(from archived 2nd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, U.S.A., site by Dave Mathews)

The following article was written by Andrew A. Gooding about 1899, just a few years before his death. We believe it was published in the Jamestown Gazette. Gooding, from Fentress County, Tennessee enlisted at Camp Dick Robinson on September 1, 1861. He mustered into the 2nd Tennessee, Company D as a 28 year old private on October 24, 1861. He was promoted to Sergeant February 14, 1862. When Union forces retreated from Cumberland Gap in September, 1862 Gooding was one of those left behind due to illness. He was paroled a few weeks later. About one year after that he was captured at Rogersville and confined at Belle Isle. According to family tradition he was able to walk out among some parolees, at least partly due to his short stature.

Andrew Alexander Gooding was born February 20, 1833 in Cannon County, Tennessee. He was the son of Nicholas and Margaret Cooper Gooding. He married Tennessee Delilah McFarland, and they were parents of 12 children. Andrew Gooding was just 4ft. 10 in tall. He was elected Circuit Court Clerk in 1878 and served until 1886. He was then elected Fentress County Judge and served until his appointment as the first Postmaster at Jamestown, a position he held for four years. Although he was self-taught, Andrew also taught some school. He helped secure the charter for the Masonic Lodge in Jamestown. He also organized Ellsworth Post #32 of the Grand Army Of The Republic. Some say he came out of the Civil War a Lieutenant, others say a Captain. Andrew died in Fentress County, Tennessee December 16, 1901. He is buried at Davidson Cemetery in Forbus, Tennessee.

The following article was contributed with our thanks by his great great granddaughter, Phyllis Garrett from Muncie, Indiana.

Sept 16. I see in the Gazette of the 15th a communication from Stanberry, Mo, written by an old soldier of the Second Ohio Cavalry, which tell of some incidents in East Tennessee with which I am familiar myself. I traveled over the same ground that he did.

I was a member of Co. D. Second Tennessee Mounted Infantry. The Second Ohio Cav. 1st Ken. Cav. 9th Mich. Cav. and the 2nd Tenn. Mtd. Inft. composed the Brigade commanded by Gen. Shackelford of Indiana. I well remember the burning of this bridge at London, Tenn. and then our march to Knoxville, where we stayed one night, and then went to Cumberland Gap and camped at Patterson’s three miles from the Gap, on the Tennessee side. The 2nd Tenn., camped along side of some pump logs that led the water to the house, and some of Burnside’s aids, had a sentinel placed at the pump, and would not let the boys get water. Some one cut a hole in one of the logs and stopped the water from going to the house. Gen. Burnside ordered the commanders of companies to his headquarters to know the reason why it was stopped. Capt. Honeycutt, of Co. D, 2nd Tenn., told the General how it was and Burnside said the boys did right. I suppose some member of the 2nd Tenn. did the job.

Capt. Honeycutt was cross-eyed, and as there were two other cross-eyed men in the company, we placed the Captain at the head of the company. James M. Beaty on the left and John Looper, the other cross eyed man, in the center, and then there was no chance for the enemy to flank us, or a fat hog, turkey or chicken to get away.

Comrade Sherman is short in the number of prisoners that were taken at the Gap. There were 2636 men and officers taken there. Two companies of the 2nd Tenn., commanded by Major Carpenter, burned the mill in the Gap the night before the surrender. Co D. of the 2nd Tenn., supported the battery that cannonaded the Gap while Maj. Carpenter was firing the mill.

Comrade Sherman is also mistaken about two regiments of Tennessee being formed after Gen. Burnside moved into East Tennessee. The 1st Tenn., and 2nd Tenn., were organized at Camp Dick Robinson, Ky., about 30 miles south of Lexington, in August and September, 1861, and the 3rd infantry made up by Judge Houk, who represented the Second District in Congress for many years. Robert Jonson, who was the son of President Jonson, organized the 1st Cavalry, and the 5th Infantry was organized by Col. James Shelly, the 6th Infantry by Joe Cooper – all made up and organized at Flat Lick, Ky., in February, March and April, 1862. The 5th Cavalry was organized and commanded by Wm. B. Stokes, at Nashville, Tenn., immediately after we got possession of the place. There were eight infantry regiments from Tennessee in the Federal Army, and 13 or 14 Cavalry regiments. The 11th Tenn. Cavalry was formed at Camp Nelson, Ky., in 1864. It was a member of the 13th Tenn. Cav. who killed Gen. John H. Morgan at Greenville, Tenn., after he had escaped from the Ohio penitentiary.

I was 37 months and 6 days in the Federal army. I enlisted Sept. 1, 1861, at Camp Dick Robinson, Ky., and was discharged at Knoxville, Oct. 6, 1864. I left my home in Fentress county just after dark, and the next morning I was on the soil of Kentucky. During my term of service I was confined as a prisoner of war on Bell Isle, Va., for 135 days’ and did not get a square meal during that time. I saw men die from starvation by the hundreds, and saw a sight there was heartrending to think about. I saw one soldier, who was a living skeleton, covered with vermin and rags, vomit up the food he had eaten, and then I saw another half-starved soldier hunker down and pick up the crumbs out of the sand and eat them.

If this is published I may come again.

A. A. Gooding
Late 2d Srgt. Co. D, 2d Tenn. Inft.