Covering the army's retreat | Cleburne's Division

On July 3rd, Gen. Patrick Cleburne's Division, in which Great Grandfather Oakes served, covered the army's retreat from Tullahoma. On today's date in 1863, the division held the Bethpage bridgehead as the army crossed the Elk River. From the high ground, 2 miles above the railroad bridge, Cleburne's men commanded the bridge with artillery placed behind hastily constructed embrasures, while weary troops trudged southward onto the heights of the Cumberland Plateau. The soldiers had to manhandle the wagons over the rough spots before they can bivouac in the open air of the Cumberland Plateau. This was the first time in weeks that the men could light fires and cook a warm meal without concern for rain or the enemy. Cleburne's Division followed to bivouac with the army near the University of the South at Sewanee.

With Hardee’s Corps in front and Cleburne’s Division leading, Bragg's army will march to Chattanooga, arriving there on July 7. The army will "rest" in the vicinity of Chattanooga during July and August, and also receive much needed reinforcements from Mississippi.

Sources: Stonewall of the West, Craig L. Symonds; Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell and Elizabeth Purdue

The Tullahoma Campaign concludes, 1863 | Pat Cleburne's Division

On today's date in 1863, while the first shots were being fired on the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg began withdrawing his army from Tullahoma, south across the Elk River, covered by Cleburne's Division. When Union General Thomas learned of Bragg's departure, he immediately occupied the town with a portion of his corps. He sent the rest of his force to cut off Bragg before the Confederates crossed the Elk River. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was placed in command of the Confederates' river crossing near Estill Springs, with orders to destroy the road and bridges once the troops were across.

On July 2nd, Union Gen. Crittenden's corps moved down the Hillsboro road from Manchester. After a some skirmishing with Confederate cavalry, Crittenden was able to force a crossing there. In the meantime, Bragg ordered his army to continue its retreat to Cowan.

Gen. Ivan Turchin's division made a second Federal attempt at Morris Ferry to stop Bragg's army crossing the Elk River. His advance was forced back by the 51st Alabama Cavalry, the 25th and 26th Tennessee Infantry, and Darden's Battery. The Federals then advanced on Decherd, but arrived too late to prevent the Confederates from crossing there.

On July 3rd, Union Gen. Phil Sheridan's division made a river crossing upstream of the main Confederate force, crossing the Rock Creek, then fording the Elk River near there. A skirmish with Confederate cavalry ensued, but they were driven off. Bragg now must contend with an enemy force (Crittenden's and Sheridan's) on both of his flanks.

Rosecrans's army continued to press forward as the Bragg's army retreated on July 3rd. Sheridan captured Winchester after a small skirmish, then occupied Cowan at the foot of the mountains that offered about the only Confederate hope of a place to make a stand. Instead of fighting, however, Bragg chose to continue his retreat to Chattanooga, now guarded by Wheeler's cavalry.

On the 3rd, after camping overnight at the Episcopal University of the South* at Sewanee, the march order of the day was Hardee's Corps in front with Cleburne's Division leading. The division will begin arriving on July 7, to take up its position at Tyner's Station, 9 miles east of Chattanooga.

Henry Cist, a member of Rosecrans's staff who wrote years after the war, had this to say about the campaign's results:

The Tullahoma campaign... was the most brilliant of the great strategic campaigns carried to a successful issue by General Rosecrans. The movements of the army occupied nine days, during which time the enemy was driven from two strongly fortified positions, with a loss in prisoners captured of 1,634, eleven pieces of artillery, and a large amount of stores and supplies. The result of this campaign gave to Rosecrans possession of Middle Tennessee, and placed the armies back in the relative positions occupied by them prior to Bragg's advance into Kentucky, a little less than one year previous.

Author Stanley F. Horn agrees,

[Rosecrans's] strategy was a masterpiece of offensive strategy. He maneuvered the Confederate army entirely out of Tennessee almost without firing a shot, except in the preliminary cavalry brushes as he unexpectedly pressed through the thinly held mountain passes. Bragg, placing too much reliance on the strong defenses in his front and taking it for granted that Rosecrans would obligingly advance that way, did not realize what was happening to him on his right flank until it was too late to do anything about it. Though he had been in position for six months, he seems never to have thought of the possibility of a flank attack, and in the early stages of the turning movement he showed a fumbling in decision and action that filled his corps commanders with dismay.

Reflecting on the Southern attitude, historian Michael R. Bradley writes:

[Honors] go the enlisted men of the Army of Tennessee. They knew their officers were clueless, had been outsmarted; they knew they were facing an ever increasingly better armed and fed enemy whose leaders were maturing in the art of war; yet they remained faithful to the cause to which they had dedicated themselves, the cause of defending family and fireside and faith, and they went on to shed their blood and to expend their valor at Chickamauga, winning for themselves and their army its finest hour. These men, they endured. Better cannot be said of any.

On July 4th, the last shots were fired in the Tullahoma Campaign as the Federals gave up pursuit. On the same day, Gen. Robert E. Lee began his retreat from the Battle of Gettysburg, and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of Gen. John C. Pemberton's Confederate army at Vicksburg. At Tullahoma, "The wave of the Confederate cause had reached and passed its crest. From then on it was all ebb tide" (Horn).

Finally, Cist offers this perspective: "Brilliant campaigns, however, without battles, do not accomplish the destruction of an army. A campaign like that of Tullahoma always means a battle at some other point." Indeed, the next confrontation, Chickamauga, is only a couple of months away.

Union army blowing up
the University's cornerstone
Source: Civil War Travel Blog

* When Union pursuers arrived at the University of the South where the Confederate army had camped, they discovered a 6-ton marble cornerstone, laid down in 1860, and dedicated by Bishop Leonidas Polk, one of the founders, now a corps general in Bragg's Army of Tennessee. Having missed the general at Tullahoma, they blew up the cornerstone instead. The pieces were collected and kept as souvenirs by the soldiers. Later, a few pieces were donated back to the university, and a large fragment was eventually installed in a wall of the university's All Saints' Chapel. Apparently, there also is a stained glass window installed in the chapel that depicts Union troops blowing up the University’s cornerstone.

Buried in the chapel cemetery are several prominent Confederate generals and soldiers, including Lieut. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith and Brig. Gen. Francis Shoup. Bishop Charles Quintard, who served in the Army of Tennessee as chaplain, is buried there, too. There are also unmarked graves in the cemetery belonging to Confederate soldiers killed during the Tullahoma Campaign.

After the war, the university offered Robert E. Lee the position of vice-chancellor, but he declined, choosing instead the same position at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in his beloved Virginia.

Sources: Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Stonewall of the West, Craig L. Symonds; Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell and Elizabeth Purdue; The Stones River and Tullahoma Campaigns, Christopher L. Kolakowski; The Army of the Cumberland, Henry Martyn Cist

Tullahoma Campaign, Day 8 | Pat Cleburne's Division

Having recalled his troops from fortified positions to his headquarters at Tullahoma, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg concentrated his army behind defensive works around that town. Pressuring him was Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans, cautiously moving his army through mud and rain toward Bragg.

Indeed, the poor condition of the roads and the weather (it had been raining almost continuously for the past week) were significant hindrances to movement by both sides. While Rosecrans's also faced short supplies in his line back to Murfreesboro, Bragg was facing a quandary of his own, namely whether to continue to meet Rosecrans's advance or retreat further south. Bragg's rail line to Chattanooga was vulnerable, and he did not have sufficient cavalry to defend it. He was informed that he had only about 36 hours until the Union army would cut off any hope of retreat. Realizing that he could not hold Tullahoma, Bragg heeded his generals' advice and ordered a withdrawal. The Army of Tennessee will again retreat. Preparations were made to withdraw that night south of the Elk River. Pat Cleburne's Division, in which Great Grandfather Oakes is serving in Wood's Brigade, will cover the army's retreat, first holding the bridgehead over the river.

At this point, it is only just beginning to dawn on the troops in the brigade what is happening. Capt. Daniel Coleman of Wood's Brigade noted in his diary for this date:

Our Brig[ade] sent out to engage the enemy to hold him in check - Every indication of a battle - My company with another is sent out as skirmishers - We can hear the Cavalry videttes in front cracking away - We look every minute to engage them ourselves - we move forward short distances and halt - but no enemy appears - Night comes on - we assemble the skirmishers in groups of fours - one watches while three sleep - 9 o’clock at night - What does that constant rattling of weapons mean - Can it be that they are evacuating Tullahoma - surely not - It must be artillery moving over to the right - 12 m -

Order comes - assemble skirmishers & move towards Tullahoma - understand now the rattling of weapons - the retreat has begun - Oh God - and must we leave our homes and our loved ones to the mercy of the ruthless foe again and that too without an effort to prevent it -

Ironically, according to a member of Rosecrans's staff, at this point in the campaign, "it was the general belief that Bragg would not leave his entrenchment's at Tullahoma without a fight."

Sources: Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; Stonewall of the West, Craig L. Symonds; The Army of the Cumberland, Henry Marty Cist; Huntsville Historical Review, Vol 26, No. 2. 1999: Transcription of Diary, Univ. North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tullahoma Campaign, Days 6 & 7 | 32nd Mississippi Infantry

On today's date, a Monday in 1863, Gen. Braxton Bragg's forces were concentrating at Tullahoma, south of the Duck River. Here was Bragg's headquarters and the center of the Confederate fortification and supplies prepared over the past 6 months of waiting for Rosecrans's army.

Having now taken the strategic Hoover's Gap, Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans moved forward his headquarters from Hoover's Gap to Manchester. Maj. Gen. George Thomas earlier had sent 2 divisions towards Tullahoma, where they went into position along Crumpton's Creek. As they came into line, there were only scattered Confederates facing them across the creek on the opposing ridge. It seemed to Rosecrans that although his original plan for taking Bragg had to be scrapped, he was now faced with another opportunity to trap him.

Thomas had also sent Col. Wilder's "Lightning Brigade" ahead of the 2 divisions now marching toward Tullahoma. Wilder's was the same mounted infantry unit that earlier had taken Hoover's Gap with their repeater rifles. Wilder continued to make his way behind Bragg's army toward Decherd to tear up the railroad before Bragg could retreat toward Chattanooga. Swimming his horses across the river, while floating his artillery and ammunition on make-shift rafts, Wilder proceeded on to Decherd where he encountered a Confederate garrison of 80 troops guarding the railroad. After a sharp skirmish, Wilder pushed the Confederates back to a wooded ravine. He then tore up about 300 yards of track, cut Bragg's telegraph line to Chattanooga, and burnt the depot. The next morning, he moved on to tear up a branch rail line on Bragg's east, between Tracy City and Cowan, before moving back to Manchester. Amazingly, Wilder lost none of his men while wreaking this havoc behind Bragg's army.

The Federal action today caused Bragg to call a council of his generals to decide whether to make a stand at Tullahomha or retreat to Chattanooga. The decision was to make a stand there. Troops went to work immediately, throwing up defensive works.

Meanwhile, Thomas continued to move his XIV Corps towards Tullahoma. Behind him were Crittenden's 2 corps, now uniting Rosecrans's forces as they advanced on Bragg's army. Thomas was in a good position to pin Bragg in place while other Federal units outflanked him. There was some skirmishing between the the 2 armies, but little else was accomplished today.

Less significantly, but important to Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes, his 32nd Mississippi Regiment  is marching with the rest of Cleburne’s Division to the outskirts of Tullahoma, which they will reach on the 29th. By the time they will arrive, the troops will be completely worn out by the arduous trek through the rain and mud. The Division will have to to sleep in this condition in line of battle. Soon, Cleburne's weary men will have to cover Bragg's retreat.

Sources: Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; The Stones River and Tullahoma Campaigns, Christopher L. Kolakowski; Stonewall of the West, Craig L. Symonds

Tullahoma Campaign, Day 5 | Pat Cleburne's Division

While the fighting had been going on for 4 days in the right flank of the Army of Tennessee in what became the 1863 Tullahoma Campaign, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg was completely unaware of the main action at Hoover's and Liberty Gaps. His lack of information led him to conclude that the earlier fighting at Shelbyville was the major Union movement, so he continued to focus his attention on Lieut. Gen. Leonidas Polk's Corps in position there. Ultimately, his ignorance will lead to ordering his army's withdrawal from Tullahoma, leaving Middle Tennessee in the hands of his enemy, Gen. William S. Rosecrans.

On this date, Sunday, in 1863, Shelbyville is the center of fierce fighting.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rosecrans had deployed forces to feign an attack on Shelbyville, while massing his main force against Bragg's right at 2 key gaps in the Highland Rim: Hoover's and Liberty. Having successfully taken both of these gaps, Rosecrans now can focus on Gen. Leonidas Polk's position at Shelbyville. Faced with the loss of Hoover's Gap, Bragg ordered Polk's Corps to fall back to Tullahoma.

As Union forces were approaching Shelbyville, the Confederates were withdrawing. Outside of town Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry held off the Union advance for a couple of hours, but then withdrew to a ring of defensive works around Shelbyville. There they attempted to make a stand, only to be forced back into town.

Wheeler next formed his men on the courthouse square. Using his 4 cannons to anchor his defense, his men faced the Yankee advance through the center of town. The battle was fought in the courthouse square, with Wheeler taking heavy losses in men and artillery. The Confederates made another stand outside of the village, but they were flanked by Federal units. Soldiers had it out with each other in hand-to-hand saber and clubbed rifle fighting, down to the muddy banks of the Duck River. Wheeler, himself, escaped by famously jumping his horse into the river and making for safety on the other side.

Nearby, Confederate Maj. Gen. Alexander Stewart, under orders from his corps commander, Lieut. Gen. William J. Hardee, not to contest the Manchester Pike, had withdrawn his division from the Manchester front while Union forces penetrated to within 6 miles of that town. By this evening, Manchester will fall into Union hands, and Bragg's Duck River line will be essentially flanked.

At Bell Buckle Gap on this same day, near where the fighting took place at Liberty Gap, and northeast of Shelbyville, Great Grandfather Oakes in Wood's Brigade is waiting to withdraw. After 3 days of fighting to hold Bell Buckle and Liberty Gaps, Bragg orders Cleburne to withdraw his division to Tullahoma, which he did in the morning of today's date, without any loss of life. Capt. J.N. Scalley's Co. E covered the 32nd Regiment in its retreat through Liberty Gap. According to Scalley, it was a 2-day, 23-mile march to Tullahoma.

Cleburne writes in his report that his troops

. . . were much wearied by the watching and fighting in the front of the gaps, for it rained incessantly during most of that the time. The men had no changes of clothing, no tents, and could not even light fires to dry themselves. Many had no shoes, and others left their shoes buried in the deep mire of the roads.

By now Federals were aware of the fact that Bragg had abandoned his strong line of defence at Shelbyville, and the question remaining to be answered was whether he would accept battle at Tullahoma, or retire with his entire command across the Cumberland Mountains and the Tennessee River, fighting as he fell back.

Sources: Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee; Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862-1865, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; The Stones River and Tullahoma Campaigns, Christopher L. Kolakowski; The Army of the Cumberland, Henry Martyn Cist; Muster Roll of Co. E; Official Records, Vol. 23, Pt. 1

Tullahoma Campaign, Day 4

Saturday, June 26, 1863, opened with more rain. Rivers and creeks had become torrents, and the mucky roads were nearly impassable.

Skirmishing continued near Liberty Gap, the sight of serious action on the 2 days previous, where Great Grandfather Oakes was stationed in Wood's Brigade. Twice during today's date, Union forces attempted to advance against Cleburne's Division at the gap, but neither attempt was successful. Although his ammunition had begun to run low, Cleburne's sharpshooters were able to keep up fire, picking off enemy cavalry with shots taken from the slopes 700 to 1,300 yards away. Overnight, Cleburne is ordered to withdraw his division to Tullahoma. He will continue to hold his position at Bell Buckle tomorrow only long enough to withdraw his men.

Monument to A.P. Stewart's Division
at Beech Grove Confederate Cemetery

At Hoover's Gap a few miles away, where Union forces were successful 2 days earlier, the fight became heated. At 10:00 AM, Union Gen. Rousseau's 3rd brigade advanced across a wheat field to pin down Gen. A.P. Stewart's Confederates there. Rousseau's 2 other brigades, plus Gen. John Brannon's 3rd division, swung around the Confederates's flank in order to cut them off from Fairfield. Outflanked, the Rebels retreated to their main line at Fairfield.

While the Yankees vigorously pursued, Stewart's men laid an ambush for them. About 2 miles from Hoover's Gap, Maj. Caswell's Georgia Sharpshooter Battalion charged and opened fire on the Federals. Their action slowed the Federal advance the rest of the day toward Fairfield, about 5 miles away.

Although the fighting had been going on for 4 days, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg was completely unaware of the action on his right flank at Hoover's and Liberty Gaps. In effect, he had lost command and control of the entire right wing of his army under Gen. Hardee. The lack of information led Bragg to conclude that the fighting he saw at Shelbyville was the major Union movement, so he continued to focus his attention on Polk's Corps there. His ignorance will lead to failure at Tullahoma.

The loss of Hoover's Gap will soon lead to the loss of Middle Tennessee, setting the stage for the Atlanta Campaign and Sherman's March to the Sea a year later. It was also the beginning of the end of 2 military careers–Bragg's and Rosecrans's. Although overshadowed by the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, fought during the same time period, the importance and impact of Bragg's loss of Middle Tennessee cannot be denied.

________________________________________________________

Apparently, there is little to commemorate the battle that took place at Hoover's Gap. The Beech Grove Cemetery and Park, located between Interstate 24 and U.S. 41, is dedicated to those soldiers who fell at Hoover's Gap and Beech Grove. It also holds the remains of 50 unknown Confederate soldiers who were killed at the Battle of Hoover's Gap. After the war, former Confederate soldiers returned to the area to gather the remains of their fallen comrades who had been killed and buried in various locations around the area and rebury them in one place. A monument was erected there to remember all Confederates killed in the fighting at Hoover's Gap.





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

Tullahoma Campaign, Day 3 | Pat Cleburne's Division

Friday, the third day of the 1863 Tulla-homa campaign, opened on a wet but mostly quiet field of operation. It had rained almost continuously over-night. There was a little cavalry action. Union cavalry rode to the Shelbyville Pike and encountered a force of Con-federate cavalry under Gen. John A. Wharton, plus one of Gen. Polk's brigade, and a battery. The Rebels forced the Federals back to Christiana. Also, some dueling between the opposing artillery took place at Hoover's Gap, the site of yesterday's loss for the Confederates. However, the action did not substantially alter the positions of either rival force.

Most of the important action, and certainly the the severest fighting on today's date was at Liberty Gap, one of several gaps in the Highland Rim that Union Gen. Rosecrans needed to seize in order to defeat Gen. Bragg or to drive him from Middle Tennessee.

Brig. Gen. St. John Liddell’s Brigade of Arkansaians defended against the enemy's advance, elements of Brig. Gen. Alexander McCook's corps. While the Rebels put up a furious defense in pouring rain, Gen. Patrick Cleburne was compelled to order his outnumbered and outflanked Confederates to withdraw out of the pass, across the Wartrace Creek to the next line of hills about a mile in his rear. There they took up a defense on the ridges where they held their ground against the Federals.

Hills marking the entrance to Liberty Gap, now State Route 269

Source: TCWPA

Following yesterday's action at Liberty Gap, Cleburne ordered Wood's Brigade—in which my great grandfather served in Lowrey's 32nd Mississippi Regiment—to reinforce Liddell. However, in the narrow gap there was not enough room to deploy both units. So Liddell positioned Wood's men behind his brigade as backup.

Although McCook's corps was avail-able in force, he had orders not to attack unless there was a Confederate collapse. Liberty Gap was to be a feint supporting what yesterday had be-come the main Federal thrust at Hoover's Gap.

Between the 2 opposing forces in Liberty Gap was an open field, which varied in length from 500 to 2,000 yards. To the west of Bell Buckle Road, as Liberty Pike was called after passing the gap, was a slight hill in the middle of the open field. To the east, Wartrace Creek flowed along the foot of the hills occupied by the Confederates, creating a bluff a few feet in height and adding to the strength of the position.

The fields of Liddell's counterattack
Source: TCWPA

The Confederates made several attacks in the cornfield throughout the morning and into the afternoon. Each was repulsed. About 3:00 PM, the Confederates made another advance, which lasted for more than an hour, until the Confederates fell back to their original position.

It was now the Federals turn to attack. They advanced across the cornfield, slowed by mud to their ankles. Confederate sharpshooters picked off many of the advancing troops. Three times the Federals surged across the field and were driven back by Col. Daniel Govan's men. In a fourth attack, Liddell's men, supporting Govan, held their position against the Federal advance. However, by now, darkness was falling, along with more rain. Both sides settled into position for another uncomfortable night on the muddy fields and slopes of Liberty Gap.

Marker at Willow Mount Cemetery in Shelbyville, TN
to Commemorate the fallen from Cleburne's Division
Source: HIghwayman64

Sources:  Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; Official Records, Vol. 23, Pt. 1

Tullahoma Campaign, Day 2 | Pat Cleburne's Division

Two important Middle Tennessee battles were fought between Braxton Bragg's and William Rosecrans's armies on this Thursday in 1863, the second day of fighting in the Tullahoma Campaign. These key battles were fought in a range of foothills, almost mountainous in height, through which passed roads connecting Murfreesboro to Tullahoma. The main action will take place at Hoover's and Liberty Gaps. It will be through these gaps in the Cumberland Rim that Rosecrans's will strike General William Hardee's Corps, the right wing of the Army of Tennessee.

Early in the morning, Union Gen. Rosecrans began moving his infantry, commanded by Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden, south through the community of Pocahontas¹ to attack Manchester from the north. The plan called for Crittenden to swing his corps wide around Bragg's flank near the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad bridge over the Elk River. Gen. George Thomas was ordered to support Crittenden by moving his corps along the Manchester Pike and attracting all the attention he could at Hoover's Gap. Once Crittenden was behind the Confederate flank, Thomas was to shift to his left and join Crittenden.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Alexander McCook was to provide a diversion for Crittenden's movement by attacking Liberty Gap with his division. As soon as Thomas left Hoover's Gap, McCook was to follow him out of Liberty Gap. To complete the move, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger would lead the Reserve Corps down the Shelbyville Pike, toward Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk's Corps, to attract additional attention toward the area of Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley's all-day cavalry skirmish around Unionville. Granger was to build campfires to give the impression of a large infantry advance in that direction. His ruse succeeded in holding Polk at Shelbyville for 2 days.

About noon, Brig. Gen. Robert Mitchell was ordered to attack the Confederates at Middleton with his cavalry division and then to await support. Accordingly, Mitchell pulled back to Eagleville and turned east to attack Middleton. However, Mitchell came under attack by Confederates posted about a mile west of town, including 3 Confederate cavalry units, which forced him to fall back. Col. Robert Minty's cavalry brigade joined Mitchell's division, and the Federals pulled back northeast to Christiana on the main road from Murfreesboro to Shelbyville. So much for the Federal cavalry action on this date.

Earlier that morning, Gen. Crittenden's infantry corps was making the main advance, moving from Cripple Creek and Readyville, toward Bradyville. At Gilly's Hill his leading division, Brig. Gen. John Palmer's, fought a skirmish with the Confederates. At this point Crittenden's infantry advance became bogged down in the mud, and Rosecran's plan to take Manchester had to be modified.

McCook directed his corps down the the Liberty Pike towards Liberty Gap, where an important 3-day battle would be fought. Liberty Gap was one of several gaps in the Highland Rim, and it was of strategic importance to Rosecrans for either defeating Bragg or driving him from Middle Tennessee. A road through the gap, Liberty Pike, connected the railroad communities of Christiana and Bell Buckle, and extended through the Liberty Gap.

As McCook's troops neared the gap, reaching a hill known as "The Knob," Confederate soldiers opened fire. From there until they reached the village of Christiana, the Union infantry had to contend with Confederate cavalry and artillery. A portion of Crittenden's Corps, R.W. Johnson's Division, passed through Christiana and on towards Liberty Gap. Waiting for them was part of a division of Confederate infantry, some of the most tenacious fighters in the Army of Tennessee, commanded by its best combat leader, Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne. In Cleburne's division, was Great Grandfather Oakes's regiment, the 32nd Mississippi Infantry, although at this moment it was on duty at nearby Bell Buckle Gap, 3.5 miles south.

Two Arkansas regiments of Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell’s Brigade of Cleburne's Division defended Liberty Gap from its northern slopes. The Arkansaians briefly halted Johnson's advance. His division pressed through the gap taking positions around the Clark house and Liberty Church.

Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell
Source: Wikipedia

Confederate Gen. William Hardee, whose corps formed the entire right flank of the Army of Tennessee, was alarmed at the Union's capture of the gap. He ordered Cleburne to send the rest of Liddell’s Brigade to the gap to push back the Union force. While they put up a furious defense in pouring rain, the outnumbered Confederates soon faced a flanking threat by the enemy.

Cleburne, who by now was on the scene, personally ordered a withdrawal across the Wartrace Creek to the next line of hills about a mile back, where the rest of Liddell's men were waiting. Behind them, almost all the way to Bell Buckle, was a series of defensive ridges and narrow valleys. There the Confederates held their ground against the Union advance. Unfortunately, Cleburne's attempts to win back the gap throughout the next day were unsuccessful. Brig. Gen. S.A.M. Wood's Brigade, in which Great Grandfather Oakes was serving, provided protection for the Confederates as they fell back to Bell Buckle.

By the conclusion of the fighting, Liddell's troop losses were high. In his detailed after-action account he reported 120 casualties from the battle, 25 of whom died in the fighting at Liberty Gap. Others would die later as a result of wounds received here.

Marker at Willow Mount Cemetery in Shelbyville, Tenn
Source: Genealogy Junkie

Col. John T. Wilder, USA

The critical battle of the campaign fought on today's date, was fought nearby at Hoover's Gap, 11 miles south of Murfreesboro. Hoover's Gap was part of Rosecrans's strategy to take Bragg's right flank. Union Col. John Wilder's "Lightning Brigade" of mounted infantry pushed about 9 miles ahead of Thomas's main force on its way to Hoover's Gap. Wilder's men were armed with new Spencer repeating rifles, and when they attacked Col. J. Russell Butler's 1st (3rd) Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, they easily pushed it aside. As Butler's Regiment fell back the 7-mile length of Hoover's Gap, it ran into Brig. Gen. William Bate's Brigade of Maj. Gen. A. P. Stewart's Division. Wilder entrenched on the hills south of the gap and determined to hold his extremely advanced position. Bate's Brigade counterattacked throughout the day but could not dislodge the Federals. Wilder received orders from Thomas to fall back through the gap, which order he refused, claiming he could still hold his ground. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Bushrod Johnson's Brigade arrived, and the combined brigades attacked Wilder. However, with the deadly firepower of Wilder's Spenser repeating rifles² (a 7-round magazine to the 1-round Confederate rifle), his men repelled a superior Confederate force. By 7:00 PM, additional units from Thomas's corps arrived to support Wilder at the gap. By nightfall, it was clear that Hoover's Gap was lost, although fighting there will continue until the 26th, when the Confederates will pull out.

The loss of Hoover's and Liberty Gaps will bring on the collapse of the Confederate army's right flank. It will lead to Gen. Braxton Bragg's decision to withdraw his entire army south of the Duck River.

¹ Pocahontas was the birthplace of my great grandfather, Nathan R. Oakes, who was at this moment stationed near Liberty Gap. The Oakes family migrated south to Kossuth, Mississippi, where as a 16-year old, Great Grandfather Oakes enlisted in Co. D. of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, under Col. Mark. P. Lowrey. His uncle, Capt. F.S. Norman, commanded his company of volunteers. Serving alongside him was his future brother-in-law, William D. Turner.

² Hoover's Gap was the first use in battle of the repeating rifle. It may be that this first encounter with Wilder's Spensers was the beginning of the expression within the Confederate army, that the “Yankees could load on Sunday and shoot all the rest of the week.” Col. Wilder and his "Lightning Brigade" will return to fame later in the fall in decisive actions on the Chickamauga battlefield, for which Wilder will be promoted to brigadier general.

Sources: Tullahoma: The 1863 Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862-1865, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; Official Records, Vol. 23, Pt. 1; CWSAC Battle Summaries

The Tullahoma Campaign begins, 1863

On today's date, Wednesday, in 1863, Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans finally begins his attack on the Confederate forces under Gen. Braxton Bragg, whose headquarters is in Tullahoma, Tennessee. It was a cool and dry day for June in this part of Tennessee, one of the last in a short campaign that will be fought in nearly constant rain and mud.

Rosecrans had an elaborate plan. While Bragg's attention was focused on what he expected to be the main attack on his strongly defended poison at Shelbyville, Rosecrans would attack Bragg's right flank at Hoover's and Liberty Gaps, which were defended by Lieut. Gen. William J. Hardee's Corps.

Leading the Union cavalry on a demonstration toward Shelbyville, Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley advanced a strong force from Triune down the Lewisburg Pike. His troops were first to encounter Confederate resistance. Outside of Eagleville the Federals ran up against units from Wheeler's cavalry. In the fighting, the Confederates fell back from hill to hill, making the Federal advance difficult. The fight eventually reached the village of Rover, where Union troops took the abandoned Rebel post. The Federal force then pushed on near to Unionville, where it ran up against the main line of the infantry corps of Gen. Leonidas Polk.

The Confederates mounted a flank attack, but night put an end to the first day of fighting. Overnight, Gen. Stanley pulled his force back to Rover. Although Rosecrans had made no significant gains on this first day of his Tullahoma Campaign, he had accomplished his feint of diverting Bragg's attention to the west, away from his main objective to attack Hardee's force in the east against the Confederate army's right flank.

Source: Civil War Maps by Hal Jesperson

Sources: Tullahoma: The Campaign for the Control of Middle Tennessee, Michael R. Bradley; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn

The eve of the Tullahoma Campaign, 1863

On the eve of the fighting known as the 9-day Tullahoma Campaign, Union Gen. William S. Roscrans’s army was 60,000 strong. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg had an army whose effective strength was about 43,000 troops, of whom about 14,000 were cavalry.

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 gaps in the mountains soon will become strategic points in the imminent conflict. It will be through Hoover's and Liberty Gaps that Rosecrans's main force will strike the right and rear of Hardee's Corps in which Great Grandfather Oakes was serving.

To the east of Bell Buckle (Railroad Gap), the range of hills terminates a little beyond Hoover’s Gap. The narrow road through Hoover’s Gap continued narrow and winding to Manchester, 20 miles southeast. West of Bell Buckle, that chain of hills begins to level off north of Shelbyville and terminates a short distance northwest of town. 

In view of the favorable terrain and wide turnpikes between Murfreesboro and Shelbyville, Bragg expected Rosecrans to advance toward Shelbyville, or at least he hoped to draw him there. Bragg arranged his troops accordingly. The larger part of his army, 3 of Gen. Leonidas Polk’s corps, remained at Shelbyville. Gen. Wheeler moved his cavalry division to Shelbyville where he heard heavy Federal strength had been reported, leaving the right wing almost without cavalry cover. Cleburne’s Division of Hardee’s Corps, in which my great grandfather's 32nd Mississippi Regiment served, held Wartrace on the railroad, as well as Bell Buckle and Liberty Gaps. Gen. Stewart’s troops were placed along a stretch of several miles from the south end of Hoover’s Gap past the village of Fairfield (5 miles northeast of Wartrace). Bragg hoped to attack Rosecrans’s flank as he passed through Hoover’s Gap.

Rosecrans's strategy was to advance simultaneously toward Shelbyville, Liberty Gap, and Hoover’s Gap. The advance against Shelbyville was to be a feint, and Liberty Gap was merely to be seized and held. The main body of the Federal army would move through Hoover’s Gap, with one corps going around the eastern end of the range of hills. From Hoover’s Gap they would push on to Manchester, where all of Rosecrans’s forces would be consolidated.

Sources: Pat Cleburne: Confederate General, Howell ad Elizabeth Purdue; The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862-1865, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; The Stones River and Tullahoma Campaigns, Christopher L. Kolakowski

Lowrey's Regiment at Wartrace, Tennessee

On this date in 1863, Gen. Hardee, with Cleburne's Division in the vanguard, moved his corps from Tullahoma, Tennessee, 12 miles north to Wartrace, about 20 miles south of Murfresboro. Cleburne will set up his headquarters at Wartrace, with his brigades—including Wood's in which Great Grandfather Oakes is serving—encamped around that village, and guarding the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. Cleburne will use the next 2 months drilling his division and practice marksmanship.

My great grandfather's regimental commander, Col. Mark Lowrey, wrote that until this point in the war there had been little opportunity to drill and train his regiment. But now, he said, "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."

Some of Lowrey's enthusiasm may have been lost on the common soldier. One of Great Grandfather's comrades in his Co. D, Thomas Settle, wrote home (dated 3/27/13): "We are having a very good time now [that] we don't have much drilling to do. We have been having several Gen Reviews and Inspections but they are a mere matter of moon shine now." A few days later, however, Settle did concede in another letter that the drilling had paid off: "We have a much better drilled Army than when we arrived here."

Source: Library of Congress

Sources: Company D Return, March-April; The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and the 45th Mississippi Regiment, David Williamson; Mark P. Lowrey Autobiography; "Settle Letters," a transcription of which was generously shared with me by descendant Raymond Settle

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.

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