Civil War author lauds Confederate general

The Capital-Journal ^ | 10/21/2002 | Steve Fry

[vetvetdoug]

Finally got to go home. The books I spoke of are:
The Battle of Franklin by Jacob Cox
Embrace An Angry Wind by Wiley Sword
Hood's Campaign For Tennessee By William R. Scaife (This is the book that has map overlays)
In Deadly Earnest The Missouri Brigade by Phil Gottschalk
Pat Cleburne Confederate General by Howell and Elizabeth Purdue
Tennessee's Forgotten Warriors, Frank Cheatham and his Confederate Division by Christopher Lesson

I highly recommend these for a clearer understanding of the Battle of Franklin. The Missouri Brigade book brings the understanding of the carnage down to the brigade level as does the book on Cheatham. Sword left out the Missouri Brigade in his book and I think it was a serious omission but the book is really good (I couldn't write one for sure).

[vetvetdoug]

Isham Harris came back to Shiloh in the 1890's to identify the location where Albert Sidney Johnston died. He was in his eighties. He came to Shiloh after riding 20 miles via horseback from Corinth to identify the location to the first park historian. He was worn out and pointed out the location to the best of his knowledge. There are two rises from where the location of AS Johnstons' deathplace is marked. In the literature there are letters of the combatants noting the location of Harris and Johnston. In the definitive thesis about Shiloh, Cunningham does address this issue with no definitive answer. Battery A 1st Illinois Light Artillery Claims they shot Johnston. It would be a hard shot for a Yankee from the Peach Orchard or Union left to have hit him there. Besides, the Union soldiers were in disarray at that time and sharpshooters were unheard of in that location. I have been over the area with Sword, George Reaves (NPS historian 1983-1994) and Stacy Allen (Current Historian)and many others and most agree that it is most likely an errant Confederate bullet cost Johnston his life. Walk in an Northwest direction toward the Hornet's Nest from where Johnston died and note the two rises of the topagraphy. To the North of the location is the Union Left of the Hornet's Nest and there are two rises also. History is sometimes imperfect and one must look at the writer and study the information at hand to come to a conclusion. With one small bit of information the outcome or what has been written can be invalidated. It is just as likely for Johnston to have been killed by the Tennessee troops he had been rallying (why did a Army Commander even show himself anywhere near the front unless he had a death wish?)as it would have been a Union soldier.

[Colt .45]

Gen. Patrick Cleburne CSA, a fine son of Eire who fell defending the freedom of self-determination. Makes me proud of both my Irish heritage and my Southern heritage.

I see some of the die hard damnYankee swine are on here making more disparaging remarks about the Southern troops. But they should first look to their own backyard before pointing out the mistakes made by Southern men in the heat of battle. At least we fought for freedom, they on the other hand fought to subjugate in the name of empire! Their cause was kinda reminiscent of what the Commies did in the the late 40's up through the mid 70's.

JUST CAUSE LEE SURRENDERED DON'T MEAN I DID!

[wardaddy]

I didn't think it was terribly uncommon for Brigadiers and Major and even some LT Generals to get "up front".....however AS Johnston was technically in charge of all CSA troopers west of the Appalachins wasn't he?

You're right....a bit odd....However wasn't a Major General killed on Okinawa in WWII up close doing some recon by a Jap gunner???.....I can't remember his name offhand.

I would assume that the enemy on either side enjoyed taking aim at anyone on a horse with a sash and giving the appearance of folks paying acute attention to him.

Shiloh is probably one of the better laid out WBTS battlefield's don't you think?

During my life as a Southerner, aside from long stints overseas and in NYC and Miami, I have lived on or near a number of battlefields. As a boy I lived on the Clinton Blvd site where the Union marched on Jackson from Vicksburg and Champion's Hill....it was not uncommon to find bullets in plowed pasture...I still have a number. At Ole Miss, there are still buildings from the war and some served as hospitals and whatnot. At my dad's alma mater VMI, there is still the cannonball in the back of the barracks. Here in Nashville I live in the knobs south of town out Hillsboro Pike where Hood made his futile last effort after being decimated at Franklin. The back of my property about 400 foot almost straight up has redoubts still fairly intact and Shy's Hill is about 1/4 mile to my east. My Mom in Murfreesboro (they moved up in the late 70s while I was at Ole Miss) lives on Riverview about a half mile from the SE section of Stones River battlefield near the river ford where the union held on the last day (I think)......

Anyhow, enough history. If Yankees were born and raised here amidst all that, they'd have a better time understanding why we care not to see that history or heritage destroyed on the altar of "not offending folks"

Sorry for the long wind.

[wardaddy]

I grew up with one of Cheatham's descendents. Barksdale's sister Virginia who married Levi Wade (a TN congressman and bigtime firebreather) was my wife's great great grandmother. My greatX3 uncle (a Majure from Stratton Miss.) was killed at Lookout MT. My great great grandfather (paternal) smuggled goods into Vicksburg as a 13-14 year old lad...at least that what he always told folks....

I could go on and on. It ain't all glory though...some of my ancestors were Tories in the Revolution....I just found that out a few months ago researching.

[Non-Sequitur]

It was Simon Bolivar Buckner and he was a Lieutenant General and commander of the 10th Army. Since this is a Civil War post I can provide a link to that period. Buckner's grandfather surrendered to Grant at Fort Donaldson in 1862. The famous 'No terms except immediate and unconditional surrender' surrender.

[Non-Sequitur]

I was browsing through a biography of Hill not too long ago, unfortunately I can't remember the name, and it mentioned that despite the belief that he was shot by Union troops it now appears that he was caught between Union and Confederate pickett lines and was probably killed by an errant southern shot. I didn't buy the book so I don't know what evidence the author had. I'll change Hill from a kill to a possible.

[aomagrat]

Excellent post!

[aomagrat]

Had he lived, no doubt the West would have been better served than with that idiot Bragg.

I read the book Company Aitch by Sam Watkins, a private in Bragg's army. It seems Bragg wasn't to popular with the troops either.

[Tallguy]

You're right....a bit odd....However wasn't a Major General killed on Okinawa in WWII up close doing some recon by a Jap gunner???.....I can't remember his name offhand.

You are refering to Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, grandson of the Confederate general who surrendered Fort Donelson to Grant. He was killed on Okinawa during the so-called 'mopping-up' phase. I believe the jeep he was riding in hit a mine. Only (field) Army commander to be killed during WW2.

[stand watie]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

free the south,sw

[wardaddy]

Thanks ...that rings a bell.

[AnAmericanMother]

Don Troiani is good. He's about the only Civil War artist currently working who can draw a horse, or keep his perspective accurate across one of those panoramic pictures. Whether Cleburne was actually up front or not, it does my heart good to see that Troiani has drawn exactly the way a handy little jumping horse will arch his neck and keep his eyes on the ground when he's jumping into an area he's not sure of.

I wouldn't give you a plugged nickel for just about any other current artist's work. Probably I have groomed and doctored too many horses, but it really bugs me when an artist can't draw a horse's head accurately or has the legs attached wrong in some anatomical nightmare.

I had two great-great grandfathers at Franklin (both survived, Grandpa Dent was wounded slightly - but one of my cousins didn't make it.)

[Twodees]

It seems Bragg wasn't to popular with the troops either.

"Bully for Bragg. He's hell on retreat." Very entertaining book, that one.

[vetvetdoug]

General Simon Bolivar Buckner was killed at Okinawa by a Japanese kamakaze. A friend of mine that just recently passed away was less than fifty yards from the place when he was killed. Buckner was the son of the Civil War Confederate General of the same name.

Johnston was the Second most senior Confederate General behind General Cooper(who outranked Lee and J. Johnston also). Johnston was the Highest ranking officer killed during the Civil War.

Shiloh is still a pristine battlefield due to its rural location. There are still some parts of the battlefield in private ownership but those sites are rural also.

I live with the Civil Wars' effects everyday. We have no buildings (a few albeit) that date prior to the CW because most were burned to the ground during the war. Antiques do not date prior to the Civil War; it is an uncontrovertable fact that Grant's wife took twenty (20) wagons of furniture from the city of Corinth, Mississippi, alone. Those are the wonderful furnishings in Galena, Illinois, at Grant's home. Many here belong to the SCV that have ancestors that were killed everywhere from Gettysburg to Selma, Alabama. The town of Burnsville just east of here lost almost all of her men at Antietam. We know our heritage.

Thanks for your long wind, we share a common interest.

[vetvetdoug]

Wow, General Buckner of the 10th Infantry on this thread was killed by a sniper, a land mine and a kamakaze. Ok, who has it right? If it was all three no wonder he was killed.

[Non-Sequitur]

None. He was killed by stone splinter when an artillery shell burst near his command party while they were inspecting a Marine unit.

[joebuck]

"If this cause that is so dear to my heart is doomed to fail, I pray heaven may let me fall with it, while my face is toward the enemy and my arm battling for that which I know to be right."

Patrick Roynane Cleburne 1864

[Morgan's Raider]

Let me add Stanley Horn's The Army Of Tennessee to your list. Horn covers the misuse of one of the most gallant groups of soldiers ever assembled on the North American continent from Forts Henry and Donelson to Bentonville and Joe Johnston's eventual surrender near Durham in a highly readable tome.

[Tallguy]

I was mistaken. Buckner was killed by artillery. I was thinking of the 8th Army Commander that was killed in Korea while riding in a Jeep.