Friday, May 22, 2015

5.22.2015 Tennessee Civil War Notes

1861

 

          22, Mrs. McEwin's Union Sentiment in Nashvillel

In Nashville, Tenn., while secession banners wave from every other building, both public and private, one heroic lady (Mrs. McEwin) has placed the National Flag on her house, and says she will shoot whoever attempts to tear down the glorious old Stars and Stripes. Let her name be engraved on the hearts of all loyal Americans.

Louisville Journal, May 22, 1861.[1]

          22, Flag waving in Memphis

Scandalous.—The people passing along Main street between six and seven o'clock last evening were disgusted by the exhibition of a drunken fellow driving in an open barouche with four of those creatures of whom the poet significantly wrote: "A shameless woman is the worst of man," who were also under the influence of liquor. Along the whole length of the more business part of Main street they past shouting, laughing uproariously, vociferating remarks upon individuals in the street, and as if this was not enough to call the public stare down upon them, waving a flag[2] as they went along. Officer Sullivan overtook them beyond Winchester street and brought women and driver to the station house and locked them up.

Memphis Daily Appeal, May 23, 1861.

22, Deceased infant discovered in Memphis

Dead Child Found.—Last evening, near the Market street bridge, a newborn child, dead and wrapped in a blanket, which was covered with some bricks and stones, was found in a ravine. No attempt had been made to bury the little one, and it had evidently been but recently placed where it was found. It is natural to expect that a case like the present is the result of illicit intercourse, but, as we some time ago explained to our readers, on the authority of a public medical official, the secretary of the board of health, still born children are often surreptitiously disposed of in this city [emphasis added] on account of the outrageous expense attending burial in the regular cemeteries. The practice of such revolting acts will only be abandoned when the city council do as other cities and provide a potter's field where the poor can have free burial and the working population have sepulture at prices within their means.

Memphis Daily Appeal, May 23, 1861.

          22, Observations on Unionism in East Tennessee

Union Feeling in East Tennessee

ADMISSION BY A REBEL

A Secession soldier, writing to the New Orleans Crescent, makes the following confessions in regard to the Union feeling in East Tennessee:- We crossed the Cumberland mountains in a dark, rainy night, whose black curtain completely hid from our eyes the magnificent scenery, the overhanging crags and the dizzy abysses, which make this part of the road the admiration and the dread of travelers. On reaching East Tennessee (that is, the small portion of the State east of the Cumberland mountains) we remarked a decided abatement of the enthusiasm which had hitherto greeted our progress. Those who did salute us did it with a vim and furor seemed intended to assure us that we had friends there as well as enemies, but a class almost as numerous stood and gazed upon us in sullen silence as we passed, making no reply to the demonstrations of our rollicking soldiers, and evidently not daring to express their real feeling, their hostility to Southern independence, in any other than a passive way. [emphasis added]

This phenomenon was explained to my satisfaction by a gentleman of Knoxville, the residence of that unmasked hypocrite, the profane BROWNLOW, who has for years attempted to degrade and desecrate religion by claiming to be one of its ministers, and who is not at heart and in word and deed a Black Republican. Few persons in the South have and adequate idea of the extent to which Abolitionism has colonized sundry localities in the Border States. The eastern part of Tennessee east of the Cumberland mountains, is afflicted with a colony of this kind, and its pernicious influence upon the simple-minded mountain men of that region is painfully evident.

Owning no slaves, the latter know nothing of the institution of slavery, nor do they care to know. They have never suffered from the treachery or violence of Abolitionism; they have lived all their lives under a Government that they believed the best and greatest on earth; their abolition neighbors tell them that the Government is still the Government of WASHINGTON, JEFERSON, and JACKSON, and they quite normally hold as one enemy the men who would destroy it or replace it by another. [emphasis added]

Philadelphia Inquirer, May 22, 1861

 

1862

 

          22, Correspondence from Edmund Cooper to Military Governor Andrew Johnson relative to secessionists in Shelbyville

Shelbyville Ten. May 22 1862 [sic]

Govnr Andrew Johnson

Dear Sir:

We have in our community a few active talking secessionists, between the ages of 20--and 40--that never have been to war, and have a "holy horror" of fighting—In other words—they are all "gass," [sic] and no "deeds." They are too insignificant to be to be arrested and sent to Nashville—and yet as carriers of Grape vine telegraphs, they do some harm—

Now, what think you of this suggestion—Have about three or four of them arrested, who are liable to the "conscription act" of the so called confederate states—and send them down to "Dixie"—for the purpose of giving them a chance to act treason amongst their friends—instead of talking it here. They are all cowards—would not fight if they can help it—yet are always talking.

We could not be charged with tyranny in sending them amongst their friends [sic] -- and yet we could not get rid of them?

The idea I think is a good one--and will be the most efficient way of breaking up the squad.

One or two of them, that I would select have actually come here to avoid the [Confederate] "Conscription" --

We are moving along very quietly here, and the cause of the [U. S.] Government is rapidly gaining ground with us.

Hope to meet you at Murfreesboro.

Very Truly Yr friend,

Edmund Cooper

Papers of Andrew Johnson, Vol. 5, pp. 409-410.

          22, Petition from "Rutherford County Citizens" arrested on May 12, to Military Governor Andrew Johnson, relative to their release from the state penitentiary and promise of good behavior

Nashville Tenn. May 22d 1862.

To His Excellency Andrew Johnson

Military Governor of Tennessee

The undersigned citizens of Rutherford County Tennessee, having been arrested by the Military authorities of the United States, and being now held as hostages [sic], to secure the safety of Murfreesboro, and as a measure to guard against the repetition of unlawful acts, said to have been committed, by residents of our town, against officers and soldiers of the Federal army stationed at Murfreesboro, and desiring to return home to our families, do hereby pledge our honor, to demean ourselves as peaceable and orderly citizens by yielding obedience to the Constitution and laws of the United States. We will give no aid to, nor sympathize with men who would attempt to waylay and shoot others, but will use our best efforts to discover such offenders, be they friends or foes, and ring them to just punishment-We also express our disapproval of all irregular warfare, carried on in the country by lawless bands, detrimental to the interests of the country, peculiarly annoying to the people, and very destructive to the life and property-We further pledge ourselves to use our exertions in favor of these our sentiments, among our fellow citizens, and by the best means in our power, to obtain the co-operation of our countrymen in the suppression of wrongs by individuals, or by bands of disorderly men against the Federal Army, its officers or any portion of our citizens-

[signed: G. T. Henderson, John W. Childress, Jno. N. King, Wm T. Baskette, J. E. Dromgoole, H. S. Robertson, F. C. Mosby, Robt. S. Wendel, Lewis M. Maney, Wm. A. Ransom, Jn. A. Crocett, and Jas. M. Avent.[3]]

Papers of Andrew Johnson, Vol. 5, pp. 410-411.

          22, Letter from Colonel Fitch, U. S. Army, to Flag-Officer Davis, U. S. Navy, requesting the use of a tug for a feint up Forked Deer River

ON BOARD HENRY VON PHUL, May 22, 1862.

SIR: Please let the bearer, Captain Schermerhorn, have the use of the tug Spitfire or such tug as has the mounted howitzer on it.

It is to be used as a feint up the Forked Deer River.

I remain, very respectfully yours,

G. N. FITCH, Colonel, Commanding Brigade.

Captain DAVIS. Commanding Flotilla.

Navy OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, p. 104.

          22, Report on the Union Convention in Nashville, May 12, 1862[4]

THE UNION CONVENTION IN NASHVILLE.

The Union Convention held at Nashville on the 12th was numerous and respectable in its constituents. The speeches were the most patriotic kind, and the speakers were among the most respectable and eminent citizens of the State-such men as Governor Andrew Johnson, Colonel William H. Polk, General Campbell, Messrs. W. B. Stokes, W.H. Wisener, Edmund Cooper – and the patriotic resolutions, which we print below, were adopted without dissent. A committee of five was appointed to prepare an address to the people of the State; and the unswerving and vigorous policy of Governor Johnson was "cordially approved." Thus Tennessee, which was loyal [a] by sixty thousand majority last spring, once more proves her loyalty, as soon as the grasp of the usurper is taken off her people, and the Government at Washington proves is purpose to be a restoration  of rights, not an abrogation of them. Read the preamble and resolutions of this great meeting:

["]Whereas it is manifest to the most unreflecting that whilst the State of Tennessee was an integral part of the Government of the Unites States, its citizens were in the enjoyment of the full protection of life, liberty, and property, under the Constituton of the United States, and the laws passed in accordance therewith, and all of their material and political interest were watchful and careful guarded by laws, introduced by Southern men-representative of our selection, identified thoroughly with all the interest of our people- which laws were decided to be constitution by the Supreme Court of the United States, the constitutional tribunal to decide all such questions;

And whereas, because of the election constitutionally of a President of the United States, who received no support in the State of Tennessee, and the effort of that President to maintain the integrity of the Union, and enforce the laws against armed resistance, our people, in common with the people of other States, were precipitated into a revolution – resorting to the arbitrament [sic]  of arms for the settlement of our political differences, instead of the peaceable remedies provided by the Constitution;

And where as it is evident that the authority of the Federal Government is now exerted over this part of Tennessee, and will be a short time extended over the entire State, and it is the duty of every citizen so to act as to free ourselves from the consequences of internecine war and return to the Government which is willing and able to protect us:

Therefore, be it resolved by a portion of the people of Tennessee in Convention assembled –

1.    That the social, political, and material interests of the people of Tennessee, and the safety and welfare of our friends and relatives now in the Confederate army, imperiously demand the restoration of the State to her former relations with the Federal Union.

2.    That all good citizens who concur with us in this opinion are earnestly invited to co-operate in the accomplishment of this object, so vital to our future peace and happiness.

3.    3That the chairman of this meeting appoint a committee of three, to take into consideration the condition of the prisoners of war from Tennessee now held in custody by the Government, and endeavor to obtain their release and return to their allegiance, upon terms alike compatible with the interests of the Government and the honor of the soldier.

4.    That the forbearance, moderation, and gentlemanly deportment of the officers and soldiers of the Federal army, since their occupation of Tennessee, challenge of highest admiration.

5.    That his meeting most cordially approve of the address made to the people of Tennessee by his Excellency Andrew Johnson, dated March 18, 1862, and the policy of his administration since that time

6.    That a committee of five be appointed by the Chairman, which shall prepare an address to the people of Tennessee expressive of the objects of the meeting.

This is the feeling and spirit evoked by Gov. Johnson's course – the feeling and spirit which will soon redeem a noble State from a false and unnatural position, and render her again one of the pillars of the Constitution. It is this feeling and spirit which will win back the deluded young men who have been seduced into the ranks of the rebel cause and army.

Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC) May 22, 1862.

 

1863

 

          22, Skirmish at Yellow Creek

MAY 22, 1863.- Skirmish on Yellow Creek, Tenn.

Report of Col. William W. Lowe, Fifth Iowa Cavalry.

FORT DONELSON, May 23, 1863.

SIR: Have just returned. Yesterday some of my cavalry, under Maj. Baird, had a skirmish with the rebels. Some of Cox's command, on Yellow Creek, about 4 miles from our camp, routed and chased them for 12 miles, capturing 7 prisoners. Loss not known. On our side Capt. Paul, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, slightly [wounded]. To-day we were fired upon, wounding Lieut. Beatty, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, and 1 man severely. Chased them for several miles, but did not catch them. In both cases the rebels were in ambush. Have given orders to take no more prisoners. Received order while out; will come by first chance. Rebels reported in force near. Don't believe it.

W. W. LOWE, Col., Cmdg.

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pp. 346-347.

          22, Skirmish, Middleton [see May 21, 1863 "Having gone ½ miles, I looked back, and, to my surprise and indignation, saw no one following." Expedition from Murfreesborough to Middleton – above]

          22, Ambush near Middleton

HDQRS. FIRST BRIGADE, SECOND CAVALRY DIVISION, Camp near Murfreesborough, Tenn., May 23, 1863.

SIR: In accordance with General Orders, No. 7, from division headquarters, I formed my brigade on Salem pike at 8.30 p. m. on the 21st instant, and reported to the general commanding, who directed me to take the advance. The Fourth U. S. Cavalry formed the advance of my brigade, Lieut. O'Connell, of that regiment, with Companies D and I, forming the advance guard.

After a long and tedious march, the column being on the move the entire night, we approached Middleton at daylight, [22nd]....A few shots were exchanged with the pickets, whom we followed up as rapidly as possible.

When directly east of Middleton....skirmishing soon commenced....I had a small force, which I kept with me as a reserve.

....The prisoners having been collected and the camps destroyed, Maj.-Gen. Stanley ordered me to take the advance and return to Murfreesborough by the Murfreesborough and Middleton road.

When about 5 miles from Middleton, Gen. Stanley ordered me to place a regiment in ambush, to check the rebels, who were following and harassing the rear guard. I placed the Fourth Michigan in ambush, with an open field in front of them, and here they effectually stopped the advance of the enemy.

* * * *

The brigade captured 70 prisoners, 3 of whom are commissioned officers.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBT. H. G. MINTY, Col., Cmdg. Brigade.

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. I, pp. 336-337.

 

Excerpt from the Report of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Gen.-in-Chief, U. S. Army, of operations in the Departments of the Ohio and of the Cumberland, February 3-July 26, 1863, relative to a Federal raid upon Middleton, May 22, 1863.

* * * *

On the 22d of May, Maj.-Gen. Stanley made a raid upon Middleton, capturing 80 prisoners, 300 horses, 600 stand of arms, and other property.

* * * *

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. I, p. 7.

          22, Skirmish at Germantown[5]

Dyer's Battle Index for Tennessee.

          22, Confederate attack on Cumberland River near Gallatin

GALLATIN, May 23, 1863.

Maj. F. S. BOND:

I have just seen the officer who came through from Hartsville. He informs me that the rebels immediately opposite crossed the river yesterday, taking about 20 prisoners. Fifty men came down to-day as escort. The capture was very near the same place where the cattle were taken.

E. A. PAINE, Brig.-Gen., Cmdg.

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. II, p. 358.

          22, Plea for dismissal of murder charges in the Confederate Third Judicial Circuit of Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, May 22, 1863.

Hon. GEORGE BROWN, Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit of Tennessee:

Respondent John E. Toole for answer and return to your honor's writ of habeas corpus issued upon the petition of Stephen McKee, Michael Malone and Jonathan Summit would respectfully state and show unto your honor that the statement of petitioners that they are restrained of their liberty upon a charge of the murder of John Cunningham, who was a citizen of Monroe County, &c., is wholly untrue and without foundation. Petitioners were not arrested and have not been held upon the charge of the murder of John Cunningham.

Respondent here begs leave to submit to your honor a full and correct statement of facts as to the manner in which petitioners came into the custody of respondent:

On the 3d of this month Col. G. Troup Maxwell, an officer of the C. S. Army, commandant of the post at Loudon, Tenn., sent said petitioners as prisoners under guard to respondent as provost-marshal for the Department of East Tennessee charged with disloyalty and treason against the Government of the Confederate States in harboring and feeding a band of bushwhackers who were committing acts of violence upon the citizens of Monroe County, Tenn., and in discharge of my duty as a subordinate officer of the Confederate Army and in obedience to general orders and instructions from the commanding general of the Department of East Tennessee said petitioners were committed to the military prison at Knoxville to await such further disposition as the Confederate authorities might make in the premises. Afterwards, to wit, on the 12th instant Michael Malone, one of said petitioners, was released from custody upon my application and permitted to return home, and a few days since after the service of the writ upon me petitioners Stephen McKee and Jonathan Summit were arrested and taken out of the custody of the military authorities by the C. S. marshal for the District of East Tennessee upon a warrant for treason issued by Confederate Commissioner Elliott. Consequently none of said petitioners are in my custody or under my control or the control of the military authorities, but are in the custody and under the control of the civil officers of the Confederate Government, and for this reason I have no power or authority to have the bodies of petitioners before your honor at Sweet Water Depot on the 23d instant as directed and required by your honor's writ.

Now, having made full answer and return of my doings in the premises I pray to be hence dismissed.

JOHN E. TOOLE, Col. and Provost-Marshal Department of East Tennessee.

OR, Ser. II, Vol. 5, pp. 953-954.

          22, GENERAL ORDERS, No. 116, relative to telegraphic dispatches in the Army of the Cumberland

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 116. HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND, Murfreesborough, Tenn., May 22, 1863.

I. As it is frequently of great importance that the time of sending official dispatches should be known to the general commanding, it is ordered that all dispatches, by signal, telegraph, or letter, except those upon ordinary routine business, shall bear upon the dispatch itself the hour at which they are received. All telegraphic dispatches will hereafter bear the hour at which they are sent by the writer, and that at which they are received by the operator at the station to which they are addressed. A standard time will be adopted at department headquarters by which that of the army will be regulated.

II. Whenever a break occurs in the telegraph lines of this department, the operators at the two stations nearest to and on each side of the break will immediately inform the commandants of the posts nearest their respective stations, who will at once send sufficient guards to accompany the repairers, and will be held responsible for the speedy restoration of the lines.

By command of Maj.-Gen. Rosecrans

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. II, pp. 357-358.

          22, "Stampede at Overton's."

Quite a promiscuous "scatteration" of negro wood choppers too place at Overton's on the Franklin turnpike, yesterday. An eye-witness of the whole affair thus depicts it: "Three or four guerrillas came in and kicked up the devil generally. The negroes [sic] poured out on the pike like startled sheep, shouting 'here come the secesh!' which created a wide-spread panic among marketers, citizens, wagoners, and everybody else. The negroes [sic] went through the process of throwing aside axes, boots, shoes, coats, canteens, and everything that retarded their locomotion. One man, with two children, had been out in the country go get some marketing [done]. He could not get his horse along during the alarm; the animal reared and kicked until chickens, eggs, and children were diffused around generally. The last we saw of the horse, he was going at a two-forty lick[6] down the pike. The children were picked up by two gentlemen and brought to town, about two miles further on. The owner of the horse was sitting by the roadside blowing like a walrus. Two wagons ran into each other and killed a horse. As we came into town, we saw mules horses, harness, saddles, canteens, axes, coats, wagons, negroes [sic], and white men, lying in mingled dismay and disorder on the road. At Brown's Creek, two Government wagons, loaded with stocks for the mill, ran away, turned themselves over, smashed all to pieces and killed another mule. When we got to the pickets, we came upon sixty negroes [sic], every one inquiring, "Massa, was de secesh comin'?" Just inside the pickets, about forty wagoners set up the question, "Mister, say, is there any secesch out there? No. What a hell of a lie that old nigger [sic] told! Hello, any secesh out there? Dam [sic] that nigger! [sic] " A little further on, we met two men about three sheets in the wind. "Hello, mister, how many secesh did you see?" "Six thousand!" "Good God! they will catch the last one of us; let's go back to town!" "O, no." "O, yes." "Boys, I'm going;" and with that he put for town Your humble servant vamoosed about that time also.

Nashville Daily Press, May 23, 1863.

          22, A female soldier, veteran of Shiloh and Stones River

The Louisville Journal of yesterday says: A female soldier, who has been in service twenty-two months, reported at headquarters yesterday, for impersonation to Minnesota, where she resides. She was in the battles of Shiloh and Stone [sic] River, and twice wounded severely. She enlisted in the same company as her husband, and was with him up to the time of his death, which occurred at Murfreesboro, and she concluded to leave the army and return to her friends.

Nashville Dispatch, May 22, 1863.

          22, "Military Hospitals -- Chap. XI."

Number 20-The Baptist Church [sic], on Sumner street, between Deaderick and Union. In this hospital there are only two wards, A being in the body of the Church and B in the basement. The light and ventilation in both wards are good, but in ward A particularly so, the ceiling being and the windows large. The entire building is furnished for the accommodation of 100 patients, but there were only 23 there on the 19th inst. The following is a list of officers connected with the hospital:

Acting Assistant Surgeon in Charge..

J. R. Goodwin, Asst. Surg., 87th Ind. Vols.

Acting Assistant Surgeon.

Wm. Wm. S. Fish, 3d Indiana Cavalry

Steward. Wm. Bassett.

Matron.-Mrs. Mary Van Pelt, wife of Capt. Van Pelt, of Loomis's Battery.

Assistant Matron.-Mrs. Leonor Smith.

Ward Master.-Joseph Coshun.

Druggist-Detailed from the ranks.

There are seven nurses, two cooks, four colored females, and two colored males employed in the hospital.

There is no Chaplain connected with the hospital, but the Christian Commission supply the place of one, so as to enable them to have religious services every evening at 6 o'clock, and an 9 o'clock on Sunday mornings. The Commission also supplies the hospital with books, tracts, newspapers, etc.

There is a bath-room connected with the hospital, containing two tubs and all who are able to do so are expected to bathe at least once a week. Those unable to go to the bathroom are assisted to by the nurses.

The offices are situated on the organ gallery, the dining room is in the rear part of Ward B., and the kitchen is in the rear of the dining room, and laundry being in a shed in the rear of the building.

The Commissary, Dispensary, and the linen room are abundantly supplies for any emergency.

The same regard for cleanliness, quiet, good order, and neatness, prevails here as in other hospitals, and the only objections we have to make in this are perhaps unavoidable. We would suggest, however, the propriety of building a temporary kitchen outside the church edifice, and making a dining room of that now used as a kitchen. The heat from the stoves, and the odor of a kitchen are not calculated to improve the appetite of strong men in the summer time, much less of the sick and delicate.

We found all the officers and other connected with the hospital, polite and attentive, and believe the inmates receive all the care and attention needful for their comfort and speedy restoration to health. Dr. Goodwin has had a large hospital experience Nashville Dispatch, and made us acquainted with many useful facts, which we shall take the liberty of using one of these says.

To-morrow, probably, we will notice the Prison Hospital [sic].

Nashville Dispatch, May 22, 1863.

          22, News from Murfreesboro

"Letter from Murfreesboro."

Special Correspondence of the Nashville Dispatch.

Murfreesboro, May 22, Nothing new or interesting has transpired here as yet, but I know not what a day may bring forth. The army is very active, and preparing for -- what I am not at liberty to publish; suffice it, however, that something will take place ere long. The army was never in better condition that at present, and everything seems to go on like clockwork. Gen. Rosecrans possesses the entire confidence of his officers and men.

I spent most of yesterday in visiting Maj. Gen. Negley's division, and was much gratified at seeing every thing in perfect order -- tents, streets, forts, and everything else connected with his division, present a neat, cleanly, and compact look, which betoken a thorough disciplinarian. The General never allows his division to be excelled in point of cleanliness and order. He is nobly assisted by his staff, in all that appertains to his command. His A. A. G., Capt. Lowrie, has been commissioned Major and Chief of Staff, a position he is sure to fill with credit to the command and honor to himself.

Lieut. Ingram, Gen. Negley's Topographical Engineer, rode out with me yesterday, to see the fortifications and earthworks just completed by the division. They are, indeed, an excellent, as well as a formidable piece of work, and, reflect great credit on Lieut. Ingram.

Lieut. Cook, A. C., in command of the escort, has established a gymnasium for the use of the boys, and they enjoy it hugely. This is a good move, and the example should be followed by all our military authorities.

Col. Wm Truesdail, of whom so much has been said and is written by various correspondents and citizens, is here, keeping a sharp lookout for evildoers. I pity the unfortunate devil who does any thing wrong while he is here. No later than yesterday, a certain gentleman connected with the army was arrested and brought before the colonel for trading a bogus watch as a gold one to a citizen of Nashville, some weeks ago. The case being a clear one, but this being the first offence, he was treated comparatively light. The system adopted by Col. Truesdail is indeed mysterious, which none by the initiated can understand. Some days ago a rebel spy was captured in Cincinnati, under the very nose of Gen. Burnside, by one of the Colonel's men. And now, for the benefit of the community at Nashville and Murfreesboro', I will publish a list of officer, their position and location:

Co. Truesdail, Chief of Army Police.

Capt. Fugge, Assistant, Nashville.

Wm. Bunner and John W. Williams, Provost Judge, Nashville.

Geo. S. Hampton, Provost Judge, Murfreesboro'.

Maj. J. B. Stockton, Private Secretary, Murfreesboro'.

R. N. Baldwin, Clerk to the Provost Judge, Nashville.

F. G. Herrick, Army Post Master, Murfreesboro'.

Capt. Upright [sic] of Police, Murfreesboro'.

A. F. Murray, Army Directory, Murfreesboro'.

The institution of Army Directory is the best organized and most useful in the army. The deaths of soldier in the different corps, the location of corps, divisions, brigades and regiments, can be ascertained here free of charge; so that strangers visiting the army in search of relatives of friends will have no difficulty in finding them, which is of incalculable advantage to them.

I spent a few hours yesterday [May 21] in visiting some of our batteries. Capt. Marshall's is in as good condition as any in the service. The Captain is a trump, on no mistake. Hewett's, second Kentucky battery, is also in excellent trim, being well officered, well disciplined, as neat and orderly as any in the division, Cap[t.] Schultz's battery is admirably situated, and in fine condition.

The weather is exceedingly hot.

Sixty nine prisoners captured on the Shelbyville Pike, and brought in this afternoon.

O. K.

Nashville Dispatch, May 23, 1863.

 

1864

 

          22, "Improvements about Nashville."

It is scarcely possible for one man to keep pace with the improvements made and making in and around this city. The laws in regard to the construction of frame houses are a dead letter, for everywhere, west, north and south, frame buildings are being erected, additions made to others, barns and stables converted into stores and dwellings, and the march is still onward. Every nook and corner in the business part of this city, that can be bought or hired at any price, no matter how exorbitant, I taken possession of, and in a few days a store of some kind is erected. Even the rocky hill beyond Spruce street, between Cedar and Church streets, is rapidly filling up with grocers, confectioners, sutlers, dwellings, etc., beyond the trestle work is a range of two story frame buildings erected by the Government. On Cedar street, the Square, College, Market, Union, and Cherry streets, owners of property could sell at the rate of a bushel of greenbacks per foot, with a peck or two thrown in if necessary. Everybody seems to be overburdened with money, and yet they are desirous of making more.

Nashville Dispatch, May 22, 1864.

 

1865

 

          22, General Orders, No. 58, relative to surrender of former Confederate soldiers

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 58. HDQRS. DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Memphis, Tenn., May 22, 1865.

I. The terms of surrender of the armies of Gen. Lee, Gen. J. E. Johnston, and Gen. R. Taylor, require all soldiers claiming the benefit, of the right of parole, to bring in their arms, accouterments, and public horses and deliver them up in good faith to the military commanders where they report themselves. All surrenders in evasion or contravention of the terms stipulated by these generals and Federal commanders are in violation of the laws of war, nullify the protection of parole, will subject the offenders to trial by military commission, deprive them of the President's amnesty, and involve them in the severest penalties of the laws of war.

II. It is enjoined on cavalry commanders within this district to see that Confederate soldiers who have surrendered and been paroled have complied with the cartel of their generals by the delivery of their arms and all other property of Confederate authorities in their possession; and to arrest and send into these headquarters for trial any Confederate soldier who shall be found with arms in his possession or other public property issued to him by the Confederate Government, or who may have surrendered in bad faith in any other particular.

By order of Maj. Gen. C. C. Wahburn:

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 49, pt. II, pp. 875-876.

          22, Observations made by an ex-Confederate soldier from the Army of Tennessee while on his way home to his home in Dyersburgh environs

....We were all told to get in line in order that it might be ascertained the places to which each squad desired transportation[.] quite [sic] a number of us desired to go by way of the River as by that means we could approach nearer our homes than by any other mode of public conveyance but from cause we fail[ed] to get transportation and Consequently [sic] we lay over all day-Evening-W. P. Scales[7] who is here attending The State Legislature [sic] as a member of [the] Dyer & Lauderdale Counties Come [sic] to where we were and expressed himself as being verry [sic] glad to see us &c....

Arthur Tyler Fielder Diaries.

          22, Civil officers and paroled prisoners required to take the oath of allegiance

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,

Nashville, May 22, 1865.

Brig. Gen. H. M. JUDAH, Chattanooga, Tenn.:

No civil officer of any of the counties in your district who is not undoubtedly loyal to the United States Government will be permitted to exercise the functions of his office. No one is eligible to office unless he has taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, and his neighbors can testify under oath that is loyal to the Government of the United States. No one is entitled to vote until he has taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. Your instructions to your various post commanders are judicious and approved. Require them to live up to them strictly. You must effect what [you] can with Merrill's regiment until he can be re-enforced by more cavalry. Your arrangement about the paroled prisoners' horses is approved. All paroled prisoners are responsible to the civil law for any facts they have heretofore committed against the same and for which they have not been punished.

GEO. H. THOMAS, Maj.-Gen.

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 49, pt. II, p. 874.

          ca. 22, ex-Confederates reconcile with the recent past in Memphis gathering

A MEETING OF SOUTHERN MEN.

A singular meeting in Memphis, Tenn., a few days ago, composed of Southern men, lately identified with the rebel cause, now anxious for the complete restoration of the Union. The President was Judge Swayne, who took a leading secession stand in 1861. In speaking of the result of the war he said:

"The lesson briefly is, it is God's will. He setteth up one and pulleth down another. He reigneth in the armies of men. And what is this will in detail? Answer the question in answering what were the issued of the great civil war? (for, in legal contemplation in international law, it is neither an insurrection nor a rebellion, but a civil war.)

1st. That country must be and remain one, undivided.

2nd. That property in the negro shall cease. I do not think that more than these were the objects of war, or will be insisted upon by the voice of the country.

Are you prepared to accept these as the issues decided by the war? Why not? Can you change them? Acceptable or not, they must be accepted. They are the arbitrament of war, whose decrees are as stern and unrelenting as its voice."

He concluded his speech as follows:

"And let us love again the things that Washington loved, and go forward, as a people, to a grander and loftier destiny, purified in the very fires that have seemed as if they would consume us. Away with longer strife, with further contention: woo the spirit of conciliation and not of vengeance and vindictiveness; be brothers again, and, to all this, invoke the aid of the Prince of Peace, and lean upon the arm that encircles men and nations." [emphasis added]

He was followed by Col. Grace of Arkansas, who began as follows:

"Fellow citizens: I am the man who drew up the ordinance of secession in the Legislature of Arkansas: I have been in the field, fighting against the Union for nearly four years; but now I am conquered and a whipped man. (Laughter.) As I was gallant in going out to fight, I now propose to be gallant at surrendering and submitting to the arms of the Government we cannot whip. (Laughter.) I have no contempt for Federal authority now, if I ever had."[emphasis added]

Resolutions were adopted declaring it to be the duty and interest of Southern men to return to their allegiance, and that the United States ought to be as magnanimous to forgive as she is powerful to punish.

Farmers' Cabinet, May 25, 1865.

 



[1] As cited in Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Events, Poetry, 11 Vols., (NY: D. Van Nostrand, Publisher 1867-1868) Vol. 1, p. 130. [Hereinafter: Rebellion Record, Vol. no., p. no.]

[2] Given that Tennessee had not yet seceded from the Union, the flag they were waving may well have been the Union flag. Although the "Stars and Bars" was first adopted in March, 1861, giving it ample time to find its way to advocates of session.

[3] The "Murfreesboro Twelve" were released after making other assurances and posting a bond of $10,000.

[4] See above: May 12, 1862"TRAITORS' CONVENTION AT NASHVILLE." 

[5] There is no reference to an skirmish at Germantown on this date in the OR.

[6] The exact meaning of the term "two-forty" may well have denoted a rapid march, or "quickly."

[7] William P. Scales, was elected to the 34th General Assembly, a.k.a. "Reconstruction Assembly.," from 1865 to 1867. He represented Dyer and Lauderdale counties, and was most likely a Democrat, but resigned during the First Adjourned Session, for reasons unknown. He was a wealthy planter in the town of Friendship, then in Dyer, not in Crockett, county. The time and place of his death are not known. See: The Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, Vol. 2 1861-1901, (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, 1979), p. 799.

No comments: