yesterday's tennessee
The following was published in the Times Daily, Thursday, February 25, 1999.
Historian Shelby
Foote called the Civil War "America's Crossroads," an example of Americans'
failure to compromise. Regardless of a person's feeling about the value of the
conflict, the years of the war were devastating. The social, political and
economic structure of the South would never be the same.
On Jan. 7, 1861, Alabama Gov. Andrew B.
Moore called for a state convention to discuss articles of secession. Some
North Alabama counties threatened to leave and form a loyal union state known
as Nickajack if Alabama passed secession. Nickajack was to be formed with
counties from north Alabama, east Tennessee, north Georgia and north
Mississippi.
The controversy over secession centered on whether the
issue was put to a popular vote or simply passed by the delegates sent to
Montgomery. North Alabama favored a vote of the people while south Alabama
opposed an election. South Alabama had the largest plantations, more slaves and
therefore, more delegates at the secession convention because three-fifths of
the slave population could be counted for representation.
North Alabama had the largest population but the
fewest elected representatives to the convention. If the issue were put to a
popular vote, delegates who favored secession, known as "fire-eaters," feared
defeat.
After four days of debate, the
Ordinance of Secession passed by a vote of 61 to 39, the 39 opposition votes
coming from north Alabama. The delegates representing Lauderdale (Sidney C.
Posey and H. C. Jones), Franklin (John A. Steele and R. W. Watkins), and
Limestone (J. P. Coman and Thomas Mclellan) all voted against secession except
Watkins.
Representatives from Winston County even threatened to
form the "Free State of Winston."
All thoughts of separation in Alabama ended when
President Lincoln called for an army to bring the South back into the
Union.
On Feb. 4, 1861, delegates from six of the seven
seceded states met in Montgomery and drafted a constitution that formed the
confederate States of America. The new constitution stressed states' rights and
legalized slavery. Delegates chose Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president,
Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia as vice president and Montgomery was the first
capital of the Confederacy.
Local units raised for the Confederacy included:
* 4th Alabama Infantry with Robert McFarland as
captain.
* 7th Alabama Infantry with Sterling A. M. Wood as
colonel
* 9th Alabama Infantry with Edward Asbury O'Neal as
lieutenant colonel and James Crowe as major
* Company D and I of the 9th was mostly men from
Lauderdale County.
* 16th Alabama Infantry with William B. Wood as
colonel
* Company A of the 16th contained men mainly from
Franklin County and Company C had Alexander Donelson Coffee as captain.
* 26th Alabama Infantry (later the 50th) was formed
with men from Tuscumbia.
* 27th Alabama Infantry had James Jackson Jr. as
colonel
* 35th Alabama Infantry contained many students and
faculty of LaGrange Military Adacemy.
* 4th Alabama Cavalry was commanded by Gen. Phillip
Dale Roddy of Lawrence County and known locally as the "Defenders of the
Tennessee Valley."
* 9th Alabama Cavalry contained many local men.
* 10th Alabama Cavalry had Richard Pickett as
colonel.
* 11th Alabama Cavalry served directly under Gen.
Nathan Bedford Forrest and had John R. Burtwell as colonel.
On Oct. 7, 1861, state leaders announced that 27,000
Alabamians were serving in the confederate Army.
No one has an accurate count of North Alabamians
who served in the Union Army but estimates go as high as the thousands.
Articles and books about the "South's inner war" attest to the hard feelings
and sufferings of families who had loved ones on opposite sides.
The Tennessee River was difficult
to defend because it was navigable from the Ohio River to the shoals almost
year-round.
From the Shoals, invaders could sever the Chattanooga-
and- Memphis and Charleston-and-Memphis railroads that ran through Franklin
County and Tuscumbia.
The general lack of local concern only hindered the
protection of the valley. Only one fort, Fort Henry, protected the Tennessee
River from invasion. Citizens living on the upper regions of the river, from
Chattanooga to Knoxville, were more isolated and felt little need for
fortifications.
An equal lack of concern came from the middle region
of the river, Chattanooga to Decatur, because steamers could not navigate
beyond the shoals. The populace from the lower regions of the river, Florence
to Paducah, were likewise unconcerned.
Only citizens from Tuscumbia objected to any great
extent.
One historian stated that many citizens from North
Alabama did not protest because they favored the Union cause.
Local fears were soon stirred when
on Feb. 6, 1862, Fort Henry fell to forces under the command of U. S. Grant,
exposing the entire lower region of the river to Union invasion. Those fears
were soon confirmed on Feb. 8, when three union gunboats, The Lexington, The
Conestoga and The Tyler, under the direction of Cmdr. Andrew H. Foote, arrived
at the Florence landing.
Foote reported that three Confederate steamers were
found burning at the wharf and that 20,000 pounds of pork and other supplies
were captured. A delegation of Florence citizens asked Foote not to burn the
town or destroy the river bridge; both requests were granted.
Foote's main goal was to destroy the Confederate
gunboats Robb and Dunbar. Local historian Turner Rice has written that the Robb
and Dunbar were hiding in Cypress Creek and the Dunbar became lodged between
the banks and was scuttled and sank. Local citizens used the gunwales of the
boat to ford the creek and gave birth to the name Gunwaleford Road.
Late in 1862, Gen. Roddy's men raised the Dunbar and
took it above the river's shoals. Near the end of the Union campaign at
Chattanooga, the Dunbar fell into Union hands and was used to transport Federal
troops across the river.
On March 18, 1862, the Florence
Bridge was burned by Col. Ben Hardin Helm's troops on orders given by Gen.
Albert Sidney Johnston. Historian William L. McDonald said Union Gen. O. M.
Mitchell confirmed Confederates burned the bridge.
Because of the loss of Fort Henry, Gen. Albert Sidney
Johnston, commander of the western theater of the Confederacy, feared Grant's
flanking invasion up the Tennessee.
February 1862 was a disastrous time for the South,
leaving West Tennessee and North Alabama in jeopardy. Johnston had little
choice but to find Grant's Army of the Tennessee and drive them from the
valley.
James McDonough, in his book "Shiloh - In Hell before
Night," said Johnston's Army of Mississippi was composed of many untrained,
undisciplined troops who were commanded by untested and unskilled officers.
Grant's Army of the Tennessee was hardened and tested at the battles of Fort
Henry and Fort Donelson.
Johnston's army was to engage Grant on Friday, April
4, but the terrain and miscues delayed the attack to the 5th. More delays and
rain caused Johnston to call a council of his commanders. Generals Beauregard
and Bragg favored calling the mission off but Johnston made the decision to
attack on Sunday, April 6. Grant's 5th Division, under the command of Brig.
Gen. William T. Sherman, camped inland from the river at Pittsburg Landing near
Shiloh Methodist Church. Ironically, Shiloh means a place of rest.
Johnston's attack began about 4:30
a.m. near Sherman's position around Shiloh church. The 6th Mississippi went
into battle with 425 active men and within 30 minutes lost 300, dead and
wounded.
Union forces were quickly routed but 4,300 Union
troops held an old field road, later known as the Hornet's Nest, against
charges from more than 18,000 confederates, never more than 3,700 at any one
time.
It was during this engagement that Johnston was
wounded in the leg and bled to death. Around 5 p.m. 2,000 Union troops in the
Hornet's Nest surrendered. They had successfully checked the Confederate
advance that first day.
With the death of Johnston, Beauregard assumed command
and called off the attack until daybreak on Monday. Grant's army was reinforced
during the night with 24,000 fresh troops commanded by Gens. Buell and Lew
Wallace. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's men watched as the fresh Union troops
arrived and Forrest begged permission to attack immediately but was turned
down.
At dawn on April 7, Grant's army of 45,000
counter-attacked the battle-weary, hungry, cold and scattered Confederates. By
4 p.m. Beauregard's army was retreating to Corinth, Miss.
McDonough stated the South's objective at Shiloh
failed because of many lost opportunities and bad luck. The loss of Johnston,
called by many "Lee of the West," was devastating. The lost opportunities led
to the eventual loss of the entire Tennessee Valley, West Tennessee and North
Mississippi.
Shiloh proved to be the bloodiest battle in the west,
both sides losing in excess of 23,600, dead and wounded.
One New Orleans newspaper said the South "could never
smile again, after Shiloh."
On April 9, the first Union raid into Lauderdale
County occurred. Union cavalry entered near the community of Rawhide
(Cloverdale), seizing prisoners and taking supplies.
Raids would become more frequent, many conducted by
local men who either joined the Union army or were deserters from either army
and preyed upon the local populace.
Wade Pruitt's book, "Bugger Saga," contains many
stories and legends about this aspect of the war in North Alabama.
Lauderdale records reveal that 751 families were left
destitute by early 1862.
County funds helped replenish basic goods but by early
1863 there were no more funds available.
Early in 1862 the strategic
importance of the shoals area drew the attention of Union forces and the
process of occupation began.
By the end of the war, the Shoals had changed hands 40
times.
On April 16, a skirmish was fought in Tuscumbia and
Union forces occupied the town. Tuscumbia was recaptured in fighting April 24
and 25, but the retreating Union troops burned the Tuscumbia Landing.
In June 1862, Florence was occupied by the Union's
10th Kentucky Regiment under the command of Col. John Marshall Harlan.
Doris Kelso recorded in her history of the First
Presbyterian Church that Harlan ordered the arrest of the Rev. Dr. William H.
Mitchell from his pulpit for his prayer for the Confederacy.
Mitchell was sent to prison in Alton, Ill., until
October 1862.
The obvious intent of this was intimidation of the
local population.
Beginning June 9, 1861, Tuscumbia
was occupied for a second time by Union forces.
Their mission was to repair the Memphis-and-Charleston
Railroad.
Reports from that time said many locals were robbed by
the occupation troops. Confederate troops liberated the town on Sept. 8 and the
retreating Yankees tried to burn the town.
In July 1862, Waterloo citizen Lon Waters fired on
Union gunboats passing the town. William L. McDonald has recorded that the
Union response was to shell the town.
The year 1862 ended with December skirmishes at Barton
and Little Bear Creek. John McWilliams has written that the Federals eventually
were forced to withdraw to Corinth.
In April 1863 the Union made a
daring raid into Franklin County. The raid was conducted by a combined Federal
force under the command of Gen. Grenville Dodge. The battle began at Bear Creek
on April 17 with Roddy's 4th Alabama Cavalry driving a portion of dodge's men
back into Mississippi.
On April 22, Dodge's force of 7,000 was joined with
Col. Abel Streight's 2,000-man cavalry, mounted on mules and jackasses. The
invasion through Tuscumbia was a ploy to allow Streight's forces to drive
across north-central Alabama and burn the railroad bridge in Rome, Ga., forcing
Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee to evacuate Chattanooga.
Roddy's force of 1,300 opposed this massive invasion
and fought skirmishes against the Federals at Tuscumbia and Leighton. Dodge was
to hold Forrest and Roddy and allow Streight's men to escape south to
Russellville and then east to Gadsden.
Forrest arrived in Florence on April 26 and brought
his troops across the ferry at Bainbridge on the 27th. The battle of Town Creek
opened on the 27th with an attack by the combined force of Roddy and
Forrest.
What transpired next is one of the
most famous running battles of the entire war known as Streight's Raid. Dodge
began his withdrawal to Mississippi on the 29th. In his official report, Dodge
recorded his army carried off large quantities of supplies, mules, horses,
cattle and slaves.
In addition, his men destroyed five tanyards, six
mills, sections of the railroad and a force commanded by Col. Florence M.
Cornyn, known as the the "Destroying Angles," burned LaGrange Military academy
and the female academy.
When dodge's force withdrew, Forrest's scouts
discovered Streight's move. After catching Streight on the 30th, Forrest's men
chased the Federals across Alabama and eventually cornered and captured
Streight and almost 1,500 of his men. The raid was doomed from the start by
poor planning and execution by not only Streight but his commander, Gen. W. S.
Rosecrans. The successful conclusion of the campaign added more to the legend
of Forrest and men as "Wizards of the Saddle."
On May 26, 1863, a Federal force of
1,380 under the command of Col. Florence M. Cornyn left Corinth, Miss.,
determined to end the industrial productivity of Lauderdale County.
At the time, Lauderdale was a leading producer of
cotton and wool cloth, leather and food. Accompanying Cornyn was Capt. Risden
Deford, son of a former Methodist circuit rider. McDonald said Deford knew the
location of the mills, tanyards and foundries and led Union forces against
people who had earlier welcomed him and his father into their homes.
Cornyn's force entered near Rawhide (Cloverdale) and
after dividing his force, they burned the mills and tanyards along Big and
Little Cypress creeks, Cowpen Creek, Shoals Creek and Cox Creek. The "Defender
of Florence" was Brig. Gen. Sterling A. M. Wood, son of Florence's first
mayor
Wood's forces met the Federals near Cox Creek on the
Coffee Road (Cloverdale Road) and were quickly forced to fight a retreating
movement back into the city. Wood's men held Florence most of the day as units
of Cornyn's men burned the Globe Cotton Mills on Cypress Creek near the present
site of the Florence Golf and County Club.
Local citizens recalled seeing the smoke from
the center of the city. After forcing Wood to retreat, Cornyn ordered a block
of homes and buildings burned to cover his withdrawal.
Cornyn's raid devastated Florence and industry in the
valley.
In addition to the destruction of the Globe Mills,
worth more than $1 million, Cornyn destroyed food and grain and stole horses,
mules, cattle and slaves. McDonald has said that Florence and the Shoals area
did not recover industrially until the Tennessee Valley Authority came into the
valley in 1933.
Throughout the month of October
1863, there was a series of engagements in western Franklin County between
Confederates and Federal troops repairing the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.
The skirmishes finally ended Oct. 31 after a party of Federals crossed the
river on their way to Chattanooga.
During 1863, the Confederate ranks were thinned by
desertions. Although only 1-of-10 Confederates left, the number of desertions
caused President Jefferson Davis to issue an executive order asking deserters
to return and promising amnesty to all who returned within 20 days.
Brig. Gen. Gordon J. Pillow estimated there were
8,000 to 10,000 deserters hiding in the hills of North Alabama.
Pillow recommended deserters from the Army of
Tennessee be transferred to the Army of Virginia so they would be farther fro
their homes. Maj. Gen. S. D. Lee stated the South was, in addition to Yankees,
fighting a war against starvation and desertion.
Southern soldiers faced severe hardships on the field
and in camp.
But the main reason given for desertions was that
their families were unduly suffering. The late Louis Eckl, editor of the
Florence Times (now Times Daily), said many desertions were caused by
gut-wrenching letters from home.
One example read: "I would not have you do anything
wrong for the world, but before God, Edward, unless you come home we must die!
Last night I was aroused by little Eddie's crying. I called and said, 'What's
the matter, Eddie?' and he said, 'Oh, Mama, I'm so hungry!' And Lucy, Edward,
your darling Lucy, she never complains, but she is growing thinner and thinner
every day. And before God, Edward, unless you come home, we must die!"
Other examples of these letters from both sides can be
found in "The Life of Johnny Reb" and "The Life of Billy Yank" by Bell I.
Wiley.
In 1864, Shoals residents saw less
military activity than the previous years.
McDonald wrote an account of Col. James Jackson Jr.'s
April raid from Franklin into Lauderdale County in an attempt to end the
raiding and plundering of the infamous 9th Ohio Cavalry.
The white steeds of that group, 150 strong, gave them
the name, "White Horse Cavalry."
Finding the enemy camped on the Peters plantation,
Jackson's volunteers from the 27th Alabama Infantry routed them, killing two,
taking 42 prisoners, and capturing livestock and food stolen from local
residents.
Jackson's men returned into Franklin but ironically,
two Ohio Cavalry members escaped to Florence and the Federals evacuated the
city, fearing a large invasion force.
Another daring episode occurred in late summer of
1864 when Gen. Joseph Wheeler's 1st Tennessee Cavalry raided into middle
Tennessee and were hotly pursued by Union cavalry as they entered Lauderdale
County.
Wheeler sent riders ahead to find a guide for the ford
location at the Bainbridge Ferry crossing at the mouth of Shoal Creek.
With no guide available and the river flooded, Wheeler
sent two riders into the water to find the ford. Working under the handicap of
darkness and a mile wide current, the riders found the crossing and Wheeler's
men rode between them to safety without losing a man.
In September 1864, the legendary Gen. Forrest and his
"Critter Company" crossed the river at Colbert Shoal and rode through Florence
via the Huntsville Road.
After capturing a Union garrison at Athens and
wrecking the Nashville-and-Chattanooga Railroad in middle Tennessee that
furnished supplies to Sherman's Army, he marched through Georgia.
Next, Forrest's cavalry re-entered Alabama with Col.
W. H. Morgan's Union cavalry in hot pursuit.
Forrest hoped to cross at the Bainbridge Crossing but
the river was flooded.
After locating a barge, his troops began a two-day
process of transporting men and swimming the horses.
The last regiment of confederates was left to harass
the Federals and told to meet the main body on Seven-Mile Island in two
days.
The two cold days on the island were spent without
fires, fearing enemy detection.
Incidents such as this only increased the myths and
legends surrounding Forrest and his men.
After the loss of Atlanta in
September 1864, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood marched the Army of Tennessee
into North Alabama in preparation for an invasion to recapture Tennessee and
Kentucky.
Failing to cross the Tennessee at Guntersville and
Decatur, advanced units of Hood's army arrived in Bainbridge, Tuscumbia, and
South Port and prepared for a river crossing into Florence.
From his headquarters in Tuscumbia, Hood ordered his
first corps to cross the flooded river on a pontoon bridge lashed to the
railroad bridge piers, opening the second Battle of Florence.
The crossing was continually delayed by rain and
flooding but eventually Hood's three corps of nearly 30,000 and Gen. W. H.
Jackson's cavalry of 2,000 successfully crossed and were joined by Forrest and
his cavalry of 3,000.
Students of the Female Synodical College watched the
crossing from the dome of the school.
Hood's ill-fated plans did not go unnoticed by Union
Gen. George H. Thomas in Pulaski.
With Forrest's cavalry in advance, Hood ordered his
army to move out Nov. 20. The Army of Tennessee left Florence after a 3-inch
snowfall.
Gen. Benjamin Cheatham's corps moved out on the Coffee
Road, Gen. Alexander Stewart's Corps left by the Military Road and Gen. Stephen
Lee's corps took the Chisholm road.
The advance was greatly impeded by bitter cold, snow
and freezing rain.
Following easy victories at
Columbia and Spring Hill, Hood's army met the brunt of Thomas' army in Franklin
on Nov. 30.
Historians James Lee McDonough and Thomas L. Connelly
state in their book, "Five Tragic Hours: The Battle of Franklin," that Hood
dreamed of glory but lived in a world of broken dreams.
His combative nature and tactics took a heavy toll on
the proud Army of Tennessee.
Hood ordered a frontal assault on an entrenched
Federal force commanded by Gen. John Schofield. The battle began at 4 p.m. and
lasted into the darkness.
Hood's army suffered horrendous losses, 1,750 dead and
5.500 captured or wounded.
Included in the dead were six generals: John Adams,
John C. Carter, States Rights Gist, Hiram Granbury, Otho Strahl and Patrick
"Stonewall of the West" Cleburne.
Hood's losses exceeded 20 percent, a higher percentage
than McClellan's entire Seven Days' campaign against Lee, Hooker's loss to Lee
at Chancellorsville and Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.
McDonough and Connelly said that Hood slaughtered his
army at Franklin.
Gen. Schofield withdrew his army to
Nashville and Hood ordered his shattered army to follow.
What remained of the once gallant Army of Tennessee
was destroyed at the Battle of Nashville on Dec. 15 and 16.
With Forrest's cavalry fighting rear guard, the broken
army retreat- ed south into Alabama and crossed Bainbridge on Dec. 25 and
26.
When Hood's army arrived in Tupelo on Jan. 10, 1865,
there were fewer than 15,000 infantry.
On the 15th, Hood was relieved of command and replaced
by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
The final major troop movement in the Shoals area
began in January 1865, when Union Gen. James Wilson began assembling a
22,000-man cavalry, the largest massed cavalry in North America, from Bear
Creek to Eastport, Miss., on the south side and Gravelly Springs to Waterloo on
the north.
Wilson's raiders began leaving the area the last of
February through the first of March on their massive invasion into the heart of
Alabama.
By March 30, Wilson's men burned ironworks at Elyton
(Birmingham) and one division led by Croxton burned the University of Alabama
on April 13.
Wilson's major opposition in Alabama was Forrest with
less then 2,500 men.
After the destruction of major military factories,
Wilson's raiders proceeded to Montgomery and captured the capital on April
12.
Forrest disbanded his force, the last Major
Confederate force east of the Mississippi River, on May 9.
Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army on April 9,
1865, to Grant at Appomattox, Va. President Lincoln was shot on April 14 and
died on the 15th.
Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee
near Greensboro, N. C., on April 26.
After the war, the counties of the Tennessee Valley
were wastelands.
Ironically, North Alabama counties originally opposed
secession and suffered the worst destruction during the war.
The hardest hit towns were Athens, Decatur, Florence
and Tuscumbia.
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