RETURN OF CO. K TO ACTIVE DUTY—ARRIVAL AT MOBILE—A FLOODED
CAMP—SHORT OF AMMUNITION—AT FORT GAINES—FISHERMEN’S
SPOILS—GOING TO SCHOOL—A SPY IN CAMP—IN NORTH GEORGIA.
The First Alabama Regiment was not required to do other duty than camp
guard and drill until about the 1st of December; three companies of the
regiment were then sent down the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to guard the
bridges, and heavy details were made from the remaining companies—about
125 men daily—for provost duty at Meridian. This made it necessary for
the men to go on duty every other day, and put an end to drilling. It
was very severe on the few commissioned officers present, and their
complaints finally led to the regiment being relieved of a portion of the
burden.
December passed without any event of particular interest. On January
21, 1864, Cos. C, H and K were ordered to Jackson, Miss., and on the
following morning took the cars, arriving at Jackson on the 23d. We went
into camp on the east bank of Pearl River, opposite the city. Co. K had
33 men present for work. Shovels and picks were issued, guns stacked,
and on Sunday morning, the 24th, the detail began grading a road down
the bluff. The railroad bridge burned in the spring of 1863, not having
been rebuilt, the intention was to make a road, so that locomotives and
cars—of which there were a considerable number west of Pearl River—could
be ferried across the river. The bluff being a hard clay marl, the
progress was slow.
On February 3d, Gen. Sherman advanced from Vicksburg with 30,000 men
and 60 pieces of artillery. On the 4th orders were issued to the three
companies of the First Alabama to cook up three days’ rations, and they
were attached to the Tenth Texas Regiment, Ector’s Brigade, French’s
Division.
As the Federals entered Jackson at sundown on the 5th, the Confederates
evacuated the town and took the road to Brandon. The pontoon bridge
was cut loose and floated down the river. After marching twelve miles,
we halted till 4 A. M., when the retreat was resumed. Passing through
Brandon at sunrise, the battalion took the road to Morton, where, on
Sunday afternoon, we took the cars for Meridian, arriving during the
night. The three companies stationed on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad
proceeded to Mobile without rejoining the regiment, but the other
companies remained at Meridian until the 14th, except the sick, who were
sent with the regimental baggage to Demopolis by train on the 12th. When
Meridian was evacuated, on the 14th, the First Alabama, owing to its
excellent morale and discipline, was selected to form the rear guard
of the retreating army. They marched to the Tombigbee River, where the
First Alabama took the boat for Mobile, arriving on the 19th or 20th of
February. Here the three detached companies from the Mobile and Ohio
Railroad rejoined the command, and the regiment was, on the 22d, sent to
the land defences and given charge of seven of the outer redans or forts.
In two only of these were guns mounted, and nearly all were incomplete.
It was thought that Mobile was Sherman’s objective point, and a large
force of negroes was at work on the outer line of fortifications, the
inner lines being complete. Drilling, both in the heavy artillery and
infantry school, was at once resumed. Co. K was stationed at Redan E,
which was but just commenced. We remained here till March 8th, when the
danger of an attack from Sherman having disappeared, the regiment was
withdrawn from the lines and encamped on an open square on Government
Street. The day following there was a heavy rain which flooded the camp,
and portions of Government Street were knee-deep in water. In the tents
the men piled their knapsacks and blankets on benches and such other
articles of camp furniture as would keep them above water.
Orders were received on Sunday, March 13th, to cook up two days’ rations,
and to be ready to march at 9, A. M., on Monday, for Alabama Port. It
was 3, P. M., when the regiment moved, and only nine miles were scored;
but on the following day a march of twenty miles brought us to our
destination. The Twenty-first Alabama was relieved, and on Wednesday
started for Mobile. Two companies of the First Alabama were sent to Cedar
Point to man the batteries there, while the others did picket duty along
the coast and on Fowl River. The camp was on the bay in a pine grove. The
men were furnished with tents, and were soon comfortably quartered. An
abundance of oysters could be had by dredging for them, while at several
of the picket posts the men could feast on bivalves all day. Under such
circumstances, the duty imposed on the regiment was not regarded as
onerous.
On the 25th of March four companies of the regiment were ordered down
the coast to repel a raid of the enemy. It was necessary to collect
all the cartridges from the remaining four companies to fill the boxes
of those ordered away, as only twenty rounds per man had been issued
to the regiment since its return to duty, and there was not a round in
the ordnance wagon. Considering that the regiment had been acting as
rear-guard of Polk’s army, and had been sent down the bay to do picket
duty, it was a remarkable state of affairs. The alarm proved a false
one, and the detachment returned. On the 26th two companies were sent
to Fort Powell; and on the 27th another company was ordered to Cedar
Point, making three at that post. Co. K remained at Alabama Port. Lieut.
Johnson, who had for sometime been in command of Co. K, was, on the
27th, relieved by order of Maj. Knox, by Lieut. Jones, of Co. I; this
caused great dissatisfaction, as the latter was not liked. In a few days,
however, he was furloughed, and Lieut. Crymes, of Co. I, a most gallant
and popular gentleman, was placed in command. On the 1st of April our
rations were increased—the meat from 1¼ pounds per day to 1½, and the
bacon from ⅓ of a pound to ½ pound. The battalion of the regiment at
Alabama Port was ordered, on the morning of April 5th, to strike tents,
and at 8, A. M. started for Cedar Point, where a boat was in waiting to
convey seven companies of the regiment to Fort Gaines, Dauphin Island,
three being left at Fort Powell and Cedar Point. Only one-half of the
men could be carried at one trip, and it was after dark when the second
boat-load was landed. In the allotment of the guns of the fort to the
regiment, Co. K fared badly; for though it was one of the four companies
that served as heavy artillery at Port Hudson, and the only company
that served exclusively as such during the siege, yet it was sent to the
flanking casemates, while green companies were sent to the barbette guns.
The Thirtieth Louisiana Regiment was on duty at the fort on alternate
days with the first Alabama, but two companies of the First were sent
into the fort every night to man the guns. About the only relief from the
monotony of guard duty was the arrival of blockade runners, one or two of
which came in each week. They would slip in quietly at night, and in the
morning their low grey hulls could be seen lying under the guns of Fort
Morgan.
On the 16th of April a scouting party of 100 men landed from the enemy’s
fleet on the western end of Dauphin Island, but were driven to their
boats by a picket guard of ten men. The only other incident of our stay
at Fort Gaines was on April 20th, when the C. S. gunboat “Gaines” ran out
near Fort Morgan to practice with her guns. About the same time a Federal
war ship began shelling a working party throwing up a battery near
Fort Morgan. The men crowded the ramparts in the expectation of seeing
a general engagement, as rumors had been in circulation for some time
that Fort Morgan was to be bombarded; but quiet was soon restored. Co. I
rejoined the regiment from Cedar Point on the 20th.
Fishing constituted the chief amusement of the men, and they met with
great success. There was a large seine on the island, and with this wagon
loads of fish were caught; but those of the best quality were brought in
by the hook and line sportsmen—redfish, croakers, sea bass, blue cat,
sand mullet, drum and sheepshead being on their strings. The seine was
a dragnet for all kinds of monsters. On one occasion a sawfish 12 feet
10 inches long, and weighing 338 pounds, was caught; the sword or saw
was 2 feet 10 inches in length and from 4 to 6 inches broad. On another
occasion an immense sturgeon was hauled in; while among the smaller fry
were sting rays, horseshoe crabs, sea nettles, sea porcupines and a
variety of other curiosities. Porpoises were gamboling in the bay nearly
all the time, and in the lagoons on the island were alligators.
May 3d, the regiment embarked on the steamboat “C. W. Durrance” for
Mobile, where it was quartered in the State Press Warehouse. Co. I was
sent to Dog River on the 4th, and on the 5th the other companies went
to Pollard, Ala. Co. K was immediately ordered back to Hall’s Landing
on Tensas River, where it arrived on the 7th. Co. C was ordered to
Greenville, and two companies were ordered to do picket duty on the
railroad to Pensacola. The camp of Co. K was about one mile from Hall’s
Landing, and there it remained for two weeks. Lieut. Adams, who had been
exchanged, joined the company about May 20th. On May 16th a number of
officers and men were detailed from the regiment to attend an artillery
school in Mobile. Of Co. K, Sergts. Cameron, Fay and Smith were selected.
They reported, but before the school was fairly organized the regiment
was ordered to North Georgia. The bill of fare at the school is worth of
preservation:—Breakfast, rye coffee and corn bread (of unsifted meal);
dinner, corn bread and boiled bacon, except on three days out often, when
molasses was issued in lieu of bacon; supper, corn bread and rice boiled
in the pot liquor left at noon. The order of exercises at the school
was as follows:—Reveille, 5 A. M.; police, 5.10; drill in infantry and
artillery, 5.30 to 6.30; breakfast, 7; guard mounting, 7.45; studies and
recitations, 8 to 12 M.; dinner, 1 P. M.; studies and recitations, 2 to
4.30; infantry and artillery drill, 5 to 6; police, 6.10; dress parade,
6.30; supper, 7; tattoo, 9; taps, 9.30.
The detail rejoined the company on the 23d, and on the 24th the command
took the cars for Montgomery; the other companies started a day or
two earlier. During the six months that had elapsed since the company
reassembled it had lost a number of its members. W. H. Hutchinson had
been transferred to the cavalry, Wm. Douglass, E. Jenkins and Henry
Fralick to the navy, and, as previously mentioned, Callens and Hays
had died. While at Mobile and en route to North Georgia, the following
recruits joined the company: A. D. Ellis, Autauga Co., February, 1864;
— Harvey, March, 1864; George W. Gibbons, D. E. Holt and G. W. Hunt,
Autauga Co., May, 1864. In June, while in North Georgia, the following
recruits joined the company: A. G. Gresham, N. Landers, W. M. Trammel,
of Tallapoosa Co., and Isaac Ward, Montgomery Co. Harvey, who joined
the company at Mobile to avoid being conscripted, deserted before we
left there. The writer called the attention of the officer in command of
the company to the suspicious character of the man on the day that he
enlisted, but there was nothing on which to base charges, and no notice
was taken of the warning. Subsequent events demonstrated the correctness
of the suspicion that he was a spy. He stated that he had been employed
in the Mobile navy yard, and he was evidently familiar with the
construction of the ram “Tennessee,” as, in conversation, he explained
how she could be disabled. The rudder-chains, he said, lay along the
deck, protected only by a cast-iron shield, and they could easily be shot
away. A few months later the “Tennessee”; was disabled in precisely the
way he predicted. Whether he conveyed to the enemy the information of
this weakness of an otherwise powerful vessel is a matter of conjecture,
but it is certainly a singular coincidence.
The strength of Co. K at the beginning of the Tennessee campaign,
including the new recruits, was probably about 62 men, of whom perhaps 40
were present for duty. Lieut. N. K. Adams was in command.
The company arrived at Montgomery on the morning of the 25th. A number
of them who lived in Autauga County received twelve hours’ furlough.
The company left Montgomery on the morning of the 26th, and rejoined
the regiment at New Hope Church, Saturday morning, May 28th. Knapsacks
and other _impedimenta_, with the exception of blankets, were left in
Montgomery.