A deserter from the 48th Alabama writes the regiment’s history

No sooner had the last shot of the war ended than there was a push to write a history of the conflict. Edward A. Pollard, a newspaper editor from Richmond, released The Lost Cause in 1866. While often considered a “pro-Confederate” volume, Pollard’s text was very critical of both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. Another newspaper editor, but in New York, Horace Greeley released volume 1 of The American Conflict in 1864. The second volume was released in 1866. An abolitionist, Greeley incorporated his own partisan views about the cause of the war, much like Pollard did with his work.

John D. Taylor (findagrave)

As time went on, the men who had fought the war began to pen their own accounts. In the north, veterans’ organizations would appoint one of their members as the regimental historian. This person would then gather materials and correspond with other veterans to write a regimental history. The South was less organized. It was not until 1885 that the United Confederate Veterans began to push for histories written by former Confederates. Over the next couple of decades, a trickle of books appeared.

We are not sure what prompted John Dykes Taylor to pick up his pen and draft a history of his regiment, the 48^th Alabama Infantry, before his death in 1888. This short survey was not published until 1902 in the Montgomery Advertiser, and later in pamphlet form by both the Confederate Publishing Company and Morningside. These later editions have a forward by William Stanley Hoole and additional notes by William C. Oates (of the 15^th Alabama fame.)

Taylor was born in Habersham, Georgia, in 1830. As a young man he moved to Jackson, Alabama, to study law and was admitted to the bar in Marshall County, Alabama, in 1857. Taylor must not have found the practice of law to his liking, as in 1860 he was working for a wholesaler in Nashville, Tennessee.[1]

Taylor did not answer the call to enlist until March 1862 when he joined Company E, 48^th Alabama as a private. He was present through all of the muster rolls through October 1864, often listed as the ordnance sergeant for his company. On August 27, 1864, his company commander actually wrote to Richmond, asking that Taylor be officially promoted to ordnance sergeant, a position he had unofficially held. The War Department agreed. It is unclear if Taylor ever received word of the promotion. In November 1864, Taylor was granted a furlough for 30 days. We assume he returned home. And he never returned. The major of the regiment wrote to the secretary of War on February 18, 1865, asking that Taylor be dropped from the rolls of the regiment. “He has not been heard from since [leaving on his furlough], and from all the information that I have, I do not think he intends to return to the Regiment,” Major J.W. Wiggonton wrote.[2]

Taylor survived the war, married twice, and lived in Guntersville, working as a wholesaler and commission merchant, along with being a notary public and justice of the peace. He died on May 9, 1888.[3]

The 48^th Alabama was mustered into service in Auburn, Alabama, in May 1862. It was composed of men from Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, and Marshall Counties. The regiment was sent east, becoming a part of Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro’s brigade, fighting at Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. Later the regiment was transferred to Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law’s Alabama brigade, Hood’s Division, Longstreet’s Corps, and fought at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and then back east, through the Overland Campaign, Petersburg Campaign, and Appomattox Campaign. At Appomattox, the regiment surrendered 122 men.[4]

The detail that Taylor provides is good, just not deep or in great detail. For example, in writing about Chickamauga, he sums up the action of the brigade with: “Throughout the two days of terrific fighting Law’s Alabamians won new laurels and received the compliments of [illegible].[5]

But why Taylor? He ends his narrative toward the end of October 1864, about the time he heads home on his furlough. Never throughout the text does he criticize his commanders; he is not disgruntled by the outcome of the war. What were the underlaying issues that caused him to pen this short account of the regiment he served in? Are there any other cases of a soldier, who deserted toward the end of the war, who later penned a history of his regiment?

The 48^th Alabama does have a modern regimental history, written by Joshua Glenn Price and released in 2017.  

---

[1] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6-7.

[2] J.D. Taylor, CMSR, RG109, Roll0437, National Archives.

[3] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 8.

[4] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 14-20.

[5] Taylor, History of the 48^th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 21.

Remembering Snodgrass Hill

    For many, remembering the war brought painful thoughts of the past. Commanders of companies and regiments frequently had to relive the war when families wrote asking about the details of the deaths of their loved ones. John B. Palmer served as colonel of the 58th North Carolina Troops and fought at the battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, (you can read more about his life here). David B. Kirby, a cousin-in-law to Colonel Palmer, wrote the colonel about a decade after the war, asking about the details of the death of Edmund Kirby, his brother. Not only does Palmer provide details on the death of Kirby, but details on the role of the 58th North Carolina’s first charge against Snodgrass Hill. On their second charge at the close of the battle, they met the 21st Ohio Infantry. The Ohio soldiers retreated after the charge and the 58th North Carolina held the hill.

Col. John B. Palmer

   Columbia, S.C., June 10, 1875

MY Dear David: - Your letter of the 1st reached here during my absence in Baltimore. I will enceavor [sic] to answer your enquires as correctly as possible.

   At the battle of Chickamauga the 58th N.C. was in Kelly’s Brigade, Preston’s Division, Buckner’s Corps. Your brother Edmund was killed on the evening of the second day’s fight, in an attack on a strong position . . . It was the first charge by our division, but another division, Hindman’s, I think had previously charged and been repulsed.

   If my recollection serves me it was about 4 P.M. when your brother, who had been out in command of a skirmish line, was ordered back with two companies of the 58th. As soon as they reported I, in temporary absence of the brigade commander, was instructed to move with the brigade for the purpose of charging the Ridge [Snodgrass Hill]. We moved forward at a double quick and formed in line with the balance of the division near the base of [Snodgrass Hill], and I resumed command of my regiment. Here an officer, Gen. Hindman, I think, whose command had just been repulsed, at the request of our brigade commander, formed out brigade line for us, and we moved forward. Unfortunately instead of forming us on a line with the balance of the division, and parallel with position we were to charge, we were moved through the timber at a considerable angle, so that when the 58th emerged from the woods and got fairly under fire, the balance of the brigade was under cover. My regiment was a large one, consisting of twelve companies. Leit. Col. Kirby on the right, Maj. Dale [Dula] on the left. In spite of my efforts, seconded by Lieut. Col. Kirby, it was impossible, owing to the angle at which we were advancing, to keep in contact with the brigade on our right, and thus our left being so far in the rear and some little interval existing on our right, the right company, then right wing, and then the whole regiment became subject to a fire from the front, right and left of the enemy’s position. It was terrific. Company A, Capt. Tobey, started on the charge with thirty-four muskets, and reached the top of the hill with only twelve, losing twenty-two in the charge. In the very hottest of the fight, your brother, encouraging the men, and as he fell, I heard him cry, “push them men, (or boys) push them!” In this charge the regiment lost sixty-five men, the Lieut. Colonel, the Major and myself (slightly) wounded, and more than half the other officers either killed or wounded.

Lt. Col. Edmund Kirby

   In the regiment were three young men – boys, in fact – sons, and relatives of wealthy gentlemen of my acquaintance. These youth’s names were Childs, Sherwood and Phifer, all warm personal friends of your brother; indeed Childs had slept under the same blanket the night before. When after the fight I looked for your brother’s body, I found all the four together, almost within reach of each other. They were the most intimate friends your brother had in the regiment and must all have offered up their lives at the same moment.

   Shortly after dark our brigade, temporarily under my command, succeeded in capturing the troops who had been opposing us. They proved to be Ohio and Michigan troops, and I understood the officer to say, as I passed them to the rear, that they belonged to Granger’s command. Some of them said that when the 58th charged with such apparent recklessness, and without any apparent support, they thought we must be drunk.

   I think I told you that your brother had assumed the duties of Lieutenant Colonel only the day before the battle, and that having no proper uniform, he had cut four stars out of tin and affixed them to his collar to designate his rank; two of these stars were perforated by bullets.

Very truly yours,

John B. Palmer

David N. Kirby, Esq., New York

Lt. Col. Edmund Kirby's grave.

Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Kirby’s remains were exhumed after the war and were reburied at Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, next to the remains of his brother, Pvt. Reynold Marvin Kirby, Richmond Howitzers. The brother died of typhoid fever in July 1861. 

Palmer’s account appeared in the October 1876 issue of Our Living and Our Dead. A stone was placed on the grave of Edmund Kirby in 2012 through the work of the Col. John B. Palmer Camp 1946, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

 

Transferring prisoners across the South.

   According to the Library of Congress’s Civil War Desk Reference, there were 211,411 Federal soldiers taken prisoner during the war. Of those, 16,668 were not incarcerated. They were paroled without going to a prisoner of war camp. That leaves 194,743 who did time in one of numerous prisons across the South. Considering the prisoners of war camps were spread out across the South, how did the Confederate government move these prisoners from camp to camp?[1]

   After a Federal soldier was captured, he was taken to a secure location to the rear of the battlefield and corralled together with other prisoners. Charles Mattocks of the 17^th Maine Infantry was captured on May 5, 1864, during the battle of the Wilderness. Mattocks wrote in his journal that he was sent to the rear “and delivered to the Provost Guard.” That evening, the group, composed of 10 officers and 150 men, was moved a mile and a half further back. The next morning, the prisoners were started on foot to Orange Court House. Their escorts were “Lee’s Body Guard,” the 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. Mattocks considered his escorts “very nice chaps. They showed us every favor possible and even allowed us to ride their horses when we were tired.” It was on the morning of May 7 that Mattocks writes of being searched by the Provost. On May 8, Mattocks and his companions were loaded on the railroad and shipped to Lynchburg, Virginia. Mattocks mentions almost escaping “owing to the smallness of the guard,” but the attempt was foiled. He was eventually moved via Danville, through the Carolinians, and then to Macon, Georgia. Mattocks says little of his guard while on his journey.[2]

   It appears that different regiments were utilized to escort prisoners to holding areas. The 16^th Alabama Infantry was detailed to escort prisoners to the rear during the battle of Shiloh in April 1862.  A member of the 9^th Alabama Infantry reported that his regiment escorted a large number of Federal prisoners to the provost marshal following the battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Also following Chancellorsville, the 52^nd North Carolina, late in arriving at the battlefield, was sent back to Richmond guarding 2,000 Federal prisoners. Following Gettysburg, Picket’s depleted division became a large provost escorting prisoners toward Maryland and Virginia, much to the chagrin of the Virginians.[3]

Train Of Prisoners Approaches Savannah River, Drawing is a drawing by Quint Lox.

   The 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry was frequently used to transport Federal prisoners from the battlefield to a railhead. At Fredericksburg, Company A assigned to guard the prisoners actually boarded the train, continuing into Richmond. At Chancellorsville, Company D was reported escorting 650 prisoners to Guinea Station on the night of May 3. Following the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the battalion moved with about 400 Federal prisoners in front of them, and corralled prisoners following the battle of Cold Harbor. It is possible that the duty continued through the siege of Petersburg, but the mundane assignment seldom appeared in their letters or diaries. The 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry was not the only force to escort prisoners. Capt. Edward A.H. McDonald, 11^th Virginia Cavalry, recalled escorting prisoners from the battle of Cedar Run, Virginia, in August 1862, to the rail station at Orange Court House.[4]

   It would be a common thought that the task of moving prisoners would fall under the duties of the Army Provost. However, Kenneth Radley tells us in his book on the subject that “Escorts for prisoners as they filtered back along the chain were only infrequently provided by the provost because of their severely limited strength; that duty had to be performed by whatever other troops were available.”[5]

   It is unclear if escort companies listed in the Army of Tennessee performed the same duty as those in the Army of Northern Virginia. It seemed that every division, corps, and army commander was listed as having such a company. For example, for the battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, two companies are listed as escort for Braxton Bragg: Dreux’s Company Louisiana Cavalry and Holloway’s Company Alabama Cavalry (Crocheron Light Dragoons), both under the command of Capt. Guy Dreux. After Bragg’s departure, Joseph E. Johnston retained both companies as escorts.

   Whole regiments were used to move prisoners. LeGrand J. Wilson, 42^nd Mississippi, recalled being sent to guard prisoners on Belle Island, Richmond. The men found the duty “very disagreeable.” Finally, the prisoners were paroled and sent out to be exchanged. The 42^nd Mississippi detailed 300 soldiers to escort the 5,000 prisoners to Varina Landing. The Confederates had to walk in front of the Federals, keeping a slow pace due to the heat. Even with those safeguards, several Confederates and Federals fell out, with several of the Federals dying.[6]

   At times, prisoners were moved through the interior of the Confederacy to other prisons. Railroads were utilized for these transfers. It was easier to secure the prisoners within box cars, thus reducing the amount of guards needed for each trip. Captain Benjamin F. Grigg, Company F, 56^th North Carolina, was reported absent on detail “guarding prisoners” in January-February 1864. According to family, Grigg was in charge of a fifty-man detail escorting prisoners from Richmond to Andersonville. The 5^th Georgia Reserves, or at least part of the regiment, escorted prisoners into Savannah. In December 1864, the 58^th North Carolina moved 1,200 prisoners from Columbia, Tennessee, to Corinth, Mississippi. The trip was arduous, with the regiment (numbering about 311 men) moving their 1,200 prisoners partially on foot and partially via rail.[7]  

   There were undoubtedly many regiments, or portions of regiments, detailed to move Federal prisoners across the South during the war years. Some of these men might have welcomed the diversion, a chance to escape the boredom of winter camp or just to see a different part of the country. Others probably found the duty laborious and were happy to be free of their charges. One thing is for certain: this is a portion of the war that needs to be explored more.

This article is a part of a 2021 series exploring the fringes of military prisons in the South. You can check out the other articles below:

Federal Prisoner of War Camps in the South

Federal Prisoners and Southern Ministers and Chaplains 

The Types of Prisoners at Salisbury Prison

  

---

[1] Civil War Desk Reference, 583.

[2] Mattocks, “Unspoiled Heart”: The Journal of Charles Mattocks of the 17^th Maine, 138-152.

[3] Barrett, Yankee Rebel, 102; OR, Vol. 10, 1:597; 15:969; Jordan, NC Troops,12:399.

[4] Hardy, Lee’s Body Guard, 23, 34, 60, 64; Rolph, My Brother’s Keeper, 94.

[5] Radley, Rebel Watchdog, 164-65.)

[6] Wilson, The Confederate Soldier, 93-94.

[7] Munson, North Carolina Civil War Obituaries, 158n.133; Speer, Portals to Hell, 268;  Hardy, The Fifty-eighth North Carolina Troops, 146-47.

Site Visit Saturday: Lt. Col. Frank A. Reynolds, 39th NC, Egypt, and Philadelphia

 

   In June 2015, we were on one of those classic “see America” road trips. Our son had been competing at National History Day in Maryland, and after the contest ended, we headed north to Philadelphia for a couple of days, then west to Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry. One of our stops was Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Laurel Hill is one of the classic Victorian Cemeteries, and with more than 33,000 graves, it is huge. There are graves of many important historical people at Laurel Hill: novelist Owen Wister; Titanic survivor Eleanor Widener; Constitutional Congress secretary Charles Thomson; Union general George Gordon Meade; and Confederate general John C. Pemberton, just to name a few. As we were stumbling through this cemetery, I found the grave of another interesting Confederate soldier: Lt. Col. Frank A. Reynolds. 

Frank A. Reynolds (findagrave)

   Frank A. Reynolds was born in the current state of Lewisburg, Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia) on August 10, 1841. His father was Alexander W. Reynolds (Yep, the Confederate general) and his mother was Mary Reeves Ash Reynolds. Like his father, Frank Reynolds attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. The younger Reynolds graduated[MCH1]  in June 1861. Some of his classmates included Alonzo Cushing, Patrick H. O’Rorke, and George A. Custer. Reynolds, however, did not follow his classmates into the Federal army. Instead, he returned to Virginia. He served as a cavalry officer under Gen. John B. Floyd in 1861, then was appointed captain and assistant adjutant general to Gen. Samuel G. French. On May 19, 1862, Reynolds was appointed major and assigned to the 39^th North Carolina Troops. He was appointed lieutenant colonel on December 29, 1862.

The 39^th North Carolina Troops was one of four North Carolina infantry regiments that served in the Western Theater of the war (the 29^th, 58^th, and 60^th NC regiments are the others). The 39^th Regiment saw action at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Ezra Church, Franklin, Nashville, Mobile, Fort Blakely, and Spanish Fort. It appears that Reynolds was present for most of those actions. On May 9, 1865, the lieutenant colonel was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi.

   After the war, Reynolds served for a brief amount of time as a street inspector in New York City, before accepting a commission as an artillery colonel on the staff of Gen. William W. Loring, in the Egyptian Army. Frank Reynolds was in Ilion, New York, when he passed in July 1875. A brief obituary in the Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), simply read: Col. Frank Reynolds, one of the American officers in the service of the Egyptian Khedive, was found dead in his bed Tuesday at Ilion, N.Y. He was on leave of absence.” Writing in 1901, Lt. Theodore F. Davidson regretted that there was little “data of his subsequent career,” but believed that Reynolds was “an accomplished soldier.”

Site Visit Saturday: Marietta Confederate Cemetery, Georgia

 

   A battle produced ghastly numbers of dead: 3,100 at Gettysburg; 2,843 at Second Manassas; 1,900 at Franklin. Bodies needed to be interred as quickly as possible, a task usually left to the victor that held the field. Sometimes the dead were buried where they fell, and at other times they were gathered and interred in trenches.

   The battle of Chickamauga was fought in September 1862. While it was a Confederate victory, almost 4,000 soldiers from both sides were killed. Confederate forces buried the vast majority after the battle was over. Once the conflict ended, the war-ravaged landscape was littered with more than 700,000 graves. The Federal government was quick to establish a program to disinter Federal soldiers from various battlefield and hospital sites and re-inter their dead in what became National cemeteries. (National cemeteries were established by an act of Congress on July 17, 1862.)

   Confederate dead were untouched by the hands of the government. Instead, Southern civilian organizations were formed for the purpose of finding and relocating the graves of fallen soldiers. Because of laws that prevented former Confederate soldiers from gathering, much of the work fell to women. A group of thirteen women met in July 1866 in Resaca, Georgia, and formed a “Ladies Memorial Association.” About this same time, Mary Green, instrumental in the formation of the Ladies Memorial Association, began working on a cemetery for Confederate soldiers killed and buried near her home in Resaca. When the project was finished in October 1866, over 450 soldiers had been reinterred.

   Resaca was just one small portion of the fighting in North Georgia during the war. Mary Green approached the Georgia Legislature for funding, which, despite the impoverished condition of the state government, agreed to help. They not only agreed to pay off what remained of the bill for re-interring Confederate dead from the Resaca battlefield, but also agreed to an additional $3,500 for a cemetery for the Confederate dead from the Chickamauga battlefield. A site was chosen in Marietta, Georgia. The site was adjacent to the Western and Atlantic Railroad, and was an already established Confederate cemetery, begun in 1863, next to the Marietta City Cemetery. There were soldiers buried here who had died in a train crash, and some who had died in area hospitals. Mrs. Jane Porter Glover of Marietta donated the property for the cemetery expansion.

   There were three different groupings in which the work was carried out. The first took place in July and August 1867, when fourteen graves were removed. Beginning in October 1867, 151 more soldiers were removed from the Chickamauga battlefield. In 1869, a third group of removals began, and eventually, 615 Confederate soldiers killed at Chickamauga were reburied at the Marietta Confederate Cemetery. The group then began searching for burials in and around Ringgold, Kolb’s Farm, Tunnel Hill, and parts of the Atlanta Campaign.

   Besides holding the remains of graves of Confederate soldiers who died during the war, the Marietta Confederate Cemetery was also the burial location for some of the men who died in the old Confederate soldier’s home in Atlanta. The Marietta Confederate Cemetery is one of the largest in the South, probably behind Hollywood Cemetery (18,000 graves) and Oakwood Cemetery (17,000 graves), both in Richmond, and Blandford Church Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, with 30,000 Confederate graves. At the Marietta Confederate Cemetery, there are markers for some of the soldiers, markers for various states represented in the cemetery, and a statue honoring Mary Green.

   I last visited this site in May 2008.

Looking for NC's Civil War - 60th North Carolina Monument

There were five North Carolina regiments at the Battle of Chickamauga, which was fought September 18-20, 1863, in north Georgia. Each of these regiments, four infantry and one cavalry, were assigned to different brigades and fought in different parts of the battle.

Bragg’s plan for September 20 was for the right of the Confederate line to attack at “day-dawn,” while the divisions to the left engaged once their neighbors made contact. Breckinridge’s division launched the first attack and quickly landed in the rear of the Federal lines. The 60^th North Carolina was in the center of the attack that pushed the Federals back. A call for reinforcements went out to follow up the successful attack, a call that went unheeded. Federal reinforcements soon arrived, and the Confederates, so close to cutting off the Federal line of retreat, were pushed back. Of the 150 men taken into the attack by the 60^th Regiment, 8 were killed, 36 were wounded, and 16 were reported missing.

Many decades after the War, North Carolina appointed a group of commissioners to go to Chickamauga and mark the places the regiments had fought. Three of those regiments-- the 39th, 58th, and 60th--eventually received monuments. . On November 10, 1905, Gov. Robert Glenn gathered with “a small party of North Carolinians” to dedicated the Tar Heel markers. The marker to the 60th was dedicated first, followed by the marker to the 58th NCT.

This photo was taken in April 2011.

ensign v. color guard

Ok- I learned something new today. That’s not to say that I don’t learn something new every day, I just thought I would share it with you today. I’ve been involved in a great email discussion with a fellow Tar Heel regarding the flags used at Chickamauga, particularly the flags of Kelly’s brigade and the 58th North Carolina. No, we have not really reached a consensus. To me, it would almost seem that the 58th NCT was not issued a flag until they received a Second National sometime in between the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. The color sergeant was appointed at this time, and the color guard of the 58th NCT was awarded four captured Colt’s Revolving Rifles for their (the regiment’s) performance at Chickamauga.

Anyway, I was reading in Howard Madaus’s book on flags of the Army of Tennessee, when I came across this:

“From 1812 through the Civil War, the responsibility for carrying the colors rested with the sergeants selected from the line companies. On 5 March 1864, however, the Confederate War Department published the act of Confederate Congress which reinstituted the rank of ensign, ‘whose duty it shall be to bear the colors of the regiment, but without the right to command in the field.” Three months later this privilege was extended to battalions as well as regiments. The problems posed by this position caused Congress to reconsider its earlier enactment, and on 25 March 1865, the rank of ensign was abolished…”

Ok – I knew all of that except the part about Congress rescinding its act in March 1865 (and how long have I owned this book?). Of course, the war was about over, and, maybe the Confederate Congress should have been worrying about more important matters. So I wonder, what problems arose?

So, I went hunting for the problem. I found several instances of the bearers of the flag being called ensigns prior to the fifth of March 1864, i.e., the 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles had an ensign in January 1863, as did the 19th Louisiana Infantry at Chickamauga. And interestingly enough, the term “ensign” appears more in the Official Records of Confederates within the Army of Tennessee than within the Army of Northern Virginia. Ensigns were to receive the pay and allowances of first lieutenants, which amounted to $90 per month. When the office of ensign was abolished two interesting things transpired: one, ensigns were approved, based upon recommendation, by the president, but when the office was abolished, the commanding officer of the regiment got to pick the color bearer from men under his command; and, two, though no longer an officer, the color-bearer still received the pay of a first lieutenant. (ORs, Ser. 4, Vol. 3, p.1167)

Interesting stuff, but I still cannot find the “problems” that Madaus alluded to in his book. Thoughts of where to look next? Maybe Jefferson Davis’s papers, or???

58th NCT at Chickamauga

Greetings folks! There is an article in The Daily Citizen about an upcoming living history at Chickamauga National Battlefield Park. A group of interpreters (me included) will be portraying the 58th North Carolina on Snodgrass Hill on August 1st and 2nd. If you live in the area, stop by and see us. You can check out the article here.

Chickamauga... again

I’ve spent the past couple of days going over the role of the 58th NCT at Chickamauga. I had someone email me regarding the events. His interpretation is that Palmer and the 58th, after their second attack, were done for the evening, not helping the 63rd Virginia and 5th Kentucky in driving the Federals off Snodgrasss Hill.

In my original response, I confined myself to what was written in the Official Records. I’m going to come back to that in a couple of minutes, but right now, I want to look at how historians have interpreted (or ignored) Palmer’s role in events.

The first book I pulled off the shelf was Matt Spruill’s Guide to the Battle of Chickamauga (1993). Spruill makes no real mention of Kelly’s brigade. He sums up the action with “The last attack was made just before dark when eight brigades were sent against the Union position.”

I thought I would stick with the guide books, so we will look at Woodworth’s Chickamauga (1999) next. I could find no mention whatsoever of Kelly’s brigade.

Next, how about Tucker’s Chickamauga: Bloody Battle in the West (1961). Tucker does not go into a lot of detail about the final assault. He simply writes that that Kelly and Twigg assaulted “the position on the ridge…”

We will look next at Cozzens’s This Terrible Sound (1992). Cozzens probably writes the most in-depth study of the battle to date. On page 487, Palmer and the 58th NCT have attempted twice to advance up Hill Three. On the second advance, they have been met by the 21st OH coming down the hill and firing. The 58th NCT, many of them with almost no ammunition, have retreated behind trees, and Palmer is attempting to find out what is going on. According to pages 507-509 of this book, it is Hawkins of the 5th Kentucky who takes charge. Cozzens leaves Palmer out.

I also checked the new article (by William Glenn Robertson) on September 20 in the most recent issue of Blue and Gray – no mention of Palmer, and barely a mention of Kelly.

Next, why don’t we look at what the people involved wrote:

Palmer writes in his official report on September 25, 1863, just five days after the battle, of what happened after the 58th NCT had charged twice. Palmer sent a messenger to Kelly, who could not be found. Palmer himself then went to look for Kelly and
“… ascertaining that the other regiment had formed some distance to the right, I moved by the flank and formed on the prolongation of their line.”
“Being told by Colonel Hawkins that Colonel Kelly had a short time before been summoned suddenly from the field by General Preston without time to notify me of the fact, I assumed command of the brigade and, changing direction to the right, advanced toward the enemy at right angles of our first line of advance. Colonel Twigg had in the meantime, and after the enemy’s fire had ceased, moved his brigade up a depression between us and the main position of the enemy, and to his command some of them were about surrendering.
“My regiment captured about 20 officers and men…” (ORs Vol. 30, pt. 2, 446)

After the war, Palmer wrote: “Shortly after dark our brigade, temporarily under my command, succeeded in capturing the troops who had been opposing us.” (“The 58th North Carolina at the Battle of Chickamauga” Our Living and Our Dead October 1875)

Colonel Hawkins of the 5th Kentucky, wrote in late October 1863: “My men recovering from the temporary surprise caused by the treachery of the enemy, reformed, and, with fixed bayonets, advanced on the enemy, joined by Major French, then by Colonel Palmer…” (ORs Vol. 40, pt. 2 443-4)

Maj. French of the 63rd Virginia, also writing on September 25, has this to say: “The Fifty-eighth North Carolina, Fifth Kentucky, and my regiment advanced to within a short distance of the enemy, when they proposed to surrender and laid down their arms. When we arrived within about 40 yards of them, they retook their arms and poured a heavy fire into our ranks, which caused us to fall back a short distance to our position on the hill, from which we continued to fire into them. Our ammunition being now almost exhausted, we supplied ourselves as far as possible from the boxes of the killed and wounded. We again advanced in conjunction with Colonel Twigg’s brigade, when we succeeded in capturing 249 prisoners, including several field officers.” (ORs Vol. 40, pt. 2 448)

Kelly wrote, also on September 25, that after the false surrender volley was fired, Kelly met up with Twigg and began to advance. “Just at this movement was begun, I was notified by one of his [Twigg’s] staff that the brigadier general commanding division wished to see me, and I repaired at once to where he was stationed in the field. During this temporary absence the enemy surrendered to Colonel Twigg…”


My breakdown of events is this:

Palmer and the 58th NCT, on the left of the brigade, attempted to charge twice and were stymied. Palmer went looking for Kelly with his own ideas of how to finish driving the Federals off of the hill. He could not find Kelly, who had been called to the rear. Palmer, being senior commander of the brigade, took over. Hawkins of the 5th Kentucky had already started to move up the hill in conjunction with Twigg, as the 63rd Virginia, and then the 58th North Carolina, came on line and charged together. Both French and Hawkins said that Palmer is involved, even though there is some difference in the accounts, so I do not think this should be discredited.

So what do you think – I have laid my case out well?

Lt. Col. Edmund Kirby

Since I have been working on the Chickamauga section of the book, I have done a little more digging into the life of Lt. Col. Edmund Kirby, 58th NCT. Edmund was a cousin of Colonel Palmer’s wife, Fanny M. Kirby. They are all a part of the large, New England Kirby family. As a side note, Fanny Kirby Palmer’s brother is the Edmund Kirby that was in charge of a battery at Chancellorsville, where he was mortally wounded. He was breveted brigadier general on his deathbed by Lincoln.

Here is what I have found:

Edmund Kirby was born March 13, 1839. His father was Maj. Reynolds Marvin Kirby, a member of the 1st United States Artillery. Major Kirby lost his life in 1842 during the Seminole Wars. Edmund was educated at school in Richmond before entering the Virginia Military Academy. While at VMI, he was one of the cadets who witnessed the execution of John Brown.

Following his graduation from VMI in 1861, Kirby was a drill master at Camp Lee near Richmond. He then worked with a Tennessee regiment, but while at Harper’s Ferry, became ill and was forced to return home. Once Kirby regained his health, he joined R. Lindsay Walker’s Artillery battalion, and was soon a sergeant, drilling his new comrades.

In 1862, John B. Palmer asked that Kirby be assigned to the 58th North Carolina Troops. He first served as adjutant of the regiment, and was undoubtably the regiment’s drill master. On the eve of the battle of Chickamauga, probably on September 17, Kirby was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He clipped his stars out of tin and affixed them to his collar. As the 58th North Carolina advanced toward the Federal works at Chickamauga, they came out of the woods at an angle. Kirby’s side of the regiment was but a dozen yards from the Federal lines. The left side of the regiment was 60 yards from the Federal line. The right of the regiment was giving way, and Kirby was attempting to rally his men when struck by four bullets.

Kirby was buried on the battlefield with other officers from the 58th North Carolina. He was disinterred and on October 30, 1863, he was buried in Shockoe Cemetery in Richmond.

The Daily Dispatch had this to say the day after the funeral:

"Young, brave, of fine intellect, and with a noble disposition, he was a great favorite in the army, and had the brightest prospects in the profession he had chosen"