Two Wars: An Autobiography of General Samuel G. French

de C

tary Division of

June 27, 186

breaking through, but each has made substantial progress at so

. Sh

neral Co

tary Division of

Kennesaw, June 27,

ound impossible to deploy, but they hold their ground. I wish you to study well the positions, and if possible to break

, Major Gener

s died gradually away, and the morning of the 28th dawned on both armies in their former positions. The battle of Kennesaw, then, was a display of force and an attack on th

ont, and the enemy move about in a subdued manner and less lordl

h a new battery to aid the previous ones. Perhaps they design attacking my line again. A great number of shells fell

ty minutes the firing ceased and all was quiet till morning. It appears that this night attack was caused by a false alarm. This morning I rode to Marietta, it being the first

gain by some sharp musketry on my left. The awful lies found in the newspapers, manufactured

the beginning of an eruption. The innumerable curling rings of smoke from the incessant bursting of shells over the mountain top, added to the volumes belching forth from our guns, wreathed Kennesaw in a golden thunder-cloud in the still sky, from which came incessant flashes of iridescent light from shells, like bursting stars. The canopy of clouds rolling around the peak looked softer than the downy cotton, but ever changing in color. One moment they were as crimson as the evening cloud

watched from house tops these scenes

tin, of the First Arkansas Regiment, of Cleburne's Division, who, seeing the woods in front of him on fire burning the wounded Federals, tied a handkerchief to a ramrod and amidst the danger of battle mounted the parapet and shouted to the enemy: 'Come and remove your wounded; they are burning to death; we won't fire a gun till you get them away. Be quick!' And with his own men he leaped over our works and helped to remove them. When this work of humanity was ended a noble Federal major was so impressed by such magnanimity that he pulled from his belt a brace of fine pistols and presented them to Col. Martin with the remark: 'Accept them with my appre

PTE

f Gen. B. Bragg-Gen. Johnston Relieved-President Davis's Remark about Relieving Johnston from Command-Johnston's Policy versus Hood's-Battle of Peachtree Creek-We Occupy Atlanta-Battle of Atlanta-S. D. Lee Assigned to Command of Hood's Corps-Gen. Ector Woun

rd, that unearthly yell rose from a thousand Confederate throats, loud, above "the thunder of the captains and the shoutings," and with the force of a tornado they swept on over the field to death or victory. O how the heart throbs and the eye glares! As that yell is the offspring of the tempest of the battle and death, it cannot be heard in peace, no, never, never! The Federal cheer lives on, and is heard dai

guns until 11 A.M. I went up the mountain early in the morning. The fire was not confined to my guns on the mountain, but extended some distance down the line. All this was intended, no

intrenching our line-and it is a bad one. Soon in the morning the enemy drove in our cavalry, and by noon had out his skirmishers and artillery to the front. It is wonderful how well our soldiers u

. ST

the shingles from a house for spades, and bayonets for picks, and thus in a few minutes the men were in a shallow ditch. My

tery were left in camp asleep, and they barely escaped capture. We were now on the right bank of the Chattahoochee river. The right of my line was a small redoubt east of the railroad (Western and Atlantic), thence

rman came near spoiling our dinner as we sat on the ground eating, by sending

moted to a lieutenant general, assumed command of the Army of Mississippi. After the death of Gen. Polk I

at night. They evidently are apprehensive that we will cr

where he had swung back, so as to attack the enemy when they came out to establish a picket line. This he did successfully, and returne

arton, and forced them back, captured their line, and drove them nearly to their main works, and re?stablished ours. Prisoners were captured from five different regiments. Our loss was fifty-two men in all. After t

oss the river by the railroad bridge. After all were crossed both the railroad and dirt

ops enough to prevent this movement of the enemy. Thus we are constantly outflanked by a superior force not disposed to attack us behind any kind of works. At 4 P.M. it commenced raining, and then artillery firing began at the railroad

see Gen. Johnston, and found Gen. Braxton Bragg there. He comes from Richmond. What is his mission? Who knows? Is Sherman on this side of the river? Has Grant's failures in Virginia, and Early's invasion of Pennsylvania, affected movements down here? A few days will determine. O for br

l occurred. We are still anxious to learn more about Early i

dy for a movement." It does seem strange that we cannot have one quiet Sabbath. Sherman has no regard for the Fourth Commandment. I wish a Bible society would send him a prayer book, instead of shipping them all t

t. Gen. Johnston was relieved on yesterday from the command of this army, and Gen. J. B. Hood assumed comm

ississippi, talked with him concerning the manner of conducting the war; but "now that you are in command, I assure you I will serve under you as faithfully

ended on breaking the enemy down financially, by procrastinating the war; that to do this the strength of the army in the

prisoners and receive the Andersonville prisoners and return a like number to i

t, August

n. Bu

isons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. Every man re

whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to no more than dead men. At this particu

will compare it with what other distinguished men

th the ambassadors to further the exchange, bound by an oath to return to Carthage in case of a failure to make peace or exchange of prisoners. He dissu

s Regulus in maintaining the obligation of his oath, but in dissuading the Senate not to agree t

d by the act of the United States (the North) in refusing to mitigate their sufferings on both sides by not exch

cy of the North in the treatment of prisoners of war, he would have vanquished his antagonist, Hon. J. G. Blaine,

anding to know if Atlanta and the State of Georgia were to be given up without a battle for its preservation, that he was reluctantly obliged to relieve Gen. Johnston to

the corps that were near Decatur. Sears's Brigade being on duty on the river and creek, I moved with the brigades of Cockrell

right, and I was to keep within about three hundred yards of him. In advancing I came to an open field in front of the enemy. Their line was fortified, with two field batteries in position that kept up a continuous fire on my line.

d. Preparations are being made to attack the enemy's left wing over toward Decatur. Noon has passed, and there has been no infantry-firing yet, only the booming of artillery; but about 4 P.M. the volleys of musketry fell on the ear, died away, and then burst out anew, and did not cease until dark, when they re

Ector above the knee, requiring amputation, and Capt. Ward, mortally wounding him. I sent them to my quarters and thence to our hospital. Ward was an accomplished gentleman and a brave soldi

bout 1 P.M. it began, and continued four hours. By request of Walthall I sent them Guibor's guns and Ector's Brigade. The attack was a failure because it was fought by weak detailed attacks instead of a consolidated force. Gen.

mander of the corps, but to my surprise I found that Hood had placed Cheatham in command. I wrote to Hood in regard to the matter

her white wings over the land, for not a gun has yet been heard, and so it continued most of the day.

redoubt in front of my house. One shell killed a mule in the yard, another broke my wagon tongue, while a third knocked the pipe from Hedrick's (my orderly) mouth, etc. My application to be rel

diary for these days would only be a

aj. Redwine wounded, and forty-three men killed and wounded. I was directed to make this demonstration; ordinarily they do but little good against old soldiers, because they know so well that they would not be attacked behind their works seriously unless by massed troops. Ne

nt. I rode along the lines with Gen. Sears, who has returned. Cockrell also got back yesterday. While I was at Col. Young's the enemy commenced shelling, and it has continued ever since, full seven hou

of Gen. Hood's conduct in the assignment of C

hat the vidette line away in front must be held; that the picket line five hundred yards in front should be strong, and on it the fighting should be to the last extremity. The result of this course has been that my men are entirely free from annoyance, except from some artillery fire, and that is foolishly dir

ere, so I will merely remark that the everlasting fire con

ed and had breakfast. Then the artillery, as usual, began at the redoubt in front of the house. As the shel

could not keep from laughing. I have an illustrated copy of the illustrious Don Quixote, and here was a duplicate picture, or rather here before me was the Don himself, in form and features,

raised-well-(I begin it with a "w") and never ceased until 2 P.M., and they threw not less than t

st Lieut. Col. McDowell was killed in the rear of our second skirmish line. What an excell

ring as

y all last night, and to-day they set on

o Judge Ould. F

d with vermin. My servant boys carried some jackets home that had to be buried. Their line of works was very strong. I found the brick furnace where they made "shot red hot" to fire day and night at intervals to burn the city. At first little "niggers" got their fingers burned picking them up to se

aptured some prisoners. They told me that the place, as I could see, was strongly fortified; that the Twentieth Corps (Hooker's) occupie

p about five thousand pounds of lead balls that had been fired on the lines. The ground was literally covered with them-oxidized white like hailstones. Tr

e left. Six of our men crossed the rive

the charge of Gen. G. W. Smith alone are in the city to-day. Some cavalry scouts followed my scouts nearly

guns that I had ordered to be spiked by the rear guard at 11 P.M. were burned by order of the chief of ordnance at 5 P.M., a proclamation to the enemy in my front that we were evacuating the place. As soon as I started to leave the works some of Hood's officers fired the ordnance trains. This should have been done the last of al

ssed S. D. Lee's Corps on the road. It was yesterday at Rough and Ready. This is attacking in detail as usual. On arrival my division was ordered to relieve Gen. Brown's. After dark I was ordered to move to my

ng cannonading

I was on the line Capt. Kennedy (Mrs. Bowen's brother) and four ot

tlanta, now abandoned. Gave Cockrell permission to pursue them, and he skirmished w

[Diary records no

ork is to commence on Monday. There are about eighteen thousand people in the city. I am told that he also offers to exchange prisoners, provided he should receive only men who have yet two

TER

LE OF AL

Strength of Forces-Equalization of Forces-Some Federal Dispatches-The Battle-Corse's Account-Col. Ludlow's Description-Desperate Fighting-The Main Line Captured-Enemy Driven into an Interior Fort-Dispatches from Gen. Armstrong Respecting Movements of the Enemy at Big Shanty-Withdraw to Avoid Being Surrounded by Converging Forces-Corse's Dispatch to Sherman-Prov

the Pumpkinton road and crossed the Chattahoochee river and encamped beyo

French, what do you think Gen. Sherman will do now?" I replied: "I suppose he will turn southwest and move on to Mobile; or he may go to Augusta to destroy our powder mills, and then make for Charleston or Savannah." "In that event do you believe he can sustain his troops on the march if our cavalry lay waste the coun

roying Sherman's commu

railroad above Kennesaw with the whole ar

e brigade commanders of the object of moving in the rear of Sherman

TA CA

AH RIVER

large

s, and this brought us to the same g

d was marching to obtain possession of his line of communication, he i

Creek, Allatoona fortifications garrisoned by just about one thousand men, Gen. Elliott, chief of cavalry, with his command at Kennesaw, Gen. J. E. Smith, with his division, at Cartersville, Gen. J. M.

captured some forty prisoners at Big Shanty, and commenced destroying the railroad. Loring, sent to Acworth (near Allatoona), captured about two hundred prisoners, and Walthall took seve

commander there, and the probable strength of the enemy in the several works. I also succeeded, through some of the citizens, in getting a boy for a guide. I moved from Acworth about 11 P.M., and on arriving at Allatoona Creek I left there the Fourth Mississippi Regiment and one piece of artillery, with instructions to burn the bridge and capture the garrison of one hundred men in the blockhouse. When at Acworth I sent fifteen men from a Capt. Taylor's company of cavalry, Pinson's Regiment, to strike the railroad near the Etowah river and tear up the track to prevent re?nforcements from reaching Allatoona. I moved on then from the creek, and arrived before Allatoona about 3 A.M. All was darkness; nothing could be seen except occasional lights flitting about the place. I put the artillery, eleven guns, in position, or rather left them in what the guide said was a good place, and also left two regiments of Ector's Brigade under Col. Andrews as a support to them. With the guide directing, I moved the division to gain the flank and rear of the line of works. There were fiv

instructed to allow about twenty minutes for the officer to whom he delivered the message to go and return with the reply. After waiting longer than the specified time, he returned without an answer. Believing Sears

enth Illinois, and seven companies of the Ninety-Third Illinois, making, in officers and men, a total of just about nine hundred. Against this force, placed in carefully constructed works, I could send only the Missouri brigade and four regiments of the Texas brigade, in all one thousand three hundred and fifty. I had been informed by Gen. Armstrong that the enemy's cava

COCK

in my report, I will here quit, for the present, f

14, will be found in the "War

s French's

Ala., Novem

ort of the battle of Allatoona. As the report of the brigade commanders are now

hanty, the following order was handed me by Lie

f Tennessee, Octobe

P. Stewart, C

e desires Stevenson to be moved to Lieut. Gen. Lee's actual left, that two of your divisions at that time at Adams's shall draw back, with your left in the neighborhood of Davis's Cross Roads, and your right in the neighborhood of Lost Mountain, and the division that will have gone to Allatoona to march thence to New Hope Church and on the position occupied by your other troops-that is, that the division shall rejoin your command by making this march out from the

respec

. Ma

Adjutant

f which the following

s Army of T

of Staff, October

. Stewart,

cannot disturb us before to-morrow, and by that time your main body will be near the remainder of our army. He suggests that if it be considered practicable to destroy the bridge when the division goes

respec

. Ma

sistant Adju

three regiments, and had accumulated a considerable amount of provisions, it was considered a matter of importance that the place should be captured, and after the orders were handed me, at my request, Gen. Stewart sent me (with Maj. Myrick) four additional pieces of artillery. It would appear, however, from these orders that

th a garrison of about one hundred men at the Allatoona bridge; that at Allatoona there were two small redoubts with outworks, defended with four pieces of artillery and garrisoned with three and a half regiments of infantry. About 11 P.M. the march was resumed. The night was very dark, and the roads bad. After crossing Allatoona creek, Col. Adaire, with his Fourth Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers, and one piece of artillery, was left near the blockhouse with instructions to surround it, capture the garrison, and destroy the bridge over the creek. Continuing the march, the division arrived before Allatoona about 3 A.M. Nothing could be seen but one or two twinkling lights on the opposite heights, and nothing was heard except the occasional interchange of shots between our advanced guards and the pickets of the garrison in the valley below. All was darkness. I had no knowledge of the place, and it was important to attack at the break of day. Taking the guide and lights, I placed the artillery in position on t

USE, ALLATOONA CRE

t distance by abatis, and nearer the works by stockades and other obstructions. The railroad emerges from the Allatoona Mountain by crossing this ridge through a cut sixty-five feet deep. Dispositions for the assault were now made by sen

was ordered to continue his fire until the attacking force

he was allowed seventeen minutes to return an answer. The time expired without any answer being received, whereupon Maj. D. W. Sanders, impatient at the delay, broke off the interview and returned. No reply being sent me, the order was given for the assault by directing the advance of Cockrell's Brigade. Emerging from the woods and passing over a long distance of abatis formed of felled

of the fort on the east side of the road, from the attack of Gen. Sears. They had to cross the deep cut, through which our artillery poured a steady and deadly fir

the enemy had moved up east of the railroad above Kennesaw and encamped there last night. I had observed this movement when at Acworth, but at 12 M. I received another dispatch fro

munition had to be carried from the wagons, a mile distant at the base of the hills, by men, and I was satisfied that it would take two hours to get it up and distribute it under fire before the final assault. I had learned from prisoners that before daylight the place had been re?nforced by a brigade under Gen. Corse. I knew the enemy was at Big Shanty at 9 A.M. By noon he could reach Acworth and be within two miles of the road on which I was to reach New Hope Church. I knew Gen. St

l probability we could force a surrender before night. Yet, however desirous I was of remaining before the last work and forcing a capitulation, or of carrying this interior work by assault, I deemed it of more importance not to permit the enemy to cu

ced, owing to the steepness of the hills, the ravines, and the dense woods. Accordingly the wounded were brought to the springs near the ridge. All

, and at 3:30 P.M. commenced the move toward New Hope. After the troops left I rode on down to Col. Andrews's po

and caissons to a point beyond the blockhouse on the Sandtown road, to act in concert with the troops left there. Having been informed by Col. Andrews that the blockhouse at the Allatoona

ear the blockhouse. Col. Adaire had burned the railroad bridge over Allatoona creek (over two hundred feet long), and also the duplicate of the

ety-Third Regiment of Illinois, a number of horses, arms, etc., and killed and wounded seven

membered that the enemy fought from within their strong redoubts the desperate deeds of daring perfo

and, except when the flag of truce

e of musketry did not cease entirely until 3 P.M., when it died away, and a silence like the

nd all withdrew from the place with the regret that Gen. Sherman's movements-closi

at formed no part of the assaulting forc

; missing, 22. Sears's Brigade: Killed, 37; wounded, 114; missing, 200. Ector's Brigade: Killed, 43; wounded, 14

. W. S

fficer. Also, were killed Capt. B. Davidson and Lieuts. G. C. Edwards, J. R. Henry, and J. D. Davis. Col. W. S. Barry, Thirty-Fifth Mississippi, and Maj. Partin, Thirty-Sixth Mississippi, were wounded,

oring to enter the last work, where his conspicuous gallantry had carried him and his little band. Capts. Gibson, Tenth Texas, Bates, Nin

e of the best officers in the service, was seriously wounded. Also Majs. McReynolds, Ninth Texas, and Purdy, Fourteenth Texas. Of the captains wo

, A. C. Patton, John S. Holland, Lieuts. Thomas S. Shelly, Joel F. Yancey, G. R. Elliott. R. J. Lamb, G. T. Duva

tian, G. W. Covell, and A. F. Burns, Lieuts. Joseph Boyce, Silas H. F. Hornba

is due to the dead, it is just to the living, that they who have no hopes of being heralded by fame, and who have but little incentive except the love of country and the consciousnes

for their dearest rights, have so often gone through the fires of battle and the baptism of blood. It would perhaps be an invidious distinction to name individu

, Sears, and Young for bravery,

or services. Maj. D. W. Sanders, assistant adjutant general, Lieut. Wiley Abercrombie, aid, Capt. W. H. Cain, volunteer aid, Capt. Porter and Lieut. Mosby, engineers, were zealous

ty-Ninth North Carolina, and W. J. Sparks, Tenth Texas, and Lieut

ed States standard from the Federals, and after a st

mes of many officers and soldiers that I know are entitled to comm

he taken up the rails (and there was nothing to prevent it), re?nforcements could not have been thrown in the works, and the result would have been different

ectfully

. Fr

neral Co

y Gen. Corse, it would have embraced much matter of detail elucidating what occurred. I shall now proceed to copy some part of Gen. Corse's report, after which its errors will be po

orse's

ut, so disposed them as to hold the north side as long as possible. Three companies of the Ninety-Third, which had been driven from the west end of the ridge, were distributed in the ditch south of the redoubt, with instructions to keep

s, which were on the brink of the crest running north from the redoubt, they having been re?nforced by the retreating pickets, and urged them to hold on to the spur; but it was of no avail; the enemy's line of battle swept us back like so much chaff, and struck the Thirty-Ninth Iowa in flank, threatening to ingulf our little band without further ado. Fortunately for us, Col. Tourtellotte's fire caught Sears in flank, and broke him so badly as to enable me to get a staff officer over the cut with orders to bring the Fiftieth Illinois over to re?nforce Rowett, who had lost very heavily. However, before the

ty-Ninth Iowa and the Seventh and Ninety-Third Illinois) held Young's and a portion of Sears's and Cockrell's Brigades at bay for nearly two hours and a half. The gallant Col. R

en pieces of the enemy enabled them to fill every hollow, and take every advantage of the rough ground surrounding the fort, filling every hole and trench, seeking shelter behind every stump and log that lay within musket range of the fort. We received their fire from the north, south, and west of the redoubt, completely enfilading our ditches and rendering it almost impracticable

ying. About 1 P.M. I was wounded by a rifle ball that rendered me insensible for some thirty or forty minutes, but managed to ra

on the east hill to procure ammunition. Having executed his mission successfully, he returned in a short time with an arm load of canister and case shot. About 2:30 P.M. the enemy were observed massing a force behind a small house and the ridge on which the house was located, distant northwest from the fort about one hundred and fifty yards. The dead and wounded were moved aside so as to enable us to move a piece of artillery to an embrasure commanding the house and ridge. A few sh

e Michigan Commandery, at Detroit, April 2, 1891, and I desire it to be borne in mind that he is a graduate of the Military

lling objects that influence action, falsifying of numbers, glorifying dispatches, and complimentary orders, that won the a

nd labor bestowed on them. 3. The strength of the respective forces. 4. The ratio of inequality between men in strong fortifications and men attacking from without, immediately on arrival. 5. The inspiring inducement t

ographic views of the railroad cut, the star fort, and the view from the sally por

e other, form a remarkably strong line of fortifications on every side. Sherman wrote to Gen. Blair, June 1, 1864, "Order the brigade left at Allatoo

y, for which it was mainly designed. This fort was connected with a line of heavy intrenchments extending to the railroad cut, and along the cut to defend the star fort "C" by a flank fire, and also the redoubt "R." Again, there are intrenchme

ive feet in diameter, and has eight embrasures for large guns. It dominates, from its elevation, all the surrounding country, and commands the approach in every direction, completely sweeping the

TIONS-ALL

large

their parapets about twelve feet high. Consequently they could not be taken by assault without scaling ladders, or otherwise, usual in sieges, unless by the sally port. In fact these two inside forts co

fense converge and meet below the crest of the ridge, then, turning north, cross the road (with angles for flanking fire) and continue north down the slope. From this north line an intrenchment runs due east toward the main fort. The parapet is revetted with timber, and the interior ditch is very wide. On the parapet are large chestnut head logs to protect the persons of the soldiers. I

th of the res

, 450; the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, men, 16; giving an apparent total of 910. To this must yet be added the force for the six pieces of artillery, not less th

Seventh Illinois, 61 men; Twelfth Illinois, 155 men; or 1,030 men. To this must be added (say) 107 regimental and company officers, making the force that he brou

ar Records show that on September 20, at inspection, I had

nsolidated into four, Ector's Brigade of six regiments, and

and deduct one gun and one regiment left at Allatoona

have Federals, 2,132;

ization

in ordinary intrenchments in line of battle

nts, well manned with infantry, whether with our own or that of the enemy, cannot be carried by direct assault." Gen. R. S. Granger informs Gen. G. H. Thomas that the fort at Athens, manned by 700 men, can hold out an enemy 10,000 strong. (War Records, V. 39, Part 3, page 519.) Vicksburg, Jackson, C

ended it fifty-eight days and nights against the assaults and continuous fire of 11,500 men, with forty-seven cannon, aided by ships-t

tily collected, at West Point, Ga., near Atlanta, consisting of 64 men under Gen. Tyler and Col. J. H. Fannan, held the fort all day against 3,750 men of Gen.

hold out until re?nforcements arrived. In these dispatches bear in mind that Gen. Stanley was in temporary command of the Army of the C

me 39, Part

MANDING OFFICE

er 3,

ere. If he goes to Allatoona, I want him only delayed long enough for me to

olume 39

N TO S

ld, Octobe

s on the Sandtown and Allatoona road....

olume 39

N TO S

1864. Recei

y name to interpose with his whole force between Dallas and Al

olume 39

N TO E

4, 1864,

but make bold reconnoissances in connection with Gen. Stanley. My chief ob

olume 39

OFFICERS AT ALLATOON

er 4,

ing on Allatoona

olume 39

TO GEN.

er 3,

Shanty cleaned out, and wants

olume 39

GEN. J.

ctober

rsville and unite with Gen. Raum in at

olume 39

E TO

ctober

ment; as soon as I can get read

olume 39

ER TO

saw, Octob

and Kennesaw on our left. I am

olume 39,

ER TO

saw, Octob

base of the mountain. Gens. Kilpatrick and

olume 39,

MMANDING OFFIC

ain, October 4

oving in for

olume 39,

MMANDING OFFIC

Mountain, Octo

ays hold fast,

olume 39,

LLATOONA TO SIGNAL

, October

with one brigade.

olume 39,

N TO S

in, October 5,

hots now, but too smoky to see signals. Can see the field about Lost Mountain. No large force o

olume 39,

N TO S

October 5, 1864.

the Sandtown road. Take s

olume 39,

Y TO S

tober 5, 186

our cavalry about two miles

olume 39,

N TO S

ld, Octobe

he Sandtown road ba

olume 39,

N TO E

ld, Octobe

nd to learn if possible the state of affairs there.... The day was so ha

olume 39,

N TO E

ld, Octobe

rse is there, but wounded. You need not se

olume 39,

N TO E

ld, Octobe

. Since it ceased I have a signal, O. K. Corse wounded

olume 39,

OTTE TO

Ga., Octo

man: Cors

olume 39.

NG OFFICER,

untain, Oct

r y

olume 39,

S FROM AND TO KE

lf. I asked for news, and at 10:30 A.M. received th

Signal

and at 4:15 got the following: "We s

olume 39,

untain, Oct

n. Gen. Sherman says he

olume 39,

AUM TO GEN.

e, Ga., Oct

just from there. Gen. Corse is slightly wounded in t

ume 39, Pag

CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICE

er 4,

roying the railroad on both sides of Big Shanty.... At 5 P.M. the enemy began to move off on th

obe

d see the smoke of guns and shells. Gen. Sherman

s engaged on either side, the ratio of inequality between troops inside and those outside ordinar

Ba

up the forest-clad heights, it turned into a quiet Indian summer day of hazy, drowsy appearance inducive of r

ois. He had some companies in advance of "R," and the remainder in reserve in the rear of "R." These three r

rth Minnesota, Eighteenth Wisconsin, and the Fiftieth and Twelfth Illinois Regiments. Soon, howev

Brigade was ordered to the north side of the ridge and east of the railroad. Cockrell's Br

ere small or to be the same as reported to me when I was in Acworth. The summons was carried by Maj. D. W. Sanders, Adjutant General. He waited about twenty

e line he was subjected to the fire of the artillery from the two forts "T" and "C," and the musketry from "R," and the troops in the intrenchments on the east side of the railroad, near the deep cut, that swept his approach on every side. Arriving near the redoubt, the troops were stopped by the formidable abatis and other entanglements. There for an hour, under this searching fire, they worked to ma

OF AL

w the ridge on which the fortress was constructed. Al

to the fire of forts "T" and "C," and other flanking works. But I will let Gen. Corse tell the story himself, as fo

of no avail. The enemy's line of battle swept us back like so much chaff, and struck the Thirty-Ninth Iowa in flank, threatening to ingulf our little band without further ado. Fortunately for us, Col. Tourtellotte's fire caught Sears in the flank and broke him so badly as to enable me to get a staff officer over the cut with orders to bring the Fiftieth Illinois over to re?nforce Rowett, who had lost very heavily. However, before the regiment sent for could arrive, Sears and Young [Cockrell and Young] both rallied and made their assaults in front and on the flank with so much vigor and in such force as to break Rowett's line, and had not the Thirty-Ninth Iowa fought with the desperation it did I never would have been able to have brought a man back into the redoubt [fort "C"]. As it was, their hand-to-hand struggle and stubborn stand broke the enemy to that extent that he must stop to re-form before

two in fort "C" and one in a battery in advance of the fort, three in fort "T," and musketry

dlow, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, who was with Gen. Corse during the battle, to the Michigan

d the exultant surge of victory that swelled our hearts, it was difficult to stand on the verge of that open grave without a rush of tears to the eye and a spasm of pity clutching at the throat. The trench was crowded with the dead, blue and homespun. "Yank" and "Johnny," inextricably mingled in the last ditch. Ou

eport, and let him tell his sto

ry advantage of the rough ground surrounding the fort, filling every hole and trench, seeking shelter behind every stump and log that lay within musket range of the fort. We received fire from the north, south, and west face of the fort, completely enfilading our ditches, and rendering it almost impracticable for a man to expose his person above the parapet. An effort was made to carry our works by assault [This is an error. We had no scaling ladders, besides t

minutes, but managed to rally on hearing some persons cry, "Cease firing," which conveyed to me the impression that they were trying to surrender the fort. Again I urged my staff, the few officers left unhurt, and the men around me to re

ire over the parapet or out of the ditch, and that most of the officers lost their lives in "nobly s

nded standing and sitting upon them. If I mistake not, Corse himself, at least for a time, was holding down one of these living corpses, who preferred to endure all the pain and discomfort of his position rather than get up and face the deadly music that filled the air with leaden notes.... It was absolutely necessary to keep

ALLATOONA,

ritical moment toward the end of the action. There was a mad yell from our friends outside, and a few cries of "surrender" among our own people, but a brave fellow leaped to the summit of the parapet, where it did not seem possible to live

instantly it became the target for several Confederates. Confederates moved about with impunity, and I called the attention of my staff to Johnson (Cockrell's flag bearer) riding up to the north side of the fort, sitting quietly on his horse, and listening to what was going on in the fort. In a recent letter from him he writes to J. M. Brown, of At

onfusion, and that "from this time on until 4 P.M. we had the advantage of the enemy, and maintained it with such success that they were driven

was received at 12:15 P.M. The Cartersville road, running north, passes within a few yards of fort "C," and then continues some two hundred and fifty yards on through the captured works. It was open to my infantry, but was there not life enough in the two forts, "C" and "T

ence at 1:30 P.M.; and, owing to the rough hillsides, to come out in squads, or individually. Although Sears began the movement over an hour before Cockrell and Young did, the latter were all collected on the ridge first, and sat there under the shade of the trees, within sight and easy rifle range of fort "C," until about 3 P.M., waiting for Sears, who had to go around the pond made by the Yankees damming up Allatoona Creek. During all this time but

hould arrive before we could leave the place, they demurred, and said their men were mad, and wanted to remain and capture the place. Col. Gates, of the Missouri Brigade, declared that he wo

y could not pass a third night without sleep, and risk having to fight re?nforcements momentarily expected; and the subsequent arriv

n on Moore's Hill to give instructions, and remained there sometime, not a little astonished at the scene presented to my view. The declining sun, seen through the calm, hazy atmosphere, shone red, like the rising of the full-orbed moon, on the fortifications before us. All was silent now where the battle raged so long, and the mellow light gleamed so gently down on the wounded and the dead that I remarked

as all expended except two hundred and fifty rounds." All the artillery ammunition Corse had in fort "C" was e

t you may make a survey of th

nois, the Fiftieth Illinois, the Ninety-Third Illinois, the Twelfth Illinois, two companies of the Fifty-Seventh Illinois, and

t shot at intervals. They let us withdraw without molestation, and we sat in the shade of the trees in full view of the fort, within musket range, from 1:30 P.M. until 3 P.M. awaiting Sears. They saw us all leave the ridge at the last named hour. At 4 P.M. Corse sent dispatch No. 23: "We still hold out." So they were in the fort then, and did not come out until the Confederates were all out of sight. The officers tried to keep up the spirits of their men by assuring them that "Sherman will soon come" (Corse's report). The hope of speedy relief prevented utter despondency, and they waited and waited, hoped and

etween the Etowah bridge and the Allatoona, arrived and made a social call on Corse, and sympathized with him in his afflictions; but he m

TOONA-CAPTURE

on Allatoona. However, Corse's train, expected every hour during the battle, returned to Allatoona at 8 P.M. with the remainder of Rowett's

next morning were at New Hope Church, far away from Allatoona. Corse was now resting in the bosom of his friends, who no doubt congratulated him on his happy deliverance from the distress

ne and an ear, but ca

in which his command had been placed; or it may be that the joy he felt the day after the battle, on being re?nforced and rescued from the "slaughter pen" (in which he was pent up), by Sherman's movements to save him, caused him to write it; if so, it is not

d felt, and from whose presence he so longed to be delivered, should have restrained him, at a much later date, from writing in his official report the fabric

ona, I have a letter from Mr. Brown giving me other information of what was said during h

a., August

French, Pen

1886 Gen. John M. Corse came to Georgia with the above well-known battle artist. I went with them to Allatoona, where we s

ably an hour afterwards I also went up to my sleeping room. The hall door leading from my room to Gen. Corse's being open, I was unintentionally made a hearer of conversation going on. Gen. Corse was quite ani

see that the artist faithfully compl

truly

h M.

cers hailed me with advice that he had a note from the enemy's commander, which he supposed was a summons to surrender, ... I took the note and read it; it made me mad, because, from what I could see of his forces, and what I knew of mine, I believed that I had about as big a force as he had, hence considered the su

s matter as this, involving the lives of hundreds of men, his staff officer would have reported that the flag of truce could not be found, and have returned the dispatch given him? And, furthermore, can any person of intelligence believe that Gen. Corse and the said staff officer did not speak about this pretentious answer to the summons at any time, which is published to the world in facsimile, of which Julius E. B

not leave Allatoona until after the 6t

em against the statement of being "driven away" by the garrison. The demands of impartial history require of me-an actor therein, a living witness-to transcribe from my diary the facts as there recorded at the time, so that the world may know to what extent the ma

xture of truth and error, and I am trying to separate them so far as they are found in the ordinary versions of this battle, and emphatical

the following letter from a publication made by Joseph M.

Ga., Novemb

seph M

I will state that, with my brother, I was in Allatoona on the night of Octob

t side of the railroad, and was in the fort all the latter part of the fight. The Federals fought desperately, and after they lost fort "R"[30] across the Cartersvill

ion. They were on the point of giving up the fight several times. The command "Cease firing" was gi

ent, when they themselves were nearly ready to surrender. They seemed momentarily to expect a renewal of the attack from some other quarter. They remained quietly in the fort for nearly or quite three-quarters of an hour after the Confederates retired. But when they found that the Co

. De

ters), one of which I turned over, by my Aid Yerger, to the United States Ordnance officer at the close of the war. Had Corse gone to the blockhouse at Allatoona creek,

vis

lion seven hundred thousand in Allatoona as stated by Col. Ludlow. (Sherman's letter to Corse, page 134, Vol. 39.) The rations

ia it is useless to occupy it.... The utter destruction of the roads, houses, and people cripple their resources...

oona, had it been done, would not have

here being a large depot there until I withdrew Cockrell and Young; and while waiting for Sears I heard the men speak about them. On obtaining this information a party of men were

s they were on the march would require one million seven hundred and fifty-five thousand rations. They averaged eight miles per day-for the distance is about two hundred and twenty

lle compared with that made by the Mormons from Illinois to Utah, or the many expeditions made overland to California

ff ten thousand mules, and countless slaves; that he did damage to the amount of $100,000,000. Of th

farm productions, unblushingly displayed, to cover up the concealed money, jewelry, and plate taken from the helpless women-to delight the President, to edify the loyal people, to gratify the hatred of the populace to the South, to popularize the thirst for plundering made b

the residence of the arch rebel, Washington-and made a requisition for provisions which his agent filled. The Englis

and oppression.... When you fight the battles of the Lord acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palm tree, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only suc

tilled the waves on Galilee, or the Koran, the principles of morality,

f the Continental ship, Ranger, on April 23, 1778, landed on the Isle of St. Mary, Scotland, with a small force and surrounded the house of the Earl of Shetland,

as fair plunder and a just revenge for the acts of British sailors in America, who had not

the crew, Jones bought it and returned it (at his own expense) at a cost of ￡1,000 poun

ghting the colonie

"driving off one cow and one pig;" he himself boasts of having done it. If he did take t

er

ivision from joining Hood. No. 26 shows that on the 4th his force went into camp at the foot of Little Kennesaw. Nos. 15 and 16 show that Stanley, with a part of the army of the Cumberla

y had moved promptly, he could have occupied the Dallas road, moving northwest, at some point many hours in advance of me. No. 17 informs Stanley: "I want

ere two miles in advance of Kemp's Mill at 3:10 P.M. on the 5th (see

o march due west on the Burnt Hickory road, and to burn houses or piles of brush as it progressed to indicate the head o

irected straight to Allato

miles from Lost Mountain; and from Pine Mountain, where Gen. Stanley was on the 5th with part of the army of the Cumberland, to the road over which I passed on the 6th, it is

utious movements, or no movements, as Sherman ordered, arising from Hood's fighting qualities, they failed to place a po

neously-all the credit to his lieutenant, with whom he was well pleased for "holding on" and "holding out" through faith in "his promises to come to his relief," and then complimented him in a general order that Corse must have felt as bei

e fort," intended only for their encouragement, has now become a world-wide i

e messages and the battle being narrated to the evangeli

rades, see

in th

ments now

ry is

the fort, for

signal

nswer back

grace

it in the Tabernacle in Chicago next day. It was caught up by the voices

O

y corps commander, handed to me two orders from Gen. Hood. The first one is dated October 4, 7:30 A.M., and the sec

ere given), and then go on to the Etowah river bridge and burn it, if possible; and thence march to New Hope Church by taking roads running south to

. FORT "C" ON THE LEFT,

vince a profound knowledge of engineering. A little boy builds sand forts and castles on the seashore with wooden paddles, and believes he is a Va

en. Hood published a work called "Advance and Retreat

of the supplies. Accordingly on the 5th, at 10 A.M., after a refusal to surrender, he attacked the Federal forces at Allatoona, and succeeded in capturing a portion of the works; at that juncture he received intelligence that large re?nforcements were advancing in support of the enemy, and, fearing he would be cut off from the main body of the army, he retired and abandoned

, and then ponder over what Hood published, he can arrive at no other conclu

ed in my report: "It would appear, however, from these orders, that the general in chief w

t to the War Department in Washington. And although I therein state that Hood had no knowledge of the place being garrisoned, o

ring generality and signifies nothing particular, and is a mere platitude and nothing more. What was

ortified, garrisoned, and a depot for army rations. If so, then he

desired opportunity; nay, more-to appropriate them to his own use. He wrote the first order to me at 7:30 A.M. on the 4th.

much needed army supplies, he should order Gen. Stewart's Corps to remain there close by them "till late in t

of putting a mountain in a deep cut) ordered Gen. Stewart with his three divisions to Allatoona in all haste. Loring could have reached Allatoona by 11 a.m. on the 4th,

enemy, and Gen. Hood moved farther and farther away,

d tells Stewart that he does not understand "how Gen. French could be cut off, as he should have moved directly away from the railroad to the west." (Page 791, War Records, Vol. 39.) I am quite sure Gen. Arms

at place was fortified and garrisoned, and that it was a depot for supplies." Therefore it was that Gen. Stewart and myself, in discussing the order, were convinced that Hood did not know the

elmet of Mambrino; but at last, in after days, he went over to the enemy, for on page 257 of his volume he writes: "Gen. Corse won my admiration by his gallant r

nough to fire over the parapet, and that they merely "held out" for the hourly promised assistance, etc., as I have narrated. Is it pleasing to learn from his pen his rapturous love for the

r painfu

nger, and the

ed

lection on the enemy they met. Hood's want of admiration for the soldiers

er on whom to bestow his admiration, and when they passed in review before him Gen. Cor

It was garrisoned by about five hundred men commanded by Col. Weaver. Ho

ed by assault, no pri

ully, your ob

Hood,

ol. Weave

d this post. If you wan

aver, Com'd

"Memoirs," Vol.

., and further on-page 326 of his book-he writes, "The information I received that the enemy was moving to cut me off proved

made by Gen. J. M. Corse and admirers about the battle of Allatoon

ife in Gen. Sherman's Army, from Atlanta to the Close of the War." This includes the battle of Allatoona, and as he makes the story to be palatable to the tastes of those wh

anding officer of the garrison to surrender. It was sent, as I have stated,

a, October 5, 8

icer U. S. For

effusion of blood, I call on you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally. Five minutes will be allow

r to be very re

. Fr

l Commanding

imile of Gen. Corse's repl

rs Fourth

rps, 8:30 A.M., O

. S. French

ge receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for t

ctfully, your o

M.

l Commanding

estigate t

ce," until so informed by Joseph M. Brown, whose guest he was when he came to Atlanta with the artist De Thulstrup to have the battle painted; and he further told him: "I took the note (French's) and read it. It made me mad, because from what I could see of his forces, and what I knew of mine, I believed that I had

course he returned in a few m

o the Michigan Commandery, Loyal Legion, at Detroit, on April 2, 1891 (page 20)

hted with a Promethean spark; and his chest swelled with angry defiance to the hideous threat implied in the summons to

concealed for over twenty years, and then produced it, and, together with min

n when he declared to Joseph M. Brown that he never knew that I had not receiv

for the first time, although the like and similar expressions have been used by many commanders in the years

aj. Sanders was fired on by Corse's soldiers when approaching under a

ona is almost as famous as the 'charge of the Ligh

r have been made. We had nothing to gain; we would not remain there, nor had I any means to carry stores away with me. It is well

of the Etowah. Subsequently, however, he did put the road in condition so as to send the sick and wounded, etc., north from Atlanta. The war records show he had in Atlanta 3,000,000 rations an

independent foraging party, whose duty it was to see that its particular command was furnished with all the DELICACIES the country afforded. These men were the most venturesome in the army;" they "took great risks and experienced startling adventures.

Marching through Georgia" is still a favorite hymn to the sanctimonio

n of the neighbor farther down the road whom he expected to raid th

wheelers, and swayed in the saddle from the effects of apple-jack; his wagon was an immense box of the Tennessee pattern, high at each end, low in the middle, similar to an old Dutch galiot, loaded to the guards with the choicest of wines and liquor

The writer pursues a middle line: he tells us nothing about the distress of the thousands of women and children left homeless by these cruel wretches, nor does he see any of watches, plate, and

ward the close of his report about driving the division away, and because of his (so-called) famous dispatch, the gospel hymn, and the shouts of victory, congratulatory orde

ion, remove the glamour, uncover the

around in the ditch of a small fort in such numbers that they lay on one another, sat on each other, stood on others dead or alive, praying for relief. There they stayed

have made no charge against the Union soldier of

, and desire to surrender under the long delay and disappointments of the so-often

H M.

ldiers

EPH M.

c railroad, is the grave of an unknown soldier

d cut there's

ckmen hold sa

ound it stones, a

hen their task

the home o

is sweethea

other, whose pr

his countr

f, wearing th

ight, starry b

t it o'er the m

r in triumph

f, 'neath the "b

th, his count

ose who her cause

o death di

knows; and s

et unfathome

ow, that he di

r he thought

dear ones who pr

em, and shield

r his grave to m

hers of those

one G

UL DR

he had been a Federal or Confederate. The section hands, when laying the track, discovered the grave, sodded it over beautifully, and placed a headstone over it bearing the above inscription. The travele

going to te

where a brave

now sleeps by the

lors none a

board, rudely ca

remind one of t

traced them, we

eps here; O! f

ave is there by the

wanderer who n

ears on the gre

ask: "Was your s

that sits by a

ing of days

"a loved one wh

not," she say

ld know that her

he march or the

haunt her, what thou

heartaches, wha

ivately published some years ago, states that the remains of Col. W. H. Clark, of Mississippi, rest in this

ONE G

onfederate service. As the last resting place of a man who gave his life for his country, it was regarded a sacred spot, and it is hoped it

conclusion,

given before he had any knowledge of there being a garrison

d (two hours before my arrival) by Gen. Corse and troops, when I summoned th

the "slaughter pen," the battle was lost to him; his troops would not face their assailants; would have surrendered, only their

still result in further fight (by my exhausted troops) with the re?nforcements hourly expected. And so I would not yield to the importunity of both officers and men, who were mad, and wanted, also, to "hold on" until they captured the entire works. I weighed their promises to capture the last work

Hope Church, it is left for them to account for permitting the Confederates to pass by them without any serious skirmishing, because dispatch No. 15, received by Gen. Stanley at

want of applicability. He had "whipped" no one; his command was now doubled in numbers; no enemy was within twenty miles of him; an entire day (lacking an hour) had passed since the last shot

s been recorded to substantiate what I have written.

g exte

own aught

noble Confederates who fought this

honors they wo

urels they lost

, Ga., Apri

French, Pen

ur unswerving fidelity to the truth and careful attention to details are well remembered. Moreover, the account given of the conduct of your troops is just what every one who knew them, as I did, would expect of Cockrell's Missourians, of Young's (Ector's) Texans, of Sears's Mississippians, and of Coleman's North Carolinians. Do you not owe i

ncerely

P. St

TER

n-Encampment at Mrs. Sansom's-Her Daughter a Guide for Gen. Forrest when He Captured Gen. Streight-Cross the Black Warrior River and Sand Mountains-Decatur-Some Fighting at Decatur-Gen. Beauregard with Hood-Beautiful Valley of the Tennessee made Desolate by War-Tuscumbia-Dreary March to

th a garrison of 110 men captured, we marched on toward New Hope Church, and near midnight encamped at

sad and his voice doleful. He received me with a melancholy air, and asked no questions; did not refer to the battle, "told me where my corps was, and said he would leave next day." He seemed much depressed in spirits. Perhaps he exp

by a road leading along a high ridge. Was inv

d marched to Cedartown,

the line of march from ... toward Rome. Struck the road over which we marched May 17, last. Encamped at Cunningham's, on

ed about three miles to Robinson's, at the gorge of the Texas Valley road. All over the country within a radius of ten or twelve miles of Rome the citizens have been robbed by the enemy of everything. B

ld not now burn or abandon Rome because there were one thousand four hundred sick there. (War Records, pa

o Texas Valley, and marched to Am

sed to do so. Here Hood showed his good sense not to make the attack even with twenty thousand men. We did not want the place nor the garrison, and had no men to spare or lose in a useless fight. Allatoona was a warning to him. Stewart's Corps moved up the railroad

les, we succeeded in driving shells through them, which, exploding inside, filled the structure with a dense, suffocating smoke, and soon the white flag was waved. Seventy shells were fired. The garrison consisted of three hundred and fifty men. Col. Archer, not being well, was paroled. The plundering of the stores, especially the sutler's, was the work of a few minutes, and our hungry men obtained some articles not found in the Confederate commissary department. The sutler came to me with his books and

e fine. I halted the division; called the brigade commanders, and gave them half an hour to get dinner out of the cornfield. Wonderfully quick were the fires made, and the corn roasted and fried. The prison

dinner of green corn, and warm cow beef for supper and breakfast, and one of them presented me with a silk sash. He insisted on my accepting it. He told me "that much stress was placed on starving us out, but from the experience

o defend the Gap. I moved on through Summerville and encamped at Rhinehart's. Ordered to m

junction of the road from Lafayette and Rome with the Alpine road.

ped four miles beyond the town. There are some good farms on the Chattoo

lle and Gadsden roads. Cheatham's Corps near by. I hear various rumors in regard to Sherman's movements. The main question is, has he transportation with him to enable his command to move fa

mounted Forrest's horse, sat behind him, and piloted him across Black Creek, which contributed much to enable him to capture the enemy. Out of compliment to Miss Sansom, I got Gen. Cockrell's band to play for her and her mother. While we were honoring Miss Sansom, a h

e the pension roll is a Roll of Honor, and so comprehensive that it embraces deserters from our army who enlisted in theirs. I have not inquired if substitutes receive pensions, but it is fa

n the waters of the Tennessee and Coosa rivers. Heard artillery firing all the morning, apparently at Decatur. This sounds natural, as I have heard big guns almost daily

reached Decatur. Loring's division took position near the defensive works and commenced firing with his batteries on a fort in front. Went into bivouac in columns of brigades

move over west of the Danville road. Reached the position at sunset. Relieved Gen. Guist, and went into line not far in front of Mr. Garth's residence. Rode down to the skirmish line; found Gen. Brown there. I relieved his men on

ng the night. Had to send Cockrell's Brigade to report to Gen. Loring, who generally magnifies the forces of the en

osphere, the abandoned dwellings, the uncultivated fields, the destruction of fences-everything, everywhere mark the ravages of war that has changed this once beautiful valley of the Tennessee into a desert in all save the rich soil. Here the tide of war has ebbed and flowed; and far and wide have the raiding parties roamed until almo

efense of the town. Dear me! I did not think there was a skirmish there, and no effort was made to take the place, although the f

r. They have a beautiful and costly residence. There were present for dinner Mrs. and Miss Saunders, Miss Sherod, Gen. Cheatham,

because of the width of the river, and the apprehension of the pontoons giving way or being broken. The day is bright and beautiful. Rode up to see the spring. The volume of water gushi

lways destroyed in that way, i

the wrong channel; next day they cut the rope, but their boat upset and they were captured. Rumor reports that Sherman, with a large force, is between Chattanooga and Atlanta. I remained at or near Tuscumbia until the 20th, when I prepared to cross the river. For three weeks it has rained almost continuously, making the

of May to the first of November, six months-parted-the one heading for the Atlantic ocean, two hundred and ten miles from Atlanta, and the other marching from Tuscumbia, Ala., for Nashville, Tenn., one hundred and fifteen miles dista

from four to twenty inches deep, and through snow that the keen wind blew in our faces. In the afternoon we encamped by the roa

round was frozen so hard that it bore the wagons. Artillery delayed everything, and some of it did not reach camp until daylight, just as I told Gen. Hood it would be; in fact, men had to haul their guns

condition. Started on the morrow amidst the rain and mud. Passed through a beautiful country. Passed the home of Gen. G. J. Pillow. Reached Columbia. Encircled the town with troops, and some skirmishing ensued. The enemy left the place last night, and early this morning we entere

e cavalry in advance) moved up the river to near Hewey's ferry and crossed it on a pontoon bridge; Gen. S. D. L

enemy did. Schofield, no doubt, was informed that we were crossing, and, having a shorter and better road to travel, got Gen. Stanley with a division and much artillery at Spring Hill and in position before Hood arrived there at the head of Cheatham's Corps.

ed. As but little musketry was heard, officers naturally asked: "What did we come here for?" There was a house near by my headquarters, and about 9 P.M. I walked over to it. In the drawing room I found Gen. James R. Chalmers and other cavalry officers. Chalmers said they were short or out of ammunition. On inquiry as to the cartridges they used, Maj. Storrs, my ordnance officer, said he could supply them with ammuni

, infantry and horse, all gone on to Franklin! When I reached the pike I met Gen. Hood, and he exclaimed; "Well, Gen. French, we have missed the great opportunity of the war!" "Yes," I replied, "I am told t

ceived of the enemy, when he reached the pike, if any, no one will ever know. Why did he not in person form his line of battle and attack the enemy at Spring Hill? Although we yielded the right of way, the enemy must have been a little nervous, because the slight firing done by Ross's men caused the enemy to abandon abo

lls about two miles from the town, and when I began to deploy my troops

OF FR

large

it would require a great sacrifice of life to drive the veteran Federals from their lines, and thought if Hood could only ride up here and look calmly down on the battle array before him he would not try to take the town by assault. But the offspring of Hood's conception at Columbia came stillborn at Spring Hill, caused by an oversleep. Chagrin at this mishap and awakened at the consequences, without duly considering the whole field of war and deducing therefrom what was best for the cause, he impatiently formed line with the two corps with him and prepared to assault the town. Perhaps he forgot to call to mind the w

tended from the Nashville and Decatur railroad around the southern and western parts of the town to the Harpeth river, with an advanced line extending to some

Ba

on detached duty. Stewart's Corps, being in advance, was first formed, and we rested. The sun was sinking in the west, the day was drawing to its close, the tumult and excitement had ceased. The winds were in their caves, the silence that precedes the storm was felt; the calm before the earthquake which by some law of nature forewarns fowls to seek the fields, birds to fly away, and cattle to run to the hills, although withheld from man, seemed to presage an impending calamity, as painful in suspense as the disclosure of any reality. From this feeling of anxiety, sometimes incident to men when held in readiness to engage in a great battle, there came relief by a signal. And what a change! Twenty thousand gallant Confederates at the word of command moved proudly over the open plain to the

s force was soon spent. The fire slackened, and as the smoke was wafted away in broken clouds, the sight was appalling! What a ghastly scene was in front of the ginhouse! The dead and wounded were visible for a moment, only to be again enveloped in the cloud of battle beneath which the Angel of Death garnered his harvest. "On! on! f

wounded. Col. E. Gates came out riding with his bridle reins in his mouth, being wounded in both hands. I was on foot. My horse, during the continued shelling at

and that was the death struggle. We fell back, and bivouacked just out of range of fire. It was now growing dark; but still the battle raged furiously at intervals till near midnight, especially on the west side of the pike, mainly between our troops

illery, and then the troops would assault the works again over the same ground. Festus assigned a reason for St. Paul's madness, but no one attributed Hood's madness to that cause when thi

en; wounded, 31 officers and 198 men; missing, 13 officers and 79 men; total, 419, which was over sixty per cent. The missing were captured inside the works, as stated by some who escaped. Sears's

is grand charge of 21,800 men, for a mile or more over an open p

ted with the exchange of prisoners and (to take the ignominy off the government) discontinued the exchange,[34] and thus all increase of our fighting force ceased. Therefore the men in the army had become the Confederacy, and to them the power was virtually transmitted, and the commanders of armies held the destiny of the nation in their hands. No dictator appeared! Wisdom called for the Fabian policy; heedless of her voice, the third day after being in command he fought the battle of Peach Tree Creek. Two days after this (on the 22d) he fought the battle of Atlanta; and on the 28th, a third battle, without a victory, and all the time t

directing the operation of withdrawing the troops had been issued, and the officers were assembled in Schofield's office, when, to our astonishment, a cannon shot was heard, and, lookin

hen garrisoned by 2,000 men, would surely not assault the town garrisoned by an army of 25,000 men, with the two army corps and one division he had with him numbering only 21,800 men. Why h

, and not to the general commanding it. Th

that "orders were given to carry t

in point-blank range of the enemy's works, ... to open fire on them at earliest daybreak, after which a

o

I wonder why I did not have my adjutant general do it for me. But so it was, under the sorrow for lost friends and comrades, and the immediate pursuit of the enemy to Nashville, it was neglected. Besides, as is usual, no report wa

TER

a Commander in Want of All Supplies-Marshal Saxe-Mulai Malek-Going to Nashville a Failure; Could Not Be Otherwise-Leave for Columbus, Ga.-Marriage to Mary Fontaine Abercrombie-Go to Meriwethe

under Gen. G. H. Thomas. Hood formed his line close as he could in front of their works. My division was on the left of the Granny White turnpike, and ran north of the dwelling of E. Montgomery,

remained there to ascertain his intentions. Instead of a demonstration, it proved to be a real attack. I remained on the field all day, and by night our left was forced back parallel to the Granny White pike. By noon on the 16th it was plain that the battle was lost,

. E. Johnston in North Carolina may be found in the War Records. Johnston was placed in command o

cts, and cast reflections on me and the men I had the honor to command at Allatoona, I would have kept silent, and this biography would never have been written;

ean as to kill all the men that the United States could obtain, or recruit, from the nations of the earth, including our slaves, for the bounty offered. Constant conflicts entailed losses on both sides, and we had no men t

e of the masses is united on the field of battle, quickly to accomplish an object and destroy the plans of the enemy. By the art of skillful maneuvering an army may be obliged to abandon an advanced position with

anguish of mind he saw some of his troops giving way. In his last agonies he collected strength of life enough to throw himself from the litter, and rallied them, and led them to the charge. Exhausted, he fell on the field. When placed

corps is a small matter compared with directing a campaign (against a superior force) often without supplies. I have no desire to criticise Hood's movements, and will only remark that I am not able to see why he interrupted Gen. Schofield f

survived the late battles of Peach Tree Creek of July 22 and 28 outside of Atlanta, and the siege of that city, Jonesboro, Allatoona, Fra

ost some at Murfreesboro. On the walls of Hood's tent were now written: "An army that can obtain no recruits must eventually surrender." And that he could not interpret. Then the tempest came! And the best reaso

1865, married Miss Mary F. Abercrombie, daughter of Gen.

n town with Judge G. E. Thomas, and started next morning. Gen. Howell Cobb was in command of the troops in Columbus, and he asked me to remain and take the command of the forces. This I declined, but I promised to return Monday morning and aid him. About 10 A.M. we heard cannon at Columbus, and knew that Wilson had attacked the town. The next morning at the dawn

could not ride through the country with his United States uniform on, and that his clothing was taken from a prisoner, etc. "Mike," said one of them, "of course he could not wear his own coat, and I am sure he is a gentleman; and did not the colonel himself let him pass?" So Pat agreed with Mike, and Hedrick rode on. Next, after crossing a stream, he came to a dwelling by the roadside: the owner was sitting on the fence by the front gate, watching for more Yankees to pass by, when Hedrick rode up to him and asked if he could have dinner. The farmer inquired who he was; and he varied the story of being a messenger to suit the occasion, by saying he was a Yankee, and as so many Yankees had just passed, he invited him into his house. His daughters hastily prepared a dinner. Hedrick was gracious, told them to come down to Columbus-send down chickens and butter, and get coffee, sugar, and nice dresses-and with thanks departed. About a mile farther on he was stopped by a number of men armed with shotguns (in quest of stragglers), farmers in th

when he sat on the fence, had bidden his daughters to give the Yankee a dinner. He swore he "would shoot Hedrick for deceiving him;" and while I was remonstrating with him Hedrick, who was behind, rode over the hill and was recognized by the irate man, who excla

alarms, we were at dinner, when some one rode by and said: "The Yankees are coming." One of the ladies went to the front door, and came back screaming. I went to the gate, and like a whirlwind came a cloud of dust, and beneath it I thought I saw the feet of cavalry horses; but in half a minute, at full run, passed by about f

nt through every wardrobe, bureau, closet, etc. They took all the silverware and jewelry. While this was being done the two guards in the rear entered the large out kitchen, where "old Aunty Minty," the negro cook, had presided for fifty years, and screamed out: "Get us something for dinner, quick." The good old soul was scared half out of her wits, and raised her hands, pleading for mercy. "Get some ham and eggs for us quick, quick, you old dunce." The stove was hot, and she cooked some with the turn of

u there?" and the reply was, "Yanks; you did not expect us so soon, did you?" They went through everything in the house in a jiffy. Judge Thomas with them. By his engaging manners he got them by the baggage room, and saved things there. But they carried my chest of crockery out of the basement, thinking they

ntil they struck a box that was buried there containing silver tableware. But in this case I am sure "old Aaron," a house servant who buried it for mother, betrayed her confidence in him a

and as I was included in the latter army, I went to Columbus and obtained my parole. The terms of the surrender were that we were not to

give any information, or do any military duty or act in hostility to the United Sta

the United States military authorities," leaving me at the mercy of the civil authorities to be indicte

TER

Grant Declared That the Paroles Must Not Be Violated-Cost of a Bill of Dry Goods in Confederate Money in 1864-Leave Columbus for Greenville, Miss.-Desolate Home-The Good Israelite-Return to Columbus-I Go with Mrs. French to Mississippi-Traveling Incognito a Failure-Journey to New York

. As far as such vision could extend, that once beautiful country was almost desolate and silent; the busy hum of industry had ceased, the daily smoke of burning buildings, the marching of armies, and the dull sound of distant cannon terminated; railroads had been destroyed, bridges were burned, many wagon roads were impassable; agriculture had nearly ceased, draft animals had been taken for war purposes; the flower of the South, with its pride of ancestors,

long passed; or with sorrowful heart the desolation of the Palatinate by the French troops by order of Louvois, but I am not aware of any Northern pen having told the story o

ing in the Valley for a crow to feed on-as stated in his official report, wherein he wr

entitled "Sheridan's Ride," as mythical as Barbara Frietchie; still there are in the true st

mouth without tremor, passed days without rest and nights without sleep, subsisted on parched corn, been frost-bitten by cold, and burned by the torrid sun. His bare feet had left their prints in blood on the rocks, and crimsoned the snow on many a wintry march; he had stopped the marauder in his path, and turned the enemy from his course; he had tempted the ocean in its wrath, and driven off its waters the enemy's commercial

stitutes for themselves, that they were bent on having their share of the spoils; and the politicians, anxious to ride int

uest of cheap hotels and boarding houses, and the insignia of their order was a carpetbag, and their interests and tastes-not their s

I here make mention of some incidents

set the slaves free. After "Antietam" he announced his intention of issuing, and on September 22, 1862, he did issue, a proclamation setting free, by his military authority, all the slaves in the rebel States. He still founded his action on "polic

use it existed under the laws of the States. It could alter no State law, still it did affect slavery in this way: it caused slaves

n almost all the outrages of the war were committed, restrained only by international rules of war; but these were ignored under the plea that the war was only a reb

drawing up the indictment against a whole people." The Constitution declares that the "trial of all crimes, except in cases of imp

a privileged class for a "mess of pottage" and then howled at the purchasers for being a privileged class! Who demanded the enlargement of slavery by making it legal to steal or purchase negroes from Africa until the year 1808, to give employm

first owned these slaves, how did they obtain them, how did they treat them, and to whom did they sell these human beings for money, and then with the pr

ey tolerated it because they believed it would soon disappear. They even refused to allow the charter of their own liberties to be polluted by the mention of the word 'slave.'" But take heed: did not th

spect, transmit to future ages the evidence that some o

government to suppose that they did not intend to bestow upon it the power to maintain its own authority-the r

public buildings and dwelling houses, sinking ships, blockading ports, killing, wounding, and capturing soldiers, creating debts, levying taxes, exposing

s of slaves, for service and labor of those subjects who are enlisted in the army and navy, for the Constitutio

ervices, to the slave owners, the sum of one hundred million dollars. Out of this, for instanc

the Union, it could have been removed by compensation, as

wners, because it was enticed away. So this act and Lincoln's proclamation caused the slaves to leave their owners. And so without a crime, without an indictment, without a trial by jury or conviction, this property was taken from the owners. It was the largest steal ever committed by a nation; and, furthermore, they stole from the South slaves that they had sold the South. Call it by what name you will, it was robbery.

array against the Confederate States the sympathies of the Christian world, by trying to make it appear that we made the war in defense of, and to perpetuate, slavery. Others there are who think that the "loyal governors" who met at Altoona, Pa., obtained it by insidious threats. But, be this as it may, the proclamation, as a legal paper, was worthless. The slaves were afterwards legally emancipated by the several States, by the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, and by taking the oath prescribed in the President's proclamation, dated May

n set free (on paper) only the slaves in a part of the Confederate States, leaving slavery untouched in the United States. That is, the Yankees retained slavery in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and part of Louisiana and the North,

nder it, so that you may know the patience, forbearance, and charity of the Southern people under persecution. No on

vils. President Abraham Lincoln had been foully murdered

on should be made odious," and would have arrested Gen. R. E. Lee and other Confederate army officers and punished them if possible, had not Gen. Grant declared that t

, and made oath to the same, I desired to go to m

ot be violated seems to have been, with him, an a

ty, April 15,

Ord, Ric

ther orders. Also arrest all paroled officers and surgeons until they can be sent beyond our lines, unless they take the oath of allegiance. The oath need not be received from any one who you have not good reasons to be

t, Lieuten

rd's manl

Va., April

U. S.

ey are old, nearly helpless, and I think incapable of harm. Lee and staff are in town among the parole

I believe, are ignorant of the assassination done by some insane Brutus with but few accomplices. Campbell and Hunter press

Ord, Majo

Army of the U

April 15, 18

Ord, Ric

of Campbell, Mayo, and others, and leave it in the light of a suggestion,

t, Lieuten

, April 15, 1

d at 10:

en. U. S

the subject of arrests

rd, Major

oles he gave at Appomattox should not be broken; that he would defend them. All honor to him for this!

Confederate notes a few thousand dollars. The purchasing power of the latter may be ascertai

Aberc

odric

3. ? yd. Cr

1 Hoop Sk

French Merino (Blk.

yds. Blk. Re

0 Blk. Calico

Crape

$1,9

Ga., Octob

ities for passes and permits, I will here remark in regard to my reception by these my late enemies: Gen. A. J. Smith was crabbed and petulant when I showed him the order for transportation for the negroes. Gen. Sturgis was kind and did all that was desirable for our comfort. In New Orleans Gen. Canby was very polite to us, as he was to

e on shore at Argyle Landing, near my home. I mounted my horse, and the first man I saw was "Tom Shelby" sitting on the fence looking at some negro men plowing a large field of corn. He hailed me, but I paid no attention to him. He was a "rampant" war man before the war began,

only knows my agony of heart. No

te the

ds gathering

ll gone; wealth, servants, comforts-all means of support for my family gone; all lost save honor. I sat down and surveyed the desolation around me. Fortunately my house was not burned, and I had a shelter for my family

e wandering foot

had wept no bitter tears of repentance, nor sung p?ans for their foe; they had proved themselves equal to adversity in war, and wou

ies for sale. When I was leaving, he asked; "General, can't I do something for you? Here are fifty dollars, just take them; maybe you can pay me back sometime." I thought the angel of mercy was looking down on us, and I thought of Portia's address to Shylock on the quality of mercy. I thanked him kindly

k to the plantation in Mississippi. As I was not able to do this, I applied to some "bureau," that had charge of "refugees," for transporta

ville, Miss., via Montgomery, Mobile, and New Orleans, on some box cars, furnished

and clothe about a hundred of these people, and to plant a crop of cotton in the spring, c

o commence again-I went to Philadelphia and New York

sed; he replied: "I was in the Confederate army, and knew you in Virginia; I am employed here because we want Southern patronage." Here was my incognito discovered twice in one hour. But that is not all. The next day I took the train from Camden, N. J., for Woodbury, where my mother, sister, and daughter had been refugeeing since they left Mississippi until they joined me at the plantation in November, 1865. I knew many people in the city, and had the honor to have been hung there once in effigy by its fanatical people in the beginning of the war, for some reason, or no reason, save they did a foolish thing and repented of it; and as the "bitter war feeling" raged there yet, like the billows of the ocean after the storm has passed, I took the last seat in the rear car as a quiet place. Now it so happened that the seat opposite me was occupied by a genteel-looking fellow, who

ked her where she was going, and she said: "Down home." He then informed her that the property had been confiscated and sold, and that he had bought it, and rented it. He asked her also about funds, and, finding she had near a thousand dollars in Confederate money (valueless), under the pretense of exchange he rep

merce long

onfiscate them. And so my mother-an old woman, alone, in the town in sight of which she was born and where she lived, among her kindred-had to walk away and leave the baggage. Now, happily, a man-a Quaker-heard of their loyal proceedings, and went to my mother and said, "Well, Aunt Rebecca, if no one

tain funds, returned to Philadelphia, and there made the best contract I could; and the spirit of lib

, Pa., Decem

thout interest, I agree to furnish or ship him, at such point as he may direct, thirty commercial bales of cotton of four hundred pounds each, of average qual

ig

. Fr

as (in lieu of legal interest-30 × 400 × 40 = $4,800) at least four t

en "Tom Walker sold himself to the devil he agreed to use the money in the service of the devil by turning usurer."[47] My friend obtained his knowledge of thrift, I know not where. But which of th

ia that people were distrustful of each other, as though under surveillance. Gen. Robert P. invited me to come to his house after dark, and evidently, from what he said, did not wish it known that I had been there. Mr. Bayard, whose son, Gen. G. D. Bayard,

uspicion. Samuel H. French, his brother, forgot his intense prejudice against the South, for he was one of the best men that ever lived, and forgave all the "Rebels" except Jeff Davis. In evidence of the purity of hi

alked across the river on the ice, and got home on Christmas day and found the weather balmy and warm. And now I longed for rest, but the curse of the freedm

an armistice, and peace made during the truce by the fraternization of the opposing forces." I told him that in the summer of 1862, when I was in Petersburg, Va., there was a vague idea floating around relating to a peace being near at hand, and, although it could not be explained, it was felt to be more than a fairy tale, and yet could be traced to no source. He then informed me that "a few prominent men in the North desired the war shou

ad, and I pause in silence at the brink of their graves. They wished to end the war, and restore the Union

rs, and ended as no one had foreseen. It had to suppress rebellions caused by people who entertained Southern opinions in New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, and other cities; muzzle the press, prohibit freedom of speech, banish prominent individuals, arrest men without warrant, a

hern writers are in error when they state that "firing on the flag" fired the Northern hearts with unanimity of purpose. On the contrary, as I

m notice that he intended to kill him on sight should he meet him. Warned in this way, "B" armed himself with a shotgun. They met. "A" raised his gun to his shoulder, and aimed at "B." Seeing this, "B" fired instantly

Confederate States that it was going to re?nforce Fort Sumter; but really made false statements about it, for

hat the eight ships of war would do, to see if "A" would re?nforce the garrison, w

of a number of prominent men North, by John Brown at Harper's Fer

high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. Our case is new. We must think anew, and act anew.

. In other words, the executive power must be declared greater than the power that made it, or the creature greater than the Creator, and with dictatorial methods the wa

PTE

ience-Negro Justices-Some Trials-Judge Shackelford-Secret Societies-William A. Sharkey-Gov. Adelbert Ames-Sheriff Webber-Taxes-Board of Levee Commissioners Dismissed-Religious Negroes-Bishop Wilmer-Praye

children the record of these events, but in volume it has increased more than at first intended; and as it may perhaps some day be made public, I feel it incumbent on me to give my exp

s authorized to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen abandoned land

ities to imprisonment or fine or both, without defining the meaning of civil rights or immunities." The jurisdiction of the agents extended to all contracts, and without a written contract and the ag

the higher culture of the negro, the cottages he built for them, the aid he gave the Church, the land he bought, and the Freedman's Bank he est

ondition in which the safety of the republican form of government we desire to insure the Southern States has more safeguards in the INSTINCTS OF THE IGNORANT than in the INTELLIGENCE OF THE EDUCATED." And furthermore it is dec

re established on the ignorance of the blacks than on the intelligence of the whites. Coul

ience swayed them like a mob, and, failing to find any lawful means to spill blood, sought vengeance in the enacting of partisan laws for plunder of wealth, and the humiliation of the whites. To this end the Freedmen's Bureau was created, and President Johnson's proclamation was issued disfranchising the whites on fourteen different counts: among them was one that made the possession of twenty thousand dollars' worth of property a crime that disfranchised the owner. Th

As there were very few white men who could take this oath, the elections fell, as intended

in the North as a magnanimous exhibition of philanthropy toward the untutored slaves, and it was

of all the taxes were now disfranchised, and the amendment was

n augurs, could not look in each other's face with

at started the race problem. The freedmen, left to themselves, would have settled the labor question, and their social position and the race issue; but for aggrandizement of power and acquisition of wealth he

protector of his mistress and her family; hi

lled up; as many as could touch the Bible were asked if they "had ever held office under the United States or given aid," etc. Some said "No," some said "Yes," and some were silent. At last they were told to say "N

vered that he has been grateful to the radical party, and payed them for a debt of love that had no foundation exce

ection whatever with the moral and civil rights of the ma

ated"[48] them; and confounding natural rights with civil rights, they forced the Southern States to pass the fourte

ry officer in the State from governor to coroner was dismissed, and new appointments made. The Legislatures became bacchanalian feasts to divide the spoils of office and increase the debts of the States by selling State bonds to the amount of countless millions. They subsidized everything they could; in short,

r of the State of Mississippi, and he ordered an election of delega

e had [registration]; I handed it to two white men inside the room, through a window; they looked at it, handed it back to me, and said open your hand; I did so, and one of the men then put a little folded paper in my hand, then took it out and put it in a box and said, 'Move on.'" This was a Republican free election, peaceful, quiet, and decisive, based on ignorance. The complexion of the convention was dark, of course. This ungenerous reveng

a trump card in his pocket to win against England; and Gens. Alexander Hamilton and Nathanael Greene and other liberal gentlemen declared it would be "an outrage to punish

slative halls, preaching by illiterate negroes, mode of getting religion, idleness of the laborers, immorality taught by men from the slums of Northern citi

d sisters, composed of blacks under white villains, to burn our towns, and murder the whites; the Kuklux Klan of the whites for protection

nd all the devil

e helpless South, and they were unblushingly successful. Under the Freedmen's Bureau

abor, the planters in the neighborhood agreed to give him cotton to the value of $5,000 if he would visit the plantations, when necessary or convenient, to encourage the hands t

rink whisky without the smell of peat, sing the "Irish Dragoon" or the "Widow Malone," a

lmost constant spring rains, their crop became hopelessly overgrown with weeds and grass. I vainly tried to induce them to abandon the lowest part of the land and save about sixty acres; they refused. I then wrote a note to the agent. He came out late in the evening with the deputy sheriff and sent for Miles and Derry, heard what they had

Derry through the same enlivening bout, ordering them to be at his office the next day at 10 A.M. Agai

ober him, and, when he came out, take his arm and go direct for the horses. Much to my relief, he got him on his horse and they returned to Greenville. Miles and Derry went to Greenville next day, as ordered. The

, an educated negro from Ohio, and Horton, a cotton field negro without education, were appointed justices of the peace in Gre

a neighboring planter, in an insolent manner: "Shut the gate after you." On a third occasion he repeated the remarks, whereupon Hood and a friend with him gave him a trouncing. They then went to Justice Harris, told him what they had don

the road running through the plantation, and he accosted them: "Good morning, ladies and gentleman; where are you going?" They told him that they were going to see him in Greenville, and all made complaint to him there in the road; whereupon he f

ristmas stole two bales of cotton from the ginhouse in open daylight, and being pursued by my manager, threw the bales off his wagon, and they were recovered. I went to Greenville, and before Bolton, the jus

road and making known to him the purport of his visit, he was told: "Go home, nigger; de ginneral done gon

but, as he employed a "jack-leg" lawyer to keep his docket and act as legal adviser, he may have induced Horton to act in the matter. I asked Frank Valliant, a distinguished lawyer, to take my case and defend me. He said that he had resolved not

at a small table with the Mississippi code in his hand. John Dixon and "Jack-leg" were there, but no lookers-on. After turning the code first one en

ng in his throat, but he rose and went near the table and

ou want? I am

fidavit made aga

, Mr. Valliant,

arrest a person witho

ob his cotton, which am an offense, and then done settled and composed it, which am

the judge, when Valliant asked him: "Are

lied:

h to see yo

ntleman wants to see your l

read the law to the court, showing his honor that

llor, was of no authority. At this information Horton rose from his seat, and in a loud voice said: "Sir

ourt; but he insisted that I had composed a felony, and that his court was bound to "'vestigate what am a crime in de eye of de law." Under the argumen

d to me: "We will hav

t," was t

, and quietly whispered to Horton:

at sum composed the felony, the feelings of th

a true friend. Some years ago he was called from

ep that knows

erience with the Bureau and the courts.

ands, who had no common sense, and was told he complained that I had not settled with him agreeably to the contract; and when the agent asked him w

nd in political parlance he was a "scallywag." It would seem that, to make his loyalty apparent, he imposed harsh

murder was among other things brought to the notice of the grand jury. All voted against finding a true bill except two other members and myself. This same day (Saturday) we were about to find an indictment against the judge for falsely representing himself as surety on the bond of

a true bill against a certain man. And so we were all discharged without retaining the three who voted to find a true bill, and a new jury was empaneled. That night the negroes called a mass meeting to condemn these proceedings of the judge; but the meeting was captured through the influence of two negroes-Gray, the state senator, and Ross, a negro from Kent

nge for Col. Percy. For amusement Percy said: "The judge has had six months to practice at a target, and I also want a little time to practice; then I will accommodate him." After worrying the bearer of the ca

ecret association of freedmen, known as the "Band of Brothers and Sisters," bound by oaths to rob, burn the town, and

surer. He was also postmaster, through Bolton's influence. Bolton spent most of his time in the post office, and induced Brentlinger to lend him public funds to the amount of about $3,000. An effort was made

Brentlinger's bond, and accompanied him to Jackson, Miss., where he was tried before Judge Hill. Bolton told Brentlinger that he had arranged it with

rmission to visit the penitentiary and obtain Brentlinger's testimony, and the at

; but from timidity would give but little testimony of his own knowledge, and made it mostly hearsay evidence. It corroborated exactly what we learned in the jury room.

e of any delinquent taxpayer was ever published, and no one attended any sale. Planters continued paying their taxes regularly. At last it was discovered that the reported list of taxable lands did not embrace half the lands on which taxes were p

have been any taxes paid in the State. He wrote to Bolton to know how he was to get any salary, or any court

) pocketed all money paid on lands that he pretended were sold and not taxable-by "sold" meaning forfeited to the governm

heriff (O. Winslow) appointed him his deputy. Webber, when detected, turned into the bank $40,000 out of perhaps $150,00

ying back taxes, the title coming from the State. The $40,000 was distributed among the owners of t

vocations without a government; every function of state government would have been suspended. When the governor applied to G

as the want of reliable labor. Capital could not command labor in

out the middle of February he arrived with the negroes. I paid him $1,040 for transportation and services. One pleasant noon in May a servant came in

op of cotton and corn, and out of their share of the crop they were to repay expenses of transportation, provisions, etc. Gradually they began to leave him,

trial was going on, Bolton asked my views of the matter. I told him if they were acquitted every contract recorded in court would be worthless, and it would damage the planting interest in the county perhaps two hundred thousand dollars. Nevertheless, he decided that there was no evidence to prove

fall came, they would not gather their cotton, believing it mortgaged to the merchants for all it would brin

the levees. I negotiated the bonds in New York City at par, and repaired the levees and saved the plantations from overflow. When Ames[51] became military governor, he one day sent a man to Greenville with an order dismissing us, and required the office to be turned over to the bearer, etc.; and this, too, when the river was at its highest stage. I went to Jackson to see

the legislators who made our laws, composed mainly of carpetbaggers and negroes. For th

and a negro in close confab. The whites were clothed in garments of various makes and colors; the negroes rejoiced in black clothing, with Prince Albe

e advocating some benevolent measure for the benefit of the "wards of the nation," and their own prosperity. One other observation I made: there w

ilthy-filled with quids of tobacco, stumps of cigars, pieces of paper around them were cemented to the

h great glee at what was told him; the conversation was so loud and the laughter so boisterous that the Speaker could not command silence: he pounded with the gavel, and shouted "Order! order!" till his voice was drowned by the cries of "Master S

nment of the United States, North, that made this not only possible but common, and laughed at it with joyous hearts; and wherefore? It was an assembly of mostly dishone

was gone." Adieu! The royal Bengal tiger, when he once tastes human blood, will depopulate a village; so the loyal

planted in cotton, if it were exempted from taxation one year, which meant-the market value of the land was twenty dollars per acre; and as one acre would produce a bale of cotton, and the tax on the bale was twenty dollars, the tax was equal to the value of the land-that was confiscation. An acre in cotton, if it produced a bale, was taxed, as I have related; but if planted in corn or sown in wheat, the produce was free. All these legal pilferings, vexations, insult

"distracted" they called them) meetings continued all night long, for five and six weeks continuously. Men and women would leave the church (I had one on the plantation) after sunrise, go to the field direct, and sleep leaning on their

essed that he, by orders, caused the bishop and the clergy in the diocese to cease from preaching; and this gave rise to a discussion, which was terminated by the President denouncing the silly order and revoking it. I have no doubt of Ge

Davis since his capture, and had not decided what to do when the Sabbath came; but found relief, when asked by a United States army officer if he had any objec

designedly imposed upon them as a spiteful punishment for daring to assert their rights and defend their homes. The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution has brought forth bitter fruit to the progress of the freedmen and the peaceful progress of the whole country by offering t

e from the hands of the carpetbaggers and negroes by a compromise with the freedmen. In our county we offered them the offices of congressmen, the sheriff of the county, clerk of the chance

s, and the vote could be counted as well outside as inside at the polls; and furthermore the radical white carpetbaggers were in an unmistakable manner informed that they would be held responsible if peace at the polls was not maintained. Thus was the State redeemed from the hands of the corrupt carpetbaggers and corrupt followers of the United States army, and all cried: "Amen!" The joy that followed cannot be realized, and cheerful industry commenced. The suffering, vexations, and agony of mind

ty of reasoning, you can discover in what class you have placed

everything to the will of the governor, or it is founded on a compact, express or tacit.... When founded on force, resistance is implied.... In a government founded on an express agreement, or compact, resistanc

rivilege of receiving in the name of the people the king's oath of coronation, and during the ceremony he held a naked sword pointed at the heart of the sovereign, whom he thus addressed: 'We, your equals, constitute y

erranean Sea-where dwelt the people to whom God gave laws amidst the thunders of Horeb and others,

lamations to "come back,"[52] to "restore the State," etc., are but a few of the proofs that we were out of the Union; and the declaration of war, the blockade, belligerent rights show that the Confederate States were independent. We were "rebels"

lemen, there are latent powers in this Constitution that will be found to meet every emergency that may arise." And now, behold, since then! "The higher law," "the extra constitutional measures," "the confiscation of property," "greenbacks a le

lly the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions, according to its own judgment exclusively." And in his

s, nor the people, nor the government of the nonslaveholding States have the right to l

in the President's proclamation of September 22, 1862, which reads: "That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in regard to all persons arrested, or who are now or hereafter during the r

efinition of a crab was "a small, red fish which walks backward." "Gentlemen," said Cuvier, "your definition wou

ndestructible, how could they be reconstructed and readm

top, according to the breath of public opinion or the exigency of the times. To confine their troops to the duty of destroying the regular Confederate forces, according to the usages of civilized war, had been tried in vain; but once freed from the restraints of the Constitution and modern rules of war, the work of deso

only observe that a conquered people are oblig

f. The terms offered the States respectively were embodied in the last three amendments to the Constitution. As these were accepted they were admitted into the Union, each a sovereign State. So the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth articles of the Con

department-took her station among the nations of the earth. She exacted from the United States the observance of international law on war and official intercourse. After four years of the most sanguinary war of modern times

the soul at death lifts the dim veil that hides the life beyond the grave. It is an occult power pervading the air, and gentle until developed by oppression, whether by bad government or remorseless tyranny incident to aggregated wealth or other causes. It was not the victories of the Confederate armies; it was not because they gave the world a Lee,

y diminish in numbers they will increase in value, and with the last veteran the order will end-then silence! Their valor will be the common heritage of mankind. Their me

my observations, and given a little of my ex

it had not been applied to railroads or steamships on the ocean, or to many mechanical purposes. How well do I remember the many journeys I made over the Alleghany

ceive what may be deemed the first message of the

nt about fifty yards, by two young ladies in Wilmington, N. C., to com

urgeon's knife, and with the X ray he looks through the human

e of occult science and mystery, of magic, fakirs, castes, and barbaric wealth; six times invaded from the West through the gates of India by Alexander, Mahmoud, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Monguls, and Persia

trade, conceded to New England, ended only in 1808; imprisonment for debt was in existence when I was young in some of the States-in short, such has been th

e will or

ye leav

nt sulle

h your God

END

istics of

in the United Sta

n the Confederate

RS

gners in the Un

an 1

h 14

American

ish

oreigne

reigners

om the So

om the Sou

l 45

total

Confederate army, without enlisting a native-born citizen of

CO

roops enli

troops enli

l 78

rger than the Conf

IR

urnished (

ished (me

rnished (m

l 76

d army larger than t

UR

nd States fur

urnished (whites a

l 81

ate army, and the fourth army came from the e

he United States army 950,314 men that should be call

stigating committee, July 15, 1883, said: "Before you go to throwing ridicule on the foreign-born, let me tell you that you had better look into the question of who fought your battles

d soft cushions of skinned paupers while these forei

guillotined were turned into good wash leather and made into breeches for paupers. So the paupers in France were dressed in the skins of my lord and lady, "while in M

of flour. During the year they ate 758 head of cattle, 1,659 head of sheep, 3,714 barrels of flour, 15,744 dozen eggs, 154,932 pounds of butter, 69,289 pounds of coffee, 57,941 pounds of fish, 7,950 pounds of tea, 10,570 cans of tomatoes, 16,431 pounds of rice

n who are fond of the horrible depravity of mankind, for money, can find their tas

phanous garment to hide the infernal. "Nature still makes

rth could, for a moderate sum, engage substitutes to vicariously d

led and Wounde

he Crimea 3

in 1866 2.

Franco-German w

e Confederate

the Confederate

in the Conf

t composed the Confederate army. This is desirable to establish what influence they had in deciding the Southe

000 whites who owned slaves. These figures represent and include men of all ages, w

and minors, there would not be over four able-bodied men to the one hundred; hence in a company of one hundred soldiers four would be slave owners. In a regiment of one thousand there would be forty, in ten thousand there would be four hundred, and in the whol

ds of the United States treasury expended in making harbors for towns on the great Northern lakes yearly, and in digging deep-water channels for Eastern cities, and appropriations for little creeks called rivers; while the harbors of the Southern cities were neglected. Then, again, the tariff almost invariably discriminated against the South, even to the extent of nullification, almost thirty years anterior to the war; then the fugitive slave act was nullified by Northern State laws; "underground railroad" was a term used to express how negro slaves were conveyed under cover of the night to the North when enticed from their owners. They openly publ

n the commercial cities were there any foreigners and but few Northerners. North Carolina did

nd these five hundred and seventy-six thousand soldiers, without interest in slavery, for four years fought for the right of their people to govern themselves

nor rebellion, and that it yet exists, restrained only by the question of expediency. Wherefore the Union will be maintained mainly by avoiding sectional and

that the five hundred and seventy-six thousand nonslaveholders who really consti

of public opinion and the press were such that they were obliged to remain neutral; for this constrained neutrality England was rewarded by being forced, when the war ended, to pay the United States the sum of fifteen million dollars-the Geneva

aths and

ern prisons was 220,000, and the number of F

Northern priso

Southern pri

de July 9, 1866; also the report of Sur

de Losses in Part

rigade (Va.) Pickett's

igade (Fla.) Anderson

igade (Tex.) Hood's D

rigade (Mo.) French's

Brigade (Ga.) Hood's

osses, varying in numbers, before the p

in Some Regiments

y-First North Ca

irst Missour

-Sixth North Caro

ntieth Texas

th Massachuset

ty-First Geor

red and First New

orty per cent is reached. How many there are in the Federal army I do not

thorit

ly few individuals, or to rob one section of a vast country to build up another. It has caused more distress than droughts or floods; it has caused more insurrections,

can war pensioner) receive as a free gift from the treasury the sum of about one hundred and

e to become citizens of any one State, that State would receive in pension money one hundred and fifty million dollars yearly, or in fifteen years the enormous su

er forty-four States be taxed for (say) the benefit of the people of the State of North Carolina in

ays the pensioners about fifty million dollars annually, and receives in return only the small sum paid the few pensioners residing

of th

etween the States was, to J

confiscated and eman

rty in the South (es

of the Uni

s in the United States service will con

mployed in blockading our co

the United States Quartermaster's Department chartered 1,750 steamers and vessels to aid Gen. Grant in his operations against Vicksburg. In short, there were 2,283 vessel

Positions of Offi

iley, Lieutena

cher, Major,

Lieutenant,

., Captain,

., Captain, Act

, Captain,

t, Captain, Q

m, Major, A.

, Captain, Q

Lieutenant, A.

n, Lieutenant

iam B., Major,

, Major, Chief

, Lieutenant

, Captain,

A., Captain,

H., Lieutena

J., Captain

W., Major, A

A., Lieutenant,

M., Major, Ch

., Lieutenant, M

B., Captai

R., Lieutenant

by E., Sergea

in Louisian

l over the South, because there was money in it, and yet when the States were admitted into the Union it was natural to suppose that its power for evil was spent. Not at all; it rallied, and entered the field of politics; debased by all the license of war, which exempted them from punishment for all crimes, they sold themselves for

governors; also United States Senators, black and white, and Gen. P. H. Sheridan was military director; and over and above all the United States intermeddling in her affairs. The rival courts were occupied in reversing

he President directed the Secretary of War to issue an order directly and secretly to Gen. P. H. Sheridan, who was in Chicago, to proceed to New Orleans, and it was suggested that he should make the journey appear a

nt. It was too imperialistic. Sheridan then suggested that Congress be called on to pass an act in a few words making the people banditti. The President declined. Then the chief of the banditti advised the President to issue an order through the War Department declaring the people banditti, and to leave ALL TO HIM, and he would quell them without giving him (the President) any further trouble. In all this there is a thirst for blood and punishment by military authority. But Grant, sitting on the ragged edge of imperialism, declined to support his man-of-all-work on the banditti question. But still undaunted, Sheridan perchance recalled to

uly loyal" State in the North; and now the Northern press howled, not because it had been done in Louisiana, but for fear their Legislatures might be invaded l

communication. Such were some of the incidents of the attempt of Sheridan to punish the people of Louisiana who were "to the manner born," who owned the l

S L.

and South Carolina could be counted out; and if this was done, R. B. Hayes would have 185 and S. J. Tilden 184. Now "who should count the votes" became the battle ground. For two months scheme after scheme was proposed and rejected. More than once it was proposed to throw dice, and raffle off the presiden

rleans and Columbia, S. C., as the purpose for which they had been kept there had been accomplish

on of P

in his command, and obtained his parole; thence he returned to Milledgeville. That same evening Gen. Wilson sent an officer and some troops to the residence of his excellency, took from him by force the parole that he had just given him, arrested him, took him to Macon;

on, May

tanton, Secr

to the parole, I suppose there can be no doubt but that he stands liable to arrest for the violation of his parole; otherwise, is it not obligatory upon the government to observe their part of the contract? I would not advise authoriz

t. Lieuten

probably Wilson to Stanton,

role given the army o

horities so long as he observes his parole and the laws in force whe

y of armed men, after the surrender of his men and their arms, can, after "notice that h

you first place him in the same condition he was before he surrendered his arms or his command? It is a deception and an outrage. In fact, I am unable to comprehend how a soldier who surrenders himself, his men, and arms on parole can be released from and absolved from observance from it from

me in Milledgeville, and his parole taken from him by force. I presume that his parole was taken fro

urope. By a compromise he was sent to a military school in Athens, Ga. The boys there took up arms, and formed a company to defend Athens. There Brown's first duty was to guard some Yankee prisoners. In 1864 he joined Company A in a battalion of cadets, and rendered good service in defense of Atlanta. Thence his command went to Milledgeville, where, joining with o

svi

of the War," in the N

ife of Gen. Leonidas Polk," by his son, Dr. William Polk, were the subject of a conversation recently among a few veterans of the Army of Ten

n, the failure to give battle at Cassville is a most fertile source of discussion and regret

her on that eventful day burned afresh within them for a while. And naturally the oft-debated question of the amount of blame attaching to Gen. Johnston's subordinates for this failure to fight came up as of old, and the measure of it, if any, appertaining to Gen. Polk was stated as follows by one of the group, Maj. Douglas West, who, as adjutant general, attended Gen. Polk on the nig

, to ascertain about it. This officer reported back that in

to Gen. Johnston's headquarters, and place

e made tenable by building traverses, and retiring the troops some little to the rear. He instructed Col. Sevier to have

im talk over the situation with this general. When Maj. West reached there, there was no firing from the enemy, and he could not form an opinion in that way. However he conversed with Gen. French on the subject, and returned, reporting Gen. French as highly wrou

rt of it. He made a very thorough one, and reported the position as very exposed for the defensive, but as admirable for the offensive. Gen. Polk, since the first report from Gen. French, appeared much annoyed

French, and at his suggestion Gen. Johnston was asked to meet the three lieutenant ge

sked Gen. French, who was of his corps, to be present at headquarters for the occasion, and Gen. Hood's action in bringing him was altogether gratuitous. Upon arriving with French, Gen. Hood excused his action by stating that he considered the situation so vital to himself and French that he had taken the liberty

oke up and the generals stepped out and

it. Thus they had ridden a good while. The Major, respecting the General's silent mood, had not thought proper to inquire about the destination of the column. An officer of Gen. Hardee's staff, Capt. Thomas H. Hunt, was the first to inform Maj. West that the army was retreating because Gen. Polk at the conference had insisted that he could not hold his position in the line of battle selected by Johnston. Stung by this statement, Maj. West denied it emphatically, and as his informant insisted on its correctness, Maj. West rode up to Gen. Polk, and asked him where the col

s life at Pine Mountain on the 14th of July, 1864; but the impression left upon his staff officers was that the failure to give battle at Cassville

entations of the weakness of the line at the poi

of Polk's division commanders (French) to confirm him, although Polk's other division commanders (Loring and Walthall) offered no objection, and in the absence of Lieut. Gen. Hardee, Gen. Polk c

mself properly on record for his connection with the abandonment of the line at Cassville, for he was always read

post, stimulated the men in their labors of entrenching, which was necessary at this end of the line of battle, where there were none of the natural advantages the troops of Polk and Hood derived from the hills on which they were posted. But all worked with an energy that arose to enthusiasm; for confidence in "Old Joe," confidence in the "Old Reliable," and confidence in themselves inspired the men of this company as it did those of the whole corps. The redoubt was nearly comp

blaming Polk and Hood for compelling the abandonment of a

a deep source of regret during the war, and of deep interest since; so much so since that

Hardee'

nch to "Reminisce

Fla., Decem

r Pic

le headed "Reminiscences of the War," that contains a number of errors, which I desire to correct so

d in the rear of Cassville, Gen. S. G. French, one of the division generals of the corps,

iladed, the guns must be near enough to sweep it with shells. To report that a point near the center of a long line of battle cannot be held before the issue is made is mere conjecture, and not jus

hereupon requested Col. Sevier to proceed to Gen. Johnston's headquarters and place the facts before him, which that officer did. Gen. Johnston was loath to believe in the impossibility of hol

rd them mentioned before, in reference to this line. And now, after your writer has sent Col. Sevier to me twice, he sends to me Maj. West, and it was before any firing had taken place, and he (West) could, very properly, "form no opinion unless he could witness the fire of the enemy's guns." West returned to Gen. Polk, reporting Gen. French highly wrought up about the exposure of his division, and Gen. Polk i

e offensive. I will have occasion to refer to this report after a while. I merely wish to remark tha

annoyed at this unexpected weakness in his line, which from the pertinacity of Gen. French was growing into

"Gen. Polk had so little confidence in the representations of the weakness

pe "pointed out the fact to Gen. Johnston that his line would be enfiladed before the troops were posted, and suggested a change of position) and strongly supported Shoupe's objections," he must have been early apprised of the general condition of the line before he received the alleg

the conference I f

n. French-who was of his corps-to be present for the occasion, and Gen. Hood's action in bringing him was altogether gratuitous. On arriving with French, Gen. Hood excused

aken place almost ceased awhile before dark; so, taking a staff officer with me, we went to our wagon to get dinner, and while returning to my command we met Gen. Hood on his way to Gen. Johnston's. We halted, and while conversing he told me that his line was enfi

ct in view. He said nothing to me about a conference t

and Hood went to Gen. Polk's office, and

for if attacked in the morning he would not be able to hold his line, because it was enfiladed by the guns of the enemy, now in

xplained how my line curved, near the end, to the left, sufficient to be enfiladed by one battery on the extreme left of the enemy's line. I have no recollect

lk's and Hood's lines in their entirety, the parts were embraced th

the line and getting ready for the impending battle, that I felt sure would begin in the morning. While we were thus busily at work, and at about the hour of 11 P.M., an officer riding along my line stopped and told me that the work would be useless, and "intimated

nclusion of the

not have been called to the conference, and, consequently, when Gen. Hood urged the untenability of his line, and supported it by bringing one of Polk's division commanders-French-to confirm hi

in the representations of Sevier, West, and French, as alleged to have been made to him; but when Gen. Hood brings French to the confe

is representations. I have never said I could not hold my part of the line, and it would have bee

but when he listens to Hood's arguments he changes his mind and sustains Hood; and thus, with two of his c

to tell him that Gen. Polk wanted to see him as soon as he arrived. He had half a mile to go to Polk's quarters. He met Gen. Polk at the door. He says it took him about half an hour to examine a map that Polk placed before him and make notes of the General's wishes, and fifteen minutes to ride from Polk's headq

d be of no avail, etc. (3) That it was extremely hazardous for Gen. Polk to advance his line

lk's headquarters just after dark. Gen. Polk immediatel

on between Polk and Hood, before Morris made his report to Polk, be

Cassville. He had forgotten that he had met me in the road; that he had invited me to ride with him to see Gen. Johnston

th his letter and my answer. Gen. Hood and I had talked this matter over at length at the Allegheny Springs, Va.,

f thirty years in the past, or to revive recollections of words used in the lo

n reserve, had been ordered to a hill there early. The diary says: "I received orders at 4 P.M. to fall back from the line east of Cassville and form behind the division of Gen. Canty and Cockrell's Brigade, which I did. As there was

the advance. About 5:30 P.M. the enemy got their batteries in position and opened fire on my line. One battery on my right enfiladed a part of my line." T

d the hypothetical, for we have determin

sville, the time our skirmishers were driven in, and when t

of Cassville, and it is certain no report could have been made by me until after the enemy's artillery commenced firi

rn to Gen. Polk and report it to him; then to come to my line a second time, and return to Gen. Polk. These two trips to my line and one to Gen. Johnston would have occupied one hour and a half. Next Maj. West received instructions to go and examine the line, and as there was no firing, he could form no opinion, but only talk with me. Then he went back to Gen. Polk and made his report; thence he too was ordered to go in quest of Gen. Johnston, and fo

im at 1:30 P.M., because we know that it terminated soon after the arrival of Capt. Morris at Polk's quarters at

separate sets of instructions from Gens. Polk and Johnston, made five carefully matured reports on the situation, and what was said by me and Gen. Johnston, and made at least two careful examinations of our line, noted the position of the enemy, watched the firing and noted th

ring commenced, and hence it must have been dark when M

gth of time the writer's, or relator's, memory has f

d, and that was caused by its curving to the le

between me and Gen. Polk, and between Polk and Johnston, it must have commenced about 1:30 P.M., to have ended at 4 P.M., which could not be, for I was then east of Cassville. On the other hand, if a report was carried to Gen. Polk about my line being enfiladed, it must

espect

. Fr

men wounded-none killed. Horses, three killed. A small matter to create any apprehension, as d

in line of battle except Cockrell's Brigade-and that was about the center of the line-until I was ordered to take command of Canty

G

and Canty's Division. This put my division in reserve, except Cockrell's Brigade, which was on Canty's left. Thus I found myself in reserve in rear of the line of battle. This could not have been done before 4:30 P.M. Now, could I report that I could not hold my line when I had none, or only one

in front of the gap, and were dispersed by the fire of Hoskins's guns. The enemy now began to establish their batteries on the ridge in front of Hood's line, especially near his right, and soon they opened fire on Hoskins's Battery. About sunset the fire slackened, when Maj. Shingleur, of my staff, and I went to our wagon in the rear to get

ed forces of the enemy marching to our right, and crush them before Sherman could aid them. So no alternative was left him b

rather contumacious in joining Gen. Hood, and making arrangements to invite their commander to meet them at their "rendezvous" to listen to their complaints, and almost dictating

ters, and tries to make it appear that I had influenced Gen. Polk by representations to change his opinion, and join Hood in the statement that their lines were untenable. I never sa

put himself properly on record for his connection with the abandonment of the line at Cassville, for he was always re

re, in justice to myself and for the truth of history, I desire to correct the many erroneous statements made in the article published. Because a line is enfiladed it does not follow that it cannot be held. During the battle of Atlanta twice I was obliged to hold enfiladed lines nearly an enti

ss., Januar

rench, Winte

ou to Gen. Polk's headquarters.... Hood said that he would ride with you to Polk's headquarters, as he was to meet Gen. Johnston there.... We rode along leisurely, you and Hood in front, myself and one or two of H

n 10 and 11 o'clock, followed by Gen. Johnston, who, standing on the steps, told you when you went back to your

er for you, which we read by making a light. It was the order for us to move, with instructions to leave a few men at

ght so, I am sure that you would have mentioned it to me. On the other hand, I remember clearly that we discuss

ponsible for our retreat from Cassville. It is all a mistake about French and all staff officers being sent beyond earshot.... When we left Gen. Polk's hea

r from you. With

very

Shin

, August

. G. F

on the subject of small arms. It is all that I could desire. I wish only to meet such of Hood's assertions as impugn the

w York, and vice versa? It would be very pleasant to me to see you in

s tr

John

, June 1

. G. F

no ordnance returns, I can only refute this calumny by the testimony of the most prominent officers, and in that connection beg you to write me (for publication) about the number of muskets your division lost in the campaign, if any. Certainly the enemy took none, for you never failed to hold the ground intrusted to

truly

John

mation and Con

y, because it existed under the laws of the States. It altered no State law, but it did affect slavery in this way: it caused

verthrows the constitution, and his will would become the law; how can the Pres

ll the outrages of the war were committed, restrained only by international rules of war; but these were utterly ignored under the plea that this war

d, in truth, it was passed as a punishment against the "rebels," without an indictment, trial, or convictio

they did not exist in all the States when the Union was formed, and if the North did not sell their title to b

statement is that toward the close of the slave trade there were about that number belonging to New England and New York engaged in that pious enterprise. We know the town of Newport, R. I., had one hundred an

they treat them; and to whom did they sell these human beings for money; and then, with the price of blood in their pockets, b

y believed it would soon disappear. They even refused to allow the charter of their own liberties to be polluted by the mention of the word slave; but take heed, did not this convention give way to the clamor of the owners of s

the government to suppose that they did intend to bestow upon it the power to maintain its own authority, the

sinking shipping, blockades; capturing, killing, imprisoning innocent people; nor by creating enormous debts, nor

s of slaves for loss of service and labor of their subjects who are enlisted in the army

on to the slave owners one hundred million dollars. Out of this, the Cape Colony, in A

of the constitution, it could have been abolished as it was i

ent

ode of manumitting slaves by the Abolition Society in the City of Brotherly

ember, 1792, on condition that she should become a bond servant by contract for seven years. Her sig

an all; for in her fifty-seventh year she was to be turned adrift in her old age, possessed of only two suits of apparel-"one of which is to be new"-to s

-"held to a service of labor," which was her first condition-she would have had a home for life. To depend on the benevolence of the

isees when I state that in the family graveyard near Columbus, Ga., where my wife's father and mother and some of her brothers and sisters rest, there repose the remains of their Aunt Betty, who nursed all the children of the family. She was,

nd almost companionship of children and servant, were more common than any harsh behavior toward them. A man who abused a slave was held in contempt, and was, I suppose, shunned by his neighbors. I had no experience with such men. Once the overseer on our place was going to punish a man for persisting in annoying another. The alleged offender sent for me, and I investigated the case. He

his respect with the bondsman, and he becomes reduced to the slavery of wages, which in this age-howling for wealth-becomes a pitiful condition, from which he seeks relief in strikes, so often in vain. He cannot succeed against the money power of the gr

er to change masters and homes-and you will admit that practical experience is bett

rwise see the owners of the neighboring plantations and other persons with whom they would like to live, and induce them to buy the family at the sale: and when the sa

ng the object of my calling. Madame sent for the cook, and she came into the drawing room and was introduced to me, and my business made known to her. She was a fine-looking woman. She asked me the usual questions-such as "Biddy" in the intelligence office asks persons in quest of a cook-abo

rs on Sundays, and then she said she would not like to live on a plantation; and so the visit was fruitless. Then Beard & May told me to question the servants they

urned in the autumn, Jim came to see me and explained that he had never worked in the field; so he worked again at the stables and ginhouses. I now learned that Maria and Jim had never been married. When spring came, I told Jim I would take him back to New Orleans, and he was willing to go. I left him with Beard & May to be sold. When we returned in the fall Jim had not been sold. In the winter I visited New Orleans. The steamer arrived during the night. In the morning as I was going on shore I saw a number of fine hacks on the levee awaiting passengers; among them the driver of a fine carriage cried out: "O Master Sam, here is your ca

f having fits, and would foam at the mouth, and the old c

d not entertain buying him, and replied that I would sell him Maria. When he became more composed, he told me that "Parker had become stupid, thoughtless, and could not remember what was told him, and when I called him to account he informed me that he was so much in love with Maria that

ature, but so careless that half the dishes were spoiled; so during the summer I took her to New Orleans and left her with Beard & May (early in the morning), then drove to the hotel. I had finished my breakfast and was smoking in the rotunda, when I saw Amanda approaching, accompanied by a tall, elderly gentleman, to whom I was introduced, n

ve the privilege of selecting very often the persons with whom they wished to live, as well as the place, which is by poverty de

ly linked with his, aside from his accountability for his acts to his God. Corporations have no souls, and no God to worship except Mammon. They have

e of life or soul of a laborer, and his condition is disguised in the (unknown to him) glorious privileges of independence, liberty, and freedom. What a mockery are all these human rights t

ly Writ, and he will judge them by their deeds; but God hath not, nor hath man defined the humanities i

der her indenture, had more privilege and enjoyment than mos

Ward Beecher selling slaves on his theatrical pulpit stage in Plymouth Chur

ght great personal events of the nineteenth century," and hence worthy of preservation. When passion shall have subsided, and calm judgm

ind sung in

echer sold slaves

ce of Wales w

y bade farewel

went around

n was first

th rode up

struck the g

edge of the condition of the bondsmen as that distinguished kinswoman of his, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, has shown in her ideal novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." They produced a diseased st

he condition of the slaves in 1861 and the means resorted to for their liberation, it becomes a matter of impartial consideration, and when

for slaves, and obtained them by theft, by capturing them in the midnight glare of burning villages, or by purchase. They owned them all. They were indeed inhuman slave dealers. They sold some of them to all the

z., that the government should compensate the owners for their property rights in persons held to labor or (in language undisguised) in

and, with the slave money in their pockets, rejoiced that they were not like the people South, and as Pilate did (figu

aves that they once owned and sold from the purchasers, and forced the States to set them free without compensation. By thi

criminal than the receiver of the stolen property; but when the thieves steal the same property a

power than any e

in a myst

ers to p

the commercial sails of the world will ride on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, plying to South America and the Orient through the canal that will connect the two great oceans. What position then will the New England States hold in the general prosperity of the States? Then it will be seen, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith

thirty to sixty per cent. (See census reports.) The cities of Chicago and New York contain a population which will be found to be a conglomeration of all the peoples on the face of the earth-with their political ideas, their morality, th

ies were thrown overboard. And now let the sin of slavery rest on the North or the South, as it will finally be declared by the consensus of public opinion, when investigation discloses and proclaims the horrible cruelty of the Northern s

and training of their owners on the plantations and in the cities, while slaves, they were converted from fetichism to Christianity, and from cannibalism to gentility of living, and their beastly nature curbed by moral surroundings and force of example; and now, to humiliate the Southern people, who were disfranchised, political plans were arranged to have negro Senators

fice in the South in 1869 as there were ex-slaves out of the four hundred thousand negro men eligible to office. This indica

selves; hence it came by teaching, for on Sundays the master and mistress, nurse and children, in the carriage were always escorted to church by the young men on horseback, dressed in their clean and best at

Reading, writing, and arithmetic do not come by birth, and the peasant a

is this excuse: the almost nonintercourse between the North and the South precluded personal observation, and they were taught in the schools, in the lecture room, from the rostrum and the pulpit, by the press in every village, town, and city all over the land, to believe the fabulous accounts of the ills of slavery to be true, and that the slave owners were cruel, illiterate,

ere joined in the crusade against the South, as they did to rescue the holy sepulcher from the hands of the infidel, on which occasion, Proctor in his "History of the Crusades" says, "the Welshman forgot his hunting, the Scot his companionship with vermin, the Dane his carouse, and the Norwegian his

loved by the Jewish people; but as they were, through their mother, of the Asmonean line of Jews, Herod condemned them to death to secure the succession as he desired. When the war between the States ended, the white people of the Confed

when the white people of the South were politically murdered, many of their friends said: "It were better to be a 'ward of the nation' than a son of the Confederacy." These c

, and almost entirely to them after the ending of the slave trade-placed the white people of the coloni

ge as it may appear, a civilization-based on slave labor, that was tolerant in religion, that encouraged freedom of thought, led their minds to the contemplation of the rights given man by his Creator when he breathed the breath of life into his body as he came into this world-res

man was indued, or born, with certain "inalienable rights" derived from his Maker-namely, "life, libert

the United States, but unfortunately it was established on a compromise that was left for futur

H E.

difference in the developments of the two civilizations that followed the formation and establishment of the Consti

nce, the South gave us a Marshall; in the forum they need no mention, as statesmen they have but few peers; among diplomats, John Laurens, of South Carolina, a member of Washington'

e and his soldiers, see Theodore Roosevelt's life of T. H. Benton: there he stands peerless. Those who

ruits of a civilizatio

anner in which it was abolished; and nevertheless I am as sincere in my love of my whole country as I am imbued with dislike to that class of people who out o

s termed, ended, the emblems of victory have waved in triumph in our faces, and are carefully preserved instead of being hidden away, and

t is seldom cruel. Hell is an expression adopted to silence argument on the cruel manner in which the United States gover

niquities, Gen. Sherm

period heard of but one case of robbery, and that was at Papagallos, on the march to Monterey. There

ded and placed under guard. Turning to the accuser-an old woman-the General

at of summer; and at the siege of Jaffa, Saphadan, the Mohammedan chief, observing Richard dismounted, sent him two Arabian horses, on one of which he c

A thief was to have his head shaved, to be tarred and feathered." Had Sherman issued and enforced an

nknow

. French Made to the U. C. V. Camp,

ion soldiers that rest in our cemetery, have been decorated with floral offerings, and the cause that so few of the Con

for one hundred days, and not a day passed without some troops being engaged, and so

ely the battle of the Wilderness followed, and he announced that he was going "to fight it out on that line if it took all summer." A fe

ere was no desire for another general engagement, and the hammering away mode of war commenced on Lee. On July 18, 1864, President Lincoln called for five hundred thousand more men, and so the detrition process went on for nine months, mainly on an

anely collected most of its dead and had their remains removed to its beautiful

Chesapeake adown the stormy Atlantic, and trending around the Gulf, rest thousands of our dead; or go to the heights of Allatoona, to Lookout's lofty peak, or Kennesaw Mountain's top, and you may seek in vain where the dead rest. Time, with the relentless force of the elements, has obliterated all traces of their graves from human eye; they are known only to Him who can tell where Moses sleeps in "a vale in the land of Moab." So the forgotten are not forgot, the Hand that made t

he beginning. They furnished to their country much that will be noble in history, wonderful in story, tender in song, and a large share of that glory which will claim the admir

fferings-which will be forgotten-I am sure the world will not forget that

TNO

é in Philadelphia, May, 1778,

all the land unto all the inhab

spaper

now at rest, and four remain. April, 1899, G

a young lady, was: "What hath God wrought!" The Professor did not ment

ed in the civilized portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted.... They had, for more than a century before, been regarded as a being of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior t

e professors; by all who have hated the South, it is to this day tortured into a decision made by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, which is not true. Furthermore, and before this case was in court, Judge Taney had manumitted his own,

was covered with the dead and wounded. I played indifference while meditating revenge for a sore shoulder. Going to the top of the observatory, I saw perhaps a hundred deer grazing close by; so I was taken with a desire to kill one, and again asked the doctor for his gun. He proposed loading it for me. I told him I preferred doing it myself. I put in three charges of powder, or three drams, and about forty small buckshot, and off I went for a deer. The herd grazed along before me up the slope of a ridge, and passed over it. I crawled on hands and knees to the crest, and such a sight! A number of single deer were within twent

t experience must be a good teacher. But the days came when I did

dians? Alike they have disappeared before the advance of avaricious civilization. From San Antonio to Corpus Christi and to El Paso the country was as God made it, unchang

Taylor ordered May up on the re

et. His servant was Irish and a jewel, and knew well "Prince John's" foibles. One day at dinner, to which some English officers were guests, there was a considerable display of taste, and one of them had the temerity to ask his host what was the pay of a lieutenant of artille

the bishop dine?" Answer: "Four P.M." "How many courses does he have?" Answer: "Four." "How many bottles of wine does he order?" Answer: "Two." To impress the butle

r story I will rel

or his comfort. On one occasion a staff officer was sent ahead as usual. Coming to a good residence, he arranged for comfortable quarters and a sumptuous supper. When the General arrived and the usual preliminaries were over he was ushered into the dining hall, and there sat at the table a ragged "Reb" helping himself to the supper all alone. M

f, he had been shot crosswise in the rear, the ball tearing away the seat of his breeches, that were very bloody. One of our Irish soldiers was passing by with canteens filled with water, and the German asked for a

was to end the war by making a treaty o

eautifu

lor. This was followed by his returning to the Mexican line accompanied by two American officers to have an interview with Santa Anna. Then our line

nate Do

rancisco, Cal., as

d, and convicted of trea

ce of their god-the dancing man-by a piece of jugglery in making a stuffed figure to represen

onounce

partee. The Doctor was a master of wit. Marshall acknowledged defeat, and invited us to dine with him next day at the Louisville Hotel, and we accepted his invitation. When the morrow came the Doctor was a l

tered and approached the crowd. Clay saluted him with: "Good morning, Mr. Marshall. What is the news from Woodford County?" Marshall answered, "We traitors have been defeated;" and instead of extending his hand to "Tom" and

ory as related to m

as relat

l supplies, etc., in no small quantities. He also had hay and fodder baled, by sending a hay press through the north counties of North Caro

m the Hon. James A. Sedd

tment, C.

February 2

French, Com

eeds of our army on the Rappahannock for supplies of forage and subsistence, and the difficulty of meeting them. The scarcity in this State is really

re can be no better employment of our forces in North Carolina than in protecting and aiding such operations. Even illicit dealings with persons of doubtful position, or mercenary natures, might be encouraged to the extent of procuring supplies, particularly

truly

ddon, Secre

both Gens. Andrew Jackson and Z. Taylor denounced.

Division of

, April 2

the obedience of any order emanating from the Department of War to officers of this division ... unless co

order to troops or officer in his command unless

e garrison or the capture of the redoubt. Therefore I will append a statement handed to me by George R

h my command at the investment of Suffolk in 1863. On the 18th day of April, while in line, Companies A and K received orders, a

pened a terrific fire on the fort from a great number of guns massed on the opposite side of the river and from the gunboats and infantry. Under cover of this fire a transport landed about a thousand men behind a point of land extending into the river just above the fort, concealed by thick undergrowth. They were within on

eut. Co A, Forty

, Fla., Ma

t 11. Serial No. 108,

cords, page 692,

in's brother, who was aware of his conduct at the battle of Kennesaw, a

"History," and W

to New Hope Church o

d join the force on the west side, I believed that all were on that side, and wrote, "The Federal forces were now confined to one redoubt (fort 'C'), and we occupied the ditch." I did not discover this

of military engineers; born 1633. Inigo Jon

y. Also book of Gen. J. D. Cox, United States army, and War Records, and Maj.

as removed to near the ginhouse by order of Col. Casement, United States army, who put a guard over it. So after th

ccount of the condition of my eyes it was put off; and now I wonder why I did not have my chief of staff write it under my dictation, but so it is: a

t 18, 1864, written at City Point by Gen. U. S. Grant to G

t once, either directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to no

d "Grant's at Shiloh, McClellan's in the seven days' battle, Burnside's at Fredericksburg, Rosecrans's at Stone's river or at Chickamauga, Hooker's at Chancellorsville, and were almost as many as G

brought down to 1853, shows also that the number of the killed and wounded in the United States forces during the war with Great

n on the banks of the Rio Grande to Buena Vista, from Vera Cruz to the City of

attle of Franklin more were killed, in a few hours, than during either of the two preceding w

ox's book (page 25). There is no information in it to justify Hood in making the assault. Thomas merely "tells Scho

. Sanders

6, 1

French, Pen

n of Gen. Hood's order for the artillery at Franklin to be put in position, and to open on the enemy about midnight, and when it ceased the infantry was to charge th

ber 30, 1864-from Gen. A. P. Stewart's headquarters. This order I delivered to the officers in command of two of your brigades; your third brigade, which was Ector's

s in command of the battalions of artillery. At the time indicated in the order Col. Hoxton's artillery opened on Franklin with a heavy cannonad

of the artillery, and in the execution of his order opened upon Franklin, and no reply from the enemy satisfied him that Schofield had retreated, and he ceased firing, and scouts were sent to the works, which they found abandoned, and penetrated the villag

o undertake to charge the works under cover of this artillery fire, and carry them at the point of the bayonet. The fact that this order was given, and the circumstances surrounding Hood's troops at that time, are ind

sinc

. Sa

manner refers to this order, and this inferentially

on preparatory to an assault which it was announced was to be made by

W

e side, and his nephew, king of Fez, on the other, assisted by Don Sebastian, king of Portugal, under whose standard had flocked the nobility of Christia

, U. S. army, in the war of 1812. Again under the command of Brig. Gen. John Floyd, U. S. A.,

d to surrender refused. To capture him they shot him, designedly in his leg, and then through thoughtlessness let him bleed to death, notwithstanding there was a tourniquet in his pocket, and Mr. Hyer had another. He was buried under a red oak on Mr. D. Carroll's place on the Talladega road, Calhoun County, Ala., one and three-quarter miles from Greensport, within a half mile

hat of the Confederate officer who so nobly defend

eans the "Bright Dau

oldwin

azine, page 303, giving an account of the treatment of slaves by their owners North; also an acc

ancipating slaves thus employed left their status to be determined either by the courts of the United States or by subsequent legislation." (See Holt's opinion to President Lincoln, page 768, etc.) This was legitimate war. However, the want of success changed all this, and the proclamation of May 19, 1862, not being complied with, the war ceased to be confined to the troops in the field, and degenerated into one of robbery,

Vol. XLVI., Series I,

Shenandoah Valley for alleged acts of pillage on the way. From what the inspector saw he was of the opinion that the stories had been overestimated, and he has thought since that the Second Corps put in the breastworks at North Anna more valuables, in the shape of pianos, scientific

lieved, and among the papers left behind him was one saying: "Don't send any more pianos, or plate

ft college to join the Confederate army, his father sent Ri

e had assisted in taking care of the family horses and carria

crossed that river, and finally reached Richmond, Va. Thence the authorities gave him transportation to Columbus, Ga. When Wiley became a member of my staff

to purchase a ticket from Jacksonville to Winter Park, he obtained work on a railroad. W

; and next when freedom was imposed on him by legislative enactment he spurned it, desiring only a home for life with the family tha

d been in the army contrasted with the citize

shingto

owledgment of the just decision made by Chief Justice Taney in th

ressman for his son's appointment. This was exclu

eare's "Temp

inted Jun

tion says: "Such States shall be

riber'

cted. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation

t always clear whether or not these refer to one or several people or

Chadbourne

g/Tw

jon/T

ury/Te

ca/R

st/Pr

osh/Mc

ini/Lom

e/Clebu

ret/C

in/H

Ambriester" should possibly

oras should possi

dore should poss

erton should poss

mucha should pos

. Thompson should possibl

12 M. should be ei