2nd Alabama Cavalry
Sergeant
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2019
In addition to fighting against each other during the ACW, a plethora of soldiers from both armies were fighting a separate war of attrition against a mutual enemy, specifically the mosquito and the sand-fly. In reading my 3rd Great Grandfather`s journal, who served 1,167 days (3 years and 72 days) with the 2nd Regiment Alabama Cavalry, he made numerous references to the mosquitos and sand-flies, specifically in the Florida Panhandle and throughout Georgia. I have read a few letters home from some of the other men in his company and regiment who were complaining of the same thing.
Soldiers who were fighting for the southern cause would have been more than familiar with both, but when relentlessly attacked by both mosquito`s and sand-flies in aggressive swarms, even those who had grown accustomed to their activity, it quickly became too much for them, which forced the men to find ways to avoid them and to try and keep them from draining their blood. The troops from the north were met with a nice surprise and many would be warned by the locals that the farther south that they went the worse both mosquitos and especially the sand-flies would be. But most would just shake it off as they had mosquitos in the north as well as pesky flies, so what could possibly be the difference.
Below is such an account from Major Joseph G. Vale of the 4th Michigan Cavalry in Minty`s Saber Brigade just after the Battle of Kingston and Woodland`s Georgia on 18 May 1864, during the early days of the Atlanta Campaign. This was just hours after Colonel Richard G. Earle, who was the regimental commander of the 2nd Alabama Cavalry, was killed in action during that fight I might add. Below is what Major Vale wrote regarding his first encounters with the infamous "Georgia Sand-flies" of which he was so many times warned:
"Now, all down through Tennessee, Alabama, and thus far in our march through Georgia, we had been told that after we got a little further South we would meet the enemy in a new form; that there were whole tracts of country where neither man nor animal could live or pass through on account of the hosts of sand flies! Hearing so much about them, and that they were always a "little further to the South," and that we would meet them "down tha'h, su'ah," we had come to regard them like the Western man' s mosquitoes, who, when asked if the "skeeters" are bad in his locality, always answers: "No, stranger; but you jist bet they be in the next county. Why, sir, over in that county they eat the hogs up alive." So we thought the "sand flies" were always in the next county, and would always remain a "little further Souf, sah." Moreover, after our experience with the pediculus (head lice), the woodtick, and jigger, in Tennessee, we thought our selves proof against the assaults of any and all the vermin of the Southern rebel country combined, and did not believe the much-vaunted and widely-advertised "sand fly" was much of a "bug" after all. We knew what sand was, and had seen flies before, and laughed at the idea of a fly of any kind being even a transient annoyance.
The movement to the railroad was to be a surprise, hence we left Woodland about 11, P. M. (18 May 1864), and marched, by unfrequented ways, across the fields, winding along water-courses and deep hollows, and quietly passing in solemn silence through the gloom and over the sward of the shadowy forest. No talking, or even speaking in lowest tones, or clanking of bits or saber scabbards, being permitted.
And so, like silent specters of the night, we were passing through a strip of rather open woods, each man intent only on keeping his horse in place and close against the rump of his file-leader, when suddenly, without a premonitory buzz or sign of any kind, a horse in one of the center files gave a loud snort, sounding more like the dying cry of a mortally-stricken human being than any sound we had ever before heard a horse make, and dashed off to the right at the top of his speed, rearing, plunging, and kicking the while, soon leaving his luckless rider sprawling on the ground. Another and another followed, rushing madly right, left, front, and rear, with snorts and kicks, and almost human-like groans of pain, in every direction, unhorsing riders, trampling the fallen, dashing headlong through the woods, rubbing against trees, rolling over and over on the ground, and in an instant converting the quiet, orderly column into a pan demonium-like mass of struggling, groaning, kicking, plunging, rolling horses and swearing, yelling men, in which confusion worse confounded reigned supreme. We had struck the sand flies, and the sand flies had struck us!
Well, the expedition ended there! The railroad was not cut that night! In fact, in less than three minutes from the time the first fly struck the column, about twelve hundred cavalry were scattered over a radius of two miles of rebel territory, and deeming one surprise enough in one night, and we being the party surprised, and we having made noise enough to arouse the whole rebel army, if in hearing distance, the colonel concluded to sound the "rally," and get into a camp as soon as possible. It was a bad repulse, and though the damage consisted mainly in the swollen nostrils of the poor horses, yet many of the men were bruised, kicked, tramped on, and otherwise disabled.
This was our first and only experience with this adjunct of rebeldom, and we had no desire to renew, much less to prolong, the acquaintance. The combined power of a swarm of angry bees, of a fully-developed colony of un-nested hornets, and of a completely fledged nest of after harvest oats-stubble yellow-jackets, with their business qualities intensified one hundredfold, would not be a circumstance to the terrific onslaught of the average Georgia sand fly!"
The excerpt above was taken from the book: "Minty and the Cavalry; a History of Cavalry Campaigns in the Western Armies" Major Joseph G. Vale, circa 1886 (pages 280-291).
Regarding the mosquitos, below I will give an account of them in Florida by John Taylor Wood who was part of President Jefferson Davis`train when they were captured at Irwinville, Ga. by the 4th Michigan Cavalry on 10 May 1865, but escaped and fled south with General John C. Breckinridge (last Confederate Secretary of War and former Vice President of the United States of America under President Buchanan) at the end of the war. He wrote during this trip:
"The weather was intensely hot, and our time was made miserable by day with sand-flies, and by night with mosquitos... Whenever the breeze left us the heat was almost suffocating; there was no escape for it. If we landed, and sought any shade, the mosquitos would drive us at once to the glare of the sun. When sleeping on shore, the best protection was to bury ourselves in the sand, with cap drawn down over the head (my buckskin gauntlets proved invaluable); if in the boat, to wrap the sail or tarpaulin around us. Besides this plague, sand-flies, gnats, swamp-flies, ants, and other insects abounded. The little black ant is especially bold and warlike. If, in making our beds in the sand, we disturbed one of their hives, they would rally in thousands to the attack, and the only safety was in a hasty shake and change of residence."
The excerpt above was taken from the book: "Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War" circa 1911, New York the Century Company (pages 305-308).
There are numerous other examples, I just used these two because of their great detail and general interest.
Soldiers who were fighting for the southern cause would have been more than familiar with both, but when relentlessly attacked by both mosquito`s and sand-flies in aggressive swarms, even those who had grown accustomed to their activity, it quickly became too much for them, which forced the men to find ways to avoid them and to try and keep them from draining their blood. The troops from the north were met with a nice surprise and many would be warned by the locals that the farther south that they went the worse both mosquitos and especially the sand-flies would be. But most would just shake it off as they had mosquitos in the north as well as pesky flies, so what could possibly be the difference.
Below is such an account from Major Joseph G. Vale of the 4th Michigan Cavalry in Minty`s Saber Brigade just after the Battle of Kingston and Woodland`s Georgia on 18 May 1864, during the early days of the Atlanta Campaign. This was just hours after Colonel Richard G. Earle, who was the regimental commander of the 2nd Alabama Cavalry, was killed in action during that fight I might add. Below is what Major Vale wrote regarding his first encounters with the infamous "Georgia Sand-flies" of which he was so many times warned:
"Now, all down through Tennessee, Alabama, and thus far in our march through Georgia, we had been told that after we got a little further South we would meet the enemy in a new form; that there were whole tracts of country where neither man nor animal could live or pass through on account of the hosts of sand flies! Hearing so much about them, and that they were always a "little further to the South," and that we would meet them "down tha'h, su'ah," we had come to regard them like the Western man' s mosquitoes, who, when asked if the "skeeters" are bad in his locality, always answers: "No, stranger; but you jist bet they be in the next county. Why, sir, over in that county they eat the hogs up alive." So we thought the "sand flies" were always in the next county, and would always remain a "little further Souf, sah." Moreover, after our experience with the pediculus (head lice), the woodtick, and jigger, in Tennessee, we thought our selves proof against the assaults of any and all the vermin of the Southern rebel country combined, and did not believe the much-vaunted and widely-advertised "sand fly" was much of a "bug" after all. We knew what sand was, and had seen flies before, and laughed at the idea of a fly of any kind being even a transient annoyance.
The movement to the railroad was to be a surprise, hence we left Woodland about 11, P. M. (18 May 1864), and marched, by unfrequented ways, across the fields, winding along water-courses and deep hollows, and quietly passing in solemn silence through the gloom and over the sward of the shadowy forest. No talking, or even speaking in lowest tones, or clanking of bits or saber scabbards, being permitted.
And so, like silent specters of the night, we were passing through a strip of rather open woods, each man intent only on keeping his horse in place and close against the rump of his file-leader, when suddenly, without a premonitory buzz or sign of any kind, a horse in one of the center files gave a loud snort, sounding more like the dying cry of a mortally-stricken human being than any sound we had ever before heard a horse make, and dashed off to the right at the top of his speed, rearing, plunging, and kicking the while, soon leaving his luckless rider sprawling on the ground. Another and another followed, rushing madly right, left, front, and rear, with snorts and kicks, and almost human-like groans of pain, in every direction, unhorsing riders, trampling the fallen, dashing headlong through the woods, rubbing against trees, rolling over and over on the ground, and in an instant converting the quiet, orderly column into a pan demonium-like mass of struggling, groaning, kicking, plunging, rolling horses and swearing, yelling men, in which confusion worse confounded reigned supreme. We had struck the sand flies, and the sand flies had struck us!
Well, the expedition ended there! The railroad was not cut that night! In fact, in less than three minutes from the time the first fly struck the column, about twelve hundred cavalry were scattered over a radius of two miles of rebel territory, and deeming one surprise enough in one night, and we being the party surprised, and we having made noise enough to arouse the whole rebel army, if in hearing distance, the colonel concluded to sound the "rally," and get into a camp as soon as possible. It was a bad repulse, and though the damage consisted mainly in the swollen nostrils of the poor horses, yet many of the men were bruised, kicked, tramped on, and otherwise disabled.
This was our first and only experience with this adjunct of rebeldom, and we had no desire to renew, much less to prolong, the acquaintance. The combined power of a swarm of angry bees, of a fully-developed colony of un-nested hornets, and of a completely fledged nest of after harvest oats-stubble yellow-jackets, with their business qualities intensified one hundredfold, would not be a circumstance to the terrific onslaught of the average Georgia sand fly!"
The excerpt above was taken from the book: "Minty and the Cavalry; a History of Cavalry Campaigns in the Western Armies" Major Joseph G. Vale, circa 1886 (pages 280-291).
Regarding the mosquitos, below I will give an account of them in Florida by John Taylor Wood who was part of President Jefferson Davis`train when they were captured at Irwinville, Ga. by the 4th Michigan Cavalry on 10 May 1865, but escaped and fled south with General John C. Breckinridge (last Confederate Secretary of War and former Vice President of the United States of America under President Buchanan) at the end of the war. He wrote during this trip:
"The weather was intensely hot, and our time was made miserable by day with sand-flies, and by night with mosquitos... Whenever the breeze left us the heat was almost suffocating; there was no escape for it. If we landed, and sought any shade, the mosquitos would drive us at once to the glare of the sun. When sleeping on shore, the best protection was to bury ourselves in the sand, with cap drawn down over the head (my buckskin gauntlets proved invaluable); if in the boat, to wrap the sail or tarpaulin around us. Besides this plague, sand-flies, gnats, swamp-flies, ants, and other insects abounded. The little black ant is especially bold and warlike. If, in making our beds in the sand, we disturbed one of their hives, they would rally in thousands to the attack, and the only safety was in a hasty shake and change of residence."
The excerpt above was taken from the book: "Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War" circa 1911, New York the Century Company (pages 305-308).
There are numerous other examples, I just used these two because of their great detail and general interest.