This date 1865 with the Army of Tennessee

[larry_cockerham]

If any of you are interested, I would like to continue my notes on the Army of Tennessee and their continued retreat from Tennessee toward North Carolina, the battle for Bentonville and a trip home at war's end. Most "books" that I've seen seem to break-off the story of the AOT at the Tennessee River crossing at Bainbridge, Alabama on December 28, 1864. There was considerably more to the story before the fat lady (Sherman) sang. I'm trying to fill in the pieces and would greatly appreciate some help. Thanks for your patience.

[larry_cockerham]

December 31, 1864 Lee’s Corps was in camp in Burnsville, Mississippi. The various corps of the Army of Tennessee sought much needed rest in Burnsville, Rienzi and Corinth before re-assembling at Tupelo.
January 1, 1865

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:
On New Year's Day, 1865 the regiment had a holiday and rested in camp. The next day the regiment was on the march again and went to Burnsville, Mississippi. From there they went to Tupelo, Mississippi, where they camped 3 miles west of town.

January 2, 1865 Lee’s Corps moved to Reinzi, Mississippi

January 3, 1865 Lee's and Stewart's corps ordered to continue the march to Tupelo, Mississippi from their respective bivouacs, Rienzi and Burnsville, all wheels not necessary with the troops and artillery carriages to be sent to Columbus, to report upon arrival to Major-General Elzey.

January 4, 1865 No further orders regulating movements of the troops.

[larry_cockerham]

January 5, 1865 Army of Tennessee headquarters established at Tupelo, Mississippi. General Wood’s Union Corps arrived at Huntsville this same day.

January 6, 1865 Generals Stewart and Stevenson (commanding Lee's corps) were ordered to work the road where it was bad on their march.

January 7, 1865 Lee's corps arrived at Tupelo and went into camp.

January 7 – March 22 Wilson’s Cavalry at Gravelly Springs, Alabama

[tarheel]

Due to an ice storm we had and the speedy hard working cable company linemen I was out of commision for about 14 days here in western NC ... but I'm all caught back up with you now sir.

[ole]

Tarheel:

Fourteen days without the computer! And you didn't gnaw all your fingers off? What are the withdrawal symptoms like?
Ole

[Battalion]

French's Division

"After Hood's army returned from the Tennessee campaign, French's Division, which was composed of Ector's, Cockrell's, and Sears's Brigades, was detached from the Army of Tennessee and sent to Mobile to report to Gen. D. H. Maury, commanding the Department of the Gulf. We remained there nearly two months, and fought the battles of Blakely and Spanish Fort...."
http://members.aol.com/bamaconfederate/close.htm

[larry_cockerham]

Yes, Forrest, Walthall and Richard Taylor retained a minimal force (that was all that was left) to "defend" Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Ft. Blakely, along with Selma, pretty much doomed the Confederacy in the midsouth. The rest of the broken army headed east. The railroads or lack of them played a major part in the next month's events. More later from me, though I can use some help with details. Thanks very much for your post on these commands.

[tarheel]

In my own words, I was highly agitated. My wife however has a much lengthier and more colorful version of my disposition during my forced hiatus from all things world wide webby.

[larry_cockerham]

January 8, 1865 No orders of importance issued with reference to further movements.

January 9, 1865 Stewart's corps arrived at Tupelo and went into camp. The Union Cavalry was reported at Eastport, Mississippi. Time was running out for the Army of Tennessee in Mississippi. Thomas and Wilson were still on the trail.

[larry_cockerham]

January 10, 1865 Cheatham's corps ordered to move from Corinth to Tupelo.
When Hood's army arrived in Tupelo on Jan. 10, 1865, there were fewer than 15,000 infantry. On the 15th, Hood was relieved of command and replaced by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.” [[Not exactly true, it was Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor on Jan 22. Johnston returned Feb 22, 1865. P.G.T. Beauregard retained command in Hood’s absence. Taylor was to remain with Forrest in defense of Alabama and Mississippi.]]

January 11, 1865 No orders of importance.

January 12, 1865 Cheatham's corps arrived at Tupelo. All stores reported moved away from Corinth to Tupelo.

[larry_cockerham]

January 13, 1865 No orders of importance.

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

On 13 Jan 1865 the men moved the camp 3 to 4 miles south and camped near the railroad at Verona, Mississippi. It had been raining and sleeting almost constantly for several days. The remainder of January, 1865, was spent moving from Verona to Okolona to West Point, and then to Meridian.

January 14, 1865 General Beauregard arrived at Tupelo, on visit to the army, late at night. Union Cavalry under General James Wilson arrived at Gravelly Springs, Alabama this same day. The 5th Division, 1st Brigade US moved from Waterloo, AL to Gravelly Springs, AL and remained there during the month.

[larry_cockerham]

January 13, 1865 No orders of importance.

From the History of the 33rd Mississippi:

On 13 Jan 1865 the men moved the camp 3 to 4 miles south and camped near the railroad at Verona, Mississippi. It had been raining and sleeting almost constantly for several days. The remainder of January, 1865, was spent moving from Verona to Okolona to West Point, and then to Meridian.

January 14, 1865 General Beauregard arrived at Tupelo, on visit to the army, late at night. Union Cavalry under General James Wilson arrived at Gravelly Springs, Alabama this same day. The 5th Division, 1st Brigade US moved from Waterloo, AL to Gravelly Springs, AL and remained there during the month.

January 15, 1865 A system for furloughing the Confederate troops was established. (See General Orders, No. 1, 1865, and circular letter to corps commanders, field dispatches, N. 542.) On this day Samuel Robinson of the 63rd Virginia wrote a letter to his wife from Tupelo, Mississippi.

[larry_cockerham]

Meanwhile the Union Army is on the move in Georgia:

"Cump" Sherman gives instructions to General Howard regarding the next phase of their campaign. "As soon as possible we will cast off, and then for another cruise that will, in my judgment, do more to bring matters to a crisis than the last. Choose the best points you can find to land stores for Pocotaligo. Don't cross the Salkehatchie [River], but hold all the ground up to it, as though we intended to break across. The next movement I want the enemy to feel is from the left flank." General Hardee informs President Davis of the latest movements of Sherman's army. "Enemy seems to be concentrating at Pocotaligo. A force reported to be moving up the Coosawhatchie." Hardee continues, "Deserters from the enemy concur in stating that the force which crossed at Port Royal Ferry, and which is now [in] vicinity of Pocotaligo, consists of Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps; also that their destination is Charleston."

[pvt gauss]

Mr. Cockerham, Compliments,

May I suggest that the "Howling " is coming to a close in Georgia And the "SHRIEK", "I have made Georgia Howl, I will now make South Carolina "Shriek", Sherman is at hand ?

Gaus

[larry_cockerham]

January 16, 1865 .--The army including Lee’s Corps still in same camp at and near Tupelo. Whit Parker must have been here.

January 17,1865 (Tuesday) General Beauregard arrives in Tupelo with instructions, from Secretary Seddon, to grant General Hood's request to be relieved of command and to send as many troops "as may be spared" to Augusta, Georgia. Beauregard immediately approved a "judicious system of furloughs" for the men in Hood's army "to prevent disorder and desertion in [the] Army of Tennessee." John Bell Hood sends two dispatches to President Davis, one offering "to command a corps or division," and the second requesting that he be assigned "west of the Mississippi River." According to Hood, "I think I can be of more service there than east of the river." Although Beauregard is satisfied that the army "requires immediate reorganization and consolidation" and believes that "to divide this small army at this juncture to re-enforce General Hardee would expose to capture Mobile, Demopolis, Selma, Montgomery, and all the rich valley of the Alabama River," he organizes the "first shipment of about 8,000 troops" for the long and arduous train ride to Georgia. General Beauregard then wrote the following response: TUPELO, January 17, 1865. (Received 3 o'clock 24th.) - Hon. J. A. SEDDON, Secretary of War: Telegram of the 15th instant received. I will leave for Georgia and South Carolina soon as practicable after having placed General Taylor in command of the Army of Tennessee, and take, after conference with him, as many troops as can be spared from here.
G. T. BEAUREGARD.

[larry_cockerham]

As the Army of Tennessee moved eastward from Mississippi, they apparently took a variety of routes, though for the most part followed rail lines. I would greatly appreciate any information concerning specific regiments so as to better track the units involved in this long journey from Meridian to Charlotte. Railroads had not been completed in Alabama, Georgia, or South Carolina. Many detours via Ferry and foot were part of the trek.

[larry_cockerham]

HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, Near Steep Bottom Church, January 17, 1865--9.15 a.m. - General L. McLAWS, Commanding, near Salkehatchie Station: - GENERAL: There were captured..., near Station No. O, three Yankee prisoners who belong to the Eighteenth Missouri Regiment, Sheldon's brigade, Mower's [division], Seventeenth Corps. They state that the Seventeenth Corps was near Station No. 6, and that the Fifteenth...is at Beaufort....They do not know the amount of artillery or number of wagons with them, but say their wagon train is small; say the talk in camp is that Charleston is their destination....They say the Fourth [Fourteenth] and Twentieth Corps were to march from Savannah to Charleston by the line of the railroad. A scouting party of about fifty men came up a short distance this side of Gillisonville yesterday, and was driven back toward Grahamville....Respectfully, general, your obedient servant, J. WHEELER, Major-General.

[larry_cockerham]

January 21, 1865 (Saturday) More Union communication:

General Grant informs "Cump" Sherman that, instead of having General Thomas "make a campaign into the heart of Alabama," as Sherman has suggested, he has transferred Schofield's corps to Virginia. "The advance, 6,000, will reach seaboard by the 23d, the remainder following as rapidly as railroad transportation can be procured from Cincinnati. The corps numbers over 21,000 men." Grant explains he reasons; "I was induced to do this because I did not believe Thomas could possibly be got off before spring. His pursuit of Hood indicated a sluggishness that satisfied me that he would never do to conduct one of your campaigns."

[larry_cockerham]

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 21, 1865. (Received 29th.) - Maj. Gen. W. T. SHERMAN, Commanding Military Division of the Mississippi: When Hood had crossed the Tennessee, and those in pursuit had reached it, Thomas had not much more than half crossed the State, from whence he returned to Nashville to take steamer for Eastport. He is possessed of excellent judgment, great coolness, and honesty, but he is not good on a pursuit. He also reported his troops fagged, and that it was necessary to equip up....Canby has been ordered to act offensively from the sea coast to the interior toward Montgomery and Selma....In the meantime should you be brought to a halt anywhere, I can send two corps of 30,000 effective men to your support from the troops about Richmond. To résumé: Canby is ordered to operate to the interior from the gulf. A. J. Smith may go from the north, but I think it doubtful. A force of 28,000 or 30,000 men will co-operate with you from New Berne or Wilmington, or both. You can call for re-enforcements. This will be handed to you by Captain Hudson of my staff, who will return with any message you may have for me. If there is anything I can do for you in the way of having supplies on shipboard at any point on the sea coast ready for you let me know it. U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

[larry_cockerham]

The recent rainy weather in South Carolina and Georgia has slowed Sherman's preparations for embarking on his new campaign. He writes to Admiral Porter, "The weather has been villainous, and all the country is under water, and retards me much. It may be some days yet before I can cast off, as the roads are under water, and my men are not exactly amphibious yet, nor the mules either." However, Sherman remains optimistic. "I shall spare no efforts to be off, and the foul weather of January may be a guarantee for better in February and March." Sherman also gives Porter his opinion of Benjamin Butler. "The best part of the taking of Fort Fisher was the killing of Butler. He has no blood on his skirts, and, judging from the past, it will be long before his blood stains anything. His solicitude for the blood of his men is a moonshine." In addition, Sherman sends a letter to General Grant promising to meet him in Virginia in "April or May." Sherman writes, "I have turned over everything to General Foster, so that nothing now hinders me but water....When I am at Goldsborough and move against Raleigh, Lee will be forced to divide his command or give up Richmond."

[larry_cockerham]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In the Field, Savannah, January 21, 1865. - Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT, City-Point, Va. - GENERAL: I have been told that Congress meditates a bill to make another lieutenant-general for me. I have written to John Sherman to stop it, if it is designed for me. It would be mischievous, for there are enough rascals who would try to sow differences between us whereas you and I now are in perfect understanding. I would rather have you in command than anybody else for you are fair, honest, and have at heart the same purpose that should animate all. I should emphatically decline any commission calculated to bring us into rivalry....I doubt if men in Congress fully realize that you and I are honest in our professions of want of ambition. I know I feel none, and to-day will gladly surrender my position and influence to any other who is better able to wield the power. The flurry attending my recent success will soon blow over, and give place to new developments....I am, truly, yours, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General

[larry_cockerham]

January 23, 1865

John Bell Hood relieved of command of Army of Tennessee. His replacement was Lt. General Richard Taylor. See later. (Yes, for what it’s worth Richard was Zachary’s son.) Taylor and Forrest were left with the awesome task of defending Alabama and Mississippi from an invading force far greater in number, stamina and ammunition than could be mustered in the south at this point. The war in the west was on it's last breath.

[larry_cockerham]

January 27, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps in Meridian, Mississippi by rail
Meridian, Mississippi September 2004

I took some vacation time around the Labor Day weekend in 2004 and swapped travelling partners. My wife Darlene replaced Duke the Border Collie as we left for the Mississippi gulf coast in order to avoid hurricane Frances which was poised to gobble our original destination. It’s an ill wind that blows no one good. I was “forced” to drive down Interstate 59 through the city of Meridian on the way to Gulfport. Meridian is still a sleepy southern town 140 years after the Army of Tennessee assembled at the train yard for a ride east through Demopolis, Selma and Montgomery in Alabama to their destiny in North Carolina and a chance to return home. The only thing that assembled in Meridian this day was the Tuskegee University football team ready to tackle some chicken at the local Barnhill’s Buffet. Talk about a lack of diversity, these boys take the prize. I shook the Coach’s hand and wished him well, being all the while thankful that we already had our chance at the chicken. [They beat Western Alabama 20-0 the next day.]
The history of this once proud city began in 1831 after a treaty with the Choctaw referred to as the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. The first white settler in the area was Richard McLemore of Virginia who had to wait until 1855 for the railroads to link to the area, but from that time Meridian grew to become a major Mississippi city. At the beginning of the Civil War however, Meridian only claimed 15 families, hardly a metropolis. The town supported a confederate arsenal, hospital, and a prisoner of war stockade.
In February 1864 General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army destroyed the city’s railroads. He was quoted at that time: “Meridian no longer exists”. As soon as he left town, the hearty Rebels in the vicinity went to work and restored the tracks in 26 working days. William Sherman, much hated by the people of the South, perhaps for good reason, was a soldier above all else. He fought the Army of Tennessee from Chattanooga to Atlanta in the spring of 1864 and directed the Union armies under George H. Thomas in the fall and winter of 1864 in Tennessee. He was still calling the shots in the spring of 1865 as the superior of James Harrison Wilson. As the Army of Tennessee made their way to South Carolina for the final curtain of the play, who was in wait? Yes, Bill Sherman and his army fresh from spending the winter eating shrimp in Charleston. The final curtain was to fall in May 1865 with William Sherman still on stage in the final scene next to his long time adversary Joseph Edward Johnston. Two Armies on the same road.
Between 1890 and 1930 Meridian grew to be the state’s largest city, but at the time Whitfield Monroe Parker and the 63rd Virginia came to town in February 1865, little existed but a rail yard and a ride into the future. That ride held a promise of a return to the green hills of the Holston valley in southwestern Virginia. That was worth the trip.

[larry_cockerham]

This was posted by James Dalton on Genforum in 2001 concerning the use of the railroad by Union Forces in 1863. Conditions must have been similar, perhaps improved by 1865:

Question: Considering the times and location (all under Union control) about how far would a train run in a daylight day? (do not think they would run at night). They could only go as far as McDowell Landing (west of Demopolis in Alabama and be reloaded on a ferry for river trip to Demopolis, then rail trip to Selma, then river trip to Montgomery, then rail to the Georgia State Line, then had to swap trains because of track gage Etc.)

While the Army of Tennessee was able to make the movement from Mississippi to North Carolina using rail at times, the trip was arduous at best.

The presence of the railroad in Meridian is still quite strong today with a large rail yard very near the center of downtown. I can imagine in 1865 that this was a collection point for the timber being removed from the vast forests of central Mississippi and nearby Alabama. The location is about midway between Jackson to the west and Montgomery to the east. On January 27, 1865 Cheatham’s Corps reported “in Meridian, Mississippi by rail”. Private Whitfield Monroe Parker must have looked at this place and longed for a glimpse of the Holston River valley. He and his Virginia comrades were a long way from home in a strange land, having spent the first two months of the worst winter of their lives in Tennessee, north Alabama and in the vicinity of Tupelo. The last couple of weeks had brought much needed rest, nourishment, clothing and supplies before they started again on the journey into an unknown future.

Only a couple of months later, the remnant of this once proud Confederate army would spot the entourage of President Jefferson Davis traveling through Salisbury, North Carolina on the way to his capture in Irwinville, Georgia on May 10, 1865. Born in central Kentucky, Davis was an 1828 West Point graduate and served his country well in the Mexican War. He was a member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives 1835-1861 until he resigned to be elected President of the Confederacy for a six year term, the only person to ever hold that office. After spending 1865-67 in prison at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, he was paroled and returned to Mississippi where he engaged in several business ventures. He purchased his home Beauvoir by 1879 in Biloxi, Mississippi and lived there until his death 6 Dec 1889 in nearby New Orleans. He is buried in Richmond, VA. The home today is preserved on U.S. route 90 in Biloxi and commands a view of the Gulf of Mexico. The Confederate battle flag proudly flies with little attention in the side yard of the complex. Jeff Davis is gone, but the heritage of the South lives on. A few months after this was written, in the fall of 2005, Hurricane Katrina made a serious dent in Beauvoir’s aging structure including the museum. Much was lost, but not the spirit. Most of the damage will eventually be repaired.

[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 Meridian.

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 Meridian, 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 Meridian, Miss., May 14, 1865".