Aot - 1865

[larry_cockerham]

From Judge Frank H. Smith in 1904:

The Last Consolidation.—

In North Carolina, March 21st, 1865, in the final death gasp of the Confederacy, the Third Tennessee Consolidated Regiment was organized; it was composed of the 4th, 5th, 19th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 38th, and 41st, Regiments of which James D. Tillman was commissioned Colonel in the Brigade of Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmers. Maj. Gen. B. F. Cheathams Division, Lt. Gen. W. J. Hardees Corps, and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Commander.

Note the listing of the 41st TN Infantry in this consolidation of the AOT. Sergeant Thomas Hamilton Janes of the 41st, ancestor of Camden Blake Cockerham was likely in this group.

[larry_cockerham]

From the History of the 11th Tennessee Infantry:

By March, Captain F. F. Tidwell commanded the 11th/29th Tennessee Infantry Consolidated. The regiment participated in one final engagement, the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina on March 21, 1865. In the conflict, the 11th/29th Tennessee was held in position near the Mill Creek Bridge at Joe Johnston's headquarters. The men, much fatigued from hard marching, fell back with Johnston and his staff before a spirited attack of the 64th Illinois Infantry. This attack was eventually stymied. In this, the final battle in which the 11th Tennessee participated, Sergeant James R. Weaver of Company B and Private J. H. Larkins of Company E were both wounded

[larry_cockerham]

March 22, 1865

Union cavalry, 14,500 men, [accounts vary from 13-14k) under command of Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson, departed Waterloo, on the Tennessee River, moving in the direction of Central Alabama intending to destroy the arsenal and supplies at Selma. According to Gene Cantrell from official records , Upton's division moved via Barton's Station, Russellville, Mt Hope, and Jasper, to Elyton. [Elyton is now known as Birmingham] Long's division marched by the way of Cherokee Station, Frankford, Russellville, crossed Bear Creek on the Tuscaloosa road, thence by Thorn Hill and Jasper to Elyton. McCook pursued the same route to the crossing of Bear Creek, and thence taking the Tuscaloosa road to Eldridge, then to Jasper and on to Elyton.

[larry_cockerham]

From Jeff Weaver’s history of the 58th North Carolina Infantry:

On March 22, 1865 the Army of Tennessee withdrew by rail to Smithfield, North Carolina. While there, the Army of Tennessee was reorganized. Brigades, Regiments and Companies, by this time all very small, were consolidated. The 63rd was reorganized with the 54th into the 54th Battalion Virginia Infantry (The Consolidation order was dated April 9, 1865). The 54th Virginia battalion was reported as serving in Pettus' Brigade, Stevenson's Division, Lee's Corps Army of Tennessee. The 58th and 60th North Carolina Regiments were consolidated into the 58th & 60th North Carolina Infantry Regiment Consolidated and reassigned to Brantley's Brigade, D. H. Hill's Division, 2nd Corps, Army of Tennessee, ending their association with old comrades of Reynolds Brigade formed 18 months before. These units were involved in some minor skirmishing until April 25th when an armistice was announced. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee on April 27, 1865. The army was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina, May 1-2, 1865.

There is no reason to believe that men of other companies did not do the same, that is, just go home in mid-April 1865. Most, therefore, missed the final payment for their services. General Johnston ordered that the Confederate treasury be divided amongst his men. It amounted to one and one seventh Mexican silver dollar per man. Every man received one silver dollar and every seventh man received an extra one. The one silver dollar was certainly worth more than the $154.00 worth of Confederate currency that each private was due for the last 14 months of the war.

From postwar recollections of members of the 58th North Carolina and 63rd Virginia, these western troops were taken by rail to Statesville, where they began the march, not walk, home, at least 100 miles away for most of these men, who began arriving at their homes in mid-May, 1865, most whom hadn't seem them in at least 2 years, many surprising relatives who had presumed them dead.

No one currently in the family of Whitfield Monroe Parker has ever mentioned knowledge of his Mexican dollar. I’m sure he had found a way home prior to that occurrence. Family legend holds that he disembarked from a train near his Wallace Switch home in Washington County, Virginia. Obviously he didn’t walk home from Statesville, NC as Jeff Weaver wrote in his History of the 58th NC, nor as recounted in Calvin Livesay’s diary. Whit must have traveled via train north from North Carolina and then through Virginia before reaching his home. Once the parole had occurred there was assistance available from the US Army for such activity. It was indeed, time to go home. My existence on this earth depended on Whit’s survival, so I’m very glad he made it!

[larry_cockerham]

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

“On the 22nd the Rebel army began its retreat. The Battle of Bentonville had cost it 2,600 men while the Federals lost 1,637.”

[larry_cockerham]

March 25, 1865

General N.B. Forrest sent Jackson’s Division to Tuscaloosa with orders to strike the flank of the Federals column as quickly as possible. Forrest was not aware of the total strength, nearly 13,500 of his opponent’s cavalry. James Harrison Wilson was on the move south with the largest cavalry force ever assembled.

[larry_cockerham]

March 28, 1865

Union Maj. Gen. Upton's Fourth Division arrived at Elyton on and reported Patterson's regiment from Northern Alabama passed through Elyton just before the arrival of his division. Patterson's rear guard was driven out by the arriving Union troops. Patterson's troops obstructed the ford across the Cahawba River, delaying the Union troops until a footbridge could be laid on the railroad bridge on the 30th.

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

[After Bentonville] The Confederates retreated to Smithfield, North Carolina, and huddled around camp fires until 28 March 1865. Featherston's Brigade was then ordered to head for Charlotte, North Carolina, on that day. The brigade had reached Salisbury by 31 March 1865 and was ordered to stop there to defend the crossings of the Yadkin River.

[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.

Stoneman, of course, didn’t get that far east. John Calvin Rouse, formerly of the 48th Virginia, would have entered the fray at that point on the side of the Union. Johnston’s army wasn’t ready for that!