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

[larry_cockerham]

January 28, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Demopolis, Alabama by
rail and ferry.

Demopolis, Alabama

Demopolis is a small southern city whose residents are proud of their 10,000 acre lake created by the construction of the Tombigbee Waterway. In 1865 it was just another village on the railroad heading east from *******n.

More on Demopolis written by Barry N. Wyatt August 2004:

Military History of
JOHN HENRY BRIGANCE
C.S.A. Private - Company K
32nd Texas Calvary

He was then placed aboard a train to a hospital in Demopolis, Alabama. Soon after his evacuation, the "well to do" citizens of Mobile were then evacuated by train to Demopolis, while many other residents fled north on a road out of Mobile. The area north and east of Mobile was being overrun by tens of thousands of fleeing Confederate solders and the Confederate Congress from Richmond looking for refuge. When John Henry arrived in Demopolis, he was sent to the C.S.A. Hinkley Hospital and was there for less than one month. The hospital surrendered to the Union army on May 4. Ten days later he traveled to *******n, Mississippi and signed parol papers on May 14. 1865. John Henry Brigance appears on a Roll of Prisoners of War of Hospital Attendants and Patients at Hinkley Hospital, Demopolis, Ala.,of the Confederate States Army, commanded by Surg. H. Hinkley, surrendered at (blank) by Lieut. Gen. R. Taylor, C.S.A., to Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby, U.S.A., May 4, 1865, and paroled at *******n, Miss., May 14, 1865".

Cheatham’s Corps and probably other commands in the Army of Tennessee utilized the Confederate railroad system for much of their transport from Mississippi to North Carolina in 1865. This is an extract from internet sources describing the railroad through Selma.

This 104-mile road had been started before the war as a connection in the Montgomery to Vicksburg route. With the Memphis & Charleston RR very vulnerable to being broken at Memphis or on the Tennessee River, it was critical for the South to create a second rail route across the lower Confederacy. This line was part of the solution, but lacked two sections -- 5 miles on the Tombigbee River and the 45 miles from Selma to Montgomery, filled in by the steamboats on the Alabama River. Except for the Tombigbee bridge, the road was completed in December 1862.

The road was chartered in 1850 and was intended to connect Selma, Alabama with the Mississippi state line. The Selma to Uniontown portion was completed before the war, but resources to finish the work were unavailable to the state or railroad.
Because it was a link in providing a cross-Confederacy railroad, it was made a high-priority project by the Confederate government and rail was provided by stripping lesser lines. The road was completed to *******n in December 1862 -- except for the lack of a bridge over the Tombigbee River. The gap forced the unloading of cars at Demopolis for a steamboat ride to McDowell's Bluff and reloading of the cars.
The gap between Selma and Montgomery, not a part of the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers, but part of the urgently needed trans-Confederacy line, also remained and was handled with another steamboat ride.
The name was changed to the Selma & *******n Railroad in 1864.

The crossing of the Tombigbee River, as evidenced by the following letter was a major challenge for the Army of Tennessee. The bridge came too late in the game to be of any help.

Engineer Bureau, March 28, 1864

Special authority was obtained more than a month since to construct the bridge over the Tombigbee River, near Demopolis, and Maj. Minor Meriwether placed in charge. Major M.'s reputation for skill and efficiency induces me to believe that everything will be done that can be to secure the prompt completion of the bridge.

Owing to the size of the river and the character of the freshets, however, the undertaking is one of such magnitude that in the present limited mechanical resources of the Confederacy it can scarcely be accomplished before midsummer.

A. L. Rives,
Lieutenant-Colonel, etc.

[larry_cockerham]

January 30, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Selma, Alabama

February 1, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Montgomery, Alabama. It took three days for Cheatham’s Corps to travel from Montgomery to Macon, a distance of ---- miles via railroad.

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

On 1 Feb. 1865 the regiment was ordered to take the cars to Mobile, Alabama. The few men remaining in Featherston's Brigade knew they were heading to the Carolinas and would be up against their old nemeses, Gen. William T. Sherman. For many Confederate soldiers it was just too much. Desertions became frequent and soldiers proclaimed their own decision about the fate of the Confederate States of America by removing themselves from the war and going home.

February 1, 1865 Looking at the other side of the line for a moment
we find Sherman’s army split at two locations this day. The right wing
was at Pocotaligo, Georgia forty miles north of Savannah and the
left wing at Robertsville, Georgia twenty miles west of Pocotaligo.
Both divisions started north for Columbia, SC on their route to
Goldsboro, NC.

Railroads in Alabama and Georgia 1865

The letter below shows the attention paid by Confederate command to the railroad situation in middle Alabama. This route was to become the vehicle by which the Army of Tennessee was able to escape the oncoming siege of James Harrison Wilson in late winter of 1864-65.

Headquarters Department, &c.
Montgomery, July 27, 1864

Maj. George Whitfield
Assistant Quartermaster, Montgomery, Ala.

Major,

I desire that you will, in the event of its becoming necessary in order to complete the Montgomery and West Point road, proceed at once to transfer the iron from the road between Uniontown and Newbern { from the Selma & *******n RR} to Montgomery. In executing this duty you will not only conform strictly to the laws regulating such impressments, but use every effort to secure the rights and feelings of the gentlemen interested in the road. Do not omit to explain to them that the necessity is immediate and imperative, which calls on them to make this sacrifice for the public safety.

Yours, Very respectfully,
D. H. Maury
Major-General, Commanding

P. S.--I have dispatched General Hood inquiring whether he can procure any iron from Georgia. In case he can, it will not be necessary for you to remove any of the Newbern road. You will ascertain that on applying to Major Jones, commanding here. In the event of your services not being necessary to remove the Newbern iron, you will proceed at once to the break in the road near Notasulga and superintend the repairing of the road. Please press it forward with all of your energy.


Selma, October 20, 1864

Lieut. Gen. R. Taylor, Comdg. Dept. Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana

General,

I have read the letter of the president of Alabama & Tennessee Rivers Railroad and the indorsement thereon of General Beauregard, directing the extension of that road from Blue Mountain{, Ala.} to Jacksonville{, Ala., about 20 miles}. The only sources from which iron can be obtained for this purpose are the Gainesville branch {ie, the Mississippi, Gainesville & Tuscaloosa Railroad in Mississippi}, the New Berne branch {of the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers Railroad}, and the Marion branch {of the Cahaba, Marion & Greensboro Railroad}, of Alabama. Of these the Gainesville branch is the only one the Secretary of War has authorized me to remove. The iron will have to be brought by steamers down the Tombigbee River about 50 miles to Demopolis and carried by rail an average of 210 miles. If taken from the New Berne or Marion branch it will have to be carried about 170 miles, and an order from the commanding general given for their removal. To execute the work with dispatch will require two locomotives and thirty cars devoted exclusively to the work, and one of the locomotives must be capable of drawing twenty car-loads of iron, or it will require three locomotives. These must be subtracted from the present transportation of the road engaged in the carriage of army supplies. Can they be spared? The attempt to remove any of the three branches will probably be enjoined (the Gainesville branch least likely in this case), in which event we must await the process of dissolving it before the courts or take it by military force. The Secretary of War has decided that the general commanding is the judge of the necessity in such cases, and with him rests the seizure by force. These branches, especially the New Berne and Marion, penetrate a country which contributes large supplies of grain and meat to the Army, and unless the necessity is imperious, the removal may cause more danger than benefit. The labor for the execution of this work and the teams for hauling cross-ties will have to be impressed. I found it exceedingly difficult to hire labor, even at the most extravagant rates, for the railroad work near Demopolis, and the impressment of labor since the late heavy drafts from Mobile and other points has become doubly difficult. The distance from Blue Mountain to Gadsden, the point to which the supplies are hauled by wagon, is about twenty-seven miles, and from Jacksonville about twenty-two miles, a difference of only five miles. The question arises whether, in considering all these facts, the movement of our Army in that direction are not of such a transitory character and the necessity so temporary and the advantages so slight, comparatively, as to render the undertaking inexpedient at this time.

I make these suggestions, general with great difficulty and respect, believing that they may not have occurred to General Beauregard. If you so order, I will proceed immediately with the work and execute it as rapidly as possible, giving my most earnest attention to its early completion. The Government will have to advance the money to pay for the work and iron, the company not having the means to do it, and the cost be retained from transportation accounts due from the Government to the company. This is ample to reimburse the Government, but the funds for the labor will be required in advance. The iron can be paid for in Richmond. I shall require about $25,000 to start with for contingencies. Can the quartermaster here supply it?

Very respectfully, yours
Minor Meriwether
Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers

By the year 1865, the railroad extended east from Montgomery to West Point, Georgia near the AL-GA state line. At Auburn, Alabama the line split, going northeast to Atlanta and east to Columbus and Macon. The route from Montgomery to Columbus to Macon included Chehaw Station, Notasulga, Loachappka, Opchlika, Auburn, Girard, Columbus, Butler, Fort Valley and on to Macon. The northern route going near Atlanta was from Auburn to West Point to Grantville to Newnan to Eat Point and then south to Griffin, Barnesville and on to Macon.
Which one of these routes was used by the Army of Tennessee. Maybe both, I don’t know at this point in time, but I’m still digging!
The railroad from Selma to Montgomery was not completed until 1870 so a march was necessary for that connection. This was costing valuable time, but could not be avoided.

Assembling at Fort Tyler
The fort was commanded by Brig. Gen. Robert C. Tyler. When notified of the imminent approach of the Federals, Tyler assembled a small group of approximately 120 Confederates inside the fort composed of soldiers on leave, hospital aides, and local boys.¹ (Note there are varying accounts of the number of Confederate soldiers that fought within the fort and in the town of West Point. These range from 120 to 265) They manned the earthen fort and named it in honor of their General.² The fort, built 18 months earlier, contained three artillery pieces: a 32-pounder which was placed on the southeast corner of the fort, and two 12-pound Parrot guns, one of which was placed on the southwest corner and another on the northwest corner. Numerous stories and folklore abound concerning that Easter Sunday. Most notable are stories of young boys wanting to help in the battle. One such story is about "Major" Anderson.
Once in West Point, the fight started early, 10-11 a.m., and it went on 'til dusk. The Union cavalrymen commanded by Col. Oscar LaGrange easily circumvented the fort and took a river bridge, but they couldn't feel secure with Tyler's 32-pound cannon aimed at their backs.³

[larry_cockerham]

February 4, 1865

From Jeff Weaver’s Regimental History of the 58th North Carolina:

Palmer's Brigade rode the rails to Branchville, South Carolina. On February 4, 1865 they challenged Sherman again and took an active part in several actions at several crossings of the North and South Edisto, repulsing the Federals "in all cases." The 58th was involved in the skirmish at Orangeburg, South Carolina, where some were captured and others wounded. No records survive to indicate the number killed. The Wytheville Dispatch after the war ran a story about Jackson Grubb and Joseph Headrick of Company H, 63rd Virginia and their encounter in South Carolina, near Orangeburg, with Federal Soldiers. From the Grubb and Headrick version of events, a Union soldier was found dead in the swamps. Retribution, part of Sherman's total war philosophy, was taken seriously by his bummers. Grubb and Headrick of Company H, who had been captured near Orangeburg, were included in a party of prisoners forced to draw lots, to see who would die in revenge for the dead Yankee. A South Carolinian lost and was executed.

G. D. Gouge took a few minutes out of the hectic army schedule at Branchville, South Carolina on Feburary 8 to drop a few lines to his sister in Yancey County, NC :

We are still near Branchville, S.C., where Colonel Silver left us and are expecting a fight every day. The Yankees are so near that we can hear their drums every morning and some of them came up in sight yesterday but went back without firing guns.

I can say to you that we have been seeing hard times this fall and winter, but we are very well pleased with getting so near home. We think if we can't come home, we can hear from you oftener.

I have been in hopes that they would make peace sometime this spring, but we have just heard this morning that would not receive our commissioners at Washington unless they would come back to the union and free the negro in our country, and if this be so, I see no chance for the war to stop soon.

One must assume that the 63rd Virginia was close geographically to the remainder of Palmer’s brigade at this point, though various regiments moved on different trains and marched in some differing routes. Sherman’s army had been split in two corps moving north from Savannah. Skirmishing occurred at numerous sites in South Carolina during February 1865.

[larry_cockerham]

February 5, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Macon, Georgia

The city of Macon was in a relatively protected location and had a strong link to the railroad system in the southern states. Wounded Confederates could be easily transported here because of the rail access as was the case when Whitfield Monroe Parker was wounded in nearby Atlanta on August 9, 1864. The old city fairgrounds served as a prison location and scarce gold reserves were sent to Macon for safe storage. The Findley Iron Works is said to have built eighty 1,500 - pound cannon between 1862 and 1864. General William Sherman’s “March to the Sea" managed to miss Macon and its arsenal. Governor Joseph E. Brown decided to move the capital to Macon, to keep the state's records safe from yankee destruction. A legislature was seated in the old city hall from February 15 until March 11, 1865. Macon was finally captured by General James H. Wilson at the end of the Civil War. Two armies, same road.

[larry_cockerham]

February 7, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Milledgeville, Georgia

Milledgeville, Georgia

Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia from 1803-1868. The city was occupied Nov. 22-25, 1864 by Gen. Sherman’s army’s left wing, which came together here briefly from Eatonton and Shady Dale to cross the Oconee River. The governor’s mansion located at 120 St. Clark Street , was built in 1838. During the brief occupation General Sherman “slept in his bedroll on the floor of this historic home, from which the furnishings had been evacuated to Macon along with Gov. Joe Brown. Brown was later arrested at this site in May 1865.” Sherman’s men blew up the Milledgeville arsenal, but left the State Capitol building standing, “if only to serve as an amusement park for the rowdy soldiers. They ransacked the State documents, littering them throughout the building, while spitting tobacco upon the floor. For some fun, the men called a mock session of congress to order, and debated the merits of whiskey while consuming mass quantities of it. They then took the liberty of revoking Georgia's secession from the Union, and wrote up articles proclaiming Georgia's allegiance to the United States.” An internet source says that one of the most interesting locally occupied sites was St. Stephens Episcopal Church. The story is that the Federal army stabled their horses inside, leaving still visible hoofprints under the original wooden pews. The men also reportedly poured molasses down the pipes of the church organ, to "sweeten the sound." Although the organ has been replaced, the memory of disrespect remains.”

The Army of Tennessee was not taking a scenic tour in February, 1865. They were hell bent on doing battle with William Tecumseh Sherman’s army. The survival of the Confederacy was at stake. Whitfield Parker likely thought more about his often painful wounds than he pondered the long-term survival of the Confederacy. One of General Sherman’s parrot guns had brought the discomfort which was to last a lifetime. He wouldn’t have minded returning the favor. The chance would come in North Carolina.

[larry_cockerham]

February 8, 1865 Augusta, Georgia

Enemy cut railroad to Charleston yesterday morning near Blacksville. Lee’s Corps is in position on the South Fork of the Edisto, protecting the approaches to Columbia. Head of Cheatham’s Corps arrived here last night. McLaw’s Division is at or about Branchville. I shall leave here tomorrow for Columbia – G.T. Beaugregard, Gen.

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta’s contribution to the war was the Confederate government financed Powder Works, a large facility very quickly erected on the Augusta Canal by ordnance expert George Washington Rains. Under his supervision this plant made nearly 3 million pounds of superior gunpowder for Confederate use.

The following was written by Richard J. Lentz and has been extracted from The Civil War in Georgia, An Illustrated Travelers Guide:

Augusta, like Columbus and Macon, played an important role as a fall line industrial, transportation, and trade center for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Augusta was the location of the Confederacy's Powder Works Factory, which supplied the Southern states with badly needed explosive powder. Cotton is what shaped and supported Augusta in the antebellum and post Civil War years, giving its citizens wealth and importance. Although no battle was fought here and Gen. W.T. Sherman’s men didn't march through its streets on their way to the sea, much Civil War history is to be found in the Garden City. Augusta, the birthplace of "Fighting" Joe Wheeler, supplied many fighting men to the cause. Five hospitals were located here. Augusta is the second oldest city in Georgia, established in 1736 by Gen. James E. Oglethorpe as an Indian trading post on the Savannah River. It was the state's capital from 1785-95, and many of Georgia's historical "firsts" happened in Augusta. The oldest railroad in Georgia continuously operating under its original charter, the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, carried more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers to their homes without charge after the War.

Augusta Canal, Confederate Powder Works

A 168-foot obelisk chimney is all that remains from the Confederate Powder Works, which is the only permanent structure begun and completed by the Confederate government. The Powder Works Factory was the second largest munitions factory in the world during the Civil War, consisting of 26 buildings which stretched two miles down the first level of the Augusta Canal. In July 1861, President Jefferson Davis ordered West Point-trained engineer, Col. George Washington Rains to select a place for a gunpowder plant, and Rains selected Augusta. The munitions factory operated under Rains from 1862 until April 18, 1865, manufacturing 2,750,000 pounds of gunpowder of the highest quality then made from saltpeter smuggled through the Federal blockade from India via England. Rains was known to boast that no battle was lost for want of gunpowder. The factory also produced cannons, cartridges, percussion caps, grenades, and signal rockets. Churches donated their bells, and local women donated their lead window weights to be melted into bullets. Other war industries along the canal produced pistols, uniforms, shoes, bedding, hospital supplies, baked goods, and gun and horse harnesses. The city bought the dilapidated powder works from the U.S. government in 1872 and tore down the mills to make way for new industries. Col. Rains, then a professor of chemistry and pharmacy at the Medical College of Georgia, appeared before the city council requesting that "at least the noble obelisk be allowed to remain forever as a fitting monument to the dead heroes who sleep on the unnumbered battlefields of the South." Large stone tablets on the base of the chimney pay tribute to the fallen Confederacy and Rains, who "under almost insuperable difficulties erected, and successfully operated these powder works — a bulwark of the beleaguered Confederacy."

[larry_cockerham]

February 9, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Augusta, Georgia

February 11, 1865

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

From Mobile the 33rd Mississippi ferried across Mobile Bay to the Tensas River and on up to the railroad at Tensas, Alabama. From there they took the cars through Pollard and Montgomery, Alabama, over to Columbus, Georgia and there on to Macon and Milledgeville, Georgia, where they got off and marched to Augusta, Georgia. They arrived on 11 February 1865. Within two days the men of Featherston's Brigade were ordered to march northward to Graniteville, South Carolina. They were in poor condition for a march and the column stretched for miles over the bad country roads.

[larry_cockerham]

February 14, 1865

Jeff Weaver wrote:

Palmer's Brigade reached Columbia, South Carolina by February 14, burning bridges behind them. Calvin Livesay told of seeing "a sea of blue on the south bank." General Johnston was disappointed to find no reinforcements at Charleston, and was distressed to give up another state capital.

[larry_cockerham]

February 15, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps left Augusta toward
Baushetts Mills

February 16, 1865 2:30 p.m.
Enemy commenced shelling city this morning. He is apparently moving up Saluda River. Our forces occupy south bank of that stream and Congaree. – G.T. Beaugregard, Gen.

Feb 16, 1865 6:00 p.m.

Enemy has forced a passage across the Saluda River above Columbia. I will endeavor to prevent him from crossing the Broad, but my forces here are so small it is doubtful whether I can prevent it. Columbia will soon have to be evacuated – G.T. Beaugregard, Gen.


From Jeff Weaver in the regimental history of the 58th North Carolina:

Palmer's Brigade had the "honor" of acting as a rear guard to hold the south bank of the Congaree River until February 16. Palmer's command then withdrew and burned the bridge behind it. Johnston was operating a delaying action so that Columbia could be evacuated.

[larry_cockerham]

February 17, 1865

The Army of Tennessee began its march north on February 17. (as per Jeff Weaver in the regimental history of the 58th North Carolina)

February 18, 1865 Sherman’s force entered Columbia, South Carolina

February 19, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Newberry, South Carolina