Aot - 1865

[larry_cockerham]

March 22, 1865 in North Carolina

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.

 

[larry_cockerham]

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]

In Alabama it's still war for the time being

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."

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.

 

[prroh]

I'd be surprised if there were any records at all from this time and place aside from what Johnston's staff turned in. You must remember that he was sending data to empty offices for the most part. Richmond was a yankee town once again as far as beauracy was concerned. Sorry I'm not much help; I just don't think the info is there.

I sent an Email to the Bennet House to ask them about the AoT numbers. The paroles came in two parts. original for the soldier and a copy for files. Sherman would have a copy of every parole. That's how the records at Appomattox were assembled, from the AoP copies of the paroles.

This little exchange has been interesting as to misinformation on the web. The NC history web site says that the AoT surrendered, when we know Johnston named his bits and pieces group, the Army of the South and that the remains of the AoT was only a part of that Army. You expect that from some home grown web site but not an official State history site. Hoke's division was never part of the AoT,for example.

Also, there is interesting information. The Army of the South numbered 21,000 at Bentonville, suffered a couple of thousand casaulties but Johnston surrendered a bit under 30,000 a month later from this same Army, plus another 50,000 spread throughout his department. Wonder where these 11,000 or so additions to the Army of the South came from? How many were late AoT arrivals? There were some reports of ANV guys coming down from Appomattox, but hardly in "streams" as reported in an earlier posts. These guys would have been parole violators and technically guilty of a capitol crime. How were these guys treated? Just given a second parole and told "Enuff, already. Go Home!"?

 

[larry_cockerham]

I think your "enough already" was much of the order of the day. Some of those men who swelled the numbers could very well have been late arrivals from Georgia and South Carolina, many of whom were split into little groups of men travelling independently and by their own means, having to encounter Sherman's picketts and skirmishers almost behind every rock (not many rocks evident in SC, I made that one up.) If there were more records of these men, we'd have far better answers.

 

[prroh]

Johnston surrendered 89,270 men throughout his department. Soldiers and sailors not part of the Army of the South were to proceed to the nearest Federal authorities and surrender their public property . Then they would receive their paroles which was also a railroad pass and a call upon obtaining rations from federal camps and installations. Water transport for troops from Texas and Arkansas was to be obtained from Mobile, testimony to the poor railroad network but, conversely of the extensive water network in the south which may have caused the lack of investment in railroads.

 

[prroh]

Larry,
I have been remiss in thanking you for this series and to tell you that I have throughly enjoyed this exchange so far.
In researching for this exchange, I came across the history of a SC regiment. They served nobly and numbered 50 at the surrender. Maybe over a thousand men served in that regiment throughout the war. Some regiments had even less so that there were so-called consolidated regiments of the survivors from three to five regiments. Even these units were a fraction of a full regiment.

 

[larry_cockerham]

Larry,
I have been remiss in thanking you for this series and to tell you that I have throughly enjoyed this exchange so far.
In researching for this exchange, I came across the history of a SC regiment. They served nobly and numbered 50 at the surrender. Maybe over a thousand men served in that regiment throughout the war. Some regiments had even less so that there were so-called consolidated regiments of the survivors from three to five regiments. Even these units were a fraction of a full regiment.

Thanks for the kind words. Your taking time to question and stretch the information not only makes this more readible, but it increases our knowledge. That's one of the reasons we do this.

 

[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. [Elyton was once the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama. This little town was later annexed into Birmingham.]

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

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

March 31, 1865

The 10th Mississippi and 49th Mississippi were at Smithfield, North Carolina.

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.

March Madness was over. It was time for April, a most interesting month.

 

[prroh]

I sent an Email to the Bennet House to ask them about the AoT numbers. The paroles came in two parts. original for the soldier and a copy for files. Sherman would have a copy of every parole. That's how the records at Appomattox were assembled, from the AoP copies of the paroles.

I got a reply from an historian at the Bennett House (fast work - kudos to them). It said that Johnston had about 35,000 men with him at the end. But how many of those were from the AoT is unknown. They are currently transcribing individual information from the paroles issued and should be able to answer such questions at an unspecified time. Still, 35,000 in late April is almost double the number that survived Bentonville. Some of these newcomers to the Army of the South must have been part of the AoT.

 

[larry_cockerham]

Good work! Thank you.

 

[1SGDan]

Some regiments had even less so that there were so-called consolidated regiments of the survivors from three to five regiments. Even these units were a fraction of a full regiment.

In other cases regiments had become split to surrender portions in more than one location. The 3rd Mississippi Battalion (45th Mississippi Regiment) had soldiers consolidated with survivors of three other Mississippi Regiments (5th, 8th and 32nd) and ultimately surrendered with Johnston but also had 32 members surrender with Richard Taylor in Alabama.

 

[larry_cockerham]

Those were probably regiments that had previously been attached to Forrest?

 

[larry_cockerham]

Looking for Stoneman

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]

A gentlemanly exit, stage left (for a safer clime)!

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]

Forrest and Taylor, once more before the elephant : Selma, Alabama April 2, 1865

Battle of Selma, Alabama

(Wilson defeated Forrest)

Located 70 miles east along the railroad from M e r i d i a 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.

 

[larry_cockerham]

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.

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 Battle for Selma

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.