{"id":1322,"date":"2025-12-31T02:33:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T07:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2025-12-31T11:12:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T16:12:41","slug":"letter-from-john-j-lane-to-major-general-rosecrans-february-8-1865","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/letter-from-john-j-lane-to-major-general-rosecrans-february-8-1865\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from John J. Lane to Major General Rosecrans, February 8, 1865"},"content":{"rendered":"

(from archived RCHC Web Site<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Transcribed by Robert L. Bailey<\/strong>.  Original source unidentified.<\/p>\n

Note: John J. Lane served in served in Companies B<\/a> and F<\/a>, 5th Tennessee Infantry, USA.  Click the Company letters to view Robert Bailey<\/strong>‘s transcription of that unit.<\/p>\n

Near Mufreesboro [sic]<\/em> Ten. Feb. 8, 1865<\/p>\n

Major General Rosecrans<\/strong> My Dear Sir I Desire to state to you that under a late order from you Headquarters to report the absence of officers absince without Leave that I am reported absent with Leave in July 1862 & also was (illegible) to which reports or charges I enter no plea of guilty of no authority from as? one else But the commander of Regt. will a sufficient authority for I did not the special authority of my Regs. commander to be absent at the time But Sir Permit me to state to you the circumstances under which I was absent. I was borned & raised in Jefferson county East Tennessee & five years ago I left that county & (illegible) to the State of arcansas when Secession & rebelion came up in that state I on account of my (illegible) Proclivity & devotion to the Federal Government and had to (illegible) this State. I left that state in Jul 1861 & came to Kingston in Roane county Tennessee & there settled my family I remained (?) till Feb. 27, 1862 At about which time the Rebel Judge (illegible) of the Circuit District refused to let me practice at the Bar as a Lawyer without taking the oath the infamous oath to support the Bogus Government which thing I very promptly refused to do in consequences of which Refusal I was abruptly insulted by a Leading Rebel & I (several words illegible) & I had to leave there & came to Kentucky I came across the mountains with from 600 to 700 hundred men & we all went to the service of the government from that time up to July (illegible) I (illegible) my hole duty as quarter master & now do ? here I wish to state that at the time I left my family in Roane county ten. I had no chance to make sicable ? preparation for there subsistence in an strang neighborhood without any relatives to assist them & an about the first of July 1862 I met up with a man just from my town in which my family lived he told me that my family had fell short of provisions & was in a very bad condition that they (illegible) all the money that they had on hand for provisions & that the infamous rebels had taken it all from them and that they were in a bad fix & hapened to be about 4 or 5 miles from camp at the time I met up with this man I studdied but little about consequences but sent word back By some of the boys of the (illegible) to Col. Shelly<\/strong> that I had heard of grate distress of my family & that I went to their if posible & that I would be back in a short time then sir being moved by the highest (illegible) or motion known to man (illegible) country the Love and respect of his wife & children I went to their relief without special authority these was my motives for going & none others went & I sliped under the cover(?) of (illegible) Between Pickets Post of the Reble army & went into the town of Kingston & made Preparation for having my family taken care of with some of my (illegible) Friends I returned to my Regt. after an absence of 12 days I told my Col. where I had been ? & what for I did not understand from him that I was faulted for doing so & was never reported upon the book or (illegible) Reports as absent with Leave then in Augst ? about the time the Rebels had us surrounded at Cumberland Gap Ten. I was told by my Capt. F. W. ? Adams<\/strong> Brigade (illegible) that I would have to go out as far in the country as I could & get up what I could to Enlist my Regt. that rations had run short I went out by this authority & again while I was out from the (illegible) to get up a lot of (illegible) cattle? (illegible) find? the time that (illegible) steaks? I did not ask authority of Col. Shelly<\/strong> to go for the reasin that I never thought that it was necessary But fell my self called on under the circumstances that all in my Power to prevent my men from starving or suffering our? transported & trains ware all cut off what I (illegible) I these things Sir I done with Pure motive I ask you under the circumstances to be as merciful towards me in these as you can as was (illegible) circumstances your Respectfully J. J. Lane<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(from archived RCHC Web Site) Transcribed by Robert L. Bailey.  Original source unidentified. Note: John J. Lane served in served in Companies B and F, 5th Tennessee Infantry, USA.  Click the Company letters to view Robert Bailey‘s transcription of that unit. …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,35,52,18,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biographies","category-civil-war-history","category-migration-settlement","category-military-records","category-roane-tn-heritage-site"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1322"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/roane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}