The Battle of Bentonville, 1865

The last battle to be fought between the Union army under Gen. William T. Sherman and the Confederate army under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston began on this date in 1865. It lasted through the 21st. Known as the the Battle of Bentonville, it was fought in that North Carolina community.

For almost 7 weeks, Sherman's army had moved from Savannah through the Carolinas, its 2 columns, ravaging the population and the countryside as they passed. While Sherman met some opposition along the way, the scattered Confederate forces had been able only to delay his march.

While Union Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's advancing left wing was stalled briefly at Averasboro on March 16th by Lt. Gen. William Hardee’s attack, by the next day it had resumed its march toward Goldsboro. The right wing of Sherman’s army under Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard was headed in the same direction on a parallel route.

Source: Civil War Maps by Hal Jesperson

On March 18th, Johnston received a report from his cavalry commander Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton informing him that Sherman's 2 wings were advancing on Goldsboro and were widely separated. One of the columns, Slocum's, was marching up the road from Averasboro to Bentonville. Hampton suggested the Willis Cole plantation as an ideal place for a surprise attack. Johnston agreed and directed his generals Stewart, Bragg, and Hardee to march for Bentonville.

Johnston was convinced that he must attack Sherman before he could combine forces with Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's army, at this moment moving west from Kingston to Goldsboro. Furthermore, Johnston believed that delivering a knockout blow to Sherman would give the South greater leverage for bargaining at war's end. And an attack now would also help Robert E. Lee's army in Petersburg, Virginia, by preventing Sherman from joining Gen. U.S. Grant's army.

On today's date, a Sunday in 1865, the  the Confederates launched their offensive near the village Bentonville.¹ The struggle took place between men and units of opposing armies which had been fighting each other for the entire war. My great grandfather Nathan Oakes also saw his last fight here on the 21st, when his brigade (Lowrey's) arrived on the battlefield, the last of Cheatham's troops, and Johnston's last infantry reinforcements to join the battle.² 

Confederate commanders placed their troops in position to block the path of the Union left wing. By the time Slocum's men realized they were marching into a trap, it was too late. Caught by surprise, they were beaten back down the Goldsboro Road. So far, Johnston's relatively small but concentrated force had been successful. 

Unfortunately for Johnston, however, his force was simply too small to follow up on his initial success. To add to his difficulty, units from other Union corps were rushed to join the battle. On the 20th, Sherman's ranks had swollen to 60,000 men, 3 times the size of Johnston's force.

Nevertheless, the outmatched Confederates launched 5 separate assaults. Each failed to dislodge Slocum's column, however. On the 21st, many of the troops from Cheatham's Corps, plus Gen. Johnston himself, were almost captured when Maj. Gen. Joseph A. Mower's Division of the Union right wing overran Johnston's headquarters. At stake was the Confederates' only line of retreat across Mill Creek. Hardee counterattacked with a hastily assembled force, including Cheatham's Corps (Lowrey's Brigade was probably held in reserve behind Cheatham's attacking troops). His bold action repulsed the Federals and held the Mill Creek bridge. His counterattack also brought the battle to a close.

Faced with overwhelming numbers, and with nothing further to gain by holding his position, overnight on March 21-22, Johnston began withdrawing his troops across Mill Creek toward Smithfield, about 15 miles north. There he planned to rest and refit his men and also ready them to stop Sherman's anticipated march to join Grant against Robert E. Lee in Virginia. His army had just suffered 2,600 casualties to Sherman's loss of 1,500. With the smaller and more depleted force, Johnston's loss had the greater impact, and it will contribute to his decision to surrender a month later.

The Battle of Bentonville succeeded in delaying Sherman, however, it did not seriously cripple his army. Had Sherman determined to crush Johnston at Bentonville, the war in North Carolina would have come to an end here and now. Bentonville served as a reminder to Sherman that the Confederates were still a force to be reckoned with.

With Johnston's withdrawal, the way was now clear for Sherman to move on to Goldsboro, there to unite his forces.

¹ An excellent series of maps of the Battle of Bentonville is available at the Civil War Trust website. Another website provided by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources website offers an outstanding series of maps detailing the action from March 19-22, 1865.

² Lowrey's Brigade, which included 8th/32nd Mississippi Regiment—Great Grandfather Oakes's unit—arrived on the battlefield on the 21st along with with Brown's Division. Having experienced serious delays on the rail line, Lowrey's Brigade and Brown's Division arrived at the station at Selma about 5:00 PM on the 20th. According to historian Mark L. Bradley, "Frank Cheatham set a grueling pace on the march to Bentonville the next morning. The men struggled to keep up and many of them dropped out from exhaustion, doubtless the result of two weeks' inactivity caused by the haphazard nature of travel on the North Carolina Railroad." In view of its exhausted condition, the brigade may not have seen serious action on its arrival at Bentonville, but instead held in reserve.

Sources: Last Stand in the Carolinas, Mark L. Bradley; Moore's Historical Guide to the Battle of Bentonville, Mark A. Moore; The Confederate Surrender at Greensboro, Robert M. Dunkerly; Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War, Joseph E. Johnston; Official Records, Vol. 47, Pt. 1

The Battles of Monroe's Crossroads & Averasboro, 1865

On March 8, 1865, Gen. William T. Sherman's Union army moved into North Carolina. One of his columns, Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's, aimed for Fayetteville, held by Confederate Lt. Gen. William Hardee.

Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton

On March 10th, Slocum forced Hardee Corps to evacuate the town. The confederate cavalry, commanded by Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton, covered Hardee's march. The next day, one of the last cavalry battles of the war was fought at a spot on the map called Monroe's Crossroads.¹ 

After several days of skirmishing with each other in North Carolina, the opposing cavalry forces finally met. Despite orders from Sherman not to force the Confederates into a fight, the notorious Maj. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick tried to block roads to stop the advancing Confederates, then went to bed ignoring any Confederate threat. At dawn on March 10th, Hampton's attack took the Federals by complete surprise. After 3 hours of fierce fighting, he withdrew his triumphant Confederates.

The fight at Monroe's Crossroads gained the additional time needed for Hardee's infantry to cross the Cape Fear River. With their troops and equipment safely across, the Confederates burned the bridges. Hardee then moved to join Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's command, which helped to set the stage for the climactic Battle of Bentonville a few days later.

But first, Hardee's men would have an opportunity to stand and fight before they joined Johnston.

By March 11th, Sherman's army occupied Fayetteville and rested there 4 days while the commanding general made his plans for taking Goldsboro. While Sherman was at Fayetteville, Hardee's Corps arrived at the Smithville Plantation along the Cape Fear River, north of Fayetteville and about 5 miles south of Averasboro. Here Hardee decided to make a stand and possibly buy additional time for Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to concentrate his forces at Smithfield.

Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee

On this date in 1865, Sherman's army was on the march to Goldsboro. Kilpatrick’s cavalry was out ahead of Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's advancing left column when it came up against Hardee’s Corps, consisting of Maj. Gens. William B. Taliaferro’s and Lafayette McLaw’s infantry divisions and Joseph Wheeler’s dismounted cavalry. The Confederates were deployed across the Raleigh Road near Averasboro. After a brief skirmish, Kilpatrick withdrew and called for infantry support.

The 2-day Battle of Averasboro had begun.² 

At dawn on the second day, the Federals advanced on the first line but were stopped by the main Confederate defense. Later in the morning, a surprise flanking attack routed some of the Confederates on the line. Soon the attackers drove back the second line of defense. Just as the Federals were attempting to outflank Hardee's 3rd line, Wheeler's cavalry arrived to cover the gap. Sherman made the decision to postpone another assault until the next morning. However, by then Hardee had successfully evacuated his position in the darkness and moved toward Smithfield to join Johnston.³ 

Hardee's losses were about 500 men, many of whom were captured. Union causalities were 682. Gen. Hardee's action at Averasboro managed to delay Sherman's advance for a day, buying Johnston more time to unify and relocate his forces for his final offensive, the Battle of Bentonville. However, Sherman now had an open road to Goldsboro, his main objective.

¹ The Monroe's Crossroads battlefield is now on the grounds of the present day Fort Bragg Military Reservation.
² For excellent map of the Battle of Averasboro see The Civil War Trust website.
³ At this moment, my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes, in Lowrey's Brigade, also was making his way to join Johnston's forces that were concentrating at Smithfield.

Sources: This Astounding Close, Mark L. Bradley; General William J. Hardee, Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes, Jr.

Gen. Lowrey resigns

Brig. Gen. Mark P. Lowrey

The end of the war came earlier for Brig. Gen. Mark Lowrey than for the troops he led since the beginning days of that long conflict. One of the privileges of being an officer was the right to resign a commission. By this point, the war was all but lost for the Confederate armies. In the reorganization of the fragments of the Army of Tennessee, there was a surplus of officers, and Gen. Lowrey accepted the opportunity to officially take his leave. His reasons, in his own words, were as follows:

At Chesterfield, S. C., I got leave of absence and went to Richmond to tender my resignation, which was accepted on the 14th of March, 1865. My reasons for resigning were as follows:

1. I saw that the cause was lost.
2. I had been separated from the men and officers with whom I had borne the "burden and heat of the day," and to whom I was endeared by a thousand sacred ties, and although I was ailing to stand with our broken forces until the end of the struggle, I was unwilling to mourne [sic] with strangers at the funeral of 'The Lost Cause.'
3. Our armies were by an act of Congress, to be reorganized, and there was a surplus of officers of all grades, and I preferred to leave the offices to those who were more ambitious for military honor and position than myself. My highest ambition as a soldier was to do my whole duty, and advance the interest of that cause which was as dear to my heart as life.

In the disaster that swept the Army of Tennessee from Nashville in December, Lowrey had been placed in command of another division. The promotion separated him from the troops he had enlisted and led through almost the entire war. Many of these men, like Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes, had been recruited by Lowrey into "Lowrey's Regiment" at the beginning of the war in Northern Mississippi.

Through the long war, Gen. Lowrey proved himself a valiant leader and heroic fighter on battlefields like Perryville, Chickamauga, Ringgold Gap, Pickett's Mill, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. But his men also loved him for his Christian faith and character. In addition to being a commissioned officer, Lowrey also was an ordained minister who never shied from shepherding his flock of soldiers, a fact recalled years later in 1900 by Great Grandfather Oakes in a letter he wrote to the editor of the Confederate Veteran. Lowery was a leader in the well-documented spiritual revival that swept the Confederate armies during the war, most notably at Dalton, Georgia. He frequently preached to the men under his command as well as to crowds of soldiers from other regiments. Many of these were baptized personally by the general.

After the war, Lowrey returned to Mississippi and took up the task of reorganizing and rebuilding churches that had been destroyed during the fighting. He eventually founded a Christian women’s college, which still exists as the Blue Mountain College. He also was elected president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, serving that organization from 1868-1877. Following years of teaching at the college, Lowrey developed a serious heart condition. He died suddenly in 1885.

Sources: Mark P. Lowrey Autobiography; A Light on a Hill: A History of Blue Mountain College, Robbie Neal Sumrall; The Confederate Veteran, Vol. 8 (January 1900 -December 1900)

The Battle of Wyse Fork / Kinston, 1865

From his headquarters in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the new commander of the Confederate force, Gen. Joseph Johnston, was supervising the concentration of his troops. Among the forces he was attempting to unite were the 3 corps of the Army of Tennessee, which included my great grandfather Nathan Oakes, and Lt. Gen. William Hardee's troops, which recently had withdrawn from Charleston. Johnston hoped to strike Union Gen. William T. Sherman's army, which was headed his way, while it crossed Cape Fear River.

Gen. Braxton Bragg

As Sherman was advancing toward the North Carolina border, Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox¹ was marching his division with Gen. John M. Schofield's Corps inland from New Bern in order to control the rail line and link up with Sherman at Goldsboro. However, as Cox approached Kinston, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg saw an opportunity to defeat him.

On the 6th, Bragg asked Johnston to divert additional troops to him for an attack on Cox. Johnston rushed  the requested troops, under Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill, and instructed him to send them on to Smithfield as soon as possible. Johnston also informed Bragg that Cheatham's Corps, in which Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was serving, and more than half of Stewart's were in transit by rail from Chesterville to Smithfield under the same orders as Hill's.

On March 7th, Bragg's Confederates blocked Cox's march at Wyse Fork² along the Southwest Creek, 4 miles east of Kinston. That evening, advanced Union guards skirmished with the Confederates entrenched there, opening a 4-day clash in the fields and woods south and east of Southwest Creek.

Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox

On today's date in 1865, Bragg's troops attacked the Union flank. After initial success in routing a portion of the enemy, the Confederate attacks stalled because of faulty communications. Fighting renewed on the 10th, but not before Union reinforcements arrived to repulse Bragg’s attacks. After heavy fighting, and learning that Cox had been reinforced, Bragg withdrew to Goldsboro.

The Battle of Wyse Fork was the second largest battle in North Carolina. In the fighting the Confederates suffered around 1,500 in dead, wounded, or missing. Union casualties were around 1,100.

Bragg's attack had bought only a little more time for Johnston's army. On March 14th, the city of Kinston fell into Union hands. In the days after the battle, the Union forces pushed towards Goldsboro and ultimately to the last major battle at Bentonville on March 19-21.

¹ Gen. Cox is credited with saving the center of the Union line in the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864

² For an excellent map of the Battle of Wyse Fork, please visit The Civil War Trust website.

Sources: This Astounding Close, Mark L. Bradley; Military Reminiscences of the Civil War, Vol. 2, Jacob D. Cox; Official Records, Vol. 47, Pts. 1 & 2

Joseph Johnston returns to lead the army

On today's date in 1863, retired Gen. Joseph E. Johnston received a telegraph from Richmond ordering him to report to Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's new general-in-chief. On the same day, Lee also telegraphed Johnston directing him to "assume command of the Army of Tennessee and all troops in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida." The purpose of the order was simple: "Concentrate all available forces and drive back Sherman."

Johnston immediately made his way to Charlotte to assume command from Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, whose health prevented him from continuing as commander-in-chief. In turn, Beauregard accepted Johnston's offer to be second in command and to assist with the concentration of available Confederate forces.

Upon assuming his new role, Johnston reported to Lee that his force totaled less than 25,000, nearly 10,000 fewer troops than Beauregard had estimated his strength to be earlier in the month. And with these he would attempt to hold back Sherman's 60,000-man army. To complicate matters, the men and units that Johnston could bring against Sherman were scattered and had yet to fight together as a united army. Before he could adequately oppose Sherman, Johnston needed to concentrate his force.

Lt. Gen. William Hardee with his command of about 11,000 was on his way from Charleston to Cheraw. Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham and Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart were moving the remnants of the Army of Tennessee to concentrate their forces at Fayetteville and would soon be joined there by Hardee's army. Facing Sherman was Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee with about 3,000 other veterans from the remainder of the army of Tennessee along with 6,000 cavalry under Wade Hampton. Braxton Bragg led 5,500 troops which had been forced to retreat from Wilmington.

Johnston moved his headquarters to Fayetteville, North Carolina, on March 4, to better supervise the movements of his troops now gathering in his direction. Moving again to Smithfield on March 10, he was greeted enthusiastically by troops of the Army of Tennessee, which had finally competed their long and arduous trek from Mississippi. Now with a united army, Johnston will oversee the fighting leading up to Bentonville before being compeled to surrender to Sherman at Bennett Place in April.

Source: Civil War Maps by Hal Jespersen

Sources: Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War, Joseph E. Johnston; General Joseph E. Johnston: A Different Valor, Gilbert Govan & James Livingwood; This Astounding Close, Mark L. Bradley

From Augusta to Bentonville, 1865

On February 9, 1865, my great grandfather Nathan Oakes finally arrived at Augusta, Georgia, completing an arduous 2-week, 500-mile trip from Tupelo, Mississippi. His regiment, the 32nd Mississippi Infantry, had been ordered with Benjamin Cheatham's Corps to confront Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his army that was heading out on a path of destruction through the Carolinas.

After a few days respite, the corps was ordered north from Augusta to defend Columbia. However, on the march, the Confederates learned that Sherman had gotten ahead of Cheatham and had attacked Columbia. So Cheatham was ordered to Newberry instead, about 40 miles northwest of the capital city. Crossing the Saluda River on the 17th, the tired men completed their march to Newberry on today's date. There Cheatham awaited further orders from Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard as to where he planned to concentrate the scattered forces making their way north.

Cheatham's men were ordered to march to Charlotte on February 21st. However, when they reached the Enoroee River that night, 21 miles north, a change of orders came from Beauregard. The next morning, the troops marched back to Newberry. From Newberry on the 23rd, they loaded onto rail cars and rode 17 miles south to Pomaria. Due to a break in the rail line, the corps stayed in Pomaria through the 25th.

During their short stay there, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was appointed to take command of Beauregard's army. The new commander's orders were to concentrate his forces and drive back Sherman. Johnston chose Smithfield, North Carolina as the new cncentration point for his scattered army.

From February 26th through March 6th, Cheatham's Corps made a difficult march to Chester, South Carolina. From there on March 11th, the weary troops took railroad cars toward Smithfield. The train ride was anything but uneventful, however.

Leaving Chester on the 11th, the men traveled 45 miles to Charlotte, North Carolina, arriving there very late that night. The next morning, a Sunday, they continued by rail 45 miles north to Salisbury, arriving in the late afternoon. Here the rail gauge changed, so the corps had to wait for the arrival of a new train. They waited a whole week.

Finally on Monday, March 20, they reached the Smithfield Depot. After unloading the train, the men camped along the tracks. Unfortunately for them, the fighting that would become the Battle of Bentonville had just started. So, the morning of the 21st, Gen. Cheatham set a grueling pace, marching his men from the Smithfield station to join the second day of the final battle of the Carolinas Campaign.

Source: Official Records, Vol. 47, Pt. 1; Last Stand in the Carolinas, Mark L. Bradley

The Battle of Columbia, South Carolina

In a meeting with his generals on February 2, 1865, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard decided to defend South Carolina against Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's 60,000-man army by dividing his force. He had only half Sherman's strength to hold the key cities of Augusta and Charleston. On today's date in 1865, his strategy proved to be the wrong one for keeping Sherman out of the state.

Source: Civil War Maps by Hal Jespersen

While threatening both cities, Sherman managed to move the 2 columns of his army between the Confederate's western and eastern commands and head for the state capital. When he reached the outskirts of Columbia on today's date, he found the city to be defended by an inferior Confederate force, mostly cavalry under Gen. Joseph Wheeler and Maj. Gen. Matthew C. Butler, along with a portion of Stephen D. Lee's infantry corps of the Army of Tennessee.

By the next day, Columbia had fallen to Sherman's army. Upon their retreat, Confederate cavalrymen set cotton bales on fire. Drunken Federal soldiers added to the conflagration by setting the town ablaze.

Sherman had now cut off the port city of Charleston from the interior of the state, which in turn forced the evacuation of the garrison there under Gen. William J. Hardee. Hardee’s troops withdrew to Cheraw, near the North Carolina border, and then to Fayetteville where Beauregard hoped to unite his forces and make a stand against Sherman. The Confederates essentially were giving up South Carolina, the first state to secede and where the first shots of the war had been fired.

During the Battle of Columbia, Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was marching with his 32nd Regiment in Benjamin Cheatham's Corps toward that city. Having only recently arrived in Augusta, Georgia, completing a torturous 500-mile trip from Northern Mississippi, Gen. Beauregard ordered Cheatham's Corps on to Columbia on the 13th.

Learning along the way on the 17th that Sherman's army had gotten between it and Columbia, Cheatham's Corps was ordered to Newberry, about 40 miles northwest of the capital city. That night, the troops were across the Saluda River, and the next day they arrived at Frog Level Station (Prosperity) on the Greenville Railroad. On the morning of the 19th, they marched 8 miles to Newberry, there to await further orders from Beauregard as to where he planned to concentrate his scattered army.

Sources: Last Stand in the Carolinas, Mark L. Bradley; Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. 8; Official Records, Vol. 47, Pt. 1

Beauregard's war council | Sherman's Carolinas Campaign, 1865

Maj. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard

On today's date in 1865, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard called his generals together at Green's Cut Station, near Augusta, for a war council to determine how to stop Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's 60,000-man army moving out of Savannah, about 125 miles to the south. In addition to Beauregard, Lt. Gen. William Hardee, Lt. Gen. Daniel H. Hill, and Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith were in attendance, each commanding one of the separate Confederate forces in the region.

Beauregard estimated his combined strength at 33,450 troops. However, his estimate included 10,000 reinforcements he expected to receive from Mississippi with the arrival of the survivors of the Army of Tennessee. These western troops would reach the state at various times over the next 10 days, and included: Maj. Gen. S.D. Lee's Corps of around 4,000, which had mostly arrived in Augusta by this date; Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham's Corps, among which was my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes, not anticipated until the 5th; and Maj. Gen. A.P. Stewart's men who would not arrive until the 11th.

Beauregard decided against concentrating his forces. Instead he settled on a strategy of dividing his command to hold both Charleston and Augusta as long as possible while peace talks were taking place in Hampton Roads, Virginia.* He planned to eventually reunite his forces at Columbia.

Beauregard's decision proved a fateful one for his armies.

Sherman launched his Carolinas Campaign on February 1st from Savannah, dividing his army into 2 columns in a feint towards both Charleston and Augusta. Cutting a swath more than 40 miles wide, he successfully pushed his force between the divided Confederate armies and captured Columbia by the 17th.

Failing to halt Sherman, the Confederates were forced to give up the state and withdraw toward North Carolina.

* The Hampton Roads Conference was held between the United States and the Confederate States on February 3, 1865. The conference took place aboard the steamboat River Queen in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The goal was to discuss terms to end the war. USA President Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, met with CSA commissioners, Vice President Alexander H. Stevens, Senator Robert M.T. Hunter, and Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell. Sadly, a peace agreement was not reached, and the war continued well into April.

Sources: Last Stand in the Carolinas, Mark L. Bradley; This Astounding Close, Mark L. Bradley

Reassignment to South Carolina

Having survived Confederate Gen. John B. Hood's disastrous Tennessee Campaign and his army's collapse at Nashville, Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes spent the first few weeks of January 1865 in Tupelo, Mississippi, 50 miles south of his hometown of Kossuth. The army's temporary commander, Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, used the time to resupply and equip the shattered troops in order to join Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's forces in South Carolina. Once again they will be opposing Gen. William T. Sherman's victorious army. By January 19th, Taylor had begun the process of transferring the troops under his command to Beauregard.

The Confederate cavalry was sent out overland. A wagon train of the army's supplies followed at a much slower pace. Infantry troops were sent via railroad to speed their arrival ahead of the Yankee invaders moving north from Savannah.

On today's date in 1865, Great Grandfather Oakes departed with around 1,900 others in Benjamin Cheatham's Corps, the second of 3 corps to be shipped off in January to South Carolina. It was a lengthy and grueling 2-week, 500-mile trip to Augusta, Georgia.

After saying farewell to his family in Kossuth, Great Grandfather rejoined his regiment, the 32nd Mississippi, in Cheatham's Corps as it began its journey from Tupelo, Mississippi, marching 50 miles over ruined roads to West Point, arriving on the 27th. In his diary, Maj. Henry Hampton of Cheatham's staff left us a few details of their tortuous itinerary from there.

At West Point, the soldiers boarded railroad cars for the ride to Meridian, arriving there the morning of the 28th. On the same day, they again took the cars for Demopolis, but the train derailed only 14 miles outside of Meridian. That night, the men camped beside the tracks.

On the 29th, a Sunday, they started again for Demopolis, reaching that town late in the afternoon. From that point, they continued on to Selma. However, once again the engine ran off the tracks and they did not reach Selma until the next day. Loading onto the steamboat, Southern Republic, they started for Montgomery that same night.

Arriving in Montgomery in the afternoon on February 1st, the weary men got a day off from traveling. Then the morning of the 3rd, they again boarded railroad cars for Columbus, reaching their destination by the evening. They remained there through the 4th.

Leaving Columbus early on Sunday the 5th, the troops arrived at Macon that afternoon. On the 6th, they marched all day from Macon to Midway, then camped a mile and a half beyond Milledgeville, Georgia's capital until 1868.

Due to a break in the rail line, from Milledgeville on the 7th, they marched in a rainstorm 25 miles toward Sparta. The next morning,  they continued the march another 12 miles along the broken track to Mayfield, where that afternoon, they climbed aboard the railcars, reaching Camak Station at nightfall. Again aboard the train on the 9th, the men finally arrived in Augusta that afternoon, camping that night round the depot.

By February 1, Gen. Sherman's army totaled 60,000 veteran soldiers who had recently completed their march of terror and destruction across Georgia. They were now poised to invade South Carolina. The opposing force of Confederate troops numbered half that, and many of them in the Army of Tennessee were still in transit from Mississippi. To defend Augusta and Charleston against Sherman, Beauregard commanded scattered forces consisting of Georgia militia under Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith as well as veteran fighting units whose ranks had been greatly depleted through the war. At Beauregard's disposal was the Department of South Carolina and Georgia, commanded by Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee, which was falling back from Savannah towards Charleston. He also had Lt. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Corps, which was in near-daily contact with Sherman's army trying to delay its progress as much as possible. In Augusta, Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill was placed in command of forces in the District of Georgia. And, still on its difficult journey toward Columbia were the trailing corps of the Army of Tennessee.

On the move again on February 10, Cheatham's Corps crossed the river into South Carolina, camping near the bridge. On the 15th, the men will be on the move again, this time under orders north to Columbia, and eventually will reunite with other units from the Army of Tennessee and various Confederate forces as the war drew to a close.

Sources: The Army of Tennessee, Stanley F. Horn; Last Stand in the Carolinas, Mark L. Bradley; Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898, Dunbar Rowland; Official Records, Vol. 45, Pts. 1 & 2

Richard Taylor briefly commands the Army of Tennessee

On today's date in 1865, Hood officially was relieved of command, and he departed the Army of Tennessee for Richmond, having commanded it for a disastorous 6 months. He addressed his troops in a farewell message:

Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood

Soldiers: At my request I have this day been relieved from the command of this army. In taking leave of you accept my thanks for the patience with which you have endured your many hardships during the recent campaign. I am alone responsible for its conception, and strived hard to do my duty in its execution. I urge upon you the importance of giving your entire support to the distinguished soldier who now assumes command, and I shall look with deepest interest upon all your future operations and rejoice at your successes.

 J. B. Hood, General

Few of his men were sorry to see him go.

Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor

Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor, son of former U.S. President Zachary Taylor and brother-in-law of C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis, was named successor to Hood as commander of the remnants of the Army of Tennessee. After looking to the immediate care and reequipping of the shattered troops assigned to him, his primary role was organizing the transfer of the units—including Great Grandfather's 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment—to North Carolina, once again to oppose Sherman. This operation was under way by January 19th.

After the war, Taylor was active in Democratic party politics in Louisiana, opposing the policy of Northern Reconstruction. He also interceded for Jefferson Davis after the demise of the Confederate States. In 1879, a week before his death, Taylor's memoir of the war, Destruction and Reconstruction, was published. His book continues to retain its status among the acclaimed accounts of the American Civil War.

Sources: Advance and Retreat, John B. Hood; Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898, Dunbar Rowland; Official Records, Vol. 45, Pt. 2

Hood resigns

Following his army's retreat from the disaster at the Battle of Nashville, Gen. John Bell Hood led his defeated troops to Tupelo, Mississippi, returning it at last from an odyssey begun 2 1/2 years earlier. On today's date 1865, Hood's superior, Gen. 
P.G.T. Beauregard, visited the Army of Tennessee at Tupelo. On the same day, Gen. Hood sent a dispatch to Richmond requesting to be relieved of command. His request will be granted on January 23rd.

The following day, after consulting with Gen. Beauregard, Hood instituted a system of 10-day furloughs for his war weary troops. For my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes, this probably was the first time since leaving Mississippi in June of 1862, that he was given official leave to visit his family in Kossuth, 50 miles north of Tupelo.

Sources: The Confederates' Last Hurrah, Wiley Sword; Hood's Campaign for Tennessee, William R. Scaife; Official Records, Vol. 45, Pt. 1

Defeat at Nashville, 1864

On December 15-16, 1864, Confederate Gen. John B. Hood's ragged Army of Tennessee fought Gen. George Thomas's army at Nashville, finally breaking its 2-week siege of the city. The clash was the last full-scale battle in the Western Theater and one of the most decisive victories for the Union army during the war.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

After the Union victory at Franklin on November 30th, Hood moved his army to Brentwood Hills on the outskirts of the formidable Federal fortifications at Nashville. By the time of the arrival of Hood's army, the Federals, who had held Nashville since 1862, had constructed a semicircular defensive line stretching for 7 miles. The section on the south and west protected the city from attacks from those directions. Forts had been constructed throughout the line. On the north and east, the city was shielded by the Cumberland River. The river itself was protected by a fleet of ironclad boats.

Having the significantly weaker force (outnumbered 3 to 1), Hood settled for an entrenched, de-fensive position where he would await an inevitable Federal attack. His 4-mile line faced north toward the southern portion of the Federal line. Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham's Corps was on the right. Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee's Corps was next to Cheatham's, and Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart's Corps was on the left. Southwest of the city, Hood posted his small cavalry commanded by Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers. On his line, Hood positioned 5 five small forts, or redoubts, with 2-4 guns and about 150 men each.

Cheatham's Corps, Hood's right (east) wing, rested on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad cut. He placed the survivors of  Cleburne's  Division, now commanded by Brig. Gen. James A. Smith, on the right of this wing. Here my Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was serving in Lowrey's Brigade,¹ which formed the extreme right position at the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad cut, 2.5 miles from the city. The line, beginning with a small fort, Redoubt No. 1, ran southwest across Rain's Hill, then west across the Franklin Pike, and across the Hillsboro Pike. At that point, the line turned south, connecting with Redoubt 2, then crossed the Hillsboro Pike to Redoubt No. 3. Further to the west were Redoubts Nos. 4 and 5. A stone wall extended along the pike between Redoubts Nos. 3 and 4.

The Nashville State House, 1864
From the Matthew Brady Collection

Soon after arriving at his Nashville defenses, Hood tried to draw Thomas out of the city. He sent 5 infantry brigades and 2 brigades of cavalry 28 miles to the east to attack the railroad between Nashville and Murfreesboro. However, Thomas wasn't fooled, and his garrison at Murfreesboro repelled the Confederate attack on December 7th. In ordering the attack, Hood reduced his army facing Nashville as well and as depriving his force there of its vital cavalry along with its legendary leader, Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. These were critical resources he could well have used against Thomas's impending attack.

Outer Federal line at Nashville, 1864
From the Matthew Brady Collection

Gen. Thomas, who had instructed Hood in artillery at West Point, had taken weeks to prepare the Federal position. Although prodded by the Federal high command, including the U.S. President, to attack Hood's army, he took a cautious approach, waiting for the right moment to annihilate the Confederates in front of him.

While Thomas waited for his oppor-tunity, on December 8th, a severe ice storm struck Nashville, which prohibited any action for either side. The freezing weather continued through December 12th. Although the weather was miserable for both sides, it was most severe for Hood's men, still recovering from their severe losses at Franklin.

By December 14th, the weather warmed and the ice and snow melted. That afternoon, Thomas called his corps commanders together to outline his plan of attack. He would assault the left and right ends of the Confederate line first, followed by a continuous sweeping movement against the Confederates' left, turning that flank. By bringing a constant attack along Hood's entire line, Thomas hoped to exert enough pressure to cause it to break.

The Federal attack finally came on today's date in 1864. Thomas launched a diversionary assault on Cleburne's/Smith's troops on the Confederate right to distract them from the main attack. Two Federal brigades were ordered forward around 8:00 AM, and soon passed beyond the Confederates' skirmish line. However, the attackers were soon trapped, and the survivors were forced into a panicked retreat. Although Thomas's diversion failed, the Federal brigades managed to reform and continued to fire on Cleburne's/Smith's troops, although the Confederate brigades managed to repeal all attacks.

Then came the main attack. At about 2:30 pm the Federals attacked the redoubts guarding the Confederate left wing. They soon overran the artillery at 4 of those positions. In the meantime, Thomas began his frontal assault, capturing the last fort on the Confederate left flank. Stewart's Corps, which suffered severely in the fighting, retreated to a new line of defense about a mile to the south. Reinforcements from Lee's Corps kept the retreat from becoming a rout. With the collapse of the Confederate left, Cheatham's and Lee's Corps withdrew to the new line.

On the first day of the Battle of Nashville, December 15, the Federals attacked
 all five forts. Redoubt No. 1 was the last to fall.
Photo by Tom Lawrence, Battle of Nashville Preservation Society

When the battle resumed the next day, the Confederate position, now more than a mile to the rear of its place the day before, was stronger and more compact. On the right (east) end, Lee's Corps was anchored on Peach Orchard Hill. The line continued west along a series of hills leading south from the steep Compton's Hill, later named Shy's Hill in honor of its valiant commander, Col. William M. Shy of 20th Tennessee. Stewart's Corps in the center of the line was fortified behind stacked stone walls and trenches. Cheatham's Corps, which was shifted to the left (west), included Shy's Hill and the line of hills to the south. Through the night, Hood's men had been digging in and fortifying their new line. Consequently, when the attack began on the 16th, the exhausted Confederates would face a fresher and much stronger enemy.

Thomas ordered the attack to begin on the Confederate right in order to draw away troops from the left. His main attack would follow on the left flank. His first attack on Lee's men on Peach Orchard Hill came around 10:00 AM. While Lee's troops repulsed it, Thomas's plan had worked. Shortly after noon, Hood sent 2 of Cheatham's brigades, Smith's/Lowrey's and Granbury's, to reinforce Lee at the Granny White Pike, thinning his lines on and around Shy's Hill. After placing the reinforcements in line, Lee decided they weren't needed, so he ordered them to return. At about the same time, Federal cavalry moved on the Confederate left and rear, reaching almost all of the way to Granny White Pike. To counter this threat, Cheatham stretched his corps further to the south.

Sometime after 3:30, a Federal division under Brig. Gen. John McArthur, began an attack on Shy's Hill. His attack, in connection with other Federal forces, will determine the outcome of the battle. McArthur sent 1 brigade up the left of Shy's Hill. While the defenders there were distracted by the action to the east, McArthur's sent his second brigade to attack. His third brigade, attacking to the east of Granny White Pike, overwhelmed the Confederate force there. Seeing the success along the line, other Union troops charged up Shy's Hill and took it as well. So successful was the assault that the Confederate line gave way from west to east. While many units continued to hold their ground, in the end they had no choice but to retreat with the rest of the fleeing army, south via the Granny White and Franklin Pikes. A portion of Lee's Corps managed to cover the retreat on the Franklin Pike, while a single brigade of cavalry continued to provide cover through the darkness and the rain on Granny White Pike.

Artillery (covered) on the capital steps
From the Matthew Brady Collection

During the night, Hood's defeated and demoralized army headed south towards Franklin on the Franklin and the Granny White Pikes. Pursued by Federal cavalry, Lee's Corps served as rear guard holding off attacks as the army headed to Columbia. Then with Cheatham's Corps guarding the army's rear, the defeated Con-federates were chased through rain, sleet, and below freezing temper-atures. Adding to their suffering, many of these poor men were barefoot and without adequate clothing to brave the elements. Finally, on December 18th, the main pursuing force was compelled to stop due to lack of supplies and the arrival of Confed-erate Brig. Gen. Frank C. Armstrong's cavalry brigade. The army marched under continued Federal harassment, while the cavalry aided Cheatham with rear guard duty.

On December 19th, the retreating army crossed the Duck River at Columbia, destroying the bridges behind them. Joined now by Gen. Forrest and the remainder of his cavalry, they pressed on through Columbia. On Christmas Day, the tattered army arrived on the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, Alabama. The next morning, they crossed over on a pontoon bridge and began their march through Tuscumbia, Alabama and west to Burnsville, Mississippi.² By the 29th, Thomas gave up his chase.

Hood had taken his army into Tennessee with 38,000 men. After its arrival at Tupelo, the army had fewer than 15,000 left. Although the army's remnants will be reorganized in the days ahead and shipped off to fight in the Carolinas Campaign, it was effectively ruined. Predictably, Hood blamed his defeat on his subordinates and even the soldiers themselves. However, his career was over. At Tupelo on January 13th, he offered his resignation. He will never be given another field command.

The collapse of the army at Nashville had been the inevitable result of Hood's ill-advised campaign into Tennessee and the doomed attack at Franklin. In that reckless and tragic assault he lost a quarter of his army and decimated his officer corps. While Hood unjustly chose to blame his men for the disaster of his Tennessee Campaign, few agreed with him, then or now. In his official report, Gen. 
P.G.T. Beauregard, Hood's superior, exonerated the loyal and brave soldiers:

The heroic dead of that campaign will ever be recollected with honor by their countrymen, and the survivors have the proud consolation that no share of the disaster can be laid to them, who have so worthily served their country and have stood by their colors even to the last dark hours of the republic.

¹ On the 15th, Brig. Gen. Mark Lowrey commanded his brigade near the extreme right, where, he wrote, "we handsomely repulsed several severe assaults of the enemy." In the battle on the 16th, he was put in command of Cheatham's old division (recently commanded by John C. Brown who was seriously wounded at Franklin), already in line of battle on the extreme left. Lt. Col. Robert H. Abercrombie was put in command of Lowrey's Brigade. This will be the last time Lowrey will command his brigade, including the renowned 32nd Mississippi Regiment, which he raised in Northern Mississippi in April 1862 and personally led until his promotion after the Battle of Chickamauga. Lowrey will continue to command Cheatham's Division into the Carolinas Campaign, until his resignation in March 1865.

² Cheatham's Corps arrived in Corinth on January 1st, and encamped there. Lee's corps moved to Rienzi, while Stewart's Corps remained at Burnsville. On January 3rd, Lee's and Stewart's Corps were ordered to continue the march to Tupelo, Mississippi. Cheatham's Corps remained at Corinth until the 9th, when it was also ordered to Tupelo, arriving there on the 12th.

Sources: The Confederates' Last Hurrah, Wiley Sword; Hood's Campaign for Tennessee, William R. Scaife; Mark P. Lowrey Autobiography; Official Records, Vol. 45, Pt. 1