Death On The Creek

The Tragedy of Ebenezer Creek on December 9^th 1864 occurred when Union General Jefferson C Davis refused to let the escaped slaves following his Union Corps, cross the creek on his pontoon bridge.

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman had only twenty miles left on his “March to the Sea”, heading toward Savannah, Georgia.  Former slaves had started following his army as he began the march from Atlanta, but Sherman didn’t have the means to support them all.  With food being scarce the freedmen were encouraged to turn back, but on December 9^th 1864 there were about 640 former slaves, men, women and children following the army.

Union Brigadier General Jefferson C Davis, the leader of the XIV Corps made a decision to rid himself of theses 640 souls.  Davis had the pontoon bridge laid out across Ebenezer Creek.  He ordered his troops to cross first telling the former slaves to wait for their own safety, in case there was fight in the front.  Once the Union troops were across the bridge Davis ordered the 58^th Indiana to cut the line holding the pontoon, and the current moved the bridge about thirty-five yard away from the bank.  This left the former slaves trapped on the far side of the icy water.

At just about the same time Confederate cavalry under the command of Major General Joseph Wheeler arrived at Ebenezer Creek where the former slave had been left.  Many of the trapped men and women went into the river trying to swim across and were drowned, other were killed during the skirmish with Davis men on the other side of the river.  The Confederates left to find another way around the river, but they came back later to round up any of the former slaves left behind.

The Diary Of The Confederacy

Southern lady Mary Boykin Chesnut started her diary February 18^th 1861.

Mary Boykin Miller was born March 31^st 1823 on the family plantation near Stateburg, South Carolina, the daughter of Stephen Decatur and Mary [Boykin] Miller.  At twelve she began school in Charleston at the French School for Young Ladies ran by Madame Talvande.  Mary’s father moved the family to Mississippi where he bought three cotton plantations, but Mary stayed at school in Charleston.  She met her future husband James Chesnut Jr when she was 13, and they married in 1840.  In 1858 Mary’s husband was elected to the United State Senate from South Carolina, and was serving until the Civil War started.

Once the war started Mary’s husband became an aide to Confederate President Jefferson C Davis and a Brigadier General.  Mary took an active part in building the political networks important to her husband’s career.  She began writing her Civil War diary on February 18^th 1861.  In it she describes meeting many of the Confederacy’s high society such as Louis T Wigfall, Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina, and Confederate General John Bell Hood.  It also included the many places she lived during the war such as Montgomery, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia.  Mary was in Charleston, South Carolina to witnesses the firing on Fort Sumter.  The diary ended June 26^th 1865.

Following the war the Chesnuts lost pretty much everthing.  Mary’s husband died in 1866.  She began working to revise her diary in the 1880’s.  Mary struggled through her last years with little income.  She died at her home in Camden, South Carolina in 1886 and is buried next to her husband in Knights Hill Cemetery.

Mary’s diary was published for the first time in 1905.

Another Davis

George Davis; no relation to Jefferson Davis, was appointed Confederate Attorney General January 2^nd 1864.

George Davis was born March 1^st 1820 at Porter’s Neck, near Wilmington, North Carolina.  He was the valedictorian of the class of 1838 of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Davis became a lawyer in 1840, and in 1848 the general counsel of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.

As the country moved toward Civil War, Davis served as a delegate at the Washington Peace Conference from North Carolina in 1861.  He then served on the Provisional Confederate Congress and the Confederate Senate from 1861 through 1864.  Confederate President Jefferson C Davis appointed Davis Attorney General January 2^nd 1864 a position he held until the last days of the Confederacy on April 24^th 1865.

Davis was captured by a Union force October 18^th 1865 in Key West, Florida and served several months at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York before being pardoned on January 1^st 1866.  He returned to his law practice in Wilmington, North Carolina.  Davis was offered, but turned down a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.  He died February 23^rd 1896.

Lack Of Experence

The Skirmish at Blackwater Creek on December 19^th 1861 took place in central Missouri, and is also known as the Skirmish at Milford.

Confederate Colonel Franklin S Robertson, a store owner in Saline County, Missouri was recruiting to fill out a Confederate regiment after being commissioned by Major General Sterling Prince.  Union Brigadier General John Pope who was in command of the District of Central Missouri was set on quashing the Confederates working in Missouri and end southern recruiting.

Robertson rounded up his recruits and on December 16^th 1861 took his 750 men and marched them south.  They were going to meet up with other recruits near Warrensburg, Missouri.  They were to join up with Price.  Robertson and his men camped on December 18^th 1861 near Milford, Missouri.  Pope learning of the encampment moved to encircle them by sending Union Colonel Jefferson C Davis’ brigade to the Blackwater Bridge and the 2^nd Missouri Cavalry around them to the northeast.

Finding himself surrounded on December 19^th 1861, Robertson formed a line, and ordered his men to take the bridge before the Union troops could hold it.  When fired on the new recruits holding the bridge fled.  The 4^th United States Cavalry, 2^nd Missouri Cavalry and 1^st Iowa Cavalry chased them into Robertson’s line, where the Confederates surrendered.

The Bull Was Killed

Union General William “Bull” Nelson was killed September 29^th 1862.

William “Bull” Nelson was born September 27^th 1824.  He attended school at Maysville Academy, and then at age 13 he went to Norwich University in Vermont.  At 15 Nelson received, with the help of Congressman Garrett Davis a midshipman position on the USS Delaware.  After five years sailing in the South Pacific he became part of the first class at the United States Naval School at Annapolis.  Nelson graduated in 1846 and reported for duty on the USS Raritan.

When the Civil War started Nelson was detached from the Navy and sent to recruit troops in the East Tennessee area.  He was placed with his troops in Camp Dick Robinson and made Brigadier General of United States volunteers September 16^th 1861.  Nelson organized a brigade at Camp Kenton and marched them to Olympian Springs, Bath, Kentucky.  In late October 1861 his men routed Confederates at West Liberty, and on November 8^th 1861 Confederate Captain Andrew Jackson May fought a delaying action against Nelson on Ivy Mountain.  At the end of the month Nelson was place under Union General Don Carlos Buell as part of the Army of the Ohio.  His men arrived at Shiloh Church on April 5^th 1862 and saw heavy fighting.  Nelson got into an argument after entering Corinth on May 30^th 1862 with Union General John Pope over who should get credit for occupying the town.

On September 18^th 1862 Nelson assigned Union Brigadier General Jefferson C Davis to command the Home Guard.  Davis felt that this assignment was an insult and on September 29^th 1862 he publicly demanded an apology from Nelson in the lobby to the Galt House.  Nelson refused to apologize and this publicly shamed Davis.  Davis obtained a pistol and shot Nelson in the heart.  Although Davis was prosecuted the case was dropped from the court docket in 1864 and Davis was never convicted.  Nelson was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.  His body was latter moved to a family plot March 8^th 1872 in the Maysville Cemetery.