by Col. J. B. Dodge
In the month of September, 1864, the rebel commander at Atlanta
sent a very large force of cavalry, under General N. B. Forrest,
into Northern Alabama and middle Tennessee with orders to break
up the line of communication of our army under Gen. Sherman, so
as to cut off our means of transportation, or, as the soldiers
tersely expressed it, "cut our cracker line," and destroy
all the stores possible. We had a line of 250 or 300 miles to
guard. At each trestle, or bridge, or town, we were compelled
to put up some kind of defensive work to shelter the troops posted
there. These works were frequently small block-houses, made of
timber, something like a common log-house, with loop-holes for
the men to fire out of, and sometimes were small earthworks, or
redoubts, that, from the circumstances of the case, had been located
close to the point they were designed to protect, without any
regard to their availability, against more commanding positions
that were in the immediate neighborhood.
Captain Poe, formerly of this place, but now of Plymouth, was
in command of a block-house on the Nashville & Decatur railroad
near Athens, Tennessee, at a bridge or trestle, in command of
a company of colored troops. On the twenty-third he was ordered
by Forrest to surrender. Poe replied that he was not receiving
orders from him, and that if he wanted his post he had better
come and get it. In order to understand the position these troops
were in, it must be remembered that the slaughter at Fort Pillow,
under Forrest's commands, had occurred not long before; and the
rebels were threatening to kill every negro found in arms, and
every white man in command of them. Fighting commenced immediately,
and only ceased after the block-house had become as an officer
who saw it the next day told me "a perfect slaughter-pen;"
and even then, he managed to secure first rate terms of surrender
for himself and the surviving men.
Major Lilly, of the Sixth Indiana Cavalry, who had previously
made a splendid reputation for himself as commander of the 18th
Indiana battery, was in command of a redoubt that had been hastily
thrown up at Sulphur Branch trestle, a few miles north of Athens.
This was an important point to hold and was garrisoned by a portion
of the Tennessee cavalry, four companies of Lilly's regiment,
and a part of the __?__ , a colored regiment, making altogether
about 1,000 effective men. On the twenty-fifth Forrest made his
appearance in the vicinity of the redoubt, with a force of 6,000
or 8,000 men and two batteries. There were two pieces of light
artillery in the little fort. Fighting commenced at once. The
redoubt was situated in a hollow, and was commanded on three hills
covered with trees and brush, so that the rebels were protected
from our fire to a certain extent, and, in addition, could send
a plunging fire of musketry and artillery right on the heads of
the defenders of the redoubt. The rebels were confident of success,
and for some time were inclined to be reckless. Our men were cool,
and determined to sell their lives as dear as possible. Finally,
our cavalry found they were getting short on ammunition. The colored
troops had plenty of it, but it was too large for the guns of
the cavalry. Whenever there was a lull in the fight, every man
went to work with his knife trimming the bullets so that they
would go into the guns of the cavalry. At last rebel bugles sounded
"cease firing," and a flag of truce was seen approaching.
Our men ceased firing as a matter of course. (I find I have made
an error. At the commencement of the fight the Colonel of the
Tennessee regiment was in command. He was wounded at the first
fire. The Colonel of the colored regiment then took command, and
he was also wounded, and then Lilly was in command.)
It is not the practice of commanding officers to go with truce
parties to meet flags of truce, until arrangements have been made
through inferior officers. Lilly looked around and he could find
no one that he wanted to send, and so went himself and met Forrest's
Adjutant General. Just after he had started, he discovered a movement
being made on the part of the rebel troops, and he promptly gave
the command to fire on them, which was done with good effect.
(While a truce is in existence, no movement of troops to a more
favorable position is ever allowed.) As soon as the movement ceased,
firing was stopped, and the Major introduced himself and received
a written communication couched in the following language:
To the Commander U.S. forces at Sulphur Branch Trestle, Tenn.:
SIR: You are hereby summoned to surrender the forces under your
command. The surrender to be immediate and unconditional. If any
further resistance is made by you, I shall not hold myself responsible
for the conduct of my soldiers. N. B. FORREST. Maj. Gen. Commanding
&c.
Lilly at once informed the officer that it was useless to say
another word; that he considered the implied threat an insult
to him and his troops; and that Gen. Forrest had the reputation
of being too good a soldier to be unable to control his troops
under any circumstances, if he wanted to. After notifying him
that fighting would be resumed at once, he started back. Before
he reached his lines, he was recalled by the officer he had been
talking with, and informed that Gen. Forrest had come out in person.
The Major returned immediately, and after fifteen minutes' conversation
surrendered himself and command, on condition that only the property
of the government should be turned over to him; the officers and
men to retain all their personal property, horses and side arms
included, and to be taken to some point in Mississippi and be
released on parole as soon as the necessary arrangements could
be made with General Washburne, who was in command at Memphis.
No discrimination was made between the white and colored troops.
The Major got his command together, and after burying his dead,
about seventy-five, started for "Dixie" in company with
a large number of other troops that had been similarly captured.
They were taken first to Meridian, and a day or two after, the
officers, about ninety in number, went to Enterprise, a town ten
or twelve miles from Meridian, the enlisted men staying where
they were. At Enterprise they found a Major Ward, formerly of
Kingstown, I think, in this state, in command of six men, who
was engaged in conscripting men for the rebel army, a position
similar to that of Provost Marshal at the same time in the North.
The officers were at once paroled, not to escape from the town,
and as they had no trouble in selling their watches, revolvers,
saddles or horses for almost fabulous amounts of confederate money,
and were at perfect liberty as far as the town was concerned,
they had a first rate time. They boarded around the town among
the citizens, and slept in a large warehouse that they had fixed
up in good shape. After they had been there four or five days
they heard for the first time, of the "Republic of Jones."
How many, I wonder, that take the trouble to read this article
knew that the Confederacy had a republic within itself, having
a president, vice-president, congress, an army, and all the other
departments of a regular government? It was all in minature, to
be sure; but the will was good. The army of this curiosity in
the list of governments that have existed amounted to 1,000 men.
Take a map and look at the State of Mississippi. Down in the south-eastern
portion of the State you will find Jones county. It is low, flat
land, about one-half the very thinnest, poorest "oak barrens"
imaginable; the other half is low ground with no timber on it,
nothing but tall, reedy grass that grew very dense, so that a
man can be securely hiden within five feet of where a large force
were passing, and they would know nothing of his proximity. The
county is also traversed by three or four brances of Leaf river,
all of which are slow, crooked streams, with marshy banks and
bottoms. The inhabitants were generally refugees from justice,
desperadoes that were keeping out of the way of parties they had
injured, and deserters from the rebel army, and all banded together
for common defense. They were able to and did defy any force,
either Union or rebel, that might be sent against them. Owning
to the peculiarities of the country, they could annihilate at
their pleasure any small force, and could scatter and secrete
themselves at a moment's notice from a force too large for them
to cope with.
One night the Major was waked up by some one pulling on one of
his feet, when he was in bed and asleep. He raised up and ascertained
that it was a negro that lived in town, and who had appeared friendly.
The Major immediately got up at the request of the negro, and
went outside of the building with him where he talked a little
while in order to quiet his fears, for he was very much excited.
The negro told him that some of the people in town, that do not
like the "Yanks," had sent word down to the "Republic
of Jones" to send up their troops, attack the town, plunder
all the Federal officers, and hang all the officers of colored
troops.
The Major, after promising the negro that he would see to it that
he came to no harm from the rebels, called up five officers, and
they stood guard over the town until morning, when Lilly saw Major
Ward and told him what the negro had said. Ward had heard rumors
of the same thing, and at once telegraphed the situation to Mobile
and asked for enough men to guard the town. He was informed that
it would be impossible to get the men to Enterprise in less than
three days, in the meantime he must do the best he could. In the
meanwhile he had sent a scouting party, consisting of what soldiers
he had, that returned and reported the "Jones army"
as only five miles distant, and that it was advancing carefully.
Lilly at once proposed to him to take twenty-five stand of arms,
that he (Ward) had, organize the Union officers as a company and
guard the town until the troops could arrive from Mobile. Ward
accepted the offer promptly, and thus for three days and nights
the singular spectacle was presented of a body of prisoners actually
guarding their own prison and the citizens of the town in the
heart of the enemy's country- a thing that may be easily said
to be without parallel in the annals of war.
The "Jones army" advanced to within two miles of the
town, made a reconnoisance and found a different state of things
existing than they had counted on, halted and remained there until
after the troops from Mobile had arrived, and five days after
the necessary arrangements for exchange having been made, Major
Lilly, with the other officers and men captured up to that time
by Forrest, were sent to Memphis and from thence to their commands.
Taking everything into consideration, their fighting, capture,
defense of a rebel town and speedy exchange, it is, I believe,
without parallel during the rebellion, if not in any war.
Northern Indianian April 28, 1875
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