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I made a brief return visit to Lauderdale County, Alabama on Dec 3, 2004 and on my drive from Loretto, Tennessee to Lexington, I passed through familiar low rolling hills which lead past the remnants of cotton fields still showing tufts of cotton on the decaying stems. The land flattens rapidly as the road approaches Lexington and nears the Tennessee River just a few miles to the south. This terrain must have been a most pleasant sight in an otherwise horrible time for the Army of Tennessee during that December 140 years ago.
I stopped at a small restaurant in downtown Lexington, which must have been near the center of town, since the intersection had the traffic controls. Inside I found warmth (my little rusty truck has no heater), hot coffee and three very pleasant retired gentlemen at the next table. Like most Alabamians I’ve met, these guys could have qualified for residence in my hometown in western North Carolina. They were enjoying the morning hours with no particular stress and were exchanging friendly banter as men often do when they have spare time. One of the older gentlemen declared he was too young to remember the Civil War while another volunteered he lived on Lamb’s Ferry Road. That road and nearby Powell Road were two of the campsites for the Army of Tennessee on December 27, 1864. General Hatch’s Union cavalry chose Lexington to end their pursuit in the bitter winter weather with exhausted horses and starving men. The Confederates were to press on in their quest of destiny and the end of the war. I, too, moved on, this time a few miles down the road to Killen, Alabama.
Killen, once known as Masonville, is located just a couple of miles east of Shoals Creek at the intersection of present-day US 72 and US 43. I had seen evidence of a library there from my Internet browsing, so I turned off the highway into the center of “town”. There it was, the library. The little 1920s era stone cottage with cracked stone walls and sagging roof proudly sported a sign, which read: CLOSED. Further investigation revealed a schedule 12 noon – 4 p.m. on Fridays. I was ten minutes early so I cooled it (no problem in my heaterless 91 Sonoma). Two folks showed up about 12:10. Killen is in no hurry that I could see.
One was a gentleman who declared himself chairman of the library board and the other pleasant lady was in fact the librarian. We chatted for a while and the gentleman did two things. He informed me that his nearby house was at Lock 6 on the river and that there was local knowledge and proof that his property had been used by the men of Nathan Bedford Forrest on a camp stop in the summer of 1864. Apparently considerable excavation had been done revealing the charcoal remnants of their campfire and several war artifacts. Forrest was known to have used this route several times as he roamed about northern Alabama and southern Tennessee. The gentleman then kindly made a phone call on my behalf to Mr. Ron Pettus, owner and proprietor of Pettus Museum just east on highway 72.
Mr. and Mrs. Pettus are retired teachers who operate an extremely well appointed museum housing their collections of historical artifacts ranging from a fine collection of Civil War uniforms, weapons, etc. to a massive collection of pre-history native American artifacts. These many items are joined by artifacts from the Boy Scouts of America and the Coca Cola Company. Truly, Americana at it’s best. Ron is a most helpful and knowledgeable historian who maintains his museum by making presentations to school and church groups and anyone else who will listen. I suspect he truly has a love for history. He confirmed for me that Taylor’s Springs which served as the headquarters of Hatch’s Cavalry as per Official Records from the week of November 10 and 11, 1864 is located just a couple of miles east of Killen. Two armies, same road. James Patterson Cockerham and the 10th TN obviously used US 72 long before it was paved or widened! We swapped notes and Ron also graciously provided a confirmation of the site of Baugh’s Lauderdale mill and guided me to a newly placed historical marker discussing the crossing of the Army of TN at Bainbridge, just a mile or so west of the now-under-replacement US 43-72 bridges over Shoals Creek.
The Bainbridge marker stands in the front yard of a new firehall. A nearby drive allowed me to get near the shore where Bainbridge rests under Lake Wheeler. Some rather tasteful and expensive new homes line the shore where the Army of Tennessee made their bloody approach to the shaky pontoon bridge that General Hood had provided for their crossing. I had to wonder if any of the residents or their young children had a clue that they were living in the midst of history. I doubt it.
Shoal’s Creek is now widened by the backwater from the river, which is controlled by Wilson dam just a few miles west. The lady at the Killen library told me there were several crossings available to the army in 1864. Though Shoals Creek drains a large portion of southern middle Tennessee and is a sizeable stream at the Jackson highway crossing, the remainder of the stream between there and the river certainly bears no resemblance today to it’s relatively pristine condition in 1864. Some very lucky and well-to-do homeowners have discovered the widened stream inland from the river. Some very comfortable homes now line the banks north through the area that once was home to the big cotton mill. Today there are a couple of beautiful parks, boat docks and several well-kept clusters of homes. There was no other evidence of the mill that I could find, but as usual, I had a feeling that I was close. The Jackson military road is now Alabama 47, which crosses Shoals Creek at a very rugged point with steep banks and an old mill remnant there in the stream. This was not the site of Lauderdale Mill, which would probably have been located in one of the flatter, more open areas just to the north. Back on US 43, I returned to Nashville and was greeted by Duke the border collie, who was thankful that he had stayed warm at home.
A few days after my visit I received the following from Ron Pettus:
I have more confirmation on the Lauderdale Factory (Baugh) found in Volume XV of The Journal of Muscle Shoals History published in 1999. On page 53 it states, "Meanwhile, the Lauderdale Factory, located nine miles east of Florence on Shoal Creek at Military Road, was also engaged in manufacturing goods for the Southern army. That factory, built in 1845, utilized water power supplied by a dam 10 feet high and 402 feet long, and had a complete village associated with it. Both the Cypress Factory and the Lauderdale Factory were housed in well-constructed three-story brick buildings."
A genealogy of John Spinks Kennedy of Florence stated: “He and Richard B. Baugh had a cotton mill on Shoal Creek about a half a mile up the creek from the bridge on the old Jackson Highway. In 1863 the mill was moved to Tuscaloosa and produced material for the Confederate Army. When burned by accident, the Confederate States rebuilt the plant; at the end of the War the Yankees burned it.” This must have been a reference to the mill site on Shoals Creek though it says “up” the creek rather than the more likely downstream side. In November 1864 the business must have been unoccupied except for General Hatch’s cavalry. Another trip is needed.
If you’ve read this far you have perhaps noticed that this essay is an attempt on my part to get in touch with the land that witnessed the events of the period between the fall of Atlanta to Gen. William T. Sherman and his subsequent parole of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina a year later. Two of my ancestors were a part of this bloody test of endurance. They were lucky. One came home with partially healed wounds in his thighs, the other with a knot in his rib cage. Both were ready to leave the war behind and begin the rest of their long productive lives. Thousands more brave men, fighting on both sides of the issue, never had that chance. Much of this odyssey occurred right here in Middle Tennessee not far from my home built a century and a half later. Two noble armies travelling on the same worn paths, occupying the same towns, sometimes taking alternate routes and sometimes meeting to fight to the death as they continued their journey to eternity.
Many of these men and places played for only a brief moment in the spotlight of the bigger stage and have been forgotten. This is my attempt to re-assemble part of the record. I had other ancestors in this war in Tennessee and in central and northern Virginia. Their story is just as intriguing and just as sad, but for now we will focus on the activities relating to the Army of Tennessee and their Union opponents. All of my folks survived, or perhaps I would not be using this keyboard. You will find many of the same episodes repeated in this document, told by different authors, often providing more detail or a different glimpse of the event. Since my players wore both the Blue and the Gray, I’ve tried to remain neutral in my sentiment. All were sons of the South and were proud of their land. Their descendants fought valiantly in two world wars and many are alive today, veterans of later conflicts and service.
I’m still collecting this information and hope to continue to do so until the trail grows cold. Several towns, previously unknowns to me before I began this effort, perhaps deserve more study. One is under water. That is the little village six miles east of Florence, Alabama that was known as Bainbridge Ferry. You will see it referenced many times as it served both armies as a crossing of the Tennessee River. Pulaski, Tennessee was occupied several times by both armies, as was Nashville, Franklin, Murfreesboro and smaller towns in northern Alabama and Mississippi.
My aforementioned great great grandfather James Patterson Cockerham was the blacksmith (one of a group) for this cavalry unit 10th TN US. He was proud of his membership in the GAR and kept his certificate framed on the wall. He died in his 89th year in Bristol, Tennessee and is buried with his family in northeastern Iowa.
SERVICE.--Duty in District of North Central Kentucky until January, 1864. At Nashville and Pulaski, Tenn., and on line of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and Nashville & Northwestern Railroad until November, 1864. Scouts in Hickman and Maury Counties May 2-12, 1864. Long's Mill, near Mulberry Creek, July 28. Clifton August 15-16. Skirmish at Rogersville August 21, 1864. Pursuit to Greenville August 21-23. Blue Springs August 23. Operations against Forest's Raid in Northern Alabama and Middle Tennessee September 16-October 10. Richland Creek, near Pulaski, September 26. Pulaski September 26-27. Guard Tennessee River October. Florence October 30. On line of Shoal Creek November 5-11. Nashville Campaign November-December. On line of Shoal Creek November 16-20. Near Maysville and near New Market November 17. On front of Columbia November 24-27. Crossing of Duck River November 28. Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15-16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17-28. Hollow Tree Gap and West Harpeth River December 17. Rutherford Creek December 19. Richland Creek December 24. Pulaski December 25-26. Hillsboro December 29. Leighton December 30. At Gravelly Springs, Ala., until February, 1865. Moved to Vicksburg, Miss., thence to New Orleans, La., February 6-March 10. Ordered to Natchez, Miss., March, and duty there and at Rodney, Miss., until May 25. Ordered to Nashville, Tenn.. May 25. Garrison duty at Johnsonville, Tenn., until August. Mustered out August 1, 1865.
As you have seen earlier in this document, much has been written concerning the travels and travails of the Army of Tennessee leading up to and including the retreat from the Battle of Nashville into North Alabama. In most references, the story stops at the Tennessee River on December 28, 1864. This broken, bloody, but still viable Confederate army was not completely beaten, just against the ropes. There was more war to be fought; they were not down for the count. There were still two armies, Blue and Gray, still traveling the same roads, often with fatal results. I believe that Whitfield Monroe Parker remained with the 63rd Virginia until the time of the battle at Bentonville before making his way on some mighty sore legs back to the green South Holston River Valley in the Wyndale community, a few miles south of Abingdon, Virginia. James Patterson Cockerham was to remain in service with the 10th Tennessee Cavalry until August 1865 when he returned to his family in the foothills of the Blue Ridge near Elkin in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It would have perhaps been better if these two and the half dozen or so other southern soldiers responsible for my presence on this earth had never left their homes in the Appalachian mountains. Duty did not allow that option.
The ITINERARY OF CHEATHAM’S CORPS was condensed from a journal kept by Major Henry Hampton. This outline of the movement of Cheatam’s Corps and other units gives a good idea of the movement of the 63rd and 54th Virginia regiments between January and May 1865. Reorganized as the 54th Virginia, the men of the 63rd remained in LEE’S CORPS of the re-organized Army of Tennessee. The various Divisions and Corps of the Army of Tennessee moved generally on the same path through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and on to the end of the war in North Carolina. Many of the following notes are from that journal. The Journal of the Army of Tennessee, previously presented, stops with the crossing of the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, Alabama. Here is the rest of the story.
December 28, 1864 The Army of Tennessee completed their crossing of the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, Alabama and loaded their pontoons on wagons before heading off toward haven in Mississippi.
[Insert- General George H. Thomas Jan 20 1865 report: “General Wood's corps kept well closed up on the cavalry, camping on the night of December 25 six miles out from Pulaski, on the Lamb's Ferry road, and pursuing the same route as the cavalry, reached Lexington, Ala., thirty miles from Pulaski, on the 28th, on which date, having definitely ascertained that the enemy had made good his escape across the Tennessee at Bainbridge, I directed ****her pursuit to cease.”]
[The enemy's cavalry, under Roddey, was met at Leighton, with whom Colonel Palmer skirmished and pressed back in small squads toward the mountains. Here it was ascertained that Hood's trains passed through Leighton on the 28th of December and moved off toward Columbus, Miss. Avoiding the enemy's cavalry, Colonel Palmer left Leighton on the 31st of December, moved rapidly via La Grange and Russellville and by the Cotton-gin road, and overtook the enemy's pontoon train, consisting of 200 wagons and 78 pontoon-boats, when ten miles out from Russellville. This he destroyed. Having learned of a large supply train on its way to Tuscaloosa, Colonel Palmer started on the 1st of January toward Aberdeen, Miss., with a view of cutting it off, and succeeded in surprising it about 10 p.m. on the same evening, just over the line in Mississippi. The train consisted of 110 wagons and 500 mules, the former of which were burned, and the latter sabered or shot]
[Insert – General Grant writing to General Sherman from City Point, Virginia December 27, 1864: “I have though that Hood being so completely wiped out for present harm, I might bring A.J. Smith here, with fourteen to fifteen thousand men. With this increase I could hold my lines and move out with a greater force than Lee has. It would compel Lee to retain all his present force in the defenses of Richmond or abandon them entirely…. Without waiting for further directions, then, you may make your preparations to start on your northern expedition without delay. Break up the railroads in South and North Carolina, and join the armies operating against Richmond as soon as you can.”]
From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:
The next day the 33rd Mississippi marched to the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, Alabama. On the 28th the regiment crossed the river and marched on for the next two days to Tuscumbia, Alabama. From there they followed the rail line to Iuka, Mississippi, and arrived on New Year s Eve.
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