Monday, July 2, 2012

July 2 - Tennessee Civil War Notes

 2, Governor Isham G. Harris reports to Confederate authorities relative to the strength of the provisional army of Tennessee

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Nashville, July 2, 1861.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of joint resolution adopted o­n 29th ultimo by the Gen. Assembly of the State of Tennessee, according to the provisions of which I hereby tender to the Confederate States the provisional army of Tennessee, and propose to have them mustered into the service of that Government.

The provisional army of Tennessee is composed of twenty-two regiments of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, ten companies of artillery, engineer corps, ordnance bureau, &c., commanded by Maj. Gen. Gid. J. Pillow, Maj.-Gen. Anderson, Brig.-Gen.'s Zollicoffer, Cheatham, Foster, Caswell, and Sneed. The infantry fully armed and equipped ready for the field; part of the cavalry armed with revolvers and sabers, the balance with double-barrel shotguns, and all well mounted. No field batteries completed yet; a sufficient number in progress for such of our artillery companies as will not be in command of our stationary batteries o­n the river. Tennessee makes this tender with the hope that is will be accepted by Your Excellency, and, with perfect confidence that if it is, the Confederate States will at all times defend her soil from invasion.
Very respectfully,
ISHAM G. HARRIS.
OR, Ser. IV, Vol. 1, p. 417.

 

 

2, Martial orders relative to prohibition of liquor sales, protection of Union flag, possession of firearms. restrictions upon lewd women and theft in Memphis*
I. The guard stationed in the...city will have the utmost vigilance to discover the parties who are in the habit of selling intoxicating liquors in defiance of orders. Persons found guilty of violations...will be at once arrested, his liquor confiscated...place of business closed....This order applies on steamboats as well as the city.
II. The insulting or accosting of loyal citizens will no longer be tolerated under any circumstances. Union citizens who have placed the American flag over their houses will be protected....the Provost Guard are instructed to shoot down anyone who may attempt to remove the flag or molest the owner of the premises.
III. [Those without permission to carry firearms will] be placed in closed confinement. [Only police may carry firearms.] The members of the Police are required to report themselves immediately to this office and register their names, stating the number of the ward where they perform police duty.
IV. Lewd women are prohibited from conversing with soldiers on duty; nor will they be allowed to walk the streets after sunset. Anyone of the class indicated who shall violate this order will be conveyed across the river, and will not be allowed to return within the limits of the city.
V. Some unknown person, representing himself as "Capt. J.K. Lindsey, Co. K, 43d Ill. Vol. has committed several depredations by entering private houses and taking private property, giving a receipt for same, under the pretense that he is acting by authority of the Provost Marshal. [remainder illegible] 
Memphis Union Appeal, July 2, 1862 

*Ed. note - not referenced in OR.

 

 

2, Items from the pages of the July 2, 1863 number  of the Chattanooga Daily Rebel, as the Army of the Cumberland continued its advance through Middle Tennessee:
"Whenever you hear an excited individual proclaiming on the streets the approach of several millions of yankees [sic] to burn some bridge or take some village, you may know him for a designing liar who wished to get up a panic, to justify his own indecent retreat from danger. Nevertheless, that need not prevent you from cleaning up your old rifle and putting a new flint to the hammer. There is many a brave man not in the field, but at home ready to do his part whenever his services are required; and we trust each one will put down the circulation of rumors and encourage the circulation of bullets.
"Soldiers of the Army of Tennessee, from all the Southern States of your sunny land, the nation watches you with breathless interest: 
Never give up!
Never give up! though the grape shot may rattle,
Or the full thunder cloud over you burst,
Stand like a rock, and the storm or the battle
Little shall harm you although doing their worst.
Never give up! if adversity presses,
Providence wisely has mingled the cup,
And the best counsel in all your distresses,
Is the stout-hearted watchword of never give up.
"The Situation."
The crisis is upon us! The 'grand army' of Rosecrans confronts our forces within two miles and a half of Tullahoma. The estimate placed upon it is between fifty and seventy-five thousand men, including one hundred pieces of artillery and six thousand cavalry. The latter consists of regular United States infantry mounted upon horses stolen from the farmers in Middle Tennessee. A prisoner captured yesterday says that they are full of fight, and moan to stand where they are.
Our own condition, numbers, etc., we will be pardoned for holding silence. Sufficient that nobody is frightened, and that if Rosecrans really desires a fight his sentiments are amply reciprocated. Our troops are both prepared in body and in mind.
Our position is considered a good one; but the precise battle ground is not yet decided. It is presumed by outsiders that an engagement may occur today.
The raid upon Decherd night before last [June 30] was a farce. Fifteen hundred cavalry came up about nine o'clock with six pieces of artillery. Captain House, of the 2d Tennessee, met them with but twenty-eight picket men, and fought them for an hour from a defensible point. At last they brought their guns to bear upon him, when he withdrew without loss. They then proceeded to burn the Depot, but were so frightened that they did nothing more, and hardly stayed to see this well done.
Every thing is active and busy and excited. The pulse of the army us up to heroic point. General Bragg rides through his columns of men from morning till night, cheering and encouraging. He is met with enthusiasm.
The tokens are cheerful and the prospect bright. 
"The Advance of Rosecrans."
Rosecrans is now the hope of the North. Defeated in every other quarter, the Washington Administration looks to him for a victory to prop up their tottering cause. He has marched out with fifty-six or seventy thousand wretches, who have spent the winter in banishing old men and persecuting women. If they whip us there will be no end to their riot of power.
But they are not going to whip us. We have it from good authority, that Bragg has given his men the sacred assurance of a soldier, that he will never cross the Tennessee River without one of the bloodiest battles of the war. He means to fight "on the square," and he has every confidence in being able to drive him and his whelps beyond the border.
"The Gallant Dead"
In the list of the killed and wounded of the 20th Tennessee Regiment, in the late fight at Hoover's Gap...the names of three as gallant spirits as Nashville has yet produced in this war, were mentioned among the killed, viz.: Major Fred Claybrooke, Adjutant James W. Thomas, and Sergeant James Callender.; These three noble young soldiers were at one time during the war, the camp associates of the writer, and his earliest, warmest friends at home.
Major Claybrooke was shot down early in the action. He lived until the next day and expired. A braver soldier never sat in the saddle - a truer friend never shared his haversack of his blanket with a companion in the field. Poor Fred! universally loved and respected, how 'the regiment' will mourn thy loss as is now mourns the loss of so many of it s noble children, gone before you.
And Adjutant Thomas - Jimmy Thomas, as his comrades preferred familiarly to call him, is killed! The announcement falls upon our hearts like a knell. It was long before we could realize the painful truth. At Wildcat, at Fishing Creek, at Shiloh, at Vicksburg, at Baton Rouge, at Murfreesboro, his noble breast was bared to the hail of bullets, and he was spared through it all, to perish at last, gallantly in the van of his veteran regiment, fighting for everything he held near and dear to him on earth, and died like a hero upon the soil of his nativity. Generous, self-sacrificing, and noble-young patriot! Peace to thine ashes! Peace to the gentle mourners around the hearthstone of thy quiet home, now alas, made desolate by thine early death.
James Callender, a child in years, but every inch a man and soldier in the trying hour of battle, was the most youthful of the noble trio. He enlisted in Capt. Rice's company at the beginning of the war, and served faithfully through two severe winter campaigns under Zollicoffer, Statham. Preston and Bates, successfully. Modest and gentle as a girl, yet intrepid and almost recklessly brave in battle, kind to his brothers in arms, faithfully devoted to his officers, and always at the post of duty and honor, he was a universal favorite in the regiment, and loved by all who knew him.
The most painful office we have yet had to perform, is in making the announcement of the death of these three gallant young men. It will be a consolation to their bereaved friends and relatives, to know that they fell as they ever most earnestly wished to fall-if it was their destiny to perish in this war-upon the sacred soil of their own loved, persecuted and invaded Tennessee - 
"How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By their country's wishes blest!"
[Colonel James Starnes was] mortally wounded while on reconnaissance duty on Sunday afternoon by one of the enemy's sharpshooters. The wound was in the bowels, and after lingering for thirty-six hours, he died....Peace to his remains!
For many months Col. Starnes has commanded a brigade of cavalry under Forrest, and with success. He gave early promise of distinction in the character of the most dashing partisan leader of Middle Tennessee. During the woful [sic] summer of 1862, and throughout was will be known in history as the "Guerilla [sic] Campaign," he commanded a crack regiment of mounted men, and spread terror into the ranks of the army of Buell, right under the guns of the interior camps and fortifications. At that period his local fame rivaled that of Morgan. Many of his exploits are wholly unrecorded, and numbers of them forgotten amid the confused turmoil of war and its crowed canvass of events. After the most useful career as an independent commander, Col. Starnes was attached to the regular cavalry service, and has gained a rare, though not a noisy reputation in the service, for courage, reliability and skill.
Personally, he was a man of unblemished character as a citizen and a christian [sic]. His manner were quiet and reserved, but respectful and kind. He was in the in the prime of life and the vigor of experience. The tears of a bereaved family and the sorrow of a devoted band of comrades follow him to an early, but hallowed grave. All honor too his name! 
You may safely set it down that the street gossip and loafer who industriously circulates exaggerated reports of Raiders coming through the country in every direction - is either a coward or a traitor, and the Provost Guard should be ordered to arrest all such mischievous persons, at once.

Every brave soldier who falls in defense of his home, rears a monument for himself, if not on earth, in heaven, "where they are perpetual."
Bragg will not fall back from his present position. It is the impression of every intelligent officer in his army, that he will die in the trenches first. This fact impressed upon the minds of the troops has the most exhilarating effect. They are tired of retreats. They want the fight and they are going to have it. 
As an instance of the indomitable pluck and spirit of the boys of Bragg's army; a gentleman who left Tullahoma the other night, says that a Brigade in their shirt sleeves, marched through the place during the storm, drenched with rain - yet shouting and cheering like devils.
It is a fine sight to see our war horses dashing over the plains of the front, says a gentleman just up; but it will be a finer one to see them dashing through the ranks of the enemy.
We wish the idlers out of the service could only emulate the noble example of the boys in Bragg's army, and show as much eagerness to see the yankees come on as they do.
Several yankee prisoners have been taken in front. They express great confidence that Rosecrans will be able to whip us. Let no [cock?] crow until it be day!
Also the following advertisement:
Lost! Lost!. - On or about the 15th inst., my horse left the camp of the 32d Tennessee Regiment, (Brown's Brigade, Stewart's Division, Hardee's Corps,) near Wartrace....He has been heard of only once since, he was then at or near Wartrace, and has doubtless been taken up by; some officer or soldier. Discription [sic]: Said horse is a black, full sixteen hands height, 4 or 5 years old, well formed, fine carriage, and upon the whole considered a find horse valued at $600, by a board of survey.
I was absent sick, at the time he left, and am yet sick, confined to my bed. Any information concerning his whereabouts will be most thankfully received, and a liberal reward paid to any one securing him, or returning him to my Regiment. Address: Maj. McGuire, 32d Tennessee Regiment, as he is authorized to receive and receipt for the horse in my absence and pay any and all expenses for securing said horse. Signed by W.P. O'Neal, Lt. Col., 32d Tenn. Reg't.
TAKE UP And committed to jail by the military authorities at Chattanooga, on the 3d of October, 1862, and more recently committed by an acting Justice of the Peace for the county of Hamilton the 19thof December, 1862, a negro boy, calling his name JOHN, and says he belongs to Wm. Jones of Memphis. l Said boy is black, 20 years old, 6 feet 3 1/2 inches height. The owner is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges and take him out of jail. signed J.H. Swaim,, Jailer. 
Finally some political announcements - in the midst of the Tullahoma disaster there were to be elections for seats in the Confederate Congress, all 11 districts, and for some Confederate Tennessee General Assembly seats. Official choices were made at Winchester earlier in June, etc. Robert L. Caruthers was running unopposed for governor, and the following were running for Congress:
1st District J. B. Heiskell, of Hawkins
DISTRICT Name & County
2d .............Wm. G. Swan, of Knox
3d..............A.S. Colyar, of Franklin
4th.............John P. Murray, of Warren
5th.............H.S. Foote, of Davidson
6th.............E. A. Keeble of Rutherford 
7th.............James McCullom, of Giles
8th.............Thomas Menees, of Montgomery;
9th..............J.D. C. Atkins of Henry
10th............John V. Wright, of McNairy
11th............D.M. Currin, of Shelby
Other candidates for Congress were:
John F. House of Montgomery for 8th
Col John H. Savage of DeKalb, for 5th
A.O.P. Nicholson 
Col. G.H. Nixon of Lawrence, for 7th
Announced candidates for the General Assembly were:
S.E. Carnes, for the House of Representative from the "Electoral District composed of the counties of Van Buren, Bledsoe, and Rhea..."
Lt. James A. Wallace of Rhea County for the House, to represent Rhea, Bledsoe, and Van Buren
"In Camp 24th Tennessee Regiment, on Outpost, Murfreesboro Pike, Bedford Co., June 22, '63
Editor Chattanooga Rebel:
In obedience to a call made upon me by the Coffee county members of this regiment, (24th Tennessee,) at a meeting recently held, and also to many solicitations by; citizens of said county at various time, you are hereby authorized to announce my name as candidate to represent the people of Coffee county in the lower branch of the next Legislature of Tennessee. Signed, Francis H. Ragsdale
Sam A. Smith was a candidate for the State Senate to represent Hamilton, Marion, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, and Bradley.
Chattanooga Daily Rebel, July 2, 1863

 

 

 2, "Northern Ice."
Riddleburger & Co. have been selling pure northern ice at little more than o­ne half the price demanded by others. This caused an unusual demand upon his stock, which has run out, but will soon be replenished, the military authorities having, in the most generous manner, promised to aid in furnishing transportation for all he may be able to purchase, in order that the public may receive a bountiful supply of this necessary article. We hope our portly friend will be able to carry out his views.
Nashville Dispatch, July 2, 1864.

[There was (is) no such thing as Southern ice.]


 


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