Forrest's Cavalry at the Battle of Brentwood

On February 2, the 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment—among which was serving my great-great grandfather, David Crockett Neal—was assigned to Brigadier General F. C. Armstrong's Brigade. As part of this brigade the 6th Tennessee moved from Montgomery, Alabama, to Spring Hill, Tennessee, in February, to support Bragg's army at Tullahoma. In March, the 6th Regiment was under the command of Lieut. Col. J.H. Lewis, in Brigadier General Nathan B. Forrest's force in the action around Brentwood, Tennessee.

Union troops had occupied Nashville for more than a year. Brentwood, a strategic depot on the Nashville & Decatur Railroad, 9 miles south of Nashville, was held by a force of about 700 Union soldiers, both guarding the depot and the bridge over the Little Harpeth River. In command was Lieut. Col. Edward Bloodgood.

On the 24th, Gen. Forrest had ordered the 2nd Brigade under Col. J.W. Starnes, to Brentwood, to cut the telegraph lines, tear up railroad track, and cut off any retreat. On today's date in 1863, Forrest approached Brentwood with a column of cavalry, including Great-great Grandfather Neal's 6th Tennessee. As Forrest and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade approached the stockade in the early morning, Bloodgood tried to get out a message about Forrest’s attack. However, he discovered that the telegraph lines were cut. Forrest demanded a surrender under a flag of truce, but Bloodgood refused. Within a half-hour, Forrest had artillery in place to shell the enemy position and had surrounded the Federals with Armstrong’s brigadey. Finding himself completely surrounded and shelled by artillery, Bloodgood surrendered his troops, all within about a half-hour of the initial Confederate attack.

Gen. Nathan B. Forrest

Forrest next rode about 2 miles south of Brentwood to the Federal stockade there. Upon finding himself surrounded and shelled, Capt. Elisha Basset also surrendered, leaving the Confederates to burn the bridge over the Little Harpeth and to head westward with several captured supply wagons and as many as 800 Union prisoners.

Nearby, a Union cavalry unit under Brig. Gen. Green Clay Smith, pursued Forrest's Confederates, engaging them a few miles west of the stockade. Over an hour-long engagement the Union troops managed to push back the Confederates and retake many of the captured stores and prisoners. However, Col. Starnes's 2nd Brigade then appeared on the Union right, halting their advance, driving them back, and recapturing troops and supplies. 

In the fighting at Brentwood, the 6th Tennessee under Lieut. Col. Lewis, raided to within 3 miles of Nashville, within view of the capital building, and rode a half-circuit around Nashville. From Gen. Forrest's official after action report:

Before leaving Brentwood to attack the stockade, I ordered Col. Lewis, of the First [Sixth] Tennessee Cavalry, to dash down the pike with his command toward Nashville. He ran their pickets in at Brown's Creek, capturing some negroes and a Sutler's wagon within 3 miles of the city. He there turned to the left with his regiment, making a circuit around Nashville from the Franklin to the Charlotte pike. 

By the 27th, after leading the regiment rejoined its brigade at Spring Hill.

The victory at the Battle of Brentwood gave the Confederate forces temporary control of an important railroad depot outside Nashville.

Sources: That Devil Forrest, John Allan Wyeth; 6th Tennessee Cavalry (unpublished manuscript), John F. Walter; 6th (Wheeler's) Tennessee Cavalry Regiment; CWSAC Battle Summaries; Gen. Nathan B. Forrest's & Col. Lewis's after action reports; Official Records, Vol. 33, Pt. 1;

Lowrey's Regiment heads back to Tullahoma

The 32nd and 45th Mississippi (consolidated), spent 5 days in camp at Huntsville, Alabama. Leaving on today's date in 1863, the regiment traveled by rail via Chattanooga, arriving back in Tullahoma on the 13th. Company D, my great grandfather's, encamped nearby.

During the months of March and April, there apparently was nothing to report of the activities of Co. D at Wartrace. However, for several weeks during this period, Capt. Norman, Great Grandfather's uncle, was detailed as a recruiting officer. 

Source: The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and 45th Mississippi Regiment: A Civil War History, David Williamson; Company D Return for March-April, 1863; Capt. F.S. Norman's service records, March-April 1863

Oldest Confederate cemetery: Tullahoma, Tennessee

Civil War historian, Michael R. Bradley, writes an interesting article about the creation of what may be the first Confederate Cemetery. Here is a summary of his article that may be found in its entirety at  the Tennessee Division, SCV website.

When the War Between the States began in 1861, everyone knew there would be deaths, but few could conceive that there would be so many. As soon as training camps were established deaths began to occur and  in larger numbers than were anticipated. A great many of these dead were sent back to grieving families to be buried at local church or family cemeteries. 19th century combat changed the face of death. Instead of a few daily deaths in hospitals, hundreds of men were cut down in a few hours time in a fairly confined place of battle. Comrades hastily buried friends on the battlefield, if they had time and opportunity, while fallen foe were placed in burial pits and numerous other places. Often local church or town cemeteries received the dead.

In the Autumn of 1862, the little village of Tullahoma, Tennessee, was chosen as a location for hospitals by the Confederate Army of Tennessee. The town was situated on the main line of the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad, facilitating the gathering of sick men and supplies for their treatment. Since the main armies were several hundred miles away, struggling for control of Kentucky, all inmates of the Tullahoma hospitals were sick--no battle casualties were being treated--yet death was a daily event.

Because Tullahoma was a very new town, founded in the early 1850s, its churches had no established cemeteries. A pressing issue for the Confederate hospitals, then, was where to bury the dead. Serving with the Army of Tennessee was a semi-disabled officer, Colonel Mathias Martin, a property owner in Tullahoma, was lending whatever help he could as an aide. The need for a burial place moved the Colonel to invite the army authorities to bury its deceased  one of his fields beside one of the roads leading out of town.

In January, 1863, following Bragg's retreat from the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tullahoma became the Headquarters for the Army of Tennessee, and would remain so until it withdrew later that summer. During this time, Col. Martin's cemetery saw increased use. A modern investigation in 1997 with ground penetrating radar, revealed few individual graves. Instead, troops dug a trench to receive the bodies, with the trench being extended day by day as more room was required. In keeping with the common practice of the day, boards with the names of the deceased were placed at the head of each body.

The Army of Tennessee evacuated Tullahoma on July 1, 1863. There is some evidence that Martin's land was used to bury prisoners who died after falling under the custody of the Union Provost Marshal, but the site was generally neglected. In the years following the War local citizens made sporadic efforts to maintain the graves; the grounds, commonly, were cleared of brush once a year on June 3, Tennessee's Confederate Memorial Day (Jefferson Davis's birthday), and crosses of cedar wood were erected. In August, 1889, only days before his death, Col. Martin deeded the burial plot to a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees who would head a group to be called "The Tullahoma Confederate Association." This group was to have perpetual control of the cemetery. In 1912 the Captain Calvin C. Brewer Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy erected wrought iron gates at the entrance to the cemetery.

By the 1920's, other families were buying property outside the Confederate Cemetery to be used as burial plots. The surrounding area became known as Maple Hill Cemetery and, gradually, came under the care of the city. During the same decade the Trustees of the Tullahoma Confederate Association ceased to meet and maintenance for the Confederate graves fell to the city. The cedar wood crossed had mostly disappeared by this time and the graves were assumed to be those of "unknown" Confederate soldiers. The State of Tennessee even erected a historical marker on U.S. Route 41-A stating the cemetery was the last resting place for 407 "unknown Confederates."

In later years, a  fence and 2 flag poles were erected. A monument was also created which, again, stated the burials were "unknown" Confederates who had died in hospitals at Tullahoma. In 1992, a list was discovered in the National Archives giving a roster of most of the "unknown" Confederate dead buried at Tullahoma. An additional monument was installed listing the names of the soldiers. In 1995, a new monument was in the Confederate Cemetery.

In 1996, the Tullahoma Confederate Association held its first meeting in 70 years and appointed Trustees who assumed responsibly for maintaining the cemetery. One of their first acts was to raise the Confederate National flag, the Battle Flag, and the flags of the Polk and Hardee Army Corps over the graves of the men who had fought under these flags, 11 from my great grandfather Nathan Oakes's 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment.* In the Summer of 1997, the State of Tennessee awarded the Association a grant for maintenance of historic cemeteries, and all work of maintaining the cemetery began to be carried out by members of the Tullahoma Confederate Association. The Tullahoma Confederate Cemetery and Maplewood Cemetery is now one of the stops on the Tullahoma Campaign Civil War Trail.

As Bradley notes, although Confederate soldiers were buried in existing cemeteries or on battlefields before Col. Mathias Martin set aside his plot for his comrades in arms, the plot at Tullahoma may be the oldest cemetery in the nation created exclusively for the burial of Confederate soldiers. Today, 150 years later, the cemetery on Maplewood Avenue is apparently a lovely, well maintained, and peaceful spot.

*There is at least one man buried here from Great Grandfather's Co. D, Pvt. John W. Gwynn.

Alice Thompson, the Heroine of Thompson's Station

17-year old Alice Thompson
"Heroine of the Battle of Thompson Station"
Source: Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee, 1906

There is a fascinating story forever associated with the Battle of Thompson's Station, fought on this date in 1863. The Confederate cavalry, victorious in that battle, received critical help from an unlikely source, a 17-year old named Alice Thompson. No recounting of the battle would be complete without mentioning the heroic role she played.

Daughter of Elijah Thompson, the town's eponym, Alice was on her way to visit a neighbor when Confederate and Federal troops collided in her small community. As the fighting approached, she dashed for the nearest safe place, the basement under the Thomas Banks home, where she sheltered with the family. Alice and the frightened family witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the day, watching through the small windows for several hours as the battle raged around them. Alice looked on as Confederate soldiers charged towards a nearby hill and were repulsed. It was the dismounted 3rd Arkansas Regiment of Armstrong's Brigade. The soldiers charged again, but were repulsed a second time. In this attack, the regiment lost its commander, Col. S.G. Earle, shot in the head while leading his brave men. The regimental color-bearer was also struck. Both events left the troops in obvious disorder.

What Alice did next was simply astounding.

When she saw the regimental color-bearer down, brave Alice bolted from her shelter, snatched up the banner, and began waving it to rally the troops. Seeing such valor displayed by one of their women, the Confederates charged again, and this time they took the hill. Even the enemy cheered her heroism. After the battle, Alice tended many of the wounded who were taken to the Banks's house for care.

Alice's deed that day made quite a lasting impression. It's referenced in a number sources by many witnesses. One such example is that of esteemed cavalry colonel, W.S. McLemore, who years after the war recalled Alice's bravery in the book, Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee. While he admitted that many of the war's details had been forgotten, he could not forget the "heroine at Thompson's Station." For the book's publication in 1906, another vet provided the author with a picture he kept of the young woman.

Alice later married Dr. David H. Dungan, the brigade surgeon she assisted at the hospital set up in the Banks's home after the battle. Alice enjoyed only a short life, dying in 1869 at the age of 23. She is buried in her family's cemetery at Thompson's Station. Their home was just north of the Banks's house (now Homestead Manor) on the opposite side of the road.

Reflecting on Alice's amazing act in such a brief life, I can't help but call to mind Walter Scott's famous verse:

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!

To all the sensual world proclaim,

One crowded hour of glorious life

Is worth an age without a name.

Sources: Eyewitness to the Civil War (from Tennessee Antebellum Trail Guidebook by David R. Logsdon); Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee, Broomfield L. Ridley; Official Records, Vol. 23, Pt. 1

Cavalry battle at Thompson's Station

Following the Confederate army's retreat from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma, and for the first half of 1863, most of the skirmishing and fighting that occurred between the opposing armies in Middle Tennessee involved the cavalry. While Great Grandfather Oakes's 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment was stationed at Wartrace with the Army of Tennessee encamped around Tullahoma, Great-Great Grandfather David Crockett Neal was serving in the 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment nearby.

Since January, Great-great Grandfather Neal's 6th Tennessee had been assigned to Brig. Gen. F. C. Armstrong's Brigade, in Brig. Gen. W.H. Jackson's Division, in Van Dorn Corps. It was supporting Bragg's army around Tullahoma. In March, the regiment was commanded by Lieut. Col. James H. Lewis.*

On March 4th, Union Col. John Coburn, under orders by Brig. Gen. Charles C. Gilbert, led his force out of Federally occupied Franklin, heading south to forage for food and reconnoiter any Rebel activity in the area. Further south, Confederate Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, along with fellow brigadier, Gen. W.H. Jackson, had been ordered by Van Dorn to mobilize their troops for a reconnaissance north. A collision of the 2 forces was inevitable. They would clash at a railroad depot called Thompson's Station.

The Battle of Thompson' Station, March 5, 1863
Source: Save the Battle of Franklin, Inc.

About 4 miles out of Franklin on March 4th, Coburn's troops encountered a Confederate force. After a running battle of several hours, at dusk the Confederates withdrew to the hills south of Thompson's Station. The Federal troops camped on the field for the night.

On the 5th, Coburn pushed his men forward, when he encountered a strong Confederate outpost on the hills 1 mile north of the depot. This force was driven back, and the Federals advanced within sight of the town. Here Coburn could see the Confederate forces in position on the hills to the south of the depot, and on both sides of the Columbia Pike. In addition to Gen. Jackson's Division of dismounted cavalry, Brig. Gen. Forrest's Cavalry Division had moved into line during the night.

Coburn, unwisely deciding to attack the Confederates, positioned his force on the northern hills and on both sides of the Columbia Pike, with cannons east and west of that road. His men west of the pike advanced across a field near the station, pushing back the Rebel skirmishers into the town. The dismounted Confederate cavalry then countercharged and drove the Federals back to their starting position on the northern hills. The Confederates made 2 more charges, advancing across the field. In the final charge, a civilian, 17-year old Alice Thompson, appeared suddenly, waving a fallen regimental flag, and stirred the troops to push back the enemy to a final position on another hill.

After several hours of severe fighting, Forrest led his command around the Federal position, capturing the enemy's supply train and cutting off any hope of withdrawal to Nashville. With no line of retreat left, Coburn surrendered his entire infantry force.

Coburn's losses were 48 killed and wounded, and 1,500 captured. Van Dorn reported his losses of 357 killed, wounded, and missing.

While  not a strategically important affair, the Battle of Thompson's Station did weaken the Federal force at Franklin. It was significant for showing to the Federals that the Rebels in Middle Tennessee continued to be a dangerous foe. Also, the Confederate cavalry action here and elsewhere helped tie up Union resources for months to come. And the spontaneous action of brave, young Alice Thompson, who survived unscathed, continues to be remembered whenever this battle is discussed.

* Compiling a history of the 6th Tennessee Cavalry is difficult because accurate records either were not kept or didn't find their way into the records. According to the Official Records and other sources, in the capture of Thompson’s Station, Armstrong's Brigade, including the 6th Tennessee Regiment, was assigned to Brig. Gen. W.H. Jackson's Division. However, the regiment was not mentioned in the report. It must have been on assignment elsewhere. Jackson's units that were listed as engaged at Thompson's Station included Col. J.W. Whitefield’s Brigade, King’s Battery of 4 guns, and Gen. Cosby’s Brigade of Martin’s Division.

Historian James D. Porter (Confederate Military History) does mention the 6th Tennessee Cavalry in events immediately following the Thompson's Station affair:

After the surrender [i.e., Thompson's Station], Forrest detached Colonel Lewis, First [6th] Tennessee, to make a demonstration on Nashville and he made important captures and returned safely to headquarters. [On the 25th] General Forrest, with the Tenth Tennessee and one gun of Freeman’s battery, dashed down the road toward Franklin and demanded the surrender of the garrison occupying the stockade provided as a defense of the railroad bridge. To Maj. C.W. Anderson, of his staff, the surrender was refused, but one shot from Freeman’s gun brought out a white flag and the surrender of 230 prisoners.

Sources: Official Records, Vol. 23, Pt. 1; Save the Battle of Franklin, Inc.; Confederate Military History, Vol. 8, James D. Porter; The Army of the Cumberland, Henry Martyn Cist

Ministering to soldiers' spiritual needs

Through the early months of 1863, the Army of Tennessee, entrenched around Tullahoma, Tennessee, had been recuperating from extensive fighting at Murfreesboro in the last months of the previous year. The health of the men improved as they were better fed, clothed, and received needed medical care (although all of the above remained in short supply). Their fighting readiness also improved as commanders regularly drilled their men and instilled military discipline in the ranks.

Brig. Gen. Mark P. Lowrey
often preached to his troops.

Morale improved, too, as soldiers' spiritual needs were addressed. Army chaplains and local pastors regularly preached to gathered troops. Bibles and Christian publications were freely distributed. Tullahoma and its surrounding camps were but one example of several locations of great spiritual revival as the Christian gospel was regularly preached. A fascinating and edifying account of the teaching and evangelistic work of these godly ministers is contained in W.W. Bennett's, The Great Revival in the Southern Armies. Here is one excerpt about the ministry among Gen. S.A.M. Wood's Brigade, in which Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes, served. On this and many other occasions, his own commander, Baptist minister Col. Mark Lowrey, participated:

In General Wood’s brigade a meeting of great interest has for several weeks been under the supervision of Rev. F. A. Kimball, chaplain of the 16th Alabama, assisted mainly by Colonel Reed, Chief of Provost Marshal Department, in Hardee’s corps, and Col. Lowery, of the 45th and 32d Mississippi, the result of which has been one hundred conversions. In the same brigade, Chaplin Otkin, of Col. Lowery's regiment, has been conducting religious services, which, from the best information received, has been productive of great good in restoring many wanderers to their former enjoyments and inducting abut forty-five souls into the kingdom of Christ. 

On another occasion, British observer Col. Arthur Fremantle, who published a journal of his tour of the Southern army in his Three Months in the Southern States, April-June, 1863, witnessed a similar meeting, this time another service in Gen. Wood's camp, led by Episcopal Bishop Stephen Elliot:¹ 

I was present at a great open-air preaching at General Wood's camp. Bishop Elliott preached most admirably to a congregation composed of nearly 3000 soldiers, who listened to him with the most profound attention. Generals Bragg, Polk, Hardee, Withers, Cleburne, and endless brigadiers, were also present. It is impossible to exaggerate the respect paid by all ranks of this army to Bishop Elliott; and although most of the officers are Episcopalians, the majority of the soldiers are Methodists, Baptists, &c.

In one of these Christian services, no less than the commander of the Army of Tennessee, Gen. Braxton Bragg, came under the influence of Bible teaching and was baptized at the First Presbyterian Church in Shelbyville.

It is also well documented that (Reverend) Col. Lowery frequently exhorted his 32nd Mississippi Regiment from the Scriptures, often in the moments before leading them into battle. I have read such accounts, not only referenced here around Tullahoma, but also in the Atlanta Campaign, and again at the Battle of Franklin, the latter two occasions as a brigadier general.² How different from the secular pre-battle scenes in America's present War on Terror!

But evangelistic preaching wasn't the only means of spreading the Christian gospel throughout the army. According to one author and observer, James D. Porter (Vol. 9 of Confederate Military History), during the war, Bible societies were organized for the publication, sale, and gift of Bibles for dissemination in the Confederate army. Christian newspapers were published in many places and thousands of copies were regularly circulated. Tens of thousands of religious tracts and books of "Camp Hymns"were also distributed. Even the American Bible Society, headquartered in New York, donated thousands of Bibles and smuggled them through a Confederate agent to Rebel troops.

With the presence of many Christian denominations represented in pastors and chaplains in the Confederate army a trans-denominational institution was established whereby preachers of different denominations could administer the sacraments and receive new members into the fellowship of the church. The organization was named "The Army Church," and its articles of faith represented a charitable attempt toward spiritual unity among the disparate Christian groups. In "The Army Church," professions of Christian faith—or "joining the church" as many soldiers at the time referred to Christian conversion—were recognized by all ministers as authoritative and acceptable, regardless of denominational preference. Sunday schools and Bible classes abounded to train men in the faith. In these classes many men also learned to read and write with the Bible as their text.

Is it any wonder, then, that in the midst of the disappointments and deprivations of war, morale in the Southern army actually improved.

¹ Capt. Daniel Coleman probably described this meeting in his diary for Sunday, May 31, 1863: "Heard a fine sermon today from Bishop Elliot of the Methodist Episcopal Church - It was full of deep piety & lofty patriotism - Our whole brigade was present - Genl Bragg - Genl Polk -Genl Hardee & other Generals were there - I pray that it may yield much fruit - to the honor and glory of our Heavenly Master" (Huntsville Historical Review, Vol 26, No. 2. 1999: Transcription of Diary, Univ. North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
² Gen. William J. Hardee once commended Lowrey for being "the parson soldier, who preached to his men in camp and fought with them in the field with equal earnestness and effect."

Lowrey's Regiment takes a side-trip to Huntsville

The 32nd and 45th Mississippi (consolidated), spent the first weeks of March traveling by rail cars between Tullahoma, Chattanooga, and Huntsville, Alabama. One of the highlights for the men of Wood's Brigade was to put on a review for the benefit of several ladies visiting from Northern Alabama.

Leaving Tullahoma on today's date in 1863, the regiment arrived at Huntsville and went into camp 1 mile from town. The regiment stayed there for another week before returning to Tullahoma.

Source: The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and 45th Mississippi Regiment: A Civil War History, David Williamson; Huntsville Historical Review, Vol 26, No. 2. 1999: Transcription of Capt. Daniel Coleman Diary, Univ. North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Holding on at Tullahoma

Confederate lines at Tullahoma following the retreat
from the Battle of Stones River
Source: War of the Rebellion Atlas

Following the withdrawal of Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee from the Battle of Murfreesboro/Stones River, the Confederates began digging in to hold their position around Tullahoma, Tennessee. Soldiers, including my great grandfather in the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, constructed earthworks and fortifications, part of a complex system of defensive works around the town.

One of the enemies confronting the army now was disease. On both sides of the conflict, disease was a worse foe than the enemy. Soldiers not only succumbed to infected wounds, but also to diseases for which no treatment was available. Poor supplies, contaminated water, and unhygienic conditions encour-aged illness. During the war, nearly twice as many soldiers were killed by disease than lost their lives in battle.

Division General Patrick Cleburne was a leader who attended to the defense and safety of his command, which included the 32nd Mississippi. He insisted upon cleanliness in the camp, and he saw to it that the men’s needs for food and medical care were met in every way possible. No doubt this was one of the reasons he was so admired and respected by the men who served under him.

Cleburne also insisted upon military discipline and obedience to orders. Part of maintaining discipline in his division included regular drills, held daily, except on Sundays. My great grandfather's regimental leader, Col. Mark Lowrey, wrote about training his regiment during this period:

Early in 1863, at Tullahoma, the 45th Mississippi regiment was consolidated with mine [32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment], and I was placed in command of the consolidated regiments. Up to this time I had but little opportunity to drill my regiment, but at Tullahoma, in the spring of 1863 we drilled for several months, and my regiment became very proficient in drill. In an inspection by Gen. Hardee of each regiment of Wood's brigade, drilling separate, my regiment was pronounced by him the best drilled regiment of the brigade, and the regiment was complimented in a general order.

Regular training and drill, in addition to improved living standards, went a long way in lifting morale and preparing the men for the coming Spring campaign in Middle Tennessee.
                                                                                              
Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell and Elizabeth Purdue; Mark P. Lowrey Autobiography

Refitting Bragg's army

During the months after the Battle of Murfreesboro, both the Union and Confederate armies needed to build up the numbers of troops and materiel. Of course, the Union had the vast population and resources of the Northern states to draw on. Bragg's options, however, were limited.

The Army of Tennessee had been plagued by men leaving the ranks of the Confederate army during the winter of 1863. Many men were simply weary of the war following the retreats from Perryville and Murfreesboro. Numerous soldiers found the hard conditions of camp life too much to bear. Others left the army for homes and families that had fallen behind enemy lines in Kentucky and Tennessee. Of this number of absentees, most would return for service as summer neared. However, the large numbers of furloughs at Tullahoma, had an adverse effect on organization and military discipline. So, by the end of January, Bragg and his superior, Johnston, took action.

Instead of being sent home on furlough, sick and injured troops were assigned to hospitals where their progress could be monitored. Men on furlough were recalled to active service or would face discipline. Gen. Gideon Pillow was assigned to round up recruits covered in the Conscription Act. Many free blacks were also hired to manage assignments to free up fighting troops. In other areas, women were hired to work in clothing factories to outfit the soldiers. By early May, Bragg had brought up his effective fighting army to 52,855. By the time of renewed fighting in June, Bragg will be much stronger than he was on his retreat from Murfreesboro, although his army still will be short ammunition and firearms.

On the Union side, Rosecrans was hardly idle. He used the rest of winter and spring rebuilding his army and building up his armaments, in most ways superior to the Confederate force opposing him at Tullahoma.

Source:  Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley

Leadership in crisis in 1863

"The Murfreesboro campaign and its aftermath destroyed [Confederate Gen. Braxton] Bragg's usefulness as a field commander," writes author Grady McWhiney. Because of the way Bragg had mismanaged his army in the Kentucky Campaign, and his subsequent withdrawal of the army from the battlefield at Murfreesboro, Bragg’s general officers lost confidence in his ability to continue leading the army. Not surprisingly, the retreat from Murfreesboro set off an avalanche of criticism of the army's commander, and according to Civil War historian Peter Cozzens, "a wave of unrest swept over the Army of Tennessee."

Upon arriving at Tullahoma, most of Bragg's high ranking officers agreed that a change in command was necessary. Sensing the lack of support from his generals, Bragg invited their opinion about whether he should resign. Most of the leading officers agreed that he should.* Soon, President Davis intervened and instructed the Western Department commander, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, to proceed to Bragg’s headquarters in Tullahoma to decide what should be done. After investigation and interviewing many of Bragg's high ranking officers, Johnston recommended that Bragg be left in command, which he was. Having received Johnston's and Davis's support, Bragg began retaliatory action against several of his subordinates, further diminishing any respect he may still have have had among them. This would play out badly for Bragg and his army in the coming campaign for Middle Tennessee.

It was also a significant factor in the South's defeat, says McWhiney. "One of the great ironies of Confederate military history is that Jefferson Davis, who prided himself so on his knowledge of the capabilities of those former regular army officers [i.e., Beauregard, Hardee, Polk] who fought for the South, failed in the war to assign Bragg to a position where his talents could be used best. Instead, the President had placed and retained Bragg in a post—as commander of the Confederacy's second most important army—where he made a major contribution to Confederate defeat."

* Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, in whose division my great grandfather served, added his own view:

I have consulted with all my brigade commanders... and they unite with me in personal regard for yourself, in a high appreciation of your patriotism and gallantry, and in a conviction of your capacity for organization; but at the same time they see, with regret, and it has also met my observation, that you do not possess the confidence of the army in other respects in that degree necessary to secure success.

Source: Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, Grady McWhiney; This Terrible Sound, Peter Cozzens; Official Records, Vol. 20, Pt. 1

32nd & 45th Mississippi Consolidated Regiment

While in winter quarters at Tullahoma, Tennessee, probably in mid-January, there was a little reorganization of my great grandfather's brigade, S.A.M. Wood's. Due to troop losses at the Battle of Murfreesboro/Stone's River, and reassignments of some companies in the brigade, Great Grandfather's 32nd Mississippi Regiment was consolidated with the 45th Mississippi. Now known as the 32nd & 45th Mississippi (consolidated), commanded by Col. Mark Lowrey, the regiment remained in Wood's Brigade, Cleburne's Division, in Hardee's Corps. As a consolidated regiment, it will participate in the campaigns and battles of Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, and Ringgold Gap. The 32nd & 45th will fight together as a consolidated regiment until July 1864.

Source: The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and 45th Mississippi Regiment: A Civil War History, David Williamson

Bragg's army takes up position at Tullahoma

As Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's army retreated from Murfreesboro, Gen. Cleburne's Division, which included my great grandfather's 32nd Mississippi Regiment, marched about 55 miles to Estill Springs, Tennessee. Although slowed by extreme fatigue and hunger, and by travel on a cold and muddy road, they arrived at Estill Springs on today's date in 1863. Two days later, they moved 8 miles northwest to Tullahoma, behind the ridge known as the Highland Rim, where Lieut. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps set up winter quarters on the south side of the Duck River, about 35 miles miles south of Murfreesboro. Here the men finally found some relief in tent shelters during the winter.

The 2 opposing armies were separated by a range of foothills, almost mountainous in height. Through these hills ran roads that connected Murfreesboro (where Rosecrans's army was headquartered) and Tullamoma (where Bragg's army was centered). The roads crossed these hills in 3 steep gorges:  Hoover's, Guy's, and Liberty Gaps. These would become strategic points in the coming conflict in June.

Civil War historian, Michael R. Bradley, notes that Bragg didn't seem to have a definite plan for Tullahoma. On retreating from Murfreesboro, he had intended to occupy the line of the Elk River, but when Rosecrans did not pursue the Army of Tennessee, Bragg stopped Polk's corps at Shelbyville, ordered Hardee to send troops forward to Wartrace, and set up his army headquarters and supply dumps at Tullahoma. Small groups of pickets were assigned to protect the passes through the Highland Rim, and cavalry protected each flank, a front of almost 70 miles. Bragg' primary concern was that Union Gen. Rosecrans would advance his army to seize the strategic city of Chattanooga, a vital rail junction and the gateway to northern Georgia. Bragg spread his cavalry over a wide front because he was also concerned that Rosecrans might be able to turn his position, forcing him to retreat or to fight at a disadvantage. He assumed that Rosecrans's would eventually attack his left flank through the easily crossed Guy's Gap in the direction of Shelbyville.

Confederate lines at Tullahoma following the retreat from
the Battle of Stones River
Source: War of the Rebellion Atlas

Bragg should have understood the importance of keeping the enemy off the strategic Highland Rim, a high terrain surrounding the Nashville Basin in all directions. Bragg would have done well to have prepared a second position along the line of the Elk River from Bethpage Bridge to Allisona Rridge. His left then could have projected along the Elk toward Fayetteville, while his right could have been on the Cumberland Plateau, blocking the roads from McMinnville to Chattanooga. This second line could have protected the important rail link to Chattanooga. One of Bragg's mistakes following the Murfreesboro retreat was in choosing Tullahoma as a point of concentration. While Tullahoma had a network of roads and railways, it did not have any natural terrain advantages and could be flanked easily, cutting off the railroad.

Over the next several months, Hardee's Corps will be fortified at Wartrace, a stop on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, 8 miles northeast of Shelbyville, and 15 miles north of Tullahoma. There they are protecting the main road to Chattanooga. Hardee's corps, including Great Grandfather Oakes's regiment, is positioned to reinforce the other 3 passes through the Highland Rim—Bell Buckle Gap, Liberty Gap, and Hoover's Gap.

At the same time, another ancestor, Great-Great Grandfather David Crockett Neal, was serving Gen. Van Dorn's cavalry corps (6th Tennessee), assigned to protect the wings of Bragg's army at Tullahoma. Bragg placed his cavalry to protect the front and flanks of his army, assigning Van Dorn to the left and Wheeler to the right. To Wheeler's command he assigned Morgan's, Wharton's, and Martin's divisions. Forrest's command was assigned to Van Dorn. Some important events took place during the first six months of 1863, that had a bearing on the fortunes of the Army of the Cumberland. At this time, Great-Great Grandfather Neal was serving in Brig. Gen. F. C. Armstrong's Brigade in Van Dorn's Corps.

Sources: The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and 45th Mississippi Regiment: A Civil War History, David Williamson; Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; The Army of the Cumberland, Henry Martyn Cist