Confederate Memphis

   Memphis was both an old city and a new city when the war began. Native Americans, like the Chickasaw and their ancestors, had inhabited the area for centuries. Settlers had built some homes on Fourth Bluff prior to October 1818, when the Chickasaw elders sold more than six million acres of land to the United States. Shelby County, named for Revolutionary War hero and Kentucky governor Col. Isaac Shelby, was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in November 1819. By the time Tennessee left the Union in 1861, Memphis was major port on the Mississippi River. Shelby County had a population of 48,092 people, which included 276 free people of color and 16,953 slaves. This included “bankers and manufacturers, cotton buyers and factors, wholesale grocers and slave traders, doctors and lawyers, editors and railroad presidents.” 22,623 people lived in Memphis alone, making it the thirty-eighth largest city in the United States. Memphis had a fire department, hospital, and city streets paved with cobblestones.[1] 

Memphis, ca.1862, LOC

   When the vote for United States president came in 1860, the men of Memphis cast 2,319 votes for Stephen Douglas, 2,250 votes for John Bell, and a mere 572 ballots for Vice President John C. Breckinridge. The men of Memphis were more inclined at this stage to conditionally support the Union. With the secession of South Carolina in December 1860, the tone of the people in Memphis slowly began to change. Both pro-Union and Secession meetings were held across the city. With the Federal resupply and subsequent Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, followed by Lincoln’s call for volunteers to suppress the rebellion, more and more Memphis citizens supported secession. Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris called for a meeting of the legislature in Nashville. On May 6, the General Assembly passed a Declaration of Independence. The following day, Harris agreed to a military allegiance between Tennessee and the Confederate government. These actions were ratified by a public vote on June 8.

   Memphis, its port, the most important port in Tennessee, and even more importantly, the railroads, quickly entered the discussion. In August 1861, Confederate Rep. David M. Currin requested $160,000 “for the construction, equipment, and armament of two ironclad gunboats for the defense of the Mississippi River and the city of Memphis.” The bill was signed into law the next day.[2] Prior to the war, from 1844 to 1854, Memphis had a US Naval dock. Several private shipyards still existed along the Mississippi River. Two twin-screw vessels, the Arkansas and the Tennessee, were contracted to John T. Shirley, a local Memphis businessman. He was to deliver the two vessels by December 1861, at a cost of $76,920 each. The ships were to be 165 feet in length, and a draft of no more than 8 feet when loaded. Shirley struggled to find skilled carpenters and shipwrights, and both he and Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory implored district commander Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk for details of men to help with building the ships. Not having enough experienced hands, Shirley concentrated on building the Arkansas. Lieutenant Henry Kennedy Stevens arrived from Charleston, assigned as the executive officer of the Arkansas, and took charge of the operations.[3]

   Memphis appeared in the campaign plans of several Federal commanders, including George B. McClellan, David G. Farragut, and Abraham Lincoln. McClellan’s tenure as general-in-chief was short lived, although he did approve of a plan of taking New Orleans first, followed by Baton Rouge, the railroad hub at Jackson, Mississippi, and then Mobile, before setting his sights on Memphis. Farragut, a  “firm advocate of combined operations,” submitted a plan to force the Confederates out of their defenses around New Orleans, then proceed up the Mississippi River, taking Baton Rouge, Vicksburg, and then Memphis. After firing McClellan, Lincoln’s strategy was “a joint movement from Cairo to Memphis; and from Cincinnati to East Tennessee.”[4]

   Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Nashville fell in February. Governor Harris ordered the General Assembly to convene in Memphis on February 20. Island No. 10 fell in April 1862. Only Fort Pillow remained to protect Memphis. Mallory ordered the Arkansas to New Orleans if she was in danger of capture. To the west, the Confederates lost the battle of Shiloh on April 7, and to the south, the bombardment of New Orleans began on April 18. Four of the Southern flotilla from Fort Pillow made their way to Memphis after the fort was abandoned on May 10, 1862. The Federals knew of the construction of the ironclads at Memphis, and Farragut worried that just one of them could destroy most of his ships and maybe even retake New Orleans. Farragut would not get a crack at Memphis.[5]

   Braxton Bragg ordered the evacuation of Memphis, and by June 4, the earthworks constructed on the river were empty. Only the small naval flotilla remained. On June 6, Federal Commander Charles Davis, with five ironclads and four rams, headed toward Memphis. The Confederate fleet, eight vessels mounting twenty-eight guns, under Capt. Joseph E. Montgomery, was the only force between the Federals and city. In the two-hour-long fight, only one of the Confederate gunboats escaped: the General Van Dorn. Three Confederate vessels were destroyed, and four others fell into Union hands. The Arkansas had been towed up the Yazoo River a month before the battle of Memphis. Historian William N. Still, Jr., believes that had the Arkansas been left in Memphis, she might have been finished in time to take part in the battle. The Tennessee was destroyed the night before the battle of Memphis.[6]

   Mayor Parks surrendered Memphis, and the city was occupied by Col. G.N. Fitch and a brigade of Indiana Infantry. The civic leaders had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union, and martial law was declared on June 13. Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant was in Memphis by June 23, finding the city in “bad order” and “secessionists governing much in their own way.”  Elections were held, and voters were required to swear the Oath of Allegiance before they could vote; property of pro-Confederate sympathizers was seized to pay for acts of destruction caused by partisans; partisans were “not entitled to the treatment of prisoners of war when caught”; it became a crime to display Confederate symbols; and, men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five had to take the oath or leave the city. Because Memphis was firmly under Federal control, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the city.[7]

  With local businesses refusing to open, hundreds of merchants from Cincinnati and Louisville arrived with goods, opening new stores. With open roads, this allowed goods to flow into Confederate hands. One observer believed that more than $20 million worth of supplies left Memphis, bound for the Confederate army, during the war. Confederate forces skirmished with their Federal counterparts in Shelby County frequently.  Memphis became a major supply depot for the Federals operating in western Tennessee, northern Mississippi and Alabama. Numerous raids and large-scale operations, both on the Mississippi River and overland, set out from Memphis. The Federals often retreated to the defenses of the city after confrontations with Confederate commander Nathan Bedford Forrest.[8]

   There was some discussion by the Confederate high command of recapturing the city. In October 1862, Jefferson Davis wrote to Maj. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes with plans to unite Southern forces in the west and drive the Federals out of the area, recapturing Helena, Memphis, and then Nashville.[9] Nothing came of the idea, but on August 21, 1864, Nathan Bedford Forrest rode into Memphis with 1,500 men and two cannons. “I attacked Memphis at four o’clock this morning, driving the enemy to his fortifications,” Forrest wrote later that day. “We killed and captured four hundred, taking their entire camp, with about three hundred horses and mules. Washburn and staff escaped in the darkness of the early morning, Washburn leaving his clothes behind.”[10] “Memphis Captured by Forrest” ran several Northern newspaper headlines. While Forrest failed to capture the three Federal generals in the city and only held the city for a few hours, he did divert the attention and draw resources away from other theaters of the war.[11]

General Washburn leaving his clothes behind. 

   While Memphis was spared the fate of other Southern cities like Atlanta, Columbia, and Richmond, it had one final role to play for history. On April 27, 1865, the boilers on the S.S. Sultana, carrying over 2,200 former Federal prisoners from Andersonville and Cahaba, exploded in the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. It is believed that 1,195 of the 2,200 passengers and crew perished in the explosion and subsequent fire. The loss of the Sultana was the deadliest maritime disaster in United States history. Many of the victims are buried in the Memphis National Cemetery.

    While every other Southern city with a population of over 20,000 people has a history of its wartime years(and in some case, multiple published histories), Memphis apparently does not.

 

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[1] Dowdy, A Brief History of Memphis, 13-24.

[2] Still, Iron Afloat, 16.

[3] Luraghi, A History of the Confederate Navy, 107, 119, 129.

[4] Reed, Combined Operations in the Civil War, 61-62, 66.

[5] Reed, Combined Operations in the Civil War, 198.

[6] Luraghi, A History of the Confederate Navy, 169; Still, Iron Afloat, 62.

[7] Dowdy, A Brief History of Memphis, 13-24.

[8] Dowdy, A Brief History of Memphis, 13-24; Long, Civil War Day-by-Day.

[9] Papers of Jefferson Davis,  8:454-56.

[10] Wyeth, That Devil Forrest, 417.

[11] Daily Ohio Statesman, August 25, 1864; The Times-Democrat, August 28, 1864; New York Daily Herald, August 29, 1864.

Just when did Lee know?

   It had been a successful (but costly) summer campaign. In late June 1862, Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia had pushed the Army of the Potomac from the outskirts of Richmond back down the Peninsula. Then, portions of Lee’s army tangled with another Federal army at Cedar Mountain in August, scoring a victory. In August, Stonewall Jackson stole a march on his Federal counterpart, destroying a large Federal supply depot, then falling back into a defensive position and inviting the Federals to attack. They did, and Jackson was able to hold on until Lee arrived with the rest of the Army, beating the Federal army in detail. This was followed by another small victory at Chantilly on September 1.

   Lee and his lieutenants had faced a couple of different commanders. Major General George B. McClellan had commanded the Army of the Potomac during the Seven Days Battles, while Jackson had faced off against Maj. Gen. John Pope at Cedar Mountain. Lee, Jackson, and James Longstreet fought Pope, reinforced by elements of McClellan’s command, at Second Manassas.

   The campaigns in Virginia had led Lee to the outskirts of the Washington, D.C., the Federal campaign. However, with wrecked rail lines and a war-ravaged countryside, Lee was unable to support his army. He chose to move north into Maryland, hoping that the people of that state would rally to the colors and carry the state out of the Union. Lee would go on to fight a Federal force led by McClellan at South Mountain, Sharpsburg, and Shepherdstown.

   McClellan was an early rising star of the Federal army. After winning a victory at Rich Mountain, McLellan was brought in to take command of the Army of Potomac following the defeat at First Manassas. When General-in-Chief Winfield Scott retired in November 1861, McClellan was appointed to the role. McClellan was a brilliant organizer.  However, he failed to use the army he had built. In the spring of 1862, Abraham Lincoln removed him as General-in-Chief. McClellan then allowed the Confederates to slip away from a thinly defended line in Northern Virginia, back behind the Rappahannock River. After landing on the Peninsula east of Richmond, McClellan squandered an opportunity to brush aside a small Confederate force and capture Richmond, instead becoming bogged down in a month-long siege at Yorktown. Eventually he was able to advance to the outskirts of Richmond, not so much a deed performed due to his daring, but because the Confederate command at the time was trying to draw McClellan away from his naval support. In a series of bloody battles, new Confederate commander, Robert E. Lee, pushed McClellan back down toward his base. Unable, or more likely unwilling, to take the offensive, McClellan was ordered to abandon his position at Harrison’s Landing on August 3 and transfer the army to Washington, D.C. The movement began on August 14 and was completed on August16. McClellan was without a field command from the time he left Harrison’s Landing until September 2, when he was placed in command of the troops in the fortifications around Washington, D.C.[1]

   However, Henery Halleck, who had been appointed General-in-Chief after McClellan, testified that the meeting between Lincoln, Halleck, and McClellan took place on the morning of September 7.[2]

   So the greater question is just when Lee knew McClellan was back in command of Federal forces in and around Washington, D.C. On August 30, 1862, Lee writes Davis that he has won “a signal victory over the combined forces of Genls. McClellan and Pope.” While there were elements of McClellan’s army present (like Porter’s Corps) it was in no way a combined army. If McClellan had been present, he would, by nature of rank, have assumed command of both forces.[3] Lee wrote Jefferson Davis on September 3 that there were now “two grand armies of the United States that have been operating in Virginia.” Lee wrote that he had “been told by some prisoners” that “Pope’s army, and. . . that the whole of McClellan’s, the larger portion of Burnside’s and Cox’s, and a portion of Hunter’s, are united to it.” Lee never states that McClellan was in command or even present.[4] Lee’s missive the next day refers to “the movements of McClellan’s army,” and that his “latest intelligence shows that the army of Pope is concentrated around Washington and Alexandria in their fortifications.”[5] His letters to Davis on September 5-7 make no mention of the commanders of Federal armies. On September 8, Lee writes that “nothing of interest, in a military point of view, has transpired.”[6] Again on September 9, he writes that “Nothing of interest, in a military point of view, has transpired since” the previous day. Lee does have intelligence that Federals-- Sumner, Sigel, Burnside, and Hooker--are advancing along the Potomac River toward Seneca Mills.[7]

   In a postwar account, Maj. Gen. John G. Walker recalled meeting with Lee on September 9 in Frederick. As Lee laid out the upcoming campaign to Walker, Walker recalled Lee directly mentioning McClellan.[8]

   What do the historians say? Stephen Sears writes that Lee had learned of McClellan’s reappointment as army commander when Lee wrote to Davis on September 3.[9] Michael Korda writes that Lee “could not have guessed that McClellan would replace the ignominious and clumsy Pope as his opponent…”[10] Freeman writes, regarding McClellan assuming command right before Sharpsburg, that “It was known that McClellan had replaced Pope in general command, and that was not pleasant news, for Lee regarding McClellan as the ablest of the Federal commanders…”[11] Clifford Dowdey: “McClellan had just been restored to command and, given his second chance…”[12] Emory Thomas: Sooner “or later, Lee knew that McClellan or someone else would lead the Union army out of Washington to confront him.”[13] Joseph Harsh: “Unknown to Lee, John Pope had already been stripped of army command. The very panic that Lee had worked so hard to create had impelled Lincoln—over the angry protest of his cabinet—to restore George McClellan to a measure of authority.” However “by midday of the 9^th Lee did surmise he would be contending against McClellan [;] his assumption was based on inconclusive information he had received within the last twenty-four hours.”[14] 

   Every one of the accounts by historians misses a key point. What evidence did Lee have that McClellan was not in command? McClellan was the ranking field commander. If McClellan and Pope’s armies were merging into one unified fighting force, McClellan would, by nature of seniority, have been in command. When McClellan arrived in Washington, D.C., he would have assumed command as the ranking officer (Henry Halleck, as General-in-Chief, would technically outrank McClellan due to his position. However, Halleck’s confirmation to major general was dated February 10, 1862. McClellan’s confirmation was August 3, 1861.) Many of Lee’s missives mentioned McClellan, and Lee must have assumed that McClellan exercised some element of command. It does not seem that the conflict between McClellan, Lincoln, and the cabinet filtered into any of Lee’s correspondence at the time.

   We will probably not ever really know the answer to this question and speculation will continue for some time.

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[1] Sears, Georga McClellan, 259-60; Carman, The Maryland Campaign, 1:121.

[2] Hartwig, To Antietam Creek, 703, n4.

[3] Freeman, Lee’s Dispatches, 60.

[4] OR, 19, 2:590-91.

[5] OR, 19, 2:591-2.

[6] OR, 19, 2:600.

[7] OR, 19, 2:602.

[8] B&L, 2:605.

[9] Sears, Landscape Turned Red, 66.

[10] Korda, Clouds of Glory, 462.

[11] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 2:356.

[12] Dowdey, Lee, 303.

[13] Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 257.

[14] Harsh, Taken at the Flood, 84, 141.

The Confederate National Anthem

   As far as we can tell, the Confederate government never adopted a National Anthem. That might seem odd, but the “Star Spangled Banner” was not adopted as the national anthem by the United States Congress until 1931. (The words were penned by Francis Scott Key in September 1814, while watching the attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore).

   Many people today probably believe that “Dixie’s Land" was the official Confederate national anthem. It does not appear that it was ever even considered. “Dixie’s Land” was composed in New York City by Ohio-born Daniel Decatur Emmitt. Dan Emmitt was a performer in the Black-face Bryant’s Minstrels. Minstrel troops were wildly popular forms of entertainment in the 19^th century. The genre was created by Manhattan native Thomas D. Rice, a traveling actor who popularized a slave song, “Jump Jim Crow.”

   There was considerable discussion about “Dixie’s Land” during the war, and scores of different lyrics were written to the tune. That discussion spilled over into the after-war years. Some groups preferred the lyrics penned by former Confederate general Albert Pike over those by Dan Emmitt. Regardless, “Dixie’s Land” was never adopted as an official  National Anthem.[1] 

   In 1861, George H. Miles (1824-1871), an English professor in Maryland, under the pseudonym Earnest Halphin, penned the words to “God Save the South!” Although trained in law, Miles had found success in writing books and Broadway plays. He was obviously a Confederate sympathizer, but his further participation in the war effort seems lost to history.

   “God Save the South!” seems to have first appeared in print in New Orleans in June 1861. No author is given, only that it was “Contributed to the Sunday Delta.”[2]  New Orleans was the leading printer of Confederate sheet music during the war, with 167 pieces identified as coming from presses in the city.[3] Just a couple of weeks after the words appeared in the New Orleans newspaper, there appeared an advertisement in a Charleston newspaper advertising a “supply of new Southern” music. “God Save the South” was included in the listing.[4] Three months later, at a concert in the Odd Fellows Hall in New Orleans, “God Save the South! Set to the air of Britian’s national hymn, [was] the other performance of the evening.”[5]                                                                                                                   

   New Orleans fell in the spring of 1862, and several of the sheet music publishers went to Georgia. Starting in October 1862, Virginia newspapers began calling “God Save the South!” the Southern national anthem.[6] A version of the sheet music was published by C.T. DeCoeniel in Richmond, bearing a similar phrase: “Our National Confederate Anthem.” There were other editions as well, published in Baltimore, Charleston, and Macon/Savannah.[7]

   One Southern newspaper thought that the song was “what we have long wished for—a national anthem, breathing a spirt of patriotism and devotion suited to our troublous times. The pure and simple religious feeling which pervaded the poetry of this piece is beautifully interpreted by, and carried home to, the heart, in the deep pathos and majestic tones of the music. The sentiments of the anthem are perfectly in accordance with the religious feeling and faith of our people. . . . As a national anthem, we know nothing to compare with this sublimity.”[8]

   What did “God Save the South!” sound like? It was set to the same turn as “God Save the King,” the National anthem of the United Kingdom. “God Save the South!” is little remembered today. And if you ask the casual observer what the Confederate National anthem is, you will probably get the response, “Dixie.” It is unlikely that the high-browed members of Southern society would have ever consented to a minstrel tune being bestowed with the title, National Anthem, on Dixie’s Land.

For more information on Confederate music, check out Richard B. Harwell’s Confederate Music (1950) or Lawrence Abel’s  Singing the New Nation (2000).

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[1] Hardy, “Dixie’s Land,” America’s Civil War, May 2018.

[2] The Sunday Delta, June 30, 1861.

[3] Wolfe, “Music,” Encyclopedia of the Confederacy, 3:1100-1105.

[4] Charleston Daily Courier, July 19, 1861.

[5] The Times-Picayune, October 16, 1861.

[6] Richmond Enquirer, October 21, 1862.

[7] Harwell, Confederate Music, 59.

[8] Moore, The Civil War in Song and Story, 360.

Did Grant visit the site of Jackson’s death?

    After Stonewall Jackson was wounded and his arm amputated, he was taken via wagon to the Chandler Farm (also known as Fairfield). The farm was very near the railroad and many Confederates were brought to this site, to later be transported to Richmond by train. (You can read a previous post about one of those soldiers here.) Jackson was placed in a room

Chandler Office (NPS)

in the office building on the farm, with plans to transport him to Richmond for better care. Of course, Jackson died in the Chandler office building on May 10, 1863.   A story emerged in the page of Confederate Veteran in 1897 of another famous visitor to the site. It was May 1864, and the visitor was U.S. Grant.

   “While our people were putting up the tents and making preparations for supper, Gen. Grant strolled over to a house near by, owned by a Mr. Chandler, and sat down on the porch. . . In a few minutes a lady came to the door, and was surprised to find that the visitor was the general-in-chief. He was always particularly civil to ladies, and he rose to his feet at once, took off his hat, and made a courteous bow. She was ladylike and polite in her behavior, and she and the General soon became engaged in a pleasant talk. Her conversation was exceedingly entertaining. She said, among other things: ‘This house has witnessed some sad scenes. One of our greatest generals died here just a year ago: Gen. Jackson, Stonewall Jackson, of blessed memory.’”

   “Indeed?” Remarked Gen. Grant. “He and I were at West Point together for a year, and we served in the same army in Mexico.”

   “Then you must have known how good and great he was,” said the lady.

    “O yes,” replied the General. “He was a sterling, manly cadet, and enjoyed the respect of everyone who knew him. He was always of a religious turn of mind and a plodding, hard-working, student. His standing was at first very low in his class, but by his indomitable energy he managed to graduate quite high. He was a gallant soldier and a Christian gentleman and I can understand fully the admiration your people have for him.”

   The soldier making the observation was Brig. Gen. Horace Porter, personal secretary to Grant, and the article originally appeared in an the article “Campaigning with Grant,” published in Century magazine, now what we call Battles and Leaders.

Most decisive Confederate victories.

   There was one goal for army commanders: to obliterate the opponent. While this was their objective, it seldom happened. The enemy often escaped to fight again another day. The American Battlefield Trust has 10,000 battles and engagements fought between 1861 and 1865. Which ones were the most decisive Confederate victories is a hard list to determine. Here are five on my list.[1]

Brice’s Crossroads, Tennessee

   Fought in June 1864, this battle pitted Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, with 3,500 men, against 8,122 Federal soldiers under Brig. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis. The Federals were moving from Memphis toward Northern Mississippi in an effort to keep Forrest preoccupied and away from the major supply line stretching from Nashville into North Georgia. Federal forces were able to slowly push back Confederate cavalry. With Confederate reinforcements arriving, the Federals called for infantry support. Confederate attacks forced the Federals into a tighter defensive line. A Confederate attack across a bridge spanning the Tishomingo River failed but caused panic in the Federal lines. Federal soldiers fled in disorder, and many were captured by the pursuing Confederate cavalry. The Federals lost sixteen of their eighteen artillery pieces, and 2,249 men, a loss of about 27%. Sturgis finished the war “awaiting orders.” Brice’s Crossroads is considered one of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s greatest victories.[2]  

Olustee, Florida

   The often-overlooked February 1864 battle of Olustee, Florida, could have been another Richmond, Kentucky, had Confederates cavalry been a little more active in securing the fleeing Federal army. Once again, the two sides were almost evenly matched. Federal general Thuman Seymour, with a force of 5,500 men, faced off against general Joseph Finegan, with 5,000 men (all estimates). The Federals had disembarked at Jacksonville and were moving toward Lake City. The Confederates were waiting for them at Ocean Pond/Olustee, and the Federals attacked in piecemeal fashion. Federal losses were 1,861, about 34%, including six artillery pieces. The Civil War Book of Lists, due to the ratio of troops involved, places Olustee as the second bloodiest battle of the war for the Union. The Federals retreated back to Jacksonville. [3]

(Historical Marker Database.)

Richmond, Kentucky

   Fought at the same time as Second Manassas, the August 1862 battle of Richmond, Kentucky, often gets overshadowed. Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith tangled with Federal forces under Brig. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson. The forces were about even: 6,580 US v. 6,500 CS. Often described as a “running fight,” the Federals took up at three defensive positions, the last being in and around the cemetery in Richmond. In the end, the Federals lost an estimated 5,353, killed, wounded, and captured, including Bull Nelson, who was wounded, but escaped. Smith wrote that the Federals lost “some twenty pieces of artillery,” or, all that the Federals brought to the field. “Indeed, everything indicates the almost entire annihilation of this force of the enemy,” Smith wrote. Confederate forces were able to capture the capital of Kentucky a few days later. Federal losses were 81% of those engaged.[4]  

Plymouth, North Carolina

   Combined Confederate army and navy operations during the war were rare, and the April 1864 battle of Plymouth might be the pinnacle of Confederate success. The Federal garrison at Plymouth was commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry W. Wessells, with about 3,000 men, excluding the US Navy, which included four ships. Confederate commander Brig. Gen. Robert F. Hoke commanded around 4,500 men, excluding two Confederate naval vessels. At the end of the three-day siege, two Federal vessels were sunk, while Wessells listed his losses in killed, wounded, and captured at 2,843. A handful of members of the 2^nd North Carolina Volunteer Infantry (US) and Black recruits for various United States colored Troop regiments escaped. Losses were around 97%, including some twenty cannons, mostly heavy seacoast guns.

Munfordville, Kentucky

   Located south of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Munfordville just might just vie with Plymouth as one of the most complete victories of the war. Munfordville was garrisoned by a Federal force just over 4,000 men under the command of Col. John T. Wilder. Braxton Bragg, commanding 16,000 Confederate soldiers, launched his campaign to wrest control of Kentucky from the Federals in September 1862. Initial Confederate attacks were repulsed with losses. Bragg brought up the rest of his command, encircling the Federal garrison. All 4,133 Federal soldiers were surrendered by Wilder. Federal loss was 100%.[5]

   So, how doe these battles stack up? Federal losses at Gettysburg were 24%; Chickamauga 26%; Chancellorsville, 17%; Sharpsburg, 14%; Perryville, 7%; Pea Ridge, 12%; Murfreesboro, 31%; Cedar Mountain, 29%; Port Republic, 28%.[6]

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[1] https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-facts

[2] Boatner, The Civil War Dictionary, 85.

[3] The Civil War Book of List, 97.

[4] Lambert, When the Ripe Pears Fell, 234; OR, Vol. 16, pt. 1, 932-33.

[5] Boatner, The Civil War Dictionary, 575.

[6] Aall American Battlefield Trust numbers.

Wounded at Chancellorsville

   Diaries written by common soldiers provide the best insights into the day-to-day life of soldiers. They were not written for wide publication, nor to ‘set history straight,’ as post-war reminiscences. Lieutenant James M. Malbone chronicled his life in a diary that now resides in the collection of the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs, NY.

   Malbone was born in 1828, probably in Princess Anne County, Virginia. Prior to the war, he served as a private tutor. He enlisted March 25, 1862, in Interior Line, Virginia. Malbone was mustered in as a private in Company B, 6^th Virginia Infantry. About six weeks later, Malbone was elected 2^nd lieutenant. He was reported as present until wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, and remained absent until March 1864 when he was reported on light duty in Gordonsville, Virginia. It does not appear that he ever rejoined his company. Malbone passed away on February 20, 1917, and is buried in the Moore Family Cemetery, Virginia Beach, Virginia.[1]

   At the time of Chancellorsville, the 6^th Virginia Infantry was assigned to Mahone’s brigade. Mahone’s brigade led the advance of Anderson’s division on May 1, moving toward the Federals who were positioned west of Fredericksburg. Malbone’s company was on picket duty and rejoined the 6^th Virginia just in time. He mentioned in his diary advancing some two miles.[2]

   As Jackson launched his attack late on the afternoon of May 2, Mahone was busy holding the attention of the Federals on the eastern front. The skirmishers of the 6^th Virginia captured the flag on the 107^th Ohio. Chronicling a few days after the event, Malbone stated that he was wounded in the right arm about six that morning. As soon as he was wounded, he headed to the rear, “a bout two miles,” to the hospital to have his wound treated. On May 3, he started for Guinea Station, some twenty miles away, walking the entire distance. When he arrived, he found his captain, William C. Williams, mortally wounded.  Malbone stayed with his captain “in the depot house and on a few old bags close by my Capt.” until he died. Malbone then procured a coffin and had Williams buried. [3]

   Malbone found the hospital at Guinea Station “An awful place, for wounded men[.]” After Williams was buried, Malbone returned to Guinea Station, “sick & my wound was very painful.” Later that day, he set out on foot in the rain, looking for his regimental commissary. “[A]t last I found him after so long a time,” he wrote. He returned to Guinea Station the next day and attempted to board a train to Richmond. Federal cavalry had cut the rail lines and it was two days before Malbone could be transported South. During that time, he was able to “sleep in a negro kitching.” On May 8, he was transported to General Hospital No 10, “A regular officers Hospitals.”[4]

   The battle of Chancellorsville produced 9,233 Confederate wounded. Most did not leave accounts of their ordeal, but James M. Malbone did, and his account might represent the rest.

 

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[1] James M. Malbone, CMSR, RG109, M324, Roll#0442, NA.

[2] Sears, Chancellorsville, 198-99; Malbone, Diary, May 1, 1863.

[3] Sears, Chancellorsville, 282; Malbone, Diary, May, 4, May 5, May 8, 1863.

[4] Malbone, Diary, May 4, May 9, 1863.