150-years-ago -- THE BATTLE OF FRANKLIN, Tennessee, Nov. 30, 1864

[Excerpted from Company Aytch, Maury Grays, First Tennesse Regiment, or A Sideshow of the Big, by Sam R. Watkins, Columbia, Tenn. 1900]  

FRANKLIN. 

"The death-angel gathers its last harvest. 

Kind reader, right here my pen, and courage, and ability 

fail me. I shrink from butchery. * Would to God I could tear 

the page from these memoirs and from my own memory. It 

is the blackest page in the history of the war of the Lost Cause. 

It was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war. It was 

the finishing stroke to the independence of the Southern Con- 

federacy. I was there. I saw it. My flesh trembles, and 

creeps, and crawls when I think of it to-day. My heart almost 

ceases to beat at the horrid recollection. Would to God that I 

had never witnessed such a scene! 

I cannot describe it. It beggars description. I will not 

attempt to describe it. I could not. The death-angel was there 

to gather its last harvest. It was the grand coronation of death. 

Would that I could turn the page. But I feel, though I did so, 

that page would still be there, teeming with its scenes of horror 

and blood. I can only tell of what I saw. 

Our regiment was resting in the gap of a range of hills in 

plain view of the city of Franklin. We could see the battle- 

flags of the enemy waving in the breeze. Our army had been 

depleted of its strength by a forced march from Spring Hill, 

and stragglers lined the road. Our artillery had not yet come 

up, and could not be brought into action. Our cavalry was 

across Harpeth river, and our army was but in poor condition to 

make an assault. While resting on this hill-side, I saw a courier                          dash up to our commanding general, B. F. Cheatham, and 

the word, "Attention !" was given. I knew then that we would 

soon be in action. Forward, march. We passed over the hill 

and through a little skirt of woods. 

The enemy were fortified right across the Franklin pike, 

in the suburbs of the town. Right here in these woods a detail 

of skirmishers was called for. Our regiment was detailed. 

We deployed as skirmishers, firing as we advanced on the left of 

the turnpike road. If I had not been a skirmisher on that day, 

I would not have been writing this to-day, in the year of our 

Lord 1882. 

It was four o’clock on that dark and dismal December day 

when the line of battle was formed, and those devoted heroes 

were ordered forward, to "Strike for their altars and their fires, 

For the green graves of their sires, For God and their native land." 

As they marched on down through an open field toward the 

rampart of blood and death, the Federal batteries began to open 

and mow down and gather into the garner of death, as brave, 

and good, and pure spirits as the world ever saw. The twi- 

light of evening had begun to gather as a precursor of the coming 

blackness of midnight darkness that was to envelop a scene 

so sickening and horrible that it is impossible for me to describe 

it. "Forward, men, is repeated all along the line. A sheet of 

fire was poured into our very faces, and for a moment we halted 

as if in despair, as the terrible avalanche of shot and shell laid 

low those brave and gallant heroes, whose bleeding wounds at 

tested that the struggle would be desperate. Forward, men! 

The air loaded with death-dealing missiles. Never on this earth 

did men fight against such terrible odds. It seemed that the 

very elements of heaven and earth were in one mighty uproar. 

Forward, men ! And the blood spurts in a perfect jet from 

the dead and wounded. The earth is red with blood. It runs 

in streams, making little rivulets as it flows. Occasionally there 

was a little lull in the storm of battle, as the men were loading 

their guns, and for a few moments it seemed as if night tried to 

cover the scene with her mantle. The death-angel shrieks and 

laughs and old Father Time is busy with his sickle, as he gathers 

in the last harvest of death, crying, More, more, more! while his 

rapacious maw is glutted with the slain. 

But the skirmish line being deployed out, extending a little 

wider than the battle did passing through a thicket of small 

locusts, where Brown, orderly sergeant of Company B, was 

killed we advanced on toward the breastworks, on and on. I 

had made up my mind to die felt glorious. We pressed for- 

ward until I heard the terrific roar of battle open on our right. 

Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne
(Library of Congress)

Cleburne's division was charging their works. I passed on until 

I got to their works, and got over on their (the Yankees) side. 

But in fifty yards of where I was, the scene was lit up by fires 

that seemed like hell itself. It appeared to be but one line of 

streaming fire. Our troops were upon one side of the breast 

works, and the Federals on the other. I ran up on the line of 

works, where our men were engaged. Dead soldiers filled the 

entrenchments. The firing was kept up until after midnight, 

and gradually died out. We passed the night where we were. 

But when the morrows sun began to light up the eastern sky 

to reveal its rosy hues, and we looked over the battlefield, O, my 

God! what did we see! It was a grand holocaust of death. 

Death had held high carnival there that night. The dead were 

piled the one on the other all over the ground. I never was so 

horrified and appalled in my life. Horses, like men, had died 

game on the gory breastworks. General Adams horse had his 

fore feet on one side of the works and his hind feet on the other, 

dead. The general seems to have been caught so that he was 

held to the horse’s back, sitting almost as if living, riddled, and 

mangled, and torn with balls. General Cleburne’s mare had her 

fore feet on top of the works, dead in that position. General 

Cleburne’s body was pierced with forty-nine bullets, through 

and through. General Strahl’s horse lay by the roadside and 

the general by his side, both dead, and all his staff. General 

Gist, a noble and brave cavalier from South Carolina, was lying 

with his sword reaching across the breastworks still grasped in 

his hand. He was lying there dead. All dead! They sleep 

in the graveyard yonder at Ashwood, almost in sight of my 

home, where I am writing to-day. They sleep the sleep of the 

brave. We love and cherish their memory. They sleep beneath 

the ivy-mantled walls of St. John’s church, where they 

expressed a wish to be buried. The private soldier sleeps where 

he fell, piled in one mighty heap. Four thousand five hundred 

privates! all lying side by side in death! Thirteen generals 

were killed and wounded. Four thousand five hundred men 

slain, all piled and heaped together at one place. I cannot tell 

the number of others killed and wounded. God alone knows 

that. We’ll all find out on the morning of the final resurrection.

150-years-ago -- The Battle of Liberty, Mississippi

Col. John S. Scott

[Excerpted from the "9th Battalion Louisiana Louisiana Infantry in the Battle of Baton Rouge and Siege of Port Hudson" by Michael Dan Jones, published by CreateSpace.com and available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers.]

On November 15, the scattered Confederates began converging on the
fast moving Federal column [commanded by Federal Gen. A.L. Lee]. Colonel [J.S.]Scott’s 1st Louisiana Cavalry was camped three miles from Clinton along the road to Liberty. He began tracking the Federals and also found on November 15 the Federals had passed through Clinton and were on their way to Liberty. Colonel Gober’s Mounted Infantry was on the road from Greensburg and moving toward Liberty. The various Confederate columns, which had been looking for one another, and finally converged when they met on the 17th. Scott took command, since they couldn’t find Hodge. He ordered their wagon trains to a place of safety and the Confederates moved in the direction of Liberty to confront A.L. Lee’s troopers there.
           The Confederate column rested the men that night for the next days expected attack on Liberty. “My men having been called up three nights in succession, and my horses having been without food thirty-one hours, my command were in no condition to pursue an enemy traveling so rapidly. I consequently halted for the night,” [Col. Daniel] Gober wrote. Early on the morning of November 18, Scott put his tiny brigade in line of battle. They approached Liberty throughdense woods, and then found the Federals drawn up on a hill in front of the town. Gober dismounted his men, placed them on the right side of the road, and immediately went for the Federal left flank. “In order to drive them from this position I moved with right wing of my regiment upon their left and succeeded in forcing them to retire in great confusion up into the town,
where they formed a second time behind the houses and on a hill to my left
and dismounted.” There was also an open hill about 100 yards before the
new Federal position. “Against this enemy the men moved at double-quick
and with great spirit, driving the enemy from and taking possession of the
houses,” Gober wrote. Scott wrote in his report, General A.L. Lee was commanding the
Federals in person. “The enemy sent out a regiment of cavalry, which we met
and handsomely repulsed. Moving on to Liberty we engaged their main body,
command by Brigadier General Lee in person, for near half an hour. The
skirmish was quite brisk, but we were compelled to fall back for want of
ammunition.” Lee, in his report, grossly over estimated Scott’s numbers at
800. He said the rebels were first repulsed and then advanced again and drove
in the bluecoat pickets. He noted that the rebels, “dismounted, and attacked
with desperation. “Our men, also dismounted, fought bravely. I brought into
action the section of the First Wisconsin Battery and opened with canister.

           After a fight of something more than an hour the enemy were driven from
the field.” Gober wrote of the end of the battle, that soon after driving the
Federals from their positions at the houses, “. . . I was ordered to retire slowly
to my horses, mount, and move across the bridge three miles from town.”
Scott commented that he had less than 300 men in the battle and the Yankees
had 1,200 and a battery of artillery. “I have never seen officers and men
behave with more gallantry than did Colonel Gober and Ogden and their
commands. In fact, it drew forth the astonishment and praise of the vandals
themselves who we were confronting,” Scott wrote.
            During the fighting, among the killed was 1st Lieutenant Olivier
Couvillion of Company G, 1st Louisiana Cavalry. “He was gallant and
efficient and his death was a severe loss to the regiment,” Lieutenant Carter
wrote in his memoir. Carter also noted that Private J.G. Hawkes of Company
E, 1st Louisiana Cavalry, had his horse killed under him in the battle. He then
asked Captain A.C. Herndon, the quartermaster, to loan him his horse.
Herndon reluctantly did so, fearing his valuable horse would be killed. Sure
enough, the horse was killed and Hawkes was wounded and captured. That
night, while being led off on a mule by his captors, Hawkes managed to
escape and successfully returned to his unit. Hawkes, a native Englishman
amazed his comrades at his boldness in battle, having two horses killed under
him, being wounded, captured and escaping—all within a 24-hour period.
General Scott awarded Hawkes with a battlefield promotion to second
lieutenant.
           Scott reported that three of his men were killed, 10 wounded and 15
horses killed. Gober said in his report that he lost two men killed, eight
wounded and four missing, for the entire period from November 12 to the
20th. Lee said his total casualties in the Battle of Liberty were “about a dozen”
wounded, none killed.” He also claimed that they found three rebel officers
Federals in person. “The enemy sent out a regiment of cavalry, which we met
and handsomely repulsed. Moving on to Liberty we engaged their main body,
command by Brigadier General Lee in person, for near half an hour. The
skirmish was quite brisk, but we were compelled to fall back for want of
ammunition.” Lee, in his report, grossly over estimated Scott’s numbers at
800. He said the rebels were first repulsed and then advanced again and drove
in the bluecoat pickets. He noted that the rebels, “dismounted, and attacked
with desperation. “Our men, also dismounted, fought bravely. I brought into
action the section of the First Wisconsin Battery and opened with canister.
After a fight of something more than an hour the enemy were driven from
the field.” Gober wrote of the end of the battle, that soon after driving the
Federals from their positions at the houses, “. . . I was ordered to retire slowly
to my horses, mount, and move across the bridge three miles from town.”
           Scott commented that he had less than 300 men in the battle and the Yankees
had 1,200 and a battery of artillery. “I have never seen officers and men
behave with more gallantry than did Colonel Gober and Ogden and their
commands. In fact, it drew forth the astonishment and praise of the vandals
themselves who we were confronting,” Scott wrote.
            During the fighting, among the killed was 1st Lieutenant Olivier
Couvillion of Company G, 1st Louisiana Cavalry. “He was gallant and
efficient and his death was a severe loss to the regiment,” Lieutenant Carter
wrote in his memoir. Carter also noted that Private J.G. Hawkes of Company
E, 1st Louisiana Cavalry, had his horse killed under him in the battle. He then
asked Captain A.C. Herndon, the quartermaster, to loan him his horse.
Herndon reluctantly did so, fearing his valuable horse would be killed. Sure
enough, the horse was killed and Hawkes was wounded and captured. That
night, while being led off on a mule by his captors, Hawkes managed to
escape and successfully returned to his unit. Hawkes, a native Englishman
amazed his comrades at his boldness in battle, having two horses killed under
him, being wounded, captured and escaping—all within a 24-hour period.
General Scott awarded Hawkes with a battlefield promotion to second
lieutenant.
           Scott reported that three of his men were killed, 10 wounded and 15
horses killed. Gober said in his report that he lost two men killed, eight
wounded and four missing, for the entire period from November 12 to the
20th. Lee said his total casualties in the Battle of Liberty were “about a dozen”
wounded, none killed.” He also claimed that they found three rebel officers
proud and the cause of Southern Independence, for which they were fighting.
After the battle, Gober’s Regiment began scouting for the direction the
Federals were moving. “On the morning of the 19th Colonel Scott came up
with us at Hog Eye, and ordered me to move around to the north of Liberty
to the Brookhaven road and learn if the enemy had moved in that direction.
The morning of the 20th we were ordered to follow the enemy in direction of
Baton Rouge. The pursuit was kept up until next day about noon, when we
were ordered to move to Clinton from Keller’s Cross Roads,” he
concluded.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee

Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee
(Library of Congress)

Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee has had a profound influence on the Sons of Confederate Veterans that endures to this very day. Lee delivered his inspirational "Charge" to the group at the April 25, 1906 SCV Reunion at New Orleans, La. His "Charge" has been adopted as the mission statement of the organization, which is a living legacy that has guided generation after generation of SCV members. It reads:

To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the Cause for which we fought.  To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish.  Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations.

      At the time of its presentation, Lee was the commander-general of our parent organization, the United Confederate Veterans. Lee was born September 22, 1833 to Dr. Thomas Lee and Caroline Allison in Charleston, S.C. He was not closely related to General Robert E. Lee, but did find out later in life they did shared a common ancestor, Francis Lee, Stephen's third great-grandfather who was Lord Mayor of London in 1602. His parents had one other child, a daughter, but his mother died when he was about two-years-old. His father suffered a serious fever which impaired his health. The family then moved to Abbeville, S.C. where his father remarried to Elizabeth Cummings Humphreys in 1839. They couple were blessed with five children. 
      Lee received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. in 1850 and he graduated 17th out of a class of 46 in 1854. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in Company D, 4th U.S. Artillery and was stationed at Ringgold Barracks, near the Texas-Mexican border. In 1856 he was transferred with his battery to Florida where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1857. They chased Seminole Indians in the swamps and then, in October, 1857, the 4th Artillery was assigned to Fort Leavanworth, Kansas, where Lee served as post quartermaster. He was then assigned to Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory in May 1858 as the post treasurer. Lee next served at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory in June 1859 as where he served a quartermaster, commissary and ordnance officer. Two months after the secession of his native state, South Carolina, he resigned from the U.S. Army.
        Lee moved back to South Carolina and became a captain in the South Carolina state militia and was assigned to the staff of Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. Lee carried messages back and forth between Beauregard and Major Richard H. Anderson, the U.S. Army garrison commander at For t Sumter. Following the surrender of Fort Sumter, Lee managed to get a transfer into Hampton's Legion, commanding the artillery part of that unit. He missed the First Battle of Manassas, Virginia July 21, 1861, still being tied up with paper work in Charleston.
       When he got to Virginia, Lee drilled his battery thoroughly and it was ready for action Sept. 25, 1861 when it began dueling with Yankee gunboats on the Potomac River. He earned a promotion to major on November 8, 1861. In the Yorktown Peninsula Campaign of Spring 1862, Lee saw action with Hampton in Hood's Texas Brigade at the Battle of Eltham's Landing and received a promotion to lieutenant colonel two days later. In the Seven Days Campaign, June 26-28 and especially at the Battle of Malvern Hill July 1, 1862, Lee was recognized for his contribution in driving the enemy from the gates of Richmond. Gen. Robert E. Lee said of him, "Lee I think has no superior in service as an artillery officer and has great modesty, enterprise, gallantry and skill." He was promoted to full colonel July 9, 1862. 
      Lee proved his versatility when he took temporary command of the 4th Virginia Cavalry after the Seven Days, but that lasted only six weeks before he was back with the artillery. By August he was in command of an artillery battalion with Longstreet's Corps. Lee performed brilliantly at the Second Battle of Manassas where the great General Lee complimented Colonel Lee again, saying of his artillery, "You are just where I wanted you; stay there." Three weeks later, at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), Sept. 17, 1862, which Lee called "artillery hell," his artillery was crucial to repelling the repeated Yankee assaults. 
       After such outstanding performance in the heaviest combat thus far in the war, R.E. Lee personally recommended to President Davis that S.D. Lee be promoted to brigadier general, Nov. 6, 1862. Davis had a special assignment for the new young Gen. Lee, to help in the defense of the vital Confederate bastion on the Mississippi River, Vicksburg. He left for Vicksburg on Nov. 10, 1862, where he took command of a brigade of Louisiana Infantry, including the 17th, 26th, 27th and 28th regiments, and two batteries of light artillery. 
     Lee's finest performance in the War for Southern Independence may have been the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. The Confederate authorities in Vicksburg learned of  a major Federal attack at a Christmas Eve ball in the city, which Lee was also attending. Brigadier General Martin Luther Smith, the senior officer present, that a massive Yankee fleet was approaching the city on the Mississippi. He ordered all officers to immediately report to their commands. It was determined the most likely landing place would be Chickasaw Bluffs, just north of Vicksburg. General John C. Pemberton, commanding the district, was with the bulk of the army in Grenada, Miss. There were only about 2,700 Confederates at Vicksburg to fend off  Federal General William T. Sherman 30,000 man invasion force.
      Lee was given command in the field while Smith would stay in Vicksburg to send him reinforcements as soon as they arrived. He had his own brigade of Louisianians and reinforcements which eventually came to form a provisional division of about 12,000 men.  Lee immediately began entrenching on the Chickasaw Bluffs, about two miles inland from the river. The Chickasaw Bayou ran roughly parallel with the bluffs, forming a formidable defensive barrier for the Confederates. He also skillfully placed his artillery on the bluffs and with advance skirmishers, which included the Louisiana infantry. Among those units was Captain James W. Bryan's Company I, Calcasieu Tigers, of the 28th Louisiana Infantry. 
       The Federals landed on December 26 and on the 27th, skirmishing began. The 28th Louisiana and the 1st Mississippi Light Artillery, on the morning of December 28, held off an 8,000 man brigade of Yankees until about noon, when the 26th Louisiana gave them covering fire to retreat to the main defense line. On December 29, Sherman launched his main attack on the Chickasaw Bluffs, but every charge was driven back with heavy casualties for the northerners. Sherman lingered before the bluffs until January 3, and with Confederates being heavily reinforced and weather deteriorating, he ordered a withdrawal back to Memphis, Tenn. It may have been Sherman's worst defeat of the war, with 208 killed, 1005 wounded, and 563 wounded or missing fort total casualties of 1,776. The Confederates sustained 63 killed, 134 wounded and 10 missing for total casualties of 207. Lee had again proven himself  to be a masterful battlefield commander even against the Federal army's best troops and commander.
       Following the Chickasaw Bayou campaign, Lee manned part of the Vicksburg defenses with his expanded brigade. When Brigadier General Edward Tracy, was killed in action in the Battle of Port Hudson, May 1, 1863, Lee was given command of his Alabama brigade. He led the Alabamians creditably in the Battle of Champion's Hill on May 16, 1863, and then commanded the vital Railroad Redoubt defensive position in the Vicksburg defenses during the siege. The Railroad Redoubt was temporarily overrun by Federals in the May 22, 1863 assault, but was eventually repulsed in hand-to-hand fighting. Vicksburg was surrendered on July 4, 1863, and Lee was quickly paroled and given command over all the cavalry of the District of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. His command included Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who got along better with Lee than any other superior commander. The respect was mutual and produced real results. Forrest won one of his most significant victories, the Battle of Brice's Crossroad, while serving under Lee, although Lee was not present for the battle. Lee was promoted to lieutenant general soon after that battle. At age 30, he was the youngest man to attain that high level of command in the Confederate Army. He led the army at the Battle of Tupelo, Miss, but that battle was a disappointing loss.
      When Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood was given command of the Army of Tennessee in July, 1864, Lee was given command of Hood's old corps in that army. As a corps commander, Lee again excelled as one of the most dependable, reliable and competent in the army. He then took part in the famous battles of the Atlanta Campaign of 1864, including Ezra Church and Jonesboro. During the Franklin Campaign, his corps wasn't present for the failure in letting the retreating Yankee army escape from a Confederate trap at Spring Hill, Tennessee, which has caused endless controversy to this day. He did lead his corps in the Battle of Franklin on November 29, 1864, but only one of his division took part in the actual disastrous charge. In the followup Battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, the badly used up Confederate Army of Tennessee was nearly destroyed. The only thing that saved it from complete destruction was Lee's Corps, which maintained its cohesion and managed a fighting, rear-guard retreat that saved the rest of the army.
      The following January, Lee was married to Regina Lilly Harrison at her hometown of Columbus, Miss., which also became Lee's home in post-war years. They were blessed with one child, a boy, Blewett Harrison Lee. General Lee continued serving the Confederacy to the bitter end. Lee missed the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, although his  corps fought in it under the command of Lt. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill. He had rejoined his command in time for the Confederate surrender of the Army of Tennessee on April 26, 1865. Lee was paroled May 1 at Greensboro, N.C. and returned to his new home in Columbus, Miss. 
        Lee remained quietly at home in Mississippi farming during the Reconstruction Era, 1865-1877. He gave up on farming and tried his hand at selling insurance, but then was offered and accepted the presidency of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, newly created by the state legislature in 1880. He held this post for most of the rest of his life, although he was elected to the state senate and ran two unsuccessful campaigns for governor of Mississippi. He also served a member of the 1890 Mississippi State Constitutional Convention.

Lt. S.D. Lee statue,
Vicksburg NMP
(National Park Service)

      Lee was especially active in veterans affairs and making sure the true history of the South, and the Confederacy in particular, were taught in Southern schools. He was one of the founders of the United Confederate Veterans and served as the chairman of the very influential UCV historical committee. This committee was aggressive in its review of historical school text books and promoted histories of the Confederacy written by Confederate veterans and Southerners to counteract the negative Northern histories. 
        Lee was also instrumental in the creation of the Vicksburg National Military Park and served as the first president of the board of directors. He battled endlessly for a correct Confederate interpretation of that park and served on the board until then end of his life. Lee was also instrumental in the creation of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, promoted it, and gave it its "Charge." The direction that Lee set for it, is still the one that is the guiding light for the SCV until this very day. Lee is remembered at Vicksburg by a heroic statue and monument on the battlefield. The SCV honors him continually, and has named its academic arm, the Stephen Dill Lee Institute. He died on May 28, 1908 after giving a speech at Vicksburg. He is buried in Friendship  Cemetery in Columbus, Miss. His home in Columbus is now the Stephen D. Lee Home and Museum. The house was designated at historic landmark in 1971 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

--by Michael Jones, member of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Lake Charles, Louisiana.