Our Regiment did not tarry long at
Lenoirs. We have not the exact dates at
hand, as our diary closes on the day we
reached Flat Creek, and as the dates are
not important we have not taken the
trouble to look them tip. We remained at
Lenoirs until about the 1st of July,
grazing our horses and going through
with the usual routine of camp duties.
Men, as well as horses, needed rest
after this long and arduous campaign.
Gen. Upton was in command of the Cavalry
Division with headquarters at
Sweetwater, Tenn., 45 miles west of
Knoxville. The Brigade was ordered to
that place. This was our last trip as
cavalrymen, and the move to Knoxville a
few weeks later on the cars wound up the
itineracy of the Thirteenth Tennessee
Cavalry.
We celebrated the Fourth of July at
Sweetwater, and felt that it was "a
glorious fourth" indeed, that had
brought back to our country "the
white-winged angel of Peace."
While at Sweetwater the weather was
oppressively warm most of the time. We
had nice camping grounds bordered with
woods, which were kept clean and well
policed. The war being over we were
daily expecting to receive orders to be
mustered out of service, as we could see
no reason now why we should be kept in
the pay of the Government. In
explanation of the cause of so many
troops being retained in the United
States service after the close of
hostilities we might refer to the
situation of affairs in Mexico on our
Southern border. In 1864, the Mexican
people being engaged in dissentions
among themselves, the Emperor of France
seized the opportunity of having the
Archduke Maximilian of Austria called to
the throne of Mexico as Emperor of that
Nation. Maximilian was opposed by a
large majority of the Mexican people who
were led by Jaurez, an able Mexican
general, who was afterwards president of
the Republic of Mexico. Napoleon III,
the Emperor of France, sent a French
army to assist the disaffected Mexicans
who were favorable to the Emperor.
Our Government, under its much cherished
principles of the Monroe Doctrine, was
opposed to the interference of foreign
nations in the affairs of the Western
Continent., but having the Rebellion on
its hands was not at that time in a
situation to enter into active
hostilities with tje French Government.
But now, the Rebellion having been
suppressed, the United States became
peremptory in its demands for the French
army to evacuate Mexico and sent some
troops to the Rio Grande.
It was rumored in camp that we were
ordered to the Rio Grande. Our officers
were all ordered to app far before a
kind of examining board to undergo an
examination as to their physical fitness
for military service, and their
knowledge of military tactics and the
Army Regulations. This seemed to confirm
the rumor that we were to go to Mexico.
Our men as a rule did not want to go,
but were anxious to return and try to
build up their desolated farms and homes
and join their families from whom they
had been so long separated, but the
three years for which they had
volunteered had not expired and they
knew if ordered to do so they must go;
but, to our very great satisfaction,
this rumor, like many other camp rumors,
was not confirmed, and we did not take
the much talked about trip.
Our officers were very busy making out
reports of quartermaster stores for
which they had receipted and were
responsible to the Government. These
included horses, arms, clothing and all
kinds of equipage. Many of them had been
careless in taking receipts from their
men, and all the horses worn out and
abandoned on the raids, together with
saddles, bridles and blankets had to be
accounted for and the loss of each
article, especially each horse, had to
be certified to by a board of survey,
consisting of three commissioned
officers. Many officers never did get
their accounts with the Government
adjusted, but were finally relieved by
an act of Congress passed some years
after the war.
There was not much now to relieve the
monotony of camp life among the
soldiers. We had not been paid for a
year and the men could not even buy
tobacco, which was considered by many an
absolute necessity. Some of the captains
bought tobacco by the box and issued to
their companies to stop their
complaints.
At length we were ordered to turn over
all the Government property and took the
train for Knoxville. We went into camp
on the south side of the river east of
the city. This was in August, 1865. It
was now understood that a special order
had been issued by the War Department
mustering out the Regiment on account of
the close of the war.
The officers secured rooms at different
places in the city and set about making
out the muster-rolls which had to be
made out in triplicate, containing the
names of every soldier that had ever
appeared on the company's rolls, with
remarks covering his military history.
This was found to be an almost endless
job, but it was finally accomplished.
Everything being in readiness on the 5th
day of September, 1865, the officers and
men of the Thirteenth Regiment of
Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry were paid
off by the United States paymaster and
mustered out of the service of the
United States Government by Capt. Thomas
C. Jones, U. S. A., in obedience to
paragraph No. 2, Special Order No. 49,
Department of Tennessee. The men had
been associated with each other for
nearly two years, and though they had
been looking forward for several weeks
with much impatience for the time to
come when they would be relieved from
the restraints of military service and
join their families and friends, when
the hour came for breaking up the
pleasant associations that had been
formed, and parting with comrades never
to meet with many of them again this
side of "the great camping ground
above," our hearts swelled with emotion,
and our voices grew husky as we spoke
the parting word and clasped each
other's hands in affectionate good-by.
In army life, as in civil life, men of
congenial tastes and habits are drawn
together, and become friends and
associates, while, like people in a
large city who do not know their next
door neighbors, many officers and men
are associated together in the same
regiment without knowing much of each
other, because their habits and tastes
are not alike. Some men spent their
leisure hours in camp, reading such
useful or interesting books as they
could procure, or engaged in writing
letters, playing dominoes or checkers,
or some other innocent games, while a
great many indulged in the baneful habit
of card playing, often leading to
gambling and dissipation. Army life is
not conducive to good morals, or the
formation of good habits, yet it has
been demonstrated that men may, and did
live a strictly moral and religious life
in the army ; but we fear they were the
exceptions to the rule.
Army life with its excitement and
constant changes of scene was not
without its attractions for the young,
and broadened the views of those whose
lives had been confined to narrow
limits.. It was a kind of education in
the ways of the world and variety of
human character. A regiment of men
embraced all sorts of people, geniuses,
wits, christians, infidels, men of the
strictest honor and integrity, and
gamblers, and men destitute of honor or
any of the finer qualities of humanity.
We are pleased to observe that we
believe our Regiment contained its full
share of the former and but few of the
latter class of men. Men of almost every
profession, occupation and trade were
represented in the Regiment, though the
greater part were farmers. We had
lawyers, doctors, preachers and school
teachers, as well as engineers,
mechanics and men who had been engaged
in trading and business of all kinds,
hammermen, bookkeepers, clerks and
superintendents of iron works, and
railroad men. The friendships. formed in
the army between those of congenial
natures - were strong and lasting. There
is something almost inexplicable in the
ties that bind men together who have
been associated with each other in times
of hardship and. danger in a common
cause. It brings about a feeling of
kinship and brotherly affection that
only death can efface. This has been
demonstrated since the war in the
reunions of the veterans of the two
armies. They travel hundreds of miles to
meet each other, and the meetings.
between comrades is marked by
demonstrations of pleasure seldom seen
among any other assemblies of men. Our
own reunions, which should have been
organized before so many of our comrades
passed to the "better land," and others
became old and feeble, have been a
source of much pleasure, and it is hoped
as many of the comrades will attend them
in the future as possibly can do so.
The organization known as "The
Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry
Association" was organized in 1896 and
held its first meeting at Butler, Tenn.,
in October of that year. The
circumstances leading to the formation
of this association were as follows :
"In August, 1896, Comrades - S. P.
Angel, John G. Burchfield and S. W.
Scott met at the residence of Comrade
George D. Roberts in Elizabethton,
Tenn., one Sunday afternoon and the
question of reunions was mentioned. One
of the comrades suggested that we issue
a call for a reunion of Company G, to
which we had belonged, to meet at
Hampton, Tenn., on the following week,
which was done. About one hundred
persons, mostly the comrades and their
families, met in a pretty little grove
near Hampton with well filled baskets
and enjoyed a few hours most pleasantly
in speech-making and pleasant
reminiscences. At that place we
organized the Regimental association
with Comrade John M. Wilcox president
and Comrades S. W. Scott and Henry
Lineback secretary and treasurer,
respectively. The meeting at Butler was
largely attended and the comrades and
their friends were entertained in a most
hospitable manner by the citizens of
Butler and the comrades, as well as the
people, appeared to enjoy the occasion
very much. These reunions have been held
annually ever since and have grown in
interest each year.
At the reunion held at Mountain City in
September, 1898, a resolution making all
Union veterans of Carter and Johnson,
and adjoining counties, associate
members of this association, was
adopted.
We have now completed what has been to
us a pleasant, though somewhat laborious
task, in getting up the material from
comrades from diaries and from the
reports of the "Conduct of the War," and
"Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies," containing the
official reports of Generals Gillem,
Stoneman and Ammen, on our side, and
Generals Breckenridge, Vaughn and Duke
on the Confederate side. Many incidents
have been lost by the death of comrades
that might have been placed on record
had this history been written at an
earlier date. Many other events known to
comrades now living will be lost, we
have no doubt, because the comrades have
failed to respond to our earnest appeals
to furnish them to us. It was impossible
for us to interview each comrade,
scattered as they now are, residing in
twelve different States at least,
outside of Tennessee. To those who have
kindly responded to our circulars and
letters and furnished us valuable
information we return our grateful
thanks ; to those who, for various
reasons, have remained silent, we offer
our regrets that they did not respond,
and hope they will not be displeased if
they fail to find in this work
information which they could have, but
did not furnish.
In summarizing the services rendered by
our Regiment, or in the preceding
details of its service as unorganized
citizens, in the Union cause, as bridge
burners, in the Carter county rebellion,
in the various conventions, and in the
plans and efforts to assist the Union
cause and to place obstacles in the way
of the enemy before the organization of
the Regiment, and in its marches,
skirmishes and battles, and in its
sufferings from hunger and cold and
fatigue, we feel sure we have not
overdrawn the picture, if, indeed, we
have been able to do the organization
full justice.
In ascribing praise to the men who
composed the Thirteenth Tennessee
Cavalry we do not withhold the same from
other Tennessee organizations. The
Second Tennessee Mounted Infantry,
organized by Col. J. P. T. Carter, of
Carter county, and the Fourth Tennessee
Infantry, organized by Colonel Daniel
Stover, also of Carter county, contained
many Carter and Johnson county men, and
we were indebted to them for a number of
brave and efficient officers.
Starting out from Strawberry Plains and
ending at Knoxville, Tenn., where it was
mustered out of service, the Regiment in
its various marches and countermarches
traveled three thousand three hundred
and twenty-three (3323) miles, less than
50 miles of this distance by rail, the
balance, except from Strawberry Plains
to Camp Nelson, a distance of 170 miles,
which was traveled on foot, was on
horseback. These figures are taken from
a diary kept by one of our officers, and
the distances obtained each day from
reliable sources, and is therefore not
guess work or "rough estimates."
We crossed seventeen large sized rivers
and streams, including the Holston or
Tennessee, the Cumberland, Watauga, New
River, Yadkin, Savannah, Catawba, Clinch
and Kentucky, besides innumerable
smaller rivers and streams.
We passed through the following States
or some parts of them : Tennessee,
Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia. We passed
through more than 5o towns, cities and
villages, among these were the following
: Lexington, Danville, Lebanon,
Lancaster, Barboursville, London, Crab
Orchard, Nicholasville, and other towns
in Kentucky; Nashville, Gallatin,
Lebanon, Sparta, Kingston, Knoxville,
New Market, Mossy Creek ( Jefferson
City), Morristown, Russellville,
Rogersville, Rutledge, Tazewell,
Kingsport, Blountsvi Ile, Bristol,
Greeneville, Rheatown, Jonesboro,
Zollicoffer, (Bluff City), Elizabethton
and Taylorsville (Mountain City),
Tennessee; Estelville, Abingdon, Marion,
Witheville, Hillsville and Taylorsville,
in Virginia; Asheville, Hendersonville,
Marion, Rutherford, Morgantown,
Wilksboro, Mount Airy, Saulsbury,
Statesville and other smaller towns in
North Carolina; Greenville and Anderson
in South Carolina, and Washington,
Milledgeville. Greensboro, Athens and
other towns in Georgia.
We crossed and recrossed the various
ranges of the Allegheny mountains, the
Cumberland, Unaka and Smoky, Yellow,
Iron, Clinch, Stone and Blue Ridge.
We captured or assisted in the capture
of a large number of prisoners,
artillery, arms and equipages, destroyed
railroads and a vast amount of the
enemy's stores.
While desiring no invidious comparisons
with regiments from our own State, all
of which did good service, we invite
comparison with the average service of
the cavalry regiments of the United
States army, although we were late in
entering the field and were only about
eighteen months in active service in the
field.
There were in our Regiment not less than
two hundred (zoo) soldiers under the age
of 18 years; some below 16. These were
all placed on the rolls at 18, because
that is the lowest age that can be
mustered according to the regulations;
but in 1863—that darkest period of the
war—troops were mustered almost
regardless of age, size or condition.
It will be seen that this large
proportion of our Regiment had "grown
up" since the beginning of the war in
1861, from boys twelve to fourteen years
of age. We take pleasure in bearing
testimony to the fact that these young
soldiers were among the best and bravest
in the Regiment.
Believing it will be more satisfactory
to our readers, and more easily
understood; we have prepared a roster of
those who were living at the time, and
were mustered out with the Regiment
September 5th, 1865, and a separate
roll, by companies, of the dead who were
killed in battle or otherwise, or who
died of disease while in the service of
their country. We have designated the
latter roll "The Roll of Honor." These
will be found in the Appendix to this
history. We had intended preparing a
summary showing the casualties in
killed, wounded, captured and died, but
learn from conversation with the
comrades that there were many casualties
that through carelessness of officers
are not noted on the companies' rolls,
and hence do not appear in the
Adjutant-General's report. We have found
and corrected a number of these but how
many more there may be it is impossible
to tell. Instances of this are Lieut. G.
W. Emmert, who was severely wounded at
Morristown ; Lieut. Freels, who was
wounded in the hand at Bull's Gap, and
Adjutant S. P. Angel, who was severely
injured at Saulsbury, N. C., and Samuel
Thompson, of Company H., who was wounded
at Bull's Gap.
It is well known that the casualties in
cavalry regiments are not so great as in
infantry. It is intended that this
branch of the service, as a rule, do the
scouting, harass the enemy and follow up
the victories achieved by the infantry
and artillery.
According to the Adjutant-General's
report the casualties of the Thirteenth
were about an average of those of the
Tennessee regiments of cavalry, although
it was the last of them in the service.
Comparing it with the First Tennessee
Cavalry, which was in the service eight
months longer, the casualties were
nearly the same, according to the
Adjutant-General's report.
OUR COMRADES FROM THE OLD NORTH STATE.
We cannot in justice close this
history without paying our respects to
the large number of men who joined our
Regiment from Western North Carolina.
There were probably not less than 150
whose homes were in Ashe. Mitchell,
Watauga and adjoining counties of that
State. They breathed the same mountain
air and were filled with the same spirit
of devotion to the Union cause. Their
ancestors, like ours, had fought at
King's mountain, at New Orleans and on
the Plains of Mexico, and made the name
of the "North State" glorious, nor did
those who fought with the "Thirteenth"
tarnish her escutcheons.
They came, many of them, to us in the
dark days of the Carter county rebellion
and gave us their aid and sympathy.
There were no people who deserve greater
praise for their loyalty than the people
of Western North Carolina because there
were none whose patriotism was more
costly than theirs. Their old men and
brave women went through the same
experience of hardships and dangers that
we have described as falling to the lot
of the men and women of Carter and
Johnson counties. These people are
endeared to us because they shared with
us the march and battle, and the same
suffering and dangers. They occupied the
same hospitals of pain, they fell upon
the same battle fields and were martyrs
to the same cause as our own East
Tennesseeans. Ours is virtually the same
climate, the same habits of life, the
same love of liberty, and we worship the
same God. We are separated only by an
imaginary line we might say. It seems to
us that it would have been most fitting
if the great John Sevier could have
realized his dreams and formed the State
of Franklin, embracing the mountain
counties of Tennessee, North Carolina
and Virginia. It would have been a grand
State. Grand in its patriotism, grand in
its hospitality and grand in its freedom
and nobility of character. There would
be no happier people than would nave
been found among its mountains.
Besides many fine organizations of
Federal soldiers from North Carolina,
like East Tennessee, her sons were
fighting under the colors of regiments
of nearly every Northern and Western
State during the civil war.
We believe that as long as there is a
member of the old "13th" alive, there
will be a warm place in his heart for
the gallant "Tarheels" who battled side
by side with him under the colors of our
grand old Regiment for the redemption of
our homes and firesides.
We would be glad if we had a separate
list of the names of the North
Carolinians who served in the
Thirteenth. We remember the Aldridges,
Buchanans, the Dowells, the Calaways,
the Youngs, the Greens, the Byrds, the
Butlers, the Cornuts, the Parkers, the
Eastridges, the Fords, the Garlands, the
Gosses, the Hughes, the Johnsons, the
Mulicans, the Nelsons, the Lewis', the
Prices, the Philips, the Poors, the
Pittmans, the Reeses, the Smiths, the
Snyders, the Wilsons, the Coxes, Holmans
and many other names that represented
loyal North Carolina families. |
