21, Optimism and confidence expressed by one Tennessee Confederate
Nashville, June 21, 1861
Gen. Walker
My confidence is unshaken...The crops on the Arkansas River are Beautiful. No danger now....The provision blockade is nothing: we shall have wheat, corn and beef beyond measure, besides tobacco, sugar, and rice, and the king who can shake the jewels in the crown of Queen Victoria (cotton). Send for General Bragg and the Tennessee troops and thus concentrate talent and big guns and little guns until you strike "fuss and feathers'[1] with consternation. Foreign nations would soon regard their vain boastings as a farce. Cotton, tobacco, wheat, corn, and meat must go into your treasury to sustain our gallant men in the tented field and the heads of departments in control. Fear nothing, success is certain.
With high regard, very truly, your friend,
S.R. Cockrill
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 52, pt. II, p. 113-114.
21, "Let us show them that we are as fruitful in expedients to preserve life, as are terrible in avenging our wrongs;" a patriotic appeal to southern women to produce homespun clothing
From the [Nashville] Republican Banner
Provision for the future-"Something for the Women of the South to Consider."
We desire to call the especial attention of our reader and also of our contemporaries of the Southern press, to the important suggestions made in the following letter, written by one of the leading men in the State -- one who fully comprehends our situation, and is as competent as any other to anticipate the future:
Editor Banner: -- I beg to leave to trouble your readers with a few practical, but as I deem them, very important considerations. Tennessee is now fully committed to a state of war with Mr. Lincoln, and had pledged her whole strength upon this issue. The struggle will be arduous and deadly -- perhaps protracted. I am not one of those who fear the final result, but I am forced to look to the ways and means. Some opportunity of knowing our public resources, and the radical change in our relations in trade, brought about by the action of the State, induced me to call the attention of the whole people to necessity of providing future supplies of clothing but the means of domestic industry. There was a time in the history of the State, when nine-tenths of our population were habitually clad in home-spuns. This was necessary, because no other resources were at their command. Now that same necessity is pressing upon us. Few goods have been brought from the North this Spring, owing to our troubles. We are soon to be blockaded on all sides, so that we will be driven to self-reliance. Are we equal to the occasion? I say we are. Our mothers and sisters all over the State, will at once resurrect their wheels and spinning machines and looms, and make them teem with linsey, jeans and domestic, to clothe their husbands and brothers who are fighting the battles of the country, as well as themselves. And let no ladies feel humiliation in turning her hand to his divine task of patriotism, or in being clothed in fair cheeks, the product of her own toil. I would that every man, woman and child in the State, were this day covered with the homely garb of our ancestors! There would be a moral power in the spectacle, but I am not I pursuit of a mere fancy. Where, I ask, are your soldiers to get their supply of clothing next fall, unless it is manufactured at home? It is not that we may want the money to buy with, but the material cannot be imported. We must make it, or the soldiers must suffer -- and now is the time to begin. Let no one wait for another, but let all alike, rich and poor, at once, and without a moment's delay, inaugurate the good work, and the busy hum of their industry. In this way our women can become benefactors, and help us fight the great battle before us. The soldier will bless the beautiful lass who was not to proud to labor for him, while he was toiling and periling life [sic] for his country. But I wish to say a word to the men who remain at home. Make all the leather you can, for it will all be needed. Let not a foot of ground lie dormant but make it yield something for subsistence. Our enemies say they will starve us out -- that we will soon be naked and famishing, and compelled to surrender. Let us show them that we are as fruitful in expedients to preserve life, as are terrible in avenging our wrongs. I say then to all, mothers, sisters, wives and sweethearts, fathers, brothers and sons, beset [?] yourselves without hesitation! Let us all pull together in the glorious work of defending the State against the enemy, and feel that in doing so, we are indulging in privilege rather than performing a task. Messrs. Editors, I merely intended to call attention to these matter of grave moment, and I would thank you to give your brother editors of the Sate a hint to insert this communication in their columns. It may do good.
Volunteer.
Nashville, June 11, 1861.
Clarksville Chronicle, June 21, 1861.
23, Guerrilla attack on train near La Fayette, Tennessee
No circumstantial reports filed.
Excerpt from the Report of Col. Edward H. Wolfe, Fifty-second Indiana Infantry, commanding Third Brigade, regarding the expedition to Tupelo, MS from LaGrange, Tenn., July 5-21, 1864 including attack on train near La Fayette, Tenn., June 23.
HDQRS. THIRD Brig., THIRD DIV., 16TH ARMY CORPS, Memphis, Tenn., July 29, 1864.
LIEUT.: In compliance with ordered from headquarters Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, July 28, 1864, I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my command during the late expedition to Tupelo, Miss.:
In obedience to Special Orders, No. 63, paragraph VI, headquarters Right Wing, Sixteenth Army Corps, Memphis, Tenn., June 23, 1864, my command, after having been paid off, proceeded by train to Moscow, on the 23d. When near La Fayette a party of guerrillas fired into the train, killing and wounding several. Some of the men who jumped or fell off the cars were captured and afterward murdered. Their bodies were recovered by a party of the Second Iowa Cavalry and recognized by Lieut. McDonald, One hundred and seventy-eighty New York Volunteers. At Moscow the brigade remained until the 27th, when it took up the line of march for LaGrange, which was reached the same day.
* * * *
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E.H. WOLFE, Colonel, Commanding Third Brigade
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 39, pt. I, p. 295.
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