menu_book Chapter 16

chapter sixteen of company h by sam r watkins this librivox recording is in the public domain battles in tennessee columbia this is my own my native land once more the murray greys are permitted to put their feet upon their native heath and to revisit their homes and friends after having followed their tattered and torn and battle-riddled flag which they had borne aloft for four long years on every march and in every battle that had been fought by the army of tennessee we were a mere handful of devoted braves who had stood by our colors when sometimes it seemed that god himself had forsaken us but parents here are your noble and brave sons and ladies four years ago you gave us this flag and we promised you that we would come back with the flag as victors or we would come not at all we have been true to our promise and our trust on every battle-field the flag that you entrusted to our hands has been borne aloft by brave and heroic men amid shot and shell bloody battle and death

we have never forsaken our colors are we worthy to be called the sons of old murray county or have we fought in vain have our efforts been appreciated or have four years of our lives been wasted while we were battling for constitutional government the supremacy of our laws over centralization and our rights as guaranteed to us by the blood of our forefathers on the battlefields of the revolution it is for you to make up your verdict if our lives as soldiers have been a failure we can but bow our heads on our bosoms and say surely four years of our lives have been given for naught and our efforts to please you have been in vain yet the invader's foot is still on our soil but there beats in our bosoms the blood of brave and patriotic men and we will continue to follow our old and war-worn and battle-riddled flag until it goes down forever the marie grays commanded by captain a m looney left columbia four years ago with a hundred and twenty men how many of those hundred and twenty original members are with the company to-day just twelve company h has twenty members but some of this number had subsequently enlisted

but we twelve will stick to our colors until she goes down forever and until five more of this number fall dead and bleeding on the battlefield a fiasco when we arrived on the site of columbia we found the yankees still in possession of the town fortified and determined to resist our advance we sent forward a feeler and the feeler reports back very promptly yes the yankees are there well if that be the case we'll just make a flank movement we turn off the main turnpike at j e r carpenters and march through the cedars and cross duck river at davis ferry on pontoon bridges near lowell's mill we pass on and cross rutherford creek near burrick's mill about three o'clock in the afternoon we had marched through fields in the heavy mud and the men weary and worn out were just dragging themselves along passing by the old union seminary and then by mr fred thompson's until we came to the raleigh hill turnpike it being then nearly dark we heard some skirmishing but exhausted as we were we went into bivouac the yankees it seems to me might have captured the whole of us but that is a matter of history but i desire to state that no blunder was made by either generals cheatham or stuart neither of whom ever failed to come to time jeff davis is alone responsible for the blunder

about two hours after sun-up the next morning we received the order to fall in fall in quick make haste hurrah promptly men each rank count two by the right flank quick time march keep promptly closed up everything indicated an immediate attack when we got to the turnpike near spring hill lo and behold wonder of wonders the whole yankee army had passed during the night the bird had flown we made a quick and rapid march down the turnpike finding yankee guns and knapsacks and now and then a broken-down straggler also two pieces of howitzer cannon and at least twenty broken wagons along the road everything betokened a rout and a stampede of the yankee army double quick forrest is in the rear now for fun all that we want to do now is to catch the blue-coated rascals ha ha we all want to see the surrender ha ha double quick a rip rip rip woof pant pant pant pant pant first one man drops out and then another the yankees are routed and running and forrest has crossed harpeth river in the rear of franklin hurrah men keep closed up we are going to capture showfield

forrest is in the rear never mind the straggler and cannon kerflop we come up against the breastworks at franklin franklin the death angel gathers its last harvest kind reader right here my pen and courage and ability fail me i shrink from butchery would to god i could tear the page from these memoirs and from my own memory it is the blackest page in history of the war of the lost cause it was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war it was the finishing stroke to the independence of the southern confederacy i was there i saw it my flesh trembles and creeps and crawls when i think of it to-day my heart almost ceases to beat at the horrid recollection would to god that i had never witnessed such a scene i cannot describe it a beggar's description i will not attempt to describe it i could not the death angel was there to gather its last harvest

it was the grand coronation of death would that i could turn the page but i feel though i did so that page would still be there teeming with its scenes of horror and blood i can only tell of what i saw our regiment was resting in the gap of a range of hills in plain view of the city of franklin we could see the battle-flags of the enemy waving in the breeze our army had been depleted of its strength by a forced march from spring hill and stragglers lined the road our artillery had not yet come up and could not be brought into action our cavalry was across harpeth river and our army was but in poor condition to make an assault while resting on this hillside i saw a courier dash up to our commanding general b f cheatham and the word attention was given i knew then that we would soon be in action forward march we passed over the hill and through a little skirt of woods

the enemy were fortified right across the franklin pike in the suburbs of the town right here in these woods a detail of skirmishers was called for our regiment was detailed we deployed as skirmishers firing as we advanced on the left of the turnpike road if i had not been a skirmisher on that day i would not have been writing this to-day and the year of our lord eighteen eighty two it was four o'clock on that dark and dismal december day when the line of battle was formed and those devoted heroes were ordered forward to strike for their altars and their fires for the green graves of their sires for god and their native land as they marched on down through an open field toward the rampart blood and death the federal batteries began to open and mow down and gather into the garner of death as brave and good and pure spirits as the world ever saw the twilight of evening had begun to gather as a precursor of the coming blackness of midnight darkness that was to envelop a scene so sickening and horrible that it is impossible for me to describe it

forward men is repeated all along the line a sheet of fire was poured into our very faces and for a moment we halted as if in despair as the terrible avalanche of shot and shell laid low those brave and gallant heroes whose bleeding wounds attested that the struggle would be desperate forward men the air loaded with death-dealing missiles never on this earth did men fight against such terrible odds it seemed that the very elements of heaven and earth were in one mighty uproar forward men and the blood spurts in a perfect jet from the dead and wounded the earth is red with blood it runs in streams making little rivulets as it flows occasionally there was a little lull in the storm of battle as the men were loading their guns and for a few moments it seemed as if night tried to cover the scene with her mantle the death angel shrieks and laughs and old farther time is busy with his sickle as he gathers in the last harvest of death crying more more more while his rapacious maw is glutted with the slain with the skirmish line being deployed out extending a little wider than the battle did passing through a thicket of small locusts where brown orderly sergeant of company b was killed we advanced on toward the breastworks on and on i had made up my mind to die

felt glorious we pressed forward until i heard the terrific roar of battle open on our right claiborne's division was charging their works i passed on until i got to their works and got over on there the yankees side but in fifty yards of where i was the scene was lit up by fires that seemed like hell itself it appeared to be but one line of streaming fire our troops were upon one side of the breastworks and the federals on the other i ran up on the line of works where our men were engaged dead soldiers filled the entrenchments the firing was kept up until after midnight and gradually died out we passed the night where we were but when the morrow sun began to light up the eastern sky with its rosy hues and we looked over the battle-field oh my god what did we see it was a grand holocaust of death death had held high carnival there that night the dead were piled the one on the other all over the ground i never was so horrified and appalled in all my life horses like men had died game on the gory breastworks general adams horse at his fore feet on one side of the works and his hind feet on the other dead the general seems to have been caught so that he was held to the horse's back sitting almost as if living riddled and mangled and torn with balls general claiborne's mare had her fore feet on top of the works dead in that position general claiborne's body was pierced with forty-nine bullets through and through

general strahl's horse lay by the roadside and the general by his side both dead and all his staff general gist a noble and brave cavalier from south carolina was lying with his sword reaching across the breastworks still grasped in his hand he was lying there dead all dead they sleep in the graveyard yonder at ashwood almost in sight of my home where i am writing to-day they sleep the sleep of the brave we love and cherish their memory they sleep beneath the ivy mantled walls of st john's church where they expressed a wish to be buried the private soldier sleeps where he fell piled in one mighty heap four thousand five hundred privates all lying side by side in death thirteen generals were killed and wounded four thousand five hundred men slain all piled and heaped together at one place i cannot tell the number of others killed and wounded god alone knows that we'll all find out on the morning of the final resurrection kind friends i have attempted in my poor and feeble way to tell you of this i can hardly call it battle it should be called by some other name but like all other battles it too has gone into history

i leave it with you i do not know who was to blame it lives in the memory of the poor old rebel soldier who went through that trying and terrible ordeal we shed a tear for the dead they are buried and forgotten we meet no more on earth but up yonder beyond the sunset and the night away beyond the clouds and tempest away beyond the stars that ever twinkle and shine in the blue vault above us away yonder by the great white throne and by the river of life where the almighty and eternal god sits surrounded by the angels and archangels and redeemed of earth we will meet again and see those noble and brave spirits who gave up their lives for their country's cause that night at franklin tennessee a life given for one's country is never lost it blooms again beyond the grave in a land of beauty and of love hanging around the throne of sapphire and gold a rich garland awaits the coming of him who died for his country and when the horloge of time has struck its last note upon his dying brow justice hands the record of life to mercy and mercy pleads with jesus and god for his sake receives him in his eternal home beyond the skies at last and forever

nashville a few more scenes my dear friends and we close these memoirs we march toward the city of nashville we camp the first night at brentwood the next day we can see the fine old buildings of solid granite looming up on capitol hill the capital of tennessee we can see the stars and stripes flying from the dome our pulse leaps with pride when we see the grand old architecture we can hear the bugle call and the playing of the bands of the different regiments in the federal lines now and then a shell is thrown into our midst from fort negley but no attack or demonstrations on either side we bivouac on the cold and hard frozen ground and when we walk about the echo of our footsteps sound like the echo of a tombstone the earth is crusted with snow and the wind from the northwest is piercing our very bones we can see our ragged soldiers with sunken cheeks and famine glistening eyes where were our generals alas there were none not one single general out of cheatham's division was left not one general b f cheatham himself was the only surviving general of his old division

nearly all our captains and colonels were gone companies mingled with companies regiments with regiments and brigades with brigades a few raw-boned horses stood shivering under the ice-covered trees nibbling the short scanty grass being in range of the federal guns from fort negley we were not allowed to have fires at night and our thin and ragged blankets were but poor protection against the cold raw blasts of december weather the coldest ever known the cold stars seem to twinkle with unusual brilliancy and the pale moon seems to be but one vast heap of frozen snow which glimmers in the cold gray sky and the air gets colder by its coming our breath forming in little rays seems to make a thousand little coruscations that scintillate in the cold frosty air i can tell you nothing of what was going on among the generals but there we were and that is all that i can tell you one morning about daylight our army began to move our division was then on the extreme right wing and then we were transferred to the left wing the battle had begun we were continually moving to our left we would build little temporary breastworks then we would be moved to another place

our lines kept on widening out and stretching further and further apart until it was not more than a skeleton of a skirmish line from one end to the other we started at a run we cared for nothing not more than a thousand yards off we could see the yankee cavalry artillery and infantry marching apparently still further to our left we could see regiments advancing at double quick across the fields while with our army everything seemed confused the private soldier could not see into things it seemed to be somewhat like a flock of wild geese where they have lost their leader we were willing to go anywhere or to follow anyone who would lead us we were anxious to flee fight or fortify i have never seen an army so confused and demoralized the whole thing seemed to be tottering and trembling when halt front right dress and adjutant mckinley reads us the following order soldiers the commanding general takes pleasure in announcing to his troops that victory and success are now within their grasp and the commanding general feels proud and gratified that in every attack and assault the enemy have been repulsed and the commanding general will further say to his noble and gallant troops be of good cheer all is well general john b hood general commanding kinlock falconer acting adjutant general

i remember how this order was received every soldier said oh shucks that is all shenanigan for we knew that we had never met the enemy or fired a gun outside of a little skirmishing and i will further state that that battle order announcing success and victory was the cause of a greater demoralization than if our troops had actually engaged in battle they at once mistrusted general hood's judgment as a commander and every private soldier in the whole army knew the situation of affairs i remember when passing by hood how feeble and decrepit he looked with an arm and a sling and a crutch and the other hand and trying to guide and control his horse and reader i was not a christian then and i am but little better to-day but as god sees my heart to-night i prayed in my heart that day for general hood poor fellow i loved him not as a general but as a good man i knew that when that army order was read that general hood had been deceived and that the poor fellow was only trying to encourage his men every impulse of his nature was but to do good and to serve his country as best he could

ah reader some day all will be well we continued marching toward our left our battle line getting thinner and thinner we could see the federals advancing their blue coats and banners flying and we could see their movements and hear them giving their commands our regiment was ordered to double quick to the extreme left wing of the army and we had to pass up a steep hill and the dead grass was wet and as slick as glass and it was with the greatest difficulty that we could get up that steep hillside when we got to the top we as skirmishers were ordered to deploy still further to the left billy carr and j e jones two as brave soldiers as ever breathed the breath of life in fact it was given up that they were the bravest and most daring men in the army of tennessee and myself were on the very extreme left wing of our army while we were deployed as skirmishers i heard surrender surrender and on looking around us i saw that we were right in the midst of a yankee line of battle they were lying down in the bushes and we were not looking for them so close to us we immediately threw down our guns and surrendered j e jones was killed at the first discharge of their guns when another yankee raised up and took deliberate aim at billy carr and fired the ball striking him below the eye and passing through his head

as soon as i could i picked up my gun and as the yankee turned i sent a mini ball crushing through his head and broke and run but i am certain that i killed the yankee who killed billy carr but it was too late to save the poor boy's life as i started to run a fallen dogwood tree tripped me up and i fell over the log it was all that saved me the log was riddled with balls and thousands it seemed to me passed over it as i got up to run again i was shot through the middle finger of the very hand that is now penning these lines and the thigh but i had just killed a yankee and i was determined to get away from there as soon as i could how i did get back i hardly know for i was wounded and surrounded by yankees one rushed forward and placing the muzzle of his gun in two feet of me discharged it but it missed its aim when i ran at him grabbing him by the collar and brought him off a prisoner captain joe p lee and colonel h r field remember this as would lieutenant-colonel john l house where he alive and all the balance of company h who were there at the time

i had eight bullet holes in my coat and two in my hand besides the one in my thigh and finger it was a hail-storm of bullets the above is true in every particular and it is but one incident of the war which happened to hundreds of others but alas all our valor and victories were in vain when god and the whole world were against us billy carr was one of the bravest and best men i ever knew he never knew what fear was and in consequence of his reckless bravery had been badly wounded at perryville murfreesboro chickamauga the octagon house dead angle and the twenty second of july at atlanta in every battle he was wounded and finally in the very last battle of the war surrendered up his life for his country's cause no father and mother of such a brave and gallant boy should ever sorrow or regret having borne to them such a son he was the flower and chivalry of his company he was as good as he was brave his bones rest yonder on the overton hills to-day while i have no doubt in my own mind that his spirit is with the redeemer of the hosts of heaven he was my friend

poor boy farewell when i got back to where i could see our lines it was one scene of confusion and rout finney's florida brigade had broken before a mere skirmish line and soon the whole army had caught the infection had broken and were running in every direction such a scene i never saw the army was panic-stricken the woods everywhere were full of running soldiers our officers were crying halt halt and trying to rally and reform their broken ranks the federals would dash their cavalry in amongst us and even their cannon joined in the charge one piece of yankee artillery galloped past me right on the road unlimbered their gun fired a few shots and galloped ahead again hood's whole army was routed and in full retreat nearly every man in the entire army had thrown away his gun and accoutrements more than ten thousand had stopped and allowed themselves to be captured while many dreading the horrors of a northern prison kept on and i saw many yea even thousands broken down from sheer exhaustion with despair and pity written on their features wagon trains cannon artillery cavalry and infantry were all blended in in inextricable confusion

broken down and jaded horses and mules refused to pull and the badly scared drivers looked like their eyes would pop out of their heads from fright wagon wheels interlocking each other soon clogged the road and wagons horses and provisions were left indiscriminately the officers soon became affected with the demoralization of their troops and rode on in dogged indifference general frank cheatham and general loring tried to form a line at brentwood but the line they formed was like trying to stop the current of duck river with a fish-net i believe the army would have rallied had there been any colors to rally to and as the straggling army moves on down the road every now and then we can hear the sullen roar of the federal artillery booming in the distance i saw a wagon and team abandoned and i unhitched one of the horses and rode on horseback to franklin where a surgeon tied up my broken finger and bandaged up my bleeding thigh my boot was full of blood and my clothing saturated with it i was at general hood's headquarters he was much agitated and affected pulling his hair with his one hand he had but one and crying like his heart would break i pitied him poor fellow i asked him for a wounded furlough and he gave it to me i never saw him afterward

i always loved and honored him and i will ever revere and cherish his memory he gave his life in the service of his country and i know to-day he wears a garland of glory beyond the grave where justice says well done and mercy has erased all his errors and faults i only write of the under strata of history in other words the private's history as i saw things then and remember them now the winter of eighteen sixty four five was the coldest that had been known for many years the ground was frozen and rough and our soldiers were poorly clad while many yes very many were entirely barefooted our wagon trains had either gone on we knew not weather or had been left behind everything and nature too seemed to be working against us even the keen cutting air that whistled through our tattered clothes and over our poorly covered heads seemed to lash us in its fury the floods of waters that had overflowed their banks seemed to laugh at our calamity and to mock us and our misfortunes all along the route were weary and foot-sore soldiers the citizens seemed to shrink and hide from us as we approached them and to cap the climax tennessee river was overflowing its banks and several federal gunboats were anchored just below mussel shoals firing at us while crossing

the once proud army of tennessee had degenerated into a mob we were pinched by hunger and cold the rains and sleet and snow never ceased falling from the winter sky while the winds pierced the old ragged gray-backed rebel soldier to his very marrow the clothing of many were hanging about them in shreds of rags and tatters while an old slouched hat covered their frozen ears some were on old raw-boned horses without saddles hon jefferson davis perhaps made blunders and mistakes but i honestly believe that he ever did what he thought best for the good of his country and there never lived on this earth from the days of hampton to george washington a purer patriot or nobler man than jefferson davis and like marius grand even in ruins hood was a good man a kind man a philanthropic man but he is both harmless and defenseless now he was a poor general in the capacity of commander-in-chief he had he been mentally qualified his physical condition would have disqualified him his legs and one of his arms had been shot off in the defense of his country as a soldier he was brave good noble and gallant

and fought with the ferociousness of the wounded tiger and with the everlasting grit of the bulldog but as a general he was a failure in every particular our country is gone our cause is lost octum est de republica chapter sixteen