You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Cleburne' category.
“Our loss of officers in the battle of Franklin on the 30th was excessively large in proportion to the loss of our men. The medical director reports a very large proportion of slightly wounded men.”
- John Bell Hood, writing two days after the battle to Confederate Secretary of War, James A. Seddon.
The bodies of several dead Confederate Generals (Cleburne, Granbury, Strahl, and Adams) were laid out on the porch at Carnton (see above) after the battle on November 30, 1864.
The South lost 53 of 100 regimental commanders in the field at Franklin. Granbury’s brigade alone lost 70% of their regimental commanders. Undeterred, Hood would unmercilously throw his beleaguered Army of Tennessee against Thomas in another suicidal attack just two weeks later, effectively destroying his army. He would be replaced within weeks of the loss at Nashville, having led the Army of Tennessee for roughly six months.
“Following the battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864, the house became a Confederate field hospital. During the night following the five-hour battle, the McGavocks and their two children Hattie (age nine) and Winder (age seven) assisted the surgeons and tended to the needs of the wounded. Several hundred eventually came to Carnton and 150 died that first night. Bloodstains are still visible in several rooms. They are heaviest in the children’s bedroom, which was used as an operating room. The bodies of Confederate Generals Cleburne, Granbury, Strahl, and Adams were brought to Carnton’s rear porch and placed on its lower level awaiting removal to their final burial places. Most of the over 1,750 Confederate dead were buried on the battlefield, their graves marked by wooden headboards inscribed with the soldier’s name, company, and regiment. Over the months, the writing faded, and the markers began to disappear. “
The Carnton Plantation is a historic house museum located in Franklin. Randal McGavock (1768-1843), builder of Carnton, emigrated from Virginia in 1796 and settled in Nashville. He was involved in local and state politics and eventually served as mayor of Nashville, 1824-25. Around 1826 McGavock moved his family to the recently completed Carnton to farm and raise thoroughbred horses until his death in 1843. After his death, his son John inherited the plantation and continued to farm the land until his own death in 1893. The McGavocks grew wheat, corn, oats, hay, and potatoes, in addition to raising thoroughbred horses”
John L. Russell fought with the 6th Arkansas Company C., at Franklin. He was part of Cleburne’s Division, Govan’s Brigade. Company C was known as the Dallas Rifles.
The 6th Arkansas also fought with the 2nd-15th, 5th-13th, 7th, 8th, and 19th-24th Arkansas regiments. This regiment saw heavy action around the Coton Gin at Franklin.
The 6th Arkansas regimental flag looked like this is in the Autumn of 1862.
Picture Credit: Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy (p. 259).
Forty-three of Govan’s Brigade are buried at McGavock, fifteen of those are from the 6th Arkansas; the most of all the Arkansas regiments.
Speaking of the action the Arkansas regiments saw at Franklin, including Russell’s 6th, Jacobson writes:
“Rebel troops, likely from Cleburne’s Division, pounced on the battery’s four guns [i.e., the guns of the 1st Battery, Kentucky Light Artillery] and hurriedly began turning them around to fire on the Federals. But the Confederates had a serious problem on their hands. When the Yankee artillerists had bounded away, they took with them the friction primers needed to fire the rifled guns. The crafty Southern infantrymen looked to improvise. A Federal officer nearby saw them pouring gunpowder ‘from their musket cartridges’ into the vent holes.”
A friction primer (above) was a small brass tube filled with powder, inserted in the vent and used to ignite the main charge.
Frank Gray and John Russell of Co. C. 6th Arkansas Infantry. Twenty Nine year old John Russell was the Uncle of 21 year old Frank Gray. They are buried side by side in the Arkansas Section, Grave 12 & 11 respectfully. Source attribute for this info: T. Burgess.
Extra notes:
According to this web site: John L. Russell was a private when he enlisted on 3 June 1861 at Little Rock, Arkansas; in the Dallas Rifles. He was transferred from Co I, 30 June 1862. Russell was captured 10 October 1862 at Harrodsburg, KY. Then sent to Vicksburg, MS for exchange 5 Dec 1862. He was 26 years old when he was exchanged 22 Dec 1862.
Additional reading:
Calvin L. Collier, First In – Last Out: The Capitol Guards, Arkansas Brigade (Unit history and muster rolls for Company A.)
The 8th MS was part of Cleburne’s Division, Lowrey’s Brigade, 1st Brigade, Army of Tennessee.
The 8th MS fought with the 16th, 33rd, 45th Alabama; and the 5th, 32nd MS; and the 3rd MS battalion.
It is possible that the two Myers listed buried at McGavock were related. The muster roll for the 8th MS also lists two more soldiers by the same last name.
Jacobson (p. 84) lists the following boys in Mississippi Section 31 at McGavock.
#143 James M. Myers | 8th MS | Co. B | Lowrey | Confirmed in CWD
#144 George W. Myers | 8th MS | Co. B | Lowrey | Confirmed in CWD
CWD also lists:
John H. Myers, Co. B
T.J. Myers, Co. B.
Question: are they brothers or related?
Recent Comments