Mauled at Resaca: Eight Fatal Minutes for the 36th Alabama

The following letter, written by Orderly Sergeant Robert J. Davidson of Co. H of the 36th Alabama Infantry to his wife Clara, never reached its intended recipient. Davidson’s letter, a superb account of the Battle of Resaca, was inadvertently left behind the lines at Calhoun, Georgia and picked up by an Illinois soldier who sent it back to Clinton, Illinois for publication in the local newspaper.

          The 36th Alabama Infantry was mustered into service in May 1862, spending the first year of its service as part of the garrison of Mobile, Alabama. It joined the Army of Tennessee prior to the Tullahoma campaign and was placed in an all-Alabama brigade under General Henry D. Clayton along with the 18th, 32nd-58th Consolidated, and 38th Alabama Infantry regiments. During the Battle of Resaca, Clayton’s Brigade was part of Major General Alexander P. Stewart’s Division of Hood’s Corps. As Davidson describes in his account, the 36th Alabama charged outside of their breastworks on the morning of May 15, 1864 with tragic results: 90 casualties in only eight minutes.  "What a terrible thing war is; you know nothing of its horrors by reading about it," he wrote.

“The following letter written by a Secesh soldier to his friends at home was captured on Sherman’s line and sent home by one of our De Witt County boys. We have been requested to publish it.” ~ Clinton Public (Illinois), June 16, 1864, pg. 1

An unidentified Confederate infantryman poses with his dog. 
(Library of Congress)

Calhoun, Georgia

May 16, 1864

Dear Clara,

          Ten days ago, we commenced to fight the Yankees on Rocky Face Mountain near Dalton, Georgia. What I have gone through since never will be erased from my memory as long as I live. I have come through it all, thanks be to God, safely. Since we commenced to fight them, we have not been able to get four hours’ sleep at one time; fighting all day, on the watch all night or retreating. The Yankees soon found out that our position north of Dalton was too strong for them to carry by assault; then they commenced the flanking process whereby they finally succeeded in getting us out of it. We left our stronghold with many regrets last Thursday night at 11 o’clock and retreated to the chosen battlefield of Resaca.

          We marched all night and all the next day; we were so exhausted with loss of sleep and tedious marching that if we only stopped for five minutes to let wagons pass, we would all have to be woke up for as soon as we sat down we were instantly asleep. We suffered terribly. When we left Rocky Face that night, not a whisper was to be heard from anyone and we thought we had got away from the enemy without their knowing it and would have done so had not three men deserted from the 18th Alabama regiment and went to them and told them we were leaving. They started immediately after us and shortly after sunrise their cannon was thundering in our rear. We joined the other portion of our army, which had already commenced to fight the Yankees at Resaca. That night we worked all night building breastworks. Half a mile off we could plainly hear the Yankees cutting down trees and building their breastworks.

Flag of the 36th Alabama Volunteers which was carried at the Battle of Resaca in May 1864. Note the crossed cannon honors at center and the notation of Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain on the bottom of the flag. The flag was produced in Mobile, Alabama and issued to the regiment before the Atlanta Campaign. Clayton's Alabama regiments all carried similar flags to this one at Resaca.


          Next morning the fight commenced all along the lines except our part and we thought we were fortunate indeed. About 4 o’clock in the evening we were ordered to make a flank movement on the enemy; we succeeded and drove him back some two miles but night coming on we gave up the pursuit and returned to camp. About 3 o’clock on the morning of Sunday the fight again commenced along the center of our lines, still our part was spared. About 10 o’clock Sunday the enemy commenced to form his lines in front of our position. I knew our time was coming; he advanced in six lines of battle through an open field and it was the grandest sight I ever saw. Their number was estimated at 15,000 men; their dark blue uniforms emerging from the woods was a solemn sight. They saw our position and marched off to the left and disappeared out of sight. Every one of our men was ready with his gun loaded for the assault but they did not come.

Some fool now gave the order to get ready to get over the breastworks and charge a Yankee battery that was playing on us all this time. Thinks I, good God, what a fearful job! The order came and over we went; no sooner over than one man fell dead and three wounded. We advanced about 20 steps and had to lie down. Then the Yankees opened with artillery and infantry.  Four companies of us lay down together and every volley they fired you could hear someone of our poor fellows cry out ‘Oh, I am wounded’ as the balls would strike him. We lay there three minutes when we were ordered to join the other part of the regiment about 50 yards off which we had got separated from.

As soon as we got to where it was, the command ‘Forward!’ was given and we went and such a terrible sight; I pray God I may never see again. Men falling wounded and dead at every step. We had advanced about 50 yards when we were compelled to retreat for the murderous fire we were under no human beings on earth could stand. We got back to our breastworks, being absent all of eight minutes during which time we lost 9 killed and 81 wounded in the regiment. Men who have been in all the big battles say they were never under such fire before.

Colonel Thomas H. Herndon
36th Alabama

Now, my dear, that was the time I had given up all hopes of ever seeing you again- I never done it before. I can only attribute my escaping unhurt to the kind watchfulness of merciful providence. Nearly all our wounded fell into the enemy’s hands as the night after we made our charge our whole army commenced retreating and we are now fixing up for another fight. When it will come off I don’t know but not long for the enemy’s artillery is at this moment plainly heard in the rear of our army in pursuit. How long this flanking process of the enemy is to continue is a mystery to me. If they keep on, they will certainly get to Atlanta after awhile and when they once get possession of that city, they city the rebellion is crushed. It was the general impression of our army that we would whip the Yankees this time but such is not the fact. Nor can I say that we have been whipped. We have continually fallen back to keep the enemy from getting in our rear for your must bear in mind that all we have to eat comes up the railroad from Atlanta, and if they destroy the railroad our bread stops, and a hungry army with no prospects of getting anything to eat could not be kept together 24 hours.

I have been so lucky in coming through safe thus far and I am in hopes that I will come out of all the fights without a scratch; but after we made that charge and to hear the wounded calling for us to come and help them when we dared not for the Yankee sharpshooters would have killed us instantly. One of our company who was lying about 20 yards in front of our breastworks called me to please bring him a drink of water. I told him to hold on until dark and I would come, for I could not come sooner for it was certain death to do so. He lay still until after night when we brought him in; he was nearly stiff with cold. It was awful to look on the dead lying in the field that a few minutes before were talking with us and had as great a dread of being killed as anybody. There they lay with their troubles all gone. We had to leave them to be buried by the enemy. What a terrible thing war is; you know nothing of its horrors by reading about it.

 

Battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 13-15, 1864

Robert Davidson survived the war’s horrors and returned home to his beloved Clara. Davidson served as mayor of Selma, Alabama from 1879-1883 and passed away May 18, 1895 at age 66. Clara passed away 23 years later and is buried beside him at Live Oak Cemetery in Selma.  

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 29, 2021 at 9:55 AM

    Two of my ancestors were Resaca. One in 32d Ala (captured and died at Camp Douglas) and one in 17th Ala (KIA)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HammerheadAugust 17, 2021 at 10:52 AM

      My G-G Grandfather, Cpl William Blair, B Co. 13th KY Union Infantry, was wounded there, shot through the wrist, he stayed with his Unit, until the end of the war, he probably assisted the Regimental Surgeon, as he became a Doctor, after the War, he lived in Adair Co., Kentucky.

      Delete
  2. OhukfanMay 7, 2022 at 10:04 AM

    My gr. grandfather George W. Hackney served in the 13th Ky. Infantry. He I buried in the Childress Cemetery at the mouth of Little Card Creek in Pike County.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more