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| ISBN-13: | 9781546201724 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 08/02/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 260 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
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CHAPTER 1
WILLIAM WIRT ADAMS, C. S. A.
1819-1888
Judge George Adams and his wife, Anna Weisinger Adams, residents of Frankfort, Kentucky, welcomed a baby on March 22, 1819. Named William Wirt Adams, the boy eventually benefitted from his future political alliances, as well as those of his parents. The elder Adams was a close friend of Henry Clay, the well-known orator and statesman. Anna Weisinger Adams was the daughter of Daniel Weisinger, a prominent pioneer in Kentucky.
William Wirt Adams became a big brother at the age of two with the arrival of Daniel Weisinger Adams. Like William Wirt Adams, Daniel would later hold the rank of a brigadier general in the service of the Confederate States of America. Within a few years after Daniel's birth, the Adams family moved to Natchez, Mississippi. Among other positions, George Adams served as a Mississippi district court judge during the late 1830s.
William Wirt Adams had left the confines of his family's Mississippi home prior to his father's attainment of the judge's post. Wirt, as he was commonly called, had moved from Mississippi in order to attend college in Kentucky. After graduating from the Bardstown, Kentucky institute of higher learning in 1839, Wirt returned to Mississippi. That same year Wirt entered the military, serving as a private under Colonel Edward Burleson in Texas.
Adams was quickly promoted to regimental adjutant. At that rank, he participated in the expulsion of Native Americans from the northern portion of Texas. Adams eventually completed his Lone Star service and returned to Mississippi in the fall of 1839.
In 1843, Wirt Adams's brother Daniel became a major figure of controversy. Defending the honor of Judge Adams, Daniel confronted Dr. Hagan, the editor of The Vicksburg Sentinel. That publication had made what Daniel determined as offensive remarks about the judge. Daniel stated the purpose of his visit, at which time "Hogan ... closed on him instantly." In the ensuing argument, the twenty-two year old Daniel shot Dr. Hagan in the head, killing him.
Upon his homecoming to Mississippi, William Wirt Adams aggressively entered a variety of successful careers as a planter, slave owner, and in banking. He eventually became the senior member in the banking establishment of Adams and Horn. In 1850, Wirt Adams married Sallie Huger Magrant. The majority of historical sources note that while the couple's relationship lasted almost 40 years, and ended only through the death of Mr. Adams, it produced no children.
In 1858, Wirt Adams began serving his first of two sessions in the Mississippi State Legislature. By 1861, Adams was spending a great deal of time in his $90,000 Louisiana home, acting as a Confederate agent or Commissioner to Louisiana, in an effort to assist that state in its secession from the United States. Adams, a veteran of the struggle for Texas independence, apparently impressed fellow Mississippian Jefferson Davis, as Davis offered Adams the position of Postmaster General of the Confederate States of America. Despite the prominence of the post, Adams declined the request to serve the newly formed government in such a capacity.
Rather than accepting Davis's offer to become Postmaster General, Adams sent a request to the Confederate government on June 6, 1861. Adams asked for permission to recruit soldiers to serve in an independent regiment of mounted riflemen. President Davis met Adams's offer with a mixed response. While the idea of raising a command was approved, Davis denied the aspect of the soldiers working independently. Adams received Davis's consent to recruit a "regiment of mounted men for active operation and constant movement."
Upon the creation of the regiment he largely funded from his personal wealth, Adams was elected colonel of the newly designated 1st Mississippi Cavalry. The companies that comprised the regiment hailed from the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. With Colonel Wirt Adams as the commander of the 1st Mississippi, the regiment became known as Wirt Adams Regiment of Cavalry by year's end.
In August 1861, Brigadier General William Joseph Hardee stated that he was aware of the existence of Adams's regiment. In mid-September Adams, in Jackson, Mississippi at the time, received orders to report to Columbus, Kentucky where Adams was to join Hardee. The following month, Adams took the 1st Mississippi to Bowling Green and met Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston's command. Adams formed the rear guard of Johnston's retreat from the Bluegrass State in December, utilizing the approximate 780 men under Adams's leadership.
Adams joined Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest and Colonel John Austin Wharton as Confederate cavalry commanders in Johnston's army when it was reorganized in early 1862.
In April 1862, Adams took part in the bloodbath at Shiloh, Tennessee. During the Confederate approach, Adams had led his regiment as a portion of the Confederate rear guard. Holding a position on the right of the Confederate line, Adams and his cavalrymen accompanied the infantry into battle. Serving in an observational capacity after the battle, one of Adams's captains made an attack that resulted in the capture of some 60 prisoners.
The remainder of April, and portions of May 1862, allowed Adams to lead raids along the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. By that time, Adams had twelve companies totaling 1,047 men and officers under his command. Later action during the siege of Corinth, Mississippi resulted in his Confederates capturing of approximately 40 Federals "in a gallant fight."
Throughout the summer of 1862, Adams continued to see action in the Mississippi towns of Baldwyn, Saltillo, and Guntown. In July 1862, Adams and his cavalry encountered Federals under the leadership of Phil Sheridan. Later that summer, Adams, serving under Brigadier General Frank Crawford Armstrong, conducted raids in West Tennessee. In doing so, Adams engaged Federal detachments near Bolivar in late August. In early September, Adams struggled against Federal troops at Britton Lane near Jackson, Tennessee.
Adams soon returned to service in North Mississippi, with the early fall of 1862 witnessing significant action for his regiment. Iuka, Burnsville, and Corinth, Mississippi served as severe tests for Adams. During action at Iuka, Adams led troops in covering the flanks of Confederate general Dabney Maury's skirmish line. Later activities included Adams leading two cavalry regiments in capturing a train and its crew, after which the cars and locomotive were burned. During the heat of the battle in September 1862, Adams led a feint retreat in which pursuing Federal troops fell into a well-planned ambush. Maury reported a total of four casualties, while that of the enemy was "of necessity much greater."
At the Battle of Davis or Hatchie Bridge in early October, 1862, following the Confederate defeat at Corinth, Adams participated in an attack that protected the lone escape route for his compatriots. Earlier, a few dozen of Adams's soldiers were the first to be struck in the Federal advance at Davis Bridge. Some 5,000 men in blue, members of Major General Stephen Hurlbut's Fourth Division of the Army of the Tennessee pushed Adams's pickets three miles toward the village of Metamora, Tennessee. Providing what was called a "spirited defense," and a fight so tenacious that one of Hurlbut's subordinates believed he had encountered an infantry regiment, Adams's troopers convinced Hurlbut that a strong Confederate force was present at Davis Bridge. It has been noted that Adams "regarded it as the most remarkable feat in the history of his regiment."
In early 1863, Adams was assigned the task to provide Confederates at Vicksburg with information about Federal troop movements against the Mississippi River stronghold. In the ensuing months, Adams led his command against the well-known Federal cavalry officer Benjamin Grierson. The two cavalry officers met at Union Church on April 28, with Adams being driven back and unable to retake lost ground the following day. A subsequent struggle involved Adams combating Phil Sheridan at Raymond, Mississippi or Fourteen Mile Creek. On May 16, Adams commanded the Confederate cavalry at Baker's Creek or Champion Hill. Although he lacked sufficient numbers to do so by that time, Adams was given the assignment of harassing and skirmishing against U. S. Grant's supply lines in the Vicksburg area.
Wirt Adams's Mississippi Cavalry had been attached to Brigadier General John Bowen's Division at Champion Hill. Adams was soon attached to Brigadier General George Cosby's 1st Brigade of Brigadier General William "Red" Jackson's Cavalry Division at Vicksburg. Jackson's division spent most of June 1863 in the area of Vernon, Mississippi.
After the Confederate surrender at Vicksburg, Adams was noted in an official report from Federal general William Tecumseh Sherman who wrote, "Some of Wirt Adams' Cavalry are about Jackson, and the rascals ate some of our bread." While the outcome of the Vicksburg Campaign notoriously failed from the Confederate perspective, Adams's leadership during the months preceding it apparently impressed military officials whose ranks superseded his.
On September 25, 1863, Adams, who had recently been given the responsibility of commanding an additional regiment, received a promotion to brigadier general. Many of his colleagues felt the ascension in rank was long overdue. With this new rank, Brigadier General Adams led demonstrations against Port Hudson and had "the unenviable task" of striking Federal troops under Sherman near Meridian, Mississippi.
The difficulty of Adams's assignment, wherein he worked in conjunction with General Stephen Dill Lee, allowed "but one opportunity to strike effectively." At Decatur, Alabama, Confederates under Adams struck a Union wagon train, but failed to capture a single wagon. However, in his report of the actions during the Confederate raids, Lee wrote, "Adams' Brigade has done the fighting and acted gallantly." Adams reported that the military actions from Champion Hill, Mississippi to Decatur had cost his command 129 casualties.
Subsequent routes took Adams to Starkville and Canton, Mississippi. At Canton he led his troops against Sherman. Adams praised his immediate subordinates in his reports of the action, noting, "In these affairs ... were the most conspicuous and gallant participants."
In late March 1864, General S. D. Lee ordered Adams to assume command of the Mississippi Brigade of Jackson's Division. Less than a week into April of the same year, the order was revoked, with Adams replacing Lee. Adams complied with the change, with the stipulation that his brigade remain with him for the remainder of his tenure. By the end of April, Adams had led his regiment to Yazoo City where it captured the gunboat Petrel.
On January 2, 1865, Adams encountered Colonel Embury Osband's 1,500 troops of the Third U.S. Colored Cavalry, near Franklin, Tennessee. Fighting for possession of a bridge, Osband wrote, "The desperate nature of the fighting, the superiority of number displayed by General Adams ... induced me to attempt to withdraw my men." Osband added, "It was the hardest fought cavalry fight ..." in which his U.S. cavalrymen ever participated.
During March 1865, Adams was given orders to join Forrest in attacking Federals of Brigadier General John Thomas Croxton. The recent reorganization of Forrest's cavalry had placed the brigades of Adams, as well as Brigadier Generals Peter Starke and Frank Armstrong in Forrest's division under the leadership of Brigadier General James Chalmers.
On March 25, 1865, Adams received orders from Chalmers to hold his troops at Macon, Mississippi, but to be prepared to move quickly with five days' rations. By April 3, Adams had gained a much needed artillery battery and moved through Columbus, Mississippi with his command bearing only hard bread, cooking utensils, and ordinance. On April 5, Adams arrived in Pickensville, Alabama with some 1,500 cavalrymen.
The following day Adams attacked the 6th Kentucky Cavalry of Cruxton's command, at the Sispey Mills Bridge near Pleasant Ridge, Alabama. Major William Fidler, in charge of the 6th Kentucky, fell captive to Adams, as did a wagon train of flour, bacon, and corn meal. Fidler died aboard Sultana a few weeks later. The Confederates devoured the foodstuff not destroyed during the attempt of the Federals to use it as breastworks. Adams's men made three charges before darkness and heavy rains ended the action. Casualties for each side were reported at thirty-four.
One individual wrote of the effort Adams and his troops offered, "Wirt Adams ... formed part of the force with which Forrest tried to stem the tide of disaster. Though the Confederates fought with the old-time spirit, it was all in vain."
A Confederate colonel's take on the attack included a statement to Adams, "Should the war cease now, you would have the honor of having won the last victory on Confederate soil and in the Confederate cause." The proclamation was not far from accurate as two later Alabama engagements at West Point and Talladega involved only reserves and not regular troops.
On May 4, 1865, "near Ramsey Station, Sumter County, Alabama" Adams surrendered his regiment. Eight days later the general's parole was written in Gainesville, Alabama. His list of commands during the war was quite impressive. Those units who had served under Adams at various points of the war included the 11th and 17th Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiments, the Fourteenth Confederate Cavalry, the 9th Louisiana Infantry Battalion and the 9th Tennessee Battalion. Rounding out the list were the Mississippi battalions of Captain Thomas Stockdale and Colonel C. C. Wilbourn, as well as Robert's Mississippi Battery.
The Kentucky-born brigadier general's leadership and service resulted in the praise and admiration of those who knew him. It was stated, "When the war was declared he was one of the first to volunteer, and his record as a soldier will compare with that of any man who bared his breast to shot and shell. Never was produced a better or braver soldier ..."
Adams returned to Mississippi, living primarily in Vicksburg and Jackson, where he "resumed the vocations of civil life." In 1880, Adams began serving a five-year tenure as a state revenue agent. In 1885, President Cleveland made Adams postmaster of Jackson, Mississippi, fulfilling the irony of Adams earlier declining a similar offer from Jefferson Davis.
As the years progressed, Adams apparently made friendships and maintained business dealings with individuals of questionable character. One relationship of a controversial nature involved lessees of a penitentiary, while another was connected with a local election. Also involved in the mix was the Jones S. Hamilton murder of R. D. Gambrell. Hamilton was a friend of Adams. The New Mississippian, a Jackson, Mississippi periodical, had been strong in its criticism of Adams and his alleged involvement in the affairs.
An article concerning his testimony in the penitentiary-related trial proved particularly bothersome to Adams. The article appeared in the March 27, 1888 edition of the New Mississippian and said, "General Wirt Adams, a witness for the defense ... ought to remember that character, like charity, should begin at home."
On April 3, 1888, the same publication proclaimed, "Nellie Dinkins's testimony for the state has been impeached, but she has this advantage of General Wirt Adams, a witness for the defense. She never gave certificates and was forced ... to admit they were utterly false."
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Mississippi's Civil War Generals"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Randy Bishop.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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Table of Contents
Preface, vii,
Chapter 1 William Wirt Adams, 1,
Chapter 2 William Edwin Baldwin, 10,
Chapter 3 William Barksdale, 14,
Chapter 4 Samuel Benton, 23,
Chapter 5 William Lindsay Brandon, 28,
Chapter 6 William Felix Brantley, 34,
Chapter 7 James Ronald Chalmers, 43,
Chapter 8 Charles Clark, 52,
Chapter 9 Douglas Hancock Cooper, 57,
Chapter 10 Joseph Robert Davis, 67,
Chapter 11 Winfield Scott Featherston, 73,
Chapter 12 Samuel Wragg Ferguson, 82,
Chapter 13 John Calvin Fiser, 89,
Chapter 14 Samuel Jameson Gholson, 96,
Chapter 15 Henry Gray, Jr., 103,
Chapter 16 Richard Griffith, 108,
Chapter 17 Nathaniel Harrison Harris, 113,
Chapter 18 Thomas Carmichael Hindman, Jr, 118,
Chapter 19 Benjamin Grubb Humphreys, 128,
Chapter 20 Mark Perrin Lowrey, 135,
Chapter 21 Robert Gaden Hayes Lowry, 147,
Chapter 22 William Thompson Martin, 153,
Chapter 23 Evander McNair, 156,
Chapter 24 Christopher "Kit" Haynes Mott, 163,
Chapter 25 Carnot Posey, 166,
Chapter 26 William Price Sanders, 171,
Chapter 27 Claudius Wistar Sears, 174,
Chapter 28 Jacob Hunter Sharp, 179,
Chapter 29 Peter Burwell Starke, 183,
Chapter 30 William Feimster Tucker, 186,
Chapter 31 Earl Van Dorn, 191,
Chapter 32 Edward Carey Walthall, 205,
Chapter 33 Those with Noteworthy Mississippi Connections, 215,
Index, 247,