suffered. Horses, after hard pulling all day, had to put up with five cars of corn at night and five in the morning, without fodder or any sort of "roughness." Men called at the forage-wagons and offered a dollar for an ear of corn, a trade which of course could not be permitted. Gen. Hardee reprimanded a Lieutenant of artillery for allowing the wheels of the gun-carriage to squeak, but recalled his reprimand on learning that the country did not afford Inbricating material enough to silence the unearthly noise. Serious disaster would no doubt have befallen the column had not Gen. Bragg ordered supplies to be sent from Knoxville to meet the army at Cumberland Gap.
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The enemy gave up the pursuit after the column passed Barboursville, though attacks liad never done more than provide the rear-gnard with an agreeable ex- citement; but bush-whackers stole around the woody hills and bluffs firing into the column till a general officer, without halting, ordered some picked cavalry-men to surround the nest of skulkers; and this order was so effectually obeyed that five of the wretches apologized by permitting themselves to be hanged near the road-side.
On the 10th of November Carnes's, Scott's, and Melanchthon Smith's batteries without the accompaniment of infantry, resumed the march for Middle Tennessee, which they made by way of Sequatchie Valley and Jasper, crossing Cumberland
* This movement was the beginning of the abandonment of Kentucky; but it was thought by the citizens to be only "a change of base," and the column was cheered as it passed the country residences of Southern sympathizers. Cheatham's division, especially, which had suffered so severely in the battle of Perryville, was warmly and loudly welcomed till the in- tent of the movement became obvious.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
Mountain by University Place; thence down through Cowan Station, Winches- ter, and to Tullahoma, where Carnes's Battery remained in camp four weeks. Late in November the command moved to Murfreesboro, and about the 15th of December advanced to La Vergne, supported by Strahl's brigade, on picket duty, and there remained one week, the weather being intensely cold for that latitude. By this time the battery was restored to its best condition, with a full complement of men, horses, and material.
On the 31st of December, 1862, the great battle of Murfreesboro began. These lines are written on the twentieth anniversary of that mighty conflict by one who was there, and then a Lieutenant in Carnes's Battery. He vividly recalls to mind the scenes of the 31st and of the three following days, but can find no words that adequately describe them.
Very early in the morning Bragg's general order was read to every command, explaining the intended plan of the battle -- namely, that the left wing of the Con- federate army, under Hardee, would swing on its right, resting on Stone's River about a mile north of Murfreesboro. The grand movement began promptly, and was executed according to programme till the enemy were swept from their posi- tion beyond the Wilkinson road to the Nashville pike, into line parallel there- with, supported by perhaps a hundred pieces of artillery, and the Confederate swinging movement was then brought to a final pause. Carnes's Battery was at first drawn up in line near the Wilkinson pike, though not unlimbered, and the drivers were mounted, when one of the younger ones called to Dr. L. B. MeCreary, Surgeon of the battery, and told him that his right arm had suddenly lecor.e paralyzed, and hung powerless by his side. Meantime the enemy's cannon-shot were careering overhead, and the doctor, on examining the young driver, told him the less said the better, and to go on and perform his duty as a soldier. At this moment the battery was ordered to move to the right and form on or across . the Nashville pike, just in front of its intersection with the then shallow river. The order was executed at a trot directly across the line of the enemy's fire- mostly artillery fire only, but probably intensified at the time by the burning of a palatial residence called the Cowan house, which stood about midway between lines. During this movement the paralyzed arm of the young driver seemed in- dued with new life and strung with nerves of steel. It was only a momentary mental weakness of the young fellow.
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