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 53
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We returned through Salisbury, joined the battalion, and continued the retreat through the town. It was at Salisbury that a lady, fearing we were short of men to manage the guns, offered to take the place of number three at either piece, and serve through the day. Her services were admiringly declined. We started off with the guns, hoping to get a start of the enemy and escape, but we were over- taken and the guns captured in a line not more than three-quarters of a mile from the town. The officers and mounted non-commissioned officers escaped, I among the number. A few of the men who took to the brush also escaped.
It is proper in this connection to mention the gallant conduct of W. J. Pierson, who was of the second piece. My piece (the first) was at the head of the column on the retreat. The second piece was next behind me. When it was found that the cavalry was close upon us, and that there was no chance to carry off the guns, the command was given the men to take care of themselves as best they could. Upon this Pierson ran to the rail fence to our right and began to climb over, but at once got down on the ground again, and drew his pistols as he did so. He was the only man in the company, perhaps in the battalion, provided with side-arms. A Federal officer had spurred ahead of his column, and was coming at full speed, passing by the guns, apparently making for the head of the column to stop our progress at once. Four or five men were about a hundred yards be- hind him, and the cavalry column still behind them. It was for the purpose of stopping this officer that Pierson came back. At any rate he came back into the road and fired upon the officer at about twenty paces. The officer spurred upon him, elevated himself in his stirrups, and raised his sword to strike him. Pierson fired again. The saber dropped from his grasp, he careened in his saddle, his horse wheeled, when Pierson fired the third time. The officer fell from his saddle mor- tally wounded, struck by each shot, I was afterward told. By this time the squad of cavalry that followed him were close up, and Pierson, in the same fool-hardy manner, stood his ground and opened on them. I did not stay to see the result of this little brush, but Pierson afterward told me that he unseated one of these, knocked down the horse of a second, climbed the fence, and escaped. The officer referred to was shot within a few yards of me. He wore shoulder-straps with sil- ver eagles upon them, indicating, I believe. a Lieutenant-colonel. Pierson is now living in Batesville, Ark., and is as obstinate and fool-hardy now as then. ITe is a Republican, I believe, of the stalwart stripe.
The remnant of our company was never gathered together. Gen. Lee had al-
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
ready surrendered, and Gen. Johnston surrendered not long afterward. Thinking perhaps the contest would continue west of the Mississippi, I started without a parole for that department. I was taken in, however, and paroled at Marion, Ala .; and I sincerely hope that I, nor my children, nor my children's children, may never be called upon to enlist in any military move again. I got enough.
LYNCH'S BATTERY. BY CHARLES S. MCDOWELL, EUFAULA, ALA.
I WRITE this brief history of our company from memory. I have no knowl- edge of records -- hence dates will be few.
The manner and means by which Tennessee was carried out of the Union were highly repugnant to the people of East Tennessee. Intensely loyal to the Gov- ernment and traditions of their fathers, swayed by no prejudice, their love for sec- tion was merged into love for their whole country and the liberty of its people. A section prolific of great men implies a people instructed in the science and his- tory of government, keenly alive to interest and the preservation of their liberty. Little wonder, then, that she should stand solid against the policy of secession when called to sanction the dissolution of a compact sealed by ancestral blood; or that, when in the hurry of events "State fortune " was cast with the South by natural affinity and blood, a line so sharp was drawn. Upon one side or the other the spirit of the times impelled every one capable of thought and action. Those who, treading policy and preferment under foot, followed the bent of incli- nation and natural affection, casting their fortune with the South, stood guard and ward over their homes and household gods, can well af rl the name of loy- alty to those who, mayhap from a sense of duty, were impelled to take up arms in support of the Union. It was a struggle to the hardy sons of East Tennessee and a sharp analysis of duty which led them to put aside allegiance to General Government and against conviction of policy fight for bare right. I: is the high- est embodiment of patriotism, and carries the germ of that prowess which for four long years bore the folds of the Southern flag in face of armies recruited without stint from every quarter of the habitable globe.
From this people and section-from the counties of JeFersiz. Cocke. Greene, Washington, and Sullivan-was recruited Lynch's Battery. ormanirei at New Market, Jefferson county, the latter part of 1861. Captain, Joan Person Lynch, than whom a more conscientious man never drew sword or i raver and in bottle: J. M. Carmack, First Lieutenant; W. Shields, Second Lieutenant, with aboot one hundred and fifty men rank and fle.
The morale of the company was notable. It was comps.2 maimir of the sons of Presbyterian families-such men as a little more than ie Zopired Teurs be- fore were following the fortunes of Cromwell. An oath was merely bensi in its camp, nor did the gambling and petty thieveries common == = ist Fazanis find countenance here. The moral discipline of the home-ame bers as fait, whether by the camp-fire, on the march, or upon the battl -- - JE
Soon after we broke up camp under orders to Corinth. M .-. He. W. E. E .:- ler, of West Tennessee, was assigned by Gen. Polk as Jacke Fus Leseman,
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
John M. Carmack retiring on account of bad health. We were ordered to Gre- nada, Miss., to get our equipments-guns, horses, etc .- arriving there in Febru- ary, 1863. In March following we were ordered back to Corinth, and placed in charge of the siege-guns on the breastworks to the right of the Mobile and Ohio railroad. Here the company was reorganized. Lynch was reappointed Captain; Shields, Senior First Lieutenant; W. E. Butler, Junior First Lieutenant; and Lieut. Hill, of Rucker's battery, was assigned as Senior Second Lieutenant.
When Corinth was evacuated our company was among the last to leave, carry- ing all its guns. We were ordered to Columbus, Miss., where we did garrison duty for several months. Here Lieut. Hill was ordered back to his company. We were ordered to hold an election for two Lieutenants. Sergt. Tip. Elmore was elected Senior Second Lieutenant, and Sam MeCampbell Junior Second Lieutenant. Lient. Win. Shields died before we left Corinth.
From Columbus we were ordered to Vicksburg, and placed in charge of the up- per water-battery, composed of four siege-guns, where we were engaged in many day and night attacks from gun-boats, having the honor and gratification of sink- ing the "Chickasaw " when that gun-boat attempted to run the Vicksburg bat- teries, greatly discomfiting the enemy for the time. The company also partici- pated in the fight at Chickasaw Bayou, where for gallant and meritorious service they were complimented by the General in command.
During the siege we had charge of guns in rear of Vicksburg, where was done good service. We suffered severely in killed and wounded among officers and men, but remained in charge of this position until the surrender of the place; were then paroled, and went into parole camp at Demopolis, Ala.
Early in September, 1863, we were ordered to Atlanta, where the company re- cruited preparatory to exchange, which, however, was not had until July, 1864. In the meantime we had been transferred to the vicinity of Bristol, Tenn. When the exchange was made a new company had been recruited on the nucleus of the old, ready and eager for the field, furnished with a light battery, two twelve- pound howitzers, two ten-pound Napoleon guns, cannoneers mounted, and for duty assigned to a cavalry division composed of Vaughn's brigade of mounted in- fantry and Morgan's cavalry, operating against the Federal force in East Ten- nessee. Here there was a company trained to service of siege-guns suddenly transformed into flying artillery, but the prospective service braced the nerves and fired the heart of every man by immediate action for recovery of home, while fronting us were foemen worthy of our steel; neighbors, friends-yea, brothers by affinity and consanguinity-fighting for their homes.
O murderous war! O strife implacable! When brother's blood by brother's hand is shed.
Varying fortune carried us in quick succession over the greater part of Upper East Tennessee and South-west Virginia, pushing the enemy back to his forts at Strawberry Plains, and in turn being drawn to the defense of Saltville, Va., where was defeated the raid for its destruction in a short, sharp, and decisive battle. Then came the last struggle for supremacy in East Tennessee in October, 1564. Breckinridge, now in command of the department, and in personal command of the troops in the field, with all available force-at best a mere handful-moved down the valley to meet Gillem, whose pickets were encountered six miles below Greeneville, driving him into intrenchments on the mountain-side at Bull's Gap.
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
During the night our battery was placed in position in an open field some six or seven hundred yards from the enemy's line. On our right was a section of Bur- rows's battery, Lient. Blackwell commanding it. At the dawn of day we com- menced firing. Soon the infantry engaged. Unceasingly the fight raged unt !! 3 o'clock in the evening. Steadily the two armies had held their ground, besieg- ers and besieged, all day. Sunday we lay upon the field with no battle. Sunday night marching orders came, and soon we were away to the rear of the enemy, who, not aware of our movements, had started on his retreat to Knoxville. O :: r roads intersected six miles below the gap; and there we struck him, and captured! him all along his road of precipitate flight for twenty-eight miles-wagons, artil- lery, and men.
Pushing on to Strawberry Plains, we attacked the enemy's forts, but could not reduce them. Our army was then slowly withdrawn to Greeneville, where our battery remained about two weeks. The Federals having been heavily reenforced. Stoneman, with a large body of mounted infantry and cavalry moving up the val- ley of the Holston via Rogersville, had made considerable advance, it seems, be- fore we had orders to break camp, and were thus nearly cut off. We then started on what proved a most disastrous retreat for five days and nights. Resting but three times to feed cur jaded horses, we sat in saddle, our weary battery-horses dragging our guns over East Tennessee winter roads which would have been im- passable save under the spur of dire necessity. The main roads being in posses- sion of the enemy, we took to the mountains, literally carrying our guns where they could not be drawn. At last, under the morning-stars of the fifth day, at Seven-mile Ford, in Virginia, in the very teeth of the enemy, whose camp-fires gleamed on the meadows until lost in the darkness, we crept from the mountain- roads onto the turnpike, and started afresh for Wytheville, our escort only the shattered pieces of two regiments, hoping to reach there and save the battery. Our main force of cavalry had gone to defend the lead-mines on New River, ex- pecting to mcet Stoneman there. Here Lieut. Wm. E. Butler, in command of one section of the battery, while gallantly working his two guns, unsupported by the demoralized cavalry, received a severe saber wound on the head, and was left as dead. He fell into the hands of the enemy, and, being soon paroled, was pro- moted a few days afterward to a Captaincy of artillery by a special order from Gen. Breckinridge, specifying "for gallant conduct."
But here was Stoneman in full force at Seven-mile Ford. Soon his bugles called to saddle, and his force was thrown in our pursuit. Seven miles up the pike, at Marion, we had halted to feed, and were just moving out when his advance-guard struck us, while yet too dark to distinguish friend from foe. Quickly the fight in the streets became furious. Moving our guns by a bridge over a narrow strean, we took position and opened fire, checking the enemy's advance for a time. O ::: force was now divided, the battery by section. We commenced a painful retreat, fighting as we went, for ten long hours, closely pressed by the enemy, until bc- tween Mount Airy and Cedar Creek we made our last stand, when we were con- pletely run over. Our battery was lost-every thing gone-many killed, many wounded, some captured, and the remainder scattered throughout the woods and country.
Wearied by his long pursuit, hampered with his wounded, in the heart of an exhausted country, in midwinter, the cold so intense that it fought against him,
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Ino. W. Norton
CHIEF OF ARTILLERY FOPREST'S CAVALRY. ARMY OF TENNESSEE. C.S. A.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
the enemy started on his retreat. He had to abandon his captives, and they soon rejoined the shattered remnants of their respective commands, which in turn hung upon his retreating flanks like Cossacks on the rear-guard of the "Grand Army."
Our broken battery straggled into rendezvous at Wytheville. It was rapidly re- cruited, furnished with six splendid guns, and attached as Co. A to Page's battal- ion, then formed of all the artillery in the department-three companies, I think.
But little active service was had in the early spring. The toils now drawing closely around the doomed Confederacy caused the evacuation of Richmond and concentration of all available forces. About April Ist we took up our line cf march northward, objectively for Danville, there to join Lee's army. We had reached Christiansburg, Va., when we received the news of Lee's surrender. Gen. Echols was now in command of this body of troops, Breckinridge having been made Secretary of War. By orders to regimental and company command- ers the surrender of Lee was announced, and our entire command disbanded with advice and request to reach Johnston's army, in North Carolina, by personal ex- ertion. It is not pertinent here to criticise this order disbanding a division nearly surrounded, without provisions, the enemy in force within one day's march, leav- ing us to make personal surrender to United States troops upon such terms as each could make wherever and whenever found. I believe cach man made his surrender with the most consummate generalship.
Such is the history of Lynch's Battery, a company which, whether on siege or in the field, always held the post of honor-full on the front. Our men clothed themselves, and when mounted each cannoneer owned his horse. We were never paid, save forty dollars while in parole camp at Atlanta in 1863, vet not one word of complaint, or possibly a thought on that deficiency, was heard or had throughout the long struggle. Twenty years almost, with softening influence, have flowed on, bringing the man of middle age into the " sear and yellow leaf" and the gay-hearted boy to mature manhood who gathered as comrades around the company's camp-fires. In reunion we will fight our battles over again, and hold in reverence our dead- those who fell in battle and those who since have fallen by the way. Though seat- tered widely in the busy walks of life to a new nation, the survivors still look in sadness to that bright morning-April 12. 1865-when, under the shadow of the great Virginia mountain, we spiked our guns, cut down their carriages, and took up the burden of our Lost Cause, accepting the terse expression of our great chief: "Human virtue should equal human calamity."
MORTON'S BATTERY. BY FRANK T. REID, NASHVILLE, TENN.
ON the 27th of December, 1862, at Dresden, West Tennessee, Morton's Battery was organized. It numbered sixty-three non-commissioned officers and men. John W. Morton, jr., was appointed Captain; A. W. Gould, First Lieutenant; and T. Sanders Sale, Second Lieutenant. It rendered material service in the prin- cipal engagements and skirmishes that were fought on Gen. Forrest's first raid into West Tennessee.
VERY
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
Shortly after its return to Columbia it accompanied the ill-advised and unfortu- nate expedition commanded by Gen. Wheeler against Fort Donelson. It next played an effective part in the celebrated capture of Col. Streight and his command in North Alabama the latter part of April, 1863. It was on this expedition, and just before the tierce fight at Town Creek, that Lieut. Tully Brown, under orders from Gen. Bragg, reported to Gen. Forrest for duty as an artillery officer, and al- though not permanently assigned to a command in the battery until its return into Middle Tennessee, he yet, by a personal order from Gen. Forrest, during a portion of this spirited engagement assumed charge of one of the guns, and handled it with conspicuous gallantry.
About the 16th of May, in Columbia, Gen. Forrest killed Lieut. Gould. The facts are these: The General had sent word to Lieut. Gould that he must leave his cominand. The ground of this dismissal was imputed cowardice. Gould imme- diately called at Forrest's head-quarters, and the General, seeing that he was highly excited, made an appointment to meet him later in the day at his office in the rear of the Bank of Columbia building. There they met near the door of this roon, and Gould vehemently denounced as false the charge preferred against him. At the same time he cocked a pistol which he had in his pocket. Forrest, who at the time held a pocket knife open in his hand, quickly struck him one blow with it in the breast. Gould drew his pistol and fired, striking the General in the groin, and then retreated into an adjoining store. Forrest hurried into his office, and there procured a pistol, and then followed in the direction Gould had fied. He found him lying on the counter, and fired one shot at him, which, however, did not take effect. Gould staggered to his feet and again retreated, but showed such evident weakness from loss of blood that the General discontinued the attack. Forrest's wound, although in a dangerous part, fortunately healed in a week or so. Gould died after a few days. The writer was not at that time a member of the battery, but he is convinced, from what he heard afterward from those best quali- fied to speak, that the imputation of cowardice against Lieut. Gould grew out of a mistake into which Gen. Forrest ought never to have fallen, and had no foun- dation in fact to justify it. According to the testimony of his comrades who saw him more than once under a heavy fire, he always displayed perfect self-possession and cool courage. His death was a lamentable tragedy.
The battery took its share in covering and protecting the retreat of Gen. Bragg on Chattanooga, and in the great battle of Chickamauga that shortly thereafter followed. It was on the eve of this battle that the writer of this sketch, through the influence of Capt. Morton, was transferred from Co. F of Starnes's cavalry to the battery, and appointed Orderly Sergeant. At the same time George Crunk. a Williamson county boy, was transferred from the same company and installed as Bugler of the battery. Here also Harry Field, a "regular down-east Yankee," born and reared in Boston, who, however, had lived a few years previous to the war in Nashville, joined the battery and proved himself a good soldier and a kind, warm-hearted man. James C. Woods (now residing at Craggie Hope, near Nashville), an old school-mate of the writer's, here also joined the battery, and throughout its subsequent career distinguished himself for his tine soldierly qual- ities. I am not sure, but it seems to me that it was here also that Wm. E. Wat- kins (at present a well-to-do farmer of Davidson county) joined the battery, and certainly thereafter it contained no braver or better soldier.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
Two three-inch rifled steel Rodman guns were captured by Cleburne in the fa- mous charge he made late in the evening of the 19th, and were turned over to the battery and formed a part of it during the remaining years of the war. Who that witnessed that charge can ever forget it? The picture of it comes before me, more or less blurred and indistinct, as I write. Again I see the old dusty country road blocked with our guns, the men squatting in groups around a few fires and roasting potatoes in the ashes, the deep lull that had fallen after the recent fight- ing between Cheatham's division and the enemy intensified by the fitful, solemn songhing of the wind through the branches and tops of the tall pines, that seemed to grow taller and more inournful the deeper the shades and gloom of evening gathered around; the somber forest in front, soon to be peopled with the ghosts of murdered men; and now, some several hundred yards to our left, appears the head of a 'steadily advancing silent column, a mounted officer in front and a few mounted officers scattered at intervals along the line, and the old tattered flags tremble in the hushed, frightened air and cling close to the flag-staffs. Along the edge of an old corn-field, over which vultures wheel in great circles, it continues to advance. Now the sharp command, " Halt!" Then the "Forward into line!" and two thin lines move forward, without a sound, into the deepening shadows, and as they are abont to be swallowed up from sight the silence is suddenly rent as by the crackle of an immense conflagration, and angry flames flash forth from the throats of ten thousand guns. At intervals of a few minutes the sullen roar of one or two cannon and the wild laugh and scream of the shell were heard. And now the firing weakens. Single shots and volleys can be distinguished, and now it re- celles in the distance, and farther and farther, until at length it dies away alto- gether. When some of us went, a half hour later, to where the fighting had been, to carry off the captured guns I have spoken of, the moon had risen, and its pal- lid light fell upon the ghastly faces of great numbers of corpses. In how many far-distant homes the same light streamed through window-panes upon kneeling women and little children praying for the husband and father who lay here in the yellow leaves with the picture of home and wife and children rising up before him out of the mists of death !
The next morning we expected the battle to recommence at an early hour. The army was eager for the fight. It snuffed victory in the air. But hour after hour dragged by, and still we held our breath and listened to catch the first opening sounds of battle. We cursed in our bitter impatience, until the feeling grew into gloomy conviction that the commanding General would again prove unequal to his task. A heavy fog settled down and enveloped us in a ghostly mist. But at last, far off to our left, at about eleven o'clock again the angry guns spat fire, and again the air was alarmed with the fierce uproar and clangor of battle. I can now only revive faint and imperfect glimpses of the scenes I then saw. Toward the close of evening I see our battery moving slowly, with frequent short halts, through an open forest along a dusty road, and corpses are strewn thick on either side, down a gradually long de-cending slope until the wide bottom is reached, where the guns are halted, the riders remaining in the saddle. A long, wavering line of infantry, many of the men hugging the ground, creeps up the gradually ascending slope of a long ridge in front, and shells scream through ranks and explode all about us. In a few minutes our guns are in position on the extreme right. The air is soon heavy with sulphurous smoke, and streams of fire leap from the mouths of the
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
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cannon. Hark! what means that faint cheering far off down the line? It swells and grows in volume, and spreads up the line until the heavens resound with the "wild rebel yell." The red field is won.
Early Monday morning Forrest's command was in motion, and the pursuit was not discontinued until Morton's guns were planted in sight of Chattanooga and near enough to throw shells upon the pontoon-bridge that there stretched across the Tennessee River.
In the latter part of October we lay encamped around Dalton, Ga. The weath- er was cold and rainy, and many of the men sntiered for want of clothing. The writer recalls that he was in rags, and for some days was barefooted when the ground was sprinkled over with a slight fall of snow. Sergt. Joe M. Mayson was in much the same plight, and both were eager to procure a furlough. So ager was the writer that shortly before this he had attempted to work his way to At- lanta on a furlough signed only by Capt. Morton and Maj. Rawls, at that thne chief of Forrest's artillery, but had been turned back with the statement that Gen. Bragg's signature was indispensable. Mayson and myself conceived the brilliant idea of addressing a communication to Gen. Bragg, in which we set forth in moving terms the state of our wardrobe, and promised that if a furlough. were given so that we might visit our relatives we would return at the end of the time with all the clothing we needed; and to insure its reception by the General him- self we wrote on the envelope, "Private and personal." We were both mere boys, and a spirit of fun largely contributed to what we did. A few days after this let- ter was sent my father arrived in camp, and I can now see the look of pain that came into his face when he first saw me. I was at once clothed in a handsome uniform from top to toe. Weeks passed, and the fact that we had written to Cien. Bragg had passed out of our minds, when one morning Mayson and myself were summoned to Capt. Morton's tent, and were told that an officer of high rank awaited our coming. Mayson borrowed Lieut. Tully Brown's new coat and boots, and followed after me. At the door of his tent stood Capt. Morton, and at his side an officer with three stars on his collar. We made the proper salute, and were introduced to the Colonel as Sergts. Mayson and Reid. The Colonel surveyed us for several minutes from head to foot, and there was a grim smile on his face and confusion on ours. Then he broke the silence: " Well, sirs, Gen. Bragg ha- re- ceived your private and confidential communication, and has commissioned me to inquire into the facts, with the instruction that if they were as represented by you to give you the furloughs asked, but if they were not to have you placed in irons until a court-martial could pass on your case. I think, Sergeants, yon stand a good chance of getting a longer furlough than the one you applied for." To un- derstand the terror into which this threw us it is only necessary to recall what a strict martinet Gen. Bragg was, and the number of men, according to report. that were being shot by his orders about this time for trivial breaches of discipline. It was a great relief when we discovered that the Colonel was not in earnest, but was only amusing himself at the expense of our fears.
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