USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 42
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The battle of Mansura was one of the most beautiful artillery duels ever fought on the fields of Louisiana. It occurred on the 16th of May. General Hardeman commanded the division ; Colonel Waller commanded Hardeman's brigade, which occupied the right wing, the Fifth Regiment being on the extreme right flank. The Confederate artillery was massed in the centre, covered by Bagby's brigade of Bee's division, commanded by Colonel Terrell. Lane's brigade on the left, with Polignac's division of infantry, supported the battery of heavy guns, which, from being drawn by oxen, was called the " Bull Bat- tery." The Federals first charged Terrell's line with infantry, and it retired under orders in appar- ent confusion to the rear of McMahon's battery, and the Valverde Battery immediately opened on their advancing antagonists with canister at close range, creating great slaughter. This charge being thus repulsed, the Federal artillery was brought to the front. The two lines of battle occupied the crests of two gentle acclivities in an open prairie, with a verdant valley between them. The distance GENERAL ARTHUR P. BAGRY. between the opposing cannoneers was less than a thousand yards ; there being about twenty pieces on each side, the thunder rolled in a regular succession of peals and flashes, and not without doing some execution. After some strain; of this sort of music, a well-directed shot fired by Lieutenant Joyce disabled three of the best pieces of the Federal artillery. After a momentary 1
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lull in the active work of the Federal gunners, they renewed their vigorous can- nonade, and were answered with the same spirit and determination. In the mean time the Federals had received large reinforcements of infantry and artillery, and it was not long before they were firing volley after volley from forty-two cannon in a single line of battle. The Federal commander, finding that this time, at least, the boys in gray could stand artillery, and that he was not able to dislodge them with his cannon, commenced a flank movement and endeavored to turn the left wing of the Confederates, and in this he nearly succeeded.
It then became apparent that the Confederates could not much longer resist the overwhelming numbers of the Federals, who were constantly arriving on the field. In order to draw off the artillery without danger of a charge from the Fed- eral infantry, a beautiful movement was executed in the open field. The Confed- erate cavalry, beginning with the Fifth Texas occupying the extreme right, galloped down into the valley between the two lines of battle and rode from the right to the left along the entire front of both armies for about two miles, under a heavy fire from forty-two pieces of Federal artillery. As fast as they passed in front of the Confederate forces the artillery moved to the rear, and the cavalry fell into the column and joined in the gallop across the battle-field.
Then Hardeman's brigade was left as the rear-guard and had to meet a furious charge of the Federals, who by this time saw what was the meaning of this unusual movement. They came on with impetuous valor, but were met by the most stub- born courage on the part of Hardeman's men, and were repulsed with great slaughter. Although the Federals were armed with the best weapons of modern warfare and Hardeman's brigade had nothing but Enfield rifles which they had cap- tured from infantry in previous engagements, and the assailants outnumbered the assailed two to one, the Texans stood their ground and saved their artillery. Gen- eral Wharton was on the field and commanded in person and greatly encouraged his troops by a display of good generalship and intrepid valor. He ordered Colonel Waller to hold his position until the rest of the Confederates had safely left the field, and the Federals, having failed to drive this brigade from the field by a direet assault, concentrated the fire of their artillery upon the Fourth Regiment and Waller's battalion, and for half an hour poured a terrific cannonade upon them. Still, Waller and his little band stood their ground with heroic valor. Shells screamed and burst in the midst of the cavalry, but they formed their lines as coolly'as if on parade, and, when all their companions had reached a safe distance from this hotly contested field, retired in good order before overwhelming numbers.
On the morning of the 17th of May, the advance of the Confederates, composed of the Fifth Texas Cavalry and Waller's battalion, made a dash into the village of Moroville, and meeting a column of Federal cavalry ran into them pell-mell, neither recognizing the other for several minutes, on account of the dust which enveloped them in blinding clouds. As soon as the antagonists recognized each other, a furious hand-to-hand fight began, in which several Federals were killed and wounded ; and the Confederates captured fifty-six prisoners, among them one lieutenant-colonel, two majors, and eight other officers. This little skirmish did not last half an hour, but it was warm while it listed.
On the 18th of May, 1864, the victorious Confederates under Taylor were pur-
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suing the retreating column of the Federals, and the cavalry under General John A. Wharton were close upon his rear at Yellow Bayou near Simmesport. The Thir- teenth and Nineteenth Army Corps, together with the cavalry and artillery under the Federal General A. J. Smith, had constructed a bridge of boats at Simmesport across the Atchafalaya Bayou, were crossing as fast as possible, and had they been unmolested, would have soon been out of the Trans-Mississippi Department. But General Wharton, just from the Army of Tennessee, had lately been promoted to succeed General Green after the unfortunate loss of that heroic leader, and being in command of all the cavalry was loath to let the campaign close without reaping some of the glory of victorious war. He accordingly ordered an attack upon the Federal lines, and soon drove in the pickets and skirmish lines. But he had aroused a nest of hornets. A. J. Smith had to fight or surrender ; he could not retreat until his bridge of boats was completed. So, having at least five men to Wharton's one, he turned upon him like an Andalusian bull at bay. General Joseph A. Mower was in the immediate command of the Federal forces on the field, and he ordered a general advance, repulsing the advance of the Confederates and forcing them back on their main body. Advancing through an open field and through a brier thicket, he found Wharton's cavalry dismounted and posted behind a hastily constructed barricade of fence-rails, near the intersection of Yellow Bayou and Bayou de Glaize. The Con- federates here also had about twelve pieces of artillery, and a brigade of mounted men on their right under Colonel G. W. Baylor, who drove in the left wing of the Federals, causing them considerable loss. Colonel Baylor, commanding Lane's brigade, made a steady advance on the Confederate right, driving their antagonists rapidly until the cavalry in their retreat were reinforced by infantry and artillery. Being now in an open field, Baylor's men found the firing of the artillery very hot, but stood their ground and drove nearly all the cannoneers from their guns. But Mower having massed his forces against the Confederate left, Baylor was almost sur- rounded and compelled to fall back, which he did in good order, though suffering heavily in wounded and having twenty-eight men captured, though he had but few killed. Having but a single line of cavalry, he contested the field nobly against overpowering odds in cavalry, infantry, and artillery. Baylor says that had Ter- rell's regiment come up on the right he would have captured the Federal battery and cut off their left wing from the main body, or inflicted heavy loss upon them. Perhaps he would ; he seemed to glory in the game of war.
After at first falling back, General Mower formed all his forces in solid pha- lanx and advanced along the whole of his line. Pressing the left of the Confeder- ates with a heavy mass of troops, by mere force of numbers he compelled them to retire from their fence-rail barricade across the open field under a heavy fire, with great loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The Federals having forced the Confederate left, composed of dismounted men, in the open field next to Bayou de Glaize, turned against the cavalry in the woods to their left and drove them back, also. However, all retired in good order, and the Federal skirmish line advanced only about half-way across the field in which Norwood's sugar-house was situated. The main body occupied the woods below. Here they remained for some time, until General Polignac came up from the Confederate reserve, and with his infantry division regained the day, drove the enemy back, and reoccupied the battle-field. Vol .. II .-- 47
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What part General Wharton took, save in ordering the attack, has never trans- pired. He failed to reap the honor and glory and left many a brave Texan on this bloody field. Colonel Stone, who was that day commanding Polignac's old brigade, was among those "dead on the field of battle." Lieutenant Land and Private Kindred perished here. The Confederate loss was four hundred and fifty in killed and wounded and one hundred and sixty in captured. The Federals had about two hundred killed and wounded.
After this repulse the Confederates suffered the Federals " to depart in peace," which they did on the two days following, crossing the Atchafalaya and the Missis- sippi and again investing Port Hudson. It was a pity that Taylor's brilliant cam- paign should thus be clouded in the closing days and the sun of victory thus go down in blood.
On the 23d of June, 1864, General Hardeman with his brigade was ordered to the little town of Trinity, on Black River. After a week's marching they arrived at their destination and went into camps. Here the Fifth Regiment was stationed, and the Fourth, under Colonel Hampton, was sent down the river to Johnson's Ferry to observe the movements of the Federal forces supposed to be in that region. The Seventh had their camps at Liddell's plantation, a few miles below Trinity. Waller's battalion was assigned to provost duty at Hardeman's head-quarters. Captain Pridgeon, with three companies of the Fifth, was on out- post duty at Cosgrove's plantation on Cross Bayou. They exchanged an occa- sional shot with the boys in blue merely for practice. Here was planned and exe- cuted a raid on Vidalia, a Federal outpost opposite Natchez garrisoned by negroes. After a night march through a dismal swamp of thirty odd niiles, at daybreak they reached the Mississippi River four miles below Vidalia. Waller's battalion, being in advance, drove the enemy from their position and captured twenty negroes, one hundred and thirty-five mules, and sixty horses. There was no loss on the Con- federate side, but as the place was untenable they soon withdrew. They next attacked a transport in the river, and just as they were in the act of boarding, the Federals, being largely reinforced and greatly outnumbering the Confederates, charged them, capturing two men of the Seventh Regiment and wounding one. The Federal loss was twenty-three killed and many more wounded.
The brigade returned to their camps on Black River and rested a few days. Then Colonel Hampton made another raid on the Mississippi River and brought off one thousand sacks of corn.
On the 29th of August the camps on Black River were abandoned, and the brigade moved up the Tensas and over to Waterproof on the Mississippi, and on the Ist of September took up the line of march for Arkansas. In Arkansas the time was spent in marching and countermarching, drilling, and in policing camp, a kind of duty to which this brigade was not accustomed and for which it never had a liking. General Taylor bears testimony to this assertion. On the 11th of September the advance of the brigade, which was now commanded by Colonel McNeill, of the Fifth, reached Monticello, and on the 27th crossed the Arkansas River fifteen miles above Arkansas Post and marched up on the opposite side to within a few miles of Pine Bluff. A portion of Waller's battalion and a detachment of the Fourth Regiment under Lieutenant Taylor were sent in the direction of
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McLEARY-HISTORY OF GREEN'S BRIGADE.
Duval's Bluff, on White River, and engaged the Federal forces found in their way, who, after firing a few rounds, hastily retreated. Then the brigade made a forced march by night, recrossing the river and destroying the boats, and halted again at Monticello. Here, being ordered to Lewisville, they continued their march through wretched weather and miry roads and at last reached their destination. Resting a few days at Lewisville, they set out under orders, making forced marches for Wash- ington, where, resting half a night, they continued in their rapid transit on the road towards Arkadelphia, but when about half-way countermarched and returned to their old camps at Rusk Lake, near Washington, where they remained until the 27th of October.
About this time the brigade was ordered to Fulton, Arkansas, and the Fourth Regiment was detached and placed on outpost duty. The brigade did not enjoy their stay at Fulton. There was too much drill and fatigue duty and not enough of fighting to suit the victors of Galveston and Mansfield. On the 20th of Novem- ber news arrived of Price's retreat from Missouri, and at the same time orders for McNeill and the brigade to convoy a large supply-train to Princeton. This dis- agreeable duty was made doubly so by the wintry weather. It rained and blew storms all day and froze the ground hard every night. They passed days without anything edible for man or horse, and on reaching their destination learned that General Price had taken a different route and that all their hardships were useless. However, on countermarching and returning to Fulton, they received orders to march for Texas. This command was hailed with delight. General Wharton had already gone to Texas and General Hardeman was in command of the cavalry corps.
After drawing a small part of their pay and a few shoes and shirts, the brigade crossed the Red River, and on the 6th of December reunited at White Oak Shoals. Colonel McNeill having been furloughed, Colonel Hampton took command of the brigade, and the next day set out for Nacogdoches.
The brigade did not remain long at Nacogdoches, but brigade head-quarters were soon removed to Alto, where they remained during the month of December, 1864, the regiments being camped in the vicinity. From there the next change was to Crockett, in Houston County, and thence to Hall's Bluff, where head-quar- ters were established on the 16th of January, 1865. In this vicinity the brigade remained, drilling and foraging and waiting for orders, until the 11th of March, when they moved to Fairfield, Freestone County, and from this point, on the 15th, to Alto Springs, in Falls County, and on the 21st of March to Millican, in Grimes County. During all this time, since the 4th of December, the brigade had been commanded by Colonels Hampton and Waller alternately, Colonel McNeill having been granted leave of absence. On the 26th of March General Hardeman returned to the brigade and took command. Shortly thereafter, General Wharton having been killed in a private quarrel at Houston, the cavalry corps was put under com- mand of General John G. Walker, an excellent soldier and a polished gentleman.
On the 30th of March, the old brigade, which had together trod the ways of glory, was dismembered, and the Fourth Regiment alone was retained in Harde- man's brigade. The Fifth was transferred to De Bray's brigade and the others else- where. The Confederacy shortly afterwards collapsed. All of the regiments com-
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
posing Green's brigade had remained in Central Texas awaiting orders to march again to meet the foe ; but there were no Federals in the Trans-Mississippi Depart- ment to make war upon, and these veteran soldiers had nothing to do but to watch the current of events.
Even as late as the 15th of May the records show that "Old Gotch" was firm in the belief that the independence of the Confederate States would finally be accomplished, although Lee and Johnston had surrendered and Kirby Smith was negotiating for terms for the Trans-Mississippi Department. General Hardeman did not know defeat when it stood staring him in the face. Finally, on the 20th of May, 1865, the regiments were disbanded, and the companies marched in good order and without violence or any sort of rapine to the county-seats of the several counties where they were organized four years before, and the men were then dis- charged from the Confederate States' service.
Few brigades in the Confederate army did better service, suffered greater hard- ships, or made greater sacrifices than did this the Sibley-Green-Bagby-Hardeman brigade, and none did their duty more cheerfully or with greater patriotism. Texas owes them a debt which can never be entirely repaid, but which may be partially discharged by the gratitude of posterity.
CHAPTER VI.
NOTES ON GRANBURY'S BRIGADE.
BY O. P. BOWSER.
T HE Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Texas Cavalry were dismounted near Little Rock, Arkansas, in the early part of July, 1862, near which place they went into camp, where they were joined by the Tenth Texas Infantry under Colonel Nelson. After several months under the most efficient drill officers, the five regiments were ordered to Arkansas Post, where they arrived some time during the fall of 1862. Here they went into winter quarters, providing themselves with comfortable huts, or cabins, and settled down, as they thought, for the winter. The brigade was joined here by the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Texas Dismounted Cavalry and the Nineteenth Arkansas, and the whole of the command, except one regiment, afterwards belonged to what was known in the army and is now known in history as "Granbury's brigade."
About the 7th of January, 1863, General Sherman, who had recently made an unsuccessful assault on Vicksburg, made his appearance in the river below the Post, with a fleet of gunboats and transports and an army of about forty thousand men, and immediately began preparations to attack the fort. General -- commanding the Post with about three thousand rank and file, the battle began in earnest on the morning of January 10 and ended, after two days' fighting, in the afternoon of the 11th. The loss in killed and wounded on the Confederate side was trivial, while that of the Federals was quite heavy considering the small force opposing them. Through some misunderstanding, and ill-advisedly, the white flag was raised about four o'clock in the afternoon, and almost the entire command of three thousand Confederates surrendered to the forty thousand Union soldiers. The little band was erowded on the small transports like so many cattle, and started the following morning for Northern prisons, most of the private soldiers and non-commissioned officers to Fort Douglas, Illinois, the rest to Alton, Illinois ; while the field, staff, and line officers were sent to Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio. The death loss from cold and hunger during the three months of prison life was terrible, amounting to more than thirty per cent. of the entire command. About the 5th of April, 1863, the men in the prison of Camp Douglas and those at Alton, Illinois, were shipped south via Pittsburg, Baltimore, Chesapeake Bay, and James River, to City Point, near Petersburg, Virginia, where they were exchanged, the commissioned officers following about three weeks later. After camping around Petersburg and the city of Richmond about four or five weeks, and being joined by the officers, the entire command was ordered to report to General Bragg, who was then in camp with the Army of Tennessee near Tullahoma, not far from Murfreesboro', Tennessee.
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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Soon after arriving at Tullahoma the seven Texas regiments were consolidated into two, and the death-rate had been so great that the two regiments were not full, -at least their numerical strength was not so great as two of the original regiments when they left the State of Texas at the beginning of the war. Colonel (now United States Senator) R. Q. Mills was placed in command of the regiment composed of the Sixth, Tenth, and Fifteenth Texas, while the regiment composed of the Seven- teenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth Texas Cavalry (dismounted) was commanded by Colonel Gillespie, forming a brigade, which was placed under John T. Coit, lieutenant-colonel. Other consolidations let out a great number of non-commissioned officers, who returned home, most of them entering the service west of the Mississippi River, or the Trans-Mississippi Department.
The command immediately began a most industrious and systematic course of drilling under that military genius, Major Pat Cleburne, to whose division it was assigned, and under whose gallant leadership it afterwards won fame and glory on many a hard-fought battle-field. At this time the command was known as Deshler's brigade, and consisted of about seventeen hundred men,-all young, very few hav- ing reached the age of thirty-five, and many not more than seventeen or eighteen years. General Deshler was a native of Pennsylvania, and resigned a captain's commission in the United States army to cast his lot and fortune with the South. He commanded the brigade, with Joseph L. Hearne, of Galveston, Texas, adjutant- general, Lieutenant George Jewell, brigade ordnance officer. Under the personal supervision of General Cleburne the men were soon perfectly drilled and ready and anxious for active campaign duty, which soon began. On June 28, 1863, the com- mand broke camp and marched to Blue Bird Gap to meet the enemy under General Rosecrans, who had begun his campaign on Chattanooga, Tennessee. The conflict amounted to little more than ordinary skirmishing on this line, however, and we were treated to the first of that doughty general's famous flank movements, which became so popular with his successor, General Sherman, in his march to the sea in 1864. July 1 the army took position near Tullahoma and awaited the enemy, but another flank movement on the part of the enemy forced us to change our position. Nothing more serious than skirmishing took place in this part of the campaign, and about the 3d or 4th of July we took up our march across the country for Chatta- nooga, where the campaign soon began in earnest. On September 16 an attempt was made to bag General Thomas with his corps of about seventeen thousand men, in Mclemore's Cove. General Cleburne's division, with our Texas brigade in front, was promptly on time in the gap assigned them, but through some mishap General Hindman with his division failed to reach the position assigned him, and General Thomas retreated by the gap through which we had entered. Two days later part of the brigade engaged the enemy in Catlett's Gap, McLemore's Cove, holding them in check all day and in the evening driving them from their position with small loss on our side. Saturday, the 19th, the brigade with Cleburne's division was engaged in the thickest of the fight, driving the enemy and holding every posi- tion during the day. September 20, 1863, was the last day of the bloody battle of Chickamauga. Perhaps never in the history of "grim-visaged war" was a battle so stubbornly and tenaciously fought by both armies, with numbers and losses so nearly equal, and never was victory so dearly bought. The day opened bright and
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BOWSER-NOTES ON GRANBURY'S BRIGADE.
clear. The autumn leaves were taking on their colors of amber and gold. The day was perfect, as if nature was smiling on the deadly faces, and pleased in con- templation of the terrible carnage and blood that were to make that day to be remembered in the history of men and warfare ; Blue Ridge, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge were to be silent witnesses of the awful struggle. There was no manœuvring, no strategy. The rank and file did the fighting. The officers simply put them in line and awaited results. The men of both armies seemed to be imbued with the fact that whoever gained the victory would gain it at a terrible price, and that ere the sun went down many of them would bivouac on Eternity's camping-ground ; but it made them none the less determined, and ere the sun set each army had lost about one-third of its gallant soldiers. The loss of the Texas brigade was especially heavy, Company E, of the Sixth, Tenth, and Fifteenth, commanded by Captain Jack Leonard, late of Dallas, losing more than half its men. General Deshler, commanding the brigade, was killed. Colonel R. Q. Mills suc- ceeded to the command of the brigade.
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