The Last Veteran

Walter Washington Williams who claimed to be the last living Confederate veteran died December 19^th 1859.

Walter Washington Williams was born in Itawamba County, Mississippi, he said in 1842.

Williams claimed to have served in Confederate General John Bell Hood’s brigade, beginning in 1864 as a forgemaster.  Research into his military service has never been proven, nor even has his age been verified.

When the war ended Williams moved to Texas, where he settled on a farm in Eaton, Texas.

When the rest of the “last Claimants” had died, Williams became celebrated as the “last Confederate veteran”.  Williams died December 19^th 1859 in Houston, Texas at the home of his daughter.  The chairman of the Civil War Centennial; Ulysses S Grant III, said the Williams death was an occasion for national mourning, which United States President Dwight D Eisenhower had declared.  He is buried in the Mount Pleasant Church Cemetery in New Baden, Robertson, Texas.  His name is listed on the “Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederacy” monument at the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Battlefield, with the inscription, “Walter Washington Williams -- who was recognized by the government of the United States as the last surviving Confederate veteran died 1959 at the age of 117 years."

The fate Of A Soldier

Confederate Brigadier General John Adams was one of six Confederate officers killed November 30^th 1864 during the Battle of Franklin.

John Adams was born July 1^st 1825 in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Irish immigrants.  He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in 1846 ranked 25^th in the class.  Adams’ first posting was under Captain Philip Kearny in the United States 1^st Dragoons.  He served in the Mexican American War, and was brevetted for action during the Battle of Santa Cruz de Rosales.  After which he served mostly in the western frontier, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1853 when he served as the aide-de-camp for the Governor of Minnesota.

When Tennessee seceded in 1861 Adams resigned his commission and joined the Confederacy.   He was commissioned Colonel in 1862 and in December of that year became Brigadier General taking command of the late Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman’s Mississippi brigade.  Adams’ service was entirely preformed in the Western Theater of the war.

When Confederate John Bell Hood broke off from Union General William T Sherman and the Atlanta Campaign, Adams’ brigade led the advance into Tennessee.  During the Battle of Franklin on November 30^th 1864 Adams was killed while at the head of his men.  His death was described in June 1897 by an Indiana Colonel, who witnessed the action, “General Adams rode up to our works and, cheering his men, made an attempt to leap his horse over them. The horse fell upon the top of the embankment and the general was caught under him, pierced with [nine] bullets. As soon as the charge was repulsed, our men sprang over the works and lifted the horse, while others dragged the general from under him. He was perfectly conscious and knew his fate. He asked for water, as all dying men do in battle as the life-blood drips from the body. One of my men gave him a canteen of water, while another brought an armful of cotton from an old gin near by and made him a pillow. The general gallantly thanked them, and in answer to our expressions of sorrow at his sad fate, he said, 'It is the fate of a soldier to die for his country,' and expired.”

If you are interested in reading more, check out BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN ADAMS, CSA

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.

We'd Have Driven Them Into The River

Part of the Peninsula Campaign, the Battle of Eltham’s Landing took place on May 7th 1862.

Brigadier General William B Franklin had been ordered to protect the road to Barhamsville, New Kent County, Virginia. On May 7th 1862 Union Brigadier General John Newton had a brigade in the woods on either side of the landing road. Confederate Brigadier General John Bell Hood advanced pushing Newton’s skirmish line back. Do to the thick woods, Hood ordered his men to unload their rifles as they advanced. Union troops retreated from the woods onto the plain in front of the landing, where they could get cover fire from the Union gunboats. The Confederates fired artillery into the gunboats, but they didn't have enough range and so disengaged at about 2pm.  After the Confederates pulled back from the area, the Union troops moved back into the woods, but did not try to advance any further.

The action of the Battle at Eltham’s Landing was really little more than a skirmish. The Confederate saw 48 casualties, while the Union side lost 194 men. The action was a draw, although Confederate General Joseph E Johnston considered it a success, having only ordered Hood to feel out the enemy. He asked Hood, "What would your Texans have done, sir, if I had ordered them to charge and drive back the enemy?" To which Hood said, "I suppose, General, they would have driven them into the river, and tried to swim out and capture the gunboats."

A Military Man

General Andrew Jackson Smith who was a Union Corps commander was born April 28th 1815.

Andrew Jackson Smith was born April 28th 1815 in Bucks County Pennsylvania. He attended the United States Military Academy and graduated 36th out of 45 in 1837. Smith saw service in the Mexican American War, and saw action in the Oregon and Washington territories. He moved up the ranks and was a Major by 1861.

When the Civil War started Smith was made Colonel of the 2nd California Volunteer Cavalry. In 1862 he had moved east to command the Union cavalry of the Department of Mississippi and had the rank of Brigadier General. He would be assigned to the Army of Tennessee and took part in the capture of Arkansas Post. Smith commanded a division in the Vicksburg Campaign. He was brevetted Brigadier General for defeating Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Battle of Tupelo July 14th 1864. He then joined forces with Major General George Henry Thomas when Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood threatened Nashville, Tennessee. Smith was in command of the 16th Corps in the final campaign in Mobile Alabama in 1865.

Smith resigned his commission and became a Colonel of the United States 7th Cavalry in 1866, serving in West. In April 1869 Smith retired from the military. He became the Postmaster of St Louis, Missouri thanks to an appointment from Ulysses S Grant. Smith died in St Louis January 30th 1897 and is buried there.

Son of a President

Richard Taylor the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and Lady Margaret was born January 27th 1826 on the family estate near Louisville, Kentucky. He spent most of his childhood on the frontier with his father before attending private schools in Kentucky and Massachusetts. Richard began college at Harvard, but graduated in 1845 from Yale. When his father died in 1850, he inherited the families Sugar Plantation “Fashion” in Louisiana, and soon had about 200 slaves.

At the start of the Civil War, Confederate General Braxton Bragg asked Taylor to be his assistant in Pensacola, Florida. While serving in Florida he was appointed the Colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry, and served at the Battle of First Manassas. In October of 1861 Taylor was promoted to General and given command of a Louisiana brigade under General Richard Ewell. He was promoted over more senior officers which caused of cries of favoritism, as he was the brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis. He proved his capability as a leader at many battles including the First Battle of Winchester. In July 1862 at the age of thirty-six, he became the youngest Major General in the Confederacy and was given command of the District of West Louisiana. After John B Hood’s failures in Tennessee, Taylor was placed in command of what was left of the Army of Tennessee. Union General Edward Canby excepted Taylor’s surrender on May 8th 1865; the last of the Confederates east of the Mississippi to give up.

After the war Richard was active in democratic party politics and was a leading opponent of the policies of Reconstruction. He published a memoir of the war in 1879the year he died in New York City. He is buried in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

Before the Music Made the City

On the cold icy winter afternoon of December 16th 1864 Union troops led by General George H Thomas handed a crushing defeat to Confederate forces in Nashville, TN. The Battle of Nashville had begun the day before December 15th 1864, after two weeks of waiting for good weather and reinforcements to arrive.

The first Union troops, led by Major General James Steedman, set out to hit the Confederates before daylight on the 15th. The Confederate were battered by dark when the fighting ended for the day, but General John B Hood was still confident. Hood placed his line of resistance along Shy’s and Overton’s Hills to prepare for the next days fighting.

The first days fighting had been a matter of overwhelming numbers of Union forces. The Union spent most of the morning of the 16th moving into position. The plan was to hit the Confederates on two fronts. It took until about 4pm before the Confederates on Shy’s Hill, under attack from three side broke and ran for the rear. With darkness and a heavy rain falling, Hood collected what was left of his troops and withdrew southward. This was the beginning of the end for the fighting in the Western Theater.

Sherman in Atlanta

On September 5, 1864 Gen William Tecumseh Sherman arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, the first step toward the long march to the sea.

The Union Army began the long continuous artillery shelling of the city of Atlanta, Georgia on August 9th 1864. This continued until the September 2nd 1864 when the Mayor of Atlanta surrendered the city to Colonel John Coburn. Two days after Sherman arrived in Atlanta, he issued an ordered for the inhabitants of the city to leave, for their own safety. From this time through November, Sherman’s forces remained in the city, defensively holding it against John B Hood’s troops.