Friday, September 9, 2011

Tennessee Civil War Notes

9, Citizens of Sneedville request protection from Unionists in Hancock and Hawkins counties
SNEEDVILLE, September 9, 1861.
Brig. Gen. F. K. ZOLLICOFFER, Cmdg., Knoxville, Tenn.
DEAR SIR: We, the undersigned citizens of Sneedville, &c., would respectfully represent to you that we are threatened with immediate invasion from the Union party of Hancock and Hawkins and perhaps other counties in East Tennessee in connection with Union and Northern men from some of the mountain counties of Kentucky. We have the proof showing these facts from men who have heretofore belonged to and acted with the Union party of our own county. One gentleman, the sheriff of our county, revealed the following facts to a citizen of our town this morning, viz; that in a few days there would be a strong force from Kentucky escorted here through the mountains by a force of union men from this county and Hawkins who have lately gone from here to Kentucky. There have been crowds within the past ten days from this county and Hawkins numbering from the best information 500 men who we understand are determined to bring back with them from Kentucky a sufficient force to overrun Southern men in Hancock and in this portion of East Tennessee generally, and from thence to the railroad with a view to tear it up so as to stop any transportation upon the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. We have abundant proof clear to our minds that there exists a great necessity for having force stationed here. There is no appearance of Union hostilities having abated. We do not feel that the lives of ourselves and our families are by any means safe.
* * * *
We are, dear sir, most respectfully, yours,
F. M. TURNER ET AL.
(Forwarded to Secretary of War same date.)
OR, Ser. II, Vol. 1, p. 833.

 

9, Chattanooga occupied by Federal forces
From a position five mile south of Chattanooga on September 10, 1863 General Braxton Bragg telegraphed the Adjutant and Inspector General of the Confederate Army, S. Cooper, with the painful intelligence that: "The enemy entered Chattanooga yesterday in force, driving out the small garrison I could leave behind."
OR , Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. II, p. 22.

No circumstantial reports filed.
Excerpt from the September 27, 1863 report of Colonel George P. BUELL, Fifty-eighth Indiana Infantry, 21st Brigade, 1st Division, 21st Army Corps relating to the Union occupation of Chattanooga.
* * * *
My brigade remained in...camp until the morning of the 9th instant, when, by order of Gen. Wood, it led the advance on Chattanooga. At the point of Lookout Mountain we met a small picket force of the enemy which we soon dislodged, and marching on entering Chattanooga about 12 o'clock of the 9th instant. My brigade was the first that entered the City.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. I, p. 653.

HDQRS. FOURTH DIVISION, FOURTEENTH CORPS, Cureton's Mill, September 9, 1863--6.30 p. m.
Col. FLYNT, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.:
We are in receipt of two dispatches from Col. Atkins, commanding Ninety-second Illinois (by special couriers from his regiment), within a few minutes of each other. Find copy of the first received inclosed; the other reads as follows (written first):
HDQRS. NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS, Chattanooga, September 9, 1863--11 a. m.
Maj. LEVERING, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.:
Maj.: We had a little skirmishing on the mountain, but now hold Chattanooga. My stand of colors was the first to float over the town. A complete evacuation. Columns of dust showed them going south. Two companies of my regiment are pressing after them, and I will likely take my command up the river to gobble a little squad said to be there.
Very respectfully,
SMITH D. ATKINS, Col. Ninety-second Illinois.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. I, p.247.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, Trenton, September 9, 1863--3.30 a. m.
Maj.-Gen. THOMAS, Comdg. Fourteenth Army Corps:
A dispatch is just received from Gen. Wagner, dated 8.30 p. m. yesterday, stating that Chattanooga is evacuated by the rebels and he will occupy it in the morning. The general commanding desires you to call on him at once to consult in regard to arrangements for the pursuit.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. A. GARFIELD, Brig.-Gen., Chief of Staff.
OPPOSITE CHATTANOOGA, September 9, 1863.
Capt. SEITER, Fourteenth Army Corps:
Gen. Wagner occupies Chattanooga to-day. The Stars and Stripes were raised on Mound Fort at 11 a. m. The last of the enemy left as our men entered, without firing a gun. Gen.'s Crittenden and Wood are in Chattanooga.
G. W. LANDRUM, Lieut. and Acting Signal Officer.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. III, pp. 481-482.

CAMP NEAR TRENTON, GA., September 9, 1863--8.30 p. m.
(Received 6.40 p. m., 10th.)
Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, Gen.-in-Chief:
Chattanooga is ours without a struggle, and East Tennessee is free. Our move on the enemy's flank and rear progresses, while the tail of his retreating column will not escape unmolested. Our troops from this side entered Chattanooga about noon. Those north of the river are crossing. Messengers go to Burnside to-night, urging him to push his cavalry down. No news from him or his cavalry.
W. S. ROSECRANS, Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. III, p. 479.
The fall of Chattanooga was described this way by Henry Campbell, bugler with the 19th Indiana Battery:
Wednesday Sep [sic] 9th. Chattanooga Evacuated!!  Today the Union Troops entered the boasted stronghold of the West without the loss of a man....The 92d belongs to our Brigade and they had the honor of first planting the stars & stripes on the works of the deserted town. At about 11 o'clock the flag was hoisted on the Crutchfield House. Soon after the 92d had entered the town Capt. Lilly and Colonel. of the 97th Ohio crossed the river in a boat and planted the flag of the 97th on the parapet of the large fort, which was greeted by a salute from the Battery. The town has a dirty, dreary appearance, almost deserted by the citizens - very few nice housed and all old ones, besides.
The "Chattanooga Rebel" was printed in the vault of the Chattanooga Bank to keep out of the way of our shells. Depot and Crutchfield house in particular. The owner of the latter said we ventilated his smoke hose to such an extent that he was unable to smoke his meant. Our Brigade had the honor of first opening out on Chattanooga also the first to enter it. Our Battery fired the first and last gun at the town - fired over 600 rounds altogether - put 2 shots into the Depot at a distance of 2 1/2  miles. We were here from the 21st Aug. til [sic] to day with Wilders Brigade and Wagoners  for our support...nearly three weeks opposed to the whole of Bragg's Army. Old "Rosey" has completely outwitted Bragg....
About 3 o'clock we pulled out up the river and camped about dark at Friar's Island.
Three Years in the Saddle*

*[Ed. note - Henry Campbell, Three Years in the Saddle. A Journal of Events, Facts, and Incidents connected with the 19th Ind. Battery. Typescript copy from Chickamauga National Military Park Library, Ft. Oglethorpe, GA., pp. 69-70.]

 

 

9, An account of the occupation of Chattanooga.
Gen. Rosecrans' Campaign.
The Occupation of Chattanooga -- Where Bragg Will Make His Next Stand.
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.
Look-Out Valley, Ga., Twelve Miles South of Trenton, Sept. 9, 1863.
Chattanooga has fallen! Such is the tenor of a dispatch just brought in by a courier. Crittenden occupied the stronghold to-day. Bragg evidently dreaded a repetition of the Vicksburg disaster, if he remained and attempted to defend Chattanooga, after our army had occupied a position directly threatening his rear. He could not leave a garrison to hold the works, while he opposed our right with his main force, with Burnside on the way to reinforce our left. With Burnside it would have been easy to isolate Chattanooga, and give it its own good time to accept the fate of the "Virgin City."
The evacuation was not completed too soon. This morning Stanley was on the road with a heavy cavalry force, supported part of the way by two brigades of infantry, to strike the line of railway in Bragg's rear, in the vicinity of Rome. As soon as the evacuation was discovered, the expedition was overtaken and ordered back to camp. From the front, where Stanley started, it was but a day's march, for horsemen, to Rome, and the raid would, doubtless, have been successful if Bragg's army had not been promptly withdrawn from Chattanooga to oppose just such a movement.
Rosecrans strategy has proved a splendid success. Crossing a broad and dangerous river, and an extremely rough chain of mountains, he throws his army in four days forty miles almost directly in the rear of the rebel stronghold. That he was not bitterly challenged by the enemy proves a weakness almost startling in the size and morale [sic] of Bragg's army. Can it afford to fight us on any terms in its present condition?
There has been no more brilliant movement during the war, if we expect the wonderful exploit of Gen. Grant in marching to the rear of Pemberton. It has been carried on with the loss of two men killed and two wounded in a slight cavalry skirmish, the only occasion we were made aware that an opposing army was near.
* * * *
New York Times, September 20, 1863

 

 

 

9, "Coffee"
When will the days of good old-fashioned aromatic coffee return? When will the green berry, worth now almost a cent a grain,  get down to the standard of 1850 -- "eight pounds for one dollar?" When will our housekeepers cease to buy that abominable cheat, the cheat of cheats, called "prepared coffee," of which the grain is cornmeal and the coloring liquorice, and put it beside our plate, a stench to destroy our enjoyment of the goodly viands she has heaped upon it? Have we not -- hear us, of Jupiter -- have we not resorted to tea, to mild, yea, even to water itself, to assist masticulation, and the digestion, and many other things the doctors call it? Why are we thus famished? Give us, o, give us back our old drink, the brown-colored, rich, delicious decoction, sweetened, (not too much) whitened with cream and drank, of, father of the gods, with a grateful smack that was next to religious. Is there any real imitation of coffee? Is there, can there be, do the laws of nature justify us in believing, that anything outside of the "blissful fields of Eden" can be made to taste, smell and stimulate like coffee? No, nature indignantly replies, not. Coffee is coffee, and there is none of it set forth on the table where we board.
Memphis Bulletin, September 9, 1863.

 

9, "Sunday Walk Among the Churches."
Our reporter made a little circuit last Sabbath among the city churches, and reports that the most of them are open, at least one a day to divine service, and that the audience for the most part are fair. A considerable preponderance of the military are found in some of the, which speaks to the praise of the profession.
On Second street, corner of Adams, the Episcopal church was served by Rev. Dr. White. Our reporter observed with regret that the beautiful and effective service of the church is mutilated by him, in the omission of prayers for the rulers of the land. This is the first time, he declares, that he ever heard that passage omitted from the service of the Episcopal church. The Baptist church, a little further north, is used as the Gangrene Hospital, and of course, not in a condition for religious services. Yet the solemn faces of the sufferers upon their neat whit beds, and the knowledge that one or their number had just a moment before gone out into the great unknown, afforded for reflection, equal to many a service. This hospital is under the skillful charge of Dr. Weeks, and has 50 beds. The Methodist church, corner of Poplar and Second, was about half full of hearers, earnest upon the discourse of Rev. Mr. Knott, who seemed to be himself deeply in earnest in the delivery of his pious message. The First Presbyterian church, corner of Poplar and Third streets, was rather better filled. The preacher is the Rev. Mr. Steadman. St. Mary's chapel on Poplar, beyond the market was empty, but our reporter learned that the rector, Mr. Hines, was that morning occupying the pulpit of Grace church in South Memphis and would fill his own at 3 P. M. This is a snug little church, about as bit as a parlor, and looks cozy and pleasant. A colored church about a square south of this was in full blast. Just as our reporter got there, a squad of some twenty soldiers came running up with arms in hand. They had learned than an attempt was making to break up the service, and looked wrathfully upon our reporter, one of the most peaceful men ever born, for an explanation. Our reports solemnly denied having broken up anything, or attempted to break up anything; said he got broke himself in his last speculation. He pointed to the window, nearly every one of which had been smashed, and to a colored auditor, who had evidently been cracked, of not broken by a missile and then asked in a tone of [pleased?] conviction, "do you think, corporal, that I look like a man who could do such things?" It was enough. The Cumberland Presbyterian church is closed, but he learned that this is owing to the sickness and absence of Rev. Mr. Davis, the pastor. St. Peter and St. Paul's church on Adams street were crowed with visitors, who were pouring out as our reporter passed, resembling an active swarm of bees. This denomination of christians always keeps its churches open. Union church, corner of Beal and Main streets, had service morning and evening, besides a colored charitable society in the basement. Our reporter got there in time to attend the latter for a moment, and was gratified to learn that the benevolent enterprise has been a success. Grace church had morning service by Rev. Mr. Hines. Upon the whole, the religious facilities of Memphis, considering the season, are encouraging. We hope our religious friends will increase and multiply these means of grace, give every opportunity to saint and sinner to come nearer to God, and let the world know that however divided the people of Memphis are upon the principles of government, yet there is among them but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."

Memphis Bulletin, September 9, 1863.



 
 

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