The haven of Corona College, 1862

Established in 1857, Corona College was once an elegant girls school located on the outskirts of the small town of Corinth, Mississippi. But in 1862, its grounds were used as a point of assembly for many of the 45,000 soldiers who were mustered here in the defense of Northeastern Mississippi and the South. Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was posted there with his company in March through May of 1862, just up the road a few miles from his tiny village home of Kossuth. One of his comrades in Co. A, Allen Epps, recalls that while the 32nd Regiment was being organized, it camped on the college grounds, filling the area (pictured) with “white shacks or tents.”

Corinth, Mississippi, 1862, by Conrad Wise Chapman

Life in camp was far from pleasant or even safe in the spring of 1862, as the Army under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was being readied for the inevitable battle to come. In his book, The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and the 45th Mississippi Regiment, David Williamson points out: “[W]hen the rain stopped and hot weather set in, drinkable water became scarce and, in the poor sanitary conditions, disease, especially chronic diarrhea, spread through the camps as neither town nor the Confederate Army were able to handle the large number of sick and wounded.” Of the 45,000 troops assembled here, by mid-May 18,000 were hospitalized. Many perished from camp-related disease not far from their homes, including at least one from my great grandfather's Company D. No doubt numerous poor souls found aid and comfort within the haven of the Corona College hospital.

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2007

The Site of Corona Girls College

The college remained in that service until it was burned by the Union occupiers abandoning the town in January 1864. The only reminder of it and its importance to the war effort is a small marker on the Civil War Corinth Tour. But somewhere among the specter of the little white shacks and tents is that spot that billeted 16-year old Great Grandfather Oakes and his comrades of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. It was a poignant experience for me a few years ago, to amble up and around that haunting little hill.

Crossroads in history: Corinth, MS, March 1862

For my great grandfather, 16-year old Nathan Oakes, and the 45,000 Confederate troops assembled there, the little town of Corinth, Mississippi in 1862, was in many ways a crossroads. Strategically, the little town of 1,200 in Northeastern Mississippi held little significance, except for the railroads that crossed there, that is. And that gave it ultimate military significance. Two major railroads, the Memphis & Charleston, running east and west, and the Mobile & Ohio, running north and south, crossed in its downtown. These 2 railroads were perhaps the most important in the South because they joined nearly the entire height and width of the Confederacy. When the war came, some of the fighting took place around and within the city limits. When the siege and later battle occurred, the damage brought on the town was severe.

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2007

This is why Corinth was vital.

Even before its eventual fall, the little village was called upon to set up hospitals in churches, hotels, and even private homes. Most of its townsfolk were only too willing to do their part in repelling the Northern invaders. The aftermath of the siege and fighting took a tremendous toll on the citizens it left behind. Many of its inhabitants and others in surrounding villages were called upon to care for the wounded and bury the dead, further taxing the little community's depleted resources.

But Corinth was key to the defense of the South. Union Major General Henry W. Halleck, commander of Union forces in the Western Theater, reported to Washington that “Richmond and Corinth are now the great strategical points of war, and our success at these points should be insured at all hazards.” Likewise, Confederate General 
P.G.T. Beauregard wrote to Richmond, “If defeated at Corinth, we lose the Mississippi Valley and probably our cause.”

Many Southern towns and cities would face a similar fate, and other battlefields would come into prominence for their sheer horror and numbers of casualties as the war dragged on for 3 more years.  But Corinth was the first town of major importance to fall. According to author Timothy B. Smith, its overthrow in May of 1862 opened the way to the defeat of Vicksburg and spelled the ultimate defeat of the South. But as the month of March, 1862, drew to a close, this town was doing all it could to aid in "The Lost Cause."

It was a crossroads for Great Grandfather Oakes, too. The struggle at Corinth will thrust him into a war that will take him far from home and to the great battlefields of Perryville, Chickamauga, Ringgold Gap, Atlanta, Franklin, and the Carolinas.

Corinth prepares for war

As the Army of Mississippi (later known as the Army of Tennessee) was being organized in the small town of Corinth, in Northeast Mississippi in the spring of 1862, there was a lot to do in a town soon to be under siege. Corinth, a town of about 1,200 citizens, was a mobilization center and a key railway crossroads—a vital artery for supplying the South and a key military objective for both sides. Fortifications were being built, and daily drills for the newly formed regiments were the norm. During the months of March and early April, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston’s army of nearly 45,000 mostly “green” troops, was preparing for the inevitable battle to come.

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2007

Corinth citizens took in the grand martial display unfolding before them. One of these observers, Mrs. F.A. Inge, later wrote in a letter to the editor of the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 17, of what she saw going on: “Daily drilling was witnessed by citizens and visitors, and much interest was taken in the proficiency of the troops.  As many as ten regiments were sometimes drilling on the field at one time. The social feature, the brighter side of life, had attention. Many entertainments were given the troops. There might have been some married men, but no tales were told.”

She provides many fascinating details about daily life, but none more compelling or uplifting than her observation of the Christian faith among the troops: “May it be said,” she wrote, “of the chaplains and of the religious element among the troops that preaching and prayer service were never omitted, dying soldiers were never neglected. In camp singing dear old familiar songs of Zion was a great joy to the men. ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul’ and ‘How Firm a Foundation’ would be sung in ringing notes at almost every service.”

How very different from service in the 21st century military, in which my son serves, where God-fearing chaplains are in short supply and practice of the Christian faith is marginalized or forbidden altogether.

Mark Perrin Lowrey, Christian General, CSA

Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Leonidas Polk. Many of the Confederacy’s great generals and and other officers were also outstanding men of faith. Add to this list the leader of my great grandfather’s regiment, Col. Mark Perrin Lowrey, later promoted to Brigadier General following his brave and decisive leadership at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Born to English and Irish emigrants, Lowrey was ordained a Baptist minister before serving in the Mexican War. He was well known in northern Mississippi, having pastored several churches there, including one in my great grandfather’s hometown of Kossuth where Lowrey also lived. That he was a man of high esteem is evidenced in the fact that early in 1861, he led a regiment of Mississippi state militia in the campaign into Tennessee and Kentucky. After it was disbanded, Lowrey was urged to organize, another regiment for the Confederacy—largely from the same men—the 32nd Mississippi Infantry, of which he was elected Colonel, unanimously.

Brig. Gen. Mark P. Lowrey

He was a heroic fighter on battlefields like Chickamauga, Ringgold Gap, and Pickett's Mill, yet I prefer to think of Lowrey as a Christian, who was also a warrior. Becoming a commissioned officer in the Confederate army didn’t hinder him from shepherding the flock of soldiers under his command. It is well documented that Lowrey frequently preached to his men and helped many convert to the Christian faith. He participated in the now famous Revival of the Southern Army, preaching before crowds in Tullanoma, Tennessee and again at Dalton, Georgia, where my great grandfather was present. An autobiographer wrote of "the fighting parson of the Army of Tennessee," that "Throughout the war... General Lowrey never laid aside his responsibility as an ambassador of Christ, and often preached in camp."* Even the stress of the battlefield would not deter him from his calling as a minister. In his brief autobiography Lowrey wrote, “While our division was in camp at Jonesboro, Ga., the 16th of September 1864, having been set apart by the President as a day of fasting and prayer, on that day I preached to a large congregation of soldiers from this text: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me" (Psalm 50:15).

Is it any wonder that one chronicler summarized Lowrey's character this way: "General Lowrey was greatly loved and implicitly trusted by his men, who felt that he had their interests at heart and who knew that he himself was always willing to go where he commended them to go."

Surviving the war, Lowrey returned to Mississippi and took up the task of reorganizing and rebuilding churches that had been destroyed during the conflict. Eventually, he formed a Christian women’s college, which still exists as the Blue Mountain College (3 generations of Lowreys became presidents of the college). He was elected president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, serving from 1868-1877. Following years of teaching at the college, Lowrey became quite ill, and in 1882 his doctors informed him that his heart was very weak. He died suddenly 3 years later.

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2010

Lowrey's Blue Mountain College today

* One old soldier recalled that Lowrey would "preach like hell on Sunday and fight like the devil all the week!" A more noble compliment was made by Gen. William J. Hardee after the war when he wrote that Lowrey was "the parson soldier, who preached to his men in camp and fought with them in the field with equal earnestness and effect."

Sources: A Light on a Hill: A History of Blue Mountain College, Robbie Neal Sumrall; Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. 16; The Confederate Veteran, Vol. 8 (January 1900 -December 1900)

Louis Kossuth, Freedom Fighter

He was one of the more famous leaders and spokesmen of the European Revolutions of 1848. He led the Hungarian branch of this movement, which achieved its independence from the Habsburg Monarchy in 1849, and his name was Louis Kossuth. His influence was felt as far away from Hungary as the little North Mississippi village named in his honor, the community of my ancestors.

Freedom Fighter Louis Kossuth

The 1848 "Year of Revolution" was a wide spread wave of democratic and nationalistic uprisings, beginning in France and spreading throughout Europe, and even to Latin America. Americans followed these events in Europe with interest. Europe’s revolutionary leaders appeared on front pages of American papers. Many of these visited America, the most celebrated being freedom fighter Louis Kossuth.

In 1852, Kossuth embarked on a triumphal tour of America, speaking and raising funds and political support for his Hungarian revolution. Apparently the famous leader created a lasting impression among his American audiences. A statue of Kossuth now stands in New York City near the Columbia University campus, and another in front of the county Court House in Algona, Iowa. Other statues of Kossuth are sprinkled throughout the US. Kossuth County, Iowa, is named in his honor. I even bumped (literally) into a Kossuth bust during a tour of our nation’s capital building a few years ago. And, of course, the village of Kossuth, Mississippi, is named for him.*

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2007

Kosssuth, Mississippi
The ancestral home of the Oakes's family

The Revolution of 1848 eventually collapsed, and most Americans took comfort in the belief that their country was more conservative and, therefore, more stable than their European counterparts. However, seeds of this “European Spring” were sown in American society and politics, thrusting them into their own radical upheaval in the tragic "Civil War" of the 1860s. The war will draw in several of my ancestors, including my great grandfather, Nathan Oakes, from the little Mississippi town named for the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth.

* Louis Kossuth even started something of a fashion revolution in America. Men began to grow Kossuth-esque beards, and "Kossuth hats" (later to be known in the military as the "slouch hat") became widely popular. Couples even learned to dance the polka in the folk hero's honor.

The Civil War Comes to Mississippi, 1862

N.R. Oakes years after the war

In February 1862, with the fall of Fort Henry along the Tennessee River, and then Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, the Civil War was about to engulf the ancestral home of my Northeastern Mississippi relatives. A great battle soon would be fought, but not before my great grandfather, Nathan Richardson Oakes, answered the call of duty to repel the Northern invaders. The Army of Mississippi (later renamed the Army of Tennessee) soon would make its stand in the deadly Battle of Shiloh, a landmark confrontation in the War for Southern Independence.

Fort Henry Campaign, February 1862
Source: Source: Civil War Maps by Hal Jespersen

Nathan Oakes was 16 when, after just serving in his state's "60-Day Troops." He reenlisted on this date in 1862 in the renown 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, in Co. D (“Lowrey’s Guards”) of Col. Mark Lowrey's Regiment. Great Grandfather's uncle, Capt. F.S. Norman, enlisted him and my great uncle William D. Turner into the 32nd Regiment, a unit of thousand or so volunteers. Less than 10% of these men, which will include my great grandfather, will remain by war’s end in North Carolina, 4 years from now.

Great Grandfather Oakes will participate in many of the war’s great battles and campaigns, including Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta Campaign, Franklin, Nashville, and the Carolinas. From time to time I’ll write a about some of the particulars of many of his engagements, as well as details about a soldier’s days in fighting for the Lost Cause.

Nathan Oakes enlisted in Company D (“Lowrey Guards”). The company was assigned to Col. Mark P. Lowrey's' Regiment, which wast comprised entirely of volunteers. W.H.H. Tison was the lieutenant colonel and Major F. C. Karr was its major. In April 1862, the regiment was officially attached to Gen. S.A.M. Wood's Brigade in Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner's Division of Gen. William Hardee's Corps. It will soon be assigned the designation, "32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment," also known as "Lowrey's Regiment" in honor of its founder/commander.

Great Grandfather Nathan R. Oakes & Family in 1888 or 1889.

Baby (lower right) is my grandfather, Johnnie McPeters Oakes.

Source: Muster Roll of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment

Great Grandfather Oakes in the Army of 10,000

On this date in 1861, my great grandfather, Nathan R. Oakes, enlisted for 60 days of military service for his state of Mississippi in 2nd Regiment, Mississippi Infantry (Davidson's). He volunteered with his neighbors as a 16-year-old* private in a company comprised of 68 volunteers. The men quickly elected their popular local pastor, Mark P. Lowrey, their captain, and named the new company, "Lowrey Guards." Lowrey was soon elected colonel of the regiment, so command of the Lowrey Guards was given to Great Grandfather's uncle, Capt. F.S. Norman.

Earlier in January of that year, Mississippi became the second Southern state to secede from the Union. The state's strategic location along the Mississippi River made it key to both the North and South during the war. Dozens of battles will be fought in the state as armies repeatedly clash near key towns and cities.

In September, Gov. Pettus called for 10,000 volunteers to enlist for emergency service under the orders of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in Kentucky. No troops were actually sent under this call as Mississippi had earlier sent 25,000 men, organized in 8 regiments in the Army of Mississippi. Soon, though, the state legislature called again for volunteers, not to exceed 10,000 in number, for 60 days of servicer. The men had to furnish their own arms, which for most like my great-grandfather, was a borrowed double-barreled shotgun. The troops were ordered to rendezvous at Corinth under Gen. Reuben Davis of the State troops while another unit was organized at Grenada under Gen. J.L Alcorn.

Gen. Davis arrived at Bowling Green on December 16 with 2 regiments and a battalion that comprised about 2,000 infantrymen. The soldiers were assigned to garrison various fortifications in and around the town. On December 31, Davis’s Brigade was reported to have 145 officers and 1,617 enlisted men in the infantry, 38 officers and 495 enlisted men in the cavalry, with a total present of 2,295, and 3,550 absent.

Davis’s Brigade saw no action during its service in Kentucky. However, the soldiers did suffer intensely from a very severe winter that year. Snow lay on the ground for weeks,and the unprepared men were exposed to freezing cold while they were stationed there. Most of them came down with measles, and many died from this and other camp diseases like pneumonia.

According to his service records, Great Grandfather Oakes served at least 44 days of his 60-day enlistment in the 4th Regiment. Back in Corinth in February 1862, the term of enlistment having expired, the regiment was disbanded. Amazingly, many of the men of the "Sixty-Day Troops" reenlisted at once in other commands in the Confederate army. In fact, by March, Col. Lowrey had recruited nearly a thousand men for a new regiment, a large number of which returned from his old regiment. My great-grandfather was one of the recruits, as was his uncle, Capt. Norman. They will become members of Co. D (also nicknamed "Lowrey Guards") of Lowrey's famed 32nd Mississippi Infantry of th Army of Tennessee.

* His service records indicate he was 18 years of age. However Great Grandfather was born in August 21, 1845.

Sources: N.R. Oakes Service Records; Military History of Mississippi, Dunbar Rowland; Mark P. Lowrey Autobiography

A providential discovery | N.R. Oakes's in the 32nd Mississippi Infantry

About 12 years ago, I attended the last Oakes's family reunion, which was held in Santa Anna, Texas. While family members visited the cemetery there, which contains the graves of many of my mom's ancestors, Uncle Todd drew my attention to my great grandfather's headstone and told me that he was a veteran of the War Between the States. That war had been an off-and-on hobby of mine, so I was astounded to learn this heretofore missing bit of family history.

For some time after that, I searched for information about Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes in all the war records I could access,¹ and one day, I finally ran across his name and military unit during an internet search. The following muster roll entry for "N.R. Oaks² Co. D, Private" of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry revealed this entry for June 1863:

“Present, lost 1 cap pouch, $1.00, 52 caps at $.05 each $2.60, total $3.60”³ 

Now, thanks to regimental historian, Tommy Lockhart, I had officially located my great grandfather in Company D of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. From that find, I have spent years, off and on, reading and researching his movements in the war, from his enlistment this month in 1861 in Kossuth, Mississippi, into his state's 60-Day Troops, to his reenlistment in the newly formed Confederate Army of Mississippi (later Army of Tennessee) on March 13, 1862, to his surrender at war's end on April 26, 1865, at Durham Station, North Carolina. I've also learned that he married the sister of his company comrade, Sgt. William D. Turner, and that he served under his uncle, Capt. F.S. Norman.

And these are just a few of the exciting nuggets that I've uncovered, all thanks to an offhanded comment by an uncle and the generosity of a military historian. I've since collected dozens of books pertaining to the regiment and the Army of Tennessee in which it fought. My hobby has also extended to research in several genealogical and university libraries, as well as visiting most of the battlefields he crossed during that great conflict from 1861-1865.

I've set myself the task to write about Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes and his small part in the War for Southern Independence. And from time to time I’ll blog a little a about his regiment's battles and other details about fighting for the Lost Cause.

My great grandparents, Nathan and Martha Oakes, and their family in
front of their home in 1897, after moving from Mississippi to Texas.

Great Grandfather Oakes was obviously proud of his mules, too!

¹ At the time, I did not have access to the massive reference, The Roster of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865, nor did I have enough information to find him in the National Park Service, Civil War Sailors and Soldiers System.

² At my request a few years ago, the manager of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment website, where Lockhart's material is published online, was kind enough to add a notation to correct the spelling of the family's surname. It often appears in the muster rolls as "Oaks," but was, in fact, spelled "Oakes."
³ Interestingly, then, like now in the armed services, soldiers were charged for replacement gear and armaments. The scant entries in his muster roll cards are the only informational anecdotes in Great Grandfather's military records. His captain was (disappointingly) a master of understatement in his reports. My wife and I did discover that Great Grandfather Oakes also wrote a couple letters to the editor of the Confederate Veteran, in 1889 and 1900, which shed light on some of his war experiences.

Source: "Muster Roll of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry", Tommy Lockhart (Tippah County Genealogical Society. Lockhart's research was first published as the book, now out of print, Muster Roll 32nd Mississippi Infantry, C.S.A. (Old Timer Press, Ripley, 1982). I was able to read a copy in the genealogical department at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library.

President Lincoln makes his case for war

Early in April 1861, in response to the fall of Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to defend the Union. On today's date in 1861, the 37th U.S. Congress was called into special session by the President to consider whether to approve his request for additional soldiers and financing for the war against Southern rebellion.

In his famous address sent to Congress, ironically on Independence Day in 1861, Lincoln outlined the events he believed started the war and justified actions taken since Fort Sumter. He distinguished "secession" from "rebellion" and cast the conflict in terms of a defense of the Union against an armed insurrection. He also offered a refutation of the Confederacy's rationale that the Constitution protected its secession.

Lincoln believed his response to the rebellion was justified even if it required him to take unprecedented measures, including disregarding the law of habeas corpus without the consent of Congress.* His address eloquently and forcefully speaks for itself.

Following are excerpts of his letter to Congress. A complete copy of the text may be found at Internet Archive.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: 

Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordinary subject of legislation.  

***

And this issue [i.e., "Immediate dissolution or blood"] embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man, the question, whether a constitutional republic, or a democracy—a government of the people, by the same people—can, or cannot, maintain its territorial integrity, against its own domestic foes. It presents the question, whether discontented individuals, too few in numbers to control administration, according to organic law, in any case, can always, upon the pretences made in this case, or on any other pretences, or arbitrarily, without any pretence, break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: “Is there, in all republics, this inherent, and fatal weakness?’’ “Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?’’ 

***

The provision of the Constitution that “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it,’’ is equivalent to a provision—is a provision—that such privilege may be suspended when, in cases of rebellion, or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the public safety does require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power. But the Constitution itself, is silent as to which, or who, is to exercise the power; and as the provision was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it cannot be believed the framers of the instrument intended, that in every case, the danger should run its course, until Congress could be called together; the very assembling of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case, by the rebellion. 

***

It is now recommended that you give the legal means for making this contest a short, and a decisive one; that you place at the control of the government, for the work, at least four hundred thousand men, and four hundred millions of dollars. That number of men is about one tenth of those of proper ages within the regions where, apparently, all are willing to engage; and the sum is less than a twentythird part of the money value owned by the men who seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of six hundred millions of dollars now, is a less sum per head, than was the debt of our revolution, when we came out of that struggle; and the money value in the country now, bears even a greater proportion to what it was then, than does the population. Surely each man has as strong a motive now, to preserve our liberties, as each had then, to establish them. 

***

The States have their status in the Union, and they have no other legal status. If they break from us, they can only do so against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase the Union gave each of them whatever of independence and liberty it has. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them as States. 

***

What is now combatted, is the position that secession is consistent with the Constitution—is lawful, and peaceful. It is not contended that there is any express law for it; and nothing should ever be implied as law, which leads to unjust, or absurd consequences. The nation purchased, with money, the countries out of which several of these States were formed. Is it just that they shall go off without leave, and without refunding? The nation paid very large sums, (in the aggregate, I believe, nearly a hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just that she shall now be off without consent, or without making any return? The nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit of these so-called seceding States, in common with the rest. Is it just, either that creditors shall go unpaid, or the remaining States pay the whole? A part of the present national debt was contracted to pay the old debts of Texas. Is it just that she shall leave, and pay no part of this herself? 

***

Our popular government has often been called an experiment. Two points in it, our people have already settled—the successful establishing, and the successful administering of it. One still remains—its successful maintenance against a formidable [internal] attempt to overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to the world, that those who can fairly carry an election, can also suppress a rebellion—that ballots are the rightful, and peaceful, successors of bullets; and that when ballots have fairly, and constitutionally, decided, there can be no successful appeal, back to bullets; that there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elections. Such will be a great lesson of peace; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take it by a war—teaching all, the folly of being the beginners of a war. 

***

It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of employing the war-power, in defence of the government, forced upon him. He could but perform this duty, or surrender the existence of the government. No compromise, by public servants, could, in this case, be a cure; not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular government can long survive a marked precedent, that those who carry an election, can only save the government from immediate destruction, by giving up the main point, upon which the people gave the election. The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions. As a private citizen, the Executive could not have consented that these institutions shall perish; much less could he, in betrayal of so vast, and so sacred a trust, as these free people had confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink; nor even to count the chances of his own life, in what might follow. In full view of his great responsibility, he has, so far, done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, according to your own judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your views, and your action, may so accord with his, as to assure all faithful citizens, who have been disturbed in their rights, of a certain, and speedy restoration to them, under the Constitution, and the laws. And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.

* In March 1863, Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, which authorized the president to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus (i.e., searching citizens or imprisoning them indefinitely without showing cause), during the war. Lincoln and his subordinates now were released from any liability that resulted from his suspension of habeas corpus without congressional approval. The law also protected anyone acting in an official capacity from being convicted for false arrest, false imprisonment, trespassing, or any crime related to a search and seizure.

Tennessee Secedes, 1861

On this date in 1861, Tennessee becomes the last Southern state to secede from the United States. Tennessee declared its secession and joined the Confederacy following a call by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln for troops from each state to recapture Fort Sumter and other lost federal properties in the South. It joins with 10 other Southern states to form the Confederate States of America.

Tennessee provided thousands of soldiers in the war, both for the South (115,000) and the North. By war's end, 64,333 Confederate soldiers and 58,521 Union soldiers perished in Tennessee.

The 296 battles and skirmishes fought in Tennessee accounted for these high casualties, including the vicious fighting at the Battle of Shiloh, which at the time was the deadliest battle in American history. Other large battles in Tennessee included Fort Donelson, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Franklin, and Nashville. Consequently, the state shared disproportionately the devastation resulting from 4 years of warring armies crisscrossing its land. Tennessee's rivers were key arteries to the Confederacy, and from the early days of the war, Union efforts focused on securing control of those transportation routes, as well as major roads, railways, and mountain passes, such as the Cumberland Gap. The Federal invasion and occupation of the state brought poverty and distress to almost every household.

Source: Access Genealogy

Several of my ancestors fought in Tennessee, including Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes and Great Uncle William Turner, Mississippi infantrymen who fought on battlefields in Tennessee and elsewhere. I also had a Tennessean great-great grandfather, David Crockett Neal, who fought with the 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment throughout Tennessee and other Southern states.

Source: Confederate Military History, Vol. 9, James D. Porter

Texas Secedes, 1861

On this date in 1861, Texas became the 7th state to secede from the Union, joining South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  Not all Texas leaders agreed. Hero of the war for Texas independence from Mexico and current governor Sam Houston, objected. An avowed Unionist, Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Consequently, he was deposed from office in March 1861, when Texas joined the Confederate States of America.

More than 90,000 sons of the Alamo's defenders saw military service in the Confederacy during the War Between the States. About 2,000 Texans also served in the Union army. Texas regiments fought in every major battle throughout the war. The state provided 45 regiments of cavalry, 23 regiments of infantry, 12 battalions of cavalry, 4 battalions of infantry, 5 regiments of heavy artillery, and 30 batteries of light artillery for the Confederacy.

The last battle of the Civil War was fought in Texas at the Battle of Palmito Ranch on May 13, 1865, weeks after Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston surrendered their armies in the east.

Texans have gone to great lengths to memorialize their Confederate dead. Several cities and 26 counties in Texas have been named for Confederate generals. Many of these namesake locations are associated with generals under which my Great Grandfather Nathan R. Oakes served,* including (John B.) Hood County (as well as Fort Hood), in addition to the towns of (Patrick R.) Cleburne and (Hiram B.) Granbury. Monuments, statues, and plaques are ubiquitous, from the statehouse and the campus of the University of Texas, to small town squares like the one in the town in which I live.

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2014

Commemorative plaque on the main floor of the Texas State Capital Building

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2014

The Confederate Soldiers Monument on the south grounds of the Texas State Capitol.
A statue of President Jefferson Davis stands at the top with 4 statues below,
 each representing the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and navy.

Photo by Mark Dolan, 2014

One of the inscriptions on the base of the Confederate Soldiers Monument,
erected in 1901 by survivors and comrades.

* While he served in a Mississippi regiment, the 32nd Mississippi Infantry, Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes moved to Texas years after the war. He is buried in the Santa Ana Cemetery in Coleman County.

Mississippi Secedes, 1861

On this date in 1861, Mississippi became the second Southern state to secede from the United States. A month later, it joined with 6 other Southern states to form the Confederate States of America (more would join in the months ahead). The state's strategic location along the Mississippi River made it key to both the North and South during the war. Dozens of battles were fought in the state as armies repeatedly clashed near key towns and cities.

Mississippi provided an incredible number of soldiers in the war, both for the South and the North. Eighty thousand men from Mississippi fought in the Confederate Army, among whom were relatives of mine. I plan to write about one of them, my great grandfather, Nathan Richadson Oakes, following his enlistment in his state's militia in 1861, and then in Confederate army at Corinth in March 1862. Some 500 white Mississippians fought for the Union, together with more than 17,000 Mississippi slaves and freedmen.

Source: Access Genealogy

Source: Mississippi History Now