USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 34
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When Lieutenant Shotwell's brave act was reported to General Lee, by special order he complimented the gallant action, the brigade, and the temporary com- mander for remaining at the post of duty until all possible was accomplished under the trying circumstances.
The men were deeply grieved at the death of their commander, who had led thein so successfully upon so many hard-fought fields, but were gratified that his body had been recovered. His remains were placed in a casket and taken to Rich- mond, where he lay in state at the capitol in the Hall of Representatives, envel-
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oped in the flag he had defended with his life, and covered with floral offerings of a people always proud to honor the brave.
The brigade was permitted to attend the funeral on Sunday, -the only time during the four years' conflict they were able to pay the last tribute of respect to a comrade. Postmaster-General John H. Reagan, Colonel F. R. Lubbock, of Presi- dent Davis's staff, both Texans, and the members of the Texas delegation in Con- gress, acted as pall-bearers. President Davis and cabinet attended in a body. The hearse containing the remains was followed by a soldier leading the general's horse, ready caparisoned, and the battle-searred veterans who had never quailed before the enemy, now with bowed heads and arms reversed, marched behind the body of their beloved commander. At Hollywood the casket was deposited in a private vault to await the wishes of his wife, now impossible to consult.
"General John Gregg was a native of Lawrence County, Alabama. In 1851 he located at Marshall, Texas, where he rapidly rose to eminence as a lawyer, and was elected judge of a judicial district. He belonged to the secession convention, and was a delegate from Texas to the Provisional Congress at Montgomery. On the initiation of the war he returned to Texas and recruited the Seventh Regiment of Infantry and was elected colonel. He participated in the defence of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. He was wounded at Chickamauga, and soon after assigned to the command of the Texas Brigade in Longstreet's corps, then operating in East Tennessee. He participated with this corps in most of the battles afterwards of the Army of Northern Virginia. He fell in the battle of New Market Road. The crowning glory of his military career was his defence of Richmond. General Gregg was a man of good literary and scientific attainments, of extensive reading, of large intellect, and a profound thinker."
' On October 13 the brigade participated in an engagement on the Darbytown Road, in which the Confederates were victorious after a fearful day's work. On the 28th they had an engagement on the Williamsburg Road, killed, wounded, and captured a large number of Federals, sustaining little loss. Troops were con- tinually on the move, scouting parties brought in many stragglers and captured many battle-flags. General Longstreet particularly complimented the work of the 28th after looking over the ground.
General Field's forces occupied a line of works a mile and a half beyond the Richmond fortifications, which were three miles from the city. In December the Texas Brigade began to feel secure for the winter, when a slight fall of snow made its appearance. All were rejoiced ; but, alas ! next day they were ordered to move at daylight with three days' rations. "General Longstreet's reconnoissance out in front of the enemy" was the wording of the order. Twenty-four hours later it developed into only a still-hunt, and the brigade was ordered back to its former position.
Many surmises were made as to the probability of a new brigadier-general and some little anxiety expressed, resulting in petitions of each regiment to have their colonel commanding appointed, but none was ever made. Colonel Winkler con- tinued in command after General Gregg's death until Colonel F. S. Bass, of the First Regiment, recovered from his wound. When Colonel Powell, of the Fifth Regiment, returned from prison late in the winter, he, as ranking officer of the
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brigade, assumed command, which he retained to the end. The only generals who commanded the Texas Brigade were Wigfall, Hood, Robertson, and Gregg.
The time passed pleasantly in winter quarters. A large chapel of logs was constructed and services were held every Sabbath, prominent divines from Rich- mond and other places going down to preach to the soldiers. The Texas dele- gation in Congress, Postmaster-General Reagan, Colonel Lubbock, ex-governor of Texas, and other distinguished friends, often went out, spent the evening, and sometimes remained all night, contributing their quota to the social life of the camp. The most frequent of these visitors was General John R. Baylor (member of Con- gress), who had distinguished himself on the frontier of Texas in Indian fights and was afterwards military governor of Arizona. His fund of anecdote was inexhausti- ble, and, as he discussed congressional and military matters with a freedom of one familiar with all phases of life, he was at all times a valuable acquisition to any crowd. He not only made it pleasant at head-quarters, but mingled with the soldiers on the line, and, if the prospect of a fight presented ( there were many orders to be ready for an attack), he shouldered his musket and went to the front.
Provisions became scarce and rations short, yet they managed to extend such hospitality as possible to visitors. Dried peas was a favorite dish, occasionally varied by a little bacon,-one pound shared by cight men,-a few potatoes, etc. When coffee and sugar were issued, there was no meat. The furloughed soldiers went into other States, and on their return brought back many boxes of edibles for their comrades. When one man had two pairs of shoes his needy brother was certain to get one of them. Cheerfully they accepted the hard fare and scanty clothing without a murmur.
Two subjects engrossed their attention. One was the possibility of the whole brigade getting furloughs to Texas and to return in time for the spring campaign ; the other, the fear that in the general reorganization of the army their brigade would be consolidated with troops from other States, the regiments having become so decimated as to make this seemingly necessary, thereby losing their identity, there being no other Texas troops in the Army of Northern Virginia.
General Lee declined to allow the furloughs to Texas, saying in his order : " It will be impossible for these brave men to return in time. No brigade has done nobler service or gained more credit for their State. Though I should be gratified at every indulgence shown this brigade, I cannot recommend this." They acquiesced in the inevitable, especially as General Lee was generous in allowing furloughs in other States nearer camp.
When the fear of consolidating the brigade was uppermost, the men held a meeting and appointed Major W. H. Martin ( "Old Howdy" ), of the Fourth Regi- ment, to present their protest against such a measure to the President. General Lee was present at the interview, and said : " Mr. President. before you pass on that request, I want to say I never ordered that brigade to hold a position that they didn't hold it." Mr. Davis replied : " Major Martin, as long as there is a man to carry that battle-flag you shall remain a brigade !" The order from General Lee assuring them of the President's decision was enthusiastically received, and served as a balm to the refusal of furloughs to Texas.
General Lee had favored the Hampton Roads conference and was anxious for
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honorable terms of peace. After that failure he determined to address a personal letter to General Grant and see what could be done. "When these overtures also failed, there was no man more determined to fight it out to the end, and he went to work to make the best possible disposition of his little army." Congress, in at- tempting to do something to alleviate the situation, passed a resolution creating General Lee commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, but he declined the responsibility, as he and President Davis had always entertained the most friendly relations, had always acted in unison, and he did not wish to sever these ties by any act of personal aggrandizement. The Texas Brigade retained its courage and spirits, although the officers were worried to find some of their men were coolly taking "French leave," becoming discouraged by hunger, privation, a poor sup- ply of clothing, and deciding to go home to their necessitous families. President Davis said : "This absence without leave could not be called desertion, as the men did not go over to the enemy."
In spite of the harsh criticism of their own Senator, Wigfall, they still had confi- dence in the military genius of General Hood, and freely discussed his disasters in the West, affirming, if he had commanded the same material as his old brigade and division, he would not have been unsuccessful. He was still their idol, and they reverently gathered up his faded laurels and crowned him anew as their hero, and the greatest of Confederate generals save Lee and Jackson.
Two events of interest occurred during the stay in winter quarters. One was the presentation of five golden stars sent from Texas by a lady, who stated that they were made of gold too precious for ordinary use, and she wished to bestow them as testimonials to the bravest privates of the Texas Brigade. A committee was ap- pointed to designate who should be entitled to wear these stars. Their presenta- tion was an impressive scene, --- the committee declaring among so many valiant men it was the most difficult task of their lives.
The other event of importance was a review of the troops on the north side of the James River by President Davis, Generals Longstreet, Field, and others, which was an imposing military spectacle. Everything was in order, the men with polished guns glistening in the sunshine, clothing neat as possible under the circumstances, gallant officers riding along their front, receiving the salutes of the men, and ever and anon pausing to acknowledge a demonstration of respect, while the bands played their most inspiring airs. It was hard to realize, amid this brilliant pageant, that these men and officers were living upon the scantiest rations possible.
There was an engagement on the south side of the James, when Pegram's division made a gallant resistance to an attack near Hatelier's Run, and drove the enemy from the field. The troops on the north side were ordered to receive an attack on February 4, but no advance was made.
About the early part of March, General Lee held a conference with President Davis with regard to the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg and retiring towards Danville, where supplies could be collected and a junction made with the army of General Joseph E. Johnston.
On the night of April i it became known that the Federal troops had been removed from the north side of the river, but no surmise had yet been entertained by the Texas Brigade, who were occupying the same position to the extreme left of
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WINKLER-HOOD'S TEXAS BRIGADE.
General Lee's extended line, stretching for twenty miles on both sides of the river.
That day they received the news of the successful repulse by Pickett's Virginia division of the cavalry line contesting for the prize of the South Side Railroad near Petersburg, and supposed all was going well in that direction. As soon, however, as this repulse was reported to General Grant. another army corps was marched rapidly to their relief. On April 1, the combined forces of cavalry and infantry advanced against the Confederates, who were driven from their position at Five Forks in confusion. Matters now looked critical for General Lee, who was com- pelled to move to his inner line of defence at Petersburg, and the siege of the city seemed inevitable.
The fighting on April 2 began at daylight. General Lee's line was assaulted and pierced in three different directions, the Federals capturing Fort Mahone, one of the largest of the Petersburg defences. Here the Confederates made a desperate struggle, but were unable to cope with overwhelming numbers. Here fell General A. P. Hill,-a severe blow. The events of the day decided General Lee's course, and he sent a telegram to President Davis advocating that Richmond should be evacuated simultaneously with the withdrawal of his troops.
Longstreet's forces on the north side of the James, under command of General Field, had been ordered to move without any knowledge of their destination, and all day Sunday they were passing through the city en route to join General Lec at Petersburg. Being on the extreme left of the line, the Texas Brigade was among the last troops to cross the river at Richmond, Sunday night. By the time Peters- burg was reached retreat seemed a duty, but to retreat with poor transportation and no supplies seemed at least a forlorn hope, and the troops did not know the straits to which General Lee was reduced, nor did they stop to consider the situa- tion. Still were they determined to follow their great leader.
"General Lee's losses were irretrievable, though in killed and wounded only about two thousand, but he had lost his entire outer line of defence around Petersburg and the South Side Railroad, his important avenue of supply to Richmond." All he could do was to evacuate as quietly as possible during the night, and order supplies to meet him at Amelia Court-House, his objective-point being Danville, as proposed in his conference with the President. What he had considered a strategic movement now assumed the proportions of a dire military necessity. He commenced his retreat from his intrenchments around Petersburg on Sunday night, and got his army safe across the Appomattox River, intending to fall back to Danville. With his transportation in such a dilapidated condition, con- stantly menaced by the Federal cavalry, and retarded by the state of the roads, he had yet greater cause for alarm. His army, which at that time numbered, from the most reliable sources, scarcely twenty-five thousand men, now began to shrink away in anticipation of defeat, and many lost that spirit that had so long upheld them in hours of disaster as well as of success. The line of retreat was marked by ahan- doned caissons, strewn with knapsacks, blankets, arms, and accontrements. Every- thing was thrown away that hindered the speed of flight, and, without food, the brave remnant of a noble band pressed to that fate so sadly waiting them.
Field's division of Longstreet's corps, to which Hood's brigade was attached,
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covered in the rear of the line of retreat, engaged in innumerable skirmishes, burned bridges over which they passed, and with the same spirit of determination followed the lading fortunes of their leader, who, in the midst of all his perplexities, never meditated such a contingency as surrender.
The Texans were too far from home for the temptation of straggling from the ranks to be entertained, and, footsore and weary, they struggled on, believing the union with the Southern army would be effected, and the reverse be changed to victory. They had always fought against such odds, the idea of the abandonment of the cause never was allowed to find lodgement in their most secret thoughts.
The details of that last retreat and of the final surrender at Appomattox are too well known to require repetition here.
. When the news of the surrender reached the Texas Brigade, in the rear of Long- street's corps, details of men were busy throwing up intrenchments. A messenger was despatched to tell them to desist from their work, but they could not understand the order. "General Lee has surrendered!" They could not believe that ; but upon being assured there was no alternative, he must surrender or cut his way through the whole Federal army completely surrounding him, one brave fellow threw away his pick, dropped his hands despondently, exclaiming: " I'd rather have died than surrendered ; but if Marse Bob thinks that is best, all I've got to say is that Marse Bob is bound to be right as usual."
The next day General Lee delivered to his troops the last order emanating from that peerless soldier, which will go down the ages as a touching memento of that sad day at Appomattox :-
" HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, April 10, IS65.
" After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to over- powering numbers and resources. I need not tell the survivors of so many hard- fought battles who have remained steadfast to the last that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them ; but, feeling that valor and devotion could accom- plish nothing that could compensate for the loss that would have attended the con- tinuation of the contest, I have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of agreement officers and men can return to their homes and remain there until exchanged.
"You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty performed ; and I carnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you His blessing and protection. With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration of myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell.
"R. E. LEE, General."
After disbanding, the members of "Hood's Texas Brigade" dispersed to their homes, aided in the work of reconstruction after the grand collapse of the Con- federacy, and many of them have occupied the most exulted positions of honor and trust in the gift of the people of their appreciative State.
They united together a few years after the surrender as "Hood's Texas Brigade Association." Every year on June 27, the anniversary of the battle of Gaines's Farm, where they first distinguished themselves by turning the tide of
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battle in favor of the Confederates, they meet in friendly reunion at some appointed place where they are invited by the citizens. They enjoy the hospitality of the people, who vie with one another in thus honoring the brave, talk over their old battles and war experiences, and socially enjoy the companionship, for a brief period, of those to whom they vowed fraternal fellowship amid the shock of disaster and baptism of sorrow at Appomattox.
"The sons of the defenders of the Alamo" proyed themselves worthy de- seendants of their illustrious sires, and on the bloody battle-fields of Virginia main- tained the reputation so grandly made in their immolation upon their country's altar so long ago. Their record will remain as untarnished as that of the Tenth Legion of Cæsar or the Old Guard of Napoleon.
CHAPTER IV.
TERRY'S TEXAS RANGERS.
BY MRS. KATE SCURRY TERRELL.
O N the stage between Austin and Brenham, in March of the fateful year 1861, three delegates returning from the secession convention were dis- cussing the prospect of war. Believing an invasion imminent, and to repel it the duty of every man in the South able to bear arms, they determined to offer themselves to President Davis and to set about raising troops for the field. These men were Frank Terry, a wealthy sugar-planter of Fort Bend County, frank, generous, and courtly, a typical Southerner of ante-bellum times, Tom Lubbock, a commission merchant of Houston, and kinsman of Terry, and John Wharton, planter and lawyer, of Brazoria, a native Texan, with all the ardor of youth and the stimulus of a fighting family behind him. Terry and Lub- bock started overland for Montgomery, Alabama, but Wharton, thinking to make the trip more quickly, went by way of the Gulf and was taken prisoner. After a detention of two weeks and some heavy tongue engagements with the enemy, he was released, and, returning home, re- cruited a company of young planters, the Company B of the "Rangers." In the mean time Terry and Lubbock, catching the enthusiasin east of the Mis- sissippi, rushed on through to Virginia just as " Ma- jor-General Scott had his orders got to push on his columns to Richmond." They reported to General Longstreet, and served with distinction on his staff at the battle of Manassas. General Beauregard, in his official report of the engagement, "finds it proper to acknowledge the signal services rendered by Colonels B. F. Terry and T. Lubbock, of Texas. COLONEL THOMAS LUBBOCK. They made valuable reconnoissances of the enemy's position and carried orders to the field. Colonel Terry, with his unerring rifle, severed the halliard, and thus lowered the Federal flag floating over the court-house, and also secured a large Federal garrison flag designed, it is said, to be unfurled over our intrenchments at Manassas." A short time afterwards Terry and Lubbock received their commissions, with orders to "recruit a regiment of skilled horsemen for inimediate service." Returning to Texas, they established head-quarters at Houston and issued the following call for volunteers :
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TERRELL-TERRY'S TEXAS RANGERS.
"August 12, 1861.
"Having been authorized by the Secretary of War of the Confederate States of America to raise a regiment of mounted rangers for service in Virginia, we hereby appoint Captain - to raise and enroll a full company, to consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, two second lieutenants, four corporals, one blacksmith, two musicians, and from sixty-four to one hundred privates, and to report the same to us on or before the Ist day of September next. Each man will be required to furnish equipments for his horse and to arm himself. The company will be trans- ported free. The term of service will be during the war unless sooner discharged.
" B. F. TERRY. T. S. LUBBOCK."
No Highland torch ever gathered Scottish elan more quickly than did this call muster young planters, professional men, merchants,-the "kid-glove gentry" of the Old South. They came from every direction, with flags flying and bugles blowing, their young hearts aglow with patriotism and pride, eager to set out for fear the war might be over before they could reach Virginia to see the fun and win their spurs. In less than thirty days ten companies of one hundred men each had reported at Houston, been sworn in for "as long as this war shall last," and, with- out waiting to organize a regiment, started on their way to Virginia amid the waving of handkerchiefs and the tearful "God speed you" of sweethearts and wives. At New Orleans Terry received a letter from General Albert Sydney Johns- ton, then recruiting an army at Bowling Green, Kentucky, requesting that the "Rangers" report to him, and promising that while under him they should be an in- dependent command. A vote was put to the regiment and the voice was for Ken- tucky. Colonel Terry made a halt at Nashville to enable the different companies to overtake him. The dare-devil reputation of the " Rangers" had preceded them, and one of the questions asked by coquettish bright eyes was, "Where are your horns?" A flourished sombrero was to prove the bright head underneath incapa- ble of growing 'em ! About the middle of November Terry reported to General Johnston at Bowling Green, and though he was a commissioned officer, he pro- ceeded to organize his regiment on the good old democratic plan of election by majority, with the following result : colonel, B. F. Terry ; lieutenant-colonel, T. S. Lubbock ; major, Thomas Harrison ; adjutant, Martin A. Royston ; quartermaster, B. A. Botts ; commissary, R. H. Sinnons ; surgeon, J. M. Weston : assistant sur- geon, Robert F .. Hill ; sergeant-major, William B. Sayers ; quartermaster-sergeant, M. F. Deballegathy ; ordnance-sergeant, James Edmondson ; hospital steward, Thomas J. Potts. The regiment was mustered into service as the Eighth Texas Cavalry, but was better known to the army and to fame as "Terry's Texas Ran- gers." At Bowling Green soldiering began in earnest. Cold, privation, and con- stant exposure scourged with eamp diseases these delicately bred youths, of whom many died and some were discharged and sent home. From Bowling Green Major Thomas Harrison was sent with two companies on a scout to Jamestown, where, discovering a force of five thousand Yankees, he very properly faced about and returned to Bowling Green. This did not suit our young bloods spoiling for a fight, who in derision dubbed him the "Jimtown Major." Afterwards, in leading the regiment into battle, Major Harrison would call out, "Now follow your Jim- town Major," and they would ride fast and far, through storm of shot and shell,
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who followed. Another scouting party to Green River had a "little brush" with the Yankees, but without casualties. Early in December Colonel Terry was ordered to the Louisville Pike to join a small force of infantry under General Hindman. At Woodsonville, December 17, 1861, the "Rangers" made their first charge, and gallant Colonel Terry was killed in leading it. The main body of the Federal army was lying at Camp Wood on Green River. Colonel Willich, with a regiment of German troops, had been sent across to test the strength of the Confederates, and had deployed his men behind fences, haystacks, and trees near the river. Colonel Terry had instructions from General Hindman to decoy the enemy up the hill, so that he could use his infantry and artillery with effect. Leaving General Hindman several miles in the rear, Terry came upon the enemy's pickets at half-past nine in the morning. Ordering Captain Ferrell to take half the regiment and move to the right of the enemy, he with the other half marched rapidly to the left. A deep railroad cut divided the two commands until they reached an open field, where, at a given signal, they simultaneously charged. Colonel Terry on the left, at the head of his seventy-five " Rangers," charged upon three hundred of the enemy behind their defences, routed and drove them back, but fell mortally wounded. At the same time Ferrell had made a headlong charge on the right, the "Rangers" discharging their shot-guns within thirty yards of the Federals and their six-shooters in their faces. Retiring and reloading they made a second charge, when Major Royston was seen coming across the railroad bridge in a storm of shot to tell them of Terry's death and that Ferrell was now in command. Hindman's infantry coming up, the "Rangers" moved back to carry their dead colonel and their wounded to the rear. General Hardee, in his official report, says of this charge : "The conduct of the 'Rangers' was marked by impetuous valor. In charging the enemy, Colonel Terry was killed in the moment of victory. His regiment deplores the loss of a beloved and brave commander, the army one of its ablest officers." There is a slight discrepancy between the reports of this fight. General Buell reports, "the rebels ingloriously defeated." Some days after the battle the scouts cap- tured a Federal officer who was in the fight on Terry's side of the railroad. Among his papers was a letter to his sweetheart, in which he says : "The 'Texas Rangers' are as quick as lightning. They ride like Arabs, shoot like archers at a mark, and fight like devils. They rode upon our bayoncis as if they were charging a com- missary department, are wholly without fear themselves, and no respecters of a wish to surrender." Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Lubbock was seriously ill with typhoid fever at Nashville when Colonel Terry was killed, but he was unanimously clected by the regiment to fill the place. Lubbock died a few days afterwards, and Captain Jolin A. Wharton, of Company B, was elected colonel. In General Johns- ton's retreat to Corinth the " Rangers" were continually scouting, dashing to the rear for supplies, and through and around the Federal camps for information. In- dividual acts of daring were of daily occurrence.
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