No. 200.
Report of Brig. Gen. Richard W. Johnson, U. S. Army,
commanding Sixth Division, of operations November 24-December 19, 1864.
HEADQUARTERS SIXTH DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS,
Edgefield, Tenn., December 24, 1864.
MAJOR: In accordance with military usage, I have the honor
to submit the following report of the operations of the cavalry under my
command during the recent and still pending campaign against the enemy in
Middle Tennessee:
It may be proper for me to premise that when I assumed
command of this division, on the 24th day of November, near Columbia, I found
present only Capron's old brigade of the Cavalry Division, Army of the Ohio,
composed of the Fourteenth and Sixteenth Illinois Regiments and Eighth Michigan
Cavalry, numbering in the aggregate about 800 mounted men, poorly armed and
equipped, and I regret to say considerably demoralized by an unsuccessful
campaign of some duration against an enemy superior to them in numbers, mount,
and equipment. On this same day the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, Maj. J. Morris Young
commanding, about 500 strong, reported to me, and on the day following
Brigadier-General Croxton, with his fine brigade of the First Cavalry Division,
was also placed under my command. Of the operations of General Croxton's
brigade during the short time he was under my command I shall not attempt
particularly to speak, though I desire to observe that upon all occasions both
General Croxton and the officers and soldiers of his command conducted
themselves in a manner becoming the high reputation which both he and they
deservedly enjoy.
Early in the afternoon of the 24th, the infantry having
arrived at Columbia, my troops were, by order of Brevet Major-General Wilson,
withdrawn to the north side of Duck River and encamped directly opposite
Columbia. I lay at this place until the evening of the 25th, picketing the
river below Columbia as far down as Williamsport, and sending scouts across the
river above, in the direction of Lewisburg. On the 25th I removed Croxton's
brigade to Caldwel's house, six miles above Columbia, on the road to Raleigh
[Rally] Hill. Capron's brigade, to which the Fifth Iowa had been temporarily
assigned, was sent to take post on the Lewisburg pike at the crossing of Duck
River, with instructions to scout toward Shelbyville and Lewisburg, and to
picket the fords as far down as Huey's Mill. Croxton established a strong
picket at Huey's Mill, which lay directly south of his camp, and also relieved
the pickets from Capron's brigade at the fords below Columbia. In this position
I lay until the 27th [28th]. On the morning of that day it became apparent,
from the reports of my pickets, that the enemy were making preparations to
force the passage of the river at Huey's Mill, at the Lewisburg pike, and at
many intermediate fords. At 1 o'clock of this day, under orders from Brevet
Major-General Wilson, I moved with Croxton's brigade for Hurt's house, on the
Lewisburg pike, at the same time sending orders to Colonel Harrison, whom I
then supposed to be in command of my First Brigade (Capron's), to fall back to
that point. The head of my column reached the Lewisburg turnpike just after
night-fall in time to find the Seventh Ohio Cavalry and detachments of the
other regiments of Capron's brigade retiring in the direction of Franklin.
Understanding the enemy to be in pursuit I directed Colonel Garrard, Seventh
Ohio Cavalry, to send out one company to hold them in check, formed Croxton's
brigade across the pike and sent orders to Colonel Capron to halt, reorganize,
and form his troops. The enemy, however, did not come on, and later in the
evening the Fifth Iowa Cavalry and the greater part of the Fourteenth and Sixteenth
Illinois Cavalry, from whom Colonel Capron had been cut off by the enemy, came
into camp, having gallantly charged through the superior force of the enemy,
which had interposed itself between them and the rest of the command.
On the 28th [29th] we fell back, contesting the ground with
the enemy's cavalry, across Harpeth River to the road from Franklin to Triune,
where we camped for the night near Matthews' house, picketing the river at
Davis', Henderson's, and Hughes' Fords. On the morning of the 29th [30th] the
Fifth Iowa Cavalry was detached pursuant to orders of Major-General Schofield,
and sent to picket the right of the army; they did not rejoin me until we
reached Nashville. Croxton's brigade was posted on the immediate left of the
infantry, covering the Lewisburg turnpike. General Hatch's division was
interposed between him and my First Brigade, of which on this day Col. Thomas
J. Harrison, Eighth Indiana Cavalry, under orders from Brevet Major-General
Wilson, assumed command. Late in the afternoon of this day occurred the battle
of Franklin. For the gallant part taken by General Croxton's brigade I
respectfully refer to his report. Colonel Harrison's brigade held the extreme
left and was not engaged. On the 30th [December 1] we retired by the dirt road
north to Mayfield's house, near Brentwood, thence across the country to the
Nolensville pike, and camped for the night on Mill Creek near the Widow
Harris'.
On the morning of the 1st [2d] of December we retired to
Nashville, and later in the day crossed the river and encamped in Edgefield.
The week of rest allowed us here was assiduously devoted to recuperating and
shoeing the horses of the command, pressing new ones from the surrounding
country, refitting the command in respect to clothing, camp and garrison
equipage, of which they stood in great need, and exchanging the infantry arms,
with which the regiments of Capron's old brigade had been encumbered, for
carbines. In these labors I was efficiently assisted by Colonel Harrison,
commanding First Brigade, and by his regimental commanders. In spite of the
proverbial inefficiency of the ordnance department, Colonel Harrison, by
untiring efforts, succeeded in procuring sabers sufficient to arm all his
regiments; Burnside carbines for the Fourteenth and Sixteenth Illinois
Regiments, and revolvers for the Eighth Michigan. In the matter of horses we
were not quite so fortunate—the Fifth Iowa Cavalry, which was sent to
Hopkinsville, Ky., procured a full remount for themselves; the Seventh Ohio
Cavalry, which during our stay in Edgefield was stationed at Hyde's Ferry to
watch the river in that direction, procured eighteen horses from the country in
their rear; the other regiments perhaps twenty horses altogether. By
dismounting the Eighth Michigan and Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry, however,
pursuant to orders from Brevet Major-General Wilson, I was able to efficiently
mount the Sixteenth Illinois Cavalry and Seventh Ohio Cavalry. My mounted
troops I placed under command of Colonel Harrison and my dismounted regiments
under command of Col. James Biddle, Sixth Indiana Cavalry, who, on the 7th of
December, joined me with his regiment dismounted, so that when offensive
operations began I moved with one brigade mounted, composed of the Fifth Iowa,
Seventh Ohio, and Sixteenth Illinois Regiments, commanded by Colonel Harrison,
with an aggregate strength of 1,340, and a dismounted brigade, composed of the
Sixth Indiana and Fourteenth Illinois Regiments, commanded by Col. James
Biddle, of an aggregate strength of 759. The Eighth Michigan Cavalry, being
armed with only pistols and sabers, and the Third Tennessee Cavalry, which
reported to me on the 13th of December, for the most part without arms (their
arms having been taken away from them by order of Brigadier-General Hammond,
upon their return to my division from his brigade, with which they had been
serving), I left in camp at Nashville.
On the morning of the 12th of December, in accordance with
orders from the brevet major-general commanding corps, we broke camp, classed
the river, and moved to the vicinity of Heiferman's house, near the Charlotte
pike; there we remained in bivouac during the two following days.
At 4 o'clock on the morning of the 15th of December, in
accordance with Special Orders, No. 3, from corps headquarters, I broke camp
and moved on the Charlotte pike to the exterior line of fortifications, which I
found occupied by McArthur's division of General A. J. Smith's corps. My orders
required me to advance upon the enemy at 6 a.m., but as General McArthur's
troops did not get in motion until long past this hour, and when their movement
began advanced at first on the precise line by which I was directed to move,
and as the orders contemplated a simultaneous attack, both by the infantry and
cavalry, all along the line, my division covering the right and rear of the
movement, I was delayed for several hours beyond the time designated. It was
about 11 o'clock, as nearly as I can remember, that I received a message from
Major-General Wilson, through a staff officer, notifying me that everything was
in readiness for the attack, and directing me to advance. In order to answer
the fire of a battery, which the movements of General McArthur's troops had
previously developed on the commanding heights beyond Richland Creek, I had
previously posted two pieces of Lieutenant Smith's battery in position near
Douglass' house in the low ground on this side of the creek. I at first ordered
Colonel Biddle to advance with his regiments deployed across the pike, and with
a strong skirmish line covering his front to cress the creek, drive in the
enemy's skirmishers, and assault the enemy's barricades on the crest of the
ridge beyond, Harrison to hold himself in readiness to follow up Biddle's
attack with his mounted brigade. But the movements of the dismounted cavalry
were so slow, owing, I suppose, partly to their being unused to maneuver as
infantry, partly to the difficulty in crossing the creek, and partly to their
sabers, which the commanding officer of the Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry had,
with a singular shortsightedness, permitted his men to bring with them, that I
finally ordered Harrison to pass the dismounted brigade and attack the enemy
with all possible energy. My order was executed with commendable celerity. The
Fifth Iowa dismounted and engaged the skirmishers sharply in the neighborhood
of the pike, finally crossing the creek and driving them from their covert,
while the Sixteenth Illinois Cavalry, passing to their left, crossed the creek
and charged mounted up the long slope to the ridge upon which the enemy's
battery and dismounted men in barricades were posted. The object of this charge
was to capture this battery, or, at least, to disperse the supports and shoot
down the horses before the guns could be moved, in which case I confidently
anticipated the guns would fall into our hands, even though the charge should
be repelled by a counter-charge. I never saw a charge more gallantly made or
more persistently pressed than this. It failed only by a few moments. Major
Beeres, commanding, came upon a stone wall, over which he could not leap his
horses. The delay necessary to pull it down sufficed for the enemy to limber up
and move the guns, which they incontinently did, the cavalry which had been
supporting them also mounting and riding away in haste. A few prisoners,
however, fell into our hands. The enemy, retiring by the pike, made a second
stand near Cochran's house, from which, however, Harrison hustled them with
amusing celerity, and drove him rapidly to Davidson's house. Here, along the
ridge beyond a little creek which empties into the Cumberland this side of
Davidson's and opposite Bell's Mill, the enemy took up a strong position, his
left resting upon the river and his line stretching some distance across the
pike; his artillery posted near the house swept the bridge and the pike beyond
it, and his dismounted men, strongly posted in barricades, which I suppose he
had previously constructed with a view to such an emergency, commanded at close
range all the crossings of the creek. Harrison's men, in the energy of his
pursuit not observing, or at least not appreciating, the advantages of the
enemy's position, attempted to follow the enemy's rear directly into his works,
and in this too gallant effort one company of the Seventh Ohio was roughly
handled, losing one man seriously wounded, and several captured, including
Lieutenant Little, the commanding officer. Our advance being stayed by this
repulse, the enemy opened a sharp fire from his battery, doing us, however, no
damage. This continued until I brought up Lieutenant Smith with his battery,
who, taking position near the pike, soon closed out his rebel adversary. I had
now accomplished the limit of the day's work assigned me, but there being still
some hour or two of daylight left, I was determined not to give the enemy rest
if it could be avoided. Colonel Harrison reported, and my own observation
justified his opinion, that the enemy's position was too strong to be carried
by my small command, prisoners reporting Chalmers' whole division to be in our
front. I had strong hopes, however, that if I could obtain the co-operation of
General Croxton's brigade I might capture the enemy's guns, and, if he should
make too determined a stand, perhaps a good part of his force. I was encouraged
to think by an officer who came to me from General Croxton that the condition
of things in his front might permit this, and I accordingly maneuvered my
troops so as to attract the attention of the enemy to me, while Croxton, who was
now a long distance to my left and rear, should comply with a request which I
sent him to close up on my left and swing around so as to envelop the enemy's
right and cut him off from the Charlotte pike, which here bears considerably to
the south—that is, toward the enemy's right. In this way I hoped we might
double him back upon the river, when I felt sure we should make short work of
him. In the meantime I sent an officer to notify the commander of one of the
gun-boats which lay in the river above my right that by dropping down to near
Bell's Mills he might enfilade the rebel line; this information he speedily
took advantage of and the tremendous discharges of his heavy guns contributed
largely, I doubt not, to the already serious demoralization of the enemy. I was
disappointed, however, in my anticipations of General Croxton's aid. I was
informed late in the evening that orders from Brevet Major-General Wilson
prevented his complying with my request. I learned this when it was too late to
make other dispositions in time to follow up my advantage in case my attack
should succeed, and accordingly, after throwing my mounted men to my left, I
went into bivouac, ordering everything to be in readiness for movement by 4
o'clock on the following morning, and instructing Colonel Harrison, with the
first break of day, to execute the movement which I had requested General
Croxton to make. I must not neglect to mention that in this day's operations we
captured near fifty horses, so rapidly were our lines advanced.
At break of day on the following morning Harrison advanced,
as I had instructed him, only to find the enemy's works abandoned. I pushed
Harrison forward on the road by which he had retreated, moving with Harrison
and the battery myself, and ordering Colonel Biddle to follow with his
dismounted brigade and my ammunition train of four wagons, We marched down the
Charlotte pike near a mile; there following the enemy's trail we diverged by a
dirt road to the left, crossing the Hardin pike at the brick church, nine miles
from Nashville. From there, following the valley of the Little Harpeth, I
reached the Hillsborough pike about 2 p.m., where, posted on the ridges north
of Murray's house, we found the enemy in some force and with artillery, which
they opened upon us. The first round from Lieutenant Smith's guns, however,
silenced their battery, and at our first advance they retired, after exchanging
a few shots with our skirmishers, their main force by the road east toward the
Franklin pike, and a few down the Hillsborough pike toward Harpeth River. On
reaching the pike I found a brigade of General Knipe's division upon it in my
rear, and, having had no communication with the brevet major-general commanding
the corps during the day, I halted and dispatched a messenger to notify him of
my whereabouts and to request instructions. At nightfall the messenger not
having returned, and General Knipe's troops being still in the position in
which I found them, I went into bivouac, covering the pike and the cross-road
by which the enemy had retreated. In our haste to overtake the enemy, on
discovering their evacuation of the position they had taken at Davidson's, we
left behind us a battery of six guns abandoned by the enemy. They were
afterward discovered, as I am informed, by the forces of the gun-boat flotilla
and sent into Nashville. I submit that I am entitled to claim these as the
capture of my division.
On the morning of the 17th I moved at 4 o'clock in the
morning down the Hillsborough pike, driving the enemy's pickets, whom we found
in barricades on the ridges beyond Brown's Creek; forded the Harpeth River, and
moved by the dirt road past Moore's and Davis' into Franklin, where I struck
the flank of the rebel rear guard of cavalry, who were there posted to prevent
the passage of the river by General Knipe's division, which had advanced down
the Franklin turnpike. On discovering my approach they immediately withdrew
their artillery, and as my skirmishers advanced they retired precipitately down
the Columbia pike to the high ridges south of the town. Here there fell into
our hands all of the rebel and our own wounded of the late battle of Franklin,
besides some 17,000 rations. The Seventh Ohio Cavalry, charging through the
town, captured some fifty of the enemy's rear guard, and would have pressed the
pursuit farther had I not sent them word to stop. Passing from my right over to
the Columbia pike, I found Brigadier-General Knipe with his advance, which had
followed my charge through the town. On conferring with him it was agreed that
he should continue his advance by the Columbia pike, while I took the Carter's
Creek pike to the right of this. Accordingly, I moved down the latter pike,
three miles and a half, to Reams' house, and from there sent Harrison with the
Fifth Iowa by a cross-road to strike the right of the enemy's rear guard, which
I judged from the sound to be heavily engaged with General Knipe. The enemy
retired so rapidly, however, that this attempt failed, and, Harrison returning,
we bivouacked two regiments and artillery at Reams', the Fifth Iowa three miles
farther from the pike. On the following morning, starting at 5 a.m., I moved
down the Carter's Creek pike to —— house, and from there by the dirt road east
into Spring Hill, coming up here, as at Franklin, just in time to turn the
enemy's flank and compel him to retire precipitately before the forces
advancing down the main pike. Here, together with the Fifth and Seventh
Divisions of the corps, I halted by order of Brevet Major-General Wilson to
await rations, and on the day following I returned with my dismounted regiments
to this place to remount them.
For the subsequent operations of Colonel Harrison's brigade
I most respectfully refer to the report of that officer.
I will forward at an early day a list of casualties, which
cannot be furnished at this time for the want of the subreports.
I cannot close my report without expressing my deep regret
that the corps commander should have ordered my two best regiments transferred
to another divisions, while I received in their place one dismounted regiment,
not distinguished for its efficiency.
The campaign, though short, called for great endurance on
the part of officers and men; long, tedious marches in cold and constant rains
were endured without a murmur, and it is a pleasure, as well as a duty, for me
to report that both officers and men did their duty nobly.
To the energy and gallantry of Col. Thomas J. Harrison much
of our success is due. No colonel in the army has a more brilliant record, and
I hope he may receive his well-earned promotion at an early day. Col. Israel
Garrard, Lieutenant-Colonel Baird, and Major Beeres deserve especial mention
for their good conduct and able management of their regiments.
To the officers of my staff' my thanks are due. Capt. E. T.
Wells, assistant adjutant-general; Capt. T. F. Allen, inspector; Capt. J. J.
Kessler, provost-marshal; Lieuts. L. T. Morris and W. R. Lowe, aide-de-camp,
and Lieutenant McKee, ordnance officer, were distinguished here, as on many other
fields, for their devotion to duty and gallantry in the discharge of the same.
Chief Surgeon Train was always on hand, and through his energy and zeal our
wounded were well and promptly attended to.
Respectfully submitted.
R. W. JOHNSON,
Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Commanding Division.
Maj. E. B. BEAUMONT,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Cavalry Corps.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
45, Part 1 (Serial No. 93), p. 597-602
