MEMBERS OF THE REGIMENT NOW LIVING.
The following is a list of members now living (from latest
information) who either surrendered with the Regiment or were
honorably discharged therefrom for disability incurred during the war:
FIELD AND STAFF.
Col. Baxter Smith, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Adjt. George B.
Guild, Nashville, Tenn.; Sergt. Maj. W. A. Rushing,
Lebanon, Tenn.; Surgeon W. T. Delaney, Bristol, Va.;
Assistant Surgeon J. T. Allen, Caney Springs, Tenn.;
Acting Quartermaster R. O. McLean, Nashville, Tenn.;
Acting Assistant Quartermaster Bob Corder, Williamson
County, Tenn.; Acting Commissary First Lieut. J. T. Barbee,
Sardis, Ky.
COMPANY A.
Dr. Tom Allen, Caney Springs, Tenn.; Joe Yarbrough,
Lewisburg, Tenn.; James Tippett, Greenville, Tex.; Thomas
Sherron, Chapel Hill, Tenn.; William Edwards, Chapel
Hill, Tenn.; Scott Davis, Lewisburg, Tenn.; Joe Yarbrough
(second), Lewisburg, Tenn.; W. R. Wynn, Lewisburg, Tenn.;
Polk Warner, Lewisburg, Tenn.; Ben Jobe, Paris, Tenn.; Jim
Wilbern, Oklahoma; Melville Porter, McKenzie, Tenn.; William
(“Dutch”) Alexander, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Gid Alexander, New
Orleans, La.
COMPANY B.
Lieut. G. W. Carmack, Jonesboro, Tenn.; Henry Delaney,
Bristol, Va.; Abe McClelland, Bluff City, Tenn.; W. C.
Ingles, Knoxville, Tenn.; Dr. W. T. Delaney, Bristol, Va.
COMPANY C.
Lieut. R. L. Scruggs, Stonewall, Tenn.; Lieut. Samuel
Scoggins, Nashville, Tenn.; Pat Moss, Smith County, Tenn.;
Ike Evans, Smith County, Tenn.; Dave Shipp, Smith County,
Tenn.; William Bell, Big Spring, Tenn.; Sam Flippin,
Birmingham, Ala.; Don Flippin, Smith County, Tenn.; Thomas
Sanders, Nashville, Tenn.; Bob Grissim, Smith County, Tenn.
COMPANY D.
First Lieut. Robert Bone, Texas; Second Lieut. J. T. Barbee,
Sardis, Ky.; Third Lieut. J. A. Arnold, Lebanon, Tenn.
I feel that I ought to add here that Lieutenant Bone was one of the
best and most active officers we had. He was always to be found in
the forefront of the battle, and was wounded several times. In one
of the last battles we had he was captured by the enemy; and while he
was being carried to Johnson’s Island with other prisoners he leaped
from the train, making his escape into Canada, and was fortunate
enough to get transportation upon a blockade runner coming into
Charleston, S. C., reporting back to his regiment in four weeks
after being captured. I am not positive that he is living to-day, but
he was living in Texas when last heard from, more than a year ago.
COMPANY E.
First Lieut. H. L. Preston, Woodbury, Tenn.; Third Lieut.
John Fathera, Woodbury, Tenn.; N. Bony Preston, Woodbury,
Tenn.; Thomas Vinson, Henry Gillam, William Wood, Warren
Cummings, Al Kennedy, William Davis, N. A. Mitchell, I. Y.
Davis, Eph Neely, R. S. Spindle, W. D. Coleman, John Knox,
John H. Wharton, B. F. Pinkerton, I. W. Stewart, Reese
Hammons, John Hayes.
COMPANY F.
Lieutenant Williamson, Kentucky; W. H. Davis, Dallas, Tex.;
J. H. Davis, Martha, Tenn.; Zack Thompson, Shelbyville, Tenn.
COMPANY G.
Capt. J. W. Nichol, Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Lieut. F. A.
McKnight, Sergt. W. R. Fowler, Corp. I. C. Carnahan, L. M.
Roberts, D. D. Murray, S. M. McGill, W. P. Gaither, L. L.
Gaither, T. A. Gaither, S. M. McKnight, Robert Patrick,
A. C. Good, I. F. Good, I. E. Neely, N. I. Ivie, W. H.
Taylor, John Nugent, Houston Miller, L. W. Jarnigan, A. H.
Youree, I. C. Coleman, W. W. Gray, B. L. Sagely, E. Bynum,
E. H. Murrey, H. N. Jones, C. W. Moore, Calvin Brewer, James
Love, Bob Knox.
Capt. J. W. Nichol, of Company G, says that of those living at this
time, sixteen of them were young men on their way to join his company
when the surrender occurred. The following are the circumstances in
the case: Some weeks before the surrender, in 1865, he had sent his
first lieutenant, Dave Youree, a most excellent and reliable officer,
to Cannon and Rutherford Counties, Tenn., to obtain recruits. Just
before the surrender Youree was returning to the command with the
sixteen young men who had enlisted in said counties and whom he had
sworn into the company and Regiment. Upon reaching the State of
Georgia on their way to join the Regiment, then in North Carolina,
they met General Forrest and his command and were informed of the
condition of the Confederate army. At General Forrest’s suggestion,
they remained with him, participated in his engagements around Selma,
Ala., and surrendered with General Forrest’s command, receiving their
paroles at Gainesville, Ala., in May, 1865, as members of Company
G, Fourth Tennessee Regiment. The sixteen young men are certainly
entitled to be named in the list of living in Company G at this time,
for they gave the best evidence of their manhood and patriotism by
leaving voluntarily their homes behind the lines under the forlorn
and desperate circumstances surrounding them and the Confederate army.
COMPANY H.
J. C. Ivey, Clear Lake, Tex.; Sam H. Bennett, Jasper, Tenn.;
John Davis, Jasper, Tenn.; William T. Warren, Dayton, Tenn.;
Zebulon Ballew, Sequatchie Valley, Tenn.; Billy Phelps,
Sequatchie Valley, Tenn.; Robert Phelps, Sequatchie Valley,
Tenn.
I have just received a letter from J. C. Ivey, of Company H, giving
me the foregoing list of his company. I want to thank him again for
the interest and assistance he has given me in preparing the facts
for this narrative of the Regiment, and I feel that I ought to make
his letter a part of the narrative. The letter is as follows:
CLEAR LAKE, TEX., October 16, 1912.
Maj. George B. Guild, Nashville, Tenn.
_My Dear Adjutant and Comrade_: Your letter came in due
time, and this is the first opportunity I have had to answer
your question in regard to those still living of Company H.
There were thirty-four who were surrendered at Charlotte,
N. C. I shall never forget that sorrowful day when we gave
up our guns. That morning our beloved General Wheeler came to
our Regiment and announced that we were a subjugated people
and, while the tears were flowing from his eyes, advised us
to return home and make as good citizens as we had soldiers
and all would come out right. So far as I know, not one of
those that were with us in the closing of this sad drama
ever went wrong in any way. As for those that absented
themselves, I have had no communication with any of them.
I remain your old comrade,
J. C. IVEY.
COMPANY I.
Lieut. John W. Storey, Forest City, Ark.; B. P. Harrison,
Albany, Ky.; Joel Brown, Glasgow, Ky.; Z. T. Crouch,
Bellbuckle, Tenn.; Dr. Henry Sienknecht, Oliver Springs,
Tenn.; John Hall, Tennessee; Isaac Ford, Rome, Tenn.;
Orville I. Moate, Washington, D. C.; Lieut. William H.
Hildreth, Alvarado, Tex.; John N. Simpson, Dallas, Tex.;
William Wallace, Texas; Jeff Boles, Phœnix, Ariz.; Henry
Gatewood, Ennis, Tex.
COMPANY K.
Frank Anderson, Nashville, Tenn.; Joe Miller, Lebanon,
Tenn.; Hal Shutt, Lebanon, Tenn.; Bryant Goodrich,
Nashville, Tenn.; James Thomas, Los Angeles, Cal.
I cannot hear of a single one of Company L who is alive to-day.
Some of the foregoing were young men just arriving at maturity and
came out to the Regiment from Tennessee (then occupied by Federal
forces) at the peril of their lives and joined it when the cause
was a forlorn hope indeed. Of this class Capt. Frank A. Moses,
the Special Examiner on the State Confederate Pension Board, had
occasion to say in his annual report to the Confederate Association
of Bivouacs and Camps at Shelbyville recently:
Comrades, it was easy for you and me to go out in 1861
or 1862, when the bright flags rippled in the breezes,
the bands played “Dixie,” and the girls waved their
handkerchiefs, bidding us Godspeed; but when the dark days
came and the flags were tattered and blood-stained, when
the bands were playing the “Dead March” and the noble women
mourned the death of loved ones, it was not so easy. When
the old men and the boys in 1864 picked up the guns that
had been thrown down by the quitters and stepped into our
depleted ranks, they showed their faith by their works,
and they are entitled to all honor.
I take occasion to add that I have been intimately associated with
Captain Moses on the Pension Board for twenty years. He is most
efficient in the position he occupies. He joined the Confederate
army when but a boy. After engaging in the battle of Chickamauga,
his regiment (the Sixty-Second Tennessee Infantry) was sent with Gen.
Bushrod Johnson’s brigade to the Army of Northern Virginia. He was
severely wounded at the battle of Drewry’s Bluff, on the James River,
below Richmond; and after convalescing from his wound he reported
to his command at Petersburg, and surrendered with General Lee at
Appomattox on the 9th of April, 1865.
First Lieut. Rice McLean, of Company A, an elegant gentleman and
brave officer, was in command of his company most of the time,
especially during the latter part of the war. His captain, Dave
Alexander, was the oldest man in the Regiment and was much disabled
by wounds. Lieutenant McLean was frequently called upon to perform
the most hazardous and important duties, which he did with dispatch
and to the highest satisfaction of the commanding officer. None stood
higher in the Regiment or was more respected for his fidelity as a
soldier. He was most amiable in character and in kindly comradeship
toward his fellow soldiers. He was wounded several times in battle.
He died a few years ago in Kentucky, where he had lived since the
close of the war. I could not resist the opportunity of saying a
word regarding my warm personal friend, Rice McLean. He was a brother
of the wife of Capt. Tom Hardison, one of Nashville’s most worthy and
honorable citizens.
Lieut. J. W. Storey, who was in command of Company I at the
surrender, writes me that I should speak of the killing of Eb
Crozier, of his company, who was a most intelligent, lovable man,
and a brave soldier during the entire war. He received his parole of
honor with the rest of the Regiment at Charlotte, N. C., May 3, 1865,
and started home with us; but before reaching Sweetwater, Tenn., he
took the road to the right to go to his home in Upper East Tennessee,
which he had not visited for years. Upon reaching home, he was
brutally murdered by a band of Union bushwhackers, with his parole of
honor in his pocket, the ink with which it was written being hardly
dry upon the paper. A more dastardly act was never perpetrated. His
name has been placed among the killed in battle of his company, and
I am sure that the reader will say that it rightfully belongs there,
together with any other honor that could be attached to his memory.
Capt. James H. Britton, of Company K, was a native of Lebanon,
Tenn., and was educated at Cumberland University, where he graduated
with highest honors as a civil engineer. He was first lieutenant
of the “Cedar Snags,” of which Paul F. Anderson was captain. When
the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry Regiment was organized, the company
became a part of it. Captain Anderson became lieutenant colonel and
Lieutenant Britton was made captain of Company K, both continuing
as such until the surrender of the army, in 1865, at Greensboro,
N. C. During the greater part of the war Company K was the escort of
the commanding general. Captain Britton was a faithful, brave, and
intelligent officer. He and his company were well known to the Army
of Tennessee by the important duties that they were called upon to
do in carrying orders to different parts of the field, frequently
where the battle raged fiercest and hottest. The company’s killed and
wounded was heavy, as will be seen on pages 165 and 166. Soon after
the war Captain Britton moved to Texas, where he was successful as
a business man and accumulated quite a fortune. He died there many
years ago, a public-spirited, most worthy citizen. Dr. R. L. C. White
and Wat Weakley, who were well-known citizens of Nashville, Tenn.,
were soldiers in this company, having joined it when it was first
organized, and served throughout the war.
I have received from a friend the following record of Capt. J. W.
Nichol prior to his company’s being attached to the Fourth Tennessee
Cavalry Regiment, which I take pleasure in making a part of this
narrative:
Capt. J. W. Nichol was born and reared near Readyville,
Rutherford County, Tenn., February 26, 1839. He entered
the Confederate service at Murfreesboro, Tenn., May 21,
1861, as a lieutenant in Captain Wood’s Company H, Joe B.
Palmer’s Eighteenth Tennessee Regiment, serving in same
until a few days before the first battle at Fort Donelson,
February, 1862. On a march from Bowling Green, Ky., we left
him, sick of measles, at Russellville, Ky.; therefore he
was not in the fight at Fort Donelson, where the Eighteenth
Tennessee Regiment was captured and sent to prison. He
was sent back with the sick to Bowling Green, thence to
Nashville and Murfreesboro. At Murfreesboro he reported to
Gen. A. S. Johnston, who directed him to get together all
the members of the Eighteenth Tennessee Regiment who might
be at home on sick furlough, also any who might have made
their escape from prison, organizing them into a company or
battalion, and connect the same with some other regiment.
But before Captain Nichol could do this General Johnston,
with his army, moved to Shelbyville, where Nichol reported
to him again, informing him that he had met a number of
the command who desired to join other regiments instead
of forming a new command. General Johnston directed him to
assign these men to any desired company until the Eighteenth
should be exchanged. Nichol then, with nine others of the
Eighteenth Tennessee, procured horses and fell back with
General Johnston to Corinth, Miss., where they attached
themselves to General Buckner’s old escort, a Kentucky
company commanded by Captain Kerr, who had made their
escape from Fort Donelson and were serving as an escort
for General Hardee. Nichol served as a private soldier with
this company until after the battle of Corinth, April 6,
7, 1862. Some time after this battle he went to General
Beauregard’s headquarters (General Johnston having been
killed in the engagement on April 6), and asked permission
to go into Middle Tennessee and make up a cavalry company,
which request was granted. With considerable difficulty
he made his way to the neighborhood of his old home, there
being Federal troops, stationed at Murfreesboro, who were
scouting the surrounding country frequently. On one occasion
Captain Unthanks, with a Yankee company of seventy-two men,
came out from Murfreesboro to Readyville (Captain Nichol’s
old home), and went on to Woodbury and McMinnville on a
scouting expedition. Colonel Starnes, commanding the Fourth
Tennessee Cavalry, was near McMinnville and, upon learning
of the scouting party headed by Captain Unthanks, moved into
McMinnville in a few hours, and made inquiry for a man fully
acquainted with the roads leading therefrom. Captain Nichol,
who was just in from Corinth, Miss., reported to Colonel
Starnes that he was conversant with all the roads leading
to Murfreesboro. Leaving McMinnville late in the afternoon,
Colonel Starnes and his men reached Woodbury about daylight
of the next day, finding that Captain Unthanks had stopped
there to feed his horses and had just left. Instantly
pursuing, Starnes caught them at Readyville (Nichol’s
old home), eating breakfast, Captain Unthanks and most of
his men being at Major Tallay’s (the old Ready residence).
Starnes was upon them before they were aware, killing
three and capturing all except two others, who made their
escape to Murfreesboro. Captain Nichol was then engaged in
making up his company. Gen. Bedford Forrest passed through
Readyville July 13, 1862; and Nichol, with a few unorganized
men, fell in line and proceeded to Murfreesboro, where
they participated in the first fight at Murfreesboro, in
which they were victorious, taking all the prisoners to
McMinnville to parole them. From there Nichol proceeded to
Readyville, where he made up his company. About this time,
learning of the approach of General Bragg toward Middle
Tennessee, he, with about seventy unarmed young boys and
men, riding all night, passing through Liberty, the home
of Stokes and Blackburn (Yankee bushwhackers), got safely
through to Sparta just in time to meet Bragg on his march
into Kentucky. General Polk took Nichol’s company for a time
as couriers. Soon afterwards they were ordered to report
to Maj. J. R. Davis, commanding a battalion of cavalry,
and were in the fight at Perryville, Ky., fighting every
day until they reached Cumberland Gap, losing several men.
Thence they went to Murfreesboro, in which battle they were
in Davis’s Battalion. Shortly after this Smith’s Fourth
Tennessee Regiment was formed, composed of Smith’s Battalion
and Davis’s Battalion. Immediately after this formation
Wheeler and Forrest were ordered to Fort Donelson, where
Nichol received his first serious wound. He was in all other
engagements until the close of the war, being dangerously
wounded at Bentonville, N. C., the last general engagement
of the war. He surrendered at Greensboro, N. C., with Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston’s army, and was paroled at Charlotte,
N. C., April 26, 1865.
When Colonel Smith returned, on exchange, from Johnson’s Island
Prison, just before the battle of Averyboro, N. C., he at once
assumed command of the brigade as senior colonel. Adjt. George
B. Guild became his adjutant general, and Capt. J. R. Lester, of
Company F, became his inspector general, all of them serving in this
capacity till the surrender of the army at Greensboro, N. C., April
26, 1865. The coming of Colonel Smith created a scene of rejoicing
with the Regiment, as it had created one of pronounced sorrow when
he had been captured. The men pressed around him to show him the joy
and pleasure it afforded. He was called upon to make a talk, when
he expressed to them the pleasure it gave him to be with them again
after his long, weary, and dark night as a prisoner in a Northern
fortress. He said the saddest part of it was that he missed many
familiar faces who were camping to-day on Fame’s battle ground, and
but a remnant remained of what they had been; that he had learned
from time to time, as other prisoners came in, of the glorious record
they were making and had made as soldiers. He expressed his pride
in them, and said that their names would be remembered by grateful
countrymen. Choking for utterance and in tears, he sat down. A few
minutes after this the order was given to mount, and the brigade
marched away to take part in the battle of Averyboro, N. C. A very
interesting incident occurred before the foregoing took place. The
Regiment had learned that his name had been registered for exchange
and were expecting him. At the battle of Fayetteville, N. C., a few
weeks before, Lieutenant Massengale had been killed, and his horse,
which was a most excellent one, a rich bay, evidencing the qualities
of a thoroughbred, was in the hands of a relative. It was proposed
to purchase the horse for Colonel Smith when he reported, which
was done. The men paid the relative $2,600 for the horse, which was
christened “Lieut. Joe Massengale” in memory of his gallant rider
who was killed upon his back while leading a charge in the fight with
Kilpatrick’s forces. Colonel Smith rode this horse in the battles
that occurred afterwards and until the surrender. He brought “Joe
Massengale” home with him. After this the horse was conspicuous
as a part of all the reunions that took place, and was named the
regimental mascot, by which name he was called until he died, in
his twenty-sixth year.
* * * * *
It has been assumed that the loss of life chargeable to the War
between the States was over one million individuals. The number of
great battles fought and the deadliness of the conflict are without
a parallel in all modern history. In the Dark Ages of the world
it frequently transpired that the victors assumed the divine right
to massacre the defeated with fire and sword. We had a reminder of
what that meant in the march to the sea and in the raids through the
valleys of Virginia with a well-defined smell of fire and destruction
about them. Truly it has been said that every messenger from the
front told of the wreck of a living hope, and every home of both
the North and South was made a house of mourning. But my object in
giving the following incident is particularly to refute what has
sometimes been unjustly said about the Confederate army as a band
of slaveholders.
About the beginning of the war there lived in an adjoining county
a young farmer who was a substantial, intelligent, and industrious
citizen. By his energy he had accumulated means to buy a small hilly
farm and erected upon it a plain but neat cottage, where he and his
young wife lived. He had no farm help but a younger brother. In the
fall of 1861 he and his brother enlisted in the Confederate army.
His aged father and mother came to live with the wife, and in a short
time the Tennessee regiment to which he and his brother were attached
was ordered to the Army of Northern Virginia. The younger brother was
killed the day Gen. Bob Hatton fell at Seven Pines, near Richmond,
Va., in 1862. The old mother died in a short time after hearing of
the death of her baby boy, as she affectionately called him. In 1863
the older brother was desperately wounded at Gettysburg in the charge
of Archer’s Tennessee Brigade on Cemetery Hill and taken a prisoner
by the enemy. He was reported killed in action by his comrades, and
was so reported on the rolls of his company during the remainder of
the war. In fact, his leg had been shattered by a cannon ball, and it
was hastily amputated above the knee when he was sent to Rock Island
Prison. The shock from the wound, exposure, and want of attention
impaired his health, making him a patient of the prison hospital
until the war ended. His wife, on learning of his death, sickened
and died of a broken heart, it is said. The old father, having been
left alone, went off to Kentucky to live with a married daughter.
Marauding parties burned and destroyed the fences around the little
farm, and the house was ruined and broken down. Nothing was left to
remind one of the happy home it once had been.
Such was the health of the soldier that he was not discharged from
the Rock Island hospital until some three months after the surrender
of the Confederate armies, when he was paroled and permitted to
return to his home. Upon reaching his home depot, in the first days
of September, 1865, good-hearted Tom Day furnished him a horse to
go out to his home. We will not attempt to depict his feelings on
seeing the devastation that was spread before him upon reaching home.
He sought the house of a neighbor, where he was told in sympathetic
words the sad, sad story. He had not been able to write himself
during his year or more as a prisoner; and confiding it to others,
they had failed either willfully or negligently to do so. He listened
in a dazed state of mind to the information imparted to him by his
friend, but spoke not a word, remaining silent during the evening.
As the lengthening shadows of the setting sun grew longer, he arose,
saying that he would go down home again. He was asked to wait till
morning and take a good night’s rest, to which he gave no heed,
hobbling off on his crutches in that direction. He did not return
that night, and the next morning at the breakfast table the neighbor
announced that he would go down and see if he could hear anything
of his friend. On approaching the house, he found the door slightly
ajar. Pushing it open, to his horror he beheld the soldier stretched
upon the bare floor--dead. He, too, had died of a broken heart. The
next day he was buried by a few sorrowing friends by the side of his
wife, at the Old Salem Camp Ground, where his rude forefathers sleep.
The wrecks created along its pathway by a state of war are
indeterminable. The destruction of property, public and private, is
its natural consequence. Nor does its blighting effect end upon the
battle field, but drags into its maelstrom of death the innocent, the
helpless, and the unprotected. Truly can it be said that war makes
countless thousands mourn.
These two young men were a type of the soldiery of which the
Confederate armies were composed. They had no particular property
rights to fight for; they owned no slaves; they were not personally
interested in the slavery question. The doctrine of State rights
had been the policy of the government since its existence. The
Constitution and the laws made thereunder recognized it, and the
Supreme Court of the United States in numerous decisions had
sustained them. These were to be set at naught by force of arms,
their country invaded, and their people to be subjugated. To prevent
this they risked their lives and their all. Rebels they were in the
sense that their forefathers had been, but patriots in the cause of
freedom and in their efforts to preserve the inalienable rights of
the citizen.
APPENDIX.
A.
An extract from a letter of Gen. Marcus J. Wright to Thomas Nelson
Page, author of “Robert E. Lee the Southerner,” dated September 26,
1907, says:
From all reliable data that could be secured, it has been
estimated by the best authorities that the strength of the
Confederate armies was about 600,000 men, and of this number
not more than two-thirds were available for active duty in
the field. The necessity of guarding a long line of exposed
seacoast and of maintaining permanent garrisons at different
posts on inland waters and at numerous other points deprived
the Confederate army in the field of an accession of
strength. The large preponderance of Federal forces was
manifest in all the important battles and campaigns of the
war. The largest force ever assembled by the Confederates
was at the Seven Days’ fight around Richmond.
General Lee’s report showed 80,835 men present for duty when
the movement against General McClellan commenced, and the
Federal forces numbered 115,240.
At Antietam the Federals had 87,164, and the Confederates
had 35,255.
At Fredericksburg the Federals had 110,000, and the
Confederates had 78,110.
At Chancellorsville the Federals had 131,661, of which
number only 90,000 were engaged, and the Confederates had
57,212.
At Gettysburg the Federals had 95,000, and the Confederates
had 44,000.
At the Wilderness the Federals had 141,160, and the
Confederates had 63,981.
In the six battles named the Confederates were victorious in
four of them, while the Federals were victors in one, and
one was a drawn battle.
From the latter part of 1862 until the close of the war in
1865 there was a constant decrease of the numerical strength
of the Confederate army. On the other hand, the records show
that during that time the Federal army was strengthened to
the extent of 363,390 men.
In April, 1865, the aggregate of present and absent showed
the strength of the Confederate army to be about 275,000.
Of this number, 65,387 were in Federal military prisons
and 52,000 were absent by reason of disability and other
causes. Deducting the total of these two numbers (117,387)
from 275,000, we have 157,613 as showing the full effective
strength of the Confederate army at the close of the war.
Gen. Marcus J. Wright has been for many years in charge of the
Confederate Archives Department at Washington, D. C., including the
muster rolls of the Confederate army, and is the best authority upon
the subject he writes about.
The able editor of the New Orleans _Picayune_, in a recent editorial
upon the strength of the Confederate army, says:
In the War between the States the official rolls of the
Northern army show a total enlistment of 2,850,000 men.
Allowing 700,000 men for the South--which would be the
extreme limit for a white population of 6,000,000, of
which 3,000,000 were women and more than 2,000,000 males
under age, not to mention the 200,000 Southern men who
went into the Union army and the men past military age and
disabled--it would have been impossible for the South to
have had more than 700,000 on its rolls, and these fought
four to one. That these smaller numbers could inflict such
heavy loss upon the superior numbers of their antagonists
made it necessary, not only that they should have been
ably led, but that they should have fought desperately and
exhibited extraordinary powers of endurance, all of which
they did up to the highest mark. By the records of modern
warfare their performances have never been equaled, much
less surpassed.
B.
“No step could have given more aid and comfort to the North or
have been more disastrous to the South than the removal of General
Johnston. Abroad it satisfied the anxious nations of Europe that the
South was at her last gasp and established their hitherto vacillating
policy in favor of the Union cause, and the Southern cause thereafter
steadily declined to its end. The destruction of Hood’s army at
Nashville removed the only force capable of blocking the way of
Sherman across the South and left him free to march to the sea
and, having got in touch with the fleet there, continue through
the Carolinas, marking his way with a track of devastation which has
been likened to that made when Saxe carried fire and sword through
the Palatinate.” (See pages 63, 64 of “Robert E. Lee the Southerner,”
by Thomas Nelson Page.)
The North was enabled to recruit her armies by drafting all the
men she needed, and her command of the sea gave her Europe as a
recruiting ground. On October 17, 1863, the President of the United
States ordered a draft for 300,000 men. On February 1, 1864, he
called for 500,000; and on March 14, 1864, he issued an additional
call for 200,000 more “to provide an additional reserve for all
contingencies.” The South was almost spent. Her spirit was unquenched
and was, indeed, unquenchable; but her resources, both of treasury
and of men, were exhausted. Her levies for reserves of all men
between fifteen and sixty drew from President Davis the lament that
she was grinding the seed corn of the Confederacy.
C.
Gen. W. T. Sherman, in his report of May 4, 1864, says:
The Confederate army at my front at Dalton, Ga., comprised,
according to the best authority, about 45,000 men, commanded
by Joseph E. Johnston, who was equal in all the elements
of generalship to Lee and who was under instruction from
the war power at Richmond to assume the offensive northward
as far as Nashville. But he soon discovered that he would
have to conduct a defensive campaign. Coincident with
the movement of the Army of the Potomac, as announced by
telegraph, I advanced from our base at Chattanooga with the
Army of the Ohio, 13,550 men; the Army of the Cumberland,
60,773 men; the Army of the Tennessee, 24,405 men (grand
total, 98,707 men); and 254 guns.
INDEX.
Adams, 117.
Aiken, J. A., 164.
Alexander, D. W., 9, 156.
Alexander, Gid, 239.
Alexander, William, 239.
Allen, Dr. Tom, 9, 239.
Allen, T., 159.
Allen, T. J., 165.
Allen, W., 159.
Allison, Henry, 156.
Anderson, A. A., 157.
Anderson, DeWitt, 10, 166.
Anderson, Frank, 166, 243.
Anderson, Lieut. Col. P. F., 9, 54, 182.
Arnold, J. A., 10, 159, 240.
Arnold, James, 156.
Armstrong, J., 160.
Atkins, Fentress, 165.
Austin, Levi, 164.
Avants, H., 157.
Avants, N., 157.
Bailey, Jonathan, 164.
Baker, J. N., 158.
Ballew, Zeb, 242.
Barbee, Lieutenant, 10, 159, 239, 240.
Barnes, Joe, 165.
Barton, Jack, 166.
Beard, Lieut. Charles, 9.
Beauregard, General, 172.
Bell, J. C., 156.
Bell, John, 158.
Bell, P., 164.
Bell, W., 166, 240.
Bennett, James, 163.
Bennett, Moses, 163.
Bennett, S. H., 242.
Blackburn, Captain, 46.
Bledsoe, A., 164.
Bledsoe, Capt. Robert, 10, 164.
Bledsoe, Maj. Scott, 9, 125, 184.
Boles, Jeff, 243.
Bone, Lieut. Bob, 10, 159, 240.
Bone, Capt. William, 9.
Bowman, John, 165.
Bowman, Lieut. Foster, 10, 165.
Bragg, General, 9, 14, 57.
Brandon, J. A., 162.
Breckenridge, General, 23, 140.
Brewer, C., 241.
Britton, Capt. James, 10, 246.
Brown, Joel, 243.
Brown, R., 165.
Burford, Ben, 158.
Burgess, Lieutenant, 10, 161.
Burke, James, 161.
Bushong, D., 157.
Bynum, E., 241.
Bynum, W. M., 162.
Caline, William, 157.
Carder, Jack, 161.
Carmack, D. C., 157.
Carmack, Lieutenant, 10.
Carmack, Lieut. Gid, 157, 239.
Carter, General, 117.
Cato, Joe, 158.
Chapman, Bennett, 9.
Cheatham, General, 23.
Chenyworth, Colonel, 44.
Christian, Major, 46.
Cleburne, General, 23, 116.
Coleman, J. C., 162.
Cook, Colonel, 46.
Cook, Col. Ed, 65.
Cooper, I., 162.
Corbett, W., 10.
Corder, Bob, 9, 239.
Cox, James, 157.
Crockett, Frank, 156.
Crouch, Zack T., 243.
Crozier, Lieut. E., 125, 245.
Cunningham, Frank, 10.
Curren, George, 158.
Curren, W. J., 156.
Dark, James, 156.
Davis, James, 156.
Davis, J. H., 241.
Davis, John, 242.
Davis, President, 66, 138.
Davis, Robert, 131.
Davis, Robert A., 165.
Davis, Scott, 239.
Davis, W. H., 241.
Deadman, 158.
Deason, William, 165.
Delaney, Dr. W. T., 9, 157, 239.
Delaney, Henry, 157, 239.
Dibrell, General, 39, 71, 108.
Dillard, J., 161.
Dillard, John, 158.
Dillon, S., 159.
Doak, Tom, 160.
Donnell, R. O., 158.
Doughtry, James, 162.
Douglas, John, 65.
Douglass, C. M., 164.
Dunn, J. F., 162.
Durham, A. D., 164.
Edwards, Joe, 158.
Edwards, William, 239.
Elliott, Lieutenant, 10.
Evans, Capt. Mark, 234.
Evans, Ike, 240.
Ewing, Col. Andrew, 59.
Fagan, Lon, 156.
Fagan, Tom, 156.
Farnsworth, George, 166.
Fathera, Lieutenant, 10, 160, 240.
Fields, W., 10.
Finney, Sergeant, 9.
Flippin, Don, 240.
Flippin, H. L., 158.
Flippin, S., 240.
Floridy, T., 159.
Ford, Isaac, 243.
Forrest, General, 11, 16.
Fowler, Sergt. W. R., 162, 241.
Gaither, L. L., 241.
Gaither, T. A., 241.
Gaither, W. P., 162, 241.
Gann, Bob, 9.
Gann, H., 158.
Gann, John, 159.
Gatewood, Henry, 243.
Gaut, William, 163.
Gentry, James, 156.
Gilliham, E., 158.
Glover, H. C.
Glover, S., 10, 163.
Goad, William, 164.
Godges, Rufus, 164.
Godsey, T., 163.
Godsey, W. J., 157.
Goodrich, Bryant, 243.
Gordon, John, 162.
Grady, Henry, 110.
Granbery, General, 117.
Gray, W. W., 162.
Green, Allen, 163.
Green, James, 158.
Green, Lieutenant, 10.
Grissim, Bob, 240.
Grissim, M. (Q. M.), 9, 155, 158.
Guild, G. B., 54, 76, 125, 239.
Hall, John, 243.
Hampton, General, 112.
Hancock, Ed, 165.
Hardee, General, 65, 127, 133.
Hare, Joe, 160.
Hare, Tim, 156.
Hargrove, N., 156.
Harris, John, 162.
Harrison, Colonel, 125.
Harrison, B. Porter, 165, 243.
Harron, H. H., 163.
Hawkins, E. J., 160.
Hayes, J., 241.
Hearn, James, 165.
Hearn, R., 165.
Hendrix, W. W., 9.
Henlen, J. A., 157.
Henry, Lieutenant, 10.
Herndon, Liter, 127.
Hicks, E. and W.
Hildreth, Lieutenant, 10, 243.
Hill, L., 165.
Hill, Mike, 165.
Hilton, J. B., 164.
Hogan, Lieutenant, 10, 158.
Hood, General, 62, 68, 116, 119, 177.
Hopkins, John, 156.
Horton, Jesse, 165.
Hughes, James, 162.
Hull, 157.
Hume, General, 124.
Hutton, Polk, 156.
Ingles, Capt. C. H., 9.
Ingles, W. C., 239.
Ivey, J. C., 164, 242.
Ivie, H. J., 162.
Ivie, N. I., 241.
Jackson, Dan, 163.
James, J. E., 162.
Jarman, H., 159.
Jarmin, Captain, 46.
Jarnigan, L. W., 241.
Jobe, Ben, 239.
Johnson, Ab.
Johnson, T., 159.
Johnston, Gen. A. S., 172.
Johnston, Gen. Joseph E., 59, 65, 126, 148, 172, 173.
Jones, D. C., 162.
Jones, H. N., 241.
Jones, J. E., 162.
Jowett, Cullom, 164.
Joyner, Major, 135.
Kennedy, Al, 240.
Kennedy, A. W., 160.
King, M. T., 157.
Kirk, B., 161.
Kirkpatrick, Captain, 47.
Knox, Bob, 241.
Knox, William, 159.
Lee, General, 172.
Lester, Capt. J. R., 10, 13, 161.
Lester, T., 157.
Lester, William, 161.
Light, Lieut. William, 10, 164.
Lindamond, James, 157.
Longstreet, General, 33.
Love, James, 241.
Lunn, W. F., 156.
Luttrell, J., 157.
Lyons, P. A., 156.
Magill, Walter, 163.
Mallard, J. R., 156.
Marlin, Jesse, 156.
Martin, Gid, 162.
Martin, R., 163.
Massengale, John.
Massengale, Lieut. Joe, 9, 143, 157.
Massengale, William, 163.
Mattern, H., 157.
McCall, John, 163.
McClelland, Abe, 157, 239.
McClelland, Edward, 240.
McDonough, James, 163.
McDowell, Jack, 165.
McGee, G. M., 158.
McGill, S. M., 241.
McKnight, Lieut. F. A., 162, 241.
McKnight, S. M., 241.
McLean, Lieut. Rice, 9, 156, 244.
McLean, R. O., 9, 156, 239.
McMillin, Capt., 12.
McNairy, Col. Frank, 16.
McNeilly, Rev. J. H., 191.
Meely, T., 160.
Miller, H., 162, 241.
Miller, Joe, 243.
Milton, C., 160.
Minnis, Adjt. J. A., 9, 18.
Minton, J., 158.
Mitchell, J., 160.
Mitchell, N., 160.
Mitchell, N. A., 240.
Mitchell, O. K., 163.
Moate, O. I., 243.
Modly, A., 158.
Mont, T., 159.
Moore, C. W., 241.
Moore, G. C., 10, 158.
Morrell, William, 157.
Morris, J. M., 164.
Moses, Capt. Frank, 244.
Moss, Pat, 240.
Mullinax, F., 159.
Murray, D. D., 241.
Murrey, E. H., 241.
Murrell, J. T., 157.
Nance, J. B., 9, 129.
Neal, William, 166.
Nealy, J., 160.
Neely, E., 240.
Neely, I. E., 241.
Neil, W. J., 156.
Nelson, Henry, 166.
Nevels, Ben, 156.
Newlan, Anderson.
Newsom, Joe, 165.
Nichol, Capt. J. W., 10, 132, 162, 241, 248.
Nugent, John, 241.
O’Dell, P., 157.
Odum, D., 159.
Oglesby, Nick, 156.
Orr, Lieut. J. N., 9.
Owens, Elias, 164.
Padgett, James, 164.
Pain, G. V. and William.
Parton, Capt. J. J., 10.
Patrick, A. R., 162.
Patrick, Robert, 241.
Paty, M., 158.
Pemberton, M., 159.
Phelps, Billy, 242.
Phelps, R., 242.
Phillips, J. M., 10, 159.
Phillips, W. H., 73, 161.
Pickett, J. M., 163.
Pickett, John, 163.
Polk, Lieutenant General, 64.
Poor, Pleasant, 165.
Porterfield, D., 160.
Powell, N., 159.
Preston, B. P., 160.
Preston, Lieut. H. L., 10, 143, 160, 240.
Price, John T., 9.
Raine, John, 166.
Rains, Gen. Jim, 13.
Ransom, C., 156.
Reed, James, 156.
Reid, B., 160.
Richerson, O., 159.
Ridley, Granville.[4]
Roberts, C. M., 162.
Roberts, L. M., 162, 241.
Robinson, Arch, 162.
Robinson, A. W., 162.
Robinson, Jesse, 162.
Robinson, M., 159.
Roder, A. L., 157.
Roland, A., 158.
Rushing, Joe A., 162.
Rushing, J. R., 160.
Rushing, Sergt. Maj. W. A., 9, 113, 239.
Russell, Lieut. H., 10.
Ryburn, J. S., 157.
Sagely, Lieut. J. A., 10, 162.
Sams, William, 157.
Sandifer, William, 156.
Scoggins, Lieut. Sam, 10, 134, 240.
Scruggs, Lieut. R. L., 10, 158, 240.
Shell, William, 163.
Shumate, R., 163.
Shutt, Hal, 243.
Sienknecht, Dr. Henry, 243.
Simpson, J. N., 243.
Singleton, James, 165.
Slaughter, George, 156.
Smith, Col. Baxter, 9, 17, 18, 125, 130, 143, 186, 239, 249.
Smith, Jack, 163.
Smith, John, 165.
Smith, William, 164.
Snodgrass, J. Y., 157.
Spain, W. M., 162.
Spencer, Z., 156.
Stahl, General, 117.
Stanton, Col. S. S., 61.
Starnes, Gen. James, 20.
Stearns, Colonel, 11.
Stewart, Gen. A. P., 62.
Stewart, J. A., 9, 17, 158.
Stone, William, 163.
Storey, Lieut. J. W., 10, 165, 243.
Sullivan, T., 158.
Sullivan, W. S., 10.
Sutton, H., 164.
Tacket, Alex, 164.
Taylor, W. H., 241.
Thomas, James, 243.
Thompson, D., 164.
Thompson, James, 156.
Thompson, Z., 161, 241.
Tippett, Jim, 239.
Tittle, T. J., 160.
Todd, Alfred, 162.
Todd, Calep, 162.
Todd, Walker, 162.
Tolbert, D. W., 162.
Tomlinson, E., 158.
Trousdale, W., 158.
Turner, J. M., 156.
Vance, T., 160.
Van Trease, A., 165.
Vinson, T., 240.
Walker, Colonel, 65.
Walkup, L., 160.
Wallace, W., 243.
Waller, Sam, 156.
Warner, Polk, 239.
Warren, W. T., 242.
Warren, W. W., 163.
Watkins, Thomas, 164.
Watts, David, 156.
Weakley, Wat, 247.
Weaver, C., 159.
Webber, C. M., 162.
Wharton, General, 11, 27, 46.
Wharton, J. H., 241.
Wharton, Tobe, 166.
Wheeler, General, 11, 16, 69, 108, 150, 179.
White, Dr. R. L. C., 247.
White, Lieutenant, 17.
White, M. M., 163.
Whitecotten, I., 163.
Wilbern, J., 239.
Williams, A., 164.
Williams, General, 97, 102.
Williams, James, 163.
Williamson, Lieutenant, 241.
Williamson, Lieut. James, 10.
Wilson, Billy, 156.
Winder, J. B., 164.
Witherspoon, D. C., 162.
Witherspoon, Sam, 162.
Wood, William, 157, 240.
Woods, C. C., 157.
Wyly, Capt. H. A., 10, 44, 161.
Wynn, W. R., 156, 239.
Yarbrough, Joe, 156, 239.
Young, Dock, 158.
Young, Gen. Bennett H., 204.
Youree, A. H., 241.
Youree, Frank, 162.
Youree, Lieut. Dave, 10, 162.
Youree, W. H., 162.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Resigned soon after organization of Regiment, and Lieut.
George C. Moore succeeded him, serving till the surrender.
[2] This Company was not attached to the Regiment till just
before the battle of Chickamauga. It had been the escort
of General McGowan, who resigned, and it reported to the
Fourth Tennessee, serving till the surrender. It was a
very small company.
[3] I was not in the Kentucky campaign of Gen. Braxton Bragg
in the summer and early fall of 1862. I have asked Colonel
Smith to write it, as he was a major in command of five
companies that afterwards formed a part of the Fourth
Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, of which he was commissioned
colonel at its organization, in October, 1862. In order
that this narrative may present a full history of their
services and his own during the war, he has contributed
the interesting account in Chapter XVII.
[4] Granville Ridley enlisted in the Regiment when sixteen
years of age, while Wheeler was on his last raid into
Tennessee in 1864, and served faithfully till the
surrender.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
The following corrections have been made in the text:
Chapter 2, paragraph 2
- ‘Stuart’ replaced with ‘Stewart’
(bugler of the Regiment, J. A. Stewart,)
Chapter 2, paragraph 9
- ‘Claiborne’ replaced with ‘Cleburne’
(attack of Generals Cleburne and Cheatham.)
Chapter 2, paragraph 20
- ‘or’ replaced with ‘of’
(51 pieces of artillery)
Chapter 2, paragraph 23
- ‘we’ replaced with ‘he’
(that he was wasting his weakening strength)
Chapter 12, paragraph 31
- ‘Gather’ replaced with ‘Gaither’
(W. P. Gaither,)
Chapter 15, paragraph 11
- (Cfd ＝ Confederate; Fed ＝ Federal; Vic ＝ Victor.)
Line added by the transcriber.
Chapter 15, paragraph 13
- ‘Murfeesboro’ replaced with ‘Murfreesboro’
(I have indicated the Murfreesboro)
Index
- ‘Baily’ replaced with ‘Bailey’
(Bailey, Jonathan, 164.)
Index
- ‘Bowles’ replaced with ‘Boles’
(Boles, Jeff, 243.)
Index
- ‘Claiborne’ replaced with ‘Cleburne’
(Cleburne, General, 23, 116.)
Index
- ‘Douglass’ replaced with ‘Douglas’
(Douglas, John, 65.)
Index
- ‘Gant’ replaced with ‘Gaut’
(Gaut, William, 163.)
Index
- ‘Gillihan’ replaced with ‘Gilliham’
(Gilliham, E., 158.)
Index
- ‘Porter B.’ replaced with ‘B. Porter’
(Harrison, B. Porter, 165, 243.)
Index
- ‘24’ replaced with ‘12’
(McMillin, Capt., 12.)
Index
- ‘Murry’ replaced with ‘Murray’
(Murray, D. D., 241.)
Index
- ‘Neely’ replaced with ‘Meely’
(Meely, T., 160.)
Index
- ‘Nichols’ replaced with ‘Nichol’
(Nichol, Capt. J. W.)
Index
- ‘Strahl’ replaced with ‘Stahl’
(Stahl, General, 117.)
Index
- ‘273’ replaced with ‘249’
(Smith, Col. Baxter, ... 186, 239, 249.)
Index
- ‘Captain’ replaced with ‘Lieutenant’
(White, Lieutenant, 17.)