The Chickamauga campaign was nothing but one lost opportunity after another for the Confederacy. Bragg squandered the opportunity to destroy the Union Army piecemeal in the mountain passes below Chattanooga. Another opportunity was wasted by not destroying the Union Army at Chickamauga after Longstreets's Corps split the enemy in half near the Brotherton cabin on September 20th. Instead Bragg wasted thousands of valuable men trying to destroy George H. Thomas. If he had been smart he would have left a small force to hold Thomas in place while he rode down the panic stricken Union Army scrambling into Chattanooga. The city would have been his without much of a fight. Nathan Bedford Forrest would question why Bragg even bothered to fight battles. Running down the routed Union Army is exactly what Forrest wanted to do and there was none better than he when it came to pursuing a defeated army. Brices Crossroads and Streights capture were great examples of this.
Although the North had won two great victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg Lincoln's political situation was tenuous. Many people in the North were not able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was still strong opposition to the war. Especially in the Midwest where there were many Democrat Copperheads. The loss of a whole army and the city of Chattanooga might have been a deadly political blow to Lincoln. Even with Bragg's ultimate defeat at Chattanooga Lincoln believed that he would not win reelection in 1864. Only the fall of Atlanta in September 1864 would insure a second term for Lincoln. Chickamauga would prove to be an empty Confederate victory producing thousands of needless casualties that the South could ill afford. Bragg would prove once again how incompetent he really was. He was the Souths version of George B. McClellan. As far as casualties Chickamauga was the second worst battle of the war. There were almost 40,000 men killed and wounded which included more than 18,000 Confederate casualties, and over 16,000 Union casualties. This included 2,312 killed, 14,674 wounded and 1,468 missing for the Confederacy. The Union had 1,657 killed, 9,756 wounded and 4,757 missing.
The Gettysburg Address - November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Lincoln once said that the three greatest influences on his life were the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. These things have been the greatest influence on my life. He understood, like Jefferson, that the Declaration recognized a truth that was established the day that man was created. That all men were created equal. Not in ability, or in appearance, but in the eyes of God. Although Jefferson believed this principle, he knew that he, and most of his fellow Americans were not ready to put this principle into practice when he wrote the Declaration in 1776. Lincoln realized that most American's were still not able to recognize this fact in 1863 but he understood what the war was really about. It was not only a fight to preserve the Union but a fight for human freedom. Lincoln expresses this thought with the following words.The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced
He was a visionary in that he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868 and the 15th Amendment in 1870 should have solved the problem, America, however; was not ready to accept the equality of all men as fact. Lincoln gave the address in 1863 but it would be just over 100 years later in 1964 and 65 before America was finally able to recognize the equality of all men. Even then many would be dragged kicking and screaming into accepting this reality. As Lincoln said the work is still unfinished but we have come a long long way. Many on the left will try to convince you that we haven't. The political left, more than anyone has hampered progress in this area. It is because the political left doesn't believe in the values that Jefferson and Lincoln believed in. Yes, I will say it. They are Communists and the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution are anathema to them. America has moved so far in the right direction that we were able to finally break the color barrier and elect our first Black president. Barack Obama on the other hand set us back many years by not appealing to our better angels as Lincoln said in in his first inaugural address. The community organizer-in-chief spoke Hope & Change but left a bitterly divided nation instead. The only hope that will provide real change is a return to the principles first acknowledged in our Declaration of Independence and later acknowledged by Lincoln at Gettysburg.
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| Lincolns visit to Gettysburg- Baltimore Street |
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| The only picture of Lincoln immediately after the speech |
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| During the Gettysburg Address |
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| The Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse off in the distance |
Lookout Mountain And Missionary Ridge - November 24, And 25, 1863
The Battle of Lookout Mountain exposes the incompetence of Braxton Bragg even further. When Hookers forces attacked Lookout Mountain on November 24, 1863, Bragg's men were outnumbered 6 to 1. This was because Bragg had sent Longstreet's men off to capture Knoxville prior to the battle. This campaign would end in complete disaster at the battle of Fort Sanders. In my view the real opportunity to capture Chattanooga was lost at Chickamauga. Bragg's position on Missionary Ridge should have been impregnable. U.S.Grant thought that it was impregnable. Several unforeseen factors contributed to the ultimate rout of Confederate forces. The Army of the Cumberland had been humiliated by their defeat at Chickamauga. Reinforcements had been rushed in from Sherman's Army of the Tennessee and two Corps from the Army of the Potomac which was to that point the greatest mass movement of troops by rail in American history. Just weeks before it had been the movement of Longstreet's Corp's from Virginia to reinforce Bragg in north Georgia that had been the largest.
The Army of the Cumberland resented having to be rescued at Chattanooga. These proud veterans were shamed by the taunts of their rescuers and the fact that Grant placed them in reserve for the upcoming battle. A painful reminder that he did not trust them to play a major role. There was much pent up rage in the Army of the Cumberland.The Army of the Potomac troops were used to capture Lookout Mountain and Sherman's Army of the Tennessee was used to attack Bragg's right. Sherman, however; ran headlong into Cleburne's Division and was stopped cold. Grant ordered George Thomas, who was the commander of the Army of the Cumberland to occupy the Confederate rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge on November 25th. They were to go no further than the rifle pits. Thomas's troops followed orders and took the rifle pits but this placed them in an untenable position. They could not remain there because they were exposed to fire from the Confederate line that was directly above them on the mountain. Their only options were to retreat or advance. If they advanced they would be disobeying orders. After the shame of Chickamauga they weren't about to retreat. Without orders, and filled with rage, they scrambled straight up the mountain. The Confederate Army could not fire at the Yankees because their skirmishers had just vacated the rifle pits and were a few feet ahead of them. They were afraid of hitting their own men.
Confederate engineers had made a mistake in the placement of the Confederate trenches. There is an actual crest of a mountain and then there is the military crest. Engineers mistakenly placed the trenches on the actual crest. The military crest would have placed the trenches lower on the mountain which would have enabled the Confederate troops to see the Yankees all the way up the mountain. Being on the actual crest there were blind spots and the Yankees were on top of them before they had a chance to react. The combination of rage, not being able to fire for fear of hitting their own men, and bad engineering combined to cause the complete rout of the Confederate Army. Missionary Ridge was one of the worst defeats ever suffered by an army on either side during the war. The fall of Chattanooga opened the deep South to invasion and catapulted Ulysses S. Grant into command of all Union forces. The casualties at Lookout Mountain were 408 Union soldiers and 1,251 Confederate, which included 1,064 captured and missing. At Missionary Ridge the Union suffered 5,153 casualties. Six hundred and sixty four killed, 4,251 wounded and 238 captured. The south had 6,667 casualties. Three hundred and sixty one killed, 2,160 wounded, and 4,146 men captured.
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| Hookers assault on Lookout Mountain |
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| Lookout Mountain from Chattanooga |
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| Union troops raising Old Glory over Lookout Mountain |
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| Point Park |
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| Point Lookout |
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| A Union band on Point Lookout |
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| Russell Qualls |
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| Melanie Segroves at Lookout Mountain |
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| My wife Debbie on our honeymoon - July 1968 |
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| Me on our honeymoon July 1968 |
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| Russell Qualls |
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| Grant and his staff on Lookout Mountain |
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| The same view as above |
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| Souvenir shops on Lookout Mountain - This picture belonged to my wife's grandmother Grace Brown |
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| Grant and Thomas on Orchard Knob |
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| Orchard Knob |
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| A Kansas Regiments assault on Missionary Ridge |
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| From Missionary Ridge |
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| The position that Sherman attacked |
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| Cleburne's stand |
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| Captured Confederate cannon |
Andersonville
On June 30, 2001 we took a trip down to the gulf coast for a summer vacation. On the way we visited the site of the Andersonville prison or as the Confederates called it Camp Sumter. There is also a POW museum there that describes prison conditions for American POW's in all of our wars. Prisoners began to arrive at Andersonville in February 1864. They were kept there until the war ended in April 1865. Prison camps in both the North and South began to open after the prisoner exchange system broke down. This was because the South refused to except Black Union prisoners. Additionally Grant realized that released prisoners returned to the ranks of the Southern army and he believed that attrition was the path to winning the war.
The camp was designed for about 10,000 prisoners but during July and August 1864 almost 32,000 prisoners crowded into a four acre compound. Forty five thousand prisoners were eventually signed on to the the camp rolls. There was a fetid stream that flowed through the middle of the camp that was used for both a latrine and drinking water. Originally the Confederates intended to build barracks in order to house the prisoners but the rising cost of lumber deterred them from building them. Prisoners were forced to build makeshift shelters out of wood or blankets. If a soldier was captured and his personal equipment like blankets, canteens, shoes, coats and knapsacks were stolen by the Confederates their chances of survival at Andersonville was greatly diminished. There was virtually no way to replace these items in captivity.
Disease was the greatest killer during the Civil War and was an even greater killer in captivity. In less than a year and a half over thirteen thousand men died at Andersonville. After the draft began in 1863 criminals found their way into the Union Army. These thugs were named the Raiders and preyed on the weaker soldiers. Theystole from them and sometimes murdered them. Eventually a group of soldiers called the Regulators began to fight back and with the camp commandants permission rounded up these criminals and tried them. Six were condemned to death and hung. They are buried separately from the others. The others were punished severely.
Robert H. Kellogg, sergeant major in the 16th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, described his entry as a prisoner into the prison camp, May 2, 1864:
As we entered the place, a spectacle met our eyes that almost froze our blood with horror, and made our hearts fail within us. Before us were forms that had once been active and erect;—stalwart men, now nothing but mere walking skeletons, covered with filth and vermin. Many of our men, in the heat and intensity of their feeling, exclaimed with earnestness. "Can this be hell?" "God protect us!" and all thought that he alone could bring them out alive from so terrible a place. In the center of the whole was a swamp, occupying about three or four acres of the narrowed limits, and a part of this marshy place had been used by the prisoners as a sink, and excrement covered the ground, the scent arising from which was suffocating. The ground allotted to our ninety was near the edge of this plague-spot, and how we were to live through the warm summer weather in the midst of such fearful surroundings, was more than we cared to think of just then.
When I first saw the Andersonville National Cemetery it was breathtaking. There was virtually no room between the headsones. Men died of starvation, abuse and disease. Henry Wirtz, the camp commandant was executed for war crimes at the end of the war. There is no doubt that he was negligent to some degree but he was also a victim of circumstance. The South couldn't feed it's own people much less Union prisoners. Almost as many Confederates died in Northern prisons as died in Southern prisons. At least the South could argue that they could not properly care for their prisoners but the North did not have that excuse. Their population and troops were well fed and clothed throughout the war. They had the means to properly feed and care for Confederate troops. They died, however; from starvation, disease, exposure to the harsh Northern winter weather and physical abuse.
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| Execution of the Raiders |
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| The graves of the Raiders that were hung |
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| My grandson Connor at the POW museum |
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| Andersonville stockade |
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| Connor and myself in the stocks |
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| Connor |
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| Myself, Connor and my granddaughter Courtney |
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| The spring house |
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| Notice the orbs in the picture |
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| Andersonville National Cemetery |
Grants Overland Campaign - The Battle Of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg - May 5, 1864 through April 2, 1865.
From the end of the battle of Gettysburg until May of 1864, a period of about ten months, incredibly the Army of Northern Virginia was left virtually unmolested by the Army of the Potomac. Most military action occurred in the western theater. Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Besides the fact that Lee's raid into Pennsylvania was turned back the major gain by the North after Gettysburg was that Lee was never able to go on the offensive again. He would have to defend Richmond from within the boundaries of Virginia. What Lee didn't know was that the war was about to change. Richmond would no longer be the target. Lee and his army would become the target. The desire to defend Richmond would be used against him. His army would waste away defending it and this is how Grant would win the war.
Lee thought Grant would be like all the others that had been sent against him in the past. He thought that he would be able to get into Grants head. Grant was much different. After taking overall command of all Union armies he told Meade that his main job was to follow Lee wherever he went. Give him no rest.. There would be no respite, no weeks and months to refit, heal, and replenish Lee's army or any other Confederate army for that matter. Grant would apply equal pressure in both east and west. There would be no more transferring of troops from a non threatened point to a threatened point. This happened when Lee transferred Longstreet's Corps to Georgia in order to reinforce Bragg in September 1863. Lincoln saw this grand strategy to win the war long before anyone else. He could never get his generals to see it until Grant came along. From May 1864 until April 1865 there would be no respite in the war. In the month of May 1864 alone Grant would lose more men than Lee had in his whole army.
Evidence of Grants change in strategy came just after his defeat in the battle of the Wilderness when he headed south instead of north. James McPherson in his book Battle Cry of Freedom describes the boost in morale of the men of the Army of the Potomac this way. (But instead of heading north, they turned south. A mental sunburst brightened their minds. It was not another "Chancellorsville ... another skedaddle" after all. "Our spirits rose," recalled one veteran who remembered this moment as a turning point in the war. Despite the terrors of the past three days and those to come, "we marched free. The men began to sing." For the first time in a Virginia campaign the Army of the Potomac stayed on the offensive after its initial battle).The war had begun with men shooting each other down out in the open and with little protection. As the war progressed and because of the deadly accuracy of the rifled musket men began hiding behind breastworks. By the end of the war a Civil War battlefield looked more like a WW1 battlefield. Men fought from trenches with overlapping fields of fire. abatis, and Cheval de frise. A frontal assault on these formidable defenses was pure suicide. Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Kennesaw Mountain were perfect examples of this point.
One of my favorite quotes from the war was when a hysterical Union officer approached Grant during the battle of the Wilderness. He said "General Grant, this is a crisis that cannot be looked upon too seriously. I know Lee's methods well by past experience ; he will throw his whole army between us and the Rapidan, and cut us off completely from our communications." The general rose to his feet, took his cigar out of his mouth, turned to the officer, and replied, with a degree of animation which he seldom manifested : "Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do." The officer retired rather crestfallen, and without saying a word in reply.
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| Grant being cheered by his troops for heading South instead of retreating after his defeat in the Wilderness |
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| Spotsylvania oak tree in July 2019 |
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| July 2019 |
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| Spot where the oak tree stood on the battlefield |
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| Where the oak tree stood |
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| Spotsylvania |
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| Spotsylvania |
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| Lee's final line |
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| Lee's final line |
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| Spotsylvania |
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| The dead at Petersburg |
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| Dead Confederate at Petersburg |
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| Dead Confederate boy of about 14 at Petersburg |
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| The battle of the Crater |
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| The entrance to the tunnel that the charge was placed in |
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| The battle of the Crater |
The Atlanta Campaign - May 7th Through September 2, 1864
Joseph E. Johnston was appointed commander of the Army of Tennessee after Bragg's defeat at Missionary Ridge. The strategy that he employed against Sherman was a Fabian strategy. I like Wikipedia's definition of Fabian warfare. Wikipedia defines the Fabian strategy this way. Fabian strategy is a military strategy where pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favor of wearing down an opponent through a war of attrition and indirection. While avoiding decisive battles, the side employing this strategy harasses its enemy through skirmishes to cause attrition, disrupt supply and affect morale. Employment of this strategy implies that the side adopting this strategy believes time is on its side, but it may also be adopted when no feasible alternative strategy can be devised. Wikipedia continues on to say Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, the dictator of the Roman Republic was given the task of defeating the great Carthaginian general Hannibal.
Washington in the American Revolution along with the North Vietnamese employed this strategy and were successful. Although Johnston is not one of my favorite generals his Fabian approach to warfare gave the Confederacy a greater chance for success than the offensive defensive strategy employed by Lee and other Southern commanders. Who knows? If Jefferson Davis had not relieved Johnston and replaced him with Hood Lincoln's chances at re-election in 1864 might have been diminished in November. Even Lincoln doubted that he would be re-elected. Based on Johnston's movements to that point there is no guarantee that he would have held Atlanta until after the election. At least Johnston wouldn't have destroyed the Army of Tennessee as Hood did in four fruitless battles in and around Atlanta. Sherman's March to the Sea would have have been much more difficult with an intact Army of Tennessee countering his every move.
Sherman was very happy with Davis's choice of Hood as a replacement. Although the North was on the move by the Summer of 1864 there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Grant would become stalemated at Petersburg after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Sherman had made more progress but it appeared that he was facing a stalemate outside of Atlanta. War weariness was setting in. The fall of Atlanta on September 1st was the light at the end of the tunnel. He wired Lincoln "Atlanta is ours and fairly won". Lincoln was insured election over the peace candidate McClellan. The war would now be pressed to a successful conclusion. After four months of fighting the Atlanta campaign produced 37000 Union and 32,000 Confederate casualties.
On March 24th 2021 we had the opportunity to visit the Brices Crossroads battlefield 20 miles north of Tupelo Mississippi. I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to visit almost every major battlefield of the Civil War. Brices Crossroads, or Tishomongo Creek, was on my "Bucket List" and I was able to check this one off. My bucket list has a few more battlefields that I would like to visit before I die. Wilson's Creek Missouri, Fishing Creek, or Mill Springs Kentucky, and the battle of Perryville Kentucky just to name a few. Although Nathan Bedford Forrest was a very flawed man, and some could even argue, an evil man with justification, you have to admit to his tactical brilliance in this battle. This battle is still studied in military academies all over the world.
Sherman opened his Spring campaign to capture Atlanta in early May 1864 from the environs of Chattanooga. The Nashville and Chattanooga railroad was one of Sherman's lifelines that had to be protected at all hazards. Forrest set out in late May from Mississippi with his cavalry to fall upon the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad in order to destroy it. He was forced to abandon this plan when Sherman ordered Union General Samuel Sturgis down from Memphis with a large force of cavalry and infantry to attack northern Mississippi. Forrest planned to confront Sturgis at Brices Crossroads although he was outnumbered 2 to 1. Sturgis's men were equipped with the latest weapons, which included Spencer repeating rifles. Forrest's men were mostly raw recruits armed with single shot carbines and pistols. Forrest would train and equip his units using his own money and higher ranking Confederate generals had a bad habit of incorporating these trained veterans into their own units. This usually happened right before Forrest had to fight a major campaign. Forrest was nearly bankrupt by the end of the war having to use his own money to raise and equip his men. Which makes his victories all the more remarkable.
Sturgis planned to use his cavalry to engage Forrest first at the crossroads and bring up his infantry as reinforcements. Forrest incorporated the weather into his battle plan. In June Mississippi is stifling hot. He planned to defeat the Union cavalry before the infantry could arrive on the scene which he was able to do through both frontal and flank attacks. He knew that the Union infantry would be frantically trying to rush to the front over a long distance in the heat and would be exhausted by the time that they arrived on the battlefield, which is exactly what happened. The Union also brought along a wagon train of 250 wagons that clogged up the roads.
Forrest posted artillery along Log Cabin Ridge and raked the Union troops with cannister and shrapnel shells. Burning wagons blocked the narrow Tishomongo Creek bridge causing a bottleneck that blocked the retreat of panic stricken white and black troops. They were having to swim and wade across the creek under heavy fire causing many casualties. Forrest chased Sturgis's retreating army all the way back to Memphis capturing men, weapons and much needed supplies along the way. Forrest captured 16 artillery pieces, 176 wagons and 1,500 stands of small arms at a cost of 96 men killed and 396 wounded. Union troops, suffered 223 killed, 394 wounded and 1,623 missing. The losses were a deep blow to the black regiment under Sturgis's command. In the hasty retreat, they stripped off commemorative badges that read "Remember Fort Pillow" to avoid angering the Confederate forces who were pursuing them.
I am in no way trying to justify Forrest's excesses in regard to his treatment of black troops, especially at Fort Pillow, but there was no man any more racist than William Tecumseh Sherman. He hated black troops and would not allow them to serve directly under his command. Sherman would only allow them to serve in rear areas such as guarding bridges and railroads. Or doing manual labor. He would only allow them to serve in combat under a subordinate such as Samuel Sturgis or George H. Thomas, but not under his direct command. The following is a direct quote from Sherman about black soldiers. "I like niggers well enough as niggers, but when fools and idiots try and make niggers better than ourselves, I have an opinion".
Although Brices Crossroads was Forrest's finest hour and a great tactical victory, strategically it did not alter or slow the progress of the Union in ultimately winning the war. Sherman was able to accomplish his goal of keeping Forrest away from the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. Sherman would eventually send several more military expeditions into Mississippi in the attempt to kill Forrest or keep him tied up. He offered his commanders a 10,000 dollar bounty, which was a huge amount of money in those days, if they could kill that "Devil Forrest" and and earn an automatic promotion. Nobody ever earned the money or a promotion because Forrest survived the war but these forays into Mississippi were successful in keeping Forrest away from Sherman's supply lines.
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| The crossroads |
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| The Tishomongo Creek bridge as Forrest's artillery men saw it from Log Cabin Ridge on June 10th 1864 |
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| Log Cabin Ridge from Tishomongo Creek |
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| Tishomongo Creek bridge |
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| A similar bridge during the Civil War |
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| Tishomongo Creek |
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| Russell Qualls with his granny Debbie Segroves |
The Battle of Franklin - November 30, 1864
The battle of Franklin is generally considered a defeat of the Confederate Army by historians but in a purely tactical sense it was a victory for them. That is because the Union Army retreated to Nashville and left the Confederates in possession of the battlefield during the early morning hours of December 1st . Like the British, who could also claim a victory at Bunker Hill, it was a very costly one. The Confederates lost 7,000 casualties as opposed to the Federal Army's 3,000. This was in a space of about five and one half hours. And mostly at night. Night battles were rare in the Civil War. Franklin was one of it's bloodiest battles. There are personal accounts that say that the blood was ankle deep near the Carter House. Franklin was a battle that in theory should have never happened. Confederate General John Bell Hood was crazy to order a frontal assault against entrenchments manned with men armed with rifled muskets that had an effective range of 300 yards. This was nearly the equivalent of a frontal assault in WW1 against entrenchments manned with machine gun nests. Add artillery to the mix and you have a bloodbath.
In retrospect, however; unforeseen circumstances occurred during the battle. Circumstances similar to what happened at Missionary Ridge for the Union. Missionary Ridge should have been a defeat for the Union. The Confederate position, like the Union position at Franklin, should have been impregnable. These unforeseen circumstances worked in the Unions favor but the unforeseen circumstances at Franklin did not work in the Confederates favor for two reasons. Friction primers and Union general Emerson Opdyke. Ironically Opdyke's Brigade had been the first unit to reach the summit of Missionary Ridge. A young Lieutenant by the name of Arthur MacArthur of the 24th Wisconsin regiment earned the Medal of Honor carrying the colors to the top of Missionary Ridge. His son Douglas would also be awarded the Medal of Honor after the fall of the Phillipines in WW2. In my opinion Arthur's was well deserved and his sons was not. Arthur MacArthur would nearly be killed at Franklin.
Opdyke commanded a brigade under Union General George Wagner. His brigades were the rearguard of the Union Army on the night of November 29th and the morning of 30th 1864. The men had gone without sleep or food for many hours and were hungry and exhausted. Many historians have accused Wagner of being drunk. Instead of posting his men in the Union entrenchments in the main line he posted them in an exposed position hundreds of yards out in front. Others believed that Wagner wasn't drunk at all but just simply obeying orders from the Army commander General Schofield. Whichever was the case Opdyke considered Wagner's position untenable and disobeyed orders. He moved his brigade to a position a few hundred yards behind the Carter House and the center of the Union line. As it turned out Opdykes insubordination put his brigade in a position to ultimately win the battle.
Much has been written about Pickett's Charge where 15,000 Confederate soldiers charged across one mile of open ground into an almost impregnable Union position on Cemetery Ridge. Prior to this charge there had been a Confederate preparatory artillery bombardment of 150 guns. The largest bombardment ever on the North American continent. There were 18,000 Confederate soldiers at Franklin, however; that charged across two miles of open ground into entrenchments with virtually no artillery support. This charge is a distant second to Pickett's Charge in the history books. As the Confederate Army marched toward what many thought was certain death they encountered Wagner's exposed brigades. Vastly outnumbered Wagner's troops set out on the run back toward the Union main line near the Carter House with the rebels right on their heels. This created a major dilemma for the Union soldiers in the main Union line. They could not fire on the advancing rebel infantry for fear of hitting their own men. As a result the Confederates punched a hole through the Union line at the Columbia Pike and captured a battery of four guns. These guns were turned on the fleeing Yankee's. The Confederates could have won the battle then and there but for one unfortunate circumstance. Nobody thought to bring friction primers in order to fire the captured cannons. Normally soldiers were tasked to have them on hand for just such a moment but no one thought to bring them and the captured guns were of no use to the rebels.
Opdyke's Brigade had been cooking their first meal for many hours in the rear when they heard all of the commotion around the Carter House. Angry because they had to leave their meal and they were being denied rest Opdykes brigade slammed into the charging Confederates plugging the hole in the Union line. Men fought at close quarters hand to hand smashing heads with rifle butts, shovels, pick axes or anything they could get their hands on. This is when the battle stalemated and the Confederates suffered lopsided casualties from this point on. Six field generals were killed including one of the South's best. General Patrick Cleburne. Although the Confederate Army would go on to fight bravely at Nashville Franklin decimated the army in a way that it could never recover from. John Bell Hood, by advancing into Tennessee was trying out Lee's old strategy of invading Northern territory in an attempt to draw the enemy out. Such as Lee's Maryland and Pennsylvania campaigns earlier in the war. The only problem was Grant and Sherman weren't McClellan and Meade. John Bell Hood was no Robert E. Lee.
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| The kitchen 5-24-20 |
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| Russell Qualls pointing to bullet holes in the kitchen 5-24-20 |
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| Looking toward the room where Tod Carter died 5-24-20 |
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| Russell Qualls 5-24-20 |
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| Farm office on 5-24-20 |
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| Russell Qualls pointing to bullet holes on 5-24-20 |
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| Bullet holes from inside the farm office |
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| Russell Qualls on 5-24-20 |
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| Looking toward the Carter House from inside the farm office 5-24-20 |
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| Smoke House 5-24-20 with Russell Qualls |
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| My grandson Russell Qualls at the smoke house 5-24-20 |
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| Russell Qualls standing in the same spot as a Union infantryman guarding the Carter House |
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| My grandson Russell Qualls pointing toward the bullet that almost hit a Union infantryman |
The Battle Of Nashville - December 15, 16, 1864
Stanley Horn, a local historian, wrote a book called the Decisive Battle of Nashville. I have read this book several times and I agree with Horn. The battle of Nashville was one of the most decisive battles of the Civil War. There were bigger and costlier battles in terms of casualties during the Civil War but few battles achieved as much for the Union and were more devastating to the Confederate cause. There were two main armies that defended the Confederacy. The Army of Northern Virginia that basically defended the Confederate capital at Richmond. For the most part it operated in the 100 mile radius between Washington and Richmond. The Army of Tennessee was tasked with defending the Heartland of the Confederacy. An area the size of Western Europe. Tennessee, northern Georgia, northern Alabama, and northern Mississippi. Basically the area between the Appalachian mountains to the east and the Mississippi river to the west.
Union Major General George H. Thomas smashed the Confederate Army at Nashville and destroyed it's effectiveness for the remainder of the war. In my opinion, however; Thomas was never really appreciated by Grant and his circle of generals for what he actually accomplished at Nashville. Or for his past accomplishments. In my view Thomas was the best field general produced by the Union Army during the war. I also have much respect for the average Southern soldier who fought to the end at Nashville in spite of the fact that they knew in their heart that they were fighting for a lost cause. They gave it their all and at least a third of the army was barefoot during one of the coldest winters on record. Finally Nashville was the place where Black Union troops displayed incredible bravery. They suffered more casualties than their White brothers in arms at Nashville. Primarily in their attack on Lunette Granbury on December 15 and on Peach Orchard Hill the following day December 16, 1864. Union casualties were 3,061 of which 387 were killed and 2, 558 were wounded. Confederate casualties were 6,000 of which 1,500 were killed and wounded. Over 4,500 were captured and missing. The Union Army had 70,000 troops of which 55,000 were combat troops against 25,000 Confederate troops.
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| Stanley Horn |
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| Kelly's Point / Bells Bend |
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| Kelly's Point / Bells Bend |
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| USS Carondelet |
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| USS Fairplay |
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| USS Neosho |
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| Lunette Granbury |
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| Lunette Granbury |
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| Lunette Granbury |
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| The railroad cut |
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| Redoubt 1 |
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| Redoubt 1 |
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| Redoubt 1 |
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| Looking toward Redoubt 2 |
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| Redoubt 3 |
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| Colonel Sylvestor Hill |
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| The death of Colonel Sylvestor Hill |
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| Redoubt 4 marker |
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| Redoubt 4 |
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| Redoubt 4 |
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| Peach Orchard Hill in the late 1800's |
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| Peach Orchard Hill |
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| United States Colored Infantry monument at the National Cemetery on Gallatin Rd. |
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| USCT soldier |
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| USCT soldiers section |
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| The Bradford House |
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| Stewarts Line |
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| Stewarts Line |
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| Stewarts line |
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| Minnesota Regiments attack on Shy's Hill |
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| Minnesota State Capital sitting room where the battle of Nashville mural now resides |
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| Shy's Hill in the late 1800's |
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| Shy's Hill late 1800's |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| The Minnesota monument in Nashville's National cemetery |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| Shy's Hill |
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| A young picture of Colonel Shy |
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| Colonel Shy |
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| Colonel Shy's casket |
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| The Battle of Nashville peace monument's old location at the intersection of Thompson Lane and Franklin Rd. |
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| The New location of the Peace monument on Granny White Pike |
Appomattox Court House Virginia, April 9, 1865
When you ask most people where the war ended they will say at Appomattox. Appomattox, however; was only the beginning of the end. What was left of the Army of Tennessee wouldn't surrender until April 26th at Durham North Carolina and Nathan Bedford Forrest would surrender on May 9th. The last battle of the Civil War, Palmito Ranch, was fought near Brownsville Texas on May 12 and 13, 1865. It was a Confederate victory. The last person killed in the Civil War was believed to be Union Private John J. Williams of the 34th Indiana Infantry regiment. In essence the war did end at Appomattox because Lee was the South's most successful general, and it's George Washington.
The American Civil War was a bloodbath because it was a family fight. Family fights are always the worse. A police officer is in more danger of being killed answering a domestic call than any other kind of call. Our Civil War had the potential for being even bloodier than it was. Lincoln's biggest fear, and the thing that kept him up nights was the fear that Robert E. Lee, Joseph E.Johnston, or Nathan Bedford Forrest would keep the fight going and fight to the death. He was afraid that they might head for the mountains and break up into guerrilla bands. If this had happened we might still be fighting the Civil War today. Or it could have created a legacy of hatred that this nation could never have overcome. Lincoln in my view had a Christlike vision of how he wanted the war to end. He did not want anybody executed for treason or imprisoned. As far as the leaders of the rebellion like Jefferson Davis he just hoped that they would leave the country. He told Grant and Sherman to "Let them up easy".
The story of Appomattox is an amazing story for me personally. Two armies and their leaders were able to end one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history without further bloodshed and reprisals. The South simply laid down it's arms and went home. Robert E. Lee was a great general but his finest years were the last years of his life from 1865 until 1870. During this time he dedicated his life to restoring the Union by encouraging his men and the Southern people to repair the breach caused by the Civil War. He did this by encouraging them to become good American citizens. Lee would apply for citizenship himself but his application was not discovered until the 1970's. His American citizenship would be restored by an Act of Congress in 1975. The way we ended our Civil War would carry over to the way that we treated Japan and Germany at the end of WW2. We let them up easy. America spent millions restoring war ravaged Germany and Japan. These countries transformed from two militaristic and feudal autocratic regimes into two of the worlds greatest democracies. I like to think that the legacy of Appomattox plays a big part in how we end our wars and reflects well on our national character.
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| A picture taken of several friends through a bullet hole at the Carter House farm office |
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