Wednesday, October 26, 2011

October 26 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

26, "SUFFERING WOMEN AND CHILDREN"
There are in and near Nashville about thirty families of the members of the Burns Artillery, all in the most destitute circumstances. The husbands and fathers of these wanting women and children have now been in the service more than three months, and their families are now suffering from the want of food, fuel and clothing. Our fellow citizen, Dr. J. W. Morton, who was mainly instrumental in getting up the company, has done a great deal towards providing for the pressing needs of these families. In this respect, as well as in having the Artillery properly equiped , Dr. Morton has faithfully discharged his duties as a citizen and patriot. -- He has worked diligently to keep haggard want from the homes of these dependent women and children, freely devoting money and time to the humane and patriotic work. But, a generous and patriotic people should not let this heavy burthen [sic] rest alone upon the shoulders of one of its fellow-citizens. It is well known that Dr. Morton is not a man of wealth, and he cannot be expected to continue this drain upon his limited means. We hope those of our citizens who are able, will at once take this matter into hand, and come promptly to the assistance of Dr. Morton in the prosecution of this good work.
Nashville Daily Gazette, October 26, 1861.

 

26, Major-General J. B. McPherson warned to closely watch secessionist families in Bolivar as barometer of Confederate attack
HDQRS., Jackson, October 26, 1862.
Maj. Gen. J. B. McPHERSON, Bolivar:
Watch the secession families in Bolivar closely. They will have notice of any attack on the town. If you find them anxious to get out of town redouble your vigilance and report. Watch especially Neely, Fentress, Bills, and Miller and McNeal. Push strong reconnaissance out to front and heavy cavalry patrol on each flank.
[S. A. HURLBUT,] Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol., 17, pt. II, p. 297.

 

26, Union anti-guerrilla and conscripting scouts ordered to Bolivar, Jackson environs
No circumstantial report filed.
Excerpt from Special Orders No. 264, October 26, 1863
SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 264. HDQRS. SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, Memphis, Tennessee, October 26, 1863.
* * * *
II. The Sixth Tennessee Cavalry, Col. Hurst, will move upon Bolivar and Jackson, covering the country east of the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, and suppressing with all necessary severity the guerrilla and conscripting parties south of Trenton. They will draw supplies from the country, giving receipts, to be settled at the close of the war. No plundering or pillaging by men or officers will be allowed. Col. Hurst will report weekly, through the commanding officer at La Grange, to the chief of cavalry. The men of this regiment will not be permitted to scatter, but will move actively in organized force. All horses fit for Government service will be taken by the quartermaster of the regiment and turned over at once to the quartermaster at La Grange, and receipts given as above. The people of the country will be informed that they must organize to put down robbers and guerrillas or be subject to the continual presence of force that will; they must co-operate with the National forces.
* * * *
By order of Maj. Gen. S. A. Hurlbut:
T. H. HARRIS, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 31, pt. I, pp. 750-751.

 

26, Military Governor Andrew Johnson on relief for the poor in Nashville
Nashville, October 26th 1863
John H. Smith
Mayor &c
Sir -- As winter is coming, there must and will necessarily be much suffering from cold, among the poorer classes of society. In fact, the applications to this office are, thus early in the season, becoming numerous and pressing. If you have the power, to effect arrangements for this class, I desire to make the following proposition. If you will procure the wood along the line of the North Western Railroad, I will have the same brought to Nashville free of transportation. If you have not the power you will please communicate this proposition to your Board [of Aldermen] and have their actions upon the same, or upon any other proposition, relating to the matter. I would urgently press this matter upon your body, and will heartily second, and effort in this behalf as it is getting to be a matter of embarrassment and importance
I am Andrew Johnson Mil-Gov
Papers of Andrew Johnson, Vol. 6, p. 440.

 


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

October 25 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

25, Major General William T. Sherman issues General Orders No. 90, relative to changes in the Memphis police force.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 90. HDQRS. FIRST DIV., ARMY OF THE TENN., Memphis, October 25, 1862.
To insure harmony in the administration of government in the Division of Memphis the following modifications and changes are made and published for the information of all concerned.
I. Col. D. C. Anthony is announced as the provost-marshal for the city and Division of Memphis, with Maj. Willard and Lieut. Edwards as assistants; office on Court street, corner of Third. One regiment of infantry and a squadron of cavalry will compose the provost guard; headquarters in the Irving Block, Second street, opposite Court Square. This guard will be distributed according to the orders of the provost-marshal, and will receive their instructions from him. A military commission, composed of three officers of the army, will sit daily at the office of the provost-marshal and try all offenders under the laws of war. Their sentences, when approved by the commanding general, will be executed by the provost-marshal.
II. The city police, composed of 100 men, will also be under the orders and supervision of the provost-marshal. He will muster and inspect them and satisfy himself that the officers are competent, and that the men are sober, industrious, and of good reputation. He will require each and every one to take the oath of allegiance prescribed by the Congress of the United States. He will, on consultation with the chief of police, divide them into a day and night watch, assigning to each a beat or district, for which he will be held responsible. If a burglary, robbery, riot, or disturbance of the peace occurs on any beat the policeman will be forthwith suspended from duty and pay, and be tried by the military commission or recorded of the city for complicity or neglect, and on the trial the burden of proof will rest with the accused, to show that he was on his post and vigilant. If found guilty he will be punished by dismissal from office, by fine, imprisonment, or such other penalty as the court may impose. The appointment of the city police will remain as now, with the city authorities; but should they fail to fill a vacancy within three days of a notice the provost-marshal will appoint a successor. Their payment will also be made by the city treasurer, and all fines, penalties, and seizures made by the city recorder and police will, as heretofore, go to the city treasury.
III. All soldiers or officers arrested or citizens taken by scouts, pickets, or guards will be sent to the Irving Block, and all offenders against the laws of the State of Tennessee or the ordinances of the city of Memphis will be sent to the city lock-up, at the corner of Third and Adams streets. Military prisoners will be sent under guard daily to their respective brigades; offenders against military law or order will be tried by the military commission. All other offenders will, as heretofore, be tried by the city recorder.
IV. Soldiers will not be arrested by the city police, unless detected in the actual commission of crime, when they will be taken to the nearest camp or provost guard. But if any unlawful assemblage of soldiers or stragglers from camp is discovered it is the duty of the police to send prompt notice to the nearest military guard.
V. Citizens detected in the commission of any grade of crime will be arrested by any guard, civil of military; and all vagrants, thieves, or men of bad reputation, having no visible means of support, or who are known to be dangerous persons to the peace and quiet of the community, will be restrained of their liberty and organized into a gang to work on the trenches, roads, or public streets, under the direction of the chief of police or provost-marshal, at the latter's discretion.
VI. Citizens found lurking about the camps or military lines will be arrested and treated as spies. None will by day approach Fort Pickering nearer than headquarters on Tennessee street or the Horn Lake road, and by night are cautioned that the sentinels have loaded muskets and are ordered to use them if persons are found lurking under suspicious circumstances.
VII. All citizens will keep to their houses at night, between tattoo and reveille, unless attending church, a place of amusement, a party of friends, or on necessary business, in which cases they will return to their homes by proper streets. After midnight all must be in their houses, except the proper guards, watchmen, or patrols. If found in alleys, by-ways, lots not their own, or unusual places, they will be locked up for the night.
VIII. Negroes will be subject to the laws of the State and city ordinances applicable to free negroes. They can work at any trade or calling, hire out, or, if they choose, return to their former masters, but no force will be used one way or the other. Soldiers not on duty should not meddle in this matter, but guards and sentinels on duty will assist all who appeal to them for protection against violence or undue force. Assemblages of negroes are prohibited, except on permission previously granted by the provost-marshal, setting forth the object, place, time of closing, and probable number to be assembled. If, however, they commit crime of any kind-theft, robbery, violence, or trespass on property-they must be punished according to law.
IX. The object and purpose of this order is to punish or restrain all disorders or crimes against the peace and dignity of this community. In time of war the military authorities must of necessity be superior to the civil, but all officers and soldiers must remember that this state of war is but temporary, and the time must come when the civil will resume its full power in the administration of justice in all parts of the country. The interest and laws of the United States must be paramount to all others, but so far as the laws, ordinances, and performances of the people of this community are consistent with those of the Gen. Government they should be respected.
The provost-marshal and city council will make all proper rules necessary to carry this order into effect and make them public.
W. T. SHERMAN, Maj.-Gen., Comdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 17, pt. II, pp. 294-296.

 

25, "Nashville Protestant School of Industry, for the Support and Education of Destitute Girls;" maintenance of a gender-based charity in Civil War Nashville
A few years ago, an article explanatory of the objects and speaking of the benefits of "The House of Industry," as the above institution is generally denominated, would have been deemed superfluous -- a waste of time to the Editor and space to the reader; it was so well known, and so thoroughly appreciated. Our population has, however, materially changed during the past twenty months, until, at the present time, we thing we may safely say that more than one-half the inhabitants are comparative strangers to our public institutions. For the benefit of these, therefore, chiefly, we will endeavor to give a brief, but correct history, of the rise and progress of the Nashville Protestant School of Industry.
About twenty-one years ago, a number of little girls, wholly destitute of homes, were found upon our streets, apparently without relatives or friends to protect them from the many evils which fall in the way of such unfortunate creatures. Some of our benevolent ladies consulted together as to the best means to be adopted to serve them, and after due deliberation concluded that they would rent a house, procure a matron, and trust in God to aid them in carrying out of their charitable intentions. The act followed the resolution without unnecessary delay, and they struggled on for months and months, paying their rent by the proceeds of public suppers, tableaux, etc., etc., and keeping the girls together in their new home.
During the first four or five years, these charitable ladies were often compelled to draw largely from their private purses to keep their little adopted daughters from suffering, as liberally did they contribute, by money and labor, to the comfort of those under their care, that the children ever wore a smile of contentment and happiness on seeing their kind benefactresses. At length, on the 2d of February, 1846, a charter was procured from the Legislature, constituting the following named ladies a Board of Trustees, with power to fill vacancies, and possessing other privileges of similar corporate institutions:

Mrs. Francis B. Fogg, Mrs. G. W. Campbell,
Mrs. H. M. Rutledge, Mrs. James Porter,
Mrs. Thomas Maney, Mrs. R. H. McEwen
Mrs. A. V. Brown, Mrs. Wash. Barrow,
Mrs. Geo. Martin, Mrs. H. Kirkman,
Mrs. D. T. McGavock, Mrs. O. Ewing.

About this time, Mr. Joseph T. Elliston, a very benevolent gentleman, proposed to provide the Board of Trustees with a permanent home for the poor girls under their care, and he did so, giving to them the ground and the rear part of the building they now occupy, on Vine street, near Church.
Everything now went on prosperously, and the original founders were happy in seeing so noble a conception grow up to be self-supporting institution, an ornament and a credit to Nashville, and to the liberality of its citizens. In 1849, all but three of the original trustees had retired, and the following names stand upon the record:
Mrs. H. M. Rutledge, Mrs. L, Stone,
Mrs. Thomas Maney, Mrs. A. W. Putnam,
Mrs. Was. Barrow, Mrs. Medora Riggs,
Mrs. Hetty M. McEwen, Mrs. M. A. Lindsley,
Mrs. B. T. McGavock Mrs. W. G. Harding,
Mrs. Wm. R. Elliston, Mrs. Sarah L. Stewart,
Mrs. A. Allison, Mrs. John M. Bass
Notwithstanding the changes in the list of Trustees, the work progressed as before, as if the original conception had been perfect, and needed only time to mature and display all its beauties.
In 1854 we find that several of the old Trustees had retired, namely, Mesdames Rutledge, Putnam, Riggs, Lindsley, and Stewart, and that Mrs. James K. Polk and Mrs. C. D. Elliot were elected.
In 1855, the institution having proved to be a great public benefit, with every prospect of being self-sustaining, it was resolved to extend the accommodations by putting up, on the front part of the lot, a two story and basement building, 30 feet front and 30 deep, adjoining and connecting with the old building, providing subscriptions for that purpose would warrant the undertaking. All doubt upon the subject if any exited, was removed, when Mr. Jos. T. Elliston, with his princely liberality, headed the subscription list with $500 and very liberal sums were subscribed by the following, among others: No. M. Bass, R. H. McEwen, sr., John M. Hill, A. W. Putnam, Andrew Ewing, Alex Fall, the late Robert Porter, Jas. Woods, sr., Edwin H. Ewing, Wm. F. Cooper, John A. McEwen, Wm. B. Cooper, Lenox R. Cheatham, Dr. John Waters, John Q. Ewing, the late Felix K. Zollicoffer, E. B. Fogg, G. M. Fogg, R. C. McEwen, sr., John Harding, sr., W. S. Eaking, the late James Ellis, John Hugh Smith, Samuel Lee Morgan, Evans & Co., Ewing, Pendleton, Evans & Co., R. H. Mc McEwen, jr., Sam. Watkins, A. G. Payne, Spain & Coleman, Warren & Moore, Venny & Turbeville, etc., etc., the Legislature of 1855 appropriating the sum of $300 toward furnishing a new addition, or rather, contributing $300 worth of furniture from the Penitentiary.
As the building now stands, there is sufficient room for fifty girls. In the basement of the front building is the kitchen, store-rooms, and laundry. On the next floor is a parlor about 20 feet wide by 15 feet deep, another room in the rear of the parlor, about 20 by 12, in the rear of that is the matron's room, and to the rear of that again, bed-room and store-room. On the next floor is a large work-room, about 20 by 30 feet, lighted by four large windows on the front and north sides, the hall, about ten feet wide, being on the south side, and the dress-makers bed-room over the lower hall, being a neat well-lighted room, about ten-feet square with entrance from the work-room. To the rear of the work-room, running back to the rearmost part of the old building, are bedrooms for the girls.
As the name of the institution indicates, it is a school of industry; for the support and education of destitute girls, and from personal observation we would call it an industrial and a happy home. When we dropped in there a few days ago, as we always do when visiting public institutions, without any notice, we found all the girls at work, old and young, making dresses and aprons, knitting stockings and notions, washing dinner dishes and cleaning up, and all seemed cheerful and happy as they wished to be.
We may here state that a professional dress-maker, one of the best in the city, is employed in the establishment for the purpose of instructing the girls and superintending this particular department. There is no style of dress, however rich, that may not be entrusted to the care of Miss Jane Fitzsimons, who is a perfect fitter, and a young lade of exceeding good taste, if we may judge by the fact we hear that the lady Trustees wear few, if any dresses, expect those made by thee inmates of the house. Many other of our mot influential lady friends also patronize this house exclusively, and while the girls delight in receiving orders for silks and satins, the never turn away muslins or calicoes, or any kind of needle work whatever. Miss Fitzsimmons speaks very highly of the abilities of some of the inmates who have reached years of maturity, but who still remain n the institution, as their home.
We are not ware that there exits any rule as to the age at which girls may be received. The youngest now in the institution is about eight years old, and there are eight or nine who ought to be at school, and who would be, if our public schools were open. When in operation, all the little girls were sent every day to the Hume building. Last year three or four of the youngest were taught gratuitously by Miss Maggie Barr; the present year, Mr. Dorman has taken one, and Miss Quinn another, being the only two now at school. There are no religious services or instructions given in the house, but all the inmates who desire to go to Sunday school and church, have perfect liberty to go to one they properly belong to. There is no particular age fixed, at which the children are taken from school, and placed at work, the lady managers regulating this matter according to circumstances; but none are permitted to remain there in idleness, nor are they required or permitted to work beyond their ability. Under the matron, the older girls are instructed in all that pertains to housekeeping each taking her turn for one week in practical cooking, washing, ironing, house-cleaning, marketing, milking; in short, in everything that is necessary to make a good housewife, while in the sewing room they are instructed in all that pertains to that part of the duty of wife and mother. Each cleans up her own room every morning. One evening in each week is set apart for the girls to receive their relatives and friends, and they have a right pleasant time of it on these occasions.
From the opening of the House of Industry to the present time there have usually been from twenty to twenty five inmates , who have always performed the domestic duties of the establishment. Several of the young women have married happily and respectably, and some of them are still residing amongst us, ornaments to the circle in which they move; while others have left and gone into other homes, but not on has ever brought a blot upon the institution.
Two of the Trustees have died, and go to receive their reward -- Mrs. A. W. Putnam, Oct. 27, 1858, and Mrs. John M. Bass, in July of the present year. Mrs. Frances Brinley Fogg was the first president of the Board of Trustees, Mrs. R. H. McEwen, senior, was the first Treasurer, and remained constantly in that position to the present day. The Board of Trustees now consists of the following ladies: --

Mrs. Thomas Maney, President
Mrs. William R. Eliston, Secretary.
Mrs. K. H. McEwen, senior, Treasurer
Mrs. Felix, Compton, Mrs. R. C. Foster,
Mrs. J. K. Polk, Mrs. Liston Stone,
Mrs. Jane Watkins, Mrs. Henry Frazier,
Mrs. Isaac Nicholson, Mrs. W. L. Murphy
Mrs. John Trimble

We may mention in conclusion that from the fact that many of the old patrons of this institution are absent from the city, the inmates have not been kept as busy as they would like to be, and unless the public come to their relief by sending in their orders, they will be obliged to consider themselves dependent upon the kindness of their benefactresses. All lady managers ask of the public is needle work, which they will have well and promptly executed. Give them a call, ladies, their house on Vine street.
Nashville Dispatch, October 25, 1863.

 


Monday, October 24, 2011

October 23 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

23, 1863 Fraternization with the enemy and Federal camp life in the Chattanooga environs, excerpts from the letter of Bliss Morse to his mother

Dear Mother:

* * * *

We came off picket this morning and had a very pleasant time until it rained this morning. Our Brig. went out with us. Our boys talked and swapped papers with them also traded coffee for some of their tobacco.

Our lines are very near to each other where we picket – the banks of Chattanooga creek described the lines of our pickets.

At night every fifth man is sent down to the water's edge. It is…deep and rapid now. As one of our boys went down to the waters [sic] edge he saw a reb sitting o­n a log across the stream. It was moonlight. He (the reb) halloed out "are you a vidette? Yes. Well, so am I." Two of them swam across the creek the other night, and many more of them would like to come in, judging by their actions, as they will come down and hang around the lines looking very wishfully over in to the "promised land." Our batteries shelled the rebels in the P. M., soon we heard firing in their rear and some shots during the night. All at once their tents began to look rather thin….Last Monday we moved camp….It would have been quite a sight to all of you to see the Regiments moving around, - as we had to take our materials along with us. Some carried bedsteads, window sash[es], cracker boxes, pieces of sheet iron and everything you can imagine to make tents comfortable….We have pitched our tents…We have a chimney of brick to which we have sheet iron stove that we manufactured and can do our cooking on it – beside bake pies, cakes [sic], and beef if we get [sic] any flour top use. We have a table to write on and burn a "slit" light for candles, also sleep three in a bed. Our rations are more plenty and regularly issued yet I have held my own in flesh….

Diaries of Bliss Morse

 

24, 1862 Skirmish at White Oak Springs
No circumstantial reports filed.
Excerpt from the Report of Lieut. John B. Colton, Quartermaster Eighty-third Illinois Infantry relative to the skirmish at White Oak Springs, October 24, 1862:
COLUMBUS, KY., October 29, 1862.
DEAR SIR
* * * *
The next morning [24th] at 5 o'clock Maj. Brott ordered his command to fall back to White Oak Springs, about 14 miles, not thinking his force sufficiently strong to proceed farther. When about 6 miles from camp, at the crossing of a creek, a band of about 300 mounted guerrillas attacked us on our rear. At the time of the attack our forces were scattered, owing to a misunderstanding of the place of camping for breakfast. The order was to camp about 4 miles farther on. The enemy dashed in upon the troops, causing considerable confusion for a time, but they rallied and fired upon the enemy, the fire lasting about eight minutes, when he enemy retired with 8 men killed and several wounded, as was reported to us by their two surgeons whom we took prisoners. We had 1 man severely wounded and 2 slightly. On the battle grounds and on the march we took 15 prisoners. Our forces were then ordered to march back to Fort Donelson, where they arrived on Friday evening, October 25.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 17, pt. I, p. 464.

 

24, Confederate States Senator from Tennessee Gustavas A. Henry's plan "for winding up this campaign gloriously for our army."
LEXINGTON, October 24, 1863.
Hon. J. A. SEDDON:
Let me give you my plan for winding up this campaign gloriously for our army.
Gen. Lee will probably not engage in any further active operations this fall. Send Ewell to Bristol by rail, thence to Knoxville, by land march where he will encounter the enemy and he will easily defeat him. Then let him march down the Tennessee River on the other side and form a junction with Joseph E. Johnston in Rosecrans' rear, cutting off his supplies of provisions and re-enforcement of men.
Johnston should be ordered to Middle Tennessee, crossing the Tennessee River at Savannah, then march via Columbia to Shelbyville or Murfreesborough, thus effectually flanking Rosecrans, relieve the whole of Tennessee from invasion, and enable us to winter our army near the Kentucky line, where we can command at moderate rates unlimited supplies. In addition to this, if we re-occupy Tennessee, we can from that State alone increase our army 50,000 soldiers, and from Kentucky as many more. The southern part of that State would rise to our support if they had an army to flock to. The enemy cannot make any effectual advance on Richmond, and the real defense of Virginia is to be made in Tennessee. Drive the enemy out of East Tennessee, and defeat or capture Rosecrans, and the war will be at an end, as I verily believe Gen. Lee, with the troops left under his command here and around Richmond, can defend the city for six months, even if the enemy should have the temerity to invest it. Before that time we could concentrate our army again in Virginia and relieve it from invasion. The enemy will not attempt to overrun Mississippi in Gen. Johnston's absence, and what if they do, if in the mean time we annihilate their great Army of the Cumberland!
You may rely on it this plan followed out will do all I here predict and close the war in a "blaze of glory."
Do think seriously of this plan, and if Gen. Lee can be spared so as to go out west and assume the chief command, it will be all the better. It is the turning point of the war, and I think the road to independence lies incitingly [sic] before us.
Ever your friend,
G. A. HENRY [Confederate States Senator from Tennessee].
Gen. Bragg, it seems, is on very bad terms with his officers. No matter whose fault it is, such a total want of harmony between a commander and his officers must lead to disaster. I wish to God Lee could be put in command of that army. It would produce a thrill through every department of it that would insure its triumph.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 31, pt. III, p 586.

 


Thursday, October 20, 2011

October 20 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

20, Confederate Special Orders, No. 27, relative to breaking up bands of Unionists near Newport
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Knoxville, Tenn., October 20, 1862.
Col. D. R. HUNDLEY, Thirty-first Alabama, Cmdg., &c.:
The major-general commanding directs you, in obedience to Special Orders, No. 27, Hdqrs. Department of East Tennessee, October 19, 1862, to proceed at once to Newport. You will thoroughly scour the country in that vicinity and break up and destroy all parties banded together in opposition to the laws of the Confederate Government and in defiance of its authority. You are also directed by the commanding general to see that no depredation are committed upon the property of any persons within the limits of your command. All quartermaster's and commissary stores needed for the use of your troops will be purchased and paid for at a reasonable rate. Should any one having such supplies refuse to sell at fair prices or to receive Confederate money in payment you will if necessary impress. In all cases of impressment receipts at fair valuation will be given and full reports will be made immediately in writing to these headquarters. You will not permit impressment to be made under any circumstances without your written authority to the officer making the impressment.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CHAS. S. STRINGFELLOW, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 16, pt. II, p. 969.

 

20, Letter from "A Rebel" in Nashville to the Chattanooga Daily Rebel
Nashville, Oct. 20th, 1862
EDITOR, CHATTANOOGA REBEL:
Thinking you might like to hear from us in the City of Rocks, we pen the following lines, not to say that we are still in Yankeedom, this you know already, but to give you some idea of our condition.
I have always heard that this is the freest country on earth. Forever, and forever let me contradict it. Imagine a lamb in the jaws of a cannon and it will give you as good an idea of our liberty as you can well have.
Gen. Negley is now in command of this post. I mean by that, Nashville and as far round the city as his thieving soldiers can venture, with several regiments of cavalry and infantry, and forty two to four pieces of artillery. For almost three months, this enemy has been living on half, and sometimes quarter rations, and stealing the remainder from the people in our country and Williamson [county]. Parties go out every day, and sometimes as many as three or four a day in different directions, and when they go they are licensed to take anything they can lay their paws on. Remember, these soldiers have no restraint put upon them, and they are no better than animals. In the first place they take from a farm all the corn, fodder, and anything they can find in that line. Then everything like cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, turkeys, ducks, and chickens. Then to the house, first, everything to eat, then to the clothes for which they have a terrible passion; and all the silver, china, knives and forks and furniture are pressed, and at last the man who a few hours before was living in ease and luxury, finds himself sans meat, sans bread, sans everything except bare walls, and the clothes on his back, provided they do not burn his house down.
About the time that Gen. Morgan established his head-quarters at Hartsville, the war on the party of the Yankees assumed the form of a silk-dress war . One party that was at Gallatin said to a friend of mine, "I never ran in my life and I did from Morgan at Gallatin but I paid them for it." "How?" said the lady. "I took four silk dresses from one house." The war has now come down to ladies underclothing, but let me say right here, it is not the privates alone who have this thieving passion; from Gen. Negley down it is the same thing. I do not believe this army would stay in Nashville, only they expect to do as Gen. Mitchell did, steal themselves rich.
Gen. Pope's fiendish order has been carried out in and around Nashville, and tell us why the order of the Confederate Congress, about Pope and officers should not extend to Negley and army. Little contemptible puppies of orderlies make no more of cursing a gentleman and telling him if he opens his mouth will take all the possesses on earth, then he does of eating the dinner he steals. In the neighborhood of Nashville the other day, a Dutch officer, after taking all he could rake up from one place, took the spectacles from a lady's nose. She was old, and begged him to give them back to her that she might read her Bible. He said, "I have von old voman vat vould like some cold spectacles as well as you," and he took them. The day of the fight at Lavergne ,[sic] one officer showed to a lady, and in fact to several persons, a diamond ring he took from a young lady. He said, she told him that she had rather die than give it up, she prized it so much, but the gallant officer of the U.S.A. told her that he would cut her finger off, and she gave up the ring. This same officer told of a large quantity of ladies under-clothing that he had. If you cold be here tonight, you would see a magnificent castor taken that same day. If you can catch that officer, salt and pepper him well. Give him a round from a rebel castor in the shape of a six shooter.
At one place a wretch demanded the ear-rings from a lady's ear. While she was taking one from her right ear he tore the other from the left. At the house of a gentleman a few miles from Nashville, they went in and found the lady ill, with an infant three weeks old. After taking everything from the house of any consequence except the bed she lay upon, she asked them please to leave her one cow, as her little babe could not live without milk. One of them replied by seizing the nursing bottle and breaking it, and saying it should have neither milk nor bottle. I really think that this would be a good army to send where Pope has gone. They are so much like savages that they should be sent to fight them. You have heard of the murder of Dr. Bass. How many of our citizen may be murdered in the same shocking manner we do not know. I could recount things of this kind all night, but must close. You shall hear from me again. God bless you all in Dixie.
A Rebel.
War Journal of Lucy Virginia French, Entry for November 2, 1862.

 

20, "Affairs in West Tennessee. Refugees in Memphis. Capture of Rebels at Brownsville."
For weeks past the upper counties of West Tennessee have been placed in a state but little removed from terror, on account of the manifold depredations and remorseless conscription which has been carried on persistently by several small bands of rebels. Volumes might be written in the vain attempt to illustrate and shadow forth adequately the many and shocking outrages which have been perpetrated on unarmed men and defenceless [sic] women and children. Nearly every man who could do so, has left his home to avoid the conscripted. In this way from seventy-five to one hundred loyal Tennesseeans [sic], it is estimated, are now in Memphis, having sought protection in Federal illness from the guerrillas. They are true and loyal men, but having no means to withstand the terrible ordeal, they have come to Memphis for relief from oppression, cruelty and tyranny.
We are gratified to know that this reign of terror will no longer be permitted. Already a Federal force is on the wing, and soon the roving bands of thieves will be made to pay for their audacity. Last Wednesday [14th], at Brownsville, our troops came upon a rebel force of some dozen men, prowling around and gobbled up the whole party. [emphasis added]. It is also state that they went to other points, and whenever they found a rebel they took him up for safe keeping. At last accounts, the rebels were retiring before the advance of our small force, and probably by this time the whole thieving band, so long a terror to the people in that vicinity, has been gobbled up. If this is not he case already, we are gratified to believe, that it is only a question of time.
Memphis Bulletin, October 20, 1863

 

October 18 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

18, "VAMPIRES AGAIN."
The fact that our articles, denouncing the intolerable avarice and extortion of adventurous tradesmen have created a considerable fluttering among some of this class, induces us to continue rather than abate our warfare upon them. We hinted a few days since that the vile system of forestalling the market, in the purchase of army supplies, would probably defeat itself in the course of time by inviting the healthy interference of Government in the matter. The "army worms," who are eating into the very vitals of the South by subsisting upon speculation and monopoly, can be influenced in no other possible manner. They are mere vampires that maintain life o­nly by phlebotomizing the Confederacy, and need some other corrective for their unnatural voracity than mere ordinary appliances. Patriotism and honest constitute no part of their moral system -- they care little who conquers in this war, so they [sic] can reap profit from its necessities, while at the same time they pusillanimously shun its burdens and skulk its battles.
The State Legislature, as recommended by Governor HARRIS [sic], should not leave their seat at the capitol before paying their respects to these quasi-traitors to the cause of liberty. We, of course, allude particularly to those scoundrels who have bought up such necessaries of life, as are needed by our soldiers and keep them hoarded under lock and key in cellars and garrets, refusing to sell until they can realize at least six or eight hundred per cent profit o­n the amount originally invested. These libels o­n humanity have not risked their capital by running blockades and embargoes, thus justifying additional compensation, but have simply purchased stocks and stores in our own markets. They have their tools and agents prowling about in every little country town and village, buying every article of necessity that they can possibly lay hand o­n, form a barrel of pork down to a paper of plus [pius?]; and, as we hear, are so conscienceless in many instances as to represent themselves as the commissioned agents of the Government.
We can see o­nly o­ne or two proper and feasible modes of remedying this evil. The more effectual o­ne, perhaps, will be the plan suggested by us some days since. If State legislation is deemed unequal to the end, the salutary coup de main [sic] lately practiced by Moo. Moored in New Orleans, with a slight mitigation of its rigor, may do better. Government can take possession of the hoarded stores of these huckstering harpies, allowing them a reasonable profit o­n their investments, and a proper remuneration for the trouble and labor of having so long carried the keys of their locked up warehouses. Necessity alone can justify this move, and none can tell how soon its mandates may present themselves for enforcement. The principle, carrying with it the highest considerations of public good -- we may say of national benefit -- is parallel to that, which justifies the forced sale of land for the construction of a street or road of a public character. In the latter case, the property is valued; and a sufficient consideration given to the owner for its sacrifice -- a legitimate and recognized practice, known to every tyro in jurisprudence.
The principle involved is simply that individual interests must be subordinated to the public benefit. A government, struggling amid difficulties for its very existence against a powerful and unscrupulous adversary can undoubtedly take this step. Without eliciting the slightest demurer from the great mass of its citizens. None will oppose it, when it becomes necessary, beside the extortioners [sic] themselves who may become victims to the policy or that doubtful class of brethren whose patriotism, like the shadow upon a sundial, vanished with the appearance of the slightest cloud. The same reasons, in fact, that would dictate a rigorous policy toward political traitors, will apply with equal force to these mercantile conspirators, who are little better than the armed mercenaries of the enemy, who seek to crush out our liberties with instruments differing o­nly in kind. The o­ne o­nly uses bayonets and bullet, honestly avowing himself a foe the other craft and capital, with base hypocrisy, pretending to be a friend. Equal culpability rests upon the shoulders of each, for we can make not substantial difference between adversaries foreign and domestic.
The amount of provisions, pork, flour, salt, etc., in the South is amply sufficient to last until another year, if we will but exhibit a degree of economy, and the o­nly thing o­n earth besides extravagance that can make prices tremendous is monopoly. The laws of supply and demand, which usually regulate the matter, are silent amid arms, and the provision market in the Confederacy. Like the cotton market in London, is gradually getting under the influence of an unnecessary panic.
It is at all times desirable to conform even to the technicalities of the law in the administration of government, but we again advise the vampires that the period may not be far distant when the same necessity which recently compelled the martial interdiction of cotton shipments to large cities, may extend to circle of its persuasive influence over some of their own outrageous transactions.
Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 18, 1861.

 

 

18, "LETTER FROM GEN. PILLOW."
Headquarters Division
olumbus, KY, Oct. 14, 1861
To the Conductors of the Memphis Press
I inclose you for publication a letter to which I invite the attention of the good people of your city, whose right of property and liberties are protected by the army under my command. From this letter you will see that the families of the brave men composing the army are suffering for the necessaries of life.
I an aware of the liberal appropriations made by your county courts to provide for them; but yet there is suffering; and I fear a want of proper attention to the distribution of the fund.
But be that as it may, I cannot turn a deaf ear to the voice of wants sent to this camp from the wives of the grave men composing its rank and file -- nor can I refuse to allow those whose duty it is to provide for their families to go back, and provide them bread.
If I am compelled to grant such applications, it is easy to see that (combined with disease) this army will melt away until you city may be humbled by the tread of the tyrant's mercenary soldiers o­n your streets.
I know the public spirit and patriotic devotion of the people of Memphis to the cause of popular rights and a free government, and believe that the proper authorities will apply the corrective.
This is o­nly o­ne of many cases that have come before me.
I cannot and will not hold the brave men of this army to the post of duty when I hear the cries of their wives and children for bread, from your streets.
With great respect,,
Your ob't. serv't.
GID. J. PILLOW,
Brigadier-General
* * * *
CHELSEA, September 28, 1861
My Dearest Charlie:
I will write again to you, and perhaps you may get this o­ne, but I do not know. I have written several letters to you, and get no answers. Why don't you [write]? Here I might starve and die, and you never would hear of it. I think it very hard that I should be almost destitute of the necessaries of life, and none to help me, and not even a helping hand to assist me, and the o­ne I have o­n earth has been taken from me to go off and fight for the property of others that stay at home, [added]and see the poor women suffer for the mere want of bread; they care not for that, self is all they care for.[added] Oh, for God's sake show this to the colonel, and if he is a gentleman he will have some feeling for the female sex. I hope he is not solely destitute of sympathy for women. Oh, Charlie, please come [home], for I need your presence at home to make some provision for me and the baby. If I were not unable to do anything I would not think of it being so hard, but I am sick and have had Doctor Bailey tending o­n me ever since you left, and for my sake come home and let me see you o­nce more. I really need your assistance at home.[added] The baby is well. I shall look for you, if not, write soon. I do not get o­ne cent from the county, and what am I to do? Write soon.
Your Wife,
Mollie
Commercial Appeal, October 18, 1861.

 

18, Guerrilla Raid on the N&NW RR (USMRR)
OCTOBER 18 and 21, 1864.--Raids on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, Tenn.
Report of Lieut. William L. Clark, Twelfth U. S. Colored Infantry, Assistant Inspector Railroad Defenses.
OFFICER ASST. INSPECTOR RAILROAD DEFENSES, DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, Eastern Section Nashville and N. W. Railroad, Section 20, October 25, 1864.
SIR: In compliance with instructions received yesterday from your office, dated October 22, I have the honor to report the following particulars of the attack upon trains at section 36, Nashville and Northwestern Railroad, on the morning of the 18th instant; also, on the afternoon of the 21st instant:
The track repairers at section 36 were taken prisoners by McNary's gang (variously estimated at from 15 to 40 men, while some place the number at exactly 23) on the night of the 17th, about 12 o'clock, and held till late on the following morning, and made by McNary to draw the spikes from a rail and remove the fastenings at its end so as to be loose. The gang then drew back from observation, and in this condition of affairs the first a. m. train passed safely by them, except that a shower of bullets was poured in, which wounded a surgeon, Hogle, Engineer E. Andrews, and killed a boy, who was cook and brakeman, dead on the bunk, where he happened to by lying. The second a. m. train came to the loose rail and ran off; the engineer and fireman were wounded. Everybody was stripped of whatever money, watches, or valuables they had which pleased the fancy of the robbers. The locomotive was upset and slightly injured by cutting places with axes. One box-car was burned, but their efforts to burn the flat-cars loaded with iron, which composed the balance of the train, were not successful, and these were slightly injured. The third train, loaded with sawed timber from Ayres' saw-mill at section 29, ran up and was fired into. All hands jumped off and were robbed, except Engineer W. H. Stevens, who ran the train back to section 32, White Bluffs, in safety. Mean time the first train, Civil Conductor Charles White, arrived at Sneedville, and Col. Murphy, who was on board, had the telegrapher, G. W. Leedon, send a dispatch to Lieut. Orr, at White Bluff's, to come on with his cavalry. The dispatch was promptly obeyed, and Lieut. Orr arrived with twenty-five men twenty minutes after the gang had taken their departure, and pursued them a short distance unsuccessfully, and his horses being tired and inferior he returned. A wrecking train was dispatched with hands from Gillem's Station, section 51, to clear the road, and Lieut. Cox, with a detachment of Company B, One hundredth U. S. Colored Infantry, and Capt. Frost, with a detachment from companies of the Twelfth U. S. Colored Infantry from Sullivan's Branch, were sent to section 36, and the road made clear on the following morning, 19th instant.
Again on the 21st instant, as the p. m. train for Johnsonville was passing section 36, it was signaled by the section foreman, whose cook had informed him she had seen men tearing up the track. Capt. O. B. Simmons, military conductor, had the train stopped, and with his large train guard pursued the bushwhackers, whose numbers could not be ascertained, for a considerable distance, but as they were mounted the pursuit was unavailing. Civil Conductor Charles White fastened down the rail and the train passed on. Afterward the gang returned and burned the house and commissary of the section foreman, who lay in the bushes in sight. They also burned nearly all the negro and other dwelling along the railroad for two miles. Piles of wood at sections 38 and 39 were burned, and various estimates placed the loss in wood at from 3,000 to 15,000 cords. The wood being in several ranks close to the road many ties were burned at the ends, and the rails warped by the intense heat, so that the 3 o'clock train for Nashville could not pass. The telegraph operator at Sneedville called operator at White Bluffs, section 32, and while calling the line was cut before getting and answer. Capt. J. W. Dickins, at Sneedville, went to the burning wood with part of this company, and arrived in time to hear the retreating bushwhackers laughing and talking, but was not able at that time (11 o'clock night) to do anything, and returned to Sneedville. On the 22d Military Conductor Capt. Van Skike, from Nashville, found out the condition of the road at sections 38 and 39, and took a detail up from White Bluffs and repaired the road as soon as possible so that trains ran through on the 23d of October.
I have made no delay in gathering the materials from authentic sources for this report, and hope it may prove acceptable.
WILLIAM L. CLARK, First Lieut., Twelfth U. S. Colored Infantry,
Division Inspector Eastern Section Nashville and Northwestern R. R.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. I, pp. 877-879.

 

 

 

October 19 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

October 19, 1861 - The Tennessee Baptist's Advice o­n Firearm Cleansing
How to Clean a Gun.
No o­ne should put away a gun without cleaning, not even if it has fired but o­ne shot—that o­ne barrel should be cleaned. First take the barrels off the stock, and immerse them in cold water about four inches deep.—Then wrap some stout cloth (tow clings to the barrels, and leaves particles in them) about the cleaning rod, so thick that you will have to press rather hard to get it into the barrels; then pump up and down, changing the cloth till the water comes out clear; then pour hot water in them, stopping up the nipples, and turn the muzzles downward. Then put o­n dry cloth and work till you can feel the heat through the barrels, and the cloth comes out without a particle of moisture o­n it. Then put a few drops of clarified oil (made by putting rusty nails into some good salad oil) o­n the cloth and rub the insides; rub the outsides all over and then put the gun away.—P[illegible] Spirit.
Tennessee Baptist, October 19, 1861.

 

 

 

19, Attack by Confederate guerrillas on U.S. steamships Gladiator and Catahoula on the Mississippi river near Memphis
These guerrilla attacks prompted Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman, then in command at Memphis, to initiate a policy in which Confederate sympathizers were to be sent across the lines into the Rebel lines. One woman, Miss P. A. Fraser wrote a letter to Sherman objecting to this policy. Her petition is lost, but Shaman's reply is not:
MEMPHIS, October 22, 1862.
Miss P. A. FRASER, Memphis:
DEAR LADY [sic] : Your petition is received. I will allow fifteen days for the parties interested to send to Holly Springs and Little Rock to ascertain if firing on unarmed boats is to form a part of the warfare against the Government of the United States.
If from silence or a positive answer from their commanders I am led to believe such fiendish acts are to be tolerated or allowed it would be weakness and foolish in me to listen to appeals to feelings that are scorned by our enemies. They must know and feel that not only will we meet them in arms, but that their people shall experience their full measure of the necessary consequences of such barbarity.
The Confederate generals claim the Partisan Rangers as a part of their army. They cannot then disavow their acts, but all their adherents must suffer the penalty. They shall not live with us in peace. God himself has obliterated whole races from the face of the earth for sins less heinous than such as characterized the attacks on the Catahoula and Gladiator. All I say is if such acts were done by the direct or implied concert of the Confederate authorities we are not going to chase through the canebrakes and swamps the individuals who did the deeds, but will visit punishment upon the adherents of that cause which employs such agents. We will insist on a positive separation; they cannot live with us. Further than that I have not yet ordered, and when the time comes to settle the account we will see which is most cruel-for your partisans to fire cannon and musket-balls through steamboats with women and children on board, set them on fire with women and children sleeping in their berths, and shoot down the passengers and engineers, with the curses of hell on their tongues, or for us to say the families of men engaged in such hellish deeds shall not live in peace where the flag of the United States floats.
I know you will say these poor women and children abhor such acts as much as I do, and that their husbands and brothers in the Confederate service also would not be concerned in such acts. Then let the Confederate authorities say so, and not employ their tools in such deeds of blood and darkness. We will now wait and see who are the cruel and heartless men of this war. We will see whether the firing on the Catahoula or Gladiator is sanctioned or disapproved, and if it was done by the positive command of men commissioned by the Confederate Government, you will then appreciate how rapidly Civil War corrupts the best feelings of the human heart.
Would to God ladies better acted their mission on earth; that instead of inflaming the minds of their husbands and brothers to lift their hands against the Government of their birth and stain them in blood, had prayed them to forbear, to exhaust all the remedies afforded them by our glorious Constitution, and thereby avoid "horrid war," the last remedy on earth.
Your appeals to me shall ever receive respectful attention, but it will be vain in this case if Gen. Holmes does not promptly disavow these acts, for I will not permit the families and adherents of secessionists to live here in peace whilst their husbands and brothers are aiming the rifle and gun at our families on the free Mississippi.
Your friend, [sic!]
W. T. SHERMAN, Maj.-Gen., Comdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 17, pt, II, p. 288.

 

 

19, Skirmish at Zollicoffer
No circumstantial reports filed.
With a mournful pen I record the death of Lt. Col. Bottles, who was killed yesterday in a fight below Zollicoffer. He was a Lt. Col. of one of the Vicksburg Reg'ts, had me up a Batt'n of East Tennessee troops & been serving as commandant of scouts, pickets, &c. was invaluable to us in East Tenn. -- as he was thoroughly acquainted with the country, & was a brave & dashing officer. He was acting in conjunction with Lt. Col. Witcher & overtook a Reg't of the enemy 1 1/2 miles below Zollicoffer. In a charge upon them Col Bottles was shot from his horse while leading his battalion. The ball entered his right lung & he lived but two hours. We routed the Yankees, killed & captured 57. We lost but two ....*
Diary of Edward O. Guerrant, October 20, 1863.

 

Monday, October 17, 2011

October 16 - 17 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

OCTOBER 16th

Guerrillas and Women.

To the Editor of the Nashville Dispatch.

 The position which the Dispatch has taken in regard to guerrilla warfare is not o­nly that which alone is justified by the laws of war, but also looking to the future, the o­nly o­ne that can be looking to the future, the o­nly o­ne that can be taken consistently with the general good.  Whatever the result of the contest, guerrillas are simply a pest and a horror to every community.

 The laws of war apply as well to all classes of people and to each sex as to guerrillas.  They prescribe the manner in which offences of all kinds against existing military rule may be punished.  The female sex is not exempt from the application of these laws.  As this sex has been somewhat conspicuous in the present contest, it may be well to remind them of these laws.  The most recent and valuable work on the subject—"Halleck's International Law, and the Laws of War"—says:

 "There are certain persons in every community who are exempt from the direct operations of war.  Feeble old men, women and children, come under the general description of enemies; but as they are enemies that make no resistance, we have no right to maltreat them.  So persons engaged in the ordinary pursuits of life, and taking no part in military occupations, have nothing to fear from the sword of the enemy.  So long as they refrain from all acts of hostility, pay the military contributions which may be imposed on them, and quietly submit to the authority of the belligerent who may happen to be in the military possession of their country, they are allowed to continue in the enjoyment of their property, and in the pursuit of their ordinary avocations.

"But this exemption is strictly confined to such as refrain from all acts of hostility.  If the peasantry or common people of a country use force, or commit acts in violation of the milder rules of common warfare, they subject themselves to the common fate of military men, and sometimes to a still harsher treatment.  And if ministers of religion and females so far forget their profession and sex as to take up arms, or incite others to do so, they are no longer exempted from the rights of war.  And even if a portion of the non combatant inhabitants of a particular place become participants in hostile preparations, the entire community may be subjected to the more rigid rules of war.  Even women and children may be held in confinement, if circumstances (and of these the General in command alone is judge) render such a measure necessary in order to secure the just objects of the war."

 These rules are universally acknowledged and everywhere applicable.  If there are any females in this community, who have presumed upon their sex to screen them from the punishment of acts which men would not commit through fear of punishment, it may be well for them to understand that there is no law of war under which they are entitled to the least immunity.  It is currently believed that, in this city, there are females, occupying respectable positions in society, who have been guilty of demonstrations of sympathy with the rebellion, which come under the head of "acts of hostility," and render them liable to "the more rigid rules of war."  It is time that such should see this matter in its true light, and take the warning in season.  The fate of guerrillas may be a lesson to them also.

NASHVILLE DISPATCH, October 16, 1862

 

16, Confederate Colonel W. W. Faulkner's cavalry attacks itself at Island No. 10

Guerrillas at Island No. 10"

Skirmishing near Tiptonville

Pemisco Bayou Quiet

The steamboat Graham, from St. Louis, arrived at our landing last evening (18th), and from Captain BART. BOWEN, her gentlemanly commander, we learn the reason of the firing at the Meteor, which arrived at noon t-day, reported hearing as she passed the neighborhood of the celebrated Island No. 10. It appears that on Thursday (16th) two bodies of Colonel Faulkner's rebel cavalry came in there, and each mistaking the other division for enemies, the two bodies fired vigorously into each other. It is reported, however, that th4e consequences of the blunder had no more serious result that the wounding of two men. The noise of the firing attracted the attention of some Federal troops scouting in the neighborhood, and they pursued them and succeeded in carrying off seven prisoners.

Tiptonville it was reported that the guerrillas were active all around and full of vindictive designs. It was stated, however, that they had been met by; some Federal troops who had wounded four or five of their men. There appears to be great activity manifested at the present time by the enemy along the river. They have been encourage by the inactivity of the gunboats to believe they can close the river commerce of Memphis and starve it into submission to the Confederacy. While we are writing steps are being carried out that will show them the futility of their expectations, whit lit proves to them that General Sherman will not permit their unwarlike banditti proceedings to be perpetrated without bringing bitter consequences on the heads of their aiders and sympathizers.

When the Graham passed Pemisco Bayou (Arkansas), where the Continental and Dickey were fired into, a gunboat was lying there, and all was quiet. In our report of the shooting into the Dickey, we stated that she was hailed at Halle's Point, by a crowd of people. She did not answer the hail. The Graham ascertained that a quantity of cotton had been brought there for shipment, and the crowd that raised suspicion on board the Dickey was composed of a guard collected to protect the cotton.

Memphis Bulletin, October 19, 1862.

 

16, Skirmish near Bull's Gap

HDQRS. CAVALRY, &c., Rheatown, October 17, 1864.

GEN.: Your note of the 15th instant is at hand. So soon as Lieut.-Col. Bean, who was in command of the troops of my brigade in the Valley, arrives, I shall procure the names of the officers who left their command without the proper authority and see that they are ordered before the military court at once. It is impossible to procure the names at present in the absence of Col. Bean. Lieut. Hopkins, who shot Capt. Day, will also be sent up. On my front all is quiet. Capt. Bushong, in charge of a scout of some thirty men, attacked a scout of seventy of the enemy within eight miles of Bull's Gap last night and stampeded them. The enemy's loss unknown, as he took to the woods; our loss, 1 man mortally wounded. I heard from Col. Palmer's command on the 14th instant. He will move to-day and by at Warm Springs on the 19th instant, nothing preventing. I am, respectfully, &c.,

JOHN C. VAUGHN, Brig.-Gen.

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. I, p. 847.

 

 

OCTOBER 17th

17, Residents of Overton and Fentress counties seek retention of local units for domestic use only
ADJUTANT-GEN.'S OFFICE, to Gen. ALBERT S. JOHNSTON:
In transmitting the letter of His Excellency Governor Harris to you, together with other communications, I beg leave to add that the regiments of Col.'s Stanton and Murray were ordered to be organized expressly for the protection of the section of Overton, Fentress, and adjoining counties. While subject to duty anywhere, their removal leaves, as you are assured by men of the highest respectability, the country wholly exposed to the enemy.
Respectfully,
JAMES W. McHENRY.
[Inclosure.]
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
Nashville, Tenn., October 17, 1861.
Gen. JOHNSTON:
DEAR SIR: I herewith transmit communications from highly respectable citizens of Overton and Fentress Counties showing a state of apprehension well grounded to some extent, I fear, of marauding parties from the enemy's camp in close proximity to these counties. Having transferred to Confederate States all the organized troops and army of the State, I must call upon you to take such steps as will protect our soil from invasion and defend the lives and property of our citizens.
Respectfully,
ISHAM G. HARRIS.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 52, pt. II, pp. 179-180.

 

17, "CLOTHING AND SHOES FOR THE ARMY"

We cannot avoid again recurring to the subject. It is the most important one that at present engage[s] the attention, not only of the [Confederate] Congress, but the whole country. If our troops can be properly clad, properly fed, and properly clothed they may defy the enemy to do his worst. F[or?] the article of food we learn that ample pro[gress?] has been made. For the article of shoes [we?] observe that Congress has passed a law [to?] [or?]ganize a corps of 2,000 shoemakers for the public service. They are enough, it be possible to [procure?] leather, which we believe it [?] is here, especially, that the patriotism of men and women of the country might [come?] as a powerful aid to the Government [...?] everybody who has a scrap of leather th[at?] by exercising the most severer self-denial [can we] vote it to the service of the country. Let everybody who has leather part with it to an [...?] but an agent of the Government. Let everybody who has no leather, but has money, contribute as much as he can spare b[y?] means, to purchase leather. Le[t it be?] bought if possible wherever it exists from speculators, at any price, however exorbitant. Send all the old shoes you may [have?] and can spare, to be half-soled for the t[roops?] Rake and scrape together every scrap of leather you can possibly lay your hand on f[or the?] holy purpose. If the people will [get to?] work, the army can be shod and kept in[....?] and we feel assured that they will set to [...?] in right good earnest.
So in the way of clothing and blankets [give?] everything you can possibly spare. Ge[.....?] [...?]burgs, where you have no blankets to [...?] sew the pieces together, and stuff them with cotton. Learn to sleep under as few blankets as possible, that you may send the over [...?] the soldiers.
Remember, men and women of the Confederate States, the army of...[Tennessee] is standing guard over you, your homes, and your [coun?]ties, no matter in what part of the country you may be. If once that army be force to [go to ?] the field if they h[ave?] these comforts. And are you not pr[oud?] of that army? It has won for you already [that?] which no people ever had the com[...?] [...?]ment of a national career. It has fought battles and gained victories t[o?] [be?] conferred undyingly luster on any people [that?] ever existed. It has protected your [in your?] hour of need. But for its courage and [protec?]tion you would be, at this moment, the subjects of the most hateful tyranny, and t[he?] [most?] odious tyrant that the world ever be[held?]. You would be the subjects of the Yan[kee] [domina?]tion , and of Abraham Lincoln. Do [you?] owe them, then a debt of gratitude wh[ich?] [...?] labor of a long life would not be too [n?oble?] [to?] extinguish?....illegible
Chattanooga Daily Rebel, October 17, 1862.

 

17, "Tennessee Money."
Our object is calling attention yesterday to the legal status [sic] of the Bank of Tennessee, was to show the holders of its notes that the States is, in the end, responsible to them for the redemption of the same, whether the bank shall return or not. It was a question among the politicians of this Sate a few years ago, "What shall be done with the Bank of Tennessee?" That very same question comes up to day, and in a m ore perplexing form than it ever presented itself to the politicians of the past. If civil authority were restored without the return of the bank, that question would be an important one, for it would enter largely into the policy of the State. We have no idea that, in any event, the people of Tennessee will agree to tarnish the fair escutcheon of their State by repudiating the State's responsibility for the Bank of Tennessee. Such repudiation would be a burning shame, more damning, if possible, that that which has hung around the name of Mississippi for a quarter of a century. No, Tennesseeans [sic] will never repudiate the State's responsibility for the Bank of Tennessee. They may lose the entire capital of the bank, and then have to pay its liabilities up to the time of its removal from Nashville, but they will not deliberately bring dishonor upon their State whose credit has never been tarnished.
We do not know what to advise the people to do with the Bank of Tennessee money, now that they cannot even pay their taxes with it. Those who are able to hold it will probably do so, since the State stands security to them, bay her plighted faith, for the redemption of these "bills or notes?" But ether are thousands who cannot act thus, because their necessities will compel them to use their money, and hence they will have to submit to whatever terms they can make with the brokers.
We are gratified to notice that since our exposition yesterday of the legal status [sic] of the Bank of Tennessee, there has been a very favorable improvement in the demand and prices paid for its notes.
While upon this subject, we may as well state that there is no reason why the notes of the Planters' and Union Banks should be at so great a discount as they are. We have been assured by a gentleman who has no connection with banks, who has seen the statements of these banks recently submitted to Gov. Johnson, that they have reliable assets largely in excess of their liabilities; and that if it was necessary; they could go into liquidation now and pay off their entire liabilities and then have a large surplus to be divided among the stockholders. The publication of these statement would add greatly to the confidence in these banks, and go a along way towards bringing their notes up to par with greenbacks.
Nashville Dispatch, October 17, 1863.



Friday, October 14, 2011

October 14 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

1863, Columbia. The following strange letter was sent to Major-General Rosecrans from what appears to have been a busybody.

COLUMBIA, TENN. October 14, 1863.

Maj. Gen. W. S. ROSECRANS:

DEAR SIR: You perhaps remember me when I last saw you in Cincinnati.

I reside 14 miles from the city. Since I saw you last I have been traveling in rebeldom some, and have made some discoveries worth your notice.

I crossed the Tennessee River at Clifton, Wayne County, Tenn., and went from thence to Waynesborough, and from there to Lawrenceburg. In passing between those places until I got to within 8 miles of the latter place I found two-thirds of the people for the Union and no mistake and willing to take up arms for the old flag, and many of them have already done so. When I got within 8 miles of Lawrenceburg, and all the way and in the place, I found all rebels. I staid with o­ne Union man near there, who I found a good and true Union man, who gave me the following: That there was five cotton [factories?] concealed about, and that some of these factory owners had taken an oath to the U. S. Government last year, and ever since that time nearly have furnished G. W. Jones, rebel quartermaster at Huntsville, Ala., with thousand upon thousands of yards of cloth and hanks of thread to sew with, and received in payment therefor captured cotton from the U. S. Government, which was left at the tunnel between Pulaski and Huntsville o­n the railroad, and besides a large amount of the cotton was loaned by the rebel States to Jeff. Davis' rebel Government, and the bats of cotton was branded, so abundant proof can be obtained to prove this by persons about the tunnel and negroes that wagoned the cotton to Lawrenceburg, and the mark o­n the bags of cotton, and there is some men at Huntsville that would substantiate all this, and all along the road from the tunnel to this place enough testimony can be obtained to confiscate those factories and cotton, that would be enough to pay, 50,000 soldiers for six months' service.

I found no Union sentiment, hardly, at Lawrenceburg; it was nearly deserted, and in a dilapidated condition. The most of the houses, the man told me, belonged to o­ne L. M. Bently, who was a good and true Union man; was in the Nashville Union convention in 1862, in June. Bently was opposed to secession, but a while after the war broke out voted with the secesh; but the man told me he heard Bently say that he had rather lose all he had than the Union should be dissolved, but that he was afraid to say it publicly. I understand that Bently had to go inside your lines for protection. There is a lawyer, C. B. Davis, there; was a secessionist, but now is for reconstruction. There is a man there who pretended to be a Union man and has taken the oath, named Birney Chafin, but is undoubtedly a Southern spy; he has always a number of bushwhackers with him in his house, and I am well satisfied-beyond a doubt; he is the worst man and most dangerous spy the rebels have there. A detective in the shape of a Confederate soldier would reveal he is a rebel spy; his brother is a lieutenant in a bushwhack company. There is o­ne Capt. L. M. Kirk that has a company there, and belongs to Col. Biffle's rebel regiment. Kirk has killed several Union men in cold blood, and is a terror to all Union sentiment. He, as well as Chafin, ought not to live o­ne day. From what I could learn, o­ne-half of that county is for the Union. I went from there to Mount Pleasant. At that place I found nearly all secesh, and much wealth around the place; fine lands, &c.

From there I went to Hampshire; I found nearly all Union at that place; the land is rich and the people well informed. I staid with o­ne Mr. Beard, near Hampshire. I found him a good and true Union man, but I did not tell him my true name. From there I went to Williamsport, o­n Duck River, and while there I made a discovery that is worth your notice; there were four wagons passed here loaded with cloth and spun thread, under the charge of a rebel soldier and officer named Hampton, but the goods all belonged to o­ne W. J. Porter of the Crescent factory, who was sending these goods to Clarksville to smuggle them in and get family supplies and oil to run his factory, and salt, so o­ne of the wagoners told me, and sure enough o­n the return of the wagons a friend told me that they had a barrel lard-oil, a barrel salt, and sack coffee, and a quantity of goods. Is it not strange that the commander of the post at Clarksville would allow this for a rebel factory, upholding the rebels with cloth and means, as I have before stated? The wagoners stated they got the goods from a man named Parker in Clarksville; these wagons returned to Lawrence County. While there I learned some other things important; there is a rebel colonel named Dunc. Cooper, who has made up two companies bushwhackers, Capt. F. P. Scot County [sic] told me, and he told me that Capt. Scot and his lieutenants, W. Jobe Boswell and Mr. Flatt and o­ne J. C. Chafin, were the worst men o­n earth in secretly killing Union men, robbing Union men, stealing horses; and he told me that o­nly thirty days ago they got after a Union man named Bently at Centreville, tried to kill him, and stole twenty bales cotton from him. I understand the same men robbed an old Union man named J. N. Puckett, and he had to run away to Nashville to save his life. They robbed a man named George Evins, in Dickson County, by Bell's Furnace, of 5 head horses and mules; they are a terror to the whole country, and those men ought not to be permitted to live and should be killed by all means. Union men nor Union sentiment cannot exist where they are allowed to stay, and strange to say they are to be prisoners and return here.

There is a Capt. J. Nix, with 13 bushwhackers, near Centreville, o­n Duck River, and at Centreville I understand the men of property there indorse and uphold this bushwhacking and stealing crowd of bushwhackers, and feed them and keep them there. If you could see this old man Puckett at Nashville, he could tell the names of those rebels that deserve punishment at Centreville. They have a great many fine mules and horses there in county, &c. I saw a man from Charlotte, in Dickson County. He told me that there was some bushwhackers at or near Weems' Springs; that there was about 20 at Pine Wood Factory; that there was o­ne Capt. Andrew Ray, with 30 men, at Mrs. Adams', o­n Yellow Creek, nearly always there staying and went back and forth to Kentucky to break open stores, and steal horses and mules, and that they had killed 8 Union men o­n Yellow Creek in cold blood. Capt. Ray had married a wife near Mrs. Adams', a Mrs. Harriet Nichols, and there was a Capt. Thompson, with 35 bushwhackers, below Andrew Brown's, o­n Yellow Creek, and that a few staid at the head of Yellow Creek, at Williamsville, and all these men are, or nearly so, rogues, bushwhackers, and committing all manner of mischief, and will not allow any farmer to speak out for Union; if so, this is a pretext to seize and steal all his property--a terror to the people, waylaying roads, &c.

This Col. Cooper is now staying, and is likely to stay, o­n Duck River, between Williamsport and Centreville, and from there to Harpeth, at the iron bridge, back and forth, stealing, killing, &c. By a well-managed affair all these rogues could be caught, these factories and cotton captured.

I request specially and particularly that this letter of mine be strictly confidential, as I have obtained information from Union men and friends, and if I was identified as giving information, or if these men who told me should be found out and identified, they could not live o­ne week in rebeldom unprotected.

Very respectfully,

JOHN C. SMITH.

P. S.--I will write you again soon from Nashville.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. IV, pp. 363-367.

 

   14, "Conscripting in West Tennessee. Terror Among the People. Meditated Attack o­n Fort Pillow."

We learn that o­ne company of Confederates have again made their appearance in the neighborhood of Union depot, where they are said to be conscripting, much to the terror of the inhabitants. At last accounts, they had gone toward Brownsville, where, it was feared, they would make another raid.

It is said that there is another company of rebels near Macon, Fayette county, about ten miles from Union depot. Another party o­n Saturday [10th] went into Somerville, and amongst others conscripted there was Hon. J. R. Mosby, well known as the late candidate for the Confederate Congress.

There was great consternation among the few remaining people in that country. The conscriptors manifest great delight when they can pick up a loyal [Union] man and force him into their ranks. All such they take beyond our lines, send to [Brigadier-General Gideon J.] Pillow at Columbus, who in turn places them under guard and sends them to some point whence escape will be impossible. It is believed that this effort of the rebels is their last desperate attempt to recruit their ranks, and that they will leave no man in the country capable of bearing arms. For some time past, the Bulletin has endeavored to urge upon the people of West Tennessee the duty and necessity of organizing home guards and adopting means for their own defense, but they remained supine and indifferent, and the result may be that many of them will have to pay their neglect by fighting in the ranks of JEFFERSON I [sic], and without any of the comforts belonging to those who keep step to the music of the Union. There is said to be honor among thieves but there seems to be none among the conscriptors, else why do they not take men of secession proclivities and sympathies and leave those known to abhor their despotic sway. If o­nly the rebels at heart [sic] could be conscripted, we should favor even this mode of getting them into the fight of their own creating, until the last o­ne had been made to take up arms. It is easier to get rid of them in that way than by fostering them under protection of the flag they secretly hate. It would be a great blessing to Tennessee, if such rebels were in the rebel army to-day.

Information has been received by a gentleman who was at Poplar corner, Madison county, o­n Friday [9th] night, that all the rebel leaders were to assemble early this week at that place for the purpose of making a descent upon and capture of Fort Pillow. They estimated that they could muster upward of three thousand men and o­ne battery, and with these they regarded the project as certain of accomplishment. The attack o­n Collierville o­n Sunday [11th] was doubtless a part of the plan, but as that signally failed, we apprehend the programme may be materially interfered with and probably abandoned. All necessary preparations have been made for their reception, and it is hoped they will let to trivial matter deprive them of the entertainment.

The greatest terrors seems to prevail among the people of West Tennessee in reference to the conscription, and we may expect every man -- old and young -- to be taken who cannot hid in the woods and hollows, till the ordeal is over. Our advice to our friends everywhere is, organize for defense.

Memphis Bulletin, October 14, 1863.

 

14, Attacks upon U.S. courier near Chattanooga
HDQRS., Chattanooga and Bridgeport Courier-Line, October 14, 1863.
Lieut. M. J. KELLY, Chief of Couriers, Chattanooga, Tenn.:
LIEUT.: I sent a sergeant this morning to see about the telegraph; the wire is cut about 8 miles from Chattanooga. The sergeant was shot at four times, but fortunately escaped unhurt. Dispatches are coming through from Bridgeport, but I have not received Lieut. Lawless' report yet. Did you receive my report last night, and can you furnish the men I asked for?
Respectfully,
JOHN W. FORRESTER, Capt., Fifth Kentucky Cav. Vols., Comdg. Courier-Line.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. IV, p. 363.

 

Thursday, October 13, 2011

October 13 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

13, Skirmish on Lebanon Road, Nashville
No circumstantial reports filed.
The following correspondence alludes to the conflict:
NASHVILLE, October 13, 1862.
Col. FRY: Inclosed find report of affair at La Vergne. Did you get my report of success at Goodlettsville? [see September 30, 1862, above] Anderson is superseded; Forrest in command, and is concentrating a considerable force at Murfreesborough. Breckinridge believed to be there; he has certainly been ordered from Seneca. The movements of the enemy plainly indicate an intended assault on this place. They appeared in considerable force on the Lebanon road 4 miles from the City to-day; had a slight skirmish with them, killing several.
Our defenses are in best possible condition. Continue to improve them. Look well to the bridge. Commissary supplies failing. Command in good health and spirits. Have cheering news from Kentucky.
NEGLEY
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 16, pt. II, p. 613.

 

13, Depredations in Cleveland
….The mails have commenced coming. The soldiers are dealing very badly, taking corn, leaving down fences, stealing horses, chickens, hogs and everything else they see. We turned off several that wanted dinner….Mother commenced putting corn in the little front room this eve….[sic]
Diary of Myra Adelaide Inman, p. 212.

 

13, Raising the black flag near Harrison's Landing
HDQRS. NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS, Harrison's Landing, Tenn., October 13, 1863-10 a. m. Col. C. GODDARD,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen., Dept. of the Cumberland:
COL.: I have the honor to report all quiet this a. m. At Penny's Ford the enemy have 1, 900-Wood with 1,000 and Pegram with 900. Some of the citizens on the opposite side raised a black flag, which, the refugees on this side say, means that some one has been killed by the rebels, and that there is great danger.
I am, colonel, very obediently,
SMITH D. ATKINS, Col. Ninety-second Illinois Volunteers.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. IV, p. 337.

 

13, Scout and skirmish on Horn Lake Road, near Memphis
HDQRS. FIRST BRIGADE, SECOND DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Camp Howard, October 13, 1864.
Capt. S. L. WOODWARD, A. A. G., Cav. Corps, Dist. of West Tennessee, Memphis, Tenn.:
SIR: The scout I sent out to-day in pursuit of the rebels who captured some of our patrols [and which] left here about 10 a. m., under charge of Lieut. Givens, Second New Jersey Cavalry, about eighty men strong, have just returned. They went out on the Horn Lake road about twenty miles, on a trot, but could not overtake them. They found out that our patrol of the men was attacked about six miles from the picket-post by about twenty rebels, where they had a skirmish, as the citizens heard some firing, and found one dead horse, but could not find any of our men. The citizens also reported that they saw one of our men walking with the rebels as a prisoner.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOSEPH KARGE, Col., Cmdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. III, p. 266.