Johnson County, Tennessee’s one Confederate Company

 Johnson County is tucked far up into the corner of east Tennessee, boarded by North Carolina to the east and Virginia to the north. In 1860, the population was just 5,018 people. If you are looking for a detailed history of Johnson County and the War, you are not going to find one. In fact, other than the Jingling Hole that I wrote about previously, the only bit of information readily available is that Johnson County, which provided a company of men to the 13^th Tennessee Cavalry (US), was a pro-Union County. That may be true (much research still needs to be done. I suspect that Johnson County was more dissident that pro-Union.) However, Johnson County also supplied a company to the Confederate army as well.

Captain Thomas S. Rumbough, Company E, 16^th Battalion (Neal’s) Tennessee Cavalry, was assigned to supervise and organize a new cavalry company. Rumbough appears to be from Greene County, and was killed in the fighting on November 15, 1864, at Morristown, Tennessee. Rumbough’s role in organizing the company is not exactly clear. The Johnson County cavalry company was organized on September 7, 1862, in Taylorsville, now Mountain City. Lieutenant Barton R. Brown, Company D, 1^st North Carolina Cavalry, was assigned to this new company and promoted captain. Including Brown, there were eighty-five men in this company. On November 1, 1862, they were mustered into service as Company F, 7^th Battalion North Carolina Cavalry.  The 7^th Battalion was under the command of Col. George N. Folk.

For the next few months, the 7^th Battalion was in east Tennessee, charged with breaking up bands of disloyal men and bushwhackers in Johnson and Carter counties. In December 1862, they were near Blountville, and in February, in Jonesborough. June found the battalion under the command of General John Pegram. They proceeded into Kentucky, skirmishing at Simpson’s Ford and Monticello. Later that month, they followed in the wake of destruction of Carter’s Raid above Knoxville. Following this, they rotated between garrison duty at Big Gap Creek, and participated in raids into Kentucky.

On August 3, 1863, the 7^th Battalion, along with the 5^th Battalion North Carolina Cavalry, were consolidated into the 6^th North Carolina Cavalry, with Folk as their colonel. The Johnson County’s company became Company A, 6^th North Carolina Cavalry. There was much skirmishing the following month. The regiment followed the bulk of Confederate forces from East Tennessee to North Georgia and were involved in the battle of Chickamauga. The next few months were spent in Tennessee engaging the Federals. In February 1864, Folk moved the regiment to Weldon, North Carolina. They spent the rest of the war in eastern North Carolina, picketing places along the railroad. In May, they skirmished with Federal forces advancing toward Raleigh. Instead of surrendering, the regiment was disbanded at the end of the war.

So what became of the rank and file? It appears that the company records end in November 1864. Due to the scattered condition of the regiment, only a few received their paroles at the end of the war. These included Pvt. Thomas W. Arnold (Ridgeway, NC); Pvt. E.H. Dougherty (Greensboro, NC); Pvt. James H. Floyd (Greensboro, NC); H. T. Grant (Nash County, NC); James Greene (Greensboro, NC); Isaac Hayes (Nash County, NC); Pvt. William Johnson (Nash County, NC); Daniel Mast (Nash County, NC); Pvt. Thomas A. Roberts (Greensboro, NC); Pvt. John S. Smith (Greensboro, NC); Pvt. Thomas Sutherland (Nash County, NC); Pvt. Daniel Wagner (Nash County, NC); Pvt. Jacob Wagner (Charleston, WV).

Several men were captured during various engagements. These include Lt. Wiley F. Thomas; Pvt. James B. Blair; Pvt. William B. Brown; Pvt. James F. Edwards; Cpl. William F. Elrod; Pvt. Lula Glover; Pvt. P.H. Johnson; Pvt. Hiram Jones; Sgt. J.S. Mast; Pvt. Valentine B. Mast; Pvt. William C. Mast; Pvt. James Parker; Pvt. John C. Parker; Pvt. Thomas Potter; Pvt. G.W. Robinson; Pvt. David B. Wagner;

Pvt. William Lefler, captured at Philadelphia, Tennessee, October 20, 1863, died of disease at Fort Delaware on July 28, 1864. Orderly Sergeant J.N. McQuown died in a hospital in Marietta, Georgia on October 1, 1863, of unknown causes. Pvt. James B. Smith died at Camp Chase, Ohio, February 9, 1864.

Pvt. John Lunsford was captured at Philadelphia, Tennessee, October 20, 1863, and later took the Oath and joined the 2nd United States Volunteers. Pvt. James O. Moreland was captured at Monticello, Kentucky, June 9, 18633, imprisoned at Camp Chase and Johnson’s Island, took the Oath and joined the 93^rd New York Infantry.

At least two soldiers were wounded:  Joseph F. H. Johnson, bugler, was reported absent wounded. Cpl. E.C.D. McEwen was wounded during the battle of Chickamauga, and apparently never rejoined his company. Pvt. D.C. Sutherland was reported missing in action following the battle of Chickamauga.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about these men. For those who have no parole information, were they sick in some hospital? Did they desert and go home? Or maybe they joined a Federal regiment? In time, it might be possible to dig through the various census reports and family histories and build a more complete picture of the lives of the men who formed Johnson County, Tennessee’s only Confederate company.

 

You can read a little more about the war in this area here:

The Jingling Hole 

George N. Folk and the raid at Fish Springs.

Not that "hegemonic": Washington County, TN

Was it really Witcher's Cavalry?

Three Federal North Carolina Regiments

This past Saturday, I got the opportunity to speak to the state convention of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars in Asheville. They were a great group of folks, and I enjoyed being there. After that, I wandered over to Books-a-Million. Someone had given me a gift certificate for Christmas and, since there is no Books-a-Million in Crossnore, and it could not be used online, I had not used it as of yet.

When I was leaving, I ran into Scott Nicholson, an Appalachian-horror writer who lives in Boone and has been kind enough to review some of my books for the Watauga Democrat. We got to talking about home yankees - those who were from North Carolina and joined Federal regiments. The three in discussion were the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry and the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. It is amazing how few people know anything about these regiments.

The 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry was organized in Knoxville, Tennessee in October 1863. The regiment was commanded by Lt. Col. J. Albert Smith, an Indiana native. A large number of men in the regiment came from Buncombe and Henderson counties. One of the company officers in the regiment was George W. Kirk, a Tennessee native. He set about to recruit his own regiment, and the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, with Kirk as colonel, was organized at Knoxville, Tennessee in June 1864.

The 3rd NCMI was likewise made up of North Carolina men, mostly from Yancey, Wilkes, Watauga, and Mitchell Counties. Many of these men were former Confederates. Fifty-four of the men of the 58th North Carolina Troops joined these two regiments after they deserted.

Both regiments pulled almost the same service. The 2nd North Carolina was

Ordered to Greenville, Tenn., October 16, 1863, and on duty there until November 6. Moved to Bull's Gap November 6, and was on duty there until December. March across Clinch Mountains to Clinch River. Action at Walker's Ford December 2. Gibson's and Wyerman's, Miss., February 22, 1864. Duty at Cumberland Gap and patrol duty in East Tennessee until April, 1865. Scout from Cumberland Gap January 23-27, 1865. Expedition from East Tennessee into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N. C., April 6, and to Asheville, N. C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee until August. Mustered out August 16, 1865.

The 3rd North Carolina did

Scout and patrol duty about Knoxville, Tenn., and in East Tennessee until December, 1864. Scout from Morristown, Tenn., into North Carolina June 13-July 15, 1864. Camp Vance June 28. Russellville, Tenn., October 28. Big Pigeon River November 5-6. Moved to Paint Rock December 7. Expedition into Western North Carolina March 21-April 25, 1865. Moved to Boone, N. C., April 6, and to Asheville, N. C., April 27-30. Duty in North Carolina and East Tennessee until August, 1865. Mustered out August 8, 1865.

Likewise, the 13th Tennessee was of the same ilk. According to Jeffrey Weaver’s web site:
The 13th Tennessee Cavalry was formed based on authority granted by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, and was mustered into Federal service at Strawberry Plains, Knox County, Tennessee between October 28 and November 8, 1863. The regiment mustered out of Federal service at Knoxville on September 5, 1865. The regiment was commanded by Colonel John K. Miller during its existence

The 13th Tennessee Cavalry saw limited action during the first year of its existence. In the late summer of 1864, however, the regiment was pressed into active field service. The regiment skirmished the Brigadier General John C. Vaughn's East Tennessee (Confederate) Brigade on several occasions, and participated in the abortive column sent to support General Stephen Burbridge's October 2, 1864 raid on Saltville, when the Confederates soundly defeated the Federals at Bull's Gap. Subsequent fighting in November also resulted in defeat for the Federals.In December, 1864, however, General George Stoneman replaced Burbridge in operational control of forces in the area. Stoneman was a more agreeable commander for most of the Federals, increasing their morale, supply situation, and overall esprit de corps. The Confederates, on the other hand, had moved many of the men defending the saltworks at Saltville to the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond in the interim. In mid December 1864, General Stoneman led a raid, including the 13th Tennessee Cavalry on the important mines and railroad in southwest Virginia, and succeeded in wrecking the Saltville saltworks, and destroying iron forges in Smyth County, and shops in Wytheville, and eventually the lead mines in Wythe County, Virginia.The remainder of the winter of 1864-65 was spent in quarters, and occasionally chasing the remnants of John Vaughn's Confederate Brigade. The next active campaign, the last of the war, was again with Stoneman, through Watauga County, North Carolina, into Wilkes County, into Surry, and back into Southwest Virginia. The war was basically over, and little of military importance was accomplished on Stoneman's last raid

There is no modern treatment of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. A history of the regiment was published in 1903 and has been reprinted by Overmountain Press.
In 2000, we got two books on the 3rd North Carolina. The first, by Ron V. Killan, I do not have and cannot comment on. The other, Kirk’s Raiders, by Matt Bumgarner, makes mention of the 2nd North Carolina and contains a roster of both regiments. But this book has no notes and no index.

I’m sure that I as work through the 58th NC that there will be more posts about these three regiments.