SOUTH CAROLINIANS IN THE WEST--MANIGAULT'S AND LYTHGOE'S REGIMENTS AT
CORINTH--THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN--BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO.
In April, 1862, following the battle of Shiloh, in response to the
urgent call of General Beauregard, at Corinth, Miss., for troops to
reinforce the army he then commanded, the Tenth South Carolina, Col.
A. M. Manigault, and the Nineteenth, Col. A. J. Lythgoe, were ordered
from the coast of South Carolina to report to that general. Arrived
at Corinth, the two regiments were brigaded with the Twenty-fourth,
Twenty-eighth and Thirty-fourth Alabama regiments, under the command of
Brigadier-General Trapier, in the division of Major-General Withers.
From December, 1862, the brigade was commanded by Colonel Manigault,
and known as "Manigault's brigade." Lieut.-Col. James F. Pressley took
command of the Tenth.
Covering the front of Beauregard's army, on May 2d, Manigault's brigade
was brought into prominent notice by the firm stand it made against the
enemy's advance. The supports on its right and left having retired,
Colonel Manigault held his position and repelled the attack. No report
of the details of this affair is at hand. It reflected much credit on
the brigade, and gave the South Carolina regiments their first battle
before Corinth. At Corinth and at Tupelo, the army suffered from
exposure and bad water, and 17,000 sick were sent to the rear, and in
these hardships the South Carolina regiments had their full share. The
faithful chaplain of the Tenth, Rev. W. T. Capers, and many of the
officers and men of both regiments were ill, and many died.
In July the army was moved to a healthier camp, and early in August
it was concentrated near Chattanooga for an aggressive campaign in
Tennessee and Kentucky. General Bragg was now in command, General
Beauregard having been called to Charleston.
Bragg crossed the Tennessee, moved over the Cumberland mountains and
entered Kentucky. When the army moved against Munfordville, Manigault
was in advance and met and drove in the pickets. The garrison
capitulated September 18th, and Bragg moved on toward Frankfort. Buell,
who had left Tennessee and marched to Louisville, where he reorganized
his army, struck at Bragg's exposed rear, attacking Polk at Perryville.
Polk held his own with greatly inferior numbers, repulsed Buell,
captured much artillery and many prisoners, but lost in killed and
wounded over 3,000 of his little army. General Bragg retired toward
the mountains, and crossing into east Tennessee, occupied Knoxville,
Buell moving to Nashville. During the rapid retreat on Knoxville, the
army suffered greatly from want of proper food, rapid marches and the
exposure of the men in bivouac. After resting his army at Knoxville,
General Bragg recrossed the mountains and ultimately took post at
Murfreesboro, where he was attacked by Rosecrans (who had displaced
General Buell), and the battle of Stone's River, or Murfreesboro,
followed on December 31st.
Manigault's brigade bore a conspicuous part at Murfreesboro, and its
operations in connection with that battle will now be described.
General Bragg's line of battle was formed in front of Murfreesboro,
running a little east of north and west of south. Stone's river ran
southeast, in his front, cut off his right, and bending south ran along
his rear. As the divisions stood from right to left they were placed
in the following order: Breckinridge east of the river, then Withers,
Cheatham, McCown and Cleburne, the formation in two lines, the cavalry
well out on the flanks. Near the river, on the west side of it, the
Nashville railroad and the turnpike, running near each other, passed
through Bragg's line nearly at right angles. The Wilkinson pike passed
through the line on the left of Withers, running northwest.
Lieutenant-General Polk commanded the right wing, and
Lieutenant-General Hardee the left; Breckinridge, Withers and Cheatham
made the right, and McCown and Cleburne, with Wharton's cavalry, the
left.
Rosecrans stood before Bragg with three army corps, commanded by
Major-Generals McCook, Thomas and Crittenden, all west of the river.
Crittenden faced Breckinridge with three divisions; Thomas, with five
divisions, faced Withers and Cheatham; McCook, with three divisions,
faced Cleburne and McCown. Wharton, with his splendid brigade of
cavalry, stood forward of Hardee's left, ready to make his brilliant
attack on Rosecrans' right and rear.
The signal for battle was given, and at 7 o'clock on the morning of
December 31st, Hardee ordered Wharton with his troopers to find the
rear of McCook's right flank and fall upon his supports, and directed
his infantry and artillery forward. McCown, supported by Cleburne,
advanced and engaged in severe battle, taking the enemy by surprise
and forcing him back toward the Wilkinson pike. Bragg's plan was to
drive back the right wing of Rosecrans, and when beaten to attack his
center and right simultaneously. Hardee's battle pushed McCook beyond
the Wilkinson pike, when Withers moved out against Thomas, supported
by Cheatham. Bragg's battle was a grand right wheel, pivoting on the
river, the wheel obliquing toward the wheeling flank, and the pivot
gaining forward. By 10 o'clock, both of Hardee's divisions were in
full battle, as were those of Withers and Cheatham, and later on
Breckinridge sent over four of his brigades to reinforce the battle of
the pivot.
When evening came the full right wheel had been completed and the army
stood against its enemy in a line at an exact right angle to its first
position. The pivot had gained forward a half mile, but Rosecrans
had held fast with his left on the river. In the wheeling fight, on
Hardee's right, and in the struggle to move the pivot forward as it
turned, Withers' division made its battle. That general reported the
operations of his division with great accuracy and distinctness, and we
shall follow his report for an account of Manigault's brigade.
As Withers placed his brigades from right to left, Chalmers' brigade
was on the right touching the river, and formed the pivot of the great
wheel; then came Patton Anderson's brigade, then Manigault's, and
lastly Deas'. Manigault moved out in due time, and his left swinging
around met the enemy on a wooded ridge, and stormed and carried it. In
his wheel through an open field, and before the brigade could touch
Anderson's, on its right, it was taken in flank by artillery and the
fire of the force it had driven. Here fell the gallant Col. A. J.
Lythgoe, of the Nineteenth South Carolina, at the head of his regiment.
His major-general well said of him: "He dies well who dies nobly." The
flank fire on Manigault broke his line and repelled his advance in
some confusion. Rallying, the brigade continued its battle, now with
more success charging and gaining ground. But it had gone beyond its
right and left supports, and was again fired upon by artillery on the
right flank; the brigade on his immediate left was repulsed and again
Manigault had to retire. Maney's brigade, from Cheatham's division, was
ordered to support Manigault's left, and again he advanced and with
Maney's gallant aid the brigade swung forward and round in victorious
advance.
This third advance brought the two South Carolina regiments directly
on the battery that had done their brigade so much harm, and the
Tenth and Nineteenth were ordered to charge and take it. The Tenth,
led by Lieut.-Col. J. F. Pressley, and the Nineteenth, by Lieut.-Col.
T. P. Shaw, moved as one man to take the guns. A Federal brigade in
support delivered its volleys so rapidly as to check the assault,
when Anderson, who was on Manigault's right, moved up his brigade
and attacked the supporting brigade, while the Tenth and Nineteenth
dashed forward and took the guns. General Bragg allowed these regiments
to have the battery, and they sent it to South Carolina to have the
names of the gallant men who fell in its capture inscribed upon the
pieces. General Withers closed this part of his report with high
praise of Manigault's brigade. The brigade, says the major-general,
had been subjected to a most trying ordeal, and had lost heavily. The
calm determination and persistent energy and gallantry which rendered
Colonel Manigault proof against discouragements, had a marked influence
on and was admirably responded to by his command.
Lieutenant-General Polk, in his report, thus refers to the brigade:
The brigade of Colonel Manigault, which was immediately on the right
of that of Colonel Coltart [Deas'], followed the movement of the
latter according to instructions; but as Coltart failed in the first
onset to drive Sheridan's right, Manigault, after dashing forward
and pressing the enemy back on his second line, was brought under a
heavy fire of artillery from two batteries on his right, supported by
infantry, and was compelled to fall back.... But the gallant South
Carolinian returned to the charge a second, and a third time, and
being aided by the brigade of General Maney, of the second line,
which came to his relief with its Napoleon guns and a deadly fire of
musketry, the enemy gave way and joined his comrades on his right
in precipitate retreat across the Wilkinson pike. This movement
dislodged and drove the residue of Sheridan's division, and completed
the forcing of the whole of McCook's corps out of line of battle, and
placed it in full retreat.
With these operations, thus described, the honorable part borne by the
South Carolina regiments in the battle was practically ended. Manigault
was in line with Hardee and touching the troops on the pivot, and night
ended the great contest.
The brigade of Colonel Manigault lost a total of 517. The Tenth
South Carolina had 109 killed and wounded and 2 taken prisoners;
the Nineteenth had 80 killed and wounded, among the killed its
gallant colonel. Maj. John A. Crowder and Lieut. J. T. Norris, of
the Nineteenth, faithful and true men and officers, were among those
mortally wounded. It is to be regretted that Colonel Manigault's
report of Murfreesboro is not at the writer's command, and there is no
official report from either regiment of record.
On the roll of those "conspicuous for courage and good conduct on the
field of battle" at Murfreesboro, published by order of the Confederate
Congress, are the following:
Tenth South Carolina: First Lieut. C. C. White, Sergts. C. W.
Cockfield (killed) and S. B. Rhuarck; Privates A. J. McCants, J. S.
Beaty, W. D. Hewitt, G. S. Flowers, G. W. Curry, J. Cannon, N. Gray,
W. H. Posten, J. W. H. Bunch (killed) and J. A. Boatwright.
Nineteenth South Carolina: Col. A. J. Lythgoe, Maj. John A. Crowder;
Sergts. W. H. Burkhalter and Martin Youce; Privates Benjamin W.
Boothe, Samuel S. Horn, W. A. Black, S. D. McCoy, Samuel Bloodsworth,
Seth A. Jordan, James McClain and James Jones.
It is a grateful task to copy, in this connection, a paragraph from the
report of Lieutenant-General Polk, in which he perpetuates an act of
self-sacrificing heroism which is worthy of lasting remembrance, and
gives an example of patient courage and devotion which the writer has
never known surpassed by any of his Confederate comrades. It occurred
just before the last charge of Manigault and Maney. Says General Polk:
I think it proper to bring to the notice of the general commanding an
instance of self-sacrificing devotion to the safety of their immediate
commands, and to our cause, which for heroic courage and magnanimity
is without a parallel. A battery was pouring a murderous fire into
the brigade of General Maney from a point which made it doubtful
whether it was ours or the enemy's. Two unsuccessful efforts had been
made by staff officers (one of whom was killed in the attempt) to
determine its character. The doubt caused the brigade to hesitate in
returning the fire of the battery, when Sergeant Oakley, color-bearer
of the Fourth Tennessee, and Sergt. C. M. Hooks, color-bearer of the
Ninth Tennessee, gallantly advanced eight or ten paces to the front,
displaying their colors and holding themselves and the flag of their
country erect, remained ten minutes in a place so conspicuous as to be
plainly seen, and fully to test from whom their brigade was suffering
so severely. The murderous fire was increased and intensified, and
demonstrated that the battery and its support were not friends, but
enemies. The sergeants then returned deliberately to their proper
places in line, unhurt, and the enemy's battery was silenced and his
column put to flight.
With this act of devotion we leave the battle of Murfreesboro, making
the following general remarks about it:
General Bragg's army, infantry and artillery, numbered 33,475. His
cavalry, under Wharton, Wheeler and Pegram, aggregated 4,237, making
his army, of all arms, 37,712. Wheeler's brigade reported on December
31st, 1,169, and was not in the battle, but was operating on Rosecrans'
immediate communications. Pegram and Buford, with five regiments,
1,118 strong, were on the extreme right and scarcely engaged. Hanson's
brigade, of Breckinridge's division, 1,893 strong, was east of the
river. Deducting Wheeler's and Hanson's brigades from Bragg's total,
that general fought in actual battle against Rosecrans' columns a force
of 34,650, of all arms. These figures are taken from the field returns
of the army, as they are given from the originals in the War Records of
the Union and Confederate armies.
It is interesting to note General Rosecrans' estimates of General
Bragg's forces and losses. He reported to Washington that he had
encountered superior numbers, and gave Bragg's strength, 46,200
infantry, 1,200 sharpshooters, 1,840 artillery, and 13,250 cavalry,
"making a total of 62,490." In like manner the Union general estimated
the Confederate loss at 14,560. In this estimate he missed it by
over 4,000! General Bragg lost 10,266 of all arms, killed, wounded
and captured. General Rosecrans took the actual loss in General
Breckinridge's division and multiplied by seven, instead of five, the
number of divisions. The Federal loss in killed and wounded as reported
by General Rosecrans was 8,778. He estimated his loss in prisoners at
2,800. The inspector-general of Bragg's army reported to his chief over
6,000 prisoners! General Hardee reported 1,900 captured by Wharton's
cavalry alone!
The writer, from his experience in the field, knows it to be very
difficult to report accurately, after a great battle, the losses in
killed, wounded and prisoners, but he has often been impressed with
the exaggeration of generals, Federal and Confederate, in giving
estimates of the numbers opposing them, and the losses they inflict
upon their adversaries. Here we have Rosecrans reporting Bragg's army
opposed to him at 62,490, and General Bragg reporting Rosecrans' army
at from 60,000 to 70,000; Rosecrans estimating Bragg's loss at 14,560,
and Bragg reporting an estimated loss for Rosecrans at 25,273. By the
official statements of both generals, as shown in the army returns,
now published by the government in its invaluable War Records of both
armies, Rosecrans engaged Bragg's 34,650 of all arms, with a force
of 43,400 of all arms. "On the whole," said General Rosecrans in his
report, written six weeks after the battle, "we fought superior numbers
on unknown ground, inflicted much more injury than we suffered, were
always superior on equal ground with equal numbers, and failed of a
most crushing victory on Wednesday [December 31st] by the extension and
direction of our right wing." The facts are that Bragg was victorious
everywhere on the field, except on his extreme right, and after the
withdrawal of Rosecrans' left on the river, at night, the whole
battlefield was Bragg's, with all its spoils. He captured 31 pieces of
artillery; over 6,000 prisoners, two brigadier-generals among them;
several stand of colors, 200 wagons with their contents, destroying
over 800 others, loaded with ammunition and army stores, all of which
he secured and appropriated.
Both armies were non-aggressive on January 1st; on the 2d, Rosecrans
crossed a force in front of Breckinridge, bringing on a bloody
engagement in the afternoon with that division. On the 3d and 4th, no
movement of importance was made, and Bragg, learning of reinforcements
coming to his adversary, whose strength he estimated at 70,000, with
the river in the rear rapidly rising from constant rains, and his
army without tents and baggage and much worn by constant watching
and battle, determined upon retreat, and fell back ultimately to
Tullahoma, without firing a gun in his retirement. Here, as afterward
at Chickamauga, General Bragg failed to take advantage of his success,
and General Rosecrans claimed a great victory.