Gunned Down at Guntown

I am proud to present the Brice’s Crossroads campaign diary of First Lieutenant Thomas A. Carter of Co. E of the 20th Tennessee Cavalry. Lieutenant Carter’s diary appeared in serial form from March 10-15, 1935, in the pages of the Paris News of Paris, Texas. A.W. Neville wrote that the diary was copied from “an old scrapbook owned in Detroit [Texas] and covers several months of his life in service from 1863-1864 east of the Mississippi River. The diary was kept in a small pocket memorandum book.”

          It took some digging to determine the author of this diary; the newspaper articles in which it appeared mentioned the soldier as being Lieutenant Carter. The first diary entry mentions his enlistment in Captain W.D. Hallum’s company of the 15th Tennessee Cavalry on September 17, 1863, at Paris, Henry Co., Tennessee, but I could find neither Captain Hallum nor a Lieutenant Carter in the 15th Tennessee. Additionally, the 15th Tennessee didn’t fight at Brice’s Crossroads and his diary clearly describes his wounding in that fight. I eventually found Captain W.D. Hallum as commanding Co. E of the 20th Tennessee Cavalry (Russell’s) and this proved the match. On the rolls of the which I found a First Lieutenant T.A. Carter; a search of Find-A-Grave led to Thomas Alexander Carter who was indeed the author of this diary.

          Thomas was born November 19, 1834, in Henry County, Tennessee to John Calvin Carter and his wife Mary Ann Dinwiddie Carter. The family moved to Texas in 1843 but by 1860 Thomas was back in Tennessee. Both Thomas’ father and his younger brother Virgil (pictured below) served in the Confederate Army; as a matter of fact, Virgil served in Nathan Bedford Forrest’s 3rd Tennessee Cavalry, enlisting in October 1861.

          As noted in the history of the 20th Tennessee, Thomas Carter enlisted in Hallum’s company as noted above, bringing a sorrel horse valued at $1,000 into the army with him. He was elected first lieutenant of the company on October 19, 1863. “I ran against Bill Foust and was elected first lieutenant; received commission and entered on duty. We have 71 men in our company,” he wrote in his diary.

          Lieutenant Carter was wounded at Brice’s Crossroads as he describes below and sent to the hospital; eventually he was captured by the Federals and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. He survived the experience and after the war moved to Texas, later being elected mayor of Clarksville, Texas. He died June 16, 1891, at the age of 56 and is buried at Clarksville Cemetery.

   

Thomas's younger brother Virgil J. Carter served in Co. D of the 3rd Tennessee Cavalry under the command of then-Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. In September 1863, Thomas joined up and within a few months was serving under Forrest's command as a lieutenant in the 20th Tennessee Cavalry. Both brothers survived the war and moved to Texas. 

        

June 1, 1864: Preparations were made and General Forrest with most of the command went or started for Alabama. General Tyree H. Bell, our brigade commander went with him. Colonel Robert M. Russell, being the senior officer, was left in command of the brigade with captain Hallum in command of the regiment and the writer in command of our company.

 

June 3, 1864: I was ordered to take the company horses and go to Pontotoc and have them shod.

 

June 5, 1864: Arrived at Pontotoc and put the blacksmith to work. About midnight a courier arrived with orders directing me to gather every available man and scout in the direction Ripley as the enemy was moving on our reserve. I took 16 men and sent the rest back to camp at Tupelo. Commenced raining and we had a hard time. Bought a pair of rawhide boots at the moderate price of $150 cash and glad to get them at that. Sergeant Joe Palmer’s horse was taken sick and he had to go back after several days.

 

June 9, 1864: While near Ripley an old man came running out to the road making a great many signs and when I inquired what the matter was, he said the town for full of Federal troops and the picket was only a few hundred yards from his house and we would all be captured directly. I halted the squad and advanced a short distance off to the right with the intention of getting nearer, if possible, without being discovered. We crossed through a skirt of woods and were nearing the main road from Rienzi when the rattle of sabers and the thud of horses’ feet met our ears, apparently only a few yards distant.

 

Captured was my first thought. Right about march was the order that came from the commander. Halt! Right into line, march was my order for I could not think of retreating until we knew something more. Just at this moment one of our boys sang out, “They are our own men, lieutenant.” Sure enough, it was the advance guard of our own command. Lieutenant Armstrong was commanding and we laughed over our mutual surprise for he thought we were the Yankees and vice versa. We then joined our squads and went on to Ripley but the Yankees had passed through the night before. I received orders then to rejoin the regiment and you may be sure we were all glad to be relieved. But the worst was yet to come.

 

The Brice's Crossroads monument. 

June 10, 1864: On this morning General Forrest, with the forces he had started to Alabama, returned and we engaged the federals near Guntown on Tishomingo Creek and fought all day. The Yankees had about 9,000 men including Negro infantry and cavalry. Our men were what is called mounted infantry, taught to fight either on foot or horseback as occasion might require. About the middle of the morning, the writer fell badly wounded in the back of the neck and right shoulder.

After I fell, the first thought was that we were whipped and that the Negro troops would mutilate my body as we had understood that they had sworn to show Forrest and his men no quarter. I saw our men retreating but I could not get up. Oh, what a horrible feeling! I cannot describe it.

To my surprise, however, the enemy did not advance. In a few moments our own boys were around me again and the kind voice of Captain Hallum greeted me with “Hello, Carter, are you badly wounded?” I replied that I did not know how bad for I had no feelings, perfectly dead except a slight tingling sensation like a foot asleep. He ordered John Smith to assist me to the rear; Dave Young volunteered his services to assist me and let John, brave boy that he was, go into the fight and from all accounts many poor Feds were made to bite the dust by that boy.

After an hour of walking and stopping to rest under the continuous volleys of musketry and grapeshot, my friend Young succeeded in getting me to the field hospital. I was almost famished for water. What I saw during the rest of the evening is too sickening to describe, even if my pen was able. Two ladies, God bless them, whose residences were appropriated as the hospitals and they waited upon the wounded and dying with heroic devotion. The houses were full, the passages full, and they were lying over the road.

In about two hours, I suppose, my own captain was brought in with a pistol ball in his arm, very painful though not dangerous. Shortly afterwards John Hurt came in, also wounded in the arm, The place was so crowded that Captain Hallum decided to try and find a better place for me and himself. He was able to ride and with his arm dressed and, in a sling, he struck out for better accommodation which he found about a mile away at the residence of a Mr. Bryson.

 

Source:

Diary of First Lieutenant Thomas Alexander Carter, Co. E, 20th Tennessee Cavalry, Paris News (Texas), March 14, 1935, pg. 6; March 15, 1935, pg. 4


Comments

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