Monday, August 18, 2014

8.18.14 Tennessee Civil War Notes

        18, Cavalry skirmish near Kingston, Forrest defeated[1] [See August 21, 1863, "Skirmish at Harrison's Landing," below]
No circumstantial reports filed.
Excerpt from correspondence from Rosecrans to Halleck, August 27, 1863, relative to Forrest's defeat at Kingston on the 25th [18th?], 1863
STEVENSON, ALA., August 27, 1863. (Received 12.20 a. m., 28th.)
Maj.-Gen. HALLECK, Gen.-in-Chief:
Corps in same position as yesterday. Bridge preparations going forward. Gen. Crittenden dispatches this evening that prisoners say the Chattanooga Rebel, of yesterday, reports Charleston fallen and Lee whipped by Meade; and that Burnside's advance whipped [Forrest?] [sic] at Kingston on Tuesday. Van Cleve has sent couriers to open communication with Burnside.
W. S. ROSECRANS, Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. III, p. 184.

Excerpt from correspondence between Brigadier-General W. B. Hazen and Captain J.R. Muhleman, Assistant Adjutant General, August 26, 1863, relative to Forrest's defeat near Kingston August 25 (1863) 1863.
HDQRS. U. S. FORCES, Poe's Tavern, August 26, 1863--8 p. m.
Capt. J. R. MUHLEMAN, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.:
* * * *
A very reliable report reached me this evening that on yesterday the advance of Burnside's forces reached Kingston, and after a short engagement thrashed Forrest....
Very truly,
W. B. HAZEN, Brig.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 30, pt. III, p. 176.

18, "A Steamboat Captain Heavily Fined."
A steamboat captain was recently fined $300 by the military authorities for harboring improper females [sic] on his boat and exacting exorbitant charges on freight. This should serve as a warning to others in his line
Memphis Bulletin, August 18, 1863.

18, "The Dog Killed."
The ubiquitous individuals are busily carrying out the provisions of the city ordinances, with regard to yelping curs, barking Spaniels and growling Mastiffs. Yesterday morning we happened to cross their path; they had already destroyed six or seven of the canine race. Not bad business at fifty cents per head. We hope the killers will continue their operations till the race of many dogs, who seem to have no owners, and who are a public nuisance, become like angle's visits.
Memphis Bulletin, August 18, 1863.

18, "The Circus in a New Performance."
Yesterday morning as the brilliant cortege of Maginley's Circus was making a parade through the city, a scene occurred which was not set down in the bills, and which in some respects eclipsed the usual performance of the ring. As the procession moved up Second street, and when near the corner of Adams, the horses attached to the wagon containing the band of music, became unmanageable; the drive was frightened and so were the horses, and a general kicking and dancing ensued. The two lead horses attached to the music wagon, made a sudden turn, and plunged into a two horse buggy directly in front of them, which consisted of Mr. Maginley and another gentleman. At this stage of the performance there was a general mixing up of horses' vehicles and men. How Mr. Maginley and his friend escaped we do not know, and we presume it would be difficult for themselves to tell. The horses in the buggy started off at full speed with whatever portion of it still remained, and the leaders belonging to the music wagon, becoming detached, followed the example of the buggy horses, the whole party bringing up at the corner of Second and Adams streets, after having run into a peacable [sic] horse attached to a light wagon doing him no other injury than to push him from his position and break some of the harness. There was no one injured so far as we could learn, though there was some "hairbreadth escapes." [sic] The buggy was a complete wreck, and was strewn along the entire route of the runaways. The equestrian part of the procession beat a hasty retreat at the beginning of the performance, but appeared again looking gay and gaudy after things had been made all right. The whole affair occupied but a few minutes, and was a mingling of tragedy and comedy not often seen even in the circus.
Memphis Bulletin, August 18, 1863

18, Commander Robert Townsend, U. S. N., inquires of Major-General C. C. Washburn relative to illicit trade with Confederates along Mississippi River [see May 14, 1864, "General Orders, No. 4 relative to further restrictions on contraband trade" above]
U. S. IRON-CLAD ESSEX, Memphis, Tenn., August 18, 1864.
Maj. Gen. C. C. WASHBURN, Cmdg. District of West Tennessee:
GEN.: Inclosed[2] herewith I send you the names of the regularly armed vessels composing the several divisions of the Mississippi squadron as the same are arranged in districts by Admiral Porter's last general order in regard to them. To the respective names I have added initials, whose significance is shown in the explanations subjoined to the list. I have also given you a condensed outline sketch of the several classes of armed vessels belonging to the squadron, which I trust will enable you to form a clear, general idea of their character and force. Thus, I hope I have satisfactorily fulfilled my promise given to you the other evening. You will notice that two of the double-turreted monitors were in Admiral Farragut's gallant fight with Forts Morgan and Gaines, and the rebel iron-clads in Mobile Bay. When the details are received I think we will find that they did good service in their own peculiar way. Now that I am writing, general, I beg leave to recall your attention to an expression in your General Orders, No. 4, which far and wide has received an interpretation most offensive to the navy, an interpretation which I feel sure you could have had no intention to convey. I refer to the phrase--"the farce of landing under the guns of a gunboat." Even before I had the pleasure of making your acquaintance I felt sure that, as an officer of rank and a gentleman, you could not have intended to offer a gratuitous insult to the sister service. And thus believing I understood you to mean that, with corrupt treasury agents to grant permits, and with orders from high quarters that gunboats should not interfere with steamers having revenue aids on board, the act of landing under the guns of a gun-boat could be only a farce. And, as Admiral Porter states in his General Orders, No. 209 (I beg leave to draw your attention to the copy inclosed herewith[3]), quoting and indorsing your own General Orders, No. 4, under the late Treasury regulations, the fisco-fiducial [sic] duties of the navy were limited to the prevention of the introduction of articles contraband of war within the enemy's lines. The permit of a corrupt Treasury agent, indorsed by a venal military commander, could pour the products of Europe and of the North over the rebel cotton-fields, with none to gainsay the authority or prevent the act, though a whole fleet of gun-boats lined every reach of the river. And those of us who have had some experience in the cotton regions cannot resist the moral conviction that many in high places and in low have been unable to withstand the alluring temptations held out to them by enormous cotton gains. In this condition of affairs, with the atmosphere of the whole Mississippi valley reeking with a corruption more pestilential and fatal than the malaria of its swamps, I and other right-thinking men, hailed, as the harbinger of a brighter and purer day, your General Orders, No. 4. In trade, at least, the dull quiet of annihilation is preferable to the baleful activity that springs from the fermenting and festering decay of all the higher and more noble elements of commercial life. The recent action of the Treasury Department would seem to indicate that our anticipations of a more honorable future are not doomed to disappointment. But the malign influences are diabolically strong; we can only pray for honest officials and hope for the best. I imagine, general, that now for the first time your attention has been drawn to the prejudicial construction that can be given to your expression in regard to the gun-boats. Let me ask and hope that in some succeeding general order you will refer to the subject and state that it was foreign to your intention to cast a stigma upon the sister service, and that those who may have thus construed your words were altogether mistaken both as to your purpose and your meaning.
With high regard, I have the honor to remain, very respectfully and sincerely, yours,
ROBERT TOWNSEND, Commander, U. S. Navy.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. II, pp. 266-267.
Nashville Dispatch, August 18, 1864.

18, "Schools Opening."
By an oversight, we neglected to call attention to the fact that the school of Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright would soon open for the coming session, at their former place, on the first Monday in September. Those of Mrs. Sturdevant and Middle. Toupet will also open on the same day. These teachers are all well known and appreciated. St. Cecilia's Academy commences its third years on the 5th of September. Particulars will be found in our advertising columns.
Nashville Dispatch, August 18, 1864.

18, "Recorders' Court;" drunks, nuisances, and an amateur clairvoyant
Half a dozen drunken cases added $30 to the city treasury, besides the costs.
Moses York, a negro [sic] paid $7 for the privilege of a brief snooze in the market-house.
Eliza Mann, a black woman with a white child, was fined $5 for disorderly conduct.
A hard-working woman, of good character, was fined $50 for telling, or pretending to tell, fortunes. According to the testimony of the prosecutor, Mr. Simpson, his wife had paid defendant a quarter to tell her fortune, and the things related by defendant to Simpson's wife had so preyed upon her mind as to "turn her plum crazy," so that two doctors were necessary to prevent her getting worse and quiet her mind. In reply to a question from Mr. South, counsel for the defence, witness said he was not a Christian. There can be no doubt but defendant has told fortunes among her neighbors, as half the girls and women in town do, and it may be that she has occasionally received money, being a widow, with four children, and poor; but we cannot believe she is a professional fortune teller, Marshal Churnbly having known her several years, and never heard of it, and a respectable woman who has known her fifteen years, and lived in the room adjoining for ten years, testifies positively that she was not a fortune teller, and that she never pretended to be one; that she had known her to sit up till 2 o'clock at night many a time sewing for the support of herself and family. The Recorder will probably remit the fine, in consideration of the good character of the defendant.
Nashville Dispatch, August 18, 1864.


18, Recommendations for a post-war Department of Tennessee
HDQRS. DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Memphis, Tenn., August 18, 1865.
Bvt. Brig. Gen. A. J. ALEXANDER, Chief of Staff, Department of Tennessee:
* * * *
The political organization of the various counties within this district is yet in some instances incomplete, though rapid progress has been made during the last few weeks. So far as my own information extends, civil officers have been appointed in nearly all the counties within the territory embraced within my command, some of whom have not entered upon the discharge of their official duties, and of whom a few, perhaps, will not do so. It is hoped that when the new appointees have fully entered upon the discharge of their duties, the machinery of civil government will soon be in efficient working condition, both as regards county legislation and the administration of justice by the magistrates and the courts of law. The recent elections were quietly conducted, no disturbance having been reported to these headquarters. The vote was necessarily light, owing to the restrictions of the franchise law enacted at the late session of the State Legislature, and in a few counties no election was held, the people not having had an opportunity of being registered in pursuance of that law. While it is claimed by the local press and asserted generally that there is an almost universal willingness on the part of the people to submit, it is yet apparent that submission is that of a military necessity, not a cordial response to the claims of the Government upon the allegiance of its citizens; not the candor of those who, having at laser recognized the enormity of their crime against the Union, with the ardor and alacrity of true repentance avail themselves of the beneficence of an outraged Government. The feelings of the people toward the Government are not of a kindly character generally, but now that the Confederacy is broken, the very necessities of living compel them to be quiescent. Weary of war, impoverished in house and bereaved in family, many desire to live in peace and quietness the remainder of their days; others, in the hope of avoiding the penalties and forfeitures of treason, or wishing the gifts at the bestowal of their lately despised Government, are seized with a conversion, the suddenness and zeal of which may well excite suspicion of this sincerity. A few less prudent and less influential still proclaim aloud the doctrine of Southern rights in a spirit which, if general, must awaken apprehensions of future discord. Some there undoubtedly are who propose to give an active and energetic support to the Government, accepting the new condition of affairs, never having entertained for themselves, or abandoning forever, the idea of revolution, [who] are laboring to cement anew the Union of the States and the fraternity of the people. Of all classes by far the greater number are unwilling to take part in State restoration. The chivalry of the South, it has been confessed, has been discomfited in war, but here people still retain the pride and the arrogance of caste. The master race are obliged to acknowledge the annihilation of African slavery, but they cannot conquer their love for and the adherence of habit to the peculiar institution. [added] Covertly they purpose, knowing not how and abiding a time they know not when, to again make color the badge of servitude and of oppression. It seems to me to be hardly otherwise to be expected. The prejudices of education and association are not easily eradicated. While the armed soldiers of the Union overawe insubordination by their presence, maintaining the sovereignty and enforcing the policy of the Government, the people of the South will despair of successful resistance in any form; but the disloyal elements are as dominant as ever; the leaders of Southern opinion, using, with the politician's craft, the disguise of conservatives, await but opportunities to prove themselves the still relentless foes of the Government. An opportunity would sooner or later be followed by another political revolution, not to speak of speedy social chaos and the prostration of law at the feet of crime. It is my opinion, which lengthening observation confirms, that the safety of the Union requires that the armies of the United States should hold, occupy, and possess the territory lately in rebellion for a yet indefinite period. These remarks are offered as applicable to people residing within the limits of my command, a general statement of the condition of which, from every point of view, I have conceived it proper for me to make.
I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JNO. E. SMITH, Brevet Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 49, pt. II, pp. 1101-1104.





[1] Some confusion exists about the date. August 27, the date for all this correspondence, was a Thursday, and so Tuesday would be the 25th. However, according to OR General Index, the date, which appears as "27" should read "21" (Friday) in which case the date is August 18. Otherwise, the date of Forrest's defeat would be August 25.
[2] Not found.
[3] Not enclosed.

James B. Jones, Jr.
Public Historian
Tennessee Historical Commission
2941 Lebanon Road
Nashville, TN  37214
(615)-770-1090 ext. 123456
(615)-532-1549  FAX

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