CUT OFF FROM EAST AND WEST.
Impracticability of joining General Bragg--Wintering in East
Tennessee--General Longstreet given Discretionary Authority over the
Department by President Davis--Short Rations--Minor Movements of
Hide-and-Seek in the Mountains--Longstreet's Position was of Strategic
Importance--That Fact fully appreciated by President Lincoln,
Secretary Stanton, and Generals Halleck and Grant--"Drive Longstreet
out of East Tennessee and keep him out"--Generals Robertson and
McLaws--The Charges against them and Action taken--Honorable Mention
for Courage and Endurance--The Army finally fares sumptuously on the
Fat Lands of the French Broad.
As General Wheeler's note indicated doubt of the feasibility of the move
towards General Bragg, it occurred to me that our better course was to
hold our lines about Knoxville, and in that way cause General Grant to
send to its relief, and thus so reduce his force as to stop, for a time,
pursuit of General Bragg.
Under this impression, I ordered our trains back, and continued to hold
our lines. The superior officers were called together and advised of
affairs, and asked for suggestions. The impression seemed to be that it
would not be prudent to undertake to join General Bragg. At the same time
reports came from him to inform me that he had retired as far as Dalton,
and that I must depend upon my own resources.
We were cut off from communication with the army at Dalton, except by an
impracticable mountain route, and the railway to the north was broken up
by the removal of bridges and rails for a distance of a hundred miles and
more.
Deciding to remain at Knoxville, I called on General Ransom to join us
with his main force, to aid in reinvesting it, or to hold it while we
could march against a succoring force if the numbers should warrant. On
the 1st of December, Colonel Giltner, commanding one of General Ransom's
cavalry brigades, reported that he had orders to join General Ransom with
his brigade. On the same day a courier going from General Grant to General
Burnside was captured, bearing an autograph letter for the latter, stating
that three columns were advancing for his relief,--one by the south side
under General Sherman, one by Decherd under General Elliott, the third by
Cumberland Gap under General Foster.
When General Leadbetter left us on the 29th of November, he was asked to
look after affairs at Loudon, and to order General Vaughn to destroy such
property as he could not haul off, and retire through the mountains to
General Bragg's army. Finding that General Vaughn had not been moved, he
was ordered on the 1st of December to cross the river to our side with
everything that he could move, and to be ready to destroy property that he
must leave, and march to join us as soon as the pressure from General
Sherman's force became serious. At the same time an order came from
General Bragg that his cavalry be ordered back to his army. As I had
relieved the pressure against him in his critical emergency, and affairs
were getting a little complicated about my position, I felt warranted in
retaining the cavalry for the time.
Reports coming at the same time of reinforcements for the enemy at
Kingston, pressing towards General Vaughn at Loudon, he was ordered to
join us. As he had no horses for the battery, he tumbled it from the
bridge into the middle of the Tennessee River, burned the bridge, and
marched.
Under the circumstances there seemed but one move left for us,--to march
around Knoxville to the north side, up the Holston, and try to find the
column reported to be marching down from Cumberland Gap, the mountain
ranges and valleys of that part of the State offering beautiful fields
for the manoeuvre of small armies. The order was issued December 2. Trains
were put in motion on the 3d, and ordered up the railroad route under
escort of Law's and Robertson's brigades and one of Alexander's batteries.
On the night of the 4th the troops were marched from the southwest to the
north side of the city, and took up the march along the west bank of the
Holston. General Martin, with his own and General W. E. Jones's cavalry,
was left to guard the rear of our march and pick up weak men or
stragglers. He was ordered to cross part of his cavalry to the east bank
at Strawberry Plains and march up on that side, and General W. E. Jones to
follow on our rear with his and the balance of Martin's corps. As we were
not disturbed, we reached Blain's Cross-roads on the afternoon of the 5th,
where we met General Ransom with his infantry and the balance of his
artillery. On the 6th we marched to Rutledge, halting two days to get food
and look for the succoring column by Cumberland Gap, which failed to
appear. However, it was time for us to be looking for better fields of
food for men and animals, who had not had comfortable rations for weeks.
It seemed, too, that General Bragg's call for his cavalry could not be
longer left in abeyance. To get away from convenient march of the enemy we
went up the river as far as Rogersville, where we might hope to forage
under reduced cavalry force. We marched on the 8th, ordering our cavalry,
except Giltner's brigade, across the Holston near Bean's Station, General
Ransom's command to cover our march, General Bragg's cavalry to go by an
eastern route through the mountains to Georgia. We halted at Rogersville
on the 9th, where we were encouraged to hope for full rations for a few
days, at least; but to be sure of accumulating a few days' extra supply
(the mills being only able to grind a full day's rations for us), every
man and animal was put on short rations until we could get as much as
three days' supply on hand.
On the 7th of December the Union army, under Major-General John G. Parke,
took the field along the rear of our march, and reached Rutledge on the
9th, the enemy's cavalry advancing as far as Bean's Station. The object
was supposed to be the securing of the forage and subsistence stores of
the country; but of these movements we were not fully advised until the
11th. On the 10th of December, General Morgan's brigade of cavalry was
attacked at Russellville while engaged in foraging, but got force enough,
and in time, to drive the enemy away.
On the 10th a telegram from the President gave me discretionary authority
over the movements of the troops of the department, and I ordered the
recall of General Martin, and put his command between us and the enemy. On
the 12th we had information that General Sherman had taken up his march
for return to General Grant's army with the greater part of his troops. At
the same time we had information of the force that had followed our march
as far as Rutledge and Blain's Cross-roads, under General Parke, who had
posted a large part of the force of artillery, cavalry, and infantry at
Bean's Station, a point between the Clinch Mountain and the Holston River.
The mountain there is very rugged, and was reported to be inaccessible,
except at very rough passes. The valley between it and the river is about
two miles wide, at some places less.
I thought to cut off the advance force at Bean's Station by putting our
main cavalry force east of the river, the other part west of the mountain
(except Giltner's), so as to close the mountain pass on the west, and bar
the enemy's retreat by my cavalry in his rear,--which was to cross the
Holston behind him,--then by marching the main column down the valley to
capture this advance part of the command. My column, though complaining a
little of short rations and very muddy roads, made its march in good
season. So also did Jones on the west of the mountain, and Martin on the
other side of the Holston; but the latter encountered a brigade at May's
Ford, which delayed him and gave time for the enemy to change to a
position some four miles to his rear.
As we approached the position in front of the Gap, Giltner's cavalry in
advance, General B. R. Johnson met and engaged the enemy in a severe
fight, but forced him back steadily. As we were looking for large capture
more than fight, delay was unfortunate. I called Kershaw's brigade up to
force contention till we could close the west end of the Gap. The
movements were nicely executed by Johnson and Kershaw, but General Martin
had not succeeded in gaining his position, so the rear was not closed, and
the enemy retired. At night I thought the army was in position to get the
benefit of the small force cut off at the Gap, as some reward for our very
hard work. We received reports from General Jones, west of the mountain,
that he was in position at his end of the Gap, and had captured several
wagon-loads of good things. As his orders included the capture of the
train, he had failed of full comprehension of them, and after nightfall
had withdrawn to comfortable watering-places to enjoy his large catch of
sugar and coffee, and other things seldom seen in Confederate camps in
those days. Thus the troops at the Gap got out during the night, some
running over the huge rocks and heavy wood tangles along the crest, by
torch-light, to their comrades, some going west by easier ways. So when I
sent up in the morning, looking for their doleful surrender, my men found
only empty camp-kettles, mess-pans, tents, and a few abandoned guns, and
twelve prisoners, while the Yankees were, no doubt, sitting around their
camp-fires enjoying the joke with the comrades they had rejoined.
During our march and wait at Rogersville, General Foster passed down to
Knoxville by a more southern route and relieved General Burnside of
command of the department on the 12th.
General Jenkins was ordered to follow down the valley to the new position
of the enemy. His brigades under Generals Law and Robertson had been
detached guarding trains. General Law, commanding them, had been ordered
to report to the division commander on the 13th, but at night of the 14th
he was eight miles behind. Orders were sent him to join the division at
the earliest practicable moment on the 15th. He reported to the division
commander between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. If he started at
the hour he should have marched, six A.M. at the latest, he was about
eight hours making as many miles.
Meanwhile, the enemy had been reinforced by a considerable body of
infantry, and later it appeared that he was advancing to offer battle.
General McLaws was ordered to reinforce our front by a brigade. He sent
word that his men had not yet received their bread rations. He sent
Kershaw's brigade, however, that had captured rations the day before, but
then it was night, and the appearance of General Martin's cavalry on or
near the enemy's flank caused a change of his plans. During the night he
retreated, and we occupied his trenches. I could have precipitated an
affair of some moment, both at this point and at Bean's Station Gap, but
my purpose was, when I fought, to fight for all that was on the field. The
time was then for full and glorious victory; a fruitless one we did not
want.
The enemy retired to Blain's Cross-roads, where General Foster, after
reinforcing by the Fourth Corps, decided to accept battle. He reported his
force as twenty-six thousand, and credited the Confederates with equal
numbers, but twenty thousand would have been an overestimate for us. He
assigned the true cause of our failure to follow up and find him:
"General Longstreet, however, did not attack, in consequence,
probably, of the very inclement weather, which then set in with such
severity as to paralyze for a time the efforts of both armies."
And now the weather grew very heavy, and the roads, already bad, became
soft and impracticable for trains and artillery. The men were brave,
steady, patient. Occasionally they called pretty loudly for _parched
corn_, but always in a bright, merry mood. There was never a time when we
did not have enough of corn, and plenty of wood with which to keep us warm
and parch our corn. At this distance it seems almost incredible that we
got along as we did, but all were then so healthy and strong that we did
not feel severely our really great hardships. Our serious trouble was in
the matter of clothing and shoes. As winter had broken upon us in good
earnest, it seemed necessary for us to give up the game of war for the
time, seek some good place for shelter, and repair railroads and bridges,
to open our way back towards Richmond.
General Bragg had been relieved from command of the army at Dalton by
Lieutenant-General W. J. Hardee, who declined, however, the part of
permanent commander, to which, after a time, General Joseph E. Johnston
was assigned.
On his return from Knoxville, General Sherman proposed to General Grant to
strike at General Hardee and gain Rome and the line of the Oostenaula. He
wrote,--
"Of course we must fight if Hardee gives us battle, but he will not.
Longstreet is off and cannot do harm for a month. Lee, in Virginia, is
occupied, and Hardee is alone."
But General Halleck was much concerned about the Confederate army in East
Tennessee, the only strategic field then held by Southern troops. It was
inconveniently near Kentucky and the Ohio River, and President Lincoln and
his War Secretary were as anxious as Halleck on account of its
politico-strategic bearing. General Halleck impressed his views upon
General Grant, and despatched General Foster that it was of first
importance to "drive Longstreet out of East Tennessee and keep him out."
General Grant ordered, "Drive Longstreet to the farthest point east that
you can." And he reported to the authorities,--
"If Longstreet is not driven out of the valley entirely and the road
destroyed east of Abingdon, I do not think it unlikely that the last
great battle of the war will be fought in East Tennessee. Reports of
deserters and citizens show the army of Bragg to be too much
demoralized and reduced by desertions to do anything this winter. I
will get everything in order here in a few days and go to Nashville
and Louisville, and, if there is still a chance of doing anything
against Longstreet, to the scene of operations there. I am deeply
interested in moving the enemy beyond Saltville this winter, so as to
be able to select my own campaign in the spring, instead of having the
enemy dictate it to me."
Referring to his orders, General Foster reported his plan to intrench a
line of infantry along Bull's Gap and Mulberry Gap, and have his cavalry
ready for the ride against Saltville, but the Confederates turned upon
him, and he despatched General Grant on the 11th,--
"Longstreet has taken the offensive against General Parke, who has
fallen back to Blain's Cross-roads, where Granger is now concentrating
his corps. I intend to fight them if Longstreet comes."
The failure to follow has been explained.
The summing up of the plans laid for General Hardee and Saltville is
brief. Hardee was not disturbed. The ride towards Saltville, made about
the last of the month, was followed by General W. E. Jones and came to
grief, as will be elsewhere explained.
Upon relinquishing command of his army, General Bragg was called to
Richmond as commander-in-chief near the President.
Before General Hood was so seriously hurt at the battle of Chickamauga, he
made repeated complaints of want of conduct on the part of
Brigadier-General J. B. Robertson. After the _fiasco_ in Lookout Valley on
the night of the 28th of October, I reported to General Bragg of the
representations made by General Hood, and of want of conduct on the part
of General Robertson in that night attack, when General Bragg ordered me
to ask for a board of officers to examine into the merits of the case. The
board was ordered, and General Robertson was relieved from duty by orders
from General Bragg's head-quarters, "while the proceedings and actions of
the examining board in his case were pending."
On the 8th, without notice to my head-quarters, General Bragg ordered,
"Brigadier-General Robertson will rejoin his command until the board can
renew its session."[191]
On the 18th of December the division commander preferred "charges and
specifications" against Brigadier-General Robertson, in which he accused
him of calling the commanders of his Texas regiments to him and saying
there were but
"Three days' rations on hand, and God knows where more are to come
from; that he had no confidence in the campaign; that whether we
whipped the enemy in the immediate battle or not, we would be
compelled to retreat, the enemy being believed by citizens and others
to be moving around us, and that we were in danger of losing a
considerable part of our army; that our men were in no condition for
campaigning; that General Longstreet had promised shoes, but how could
they be furnished? that we only had communication with Richmond, and
could only get a mail from there in three weeks; that he was opposed
to the movement; would require written orders, and would obey under
protest."
General Robertson was ordered to Bristol to await the action of the
Richmond authorities, who were asked for a court-martial to try the case.
On the 17th the following orders concerning General McLaws were issued:
"HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR BEAN'S STATION,
"December 17, 1863.
"SPECIAL ORDERS NO. 27.
"Major-General L. McLaws is relieved from further duty with this army,
and will proceed to Augusta, Georgia, from which place he will report
by letter to the adjutant- and inspector-general. He will turn over
the command of the division to the senior brigadier present.
"By command of Lieutenant-General Longstreet.
MOXLEY SORREL,
"_Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General_.
"MAJOR-GENERAL MCLAWS,
"_Confederate States Army_."
On the same day he wrote,--
"_Camp on Bean's Station Gap Road_,
"December 17, 1863.
"LIEUTENANT-COLONEL SORREL,
"_Assistant Adjutant-General_:
"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Special Orders No. 27,
from your head-quarters, of this date, relieving me from further duty
with this army. If there is no impropriety in making inquiry, and I
cannot imagine there is, I respectfully request to be informed of the
particular reason for the order.
"Very respectfully,
"L. MCLAWS,
"_Major-General_."
In reply the following was sent:
"HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR BEAN'S STATION,
"December 17, 1863.
"MAJOR-GENERAL MCLAWS,
"_Confederate States Army_:
"GENERAL,--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of
to-day, asking for the particular reason for the issue of the order
relieving you from duty with this army. In reply I am directed to say
that throughout the campaign on which we are engaged you have
exhibited a want of confidence in the efforts and plans which the
commanding general has thought proper to adopt, and he is
apprehensive that this feeling will extend more or less to the troops
under your command. Under these circumstances the commanding general
has felt that the interest of the public service would be advanced by
your separation from him, and as he could not himself leave, he
decided upon the issue of the order which you have received.
"I have the honor to be, general, with great respect,
"G. MOXLEY SORREL,
"_Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General_."
[Illustration: G. M. Sorrel. Chief of Staff, First Corps; promoted to
Brigadier-General, 1864.]
On the 19th, General Law handed in his resignation at head-quarters, and
asked leave of absence on it. This was cheerfully granted. Then he asked
the privilege of taking the resignation with him to the adjutant-general
at Richmond. This was a very unusual request, but the favor he was doing
the service gave him some claim to unusual consideration, and his request
was granted.
The Law disaffection was having effect, or seemed to be, among some of the
officers, but most of them and all of the soldiers were true and brave,
even through all of the hardships of the severest winter of the four years
of war. Marching and fighting had been almost daily occupation from the
middle of January, 1863, when we left Fredericksburg to move down to
Suffolk, Virginia, until the 16th of December, when we found bleak winter
again breaking upon us, away from our friends, and dependent upon our own
efforts for food and clothing. It is difficult for a soldier to find words
that can express his high appreciation of conduct in officers and men who
endured so bravely the severe trials they were called to encounter.
Orders were given to cross the Holston River and march for the railroad,
only a few miles away. Before quitting the fields of our arduous labors
mention should be made of General Bushrod R. Johnson's clever march of
sixteen miles, through deep mud, to Bean's Station on the 13th, when he
and General Kershaw attacked and pushed the enemy back from his front at
the Gap before he could get out of it. Honorable mention is also due
General Jenkins for his equally clever pursuit of the enemy at Lenoir's
Station; Brigadier-General Humphreys and Bryan for their conduct at the
storming assault; Colonel Ruff, who led Wofford's brigade, and died in the
ditch; Colonel McElroy, of the Thirteenth Mississippi Regiment, and
Colonel Thomas, of the Sixteenth Georgia, who also died in the ditch;
Lieutenant Cumming, adjutant of the Sixteenth Georgia Regiment, who
overcame all obstacles, crowned the parapet with ten or a dozen men, and,
entering the fort through one of the embrasures, was taken prisoner; and
Colonel Fiser, of the Eighteenth Mississippi, who lost an arm while on the
parapet. Not the least of the gallant acts of the campaign was the dash of
Captain Winthrop, who led our once halting lines over the rail defences at
Knoxville.
The transfer of the army to the east bank of the river was executed by
diligent work and the use of such flat-boats and other means of crossing
as we could collect and construct. We were over by the 20th, and before
Christmas were in our camps along the railroad, near Morristown. Blankets
and clothes were very scarce, shoes more so, but all knew how to enjoy the
beautiful country in which we found ourselves. The French Broad River and
the Holston are confluent at Knoxville. The country between and beyond
them contains as fine farming lands and has as delightful a climate as can
be found. Stock and grain were on all farms. Wheat and oats had been
hidden away by our Union friends, but the fields were full of maize, still
standing. The country about the French Broad had hardly been touched by
the hands of foragers. Our wagons immediately on entering the fields were
loaded to overflowing. Pumpkins were on the ground in places like apples
under a tree. Cattle, sheep, and swine, poultry, vegetables, maple-sugar,
honey, were all abundant for immediate wants of the troops.
When the enemy found we had moved to the east bank, his cavalry followed
to that side. They were almost as much in want of the beautiful foraging
lands as we, but we were in advance of them, and left little for them.
With all the plenitude of provisions and many things which seemed at the
time luxuries, we were not quite happy. Tattered blankets, garments, and
shoes (the latter going--many gone) opened ways, on all sides, for
piercing winter blasts. There were some hand-looms in the country from
which we occasionally picked up a piece of cloth, and here and there we
received other comforts, some from kind and some from unwilling hands,
which nevertheless could spare them. For shoes we were obliged to resort
to the raw hides of beef cattle as temporary protection from the frozen
ground. Then we began to find soldiers who could tan the hides of our
beeves, some who could make shoes, some who could make shoe-pegs, some who
could make shoe-lasts, so that it came about that the hides passed rapidly
from the beeves to the feet of the soldiers in the form of comfortable
shoes. Then came the opening of the railroad, and lo and behold! a
shipment of three thousand shoes from General Lawton,
quartermaster-general! Thus the most urgent needs were supplied, and the
soldier's life seemed passably pleasant,--that is, in the infantry and
artillery. Our cavalry were looking at the enemy all of this while, and
the enemy was looking at them, both frequently burning powder between
their lines.
General Sturgis had been assigned to the cavalry of the other side to
relieve General Shackelford, and he seemed to think that the dead of
winter was the time for cavalry work; and our General Martin's orders were
to have the enemy under his eye at all hours. Both were vigilant, active,
and persevering.
About the 20th of December a raid was made by General Averill from West
Virginia upon a supply depot of General Sam Jones's department, at Salem,
which was partially successful, when General Grant, under the impression
that the stores were for troops of East Tennessee, wired General Foster,
December 25, "This will give you great advantage," and General Foster
despatched General Parke, commanding his troops in the field, December 26,
"Longstreet will feel a little timid now, and will bear a little pushing."
Under the fierce operations of General Sturgis's cavalry against General
Martin's during the latter days of December, General W. E. Jones's cavalry
was on guard for my right and rear towards Cumberland Gap. While Sturgis
busied himself against our front and left, a raiding party rode from
Cumberland Gap against the outposts of our far-off right, under Colonel
Pridemore. As W. E. Jones was too far to support Martin's cavalry, he was
called to closer threatenings against Cumberland Gap, that he might thus
draw some of Sturgis's cavalry from our front to strengthen the forces at
the Gap. Upon receipt of orders, General Jones crossed Clinch River in
time to find the warm trail of the raiders who were following Pridemore.
He sent around to advise him of his ride in pursuit of his pursuers, and
ordered Pridemore, upon hearing his guns, to turn and join in the attack
upon them.
The very cold season and severe march through the mountain fastnesses
stretched Jones's line so that he was in poor condition for immediate
attack when he found the enemy's camp at daylight on the 3d of January;
but he found a surprise: not even a picket guard out in their rear. He
dashed in with his leading forces and got the enemy's battery, but the
enemy quickly rallied and made battle, which recovered the artillery, and
got into strong position about some farm-houses and defended with
desperate resolution. Finding the position too strong, Jones thought to so
engage as to make the enemy use his battery until his ammunition was
exhausted, and then put in all of his forces in assault. Towards night
the enemy found himself reduced to desperate straits and tried to secure
cover of the mountains, but as quick as he got away from the farm-houses
Jones put all of his forces in, capturing three pieces of artillery, three
hundred and eighty prisoners, and twenty-seven wagons and teams of the
Sixteenth Illinois Cavalry and Twenty-second Ohio Light Artillery. A
number of the men got away through the mountains.