Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-15
"reminiscences of the War.

whose heart did not quicken its pulsa-
tions with hope or fear when it was an
nouuced that the Southern army had
again headed toward the North, and
was again across the borders Of Tennes.
see,? l think not But how soon the
thousands of friendly hearts, whose pul.
sations had quickened with hopes of our
success, were rendered almost pulseless
by the, to them and US, appalling disas.
ter that so quickly overlook u.s. But,
alas not before the fearless hearts Of
thousands of the South's bravest and
best had become forever pulseless. l
have heard some attribute our disasters
to the just retribution of an incensed
Providence. / do not attribute them TO
Providence, but to the following causes,
which, l think, are more natural and
likely to cause disaster: OF the many
severe camp6gus the army endured, /
think, for the time it lasted, the Tennes-
see campaign was the severest Winter
had set in when we entered the State it
was cold, wet and disagreeable; the
principal roads approaching Nashville
are macadamized, and the rain had
loosened the sharp rocks that form their
surface; these soon wore ont the mems
badly tanned shoes, and the sharp, cut.
ting rocks coming in contact with their
naked feet soon rendered marching on
the roads too painful to be endured.
This caused many good men to lag be-
hind, and extended the army out to an
unsightly length for its strength. To
this cause, and to this alone, may be
attributed our great loss by capture after
our defeat at Nashville, rather than to
the enemy's vigorous pursuit, which, |
think, was not vigorous at all, and / had
good opportunity to know, for Twas in
the rear guard until we reached Franklin.
From the soreness of the mems feet hun
dreds avoided the road and took to the
open felds. During the day they would
manage to keep up with the rear
guard; but when they lay down to sleep
at night they had no bugle or sergeant
to arouse them in the morning They
awoke only when surrounded by the
clanking of the enemy's sabres and the
loud summons to surrender Almost all
the enemys prisoners were captured
asleep. When we arrived at Nashville,
instead of diminishing, our sufferings in
creased. Our abundance of line and
scarcity of men caused picket duty to he
very severe. The men were on picket
almost every other night, and often on
some kind of duty two or three nights in
succession. Fatigue and want Of rest
was not our only hardships; it was in
tensely cold on the bleak, bare hills we
occupied, and wood was very scarce--so
scarce that have seen the enemy charge
within range of our skirmish line, some
times with the loss of a man or two, for
the purpose of obtaining few fence
rails that were between the lines The
men were poorly clad and nothing
could be procured on the naked hills
that our division occupied but a few corn
stalks here and there to protect US from
the pitiless, piercing wind even now
whilst | write, / imagine feel that
piercing wind and the cold, shudderiug
sensation it produced. Many poor fel-
lows had nothing above them but the
cold, blue canopy of heaven, and little
beneath them but the cold, damp earth,
which, from our close intimacy, we had
almost become a part Of But the Sc
verest part of all these severities was
standing almost shoeless during the
night in the cold, wet skirmish pits, and
some of these nights were so intensely
cold that l have seen even the horses
crowd behind the men, squatted around
their little fire, to obtain protection from
the pitiless blasts. Reader, | have en-
deavored to show you, without exagger-
alton, what the army endured in
Tennessee during its last campaign.
You may say, as l have heard others say,
" Although they endured more hardships
in Tennessee than elsewhere, yet they
did not fight with their accustomed stub
bornness. l think they did; yet, will
endeavor to show you causes sufficient,
in my opinion, to have prevented some
armies from doing so. But first | will
endeavor to show you how l think the
army might have been made to accom-
plish more had General been with us
that understood the art of making the
most of every available element AS we
advanced toward Nashville, white-haired
men, decrepid with age, tottered to the
roadside and related, often with tears,
their real or imaginary wrongs, and con-
cluded by imploring US to " free the State
or die in the attempt When this
touching appeal was seconded by fair
and lovely daughter, with cheeks glow
ing with excitement, saying do, boys,
the fiery spirits of these Southerners
would answer the appeal with such
deafeniRg yell as would scatter the ne
groes who we're peeping through the
fences in every direction. Such scenes