Aot - 1865

[larry_cockerham]

March 9, 1865 Confederate Army began leaving Charlotte for Raleigh via rail. At Charlotte the Army of Tennessee boarded the North Carolina Railroad for Concord, Salisbury, Lexington, Greensboro, Graham, Hillsborough, and Raleigh.

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

At Chester they "took to the cars" northward to Charlotte, North Carolina, and on through Salisbury, Greensborough, Raleigh and Smithfield to reach Goldsboro. They arrived on 9 March 1865 and were marched to Kinston, North Carolina, that same day. These movements were in response to Gen. W. T. Sherman's march northward from Savanna, Georgia, into South Carolina, and his campaign to link up with other Federal forces. The problem for Gen. Johnston was that he did not know exactly where Gen. Sherman was heading. Gen. Sherman had divided his forces into two columns. This caused Gen. Johnston to keep his forces divided also.

[larry_cockerham]

March 10, 1865

The 10th TN Cavalry (US) was at Natchez, Mississippi. Well fatigued from their efforts in the pursuit of the AOT into Alabama in late December, the 10th was about to let themselves be dismounted in an effort to build Wilson's 4th Cavalry Corps for the pending invasion of Alabama.

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

The 33rd Mississippi had withdrawn from Kinston on 10 March and transferred to Smithfield, North Carolina.

[larry_cockerham]

March 11, 1865 Sherman’s army spent the night at Fayetteville, NC

March 11, 1865

Lieut. Gen. Richard Taylor abolished the District of North Alabama. All of the State of Alabama, except that portion in the District of the Gulf, becomes the District of Alabama, Brig. Gen. D.W. Adams, commanding. This same day Mar 11, Cheatham’s Corps in Charlotte, North Carolina by rail.

[larry_cockerham]

March 14, 1865 near Smithfield (written to Joseph E. Johnston)

I encamp at Smithfield tonight. Tennessee troops are all up. My own will be here tomorrow. The enemy had not advanced on Kinston last night. – Braxton Bragg, Gen.

Smithfield, North Carolina

I left Ashe County, North Carolina in 1965 and attended school at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. I remained in Raleigh after school except for a couple of years in Charlotte 73-74. I returned to Raleigh until 1978 when I moved to Nashville. During that time I became acquainted with the towns surrounding Raleigh, one of which is Smithfield. This city of about 10,000 is located on the Neuse River just a fifteen minute drive down US 70 from east Raleigh. A sleepy southern town of three story buildings it retained many of the vestiges of the old south. The remnants of segregation were still evident in the 1970s. The sister city of Selma was predominately black; Smithfield was predominately white. As you approached downtown, the bridge over the Neuse was guarded by a large billboard depicting a hooded Klansman mounted with sword drawn sporting the caption: “Welcome to Smithfield, Home of the KKK, United Klans of America.” Smithfield is in Johnston County named for Gabriel Johnston, Governor of North Carolina, 1734-1752. General Joe is far better known! ldc-2004

[larry_cockerham]

March 16, 1865

The left wing of Sherman’s army met Hardee’s Corps in battle at Averasboro, NC

General Joseph Johnston appointed Lt. Gen. A.P. Steward to assume command of the Army of Tennessee.

Palmer's Brigade did not take part in the hard fought battle of Averasboro, North Carolina on March 16, 1865. Other events were awaiting them, and the battle-worn soldiers of the regiment were no doubt glad they were not called into action. (as per Jeff Weaver in his history of the 58th North Carolina)

[larry_cockerham]

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

On 18 March 1865 the regiment headed southeast to the town of Bentonville. They were heading into their last fight as an organized regiment.

[larry_cockerham]

“On 19 March 1865 the pitifully small Army of Tennessee numbered about 4,000 men. They were deployed to the right of the Goldsboro Road and began to probe south through the woods. They then took a defensive position in the woods and awaited the Federals. The federal XIVth Corps moved to the attack and were repulsed by Stewart s men. They held their positions until mid-afternoon when the 33rd Mississippi and the remainder of the Army of Tennessee moved out to attack. One officer witnessed the charge and related, "It was a painful sight to see how close their battle flags were together, regiments being scarcely larger than companies and a division not much larger than a regiment should be."

Despite their small numbers the men of Featherston's Brigade who were there were the toughest of the tough. They slammed into Gen. Henry Slocum's XIVth Corps and pushed them back for over a mile. The Federals rallied in a pine thicket which was supported by trenches, a swamp, and the arriving XXth Corps. Here the two sides fought it out as isolated groups rather than organized regiments. The fighting continued into the night until the Confederates accepted the fact that the Yankees were not going to retreat any further. The Southerners then returned to their original positions.

On the 20th, fresh Federal forces arrived at the battlefield. There were no new forces for the Confederacy. The two sides spent the day shooting at each other from behind trees. This continued on the 21st while the Confederate wounded were sent to the rear.”

[larry_cockerham]

Bentonville was a major contest, involving about 80,000 troops, and was the climax of Sherman's highly successful Carolinas campaign. At Goldsboro Sherman joined his army with US Major General John M. Schofield's two columns—US Major General Alfred H. Terry's and US Major General Jacob D. Cox's—and gained rail connections to the large supply bases on the North Carolina coast. Sherman's campaign had laid waste a forty-five-mile-wide swath of countryside from Savannah to Goldsboro. When morale among his troops began to wane badly with the rumors of Richmond's fall, Johnston directed that all executions for desertion be suspended. The time was almost at hand to end all killing.

[larry_cockerham]

"On March 19, 1865, Lee's Corps was given to Major General Daniel Harvey Hill. Hill's March 31, 1865 report shows Stevenson's division, with Palmer's Brigade, had an effective strength of 1,181, and was the strongest division in the corps. The division had about the same strength of a full regiment in 1861. The effect strength of the three divisions composing the corps' effective strength was 2,687. General Palmer's report dated March 29, 865, claims a loss of 13 killed, 113 wounded and 55 prisoners at Bentonville. Palmer commended Lieutenant Colonel A. F. Boggess of the 26th Tennessee who, "fell in the gallant discharge of his duties, a noble specimen of the man, officer, and soldier." Palmer also commented on Colonel R. M. Saffell, 26th Tennessee, writing, "being a supernumerary officer, volunteered with Colonel Ashby's calvary, to resist the enemy attempting to turn our left flank on the 21st, and was killed while gallantly leading a charge and repulsing them".

General Palmer's report also noted that Captain George W. F. Harper commanding the 58th North Carolina, Captain Eli Spangler commanding the 54th Virginia and Lieutenant Colonel Connally H. Lynch, commanding the 63rd Virginia and 60th North Carolina, "each handled their commands with ability and bore themselves handsomely through the day, as did Colonel Searcy and the officers under him, commanding the Tennessee consolidation.'"

At Bentonville, Palmer's command consisted of the 58th and 60th North Carolina, the 54th and 63rd Virginia and a detachment of several consolidated Tennessee regiments under Colonel Anderson Searcy.
The 58th North Carolina numbered less than 300 effective troops, but was in both better and stronger condition than Palmer's other regiments.

Joseph B. Palmer, now promoted to brigadier general, in command of the brigade, was chosen to lead the assault. Palmer's attack, initially successful, but bogged down, was relieved by Pettus' Brigade, which took the lead. The Federals regrouped in a reinforced position, and Palmer's Brigade again joined the front lines with the 58th North Carolina on the left of the battle line, the 63rd Virginia toward the center. The fight got thicker as evening progressed, and the lines thinner and the Brigade found itself nearly encircled, but held position until 8 p.m. when firing ceased. About midnight of March 19, the brigade withdrew, and reformed for battle in the morning of the 20th.

[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!

[larry_cockerham]

April 2, 1865

On this morning Jefferson Davis attended services at St. Paul’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.

[larry_cockerham]

Battle of Selma, Alabama

(Wilson defeated Forrest)

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.

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.

[larry_cockerham]

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.

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.
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. (two points for Forrest!)

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.

[larry_cockerham]

This little city was to gain fame from the civil rights marches begun there in the 1960s when African Americans continued their struggle for recognition and equality, something the Civil War had started, but never really completed. Barnhill's Buffet in nearby *******n in 2004, while filled nearly to capacity with the Tuskegee football team, was also about thirty per cent occupied by white customers, myself included. That would not have been the case before 1960. Driving through south Mississippi and Alabama today, one can see folks of all races in both public and private situations with no animosity, going about their respective business. If the Civil War contributed to that, it may have been worth the trouble.

Well, the little censor finally accepted the n in M E R I D I A N. Progress on all accounts.

[larry_cockerham]

April 7, 1865

Gen. Wilson left Selma, but was forced to return because of rain-swollen nearby streams.