5, Confederate General Orders No. 2, relative to troop movements, control of railroads, ban on liquor sales, establishment of martial law in Memphis and prisoners of war
GEN. ORDERS, HDQRS. 2d GRAND DIV., ARMY OF MISS., No. 2. Jackson, Tenn., March 5, 1862.
1. All troops coming within limits of this division from Louisiana and Mississippi will rendezvous at Grand Junction, Tenn., and those from Alabama at Corinth, Miss., and the new levies from Tennessee will rendezvous at Henderson and Bethel Stations, on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
2. Lea's and Browder's regiments Tennessee Volunteers and stragglers and unattached men will proceed from Henderson Station to Corinth, and report to Brig.-Gen. Ruggles. The Seventh Regt. [sic] Mississippi Volunteers will proceed from Jackson to Henderson.
3. Chiefs of staff will see that the necessary supplies and transportation are furnished to effect these movements.
4. Railroads within the limits of this command, being absolutely necessary for military purposes at this time, are, to the extent necessary, placed under the control of the Quartermaster's Department. To suppress disorders arrest all persons traveling without proper authority, and prevent undue interference by unauthorized persons on the Memphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio Railroads. Brig.-Gen. Ruggles will make the necessary details from his command to send a guard of one commissioned officer and five men with each passenger train on these roads.
5. The sale or supplying in any manner of intoxicating liquors within 5 miles of any station occupied by troops or within 1 mile of any public highway used for military purposes, except for medicinal purposes, on the written prescription of a regular physician, is prohibited. All grogshop and drinking saloons within such limits will be closed and the supplies packed, subject to military inspection. Any violation of this order will be followed by prompt arrest of the offender and destruction of all his stores of liquor.
6. Martial law is declared at the city of Memphis. A firm and discreet officer, of proper qualifications, will be detailed by Brig.-Gen. Ruggles to assume the duties of provost-marshal at that place, who will publish his orders and call on the commanding officer at that city of the necessary guards to enforce them.
7. The prisoners of war at Memphis will be transferred to Mobile, under a guard of 50 men, to be detailed by Brig.-Gen. Ruggles from his command at Corinth. The commanding officer at Mobile will forward them, under a proper guard, to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for confinement.
By command of Maj.-Gen. Bragg:
H. W. WALTER, Acting Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 10, pt. II, pp. 297-298.
5, Negligent officers, rain and warm breakfast; an entry from the diary of William E. Sloan, Pvt. C. Co., 3rd, (Lillard's) Infantry
We were ordered back to Knoxville yesterday evening near sunset, but owing to pure negligence on the part of the officers in charge of our detachment the train which was there to bring us to K. [sic] was allowed to come off and leave us, and we had to march through on foot. We took the railroad track and came on until midnight, when it grew very dark and commenced raining, and the men became so scattered that they could not be collected together again, for it was so dark that we could not follow the railroad without danger of being killed at bridges and stock-gaps. Many of the men found shelter from the pouring rain in barns and houses, but I was not so lucky. Myself and one comrade (George Oneal) failed to find shelter and after he had fallen into one stock-gap and was considerably bruised, we felt our way into the thick woods and lay down close together to wait for morning. Though thoroughly drenched with rain, we got some sleep, and when morning came we were glad to move along to get up some circulation. The first house we came to we asked for a warm breakfast, which was granted with that hearty good will known only among good southern people. On entering the front door the first object I discovered was Bro. Jim's cap hanging on the hat-rack, from which I knew he was in the breakfast room. He had arrived alone. After our good breakfast we three came on to Knoxville in the best of humor, and the detachment came scattering in.
Diary of William E. Sloan. [1]
5, Report on pro-Union results of elections in Harding and McNairy counties. An excerpt from a report by Lieutenant William Gwin to Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote
U. S. GUNBOAT TYLER, Cairo, Ill., March 5, 1862.
Flag-Officer ANDREW H. FOOTE, U. S. N., Cmdg. Naval Forces on Western Waters:
The results of the recent elections in Hardin and McNairy Counties, South Tennessee, will prove to you that the Union sentiment is very strong throughout that section of the State. The former gave 500 majority for the Union candidate out of a poll of 1,000 votes. The latter gave 200 majority Union out of a poll of 1,800 votes. The constant cry from them to me is, "Send us arms and a sufficient force to protect us in organizing, and we will drive the secessionists out of Tennessee ourselves." I enlisted a few more men. Capt. Phillips recruited several for his company. I have captured J. B. Kendrick, of Capt. Fitzgerald's company of Tennessee Volunteers, who represented himself as a colonel of militia of the State of Tennessee, and Clay Kendrick, private in Capt. Fitzgerald's company, Col. Crews' regiment Tennessee Volunteers.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. GWIN, Lieut., Comdg. Div. of Gunboats on Tennessee River.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 10, pt. II, p. 8.
5, Military Execution in Nashville
Military Execution.
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, writing from Nashville, gives the annexed account of a military execution.
On the 5th inst., I witnessed, for the first time, a military execution. The circumstances are these" Michael Connell, a private in the 24th Oho regiment, while intoxicated shot at a corporal of the guard. He was arraigned, tried, and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried into effect in presence of the entire division. The sight was an awful impressive one. After the troops had taken up their position, closed in column, the prisoner was marched in, preceded by his coffin. He was accompanied by a priest, who ministered to him his last moments. Te solemn death march wailed out from the band upon the cold winter air, and many a stout, brave hearts sickened. I saw eyes that are not given to the melting mood, brimming over with tears, and suppressed sobs were heard in the ranks.
The prisoner, poor fellow, marched firmly up to the place of execution, and faced the file of men that stood ready to fire upon him. Gen. Nelson waited until the last moment, trusting that a reprieve might come from Gen. Buell, and even sent an aid du camp down the road to look for the messenger, but in vain. The signal was at last give. A wave of the officer's sword, the sharp report of rifles, and Michael Connell's body dropped upon his coffin, four Minnie balls having pass entirely through him near the heart.
I have looked upon death in many forms, have seen scores of men killed in battle, but in all combined, never felt half the mortal terror that this scene produced. I never wish to witness another execution. Peace to his ashes. He died the death of a soldier, and a brave one, too.
Memphis Daily Appeal, March 29, 1862. [2]
5, "A Touching Incident,"
Last Sabbath [1st] I was wandering through the large grave-yard near this place, where sleep so many of our gallant soldiers, who have fallen by the hand of disease, I noticed three or four young ladies attired in deep mourning enter the grave-yard. They passed before several of the new made soldier's graves and knelt down over then and wept. They seemed to utter a prayer for the departed spirits of the heroic dead of martyrs, who had yielded up their lives to the defense of their country, and although they passed away in a strange land, without the hand of a kind mother or sister to soothe their dying moments an[d] minister to their last wants, their lonely grave-yard be visited and watered, with the tears of the fair daughters of the sunny South. And long after the din of battle is hushed, and peace spreads her gladsome [sic] wings over our land, these fair angels will visit the soldier's [sic] grave, and bedew it with their tears and plant flowers and ever greens around the last resting places of the departed heroes of the Southern soldier.
Chattanooga Daily Rebel, March 5, 1863.
5, Skirmish at Chapel Hill [see March 4-14, 1863, Expedition from Murfreesborough toward Columbia, Tennessee above]
No circumstantial reports filed.
Excerpt from the Report of Brig. Gen. James B. Steedman, U. S. Army, commanding Third Division, Fourteenth Army Corps is relative to the skirmish near Chapel Hill, March 5, 1863.
TRIUNE, March 6, 1863.
GEN.: My command is at this point, occupying the junction of the Nolensville pike and Franklin roads, with my outpost 1 ½ miles toward Franklin. Gen. Sheridan's command is in front of me, at junction of the Nolensville and Shelbyville pikes. No enemy in force in that direction. I made a successful reconnaissance to the rebel camp, 2 miles beyond Chapel Hill, routing and driving Roddey's cavalry (two regiments) all across Duck River. We wounded 7 of the enemy, captured 60, with their horses and equipments, and returned to this point at 6 o'clock this morning, without loss or injury.
JAMES B. STEEDMAN, Brig.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. I, p. 127.
5, Solicitation for a Confederate Conscription Substitute
"WANTED"
A Good, sound, substitute; not subject to conscription; a stout youth of 16 preferred: for particulars enquire of Mr. Gentey, at E. T. R. Depot.
Chattanooga Daily Rebel, March 5, 1863.
5, Soiree and ball in Confederate Chattanooga at "la Chatteau Krouge" [see March 12, 1863, Grand Festival in Confederate Chattanooga below]
Not a "jumping jack" exactly-but an enthusiastic tripper of the "light fantastic." Months ago, "Bustamente" and your humble servants had the good fortune to receive an invitation to a Soiree dansante at "la Chatteau Krouge,"[sic] among the classic Cumberland Highlands. The Chatteau [sic] was thronged with the elite of the beauty and fashion of the time. Dulcet music from the timbrel, the lute, the triangle and the twanging banjo made the atmosphere mellifluous and...the brilliancy of which was only excelled by the sparkle of perilous glances, made the scene a very bright one.
Was ushered [sic] into an ante-chamber; was divested of my over-all and chapeau; was made to drink copiously of the fiery beverage of the season; was dragged thence by the elbow into a room full of moving couples, and was presented to an aerial bird of paradise, robed in tutle [sic] and gauze, who bowed to me with enchanting grace.
The first querry [sic] I shot at her:-"'Gaged for next set?"
"Yes, sir!" and she immediately renewed a conversation she had been successfully sustaining with half a dozen gallants surrounding her all at a time.
Here was a poser. There was no chance to get a work in edge-ways, nor to have it answered rationally if I did. My chaperone was gone, and I stood like a...candidate left out in the wet-feeling for my kneck-tie [sic] with one hand, and my pocket handkerchief with the other. Just then the awkwardness of position was somewhat rudely relieved by a couple from the set, returning backward, from "forward two," the frailer vessel of the convoy, bearing hull down against me with a concussion so violent that I was pitched headlong into the tap[?] of the bird of paradise. She screached [sic] a little scream, and I bounded up like sh t [sic] off a shovel. Gallants dispersed, cramming their handkerchief in their mounts-either to keep from laughing, or else they went to take "drink all round."
Again I apostrophised [sic] bird of paradise: "how many sets ''gaged for?"
She told me "about forty nine"-and I secured her fortieth-sheered off and drew up alongside another prize whom I secured in the next quadrille. Then began a lively dance. The gentle musician, an "American of African descent," enlivened the inspiring strains with innumerable vocal improvisations, such as "r-r-ti-tum, tiddy-liddy raddle, adle-ladie-and "kill yo' sef" [sic] as the scraping of slipper and pump shuffled merry time to the "delightful measures." Round we went in a perfect whirl of excitement, through and back, in and out, up and down, while the prompter at the top of his lungs kept rolling the white of his oculars and yelling out "lead up to the right," with a "ri-tum tiddy leddle addle, ledle, and t u r n [sic] yo' podner."
Just here, in a breathing spell, I tried my conversational powers upon my fair companion-subject [sic], "the weather." Had got so far as to suggest that the evening was quite spring like and balmy-when we "swung corners." My partner returning, asked me what it was I had said about Alabama. I was about to explain, when she made a bayonet thrust at my with her fan, and then laughing immoderately and mischievously, pointed it over my shoulder. I turned to discover a little sylph floating back and forth at me, (I don't know how long she had been in motion) and instinctively my feet took a double shuffle, and I turned the little danseuse [sic] and again tried to open up a conversation.
Did you ever indulge in small talk at a dancing party? Verily it is the most insipid of all small things. The ball-room is a Bable of unintelligible jargon, as different of comprehension as the signs of the Zodiac to a blind man. The ladies seldom if ever talk to each other on such occasions-the men always do-in groups; with accompanying winks, nudges, etc., that cannot appear on paper.
Much more is said, and much less that is, is ever remembered at such a time, than any other. Everybody talks to his partner, and everybody's partner talks to everybody and, all they say is nothing. Ever since the Western girl remarked at an Arkansas ball: "Here, Sir, hold my tater twell [sic] I trot a reel with this here feller with the store clothes," such has been the characteristic literature of the Quadrille.
You address a remark, which, if in a tone of voice happens to rise superior to the din of the fiddles, is as likely to be taken by anybody else's partner as your own. A remark is addressed to you, only half of which you happen to catch and comprehend, and you are consequently mystified for the balance of the sets. If you seek an explanation, you will discover, that the remark aforesaid was "oh! Nothing," or "I believe I forget now, what I did say," and so you are more curious and mystified than ever. But enough for the dance.
Among the current on dits [sic] of the hom [sic], I learn this evening that a grand Festival in honor of a distinguished man, is in contemplation, by the young men of the town. It will be announced. probably, in a few days.
Chattanooga Daily Rebel, March 5, 1863.
5, General H. W. Halleck to Major-General W.S. Rosecrans; approval of policy suggested by Major-General J.J. Reynolds for dealing with disloyal inhabitants in Tennessee
WASHINGTON, D. C. March 5, 1863
Maj. Gen. W. S. ROSECRANS
Cmdg., &c., Murfreesborough, Tenn.
GEN.: I have just received Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds' letter of February 10, with your indorsement of February 18.[3]
The suggestions of Gen. Reynolds and Gen. Thomas in regard to a more rigid treatment of all disloyal persons within the lines of your army are approved. No additional instructions from these headquarters are deemed necessary. You have already been urged to procure your subsistence, forage, and means of transportation, so far as possible, in the country occupied. This you had a right to do without any instructions. As the commanding general in the field, you have power to enforce all laws and usages of war, however rigid and severe these may be, unless there be some act of Congress, regulation, order, or instruction forbidding or restricting such enforcement. As a general rule, you must be the judge where it is best to rightly apply these laws, and where a more lenient course is of greater advantage to our cause.
Distinctions, however, should always be made in regard to the character of the people in the district of country which is militarily occupied or passed over. The people of the country in which you are likely to operate may be divided into three classes. First. The truly loyal, who neither aid nor assist the rebels, except under compulsion, but who favor or assist the Union forces. Where it can possibly be avoided, this class of persons should not be subjected to military requisitions, but should receive the protection of our arms. It may, however, sometimes be necessary to take their property either for our own use or to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. They will be paid, at the time, the value of such property, or, if that be impracticable, they will hereafter be fully indemnified. Receipts should be given for all property so taken without being paid for. Second. Those who taken no active part in the war, but belong to the class known in military law as non-combatants. In a civil war like that now waged, this class is supposed to sympathize with the rebellion rather than with the Government. There can be no such thing as neutrality in a rebellion. This term is applicable only to foreign powers. Such persons, so long as they commit no hostile act, and confine themselves to their private avocations, are not to be molested by the military forces, nor is their property to be seized, except as a military requisitions, and their houses to billets for soldiers' quarters, and to appropriation for other temporary military uses. Subject to these impositions, the noncombatant inhabitants of a district of country militarily occupied by one of the belligerent are entitled to the military protection of the occupying forces; but, while entitled to such protection, they incur very serious obligations-obligations differing in some respects from those of civil allegiance, but equally binding. For example, those who rise in arms against the occupying army, or against the authority established by the same, are war rebels, or military traitors, and incur the penalty of death. They are not entitled to be considered as prisoners of war when captured. Their property is subject to military seizure and military confiscation. Military treason of this kind is broadly distinguished from the treason defined in constitutional and statutory laws, and made punishable by the civil courts. Military treason is a military offense, punishable by the common law of war. Again, persons belonging to such occupied territory, and within the military lines of the occupying power, without proper authority. To do so, the party not only forfeits all claim to protection, but subjects himself or herself to be punished either as a spy or a military traitor, according to the character of the particular offense. Our treatment of such offenses and such offenders has hitherto been altogether too lenient. A more strict enforcement of the laws of war in this respect is recommended. Such offenders should be made to understand the penalties they incur, and to know that these penalties will be rigidly enforced. Third. Those who are openly and avowedly hostile to the occupying army, but who do not bear arms against such forces; in other words, while claiming to be non-combatants, they repudiate the obligations tacitly or impliedly [sic] incurred by the other inhabitants of the occupied territory. Such persons not only incur all the obligations imposed upon other non-combatant inhabitants of the same territory, and are liable to the same punishment for offenses committed, but they may be treated as prisoners of war, and be subjected to the rigors of confinement or to expulsion as combatant enemies. I am of opinion that such persons should not, as a general rule, be permitted to go at large within our lines. To force those capable of bearing arms to go within the lines of the enemy adds to his effective forces; to place them in confinement will require guards for their safe keeping, and this necessarily diminishes our active forces in the field. You must determine in each particular case which course will be most advantageous. We have suffered very severely from this class, and it is time that the laws of war should be more rigorously enforced against them. A broad line of distinction must be drawn between friends and enemies, between the loyal and the disloyal.
The foregoing remarks have reference only to military status and to military offenses under the laws of war. They are not applicable to civil offenses under the Constitution and general laws of the land. The laws and usages of civilized war must be your guide the treatment of all classes of persons of the country in which your army may operate, or which it may occupy; and you will be permitted to decide for yourself where it is best to act with rigor and where best to be more lenient. You will not be trammeled with minute instructions.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. W. HALLECK, Gen.-in-Chief.
OR, Series I. Vol. 23, pt. II, pp. 107-109.
5, Federal situation report at Carthage
CARTHAGE, TENN., March 5, 1863.
Col. C. GODDARD, Chief of Staff and Asst. Adjt. Gen., Army of the Cumberland:
I have the honor to inform you that I am encamped on the south side of the river, and directly opposite Carthage. My extreme advance position is about one-half a mile from the river, on an eminence which commands the country from the foot of the ridge, on my right, to the Caney Fork, on my left. This naturally strong position I am strengthening by earthworks for my battery. On my right there is a high rocky ridge of most impracticable ascension for artillery; besides, the top of this ridge is too high for artillery to fire into my camp, and the side toward me is rocky and steep. My rear is protected by the Cumberland River, and my left by the Caney so long as it is not fordable, and when it is fordable there is a very strong position on my left that can be occupied. With a force of 6,000 this will be a most impregnable position. The position selected for a depot is in my rear, and near the banks of the Cumberland River.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEORGE CROOK, Brig.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. II, p. 110.
5, Observations on Federal officers and courtesans in Murfreesboro, an excerpt from the diary of John C. Spence [see also April 17, 1864, War Journal of Lucy Virginia French below]
* * * *
...on the subject of officers and men, [I] will presume it may not be out of place to say a little more about them. There are among this class of gentry here women [sic] purporting to be wives of officers-but, from the conduct of many of them, leaves reason to doubt. An army is not a place for a female of proper of refined feelings When we see a woman wearing long ringlets, large ear trinkets, a flowing feather in her hat, galloping up and down over the country with officers and soldiers, having oyster suppers and wine drinking, it may be set down she does not lie at the feet of Boaz [sic] for nothing. Such we see here. Perhaps there were some that were genuine wives, that made their visits to the army. The majority were of the former description. A Lady or Gentleman can always be known in any situation they may be placed, and so may the other class be as easily distinguished. In either case, it does not require a keen observer to see the difference.
* * * *
Spence Diary.
5, The death and burial of a family hunting dog
….The faithful old Sitter Slut commonly called Mat d/t/l [sic] on this day….She was black and the mother of some fine steers [?] herself was unequaled in the field of setting birds. She was agreate [sic] favourite and her loss was truly regretted by the whole family white and black. She is buried in the orchard with appropriate head and foot stones to mark her resting place. May she rest in piece [sic]. She belonged to Thomas L. Porter she came to her death by the kick of a horse (Jim), lived about one hour after the fatal blow. She was about 14 years old and had lost her hearing. Went by signs [sic].
Diary of Nimrod Porter.
5, "All farming implements are to be seized, all farmers found in a field are to be arrested and all crops destroyed." Purported Federal Policy to End Farming in Middle Tennessee
Tyranny in Tennessee.—The most infamous order, which has yet fallen from the pen of a Federal officer, has been issued by tacit consent in Middle Tennessee. The order reads simply to the effect that there shall be no further cultivation of the soil in that section. All farming implements are to be seized, all farmers found in a field are to be arrested and all crops destroyed.[4] It is not enough to insult the weak and the old; it is not enough to degrade the true and loyal; it is not enough to light a march of invasion with the burning homes of the defenceless; nor is it, in the eyes of these desperate men, enough to fill their pockets, whilst they glut their revenge with the wages of personal corruption. A deeper—blacker—more damning sin than these, lies yet before them—the disturbance of the soil which God has bidden to grow. Next to the invasion of the churchyard, no crimes [sic] has [sic] yet equalled [sic] this. We speak advisedly. Our information is obtained from a source neither to be doubted nor questioned. The Federals are doing this—have done it and are doing it. Plowmen have been torn from their share, and even women are prohibited from sowing grain.
Savannah [Georgia] Republican, March 5, 1863.[5]
5, "City Hospital."
In obedience to orders given by the Commanding General, the Medical Hospital on Beal street, above Wellington, formerly occupied by the "Botanics," a school of medicine, not, we believe exploited, has been appropriated to the use of the city, for the purposes of the City Hospital. The building used by the city for that purpose, which is situated in the Navy Yard, having been appropriated to military purposes. Mr. Winters. Chief of Police, having received instructions to get the place in repair, by great efforts had a large wardroom for patients, a dining room, a kitchen and an office so far got ready that patients can be received today. The amount of glaser [sic] work was large, scarcely a whole pane of glass remained in the window frames. The place is well adapted for the purpose to which it is now applied.
Memphis Bulletin, March 5, 1863.
5, "Frame Shanties."
At a great expense we have obtained fire steamers, and organized a paid fire department. Would it not be the height of folly to neutralize the vas advantages these things accrue us by inattention to other means of security against fire? One of these means is the provision that frame buildings, likely to be dangerous from fire, shall not be built within the more crowded parts of the city. There is not a council meeting at which petitions are not received for permission to break this salutary law. There is a necessity for such a law, or it would not have been passed; if it was found necessary to pass it is equally necessary to adhere to it. Let us not heap up materials for fire with one hand, while we are paying for expensive apparatus for putting fire out with the other.
Memphis Bulletin, March 5, 1863.
5, "Street Cleaning."
We hear it stated that the military authorities propose to place at the service of the city a hundred contrabands, at an expensed of probably, fifty cents a day, for the purpose of cleaning the streets, alleys and gutters. If they are employed and heaven knows there is only too much need of them, ought they not to be furnished with teams to cart away a perfect mountain of perilous filth which is polluting the very air? To throw the pestilential material out of the gutters into the street, and from the sides of the street to the centre [sic], does not appear much like "sanitary improvement." Warm weather is rapidly approaching, we have a vast number of unvaccinated persons in the city, the long, gloomy, rainy, foggy session we have had has been debilitating to the human system and predisposing to disease, and we are having hospitals placed in almost every street in the city – under these circumstances we ought to not at once to come down up and preparing for the coming hot weather?
Memphis Bulletin, March 5, 1863.
5, The Battle for Public Health in Memphis; Collaboration between municipal and military authority
OFFICIAL – BOARD OF ALDERMEN.
At a called meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, held yesterday, March 5, 1863, Present, Hon. John Park, Mayor, Chairman Johnson, Aldermen Tighe, Morgan, Amis, Wunderman, Merril, Henghold, Mulholland and Ogden.
A quorum being announced, the Chairman took his seat, and called the Board to order, when the roll of Aldermen was called.
The following message was received from the Mayor:
To the Honorable Board of Aldermen:
Gentlemen: Brigadier General Veatch has been kind enough in his wisdom to propose to you one hundred contrabands for the purpose of improving your streets, landing, &c., on condition you making [sic] provision for their food.
I had a conference with Mr. Hardwick today. He will board the said 100 laborers, say two substantial meals daily at hours to suit, at an expense of 30 cents per day. These contrabands all have their blankets, and they can sleep in the upper portion of the Station House.
It would be well to authorize the Improvement Committee to employ say four additional overseers, to take charge of said laborers, at $50 per month.
To try the experiment of making cisterns by the city by employing mechanics at a reasonable price, one-half may be saved, instead of having the same done by contract. You can purchase any quantity of cement at $4 per barrel at present in the city, on six months' credit. Bricks can be obtained from the City Jail, which will be a saving of one-half.
All of which is most respectfully submitted for your considerations.
JOHN PARK
Mayor
March 5, 1863
The following communication from General Veatch was also read:
Headquarters' Dist. of Memphis
Memphis, Tenn., March 5, '63
To the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of Memphis:
Gents [sic]:- The condition of the streets and alleys of your city demands our immediate attention.
A thorough Cleaning should take place, and all offensive matter be removed; and such police regulations established as shall prevent in future deposits of matter liable to produce disease.
I have approved your levy of additional tax, as you will have ample means at your command. I will also give you control of all straggling contrabands within the limits of the city.
You will be required to have the work done without delay. Allow me then to suggest that you at once employ all the available labor white and black, and let the work commence and be carried on in each Ward, under competent managers until it is completed.
Any aid which I can give you shall be promptly rendered.
In my order approving the levy of tax, I have said nothing about the levy made by Maj. Gen. Hurlbut. It would be improper to do so. His order is in full force and must be carried out.
Respectfully,
JAMES C. VEATCH, Brig. Gen.
The following order is the order of Gen Veatch referred to in the above communication:
HEADQUARTERS, DISTRIC OF MEMPHIS
MEMPHIS, TENN., March 5, 1863
General Order [sic] No. 28
The taxes now levied in the city of Memphis having been found insufficient to meet the public expenditures –
It is ordered that an additional tax of ten per cent. per month on the amount of all annual licenses, be levied, and collected by the Collector of Taxes on privileges, and that said taxes be paid quarterly in advance, commencing with the first day of March, 1863.
By Order of Brig. Gen. James C. Veatch.
F. W. FOX, A. A. G
The special committee appointed to wit upon General Veatch, report that he will place at the disposal of the city, for the purpose of improvement, the labor of one hundred negroes [sic]. To make this labor efficient, and give all parts of the city the immediate benefit of it, the committee recommended as follows:
1. That the city be divided into five districts, to each of which is shall be assigned the labor of twenty negroes [sic] to work under the superintendence of an overseer.
2. That the Chairman appoint a member of this Board to have special charge of each district who shall engage an overseer at a rate of wages not exceeding two dollars a day, and provide tools at the expense of the city. He shall also provide food and quarters for the negroes [sic], and direct the overseer in regard to the labor to be performed.
3. The Street Commissioner shall furnish carts and additional labor from the force under his charge, under the direction of the Mayor.
4. The districts shall be as follows: 1. From the southern boundary of the city to the north side of Linden street. 2. From the north side of Linden to the north side of Union. 3. From the north side of Union to the north side of Court. 4. From the north side of Court to the north side of Poplar. 5. From the north side of Poplar to the northern boundary.
On motion the report was adopted.
A resolution was adopted appointing the following Aldermen to supervise the cleaning of the streets:
1st district Ald. Harvey.
2nd " " Ogden
3rd " " Mulholland
4th " " Aldermen Amis and Wunderman
5th " " Drew and Hulbert.
After which the meeting adjourned.
Memphis Bulletin, March 6, 1863.
5, Attack on Federal reconnaissance at Panther Springs
No circumstantial reports filed.
5, Reconnaisance and skirmish. Excerpt from the Itinerary of the Army of the Ohio, January 1-April 30.
TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS.
First Division, commanded by Col. George W. Gallup, Fourteenth Kentucky Infantry.
* * * *
March 5, reconnaissance of 100 men from Tennessee Brigade made to Panther Springs; were attacked by near 500 rebel cavalry in open ground, but forced their way out, after gallant resistance, with a loss of 2 killed and 22 captured, inflicting on the enemy a far greater loss.
OR Ser. I, Vol. 42, pt. I, p. 52.
5, A case of wife-beating in the Nashville Recorder's Court
Recorder's Court.
An aspiring youth in pursuit of fame acquired a little yesterday morning in the Recorder's Court, by being arraigned on a charge of beating his wife. His mother-in-law was the principal witness against him, the substance of her testimony being that she considered her daughter's life in constant danger from the hands of defendant; that he had one night beaten her on the street until she thought he would have killed her. When he drinks, he acts as if he were insane. As a substantial evidence of the defendant's persuasive weapons, the plaintiff's mother exhibited to the Court a formidable slung-shot which he carried with him, and which he is supposed to have provided for his wife's chastisement. Defendant's wife corroborated her mother's testimony, and three other witnesses bore testimony corroborative of ill treatment. The wife is an interesting looking lady, whom grief has evidently caused to look much older than she really is. Defendant evidently has an exalted opinion of himself; a few lessons from Recorder Shane would materially improve him in the eyes of the community, however. He was fined $25 and costs.
Nashville Dispatch, March 5, 1863.
5, Skirmish between Steedman's command and Van Dorn's command near Franklin
LA VERGNE, TENN., March 6, 1863--11.05 a. m.
Brig.-Gen. GARFIELD, Chief of Staff, Murfreesborough, Tenn.:
A courier, belonging to the cavalry detachment here, left Concord Church this morning. Just before he left, a courier came in from
General Steedman's command, bringing information that Gen. Steedman had a fight yesterday near Franklin with Van Dorn's command. The latter were driven back; some loss on both sides, but amount not reported. The major of the First Tennessee Cavalry was reported killed. These facts the courier says he obtained from the officer in command of the camp, but the latter sent no written communication, and I give the news as distinctly as I received it. Dispatch to Col. Johnson received and forwarded to him.
JOHN M. HARLAN, Col., Cmdg. Post.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 23, pt. II, pp. 115-116.
5, Skirmish at Panther Springs
REPORTS.
No. 1.-Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, U. S. Army.
No. 2.-Col. William Cross, Third Tennessee Infantry.
No. 1.
Report of Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, U. S. Army.
NEW MARKET, TENN., March 6, 1864.
GEN.:
* * * *
In the skirmish yesterday the rebels lost 9 killed, including a major. We lost 3 killed, 1 badly wounded, and nearly 20 prisoners. We have 2 rebel prisoners. No further news from the front.
J. D. COX, Brig.-Gen.
No. 2.
Report of Col. William Cross, Third Tennessee Infantry.
HDQRS. THIRD Regiment, EAST TENN. VOL. INFANTRY, Mossy Creek, Tenn., March 25, 1864.
SIR: In obedience to the requirements of existing orders, I herewith report that on the 5th day of March, 1864, Capt. John H. Cross, of Company C, and his command of Second Lieut. L. B. Gamble, Company G; First Lieut. Jasper P. Buckellew, Company K, and First Lieut. Edward C. Roberts, Company H, and 100 enlisted men of Companies C, G, H, and K, while on a reconnaissance to Panther Springs, Tenn., were attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy, greatly superior in numbers, and had a sharp engagement for three or four hours, finally repulsing the enemy, killing and wounding several....
All which is respectfully submitted.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. CROSS, Col., Cmdg. Third Regiment, East Tenn. Vol. Infantry.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 32, pt. I, pp. 490-491.
HDQRS. NINTH ARMY CORPS, Mossy Creek, March 5, 1864--5.45 p. m.
Brig. Gen. J. D. COX, Acting Chief of Staff, &c.:
GEN.: A force of the enemy's cavalry appeared in our front this evening, following a detachment of the Twenty-third Corps of about 90 men from Panther Springs. The captain of this detachment has come in, and his report will doubtless be sent you from the headquarters of Twenty-third Corps.
They fired on our pickets. Two regiments were sent out to support the line. Gen. Ferrerro has just come in and reports seeing about 400 or 500 of the enemy, and that on pressing them they retired. We have 1 prisoner who says that he belongs to Giltner's brigade. No infantry with them; that Longstreet is at Bull's Gap, or from Bull's Gap to Greeneville. We have 1 man wounded slightly.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JNO. G. PARKE, Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 32, pt. III, p. 21.
5, Cavalry skirmish at Wood's Gap in Taylor's Ridge
No circumstantial reports filed.
CHATTANOOGA, March 5, 1864.
Brig. Gen. J. A. RAWLINS, Chief of Staff:
The enemy advanced a brigade of cavalry early this morning on Col. Harrison's pickets. Thirty-ninth Indiana Mounted Infantry, at Woods' Gap in Taylor's Ridge, and drove them back toward Lee and Gordon's Mills. The enemy then fell back through Gordon's Gap, as reported by Gen. Baird from Ringgold. A scout just from Dalton reports Johnston has been re-enforced by 10,000 men from South Carolina and by Roddey, and he believes he contemplates a forward movement.
GEO. H. THOMAS, Maj.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 32, pt. III, pp. 21-22.
5, Two Federal scouting parties and regiment at election precinct in Red Clay environs
BLUE SPRINGS, March 5, 1864.
Maj. Gen. GEORGE H. THOMAS:
Dispatch received; nothing new in my front that I can learn of. Col. Long, I am informed, had two scouting parties out; has had regiment of infantry at election precinct 3 miles north of Red Clay to-day. Col. Enyart just reports cannonading heard by citizens and soldiers from McDaniel's Gap to-day; thought to be a little left of Graysville.
CHARLES CRUFT.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 32, pt. III, p. 23.
5, Cavalry scout, Blue Springs to Red Clay
BLUE SPRINGS, March 5, 1864.
Brig.-Gen. WHIPPLE, Chief of Staff:
Cavalry scout just returned from Red Clay, leaving there at 4.30 p. m. Saw nothing of enemy; heard heavy cannonading at or near Ringgold, from, say, 11 a. m. to 1 p. m., and occasional shots till 4 p. m. Citizens represent that forces at Dalton put three days' rations on men yesterday preparatory to a movement. Citizens represented, say, 200 cavalry at Kenyon's.
CHARLES CRUFT, Brig.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 32, pt. III, p. 23.
5, Skirmish near New Market
No circumstantial reports filed.
NEW MARKET, March 6, 1864.
Maj.-Gen. SCHOFIELD:
If a movement be made of the Ninth and Fourth Corps, which will necessitate one of the Twenty-third also, they will need about thirty wagons to haul the accumulated stores and ammunition. In the skirmish yesterday the rebels lost 9 miles, including a major; we lost 3 killed, 1 badly wounded, and nearly 20 prisoners. We have 2 rebel prisoners.
No further news from the front.
J. D. COX, Brig.-Gen.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 32, pt. III, p. 28.
5, First Lieutenant Robert Cruikshank, 123rd New York Infantry Regiment, letter home to his wife Mary, life with the Colonel
Camp 123rd Regt. [sic], N. Y. S. V.
Elk River, Tenn.,
Mar. 5, 1864.
Dear Mary,-
I have neglected writing for several days as I have been on the sick list. I have had a severe cold that settled in my throat and I came near having the quinsy. I had it lanced and sponged and used a gargle and it is better now and I hope I shall have no more trouble from it.
The Colonel is over his passion toward me and is more pleasant than is natural for him. He often lets his temper run away with his judgment. I will not resign if I can in any way get on with him. He has no cause to find fault with me. There is not a better disciplined Company in this Regiment than Company H. He has had trouble with three other officers in the Regiment and they are the best, Capt. Geo. R. Hall, Captain H. C. Warren and Lieutenant Geo. Robertson.
He talked to them about it as he did to me and they say he must apologize or they will resign. He will be all over it with them in a few days.
Hoping that all will end well, I ever remain,
Your affectionate husband,
R. Cruikshank.
Robert Cruikshank Letters.
5. Confederate expatriates from Memphis begin their trek south
March, Saturday 5, 1864
Nonconnah has fallen at last, and crowds of wagons [sic] are passing, loaded with provisions, in exchange for their cotton. Joanna and Cousin S. went to town this morning. Mr. Wilson came early and staid until after dinner with us. Tate, Helen, Nannie & Decatur all spent the day sewing in my room, Decatur excepted [sic] of course from the sewing-we had a pleasant time. Only this morning I did wish I was a man. I never read a more insulting note in my life than Father received from Dr. Malone. I will not stain the page of my book writing of such a dog, and hope God will give me strength to forgive it-
Cold Water and all streams below so high that we have no communication with Dixie-therefore have heard no news today. I would give anything if I could send the things I have for the poor soldiers-poor fellows, I know they need them-would to heaven I had money to get all I could bring through the lines. I finished my dress today, and made Laura a beautiful apron. 12 o'c [sic], no Beulah yet. Laura, Tippie Dora & I alone, they asleep.
Diary of Belle Edmondson
5, Dr. Boyd's family successfully leave East Tennessee
Wytheville, Va., March 5, 1864. Editor Register: Sir--You will confer a great favor upon Dr. J. M. Boyd, who is now somewhere in Georgia or South Carolina, by announcing in your paper that his wife and family are out of East Tennessee and are remaining in this place until they hear of his whereabouts. Your ob't serv't,
P. Lea Rogers, of Knoxville, Tenn
Atlanta [Georgia] Daily Register, March 19, 1864[6]
5, Murder near Knoxville
FROM EAST TENNESSEE.
From the New York Tribune.
Headquarters Army of the Ohio, Knoxville, East Tennessee, March 5, 1864.
* * * *
An old man of sixty years of age, named Christopher Hanby, living within three miles of Knoxville, on the South side of the river, was assassinated two nights ago, by a party who evidently visited the place for that purpose. They first fired the barn and outbuildings, but failing to attract their victim out of doors, they began to stone the dwelling. The old man finally appeared leading a little girl by the hand, vainly hoping that innocence would make an effectual appeal to the hearts of these men. He fell dead pierced by five bullets. A good angel turned aside the deadly missiles and the child was unharmed. The murderers are said to be Tennesseeans whose friends have been conscripted into the Revel army, on account of information furnished by the army, on account of information furnished d by the old man. This may be so, or the dastardly act may have been prompted by less serious provocations. It matters not: the act is murder, pure and simple, only aggravated by the helplessness and age of the victim, add the atrocious circumstances of the deed. Thus assassination goes on. Two other murders occurred about the same time, in the same region, apparently prompted by similar motives.
The Provost Marshal General has dispatched a body f cavalry to intercept, and if possible, capture the graceless scoundrel, Ferguson. If caught will be hung. But what will be done with those professed Union men who have committed precisely similar crimes? Let the future answer. I would ask no other tribunal before which to bring these persons than Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside. Both parties would get prompt justice done them. The old man Hanby had taken the oath of amnesty.
Philadelphia Inquirer, March 15, 1864.
5, Early East Tennessee election reports
The Election in Tennessee.
Knoxville, March 6,-The county elections yesterday passed of quietly. The whole number of votes cast in Knoxville was 261 against an average vote in peace times of 700. Making allowance for absentees in the army and elsewhere, the vote was full and larger than anticipated.
In the country districts it was fuller. One hundred votes were polled in a neighboring district in Levier [i.e., Sevier] county against the usual vote of 170. The returns from Knox county will to be all in till to-morrow. There is no report at all as yet from the adjacent counties.-The vote would be much larger, but many undoubtedly loyal men objected to the oath required by Gov. Johnson as a condition, and did not vote.
Pittsfield [Massachusetts] Sun, March 10, 1864.
5 – 16, from Germantown to the Cumberland Iron Works, the movements of the Second Tennessee [U. S.] Cavalry
* * * *
We left Germantown on the 5th day of March, 1864, by way of Colliersville [sic]. We passed the plantation of Gen. N. B. Forrest. He was [a] wealthy, and slave trader before the war. His plantation with its numerous buildings for negro quarters looked like a village. Everything was standing, and appeared to have suffered little from the misfortunes of war. We crossed the Wolf river, a muddy, sluggish stream, narrow but deep and high banks on each side. The only chance to cross was to build a bridge, which, owing to its narrowness, was done with comparative ease. We passed through Moscow and on the 7th on to Bolivar, and thence to the Hatchies [sic] river, at which placed we were delayed on account of high water. This river is something like the Wolf. Here again we had to build a bridge, and after crossing, we had to pass through a swamp covered over with water. The Second was in the rear and did not succeed in getting across until just at night, consequently we had to pass through this dismal swamp after night. In places the water was nearly deep enough to swim a horse. To add to the gloom of the occasion, we were overtaken with a severe thunder store. The glare of the lightning, the deafening peals of thunder, and the violent wind coupled with the fact that we were in a heavily timbered swamp, rendered the situation anything but a pleasant one. There were many narrow escaped from drowning, both by man and beast. Before getting through the command became badly scattered. The storm ceased and after getting out of the swamp with some difficulty we found a public road and in a short time came to a house. The inmates were aroused, who informed us that our command had passed that way before us in the early part of the night. We went on, and when we reached the forks of the road some one in advance would get down, strike a match and examine for the foot prints of those who had preceded us. About 2 o'clock in the morning we overtook the command [and] halted until morning. On the 8th we passed Middleton, on the 9th Mifflin, and on the 10th reached Lexington, the county site [sic] of Henderson county. On the 11th we passed through Clarksburgh and Huntingdon, in Carrol county, and on the 12th through Paris. On the 13th we reached the Tennessee River at Fort Haynes, near Big Sandy. We crossed the river in the steamer "Blue Bird" at Fort Henry. We remained here on the 14th, and drew rations. On the 15th we passed Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, twelve miles from Fort Henry. The marks of heavy fighting were still visible here, where grant obtained his first decisive victory….We arrived at the Cumberland Iron Works on the 16th of March….
Knoxville Daily Chronicle, April 29, 1879.
5, Skirmish at Tazewell [see March 3-5, 1865, Reconnaissance from Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, to Jonesville, VA above]
5, Confederate riverine-commando raid frustrated at Kingston [see February 24, 1865, Capture of Confederate navy officers attempting insurgent attacks upon Tennessee River shipping above]
From his Flagship the Black Hawk at the U. S. Navy Base, at Mound City, Illinois, Acting Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee, Commanding the Mississippi Squadron, issued General Orders No. 48. The order admonished all naval personnel to be on the lookout for rebel river raiders. As proof that this was no idle threat to river security Admiral Lee cited the following newspaper article, taken from the Louisville Journal of March 9, as copied from the pages of the Chattanooga Gazette of March 6. It described what appeared to be a new Confederate naval initiative:
On last Sunday morning, [5th][7] Captain Chapman, a pilot on the steamboat Chickamauga, being at his home at Chapman's Landing on the Tennessee River, 4 miles below Kingston, noticed that the rebel women of his neighborhood were moving around the country rather more than usual. These proceedings attracted his attention, because they are an infallible indication of some rebel movement being on foot. Thinking that perhaps some rebels from the army had returned to their homes, he took his gun and started out to see what was up. He went down toward the river, and had not gone off his own place before he made a startling discovery. Hauled close in to the shore, and concealed by brush from the view of any one passing up or down the river, was a large yawl, without any occupants, but heavily loaded with several boxes and various packages. Captain Chapman was within 20 feet of the boat before he discovered it. Immediately suspecting the state of affairs, he looked around to see if the owners of the boat were near, but could see no one. In a moment or two more his attention was attracted by hearing a gun cap snap. Without making any display of his having discovered the boat, he returned to his own house and then he started off to find some citizens to aid him. Gathering six of them together, he returned to the neighborhood where the boat was fastened. Here he discovered nine men on a hill about a half mile from where the boat had landed. Disposing his little force so as to get between them and their boat, he made a bold show of what men he had, and issuing orders to imaginary troops, called upon the rebels to lay down their arms and surrender. Their guns and ammunition having been wet by the recent heavy rains, and believing that a superior force was around them, they immediately complied; one of them however, after laying down his gun, jumped down the hill and disappeared. After laying down their arms they were ordered to march off a few yards, when their guns were secured. The whole party then proceeded to the boat. On the road the rebels asked where the rest of their captors were, and upon being informed that the seven present-on an old man, and one a mere boy-were the only force, the expressed great chagrin that, after having run hundreds of miles through the Federal pickets, they should at last be capture by "tories.' On arriving the boat was thoroughly inspected, but its load was treated with the greatest care, no one even desiring to touch the various articles of which it was composed. The boat itself was a regular-built yawl, 30 feet long, 3 feet deep, and 6 feet wide at the bottom, flaring out considerably. It is calculated to carry 40 men, and hold between 3 and 4 tons. It had "No. 3" painted on the sides. There were six oars in the boat, and were said by those who handled them to be of the very best make. Each oar is 16 feet long and was muffled. Each man in the party had a fine Enfield musket and a regular navy cutlass. One of the cutlasses was shown to us; including the handle, it is 23 feet 6 inches in length, and the blade is nearly two inches wide. On the handle are the letters "C. S. N." The boxes found in the boat are 1 ½ feet wide and 2 feet long, each containing a torpedo. A large number of fireballs, made by soaking balls of cotton in turpentine, were also found, but the most dangerous article of all was a sort of hand grenade and fireball combined. It was 6 inches in diameter and 10 inches long, and appears to have been made by winding cotton around some sort of an infernal machine. At one end is a cap so that the affair would burst on striking any hard substance, and, as if to make the assurance doubly sure, a fuze was inserted at the lower end, so that it might be lighted and would burn for some time before exploding. A network of copper wire kept the cotton in shape, and wooden handles 2 feet long were fixed in it, for the purpose of throwing the machine for some distance. As if the cotton itself was not inflammable enough, it had been dipped in some gummy preparation to make it burn fiercer. After examining everything, the prisoners were sent with a strong guard, to Kingston. After they started, Captain Chapman went over the fields to find the fellow that had escaped, and fortunately caught him within a short distance of where his companion had surrendered. The steamer Lookout came along about this time, and she took the yawl in tow, and the prisoners being placed on board, she went on to Kingston, where the Holston, received the precious boat and started with it for Knoxville.
One of the men captured had been keeping a diary, and from that and their conversation we learn somewhat of their plans and proceedings, though the former appear almost too rash and reckless for belief. It seems that the boat was built in Richmond, and its crew was composed of picked men from what the rebels term the Confederate States Navy. Leaving Richmond on the 3d of January last, they came to Bristol by rail, and went from there to the salt works, where the boat was placed on the waters of the Holston River. Their progress down the Holston was delayed by the low water, so that they were compelled to lay by for several days. They first passed the Federal pickets at Kingsport. We have heard that in passing under the bridge at Knoxville, they attempted to set fire to it, but were frightened off by the sentinels. They themselves say that their instructions were to commit no depredations until they got below Kingston. In passing under the bridge at Loudon they were hailed by the sentinels, but on replying that they were a trading boat, they were allowed to go on. After passing Loudon they stopped, and two of the chief officers went ashore and were captured by some of our forces, who came across them in some way. After waiting for these officers till they felt certain that they were captured, the boat under command of a Lieutenant Wharton, went on until they were finally discovered at Kingston. As to their plans, they may or may not be what the stated them to be, but they were certainly dangerous. After passing Kingston they were to burn every steamer that they could, and they had evidently intended to begin at the place where they were discovered, as it was but a short distance from Chapman's Landing, at which place the steamers are in a habit of stopping to wood. Proceeding down the river, on arriving at Chattanooga, they were to fire all the boats at the landing and depots along Water street. Next, sawmills and the shipyard were to be set on fire. It was supposed that by this time the burning boats and warehouses of the river front would attract the greater portion of the citizens and military to that locality, while they, landing at the foot of Seventh street and coming into the western end of town, would fire the warehouses and depots.
Among the items of news which they communicated was one to the effect that Lee's army was to leave Richmond about the 1st of March and retreat in the direction of East Tennessee. The operations of these men were expected to clear away some of the obstructions to such an advance and render the march of the rebel army into Georgia comparatively easy. Fortunately for the residents of Chattanooga and the preservation of the vast amount of Government property in the shape of steamers depots, and quartermaster and subsistence stores stored about the city, the affair was discovered, and all the parties actively concerned in it arrested. It is to be hoped that if these raiders are found guilty of all the infernal plots with which they have been charged, that they will meet with speedy justice. The fate of Andrews, the Union soldier who, in 1862, attempted to burn the bridges on the Western & Atlantic Railroad, should be taken as a precedent.
Navy OR, Ser. I, Vol. 27, pp. 87-89.
The log[8] of the ill-fated mission showed that five of the Confederate river raiders were from Tennessee:
A. A. Wharton, 1st Lieutenant Commander, C. S. N.; Randolph R. Stiles, 2d Lieutenant, E. J. Douglas, Assistant Engineer, C. S. N.; J. S. Pearch, Lieutenant McClung's Battery, Tennessee Light Artillery; J. N. Jones, McClung's Battery, Tennessee Light Artillery, J. Wynn, private McClung's' Battery, Tennessee Light Artillery; R. A. Rudder, private, McClung's' Battery, Tennessee Light Artillery; C. W. Skinner, Landsman, C. S. N.; Robert Seay, Seaman, C. S. N.; Thomas Melson, Ordnance Seaman, C. S. N.; Moses Bornatt, Landsman, C. S. N.; and W. H. Wharton, private, 7th Tennessee Infantry.
Brownlow's Knoxville Whig and Rebel Ventilator, March 8, 1865.
[1] TSL&A Civil War Collection, Confederate Collection, Diary of William E. Sloan, mfm 154. [Hereinafter cited as: Diary of William E. Sloan.]
[2] PQCW
[3] OR, Ser. I. Vol. 23. Part II, p. 54, and Ibid., pt. I, p. 42.
[4] There is no evidence in the OR or other sources to indicate the veracity of this report.
[5] As cited in: http://www.uttyl.edu/vbetts.
[6] As cited in: http://www.uttyl.edu/vbetts.
[7] Both February 5 and March 5, 1865, fell on a Sunday. It is therefore difficult to establish whether or not the capture took place in what month. March would seem most probable, except for the following, (cited above) which indicates the Confederate commandos were taken prisoner on February 14, 1865:
HDQRS. DISTRICT OF EAST TENNESSEE AND FOURTH DIVISION, TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS, Knoxville, Tenn., February 25, 1865--7.15 p. m. [Received 27th.]
Maj. S. HOFFMAN, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Department of the Cumberland, Nashville:
Two officers in the uniform of and claiming to belong to the Confederate navy were captured yesterday [24th] near Loudon. They state they were of a party sent from Richmond to destroy the bridges and steamboats on the Tennessee River. The balance of the party made their escape and are still at large.
DAVIS TILLSON, Brig.-Gen., U. S. Volunteers, Cmdg. District and Division.
HDQRS. DISTRICT OF EAST TENNESSEE AND FOURTH DIVISION, TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS, Knoxville, Tenn., February 25, 1865.
Maj. Gen. JAMES B. STEEDMAN, Chattanooga:
Two officers in the uniform of and claiming to belong to the Confederate navy were captured yesterday near Loudon. They state they were of a party sent to capture and destroy the steam-boats on the river. The remainder of the party made their escape and are still at large; they may attempt to carry out their plan. I respectfully suggest that guards on the boats be increased and cautioned to exercise unusual vigilance.
DAVIS TILLSON, Brig.-Gen., U. S. Volunteers, Cmdg. District and Division.
OR, Ser. I, Vol. 49, pt. I, p. 769.
Apparently the rest of the party managed to hide out until March 5, 1865.
[8] The log began on January 19, 1865 and ended February 14, 1865. It is not known if the log is extant.
As reproduced in the newspaper, there was nothing remarkable about its contents. The fate of these rebel river raiders is not known, although inasmuch as the war would end in less than four weeks, and they were found in uniform, it is most likely they were paroled.
Referenced in neither the OR nor Dyer's Battle Index for Tennessee.
James B. Jones, Jr.
Public Historian
Tennessee Historical Commission
2941 Lebanon Road
Nashville, TN 37214
(615)-770-1090 ext. 115
(615)-532-1549 FAX
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