While stationed here our army was re-organized. Thomas B. Smith of Company B was made Colonel; J. S. Gooch of Company E, Lieutenant Colonel; F. M. Lavender of Company H, Major; Lieutenant Harvey Ralston was made Captain of Company E; W. T. Ridley was made first Lieutenant; M. M. Sanders, Second Lieutenant; and Jo. W. Peyton, Third Lieutenant; Frank B. Croslhwait was made First Sergeant; P. Latimer, Second Sergeant; W. E. Brothers, Third Sergeant; aud W. W. Batey, Fourth Sergeant; W. D. Martin, and others not recalled were made Corporals.
Gehl. Beauregard determined on changing his base, now dropped back to Tupelo, Miss., and from Tupelo, Breckinridge's Division was ordered to Vicksburg, Miss. We moved west through Potontoc to Abbeville where we took the cars to Jackson, thence to Vicksburg, where we did picket work for about six weeks, and drank bad water until only a few of us were able to answer at "roll call."
We met with no casualities at Vicksburg, notwithstanding we were constantly shelled by the lower federal fleet.
One day we were ordered on board the cars, but only four of Company E were able to go; other companies being just as bad off as ours. We went to Tangipaho, La. Here we left the cars, and Company E left one of her four men and started to Baton Rouge, La., with three men, but when we reached Amite River we left another member of Company E sick, the two remaining, W. E. Brothers and W. W. Batey, went on.
We halted at Comite Bridge and started at two o'clock next morning to surprise the enemy. We moved rapidly until within three miles of the enemy, a swamp on one side and a cane field on the other, when suddenly a dreadful roar was heard just ahead. Brothers was left file next the field when everything pressed his way. Just then some one yelled "Yankee Cavalry!" Brothers tripped and fell, the boys jumped over him as he made it on " all fours" to the fence. He tried to climb it, but the rails were rotten and would break and he would drop back. The boys on the other side had commenced to shoot, and Brothers was afraid they would hit him, and at the same time he was expecting some Yankee to chop his head off with a sabre. He dropped back close up in a corner of the fence, and as he saw a man passing on a horse he shot at him. Just then Col. Smith, commanded the men to cease firing, as they were our own men, and he hoped no man in the 20th had fired a gun. Brothers hopped out of his corner, his gun still smoking, and promptly replied that he did not think any man in the 20th had fired. Smith reported this to Breckinridge and was complimented for the good behavior of the 20th Tennessee. But we soon moved on and a little after daylight we formed our line and marched straight ahead through the cane field into the edge of Baton Rouge, then we moved to the left, then forward again through the enemy's abandoned camp.
Here we halted, and then charged driving the enemy, and when we had re-arranged our line we were not ordered forward again, as the enemy now had the protection of their fleet, and the " Arkansas Ram " which was to have assisted us had been destroyed. The battle of Baton Rouge was a brilliant engagement, but was useless as our gunboat failed to show up. W. W. Batey commanded Company E in the latter part of the engagement, as W. E. Brothers had retired from the field with a chill on his hands, the first one he ever had, (perhaps in keeping cool in action, he had over done it, and got too cool).
We then retired to our camp, and in a few days went to Port Hudson, La. Lieut. M. M. Sanders with other convalescents had now rejoined us. Our company had no casualties on this campaign. In a short while we were ordered to Jackson, Miss., and after resting and taking quinine for a few weeks, were ordered on the cars to Holly Springs, or near there. Here we remained only a few days, when we started to re-enforce Bragg in Kentucky. While at Jackson, Miss., they were exchanging prisoners at Vicksburg. /Spivev Stanfieldlwho was captured at Fishing Creek came in, and to our great joy and surprise, W. A. Vardell came in too; he had been left for dead at Shiloh and his name had been dropped from the roll.
We left Holly Springs on the cars and returned through Jackson, then to Mobile, Montgomery, Atlanta, and Knoxville. Here we learned of the battle of Perryville, Ky., and that Bragg was on his way back to Tennessee. We then proceeded to Murfreesboro, where we remained until joined by Bragg's main army from Kentucky. Our regiment being near their homes, most of them were allowed, a few at a time, to visit their homes for a few days. The 20th and 45th Tennessee Regiments were sent to Stewart's Creek on the Nashville Pike to support our cavalry who were at Lavergne.
Many of Company E lived near here, and it was impossible to keep them in camp, but they would not stay away long at a time, and could hardly be missed. One day we were double quicked down to Lavergne, the enemy had driven our cavalry out, and when we formed and went in the enemy were going out on the other side, but they had fired the village as they went out, the greater portion of it being in flames as we went in. We returned to Stewart's Creek and in a few days went back to Murfreesboro where the great battle was soon to be fought. The boys had all been home, after an absence of about twentytwo months.
The enemy came up in our front on Dec. 29th, 1862, and on the 30th there was a good deal of skirmishing and cannonading. We were still in Breckinridge's division, on the extreme right of the army, and on the east side of Stone's River. The battle opened proper on the extreme left, on the morning of the 31st. We were not engaged until in the after-noon of that day, when we were double-quicked to the ford of the river, waded it, and moved to the left, crossed both turn-pike and railroad and started directly forward at the enemy. On account of the railroad our regiment moved in line behind the one that should have been next on our left, until we came under fire, then we moved to the right and came into our place between the river and railroad at Cowan's Pond. (Cowan's house had been burned.) We now charged the bluff, and after a sharp fight held it, but we could not cross the field, and were forced back under the bluff on account of a portion of our brigade giving way on our left and letting the enemy in behind us. But our regiment killed, wounded, and captured a great many of the enemy. Our loss was also quite heavy. Lieut. F. B. Crostwaite was killed. Lieut. M. M. Sanders and W. P. Neal were wounded, with others not recalled.
That night we were withdrawn further to the left into the cedars, where we remained during the day of January 1st, 1863 and the morning of January 2nd. Early in the afternoon of the 2nd, we were hastily withdrawn from the advanced line and rapidly marched across the river at the same ford we waded before, and down to the Mitchell House, where we, being on the extreme right, were the last to get into line of battle. But we immediately moved forward, crossed a high fence, then straight across a field to the crest of a low wooded ridge; this crest had a few trees that were mixed with bushes and briars, and was not more than one hundred yards in width. The enemy was drawn up with this in their front, and just as we came to the timber they fired. We dropped down, returned the fire and then charged. The enemy broke and fled across the open field towards the river. They had a second line mid-way of the field. We broke this too, and still pursuing, we struck a third line near the river, and they all went down under the bluff together, as we again dashed forward. As we pursued them across the field, we had left a line of Federals behind that now over-lapped us, but some of our Cavalry dismounted and chased them across the field. They were to our right, but really we were in advance of them, and they took shelter behind Ross' Gin. It was here that Frank Battle, carrying the colors, found them so badly shot and torn as to be hard to handle, and having gone some fifty yards in advance, dropped down, the colors falling on him. We thought he was killed, and Capt. W. T. Ridley rushed out to get the colors but Frank jumped up and commenced to wave them. He had only been tieing the fragments together.
But now the enemy had his time. We had only a few pieces of artillery, while the Federals had fifty-eight pieces on the bluff opposite us. They opened on us furiously, and we could do nothing more than go back across the field, through the timber bated breath we watched to see the result (no enemy in our front). Steadily Dea's men with their weak line fired into that brave, as well as overwhelming host of the enemy. We saw them as they staggered up to the half-finished rifle pits, a few passed on, then three stands of Federal colors in a bunch, mounted the works.
Dea's line was broken, not to their discredit however, for it would have taken more men to have done more. They were too heavily outnumbered. The Yankees first turned right and left, flanking our men out of the ditches. They next went for a battery, in position between Dea's and Tyler's Brigades. Our men wheeled two guns and fired, at not more than a hundred feet distance at the Yankees, but many of them were now over the works, and they rushed at the battery with fixed bayonets. The cannoniers fought them with their swab sticks, but they were soon overpowered and killed or captured with their guns. Every survivor deserved a medal, and every one killed, a monument. The enemy now turned the guns down our trenches, and who can tell the suspense until they fired? Fortunately it was infantry and they could no.t sight a cannon with any degree of accuracy, and the charges of canister, for the most part went wild, one charge however tearing up a large stump in the rear of Company E. Colonel Shy commanded us to move out by the left flank. We moved a short distance, and were commanded to move by the left flank again, which threw us into line again at an "about face." As we were moving back we noticed that our entire line south toward's Bragg's headquarters was broken and our men in full retreat. As we moved back our brigade continued to fire at the pursuing enemy, until we got them checked, in a measure, and other brigades now began to reform, and order was partially restored. Colonel Shy discovered our field band in the rear, and ordered them to play " Dixie." This seemed to do more toward rallying the men than all else. We came to a field, and just across this was General Bragg, sitting on his horse with a large flag, appealing to the men to stand. Finley's Brigade now reformed, and our brigade was placed with the field in our front, Finley to our left, but before we finished our formation the enemy advanced on us.
Night was fast approaching, and they made no determined charge, but kept up a pretty heavy firing, until darkness had gathered around us, so we were firing only at the flashes of each other's guns. It was thus that the enemy was checked, giving the left wing of the army a chance to cross the Chickamauga river. Just here quite a singular incident occured :— Capt. W. G. Ewing of Co. A, not knowing the men on our right were gone, and hearing a command on his right, stepped out and asked what command it was. The answer being 18th Regt. Mich. State. He immediately reported to Col. Shy, who commanded us "about face, forward march," and off we started on quick time, but some of the Yankees were suspicious and fired at us in the dark. Ewing's Company fired back, when Lieut. Brothers of company E innocently yelled out, "you are shooting at our own men." Shy and Ewing repeated it, and luckily for us the Yankee officers heard it, and believed it and repeated it to their men, saving us from a scathing fire at close range. We did not wait for explanations, but crossed the Chickamauga river that night and retreated along the W. & A. railroad by Ringold, Tunnel Hill, and finally rounded up for the balance of the winter at Dalton, Georgia. Company E had borne its part well in this unfortunate battle. Captain W. T. Ridley was wounded in the head, and as he was being borne from the field another shot struck him in the leg, from these wounds he never fully recovered. George W. Davis and O. C. Holland were captured, other losses of the Company are not recalled.
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