Sketch of General Anderson's life

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
..






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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