1861
30, Excerpt from a letter by Davidson Countian Edward Bradford, at Camp Trousdale (camp of instruction) wrote to his father, Frederick in Tank, Tennessee:
We are getting plenty to eat and plenty of exercise. We drill two hours twice a day. They carry us about two miles from Camp to drill us and when we get back we have to stay on our own ground, about an acre. We have not been formed into [a] regiment yet, but will be in a few days... I enjoy everything but the way we sleep. We have not got any straw in our tents and have to sleep on the ground with one blanket to cover with. We have a dance every night. We have more music than we want. There is [sic] about a dozen fiddlers to every camp. John [Edward's brother] and I both had to stand guard last night from eleven until one. We all keep our health so far. I believe I have told you as we can not hear anything [from the outside world] shut up here.
Frederick Bradford Papers, TSL&A.
30, Call for Delegates to the East Tennessee Convention
On Thursday, 30th of May, 1861, a large number of delegates representing the people of the various sections of East Tennessee assembled at Knoxville, in pursuance of the following call:
EAST TENNESSEE CONVENTION.
The undersigned, a portion of the people of East Tennessee, disapproving the hasty and inconsiderate action of our Gen. Assembly, and sincerely desirous to do, in the midst of the troubles which surround us, what will be best for our country and for all classes of our citizens, respectfully appoint a convention to be held in Knoxville on Thursday, the 30th of May, instant; and we urge every county in East Tennessee to send delegates to this convention, that the conservative element of our whole section may be represented and that wise, prudent, and judicious counsels may prevail, looking to peace and harmony among ourselves:
F. S. HEISKELL, S. R. RODGERS, JOHN BAXTER, DAVID BURNETT, JOHN J. CRAIG, O. P. TEMPLE, W. G. BROWNLOW, C. H. BAKER, DR. W. RODGERS, C. F. TRIGG, JOHN WILLIAMS, W. H. ROGERS, JOHN TUNNELL, AND OTHERS.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 52, pt. I, pp. 148-149.
30, Prayer at the first day of the East Tennessee Unionist Convention in Knoxville
* * * *
... The deliberations of the convention were opened by the Rev. Thomas W. Humes, of Knoxville, who addressed a fervent prayer to the Throne of Grace, as follows:
Almighty and ever living God, our Heavenly Father, to Thee do we owe all the blessings we enjoy, whether of a civil or religious kind. It becomes us on all important occasions to make known unto Thee our wants and desires and supplications; and we would now come before Thee in the faith of Christ and beseech Thee that Thy blessing and favor may rest upon us. We believe that Thou art the God of unions as well as individuals. We are assembled here to-day under circumstances adapted to fill our hearts with anxious foreboding for our beloved country. Dark clouds have gathered over it. A spirit of alienation and strife has gone abroad through the land. Citizens are in arms against the Government; brethren against brethren, and we are threatened with war and bloodshed. It may be that our civil and religious liberties are in danger of serious injury and loss. O God! we believe that Thou wast with the founders of the Republic at the beginning of its existence and midst then uphold and cherish and prosper them; and we pray that Thou wilt not leave us now as a nation, but wilt continue to us Thy favor and goodness for the time to come. We confess, O God, that we have not been properly thankful for the blessings bestowed upon us, nor improved them as we ought. We have been too proud and boastful and wicked as a people; too neglectful of Thy word, too forgetful of Thee and of our duties toward each other. But we beseech Thee to have mercy upon us and forgive us our transgressions. Turn from us Thy righteous indignation. Avert from us the ills that impend over us. In this our time of darkness and doubt, to whom, O God of our farther, shall we turn for relief and for help but to Thee? Throw around the nation, we entreat Thee, the arms of Thy protection. Give wisdom from above to those who are in authority for the duties of their station and uphold and strengthen their hearts and hands in every measure they may adopt for the public welfare which Thou wilt approve and which will promote righteousness and secure peace. Rebuke the spirit of faction and discord, of wickedness, corruption, and vice in the land and dispose the hearts of the people to the love of Three and of our Blessed Redeemer and to the cultivation of good will and brotherly affection; and grant that the civil and religious liberties we enjoy shall be handed down to the generations that are to come. Look graciously, we beseech Thee, upon the citizens who, under the prompting of patriotic feelings, have come up here to-day to consult concerning the public welfare. Give them the spirit of wisdom and counsel and understanding; indicate to them the path of duty, and grant them courage and fidelity to follow it. Bless us all in the various relations of life. Forgive us our sins and enable us so to pass through the things that are temporal that we finally lose not but attain the things that the eternal, and may reach by Thy grace that heavenly kingdom which Thou hast prepared for Thy faithful people. All which we ask in the name and for the sake of Thy Son Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate.
* * * *
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 52, pt. I, pp. 149-151.
30, Need for uniforms, city almoner's report, and assistance to the families of volunteer Confederate soldiers
Call to Private Ladies.—The Washington Rifles would feel sincerely grateful to all ladies who would be kind enough to come forward and assist them in making their uniforms. All ladies so disposed will please call immediately at the store of Strauss, Lehman & Co., 202 Main street. N. Freck, Captain.
City Almoner.—This officer entered on his duties on Thursday last, in a store on Second street, above Madison. Since that time he has given aid to twenty-eight widows and their families. The amount of provisions supplied to each applicant varies with the number of the children; generally speaking there has been given to each twelve pounds of flour, six pounds of bacon, and six pounds of potatoes.
Soldiers' Families.—Spite of the action of the county court, and of notices given to the families of volunteers now in the field, we learn from our mayor that the families thus provided for on paper are really, in many instances, suffering and destitute, and can obtain no aid. The assistance formerly extended in extreme cases has been withdrawn or turned aside to other classes of cases, the action of the county court having constituted these forsaken ones the county's especial care. We learn also from the city almoner that he has applications made to him by persons in extreme difficulty. We hope speedy and effectual means of relief will be put in operation. Food is wanted, and wanted at once.
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 30, 1861.
30, Major General Gideon J. Pillow orders army medical staff to assist Southern Mothers
Special Order—No. 114.
The association of Ladies of the city of Memphis, known as the "Southern Mothers," having, by their President, Mrs. S. A. Law, informed the Major-General commanding the Army of Tennessee, that they "will have a large, comfortable room fitted up by Monday, to receive any of our soldiers who may be sick and require nursing, from whence they may be carried to the houses of the Society if desired;" and that "many houses are open to them, no matter from what quarter they may come, if in arms for the defense of the South."
The attention of the Medical Staff is especially called to this benevolent provision of the patriotic ladies of Memphis, and the Major-General directs that where the soldiers are reduced by disease and become greatly prostrated, so that an early recovery cannot be anticipated, they will have them brought in the Government transport "Ingomar" to the Hospital of the "Mothers' Association."
With such anxious care and sympathy on the part of the ladies of Memphis, for the well-being of our patriotic and brave volunteers, the dangers and privations of the soldier's life will be met with promptitude and heroic fortitude by the soldiers of the army of liberty.
The Major General commanding begs leave, in the name of and as the representative of the Army of Tennessee, to tender his thanks for the provision so early and so widely made for the care of Tennessee's defenders.
By command of Major-General, Gideon J. Pillow, Commander P. A. of Tenn.
Pollock B. Lee, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 30, 1861.
30, A "Scotchman" on the Crisis
Memphis, May 29, 1861.
Editors Appeal: As a Scotchman, [sic] I hail with pride the call made on my countryman in your issue of yesterday, to form themselves into a military company for the protection of their "altars and their fires" against the invaders of the land of their adoption, whose tocsin of war may already be heard sounding along our borders. But while I give my cordial support to the movement, as a descendant of those who shed the blood of patriotism with Wallace, and fought under the banner of Bruce, I object to the rallying cry which calls us to arms, viz: "To drive back the hireling mercenaries of Glasgow." In the first place, the Scotch are not a mercenary people, and never fought for hireling gold beneath the folds of any other banner than that of their own sea girt isle; and in the second place, the story is a fabrication, a lie got up by Jas. Gordon Bennet for a mercenary purpose, at the expense of his country's reputation, for his own has long since been bartered like a piece of merchandise, and his name desecrated at home as much as it is villified abroad….
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 30, 1861.
30, Memphis Vigilance Committee Bans Newspapers
The rebel vigilance committee at Memphis has issued the following edict:
NOTICE.
Resolved, by the Committee of Safety of the city of Memphis. That the Louisville Journal and Knoxville Whig, are hereby declared suppressed, and that they be ordered returned from this office to their respective publishers.
D. Titus, President.
Bangor Daily Whig Courier, May 30, 1861. [1]
30, On East Tennessee
We have received reliable advice from East Tennessee to this effect – that the people of that portion of the State are almost unanimous for the Union, and the Secessionists intended to subjugate them by force of the bayonet. The people of East Tennessee have private arms only, and these are not plenty, - They will make a stand bold for the Union, and if not assisted from abroad, are likely to be crushed out by fire and sword. Secession troops are now being stationed all over that portion of the State for the purpose of controlling the election on the 8th of June, thus preventing the Union men, as in East Tennessee, from voting against Secession.
Under these circumstances, it is the duty of Government to protect the people of East Tennessee.
The Ripley Bee (Ripley, OH), May 30, 1861.[2]
31, Shooting lessons near Cleveland
....we all went down to the spring and learned to shoot. Mr. Montgomery joined us there. I shot twelve times, loaded the gun three times and the pistols three. Enjoyed myself finely.
Diary of Myra Adelaide Inman, p. 97.
31, Resolutions of the East Tennessee Unionist Convention in Temperance Hall, Knoxville
... After a running debate… the report of the committee was amended and finally adopted as follows:
In the enumeration of the rights of the citizens, which have been declared under the solemn sanction of the people of Tennessee, there are none which should be more warmly cherished or more highly estimated than that which declares that "the citizens have a right in a peaceable manner to assemble together for their common good," and at no time since the organization of our Government has there been an occasion which called so loudly for the exercise of that inestimable right as that upon which we are now assembled. Our country is at this moment in a most deplorable condition. The Constitution of the United States has been openly contemned and set at defiance, while that of our own State has shared no better fate, and by the sworn representatives of the people has been utterly disregarded. Constitutions, which in other days were wont to control and give direction to our public councils and to those in authority by the fiat of the people, have been wholly supplanted, and fanaticism, passion, and prejudice
have assumed an arbitrary sway. Law and order seem to have yielded their beneficent officers for the safety of the country and the welfare of the people, and in their stead revolution, in spite of its attendant horrors, has raised its hideous head. The condition of the country is most perilous, the present crisis most fearful. In this calamitous state of affairs, when the liberties of the people are so imperiled and their most valued rights endangered, it behooves them in their primary meeting, and in all their other accustomed modes, to meet together, consult calmly as to their safety, and with firmness to give expression to their opinions and convictions of right. We, therefore, the delegates here assembled, representing and reflecting, as we verily believe, the opinions and wishes of a very large majority of the people of East Tennessee, do resolve and declare:
1. That the evils which now afflict our beloved country, in our opinion, are the legitimate offspring of the ruinous and heretical doctrine of secession; that the people of East Tennessee have ever been, and we believe still are, opposed to it by a very large majority.
2. That while the country is now upon the very threshold of a most ruinous and desolating civil war, it may with truth be said, and we protect before God, that the people (so far as we can see) have done nothing to produce it.
3. That the people of Tennessee, when the question was submitted to them in February last, decided by an overwhelming majority that the relations of the State toward the Federal Government should not be changed; thereby expressing their preference for the Union and Constitution under which they had lived prosperously and happily, and ignoring in the most emphatic manner the idea that they had been oppressed by the Gen. Government in any of its acts--legislative, executive, or judicial.
4. That in view of so decided an expression of the will of the people in whom "all power is inherent and on whose authority all free governments are founded," and in the honest conviction that nothing has transpired since that time which should change that deliberate judgment of the people, we have contemplated with peculiar emotions the pertinacity with which those in authority have labored to override the judgment of the people and to bring about the very result which the people themselves had so overwhelmingly condemned.
5. That the Legislative Assembly is but the creature of the constitution of the State and has no power to pass any law or to exercise any act of sovereignty, except such as may be authorized by that instrument; and believing as we do that in their recent legislation the Gen. Assembly have disregarded the rights of the people and transcended their legitimate powers, we feel constrained and we invoke the people throughout the State as they value their liberties to visit that hastily, inconsiderate, and unconstitutional legislation with a decided rebuke by voting on the 8th day of next month against both the act of secession and of union with the Confederate States.
6. That the Legislature of the State, without having first obtained the consent of the people, had no authority to enter into a military league with the Confederate States against the Gen. Government, and by so doing to put the State of Tennessee in hostile array against the Government of which it then was and still is a member. Such legislation in advance of the expressed will of the people to charge their governmental relations was an act of usurpation and should be visited with the severest condemnation of the people.
7. That the forming of such military league and thus practically assuming the attitude of an enemy toward the Gen. Government (this, too, in the absence of any hostile demonstration against this State) has afforded the pretext for raising, arming, and equipping a large military force, the expense of which must be enormous and will have to be paid by the people; and to do this the taxes, already onerous enough, will necessarily have to be very greatly increased and probably to an extent beyond the ability of the people to pay.
8. That the Gen. Assembly, by passing a law authorizing the volunteers to vote wherever they may be on the day of election, whether in or out of the State, and in offering to the Confederate States the capital of Tennessee, together with other acts, have exercised powers and stretched their authority to an extent not within their constitutional limits and not justified by the usages of the country.
9. "That government being instituted for the common benefit, the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.' 10. That the position which the people of our sister State of Kentucky have assumed in this momentous crisis commands our highest admiration. Their interests are our interests. Their policy is the true policy, as we believe, of Tennessee and all the border States; and in the spirit of freemen, with an anxious desire to avoid the waste of the blood and the treasure of our State, we appeal to the people of Tennessee while it is yet in their power to come up in the majesty of their strength and restore Tennessee to her true position.
11. We shall await with the utmost anxiety the decision of the people of Tennessee on the 8th day of next month, and sincerely trust that wiser counsels will pervade the great fountain of freedom (the people) than seems to have actuated their constituted agents.
12. For the promotion of the peace and harmony of the people of East Tennessee it is deemed expedient that this convention should again assemble: Therefore,
Resolved, That when this convention adjourns it adjourns to meet again at such time and place as the president, or vice-president in his absence, may determine and publish.
The entire report, on motion of Col. Heiskell, of Monroe, was unanimously adopted.
Dr. W. W. Alexander, of McMinn, offered the following:
Resolved, That those members of our State Legislature who heroically, though vainly, resisted to the utmost extent of their ability the iniquitous and unconstitutional ordinances of the late extraordinary session of the Legislature deserve the grateful remembrance of every patriot in Tennessee.
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
The following, offered by the chairman of the committee on business, was adopted:
Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention be published in the Knoxville Whig, Jonesborough Express, Kingston Journal, and the Louisville (Kentucky) Journal, and that 5,000 copies of the proceedings be published by the Knoxville Whig for general circulation among the people.
Governor Johnson then continued his remarks. He spoke about three hours and commanded the earnest attention of the convention throughout his entire speech. His address was masterly in argument, carrying conviction to every honest mind that heard it.
At the close of his remarks, on motion, the convention adjourned subject to the call of the president.
T. A. R. NELSON, President.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 52, pt. I, pp. 153-156.
31, Official application forms for obtaining public assistance in Memphis
Applicants for Relief.
By the kindness of 'Squire Richards—to whose earnest endeavors the measure of giving relief from the county to the families of volunteers on duty, is greatly indebted for its success—we are enabled to lay before the public the following information as to the manner in which persons desiring to apply for aid from the county must proceed. In the first place 'Squire Richards at the city buildings, north-east corner of Second and Madison streets, or 'Squire Hill, over Mansfield's drug store, on Main between Madison and Monroe streets, or 'Squire Mallory, over Wetherall's drug store on Main street, between Union and Gayoso streets, or any other magistrate of the county, must be applied to for a printed form of certificate—which they will freely supply—then the blanks in the two certificates must be filled by the proper persons. The form contains two certificates intended to prevent fraud, and to secure the relief to those entitled to it, and no others. The first form must have the names of two respectable citizens, who will swear before the magistrate to the facts stated in the certificate. The following is a copy of this form, the names in it are, of course, fictitious:
State of Tennessee,
County of Shelby.
Personally appeared before the undersigned, a justice of the peace, in and for the county and State aforesaid, James White and John Black to me well known, and they being duly sworn, say on oath that they are well acquainted with the pecuniary condition of Mark Brown who is a volunteer in the army of Tennessee, and that they know that the family of the said Mark Brown are left destitute of the necessary means of support.
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
Jas. White, L. R. Richards, J. P., John Black.
The second form must be presented to the captain of the company, with the necessary information for filling it up. When filled up and sworn to it will read as follows, except that the real name will be substituted for the fictitious ones we use:
This is to Certify, That Mark Brown is a private in company, "The Advance Guards," commanded by Capt. Geo. Green, in the Army of Tennessee, that he leaves a wife named Bridget Brown and three children, named John, Mary and Frank Brown, aged three, five and seven years, that they are left destitute of the ordinary means of support, and are citizens of the Fifth Civil District of Shelby county, Tennessee.
Sworn to before me 7th June, '61.
Geo. Green, L. Richards, J. P.
Capt. Advance Guards.
Esquire Richards has nearly forty of these certificates already filled up. When the disburser of the county funds is appointed, the applicant will present the certificates to him, when he will enter the name in his register, and the party will then be entitled to regular relief.
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 31, 1861.
31, Execution of murderes Moses and Isacc in Memphis
The Execution To-day.—At one o'clock to-day the two negroes [sic], Moses and Isaac, found guilty of murder, are to be executed in the field on the Raleigh road, this side the fair grounds. The prisoners will leave the jail about noon, escorted by Capt. Jackson's company of Bluff City Guards and the Italian company of Garibaldi Guards, which companies will preserve order at the place of execution, forming a cordon around the gallows. The prisoners were visited by several clergymen, and other pious persons yesterday. Moses, who killed an Italian organ-player, is of somewhat obtuse intellect. He says little, but shows some signs of distress. Isaac, who killed an overseer, is an intelligent fellow. He has occupied most of his time, of late, in reading the Bible, and in writing some incidents of his religious experience. He is devotional, and anxious to be prepared for the great future he has this day to face. Spite of babbling theorists, Isaac is acute enough to know that while he "who spake as never man spake" forgave a criminal at the place of execution, and assured him an entrance into paradise, there is firm hope for the worst if earnestly sought for. This is the first legal execution that ever took place in this city; a negro who committed an atrocious murder was hung here some years ago by the enraged mob. The execution of Levi Stover is fixed for June 28th. Barnes, who was also sentenced to be hung, obtained a new trial.
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 31, 1861.
The Execution Yesterday.—Behaviour of the Condemned—Their Speeches at the Scaffold.
Yesterday was the time appointed for the execution of the sentence of death passed upon Isaac, a mulatto, and Moses a full negro [sic], for the crime of murder. As we have before stated the behavior of the men while in prison has been exemplary. Isaac has spent most of his time lately in prayer, and reading his Bible, religious conversation with the clergy and other persons who have visited him. For a portion of the time he has been in prison Moses has been employed as a turnkey within the jail; he has been always remarkably quiet and docile, nothing in his looks or manner indicating the possible existence of a capacity to commit a crime of such ferocity as that for which he has suffered death. Of late, while listening to religious advice, and showing that the heavenly truths communicated to him were not without their influence, he has been silent and has shown signs of great distress as the fatal day approached. At half past eleven, yesterday, the two men were taken in a furniture wagon, which contained coffins for their bodies, to the place of execution near the Fair Grounds. Isaac looked about him and recognized acquaintances with a smiling and animated manner. Moses was gloomy and nervous. On reaching the field they were placed on the gollows [sic], which was a platform having a trap door in the center. The platform was placed between two trees, and extending from one to the other of these trees was a beam from which were suspended the two ropes with the nooses already adjusted.
The condemned men were dressed in white surplices, extending from their necks to their heels, and having wide sleeves, and on their hands they had white gloves; their arms were pinioned. With them appeared their religious attendant, Mr. Merriman, who has been unremitting in his attentions to them in their cells, two religious friends, sheriff Felts and the jailor, Capt. Jackson.
Mr. Merriman came forward and announced that the prisoners had, by the kindness of the sheriff, permission to speak to those present if they were so inclined. One of them, Isaac, was quite an intelligent man, and would state something of the dealings of God with his soul. Isaac then came to the front of the scaffold; he was a mulatto with an intelligent and rather kindly looking countenance. He stood before the spectators with an undismayed demeanor. No symptom of fear or tremor, or even of ordinary agitation was visible in his manner. On the other hand there was nothing vaunting or self assertive. His behavior was gentle and easy, but calm and self-possessed. The gallows was entirely surrounded by a circle of military, the Bluff City Guards and Garibaldi Guards, armed with muskets and bayonet. Beyond them was a numerous but not excessively large crowd of spectators on foot. At the outskirts of these parties were persons—among whom we were surprised to see some of the female sex—on carriages, in wagons, and on horseback. Some buildings on the ground and a portion of the amphitheater of the Fair Grounds had persons standing upon them. Looking upon the whole scene with a quiet smile, Isaac addressed the spectators. He said:
["]I want you all to know what God has done for me; it is more than man can take away. He has given me unsearchable riches of Christ, and to face death, hell and the grave. True, I have killed a man and taken a life I cannot restore, but God has been merciful and encouraged me to hope. I exhort you all so to live that you may have the hope that I have now. I wish I could persuade you now to kneel and ask God for heavenly possessions; so rich they are, so enduring, that I could die twice, yes, three times, to gain that eternal reward which God has promised the penitent. I call upon all to be humble, to rely upon God—we ought to be humble, for dust we are, and to dust we must return. Give to God the life he has given to you; to die is but paying him back his own. I call on all around, while you have life and health to turn and get saved while you have apportunity [sic], or you will be damned and sink lower than the grave. I feel that if one present will come forward and take me by the hand and engage to meet me in heaven, I can die with joy. There is a fine crowd here to see the murderers hung; I hope when they go home they will have reason to say, not that they saw two murderers hung in the manner they had expected, but that they saw two Christians calmly meet death. Let all try to live so they can meet death as I do, for I die richer than the whole world, for I have more than the world can give. God has given me something to say to this crowd, when I have said it I am ready to go home to heaven; I come at the eleventh hour, but God will accept me. I have committed murder, but God is merciful. Many of you, I am afraid, have done or will do the same; then repent in time. You soldiers that are fixing for battle, you are only fixing for your ruin, unless you prepare for the great change that is to come. If all would pray, there would be no need of fighting; God would stop all the mad careers that men are running in the United States. Mr. Abraham Lincoln is nothing to God, and if you will seek God's aid, he will bring back peace. I wish you would forget what is gone by and all be Union again. God told me while I was lying in my bed that I was forgiven; he told me this, and I tell you now. Your eyes are perhaps as blind as mine were. If I had repented when I was a young boy, I might perhaps have been a preacher and have been able to lead souls to Christ. I have been in prison two years and eight or nine months. I could not go to church, but I read the Bible, and I heard God speak to me in a vision, or in some way. Have faith, and hope, and charity, and do not be afraid to fast. I have lately fasted every Friday, beginning on Thursday afternoon at three o'clock, and eating and drinking nothing until nine o'clock on Saturday morning. The first time I began I forgot God, and went to drink from the bucket, but the thought of God flashed across my mind and I forbore. I tell you to fast and never mind if it makes you sick, so it is in a good cause. Now if any of you feel like shaking hands with me and come and do so, the officers will permit you.["]
In accordance with this invitation a number of colored people went up and took his hand. He cheerfully and warmly recommended them to lead a religious life. Some of them went up to Moses, but at the sight of their streaming eyes and heaving bosoms he broke down and cried with them. The speech of Isaac was protracted, with considerable rambling and repetition, but was characterised by great earnestness.
When he had concluded Moses came forward, and with great emotion, and a touching earnestness that deeply affected many of the spectators, he with great simplicity of delivery, uttered these words: "I hope God will forgive me. I know I have done wrong. I hope you will all meet me in Heaven. I have no more to say to you. Farewell, farewell forever!" Deeply affected, poor Moses then returned to his seat.
Mr. Merriman then stated that by the desire of the condemned they would sing the hymn beginning:
When I can read my title clear,
To mansions in the skies.
Isaac sung heartily; Moses spasmodically. At the beginning of the second verse Moses started up, trembling from head to foot with nervous agitation, and excitedly exclaimed, "Adieu, vain world!" he then became more composed, but was evidently suffering mentally to a great degree. After the hymn Mr. Merriman offered a prayer, and bid farewell to the unfortunate men. The scaffold was cleared of all but the sheriff and the jailor, who completed the last preparations. The arms were more tightly pinioned, the legs were tied at the ancles [sic], and above the knee, a hood belonging to the white surplice was drawn over their faces, and they were left to undergo the last agony. At this fatal moment not a nerve shook in the whole body of Isaacs; he stood firm, and even Moses had lost his wild agitation and awaited the end in quiet. The sheriff drew the bolt that supported the door at ten minutes past one o'clock. The men fell a distance of three feet. Their struggles were very slight; some convulsions of the breast, a little tremor in Moses' feet, and very soon all signs of life were over. Both died very easily. At twenty minutes to two o'clock the bodies were cut down, and after the coffin lids were fastened over them they were taken away and the crowd disappeared.
This execution was the first legal execution that ever took place in Memphis; a negro [sic] was hanged some years ago by a mob. The negro [sic], on the 1st of January, 1851, went to John K. Chester, the city register, at the door of the mayor's office, and asked him to examine his free papers. The register pronounced them forged, and was going to have the negro [sic] arrested, when the latter drew a pistol, and shot him in the head. He died in ten minutes, leaving a widow and a family of children. The negro [sic] was put in the calaboose, then near the market house, but the crowd took him from it and hung him on a tree twenty yards from the calaboose. Twelve of fifteen hundred people were present on the occasion. Before he was hanged, a son of the deceased shot him in the back, but without inflicting serious injury. The individual who tied the negro [sic] up was afterward prosecuted for damages, and had to pay his value. This was the only execution that ever took place in Memphis until yesterday.
Isaac was the slave of Major Berry; he had run away and was concealed at Nonconnah creek. On the morning of Aug. 31, 1858, Mr. Mack, who was out hunting, came upon him and two other runaways. He attempted to take him, but they took his gun from him. Mr. Gideon Bowden, overseer of Col. F. R. Sledge, of Arkansas, then endeavored to take him, when Isaac shot him with Mr. Mack's gun. He was not taken until Wednesday, the 8th of September, when he at once confessed the crime. He had two trials, at both of which he was found guilty.
Moses, slave of Mr. Worsham, on the 14th November last beat an Italian organ player on the head with a large iron gate hinge until he thought he was dead. He then took from him his organ and a trifling sum of money. The organ he afterward offered for sale in the city when he was arrested.
The Italian, whose name was Giacomo Passagno, lingered at the hospital until the 17th of November, when he died. Moses was found guilty on his first trial. He appealed to the supreme court, but there his sentence was confirmed.
Memphis Daily Appeal, June 1, 1861.
31, Dealing with the poor in Memphis
The City Poor.—We are happy to observe that the measure introduced at the last meeting of the board of aldermen for aiding the poor of the city is working well. The efficient city almoner, Mr. Underwood, deserves great credit for his management, and is no doubt held in grateful remembrance by those whose wants he has alleviated. Mr. Underwood has called on many of our citizens for contributions, who, with characteristic promptness and liberality, with one or two exceptions, have honored his draft with handsome donations. Up to this time donations have been made by Morris & Co., Cordis & Co., Mescham & Galbreath, A. Vaccaro & Co., Pickett, Wormley & Co., Dr. Fenner, Day & Proudfit, J. F. Frank, Goyax & Neely, Kendig & Cook, J. Boro & Co., J. Torian, West, Cochran & Co., Cook & Co., Todd & Goyer, Keel & Co., Chase & McClelland, J. & J. Steele & Co., H. Dorr, Elliott & Atwood, L. C. Churchill, and M. Seelig. Liberal donations of vegetables have been made by Capt. Shirley and R. A. Parker. Mr. Underwood has as yet made no calls except on Front row, having on hand a stock that will take some time to distribute. Any one desiring to further a praiseworthy cause can do so by calling under the mayor's office, corner of Second and Madison streets.
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 31, 1861.
31, Memphis system for providing relief to the needy families of volunteers to be adopted at Shelby County Seat at Raleigh
Relief for Families of Volunteers.—We have extreme pleasure in stating that ample relief will be extended to the families of those who are in the army of their country and whose families are without the means to maintain themselves. It was proposed to pay such families in orders on the county treasurer; these orders were to be used as money and paid to the storekeepers who would collect the cash from the treasurer. This system would have exposed the women who received the orders to the operation of "shaving" from such harpies as might be ready to take advantage of their helplessness, and of their ignorance of the stature of county paper, to fleece them. The orders would therefore have actually been worth to them a much lower sum than appeared on their face. They might have lost forty cents on the dollar, yet the county treasury would not be advantaged a cent, as the whole amount must be paid there. Another evil effect would have resulted from the depression of these orders—the county paper generally could not escape participating in the depreciation. To save the families of the volunteer from any possible imposition, and to secure to them all the advantages the county court intended, the banks of the city have undertaken to advance money to the county, and this money will be paid to the families of volunteers, enabling those who receive it to use it to the best advantage, to make their purchases where they please, and in such amounts as they choose, which could not have been done with county orders. On Monday a meeting of magistrates will be held at Raleigh, when the details of the mode of making the allowances will be decided upon; the scheme will then go into practical operation. Some individual, whose patriotic benevolence will prompt him gratuitously to perform the labor, will probably be appointed treasurer of the county fund for the relief of the families of volunteers; to him the persons entitled to receive relief will apply at set intervals—once a week would be a good time—and he will pay them their allotted allowance.
Memphis Daily Appeal, May 31, 1861.
31, Report on Secessionist Committee of Vigilance Activity in the Brownsville environs
The Tennessee Reign of Terror.-Last spring we passed a day in Brownsville, Tennessee. During the day we had the pleasure of visiting a Female Seminary taught by the Rev. Mr. Cooper. His school, consisting of nearly a hundred most interesting young girls, was in all respects one of the finest that we ever saw; and everybody in Brownsville bore the strongest testimony to the eminent talent and worth of Mr. Cooper both as a teacher and a clergyman. He was evidently the favorite of the whole town, winning the admiration and the friendship of all who knew him.
Yesterday Mr. Cooper called upon us at our office, and we were delighted to see him. He told us that he left Brownsville the preceding evening. We asked him when he would return, and he said he should return no more. He could not return with safety. A few weeks ago a secession crowd visited his dwelling house, called him out, and gave him his choice of three things-to make a secession speech, to enlist in a secession corps, or to leave the town. He firmly refused to do either of the three, and the mob finally concluded to disperse without doing any violence to his person. On the 24th instant, however, he, like others in his town and neighborhood, was served with this notice:
NOTICE.
["]All citizens or residents among us of Northern or foreign birth will be allowed ten days to leave our community if they so desire, but after that time no such citizens or residents shall be permitted to leave, but we shall expect all such to stand by and aid us in defending ourselves against invasion, and to all such we pledge the protection of the community, by order of the Committee of Vigilance.
May 24, 1861. JAS. WHITELAW,[3] Sec'y.
Citizens of Northern or foreign birth, it appears, were allowed ten days from the 24th of this month to leave the Brownsville community, but after that time, that is after the 3d of June, they would be forbidden to leave, their persons would be embargoed, and they would be compelled by the Vigilance Committee and its myrmidons to take active service in the disunion cause to suffer the perilous consequences. There was of course no possibility of their disposing of their property at such time as this without sacrificing it, and they could only flee, if they should flee at all, almost utterly destitute. The Rev. Mr. Cooper calmly dismissed his school with his blessing and took his departure, though not without opposition, a portion of the secessionists being very reluctant to let him go quietly. He was told by some of his friends, that although ten days were nominally allowed him, he would not be permitted to leave even on the next day-that is, yesterday: and he is now satisfied, that, if he had waited till yesterday, he could not have got away.
A worthy Irish gentleman, who visited us yesterday, came away at the same time Mr. Cooper did and in obedience to the same notification. Several others came also, and Mr. Cooper informs us that he saw on the cars quite a number of men and women fleeing from other Tennessee towns. He alleges that a similar condition of things exists almost everywhere through that State, the secessionists having the arms and the organization in their hands, and the Union men being made to understand, that, unless they take refuge in exile, they must, as they value their lives, vote for the disunion ordinance and devote themselves to the disunion cause.
The disunion citizens of Tennessee, however, whilst oppressing the Union men, are themselves subjected to a tyranny in common with those over whom they tyrannize. Gen Pillow has, on his own responsibility, levied a heavy tax on the counties in anticipation of the five millions ordered by the Legislature. He sent on of his military officers the other day to Haywood county for instance with orders to collect $50,000, as that county's share, the amount paid by each man to be set down to his credit on the State tax. The officer assumed authority to apportion the $50,000 among the citizens according to his own discretion. Upon some he was particularly hard. Gentlemen, said he, if you do not meet the demand, I will, with three clicks of the telegraph, summon a regiment here, and it shall be quartered upon you till you pay. They paid. Of course the people were afraid to talk of the matter, but what we have said is true.[sic]
The Brownsville secessionists, it seems, are under no necessity of driving that dangerous Union worker, the Louisville Journal, out of their community, for the Memphis Vigilance Committee take the business off their hands. About forty copies of our paper were ordered for Brownsville a short time since, but they are not permitted to get there through Memphis. The Memphis Committee overhaul and examine all newspaper packages carried by the Express Company, no matter to what part of Tennessee they may be destined, and throw out the Louisville Journal. They institute a careful scrutiny and confiscate every copy of our paper on its way through their city. They undertake to dictate the reading not only of their own community but of all Tennessee communities, and no doubt of all other communities, so far as their power extends.
Wretched indeed, unutterably wretched and deplorable, is the present condition of affairs through Tennessee. It is a spectacle from which every human soul, not debased below the level of beast hood, revolts. It is a spectacle of thousands flying from atrocious persecution and of other thousands bending humbly before the black and bloody spirit of despotism or else hearing their very lives in their hands in all their outgoings and incomings. And now there is to be in that State what they expect to pass off upon the world as an election-an election to decide whether Tennessee shall join the Southern Confederacy to which all her military and pecuniary resources are already, without the shadow of authority, committed by her late despicable Legislature; and, in that election, all other organized mobs throughout the State have ordained that every voter must vote an open ballot and vote for the disunion or expect to be made the victim of mob vengeance. None but fools or knaves will say that an election, thus conducted, can deserve anything better than scorn.
As yet, there is freedom, high and glorious freedom, in Kentucky. Let us keep it, or let us perish from the earth.
Louisville Journal, May 31, 1861. [4]
31, Steamboat Confiscations at Memphis [see: May 20, 1861, Major-General Gideon J. Pillow's General Orders No. 3.]
SEIZURES AT MEMPHIS.
The rebels at Memphis spare nothing, from a steamboat to a coal yard. Nearly every craft reaching that point from below or above is taken and confiscated by the traitors, and on Friday the fine steamer Col. Kennett, from New Orleans to St. Louis, was confiscated by the military authorities under Gen. Pillow. She had some 60 cabin passengers, and 350 German immigrants, members of a joint stock company purchased lands in Missouri They will be greatly embarrassed through the wicked action of the military despots of Memphis.
The Pittsburg coal firm of Riddle, Coleman & Co., had all their property at Memphis seized on the 19th by order of Gen. Pillow. They had a coal yard, a steam-tug, a large supply of coal, and about $10,000 owing to them in debts. The value of property confiscated taken altogether, amounts to about $60,000. The steam-tug is now employed in piratical river-service. A day of retribution will ere long dawn upon Memphis.
Daily Cleveland Herald, May 31, 1861. [5]
1862
30, "The truth is, they and the country people all got drunk, or most of them, from liquor on the trains." Cypress Creek Bridge burned by Rebels[6]
Report of Lieut. Col. James Pell, Lay's Cavalry (Sixth Confederate), of burning of Cypress Creek Bridge, May 30
----,---- [sic], 1862.
At 12 o'clock, May 30, after bridges had been burned, it was the impression that the men in charge of the trains had destroyed them. We then heard that they had not been out. Lieut. McCune was sent, with a squad of men, with orders to go there, and order the conductors to destroy the trains and aid him in doing so.
About 2 p. m. we heard of immense stores at Cypress Bridge, of which some might be saved. Col. Claiborne sent me with orders to impress wagons and save all the stores I could and destroy the trains and locomotive, &c.
On my arrival, just before sunset, I found all the cars had been set on fire by Lieut. McCune, with the assistance of the country people, who had rolled off many of the stores into the marshes on both sides. I found seven locomotives-four badly and two slightly injured and one with no injury. These three latter were not so badly injured as to render them unfit for subsequent use. The others could be repaired in a machine-shop. The engineers had taken off plungers, valves, and fine work. I understood the engineers had gone off and repulsed to destroy these three. The truth is, they and the country people all got drunk, or most of them, from liquor on the trains. I detailed a mechanic and men to destroy them all, as much as they could, with an ax, &c.; but everything was on fire. There were 60 or 62 cars, chiefly loaded with commissary stores, a few horseshoes and guns; also a rifled piece (6-pounder) belonging to the "Appeal Battery," which is reported to have been carried out and hid, with some small-arms. I did not see them. I staid all night and pressed all the wagons I could; could not get many, and the country people carried off most of the stores. Most of the cars were heavily laden, and mostly with commissary stores.
[No signature.]
Thinks the railroad men knew nothing of the intention to burn the bridges; hence great confusion. About 100 sick in cars, who ran off in the swamps; do not know what became of them.
Report of Capt. Jefferson Falkner, Chambers Cavalry (Confederate), of burning of Cypress Creek Bridge, May 30.
Camp Near Clear Creek, Tenn., June 6, 1862.
On the night of the 29th ultimo I received an order in writing at Cypress Bridge about 12 o'clock directing me to take my company and Capt. Elliott's and march immediately to Cosset and to leave Lieut. Prather and 10 men, and for him to wait until daylight and then to burn the bridge, and to do it effectually, and not to burn it until daylight, as many trains would pass during the night. Having to send after my pickets, and from other causes, I did not leave the camp until about daybreak. As I was about leaving a man came and inquired for Lieut. Prather, and informed him that Col. Searcy had sent him to direct him (Prather) not to burn the bridge at daylight, as there was yet a number of trains to pass, but stated that the order was not in writing, and the colonel said it was not necessary that it should be. Neither myself nor Prather knew the man or whether he was a soldier or not. I then left.
I think that about one hour after sunrise I met a man on horseback inquiring the way to the bridge and how to find Prather. I told him how to find him. He informed me that he had an order for Prather, and, it not being sealed, I examined it, and found it to be from Col. Lindsay. He went on, and soon after he had time to get there I saw the smoke ascending from the bridge. I afterward saw as many as four trains passing the railroad in that direction. The only order that I received was the order in writing, above referred to.
J. FALKNER, Capt. Chambers Cavalry.
OR, Ser. I. Vol. 10. pt. I, p. 868.
30, A female teamster discovered in Nashville
Yesterday one of the soldiers, or rather a teamster, attached to one of the Ohio regiments, and who has been confined at the hospital for a few days with measles, was discovered to be a woman. She hails from the vicinity of Gallapolis, Ohio, and first joined the regular army, when her sex was discovered and she was rejected. She was then employed as a house servant at seventy-five cents per week, when she engaged as a teamster to an Ohio regiment at twenty-five dollars per month. She is represented as about eighteen years old, and made rather a handsome boy. She has three brothers in the army, but not in the regiment to which she was attached.
Nashville Dispatch, May 31, 1862.
31, Sarah Estes' reflections on life as altered by warfare
I have been quite sick for several days and my journal has been discontinued. I have suffered much, having had a spell of Neuralgia in my body and I am not yet quite well. We have heard since I have been sick that Corinth has been evacuated. We do not yet believe it, but fear it, the news depresses me very much, thick darkness that might be felt sometimes to have settled over my soul. I could see no merciful Father hand in the stern decree that night. I have suffered more mental anguish. It made me restless and aggravated my bodily sufferings. Oh! How brightly my dear children's images rose up before me. Every fresh disaster to us and success to our oppressors makes our separation longer, but now I have more faith, our cause looks dark, but I still have faith that the Lord will interfere in our behalf. He may see fit to destroy us and them may he give us a spirit of submission to say "Thy will be done."
My husband left us again this morning, he scarcely knows for what or where, being unable to hear from Corinth. He will try to go there I expect. It made my heart ache to see him to thus, so unlike what he was once. Not knowing where to turn his footsteps. May the Lord be with him and direct him in the right path.
I will determine my future course when he is settled.
* * * *
[General] Beauregard has ordered all the cotton to be gathered and burned in this country and the Cavalry [sic] commenced two days ago. They have not yet got here but the cotton is piled for the torch.
Mr. S. sent word yesterday to Denmark [Tennessee] for any one who wanted spinning [sic] cotton to come and get it today, and many have sent. It looks awful to have to burn such beautiful cotton. The Fall was dry and it is so white and free from trash, and if it is true that England is now suffering for cotton what will it be another year, last years [sic] crop destroyed and none making.
We will not suffer for it we can make bread and meat, the Lord blessing with the rain. But suppose they are willing to suffer for they will not help us. It will show the world that we are terribly in earnest, and I hope it will have good effect; but the whole world is against us. It will show that we are against us on account of our institutions, and I feel they can see no good in us.
* * * *
Mr. Estes returned this evening, the cars are not running and of course he could not get off. Some say that they are fighting at Corinth, but we do not know and must wait patiently until time reveals what is happening.
Estes' Diary, May 31, 1862.
31, Women Manufacturing Saltpetre and Gun Powder in East Tennessee
How the Women Make Powder.
We copy a portion of a letter addressed to Lieut. McClung, at Knoxville, by a lady in Sullivan county, East Tennessee.
"I saw some weeks ago in the [Knoxville] Register, an article on the making of saltpetre, and that the earth under the old houses contained more or less nitre. I also learned that the Government was in great need of saltpetre, in order to make powder for our brave boys now in the field. Well, sir, I felt, though I am a woman, that it was my duty to do what I could for my country; so, having an old house with dry dirt under it, I determined to make a trial. I threw out the ashes in my ash hopper, and had two others built.—I then had the dirt under the house dug up and put into the hoppers.—I then run water through one of the hoppers, and then passed the water through the other two. After which I added lye to the water until the curdling ceased. I then boiled it until it was thick, when the pot was set off the fire. In a few hours, the saltpetre had formed into beautiful christals [sic]. I poured water three times through each hopper and then boiled it down. The result is just one hundred pounds of beautiful saltpetre, according to my husband's weighing. It was very little trouble to me.
Now, sir, I see you are the agent of the Government. I want to hand it over to you to be made into powder and sent to our army to be used in defending our country.
The Knoxville Register adds that a citizen of Jefferson county, Tenn., made from the dirt beneath a single old house two hundred and eight pounds of saltpetre which, with the nitre and sulphur added, was converted into two hundred and fifty pounds of powder.
Dallas Herald, May 31, 1862.[7]
31, The case of the missing ventriloquist
The establishment known as the "Capital Baker," on Cedar street, was discovered to be closed at an unusually late hour yesterday morning. An investigation showed that the occupant was missing—had probably skedaddled during the night—and it was soon discovered that he had left sundry reminiscences of his career here, in the shape of unsettled bills, together with a large number of change tickets "in the similitude" of shinplasters. He passes under the name of G. Spencer, alias Haskins, alias Prof. Matthews, the ventriloquist; and while here entertained our threatre goers with "a taste of his quality" in the latter line, which was said to be a "decided hit."
Nashville Dispatch, May 31, 1862.
31- June 9, Negley's Raid into East Tennessee[8]
SHELBYVILLE, TENN., June 12, 1862.
Our expedition into East Tennessee has proved successful. We are returning with 80 prisoners, including a number of prominent officers. Also captured a drove of cattle and a large quantity of horses intended Sweeden's Cove was much more complete than reported. He [Col. Adams] escaped without sword, hat, or horse. We silenced the enemy's batteries at Chattanooga on the evening of the 7th after a fierce cannonading of three hours.
We opened on the 8th at 9 a.m. and continued six hours upon the town and rifle pits, driving the enemy out and forcing him to abandon his works and evacuate the City. They burned several railroad bridges to prevent pursuit. The Union people in East Tennessee are wild with joy. They meet us along the roads by hundreds. I shall send you a number of their principal persecutors from Sequatchie Valley.
Yours, very truly,
Governor ANDREW JOHNSON.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 10, pt. I, p. 910.
While Negley seemed to have met with some success in his daring raid there were some secret whispers-in Union circles-that the raid worked to disaffect Unionists in East Tennessee and was riddled with examples of depredations committed against the civilian population.
[Confidential.] NASHVILLE, June 20, 1862.
Col. FRY:
I wish to call the attention of the general to the outrageous proceedings of the recent expedition to Chattanooga. I have reports from several reliable officers with the expedition that outrages of every sort were perpetrated on friend and foe alike. The line of march is one scene of pillage and robbery. Officers have aided and encouraged and benefited by the pillage. Gen. Negley laughed at and did not attempt to prevent the outrages which came under his notice.
As I am informed, hundreds of Union men in East Tennessee have been transformed into secessionists by this expedition. I am told that all men who declared their Union sentiments on the line of Gen. Negley's march were after his retreat either run out of the country or murdered. The expedition was a miserable failure. I am reliably assured that, all reports Official or otherwise notwithstanding, the troops in Negley's and Mitchell's commands, with few exceptions, have become bands of robbers and thieves.
For God's sake let something be done for relief. When you get a little farther east you will hear enough.
OLIVER D. GREENE, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 16, pt. II, p. 40.
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Knoxville, Tenn., June 6, 1862
Gov. JOSEPH E. BROWN, Milledgeville, Ga.:
Chattanooga is threatened by so superior a force that its evacuation seems almost inevitable. Gen. Leadbetter is ordered, if he cannot hold the place, to retreat in this direction.
E. KIRBY SMITH, Maj.-Gen., Cmdg.
KNOXVILLE, TENN., June 6, 1862
COL. BENJAMIN ALLSTON, Cmdg. First Cavalry Brigade:
COL.: The enemy are making demonstrations in force upon Chattanooga. Columns, with artillery, are moving up from Winchester and Jasper. It is probable that they may contemplate a concentrated movement upon East Tennessee and may make an inroad by cavalry force through Kingston. The major-general commanding therefore directs that you will send to that place such disposable force as you may be able to spare from Powell's Valley, after making proper provision for watching the approaches over the mountains. You will communicate these facts to the commanding officer at Kingston, with instructions to send out scouts in the direction of Winchester as well as toward Montgomery, and give timely notice of any movement of the enemy in either quarter.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. L. CLAY,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
KNOXVILLE, TENN., June 6, 1862
Gen. R. E. LEE, Richmond, Va.:
Gen. Leadbetter telegraphs that is certain the enemy are advancing in force upon Chattanooga by way of Winchester and a column moving up from Jasper with eight pieces of artillery. Twelve regiments with artillery came through Winchester on Wednesday. Also that troops from Corinth supply the places of those on the march. I have directed him to remove all the stores, as I fear that before the brigade ordered from Powell's Valley reaches Chattanooga that place will fall.
E. KIRBY SMITH, Maj.-Gen., Cmdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 10, pt. II, p. 596.
KNOXVILLE, TENN., June 7, 1862
Brig. Gen. C. L. STEVENSON, Cmdg., &c., Cumberland Gap:
GEN.: From information received there seems to be no doubt that the enemy contemplate an attack in large force upon Chattanooga, and probably the invasion of East Tennessee, via Kingston, by column from the direction of McMinnville. Col. Reynolds' brigade has already passed this place en route to Chattanooga, wither the major-general commanding went this afternoon. Brig.-Gen. Barton has been ordered with his brigade from Powell's Valley to the terminus of the Kentucky Railroad, 10 miles from Clinton, with the view of following his (Col. Reynolds') command.
I am directed, in communicating this intelligence to you, to say that these movements of the enemy, constraining the withdrawal of the forces from Powell's Valley, will deprive you of the support it was contemplated to render you, should it become necessary. Will therefore have to rely upon your own resources in the event of being attacked. Should the enemy be defeated at Chattanooga, the command will return and give you such aid as it may be in the power of the commanding general to render you. If defeated, then Gen. Smith will fall back in this direction, that he may effect a junction with your command. Col. Allston has instructions to watch the approaches over the mountains, and to give your prompt information of any demonstration which may be made from that quarter.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. L. CLAY, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 10, pt. II, pp. 598-599.
KNOXVILLE, TENN., June 8, 1862.
Brig. Gen. S. M. BARTON, Fourth Brigade:
GEN.: I inclose a letter addressed to the chief quartermaster by the president of the railroad, from which you will see that it is impossible to provide transportation for your command from the terminus of the Kentucky Railroad, as was expected. It is very important that you push forward your command without delay. Make such arrangements as will best expedite your movements. The commissary has been directed to have cooked rations for 2,300 men ready upon your arrival to-night. The enemy opened fire upon Chattanooga about 6 p. m. yesterday and continued until dark. A severe attack is expected to-day. They are concentrating a large force, estimated at 7,000 men of all arms.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. F. BELTON, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 10, pt. II, p. 601.
Complete Success of the Expedition to East Tennessee.
Nashville, Thursday, June 12.
Dispatches from Gen. Negley to Gov. Johnson announce the success of his expedition to East Tennessee.
He took eighty prisoners, including a number of prominent rebel citizens, a drove of cattle, and a large number of horses intended for the rebel army.
The defeat of Gen. Adams' rebel force in Tweden's [sic] Cove was more complete than represented at first. Adams escaped without hat, sword or horse.
The rebel batteries at Chattanooga were silenced on the 7th, after a heavy cannonading of three hours. Our forces opened fire the next day, and continued for six hours on the town, driving the enemy out of his works, and forcing him to evacuate the city.
They burned the railroad bridges to prevent pursuit. The East Tennesseeans [sic] came out in crowds along the march and cheered our troops enthusiastically.
* * * *
New York Times, June 13, 1862.
A NATIONAL ACCOUNT.[9]
Nashville, Tenn., June 13, 1862
On Thursday, May twenty-ninth, Gen. Negley, who has been in command of the Seventh brigade – formerly Gen. McCook's division, but now having a separate command – started from Columbia, Tenn., for the purpose of making an expedition into East-Tennessee, with the intention of threatening Chattanooga and capturing or dispersing any of the rebel forces of cavalry hovering around that portion of the country. It was authoritatively reported that the rebels had made a preconcerted movement for the purpose of recapturing Nashville; but that object was frustrated by the energy and intrepidity of General Negley and his troops, as will be seen by the following statement:
General N. started from Columbia, on the day above named, with a sufficient force of troops.
General N. reached Fayetteville on Saturday, May thirty-first, remained there until Monday morning, following, and then resumed his march and proceeded to Salem, where he arrived the same day [June 2].
The next day he reached Winchester. It had been reported that the rebels were in considerable force in that place, and the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry made a dash into that town, but found the enemy had dispersed. They succeeded, however, in capturing Capt. Trimble and three of his men, belonging to Starn's [sic] cavalry. This Trimble is a clergyman, a bitter rebel, who has been emulation Morgan in capturing pickets and couriers, and denouncing Union men to the Hangmen. He has been very enterprising in bringing up Union men, who were compelled to accept either one or the other of two alternatives, namely, go into the confederate army or be hanged. He was also the principal of a large female seminary in Winchester, which seems to be still in full operation, education the feminine youth of the locality in the arts, sciences, and philosophies of the heresy of secessionism. Trimble was subsequently sent to Gen. Mitchel, at Huntsville.
Passing through Winchester, Gen. Negley encamped his forces at a place called Cowan, on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, and on a branch of a tributary of the Tennessee River. The trestle –work of the railroad bridge at this point was found to have been burned by the rebels, but the stream was easily fordable, and it was crossed on Wednesday morning, June fourth and the line of march resumed toward Jasper, Marion County. Here Gen. Negley caused several of the most prominent secessionist to be arrested, and mulcted them in the sum of two hundred dollars each, which was appropriated to the relief of the Union people in Tennessee who had suffered injury at the hands of the rebels. This was the first practical illustration of the character and intention of Gov. Johnson's declaration that rich rebels should be made to pay Union losses incurred by rebel predatory bands. Passing through Jasper, Gen. Negley encamped at the foot of the first ridge of the Cumberland mountains, early in the evening, at an old camping-ground of the rebels. The following morning he commenced crossing the mountain, over a steep and rocky road, one which most persons would pronounce impassable for artillery. Over this rugged road the artillery and provision-trains were passed with but trifling injury, owing to the efficiency of the equipments. Here Gen. Negley first obtained a glimpse of the enemy. After a very abrupt descent through a thick forest the road suddenly opened out into a beautiful cove, about six hundred yards wide, and stretching off in an easterly direction towards the Sequatchie valley. The road crosses to the south side of the cove, and skirts along the foot of the mountain about half a mile eastwardly; then crossing the valley toward the north side, then eastwardly again towards the valley. At this point General Negley's advance, consisting of the Fifth Kentucky cavalry, Col. Haggard, and two companies of the Seventy-ninth Pennsylvania infantry, under command of Capt. Klien, encountered the pickets of the rebel Gen. Adam's brigade of cavalry, which was encamped on the opposite side of the cove, at a point where the road turns to cross the valley again. After a brisk firing – the Union troops acting with the coolness of veterans all the while – the rebel pickets fell back, and the main body of the rebel force, learning there was a Union force near, came forward up the road in a body and let down the fences, preparatory to a charge. They were then at least eight hundred strong. By this time Gen Negley had placed two six-pounder field pieces in position, and commenced firing on them with Shenkle[10] [sic] shell. This was evidently more than the enemy expected; for at the first fire they turned in confusion and fled with dismay, hotly pursued by our cavalry, led by company A, of the Fifth Kentucky, commanded by Lieut. Wharton. The enemy were pursued for two miles before they were reached, their horses being flesh and ours jaded by their rough march over the mountain. Our men at last succeeded in overtaking them, and dashed in among them with the sabre, when much execution was done. A number of the rebels were killed and among whom was a lieutenant, named Jones, commanding a company. The rebels, in their flight, threw away every thing that could in the slightest degree impede their progress; the road for miles was strewn with sabres, pistols, shot-guns, haversacks, any quantity of corn-bread, and all the other portions of the equipments of a rebel cavalry soldier. Some of the rebel cavalry were clothed in regulation uniforms, others in citizen's dress.
The panic was complete. Gen. Adams lost his hat, sword, and horse as he had to borrow a horse from a negro [sic] to escape on [sic], and a hat from a sympathizing rebel. He had no sword when he left the field, according to the reports of citizens who saw him in his flight towards Chattanooga. Many of the rebels did not stop until they reached Chattanooga, a distance of over thirty miles. Major Adams, a brother of the General, is reported to be severely, probably fatally, wounded, by a sabre-cut in the head. Thirteen rebels were found dead on the road as far as our forces proceeded at this time. The action and pursuit were gallantly conducted on the part of the Union forces. After pursuing the rebels some three miles, the Federals returned to Sweden's Cove, where they encamped for the night. They were followed into camp by large numbers of Union people who had been driven from their homes by rebel tyranny, and were electrified by the first sound of Union guns echoing through the Sequatchie valley.
After a night's rest, Gen. Negley proceeded towards Chattanooga. He arrived opposite the place on the morning of the seventh of June, having in the mean time (the sixth) [sic] rested on the top of the Cumberland mountain. At two o'clock p. m., on the seventh, Gen. Negley, with a military force, proceeded to reconnoiter. He soon ascertained that there was a large force of the enemy on this (north) side of the river, having crossed evidently with the intention of attacking the Illinois regiment, Lieut.-Col. Scott, which had arrived the day before the main body of Federals reached the point, they having crossed the mountain by a shorter route than the principal force. The rebels also showed a water-battery from the beach at the ferry-landing, near the town.
The Illinois regiment, deployed as skirmishers, was sent down the hill to feel the enemy. The latter, find forces ready to meet then, recrossed the river. Gen. Negley placed his artillery in position commanding the town, and waited to see what the enemy would do.
At a little after five P.M. the enemy's riflemen commenced firing on our skirmishers, and shortly after the rebels opened with shell on them from their water-battery, and from a battery on the mountain westward of the town. Then General Negley gave orders to his batteries to fire, and for two hours a brisk cannonading was kept up, during which time all of the enemy's guns were silenced, three of them having been dismantled. The accuracy of the Federal artillerymen drove the enemy entirely away from their pieces. Having silenced all the enemy's batteries, Genl. Negley retired to his camp for the night.
The next morning (Sunday, June eighth) it was ascertained that the enemy had been working all night; had increased the height of their water-battery; had thrown up new earthworks, and had evidently made extensive preparations of defence.
Information was received from a prisoner that the enemy's force had been increased during the night from three to five thousand.
At eight o'clock Gen. Negley resumed firing on the enemy, and continued for upwards of an hour and a half without receiving any response from their batteries; but their riflemen, protected by a stone wall and by their earthworks, kept up a continuous firing upon the Union skirmishers. There were no other indications of there being any persons in Chattanooga in warlike array except occasional knots of officers and men, who dispersed with alacrity as our shells fell among them. The town was evacuated by the inhabitants during the night.
Gen. Negley, having accomplished the object of his expedition, withdrew a portion of his force.
The loss on either side is not ascertained, but we have the assertions of prisoners that the loss of the enemy is large. The only flags displayed by the rebels in town were the hospital flags and a black flag. A man who displaced a back flag on the rebel intrenchments was killed by one of the sharpshooters.
Rebellion Record, Vol. 5, pp. 188-189.
Letter from the Rangers.
Camp near Chattanooga
June 14, 1862
~ ~ ~
About a week before my arrival at the camp near Courtland, Col. Adams, in command of three skeleton regiments with about 800, of whom the Rangers were one, had crossed the Tennessee river above Tuscumbia for a foray into Tennessee. They had crossed their trains. Upon consultation the trains were recrossed just in time to save them; they were fired on as they crossed. Two days rations were ordered and prepared. From some change I am not informed about, Colonel Adams attempted to recrosss and abandon the expedition, but he was interrupted by an overwhelming force. The only alternative left was to take their line of march through the enemy's lines avoiding them if possible, and make their way to the mountains sure. They could not do much fighting as they had but five rounds of ammunition, and that they reserved for an emergency. They were pursued to Winchester, Tenn., where they halted for several days. When they left that place, or soon after, by some agreement Colonel Wharton separated the Rangers from the command, and successfully recrossed the river about 30 miles below this. The Adams command were not so fortunate, they dallied, were attacked in an undefensible position and stampeded, with a loss of 150 horses, some killed and some prisoners.
Such was the indignation of his command, that on his arrival here [Chattanooga] he left it for headquarters, and it is said has resigned. Great sagacity and good fortune united saved the Rangers. It is not difficult to conjecture how, surrounded as they were by an overwhelming force they successfully encountered all perils that hourly attend them for three weeks, and made their way here without the loss of a single man. Great credit is due their Colonel, the officers and men. As I have said, the enemy followed them up, came opposite Chattanooga shelled it for an hour, did little or no injury to the place, killed one man, wounded another, and retreated. Six new graves were found when they left. Opening one a 12-pound cannon was found buried; it had been dismounted by our shot and left three days since. There is a rumor this morning that they are crossing below. At midnight, last night, 150 of our men were ordered to join others below, to see if this be true, and watch the various crossing of the river. We heard, too, yesterday that the enemy had crossed the Cumberland mountain and were in Powell's Valley; if this be so, (and it came from the Chief Quartermaster,) all our forces this side of the Mountains, under the command of Kirby Smith, will be concentrated for a decisive battle to protect Knoxville, the railroads and prevent an insurrection in east Tennessee by Brownlow's party….
~ ~ ~
Dallas Tri-Weekly Telegraph, July 7, 1862.
JUNE 13-2 ½ O'CLOCK, A. M.
GLORIOUS NEWS FROM EAST TENNESSEE.
SUCCESS OF GENERAL NEGLEY'S EXPEDITION.
The Capture of Chattanooga.
Retreat of the Rebels.
Enthusiasm of the East Tennesseeans.
Nashville, June 12 – A despatch from Gen. Negley to Governor Johnson announces the success of his expedition to East Tennessee.
He took eighty prisoners, including a number of prominent citizens. A drove of cattle, and a large number of horses intended for the Rebel army, were also captured.
The defeat of General Adams' Rebel for on Sweden's Cove was more than complete than at first represented. General Adams barely succeeded in making his escape, without hat, sword or horse.
The Rebel batteries at Chattanooga were silenced on the 7th, after a heavy cannonading of three hours. Our forces opened fire on the next day and continued it for six hours on the town, driving the enemy out of his works, and forcing him to evacuate the city.
The Rebels burned the railroad bridges in order to prevent pursuit by our army.
The loyal citizens of East Tennessee, who have thus been relieved from the despotic rule of the Rebels, after so long an endurance, came out in crowds along the line of march of the army of the Union, and greeted our troops with the most enthusiastic cheers.
~ ~ ~
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13, 1862.[11]
1863
30, Skirmish at Hamburg Landing [see May 29, 1863, Skirmish at Hamburg Landing above]
30, Skirmish at Jordan's Store [Chapel Hill Pike]
MAY 30, 1863.-Scout and skirmish at Jordan's Store
Report of Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan, U. S. Army.
HDQRS. THIRD DIVISION, FOURTEENTH ARMY CORPS, DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, Triune, Tenn., May 30, 1863.
COL.: I have the honor to report that a scouting party from the First East Tennessee Cavalry to-day encountered about 50 rebel cavalry at Jordan's Store, on the Chapel Hill pike, and drove them beyond Rigg's Cross-Roads. Maj. Burkhart, of that regiment, with a small party, endeavoring to cut off a portion of this party in their retreat, came upon 3 men, who, on being ordered to surrender, at first signified their intention to do so, but seeing a strong party of rebels coming down on their captors, immediately commenced firing on Maj. Burkhart, declaring that they would never surrender to "any damned Yankee nigger-stealers." Maj. Burkhart was consequently obliged to shoot these men in self-defense, and to insure his escape. There were no casualties on our side.
I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. M. BRANNAN, Brig.-Gen., Cmdg. Division.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. I, p. 355.
The 1st Tennessee cavalry in another Fight. – We learned yesterday that the 1st East Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel Robert Johnson in command, had a fight on Saturday last [May 30th], at Chapel Hill, in Marshal county, in which they encountered a force of Alabama cavalry, estimated at two thousand. Col. Johnson succeeded in punishing the rebels severely, killing three and capturing fifty prisoners. The Alabamians are new troops, having just taken the place of the brigade of Gen'l Starnes, whom the prisoners report, has gone to Mississippi, to re-inforce Joe Johnston. These reputed fights on the part of the first regiment, are preparing it for greater achievements when the opportunity is afforded by a general engagement. Gallant, glorious East Tennesseans, may it not be long before you have the opportunity you so ardently desire.
Nashville Union, June 2, 1863
30, Federal cavalry capture stock in Savannah environs [see also 17-31, Naval Operations on the Tennessee River, relative to operations at Savannah and Clifton above]
30, Colonel Biffle's Confederate cavalry fail to take Savannah [see also 17-31, Naval Operations on the Tennessee River, relative to operations at Savannah and Clifton above]
30, Skirmish at Triune[12]
"OUR CORRESPONDENCE."
Triune, Tenn., May 31st, 1863.
AFFAIRS AT TRIUNE.
Notwithstanding the many rumors which have reached us of an approaching foe, and our almost constant aprehensions [sic] of a coming fight, affairs at this point remain much as usual, no enemy having appeared on this side of the Harpeth river.
A CAVALRY RECONNOISSANCE. [sic]
Early yesterday morning the General Commanding ordered the First East Tennessee Cavalry, Col. Robt. Johnson, to make a reconnaissance of the grounds on the opposite side of the river, and ascertain if possible where and in what force the enemy was. The regiment crossed the river about nine o'clock a. m., passing down the Chappel [sic] Hill pike, Major Burkhardt and Adjutant Bentley with a squad of six men acting as the advance. They had proceeded but two or three miles when they were fired on by the enemy's videttes. The order was then given to charge, and chase was given the rebels. Here ensued a most exciting scene, the Rebs [sic] making desperate efforts to reach their reserves and give the alarm of Yankees, yelling at the top of their lungs, gained upon them at every stride. It was soon evident that our boys were bound to
GATHER THOSE BUTTERNUTS [sic],
And in less than twenty minutes the whole trio of "yellow coons" [sic] had acknowledged themselves prisoners of war. At his time, however, and before the arms of the prisoners could be taken from them, a foraging party of about fifty rebels entered the road in the rear of our men, thereby effectually cutting off all retreat in that direction. The prisoners, being still armed and seeing help near them, undertook to fire upon our boys and make their escape. But they had, for once, made a miscalculation; for in less than two minutes they were each placed hors du combat. Their horses were taken from them and their dead bodies left to be taken care of by their friends, while our little band were making their way through the woods towards the regiment unhurt. During my stay, there were several squads of butternuts seen, but always at a respectful distance. Nothing further of interest occurred. It was ascertained that there were four or five regiments of cavalry encamped about 5 miles beyond, and that, at a short distance behind them, was a considerable force of infantry. There are also some three or four regiments of rebel cavalry encamped near Eagleville, on our left in front.
Nashville Daily Press, June 3, 1863.
30, A West Tennessee Confederate soldier's letter home to Memphis
Shelbyville, Tenn.
May 30th/63
Dear Ma,
I wrote you a long letter a few days since, but had no chance of sending it. so now I will write another one. You can have no idea of how delighted I was yesterday to receive both a letter from you and one from Lucie by Mercer Otey, it had been a long while since I had heard directly from you, and I was beginning to feel afraid that you were not all well at home, or that something was the matter. I am under a thousand obligations, dear Ma, for the large package of clothes you sent me, and know that I can never be grateful enough. I regretted after I had written for those things, having done so, for I know that you had to run a great risk in getting them out, and I would much prefer doing without them than have you run the least risk in the world. Now that they are safely out, the only regret I have is that I put you to so great an expense. I will not want any more now for a year at least, and long before that time, I hope we will all be safe at home again, and when I will try then to stay for the balance of my life, so don't run any more risks, dear Ma, in trying to send things out.
I am very sorry to hear that Sister Laura is in such bad health. I heard Miss Hal Rodgers say that she saw her only a few days before she left Memphis, and that she looked very well, she ought to take a trip off somewhere, and that soon. I feel sorry for you though, having to take care of all those children, and am afraid that you will be annoyed into a spell of sickness.
Don't let thoughts about us worry you too much Ma, from all I can hear Ed is doing finely, and no one could be better situated than I am now, and if it were not for the fact of being cut off from you, I believe I could enjoy myself better than I have done at any time during the war. Misses Hallie Rodgers, Helen Edmonson, and Lizzie Robinson are all here now,[13] I have been in to see Miss Lizzie tonight, so you see that we are not so lonesome here after all. I scarcely know what we shall do when they leave.
Dr. Quintard is here now, and preaches very often, he is the greatest favorite I ever saw in the Army. Bishop Elliot of Ga. [sic] is here too, and a good many were confirmed last Sunday. You never in your life saw anything like the revival that is going on in the Army now. Every Brigade is having large meeting every night, and I am in hope that it will do much good.
I went up to Columbia about three weeks ago, and saw all the Walker family. Marion Armstrong was there then, but now is out on the front with the Cavalry. It would amuse you see Sallie, she has come out a full blown young lady since Maria married. All of them there are very well, and enquired particularly about you. From there I went out to Mount Pleasant to see Uncle Ben's family. Cousin Livia has improved very much since she was in Memphis. Uncle Ben is as much like Pa was as he can be. I could shut my eyes and almost imagine it was Pa, talking to me. They were all very glad to see and insisted only staying some time with them, but I could only stay one day and night, and had to hurry back to this place
I have no idea that we will have a fight here soon, but if we do have no fears for the result. I never saw this Army in as good condition as it is now, every one [sic] is in the highest spirits, and out only fear now is for Vicksburg. If we whip them there, there will not be a Federal in Tennessee in thirty days. I have no idea that they can take the place, and we are keeping a splendid army in their rear. A rumor is in circulation here this evening that our Cavalry under Chalmers, have captured Memphis, but no one believes it. It would be too good to be true, if we could only hold it.
I hope dear Ma that before this letter reaches you will be established once more in our old house on Madison St. I feel very anxious to have you there again, as I think it much safer than where you are. Tell Lucie I will answer her letter in a few days, but tonight have only time to write this one, she says she has only recd one letter but I have written her at least half a dozen [letters] since we have been here.
Give my best love to all and kiss the little ones for me. Tell Proudfit to write to me whenever he can. Johnny is very well.
Write to me whenever you can dear Ma, and tell me fully how your are getting on, and what means you have of getting money. I have been very much afraid that you have been cramped in your resources. It is now about twelve o'clock Saturday night and the week of my paper has run out about the same time. With once more thanking you for the things you sent me, I am as ever,
J. W. Harris
Harris Correspondence.
30, "6th of June Celebration."
In our advertising columns will be found a call for a meeting of the committee of arrangement for the celebration of the sixth of June, the day of deliverance of Memphis from Pillow, Polk, safety committees, head shavings, Jeff. Davis ravings, and the secession flag. Every committee man is desired to attend at the Mayor's office at five o'clock this evening to make the necessary preparations. Be on hand every man.
Memphis Bulletin, May 30, 1863.
30, "Military Hospitals-Chap. XX."
Number 12.-Headquarters of No. 12 is situated in the Broadway Hotel building, and the two large store houses adjoining, fronting on Broad street, between Summer and Cherry streets. In this hospital there are ten wards, of nine of which we give the exact measurement as follows:
No. Length Breath [sic] Heighth [sic] Total
1 100 28 9 25,200
2 59 28 9 14, 860
3 100 28 10 28,000
4 59 28 10 16,520
5 70 38 10 26,000
6 70 17 13 15,470
7 70 17 13 15,470
9 28 18 8 5,472
The ceilings of some of these wards are not so high as in some other hospitals, nor is the light so good, the rooms being very long, and no side windows, but the ventilation seems to be good, the rooms being cool and sweet, even during the hottest part of Wednesday last, when the thermometer reached as high as 88 degrees in some shady places about the city, Ward 2 is a very fine one, and all are in excellent condition.
Nearly all the officers, and the Surgeons' apartment are situated in the hotel building, and all are in good condition.
The dining room is in the middle building, and will seat about two hundred persons, comfortably and pleasantly. The kitchen is large, well-arranged, and very clean, and is situated in the rear of the dining room, a bed-room for the kitchen attendants being between the dining room and kitchen. In the front, on the first floor of the western building, is the office of the Officer of the Guard, who has under him twenty-five men, detailed from convalescents unfit for field duty. The headquarters of the Officer of the Day is situated to the left of the main entrance to the hotel.
Hydrant water is introduced on each floor of the three buildings. The cots are nearly all of iron, and nearly all the patients are able to walk about.
The Negro servants (males) are quartered in comfortable tents in the yard, which is in excellent order, and well arranged. A number of trees in the yard form delightful shades under which convalescents can lounge during fine days.
The following is a list of officers: Surgeon in Charge -- J. S. Maurer, Acting Asst. Surg., and U. S. A.
Assistant-W. K. Mavity, Contract Surgeon
Chaplain-Rev. R. Delo, 30 Indiana
Steward-John Hall, 29th, Regulars
Chief Clerk-W. J. Merchant, 49th Ohio
Ward Master-B. F. Turner
Commissary Clark -- James Estelle
Matrons-Mary McDonald and Mrs. Bolpin.
There are 25 nurses, 9 cooks, 22 colored females, and 20 colored nurses, employed in and about the hospital, which is furnished to accommodate 283 patients, 160 of the beds being occupied on Wednesday last.
Religious services are held in the hospital every Sunday at 2 p. m.
There is but one bath-tub at present connected with the hospital, but arrangements are in progress for increased bathing accommodation.
All the wards and other apartments connected with the hospital are in excellent condition, and we are informed that the dispensary, commissary, linen-room, etc., are abundantly supplied with all that is necessary for a full hospital of patients.
In walking over the hospital with the officer of the day, our attention was attracted to a young boy, scarce sixteen years old, who had lost is left arm, and another, only 19 years, who was wounded in the left arm. Both were doing well when we saw them.
An extraordinary case which is worthy of notice is that of John Vance, a private in Co. B., 72d Indiana Volunteers. According to his statement, he, in company with others, left near Murfreesboro' to go on a scouting expedition toward Taylorsville, Tenn., and was taken prisoner by the Confederates on the 3d day of April last. He was afterward put under guard for the night, and the next morning he was informed that in consequence of the guard (four in number) being obliged to go on an expedition, they would have to tie him to a tree until their return. They tied him and left, but had only gone a few yards when they drew their pistols and shot him through the face and neck, one ball entering posterior to the left ear, and passing through the left orbit, entirely destroying the eye; two other balls passed between the superior and inferior maxillaries, and the fourth passed under the inferior maxillary, fracturing the left angle, and inflicting a severe flesh wound. They then cut loose the cords that abound him and he fell insensible to the ground. How long Vance lay in this condition he cannot tell, but recovering his consciousness, he crawled along the road in search of relief, not knowing whither he was going, until, after making about six miles, he fell in with some Federal cavalry, and he was conveyed thence to camp, about nineteen miles to the rear, where his wounds were dressed, and he was properly cared for. He is not doing well. This was truly a miraculous escape from death, and is an instance of the power of man to endure extreme pain and suffering very rarely to be met with. We can vouch for the wounds as above described, having examined them ourselves.
The officers are all attentive and polite, and the patients appear perfectly at home and happy as can be expected.
Nashville Dispatch, May 30, 1863.
30, Fremantle's observations on the Army of Tennessee
30th May, Saturday.-It rained hard all last night, but General Polk's tent proved itself a good one. We have prayers both morning and evening, by Dr. Quintard, together with singing, in which General Polk joined with much zeal. Colonel Gale, who is son-in-law and volunteer aid-de-camp to General Polk, has placed his negro [sic] Aaron and a mare at my disposal during my stay.
General Polk explained to me, from a plan, the battle of Murfreesboro'. He claimed that the Confederates had only 30,000 troops, including Breckinridge's division, which was not engaged on the first day. He put the Confederate loss at 10,000 men, and that of the Yankees at 19,000. With regard to the battle of Shiloh he said that Beauregard's order to retire was most unfortunate, as the gunboats were doing no real harm, and if they (the Confederates) had held on, nothing could have saved the Federals from capture or destruction. The misfortune of Albert Johnston's death, [together] with the fact of Beauregard's illness and his not being present at that particular spot, were the causes of this battle not being a more complete victory.
Ever since I landed in America, I had heard of the exploits of an Englishman called Col. St. Leger Grenfell, who is now Inspector General of Cavalry to Bragg's army. This afternoon I made his acquaintance, and I consider him one of the most extraordinary characters I ever met. Although he is a member of a well known English family, he seems to have devoted his whole life to the exciting career of a soldier of fortune. He told me that in early life he had served three years in a French lancer regiment, and had risen from a private to be a sous-lieutenant. He afterwards became a sort of consular agent at Tangier, under old Mr. Drummond Hay. Having acquired a perfect knowledge of Arabic, he entered the service of Abd-el-Kader, and under that renowned chief he fought the French for four years and a half. At another time of his life he fitted out a yacht, and carried on a private war with the Riff pirates. He was Brigade Major in the Turkish contingent during the Crimean war, and had some employment in the Indian mutiny. He has also been engaged in war in Buenos Ayres and the South American republics. At an early period of the present troubles he ran the blockade and joined the Confederates. He was adjutant general and right hand man to the celebrated John Morgan for eight months. Even in this army, which abounds with foolhardy and desperate characters, he has acquired the admiration of all ranks by his reckless daring and gallantry in the field. Both Generals Polk and Bragg spoke to me of him as a most excellent and useful officer, besides being a man who never lost an opportunity of trying to throw his life away. He is just the sort of a man to succeed as a rigid disciplinarian. He is the terror of all absentees, stragglers, and deserters, and of all commanding officers who are unable to produce for his inspection the number of horses they have been drawing forage for. He looks about forty-five, but in reality he is fifty-six. He is rather tall, thin, very wiery [sic] and active, with a jovial English expression of countenance; but his eyes have a wild, roving look, which is common amongst the Arabs. When he came to me he was dressed in an English staff blue coat, and he had a red cavalry forage cap, which latter, General Polk told me, he always wore in action, so making himself more conspicuous. He talked to me much about John Morgan, whose marriage he had tried to avert, and of which he spoke with much sorrow. He declared that Morgan was enervated by matrimony, and would never be the same man as he was. He said that in one of the celebrated telegraph tappings in Kentucky, Morgan, the operator and himself, were seated for twelve hours on a clay bank during a violent storm, but the interest was so intense, that the time passed like three hours.
General Polk's son, a young artillery lieutenant, told me this evening that "Stonewall Jackson" was a professor at the military school at Lexington, in which he was a cadet. "Old Jack" was considered a persevering but rather dull master, and was often made the butt of jokes by cheeky cadets, whose great ambition it was to irritate him, but, however insolent they were. He never took the slightest notice of their impertinance [sic] at the time, although he always had them punished for it afterwards. At the outbreak of the war, he was called upon by the cadets to make a speech, and these were his words: Soldiers make short speeches: be slow to draw the sword in civil strife, but when you draw it, throw away the scabbard." Young Polk says that the enthusiasm created by this speech of old Jack's was beyond description.
Fremantle, Three Months, pp, 76-78.
31, Heavy skirmishing at Hamburg as U. S. Navy conveys Federal cavalry across the Tennessee River [see May 17-31, 1863, Naval Operations on the Tennessee River, relative to operations at Savannah and Clifton above]
31, GENERAL ORDERS, No. 124, relative to topographical engineers in the Army of the Cumberland
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 124. HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND, Murfreesborough, Tenn., May 31, 1863.
I. Capt. W. E. Merill, having relieved Capt. N. Michler, chief topographical engineer at these headquarters, is announced as engineer officer in charge of the topographical department, reporting to Brig. Gen. J. St. C. Morton, chief engineer of the department. All corps, division, and brigade topographers will be under the professional direction of Capt. Merrill.
II. The following instructions will be obeyed by all concerned:
1st. Each brigade topographical engineer will report every Monday morning to the division topographic engineer his operations for the past week, with copies of all special maps and reconnaissances (complete or not) made by him or under his direction, including all verbal or written topographical information. Each division topographical engineer will consolidate the reports from the brigade topographers, and forward therewith his individual report to the corps topographical engineer every Tuesday morning. Each corps topographical engineer will forward the consolidated topographical report of his corps to the topographical office at these headquarters every Wednesday morning.
2d. In the first weekly report each corps topographical engineer will send in to Capt. Merrill's office an accurate list of all topographical officers and assistants in his corps, together with a return of all instruments and drawing materials now in their possession, and an estimate of whatever is necessary to complete the equipment of the topographical parties in each corps. These lists will be obtained from the division topographers, who will in turn obtain them from the brigade topographers.
3d. The special field for the labor of the topographical parties of each corps will be indicated by Capt. Merrill to the chief topographical officer of each corps, who will be responsible that the work is properly subdivided and carried out by division and brigade topographers. Such special instructions as may be found necessary will be communicated from time to time by a circular from the topographical office at these headquarters.
4th. The interests of the whole army being superior to that of any portion of it, and perfect harmony and concert of action being necessary in the topographical department, in order of secure efficiency and prevent a waste of labor, all commanders of brigades, divisions, and corps are enjoined to give every assistance to the topographical officers of their staffs in carrying out their professional instructions, and not to give them any other duty to perform while there is any topographical work laid out, but unfinished.
5th. They will give precedence in work to that ordered through the proper channels from these headquarters, and then, in succession, to work ordered from their corps or division headquarters. Afterward, and worthless, commanding officers will employ their topographical officers on any local topographical duty which may suggest itself, such as mapping their camps or picket line, &c.
6th. The scale on which maps will be drawn will be regulated as follows: For an area of 2 miles square of less, 6 inches to the mile; for an area of over 2 and under 4 miles, 4 inches to the mile; for an area of over 4 and under 8 miles, 2 inches to the mile; for an area of over 8 miles square, 1 inch to the mile. The magnetic meridian and scale must always be carefully noted upon all maps.
7th. When any command is on detached service for a week or more, its topographical officer will send his reports direct to these headquarters.
By command of Maj.-Gen. Rosecrans
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. II, pp. 376-377.
1864
30, Skirmish at Greeneville
No circumstantial reports filed.
30, Federal commander at McMinnville recommends continued army presence to protect pro-Union lives and property from bushwhackers and to prevent crime
HDQRS. TWENTY-THIRD MISSOURI VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, Post McMinnville, Tenn., May 30, 1864.
Maj. B. H. POLK, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Dist. of Nashville, Nashville, Tenn.:
SIR:
* * * *
I consider it my duty to state that in my view of matters here, the post McMinnville, Tenn., ought to be, at least for the present, occupied by troops, not only for the protection of the many loyal people here, but also to prevent the numerous small bands of bushwhackers from collecting in a body, which they will certainly do if not continually harassed and kept dispersed by troops. I learn from Mr. Th. Comer, the trade agent at this post, that there are at the present time $27,000 worth of goods and merchandise at McMinnville, all of which will have to be removed if the post be abandoned, as the citizens themselves are not capable of protecting themselves against these robbers and guerrillas, and brought these goods here under the impression that they would be protected by the military power. I am also satisfied that in the present famine-like condition of the poor classes, many who would otherwise remain quiet and peaceable will, under the continual pressure of want of the necessaries of life, engage in robbery and every other crime, unless restrained or overawed [sic] by troops; neither would there be any safety for the lives and property of several Union families here, for instance, of such as Doctor Armstrong, Capt. Clift, Gen. Rodgers, and other families and property. Should this post be completely evacuated, I would respectfully recommend that the citizens be made aware of that fact, and sufficient time given them for removal to other parts of the State.
I am, major, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. P. ROBINSON, Col. Twenty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, Cmdg.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. II, p. 57.
30, "Special Order No. 107."
Office of the Provost Marshal
District of Memphis
Memphis, Tenn., May 30th, 1864
It is hereby ordered that all crying or selling of Newspapers on Sunday, between the hours of 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. shall be discontinued.
The Provost Guard will arrest all persons disobeying this order.
Geo. A. Williams, Capt., 1st U. S. Infnty and Provost Marshall
C.C. Washburn, Maj. Gen. Comd'g.
Memphis Bulletin, June 3, 1864.
30, A letter to Military Governor Andrew Johnson relative to the guerrilla threat in East Tennessee
Knoxville, May 30, 1864
Dr. Sir,
From this point eastward the people are annoyed by occasional small parties of guerillas [sic] - some marauding parties, contemptible as a military force, but capable of doing much mischief. The people would unite, I am assured in suitable organizations for the local defense if they could be assured of not being called away out of the country for the general purposes of the war. This they do not wish to do, as the labor is already largely withdrawn into the army & to take any considerable numbers in addition would leave few but women, children & old men.
I have been requested to inquire of you whether you could not call out a militia force, equal to some two or three regiments for a limited time to defend against predatory bands, raids & the like. They might also be employed in prison & guard duty, releasing for active service, quite a number of old troops now scattered at different points.
The court has been in session two weeks. Much business is likely to be done. A grand jury of twenty three is in session, composed of solid & substantial citizens from different parts of East Tennessee. The sitting will be prolonged two weeks more, I suppose.
I am very Respectfully Your Obt. Servt.
Horace Maynard.
Papers of Andrew Johnson, Vol. 6, p. 707.
31, Relief and continuation of cavalry pickets around Memphis established on Randolph, New and Old Raleigh, New and Old State Line, Race-Track, Hernando and Horn Lake roads
HDQRS. CAVALRY DIVISION, SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS, Memphis, Tenn., May 31, 1864.
Col. D. E. COON, Cmdg. Third Brigade:
COL.: You will in the morning early relieve all the cavalry pickets at this post by detail from your command. They consist of nine men and one non-commissioned officer on each of the following roads: Randolph, New and Old Raleigh, New and Old State Line, Race-Track road, Hernando road, Horn Lake road. You will have a good commissioned officer detailed each day as officer of the day to visit these pickets during the absence of the command, and see that they perform their duties well. The effective mounted force of the Ninth and Third Illinois Cavalry have been ordered to accompany the expedition. You can move the camp of the rest of your command and get it in as good condition as possible, in our absence. The order placing you in command of the brigade is issued to-night, dated to-morrow.
By order of Brig. Gen. B. H. Grierson:
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. II, p. 60.
31. Report to President Abraham Lincoln regarding unlawful trade with the enemy
U. S. GUN-BOAT FAIRY, Off Memphis, Tenn., May 31, 1864.
His Excellency the PRESIDENT:
SIR: I deem it of importance to report to you the real character of the trade with the enemy which is carried on in the neighborhood of our lines. In the way it has been conducted, immense supplies go to the enemy and help to sustain a hostile population. The removal of restrictions upon trade in Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia opened an extensive frontier through which the enemy are supplied. The raid of Forrest upon Paducah and Fort Pillow, it is believed, was undertaken in part to enable him to secure large quantities of goods which had been accumulated by arrangement through disloyal agencies, at points within our lines, along his line of march. At Memphis, before the recent suspension of trade by Gen. Washburn, goods to the amount of a half a million a week went through our lines, sold for currency or exchanged for cotton. Boats loaded with supplies have had almost unrestricted opportunities for trade on the Mississippi, and some of its navigable tributaries, stopping anywhere along the river and dealing with anybody. It is intimated that Memphis has heretofore been so reliable and constant a source of rebel supplies as to secure for it a comparative exemption from attack by the enemy. I give you in these statements a summary of what I have learned from loyal citizens of high character and officers of the naval and military service. Admiral Porter, Commander Pattison, commanding officers in the Armies of the Tennessee and Cumberland, Gen.'s Washburn, Prince, and others on the Mississippi, bear concurrent testimony to the same effect. The orders issued recently by Gen. Washburn will arrest the evil in his district, but to be effectual the policy should be general, and not dependent upon the initiative of the local commander. I would respectfully recommend that all trade with persons beyond our lines be interdicted and that commanding officers of squadrons and military districts be held responsible for the enforcement of the prohibition. It may be urged that some loyal people beyond our lines will thereby suffer, but a hundred fold more of the loyal people within our lines suffer in the vital injury done to our cause by a concession which benefits a hundred rebels where it relieve one Union man. I cannot too earnestly solicit the attention of the Government to this subject. The effect upon our Army and Navy cannot be otherwise than injurious when they see a vast trade carried on with our enemies. This intercourse enriches a mercenary horde, who follow in the rear of our forces, corrupting by the worst temptations those in authority, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and relieving that extreme destitution of the insurgent population which would otherwise operate as a powerful inducement toward the restoration of tranquility and order....
Very respectfully,
D. E. SICKLES, Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. II, pp. 60-61.
31, "The Health of the City,"
The approaching season promises to be unusually sickly, therefore, it behooves every person in the community to read and understand health orders, published in our columns by Dr. Burk, and act accordingly. This officer seems determined that no effort shall be spared on his part, to keep Memphis in a fine sanitary condition, and all infringements within the corporation limits, will meet with prompt and severe punishment. Policemen and other city officers, as has already been published, are required to cause the immediate arrest of all parties refusing or neglecting to comply with the sanitary regulation prescribed, and no loop holes is left by which an offender may escape. Their own interest and the welfare of the city generally should, however, and doubtless will prove sufficient to induce very good claim to carry out the law without harsh measures being resorted to, and this save our community from much sickness that might issue in case of noncompliance. Much...has already been done. By a general action on the part of the city [even more can be done?]
Memphis Bulletin, May 31, 1864.
1865
30, Capture of Champ Ferguson
NASHVILLE, May 30, 1865.
(Received, 5.20 a. m. 31st.) Gen. GEORGE H. THOMAS, U. S. Army:
The capture of Champ Ferguson and surrender of his guerrillas has restored complete quiet to Overton and Fentress Counties. I have directed Gen. Rousseau's expedition not to move. Gen. Stoneman will go on.
WM. D. WHIPPLE, Brig.-Gen. and Chief of Staff.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 49, pt. II, p. 931.
The guerrilla leader Champ Ferguson was captured by a force led by Major Blackburn. "Champ has a very possessing appearance, and does not look like a bad man. He is fully six feet high, dark hair and complexion, and has an eye like an eagle. He is a strong, athletic man. He was taken at some point in East-Tennessee and expected to be pardoned as a prisoner of war, but the authorities could not 'see it in that light' and Champ will have to answer for his 'unvalrous [sic] deeds.'"
Chattanooga Daily Gazette, June 1, 1865.
30, Cancellation of Hunt for Champ Ferguson and Continuation of anti-Guerrilla Campaign in Knox, Anderson, Campbell, Montgomery, Morgan White, Overton, and Fentress, counties
NASHVILLE, May 30, 1865
Maj.-Gen. STONEMAN, Knoxville, Tenn.:
The capture of Champ Ferguson and surrender of his guerrillas render Gen. Rousseau's expedition unnecessary and it will not start. Yours will, however, go on.
WM. D. WHIPPLE, Brig.-Gen., &c.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 49, pt. II, p. 933.
31, Returning Confederate parolees not to be arrested by military authority
NASHVILLE, May 31, 1865.
Maj.-Gen. MILROY, Tullahoma:
Turn J. S. Malone over to the civil authorities for trial.
The major-general commanding directs that any man who has been admitted to the privileges of parole under his order, or under the conventions between Gen.'s Grant and Lee or Sherman and Johnston, be not arrested by military authority, as it is a breach of faith to induce a man to surrender, under promise of permitting him to return to his home, and then to put him in prison.
WM. D. WHIPPLE, Brig.-Gen., &c.
OR, Ser. II, Vol. 8, p. 587.
31, Excerpt from the journal of Amanda McDowell
It seems like a new world to have peace. Everything is so quiet and calm, the civil law will be established in this country.
Diary of Amanda McDowell.
31, Complaint of Henry Taylor against Lieutenant G. W. Glynn, 102nd New York
I reside in Winchester, Franklin Co Tenn [sic] and formally [sic] belonged to Mr. Henry Taylor a resident of said county. Sometime in Feby last Lt Glynn and Dr Devers came to my house and demanded of me my horse. I told them I bought the horse and paid for him and had a right to keep him. Mr. March and Mr. John Brandon were present at the time and informed Glynn that he was not a government horse, that he belonged to me and that they had no right to take him. Glynn then stated that he would take the horse to Tullahoma and see if he belonged to the Government that if he was not a Govt horse he would return him to me the next morning. I have learned since that Glynn never took him to Tullahoma but that some time after traded him off to Thomas Aldridge for another horse. I respectfully ask that some means be taken to restore me my property.
Fire & Blood, p. 179.
31, Aid to indigent families of Federal soldiers
CHAPTER XII
An Act for the Relief of Indigent Families of Soldiers
SEC. I. Be it enactred by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the County Courts of this State shall have power, at any quarterly term, a majority of the Justices of the Peace of the county being present, to levy a tax on property privileges and polls, to raise a fund for the relief of indigent families of soldiers in the United States army; said food to be collected and paid to the Trustee, as now provided for by law: Provided, That the widowed mothers, wives and minor children of soldiers who have died on the Federal service, shall have the benefit of this Act in common with the families of those still living.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the fund raised under the provisions of the first section of this Act shall be under the control of the County Court of the county where raised, and shall be used only for the purpose for which it was raised – unless the necessity for which it was intended ceases – then it shall become a part of the general fund of the country.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect from and after its passage.
WILLIAM HEISKELL, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SAMUEL R. ROBERS, Speaker of the Senate.
Passed May 31, 1865
Public Acts of the State of Tennessee…For the Year 1865, p. 29.[14]
31, News from Knoxville and environs
Gov. Brownlow has ordered the arrest of Clark Kane,[15] a prominent citizen of Knoxville
The Chattanooga Gazette on the 27th inst., states that a train loaded with Confederate soldiers ran off the track on Monday, the 22d inst., 12 miles east of Knoxville and was thrown down an embankment 20 feet, killing eight persons and wounding 40. The cause of the accident is attributed to a "brake" giving way and falling on the track.
~ ~ ~
Macon Daily Telegraph, May 31, 1865.
[1] GALEGROUP - TSLA 19TH CN
[2] GALEGROUP - TSLA 19TH CN
[3] James Whitelaw would later lead a guerrilla band in West Tennessee. See: OR, Ser. II, Vol. 5, pp. 821-822.
[4] As cited in PQCW.
[5] As cited in PQCW.
[6] These two Confederate reports describe this action, part of the Corinth Campaign. They point up the variety of military experience in Tennessee during the Civil War. There are streams named "Cypress Creek" in Wayne, Shelby, Perry, Obion, McNairy, Madison, Henry, Haywood, Hardeman, Crockett, Chester and Benton counties in Tennessee. The Illinois Central Railroad today traverses over a Cypress Creek in McNairy county. Also, one of these reports is dated at Jack's Creek in Chester county, so it would seem most likely the bridge in question may have been in McNairy county.
[7] As cited in: http://www.uttyl.edu/vbetts.
[8] It is probable, at least, that this successful Federal raid was in large measure a stimulus for the Confederate raid into Middle Tennessee in July and August, 1862, as well as the corresponding Confederate drain of forces from the Cumberland Gap. It is also the first "raid" made in Civil War Tennessee.
[9] The source for this account is not given in Rebellion Record, Vol. 5.
[10] Spelled "Schenkl," this was an impact-percussion artillery round with a brass fuse. They were said to have an 82% effectiveness rating. See Jack W. Melton and Lawrence E. Paul, Introduction to Field Artillery Ordnance, 1861-1865, (Kennesaw, Ga.: Kennesaw Mountain Press, 1994), pp. 29, 215.
[11] All emphases added.
[12] This skirmish is referenced neither in the OR nor in Dyer's Battle Index for Tennessee .
[13] It may be that these women were sent beyond the lines from Memphis for their support of the Confederate cause. Certainly such was the practice in Memphis and Nashville. It seems difficult to imagine that these three women were out for a social jaunt, especially inasmuch as the means of transportation all emanated from Memphis and Nashville and were controlled by Union forces.
[14] Public Acts of the State of Tennessee, Passed at the First & Second Sessions of the THIRTY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY, For the Year 1865, (Nashville: Griffith, Camp & Co. State Printers Union and American Office, 1862).
[15] Nothing else is known about Clark Kane. He must have been an enthusiastic Confederate supporter who may have been involved in Brownlow's persecution in Knoxville in 1861. Most likely Brownlow had him arrested for treason or some equally grave charge.
James B. Jones, Jr.
Public Historian
Tennessee Historical Commission
2941 Lebanon Road
Nashville, TN 37214
(615)-770-1090
(615)-532-1549 FAX
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