Coffee County, Tennessee, Genealogy & History

Introduction:  Robert C. Carden was born in Coffee County, Tennessee on July 4, 1843, the youngest of the five children of Reuben and Sarah (nee’ Henry) Carden. On May 23, 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army at Manchester, Tenn. He served in Company B of the 16th Tennessee Infantry until January of 1865. He, and the 16th Tennessee fought at Perrysville, Murfreesboro and Chickamauga and from there to Lovejoy Station below Atlanta. This soldier was wounded at Perrysville and…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, AUGUST 16, 1912 CHAPTER XIX Although in my four years experience in the war between the states I saw many sad things. I never saw a sadder thing than happened near Dalton, Georgia, while we were in winter quarters there. I have seen dead soldiers on the battle field so thick that you could walk long distances upon them, have witnessed heartrending scenes in the hospitals but never anything more affecting than this. We had erected…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, AUGUST 9, 1912 CHAPTER XVIII The commission that sat on the case when Sam Davis was tried was composed of the following: Col. Madison Miller, 18th Missouri; Lieut-Col. Thos. W. Gains, 50th Missouri Inf.; Mayor Lathrop, 39th Iowa Inft.; Judge Advocate. After hearing the evidence the following sentence was pronounced: “The commission do hereby sentence him, the said Samuel Davis, of Colman’s Scouts, of the so-called Confederate States to be hanged by the neck until dead,…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, AUGUST 2, 1912 CHAPTER XVII In writing these sketches, before I close, I want to chronicle the death of Sam Davis, a Tennessee hero. The following condensed sketch was furnished by Joshua Brown, of New York city, who was a member of the 2nd Kentucky cavalry of the C. S. A. and was a fellow scout of Sam Davis. He says, “As you requested I will give you my personal recollections of the capture, imprisonment and…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 26, 1912 CHAPTER XVI When I got home there was just one mare on the place and she was two years past and that was the stock I made the first crop with. After my return home the negroes had a stock of fodder which they had hid in the woods that had not been taken. The only kind of plow I had to do the breaking up of the land and the cultivation of…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 19, 1912 CHAPTER XV I remember another heroine. Lieut. Buford, of an Arkansas regiment. She stepped and walked, the personification of a soldier boy, had won her spurs at the battle of Bull Run, Shiloh and Ft. Donelson and was promoted for gallantry. One evening she came to Gen. Steward’s headquarters at Tyner’s station with an order from Major Kinlock Folconet to report for duty as a scout but upon finding that he was a…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 12, 1912 HEROINES OF THE SOUTH In Rhea county, Dayton, Tenn., was organized the only Ladies Company in all the land of Dixie. The object of this company was to visit relatives, friends and sweethearts who had enlisted in the several companies from Rhea county, taking them clothing, medicines, and provisions, performing the part of ministering angels. This company was organized in 1862 and was from the most prominent and respected families of Rhea county….

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RECONSTRUCTION and the CHURCH One of the saddest things in the reconstruction madness was that the church tried to give the sanction of religion to the effort to steal our property and disfranchise us in favor of the carpet bagger, the sca’awag and the negro. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian church had been very bitter during the war denouncing rebellion as they called it, and in advising and encouraging the government in all its measures, however cruel and oppressive….

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 28, 1912 CHAPTER XIII While we were in the trenches at Atlanta the authorities gave so much a pound for minie balls picked up in the rear of our main line, as our ammunition was running short and we wanted to send them back the first chance we got. Those that were whole did not have to be moulded again. Some of the men made good wages picking them up. When we would be in…

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BOONE, IOWA. FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 14, 1912 CHAPTER XI We laid around in front of Nashville until something did happen sure enough. I was out on picket duty here some of the coldest nights I ever saw. We had to stay on picket two hours, then go back a short distance and thaw out. Our command was finally stationed on the extreme left. Our company was on a little round hill. We could not see the Yankees in our front…

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