“What is all this war for anyhow”
The Battle of Paris,
Tennessee
By Dieter C. Ullrich
Beneath a pale
amber sky the advance party of a Union cavalry battalion trotted toward the
quiet West Tennessee community of Paris.
The spires of the distant town were upon the horizon when two mounted men
appeared on the road before them. Instinctively and without hesitation, the
blue clad cavalrymen clutched their rifles and rapidly galloped toward the
unsuspecting pair. Shots rang out and in the exchange of fire two Confederate
scouts were killed and their weapons seized. As the dust settled, Captain John
T. Croft, the commanding officer of the Union force, directed Lieutenant
Frederick A. Williams and a detail of twenty men to continue on to Paris
and secure the roadway. Within a few miles of the town, Lieutenant Williams’
came upon an outlying picket of eight Confederates. His men quickly encircled
the rebels and they surrendered without a firing a shot.[1]
The road to Paris now lay open to
Croft and his main force.
It was near dusk
on March 11, 1862, when
Captain Croft ordered three companies of cavalry followed by a battery of
artillery under Captain Robert E. Bulliss to storm the town. They rumbled
through the streets of Paris to
find only empty storefronts, white flags draped from windows and the wide-eyed
stares of awestruck citizens. After being informed of a rebel encampment upon
the wooded heights just west of town, Croft ordered Captain Bulliss to position
his battery and shell the Confederate camp.
Upon the crest of
the hill one battalion of Confederate cavalry and two militia companies of
mounted infantry, under the direction of Major Henry Clay King, hastily
prepared a defensive line behind large fallen timbers. After a brief artillery
barrage, two Union cavalry companies charged into the thick underbrush of the
hill. Nearing the apex, the Confederates stood en mass from behind their
defenses and fired upon the mounted Union troops. The attackers withstood the
first couple of volleys but quickly turned about and retreated down the hill.
Major King promptly took the offensive and followed in pursuit. They reached
the foot of the hill before Union artillery again open fire and stalled the
counterattack. As darkness overtook the battlefield, the Union force retired
towards Paris and hours later
departed the city having fired 250 rounds of artillery and leaving behind five
killed and five wounded. The Confederate defenders ended their pursuit at
sunset and returned to camp with the loss of two soldiers and about dozen
wounded.[2]
In retrospect the
battle had little effect upon the outcome of the war in West
Tennessee, yet its impact upon the citizens of Paris
and those that participated in the fighting was both climatic and poignant.
Before Captain Croft and his men entered Paris,
the community had been somewhat sheltered from the horrors of war. Newspapers
and traveling soldiers had disseminated details of distant battles in Kentucky
and Virginia but Parisians had
little idea of the extent or brutality of the conflict. The gruesome sight of
the mangled bodies of the dead and wounded dramatically altered the peaceful
remoteness, which the community had experienced since the beginning of the war.
For the men involved in the battle, many had not seen combat prior to that day
and much like the inhabitants of Paris
were quite naïve to cruelties of war. Both Union and
Confederate soldiers witnessed family members, friends and neighbors fall
wounded or dead upon the hill’s forest floor or sandy valley below. These
visions, permanently etched in their minds, haunted them for the duration of
the war and their lives. When the sun rose on March 12, the city of Paris
and those who survived the battle were indeed changed forever.
At the outbreak of
the war, Paris was a bustling
community at the center of a prosperous and thriving county. The population of the town had swelled to
over two thousand by 1861, due in large part to the completion of the Memphis
and Ohio Railroad in May of 1860 and connection of the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad in
March of 1861.[3] Besides
the railways, Paris also had a
series of roads that fanned out from the city much like spokes from a hub of a
wheel. The major roadways that left the city were the road north to Conyersville
and Murray, Kentucky; the road northeast to Paris Landing (also known as the
Mouth of Sandy Road); the road southeast to Big Sandy; the road south to
Huntingdon; the road west to Dresden; and the road northwest to Boydsville,
Kentucky that branched to other highways leading to Paducah and Columbus.[4]
The railways and roads that converged on Paris
made the community a regional center for transportation and communication.
The issues of
slavery and states’ rights that had split the nation during the antebellum
period were in a large part supported and defended by white Parisians. The very
prosperity of the town centered upon the agricultural labors provided by slaves
working on nearby tobacco farms and cotton plantations. In the decade preceding
the war, close to one-third of the family farms in the region owned slaves and
approximately one-fourth of the population was of African descent.[5]
Like many communities in West Tennessee, slavery had
become a deeply rooted institution both economically and socially.
As the nation
continued to drift apart ideologically over the issue of slavery, local
politicians and newspaper publishers began to actively promote southern rights
and gravitate toward the secessionist movement gathering momentum in the lower
south. The Paris Weekly Sentinel, propagated these southern perspectives
and encouraged its readers to seek independence from the north. Former
Congressman John D. C. Atkins, a resident of Paris,
was a strong proponent of the southern cause and pressed a pro-slavery agenda
while in Washington. Other local
leaders, such as State Representative James D. Porter and the county’s leading
attorney Calvin D. Venable, also promoted the ideals of southern rights. It was
no surprise that John C. Breckinridge, the candidate for the Southern Democrat
Party, claimed the majority of votes in Henry
County during the presidential
election of 1860. [6]
With the election
of Abraham Lincoln as president, Paris
and the State of Tennessee
started down the path toward secession. Governor Isham G. Harris, a former
resident of Paris and whose brother was a prominent Methodist minister in the
district, called the Tennessee legislature into a special session and set forth
a referendum whereby registered voters of Tennessee would decide on whether to
hold a state convention to determine what actions the state government should
take with the incoming Lincoln administration. The referendum was held on February 9, 1861, with a majority of
Tennesseans voting against formation of a convention. The voters of Paris
and Henry County
voted in favor of a convention.
Shortly after the
inauguration of Lincoln, the
residents of the county held a meeting in Paris
where local leaders debated whether the state should secede from the Union.
The seemingly pro-southern crowd listened with interest but could only await
the actions of Governor Harris. Following the surrender of Fort
Sumter, Governor Harris refused to
comply with Lincoln’s request for
volunteer troops from Tennessee
to suppress the rebellion. Ten days later Congressman Emerson Etheridge, an
ardent Unionist from Dresden, was
scheduled to deliver a speech in Paris
criticizing Governor Harris’ refusal to support President Lincoln’s
solicitation for troops. However, before he entered the city limits a committee
of citizens from Paris threatened
him and his entourage with bodily harm if Etheridge chose to proceed with his
presentation. A bitter exchange of words and a struggle ensued whereby four men
were shot and one man killed. Etheridge returned to Dresden
with diminished hopes of preserving the Union in West
Tennessee. On May 6, the state legislature drafted a declaration
of independence that included an article to dissolve relations with the United
States government. The people of Tennessee
ratified the declaration on June 8, with the vast majority of Henry
County voters preferring to
separate from the Union.[7]
When Tennessee
joined the Confederacy, an enthusiastic patriotism aroused the community of Paris.
Men lined up to enlist at a military camp located at the old fairgrounds
northwest of town and many businesses suspended their activities to support the
war effort.[8]
For several months Paris remained
distant from the brewing conflict to the north. All that changed in January of
1862, when it became evident that Federal forces intended to strike south along
the Tennessee River. On January 17 Union gunboats tested
the defenses of Fort Henry.
The next day Confederate scouts stationed at Paris
spotted a large detachment of reconnaissance troops near Murray.[9]
The presence of a reported 6,000 Federal troops within 25 miles created a
“great state of excitement” in Paris.[10]
There was much talk within the city but only a concerned few began relocating
valuables and slaves to safer areas further south.[11]
General Polk ordered 1,000 cavalry and two regiments of infantry to locate and
engage the enemy troops but bad weather and muddy roads impaired his plans.
Polk’s rain soaked men reached Paris
on January 22.[12] On the
last day of the month Polk reported four battalions of cavalry, which included
Major Richard H. Brewer’s Battalion, King’s Kentucky Battalion, the First
Mississippi Battalion and the Sixth Tennessee Battalion, stationed at or close
to Paris. Captain John G. Stocks’
Company was also present in the city.[13]
To accomplish this
mission, Grant chose to split his command with Brigadier General Charles F.
Smith. Grant would lead the expedition to Jackson,
Corinth and Eastport, while Smith
marched upon Paris and Humbolt.[20]
Grant’s instructions were sent to Smith at Clarksville
the following day with one modification, that the expedition to Paris
be launched from Fort Heiman rather than Danville.
Smith received Grant’s instructions along with Halleck’s
original plan but could not decipher what specifically he was to do once his
troops arrived at Paris. Smith
replied to Grant requesting clarification on his instructions.[21]
The threat of
invasion became prevalent in the minds of Parisians as some residents began
removing their costly possessions and slaves by wagon and rail further south.
This relocation of property and citizens from Paris
began soon after the surrender of Fort
Henry. By February 14, a scathing
editorial, written in the Memphis Daily Avalanche, addressed the exodus
of the community’s affluent citizens. It claimed in part that “patriotism and
love of Southern rights and Southern honor” had been forsaken for the
preservation of material wealth. The editorial continued by stating that true
believers in the Confederate cause should “never surrender to Northern
aggression until we had spent the last dollar and spilt the last drop of
blood.”[25]
The writer’s patriotic call fell on deaf ears, as still others continued to
leave the city. Less than two weeks later, the same Memphis
paper reported another panic in the city and the arrival of families and slaves
from Henry County
at the rail station in Memphis.[26]
Up until March 11, the day of the battle, there was a steady flow of refugees
fleeing the city and surrounding areas.
That
same morning, Captain Robert E. Bulliss received orders at Paris Landing to
prepare his artillery battery and march west toward Paris.
Bulliss met Croft at the crossroads at around noon,
where Croft had been waiting for Bulliss most of the morning.[39]
Believing Patrick’s command must not be far behind and anxious to reach the
outskirts of Paris before dusk,
Croft pressed on without further delay. About 250 men saddled up their horses,
boarded caissons and loaded wagons for the journey to Paris.
The road was
“tolerably good”, lined with small oak trees and underbrush but was often
crossed by small creeks and other minor impediments.[40]
The farms along the way were frequent though “poor and neglected” and the
dwellings mostly small “backwoods timber houses”.[41]
About quarter of the way to Paris,
a few miles west of where Paris Landing
State Park presently resides, the
detachment crossed a long narrow wooden bridge above a swamp. Bulliss worried
whether the bridge could support his artillery but they managed to cross
without incident.[42] As they
progressed further inland from the Tennessee River,
large numbers of Union supporters approached Croft to seek protection from the
draft. Many fell in behind the Federals as they marched onwards to Paris.[43]
By 3:30 p.m., Croft was within ten
miles of the city. His lead battalion had met no resistance nor spotted any
rebel scouting parties.
Meanwhile at the
Confederate camp, Major King supervised a depleted force of some 600 men of
which 200 were either scouting the roads east of town, absent on leave or too
sick to perform their duties.[44]
Only a few weeks earlier the cavalry battalions of Colonel Brewer, the First
Mississippi and the Sixth Tennessee redeployed to other outposts along the west
Tennessee and Kentucky
border. Their departure reduced the number of troops stationed at Paris
by nearly two-thirds. Among those assigned to scout the roads was a squad of
about a dozen men sent by Captain Stocks under Corporal William H. Courts.
Stocks ordered his men down the road to Paris Landing that afternoon. Courts
set up a picket near Currier’s Mill, a few miles outside of town, and forwarded
a few scouts on horseback to patrol further up the road.[45]
Croft’s advance
guard spotted Stocks’ patrol about six miles from the city. The advance guard
swiftly overwhelmed the two scouts as they attempted to wheel their mounts and
return to Paris. In an effort to
ascertain the position and number of enemy troops within the city, Croft
detailed twenty men under Lieutenant Williams to “advance cautiously and secure
their pickets”.[46]
Williams’ detail slowly moved forward about four miles when they came upon
Corporal Courts and several other men playing cards along side of the road.
Williams’ men surreptitiously encircled the unsuspecting poker players and
captured the picket without firing a single shot.[47] A
messenger brought Croft the word of Williams’ remarkable success, which created
a dilemma for Croft: should he await reinforcements and encamp for the night as
stipulated in his orders by Grant or take the city and drive off the rebel
troops? He contemplated his next move for close to forty minutes before he made
a decision to advance.[48]
While Croft paused
to consider his options, four scouts traveling north-northwest on a less
traveled cart path between the roads going to Conyersville
and Paris Landing secured information from a traveling black man that a column
of Union soldiers were en route to Paris. To verify this intelligence Private Asa Cox galloped to Paris Landing road to investigate while
the other three men waited for his return. Cox did not get far before he
noticed Williams’ cavalry detail probing the outer limits of the city.
Unnoticed he quickly reversed his course and told the others that the enemy was
in fact marching on Paris. Cox also
informed them that the enemy was too near the Obion road to attempt returning
by that route. Their only alternative was to head west to Conyersville road
than south into town. Driving hard Cox and the others exhausted their mounts
but were able to exchange horses at homesteads along the way. The four men
dashed through the middle of Paris
shouting warnings to the citizens on the streets. They reached the camp around 4:30 p.m.[49]
First
Lieutenant F. M. Wilkinson of Company C of King’s Cavalry Battalion, who was
standing near the edge of camp on the Dresden
road, recalled that he was surprised to see Private Cox dashing up the road
from the direction of Paris. He
remembered calling to him “What’s the matter?” in which Cox responded
“Yankees!” The other three men soon followed Cox shouting the “Yankees are
coming!” All four proceeded through camp and headed toward Major King’s
headquarters, about one quarter of a mile further up the road.[50]
The
news spread like wildfire through the camp as officers gave the call to arms.
Major King reacted without delay. He climbed upon his horse and galloped into
camp where he ordered Lieutenant Felin F. Aden of Stocks’ Company to gather as
many men as possible and reconnoiter the area east of town. Aden
expeditiously assembled about forty men and rode them through the city and onto
the Paris Landing road. As he came to the crest of a small hill he noticed in
the distance a numerically superior cavalry force led by a soldier carrying the
stars and strips. Aden roughly
estimated their numbers and ordered his men back to camp to report his
findings.[51] Hearing
these reports, King resolved to make a defensive stand on the large hill near
camp and west of town.
Though not well
received among the citizens of Paris,
or his later critics, Major King withdrew his troops from the city. The ground he chose was easier to defend than
the small hillocks northeast of town and strategically overlooked the major
roads west of Paris, the railroad
depot and the western most parts of the city. The hill itself was the highest
point within a five-mile radius of Paris
at 620 feet. Large trees covered the crown of the hill with a moderately steep
slope thick with bushes and underbrush. Before the hill was an open sandy
hollow about 100 yards wide with a smaller fenced-in ridge almost parallel to
the southeast.[52] The
elevated ridge opposing the hill was slightly over 500 feet above sea level.
The Dresden road ran diagonally
between the two heights.
With details of
the city’s defenses supplied by Lieutenant Williams and the whereabouts of the
rebel camp provided by two citizens and a traveling salesman, Croft slowly
advanced three companies of cavalry and a section of artillery. Companies A, B
and D marched upon the city as Company C stayed behind to guard the remaining
sections of artillery and baggage. When the lead company reached the small rise
where Lieutenant Aden had stood only moments before, Croft gave the order to
charge. A loud yell echoed through the city streets as two companies bolted
down the main road. They passed by the courthouse and several homes draped with
white flags before stopping at the railroad depot. One company took a side
street further south followed by Captain Bulliss and his two pieces of
artillery.[53]
Accompanying the Union troops were George Warner, “a traveling wheat and potato
merchant” who conducted business in Paris, John R. Farris, a citizen of the
city who was considered a “notorious spy and [Union] guide”, and a another man
by the name of “Coon” Harris.[54]
The three men piloted Croft and his men through town and pointed them in the
direction of the rebel encampment.
Upon reaching the
railroad depot, Croft sent forward a small force of men to locate the position
of the enemy.[55] The
rebel encampment was observed not far from where Croft’s informants stated it
would be found. At about 5 p.m.,
Croft ordered Bulliss to place his two guns on the ridge opposite of the enemy
camp. “The country being very hilly”, wrote Lieutenant Charles H. Thurber of
Bulliss’ Battery, “we labored under great disadvantage
in getting a position for the battery”.[56]
After a brief search for favorable ground, Bulliss unlimbered his guns on
Freeman’s field about 300 yards away from the crest of the opposing hill. As
Bulliss struggled to place his cannon, Croft organized his men into line of
battle on depot hill just to the right of Bulliss’ Battery.[57] Noticing the tops of tents beyond the crest
of the hill, Bulliss sighted the barrels of his cannon upon the rebel camp and
prepared to fire.
Major King marched
his men by foot to the wooded hill at roughly the same time Croft’s men first
reached the railroad depot. Forming his men by company into line, he deployed
them facing southeast on the slope near to the highest point of the hill. The
mood of his men was surprisingly carefree as they stood in wait for the Yankee
aggressors. Lieutenant Wilkinson wrote, a “good many were laughing and talking
as if starting out on a parade”.[58]
This calm indifference changed dramatically as the first artillery shells flew
overhead. The men nervously sought cover behind fallen timbers and uprooted
trees. Those who could not find cover stretched themselves flat upon the forest
floor. King gave his men strict orders not to fire until the order was issued.[59]
Bulliss
initially lobbed rounds into the Confederate encampment destroying
accouterments, frightening the horses and causing minor injuries to a few men.
He than pointed his guns west toward the road and fired at a few stragglers
attempting to find their units on the hill. One of those men, First Sergeant
James S. Aden, wrote after the war, that I was moving “east down the road in
sight of the enemy’s artillery when a double handful of grape and canister shot
bounced up the road and all around me”.[60]
After scaring these men back up the road, Bulliss focused his cannon on the
valley and wooded hill. His men fired two or three rounds into the side of the
hill with no response except the scattering of some rebel soldiers over the
ridge of the hill toward their camp.
For
the most part, King’s command dodged the Yankee shells that plowed into the
hillside, tore down limbs off trees, and embedded into the fallen timbers.
While shell fragments struck the earth around him, Captain Stocks’ remarked
“Boys, do you see that we can’t compete with double-barrel shot guns” and
shifted his men to the rear of the western slope of the hill.[61]
The other units in King’s command held their ground but some individual
soldiers were noted to have fled to safer places. Overall, the impact of the
Federal artillery barrage upon King’s defenses was minimal with no reports of
killed or wounded.
At
about 5:30 p.m. Bulliss’
ordered his men to cease firing. A silence fell the over the valley as the
clouds of smoke from the guns dissipated. Croft peered through the haze and
fading sunlight but saw no activity upon the opposing hill. Believing the rebels
had scurried back to their camp, he ordered Captain John J. Lower of Company A
and First Lieutenant Milton S. Summers of Company B to take the rebel camp.[62]
Captain Lower and Company A led the assault galloping down the ridge onto the
road at half speed in columns of fours, “their sabers drawn and glittering in
the evening sun”.[63] Company
B followed close behind. Upon reaching the foot of the hill, Lower adjusted his
troops into line and ascended the hill. The thick underbrush made visibility
difficult and caused some misalignment of his columns. As they neared the thick
woods at the crown of the hill Sergeant Major Martin Stowell spotted a lone man
clad in gray hiding amongst the shrubs to his left. Raising his saber high with
one hand and drawing his pistol with the other Stowell shouted, “Here they are
boys!”[64]
During the brief
lull following the Federal shelling, Private George Glover of Company A, King’s
Battalion, crept out from the timberline down into the underbrush closer to the
road. Without permission from his company commander and quite possibly under
the influence of alcohol, Glover took it upon himself to initiate the conflict.[65]
Unnoticed by the encroaching enemy and members of his own company, he crawled
out about forty yards in front of King’s concealed defenses. As he crouched
behind a large bush not far from the road, Sergeant Stowell caught a glimpse of
him. Stowell cried out his final words and fired his pistol missing Glover.
Upon being noticed, Glover rose from the behind the bushes and fired his
shotgun point blank at Stowell knocking him back in
his saddle. At exactly the same moment, the order to fire was given to King’s
men. Several more shots struck Stowell before he fell dead from his horse.
Glover caught in the crossfire was shot by men in his own battalion.[66]
All hell broke
loose as the Confederate ambush “emptied scores of saddles” and sent rider-less
horses scurrying into the valley and galloping through the woods. [67]
Some of the horses, startled by the discharge of weapons, darted away with
their riders in all directions. Other horses, in a state of shock, stood firm
and refused to move causing some soldiers to dismount and fight on foot.[68] A
few horses even rushed through the Confederate camp only to stop when they
reached the corralled livestock of King’s troops.[69] The soldiers that had not been shot or thrown
from their horses returned fire. For fifteen minutes the two sides exchanged
pistol shots and shotgun blasts. Most of Captain Lower’s men would get off two
or three rounds before falling back in disorder to Freeman’s field and the
safety of Bulliss’ artillery.[70]
Lieutenant Wilkinson wrote of the Union retreat, “the fire was so unexpected
that the Yankees became panic-stricken and went back pell-mell, and in the
greatest confusion across the hollow, and disappeared over the opposite ridge…”[71]
Left behind upon the hillside were the bodies of
Sergeant Major Stowell, Corporal David Geary of Company A and Private C. C.
Nichelson of Company B. Returning badly wounded from the battlefield were
Sergeant George Davison, Corporal George Thomas, and Privates Joseph Musgrave
and John W. Warren of Company A. The rebels captured the wounded Private
Patrick M. McGuire of Company A as he attempted to flee.[72]
Most of the severely injured were placed upon two wagons and brought to Paris.
One of the wounded men somehow managed to stagger to the residence of Mr.
Freeman, for whom Freeman’s field is named after, to request a drink of water.
After receiving a drink from Mr. Freeman the man remarked, “what is all this
war for anyhow” and collapsed to the ground dead.[73]
Croft stemmed the confusion of the retreat and
reformed his disorganized command behind Bulliss’ two guns. Recognizing the
momentum of battle had shifted to the enemy, Croft ordered the two reserve
sections of artillery to be brought up immediately. He than prepared his men
for a counter-attack. Excited at their success, some of King’s men ventured out
from the woods to the thick underbrush. Erratically they moved forward firing
on the fleeing Yankees. Bulliss opened fire upon the advancing enemy shortly
after the retreating cavalry reached Freeman’s field.[74]
Once the Confederates made it to the open road they were met by Federal
grapeshot and canister. The counter attack fizzled quickly and they were driven
back to the woods where they again sought shelter behind fallen timbers and
large trees.[75]
Captain Bulliss was standing amongst his guns
directing fire when a stray musket ball struck him in the chest.[76]
Mortally wounded he was taken from the field and brought to Paris
then later to a private residence in nearby Chickasaw.[77]
Lieutenant Charles H. Thurber took command of Bulliss’ artillery and directed
the placement of the reserve cannon. Once in place on Freeman’s field, Thurber
pointed all six of his guns at the opposing hill and launched a devastating
barrage of canister and shell upon the Confederate line. The Union fire was
“heavy and rapid” but the terrain and diminishing sunlight limited the effect
of the cannon.[78]
Major King and his men stood defiantly as shrapnel
peppered the hillside. Confederate officers dangerously exposed themselves as
they walked amongst their men maintaining order and encouraging them to stay
low while reloading. Captain Charles H. Conner of Company E, King’s Battalion,
was the first to be wounded as a canister ball grazed his leg. Using his sword
as a cane he limped to Lieutenant Wilkinson and said, “I can’t do much more, I
am wounded”. His men carried him off the field soon afterwards. Lieutenant J.
B. Yow of Company D, King’s Battalion, was in the process of ordering his men
further up the hill when grape shot struck him in the left shoulder dropping
him down to all fours. He struggled to get up but failed, tumbling down the
hill eventually landing on his back. Seeing him hit, Lieutenant Wilkinson ran
to assist Yow. Wilkinson vividly recalled the incident in a letter following
the battle. He wrote:
I immediately knelt down by him [Lieutenant Yow] and asked him if he
was hurt much. He made no reply but turned very white in the face, his eyes
looking at me very intelligently, and his lips quivering as if he were trying
to tell me something. The men, whom he had started to bring forward to a point
where they could better perform their duty, then rushed up and carried him to
the rear. Those men told me afterwards that he was dead within two minutes
after they had started with him.[79]
Wilkinson saw yet another of his fellow officers
injured by an incoming missile. First Lieutenant T. Bun Carson, who took charge
of Company E after Captain Conner left wounded, was looking at the reddening
skies in the west when a solid shot tore a severe gash into his stomach and
knocked him unconscious. Nearby, Wilkinson went to provide help but Carson too
was carried from the field wounded in a bloodied blanket.[80]
The battle raged on with Federal artillery firing round after round into the
hill and the camp beyond. King’s men returned fire but with most armed with
shotguns and outdated smoothbore muskets the effect upon the distant cannoneers was minimal.
With darkness overtaking the battlefield, fire
slackened and than ceased completely. An eerie silence fell over the valley as
both sides pondered their next move. In the shadows, Major King ordered a
detachment to flank the Yankee artillery and capture the guns. Moving to the
enemy’s right, King hoped to cut off the artillery from the cavalry and the
road east to Paris. The detachment
maneuvered into position when they were detected by Union cavalry and fired
upon. Lieutenant Thurber hastily repositioned his guns and lobbed a few shells
in the direction of the disturbance. The Confederate detachment recoiled back
into the thicket without receiving or inflicting any damage.[81]
Fearing another Confederate strike, Croft directed
Thurber to limber the cannon and move them to Paris.
The cavalry soon followed, cutting the telegraph lines at the railroad depot
and taking possession of the courthouse as a temporary headquarters. His troops
also commandeered a nearby hotel for the wounded.[82]
Upon the steps of the courthouse Croft received a report that a large rebel
force was en route from Humbolt and was but a few miles from Paris
on the railroad. After a brief consultation with his officers, Croft decided to
retreat towards Fort Heiman
and Lieutenant Colonel Patrick’s advancing troops.[83]
The Union troops departed the city, along with eight prisoners, the same way
they had entered only a few hours earlier. Left behind were the seriously
wounded and the disassembled remnants of the courthouse fence, which Croft’s
men had torn down to use as firewood before their hasty withdrawal.
Upon observing the bluecoats’ evacuation of the
city, Major King ordered his men to mount their horses and pursue the enemy.
His men rode into Paris where they
sighted the torn up fence posts at the courthouse and captured the few wounded
soldiers at the hotel. A few local residents pointed toward the direction of
the departing Yankees and the chase was on. The night skies were near pitch
dark when King’s men met the Union rearguard a few miles from the city. A brief
exchange of gunfire occurred upon contact but a volley of artillery soon broke
up the pursuit. With the utmost difficulty in determining friend from foe in
the black of night, King directed his men to return to camp.[84]
The Union troops retraced their steps on the road to
Paris Landing until the early morning hours of March 12. At 3:00 a.m., Croft’s weary troops halted for the night.
Squads from Company C patrolled the camp while the others rested a few hours
until daylight.[85]
Throughout the nightlong trek Croft had expected to encounter the lead units of
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick but the anticipated reinforcements were nowhere to
be found.[86] The
next day Croft and his men continued onward to Fort
Heiman. About three miles from
their destination they came upon Patrick’s advance guard, which had crossed the
river the day before but had not left Fort
Heiman
until that morning.[87]
Croft reported to Patrick about the engagement at Paris
and the large force of rebels moving by rail to the city. Patrick halted the
advance of his troops where he had met Croft and sent a messenger to Grant’s
headquarters for further instructions. Patrick sent out a scouting party the
next day that came within a few miles of Paris
but returned to report no enemy activity.[88]
Major King’s men returned to their shell-shocked camp,
where many who had lost tents and blankets slept restlessly beneath a starless
overcast sky.[89] The
Confederate reinforcements rumored to be arriving from Humbolt
proved to be false. As the sun rose on the twelfth, a group of citizens
directed King’s men to where George Warner was hiding. He was promptly arrested
as a traitor and sent to Jackson, Tennessee
in irons.[90] John
Farris and “Coon” Harris escaped with the retreating Federals. The next day,
King received word that a larger Union force with infantry was now marching
down the Paris Landing road. Unsure if he was to be reinforced or not, King
packed what remained of his camp and marched his command 10 miles southwest
along the railroad to Henry Station.[91]
Once there he sent patrols to Paris
to keep him advised of enemy movements towards the city.
A messenger arrived at Grant’s headquarters on the
afternoon of March 12 to relay the news of the engagement at Paris.
Grant telegraphed General Halleck in St. Louis
that evening. In his report Grant wrote, the “enemy were driven from their
works situated about one & one half miles beyond the town with a loss of
probably one hundred killed & wounded”. He also reported the death of
Captain Bulliss and four others along with five men wounded.[92]
Grant requested a detailed report of the expedition and engagement from Croft
the following morning.[93]
Croft sent a 380-word reply to Grant later the same day that explained the
circumstances that led to the battle.[94]
Halleck telegraphed Grant on the evening of the thirteenth not “to bring on any
general engagement at Paris” and if
the enemy appeared in force that “our troops must fall back”.[95]
Halleck’s main objective was further upriver at a place called Pittsburg
Landing.
On March 14, Grant issued Special Orders No. 24
commanding Colonel Lowe to call in all his troops on the Paris Landing road,
maintaining only a sufficient guard to prevent a surprise attack. Companies C
and G of the Curtis Horse were within four miles of Paris
when they received the order to return to Fort
Heiman. Grant also informed Lowe to
send an ambulance and a few men under a flag of truce to collect the wounded
left at Paris. The eight prisoners
taken by Croft were sent to Cairo
to be processed and detained.[96]
The job of recovering the wounded was given to
Captain Charles C. Nott of Company E. Before he departed on his mission, Nott
conferred with Croft to learn the names of the wounded and the best roads into
the city. While at Croft’s tent he met a Mr. Clokes,
who brought Captain Bulliss’ body to the Union camp
the day before. Clokes was also the father of a
Confederate soldier taken prisoner at Paris.
He had hoped to procure the release of his son by returning the deceased
officer, but his son was already at Cairo, Illinois
awaiting transportation to a Federal prison camp further north. Nott, however,
did convince Clokes to join his party to Paris.[97]
A cold steady rain prevented Nott’s departure on
the fourteenth but the following morning the storm began to dissipate and his
party began its journey towards Paris.
Nott rode with three mounted soldiers and an ambulance carrying the company
surgeon and Clokes. The rain drenched roads caused delays as the wheels of the
ambulance continued to drag and skid in the mud. Nott’s party reached
Chickasaw, a few miles outside Paris
just before dusk. Clokes led the party to the home of
Nathaniel Currier, who had nursed Captain Bulliss during his final hours.
Currier was also responsible for retrieving the bodies of the fallen Union
soldiers and burying them in the town cemetery. Nott questioned Currier on the
captured and wounded men, but Currier was uncertain if the Confederates had
more wounded prisoners other than the men he had buried during the past few
days. Currier recommended that Nott and his party avoid entering the city that
evening and that he seek shelter elsewhere for the night. Nott followed his
advice, knowing in advance that Currier was already under suspicion and was
likely to be under surveillance. Nott backtracked up the Paris Landing road
about a mile and stayed the night at the Whorton residence.[98]
On the morning of March 16, Nott and his party entered
the city limits unopposed under a flag of truce. They stopped at the courthouse,
where Nott asked one of the residents if he could speak to a Confederate
officer. “No” was the reply, “they all retired this morning, a couple of hours
ago.” Another stepped up to inform Nott that two wounded men were removed to Memphis
and that one wounded soldier was at a nearby hotel but his condition was very
serious. Moments later a few men came up and handed Nott some of the personal
effects taken from the dead and wounded soldiers. They assured Nott that the
wounded were treated kindly. The company surgeon examined the remaining soldier
and spoke to the local physician who had tended to the man’s injuries. The two
physicians determined that the man could not be moved without loss of life.
Nott, uncomfortable with the possibility of his small party being captured by
returning rebels, set out on the Paris Landing road at a rapid pace. The return
trip was uneventful. Though they did take a wrong turn along the way, they did
manage to find the Federal camp before sunset.[99]
For the next three weeks, small patrols were sent to
scout the Paris Landing road for enemy troops but did not enter the city. On
the twenty-first, General Grant reported to Halleck that Paris
had been “deserted”.[100]
Ten days later, Captain William A. Haw of Company F received orders to proceed
to Paris to investigate reports of
rebels in the city and to “assist and protect the peaceable and loyal”. With a
force of seventy-five cavalrymen Haw entered the town on the morning of April
1. Finding Paris empty of enemy
troops, Haw’s men occupied the courthouse and rounded up the community’s most
vocal southern supporters. One of those was a man named Van Dyck who assisted
the rebels in the arrest of George Warner. At 3
p.m. Haw departed the city with Van Dyck as a prisoner. Before
departing, Haw raised the “Stars and Stripes” atop of the courthouse tower
where it remained fluttering until the fifth when a Confederate patrol removed
it.[101]
Further attention to Paris
was temporarily diverted during the Battle of Shiloh, which commenced on April
6 and continued until the afternoon of the seventh, when the Union Army turned
back a desperate and bloody attack. On April 8, the Confederate forces at
Island Number 10 formally surrendered. With Federal forces in command of the Tennessee
River north of Pittsburg Landing and the Mississippi
River south to near Fort
Pillow, northwest Tennessee
was now cut off from both the east and west. Though the supply route to the
south remained open, the Confederacy’s grip on the region began to slowly
loosen.
On May 3, a detachment of about 130 men of the
Curtis Horse, under the command of Major Carl Schaeffer de Boerstine, camped
for the night at Paris. They left
early the next morning in an attempt to intercept a shipment of medical
supplies destined to the Confederate forces stationed at Humbolt and Jackson.
The detachment was to return to Paris
after its mission was completed but Scheaffer and his men were surprised and
overtaken by five companies of Confederate cavalry at a place called
Lockridge’s Mills, thirty miles west of Paris
in Weakley County.
After receiving reports of the detachment’s defeat and capture, Colonel Lowe
marched to Paris with a large
contingent of infantry, a section of artillery and the remaining companies of
the Curtis Horse which were at Fort Heiman.
On the evening of May 7, he reached the outskirts of Paris
where he dispatched several patrols to scout the area and bring on an
engagement with rebel troops believed to be in the city. His scouts found the
town empty of rebels and Lowe returned to Fort
Heiman the following day.[102]
From the middle of May to early June, Union
and Confederate forces continued to send scouting parties to Paris
but the advancement of Federal troops down the Mississippi River
and up the Tennessee River made the city less relevant
militarily. With the evacuation of Fort
Pillow and the surrender of Memphis
on June 6, stability in the region began to collapse into a chaotic state of
guerrilla warfare. For the remainder of the war, the citizens of Paris
and Henry County
lived in constant fear of marauding bands of criminals and bushwhackers.[103] Union
and Confederate troops marched into the city numerous times throughout the war
and on occasion set up encampments nearby. In early November of 1864,
Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest located his headquarters at Paris
as he raided Union supply bases along the Tennessee River.[104]
In December, Brigadier General Hylan B. Lyon launched an attack on Hopkinsville,
Kentucky from Paris.[105]
During the final weeks of the war, the Department of Western Kentucky used Paris
as a temporary headquarters before formally surrendering to Federal officials
on May 4, 1865.[106]
In the aftermath of the war, Paris
slowly revived as commerce and industry returned to the city. A proud citizenry
rebuilt their community and for a brief time the battle upon the hill was
forgotten. Stories of the conflict began to arise a generation later as the
survivors of the battle began to tell their children and grandchildren. Yet as
memories began to fade, the events of the battle became more distorted as local
folklore became celebrated as historical fact. One such fable stated that the
“road was strewn with blood” from site of the engagement to the streets of Paris
and that over thirty Yankees were killed.[107]
Another declared that between sixty and eighty Union soldiers were killed or
wounded and that commander of the cavalry force died upon the field.[108]
A member of King’s Battalion wrote in 1922 that his company actually captured
one of Bulliss’ artillery pieces from the fleeing bluecoats.[109]
Other tales surfaced after the war and as the number of survivors dwindled so
did those unfiltered glimpses of the past. The number of first hand accounts
relating to the battle is limited to a dozen or so official reports, newspaper
articles and diaries. What remains untold may be hidden upon the crest of the
hill or the valley below, where at dusk on a cool spring day men valiantly
fought and died.
[1] U.S. War
Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies (128 vols,; Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office,
1880-1901), series I, volume 10, part I: pp. 16-18. (Hereinafter cited as O.R..)
[2] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I: pp. 16-18; Andreas, A. T., History of the State of Nebraska
(Chicago: The Western Historical Company, 1882); p. 244.
[3] W. P.
Green, ed., The City of Paris
and Henry County,
Tennessee (Paris,
Tenn: Paris
Pub. Co., 1900) p. 11; W. O. Inman, Pen Sketches: Henry
County, Volume One
(Paris, Tenn.:
Henry County
Historical Society), pp. 84-85.
[4] Inman, Pen
Sketches, pp. 35-36.
[5] Roger
Raymond Van Dyke, “Antebellum Henry County,”
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
(1979), pp. 48-80. Van Dyke states that the Henry
County census for 1850 listed
“33.31 per cent of the heads of farm families owned slaves” and that 32.10 per
cent of the same category of county citizens owned slaves in 1860.
[6] Van
Dyke, “Antebellum Henry County,”
pp. 48-80.
[7] Van
Dyke, “Antebellum Henry County,”
pp. 48-80. It important to note that a many voters in Henry
County were confused by the wording
of the referendum and a number of others simply did not participate in the
process.
[8] History
of Tennessee: from the Earliest Times to the Present; together with an Historical
and a Biographical Sketch of Carroll, Henry and Benton Counties, besides a
Valuable Fund of Notes, Original Observations, Reminiscences, etc., etc.
(Nashville: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887), pp.826-827.
[9] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7: p. 839.
[10] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7: pp. 841-842.
[11] Memphis
Daily Appeal, 22 January 1862,
p. 2, col. 1.
[12] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7, p. 844.
[13] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7, p. 854.
[14] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7, p. 858.
[15] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7, pp. 148-152
[16] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 8 February 1862,
p. 2, col. 3.
[17] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 11 February 11
1862, p. 2, col. 5.
[18] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 7, pp. 591-592.
[19] Roger
D. Bridges, ed., Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (Carbondale, Ill.: Feffer & Simons Inc., 1972) vol. 4, pp. 310. (Hereafter
sited as Grant Papers)
[20] Grant
Papers, vol. 4, pp. 317-318.
[21] Grant
Papers, vol. 4, pp. 310-312. Halleck’s unedited
message is transcribed in a note following Grant’s letters dated for March 1, 1862. Smith’s unedited reply to Grant’s message is
transcribed in a note following the letters of the March 2.
[22]
Geoffrey Perret, Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier and
President (New York: Random House, Inc., 1997), pp. 178-182; Jean Edward
Smith, Grant (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2001), pp. 170-178.
[23] Grant
Papers, vol. 4, pp. 319-320. Halleck’s message to
Grant attached as a note following Grant’s response on March 5.
[24] Grant
Papers, vol. 4, pp. 327. Halleck’s message to
Grant attached as a note following Grant’s response on March 6.
[25] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 14 February 1862,
p. 1, col. 7.
[26] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 27 February
1862, p. 2 col. 1.
[27] Memphis
Daily Appeal, 20 February 1862,
p. 2, col. 5.
[28] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 10 March 1862,
p.2, col. 8.
[29] Memphis
Daily Appeal, 11 March 1862,
p.1, col. 8. General Order #2 was issued from the Headquarters of the Tennessee
Militia in Memphis on the March 5.
[30] Memphis
Daily Appeal, 4 March 1862,
p. 1, col. 4. No exact date of the rendezvous was listed in the General Order,
but a “Militia Notice” published on the March 4 stated the militia were to meet
on “Saturday next” which was March 15.
[31] Grant
Papers, vol. 4, pp. 345-346. Grant received reports from Lieutenants Erwin
Y. Shelley (Company I) and Mortimer M. Wheeler (Company E) of the Curtis Horse
that conscription activities were to occur at Paris
on March 12.
[32] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. II, p. 25.
[33] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. II, p. 30.
[34] Grant
Papers, vol. 4, p. 347. Grant’s subordinate, Captain John A. Rawlins,
issued the order to Colonel Lowe. Listed as a note following March 11.
[35]
Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska, p. 244; Roster and Record
of Iowa Soldiers in
the War of the Rebellion: Together with historical Sketches of Volunteer
Organizations, 1861-1866 (Des Moines: Emory H. English, State Printer,
1910), vol. 4, p. 846. Two different stories arise from the sources mentioned,
the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion
states that Croft was to wait at Paris for Patrick, while the History of the
State of Nebraska asserts that Croft was to wait for Patrick before
advancing on the city. No official record exists of the orders except those
issued by Grant, which is unclear.
[36]
Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska,
p. 286.
[37] Grant
Papers, Vol. 4, p. 348.
[38] John S.
Ezell, ed., “Excerpts from the Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley, Company C,
Fifth Iowa Cavalry,” Iowa
Journal of History 49 (1951), p. 255. The Curtis Horse was re-designated
the Fifth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry Regiment on June 25, 1862. The company letter assignments remained the
same after the re-designation.
[39] Ezell,
“Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255. Bulliss’
Battery was reorganized as Battery
I of the First Missouri Light Artillery in July of 1862.
[40] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, pp. 79-83. On March 31, 1862, Captain William A. Haw (Company F of the
Curtis Horse) took the exact same route to Paris.
He offered a very detailed description of the road in his report to Colonel
Lowe.
[41] Charles
C. Nott, Sketches of the War: A Series of Letters to the North
Moore Street
School of New
York (New York: William Abbatt, 1911), p. 51.
Three days after the battle, Captain Charles C. Nott (Company E of the Curtis
Horse) was sent to Paris to
retrieve the wounded and negotiate prisoner exchanges. He wrote in his memoirs
some of the sites he saw along the way.
[42] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, pp. 79-83. Captain Haw mentions the bridge in his
report three weeks later.
[43] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18. Just how many was a “large number” was never
mentioned in Croft’s official report.
[44] E.
McLeod Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee:
Descriptive, Pictorial Reproductions of Old Papers and Manuscripts (Paris, Tenn: E. McLeod Johnson, 1958), p. 87. First Lieutenant F.
M. Wilkinson, Company C of King’s Cavalry Battalion, wrote after the battle
“that perhaps 400 men were capable of duty, the rest being off sick, on scout,
or absent on leave”.
[45] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18; Edwin H. Rennolds,
A History of the Henry County
Commands which served
in the Confederate States Army (Jacksonville,
Fla.: Sun Pub. Co.,
1904), pp. 232-243. Croft reported that he captured a “Captain Couts of Stock’s
Mounted Infantry” and seven other men a few miles outside of Paris.
The muster roll of Stocks’ Company does not list a Captain Couts but does list
a Third Corporal William H. Courts (see Rennolds, A History of the Henry
County Commands, p. 243). Asa Cox stated in his memoirs that the Federals
had “surprised and captured the pickets near Currier’s Mill” (see Rennolds, A
History of the Henry County Commands, p. 232).
[46] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18.
[47] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 14 March 1862, p. 2, col. 2; Richmond (Virginia)
Whig, March 22, 1862, p. 3, col. 2. The Daily Avalanche reported
that the pickets “criminally neglected their posts and were engaged in a quiet
game of poker, to see who could win the pile” before they “permitted themselves
to be captured”. The Richmond Whig reported a story from the Memphis
Argus (newspaper) that stated, “the Federals found our pickets playing a
small game of ‘draw’ [poker] when they came upon them. They were taken prisoner
without the firing of a single shot”. The report was credited to H. W. Bryson
of Paris.
[48] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18; Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 17 March 1862,
p. 2, col. 4. A citizen of Paris reported to the Memphis Daily Avalanche
that Federal Cavalry entered the city “about a half hour” after Stocks’ scouts
passed through town informing citizens that Yankee cavalry had overtaken
pickets two miles northeast of town.
[49] Rennolds,
A History of the Henry County
Commands, p. 231-232.
[50]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 87.
[51] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 17 March 1862,
p. 2, col. 4.
[52]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 87.
[53] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 17 March 1862, p. 2, col. 4; O.R., Series I, Vol.
10, Part I, p. 18; Ezell, “Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” pp. 255. It
was reported in a Memphis paper
that, “Three citizens of this place piloted the Federals to the camp…One of the
Tories named Warner”.
[54] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 15 March 1862,
p. 3, col. 3; History of Tennessee:
from the Earliest Times to the Present, p. 826. O.R., Series I, Vol.
10, Part I, pp. 879-881; Charleston
(South Carolina) Mercury, 27 September 1862. W. C. Williams, a citizen of Paris,
reported to the Daily Avalanche that George Warner was a resident of Paris
and that “no citizen of Paris would
be guilty of such a treasonable and mendacious act” of piloting enemy troops
through town. Colonel Thomas Claiborne of the Sixth Confederate Cavalry stated
in an official report on May 9, 1862, that “notorious spy and guide Farris, a
citizen of Paris, who led the enemy to King’s camp, and has since figured
conspicuously in pointing out our friends, was captured, and deserves to be
shot”. The Charleston Mercury reported on September 27, 1862 that a man from Paris
named “Coon” Harris was tried before a military commission for being “a guide
to the enemy and a spy”. He was accused of having “led a squadron of Federal
cavalry to the camp of our troops” and having been “often seen with the Yankees
in their camps”. The commission condemned him to be shot.
[55] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 17 March 1862,
p. 2, col. 4.
[56] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 17.
[57] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 17 March 1862,
p. 2, col. 4.
[58]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 87.
[60]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 87, 110.
[61] Ibid.,
pp. 89F, 100. J. M. Ray, a former resident of Paris,
wrote after the war that Stocks’ command “took to their heels at once” after
the shelling commenced on the hill. Sergeant James S. Aden, of Stocks’ Company,
stated that Stocks was ordered to form a “line in the rear”.
[62] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18.
[63]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88.
[64] Ibid.,
p. 88; James E. Potter, ed., “A Nebraska
Cavalryman in Dixie: The Letters of Martin Stowell,” Nebraska
History 74 (1993), p. 30. Confederate Lieutenant Wilkinson wrote that
Stowell raised “his sword on high”.
[65]
Johnson, A History of Henry County Tennessee, p. 88; Rennolds, A
History of the Henry County Commands, p.232. Lieutenant Wilkinson reported
that “James Glover” was the private who was noticed by the Federal soldier,
however only a “George Glover” from Company A, First Confederate Cavalry (also
known as King’s Cavalry Battalion) was listed in The Roster of Confederate
Soldiers (see The Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865, Janet
Hewitt, vol. 4, p. 353). Rennolds wrote,
the “plan of surprise was defeated by a drunken Confederate, who rose up and
fired prematurely”.
[66]Johnson,
A History of Henry County
Tennessee, p. 88;
Potter, “A Nebraska Cavalryman in
Dixie: The Letters of Martin Stowell,” p. 30. Clarence
H. Gibbons of Lower’s company wrote that Stowell “fired his pistol at them and
in attempting to prepare for a second fire he was fired upon and killed
instantly”. Lieutenant Wilkinson’s report of the battle does not mention
Stowell firing his pistol but does state that he “fell dead from his horse on
the spot”.
[67]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88.
[68] Ezell,
“Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255.
[69]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88.
[70] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, pp. 17-18; History of the State of Nebraska,
p. 244; Ezell, “Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255.
[71]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88.
[72]
Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska,
pp. 285-289. Corporal Thomas died of his wounds sometime after the battle.
Private McGuire was reported captured and later listed as killed at Paris.
Private Musgrave died of his wounds in an Army hospital in Paducah
on June 27, 1862. Private Warren
was reported as wounded but later listed as killed at Paris.
Sergeant Davison was discharged on August
14, 1862 for wounds he received during the battle.
[73]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
pp. 109-110.
[74] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 17.
[75]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88.
[76] Memphis
Daily Avalanche, 17 March 1862,
p. 2, col. 4.
[77]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 110.
[78] Leo
Morgan Hauptman, “Martin Stowell.” Leo Morgan
Hauptman Manuscript Collection. Nebraska
State Historical Society, Lincoln,
Nebraska. Page 71 of Hauptman’s “Martin
Stowell” manuscript lists a transcription of a report given to Lieutenant
Colonel Patrick following the war.
[79]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88. Johnson incorrectly transcribed Lieutenant Yow’s name as James B. Gow. A
Third Lieutenant J. B. Yow, of Company D 1st Confederate Cavalry (King’s
Cavalry Battalion), is listed in The Roster of Confederate Soldiers (see
The Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865, Janet Hewitt, Vol. 16, p.
591).
[80]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 88.
[81]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 89; Ezell, “Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255.
[82] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, pp. 17-18.
[83] Ezell,
“Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255; History of the State of Nebraska,
p. 244-245.
[84]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 89. Both Captain Croft and Lieutenant Thurber mention Major King’s pursuit
in their official reports, but Lieutenant Wilkinson and Sergeant Aden state
that a pursuit was ordered and that an engagement occurred. Lieutenant
Wilkinson also reported that the “night was very dark”. The moon was in its
first quarter on March 11 according to NASA’s Eclipse Home Page: Phases of
the Moon 1801 to 1900 [database online] (accessed 18 January 18 2004) at http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/phase/phases.1801-1900.html
; Internet but the clouds must have obstructed any glow from the moon or stars.
[85] Ezell,
“Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255. The exact location where
Captain Croft set camp could not be ascertained from the present information
found by the author.
[86] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18.
[87]
Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska,
p. 244-245; Ezell, “Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 255. The reasons
for Lieutenant Colonel Patrick’s delay were not mentioned in Official Records
but turbulent river conditions and consolidating scattered infantry units may
have hampered Patrick’s departure.
[88] Ezell,
“Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p. 256.
[89] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 17. Lieutenant Thurber reported, “setting fire
to several of their tents” during the battle.
[90] Memphis
Daily Appeal, 15 March 1862,
p. 1, col. 2. Warner was sentenced in Jackson, Tennessee
to hard labor on May 28, 1862
(see Roster of the Courts-Martial in the
Confederate States Army by Jack A. Bunch).
[91]
Rennolds, A History of the Henry County
Commands, p. 232. John
R. Farris was sentenced to death on May 19, 1862. No record exists to prove
that the sentenced was ever carried out (see Roster of the Courts-Martial in the Confederate States Army by Jack
A. Bunch).
[92] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, pp. 16-17.
[93] Grant
Papers, Vol. 4, p. 351.
[94] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. I, p. 18.
[95] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. II, pp. 32-33.
[96] Grant
Papers, Vol. 4, p. 352; Ezell, “Civil War Diary of Lt. Charles Alley,” p.
256.
[97] Nott, Sketches
of the War, p. 45-46. No “Clokes” was found on the company rosters of
Stocks’ or McCutchen’s nor the battalion register of King’s. “Mr. Clokes” may
have been possibly the father of Corporal William H. Courts of Stocks’ Company
who was captured early in the battle but the name misspelled by the author or
publisher.
[98] Nott, Sketches
of the War, pp. 50-59; Johnson, E. McLeod, A History of Henry County Tennessee,
pp. 116B & 202. Johnson writes in his book the correct spelling of names
and places mentioned by Nott in his memoirs.
[99] Nott, Sketches
of the War, pp. 59-63. Some personal effects of fallen Union soldiers were
kept as mementos by the citizens of Paris.
In 1903, Mr. F. H. Upchurch was reported to have a steel key ring that he took
from the pocket of a Federal soldier. (see Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee, p. 89F)
[100] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 10, pt. II, pp. 55-56.
[101] O.R.,
ser. I, Vol. 10, pt I, pp. 79-80; O.R., ser. I, vol. 52, pt. II, pp.
297-298. Captain Haw recorded the prisoner as being named “Van Dyk” but only a
Van Dyck family could be found in Paris
during the time of the Civil War. The roster of Stocks’ Company lists three Van
Dyck’s serving with the unit, including a Jonathan S. Van Dyck listed as being
captured (see History of Henry County Commands, p. 248).
[102] Dieter
C. Ullrich, “They Met at Lockridge’s Mills,” The
West Tennessee Historical Society Papers, 51 (1997), pp. 1-20.
[103] History
of Tennessee: from
the Earliest Times to the Present, p. 826.
[104] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 39, pt. I, pp. 867-875.
[105] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 45, pt. I, pp. 803-806.
[106] O.R.,
ser. I, vol. 49, pt. II, pp. 691-692.
[107]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 109.
[108]
Johnson, A History of Henry
County Tennessee,
p. 89. This myth was first written by Lieutenant Wilkinson in his report of the
battle and passed on from generation to generation.
[109] The
Tennessee Civil War
Veterans Questionnaires (Easley, S.C. : Southern Historical Press, 1985),
Vol. 2, p.727. William Simmons Duggan of
Company E, King’s Cavalry Battalion, responded to a questionnaire that at Paris
his company “captured one piece of artillery and that was all that our co. had
during the war”.