1st Regiment St. Louis City Guard Infantry.

Organized September 25, 1864, for the Defence of the city of St. Louis during Price's invasion of Missouri. Relieved from active service October 31, 1864.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Battalion Missouri State Militia Infantry. ("Cox's.")

Organized and mustered in at Cameron for six months September 11, 1861. Duty scouting in Clinton, DeKalb, Caldwell and Davis Counties till March, 1862. Mustered out March 14, 1862.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Battalion St. Louis City Guard Infantry.

Organized September 25, 1864, for the Defence of the city of St. Louis during Price's invasion of Missouri. Relieved from active service October 31, 1864.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Battalion St. Louis City Guard Colored Infantry.

Organized September 25, 1864, for the Defence of the city of St. Louis during Price's invasion of Missouri. Relieved from active service October 31, 1864.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Missouri Infantry. — (3 Months.)

Organized at St. Louis, Mo., April 22, 1861. Attached to 3rd Brigade, Lyon's Army of the West. Capture of Camp Jackson, St. Louis, Mo., May 10. Capture of Jefferson City June 14. Booneville June 17 (Co. "B"). Mexico July 15. Battle of Wilson's Creek August 10. Retreat to Rolla, thence to St. Louis, Mo. Mustered out August 31, 1861.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Missouri Infantry. — (3 Years.)

Organized at St. Louis, Mo., September 10, 1861. Attached to 5th Brigade, Army of Southwest Missouri, Dept. of Missouri, November, 1861, to February, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of Southwest Missouri, to May, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 5th Division, Army of Mississippi, to September, 1862. 35th Brigade, 11th Division, Army of Ohio, to October, 1862. 35th Brigade, 11th Division, 4th Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, Right Wing 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 20th Army Corps, to October, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Army Corps, to October, 1864.

SERVICE.—Moved to Jefferson City, Mo., September, 1861. Fremont's Campaign against Springfield, Mo., October 4-November 8. Moved to Rolla, Mo., November 8, and duty there till February, 1862. Curtis' Campaign against Price in Missouri and Arkansas February and March. Advance on Springfield, Mo., February 2-11. Pursuit of Price into Arkansas February 14-29. Battles of Pea Ridge, Ark., March 6, 7 and 8. March to Batesville April 5-May 3. Moved to Cape Girardeau, Mo., May 11-22; thence to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., May 23-26. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., May 27-30. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 6. At Rienzi till August 26. Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, August 26-September 4; thence to Louisville September 17-19. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1-16. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 16-November 7, and duty there till December 26. Reconnoissance to Mill Creek November 27. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 26-30. Battle of Stone's River December 30-31, 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. At Murfreesboro till June. Expedition toward Columbia March 4-14. Middle Tennessee (or Tullahoma) Campaign June 23-July 7. Fairfield June 27 and 29. Estill Springs July 2. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. Reconnoissance from Cowan to Anderson July 11-14. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-20. Siege of Chattanooga September 24-November 23. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Orchard Knob November 23-24. Mission Ridge November 25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26-27. March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 8. Campaign in East Tennessee December, 1863, to February, 1864. Charlestown, Tenn., December 28, 1863. About Dandridge January 16-17, 1864. Moved to Chattanooga, thence to Cleveland, Tenn., and duty there till May. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton, Ga., May 8-13. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8-9. Assigned to garrison duty at Dalton, Ga., May 14 to September. Action at Dalton August 14-15. Mustered out October 1, 1864.

Regiment lost during service 6 Officers and 85 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 94 Enlisted men by disease. Total 188.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Regiment United States Reserve Corps Infantry. — (3 Months.)

Organized at St. Louis, Mo., May 7, 1861. Attached to Lyon's Army of the West. Capture of Camp Jackson, St. Louis, May 10. Duty at St. Louis till July 23 (Co. "A" detached guarding bridge on Northern Missouri Railroad June 16-August 14.) A Detachment moved to Bird's Point, Mo., July 23, and duty there till August 14. Moved to St. Louis. A Detachment guard bridges on St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad. Mustered out August 16, 1861.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Regiment United States Reserve Corps Infantry. — (3 Years.)

Reorganized at St. Louis August 23 to September 20, 1861. Attached to District of St. Louis to October 1861. 4th Division, Army of the Southwest, to May 1862. 2nd Division, Army of the Mississippi, to June 1862. 5th Division, Army of the Mississippi, to August.

SERVICE.—Campaign in Missouri October, 1861, to February, 1862. Guard railroad beyond Rolla, Mo., till May, 1862. Ordered to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., May 6. Siege of Corinth, Miss., May 22-30. Duty at Corinth Miss., till August. Ordered to St. Louis, Mo., August 12, 1862. Mustered out September 3, 1862.

Regiment lost during service 1 Enlisted man killed and 9 Enlisted men by disease.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

2nd Northeast Missouri Infantry

Organized in Northern Missouri July, 1861. Consolidated with 1st Northeast Infantry and designated 21st Missouri Infantry December 31, 1861.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1322

Senatorial Canvass in Illinois, August 27, 1858

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS AT OTTAWA.

[FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]

CHICAGO, August 27, 1858.

After Mr. Douglas spoke at Peoria on the 8th, he proceeded to Lacon, where, on the next day, he made the discovery that all the Presidents, naming them in order from Washington to Buchanan, had endorsed the principles of the Dred Scott Decision by refusing to grant passports to negroes to travel in foreign countries. After which, he reposed his wearied virtue for one day, to prepare for the extreme of mendacity, which he reached on Saturday at Ottawa. There, most aptly, he illustrated the Latin proverb— “Andas omnia perpeti, ruat per retitum nefas”¹ — and there he strode so deeply into the mire of falsification that extrication is impossible. But more of this further on.

At Lewiston, in Fulton county, on the 17th, Mr. Lincoln held one of his largest meetings and spoke for two hours and a half. At this place he tore from Douglas the mantle of Henry Clay, under which the senator had been strutting and hoping to hide the wickedness of his pretenses. Mr. Lincoln read largely from Clay’s writings and speeches, wherein he contends for the ultimate emancipation of the slave, and said that he would claim no support from the old line Whigs unless he could show that he stood upon the ground occupied by that great statesman. He further said that he believed Mr. Douglas was the only man of prominence before the country who had never declared, to friend or enemy, whether he believed slavery to be right or wrong. His speeches, to be sure, leave the hearer to infer that he did not desire slavery to be introduced into Illinois, but he indicates that no moral consideration would prevail with him against the exercise of slave-ownership, provided there was more money in working a negro that in working a horse. It was in this speech that Mr. Lincoln uttered an eloquent and impressive apostrophe into the Declaration of Independence, which ranks him at once among the foremost orators of the land. I give you a brief extract from the correspondent of the Press and Tribune:

“These communities, the thirteen colonies, by their representatives in old Independence Hall, said to the whole world of men; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’” This was their majestic interpretation of the economy of the Universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to His creatures.  Applause.  Yes, gentlemen, to all His creatures, to the whole great family of man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Devine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, and degraded, and imbruted by its fellows. They grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but they reached forward and seized upon the farthest posterity. They erected a beacon to guide their children and their children's children, and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began—so that truth, and justice, and mercy, and all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built. Loud cheers.

“Now, my countrymen (Mr. Lincoln continued with great earnestness,) if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur, and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our charter of liberty, let me entreat you to come back. Return to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the Revolution. Think nothing of me—take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsoever—but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. You may do anything with me you choose, if you will but heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put me to death. While pretending no indifference to earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated in this contest by something higher than an anxiety for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing; I am nothing; Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of Humanity—the Declaration of American Independence.”

Reports from various localities indicate that the Fillmore Americans and Old Lane Whigs are coming to the support of Mr. Lincoln, to put down the agitator and demagogue, who, on the other hand, is appealing to them for their votes. It is not to be disguised that Mr. Douglas has the [illegible] faith of the masses of the democratic party; whether it be abiding is another question. Once he had the ear of the federal administration; now he has lost it, and it is the object of unceasing opposition from that quarter. Then he could rally his lieges and hold them because he had rewards to bestow; now his promises are beggarly and unproductive. Thrift no longer follows fawning upon him. The Buchanan men do not warm towards him yet, and they are not likely to although it is said a joint and special commission has gone to Washington to plead with the unrelenting Executive.

Saturday, the 21st, was the day of the first discussion between Lincoln and Douglas. It was held at Ottawa, a city of about 9,000 inhabitants, on the line of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad and the Illinois canal, and the junction of the Fox and Illinois rivers. I arrived late the night before at Ottawa, and was accommodated with a sofa at the hotel. The city was already even full. Saturday was a pleasant, but warm day, and Ottawa was deluged in dust. By wagon, by rail, by canal, the people poured in, till Ottawa was one mass of active life. Men, women and children, old and young, the dwellers on the broad prairies, had turned their backs upon the plough, and had come to listen to these champions of the two parties. Military companies were out; martial music sounded, and salutes of artillery thundered in the air. [Eager] marshals in partisan sashes rode furiously about the streets. Peddlers were crying their wares at the corners, and excited groups of politicians were canvassing and quarrelling everywhere. And still they came, the crowd swelling constantly in its proportions and growing more eager and more hungry, perhaps more thirsty. Though every precaution was taken against this latter evil. About noon the rival processions were formed, and paraded the streets amid the cheers of the people. Mr. Lincoln was met at the depot by an immense crowd, who escorted him to the residence of the mayor, with banners flying and mottoes waving their unfaltering attachment to him and to his cause. The Douglas turnout, though plentifully interspersed with the Hibernian element, was less noisy, and thus matters were arranged for the after-dinner demonstration in the Court House square, where the stand was erected, and where, under the blazing sun unprotected by shade trees, and unprovided with seats, the audience was expected to congregate and listen to the champions.

Two men presenting wider contrasts could hardly be found as the representatives of the two great parties. Everybody knows Douglas, a short, thickset, burly man, with large round head, heavy hair, dark complexion, and fierce bull-dog bark. Strong in his own real power, and skilled by a thousand conflicts in all the strategy of a hand-to-hand or a general fight. Of towering ambition, restless in his determined desire for notoriety, proud, defiant, arrogant, audacious, unscrupulous, “Little Dug” ascended the platform and looked out imprudently and carelessly on the immense throng which surged and struggled before him. A native of Vermont, reared on a soil where no slave ever stood, trained to hard manual labor and schooled in early hardships, he came to Illinois a teacher, and from one post to another had risen to his present eminence. Forgetful of the ancestral hatred of slavery to which he was the heir, he had come to be a holder of slaves and to owe much of his fame to his continued subservience to southern influence.

The other—Lincoln—is a native of Kentucky, and of poor white parentage; and from his cradle has felt the blighting influence of the dark and cruel shadow which rendered labor dishonorable, and kept the poor in poverty, while it advanced the rich in their possessions. Reared in poverty and the humblest aspirations, he left his native state, crossed the line into Illinois, and began his career of honorable toil. At first a laborer, splitting rails for a living—deficient in education, and applying himself even to the rudiments of knowledge—he, too, felt the expanding power of his American manhood, and began to  achieve the greatness to which he has succeeded, With great difficulty struggling through the tedious formularies of legal lore, he was admitted to the bar and rapidly made his way to the front ranks of his profession. Honored by the people with office, he is still the same honest and reliable man. He volunteers in the Black Hawk war, and does the state good service in its sorest need. In every relation of his life, socially and to the state, Mr. Lincoln has been always the pure and honest man. In physique he is the opposite to Douglas. Built on the Kentucky type, he is very tall, slender and angular, awkward even, in gate and attitude. His face is sharp, large-featured and unprepossessing. His eyes are deep set, under heavy brows; his forehead is high and retreating, and his hair is dark and heavy. In repose, I must confess that “Long Abe’s” appearance is not comely. But stir him up, and the fire of his genius plays on every feature. His eye glows and sparkles, every lineament, now so ill-formed, grows brilliant and expressive, and you have before you a man of rare power and of strong magnetic influence. He takes the people every time, and there is no getting away from his sturdy good sense, his unaffected sincerity, and the unceasing play of his good humor, which accompanies his close logic and smoothes the way to conviction. Listening to him on Saturday, calmly and unprejudiced, I was convinced that he has no superior as a stump speaker. He is clear, concise and logical; his language is eloquent and at perfect command. He is altogether a more fluent speaker than Douglas, and in all the arts of debate fully his equal. The Republicans of Illinois have chosen a champion worthy of their heartiest support and fully equipped for the conflict with the great “squatter Sovereign.”

By previous arrangement, Mr. Douglas was to open in a speech of one hour, Mr. Lincoln was to respond in a speech of an hour and a half, and Mr. Douglas was to conclude in another half hour. The square was filled with people, and when the cannon and the music had been quieted, Mr. Douglas commenced. He began by referring to the attitude of the Whig and Democratic parties prior to the spring of 1854, claiming that up to that time they stood on the same platform with regard to the Slavery question. He said that in the session of 1853-4 he introduced the Kansas bill, in accordance with the principles of the compromise of 1850, and endorsed by the Wig and Democratic National Conventions of 1852. In 1854, after the passage of this bill, he said that Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Trumbull entered into a league to deliver up, bound hand and foot to the Abolitionists, the old Whigs and the old Democrats—in consideration whereof, Mr. Lincoln was to have Shield’s place, and Mr. Trumbull was to have his own. (A screw subsequently became loose, and the programme of substitution was changed.) In pursuance of this plan, the parties met at Springfield in 1854, to perfect arrangements. There they, Mr. Lincoln included, passed a certain series of abominable resolutions, one of which he would read, and to which Mr. Lincoln, and his party were [committed]. He then proceeded to discuss Mr. Lincoln’s position in regard to negro equality, to the evident satisfaction of the Hibernian body guard, who were made to believe that Mr. Lincoln was aching to place the African in high places of the land, and to fold him to his arms in a fraternal embrace. Recurring them to his doctrine of popular sovereignty, he lauded it as the great element of our growth and prosperity, and closed with a spread-eagle eulogium upon the democratic party. Mr. Douglas was often interrupted with light applause, but, on the hole, it was not a very enthusiastic demonstration.

Then the tall form of “Long Abe” loomed above the heads on the stage, the signal for a fanatic expression of applause. Mr. Lincoln replied seriatim to Mr. Douglas’s charges, denying the conspiracy with Trumbull entirely, stating that at that time he was opposed to the formation of a new party, and that he had no hand in the preparation of the Springfield resolutions. On the subject of negro equality, he read from a speech of his in 1854, and which he said Mr. Douglas heard, and on that record he was prepared to stand.

Mr. Lincoln closed, and Douglas came forward, evidently under much excitement. He took advantage of his last half hour, and rose to such a pitch of arrogance and audacity as is seldom witnessed. With brazen front and lungs of iron, with a recklessness peculiarly his own, he launched forth a bold and defiant speech, which his retainers applauded to the echo. The charges of his first speech he re-affirmed with an unblushing effrontery, denounced Trumbull and Lincoln in unstinted terms, passed the lie around the circle, shook his long locks, grew red in the face, stentorian in voice, declared that Buchanan was a most excellent man, and scouted at the idea of Mr. Lincoln’s having any reputation for veracity. When he concluded, he was followed to his quarters by part of the crowd. The rest gathered about the stand, cheering Lincoln, and when he descended, he was seized by his enthusiastic friends, and in spite of his struggles, borne in triumph to the hotel, on the shoulders of half a dozen men, at once a novel exhibition of the freedom of western politics and the exuberance of western feeling.

I said, near the commencement of this letter, that Mr. Douglas waded very deeply into the mire of mendacity at Ottawa. The full vindication of this charge, and the proof of his singular madness, is furnished in the Chicago Press and Tribune of this morning, to whose excellent phonographic report of the Ottawa meeting. I have been indebted for the completion of the brief notes which I took at the time. I can do no better than give you the proof, in the words of the journal to which I refer. “At the meeting in Ottawa, on Saturday, the senator read a series of radical resolutions, which he assured his hearers were passed by a Republican State Convention in 1854, at Springfield; that the constituted the platform of the party at that day, and that they represented the views of his distinguished competitor, who, he said, took part in the proceedings of which the resolutions were a share. The resolutions were frauds and forgeries from first to last. No such series was ever presented to, hence never adopted by, any State Republican Convention in Illinois! And in making the assertion Mr. Douglas knee that he basely, maliciously and willfully LIED. He not only lied circumstantially and wickedly; but be spent the first part of his speech in elaborating the lie with which he set out, and the entire latter part, in giving the lie application and effect. The resolutions which he read were adopted by one house meeting at Aurora, in Kane county, with which Mr. Lincoln had nothing to do, which he was not near, which he possibly never heard of except though the public prints.”

There the senator stands, branded and convicted of a deliberate fraud, gibbeted before the public. I confess I was prepared for this exhibition. I knew that Douglas’s life as a politician was one great [illegible] vocation, that he had experienced incessant “changes of heart,” and that his position in [illegible] campaign was only a trap and a lure to another and falser position in the next. But I could hardly expect that he would coolly stand up and read a printed resolution as genuine, where he must have known that he was deliberately submitting a false and fraudulent record. Yet, he it is that goes over the states saying “you lie,” and infamous liar,” to Trumbull and Lincoln. This exposure of the Press and Tribune takes the very heart and core out of Douglas’s Ottawa speech. It to the very bone, and leaves only a hollow and baseless frame behind, “were words, “mouthfuls of spoken wind,” a figure with swollen features, and windmill arms beating the air, with violent but [imbecile] gesticulation. The very audacity of this charge gave Douglas this seeming advantage; that it put Lincoln on the explanatory and defensive, in regard to a series of resolutions which, whether passed at a one horse meeting in Kane county” or at Springfield, he could know nothing about it, as he had no hand in making them, and it is asking too much, to require a politician to have at his tongue’s end all the resolutions of four year old conventions. Lincoln will overhaul Douglas for this cheat, at Freeport, on Friday, when they meet again. The senator’s friends came home in jubilant spirits on Saturday, but they are crest fallen to-day, and doubtful of the implicit faith they have heretofore reposed in him. Douglas is unchanged. Perhaps the wise men of the East, that counseled the Republicans of Illinois to sustain him, are still regretful that their arrangements were not carried out.

After the Ottawa meeting was concluded on Saturday, Hon. Owen Lovejoy addressed the Republicans in the evening. Thrusting aside the assaults in his own party, he dashed headlong at the enemy and carried the war into the democratic party. “from grave to gay, from lively to severe,” he proceeded boldly and eloquently to arraign that party at the popular bar, and to convict it of its errors, crimes and inconsistencies. It was a great speech, and finished up admirably the performances of the day. There was then a torchlight procession. By the moonlight thousands wended their way home, and quiet began to reign in Ottawa.

Senator Trumbull is on the stump in the central and southern part of the state. He speaks at Alton on Wednesday, and at Springfield on Saturday. Douglas speaks at Galena on Wednesday and meets Lincoln at Freeport of Friday.

Douglas is in a quandary in regard to popular sovereignty and Dred Scott. At some places he tells his audiences that the decision is not binding where it conflicts with his specific. His reporter for he carries one about with him—omits this part of the performance from the bills.

Yours, &c.,

BAYOU.

_______________

¹ This was in italicized and hard to make out, but I believe I got it right as when I put in into Google Translate I got the translation as: “You go through everything, rush through the net of evil”

SOURCE,  The New York Eveing Post, New York, New York, Friday August 27, 1858, p. 1

A Threat Coming Home, August 26 1858

When at Ottawa, Mr. DOUGLAS flourished that resolution out of the Platform of the State of Aurora, over Mr. LINCOLN’s head, declared that it was out of the Republican Platform of the State of Illinois, pretended that he was in Springfield when it was adopted and stated day, date and circumstance to corroborate his words; when he threatened to “trot Abraham out,” to “bring him to his milk,” and otherwise put him through various and sundry equestrian and lacteal exercises, he did not dream that his threats would come home so soon.  He thought perhaps that he, of all men in Illinois, was the only one who remembered the events of 1854; hence, he howled, he ranted, he bellowed, he pawed dirt, he shook his head, he turned livid in the face, he struck his right hand into his left, he foamed at the mouth, he anathematized, he cursed he exulted, he domineered—he played DOUGLAS! But now behold him at Galena, yesterday! He maintained none of the characteristics of the leader of a bovine herd. In fact, though he displayed hoofs and horns, he never once roared. But he was brought to the point where he had threatened to bring LINCOLN. He was “brought to his milk!” He confessed—that he was mistaken! He packed the lie off on the shoulders of some one down about Springfield—the editor of the Register, or some other sheet that would not be injured by the imputation! Well done, DOUGLAS! Now that the milk has begun to flow, confess your share in the mutilation of LINCOLN’s speech, and the canvass will go on as before. But next time be chary with your threats.

SOURCE: Chicago Daily Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Thursday Morning, August 26, 1858, p. 1

Senator Douglas at Chicago, July 13, 1858

We publish in this morning’s TIMES the speech of Senator DOUGLAS in full, on reaching Chicago. His entry to the chief city of his own State was well calculated to gratify him. A very large concourse had assembled to do him honor, and listen to his words. It was altogether an occasion of marked interest, not only in the public life of the Senator, but in the political history of the day.

The Kansas bill, and his connection therewith, formed, of course, the topic of his remarks. There could be little for him to say which was new, but everything he uttered derived interest from his position relative to the approaching canvass. Mr. DOUGLAS enters the field for reelection to the Senate. Upon his success his political future is staked. He is bitterly opposed by that portion of his own party which sided with the Administration on the Lecompton issue, and no force of official influence will be spared to beat him. From the Republicans he has nothing to expect but the uncompromising hostility. They cannot forget the many fields in which the Little Giant fought them during the last fifteen years. In distant States it was at one time supposed they might overlook their ancient enmity. But such an idea never entered into the Republican mind of Illinois. He can expect from that party only the most determined opposition. They have presented as his competitor, the person of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the man who, since the death of JOHN J. HARDIN, is their most beloved leader, and they will elect him if they can.

Under these circumstances the contest is one of extraordinary interest. Mr. DOUGLAS goes into it with a degree of spirit that deserves victory, and in Mr. LINCOLN he has a foeman worthy of his steel. The election which takes place in November is for State officers and members of the Legislature, which Legislature chooses a United States Senator. Illinois is from this time forward, until the Senatorial question shall be decided, the most interesting political battle-ground in the Union.

It were futile to predict the result. Mr. DOUGLAS has tremendous odds against him; but his resources are of no ordinary kind. On the stump he has no superior, and as a practical politician few equals. Besides, he will stand upon the theatre of a hundred victories, and speak to crowds who have never yet failed to respond to his persuasions. But, at the same time, it must not be forgotten that long possession of power cools friends and begets enemies, or that the Democratic Party of Illinois has been essentially weakened in the last six years. The battle must be close, severe, and doubtful. That it will be well fought is certain, and its results will be both important and memorable. If Mr. DOUGLAS shall succeed in detaching from the Administration Democrats enough to elect him, it will be the most brilliant triumph of his life.

SOURCE: The New York Times, New York, New York, Tuesday, July 13, 1858, p. 4

Senator James H. Hammond to Francis Lieber, April 19, 1860

WASHINGTON, April 19, 1860

. . . I don't remember what I said in my postscript, which seems to have affected you so much, but in all your comments I entirely concur. The Lovejoy explosion, and all its sequences which were so threatening last week, has been for the present providentially cast in the shade by the intensified and utterly absorbing interest in the Charleston Convention. That phase has blown over for the moment. But I assure you, and you may philosophize upon it, that unless the slavery question can be wholly eliminated from politics, this government is not worth two years', perhaps not two months', purchase. So far as I know, and as I believe, every man in both houses is armed with a revolver — some with two — and a bowie-knife. It is, I fear, in the power of any Red or Black Republican to precipitate at any moment a collision in which the slaughter would be such as to shock the world and dissolve this government. I have done, ever since I have been here, all I could to avert such a catastrophe. But, I tell you, knowing all about it here, that unless the aggression on the slaveholder is arrested, no power, short of God's, can prevent a bloody fight here, and a disruption of the Union. You know what I have said about all this, and that I do not advocate such a finale. But seeing the oldest and most conservative senators on our side, — we have no intercourse that is not official, as it were, with the other, — seeing them get revolvers, I most reluctantly got one myself, loaded it, and put it in my drawer in the senate. I can't carry it. Twice in my life I have carried pistols until I became a coward, or very nearly, and threw them aside. But I keep a pistol now in my drawer in the senate as a matter of duty to my section. I concur with you about the Brooks type, that vengeance belongs to the Almighty, and all that. I will do, as I have done, all I can in that line; and while regarding this Union as cramping the South, I will nevertheless sustain it as long as I can. Yet I will stand by to the end. I firmly believe that the slaveholding South is now the controlling power of the world — that no other power would face us in hostility. This will be demonstrated if we come to the ultimate. I have no wish to bring it about, yet am perfectly ready if others do. There might be with us commotion for a time, but cotton, rice, tobacco, and naval stores command the world; and we have sense enough to know it, and are sufficiently Teutonic to carry it out successfully. The North, without us, would be a motherless calf, bleating about, and die of mange and starvation.

But I am going off. Your speech satisfies me about Doctor Hayes's expedition, and I will give it my help.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 310-1

Official Reports of the Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, November 14, 1864-January 23, 1865: No. 240. — Report of Maj. Gen. Henry D. Clayton, C. S. Army, commanding division, of operations November 20-December 27, 1864.

No. 240.

Report of Maj. Gen. Henry D. Clayton, C. S. Army,

commanding division, of operations November 20-December 27, 1864.

MAJOR: I have the honor to submit the following, being a report of the operations of this division in the campaign north of the Tennessee River, embracing a period from the 20th of November to the 27th of December:

On the 20th of November the line of march was taken up from Florence, Ala., in the direction of Nashville. The division reached Columbia on the 27th without incident worthy of mention, except the usual bad roads and bad weather incident to the season of the year. Here the enemy, having massed his forces from Pulaski and other neighboring points, was found strongly intrenched.

On the 29th, the enemy having withdrawn across Duck River, the balance of the army was moved to the right, leaving Stevenson's division and my own to confront him at this point. Preparations were made for crossing the river, which was accomplished on the evening of the 29th and the morning of the 30th of November. Moving rapidly up the road to Franklin we came up with the balance of the army at Spring Hill, and all soon moved on to Franklin, which was reached late in the afternoon of that day. We found that bloody and disastrous engagement begun, and were put in position to attack, but night mercifully interposed to save us from the terrible scourge which our brave companions had suffered.

On the following morning this division, being in front, resumed the march to Nashville, where it arrived in front of the enemy's works on the 1st of December, and, driving in his vedettes, took position, which was established as line of battle of the whole army. From this time until the morning of the 15th was spent in almost incessant work upon lines of intrenchments, of which four were constructed by this division.

Upon the morning of the 15th the engagement was begun by the enemy, who attacked the extreme right and left of the army and demonstrated along my front. It becoming necessary to send re-enforcements to the left, my line was extended in that direction until Stovall's and Holtzclaw's brigades were deployed to cover the whole front occupied by the corps in the morning, and Gibson's brigade, which was upon the left, was taken out of the trenches and thrown back perpendicularly to check the advance of the enemy, who was sweeping down the lines from the left. This maneuver and night stopped the farther progress of the enemy. About midnight this division was moved back and took position on what is known as the Overton Hill, four miles from the city, upon the extreme right of the army, conforming to the position already taken by the left. Here breast-works were constructed.

The enemy made their appearance early on the morning of the 16th, and soon developed along our whole line. Having placed several batteries in position along my front with concentrated fire upon the Overton Hill, which was mainly occupied by Stovall's brigade, the enemy opened a terrible fire, which did considerable damage to that brigade and very materially injured Stanford's battery, which was in position on the left of Stovall's and right of Holtzclaw's brigades. At 1 p.m. the enemy, having driven in the skirmish line, made a vigorous assault upon portions of Gibson's and Holtzclaw's brigades, which was subsequently renewed twice along my whole front, except the extreme right of Stovall's brigade. One of these charges was made by negro troops. In these assaults the enemy suffered great slaughter, their loss being estimated at 1,500 or 2,000 killed and wounded. It was with difficulty that the enthusiasm of the troops could be repressed so as to keep them from going over the works in pursuit of the enemy. Five color-bearers with their colors were shot down in a few steps of the works, one of which, having inscribed on its folds "Eighteenth Regiment U.S. Colored Infantry; presented by the colored ladies of Murfreesborough," was brought in. About 4 p.m., while the division was thus in the highest state of enthusiasm, I received a message from the lieutenant-general commanding corps, through Lieutenant Hunter, aide-de-camp, that he would expect me to bring off my division in order. I inquired when, what was going on upon the left, and whether I should do so at once, but could get no information. I turned to a staff officer and directed the batteries to be ready to limber up, and ordered Brigadier-General Stovall, who was standing by, to be in readiness to move out in order, but to wait until I could make an effort to bring off Stanford's battery. I then saw the troops on my left flying in disorder, and it having been reported to me that Stanford's battery was so disabled as to make it impossible to bring it off, I ordered the Eufaula Light Artillery to withdraw, and so soon as it had begun to move directed the same orders to be given to the several brigade commanders. The whole army--except this division, Pettus' brigade, of Stevenson's division, and the Thirty-ninth Georgia Regiment, of Cumming's brigade, also of Stevenson's division, which had a short time before been sent to me as a support and held in reserve—was then in complete rout. Some confusion existed even in these commands, though scarcely perceptible in Stovall's brigade and the Thirty-ninth Georgia Regiment, above referred to, which latter deserves great credit for the manner in which it responded to my appeal to halt and check the advance of the enemy's skirmish line, which had then reached the top of the hill. Having gone about half a mile I found' the Eufaula Light Artillery about to move off from a position in which it had been halted. Halting the Thirty-ninth Georgia Regiment as a support to the battery, I ordered it to continue the firing. Sending my staff to halt the division, and Lieutenant Jones, aide-de-camp, especially to Brigadier-General Stovall to halt his brigade and put it in position, I soon after ordered the battery and regiment supporting it to withdraw, and rode off to take command of the division. Too much praise cannot be awarded the officers and men of this battery for the coolness and deliberation with which they managed their guns under these trying circumstances. Upon coming up with the division, being unable to find Brigadier-General Stovall, I ordered Col. A. Johnson, the senior colonel, to take the command and halt it in a position which I indicated. In a few moments the whole division and Pettus' brigade were in line. This occurred in about one mile of the breast-works. Night soon coming on, Holtzclaw's brigade was placed across the road, with skirmishers in front, and the balance of the command moved off toward Franklin. About 2 o'clock at night it was halted seven miles from Franklin and bivouacked until 5 o'clock. Daylight on the morning of the 17th found us in position at Hollow Tree Gap, five miles from Franklin, Stovall's brigade and a section of Bledsoe's battery being upon the right and Pettus' brigade upon the left of the road, and the other two brigades in rear. About 8 a.m. the enemy's cavalry made their appearance, driving in our own cavalry in a most shameful manner, a few pursuing them even through the line of infantry and cutting with their sabers right and left. A few shots from the infantry, however, drove them back, with the loss of a stand of colors. About 9 a.m. they again advanced upon this position, when we succeeded in capturing about 100 men, with their horses, and another stand of colors. At about 10 a.m. we were withdrawn from this position and crossed Harpeth River a few miles from this place. After some slight skirmishing we were relieved by Major-General Stevenson's division. For the particulars of the capture of seventy-five officers and men of Holtzclaw's brigade, and a like number from Gibson's brigade, I refer to the reports of their respective brigade commanders. For this occurrence I think no one to blame but our cavalry, who, all the day long, behaved in a most cowardly manner. It is proper, however, that I should make one bright exception to this general remark: I refer to the case of Colonel Falconnet, commanding a brigade, who, when about to cross the Harpeth River, seeing the enemy charging upon Gibson's brigade, drew his revolver, and gathering less than 100 brave followers, dashed upon the enemy, more than twenty times his number. After having been relieved, as above stated, by General Stevenson, the division was moved on slowly, halting occasionally so as to keep within a short distance of his command. Six miles south of Franklin, the division being at a halt in the road, I learned that the enemy were moving around General Stevenson. I immediately placed my command across the road, Stovall's brigade, Col. R. J. Henderson commanding, on the right, Gibson's in the center, and Holtzclaw's, Col. Bushrod Jones commanding, upon the left. Hearing considerable firing in the rear I ordered Colonel Jones to move Holtzclaw's brigade forward in line of battle, keeping his right resting on the pike, so as to render any assistance that might be necessary to General Stevenson. Having given some general instructions to General Gibson as to keeping out skirmishers and scouts, I directed him to take command of the two brigades, and with my staff rode up the pike to communicate with General Stevenson. Upon coming up with Colonel Jones I learned that the enemy in large force was forming upon his left as if for the purpose of charging. I then rode forward and informed General Pettus, whose brigade was near by, of the disposition I had made for his support, and started back to where I had left General Gibson with the two brigades; when in about 100 yards of the left of General Gibson's command, which rested upon the pike, I saw a column of cavalry moving obliquely and just entering the road a few paces in my front. An infantry soldier of my command, recognizing me (it being then quite dark), ran up to me and whispered, "They are Yankees." Turning my horse to the left, so as to avoid them, I moved rapidly to the right of General Gibson's line, and after narrowly escaping being killed by several shots fired at me through mistake, I communicated the information to General Gibson, who promptly wheeled his brigade to the left and delivered a volley which scattered the enemy, killing many of them. I then, at the suggestion of General Gibson, moved back these two brigades behind a fence, in order to better resist a charge and also for greater security against firing into our own men. This position was scarcely taken when the enemy again began to move from the left upon the pike in our immediate front. Demanding to know who they were, I was promptly answered, "Federal troops," which was replied to by a volley, killing several and again driving them off, leaving a stand of colors, which was secured. The enemy having finally retired and the firing having ceased, I communicated my intentions to General Stevenson and moved off my command.

In this affair, so trying to both officers and men, all behaved in the best possible manner. While I cheerfully concede all that is due to General Stevenson's division in checking the advance of the enemy and thus helping to save the army, without entering into anything further than the above brief recital of facts, I believe it is not claiming too much to say that this division, by preventing the enemy from massing in his rear, saved that division.

I tender to Brigadier-General Gibson especially my cordial thanks for the part performed by him on this occasion, and also to Colonels Henderson and Jones, of whose brigade commanders I may say, without reflecting upon them, that their commands lost nothing by their absence on this trying occasion.

After moving back a few miles the division bivouacked for the night and resumed the march on the following day for the Tennessee River, which it reached at Bainbridge on the 25th of December, after a most painful march, characterized by more suffering than it had ever before been my misfortune to witness.

H. D. CLAYTON,        

Major-General.

Maj. J. W. RATCHFORD,
        Assistant Adjutant-General.

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. 697-700

Official Reports of the Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, November 14, 1864-January 23, 1865: No. 239. — Report of Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson, C. S. Army, commanding division, of operations September 29-December 17, 1864.

No. 239.

Report of Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson, C. S. Army,

commanding division, of operations September 29-December 17, 1864.

HEADQUARTERS STEVENSON'S DIVISION,        

In the Field, January 20, 1865.

MAJOR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of my division during the recent campaign in Tennessee:

The march from Palmetto to the front of Columbia was without incident worthy of mention, except perhaps the demonstration upon Resaca, Ga., in which my command acted with spirit in the skirmishing which resulted in driving the enemy within their works. My loss was numerically insignificant at this point, but among the killed was numbered the gallant soldier and genial gentleman, Col. F. K. Beck, Twenty-third Alabama Regiment. By his fall my division lost a chivalrous soldier and his native State one of her worthiest sons.

Upon our arrival in front of Columbia my position in line was assigned from the right of Mount Pleasant pike, the front of the division in line of battle. The investment was characterized by nothing of interest as far as my division was concerned. A desultory skirmish fire was kept up most of the time. My losses here were few.

On the night of the 27th of November my scouts reported that there were indications that the enemy were evacuating Columbia. I immediately increased the number of scouts, and about an hour before day sent forward the Eighteenth and Third Tennessee Regiments (consolidated), under the command of Lieut. Col. W. R. Butler. He found the reports of the scouts to be correct, and occupied the town without opposition. I then moved forward my division, except Cumming's brigade (commanded in the campaign by Col. E. P. Watkins, Fifty-sixth Georgia), which, by General Lee's order, was sent down the river to press those of the enemy who had taken that route, and endeavor to save the railroad bridge, which, however, had been fired before their arrival. In the fort at Columbia we secured a large amount of howitzer and small-arm ammunition and two siege howitzers. Colonel Butler had, immediately upon gaining possession of the town, sent a force to the ford of Duck River. The enemy's skirmishers were found to be in large force on the opposite bank, and the enemy in position behind works about three-quarters of a mile from the river. He immediately moved down his command and skirmished with them briskly. The Sixtieth North Carolina, coming up soon after, was sent farther up the bank of the river to a point from which they obtained a flanking fire upon the enemy. This drove them back from the immediate bank of the river. Orders were soon after received to discontinue the skirmishing.

On the night of that day General Hood, with Cheatham's and Stewart's corps and Johnson's division, of Lee's corps, crossed Duck River some miles above Columbia and pushed for the enemy's rear, leaving General Lee with Clayton's and my divisions to occupy the enemy in front until he should have reached his position, then to force a crossing of the river and attack the enemy as he attempted to extricate himself. The greater part of the next day was spent in preparations for this movement. The bank of the river was quite steep on the side held by the enemy. A pontoon boat in charge of Captain Ramsey, engineer, was taken down the river, under a galling fire, launched, and could then, under the cover of our artillery and skirmish fire, be used without much exposure in ferrying our troops. This was done with practicable rapidity, the troops as they crossed forming under the cover of the steep bank to which I have alluded. About an hour before sunset I had succeeded in crossing three regiments of Pettus' brigade, Brigadier-General Pettus in command. The Twentieth Alabama Regiment (Col. J. M. Dedman), of his brigade, had previously been sent up the bank of the river to obtain a flanking fire upon the enemy, and the Thirtieth Alabama (Lieut. Col. J. K. Elliott) was retained on the Columbia side to cover the ford in case of my failure. Everything being made ready I directed General Pettus to advance, and his command dashed forward at the word, driving the [enemy] before them by a charge which elicited the warmest admiration of all who witnessed it. Their loss was slight; that of the enemy so considerable that to explain the affair the commander of the enemy saw fit to attribute to an entire division an attack made by three of its regiments. Having driven the enemy within their main line General Pettus halted, selected a position to prevent the enemy from interrupting the laying of the pontoons, and was subsequently re-enforced by the rest of his brigade and by Holtzclaw's brigade, of Clayton's division. The pontoon bridge was then laid with all practicable expedition.

During this night General Pettus reported that the enemy was retiring and he following with his skirmishers. This was as anticipated, and orders had already been given by General Lee to have everything in readiness to move, coupled with the statement that General Hood had advised him that he was between the enemy and Nashville, near Spring Hill. At daybreak I put my division in motion in rear of Clayton's. Upon arriving at Spring Hill we were informed that from some cause, which has not been explained, the enemy had been suffered to pass unattacked along the road commanded by the troops which the commanding general took with him. We were then ordered to push on to Franklin. My division was halted about dark in three miles of that place, and took no part in the battle. During the night this division was put in position preparatory to an assault which it was announced was to be made by the entire army at daybreak. The enemy, however, evacuated the town before the hour for the assault. We then advanced to within a few miles of Nashville and threw up a line of works, my position being on the right and left of the Franklin pike. Several new lines were built, but my position with regard to this pike remained unchanged.

Until the opening of the battles around Nashville nothing of interest transpired in my command, except the part taken by my skirmishers, commanded by Lieut. Col. J. B. Bibb, Twenty-third Alabama, in a demonstration made by Lee's corps. The enemy's skirmishers were driven by a greatly inferior force from all of their intrenched positions. My skirmishers were handsomely handled, and did their work with a dash and gallantry which deserve praise. Just before this demonstration Palmer's brigade (consolidated from Brown's and Reynolds' old brigades) was detached and ordered to report to Maj. Gen. N. B. Forrest, in front of Murfreesborough. It remained so detached from this division until it reached Bear Creek, on this side of Barton Station.

On the 15th of December the battle in front of Nashville opened. Except some unimportant skirmishing, my division took no part in that day's fight, although its position was frequently shifted and the line greatly attenuated to fill vacancies in the works, caused by the withdrawal of the troops.

On the next day the enemy advanced early in heavy force in front of the new line which we had constructed late the previous night, my division extending its entire length, part of it in two and part in one thin rank, from a short distance to the left of the Franklin pike. The skirmishers of the right of Lee's corps (Clayton's) and mine maintained their position so well, though in small force, that in their subsequent accounts the enemy have seen fit to magnify their affair with them into a desperate assault by two corps upon our first line, which was finally successful, but attended with heavy loss. Soon afterward their forces advanced to the assault, principally upon a part of General Clayton's line and upon Pettus' brigade, of my division, exposing in their assault upon Pettus their flank to a fire from Cumming's brigade. Their success the previous day had emboldened them, and they rushed forward with great spirit, only to be driven back with dreadful slaughter. Finding at last that they could make no impression upon our lines, they relinquished their attempt and contented themselves with keeping up an incessant fire of small-arms at long-range and an artillery fire which I have never seen surpassed for heaviness, continuance, and accuracy. This state of things continued until evening, doing, however, but little damage, my men keeping closely in the trenches and perfectly cool and confident. Toward evening General Lee sent me information that things were going badly on the left, and that it might be necessary to retire under cover of the approaching night. I at once hurried off orders for the artillery horses, which had been removed some distance to the rear to protect them from the fire of the enemy's artillery, under which they could not have lived half an hour, to be brought up. (It was proper to observe that about the middle of the day mist and rain arose, which entirely prevented my seeing anything that was going on beyond my own line.) The messengers had hardly gone for the horses before the break, which, commencing some distance beyond the left of Lee's corps, extended to my line. Seeing it, the men on my left commenced leaving the works, but at the call of their officers returned at once and held the line until the enemy were in fifty steps of them on their flank and pouring a fire into them from the flank and rear. When the true situation of affairs became apparent, and it was evident that the whole army, with the exception of my division and Clayton's, had been broken and scattered, the order for their withdrawal was given, an effort being made to deploy skirmishers from my left brigade at right angles to the works to cover, in some measure, the movement. Amid the indescribable confusion of other troops, and with the enemy pouring in their fire upon their flanks and from the front—having rushed toward the break and then forward when they perceived that the troops on my left had broken—it was impossible to withdraw the command in order, and it became considerably broken and confused. Many of them were unable to get out of the ditches in time and were captured. All this happened in as short a time as it has taken to describe it. The artillery horses of Rowan's battery, on the left of my line, could not be brought up in time, and one of the guns of Corput's battery was lost by being driven at full speed against a tree and the carriage broken. The different brigade and regimental commanders had sent off their horses, there being no protection for them near the breast-works, and, being thus unable to move about more rapidly than the men, were prevented from reforming their commands as quickly as could have been desired and extricating them from the throng of panic-stricken stragglers from other commands who crowded the road. This was done at last, and the line of march taken up for Franklin. On the way I received orders from General Lee to leave Pettus' brigade at Hollow Tree Gap to assist in bringing up the rear, and to proceed with Cumming's brigade and bivouac near the battle-field at Franklin, leaving guard upon the road to stop the stragglers of the army.

The next morning, by General Lee's order, I returned with Cumming's brigade to Franklin, and was there joined by General Pettus with his brigade, which had that morning, before reaching Franklin, captured a stand of colors. Soon after crossing the Harpeth Lieutenant-General Lee was wounded. When about three miles from Franklin General Lee moved off with the rest of the corps, and directed me to take command of the cavalry commanded by Brigadier-General Chalmers, which, with my division, was to constitute the rear guard. The enemy did not press us heavily until we arrived near Johnson's house, five or six miles north of Spring Hill. Here I formed my line, having about 700 infantry, with the cavalry on my flanks. The enemy advanced rapidly upon me, attacking me in front. I found it impossible to control the cavalry and, with the exception of a small force on the left, for a short time, to get them into action. I may as well state that at this point, as soon as the enemy engaged us heavily, the cavalry retired in disorder, leaving my small command to their fate. The enemy, perceiving the shortness of my line, at once threw a force around my left flank and opened fire upon it and its rear. This was a critical moment, and I felt great anxiety as to its effect upon my men, who, few in numbers, had just had the shameful example of the cavalry added to the terrible trial of the day before. I at once ordered Colonel Watkins to prepare to retire fighting by the flank, and General Pettus to move in line of battle to the rear, with a regiment thrown at right angles to his flank, thus forming three sides of a square. Watkins drove the enemy in his front in confusion, moved, at the order which was given in the instant of success, by the flank and charged those on his flank, drove them also. I halted again in about half a mile, formed a line upon each side of the pike—Pettus on the right, Watkins on the left, each with a regiment formed on his flank perpendicularly to his line to the rear—and having made these dispositions moved again to the rear. The enemy soon enveloped us in front, flank, and rear, but my gallant men under all their charges never faltered, never suffered their formation to be broken for an instant, and thus we moved, driving our way through them, fighting constantly, until within a short distance of Spring Hill, where we found that Major-General Clayton, hearing of our situation, had turned and moved back to our assistance. Here I halted for a time, and Holtzclaw's brigade, of Clayton's division, was formed upon Watkins' left flank in the manner which I have described. While here the enemy made several attacks and opened upon us with artillery but were readily repulsed. This was some time after dark. We finally moved off, and after marching about a mile farther, finding that the enemy had evidently become disheartened and abandoned his attacks, I placed the whole command again upon the pike and marched in the ordinary manner until I reached the bivouac of the remainder of the corps. I desire here to record my acknowledgments to the officers and men of General Holtzeclaw's brigade, commanded on the occasion by Colonel Jones, for the timely aid which they so gallantly afforded. Lieutenant-General Lee was pleased to acknowledge, in grateful and complimentary terms, the services of my division upon this occasion, and I make no vain boast when I, too, thank them for their conduct, and declare that never did a command in so perilous a position extricate itself by the force of more admirable coolness, determination, and unflinching gallantry. On that night I was directed by Lieutenant-General Lee to assume command of his corps during his disability.

I am greatly indebted to my staff—Maj. J. J. Reeve, assistant adjutant-general; Surg. H. M. Compton, medical director; Maj. J. E. McElrath, assistant quartermaster; Maj. J. H. F. Mayo, assistant commissary of subsistence; Maj. H. M. Mathews, ordnance officer; Capt. G. D. Wise, assistant inspector-general; Capt. Charles Vidor, assistant quartermaster; Lieut. H. T. Botts, aide-de-camp; Lieut. G. A. Hayward, aide-de-camp; also Capt. W. H. Sikes, Forty fifth Tennessee Regiment, and Lieut. W. E. McElwee, Twenty-sixth Tennessee Regiment, temporarily on duty at my headquarters--for their most efficient and valuable services, and for their untiring efforts to assist me during this arduous and trying campaign.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. L. STEVENSON,        

Major-General.

Maj. J. W. RATCHFORD,
        Assistant Adjutant-General, Lee's 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. 693-7

Official Reports of the Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, November 14, 1864-January 23, 1865: No. 238. — Report of Lieut. Col. Llewellyn Hoxton, C. S. Artillery, Chief of Artillery, of operations December l0-17, 1864.

No. 238.

Report of Lieut. Col. Llewellyn Hoxton, C. S. Artillery,

Chief of Artillery, of operations December l0-17, 1864.

HEADQUARTERS ARTILLERY, LEE'S CORPS,        

Columbus, February 1, 1865.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of my command from the 10th of December (the day on which I assumed command), until the 17th of December, on which day you were wounded:

I found all of the guns of the corps in position on the line at Nashville except Marshall's battery, of Johnston's battalion, left in garrison at Columbia, and Fenner's battery, of Eldridge's battalion, which was at Murfreesborough with Palmers brigade, reporting to Major-General Forrest. I had, therefore, twenty-eight guns in position on the corps line on the 15th of December, none of which were engaged until evening, when a few rounds were fired by Courtney's battalion from the temporary line to which we had retired. During the night all of my guns were removed to the new line and placed in position early in the morning—Courtney's battalion of twelve guns were massed about the center of General Ed. Johnson's line; Eldridge's battalion of eight guns occupied position on the hill to the right of the Franklin pike on General Clayton's line; and six guns of Johnston's battalion were in position on General Stevenson's line; two guns of his battalion were held in reserve in accordance with your orders. Courtney's battalion opened upon the enemy's skirmishers as soon as they came in view, and in return received a terrific fire from the enemy's batteries, which killed and crippled many of their horses. Orders were received by me and given to my battalions not to fire except on lines of battle or well-defined bodies of men, and consequently my batteries did little firing after 9 o'clock, except when the enemy charged the lines of Generals Stevenson and Clayton, when Johnston's battalion and Eldridge's battalion (the latter commanded by Captain Fenner) did most splendid execution upon them with canister, killing and wounding large numbers. During the whole day the batteries were subjected to a terrible artillery fire, which destroyed a large number of horses in the best cover I could obtain, and exploded two limber chests. When the lines were abandoned every effort was made by my officers and men to save their guns, and although left without infantry support, with the enemy almost upon them, they succeeded in almost every instance in limbering up, and then had so many horses shot down as to be unable to haul their guns through the heavy soil to the pike. I lost in the lines the following guns, 16 in all:

Courtney's battalion:
Dent's battery	4
Douglas' battery	1
Garrity's battery	2
Johnston's battalion:
Rowan's battery	4
Corput's battery	1
Eldridge's battalion:
Stanford's battery	4

I also lost some caissons. The horses which were unhurt were mostly saved. The twelve guns saved from the lines were immediately placed in position and used with good effect in protecting the retreat of the army.

On the morning of the 17th I was ordered to leave the five guns of Courtney's battalion with General Stevenson, who was conducting the rear guard. During the day the enemy's cavalry dashed into our lines on the pike, between the divisions of Generals Stevenson and Clayton, and captured the three guns of Douglas' battery. They destroyed the harness and had to cut down the guns, and when we recaptured them we could not carry them off and were compelled to abandon them. Three of the guns of Fenner's battery were subsequently abandoned by order of General Forrest, he finding it impossible to save them; and two guns of McKenzie's battery, which had been ordered to report to Lieutenant-General Stewart, were left by him on the other side of Duck River and abandoned, as the pontoon bridge was taken up, the commanding officer having been previously refused permission to cross; this, however, was after you had relinquished command.

I regret that it is out of my power to furnish a list of casualties, none having been previously called for, and two of my battalions having been ordered away. My loss was small, however, except in Stanford's battery, which lost 12 men killed and wounded.

Captain Rowan, a good and gallant officer, was killed by a shell on the morning of the 16th.

In conclusion, I would say that the officers and men of my command exhibited the greatest coolness and gallantry during the fight and subsequent retreat; that they did all in their power to save their guns; and that they feel most keenly the misfortune which has disarmed them at a moment so perilous for their country, and ask your earnest intercession to place them again in the field at an early day.

Very respectfully,

L. HOXTON,        

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

Lieut. Gen. S. D. LEE.

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. 691-2

Official Reports of the Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, November 14, 1864-January 23, 1865: No. 237. — Report of Lieut. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding Army Corps, of operations November 2-December 17, 1864.

No. 237.

Report of Lieut. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding Army Corps,

of operations November 2-December 17, 1864.

COLUMBUS, MISS., January 30, 1865.

COLONEL: I have the honor to offer the following as my official report of the operations of my corps during the offensive movement commencing at Palmetto Station, Ga., September 29, 1864:

It is impracticable now, in consequence of the movement of troops and my temporary absence from the army, to obtain detailed reports from my division commanders.¹

My corps remained at Florence [from November 2] till November 20, when the army commenced moving for Tennessee, my command leading the advance, and marching in the direction of Columbia via Henryville and Mount Pleasant. I arrived in front of Columbia on the 26th, relieving Forrest's cavalry, then in position there, which had followed the enemy from Pulaski. The force of the enemy occupying Columbia was two corps. They confined themselves to their main works around the city, and their outposts and skirmishers were readily driven in.

On the night of the 27th the enemy evacuated Columbia and crossed Duck River. Stevenson's division, of my corps, entered the town before daylight. After crossing the enemy took a strong position on the opposite side of the river and intrenched, his skirmishers occupying rifle-pits 250 yards from the river. There was considerable skirmishing across the river during the day and some artillery firing, resulting in nothing of importance.

On the morning of the 29th Johnson's division, of my corps, was detached and ordered to report to the general commanding. I was directed to engage and occupy the enemy near Columbia, while the other two corps and Johnson's division would be crossed above and moved to the rear of the enemy in the direction of Spring Hill. The entire force of the enemy was in front of Columbia till about midday on the 29th, when one corps commenced moving off, the other remaining in position as long as they could be seen by us or even till dark. I had several batteries of artillery put in position to drive the skirmishers of the enemy from the vicinity of the river-bank, and made a display of pontoons, running several of them down to the river under a heavy artillery and musketry fire. Having succeeded in putting a boat in the river, Pettus' brigade, of Stevenson's division, was thrown across, under the immediate direction of Major-General Stevenson, and made a most gallant charge on the rifle-pits of the enemy, driving a much superior force and capturing the pits. The bridge was at once laid down and the crossing commenced.

During the affair around Columbia the gallant and accomplished soldier, Col. R. F. Beckham, commanding the artillery regiment of my corps, was mortally wounded while industriously and fearlessly directing the artillery firing against the enemy. He was one of the truest and best officers in the service.

The enemy left my front about 2.30 a.m. on the morning of the 30th, and the pursuit was made as rapidly as was possible in the night time. The advance of Clayton's division arrived at Spring Hill about 9 a.m., when it was discovered that the enemy had made his escape, passing around that portion of the army in that vicinity. My corps, including Johnson's division, followed immediately after Cheatham's toward Franklin. I arrived near Franklin about 4 p.m. The commanding general was just about attacking the enemy with Stewart's and Cheatham's corps, and he directed me to place Johnson's division, and afterward Clayton's, in position to support the attack. Johnson moved in rear of Cheatham's corps; and finding that the battle was stubborn General Hood instructed me to go forward in person to communicate with General Cheatham, and if necessary to put Johnson's division in the fight. I met General Cheatham about dark, and was informed by him that assistance was needed at once. Johnson was at once moved forward to the attack, but owing to the darkness and want of information as to the locality his attack was not felt by the enemy till about one hour after dark. This division moved against the enemy's breastworks under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, gallantly driving the enemy from portions of his line. The brigades of Sharp and Brantly (Mississippians) and of Deas (Alabamians) particularly distinguished themselves. Their dead were mostly in the trenches and on the works of the enemy, where they nobly fell in a desperate hand-to-hand conflict. Sharp captured three stand of colors. Brantly was exposed to a severe enfilade fire. These noble brigades never faltered in this terrible night struggle.

Brigadier-General Manigault, commanding a brigade of Alabamians and South Carolinians, was severely wounded in this engagement while gallantly leading his troops to the fight, and of his two successors in command, Colonel Shaw was killed and Colonel Davis wounded. I have never seen greater evidences of gallantry than was displayed by this division, under command of that admirable and gallant soldier, Maj. Gen. Ed. Johnson.

The enemy fought gallantly and obstinately at Franklin, and the position he held was, for infantry defense, one of the best I have ever seen.

The enemy evacuated Franklin hastily during the night of the 30th. My corps commenced the pursuit about 1 p.m. on December 1, and arrived near Nashville about 2 p.m. on the 2d. The enemy had then occupied the works around the city. My command was the center of the army in front of Nashville, Cheatham's corps being on my right and Stewards on my left. Nothing of importance occurred till the 15th. The army was engaged in intrenching and strengthening its position. On the l5th the enemy moved out on our left, and a serious engagement was soon commenced. In my immediate front the enemy still kept up his skirmish line, though it was evident that his main force had been moved. My line was much extended, the greater part of my command being in single rank. About 12 m. I was instructed to assist Lieutenant-General Stewart, and I commenced withdrawing troops from my line to send to his support. I sent him Johnson's entire division, each brigade starting as it was disengaged from the works. A short time before sunset the enemy succeeded in turning General Stewart's position, and a part of my line was necessarily changed to conform to his new line. During the night Cheatham's corps was withdrawn from my right and moved to the extreme left of the army. The army then took position about one mile in rear of its original line, my corps being on the extreme right. I was instructed by the commanding general to cover and hold the Franklin pike—Clayton's division occupied my right, Stevenson's my center, and Johnson's my left. It was evident soon after daylight that a large force of the enemy was being concentrated in my front on the Franklin pike.

About 9 a.m. on the 16th the enemy, having placed a large number of guns in position, opened a terrible artillery fire on my line, principally on the Franklin pike. This lasted about two hours, when the enemy moved to the assault. They came up in several lines of battle. My men reserved their fire until they were within easy range, and then delivered it with terrible effect. The assault was easily repulsed. It was renewed, however, several times with spirit, but only to meet each time with a like result. They approached to within thirty yards of our line, and their loss was very severe. Their last assault was made about 3.30 p.m., when they were driven back in great disorder. The assaults were made principally in front of Holtzclaw's (Alabama), Gibson's (Louisiana), and Stovall's (Georgia) brigades, of Clayton's division, and Pettus' (Alabama) brigade, of Stevenson's division, and too much credit cannot be awarded Major-General Clayton and these gallant troops for their conspicuous and soldierly conduct.

The enemy made a considerable display of force on my extreme right during the day, evidently with the intention of attempting to turn our right flank. He made, however, but one feeble effort to use this force, when it was readily repulsed by Stovall's and Brantly's brigades, which had been moved to the right. Smith's division, of Cheatham's corps, reported to me about 2 p.m. to meet any attempt of the enemy to turn our right flank. It was put in position, but was not needed, and, by order of the commanding general, it started to Brentwood about 3.30 p.m.

The artillery fire of the enemy during the entire day was very heavy, and right nobly did the artillery of my corps, under Lieutenant-Colonel Hoxton, perform their duty. Courtney's battalion, under Captain Douglas, was in Johnson's front; Johnston's battalion was in Stevenson's front; and Eldridge's battalion, under Captain Turner, was in Clayton's front. The officers and men of the artillery behaved admirably. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon this efficient arm of the service in the Army of Tennessee.

The troops of my entire line were in fine spirits and confident of success--so much so that the men could scarcely be prevented from leaving their trenches to follow the enemy on and near the Franklin pike; but suddenly all eyes were turned to the center of our line of battle near the Granny White pike, where it was evident the enemy had made an entrance, although but little firing had been heard in that direction. Our men were flying to the rear in the wildest confusion, and the enemy following with enthusiastic cheers. The enemy at once closed toward the gap in our line and commenced charging on the left division (Johnson's) of my corps, but were handsomely driven back. The enemy soon gained our rear, and was moving on my left flank, when my line gradually gave way. My troops left their line in some disorder, but were soon rallied and presented a good front to the enemy. It was a fortunate circumstance that the enemy was too much crippled to pursue us on the Franklin pike. The only pursuit made at that time was by a small force coming from the Granny White pike.

Having been informed by an aide of the general commanding that the enemy was near Brentwood, and that it was necessary to get beyond that point at once, everything was hastened to the rear. When Brentwood was passed the enemy was only half a mile from the Franklin pike, where Chalmers' cavalry was fighting them. Being charged with covering the retreat of the army, I remained in rear with Stevenson's and part of Clayton's division, and halted the rear guard about seven miles north of Franklin about 10 p.m. on the 16th.

Early on the morning of the 17th our cavalry was driven in in confusion by the enemy, who at once commenced a most vigorous pursuit, his cavalry charging at every opportunity and in the most daring manner. It was apparent that they were determined to make the retreat a rout if possible. Their boldness was soon checked by many of them being killed and captured by Pettus' (Alabama) and Stovall's (Georgia) brigades and Bledsoe's battery, under General Clayton. Several guidons were captured in one of their charges. I was soon compelled to withdraw rapidly toward Franklin, as the enemy was throwing a force in my rear from both the right and left of the pike on roads coming into the pike near Franklin and five miles in my rear. This force was checked by Brigadier-General Gibson with his brigade and a regiment of Buford's cavalry under Colonel Shacklett. The resistance which the enemy had met with early in the morning, and which materially checked his movement, enabled us to reach Franklin with but little difficulty. Here the enemy appeared in considerable force and exhibited great boldness, but he was repulsed, and the crossing of the Harpeth River effected. I found that there was in the town of Franklin a large number of our own and of the enemy's wounded, and not wishing to subject them and the town to the fire of the enemy's artillery, the place was yielded with but little resistance. Some four or five hours were gained by checking the enemy one mile and a half south of Franklin and by the destruction of the trestle bridge over the Harpeth, which was effected by Captain Coleman, the engineer officer on my staff, and a party of pioneers, under a heavy fire of the enemy's sharpshooters. About 4 p.m. the enemy, having crossed a considerable force, commenced a bold and vigorous attack, charging with his cavalry on our flanks and pushing forward his lines in our front. A more persistent effort was never made to rout the rear guard of a retiring column. This desperate attack was kept up till long after dark, but gallantly did the rear guard--consisting of Pettus' (Alabama) and Cumming's (Georgia) brigades, the latter commanded by Colonel Watkins, of Stevenson's division, and under that gallant and meritorious officer Maj. Gen. C. L. Stevenson--repulse every attack. Brigadier-General Chalmers with his division of cavalry covered our flanks. The cavalry of the enemy succeeded in getting in Stevenson's rear, and attacked Major-General Clayton's division about dark, but they were handsomely repulsed, Gibson's and Stovall's brigades being principally engaged-Some four five guidons were captured from the enemy during the even ing. About 1 p.m. I was wounded while with the rear guard, but did not relinquish command of my corps till dark. Most of the details in conducting the retreat from that time were arranged and executed by Major-General Stevenson, to whom the army is much indebted for his skill and gallantry during the day.

I cannot close this report without alluding particularly to the conduct of the artillery of my corps on the 16th. Sixteen guns were lost on the lines. The greater portion of them were without horses, they having been disabled during the day. Many of the carriages were disabled also. The noble gunners, reluctant to leave their guns, fought the enemy in many instances till they were almost within reach of the guns.

Maj. Gen. Ed. Johnson was captured on the 16th. Being on foot he was unable to make his escape from the enemy in consequence of an old wound. He held his line as long as it was practicable to do so. The Army of Tennessee has sustained no greater loss than that of this gallant and accomplished soldier.

To my division commanders--Stevenson, Johnson, and Clayton--I am indebted for the most valuable services; they were always zealous in discharge of their duties.

Although it is my desire to do so, I cannot now allude to the many conspicuous acts of gallantry exhibited by general, field, and company officers and by different commands; it is my intention to do so in future when detailed reports are received.

To the officers of my personal staff, and also of the corps staff, I am indebted for valuable services; they were always at their posts and ready to respond to the call of duty.

Yours, respectfully,

S. D. LEE,        

Lieutenant-General.

Lieut. Col. A. P. MASON,
        Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Tennessee.

ADDENDA.

Report of casualties in Johnson's division in battle of November 30, 1864, at Franklin, Tenn.

Command.	Killed.	Wounded.	Missing.	Total.
Deas' brigade	13	101	5	119
Manigault's brigade	5	85	1	91
Sharp's brigade	30	81	9	120
Brantly's brigade	76	140	21	237
Total infantry.	124	407	36	567
Artillery battalion	3	17		20
Grand total	127	424	36	587

ED. JOHNSON,        

Major-General, Commanding.

NEAR NASHVILLE, TENN., December 3, 1864.

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¹ For portion of report here omitted, see Vol. XXXIX, part 1, p. 810.

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. 686-91