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

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