Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Friday, December 27, 1861

McClellan's and Branner's Battalions returned to their camps at Beech Grove. Our battalion recrossed the river and went into camps near Mr. West's, where we left our wagon train the 25th.

At nine P. M., Colonel T. E. Bramlette (First Kentucky Infantry), who was at that time in command of General Boyle's Brigade at Columbia, wrote as follows to General Thomas:

The enemy is at Jamestown, eighteen miles from here, some three thousand strong.

He has ascertained the strength and position of Colonel Wolford's camp, and threatens to destroy that before moving further. He has one thousand seven hundred mounted men, armed mostly as infantry.

I would not be surprised if the whole of Zollicoffer's forces were to be on us in two or three days.

We will, however, strike a blow, even if left to ourselves, that shall terrify the rebel hell-hounds wherever they hear of us. Retreat we will not, and if they come upon us we will fight the fight of desperation to win.¹

Notwithstanding McNairy did not go so far down the river as Zollicoffer had instructed him to go, yet it would seem from the above communication that the object of the expedition, at least to some extent, had been accomplished. That is to say, the attention of the Federals had been attracted from the river, and Colonel Bramlette was now holding his brigade in readiness at Columbia, awaiting an attack from Zollicoffer.

The long looked for “reserves” are coming in at last. Colonel William B. Wood, with a battalion of his regiment (Sixteenth Alabama), and Captain H. L. W. McClung, with his battery of artillery (six guns), have arrived. Colonel Samuel Powell's Regiment will be here soon, having started from Knoxville the 24th instant, Colonel Moses White's Regiment, of General Carroll's Brigade, is also on the way from Knoxville.

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¹ Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., P: 517.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 103-4

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Friday, December 13, 1861

I helped to bury Cousin A. N. Ramsey, who had died of fever two days before, from Franklin County, Alabama, and a member of the sixteenth Alabama Infantry. He was buried in the honors of war, near Mr. A. R. West's.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 97

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Tuesnday, December 17, 1861

Zollicoffer wrote to General A. S. Johnston thus:

Had the reserve of Powell's Regiment, Wood's Battalion and McClung's Battery been sent on, as I ordered, I could have advanced. But I can hear nothing official from Knoxville of them.

 

For a day or two past my information leads to the suspicion that the enemy contemplate an early attack upon this position.¹

It will be remembered that Powell's Regiment was detached from the brigade at Jacksborough and sent to Knoxville to help guard the railroad. Colonel Wood's Battalion — Sixteenth Alabama — was left at Knoxville — when Zollicoffer started on his first campaign into Kentucky.

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¹ Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 773 .

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 99

Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer to Lieutenant Colonel William W. Mackall, November 17, 1861

KNOXVILLE, TENN., November 17, 1861.

Lieutenant-Colonel MACKALL, Bowling Green, Ky.:

SIR: Having blockaded the roads over the mountains near Jacksborough, and believing the fortifications at Cumberland Gap very strong, I do not think an army train of the enemy can pass the mountains anywhere between the Pound Gap, in Virginia, and Jacksborough, a distance of about 120 miles. I have started the regiments of Colonels Statham, Newman, Cummings, and Battle, the first battalion of the Sixteenth Alabama Regiment, and Branner's battalion of cavalry, with Rutledge's battery, around by Wartburg, on the way to Jamestown, Tenn., and Monticello, Ky.

I came here rapidly last night to obtain more definite information of the state of things along the line of the railroad and among the tories generally. I will leave for Wartburg this evening, feeling that there is no necessity for remaining longer. General Carroll telegraphs me from Chattanooga that he is there with two regiments, half armed. I have ordered him here, with such of his command as are not engaged in pursuing Clift, a leading tory of Hamilton County, and his followers. Three different expeditions are moving from different points upon Clift's men. I fear they will disperse and take to the mountain fastnesses, eluding our forces. A Pensacola regiment, I learn, is at Chattanooga, and a regiment from Virginia is near Elizabethton, I hear. The present indications are that the tories are about being rapidly overwhelmed. I am seizing arms of Union men known to be inimical to Confederate Government, and hope in this way to arm Carroll's men who are not already armed. I propose to take and strengthen a position between Monticello and Somerset, giving us facilities for commanding the Cumberland River, the coal region supplying Nashville, &c. If I can clear the banks of the Cumberland of our enemies, supplies may this winter be furnished us by boats from Nashville. So soon as the state of things will justify, I would be pleased that General Carroll's brigade would support me in a forward movement.

Very respectfully,

F. K. ZOLLICOFFER,        

Brigadier-General.

P. S.—I should probably state to you more in detail what I telegraphed on the 15th, that I have information I think reliable that the enemy have no infantry nearer Cumberland Gap than London, where there are four regiments. They have about 200 cavalry at Barboursville. They have, I think, three regiments at Somerset, and are raising a fourth. They have a regiment at Crab Orchard, one at Rockcastle Camp, and one at Camp Dick Robinson. I suppose they have a regiment of cavalry at Somerset and near Monticello. My information is that six regiments, under General Nelson, advanced on Prestonburg, before whom Colonel Williams has retired through the Pound Gap.

Very respectfully,

F. K. ZOLLICOFFER,        

Brigadier-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 244-5

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, September 25, 1861

Harris's (B) and Ewing's (C) companies arrived from Knoxville and rejoined the rest of McNairy's Battalion at Camp Buckner.

Besides our battalion, General Zollicoffer now had with him at Camp Buckner four regiments of infantry (Statham, Rains, Cummings, and Battle), five cavalry companies (three of Branner's Battalion and two of Brazelton's), and one artillery company of six-pounders, commanded by Captain Rutledge. Colonel Newman's Regiment was at Cumberland Gap. The Sixteenth Alabama (Wood) and the Fourth Tennessee (Churchwell) Regiments of infantry, and McClellan's Battalion of cavalry and half of Branner's were left at Knoxville: There were stationed at various points in East Tennessee some other troops, mostly unarmed.

About six days previous to this, General Zollicoffer had, according to instructions received from General A. S. Johnston, ordered the Fourteenth Mississippi (Colonel Baldwin) and the Third East Tennessee (Colonel Lillard) Regiments of infantry to move to Camp Trousdale, to reinforce General S. B. Buckner, who was then in command of the Central Division of Kentucky, with headquarters at Bowling Green.*

General Zollicoffer had learned that there was a large quantity of salt at the salt works on Goose Creek, in Clay County, thirty-five miles north of Camp Buckner and eighteen miles east of a camp of Home Guards variously estimated at from six hundred to fifteen hundred—at Laurel Bridge, in Laurel County, some thirty-eight miles north-west of Camp Buckner and two miles south-east of London. As our General had decided to send a detachment to capture the salt above named, and also another detachment in the direction of this Federal encampment at Laurel Bridge to attract attention and mask the movement of the first, he therefore issued the following special orders:

• Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer, September 25, 1861

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* The above order fell into the hands of the Federals (how I know not) and on the 3d October it was sent by T. T. Garrard, who was Colonel of the Third Kentucky Regiment and in command at Camp Wildcat, or Rockcastle Hills, to General G. H. Thomas, who was in command at Camp Dick Robinson, some thirty-five miles beyond Wildcat. At the same time Garrard wrote to Thomas thus (italics mine):

“I have no information in regard to the rebels more than I wrote you, except the inclosed order of General Zollicoffer, which I have no doubt is genuine. I could not doubt it, because they carried out the instructions to the litter." - Rebellion Records, Vol. IV., p. 291.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 45-7

Alabama State Monument: Shiloh National Military Park

C. S. A.

ALABAMA

[Inscribed on the right side of the monument:]

C. S. A.

ALABAMA INFANTRY

4th Battalion, Maj. James M. Clifton.

16th Regiment, Lieut. Col. J. W. Harris.

17th Regt. Lieut. Col. Robert C. Fariss.

18th Regt. Col. Eli S. Shorter.

19th Regt. Col. Joseph Wheeler.

21st Regt. (Lieut. Col. Stewart W. Cayce

(Maj. Frederick Stewart.

22nd Regt. (Col. Zach C. Deas (Wounded)

(Lieut. Col. John C. Marrast

25th Regt. (Col. John Q. Loomis (Wounded)

(Major George D. Johnston

26th Regt. (Col. John G. Coltart (Wounded)

(Lieut. Col. William D. Chadick

31st Regt., Lieut. Col. Montgomery Gilbreath.

[Inscribed on the back of the monument:]

C. S. A.

ALABAMA

TO THE

LASTING MEMORY OF THE HEROES

FROM ALABAMA

WHO FOUGHT AT SHILOH

APRIL 6-7 1862

_____

ERECTED BY THE ALABAMA

DIVISION

UNITED DUAGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY

1907

[Inscribed on the left side of the monument:]

C. S. A.

ALABAMA GENERAL OFFICERS AT SHILOH.

Brig. Gen. Jones M. Withers, 2nd Div. 2nd Army Corps.

Brig. Gen. Sterling A. M. Wood, 3rd Brig. 3rd Army Corps.

ALABAMA CAVALRY

Gen. Bragg’s Escort, Company, Capt. Robert W. Smith.

First Battalion Capt. Thoms F. Jenkins

Miss. And Ala Battalion, Lieut. Col. Richard H. Brewer.

First Regiment, Col. James H. Clanton.

ALABAMA ARTILLERY.

Gage’s Battery, Capt. Charles P. Gage.

Ketchum’s Battery, Capt. Wm. H. Ketchum.

Robertson’s Battery, Capt. Felix H. Robertson

General Robert E. Lee to Brigadier General G. W. Custis Lee, July 24, 1864

CAMP, 24th July, 1864.

My Dear Son:

I have received your letter of the 20th. Colonel Carter's report of his operations was very satisfactory, as far as they went, but they are not sufficient to arrest the navigation of the river. Nothing less, in my opinion, will produce the result desired.

I have written to General Ewell on the subject, and I wish if in your power you would help him to a conclusion. I sent yesterday General Kershaw's division to Chaffin's, which I can ill spare, and which I fear I shall be obliged soon to recall. General Early telegraphs that the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps, he learned on the 23d, were moving back through Leesburg toward Alexandria.

I presume it is for the purpose of returning to Grant, when I shall require all the troops I can get. If anything can therefore be done, it must be done quickly. I directed General Kershaw to take command of the brigades under Conner, examine the enemy's position at Dutch bottom, and see what could be done.

I have not heard from him yet. The Sixtieth Alabama has been returned to Gracie's brigade, and B. R. Johnson's old brigade has been sent in its place. The latter seemed much worn down, and I was in hopes a little relief would bring it up. General Gary does not seem yet to have his cavalry well in hand, and perhaps on its present duties it is impossible to give it that instruction and discipline it requires.

But until he does get it in that condition, it will never possess steadiness or reliability. Where are we to get sufficient troops to oppose Grant? He is bringing to him now the Nineteenth Corps, and will bring every man he can get. His talent and strategy consists in accumulating overwhelming numbers. I see it stated in the papers that the enemy has abandoned the Trans-Miss, country. Is it so? They must be very weak, and unless Kirby Smith can operate to advantage in Missouri he had better cross to this side. There must be few troops in Canby's department, now that the Nineteenth Corps has been withdrawn. I received the package of clothes. They are very nice, and suit admirably. They are so much admired that I fear I shall have many applicants for their loan from the beaux. I saw F. and Rob yesterday. Both well. Please send the accompanying letter to your mother if you can. I am glad to learn she is improving.

Your devoted father,

R. E. LEE.

GEN. G. W. CUSTIS LEE.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 306-7