Indiana Artillery

The 12^th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was mustered into Union service January 25^th 1862.

The 12^th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was organized in Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Indiana.  It mustered into Union service January 25^th 1862 for a term of three years.  They left the same for Louisville, Kentucky.  The men took part in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi during May of 1862. The 12^th joined the Army of the Ohio in June 1862 before being moved the Defenses of Nashville in September of that year.  The 12th would also be on duty at the battles of Chattanooga, and the Battle of Nashville in 1864.

The men of the 12^th mustered out of service July 7^th 1865.  The Battery lost 24 men killed in action, and another 24 who from disease.

An Independent Battery

The 10th Ohio Independent Battery was organized January 9th 1862 in Xenia, Ohio under Captain Hamilton Berlace White.

The 10th Ohio Independent Battery was organized in Xenia, Ohio on January 9th 1862. They mustered in under Captain Hamilton Berlace White, with a three year enlistment at Camp Dennison in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 3rd 1862.

The 10th was part of the 6th Division of the Army of the Tennessee. They were ordered to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and advanced on the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi April 29th 1862. The 10th were part of General Ulysses S Grant’s Mississippi Campaign in the winter of 1862/1863. The men of 10th manned guns during the Siege of Vicksburg June 13th through July 4th 1863. As part of the Atlanta Campaign the 10th saw action at Kennesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek and, Turner’s Ferry. The 10th moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and were in reserve there during the Battle of Nashville December 15th 1864. The Battery moved to Sweetwater, Tennessee April 1st 1865, and then until July they were in Loudon, Tennessee. It mustered out of service July 17th 1865 at Camp Dennison. The 10th lost only 18 men during the was, all died from disease.

Forrest Held Up The Union Troops

The Battle of Anthony’s Hill [also know as the Battle of King’s Hill and the Battle of Devil’s Gap] part of the north Alabama, middle Tennessee campaign took place on December 25th 1864.


Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood ordered Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest to guard the rear of the Army of Tennessee after the lost at the Battle of Nashville. Leaving Pulaski, Tennessee in the evening of December 24th 1864 Forrest had to find a way to slow Union Major General James H Wilson’s pursuit long enough so the rest of the army could make its escape to the Tennessee River.

Wilson pushing his troops to capture the Confederates, was on the road first thing Christmas morning, December 25th 1864. That afternoon a few miles south of Pulaski, Wilson’s men ran into Forrest’s skirmishers. Wilson sent 3 regiments of dismount cavalry, into a wooded gorge leading up to Anthony’s Hill. Forrest posted 2 brigades of infantry and 2 of cavalry with some field pieces along a rail barricade. The Confederates unleashed a heavy fire, causing the Union troops to retreat, with Forrest’s men pursuing. The Confederates captured some cannon, pursuing for another half-mile before coming up against a full division of Union cavalry. Forrest disengaged at this point, pulling his troops back up the hill to their original positions, behind their barricades. The Confederate withdrew south to Sugar Creek in dark.

A web site about this subject that I recommend checking out is The Battle of Anthony’s Hill

Even On Crutches He Led

Confederate Brigadier General George Doherty Johnston died December 8th 1910.

George Doherty Johnston was born May 30th 1832 in Hillsborough, North Carolina. His family moved to Greensboro, Alabama in 1834, were his father died a year latter. Johnston had his early education from tutors, and then attended Howard College. He then attended Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee where he studied law. Johnston returned home after graduation and opened a law practice, but he quickly became involved in politics being elected mayor in 1856, and to the State Legislature in 1857.

When the Civil War started Johnston joined the Confederate Army, becoming a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Alabama Infantry. His unit saw its first action at First Manassas. Johnston was promoted to Major in the 25th Alabama in January 1862, and Colonel in September 1863. At the Battle of Ezra Church, Johnston was wounded in the leg. He received a promotion shortly after to Brigadier General. He was still on crutches, and leading his men during the Franklin Nashville Campaign. When surrender came Johnston was on his way to join up with Confederate General Richard A Taylor.

Following the war Johnston was the commandant of cadets at the University of Alabama. Latter he took the job as superintendent of the South Carolina Military Academy. President Grover Cleveland appointed Johnston to be the United State Civil Service Commissioner. He settle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he would be elected State Senator. Johnston died in Tuscaloosa December 8th 1910, and in buried in the Greenwood Cemetery.

A Union From Tennessee

Union Army General Joseph Alexander Cooper, farmer, civil servant, and soldier was born November 25th 1823.

Joseph Alexander Cooper was born near Cumberland Falls, Kentucky November 25th 1823. When he was a year old he and his parents moved to Campbell County, Tennessee, where he grew up. Cooper married Mary J Hutson in April 1846. During the Mexican-American War he enlisted as a private in the 4th Tennessee Infantry. When the war was over Cooper returned to his home in Jacksboro, Tennessee where he went back to farming.

At the beginning of the Civil War Cooper was elected a delegate to the 1861 Union Convention at Knoxville, Tennessee. He recruited men around his home county, they were sworn into service as part of the 1st Tennessee Infantry in Whitesburg, Kentucky. After battles at Wild Cat Mountain and Mill Springs, Cooper was promoted to Colonel, and given command of the 6th Tennessee May 1862. He and the 6th Tennessee saw action at Stone River, in the Chattanooga Campaign, and at Chickamauga. As part of the army of Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, Cooper was promoted to Brigadier General during the Atlanta Campaign on July 30th 1864. Cooper would be in command of the 2nd Division of the 23rd Corps during the Franklin and Nashville Campaign, for which he would be brevetted Major General. He was mustered out of service January 15th 1866.

Returning to Tennessee Cooper ran unsuccessfully in 1868 for United States Senate. He received an appointment from President Ulysses S Grant to be the IRS collector in the Knoxville district from 1869 to 1879. The Governor of Tennessee asked him help with the putting down the Ku Klux Klan in the state. He moved to Stafford County, Kansas in 1880 and went back to farming. Cooper died there May 20th 1910, and is buried in the Knoxville National Cemetery.

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.