The 1861 election of T.A.R. Nelson and Joseph B. Heiskell

   Politics always makes strange bedfellows, and the August 1861 contest in District 1 in east Tennessee might make one of the most interesting contestss of the war. It pitted Tennessee state senator Joseph B. Heiskell against US Congressman T.A.R. Nelson. Both Heiskell and Nelson were from east Tennessee and both were pre-war Whigs. Heiskell is described as being a “staunch Union Whig in politics.” However, after the firing on Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call for troops, he “cast his lot with the Confederacy.”[1]   

    Once Tennessee left the Union and joined the Southern Confederacy, the state was allowed to elect representatives in the Confederate House and Senate. Heiskell ran for Confederate House. Strangely enough, Nelson was also running. Except, Nelson was running for the same district in the US House: two men, from the same area, running for the same designated seat, but in two different bodies politic. The remaining sources are somewhat silent on the actual campaign, although one post-war scribe told of a secession meeting held in Elizabethton in May 1861. Nelson, with US Senator Andrew Johnson, spoke one week, while Heiskell, with former US Congressman William Cocke, spoke the following week. For the Congressional seats, it appears that they ran pretty much unopposed.[2]

   Of course, both men won. Had they been contending for the same seat, Nelson would have steamrolled Heiskell. The numbers looked like this: Johnston County - Nelson, 1129, Heiskell, 109; Carter County – Nelson 1229, Heiskell 81; Greene County – Nelson, 2352, Heiskell, 831; Jefferson County, Nelson 1509, Heiskell, 727. The only two counties that Heiskell won were Washington County – Nelson 979, Heiskell, 1061 and, Hawkins County – Nelson, 841 and Heiskell, 957.[3]

   Heiskell would soon make his way to Richmond. Nelson would head to Washington, D.C., but wound up in Richmond as well. He was arrested in Wise County, Virginia, on August 5, 1861, and jailed in Richmond. Nelson wrote Jefferson Davis, asking to be released, promising to return to east Tennessee and live peaceably. Davis ordered Nelson released on August 13, 1861. Heiskell would go on to be elected to serve in both the first and second Confederate Congresses.[4]  

   Outside of the presidential election of 1860, the race between Heiskell and Nelson might just be one of the more interesting elections of the 1860s.

Nelson                              Heiskell

 

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[1] Warner and Yearns, Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress, 115.

[2] Scott and Angel, The Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, 38; The Tennessean, August 11, 1861.

[3] The Tennessee, August 11, 1861.

[4] OR, Series II, Vol. 1, 824, 826.

Don’t know much about flags…

 The below article was published by Newsweek in July 2015. Yes, it is older, but it is one of the first items that pops up when one begins researching “Confederate flags” online. You can see the full article here. I chose to respond because of its top-tier ranking, and because it errs several different times. If you are interested in reliable sources on Confederate flags, I recommend the 1995 edition of The Returned Battle Flags and Deveraux Cannon’s The Flags of the Confederacy. My comments are in red.

It was April 1865 and the Union had just declared victory. Except, they did not. The war lingered for months. President Andrew Johnson did not declare the war officially over until August 20, 1866. A rebel soldier with the 9th Virginia Cavalry was preparing to hand over his weapons. He kept only the clothes on his back and probably his blanket, canteen, haversack, etc. A certain number of Confederate soldiers in the Army of Tennessee were even allowed to keep their rifles to protect groups of veterans from roving bands of outliers and Federal deserters as they traveled home. and, in a final act of rebellion, hid a Confederate battle flag by tying it around his torso. Union soldiers who were captured in battle often did this as well. It’s less an “act of rebellion,” than one of of love and devotion, for both sides. Over a century later, the flag, deemed one of the rarest relics from the Civil War, sold for $82,000 at auction.

For years, the Confederate flag has served as a powerful symbol, one that's meant wildly different things to different folks. For some, it harks back to the old South, for others it's a reminder of the sanctity of states' rights. For memorabilia enthusiasts, the flag is an intriguing antiquity, while for another ilk it's a decal to put atop a Dodge Charger that proudly proclaims membership in Redneck Nation.

But for white supremacists, the Confederate flag represents a preferable alternate reality, one in which the South won the Civil War and slavery was never abolished. Debate about the Confederate flag's true meaning flared up after Dylann Roof was arrested in connection with the Charleston, South Carolina, church killings, in which nine African-Americans were gunned down in the middle of Bible study. Roof, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, authored a racist manifesto that has photographs of him holding the Confederate flag, posing in front of a Confederate museum and visiting a Confederate cemetery.

Legislators rushed to debate whether the flag ought to be taken down from statehouse flagpoles, and many businesses removed the flags from their shelves. Even reruns of the late-'70s TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, in which the car driven by the main characters is emblazoned with a Confederate flag, were dropped from the TV Land schedule because of the controversy. All the while, Confederate memorabilia collectors squirmed. 

Experts estimate that there are only 20 to 50 authentic Confederate battle flags on the private collectors' market today. These flags, also called the rebel flag and colloquially called the Confederate flag, are marked by a large blue 'X' and adorned in white stars. Though this flag is today primarily associated with the Confederacy, it was only the flag used during combat. There were actually dozens of different types of Confederate flags used in battle, or as battle flags. It was rejected as official flag of the Confederate States of America, which used four other flags, all variations of the American flag. There were only three National Confederate flags. Only one resembled the flag of the United States.  Nonetheless, that battle flag is the enduring icon of the Confederacy.

These flags were often destroyed by Union soldiers following a battle that went in the North's favor. Considering there were over 500 battle flags that were captured during the war and survived, this is not true. Did it happen? Yes. Often? Probably not. Flags were valued as trophies, so it is unlikely that a Federal soldier would destroy a prime prize rather than carrying it home. That’s why so many flags ended up in the North. The Confederate soldiers were more likely to cut up their flags rather than surrender them to the enemy. Others were turned over to the United States Congress Actually, they were sent to the Adjutant General’s office, then in 1867 to the War Department building. and eventually made their way into the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. Surrendered or captured, yes. “turned over”? Rarely. President Grover Cleveland tried to return the flags to various Southern states in 1887. There was such a cry against this that he rescinded the order. Finally in 1905, the flags were returned. Those that could be identified went to their respective states. Those that could not, or were flags identified to Virginia, went to the Confederate Memorial Literacy Society in Richmond, later called the Museum of the Confederacy.  The remaining flags wound up at auction, though a few are believed to be with the families of the soldiers who brought them home after the war. There are flags in various museums across the South, and even some held in museums in the North. A museum in Iowa has dozens, testimony to the trophy-hunting aspect of flag capturing by Union soldiers.

Rarity is usually a good thing for collectors, but memorabilia experts say the Confederate flag market is "softening"—a polite way of saying sales are plummeting. And that can't be pinned on the recent controversy. In 2007, a Confederate flag in moderate condition commanded $77,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. A similar flag brought only $50,000 in 2010. "Had it sold at the same auction in 2007, it would've been in the $77,000 price range as well," says Marsha Dixey, the consignment director for the auction house. Heritage, founded in 1976, boasts over $900 million in revenue a year and employs hundreds of memorabilia experts. It's also the largest collectibles auctioneer in the world, which is why so much Civil War memorabilia ends up there. The market has not softened. The flag of the 4^th North Carolina Cavalry was sold at auction in 2018 for $96,000.

A lot of factors contribute to the changing market, the most obvious being the economic downturn of 2008. However, the generation that typically collected Civil War memorabilia in general—and Confederate flags in particular—is also dying out without being replaced by a younger generation of collectors. "A 40-year-old is not as interested as an older person who remembers their grandfather talking about the war," Dixey explains. I actually know many of the under 40 crowd who are interested in history.  

Collectors say the culture is also changing. History teaches us that the “culture” is always changing. "It has a lot to do with political change, especially with what happened recently with Charleston. That will impact flag sales," explains Michael Collins, executive director of the Civil War Antiques Preservation Society. "That flag should never have been flying on the statehouse. It's a battle flag, and that sends the message that you are going against the Union."

He says backlash against antique Confederate flags has changed the policies of auction houses. Some houses often specify what kinds of items they will and will not trade in: Ivory and looted items are among common items auction houses refuse to sell under their social responsibility policy. The largest and most venerable auction houses in the world, Sotheby's and Christie's, rarely deal in Confederate flags. "They want to make it clear that they do not agree with the philosophies associated with the flag being offered up for sale," says Collins.

With the biggest auction houses voluntarily out of the game, two houses—Heritage and James D. Julia Incorporated, based in Fairfield, Maine—have established themselves as the leaders of the Civil War market. Heritage deals in so much Confederate memorabilia that a change in its sales policy regarding flags could radically alter the market. Collins says that if it refuses to handle them, "It would actually drive the price [of memorabilia] up because then there would be a very limited place to buy and sell such items."

James D. Julia sells only about 3,000 items a year, but that inventory includes some of the rarest collectibles in the world. A planned October auction will include the only flag known to have been carried by both Confederate soldiers and marines during the Civil War. John Sexton, one of the nation's leading experts in Confederate memorabilia, estimates that even in the softened market, this flag could bring as much as $250,000. "The market can never really hurt rare and desirable objects, even if there's a lack of interest and lack of demand," he explains.

"Confederate flags are still pieces of history," says Sexton. "It's a shame that some racist fool used a mass-produced prop in his violence. But this is still a great, iconic piece of American history that turned out to be on the losing side."

When asked if he would ever ban the flag from his auctions, auction house owner James D. Julia said he would not, just as he has not banned Nazi memorabilia. "I deal in historical items, not symbols," Julia explained. "People who buy these things are institutions, museums, major collectors. They are not reinventing the pre–Civil War South. I understand why some firms don't handle them—because it's not politically correct. But if we did this with relics of every generation that happened before us, we would have no history left. We would know nothing."

 

Confederate submarines

When someone mentions Confederate submarines, everyone thinks of the C.S.S. Hunley, and rightfully so. The Hunley did become the first submersible combat vessel to sink an enemy warship. But the South’s drive to build and successfully implement innovative warships goes far beyond one ship in February 1864. There were several other Confederate submarines and attempts to disrupt the blockade of Southern ports.

An excellent resource on the subject is Mark Ragan’s Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare (1999). The only thing that could make this book more beneficial would have been an appendix, maybe a quick reference guide, listing the barest details of each submarine.

Another note: the Confederacy built both semi-submersible and completely submersible vessels. The former are at times referred to as torpedo boats or David-Class Torpedo Boats. These craft were built of wood, contained a single screw, and had a steam boiler. They were fifty feet in length, had a four-man crew, and boasted a spar torpedo on the end. They were designed to run at night semi-submerged toward a Federal vessel, to drive the torpedo inside the vessel, and to then back away. On October 5, 1863, a “David” vessel attacked the U.S.S. Ironsides in Charleston, seriously damaging the vessel. The Confederate David was able to return to harbor. (135-137)

Information on many of these Confederate submarines is extremely limited. Many of the Confederate naval records were destroyed at war’s end. 

The Hunley by Chapman

Franklin G. Smith wrote to the Columbia Herald on June 10, 1861, about building a fleet of Confederate submarines: “Excepting our privateers the Confederate States have not a single ship at sea. Throughout our southern seaports, men of a mechanical turn and of the right spirit must go to work, maturing the best plans for the destruction or the capture of every blockading ship. From the Chesapeake to the mouth of the Rio Grande, our coast is better fitted for submarine warfare than any other in the world. I would have every hostile keel chased from our coast by submarine propellers. The new vessel must be cigar shaped for speed - made of plate iron, joined without external rivet heads, about thirty feet long, with a central section about 4 x 3 feet - driven by a spiral propeller. The new Aneroid barometer made for increased pressure, will enable the adventurer easily to decide his exact distance below the surface.” Of course, there never was a fleet of submarines built, but there were a few of note.

Pioneer – built in New Orleans, Louisiana, and tested in February 1862. The ship was 34 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high. It was powered by a hand crank that was attached to a propeller. The Pioneer was scuttled in a canal near Lake Pontchartrain when New Orleans was evacuated. The Federals raised and examined the ship, and in 1868, it was sold for scrap.

Bayou Saint John submarine – no one seems to know the name of this vessel. It was dredged out of Bayou Saint John in 1878. When it was eventually opened, three skeletons were found inside. The submarine is now on display at the Capitol Park Museum – Baton Rouge.

Shreveport submarines – there were supposedly five submarines under construction in Shreveport, Louisiana, by the Singer Submarine Corporation in 1863. One of these was sent to Houston, Texas, while the other four were scuttled toward the end of the war. The other four are still submerged but apparently “surface” in the news when they are exposed during low water levels at the Cross Bayou. See https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/24/mystery-of-missing-civil-war-subs-resurfaces/22288817/

Richmond submarines--these include several built by Tredegar Iron Works. One was tested on the James River below Rocketts at the end of 1861. In this test, a diver emerged from the submerged vessels and planted an explosive charge on the bottom of a barge. Once secure in the submarine, the charge was detonated, sinking the barge. On October 12, 1861, an unnamed submarine, possibly the one above or maybe a different vessel, was launched at Sewall’s Point and made for the U.S.S. Minnesota. The craft became entangled in a net and was almost captured. It is not really clear what became of these vessels.  

Pioneer II (American Diver) – built in Mobile late 1862. It started out with some type of electrical motor, and then had a steam engine, and eventually had a hand crank. On its first mission in February 1863, in an attempt to attack the Federal blocking fleet there at Mobile Bay, it foundered in heavy seas and sank. But the crew did survive.

Colonel E. H. Agaman – was the idea of Col. E.H. Agaman. His submarine was rocket powered. It is not clear if the submarine itself was rocket powered, or the torpedo. After the fuel for the rocket was shipped from Augusta, Georgia, to Mobile in April 1863, this vessel disappears from the pages of history.  

CSS Squib also operated in the James River. In April 1864, the Squib placed a torpedo on the hull of USS Minnesota and detonated it. The torpedo was too close to the surface, and the Minnesota was not seriously damaged. The final disposition of the Squib is unknown. The Squib is also referred to as the Infanta. There were also operating at the end of the war three others: the Scorpion, Hornet, and Wasp.

CSS Hunley – most famous. Constructed in Mobile and transported to Mobile, the Hunley sank twice and killed a crew and a half before the attack the USS Housatonic. Of course we know that the final crew of the Hunley did not return and sank as well, somewhere beyond where the Housatonic went down.

CSS Captain Pierce might have sunk the USS Tecumseh in August 1864 in the battle of Mobile Bay. The boiler of the submarine might have exploded shortly thereafter.

CSS St. Patrick was privately built in Mobile and transferred to the Confederate navy in January 1865. The St. Patrick struck the Federal ship USS Octorara with a torpedo, but the torpedo misfired and did no damage and the St. Patrick escaped.

There were at least two submarines under construction in Wilmington, North Carolina, in late 1864, early 1865. But their final dispositions are unknown.

(For more information, please check out Ragan’s Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare in the Civil War, or, Daniel Franignoul’s “Submarine Monsters of the Confederacy,” Confederate Historical Society of Belgium)

The raid on Windsor, North Carolina, January 1864.

   Windsor, the county seat of Bertie County, was just a little village off the Cashie River in eastern North Carolina. It did not have much military importance. Yet the Federals came calling in January 1864.

   Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. George Pickett were campaigning in eastern North Carolina that winter. On February 1, the bulk of his command would move from Kinston to New Bern in an attempt to wrest control of the port town from Federal occupation. When the Confederates arrived in the area, they sent out foraging parties to secure food and forage for man and beast. One of those groups, reported as two companies from the 62^nd Georgia Cavalry.[1]

USS Massasoit (LOC)

   The Federals stationed at Plymouth, on the Roanoke River, soon learned of the Confederate presence and dispatched naval vessels, with 100 infantry on board, towards the town on the night of January 29, 1864.  The USS Massasoit of Lt. Com. Flusser provided the transport. The vessel proceeded up the Roanoke River before taking a right into the Cashie River. The infantry force landed about three o’clock in the morning about six miles below the town. A member of the 103^rd Pennsylvania Infantry recalled that “About daylight, the advance became engaged,” with the Georgia cavalrymen. “My command was in a detachment that made a detour to the left at double quick to come in on the enemy’s flank, but we had not reached our position before they ‘skedaddled.’” Capt. John Donaghy, 103^rd Pennsylvania, who had command of part of the mixed Federal infantry, lost command of his troops. The Federal infantry force was drawn from every company in the regiment. “My men were so eager to get a pop at the rebs that some of them began firing without orders, unmindful of a line of our skirmishers who were between us and them. It took some vigorous language on my part and some blows with the flat of my sword against their guns to make them cease firing.”[2]

   Donaghy eventually gained control of his men and they proceeded through the abandoned camp of the Georgia cavalry. “The enemy, except a few escaped,” Donaghy wrote, “And all that we captured was their camp, with some arms, and the musical instruments of the band. Brass must have been scarce, for the horns were made of sheet iron.” The Federals marched into town, sending out pickets on various roads while the Federal navy, presumably their land force, “practiced with their howitzers for a while shelling the country in every direction the rebels had gone.” In Donaghy’s opinion, they did nothing but “waste some ammunition.” Following that, Donaghy’s men “consumed a few rails cooking their coffee, for the halt gave us the opportunity to eat breakfast.” Donaghy heard the sound of horses nearby and ordered a lieutenant with a squad to go and investigate. They found several horses tied in the woods, removed from surrounding farms as the farmers attempted to keep the animals safe. “It was a lucky discovery for us, and Lieut. Kelly and I, and some of the boys, ceased to be foot soldiers for the time being. A saddle and bridle was found in a barn nearby, and I borrowed them,” Donaghy recalled. [3]

   On returning to the town, Donaghy encountered Flusser, who “had a bottle with him, and we drank several times to his favorite toast, ‘Confusion to the rebels, and damn the Roanoke sheep.’ By the sheep he meant the ram that the rebels were building up the river. We left the captured horses at the landing, without having any harrowing doubts but that their owners would find them. We were back in Plymouth by nine o’clock at night, with nobody hurt on the expedition.”[4]

   Another member of the 103^rd Pennsylvania wrote that “Horses, mules, wagons, clothing, ammunition and two soldiers were captured. Several prominent citizens were brought away to be held as hostages for certain loyal persons incarcerated in Richmond.” Who were those citizens captured? Several North Carolina newspapers commented on the raid. On wrote that the Federals had ‘burnt up some meat and destroyed some salt. . .and captured and carried off Rev. Cyrus Watters [Walters], of the Episcopal church; also Dr. Turner Wilson and L.S. Webb, Esq., Cashier of the Bank and some one or two others.” Both the commanding officers of the 62^nd Georgia Cavalry, and the newspaper articles, reported that the Confederate cavalry was reinforced and “after some sharp firing, the Yankees retired.” What became of Walters, Wilson, and Webb is unknown,  and more research needs to be done on the “loyal persons incarcerated in Richmond.”[5] 

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[1] ORs, Vol. 33, 107.

[2] Dickey, History of the 103^rd Regiment, Pennsylvania, 54.

[3] Dickey, History of the 103^rd Regiment, Pennsylvania, 51.

[4] Dickey, History of the 103^rd Regiment, Pennsylvania, 55.

[5] Dickey, History of the 103^rd Regiment, Pennsylvania, 51; The Charlotte Democrat, February 16, 1864; ORs, Vol. 33, 107.

Changing Sides

 

“There are very few unexplored topics concerning the history of the American Civil War,” is how Patrick H. Garrow starts Changing Sides: Union Prisoners of War Who Joined the Confederate Army (2020). Yet Garrow has found and explored one of those topics. Garrow makes a conservative estimate of 4,000 Federal soldiers who joined the Confederate ranks. These men were mostly, but not entirely, foreign-born - Irish and German immigrants. While confessing that it is difficult to trace the service of men who filtered into various regiments, Garrow concentrates on four: Brook’s Battalion, Tucker’s Regiment/1^st Foreign Battalion, 2^nd Foreign Battalion/8^th Confederate Infantry; and the 10^th Tennessee Infantry. The first three were recruited as organizations entirely made up of former Federal soldiers. The latter was an early war Confederate regiment whose ranks were depleted and received an influx of these recruits. Garrow examines the war-record of these late war regiments. Brook’s Battalion, while stationed near Savannah, had several members arrested and executed for mutiny. The 8^th Confederate Infantry fought amazingly well at Salisbury in April 1865. Many members of the 10^th Tennessee Infantry were captured at Egypt Station, Mississippi, and instead of being executed as deserters, were given the chance to re-enlist in the Federal army, surviving in the 5^th United States Volunteers. Garrow then follows by tracing the lives of a few of the former Federal/Confederate soldiers into the post-war years, showing how many of these men (but not all) disappear from the pages of history. This is followed by an examination of some of the Confederate officers who commanded the members of the various battalions and regiments listed above. Garrow has accomplished what he set out to do: tell the story of an unexplored aspect of not just the war, but American history. This book is highly recommended!

Women Imprisoned at Andersonville

   When we think of war-time women prisoners, a few famous spies, like Belle Boyd, Rose O’Neal Greenhow, and maybe Pauline Cushman come to mind. There were a few others imprisoned who are not household names. Margaret Leonard is one of them.

   Margaret Larney was born in Ireland, came to the United States, and married Isaac Newton Leonard. Leonard enlisted in Company H, 2^nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery the following year and was sent to eastern North Carolina. When Confederates under Robert F. Hoke came to invest Plymouth in April 1864, Margaret did not leave with the other refugees. Instead, according to a veteran’s post-war account, she “engaged in making coffee for the men in a building exposed to a heavy fire. At one time a solid shot passed through the building, taking with it one of her dresses, which hung on a nail by the wall. Another carried away the front legs of her cooking-stove. Yet when the fight was over, on the evening of the 19^th, she had coffee for the men, and supper for the officers. She was in Fort Williams during the remainder of the fight.” She and her husband were both captured and imprisoned at Andersonville.    Margaret Leonard lived in the prison for a time, but eventually Captain Wirz moved her in with his family. After a while, “she began insulting” the Captain’s family and Wirz had her sent to Castle Thunder in Richmond. There she befriended Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who described her as “a large stout Irish woman.” Before long, Leonard was sent beyond Confederate lines. Isaac survived the war but died in 1869. Margaret lived in California until her death in 1900.[1]

Grave in Florence, South Carolina (findagrave).

   Francis Jane Scadin, wife of Herbert Hunt, arrived a couple of weeks after Margaret Leonard. Hunt was a steamboat captain. Hunt had just married Francis, and with his new bride and other guests, set sail on a “pleasure cruise.” As the story goes, the ran into a United States revenue cutter, who forced Hunt to head to North Carolina to take on a load of corn. In the process of being loaded, Hunt and his ship were captured. His bride, thinking his imprisonment would last only a few days, disguised herself and went with him to Andersonville. Doctor J.J.W. was sent to Andersonville in July 1864 and ordered to oversee the dispensary. On his first night, “I heard a very small infant crying near my office. . . Upon inquiry one of the guards informed me that it was the infant of Captain Hunt and his wife, only three days old.” Kerr visited her the next morning, finding her in a tent with the babe, “in the most abstract poverty I had ever seen.” It appears that while in the prison proper, Federal prisoners had cut the back out of her tent and took her trunk with clothing and cash. Kerr made arrangements to move her to a home nearby and worked with a merchant friend in Macon to secure clothing for new garments. What exactly became of Mrs. Hunt is unknown.[2]

   Another woman imprisoned at Andersonville appears to have been Florena Budwin. Our information about her comes from a Pvt. Samuel Elliott, a member of the 7^th Pennsylvania Reserves. Elliott was captured during the battle of the Wilderness in May 1864. He, along with Florena Budwin and her husband, were sent to Andersonville. It appears that Florena had disguised her sex when she enlisted. At least Florena and Elliott were transferred to the prison in Florence, South Carolina. Elliott wrote in 1890 that “I knew the female prisoner at Andersonville, having seen her frequently pass our detachment on her way to the swamp for water. I remember her as a woman rather above medium height, sunburnt, with long, unkempt hair. Her clothing consisted of a rough gray shirt, a pair of worn out army trousers, and what was once a military cap, but scarcely enough of it was left to afford protection from the burning sun.” When transferred to Florence in September 1864, her “sex was discovered…and she was taken… to be a nurse in the hospital.” She served several months as a nurse at Florence, then contracted pneumonia and died on January 25, 1865. She just might be the first woman buried in a national cemetery.[3]

   There are probably many more stories like these that are lost to history.

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[1] Marvel, Andersonville, 174; Davis, Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonville, 147; Goss, The Soldier’s Story of his Captivity at Andersonville, 60.

[2] Marvel, Andersonville, 56;  Sheppard, Andersonville, 38; Confederate Veteran, vol. XXIII, 318; Speer, Portals to Hell, 264.

[3] The Independent-Records, June 24, 1890; The State, May 29, 1934.

Watauga blog follow-up

 Usually, when anonymous comments come through on the form, I don’t even read them. They just get deleted (the old file 13). I figure if you can’t put your name on something and claim it as your own, then I don’t have the time to reply. This one, though, caught my attention, more so for its adherence to bad history than for its unattributed authorship. The anonymous poster was referring to a blog I published in December 3, 2014, entitled “A Racially integrated Confederate Military.” You can read the original post here.

Here are the anonymous poster’s comments in whole. We’ll look at some fallacies in the argument below. 

Hi. I’m an Oxentine from Watauga County. First and foremost, I wonder why you’d use Watauga County as your “Test County” for rhe Confederate South of which Watauga County was far from either. Watauga had no allegiance to the Confederacy, period. In fact, we were quite opposed to the Confederacy. We were certainly the opposite of representative of the Confederate South. My god, surely a documented Underground Railroad upon which I was cultivated is not your test county. We had no large plantation, no need for slaves and Watauga County didn't utilize slaves in any sort of imaginable way as slaves were used in the true antebellum south. I would think to use Atlanta as your test county if I were you. And then you might ask the descendants of those minorities in the true south if they wanted to be confederate soldiers or if they were forced. It’s quite concerning that history is written in reference to a people a people by someone other than descendants of the people because it’s not history at all. I know myself. I know our mentality. It is very unlikely that anyone in Watauga County had any kind of true grit loyalty to the Confederacy. Historically, we are the last group of people to get involved in conflict of any kind but the most malicious when we did. We were farmers. We wanted to be left alone. We came here to be left alone. We had no allegiance to society because we hate society. If you don’t know that, because you’re not from Watauga, it’s hard to factor that in. Prior to the civil war, we were already racially diverse, moreso than anywhere in the south, and you comment that we were the least diverse. 1. That’s an assumption on your part based on a single letter placed in a square box. 2. And if we were racially heterogenous, for the most part, you can’t assume that was a precursor to our offering minority confederate soldiers. 3. As an Oxentine descendant, I can tell you first hand that we are descended from the Croatan, Cheraw, and other Eastern Bands of Native American with a more recent linage of African and European. 4. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who was a free person of color was listed as Mulatto, and that includes Native Americans, Swahili or what have you. 5. In the case of the mulattos in Watauga County, or any other true melungeon group, there is no record of Portuguese descent prior to the mid 20th century and actually no Portuguese at all. More bad history. My culture was 100% founded upon European, Native American and African tradition. And that’s it. 6. What if I were to tell you that 99% of people residing in Watauga County at the time were ALL of mixed racial heritage? How would you write your book then? Because that’s how you should write your book. I promise you that.

So, here are my rebuttals:

·         Watauga had no allegiance to the Confederacy, period. In fact, we were quite opposed to the Confederacy. We were certainly the opposite of representative of the Confederate South.

Actually, that is not even close to being true. While Watauga County, like many North Carolina counties, voted against calling a convention to consider secession in February 1861, fewer than six weeks later, they had had a change of heart. What changed their minds? There are several occurrences over that six weeks that are factors: the failure of the Peace Conference, Abraham Lincoln’s babbling first inaugural address, Lincoln going back on his word and sending reinforcements to Fort Sumter, and the call for 75,000 troops to invade Southern states. Watauga County’s response to these events was swift. Early in May, a group of fifty men met and responded, forming a company and pledging “Our Lives, our Properties, and our Sacred Honors to defend the Rights[,] Institutions and Honor of our County, State, and our Common Country, the Confederate States of America.” William Y. Farthing was elected captain.” At the same time, former representative George N. Folk was raising a company for Confederate service. This would become Company D, 1^st North Carolina Cavalry. Both of these companies were raised before North Carolina even left the Union.

 When the vote to leave the Union was held in Raleigh on May 20 to leave the Union and join the Confederacy, James W. Councill, the man who was elected by the county to represent them, voted in concurrence with the others. By the end of 1861, two other volunteer companies of Confederate troops had been formed in Watauga County. With a scattering of other men in regiments connected with other counties, a little over 400 men from Watauga County, about ten percent of the whole population, had volunteered. In total, 793 men served in the Confederate army from Watauga County. Of those, 61 deserted and joined 50 other Watauga County men in the Union army. Many of those “Unionists” actually waited until the closing weeks of the war, once victory had been assured, to enlist. (Military Records, Watauga County, North Carolina State Archives.)

·         To the question of Watauga County being a representation of the South, actually, it is.

University of Georgia Professor John C. Inscoe explores this topic in his book The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the Civil War. He argues that the social and political society in the mountain South was the same as other places in the South, just on a smaller scale. Certainly, there were fewer slaves in Watauga County. But those slave owners were the driving social force in the community. Thomas Farthing, who represented the area in the General Assembly in 1860, was a slave owner. In fact, all of the major movers and shakers in the county – elected officials, store owners, etc., had some enslaved people working in their businesses or on their farms. This includes the Council, Mast, Hilliard, Farthing, Horton, Dobbin, Estes, Hardin, Baird, Green, and Gragg families. Even Unionists, like the Banners, owned slaves. As small as Watauga County was in 1860 – with a population of 4,957 (although several hundred would be carved out of the lower end of the county when Mitchell was finally formed in February 1861) – it still adhered to the same pyramid scale of population as other counties in the South. (Watauga County, 1860 US Federal Census-Slave Schedules.)

·         Documented Underground Railroad?

This is a question I get every couple of years from a reporter or student. So far, there is no documented true Underground Railroad in Watauga County, at least not in the traditional sense of an Underground Railroad for escaped slaves trying to flee through the area and make their way to Canada (because “black codes” prevented them from settling in most Northern states). We did have the other kind of underground railroad, for escaped Federal prisoners and dissidents, during the war years. These men made their way through the area attempting to get to Federal lines in Kentucky, and as the front of the later changed, to Tennessee. Typically, these federal prisoners and dissidents did not encourage the enslaved people whom they encountered to come with them. The militia, and later home guard, were only kind of looking for these men. A missing slave would result in a more serious, focused search.

·         “We were farmers. We wanted to be left alone. We came here to be left alone. We had no allegiance to society because we hate society.”

This idea is largely a post-war creation. The people in the mountains, prior to the war, were a very literate, welcoming society, and somewhat transient. There are numerous stories of families heading west for a while, maybe to Texas or the gold fields in California. Traveling preachers, like Elisha Mitchell, never made mention of a society that wanted to be left alone. The “left alone “part was partially a product of the war, as bands of bushwhackers and thieves roamed the countryside. The raids in the Bethel community and the death of Thomas Farthing come to mind as events that would certainly inspire xenophobia and seclusion. But there were many other factors. Reconstruction did not help foster trust of outsiders. Then came the timber barons who exploited the people and lands.  Thankfully, because of the geology of the land, Watauga County was spared the mineral rights exploitation of the coal fields of neighboring Appalachian states.

·         “Historically, we are the last group of people to get involved in conflict of any kind…”  

Actually, men (and women) have been involved in every military conflict on records, from the War of 1812 to the Cherokee Removal, the Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, and all of the 20^th century conflicts. Have there been conscientious objectors? Of course, there were a few. But Watauga Countians as a whole have always been more than willing to get involved. 

Per the other comments (points) regarding race, the anonymous poster apparently missed the context of the entire post, and other posts I have written in the past, in that, the Confederate army was not all that white. Unfortunately, since NDA testing is still in its infancy, the little boxes checked regarding race (ok, there were no actual boxes to check in the 1860 census; the information that the person told the census enumerators), along with a few scattered letters, are pretty much all we have to go on. And as far as the Cousins/Cossens being of Portuguese decent, all I can say is what Mark Holsclaw wrote to Governor Ellis in his June 1861 letter, trying to obtain the freedom of the two Cousins brothers. Obviously, he got this information from someone. My bet would be someone in the Cousins family. (They did live in Boone, next door to W.W. Fletcher.)

As I have stated before, I would love to see this type of in-depth research on other counties. I’ve worked on Watauga County and a few of the surrounding counties for close to 27 years. Hence, my ability to say with some certitude certain things. If my anonymous poster would like to dig deeply, I encourage him/her to check out my book on Watauga County and War, track down all my sources, and tell me how I can improve. In the end, I am only as good as what the sources tell me.

 

 

 

Sherman burning towns on the March to the Sea

   In February 2010, History (you know, the “Hitler” channel, and later, the “Aliens” channel) published a piece entitled “Sherman’s March to the Sea.” In the very first paragraph, the author wrote “The purpose of Sherman’s March to the Sea was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman’s soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back.” (you can read the whole article here.) Yet in a December 31, 2022, article “US Cities and Towns Destroyed During the Civil War, on 247wallst.com, the author lists twenty-six towns or cities that were consumed, in part of whole, by both armies during the war. Several of those are listed as having been destroyed by Sherman’s men. (You can read that article here) So, which is correct?

Sherman's March (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski)

   For the purpose of our discussion, we are going to define Sherman’s march from the date of November 5, 1864, to December 9, 1864. This looks at all of Sherman’s maneuvers from just above Atlanta to the outskirts of Savannah. Undoubtedly, there are some sites that have been missed.

   Atlanta, of course, was abandoned by Confederate forces on September 2, 1864. Federals held the city, and much of the area along the railroad to the north, through November, when they chose to abandon the region, cut their line of supplies, and head south. To leave nothing behind that could be used, the Federals practiced a scorched-earth policy. While Sherman would state that he never ordered the burning of any dwelling, he really did nothing to prevent it. Major Henry A. Hitchcock wrote in his diary that he was Marietta and saw the courthouse and much of the public square burned. When he mentioned it to Sherman, Sherman replied with, “There are the men who do this [looking at Federal soldiers whom they were passing]. “Set as many guards as you please, they will slip in and set fires. That Court House was put out-no use-dare say [the] whole town will burn, at least the business part. I never did order the burning of any dwelling-didn’t order this, but it can’t be helped. I say Jeff. Davis burnt them.”[1]

   Large scale burning seems to commence on November 5, when the 5^th Ohio Cavalry ordered out what few civilians remained in Cassville, where they burned the town in a retaliatory measure after ten Federal soldiers, nine of whom were stragglers, were killed.[2]

 On November 11, 1864, Sherman wrote Henry Hallack, his superior in Washington, D.C., that the previous day he had ordered the burning of all “foundries, mills, and shops of every kind in Rome.” The fire undoubtedly spread to other parts of the town. E.P. Burton, a surgeon in an Illinois regiment, wrote in his diary on November 10 that “The country is light with the burning of Rome – Walked down through town this eve. It seemed melancholy to see property being destroyed. It is against orders – but the soldiers want to see it burn.” A couple of days later, Burton wrote that “A good many houses were burned in Rome the night before we left.”[3]

   Portions of Sherman’s command passed through Kingston next. Reportedly, the only building to survive was the Methodist church. Cartsville met much the same face. One Federal soldier involved in applying the torch wrote that “most of the families have either gone north or south, but a few, from some cause, have failed to get away and now they are weeping over their burning homes. The sight is grand but almost heartrending.”[4]

 Acworth was put to the torch as well. Major James Connolly, 123^rd Illinois, wrote that “Our soldiers burned the village of Acworth without orders and we went to camp at Big Shanty about dark. Acworth has been a thriving village, but tonight it is a heap of ruins. I was the only one of the general’s staff in the town when the fires began, and I tried to prevent the burning, but while I watched one house to keep it from being fired, another somewhere else would take fire, so I concluded to give up. I succeeded in saving a few houses occupied by ‘war widows’ and their families, but all the rest of the town went up in smoke.”[5]

   Sherman watched parts of Marietta burn. He, and the rest of his command proceeded to Atlanta. One Federal soldier chronicled in his diary that “Nearly every house on the road today had been burned.”  Sherman had ordered the evacuation of the city in early September. Now, the city was gutted. Fires sprang up on the night of November 11. Some buildings were demolished with a crude battering ram, while other structures were blown up. A survey of the ruins revealed that 4,500 buildings, both houses and businesses, were destroyed. One Confederate wrote that “The work was done with terrible completeness; buildings covering 200 acres were in flames at one time; the heavens were an expanse of lurid fire; and amid the wild and terrific scene Federal bands played ‘John Brown’s soul goes marching on.’”[6] 

Sherman Burning Atlanta (Harper's Weekly Magazine, January 7, 1864)

   The combined Federal armies struck out south, toward Savannah, using two different routes. Griswoldville was the site of a battle on November 22 when 2,300 members of the Georgia militia stumbled into what they thought was a minor cavalry patrol. Just two days prior, Sherman’s men burned the firearms manufacturing facility, along with much of the town. Parts of Milledgeville were burned at the same time, including Howell Cobb’s nearby home, and the arsenal, depot, and bridge over the Oconee River; also burned was the state penitentiary, albeit by prisoners rather than Federal troops. The state library was pillaged and the state house vandalized.[7]

   Gordon, Wilkerson County, was visited by both Stoneman’s command in July 1864 and portions of Sherman’s command on November 22-25, 1864. What Stoneman did not destroy, Sherman’s men did. (Miles, Civil War Sites in Georgia, 170.) Confederates attacked Federal foragers ahead of the army at Sandersville on November 25, driving them back several miles. Federal infantry arrived the following day. According to one officer, Sherman told a local lady that because of the delaying action fought by Confederate cavalry in the streets of the town, the town would be burnt. Soon, the courthouse, jail, and local businesses were on fire, all the while a band played. Other warehouses were burned the following day as the Federals left. Just how many private residences were burned by stragglers is unclear.[8]

   Federal columns moved through the Jefferson County communities of Davisboro and Louisville. One source says Davisboro was burned and Louisville pretty much destroyed by looters. In the latter, the courthouse, jail, and several houses were burned. A member of the 89^th Ohio Infantry wrote that the Federals found "...quite a number of stores of different kinds, all fairly stocked with goods. The delay in laying the pontoons, and getting trains and troops over, gave our boys ample time to go through the town, which, unfortunately for the inhabitants, they did most completely; everything was appropriated that could be used, and many things that could not be used. The town was thoroughly and completely ransacked, and by some unaccountable means late in the afternoon, the town caught fire...."[9]

   Sherman himself camped at Millen on December 3. Millen was the site of Camp Lawton, a prison built in an attempt to relieve the overcrowding at Camp Sumter (Andersonville). Yet Sherman found no prisoners. The depot, ticket house, warehouses, and hotel were burned. An officer in the 63^rd Ohio recalled Sherman’s verbal instruction to one of his corps commanders: “make the destruction [of Millen] ‘tenfold more devilish’ than he had ever dreamed of, as this is one of the places they have been starving our prisoners.”[10]

   In Statesboro, once again, Federal soldiers burned the county courthouse, three or four residences, and a local “saloon.[11]

   By December 9, Sherman’s armies were near Fort McAllister, and soon, the Federals had built a wharf and were being supplied by the Federal navy. They had cut a path throughout the state of Georgia, destroying many towns. While a church or residence might be left in some of these locations, when the courthouse, depot, businesses, and hotels are all loss to a blaze, albeit from someone under orders or by stragglers that seemed uncontrollable, the town is pretty much destroyed. While Sherman and other Federal generals condemned the loss in word, they seemed unwilling to take the necessary steps to curtail the damage. To say that no town was destroyed during the March to the Sea seems to ignore the historical evidence, much of it provided by Federal soldiers along for the march.

 

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[1] Howe, Marching with Sherman, 53.

[2] Hebert, “Civil War and Reconstruction Era Cass/Bartow County, Georgia,” 280.

[3] Shaffer, Day by Day Through the Civil War in Georgia, 308; Burton, Diary of E.P. Burton, Surgeon 7^th Reg. Ill., 39-40; see also Rome News-Tribune, November 10, 2014.

[4] Hebert, “Civil War and Reconstruction Era Cass/Bartow County, Georgia,” 280.

[5] Todd Hudson, “The Burning of Marietta,” https://patch.com/georgia/marietta/the-burning-of-marietta

[6] Burton, Diary of E.P. Burton, 41; Shaffer, Day by Day Through the Civil War in Georgia, 291; Garrison, Atlanta and the War, 281-42.

[7] Inscoe, The Civil War in Georgia, 97-98; Miles, Civil War Sites in Georgia, 167.

[8]  Trudeau, Southern Storm, 246, 260; Howe, Marching with Sherman, 96.

[9] Miles, Civil War Sites in Georgia, 173); G.A.R. Papers, Read Before Fred C. Jones Post, No. 401, 322-323.

[10] Trudeau, Southern Storm, 326.

[11]  https://www.statesboroherald.com/local/statesboros-skirmish-with-union-soldiers-remembered/