{⋆★⋆} BG Hogg, Joseph Lewis

Joseph Lewis Hogg

:CSA1stNat:
Brig. General Hogg.jpg


Born: September 13, 1806

Birthplace: Morgan County, Georgia

Father: Thomas Blair Hogg 1768 – 1849
(Buried: Hogg Cemetery, Rusk, Texas)​

Mother: Martha Chandler 1772 – 1853
(Buried: Hogg Cemetery, Rusk, Texas)​

Wife: Lucanda McMath 1815 – 1863
(Buried: Hogg Cemetery, Rusk, Texas)​

Children:

Thomas Elisha Hogg 1842 – 1880​
(Buried: Odd Fellows Cemetery, Denton, Texas)​
Joseph Lewis Hogg Jr. 1845 – 1848​
(Buried: Hogg Cemetery, Rusk, Texas)​
John Washington Hogg 1848 – 1912​
(Buried: Oaklawn Cemetery, Decatur, Texas)​
James Stephen Hogg 1851 – 1906
General Hogg 1.jpg
(Buried: Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Texas)​
Joseph Lewis Hogg Jr. 1854 – 1872​
(Buried: Hogg Cemetery, Rusk, Texas)​
Richard Hogg 1856 – 1863​
(Buried: Hogg Cemetery, Rusk, Texas)​

Occupation before War:

Served in the Alabama State Militia as an Officer​
Attorney in Rusk, Texas​
Texas Republic Congressman​
Served in the Mexican War in the Texas Mounted Volunteers​

Civil War Career:

1861: Delegate to Texas State Secession Convention​
1861: Captain in 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment​
1861 – 1862: Colonel of 3rd Texas Cavalry Regiment
IMG_1585.JPG
1862: Brigadier General in the Confederate Army Cavalry​
1862: Brigade Commander during the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi​

Died: May 16, 1862

Place of Death: Corinth, Mississippi

Age at time of Death: 55 years old

Cause of Death: Dysentery

Burial Place: Fort Robinette Cemetery, Corinth, Mississippi
 
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He was appointed brigadier on February 14, 1862. The Texas and Arkansas troops he commanded subsequently became part of McCown's Division. His troops did not make it to Shiloh as they were still in Memphis on April 23. His troops did make it to Corinth but were not led into battle as Hogg died on May 16, 1862.
 
After secession, Joseph L. Hogg became a Capt in the 3rd Texas Cav, a unit he helped organize, with his older son Thomas E. Hogg serving in the Co as well. Shortly afterwards Capt Hogg was appointed Col by Texas Governor Edward Clark. On Feb 12, 1862, he was appointed BG & confirmed a day later.

2/14/62 Hogg was commissioned by his close friend, President Davis, as a B Gen. He was given command of the 1st Tex Bn DC, McCray's Ark Bn, the 10th & 11th Tex Infy [DC], & Goodes' (later Douglas') Btry, all brigaded for service with the Army of the West.

3/19 Hogg accepts commission as BGen to rank from 2/14

Hogg arrived after McCulloch's death at the disastrous battle of Elk Horn Tavern in early March. There he was given command of a Bgde consisting of Greer's 3rd, Locke's 10th, & Young's 11th ​Tex Cav Regts; Crump's Bn Tex DC; Maj McRae's [McCray’s] Bn of Ark Infy; & Good's Tex Btry. [but see other sources that indicate he was given Bgde at Des Arc, Memphis or Corinth]

4/6/62 The 3rd Tex Cav waited for boats several days at Devall’s Bluff. Hogg, a new Brig Gen came to us here. He would take command at Memphis of a new Bgde incl 3rd ​Tex DC & 10 Tex DC.

Shiloh was fought [4/6-4/7] while we were on the boat “Scotland” for Memphis.

4/9/62 Des Arc S.O. #45
-B Gen Hogg is assigned to command of Bgde now under Greer to which Locke’s Tex Cav Regt added. He is to go to Memphis at once for organizing his Bgde.

Joseph Hogg was appointed Gen by the War Dept in Feb 1862. When his commission came, he was ordered to report for duty at Memphis, where he would be assigned to the command of a Bgde of Tex troops. After the battle of Elkhorn, a number of Tex Regts were ordered to cross the Ms River, among them the 3rd & 10th Tex Cav, & these two Regts formed part of the Bgde.

4/12/62 Devall’s Bluff, Gen Hogg cdg to Wallace McDugald -By authority [vested] in me, I do & hereby appoint you Bgde surgeon of the 1st​ Cav Bgde T M Dist

4/13 Devall’s Landing-1st ​Tex Cav Bgde –Surgeon McDugald tenders resignation

Gen Hogg met the 3rd Tex at Devall's Bluff on White River, where we dismounted, sent horses home, and went by steamer to Memphis, accompanied by Gen Hogg.

Gen Hogg's staff was composed of civilians who had never seen service in the army, & this proved to be an unfortunate time of the year for men not inured to camp life to go into active service.

After several days' waiting a steamboat came up the river, landing at the bluff, & we were crowded upon it for our journey down White River into the Ms & up to Memphis, & it was hard to realize that the booming, navigable river we were now on was the same stream we had forded so many times in the mountains of northern Ark on the night we went in search of our lost Arty. When we got on the Ms we found it very high, numbers of houses along the banks being surrounded by water up to the front doorsteps, where numerous small skiffs could be seen moored. These skiffs furnished the residents their only means of going from house to house.

Arrive Memphis & marched out Poplar Street to the suburbs, & camped in a grove, where we remained several days, spending the time in preparation for the move to Corinth. Here Gen Hogg took formal command of his Bgde, &, having told me that he wanted Tom Johnson & me at his Hqs, he had us detailed, —Tom to the ordnance Dept & me in the QM's Dept, while John A. Boyd was detailed to work in the commissary Dept.

4/18 Memphis S.O. #55- Until the organization into Bgdes-Gen Hogg is assigned to the camp of troops not incl in Price’s Div
Adjt Ector had joined Hogg’s staff on his arrival at Memphis & was soon elected Col of 14th ​Tex DC

4/29 Van Dorn published orders in Memphis announcing the organization of the Army of the West. The organization of this particular date included the new Bgde to be commanded by Gen Hogg. This Bgde [on that particular date] included McCray's Ark Bn [later became the 31st Ark Infy Regt], the 10th & 11th Tex Dismtd Cav Regts, & Crump's Tex Cav [later the 15th aka 32nd Tex Cav]. There were several revisions to this organization in the weeks & months ahead.

Word having finally come for us to proceed to Corinth, we were crowded into a train on the Memphis & Charleston RR, en route to that city.

After the delay incident to the formation of the Bgde, getting up necessary supplies, etc., we were transported by rail, in command of Gen Hogg, to Corinth, or rather we were dumped off on the side of the RR some two or three miles west of that town. Here Gen Hogg remained in command of his Bgde until he was taken sick & removed

Here is where Hogg took formal command of his Bgde-we had one or two new Tex Regts come into our Bgde

At Corinth, the 3rd ​Tex Cav was placed in a new Bgde under Gen Hogg [but see at Memphis]

Gen Hogg was taken to a private house some two miles west of our camp, where he had every necessary attention until his death. I visited Gen Hogg only once during his illness, some two or three days before his death. I was kept very busy during this time, & owing to a change in our camps I had to ride six or seven miles to see him, & only found one opportunity of doing so. I found him as comfortably situated as could be expected for a soldier away from home, & receiving every necessary attention. I will state that Gen Hogg came to us neatly dressed in citizen's clothes—never having had an opportunity of procuring his uniform, -so that in fact he never wore the Confederate gray. He was not wounded, was not under fire of the enemy; neither was his Bgde, until the battle of Farmington, which occurred the day that Gen Hogg died. After his death & after the army was reorganized, "for three years or during the war,"

Our camp was moved to a point about three miles east of Corinth. Decherd, the QM, resigned & W. F. Rapley was appointed QM by Gen Cabell. The rate at which our men fell sick was remarkable, as well as appalling, & distressing in the extreme. The water we had to drink was bad, very bad, & the rations none of the best. The former we procured by digging for it; the earth around Corinth being very light & porous, holding water like a sponge. When we first went there the ground was full of water, & by digging a hole two feet deep we could dip up plenty of a mean, milky-looking fluid; but as the season advanced the water sank, so we dug deeper, & continued to go down, until by the latter part of May our water holes were from eight to twelve feet deep, still affording the same miserable water. My horse would not drink a drop of the water the men had to use, & if I failed to ride him to a small running branch some two miles away he would go without drinking. The rations consisted mainly of flour, made into poor camp biscuit, & the most unpalatable pickled beef.

As fared Gen Hogg & his staff', so fared all the new troops who saw their first service at Corinth. While many of the old troops were taken sick, it was much worse with the new. We had one or two new Tex Regts come into our Bgde, whose first morning report showed 1_00 men able for duty -two weeks from that day they could not muster more than 200 men able to carry a musket to the front. The sick men were shipped in carload lots down the Mobile & Ohio RR, some dying on the trains, & hundreds of others succumbing at the different towns & stations where they were put off along down that road south of Corinth. It seemed Impossible for the surgeons & their assistants properly to care for the number of sick on their hands.

Day after day as I passed the Mobile & Ohio depot, I saw scores of the poor sick fellows on the platform waiting to be hauled off. On the day we left Corinth I passed Booneville, a station ten miles below Corinth, & here were perhaps fifty sick men lying in the shade of the trees & bushes. One of the attendants with whom I was acquainted told me he had just returned from a tramp of two or three miles, after water for a wounded man. At every house he came to the well buckets had been taken off & hid, & he finally had to fill his canteen with brackish pond water. Why these sick men had been put off here in the woods, when the station was the only house in sight, where they could not even get a drink of water, I do not know. The mere recollection of those scenes causes a shudder to this day.

I was told that two dead men were lying on the platform at Booneville, & a Federal scouting party burned the station during the day. If it was true, they were cremated.

As for myself, I was sick, but was on duty all the time. I performed all the active duties of the Bgde QM, being compelled to go to Corinth & back from one to three times daily, looking after forage & other supplies; carried all orders & instructions to the Regimental QMs; superintended the moving of the trains whenever & wherever they had to be moved; &, in fact, almost lived in my saddle. But, with the exception of two or three nights spent with the troops at the front, when the day's duties were over, I was comfortably situated at Hqs, having a good wall tent, a cot, & camp-stool, & was kindly treated by Gen Cabell [replaced Hogg] & the members of his staff. Dr. S. J. Lewis of Rusk was our Bgde surgeon, & did everything he could for my comfort-as my duties mainly involved active horseback exercise, while my personal surroundings were very agreeable. Nevertheless, I lost my appetite so completely that I was unable to eat any of the rations that were issued to the army. I could no more eat one of our biscuits than I could have eaten a stone, & as for the beef, I could as easily have swallowed a piece of skunk. The mere sight of it was nauseating. Had I not been at Hqs doubtless I would have starved to death, since there we were able to get a ham or something else extra occasionally, & I managed to eat, but barely enough to keep soul & body together. Dr. Lewis saw me wasting away from day today, & advised me to take a discharge —& quit the service; but this I declined to do. I paid Gen Hogg a short visit one afternoon during his illness, & another afternoon I rode over to Col Bedford Forrest's camp, to see my brother & some other Huntsville, Ala., friends.
 
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