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Sketch of General Anderson's Life
:.; written by himself.
SI was born in Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee, on
S:. -:.the 16th day of February 1822. My father, William Preston A1dderson,
was a native of Bo-tetoa County, Virginia, and was born about
the year 1775, during the second term of General Washington's
adii.iniStration. Fe ruoaiveC. 7-roZo th~e 3;;.ei. a commission of
: lieutenant in the United States Army. Ahout this time, or soon
after, he removed to Tennessee and at one time was United States
District Attorney for that Judicial District, and was subsequently
Surveyor General of the District of Tennessee. In the war of 1812
he was Colonel of the 24th United States Infantry and was accidently
with Col. Crogan in his defense of Fort Harrison. During this war
he married my mother (Margaret L. Adair) who was the fifth
daughter of Maj. Gen. John Adair of MIercer County, Xentucky. He
---had "previously been married to Miss HTancy Belle, by i.wVhom he had- '-.
three children, .Iusadora, Rufus .King and Carolina. In the second
marriage there were born Nancy Belle, X -i-XSTT^ Catherine
Adair, John Adair (who died in infancy), James Patton, John Adair
(who died in 1858), Thomas Scott and Butler Preston. When I was
an infant my father removed from the town of Winchester to his farm
Craggy Hope, about six miles distant, where he resided till his
death in April 1831. When about eight years old I was sent, for a
short time, to a country school near home, where I learned the
alphabet and began to spell and read. Soon after my father's
death my mother-returned with her six children to her father in
'-f. ..oMeroer County,. entuoky, brotherr John Adair and myself were-
soon after sent to the house of Charles Buford (who had married my
mother's youngest sister) in Scott County, Ientuccy, and remained
there about a year attending a country school taught by a Mr.
Phillips- this was.in 1831-2. In 1833 I returned to my grandfather
and went to school to a young man named Van Dyke who taught-in the
neighborhood. Afterwards to .Ir. Tyler and still later on to a Mr.
Boutwell, who were successively principals of Cone Burr Academy
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in Mercer County. I was then sent to the house of Judge Thomas
B. Monroe in Frankfort. Mrs. Monroe was also a sister of my
mother. Here I remained about a year, perhaps more, attending a
select school taught by B. B. Sayre. About this time my mother was
married to Dr. I..N. Bybee of Harrodsburg,- y. I was taken to his
house and went to school in the village to a i!r. Rice and afterward
to a Mr. Smith. In October 1836 I was sent to Jefferson College.
at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. I remained there a year when
pecuniary misfortune compelled my stepfather to withdraw me. In
the winter of 1838 I kept up my studies with a young man named Perry
then teaching in Harrodsburg. During this winter I boarded at the
house of my Uncle John Adair three miles in the country. In the
spring of 1838, I was sent up to the Three Forks of ientucky River
in Still County, where my step-father had established a saw mill
and had opened a coal mine. During this year, too, I made a trip
with my mother to Winchester, Tenn,, on horseback, where she went
-to close up some wS of the unsettled business of my father's ;:
estate. In the fall of 1838 my step-father determined to remove
to North Mississippi, then being rapidly settled, the Indians
having been removed west of the Mississippi River. I accompanied
him from Harrodsburg, Ky. to Hernando in DeSoto County, Miss. I
remained here during the winter of 1838-9, assisting in building
cabins, clearing land etc. for the comfort of the family. In
April 1839, I was sent back to Jefferson College. I entered the
Junior Class and graduated in October 1840. I returned to DeSoto
County, Miss. and began the study of law in the office of Buckner
& Delafield, and was admitted to the bar by Judge Howry in 1843.
-II" the sumime=9r f 1844, and 1845 I. spent three months of each year .
at the law school of Judge Thomas E. idonroe at iontroe over
Frankfort, Ky. I have always regarded these months as more profit-
ably spent than any others of my life. Having no money with which
to support myself and the bar being crowded with the best talent
ofV'ennessee, Alabama and other states which had been at traced
to'this new country by its great prosperity and promise, I accepted
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the position of Deputy Sheriff of DeSoto County, under my brother-
in-law, Col. James H. Hurray, who had been elected to that office
in the fall of 1843. I held this position, from which a comfortable
support was derived, till 1846, when the prospect seemed favorable
to .commence the practice of law. In 1847 I formed a partnership
with R. B. Liayes, a young lawyer of the State about my own age.
f[uring the time that I discharged the functions of Deputy Sheriff
I also practised law in partnership with my former preceptor- E. P.
Buckner- whenever I could do so consistently with the duties of the
office.) In October 1847, I received an earnest appeal from Gov.
A. G. Brown of Mississippi, to organize a company in response to
a call from the President of the United States for service in
1Mexico. (I had previously made several efforts to enter the military
service during the war with Mexico, but all the organizations
from DeSoto County had failed to be received by the Governor- their
distance from the Capitol making them too late in reporting.) In
-::a few :&ays'I: organize& a company of volunteers from the Regiment
of Militia in the County, of which I was then Colonel. I was
elected Captain of the Company without opposition. H. Car Forrest
was elected 1st Lieutenant- my brother John Adair, was elected
2nd Lieutenant and my brother Thomas Scott, Orderly Sergeant. The
Company repaired hurriedly to Vicksburg, the place of rendevouz.-
Two other companies had already reached the encampment. After
waiting a fortnight or more for the other two companies of the
Battalion called for by the president, to report, the five companies
were sent to New Orleans for equipment and organization. Having
received. arms, clothing etc. they embarked about 2nd January 1848
.-,for--Tampico eco n U22nd.eeb.rary.848, I was .elected, at- ;-
Tampico, Lieutenant Colonel to command the Battalion. I remained
S at Tampico till the close of the war, when I was mustered out of the
service along with the Battalion at Vicksburg, Miss. and reached my
.* home at Hernando on the 4th .f July 1848. I resumed the practice
e at..l -f J
of law~iin partnership with I. B..-Mayes. Our prospects were flatter-
ing as the busi-nes- of -the f--i-. asz-gradually increasing. In the
fall of 1849 I vas elected one of the members to the Legislature
from De Soto County, after a very heated and closely contested
canvass. In January 1850 I took my seat in the Legislature. Gen.
John A. Quitman was at the same time inaugurated Governor of the
State. The celebrated Compromise Measures were then pending in the
Congress of the United States and the country much excited on the
topics then being discussed. Jefferson Davis and H. S. Poote were
then the United States Senators from Mississippi. I took the same
view of the question with Davis and Quitman- voted for a reso-
lution in the House of Representatives of Mississippi, requesting
Senator Foote to resign his seat inasmuch as he did not reflect the
will of the State in voting for the Compromise Bill, I sustained
cordially and sincerely all the prominent measures of Governor
Quitman's Administration, and believed great injustice and wrong
was done the South in ;the passage of the Compromise Bill by the
S Congress of the United States. In,1851 I was renominated by the .
Democratic Party of De Soto County for a seat in the Legislature,
ly health (from my service in Mexico) at this time was very bad,
which precluded me from making a thorough canvass of the County.
The contest was an exceedingly warm one and in many portions of
the state was even bitter. It has passed into history.. V/m.Davis
was defeated for Governor by General Foote. The whole Democratic
Party was left in a minority.m With the rest I was defeated by over
a hundred majority in an aggregate vote of about eighteen hundred.
..:Resumed practice of law, succeeded as well as could be hoped with
; health still so bad from continued fever and ague. In 1853 feffer-
won Davis was tendered the position of. Secretary of War in Mr.
P*- ierce's Cabinet. In answer to a letter of'mine in February of
this year, he advised me to proceed to Washington City, where he
would use his influence to procure me a commission in the new rifle
:. regiment then about to be raised by Congress for frontier R.efense,
My health by this time was so completely gone, from the effects
S of sedentary habits and the agues engendered in a miasmatic climate
that friends a-nd physicians advised. me to remove from Missississippi,
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to a colder and dryer climate. I accepted Mr. Davis' proposition
and repaired to Washington City, where I arrived on the night of
the 4th of March 1853, in time to learn that the bill to raise a
rifle ,regiment had failed for want of time to receive President
Fillmore's signature. I remained, however, a fortnight without
making any effort or application to receive any other position.
The bill to organize the Territory of Washington had become a law
on the 3rd of -March. My Uncle John Adair, who had removed to
Astoria, Oregon in 1848, was now in Washington City and extremely
anxious for me to remove to that distant region, where my brothers
-John and Butler, had.gone in 1850. Through his instrumentality and
the kindness of Mr. Davis (now secretary of war) Iwas appointed
United States Marshall for the Territory of Washington. I accepted
it and set about making preparations for the journey. Two diffi-
culties were in the way- First: the want of money, and- Second:
I was engaged to be married to my-cousin Henrietta Buford Adair,
and I doubted the policy of taking her into such a wild and new
country with no other help or dependence for a support than my
own exertions. I returned to Memphis, where she was, consulted
her, and we agreed to try our fortunes In this unknown sea. Her
father gave her eight hunfred dollars, and by borrowing six
hundred from Stephen D. Johnston of De Soto County, I raised about
the same amount. (On account of his health he had been forced to
give up business almost entirely and was too weak to.attempt to
collect what was owing to him.) We were married in Memphis on the
30th of April 1853 and in an hour afterwards were on our way to
S the Pacific Coast aboard of a Mississippi, steamer bound for New
Orleans. We eembarkeda at NTew Orleansonhthe'7th of May on board a
steamer bound for Gray Town in Nicaragua. The first day at sea my
wife was taken .very ill of fever. For several days her life
seemed to be suspended by a thread. Those were the most anxious
days of my life. Happily she was better by the time we reached
Greytown. Taking a small river steaner there we commenced the
ascent of the San Juan River. After several days of toil we
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reached Virgin Bay, only to learn that the steamer from San Fran-
0i cisco, on which we had expected to reach that city on her return
trip, had sprung a leak and was compelled to go on down the Coast
to Panama for repairs and that she would probably not return for
.a month.. This was. a great disappointment to the eight hundred
passengers at Virgin Bay, who were eager to reach the gold fields
of California, but to me it was a matter of rejoicing, since a few
weeks rest in Iicagarua would probably restore my wife to health
before undertaking another long sea voyage. We remained at Virgin
S Bay nearly a month. My wife entirely recovered and we embarked at
i:San Juan del Bud the first week in June, reached San Franciiso -In'
fourteen days, where we had to stay near a fortnight in waiting for
the steamer which was to take us to the Columbia River. At the
expiration of this time we set sail in the steamer "Columbia"
bound for Astoria, Oregon. Among the passengers were my uncle,
John Adair, and his eldest daughter;. Captain Geo. B. McClellan;
U. S.A. Major L-rna1 aU. S. A. and.
several other officers of the Army besides two companies of
infantry. After passing the bar at the mouth of the Columbia, a
reckoning was taken between myself and wife, of the state of the
finances. It was ascertained that the sum total on hand was
exactly one dollar! (It was paper and of no value on that coast
at that time). It would not pay for landing our trunks at Astoria
which place was then in sight and was our present destination. I
threw the dollar into the raging Columbia and began to whistle to -;
keep my courage up. My health had not improved. An officer came
on deck whom I had not seen at table or elsewhere during the
:;e-voyae inquired,.iplonelA e d erson.was .in the crowd: I replied
and introduced myself to him. le made himself known as Lieutenant
Rufus Sayon U. S. A. and said he had left Uew York on the steamer
that came out a fortnight after I had left New Orleans and that he
had an official communication for me from the Secretary of the
Interior at the same time handing me a paper in a large official
envelope. ;Taking it in my hand I began depositing it in my coat
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pocket without breaking the seal, when he requested that I would
open it and see whether he had brought it and contents safely to
hand. On opening it I found that it contained instructions for me
as U. S. Marshall to proceed at once to take a census of the inhab-
itants of the new Territory of Washington and also a Treasury Draft
for a thousand dollars to defray my expenses in the work. This
was a piece of good fortune in the nick of time, for in two
minutes more the steamer dropped her anchor off the city of Astoria
and soon we disembarked. IMy wife remained at the house of our
Uncle, near Astoria and I started in a few days to Puget Sound to
commence the official labors assigned me. I reached Olympia on
the 4th of July and on the 5th started through the territory to
take the census. The only mode of travel then known in the country
was by canoe with Indians as watermen, or on foot. For two months
I was constantly engaged in this way, frequently walking as much
: as -twenty-five miles per day and carrying my blankets, provision
and papers on myl'back. My health was already robust and the work- -
was a pleasure. On completing the census my wife accompanied me by
steamer up the Columbia, to mouth of Cowlitz River, in canoe etc.
up Cowlitz River to landing, across a portage of sixty miles on
ponies to Olympia, where the caPital of the Territory was likely
to be established and where I had determined to settle. At first
we rented a little house and then bought one in which we lived very
happily and pleasantly during our stay in the territory. In addi-
tion to my duties as U. S. Marshall I practised law in the Terri-
torial Courts, whenever the two duties did not conflict. In 1855
I was nominated by the Democratic Party of the Territory for the
position of delegate in the U. S. Congress. My competitor was
Judge Strong, formerly U. S. District Judge in Oregon. WTe began a
thorough canvass of the whole territory as soon as appointments for
public speaking could be distributed among the people. I was
successful at the election which came off in June. Soon thereafter
the report of gold discoveries near Port Colville on the upper
Columbia reached the settlements on Puget Sound and several persons
:- began preparations for a trip into that region. Not desiring to
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start for Washington City before October, in order to be in
Washington City on the 1st Monday of December, the meeting of the
34th Congress, to which I had been elected, I determined to go to
to inform
Port Colville/myself about the gold deposits of that and other
unexplored regions of the territory, the better to be able to lay
its wants and resources before Congress and the people of the
states. I started with seven other citizens of Olympia the latter
part of June, on horse back, with pack animals to carry our provi-
sions. Our route lay over the Cascade Mountains through what was
then called the Na-chess Pass across the Yakama River and valley
striking the Columbia River at the Priest Rapids, where we crossed
it and taking the Grande Coulee to the mouth of the Spokane River
thence up the left bank of the Columbia by Port Colville to the
mouth of Clarks Pork, where gold wap reported to have .been found,
which we proved by experiment to be true. The trip from Olympia
to the mouth of. Clarks Fork as thus described occupied us about
24 days. Other parties followed us soon after. The Indians on their :^
route became alarmed lest their country would be overrun with
whites in search of gold and commenced hostilities, by killing a
man named Mattise, who was on his way to the mines from Olympia.
A general Indian war was threatened. I had not been at the mines
a week till Angus I;cDonald of Fort Colville sent an express to
inform me of the condition bf affairs between me and home. We were
unarmed, except with two guns and one or two pistols in the party.
Our provisions were being exhausted and the appointed time for my
.return had arrived, so the miners concluded to return with me to
avoid the most hostile tribe led by the Chief Owhe. We made a de-
.- -:.-tour. to. the east in. returning, crossed, the poka.e about forty
miles aDove its mouth, passed by The old hiteman Mission- crossed
Snake River about ten or twenty miles above its mouth, took down
the Pelouse to Walla Walla, thence across the Umatilla near the
Mission and "Billy lHcKey" crossing the Deo Shuttes at its mouth,
S then down to the Dallas, the Cascades, Port Van Couver and up the
Cowlitz back. to Olympia; which we reached in safety about 1st
October. During that month my wife and I took steamer to San
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Francisco, thence to Panama, Aspknwall and on to iew York. We
reached. 1ashington City a few days before the meeting of Congress.
This (24th) Congress will be long remembered as the one which gave
rise to such a protracted and heated contest for speaker- to which
S position Mir. U. P. Banks pf Massachusettes was finally elected.
This was the first triumph of importance of that fanatical party
(now called Republican) which led to the disruption of the Union
four years later. Before this struggle for speaker had been de-
cided, and during the Christmas Holidays my wife and I repaired
to Casa Bianca, Florida, by invitation of our aunt, Mrs A.
Beatty. While there I entered into an agreement with her for the
conduct of her plantation under my supervision etc. Ly wife re-
mained at Casa Bianca and I returned to my duties at Washington City;
only coming out to Florida during the vacation. My term of service
in Congress expired the 4th of March 1857. The same day ar. Buch-
n.ana was inaugurated President .for four years. He appointed me
Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Washington
Territory, (The same position had been tendered him by President
pierce, but declined) but I did not accept, wishing to take my
wife's advice on the subject. On consultation with her I determined
not to return to Washington Territory, believing firmly that the
days of the Union were already numbered and not wishing to be ab-
sent from the land of my birth when her hour of trial came. I
resigned the position tendered me by !r. Buchanan and devoted my-
self exclusively to planting at Casa Bianca. In 1860 when it be-
came certain that Mr. Lincoln was elected President of the United
States,-the people of Florida feeling alarmed for the 'safety of
,:: their rights and institutional, .began to hol. primary meetings to
a general Convention of the states in December 1860. I was elected
a delegate from Jefferson County to a general convention of the
State which assembled at Tallahassee the 1st of January 1861, and
passed the ordinance od secession.on the 10th day of the same month-
which received my hearty approval. WVhile the Convention was yet '- .
in session the Covernor deemed it prudent to seize such forts .
ordinance and ordinance stores as he could belonging to the
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United States within the limits of the state. For this purpose a
force was sent to Pensacola, to seize the Navy Yard, Forts
Barrancas, McRee and Pickens. A Volunteer Company of young men
of Jefferson County, of which.I was captain, came through Tallahassee
en route to Pensacola to assist in taking Fort Pickens, to which all
the U. S. troops then at Pensacola had. now retired. At the request
of the Company, signified to me in Tallahassee while they were
awaiting transportation to St. Marks, I agreed to command them in
this expedition. Another company under Captain Amaker, from Talla-
hassee, was also going on the same errand. We failed at'St. IMarks
to get steamboat transportation- returned to Tallahassee and started
overland by Quincy, Chattahoochie etc. Captain Amiker's commission
as captain was older than mine (by one day) but at his urgent request
and that of Governor Perry I consented to assume the command of the
two companies. Having marched to Chattahooohie Arsenal we were
:. stopped by a dispatch from. Gov, Perry directing us to remain there
till further orders. In about a week it was decided by the officer
in command of the Florida troops at Pensacola not to attack Fort
Pickens, and he accordingly dispatched Gov. Perry to disband my de-
tachment. In the meantime the Convention of Florida had T-F-TEK
determined to send delegates to a convention of such southern states
as had seceded from the Union, which was to meet in February in
Montgomery, Alabama. These delegates from Florida were to be appoint-
ed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Conven-
tion. Governor Perry despatched me at Chattahoochie Arsenal that he
had appointed me one of the three delegates to this General Conven-
tion and directed me to return to Tallahassee with my two companies
where they would. be-disbanded., which was done, In February I repaired
to Montgomery and took part in the proceedings of the Convention
S which formed a provisional government for the seceded states. All
the principal measures of that body, passed or proposed during its
session and while I was a member, met my support. I was on the
committee of Military Affairs, and'favored the raising of troops etc.
I also proposed to have the cooks, nurses, teamsters and pioneers of
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our army to consist of slaves. After having adopted a provisional
constitution and inaugurated a provisional president, the convention
or congress adjourned about the first of March. (He reached home
on the morning of the 26th, four A. IH., having been detained in
S ontgomery to finish committee work- or something of the kind- While
we were at breakfast the message came by one of the Governor's staff,
to him, he left on first train that morning for Tallahassee, -about
nine A., M., E A. A.) On the 26th of March, while at my home near
Monticello, the Governor wrote me that he wished to send X a regiment
of Infantry to Pensacola for Confederate service. My old company
was immediately reorganized and on the 28th of March started for
Chattahoochie Arsenal, the place appointed for all the companies to
rendevous and elect field officers. On the 5th of April I was elected
Colonel of the 1st Florida Regiment (Infantry) without opposition,
and that night started with the regiment to report to General
Braxton Bragg at Pensacola. We reached Pensacbla on the llth and
12th of April. Went into camp and commenced drilling and exercising
the troops. On the noght of the 7th 8th of October, I commanded one
of the detachments which made a descent upon the camp of Billy
WilOsn's Zouaves under the guns of Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island.
The expedition consisted of about a thousand men, divided into three
detachments, respectively under Col. J. K. Jackson, 5th Georgia
Regiment; Co. Jas. R. Chalmers, 9th Mississippi Regiment; and myself.
Chalmers had the right, Jackson the center and I the left. The
whole under command of Brig. Ben, R. H. Anderson of South Carolina.
My command consisted of 100 men from the 1st Florida; 100 men from
the 1st Louisiana and about 150 from the 1st Alabama and other
commancs.l Iyv loss -in. this fight.was eleven killed, twenty-four -
wounded and twelve captured. (I speak from memory.| On the 10th of
February 1862, I was appointed a Brigadasr General in the Provisional
Army of the Confederate States and in.March was ordered to report
to General Bragg then at Jackson in West Tennessee. Soon after re-
porting I was. assigned to the command of a Brigade of Inf'atry in
the Division of Brig.. Gen, Ruggles (of La.) then at Corinth, Miss.
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This brigade consisted principally of Louisiana troops to which the
1st Florida and 9th Texas Regiments were soon after added. I was
immediately ordered to the front of Corinth in the direction of
Monterey and Pittsburg Landing. At the Battle of Shiloh my brigade
S consisted of the 17th, 19th and.20th Louisiana Regiments, the 9th
Texas, 1st Plorida and Clark's Louisiana Battalion, with the 5th
Company of Washington Artillery from New Orleans. Soon after the
battle of Shiloh Hindman was assigned to the command of Ruggles
Division but only exercised it a few days when he was ordered to
Arkansas and the command devolved upon me as Senior Brigadier. I
commanded the Division in the retreat from Corinth till we reached
Clear Creek near Baldwin, where I was taken ill with fever and .lajJ.
Gen. Sam Jones was assigned to the Division. I rejoined the Division
at Tupelo, Miss, where the Army was reorganized., and commanded a
Brigade in Sam JoAes Division till we reached Chattanooga, Tenn.,
in August of this year, preparatory to the Kentucky Campaign. In
-. August 1862, while encamped near Chattanooga, the Division was re-. ,:
organized and was composed of Wtalker's, Adam's, Anderson's and
Reichard's Brigades. .About the middle of August. Major General Sam
Jones was assigned to the command of the Department of East Tennessee
and the command of the Division devolved. upon me. On the 1st of
September I crossed. Waldens Ridge with my division,following Buckner's
Division- the two composing Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee.
Throughout this campaign I continued in command of the Division,
having Brigadier General Preston Smith's Brigade of Cheathams
Division added to it in the afternoon of the day of the battle of
Perryville. We returned from Kentucky through Cumberland Gap, Knox-
ville, Chattanooga and Bridgeport to Allisonia in Franklin County,
'Tennessee, where my Division was halted for a fortnight. During this '"
time I visited, for the first time in many years, the grave of ray
" father at Craggy Hope. (The old farm) From Allisonia the Army
proceeded to Shelbyville, where we halted ten days, and thence to
S Eagleville, where, in December my Division was broken up and. I was
.- assigned. to the command of a Brigade in..ithers Division of 'olk's
:-. Corps. This Brigade was the one formerly commanded by Brigadier
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General Prank Cardiner. I was only in command of it a few days when
Rosecrans advanced upon .Lurfreesboro where General Bragg determined
to give him battle, and for this purpose took his line of battle
on the 27th of December about a mile and a half from MIurfreesboro on
:- the Nashville and Wilkerson Pikes. The morning of the day on which
the line was taken up, I was transferred to the command, temporarily
of Vialthall's Brigade of Mississippi. This was in consequence of
Wallthall's sickness, and because the Brigade was composed entirely.
of troops (Missippians) who had been in-.er ir. coi.a; dl, either as
Brigade or Division Commander, since 1862. This Brigade won many
laurels in the battle of the 31st of December and on the 2nd of
January 1863. .Yas sent to reinforce Breckenridge on the right, who
had been roughly handled that afternoon by superior numbers. We
reached the scene of conflict about sun-down and after the heaviest
.fighting was over- in time, however, to have several officers and
men of our skirmish line severely wounded, and by interposing a fresh
-" ; line between the victorious enemy and Breckenridge shatteredc columns,--
gave time for the latter to rally and resume a line they had held in
the morning (this affair gave rise to much bitter feeling between
General Bragg and Major General Breckinridge;. Bragg, in his official
report having animadversed very severely upon Breckinridge's con-
duct and having attributed more (I think) to my Brigade than it was
entitled to. (Secretary General Robertson chief of Artillery,
official report E. A. A.) On the other hand Breckinridge hardly
did us justice, or rather his friends who discussed the matter in
the public prints, did not give me due credit for our conduct or
operations on that occasion. They rather contended that I reached
.- .. the ground after the fight was over and although we came with
good intentions, and doubtless would have rendered efficient service
if it had been necessary, yet there was nothing to be done after our
arrival. The facts are, however, as I have stated them here, and
as I stated them in my official report on that occasion, a copy of
which I -sent to General Breckenridge, whereupon he wrote me a very
complimentary note characterizing the report as one"that was truth-
ful and manly." I think that General Bragg founded his report upon
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exaggerated statements of some partial friends of hine and hence
attributed to me more than I deserved. I allude to it here be-
cause both Bragg and Breckinridge's statements may become matter of
controversy and dispute hereafter.) After the battle of iMurfreesboro
during the illness and absence of Major General Withers, I was in .
command of the Division for over a month. In the meantime Brig. Gen.
Chalmers, who commanded a Brigade of Missippians in the Division,
was transferred to the Cavalry Service in Mississippi and upon
Withers resuming command of the Division, I was assigned permanently
to the command of Chalmers Brigade, which I exercised without inter-
ruption while the Army was at Shelbyville, Tenn. and during our re-
treat from that place to Chattanooga in June-July 1863. In July
1863, I was sent with my Brigade to hold the Tennessee River at
Bridgeport and vicinity while the balance of the Army was at Chat-
Tanooga and above there on the river. This duty was performed to the
entire satisfaction of General Bragg. In Auguist Withers was trans-
ferred to duty in Alabama and Hindman was assigned to the command of--"-
r
the Division. Shortly before evacuating Chattanooga my Brigade was
withdrawn from Bridgeport by order of General Bragg and rejoined
the Division in the neighborhood of Chattanooga. I commanded the
Division in the McLemones Cane expedition in Se-ptember- for which
Hindman, who commanded the whole expedition, has receivedmmuch
I52i censure. He certainly missed capturing HXgj eight or ten
thousand of the enemy, which would have left the balance of Rose-
crans' army at Bragg's mercy. Soon after this, or rather while in
l cLemones Cane, Hindman was taken sick and the command of the
Division again devolved upon me. On the night of the 19th of Sep-
- tember, .after the Divisionhad crossed the Chickamauga Creek, and
while it was getting in position for net day's fight, Hindman re-
sumed command and continued in command of the Division till the close
of the battle, after dark on the night of the. 20th. So I commanded
Smy Brigade in the battle of Chickamauga, on the advance to Missionary
Ridge began on the 21st. I was in command of the Division soon
after reaching missionary Ridge. Hinaiun was placed in arrest by
Gen, Bragg and the command of the Division devolved upon me. I con-
-14- *
manded it at the Battle of Iissionary Ridge, but on that
morning protested against the disposition which had been made of
the troops (see my official report) which was the worst I have
ever seen. The line was in two ranks, the first rank at the foot
of the hill and the rear rank at the top, and the men wefe over three
feet apart in line. Thus the front rank was not strong enough to
hold its position, nor could it retire to the top of the Ridge so
as to be of any service to the line there. The consequence was that
the troops made no fight at all, but broke and ran as soon as the
enemies' overwhelming columns advanced. About the last of December
Hindman was released from arrest and assumed command of the Corps
as Senior Major General, and I remained in command of the Division.
In February 1864 Major General Breckinridge having been transferred
to a command in Southwestern Virginia, I was on the 9th day of February
appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate,-a Major General
in the Provisional Army and assigned to the command of Breckinridge's
.Division in the Army of Tennessee. Before -receiving these orders, -
however, I received a dispatch from the President ordering me to
Florida to assume command of that District. The Army of Tennessee
was at this time at Dalton, Georgia, under command of General Jas.
E. Johnston. I reached Florida the 1st of March 1864, ten days after
the Battle of Olustee, and assumed command of the District with
Headquarters in the field in front of Jacksonville. Remained here
operating against the enemy at Jacksonville and on the St. Johns
River all summer until I was ordered back to the Army of Tennessee.
We were able to confine the enemy closely to his entrenchments
around Jacksonville, and by blowing up two of his armed transports
above .Javksonville and one below, put a complete stop to his navigation
if ;-: of the river above that city ansa 'caused him to evacuate Polatka and ::(I
to use the river below Jacl:sonville with the greatest caution. On
the night of the 25th of July,.1864- 10 o'clock- I received a telegram
froam'General Bragg at Columbus, Georgia, directing me to report to .--
SGeneral Hood at Atlanta without delay, for duty in the field, I
started for Atlanta on the morning of the 26th,(at two A. L. of July
and reached Atlanta on the night of the 28th. On the 29th I was
f/ -15-
.y- '. '
assigned to, and on the 30th assumed command of, my old Division,
composed of Deas', Brantly's, Sharp's and MIongault's Brigades. I
remained in command of these Brigades till the evening of the 31st
of August,. when I was seriously wounded in the battle of Jon.esboro,
Georgia, which compelled. me to leave field, and has resulted in my
absence from the Army up to the present time. There are many inci-
dents connected with my experience which would interest my children,
if I had time to record them, but I have not. I have hurriedly
written some of the prominent facts, for their edification here-
after. This is a dark day in the history of the present war, but I
Sabelieve a brighter will soon dawn upon us. If dissension and faction
does not distract us we will certainly achieve our independence.
The course of some prominent men in Georgia (Tombs and Governor
Brown, E. 1. A.) just at this time, is much calculated to grieve the
spirit of all true Southerners. (I would have been glad to have
known they were hung, E. A. A.) It is to be hoped that they will
SG desist from their factious teachings and practices and soon unite
with the patriots of the land to prosecute with unanimity and vigor,
the war which our enemies are determined to wage against us.y
-Patton Anderson-
Monticello, Fla.
February 28, 1865.
P v2 ~While he was at home wounded. He returned to the Army
in iNorth Carolina in March and continued to the end. 1 a- urri Z
S / it s They never did till the dear cause was gone, then they were
going to whip the whole Iorth. Patton returned to the Army North
SCarolina in March, much against the advice and approval of his
I' physicians (as he was still obliged to live on liquids, and food was
so scarce in the Army- and everywhere) when he was assigned to a new
command from Charleston, South Carolina and was with them surrendered
at or near Bentonville, 1. C. He did not think the time had come
to give up. These noble men, though they had served under him so
short a time, told him they would follow him aniyhere, and to submit
to no terms he thought dishonorable. Those above him knew his
SA e~,; _,~, 'R t~-UA~~ ~)~C -(~;~-CJ r (~~4
*=3S ~ -:~
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sentiments and the sentiments of two other officers with him and
signed the terms of surrender before they reached the place, though
their rank gave them the right to be present in the caucus. The other
two officers were Gen. Walthall of Mlississippi and General Feather-
. ..- stone, who I think was from the same state. .-
Etta Adair Anderson.
Polatka, 1895.
From a clipping from an Olympia paper at the time, I see
out of 1,538 votes cast, Ceneral A. received 857. I also came
across a scrap of Florida History the other day which I had forgotten
if I had ever known. That General A. was one of a committee of three
to write the ordinance of secession for the state and that he probably
wrote it. General A. had during the entire war, one short furlough
of nine days. I was ill in January 1864, in 2ionticello, Florida
and he came to see-me. Our home was never in the hands of the enemy
he hud sold it in the spring of 1860, the payments came due during
the war, of course, he F-SKf was paid for it in Confederate money
and never felt he could conscientiously leave his post to come home
to reinvest, The money was in new packages, just as it was paid,
when the war closed and, of course, the slaves being freed, we had
nothing, not a cent, and his health gone from his wound. I might
have said that while he was so well as long as he remained in Wash-
ington Territory, the very first week in Washington City his malarial
symptoms returned and he suffered at intervals from them as long as
he lived.
( To be read last, I only put it in here to keep it)
The first summer after the surrender my husband's health
- was so brokenfrom his wound that he spent it with friends in Tenn.-
at Winchester and other points. In the spring of 1866, he, my"--.
brother Cromwell Adair and my sister's husband, Dr. Robert Scott,
formed a partnership to plant cotton in Boliver County, Hississippi.
He managed it. The Yankees had out the levies which made him late
getting in the crop and the loag frost killed the top cotton, so
while they did not lose they only made expenses. In 1868 we moved
to Memphis where he engaged in Life Insurance and at one time edited
an agricultural Iagazine. He did not lihe life insurance, but
the magazine work he liked. He was never allowed.to practise his
profession (the law) because he would not take the "iron Clad oath"
as it was called. His disabilities were only removed by general
act of Congress about three weeks before his death. He made us a
-o comfortable support while he lived, though he was growing weaker -
day by day from his wounds, until his death the 20th of 3e;'tember
1872, as he said when'told that he could live but a few hours "The
anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga, how we whipped them there."
He was buried iin emphis and his grave is still unmarked.
I was up at the army when this discussion.was goinP on. You leard it
everywhere by friends & enemies. All gav3 the Brigade & Genl. Ander-
son credit for all that Genl. Bragg & Genl. Robertson claimed for them.
The latter claimed that Genl. Anderson saved the Artillery of the whole
of that arr'y. Genl. 3reckenrcdge would not send in his report & at
last Genl. Bragg sent his without it, saying Genl. Brc~.kenridge had de-
clined to send his in. The rote Osnl. A. refers to I was in the room
when Genl. Breckcnridre returned my husband's report, -r th this note.
Gon.. A. threw it into my lp saying, "You will value that" and i did.
But it was burned two years after the war with mort of his official
correspondence in his private iesk at St.o :lrks, '1:. in a warehouse,
where it was only one night awaiting shipment to Memphis where we had
moved.
Etta A. Anderson
I should have sail Cenl. "reckenrid.r would not send in his report until
he had seen Genl. A.'s. They were intimate friends & distant KxyisX
relations. Ti-ere is no use talkinr Genl. Breckenri-r-e f as drunk at that
battle & had his men cut all to pieces. Genl. Bragg would not stand drink-
inr in ;ny of his officers.
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