Do the world a favor and switch to Mozilla Firefox, a web standards compliant browser.Anthony Bennezette Hurt's Chronology of Confederate Service, page 2
July 1861 thru May 2, 1865
12th Consolidated Tennessee Infantry Regiment
Capt. W. S. Moore's Infantry; BG Preston Smith's Brigade; MG Benjamin F. Cheatham's Division; MG Leonidas K. Polk's Right Wing Corps; General Braxton Bragg's CSA Army of the Mississippi
June 16, 1862: 12th and 22nd Tennessee Infantry Regiments, both being below minimum requirements, consolidate under the name of 12th Tennessee Volunteer Regiment. A. B. Hurt re-enlists and his unit is assigned to Company "F". Col. T. J. Freeman is not reelected to an officer’s position, probably due, in part, to severe wounds he sustains at Shiloh. (He returns to the war effort months later in BG Nathan B. Forrest’s cavalry unit.)
Upon assuming command, Bragg initiates an increased level of strict discipline, evoking capital punishment for those deserting to go home. Bragg becomes known for refusing leniency; yet only sixteen documented executions occur during his tenure. Furthermore, Bragg takes immediate dislike to both Polk and Cheatham. Bragg terms Polk’s Corps as “a mob” and is convinced they lack discipline. Bragg takes unsuccessful steps to remove both Cheatham and Polk from his army.
June-July, 1862: General Braxton Bragg moves bulk of Western army command, including the 12th TN, by rail from Tupelo, MS; south to Mobile, AL; steamboat transfer across Mobile bay; and north by rail through Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
August 1, 1862: Brevet BG Preston R. Smith's Fourth Brigade is detached from Cheatham's Division. Joining MG E. Kirby Smith's Division at Knoxville, TN they accompany Smith on his Kentucky Campaign. It is Gen. Bragg's ambition to capture Louisville and drive Federal General Buell's army across the Ohio River. If all goes to plan, he would then capture Cincinnati and invade Ohio.
August 14, 1862: MG E. Kirby Smith's troops march north from Knoxville, TN. He leaves a 9,000-man Division to observe Federal troops holding Cumberland Gap. The three remaining Divisions, totaling about 12,000 (including 12th TN Infantry), continues advancing north.
August 18, 1862: General Kirby Smith occupies Barbourville, KY. The troops rest for a week.
August 25, 1862: Smith resumes northward march through the barons of Kentucky. Much of the populace harbors a staunch Union sentiment. Noted one Rebel soldier, “You find one in 20 who is true to the South”. One citizen quipped about Smith's army: "[They are] ragged, greasy, and dirty, and some barefoot, and looked more like the bipeds of pandemonium than beings of this earth. ...They surrounded our wells like locusts of Egypt and struggled with each other for the water as if perishing with thirst, and they thronged our kitchen doors and windows, begging for bread like hungry wolves. . . .They tore the loaves and pies into fragments and devoured them. Some even threatened to shoot others if they did not divide with them. Notwithstanding such a motley crew, they abstained from any violence or depredation and appeared exceedingly grateful."
August 30, 1862: Battle of Richmond, KY: Directed by BG Patrick R. Cleburne, the lead division (including the 12th TN Infantry) attacks Federal troops lead by BG M. D. Manson. Federal MG William "Bull" Nelson's forces arrive late in the battle from Lexington, KY. Confederate forces break down lines of Federal troops defending the town. Federal General Manson is captured; General Nelson is wounded.
Union losses: 206 killed, 844 wounded, 4,303 captured or missing out of 7,000 forces. Federals also lose entire wagon train, substantial army stores, 10,000 small arms and 9 guns. Confederate losses: 78 killed, 372 wounded, 1 missing out of 7,000 engaged. The 12th Consolidated TN Infantry suffers 32 total casualties.
September 1, 1862: General Kirby Smith's Confederate forces cross Kentucky River and make camp. The next day they enter Lexington, KY, the state capitol, where many townspeople greet them with cheers. Smith maintains his headquarters in Lexington throughout September 1862.
Early October, 1862: Hastened by Federal General Joshua Sill's advance from Louisville toward Frankfort, KY, Kirby Smith's forces retreat to Versailles, KY, about 10 miles southeast.
October 8, 1862: Battle of Perryville (Goodnight Creek). Union losses: 4,211 (845 killed, 2,851 wounded, 515 captured or missing. Confederate losses: 3396 (510 killed, 2635 wounded, 251 captured or missing). Kirby Smith's forces (including the 12th Consolidated) are held in reserve at Versailles.
October 9, 1862: Kirby Smith is ordered from Versailles to Harrodsburg, KY (about 20 miles distant). The plan is for Confederate forces to meet Federal General Buell's army moving northeast from Perryville. The night of October 9, the two opposing armies lay "face to face" outside Harrodsburg. Buell does nothing, waiting for Bragg to show his hand. And Confederate General Bragg does nothing either despite appeals from Kirby Smith to "fight Buell here".
October 10, 1862: Before dawn, Bragg orders retreat toward Bryantsville, KY. Many in Bragg’s army privately vent their anger at Bragg. They do not understand the necessity of abandoning Perryville after having won a decided tactical victory.
October 13, 1862: Bragg begins withdrawal toward Cumberland Gap, KY. Accompanying this retreat are 400 new "US" wagons and assorted other four-wheel conveyances carrying 300,000 rations. Also following are droves of hogs, sheep and beef cattle, herded by cowboys recruited from Texas regiments. The rear- guard cavalry, under Colonel Joseph Wheeler, fights no less than twenty-six separate engagements during the first five days and nights of the march, beating off Federal attempts to hack at the long, slow-moving line of wagons.
October 22, 1862: Bragg arrives in Knoxville, TN; the 12th Consolidated TN Infantry arriving about October 30. Shortly thereafter, the 12th and 47th TN Infantry Brigades combine; separate records are maintained. Colonel Tyree H. Bell takes initial command, but returns to Western Tennessee on a recruiting trip.
November 11, 1862: The 12th TN Consolidated rejoins the command in Tullahoma, TN after being detached to guard the army's wagon-train on its westward trip. Upon arrival, a number of Cheatham's men are granted local furloughs.
Shortly thereafter, General Braxton Bragg chooses to anchor a defense of middle Tennessee at Murfreesboro, 44 miles north of Tullahoma (in the rich Stones River valley). From here, Bragg hopes to forestall a federal advance on Chattanooga. Bragg orders winter quarters built. A perennial foe, smallpox, breaks out in several of Cheatham’s units. But it is quickly checked by strict quarantine and vaccinations.
Major J. N. Wyatt's Infantry; BG Alfred J. Vaughan Jr's. Brigade; MG B.F. Cheatham's Division; MG L. Polk's Corps; General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee
December 5, 1862: The 12th TN accompanies Cheatham to within eleven miles of Nashville and skirmishes briefly with a union force before falling back to Murfreesboro.
December 26, 1862: Federal forces totaling 43,000 under the command of Major General Wm. S. Rosecrans move out of Nashville headed south toward Chattanooga.
December 30, 1862-January 2, 1863: - Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River). Murfreesboro, among broken and heavily wooded ground, is the concenter of several turnpikes; a railroad from Nashville runs southeast through town. For a week before the battle, the troops are in a cold, intermittent rain. Many have no campfires.
December 30, 1862: Federal forces under Rosecrans come upon General Bragg's ragged army camped along Stone's River a mile northwest of Murfreesboro. After some light skirmishing, the two armies spend the night only a few hundred yards apart, their bands competing with one another. They alternate northern and southern tunes including "Yankee Doodle" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag". Bragg assembles his 5 Divisions totaling 34,000 troops along a wide arc to cover the roads out of Nashville. Polk's corps is situated due west of Murfreesboro across from Federal MG Geo. H. Thomas' corps; Vaughan's Brigade is on the far left, about one quarter mile south of Wilkinson Pike.
December 31, 1862: The Confederates attack at dawn in a cold, gray mist. One Tennessee private recalls they "swooped down on those Yankees like a whirl-a-gust of woodpeckers in a hail storm". About 9:00 a. m., General Cheatham's Division, Vaughan's Brigade (including the 12th Consolidated) swings into action against Federal General Philip Sheridan's troops. Cheatham's Division drives Sheridan back under knee-buckling pressure and as a result 8 Federal guns are abandoned. The attack rages on, but Vaughan withdraws his troops when faced with the advance of two Federal commands.
General Bragg is determined to score a break-through. He targets a slightly elevated area enclosed by a circular four-acre clump of cedars. It is dubbed "Hell's Half Acre" or the "Round Forest". MG Jones H. Withers' Division of Polk's corps strikes first across fields of un-picked cotton. His forces are staggered by rapid-fire volleys from 50 Federal guns ranked hub to hub on the high ground. The sound is so great that Confederates stuff their ears with cotton plucked the bolls at their fingertips. About noon, Donalson’s Brigade from Cheatham's Division rushes the Federal position, but are likewise repulsed by "the most terrible cannonading ever witnessed". The battle continues until sunset, about 4:30 p.m.. (Relying on several sources, including a report that he falls from his horse while giving orders, many modern historians suspect Cheatham is intoxicated. But other witnesses report Cheatham gallantly wielding his sword while repulsing the Federals.)
The 12th Consolidated TN Infantry bares its full part in the battle, both in gallantry and losses suffering 164 casualties out of 322 combatants. Overall in Cheatham's Division, 1,939 were killed, wounded or missing - a 35% casualty rate. Despite these high casualty lists, Bragg wires Richmond that a tremendous victory has been won.
January 1, 1863: Neither army presses the other and the day passes without serious engagement. BG Gideon Pillow rides by the 12th TN and praises the troops for their accomplishments. In a macabre manner, Pillow tells the men of the 12th TN they had covered “the ground thick enough with dead Yankees if they should vegetate to bring a copious crop”.
January 2, 1863: General Preston Smith arrives and supersedes Vaughan as Brigade Commander. Smith (Vaughan's) brigade is positioned in reserve behind breastworks on the left of the Confederate position and a mile west of Stone's River.
About 3:30 p. m. General Bragg orders a reluctant General John C. Breckinridge of General William J. Hardee's Corps to advance on a hill just east of Stone's River. The objective is to dislodge the guns on the hill and then send Polk's Corps forward in a resumption of the offensive. After cresting the hill, Confederate forces are repelled from fire of 58 double- shoted guns.
January 3, 1863: The night on January 2, only Generals Cheatham and Withers' troops remain on the western side of Stone's River. The generals anticipate being charged with leading the next morning's advance. In an attempt to avoid a further catastrophe, Cheatham and Withers write a letter to Bragg, which is endorsed by Polk and sent through channels. It states,"... in our judgment, this army should be promptly put in retreat...". Polk adds, "I greatly fear the consequences of another engagement." After initially dismissing this counsel, Bragg reviews his position in the morning and heeds the advice. He orders a retrograde movement beginning the evening of January 3. Polk's corps is instructed to fall back to Shelbyville. The weather is wretched. The men of the 12th Consolidated TN fall back through the mud, drenching rain and pelting sleet..
Col. T. H. Bell’s Infantry; BG Alfred J. Vaughan’s Jr's. Brigade; MG B.F. Cheatham's Division; MG L. Polk's Corps; General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee
January-June 1863: Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee maintains quarters at Shelbyville, TN
May 1863: Religious activity is on the rise with “a grand revival going on in the 12th [TN]”.
Col. William M. Watkins' Infantry; Brigadier General Preston R. Smith's Brigade; General B.F. Cheatham's Division; General L. Polk's Corps; General B. Bragg's Army of Tennessee
June 23-30, 1863: Federal General William S. Rosecrans, upon threat of dismissal of command from President A. Lincoln, launches a series of swift, near bloodless flanking maneuvers against the Army of Tennessee. General Bragg, whose troops are thinly spread to allow them to forage for subsistence, responds by retreating first to Tullohoma. He then retreats to Chattanooga, TN, which is a railroad communication center that helps tie the Confederate nation together. Rosecrans’ masterful campaign forces the Southerner’s to yield most of the Tennessee territory retained after the struggle at Stones River.
June 30, 1863: Bragg abandons Tullohoma to circumvent a Federal move around the Confederate’s rear.
July 4, 1863: Bragg arrives in Chattanooga, TN after notifying his commanders in Richmond, VA of his retreat and relinquishment of middle Tennessee
Even if he wished to do so, CSA President Jefferson Davis could hardly celebrate the anniversary of his former country’s independence. Other news he receives on or about July 4, 1863 includes: · At Vicksburg, MS the city surrenders to General Grant after a long siege. (The town of Richmond, LA is burned by Federals on June 15, 1863 to provide protection to Grant’s rear at Vicksburg.) · At Gettysburg, PA the three-day battle ends in disaster for Southern troops. · At Helena, AR, Confederate LtG Theophilus H. Holmes looses almost his entire force of 1600 (half are captured) in an attempt take this Mississippi River town..
July 8, 1863: Cheatham's Division arrives in Chattanooga by way of Sewanee, TN and are busied constructing fortifications around the city. The heat is oppressive.
August 21, 1863: The 12th TN Infantry is in Chattanooga along with their brigade commander, BG Preston R. Smith. Federal gunmen under General Crittenden’s XXI Corps begin bombardment of Chattanooga from batteries on the north bank of the Tennessee River. They hit two churches and kill or wound several women and children.. In the shelling, a young girl’s leg is broken and her distraught parents rush to the home of a Confederate officer’s father. The girl’s family is refused entry since the house is packed with those taking flight from the shelling. Preston Smith severely chastises the elderly gentleman. When the son (LtC Beriah F. Moore) hears of the row he denounces Smith in writing, which sets the stage for a duel to the finish. A fellow officer intercedes, however, sparing bloodshed. Smith and Moore survive this altercation but both succumb during the upcoming conflict to enemy action.
September 9,1863: Using strategy and desultory fire from across the river, elements of General Rosecrans Army of the Cumberland enter Chattanooga. Bragg pulls out of the city with Cheatham's men in the vanguard. Headquarters are established near Lafayette, GA.
September 11, 1863: At his headquarters in Lafayette, GA, Bragg is informed that Federal troops under General Thomas are in McLemore’s Cove between Lookout Mountain and Pigeon Mountain south of Chattanooga. Cheatham informs his troops (including the 12/47 TN Infantry) of Bragg’s plan to trap Thomas in the cove. Cheatham makes a night march in an attempt to meet the enemy. They are in support of Hindman’s Division which is supposed to attack the Federals from the northern end of the cove. Hindman delays and the attempt is aborted.
September 13, 1863: Cheatham’s men are sent north toward Chattanooga, first to Rock Springs Church, then to Lee and Gordon’s Mill. Some skirmishing occurs but the Federals withdraw toward Chattanooga and the Confederates fall back to the town of Lafayette. The weather is hot and dry, not having rained in several weeks. The result is considerable dust on the roads. One member of the 12th TN notes that “frequently . . . we could not see men in the same column 25 yards in front of us”.
September 18, 1863: Confederate General Bragg plans to attack the Federal Army of the Cumberland. But the Southern troops can not be moved in time and the fight is deferred until the next day. The delay allows Rosecrans to adjust his army and better protect his routes to Chattanooga, which is now his reserve center and base of operations. This Federal troop adjustment goes unnoticed by Bragg. Preliminary skirmishing takes place with several heated confrontations at Chickamauga Creek crossings. Cheatham's men move downstream (north) along West Chickamauga Creek and camp on its east side.
Bio of Anthony Bennezette Hurt
Thanks to Mike Parsons for supplying this military chronology.
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