The scout that was sent out in the direction of Burkesville on the 15th returned to camps. They reported that three or four regiments of Federals, with four pieces of artillery, were stationed on the north bank of the river some four miles above Burkesville. They also report that one night while they were out Captain Coffee, of Brazelton's Battalion, and three or four of his men put up with one Mr. Gridder. A squad of Federals crossed the river and came to Mr. Gridder's for the purpose, it was thought, of killing him. A skirmish ensued, which resulted in the killing of Mr. Gridder and wounding one of his sons and Captain Coffee. One of the enemy was killed and one wounded. We also heard that two of the Federal pickets in front of Beech Grove were killed.
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Friday, January 17, 1862
Monday, May 1, 2023
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, January 1, 1862
As this was the
first day of the new year there was a general inspection of horses, arms, etc.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate
Cavalry, p. 105
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Thursday, January 2, 1862
Colonel McNairy
started home on a furlough on account of ill health, leaving Captain Allison in
command of the battalion.
Allison received
orders to cross the river and report to Zollicoffer's headquarters as soon as
his men could cook three days' rations. We did not have three days’ rations,
but we cooked what we had, went to the river and commenced crossing, when, on
learning that we did not have the requisite amount of rations, Zollicoffer
ordered Allison to go back to camps and cook the rations, which he ordered the
brigade commissary to furnish. As soon as we had cooked our rations Allison
crossed the river and reported to our General that the First Battalion was
ready to move. Our Captain soon after returned and reported that the order to
cross the river was countermanded.
Mr. Andy Bogle, from
Cannon County, Tennessee, came in a carriage after Clabe Francis, a member of
Allison's Company, who was sick.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Friday, January 3, 1862
According to orders
given him while at headquarters last evening, Captain Allison set out from Camp
West with the larger portion of our battalion to meet and guard back another
wagon train. After a march of about thirty-four miles in the direction of
Livingston, we halted for the night near the line between Kentucky and
Tennessee.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Saturday, January 4, 1862
Going seven miles
further Allison met the wagons within eighteen miles of Livingston. Turning
back, he camped within one mile of where he camped the night before.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Sunday, January 5, 1862
Our wagons made a
very good drive that day, about twenty-two miles. We camped within five miles
of Monticello.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Monday, January 6, 1862
We moved in rear of
the wagons up to Monticello, and there we passed them and went into camp.
One of our comrades,
John Hearmon, who had been sick at Mr. West's about one month, died about
noon.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate
Cavalry, p. 106
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Tuesday, January 7, 1862
The First Battalion
had the honor of going on dress parade in the presence of Major-General George
B. Crittenden, who had arrived at Mill Springs and assumed command on the 3d
instant.
Colonel S. Powell's
Regiment (Twenty-ninth Tennessee) came with General Crittenden, and I think a
part of Colonel M. White's Regiment (Thirty-seventh Tennessee), of Carroll's
Brigade, arrived at the same time.
Good news! good
news! A small steamboat, the “Noble Ellis,” has arrived at Mill Springs loaded
with army stores, coffee, sugar, molasses, etc.
General Boyle, who
had returned to Columbia and was now in command of Eleventh Brigade, wrote as
follows to General Thomas, Lebanon, Kentucky:
A
rebel steamboat passed Burkesville yesterday (6th) at twelve o'clock, loaded
with men and cannon and other arms, clothing, etc.
I
send three hundred cavalry to heights on this side to intercept it, if
possible. I will move with three hundred of Third Kentucky and Nineteenth Ohio
to an advantageous position at the mouth of Renick's Creek, two and a half
miles above Burkesville, on the Cumberland. I shall move the whole force here
to Burkesville. It is only four miles further from Glasgow than Columbia.
I
am not willing to see the Cumberland surrendered without a struggle to
Zollicoffer and the rebel invaders.
We
have no cannon, and must rely on our rifles to take off the men from the boats.
With one piece of artillery the boats could be torn to atoms or sunk.
Can
you not send me a section of a battery?*
Fortunately for us,
Boyle did not stop our boat.
* Rebellion Records,
Vol. VII. p. 535.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, January 8, 1862
Two companies of
Brazelton's Battalion, fifty men from McNairy's, and about five companies of
infantry went about ten miles up the south side of the river to guard and load
a forage train. While the wagons were being loaded our infantry exchanged a few
shots with some Federals who were on the opposite bank of the river, without
any damage on our side.
All returned to camp
a little after dark with thirty-four wagons loaded with corn and oats.
W. C. Hancock,
brother to the writer, and four others from Company E started home on “sick
furlough.”
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Monday, January 13, 1862
A member of Company
A was elected color-bearer for First Battalion.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate
Cavalry, p. 107
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Tuesday, January 14, 1862
Forty-seven of our
battalion went sixteen miles down the south bank of the river to guard some
wagons that were hauling forage to the river to be brought up by our steamboat,
the Noble Ellis. It was a cold day; the ground was nearly covered with snow, but
at night it turned warmer and rained. We, and also our horses, had shelter.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, January 15, 1862
The Noble Ellis had
come down from Mill Springs and commenced loading, when we left and returned to
camp.
Another scout of
about one hundred men, some from our battalion and the balance from
Brazelton's, had started out in the direction of Burkesville before we returned
to camp.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate
Cavalry, p. 108
Sunday, April 9, 2023
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Monday, December 23, 1861
I went back to camp,
fifteen miles from Mr. West's.
Zollicoffer wrote to
A. S. Johnston, Bowling Green, Kentucky, as follows:
SIR—I
feel it my duty frankly to say that the failure to receive the reserves and
supplies I ordered up a month ago, and upon which in part the plan of campaign
was predicated, has given and is likely to give serious embarrassment.
I
now receive no responses to communications addressed to Knoxville connected
with the most important details.
I
have five (four and a half) regiments north of the river and two south. The
strength of the enemy is unknown, but it is reported by the country people to
be very large.
There
are now, I learn, in East Tennessee,1 besides the force at
Cumberland Gap, eight full regiments and a Georgia Battalion, a battery of
artillery and eight cavalry companies. I beg respectfully to say that it cannot
be that half this force is required there.
On
the other hand, were this column strengthened properly, the enemy could not
venture to pass London to attack Cumberland Gap. We could open the Cumberland
and drive the enemy from Somerset and Columbia.2
1 On the 10th of December General Carroll
reported his brigade five thousand strong, and all other troops in East
Tennessee at six thousand-total, eleven thousand.—Rebellion Records, Vol. V11., p. 751.
2 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 786.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Tuesday, December 24, 1861
Messrs. Franklin
Odom and Henry Dougherty bade us farewell and set out on their return home. W.
C. Kennedy of Allison's Company, having been discharged on account of bad
health, went home with them.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, December 25, 1861
According to orders
from our General, McNairy moved from Camp Hall. Leaving his wagon train and
camp equipage two or three hundred yards north of Mr. A. R. West's, and within
one mile of Mill Springs, he crossed the river with the main portion of his
Battalion, and took headquarters for the night with Branner's Battalion.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Thursday, December 26, 1861
Zollicoffer had
ordered a steamer to ascend the Cumberland to Celina, and if deemed safe to
press on to Mill Springs with army stores for his command. In order to make a
diversion in favor of this boat Colonel McNairy was ordered to go down the
north side of the river in the direction of Burkesville, with his own,
Branner's and McClellan's Battalions, in all about six hundred and fifty men. Setting
out from Beech Grove, as above directed, with First Battalion, under Captain
Allison, in front, McNairy moved at the head of the column until he neared
Jamestown, the county seat of Russell County, when, on learning that he would
meet the enemy at that place, he halted to hurry up Branner and McClellan, who
in the meantime had dropped somewhat behind.
When the head of our
battalion got within about two hundred yards of town the enemy opened on us,
but without doing any damage except the killing of one man (James Tate, Company
B) and one horse belonging to Adamson, who was a member of Allison's Company, and
F. W. Horn's horse was wounded and fell. Allison then fell back a short
distance and awaited the arrival of McNairy with the other two battalions. As
soon as our Colonel came up he ordered one battalion to move round rightward
and attack the north side of town, while he would move forward and attack the
east side of the place with the other two battalions. A messenger from the
battalion moving to the right reported to McNairy that the town could not be
approached from that direction. Therefore, as it was now about nightfall, the
Colonel withdrew the troops without making an attack. Falling back about two
miles, we halted and fed, after which we scattered along the road about four
miles further, where we remained till morning
1 Johnnie was a white man, but I do not
remember his surname.
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.
1 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., P: 517.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Saturday, December 28, 1861—6:30 p.m.
Half after six
o'clock, P. M., the writer and forty-four others of our battalion set out from
Camp West, going in the direction of Livingston, Tennessee, to meet and guard
back a wagon train which had been sent down the Cumberland to meet a steamer
from Nashville with supplies for Zollicoffer's command.
As the river was low
our wagons had to go as low as Carthage on this trip to meet the boats.
After a ride of
about twenty-two miles, we met a part of the wagons about two A. M. on [Sunday
the 29th.]
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Sunday, December 29, 1861
[H]alted for the
rest of the night within some four miles of Albany.
In the saddle again
early that morning, fourteen of our scouts went out within seven miles of
Creelsborough, while the rest went on in the direction of Livingston to meet
the other wagons. We all returned, without any incident worthy of note, to the
same place we started from that morning and camped for the night.
Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Monday, December 30, 1861
Having our wagons
all up, we moved about fourteen miles and camped near Monticello.