General Forrest

Cahaba. A story of captive boys in blue:


The operations of General N. B. Forrest in West Tennessee and Kentucky, while regarded in the North as a display of savagery, were in the South regarded as a triumph and a source of satisfaction.

Joined The Yanks

 I know they are nothing less,  It is treason, and those that sell to them will be dealt with as traitors to their country,  Yet I feel assured it was ignorance in some,  They couldn't deceive me in any such a manner,   how true the adage, 'The love of money is the root of all evils',  

Huntsville, Alabama, Garden

There were one hundred Alabamians Joined the Yanks, to day,  shame, shame on them,   Traitors to their country, how I detest them,  How true the expression, 'He who is a traitor to his country, is a serpent, which turns to bite the bosom that warms it,' I sincerely hope they will be Justly retributed,  Saturday 19,  Cheering news, The report of Mr Robinson's death all false, he is improving, hope he will continue so. (From Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle).

Stationed At Larkinville

An excerpt from Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle:

"A portion of Buell's Army were stationed at Larkinville a day or two.  Two of them came out here, made a more favorable impression than Michell division, because they conducted themselves better..". (July, 1862)

Michigan Historical Collections - Regarding The Michigan Thirteenth

Larkinsville, Alabama (LOC)

Terry's Rangers

Source

At last the opportunity came A regiment of cavalry was to be raised in western and southern Texas for service in Virginia Two Texans of wealth and leisure, B.F. Terry, a sugar planter, and Thos. S. Lubbock, a lawyer,...were at the battle of first Manassas in Virginia and rendered all the aid they could to the Southern cause. Terry acted as volunteer aid to the commanding general and Lubbock also exposed his life in bearing messages during the contest. About the middle of August commissions came to Terry and Lubbock from the war department at Richmond, Virginia, authorizing them to raise a regiment...

...this call was answered by 1170 men assembling at Houston to be enrolled in the regiment, afterwards called Terry's Texas Rangers. 

Our first engagement was with McCook's corps near the Kentucky-Tennessee line when our regiment was ordered to feel of the enemy in that section to ascertain its strength and size of force. This resulted in several casualties to our men and in finding it was McCook's corps marching north to be ready for General Bragg when he should get there. S.G. Clark of our company was one of the killed here.

Dealing With General Sturgis

"Cahaba. A story of captive boys in blue:"

"...a gentleman from Northern Mississippi who informed me that upon his parents' plantation General Sturgis passed the night previous to the battle, making his headquarters in his father's house. He
assured me that Sturgis during his stay imbibed very freely of alcoholics and was stupidly drunk therefrom. This, in a measure, would account for his senseless order upon receiving the despatch from General Grierson. Upon receiving the report of Grierson's staff-officer, without heeding the suggestions it contained, Sturgis renewed his orders to Grierson to push forward, but soon afterward was aroused by a messenger from General Grierson, who brought substantially the following :

" I have not the force at my command to advance farther. It is evident that I have met the bulk of Forrest's forces, but I hold a good position, which I think I can hold until you come up with the infantry."

The message did not imply that Sturgis should use more than ordinary expedition, but upon receiving it the drunken, frenzied commander ordered his infantry to go upon the " double-quick " to the front, a distance of not less than five miles! It should be remembered that the weather was intensely hot, sultry, oppressive; that the road led through a heavy growth of timber; that the men were marching with heavy loads musket, cartridge-box, forty rounds of ammunition, canteen, haversack, and knapsack but they were men who had been seasoned by many a hard campaign, and had never received an order but to obey it. (Source)

Firing Upon Fort Sumpter

Fort Sumter (Source)

Source - History Of The 102...Ohio

From Island Ten

New Madrid, Missouri

Rebel lit

"braive Suthren frend,

from iland 10,..."

Boarded At Mrs. Bradford's

From Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle:

"'twas rumored over the river, That I and a Yanky Capt. were married, I have not been as angry before since the 31st of January, when I was at Mrs. Bradfords...".

1871 Huntsville, Alabama (LOC) - Randolph Street - Female College - Far Right

"In January 1862, Priscilla was a student at Huntsville Female College and boarded at the home of  *Mrs. J. B. Bradford on Randolph Avenue in Huntsville, Alabama." [Source]  *Probably Mrs. Joseph Bennett Bradford / (Martha (Patton) Smith Bradford)

More About Captain Andrews

The Life and Adventures of Capt. Robert W. Andrews, of Sumter, South ..., By Robert W. Andrews:

Struggling With The Civil War

See post entitled Nancy Maria (Nettie) Fowler McCormick.

"Southerner by birth, Northerner by adoption, Mr. McCormick's course in these days was difficult and he did not escape epithets inspired by the hot enmities of the time."

"Though naturally Mrs. McCormick identified herself with the North, her anguished concern was for the nation as a whole. With her husband, she disapproved of secession...but she did not comment on the issues of the war, scarcely mentioning slavery. 'We have been both a covetous & a spendthrift nation," she wrote, "and God is punishing us."'

Statue Of Family Traveling The Underground Railroad

"Mrs. McCormick was Northern, of a family every line of which was no doubt committed to the Northern point of view. Her Spicer kinfolk included Abolitionists who were organizers of the underground railway. The Merick household, which helped mold her youth, was clearly Whig. She had married a stout Democrat, born and reared in the South, who while loyal to the Government was trying energetically to stop the war. The young wife, only thirty when the war ended, had adopted her husband's interests wholeheartedly, and it is fairly evident that his views influenced her. Besides, loyalty to him together with her own marked capacity for sympathy would have kept her on a quiet course harmonious with his. [Source]

An Author's Memories Of Old Cahaba

From Memories of old Cahaba:

At the foot of the picturesque Cahaba Hills, on the banks of the majestic Alabama, just above the mouth of the beautiful little Cahaba, where their waters glide into each other's embrace on their way to the sea. is located the old, historic town of Cahaba — a place replete with romantic interest, and in its mighty ruins a forceful reminder that man, proud man, cannot build against the destructive inroads of time, circumstance, and political influence.

The 10th Wisconsin In Alabama

From the diary of Miss Priscilla Larkin...:

"The 10th Wisconsin Regiment are at last stationed, in our little village, We received intelligence to day of a glorious victory at Richmond...".

Source - Map of middle and east Tennessee and parts of Alabama and Georgia

The 10th Wisconsin Infantry History:

"...the Tenth Regiment as rear guard, brought through the last trains from Huntsville to Stevenson.
We find the following in the table of casualties prepared by Adjutant General Gaylord:

Killed.—At Mud Creek, Ala., August 22.— Company J—Privates Thos. Denlan, G. W. Hancock and Henry Reed.  At Larkinsville, Ala.—Company F— Private Theo. Helgus.

At Stevenson, the rebels attempted to prevent the leaving of the trains; the Tenth Regiment bringing up the rear, secured the final departure of the troops, and arrived at Nashville on the 5th September.

Goodloe's Rebel Relics

Source

Casualties In The Larkinville Guards

From Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle:

'Tis rumored that, five of the Larkinville Guards were killed."  "...what sad afflictions upon the families, still, how consoling to know they fell in a noble and glorious cause...".

Wednesday [July] 16,  Shocking news, Can it be possible--Billie Robinson has died from the wound received at the battle of Richmond,  'Gone to that bourne from whence, no traveller returns.'

Saturday 19,  Cheering news, The report of Mr Robinson's death all false, he is improving, hope he will continue so.

Jefferson Davis's First Day At Fortress Monroe

Source

Source

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter:

Terry's Texas Rangers Circa 1863

 Photo Displayed At The Texas Rangers Museum

From Reminiscences of the Terry Rangers:

"A brigade of cavalry was organized at once consisting of the 8th Texas, which was our regiment, the 11th Texas, 3rd Arkansas, and 4th Tennessee regiments, and placed under command of General Joe Wheeler."

Red River Expedition

From Cahaba. A story of captive boys in blue,:

"Not more brilliant nor cheering to the North was the expedition up Red River, in Louisiana, under General Banks." [Source]

Flowering Tree At A Red River Campaign Battlefield In Louisiana

General Albert Sydney Johnston

Texas State Cemetery (Reinterred)

The death of General Sidney Johnston is heart-rendering, He fought bled and died-- for he breathed
his last in two minutes after dismounting suppose to have bled to death from a wound in  his Leg. (Quote from Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle)

Source

Met A Mr. Pat Ragland

Below is an excerpt from Miss Priscilla Larkin: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Belle:

"Frazier family and myself stayed at Bill's tonight-- there met a Mr. Pat Ragland, who is quite a curiosity to sit and listen to him talk about ornamenting "pipes" and Wednesday-- ."


There was a Patrick Ragland of Jackson County, Alabama, found in the Confederate Applications for Presidential Pardons, 1865-1867, papers (at Ancestry.com):

Included in Mr. Ragland's file was a Surgeon's Certificate of Incapacity for the Army of the Confederate States, completed in Huntsville, Alabama, on February 28, 1863.  It stated that Mr. Ragland, a lawyer, was born in Virginia, age 32, 5'10", with black hair and grey eyes.  A problem with his left joint was indicated.