A Mississippian Under "Shot Pouch" Walker at Chickamauga
About a week after the battle of Chickamauga, Captain William H. Cunningham of the 24th Mississippi wrote a letter to his father back home to describe what he experienced in northern Georgia. “We have gained the most decided victory of the war though it was the most obstinate battlefield ever gained,” he wrote. The Mississippian had mistakenly believed that being assigned to General William H.T. “Shot Pouch” Walker’s Reserve Corps would prove a soft snap; quite the opposite proved to be true as the 24th Mississippi saw action on multiple occasions from September 18th at Alexander’s Bridge to the closing engagements along the Lafayette Road at the McDonald Farm on the afternoon of September 20th.
“You see we were under fire six
times during the engagement, all of which were very heavy,” he wrote. “You will
see that we fought by reliefs, but ours being the reserve, we had to open the
fight, fight when our time came to relieve, assist the weak points, and close
the fight. I sincerely hope I never belong to another reserve. It is now
broken up and we are again in Hindman’s division.”
During the Chickamauga Campaign, the 24th Mississippi served in General Edward Walthall’s all-Mississippi brigade of General St. John R. Liddell’s division of Major General William H.T. Walker’s Reserve Corps. Captain Cunningham’s vivid letter describing the battle originally was published in the October 21, 1863, edition of the Macon Beacon published in Macon, Noxubee Co., Mississippi.
September 26, 1863
I have just
reached the wagons after much hard marching with a desperate fight to close the
campaign. I wrote you last from near this point; I have since undergone many
hardships as I will give you in a brief sketch of our military maneuvering.
We left Chickamauga Station on
the 7th and continued our march southward until we reached Lafayette,
Georgia. There we halted for several days and were soon ordered out into line
of battle to meet a column of Yankees evidently attempting to gain our rear,
but they showed no disposition to fight notwithstanding the many offers Bragg
made them. Finding they were not disposed to engage our troops, Bragg, after
resting the army and preparing rations, took up a line of march in the
direction of Chattanooga with positive orders to attack the enemy wherever and
whenever he might be found.
With these instructions, we
pushed forward until within eight miles of Chattanooga. There they were massed
in a formidable position on the opposite side of the Chickamauga river. After
the necessary disposition of our troops was made on Friday the 18th,
our brigade (though it was styled as belonging to the reserve) was ordered
forward to bring on the engagement. After some heavy skirmishing, the enemy’s
advance fell back across the river under the fire of the artillery and the river
not being fordable at any point nearer than three miles, all firing was
suspended for the evening. [This engagement of Friday September 18th
pitted General Edward Walthall’s Mississippi brigade against a portion of
Colonel John Wilder’s Lightning Brigade at Alexander’s Bridge.]
That night, we crossed above,
formed a line of battle, and waited till morning. The remainder of our division
having crossed, in fact our whole corps consisting of two divisions each of
which contained two brigades, all constituting the reserve of the Army of
Tennessee and commanded by Major General William H.T. [‘Shotpouch”] Walker
recently from Mississippi.
After the exact position of the
enemy was ascertained by Forrest’s cavalry on Saturday morning the 19th
about 9 o’clock, our corps moved forward and made a simultaneous attack. The
struggle for a while was desperate, but soon the tide of battle turned in our
favor. We drove them about half a mile though with great obstinacy. Our brigade
was highly elated and kept pushing forward when, to our disappointment and dismay,
we were ordered to retire. The signal proved the brigades on our right and left
had failed to drive them at all and in a minute more they would have flanked
our brigade and captured the whole command. [Walthall’s brigade slammed into
the left flank of Colonel Benjamin Scribner’s command near Winfrey Field and
drove them from the field until counterattacked by portions of Connell’s and
Croxton’s Federal brigades.]
We are greatly indebted to the
coolness and discretion of our brigadier, General Walthall. I must say here,
though not boasting, that our regiment was far in the advance of the brigade,
in fact, so much so, that it was some time before we received the command to
fall back. Walthall brought the command himself. I was near him when he
addressed the colonel in the following language: “McKelvaine, halt your regiment,
sir. You always march too damned fast and, damn you, you fight the same way!”
Colonel Robert P. McKelvaine acted very gallantly on this field, as he has on every
field. He seized the colors and planted them beyond the battery that we
captured. He was wounded in the mouth, though I hope not seriously. I had only
nine men in my company killed and wounded and one missing- the son of Burl
Homes was captured.
General Edward Cary Walthall |
That evening we were exposed two
more times; what I mean is that we were not engaged either time more than half
an hour. The next day (Sunday) we were called into action twice, but only fought
long enough to carry some part of the line that was faltering. Thus, you see we
were under fire six times during the engagement, all of which were very heavy.
You will see that we fought by reliefs, but ours being the reserve, we had to
open the fight, fight when our time came to relieve, assist the weak points,
and close the fight. I sincerely hope I never belong to another reserve. It is now
broken up and we are again in Hindman’s division.
The enemy is now in and around
Chattanooga and we are in line of battle on this side. I do not think there
will be any more fighting this side of the river. Rosecrans will do well if he
gets out of here with his whole army as Bragg has him almost surrounded and he
had but one way of supplying his army, and that is over the mountains. Forrest
and Wheeler have destroyed the railroad and we now command it and the river
both above and below by strong masses of infantry.
Upon the whole, we have gained
the most decided victory of the war though it was the most obstinate battlefield
ever gained. Their prisoners confess a sound whipping. Bragg had never revealed
to anyone his plans. I do not believe there is a general or staff officer in
this army who knows a minute ahead. The secrecy of it has inspired confidence
and they only ask to be lead. Notwithstanding the intense exposure, the army is
not satisfied to stop until the enemy is driven across the river.
W.H.C.
Source:
Letter from Captain William H. Cunningham, Co. I, 24th
Mississippi Infantry, Macon Beacon (Mississippi), October 21, 1863, pg.
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