Co. Aytch, or a Side Show of the Big Show Page 30
But when we pass away, the impartial historian will render a true verdict, and a history will then be written in justification and vindication of those brave and noble boys who gave their all in fighting the battles of their homes, their country, and their God.
“The United States has no North, no South, no East, no West.” “We are one and undivided.”
ADIEU
My kind friends—soldiers, comrades, brothers, all: The curtain is rung down, the footlights are put out, the audience has all left and gone home, the seats are vacant, and the cold walls are silent. The gaudy tinsel that appears before the footlights is exchanged for the dress of the citizen. Coming generations and historians will be the critics as to how we have acted our parts. The past is buried in oblivion. The blood-red flag, with its crescent and cross,2 that we followed for four long, bloody, and disastrous years, has been folded never again to be unfurled. We have no regrets for what we did, but we mourn the loss of so many brave and gallant men who perished on the field of battle and honor. I now bid you an affectionate adieu.
But in closing these memoirs, the scenes of my life pass in rapid review before me. In imagination, I am young again tonight. I feel the flush and vigor of my manhood—am just twenty-one years of age. I hear the fife and drum playing “Dixie” and “Bonnie Blue Flag.” I see and hear our fire-eating stump-orators tell of the right of secession and disunion. I see our fair and beautiful women waving their handkerchiefs and encouraging their sweethearts to go to the war. I see the marshaling of the hosts for “glorious war.” I see the fine banners waving and hear the cry everywhere, “To arms! to arms!” And I also see our country at peace and prosperous, our fine cities look grand and gay, our fields rich in abundant harvests, our people happy and contented. All these pass in imagination before me.
Then I look and see glorious war in all its splendor. I hear the shout and charge, the boom of artillery and the rattle of small arms. I see gaily-dressed officers charging backwards and forwards upon their mettled war horses, clothed in the panoply of war. I see victory and conquest upon flying banners. I see our arms triumph in every battle.
And, O, my friends, I see another scene. I see broken homes and broken hearts. I see war in all of its desolation. I see a country ruined and impoverished. I see a nation disfranchised and maltreated. I see a commonwealth forced to pay dishonest and fraudulent bonds that were issued to crush that people. I see sycophants licking the boots of the country's oppressor. I see other and many wrongs perpetrated upon a conquered people.
But maybe it is but the ghosts and phantoms of a dreamy mind, or the wind as it whistles around our lonely cabin-home. The past is buried in oblivion. The mantle of charity has long ago fallen upon those who think differently from us. We remember no longer wrongs and injustice done us by anyone on earth. We are willing to forget and forgive those who have wronged and falsified us. We look up above and beyond all these petty groveling things and shake hands and forget the past.
And while my imagination is like the weaver's shuttle, playing backward and forward through these two decades of time, I ask myself, Are these things real? did they happen? are they being enacted today? or are they the fancies of the imagination in forgetful reverie? Is it true that I have seen all these things? that they are real incidents in my life's history? Did I see those brave and noble countrymen of mine laid low in death and weltering in their blood? Did I see our country laid waste and in ruins? Did I see soldiers marching, the earth trembling and jarring beneath their measured tread? Did I see the ruins of smouldering cities and deserted homes? Did I see my comrades buried and see the violet and wild flowers bloom over their graves? Did I see the flag of my country, that I had followed so long, furled to be no more unfurled forever?
Surely they are but the vagaries of mine own imagination. Surely my fancies are running wild tonight. But, hush! I now hear the approach of battle. That low, rumbling sound in the west is the roar of cannon in the distance. That rushing sound is the tread of soldiers. That quick, lurid glare is the flash that precedes the cannon's roar. And listen! that loud report that makes the earth tremble and jar and sway, is but the bursting of a shell, as it screams through the dark, tempestuous night. That black, ebon cloud, where the lurid lightning flickers and flares, that is rolling through the heavens, is the smoke of battle; beneath is being enacted a carnage of blood and death. Listen! The soldiers are charging now. The flashes and roaring now are blended with the shouts of soldiers and confusion of battle.
But, reader, time has brought his changes since I, a young ardent and impetuous youth, burning with a lofty patriotism first shouldered my musket to defend the rights of my country.
Lifting the veil of the past, I see many manly forms, bright in youth and hope, standing in view by my side in Company H, First Tennessee Regiment. Again I look and half those forms are gone. Again, and gray locks and wrinkled faces and clouded brows stand before me.
Before me, too, I see, not in imagination, but in reality, my own loved Jennie, the partner of my joys and the sharer of my sorrows, sustaining, comforting, and cheering my pathway by her benignant smile; pouring the sunshine of domestic comfort and happiness upon our humble home; making life more worth the living as we toil on up the hill of time together, with the bright pledges of our early and constant love by our side while the sunlight of hope ever brightens our pathway, dispelling darkness and sorrow as we hand in hand approach the valley of the great shadow.
The tale is told. The world moves on, the sun shines as brightly as before, the flowers bloom as beautifully, the birds sing their carols as sweetly, the trees nod and bow their leafy tops as if slumbering in the breeze, the gentle winds fan our brow and kiss our cheek as they pass by, the pale moon sheds her silvery sheen, the blue dome of the sky sparkles with the trembling stars that twinkle and shine and make night beautiful, and the scene melts and gradually disappears forever.
THE END
* * *
1. The only way that Sam could consider Franklin a victory is by noting that Union General Schofield continued to withdraw to greater safety in Nashville. However, Schofield inflicted sixty-three hundred casualties at a cost of only twenty-three hundred.
2. This is a reference to the Sovereignty Flag, sometimes called the Sovereignty Flag of South Carolina.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1970.
Bilby, Joseph G. A Revolution in Arms. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2006.
Bonds, Russell S. War Like the Thunderbolt. Yardley, PA, Westholme, 2009.
Bowers, John. Stonewall Jackson: Portrait of a Soldier. New York: Avon, 1989.
Brown, Kent Masterson. The Civil War in Kentucky. Mason City: IA, Savas, 2000.
Castel, Albert. Decision in the West. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1992.
Cozzens, Peter. No Better Place to Die. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
———. The Shipwreck of their Hopes. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
———. This Terrible Sound. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
Daniel, Larry J. Shiloh. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Davis, William C. Jefferson Davis: The Man and the Hour. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Fletcher, William A. Rebel Private: Front and Rear. New York: Dutton, 1995.
Groom, Winston. Shiloh, 1862. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2012.
Hess, Earl J. Banners to the Breeze. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
Jones, Archer. Confederate Strategy from Shiloh to Vicksburg. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961.
Kerby, Robert L. Kirby-Smith's Confederacy. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1972.
Martin, Samuel J. General Braxton Bragg, CSA. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011.
Patrick, Rembert W. Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1944
.
Symonds, Craig L. Stonewall of the West. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1997.
Thomas, Emory. The Confederate Nation. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.
———. Robert E. Lee. New York: Norton, 1995.
Tucker, Glenn. The Battles for Chattanooga. Harrisburg, PA. Historical Times, 1971.
———. Chickamauga. Dayton, OH: Morningside House, 1992.
Woodworth, Steven. Jefferson Davis and his Generals. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1990.
———. Six Armies in Tennessee. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.
WEB SITE
“A Concise History of the First Tennessee Infantry Regiment,” TNGenWeb/TNGenNet Project, http://www.tngenweb.org/civil-war/csainf/maney.html.
INDEX
Adairsville, 159–161
Adams, James, 128n15, 236, 255
Adkisson, Captain, 177
Akin, Connor, 210
Akin, Dow, 210
Akin, James H., 178, 193
Alabama state capital, 204–206
Allen, Major, 74, 199
Allison, Captain, 56
ammunition, xx, 11–12
Anderson, Major, 5
armistice, 234–236
Armstrong, Gray, 44
Armstrong, S. H., 193
arrest (Watkins's), 206–207
Atlanta
Battle of. see July 22, 1864, Battle of
Campaign, 154n7, 155
evacuation of, 234–236
taking of, 220–222
Baird, Absalom, 108
Bald Hill. See July 22, 1864, Battle of
Banks, Nathaniel, 18
Barnum, P. T., 212
barrel shirt, 137
Bate, William B., 187, 194n7, 202, 236, 243
Bath, battle of, 20–21
Beasley, Captain, 161, 173
Beauregard, P. G. T., 5, 28n1, 33n5, 40n1, 117n3, 133n1
Benjamin, Judah, 19n26
Bolton, J. G., 140
Bond, Billy, 61
Bonds, Russell S., 228n5
Bragg, Braxton
at Chattanooga, 101
at Chickamauga, 105n11, 107, 110–111n1
Davis and, 117n3
discipline and, 42, 85
in Kentucky, 53n1, 54n3, 55
Longstreet and, 129
at Missionary Ridge, 124, 125
Munfordville and, 57n6
at Murfreesboro, 75n6, 80n11
Owleydousky and, 91
at Perryville, 57n7, 60n9
portrait of, 41
rations and, 138
replacement of, 133–134
replacing Beauregard, 40n1
retreat from Kentucky and, 64n13
at Shiloh, 30
siege and, 117, 120n6
soldier's opinions of, 42–43
troop movements and, 156n9
at Tupelo, 51
Branch, John, 66, 153, 154, 169, 244
Brandon, Edmund, 174
Brandon, Jim, 166, 173
Brank, Robert, 69, 123–124
Breckinridge, John C., 1n1, 113, 179–180, 185, 235
Breckinridge, William C., 179n34, 185n41
Brewer, Dave, 50–51
Brooks, Preston, 2n4
Brown, John C., 165, 187, 196, 220n28, 236, 249n2
Brown, Joseph, 212–214
Buchanan, James, 179n34
Buckner, Dave, 207
Buell, Don Carlos, 27–28n1, 33n4, 34, 35, 54n3, 56, 57n6, 57n7
Buist, Dr., 109
Bull Run, First Battle of, 133n1
Bullock, J. Lee, 21
Burnside, Ambrose, 129n17
C., Fount, 143
Calhoun, John C., 7, 88n4, 213
Camp Cheatham, 6, 8
Camp Dick Robinson, 54, 64
Campbell, George, 145
Campbell, Mack, 145, 172, 177
Campbell, Sam, 60–61
capture (Watkins's), 238–240
Carney, Joe, 160, 199
Carr, Billy, 160, 262–263
Carthell, Joe, 199, 208
Casabianca, 123
Castel, Albert, 228n5
Cat Creek, Battle of, 130–131
Cavaliers, 6
Chalmers, General, 28, 56
Charles I, 6n11
Chattanooga, 101–102, 116–117
Chattanooga Times, xvii
Cheat Mountain, fighting at, 14–15
Cheatham, Benjamin F.
Bragg and, 118n5
camp named for, 6n10
at Chickamauga, 108, 111n1, 112, 113n2, 166n22
command of, 201
at Franklin, 252
Hood and, 187n2
at Jonesboro, 220, 223
July 22 and, 193–194, 195n7, 196
at Murfreesboro, 77–78, 79–80
at Nashville, 260n10
Resaca and, 156n9
at Spring Hill, 248, 249n2
staying in war, 235
survival of, 258
Cheatham, Frank, 263–264
Chickamauga, 105–109, 110–115, 166, 267
Civil War, onset of, 5–6, 7–8
Cleburne, Patrick
command of, 165
at Franklin, 255
at Jonesboro, 220n28, 223–224
July 22 and, 194–195, 196, 197–199
Luc. Polk and, 166–167
at Missionary Ridge, 120n6, 124–125n13
at Ringgold Gap, 131–132
at Spring Hill, 249n2
staying in war, 235
Cochran, Jim, 193
cock fights, 210–212
Coleman, Walker, 66, 156
Columbia, 244–245, 247–248
Columbia (TN) Herald, xix–xx
commissaries, 138
Confederate Private (Fletcher), 62n10
Conscription Act (1862), 39–40, 245–246
Corinth, 39–46, 48
court-martials, 23–25, 50–51, 91
Dallas, Battle of, 179–180
Dalton, 134, 139, 140, 242–243
Daphne, Aunt, 145–146
Davis, Jefferson
Bragg and, 40n1, 133
election of, 2n2, 3
evaluation of, 265
hollow square and, 157n10
Hood and, 192, 231–232
Johnston and, 137n5, 159n13
Jos. Brown and, 213n20
opinions of, 128
on regiment, 177
review of, 117
speech by, 233–234
Spring Hill and, 248
Davis, Sam, 97
Dead Angle, 167–178
Deas (Day), Zachariah, 122, 124, 126
Decision in the West (Castel), 228n5
deserters, 39, 42, 43–44, 139, 235n15
Dixon, J. E., 126, 139, 143
Dobbins, Albert, 193
Dobbins, Alex, 193
Dobbins, Major, 193
Dornin, 49
Dornin, Fred, 83–84
Dornin, T. C., 162, 174
Douglas, Stephen, 1n1
Doyle, Sergeant, 131
dual, 183–184
Elliott, C. D., 8, 135–136, 140
Ellsworth, Elmer, 7n12
Ely, Jessee, 67
Embry, Willis B., 70
Enfield guns, 210
Ezra Church, Battle of, 201
Falconer, Kinlock, 261
Farquharson, Colonel, 145, 213
Feild, Hume R.
at Adairsville, 159–160
at Cheat Mountain, 15–16
at Chickamauga, 107, 108
Davis on, 233
at Dead Angle, 172
description of, 46–47
food scarcity and, 93–94
J. Jackson and, 62n12
at Missionary Ridge, 124–125
at Murfreesboro, 79
at Nashville, 262
at Perryville, 59
at Resaca, 157
shooting ability of, 145
Sublett and, 90
52nd Ohio, 170n25
1st Arkansas, 165
Fletcher, William, 49n1, 62n10
Flournoy, W. C., 63, 177, 226
Floyd, John B., 14n19, 16
Fogey, Jim, 109
food
burning of, 129
butter, 100–101
foraging for, 99
in hospital, 203, 204
lack of, 64–65
mussels, 83–84
rats as, 97–98
roastingears, 51–52, 98–99
scarcity of, 42–43, 93–94
theft of, 57–58
in Virginia, 13
See also rations
Forepaugh, Adam, 212
Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 33n5, 105, 107, 108, 129, 192n5, 220, 249–250
Fort Donelson, 27n1, 35
Fort Henry, 35
Fort Negley, 258
48th Tennessee, 180
Foster, R. C., 6
14th Georgia, 25, 192
4th Tennessee, 213–214
Franklin, Battle of, 251–258, 267
Franklin, Rube, 50–51
Freeman, Asa G., 70, 143, 178
Frierson, Frank, 76, 180
frozen guards, 25–26
Fulcher, Captain/Major, 120, 177, 266
Fulghum, Arthur, 66–67, 156
furloughs, 135, 136, 147–150
Fussell, Joe, 193
Galbreath, James, 196–197, 217–218
Galloway, Captain, 193
games/gambling, 10, 49, 210–212
Garnett, Richard, 19n26
Gilgal Church. See Golgotha (Gilgal) Church
Gist, William, 128, 128n15, 235, 255, 257
Gladden, General, 28, 33
Golgotha (Gilgal) Church, 164–165
Gordon, Jack, 193
Graham, William A., 181
Granberry, General, 225, 235
Grant, Ulysses S.
at Chattanooga, 93, 120n6
at Missionary Ridge, 122, 125n13
move to Mississippi, 56n5
at Shiloh, 27–28n1, 29n2, 33n4, 34, 35