The Lone Star Defenders 23

The Lone Star Defenders 23

Approaching Macon from the south I crossed Noxubee River, spanned by

a splendid covered bridge, and noticed that it was so filled with

tinder that it easily might be fired if the Federal troops should come

in sight. As I rode into the town and halted to make some inquiries,

quite a number of citizens gathered around me to learn who I was,

and ask for the news. One sympathetic old gentleman, seeing that my

hands were bare and cold, stepped up and presented me with a pair of

gloves. I found that the citizens were scared and excited, as they were

situated between Sherman and his cavalry. I endeavored to allay their

uneasiness, and advised them not to burn the bridge, even if the enemy

should appear, as that would only cause a temporary delay, and would be

a serious loss to the town and country. From this they concluded I was

a spy in the interest of the enemy, as I learned later, and for a day

or two my every movement was closely watched.

 

I now put up my horse, found my couriers, repaired to the telegraph

office, and informed the operator of my instructions. I spent most of

the time in the telegraph office, when late at night the operator told

me of the suspicion that I was a spy, and that he had cleared it up by

asking General Jackson over the wires who I was. After this, while on

this duty, I was treated with great kindness.

 

General Jackson now moved up to re-enforce General Forrest, and

I rejoined the command as it passed Macon. We moved up as far as

Starkville, but, learning that the enemy’s cavalry had been driven

back, we returned to the vicinity of Meridian. As was expected, General

Sherman began falling back towards Vicksburg, we following him.

Arriving at Canton, Sherman, taking an escort, returned to Vicksburg,

leaving his army to follow in command of General MacPherson. Under

his command the Federal army moved without straggling and without

further depredations. We learned from this improved condition of army

discipline to respect MacPherson, and regretted to learn of his being

killed in battle in front of Atlanta in July.

 

It was as the enemy returned on this trip that a battalion of Federal

cavalry passed through Kosciusko, and their commander played a

practical joke on the Union merchants there. These merchants, when they

learned the Federals were coming, closed their doors and met them in

the outskirts of town, and were loud in their assertions of loyalty to

the Union. The officer asked them if they had done anything for the

Union they loved so much. “No,” said they, “we have had no opportunity

of doing anything, being surrounded by rebels as we are.” “Well,” said

the officer, “we’ll see. Maybe I can give you a chance to do a little

something for the Union.” Moving on uptown he found the rebels with

open doors, and, in riding round, he would ask them why they had not

closed up. They answered that they were so-called rebels, and were at

the mercy of him and his men, and if their houses were to be plundered

they did not wish the doors broken, and so they would offer no

resistance. He placed guards in all the open doors, with instructions

to permit no one to enter; then turning to his men, he told them if

they could find anything they wanted in the houses that were closed, to

help themselves, which they did. And thus an opportunity was given the

“loyal” proprietors to do something for the Union.

 

Ross’ brigade returned to Benton on the 28th of February, and was in

the act of going into camps at Ponds, four miles down the plank road

towards Yazoo City, when a squadron of negro cavalry from the city came

in sight. General Ross ordered detachments of the Sixth and Ninth Texas

to charge them. The negroes after the first fire broke in disorder and

ran for dear life. The negro troops, a short time previous to this,

had caught and murdered two of the Sixth Texas, and as these fellows

were generally mounted on mules very few of them got back inside the

breastworks, these few being mostly the white officers, who were better

mounted than the negroes. Among the killed along the road was found a

negro that belonged to Charley Butts, of Company B, he having run away

to join the First Mississippi Colored Cavalry.

 

On the evening of March 4 Brigadier-General Richardson, with his

brigade of West Tennessee Cavalry, joined General Ross for the purpose

of assisting in driving the enemy from Yazoo City, which is situated

on the east bank of Yazoo River. The city with its surroundings was

occupied by a force of about 2000 white and negro troops, commanded

by Colonel James H. Coats, supported by three gunboats. About eight

o’clock on the morning of March 5, 1864, the city was attacked by Ross’

and Richardson’s brigades, Brigadier-General L. S. Ross in command.

Our fighting strength was about 1300 men, with two or three batteries;

but as we dismounted to fight, taking out the horse-holders, every

fourth man, this would reduce our fighting strength to about 1000 men.

The enemy had the advantage of several redoubts and rifle-pits, the

main central redoubt being situated on the plank road leading from

Benton to Yazoo City. We fought them nearly all day, and at times the

fighting was terrific. With the Third Texas in advance we drove in

their pickets and took possession of all the redoubts but the larger

central one. This one was in command of Major George C. McKee, of the

Eleventh Illinois Regiment with nine companies: about four companies of

the Eighth Louisiana negro regiment; Major Cook, with part of his First

Mississippi negro cavalry, the same that had murdered the two Sixth

Texas men; and one piece of artillery. The Third and Ninth Texas and

Fourteenth Tennessee cavalry found themselves confronting this redoubt.

Two of our batteries were placed so as to obtain an enfilading fire

at easy range, and threw many shells into the redoubt, but failed to

drive the enemy out. In the meantime General Richardson, with the rest

of his brigade, the Sixth Texas and the Legion, drove the remainder

of the enemy’s forces entirely through the city to the protection of

their gunboats, and gained possession of the entire place except one

or two brick warehouses near the bank of the river, behind which their

troops had huddled near the gunboats. The Sixth Texas and Legion took

position on the plank road in rear of the large redoubt, and thus at

four o’clock in the afternoon we had it entirely surrounded, we being

in front some 150 yards distant. At this juncture General Ross sent

Major McKee a flag of truce and demanded an unconditional surrender.

The firing ceased and the matter was parleyed over for some time. The

first message was verbal, and Major McKee declined to receive it unless

it was in writing. It was then sent in writing, and from the movements

we could see, we thought they were preparing to surrender. But they

refused, owing perhaps to the fact that General Ross declined to

recognize the negro troops as soldiers; and how they would have fared

at the hands of an incensed brigade of Texas troops after they had

murdered two of our men in cold blood was not pleasant to contemplate.

As for the negro troops,—well, for some time the fighting was under

the black flag—no quarter being asked or given. Retaliation is one of

the horrors of war, when the innocent are often sacrificed for the

inhuman crimes of the mean and bloodthirsty.

 

The parley in reference to surrendering being at an end, little more

firing was indulged in, as both parties seemed to have grown tired of

shooting at each other. The troops were under the impression that we

were to assault the redoubt, but instead of doing so we quietly retired

just before nightfall, and returned to our camp on the Benton road.

This was explained by General Ross in his report in this way: “To have

taken the place by assault would have cost us the loss of many men,

more, we concluded, than the good that would result from the capture

of the enemy would justify.” Our loss in this engagement was: Ross’

brigade, 3 killed and 24 wounded; Richardson’s brigade, 2 killed and 27

wounded; total, 56. The enemy reported: 31 killed, 121 wounded, and 31

missing; total, 183.

 

Among our severely wounded was John B. Long, of Company C. Early in the

day, ten o’clock perhaps, he was shot down on the skirmish line and was

carried off the field and the word came down the line: “John B. Long

is killed.—John B. Long is killed.” This was heard with many regrets,

as he was a favorite soldier in the command. This report was regarded

as true by all of us at the front, until we returned to our camp. The

next morning I found him in Benton, wounded in the head; unconscious,

but not dead, and he is not dead to this day (August, 1899). The next

morning all the enemy’s forces left Yazoo City, and again Ross’ brigade

was regarded as an aggregation of great heroes by these good people.

 

One morning while we were camped in this neighborhood, one of the

boys came to me with an invitation to visit a lady residing between

our camps and Benton. She wished to see me because I had lived in

Huntsville, Ala. When I called I found Mrs. Walker, daughter-in-law of

General L. P. Walker, of Huntsville. She was a beautiful young woman,

bright, educated and refined, easy and self-possessed in manner, and

a great talker. She lived with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson, her

husband being in the army. Mrs. Walker was an enthusiastic friend of

the brigade, and would not admit that they had ever done anything

wrong, and contended that, inasmuch as they had defended the city

and county so gallantly, anything they needed or wanted belonged to

them, and the taking it without leave was not theft. And this was the

sentiment of many of these people.

 

For the remaining days of March we occupied practically the same

territory we had been guarding from the fall of Vicksburg. On or about

the last of March General Ross sent Colonel Dudley W. Jones, in command

of the Third and Ninth Texas regiments, to attack the outpost of the

force at Snyder’s Bluff, destroy Yankee plantations, etc., etc. I did

not accompany this expedition, I am sure, as I have no recollection of

being with it; nor do I now remember why I did not do so. The Yankee

plantations alluded to were farms that had been taken possession of

by Northern adventurers, and were being worked under the shadow of

the Federal army by slaves belonging to the citizens. Cotton being

high, they expected to avail themselves of confiscated plantations

and slaves to make fortunes raising cotton. Colonel Jones captured and

destroyed at least one such plantation, captured one hundred mules,

some negroes, and also burned their quarters.

 

Early in April we started east, with the ultimate purpose of joining

General Joseph E. Johnston’s forces in Georgia, moving by easy marches.

There was some dissatisfaction among the men on account of heading our

column toward the rising sun, as they had been promised furloughs on

the first opportunity, and this looked like an indefinite postponement

of the promised boon. Arriving at Columbus, Miss., we rested, and here

Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk, then commanding the department,

made a speech to the brigade, alluding to the fact that they had been

promised furloughs, postponed from time to time, and assured us that as

soon as the present emergency ended Ross’ brigade should be furloughed.

He assured the men that he had the utmost confidence in their bravery

and patriotism, and though it had been hinted to him, he said, that if

he allowed these Texans to cross the Mississippi River they would never

return, he entertained no such opinion of them.

 

We now moved from Columbus to Tuscaloosa, Ala., the former capital of

that grand old State. The good people of this beautiful little city

on the banks of the Black Warrior had never before seen an organized

command of soldiers, except the volunteer companies that had been

organized here and left the city and vicinity, and their terror and

apprehensions when they learned that a brigade of Texans had arrived

was amusing. They would not have been in the least surprised if we

had looted the town in twenty-four hours after reaching it. As we

remained here several days, and went in and out of the city in a quiet

orderly manner, they soon got over their fears. There were numbers of

refugees here from Huntsville, Florence, and other north Alabama towns,

and some of us found acquaintances, especially General Ross and his

adjutant-general, Davis R. Gurley, who had been in college at Florence.

During our stay the ladies gave several nice parties for the benefit

of the brigade. While we were here a great many fish were being caught

in a trap above the city, and the men would sometimes go at night in

skiffs up to the trap and get the fish. On one occasion Lieutenant

Cavin, Harvey Gregg, and a man named Gray, of Company A, went up, and

getting their boat into a whirlpool, it was capsized and the men thrown out into the cold water, with overcoats and pistols on. Gregg and Gray were drowned and Cavin was barely able to get out alive.