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Courage and Devotion

A History of Bankhead's/Scott's Tennessee Battery in the American Civil War

AuthorHouse LLC

Memphis April–May 1861

Memphis in 1861 was a bustling town with packet boats and railroads always busy. Cotton was the main product exported, but other businesses were booming as well. This commerce needed a strong work force. Slaves from Africa and their descendents contributed to the economic prosperity by providing cheap labor for cotton production. Because of the value of a good slave hand, many slave owners would not let their slaves work in dangerous jobs such as railroad construction; therefore, a need for additional labor attracted people to Memphis.

Irish immigrants filled the need for workers. Most of them were unskilled laborers. They often did the tedious or dangerous work that slaves did not do. The Irish remained poor, and prejudice put them in the social position between blacks and the Anglo-Southerners. They enjoyed an American freedom that they had not found in their native Ireland. The Irish immigrant could be induced to volunteer in the army to keep his position in society or for wages.

Germans made up another immigrant labor force. Although they comprised a smaller work force than the Irish, many of them created small businesses. They could be induced to volunteer for the army for economic reasons.

The newspapers also stirred up patriotism for Southern rights. Editorials in the Memphis Daily Appeal supported the Union in 1860, supported compromise in January and February 1861, and in March favored secession. April is full of editorials in favor of secession and about the tyranny of Lincoln. Discounts were offered for advertisements for military units, and in May the paper published the Confederate Constitution. Memphians were well aware of the news of the day, albeit from the view of the Memphis Daily Appeal. The idea that states had the right to secede and for Abraham Lincoln to say they didn't was tyranny.

Federal tyranny or Northern aggression also figured into the willingness of Tennesseans to join the new Provisional Army of Tennessee. Lincoln's call for 70,000 volunteers to stop the Confederate states from seceding was considered an oppressive invasion by a foreign foe. West Tennessee had strong ties to the Confederate states and refused to supply troops for Northern aggression, but would supply troops to defend their homes and families. The Memphis Daily Appeal carried articles in April and May about federal troop activities in Maryland and Virginia and particularly the build up at Cairo, Illinois. This was clearly a threat to Memphis and all free men of the South.

In April and early May, some fifteen companies of infantry and cavalry were formed in Memphis. The Irish joined because they saw the federal army much as they saw the British in Ireland—as tyrants and oppressors. The German immigrants saw an oppressor who would put down their newfound democracy. Others joined because they needed work, and army pay was better than nothing. Some were coerced to join by the patriots, many of whom had formed committees of safety and vigilance. These groups of vigilantes were very small but very vocal. They chased strangers out of town and encouraged army enlistment. One example of a Kentuckian passing through Memphis shows the power of such committees:

A policeman handed him a letter from the chairman, suggesting that he enlist in the Provisional Army of Tennessee. The note strongly advised it was in his interest to volunteer because; "Several members of the committee think if you do not see fit to follow this advice, you will probably stretch hemp ... an infuriated mob ... may hear that you came from the North." It was clearly apparent, the Kentuckian wrote, "that the military power in the city resolved to compel me to volunteer, and in my friendliness I could think of no way to escape ... I wrote my name and thus volunteered."

As this suggests, some volunteers were not exactly eager to join as able-bodied men, but not joining could put one under scrutiny.

With Memphis arming to defend itself, the Provisional Army of Tennessee was formed to organize the state volunteers. Although Tennessee was not in the Confederacy yet, there were close connections with army commanders in Tennessee and President Jefferson Davis' administration. General Gideon Pillow was appointed to command the army, and other officers were soon to be appointed. In Memphis more artillery units needed to be formed to fulfill the needs of the army.

On Monday, May 13, 1861, Smith P. Bankhead left his home on Washington Street and walked the six blocks to his office at Main and Madison. He had arranged a meeting that morning with William Y. C. Humes and James C. McDavitt. Bankhead, age thirty-seven; Humes, age thirty; and McDavitt, age twenty-seven, were all lawyers in Memphis. By the authority of the state Army Bill of May 6, Bankhead had been appointed a captain of artillery by Governor Isham Harris, although this information would not be made public until the May 21 issue of the Memphis Daily Appeal, and the meeting was set up to organize Company B of the First Tennessee Artillery Regiment.

Of the three, Bankhead was the only man with any military experience, having served in the Mexican War. Humes would hold the rank of first lieutenant and McDavitt would be second lieutenant. The meeting started with the men signing the state commission papers, which would then have to be approved by the state legislature. As officers they were required to obtain their own uniforms and horses. Bankhead listed his horse as having a value of $250; Humes listed his at $200. McDavitt would try to procure uniforms and any other equipment, while Bankhead and Humes would recruit as many men as possible. The governor would procure artillery equipment, such as guns, limbers (two-wheeled vehicles for guns and ammunition), and caissons (ammunition chests). They had a short time line, as they were to bring their company to Fort Pillow by the end of the month for artillery training.

The original Tennessee infantry uniform was gray with red trim, and several companies had already been mustered in with these uniforms. General Pillow had recently changed the uniform to be without the red trim. There were still quantities of these uniforms with red trim to be had, and McDavitt wasted no time in securing them. These uniforms would satisfy the initial recruitment, but over time additional recruits often wore a uniform without the red trim. Many of the recruits would join the battery with their own clothing. Bankhead and Humes realized that the infantry and cavalry recruiters had already taken the most eager men into the army. They decided to canvass the town and individually find men throughout Memphis. They did not put any notices in the newspapers; neither did they put up any signs at a recruiting station. They went to the hotels, boarding houses, cafes, drinking establishments, and, in particular, to the docks along the river and the pinch area of northern Memphis. The pinch area was full of boarding houses, and most of the Irish immigrants lived there.

Bankhead also knew that he needed more second lieutenants and set about filling his staff. He succeeded in enlisting William B. Greenlaw Jr., age twenty, who came on board on Wednesday, May 15. Greenlaw was also a lawyer and the son of William B. Greenlaw Sr., who was a successful contractor and one of the benefactors of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. He would assist McDavitt in procuring uniforms and other supplies. Another second lieutenant was William L. Scott, a lawyer in Knoxville and a friend of Humes. Humes had contacted him, and he agreed to join with Bankhead. He was closing up his law practice and would soon be en route to Memphis. Scott was twenty-seven years old.

Wednesday, May 15, also brought the first two privates to join the unit. They were Michael Nason, age seventeen, and J. W. Harrison, age twenty-three. Nason was born in County Cork, Ireland, and lived in the pinch area. Harrison was a native Tennessean, married, and the father of one child. They were told to pass the word to friends and neighbors about Bankhead's Battery and to get their affairs in order. A sergeant would come to them before the month was out to inform them of when to report for muster. The men had volunteered with no bounty offered, only wages of eleven dollars a month. On that day the Appeal ran a story about Irish recruitment thanking them for their "commendable zeal." The next day four more men joined the unit. One of them was twenty-six-year-old Samuel Brown, whom Bankhead made the first sergeant. Lewis Merchant was also made a sergeant, and he and Brown would help canvass the town for Bankhead.

Saturday proved to be the best recruitment day yet. Twelve men were recruited, all from the pinch area. Bankhead made two of them sergeants and one a corporal. As the first week of recruitment ended, there were eighteen men in Bankhead's Battery, but the goal was sixty to seventy men, and there was more work to do the next week.

On Monday, May 20, 1861, twelve more men were recruited; most of them were Irish immigrants, but a few were native Tennesseans. One of them was Nicholas Schriner, whom Bankhead made artificer. Schriner was skilled in metal work, and his services would be necessary if equipment needed repair. Also joining were four brothers, Patrick, George, John, and Simon Talty. At age thirty-two, Patrick was the oldest and was made corporal. The brothers had been working the docks, but work was declining as shipping to the north was almost nonexistent. There were twenty-three more recruits throughout the week, bringing the total so far to fifty-two. On Monday, May 27, Bankhead held a meeting with his officers.

Plans were made to muster the men and move to Fort Pillow, about sixty miles north of Memphis, where all of the artillery companies would come together to drill and learn about artillery. They would move by steamboat. Only three more men were recruited before they left—Jerry Crowley and Albert Sailhorst on May 28, and David Ennis on May 29. Then they left Memphis. A few days later, William L. Scott arrived from Knoxville to find that the unit was gone. He arrived at Fort Pillow on June 4, signed his commission papers, and listed the value of his horse at $200. On June 8, 1861, Tennessee seceded from the Union.

All of the officer's of Bankhead's Battery were educated men with professional occupations. They were all lawyers. They gave up their law practices to go off to war for $90 to $100 per month. It is assumed that these men were patriots fighting for the rights they believed were threatened. However, William Greenlaw may not have been as much of a patriot as the others. It would come out later that he was more of an opportunist, trying to get rank and the privileges that went with it. These men were also property owners defending their homes and were slave owners. Bankhead had owned several house servants that set his lifestyle. Humes had owned slaves before, but it is uncertain if he owned any at this time, as he had sold a slave prior to moving to Memphis. Greenlaw came from a wealthy family that owned domestic servants. It does not appear that Scott ever owned slaves. They did support the social system prevalent in the South, and they were willing to risk their lives and fortunes to maintain the system.

Smith Pyne Bankhead was born on August 20, 1823, at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, while his father, Brigadier General James Bankhead, a career army officer from Virginia, was stationed in South Carolina. Smith Bankhead grew up in Virginia, graduated from Hampden Military School, and attended Georgetown University and the University of Virginia. During the Mexican War, he was a captain in the Virginia volunteers and served under his father who commanded the US troops at Vera Cruz after the city fell. After the war, Bankhead went to California hoping to cash in on the gold rush. He didn't strike it rich and found life difficult in California. Bankhead decided to return east and, in 1851, chose to settle Memphis, as he had been there briefly during the Mexican War. In Memphis he founded and edited the Memphis Whig, a political newspaper. After a short time, he sold the newspaper and decided to practice law. He was elected the city attorney of Memphis in 1852 and built a reputable private law practice. He married Susan Adeline "Ada" Garth in 1851, and they had a daughter, Ada Pyne Bankhead, born in 1852. Bankhead lived at 224 Washington Avenue and had property valued at $20,000. Mrs. Bankhead and Ada remained in Memphis throughout the war. He was described as "A reliable man and well-instructed officer." His job was to train the men and continue to recruit more men into the battery.

William Young Conn Humes was born on May 1, 1830, in Abington, Virginia. He was the son of John Newton Humes, who originally lived in Knoxville, Tennessee. He attended Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and graduated second in his class of 1851. His VMI studies gave him some military background, but he never served in the military. He married Margaret Preston White and moved to Knoxville after graduation where he took the bar exam and began practicing law. They had two children, but only his son Newton survived childhood. Humes had done some work in Memphis and decided to practice law there. He arrived in 1858, but his family remained in Knoxville. He sold a female slave who had been a domestic servant before he left, but was planning to buy another female and her two boys when he planned to move his family to Memphis in the fall of 1861. Humes would be a strong proponent favoring segregation after the war.

James Clare McDavitt was born November 25, 1834, in Shelby, County Kentucky. He was the son of George McDavitt and Linnie Nowlin from a distinguished family of Kentucky. He attended Ashbury University in Indiana (today DePauw University) and then studied law under Judge T. W.

Brown of Shelbyville, Kentucky. He moved to Memphis in 1857 and was a partner of the law firm of Kortrecht and McDavitt. He was not married and politically was a Whig, as was Smith Bankhead. McDavitt shared similar views about race relations and the economics of the South with Bankhead, and became the first second lieutenant of Bankhead's Battery.

William Bowden Greenlaw Jr. was born in May 1841 in Memphis to William B. Greenlaw Sr. one of the financial barons of early Memphis. Greenlaw's father invested heavily in construction and railroad development in the 1840s and 1850s. The Greenlaw block was on Main Street between Union and Gayoso Streets. Here was located the Law Office of William B. Greenlaw and Company. Greenlaw's father financed his education and established his law office for the young twenty-year-old. William B. Greenlaw Sr. and his brother, J. Oliver Greenlaw, were contractors in many enterprises. They controlled $290,000 worth of real estate and $100,000 in personal property. Greenlaw was not married and still lived in his parents' home on Union Street when he joined Bankhead's Battery. He was not a slave owner but subscribed to the racial relations of the time. He was a young man whose family had influence. Perhaps this could be helpful to Bankhead in the future.

William Luther Scott was born to James Scott and Eliza Ramsey in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1834. He came from a large family, his great-great grandfather having settled in Connecticut after arriving from England around 1750. Scott was not married but had established his law practice in his hometown of Knoxville and was a friend of Humes. He was not a slave owner but supported the social structure of the South and was a proponent of states' rights and the second amendment to bear arms against tyranny. Although he had no military training, Humes trusted the abilities of Scott and asked him to join with Bankhead in Memphis. Leaving his assets with his family, he set off to complete the leadership team led by Smith P. Bankhead.

The Enlisted Men

A total of fifty-one men had been recruited in Memphis in about two weeks. There were thirty-nine men who were foreign born (70.9 percent). However, thirty-seven of these men were born in Ireland. It was economic opportunity that proved to be the biggest incentive, as most of the men had recently become unemployed. These hungry men looking for work found employment in the army. That the Irish made up 67 percent of Bankhead's Battery should not be surprising. The most politically minded native-born Memphians had already joined infantry and cavalry units that had been organized before Bankhead ever started recruiting.

An example of Irish recruits would be the Talty brothers. In 1853 Michael and Catherine Talty arrived in the United States from Ireland with their six children. The brothers, Patrick, Simon, George, and John, and two sisters, Katie and Bridget, were all born in County Clare, Bridget being only five at the time of their arrival. It is not clear where they settled at first. Irish immigrants often knew others who had come before them. They may have spent time in Memphis, but eventually the family settled in Davenport, Iowa. Here work could be found at the lumber mills or on the Mississippi River trade. Steamboats were constantly going up and down the river between St. Paul and New Orleans. The parents had settled in the west end or Irish section of Davenport. The four boys had traveled to Memphis and found work as laborers in Memphis in 1860. Patrick, the oldest, was married. The other three brothers were not married and lived with him in the first ward. The men had become unemployed in the spring of 1861 when they met Smith P. Bankhead. They were offered rations and wages, which for poor, hungry men became the main reason for enlistment. What could be a concern for these men was that their parents and sisters lived in the North.

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Excerpted from Courage and Devotion by Bruce R. Kindig. Copyright © 2014 Bruce R. Kindig. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse LLC.
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