Thehistory of the Sixteenth Tennessee has long been a passion of mine. When I learned as a young boy that mygreat-great-grandfather William H. White had served in the regiment, myinterest focused on him and the battles that he had participated in. It was, however, many years before I was ableto truly dig into his past and learn of the day to day activities and hardshipsthat he and his comrades faced. After a stint in the Marine Corps, I was finally able todo my own in depth research on the regiment. It became vividly clear to me—within a year or so of researching theregiment—that most of my knowledge of William H. White would be strictly frominformation obtained in his service records and pension applications. While in search of information about him, Icontinued to locate more memoirs, letters and documents pertaining to theregiment. Many of these documentscontained in depth information about other members of the regiment, but due tothe authors' proximity to Lieutenant White, he is unfortunately never mentionedby these first hand contributors. Although I did find a photograph of him with the othermembers of his color guard at the unveiling of the Confederate Monument atPerryville in 1904, I found no written information concerning Lt. White outsideof his personal documents that were on microfilm at the Tennessee State Libraryand Archives. Mostly due to this fact—whatinitially started out as a brief history of his life—eventually evolved intothis book. As I read account afteraccount of the men serving with him, it became clear to me that informationspecific to William was not that important. I came to realize that he shared the same hardships,hunger, dehydration, soreness and battle fatigue that all of the other accountsof these veterans of the same regiment had. He laughed at the same Jeff Davis jokes, shared his coffee and rations,led them in battle, and likely wrote home to many widows to inform them oftheir husband's death. The stories thatthese men told—all of them belonging to the Sixteenth Regiment TennesseeVolunteers—was in fact—William'sstory of the war. I had come across too many interesting characters and toomany funny acts of youth in the military to keep these to myself. I nearly felt as if I would be doing aninjustice to all these other men by not telling stories of their lives—to tell their collectivestory. What follows is the story of all of the men of the Sixteenth RegimentTennessee Volunteers. Their marches,meals, their battles, boredom, the filth, their enthusiasm, jubilation andgloom—all the emotions they experienced are laid down on these pages. Yet this is not the first attempt by anindividual to tell the story of these brave and enduring men. Thomas Head, an actual veteran of the regiment, wrote abook entitled Campaigns and Battles of the Sixteenth Regiment TennesseeVolunteers. Who better to tell thestory than a veteran of the regiment? His book failed in no way covering the trials and hardships of the menas they performed their duties throughout the war; however, Head was capturedat Chattanooga in 1863 and apparently relied on other books for much of theinformation concerning the regiment's activities for the remainder of thewar. Some of these events were correctlyrelated, while others were not. He wasapparently the first to compile a list of the original members of companies andtheir initial commanders—but not due to his own failure—he left out many if notmost all of the conscripts and other volunteers that joined the regiment duringthe course of the war. His story lackedonly what time and research one-hundred plus years later could locate. The pranks of soldiers, graphic accounts of wounds, dayto day location and in-depth battle study will hopefully portray the mostcomprehensive and well rounded account of this regiment, and perhaps brigade,for many years to come, when yet another history will replace this one withmore long lost accounts that can shed even greater light on the subject ofthese gallant and patriotic men. It ismy hope that this regimental history certainly meets and hopefully exceeds theexpectations of the most astute regimental historians as well as the arm chairgenerals that dab into Civil War history on occasion. I hope that as you read these pages, whetheror not you had an ancestor in this particular regiment, you will gain a greaterappreciation for the service of men on both sides of the battle line and findyourself truly amazed at the level of dedication that most all of these menproved over the course of our country's four year struggle. Lastly, this biographyof the regiment is dedicated to my great-great-grandfather, First LieutenantWilliam H. White, and his brother Corporal John White, who served faithfullywith the regiment through all of the engagements excepting the last atBentonville. It is truly my hope thatreaders may greet these pages with as much enthusiasm as I had as I uncoveredthese revealing documents and memoirs that divulge the hardships and triumphsexperienced by this regiment. These mentruly deserve our respect and admiration.
Now a segment of Chapter III, The Western Virginia Campaign.
Savage,and his staff leading the way with his guide Dr. Butcher[1],had not gone far down the creek before they came upon a small cabin at whichthey completely surprised four advanced Federal pickets who were quicklydisarmed and captured. A mile further,they came upon five more pickets who attempted an escape. In the abrupt gunfire, two of the Federalsfell dead while the other three ran down the creek. Savage and staff, mounted, charged down thethree remaining men and coming in range turned loose with their revolverskilling a third and capturing the remaining two.[2]
C.H. Clark was with one of the trailing companies a short distance in rear. When the gunshots were heard, the men tookoff in a sprint down the bank of the creek. Crossing a tributary, Clark's feetslipped on a mossy log which landed him groin first upon the log, causing himto lose his balance from the weight of his knapsack and gun. He slid around the log head first into thewater completely submersed. Gaining hisfeet, he and the others ran on toward to gunshots only to see the dead Yankeesstrewn along the creek.[3]
Theprisoners were turned over to the two companies by Dr. Butcher and brieflyinterrogated. Dillard later wrote:
Learningfrom these three prisoners that the reserve company of pickets were encamped atan old house in the valley not far below, Col. Savage put off in haste upon hishorse, and had gone but a short distance when he discovered the company at theold house, which seemed to be in a bustle and confusion. Putting spurs to "old George,"[4]he went dashing at full speed and alone down the valley, brandishing a hugepistol in the air; right on he rushed up to and through their confused ranks,throwing his pistol from side to side, commanding them to down with their arms,which many of them did, and stood gazing in stupid consternation; while othershad rushed into the house and were pointing their guns out through the openwindows as if to fire upon the incarnate dare-devil; and seeing this, Savagedashed right up to the very muzzle of their guns and ordered them to throw downtheir arms and surrender "or the last rascal of you will be killed in fiveminutes".[5] Down went their guns with a roar upon thefloor. By this time the advance-guardwere coming up nearly at double-quick, and the entire company, "CincinnatiGrays," were taken prisoners virtually by one man, who had so suddenly rushedheadlong upon them that these strong, brave men stood confounded, and for themoment could but regard him as an incomprehensible son of thunder.[6]
Moments later the advance companies arrived andtook control of the prisoners. Savage'spersonal bravery was unquestionable; he had individually captured forty-eightmembers of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry with arms and accouterments.[7]
Theofficers delivered up their swords to the victorious Savage. One of the swords was of such quality thatthe Colonel kept it for himself. Therewere three Enfield rifles captured in the lot of which one was given to Gen.Donelson, Colonel Fulton and Colonel Savage each.[8] A detail quickly hid the remaining capturedarms on the side of the mountain and the prisoners were placed in the columnbetween the Eighth and Sixteenth Regiments.[9] Before stepping off, Captain Dillardrecalled, "Although admiring such bravery, yet I thought it reckless in ourColonel, and he permitted me to chide him for it, saying he prevented theirescape to bear the news of our approach, but that he could not afford to riskas much the second time with the hope of escaping death."[10]
Atthis point, the brigade left Stewart's Run and advanced up an old horse trailto the heights of Cheat Mountain as darkness closed in. From these heights, they commenced down atrail along Becky's Run leading down from the mountain. Suddenly, they beheld enemy campfires far andwide! As Dillard put it, "We almostbutted up against their fortifications before we were aware."[11]
Uponthe sight of the encampments below, and less than a mile away, Donelson calleda council of war with his regimental commanders. He suggested that their force may be able tomove on the next morning and capture the 1,000 men originally reported to be atCrouch's. Colonel Savage immediatelyrebutted that the effective force of able infantry with them, numbering about1,300, could perhaps capture the enemy, but would have a hard time bringingthem off if enemy reports from the recently captured were true. These reports numbered the enemy at about5,000; additionally the two regiments were separated from General Loring withthe remainder of the division.[12]
Itnow began to rain incessantly, and Savage felt the brigade was in a veryexposed position, thus he reversed their march back up the trail. Savage then placed the Eighth Tennessee alongthe ridgeline atop the mountain, while the Sixteenth marched with its left infront, back down the side of the mountain they had traversed and halted halfway down to guard the hollow in their rear. The night passed slowly and miserably. At one point a bear slumbered through the lines causing considerableexcitement, but no injuries.[13]
Atfour a.m. on September 12th, with the slightest glow of lightappearing on the eastern horizon, the men were awoken. The rain having finally ceased, theyimmediately went to work readying their flintlock muskets for action. Most of the loads in their guns from theprevious day had become wet and had to be extracted with new loads replacingthem. At the same time, Savage walkedthe line to a point overlooking the enemy encampment several hundred feet aboveTygart's Valley. His estimation was thatthere were indeed three to five thousand men occupying the camp.[14]
Atthe rear of the regiment, the left—that had extended down the mountain, anumber of figures could be seen advancing on horseback in the dawninglight. All of the men on the expeditionhad been ordered to tack a white piece of cloth to the front of their hats toidentify friendly troops, but in the feint glow, identification at a distancewas difficult. A few of the guards ofCaptain Dillard's company requested permission to fire; but, Dillard anxiouslyhad them refrain. Soon, the badgesbecame visible in the twilight, and up rode the commanding general himself.[15]
Itwas the first time the regiment had laid eyes on General Robert E. Lee, and thesight of him impressed the men and inspired them with confidence. One wrote:
Thiswas the first time I had seen him. He isa fine looking man near six feet high – a little heavy and well proportioned –eyes blue and steady – without whiskers – nothing fantastic in dress – but neatand comfortable and has somewhat the appearance of a Frenchman – He strikes youat once as a general.[16]
[1] Thomas Head describedthe guide as, "… a clever gentleman, about forty-five years of age, full ofnerve and energy, and with a vast amount of solid and reliable pluck. He was warmly devoted to the cause, andrendered valuable services to the expedition."
[5] Another version ofthis quote stated that he, "…would have the last ****ed one of them shot inless than five minutes" according to Thomas Head.
[6] (Dillard, p. 336)There was reportedlyan article in a Cincinnati Newspaper regarding this event shortly after. A much longer and more colorful account ofthis event is reprinted in Head's book on pages 38-40.
[8] The official historyof the Sixth Ohio states that forty-three members of the regiment, specificallyCompany I, were captured at an advanced picket post on Cheat Mountain thatday. The three officers captured wereCaptain Bense, Lt. Scheiffer and Lt. Gilman. These captured soldiers were not paroled, but exchanged a year later in theautumn of 1862.
[9] (Anonymous, 1861) (Savage, p. 97) (Head T. A., p. 40)
Bringing the