Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-12-15
DESTRUCTION of goHxsorNllF. IEnn.
Cincinnati News Journal.

Cincinnati News Journal.
sit is remarkable fact" said an
exCOnfederate general to a News
Journal reporter, "that none of the
historians of the late war have CIV
en- full description of the destruc-
tion of Johnsonviile, Tenn. by the
Confederate general, Forrest, on the
4th day of November, 1864. The
destruction of this place was attend
ed with All Insignificant loss of life,
but the immense loss of government
property was unparalleled, exceed
ing City Point, Va, or the evacua-
ton of Corinth, Miss. In 1864,
while Gen. Sherman was preparing
for his famous march to the sea, the
low stage of water in the Cumber-
land river, aud the inability of the
Louisville d Nashville railroad to
forward the enormous stores requir-
ed in the prescribed time, the gov
eminent extended the Nashville &
Northwestern road to the Tennessee
river, and JohnsonvilIe, at the ter
minus, became the base of supplies
for Sherman's army. Leaving Gen.
Thomas with the Fourth and TWen-
ty-iourth army corps 10 defend Ten
nessee, Sherman, after destroying
Atlanta, started on his famous
march TO the Atlantic Ocean. Gen.
Hood, the Confederate commander,
with his usual impetuOsity, started
north TO capture Nashville and
drive General Thomas to the Ohio
river. His disastrous defeat before
Nashville is matter of history, and
we will follow Forrest, who left
Hood at the Tennessee river on a
secret expedition. Dispatches
reached Gen. Thomas at Nashville
that Forrest had passed Gunter's
Landing, Ala, heading west. Old
pap, alter a careful survey of the
military map, intuitively concluded
that Forrest intended to capture
Johnsonville, follow the lire OF the
Nashville d. Northwestern railroad
to Kingston Springs, cross the
Cumberland river at GAINESVILLE and
appear in the rear of Nashville ST.
muItaneously with Hoods appear
ance before that city. The entire
Cumberland gunbOat fleet was dis
patched to form junction with the
Tennessee squadron. While the
fleet was descending the Cumber-
land and rounding into the Tennes-
see twelve miles below, Forrest was
wildly riding day and night through
Northern Mississippi and into West
Tennessee in a frantic endeavor to
arrive before the fleet. Six hundred
Yards below JohnsOnville a small
island divides the river into two
equal channels. AT then on the 4th
of November, the hagship and six
other gunbOats appeared around the
head of the island and cast anchor
before the fort. AT two minutes
past IL Forrest arrived on the oppO-
site bank, and, enraged at his ill
luck, commenced one of the most
savage bOmbardments known dur
ing the late war, the shot fired cut
ting out the whole bottom of the
Twenty-nine, the flagship, sinking
her like lead. So vicious and accu-
rate was his fire that in twenty min
utes every gunbOat above the island
was blown up, sunk or abandoned
by the crews. In the meantime the
cavalry had dismounted, and creep
ing down to the bank, poured ill.,
ceSsant VOlleys of leaden hail into
the town, which stampeded $500
armed quartermaster employees who
had volunteered to defend the place,
leaving the brunt to fall on COlb's
Wisconsin regiment, the First Kan
sas, and a colored United States
battery. At O'Clock the remnants
of the fleet left the scene of action
and dropped out of sight. The
commandment was incessant till
shutdown and was resumed with
savage ferOcity the next morning.
AT 10 o'clock, during a temporary
lull in the firing, the ears of the gal
liant defenders were greeted with
the shrill shrieks of approaching
locomotives, bearing two brigades
of the TWenty-third corps, which
Thomas had sent to relieve the
place. Forrest was foiled, but what
a desolate sight saddened the eyes
of the rescuers. Eight fine gunbOats,
sixteen large steamers, $50 barges Of
hay, vast quantities of government
stores under canvas, and the i'm
mense warehouse 600 feet long,
packed to repletiOn with cOmmissa-
ry, quartermaster and sanitary
stores, estimated by the quarter
master general to be worth $40, O00,-
600, were a grand smOldering ruin.