Showing posts with label Danville Leadbetter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Danville Leadbetter. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Monday, December 16, 1861

According to orders from Zollicoffer, McNairy moved his battalion back to Camp Hall, where he remained for about nine days longer.

COMMENTARY.

It would seem that while at Richmond, in the latter part of last month, Major-General George B. Crittenden was directed by President Davis to proceed to East Tennessee, assume command of all the forces under Zollicoffer, and with ten additional regiments, to be furnished by the President, move into Kentucky at once. Accordingly Crittenden arrived at Knoxville and assumed command “about the first day of December.1

On the 6th he dispatched for the ten regiments,2 and on the 8th he received the following from the Secretary of War:

The President desires that you return to Richmond and report to him without delay.3

 On the 13th he was ordered to return to his department, which he did, but without bringing any troops with him.

On the 16th he wrote to the Adjutant and Inspector-General, S. Cooper, at Richmond, as follows:

General Zollicoffer is threatened by a much superior force in front and one nearly equal on his left flank. He has been ordered by me to recross the river.

 

He asks for six pieces, twenty-four pounders or eight inch howitzers. Colonel Powell's regiment has been ordered from the railroad to join Zollicoffer immediately, and Colonel Leadbetter informed, so that he can replace the guard it withdraws.

 

To make General Carroll's brigade effective it is necessary to obtain eight hundred muskets, which are known to be in ordnance office at Memphis. Please order William R. Hunt, ordnance officer at that point, to forward them immediately to this place, subject to my order.4

 Three citizens from the vicinity of Auburn, Cannon County, Tennessee—Messrs. Franklin Odom, Henry Dougherty and Hop Kennedy—arrived at Camp Hall in the afternoon of the above date, the 16th. Each of them had sons, and also many other relatives and friends, in Captain Allison's Company. They came to spend a few days with us, and we appreciated and enjoyed their visit very much. Three of our company who had been home on a visit and two recruits came with them.
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1 Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 763.

2 Ibid., p. 740.

3 Ibid., p. 745.

4 “So ordered same day.” Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 770.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 98-9

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Judah P. Benjamin to Robert L. Owen, November 10, 1861

RICHMOND, November 10, 1861.
R. L. OWEN, President Railroad, Lynchburg:

Your dispatch received. Colonel Leadbetter, of Engineer Corps, will leave in the morning with a battalion and battery of field pieces. He is charged with the duty of restoring and guarding the communications. Other forces will be sent to him via Chattanooga. Your earnest cooperation with him is relied on by the President.

J. P. BENJAMIN,    
Acting Secretary of War.

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. 234

Judah P. Benjamin to General Braxton Bragg, November 10, 1861

RICHMOND, November 10, 1861.

General B. BRAGG, Pensacola:

The President desires that you send one regiment of your command with the least delay to Chattanooga, with orders to report to Colonel Leadbetter, of Engineer Corps, who is charged with the special duty of restoring and maintaining the communications that have been interrupted by the burning of the railroad bridges by bands of traitors. He thinks it best to send one of the Alabama regiments now at Mobile, but leaves you to exercise your own discretion in choosing the regiment to be sent. This is so urgent as to admit of no delay, but the regiment will be restored to you the moment we can replace it. Other forces are dispatched from here to perform the same duty at Bristol, where another bridge has been burned.

J. P. BENJAMIN,    
Acting Secretary of War.

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. 234

Samuel Cooper to Colonel Danville Leadbetter, November 10, 1861

RICHMOND, November 10, 1861.
Col. D. LEADBETTER:

COLONEL: Herewith you will receive an order to report to Tennessee, to keep up the line of communication by rail between Bristol and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Upon arriving in Tennessee you are authorized to call upon the railroad companies, and also upon communities in vicinity of railroad, for aid and material, employing both where necessary, giving certificates usual in such cases. While reconstructing bridges and repairing the roads you will give due care to the telegraph communication, re-establishing it where interfered with, exercising in this the authority granted with regard to the road. To enable you to carry out these instructions Stovall's battalion, with a light battery, will be ordered to report to you at Bristol, and a regiment ordered from General Bragg at Chattanooga, to be so disposed of as may best secure successful accomplishment of your orders. You will report to General A. S. Johnston by letter your arrival in Tennessee, the nature of your instructions, also advising General Zollicoffer to the same effect. Full and frequent reports are desired of your operations, respecting condition of the road, and disposition of the population adjacent thereto.

I am, sir, respectfully, &c.,
S. COOPER,        
Adjutant and Inspector 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. 234-5

Monday, October 17, 2022

Judah P. Benjamin: Special Orders, No. 216, November 11, 1861

SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 216}

ADJT. AND INSP'R GENERAL'S OFFICE,        
Richmond, Va., November 11, 1861.

1. Col. Danville Leadbetter, Provisional Army, is hereby assigned to the command of the troops to be stationed for the protection of the railroad between Bristol and Chattanooga, Tenn. He will reconstruct bridges, repair and keep open the line of communication between those points, and will call upon railroad companies for such aid as he may require to carry out this order.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

3. Maj. Gen. G. B. Crittenden, Provisional Army, will immediately proceed to Cumberland Gap, Ky., and assume command of the troops in that district, reporting at once by letter to General A. S. Johnston at Bowling Green, Ky.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

By command of the Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,        
Assistant Adjutant-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. 538

Judah P. Benjamin to Colonel William B. Wood, November 25, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,        
Richmond, November 25, 1861.
Col. W. B. WOOD, Knoxville, Tenn.:

SIR: Your report of the 20th instant* is received, and I proceed to give you the desired instructions in relation to the prisoners taken by you amongst the traitors in East Tennessee:

1st. All such as can be identified as having been engaged in bridge-burning are to be tried summarily by drum-head court-martial, and, if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging. It would be well to leave their bodies hanging in the vicinity of the burned bridges.

2d. All such as have not been so engaged are to be treated as prisoners of war, and sent with an armed guard to Tuscaloosa, Ala., there to be kept imprisoned at the depot selected by the Government for prisoners of war. Wherever you can discover that arms are concealed by these traitors you will send out detachments, search for and seize the arms. In no case is one of the men known to have been up in arms against the Government to be released on any pledge or oath of allegiance. The time for such measures is past. They are all to be held as prisoners of war, and held in jail till the end of the war. Such as come in voluntarily, take the oath of allegiance, and surrender their arms are alone to be treated with leniency.

Your vigilant execution of these orders is earnestly urged by the Government.

Your obedient servant,
J.P. BENJAMIN,        
Secretary of War.

P. S.—Judge Patterson, Colonel Pickens, and other ringleaders of the same class must be sent at once to Tuscaloosa to jail as prisoners of war.

[NOTE.—The same letter with a slight verbal alteration of the opening paragraph and the omission of the postscript, was sent at the same time to Brig. Gen. F. K. Zollicoffer, Jacksborough, Tenn., and Colonel Leadbetter, Jonesborough, Tenn.]
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* See “Revolt of the Unionists in East Tennessee,” Series I,Vol. IV, p. 250, this section of the Official Records starts on p. 230.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 701

Friday, June 17, 2016

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Monday, May 25, 1863

I was disappointed in the aspect of Mobile. It is a regular rectangular American city, built on a sandy flat, and covering a deal of ground for its population, which is about 25,000.

I called on General Maury, for whom I brought a letter of introduction from General Johnston. He is a very gentlemanlike and intelligent but diminutive Virginian, and had only just assumed the command at Mobile.

He was very civil, and took me in a steamer to see I the sea defences. We were accompanied by General Ledbetter the engineer, and we were six hours visiting the forts.

Mobile is situated at the head of a bay thirty miles long. The blockading squadron, eight to ten in number, is stationed outside the bay, the entrance to which is defended by forts Morgan and Gaines; but as the channel between these two forts is a mile wide, they might probably be passed.

Within two miles of the city, however, the bay becomes very shallow, and the ship channel is both dangerous and tortuous. It is, moreover, obstructed by double rows of pine piles, and all sorts of ingenious torpedos, besides being commanded by carefully constructed forts, armed with heavy guns, and built either on islands or on piles.

Their names are Fort Pinto, Fort Spanish River, Apalache, and Blakeley.1

The garrisons of these forts complained of their being unhealthy, and I did not doubt the assertion. Before landing, we boarded two iron-clad floatingbatteries. The Confederate fleet at Mobile is considerable, and reflects great credit upon the energy of the Mobilians, as it has been constructed since the commencement of the war. During the trip, I overheard General Maury soliloquising over a Yankee flag, and saying, “Well, I never should have believed that I could have lived to see the day in which I should detest that old flag.” He is cousin to Lieutenant Maury, who has distinguished himself so much by his writings, on physical geography especially. The family seems to be a very military one. His brother is captain of the Confederate steamer Georgia.

After landing, I partook of a hasty dinner with General Maury and Major Cummins. I was then mounted on the General's horse, and was sent to gallop round the land defences with Brigadier-General Slaughter and his Staff. By great good fortune this was the evening of General Slaughter's weekly inspection, and all the redoubts were manned by their respective garrisons, consisting half of soldiers and half of armed citizens who had been exempted from the conscription either by their age or nationality, or had purchased substitutes. One of the forts was defended by a burly British guard, commanded by a venerable Captain Wheeler.2

After visiting the fortifications, I had supper at General Slaughter’s house, and met some of the  refugees from New Orleans — these are now being huddled neck and crop out of that city for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. Great numbers of women and children are arriving at Mobile every day; they are in a destitute condition, and they add to the universal feeling of exasperation. The propriety of raising the black flag, and giving no quarter, was again freely discussed at General Slaughter's, and was evidently the popular idea. I heard many anecdotes of the late “Stonewall Jackson,” who was General Slaughter's comrade in the Artillery of the old army. It appears that previous to the war he was almost a monomaniac about his health. When he left the U. S. service he was under the impression that one of his legs was getting shorter than the other; and afterwards his idea was that he only perspired on one side, and that it was necessary to keep the arm and leg of the other side in constant motion in order to preserve the circulation; but it seems that immediately the war broke out he never made any further allusion to his health. General Slaughter declared that on the night after the terrific repulse of Burnside's army at Fredericksburg, Stonewall Jackson had made the following suggestion: — “I am of opinion that we ought to attack the enemy at once; and in order to avoid the confusion and mistakes so common in a night-attack, I recommend that we should all strip ourselves perfectly naked.”3 Blockade-running goes on very regularly at Mobile; the steamers nearly always succeed, but the schooners are generally captured. To-morrow I shall start for the Tennessean army, commanded by General Braxton Bragg.
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1 A description of either its sea or land defences is necessarily omitted.

2 Its members were British subjects exempted from the conscription, but they had volunteered to fight in defence of the city.

3 I always forgot to ask General Lee whether this story was a true one.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 129-33

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

From Gen. Mitchell’s Division

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 4th.

Hon. E. M. Stanton;– Your dispatch is received.  A soldier’s highest reward for service is to merit and received the approbation of his superior officers

An expedition from Bridgeport crossed the river, May 1st, advanced towards Chattanooga, 12 miles, and captured stores and a southern mail from some railroad hands.

A panic prevailed at Chattanooga.  The enemy is moving all his property in the direction of Atlanta.  Gen. Leadbeater had been chastised for cowardice at Bridgeport.  There were not more than 20,000 troops at Chattanooga.  They destroyed a slatpetre manufactory in a cave, and returned safely with the captured property.

Another expedition penetrated to Jasper and found a strong Union feeling.  On the same day they had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry at Athens.  Our outposts were driven back, but on being reinforced the enemy retreated in the direction of Florence.  There are straggling bands of mounted citizens along my entire line, threatening the bridges, one of which they succeeded in destroying.

Signed,

O. M. MITCHELL,
Maj. Gen.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 6, 1862, p. 1