Morgan Smith's Gift to the New York City After Fort Donelson

After the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862, Colonel Morgan L. Smith secured a company flag taken from Co. F of the 23^rd Mississippi and sent it back to his home state of New York for presentation to the City of New York. The New York Daily Herald shared the following story in their February 26, 1862, edition.

 

Federal troops depicted going into action at Fort Donelson on February 15, 1862. Colonel Morgan L. Smith's brigade consisted of just two regiments, both western Zouave units, the 8th Missouri and the 11th Indiana. 

          A beautiful flag, captured from the Rebels at Fort Donelson by a New York Colonel M.L. Smith, acting brigadier general, has been sent to us for presentation to the city of New York and now awaits the pleasure of Mayor [George] Oydyke at this office. Our correspondent, through whom it was forwarded, thus describes the flag and the gallant charge in which it was taken:

The correspondent is describing the fighting that occurred during the Confederate breakout attempt at Fort Donelson on February 15, 1862.

          But perhaps the most desperate charge made in the whole of the engagement was that of Colonel M.L. Smith’s brigade early in the afternoon. General McClernand’s command had been attacked early in the morning by vastly superior numbers and compelled to fall back. His artillery, consisting of Schwartz’s and another battery, had been partly captured, and though he gallantly led his men up three times to retake them, still at half past one, he found himself worsted at every point.

          There was no commanding general on the field to order reinforcements and Captain [William S.] Hillyer of General Grant’s staff “took the responsibility” and ordered General [Lew] Wallace to send General McClernand such help as was needed. Colonel Morgan Smith’s brigade, consisting of the 8^th Missouri, 11^th Indiana, and 7^th Iowa [this is incorrect as the 7^th Iowa was part of Colonel Jacob Lauman’s brigade-editor], were chosen and dispatched to the rescue.

          They charged bayonets up the hill, drove the enemy from their guns, scattered the infantry in confusion, retook the captured batteries which had been turned upon us and reestablished order upon the right. The Rebel force here engaged was the flower of the Rebel army, mostly from Mississippi, and was as reckless and desperate a set of fellows as ever met a foe. But their recklessness and bravado were no avail before the cold steel and polished bayonets of the Pukes [Missourians] and Hoosiers [Indianans]

Colonel Morgan Lewis Smith served five years in the antebellum Army under an assumed name before settling in Missouri and working as a river boatman. He raised the 8th Missouri "composed largely of rowdies from the St. Louis waterfront who he turned into excellent soldiers" and became its colonel. Smith would lead a brigade at both Fort Donelson and Shiloh, earning his brigadier's star that July. He suffered a severe wound at Chickasaw Bayou that knocked him out of action for 10 months. He returned to the Army of Tennessee in the fall of 1863 as a divisional commander and briefly commanded the 15th Corps during the Atlanta campaign. The old Chickasaw Bayou wound, however, flared up again and forced him to go on sick leave. 

Interrupting, the Herald’s recounting, here are a few accounts from soldiers in Smith’s brigade describing their assault at Fort Donelson.

“The Rebels came out of their entrenchments early in the morning and attacked the right then under General McClernand who was driven back with considerable loss. General Wallace was ordered to his support and Colonel Cruft with 2,200 men took position on the right, checked the Rebels, maintained his position, and drove them back. The 11^th Indiana and 8^th Missouri were then ordered to move toward which they did promptly and with a shout and fatal shot which struck the Rebels with terror. The Rebels had fine guns and good gunners; their shots were incessant and well-aimed while shells flew thick and fast. The smoke of battle rolled rapidly up, the firing of the muskets seemed incessant, but nothing daunted, on their went, falling and rising, shouting, firing, charging, unflinching while facing a fire galling and terrible.”

“But for the Zouave drill the 11^th Indiana and 8^th Missouri would have been destroyed. Had the troops under McClernand understood the Zouave drill and deployed as skirmishers, as did the 11^th Indiana and 8^th Missouri, they would not have been driven back. General Wallace, Colonel Cruft, Colonel McGinnis, and Colonel [Morgan L.] Smith of the 8^th Missouri were in the hottest of the fight, never flinching. Many balls were sent directly at them, whistling around their heads but fortunately they escaped unhurt. I have learned that no less than 50 shots were directed at Colonel Smith, but he coolly rode along the line and asked if any of the men could furnish a match to light his cigar!” ~ Surgeon Thomas W. Fry, 11^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry

 “About noon, our brigade advanced to attack them on the extreme right which is near Diver. The 8^th Missouri was in the advance. About 4 p.m., the Rebels who were in a dense thicket, unexpectedly to us opened a deadly fire. We were soon in line and returned it as warmly as they gave it. We were supported by the 11^th Indiana. We moved steadily forward, hen the enemy began to retreat but still kept up a steady fire. At the second volley, our brave Captain Swartout was instantly killed. After an hour’s hard fighting we drove them back into their entrenchments. They then opened their batteries on us and the way the shell, grape and canister flew around us was far from being pleasant I assure you. We maintained our position, waiting for our artillery to arrive but night came on and the firing ceased.” ~ Private William Reed, Co. H, 8^th Missouri Infantry

 

Among the captured flags from Fort Donelson was this company flag belonging to the Bigby Greys of the 3rd Tennessee. The description of the design of the flag belonging to the Blackland Gideonites sounds similar to the colors depicted above. 

          Among the trophies captured were several splendid flags, one of which I send you today by express, a gift from the gallant colonel who captured it, Morgan L. Smith. The trophy is inscribed “Ladies Gift to the Blackland Gideonites. May Heaven Crown You With Victory.” It is a full-blooded “secesher,” full 15 feet long by 8 feet wide of the finest silk, finely embroidered and lettered, and in all respects fully up to the mark of such affairs generally. Colonel Smith is a New Yorker by birth, a graduate of West Point, a man of great bravery and military skill who desires this trophy to be presented to the city of his nativity through the editor of the Herald. [James Gordon Bennett]

          The flag is of fine silk but is not so large as it is represented by our correspondent who did not measure it. It is nine feet six inches long and five feet wide. It is made after the pattern originally adopted by the Confederate Congress of stars and bars and is white, red and blue. The bars are three, the upper and lower red and the center white. The lower bar runs the whole length, the center and the upper extend only from the blue field, or Union, which contains in the center the stars clustering round in a circle.

The blue, or Union, is thus the upper corner of the flag, next to the flag staff, and extends downwards two-thirds or to the edge of the lower red bar. It is a square a little over a yard. Within the circle formed by the stars is the inscription as above in gilt letters, but instead of taking the form of an oblong square, it is circular, following the surrounding figure of the circle of stars. The stars, which consist of white silk, are well formed, and the effect on the deep blue is good. It is worthy of remark that, though the Confederate states are 13 in number on paper, this flag exhibits only 11.

          Altogether, it is a handsome trophy and it seems to be a pity that it should have graced so bad a cause. It is still the Confederate national flag though a different one has been devised for the battlefield. The new flag of the Confederate army is a blue Union with four stars and a red ground, the bars intersecting each other not at right angles but diagonally. We suppose the forces at Fort Donelson had not obtained a supply of the new article.

 

          This flag was originally issued to the “Blackland Gideonites,” which became Co. F of the 23^rd Mississippi Infantry. This company was organized by the Reverend Joseph M. Wells, pastor of the Blackland Methodist Episcopal Church. and enlisted on June 8, 1861, from Tishomingo County. Wells would go on to become colonel of the 23^rd Mississippi. The regiment, raised throughout northern Mississippi, was formed at Iuka that summer and entered state service as the 3^rd Mississippi; it was transferred to Confederate service in October then redesignated the 23^rd Mississippi on November 19, 1861.

          The company name likely derives from the Old Testament military leader Gideon whose military victory over the Midianites is described in Judges 6-8. He was called upon by the people of Biblical Israel to combat the numerous enemies that threatened to destroy the community. 

Originally dispatched to Kentucky, the 23^rd Mississippi was sent to Fort Donelson were it served in Colonel Thomas J. Davidson’s brigade along with the 8^th Kentucky, 1^st Mississippi, and 7^th Texas. After partaking in the breakout attempt on February 15^th, the regiment fell back to within the Confederate entrenchments surrounding Fort Donelson and was surrendered with the garrison the following day. The flag, a company flag unlikely to have been used in the battle itself, was later displayed at the New York Sanitary Fair in 1864 courtesy of the City Hall of New York.    

Sources:

“Captured Rebel Flag for the City of New York,” New York Daily Herald (New York), February 26, 1862, pgs. 6-7

Letter from Private William Reed, Co. H, 8^th Missouri Volunteer Infantry, Union County Star and Lewisburg Chronicle (Pennsylvania), February 28, 1862, pg. 1

Letter from Surgeon Thomas W. Fry, 11^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Lafayette Journal & Courier (Indiana), February 22, 1862, pg. 2