This Date 1865 with the Army of Tennessee (new stuff)

[samgrant]

Looks like the end is near for the (Southern) AOT.

Before I forget, thanks for your chronicle.

[johan_steele]

This is one of those threads that does not get the attention it deserves; much... no most of what I have read here over the last couple mos has been a learning experiance. True knowledge and history.

Thank You Larry

Btw; more evidence toward my hypothesis that the CS AoT was the finest army in the CS.

[larry_cockerham]

Originally Posted by samgrant

Looks like the end is near for the (Southern) AOT.

Before I forget, thanks for your chronicle.

Thanks for the kind words. The war ain't over?

[PINCKNEYUSMCRET]

I have to agree with Shane, and add this. Every one of them would have made an exceptional addition to the 9th Marine Regiment. (The Walking Dead).

Pinckney

[larry_cockerham]

March 29, 1865 Headquarters Lee’s Corps

Pettus Brigade of Stevenson’s division, were at once placed upon the cars and encamped that night beyond the Neuse and below Kinston. Before day the next morning, we relieved Hoke’s Division in the trenches on Southwest Creek, while it made a flank movement to the Yankee left …

[larry_cockerham]

March 31, 1865

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

On 31 March 1865 an organizational chart of Johnston's army showed Featherston's Brigade as being commanded by Major Martin A. Oatis and the 33rd Mississippi as being commanded by Lt. George B. Lenoir.

[larry_cockerham]

April 1, 1865

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

On 1 April 1865 Gen. Beauregard telegraphed to Gen. Johnston that he had ordered Featherston's troops to Greensborough to oppose a reported Federal cavalry force led by Gen. George Stoneman. The men of Featherston's Brigade spent the first week of April at Greensborough but there was little fighting.

[larry_cockerham]

April 2, 1865

On this morning Jefferson Davis attended services at St. Pzaul’s Church in Richmond when he received a message from Gen. Robert E. Lee that it was no longer possible to hold the defensive line at Richmond - Petersburg. He was aboard the train for Danville, VA that afternoon.

Battle of Selma, Alabama (Wilson defeated Forrest)

Selma, Alabama

Located 70 miles east along the railroad from *******n, this city was the main source of manufactured armament for the confederacy and was protected mostly by its southern location during the war. That lasted until General James Harrison Wilson and his 14,000 thousand man cavalry decided to eliminate this activity in March of 1865. A few weeks earlier the Army of Tennessee had passed through on their way to find William Tecumseh Sherman’s army in South Carolina. Only one building remains today, as a museum, which witnessed this event. The Selma city web page includes: “During the War Between the States, when Selma was the arsenal of the Confederacy, the building was converted into a hospital for wounded and ill Confederates. The need for this humanitarian service may have influenced Federal General J.H. Wilson to spare the building when his troops ravished Selma in early April, 1865.” This is a reference to the Smitherman building in Selma which was a Presbyterian Church at the time of the war.

Records from 2 Apr 1865, the day of the battle, indicate the presence of the 7th Ohio and 4th Iowa Cavalry as part of Wilson’s command.

[larry_cockerham]

The little city of Selma, Alabama was the center of manufacture of almost every war material needed by the Confederacy, including cartridges, saltpetre, powder and shell, rifles, cannons and steam rams. About 10,000 folks were employed in this activity and the city was a major distribution point for Confederate arms. The ironclad Tennessee’s hull was laid in Selma. The city was located far enough south to avoid early attempts to reach its borders. Both Sherman and Grierson failed to reach the city in the early part of the war.

Jerry Keenan, in his Wilson’s Cavalry Corps, described Selma:

“Next to Richmond, perhaps no other city in the Confederacy had stockpiled as much war materiel as Selma. After the battle, Winslow’s men destroyed more than 50 buildings from the huge Selma arsenal and ironworks, naval foundry, niter works, powder mill, and magazine. The latter was filled with artillery pieces, caissons, and siege guns, together with more than 60,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 1 million rounds of small arms ammunition. The men were astonished at the size of the arsenal.”

[larry_cockerham]

The following has been posted on the internet by Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia:


Battle of Selma
Main article: Battle of Selma
On March 30, Wilson detached Gen. John T. Croxton's Brigade to destroy all Confederate property at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. After capturing a Confederate courier who carried dispatches from Forrest describing the strengths and dispositions of his scattered forces, Wilson also sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville. This action effectively cut off most of Forrest's reinforcements. Then began a running fight that did not end until after the fall of Selma.


Battle of Selma Map
On the afternoon of April 1, after skirmishing all morning, Wilson's advanced guard ran into Forrest's line of battle at Ebenezer Church, where the Randolph Road intersected the main Selma road. Here Forrest had hoped to bring his entire force to bear on Wilson. However delays caused by flooding plus earlier contact with the enemy enabled Forrest to muster less than 2,000 men, a large number of whom were not veterans but militia consisting of old men and young boys.
The outnumbered and outgunned Confederates fought bravely for more than an hour as more Union Cavalry and Artillery deployed on the field. Forrest himself was wounded in a charge by a saber-swinging Yankee Captain who he killed with his revolver. Finally, a mounted Federal charge with carbines blazing broke the Confederate militia causing Forrest to be flanked on his right. He was forced to retreat under severe pressure.
Early the next morning Forrest arrived at Selma, "horse and rider covered in blood." He advised Gen. Richard Taylor, departmental commander, to leave the city. Taylor did so after giving Forrest command of the defense.


Nathan B. Forrest
Selma was protected by three miles of fortifications which ran in a semi-circle around the city. They were anchored on the north and south by the Alabama River. The works had been built two years earlier, and while neglected for the most part since, were still formidable. They were 8 to 12 feet high, 15 feet thick at the base, with a ditch 4 feet wide and 5 feet deep along the front. In front of this was a picket fence of heavy posts planted in the ground, 5 feet high, and sharpened at the top. At prominent positions, earthen forts were built with artillery in position to cover the ground over which an assault would have to be made.
Forrest's defenders consisted of his Tennessee escort company, McCullough's Missouri Regiment, Crossland's Kentucky Brigade, Roddey's Alabama Brigade, Armstrong's Mississippi Brigade, Gen. Dan Adam's state reserves, and the citizens of Selma who were "volunteered" to man the works. Altogether this force numbered less than 4,000, only half of who were dependable. The Selma fortifications were built to be defended by 20,000 men. Forrest's soldiers had to stand 10 to 12 feet apart in the works.
Wilson's force arrived in front of the Selma fortifications at 2 pm. He had placed Gen. Eli Long's Division across the Summerfield Road with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery in support. He had Gen. Emory Upton's Division placed across the Range Line Road with Battery I, 4th US Artillery in support. Altogether Wilson had 9,000 troops available for the assault.
The Federal commander's plan was for Upton to send in a 300 man detachment after dark to cross the swamp on the Confederate right; enter the works, and begin a flanking movement toward the center moving along the line of fortifications. Then a single gun from Upton's artillery would signal the attack by the entire Federal Corps.
At 5 pm, however, Gen. Long's ammunition train in the rear was attacked by advance elements of Forrest's scattered forces coming toward Selma. Both Long and Upton had positioned significant numbers of troops in their rear for just such an event. However, Long decided to commence his assault against the Selma fortifications to neutralize the enemy attack in his rear.
Long's troops attacked in a single rank in three main lines, dismounted with Spencers carbines blazing, supported by their own artillery fire. The Confederates replied with heavy small arms and artillery fire of their own. The Southern artillery, in one of the many ironies of the Civil War, only had solid shot on hand, while just a short distance away was and arsenal which produced tons of canister, a highly effective anti-personnel ammunition.


Battle of Selma Reenactment
The Federals suffered many casualties (including General Long himself) but not enough to break up the attack. Once the Yankees reached the works, there was vicious hand-to-hand fighting. Many soldiers were struck down with clubbed muskets. But the Yankees kept pouring into the works. In less than 30 minutes, Long's men had captured the works protecting the Summerfield Road.
Meanwhile, General Upton, observing Long's success, ordered his division forward. The story was much the same for his men as on Long's front. Soon, US flags could be seen waving over the works from Range Line Road to Summerfield Road.
After the outer works fell, General Wilson himself led the 4th US Cavalry Regiment in a mounted charge down the Range Line Road toward the unfinished inner line of works. The retreating Confederate forces, upon reaching the inner works, all allied and poured a devastating fire into the charging Yankee column. This broke up the charge and sent General Wilson sprawling to the ground when his favorite horse was wounded. He quickly remounted his stricken mount and ordered a dismounted assault by several regiments.
Mixed units of Confederate troops had also occupied the Selma railroad depot and the adjoining banks of the railroad bed to make a stand next to the Plantersville Road (present day Broad Street). The fighting there was heavy, but by 7 pm the superior numbers of Union troops had managed to flank the Southern positions causing them to abandon the depot as well as the inner line of works.
In the darkness, the Yankees rounded up hundreds of prisoners, but hundreds more escaped down the Burnsville Road, including Generals Forrest, Armstrong, and Roddey. To the west, many Confederate soldiers fought the pursuing Yankees all the way down to the eastern side of Valley Creek. They escaped in the darkness by swimming across the Alabama River near the mouth of Valley Creek (where the present day Battle of Selma Reenactment is held.)
The Yankees looted the city that night while many businesses and private residences were burned. They spent the next week destroying the arsenal and naval foundry. Then they left Selma heading to Montgomery and then Columbus and Macon, Georgia, and the end of the war.