Southern Historical Society Papers.
Volume XII. Richmond, Va., January-February, 1884. Nos. 1-2.
Reminiscences of the Last Campaign of the Army of Tennessee,
from May, 1864, to January, 1865.
By P.D. STEPHENSON, Private Piece 4, Sergeant Thomas C. Allen, Fifth Company Washington Artillery, Captain C.H. Slocomb, Commanding.
Paper No. 1.
(NOTE BY THE WRITER: This is not from a "diary." Early after the war, in June, 1865, the writer sat down and began to put on paper, merely for his own future satisfaction, what was still fresh in his memory of that famous last campaign. What is written is from a private's standpoint. Its only merit is sincerity. On the principle that everything may be of use that bears upon the war, it is offered for what it is worth.)
"AFTER MISSIONARY RIDGE."
[excerpt]
Our stay on "The Ridge" was attended with a great deal of suffering. It was midwinter, and the low grounds behind us (that fearful "Chickamauga bottom"), over which ran our roads of supplies, were nearly all the time covered with water. "Corduroy roads" were built for miles, yet every rain would undo all our work and make it worse than before. The weather was stormy, and the camps would be flooded day and night. Winter quarters were not allowed to be built, and we therefore had no shelter. Starvation seemed to stare us in the face. For weeks at a time, we subsisted on two meals a day, and those "meals" were a small "pone" of cornbread, and a cup of "corn coffee." Our duties, meantime, were increased, for our ranks had ben lessened, and the enemy were becoming active and annoying. Sickness, for the first time since our stay in and around Corinth (Miss.), broke out in our ranks, and many were swept away. Demoralization spread fearfully among those men, who, but a few days before, had gained one of the bloodiest victories of the war. "Our sufferings are great," said they, "but we could bear them, if we felt there was no help for it." It was their secret conviction that there was help, and that they were the victims of official blunders. Their disaffection was increased by the rumors of bickerings among our leaders. Reports of quarrels between Bragg and his leading officers came down to us, and his removing from command, on the eve of the battle, one of the most popular Generals in the army, Frank Cheatham, looked very much like a confirmation of the reports. So, between the dissensions of the leaders and the various causes of discontent among the men, the army grew rapidly demoralized. The withdrawal of Longstreet to East Tennessee, together with the sickness which existed, had thinned the ranks greatly, so that at the time of the battle we did not have thirty thousand men. (In many places in the line, our men were in single rank, and sprinkled seven or eight feet apart, and there were gaps where there were no men at all.) Our sufferings from hunger were such that Bragg was on the point of withdrawing (such was the general impression) when the attack of the enemy began. It was thought, too, that it was a doubtful question: which was the most famished, the besiegers or besieged? General Grant must have had very accurate accounts of our condition; for, unless he did, his movement was a very bold one.
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Southern Historical Society Papers.
Vol. XXVII. Richmond, Va, January-December. 1899.
Richmond Howitzers.
Facts about the Battery During the Appomattox Campaign.
Extracts from Official Records which Throw Light on Many Questions whose Solution has been Wanting.
[From the Richmond, Va, Times, March 10th and 24th, 1895.]
The reports of the Appomattox campaign embraced in Volume 46 of the Official Records of the war, have an intense interest for all engaged in that memorable campaign of March and April, 1865, throwing light, as they do, on many questions whose solution has awaited the detailed information embodied in these official reports.
[excerpt]
At Amelia Courthouse the batteries of Cabell's battalion were put into the advance column of artillery and trains under General Lindsay Walker, and moved to the right and west of the main body of the army. From the information now attainable there were probably a hundred pieces of artillery in this column which was pushed on in advance of the army. Being thus screened in rear, the column did not participate in the daily fighting in which the main body was engaged. Not until the evening of the 8th was it struck by the Federal cavalry, who had pushed to the front and across the head of the army.
About 3 o'clock that evening the command had reached a point opposite Appomattox Station, some two or three miles beyond the courthouse, and had turned off from the road for rest and such food as was available for man or beast. Halting in the field, as each piece drove up, the teams were unhitched and given their scant food, or allowed to graze while the men were busied making their corn coffee and cooking probably the remnants of an old cow, from which rations had been dealt and eaten that morning within an hour after her slaughter. In this irregular bivouac so little was the nearness or approach of an enemy suspected that no sort of a guard had been set, and when the report of arms and the sight of Federal cavalry in the wood skirting the field, startled officers and men from their little mess fires or slumbers, the surprise was complete and astounding. So sudden and unexpected was the attack, and so near were the enemy when first discovered, that a brisk determined charge would have brought them within the battery before apiece could be unlimbered and loaded. For there is nothing more helpless than artillery when surprised, if once the line of battery can be carried by a quick rush. It is then a mere matter of shooting down unarmed cannoneers and driving them from their guns. Why such a rush was not made and everything captured on the spot, has often been the wonder of old Howitzers.
[end of excerpt]
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O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXXI/3 [S# 56]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY, SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, TENNESSEE, MISSISSIPPI, NORTH ALABAMA, AND NORTH GEORGIA, FROM OCTOBER 20, 1863, TO DECEMBER 31, 1863.--#16
HDQRS. SECOND DIVISION, FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Tellico Plains, December 11, 1863--4 p.m.
Major SAWYER,
Asst. Adjt. Gen., Army and Dept. of the Tennessee:
General Sherman's note just received. I have to report all quiet, and no tidings from Colonel Long. General Lightburn left yesterday on the trail, and dispatched me last night, 15 miles out, that the country was anything but productive. We are accumulating seven days' rations for the division and three days' and some forage for Colonel Long, which if the rebels provide for him will go to waste.
I shall immediately issue a general order upon the superiority of corn coffee over the miserable foreign stuff called coffee.
I shall hear from Lightburn soon, and if it is of importance I will not wait for the regular messenger, but send it immediately.
Your obedient servant,
M. L. SMITH,
Brigadier-General of Volunteers.
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