Smyrna in the Civil War VI

Today more fighting and a return home in what they called 'French Leave"...A term I've not heard before.

At Dalton we went into winter quarters, each mess built its own house, and the styles of architecture were something wonderful, they would doubtless have astonished the Greeks and Romans. At any rate the houses kept us fairly dry and comfortable. We drilled here by Companies, Regiments, Brigades, Divisions and Corps, and when the campaign opened next spring the discipline was splendid, and we were prepared to meet Sherman. While here at Dalton, Sergt. A. J. Irwin was made Lieutenant to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Lieut. J. W. Peyton, who was killed at Chickamauga.
Revival services were carried on most of the time while at Dalton, and many of the men professed religion and united themselves with the various churches; and none of them were ever known to repudiate their faith either while soldiers or afterwards as citizens. Here too, we had the big " Snow ball battle."
Spring now opened, Johnston and Sherman had been preparing for their famous "one hundred day's campaign" which now began of which history furnishes no parallel, since the retreat of "the ten thousand" under Xenophen. Sherman came up to our front at Mill Creek Gap, north of Dalton. Johnston met him, but Sherman flanked by passing to our left through Dug Gap and aimed to intercept Johnston at Resaca, but when he got there Johnston was in his front; here he made an effort to drive Johnston out of his works, but failed, and in that failure, he learned a lesson he seemed never to have forgotten. We punished him severely for his conduct on this occasion; we also sustained considerable loss. With his much greater army he continued to march around our flank. Johnston would fall back just far enough to bob up in his front every, time, skirmishing every day, in fact just about all the time. But no decisive battle was fought. Johnston was not strong enough to attack and Sherman seemed afraid to risk it.
We battled along until we reached Kennesaw Mountain. Capt. Ridley had not been able for duty on this campaign. Lieut. Sanders was absent sick, and Lieut. Brothers was in command. A shell from the enemy exploded in our works, killing Wiley Griggs and wounding eight others of company E among whom were R. J. Neal, Sam. Walden, Sam. M. Jamison, Andrew Robertson and others not recalled. We had to remain in the works till nightfall on account of the enemy's sharp shooters. We then, with the aid of the infirmary Corps, got the wounded out and buried Griggs. Griggs was perhaps the most inoffensive man in the company. He was always quiet, always in his place and never complained; he was in addition to this, one of the bravest men in the company. He was one of the men who porfessed religion and joined the church at Dalton, and no man ever doubted his sincerity; he ever quietly lived up to it — peace to his memory. The campaign proceeded; almost daily we skirmished and neared Atlanta, and finally we crossed the Chattahooche River.
Johnston was succeeded by Hood, then came "Peach Tree Creek." In all of this campaign with the exceptions noted, Company E was, as far as recalled, fortunate. We had some of our men captured, but Geo. W. Walden was the only one recalled.
After Peach Tree Creek, Hardee's Corps, to which we belonged, marched around Sherman's left wing, and on July 22, 1864, charged him in his works. We carried the works and drove them furiously, killing General McPherson, but one Divison of our Corps suffered serious loss, (that of Cleburne). He lost perhaps half of his men captured, but we recaptured most of them together with several hundred prisoners. In this engagement Lieut. A. J. Irwin was killed, another good man, gallant officer and generous comrade.
After this we were placed on the extreme left of Hood's army, when on the 6th day of August 1864, we had a brilliant engagement with the enemy. We were deployed as a heavy skirmish line. We had excellent works, with "head logs." There was some timber in our front and the undergrowth had been cut down to obstruct the enemy's advance. We were told that we must hold that line at all hazards. So we made up our minds to stay there. They first advanced with a double skirmish line; we drove that back inflicting a heavy punishment upon it. Then they came with a solid line of battle, determined to dislodge us, but we drove that back with heavy loss. Next, they made a third assault,; this time they come with two solid lines of battle, and some of them reached our works, but none ever got over. We poured the shot into them in a manner simply terrific, and forced them back with terrible slaughter. Up to this time we had not lost a man, while the enemy lay dead and wounded by hundreds in our front. We captured three stands of colors from them. After the fight was over, our Regiment was sent out in front to pick up the stragglers that might be left skulking in the brushes. One of these skulkers shot George Castleman of Company B in the thigh. R. J. Neal, who was with Castleman fired obliquely at the blue coat, when P.S. Latimer told him to "look out." He looked forward and saw a Yankee aiming at him. He dropped on his knees and was loading his gun when the fellow fired, striking him in the right shoulder.
These were the only casualties of our Regiment, while those of the enemy could be counted by the hundreds. Report said the 8th Federal Tennessee Regiment went into that charge with more than eleven hundred men, and after the charge could muster only fifteen. One of the stands of colors captured belonged to that Regiment. We were now drawn back to the main line on the left. Sherman commenced to flank again, and we were sent with Hardee's Corps to Jonesboro to meet the flank movement. We attacked them in their entrenched lines, and were repulsed with heavy loss, and retired to within our own works. While the 20th lost many of its best men, Company E had no casualties that can now be recalled. Next day we were on the skirmish line and the enemy charged us, but their greatest effort was against Cleburne's front, where they were partially successful, but they paid dearly for their success. Cleburne never failed to punish them when they brought up in his front.
On this day Company E was three times driven in while skirmishing across an open field, without the loss of a man, and at nightfall held the line we had in the morning. After dark we were withdrawn from the skirmish line, and when we reached the position our main line had occupied in the morning, we found it abandoned; and the troops were retiring to Lovejoy Station, where we followed. On this night, Hood was retiring from Atlanta, burning all his stores and destroying his magazines. Atlanta was twenty miles distant, but the fires made a great light, and the burning of the magazines made almost a perpetual roar; the sights and sounds of which, coupled with our retreat, made it a night never to be forgotten.
The next morning found us at Lovejoy Station; we were ready for the enemy when they overtook us, but the day was spent in manuevering and heavy skirmishing. Here we were joined by Hood with the main army. From here our Regiment was sent to Griffin to intercept stragglers from the army leaving Atlanta. We performed this duty, and in a few days we returned to Lovejoy Station, then we learned the enemy had gone back to Atlanta. We followed as far as Jonesboro, then moved west to Palmetto, on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. Here President Jefferson Davis came to us and reviewed the army, and planned "Hood's Campaign into Tennessee." From Palmetto we moved North, crossing the Chattahoochie River on a pontoon bridge. The one hundred day campaign was ended, and no gen14:
eral engagement had taken place. The battles of Peach Tree Creek, the one on July 22nd, July 28th, and Jonesboro were only partial engagements, as on the Confederate side only Hardee's Corps had been engaged in the first and last, and the left wing of the army in the other. Yet it had been one hundred days of continued skirmishing, often amounting to the proportions of a spirited battle; the losses of the two armies in killed, wounded and missing aggregating more than if a general engagement had taken place, and until Joe Johnston was removed the enemy loss was much the heaviest.
We now entered on a new campaign. Hood, after crossing the Chattahoochie River moved along parallel with the W. & A. Railroad, occasionally sending in a detachment to tap the railroad, as at Altoona and -Resaca. We marched around Rome, and again tapped the railroad at Dalton, capturing a regiment of negroes and destroying a great deal of railroad track. Above Dalton we turned to the the left and passed through Lafayette, and near Gadsden, Ala., we crossed over Sand Mountain, and came in touch again with the enemy at Decatur, but continued west along the M. & C. Railroad to Tuscumbia.
Here we remained a few days, while our pontoon bridge was being placed across the Tennessee River. One bright November morning we crossed over and found ourselves in Florence. We remained here a few days and started North on the Waynesboro road. When we crossed the line into Tennessee it was snowing. We passed through Waynesboro and continued North until one afternoon we came to the place looking off over Duck River valley. It was the more inspiring from the fact that for several days we had marched through a very poor country, and on very short rations, (three sinkers per day—to those who don't understand, a sinker is a biscuit made from unbolted wheat flour without milk, grease, salt or soda). Our losses had been continued and heavy, and we had no chance to recruit. All the companies were very small. Company E and Company H had been thrown together as one company. Capt. Tom Caruthers of Company H commanding, Second Lieutenant W. E. Brothers of Company E second in command, First Lieutenant M. M. Sanders of Company E being absent on detached service.
We found the enemy at Columbia ready to meet us, but we crossed the river above, (Hardee's Corps, in command of Cheatham), and struck for Spring Hill in their rear. We reached there in good time, and by all means should have fought them in open field, instead of at Franklin in their fortifications next day. But we didn't and the reason for not doing so has always been a mystery to the rank and file of the army. We bivouacked in line parallel with the turn pike, only two or three hundred yards away and let them pass undisturbed with all their wagons and supplies to their strong hold at Franklin. This was a fatal blunder. Next morning we took the road for Franklin. Our division turned to the left and moved so as to leave Franklin to our right, halting and fronting the town, our Company E having the Bostick House on our right. We moved forward, straight towards the Carter House. There was a body of men to our left, between us and Harpeth River, supposed to be dismounted cavalry. They advanced with our line and did good work. When the enemy opened fire on us, we charged straight ahead, but they had placed obstructions in the way, over which we could not pass. This we saw too late and it caused our line to break, but it was reformed again near the Bostick House. There was a depression between the enemy and the creek that runs north past the Bostick House, here about one hundred men were rallied by Adjt. Tom Fowler, Lieut. Pete Edwards and W. E. Brothers. By lying down we were not visible to the enemy, and when a new line to our right charged, this hundred men charged again. Of course we were repulsed, but rallied again in the depression, but finally gave it up and rejoined the command. It was on the first charge and when nearest the enemy's works that Capt. Todd Carter dashed through our lines on his horse with drawn sword, made stra1ght for his father's house, and met his death as it were, on the very threshold of his parental home. He was perhaps not more than fifty feet from us when he fell; his horse was seen to plunge and we knew he was struck. Captain Carter was thrown straight over the horse's head, his sword reached as far as his arm would allow toward the enemy, and when he struck the ground he laid still, and his brave young life went out almost at the door of his home. The sight of home and all that makes home dear, and that home in possession of the enemy caused him to forget himself, and under the impulse of the moment he rushed to certain death. In this action Chrisman of Company H was killed, Captain Caruthers was wounded, W. D. Martin of Company E was wounded, R. J. Neal of Company E was struck three times in the engagement, but never left the field, the wounds being slight, P. S. Latimer of Company E was slightly wounded, but did not leave the field, other casualties not recalled.
The next day the twentieth Tennessee, was placed on provost duty, but so many of the men lived in and around Franklin, that soon the regiment was short in numbers, the boys quietly took "French leave" to visit their homes. They were not blamed at all, especially as they all returned in a few days.
On the second morning after the battle of Franklin, Bate's division moved towards Murfreesboro, and when opposite Nolensville Company E being almost home, took "French leave" for a day or two. We had been gone almost two years, and so many did not return that the Company was now only a little squad, that could be more than counted on the fingers, but for those who did return.it was joy to get back home, but sad indeed to think what had become of so many who did not return.