Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

S crambling back to the Pointe Coupee Battery’s position after spying the advancing Federals closing in on them, Rene A. de Russy recalled the thrilling final moments before the battery was overrun on December 16, 1864, during the Battle of Nashville. “The battery suffered severely, men and horses going down in the turmoil, a caisson being blown to atoms and Edgar Gueson being cut in by a shell. Still, the battery held fast, even when the men to the left had broken and when the Union men came around the hill on the flank. Gun after gun was served until human endurance could go no further.  Then with a parting shot into the very faces of Thomas’s men, Corporal Joseph H. Vienne and his fellows started back under orders from Captain Alcide Bouanchaud. Corporal Vautier trained his gun upon Vienne’s captured piece but without avail and the order came to withdraw, several of the pieces first being spiked. The members of the battery then made for the Granny White Pike, leaving over 20 d...

  I n "Picket Shots of Chickamauga" I'll share some of the shorter stories provided by veterans of the Chickamauga campaign that might not be long enough to constitute a blog post on their own, but make for insightful reading.       In commemoration of the 162nd anniversary of the second day of the battle, three accounts below give some perspectives from soldiers in the Army of Tennessee, including William Knight of the 36th Alabama who shares his memories of September 20th, George Jones war diary of Stanford's Mississippi Battery, and Captain John H. Martin of the 17th Georgia who 50 years later returns a corporal's commission he captured on the battlefield.  The detail of the lace on a uniform once worn by Lieutenant Braxton Bragg, commanding the Army of Tennessee at Chickamauga. The battle marked Bragg's one clear-cut victory over the Federals and it would be his last. His Army of Tennessee took enormous casualties defeating Rosey's bluecoats at Chickam...

I n "Picket Shots of Chickamauga" I'll share some of the shorter stories provided by veterans of the Chickamauga campaign that might not be long enough to constitute a blog post on their own, but make for insightful reading.       In commemoration of the 162nd anniversary of the opening day of the battle, three accounts below give some perspectives from soldiers in the Army of the Cumberland, including Henry Dietrich of the 19th Illinois, Allen Fahnestock of the 86th Illinois, and Edward Molloy of the 87th Indiana. Tomorrow's post will feature three stories from their opponents in the Army of Tennessee. 

T he Confederate line had buckled and was in full retreat at Nashville on December 16, 1864, when Corporal Virgil Harris of the 111 th Ohio saw a “chance to earn his $13 a month.”           Not far ahead, he spied a Confederate trying to haul away a “beautiful artillery piece.” He wrote, “I rushed upon the man with the cannon and seized one of his horses by the rein and ordered him to dismount. This he declined to do and proceeded to rap me over the head with the loose end of the reins at the same time urging his team forward to break loose from a heavy wagon against which his wheel had caught. By this time, Barr had arrived and stood near me and I felt then extremely bold. The man making no demonstration calculated to convince me that he intended to dismount, I determined to use the whole power vested in me by the Constitution of the United States. Accordingly, I gave him a blow which sent him tumbling over between the horses. My gun not ...

I t is Monday morning, June 2, 1862. The day after having his right arm amputated at the Battle of Fair Oaks, General Oliver O. Howard met a fellow amputee at Fair Oaks Station, General Phil Kearny. “They dismounted and stood near us while Kearny and I grasped hands,” General Howard remembered. “He had lost his left arm in Mexico. To console me, he said in a gentle voice, “General, I am sorry for you, but you must not mind it. The ladies will not think the less of you!” I laughed as I glanced at our two hands of the same size and replied, “There is one thing we can do, general. We can buy our gloves together!” He answered with a smile, “Sure enough!” But we did not, for I never met him again. He was killed at Chantilly on September 1, 1862.” General Howard’s reminiscences of the fighting at Fair Oaks and its aftermath are drawn from his autobiography published in 1907.

I n November 1900, R.A. Miller, formerly a Confederate line officer, wrote a short note to the local newspaper editor advertising for the return of a sword he had captured during the Civil War. “I have a sword captured in the battle of Murfreesboro on the 31 st of December 1862,” he wrote. “The name on the scabbard is I. Abernathy, lieutenant, 37 th Indiana Volunteers. I was wounded severely a few minutes after. I was a lieutenant in command of Co. B, 24 th Mississippi Volunteers. The sword will be returned on application of parties interested.”           To start off, who was Lieutenant R.A. Miller of the 24 th Mississippi, and how did he come to be wounded on the battlefield of Stones River? And who was I. Abernathy of the 37 th Indiana and what was his fate? Let’s explore those questions a bit.