Action in Tullahoma, TN – late March 1863

 Coverage of action at Tullahoma, Tenn., in the March 30, 1863, Boston Evening Gazette.

4th KY Cav (US) soldier writes Mar 28, 1862 from Munfordville

Munfordville Ky
March 28, 1862

Dear wife,

I take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at present and hope these few lines may find you and the children and all the folks well. We started from Bardstown last Sunday and got to this place on Wednesday evening, a distance of 45 miles. And yesterday we were paid off up to the first day of March and tomorrow we start for Gallatin a little town on the Nashville railroad 24 miles this side of Nashville and I don’t know how long we will stay at that place. Perhaps not more than a few days and I don’t know where we will go to from there. I hope that peace will be made by that time & we can all go home. I send you twenty dollars in this letter and I don’t want you to be too stingy with it when you need anything for yourself or the children. I expect we will be paid off again the first of May if we are in the service that long. I tried to get to come home before we started for here but the Col. would not let any of the men go. The Col. still says that I shall have an office of some kind in the reg. We are to get our arms today and then we will be ready for a fight if we can find anybody to fight. I want you to be contented and I will come home as soon as I can. Although it may be some time before I can get to come. I am not afraid of anything but sickness and the worst weather is over now. And there will not be apt to be much sickness now until July or August and I hope not then. Our neighbor boys are all well that are here with us and the health of the regiment is very good. You must write as soon as you get this and direct your letter to Gallatin, Sumner Co., Tenn. The balance of the directions as before and if we should leave there before the letter gets here the PM at that place will forward all the letters for our regiment on to wherever we go to. So nothing more at present but remaining your affectionate husband until death.
A. A. Harrison

*********

Absolom A. Harrison
Company D, 4th Regiment, Kentucky Calvary Volunteers (Union)

A. A. Harrison sent the following letters to his wife Susan Allstun Harrison. Susan’s grandmother was Nancy Lincoln Brumfield, Thomas Lincoln’s sister and President Abraham Lincoln’s aunt.

These letters were transcribed by A. A.’s great-grandson Ronald A. Harrison who introduces the letters with the following background:

“A. A. Harrison and his brother Jo (Joel) apparently got caught up in a recruiting drive and enlisted in the Fourth Kentucky Calvary, U.S.A., without even going home to tell their wives, Susan and Martha. The first letter appears to be letting Susan know what has become of her husband. The two brothers served honorably for roughly a year. At the end of that time A. A. was medically discharged. At roughly the same time Jo died in a military hospital in Nashville. Only recently has anyone in the family known Jo’s fate.”

Letters found on this web page January 2008.

4th KY Cav (US) soldier writes Mar 11, 1862

Bardstown Ky
March 11th 1862

Dear wife,

I take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at present and hope these few lines may find you all well. The boys from Hardin are all well. We are in Bardstown at present. Our company and —- are acting as provost guards. We moved in here last Thursday. I expect we will stay here for some time. We are camped in a vacant lot in town. We have to stand guard here every other night. We are all so glad to get out of the mud and to get here on the dry street even if we were to stand guard every night. The talk about disbanding has nearly died away. I don’t think there is any prospect of being disbanded. Yet I would be very glad if they would turn us loose and let us all go home. Jo rec’d Eliza’s letter last night and we were glad to hear that you all was well. We have not got any money yet. They keep telling us we will get our money in a day or two so I don’t know when we will get it. But I hope it wont be many days more before we will be paid off. I don’t know when any of us will be at home. The Captain has not let any of the men go home since I came back. Although he has promised Jo that he might go home as soon as we were paid off. We have one very unpleasant duty to perform here and that is burying the soldiers that die in the hospitals. There is about six hundred in the hospitals at this place and they die at the rate of about four per day. We also have to put out patrols of 5 or 6 men to walk around town and arrest every soldier without a pass or drunken men and put them in jail till they get sober. Tell father he may go on and sow them oats if he can get the seed for I will not be back in time enough to sow them no how. And if you can sell any of that corn for a good price you had better sell some of it and manage things the best you can until I can get back. You must write as often as you can. I looked hard for a letter yesterday but was disappointed when the mail came in and nearly all boys got letters but me. The war news from everywhere is cheering. The federal troops are gaining ground everywhere but it may be some time before peace is made. I must bring my letter to a close for it is nearly time to go on guard. So nothing more at present but remaining your affectionate husband until death.

A. A. Harrison

P.S. Kiss the children for me.

*********

Absolom A. Harrison
Company D, 4th Regiment, Kentucky Calvary Volunteers (Union)

A. A. Harrison sent the following letters to his wife Susan Allstun Harrison. Susan’s grandmother was Nancy Lincoln Brumfield, Thomas Lincoln’s sister and President Abraham Lincoln’s aunt.

These letters were transcribed by A. A.’s great-grandson Ronald A. Harrison who introduces the letters with the following background:

“A. A. Harrison and his brother Jo (Joel) apparently got caught up in a recruiting drive and enlisted in the Fourth Kentucky Calvary, U.S.A., without even going home to tell their wives, Susan and Martha. The first letter appears to be letting Susan know what has become of her husband. The two brothers served honorably for roughly a year. At the end of that time A. A. was medically discharged. At roughly the same time Jo died in a military hospital in Nashville. Only recently has anyone in the family known Jo’s fate.”

Letters found on this web page January 2008.

March 28, 1863 – “How the Bowery Boys Amuse Themselves”

Artist: John McLenan

Caption

(Scene.–A Democratic Association.)

Great Copperhead Orator (foaming at the Mouth). “To Arms! to Arms! Let us resist the Laws, and crush the Lincoln Despotism!!”

First Citizen. “Bully for you! He’s ‘most as good as Forrest.”

Second Citizen. “But he can’t come up to Booth.”

30th Illinois soldier writes from Goldsboro, N.C. – March 25, 1865

Lt. David W. Poak of the 30th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was at Forts Henry and Donaldson, Corinth, Vicksburg, Atlanta Campaign , March to the Sea, and the Carolina Campaign . He was awarded a 17th Corps Medal of Honor for the Battle of Atlanta when he was conspicuous in Rallying his men, advancing to the front, encouraging his men,firing muskets rapidly at the enemy, and by his service and gallant example materially assisting in bringing his regiment again into action.

HeadQuarters 1st Brig. 3rd Div. 17th A.C.
Goldsboro N.C.

Mar 25th 1865

Sister Sadie,

Presuming that you are quite anxious to hear from me , I will write a letter now and have it ready to send by first mail.As you will perceive , by the heading of my letter we are now at Goldsboro where we expect to take a rest after our long and very severe campaign. How long a respite we will get  here is hard to tell . They will be compelled to remain long enough to refit our army as it is now in a  very destitute condition. A great many of the men are barefooted and without pants. Many of them have been forced to pick up and wear citizen or rebel clothes to cover up their nakedness. Our Campaign has been , in many respects one of the most severe we have ever made. The marches were long and most of the time through almost impassable swamps. Scarcely  a day passed but what the men would have to wade from one to half a dozen swamps frequently waist deep. The roads through these swamps would cut up before but a small portion of our train would pass over and part of the troops would have to remain out all night helping the wagons through. Our Brigade was out four nights all night and very often till two and three oclock in the morning . Whenever the enemy would make a stand it was certain to be at one of these swamps and then our men would have to wade out in the water and stand and fight them. Any one that was so unfortunate as to get wounded would fall in the water and perhaps nearly drown before they could get assistance. Sherman’s Army has I think seen as much campaigning as any other still we learned a few things this trip that we had not thought of before. The men were in excellent spirits all the time. You would never hear them grumble a bit no difference how hard a time they were having. I often wondered how they could stand it at all. We passed through some rich country where we would find an abundance of forage and through some of the most barren regions I ever saw. The principal places we passed through were Orangeburg,’Columbia, Winnsboro, Cherara, S.C. and Fayetteville, N.C.  At Orangeburg our Division had quite a sharp little fight. No one in my Regiment was hurt. Columbia was nearly all burned. Lieut. Col. Rhoads Commanding the 30th Ills. was kicked by a horse a few days since.His leg is badly smashed and it is feared he will not recover .A train of cars came up from Wilmington this morning . The Rail Road from New Berne will be completed in a few days. We are expecting a large mail this evening. This is the fifty fifth day since we left Pocolatigo . During that time we have marched nearly five hundred miles. Feby 25th 10 P.M. Have just learned that I can send a letter off in the morning. Will send this . Give my love to all friends.

Your brother,
D.W.Poak

March 24, 1865 – Gen Sherman occupies Goldsboro, North Carolina

March 24 – Sherman occupies Goldsboro, North Carolina, ending Carolinas Campaign.

New Hanover County, Wilmington, N.C. “Gen. Schofield’s army on the march for Goldsborough, March 6–rebel works in the rear of Wilmington.” 1865. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 1, 1865, p. 20. Neg. 83-198. FP1-10-S72-C582w.

March 19, 1864 – “A Hint for the Sanitary Fair”

Caption

Visitor. “But don’t you think you might have a little of your hair cut off without spoiling the general effect?”

Golden-haired Lass. “Oh no! I’m keeping it all for the Fair! I’ll have Scissors, you know, and let the Cavaliers cut off little locks of it at the current prices for gold.”

March 17, 1828 – Patrick R. Cleburne is born in Ireland

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, a Confederate General killed in action at Franklin, TN (30 Nov 1864) was born in County Cork , Ireland, March 17, 1828. Patrick was the second son of a physician and his other died when he was just an infant. An orphan by age fifteen, he followed inhis father’s footsteps in the field of medicine. However, he failed to pass the medical exam so he enlisted in the British Army in 1846.

A few years later Cleburne migrated to America settling in Arkansas.  By 1860 he was a was solid citizen practicing law. When the war broke out Cleburne sided with his beloved Arkansas, for whom he was grateful for the opportunity he had been given as a new immigrant.

He would become the Colonel of the 15th Arkansas and promoted to Brigadier General in March 1862. The Irish soldier-leader would go on to serve valiantly in action at Shiloh, Richmond (KY), Perryville, Stones River, north Georgia and eventually at Franklin where he fell mortally wounded on 30 November 1864.

Endangered Battlefields List revised by CWPT

Download the CWPT
Most Endangered 2008 Report
( PDF – 1.52MB)

The new CWPT (Civil War Preservation Trust) report, History Under Seige, not only lists endangered Civil War battlefields in the United States, but it is also a plan for saving these few remaining links to our heritage before encroaching development takes it from us forever.
Did you know that:

• In 2007 CWPT saved more than 1,600 acres including land at Champion Hill, Miss., Shiloh, Tenn., and Petersburg, Va.
• Since 1987 the CWPT has protected more than 25,000 acres at 99 sites in 18 states.

30th Illinois soldier writes from Fayetteville, NC – March 15, 1865

Lt. David W. Poak of the 30th Illinois Volunteer Infantry was at Forts Henry and Donaldson, Corinth, Vicksburg, Atlanta Campaign ,March to the Sea, and the Carolina Campaign . He was awarded a 17th Corps Medal of Honor for the Battle of Atlanta when he was conspicuous in Rallying his men, advancing to the front, encouraging his men,firing muskets rapidly at the enemy, and by his service and gallant example materially assisting in bringing his regiment again into action.

Lt. D.W.Poak
30th Illinois Infantry

HdQrs 1st Brig 3rd Div 17th A.C.
Near Fayetteville,N.C.
Mar.14th,1865

Sister Sadie,

It has been so long since I have written to you that I presume you are getting quite anxious to know something about me. Such being the case I have concluded to pen you a short note and try and send it off with a Refugee train that leaves for Wilmington early tomorrow morning. This is the Forty Forth day that we have been marching and Gen. Sherman says that we have not reached our true base yet so I suppose we have more marching before us yet. We crossed the Cape Fear river last night at Fayetteville and are now encamped about three miles from the river. We expect to move tomorrow morning in the direction of Goldsboro. May have a fight there. We have had a pretty hard Campaign.A good of skirmishing . No hard fighting. The weather was as a general thing very fine. Several boats have been up from Wilmington. They brought up some papers,no letters. I have been well all the time and have enjoyed the trip very much. I was up all night last night crossing the river and feel a little sleepy tonight. I have not time to write more . Remember me  to any enquiring friend,

I remain Your brother,
D. W.Poak