Marching to Kentucky with the 39th Alabama

It had been over a month since the men of the Army of Mississippi under the command of General Braxton Bragg had departed their camps at Tupelo, Mississippi, and finally, as Bragg had promised, they were flinging their banners to the breeze and marching towards Kentucky. The first major challenge after leaving Chattanooga was to cross Walden's Ridge and the Cumberland Mountains, a daunting task as recalled by Captain Thomas J. Cox of the 39th Alabama.

    "Sauntering forth this morning exhausted, sleepy, and stupid from the excessively tough march of yesterday with the hope of shaking off my lethargy," was how the Alabamian began his letter written from Pikeville, Tennessee on September 3, 1862. The road across Walden's Ridge, "doubtless the roughest in the South," made for slow going, but the prospect of advancing on the Yankees buoyed the men's spirits. "Our boys, not withstanding the unprecedented privation, are buoyant and confident. Constant motion, unlike inactivity, ensures them to hardships and begets a spirit of enthusiasm," Cox wrote.

    Captain Cox wrote the following two letters as Bragg’s army marched through the mountains of Tennessee in the momentous early days of September 1862. These letters first appeared in successive issues of the Columbus Daily Sun on September 16 and 17, 1862. 

 

Camp at Pikeville, Tennessee

September 3, 1862

          Sauntering forth this morning exhausted, sleepy, and stupid from the excessively tough march of yesterday with the hope of shaking off my lethargy and “to see what was to see” in my peregrinations over the village, I have found a good denizen whose spry-looking daughter conducts me to a table and furnishes ink to write a few hasty lines.          

          Leaving Smith’s Crossroads at the base of the mountain called Walden’s Ridge after a man who froze to death on it years ago. We left at 8 o’clock yesterday and arrived here, a distance of 16 miles, and midnight last night. Several wagons were capsized crossing it and two mules belonging to the train were killed. The reasons for reducing our baggage to such an infinitesimal bulk now becomes apparent.

          The brigade will probably remain here today to rest the men and repair wagons broken in coming over the mountain, doubtless the roughest in the South, and the most fatiguing march made by Confederate soldiers during the war. Our brave boys unmurmuringly submit to the hardships, being animated by the love of liberty “which the clear spirit doth raise, to scorn delights and live laborious days.”

          We have yet to cross the Cumberland, the one spoken of (Walden’s Ridge) being only a spur of it. Pikeville is the county seat of Bledsoe County situated midway with the Sequatchie Valley lying between them. The country on this ridge is level for several miles, then breaks off abruptly and precipitately in a little less than a perpendicular direction. A stiff breeze blows all the time and is delightful in the summer season. Ledges of rock many feet in diameter protrude above the land. Viewing it from the valley, the opaque surface of these formed layer upon layer present a pleasing contrast to the verdant growth upon it.

          The many defiles and gorges here formed are curious phenomena. Clans of Union men secreted in these defiles known as bushwhackers have shot several of our best soldiers. The dry sloughs, with beds of innumerable rock of all kinds, sizes, and shapes, making off from the hills in the valleys are interesting oddities. The buckle and pawpaw, small bushes farther South, grow to large size here. Residents look healthy and never wear that sallow look so common among the people of Georgia and Alabama.

          The enemy are in force at McMinnville some 35 miles from here and rumor says are fortifying with all possible promptitude. Bragg’s army is moving rapidly forward- it may be to attack him in entrenchments or to cut him off. Kirby Smith and Price are in his rear. A few days will suffice to develop our purposes. An engagement is expected and would seem to be inevitable in a short time.

Moving an army through the various mountain passes and gaps of Tennessee and Kentucky proved to be a physically tasking activity and one that tried the patience of all involved. Unionist bushwhackers took potshots at the slowly moving Confederate columns, punctuating the fatiguing experience with moments of terror. 

Camp near Sparta, Tennessee

September 6, 1862

          After a five days’ march, we are in close proximity to Buell or rather his deserted camps for becoming panic-stricken, he has retreated before our advancing army. His skedaddle does not at all surprise us. Where the buzzards have flown, we know not but Bragg will certainly find their roost. McMinnville, the theater of his dramatic exodus, is 25 miles from here.

          The movements of our army are somewhat mystified. It is uncertain whether we follow in the wake of the terrified host or circumvent their operations, albeit the latter policy is probable and much more feasible. The enemy are in close quarters and should this army move above them, must encounter Seylia and Charybdes in extrication. Suspense is of short duration for the army is pressing rapidly forward and our haste must soon culminate in battle. Our boys, not withstanding the unprecedented privation, are buoyant and confident. Constant motion, unlike inactivity, ensures them to hardships and begets a spirit of enthusiasm.

          The land here is fertile and people look more like folks. The ladies in the neat village of Sparta as we passed through waved us on amid vociferous cheers which made the welkin ring. Most of the citizens in that portion of Tennessee through which we have passed belong to the mediocrity and are ignorant and disaffected. The women, horribile dictu [Latin: horrible to say], go barefooted and look like a piece of calico tied around a lamppost.

          The drum is beating for the regiment to leave so I must close. Will write whenever I can.

Source:

Letters from Captain Thomas J. Cox, Co. B, 39th Alabama Infantry, Columbus Daily Sun (Georgia), September 16 & 17, 1862, pg. 2

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