You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2007.
This is a picture taken in 1951 of the home used by CSA Gen. John Bell Hood for his headquarters just before the assault of the Federal army at Franklin, 30 November 1864. This home sat near Winstead Hill.
Image credit: The Williamson County Historical Society
“The position we occupied was just in front of the Carter House, and the 50th Regiment [Ohio] actually tore down the Carter barn to help build our breastworks. It had been built of hewn logs, and we even put on a row of head logs. Our second line of works joined on to the Carter smokehouse, which lay west of the house.”
Lt. Thomas C. Thoburn, 50th Ohio, Strickland’s Brigade
Citation source: Eyewitness at the Battle of Franklin, Logdson, p2.
The Carter house (below) as it looks today.
Larger picture
Flickr folder of Civil War pictures related to Carter House and the Battle of Franklin; Williamson County, TN
In Camp Near Farmout Virginia
Nov 29th 1862
114th P.V. Zouaves de Afrique Corps H. Capt. Robinson
Dear Wife and Children (excerpt]
We are laying opposite to Frederick’s for the present waiting to shell and then storm the city at any moment, but as near as we can understand there has binn (been) an armistice (signaled?) for 30 days to see what action will be taken upon in (Congress?), then there will be peace made or there will be bloody work there after we pray to God it may be peace. May God cast His blessing upon you and the children forever. Write as soon as this comes to and remain your well wishing husband and father .
Harvey Marshall
J.P. Cannon, a member of the 27th Alabama Infantry, wrote in his diary on November 30, 1864
[The 27th was in Spring Hill the evening of the 29th of November.]
We were awakened before daylight and our mortification was even greater than it was last night to find that the game had flown; every last one of them had walked right out of the trap and was hurrying on towards Franklin.
Source: Bloody Banners and Barefoot Boys: A History of the 27th Regiment Alabama Infantry.
Camp Burnside, 15 November 1861“I am seated in a tent barely large enough to accomodate three persons but containing six� Yes I am here to participate in the vindication of my country’s honor to oppose armed rebels who seek the subversion of this, the only republican government that deserves the admiration of the world. We are all anxious to meet the enemy of our beautiful country and the spirit of ‘76 dwells in the bosom and strengthens the arm of all who join in the cause. In my God is my firm reliance and should I suddenly be ushered into the unknown world while fighting beneath the Stars and Stripes, I trust all will be well� I am healthier than ever before it seems to me. Our rations have along back consisted of two crackers, a small piece of meat and a cup of coffee. Nice meals to grow fat on! We expect soon to go south and I doubt not but we shall see hard times within the month. Charleston is reserved for us. God is with us and there at Charleston victory awaits�”
The 51st New York saw action at Roanoke Island, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg and the Wilderness. Willis mustered into service on 20 September 1861, reenlisted on 25 February 1864 and was discharged for wounds on 1 March 1865 at Douglas Hospital, Washington D.C. He was severely wounded at Petersburg, and had his right leg amputated as a result.
Source: Nate Sanders online auction
Columbia, Tenn.
Nov. 23rd 1864
Dear Sister,
Since I commenced the letter on the other page circumstances prevented my finishing it. We started immediately from Franklin & when we got here I was sent away & in the mean time the cars which had my things on were sent back before they were unloaded. A man was with the whole of the luggage & he just returned to us the other day. So I concluded to write on the same sheet nevertheless. Nearly all I care about writing at present is that I am perfectly well and doing well for a soldier. Cold weather has commenced. Day before yesterday we had a little spotting of snow just enough to be seen on the ground, when it cleared off the ground froze hard so that now we consider ourselves embarked in the winter campaign. Yet winters with the exception of a few days are not so very disagreeable and soon you know almost before we are aware of it spring will come & its heels another summer which will let us out of the service even if the war is not as I hope it will be ended. How I wish a few of the northern democrats or Copperheads for there is very little difference between them were in the place of some of these Rebs so that they could try the effect of our bullets. George writes that his house is burned down. He takes it hard! P Shah! I could whistle over such misfortunes as that. Haven’t I seen thousands of such buildings burned in the South. Black smoking ruins where the house once stood. Every fence burned down, every particle of corn potatoes etc. destroyed & every part of the farm rendered so barren that even a rat would not be secure from starvation. I like to see it done here for the South has sown the wind & they should reap the whirlwind. The worst men that God ever suffered to live are in my mind the Aristocrats of the south. And side by side with them are their sympathizers in the North. Have your heard from Thomas lately. According to my understanding his time will be out in ten or fifteen days. He enlisted on the first of December & I the following August. I have nine months & a few days yet. We have been notified several times since we have been here to look out for Hood & [Nathan Bedford] Forrest. They have not paid us a visit yet & I hope will not attempt to at present. We don’t care about fighting them but can & will if they come this way. Our regt. is in excellent condition though small & we hope may be able to go out without losing many more men. Excuse this letter which was hastily written & though in two parts, may perhaps be as good as any I could write were I to commence anew. Remember me to all the friends. Write the news as soon as possible.
Your Brother
A.M.Weston
Nov 27th We have had quite a battle here I am well & unhurt
Asa M. Weston, a member of the 50th Ohio. Weston was a sergeant in Company K.
Charles W. Gooch of the 27th Maine Infantry, Company I.Camp Seward, Virginia
Nov 20th 1862,
You think God is everywhere and so he is and willing to have mercy and save all them that call upon his name. But I do not believe a man could lead a Christian life and be into war all the time. But I feel in hopes God will protect me and let me return safe home again and then I can speak and act myself.
Note: Gooch had only been in the service for five weeks when he wrote the above.
Source: eBay, June 2007
Gooch was from Kennebunk ME; 33 years old. He enlisted on 9/30/1862 as a Private. On 9/30/1862 he mustered into “I” Co. ME 27th Infantry. He was Mustered Out on 7/17/1863 at Portland, ME
According to The Union Army, volume 1: They left on Oct. 20 for Washington, arriving there on the 22nd. On the 26th it marched to Arlington Heights, where it remained doing picket duty until Dec. 12th, when it was ordered to the south of Hunting creek.
More letters by Gooch from the Civil War
Letter on U.S. Christian Commission stationary
Jeffersonville, Indiana
November 17, 1864
Dear Mother,
I set down this morning to let you know that I have been moved further north. I got here last night about 9 o’clock. I feel as though I had got into America again. The town and everything looks so much different from what they did in Dixie. Our hospital is situated on the banks of the Ohio River so I can set and watch the boats play up and down the river. Sometimes there is as many as twenty to be seen at a time. [end of page one]
Last night they looked very pretty with their lamps all lit up. I am in hopes that this letter will reach you before [Rable] starts from home for you wouldn’t like to send those Yankees to N[ewark] While I am here at Jeffersonville. I don’t know but this letter will be rather late. You need’nt send that box until I write again for here we have to get the consent of the Doctor before we can get any which thing in here. Maybe we won’t need it here. I don’t know whether we get any sanataries here or not. I will wait and see before I write for them.
[Picture below of Jefferson General Hospital during Civil War]
I suppose that Mrs Harriet has commenced her school and that Father has got his [end of page two] corn picked by this time has he not, and you are trying to find something to do on Thanksgiving. Ain’t it most time for [initial indecipherable] Tremain to get home. I think so if they don’t keep him over his time which they are very apt to do. I notice how are all the neighbors today and I get that letter that letter that I sent to him without the stamps on. I am most out of stamps. I expect I might have some if they would let me stay in one place long enough. I expect I will let me stay here now till they send me to the front and I don’t know for sure that will be. [end of page three]
Well I want this letter to go out in this mornings mail so I will stop writing. Give my love to all and write often.
From your boy Franklin
Jefferson U.S. General Hospital
Ward 17
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Franklin A. Whitney
Post-war photograph of Franklin A. Whitney, 36th Illinois Infantry. He was listed as from Mission, Illinois, when he enlisted as a Private on 2/29/64. He mustered into Company F, 36th Illinois infantry 3/19/64. Mustering out 10/8/65 in Washington, D.C.
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Content and images copyright protected.
Items in the Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection.
Unidentified Union soldier
Camp on Meridian Hill, Washington D.C.,
Nov 17 /61
letter reads in part:
”Bill Brant and all the Chathan boys are well and hearty and in fact the boys in our company with the exception of 3 that was not well when they came and they are going to be discharged and sent home soon. There is some talk of our going down to South Carolina soon but I can not tell now any thing about it for there is so much talk around camp about this thing and that so we wait until we hear it from the headquarters and that is not generally heard until the time is ready to start. I do not doubt but that we shall go down that way and perhaps soon for they do not mean to attack the enemy in their dens in Virginia right away, that is the opinion here. They are not prepared down south as they are Virginia therefore if we go below them we can come in behind their fixings. I hope this war may soon be brought to a close and peace and prosperity once more reign in our midst and we all be permitted to return to our homes in good health and strength as we now enjoy but we can not tell what may befall us but I hope we may be able to meet what ever it may be our lot to meet with our nerves calm and our hearts relying on god for support and strength and feel that we are doing our duty to god and to man and to never cause a blush of shame to come over our dear friends faces that we have left behind.”
Source: eBay, June 2007
Frank I. Willis
51st NY Vols., Co. A.
51st NY Vols., Co. A.
Willis writes to his aunt
Camp Burnside
15 November 1861
”Yes I am here to participate in the vindication of my country’s honor to oppose armed rebels who seek the subversion of this, the only republican government that deserves the admiration of the world. We are all anxious to meet the enemy of our beautiful country and the spirit of ‘76 dwells in the bosom and strengthens the arm of all who join in the cause. In my God is my firm reliance and should I suddenly be ushered into the unknown world while fighting beneath the Stars and Stripes, I trust all will be well.
I am healthier than ever before it seems to me. Our rations have along back consisted of two crackers, a small piece of meat and a cup of coffee. Nice meals to grow fat on! We expect soon to go south and I doubt not but we shall see hard times within the month. Charleston is reserved for us. God is with us and there at Charleston victory awaits us?”
Source: eBay, June 2007
Notes:
Residence was not listed; 21 years old.
Enlisted on 9/13/1861 at New York City, NY as a Corporal.
On 9/20/1861 he mustered into “A” Co. NY 51st Infantry
He Re-enlisted on 2/25/1864
He was discharged for wounds on 3/1/1865 at Hospital, Washington, DC
(Douglas Hospital)
He was listed as:
* Wounded 7/30/1864 Petersburg, VA (Severely wounded in right leg, amputated)
Promotions:
* Sergt 8/30/1863
* 2nd Lieut 3/19/1864 (Not Mustered)
51st history
The 51st regiment contained six companies of the Shepard Rifles, two companies of the Scott Rifles and two companies of the Union Rifles and was organized in New York city, where it was mustered into the service of the United States July 27 to Oct. 23, 1861, for a three years’ term.
It left the state for Washington on Oct. 31, with 850 members, was assigned to the 2nd brigade, 2nd division, Gen. Burnside’s North Carolina expedition, and embarked at Annapolis Jan. 6, 1862, for Roanoke island. The first active service of the regiment was at Roanoke island, where it fought with courage and steadiness.
Letter from mother to son
[Sent to Nashville]
Newark
November, 13, 1864
[Son is Franklin A. Whitney, 36th Illinois Infantry]
My ever dear son,
As I have an opportunity to send a few lines by Mr. Rable, I thought would embrace it, we are all well as usual and hope your health is improving. Samford and Cornelia and Thinza have gone up to meeting this morning. It was pretty cold so I thought I would stay at home and write to my boy away in Nashville. We do not get any letters from Perrine. What is the matter? We hear he is in Chattanooga with the most of the 36 Reg. Has he written to you since you went North? I suppose you have heard the particulars [end of page one] of D. Cady’s death before this time. I believe he had the typhoid fever. Last week we sent you two letters and a paper. I expected to get a letter from you last night but was disappointed. Are you out of paper? If so and you can’t get any let us know. I saw Canate Johnson last Thursday. He is coming to see us this week. He says, “Frank is a good soldier and the last he saw of him he was pecking away at the Rebs.” I wish I could see him (my boy). I am having a bad time with my pen. The children have all the penholders down to the schoolhouse so I have tied a pen into a quill and am using that. You will excuse the poor handwriting. I was up to Grandpa’s yesterday. They are well. Grandpa gave me a pair of socks for you. I shall run the [end of page two] heels tomorrow and then carry the things to Rable, Grandma is quite worried about P[initial only]. He certainly out to do so. Write I mean. Enclosed in this you will find C’s photograph. We think it pretty good. I should like to send some of the rest of the family and shall as soon as possible. We were going to have Mattie’s taken with a little rabbit, but the rabbit was killed accidentally so we have not had it done yet. Have you drawn any money yet? I suppose you can draw two month’s pay. I hope I have faith to believe you will not fall into any bad habits while inthe Army. I wish my dear boy to come home as good as when he left. I know you will not disappoint me. Your [end of page three] parents and friends follow you in all your wanderings. Please write as often as you can. Tell us everything, you need not think it will be uniteresting. You know by this time Lincoln is re-elected. We all rejoiced at it. By the time you get this letter you will have a paper from me giving an account of a rebel or an attempted rebel raid in Chicago. They rather slipped up on that and some of the Copperheads got into Camp Douglas. Now the Copperheads round here say that is a likely story you know. The children have just come home from the meeting. Miss Hand with them, and Beebe has dropped in . Our friends around here all well. Mrs. Tremain wrote to Victor where you are, and told him to write to you. Has he done it? James is at home, not very well, but between when he comes Mrs Pierce is at her fathers yet. I intend to see her before she goes South and have her see you when she gets to Nashville is possible. I guess I will send you fifty cents. It is not much, perhaps it will do a little good. I shall have to stop for the present. Good bye. If I get time I will write more.
From your mother L.M.W.
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The son in this letter is Franklin A. Whitney, of the 36th Illinois Infantry. He wrote her just a few days after this letter.
Franklin A. Whitney
Post-war photograph of Franklin A. Whitney, 36th Illinois Infantry. He was listed as from Mission, Illinois, when he enlisted as a Private on 2/29/64. He mustered into Company F, 36th Illinois infantry 3/18/64. Mustering out 10/8/65 in Washington, D.C.
Content and images copyright protected.
Items in the Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection.
The following letter were written by Asa M. Weston, a member of the 50th Ohio. Weston was a sergeant in Company K.
Franklin, Tenn.
Nov 12th 1864
Dear Sister,
It has been a long time since we have had any thing like regular mail communication and consequently I have not attempted to write to you. I am now on the cars some thirty miles from Nashville. We have stopped to wait for another & then we go on to Pulaski. [John Bell] Hood’s old army is up here some where & part of Shermans army is here to watch him while Sherman himself with the main force is advancing from Atlanta to Savannah or Charleston. He will destroy the entire railroads of the Confederacy and then they will be reduced to still greater straits than before. Old Abe is elected & if Jeff Davis wishes to try his hand for four years longer let him do so. The Southern Confederacy will by that time be effectually destroyed while the North will be flourishing as the rose. If southern traitors wish desolation and destruction of their entire country Abolition of Slavery included let them have it.
Asa M. Weston, a member of the 50th Ohio. Weston was a sergeant in Company K.
Captain David Norton (Courage Under Fire, Wiley Sword, p. 21)
1st Zouave Regiment of Chicago
November 1862 (near Nashville)
The day before the first troops arrived the Rebels attacked us at 2 o’clock at night and it took us until 2 o’clock p.m. to beat them back from our picket lines. We only lost five or six killed, and perhaps 50 wounded, while, according to the reports of the citizens, the Rebels must have lost from 50 to 100 killed, & many more wounded . . . I had the pleasure of shooting one Rebel myself. My company was employed as skirmishers, and one of my boys fired twice as at Rebel without hitting him, and I was a little mad at it, and took a rifle from one of my boys and shot at him myself. I hit him in the leg, and he was carried back to the rear into the woods. I was skirmishing for more than an hour, and the shits were flying very close around, but our luck is so good that not a man of my company was shot, although shots fired at us hit several men in the rear of us. My company received the compliment of being the best skirmishers the general had ever seen under fire. Of course I was proud of the praise, as it was given in the hearing of a large group of officers who were behind us while we were actually engaged. . . . I think it was in earnest. At the time it was said, I was under a perfect storm of balls, & charging up a hill to drive the enemy skirmishers from behind a hedge, to allow our artillery to advance across an open field while the Secesh were covered by the hedge. I can’t account for their not hitting some of us. According to tactics, I should have been in[the] rear of my skirmishers, but when the balls began to fly pretty freely, it seemed cowardly for me to stay in the rear and order my men to go forward when it appeared to be certain death to enter that open field. So I went up on the line, & every man said he would keep as near the enemy as I [did]. I advanced on the run through the field & drove the Secesh fromt heir position. The day after our fight, . . . the advance of Gen. Rosecrans; army arrived, & the Rebels skedaddled.
Charles S. Ramsay of the 44th Ohio Infantry Band
In part………
Camp Piatt Nov 3rd, 1861
letter reads in part:
How I should like to be at home with you today and attend church. I have attended the meetings in camp but I do not like our chaplain. He cannot preach. There are nine of us sitting in this tent some reading others writing. some signing, others talking.
Notes:
The 44th Ohio Infantry served primarily in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Charles S. Ramsay mustered into service on 8 October 1861 and mustered out on 8 October 1862 at Covington, Kentucky.
He has gone, and I have sent him!
Think you I would bid him stay,
Leaving, craven-like, to others
All the burden of the day?
All the burden? nay, the triumph!
Is is hard to understand
All the joy that thrills the hero
Battling for his native land?
Think you I would bid him stay,
Leaving, craven-like, to others
All the burden of the day?
All the burden? nay, the triumph!
Is is hard to understand
All the joy that thrills the hero
Battling for his native land?
He has gone, and I have sent him!
Could I keep him at my side
While the brave old ship that bears us
Plunges in the perilous tide?
Nay, I blush but at the question,
What am I, that I should chill
All his brave and generous promptings
Captive to a woman’s will?
He has gone, and I have sent him!
I have buckled on his sword,
I have bidden him strike for Freedom,
For his country, for the Lord!
As I marked his lofty bearing,
And the flush upon his cheek,
I have caught my heart rebelling
That my woman’s arm is weak.
He has gone, and I have sent him!
Not without a thought of pain,
For I know the war’s dread chances,
And we may not meet again.
Life itself is but a lending,
He that gave perchance may take;
If it be so, I will bear it
Meekly for my country’s sake.
He has gone, and I have sent him!
This henceforth be my pride,
I have given my cherished darling
Freely to the righteous side.
I, with all a mother’s weakness,
Hold him now without a flaw;
Yet when he returns I’ll hail him
Twice as noble as before.
Source: Harper’s Weekly, November 1, 1862 [page 696]. Used by permission. This issue can be purchased as a re-print.
“I believe that to interfere, as I have done, in the behalf of God’s despised poor is not wrong but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country who rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.”
- John Brown, court statement on November 1st, 1859
These words were spoken by Brown after he was sentenced to death for his raid on the US Armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
“LAST MOMENTS OF JOHN BROWN”
A reproduction of Thomas Hovenden’s painting (1887) in the Metropoitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Stereoview of John Brown (1800 - 1859)
Recommended read:
John Brown, abolitionist : the man who killed slavery, sparked the Civil War, and seeded civil rights
by David West Reynolds
Order it from Amazon
Book description:
An authoritative new examination of John Brown and his deep impact on American history.
Bancroft Prize-winning cultural historian David S. Reynolds presents an informative and richly considered new exploration of the paradox of a man steeped in the 
Bible but more than willing to kill for his abolitionist cause. Reynolds locates Brown within the currents of nineteenth-century life and compares him to modern terrorists, civil-rights activists, and freedom fighters. Ultimately, he finds neither a wild-eyed fanatic nor a Christ-like martyr, but a passionate opponent of racism so dedicated to eradicating slavery that he realized only blood could scour it from the country he loved. By stiffening the backbone of Northerners and showing Southerners there were those who would fight for their cause, he hastened the coming of the Civil War. This is a vivid and startling story of a man and an age on the verge of calamity.
Source for above print of engine house: 1861 edition of John W. Barber and Henry Howe’s book “Our Whole Country: Or The Past and Present of the United States, Historical and Descriptive. Illustrated by 600 engravings.”
Letter from Edgar E. Conant written while on discharge for disability.
1 November 1863
Sister Mary
The first part of your letter seems to imply that I have expressed in gratitude for your kind attentions to me while incapable of taking care of myself. I hope that you will remember that I am no longer an impulsive boy and that as I have grown older my disposition has under gone a change. To day I can appreciate your kindness probably as well as if I were still older. If there was any other way than word of exposing my gratitude I would willingly do it. You say ‘Frank may some time want for a home.’ It is my hope that he may not experience the loss of parents for many years, hence but if by the will of God he should, he has my solemn promise that he shall not worry while I have health and power to prevent. I often think of eternity although I have never made a public confession of my faith, yet I realize my position. I am glad to hear of Elisia’s marriage. it is the way of the world. I believe I should be tempted to end my existence if I had a scolding wife.’
Edgar Conent mustered into Company C of the 25th MA Infantry on 21 October 1861 and was discharged for disability on 13 March 1863. He then mustered into Company G of the 42nd MA Infantry on 21 July 1864 and mustered out on 11 November 1864.
Source: eBay, June 2007
Notes:
At the time of this letter Conant was a member of the U.S. Forces, Newport News; 18th Corps, Dept of Virginia and North Carolina
Soldier’s identity:
Residence Northbridge MA; a 21 year-old Shoemaker.
Enlisted on 10/12/1861 as a Private.
On 10/12/1861 he mustered into “C” Co. MA 25th Infantry
He was discharged for disability on 3/13/1863 at New Berne, NC
He also had service in:
“G” Co. MA 42nd Infantry (100 days)
Confederate Military History, Vol. 5
CHAPTER II.
AFFAIRS ON THE COAST–LOSS OF PORT ROYAL HARBOROn the first day of November, the governor received the following dispatch from the acting secretary of war: “I have just received information which I consider entirely reliable, that the enemy’s expedition is intended for Port Royal.” Governor Pickens answered: “Please telegraph General Anderson at Wilmington, and General Lawton at Savannah, to send what forces they can spare, as the difficulty with us is as to arms.” Ripley replied, “Will act at once. A fine, strong, southeast gale blowing, which will keep him off for a day or so.” The fleet sailed from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October, and on the 4th of November the leading vessels that had withstood the gale appeared off Port Royal harbor. The storm had wrecked several of the transports, and the whole fleet suffered and was delayed until the 7th, before Admiral DuPont was ready to move in to the attack of the forts defending this great harbor.
CHAPTER II.
AFFAIRS ON THE COAST–LOSS OF PORT ROYAL HARBOROn the first day of November, the governor received the following dispatch from the acting secretary of war: “I have just received information which I consider entirely reliable, that the enemy’s expedition is intended for Port Royal.” Governor Pickens answered: “Please telegraph General Anderson at Wilmington, and General Lawton at Savannah, to send what forces they can spare, as the difficulty with us is as to arms.” Ripley replied, “Will act at once. A fine, strong, southeast gale blowing, which will keep him off for a day or so.” The fleet sailed from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October, and on the 4th of November the leading vessels that had withstood the gale appeared off Port Royal harbor. The storm had wrecked several of the transports, and the whole fleet suffered and was delayed until the 7th, before Admiral DuPont was ready to move in to the attack of the forts defending this great harbor.
Port Royal harbor was defended by two forts, Walker and Beauregard, the former on Hilton Head island, and the latter on Bay point opposite. The distance across the harbor, from fort to fort, is nearly 3 miles, the harbor ample and deep, and the water on the bar allowing the largest vessels to enter without risk. A fleet of 100 sail could maneuver between Forts Walker and Beauregard and keep out of range of all but their heaviest guns. To defend such a point required guns of the longest range and the heaviest weight of metal.
In planning the defense of Port Royal, General Beauregard designed that batteries of 10-inch columbiads and rifled guns should be placed on the water fronts of both forts, and so directed; but the guns were not to be had, and the engineers, Maj. Francis D. Lee and Capt. J. W. Gregory, were obliged to mount the batteries of the forts with such guns as the Confederate government and the governor of South Carolina could command. The forts were admirably planned and built, the planters in the vicinity of the forts supplying all the labor necessary, so that by September 1, 1861, they were ready for the guns.
Fort Walker mounted twenty guns and Fort Beauregard nineteen, but of this armament Walker could use but thirteen, and Beauregard but seven against a fleet attacking from the front. The rest of the guns were placed for defense against attack by land, or were too light to be of any use. The twenty guns of Walker and Beauregard that were used in the battle with the fleet, were wholly insufficient, both in weight of metal and number. The heaviest of the guns in Walker were two columbiads, 10-inch and 8-inch, and a 9-inch rifled Dahlgren. The rest of the thirteen were 42, 32 and 24 pounders. Of the seven guns in Beauregard, one was a 10-inch columbiad, and one a 24-pounder, rifled. The rest were 42 and 32 pounders; one of the latter fired hot shot.
Col. William C. Heyward, Eleventh South Carolina volunteers, commanded at Fort Walker, and Col. R. G. M. Dunovant, of the Twelfth, commanded at Fort Beauregard. The guns at Walker were manned by Companies A and B, of the German Flying Artillery, Capts. D. Werner and H. Harms; Company C, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. Josiah Bedon, and detachments from the Eleventh under Capt. D. S. Canaday. Maj. Arthur M. Huger, of the Charleston artillery battalion, was in command of the front batteries, and of the whole fort after Col. John A. Wagener was disabled. The guns in Fort Beauregard were manned by the Beaufort artillery; Company A, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. Stephen Elliott, and Company D, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. J. J. Harrison; Captain Elliott directing the firing. The infantry support at Walker was composed of three companies of the Eleventh and four companies of the Twelfth, and a company of mounted men under Capt. I. H. Screven. The fighting force of Fort Walker then, on the morning of the 7th of November, preparing to cope with the great fleet about to attack, was represented by thirteen guns, manned and supported by 622 men. The infantry support at Fort Beauregard was composed of six companies of the Twelfth, the whole force at Beauregard, under Colonel Dunovant, amounting to 640 men and seven guns.
Brig.-Gen. Thomas F. Drayton, with headquarters at Beaufort, commanded the defenses at Port Royal harbor and vicinity. He removed his headquarters to Hilton Head on the 5th, and pushed forward every preparation in his power for the impending battle. The remote position of Fort Beauregard and the interposition of the fleet, lying just out of range, made it impossible to reinforce that point. An attempt made early on the morning of the 7th, supported by the gallant Commodore Tattnall, <cmh5_33>was prevented by the actual intervention of the leading battleships of the enemy. Fort Walker, however, received just before the engagement, a reinforcement of the Fifteenth volunteers, Colonel DeSaussure, 650 strong; Captain Read’s battery of two 12-pounder howitzers, 50 men and 450 Georgia infantry, under Capt. T. J. Berry.
The morning of the 7th of November was a still, clear, beautiful morning, “not a ripple,” wrote General Drayton, “upon the broad expanse of water to disturb the accuracy of fire from the broad decks of that magnificent armada, about advancing in battle array.” The attack came about 9 o’clock, nineteen of the battleships moving up and following each other in close order, firing upon Fort Beauregard as they passed, then turning to the left and south, passing in range of Walker, and pouring broadside after broadside into that fort. Captain Elliott reports: “This circuit was performed three times, after which they remained out of reach of any except our heaviest guns.” From this position the heavy metal and long range guns of nineteen batteries poured forth a ceaseless bombardment of both Beauregard and Walker, but paying most attention to the latter.
Both forts replied with determination, the gunners standing faithfully to their guns, but the vastly superior weight of metal and the number of the Federal batteries, and the distance of their positions from the forts (never less than 2,500 yards from Beauregard and 2,000 from Walker), made the contest hopeless for the Confederates almost from the first shot. Shortly after the engagement began, several of the largest vessels took flanking positions out of reach of the 32-pounder guns in Walker, and raked the parapet of that fort. “So soon as these positions had been established,” reported Major Huger, “the fort was fought simply as a point of honor, for from that moment we were defeated.” This flank fire, with the incessant direct discharge of the fleet’s heavy batteries, So 5 <cmh5_34>dismounted or disabled most of Fort Walker’s guns. The 10-inch columbiad was disabled early in the action; the shells for the rifled guns were too large to be used, and the ammunition for all but the 32-pounders exhausted, when, after four hours of hard fighting, Colonel Heyward ordered that two guns should be served slowly, while the sick and wounded were removed from the fort; that accomplished, the fort to be abandoned. Thus terminated the fight at Port Walker.
At Port Beauregard, the battle went more fortunately for the Confederates. A caisson was exploded by the fire of the fleet, and the rifled 24-pounder burst, and several men and officers were wounded by these events, but none of the guns were dismounted, and Captain Elliott only ceased firing when Walker was abandoned. In his report, he says: “Our fire was directed almost exclusively at the larger vessels. They Were seen to be struck repeatedly, but the distance, never less than 2,500 yards, prevented our ascertaining the extent of injury.” General Drayton successfully conducted his retreat from Hilton Head, and Colonel Dunovant from Bay point, all the troops being safely concentrated on the main behind Beaufort.
The taking of Port Royal harbor on the 7th of November, 1861, gave the navy of the United States a safe and ample anchorage, while the numerous and rich islands surrounding it afforded absolutely safe and comfortable camping grounds for the army of Gen. T. W. Sherman, who was specially in charge of this expedition. The effect of this Union victory was to give the fleet and army of the United States a permanent and abundant base of operations against the whole coast of South Carolina, and against either Charleston or Savannah, as the Federal authorities might elect; but its worst result was the immediate abandonment of the whole sea-island country around Beaufort, the houses and estates of the planters being left to pillage and ruin, and thousands of negro slaves falling into the hands of the enemy. General Sherman wrote to his government, from Hilton Head, that the effect of his victory was startling. Every white inhabitant had left the islands of Hilton Head, St. Helena, Ladies, and Port Royal, and the beautiful estates of the planters were at the mercy of hordes of negroes.
The loss of the forts had demonstrated the power of the Federal fleet, and the impossibility of defending the island coast with the guns which the State and the Confederacy could furnish. The 32 and 42 pounders were no match for the 11-inch batteries of the fleet, and gunboats of light draught, carrying such heavy guns, could enter the numerous rivers and creeks and cut off forts or batteries at exposed points, while larger vessels attacked them, as at Port Royal, in front. It was evident that the rich islands of the coast were at the mercy of the Federal fleet, whose numerous gunboats and armed steamers, unopposed by forts or batteries, could cover the landing of troops at any point or on any island selected.
On the capture of Port Royal, it was uncertain, of course, what General Sherman’s plans would be, or what force he had with which to move on the railroad between Charleston and Savannah. The fleet was ample for all aggressive purposes along the coast, but it was not known at the time that the army numbered less than 15,000 men, all told. But it was well known how easily a landing could be effected within a few miles of the railroad bridges crossing the three upper branches of the Broad river, the Coosawhatchie, Tulifinny and Pocotaligo, and the rivers nearer to Charleston, the Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto. Bluffton, easily reached by gunboats, afforded a good landing and base for operations against the railroad at Hardeeville, only 4 miles from the Savannah river, and 15 from the city of Savannah. On this account, General Ripley, assisted by the planters, caused the upper branches of the Broad, and the other rivers toward Charleston to be obstructed, and meanwhile stationed the troops at his command at points covering the landing.
General Drayton, with a part of Martin’s regiment of cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Colcock, and Heyward’s and De Saussure’s regiments, was watching Bluffton and the roads to Hendersonville. Clingman’s and Radcliffe’s North Carolina regiments, with artillery under Col. A. J. Gonzales, Captain Trezevant’s company of cavalry, and the Charleston Light Dragoons and the Rutledge Riflemen, were stationed in front of Grahamville, to watch the landings from the Broad. Colonel Edwards’ regiment and Moore’s light battery were at Coosawhatchie, Colonel Dunovant’s at Pocotaligo, and Colonel Jones’, with Tripp’s company of cavalry, in front of the important landing at Port Royal ferry. Colonel Martin, with part of his regiment of cavalry, was in observation at the landings on Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto rivers. The idea of this disposition, made by Ripley immediately upon the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, was to guard the railroad bridges, and keep the troops in hand to be moved for concentration in case any definite point was attacked.
On the 8th of November, the day after Port Royal was taken,. Gen. Robert E. Lee took command of the department of South Carolina and Georgia, by order of the President of the Confederacy. It was evident to him that the mouths of the rivers and the sea islands, except those immediately surrounding the harbor of Charleston, could not be defended with the guns and troops at his command, and, disappointing and distressing as such a view was to the governor and especially to the island planters, whose homes and estates must be abandoned and ruined, General Lee prepared for the inevitable. He wrote to General Ripley, in Charleston, to review the whole subject and suggest what changes should be made.
“I am in favor,” he wrote, “of abandoning all exposed points as far as possible within reach of the enemy’s fleet of gunboats, and of taking interior positions, where all can meet on more equal terms. All our resources should be applied to those positions.” Subsequently the gov-ernrnent at Richmond ordered General Lee, by telegraph, to withdraw all his forces from the islands to the mainland. When the order was carried out, it was done at a terrible sacrifice, to which the planters and citizens yielded in patient and noble submission, turning their backs upon their homes and their property with self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of Southern independence. Never were men and women subjected to a greater test of the depth and strength of their sentiments, or put to a severer trial of their patriotism, than were the planters and their families, who abandoned their houses and estates along the coast of South Carolina, and retired as refugees into the interior, all the men who were able entering the army.
At the time of the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, Charleston harbor was defended by Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Castle Pinckney and Fort Johnson, and by batteries on Sullivan’s and Morris islands. All these were to be strengthened, and the harbor made secure against any attack in front. To prevent the occupation of James island, the mouth of Stono river was defended by forts built on Cole’s and Battery islands, and a line of defensive works built across the island. No attempt had been made to erect forts or batteries in defense of the inlets of Worth or South Edisto, but the harbor of Georgetown was protected by works unfinished on Cat and South islands, for twenty guns, the heaviest of which were 32-pounders.
When General Lee took command, November 8th, he established his headquarters at Coosawhatchie, and divided the line of defense into five military districts, from east to west, as follows: The First, from the North Carolina line to the South Santee, under Col. A.M. Manigault, Tenth volunteers, with headquarters at Georgetown; the Second, from the South Santee to the Stono, under Gen. R. S. Ripley, with headquarters at Charleston; the Third, from the Stono to the Ashepoo, under Gen. N. G. Evans, with headquarters at Adams’ run; the Fourth, from Ashepoo to Port Royal entrance, under Gen. J. C. Pemberton, with headquarters at Coosaw-hatchie; the Fifth, the remainder of the line to the Savannah river, under Gen. T. F. Drayton, with headquarters at Hardeeville.
Confederate Military History, Vol. 5
CHAPTER II.
AFFAIRS ON THE COAST–LOSS OF PORT ROYAL HARBOR
CHAPTER II.
AFFAIRS ON THE COAST–LOSS OF PORT ROYAL HARBOR
On the first day of November, the governor received the following dispatch from the acting secretary of war: “I have just received information which I consider entirely reliable, that the enemy’s expedition is intended for Port Royal.” Governor Pickens answered: “Please telegraph General Anderson at Wilmington, and General Lawton at Savannah, to send what forces they can spare, as the difficulty with us is as to arms.” Ripley replied, “Will act at once. A fine, strong, southeast gale blowing, which will keep him off for a day or so.” The fleet sailed from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October, and on the 4th of November the leading vessels that had withstood the gale appeared off Port Royal harbor. The storm had wrecked several of the transports, and the whole fleet suffered and was delayed until the 7th, before Admiral DuPont was ready to move in to the attack of the forts defending this great harbor.
Port Royal harbor was defended by two forts, Walker and Beauregard, the former on Hilton Head island, and the latter on Bay point opposite. The distance across the harbor, from fort to fort, is nearly 3 miles, the harbor ample and deep, and the water on the bar allowing the largest vessels to enter without risk. A fleet of 100 sail could maneuver between Forts Walker and Beauregard and keep out of range of all but their heaviest guns. To defend such a point required guns of the longest range and the heaviest weight of metal.
In planning the defense of Port Royal, General Beauregard designed that batteries of 10-inch columbiads and rifled guns should be placed on the water fronts of both forts, and so directed; but the guns were not to be had, and the engineers, Maj. Francis D. Lee and Capt. J. W. Gregory, were obliged to mount the batteries of the forts with such guns as the Confederate government and the governor of South Carolina could command. The forts were admirably planned and built, the planters in the vicinity of the forts supplying all the labor necessary, so that by September 1, 1861, they were ready for the guns.
Fort Walker mounted twenty guns and Fort Beauregard nineteen, but of this armament Walker could use but thirteen, and Beauregard but seven against a fleet attacking from the front. The rest of the guns were placed for defense against attack by land, or were too light to be of any use. The twenty guns of Walker and Beauregard that were used in the battle with the fleet, were wholly insufficient, both in weight of metal and number. The heaviest of the guns in Walker were two columbiads, 10-inch and 8-inch, and a 9-inch rifled Dahlgren. The rest of the thirteen were 42, 32 and 24 pounders. Of the seven guns in Beauregard, one was a 10-inch columbiad, and one a 24-pounder, rifled. The rest were 42 and 32 pounders; one of the latter fired hot shot.
Col. William C. Heyward, Eleventh South Carolina volunteers, commanded at Fort Walker, and Col. R. G. M. Dunovant, of the Twelfth, commanded at Fort Beauregard. The guns at Walker were manned by Companies A and B, of the German Flying Artillery, Capts. D. Werner and H. Harms; Company C, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. Josiah Bedon, and detachments from the Eleventh under Capt. D. S. Canaday. Maj. Arthur M. Huger, of the Charleston artillery battalion, was in command of the front batteries, and of the whole fort after Col. John A. Wagener was disabled. The guns in Fort Beauregard were manned by the Beaufort artillery; Company A, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. Stephen Elliott, and Company D, Eleventh volunteers, Capt. J. J. Harrison; Captain Elliott directing the firing. The infantry support at Walker was composed of three companies of the Eleventh and four companies of the Twelfth, and a company of mounted men under Capt. I. H. Screven. The fighting force of Fort Walker then, on the morning of the 7th of November, preparing to cope with the great fleet about to attack, was represented by thirteen guns, manned and supported by 622 men. The infantry support at Fort Beauregard was composed of six companies of the Twelfth, the whole force at Beauregard, under Colonel Dunovant, amounting to 640 men and seven guns.
Brig.-Gen. Thomas F. Drayton, with headquarters at Beaufort, commanded the defenses at Port Royal harbor and vicinity. He removed his headquarters to Hilton Head on the 5th, and pushed forward every preparation in his power for the impending battle. The remote position of Fort Beauregard and the interposition of the fleet, lying just out of range, made it impossible to reinforce that point. An attempt made early on the morning of the 7th, supported by the gallant Commodore Tattnall, <cmh5_33>was prevented by the actual intervention of the leading battleships of the enemy. Fort Walker, however, received just before the engagement, a reinforcement of the Fifteenth volunteers, Colonel DeSaussure, 650 strong; Captain Read’s battery of two 12-pounder howitzers, 50 men and 450 Georgia infantry, under Capt. T. J. Berry.
The morning of the 7th of November was a still, clear, beautiful morning, “not a ripple,” wrote General Drayton, “upon the broad expanse of water to disturb the accuracy of fire from the broad decks of that magnificent armada, about advancing in battle array.” The attack came about 9 o’clock, nineteen of the battleships moving up and following each other in close order, firing upon Fort Beauregard as they passed, then turning to the left and south, passing in range of Walker, and pouring broadside after broadside into that fort. Captain Elliott reports: “This circuit was performed three times, after which they remained out of reach of any except our heaviest guns.” From this position the heavy metal and long range guns of nineteen batteries poured forth a ceaseless bombardment of both Beauregard and Walker, but paying most attention to the latter.
Both forts replied with determination, the gunners standing faithfully to their guns, but the vastly superior weight of metal and the number of the Federal batteries, and the distance of their positions from the forts (never less than 2,500 yards from Beauregard and 2,000 from Walker), made the contest hopeless for the Confederates almost from the first shot. Shortly after the engagement began, several of the largest vessels took flanking positions out of reach of the 32-pounder guns in Walker, and raked the parapet of that fort. “So soon as these positions had been established,” reported Major Huger, “the fort was fought simply as a point of honor, for from that moment we were defeated.” This flank fire, with the incessant direct discharge of the fleet’s heavy batteries, So 5 <cmh5_34>dismounted or disabled most of Fort Walker’s guns. The 10-inch columbiad was disabled early in the action; the shells for the rifled guns were too large to be used, and the ammunition for all but the 32-pounders exhausted, when, after four hours of hard fighting, Colonel Heyward ordered that two guns should be served slowly, while the sick and wounded were removed from the fort; that accomplished, the fort to be abandoned. Thus terminated the fight at Port Walker.
At Port Beauregard, the battle went more fortunately for the Confederates. A caisson was exploded by the fire of the fleet, and the rifled 24-pounder burst, and several men and officers were wounded by these events, but none of the guns were dismounted, and Captain Elliott only ceased firing when Walker was abandoned. In his report, he says: “Our fire was directed almost exclusively at the larger vessels. They Were seen to be struck repeatedly, but the distance, never less than 2,500 yards, prevented our ascertaining the extent of injury.” General Drayton successfully conducted his retreat from Hilton Head, and Colonel Dunovant from Bay point, all the troops being safely concentrated on the main behind Beaufort.
The taking of Port Royal harbor on the 7th of November, 1861, gave the navy of the United States a safe and ample anchorage, while the numerous and rich islands surrounding it afforded absolutely safe and comfortable camping grounds for the army of Gen. T. W. Sherman, who was specially in charge of this expedition. The effect of this Union victory was to give the fleet and army of the United States a permanent and abundant base of operations against the whole coast of South Carolina, and against either Charleston or Savannah, as the Federal authorities might elect; but its worst result was the immediate abandonment of the whole sea-island country around Beaufort, the houses and estates of the planters being left to pillage and ruin, and thousands of negro slaves falling into the hands of the enemy. General Sherman wrote to his government, from Hilton Head, that the effect of his victory was startling. Every white inhabitant had left the islands of Hilton Head, St. Helena, Ladies, and Port Royal, and the beautiful estates of the planters were at the mercy of hordes of negroes.
The loss of the forts had demonstrated the power of the Federal fleet, and the impossibility of defending the island coast with the guns which the State and the Confederacy could furnish. The 32 and 42 pounders were no match for the 11-inch batteries of the fleet, and gunboats of light draught, carrying such heavy guns, could enter the numerous rivers and creeks and cut off forts or batteries at exposed points, while larger vessels attacked them, as at Port Royal, in front. It was evident that the rich islands of the coast were at the mercy of the Federal fleet, whose numerous gunboats and armed steamers, unopposed by forts or batteries, could cover the landing of troops at any point or on any island selected.
On the capture of Port Royal, it was uncertain, of course, what General Sherman’s plans would be, or what force he had with which to move on the railroad between Charleston and Savannah. The fleet was ample for all aggressive purposes along the coast, but it was not known at the time that the army numbered less than 15,000 men, all told. But it was well known how easily a landing could be effected within a few miles of the railroad bridges crossing the three upper branches of the Broad river, the Coosawhatchie, Tulifinny and Pocotaligo, and the rivers nearer to Charleston, the Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto. Bluffton, easily reached by gunboats, afforded a good landing and base for operations against the railroad at Hardeeville, only 4 miles from the Savannah river, and 15 from the city of Savannah. On this account, General Ripley, assisted by the planters, caused the upper branches of the Broad, and the other rivers toward Charleston to be obstructed, and meanwhile stationed the troops at his command at points covering the landing.
General Drayton, with a part of Martin’s regiment of cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Colcock, and Heyward’s and De Saussure’s regiments, was watching Bluffton and the roads to Hendersonville. Clingman’s and Radcliffe’s North Carolina regiments, with artillery under Col. A. J. Gonzales, Captain Trezevant’s company of cavalry, and the Charleston Light Dragoons and the Rutledge Riflemen, were stationed in front of Grahamville, to watch the landings from the Broad. Colonel Edwards’ regiment and Moore’s light battery were at Coosawhatchie, Colonel Dunovant’s at Pocotaligo, and Colonel Jones’, with Tripp’s company of cavalry, in front of the important landing at Port Royal ferry. Colonel Martin, with part of his regiment of cavalry, was in observation at the landings on Combahee, Ashepoo and Edisto rivers. The idea of this disposition, made by Ripley immediately upon the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, was to guard the railroad bridges, and keep the troops in hand to be moved for concentration in case any definite point was attacked.
On the 8th of November, the day after Port Royal was taken,. Gen. Robert E. Lee took command of the department of South Carolina and Georgia, by order of the President of the Confederacy. It was evident to him that the mouths of the rivers and the sea islands, except those immediately surrounding the harbor of Charleston, could not be defended with the guns and troops at his command, and, disappointing and distressing as such a view was to the governor and especially to the island planters, whose homes and estates must be abandoned and ruined, General Lee prepared for the inevitable. He wrote to General Ripley, in Charleston, to review the whole subject and suggest what changes should be made.
“I am in favor,” he wrote, “of abandoning all exposed points as far as possible within reach of the enemy’s fleet of gunboats, and of taking interior positions, where all can meet on more equal terms. All our resources should be applied to those positions.” Subsequently the gov-ernrnent at Richmond ordered General Lee, by telegraph, to withdraw all his forces from the islands to the mainland. When the order was carried out, it was done at a terrible sacrifice, to which the planters and citizens yielded in patient and noble submission, turning their backs upon their homes and their property with self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of Southern independence. Never were men and women subjected to a greater test of the depth and strength of their sentiments, or put to a severer trial of their patriotism, than were the planters and their families, who abandoned their houses and estates along the coast of South Carolina, and retired as refugees into the interior, all the men who were able entering the army.
At the time of the fall of Forts Walker and Beauregard, Charleston harbor was defended by Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Castle Pinckney and Fort Johnson, and by batteries on Sullivan’s and Morris islands. All these were to be strengthened, and the harbor made secure against any attack in front. To prevent the occupation of James island, the mouth of Stono river was defended by forts built on Cole’s and Battery islands, and a line of defensive works built across the island. No attempt had been made to erect forts or batteries in defense of the inlets of Worth or South Edisto, but the harbor of Georgetown was protected by works unfinished on Cat and South islands, for twenty guns, the heaviest of which were 32-pounders.
When General Lee took command, November 8th, he established his headquarters at Coosawhatchie, and divided the line of defense into five military districts, from east to west, as follows: The First, from the North Carolina line to the South Santee, under Col. A.M. Manigault, Tenth volunteers, with headquarters at Georgetown; the Second, from the South Santee to the Stono, under Gen. R. S. Ripley, with headquarters at Charleston; the Third, from the Stono to the Ashepoo, under Gen. N. G. Evans, with headquarters at Adams’ run; the Fourth, from Ashepoo to Port Royal entrance, under Gen. J. C. Pemberton, with headquarters at Coosaw-hatchie; the Fifth, the remainder of the line to the Savannah river, under Gen. T. F. Drayton, with headquarters at Hardeeville.
