Hold the Bridge at All Hazards: The Last Stand on the Duck River at Columbia

In the closing days of November 1864, John Van Arsdel and battery mates in the 22nd Indiana Battery drew the unenviable assignment of holding the railroad bridge at Columbia, Tennessee. Under orders to hold the bridge at all hazards and destroy it if they couldn’t hold it, it wasn’t long until Van Arsdel and 50th Ohio infantry came under attack from determined Confederates.

            “I was on the skirmish line with the Ohio boys; there were 14 of them and they put their loaded guns down by a rock in the railroad cut and went out on the bridge to fire it,” he recalled. “ I saw the Rebels advance and deploy their skirmish line and come on the double quick. The skirmish line advanced in an oblique direction towards me. I picked up one of the guns and, having a good rest, fired at the coming line of men. They kept coming. The ball went somewhere in one Johnny’s neighborhood. At any rate, he heard it and fell down, but when the smoke cleared away, he was still on his course. I fired again and still he came on, apparently unharmed. So, you see my will was good, but my marksmanship was bad.”

            The Hoosier gunners soon opened fire on the bridge and managed to destroy the middle span with solid shot, but abandoned the position and retreated towards Franklin, slipping their way through the Confederates at Spring Hill. On the afternoon of November 30th, Van Arsdel was talking with Fountain Branch Carter while feeding his horses on the Carter House lawn when he looked south and saw the Army of Tennessee approaching in battle array.

            Van Arsdel’s account of Hood’s invasion of Tennessee was originally published in the National Tribune Scrapbook.



After serving with Sherman’s army throughout the Atlanta campaign, the 22nd Indiana Battery was sent back to Nashville in early November 1864. Orderly Sergeant John Van Arsdel held command of the battery and led it south to Pulaski, Tennessee where the battery’s officers joined. By then, the first indications of Hood’s invasion of Tennessee became evident…

            Schofield received word on November 20th that Hood had begun his advance and on the 21st Hood was reported at Lawrenceburg, 12 miles west of us and we hastily retreated to Columbia. Schofield ordered Colonel Strickland to prepare a defensive line by which he could hold the town or at least the crossings of the Duck River at the railway and pontoon bridges. We were attached to the Third Brigade, Second Division, of the 23rd Corps with Colonel Strickland of the 50th Ohio in command of the brigade.

            We could not hold the town, but we did hold the pontoon and railway bridges for a while. Hood sent one of his best corps to force a crossing and we lost our pontoons. Our battery was then sent and posted south of the bridge and we were ordered to burn or destroy it. A detail was made from the 50th Ohio to burn the bridge, but it was a square, hard timber structure, and slow to burn. I was on the skirmish line with the Ohio boys; there were 14 of them and they put their loaded guns down by a rock in the railroad cut and went out on the bridge to fire it. I saw the Rebels advance and deploy their skirmish line and come on the double quick.

            The skirmish line advanced in an oblique direction towards me. I picked up one of the guns and, having a good rest, fired at the coming line of men. They kept coming. The ball went somewhere in one Johnny’s neighborhood. At any rate, he heard it and fell down, but when the smoke cleared away, he was still on his course. I fired again and still he came on, apparently unharmed. So, you see my will was good, but my marksmanship was bad.

            The Ohio boys had to retreat and then we went at the bridge with solid shot from two guns while from the other two we used case and grapeshot to keep back the Rebel line. Their battle front was near the bridge at that time and made a strong effort to cross, and we had hard work to hold them back. Our order was to hold the bridge at all hazards and the Rebels had orders to cross at all hazards.

They brought up a six-gun battery as close to us as they could and opened on us with case shot. We continued pounding away at the bridge just the same and finally knocked down the middle bent or span. We kept up our fire until dark then commenced retreating to Franklin. While we were using our best efforts to keep the Rebels from crossing the river in our front, they had crossed a few miles above us and got in our rear at Spring Hill and Thompson’s Station.

General John Bell Hood launched his invasion of Tennessee on November 21, 1864 with high hopes of retaking the state which has been under Federal occupation since early 1862. General John Schofield, under orders from department commander General George H. Thomas, set up defensive positions along the Duck River centered at Columbia, but did not have enough troops to cover all of the crossings. John Van Arsdel's 22nd Indiana Battery held the line covering the vital railroad bridge at Columbia and managed to wreck the span before retreating to Franklin. (Map by Hal Jespersen) 

            I heard the dull pounding and roar of artillery in our rear and visions of Andersonville crossed my mind, making me draw several long, deep breaths. I did not care to reinforce our comrades at Andersonville if I could help it. Our retreat to Franklin that night was interesting. We marched along the road with the Rebel campfires burning dimly with here and there a sentry walking his beat, the whole making up a scene I will never forget.

            We stopped after we got clear of the Rebel army to feed our tired and worn horses. What sleep I had, I had in the saddle. After feeding my horse, I went out a few yards from the road and lay down with the bridle rein over my arm and thought I would try and sleep a little anyhow. I had lain there a few minutes when a provost guard came along and punched me with his bayonet and said, “You must move along.” I tried to argue the case with him, but to no avail. Another guard came along and with bayonets on each side of me, they raised me up.

            Without further incident, we reached Franklin. A comrade and I stopped at the Carter House for water and drove our lariat pins in the ground to let our horses eat some of the dry grass in the yard. While we were sitting on a high gatepost, the old man and his two young daughters came out and talked with us. While thus pleasantly engaged, I looked across the field south of us and saw our skirmish line coming rapidly towards us. The men were bent over and would lay down occasionally. “What does that mean?” I asked my comrade who replied he didn’t know.

            We watched them for a little time and then I cast my eye further south and less than a mile a way the whole Rebel army burst out of the woods. They advanced to the cleared ground, halted, fixed bayonets, and as far as I could see to the right and left came the flash of bayonets. We did not have to wait long to what they were going to do; the whole line started straight for our works. We quickly mounted our horses and got back to our line.   

Source:

“Hood’s Invasion of Tennessee,” Orderly Sergeant John S. Van Arsdel, 22nd Indiana Battery, National Tribune Scrapbook, pgs. 133-134

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