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 61
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My own war history after this is simply that I remained with Gen. Polk until his death near Atlanta. I was with that gallant officer for many months through the trials and vicissitudes of the war. After Gen. Polk's death the War Depart- ment ordered me to Georgia, to take charge of what was called a court to settle claims for property taken by the army from citizens in Georgia. I was thus en- gaged when the war ended.
FORTY-SIXTH TENNESSEE INFANTRY. BY J. M. CLARK, PARIS, TENN.
UNDER a call from the Governor of Tennessee, Isham G. Harris, the Forty- sixth Regiment of Tennessee troops were organized in Paris, Tenn., on the 29th day of November, 1861. The following officers were elected: J. M. Clark, Colo- nel; J. W. Johnson, Lieutenant-colonel; James S. Brown, Major; J. S. Dawson, Adjutant; J. D. Wilson, Sergeant-major; S. II. Caldwell, Surgeon; Thomas Tal- iaferro, Assistant Surgeon; S. J. Ray, Commissary; B. F. Ridgeway, Quarter- master. Co. A, J. A. Allen, Captain; Co. B, J. W. Weldon, Captain; Co. C, J. W. Harris, Captain; Co. D, S. C. Cooper, Captain; Co. E, W. A. Tharpe, Cap- tain; Co. F, J. C. Poyner, Captain; Co. G, W. B. Vancleave, Captain; Co. H, J. HI. Hannah, Captain; Co. I, R. A. Owens, Captain; Co. K, J. H. Paschall, Cap- tain. The number of the regiment should have been forty-three instead of forty- six. The Secretary of State made the mistake inadvertently. It was organized before the regiment that had that number.
The command was ordered to go into camp at Henderson Station, Tenn., but before reaching that point was placed under the command of Gen. Leonidas Polk, and by him ordered to Union City. The only arms in the command were some squirrel rifles and double-barreled shot-guns. After remaining a few weeks at Union City, the regiment was ordered to Island No. 10, in the Mississippi River. Co. C, Capt. Harris, was detailed to guard the bridges on the Mobile and Ohio railroad, near Union City. Two companies, under the command of Major Brown, were stationed at Hickman, Ky. The other companies went to Island No. 10. ' A ditch had been cut from the river to Reelfoot Lake, on the Tennessee shore, about three-fourths of a mile above the head of Island No. 10. At this point we halted, and began to throw up earth-works, and in a few days to throw up works upon the island and at different points on the Tennessee shore. On the 9th day of March, 1862, Gen. Polk evacuated Columbus, Ky., and fell back to the island, also occupying New Madrid. On the night of the 12th, after resisting the ap- proach of the Federals, the forces-about two thousand men-left New Madrid, and were landed on the Tennessee shore, opposite the island. On the morning
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of the 13th of March the rebel gun-boat "Grampus" gave the alarm that the gun-boats were approaching, and in a short time three appeared and commenced shelling our position, and night and day for twenty-three days the bombardment continued. Gen. Polk had left Gen. MeCown in command, and he had gone to Corinth, garrisoning Fort Pillow on his way. The command left at the island was very poorly armed. But few had any other than the ordinary shot-gun and rifle. We had about forty pieces of artillery mounted on the Tennessee shore and upon the island. One very heavy piece on the island burst on the third shot being fired from it. The Mississippi River had overflowed its banks, and the low country was submerged. One advance battery, known as Rucker's, had to be manned and worked in water knee-deep. The Federals came down one night during a storm, and spiked all the guns at this battery. On the night of the 5th of April, during a terrific thunder-storm, a gun-boat passed our batteries. Gen. MeCown had been ordered away, leaving Gen. Marsh Walker in command. He having been ordered away, Gen. Mackall, of A. S. Johnston's staff, was given the command about the Ist of April. On Sunday morning, April 6, the writer went to Gen. Mackall's quarters, and told him a gun-boat had passed our position and was then lying at New Madrid. The General remarked that we would capt- ure it; but we did not. On the night of the 6th another gun-boat passed below us. On Monday a consultation was held, and a retreat was determined upon, and so ordered; but for some cause unknown to the writer a halt was made, and the opportunity for escape was lost. At sundown the command was drawn up in two lines two hundred yards apart, fronting north and south, with orders to prepare for action, the enemy having surrounded our position. At twelve o'clock r.M. we were surrendered. Capt. Harris, of Co. C, not being with the command, was not surrendered. He was ordered to Corinth, and, going into Kentucky with Bragg, was severely wounded in the fight at Perryville, being made a cripple for life.
While this little army had no fighting to do, and was but poorly prepared with arms for twenty five days, almost the entire time every man was on guard duty, there being a coast of thirty-five miles to guard and about fifteen hundred men all told. After the surrender, many escaped by crossing Reelfoot Lake upon rafts, etc. The Forty-sixth lost two men on Sunday, both being struck by grape-shot from a gun-boat. The officers were carried to Camp Chase-Columbus, Ohio-and in a short time were removed to Johnson's Island. The privates were carried to Camp Douglas, near Chicago. About the 1st of September we left Johnson's Isl- and, met the men at Cairo, and proceeded down the Mississippi in boats. On the 1sth we were formally exchanged at Vicksburg.
A few days after the exchange the regiment was reorganized at Jackson by electing J. S. Dawson, Colonel; R. A. Owens, Lieutenant-colonel; J. D. Wilson, Major; I. M. Huds, Adjutant; J. T. Williams, Quartermaster; J. T. Mathias, Surgeon. The writer of this went to the Trans-Mississippi Department, and served the remainder of the war with the Thirty-third Texas Cavalry. Was with Ma -. gruder at Galveston, Taylor at Mansfield, Mt. Pleasant, Yellow Lagoon, and to the surrender.
From Vicksburg the Forty-sixth Regiment was ordered to Holly Springs, and upon arrival was ordered to march across the country to reinforce Vancleave and Price, but were met eight miles from Holly Springs by the retreating columns. They were then ordered to Port Hudson, and remained there until the place was
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
evacuated The regiment was then ordered to Jackson, Miss., and took an active part in the resistance to Grant's move against that city, and was then ordered to Nashville. About that time this regiment was consolidated with the Fifty-fifth Tennessee. .
In the spring of 1864 the regiment was ordered to Dalton, Ga., and then back to Mobile; then to Atlanta. It took part in the battles at New Hope Church and Kennesaw Mountain, in this fight losing five killed out of about one hundred and twenty-five men. Lost two-thirds of all in the fight on the 28th of July. Marched with Hood into Tennessee, leaving many on the field at Franklin and before Nashville; retreated into North Carolina, and surrendered with Johnston at the close.
FIFTY-FIRST TENNESSEE INFANTRY. BY G. W. SMITHEALL, COVINGTON, TENN.
THE companies composing the Fifty-first Tennessee Regiment were organized during the summer and fall of the year 1861 in the counties of Shelby, Tipton, and Madison. The companies were ordered to rendezvous at Henderson Station, in Madison county, in November, 1861, where the regiment was partly organized in December following by the election of Capt. B. M. Browder, of Tipton county, as Colonel; Dr. John Chester, of Madison county, Lieutenant-colonel; Capt. Ed- ward Clark, of Madison county, Major; and Rev. Mr. Page, Chaplain.
In February, 1862, the regiment was ordered from Henderson Station to Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River; remained there a few days, when it was ordered to Fort Donelson, which point only a portion of the regiment, with Major Clark, reached in time to take part in the engagement, and was surrendered with the Confederate troops when the fort was taken.
The remainder of the regiment was ordered to Corinth, Miss., and after the battle of Shiloh was consolidated with the Fifty-second Tennessee Regiment: and shortly thereafter an election was ordered for field officers in the two regi- ments, when Col. Chester was elected Colonel; Capt. E. O. Shelton, cf Tiptor, Lieutenant-colonel; and G. W. Smitheall, of Tipton, Major. The latter, how- ever, declined the position, and Capt. A. Wilson, of the Fifty-second Tennessee Regiment, was elected in his stead. Henry Sanford, of Tipton county, was ap- pointed Quartermaster; Thomas Beverage, of Madison county, Commissary; Dr. T. W. Roane, of Tipton county; Surgeon; and Dr. J. R. Sanford, of Tipton county, Assistant Surgeon. At this date the regiment was composed of the following com- panies: Company A, Capt. James Hodges; Company B, Capt. O. D. Weaver; Com- pany C, Capt. J. S. Hall; Company D, Capt. William Campbell; Company E, Capt. S. E. Sherrill; Company F, Capt. - Barnet; Company G, Capt. G. C. Howard: Company H, Capt. J. C. Hudson; Company I, Capt. D. G. Godwin; Company K, Capt. John Dickerson.
On the reorganization of the Army of Tennessee after the battle of Shiloh, the regiment was placed in the brigade of Brig .- gen. Daniel S. Donelson, Maj .- gen. B. F. Cheatham's division, and continued with the brigade and division until the surrender of the army in the spring of 1865. After the retirement of Gen. Don-
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
elson from active service, the brigade was commanded by Brig .- gen. M. J. Wright; and later by Brig .- gens. John C. Carter and G. W. Gordon.
In 1863, while the army was in camp at Shelbyville, Tennessee, the portion of the regiment surrendered at Fort Donelson was exchanged, and Col. B. M. Brow- der procured an order from the War Department at Richmond to have the reg- iment reorganized, when Col. Chester was reelected Colonel; Capt. John G. Hall, of Tipton county, was elected Lieutenant-colonel, and Lieut. John T. William- son, now of Columbia, Tenn., Major. Capts. Sanford and Beverage were re- appointed. Dr. Roane was reappointed Surgeon, and Capt. D. G. Godwin was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the place of Dr. J. R. Sanford, resigned.
When organized the regiment was about eight hundred strong; was composed of good material, having quite a number of men of families on its muster-rolls; was in every general engagement of the Army of Tennessee from Shiloh to Frank- lin; and was surrendered in April, 1865, at Greensboro, N. C.
We have been able to obtain but few of the names of the brave men of this regiment who left their homes-and some of them their families and little ones -- and sacrificed their lives in the defense of their loved Southland. The regi- ment lost heavily in killed and wounded at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chicka- mauga, and Franklin; and not a few of their number fell at Dalton, at Resaca, on the Kennesaw line, on Pine Mountain, around Atlanta, and at Jonesboro.
The regimental flag had inscribed on it, "Shiloh, Perryville, and Murfrees- boro," as a recognition of the gallantry of that regiment on the field in those en- gagements.
FIFTY-SECOND TENNESSEE INFANTRY. BY B. J. LEA, BROWNSVILLE, TENN.
THE Fifty-second Tennessee was organized at Henderson Station, now in the county of Chester, on the 4th day of January, 1862. Benj. J. Lea was elected Colonel; - Oliver, Lieutenant-colonel; and T. G. Rundle, Major. The compa- nies were commanded by Captains Nat. Wesson, J. A. Russell, A. W. Wilson, Riley Akin, Joe G. Thomasson, - McCollum, Joe Thomas, Jack McMillin, Jolin Estes, and W. J. Williams. The regiment was ordered to Fort Henry, and was on the way when the fort fell. They were then ordered to Columbus, Ky .; but on account of sickness in the regiment and the inclement weather, they were ordered! to return to their camp at Henderson. The regiment suffered greatly from mea- sles, and when they were afterward ordered to Corinth, Miss., a few weeks before the battle of Shiloli, not more than half its members were able for duty. The regiment received muskets only a few days before the battle of Shiloh, which was on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862. In that fight the regiment suffered greatly in killed and wounded. Co. B, it is remembered, lost ten in killed and wounded, and each of the other companies probably as many.
About the last of April or the first of May, 1862, the Colonel of the Fifty-sec- ond being absent sick and wounded, the Fifty-first and Fifty-second regiments were consolidated by order of Gen. Bragg, and Col. John Chester, of the Fifty- first was placed in command. We were assigned to Donaldson's brigade, Cheat- ham's division, and were with that division at Perryville and Murfreesboro.
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
In June, 1863, by order of the War Department, there was a reorganization of the Fifty-second at Shelbyville. Benj. J. Lea was reelected Colonel, John Estes elected Lientenant-colonel, and T. G. Rundle reelected Major. The regiment was again consolidated with the Fifty-first. Col. Johu Chester was assigned to the command of the consolidated regiment, and Col. Lea was ordered to command of the post at Huntsville, Ala., relieving Gen. Bate, who was ordered to his brigade. It is a matter of regret that no memorandum is at hand by which the names of the Lieutenants and privates can be given-men who helped to make a name and renown for Cheatham's division, and who so gloriously aided other Tennesseans in maintaining the military renown of the Volunteer State.
FIRST ALA., TENN., AND MISS. INFANTRY. BY ALPHEU'S BAKER, LOUISVILLE, KY.
I WAS a Captain in the First Alabama Regiment, at Pensacola-Col. Henry D. Clayton, afterward Major-general-when I received a telegram in December, 1861, from Fort Pillow, Tenn., informing me that I had been elected Colonel cf a regiment just organized there. I accepted, and went to Fort Pillow a short time before Christmas. I found there a regiment composed of four Alabama, four Tennessee, and two Mississippi companies. Col. Wm. T. Avery, of Tennes- see, was Lieutenant-colonel, and - Cansler, of Mississippi, Major. The four Tennessee companies were the following:
Co. A: Composed almost entirely of Irishmen. Enlisted in Memphis, Tenn. Joseph Barbiere, of Memphis, Captain; - Brooks, First Lieutenant; T. J. Spain, Second Lieutenant. The other officers I cannot recollect.
Co. H: John R. Farabee, of Memphis, Captain. Names of the other officers not remembered. Company enlisted in Shelby county, Tennessee.
Co. G: Captain, J. L. Morphis; First Lieutenant, W. J. McAlpine. Company enlisted in McNairy county, Tenn.
Co. K: Captain's name forgotten. First Lieutenant, James Rogers; Second Lieutenant, A. M. Duncan. Company enlisted in the county in Tennessee in which is Jenkins's Depot.
A. S. Levy, of Memphis, was Quartermaster, and L. D. F. McVay, of Pocahon- tas, McNairy county, Tenn., Commissary of the regiment.
By a compromise the regiment was called the " First Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi Regiment." It did garrison duty at Fort Pillow, Tenn., of which Col. L. M. Walker, of Memphis, was commandant, until Feb. 26, 1862, when it was ordered to New Madrid, Mo. It was poorly armed, and I remember that on going up the river on the "Vicksburg" from Fort Pillow, and expecting to meet the enemy at New Madrid, we sat up all night molding bullets and folding powder in papers, as a druggist would medicine, for cartridges. At New Madrid, in a for- tification which we erected. by building a breastwork from St. John's Bayou to the Mississippi River, we were besieged by a vastly superior force under Gen. John . Pope until the night of Thursday, March 13, 1862, when we evacuated New Mad- rid, crossing the river in the steamer "De Soto" to the Kentucky shore.
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REGIMENTAL HISTORIES AND MEMORIAL ROLLS.
We were engaged in attempting to hold Island No. 10 until April 8, being first under the command of Gen. L. M. Walker, then Gen. A. P. MeCown, and lastly Gen. W. W. Mackall (pronounced Ma-kle), who surrendered to Gen. Pope on the last-named day. The meu went to Camp Douglas as prisoners of war, and the otti- cers first to Camp Chase and theu to Johnson's Island. These were exchanged at Vicksburg, and upon reorganization went into some Tennessee regiment. The remainder of the companies went into a regiment first called the Fiftieth Ala- bama and afterward the Fifty-fourth Alabama, of which I was Colonel. I kept a journal, in which are preserved many things which I am sure, however creditable to the endurance and courage of those brave men, could not go into so condensed a sketch as this must necessarily be.
LOOKOUT ARTILLERY.
BY R. L. WATKINS, CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
THIS battery was organized on April 4, 1862, at Chattanooga, Tenn., with eighty- five members. Its officers were: Robert L. Barry, Captain; Richard L. Watkins, First Lieutenant; James Lauderdale, Second Lieutenant; John M. Armstrong, Third Lieutenant; and John S. Springfield, Fourth Lieutenant. All continued with the battery, and in active service, until surrendered.
The first service this battery was engaged in was the defense of its own city- Chattanooga, Tenn .- in July, 1862.
On Gen. Bragg's advance into Kentucky, in August, 1862, this battery was or- dered by land to Knoxville, Tenn., to go with Gen. Cleburne's brigade; but, fail- ing to reach Knoxville in time, it was transferred to the Department of the Gulf, at Mobile, Ala., and was under command of Brig .- gen. James Canty, and stationed at Pollard, Ala.
In the spring of 1863 it was transferred to the Department of the Mississippi, with Maj .- gen. Loring's division, and was assigned to a brigade, commanded for awhile by Brig .- gen. A. Buford, and afterward by Brig .- gen. John Adams, of Tennessee. It was engaged in the battle at Jackson, Miss., and in all the cam- paigns in which Gen. Loring's division was engaged.
This battery, with Gen. Polk's corps, joined the Army of Tennessee at Resaca, Ga., May 13, 1864, and was there accorded the honor of the defense of the bridge; and from Resaca it was honored with the position of defending the approach to the railroad all the way to Atlanta, Ga. There it occupied the most dangerous position around the city. This battery was regarded by the commanding General of the army in which it had served so long as one of the best that could be found in the army. It was engaged in all the battles from Resaca to Atlanta-viz., Re- saca, Lost Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Chattahoocheer, and Peach-tree Creek on July 20, 1864.
On Gen. Hood's advance into Tennessee in the fall of 1864 this battery was ordered to Corinth, Miss., to garrison that place and protect the supplies that were being sent there for Gen. Hood's army. After that army returned from Tennessee we were ordered to Mobile, Ala., and were selected out of many other
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MILITARY ANNALS OF TENNESSEE.
batteries to be sent to defend Spanish Fort, near Mobile, which was already closely surrounded by the Federal troops. After two days' hard fighting this fort was abandoned on the Sth of April, 1865, and we were sent back to Mobile; from thence to Demopolis, Ala .; thence to Meridian, Miss., at which place we surrendered on the 10th of May, 1865; and on the 13th of May the battery dis- banded, each man taking his own way homeward, with a consciousness that the failure of the cause for which he was contending was not attributable to his want of fidelity or devotion.
THE END.
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