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LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS 
 I 820- I 887 
 
 By his Son 
 
 y 
 
 WALTER GEORGE SMITH 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 G. P- PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 ^be IRnicherbocher press 
 
 1898 
 
 TWO COPIES V?^-^'£^^'^^ 
 

 Copyright, 1897 
 
 BY 
 
 WALTER GEORGE SMITH 
 
 Zbc Itnfclierboclsec ipcese, View ]t;or!t 
 
 ■4. 
 
 
To THE Companions 
 
 OF 
 
 THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 This Narrative of the Life 
 
 OF THEIR 
 
 Fellow Soldier 
 IS Dedicated. 
 
PREFACK. 
 
 AFTER a lapse of ten years since the death of my father, 
 I venture to give this work to the public. 
 
 I am impelled by two thoughts : first, a filial desire to pay 
 tribute to his memory, and second to add to the literature of 
 the Civil War this collection of his letters. The personal 
 consideration taken alone might possibly not constitute sufl5- 
 cient ground for the publication, but it has seemed to me, 
 that as a contribution to the records of the time, the letters 
 ought not to be withheld. 
 
 General Smith's career as a soldier was a type of that of 
 many others whose impressions have been published, but I 
 doubt if any collection of letters has been made, descriptive 
 of the scenes in the theatre of war in which he moved, so full 
 and graphic as those written by him, marked as they were 
 by the frankness that characterizes a family correspondence. 
 His judgment of events was often inaccurate, and his state- 
 ments at times doubtless exaggerated by the excitement of 
 the moment ; but the conclusions he formed of the leading 
 actors with whom he was associated will be found to have 
 been for the most part borne out by the event. 
 
 Interest in books of this kind must of necessity become 
 less and less intense as later events in the world's history 
 claim our attention. While there are many thousands still 
 surviving who bore arms in the Civil War, almost all of the 
 leaders have passed away, and the veterans of every rank 
 are rapidly giving place to men who know of the great con- 
 flict only as a tradition. Still, so long as history is read, 
 men will be interested in the story of this period ; and the 
 names of the great men on both sides will never be erased 
 from the roll of fame. 
 
vi Preface 
 
 Althougli these letters do not touch on the causes of the 
 war, they do show in graphic language the heroism of those 
 who fought, the hardships they endured, and the tenacity of 
 the American people in the support of the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of free government. 
 
 I have thought it wise to print a few extracts from early 
 letters and to continue the series until after my father's re- 
 tirement from the consulship at Panama, though these par- 
 ticular letters were not strictly within the purview of the 
 work. 
 
 If I have been mistaken in my estimate of the value of this 
 work to the public at large, I feel confident at least that I 
 shall give pleasure to many an old soldier who will read in 
 the description of the adventures of his fellow-soldier a 
 counterpart of what happened to himself. As he recalls the 
 memory of the stirring daj^s of his military life, his patriotism 
 and zeal for American institutions will grow stronger and 
 firmer, and his faith in the permanence of a form of govern- 
 ment that could outlive such a trial will gain new force. 
 
 Walter George Smith. 
 
 PHII.ADELPHIA, Dec. 14, 1897. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Memoir • . . . . i 
 
 LrETTERS 167 
 
 A Study of Character . . . .■ . . 467 
 Index 477 
 
LIST OF PORTRAITS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Frontispiece 
 . 167 
 . 180 
 
 Thomas Kii,by Smith, {Photogravure) 
 Elizabeth B. Smith, {^Photogravure) 
 Coi^ONEiv Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 CAMP DENNISON, 1 862. 
 
 CoiONEL Thomas Kilby Smith , , . . 236 
 
 MEMPHIS, 1862. 
 
 General W. T. Sherman and Officers . . 242 
 
 MEMPHIS, 1862. 
 
 Major-General U. S. Grant and Officers . 342 
 
 NEW ORI^RANS, 1863. 
 
 Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith . . 378 
 
 WASHINGTON, 1 864, 
 
LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS KILBY SMITH 
 
 ABOUT the year 1752, there came to America from Ger- 
 many a young physician, Doctor Godfried Christian 
 Schmidt. He had been educated at Ulm, though his native 
 place was Wolfenbiittel, a small town in Brunswick. It is a 
 tradition well attested by relics, that he was connected with 
 the army of Great Britain and her colonies in the French and 
 Indian War. After that conflict was over, he settled at 
 Newburyport, Massachusetts, where, on the 27th of March, 
 1764, he married Hannah Calef, a daughter of Joseph Calef 
 of Boston and on her mother's side descended from a Maine 
 family, she having been a grand-daughter of Dominicus Jor- 
 dan, called the ' ' Indian Fighter, ' ' who was one of the early 
 settlers in the neighborhood of Casco Bay.' Dr. Schmidt 
 attained great eminence in his profession, and died at the 
 age of sixty years on the i6th of March, 1791. The young- 
 est of the seven children of Dr. Schmidt was George, born in 
 Boston in 1782. In early life this son was bred to the sea, 
 and became so proficient as a mariner that he rose to the com- 
 mand of ships and made many voyages. In his young man- 
 hood perhaps the most important commission to the master 
 of a sailing vessel was to trade to the northwest coast of 
 America and thence to China and from China home by way 
 
 ' The Trelawny Papers, p. 433. 
 
2 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 of Europe, — thus circumnavigating the globe. Captain 
 Smith not only made this voyage, but visited the northwest 
 coast of South America and led for many years an adventur- 
 ous life. At one time he was taken by the Chinese and held 
 in prison ; at another, by the Spanish settlers of South Amer- 
 ica, from whom he escaped and made his way across the 
 Isthmus of Panama, enduring many hardships. After re- 
 tiring from the life of a sailor, he was married at Christ 
 Church in Boston on the 31st of January, 1817, to Eliza 
 Bicker Walter, then in her seventeenth year. Miss Wal- 
 ter came of a distinguished family of New England lineage 
 on both sides of her house. Her father could trace among 
 his lineal ancestors the I^yndes, father and son, the first 
 and second chief justices of Massachusetts ; John Eliot, 
 called the ' ' Apostle to the Indians, ' ' who translated the 
 Bible into their tongue ; the Rev. Increase Mather, father of 
 the famous Cotton Mather, and the sixth President of Har- 
 vard College, and by intermarriage her family were related 
 to many others notable in New England history. The first 
 surviving child of this marriage was Thomas Kilby Smith, 
 bom at Dorchester near Boston on the 23d of September, 1820. 
 His mother gave him the name of Thomas Kilby Jones, in 
 honor of her great uncle, a descendant on the maternal side 
 of that family of Kilbj^ whose name is perpetuated in Boston 
 by the well-known Kilby Street. When, however, the son 
 thus baptized grew to man's estate, he discarded the name of 
 Jones ' ; not from any lack of respect to his mother's choice, 
 
 ' Thomas Kilbj^ Jones was a grandson of Thomas Kilby, an amusing 
 account of whom appears in a letter from the late General Samuel J. 
 Bridge, of December 3, i860, to Mrs. George Smith, as follows : 
 
 I have been reading Dealings with the Dead, by a Sexton of the 
 Old School, L. M. Sargent, who you will recollect built a house on 
 the rear of R. G. Amory's Elm Hill, not far from Uncle Jones' seat. 
 In chapter 136, he speaks of Thos. Kilby for whom Uncle Jones was 
 named, and in turn your son. "Thos. Kilby was a gentleman of 
 education, graduated at Harvard in 1723, and died in 1770, and ac- 
 cording to Pemberton, published essays in prose and verse. Not long 
 ago a gentleman enquired of me if I ever heard that Peter Faneuil 
 had a wooden leg : and related the following amusing story, which he 
 received from his collateral ancestor, John Page, who graduated at 
 
Memoir 3 
 
 or to his distinguished namesake, but because he thought 
 the name of Kilby would be sufl&ciently distinguishing with- 
 out adding that of Jones to the then, as now, too common 
 patronymic Smith. For nine years Captain Smith and his 
 wife made their residence in or near Boston. During a por- 
 tion of this time he resided in the ancient town of Quincy 
 not far from Boston, or at least his family made long visits 
 to relatives there. The widow of Dr. Schmidt died in Bos- 
 ton in 1832 at the age of 90 years. She made her home in 
 an interesting house said to be the oldest in Quincy, and 
 still standing, the comfortable homestead of Mr. Hull 
 Adams and his sister Elizabeth, the children of Judge Sam- 
 uel Adams, the brother of John Quincy Adams and the son 
 of John Adams, the second President of the United States. 
 Tradition tells of the flaxen-haired child who played in the 
 
 Harvard in 1765, and died in 1825, aged 81. Thos. Kilby was an 
 unthrifty and rather whimsical gentleman. Being without property 
 and employment, he retired to Nova Scotia. There he made a will, 
 for his amusement, having, in reality, nothing to bequeath. He left 
 liberal sums to a number of religious, philanthropic, and literary in- 
 stitutions ; his sons to a worthy clergyman, as he appeared not to 
 have any ; his body to a surgeon of his acquaintance, ' excepting as 
 hereinafter mentioned ' ; his eyes, which were very good, to a blind 
 relative ; his heart to an aged spinster ; and the choice of his legs he 
 bequeathed to his friend, Peter Faneuil." 
 
 Sargent says, " upon enquiry of the oldest surviving relative of Peter 
 Faneuil, I found that nothing was known of the wooden leg. But a 
 day or two after, a highly respectable and aged citizen, attracted by 
 the articles in the Tra?iscript, informed me that his father, born in 
 1727, told him that he had seen Peter Faneuil in his garden, and that 
 on one foot he wore a high-heeled shoe. This probably gave occasion 
 to the considerate bequest of Thomas Kilby. The will, coming to 
 the knowledge of Peter Faneuil, he was so much pleased with the 
 humor of it that, probably, having a knowledge of the testator before, 
 he sent for him and made him his commercial agent at Canso, Nova 
 Scotia, and so enabled him to live like a gentleman all the rest of his 
 life." The story is worth keeping in the family, which induces me to 
 send it to you. Uncle Jones inherited much of Tom Kilb3-'s humor. 
 You will recollect that Uncle Jones often spoke of his relatives in 
 Nova Scotia, but how he came to be named for Thos. Kilby I never 
 understood. If the dear old man was alive how he would laugh at 
 this story. . . . 
 
4 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 garden or rode his pony about Constitution Hill at the foot 
 of which the little homestead stands ; and there in later 
 life when the child had become a war-worn soldier he was 
 wont occasionally to return and renew the inspirations of 
 his earlier days.' 
 
 ' In a letter to the late George D. Budd, Esq., of Philadelphia, who 
 had written for The Penn. Monthly a review of the then recently 
 published life of John Adams, the subject of this narrative speaks of 
 his relations with the Adams family as follows : 
 
 "Your critique upon the life of John Adams, begun by his son, 
 completed by his grandson, I have read with a great interest that you 
 will readily appreciate when I tell you that the earliest years of my 
 life were closely associated with the society that surrounded and was 
 identified with the rise and progress of the family illustrated through 
 four generations by the names of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, 
 Charles Francis Adams, and John Quincy Adams the younger, the 
 last, but not least of the quartet, a lawyer, orator, statesman, publicist. 
 Three days before the death of John Adams, I sat upon his knee under 
 the shade of the branching oaks his own hand had raised from the 
 acorn. The most impressive scene of my childhood was the burial 
 of his body. The funeral cortege I remember as an event of yester- 
 day, my father lifting me in his arms to view the face of the dead as 
 it lay cofl&ned in the hearse. John Quincy Adams I knew as a farmer 
 better than a statesman, though I have heard him in his happiest 
 vein when old enough to appreciate his powers. But I have seen him 
 more frequently in his shirt sleeves driving behind his oxen or coming 
 from the marshes with his gun on his shoulder, or returning from his 
 morning bath in the ocean. The frequent recipient of that sort of 
 hospitality most grateful to a child from Mrs. Adams, for I was free 
 of the house, I can bear ample testimony to her thorough accomplish- 
 ment in that art so often neglected by the ladies of the period who 
 cannot vie with her genius for conversation, literature, and fascina- 
 tion in the drawing-room." 
 
 The family of Thomas Kilby Smith were descended on his mother's 
 side from the family of Thomas Boylston, and were therefore dis- 
 tantly related to the Adams family. John Adams, the second Presi- 
 dent of the United States, was a grandson of Thomas Boylston, his 
 granddaughter Susannah having married John Adams, the father of 
 the statesman. Susannah Boylston was the daughter of Peter, a son 
 of Thomas. Rebecca, a daughter of Thomas Bojdston, married 
 William Abbot, of Brookline. Their daughter Rebecca married Rev. 
 Nehemiah "Walter, whose great-granddaughter was the mother of 
 Thomas Kilby Smith. A relationship so distant was not known to 
 him, but his reference to this family makes it of interest in this con- 
 nection. 
 
Memoir e 
 
 Failing in business and attracted by what he had heard of 
 the nsmg importance of the then metropolis of the West 
 Captam Smith removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, about the year 
 'f ?: ^ ^"""^^ vicissitudes he finally made his home at a 
 
 short distance from the city, in Coleraine Township, Hamil- 
 ton County. Before his removal from Boston another son 
 was born, and a large family grew up in the Ohio home, there 
 being m all three sons and two daughters surviving to adult 
 
 ^f ^i, ^r^T/,r^'' ^^^' '^ ^' °^"^^^"' ^° ^^y- tlie civilization 
 of the Ohio Valley was far less perfect than at this date when 
 It teems with a busy and prosperous population. The virgin 
 forests still covered the hills in many places ; the manner 
 of living was simple ; there was little wealth, and the de- 
 scendants of the pioneers and the survivors of those hardy 
 adventurers themselves, had scarcely perfected the foun- 
 dations of the young commonwealth. Manual labor was 
 not held in disrepute, and it was a lifelong boast of the 
 eldest son of George Smith that he had gained health and 
 strength and skill by battling with the adverse forces of 
 nature. There was at that time, however, no lack of intel- 
 lectual activity in Cincinnati : many strong and able men in 
 various walks of life had cast their lot in that community 
 and opportunities were not wanting for education, both 
 academic and professional, to ambitious youth. As he grew 
 in years, young Smith developed an active mind and a well- 
 nigh perfect physique. He had inherited from his German 
 ancestors the ruddy complexion and the blonde type that dis- 
 tinguishes them in so eminent a degree. Proud of his physi- 
 cal prowess, he was a swift runner, a splendid swimmer and 
 an accomplished horseman. One of his favorite stories was 
 the description of a race between himself and some com- 
 pamons of twenty-five miles from a neighboring town to the 
 city of Cincinnati, which he had made in an incredibly short 
 space of time. It is said that he swam the Ohio River with 
 his clothes on, and was daunted by no obstacle in boyish 
 feats of strength. One of the notable institutions in Cincin- 
 nati at that early date was the old Woodward High School 
 and there he was a pupil with other lads, many of whom be- 
 came distinguished in later life : such men as Stanley Mat- 
 
6 ThoTfias Kilby Smith 
 
 thews, Geo. H. Pendleton, John B. Groesbeck, George E. 
 Pugh, and Daniel Drake Henrie. Subsequently, Ormsby 
 M. Mitchel came to Cincinnati, fresh from his studies 
 at West Point and his militar}^ training in the army. He 
 set up a military school, and his friendship for Captain 
 George Smith led him to take a special interest in Thomas 
 Kilby, who became one of his favorite pupils. From Mitchel 
 the youth received a training that in future life was of great 
 advantage to him. His attention was directed to the science 
 and practice of civil engineering, and as Mitchel himself was 
 called upon from that time to make surveys, he appointed 
 him upon his staff of assistants. Together they made the 
 preliminary surveys for the first railroad in the State of 
 Ohio, and through Mitchel's influence young Smith was 
 attached to an expedition in Wisconsin in 1838, where he 
 had much experience of border life. After returning from 
 that expedition, being then in his nineteenth year, the young 
 engineer made a visit to his parents' relatives in Boston, 
 where he was received with cordial admiration. On his re- 
 turn after a brief sojourn in his parents' home, he determined 
 to adopt the legal profession, and notwithstanding the en- 
 treaties of his father's friends who looked upon the relation- 
 ship as likely to shadow his future success, he was placed in 
 the law ofl&ce of Salmon P. Chase, who was then in the suc- 
 cessful practice of his profession in partnership with Flamen 
 Ball. It was owing to no personal defect in the character or 
 the professional standing of the future Chief Justice of the 
 United States, that Captain Smith's friends urged him not to 
 put his son under such preceptorship, but because of the un- 
 popularity of Mr. Cha.se on political grounds. At that time, 
 the feeling in Ohio in opposition to interference with slavery 
 was very strong, yet Salmon P. Chase was an ardent and 
 uncompromising opponent of slavery, and did not hesitate to 
 denounce it both publicly and privately.' 
 
 ' In after years, when the burning questions that divided men in 
 those days had been settled, and the small minoritj' had been changed 
 into an overwhelming and triumphant majority, and the great Chief 
 Justice had passed to his reward, his remains were transferred to their 
 present resting-place in Spring Grove Cemetery near Cincinnati. In 
 the course of an eloquent oration pronounced by his friend, the Hon- 
 
Memoir 7 
 
 It was not because ot any special sympathy with the aboli- 
 tionists, probably, that Captain Smith determined to place 
 his son under the preceptorship of Mr. Chase ; but having 
 determined that he possessed the qualifications, and knowing 
 the nobility of his character, he was not deterred by his un- 
 popularity. In the office of Messrs. Chase & Ball, the usual 
 course of law study was pursued by the young man until, in 
 the year 1846, he was admitted to the bar of Hamilton 
 County. After his admission to the bar, Mr. Smith re- 
 mained in the ofiice of Messrs. Chase & Ball for a number 
 of years, engaged in the active practice of his profession. 
 He was, however, of a restless temperament, and by nature 
 averse to a sedentary life. He would often go to the woods 
 and fields on hunting expeditions, of which he was extremely 
 fond. On one occasion he accepted an invitation from an- 
 other young lawyer, afterwards known to fame as Donn 
 Piatt, to accompany him to his father's home in Logan 
 County. Donn Piatt was a son of Judge Benjamin M. Piatt, 
 one of the earliest pioneers of the West. After the usual 
 vicissitudes of a pioneer's life in Illinois and Kentucky, 
 Judge Piatt had fixed his home at a beautiful and romantic 
 spot near the geographical centre of the State of Ohio, called 
 " Mac-o-cheek," after the name of an Indian tribe, who but 
 a few years before had lived there. This name in the Indian 
 vernacular, is said to mean " smiling valley," and the name 
 was surely appropriate, for its aspect was so beautiful, ro- 
 
 orable George Hoadly, on that occasion, there occurs the following 
 passage : 
 
 " What made him content to be the best hated man in Cincinnati ; 
 to bear opprobrium, to stand (as he once did) by the side of General 
 Thomas Kilby Smith and meet volleys of stale eggs, while he calmly 
 continued his appeal for justice to the slave? He was not helped in 
 his work by malice, or hatred, or spite,— the stimulus of little, mean 
 men. When I made his acquaintance his most intimate friend was a 
 Kentucky slave owner. He made war on the system, not the man ; 
 and knowing full well that any life, his own even, caught within the 
 folds of slavery, must submit to the crushing of its free thought, and 
 its errors be largely, if not wholly, excused by the impossibility of 
 escaping the control of circumstance, education, interests, surround- 
 ings. What helped him,— yes, made him,— was this : he walked 
 with God." 
 
8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 mantic and serene as to suggest the happiest thoughts. 
 Through it flowed a little stream of the same name, mean- 
 dering through woods and across broad prairies until it lost 
 itself in the Mad River near the point where the town of 
 West lyiberty now stands. To this favorite spot where Judge 
 Piatt had built himself a plain but substantial pioneer's house 
 of hewn logs, situated upon a rising knoll and facing across 
 the savannas towards the west, the young man came in the 
 autumn of 1847. It can be well imagined that the advent 
 of the handsome young stranger accompanied by his beauti- 
 ful white pointer dog made some sensation in the Judge's 
 family, and not the least of those affected by it was his 
 granddaughter Elizabeth Budd McCullough, a daughter of 
 Dr. William Budd McCullough of Asbury, Warren County, 
 New Jersey,' who had been taken in infancy after her 
 mother's death to live amid those romantic scenes. The im- 
 pressions made upon her were reciprocated in the heart of the 
 visitor. After another year Mr. Smith returned again to the 
 ' ' smiling valley, ' ' and found his bride in Miss McCullough. 
 They were married on the 2d of May, 1848, in the old log 
 church which had been erected by Mrs. Piatt not far from 
 the family residence, by the Right Rev. J. B. Purcell, D.D., 
 then Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Cincinnati. 
 Captain George Smith and his wife were Protestants, the men 
 of the Walter family, from which the latter had sprung, being 
 almost in an hereditary line Church of England or Congre- 
 gationalist ministers. The Piatts were also originally of the 
 strongest Protestant stock, being an old French Huguenot 
 family; but the Judge's wife had become a convert to Cathol- 
 icism, and had educated her family in that faith. The usual 
 pledges having been given by Mr. Smith, the good Bishop 
 
 ' Dr. McCullough was a son of Col. William McCullough, a veteran 
 of the Revolutionary War, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of 
 Warren County, New Jersey, and a great landed proprietor at Asbury. 
 Colonel McCullough was an early convert to Methodism, and his son 
 a lifelong member of that denomination. The early death of his 
 young wife made the doctor consent to the education and practical 
 adoption of his two daughters by their grandmother ; but though 
 living apart from them during all his life, his affection remained 
 undiminished until his death, which occurred in California in 1868. 
 
Memoir 9 
 
 did not hesitate to perform the ceremony. Mrs. Smith was 
 born on the i8th of June, 1827. She had inherited from 
 both parents a beauty of distinctively brunette type. She 
 had been a delicate girl, but was gifted with an unusually 
 intelligent mind. Her life in the quiet seclusion of the 
 country had afforded her opportunities for the development 
 of latent tastes in poetry and music, which made her most 
 attractive. With her young sister Arabella, who died in 
 early youth, she was already recognized in her family circle, 
 as having graces not often combined, with feelings sensitive 
 to all that was beautiful in nature or art. She gave her 
 hand with romantic devotion to her young lover, and during 
 his varied career she was ever devoted to his best interests 
 and those of her children. The quiet influence of her well- 
 nigh perfect life is their best heritage, her teaching their 
 earliest instruction in the way of truth and unselfish service 
 tow^ards God and man. 
 
 After his marriage Mr. Smith continued in the practice of 
 his profession in Cincinnati with varying success until 1853, 
 when he was appointed to a responsible position in the 
 department of the Postmaster- General at Washington. In 
 politics he was what was known in those days as a " Free 
 Soil Democrat," and attained sufiicient prominence in his 
 party to merit recognition. At that time Franklin Pierce was 
 President of the United States, and James Campbell of Phila- 
 delphia, Postmaster-General. A warm friendship sprang up 
 between the President, Judge Campbell and the young man 
 which was maintained during the remainder of their lives. 
 He made his residence in Washington until the year 1856, 
 when, towards the close of the Pierce administration, he was 
 honored by the appointment of United States Marshal for 
 the Southern District of Ohio. Resigning his position in the 
 Postmaster- General's Department, he removed his family 
 back to Cincinnati, and proceeded to familiarize himself with 
 the duties of his new position. But the dominant forces of 
 Ohio politics during the administration of President Buchanan 
 were not in accord with his views and his appointment failed 
 of confirmation in the Senate ; so that he found himself in 
 the position of so many who have relied upon the Govern- 
 
lo Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 merit's service as a means of livelihood, suddenly out of oflSce 
 with the responsibility of a young and growing family, and 
 his professional life marred by the years lost as a salaried 
 official. Soon afterwards, however, he was appointed Deputy 
 Clerk of the Court of Hamilton County, and devoted himself 
 to the duties of that office for the next four years. His love 
 of excitement and warm interest in public affairs which 
 seemed to be almost a part of his nature, prevented him from 
 becoming merely a routine official. He had the friendship 
 and confidence, young as he was, of many of the most distin- 
 guished and successful statesmen and politicians of that day. 
 He had served on the National Democratic Committee during 
 a portion of President Pierce's administration, and found his 
 relaxation to a great extent in the excitement attendant 
 upon public life. He had formed the personal friendship 
 and entertained the highest admiration for Stephen A. 
 Douglas, at that time Senator from Illinois, and as the 
 gathering clouds portended the conflict that culminated in 
 the disruption of the Democratic Party in i860, he took his 
 stand with Douglas and his associates. After the election 
 of Mr. I/incoln and his inauguration in the Spring of 1861, 
 his mind was made up, as was that of his great political leader, 
 to support Mr. I^incoln's administration, sinking all minor 
 differences in the determination to maintain the integrity of 
 the Federal Union. 
 
 On the ist of June, 1861, he went to Washington to offer 
 his services to the Government as a soldier. While he was 
 in Washington the Battle of Bull Run was fought, and he 
 witnessed the scenes of confusion and dismay subsequent to 
 that discouraging conflict. Returning, he paid a visit to his 
 venerable mother, then living in New York, and while 
 there made some further study of the military situation. On 
 his return to Cincinnati he found that his wife's uncle, 
 Abram S. Piatt, had been commissioned a colonel of volun- 
 teers and had undertaken the task of recruiting three regi- 
 ments at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati ; but before his 
 purpose was attained he had been ordered to the field with 
 his own command, the 37th Regiment of Volunteer Infantry. 
 This left a few hundred men recruited for the 54th Ohio 
 
Memoir 1 1 
 
 Volunteer Infantry without a commanding ofl&cer, and 
 through the influence of Senator Chase, his old preceptor in 
 the law, and Governor Dennison, Mr. Smith received the 
 commission of lyieutenant-Colonel of the 54th Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry on the 9th of September, 1861. He went at once 
 to his place of duty. Excepting the education he had re- 
 ceived more than twenty years before from Professor Mitchel, 
 he had nothing but his instincts and such opportunities as 
 the busy life into which he had plunged permitted, to fit 
 himself for the command. His courage and hope were high, 
 but he had some doubt as to his ability to recruit and 
 organize his regiment to its full strength and drill it for 
 active duty. He lost no time, however, in hesitation, but 
 turned his back upon the pursuits of civil life and leaving 
 his young and delicate wife to direct the fortunes of herself 
 and five children, one but an infant in arms, he went to his 
 patriotic work with the same spirit of zeal and hope that 
 distinguished so many hundreds of thousands of his fellow- 
 soldiers in those memorable days. On the 31st of October, 
 1 86 1, he was mustered into the service of the United States 
 as Colonel of his regiment. 
 
 The war had now begun in real earnest. The shock and 
 surprise of the defeat of the Union Army at Bull Run had 
 served the valuable purpose of awakening the North and 
 West to a full realization of the determination of the South- 
 ern leaders to disrupt the Union and found a new confederacy 
 whose corner stone would be human slavery. The lusty 
 youth of Ohio needed but little encouragement to rally about 
 the standards that were set up in different parts of the State, 
 and the 54th Regiment, recruited for the most part from the 
 country districts, gradually found its ranks filling, and under 
 the energetic care of its colonel, became a well-disciplined body 
 of men. The uniform of the Zouaves was adopted, and daily 
 upon the level plains upon which Camp Dennison was 
 pitched, the regiment was drilled in the manual of arms. 
 The writer can recall his experience as a child while visiting 
 at the Camp, the soldierly appearance of the long line as it 
 stood in front of his father, and hear in imagination the tones 
 of his sonorous voice as he gave the commands. He can see 
 
12 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the long line break into companies and remember his feeling 
 of elation as he led the regiment back to its quarters when 
 the afternoon drill had closed. During all of the autumn of 
 1 86 1, and until the i6th of February, 1862, Colonel Smith 
 devoted himself to the duties of preparation for the trials 
 that were to follow. Mounted upon a magnificent chestnut 
 stallion, he rode about the Camp during the mornings, and 
 until late in the day was occupied with the arduous duties 
 of his new responsibility. 
 
 At last orders came to take the field ; the 54th was directed 
 to proceed to Paducah, Kentuck}^ and report to Major- 
 General Halleck at St. IvOuis by telegraph. Promptly and 
 without confusion, the command was transported to Cincin- 
 nati and placed on transport steamboats. On the 19th of 
 February, 1862, the Colonel reported to Brig. -Gen. W. T. 
 Sherman, then commanding at Paducah, and by his orders 
 was assigned to the 2d Brigade of the Fifth Division, Col. 
 David Stuart of the 55th Illinois Infantry commanding. At 
 that time General Sherman was a brigadier-general of volun- 
 teers, and Colonel of the 13th Infantry of the Regular Army. 
 The little town of Paducah is situated on the Ohio River. 
 The 5th Division was made up of four brigades, and each 
 brigade composed of three regiments. This was the first 
 large command exercised by General Sherman, and as the 
 soldiers composing it afterwards became veterans and serv^ed 
 with great distinction, it will be of interest to give the com- 
 position and names of the commanding officers. They were 
 almost all more or less distinguished in the old Army of the 
 Tennessee, an organization that will go down to history with 
 a record untarnished and illustrious. The first brigade con- 
 sisted of the 6th Iowa, Col. J. A. McDowell ; the 40th Illi- 
 nois, Col. Stephen G. Hicks ; the 46th Ohio, Col. Thomas 
 Worthington, and the Morton Battery, Captain Frederick 
 Behr. The second brigade : the 55th Illinois, Col. David 
 Stuart ; the 54th Ohio, Col. Thomas Kilby Smith, and the 
 71st Ohio, Col. Rodney Mason. The third brigade : the 
 77th Ohio, Col. Jesse Hildebrand ; the 53d Ohio, Col. J. J. 
 Appier, and the 57th Ohio, Col. William Mungen. The 
 fourth brigade : the 72d Ohio, Col. R. P. Buckland ; the 
 
Memoir 1 3 
 
 48tli Ohio, Col. Peter J. Sullivan ; and the 70th Ohio, Col. 
 J. R. Cockerill. 
 
 Of these regiments almost all, both officers and men, were 
 without actual military experience. In his report of the 
 battle of Shiloh, General Sherman says : 
 
 " My division was made up of regiments perfectly new, 
 nearly all having received their muskets for the first time at 
 Paducah. None of them had ever been under fire or beheld 
 heavy columns of enemy bearing down on them. The divi- 
 sion embarked on steamboats on March 8th and proceeded 
 down the Ohio River to the Tennessee and up that stream 
 arriving at Fort Henry March 9th, and at Savannah, Ten- 
 nessee, March nth." 
 
 On the 14th, General Sherman disembarked his command 
 at the mouth of Yellow Creek on the Tennessee River and 
 sent cavalry to destroy the Charleston and Memphis Rail- 
 road ; but the heavy rains had so swollen the streams that 
 the country was impassable. On the i6th, the command 
 dropped down to Pittsburg Landing, and disembarked, and 
 again attempted the destruction of the railroad, cavalry en- 
 countering a force which was routed, but it failed in its 
 undertaking, and on the 19th of March the division went 
 into camp on ground extending from Purdy to the Hamburg 
 Road, two and a half miles from the Landing. 
 
 The history of the battle of Shiloh is one that has provoked 
 no little controversy. A glance at the map of the battlefield 
 shows that it was enclosed by the Tennessee River at the rear, 
 a little stream called Snake Creek at the right, flowing into 
 the Tennessee River, and Lick Creek on the left, flowing into 
 the same river. The Army of the Tennessee, of which Gen- 
 eral Sherman's division was a part, was composed of six 
 separate divisions, all under command of Major-Gen. U. S. 
 Grant. After making a reconnaisance in force towards Pea 
 Ridge, ten miles towards Corinth, on the 24th of March, the 
 troops lay in camp without event of special moment until the 
 6th of April when the great battle began. The army of the 
 Tennessee mustered nearly forty-five thousand men, and as 
 they have been described by an eye-witness, they ' ' mounted 
 guard daily, devoured their rations and slept in peace. . . . 
 
14 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 All was security beneath ttie shadow of the old church and 
 the nodding grasses that margined the streams hard by. No 
 breastwork faced toward the foe ; no rifle-pit told the story 
 of an army alert, active, and conscious. . . . Vernal 
 days shed languor over musketeer and cannoneer." ' 
 
 At Corinth, a commercial centre of considerable importance 
 situated in the State of Mississippi, a few days march from 
 Pittsburg I^anding, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson was in com- 
 mand of the Confederate Army of the Mississippi. He had 
 formed the plan of concentrating every available soldier of 
 the Confederacy and by sudden marches falling upon Grant's 
 army at Pittsburg lyanding and crushing it before the arrival 
 of the Army of the Ohio, which was making its way steadily 
 to form a junction with Grant. Johnson summoned his 
 troops from all parts of the South, and on the 2d of April 
 issued the following order : 
 
 ' ' Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi : 
 
 ' ' I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders 
 of your country. With the resolution and disciplined valor 
 becoming men fighting, as you are, for all worth living or 
 dying for, you can but march to a decisive victory over the 
 agrarian mercenaries sent to subjugate and despoil you of 
 your liberties, property, and honor. Remember the precious 
 stake involved ; remember the dependence of your mothers, 
 your wives, your sisters, and your children on the result ; 
 remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy homes 
 and ties that will be desolated by defeat. 
 
 ' ' The eyes and hopes of eight millions of people rest upon 
 you. You are expected to show yourselves worthy of 3'our 
 race and lineage ; worthy of the women of the South, whose 
 noble devotion in this war has never been exceeded in any 
 time. With such incentives to brave deeds and with the 
 trust that God is with us, your general will lead you confi- 
 dently to the combat, assured of success. ' ' ^ 
 
 Generals Grant and Sherman have been criticised with un- 
 sparing severity because they made no apparent preparation 
 for the attack that was impending. It will be for military 
 
 ' Col. John A. Cockerill, The Surprise at Shiloh. 
 ' War Records, vol. x., series i, part ii., p. 233. 
 
Memoir 1 5 
 
 critics to say whether or not their conduct in this respect was 
 open to censure. How many mistakes have been made by 
 successful generals as well as men in every profession, history 
 does not always tell. But certain it is, that the commanders 
 of troops on both sides during the American Civil War learned 
 much from experience as that great conflict progressed, and 
 it may well have been that in later years different dispositions 
 would have been made. General Sherman himself has said : 
 " For days we knew the enemy was in our front, but the 
 nature of the ground and his superior strength and cavalry 
 prevented us from breaking through the veil of their approach 
 to ascertain their true strength and purpose. But as soldiers 
 we were prepared at all times to receive an attack, and even 
 to make one if circumstances warranted it. On that morning 
 our pickets had been driven in, and our main guard was 
 forced back to the small valley in our front. All our regi- 
 ments of infantry, battalions of artillery, and squadrons of 
 cavalry were prepared. I myself, their commander, was 
 fully prepared, right along the line of this very regiment 
 (the 57th Ohio, Colonel Mungen) and so was in position in 
 front of their camp and looking to a cause-way across the 
 small creek by which the enemy was expected to approach. 
 . . . It is simply ridiculous to talk about a surprise. ' ' ' 
 
 In a letter of General Halleck to Secretary Stanton, under 
 date of June 15, 1864,'' the former states : 
 
 " It is not my object in this communication to offer any 
 comments on the battle beyond the remark that the impres- 
 sion which at one time seemed to have been received by this 
 department, — that our forces were surprised on the morning 
 of the 6th, is entirely erroneous. I am satisfied from a pa- 
 tient and careful inquiry and investigation that all our troops 
 were notified of the enemy's approach some time before the 
 battle commenced. ' ' And General McPherson has said ' : 
 ' ' It was well known the enemy was approaching our lines 
 and there had been more or less skirmishing for three days 
 preceding the battle. ' ' 
 
 ' Letter to Hon. B. Stanton of June lo, 1862. 
 ' War Records^ vol. x., part, i., series i., p. 99. 
 '"Ibid., p. 181. 
 
1 6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 History has recorded how Sidney Johnson fell upon the 
 Union lines in the early morning of Sunday the 6th of April, 
 1862 ; how the fiery legions of the South hurled themselves 
 through the underbrush and into the very camps of the Union 
 army; how the new and but partially disciplined troops of 
 the West and Northwest met the shock ; how some thou- 
 sands of stragglers, losing courage, fled from the field crying 
 all was lost, and betook themselves to the I^anding where 
 they huddled under the protection of the gunboats on the 
 Tennessee River close to Pittsburg lyanding, where the 
 Lexington and Tyler, commanded by Captains Gwinn and 
 Shirk, U. S. N., were stationed ; how the commanding gen- 
 eral. Grant, took his departure from Savannah, and hastened 
 to the field, where he arrived at ten o'clock in the morning, 
 and how through all that terrible day, the Union army, 
 fighting inch by inch, gradually gave way before the on- 
 slaught of the enemy. But it is with the conduct of the 
 Second Brigade of the First Division that this narrative is 
 especially concerned. In order to understand the operations 
 of this command, it must be borne in mind that between the 
 Union lines and those of the enemy was a dense forest bor- 
 dered by ravines. Sherman's division was not large enough 
 to occupy the whole line and he placed the First, Third and 
 Fourth Brigades on his right, and the Second Brigade on the 
 extreme left, and in this position they were on Sunday morn- 
 ing. The interval between the Second and Third Brigades 
 was occupied by the division of Gen. B. M. Prentiss. Gen- 
 eral Sherman's division was stationed to the right of the 
 Union line ; toward the left was that of McClernand, and 
 towards his left was that of Prentiss ; to the rear of Prentiss 
 was the division of Hurlbut, and to his right that of Gen. C. 
 F. Smith, then commanded by Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, 
 owing to the severe illness of General Smith which subse- 
 quently terminated fatally. During all that long fight on 
 Sunday this small command had to make its own battle, and, 
 as the conflict progressed, its tenacity of purpose was of the 
 utmost importance to the safety of the whole army. Had it 
 taken uanic or made a less stubborn fight, the columns of 
 the enemy would have flanked the army ; the enemy would 
 
Memoir 1 7 
 
 perhaps have reached Pittsburg lyanding, thus gaining the 
 rear of the entire Union force, and perhaps overwhelming it 
 before the arrival of the Army of the Ohio. The story of its 
 resistance may be found in General Stuart's report. He de- 
 scribes how the conflict began at 7.30 in the morning ; how 
 he made his dispositions, and, notwithstanding the flight 
 of the largest portion of the 71st Regiment, with the small 
 remainder of men in his command, not to exceed eight hun- 
 dred, of the 55th Illinois, under command of lyieut.-Col. 
 Oscar Malmborg, and the 54th Ohio, he held his own until 
 his ammunition was exhausted ; then gradually and in good 
 order he fell back towards the lyanding until additional am- 
 munition was brought. During the day he received a wound 
 in the shoulder that compelled him to relinquish his com- 
 mand to Col. Thomas Kilby Smith, the next in rank, who 
 proceeded to carry out the duties thus imposed upon him. 
 General Stuart says : 
 
 ' ' The experience on Sunday left me under no apprehen- 
 sion as to the fate of the brigade ; if coolness, deliberation, 
 and personal bravery could save it from loss or disgrace. 
 Colonel Smith from the beginning to the end of the engage- 
 ment on Sunda}^ was constantly at his post, rallying, 
 encouraging, and fighting his men under incessant fire re- 
 gardless of personal safety." ' 
 
 At last the long day closed and friend and foe sank ex- 
 hausted upon the battlefield. During all that night tor- 
 rents of rain fell, and while the officers consulted about 
 the plans for the morrow, the soldiers rested upon their 
 arms. But Johnson had failed in his purpose notwith- 
 standing the impetuosity of his attack, and his own per- 
 sonal gallantry, which cost him his life, for he received 
 a fatal wound during the progress of the battle. He had 
 not accomplished more than to drive the Union arm)^ from 
 its camps and press it back towards the bank of the river, 
 and he had spent all his energy in the terrific struggle. 
 Whether or not with the exhausted troops, their high hopes 
 dampened by his death, Beauregard, who succeeded him, 
 could have overwhelmed Grant's Army of the Tennessee on 
 
 ' IVar /Records, series i., vol. x., part i., p. 259. 
 
1 8 Thomas Kilby S7nith 
 
 the following day, can only be a matter of conjecture. The 
 safety of the shattered army was insured, for the well-trained 
 columns of the Army of the Ohio, with General Buell in 
 command, arrived at sunset on the opposite bank of the 
 Tennessee River, and all night long they were transported 
 to the battlefield. On Monday morning the conflict was 
 renewed, and General Stuart's brigade under its new com- 
 mander bore its full share in driving the enemy back to 
 Corinth. 
 
 The magnitude of this battle and the heroic gallantry of the 
 troops engaged, must appear from the roll of the casualties. 
 There were 1513 officers and men killed, 6601 wounded, 2830 
 captured or missing, making an aggregate of 10,944, as the 
 number lost in the Union army. How gallantlj'^ the Second 
 Brigade of the First Division did its duty will be apparent 
 from the fact that it lost 587 killed and wounded, and of this 
 number the 54th lost about 195. The loss on the part of the 
 Confederate army was reported by Beauregard as 1728 killed, 
 8012 wounded, and 957 missing ; total 10,697, but it is 
 thought to have been much greater. A captain of the 54th 
 Ohio Regiment, I. T. Moore, of Company D, speaks thus of 
 some of the incidents of the day : 
 
 " Our brigade was encamped on the extreme left, consist- 
 ing of two thousand men commanded by Colonel Stuart, 
 acting Brigadier-General, and T. K. Smith. From the 
 nature of the ground we were cut off from the main body of 
 our army. About ten o'clock a.m., we were attacked by 
 eight thousand infantry, two divisions of cavalry, and one 
 battalion, that shelled us first and then advanced in solid 
 columns. We waited until they were within three or four 
 rods and then arose, advanced and fired with terrible effect 
 and then falling back a few rods formed three oblique squares 
 in the woods to protect ourselves against cavalry ; then the 
 squares were reduced and formed in line of battle. The 
 enemy was distinctly seen not more than twenty rods distant 
 over a ravine. We lay down and waited their approach, 
 then rose and let drive at them. We held the enemy here 
 for three hours, but we had no cavalry or artillery, and the 
 enemy was five to one of us. We were compelled to fall 
 
Memoir. 1 9 
 
 back to the river to the gunboats. . . . We lay on 
 our arms all night and next morning about seven o'clock 
 we went into it again. We pursued the rebels all day ; 
 lay on our arms Monday night, got up Tuesday morn- 
 ing, ordered over to our left to sustain the battery; 
 kept in line of battle for this purpose all day. Lay out 
 Tuesday night, again Wednesday morning ordered to ad- 
 vance three or four miles. . . . The field and staff in 
 our brigade all day on duty as far as I know. Major Fisher 
 was perfectly calm and serene, urging the men on to action ; 
 but of all men I ever saw, Col. Thomas Kilby Smith took 
 the lead. For an example of his actions : On Sunday while 
 making our grand stand against the enemy, numbering five 
 to our one, the shell, grape and rifle balls falling thick as 
 hail, he rode " Old Blackie " all along our lines, scratching 
 his head, apparently as much unconscious as though he was 
 on dress parade, directing the troops to take good aim, shoot 
 low, and not shoot at all unless they saw a rebel to shoot at. 
 After Colonel Stuart, Acting Brigadier-General, was wounded 
 and carried from the field. Colonel Smith had command of 
 the whole brigade and sometimes other regiments, and main- 
 tained throughout this uniform coolness and self-possession. ' ' 
 
 In his report. General Sherman says : 
 
 " My Second Brigade, Colonel Stuart, was detached near 
 two miles from my headquarters. He had to fight his own 
 battle on Sunday, and the enemy interposed between him 
 and General Prentiss early in the day. Colonel Stuart was 
 wounded severely and yet reported for duty Monday morn- 
 ing, but was compelled to leave during the day, when the 
 command devolved on Col. T. Kilby Smith, 54th Ohio, who 
 was alwaj^s in the thickest of the fight, and led the brigade 
 handsomely." 
 
 In that portion of his report devoted to Monday's battle, 
 he says : 
 
 ' ' The enemy had one battery close by Shiloh and another 
 near the Hamburg road, both pouring grape and canister 
 upon any column of troops that advanced toward the green 
 point of Water Oaks. Wittich's regiment had been repulsed, 
 but the whole bi Vade of McCook's division advanced beauti- 
 
20 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 fully, deployed and entered this dreaded woods. I ordered 
 my Second Brigade, then commanded by Col. T. Kilby Smith 
 (Colonel Stuart being wounded), to form on its right, and 
 my Fourth Brigade, Colonel Buckland, on its right, all to 
 advance abreast with this Kentucky brigade before men- 
 tioned, which I afterwards found to be Rousseau's brigade 
 of McCook's division. I gave personal direction to the 
 twenty-four pounder guns, whose well-directed fire first 
 silenced the enemy's guns to the left, and afterwards at the 
 Shiloh Meeting House. Rousseau's brigade moved in splen- 
 did order steadily to the front, sweeping everything before 
 it, and at four p.m. we stood upon the ground of our original 
 front line, and the enemy was in full retreat." ' 
 
 In this splendid charge no doubt Colonel Smith made the 
 acquaintance of General Rousseau, with whom, until his 
 death, he retained the most friendly relations. 
 
 So ended the battle of Shiloh. Had the issue been differ- 
 ent, the theatre of war might have been transferred north 
 of the Ohio River. The chief interest of this battle arises not 
 alone, however, from the terrible consequences of success or 
 failure on either side, but from the evidence it gives of the 
 natural soldiership of the population from whom the com- 
 ponent elements of each army were made up. It is safe to 
 say, that in no conflict have raw troops behaved with greater 
 steadiness or gallantry. That there were some who skulked 
 or sought safety in flight, cannot be denied ; but, for the 
 most part, they acquitted themselves worthily, and gave 
 evidence that the conflict must be stubbornly fought out to 
 its logical conclusion.^ 
 
 Colonel Smith remained in command of the brigade until 
 the 1 8th of May, when he assumed again the command of his 
 regiment, which was assigned to the brigade of Gen. Morgan 
 
 1 War Records, series i., vol. x., part i., p. 251. 
 
 * General Sherman's own conduct in this battle won him his com- 
 mission of Major-General. In a dispatch to the Secretary of War, 
 dated May 5, 1862, Asst. Secy. Thos. A. Scott says : . . . " Nom- 
 ination of Sherman for Major-General gives great satisfaction. It 
 was nobly gained upon the field of Shiloh." War Records, series i., 
 vol. X., part ii,, p. 164. 
 
Memoir 2 1 
 
 I^. Smith. Gen. Morgan L. Smith's brigade was the First 
 of the Fifth Division, ' and the next general engagement that 
 fell to the lot of the 54th was at Russell's House in the opera- 
 tions before Corinth. It was not so actively engaged as the 
 other regiments of the brigade, but elicited from its com- 
 mander complimentary reference. General Smith says in his 
 report under date of May 19, 1862 : 
 
 " The 54th, Col. Thomas Kilby Smith, and the 57th Ohio, 
 Col. A. V. Rice, were held in good order, obeyed all orders 
 with alacrity, and were disappointed because they could not 
 become hotly engaged." 
 
 General Sherman endorses this report : 
 
 ' ' I was near at hand and witnessed with great satisfaction 
 the cool and steady advance of this brigade, and bear my 
 willing testimony to the brave conduct of Colonel (M. I,.) 
 Smith and the entire brigade, ofl&cers and men." 
 
 On the 29th of May, Corinth was taken, and the 54th Ohio 
 occupied the town as a guard.' From that day this regiment 
 
 ' This Brigade consisted of the 8th Missouri, 55th Illinois, 54th 
 Ohio, and 57th Ohio. War Records, series i., vol. x., part ii., p. 194. 
 
 ^ " I came back through Corinth with my last brigade, and finding 
 there no part of Buell's forces, I thought proper to leave a regiment — 
 the Fifty-fourth Ohio, Col. T. Kilby Smith— to guard the public 
 property there. . . ." Sherman to Halleck, May 30, 1862. War 
 Records, series i., vol. x., part ii., p. 231. 
 
 ' The spirit animating the Union army at that time is well illus- 
 trated by General Sherman's congratulatory order after the fall of 
 Corinth : 
 
 *' General Orders \ 
 No. 30. i 
 
 " Headquarters Fifth DrvrsioN, 
 
 " Camp before Corinth, May 31, 1862. 
 
 "The general commanding Fifth Division, right wing, takes this 
 occasion to express to the officers and men of this command his great 
 satisfaction with them for the courage, steadiness, and great industry 
 displayed by them during the past month. Since leaving our mem- 
 orable camp at Shiloh we have occupied and strongly intrenched 
 seven distinct camps in a manner to excite the admiration and highest 
 commendation of General Halleck. The division has occupied the 
 right flank of the Grand Army, thereby being more exposed and 
 calling for more hard work and larger guard details than from any 
 
2 2 ThoTnas Kilby Smith 
 
 was engaged in active field service in Tennessee, following 
 the fortunes of Sherman's division, but in no severe engage- 
 ments until the 26th of December, 1862. 
 
 It would be tedious to follow in detail the movements of 
 Sherman's command immediately following the capture of 
 Corinth. About the 20th of June he occupied Holly Springs, 
 Miss. , pushing his cavalry as far South as the Tallahatchie 
 River and destroying several bridges. On the 29th of June 
 he took up his line of march from Moscow Bend and pro- 
 other single division, and the commanding general reports that his 
 ofl&cers and men have promptly and cheerfully fulfilled their duty, 
 and have sprung to the musket or spade, according to the occasion, 
 and have just reason to claim a large share in the honors that are due 
 to the whole army for the glorious victory terminating at Corinth on 
 yesterday, and it affords him great pleasure to bear full and willing 
 testimony to the qualities of his command that have achieved this 
 victory, a victory none the less decisive because attended with com- 
 paratively little loss of life. 
 
 " But a few days ago a large and powerful army of rebels lay at 
 Corinth, with outposts extending to our very camp at Shiloh. They 
 held two railroads extending north and south, east and west, across 
 the whole extent of this country, with a vast number of locomotives 
 and cars to bring to them speedily and certainly their reinforcements 
 and supplies. They called to their aid all their armies from every 
 quarter, abandoning the sea-coast and the great river Mississippi, 
 that they might overwhelm us with numbers in the place of their own 
 choosing. They had their chosen leaders, men of high reputation 
 and courage, and they dared us to leave the cover of our iron-clad 
 gunboats to come and fight them in their trenches and still more 
 dangerous ambuscades of their Southern swamps and forests. Their 
 whole country, from Richmond to Memphis and from Nashville to 
 Mobile, rung with their taunts and boastings as to how they would 
 immolate the Yankees if they dared to leave the Tennessee River. 
 They boldly and defiantly challenged us to meet them at Corinth. 
 We accepted the challenge, and came slowly and without attempt at 
 concealment to the very ground of their selection, and they have fled 
 away. We yesterday marched unopposed through the burning embers 
 of their destroyed camps and property and pursued them to their 
 swamps, until burning bridges plainly confessed they had fled, and 
 not marched away for better ground. 
 
 " It is a victory as brilliant and important as any recorded in his- 
 tory, and every officer and soldier who has lent his aid has just reason 
 to be proud of his part. No amount of sophistry or words from the 
 
Memoir 23 
 
 ceeded again to Holly Springs. On the yth of July we find 
 Colonel Smith's command, one regiment, on guard at Am- 
 mon's Bridge over the Wolf River between Moscow and I^a 
 Grange. On the 15th of July, by command of Major-General 
 Halleck, the divisions of Sherman and Hurlbut were ordered 
 to Memphis, and on the following day. General Halleck an- 
 nounced his orders whereby he was transferred to the com- 
 mand in chief of the army at Washington.' On the 20th of 
 July, the command reached Memphis, and was encamped in 
 and about Fort Pickering. General Sherman made the best 
 
 leaders of the rebellion can succeed in giving the evacuation of Cor- 
 inth under the circumstances any other title than that of a signal 
 defeat, more humiliating to them and their cause than if we had 
 entered the place over the dead and mangled bodies of their soldiers. 
 We are not here to kill and slay, but to vindicate the honor and just 
 authority of that Government which has been bequeathed to us by 
 our honored fathers, and to whom we would be recreant if we per- 
 mitted their work to pass to our children weaned and spoiled by 
 ambitious and wicked rebels. 
 
 "The commanding general, while thus claiming for his division 
 their just share in the glorious result, must at the same time remind 
 them that much yet remains to be done, and that all must still con- 
 tinue the same vigilance, patience, industry, and obedience till the 
 enemy lays down his arms and publicly acknowledges for their sup- 
 posed grievances they must obey the laws of their country, and not 
 attempt its overthrow by threats, by cruelty, and by war. They must 
 be made to feel and acknowledge the power of a just and mighty 
 nation. This result can only be accomplished by a cheerful and 
 ready obedience to the orders and authority of our own leaders, in 
 whom we now have just reason to feel the most implicit confidence. 
 That the Fifth Division of the right wing will do this, and that in 
 due time we will all go to our families and friends at home, is the 
 earnest prayer and wish of your immediate commander." Ibid., p. 233. 
 
 1 "lam ordered to Washington and leave to-morrow (Thursday). I 
 have done my best to avoid it. I have studied out and can finish the 
 campaign in the West. Don't understand and cannot manage affairs 
 in the East. Moreover, do not want to have anything to do with the 
 quarrels of Stanton and McClellan. The change does not please me, 
 but I must obey orders. Good-by and may God bless you. I am more 
 than satisfied with everything you have done. You have always had 
 my respect, but recently you have won my highest admiration. I 
 deeply regret to part from you." — Halleck to Sherman, Corinth, July 
 16, 1862. War Records, series i., vol. xvii., part ii., p. 100. 
 
24 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 of this opportunity of comparative quietude in camp for per- 
 fect! ng the organization of his troops. In his general orders 
 of July 24th, he directs : 
 
 ' ' Every officer in command of a regiment or detachment 
 will now see that his men are well protected with clothing, 
 provisions, arms, ammunition, canteens, haversacks, and 
 everything which his own experience has shown him is 
 necessary for the efficiency of the soldiers. . . . All officers 
 of this command must now study their books. Ignorance 
 of duty must no longer be pleaded." ' 
 
 On the 8th of September, the brigade of Morgan ly. Smith, 
 or selections from its regiments, were ordered on an expedi- 
 tion for the destruction of a new bridge across Cold Water 
 about seven miles below the town of Hernando.^ The expe- 
 dition was eminently successful, and did sharp fighting with 
 six hundred Confederate cavalry, and defeated them with 
 small loss.' For the most part, the summer and fall of the 
 year 1862 was occupied by the general in command with the 
 details of civil administration in Memphis. His subordinates 
 were occupied in the disciplining of their troops. 
 
 The attention of the administration at Washington had 
 been directed for some time towards the opening of the Mis- 
 sissippi River by the reduction of Vicksburg. General 
 McClernand had been detailed on a special mission to the 
 Governors of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, to secure 
 additional troops, with the understanding, expressed or im- 
 plied, that he would be put in command of the expeditionary 
 forces. During this time, General Grant, who had succeeded 
 to the command vacated by Halleck on his transfer to Wash- 
 ington, had been in correspondence with Sherman and Steele, 
 who commanded the department of Arkansas, upon the 
 same subject. On the 25th of November,^ Sherman issued 
 his orders to leave Memphis, and on the 26th began his 
 march southward to form junction with McPherson and 
 Hamilton, south of Holly Springs, where General Grant 
 fixed his headquarters on the 29th. On the 6th of December 
 the command was at College Hill, Miss., and on the 9th, 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xvii., part ii., p. 119. 
 
 ^ Ibid., p. 209. '^ Ibid., p. 217. '^ Ibid., p. 361. 
 
Memoir 2 5 
 
 Sherman ordered back the men of the Second Division under 
 M. ly. Smith, to Memphis.' On the 13th of December we 
 find Sherman at Memphis, writing : 
 
 " I have to report the arrival of Morgan L. Smith's divi- 
 sion in the city, so that my Memphis forces of three divisions 
 are now on hand. ... I will have all things ready by 
 the 1 8th, except as a matter of course the transportation. I 
 have ordered the quartermaster here to hold on to ten gun- 
 boats for our use. ' ' ' 
 
 On the 19th, orders were issued for the embarkation of the 
 First, Second, and Third Divisions of the command which 
 was now known as the ' ' Thirteenth Army Corps ' ' : 
 
 " To proceed with all dispatch by divisions below Helena 
 and lay to there on the Mississippi side, the head of the col- 
 umn at Friars Point and the other divisions well closed up, 
 there to await further orders. ' ' ' 
 
 General Sherman's command consisted of about twenty 
 thousand men, and the plan as outlined by General Grant, 
 contemplated his landing above Vicksburg, proceeding up 
 the Yazoo as far as practicable, and cutting the Mississippi 
 Central Railroad and the railroads running east from Vicks- 
 burg where they cross the Black River. Grant himself was 
 to remain on the north of the Mississippi and co-operate as 
 circumstances might require. After cutting the two railroads 
 Sherman's movements were left to his own judgment.* 
 Grant's official orders dated December 8th, addressed to 
 General Sherman, directed him to assume command of the 
 troops then at Memphis and such portion of General Curtis' s 
 forces as were at that time east of the Mississippi, to organize 
 them into brigades and divisions and as soon as possible to 
 proceed with them down the river to the vicinity of Vicks- 
 burg, and with the co-operation of the gunboat fleet under 
 command of Flag Officer Porter, to proceed to the reduction 
 of that place.' Sherman planned to reach Vicksburg about 
 Christmas time, and to connect with Porter at Milliken's 
 Bend, twenty-five miles above Vicksburg on the 24th.' On 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xvii., part ii., p. 397. 
 
 "^ Ibid., p. 408. '^ Ibid., p. 434. 
 
 ^/<5/af., parti., p. 474. ^ Ibid., ■^. doi. ^ Ibid., p. 60$. 
 
26 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the 25th of December, after having destroyed portions of the 
 railroads upon which Vicksburg depended for its suppHes, he 
 had his forces at the mouth of the Yazoo, and the whole 
 naval squadron of the Mississippi, iron clads and wooden 
 boats, was also there with Admiral Porter in command. On 
 the 26th he debarked his command and moved up in four 
 columns toward Vicksburg. On the night of the 27th the 
 ground was reconnoitred and found to be as diflScult as it 
 possibly could be from nature and art. He describes it thus : 
 
 * ' Immediately in our front was a bayou passable only at 
 two points on a narrow levee and on a sand bar which was 
 perfectly commanded by the enemy's sharp shooters that 
 lined the levee or parapet on its opposite bank. Beyond this 
 was an irregular strip of bench or table land, on which was 
 constructed a series of rifle pits and batteries, and beyond 
 that a high abrupt range of hills, whose scarred sides were 
 marked all the way up with rifle trenches and the crowns of 
 the principal hills presented heavy batteries. ' ' ' 
 
 It was against such defences as these that it was proposed 
 to lead this expeditionary force ; and the purpose was carried 
 out. Some skirmishing was carried on on the 28th, and 
 during that day while reconnoitering, Gen. Morgan I^. 
 Smith received a critical wound in the hip, and the com- 
 mand of his division falling to Gen. David Stuart, Col. T. 
 Kilby Smith took command of Stuart's brigade. Sherman 
 had expected to hear some news of the arrival or approach 
 of an expeditionary force under command of General Banks 
 proceeding up the river from New Orleans, but Banks had 
 not passed Port Hudson. No word had reached head- 
 quarters for some time from General Grant, and, as Sherman 
 says : 
 
 ' ' Time being everything to us, I determined to assault the 
 hills in front of Morgan on the morning of the 29th, — 
 Morgan's division to carry the position on the summit of the 
 hill, Steele's division to support him and hold the country 
 road. I had placed General A. J. Smith in command of his 
 own (first) and that of M. L,. Smith (second) I ordered to 
 cross on the sand pit undermining the steep bank of the 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 606. 
 
Me^noir 27 
 
 bayou on the farther side facing the levee parapet and first 
 line of rifle pits, to prevent a concentration on Morgan. 
 The assault was made and a lodgment effected on the hard 
 table land near the country road, and the head of the as- 
 saulting colmnns reached different points of the enemy's 
 works, but there met so withering a fire from the rifle pits 
 and cross fire of grape and canister from the batteries, that 
 they faltered and finally fell back to the point of starting 
 leaving many dead, wounded, and prisoners in the hands of 
 the enemy. . . . When the night of the 29th closed in, we 
 stood upon our original ground and had suffered a repulse. ' ' 
 
 After consultation with Porter, it was determined to make 
 another assault on the following morning at four o'clock ; 
 but subsequently, under the advice of the Admiral, that, 
 " in as much as the moon does not set to-night until 5.25, 
 the landing must be a day-light affair, which, in my opinion, 
 is too hazardous to try, ' ' Sherman drew off his forces and re- 
 embarked on his transports on January 2d. ' 
 
 General Sherman's report shows the sharp fighting the 
 Second Divison took part in during his operations. The 
 Fourth Brigade under the command of T. Kilby Smith was 
 charged especial Ij^ with the duty of clearing away a certain 
 road under the fire of the enemy. General Stuart says : 
 
 ' ' The work was vigorously pressed under his immediate 
 supervision and orders and he devoted himself to it with as 
 much energy and activity as any living man could employ. 
 It had to be prosecuted under the fire of the enemy's sharp- 
 shooters, protected as well as the men might be by our 
 skirmishers on the bank, who were ordered to keep up so 
 vigorous a fire that the enemy should not dare to lift their 
 heads above their rifle pits ; but the enemy, and especially 
 their armed negroes, did dare to rise and fire, and did serious 
 execution upon our men. I received a message from Gen. 
 Sherman verbally, that Gen. Morgan was crossing and to 
 push my forces across if possible. I ordered Col. Smith 
 (54th Ohio) to commence the crossing of his brigade at some 
 hazard, and he placed his own regiment (54th Ohio) in the 
 advance and had them in the right way descending the hill 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 608, 609. 
 
28 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 when Brig. -Gen, A. J. Smith appeared on the ground to 
 assume the command of the division by Major-Gen. Sher- 
 man's orders. . . . After Gen. Smith assumed command, 
 he ordered the work to be resumed in the roadway to clear 
 off all obstacles still further. Under the fire of battery and 
 the skirmishers, I set a party of thirty men with officers 
 (from the 54th Ohio) at work, which was by this time well 
 down near the foot of the steep, in view of the enemy's sharp- 
 shooters, and the first man to strike an axe into a tree was 
 shot dead. At almost the same moment, a shell from one 
 of our batteries exploded prematurely, killing three men in 
 the roadway and wounding some others. Two other shells 
 from the same gun prematurely exploded in the same man- 
 ner and the men swore terribly, but did not seem dismayed 
 nor did they leave their ground till they were retired by 
 Gen. Smith's orders. He desired to make a personal recon- 
 noissance of the ground in our front and our operations for 
 the day were suspended. It was near sunset, and the Fourth 
 Brigade had alone of all the troops in the division, been en- 
 gaged as skirmishers, as pickets, and working parties from 
 the time we were debarked, and were fatigued. . . . 
 Col. T. Kilby Smith, of the 54th Ohio, who succeeded to the 
 command of the Fourth Brigade, after I assumed that of the 
 division, performed every duty with activity, intelligence 
 and directness most marked. He was constantly in every 
 part of the field executing my orders, and was tireless in his 
 zeal, enterprise and devotion. I was sincerely grateful to 
 him. Unsuccessful though our attempt was, it proved our 
 men to be all we had hoped of them. There was no skulk- 
 ing timidity and no racing to the rear. ' ' ' 
 
 General Sherman's losses in this assault in killed, wounded 
 and missing, were 1776 ; while those of the enemy were but 63 
 killed, 134 wounded and 10 missing. It was undoubtedly a 
 decided victory for the Confederate forces, and the Union 
 commander was compelled to send a flag of truce, asking 
 permission to bury his dead and care for his wounded." 
 
 ' The casualties in the brigade were : 11 killed, 40 wounded, and 4 
 missing. Ibid., p. 637. 
 
 * Ibid., p. 668. This flag was carried by Col. T. Kilby Smith, 
 
Memoir 29 
 
 Without a very careful study of the topography of the coun- 
 try about Vicksburg from maps and the descriptions given in 
 detail in the reports, the reader cannot understand the vari- 
 ous movements of troops ; but what has been quoted is 
 enough to show their metal, the patient, steady heroism dis- 
 played in the conflict and the undaunted spirit with which 
 they sustained their rev^erses. They were veterans after a 
 year of campaigning and instruction, since they moved up 
 the Tennessee River to Pittsburg lyanding. Sherman was 
 severely criticised for his action in this assault, known 
 among military men sometimes as the battle of ' ' Chickasaw 
 Bayou," and the newspaper criticisms led to the trial by 
 court martial of a reporter who, in the presence of Col. T. 
 Kilby Smith and other officers, admitted to General Sherman 
 the inaccuracy of his published statements.' In this affair 
 Sherman showed his characteristic courage and straightfor- 
 ward determination to maintain the dignit}^ of his position, 
 and he came out of it without losing a particle of the 
 confidence of his officers and men. The whole assault was 
 practically in the nature of a forlorn hope, and it proved that 
 Vicksburg was the most difficult obstacle yet encountered by 
 the Army of the Southwest. In writing of this attempt, 
 Admiral Porter expresses himself thus : 
 
 ' ' Had the combinations been carried out in our last ex- 
 pedition. Gen. Grant advancing by Grenada, Gen. Banks 
 up the river, and Gen. Sherman down the river, the whole 
 matter would have assumed a different aspect ; but Gen. 
 Sherman was the only one on the ground. The army of 
 Gen. Grant had been cut off from its supplies,^ Gen. Banks 
 never came up the river, and Gen. Sherman having at- 
 tempted to take the enemy by surprise, lost about seven 
 hundred wounded, three hundred killed and about four 
 hundred prisoners." ' 
 
 The command now moved to Milliken's Bend, where it 
 was joined by Major-General McClernand, who, in pursu- 
 ance of orders from Washington under directions of Gen- 
 
 ' Ibid., Series i., vol. xvii., part ii., p. 890. 
 
 ° By the capture of Holly Springs. 
 
 ^ Porter to the Secretary of the Navy, January 18, 1863 ; Ibid., p. 888. 
 
30 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 eral Grant, assumed command of the forces on the 4th of 
 January, 1863, McClernand determined, under the advice 
 of Sherman, to proceed to the reduction of a strong fort 
 established by the enemy on the White River, known as 
 " Arkansas Post," or " Post Arkansas," a small village fifty 
 miles from the mouth of the river and one hundred and 
 seventeen below Little Rock, It was defended by Fort 
 Hindman and garrisoned by about five thousand troops 
 under command of the Confederate General Churchill. Upon 
 taking command of the expedition, he divided the forces into 
 two corps d'armee, namely, the Thirteenth, his own, and 
 the Fifteenth, Sherman's. Col. T. Kilby Smith was in com- 
 mand of the Second Brigade of the Second Division of the 
 Fifteenth Corps, Brigadier-General Stuart commanding. 
 This brigade was composed of the 55th Illinois, the 127th 
 Illinois, the 54th Ohio, and 83d Ohio, and the 57th Ohio, 
 On the 9th of January the command landed, and on the loth 
 marched towards the fort. On the nth, a combined attack 
 was made by the army and the gunboats under command of 
 Admiral Porter, The assault was so successful that white 
 flags were raised without orders of General Churchill, and 
 the whole rebel force surrendered at discretion. General 
 McClernand, in his official report speaks of the brigade com- 
 manders of the Second Division in the following terms : 
 
 " Col, G. A, Smith and T, Kilby Smith led their com- 
 mands in a manner challenging the commendation of their 
 superior officers." 
 
 It fell to the lot of the latter to marshal the prisoners who 
 had been taken, — nearly five thousand men, and a large 
 quantity of mercantile stores were the spoils of this exploit. 
 The Union army lost an aggregate of 1061 men in killed, 
 wounded and missing. Col. T. Kilby Smith received from 
 Sherman commendation as having ' ' commanded the Second 
 Brigade of the division and did it bravely and well, and 
 deserves special notice ' ' ; and Stuart thus speaks of his 
 brigade commanders : 
 
 " Col. Giles A. Smith, commanding the First Brigade, and 
 Col. T. Kilby Smith, commanding the Second Brigade, led 
 their brigades with gallantry and deserve honor and advance- 
 
Memoir 2 1 
 
 ment— deserve it because they have earned it in the field, 
 where alone it can be earned." ' 
 
 The success at Arkansas Post gave no little reputation to 
 General McClernand, but it is fair to believe that he reaped 
 but the harvest that had been sown by Sherman : such is the 
 testimony of Porter, who remarked in a letter to Sherman 
 under date of February 3, 1863 : 
 
 ' /<^«^., pp. 706, 757, 773. Report of Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith, 
 54th Ohio Infantry, commanding Second Brigade : 
 
 " Hdqrs. 2D Brig., 2D Drv., 15TH A. C. 
 
 " Post Arkansas, Ark., Jany 12, 186^. 
 " Captain : > j ./ . o 
 
 " I have the honor to report the part taken in the late action by 
 the Second Brigade under my command. 
 
 " Debarking by order of General Stuart on Saturday, loth instant, 
 the Brigade followed the line of march indicated, and just before 
 night took position in the woods in front of one of the enemy's bat- 
 teries. I ordered the 57th Ohio to the right to support the 8th Mis- 
 souri, by request of Colonel Smith, commanding the First Brigade, 
 and the 55th Illinois and 83d Indiana forward with instructions to 
 draw the enemy's fire, which they did, with such effect as to cause the 
 loss of 14 killed and wounded by their shells, among them Captain 
 Yeoman, commanding the 54th Ohio, whose right arm was shattered, 
 since amputated. 
 
 "Early the next morning the Brigade moved forward, and at one 
 o'clock formed in line of battle to storm the fortifications, the 57th 
 Ohio, led by Colonel Mungen, on the right, the 127th Illinois on the 
 centre, the 83d Indiana on the left, with the 55th Illinois and 54th 
 Ohio in reserve immediately in the rear. Their action was under the 
 eye of General Stuart. I saw none falter, and where all officers and 
 men were so gallant, I cannot make invidious distinction. The 83d 
 Indiana and the 57th Ohio each have a Texan flag as trophies sur- 
 rendered by the enemy before the close of the fight. I desire to make 
 special mention of Colonel Malmborg, commanding the 55th Illinois, 
 whose zeal and unremitting diligence in superintending working 
 parties and planting batteries, performing at the same time his whole 
 duty to his regiment, command compliment. 
 
 "With a list of casualties in my command, appended below, and 
 which I have to submit herewith, I am, with the highest respect, 
 "Your obedient servant, 
 
 " Thomas Kii.by Smith, 
 " Col. comdg. 2d Brig., 2d Div., 15 A. C. 
 " CapT. C. MCD0NAI.D, 
 " Ass't Adjt. Gen." 
 
32 Tho7nas Kilby Smith 
 
 * * As to the Arkansas Post affair, it originated with yo^xx- 
 self entirely, and you proposed it to me on the night you 
 embarked the troops, and before it was known you had been 
 reheved, and after General McClernand had arrived. What- 
 ever disposition was made of the troops after landing, your 
 plans at least were carried out as far as the state of the woods 
 and country would permit. . . . " ' 
 
 After dismantling Fort Hindman, and destroying a quan- 
 tity of property and sending an expedition to capture Des 
 Arc and Du Val's Bluff, McClernand by orders from General 
 Grant, withdrew his army to Napoleon on the Mississippi at 
 the mouth of the Arkansas River. On the 21st of January, 
 1863, the troops were landed at Young's Point, and on the 
 2d of February, General Grant arrived and took command 
 in person. He at once set himself to consider the problem 
 of the reduction of the great rebel stronghold. Vicksburg 
 is situated on a high bluff on the side of a horseshoe made 
 by the Mississippi taking a sharp curve. The bluffs upon 
 which it stands rise 
 
 " A little below the City and extend northeast twelve or 
 fifteen miles to the Yazoo River where they terminate in 
 Haines Bluff. In the rear of the city the ground is high and 
 broken, falling off gradually towards the Big Black River 
 twelve miles distant ; this range of hills fronting the Missis- 
 sippi and the Yazoo, which projected along its entire length, 
 and the only approach to Vicksburg by land was up their 
 steep faces. ... At the base of these bluffs were rifle 
 pits, and to render the approach still more difficult, there is a 
 deep natural ditch called ' Chickasaw Bayou, ' extending from 
 the Yazoo below Haines Bluff, passing along near the base 
 of the bluffs for some distance and emptying into the Missis- 
 sippi. Added to this is a deep slough, whose bottom is quick 
 sand, and supposed to have once been a lake, which stretched 
 along the foot of the bluffs and entered the bayou where 
 the latter approached them." " 
 
 Sherman's assault on the 28th of December, 1862, had 
 shown the futiHty of any effort to carry the enemy's works 
 
 * Ibid., p. 883. 
 
 * The Civil War in America, Lossing, vol. ii., p. 576. 
 
 :? 
 
Memoir 33 
 
 by assault from the front of Chickasaw Bayou. When Gen- 
 eral Grant looked over the field it was suggested to his mind 
 that if a canal could be cut across the narrow peninsula 
 formed by the bend of the great river and the waters of the 
 stream be diverted through this canal, Vicksburg would be left 
 isolated, and troops and supplies might be transported with- 
 out annoyance from its batteries to a new base below the 
 town. The canal had been commenced the year before, by 
 General Williams, and to complete this, a mile of digging 
 was all that was necessary and energetic efforts were made 
 to accomplish the work ; but it was the spring of the year 
 and the waters of the Mississippi were very high, and not- 
 withstanding every effort to restrain them, on the 8th of 
 March they broke through the barrier that had been erected 
 and submerged the camps. The project of diverting the 
 main stream was found to be futile, and a new plan had to 
 be devised. A glance at the map of the region about Vicks- 
 burg, shows an extraordinary system of waterwaj^s, various 
 inland streams being so connected that it is possible for boats 
 of light draught to make their way from points on the 
 Mississippi through the country and back again to the main 
 stream. Some of these, such as the Tallahatchie, the Sun- 
 flower, Deer Creek, Steele's Bayou, and others, immediately 
 became objects of attention to the general commanding, and 
 he thought that if a channel were cut from the western shore 
 of the Mississippi forty or fifty miles above Vicksburg across 
 the narrow neck of land into I^ake Providence, he could ob- 
 tain a continuous water connection far below Vicksburg 
 through the bayous Baxter and Macon and the Tensas River, 
 as also into the Washita and Red Rivers. Various ex- 
 peditions were projected and sent out to accomplish this re- 
 sult.' On the 15th of March, Admiral Porter, taking some 
 of his gunboats, endeavored to find a way through Steele's 
 Bayou into the Sunflower Creek, and so into the Yazoo be- 
 tween Haines' Bluff and Yazoo City. Perhaps no more 
 remarkable effort was made during the war to carry on hos- 
 tilities by the aid of the naval arm of the service. Admiral 
 Porter was aided by a detachment from the Fifteenth Army 
 
 ^Ibid., p. 586. 
 3 
 
34 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Corps in his operations. He had advanced up Deer Creek 
 with five ironclads, but ' ' before reaching Rolling Fork, had 
 found the Creek so full of growing trees and willows that his 
 progress was slower than he had calculated, and the enemy- 
 had begun further to obstruct his progress by felling trees in 
 the channel and firing from ambush on his working parties 
 when exposed on the decks or on the banks of the stream. ' ' ' 
 Finding himself in this exposed position, and being threat- 
 ened with the danger of losing his fleet, he called on Sherman 
 for assistance. The latter hastened to his aid. Sherman in 
 person accompanied the division of General Stuart with its 
 three brigades, those of Giles A. Smith, T. Kilby Smith and 
 Hugh Ewing. There were no serious hostilities in the course 
 of this expedition, and the consequence was but small loss 
 of life, and eventually the fleet was extricated from its dan- 
 gerous position. As a part of the narrative of the command 
 of T. Kilby Smith, his report is given in full : 
 
 " Hdqs. Second Brig., Second Div., Fifteenth A. C, 
 
 Camp opposite Vicksburg, March 27, 1863. 
 " Sir : 
 
 " I have the honor to submit the following report of the 
 part taken by four regiments of the Second Brigade, under 
 my command, in the late expedition in aid of Admiral Porter. 
 (The 55th Illinois was ordered on special service the 15th 
 instant, under command of Brigadier-General Ransom, and 
 did not report back to my command till the 26th instant.) 
 
 " On the morning of the 17th instant, the brigade was 
 embarked at Young's Point upon transports, and, proceeding 
 up the Mississippi River, landed at Eagle Bend, from whence 
 a bridge and road sufficient for the passage of infantry was 
 constructed to Steele's Bayou by details from the division. 
 
 " On the evening of the 19th, the brigade was debarked, 
 and, marching to Steele's Bayou, bivouacked near its inter- 
 section with Muddy Bayou. At this time I placed the com- 
 mand with lyieutenant-Colonel Rice, of the 57th Ohio, the 
 senior officer of the brigade, and, in company with Generals 
 Sherman and Stuart, proceeded up Steele's Bayou in a tug, 
 
 ' Shertran's Report, War Records, series i., vol. xxiv., pt. i., p. 434. 
 
Memoir 35 
 
 to reconnoiter and prepare the way for the transit of troops. 
 The bayou was tortuous and overhung with trees, whose 
 branches seriously impeded the passage of transports. Great 
 skill and constant vigilance on the part of the navigators 
 were required to keep these from irreparable injury ; the 
 sinking of a boat would have been fatal to the expedition 
 and resulted in disaster to the gunboat fleet. 
 
 " I remained with General Stuart, aiding him in facilitat- 
 ing the embarkation and debarkation of troops until the 
 whole division was landed at the mouth of Black Bayou. 
 By misunderstanding I was prevented from joining my own 
 brigade at Hill's Plantation, two miles above, it having 
 marched before my arrival at that point, where I expected 
 to meet it with the residue of the troops. The brigade, 
 therefore, remained under the command of I^ieutenant- 
 Colonel Rice, to whose report, forwarded herewith, I re- 
 spectfully refer for its proceedings from the evening of the 
 2ist to the morning of the 24th instant. While I was morti- 
 fied at being separated from my soldiers, my perfect confi- 
 dence in the ability of this fine oflBcer left me no apprehension 
 as to his conduct of the command. 
 
 ' ' You will observe by his report that, on the morning of 
 the 22d, the brigade marched up the east bank of Deer Creek, 
 and having, in co-operation with the First Brigade, extricated 
 Admiral Porter and his gunboats from their perilous position, 
 returned to Hill's Plantation at 11 a.m. of the 24th instant. 
 Here it bivouacked. 
 
 ' ' At noon on the 25th instant, I ordered the 83d Indiana, 
 Colonel Spooner commanding, to take position on Fore's 
 Plantation, a mile or more distant from Hill's, as an advance 
 post, a bod}^ of cavalry and regiment of infantry from the 
 enemy making demonstrations in that direction. With 
 these a sharp skirmish ensued, and Private William Lathrop, 
 of Company G, 83d Indiana, was killed, the only casualty or 
 accident of any kind I have to report. 
 
 ' ' In the engagement the regiment sustained its high repu- 
 tation, and for minute particulars I respectfully refer you to 
 the report of then Captain (now Lieutenant- Colonel) Myers. 
 
 ' ' At the close of evening, the 83d was withdrawn from the 
 
36 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 front, and the following day (26tli) the brigade was em- 
 barked, with other troops, upon the transports Silver Wave 
 and Eagle, and, after an exciting passage through the bayous 
 into the Yazoo, debarked at the lower landing of Young's 
 Point on the 27th, from whence it marched, in good order, 
 to camp on the levee. 
 
 "It is usual, in reports of this character, to compliment 
 oflScers and soldiers, and because the custom is common the 
 compliment loses value ; yet I cannot, in justice to the hardy 
 veterans of the Second Brigade, let the opportunity pass 
 without once more testifying to the courage, constancy, and 
 uncomplaining fortitude that sustains them under every ex- 
 posure, fatigue, and privation. The whistling of bullets is 
 as familiar to their ears as household words. Danger they 
 scorn, and the cheerfulness with which they encounter hard- 
 ships is beyond all praise. 
 
 " Respectfully referring to the accompanying reports of 
 regimental commanders, with request that they be returned 
 at some future time for copy, I have the honor to be your 
 obedient servant, 
 
 " Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 " Col., Comdg. Second Brig., Second Div., 
 " Fifteenth Army Corps. 
 " Capt. C. McDonald, 
 
 " A.A.G., 2d Div. Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 Dept. of the Tennessee." 
 
 The reports of Lieut. -Col. A. V. Rice, of the 57th Ohio, 
 who commanded the brigade during the absence of Col. T. 
 Kilby Smith, and of the other regimental commanders are 
 interesting for details. In that of Major C. W. Fisher, of the 
 54th Ohio, there appears a pleasing incident of the conduct 
 of General Sherman, showing the comradeship with which 
 he treated his troops. Major Fisher says : 
 
 " I must here mention the fact that the Major-General 
 commanding the Fifteenth Army Corps was himself on foot 
 and marched part of the time at the head of the 54th Ohio, 
 and this exhibition of carelessness of personal comfort on the 
 part of one so high in command, filled the men with enthusi- 
 
Memoir -j 7 
 
 asm, and it is saying but very little to say that all believed 
 in General Sherman." ' 
 
 On returning from this expedition, an event occurred of 
 personal significance to the officers and soldiers of the Second 
 Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, which no doubt filled 
 them with regret. General David Stuart, who had been 
 their commander during all the operations of the siege and 
 for some time prior thereto, who had displayed his soldierly 
 quahties from the conflict at Shiloh, had failed of confir- 
 mation as brigadier-general by the United States Senate 
 ^ hatever may have been the reasons for the action of that 
 body m refusing to " advise and consent " to the advance- 
 ment of this gallant officer, the result was to deprive the 
 army of one of its most efficient commanders. General 
 Sherman showed his appreciation by a highly complimen- 
 tary order and appointed Major-Gen. Francis P. Blair, Jr. 
 to command the division : ' '' 
 
 "General Orders") 
 No. 19. J 
 
 " Hdqrs. Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 "Young's Point, La., April 4, 1862. 
 
 " I. Brig. -Gen. David Stuart, having been relieved from 
 duty with his division, by special orders No. 92, Head- 
 quarters Department of the Tennessee, April 2, 1863, Maj.- 
 Gen. F. P. Blair, Jr., is appointed to command the' same 
 and will transfer his present brigade to the senior officer for 
 duty with it, and assume command of the Second Division 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, Headquarters near the centre of the 
 present division camp. 
 
 "2. In relieving General Stuart of the command of the 
 Second Division, with which he has been so long identified 
 the commanding general takes the opportunity to thank him 
 for his energetic, patriotic and successful services. Ever 
 present, ever active, and by a high-toned spirit of honor and 
 dignity imparting to his troops a similar tone, he has now 
 the deep respect and aff^ection of his men and he elicits the 
 praise of all his commanders. Whilst all must yield to the 
 
 ' War Records, part i., vol. xxiv., series i., p. 448. 
 
38 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 decree which separates us for a time, all may properly hope 
 that the services of General Stuart are by no means lost to a 
 cause which is common to a whole continent, and the success 
 of which more interests coming generations than the people 
 of the present day. 
 
 " His old comrades in arms wish him honor and success 
 in life, and will hail his return to the colors which, for a 
 time, he must leave to the care of others. 
 
 " By order of Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman, Commanding. 
 
 " L. M. Dayton, 
 " Assistant Adjutant General." ' 
 
 Grant now determined upon a plan, which, for boldness 
 and success, was not exceeded in his military career, and 
 which resulted in placing him in the front rank of the world's 
 greatest soldiers. His plan was to attack Vicksburg in the 
 rear, and, in order to accomplish this, to transport his entire 
 army to the east bank of the Mississippi at New Carthage, a 
 point below Vicksburg. To this end, Admiral Porter on the 
 i6th of April, at night, having protected the boilers of his 
 transports, ran the batteries in front of Vicksburg, and, al- 
 though some of his boats were inj ured, and one entirely con- 
 sumed, succeeded in getting the others by. On the 22d of 
 April, another fleet of transports was sent down the river and 
 passed the batteries with the loss of but one vessel. The 
 injured transports were forthwith put in repair, and then the 
 barges loaded with forage and rations got by and the army was 
 put on the march overland. On the 29th of April, an attack 
 was made upon Grand Gulf. This attack failing, a landing 
 was effected at Bruinsburg, in Louisiana, the gunboats as 
 well as the transports being used to ferry^ the army across. 
 The Thirteenth Army Corps, under command of General 
 McClernand, met the enemy at Port Gibson, where, after a 
 heavy battle, the latter were driven back. Meantime, the 
 Fifteenth Corps, under command of General Sherman, had 
 been left alone to prevent General Pemberton, the Confeder- 
 ate commander, from despatching any of the army in Vicks- 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xxiv., part iii., p. 172. 
 
Memoir 39 
 
 burg to the aid of the forces opposed to Grant. Sherman 
 was directed to make a demonstration on Haines Bluff in 
 order to deceive Pemberton and give him the impression that 
 an attack in force was intended. Having embarked his 
 Second Division on the 29th of April, and accompanied by 
 the flag boat Black Hawk and several other naval vessels, he 
 proceeded up the Yazoo. Late in the night of April 29th he 
 was at the mouth of Chickasaw, and early the next morning 
 came within easy range of the enemy's batteries and engaged 
 them. Towards evening, he ordered the Second Division to 
 disembark in full view of the enemy and seemingly prepared 
 to assault, and thus kept up appearances until night, when 
 the troops were re-embarked, and during the next day simi- 
 lar movements were made accompanied by reconnoissance of 
 all the country on both sides of the Yazoo. Orders were 
 then received from General Grant to hurry forward to Grand 
 Gulf, which in the meantime had been evacuated by the 
 enemy in consequence of their losses at the battle of Port 
 Gibson. Having accomplished the object of his feint, Sher- 
 man dropped back to camp at Young's Point without any 
 casualties, save a slight injury to one man, and on the next 
 morning, the ist of May, started on his march, leaving 
 Blair's division at Milliken's Bend. Marching with great 
 rapidity, he effected a junction with the remainder of the army 
 about the 13th of May, in the neighborhood of Jackson, Mis- 
 sissippi, and, after considerable fighting, occupied that place, 
 and having destroyed the railroads and much property of value 
 to the enemy, he turned about towards Vicksburg. Blair, 
 meanwhile, had remained at Milliken's Bend until the morn- 
 ing of the 7th of May, when, in obedience to orders, he started 
 his march towards Jackson with the First and Second Bri- 
 gades, the Third Brigade being left with Gen, Hugh Ewing at 
 Milliken's Bend ; he arrived at Hard Times, opposite Grand 
 Gulf, at one o'clock on May loth, a distance by the road of 
 sixty-three miles. He succeeded in crossing the river on the 
 night of the nth, and on the morning of the 12th, took up 
 his march for Jackson and on the evening of the 15th he 
 reached Raymond. At this point the enemy had made a 
 stand, and on the morning of the i6th a severe battle took 
 
40 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 place. For about three hours the enemy resisted the advance 
 of the Union army. Blair's division took an active part in 
 the defeat that was inflicted upon the troops commanded by 
 Generals Gregg and Walker of the Confederate army ; and 
 during that day, and on the morning of the 1 7th, about three 
 hundred prisoners were taken. Early on the morning of the 
 17th, orders were received to proceed by Edwards' Depot, 
 on the Black River railroad bridge, where the enemy had 
 made a stand, but upon reaching Edwards' Depot, an order 
 was given to proceed to Bridgeport. At 10 a.m. the com- 
 mand reached this point, and resistance being made by a 
 small party of the enemy, they were compelled to surrender 
 and a bridge was then laid across the river and the division 
 passed over and bivouacked for the night. On the i8th of 
 May, the division closed in with the remainder of the army 
 about Vicksburg. 
 
 During this short campaign, occupying rather less than 
 three weeks, the army under General Grant had crossed the 
 Mississippi, had defeated the enemy with great loss in the 
 battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, and Jackson, at Cham- 
 pion's Hill and Edwards' Ferry, and now it was determined 
 to make another effort to carry the stronghold of Vicksburg 
 by an assault from the rear. 
 
 On the morning of the 19th of May, the entire line of 
 skirmishers of Blair's division was pushed forward with a 
 view of obtaining a closer position and reconnoitering the 
 ground. In his report General Blair says : 
 
 " At 2 P.M. the signal was given for an assault, and my 
 whole division pushed forward, and wherever the nature of 
 the ground was not insuperable, reached the enemy's en- 
 trenchments and in several instances planted our flags upon 
 his works. The 2d Regiment of General Ewing's brigade, 
 the 4th Virginia, and 47th Ohio, succeeded in approaching 
 very near the enemy's works. The 13th U. S. Infantry, 
 Capt. E. C. Washington, and the ii6th Illinois Volunteer 
 Infantry, Col. N. D. Tupper, of the First Brigade, Col. Giles 
 A. Smith, commanding, pushed forward to the bastion, and 
 the 127th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. Hamilton N. El- 
 dridge, the 83d Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Col. Benjamin J. 
 
Memoir 4 1 
 
 Spooner, of the Second Brigade, commanded by Col. Thomas 
 Kilby Smith, also succeeded in reaching the same ground, 
 but the heavy fire of the enemy, who, not being pressed in 
 any other quarter, was strongly re-enforced in our front, 
 made it utterly impossible for them to make a lodgment in 
 the works. They held their positions, however, with the 
 utmost tenacity until night, when they withdrew. 
 
 " The 2oth and 21st were employed in skirmishing with 
 the enemy, reconnoitering the ground and improving our 
 position. 
 
 " On the 2 2d I received an order to renew the assault at 
 ten o'clock in the morning.' 
 
 " I massed my division on the ravine to the left of the 
 Graveyard road, where it debouches upon that road as it 
 passes across the valley immediately in front of the bastion. 
 A volunteer storming party, consisting of two officers and 
 fifty men from each brigade of the division, was to lead the 
 assault. General Kwing's brigade and the brigades of Cols. 
 
 ' The following were the oflBcial orders : 
 General Field \ 
 Orders, No. — . J 
 
 " Heiadquarters Department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 " NEAR ViCKSBURG, Miss., May 21, 1863. 
 
 " A simultaneous attack will be made to-morrow at ten o'clock a.m. 
 by all the army corps of this army. During to-day army commanders 
 will have examined all practicable routes over which troops can pos- 
 sibly pass. They will get in position all the artillery possible and 
 gain all the ground they can with their infantry and skirmishers, and 
 at an early hour in the morning a vigorous attack will be commenced 
 by the artillery and skirmishers. The infantry with the exception of 
 musketeers and skirmishers will be placed in columns of platoons or 
 by a flank, if the ground over which they may have to pass will not 
 admit of a greater front, ready to move forward at the hour desig- 
 nated. Promptly at the hour designated we will start at quick time 
 with bayonets fixed and march immediately on the enemy without 
 firing a gun until the outer works are carried. The troops will go 
 light, carrying with them only their ammunition, canteens, and one 
 day's rations. 
 
 "The skirmishers will advance as soon as possible after heads of 
 columns pass them, and scale the walls of such works as may confront 
 them. If prosecuted with vigor, it is confidently believed this course 
 will carry Vicksburg in a very short time and with very much less 
 
42 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Giles A, Smith and Thomas Kilby Smith were to follow in 
 the order in which they are named, and to charge across the 
 road by the flank. 
 
 " At the signal, the volunteer storming party, led by Capt. 
 
 loss than would be sustained by delay. Every day's delay enables the 
 enemy to strengthen his defences and increases his chances for re- 
 ceiving aid from outside. 
 
 *' By command of Maj.-Gen. U. S. Grant, 
 
 John A. Rawlins, A. A. Gen. 
 Official, W. D. Green, A. A. Gen. 
 
 General 1 
 Orders, No, — . j 
 
 " Hdqrs. Fifteenth Army Corps, Camp 
 " BEFORE ViCKSBURG, May 21, 1863. 
 
 "In addition to the details set forth in General Orders No. — . from 
 Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, the following is added : 
 
 " General Blair's and Tuttle's divisions will assault along the main 
 road by the flank, the head of column preceded by selected or volun- 
 teer storming party of about 150 men. 
 
 "The skirmishers along the whole front will, during the night, 
 advance within 100 yards of the enemy's works and will, with the 
 spade or axe, prepare pits or fallen trees, so as to give them cover, 
 from which to kill artillerists who attempt to load the guns and also 
 to keep down the fire of the enemy's infantry and rifle-pits during 
 the assault. As soon as the head of column is seen to enter the 
 works, these skirmishers will hastily scale the works, fire upon the 
 enemy, and drive him as far as possible. 
 
 " The artillery will collect all the ammunition they can close at hand, 
 and will begin at daylight to fire on the enemy's sally-port, the bas- 
 tions, and batteries that have a fire on the ground over which the 
 columns must pass, firing with great care and precision, reserving in 
 their caissons, if possible, about 100 rounds of canister and shrapnel, 
 for service after passing the parapet. 
 
 " No wagons of any kind will attend the assaulting columns, but as 
 soon as the infantry has passed inside, the artillery will follow, then 
 the ambulances and ammunition wagons, one to a regiment. No other 
 wagons will enter the enemy's lines until we are in full possession of 
 Vicksburg. Notice is given to Division Commanders to call up their 
 wagons. 
 
 " Officers will assault on foot, but may have their horses brought to 
 them inside by their servants as soon as the troops have passed in. 
 
 "General Steele's division will in like manner attack by any route 
 he may select,— the one to the front of Thayer being suggested. 
 
 " Each column will attack by the watch and not depend on signals. 
 
Memoir 43 
 
 John H. Groce, of General Kwing's brigade, dashed forward 
 in gallant style and planted the flag of the Union, which was 
 borne by Private Howell G. Trogden of the 8th Missouri, 
 upon the bastion of the enemy. ... I then ordered the 
 brigade of Colonel Giles A. Smith forward by the same route 
 to the left of the road, as that taken by the last two regiments 
 of General Kwing, and, as soon as this brigade went forward 
 
 All must presume that others are doing their best, and do their full 
 share. 
 
 " As soon as the enemy gives way, he must be pushed to the very 
 heart of the city, where he must surrender. 
 
 " There is another valley or bayou on the other side of the one now 
 separating us from the enemy. After the enemy retreats across that 
 bayou our troops must follow at their heels and not permit them to 
 rally in an interior work. 
 
 " The General now looks to his corps to give the world the signal 
 example of steady courage and its result, — success. We must have 
 Vicksburg, and most truly have we earned it by former sacrifices and 
 labor. By order of 
 
 " Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman, 
 
 " R. M. Sawyer, A. A. Gen. 
 " Official, W. D. Green, A. A. Gen. 
 " Col. Thomas Kilby Smith, 
 
 " Commanding, Second Brigade." 
 
 General \ 
 Orders No. — . / 
 
 Headquarters Fieteenth Army Corps, 
 BEFORE Vicksburg, May 22, 1863. 
 
 1. General Blair will hold the present ground in front now occupied 
 by General Ewing and Colonel Giles A. Smith, and will withdraw the 
 other brigade to a position of easy support. 
 
 2. General Tupper will dispose two of his brigades to support the 
 batteries and hold the other in reserve near the forks of the road. 
 
 3. General Ewing and Colonel Giles A. Smith will construct in 
 their front a rifle-pit or breast-height of logs, and lay out a covered 
 road to their rear to be constructed as soon as poles can be procured. 
 
 4. The artillery will hold its present position and lose no time or 
 effort in renewing their supplies of ammunition . 
 
 5. Each regiment will, under cover of night, remove their dead and 
 wounded, inter the former and remove the latter to the hospital. 
 
 By order of 
 
 Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman. 
 R. M. Sawyer. (Original lead-pencil order). 
 
44 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 it was followed by the brigade of Col. Thomas Kilby Smith. 
 But this route, while it was better covered from the fire of 
 the enemy, led through ravines made almost impassable with 
 abatis of fallen timber, and did not admit of anything like a 
 charge. I therefore directed Col. Giles A. Smith to go for- 
 ward as rapidly as the nature of the ground would admit, 
 and assault whenever he found it practicable to do so, and 
 directed Col. Thomas Kilby Smith to follow close up and 
 support any movement Colonel Giles A. Smith should make. 
 Col. Giles A. Smith pushed forward following the ravine to 
 the left of the position of General Ewing, and reached a 
 ridge about one hundred yards from the enemy's entrench- 
 ments. ... It was late in the afternoon before these 
 brigades were able to reach the positions which I have re- 
 ferred to, so difficult and toilsome was the nature of the 
 ground. . . . Both brigades went forward with a cheer 
 when the signal was given to advance, . . . but after 
 reaching the face of the works of the enemy they encoun- 
 tered a most fatal and deadly enfilading fire from the enemy's 
 guns on the left, which came crashing through the ranks, 
 while in front they were met by an obstinate resistance from 
 the entrenched foe, and it was found impossible to advance.' 
 
 ' It was during a part of this assault, probably, that the following 
 orders were issued by Sherman : 
 
 No. I. Gen. Bi^air : — I am on the hill behind you. Can see every- 
 thing. Gen. Grant has been here. He assures me McPherson is ad- 
 vancing handsomely and I hear his fire steadily advancing — don't 
 mistrust others. I hear McClemand also advancing. Grant tells me 
 when he was with McPherson he could not hear any musketry fire. 
 The cannon which fires at you from the high bastions to your left is a 
 blank gun and does not look to McPherson. I see to the right four 
 guns firing at McPherson. Hold every foot of ground and waste as 
 little ammunition as possible. I have plenty of ammunition near me 
 and by sending details you can have it. Carry your wounded in the 
 ravines till they can be removed. Remove the dead out of sight. 
 
 " No. 2. I will direct the artillery to fire when they can without 
 killing our men, whose colors I can plainly see. Reserve Kilby 
 Smith ; send him this note : Let each brigadier get his brigade as 
 close to the parapet as possible. Wait developments but fail not 
 advantage of any let up. McPherson is well up, I can see the effect 
 of his musketry. General Grant has gone to Steele to watch his 
 
Memoir 45 
 
 Both brigades, however, maintained pertinaciously the 
 ground they had won, and Col. Giles A. Smith's brigade 
 still retains it, having fortified the position, and, under 
 orders the position has been materially strengthened and 
 advanced. 
 
 ' ' I desire to mention in terms of the highest commenda- 
 tion the conduct of the three ofiicers commanding the bri- 
 gades of my division throughout the two affairs of the 19th 
 and 2 2d, and the almost continuous fighting which inter- 
 vened. ' ' 
 
 General Sherman endorses the report of General Blair, and 
 says in the course of his remarks : 
 
 * ' In reviewing and submitting the report of General Blair, 
 . I take great pleasure in endorsing all he says of the 
 conduct of his men and officers during both assaults of May 
 19 and 22, for, from my position on both days, I had this 
 division in full view. If any troops could have carried and 
 held the entrenchments of Vicksburg, these would. ' ' ' 
 
 The losses sustained by the Second Division aggregated 
 890 men killed, wounded and missing, whereof the Second 
 Brigade met with the smallest loss, 201, the Third with the 
 largest, 386. As this narrative is especially concerned with 
 the troops under the command of Col. Thomas Kilby Smith, 
 his report of operations from May 6th to May 24th, is given 
 in full: 
 
 movements. Wliere there is no regular glacis, the nearer you are 
 to the parapet, the better chance there is for shot passing over. Send 
 this note to all your brigadiers. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Sherman, 
 
 (Note). These relics of the war are written with lead pencil on the 
 back of paroles, wherein W. McKay Perry, a private of Company H, 
 5th Regiment, Mississippi, Volunteer Infantry, and J. A. Barton, 
 Corporal of Company I, 5th Missouri Volunteers, C. S. A., pledge 
 their words and honor not to take up arms against the United States 
 Government until they are regularly exchanged, and bear date May 
 17, 1863. They are of interest as showing how closely General Sher- 
 man watched the movements of his troops, and how carefully he 
 anticipated the exigencies of the battle. 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xxiv., part ii., p. 261. 
 
4-6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " Hdqrs. Second Brig., Second Div. Fifteenth A. C, 
 " In Camp on Wai,nut Hii^i^, near Vicksburg, May 24. 
 
 " Major : In compliance with orders of even date, I have 
 the honor to make the following report : 
 
 " The Second Brigade is composed of the 55th Illinois, 
 commanded by Col. Oscar Malmborg ; 54th Ohio, Lieut. Col. 
 C. W. Fisher ; 57th Ohio, Col. Americus V, Rice ; 83d In- 
 diana, Col. Benjamin J. Spooner ; 127th Illinois, Col. H. N. 
 Eldridge ; and Company B, ist Illinois Light Artillery, Capt. 
 S. K. Barrett, a battery of four 6-pounder brass field pieces 
 and two 12-pounder howitzers. 
 
 " On the 6th instant, at Milliken's Bend, I received an 
 order from General Blair to break up camp, and, with ten 
 daj's' rations and ammunition, marching light, without tents 
 or baggage, take up the line of march for Grand Gulf. 
 
 " On the 7th, at daybreak, with the 54th Ohio, the 83d 
 Indiana, and battery, we were on the road, the other three 
 regiments having been detached to repair roads and bridges 
 from Milliken's Bend to Richmond and beyond. These were 
 picked up eyi route, and, on the evening of the 7th, the whole 
 brigade was closed in due order of march, with transportation. 
 
 " On the evening of the loth, we reached Hard Times 
 Landing, sixty-five miles. 
 
 " On the nth, we crossed to Grand Gulf. 
 
 " On the 1 2th, resumed march, via Willow Springs, 
 Rocky Springs, Cayuga, and Auburn, and arrived at Ray- 
 mond, fifty-three miles, on the 15th, and in the evening, one 
 mile from Raymond, on the road to Bolton, bivouacked in 
 line of battle. 
 
 " On the morning of the i6th instant, having the advance 
 of the division, and following the command of Gen. A. J. 
 Smith, I marched towards Edwards' Station. Firing was 
 heard in front as early as eight o'clock. About noon I re- 
 ceived orders to hold my command in readiness for an en- 
 gagement. At one o'clock I found my left resting on the 
 road, and shortly afterward, by order from General Blair, 
 moved by the left flank of regiments, but without artiller}', 
 the broken and woody nature of the ground rendering the 
 transit of the pieces impossible. I advanced three-quarters 
 
Memoir 47 
 
 of a mile. Before I Had changed front, a battery from the 
 enemy opened fire upon me, and, by orders from General 
 Blair, I fell back to near my first position, where I placed 
 Captain Barrett in battery, supporting him by my entire 
 brigade. Here we remained some two hours, when, by 
 order from General Blair to support Gen. A. J. Smith, we 
 moved forward by the left flank on the road, the battery 
 following the 54th Ohio, till we reached a portion of General 
 A. J. Smith's command, deployed, and under fire from a 
 battery, within six hundred yards. Here I again formed, 
 and reported to Gen. A. J. Smith. Shortly afterward. Gen- 
 eral Blair, in person, ordered me to connect my lines with 
 those of the First Brigade, Col. Giles A. Smith, which had 
 been manoeuvring on my right and General Smith's. This 
 was done by flank and forward movement, and accomplished 
 by ten o'clock. The men rested upon their arms till day- 
 break, when we marched without opposition to Edwards' 
 Station, the enemy having precipitately retired under cover 
 of the night, leaving the ground strewn with small arms and 
 ammunition. I omitted to mention that we captured some 
 two hundred prisoners during the afternoon and night. 
 
 " We crossed the Jackson Railroad at Edwards Station 
 at 9 A.M., and marched to Bridgeport, where we joined 
 General Sherman, and crossed Black River over pontoons, at 
 twilight, and proceeded two miles upon the Vicksburg Road 
 and bivouacked. 
 
 " On the morning of the i8th, the Second Brigade followed 
 the First upon the road to Vicksburg, until, arriving at a 
 point where the road forked, within one and one half miles 
 of these headquarters, I was ordered by General Sherman to 
 press forward upon the Graveyard road, and relieve the 
 Thirteenth Regulars, who were deployed as skirmishers. 
 About four o'clock I formed in line of battle within seven 
 hundred yards of, and opposite to, the enemy's works, then, 
 however, veiled from my view by the thick woods, and de- 
 ployed seven companies of skirmishers, the woods in front 
 being filled with the enemy. Shortly afterward General 
 Sherman advanced in person. Within brief space of time 
 General Steele's command was ordered upon my right, and 
 
4S Thomas Kilby SmitJi 
 
 my litie of skinnisliers connected wntli liiiu and the forces of 
 Gencnil McPherson, one and one half miles to my lett. 
 Captain Barrett was placed in battery by Major Taylor, 
 Chief of Artillery of the Fifteenth Army Corps, in front and 
 centre, snpported by two companies from the 55th Illinois. 
 
 " As night fell. I ordered the 54th Ohio, with three com- 
 panies from the 127th Illinois as a reserve, to deplo}- far to 
 my left, ^^^th a \'iew of comiecting with General Ransom's 
 picket. Col. Giles A. Smith meanwhile had advanced and 
 relieved my pickets on the right. Thus we remained resting 
 on our anus till daybreak, when, by orders from General 
 Sherman, I threw the pickets, as skirmishers, forward within 
 close range of the enemy, advancing the brigade in line of 
 battle on either side of what is called the Graveyard road, 
 leading to what was supposed to be a sally-port in the forti- 
 fications, the right wing. S3d Indiana and ujth Illinois with 
 its left, the left "u-ing, 55th Illinois and 54th Ohio uith its 
 right, upon the road till we reached the crest of a hill, five 
 hundred yards from the enemy's works. Company B. ist 
 Illinois Artillery. Captain Barrett, in position in front, still 
 supported by details from the 55th Illinois. 
 
 "At 9 A.M., the signal being given by Battery- A, five 
 shots were fired to get range, when a vigorous fire was 
 opened along the line, skirmishers and sharpshooters pouring 
 in most destructive volleys from sheltered points along the 
 range of hills and close under the parapets. 
 
 " At eleven o'clock the following order was received from 
 department headquarters, \\l : 
 
 " ' Corps commanders will push forward carefulh-, and 
 gain as close position as possible to the enemy's works, until 
 2 P.M.; at that hour they will fire three volleys of artillery 
 from all the pieces in position. This will be the signal for a 
 general charge of all the anny corps along the whole line. 
 When the works are carried, guards \N-ill be placed bv all 
 division commanders to prevent their men from straggling 
 from their companies. 
 
 " ' By order of Major-General Grant, &c.' 
 
 " At one o'clock I assembled \\\y pickets, calling in the 
 54th Ohio. A reconnoissance of the ground over which I 
 
Memoir 49 
 
 should pass had developed the fact that it would be impos- 
 sible to advance my whole brigade in line of battle, the hills 
 and knobs being exceedingly precipitous, intersected by 
 ravines in three directions, the bottom treacherous, filled 
 with sink holes, concealed by dried grass and cane ; the 
 whole covered by abatis of fallen timber from a dense forest 
 cut six months or more ago, affording spikes and cheveaux de 
 frise most difficult to surmount. The roadway alluded to is 
 cut and filled, slightly winding upon a ridge nearly perpen- 
 dicular to my line of battle, and at its point of intersection 
 with the fortifications makes an embankment some eighteen 
 feet high; therefore I placed my right wing, 83d Indiana 
 and 127th Illinois, in command of Colonel Spooner, its senior 
 officer, in whose ability and dauntless courage I repose the 
 fullest confidence, on the right of the road, with instructions 
 to press forward as rapidly as possible, and in such order as 
 he could best get over the ground. I ordered Captain Kili, 
 of Company K, 54th Ohio, to take charge of his line of 
 skirmishers, and Captain Moore, Company D, of the 54th 
 Ohio, brigade officer of the day to aid him. I formed the 
 55th Illinois with its right upon the road ; the 54th Ohio on 
 line with the 55th, with orders to guide it ; and the 57th 
 Ohio immediately in the rear but not in reserve. 
 
 " At the appointed hour the signal was given, and at the 
 command ' forward,' the troops advanced gallantly and 
 without hesitation. It was almost vain to essay a line, 
 owing to the nature of the ground, yet three times, under a 
 most galling and destructive fire, did these regiments halt 
 and dress upon their colors ; the nerve and self-possession of 
 both officers and men perfect ; not a man flinched from his 
 post. Having advanced some four hundred yards, I dis- 
 covered that the men were thoroughly exhausted, and halted 
 the left wing under the crest of a hill, from sixty-five to 
 seventy-five yards from the ditch and parapet, and where 
 they were comparatively sheltered from the small arms of the 
 enemy. Returning to reconnoitre the position of my right 
 wing, hid from my view by the embankment of the road, I 
 perceived their colors advanced to the very base of the 
 parapet, and also that my brigade was alone, unsupported 
 
50 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 on the left or right, save by a portion of the Thirteenth 
 Regulars, who had advanced to a position under the parapet, 
 near the 83d Indiana and 127th Illinois. 
 
 ' ' To the left, as far as I could see (and from an elevated 
 point I had great range), not a soldier to be seen, and only 
 an occasional puff of smoke from the rifle of a sharpshooter, 
 concealed far away among the hills, revealed the fact that 
 we had friends near us outside of our division. Therefore, 
 I determined to halt my command, report, and wait for 
 further orders, especially as from the position of my left wing 
 occupied (that which General Kwing is now fortifying) great 
 execution could be done by my men upon the sharpshooters 
 of the enemy, who, from the trees close behind the works, 
 were picking off our officers with devilish skill. 
 
 " Returning to the front, I sent an aide-de-camp to Gen- 
 eral Blair with report. I received in answer orders from 
 General Sherman ' to get my men as close to the parapet as 
 possible, and be ready to jump in when they began to yield,' 
 coupled with the assurance that McPherson was well en- 
 gaged, and that General Grant was on the ground, and that 
 the artillery of the enemy, which began to enfilade us, would 
 be silenced.' I ordered my men to cease firing and fix baj^o- 
 nets, with intent to charge, when, upon closer view, I dis- 
 covered the works too steep and high to scale without proper 
 appliances ; a few men could have been got over by the aid 
 of a ladder of bayonets or digging holes in the embankment, 
 but these would have gone to destruction. I could not make 
 a demonstration with my isolated command that would have 
 resulted permanently ; therefore I determined to maintain 
 the position and await developments. The sequel to the 
 
 ' KiivBY Smith : 
 
 Gen. Grant is here. He says McPherson is well engaged. When 
 there he could not hear our fire. Never mind the artillery. 
 
 Ammunition is being brought just to rear of Battery. Caution your 
 men not to fire too much. Steele is also working forward. Get your 
 men as close to the parapet as possible and be ready to jump in when 
 they begin to yield. Blair is along his line. 
 
 Sherman. 
 
 Col. T. K. Smith, 
 
 On the Field. 
 
Memoir 5 1 
 
 attempt at assault is my guarantee for the course I pursued, 
 
 " Meanwhile details were ordered back and ammunition 
 furnished in abundance ; the most accurate marksmen were 
 thrown forward with carte blariche to select the best cover. 
 Companies were advanced from each regiment and relieved 
 as ammunition gave out or guns became foul. A most 
 deadly fire was kept up, and none of the enemy ventured 
 his head above the wall who failed to pay the penalty. At 
 the same time the right wing, with stern determination, 
 maintained their ground. Their loss had been fearful, fall- 
 ing upon their best line and non-commissioned officers. 
 Captain after captain had been shot dead ; field officers were 
 falling ; still, there was no flinching. I communicated 
 through my aides. 
 
 " As night fell, I received a verbal order, through an un- 
 usual source, to fall back to my original position. This 
 order was in immediate conflict to two received from General 
 Sherman, and gave me no little surprise. I had won by 
 severe loss the best position to fortify in our whole front. 
 Already I had made arrangements to plant batteries upon 
 the hill I occupied. Reluctantly I left the command with 
 Colonel Rice, Colonel Malmborg, senior officer, having been 
 most painfully wounded in the e5^e, and went back in person 
 for report and explanation. 
 
 " At General Blair's headquarters I received the following 
 written orders : 
 
 " ' Brigade commanders will collect the forces of their re- 
 spective regiments, and occupy the last ground from which 
 the}^ moved to the assault to-day, where their men will be 
 well covered, advancing a line of skirmishers as near as pos- 
 sible to the enemy's works, for the purpose of occupying his 
 attention. They will be prepared to assault at daybreak in 
 the morning. 
 
 '"By order of Maj.-Gen. F. P. Blair, &c.' 
 
 " At this time it had become quite dark, when suddenly 
 the whole scene was brilliantly lighted by the flames of cer- 
 tain wooden houses within the works, ignited by simultane- 
 ous action of the enemy for the purpose of discovering our 
 change of movement. This purpose had been anticipated 
 
52 Thomas Kilby Sfniih 
 
 by Colonel Spooner, who, with skill and good judgment, 
 withdrew from the ditch beneath the parapet to shelter. A 
 few moments later, and hand-grenades and the grave would 
 have been supper and bed for his men. 
 
 " In pursuance of the last order, I quietly withdrew my 
 command by details. At three o'clock in the morning they 
 were in their old position. 
 
 " Here we remained till the morning of the 22d instant, 
 when orders issued to all the army corps for a simultaneous 
 attack were received. My instructions were to march by the 
 right flank down the road before mentioned, following the 
 First Brigade, the right of the division being led by Brigadier- 
 General Ewing, commanding the Third Brigade, by right of 
 rank, the position of my brigade being upon the left ; a 
 storming party of one hundred and fifty men to precede. 
 Volunteers of fifty were called from each brigade, and 
 promptly furnished pro rata of regiments. Of these I have 
 occasion to report hereafter. 
 
 " As soon as the First Brigade had formed, I closed behind 
 it in the following order of regiments : 55th Illinois, 83d 
 Indiana, 57th Ohio, 127th Illinois, and 54th Ohio, moving 
 forward through a winding and covered roadway, constructed 
 through the ravines near my line the night previous. 
 
 ' ' As we emerged upon the high ground from the cover of 
 the woods and hills, I discovered that the programme had 
 been changed. Instead of a dense column marching by the 
 flank down the road, as I had expected, the ground I had 
 passed over in the first assault on the 19th instant was cov- 
 ered by scattered masses. The flag of General Ewing was 
 flying from the hills from which I had been withdrawn. I 
 reported in person to General Blair, and received an order to 
 support Col. Giles A. Smith, who was endeavoring to make 
 a position somewhere between General Ewing and General 
 Ransom. This movement I could not have anticipated. 
 Nevertheless, discovering cover, and knowing the ground 
 well, I threw the brigade in column of regiments, and, by 
 regiments, moved rapidly over the brow of the hill, massing 
 them as best I could under cover from the enemy's musketry 
 and a Whitworth gun, waspish in its annoyance. 
 
Memoir 53 
 
 * ' They went over under heavy fire, but fortunately, owing 
 to the promptitude and gallantry of the men, without having 
 one killed or wounded, the volleys in each instance passing 
 over their heads. Thence, by filing down a long ravine that 
 skirts the main chain of bluffs, I overtook and again massed 
 by column of regiments in the rear of the 8th Missouri, of 
 the First Brigade, which had the most advanced position. 
 Shortly I threw out the 55th Illinois in line with the 8th 
 Missouri, and communicated with Col. Giles A. Smith in 
 person. His report will suffice for the operations of that 
 afternoon. 
 
 " I maintained the position till ten o'clock the following 
 morning, when, by intimation from Col. Giles A. Smith that 
 orders had been issued to that effect, I fell back to the posi- 
 tion now occupied by the troops, and reported in person to 
 General Blair for further orders. 
 
 ' ' I shall make no apology for undue length of ray report, 
 nor stint with measured praise the meed of the ofiicers and 
 men of the Second Brigade. I only regret my own inability 
 of language to do them full justice. With Colonel Malm- 
 borg, of the 55th Illinois, I have been side by side in several 
 battles ; have stood with him literally amid heaps of slain. 
 He is always cool, prudent, and of dauntless cotuage, and in 
 the recent engagement, although wounded twice, and, by 
 strange fatality, first in the right and next in the left eye, 
 displayed these qualities with the ardor and cheer so neces- 
 sary in a charge. 
 
 " Lieutenant- Colonel Chandler and Major Hefferman, of 
 the same regiment, were constantly in the front ranks, doing 
 their full duty with high bearing, setting a brave example 
 for their men. 
 
 ' ' Colonel Fisher, ever ready, zealous, and watchful, keep- 
 ing his men well in hand, led his charge most gallantly. 
 His flag was foremost. He sought no shelter save under its 
 folds. 
 
 " Colonel Rice maintained his position exactly and handled 
 his regiment as he would upon review — calm, collected, but 
 full of daring. Should his severe wound prove fatal, as is 
 feared, the service will suffer irreparable loss. 
 
54 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " Colonel Spooner has displayed in this last campaign 
 soldierly qualities of the highest order. Indefatigable in his 
 zeal for the welfare of his men, he fights them as he handles 
 them upon the march. Always alert and ready, he can well 
 share with them his own laurels. What I have said of Colonel 
 Spooner equally applies to Lieutenant-Colonel Myers ; both 
 scorn danger and both have skill to apply their courage. 
 
 " Colonel Eldridge won for himself a conspicuous place. 
 Among so many heroes it is hard to be distinguished ; yet 
 he was first with the foremost. The richest honors of a 
 grateful country should be showered upon him. 
 
 ' ' The following list of line ofl&cers I make special mention 
 of for courage, and not only for courage, but patient fortitude 
 and endurance of horrible heat in the ravines and hillsides, 
 and fatigue ; exposed bj^ night and day on pickets and with 
 advanced companies of skirmishers, unmurmuring, uncom- 
 plaining, only careful that their soldiers should suffer as little 
 as possible. I make special mention of Major Frank S. 
 Curtiss, of the 127th Illinois, who exhibited courage and 
 great zeal during the first assault particularly. He was 
 ever in the foremost ranks, and even exceeded his duty in 
 assisting soldiers with their guns when from frequent firing 
 they became foul ; also of Captain Barrett and his admirable 
 battery. His guns were splendidly served. He and his 
 company are veterans, and have won imperishable honor on 
 many a hard-fought field. His discipline and drill are 
 perfect. 
 
 " Lieut. -Col. Samuel R. Mott took command of the 57th 
 Ohio after Colonel Rice had been carried wounded from the 
 field. He handled his regiment with consummate skill and 
 daring, proving that he was well worthy of his recent pro- 
 motion. 
 
 " I desire to compliment Capt. G. M. White, my acting 
 assistant adjutant-general, and my aides-de-camp, Lieuts. 
 John Enoch, of the 54th Ohio, and Edward E. Root, of the 
 57th Ohio, and to express my obligations to Captain Gillett, 
 of the 127th Illinois Volunteers, and Lieutenant Dorchester, 
 of Thielemann's Cavalry, who were my volunteer aides. 
 Each one of these discharged his duty with the utmost 
 
Memoir 55 
 
 promptness and gallantry. Each one is intelligent, brave, 
 and meritorious. I have to regret that I do not possess the 
 power to advance them, but earnestly commend their pro- 
 motion, and ask that the commanding general secure it. I 
 also mention the names of my orderlies, James ly. Sherer and 
 Henry I^eibrant, as worthy of great commendation for faith- 
 fulness and courage. 
 
 * ' Herewith I submit a list of the casualties in battle, ' and 
 with request to hereafter make a supplementary report, inas- 
 much as commanding officers of the regiment and batteries 
 composing my brigade, having been ordered from the battle- 
 field upon the march, have had no opportunity to make 
 formal report, and respectfully calling attention to the re- 
 ports of commanding ofl&cers of the storming party, Colonel 
 Malmborg, Lieutenant-Colonels Mott and Fisher, now filed. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, with highest respect, your 
 obedient servant, 
 
 " Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 " Col. Comdg. Second Brig., Second Div., 
 " Fifteenth Army Corps. 
 " Maj. W. D. Green, Assistant Adjutant-General." 
 
 The report of Colonel Fisher of the 54th Ohio, contains a 
 graphic description of the part borne by that regiment, and 
 he pays tribute to his commander, who was acting brigadier, 
 in the following language : 
 
 ' ' Colonel T. Kilby Smith was on the field in both engage- 
 ments, and displayed the same reckless personal bravery 
 for which he has long since distinguished himself ' ' ^ 
 
 Sherman's corps were roughly handled by the defenders 
 of Vicksburg, and their experiences were not more severe 
 than those of either McClernand or McPherson, who made 
 the efibrt simultaneously with them. McClernand, under 
 the false impression that some of his brigades had succeeded 
 in capturing important defences of the enemy, sent word to 
 that effect to General Grant, and, calling for re-inforcements. 
 Grant ordered McPherson and Sherman to renew the assault 
 
 ' Nominal list, omitted, embraced in revised statements. 
 * War Records, series i., vol. xxiv., part ii., p. 279. 
 
56 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 at a time when, if the mistake had not been made, the loss 
 would have been much less. Grant saj^s : 
 
 " I attempted to carry the place by storm on the 22d, but 
 was unsuccessful. Our troops were not repulsed from any 
 point, but simply failed to enter the works of the enemy. 
 At several points they got up to the parapets of the enemy's 
 forts and planted their flags on the outer slope of the embank- 
 ments, where they still have them. The assault was made 
 simultaneously by the three army corps at 10 a.m. The loss 
 on our side was not very heavy at first, but, receiving re- 
 peated despatches from General McClernand, saying that he 
 was hard pressed on his right and left, calling for reinforce- 
 ments, I gave him all of McPherson's corps but four brigades, 
 and caused Sherman to press the enemy on our right, which 
 caused us to double our losses for the day. The whole loss 
 for the day will probably reach 1500, killed and wounded." ' 
 
 No substantial success repaid the carnage of this terrific 
 battle. The attacking army had put forth its full strength and 
 had been aided by the fleet under Porter ; but it was not pos- 
 sible for human effort to have been successful against works 
 so well garrisoned, so impregnably strong, and so valiantly 
 defended : the Union army recoiled with a loss of almost 
 three thousand men, and General Grant made up his mind 
 there was but one way to capture Vicksburg, and that was 
 by a regular siege. 
 
 Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith, as we have seen, had been 
 performing the duties of brigadier during all the operations 
 attendant upon the movement against Vicksburg. He had 
 been clothed with that responsibility in his first battle more 
 than a year past, and his superior officers had not failed to 
 commend him in official reports and by private testimony. 
 In a letter to his mother. General Sherman wrote as follows : 
 
 ' Grant to Halleck, May 24, 1863, War Rec, series i., vol. xxiv., 
 part i., p. 37. He animadverted severely upon McClernand, and 
 eventually that officer was relieved of his command. 
 
Memoir 5 7 
 
 "Hdqrs., Right Wing, Memphis, 
 
 " December 14, 1862. 
 
 " Mrs. Eliza B. Smith, 
 " Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 ' ' Dear Madam : Yours of December gth, is received, and 
 I have sent the letter for your son, Col. T. Kilby Smith, to 
 him at his camp on the outskirts of Memphis, , , , We 
 are now back at Memphis, and soon embark for lower down. 
 Your son is in splendid health and spirits ; always cheerful 
 and ready to serve his country. His past military career 
 must be to you a source of pride, and, whatever the future 
 has in reserve for us, you will have reason to feel satisfied 
 with him. 
 
 " I am rejoiced that Mrs. Sherman saw you, for she could 
 tell what I cannot write. 
 " I am, with great respect, 
 
 ' ' Your servant, 
 
 "W. T. Sherman, 
 " Maj.-Gen." 
 
 It was but natural that his family and his friends should 
 feel an ambition that the military services of Colonel Smith 
 should meet with official reward : the only reward that a 
 soldier can properly aspire to, — promotion, to the grade he 
 has won. So long as this promotion was withheld, he was 
 liable to be superseded in the command of his veteran brigade 
 b}' any newly made brigadier who might be assigned to the 
 division. Accordingly the subject of his promotion was 
 brought to the attention of his commanding officers as soon 
 as his military career warranted the appeal. In replying to 
 one of Mrs. Smith's letters. General Sherman wrote : 
 
 ** Hdqrs. Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 " Camp before Vicksburg, Feb. 18, 1863. 
 
 " Mrs. Eliza B. Smith, 
 " Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 ' ' Dear Madam : Your note of February 3d is received. I 
 have borne official testimony to the gallantry, courage, and 
 zeal of 5^our son on several occasions, and will do all that I 
 can that he may receive the reward a soldier covets and 
 
58 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 which his family and friends have a right to expect. I know 
 that I am either behind or ahead of the times in sparing 
 praise which, degenerating into adulation or flattery, ofiends 
 a proud and conscientious gentleman. I am not one of those 
 who fear that this war will cease before all are gratified with 
 the full measure of military fame and glory. I know our 
 enemy, and think I know enough of the deep-seated causes 
 of this war, to feel confident that every ambitious man will 
 have ample opportunity to reap fame and distinction. To 
 your son and others in whom I have felt a special interest, I 
 have ever counselled patience : ' Go on ; watch the develop- 
 ments of war ; study it ; learn from the experience of others 
 the true art ; knowledge, experience, and true merit in time 
 will be worth more than rank.' The old leaven of party 
 politics is so deeply implanted in the American heart, time is 
 necessary to eradicate it, but it will be eradicated, and the 
 soldier who, by close observation, by experience, and by real 
 courage has gained a reputation among his fellow soldiers, 
 will be called out to lead regardless of the mere rank con- 
 ferred for political reasons or newspaper fame. The man 
 who is to lead our country out of anarchy and chaos may be, 
 as Napoleon, a captain still, and no one should covet honor 
 too early. With this honest conviction, I have not pushed 
 forward the young and ambitious soldiers who have looked 
 to me for counsel and advice. Still, as you and others who 
 have a right to act, wish to advance Colonel T. Kilby Smith, 
 you may count on my hearty co-operation. His record is 
 perfect, his habits excellent ; his health good ; his bravery a 
 little rash ; his judgment good, and all he needs is hard 
 study of books and men — I mean, of course, military text- 
 books, and men who compose large armies. He has com- 
 manded a brigade and now commands one, and naturally, he 
 should be commissioned as a brigadier. It is improper for 
 me to write to the President direct, because I know he is 
 overwhelmed with care and labor, and it would be presump- 
 tuous in me to suppose him influenced by my recommenda- 
 tion, further than as contained in my ofiicial reports. I 
 therefore enclose a letter to my brother John, which you can 
 use according to the judgment of your friends. Excuse so 
 
Memoir 59 
 
 long a letter, but believe me, with great respect, one who 
 will always take a pleasure in sustaining the glory of our 
 country and the true interests of all committed to my care. 
 
 " W. T. Sherman, 
 " Maj.-Gen." 
 His letter to his brother was as follows : 
 
 " Camp before Vicksburg, Feb, i8, 1863. 
 
 " Hon. John Sherman, 
 " Washington, D. C. 
 ' ' Dear Brother : I have been a little slow in pushing 
 forward the young and ambitious oflScers in my command, 
 because I have been more anxious that they should perfect 
 themselves in true knowledge and experience, than in get- 
 ting rank. Col. T. Kilby Smith, of Cincinnati, joined me 
 at Paducah in Feb. last, and has, therefore, attended me in 
 all my devious movements for the past year. Never absent 
 one day. At Shiloh he succeeded to the command of the 
 brigade on the disabling of his senior. Colonel Stuart, and I 
 think in my report I mentioned how handsomely he acted. 
 In several small actions, as we approached Corinth, he was 
 ever on hand, and, more recently, at Chickasaw and Arkan- 
 sas Post, he actually commanded a brigade, and in each 
 case he bore himself well, almost too conspicuously. I 
 honestly think that services on the battlefield, or wherever 
 his men are, should be one of the reasons for promotion ; 
 but I am sorry to observe, in the long lists published, that 
 the old maxim holds good : ' One campaign at Court 
 (Washington) is worth five in the Field.' By this time, 
 the country must be convinced that war, and war alone, can 
 restore the just power of the Government, and the first step 
 must be in recognizing military service in the Field, and in 
 encouraging those who seek the enemy in the South and not 
 at Chicago. When you observe this change, I beg you will 
 assist the friends of Col. T. Kilby Smith in being promoted 
 to the rank of Brigadier-General, the command of which he 
 now exercises, only liable to be displaced by the arrival of 
 some new appointee who may not have smelt gunpowder or 
 heard a bullet in earnest. 
 
6o Tho77ias Kilby Smith 
 
 " My ofl&cial reports on file in the Adjutant- General's 
 office will always form the basis of a recommendation. 
 ' ' Affectionately, 
 
 " W. T. Sherman." 
 
 Such was the testimony of the corps commander. Cer- 
 tainly not less grateful to the feelings of a true soldier, and 
 not less weighty in distinguishing his merit, is the opinion 
 of those who were closest to him and under his responsible 
 direction in so many campaigns and desperate actions. As 
 early as the 24th of April, 1863, the following paper had been 
 prepared and signed by the officers of the 54th Ohio and 83d 
 Indiana regiments at least, and no doubt it was the intention 
 to secure the signatures of the other officers of the regiments 
 under his command, but the paper would seem to have been 
 considered unmilitary, and was probably not presented. It 
 is given, however, as an indication of the feeling of his sub- 
 ordinate officers : 
 
 " Second Brigade, Fieteenth Army Corps, 
 
 " Young's Point, La., April 24, 1863. 
 " R. M. Sawyer, 
 
 "A. A. Gen. 
 " Sir : Under General Orders No. 86, issued from the 
 War Department April 2, 1863, Col. Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 Cotnd'g Second Brigade, Fifteenth Army Corps, may at any 
 moment be mustered out of the service of the United States, 
 for the reason that his regiment the 54th Ohio Vols, does not 
 now reach one half the maximum number prescribed by law. 
 We understand that an attack will be made upon the city of 
 Vicksburg in a few days, and as officers of said brigade, we 
 beg leave to say that we desire to go into this fight under 
 the immediate command of Col. Smith, and trust, that 
 whether mustered out or not he may be permitted to lead his 
 old brigade. We hope this communication will not be re- 
 garded as ill-timed or unmilitary. 
 
 " Respectfully." 
 
 The following paper bears testimony of the affection of his 
 
Memoir 6 1 
 
 subordinate officers, and the approval of his superiors, and 
 was forwarded to Washington : 
 
 " Young's Point, La., BEFORE ViCKSBXTRG, 
 ' • ' ■ " March i, 1863. 
 
 " GenERAI< : 
 
 " Impressed by a strong conviction that we owe to the 
 services of a zealous officer, a true and faithful man and a 
 gallant soldier, our comrade in arms, under whom we are 
 serving with confidence and pleasure, an expression of our 
 appreciation of his merits and deservings, we take the liberty 
 (not generally approved, yet one we feel assured jj/^z^ will not 
 criticise) of addressing you as our appropriate medium in 
 seeking the accomplishment of our wishes. 
 
 " The officers and soldiers of the Second Brigade think 
 Col. Thomas Kilby Smith, of the 54th Ohio, now command- 
 ing the brigade, ought to be promoted. He has been upward 
 of a year and a half in service, having never for a day nor 
 an hour been absent from his command. 
 
 " His regiment formed one of your old division, with 
 which you fought the battle of Shiloh, made the advance on 
 Corinth, and commanded from that day to this — with that 
 division, we say, you fought, mainly, the battle of Shiloh. 
 
 " It claims for its record the testimonial of Major-General 
 Halleck — ' To General Sherman, more than to any other 
 officer, are we indebted for repulsing the enemy on Sunday, 
 and greatly for the glorious victory on Monday. ' 
 
 "It is considered that Colonel Smith was conspicuous 
 amongst your officers for his gallantry on that occasion. 
 Numerous promotions were made for the battle of Shiloh, 
 but not one from your division. We were content and satis- 
 fied by the distinction bestowed on you, for it was reflected 
 on us. In the march on Corinth we were constantly in the 
 advance. Colonel Smith was ever foremost and never de- 
 ficient. 
 
 ' ' In the affair before Vicksburg (at Chickasaw Bayou) no 
 officer in the field was more conspicuous for his zeal, bravery, 
 gallantry and indifference to danger or his own repose or 
 comfort than Colonel Smith. 
 
 "It did not escape the observation of the division that no 
 
62 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 oflficer was more constantly or actively employed, or more 
 efficient in the discharge of the duties assigned him, than he. 
 
 ' ' At the Post of Arkansas, Colonel Smith led the brigade 
 and commanded it in the fight — certainly with equal gal- 
 lantry with any officer in the field and with all the skill 
 which the position involved or the occasion called for, or 
 which any other officer exercised. 
 
 ' ' Our intercourse with him since he has been in command 
 of the brigade, has commanded our respect and confidence 
 in him as an officer, our esteem and regard for him as a gen- 
 tleman, and our interest for him as our friend. Whilst in 
 other divisions numerous high promotions of officers, very 
 far Colonel Smith's juniors in rank, have been made (made, 
 no doubt, for services performed, yet which it was never our 
 fortune to observe or hear of) we have to suggest, yet with- 
 out complaint, that we believe but one promotion in our old 
 division, has been made — that of Colonel Stuart, 55th Illinois, 
 who was but recently made Brigadier. 
 
 ' ' We are proud (though personally we may suffer tempor- 
 arily as a consequence) to believe and know that we are not 
 overlooked because our division is comparatively deficient in 
 merit, but rather because our commanding general insists 
 upon a higher and worthier standard of qualifications, than 
 obtains in the volunteer service of the country, east or west. 
 We accept it not only, but conform to it cheerfull}^ and will 
 abide our own time, and the result of our achievements. 
 
 ' ' Yet we respectfully urge, that our commanding officer, 
 in whose behalf we respectfully solicit, his, and our com- 
 manding general's recommendation, quite comes up to the 
 standard which he has himself by his recommendations 
 established, and far surpassed that which is, and has been 
 accepted in most of the promotions made, at least, from the 
 Western Army. 
 
 ' ' These considerations (amongst others) expressed as con- 
 cisely as we can, have induced the undersigned officers of the 
 Second Brigade in the Second Division of your Army Corps 
 to solicit you to ask the promotion of Colonel Smith, or to 
 forward with your favorable endorsement, through the proper 
 military channel, this our communication, which in that 
 
Memoir 63 
 
 event we pray ma}-^ be accepted as our representation and re- 
 quest of the President of the United States. 
 
 ' ' We are very respectfully, 
 
 " Your obed'tServ'ts." 
 
 This paper was signed by all the regimental ofl&cers of the 
 command. 
 
 General Stuart endorses this memorial as follows : 
 
 "Headquarters 2d Div., 
 
 " 5th March, 1863. 
 
 " I cordially endorse the within recommendation of the 
 ofl&cers of Colonel Smith's brigade. In my ofiScial report of 
 the battle at Post of Arkansas, I remarked Colonel Smith's 
 gallantry, and suggested his promotion. 
 
 " I think he has fairly earned it, and is entitled to it. 
 
 " Numbers of his juniors (certainly no more entitled to the 
 distinction) have been advanced and I earnestly hope he may 
 speedily be. 
 
 " (Signed) D. Stuart, 
 
 "Brig.-Genl. Comdg." 
 
 General Sherman follows : 
 
 " I have on several occasions borne special testimony to 
 the gallantry and bravery of Col. T. Kilby Smith, 54th Ohio, 
 — in my reports of the battle of Shiloh, of our several engage- 
 ments as we approached Corinth, during our marches to 
 Memphis, to the Tallahatchie, and finally at Vicksburg and 
 Arkansas Post. And in a special communication to the 
 Secretary of War, I made special recommendation for the 
 promotion of Colonel Smith. 
 
 " I am conscious my old division is impressed with the 
 belief that I have not pushed forward their claims to promo- 
 tion as other commanders have done ; but all must feel that 
 I have urged one and all to acquire knowledge and experi- 
 ence of war ; and that such knowledge was more valuable to 
 them than mere rank. 
 
 " The war in which we are engaged is no holiday aflfair, 
 
64 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 but all worthy, ambitious and educated officers will have 
 ample time and opportunity to attain rank equal to their 
 expectations, and my ambition is to assist those under my 
 command to acquire that knowledge and proficiency in their 
 profession, without which promotion brings no pleasure or 
 satisfaction to the officer. 
 
 " With these explanatory remarks, I add my hearty ap- 
 proval and sanction to this paper. 
 
 " (Signed) W. T. Sherman, 
 
 " Maj.-Genl. Com'd'g 
 " 15th Army Corps." 
 
 And finally General Grant added his own testimony : 
 
 " Headquarters, Department oe Tennessee, 
 
 " Before Vicksburg, March 10, 1863. 
 
 " Respectfully forwarded to Headquarters of the Army. 
 Besides the high recommendations Col. T. Kilby Smith has 
 from his Division Comdr. and those serving under him, I am 
 pleased to add my testimonial to his activity, energy, and 
 ability as a soldier. 
 
 ' ' His advancement has been won upon the field of battle, 
 and in camp in disciplining his men. Promotion en Colonel 
 Smith would be most worthily bestowed, and would not fall 
 upon one with whom the question would become : ' What 
 will you do with him ? ' 
 
 " (Signed) U. S. Grant, 
 
 " Official 
 " (Signed) Jno. A. Rawlins, 
 
 " Asst. Adjt. General." 
 
 Maj.-Gen. 
 
 This paper had gone forward to Washington, and Colonel 
 Smith no doubt waited with expectant hope the results of 
 this powerful appeal in his behalf. His disappointment and 
 chagrin may be imagined when, on the 24th of May, but 
 forty-eight hours after he had led his soldiers in a terrific 
 assault, he was superseded by General J. A. J. Lightburn, 
 by General Sherman's orders. His feelings show themselves 
 in the following note at once addressed to Sherman : 
 
Memoir 65 
 
 " Hdqrs. 2D Brigade, 2d Div., Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 " In the Field, May 24, 1863. 
 "Sir: 
 
 " Your orders assigning General lyightburn to the com- 
 mand of the Second Brigade, is this moment received. At 
 this time it is of vital interest to me to know if the order re- 
 lieving me can be construed as a reflection upon my conduct 
 of the command or my personal bearing in the late engage- 
 ment. I hope you will not deem the question coming from 
 me to you impertinent. I have the honor to be respectfully, 
 ' ' Your obt. servt. , 
 
 " Thomas Kilby Smith, 
 Col. Comd'g. 
 " Major-General Sherman, 
 
 " Comd'g Fifteenth Army Corps." 
 
 General Sherman instantly sent the following reply : 
 
 " May 24, Wai,nuT Hills. 
 
 " Col. T. Kilby Smith, 
 
 " Comd'g Second Brigade. 
 " Dear Colonel : 
 
 " I have just received your note. Most undoubtedly is 
 this assignment of General Lightburn no reflection on you 
 personally. He is assigned by order of Gen, Grant to me. 
 His Legal Rank compels me to give him a brigade. General 
 Lightburn is in your division and is entitled by law to one 
 of the two brigades commanded by you and Giles A. Smith. 
 The brigade of the latter belongs to his brother, Morgan L. 
 Smith, who may join at any moment ; indeed, has notified 
 me that he will in less than three weeks. Instead of reflect- 
 ing on you, I would prefer to add substantial honors on you, 
 and I doubt not General Lightburn will in a great measure 
 rely on you to aid him in fighting it during the siege of 
 Vicksburg. Lightburn reported before the assault and I 
 w^aited till it was over, when I had to assign him to a com- 
 mand. 
 
 " Yrs. truly, 
 
 " W. T. Sherman, 
 " Maj.-Gen." 
 
66 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Certainly, nothing could be handsomer or more soldierly 
 than this letter shows General Sherman's conduct to have 
 been ; and the peculiar delicacy of his compliment in waiting 
 until after the assault had been made, showed the sincerity 
 of his feeling. None the less, the blow was a heavy one to 
 Colonel Smith. His own regiment had been diminished by 
 the casualties of war until its numbers had fallen below the 
 limit fixed by a recent order for its maintenance as a separate 
 organization. After his gallant services in the field and his 
 long and arduous discipline in camp, he found himself liable 
 at any moment to be turned adrift, much as his friend Gen- 
 eral Stuart was shortly afterwards. His feeling during this 
 period was expressed in a letter which he wrote to his old- 
 time preceptor and friend, Salmon P. Chase, who was then 
 Secretary of the Treasury : 
 
 " Headquarters 2D Brigade, 2D Div., 15TH A. C, 
 
 "Camp before Vicksburg, April 27, 1863. 
 " My Dear Sir : 
 
 ' ' Permit me to call your attention to the enclosed corre- 
 spondence with reference to the accompanying order ' from 
 the Secr'y of War, not that I propose to intrude upon you a 
 discussion of Army matters but that I may indicate how im- 
 mediately I am afifected by the order and its results to my 
 command. 
 
 " I have the assurance from my friends that you have 
 taken an interest in my promotion, and feel satisfied that 
 when you become aware, that unless I receive an appoint- 
 ment from the President I shall necessarily be forced from 
 the service, that interest will not abate. Upon a former 
 occasion I promised you that if I was enabled to take the field 
 you should hear from me. I can only point to the official 
 reports of my commanding generals, ' Shiloh,' ' Russell's 
 House,' ' Chickasaw Bluffs,' ' Arkansas Post.' The casual- 
 ties of battle, skirmish, and an active campaign have reduced 
 the ' 54th Ohio, ' and brought it within the rule, and though 
 for a 3^ear past at intervals, and for four months continuously, 
 I have been in command of a brigade of five regiments, once, 
 
 ' For the consolidation of regiments. 
 
Memoir 
 
 67 
 
 in battle, of a division, I am to-day liable to be mustered out. 
 " I am identified with the Second Brigade. I am satisfied 
 its soldiers wish me to lead them, a fact of which the papers 
 on file at headquarters in Washington, and the enclosed copy 
 of a paper signed by the entire command will furnish evi- 
 dence. I forward the latter ior your consideration though as 
 it was wholly unmilitary I ordered it suppressed when it 
 came to my knowledge. It is my hope and ambition to lead 
 them to victory, but my duty as a soldier teaches me to obey 
 my superior officers in tacit submission. The order first ex- 
 pelHng me, will speedily operate upon other, and more 
 worthy officers— already I note in dejected countenances the 
 disappointed hopes of many a gallant war-worn veteran. 
 
 " When I offered my sword to my country, it was with the 
 determination that it should not be sheathed, till her honor 
 was redeemed, and the rights of her loyal citizens vindicated. 
 For twenty months I have done her service to the best of my 
 humble abilities, and in all that time have never asked or 
 received leave of absence, or for any cause been an hour from 
 my post. I should not now become a supplicant for the 
 privilege of wearing her livery, were it not that I deem it es- 
 sential in some degree to her interests. I stifle indignation, 
 and as I must write to some friend of power, and influence 
 with the President, for ancient memories' sake, I call on you. 
 Pardon my trespass upon your time also sacred to our country. 
 If I have reason to expect the appointment of Brigadier Gen- 
 eral, and the assignment to my present command, that will 
 naturally follow, I can pursue with renewed hope my career 
 here, sufficiently arduous at this season in the bayou and 
 swamp— if the contrary, will you advise me of the fact soon, 
 for if worthless to the Republic, the remainder of my life 
 may be of value to my family, and should not be liable to 
 sacrifice as a camp follower. With the most profound re- 
 spect, I have the honor to be, 
 
 " Always your sincere friend and obt. servt., 
 
 " Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 " Col. commanding 2d Brigade, 
 " 2d Division, 15th A. C. 
 " Hon. S. P. Chase, 
 
 " Secretary of the Treasury." 
 
68 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 In this crisis of his career, his mother followed him with 
 anxious thought. She corresponded with Generals Grant 
 and Sherman and addressed herself to Secretary Chase, to 
 Senator Sherman, Secretary Stanton, and to the President 
 himself. She had anticipated the danger that had arisen 
 from the order for consolidating regiments, and had written 
 to General Sherman on the subject. His reply to her letter 
 was as follows : 
 
 " Headquarters Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 " Walnut Hii,i,s, May 25, 1863. 
 " Mrs. E1.IZA B. Smith, 
 
 " Yellow Springs, Ohio. 
 
 " Dear Madam : 
 
 ' ' Yours of May 8th, overtook me here. The order for con- 
 solidating regiments has been very properly suspended by 
 General Grant and is made exceptional : that is, only such 
 regiments will be reduced to battalions as corps commanders 
 recommend. I know that none should be so reduced, but 
 the ranks of all should be filled with conscripts and the old 
 regiments thereby revived and their History kept up. 
 
 " Your son commanded his troops up to yesterday, when 
 the arrival of General I^ightburn, promoted by the last ses- 
 sion of Congress, was assigned to me, and I was compelled 
 by that law which all must obey to give him a brigade. I 
 regret this exceedingly, and have, both in writing and 
 verbally, explained it fully to Kilby. Of course he feels 
 naturally very sore at retiring from the superior command 
 of a brigade to that of his small regiment ; but there is no 
 help for it. He asked last night for a leave or to resign. 
 This would be wrong, and I advised him strenuously against 
 it, at all events, till Vicksburg is gained. Then I promise to 
 use my influence with General Grant to get him orders to 
 proceed to Ohio and enlist enough men to fill up his old 
 regiment. 
 
 " I certainly will do all I can privately and officially to 
 promote his interests, and will watch his career with an in- 
 terest second only to that of his own family. I am pleased 
 to note that you are acquainted with Mrs. Sherman, but our 
 children are at that age that requires her personal care, so 
 
Memoir 6q 
 
 that I fear she will not find it convenient to accept your kind 
 invitation to the Springs, yet she can do as she likes. 
 
 " I write on a Battle Field, with the rattle of musketry and 
 roar of cannon in my ears, and I feel assured you will pardon 
 the haste in which I reply to you. 
 
 " With respect and affection, yrs., 
 
 " W. T. Sherman, 
 "Maj.-Gen." 
 
 General Grant showed his warm interest by assigning 
 Colonel Smith to a special and important duty pending the 
 results of the application made to Washington. So that, 
 although he no longer commanded troops during the re- 
 mainder of the operations in front of Vicksburg, he was re- 
 heved of the mortification of taking a less important serAice 
 than that he had hitherto been entrusted with ; and as no 
 further assaults were made but only the regular processes of 
 a tedious seige were carried on, he escaped some arduous 
 duty without diminution of credit. He was assigned to the 
 staff of General Grant. On the 25th of May, by special 
 order from General Grant, he organized a court of inquiry, 
 of which he was President, and I^ieut.-Col. Thomas McMa- 
 hon. Judge Advocate, which was in session at Milliken's 
 Bend, I^a., from the ist to the 17th of June, 1863. While on 
 duty at that place, an attack was made on Milliken's Bend 
 by the Confederate General, J. G. Walker. It so happened 
 that this important point was defended by negro troops, and 
 the object of the attack was to demorahze the troops of Gen- 
 eral Grant from the rear and divert his attack from Vicksburg. 
 Although at first the black troops were considerably con- 
 fused, they soon recovered themselves and repulsed the 
 attack handsomely. As soon as Admiral Porter heard of the 
 affair, he went up in his flag ship Black Hawk, and reported 
 the circumstance to General Grant. The conduct of the post 
 was severely criticised in a communication of Captain A. G. 
 Strickle, Commissioner, who, under date of June 9th, wrote 
 to General Grant : 
 
 " It is with feehngs of regret that I have to communicate 
 to you the sad intelligence of the loss of at least one hundred 
 
70 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 of our white and black troops ; but while it is painful to re- 
 cord this butchery, it is a pleasure to know that they stood 
 firm while they had commanders, and that three fourths of 
 the African troops that were slain, were found in the ditch 
 where they were ordered to make their stand. . . . It is 
 proper here to say that Col. Thomas Kilby Smith and the 
 other members of the Court of Inquiry, that happened to be 
 here engaged in examining the case of Col. I. F. Shepard, 
 have rendered essential services on this occasion, and, had 
 their counsel been heeded, perhaps many lives would have 
 been saved, and nearly an entire rout of the enemy been the 
 result. . . The capacity of the negro to defend his 
 
 liberty, and his susceptibility to appreciate the power of 
 motives in the place of the last, have been put to such a test 
 under our observation, as to be beyond further doubt." * 
 
 The gallantry of the African troops in this affair, and the 
 heavy slaughter, aroused a great sensation throughout the 
 country. It was reported by Colonel Smith that the enemy 
 attacked them bearing a flag with the skull and cross-bones, 
 and it was further currently reported that they showed no 
 quarter and had inflicted tortures upon some of the white 
 officers whom they had captured. These reports having 
 been brought to the notice of General Grant, he determined 
 to send a special message by flag of truce to the Confederate 
 General, Richard Taj^lor at Delhi, La. , and selected Colonel 
 T. Kilby Smith and Colonel John Riggin to bear his missive. 
 In the course of his note he says : 
 
 " I feel no inclination to retaliate for the offences of irre- 
 sponsible persons ; but if it is the policy of any general en- 
 trusted with the command of any troops, to show ' no 
 quarter, ' or to punish with death persons taken in battle, I 
 will accept the issue. . . . Hoping there may be some 
 mistake in the evidence furnished me, I remain, etc." " 
 
 General Taylor, under date of June 27, 1863, disclaims any 
 knowledge of any such improper and unmilitary conduct, 
 and promises an investigation. 
 
 On his return from this expedition, Colonel Smith remained 
 
 ^ War Records, series i., vol. xxiv., part ii., p. 456. 
 * Ibid., iii., p. 425. 
 
Memoir 7 1 
 
 on staff duty with General Grant until the 2d of July, when 
 he was ordered to proceed with despatches and verbal com- 
 munications from that General to Gen. N. P. Banks, com- 
 manding the Department of the Gulf, and then investing 
 Port Hudson. This service he performed, bearing the fol- 
 lowing letter : 
 
 " Hdqrs. Department of the Tennessee, 
 
 "Near Vicksburg, Juue 30, 1863. 
 " Major-Gen. N. P. Banks, 
 
 " Comd'g Department of the Gulf. 
 " General : 
 
 " Feeling a great anxiety to learn the situation at Port 
 Hudson, I send Colonel Kilby Smith to communicate with 
 you. Colonel Smith has been here during the entire siege 
 of Vicksburg and can inform you fully on the position of 
 affairs at this place. I confidently expected that Vicksburg 
 would be in our possession before this, leaving me able to 
 send you any forces that might be required against Port 
 Hudson. . . . Hoping soon to hear favorable news from 
 your field operations by the return of Colonel Smith, I re- 
 main, 
 
 ' ' Very respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 "U. S. Grant.'" 
 
 It fell to his lot to communicate to General Banks the in- 
 telligence of the surrender of Vicksburg ; whereupon Gen- 
 eral Gardner, who commanded the Confederate forces in 
 that stronghold, capitulated. On the 9th of July, Colonel 
 Smith started on his return to Vicksburg bearing des- 
 patches from General Banks. 
 
 On the 4th of July, Vicksburg surrendered, and Grant's 
 greatest triumph up to that date, and probably the greatest 
 military exploit of his career, had been brought to a success- 
 ful conclusion. As all readers of the history of the Civil 
 War know, the problem he had to solve, was the prevention 
 of a junction of the Confederate army under Gen. Jos. John- 
 son with that of General Pemberton, which was garrisoning 
 Vicksburg. He failed, as Sherman had failed before him, to 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xsiv., part iii., p. 451. 
 
72 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 take the works by assault ; but, more successful than Sher- 
 man, he so manoeuvred his army in the campaign between 
 May 6th and May 22d, as effectually to separate Johnson 
 from Pemberton ; and, having completely beleaguered the 
 city, it was but a question of time when it had to capitulate. 
 He writes on the very day of the surrender as follows : 
 
 " Hdqrs. Department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 " Near Vicksbxjrg, July 4, 1863. 
 " Maj.-Gen. N. P. Banks, 
 
 " Comd'g Department of the Gulf. 
 " General : 
 
 " The garrison of Vicksburg surrendered this morning. 
 Number of prisoners as given by the officers, is 27,000; field 
 artillery, 128 pieces, and a large number of siege guns, prob- 
 ably not less than eighty. The other stores will probably 
 not amount to any great deal. I held all my surplus troops 
 out on Big Black River, and between there and Haynes 
 Bluff". Intending to assault in a few days, I directed that 
 they be kept in readiness to move on the shortest notice to 
 attack Johnson. The moment the surrender of Vicksburg 
 was agreed upon, the order was given and the troops are 
 now in motion. General Sherman goes in command of this 
 expedition. His force is so large I think it cannot fail. This 
 move will have the effect of keeping Johnson from detaching 
 a portion of his force for the relief of Port Hudson. Although 
 I had the garrison of Vicksburg completely in my power, I 
 gave them the privilege of being paroled at this place ; the 
 officers to retain their side arms and private baggage ; and 
 field, staff, and cavalry officers to take with them one horse 
 each. I regard the terms really more favorable than an un- 
 conditional surrender. It leaves the transports and troops 
 for immediate use. At the present juncture of affairs in 
 the East, and on the river above here, this maj^ prove of vast 
 importance. I hope. General, and from what Admiral Porter 
 tells me, this probably will find you in possession of Port 
 Hudson.' " I am. General, very respectfully, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "U. S. Grant." 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 470. 
 
Memoir 73 
 
 The following letter of General Sherman, conveying his 
 congratulations, shows an enthusiasm not frequent in his 
 correspondence . 
 
 " Camp on Bear Creek, 
 
 "July 4, 1863. 
 " Major- General Grant, 
 " My Dear Gknerai, : 
 
 " The telegraph has just announced to me that Vicks- 
 burg is ours. ... I can hardly contain myself Surely 
 will I not punish any soldier for being " unco happy " this 
 most glorious anniversary of the birth of a nation, whose 
 sire and father was a Washington. Did I not know the 
 honesty, modesty, and purity of your nature, I would be 
 tempted to follow the examples of my standard enemies of 
 the press, in indulging in wanton flattery ; but as a man and 
 a soldier, and ardent friend of yours, I warn you against the 
 incense of flattery that will fill our land from one extreme to 
 the other. Be natural, and yourself, and this glittering 
 flattery will be as the passing breeze of the sea on a warm 
 summer day. To me the delicacy with which you have 
 treated a brave but deluded enemy, is more eloquent than 
 the most gorgeous oratory of an Kverett. 
 
 " This is a day of jubilee ; a day of rejoicing to the faith- 
 ful, and I would like to hear the cheers of my old and patient 
 troops, but I must a Gradgrind. I must have facts, knocks, 
 and must go on. Already are my orders out to give one big 
 huzzah and sling the knapsack for new fields. ... I 
 did want rest, but I ask nothing until the Mississippi River 
 is ours. . . . Though in the back ground, as I ever wish 
 to be in civil war, I feel that I have labored some to secure 
 this glorious result. 
 
 ' ' I am, with respect, your friend, 
 
 " W. T. Sherman." 
 
 And thus he writes to Admiral Porter on the same day : 
 " No event in my life could have given me more personal 
 pride or pleasure than to have met you to-day on the wharf 
 at Vicksburg on the 4th of July, so eloquent in events as to 
 need no words or stimulants to elevate its importance. 
 
74 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 * ' I can appreciate the intense satisfaction you must feel to 
 be lying before the very monster which has defied us with 
 such deep and malignant hatred and seeing your once dis- 
 united fleet again a unit ; and, better still, the chain that 
 made an enclosed sea of a link in the great river, broken 
 forever. In so magnificent a result, I stop not to count who 
 did it : it is done, and the day of our nation's birth is conse- 
 crated and baptized anew, and a victory won by the united 
 Navy and Army of our country. 
 
 " God grant that the harmony and mutual respect that 
 exists between our respective commanders and shared by all 
 the true men of the joint service may continue forever and 
 serve to elevate our national character threatened with ship- 
 wreck. Thus, I muse as I sit in my solitary camp out in the 
 woods, far from the point for which we have j ointlj^ striven so 
 long and so well ; and though personal curiosity would 
 tempt me to go and see the frowning batteries and sunken 
 pits that have defied us so long, and sent to their silent 
 graves so many of our early comrades in the enterprise, I 
 feel that other tasks lie before me and time must not be 
 lost. . . .'" 
 
 While his friend and chief was thus rejoicing over the 
 capture of Vicksburg, Colonel Kilby Smith had the pleasure 
 of witnessing the capitulation of Port Hudson. General 
 Banks had besieged this point almost as long as Grant had 
 Vicksburg. He had twice endeavored to carry the works 
 by assault, but with no greater success than Sherman and 
 Grant had met with in their efforts. He had therefore laid 
 close siege, and was making preparations for another assault, 
 when the news was brought by Col. Kilby Smith that Vicks- 
 burg had surrendered. The last hope was thus taken away 
 from the beleaguered garrison, who had already been reduced 
 to great stress by the failure of their provisions, and they 
 surrendered with the honors of war. Gen. Banks had the 
 supreme satisfaction of announcing the surrender of Port 
 Hudson in the following letter: 
 
 ' War Records, vol. xxiv., part iii., pp. 472, 473. 
 
Memoir 75 
 
 "Before Port Hudson, i^a., July 8, 1863. 
 ** Major-General Grant, 
 " My dear General : 
 
 " It gives me pleasure to inform you that Port Hudson 
 surrendered this day. I was unable to determine the num- 
 ber of prisoners or the extent of the army. The commis- 
 sioners ask for six thousand rations. The surrender is in 
 effect unconditional. I declined to stipulate for the parol of 
 ofl&cers or men, but necessity will compel me to parol at once 
 a considerable proportion of the prisoners, selecting those 
 representing States mainly in our control : as L/Ouisiana, 
 Arkansas, etc. 
 
 ' * Twelve thousand or fifteen thousand of the enemy have 
 been threatening my communications and they occupy the 
 La Fourche districts. I shall move against them forthwith. 
 
 ' ' My disposable force is about equal to their number if I 
 detain General Grierson's cavalry. This I hope to do for a 
 term of not more than two weeks, when I will return him in 
 good condition to your camp. He has been of infinite ser- 
 vice, and I know not in what way I could have supplied his 
 place. My thanks are due to Lieutenant (H. A.) Ulfiers for 
 valuable services. He is a patient, sound, intelligent, and 
 patriotic oflScer. He returns with Colonel (T. K.) Smith. 
 
 ' ' The enemy in my rear disposed of, I earnestly desire to 
 move into Texas, which is now denuded of troops. The 
 enemy here is largely composed of Texans, and we hope to 
 capture them. Will it be possible for you to spare me for 
 this expedition (which should be closed in two months from 
 this date) a division of ten thousand or twelve thousand 
 men ? I know the claims upon your forces ; I see that you 
 will hope to strengthen our armies in the West, and propose 
 my request with hesitation ; but there is no point where the 
 same number of men could do so much good. I want Wes- 
 tern men. It was my hope to join you in the contest before 
 Vicksburg and strengthen your command with what forces 
 I have, but it was impossible. 
 
 " Colonel Smith, who brought me the welcome message 
 from you, has remained at my command to convey to you 
 in return the news of the surrender or capture of Port Hud- 
 
76 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 son, wiiich could not have been deferred longer than to-mor- 
 row. His visit has given me the greatest pleasure. His 
 eflfective destruction of the boats and other means of crossing 
 the Mississippi which the enemy possessed, has been of the 
 greatest service to us and the cause. 
 ' ' I hope he may return safely to you. 
 " I am, General, with great respect, 
 
 ' ' Your obt. servant, 
 
 " N. P. Banks, 
 " Maj.-Gen. Comdg." ' 
 
 On his way to Port Hudson from Vicksburg, Colonel Smith 
 had caused the destruction of a large number of boats, used 
 by the enemy at Natchez. It was for this service that Gen- 
 eral Banks gives credit in his letter. 
 
 On the nth of July, Colonel Smith returned to head- 
 quarters at Vicksburg, but on his way observed that a large 
 number of cattle had been collected at Natchez for the use 
 of the rebel army, — a fact that he reported to General Grant, 
 who promptly organized an expedition under General Ran- 
 som to bring them in for the use of the Union troops. General 
 Grant writes to General Banks, under date of July nth : 
 
 " I also ordered on the strength of Colonel Smith's report, 
 about one thousand men to Natchez to hold that place for a 
 few days and to collect the cattle that had been crossing 
 there for the rebel army. ' ' ^ 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xxvi., part i., p. 624. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 500. 
 
 " Natchez, Miss., July 14, 1863. 
 " General B. H. GrieRSON, 
 
 " Comd'g, etc. 
 " My dear Generai, : 
 
 " I have just written a hasty note to General Banks. We are in 
 occupation of Natchez and ought to have been here twenty-four hours 
 sooner, whereby we should have saved a train of 300 wagons with 
 ordnance stores. As it is, we have captured some thousands of cattle, 
 variously estimated from 3000 to 8000. 
 
 " General Ransom is in command, one brigade, say 1200 men, — too 
 small for this place. 
 
 "The General is doing splendidly. If you could arrange in any 
 way to get a troop here, you would be doing very great service, — 
 
Memoir jj 
 
 On the 1 2th of July, Colonel Smith occupied Natchez with 
 troops under command of Brigadier-General Ransom. The 
 expedition resulted in the seizure of five thousand head of 
 cattle, twelve hundred sheep, and ordnance and ordnance 
 stores. By order of General Grant, he remained in Natchez 
 twenty-one days ; returning to Vicksburg on the 3d of 
 August, he was engaged on staff duty with General Grant 
 as an acting aide-de-camp till August 13th, when by special 
 orders, he proceeded to New Orleans as bearer of despatches 
 from the General-in-Chief to Major-Gen. N. P. Banks, com- 
 manding the Department of the Gulf. 
 
 On the 26th of September, 1863, Colonel Smith received 
 his long looked for appointment by the President as Brigadier- 
 General of Volunteers in the service of the United States; 
 whereupon the following special orders were issued : 
 
 almost inestimable service. I spoke of you and for you to General 
 Grant ; said all that you wanted me to say. I wisli you could get 
 up on some of the transports we send out with cattle, say the Imperial. 
 She is a splendid boat ; put 100 on her anyhow. It is of the last im- 
 portance that you should have a command here soon. 
 
 " I have not written upon the subject of cavalry to General Banks. 
 You must show him this letter so that he will understand. Don't do 
 anything to cripple his movements. 
 
 " Respectfully and most truly yours, 
 
 "Thos. Kii,by Smith. 
 " Col. and Act'g Aid-de-Camp." ' 
 ' War Rec, series i., vol. xxiv., part iii., p. 511. 
 
 " Hdqrs. Department oe the Gui,f, 19TH A. C, 
 
 " New OrIvEans, 18 July, 1863. 
 " My Dear Coi<onel : 
 
 " I thank you for the note which I rec'd by the steamer Imperial. 
 It gladdened the sight of our people to see a steamer from above 
 Vicksburg ; 'the river is open, indeed,' they said. I hope I may have 
 time to visit you when we will talk over the military expedition of 
 the future. I am glad you think of it with interest. 
 
 " We look for the defeat of Johnston's army by Grant, and then, if 
 the news holds good from the Army of the Potomac, the backbone of 
 the rebellion will be broken. I congratulate you on the auspicious 
 future. 
 
 " Very truly yours, as ever, 
 
 " N. P. Banks, M.G." 
 
yS l^homas Kilby Smith 
 
 Special Orders ") 
 No. 237. ) 
 
 " Hdqrs. Department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 " ViCKSBURG, Miss., Aug. 30, 1863. 
 
 " Col. Thos. Kilby Smith, 54th Regiment, Ohio Infantry 
 Volunteers, having been appointed by the President as 
 Brigadier-General of Volunteers to rank as such from 
 August II, 1863, and having accepted said appointment on 
 the 26th day of August, 1863, is hereby honorably discharged 
 from the service as Colonel of said Regiment, to take efifect 
 on the day of said acceptance. 
 
 " By order of Major-Gen. U. S. Grant, 
 
 "Jno. a. Rawlins, 
 " Asst. Adjt. Gen. 
 " Brigadier-General Thos. Kii,by Smith." * 
 
 ' As this order marked the final detachment of General Smith from 
 his first command, and as the fortunes of war separated them for the 
 greater part of the remaining years of the Rebellion, it is thought of 
 interest to give the following sketch of the history of the 54th Ohio 
 Volunteer Infantry, to whose discipline in camp Colonel Smith had 
 given so much energy, and with whom he had shared so many of the 
 perils of the campaigns : 
 
 The material composing the 54th Regiment was from Allen, 
 Auglaize, Butler, Cuyahoga, Green, Hamilton, I/Ogan, and Preble 
 Counties. The Regiment went into the field on the 17th of Febru- 
 ary, 1862, with an aggregate of 850 men. It reached Paducah, Ky,, 
 on the 2oth, and was assigned to a brigade in the division of General 
 Sherman. On the 6th of March, the command ascended the Tennes- 
 see River to Pittsburg Landing and encamped near Shiloh Church, 
 The Regiment took part in the battles of 6th and 7th April, and in 
 the two days fighting lost 198 men, killed, wounded, and missing. On 
 the 29th of April it moved in the Army against Corinth, participating 
 in all the fighting, and when the place was evacuated, was the first 
 organized body of troops to enter the town. After several short ex- 
 peditions it accompanied General Sherman to Chickasaw Bayou, and 
 was in the engagements of December 28th and 29th in which it lost 
 twenty men, killed and wounded. It was next at the capture of 
 Arkansas Post, after which it proceeded to Young's Point, La., and 
 was employed in digging a canal, and other demonstrations connected 
 with the siege of Vicksburg. On the 6th of May, 1863, it began its 
 march to the rear of Vicksburg, by way of Grand Gulf, and took part 
 in the battles of Champion Hills and Big Black Bridge. It was en- 
 
Memoir 79 
 
 Why this appointment was made to date from the nth of 
 August, and not from the 22d of May, for services rendered 
 
 gaged in a general assault on the enemy's works on the 19th and 22d 
 of May, losing in the two engagements forty-seven, killed and 
 wounded. It was almost continually employed in skirmishing and 
 fatigue duty during the siege of Vicksburg, and after the fall of that 
 stronghold, it moved with the army on Jackson, Miss., skirmishing 
 constantly from the 9th to the 14th of July. In October, 1863, it 
 proceeded with the Fifteenth Army Corps to Memphis, and from 
 there moved to Chattanooga. It took part in the battle of Missionary 
 Ridge, November 26th, and the next day moved to the relief of 
 Knoxville, after which it returned to Chattanooga, and on the I2tli 
 of January, 1864, it went into winter quarters at Larkensville, Ala. 
 
 The 54th re-enlisted as Veterans on the 22d of January, and went 
 home to Ohio on furlough. It returned to camp in April with 200 
 recruits and entered in the Atlanta campaign on the first of May. It 
 took part in the battles of Resaca and Dallas, and was also in the 
 skirmish at New Hope Church on the 7th of June. In the assault on 
 Kennesaw Mountain, June 27th, it lost twenty-eight men, killed and 
 wounded. On the 3d of July in a skirmish at Nickojack Creek, it 
 lost thirteen men, killed and wounded, and in a battle on the east side 
 of Atlanta, July 21st and 22d, it lost ninety-four, killed, wounded, and 
 missing. It lost eight men, killed and wounded, at Ezra Chapel on 
 the 28th, and from the 29th of July to the 27th of August, it was 
 almost continually engaged in skirmishing before the works at At- 
 lanta. It was in a heavy skirmish at Jonesboro, August 30th, and in 
 a general action at the same place two days immediately following. 
 
 On the 15th of November, the 54th started with Sherman on his 
 famous " March to the Sea," and was engaged in the assault at Fort 
 McAllister near Savannah. The Regiment assisted in the destruction 
 of the Gulf Railroad, and on the 7th of January, 1865, marched into 
 Savannah. It moved with the Army through the Carolinas, and par- 
 ticipated in its last battle at Bentonville, May 21, 1865. The war was 
 now virtually over, and the Regiment marched to Richmond, the 
 Confederate Capitol, and from there to Washington, where it took 
 part in the grand review. On the 2d of June it proceeded to Louis- 
 ville, Ky., where it remained two weeks, when it was ordered to 
 Arkansas. It performed garrison duty at Little Rock till Aug. 15th, 
 when it was mustered out of service. 
 
 " The aggregate strength of the Regiment at its muster out was 
 255, — 24 officers and 231 men. It marched during its time of service 
 a distance of 3,682 miles, participated in four sieges, nine severe 
 skirmishes, fifteen general engagements, and sustained a loss of 506 
 men, killed, wounded, and missing." — History of Logan County {O.), 
 pp. 310, 311. 
 
8o Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 at Vicksburg, or even from an earlier date, might be asked. 
 The real response would no doubt be, that among so many- 
 gallant men and deserving oflScers, the President found it 
 difl&cult to make his selections ; and, without special in- 
 fluence, excepting that heretofore indicated, General Smith 
 was fortunate to have received the recognition that finally 
 came to him. It was a source of sincere pleasure to his 
 commanding officers, as will appear from their own testimony. 
 General Grant wrote almost immediately to his mother the 
 following letter : 
 
 " Vicksburg, Miss., August 28, 1863. 
 " Mrs. Smith, 
 
 " My Dear Madam : I have received two letters from 
 you heretofore, and told your son, T. Kilby Smith, that I 
 should write to you in answer. But I am generally so busy 
 with matters that I am bound to give attention to, that to 
 this time I have neglected it. 
 
 " I have just returned from a visit to the northern end of 
 my department, and am happy to learn that in my absence 
 Col. T. Kilby Smith has received the appointment of Brig. - 
 Gen. in the Volunteer service. I congratulate you and him 
 sincerely upon this promotion. You will believe me when I 
 say sincerely, because it was on my recommendation that he 
 has been promoted. I do not know that Colonel Smith was 
 aware of my having recommended him for this appointment. 
 At all events, I did not tell him so. 
 
 " You will excuse me for writing a very short letter and 
 a very uninteresting one, except for the announcement it 
 makes. 
 
 ' ' Believe me most sincerely the friend of yourself and your 
 son, with whom I have become intimately acquainted, and 
 to say that acquaintance with him only ripens friendship. 
 
 " U. S. Grant, 
 " Maj.-Gen." 
 
 General Sherman himself brought the news of his promo- 
 tion to the soldiers of his old brigade, but for the immediate 
 
Memoir 8 1 
 
 present, the newly made Brigadier ' continued in close associ- 
 ation with General Grant. 
 
 On the 28th of August, General Grant, accompanied by a 
 number of ofl&cers on his staff, including General Kilby 
 Smith, proceeded to New Orleans, where he reviewed the 
 troops and inspected the fortifications of Fort Jackson and 
 Fort St. Philip. It was during this visit that General Grant 
 met with an accident that might have cost him his life. 
 While returning from a review of the troops held outside of 
 the city, and riding at a very high rate of speed, he met 
 with an obstruction and fell with his horse in the road. For 
 sometime afterwards he was a great sufferer, and did not 
 fully recover for a number of weeks. On the i6th of Sep- 
 tember, General Smith, by special orders from General 
 Grant, was directed to report to Major-General McPherson, 
 commanding the Seventeenth Army Corps. His personal 
 preference at another time would have been no doubt for his 
 old soldiers ; but the appointment of General lyightburn pre- 
 cluded this, and he found great satisfaction in being placed 
 under the immediate command of General McPherson, with 
 whom his relations were always of a most friendly character. 
 The General assigned him to the command of the Second 
 Brigade of the First Division of the Army of the Tennessee, 
 then stationed at Natchez. This brigade comprised the 
 following regiments: viz., nth Illinois, Major Geo. C. 
 McKee ; 14th Wisconsin, Major Asa Wordin ; 17th Wis- 
 consin, lyieut.-Col. Thos. F. McMahon ; 7 2d Illinois, Lieut. - 
 Col. Jos. Stockton ; 95th Illinois, Lieut. -Col. Leander 
 Blanden. He remained in command of this brigade at that 
 post but a very short time, but long enough to make many 
 friends and to show his capacity for the administration of 
 martial law in a military district. On the 20th of October, 
 
 ' " U. S. MlWTARY TEI^EGRAPH, 
 
 "Aug. 25, 1863. 
 " By Telegraph from Sherman's 25, 86. 
 " To Gen. Kilby Smith : 
 
 " I congratulate you. Shall carry up your message myself to your 
 old brigade. " W. T. Sherman, 
 
 "Maj.-Genl." 
 6 
 
82 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 lie was relieved of the command of the Second Brigade and 
 First Division, and transferred to the Fourth Division, com- 
 manded by Gen. M. M. Crocker, being assigned to the First 
 Brigade thereof. His first order indicated the feeling with 
 which he was actuated throughout the war ; it explains 
 itself : 
 
 "General Orders "> 
 " No. I. J 
 
 " Hdqrs. First Brig., 4Th Div., 17TH A. C, 
 " Department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 " ViCKSBURG, Oct. 26, 1863. 
 
 " The General commanding the brigade is pained to see 
 that many of the beautiful forest trees that adorn this en- 
 campment, have been cut ; some of them in the wanton spirit 
 of destruction. Hereafter no trees will be felled without 
 special orders. Fuel in ample abundance for warmth or 
 cooking will be furnished by regimental quartermasters. 
 Fences, out-houses, property of any description must not be 
 depredated, and unoffending people who are without protec- 
 tion, save that afforded by our soldiers, appeal to our sym- 
 pathies. It is believed that the chivalry of every true soldier 
 will not permit his sympathies in vain to be appealed to. 
 
 " War has its laws as well as peace. Save by military 
 rule, the rights of person and property are sacred : sacred 
 here on the soil of Mississippi, as near your peaceful homes 
 in the far West. Remember, it is not women and children, 
 nor States, upon whom the Government is making war ; but 
 the traitors who compose the rebel army and their adherents. 
 It is for the soldiers of the Government who have perilled 
 their lives and pledged their fortunes and honor for the 
 maintenance of law and order, to set an example to the 
 rebels who have sought to overturn all and bring anarchy 
 and confusion upon the land. To teach them that in the 
 true consciousness of power and victory we can exercise a 
 wise and just forbearance. 
 
 ' ' The vile followers who invest the camps, whether in the 
 guise of soldiers or otherwise, who are detected in trespassing 
 upon the rights of citizens in person or property, will be 
 summarily dealt with. Good soldiers who suffer in reputa- 
 
Memoir 83 
 
 tion, and are scandalized by their conduct, are enjoined to 
 bring them to justice. 
 
 " By order of Brig. -Gen. Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 
 " WiLWAM Warner, 
 "A. A. A. Gen." 
 
 General Smith remained in active field service at Natchez 
 and on the Black and Yazoo Rivers till February, 1864, 
 when, with his command, he took part in the Meridian ex- 
 pedition in command of General Sherman. 
 
 The object of the Meridian expedition was to break up the 
 enemy's railroad connections and thereby to demoralize their 
 armies, in that theatre of campaign. Meridian was a railroad 
 centre of great importance. General Sherman's plan was to 
 march straight for this point, where he expected to be joined 
 by the cavalry under command of Gen. W. Sooy Smith, and 
 be governed by the situation at that time as to his further 
 movements. He accordingly took three divisions of the 
 Sixteenth Army Corps, and three of the Seventeenth, making 
 an aggregate of more than thirty-eight thousand men, and 
 marched from Vicksburg on the 3d of February in two col- 
 umns. The Sixteenth Army Corps was commanded by Gen. 
 Stephen A. Hurlbut ; the Seventeenth, by Major-Gen. 
 James B. McPherson, and in the Seventeenth, was the 
 Fourth Division of General Crocker, whose three brigades 
 were commanded respectively by Brig. -Gen. Thomas Kilby 
 Smith, Col. Cyrus Hall, and Brig.-Gen. Walter Q. Gresham ; 
 the cavalry brigade was commanded by Col. Edward F. 
 Winslow. General Smith's brigade was composed of the 
 41st Illinois, Lieut. -Col. John H. Nale ; the 53d Illinois, 
 Major Rolland H. Ellison ; the 3d Iowa, Major George W. 
 Cressley ; the 33d Wisconsin, Col. Jonathan B. Moore. 
 General Sherman says in his report : 
 
 " My object was to break up the enemy's railroads at and 
 about Meridian, and to do the enemy as much damage as 
 possible in the month of February, and to be prepared by the 
 ist of March to assist General Banks in a similar dash at the 
 Red River country^ especially Shreveport ; the whole to re- 
 sult in widening our domain along the Mississippi River, 
 
84 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and thereby set the troops, hitherto necessary to guard the 
 river, free for other military purposes. My plan of action 
 was as follows : Gen. Wm. Sooy Smith to move from Mem- 
 phis by or before the ist of February with an effective force 
 of seven thousand cavalry, lightly equipped, to march 
 straight on Pontotoc, Okolana, Columbus Junction (Artesa) 
 and Meridian ; to arrive there about Februar>^ loth, distance 
 two hundred and fifty miles ; to disregard all minor objects, 
 to destroy railroads, bridges, corn not wanted, and strike 
 quick and well every enemy that should offer opposition ; 
 while I, with four divisions of infantry and cavalrj^ would 
 at the same time move from Vicksburg on the same objective 
 points, one hundred and fifty miles distant. When met at 
 Meridian, being present in person, I could then order anew 
 according to the then circumstances, condition of roads and 
 time left at my disposal." ' 
 
 General W. S. Smith's movement was not successful : he 
 started late, and met with so much opposition that he gave 
 up the effort to meet Sherman at Meridian, much to that 
 oflScer's discontent, as appears by the report. Sherman's 
 own movement, he says, ' ' was successful in an eminent de- 
 gree. . . . We met no opposition till General Hurlbut's 
 head of column reached Joe Davis's plantation, and General 
 McPherson the Champion Hills. The 5th was one continu- 
 ous skirmish for eighteen miles, but we did not allow the 
 enemy's cavalry to impede our march, but got into Jackson 
 that night on his heels, whipping him handsomely and 
 utterly disconcerting his plans. . . . Pushing on speedily 
 and rapidl3% the army reached Meridian on the 14th of Feb- 
 ruary, and on the 15th and i6th he made a thorough destruc- 
 tion from the roads centering at Meridian. For five days, 
 ten thousand men worked hard and with a will in that work 
 of destruction ; with axes, crow bars, sledges, and with fire, 
 and I have no hesitation in pronouncing the work as well 
 done. Meridian with its depots, storehouses, arsenal, hos- 
 pitals, offices, hotels, and cantonments, no longer exists. ' ' * 
 
 After accomplishing this work of destruction, Sherman 
 returned leisurely to Vicksburg, where his forces were 
 
 ' War Records, vol. xxxii., part i., p. 175. ^ Ibid., p. 176. 
 
Memoir 85 
 
 assembled by the 6tli of March. This expedition tested the 
 endurance of the army on the march, and no doubt in- 
 fluenced General Sherman in his opinion of its capacity to 
 stand the long march to the sea which he carried out some 
 months later. He says : 
 
 "... the great result attained is the hardihood and 
 confidence imparted to the command, which is now better 
 fitted for war. Animals and men returned to Vicksburg 
 after a march of from three hundred and sixty to four hun- 
 dred and fiftj^ miles, in the space of the shortest month of 
 the year, in better health and condition than when we 
 started." ' 
 
 As there was no conflict beyond skirmishing of any great 
 dignity, the casualties of this campaign were but nominal, 
 considering the number of men engaged, being but one hun- 
 dred and seventy in all. 
 
 It will be remembered that early in the war, the French 
 Emperor, conjointly with England and Austria, planned the 
 establishment of an empire in Mexico, and French troops 
 had been sent to subjugate that country to Maximilian. 
 This threatened the southern frontier of the United States, 
 and was an object of unceasing distrust and protest to the 
 Government at Washington. It had long been the thought 
 of General Banks, and at the headquarters of the Army at 
 Washington, that it was desirable for the Union to obtain a 
 stronger foothold than it possessed in the State of Texas. 
 General Halleck, in a letter to General Grant written as 
 early as the 8th of January, 1864, says : 
 
 " In regard to General Banks's campaign against Texas, 
 it is proper to remark that it was undertaken less for military 
 reasons than as a matter of State policy. As a military 
 measure, simply, it perhaps presented less advantages than 
 a movement on Mobile and the Alabama River, so as to 
 threaten the enemy's interior lines and effect a diversion in 
 favor of our armies at Chattanooga and in East Tennessee. 
 But however this may have been, it was deemed necessary 
 as a matter of political or State policy, connected with our 
 foreign relations, and especially with France and Mexico, 
 ' Ibid., p. 177. 
 
86 Thomas Kilby S7nith 
 
 that our troops should occupy and hold at least a portion of 
 Texas. The President so considered for reasons satisfactory 
 to himself and to his Cabinet, and it was therefore unneces- 
 sary for us to inquire whether or not the troops could have 
 been employed elsewhere with greater military advantage. 
 I allude to this matter here as it may have an important in- 
 fluence on your projected operations during the present 
 winter. 
 
 " Keeping in mind that General Banks's operations in 
 Texas, either on the Gulf coast or by the Louisiana frontier 
 must be continued during the winter, it is to be considered 
 whether it will not be better to direct our efforts at present 
 to the entire breaking up of the rebel forces west of the Mis- 
 sissippi River, rather than to divide them by operating 
 against Mobile and the Alabama. If the forces of Smith, 
 Price, and Magruder could be so scattered or broken as to 
 enable Steele and Banks to occupy Red River as a line of 
 defence, a part of their armies would probably become avail- 
 able for operations elsewhere. 
 
 " General Banks reports his present force as inadequate 
 for the defence of his position and for operations in the in- 
 terior. General Steele is of opinion that he cannot advance 
 beyond the Arkansas or Sabine, unless he can be certain of 
 co-operation and supplies on Red River. Under these cir- 
 cumstances it is worth considering, whether such forces as 
 Sherman can move down the Mississippi River should co- 
 operate with the armies of Steele and Banks on the west 
 side." ' 
 
 And prior to this, as early as the 6th of August, 1863, 
 Halleck sent the following order to General Grant : 
 
 " Please send a special messenger to Major-General Banks, 
 with the following telegram, and also give him all necessary 
 assistance for its execution : 
 
 " ' Major-General Banks, 
 " ' New Orleans, 
 
 There are important reasons why our flag should be 
 restored in some point of Texas with the least possible delay. 
 ' Report of the Cofidud of the War, vol. ii., p. 135. 
 
Memoir 87 
 
 Do this by land, at Galveston or Indianola, or at any other 
 point 5'ou may deem preferable. If by sea, Admiral Farra- 
 gut will co-operate. There are reasons why the movement 
 should be as prompt as possible. 
 
 " ' H. W. Halleck, 
 " 'General-in-Chief.' " 
 
 This dispatch was deemed of sufficient importance to be 
 sent to General Banks by the hand of Colonel Kilby Smith, 
 and Banks, acknowledging it, says : 
 
 " Measures have been already taken to carry into effect 
 your orders. I shall plant the flag in Texas within a week, 
 I hope. My plan has been to move against Galveston from 
 the land side. . . . We shall be ready, I think, as soon 
 as General Grant's corps can reach us. . . . No move- 
 ment can be made from the Gulf against Galveston with a 
 certainty of success. . . . The enemy fear only an attack 
 from the land via Niblet's Bluflf, the route I propose, or 
 Alexandria." ' 
 
 Halleck replies under date of August loth : 
 
 " In my opinion, neither Indianola or Galveston is the 
 proper point to attack. If it is necessary, as urged by 
 Seward, that the flag be restored to some one point in 
 Texas, that can be best and most safely effected by a com- 
 bined military and naval movement up the Red River to 
 Alexandria, Natchitoches or Shreveport, and a military 
 occupation of Northern Texas." '^ 
 
 In pursuance of the first plan, General Banks sent an ex- 
 pedition into Texas under Major-General Franklin against 
 Sabine Pass. It was, however, unsuccessful. Subsequently, 
 he endeavored to make a movement into the Teche country 
 towards Opolousas, Alexandria, and Shreveport, but, he 
 says : 
 
 ' ' It was in the month of September ; there was no water, 
 it involved a march of three hundred miles ; it was absolutely 
 beyond human power to make that march in that season 
 with wagon transportation. " ' • 
 
 ' Ibid., pp. loi, 102. ''■ Ibid., p. 103. ^ Ibid., 4. 
 
88 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 This, therefore, was given up. Subsequently, he occupied 
 Brownsville, on the Rio Grande, and directed operations 
 towards Galveston. While engaged in this operation, he 
 received a despatch from General Halleck, stating : 
 
 " All the Western generals were in favor of a movement 
 directly upon Shreveport and operations against Texas from 
 that direction, and that as I knew, he himself had always 
 been of that opinion." ' 
 
 General Banks then caused a memorial to be prepared by 
 Major D. C. Houston, of the Engineer Corps, indicating the 
 preparations necessary for the expedition to Shreveport. 
 These suggestions were to the following effect : 
 
 ' ' First, that all the troops west of the Mississippi should 
 be concentrated for that purpose ; 
 
 ' * Second, that they should all be put under the command 
 of one general ; 
 
 " Third, that considering the uncertainty of the naviga- 
 tion of the Red River, a line of supplies should be estab- 
 lished or preparations made for it independent of water 
 communications ; and, 
 
 " Fourth, preparation should be made for a long campaign 
 so that if we reached Shreveport without encountering the 
 enemy, and he receded from Shreveport, we would be able to 
 follow him ; the military being of the opinion that it was 
 necessary to disperse or destroy that army, and not merely 
 to take the place and hold it. " " 
 
 General Banks goes on to state that he was instructed by 
 the Government to communicate with General Steele and 
 General Sherman, and that everything was left to his dis- 
 cretion in that way. This complicated his position. He 
 was not under the command of either Steele or Sherman, nor 
 were they under his, though he states he would have acted 
 under either with perfect satisfaction. On the 5th or 7th 
 of March, General Banks's forces were to leave Berwick Bay, 
 ten days' march from Alexandria on Red River, where it 
 was appointed for him to meet Sherman's soldiers, and Steele 
 was to come with his troops in Arkansas and join his brother 
 
 • Ibid., 5. 
 
 ' Report of Com. on Con. of War, General Banks's Testimony, p. 5. 
 
Memoir 89 
 
 generals at Grand Ecore on the Red River. This was only 
 an understanding, and, as will subsequently appear, through 
 no fault of Steele's was not carried out. 
 
 General Sherman, 'vith characteristic promptitude, ordered 
 details to be made from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army 
 Corps, (ten thousand men in all) divided into two divisions, 
 the detachments of the Sixteenth Corps being under the 
 command of Brig. -Gen. Joseph A. Mower, those of the Seven- 
 teenth under Brig. -Gen. Thos. Kilby Smith ; the whole de- 
 tachment from the Army of the Tennessee being commanded 
 by Brig. -Gen. A. J. Smith. These soldiers and their ofl&cers 
 had but just returned from the expedition to Meridian. 
 They were in high spirits, and veterans. General Sherman 
 only lent this fine body of soldiers to Banks for thirty days, 
 as he was then contemplating his movement on Atlanta, and 
 it was thought that they could complete the expedition to 
 Shreveport within that time. Banks, himself, reached 
 Alexandria on the 24th of March, but his troops did not 
 arrive until the 26th, eight days later than he expected. 
 The army thus gathered at Alexandria was under command 
 of Banks; A. J. Smith, though essentially independent, acting 
 in subordination to him. An important part of the expedi- 
 tion was that assigned to the fleet under Admiral Porter, 
 which was to ascend the Red River and take part in the re- 
 duction of Fort De Russy, and then proceed to Alexandria. 
 General Sherman's plan was to follow the enemy toward 
 Shreveport while Porter's fleet with transports bearing stores, 
 should ascend the river and meet the army at that point. 
 
 On the 7th of March, 1864, by special order No. 63, from 
 Major-General McPherson, General Kilby Smith had been 
 assigned to the command of a division made up as follows : 
 the 3d Iowa Infantry, Lieut. -Col. James Willis, command- 
 ing ; 41st Illinois, Lieut. -Col. J. H. Nale, commanding ; 
 33d Wisconsin, Col. J. B. Moore, commanding — forming a 
 brigade under the command of Colonel Pugh, the 41st Illi- 
 nois, senior officer, subsequently relieved by Col. J. B. 
 Moore, of the 33d Wisconsin ; also, the 14th Wisconsin, 
 Lieut. -Col. J. W. Polleys, commanding ; 95th Illinois, Col. 
 T. W. Humphrey, commanding ; 8ist Illinois, Lieut. -Col. 
 
go Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 A. W. Rogers, commanding — forming a brigade under the 
 command of Col. Lyman Ward of the 14th Wisconsin, senior 
 officer ; also M company of the ist Missouri Light Artillery. 
 
 General Kilby Smith's personal stajGf consisted of the fol- 
 lowing officers : 
 
 Capt. William Warner, Co. D, 33d Wisconsin Infantry, 
 A.A.A.Gen. 
 
 Capt. Wm. L. Scott, Co. F, 33d Wisconsin Infantry, 
 A.A.A.Gen. 
 
 Capt. John H. Wetmore, Co. H, 95th Illinois, A.D.C. 
 
 Surgeon Charles Carle, 41st Illinois, Surgeon-in-Chief. 
 
 Lieut. James H. Lukin, Co. F, 3d Iowa, A. A.D.C. 
 
 Lieut. W. C. B. Gillespie, Adjutant 41st Illinois Infantry, 
 A.A.Q.M. 
 
 Gen. Kilby Smith wrote an informal, unofficial letter to 
 General McPherson, which shows the operations of A. J. 
 Smith's command to the i6th of March, as follows : 
 
 " Hdqrs. Division, Seventeenth Army Corps,' 
 "Red River Expedition, Fort De Russy, March 16, 1864. 
 
 " Generai, : 
 
 Agreeably to your request I have the honor to transmit 
 unofficially brief statement of progress of the naval forces 
 and General A. J. Smith's command in the Red River expe- 
 dition to present date, 12 m. : the fleet of transports sailed 
 from Vicksburg at 7 p.m. on Thursday, loth instant. The 
 detachment I have the honor to command embarked on 
 steamers Hastings, A7doa'at, John Rai7ie, and Diana. Ar- 
 rived at the mouth of Red River and reported to Admiral 
 Porter on Friday at noon. Saturday, 10 a.m. sailed up Red 
 River and Atchafalaya, under orders and signals from flag- 
 ship Btactz Hawtc, to Simmsport. Morning of Sunday de- 
 barked my own command for inspection, review, and drill 
 by regiments. At 7 p.m. received marching orders and at 
 8 P.M. marched, bringing up the rear of the column ; re- 
 paired bridges through the night. Roads for the most part 
 bad and swampy, and bivouacked at 4 a.m. Monday, eight 
 miles from Simmsport. Meanwhile General A. J. Smith, with 
 
 ' War Records, vol. xxxiv., part i., p. 376. 
 
Memoir 9 1 
 
 General Mower's command, had reconnoitred the front, 
 driven four regiments of the enemy from a fortification situ- 
 ate some five miles from Simmsport, and was heading across 
 country for Moreauville, on Bayou De Glaize. Gave my 
 troops rest two hours. At 6 o'clock took up the line of 
 march, moving forward rapidly till ii o'clock, when I halted, 
 ordered coffee for the men and fed the animals. Meanwhile 
 pioneers were reconstructing bridge by the enemy destroyed. 
 At noon resumed march, which till this time has led us 
 through a rich and highly cultivated country, past extensive 
 corn-fields and sugar-houses. Now crossing the bayou and 
 penetrating a swamp for a few miles, we suddenly emerged on 
 one of the most beautiful prairies imaginable, high table-land, 
 gently undulating, watered by little lakes, with occasional 
 groves, the landscape dotted with tasteful houses, gardens and 
 shrubberies. This prairie, called Avoyelles, is settled ex- 
 clusively by French emigrants, many of whom, as our army 
 passed, sought shelter under the tricolor of France. Push- 
 ing forward rapidly, we gained Marksville at 5.30 p.m. 
 Deserters had warned us that the enemy were on our left 
 flank and rear as early as 3 o'clock. My troops were well 
 closed. Two and a half miles beyond Marksville, at 5.30, 
 I formed line of battle, my right resting immediately on the 
 left of the advanced forces ; transportation and ambulances 
 parked far to the rear. As my command came to front brisk 
 musketry firing commenced at the fort ; some shells fell to 
 the rear and right of my line. I was ordered by the general 
 commanding to look well to my rear and left wing, that I 
 might anticipate attack from Walker with six thousand 
 Texans. At 6.30 news was brought me that the fort had 
 surrendered. I threw out heavy pickets, stacked arms, and 
 went into bivouac. 
 
 " In summary, I may remark that on the 14th instant the 
 command marched twenty-eight and a half miles, built a sub- 
 stantial bridge sixty feet in length, repaired minor ones, and 
 took a fort between sunrise and sunset. But one brigade (Col. 
 W. C. Ward's [W. T. Shaw's ?], of Mower's command) was 
 actively engaged. Their casualties were 2 killed, 33 wounded. 
 The substantial results 334 prisoners, 24 officers (from lieuten- 
 
92 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 ant-colonel to third lieutenant), large amount of commissary 
 and ordnance, and ordnance stores, as per schedule I have the 
 honor to transmit herewith. I also enclose draught ' of forti- 
 fications and topographical map ' of country immediately 
 circumjacent. Meanwhile convoy and fleet had made slow 
 and devious way through the tortuous windings of the Red, 
 whose navigation at present stage of water is diflScult. 
 Rapid current, frequent eddies, sharp bends, and snags are 
 the natural obstacles. To these the enemy had added rafts 
 and spiles. As the fort surrendered the Black Hawk rounded 
 to, and shortly afterward the general commanding received 
 the congratulations of the admiral, who he will compliment 
 by present of the 9-inch piece of the Indianola and the pieces 
 of the Harriet Lane, recaptured. The quartermaster has no 
 paint, however, and we shall not be able to repeat the in- 
 scriptions of Haines BluflT 
 
 " My command is in occupation of the fort, and will be 
 engaged to-day and to-morrow in the demolition of the case- 
 mates, bridges, etc. , and finally the blowing up of the maga- 
 zine. The main body, under the command of General 
 Mower, convoyed by Admiral Porter, sailed last night for 
 Alexandria, where I expect to join them in three days. 
 General A. J. Smith remains with me ; also the gunboat 
 Benton, Captain Greer. My command is in excellent health 
 and fine spirits ; deserve compliment for their steadiness, 
 discipline, and marching qualities. Dispatch-boat waits my 
 orders. I write hurriedly, or rather dictate from horseback. 
 Shall hope to send very good account of my stewardship. 
 
 ' ' I meanwhile have the honor to be, with highest respect, 
 your obedient servant and friend, 
 
 " Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 " Brigadier-General, Commanding. 
 " Maj.-Gen. J. B. McPherson, 
 
 " Comdg. Seventeenth Armj^ Corps, Vicksburg. 
 
 "P. S. : — I send Colonel Nale with prisoners and dis- 
 patches to Baton Rouge. Opportunity permitting, he will 
 make written reports, filing them on his return. 
 
 "Haste, "T. K. S." 
 
 ' Not found. 
 
Memoir 93 
 
 After tlie capture of Fort De Russy and the assembling of 
 the army at and about Alexandria, which, as has been said, 
 was not fully completed till the 26th of March, by reason of 
 the delay of Banks's immediate command, consisting of the 
 Nineteenth and detachments of the Thirteenth Army Corps, 
 General Banks planned to march on the inland roads towards 
 Shreveport ; the fleet, meantime, to make its way up the Red 
 River to Springfield at a distance of one hundred and ten 
 miles from Shreveport, and there to communicate with the 
 main body of the army. Prior to the arrival of Banks's 
 troops, he had come in person to Alexandria, while A. J. 
 Smith had busied himself by sending Mower on the 21st to 
 capture a post of the enemy at Henderson's Hill, a brilliant 
 affair in which that officer had been entirely successful, cap- 
 turing almost the entire force of the enemy, some two hun- 
 dred and fifty men, with their horses and four guns. After 
 this affair, A. J. Smith's command had proceeded as far as 
 Bayou Rapide, twenty-one miles beyond Alexandria, in the 
 direction of Shreveport. In pursuance of the general plan, 
 General Kilby Smith's division was assigned as an escort 
 to the fleet, and therefore had no part in operations of the 
 main body of the army until a later date. Banks's com- 
 mand was weakened by the necessity of returning three 
 thousand men composing the marine brigade with their ves- 
 sels to General McPherson at Vicksburg, where they were 
 needed for the special duty of guarding the Mississippi 
 River from raids. This force was really not needed under 
 the circumstances, inasmuch as the vessels were unable to 
 pass the rapids of the Red River near Alexandria, which the 
 fleet of Porter's heavier iron-clads had difficulty in ascend- 
 ing. A depot of supplies was established at Alexandria, and 
 the command of General Grover aggregating three thousand 
 men, was left to protect it. Banks had with him, therefore, 
 when he began to move forward from Alexandria, a force 
 of about twenty thousand men. He anticipated aid from 
 Steele, who had moved out from lyittle Rock to make his way 
 across country to the rendezvous at or near Shreveport. 
 Before the main body of troops had passed up the rapids 
 on the 28th of March, a portion of Banks's column had 
 
94 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 advanced to Natchitoches. The water in the river was 
 continually falling and Banks was anticipating a reduction 
 of his numbers by the withdrawal of General A. J. Smith's 
 command, which as has been said had been promised him by 
 Sherman for but thirty days. ^ The military situation at this 
 time was far from satisfactory. Steele was at such a distance 
 that it was impossible for Banks to communicate with him ex- 
 cepting at long intervals ; the country through which his 
 march lay was in large part heavily timbered with but a nar- 
 row road through which wagons could pass each other only 
 with great difficulty. His march into the interior separated 
 him from the fleet of Porter, and the season was rapidly ad- 
 vancing. General Grant was anxious to have the detach- 
 ment of Sherman's men returned to him in order to become a 
 part in the grand movement upon Atlanta, which was planned 
 to take place simultaneously with that on Richmond ; and so 
 earnest was the General-in-Chief in this behalf, that he dis- 
 patched Banks word ' ' I had rather that the Red River ex- 
 pedition had never been begun than that you should be 
 detained one day beyond the first of May in commencing the 
 movements east of the Mississippi. ' ' Meantime the Confed- 
 erates were gathering their forces from Texas and Arkansas 
 under Taylor, Price, Green and others, and had a force of 
 about twenty-five thousand men in the various commands to 
 bring against the Union advance. On the 6th of April Banks 
 moved forward from Natchitoches to cover the one hundred 
 miles that lay between him and Shreveport, with the com- 
 mand of General Franklin in the advance, with General 
 A. Iv. Lee's cavalry in the van followed by two divisions of 
 the Thirteenth Army Corps under Ransom ; Emory followed 
 Ransom with the First Division of the Nineteenth Corps. On 
 the yth, A. J. Smith followed with the Sixteenth Corps. Skir- 
 mishing had taken place with Confederates as early as the 2d. 
 On the yth the advance of the army had passed Pleasant 
 Hill, and at a distance of nine miles further came upon the 
 Confederate army at Carroll's Plantation. On the 8th, Lee 
 found himself at a clearing in the woods at a distance of 
 three or four miles below Mansfield, called " Sabine Cross 
 Roads, ' ' and here his further advance was blocked by the 
 
Memoir 95 
 
 rebel trans-Mississippi army, fully twenty thousand strong. 
 His position was a most critical one, with no infantry to 
 support him, and having in his rear an enormous train of 
 baggage wagons and artillery, in a country unfitted for the 
 operations of cavalry. He was forced to give battle under 
 most disadvantageous circumstances. He sent urgent request 
 for support and infantry was moved forward by Franklin 
 to aid him. About half-past four in the afternoon the Con- 
 federate forces made so vehement an attack that the Union 
 troops were compelled to fall back with heavy loss. About 
 five in the afternoon the enemy turned lyCe's flanks and strik- 
 ing his centre heavily, he was driven back upon his supply 
 trains, and his way of retreat being blocked, he lost ten guns 
 from Ransom's forces that had come to his aid, together with 
 one thousand men captured and nearly all of his wagons filled 
 with supplies. The retreat became a rout, and the whole 
 command demoralized and panic-stricken, fled before the 
 exultant foe. In order to understand the situation, it must 
 be remembered that Banks's army was scattered at too great 
 a distance between the separate commands to enable them 
 adequately to support each other. As the defeated forces of 
 Lee and Ransom of Franklin's command, or what was left 
 of them, rushed to the rear, they came upon the columns of 
 Emory who had taken position at Pleasant Grove, three miles 
 to the rear of Sabine Cross Roads, and as the defeated forces 
 came upon his line, he opened to let them pass. The Con- 
 federates pressed forward, but were met with so heavy and 
 well-concentrated a fire, that they recoiled. Although the 
 loss inflicted by them upon the Union forces was heavier 
 than that which they sustained themselves, they met a severe 
 check in their onward movement. When night fell. Banks 
 thought best to fall back fifteen miles further to the rear to 
 Pleasant Hill, reaching that point the following morning 
 the 9th of April. Here he was joined by the forces of Gen- 
 eral A. J. Smith and the whole command was united excepting 
 the detachment on the Red River under command of General 
 Kilby Smith, and the soldiers who had been left at Alexan- 
 dria under Grover. Anticipating a continuance of the 
 attack by the Confederates, the Union forces were disposed 
 
g6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 to receive them, and about noon an attack was made. During 
 the afternoon the battle became animated, and when dark- 
 ness closed, the Confederates were defeated, after a loss of 
 many of their best ofiicers and men. After this success it 
 was at first thought that the forward movement would be 
 renewed, but after a conference with his officers, the com- 
 manding general concluded that he could not successfully 
 prosecute the object as first planned, and to the great disap- 
 pointment of his troops, at least that portion of them under 
 the command of A. J. Smith, he concluded to continue the 
 retreat. In the severe battles on the yth, 8th, and 9th of 
 April, he had lost in killed, wounded and missing nearly 
 four thousand men, twenty pieces of artillery, one hundred 
 and sixty wagons and many horses and mules. The retro- 
 grade movement had a most disheartening effect upon his 
 troops, who had lost all confidence in his capacity, while the 
 forces of the Confederates, distributed by Taylor, their im- 
 mediate commander, were actively harassing his every move- 
 ment. In all probability. Banks adopted the wisest course 
 in deciding to retreat, though he did so with a precipitation 
 that was quite unnecessary. The waters of the Red River, 
 instead of having risen as was customary at that season of 
 the year, were obstinately falling, and in order to have 
 reached Shreveport in the heart of the enemy's country, it 
 was necessary to keep open a long line of communications. 
 Even had he attained that point, it is doubtful whether his 
 forces would have been adequate to have crushed the enemy 
 under Kirby Smith's command, who were opposed to him. 
 Of his personal courage and integrity there could be no 
 doubt, but his incapacity for the command of large bodies of 
 men in the field, had been made obvious and unless he had 
 been immediately superseded and a competent soldier put in 
 his place, it would have been, perhaps more hazardous to 
 have advanced than to retreat. It is vain to speculate upon 
 what might have been. The great expedition that had set 
 forth with such high hopes and such splendid equipment, 
 had become a disastrous failure, and nothing remained but 
 to extricate the army and the fleet from the trap into which 
 it had fallen. The main army, therefore, withdrew to the 
 Red River at Grand Kcore. 
 
Me^noir 97 
 
 While these untoward events were occurring to their com- 
 rades, the command of General Kilby Smith on the trans- 
 ports and Admiral Porter's fleet had made their way in 
 obedience to their orders to Springfield landing at Loggy 
 Bayou. Here their course was stayed by an obstruction in 
 the river, — a sunken steamboat, the New Falls City, which 
 stretched across the channel, loaded with mud, and which 
 must have been removed to permit their further advance. 
 While Admiral Porter and General Smith were debating on 
 the course to take to remove this obstacle, word reached 
 them of the defeat of the main army, with orders to fall back 
 at once to Grand Kcore. The narrative of their adventures 
 appears in the report of General Smith, which follows : 
 
 " Hdqrs. Division, Seventeenth Army Corps,' 
 
 " On Steamer Hastings, Grand Ecore, La., April 16, 1864. 
 
 " Captain : 
 
 " I respectfully submit the following report, in accordance 
 with orders from General A. J. Smith, coinmanding Red 
 River expedition : On the 7th instant I received the follow- 
 ing order and letter of instructions from General A. J. Smith : 
 
 " ' HEADQUARTERS RED RIVER EXPEDITION, 
 
 " ' On Steamer Ci,ara Bei,i<, April 7, 1864. 
 
 *• * Brig.-Gen. T. K. Smith, 
 
 ' ' ' Comdg. Division, Seventeenth Army Corps : 
 ** ' Generai, : 
 
 " ' You will take charge of the river transportation be- 
 longing to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, and 
 will conduct it to the mouth of IvOggy Bayou, opposite 
 Springfield, at the foot of I^ake Cannisnia, and will then, 
 after a careful reconnoissance toward Springfield disembark 
 one regiment and push it forward to Bayou Pierre, and hold 
 the bridge at that point. On arriving at Mansfield I will 
 endeavor to communicate with you at Springfield, and it 
 may be send for supplies. From Mansfield you will receive 
 
 ' War Records, vol. xxxiv., part i., p. 379. 
 
98 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 further orders in regard to your movement toward Shreve- 
 port. 
 
 " ' I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " ' A. J. Smith, 
 " ' Brigadier- General, Commanding.' 
 
 " With the letter of instructions I received a verbal order 
 from General Smith to communicate with Rear-Admiral 
 Porter previous to starting, and intimation to consult with 
 him during the progress of the fleet. In obedience to orders, 
 on the 7 th of April I embarked my command on the follow- 
 ing steamboats : Hastings^ Emerald^ W. L. Ewing, Thos. E. 
 Tutt, and the Sioux City, and the following boats reported 
 to me for orders : Clara Bell, Liberty, Haviilton, J^. H. Lacy, 
 Mars, Des Moi?ies, Adriatic, Southwester, and Diadem, and 
 issued the following order : 
 
 " Special Orders \ 
 "No 21. J 
 " Headquarte;rs Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 "Steamer Hastings, Grand Ecore, La., April 7, 1864. 
 
 " I. The fleet will be prepared to sail at 11 a.m. in the 
 following order : i, Hastings ; 2, Clara Bell ; 3, Emerald; 4, 
 W. L. Ewing ; 5, Liberty ; 6, Haviiltoyi ; 7, y . H. Lacy ; 8, 
 Thomas E. Tutt ; 9, Sioux City ; 10, Mars ; 11, Des Moiries ; 
 12, Adriatic; 13, Southwester ; 14, Diadem. 
 
 " The same orders and signals as heretofore will be en- 
 forced and strictly followed. 
 
 " Col. J. B. Moore, commanding First Brigade, will 
 furnish a company, properly officered, to each of the follow- 
 ing boats as a guard : Clara Bell, Liberty, Ha7nilton, and J . 
 H. Lacy. Col. L. M. Ward, commanding Second Brigade, 
 will furni.sh a like guard to the steamers Mars, Des Moi7ies, 
 Adriatic, Southwester, and Diadem. 
 
 " The officers in command of the guard will be held 
 strictly accountable for the conduct of their men. The 
 guard to be divided into proper reliefs, and must not take 
 off" their accoutrements while on guard. None of the trans- 
 ports will land or troops debark, except by order of the com- 
 manding general or brigade commanders. 
 
Memoir 99 
 
 "At I P.M. the fleet sailed and arrived at Campti at 5 
 P.M., when the following order was issued : 
 
 •' Special Orders ) 
 "No. 22. ) 
 
 " Headquarters Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 "Campti, La., April 7, 1864. 
 
 " I. Whenever the fleet lands for the night, Col. J. B. 
 Moore, commanding First Brigade, will throw out a strong 
 picket on the bank, covering the fleet from the steamer 
 Hastings to the steamer Thomas E. Ttdt. Colonel L. M. 
 Ward, commanding Second Brigade, will establish a like 
 picket, covering all the fleet in the rear of the steamer 
 Thomas E. Tiitt, his line joining that of Colonel Moore. 
 The pickets will be posted under the direction of the brigade 
 officer of the day. The pickets will be instructed to come in 
 at the signal for starting — one long whistle. 
 
 " II. The order of inarch is modified as follows : Clara 
 Bell will move in the extreme rear of the fleet, under con- 
 voy of the gunboat Chillicothe, and will report to the com- 
 manding officer of the same for orders. 
 
 " III. The following boats that have not reported for 
 orders will sail immediately in rear of the fleet in the follow- 
 ing order: i, Rob Roy; 2, Iberville; 3, yohn Warner; 4, 
 Universe; 5, Colonel Cowles ; 6, Meteor. 
 
 " IV. The Black Hawk, General Banks's headquarters 
 boat, will move immediately in rear of the steamer Hastings 
 and as consort. Lieut. A. J. Boyington, 95th Illinois Volun- 
 teers, will report with his company on board steamer Black 
 Hawk as guard till further orders. 
 
 " V. Col. J. B. Moore, commanding First Brigade, will 
 furnish each of the following boats with a guard of at least 
 twenty-five men, under command of a commissioned ofl&cer : 
 Rob Roy, Iberville, John Warner, and Universe. Colonel ly. 
 M. Ward, commanding Second Brigade, will furnish each 
 of the following boats with a like guard : Colonel Cowles^ 
 Meteor, and Shreveport. 
 
lOO Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " I also issued the following general order : 
 
 "General Orders! 
 
 " No. 7. i 
 
 "Hdqrs. Division, Seventeisnth Army Corps, 
 "Steamer Hastings, Campti, La., April 7, 1864. 
 
 " Bach transport of the fleet will be governed by the sig- 
 nals ordered by the rear-admiral commanding Mississippi 
 squadron, a copy of which will be posted in the pilot-house. 
 They will keep their position indicated in the order of march. 
 If accident occurs to any boat, the fleet will stop till the 
 necessary repairs are made. No boat will land for fuel or 
 any purpose save by order, and transports will frequently 
 communicate their condition and requirements to the com- 
 manding general on the headquarters boat Hastings. The 
 most rigid discipline will be enforced by military com- 
 manders, not only upon the soldiers who guard the boats, 
 but the crews and servants of the same, being careful, how- 
 ever, to treat steamboat oflScers with courtesy, and avoiding 
 improper interference with the navigation of the boats. 
 Pillaging will not be countenanced, and oflScers will be held 
 personally and strictly accountable for their commands. 
 
 " Attention is directed to special orders No. 21, prohibit- 
 ing the landing of soldiers without orders, and the same 
 order will apply to the officers, crews, and servants of the 
 boats. 
 
 " Learning from scouts at Campti, that the enemy was in 
 the vicinity, I ordered Colonel Moore to send a regiment to 
 reconnoitre. The result of their reconnoissance was advices 
 that the enemy passed up the river rapidly. 
 
 " April 8th, got under way at 10.30 a.m., being delayed by 
 the Iberville getting aground and the necessity of relieving 
 her of a portion of her cargo, she drawing at that time six 
 feet six inches. Arrived at Coushatta Point at 6 p.m., and 
 learning that the enemy were at or near the chute, six miles 
 above by water and three miles by land, I ordered Colonel 
 Ward to debark his brigade and proceed to Coushatta Chute, 
 with instructions to keep up communication with me through 
 
Memoir lOi 
 
 the night, and be prepared to re-embark at that place in the 
 morning. The enemy retired before them, and during the 
 night two prisoners were sent in ; one Capt. Richard S. 
 Venables, detached to burn cotton. April 9th, got under way 
 at 9 A.M. Shortly after re-embarked Colonel Ward's com- 
 mand and arrived at Nine-Mile Bend at 5.30 p.m. On the 8th 
 and 9th, we heard rumors of the battle, but mostly going to 
 show that the enemy were defeated and in full retreat. April 
 loth, got under way at 10 a.m., arriving at Loggy Bayou 
 at 2 P.M. At that point the large steamboat New Falls City 
 had been thrown across the river by the enemy, heavily 
 loaded with mud, and sunk. Agreeably to our instructions, 
 I immediately debarked troops for reconnoissance, and while 
 placing my command receii'ed a verbal message, through 
 Colonel Taylor, delivered by Captain Andrew, from General 
 Banks, to return, the messenger at the same time announcing 
 reverses at Mansfield. I consulted with Rear-Admiral 
 Porter, and ordered the fleet to back down the river in the 
 order the boats then lay, the rearmost boat to take the lead 
 down stream and turn as the bayous and pockets of the 
 stream might afford facility. The river was exceedingly 
 narrow and tortuous, the bottom covered with logs and 
 snags, and the banks full of drift, rendering the navigation 
 most difl&cult and dangerous. In the course of the night I 
 succeeded in getting the fleet turned, and, April nth, got 
 fairly under way at 6.30 a.m., and arrived at Coushatta 
 Chute at 8 p.m., meeting but trifling resistance from the 
 enemy. Here I received the following written order : 
 
 " On the Road, April 10, 1864. 
 " ' Brig. -Gen. Kilby Smith, 
 
 " ' Commanding Division Seventeenth Army Corps : 
 " ' The general commanding directs that you return im- 
 mediately to Grand Ecore with supply steamers and your 
 entire command. Please report to him upon your arrival. 
 " ' By command of Major-General Banks, 
 
 " ' Geo. B. Drake, 
 " ' Assistant Adjutant-General." 
 
 ' ' April 1 2th, sailed at 7 a. m. This day the navigation was 
 
I02 Thomas Kilby Smzik 
 
 exceedingly difficult, and almost all of the transports were in 
 a crippled condition, rudders unshipped and wheels broken. 
 I felt it necessary to separate the fleet as much as possible 
 to avoid collisions in turning the bends. Keeping the troop 
 transports under my eye and control, the admiral having 
 preceded me in the lead, I kept to the rear of the fleet. At 
 12 M.the enemy began to appear in considerable numbers, and, 
 firing on the Meteor, killed one man. Desultory firing was 
 kept up continuously until, at 4 o'clock, the Hastings went 
 under the bank on the south side of the river, near Pleasant 
 Hill L^anding, to repair wheel, which had become unservice- 
 able ; the Alice Vivian, a boat that had reported the day be- 
 fore, lying midway in the stream, fast aground. The Black 
 Hawk towing the gunboat Osage, the Vivian signalled for 
 help. I ordered the Clara Bell to report to her. Clara Bell 
 failing to move her, the Emerald was ordered to her. About 
 this time the Rob Roy ran astern of the Black Hawk, and the 
 enemy, a brigade about twelve hundred strong, with four 
 field-pieces, commanded by General Green of Texas, formed 
 upon the bank, putting their pieces in battery within point- 
 blank range of the Hastings, the nearest boat. The Neosho ' 
 and Lexington (gunboats) at this time were lying on the 
 opposite bank, half a mile up. I ordered the Hastings to 
 cast off", and just as we got under way the battery opened 
 upon us, the first shot falling a little short, the others over 
 us ; their practice was defective. Getting a good position 
 upon the opposite shore I opened upon them with one section 
 of Lieutenant Tiemayer's battery, one gun of which was 
 mounted upon the hurricane deck of the Emerald, the siege 
 guns, which were upon the forecastle of the Rob Roy, and 
 the howitzer from the hurricane deck of the Black Hawk, the 
 latter admirably handled by Colonel Abert, of General 
 Banks's staff. We killed their battery horses and they 
 changed position repeatedly, moving their guns up by hand. 
 Meanwhile their sharpshooters had deployed up the river, 
 and sheltered behind the cottonwoods that lined the banks 
 immediately opposite the boats, from whence they poured in 
 an incessant fire. My soldiers were all upon the hurricane 
 ' In another copy this appears as Osage. 
 
Memoir 103 
 
 decks, protected by cotton bales, bales of hay, and sacks of 
 oats, sujSicient barricade to rifle balls, enabling them to 
 mark the enemy with deadly aim. After the fight com- 
 menced the gunboat Neosho, that had been aground above, 
 rounded the point and getting into position delivered canister 
 from her heavy guns with great effect. The Lexington, 
 Neosho, No. ij, and Hindman were not idle, and the bank 
 for two miles up and down was swept with grape and canister. 
 Before sundown we had silenced the enemy's batteries, and 
 shortly after they fled from the field, leaving many dead, 
 among them General Green, who had his head blown off, 
 and who had behaved with great gallantry throughout the 
 fight. Fortunately I had ordered all the transports below 
 save the Clara Bell, Black Hawk, Eme^'ald, the Vivia7i 
 (aground as before stated), and the Rob Roy. My loss, 
 therefore, is incredibly small. Just at dark, under the direc- 
 tion of the admiral, who below communicated with me by 
 the dispatch-boat Gazelle, I ordered the transports down, 
 and as time, particularly at night, was precious to me, and 
 my responsibilities as to supplies, ordnance, and ordnance 
 stores in the fleet great, I did not deem it proper to gather 
 up the wounded, but left them with the dead to the care of 
 the enemy, who I knew would be upon the ground after our 
 departure. I kept the fleet under way until i a.m., when, 
 from the darkness and grounding of boats, I ordered the fleet 
 tied up. 
 
 " April 13th, the John War^ier got aground in the middle 
 of the stream and held the fleet all day. About 12 m. the 
 enemy's forces under Liddell, upon the north bank of the 
 river, planted their battery, 6-pounder field-pieces, upon a 
 height commanding the fleet, and began to annoy us. The 
 admiral had gone below, and communicating with Captain 
 Selfridge, of the gunboat Osage, I went with him to a point 
 below the fleet, from which he drove the enemy from posi- 
 tion, as we supposed ; at all events, we silenced their bat- 
 teries. At this time, the fleet had become crowded close 
 together, under the blufi" of the south shore, v/herefrom they 
 might be easily fired, and a vast deal of loose powder and 
 fixed ammunition formed the cargo of many boats. It was 
 
I04 Thomas Kilby S^nith 
 
 of the last importance to separate the fleet, therefore I 
 ordered the Sioux City, with Colonel Humphrey's regiment 
 on board, to lead the way and the sound transports to follow 
 — that is, those I did not need for tow-boats ; for at that 
 time many of the fleet were unmanageable from breaking of 
 machinery. The Rob Roy was laden with siege guns and 
 ammunition, a most valuable cargo, under charge of Major 
 Houston, of General Banks's staff". Her rudder being broken 
 and the boat being unmanageable, as represented by her 
 officers, I ordered the Clara Bell a light side- wheel steamer, 
 without cargo to take her in tow. Both the Sioux City and 
 the Clara Bell, as they passed the point, were struck, but 
 neither damaged, nor were there any lives lost. These, I 
 believe, were the only boats fired into. The Osage went 
 round the point, and the Hindman took her place. All that 
 day and all night I labored to get the John Warner off; 
 lightened her cargo, and tugged at her with the Iberville, 
 Meteor, Rob Roy and such other boats as had power. At 
 daylight of the 14th, I ordered the balance of the fleet down, 
 leaving the yohn Warner in charge of the Hi?idman. Get- 
 ting the boats to Campti, and there meeting General A. J. 
 Smith, with a force, I went back for the Warner, and was 
 glad to meet her a mile or two from Campti. The Hindman 
 had got her off. 
 
 " April 15th, lay all day by the Warner and Iberville, that 
 were alternately on ground and swinging at the bars, and at 
 midnight both boats getting clear, I ran with them down to 
 this point, and have to report that notwithstanding difficult 
 navigation the transports are all safe in port, without loss of 
 cargo save less than a hundred sacks of oats, thrown over- 
 board from the Universe, to make room for hard tack in re- 
 lieving the Iberville. The following is the list of casualties.* 
 
 " I desire to compliment, in this connection, for their 
 steadiness of nerve under fire and prompt obedience to all 
 orders, the following gentlemen, officers of the steamboat 
 Hastings ; Capt. W. K. Houston, George Davis, First Mate ; 
 Paul "Woodward, Second Mate ; and Robert Easley, Pilot. 
 These deserve special mention, and their gallantry saved the 
 
 ' Nominal list (omitted) reports two killed and seventeen wounded. 
 
Memoir 105 
 
 boats. Col. Moore, Col. Ward, and the ofl&cers and soldiers 
 of this command without any exception, behaved with the 
 greatest gallantry. I respectfully ask to be permitted to file, 
 in a supplementary report, the reports of those officers when 
 they shall be prepared. 
 
 " N. B. — The distance from Grand Ecore to lyOggy Bayou 
 is one hundred and ten miles. 
 
 ' ' I may also remark that the last battery we encountered 
 was planted by Colonel (General) Liddell (said to command 
 a force of from fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred men) 
 on a blufi" on the north side of the river. The fleet was 
 huddled together. I had reason to expect an attack from 
 the south side. Intervening between that part of the river 
 and the bluff was White L,ake. Had I debarked the whole or 
 any portion of my command to dislodge the battery I should 
 not only have left the boats unguarded but should have been 
 compelled to march six miles around the borders of this 
 lake. I took all the circumstances under full consideration 
 and determined to remain with the fleet. From information 
 received since, and from the general results, I feel confident 
 my course was the correct one. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 " Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 " Brigadier-General, Commanding. 
 " Captain Hough, 
 
 " Assistant Adjutant-General." 
 
 As the reports show, the position from which the admiral 
 and General Kilby Smith finally extricated themselves, was 
 one of the greatest peril. lyossing, in his history, after 
 stating that a council of chief officers of the Nineteenth 
 Corps, " upon the urgent recommendation of them all, and 
 with the acquiescence of General Smith . . . determined 
 to retire from Grand Ecore the following day, * to the great 
 disappointment of the troops,' Banks said, ' who, flushed 
 with success, were eager for another fight,' " says : 
 
 ' ' In the meantime, the command of T. Kilby Smith and 
 the transports had reached Springfield I^anding at Loggy 
 
io6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Bayou, where the river was obstructed by a sunken steam- 
 boat. Farther advance was not required, for word soon 
 came of the disaster at Sabine Cross Roads, followed by an 
 order from Pleasant Hill for the troops and flotilla to fall 
 back to Grand Kcore as quickly as possible. Obedience was 
 a diflScult task, for the troops so sorely smitten by Banks, 
 were turning their attention to the capture or destruction of 
 the vessels and troops above Grand Kcore. The banks of 
 the river at the turns were now swarming with sharpshooters, 
 the water was very low, and continually falling, and great 
 labor was necessary in getting the vessels over the numerous 
 bars and shoals. ' ' ' 
 
 He then describes the attack made at Coushatta, and gives 
 full credit to General Smith's command, and comments in a 
 note : 
 
 " In his report to the Secretary of the Navy on the 14th 
 April, Admiral Porter claimed the entire credit of the repulse 
 of the Confederates for himself and his command, and did 
 not even mention the presence of Gen. T. Kilby Smith and 
 his troops. ' ' 
 
 The Admiral based his report perhaps on that of Lieut. - 
 Comdr. Thomas O. Selfridge, who gives but scant credit to 
 the part taken by the soldiers in the battle with Green, for 
 he writes to the Admiral as follows : 
 
 "United States Steamer Osage, 
 
 "Grand Ecore, April 16, 1864, 
 " Sir : 
 
 ' ' I have the honor to inform you, that while on my way 
 down the river, having stopped at Blair's Plantation, some 
 fifty miles above this point, after protecting the transport 
 Alice Vivian, I was attacked by two brigades of dismounted 
 cavalry and three pieces of artillery, the whole under the 
 command of General Green, amounting to not less than 
 twenty-five hundred men. I waited until they got within 
 easy shelling range and opened upon them a heavy fire of 
 shrapnel and canister. The rebels fought with unusual per- 
 tinacity and for over an hour delivered the heaviest fire of 
 ' Ivossing, vol. ii., pp. 262, 263. 
 
Memoir 107 
 
 musketry that I ever witnessed. They finally broke in great 
 confusion, leaving the ground covered with the dead and 
 wounded, muskets, haversacks, etc., for manj^ yards from 
 the bank. Having received orders to join you without de- 
 lay, I regret that I could not give the battlefield the inspec- 
 tion that I desired. 
 
 ' ' From the statement of the wounded, and the appearance 
 of the field, the loss of the enemy could not have been less 
 than two hundred. General Green, who commanded, a 
 colonel and a major, are known to have been killed. The 
 Lexington (Commander Bache) came down shortly after the 
 action commenced, and from his position below was able to 
 pour in a most destructive enfilading fire that materially 
 hastened the result. Company " A, " 95th Illinois, were on 
 board, and did good execution. General Green will prove a 
 great loss, he standing as one of the best generals this side 
 of the Mississippi River. 
 
 " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " Thomas O. Selfridge, 
 
 ' ' Ivieutenant-Commander. ' ' ' 
 
 But whatever may have been the inaccuracies or mistakes 
 in the claims of the participants in these conflicts. Admiral 
 Porter's own estimate of General Smith's services at that 
 time he has placed in imperishable record. He wrote thus : 
 
 " Mississippi Squadron, Fi<ag-Ship Cricket, 
 
 " Off A1.BXANDRIA, LomsiANA, May 4, 1864. 
 " Brig.-Gen. A. J. Smith, 
 
 " Comdg. Div's Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 " Alexandria, La. 
 ' ' General : 
 
 " I have been so engaged since my return to this place 
 that I have not had the time to express to you the high ap- 
 preciation I have of the services of that excellent and gallant 
 of&cer, Brig.-Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith, who with a detach- 
 ment of two thousand men, accompanied the transports in 
 the expedition to Springfield Landing. 
 
 " In that expedition we accomplished, under the most 
 ' Report of Committee on Conduct of the War, vol. ii., p. 253. 
 
io8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 difficult circumstances, all that was required of us, and, 
 with a persevering enemy opposing us at almost every bend 
 of the river, returned to Grand Ecore, very much against 
 our will, without the loss of a particle of the material of war 
 with which we started. 
 
 ' ' I cannot speak in too high praise of the manner in which 
 General Smith managed his part of the expedition, doing 
 everything in his power to make it successful, and co- 
 operating in a way to give me the most entire satisfaction. 
 It reminded me of the olden time, when the gallant soldiers 
 of the Department of the Tennessee, guarded by the gun- 
 boats, were pushing their way victoriously up the ever-to-be- 
 remembered Arkansas River. We did not return this time 
 with the same success, yet we went through scenes that 
 tried men's mettle ; and the association of those exciting 
 days will, no doubt, long be remembered by both of us. 
 Nearly one hundred miles in the rear of our army, where we 
 heard of its retreat back to Grand Kcore, and with a success- 
 ful and indomitable foe ready to harass us at ever}^ step, 
 everything was conducted as quietly as if we were still on 
 our way to meet the enemy. We never realized, until we 
 returned to Grand Ecore, that our army had returned dis- 
 comfited to that place. 
 
 ' ' We reached Springfield I^anding, the place appointed to 
 communicate with our forces under General Banks. The 
 troops were all landed, and in another hour would have been 
 on the march to Springfield, hoping to greet our friends as 
 conquerors. Our disappointment was great when informed 
 by a courier that our army had returned to Grand Ecore, 
 and that all our perseverance and energy had been thrown 
 away. 
 
 " The fire of the enemy was exceedingly annoying on our 
 return, but the soldiers treated it with indifference, exposing 
 themselves on all occasions, and returning the fire with in- 
 terest when fired into by the rebels. On the afternoon of 
 the 1 2th of April, we were attacked, at a bad bend in the 
 river, by a force of two thousand five hundred men, with 
 two field-pieces, under the rebel General Green backed by 
 a large force of five thousand, with three field-pieces. The 
 
Memoir 
 
 109 
 
 enemy attacked the rear of the transports, where there were 
 two gunboats, one or two transports, and the Hastiyigs, with 
 General Smith on board, bringing up the rear. The enemy- 
 came in certain of victory ; but the gunboats and the Hast- 
 ings, the Rob Roy, and one other, opened on them vigorously, 
 and after an hour and a half of hard fighting, in which the 
 fragile transports were much cut up, the enemy retreated in 
 confusion, with the loss of their best general (Green), about 
 twenty officers, and four hundred or five hundred men. In 
 this action General Smith bore a conspicuous part, and, by 
 his annoyance of the enemy, helped much to secure a victory, 
 so important to us from the death of the rebel General Green, 
 their most popular leader. From that time we were not so 
 much molested, the five thousand men in reserve concluding 
 it was best to let us alone. 
 
 ' ' At Campti some of the boats got aground, and, antici- 
 pating further annoyance, I pushed on, and, as you know, 
 requested you to send help to our exposed soldiers, which 
 you promptly did. I regret that the help did not arrive 
 quite in time to save a few lives, the enemy opening their 
 batteries on the boats shortly after I left, which attack, I am 
 informed, was coolly met, and the rebels driven away. 
 
 ' ' I hope it may be my good fortune to be associated with 
 General Smith on some occasion where our exertions will 
 meet with a better reward. Though we cannot lay claim to 
 any great success, we can safely say we accomplished all that 
 was required of us. 
 
 ' ' I hope you will commend this gallant officer to General 
 Sherman, who delights to know those under his command 
 who do their duty faithfully and gallantly. 
 
 ' ' With much respect, General, I remain very respectfully, 
 your obedient servant, David D. Porter, 
 
 " Rear- Admiral." ' 
 
 When the fleet and army were re-united at Grand Ecore, 
 
 further consultation was held as to the best course to adopt, 
 
 and it was concluded wisest to continue the retreat. But this 
 
 was more easily said than done. The heavy vessels of the 
 
 ' War Records, vol. xxxiv., part iii., p. 432. 
 
no Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 navy found it most diflScult to go over the sand-bars and shoal 
 places, and to add to the embarrassment, one of the finest 
 and largest iron-clads, the Eastport, being injured by the ex- 
 plosion of a torpedo, sunk in the stream. Porter, who had 
 proceeded down the river leaving the fleet in command of 
 Captain Selfridge, returned with pump boats and made every 
 effort to save this vessel, but finally it was discovered these 
 efforts must be in vain, and she was blown up. On the 21st 
 of April, the army was in full retreat toward Alexandria with 
 the enemy harassing them whenever opportunity offered. 
 The rear was brought up by Gen. A. J. Smith's column cov- 
 ered by the command of Gen. Kilby Smith, who repulsed 
 the enemy at Cloutierville. The whole retreat was a series 
 of skirmishes and brisk engagements, but finally the army 
 reached Alexandria without serious mishap. 
 
 Porter was very apprehensive that he would be deserted 
 by the army, and left to shift for himself at Grand Ecore, 
 and in point of fact he had difl&culty and some severe fight- 
 ing during which he behaved with the greatest gallantry in 
 making his way to Alexandria. During the retreat his as- 
 sociate in the previous adventures wrote him as follows : 
 
 "Headquarters Seventeenth A. C, 
 
 " CoTILl<E, April 25, 1864. 
 
 " Admirai, : 
 
 " Arrived at this point last night. General Banks and 
 army are on the march to Alexandria. We brought up the 
 rear and skirmished all the way. General Banks fought at 
 the crossing of Cane River. Not much loss on either side. 
 Our fight in the rear was sharp. Gen. A. J. Smith's com- 
 mand is ordered peremptorily to Alexandria. Troops are 
 now on the march. You will find the camp some two thou- 
 sand strong on the opposite side. Their artillery does not 
 amount to much. What they have we have crippled badly. 
 Will communicate more fully from Alexandria by the gun- 
 boats Osage and Pittsburgh, unless they get off before we 
 arrive. General Smith and I both protest at being hurried 
 away. We feel as if we were shamefully deserting 3'ou. If 
 I had the power I would march my troops back to Calhoun, 
 
Memoir 1 1 1 
 
 or wherever you might need us, if at all. I will try to get a 
 communication to you from Gen. A. J. Smith. 
 ' ' Most respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 ' ' Thomas Kii^by Smith, 
 "Brig. -Gen. Comdg.* 
 " Rear- Admiral Porter, 
 
 " Comdg. Mississippi Squadron." 
 
 The Admiral says in his testimony before the Committee 
 on the conduct of the war : 
 
 " When I got to Alexandria I found the army in a great 
 state of stampede. I did not see anything to be frightened 
 at, but the army was going to clear out at once and go down 
 the river. I told General Banks that that was out of the 
 question, that we must do something to get the fleet down. ' ' * 
 
 The situation, indeed, was a painful one. An immensely 
 valuable fleet was above the Red River rapids penned up, 
 and without any possibility of making their way down under 
 existing conditions. To protect them there would require 
 the army to remain stationary in a state of siege for an in- 
 definite time, perhaps a year, and to destroy them would be 
 to inflict a blow upon the Union cause in the southwest 
 heavier than any it had yet received. In this predicament 
 the genius and engineering skill of a western oflScer, L,ieut.- 
 Col. Joseph Bailey of the 4th Wisconsin Regiment, who had 
 had a successful experience in the neighborhood of Port 
 Hudson in floating certain vessels that had grounded in one 
 of the bayous by building a dam, suggested the expedient 
 of damming the waters of the Red River. His expedient 
 was immediately taken up by the army and the navy. Coal 
 barges were sunk in the river and cribs filled with brick and 
 ironwork (secured from the sugar mills) were built out to 
 meet the barges. On the 8th of May, the work having been 
 begun upon the ist, the dam was so far completed that the 
 water had risen seven feet on the rapids and the gunboats 
 Osage, Fort Hijidman and Neosho, with two other vessels, 
 passed down. Before the others could get under way the 
 
 ' Report of Committee on Conduct of the War, vol. ii., p. 254. 
 ' Ibid., p. 279. 
 
112 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 dam broke, but notwithstanding this discouragement, the 
 work was repaired and strengthened and on the 12th, the 
 vessels having been lightened, passed the obstacle in safety, 
 and the fleet was saved to the Union. The army and navy, 
 thus released from confinement, made their way as rapidly 
 as possible to Simmsport, fighting the Confederates from 
 time to time and always successfully. On the 20th of May, 
 the expedition ended, the army crossed the Atchafalaya, and 
 Banks handed over the command he had so unsuccessfully 
 managed to the more competent hands of Gen. Edward R. 
 S. Canby, who had been appointed his successor. Porter 
 passed down the Red River nearly parallel with the march 
 of the army and reached the Mississippi. While these events 
 were occurring to Banks, Steele, who had started south- 
 ward from lyittle Rock on the 23d of March, had pushed his 
 way as far as Camden, about half way between I^ittle Rock 
 and Shreveport. When he had heard of the news of the 
 disaster to the Union troops at Sabine Cross Roads, he 
 found his position dangerous, more especially as the Con- 
 federate commander Kirby Smith had concentrated almost 
 all his forces in the effort to crush him, and he therefore 
 made a hasty retreat towards Little Rock, which he reached 
 after fighting a severe battle at Jenkinson's Ferry, his troops 
 exhausted by their experience. 
 
 It will be noticed from the narrative of the Red River ex- 
 pedition, that neither by Admiral Porter, whose patience had 
 been sorely tried, nor by General Banks, with whom the 
 soldiers of Sherman had never before served, is there any 
 adverse criticism made of the conduct of A. J. Smith's com- 
 mand in any part of the operations. General Banks, in his 
 report, gives General Kilby Smith full credit for his manage- 
 ment of his duties while protecting the fleet in his ascent to 
 IvOggy Bayou, and its subsequent withdrawal to Grand 
 Bcore, saying : 
 
 " General Smith, who commanded the land forces and 
 transports, is entitled to the highest commendation for the 
 energy, skill, and success with which he managed this most 
 difficult affair." ' 
 
 * War Records, series i., vol. xxxiv., part i., p. 205. 
 
Memoir 113 
 
 Admiral Porter criticised Banks with great severity in his 
 communications with the naval department, and it seems 
 but fair that Banks's explanations and counter criticisms 
 should be considered. He remarks on Porter's statement 
 that ' ' the retreat to Grand Kcore left me almost at the mercy 
 of the enemy." 
 
 " The Admiral's despatch does not mention the fact that 
 in addition to the ' mercy ' of the enemy, he had the support 
 of General T. Kilby Smith's division of two thousand five 
 hundred men, whose most gallant and honorable part in the 
 preservation of the fleet of gunboats and transports is not 
 referred to in what the admiral calls ' this curious affair 
 between the (enemy's) infantry and gunboats,' referring to 
 General Green's attack at Coushatta, or, as it is sometimes 
 called, Blair's Ivanding." 
 
 General Banks avails himself, and quite naturally, of 
 every explanation or extenuation for his failure. In his re- 
 port he says : 
 
 " The column of Gen. A. J. Smith was a partially inde- 
 pendent command. General Sherman, in his despatch of 
 the loth of April, received the i6th, informed me that the 
 thirty days for which he had loaned me General Smith's com- 
 mand would expire on the loth of April, the day after the 
 battle of Pleasant Hill. General Smith's instructions, 
 which he showed me, required him to confer constantly 
 with Admiral Porter, the approved friend of the Army of 
 the Tennessee. . . . He made no official reports of his 
 forces or their operations. He was in no wise responsible 
 for the results of the expedition, and may perhaps be said to 
 have gained as much by its failure as he would by its suc- 
 cess. When his thirty days were up he claimed the right at 
 Grand Ecore to return to Vicksburg, irrespective of the con- 
 dition of the army or the fleet, and did not consider himself 
 at all responsible for the inevitable consequences of his with- 
 drawal to the army or the navy, nor for that detention which 
 their preservation demanded. That responsibility I was 
 called upon to assume in written orders. I entertain no 
 doubt that his official course was entirely consistent with his 
 orders, and I cheerfully acknowledge the generous and 
 
114 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 earnest efiforts of General Mower of the Sixteenth, and Gen- 
 eral T. Kilby Smith, of the Seventeenth Corps, to infuse into 
 the different corps that unity of spirit which is as essential 
 to victory as the valor of the soldiers in actual battle. I 
 gladly accord to the men of their commands the honor of 
 having fought a desperate enemy superior in numbers, with 
 as much gallantry and success as that which distinguished 
 the troops of my immediate command. No higher praise 
 than this can be given to any soldiers. Alexander's troops 
 never fought better. ' ' ' The general then lays upon Frank- 
 lin the responsibility for the movement on the advance of the 
 army at Sabine Cross Roads, and states that the navy de- 
 layed the advance of the army at Alexandria sixteen days 
 and at Grand Ecore three days, and had detained the army 
 ten days at Grand Kcore and eighteen days at Alexandria 
 on its return. In closing his report, he says : 
 
 " We owe nothing to the enemy, not even our defeat. 
 Could any one of these difficulties have been avoided, the 
 object of the campaign would have been accomplished. But 
 the occupation of Shreveport could not have been main- 
 tained. The presence of the enemy would have required 
 such a force for its defence as could not have been supplied 
 by the river, and for which no other arrangement had been 
 made, as suggested in my despatch of the 30th of March. 
 The only possible method of maintaining this position would 
 have been to concentrate at this point a force superior in 
 numbers to the enemy, with sufficient time to pursue him 
 wherever he should move, even if he took us to Galveston, 
 on the Gulf coast. This was suggested as a possible result 
 of the campaign, but it was not embraced in the original 
 plan, and was specially precluded by orders received from 
 the lieutenant-general commanding the armies." ^ 
 
 Gen. A. J. Smith's report is of course of interest, and 
 throws some strong light upon these events. After describ- 
 ing the battle at Pleasant Hill, and the successful result of 
 his operations, he says : 
 
 " The opinion of Major-General Banks as to the action 
 of the command and its results may be gathered from his 
 
 ' V/ar Records, vol. xxxiv., part i., p. 217. ^ Ibid., p. 218. 
 
Memoir 1 1 5 
 
 own words to me on the field just after the final charge. 
 When riding up to me he remarked, shaking me by the 
 hand, ' God ble.ss you, general, you have saved the army.' " 
 
 He goes on to say, 
 
 " About 12 o'clock on the night of the 9th I received 
 orders from General Banks to have my command in readi- 
 ness to move at 2 o'clock in the morning, and at that hour 
 to withdraw them silently from the field and follow the 
 Nineteenth Corps back to Grand Kcore, make such disposi- 
 tion of my troops and trains as would enable me to repel an 
 attack on the rear of the column. I represented to him that 
 the dead of my command were not buried, and that I had 
 not the means of transporting my wounded ; that many of the 
 wounded had not yet been gathered in from the field and 
 asked of him permission to remain until noon of the next 
 day to give me an opportunity to bury my dead and leave 
 the wounded as well provided for as the circumstances 
 would permit. I also urged the fact that Gen. Thomas 
 Kilby Smith's command, then thirty miles above on trans- 
 ports in the river, would undoubtedly be captured and the 
 transports lost if left to themselves. The permission to re- 
 main was, however, refused and the order to move made 
 peremptory. I therefore provided as well as possible for the 
 wounded, left medical ofiicers to attend to them, and moved 
 at the designated hour following the Nineteenth Corps. We 
 reached Grand Ecore on the evening of the nth, no attack 
 on the rear having been made by the enemy, and went into 
 camp. On the evening of the 13th, nothing having been 
 heard from a portion of our transports, save that they had 
 been attacked by infantry and artillery upon both sides of 
 the river, I marched up with two brigades of my command 
 on the north bank of the river to help them through if pos- 
 sible, crossing the river at Grand Ecore about 4 p.m. We 
 reached Campti, twelve miles above, the same night and met 
 a portion of the fleet there, they having by energy, good 
 judgment, and rare good fortune, succeeded in running the 
 batteries and land forces of the enemy without the loss of a 
 boat, though some were completely riddled with shot. ' ' ' 
 ' War Records, vol. xxxiv., part i., pp. 309, 310. 
 
1 1 6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Describing the retreat from Grand Ecore to Alexandria, 
 General Smith says : 
 
 '■ From the day of our leaving Natchitoches, the enemy 
 pushed the pursuit vigorously, the rear was skirmishing 
 every day and nearly all night. Twice during the march we 
 were obliged to form line and teach them a lesson. At 
 Cloutierville, on the 23d, they charged the rear division 
 (Gen. T. Kilby Smith's), but he repulsed them neatly and 
 thoroughly after about an hour's fighting." 
 
 In closing his report, he says : 
 
 " I crossed the bridge on the 20th (May), bringing up 
 the rear, and marched to Red River I^anding on the Missis- 
 sippi River, whither our boats had been sent, and reported 
 by order of Major-General Banks to Major-Gen. E. R. S. 
 Canby, for further orders, and was by him directed to pro- 
 ceed to Vicksburg with my command, which I did, reaching 
 that place on the 23d of May, having been gone seventy-four 
 days. The results of the expedition may be summed up as 
 follows : I captured with my command 22 pieces of artillery, 
 1757 prisoners and Fort De Russy, with a strong casemated 
 battery, which the gunboats would not have been able to 
 pass. My loss was 153 killed, 849 wounded, and 133 miss- 
 ing, total 1 135 ; also one six-mule wagon. My entire com- 
 mand numbered originally 9200. Of the general ofiicers 
 attached to my command I cannot speak too highly. Brig.- 
 Gen. (now Major-General) J. A. Mower, by his perception 
 and prompt action at Fort De Russy, Henderson's Hill and 
 Pleasant Hill, and by his gallantry and skill at Yellow Bayou 
 near Simmport, May i8th, has won the right to high estimate 
 and position in the annals of the war. Quick perception, 
 ready courage and abundant vitality, added to skill and 
 education, give him the power to sway men as if by mag- 
 netism. Brig. -Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith, with excellent 
 judgment and skill, brought the boats safel}^ through the 
 intricacies and shoals of Red River back to Grand Ecore, 
 although continually under fire. His repulse of the cavalry 
 charge upon his division at Cloutierville, was well and 
 
Memoir 117 
 
 neatly done. I commend him as a gallant ofi&cer and gen- 
 tleman." ' 
 
 In Confederate General Richard Taylor's report, referring 
 to the battle in which General Green was killed, he says : 
 
 " Several times the transports raised the white flag, but 
 the gunboats, protected by their plating, kept up their fire 
 and compelled our troops to renew the- punishment on the 
 transports. Many times our sharpshooters compelled the 
 gunboats to close their portholes, and it is believed that the 
 result would have been the capture of the whole fleet but for 
 the unfortunate fall of the noble Green, killed by a discharge 
 of grape from one of the gunboats. Notwithstanding that 
 this action took place within sound of Banks's army, now 
 concentrated at Grand Ecore, such was the demoralization 
 resulting from the defeats of the 8th and 9th, that not even 
 a demonstration was made to assist the fleet. ' ' ' 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xxxiv., part i., pp. 309, etc. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 571 : 
 
 "South Bank of Bayou Pietire, 
 
 " Near Red River (Louisiana), April 19, 1864. 
 
 " Leaving the division (cavalry) on the Grand Ecore road, in tem- 
 porary command of Colonel , Gen. James P. Major and the writer 
 
 rode down to Jordan's Ferry on this bayou, where General Green was 
 crossing Parson's brigade of cavalry, to strike Red River at Blair's 
 Landing, four miles distant, with a view of cutting off what gunboats 
 and transports might still be above that point. The troops were still 
 crossing (the horses having been left with the wagon train on the 
 west bank of the bayou) when we sat down to his last dinner with 
 that glorious old soldier Tom Green ; he had talked freely about the 
 danger of this attack ; but felt the necessity of constant action, and 
 knew that Gen. Dick Taylor was expecting great things of him, and 
 it behoved him to strike the enemy at every point. He was more 
 serious than usual, and his conversation was very earnest ; he longed 
 for his old brigade (of Texans), and said he would have no doubt of 
 the result if he was leading them to battle. 
 
 "About three o'clock in the afternoon Parson's brigade and a sec- 
 tion of West's battery opened fire on an ironclad and the (gunboat) 
 Black Hawk. At first the fire from these boats was very severe ; but 
 
1 1 8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 On what General Taylor bases his statement about the 
 white flag, does not appear. Evidently it was erroneous 
 from the contemporaneous reports of those who participated 
 
 ■when our rifles got closer and poured shot into the portholes when- 
 ever opened, the fire slackened, and we were evidently gaining 
 ground, when an ironclad from below turned the point and gave us a 
 broadside. We were but a short time exposed to this enfilading fire, 
 when another grim monster came in sight, and threw a shower of 
 grape or canister in the field through which we were still advancing. 
 
 " The men were ordered to lie down, but even this could not save 
 them ; there was (now) evidently more security to us in (greater) 
 proximity, and General Green ordered a double-quick forward ; gal- 
 loped to the front, riding a beautiful iron gray colt recently presented 
 to him, and dismounted ; and when within a few feet of the river 
 bank, near the Eastpori, was struck by pieces of grape shot or shell 
 in the forehead and fell dead. The fire from the boats increased, and 
 there was no longer hope for success. Green's death was soon known 
 throughout the command, and began to tell upon the spirits of the 
 men, and General Major assumed command and retired late in the 
 afternoon with the dead and wounded. 
 
 ' ' There is gloom over the camp to-night which the memory of 
 bright victories cannot dispel ; and his staff gather around their chief, 
 as he lies stretched in death, with the light gone from his bright eye, 
 the red finger of death upon his brow, and his ringing voice hushed 
 forever. 
 
 "An admirer and warm friend of General Major, General Green 
 had invited General Major to accompany him on the field to-day ; and 
 said to him, as if with prophetic vision he read the future : ' Here in 
 the valley of Red River you will have the best chance to win pro- 
 motion ' ; thinking, perhaps, ' if I fall, you can succeed me.' 
 
 "They know little of the man who thought him a bold, blundering 
 fighter, whose rashness was only equalled by his luck. He was cool, 
 calm and calculating in deliberation, impetuous and irrisistible in 
 action. Brave and active himself, he despised the timid and idle. 
 Indifferent to appearances, he was simple in his dress ; but he carried 
 a warm heart under his rough coat, and always had a hearty and 
 honest welcome for his friends. Of fine talents, excellent education 
 and pleasant address, he was always interesting, and would have made 
 his mark in any profession. A good man, warm friend, and true sol- 
 dier was Tom. Green. May his soul rest in peace." ' 
 
 ' Kxcerpt from diary of Alexander Porter Morse, Captain and Ass't Inspector 
 General Major's Division of Green's (Texas) Cavalry Corps, army of Trans-Missis- 
 sippi, C. S. A. 
 
Memoir 1 1 9 
 
 on the Union side. It is not likely that any of Gen. Kilby 
 Smith's soldiers would have surrendered in view of the 
 punishment they were inflicting upon the enemy, and the 
 insignificant loss to which they were subjected in return. 
 
 From a private letter from Admiral Porter to General 
 Sherman, dated April i6, 1864, some extracts will be of in- 
 terest. In speaking of the fleet and its movements on the 
 Red River, after the army had marched to its defeat at 
 Sabine Cross Roads, he remarks : 
 
 " I was much annoyed when I found that General Banks's 
 quartermasters had added to the convoy ten large steamers 
 which I had expressly stipulated with Gen. Kilby Smith 
 were not to come up the river. We were detained six 
 hours lightening one of them loaded with ammunition and 
 the others were constantly getting into trouble. Gen. Kilby 
 Smith was in no way responsible for this outrageous pro- 
 ceeding, for it was done after we departed from Grand Ecore, 
 and that ofl&cer left nothing undone to co-operate with me 
 and carry the expedition through successfully. On all occa- 
 sions I found General Smith ready and willing to co-operate 
 in the same harmonious manner that has always existed be- 
 tween the navy and the Army of the Tennessee. I am sure 
 nothing will occur to interrupt that good feehng." ' 
 
 Speaking at this time of the attack by General Green, he 
 says : 
 
 " It turned out to be what I had been expecting— an at- 
 tack with artillery and infantry two thousand strong in our 
 rear. Gen. Kilby Smith and two transports being divided 
 from the main body by the artillery, which it was not proper 
 to pass until silenced by the gunboats. This body of men 
 was commanded by General Green, the best man they have, 
 and one in whom the rebels place more confidence than in 
 any one else. He led his men to the very edge of the bank, 
 they shouting and yelling like madmen. They were hand- 
 
 1 War Records, vol. xxxiv., series i., part iii., p. 173. 
 
1 20 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 somely received by the Osage and Lexington in the old style, 
 and General Smith in the Hastings, with part of his men, 
 poured in his fire, and amongst us the rebels were cut into 
 mincemeat. General Green and Colonel Chisum had their 
 heads blown off with an ii-inch shell. The ground was 
 covered with killed and wounded, and without great loss to 
 ourselves. ... It was a most exciting and interesting 
 week, much danger of being cut off unless aided by General 
 Banks, which aid was not sent until I asked for it in person. 
 . . . Finally, all came in safely, not losing a rope yarn. 
 Your men behaved splendidly and coolly, and Gen. Kilby 
 Smith like a brave and gallant officer. I shall always feel 
 proud to be associated with him, and we will both likely re- 
 member for many a day the perilous scenes we have gone 
 through together." * 
 
 Replying to Porter's letters, Sherman writes from Nash- 
 ville, April 24th : 
 
 " . . . Indeed I do think all our calculations were well 
 made and the combined forces were ample to walk over all 
 opposition. ... I think I could have made better time, 
 but that is none of my business, although I do lose the ser- 
 vices of ten thousand of m.y best men in the campaign over 
 here. I am glad you are pleased with Generals Smith and 
 Mower. Though I want both, I cannot call for them as long 
 as their associates are in danger. ' ' " 
 
 And from Chattanooga on the 3d of May : 
 
 " I cannot comprehend why Banks after his second fight, 
 when the fact is undoubted he had checked the enemy 
 and had his front open, did not push on to meet you at 
 Coushatta. It would then have had all the moral effect of a 
 victory, and his losses, though heavy, would have been less 
 felt. ... Of course I am gratified to know I was not 
 mistaken in the character of the officers and men that I con- 
 tributed to the expedition. I knew that A. J. Smith and 
 Mower were good soldiers and that T. Kilby Smith was a 
 
 ^ War Records, vol. xxxiv., series i., part iii., p. 174, 
 "^ Ibid., series i., vol. xxxiv., part iii., p. 275. 
 
Memoir 1 2 1 
 
 courteous gentleman, with whom you would be pleased to 
 associate." ' 
 
 When the command of A. J. Smith had returned from the 
 Red River expedition, it was ordered to Vicksburg, whither 
 it at once proceeded, and on the 25th of May the following 
 final report was made by Gen. T. Kilby Smith : 
 
 " Hdqrs. Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 " Vicksburg, Miss., May 25, 1864. 
 " Captain : 
 
 ' ' In obedience to orders, I have the honor to submit the 
 following synopsis report of the part taken by my command 
 in the Red River expedition : 
 
 ' ' First, my command consists as follows : First Brigade, 
 Col. J. B. Moore commanding, composed of 33d Wisconsin 
 Volunteers, Maj. H. H. Virgin commanding ; 3d Iowa Vol- 
 unteers, Lieut. -Col. James Tullis commanding ; 41st Illinois 
 Volunteers, I^ieut.-Col. J. H. Nale commanding. Second 
 Brigade, Col. ly. M. Ward commanding, composed of 95th 
 Illinois Volunteers, Ueut.-Col. T. W. Humphreys com- 
 manding ; 8ist Illinois Volunteers, L,ieut.-Col. A. W. 
 Rogers commanding ; 14th Wisconsin Volunteers, lyieut.- 
 Col. J. W. Polleys commanding ; and Battery M, ist Mis- 
 souri Light Artillery, Lieut. John H. Tiemeyer commanding, 
 numbering in rank and file, 2237. 
 
 " Second. In obedience to your orders of March 10, 1864, 
 I embarked my command at Vicksburg on transports as- 
 signed. March loth, 7 p.m., sailed from Vicksburg, arriving 
 back at the same port May 24th, 3 a.m., having marched by 
 land 239 miles. 
 
 " Third. My command, in whole or part, has been in the 
 following engagements and skirmishes, viz. : (i) Fort De 
 Russy, March 14th ; (2) Pleasant Hill Landing, April 12th 
 and 13th ; (3) Cloutierville, April 23d ; (4) near Cloutier- 
 ville, April 24th ; (5) Moore's Plantation, May 4th ; (6) 
 Boyce's Plantation, May 6th ; (7) Governor Wells's Planta- 
 tion, May 6th ; (8) Bayou Boeuf, May 7th ; (9) Marksville, 
 May i6th ; (10) Moreauville, May 17th ; (11 and 12) Yellow 
 Bayou, May i8th. 
 
 • Ibid., p. 411. 
 
12 2 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " Fourth. The casualties are as follows : 
 
 
 KILLED. 
 
 WOUNDED. 
 
 MISSING. 
 
 
 COMMAND. 
 
 12 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 
 t 
 
 U 
 
 o 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 First Brigade, Col. J. B. Moore 
 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 
 15 
 
 22 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 21 
 
 Second Brigade, Col. L. M. Ward. . . 
 Battery M, First Missouri Light Ar- 
 tillery, Ivieut. J. H. Tienieyer . . . 
 
 I 
 
 28 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 
 
 40 
 
 I 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 " Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 " Brigadier-General, Commanding. 
 " Capt. J. Hough, 
 
 " Asst. Adjt-Gen., Detach. Sixteenth and Seventeeth 
 " Army Corps." 
 
 Gen. Kilby Smith's division was directed to proceed with- 
 out delay to Memphis, to report to Maj.-Gen. C. C. Wash- 
 burn, commanding the District of West Tennessee. General 
 Canby, in a letter to General Halleck, under date of May 28, 
 1864, writes : 
 
 ' ' I have sent the detachment of the Seventeenth Army 
 Corps of Brig. -Gen. T. K. Smith to Memphis. If General 
 Steele should not be threatened by any considerable force, 
 the division of Maj.-Gen. A. J. Smith will also be sent to 
 that place. The force in the District of West Tennessee will 
 be increased as far as may be necessary to secure Sherman's 
 rear, as his operations are far more important than any 
 that can be undertaken immediately west of the Missis- 
 sippi. . . ." ' 
 
 This order severed the military relations that had existed 
 during so eventful a period between Generals T. K. and A. 
 J. Smith. Before leaving Vicksburg the former wrote the 
 following letter : 
 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xxxiv., part iv., pp. 43, 44, and 73. 
 
Memoir 123 
 
 " Hdqts. Div. Seventeenth a. C, 
 
 "ViCKSBURG, May 26, 1864. 
 
 " My dear Generai, : 
 
 " General Canby orders me to report my command to 
 General Washburn at Memphis without delay, thus relieving 
 you of the detachment from the Seventeenth Corps, Trans- 
 ports have been assigned, and I have directed the fleet to 
 sail at 12 o'clock to-night. 
 
 " My very feeble health prevents me from bidding you 
 adieu in person, yet I cannot leave without some expression 
 of my feelings towards you, or without thanking you for the 
 courteous and invariable kindness I have received from you 
 while I had the honor to be in 3'our command. 
 
 ' ' Your valor and energy in the field under the pressure 
 of unusual obstacles, have won for you a renown that will 
 become historic. No soldier who has served with you but 
 will speak of you with pride and glory in your leadership, 
 and not this alone, you have shown the rare faculty of win- 
 ning not only the respect and esteem but the dear love of 
 your soldiery. Our regret is that to your guidance solely 
 the expedition had not been entrusted, that while you were 
 gathering laurels, substantial benefit might have accrued to 
 our cause. 
 
 " Thus much I had written when you interrupted me to 
 bid me an affectionate good-by, to give me new proofs of your 
 goodness of heart to me, and though what I have written is 
 tame in expression, I must still send it as coming from my 
 heart to yours. We know each other as soldiers and gentle- 
 men linked in patriotism ' as with hooks of steel.' May 
 God be with you, sir, always in your bright career, and for 
 all my command, officers and soldiers, I bid you farewell. 
 
 ' ' Faithfully and most sincerely yours, 
 
 ' ' Thomas Kilby Smith, 
 " Brig. -Gen. Comdg. 
 " Gen. A. J. Smith." 
 
 More than a year afterwards, when the war had closed, 
 Gen. A. J. Smith testified his friendship in the following 
 letter : 
 
124 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 "M0BII.E, Ai,A., September i, 1S65. 
 " General : 
 
 " Brig. -Gen, Thomas Kilby Smith through your order to 
 General McPherson, was assigned to my command in the 
 Red River expedition. In that expedition he commanded a 
 division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, and in my report I 
 have mentioned his gallantry and ability as an officer. I 
 am sorry to see he has not been brevetted, and respectfully 
 ask of you to see this simple act of justice done. While in 
 my command he performed faithfully all the duties assigned 
 him by me, and is as worthy as any other officer of the honor 
 I desire to see conferred. Very respectfully, General, 
 " Your obedt. servant, 
 
 "A. J. Smith, Major. -Gen. 
 •• Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman, U. S. Army.'> 
 
 This letter was endorsed by General Sherman : 
 
 "Hdqtrs. Div. Miss., 
 
 St. IvOuis, Sept, 28, 1865. 
 
 ' ' I take pleasure in endorsing this paper. Gen. T. Kilby 
 Smith served near me all the years 1862, 3, and 4. On the 
 Red River expedition he was detached, but Admiral Porter 
 and Gen. A. J. Smith have officially and privately borne the 
 highest testimony of the value of his services on that cam- 
 paign. 
 
 " W. T. Sherman, 
 " Maj.-Gen. Comdg." 
 
 Some historians of the war have given but scant attention 
 to the Red River expedition, which is not surprising, first, 
 because it failed, and, second, because the importance of the 
 movement was overshadowed by the grander movements of 
 General Grant, who had been placed in supreme command 
 of the armies and was then conducting his Virginia cam- 
 paigns, and of Sherman, whose successful movement on 
 Atlanta was followed by his triumphant march to the sea. 
 It was, however, the culminating point of Gen. Kilby 
 Smith's military service. He had entered the army in the 
 vigor of manhood, endowed by nature with an iron con- 
 
Memoir 125 
 
 stitution, the strength of which had been steadily sapped by 
 his almost too energetic devotion to duty during three years 
 of nearly continuous field service. The failure of the plans, 
 which, if they had been successful, would have enabled A. 
 J. Smith's command to have rejoined Sherman's forces, 
 debarred him from that time from acting under the eye of 
 his favorite friend and chief, with whom he had been in close 
 association for the most part from February, 1862, and lost 
 him for that reason the opportunity to participate in the 
 campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas. It had a serious 
 effect, moreover, because the incessant exposure to a burning 
 sun, and the anxiety of a difl&cult and delicate command gave 
 the culminating blow to his physical strength. He was sun- 
 struck on the march towards the Mississippi and fell sense- 
 less from his horse. Recovering partially, however, he was 
 enabled to complete the duty that had been assigned to him. 
 We will pursue the narrative of his part in the operations by 
 quoting from his testimony before the Committee on the Con- 
 duct of the War. This body had been directed by resolution 
 of Congress to investigate the Red River expedition. There 
 were many disagreeable rumors and direct statements that the 
 moving impulse of this expedition was more mercantile than 
 military. The Red River country was well stocked with cot- 
 ton, which at that time was of enormous value if it could be 
 transported to market, and the statements were freely made 
 that the military and naval movements were induced by the 
 desire to bring this staple within the Union lines. The Com- 
 mittee summoned before it various officers and civilians to 
 testify, and among them General Smith, who gave his narra- 
 tive on the 4th of February, 1865. The preliminary portion 
 is omitted as the essential facts are included in the reports 
 already quoted. From the i6th of April, however, until the 
 close of the expedition, the story and the opinions of the 
 General will appear from the following portion of his testi- 
 mony : 
 
 " Upon my arrival at Grand Ecore I found General Banks's 
 army engaged in intrenching. On the 15th day of April, Fri- 
 day, having remained a little time below Canipti getting a 
 steamer off the bar, we moved down to Grand Ecore, reaching 
 
126 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 there at lo o'clock p.m. (Finding General Banks in bed 
 when we called upon him, we remained over night without 
 seeing him.) 
 
 " On the 1 6th of April, the Nineteenth Army Corps com- 
 menced fortifying. We remained at Grand Ecore the 17th 
 and 1 8th, everything remaining statu qzio. On the 19th we 
 were ordered to have the men stand to arms at four o'clock 
 on the following morning, and to have the army ready to 
 march at short notice. 
 
 " On the 20th of April the river was still falling. We 
 received orders to be in readiness to march against the enemy 
 at twelve o'clock meridian. We stood to arms on the road 
 until half-past two o'clock p.m., when we moved out on the 
 Natchitoches road. At the latter place our division had the 
 advance. Up to this time our troops had been encouraged 
 by the belief or direct promise that they were to march 
 directly upon Shreveport. But now it had become evident 
 that we were on the eve of making a grand retreat instead 
 of marching against the enemy, as announced in the order; 
 at least, it was not the way in which the Army of the Ten- 
 nessee had been accustomed to march against the enemy. 
 
 ' ' Hearing it reported that our cavalry were being driven 
 in by the enemy, two regiments of our division were sent out 
 as a support ; but, not meeting the enemy, they returned at 
 eight o'clock p.m. ; and, at ten o'clock p.m. we changed our 
 front, moving the First Brigade and a battery so as to con- 
 nect with General Mower's left, forming a crochet. The 
 position was a very good one, from which the enemy would 
 have found it impossible to move us had they had the 
 temerity to attempt it. All was quiet during the night. At 
 this time we were four miles in advance of General Banks's 
 main army. As it subsequently appeared, it was placed in 
 that position to enable him to commence a retrograde move- 
 ment towards Alexandria while moving on the road mean- 
 dering the Red River, while we amused the enemy at 
 Natchitoches. 
 
 " On the 2ist of April we remained still all day, the enemy 
 being encamped some six miles distant with quite a large 
 force of cavalry and a few pieces of artillery. We stood to 
 
Memoir 1 2 7 
 
 arms until ten o'clock p.m., when we moved out some two 
 miles by midnight, and here we were detained until seven 
 o'clock A.M. the next day. 
 
 " On the 22d of April we marched at seven o'clock a.m., 
 and arriving at Cloutierville, on the Cane River, at three 
 o'clock a.m. on the following day, having marched thirty- 
 two miles from Natchitoches. We made the forced march 
 of thirty-two miles without halting. 
 
 " At three o'clock p.m. the skirmishing, which had been 
 going on for some time in the rear, became quite brisk. 
 Colonel L,ucas, commanding the cavalry brigade, sent for- 
 ward for reinforcements. Two regiments of Colonel Ward's 
 brigade and a section of artillery were sent back. They soon 
 drove the enemy across the bayou, making them withdraw 
 beyond the range of our guns. We lost but one man killed 
 and none wounded. As soon as the enemy had retreated, 
 we again took up our line of march towards Cane River. At 
 half-past nine o'clock p.m., the men having had but little 
 rest since the night of the 20th, we halted an hour to enable 
 them to get some coffee ; at the end of which time we again 
 took up our line of march, arriving, as before stated, at 
 Cloutierville at three a.m. on the 23d. 
 
 ' ' On the 23d of April, we marched from Cloutierville at 
 seven o'clock a.m. After marching an hour we were halted 
 by the advance having some difficulty at a crossing of 
 the Cane River, the crossing being contested by the enemy. 
 Slight skirmishing continued in the rear between our rear- 
 guard of cavalry and the enemy until ten o'clock a.m., when 
 our cavalry commenced falling back to Cloutierville. 
 
 ' ' I ought to state here that on the first three days of this 
 march my command had the extreme rear. General A. J. 
 Smith's entire command being assigned to the duty of guard- 
 ing General Banks's army. My own division was ordered 
 back to Cloutierville to meet the enemy. I formed a line of 
 battle, facing to the west, my left resting on Cane River and 
 my right on a belt of timber in which we had deployed a 
 strong skirmish line. General Mower, of the Sixteenth 
 Army Corps, formed on my extreme right, but was not in 
 the fight. The enemy first came up in double column in 
 
128 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 our front. They were soon driven back, and immediately 
 made a move to turn our right flank ; but there I met them 
 with two six-gun batteries, masked, and three regiments, and 
 gave them such a warm reception that they soon returned. 
 Here the musketry fire was very brisk for a time. The 
 skirmish line was instructed to fall back slowly, if pressed 
 by the enemy, in the hope of drawing the enemy on to our 
 reserves, which were advantageously posted. At twelve 
 o'clock, noon, the enemy made his appearance in force on 
 our left, attempting to get on our flank under cover of the 
 bayou ; but this move had been anticipated, and two regi- 
 ments, the 117th Illinois and the 3d Indiana, supported by 
 the 49th Illinois, were so posted as to sweep all approaches. 
 No sooner had the enemy made his appearance than four 
 pieces of artillery opened upon him, sending his scattered 
 ranks back. Thus, before one o'clock p.m., we had com- 
 pletely defeated the enemy at every point. It is impossible to 
 tell the enemy's loss. We took many prisoners, all of whom 
 reported a heavy loss on their part in killed and wounded. 
 
 " The enemy having fallen back, and our forces having 
 moved up in front, we withdrew and marched four miles, 
 where we formed a line of battle facing to the west, having 
 the cavalry in double line in our front, the Sixteenth Army 
 Corps having encamped in the rear of us, in supporting dis- 
 tance. We lay there during that night. 
 
 " On the 24th of April, Sunday, at three o'clock a.m., the 
 enemy saluted us with some half a dozen shells, evidently 
 for the purpose of feeling us, and hoping to draw a response 
 from us, in order to learn our exact position. At five o'clock 
 A.M. the cavalry pickets were driven in. In a short time 
 the cavalry was ordered to fall back. Our division advanced 
 in line some two hundred yards. The enemy came on with 
 a 3^ell, which was cut short by a few well-aimed volleys of 
 musketry and unceasing cannonading. The enemy fell back 
 and we again advanced in line, driving them beyond the 
 range of our artillery. Our loss was four killed and fourteen 
 wounded. From deserters we learned that the enemy was 
 severely punished in this engagement, in which their gen- 
 eral. Parsons, was said to have been killed. 
 
Memoir 129 
 
 " At nine o'clock a.m., in obedience to orders, the troop, 
 were withdrawn, but in such a manner as to leave the enemy 
 in doubt whether we were in ambush for them, or had taken 
 up the line of march. We crossed Cane River at twelve 
 o'clock noon, and arrived at Bayou Cotile at nine o'clock 
 P.M., where we formed a double line of battle facing to the 
 river, having the cavalry and batteries A and M, of the ist 
 Missouri Light Artillery, massed in the front line. 
 
 " On the 25th of April reveille was ordered at four o'clock, 
 and we marched at ten o'clock. From this day, for the first 
 time since leaving Natchitoches, our division had the ad- 
 vance. At Henderson's Hill, there was a slight skirmish 
 between our cavalry stationed there and a few of the enemy's 
 scouts, but it did not amount to much. No sooner had 
 we left Bayou Cotile than a squad of the enemy hove in 
 sight. 
 
 " On the 26th of April we marched toward Alexandria. 
 Cannonading was heard in the rear all day. 
 
 " On the 27th of April we arrived at Alexandria. The 
 gunboats were above the falls, and the question was how to 
 get them down. The Admiral arrived with his headquarters, 
 the Cricket. She had thirty-six shots fired into her in pass- 
 ing a rebel battery. I think there were forty-two killed and 
 wounded. His fireman standing by his side was cut in two, 
 and his chambermaid was literally quartered. The decks 
 were a perfect slaughter pen. 
 
 " On the 28th of April, at twelve o'clock noon, there was 
 a report that the enemy was advancing. Then came a re- 
 port that the pickets of the Thirteenth Army Corps had been 
 driven in. At half-past two o'clock p.m. we were ordered 
 out under arms, forming a line of battle facing the south ; 
 our division being on the extreme left of the line ; our right 
 resting on General Mower's command, our left resting on 
 the river, having a battery between. We threw out a strong 
 skirmish line half a mile in advance. The Thirteenth Army 
 Corps was ordered to fall back twice, and refused to do so 
 until ordered the third time, when it fell back, setting fire to 
 a large quantity of forage, which was taken from the fire by 
 Gen. A. J. Smith's command, he having thrown out a bri- 
 
130 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 gade over a mile in advance of the Thirteentli Army Corps, 
 where they remained until daylight the next morning. 
 
 " I state these facts here because at this time there was a 
 great deal of panic, or that which approached a panic, in 
 that command. General McClernand was there in command 
 of this Thirteenth Army Corps. They actually fired a lot of 
 sutler's goods and forage, which were very scarce, and most 
 all of which Gen. A. J. Smith took charge of, or as much as 
 we could save from the fire, and we appropriated it. 
 
 " On the 29th of April we received orders to withdraw the 
 troops to camp, which was done at nine o'clock a.m. 
 
 ' ' On the 30th of April the river had fallen six feet since 
 leaving Alexandria to ascend it ; but it was said to be rising 
 at the time from back-water from the Mississippi. At mid- 
 night we received orders to march at one o'clock a.m. ; but 
 instructions were received from General Banks to be ready 
 to march at sharp daylight. We did march at twelve o'clock 
 noon, at which time the pontoon being finished across Lhe 
 Red River, we marched over, and went into bivouac at the 
 Louisiana State Seminary of I^earning and Military Acad- 
 emy, the one of which General Sherman was superintendent 
 at the time the rebellion broke out. At four o'clock p.m. the 
 troops were formed in echelon, the position being a very 
 strong one, with a strong picket line covering our entire 
 front and flank. We remained quiet there during the day 
 and night. 
 
 ' ' I will state now briefly, that from that time, which was 
 the ist of May, until the 14th of May, we were continually 
 engaged in skirmishing with the enemy, making divers 
 reconnaissances to the front to ascertain the enemy's strength, 
 and endeavoring to force him into a fight. 
 
 " On the 14th of May we commenced marching towards 
 Simmsport. On the 21st of May we re-embarked our com- 
 mand at the mouth of the Red River, in the meantime 
 having fought a battle every day. We were twenty-nine 
 successive days under fire. 
 
 " Question. Do 5^ou know what instructions Gen, A. J. 
 Smith received when he was ordered to report to General 
 Banks ? 
 
Memoir 1 3 1 
 
 " Answer. His instructions were to report to General 
 Sherman so soon as we got through, for we were only lent to 
 General Banks ; we did not belong to his department ; we 
 expected to rejoin General Sherman in his campaign towards 
 Atlanta, or make a movement towards Mobile. We had ob- 
 jects ulterior to the Red River expedition. 
 
 " Question. Was there any time set within which you 
 should return ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. The time specified was thirty days ; after the 
 lapse of which. General Smith sought to be relieved, but 
 General Banks did not permit him to leave. But the comity 
 which existed between the navy and the army seemed to 
 render it necessary that we should remain with the navy 
 until they had at least gotten over the falls at Alexandria. 
 We considered that our time was entirely lost after we had 
 brought the troops back to Alexandria ; that General Banks 
 could have taken care of the expedition himself. We never 
 got to our command afterwards, but have been in detach- 
 ments ever since. 
 
 ' ' Question. Do you know whether or not Gen. A. J. Smith, 
 during the time he was with General Banks, considered him- 
 self to be in all respects under the command of General 
 Banks ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. His rank precluded his occupying any other 
 position. I know Gen. A. J. Smith was adverse in opinion 
 to that entertained by General Banks, because I heard him 
 on more than one occasion express himself very freely, with- 
 out approaching to mutiny or sedition. He, of course, ex- 
 pressed himself freely to his brother officers. He felt as 
 many of the rest of us felt, that our command was to a con- 
 siderable extent being wasted. An anxiety on the part of 
 General Banks's staff seemed to be felt to avoid a fight 
 (whenever a fight was had. Gen. A. J. Smith was brisk for 
 bringing it on) ; and yet there was no time when we did not 
 feel ourselves entirely competent to handle the enemy. 
 
 Question. " Was it, or not, the opinion of Gen. A. J. 
 Smith that our army should have advanced after the battle 
 of Pleasant Hill ? 
 
 * ' Answer. It was, most decidedly ; to such an extent was 
 
132 Thomas Kilby S'}nith 
 
 that opinion entertained by him that he proposed, and was 
 anxious, to march to Shreveport with our command, feeling 
 entirely competent to go to Shreveport and do all the devil- 
 ment that was necessary and return. 
 
 " Question. What do you understand to have been the 
 object of that Red River expedition ? 
 
 " Answer. It has been a mystery to me, save from what 
 transpired en route. In my own mind I came to the conclu- 
 sion that it was what would be called in military parlance a 
 mercantile expedition ; that is, an expedition for the purpose 
 of opening the country to trade ; or, perhaps, taking advan- 
 tage of a victorious march to gather up what might naturally 
 fall to the army of the government as spoils. 
 
 " Question. What facts led you to that opinion ? 
 
 " Answer. The presence of bagging and rope in large 
 quantities on government transports, and the fact that upon 
 one occasion when I was assigned to the transports, the 
 quartermaster refused to give me certain room which we 
 required for some troops, on the ground that the space had 
 been assigned for cotton. 
 
 " Question. Were those transports to which you refer 
 army or navy transports ? 
 
 " Answer. Army transports. There were no navy trans- 
 ports. The navy gunboats are occasionally used to transport 
 troops, but they are not well calculated for the convenience 
 of troops. They are very rarely so used except to meet exi- 
 gencies of the service. 
 
 " Question. Do you know anything in relation to cotton 
 operations in connection with that expedition ? 
 
 ' ' Answer, I do not. I have been specially careful in my 
 service in the southwest, since the war began, to avoid inter- 
 course with anybody who would be apt to give me informa- 
 tion in respect to transactions of any sort, kind or description, 
 relative to cotton. General Smith gave orders that no cotton 
 should be placed upon his boats for any purpose whatever ; 
 and if my memory serves me right — I have no written 
 memoranda in regard to it — he refused most positively to 
 obey an order in that behalf, with the remark that while he 
 controlled transports they should not be used for the trans- 
 portation of cotton. 
 
Memoir 133 
 
 " Question. To what order do you refer ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I refer to an order made by General Banks to 
 General Smith while the transports lay at Alexandria, after 
 our return to that place. 
 
 ' ' Question. Can you give the terms of the order ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I cannot, for I do not have it with me. I only 
 have it from recollection. 
 
 " Question. Was this cotton that you speak of cotton that 
 had been brought into Alexandria ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. There had been a great deal of cotton brought 
 into Alexandria. The navy had seized vast quantities of it 
 which had been laden on barges and been sent down the river. 
 There were also two or three large boats laden with cotton, 
 as I supposed, under government protection to some extent. 
 There was a great deal of cotton left at Alexandria when the 
 transports finally sailed. That was destroyed, as I under- 
 stood, by order of General Banks. I do not know that any 
 cotton was brought out from the Red River by order of Gen- 
 eral Banks. 
 
 " Question. Was there any cotton taken on board any 
 vessel by order of any one connected with the navy ? 
 
 " Answer. Yes, sir ; Admiral Porter ordered the seizure 
 of a vast deal of cotton ; I should think many thousand 
 bales. 
 
 Question. Was the cotton you have spoken of as being 
 on board during one of the fights on the Red River put on 
 board by order of ofiicers commanding the army, or ofl&cers 
 connected with the navy ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I did not intend to convey the idea that cotton 
 was on board the transports, but that a space for it was re- 
 served on the quartermaster's boat, a space which he refused 
 to assign to me upon the ground that it had already been 
 reserved to load cotton upon. 
 
 " Question. I do not refer to that, but to one of the fights 
 above Grand Kcore, where you said your soldiers sheltered 
 themselves behind cotton bales, bales of hay, etc. 
 
 Answer. That cotton was a few scattered bales that lay 
 on the shore, and which we stopped and took on board solely 
 for protection to the troops. It was afterwards thrown over- 
 board. 
 
134 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " Question. To what quartermaster do you refer as claim- 
 ing that the space was reserved for cotton ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I do not remember his name, but he was acting 
 under the orders of the quartermaster of the Department of 
 the Gulf, Colonel Holabird. 
 
 " Question. Do you recollect the name of the boat ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I do not recollect the name of the boat, but she 
 was a quartermaster's boat ; I mean by that, a transport 
 assigned exclusively for quartermaster's stores. 
 
 ' ' Question. At what point was it that this occurred ? 
 
 " Answer. At Grand Ecore, at the time I was ordered to 
 take charge of the transports and proceed up the river to 
 I,oggy Bayou. 
 
 ' ' Question. Do you know why the army was detained at 
 Alexandria on the way up the river ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. Because General Banks was not there in per- 
 son. The navy was very anxious to move up the river, and 
 the army was equally anxious. 
 
 " Question. How soon did the army move after General 
 Banks arrived ? 
 
 " Answer. Some four or five days. Our own command 
 was put in motion within two days after his arrival. 
 
 "Question. Were the other portions of the army ready 
 to move before or at the time of the arrival of General 
 Banks ? 
 
 " Answer. No, sir ; I think that General Franklin's com- 
 mand arrived about the time that General Banks's arrived. 
 I do not think that all the army was ready before his arrival. 
 We were ordered to report on the 17th of March ; and re- 
 porting with great promptitude were somewhat surprised 
 that a movement was not at once made from Alexandria. 
 Celerity of movement was important at that time, inasmuch 
 as the river was falling. 
 
 ' ' Question. Did or not the army move from that point as 
 soon as it could be got in readiness to move ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I think not ; because our own command could 
 have been sent forward as advance guard at any time after 
 the 17th. 
 
 " Question. What would have been the advantage of 
 
Memoir 135 
 
 sending your command forward if the remainder of the army- 
 had not been ready to follow ? 
 
 * ' Answer. We had been pressing the enemy vigorously 
 from Simmsport. We had defeated him in every small en- 
 gagement into which we could lead him. His troops were 
 to a certain extent demoralized. General Magruder and 
 Gen. Kirby Smith had not at that time been able to concen- 
 trate their forces. Every day's delay enabled Kirby Smith 
 to concentrate his forces and make a stand at some point be- 
 tween Alexandria and Shreveport, as was evidenced after- 
 wards at Sabine Crossroads and at Pleasant Hill. 
 
 " Question. Is it your opinion that it would have been 
 advisable for a portion of the army to have moved forward 
 without regard to the readiness of the other portions of the 
 arm}^ to follow ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. I am of the opinion that at any time prior to 
 the battle of Sabine Crossroads, our own command of ten 
 thousand men, with the aid of the navy, could have gone to 
 Shreveport. 
 
 " Question. Do you know with what force the enemy met 
 our advance at Sabine Crossroads ? 
 
 " Answer. I have no means of knowing, except the ordi- 
 nary rumors in military circles. I suppose there were about 
 twenty-five thousand men. 
 
 ' ' Question. Do you know whether or not it was the opin- 
 ion of the principal officers connected with that command 
 that one cause of the disaster was that our infantry was not 
 concentrated at the time of the battle of Sabine Crossroads ? 
 
 " Answer. That was undoubtedly the opinion ; that, in 
 short, the battle was brought on too soon. The cavalry 
 were taken imawares, without sufficient support of the 
 infantry. 
 
 " Question. Is it your opinion that the infantry should 
 have been nearer the cavalry at that time, and where they 
 could have rendered them immediate support ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. It is. 
 
 " Question. So far as you know, is that the opinion of the 
 principal officers connected with that expedition ? 
 
 " Answer. It is. 
 
136 Thomas Kilby Sinith 
 
 ' ' Question. Then you would not be of the opinion that 
 the cavalry should have been still further in advance of the 
 infantry than they were at that time. 
 
 ' ' Answer. I would not, unless as scouts. I do not think 
 that that body of six thousand cavalry (as reported, though 
 I believe in fact there were only three thousand five hun- 
 dred), under the command of General I^ee — not reflecting at 
 all upon him as an officer, for I think he is as good an officer 
 as we have in the service — I do not think they ought to have 
 been forced into a fight without any infantry. That cavalry 
 was fatigued by a long march ; it was not well mounted, and 
 it was not veteran cavalry. And under no circumstances 
 would I put cavalry in the vanguard of an army when I ex- 
 pected to fight, except as mere feelers, especially in a country 
 like that, which was a champagne country. 
 
 " Question. Was the topography of that country, and the 
 roads, of such a character that cavalry were not as efficient 
 as they usually are in movements through an enemy's 
 country ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. My opinion is that the same number of infantry- 
 would have been much more efficient than cavalry in that 
 country, so far as I know the topography of that country. 
 
 " Question. Then you think the cavalry should have been 
 relied upon merely for the purpose of observation, and not 
 relied upon to do any considerable portion of the fighting ? 
 
 " Answer. That is my opinion exactly. But my opinion 
 should be taken in connection with the fact that I was not 
 there on the battlefield. I did not see the ground ; I make 
 up my opinion from what others have said in my presence, 
 from my general knowledge of the country, my general 
 knowledge of the command, and my experience on other 
 battlefields. After all, it is a mere matter of opinion. 
 
 ' ' Question. Have you any knowledge in relation to getting 
 the navy over the falls at Alexandria as you came down the 
 river ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. Yes, sir. The river was falling rapidly ; the 
 Eastport, one or two valuable transports, and in particular 
 the Woodford, one of the most valuable boats of the marine 
 brigade, which had been fitted up by the government at an 
 
Memoir 137 
 
 enormous expense as a hospital boat, were all lying aground 
 above the falls. One or two projects were under discussion ; 
 one was to blow out the bed of the Red River ; another was 
 to construct a dam, which was considered feasible, and was 
 the generally conceived and well adopted idea of the whole 
 army. I never heard any discussion about it. It was finally 
 determined to build cribs and wing-dams, in such a way as 
 to increase the depth of the channel, by forcing all the water 
 into a narrow channel. 
 
 " Question. By whom was that done ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. It was done under the supervision of Colonel 
 Bailey, of Wisconsin. 
 
 ' ' Question. Was it done by co-operation of the army and 
 navy ? 
 
 " Answer. By the army almost exclusively, inasmuch as 
 the army had better facilities for doing the work than the 
 navy. However, I ought not to say that, either, for the 
 navy furnished coal barges, etc. I may say it was done by 
 co-operation of the army and navy. 
 
 " Question. Was there any want of co-operation between 
 the army and navy ? 
 
 ' ' Answer. By no means ; they were exactly en rapport. 
 Admiral Porter was always satisfied with the celerity and 
 energy with which the work was prosecuted. And I know, 
 of my own knowledge, that all the men that cotdd work 
 were at work all the time. 
 
 " I have been asked as to whether, at any time, during 
 the expedition, our forces, or any portion of them, could have 
 made the advance so far as Shreveport, which seemed to be 
 the objective point, and, in the course of my narrative, have 
 given an opinion which I desire to explain. I have always 
 thought the troops under my command, trained in the old 
 * Army of the Tennessee,' under General Sherman, who had 
 led them constantly onward, and never to retreat, were very 
 far superior in marching and fighting qualities to any troops 
 the enemy could bring into the field in the west ; and the 
 same remark could be made of that portion of the Sixteenth 
 Army Corps who co-operated with us. Hence I believe, by 
 rapid and forced marches from Alexandria, on the i8th and 
 
138 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 19th of March, Gen. A. J. Smith could have reached Shreve- 
 port with his own command, even had we been opposed hy 
 twenty thousand of the enemy — double our own number. 
 But the enemy's forces, at that time, were in number and 
 distributed thus : Magruder had about twenty thousand — 
 fifteen thousand serviceable — his main body covering Galves- 
 ton and Houston ; Dick Taylor's division, seven thousand, 
 upon the Atchafalaya and Red rivers, from Opelousas to 
 Fort De Russy originally, but whom we had driven and had 
 now before us ; Mouton's division, behind the Black and 
 Washita rivers, from Red River to Monroe, numbering six 
 thousand. Price, with five thousand infantry and ten thou- 
 sand cavalry, held the country from Monroe to Camden and 
 Arkadelphia, confronting Steele — an army say of from 
 twenty-five thousand to thirty-five thousand. The defences 
 of the enemy consisted of a series of works covering the ap- 
 proaches to Galveston and Houston from the south, the de- 
 fences of Galveston Bay, Sabine Pass, and Sabine River ; ex- 
 tensive works at Trinity and Fort De Russy, and an entensive 
 and formidable work located three miles from Marksville for 
 the defence of the Red River, a work that had occupied the 
 enemy, with the labor of five thousand negroes, upwards of 
 a year to construct, and that was called the Gibraltar of the 
 South. This work we had carried. Steele was at least 
 entertaining Price ; Magruder, then, did not dare to leave 
 the Texas line. The enemy would not have abandoned 
 their works at Trinity, and thus the residue of their army 
 would not have greatly outnumbered our own, and the best 
 part of that residue we had on the run. We could have 
 lived off the country ; we were used to it, and our soldiers 
 could forage and keep up with a forced march. But the 
 lighter boats of the fleet, at the then stage of the water in 
 the Red River, could certainly have ascended to Shreveport, 
 as was proved afterwards by the boats overcoming the most 
 serious obstacles that intervened before reaching Loggy 
 Bayou, between which point and Alexandria is the most 
 difficult part of the river below the raft. Still, my opinion 
 must be taken with the qualification that, as a subordinate 
 officer, I could not know the plans of the commanding gen- 
 
Memoir 139 
 
 eral, or the orders that governed the campaign, or whether 
 Shreveport was really the objective point. Nor am I able 
 to say what co-operation was expected from General Steele 
 (whose point of departure was I^ittle Rock, Arkansas, to 
 operate in our theatre), or whether he was acting in- 
 dependently or at command of General Banks. These 
 considerations, taken together with the knowledge the com- 
 manding general is supposed to have of the numbers and 
 movements of the enemy, his own strength, and the objects 
 to be accomplished, would neutralize the mere opinion of 
 any subordinate general who was not the confidant of the 
 general-in-chief. The enemy, at any time, after the first 
 week in April, was able to concentrate from twenty-two 
 thousand to twenty-seven thousand in our front (did bring 
 into the field at the battle of Sabine Crossroads at least 
 twenty-two thousand of all arms ; by some reports, twenty- 
 five thousand). This would have been the concentration of 
 the commands of Magruder, Dick Taylor, Mouton, and 
 whatever Price, who was still confronting Steele, might 
 have been able to spare. At this time our own army was 
 being depleted from various causes. A depot of supplies 
 had been made at Alexandria, necessitated by the condition 
 of the river, and the inability of some of the steamers to pass 
 the falls. A garrison to defend it was the consequence. 
 Sickness arising from bad water and the heat of the climate, 
 the smallpox, that had been engendered by the sick on the 
 filthy and horribly policed marine brigade boats that had 
 been assigned me for transports, and which being ordered 
 back from Alexandria, deprived us of the slight co-operation 
 they might have afforded. And so far as we should march, 
 until we crossed to Texas, the Red River must have been 
 our base, while a more treacherous river, for the purposes 
 of navigation, does not exist. The rapidity of movement to 
 Shreveport and instant return could alone have saved the 
 fleet from stranding in the heart of the enemy's country. 
 These facts, it is proper for me to state, in connection with 
 any opinion as to what movements might have been made, or 
 the results that might have ensued, that I may be called 
 upon to express. 
 
I40 Thomas Kilby Stnitk 
 
 " I desire to take this occasion, which will probably be 
 the only public one accorded me, to speak of the valor and 
 fortitude displayed by the officers and soldiers of my com- 
 mand, in its connection with the Red River expedition, that 
 demanded constantly the exercise of the highest qualities of 
 the soldier. In every engagement with the enemy in which 
 my command participated — Pleasant Hill I^anding, Campti, 
 Natchitoches, Cloutierville, Cane River, Monsouri, Yellow 
 Bayou, and several smaller combats near Grand Ecore and 
 Alexandria — we were successful. My staff-officers, Captain 
 William Warner, Captain Scott, Captain Wetmore, Major 
 Carle ; my brigadiers, Col. J. B. Moore, Col. L,. M. Ward ; 
 and Lieutenant Tiemeyer, Batter}^ M, ist Missouri lyight 
 Artillery, deserve the highest commendation the country 
 can bestow. In the very remarkable passage of the fleet 
 from Loggy Bayou to Grand Ecore, vast amounts of govern- 
 ment property and stores, with munitions and ammunition, 
 were saved from destruction, or falling into the hands of the 
 enemy, by the persistent and enduring efforts of these heroic 
 men, under circumstances appalling to all but the truly 
 brave. The merit of the subordinate is often veiled in the 
 glory of his chief ; none, among all who did their whole duty, 
 in obedience to orders in this affair, deserve more than the 
 gallant officers I have mentioned, and the officers and sol- 
 diers they commanded. Having paid this compliment to 
 my soldiers, I close my evidence in bearing testimony in 
 favor of the pilots of boats, who, in the affairs alluded to as 
 well as many others that have transpired in the western 
 waters, have developed high courage, coolness, and faithful- 
 ness to trust. The pilot at the wheel is the first man singled 
 out by the sharpshooter of the enemy ; his wheel-house is 
 the easiest mark for the battery ; if he falters one moment in 
 his exposed and delicate trust, his boat is grounded upon a 
 shoal, or bears broadside ashore, at the mercy of a relentless 
 foe. He wins no fame ; his name never appears in reports. 
 I have never known an instance of his exhibiting cowardice 
 or treachery. 
 
 ' ' I present the following table of distances from Shreveport 
 to New Orleans : 
 
Memoir 141 
 
 Shreveport to Waterloo 45 miles. 
 
 to Reuben White's 15 " 60 
 
 to E. C. Aiken's 5 " 65 
 
 to Caspiana 5 " 7° 
 
 to Madama Bessiers 10 " 80 
 
 to mouth of Loggy bayou.. .30 " no 
 
 to Grand Bayou 15 " 125 
 
 to Willow Point 8 " I33 
 
 to Coushatta Chute 7 " ^40 
 
 to Grappe's Bluflf 40 " 180 
 
 to Campti 20 " 200 
 
 to Grand Ecore 20 " 220 
 
 to Tiger Island 5 " 225 
 
 to H. Tessier's 3 " 228 
 
 to George Gurnege's 2 " 230 
 
 toP.Rachel's 6 " 236 
 
 to St. Maurice 5 " 241 
 
 to O. K. Landing 13 " 254 
 
 to A. Favius's 3 " 257 
 
 to Montgomery 7 " 264 
 
 to Durand's 5 " 269 
 
 to Buckstone Landing 6 " 275 
 
 to mouth Cane River 25 " 300 
 
 toCotile 20 " 320 
 
 to Alexandria 20 " 340 
 
 to Pierce's.. 35 " 375 
 
 to Norman's 32 " 407 
 
 to Barbin's Landing 3 " 410 
 
 to mouth Black River 40 " 45° 
 
 to Red Rivar wharf-boat 40 " 490 
 
 to Bayou Sara 45 " 535 
 
 to Baton Rouge 35 " 57° 
 
 to Placquemine 20 " 590 
 
 to Donaldsonville 30 " 620 
 
 to New Orleans 80 " 700 
 
 " I feel desirous that nothing I have said shall be construed 
 as in any manner reflecting upon the intentions and integrity 
 of General Banks, for whom I have the highest respect. 
 There has been a great deal of criticism in military circles in 
 regard to the Red River expedition ; but there was nothing 
 ordered or done by General Banks, within my knowledge, 
 that was not exactly within the purview of his instructions. 
 Nor do I desire to reflect upon any officer ; I merely desire to 
 state the facts." 
 
142 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 The command of Gen. T. Kilby Smith, having reported at 
 Vicksburg, proceeded thence to Memphis, where it arrived 
 on the 30th day of May. The eflfective force at that time 
 were eighteen hundred men, but so exhausted were they 
 from the arduous campaign from which they had just re- 
 turned, that, according to the report of Gen. C. C. Wash- 
 burn, to whom they reported, only about eight hundred of 
 them were in condition to take the field. ' Their commanding 
 general was so low from the results of his field services, that 
 he was carried almost in a dying condition to the Gayoso 
 House at Memphis, where he lay ill until the 3d of June, 
 when, having obtained a sick leave, the first furlough of any 
 description since he had entered the service in October, 1861, 
 he proceeded to his home. His division passed temporarily 
 under the command of Col. J. B. Moore, of the 14th Wiscon- 
 sin Infantry, a soldier well tried and entirely competent to 
 maintain the credit of himself and his troops. A portion of 
 the command was assigned to the expedition of Gen. S. D. 
 Sturgis, which pursuant to orders of Major- General McPher- 
 son moved out from Memphis to attack the forces of the 
 Confederate General Forrest, who was then at Tupelo, and 
 also to destroy the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Sturgis 
 was unsuccessful in this expedition, and with his command 
 of three thousand three hundred cavalry, five thousand in- 
 fantry, and sixteen pieces of artillery, he was routed by 
 Forrest in a severe battle near Gunntown, Mississippi, and 
 returned discomfited to Memphis. After this failure, the 
 division remained under the command of General Washburn 
 for some time, and finally returned to the command of Gen. 
 A. J. Smith and did gallant service under Thomas in the 
 campaign that resulted in the annihilation of the army of 
 Gen. J. B. Hood at Franklin and Nashville. 
 
 From the 9th of June, 1864, until October of the same year, 
 General Smith sought in the quietude of home to recover his 
 shattered health. While his former comrades were fighting 
 with Sherman at Atlanta, or with Thomas in Tennessee, he 
 was compelled to a life of inaction. His family had taken a 
 house at Yellow Springs, a pleasant village in Greene County, 
 ' War Records, series i., vol. xxxix., part i., p. 85. 
 
Memoir 1 43 
 
 Ohio, which formed a haven of rest for the families of a num- 
 ber of oflScers of distinction, those of Generals Schofield, 
 Stanley, Rosecrans, Scammon and others being there. In the 
 pure air and surroundings of that pretty place he recovered 
 after months of inaction some measure of strength, and in 
 the autumn proceeded to the East, where he visited relatives 
 in Massachusetts and also made a visit to the headquarters 
 of the army in Washingtion, and at City Point. It was not 
 until the 4th of January, 1865, that he rejoined his command 
 at Clifton, Tennessee, when he was at once assigned to duty, 
 superseding Colonel Moore in the command of his old divi- 
 sion detachment of the Army of the Tennessee. ' The whole 
 detachment of three divisions commanded respectively by 
 General McArthur, Gen. K. Garrard, and Gen. T. Kilby 
 Smith was under the command of General A. J. Smith. 
 
 The loth of January, found the command at Eastport, 
 Mississippi, and on the 17th, General Smith was assigned to 
 command an expedition of reconnaissance.' 
 
 ' "Special Orders \ 
 "No. 3. i" 
 
 " Hdqrs. Detach. Army of the Tenn., 
 
 " Clifton, Tenn., Jan. 4, 1865. 
 
 " Brig. -Gen. Thomas Kilbj' Smith, having reported at these head- 
 quarters for duty is hereby assigned to and will at once assume com- 
 mand of the Third Division Detachment Army of the Tennessee. Col. 
 J. B. Moore, now commanding the Third Division is hereby relieved 
 from such command and will report to Brig. -Gen. T. K. Smith for 
 assignment. In relieving Colonel Moore, the Major-General com- 
 manding desires to express his high appreciation of the able, thorough 
 and soldierly manner with which he has executed the trust confided 
 to him in this command. By order of Maj.-Gen. A. J. Smith. 
 
 "J. Hough, Maj. and Asst. Adjt.-Gen." * 
 5 " Hdqrs. Detach. Army of the Tenn., 
 
 " Eastport, Miss., Jan. 17, 1865. 
 "Brig.-Gen. T. K. Smith, 
 
 " Comdg. Third Division. 
 "General : 
 
 "The Major-General commanding directs that you have your com- 
 mand in readiness to move at an early hour to-morrow morning on a 
 reconnaissance. Leaving your camps with your sick and light-duty 
 * War Records^ series i., vol. xlv., pt. ii., p. 509. 
 
144 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 It was fated, however, that this expedition should pass 
 under the command of another, for on the same day orders 
 were received from Washington directing General Smith to 
 report to the Adjutant-General at that city, in order to ap- 
 pear as a witness before the Committee on the Conduct of 
 the War on the subject of the Red River expedition. A 
 portion of his testimony has been hitherto quoted. ' 
 
 General Smith remained in Washington or thereabouts un- 
 til February i8, 1865, when in obedience to orders he started 
 on the return to his command.^ On his way to the South 
 
 men, you will take six days' rations, three in haversacks and three in 
 wagons. You will also take your ambulance train and one wagon to 
 each regiment for cooking utensils. One battery will be suflScient. 
 The cartridge-boxes of the men should be full, and about thirty thou- 
 sand rounds of ammunition taken as a reserve supply. Cavalry will 
 accompany you and full instructions given before the time of start- 
 ing. You will command the expedition. 
 
 "I am very respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 "J. Hough, 
 " Major and Assistant Adjutant- General." 
 
 * " Special Orders 1 
 
 "No. 14. i" 
 
 " Hdqrs. Detach. Army of the Tenn., 
 
 " EastporT, Miss., Jan. 17, 1865. 
 
 " 2. Brig. -Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith, U. S. Volunteers, is hereby 
 relieved from the command of the Third Division Detachment Army 
 of the Tennessee in order to comply with telegrams from the Secretary 
 of War to report in person without delay to the Adjutant-General of 
 the Army at Washington, D. C. The Quartermaster's department 
 will furnish transportation. 
 
 "3. Col. J. B. Moore, 33d Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers, senior 
 officer, is hereby temporarily assigned to and will at once assume 
 command of the Third Division Detachment Army of the Tennessee. 
 . . . By command of Maj. -Gen. A. J. Smith. 
 
 "J. Hough, 
 " Major and Assistant Adjutant-General." * 
 
 * On his return over the Pennsylvania Railroad, an accident oc- 
 curred some miles west of Cresson, by reason of the spreading of the 
 rails while the train was going at a rapid rate of speed and several of 
 the cars, including that in which he was a passenger, were precipi- 
 tated down an embankment of the Conemaugh River, a distance of 
 
 * War Records, part ii., vol. xlv., p. 605. 
 
Memoir 145 
 
 he paid another brief visit to his family, and his orders re- 
 quiring him to report in New Orleans, it seemed a pleasant 
 and convenient opportunity to indulge his wife with an ex- 
 cursion to that point. Accordingly, in the month of March, 
 accompanied by her and his eldest son, he journeyed to St. 
 Louis, and there embarked on a Mississippi steamboat and 
 sailed to New Orleans. The journey was an uneventful one 
 but immediately on reaching his destination orders came to 
 proceed at once to the army before Mobile. Mrs. Smith had 
 no alternative but to return with her son after but twenty- 
 four hours in New Orleans, while her husband obeyed his 
 orders. Reporting to General Canby, he was assigned to 
 the command of the military district of South Alabama and 
 Florida, with headquarters at Fort Gaines. During the 
 month of April the Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley were 
 captured and shortly afterwards Mobile surrendered. On 
 the 28th of May, General Smith was assigned to the com- 
 mand of the district and post of Mobile, and made his head- 
 quarters in that city. The duties of a military commander 
 in the field had become familiar to him, but those of a civil 
 administrator, save for his experience at Natchez, were 
 novel. The city was, of course, under martial law and the 
 
 over forty feet. A newspaper account of the accident says : "Among 
 those most conspicuous in administering to the wants of the wounded 
 were Gen. T. K. Smith and Dr. Hope. Several persons were killed, 
 and a great many wounded." General Smith says : 
 
 "It was only a little after five o'clock in the evening. It is not 
 known how often the cars were turned over in their fearful plunge. 
 They were broken to pieces, and one of them, the middle one, which 
 is believed to have been turned over twice, had its roof torn off and 
 between the roof and one of the sides, the men. . . . Several 
 ladies in this car were badly injured. So steep was the embankment 
 down which the cars had plunged, that ropes had to be employed and 
 the car seats used as sledges to drag to the top the wounded and dead. 
 As soon as the cars had landed, they took fire from the stoves, and but 
 for the prompt exertions of the passengers would have been burned 
 up and the loss of life much greater. Snow and what water could be 
 got from the run, where the ice was broken, and carried in the hats 
 of the passengers, were the agents employed to check the flames. 
 Twenty-three persons were seriously injured, in addition to the two 
 who were killed. . . ," 
 
146 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 duties of civil administration as well as of military had to be 
 administered by the general in command. Many diflScult 
 and vexatious questions were constantly before him for de- 
 cision. The most important, and the one that involved per- 
 haps the greatest force of character to determine, arose from 
 a request of the newly enfranchised negroes to celebrate the 
 4th of July by a merry making and processions. It was 
 much feared by some of the citizens that to permit this 
 would lead to violence and bloodshed, and General Smith 
 was implored not to permit it. 
 
 He felt his duty to be otherwise, however, and the results 
 indicated the wisdom of his conduct, for the affair termi- 
 nated most successfully and without producing any ill- 
 feeling. 
 
 General Smith's military career had now practically ter- 
 minated. He had heard for the last time the sound of a 
 hostile gun. It had been his fortune to fight his way 
 along the whole course of the " Father of Waters" and 
 many of its tributary streams from the State of Kentucky 
 until it poured its waters in the gulf. He had attained 
 the highest rank but one grade that could be reached in 
 the volunteer service. The best years of his life had been 
 given freely to the service of the Government. From every 
 commanding officer he had received encomium and no 
 word of censure appears in the records upon his military 
 or civil conduct. His misfortune had been to be sepa- 
 rated from Sherman by the Red River expedition. No 
 doubt this duty had been assigned to him as a special com- 
 pliment and evidence of confidence on the part of Generals 
 McPherson and Sherman ; but the hardships had exhausted 
 his physical strength already seriously undermined. He 
 had been unable to return to the front in time to take part 
 in the field service at Nashville, and he was forever separated 
 from the bulk of the army of the Tennessee that had swept 
 through Georgia and the Carolinas, until it had forced the 
 surrender of General Joe Johnson, and finally participated in 
 the grand review at Washington. The spring of 1865 wit- 
 nessed the final collapse of the great rebellion. The sur- 
 render of L,ee at Appomattox preceded but a short time that 
 
Memoir 147 
 
 of Johnson, and during the summer the last organized forces 
 of the Confederates under General E. Kirby Smith in Texas, 
 lowered the flag they had so gallantly defended during four 
 years of most terrific warfare. On the 22d of August, 1865, 
 General Smith was relieved from the command of the post 
 and district of Mobile. General Canby on a subsequent 
 occasion bore the following testimony to his services in that 
 theatre of war: 
 
 " HDQa^RS. Department of Washington, 
 
 " Washington, D. C, March 7, 1867. 
 
 " Brevt. Major-Gen. T. Kilby Smith reported to me for 
 duty just prior to the commencement of the Mobile campaign 
 in the spring of 1865, and was assigned to one of the most 
 important commands of that campaign, that of the district 
 of South Alabama, including the large depots at the mouth 
 of Mobile Bay. The duties of this command involved ex- 
 ecutive and administrative abilities of a high order. These 
 duties were intelligently and efficiently performed and were 
 of the greatest importance to the success of the campaign. 
 After the fall of Mobile, General Smith was transferred to 
 that city, and in addition to his military duties was charged 
 with the supervision of the civil administration of that city 
 and district. These quasi-civil duties were performed with 
 discretion and judgment, and the peace and quiet of the city 
 was preserved through two or three periods of excitement 
 that threatened to result in disorder. General Smith's 
 official and personal conduct during the period of his con- 
 nection with my command was fully approved. 
 
 " Ed. R. S. Canby, 
 " Brig. -Gen. and Bvt. Maj.-Gen. U. S. Army." 
 
 On the 13th of March, 1865, as has been hitherto men- 
 tioned. General Smith received the brevet of Major- General 
 of Volunteers for gallant and meritorious services during the 
 war, and with this rank, after a leave of absence until January 
 15, 1866, he was honorably mustered out of the service of 
 the United States. It had been his ambition to continue in 
 the military profession. His habit of mind fitted him pecul- 
 iarly for the duties of a soldier and he had won the right to 
 
148 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 wear the livery of the Government during the remainder of 
 his Hfe. This, however, was not to be. In the autumn of 
 1865 he had moved his family from Ohio to Torresdale, one 
 of the most beautiful of the suburbs of Philadelphia, in order 
 to place his daughters at the convent of the Sacred Heart to 
 be educated, and his sons at school in the city. Although 
 in feeble health, his spirits were still high ; and he felt certain 
 that his services during the war had entitled him to con- 
 sideration at the hands of the Government. Meantime he 
 sought relaxation, and in company with General Sherman 
 he made an extensive tour through New England and 
 Canada. Wherever the party stopped it was received with 
 unbounded enthusiasm. While in New England they visited 
 the historic Dartmouth College at Hanover, New Hampshire, 
 and that institution conferred honorary degrees on several 
 of the soldiers, who with Sherman had illustrated the service. 
 That of Master of Arts was conferred upon General Smith, 
 a distinction that he very highly appreciated. Although 
 not a college graduate, he was a fine scholar in the English 
 classics, with some knowledge of French and of Latin. Re- 
 proach has been cast upon some collegiate institutions for the 
 freedom with which they are wont to lavish the degrees they 
 are entitled to confer ; but in this case the honor fell upon 
 one who could bear with dignity and pride the title of Master 
 of the liberal arts. On the recommendation of General 
 Sherman he filed his application for a commission in the 
 regular army, and it was thought by his friends that the 
 rank of colonel might have been bestowed upon him with 
 entire propriety. His application, however, did not meet 
 with favor, and it became necessary for him to turn his eyes 
 in another direction. The delegation from the State of Ohio 
 in Congress without exception recommended his name to 
 the President for appointment in the civil service and finally 
 he was persuaded against his better judgment to take the 
 post of Consul of the United States at Panama. He had 
 been confirmed for this appointment by the Senate, when 
 his name was sent in to that body for the consulship at 
 Havana, but owing to some misunderstanding and probably 
 to the personal wish of Secretary Seward, who looked upon 
 
Memoir 149 
 
 the consulship at Panama as being one of the most important, 
 in view of the projected canal across the Isthmus, it was 
 settled that he should keep that post. During the remainder 
 of the administration of President Johnson, whose policy 
 towards the reconstruction of the Southern States General 
 Smith heartily supported, he held this position, but was 
 compelled by the severe trials of the climate acting upon his 
 constitution, already so much shattered, to absent himself 
 frequently from his post. While in this position he made a 
 trip to California. A number of questions of importance to 
 the interests of the United States arose during his adminis- 
 tration of the consulship, which were handled by him with 
 good judgment and to the satisfaction of the government. 
 In politics General Smith was an ardent Democrat, and as 
 such he was a strenuous advocate of the nomination of Gen- 
 eral Hancock for the presidency during the campaign of 1868. 
 With many of his old comrades he organized a convention 
 of soldiers and sailors in the city of New York during the 
 meeting of the National Democratic Convention, and sought 
 by every honorable means to influence that body to nominate 
 Hancock, but as will be remembered, the movement was a 
 failure, and Horatio Se3^mour was selected to make a hope- 
 less contest against General Grant. General Smith's per- 
 sonal relations with General Grant had been most intimate 
 during his western campaigns with that soldier, and nothing 
 had occurred to occasion any personal differences between 
 them. But on General Grant's accession to ofiice, the policy 
 of his administration caused him to make many changes in 
 the personnel of the diplomatic and consular ofl&cers, and 
 among the first to be recalled from his post was General 
 Smith. 
 
 A short time after his return from Panama, General Smith 
 was called upon to bear the heaviest domestic loss that had 
 befallen him. Ivess than a year before, his second daugh- 
 ter, a young girl of unusual beauty and charming char- 
 acter, had met her death by a sad accident. General Smith 
 and his family had by no means recovered from the shock 
 of this sorrow, when they were called upon to mourn 
 the loss of his mother, who died on the 22d day of April, 
 
150 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 1869. This event, although it might have been expected 
 ere long in the course of nature, was in itself a severe 
 blow, because it too was the result of accidental circum- 
 stances. At the time of her death Mrs. Smith was in the 
 seventieth year of her age. Reference has been made to her 
 untiring efforts in behalf of her son's advancement in the 
 military profession. She had never been separated from him 
 for any length of time, excepting during his field service, 
 and the influence of her -strong character was felt by him 
 during his career. She was but twenty years his senior, and 
 as he was her eldest son there had always existed a con- 
 geniality of temperament and a closeness of companionship 
 not often to be seen even between parents and children of 
 the most affectionate natures. The character and life of 
 Mrs. Smith are well worthy of a separate memoir. She was 
 on both sides of her family of pure English blood. From 
 father to son her progenitors had been prominent from the 
 early colonization of New England, for the most part as 
 divines, but some of them had illustrated the profession of 
 the law, some had been in mercantile life, and indeed, 
 through her family connections she was related to many of 
 the most notable of New England people. The family of 
 Walter in the male line became extinct many years ago. 
 The descendants on the female side, however, have a large 
 representation. The father of Mrs. Smith, Mr. William 
 Walter, was a very successful merchant, in the old-time 
 meaning of the term, and sent his vessels from Boston to 
 various parts of the globe. Mr. Walter died at the com- 
 paratively early age of forty, leaving a large family of little 
 children, who had already lost their mother, to the care of 
 an uncle under whose direction they grew up. Eliza Bicker, 
 the second daughter, became the wife of Captain George 
 Smith, one of her father's master mariners. As has been 
 said hitherto, they were married at Christ Church, Boston, 
 by the Rev. Asa Eaton, on the 31st day of January, 1817. 
 Captain Smith was eighteen years his wife's senior, but 
 it may well be believed from his bearing and accomplish- 
 ments that he had a most engaging personality. Mrs. 
 Smith became the mother of ten children, five of whom 
 
Memoir 151 
 
 survived. She experienced many of the vicissitudes that 
 have fallen to the lot of American families, both gentle 
 and simple, in moving from an old and settled community 
 to the new West. She had to contend with an infirmity 
 of lameness from an injury contracted dining her young 
 womanhood, but so brave and cheerful was her spirit, so 
 indomitable her energy, that she quailed under no trials, 
 but bore her part with unfailing bravery. Gifted with a 
 strong and vigorous mind, she was proficient in English 
 literature, and whether with her pen or in conversation 
 possessed a style both winning and perspicuous. She num- 
 bered among her friends and correspondents many dis- 
 tinguished men and women; and had it been her fate to have 
 lived in an atmosphere more fitted to her temperament, she 
 would have been still more widely known for her remarkable 
 personality. 
 
 The years that followed until 1880, were spent by General 
 Smith in almost complete retirement, and unmarked by 
 events of special interest, excepting such as concerned his 
 domestic relations. Attached to the modest home to which 
 he had moved his family was a small garden, and there in 
 such intervals of health and strength as were permitted him, 
 he devoted his attention to the cultivation of the earth. He 
 had alwaj^s been extremely fond of this pursuit, for which he 
 possessed undoubted talents. As old age prematurely came 
 upon him, he found some solace for the trials and disappoint- 
 ments of life in his works of horticulture and gardening. 
 He kept a keen eye upon public events, however, and cor- 
 responded from time to time with his old comrades and other 
 friends. Acting upon the suggestion of the late David Paul 
 Brown, of the Philadelphia Bar, he thought at one time of 
 endeavoring to begin again as a lawyer, and in that city. 
 Accordingly on Mr. Brown's motion, he was admitted to the 
 Bar of the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, on 
 the 14th day of January, 1871. On that occasion he was 
 enabled to present to the Court, through Mr. Brown, com- 
 plimentary letters from Chief Justice Chase, his old preceptor 
 in the law, and from the venerable Judge Bellamy Storer, 
 before whom he had practised in the courts of Hamilton 
 
152 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 County, Ohio. General Smith did not open an office in 
 Philadelphia, however, and beyond a few winters in Wash- 
 ington, when he transacted some business before the depart- 
 ments and in the Court of Claims, he did not take advantage 
 of his legal privileges. One of his greatest pleasures was in 
 his association with the veteran soldiers who formed the 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. 
 He was honored with the post of Junior Vice-Commander of 
 the Commandery of Pennsylvania, and thereby became at 
 all times a member of the governing body of the order, the 
 Commandery-in-Chief Whenever he could do so, he would 
 attend the meetings, and always had a ready sympathy for 
 soldiers of either army. He was strongly impressed with 
 the view that the war for the Union was a contest for the 
 maintenance of the Constitution in all its integrity. While 
 heartily in favor of the abolition of slavery, he constantly 
 regretted the strife and turmoil that followed the attempt to 
 enforce the reconstruction acts, and bemoaned still more the 
 evils and evil tendencies of our civilization. Disappointed 
 but too frequently in the course adopted by his own political 
 party, he found nothing congenial in the principles of the 
 organization to which he had been so long in opposition. 
 In 1880 he emerged from seclusion to give his aid in the can- 
 vass of General Hancock, who had received the nomination 
 of the Democratic party for the presidency. Prior to this 
 event. General Grant had returned from his triumphal jour- 
 ney around the world. Although many years have elapsed, 
 the memory of that wonderful progress must still be fresh in 
 the minds of all who followed it from nation to nation ; from 
 the West to the extreme limits of the East, a plain American 
 citizen had been received with an acclaim never rendered 
 but to the greatest of men. At the termination of his journey, 
 when he landed on the American continent, great cities vied 
 with each other in the honors they paid him. In the city of 
 Chicago a special effort was made by the surviving officers 
 of the Armies of the Tennessee and the Cumberland, to meet 
 again their old commander, and impelled by this feeling, 
 General Smith made the journey to that city. No such 
 gathering of ofl&cers of the war has taken place since that 
 
6. J 
 
 Memoir 153 
 
 memorable day, and it was a fitting climax to the progress 
 of the great American soldier through his own country. Al- 
 though political lines separated many of those who gathered 
 then and afterwards to pay tribute to Grant, the hold he had 
 upon their admiration and affection as a soldier never failed. 
 When the great general reached the city of Philadelphia he 
 was worthily entertained, and graceful recognition was paid 
 to General Smith's military association with him by an invi- 
 tation to participate in the ceremonies as a guest of the city. ' 
 
 1 After the death of General Grant in 1885, General Smith was 
 one of a Committee to prepare the usual circular upon the death of a 
 companion by the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order 
 of the I/oyal Legion. His view of the character of the great Union 
 soldier appears in the following tribute : 
 
 *' Circular No. 
 " Series of 1885. 
 ••Whole No. 36. 
 
 •' Headquarters Military Order of the 
 " IvOYAi, Legion of the United States, 
 
 " Phii.adei,phia, Pennsylvania, Oct. 7, 1885. 
 
 Ulysses Simpson Grant. — Cadet U. S. Military Academy, July i, 
 1839 ; Brevet Second Lieutenant 4th U. S. Infantry, July i, 1843 ; 
 Second Lieutenant, September 30, 1845 ; First Lieutenant, September 
 16, 1847 ; Captain, August 5, 1853 ; resigned, honorably discharged, 
 July 31, 1854. 
 
 " Brevetted First Lieutenant U. S. Army, September 8, 1847, 'for 
 gallant conduct in the battle of Molino del Rey, Mexico.' Captain, 
 September 13, 1847, ' for gallant conduct at Chepultepec, Mexico.' 
 
 "Colonel 2ist Illinois Infantry, June 17, 1861 ; Brigadier-General 
 U. S. Volunteers, August 9, 1861, to rank from May 17, 1861 ; Major- 
 General U. S. Volunteers, February 16, 1862; Major-General U. S. 
 Army, July 4, 1863 ; Lieutenant-General, March 2, 1864 ; General, 
 July 25, 1866 ; vacated commission, March 4, 1869, being inaugurated 
 President of the United States. 
 
 " General U. S. Army (retired), March 3, 1885. 
 
 "Elected in Commandery of Illinois, December 3, 1879. Insignia 
 No. 2G06. 
 
 " Transferred to Commandery of New York, May 2, 1883. 
 
 " Commander Commandery of New York, May 7, 1884. 
 
 " Born, April 27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Ohio. 
 
 " Died July 23, 1885, at Mt. McGregor, New York. 
 
 "Whereas, The closing of the earthly career of the foremost 
 
154 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 The defeat of General Hancock marked the close of any- 
 active participation by General Smith in political affairs. It 
 was an event that he greatly deplored, as his personal rela- 
 tions with that superb soldier had been intimate, and he had 
 for years endeavored to compass his nomination. Although 
 not in certain health, General Smith had periods of consider- 
 able activity. His greatest pleasure and hope, as his life 
 drew towards a close, was in watching the development of 
 the careers of his children. He had the satisfaction of see- 
 ing one of his sons come to the Bar, and another to be 
 ordained to the priesthood ; while a third was beginning a 
 career of usefulness as an architect, and two younger sons 
 
 soldier and the first citizen of the American Republic is an epoch-line 
 in the nation's history, that event renders eminently fitting a formal 
 expression of the heart-promptings of the united membership of the 
 Acting Commandery-in-Chief of the Military Order of the Loyal 
 Legion of the United States, with its clustered associations of the 
 army and navy, by means of which that great commander won his 
 triumphs, and compassed his chief life-work ; therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That, in the history of the United States during the 
 past quarter of a century, we recognize as a central figure, in the field 
 of arms, in the councils of state, and in the representative character 
 of an American citizen at home and abroad. General Ulysses S. Grant : 
 a soldier who led the armed forces of his government to final victory 
 over the greatest rebellion which was ever subdued among men ; a 
 Chief Magistrate who, during eight eventful years, was at the head 
 of the national administration of the country thus saved ; a private 
 citizen who received unparalleled honors from rulers and ruled, the 
 world around ; and we realize that by his brilliant record and high at- 
 tainment the glories of the American name have received new lustre 
 and wider recognition, and there has been given added cause for grati- 
 tude and rejoicing to every loyal citizen of the Great Republic. 
 
 " Resolved, That, beyond all the glory of his great achievements 
 on the field of battle, we perceive a grander glory in his magnanimity 
 in the hour of victory, in his wise and successful pursuit of peace by 
 international arbitration, and in his patriotic and fraternal spirit, 
 which at the last found its exhibition and its reflex in the loving 
 words of mutual regard passing between him and those whom he had 
 met in deadly conflict ; and of which the culmination was seen in a 
 re-united nation sorrowing over his lamented loss, in the sight of a 
 sympathetic world. 
 
 " Resolved, That, among the millions who truly honored and who 
 sincerely mourn him, none can transcend, in an appreciative recogni- 
 
Memoir 155 
 
 were still at school. One of his three surviving daughters 
 had married, and after her widowhood, with his only grand- 
 child, formed a part of his family. 
 
 After General Hancock's defeat, General Smith was in- 
 duced to make a brief visit to Kurope in company with his 
 friend, the Honorable William Dorsheimer of New York. 
 The reception he met there from those with whom he was 
 associated — soldiers, statesmen, and diplomats, — was most 
 distinguished. He was complimented by being the guest of 
 the Comte de Paris, who had not then been exiled from 
 France, at his royal Chateau d'Eu, and formed a friendship 
 with that good soldier and historian that continued until the 
 
 tion of his work and his worth, and in an intelligent sense of personal 
 loss in his death, those who shared with him in the battlings and en- 
 durances of his multiplied conflicts, and in the joys and rewards of 
 his abundant success ; hence it is as those who not only knew him 
 and were dear to him, but who were, in a sense, one with him in 
 prosperity and in adversity, that the officers and members of this 
 Commandery express their sense of exalted regard for his matchless 
 taemory, and of reverent and tender sympathj' with those to whom 
 he was united by the closest ties of blood and of aflFection, and who in 
 the truest sense are personally bereaved by his entering into rest. 
 "Thos. Kilby Smith, 
 
 " Brevet Major-General U. S. V., 
 "George W. Mindil, 
 
 " Brevet Major-General U. S. V., 
 " Chas. p. Herring, 
 
 " Brevet Brigadier-General U. S. V., 
 "John McGowan, 
 
 " lyieutenant-Commander U. S. N., 
 "Ci,ARKE Merchant, 
 
 " Lieutenant-Commander (late) U. S. N., 
 "H. Earnest Goodman, 
 
 " Colonel U. S. V., 
 *'H. Cl<AY Trumbui,!,, 
 " Chapi^ain U. S. v., 
 
 '^^ Committee. 
 " By command of 
 
 " Major-General Wineiei^d S. Hakcock, U. S. Army, 
 
 " Acting Commander-in-Chief. 
 "John P. Nichoi^son, 
 " Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. V., 
 * ' Official. ' ' Recorder. ' ' 
 
156 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 end. In 1887, William Dorsheimer, who liad retired from 
 the ofl&ce of United States Attorney for New York City after 
 a notable career in the profession of the law and as Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor and Member of Congress from New York, 
 had assumed the proprietorship and editorial management 
 of the New York Star. At that time the unfinished tomb of 
 General Grant on the Riverside Drive was appealing to the 
 sentiments of patriotic citizens, and Governor Dorsheimer 
 conceived the idea of raising a popular fund to pay for it. He 
 enlisted the interest of General Smith, who went to New York 
 in the hope of aiding his friend in that and other projects con- 
 nected with his newspaper. The excitement of life in New 
 York had always had a peculiar charm for his temperament, 
 and now forgetful of the burden of years and infirmities, he 
 threw himself with ardor into the work before him. During 
 the summer and autumn of 1887, he worked with assiduity 
 and some measure of success ; but he had forgotten his limi- 
 tations. The once superb physique could not respond much 
 longer to the demands made upon it. He was taken ill in 
 November, and gradually declined until his death on the 
 14th of December. He met his end with quiet courage and 
 dignity. The last sacraments of the Church were adminis- 
 tered by the Rev. Father McKinnon, S.J., and after parting 
 with his wife and some members of his family, he passed 
 peacefully away. General Smith had become a convert to the 
 Catholic Church in the year 1874, while making a visit to the 
 venerable Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati, a man for whose 
 personality he always had a profound regard. He numbered 
 among his friends many of the religious of the Church, and 
 though the larger part of his career had been outside of her 
 fold, his end was under her sheltering arms. General 
 Smith's remains were brought from New York for interment 
 in the Parish Churchyard of St. Dominic near Holmesburg, 
 Philadelphia. His funeral was conducted with simplicity, 
 and was attended by many of his friends and military asso- 
 ciates. The pallbearers were Hon. William Dorsheimer, 
 Gen. Thomas Ewing, Col. John P. Nicholson, and Dr. 
 H. Earnest Goodman. His second son, Theodore Dehon, 
 who had become the Rev. Father Maurice of the Passionist 
 
Memoir 157 
 
 Order, preached a touching discourse. In- the presence of 
 the soldiers and friends standing beside the bier, he said i 
 
 " Dkar Friends : 
 
 ' ' We have paid the last tribute of respect to him, whose 
 mortal remains lie before us, whose whole life was one long 
 act of devotion to friends. God Almighty draws the hearts 
 of men to himself in various ways. He whom we mourn loved 
 to look at God in Man. All his life he gave to the service 
 of humanity. A tender father, an ardent patriot, the duties 
 that he fulfilled superabundantly to family and country, were 
 not sufl&cient to satisfy the deep craving for affection that, for 
 so long, beat with every pulse in that fond heart now still 
 forever. His arms reached forth to embrace all mankind. 
 So frank, so brave, so open, so generous ! The artificial 
 barriers that divide us childern of Adam, the temporary dis- 
 tinction, that a wise Providence has placed between men, and 
 also the division that has grown up as the unhappy heritage 
 of sin and pride and discord, all these things chafed and 
 fretted that noble spirit whose aspiration was for the perfect 
 commune of undying fellowship, the union of comrades in 
 heart and hand, which we trust he may enjoy in the rest of 
 the saints. Therefore, dear friends, he loved you all — the 
 lowest with the loftiest — and many, many, many who are 
 here to-day in spirit with us, and who have been as true to 
 him and to his beloved memory, as he was to those with the 
 last breath of life he drew. Ma3' God touch us all here 
 present, his family, his friends, his beloved companions in 
 arms, with the spirit of absolute love which drew him at last 
 to the hope and faith in which he died ; the hope of a 
 blessed immortal:*-y, the faith in the Son of God who loved 
 him and delivered himself for him and for us all. The bless- 
 ings of Almighty God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, de- 
 scend upon us and remain with us forever. ' ' 
 
 The death of General Smith called forth expressions of 
 profound regret and admiration from many sources. Those 
 that he would have valued among the first came from his 
 military friends. The I^oyal Legion of Pennsylvania issued 
 the following memorial : 
 
158 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " Military Order of the Loyai, Legion op the 
 United States. 
 
 " Circular No. 5. -| 
 " Series of 1888. I 
 " Whole No. 156. J 
 
 " headquarters commander y of the 
 " State of Pennsyi^vania, 
 
 " Phii^adeIvPHIa, April 3, 1888. 
 
 * ' Read at Stated Meeting of the Board of Officers, April 
 2, 1888. 
 
 " Thomas Kii.by Smith. — Lieutenant-Colonel 54tli Ohio 
 Infantry September 9, 1861 ; Colonel, October 31, 1861 ; 
 discharged for promotion, August 25, 1863. 
 
 " Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, August 11, 1863 ; 
 honorably mustered out January 15, 1866. 
 
 " Brevetted Major-General, U. S. Volunteers March 13, 
 1865, ' for gallant and meritorious services during the war.' 
 
 " Elected September 19, 1866, Class I., Insignia 376. 
 
 " Junior Vice-Commander of the Commandery, 1873-1877. 
 
 '* Born at Boston, Mass., September 23, 1820. 
 
 " Died at New York City, December 14, 1887. 
 
 " No fairer illustration could be found of the volunteer 
 citizen at his best, as developed in the experiences of our 
 civil war, than is furnished in the character and record of 
 Brevet Major-Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith. Born of a patri- 
 otic Puritan ancestry in the city of Boston, he was, by the 
 removal of his parents while he was yet a child, brought up 
 under the stimulating and broadening influence of that 
 newer New England life in the earlier West, which has 
 shown its potency in the men it has supplied as our nation's 
 leaders and defenders. 
 
 ' ' In addition to other advantages in his education, he re- 
 ceived the basal lessons of a military training in a prepara- 
 tory school conducted by Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel ; and 
 again, after his graduation from Woodward College, he was 
 a favored and a favorite law student of the Hon. Salmon P. 
 Chase. Honored with special appointments by the national 
 administration, and by the courts of his adopted State, he 
 
Memoir 159 
 
 was at the outbreak of the civil war not in full political 
 accord with the administration in power ; but his absorbing 
 patriotism and his profound loyalty to the fundamental 
 principles of our nationality overbore all minor considera- 
 tions, and he promptly proffered his services to the govern- 
 ment for any position in which he could be made available 
 for its support ; and he was assigned by Governor Dennison, 
 of Ohio, to the command of a regiment of infantry. 
 
 " Reporting in February, 1862, to Gen. William T. Sher- 
 man, at Paducah, Kentucky, he was at once under the best 
 conceivable conditions for efficient training in his new pro- 
 fession, and for the intelligent recognition of his services by 
 his superiors. During the important battle of Shiloh he was 
 suddenly called to the command of his brigade by the 
 wounding of its commander, and in that position he bore 
 himself with conspicuous gallantry. General Sherman says 
 of him in this emergency, ' He was at that time compara- 
 tively young, very handsome, and unusually well posted in 
 his profession.' Referring to his return with his brigade 
 under a heavy fire from the enemy. General Sherman adds : 
 * As General Smith rode at the head of his men I thought I 
 never saw more handsome conduct under fire.' 
 
 " Steadily gaining in the knowledge of his profession and 
 in the confidence of his superiors, he was much in severe 
 service after this vigorous beginning at Shiloh. He was in 
 the siege of Corinth, and he bore an active part in Sherman's 
 co-operative movements at Vicksburg, having command of a 
 brigade in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, and participating 
 in engagements at Arkansas Post, Rolling Fork, Haines 
 Bluff, Baker's Creek, Big Black River, and in two direct 
 assaults on Vicksburg before settling down to the siege of 
 that stronghold. 
 
 ' ' By special assignment he was for some months on the 
 staff of General Grant ; and he was entrusted with various 
 difficult and delicate commissions in the line of bearing 
 despatches between General Grant and General Banks, and 
 in flag of truce communications with the Confederate au- 
 thorities on the subject of the treatment of colored soldiers. 
 He was also at the head of an important court of inquiry at 
 
t6o Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Milliken's Bend, lyouisiana, and again he had a part in the 
 battle at that point. He accompanied General Grant as his 
 acting chief of staff on an of&cial examination of the positions 
 and forces in the Army of the Tennessee, then commanded 
 by Gen. James B. McPherson. He was in active field ser- 
 vice at Natchez, and on the Black and Yazoo Rivers, until 
 February, 1864, when he moved with General Sherman to 
 Meridian, Mississippi, and had a part in the second battle of 
 Champion Hills. In March, 1864, he was assigned to a part 
 in the Red River expedition, in Louisiana ; and in that cam- 
 paign he did important and brilliant service, — first in the 
 capture of Fort De Russy, and afterwards in the preservation 
 of Admiral Porter's fleet, and of the heavily laden transports 
 which it convoyed, at a time when a greatly superior force 
 ' came in,' as Admiral Porter expresses it, ' certain of 
 victory.' 
 
 " After his part in the Red River expedition. General 
 Smith was on sick leave for some time ; although for two 
 years after his entering service he neither applied for nor 
 received a leave of absence either longer or shorter, nor was 
 he ever off duty in that period, not seeing his wife or chil- 
 dren meanwhile. In January, 1865, he was in command of 
 a division of detachments of the Army of the Tennessee. He 
 was a valued and important witness before the Committee 
 on the Conduct of the War, and it was said of him there 
 that he was a notable instance of a general officer having no 
 personal grievance to lay bare. Later he was in command 
 of the District of Southern Alabama and Florida, and again 
 of the District and Post of Mobile. Finally, in January, 
 1866, after more than four years of arduous and responsible 
 service, he was honorably mustered out as Brevet Major- 
 General U. S. Volunteers. 
 
 "As an evidence of the high esteem in which General 
 Smith was held for his personal worth and for his military 
 services by those who were in every way qualified to judge 
 him fairly, it is a noteworthy fact, that both Generals Sher- 
 man and Grant repeatedly recommended his promotion as a 
 brigadier-general before it was finally accorded to him by 
 President Lincoln in August, 1863 ; and that they wrote of 
 
Memoir i6i 
 
 him to others in terms of exceptional commendation. In 
 February, 1863, General Sherman wrote of him, ' His record 
 is perfect, his habits excellent, his endurance wonderful, his 
 bravery a little rash, his judgment good, and all he wants is 
 hard study of books and men ; I mean of course militarj^ text- 
 books and the men who compose large armies. He has com- 
 manded a brigade, and now commands one, and naturally 
 should be 'commissioned as a brigadier.' In recommending 
 his promotion in March, 1863, General Grant said, ' His ad- 
 vancement has been won upon the field of battle and in camp 
 in disciplining his men. Promotion on Colonel Smith would 
 be most worthily bestowed, and would not fall on one with 
 whom the question would become, " What will you do with 
 him? " ' Yet later, in writing to General Smith's mother 
 after her son's promotion. General Grant said, ' I congratu- 
 late you upon his promotion, you will believe me when I say 
 sincerely ; because it was upon my recommendation that he 
 has been promoted. I do not know that Colonel Smith was 
 aware of my having recommended him. At all events I did 
 not tell him so.' And General Grant added that he was 
 ' sincerely the friend ' of General Smith, ' with whom ' he 
 had now ' become intimately acquainted, ' and ' acquaintance 
 with him only ripens into friendship. ' 
 
 " The later years of General Smith's life were passed in 
 the quiet of a home life, in marked contrast with the stirring 
 scenes in which he bore so prominent a part in the days of 
 his military service. But it was a life which illustrated in 
 its unselfish regard for the dear ones of his family, and in 
 the courtliness and dignity of his personal bearing, the very 
 qualities which had evidenced themselves in his devotion to 
 his country, in his considerate regard for the men of his 
 command, and in his personal absorption in his military 
 duties in their time and place, when his soldier life was his 
 only life. ' Sometimes, ' he said of these quiet later years, 
 ' in my solitude I have fancied myself quite forgotten, and 
 have looked back upon the conflict, when I was a man 
 among men, almost as a dream of the night. ' Yet that that 
 seeming dream of night was a reality of realities in his ex- 
 istence was manifest in nis face and form and manner at all 
 
1 62 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 times. In view of the strength of his army impressions, 
 and of the contrast to them which the occupations of his later 
 years suppUed, General Smith's love for the Loyal I^egion 
 and for the companionships and associations which it con- 
 tinued, to him was peculiarly tender and hearty. In speak- 
 ing of this fact, he said, ' I find my home, my heart, my 
 treasure, in that band of companions who have given me 
 countenance, comfort, the sweet savor of companionship, 
 when I had nowhere else beyond the limits of my own 
 threshold to go. ' 
 
 " And so it is that our lamented companion, Gen. Thomas 
 Kilby Smith illustrated the choicest characteristics, and was 
 one of the best representatives of the membership of the 
 Military Order of the lyOyal lyCgion ; and that he is sure of 
 being held in special honor and in loving remembrance by 
 his companions to that organization, — both for what he had 
 done and for what he was. 
 
 " H. C1.AY TrumbuIvIv, 
 
 " Chaplain loth Conn. Infantry. 
 " H. Earne;st Goodman, 
 
 " Colonel U. S. Vols. 
 "W. H. H. Davis, 
 
 " Brevet Brig.-Gen. U. S. Vols. 
 
 " Committee. 
 " By command of 
 " Brevet Major.-Gen. D. McM. Gregg, U. S. V., 
 
 " Commander. 
 "John P. Nicholson, Brevet Lieut.-Col., U. S. V., 
 
 Recorder. 
 
 Official : 
 
 " Recorder." 
 
 The Ohio Society of New York, adopted the following 
 minute : 
 
 ' ' The Ohio Society of New York learn with great sorrow 
 of the sudden death in this city on the morning of the 14th 
 inst., of our distinguished friend and fellow member. Gen. 
 Thomas Kilby Smith. His warm, generous nature, his 
 
Memoir 1 63 
 
 splendid manhood, his patriotism and bravery and soldierly- 
 qualities so markedly manifest in the late War of the Re- 
 bellion, commands our profoundest respect and our highest 
 admiration. 
 
 ' ' The Committee respectfully recommend the appointment 
 of the following members to attend the funeral of our 
 lamented friend and to convey to the bereaved family the 
 warmest sympathies of this society : Gen. Thomas Ewing, 
 Gen. Benjamin I^e Fevre, and George W. McGill. 
 
 " C. W. MOULTON, 
 
 " Warren Higley, 
 " Geo. B. Hibbard, 
 
 " Committee." 
 
 General Sherman paid his personal tribute at a meeting 
 of the latter society, in these characteristic words : 
 
 ' ' I am very willing to testify to the character of your late 
 esteemed member. I first met him at Paducah, where he 
 reported to me with the 54th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of 
 which he was colonel. He was at that time comparatively 
 young, very handsome, and unusually well posted in his 
 profession. Where he got this knowledge of military tactics 
 and science I do not know. His regiment then wore the 
 zouave uniform, which he afterwards had the good sense to 
 drop. 
 
 ' ' He was with me throughout the following campaigns. 
 Our operations on the Tennessee River have already been 
 well chronicled. On the first day at Shiloh, Smith was with 
 Stuart, guarding the ford at I^ick Creek. His command 
 was driven back always fighting obstinately. The next 
 morning they came back to me on the extreme right under 
 a heavy fire. As General Smith rode at the head of his 
 men, I thought I never had seen more handsome conduct 
 under fire. This was on the 7th of April, 1862. 
 
 ' ' After being with me through the entire siege of Vicks- 
 burg, the march on Meridian, and the whole campaign, 
 General Smith passed out of the range of my personal obser- 
 vation, but I have corresponded with him ever since. He 
 was genial, kindly, of good character, and entitled to our 
 
164 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 entire respect — a good soldier and an admirable citizen. We 
 all regard him with unusual aflFection. ' ' 
 
 Notwithstanding a state of invalidism that became settled 
 from a date long preceding the close of the war, the ardent, 
 sanguine temperament of General Smith, and his unusually- 
 handsome presence made it diificult for his family and friends 
 to realize even at the last that he had become an old man. 
 He had the rare faculty of making friends with the young, 
 so that, as the men of his own generation passed away, he 
 found consolation among those who came after them. The 
 impression he made upon his intimate associates is well shown 
 by the tribute of Mr. Dorsheimer, who followed him so soon 
 to the grave. In the editorial announcing his death, occurs 
 this passage : " It is not easy to describe a character so made 
 up of gentle and noble qualities. We prefer to think of him 
 as a soldier, a name that befits him best. For he was brave, 
 generous, open-hearted, yet reticent and self-restrained. He 
 had the pride that goes with valor, and a steadfast devotion 
 to the cause he had espoused and to the men who trusted 
 him. There never was a man more faithful to his country 
 and to duty. ' ' 
 
 He was called upon to bear much sorrow and many disap- 
 pointments, yet he maintained himself with a quiet philosophy 
 in the face of danger that never forsook him. 
 
 He loved nature in all her manifestations, and was never 
 happier than when, in field or forest, he could renew the in- 
 spirations of his early manhood. To watch the flight of 
 birds, to listen to their songs, to study the intelligence of 
 animals, to steep his very being in God's beautiful creation, 
 was to him an unceasing joy. 
 
 His virtues and his faults were those of a character formed 
 for lofty activities. Where he failed, it was from overwhelm- 
 ing difficulties ; and to the last his aims were always for the 
 first rank. 
 
 Let this imperfect memoir close with a daughter's tribute 
 — the evidence of a love no martial victories could win. 
 
Memoir 165 
 
 "O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast over- 
 shadowed my head in the day of battle,"— Ps. cxxxix., 8, 
 
 We tread the fair home fields, the sunny slopes, 
 
 Just as of old ; 
 While in our hearts the dear God-given hopes 
 
 Spring manifold. 
 
 Yet are we mourners, for our eyes have seen 
 
 The face of Death ; 
 We late have wept with bitter grief and keen 
 
 The passing breath. 
 
 " O Spare him, Lord," we cried, '* in mercy spare, 
 
 For we are weak ; 
 And we so love the brow, the silver hair, 
 
 The furrowed cheek." 
 
 We have so loved him, he the chiefest pride, 
 
 The living light 
 Of our glad home : — now, all our joy beside 
 
 Is lost in night. 
 
 The tender father and the honored friend — 
 
 The soldier brave — 
 The wise commander, fearless to the end, 
 
 Lies in his grave. 
 
 Not on the battlefield, and not in strife, 
 
 Closed that firm eye ; 
 No guilty foeman took his noble life, 
 
 Nor saw him die. 
 
 Yet died he soldierly, and, calm at last, 
 
 He bore his part ; 
 Brave unto death, as brave in battles past, 
 
 Was that great heart. 
 
 Still falls the sunlight, still the earth is gay — 
 
 The sky is blue ; 
 O happy world ! Come mourn for him to-day 
 
 Who laughed with you. 
 
 Come mourn for him ; 't is now that tears should fall 
 
 And pleasures cease ; 
 While sorrow-stricken hearts to heaven call, 
 
 For light and peace. 
 
 Hei.e;n Grace Smith. 
 
LETTERS 
 
 Cincinnati, Feb. 13, 1852. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I had the honor, for such I suppose it must be called, of a 
 private introduction to Kossuth last evening at his apart- 
 ments at the Burnett House. His room of reception was 
 fitted up in gorgeous style. I was ushered in through a line 
 of guards, composed of Hungarians in rich apparel who keep 
 wait in his anteroom after the manner and style of lords in 
 waiting in foreign courts. Part of them are guards from the 
 Hungarian army, and all are armed — for it is reported that 
 he dreads assassination. We were received at his door by 
 Madame Kossuth, who withdrew after the ceremony of in- 
 troduction. She was richly but plainly dressed, A woman 
 of commanding appearance with an exceedingly brilliant eye, 
 not beautiful, and wearing in her countenance the traces of 
 grief and habitual chagrin. My glance at her was hasty. 
 The likeness of the public print of her is obvious. Kossuth 
 received our party of three persons standing at the further 
 corner of the apartment, polite, affable, choice in his language, 
 though with a broken and confused enunciation, difficult at 
 first to understand. He was elegantly dressed in velvet, and 
 smoking a cigar — his constant habit. He is receiving in 
 regal state the adulation of the American public, who cringe 
 to him and bow to him as the subjects of a despot. . . . 
 
 Washington, June 26, 1853. 
 
 Tell my dear mother, though of course she reads all my 
 letters, how very happy her letters make me. I have but a 
 
 167 
 
1 68 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 short time since wakened from a dream, with her soft hand 
 clasped in mine. I had dreamed I was in the old house with 
 father, dogs, and all about me ; that we had walked to the 
 garden, he on one side, she on the other, and that there we 
 stood together, talked and planned ; and the young vines just 
 planted were springing at our feet, and the grass and clover 
 so fresh and green, all so vivid, so real, his eye upon me with 
 that proud fond look full of confidence and love, that when 
 I woke I found it hard to realize it was but the recollection of 
 the past embodied in a dream. He always comes to me in my 
 sleep, and if there is truth in the spirit theory is with me by 
 night and by day. Nobody has ever loved me as he did, and 
 he loved none as he loved me. I am always a child when I 
 think of him ; the past seems my real, the present a dream. 
 My dear mother is the only one who can sympathize with 
 my present state of feeling. As she reads what I now write, 
 she too will think of some bright moments in all that dark 
 past, green isles in the vast dead sea of trouble, and as she 
 thinks of the curly headed child, the earnest boj^ they both 
 were so proud of, a tear will dim her eye, she will forget the 
 man who writes, memories like the rush of water will over- 
 flow her whole heart and she will yearn, as I do till , it almost 
 breaks. 
 
 Washington, July 27, 1S53. 
 
 In respect of my promotion, I have only to say that on the 
 first of July I was appointed to a very honorable position in 
 what is called the First Division of the Appointment Bureau 
 in the Post Ofiice Department — a place which gives me con- 
 trol of the appointments in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and 
 Minnesota, and that my salary will be $1500 per annum. 
 
 Washington, May 2, 1854. 
 
 The Capitol grounds are very beautiful. The grass, to- 
 day and yesterday, was freshly mown and now looks like 
 velvet. All sorts of flowers are blooming, the trees are in a 
 
Letters 1 69 
 
 fresh livery of green, and countless birds are singing in their 
 branches. " The time of the singing birds has come." . . . 
 You will notice by the papers I forward to you by this 
 day's mail that yesterday I had the honor of being admitted 
 to the Supreme Court. 
 
 Washington, Dec. 16, 1854. 
 Your friend Mr. Stanton has been in the city some time, 
 has called once or twice at the house, and will dine with me 
 to-morrow. He has very much changed for the better. I 
 never saw him look so well. He has achieved great reputa- 
 tion in the Supreme Court. 
 
 Cincinnati, May 12, 1861. 
 
 There are fifteen thousand troops encamped near the city 
 with more pouring in, provisions have risen above New 
 York prices. The whole city is up in arms and all business, 
 save in the supply shops, has ceased. The courts have vir- 
 tually adjourned. The embargo upon the exportation of our 
 great staple, pork, has ruined thousands. The steamboat 
 interest is at an end. God knows what the result will be. 
 
 Washington, July 20, 1861. 
 
 The city is in great excitement and filled with rumors 
 from the seat of war. We have nothing yet however that 
 is at all reliable. I suppose there will be some fighting to- 
 day or to-morrow. 
 
 Washington, July 22, 1861. 
 
 As you will probably have seen by the papers, before you 
 receive this letter, there has been a terrible battle fought at 
 ' ' Manassas Gap, ' ' about twenty-six miles from here, and as 
 you may not have seen, our army, at least the right wing, 
 has been badly whipped. The city is in great excitement, 
 
1 70 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the streets filled with fljang soldiers, disbanded, disorganized, 
 without ofl&cers and without a rallying point. Up to five 
 o'clock our men behaved well and victory was apparently 
 with the U. S. troops, but at that time a large number of 
 them became panic stricken by the appearance of a body of 
 rebel cavalry and took flight, which became a general stam- 
 pede. A member of Congress, Mr. Blake, who was witness 
 of the engagement, has told me all about it. He says when 
 the rout commenced that the behavior of our men was per- 
 fectly sickening. That they threw away their muskets and 
 haversacks and fled like frightened sheep. Teamsters cut 
 their horses loose from their wagons and left their baggage 
 and stores of all kinds scattered upon the road, which was 
 strewn for miles with guns, pistols, ammunition, rice, sugar, 
 flour, horse-feed, blankets, everything, in short, that goes to 
 make up the impedimenta of an army, while broken and 
 overturned wagons and carriages (for an immense number 
 of citizens went out to witness what they called the races, 
 expecting to see the rebel forces flee), the shrieks of the 
 wounded, and the pitiful moaning of those too tired to make 
 headway and who were trampled upon by the stronger who 
 came after, conspired to make an hideous ending of the day. 
 The enemy in pursuit did not hesitate to bayonet or shoot 
 any of the wounded found by the wayside. They propose 
 no quarter. The dead and wounded are being brought in 
 by hundreds. All day ambulances are passing my window 
 on their way to the hospital freighted with their ghastly 
 loads. A mother, Mrs, McCook, living next door, has just 
 received the dead body of her son borne from the battlefield 
 in the arms of his father, who brings the news that another 
 son has been killed in the same engagement. They had 
 eight sons and four nephews all in the service. Many people 
 here are frantic in the apprehension that Washington will be 
 taken. Beauregard has an hundred thousand troops now 
 concentrated under his command, well disciplined, well fed, 
 and flushed with victory. He may press his present suc- 
 cesses. 
 
 Great complaint is made of General Scott ; this as a mat- 
 ter of course ; if our army had been victorious, great praise 
 
Letters 1 7 1 
 
 liad been awarded him, for it is only success in arms that 
 meets applause ; nevertheless, I am forced to the opinion 
 that our army was in no condition for a great battle. We 
 lack ofl&cers of accomplishment in the profession, and in whom 
 our men can repose confidence in the hour of danger and 
 trial. There was no such thing as discipline or obedience to 
 orders yesterday, particularly at such times when obedience 
 was most necessary. Indeed I have heard to-day of a 
 colonel who all day long was countermanding his general's 
 orders, and who boasted that his men would obey him 
 sooner than their general. Consequently, there was no 
 turning the tide when flight commenced, the men were 
 without confidence in their officers, who, finding their orders 
 unavailing, fled side by side with them, and the only cry 
 was * ' Sauve qui pent ' ' and ' ' the Devil take the hinder- 
 most." General Schenck and his aides are in town, but I 
 have not been able to find Donn. I understand he is safe 
 and shall endeavor to see him this evening. I tried very 
 hard yesterday to get out to the battlefield, but though a 
 member of Congress gave me a pass he had got for himself 
 from General Scott, I failed to procure any kind of a convey- 
 ance and it was too far to walk. We have had a drenching 
 rain all day which makes it still harder for the men to rally. 
 
 Washington, July 24, 1861. 
 
 I spent last evening with Mr. Chase and his daughter. 
 They had a large number of wounded and tired soldiers 
 sleeping in the house and had fed more than a hundred 
 during the day. They were all low-spirited at the ill-success 
 of our arms. I met there Bishop Mcllvaine, Mr. Horton of 
 Ohio, and Governor Sprague of Rhode Island, who led his 
 troops in the engagement of Sunday, and who, from appear- 
 ances is, I judge, the accepted suitor of Miss Katie. 
 
 Meanwhile, I am forced to the conclusion that the admin- 
 istration as a whole is weak and that it has undertaken a 
 contract too heavy to carry out. The South is not composed 
 
172 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 of cowards or fools or men without money or means, and the 
 North will find before they get through that they are not so 
 easily conquered as they had supposed. However I will not 
 discuss politics with you on paper. 
 
 Washington, July 26, 1861. 
 
 I can imagine you to have very many inconveniences to 
 put up with as you are now placed, but you must remember 
 it is only for a season, that better times are in store for us, 
 and that above all we now are at war and sufiering all its 
 horrors. Contrast your and your children's condition with 
 that of those who are upon or near the battlefields or on the 
 line of march of the armies or near their various encamp- 
 ments. You read of these things in the newspapers and 
 your blood thrills with horror, but the reading is nothing to 
 witnessing with your own senses the present results of this 
 sickening fratricidal strife. The scenes I will not pretend 
 to write about are continually before my eyes and I con- 
 tinually thank God that you and the children are in what I 
 consider a place of refuge. 
 
 Washington, August i, 1861. 
 
 You speak of Grandma's having been much afiected by 
 the account I gave of the bringing home of the body of 
 young McCook by his father to the house adjoining that in 
 which I live. It is only one of the thousand horrors, I have 
 been almost an eye witness of, but as this one seems to have 
 been of peculiar interest to you, I give for Grandma's ear a 
 detail of the circumstances as given me by one who saw 
 them. Shortly after the main body of the army was in re- 
 treat, a charge was made by the enemy's cavalry upon the 
 hospital grounds at Elgin's Ford, and those around the well 
 who were procuring water to carry to the wounded. At this 
 time, Charles McCook, only seventeen years of age, of Com- 
 pany F, 2d Regiment Ohio Volunteers, the youngest son in 
 
Letters 1 73 
 
 the army of Judge Daniel McCook, was also at the well when 
 his return to his regiment was cut off by a section of the 
 cavalry. He retreated along a line of fence and discharged 
 his musket, killing one of the enemy. He then entered an 
 open field and was attacked by a leader of the troop, who had 
 been attracted to him by his fatal shot, and commanded to 
 surrender. He replied, " No, never ; never to a rebel." 
 He manfully kept the trooper off with his bayonet, his gun 
 being empty. The rebel not being able to make him pris- 
 oner, took a course around him and shot him in the back ; 
 then approaching the wounded boy, he cried, " Now, damn 
 you, will you surrender?" He replied, "No, never, no, 
 no, never." The father of young McCook, who with an- 
 other gallant son, Edwin S. McCook, had been busy all day 
 carrying the wounded from the battlefield to the hospital, 
 discovering the perilous situation of his brave son, called out, 
 " Young man, surrender." He answered, " No, never, 
 never. ' ' The trooper then began striking him with the flat 
 of his sword over the shoulders saying at the same time he 
 would pierce him through. His father seeing that his boy 
 was wounded insisted upon his surrendering as he had done 
 all that a soldier should do. The noble boy, bleeding, 
 unarmed, and almost helpless, then surrendered. His father 
 then approached the commander and asked for the prisoner 
 to place him in the hospital, offering to hold himself re- 
 sponsible for his safety as a prisoner of war, when the villain 
 replied, " Damn your responsibility, I know you." After 
 some words, the wounded prisoner was reluctantly handed 
 over to be taken to the hospital. The trooper then dashed 
 around the hospital to assist in taking off Lieutenant Wilson, 
 of the 2d New York Regiment, who was then in the hands 
 of a horseman. This dragoon was shot by a stray ball as 
 the trooper came up, and Lieutenant Wilson, finding himself 
 free from his captor, drew his revolver and shot his pursuer 
 in the neck, killing him instantly. 
 
 The above is only one of many instances of individual 
 bravery and of the bitter, terrible animosity that exists be- 
 tween the opposing forces. And yet this is onl)^ the begin- 
 ning of what I feel confident will be a long and bloody war. 
 
1 74 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Now, my dear wife, I want you to be of good heart. I 
 feel as if I ought to stay here a little longer and leave no 
 stone unturned in the procurement of some place of some 
 kind under the government. It is the only chance in these 
 war times. I am sure you would not be content for me to 
 rest in peace, supine and idle, while others are gathering 
 laurels and winning fame. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS CaMP DENNISON, 
 
 Sept. 12, 1861. 
 
 As you will have seen in the papers ' ' I have gone and 
 done it." Now keep a stiff upper lip and sustain and 
 cheer me all you can, and by being cheerful yourself keep 
 me in good spirits. I have an arduous and responsible duty 
 to perform, but by God's help hope to get through with 
 honor to myself. Have been full of business and should 
 have written to you yesterday, my first day in camp, which 
 was wet and muddy enough, I assure you. We shall be here 
 for some weeks. It will take at least four weeks I think to 
 organize my regiment. 
 
 Direct " lyieut.-Col. Thos. Kilby Smith, Commanding 
 54th Regt., Camp Dennison. The weather to-day is very- 
 fine, the camp drying up very fast. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Sept. 23, 1861. 
 
 You have now two great causes of anxiety, your grand- 
 father and your husband. His life or death you cannot in 
 any wise control but must accept the dispensation of Provi- 
 dence. For me have no fear, lay aside all anxiety. Life 
 with me has been a battle from my youth. I am familiar 
 with and almost rejoice at the conflict. I have been pre- 
 served from terrible dangers that have beset my pathway. 
 My life has many a time been not worth a straw. I have 
 passed through flood and field. Have felt the knife of the 
 assassin and almost the ball of the would-be murderer, and 
 
Letters 1 75 
 
 yet I am alive now for some end. No battle, no exposure, 
 no responsibility can be put upon me now greater than what 
 I have passed through. I may fail and I may fall, but I 
 have full faith that there is an end to be accomplished by 
 me. Therefore you should have no fear for me now that 
 you had not before the war began, and the same faith that 
 the good God will preserve me in the field or on the war- 
 path, who had me in his holy keeping when far below the 
 surface of the briny deep. I know this is poor consolation 
 to offer to a lonely wife, fainting and feeble and sore beset by 
 troubles, but it is consolation, nevertheless, if you give it due 
 consideration. 
 
 Headquarters 54th Regt., O. V. U. S A., 
 
 Camp Dennison, Ohio, October 6, 1861, 
 
 I do not know, and can scarcely form a conjecture, as to 
 what service my command will be in or as to where I shall 
 be ordered when the regiment is ready for the field. I am 
 now waiting for an equipment and arms. Shall very soon 
 have men enough and am anxious for marching orders to 
 any point away from Camp Dennison. I have been made 
 commandant of the post and have now under my command, 
 not only my own regiment but four others, with artillerists, 
 besides the control of the post hospital, and no small care in 
 itself, as you will imagine when I tell you we had two deaths 
 last night, and have buried twenty-five men since I have been 
 here. If I only had subordinate officers upon whom I could 
 rely these responsibilities would only stimulate me to a 
 pleasant excitement. Indeed I feel always a pleasurable 
 thrill when real earnest work is before me — work that is be- 
 fitting a man. I have reason to believe that I am popular 
 with the command, that for the most part my men all like 
 me ; which is a great point gained in the army. Yet I have 
 been pressed with many and grave obstacles, wholly unfore- 
 seen and unprovided for, that perhaps hereafter I shall have 
 an opportunity to explain to you. You may be surprised 
 
1 76 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 not to see my name or my regiment mentioned in what is 
 called the Military Column of the newspapers. I have sedu- 
 lously from the first endeavored to keep away from stupid 
 newspaper puffery or notice. Time, and my own merits, if 
 I have any, will show whether I have judgment and military 
 skill enough to organize, prepare, and drill a regiment for the 
 field and make it serviceable after I get the men into active 
 service, and meanwhile it is worse than absurd to attempt 
 by monied influences or otherwise the manufacture of a fic- 
 titious fame. 
 
 Regimental Headquarters 54TH R. O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Camp Dennison, Ohio, Nov. i, 1861. 
 
 Stephen' is to the fore and doing well. He plays many 
 parts, hostler, body servant, cook, groom, laundress, seam- 
 stress, secretary, steward, and boy about the tent, and has 
 taken to soldiering with such a vim that half the time when 
 I want him I find him standing on his head with a musket 
 between his teeth, swallowing a sword or plunging a bayonet 
 into a zouave. He carries arms openly and above board to 
 his great delight, the only drawback to his perfect happi- 
 ness being the disability in the way of uniform — an officer's, 
 of course — for he has an unearthly, morbid, and uncontroll- 
 able contempt for a private soldier, whom he looks upon as 
 little better than a dog. 
 
 I have just received a letter from the Adjutant- General 
 notifying me that the Governor of Ohio has promoted me to 
 the colonelcy, so I suppose I am a step higher in the esti- 
 mation of somebody. One thing is certain, my boys and I 
 have got as bloody a set of preaching, praying, stealing, 
 fighting, riproaring zouaves as the war turns out. . . . 
 You would laugh sometimes if you were here to listen to 
 the rascals yelling ... for the " old Colonel," as they 
 call me. 
 
 ' His body servant. 
 
Letters 177 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Camp Dennison, Ohio, Dec. 14, 1861. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 It will not be so difficult for me to get my regiment into 
 the field as you imagine, after they shall be in readiness to 
 go, which I suppose will be the case in a few days. It is not 
 to be regretted that we have not been upon the march before 
 as we should not have been in active service, but merely 
 passed from one camp to another with the merest skirmish- 
 ing to amuse us ; meanwhile it will be the better drilled. 
 
 Your political views are as usual sound, but I much be- 
 lieve there will be warm work in the South and in Kentucky. 
 The blood of our people is fairly up and neither side will be 
 satisfied without a battle. However all this is in the future 
 and giv^es me no concern. My only anxiety now is to get my 
 men in marching trim and march and keep on marching for 
 the balance of my days. 
 
 I reckon the sword will come from Boston in due season. 
 William Dehon wrote me that one was ordered and would 
 be forwarded to me sometime in December. 
 
 We too have lovely weather, balmy as the first of June, 
 and oh, mother, as I look out in the early morning or stand 
 alone at sunset upon some hillside, I too miss the gentle smile, 
 the faded form ; everything is here to remind me of him. ' I 
 dare not write of him. I loved him very dearly, more than 
 I have loved anybody in the world, I believe, except perhaps 
 you. I am sure I loved him much more than I have ever 
 loved my own children — but I must check these rising feel- 
 ings. I cannot permit myself to dwell upon those who have 
 gone. I turn to this band of men about me, a large family 
 who look to me for guidance, support, and succor — every- 
 thing is abandoned. I feel as if I had cut loose from the 
 world or all that part of it that has gone before. 
 
 ' His brother, Charles W. G. Smith, who died in New York as Secre- 
 tary of the Union Defence Committee, May, 1861, aged twenty years. 
 
1 78 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Camp Dennison, January 11, 1862. 
 
 My name in the service and elsewhere is unfortunate. 
 There are four Colonels Smith in Ohio alone ; one of them 
 is Kirby Smith, a name by which I am not unfrequently 
 known, and by the by, I notice that there is one by that 
 name in the rebel army. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Camp Dennison, January 26, 1862. 
 
 To-day the sword is received, and a very elegant and 
 superior sword it is, I assure j^ou, with its double scabbard 
 and sword-belt all complete, well worthy of the donors. ' My 
 only prayer now is that by the grace of God, I may be en- 
 abled so to use it that they may not believe the gift ill -be- 
 stowed. I shall acknowledge the favor to-morrow if my time 
 is not too much cut up. I have my head, hands, and heart 
 full now and find every moment precious to me. . . . 
 
 You ask me to publish the correspondence between the 
 kind friends who have presented me with the splendid sword 
 and myself. I am almost ashamed to publish now the com- 
 pliments through the daily papers. I would prefer, unless 
 they preferred the other course, to wait until I had accom- 
 plished something that would be deemed worthy of the 
 honor. One of my former associates at the Cincinnati Bar, 
 who has taken the field. Colonel McCook, has recently at 
 the battle of Fishing Creek, near Somerset, won laurels. 
 Several Cincinnatians distinguished themselves, some were 
 killed, and many were wounded. I do not like, or rather 
 I do not think it quite in good taste to publish at this time, 
 that which it would have been quite proper and of immense 
 benefit to me and my regiment to have published a month 
 or six weeks ago. I have not fully made up my mind, how- 
 ever, in regard to the matter, and whatever I do, you shall 
 be at once apprised of. 
 
 ' Presented by friends in Massachusetts. 
 
Letters 179 
 
 I have the honor to command a regiment composed of as 
 fine a body of men as perhaps were ever got together, and, 
 if there is faith in human nature, they are all devoted to me. 
 I feel sometimes, barring the deeds, like a hero of romance. 
 I have three fine horses; one of them a stallion, that nobody 
 can back or manage but myself; the very realization of all I 
 ever hoped for in a horse, perfect in size, in symmetry of 
 form, in color, in carriage, in speed, and in gait. His har- 
 ness is complete. My pistols are the best of Colt's revol- 
 vers, with one of which I cut a card one inch on the line 
 below the centre at a hundred and twenty-five yards dis- 
 tance a few days ago. I govern at despotic will nearly a 
 thousand men, each one of whom leaps with alacrity to per- 
 form my bidding, and some, perhaps many, of whom would 
 count it small cost to spill his blood for me. A soldier is 
 always guarding the door of my tent, a line of soldiers al- 
 ways surrounds it, all my individual wants are supplied, the 
 most of my wishes anticipated. I have recruited from all 
 over the State, and all over the State I have friends, particu- 
 larly among the women who are deluging me with presents 
 for the regiment. The other day I received boxes containing 
 two hundred exceedingly fine country woven blankets, with 
 an equal number of fiannel shirts, flannel drawers, pairs of 
 socks and mittens from the ladies of Fayette County. Just 
 afterwards the ladies of Preble County sent an immense 
 quantity of blankets, socks, etc. The day before yesterday 
 the ladies of Clifton sent some two dozen pillows, with cases, 
 a number of sheets, shirts, old linen, etc., for hospital pur- 
 poses, and to-day a large quantity of coverlids, pillows, pre- 
 served and canned fruits, etc. , were sent down for the hospital. 
 Just now as I am writing a man has come in with a dozen 
 or two fresh eggs, each one carefully wrapped in paper, with 
 a can of peaches, a bottle of vinegar, and a jar of tomatoes 
 for the Colonel. Scarce a day passes that they don't send 
 me chickens and all that sort of thing. Now, on the other 
 side, I have a terrible responsibility, the mothers and fathers, 
 sisters and wives, sweethearts, friends, and relations of all 
 these brave hoys look to me for their weal or woe. If I make 
 a mistake by which human life is needlessly sacrificed, how 
 
i8o Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 terrible is the penalty ! For this reason I am cautious. 
 . . . I won't say I fear, for I hate the word ; I don't fear 
 anything, man or devil, but I don't choose to be in advance 
 of myself — my hour has not yet come. I won't ask praise 
 until I have earned it. I am very glad my friends have sent 
 me this sword. It is more gratifying to my feelings than I 
 can express to you, and I wish you would take occasion to 
 write to each one of them, a list of the names of whom I will 
 give you, your own personal recognition of the claim they 
 have to your gratitude for the kindness and honor they have 
 done your son. 
 
 You say you fear I am passing a gloomy winter in camp. 
 I wish you could see me at this moment and the interior of 
 the hut I live in. It is to me a paradise of delight. Do you 
 recollect the old kitchen at the farm, and the saddles and 
 bridles, bits and spurs that garnished the walls. View me now 
 only more so ; pistols and swords, bridles and belts, caps and 
 gauntlets, foils and uniforms, a rough pine cupboard with a 
 bottle of whiskey and a jug of water, pipes, a table covered 
 with a blanket, and that thoroughly littered, letters an- 
 swered and unanswered, mostly the latter ; Hardee & Scott, 
 the Army Regulations, and the Lord knows what. Buffalo 
 robes to sleep on, and horse rugs, red, gray, and blue 
 blankets for cover ; lie down when I please, get up when I 
 please, breakfast from eight till eleven, dinner from twelve 
 to four, for no heed do I pay to special orders in the eating 
 line. I make the men eat to the tap of the drum, but I eat 
 when I please. No woman to bother me, save the country 
 maidens who come to camp to see the soldiers, and they not 
 much. Nary baby to keep awake o' nights. The fact is, 
 camp life to a field-ofi&cer is a bachelor's paradise. 
 
 On board Steamer Fannie McBurnie, 
 
 Near Louisvtlle, Feb. i8, 1862. 
 My Dear Wifk : 
 
 I was very much disappointed yesterday at being prevented 
 from bidding you and the dear little ones " good-bye." My 
 heart is quite full now, and I hardly dare trust myself to 
 
COLONEL THOMAS KILBY SMITH, 
 
 CAMP DENNISON, 1862. 
 
Letters 
 
 ibi 
 
 write. My command was ordered by telegraphic despatch. 
 I got the regiment in the cars promptly and in good order, 
 was the last man to embark, and from my anxiety to see 
 that none was left, was left myself. This threw me back 
 one hour and a half. At Cincinnati I was compelled to take 
 command of two steamboats, two being required for the 
 transportation of the regiment. We were compelled in order 
 to preserve discipline to tie one of them to the Kentucky 
 shore, and I was all the afternoon crossing the river in a 
 skiff or yawl between the two boats. I did not dare at any 
 time to leave the command long enough to come to you. 
 You must keep up a brave heart, dear wife, I shall soon 
 come back. Meanwhile, I am sure I have some friends in 
 Cincinnati who will care for you. 
 
 I am writing now in a hurry, surrounded by a legion of 
 oflScers and soldiers. I will write more at length from Padu- 
 cah. I am seizing now the services of a pilot going ashore. 
 My troops are all in good health and spirits. My own 
 health is good. God bless and preserve you. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. U. S. A,, 
 
 Camp near Paducah, Ky., February 21, 1862. 
 
 I arrived safely with my regiment yesterday morning, and 
 am now encamped at a point about a mile and a half west 
 of Paducah. Our voyage down the river was made safely 
 and without accident. I think it a little doubtful whether 
 you received my hurried letter written during the voyage, 
 and therefore am disposed to recapitulate, even at the risk 
 of giving you stale news, the circumstances of our departure 
 from Camp Dennison. As I told you in one of our conversa- 
 tions I have considered marching orders as being near at 
 hand for some weeks, and so endeavored to arrange my regi- 
 mental matters that I should not be taken unawares, but I 
 hardly expected them to come as they did, by telegraph, and 
 on Sunday. I was very strongly tempted to pass that Sun- 
 day with you. Camp had become intensely disagreeable, the 
 weather was cold, inclement, and the ground in a horrible 
 
1 82 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 condition, and I thought how very comfortable it would be 
 to take a good Sunday dinner with you and have a nap 
 afterwards on the lounge upstairs, enveloped in my new 
 dressing gown, you were so good as to toil over for me, but 
 again I thought if any accident were to occur to the regi- 
 ment if I were away, that I would never forgive myself or be 
 forgiven by my superior officers, and that at the present time 
 I owed my whole time, at whatever sacrifice, to my country ; 
 therefore I resisted all the temptations and blandishments 
 of home, and well it was that I did so. Oh ! how bitterly 
 have some of my officers and even privates regretted that 
 they absented themselves, and at what terrible cost will they 
 be to get to their regiment. I had gone through the duties 
 of the day, which for Sunday in camp, or rather garrison, 
 consists of an inspection of the barracks and soldiers with 
 their arms and accoutrements, and was finishing my tour of 
 the hospital when up rode an adjutant, his horse in a foam, 
 and hurriedly handing me a paper, asked me when I could 
 be ready to march. I looked at my watch, coolly took his 
 paper, which was a telegraphic despatch or order, and re- 
 plied: " In fifteen minutes." He looked at me incredu- 
 lously and was about to ride off. I called to him, ' ' Stop, 
 Sir, I will show you my troops in marching order within 
 fifteen minutes, and leave it to you to report the fact." 
 Within ten minutes from that time my soldiers were in line 
 with blankets rolled and knapsacks packed, ready to march 
 a thousand miles. The Adjutant, an old English soldier, 
 by the bye, who was in the Crimean war and has been to 
 India with troops, looked on in astonishment. But cars 
 could not be put upon the railroad before nine o'clock the 
 next morning, and all night I kept the men up cooking 
 rations for three days. I sat up all night myself, and, of 
 course, was about bright and early in the morning. My 
 boys were all eager for the start. I had but one craven 
 hound who deserted me, and he, I am sorry to say, was 
 from . . . His name was . . . and he must be 
 published to the world as a coward and a perjured liar. At 
 nine o'clock as I sat on horseback at the head of the column 
 with my staff about me, an orderly rode over to say that the 
 
Letters 183 
 
 cars would be ready by the time that I had marched to the 
 depot. The cavalry regiment had sent their band and an es- 
 cort, and with my own band we made fine music, and I flatter 
 myself a gallant appearance. At the depot we were met by 
 Colonel Burnett of the artillery with his band, and every offi- 
 cer of distinction at camp was there to bid me farewell. They 
 gave me a good send-off. Few troops have left Camp Den- 
 nison under pleasanter auspices, and sooth to say I was 
 loath to leave the old camp after all, for there I have spent 
 some pleasant days " under the greenwood tree, and in 
 winter and rough weather." I was so careful to get the 
 troops on board and to see the last man on, that I got left 
 myself and was somewhat thrown out of my calculations. 
 However it ended well enough, for my farewell to you and 
 the dear children would have been heartbreaking all round, 
 and perhaps wholly unnerved me. As usual in moments 
 of great excitement with me, I had lost my appetite, and did 
 not want a great deal to set me back at a time when I re- 
 quired all my faculties at hand. It is just as bad to march 
 troops from home the first time they leave their homes as to 
 march them in battle to the charge. One of my companies 
 was from Cincinnati, and it was almost heartbreaking to see 
 the leavetakings between mother and son, husband and wife, 
 sister and brother. All classes were represented, and I was 
 compelled to put a stop to the terrible scenes mingled with 
 considerable drunkenness (for the soldiers had so many 
 friends that their canteens were well filled and continually 
 replenished with whiskey) by ordering the captain of the 
 boat of which I took charge in person to run her over to the 
 Kentucky shore. My whole time was taken up as a matter 
 of course, and I tried in vain for an opportunity to come to 
 you. We sailed down the river without adventure worth 
 relating, save that our soldiers fought terribly among each 
 other, at least those who were drunk, and we lost one man 
 by drowning, and another whose skull was fractured acciden- 
 tally by a shovel. I arrived at Paducah at about six o'clock 
 on the evening of Wednesday the 19th inst. As soon as the 
 boat landed and before my report was written, I was waited 
 upon by General Sherman, who is the commandant of this 
 
1 84 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 post, and by him shown, on board a steamer lying a little 
 farther down stream from our boat, which was thoroughly 
 stowed, rammed, packed, and crowded with prisoners from 
 the enemy, captured at Fort Donaldson, together with five 
 thousand stand of arms. The prisoners were of high and 
 low degree. I was introduced to one or two colonels and 
 several other ofiicers. The men, in my judgment, do not 
 well compare with ours. I think we can always whip them 
 about three to five. They fought magnificently, however, 
 at Fort Donaldson, and lost probably on their side about 
 three thousand killed and wounded. On our side there were 
 thirteen hundred wounded and five hundred killed. We 
 took thirteen thousand three hundred and thirty-six prison- 
 ers — these figures are reliable. The hospitals here are 
 perfect charnel houses. . . . 
 
 When General Sherman had got through his business 
 with me and had offered the hospitalities of his headquarters, 
 I returned to the boats. The Fa7inie McBurnie, the one in 
 which I sailed, arrived first, and while I was inspecting the 
 prisoners and arms, the Ben Franklin, the boat that had my 
 other detachments, arrived. I was engaged during the 
 night in preparing for disembarkation and at seven o'clock 
 the next morning had my troops, horses, tents, supplies all 
 off; at eight o'clock marched to General Sherman's head- 
 quarters, one of the finest regiments, as he told Colonel 
 Stuart in my hearing, he had ever seen. The morning was 
 fine and the boys looked splendidly. We are now, as I told 
 you, encamped at a point about a mile and a half west of the 
 city of Paducah, containing some ten thousand inhabitants. 
 My troops are well bestowed in tents, and I have taken to 
 myself a house of some twelve or fifteen rooms for my head- 
 quarters. It was occupied, I believe, by a secessionist, and 
 has fine grounds, stables, etc. , about it. I am very much more 
 comfortable than at Camp Dennison. My regiment has the 
 post of honor, and with a battery of artillery guard the en- 
 campment. There are a great many troops here. I cannot 
 say nearly how many, for I have not information. I should 
 think twelve or fifteen thousand. General Halleck, under 
 whose command my regiment is placed, is concentrating 
 
Letters 185 
 
 vast forces here. He anticipates a forward movement. We 
 are ordered to hold ourselves in readiness to march at a 
 moment's notice. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf. U. S. A., 
 
 March 2, 1862. 
 
 As you are perhaps aware, I marched from Ohio without 
 arms, having condemned those which were furnished us from 
 the State, and am now waiting arms from the arsenal at St. 
 Louis, which I expected upon my arrival ; these we still 
 expect from day to day, and upon their reception will be put 
 upon the march instantly. I do not know certainly, but 
 have reason to believe our destination is the South — ^perhaps 
 New Orleans, perhaps Texas. As soon as we move and as 
 soon as I am properly advised of our destination, you shall 
 be apprised. You must not permit yourself for one moment 
 to be uneasy about me. Remember, as I have frequently 
 told you, I have faced death in all its forms, and am yet un- 
 scathed ; that the same watchful eye of Providence is upon 
 me now, and will be upon me hereafter, that has scanned 
 every good and every ill attending me from my cradle up. 
 That if my life is worth preserving for any useful purpose, 
 the God who gave will not take it back till its full course is 
 run. I am at this moment writing in the midst of a violent 
 thunderstorm which rocks and shakes the house I am sitting 
 in. Nature is convulsed and the elemental war is raging 
 round me. The petty warfare of man is as nothing com- 
 pared to this. Our battles sink into insignificance. What 
 is the rattling of musketry or the roar of cannon to the peal- 
 ing reverberations from the thunder cloud ; or the glittering 
 bayonet or whistling sword to the scathing bolt from heaven 
 that consumes quicker than thought can flash through the 
 brain of man ? Yet through this I sit calm and unconcerned, 
 trusting as the child that nestles upon your lap. Why then 
 should I fear what man can do ? Why should you be appre- 
 hensive for me ? As I always write, keep up a brave heart, 
 dear wife. I cannot ask you not to be anxious, for that 
 would be to ask you to lay aside that love I so dearly cher- 
 
1 86 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 ish. I know that anxiety and fear and anguish and weak- 
 ness are inseparable from the sweet affection you bear for 
 me, that all my philosophy will not cause your heart to abate 
 one throb of its agony of apprehension. I only ask you to 
 pray for strength, and strength will be given you. Do not 
 permit your mind to dwell upon sorrows that may never 
 come, but rather hope and rejoice in bright anticipations of 
 a glowing future. Believe that I shall come back with 
 bright honor, that at the worst if I fall, I shall leave to the 
 dear children we both love so dearly the priceless heritage 
 of a patriot's name. Sad hearts are mourning all over the 
 desolated land. Tears are raining from scores of thousands 
 of eyes this blessed Sunday. Brave hearts are swelling and 
 yearning with affection for the loved ones at home through- 
 out the ranks of five hundred thousand men. I strive to 
 give you cheer. God help me, I am called upon to cheer 
 almost a thousand who look to me for counsel. Again, pray 
 for strength for yourself, and that strength may be given 
 you to comfort others in affliction. 
 
 Headquarteirs 54TH Regt, O. V. I. U. S. A., 
 
 Encampment near Paducah, Ky., March 4, 1862. 
 
 My dear Sister Helen : 
 
 You must not any of you be alarmed for my personal 
 safety. I am just as well cared for as if I was by your side 
 in New York, the same good God is above me here as there. 
 My health is excellent, I am only troubled for the loved 
 ones at home. In one of your letters to I^izzie you speak of 
 having heard of my regiment from Washington. I have 
 never permitted it to be puffed through the newspapers, and 
 have only wanted it to win its laurels honestly ; but I assure 
 you that it is the finest and best drilled regiment that ever 
 left Ohio, and has been complimented by General Sherman, 
 the Commandant of the Post, as the best regiment in the 
 division here, some fourteen thousand strong. My men have 
 been carefully selected for the Zouave drill — for I suppose 
 that you are aware that it is a Zouave regiment — have been 
 
Letters 187 
 
 picked out for their youth and physical strength and activity, 
 and I assure you in its ranks may be found some of the most 
 splendid specimens of manly beauty. Their uniform is very 
 handsome, though not as fantastic as the Zouaves you have 
 seen about New York. They have dark-blue jackets, reach- 
 ing to the hips, trimmed with red ; light blue trousers with 
 red stripes down the sides, and white gaiters, reaching some 
 three inches above the ankle. Gray felt hats, low-crowned, 
 and looped at the side with bright red tassels ; some of them 
 wear very fancy hats or caps, without vizor or brim, which 
 with the streaming tassel makes them very picturesque. 
 Their overcoats are bright indigo blue, with large capes. 
 They are a splendid, brave, handsome set of fellows. My 
 oflBcers are certainly very handsome men, all of them, and 
 among them men of fine talent, almost all accomplished as 
 amateurs in music, drawing, and all that sort of thing. 
 Some of them are good poets. We often have Shakesperian 
 readings. I send an impromptu got off the other night by 
 one of the lieutenants. ... A society to which he be- 
 longed in college was called the " Owl," and he was re- 
 quested to deliver a poem. Upon the spur of the moment he 
 wrote that which I enclose and offer as a fair sample of the 
 talent under my command. 
 
 My regiment is splendidly armed with the Vincennes rifle, 
 and the troops are in fine spirits. Still there are troubles 
 and trials and bitter vexations attendant upon a command 
 which no one but he who has been through, can appreciate 
 or estimate. Immense responsibility, gross ingratitude, no 
 thanks for almost superhuman efforts, and the constant neces- 
 sity for coolness, patience, forbearance, and the cultivation of 
 a skin as thick as that of a rhinoceros. . . . 
 
 You will expect me to write you some war news ; that I 
 cannot do, for it is prohibited. I can tell you that I sent a 
 detachment from my regiment to co-operate with a detach- 
 ment from another command to occupy Columbus ; and I 
 can tell you that one of my lieutenants who was detailed on 
 secret service has just returned from Forts Henry and Don- 
 aldson. He corroborates the published accounts of the fight 
 at Donaldson, which was brilliant. Our troops fought under 
 
1 88 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 a most terrific hail of shot and shell ; some five thousand on 
 both sides were killed and wounded. You learn all these 
 things through the newspapers, however, which relate them 
 much better than I can. 
 
 The weather at this point is very changeable. We have 
 had some lovely spring-like days, but to-day is bitterly cold, 
 and yesterday we had snow and rain. March is a disagree- 
 able month, I believe everywhere. It has always been dis- 
 agreeable to me, wherever I have been. 
 
 Paducah was, before it became the seat of war, a beautiful 
 town of some ten thousand inhabitants, among whom was a 
 vast deal of wealth, exhibited in their fine mansions and 
 sumptuous furniture. Very many of the private dwellings, 
 luxurious in their appointments, the Court House, and 
 other public buildings, have been taken for the use of the 
 army. Elegant shade trees have been or are being cut 
 down for fuel ; gardens and lawns laid waste ; beautiful 
 palings torn down, and devastation made the order of the 
 day. Most of the inhabitants who have been able to do so 
 have gone away. The character of the people is decidedly 
 " Secesh." The town is, of course, under martial law, civil 
 courts for the present aboHshed, and no citizen can come or 
 go without a pass from the Provost Marshal. A company is 
 detailed from my regiment each day, whose duty it is, in 
 connection with other forces, to guard all the points and 
 lines of ingress and egress to and from the town, with orders 
 to guard and search suspicious persons. All this gives one 
 a full realization of war, which you in the Eastern cities 
 have not yet had brought home to you, and which I trust 
 you may never see. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH regiment O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Encamped near Paducah, Ky., March 7, 1862. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 We are under marching orders, and should have left for 
 Savannah, up the Tennessee River, yesterday. If you look 
 on the map, you will discover the point near the straight 
 line between Tennessee and Alabama. The transport 
 
Letters 1 89 
 
 steamers did not arrive, as we expected, yesterday, and we 
 shall embark to-day. My troops are well armed and well 
 equipped and in good spirits. My own health is excellent. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. U. S. A., 
 On board Steamer Prairie Rose, 
 
 Near Savannah, Tennessee, March 13, 1862. 
 
 Within a few hours we shall probably be in battle. The 
 last task I have to perform is to write to you and our dear 
 mother. I have but little to say now that I have not ex- 
 pressed in former letters or in my conversations with you. 
 I shall hope when this conflict is over to return to you ; if 
 by any untoward accident I should be unable to, I have 
 only to ask of you to comfort mother in her declining years. 
 An accident to me may prove to her a greater shock than 
 she can bear. Of her I shall ask to comfort you who will 
 need comfort and consolation. To our dear little children I 
 have little to give save love and prayers. Keep their 
 memory with love constantly alive for their father. The 
 world will not speak well of him, for he has found in it 
 more enemies than friends, and his pathway has not been 
 smooth. The annoyances of life have prevented him from 
 winning all their love. He has been harsh where he should 
 have been kind. This they cannot now understand, but in 
 after years they may. M}^ only anxiety is to leave for them 
 a name they may be proud of. The little valuables at Mr. 
 Burt's, the banker's, are subject to your order ; distribute 
 them as you and mother think fit. My sword give to 
 Walter; if Theodore survives him, let him have it. If both 
 pass away, then Adrian. It is the only heirloom I care to 
 preserve to the family. It will be to my boys, if they live, 
 a memento of my life and the times in which we live. So 
 much for business — and I pray you do not suppose that I 
 entertain anything but bright anticipations of a glowing 
 future. My heart is buoyant. My only anxiety is for my 
 regiment, and that it may be taken into battle in due form 
 and with a strict adherence to military rule. I may be mis- 
 taken, but my present impression is that the battle we are 
 
1 90 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 about to fight will be the test and turning-point ot this war. 
 If we succeed, negotiations will follow ; if not, neither you 
 nor I will see the end of this unhappy controversy. I think 
 mine is a fighting regiment. I may be deceived or place my 
 hopes too high. I pray to God I may not disgrace the regi- 
 ment with me. I shall do my best, and leave the rest with 
 the God of Battles. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regiment O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 2D Brigade, ist Div., Tennessee Expedition, 
 Encamped near Pittsburgh, Tenn., March 21, 1862. 
 
 You will have been made very anxious about me by the 
 one or two letters I regretted writing immediately after they 
 were sent ; but we had every hope of an engagement with 
 the enemy, every reason to expect it would come off within 
 a few hours, and in the excitement of the moment I deemed 
 it my duty to write you just then. But the enemy retires as 
 we advance, and up to this time refuse to give us a battle. 
 Since writing last we have encamped and marched in Ala- 
 bama and Mississippi, and are now encamped within a few 
 miles of Pittsburgh, a point on the Tennessee River, above 
 Savannah. Our camp is high, and I hope will prove 
 healthy. The First Division, under General Sherman, has 
 the advance, and the Second Brigade has the advance of the 
 Divison. I am second in command in the brigade, and 
 therefore next to the first regiment in the whole army. 
 The army will doubtless be from one hundred thousand to 
 one hundred and fifty thousand strong, so that I have great 
 reason to be satisfied. I have reason to believe that the 54th 
 is well thought of. 
 
 The service of my regiment has been very active, though 
 we have had no general engagement, marching, changing 
 camp often, with scout and picket duty, has kept them con- 
 stantly on the ' ' qui vive. ' ' I find the life of a soldier full 
 of excitement, and to me perfectly fascinating. My mind 
 and body are constantly at work. I hope good will result to 
 the country from the efforts we are now making, but every 
 
Letters 1 9 1 
 
 one here is opposed to us. The people almost without ex- 
 ception are " secesh." I have taken a great many prisoners, 
 some of them men of wealth, who do not hesitate to declare 
 their traitorous feelings. An army of occupation will give 
 us the control of trade, however, and restore to the North- 
 west the commerce of the Mississippi. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS OF 54TH REGT. O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Camp Shii^oh, Tennessee, March 31, 1862. 
 
 We have not yet had the good fortune to meet the enemy. 
 I have made, in connection with Generals Sherman and 
 Stuart, various reconnoitres, and day before yesterday we 
 were just on the heels of a body of cavalry, but they managed 
 to elude our forces. As I mentioned to you in a former 
 letter, there is a large army concentrating at this point, 
 where, I suppose, will be congregated a force of an hundred 
 and forty thousand. The enemy are in force at Corinth, 
 some seventeen miles distant. Our men are fast becoming 
 acclimated, and are becoming restored to their wonted 
 health and vigor. As I said before, my own health is most 
 excellent, and I am really insensible to fatigue, at least on 
 horseback. It is no unusual thing for me to be eight or ten 
 hours on the stretch in the saddle. If the spring and sum- 
 mer heats do not overcome me, I am sure I shall derive 
 benefit from the campaign. I desire continually to assure 
 you of my safety, and to pray you to disabuse your mind of 
 apprehension of danger to me either from ill-health or the 
 casualties of an engagement, the latter are of the most trivial 
 character ; there is not one chance in a thousand of my 
 being scathed. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regiment O. V. Ine, , 
 
 1ST Division oe the Expedition of The Tennessee, 
 
 Encamped near Pittsburg, Tenn. 
 
 My di;ar Mother : 
 
 I am as safe here as I should be in New York or in Cin- 
 cinnati ; the same kind Providence is over me. My com- 
 
192 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 mand has been much harassed with marching and counter- 
 marching and rapid movements from place to place, coupled 
 with confinement on steamboat, which has tended to pro- 
 duce sickness ; but my own health is good. As evidence of 
 this fact, I may say that yesterday the division under Gen- 
 eral Sherman, of which our brigade forms a part, made a very 
 extended reconnoissance, driving in the enemy's pickets ; 
 that I was compelled to rise at four o'clock in the morning, 
 and, mounting at five, rode at the head of my regiment for 
 fourteen hours without dismounting save to change horses ; 
 that I did not lie down till after twelve o'clock, and that I 
 rose this morning at five, and now at nine do not feel any 
 ill effects. This has been the longest and most hurried 
 march we have yet made. 
 
 We shall have a very large army here, as will probably 
 the rebels, who will concentrate their forces at Corinth, a 
 point on the railroad some seventeen miles off. The army 
 here is now under the general command of Gen. Charles F. 
 Smith, whom you may recollect in Washington ; either his 
 wife or daughter, I suppose his wife, was somewhat cele- 
 brated in social circles as Mrs. Fanny Smith. Ada, I sup- 
 pose, will recollect her. He is very distinguished here as a 
 soldier, and was the hero of Fort Donaldson. The immediate 
 division, of which my command forms a part, is under Gen- 
 eral Sherman, and I am brigaded under the command of 
 Colonel Stuart, who ranks me, but I am second in command 
 to him. He is David Stuart of Michigan, who represented 
 the Detroit District in Congress during the Pierce Adminis- 
 tration. The commander-in-chief of the department is 
 General Halleck. I^etters will reach me directed to the 
 54th Regt. O. V. Inf , Second Brigade, First Division of the 
 Expedition to Tennessee, via Cairo or Paducah, Ky. 
 
 We are in the midst of the cotton -growing region, but the 
 upland is sterile, and the climate apparent!}^ the same as in 
 Cincinnati. The people are a strange compound of extreme 
 ignorance with very considerable refinement of manner and 
 conversation. They are all, without any exception I have 
 yet found, ' ' secesh, ' ' and look upon the ' ' Yanks, ' ' as they 
 
Letters 193 
 
 call all people from the North, with not only aversion, but a 
 " holy horror." I feel almost convinced that we are a dis- 
 tinct people, that re-union is well-nigh impossible. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regiment O. V. Inf., 
 
 CampShiloh, Tennessee, April 11, 1862. 
 
 My dkar Wife : 
 
 You will have learned by the papers long before this letter 
 reaches you that we have had a splendid engagement, or, I 
 should say, a series of engagements running through three 
 days. This is the first time I have an opportunity of writing 
 you to apprise you of my safety, though I have asked some 
 two or three others to do so. I have thus far passed through 
 unscathed, save a slight wound in the arm. My regiment, 
 however, has been badly cut up. My boys fought gallantly, 
 and have shown a dauntless heroism in the fortitude they 
 have displayed, in the endurance of fatigue and hardship 
 they have been subjected to since. 
 
 Poor young De Charmes was shot through the lungs early 
 in the action of the first day. Placing his hand upon his 
 wound he said, ' ' Tell my friends I die happy in the service 
 of my country, ' ' the only words he spoke. Captain Rogall, ' 
 the accomplished gentleman I have spoken to you of so often, 
 was mortally wounded. De Charmes was a nephew of Mr. 
 Geo. Graham, who may enquire of you concerning him. 
 His remains were found and buried, but his person had been 
 rifled of his watch, money, and everything valuable. One 
 of my horses was shot three times, and struck in the neck by 
 a piece of shell, but my noble " Bellfounder, " thank God, is 
 safe ; he carried me two days and nights, and never flinched 
 from shot or shell. He is the most gallant horse I ever saw. 
 Fatigue, starvation, exposure, nothing daunts his mettle. 
 
 Ben Runkle, I am told, who was with one of the regiments 
 that came up with the reserve, was shot through the mouth. 
 A bad wound, I am told. I went into battle with less than 
 four hundred. My regiment had been cut up by sickness 
 and fatigue duty. The reports, as near as I can get them at 
 ' This officer, though shot through the body, recovered. 
 
194 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 this time, show two hundred killed, wounded, and missing. 
 After eleven o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the battle 
 began. Colonel Stuart was wounded, and had to retire. 
 The command of the brigade devolved upon me as next 
 senior oflficer, and I carried the brigade through till three 
 o'clock in the afternoon of Monday, when, by order of Gen- 
 eral Sherman, I added another brigade to it, and had com- 
 mand of both until the close of the battle. 
 
 I thank God who has graciously spared my life. I a.sk 
 that all my family give Him thanks. My health is good. 
 Write to my dear mother and send her this letter. This is 
 the only sheet of paper I can borrow, and it is hard to write. 
 My best love to all my dear children and to you. 
 
 Headquarters 54XH Regiment O. V. U. S. A., 
 
 Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, April 12, 1862. 
 
 I have an opportunity of writing at private hand, which I 
 must not let slip although I wrote you yesterday. My 
 health never was better, and I am in good spirits, hoping 
 for another engagement, which I trust will be the last. 
 . . . The next time our boys will be exactly in fighting 
 trim. You must not permit yourself to be worried about me. 
 God will take the same good care of me in the future as He 
 has done in the past. The God of Battles (to whom I am 
 grateful with all my heart, for He alone has saved me) will 
 still stretch forth His protecting arm, unless it is His Will 
 that I should go, and if it is His Will, I trust I shall be ready. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp Shii,oh, Tenn., April 17, 1862. 
 
 Captain ' is still safe, and I think if he gets through this 
 war, he will be sufficiently broken for the children to ride. 
 Though his mettle is as good as the best war horse of them 
 all. 
 
 ' A bay horse of much beauty. 
 
Letters 195 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regiment O. V. I,, 
 
 Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, April 14, 1862. 
 
 My dear Sister : 
 
 Well, my dear Helen, the great fight has been fought ; I 
 have had my part in it, and, save a slight scratch not worth 
 mentioning, have come out safe. The papers, of course, 
 teem with accounts, which you have doubtless read until 
 you are satisfied ; but, at the risk of stale news, I will give 
 you my experience of the battle, of which I believe I saw as 
 much as " any other man." 
 
 On the Thursday preceding, my command had been 
 ordered upon a most fatiguing night march, which lay for 
 six miles through a dense swamp to a point near a ford, 
 where we lay for some hours in ambuscade for the purpose 
 of taking a body of rebel cavalry. On Friday we marched 
 back to camp. On Saturday, nearly the whole regiment 
 was turned out on fatigue duty to build some bridges and a 
 road to cross artiller}', and on Saturday night I was ordered 
 to hold my command in readiness for an expedition to march 
 as early as eight o'clock on Sunday. All this service was 
 intensely fatiguing to the ofiicers and harassing to the men, 
 but to the last order I probably owe my life, for, having 
 been prompt in its execution and my horse being saddled, 
 no sooner had the long roll sounded, than my men were in 
 line. The attack was very sudden, and within three minutes 
 our tents were literally riddled with the balls of the enemy's 
 skirmishers. We marched the battalion to a kind of penin- 
 sula formed by a dense ravine on the one side and a creek on 
 the other, and there formed the line of battle. 
 
 From the fatigue duty I have spoken of, and certain camp 
 epidemics prevalent, our forces had been very much weak- 
 ened, and we took into the field but about fifteen hundred 
 men. To this force were opposed eight thousand of the 
 enemy's infantry, supported by artillery and cavalry. Now, 
 to the better understanding of my account, you must recol- 
 lect what I have before written you, that the Second Brigade 
 of Sherman's Division occupied the extreme left wing of the 
 army, whose front lines extended many miles ; that my regi- 
 ment occupied the extreme left of the brigade, and observe 
 
196 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 that the enemy having surprised the centre which was broken, 
 and having routed and captured the greater part of Prentiss' 
 command, to whom we looked for support, stole down our 
 front and attempted to outflank us, and now at about nine 
 o'clock on Sunday morning we joined battle. Having seen 
 by my glass the vastly superior force of the enemy, I deter- 
 mined to sell our lives as dearly as possible, but never to 
 surrender, and ordered my Zouaves to lie on their bellies, 
 and, waiting the attack, not to fire until the foe was within 
 twenty yards. We were ranged along the brow of the hill, 
 slightly covered with a small growth of timber, and between 
 us and the advancing ranks was an open plain. On they 
 came, steadily, and save the tread of the well-trained sol- 
 diers, led by General Hardee in person, not a sound was 
 heard ; at last they were upon us, and then commenced the 
 deafening roar of volley after volley ; for four hours and a 
 half the deadly hand-to-hand conflict raged. (I took 390 
 enlisted men into battle, I left 187 upon the field, killed or 
 badly wounded, but from me they took no prisoners. The 
 71st Ohio . . . abandoned us early in the action, but 
 the 55th Illinois were staunch. The brigade lost 587 killed 
 and wounded, but most of these are from the 54th Ohio and 
 55th Illinois). At last our ammunition began to fail, and I 
 never shall forget the despairing looks of some of the boys, 
 who would come clustering around my horse and say, 
 ' ' Colonel, what shall I do ; my cartridges are all out ? ' ' 
 But, fortunately, the enemy's fire began to slack. My men 
 all fired low, every man made his mark, and though our 
 own men could hardly get round among their own killed and 
 wounded, the field was strewn thick with the dead of the 
 foe. By this time I was in command of the brigade. Colonel 
 Stuart having been wounded and compelled to retire. I fell 
 back in good order for better position and until I could be 
 reinforced with ammunition ; my forty rounds were all gone. 
 At last an orderly from General Grant came up to promise 
 the required supply and to order us to a position at which 
 we could cover a battery. I forgot to tell you that the 
 enemy had planted a battery upon a height, commanding 
 our first position, and were shelling us all the while the first 
 
Letters 
 
 197 
 
 fight was going on. One of my horses was struck once by 
 a piece of shell and twice by rifle balls. No sooner had we 
 taken position by the batteries than the attack was renewed 
 with greater vigor than ever ; but now the heavy guns from 
 the gunboats in our rear began to throw their shells clean 
 over us and into the ranks of the enemy ; never was sweeter 
 music to my ears than their thunder ; the shades of night 
 drew on, the enemy began to slacken fire, and, as shell after 
 shell dropped and burst in their midst, gradually retired. 
 Our men dropped exhausted on their arms ; all day the 
 battle had raged, all day they had suffered privation of food 
 and drink, and now began to fall a copious shower of rain, 
 which lasted steadily till morning ; through that shower 
 without a murmur they slept, and the next morning at seven 
 o'clock I, having been formally placed in command of the 
 brigade by order of General Sherman, began the march 
 towards the right wing, where we were to take position. 
 General Nelson, who with General Buell had brought up re- 
 inforcements during the night, had commenced manoeuvres 
 at daybreak. As early as eight o'clock my brigade was in 
 the line of battle and under a heavy fire of shell. At about 
 nine o'clock we were ordered into action, which was hotly 
 contested all the day long. About four o'clock I was 
 ordered to the command of another brigade, or, more prop- 
 erly, a concentration of skeleton regiments, which I had got 
 into line, and, leaving my own command with lyieutenant- 
 Colonel Malmborg, carried my new command far into an 
 advanced position, then returning, brought up my own 
 brigade upon the left of Shiloh Chapel. Now the Pelican 
 flag began to waver and droop. All the day long we, that 
 is, my immediate command, were opposed to the " Crescent 
 City Guards," the pet regiment of Beauregard, to whom in 
 the morning he had made his whole army present arms, and 
 whose flag he had at the same time planted, saying of us, 
 the Northern army, " Thus far, but no farther shalt thou 
 go " ; vain boast ; at even tide, like a gull upon the crest 
 of the wave in the far-off ocean, it fluttered and went down. 
 I drew my forces up in good order under the eye of Gen- 
 eral Sherman, and Monday night again under a most drench- 
 
198 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 ing shower, which lasted all the night through, the men 
 even now without food or drink lay upon their arms, and on 
 Tuesday morning were again in line ; the enemy had gone, 
 but not their occupation ; all day they stood guard upon the 
 outposts, and the next day we marched the whole regiment 
 onward for three miles and a half to bring in the wounded 
 of the enemy. That day I took thirty-two prisoners, and 
 brought in the bodies of an Arkansas colonel and Major 
 Monroe, of Kentucky, the latter one of the most distinguished 
 men of the State, and both of them I had decently interred. 
 Oh, Helen, if you had seen the horrors of that battle, 
 as I saw them when the rage of battle had passed, the 
 heaps of slain, the ghastly wounds, had you heard the 
 groans of the dying, had you seen the contortions of men 
 and horses ; but why dwell on the theme which abler wri- 
 ters will so vividly portray? I have given you one hasty 
 sketch of the humble part it was my good fortune to be able 
 to play in one of the greatest dramas of the age. Thank 
 God for me, for in His infinite mercy He alone has preserved 
 me in the shock of battle; pray for me always. One more 
 conflict, and I leave a memory for my children or make a 
 name for myself. My flag is still unstained, my honor still 
 bright. 
 
 HEADQUARTIIRS 54TH REGT. O. V. InF. U. S. A., 
 
 Encamped on the Battlefiei,d of Shii^oh, 
 
 April 27, 1862. 
 
 " Backward, turn backward, oh time, — in your flight, 
 
 Make me a child again just for to-night. 
 Mother, come back from the echoless shore, 
 
 Take me again to your heart as of yore ; 
 Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, 
 
 Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair. 
 Over my slumbers your loving watch keep, 
 
 Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep." 
 
 If there can be, dear mother, a perfect realization of all the 
 dreams of romance in which my youthful fancy ever indulged, 
 that realization is now mine. Imagine me as I lie in my 
 tent, pitched upon a hard-fought battlefield, my tried sword 
 
Letters 1 99 
 
 and trusty pistols at my head, I look through the fly at 
 three as gallant horses as ever snified the breeze, picketed 
 close at hand ; just beyond them the encampment of my 
 regiment, a band of devoted followers, all of whom, if actions 
 speak fairly, worship me, every one of whom has been ready 
 to rush to death at my bidding, whose ranks have been fear- 
 fully thinned, but still contain as true hearts and strong 
 arms as ever did or dared on battlefield. My flag that 
 fluttered while thousands of bullets were aimed at it, that 
 came from the conflict unstained with dishonor, still ripples 
 in the balmy air of this lovely day. I have a great deal to 
 make me exultant, but oh, if I could only roll back the tide 
 of time for one moment, if I could only be a little child again 
 with your hand upon my brow, if you could only take me 
 again to your heart as of yore, how gladly would I exchange 
 all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war ! 
 
 We shall have another great fight, though the delay has 
 been disastrous to us. We ought to have followed up the 
 flying foe on Monday night. We had them then beyond all 
 doubt. They have been heavily reinforced since, and are 
 very stubborn. At the rate we are going on, this war will 
 last twenty-five years, and will cost the North the lives of 
 a million of men. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS 54TH REGIMENT O. V. INF., 
 
 Camp Pea Ridge, Tenn., May i, 1862. 
 
 Very great injustice has been done Ohio troops. They 
 have always spoken well of my regiment, however, even the 
 Chicago and other Illinois papers. There were so many 
 heroes on the field that it was difiicult to select any one par 
 excellence. My regiment suffered more in killed and 
 wounded than any other in the army. I lost more than 
 half rank and file of all I took into battle. The battlefield 
 of Shiloh is drenched with the best blood of the regiment. 
 My command was very gallant, and I am proud of it, or 
 rather what is left of it, for it has dwindled to the merest 
 
200 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 handful. It is spoken of in the official dispatches, which 
 will be published some time hereafter. We marched to this 
 point yesterday and the day before. We are now but a short 
 distance, less than half a day's march from Corinth, and hope 
 to join battle in a few days. I think your son will be heard 
 of in that battle, though Smith is a hard name to contend 
 with. You would be amused at the vicissitudes I have had 
 to contend with from my most unfortunate cognomen. The 
 fellow who pretended to be able to lift the world if he could 
 find a lever long enough, would have stared aghast at a 
 proposition to lift the name of ' ' Smith ' ' out of the slough 
 of obscurity with a lever double the length of that he re- 
 quired to lift the earth. 
 
 Soldiering is a pretty hard life, take it one day with 
 another. You don't get anything good to eat or to drink, 
 and you learn to go without sleep, and you are always going 
 somewhere, or on the eve of doing something, and you are 
 never clean and comfortable, and always cross ; but, as a 
 whole, I believe I had rather rough it and fight a battle 
 every other day than go back to the terrible servitude which 
 has been my lot for the past twelve years. My health has 
 been very good till the past two or three weeks. We camped 
 on the battlefield, which was a vast charnel-house. The 
 night of Monday of the battle, I slept on the ground in the 
 rain, and when I awoke in the morning found I had gone to 
 bed between two rebel corpses, one on each side of me, and 
 that I had tied my horse so close to a third that he could not 
 lie down without lying on it. If such things are horrible, 
 this battlefield is too horrible to be described, as was the 
 burial, or attempted burial, of the dead ; but it is astonish- 
 ing to note how soon one gets used to these things, perfectly 
 seared or hardened to suffering in every shape, the mutilated 
 stump, the ghastly mortal wound. One bagged rebels as if 
 they were partridges. I think my regiment killed more 
 than a thousand of them. I was going to say that the smell 
 of the battlefield for two or three days afterwards was ter- 
 rible beyond description, that we were camped upon it, and 
 had to live in it for twenty-two days, and that it produced a 
 kind of dysenteric diarrhoea that afflicted me, and with which 
 
Letters 
 
 20I 
 
 I was a great deal prostrated. I have now regained my 
 wonted vigor, and, notwithstanding your predictions to the 
 contrary, believe I go through about as much as any one 
 else. After the next battle, if we have time and get through 
 safely, I will try and write you a more detailed account of 
 my past life here, but just now I cannot write. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regiment O. V. Ine., 
 
 Camp Pea Ridge, Tenn., May 2, 1862. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 To-day is the anniversary of our marriage. Can you 
 realize so many years are buried with the dead past ? Years 
 I fear of more pain than pleasure to you. How eventful 
 they have been ! 
 
 We have marched forward still further toward Corinth. 
 I expect an engagement shortly. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regiment O. V. Ine., 
 
 Camp No. 5 in the Fiei,d, May 8, 1862. 
 
 I notice the printers make terrible havoc with my name. 
 They call me Kelly, and Kirby, and F. Kirby, and the 
 Lord only knows what else, but I can generally be identified 
 as the Smith who led the Second Brigade on Monday, and 
 that directly under Sherman's eye, and in conjunction with 
 the celebrated Rousseau Brigade. A good many of the local 
 papers up through the country have complimented both the 
 regiment and myself. These, of course, you do not see, but 
 I would advise you to take all of the Cincinnati papers for a 
 while, and look out for official reports of both Sherman and 
 General Stuart. I have not written full details of the battle 
 to you for two reasons. One that I had very little time and 
 one that I thought you would get fuller details through the 
 newspapers. The battle is getting somewhat stale now any- 
 how. The next one I will try harder. 
 
202 ThoTfias Kilby Smith 
 
 While I write there is an incessant roar of artillery, heavy 
 siege guns. We made a sortie this morning and had a brush 
 with the enemy's pickets. My Zouaves killed three of them, 
 wounded five, and brought in four prisoners. Our brigade, 
 the Second of the Fifth Division, consisting now of only 
 Colonel Stuart's regiment and mine, is clear in the advance 
 of the whole army and the nearest to Corinth. We heard 
 for two nights the whistle of the cars very plainly. Cannon 
 are playing all the time, and I think a great battle not far 
 off. General Sherman has been made a Major-General, a 
 promotion he well deserves. You must not believe all the 
 newspapers say of him ; he is a splendid officer and a most 
 excellent, good man. I have every confidence in him. I sat 
 by his side on horseback for an hour on Monday of that terri- 
 ble battle while shot and shell, cannon, cannister, and Minie- 
 balls rained and rattled all about us. Scores of horses and 
 men killed, and falling so close that the dead and dying 
 piled all up about our horses, his cheek never blanched. 
 He never for a moment lost his coolness. His hand was 
 badly wounded by a piece of shell. He quietly went on 
 giving his orders as if nothing had happened. A few 
 minutes before I joined him he had three horses killed under 
 him. A braver man I never saw, and I saw him in the 
 thickest of it. If you note the official returns, you will dis- 
 cover that the Sherman Division lost a great manj^ more in 
 killed and wounded than either of the other divisions. I 
 had intended to write mother, but have just received orders 
 to get my regiment in marching trim. We go forward, and 
 this time, I think, no halt till we storm the batteries of 
 Corinth. You must make the latter part of this letter do for 
 her. I think of her always, in the still camp at nightfall, 
 on the march, or in the din of conflict her image is always 
 in my heart. I have written very often to her, it is strange 
 she does not receive my letters. She asks for details of my 
 regiment, these she must get from the newspapers. Even 
 they, or those who have written for them, admit my men 
 fought most gallantly. I took three hundred and ninety 
 into the field, of these one hundred and ninety fell killed or 
 wounded. Ask her to search the papers for detailed report 
 
Letters 203 
 
 of General Sherman, and Colonel Stuart, which ought to ac- 
 company it. Part of this has been published in the New 
 York Herald. The Illinois papers publish accounts of the 
 54th. You know, but must write mother, for she, I suppose, 
 has not heard it, that the regiment stood on Sunday under a 
 murderous fire for four hours and a half; that the 55th 
 Illinois and the 54th Ohio with about eight hundred and 
 fifty men were attacked by an entire division, admitted by 
 intelligent prisoners, surgeons, and others to contain nearly 
 ten thousand, with cavalry and artillery, led by some of 
 their best generals ; Hardee among the number ; that we 
 stood till our ammunition was all exhausted, and then fell 
 back in good order for more ; that while standing, we 
 piled the ground with the enemy's dead ; that we made 
 two of their regiments break and run, who in running were 
 received on the bayonets of their own men, who forced them 
 back. On Wednesday one thousand five hundred of their 
 dead were buried in one little ravine where they fell. Tow- 
 ards the last and when ammunition got scarce, my Zouaves 
 never fired a shot without drawing a cool bead ; and no shot 
 was fired, for we were within less than one hundred yards 
 of them, that a rebel did not bite the dust. "We fell back, 
 were reinforced with ammunition, formed a line, and in 
 the rear of the batteries fought till dark. We lay on our 
 arms in the rain and rose to fight all day Monday, and 
 on Monday evening we were in the advance of the army, 
 and the last to stop under orders in pursuit of the fleeing 
 foe. We lay on our arms Monday night, and were in the 
 line of battle again on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we 
 marched forth to bring in thirty-two prisoners. 
 
 Individual acts of heroism were performed by men and 
 oflScers of my regiment that have never been excelled in 
 song or story. There is none to tell the tale for them, and 
 they are too modest to puff themselves. You will not find 
 details, but you will find the main facts in the reports I have 
 spoken of, and these you must hunt up and read. I am 
 considered by my superior officers to have done my duty, 
 
204 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and \ have their confidence. God has been good in preserv- 
 ing my life. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 Camp No. 6 in the Fiei.d, 
 
 Mississippi, May 15, 1862. 
 
 We are still advancing, counter-skirmishing, and the din of 
 cannonading is by day and night. We are close to Corinth. 
 A great and decisive battle must soon be fought. We have 
 been brigaded a second time. My regiment is now under 
 command of Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith, and con- 
 sists of four regiments, the 55th Illinois, Colonel Stuart ; the 
 57th Ohio, under Lieutenant- Colonel Rice, the Colonel being 
 absent on sick leave ; the 8th Missouri, and the 54th Ohio. 
 I still preserve my position on the left flank, which gives me 
 my position on the extreme left of the brigade, and as we 
 march by the left flank, the advance of the army, which is a 
 post of honor. The integrity and courage of my command 
 is undoubted, and therefore the responsible trust. My ad- 
 dress will now be 54th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers, First 
 Brigade, Fifth Division, Major-General Sherman command- 
 ing. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Ine., 
 
 Camp No. 7 before Corinth, May 19, 1862. 
 
 Yesterday we were in a sharp engagement. Had thirteen 
 men killed and thirty-five wounded. We were victorious, 
 and drew the enemy from position. My troops are now in 
 battle array, waiting orders. We hear General Pope is hotly 
 engaged on the left wing. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp No. 7 before Corinth, May 21, 1862. 
 
 I am still safe through constant skirmishing. The great 
 battle has not come off", but the premonitions peal upon the 
 
Letters 205 
 
 ear every minute. Both armies are stubborn and brave. 
 We shall see and take part in the greatest battle of the age, 
 unless the enemy evacuate Corinth, which I do not expect. 
 Don't let apprehension for this battle give you pain or fear 
 for my safety. Scores of bullets have whistled close to my 
 ear since I wrote you three days ago, and I am still un- 
 harmed. I have been in the din of conflict and thick of the 
 fight by day and I may almost say by night. The roar of 
 cannon and rattling of musketry are constantly in my ear, 
 but I have been preserved, and the same good God will con- 
 tinue to uphold me. 
 
 I rather think this day Stephen has deserted me. He is 
 tired of war, and latterly has become very useless. I attach 
 but little blame to those who having the power leave this 
 field — unless stimulated by patriotism or hope of glory. 
 Deprivation, disease, and suffering are the lot of the mass, 
 and it requires powerful nerves and great fortitude to stand 
 up against that which the soldier has to endure. One tithe 
 of his sufferings, aside from fatigue and exposure, will never 
 be told. 
 
 The weather is now cold and rainy, but has been intensely 
 hot. The insect and worm tribe are infinite in number, and 
 the little wood tick is always at work under your skin. I 
 am often compelled to sleep on the bare ground, and without 
 a tent. Such a night is a precursor to myriads of them. 
 My health, however, is as good as that of the general aver- 
 age about me. I feel pretty well when I get good food, not 
 so well without it. Good beef, good mutton, good bread, 
 brandy, ale, and wine is what the human system wants, and 
 these I recommend to you. They are better than all the 
 doctor's stuffs. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp No. 8 beeore Corinth, May 24, 1862. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 In the midst of " battle and murder and sudden death," 
 your letter of the 1 2th inst. is handed me. I snatch a hasty 
 
2o6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 moment to reply. I have waited for many days for the time 
 to come when I might sit down to write you as I would 
 wish, but the hurry of the march, the incessant labor at the 
 breastworks, the din of the skirmish leave no opportunity 
 for writing. I have slept in my clothes with bridle in hand 
 for the past ten days and nights. We are close upon Corinth. 
 Our pickets within sight of the enemy's entrenchments. 
 My troops stack arms behind our own breastworks, and there 
 I bivouac. You must, judging from the slips you sent me, 
 have very meagre accounts of the movements of Sherman's 
 Division. I have asked wife to forward the newspaper intelli- 
 gence, which is partly reliable, and with which the Cincinnati 
 papers have been filled. Pretty full accounts, I am told, 
 have also been published in the New York Herald, a corre- 
 spondent of which is with the division, and there also will 
 be found Sherman's and Stuart's reports. Sherman's report 
 is decidedly the best account of the battles of the 6th and 
 7th, and Stuart's will locate the position of our brigade in 
 the field those days. Many papers published in St. Louis 
 and Chicago and local country papers in Ohio have been 
 sent me in which my name is prominently mentioned, and 
 they have been pleased to compliment me. I am only con- 
 scious of having tried to do my duty. Acts of heroism were 
 rife those days, and thousands of brave hearts ceased to beat. 
 I rode many a weary mile over the dead and dying. Some 
 of these days, if we live to meet, I will tell you some of the 
 horrors of that battle. Strange how soon one becomes 
 blunted to horror. How little one thinks of human suffer- 
 ing and death and despair. I could tell you of trenches dug 
 and filled with bodies, packed to lie close ; of gentlemen of the 
 South, whose delicate hands, ringed fingers, and fine linen 
 gave evidence of high birth and position. Twenty, thirty 
 together in one hole ; men thrown in head downward or 
 upward, clotted, mutilated, bloody, sometimes a man and 
 horse together, and in the midst of these graves and trenches 
 and the carrion of hundreds of dead horses, I camped for 
 twenty- two days, right on that part of the battlefield which 
 was the very charnel, and right where I halted my brigade 
 on Monday night. From thence our course has been for- 
 
Letters 207 
 
 ward ; every inch of the ground stubbornly contested by the 
 enemy. We have crossed the State line from Tennessee, 
 and now in Mississippi by regular parallels approach the 
 stronghold of the enemy ; for every commanding ridge or 
 hill there is a fight, a skirmish we call it here, and think 
 but little of forty or fifty killed and one or two hundred 
 wounded. . . . It is a terrible war in all its phases. 
 God grant that our beloved country be once again blessed 
 with peace. How little did we appreciate the blessing ! 
 how priceless now would be its restoration ! You ask for 
 incidents interesting to me. I wish, dear mother, I could 
 gratify you. If I only had memory and a graphic pen I 
 could give you a startling history, something in comparison 
 to which the scenes in Scott and James would seem tame, 
 but my aversion to writing amounts to a mania. I shrink 
 from pen and paper as a mad dog does from water, and save 
 to you and wife, I write ne'er a line to man or woman. I 
 wish I had never learned to write, and could set my seal like 
 the knights of old instead of aJGBxing the signature which has 
 also become distasteful to me. I ought to tell you of some of 
 my night marches when I have been ordered out in rain and 
 utter darkness with my own regiment, unsupported, and with 
 no one to divide the responsibility, and none but a doubtful 
 resident as a guide. How, at the head of my men, with the 
 guide's bridle in one hand and a pistol in the other to shoot 
 him should he prove recreant, I have marched for miles 
 through the pathless and almost impenetrable swamp, my 
 men toiling after me with their cartridge-boxes slung at 
 bayonet point to keep the powder dry. How with clothes 
 wringing wet they have lain in ambuscade till day-dawn 
 right under the enemy's guns without fire or food, word or 
 whisper, till gray dawn, and then making reconnoissance, 
 steal silently back. I could tell you of my charge when 
 my color-guard were all killed, and my standard-bearer 
 swept away by a falling tree, a tree cut sheer off by the 
 solid shot from a cannon ; how my gallant horse pressed 
 right through rank after rank and enabled me to rescue my 
 flag ; or I could tell how the same gallant stallion (and I 
 thank God he stands now unscathed right near me munch- 
 
2o8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 ing his oats) by three successive leaps bore me right up, not 
 down, a precipice of rock almost perpendicular, and when 
 one could hardly have found foot-hold for an antelope. For 
 the first time in my life on horseback I closed my eyes in 
 fear. Jagged rocks were behind me, a sheer perpendicular 
 wall in front ; here and there a fissure where the wild vine 
 caught root. I thought he must have fallen backwards and 
 that I must die ingloriously mangled under him, but with 
 unequalled power and activity he bore me to the top, and 
 there amidst a perfect rain of balls he tossed his head and 
 flung his neigh like a clear ringing trumpet. These things 
 should be for others to tell ; it is not mine after I have 
 fought my battle to tell my own story, but alas ! there are 
 so many stories to tell that it is hard to find a historian ; 
 and one's comrade, in scenes such as these transpiring, has 
 enough to do to take care of himself instead of taking care 
 of another's fame and notes to give it wing. Speaking of 
 fame, I may as well give up the hope of it. This name of 
 Smith, in these latter days, attaches to too many good men 
 and true, to say nothing of the damned rascals who also 
 inherit it. There are four colonels, one a Kirby Smith from 
 Ohio. There is your friend, K. Kirby Smith of Southern 
 notoriety, and now, to cap the climax, I have been brigaded 
 with Morgan I,. Smith, the hero of Fort Donaldson. He is 
 a dashing, fighting man, and we have an eminently fighting 
 brigade, the left flank of which I still retain ; but a man by 
 the name of Smith might as well attempt to pluck bright 
 honor from the pale-faced moon as to win fame. If I figure 
 in the ball, the scribblers attach the feat to Morgan ; if he 
 performs some dauntless deed of heroism, I get the glory. 
 But as I have said and written, this is not the war or the 
 field in which to gather laurels ; it is unholy, unnatural fratri- 
 cide. As well might he who has buried his knife in his 
 brother's heart rush forth and exultingly brandish the drip- 
 ping blade as evidence of good deed done, as he, the execu- 
 tioner of the law (for we are nothing else than executioners 
 sent forth by Government to see the law enforced), offer his 
 trophies, the wrung heart of the widow and fatherless, the 
 ruined plantation, the devastated field, the destruction of 
 
Letters 209 
 
 the fond hopes of the loving, the ruined patrimony of the 
 unborn, claiming fame, glory, and renown. In sadness and 
 sorrow we draw the sword, the true soldier and patriot 
 sheathes it in the body of the rebel in the same spirit as the 
 patriarch of old offered his son. 
 
 But, my dear mother, I must write you of yourself. I 
 received two letters from wife, one acquainting me with your 
 illness, one of your convalescence ; but I am grieved and 
 shocked that you should have been so ill. You have been 
 worried about me, and your anxiety has affected your head 
 and brought on those dreadful hemorrhages. I know how 
 prone you are to borrow trouble and always fear the worst ; 
 but don't fear for me, dear mother ; the same God to whom 
 you nightly pray for me will hear your prayers and the 
 prayers of my wife and children. I have firm reliance upon 
 Him, that He will uphold, sustain, and strengthen me, and 
 bring me out of the conflict unharmed. If it should be my 
 lot to go under — if I should fall, believe me, dear mother, I 
 shall fall with my face to the foe, and then, in the language 
 of the poet who has written the beautiful lines you have 
 sent me, " Yield him 'neath the chastening rod, to His 
 Country and his God." 
 
 But banish all apprehensions from your mind. A few 
 years, perhaps a few short months, will intervene when you 
 and I together will join those who have gone before us, 
 when we shall solve the great problem, fathom the great 
 gulf, and relying on the Holy Word of God walk with the 
 loved ones in the paths of Paradise. A little, only a little 
 while, and the battle of life for both of us, dear mother, will 
 have been fought, and, with God's help, the victory won. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Ine., 
 
 Corinth, Miss., May 31, 1862. 
 
 Well, the long agony is over, and Corinth is ours. Long 
 before this letter reaches you, will your mind and heart have 
 been set at ease in respect to my safety. You will be grati- 
 fied to learn that my regiment was the first to drive in the 
 enemy's pickets, the first to enter, and the first to unfurl the 
 
2IO Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 national flag at Corinth. That I am now Commandant of 
 the Post, and that Major Fisher of my command is Provost 
 Marshal of the city. How long I shall be stationed here I 
 do not know, and how soon I shall be relieved of the com- 
 mand of the Post. I hope, however, they will leave me 
 time enough to give me a little rest ; until to-day I had not 
 had trousers or boots ofi" for seven days and seven nights. 
 But to-day Master Stephen provided me with a bucket of 
 clean cold water and some clean linen, and you may be sure 
 I went through the luxuries of a thorough ablution. I am 
 now living in a fine cottage house, which was yesterday oc- 
 cupied by General Bragg, and which he evacuated in my 
 favor ; such are the fortunes of war, the wheel of which 
 rapidly turns ; to-morrow it may be my fate. The enemy 
 leaving, destroyed an immense amount of property, ten 
 thousand bushels of wheat were burned in one pile ; beans, 
 flour, all sorts of comestibles shared the same fate ; tents, 
 quartermaster's stores, baggage of officers, arms, and ammu- 
 nition were all ruthlessly sacrificed. They must have left in 
 a terrible panic. I do not know what the country will say, 
 but I regard the evacuation as a complete victory, and 
 although a bloodless victory, none the less important on that 
 account. They never could have stood before us had our 
 batteries once opened, carnage must have raged. I suppose 
 their policy now will be to give our troops the possession of 
 the larger cities, thinking thereby to weaken us, and after- 
 wards by contracting their forces, to cut us off" in detail. 
 We are not yet advised where they are gone. There were 
 probably from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five 
 thousand troops here, and they seem to have left by three 
 different routes. Those I was in pursuit of yesterday num- 
 bered, judging from the accounts of prisoners and deserters, 
 some thirty thousand. We rushed them four miles beyond 
 Corinth until we were stopped by a burning bridge. My 
 regiment was ordered back, but to-day cavalry and artillery, 
 together with infantry, are in hot pursuit. I have no news 
 since last evening, and am writing in hot haste lest I should 
 miss the opportunity to write at all. 
 
Letters 
 
 211 
 
 My own health is pretty fair, considering all things. The 
 weather is very hot, but as long as I can stay here I shall be 
 but little exposed, and the water here is good. The troops 
 have suffered intensely for want of water. We shall undoubt- 
 edly have a protracted war, and a Southern campaign seems 
 for me inevitable, so the sooner I get used to it the better. 
 There is a rumor prevalent that we are under marching 
 orders, and that our destination is Washington City. I have 
 received no official communication yet, however, and am in 
 the dark. It is astonishing how soon one gets used to this 
 nomadic course of life, here to-day and gone to-morrow. 
 
 For the present I am really living " en Prince." I have 
 three grooms and six guards in constant attendance upon 
 my horses ; and such horses ! In one respect at least, I 'm 
 the " young Lochinvar " of the army ; Halleck, nor Thomas, 
 Sherman, none of them can begin to show with me. My 
 " Bell " is the very king of horses, and realizes to the very 
 full, if any horse ever did, Job's description. Then I have 
 one groom of the chambers, and my high chamberlain is 
 Stephen Davis, vulgariy called " Kernel," a name which 
 he despises as altogether beneath his dignity. Truth to 
 say, he looks down upon me latterly a good deal, and I 
 should really feel reproached, if I had not learned eariy in 
 life " that no man is a hero to his valet de chambre." 
 
 Then I have six guards for my chamber door and hall, 
 and twelve guards for my entrance hall, and as I have 
 pressed into the service as contraband of war a "neat- 
 handed Phyllis " of the African persuasion, who boils coffee 
 to perfection, and by intuition knows the nature of a dodger 
 and its congener, light biscuit, you need have no fears that 
 as a modern Corinthian, I shall go under for lack of creature 
 comforts. As I before remarked, I hope they will let me 
 remain a little while to enable me to recuperate, but if they 
 do put me on the march for Washington I shall not have 
 much to regret, for I swear I would not take Tennessee and 
 Mississippi, from what I have seen of either soil, climate, 
 water, herds, flocks, men or women, for a swine pasture if 
 they both together came as precious gift. As for this city 
 
212 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 of Corinth, to which I have come not as Paul to that other 
 Corinth (they call this Corinth, by the way, with the 
 strongest possible emphasis on the " rinth "), that for which 
 it is the most remarkable is flies, not tent flies, nor the in- 
 sect spoken of in Scripture, the wicked flea, though the 
 wicked did flee from here ; but flies, the same veritable, old, 
 brown-coated curse that I used to chase over the window- 
 pane when I was a baby, impale on a pin when I got a little 
 older ; put up in cages to mourn over when Sally Tinney 
 stepped on them, and which finally have come back to me 
 multiplied as the sands of the sea, at morning, at noon, and 
 at night as thick as the leaves of Vallambrosa. Damn the 
 flies ! they remind you of home, and you miss them in the 
 woods ; they are eminently fond of houses and cities, scorn- 
 ing " green fields beyond the swelling flood " — and this city 
 being the fungus growth of railroads, three of which concen- 
 trate, and the only business of each being the transportation 
 of sugar and molasses, here they most do congregate, and I 
 only wish that in their congregations they would chew sugar 
 and eschew me. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp CHEWAi.r,A, Miss., June 9, 1862. 
 
 We are now encamped near a small town called Chewalla, 
 about fifteen miles south of Corinth and near the State line 
 that divides Tennessee from Missouri. But I have just re- 
 ceived marching orders for five o'clock to-morrow morning, 
 and as yet do not know our destination. Memphis and Fort 
 Pillow are taken ; their army must be scattered ; we know 
 it was a good deal demoralized ; where they will make a 
 stand is the merest matter of conjecture. 
 
 The heat begins to make itself felt, though the nights 
 continue cool. I have had tolerably good health, nothing 
 to worry about. I believe I stand the campaign better than 
 the average of the men and ofl&cers. 
 
 There is no use, however, to attempt to disguise the fact 
 that a summer campaign in the South must be terribly fatal to 
 
Letters 2 1 3 
 
 our troops. Not that the Northern men are not just as capa- 
 ble as the Southerners, indeed more so, to endure the vicissi- 
 tudes, but no troops can stand it. We must use fortitude, 
 and do the best we can,— I leave the result with God, in 
 whom I have firm reliance. I am always sustained by 
 thoughts of you and of your prayers in my behalf. I long, 
 oh ! how ardently, to see you, but I must not think of it! 
 God only knows what is in the future for us. I could not 
 leave my post ; I would not be permitted to do so however 
 strong my desire. I must press on to the bitter end. 
 
 You want to know something about me, but I hardly know 
 what to vv.-ite about. I am sitting in a tent in the midst of 
 dense woods, but near the side of a dusty road, over which 
 regiments are marching, and all towards the South. My 
 soldiers are all about cooking rations, and making other 
 preparations for the march to-morrow. To-morrow night I 
 may probably sleep on the ground, with a saddle blanket, 
 because our transportation train will not be with the regi- 
 ment, and there is no other way to carry my tent or cot. 
 This will be no inconvenience to me, for I have very often 
 done so, and that in the rain, with nothing but an india- 
 rubber cape over me. I sleep sound with the bridle of my 
 horse in my hand, and am refreshed at daylight. We carry 
 canteens of water and food in haversacks, hard crackers, and 
 salt pork. 
 
 We are always on the lookout for the enemy, flankers and 
 skirmishers, and advance guards. Men are prevented from 
 straggling. We march on steadily, halting for a few mo- 
 ments every hour. When we camp, pickets and sentinels 
 are posted, and they who are not on guard sleep sound. Men 
 sleep the soundest in the presence of danger. I have known 
 them to go to sleep on the battlefield. Indeed, I have never 
 known sweeter sleep or more delightful dreams than I have 
 had behind the breastworks of fortifications which we 
 momentarily expected would be stormed, and amid the in- 
 cessant booming of cannon, bursting of shells, and rattling 
 of musketry. 
 
214 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters 54Th Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp Chewalla, Miss., June lo, 1862. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 "We have marched some fifteen miles beyond Corinth, and 
 in a few moments shall proceed on our march to Grand 
 Junction, some twenty miles from here and on the route to 
 Memphis. I remained in occupation of Corinth three days, 
 and was succeeded by General Halleck, who now occupies 
 the quarters I left. The papers have scandalously falsified, 
 as they usually do, the movements of Sherman's Division, 
 A man in John Groesbeck's regiment claims the rather 
 barren honor of flying the first flag over Corinth, when the 
 fact is that mine, which was the first by two hours and forty 
 minutes to enter the town, had been floating for that length 
 of time. The town was under guard by my troops, and 
 Major Fisher was acting as Provost Marshal (a post from 
 which he was only the day before yesterday relieved) at the 
 time the troops who claimed the credit entered. So much 
 for newspapers, which are a tissue of falsehood and misrep- 
 resentations. These things I know you care nothing about, 
 and indeed I would hardly take the trouble to explain ex- 
 cept to avoid the absurdity which would attach to my former 
 letters, if you believe the newspapers. 
 
 The weather is becoming pretty warm, though the nights 
 continue cool, indeed I may say cold, for two or three 
 blankets are comfortable, and there are no mosquitoes. We 
 do not suffer so much from the wood ticks and jiggers as 
 farther back. I am told that our march will lie through a 
 high and tolerably fertile country, a matter to be much de- 
 sired. Since our occupancy of Tennessee, all supplies have 
 been scarce, the country people very poor and bereft of 
 everything in the way of eatables. I hardly know what 
 keeps them from starvation. , . . We think the back 
 of the rebellion is broken in the Southwest, but we keep up 
 a constant vigilance, for the foe is insidious. Beauregard's 
 army must have been a good deal demoralized before the 
 evacuation of Corinth, if we may believe the accounts of de- 
 serters and prisoners. 
 
Letters 2 1 5 
 
 I suppose our destination is Memphis. They may make 
 a stand against us on the way. We are looking anxiously 
 for action from McClellan. Our army is the great centre, 
 his the left, and the forces in Arkansas the right wing, and 
 we ought to move forward together. We shall be victorious, 
 we shall conquer, but we shall never subjugate this people. 
 My opinions in this behalf, so often expressed, and more 
 than a year ago, have never changed. They are a people 
 very little understood at the North ; their bitter hostility 
 to the North will never change, certainly not with this 
 generation ; they have learned to fear us and to hate. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Tne., 
 
 Lagrange, Tennessee, June 21, 1862. 
 
 Dear Mother and Hei.en : 
 
 We are now encamped at Lagrange, a most beautiful town 
 in Tennessee, surrounded by lovely scenery, the country 
 slightly undulating, watered by Wolf River, a clear, cold, 
 and swift-running stream. This was the famous hunting- 
 ground of the Chickasaw Indians, and here what was called 
 the lost district, the disputed ground between Mississippi 
 and Tennessee, to battle for which the militia was called out 
 years ago. The place is celebrated for its college and female 
 seminaries, and the very great beauty of its suburban resi- 
 dences. Its railroad facilities, its pure water, and healthy 
 atmosphere have made it in past times a favorite resort for 
 wealthy citizens from Memphis, Mobile, and further South, 
 and luxury and refinement have characterized its inhabi- 
 tants. Our troops were received here with chilling reserv^e. 
 The stores were closed, the hotels refused accommodations 
 to officers, and ladies, who had been unable to escape by 
 flight to the plantations or elsewhere, shut themselves up. 
 The men had pretty much all managed to get away. As 
 the few, however, who were left came in contact with the 
 rank and file, and began to discover that we were not the 
 Goths and Vandals they had been led to believe, and 
 also that the great lever, gold, was ready to be plied and 
 piled, they wonderfully changed countenances, began to 
 
2 1 6 Tho7nas Kilby Smiik 
 
 brighten, and the larders, poorly supplied, however, were 
 opened. . . . 
 
 Our brigade had been here but a day when we were ordered 
 to Holly Springs, distant some twenty-five miles south. 
 We made there a forced march, going, returning, destroying 
 a bridge and trestlework of a railroad within three days. 
 We had a slight skirmish at a place nine miles beyond Holly 
 Springs, in which we lost four wounded and killed eight of 
 the enemy. Their infantry occupied the city, but fled at 
 our approach. I was appointed Provost of the city, and my 
 regimental flag floated from the Court-House. The history 
 of that flag in this regard is somewhat remarkable — in a 
 future letter I will give it to you. Holly Springs, as you 
 know, is one of the principal cities of Mississippi, surrounded 
 by magnificent plantations, in the midst of the cotton-grow- 
 ing region. The people are very rich, or rather have been, 
 and are the true representatives of the South. Our reception 
 there was somewhat different from what it had been here. 
 All the prominent gentlemen of the town called upon me in 
 my ofl&cial capacity, and many of them tendered me the 
 hospitalities of their houses, which in one or two instances I 
 accepted. They had lost a great deal by the burning of 
 cotton. Many of the wealthiest men had been ruined. 
 They did not seem to sympathize with their own army that 
 was devastating the land. The plantations along the march 
 were very beautiful, the houses are built with a great deal 
 of taste, the spacious lawns and parks and cultivated grounds 
 kept trim and neat. This is the season for cultivating 
 cotton, and hosts of slaves were in the fields, stopping work 
 and running to the fences to see us pass, and to chafi" with 
 the men. They understand just as well what is going on as 
 their masters. They seem fat and happy enough, but are 
 pretty ragged. Suffering will be rife, however, through 
 whatever regions these armies pass, and the South will groan 
 at the desolation of its land. Bitterly, bitterly, will they 
 rue the grievous sins they have committed, but never again 
 will they be forced into union. The United States no longer 
 exist, between the North and the South is a great gulf fixed, 
 and the hearts of the people will never bridge it. We may 
 
Letters 
 
 217 
 
 conquer, but never subdue. Their lands are beautiful, their 
 climate lovely, fruits and flowers, and magnificent forest 
 trees. The holly and the pine, the live oak, the mimosa, 
 the bay, the magnolia, are grand, and the mocking bird and 
 thrush make them vocal. The people are strong in intellect, 
 but enervated in body. The women are pretty, but pale. 
 After all, perhaps Providence is working out some great 
 design through the agency of this bloody war. It is a 
 strange fact that our Northern men stand the effects of the 
 climate better than those to the manner born. Perhaps a 
 new infusion ofbetter blood will regenerate. . . . I have 
 this moment, even as I write, received an order to hold my 
 troops in readiness to march towards Memphis at two 
 o'clock this day. It is now twelve m. So you see there is 
 but little time for private griefs or private joys. This is one 
 great drawback to comfort in the army, you never know 
 what will happen to you the next moment, and no sooner 
 do you begin to rejoice that your " lines are cast in pleas- 
 ant places, ' ' than you are ordered off, you know not where. 
 I keep Stephen worried out of his wits. ... I entered 
 the army the 9th day of last September, nearly ten months 
 have past. In all that time I have never been absent from 
 my post one single day or night. 
 
 Heiadquarters 54TH Regt. O. V, Inf., 
 Camp near Moscow, Tenn., Sunday, June 29, 1862. 
 
 My last letter to you was dated from I^agrange yester- 
 day week, and written so hurriedly, for I was just on the 
 eve of march, that I think it must have been unintelligible. 
 We are so hurried from point to point, the mails so uncer- 
 tain, and facilities and opportunity for writing so scant, that 
 it really becomes a task, or rather I should say enterprise 
 hard to succeed in, the getting of a letter from camp to one's 
 friends. I wrote, if I recollect, that we had marched from 
 Chewalla to I^agrange, that from thence my brigade had 
 made a hurried descent upon Holly Springs, one of the prin- 
 cipal cities of Mississippi, where we expected to meet the 
 enemy in considerable force ; that they fled at our approach; 
 
2 1 8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and that, returning from that point to Lagrange, we found 
 marching orders for Memphis, for which march I was pre- 
 pared when I wrote that letter. Our course lay through a 
 country more fertile and more highly cultivated than any we 
 had met, but the weather being hot and dry, and the road 
 exceedingly dusty, our troops were made to suffer very 
 much. We accomplished nineteen miles the j&rst day, and 
 were halted at a town called I^afayette. From thence we 
 dispatched a train of fifty wagons to Memphis for provisions, 
 our rations having given out. These returned in safety, but 
 a train of cars, which was started laden with returning 
 soldiers, was intercepted by a force of cavalry, thrown from 
 the track, and Colonel . . . with a number of soldiers 
 taken prisoner. This circumstance, together with intelli- 
 gence that Breckenridge had concentrated a force at Holly 
 Springs, determined a counter-march with a view of attack- 
 ing him at that point, and therefore our troops were brought 
 where we now are, some ten miles from Lagrange and 
 twenty-five from Holly Springs, where we shall probably go 
 to-morrow. 
 
 The weather is becoming very warm, many of my com- 
 mand are suffering from the effects of the heat and the 
 privations and discomforts to which they are necessarily 
 subjected. With the exception of camp dysentery and 
 diarrhoea, whatever it may be called, my own health is 
 pretty good. The bowel complaint is of a very singular 
 nature, and not to be combated with the ordinary remedies. 
 I have suffered from it ever since the battle of Shiloh, more 
 or less at different times. 
 
 Major Fisher has been very sick, he is now convalescent. 
 We shall have a summer campaign right here in the cotton 
 states. A furlough or leave of absence is a thing utterly im- 
 possible, therefore I make up my mind to stick it out. I 
 had hoped after the evacuation of Corinth that there were 
 hopes of a close of the war, but these hopes have proved 
 delusions. McClellan is slow, we are much disappointed in 
 his movements. As a consequence, Beauregard and Breck- 
 enridge are rallying in the South. The people to a man and 
 
Letters 2 1 9 
 
 woman are decidedly and unanimously " Secesh." We 
 have no friends here but the slaves. The war will be a ten 
 years' war at the least. Ohio must lose fifty thousand men 
 for her quota before it is closed, and the sooner the draft 
 is made upon her, the better I shall be pleased. . . . 
 The war is terrible in its effects here. Homes destroyed, 
 families ruptured, parted, never to meet again ; fields and 
 farms desolated, country ravaged, people starving. God has 
 cursed the land. When can their evils be stayed ? 
 
 There are beautiful forests and broad savannahs here ; all 
 fruits and cereals flourish ; a land for milk and honey ; if 
 peace could come, plenty would follow. The insect life here 
 is wonderful ; such innumerable bugs and spiders, moths 
 and winged and crawling things you never could imagine 
 without seeing, while lizards and chameleons, of all sizes 
 and colors, are constantly in pursuit of their game. It is no 
 unusual thing for me to drive the lizards off my cot before 
 I lie down at nights, and every night the spiders crawl over 
 me by myriads. I have been bitten by spiders but once or 
 twice, and with no serious effects, but I do suffer from lice, 
 fleas, bedbugs, and wood-ticks. 
 
 My horses are all in tolerably good condition, though they 
 miss their hay. There is no hay grown in this country — its 
 place is supplied with blades of com. Oats do not thrive 
 here, either, and Northern horses feel the difference. Mine 
 carry me very well notwithstanding, up to this time. 
 
 I like your strictures upon the newspapers, and am glad 
 you understand them. Newspaper articles, unless they ap- 
 pear over the signatures of well-known and perfectly respon- 
 sible parties, are regarded by the army, both officers and 
 privates, worthless for information upon any current event, 
 especially matters connected with the service. Mere puffs, 
 they generally emanate from paid correspondents or scrib- 
 blers, whose object is to write a man into notoriety, as they 
 would publish a patent medicine or advertise a sale at 
 auction. 
 
 You would all doubtless like to know more of me and my 
 
2 20 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 surroundings than I have it in my power to write. The 
 faculty of description and vigor of memory may make many 
 a fortune for the striving actor in scenes such as these tran- 
 spiring about me. Every day is an incident, every night in 
 reaUty a dream of romance. The moonlight, the forest, the 
 bugle, the sentry, the alarm, the march, stealthy and cat- 
 like, stealing on the foe, or with loud alarm of drum and 
 fife and flaunting of flag, dashing down to intimidate ; the 
 bivouac, the encampment, the gathering around the camp 
 fires, the bottle, the pipe, the tale, the jest, all that you read 
 of in novels, only a good deal more so, all these are my daily 
 life. If one battle would suffice, but many and many a battle 
 must be fought, rivers of blood must yet flow, before we can 
 herald peace. 
 
 Well, dear children. Mamma will read this letter or a part 
 of it to you, and while reading it, you must reflect that 
 father is far down South on the line between Tennessee and 
 Mississippi, in a large forest, on the banks of Wolf River, in 
 a hot climate, where the cotton grows ; that he is sitting 
 under the shade of his tent, writing to you, surrounded by 
 soldiers, and all the pomp and panoply of war, that he is 
 battling or about going into battle to secure you the same 
 rights and the same good government that was secured to 
 him and his fathers by our Revolutionary forefathers, and 
 you must pray for the success of his cause, and for his de- 
 liverance from the evil, and if he should fall in the battle, 
 you must pray for the good of his soul, but always be tender 
 and kind to your mother, your aunt, your teachers and 
 friends. 
 
 God bless you all. 
 
 HlBADQUARTERS 54TH REGT. O. V. I., 
 
 Camp near Moscow, July lo, 1862. 
 
 . . . I wrote you a long letter from this point about the 
 first inst., which I entrusted to a division train going to 
 Memphis. This train was attacked by the enemy's cavalry 
 and a sharp skirmish ensued, in which they had twenty-eight 
 killed. We lost eighteen, and what the fate of my letter is 
 I do not know. If the ' ' Secesh ' ' get it I trust they will find its 
 
Letters 221 
 
 perusal interesting. We have been marching and counter- 
 marching until our troops are well-nigh done out. Water 
 is hard to be got in this country at this season of the year, 
 and we suffer very much from thirst and the heat of the sun. 
 Although fatigued, my health continues good, but my duties 
 are very arduous. You can have no conception of the suflfer- 
 ing attendant upon a march of a whole division with three 
 or four batteries of artillery, over these roads. There has 
 been no rain for a long time ; as the train proceeds the dust 
 rises and the whole heavens for miles in extent are obscured, 
 the light of the sun dimmed, while the atmosphere becomes 
 so thick that one can scarcely breathe. We commence our 
 march at about four o'clock, halt about ten, or at four o'clock 
 in the evening, going to camp about ten. Camp for me is 
 simply to dismount at the tree under which I propose to lie. 
 There I lie down and go to sleep. 
 
 I have this moment received orders to march and must 
 close here. . . . 
 
 Headquarters 54TH regt. O.V. Ine., 
 
 Camp " Jupiter Ammon," July 11, 1862. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I am here at an important point on the State line of Missis- 
 sippi and Tennessee at what is called " Ammon's Bridge." 
 I have a separate command of infantry, artillery, and cavalry 
 under my sole control, so that for the present I feel pretty in- 
 dependent. I conduct my camp as I please and scout and 
 patrol the country to suit myself. I came down for an en- 
 gagement with a detachment of cavalry, known as ' ' Jackson's 
 Cavalry, ' ' but they would not stay for me. It has been my 
 constant ill fortune always to fail in getting an engagement 
 when I have been alone in command. I have been in plenty 
 of skirmishes, but never in one on my own hook. 
 
 The first opportunity I ever had for distinction, was when 
 I made the march through the swamp to " Gauss " just two 
 days before the battle of Shiloh and of which I gave you de- 
 scription. I went down alone with my regiment to trap a 
 body of cavalry, passing at night six miles beyond our own 
 
222 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 lines and within one half mile of the enemies' camp. We 
 lay in sight of their camp fires all night and could hear them 
 talking. I was balked in my manoeuvre, however, by delay 
 on the part of the 5th Ohio Cavalry, who had been detailed 
 to act in concert with me, but who failed in keeping time, 
 and my quarry made its escape by another ford. I feel 
 anxious to fight one battle of my own. All this is uninter- 
 esting to you, of course. I am encamped now at a very 
 pretty place. The woods right on the banks of Wolf River 
 that abounds with fish ; and it is a swift- running stream with 
 sandy bottom. I have also a remarkably fine cold spring, 
 giving abundance of delicious water, and here I expect to 
 stay for some days. I hope to recuperate, for I have been 
 much troubled with diarrhoea, which I fear has become 
 chronic. I have never been relieved even for a day since 
 the aflfair at Shiloh ; save this trouble, my health is fair. 
 The weather is becoming very warm, we can only make 
 marches early in the morning or late in the evening. Our 
 horses wilt down — nothing but negroes and slaves can stand 
 labor in this climate. On my last march to Holly Springs, I 
 was encamped for four days just on the edge of a large cotton 
 field. In that vicinity cotton has been the great crop, but this 
 year there as elsewhere the cotton fields have mostly been 
 planted with corn. The corn here is very large, tasseled 
 out, roasting ears, almost ripe. Blue grass, herd grass, 
 clover, or timothy won't grow here. Oats and wheat hardly 
 worth gathering, but potatoes, corn, cotton, sweet potatoes 
 and fruits of all kinds, particularly peaches and apples, thrive 
 wonderfully. I never saw such blackberries as I have seen 
 here, growing on vines twenty feet or more high, so high 
 that the topmost branches could not be reached by a man on 
 horseback, and the berry almost fabulous in size, an inch 
 and a half long, perfectly sweet and without core. A man 
 could easily pick half a bushel in an hour, and I suppose we 
 had twenty bushels a day brought into camp while near the 
 patch. Almost all our Northern fruits, I doubt not, would 
 grow with equal profusion if properly cultivated here. 
 Most of the people I meet here are well bred, but not always 
 well educated. They are invariably and persistently seces- 
 
Letters 223 
 
 sion in their politics, but generally opposed to the war. It 
 is absurd to think of conquering an union, and I believe that 
 an attempt to subjugate these people will be equally futile. 
 There is a bitterness, a rancor of hostility, particularly on 
 the part of their women and children, of which you can have 
 no conception. I have never for one moment changed my 
 views in this regard, so often expressed to you, and in your 
 hearing, before the breaking out of hostilities. The war will 
 teach them to respect the courage of the North, but it has 
 made two peoples, and millions of lives must be sacrificed 
 before its termination. Governor Tod has appealed to the 
 people of Ohio for five thousand. He had better go to draft- 
 ing. Ohio must contribute fifty thousand, and those right 
 speedily. The resources of this country have always been 
 underrated ; this is another absurdity. Their people live 
 far better than we in Ohio out of the cities. I know this to 
 be a fact, for I am daily an eye-witness. A man here with 
 twelve or fifteen hundred acres is a prince. His slaves fare 
 better than our working farmers. His soil is more kindly, 
 his climate better, and better than all, he understands the 
 science of living. He enjoys life more than we do, and so do 
 his wife and children ; and they all know this. They are de- 
 termined to be independent, and they will be. There is no 
 house I go to but where I find the spinning wheel and loom 
 at work. Their hills are covered with sheep and cattle, 
 their valleys literally seas of corn. As long as the North- 
 erner's foot is on the soil just so long there will be some one 
 to dispute its possession, inch by inch, and meanwhile they 
 will find resources for themselves in food and raiment. It is 
 a magnificent country, such timber I never saw. The white 
 oaks would gladden the eyes of the Coleraine coopers. I 
 have noticed many a one eight, perhaps nine feet in diame- 
 ter at the base, straight, rifted, and running up without 
 catface or flaw, sixty, seventy, eighty feet to the first limb ; 
 beeches, hickory, holly, chestnut, all in the same propor- 
 tions ; and that most gorgeous and beautiful tree, the mag- 
 nolia, in all its pride of blossom, each bloom perfect in 
 beauty, velvety in leaf and blossom and fragrant as the spicy 
 gales from Araby, or a pond lily or attar of roses, or a fresh 
 
2 24 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 pineapple, any or all combined, the tree graceful and majes- 
 tic, proud in bearing so lovely a bloom. The flora of the 
 country is truly beautiful. I am not enough of a botanist to 
 know, nor have I the memory to bear in mind the name of 
 the plants I do know, that are made to bloom in our green- 
 houses, and here grow wild ; but through the woods and 
 along the roadside many and many a one I see growing in 
 wild and splendid luxuriance, wasting their blushes and 
 ' ' fragrance on the desert air, ' ' that a prince might envy and 
 covet for his garden. I do not remember whether I made 
 mention to you of the azalias that were just bursting into 
 bloom on the 6th and 7th of April, and that while sore 
 pressed in the heat of battle, I was absurd enough to gather 
 a handful of them ; but so it was. The whole woods at a 
 certain part of the battlefield were bedecked with them and 
 the whole air laden with their perfume. Col. Tom Worth- 
 ington got off a very pretty poem about the subject. 
 
 Kiss all my dear little ones and read them my letters, that 
 is, if you can manage to decipher the pencil. Some day, 
 perhaps, if God spares our lives, I shall be able to entertain 
 them with stories of my campaign in the sunny South, tell 
 them of the beautiful singing birds, the wonderful butterflies 
 and gorgeous beetles, of the planter's life and of the flocks 
 of little niggers all quite naked, that run to the fences and 
 gaze on us as we march by, and of the wenches in the cotton 
 field that throw down the shovel and the hoe and begin to 
 dance like Tam O' Shanter witches, if our band strikes up ; 
 and of the beautiful broad piazzas and cool wide-spreading 
 lawns of the rich planters' houses. Some day we '11 have a 
 heap to talk about. 
 
 I have no very late news from Richmond, but what we 
 have got has had a tendency to depress our spirits a good 
 deal. We feel McClellan will be outgeneralled after all. If 
 he does not succeed in taking Richmond, we are in for a ten 
 years' war at least. Some of those poor people in the South 
 are heartily sick of it, while we shall plant their soil thick 
 with graves of our own dead. 
 
Letters 225 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp near Memphis, July 28, 1862. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I wonder sometimes that I do not lose myself in the fre- 
 quent Sittings I have made ; as to the properties, the belong- 
 ings, they are narrowed down to the smallest possible 
 compass. My little leather travelling trunk is my bed, 
 board, lodging, library, and secretary. Its key long disap- 
 peared ; and as it is strapped up, I bid an affectionate adieu to 
 all its contents, in the firm belief that I shall never see them 
 again. 
 
 Soldiers are great thieves on principle ; when they can't 
 steal from the enemy, they circumvent each other to keep in 
 practice, taking that which, " not enriching them," causes, 
 in its loss, their comrades to swear worse than ' ' our army 
 in Flanders." One b}' one my shirts, drawers, socks, 
 gloves, boots, handkerchiefs, books have disappeared. The 
 last theft committed upon me was amusing from its bold- 
 ness. We were encamped on the edge of an immense cotton 
 field near a grove before " Holly Springs," on our second 
 march there, when we shelled the city. It was terribly hot ; 
 I was longing for something to read, when Stephen most 
 opportunely produced from his bag a most excellent copy of 
 Byron, that I had taken from Bragg' s quarters at Corinth. 
 I had entirely forgotten the book, which the boy had boned 
 for his own use, and was overjoyed to get hold of anything 
 to relieve ennui and the deadly tedium of waiting orders 
 with the thermometer at an hundred and upwards, so I seized 
 " My Lord," and forthwith repaired to a log in the shade ; 
 but just as I was composing myself to read, a chattering 
 above made me look up to see a fox squirrel and a jay bird 
 fight. I drew my pistol, aimed at the squirrel, and in that 
 brief moment the book was spirited away by some lurking 
 vagabond who probably sold it for a glass of grog. For three 
 long summer days I cursed that thief Last night our regi- 
 mental surgeon hung his trousers on the fence before his 
 tent; they vanished just as he turned his back, and being his 
 sole remaining pair, left him disconsolate. I can tell you 
 
226 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 many an amusing instance of just such purloinings as vexa- 
 tious as they are ludicrous. 
 
 Still, barring attack sometimes talked of, it being a new 
 base of operations, I think we shall hardly begin a fall cam- 
 paign before the last of September or the first of October. I 
 also acknowledged receipt of your most affectionate letter of 
 the 4th inst., found here with quite a budget of mail. You 
 say you look only for Halleck's army. Events mill ti plying 
 and succeed with lightning-like rapidity. Since the date of 
 your letter Halleck has been given in charge of all the armies 
 of the Union, et nous verrons. 
 
 The result of this struggle no human mind can foretell ; 
 the farther I penetrate the bowels of this Southern land, the 
 more fully I am convinced that its inhabitants are a people 
 not to be whipped. The unanimity of feeling among them 
 is wonderful. The able-bodied men are all in the ?rmy. 
 We find none en ro2ite but the old, the feeble, the sick, the 
 women. These last dauntless to the last. Those the army 
 have left behind have learned that there is nothing for them 
 to fear from us. We shower gold and benefits which they 
 accept with a greed and rapacity ... 
 
 Children are reared to curse us. The most strange and 
 absurd stories are told of us, and stranger still, they are be- 
 lieved. I have been gazed at as if I were a wild beast in a 
 menagerie. The slaves thought we were black. We are 
 scorned, though feared, hated, maligned. Seventeen hun- 
 dred people have left Memphis within three days rather than 
 take the oath of allegiance. Leaving, they have sacrificed 
 estate, wealth, luxury, and the majority of them have gone 
 into the Confederate army. There is scarce a lady in the 
 city ; the few who are left, our open and avowed enemies. 
 We shall always whip them in the open field, we may cut 
 them off in detail ; we shall never by whipping them restore 
 the Union. If some miraculous interposition of Divine 
 Providence does not put an end to the unnatural strife, we 
 shall fight as long as there is a Southerner left to draw a 
 sword. Europe is powerless to intervene. England may 
 take sides, but she can't grow cotton in the face of a Federal 
 
Letters 227 
 
 army. France, who is now equipping her navies, who by- 
 similarity of language and habit has close afl&liations with 
 Louisiana, who is eagerly stretching out her hand for colo- 
 nies, and to whose arms the Southern Mississippi planters 
 would eagerly look for protection — France must beware ; 
 Russia is no uninterested spectator. The first step towards 
 intervention is the match to kindle the blaze of war all over 
 Europe. The South would gladly colonize ; it is her only 
 hope for redemption. Congress has forced a new issue. 
 Slavery is doomed. New levies must be forced. Three 
 hundred thousand men from the North will not obey the 
 President's call and volunteer. Drafting on the one side 
 and conscription on the other. The result is plain — a mili- 
 tary dictatorship, then consolidation. The days of the Re- 
 public are numbered. But a little while and the strong right 
 arm is the oxAy protection to property, the value of property 
 existing only in name. 
 
 These thoughts are gloomy, but I must confess there is but 
 little to encourage one who perils his life for his country's 
 honor. 
 
 You flatter me when you say my letters are interesting to 
 you. Save to you, or to wife, I am inclined to think there 
 would be found in these letters little worth perusal. They 
 have almost invariably been written while upon the march, 
 in bivouac, often behind intrenchments, right in front of the 
 enemy, and only to reassure you of my continued safety. I 
 continually regret that the pen of the ready writer has not 
 been given me, with industry commensurate. I might then 
 have made pencillings by the wayside, through the wilder- 
 ness and the camp, worth more than passing notice. For 
 four long months my life has been rife in incident ; the cir- 
 cumstance that would have made an era to date from in 
 times that are past, being so rapidly followed by one of more 
 startling nature, as to drive it from the memory, and so the 
 drama of life has gone on, the thrill of excitement a daily 
 sensation. 
 
 I had become somewhat familiarized with camp life and its 
 surroundings before I undertook to recruit my own regiment 
 
228 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 at Camp Dennison. The fall and winter passed away quietly 
 enough in barracks, though it was no light task wdth me, to 
 recruit, organize, and drill a regiment of new levies. 
 
 Suddenly and before spring was opened, marching orders 
 came and we found ourselves hurried into the field, without 
 arms or adequate camp equipage. The first issue of arms 
 I had condemned as unreliable and returned to the State 
 arsenal. Within a week of our arrival at Paducah a detach- 
 ment from my regiment with borrowed arms had taken pos- 
 session of Columbus. There our colors waved for the first 
 time over an enemy's fortification, and I may say, par 
 parenthese, this of these colors, that their history is rather 
 peculiar. The regiment never had its regimental colors ; the 
 flag we carry was presented by a Masonic lodge of Cleveland 
 to a company I recruited in that city. It floats over me as 
 I write, and I thank God is unstained by dishonor. It 
 waved at Columbus, at Chickasaw Bluff" ; at Shiloh its guard 
 of four men were all killed, its bearer crushed and killed by 
 the falling of a tree-top, cut off" by solid shot. The staff" was 
 broken and the flag tangled in the branches ; there I dis- 
 mounted for the first and only time during that day to rescue 
 the old flag, which I took under a sheet of flame. I rode 
 upon it the rest of that day, slept upon it at night, and on 
 Monday flaunted it in the face of the Crescent City Guards. 
 The old flag floated at Russell's house. We were in reserve 
 in that battle, but under fire. It was foremost in all the 
 advances upon Corinth, and the first planted inside the in- 
 trenchments. Since the evacuation of Corinth, on detached 
 service, it has been unfurled at all the important points ; 
 at I^agrange, at Holly Springs, at Moscow, at Ammon's 
 Bridge, at lyafaj^ette, at Germantown, at White's Station, 
 and now at Memphis. But, to return, we received our arms 
 at Paducah, and were terribly exposed while encamped there. 
 From thence we were transported on steamboats to Chicka- 
 saw Bluffs on the celebrated Tennessee expedition. For 
 nine days we were crowded close on small steamboats, and 
 the first day we disembarked were compelled to wade streams 
 breast high, the weather terribly cold. We were driven 
 back by high water. We again embarked and landed at 
 
Letters 229 
 
 Pittsburg Landing. There my men began to feel the eflfects 
 of the terrible exposure to which they had been subjected. 
 But no time was allowed to recuperate, constant and severe 
 marches by night and by day kept the army on the qui vive. 
 I can assure you there was no surprise at Shiloh, I made a 
 tremendous night march only the Thursday before, of which 
 I have heretofore given you some account ; was ordered upon 
 a march that very Sunday morning, and was setting picket 
 guard till twelve o'clock of Saturday night. Well, then 
 came the great battle and the burying of the dead, and here 
 I will refer you to an autograph order of General Sherman 
 which I enclose ; he will doubtless be a great man in time 
 to come, and it will be worth while to preserve as a 
 memorial of the times. . . . After the burial of the 
 dead and a brief breathing spell in a charnel-house, we 
 were ordered forward ; then came more skirmishing, then 
 the advance upon Corinth by regular parallels, the felling of 
 enormous trees, to form abattis, the ditch, the rampart, often 
 thrown up by candle-light. Scouting, picketing, advancing 
 in force, winning ground inch by inch, bringing up the heavy 
 siege guns ; at last the evacuation, the flight, the pursuit, 
 then the occupation of the country. Now my labors were 
 not lessened, though my responsibilities increased. I was 
 often upon detached service, far away from the main army, 
 as at Ammon's Bridge, where I lay for ten days, and where 
 I had frequent skirmishes, taking many prisoners. There 
 I made acquaintance with the planters, and finally, when I 
 left, destroyed the structure, by chopping it away and by 
 burning, bringing upon my head, doubtless, the anathemas 
 of all the country-side. There is a portion of Tennessee and 
 Mississippi where they know me, and where I think my 
 memory will be green for some time to come. And now I 
 am at Memphis or rather in the suburbs, that I assure you 
 are beautiful. The shrubbery' is splendidly luxurious, the 
 most exquisite flowers, magnificent houses and grounds and 
 a splendid country about it. I do not wonder its people have 
 made boast of their sunny South ; no more beautiful land is 
 spread out to the sun, but now devastation and ruin stares 
 it in the face. I have met but few of the people, those I 
 
230 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 have seen are sufficiently polite ; but it is easy to see we are 
 not welcome guests, that the Union sentiment expressed, is 
 expressed pro hac vice. If I stay here long I will write you 
 more about them. Thus you have a brief synopsis of the 
 history of my regiment in the field ; unfortunately, it has no 
 historian in its ranks ; all connected with it have been satis- 
 fied with doing their duty, without recording their acts. 
 Thus while we see in every paper, officers and regiments 
 lauded and praised, the most insignificant performances 
 magnified into glowing acts of heroism, the most paltry 
 skirmishes into great battles, we find ourselves unknown. I 
 do not regard courage in battle as a very extraordinary 
 quality, but fortitude on the march and in the trenches, in 
 the endurance of the thousand vicissitudes that attach to 
 such a campaign as we have gone through, is above all praise. 
 My men, now sadly reduced in numbers — for dysentery, 
 diarrhoea, camp fever, exposure, to say nothing of wounds, 
 have done their work — have shown this fortitude in a superior 
 degree. They have been a forlorn hope, have always led the 
 van, have never missed a march, a battle, or a skirmish, but 
 their history will never be written, the most of them will go 
 to their graves unhonored and unsung. But I am wear3dng 
 you with too long a letter, written not under the most favor- 
 able auspices. I enclose you a report from Sherman partly 
 mutilated before I received it. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp near Memphis, July 22, 1862. 
 
 I seize the earliest opportunity to advise you of my safe 
 arrival at this point, now in occupation by the troops of Gen- 
 eral Sherman, as you have probably ere this learned through 
 the newspapers. Our last marches have been tedious and 
 the troops have suflfered much from the heat of the weather. 
 You may judge of the intensity of the heat when I tell you 
 that as we marched our Brigade through the streets of 
 Memphis at seven o'clock in the morning of yesterday the 
 mercur>^ stood at 102 degrees in the shade. To-day is 
 
Letters 231 
 
 cloudy and somewhat cooler, a fortunate thing for me, for as 
 Division Officer of the Day it becomes my duty to set all the 
 pickets, which will involve hard riding all day and night. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Memphis, July 23, 1862. 
 My dear Motheir : 
 
 I seize the briefest moment to advise you of my health and 
 well being. 
 
 We marched into Memphis day before yesterday ; shall 
 occupy the city and probably remain for some time. This 
 will be the new base of operations. I found a heavy mail 
 waiting me, and among my letters was overjoyed to see 
 one from you. You may well be sure it was the first I tore 
 open to read, and it was read before I had dismounted, 
 though I had been in the saddle without food or drink since 
 two o'clock in the morning, and it was twelve meridian, 
 under as hot a sun as you can conceive it possible for one to 
 exist under. The mercury stood at 101° in the shade that 
 morning at seven o'clock. The only evil result of that day's 
 march, however, so far as I am concerned, is the loss of the 
 skin of my nose, which was completely peeled off. I can't 
 answer your affectionate letter now, but will do so in a day 
 or two, if I can get an hour's leisure. I have been constantly 
 on the go, our troops are not 3'et encamped, and as Officer 
 of the Day, my duties have been exceedingly onerous. 
 
 I should be glad to come home, but a furlough is a thing 
 impossible ; Sherman won't listen to a request even from a 
 sick or dying man ; certainly not from one who is at all use- 
 ful in the service. Even if it could be obtained, I should 
 not like to take a furlough now for many reasons. I am in 
 for the war and the war will be a long one. 
 
 Memphis has been i n opulent city, laid out in magnificent 
 proportions, containing superb houses, elegant grounds, etc. 
 The people who are left are almost all " Secesh." The 
 males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years are 
 
232 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 ordered off ; to-morrow is their last day of grace ; consterna- 
 tion, of course, prevails. The headquarters are besieged 
 with ladies asking protection for themselves and families ; a 
 very large proportion of them are wives of officers in the 
 Confederate army. They are all bitter as snakeroot, but 
 nevertheless demand, not ask, that protection their natural 
 protectors were unable or unwilling to give. 
 
 Few of these can yet realize that war has now commenced 
 in right good earnest ; that hereafter desolation and havoc 
 will follow the wake of our army. Heretofore we have 
 preached peace, and sought with the inhabitants of the 
 country through which we have marched, even upon the 
 battlefield, to cultivate friendly relations, warring only with 
 the men-at-arms, fighting to-day with the owners of the 
 property which we detail forces to protect to-morrow. Our 
 famishing and thirsty soldiers as they toiled under the burn- 
 ing sun in the summer days' march have been prevented 
 almost at the point of the bayonet from assuaging their thirst 
 at the roadside well, from pulling an onion from the garden 
 or seizing an apple from the bough on the premises of the 
 men armed and after their heart's best blood. Now this will 
 all be changed. We shall " burn, sink, and destroy ! " We 
 shall teach these ingrates that we can punish with a rod of 
 iron, that we can not only meet and vanquish them on the 
 field, but that we have the nerve and the will to sweep them 
 and all they hold dear clean off from the face of the earth. 
 
 I hear they are most thoroughly panic-stricken in Cincin- 
 nati ; that the enemy have been encamped at Florence, only 
 nine miles in front, and that they have some reasons to ex- 
 pect a raid. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp near Memphis, Aug. 8, 1862. 
 
 Your letter of the ist inst. has just been received. I can- 
 not understand why eight days should be consumed in the 
 transit of mail matter when the individual requires only two 
 to pass over the same ground. The army, however, is 
 
Letters 233 
 
 always scolding the mails, and perhaps without reason. We 
 ought to be thankful for any intelligence, however tardy. 
 
 Our tents are pitched in pleasant places near the city, 
 plenty of shade and pure water. The health of my men 
 would improve if they would practise self-denial in food ; but 
 the temptation in the shape of green corn, fresh fruit and 
 vegetables is too much for their frail nature to withstand. 
 If I can get them safely through September, they will be in 
 good training for a fall and winter campaign. My own 
 diarrhoea has never left me— I suppose never will. I have 
 lost flesh and strength, but I do not sufier save from the in- 
 convenience and loss of rest at night. Sometimes it is 
 checked slightly, but I think it is chronic and beyond the 
 power of medicine. No furloughs or leaves of absence are 
 granted from this division of the army, on account of sick- 
 ness or for any other cause. I have asked furloughs for 
 officers and men who have died, and whose lives, I am 
 assured by the surgeons, might have been saved by change 
 of air and alleviation from the miseries of the camp, but 
 never with any success. I would not ask a furlough for 
 myself, I would not take one if ofiered ; but it would be 
 worse than useless to ask. It will be long before I shall see 
 family or friend. This hard, pitiless war will never come to 
 an end in my lifetime. I^ast night three of my officers, who 
 were badly wounded at Shiloh, returned. Two of them' were 
 shot very severely, one having his kidney, lung, and liver 
 pierced with a Minie-ball ; and yet, strange to say, he is here 
 to-day reported for duty, while men who got only flesh 
 wounds died. I thought they would not return to their 
 regiment, but they felt the peculiar fascination that few are 
 able to resist. Their welcome by their old comrades in arms 
 was very affecting. Strong men embraced and wept. Those 
 who had stood shoulder to shoulder during the two terrible 
 days of that bloody battle, were hooped with steel, with bands 
 stronger than steel ; and those who might have been dis- 
 charged, the scars of whose honorable wounds were yet raw, 
 forsook friends and the comforts of home to come to their 
 regiment, to the society of their companions. This is the 
 great impelling feeling, though duty, patriotism, and 
 
234 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 " death's couriers, Fame and Honor, called them to the field 
 again. ' ' No officer whose honor is dear to him can be away 
 now ; absence from post is a burning shame and will be a 
 lasting disgrace. 
 
 It is not probable that Sherman will be ordered to Vicks- 
 burg for some time, if at all. Meanwhile the drill and the 
 discipline of the troops is rigidly enforced. Brig. -Gen. 
 Morgan L,. Smith, under whose command the "54th" is 
 brigaded, is a martinet almost to tyranny. 
 
 I do not deem it beyond the range of the probabilities of 
 this war that Cincinnati be attacked. Buell will have his 
 hands full to prevent it. The city would be a tempting 
 prize to soldiers. 
 
 You had better have an eye on this matter in the making 
 of your fall arrangements. I don't want to write that which 
 will give you uneasiness. I do not regard it as at all certain 
 that Bragg would push his columns up between Curtis and 
 Buell ; but it is certain that there is a good deal of disaffec- 
 tion in Kentucky. If Richmond is evacuated — and disease 
 and want of commissary stores may compel this — then des- 
 perate men in large guerilla bands may precipitate them- 
 selves upon a city so far as I know undefended. The South 
 is a united people ; they have over one million and a half of 
 fighting men, their soldiers are better drilled and better dis- 
 ciplined than ours, they are better armed and fight as well, 
 and above all it is far easier for them to keep their regiments 
 filled up to the maximum number, than it is for us. Every 
 man, who is able to fight, is willing to fight. The women, 
 the children, the old, the feeble, take pride in the army, and 
 cheer those on to glorj' whom they think are winning it in 
 the defence of their homes, their firesides, and the heritage 
 of their fathers. 
 
 I saw a sweet little girl the other day the very image of 
 Bettie and very much like her in manners ; of course I 
 courted and petted her, notwithstanding she was a most bit- 
 ter little " Secesh." It was most amusing to hear her phi- 
 
Letters 235 
 
 lippics, but I could not help loving her for Bettie's sake, and 
 the little witch, as evidence that I had won her favor, though 
 a " Yank," came with her father to my camp. She is the 
 first child I have spoken to for six long months, if I make 
 an exception of the occasional pickaninny, an insect with 
 which this sunny South abounds. It was very amusing on 
 the march to see whole flocks of them, generally nude, by 
 the roadside in the care of some ancient mother of the herd. 
 
 Enclosed please find an effusion from the pen of Col. Tom 
 Worthington, a brother of the General, with whom I have 
 become quite intimate ; the lines were almost if not quite 
 impromptu, written and handed me just after the battle, 
 though since, I believe, published. The allusion to the 
 azalia is very happy ; the whole air was redolent with their 
 perfume on the day of the battle, and more than once I 
 caught a handful of them, while my horse was treading 
 among the dead. 
 
 This afternoon I am invited to a grand review of the 8th 
 Missouri, and to meet all the field officers of the division at 
 General Sherman's headquarters. Within two or three days 
 we present General Sherman with a sword, and I am ex- 
 pected to make the presentation speech at a grand dinner, at 
 which I suppose nearly all the ofiicers, certainly all the field 
 and staff, will be present. As I remarked of General Smith, 
 so Sherman is a martinet, but he is a soldier, every inch, 
 and as brave as they make them. I fought by his side all 
 day from seven o'clock in the morning till dark on Monday, 
 sat by him when his horse was shot, and saw his hand grazed 
 by a cannon ball. He 's every inch a soldier and a gentle- 
 man and a chieftain. Colonel Worthington don't like him, 
 which is strange, for they are both West Pointers, but the 
 fact is the Colonel is a little jealous that he has not a higher 
 command. 
 
 My prince of horses, Bellfounder, is in splendid health, 
 his neigh rings out long and loud whenever he sees me. 
 You shall ride him if he ever gets home. 
 
236 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Camp near Memphis, Aug, 14, 1862. 
 • •••••« 
 
 Major Fisher of my regiment has been appointed Assistant 
 Provost Marshal of Memphis, which leaves me with the 
 whole regiment on my hands without assistance, and of 
 course adds to my cares and responsibilities. 
 
 Camp near Memphis, Aug. 14, 1862. 
 
 Your letter of the 8th inst. was received two days ago, and 
 just while I was preparing to act as Chief of General Sher- 
 man's Staff in a grand review to be made of Hurlbut's di- 
 vision. To-day our brigade, which is considered the crack 
 brigade of the army here, is to be received ; in this I have, 
 of course, to lead my regiment. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Ine., 
 
 Camp near Memphis, Aug. 20, 1862. 
 
 My DEAR Mother : 
 
 Our army here is now being thoroughly disciplined. 
 Parades and reviews are of daily occurrence. On Satur- 
 day, as Chief of Staff to General Sherman, I witnessed a fine 
 review of General Hurlbut's division. Yesterday' our own 
 brigade was reviewed. It is considered the most soldierly 
 body of troops in the Army of the Tennessee. Our Brigadier- 
 General is a terrible martinet, but well calculated to make 
 good soldiers. I assure you, a parade of such a brigade as 
 ours is an imposing sight. 
 
 I send you my " carte." Can you recognize any likeness 
 to the little whitehead who clung round your knee lang 
 syne? He 's had some rough encounters with the world 
 that opened so bright upon him, since those days at Dor- 
 chester. The image of his young mother is ever before his 
 mind, her dear bright eyes still gaze into his. He dreams 
 he still feels the impress of her kiss. 
 
COLONEL THOMAS KILBY SMITH, 
 
 MEMPHIS, 1862. 
 
Letters 237 
 
 Camp on He;rnando Road, near Memphis, 
 
 Sept. 13, 1862. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have just returned from an expedition into Mississippi 
 made by our brigade, upon forced marches every day. "We 
 have had some skirmishing with guerilla bands, have killed 
 ten, wounded a large number, and taken nearly an hundred 
 prisoners, with mules, horses, and other property. I rode 
 many miles for the past four days, have been almost con- 
 stantly in the saddle, day and night. I find your very affec- 
 tionate letter of the 3d inst. and the beautiful poem you have 
 written about the battle. I will reply to your letter at length 
 to-morrow ; now have just time to acknowledge its receipt 
 and say I am well, for you are doubtless worried at not hear- 
 ing from me. There is a good deal of excitement about 
 Memphis. We are expecting reinforcements. I have 
 changed my camp some four miles from where my last letter 
 was dated. The locality is a better one. 
 
 Do not suppose I am troubled about military matters ; 
 your letter goes to show an anxiety about me in that regard. 
 If I cannot have a brigade of my own, I had rather be bri- 
 gaded under Morgan L-. Smith than any other man I know 
 of, though he is a terribly strict disciplinarian. The brigade 
 has a great reputation for drill, marching and fighting quali- 
 ties, and is really the crack brigade of the Southwestern 
 army. 
 
 I have unlimited confidence in Sherman, who is a great 
 man and a great general ; therefore I am as well situated as 
 one can hope to be in the volunteer service. It is only in 
 the regular army where ofl&cers can hope for comfort or re- 
 lief from the thousand vexations and annoyances conse- 
 quent to a lack of thorough discipline. 
 
 Your lines are very beautiful ; one or two lines not to be 
 excelled. I wish we could collect all you have written. Do 
 you know where a copy can be had of the lines to your 
 grandmother ? 
 
■0 
 
 8 TJiomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Camp on Hernando Road, near IMemphis, 
 
 Sept. 13, 1S62. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I have just returned from a long march — an expedition 
 made by our entire brigade with four hundred cavalr}- and 
 an eight-gun battery, for the purpose of destroying certain 
 important railroad bridges and tressel work, and wnth the 
 hope of drawing Breckinridge and his forces into a battle. 
 We had considerable skinnishing with guerilla bands, killed 
 ten that we know of, probably more, wounded quite a num- 
 ber, and brought in some eighty or ninety prisoners. We 
 passed through the town or citj-, as they would call it here, 
 of Hernando ; encamped there two nights. We took much 
 property, horses, mules, etc. ; but one man killed and a few 
 wounded. 
 
 For the past four da^-s, I have spent twenty hours out of 
 each twenty-four in the saddle, and for the past week have 
 not had my coat, boots, or spurs ofif till this morning. 
 
 We are infonned since my return that Stanton has re- 
 signed and has been succeeded by Halleck. I had hopes of 
 Stanton and that he would recollect me. I shall have to 
 wait now a good while : volunteer colonels will have to stand 
 back for West Point lieutenants. I am in receipt of two 
 New York papers, Herald and Times, for which I am much 
 obliged. There is a good deal of excitement in Memphis at 
 this time. The whole Southwest is ablaze. 
 
 C.\MP ON Hernando Road, near Memphis, 
 
 Sept. 14, 1S62. 
 
 I mentioned that I had just returned from an expedition 
 into Mississippi in my letter of yesterday. The rebels had 
 become troublesome south of this cit}', on the route of the 
 Tennessee and Mississippi Railroad, and our brigade marched 
 in that direction to check their depredations and to seek an 
 engagement. We marched abotit two thousand strong — one 
 thousand three hundred and fifty infantrj', fotir hundred 
 
Letters 239 
 
 cavalry, and a battery of artillery. Our cavalry in advance 
 came up with the enemy on Monday and had a sharp 
 skirmish, driving them back some two and a half miles. I 
 have ascertained since my letter of yesterday, in which I 
 make a somewhat different statement, that forty-one of the 
 enemy were killed and between seventy and eighty wounded ; 
 a number of prisoners and horses were taken. We had one 
 man killed and four wounded. The cavalry afterwards 
 entered Senatobia, an important point on the railroad, and 
 burned the depot and cars that were there, scattering various 
 guerilla bands they met on the road there and back. Mean- 
 while, our main body destroyed the railroad bridge over 
 Coldwater, an important and expensive structure, tore up 
 the railroad track and destroyed all communication with the 
 enemy and Hernando. General Sherman pronounces the 
 expedition one of the most successful and best conducted 
 that has been made during the campaign and best calculated 
 to check the operations of the enemy. 
 
 Headquarters 54TH Regt. O. V. Inf., 
 
 Camp on Hernando Road, near Memphis, 
 
 Sept. 23, 1862. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 This anniversary ' will be remembered by you and me, 
 probably the most interested parties to the transaction it 
 commemorates. As the matter is unimportant to all the 
 world and the rest of mankind, perhaps at this late day the 
 less we say about it the better. I know you are thinking 
 of me, wherever you are, or whatever you may be doing at 
 this very moment, and by the present writing you will be 
 assured of being in my thoughts. 
 
 There are one or two facts in my history connected with 
 the month of September. All the important changes that 
 have transpired to me date in that month, and on the 23d I 
 am never at home. I have no recollection of passing that 
 day with my family for very many years, back even to my 
 childhood, always travelling like the Wandering Jew. 
 
 ' His forty-second birthday. 
 
 / 
 
240 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 It is a good while since I have heard from you or from 
 wife. I suppose mail communication is in a great way sus- 
 pended. I write letters with some anxiety. From the 
 publication in the Commercial of 19th inst., I imagine wife 
 was in Cincinnati at that time. I shall expect soon to hear 
 of your being with her. The fate of that city is not yet de- 
 cided. I think it rests with Buell. If Bragg outgenerals 
 him, Cincinnati will be burned. We have exaggerated 
 rumors of McClellan's success ; I cannot yet believe them. 
 Halleck has massed his forces and hurled them upon Lee's 
 army in retreat. Massing forces is Halleck' s forte. I do 
 not see now the annihilation of the enemy's Army of the 
 Potomac. That will have a strange effect upon this war. 
 Then we shall begin to change front. I expect stirring 
 times here in two or three weeks, not sooner. My pickets 
 had a little brush with guerillas last night. Guerillas are 
 utterly contemptible ; they possess neither honor nor courage. 
 Save in light affairs of this character and one expedition into 
 Mississippi, some account of which I gave in a recent letter 
 to dear Helen, my time has been actively occupied during 
 my sojourn here in perfecting the drill of my regiment and 
 fitting it for active service in the field. 
 
 Memphis, as I have remarked in former letters, has been 
 a very opulent city. The centre of a vast system of railways, 
 favorably situated upon the banks of the Mississippi, with a 
 splendid landing ; a great mart for cotton, the staple of a 
 widespread and most fertile bottom in Arkansas, Mississippi, 
 and Tennessee, by which it is immediately surrounded ; 
 wealth in actual cash, gold, and bullion from European 
 factors has flowed in upon its inhabitants with continuous 
 tide and now is evidenced by luxury and taste in the build- 
 ing, furnishing, and adorning of their residences and public 
 buildings. The people I have met are sufficiently well edu- 
 cated and refined. All of course are intensely Southern. 
 There are to-day, perhaps, six hundred Union people in 
 Memphis to six thousand secessionists dyed in the wool. Its 
 climate is delightful and the country about is remarkable for 
 its adaptability to the cultivation of fruits and flowers. It is 
 
Letters 241 
 
 historical ; from here De Soto saw for the first time the wide 
 and turbid stream of the Father of Waters. Thus far through 
 swamp and wilderness he had forced his weary way in search 
 of gold and precious stones. Fort Pickering, now manned 
 and armed for offence and defence, was the site of his first 
 camp. Immortalized by our Western artist Powell in his 
 painting which fills the last panel that was vacant in the 
 rotunda of the Capitol, its name will perhaps go down to 
 posterity as the scene of bloody conflict during the civil war. 
 Our history now is red in blood, and scarlet dyed are the 
 sins of the nation. I have just been reading Governor 
 Ramsey's proclamation and message to the legislature of 
 Minnesota. The Northwestern Indians are up in arms to 
 renew the massacres that chilled us with horror in the 
 annals of the early pioneers. Again is the reeking scalp 
 torn from the living victim's head. Again is the unborn 
 child torn quivering from its mother's womb and cast 
 quivering upon her pulseless heart ; again is the torch ap- 
 plied to the settler's cabin, the forts and blockhouse be- 
 sieged by the ruthless savage, the tomahawk and rifle ever 
 busied in their murderous work. Many hundreds of men, 
 children, and women are known to have been butchered in a 
 manner too sickening and revolting to write about, and the 
 homes of thirty thousand made desolate. 
 
 Distracted by civil war in which no issue is fairly made, 
 harassed by the savage tribes in the front and rear, England 
 only waiting for a salient point — the Republic totters. What 
 and when will be the end ? 
 
 I did myself the pleasure of copying for Helen's benefit 
 some lines of wife, which yG\x have doubtless received and 
 read ere this. They are the reflex of her pure mind — chaste, 
 sweet in expression, and the surcharge of her agonized spirit. 
 " Waiting, watching, and weeping, her heart's blood is run- 
 ning to tears. ' ' God bless her and you ; verily the evil daj^s 
 are upon us. ' * When the brother delivers up the brother 
 to death, and the father the child ; and the children rise up 
 against their parents and cause them to be put to death." 
 
 We hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . It is woe 
 
 unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck 
 
 16 
 
242 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 in these days. My poor wife ! how often I think of these 
 prophecies as I reflect upon her condition, charged with the 
 sole care of those five helpless children. God help and sus- 
 tain her in this hour of trial. You can now better under- 
 stand, and perhaps better than ever before, why I wanted 
 my family, all I have on earth, to love to be together to 
 mutually sustain each other. No property in times like 
 these, however vested, is safe. I could tell you of heart- 
 rending instances of deprivation of property and its conse- 
 quences here at the South. We are passing through a great 
 revolution, truly ; " the end is not yet." 
 
 As servants of the government, we do not know where 
 next we may be called to perform service. My impression 
 is that our corps will be retained in the valley of the Missis- 
 sippi and do battle to keep open its navigation. We shall 
 probably take Vicksburg and garrison the principal towns on 
 the Mississippi to the Gulf and up the Red River. The 
 events of the next few weeks will determine, I do not expect 
 to be inactive long. I hope not. My horses are waxing fat 
 and neigh impatiently in their stalls. I prefer the field to 
 the camp. 
 
 Camp on Hernando Road, near Memphis, 
 
 2 o'clock a.m,, Sept, 15, 1S62. 
 
 My dear Sister : 
 
 At eleven o'clock last night as I was about to " turn in " 
 an orderly came dashing up through the rain with despatches 
 advising me that the Brigadier-General commanding had re- 
 liable information that our pickets were to be attacked this 
 night or morning, rather, by the enemy's cavalry, and order- 
 ing me to double my picket guard. Being some distance 
 from our main army and my outside pickets being three miles 
 distant from me, and having a six-gun battery under my 
 command attached to my regiment, after giving my orders 
 and disposing of my forces, I feel indisposed for sleep and 
 know not how I can better put in the residue of the night 
 than by writing to my dear sister Helen, whose affectionate 
 letter of the 8th inst, with inclosure is now before me, being 
 this day received. 
 
Letters 243 
 
 I send you a picture of General Sherman and staff, num- 
 bered thus — 
 
 1. Lieutenant Taylor, 5th Ohio Cavalry, Aide-de-Camp. 
 
 2. Major J. H. Hammond, Assistant Adjutant-General. 
 
 3. Captain Dayton, 6th Ohio Infantry, Aide-de-Camp. 
 
 4. Major Taylor, of Taylor's Battery, Chief of Artillery. 
 
 5. Capt. J. Condict Smith, Division Quartermaster. 
 
 6. General Sherman. 
 
 7. Col. Thos. Kilby Smith, of 54th Ohio Inf. Zouaves. 
 
 8. Captain Shirk, U.S.N., Commander of gunboat Lex- 
 ington, which threw the shells at Shiloh. 
 
 9. Major Hartshorne, Division Surgeon. 
 
 10. Col. W. H. H. Taylor, 5th Ohio Cavalry. 
 
 11. Capt. James McCoy, 54th Ohio Inf. Zouaves, Aide- 
 de-Camp. 
 
 12. Major Sanger, 55th Illinois Inf., Aide-de-Camp. 
 These, with two exceptions, were together and did service 
 
 at the battle of Shiloh ; the names of some of them will adorn 
 the pages of history. The Quartermaster looms up among 
 them like Saul among the prophets, a head and shoulder 
 above the rest. He stands six feet four and a half inches 
 high in his stocking feet, and I have a private in the ranks 
 in my regiment who is three inches taller than he. 
 
 Tell mother she need not be alarmed about Sherman's 
 sanity ; his mind is sound, his intellect vigorous. He is a 
 man for the times. His enemies are seeking to destroy him. 
 The whole article she sends is replete with falsehood. No 
 city in the Union has a better police, is more accurately gov- 
 erned than Memphis. It is sufiicient for me to say to mother 
 that the whole article is false from beginning to end. Tell 
 dear mother I will write her shortly ; that meanwhile, to be 
 of good cheer. The game of war is fluctuating — their turn 
 now, ours perhaps to-morrow. 
 
 And all night long I have waited and watched ; the gray 
 dawn is now streaking the eastern sky. No warning shot 
 from the picket guard, all is still, all quiet, as though smiling 
 peace still blessed the land. I have written and paced the 
 sentry's beat at intervals ; now sounds the reveille. The 
 stirring fife and prompt sharp sound of the drum break upon 
 
244 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the morning air. The camp is all aroused. My labor for 
 the night is done. Its result a copy of verses and not very 
 interesting letter. It will bring proof, however, that I have 
 thought of you, that for the whole night at least you have 
 been in my thoughts till dawn. 
 
 I don't think that Cincinnati is in immediate danger from 
 Smith ; he will probably retire. His mission was to watch 
 Morgan at the Cumberland Gap. It was so easy a thing to 
 do, that he made his advance farther than was intended. 
 Bragg is the general to watch. He and Buell will, I think, 
 it is likely, have a big battle. If he is victorious, good-by, 
 Cincinnati. Anyhow I must think she is a doomed city. 
 
 Camp on Hernando Road, near Me;mphis, 
 
 Oct. i6, 1862. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 A stupid publication in the Commercial of the 13th inst. 
 causes me anxiety lest you should be made to suffer in the 
 belief that I am the interesting individual referred to. For 
 good or for evil the newspapers are bound to misspell my 
 name, to destroy my identity, to take away, as far as possi- 
 ble, my individuality, and now they propose to publish me 
 wounded. I think, however, your good sense will enable 
 you to locate me right. The number of my regiment, my 
 brigade and division under General Sherman will enable my 
 family to place me. There is no telegraph from this point 
 or I would telegraph you. I have just returned from a re- 
 connoissance into Mississippi. We met no enemy and had 
 not even a skirmish. I commanded the expedition. Tem- 
 porarily my command is somewhat more independent than 
 it was and I have had artillery assigned to m}^ command in 
 connection with my regiment. My duties are very active. 
 The weather is cooler, and my health improving. If we 
 should have frost it would be everything to me. 
 
 They had a big fight at Corinth. Many of my personal 
 
Letters 245 
 
 friends have gone under, among them Jim Jackson, formeriy 
 member of Congress from Kentucky. I knew him intimately 
 in Washington and renewed my acquaintance with him be- 
 fore Corinth in the field. His was a gallant, noble spirit. 
 God ! how many of them are gone, to " barter breath for 
 fame." That was a bloody, bloody fight while it lasted ; I 
 mean the dash on Corinth. Rosecrans has immortalized 
 himself He 's a splendid soldier. I can't tell what our 
 movements will be ; Sherman knows as little of them as any 
 one ; coming events will determine. I do not think we shall 
 be marched from this point for some weeks, unless upon ex- 
 peditions to return. 
 
 I am writing as usual hastily, to save the mail ; the fact 
 is, I eat, drink, sleep, walk, ride, talk, write in a hurry. I 
 am hurr>ang through life ; as poor father used to say, " I 
 was born in a hurry and shall die in a hurry." Time never 
 sped so fast with me. 
 
 Camp near Memphis, Oct. 23, 1862. 
 My Dear Daughters : 
 
 I must address you together as I would talk to you. 
 Would to God that I could see you and talk to you ; yet, 
 perhaps, it is better I should not. I should love you too 
 well and you would be taken away from me, or the petty 
 cares of every day would make me appear less tender in my 
 manner than I am in heart. You will always love me, I 
 know, whatever distance or time separates. 
 
 I am in very great trouble and grief this morning, and can- 
 not write as cheerfully as I could wish. My favorite horse 
 I' Bell " was stolen from me two days ago and to me his loss 
 is irreparable. He is the best and handsomest horse I ever 
 saw. In all my experience of horses, whether belonging to 
 others or myself, I have never known his equal. He had 
 improved very much the past year, even amid the vicissi- 
 tudes of the campaign, and had become thoroughly trained 
 in all his duties. He was the horse par excellence of the 
 
246 Thomas Kilby S^nith 
 
 army, in whom all ojQ&cers and men alike of all the difierent 
 regiments and brigades took equal pride. No one seemed 
 to grudge or envy me the ownership of him. He was a 
 creature of beauty that seems to be a joy to all. He knew 
 me and loved me like a child, and would always neigh and 
 stretch out his neck to be fondled whenever I approached 
 him, and rejoiced when I mounted him. He carried me 
 through both days at Shiloh and many a skirmish since over 
 the long marches under the burning summer sun, alwaj'S 
 with high courage, gallant and enduring, never complaining 
 for food or water, though often deprived of both. I have 
 slept many and many a night under a tree with his bridle in 
 my hand. I believe under God's mercy I owe my life to 
 him. Money could not have bought him from me, nor 
 friendship parted us, and now to lose him in this pitiful way 
 is almost more than I can bear. If he had fallen in battle I 
 would have accepted his loss as the fate of war, but to be 
 stolen, disfigured, branded, passed from hand to hand like a 
 common pad, I could almost cry like a very baby when I 
 think of it. He was never sold, his owner kept him from a 
 foal till he came to my possession and he would recognize no 
 one but me for his master. One day during a lull in the 
 storm of battle (it was at Russell House, the last engagement 
 I was in) I had a presentiment he would be killed. Shot 
 and shell had fallen around us, and partly for that presenti- 
 ment, partly in abstraction and rest, I pulled some hairs 
 from his mane and plaited them to keep as a memento, if he 
 should go under. That little braid is all I have left of the 
 proudest game horse in America.' Do you see, my dear 
 daughters, I am not in the vein to write you a very pleasant 
 letter to-day, though the weather is delightful, the air 
 balmy, the woods still green, though the leaves are falling, 
 ripened but not frosted. It is Indian summer, but without 
 the tints that gild the forest in Ohio. There is a little smoky 
 haze in the atmosphere and a peculiar rustle of the leaves 
 and grass, that tells the autumn is well-nigh over, yet I am 
 told that warm weather here runs nearly into Christmas. 
 
 ' He was subsequently recovered. 
 
Letters 247 
 
 Camp near Mrmphis, Nov. ii, 1862. 
 
 My dear Wifk 
 
 My life is now in comparison to what it has been some- 
 what monotonous, though full of daily incidents that a year 
 ago would have been excitement enough for any one, a cir- 
 cumstance then that would have caused comment for a 
 month, is now passed over without a second thought. I^ast 
 night one of my pickets shot a soldier of the 6th Missouri who 
 was attempting to escape from guard. He was a splendidly 
 formed man, and as I looked at him this morning, stripped 
 for washing before burial, shot directly through the body 
 with one of our large Minie-balls, and saw the little uncon- 
 cern of all about him — even he who shot him — I began to 
 realize better than ever before how valueless human life has 
 become ; within an hour the man was buried out of sight and 
 the thing quite forgotten. 
 
 It is Indian summer weather, and were it not for the dust, 
 different from anything in my experience in the way of dust, 
 would be delightful ; I am in the saddle the greater part of 
 the time and keep three horses pretty well tired down. I 
 never thought I could ride so much without fatigue. lyast 
 Friday I was Officer of the Day and rode all day until eleven 
 o'clock at night, came back to camp, changed horses, made 
 the grand round and did not dismount till half-past five 
 o'clock in the morning. That day I rode twenty-two and a 
 half hours out of the twenty-four, and then taking only an 
 hour's nap, reported for duty. I know I rest better in the 
 saddle than in the chair, and almost as well as lying down. 
 
 I think I shall be in good trim for a winter campaign. We 
 shall take the field probably in about three weeks. The 
 other day the field officers of our brigade surprised General 
 Sherman by calling in a body and presenting him with 
 sword, sash, belt, etc. — presentation and acceptance very 
 afiecting. We were all together at the plains of Shiloh. 
 After presentation invited him to wine supper at hotel ; 
 speeches, talk, etc., and a good time generally. Mrs. Sher- 
 
248 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 man, with the General, called upon me this morning, and 
 indeed just left as I sit down to write. She is a very pleasant 
 woman ; the more I see of her the better I like her. She 
 often comes to my camp and both she and the general are 
 very hospitable to me ; indeed, I believe I eat at their table 
 oftener than at my own. There are several ladies residing 
 not far from my camp, and one in Memphis, with whom I 
 have become acquainted, and at whose house I often visit. 
 It is agreeable to me, as I mess quite alone. 
 
 There was a grand Union demonstration in the city yester- 
 day — a procession and the theatre thrown open, and girls 
 dressed in white and mounted on a car to be dragged through 
 the streets and one representing a goddess of liberty, who 
 ought to be chained to a rock and kept there the balance of 
 her days, and a grand band and flags fluttering, and 
 speeches made from the stage by distinguished citizens and 
 military men, and a hurrah, and the General with his stafif 
 and me on his right hand, caprioling and cavorting through 
 the streets and standing on balconies, with waving hats and 
 dancing plumes and brass buttons glittering in the sun, and 
 new uniforms covered with dust and other free soil, and 
 many little ragged boys and small girls with unkempt hair 
 and the backs of their gowns gaping wide, and " the Union, 
 it must be preserved," and General Washington, looking 
 like a superannuated ass with his ears cropped close, and 
 " Bsto Perpetua " and " flag of the free heart's hope and 
 home," and divers other strange devices, all done up in 
 white cotton and carried about on sticks by sundry patriots 
 at the remarkably low price of two dollars a day and whiskey 
 thrown in, and a major and invited guests and the presenta- 
 tion of a Star Spangled Banner, long may it wave, by patri- 
 otic ladies of Memphis to Union Club, and all the rest of it 
 done up in a rag after the approved style of Plymouth Rock, 
 and the 4th of July and the 8th of January, and Washing- 
 ton's birthday. Vox populi, vox Dei. 
 
Letters 240 
 
 Camp near Memphis, Nov. 15, 1S62. 
 
 I have abundance of good food, but only take one meal a 
 day, and that a very light one. This morning one of my 
 lady friends in the neighborhood sent me in a most luxurious 
 breakfast, a roasted rabbit with jelly sauces, and all that sort 
 of thing, flanked by four quails with three or four different 
 preparations of bread and other little matters, and after the 
 whole thing had been elaborately spread upon a nice white 
 cloth, I had it all bundled up and sent off as a present to 
 Mrs. Sherman. 
 
 I have a great many compliments of this kind and beauti- 
 ful flowers sent to me, and all sorts of pleasant messages. 
 Last night I passed the evening in company with General 
 Sherman at Bishop Otie's, the Episcopal bishop of this 
 diocese. He has lovely daughters. One of them enter- 
 tained me with charming songs and harp accompaniment 
 —a most beautiful girl and very accomplished. 
 
 Camp on Woi,p River, near Memphis, Dec. 14, 1862. 
 
 The papers, I suppose, have told you what we have been 
 about. My regiment was the first to cross the Tallahatchie. 
 We have marching orders for the i8th, four days to rest and 
 get ready, and then for Vicksburg or Jackson, or what God 
 pleases. We shall have an active winter campaign. My 
 health has been good until within a day or two. I have 
 recurrence of the infernal dysentery. I suppose the damp- 
 ness in some way strikes upon my bowels, and I could get 
 no brandy. Whiskey, and very bad whiskey at that, is all 
 we can procure in the army, and it is my abomination. 
 
 Headquarters 54'rH Regt. O. V. Ine., 
 
 On board Steamer " Sunny South," 
 
 Saturday, Dec. 20, 1862. 
 
 I have this moment received your letter enclosing two from 
 the children of the 13th Dec. I cannot pretend to make 
 answer to them now, for orders have suddenly come and I 
 
250 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 am in all the hurly burly of excitement and embarkation of 
 troops — no easy matter. 
 
 This expedition is fraught with great results one way or 
 another. We cannot look into futurity. I note by the chil- 
 dren's letters all the little household events that so much 
 interest you. I am with you in spirit always. Remem- 
 ber, dear wife, I am always true to you and my dear chil- 
 dren and my darling mother and my sweet sister — you 
 are all with me now in spirit as I write, and often — so often 
 — with me in the dark hours on the march and the bivouac 
 and the excitement of battle. I often think of you as I grasp 
 the sword or force the spur. Many a bound has Bell made 
 when my heel, responsive to my heart, has goaded his pant- 
 ing side, — but enough of all this trouble. I can't write now. 
 The sweet music of the band is pealing forth, the landing is 
 crowded with forty thousand troops and all their parapher- 
 nalia — transportation, munitions of war. — All is haste, yet 
 haste in order. Memphis has been kind to me. Do you be- 
 lieve, I have more friends in Memphis to-day, outside of the 
 army, I mean, than I have in Cincinnati. It is so, and I 
 have the most substantial proofs of their friendship. Houses, 
 servants, equipages, everything of luxury has been forced 
 upon me. I have been the favored guest. All this I '11 tell 
 you of, or write you some other time. Some of these friends 
 will be lifelong to me, and in times like these that is not 
 saying much. 
 
 Write me to follow the regiment, though I fear it will be 
 a good while before I hear from you or you from me, and 
 now I can't say to horse, but to steamboat, brave gallants 
 all, death's couriers, Fame and Honor, call us to the field 
 again. 
 
 On board Steamer " Sunny South," 
 
 At mouth of Yazoo River, Dec. 26, 1S62. 
 
 It has been usual with me, before going into battle, to write 
 to you, and almost as usual when I have come out of battle 
 
Letters 251 
 
 unscathed, as heretofore has been my fate, to destroy the 
 letters so written. This letter I shall commit to transporta- 
 tion immediately after it is prepared and shall be unable to 
 withdraw it in any event that may occur. The public prints 
 will have stated so much relative to the expedition of which 
 my command forms a part as to make it unnecessary for me 
 to comment. With such vague knowledge as I possess of 
 the movements and position of the enemy, unless he capitu- 
 lates, I believe we shall have a desperate fight and the 
 chances are even that I shall fall. We must take Vicksburg, 
 if at all, by storm, unless it is surrendered. 
 
 Christmas day, yesterday, was warm ; this morning, at 
 breakfast, the same old gray-coated housefly that I used to 
 stab on the window pane, when a boy, came to share my 
 plate. I have doffed my coat and vest ; it is decidedly warm. 
 We are really in Dixie, seventeen hundred miles away from 
 you. The land of the cotton and the cane, orange groves 
 and myrtle. Mayhap I '11 tell you of it in time to come, of 
 the long waving moss, and the cypress. Rapid and turbid 
 and broad and deep rolls the Father of Waters onward to 
 the ocean, the eternal waters. 
 
 Headquarters Fourth Brigade, Second Drv., 
 " MiivUKEN's Bend," Louisiana, January 3, 1863. 
 
 I seize a moment to write you a brief letter, for I know how 
 anxious you all must be about me. The papers, who know 
 everything, and more too, will have apprised you long before 
 you receive this letter that we have had a fight, that we have 
 met the enemy and that they are not ours ; and you will 
 imagine, of course, that I am captured, wounded and killed, 
 but by the grace of God I 've come out of the ruins un- 
 scathed. I went under fire Saturday evening, about six 
 o'clock, 27th ult. ; was in raging battle Sunday and Mon- 
 day ; and Sunday, very early in the action, Gen. Morgan L. 
 Smith was shot pretty badly in the hip and had to go off the 
 field. I think he '11 die. By General Sherman's order, Gen- 
 
252 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 eral Stuart assumed command of the division and I of the 
 brigade, but Stuart being unwell I virtually had command 
 of the whole division during the fight of Sunday, After the 
 first part of the affair was over, Gen. A. J. Smith, as ranking 
 officer, took command, I had ten regiments and three bat- 
 teries of sixteen guns before Smith came. My men behaved 
 splendidly, especially in our own regiment, which, however, 
 suffered a good deal, nineteen killed and wounded ; my best 
 captain badly wounded. Our loss is pretty heavy, but the 
 enemy must have suffered terribly. I am now in command 
 of the old brigade, composed of the 54th Ohio, 55th Illinois, 
 57th Ohio, 83d Indiana, and 127th Illinois, with two fine bat- 
 teries. The 83d Indiana is a noble regiment, commanded 
 by Colonel Spooner, of Lawrenceburgh ; he knows your 
 father well. I led his regiment under their first fire myself 
 and can testify to their gallantry. I suppose the Adminis- 
 tration will have too much to do to think of the promotion 
 of so insignificant and humble an individual as me, but it is 
 pretty hard to take the responsibility of commanding bri- 
 gades without the rank. Yet this is the second big fight in 
 which I 've been compelled to it, to say nothing of minor 
 skirmishes. My own little regiment is a brick ; she '11 follow 
 me to hell at the word go. Never falters, never complains. 
 We lay in that swamp, among the mud-turtles and alligators, 
 a week, and short of rations, and not the first man whimpered. 
 I had a fellow shot through the hand, shattering it and maim- 
 ing him for life ; the ball broke the stock of his rifle, and in- 
 stead of complaining about his hand, he went hunting about 
 for another gun, cursing the enemy for breaking his ; how- 
 ever, all these incidents of battle are very uninteresting to 
 you and it is really wonderful how soon we forget them. 
 There is a party of officers sitting now at my right hand, 
 laughing and talking and playing cards, whose lives, twenty- 
 four hours ago, were not worth a rush, who have been in the 
 imminent and deadly breach, who have lost comrades and 
 soldiers from their companies, and who this moment are 
 entirely oblivious of the fact. 
 
 The weather has been generally warm and pleasant for the 
 
Letters 253 
 
 past ten or twelve days ; is now warm enough, but it rains 
 tremendously. I am told, by those who know the climate, 
 that it rains at this season of the year, after it once sets in, 
 for six weeks, then storms for six weeks, and then rains 
 again. I don't know how this may be, but God preserve us 
 from having days of such rain as has been pouring down this. 
 
 They all seem to be looking forward to Christmas, with 
 the usual fond anticipations of childhood, and with that they 
 wish I could be with them. My Christmas was far away, 
 sailing on the Mississippi ; my dinner, for supplies were very 
 short, a homely dish of codfish and potatoes minced, with a 
 relish of stewed beans. My New Year' s Day was passed under 
 the rifle-pits and batteries of the enemy in one of the vast 
 swamps of the Mississippi, beneath huge cottonwood and 
 sweet gum trees overgrown with the long peculiar moss of 
 the country that flaunts in the breeze like funeral weeds. 
 On Saturday night, while I was planting a battery, a huge 
 owl — one of the species that make these swamps their home 
 — flapped his wings right over me, and roosting in the tree 
 above my head gave an unearthly screech and wound up 
 with a laugh and prolonged ha ! ha ! ha ! so much like the 
 utterance of a human being as almost to startle me. I took 
 it for an omen. Where will my next Christmas be, where 
 shall I make my next New Year's call ? The last has been 
 an eventful year to me ; for the past nine months each day 
 has been filled with thrilling incidents. I should like a little 
 rest. I should like to lie down and be quiet. I should like 
 to have some one soothe my brow, and make me feel as if I 
 were a little child again. That is a beautiful idea in Scripture, 
 where we are taught that all must become as little children, 
 before they can enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is 
 almost heaven to feel like a little child on earth. But now 
 my business is to slay and destroy, to exercise all my intel- 
 lect in the destruction of human life and property. 
 
254 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 Second Division, Second Army Corps, Army oe Miss., 
 On board Steamer " Sunny South," Jan. 7, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mothejr : 
 
 We are on the broad bosom of the Father of Waters, the 
 shimmering moonlight streaming bright on the glittering 
 waves that dazzle in reflection. I am surrounded by gay 
 ofiicers, the jest and the laugh and the song go round, but I 
 get a little apart and look out into the night, and alone, with 
 no commune for my thoughts save sweet memories of my 
 mother. Two natures, two distinct beings seem blended in 
 mine. Blood, carnage, and exposure to the elements, the 
 dull and dripping rain at night, sapping the creeping marrow 
 in my bones, the swamp, the forest, the noontide heat, pro- 
 longed endurance of fatigue, and wakeful watching, intimate 
 converse with gladiatorial soldiers, the harsh reproof and 
 bitter curse (alas, too familiar to my own lips, ) the forcing of 
 fierce and maddened spirits to my own will, at times as fierce 
 and maddened as theirs, the groan, the imprecation, oftener 
 than the prayer of the dying ; the contorted limbs and fixed 
 stare of the dead, who have gone to their death at my bid- 
 ding — all this, and more, more than I dare to think or to 
 write, makes me feel as he must have felt who fell from 
 heaven. When plunged in the abyss of reflection, I look 
 for my pure, bright angel, with white and fleecy wings, 
 hovering above me, her outstretched arms, her beckoning 
 hand, her mild and lovely eyes entreating, the mother of my 
 early days. I change, even in thought with her. I become 
 a child again, like the little child I used to see in some 
 of the editions of the " Common Prayer," with the leopard, 
 and the lion, and the lamb, that I used to ponder over in- 
 stead of listening to the service long years ago, when I sat in 
 the quaint old church. The Bible pictures all come back to 
 me, the clouds that I used to watch through the open win- 
 dows, when the Sunday was pleasant, shaping themselves 
 into queer and fanciful forms, when I used to wonder if God 
 really sat among them, as upon His throne, and if the little 
 cherubims and seraphims, all head and wings as thej^ were 
 lined above the pulpit, were really all about him crying 
 
Letters 255 
 
 aloud, and if he ever spanked them for so doing, and from 
 these child dreams I passed to others ; soft and pleasant 
 fancies flit through my mind ; music and the bright fireside, 
 whispering voices, pure, sweet, holy love, the greeting and 
 the parting, the hopes and fears. My spirit changes ; I lean 
 over the toprail and gaze into the deep and flowing river, to 
 wonder if the scene about me is real, if I may not go to you 
 within the hour and lay my head upon your breast and cry 
 myself to sleep, with your dear hands clasped in mine. You 
 are curious to know where I am and what I have been do- 
 ing, and I can only give you commonplace descriptions of 
 fleets and the great broad river, martial music, startling the 
 wild fowl from the wellnigh deserted shores, the debarkation 
 of the army, the bivouac, the attack at night, the fiercer 
 conflict that raged for two days, the storming of the ' ' immi- 
 nent and deadly breach," the heroism, the slaughter of the 
 soldiers, the withdrawal to the transports— all this you will 
 hear about in any penny paper, told with all the variations 
 far better than my pen can portray, and your heart will 
 sicken that such things can be. You will hear that my own 
 band acquitted themselves nobly, that nineteen of them bit 
 the dust. Stancher followers no man ever had. They say 
 I did my devoirs. I don't know. The blood gets into my 
 head in the hour of battle and I rage, though men say I am 
 cool. The Generals have given me the command of a bri- 
 Z^^^- ■ . . If I live, I shall hope to gather laurels ; you 
 shall not be ashamed of your son. I have a splendid com- 
 mand, five fine regiments of infantry, two full batteries of 
 artillery (one of which is the famous Taylor battery of 
 Chicago, and the best of the service), and a squadron of 
 horse, nearly five thousand men, and the very flower of the 
 army. The treason of these Southerners is almost atoned 
 for by their dauntless courage ; but if the political generals 
 don't succeed in taking my command from me, they shall 
 meet a " foeman worthy of their steel " the next time we 
 are in battle array. Remember I am writing to my mother, 
 and if an indirect trail of egotism or vanity is suffered to 
 creep into my plain letters, forgive me. 
 
 De Quincey, in his confessions of opium eating, says, 
 
256 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 speaking of his reveries, ' * Often I used to see after painting 
 upon the blank darkness, a sort of rehearsal whilst waking, 
 a crowd of ladies, and perhaps a festival and dances. And 
 I heard it said, or I said it myself, these are English ladies, 
 from the unhappy times of Charles I. These are the wives 
 and daughters of those who met in peace, and sat at the 
 same tables, and were allied by marriage or by blood ; and 
 yet, after a certain day in August, 1642, never smiled upon 
 each other again, nor met but in the field of battle ; and at 
 Marston Moor, Newberry, or at Naseby cut asunder all ties 
 of blood by the cruel sabre, and washed away in blood the 
 memory of ancient friendships, ' ' One of my lady friends in 
 Memphis gave me a copy, and in casually turning its leaves 
 to-day, the quotations seemed strangely apt to the unhappy 
 condition of our own bleeding land. 
 
 I have said if the political generals do not take my com- 
 mand away, — a batch of them have come down with McCler- 
 nand, who, you will perceive by one of the accompanying 
 copies, has divided the command with General Sherman ; 
 two or three of them are educated military men, and have 
 great reputation as soldiers ; an effort was made to place one 
 of them over my command ; it may yet be successful, though 
 they tell me my popularity with officers and men is very 
 great, especially since the last battle ; that some of them de- 
 clare they won't fight under another leader, especiallj' under 
 an importation. The advent of McClernand is deprecated. 
 What the result may be I do not know. General Sherman 
 is pretty firm about the matter, now, and I do not think will 
 go behind his order. The Administration is treating me 
 badly, but " Time at last sets all things even, and if we do 
 but watch the hour, ' ' etc. Meanwhile, in my little author- 
 ity, you must imagine me as I really am, surrounded by very 
 considerable state. My staff consists of an adjutant, two aide- 
 de-camps, four clerks, six mounted orderlies, and as many of 
 a detachment of cavalry as I may choose to detail for per- 
 sonal escort ; this, with my body servants, makes up a very 
 considerable menage, and as I retain my own old regiment 
 as a body guard, I move with very considerable personal 
 force. My colors float very proudly. You know I was 
 
Letters 257 
 
 always given to the taking on of airs, and thereby exciting 
 envy, malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness, which with 
 evil speaking, lying, and slandering, are always rife in the 
 army. Therefore, there will be many attempts at assassina- 
 tion (figuratively speaking, I mean), and these political pets 
 will be after me. Whatever I 've got has been literally dug 
 and hewed out with the point and edge of the sabre, and the 
 devil of it now is that I have to fight front and rear. I had 
 a bitter enemy in . . . who is now hors de combat, hav- 
 ing been badly shot in the late engagement. I think he '11 
 die ; he won't sit on horseback for a year anyhow. I had 
 disposed of him pretty effectually before he went under. 
 
 I know of none other now of any consequence, but the 
 higher one gets up the more he makes of them. It 's damned 
 hard they won't back me at Washington. 
 
 I received a day or two since a very beautiful letter from 
 Mrs. Sherman, in which she spoke of " having had the 
 pleasure of seeing my very elegant and charming wife and 
 mother. ' ' 
 
 I enclose General Stuart's ofl&cial report, which you may 
 show to as many friends as you please, though it should not 
 be published. Also the order assigning me to command. It 
 is not difficult for some people to get the rank of brigadier, 
 but the same find it devilish hard to get the command to 
 follow the rank, and are proud enough of two meagre regi- 
 ments. Mine is a young army ; I am immensely proud of it. 
 
 I won't write myself to ask for promotion. I don't want 
 it unless it comes regularly and through my commanding 
 general, but inasmuch as I have been clothed with the com- 
 mand, and that against the claims of rank ; inasmuch as I 
 must assume immense responsibility, expense, and exposure 
 without commensurate reward, therefore, I think, I am right 
 to urge through my friends for what is only my due. 
 
 «7 
 
258 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 January 14, 1863. 
 My dkar Wife : 
 
 You have heard of our last battle, and this will give you 
 the assurance of my safety. My brigade behaved splendidly. 
 I had ninety-three officers and men killed and wounded ; 
 among them, Captain Yeoman, senior captain and in com- 
 mand of my old 54th, had his right arm shattered, since 
 amputated. The 54th has lost pretty heavily in both the 
 last engagements. She 's a gallant little regiment, the men 
 true as steel. Indeed, my command is most emphatically a 
 fighting brigade. The day was beautiful after we had got 
 fairly on the ground, and the spectacle was splendidly im- 
 posing as my forces made the charge. You must under- 
 stand, that this post, heretofore called " Post Arkansas," but 
 christened by the rebels ' ' Fort Hyndman, ' ' is situated upon 
 the Arkansas River about sixty miles above the mouth. The 
 country about where the Arkansas empties into the Missis- 
 sippi is flat and intersected with bayous and cutoifs ; one of 
 these leads into White River, and our fleet having rendez- 
 voused at the mouth of White River, we sailed up that stream 
 to one of these cutoffs, and through that to the Arkansas and 
 up the Arkansas to a point three miles below the fort. Here 
 we threw troops across the river to intercept reinforcements 
 to the enemy, but the main army debarked on the side on 
 which the fort is situated, and immediately commenced the 
 line of march ; directly as we were en route, the enemy be- 
 gan to throw their shell among us, which were returned by 
 our gunboats, while the infantry steadily pursued their way. 
 About a mile from the point of debarkation, we came upon 
 their rifle-pits from which they had recently fled, and where 
 we found their fires still burning and cornbread still warm. 
 The term rifle-pit means a long ditch or trench, sometimes 
 extending for many miles, with a barricade of logs or rails 
 or sometimes willows or canes, to hold the earth in position, 
 which ought to be in embankment at least four feet broad at 
 the top. Behind this embankment, troops stand sheltered 
 and in line firing at advancing forces. I make this explana- 
 tion because many suppose rifle-pits to be holes in the ground. 
 
Letters 
 
 259 
 
 Well as we advanced, the enemy abandoned their defences 
 and after some slight skirmishing, retreated to the fort, from 
 which was now commenced terrific cannonading. A little 
 before sundown, other troops having marched around to the 
 other side, and rear of the fort, it became my duty to advance 
 my brigade to a point immediately in front of one of their bat- 
 teries, and having put the troops in line of battle, I was ordered 
 to advance them and draw the enemy's fire ; this I did with 
 such effect as to cost me fourteen men, among whom was 
 Captain Yeoman. Under their fire we lay until nightfall, 
 and indeed all night. The next morning, at the break of 
 day, we were ordered to the right and to a point nearly in 
 front of their main fortifications, and here we lay again, 
 under shell, until one o'clock, when I was ordered to storm 
 the works ; I wish I could fully explain to you the position 
 of the ground, and must make some faint attempt at it, so 
 you can appreciate the movements of my troops. The origi- 
 nal fort is an hundred years old, and was erected as a defence 
 against the Indians ; considered one of the strongest forts in 
 the U. S. Being upon a bluff it was supposed to command 
 the bend of the river with three immense cannon, throwing 
 respectively no-, 100-, and 85-pound shot and shell ; besides 
 these, were fifteen pivot guns, having range at any given 
 point. These are in the fort itself, a most scientifically con- 
 structed work, capable of holding, crowded, fifteen hundred 
 men. From one side of this fort, and running we.stwardly, 
 was a line of breastwork extending to the river-side some- 
 what thus : 
 
 '"^SkTo.o. ^^=.?.^=S?.r.«%5,%=.= ^^« 
 
 ^ _ ~cks 
 
 ■^ 'X A A A A 
 
 A A A A 
 A A /\ 
 
 Now you will imagine my forces lying in the woods to the 
 eastward, say half a mile, at the time of my receiving the 
 
26o Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 order to storm, and you will imagine all of this ground north 
 of the fort and breastworks, a beautiful level plain, a little 
 ascending to the fort and spacious enough to admit of three 
 regiments in line, and the day to be as bright and beautiful 
 as ever gladdened the heart of man, and then imagine, if you 
 can, my brigade deploying from the woods just in the rear of 
 General Sherman, and firing exactly as you see in the dia- 
 gram, with ten brave banners fluttering in the breeze and 
 gilded by the sun. Recollect, each regiment has a banner 
 and a regimental flag, such a banner as you saw for the 
 54th, and the U. S. flag, the stars and stripes. As a miltiary 
 display, I never saw it equalled. The troops were formed 
 under a perfect hurricane of shot and shell, the breastworks 
 and rifle-pits were lined thick with the enemy. We formed, 
 advanced, and the oflScial reports will give you the rest. 
 Their white flag went up, and I leaped, or got my horse over 
 somehow or other. I don't know exactly how, for it was a 
 wicked-looking place when I surveyed it the next morning, 
 and by order of the commanding general caused four thou- 
 sand men, prisoners of war, to ground arms by my order. I 
 marshalled them behind the breastworks, while my troops 
 stood on the ramparts. The enemy fought most gallantly, 
 with a most unparalleled obstinacy. The ground inside the 
 fortifications was piled with corpses and strewn thick with 
 mangled limbs. The fort was torn all to pieces. The 
 muzzle of the i lo-pound gun was shot ofi". A shell of ours 
 must have entered the very muzzle. These descriptions you 
 will get from the professional writers, and in this instance all 
 their word painting will hardly be an exaggeration of the 
 truth. 
 
 I have reason to thank God ; for a little while this, to me, 
 was the hardest-fought battle I have been in, and the whistle 
 of bullets and shrieking of shells are sounds familiar in my 
 ears as household words. This, however, is my first real 
 action at the point of the bayonet and the muzzle of the gun. 
 The feeling is very thrilling ; nobody but the victor on the 
 battlefield can appreciate the very madness of joy. I made 
 speeches to my new regiments ; the enthusiasm was tremen- 
 dous. My old veterans are seasoned and take things quietly, 
 
Letters 261 
 
 but my 83d Indiana and 127th Illinois were carried up to the 
 seventh heaven. 
 
 I suppose it is small and mean, but there is a flattery, an 
 adulation, a praise coming from the mouths of these soldiers 
 that is very dear to me, and not from them alone. I must 
 confess I want it from my country. 
 
 " If we are marked to die, we are enough 
 To do our country loss ; and if to live. 
 The fewer men the greater share of honor. 
 God's will ! I pray thee wish not one man more. 
 By Jove, I am not covetous for gold. 
 Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost ; 
 It grieves me not if men my garments wear. 
 Such outward things dwell not in my desires ; 
 But if it be a sin to covet honor, 
 I am the most offending soul alive." 
 
 I must hope for justice to ixiy name, for my dear children's 
 sake. If it is tardy in coming, or wholly withheld, I still 
 have a satisfaction in the possession of the affection of these 
 troops. Ohio in all her counties is well represented. Illi- 
 nois and Indiana fairly. Many a family throughout a vast 
 breadth will learn who led their brother, or husband, or son, 
 at Chickasas, and Vicksburg, or Post Arkansas. 
 
 The conduct of my command was under the immediate eye 
 of the generals. My own official report is therefore very 
 brief. I would amplify more to you now if I did not suppose 
 I should be duplicating what you will probably have read in 
 the newspapers, before this letter comes to hand. 
 
 The incidents of our life, thrilling enough in the start, 
 soon become an old story ; at least, we think nothing of them 
 and suppose they have lost interest to our friends. I might 
 tell how, leaving the boat in the expectation of an immediate 
 fight, and, therefore, taking nothing with me in the way of 
 nourishment or extra clothing, I stood by the head of, or sat 
 on, my horse all the night long, the first night out, the shells 
 coursing their fiery flight through the darkness and bursting 
 over my head ; how eagerly I watched for the streaks of 
 dawn ; how all the day I fainted for a drop of water ; how the 
 
262 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 wounded and the dead lay all around me ; of the captures I 
 made in the way of prisoners and horses (individually, I 
 mean), of the ludicrous scenes in the field — for strange as it 
 may seem to you, there is always something to laugh at even 
 on the battlefield — but this has been told over and over 
 again; I cannot paint pain and anguish, and disappointment 
 and dismay and death. They must be seen as I have seen 
 them to be understood ; they can never be described. 
 
 We occupied the fort for two days and then re-embarked, 
 and, after a little, shall sail down the Arkansas to the mouth, 
 where we expect to rendezvous with other troops from 
 Grant's army. From thence, I suppose, to Vicksburg, to 
 try them again with a much larger force. There '11 be many 
 a bloody fight before Vicksburg surrenders, in my judgment ; 
 her natural position is immensely strong, and she is thor- 
 oughly fortified, well provisioned, and well manned. We 
 have vague news from Rosecrans ; nothing, however, relia- 
 ble ; if one half of what we hear be true, and his success as 
 great as represented, that, joined to our late victory here, 
 may have a demoralizing effect upon the Southern army, 
 and cause them to capitulate at Vicksburg. Many of the 
 soldiers we found here claimed that their time was up, and 
 that they would have left in a few days. However that may 
 be, one thing is certain, they will dispute every inch of 
 ground as long as there is a man among them capable of 
 bearing arms. It 's no rebellion, it 's revolution, and a more 
 united people you never heard of or read of. Recollect what 
 I used to say before the first gun in this war was fired, and 
 for many months afterwards, how I used to talk to my 
 friends, when they would prate about the South and its re- 
 sources — a matter of which they had not the slightest con- 
 ception. I propose to fight the fight out, at least as long as 
 I have a right hand to draw the sabre. 
 
 I notice in reading my letter over, that I have not ex- 
 plained there were two sets of works or rifle-pits, the first 
 about a mile and a half beyond the line of fortifications. I 
 mean the outside lines, and the first we encountered. They 
 were on the north and east. 
 
Letters 263 
 
 The four thousand prisoners surrendered to me, of whom 
 I speak, were only a portion of those within the fortifica- 
 tions ; the residue being inside the fort and at other points. 
 We took seven thousand prisoners and eight thousand stand 
 of arms. 
 
 I speak of the representation in my brigade. I suppose 
 there is scarcely a county in Ohio from which some men have 
 not been recruited for the old 54th ; the 57th is made up 
 from the Hooppole region and the northwest. The 55th and 
 127th Illinois were both picked regiments, and came from 
 all over the State. The 83d Indiana was recruited near 
 Lawrenceburg and the tier of counties bordering Ohio. So 
 you see I have gone over good space for infantry. My bat- 
 teries are from Chicago and my cavalry from Illinois. 
 
 My boat is under way ; she, of course, is the flagship of 
 m}^ fleet of six. It used to be quite a thing when I was a 
 bo}^ to command a steamboat. I have the sublime honor of 
 commanding six, some of them very heavy, fine boats. Just 
 before leaving, I went to pay my wounded a visit. Poor fel- 
 lows, I found them in all stages of suffering, but all cheer}-, 
 game to the last. My poor Captain Yeoman sat holding up 
 his poor stump of an arm. I could hardly keep the tears back. 
 The boat was crowded and they were bringing stretchers in 
 all the time I was there. I hope the poor fellows will get 
 good attention when they arrive at home. The Sanitary 
 Commissioners have done nothing for us. The living for 
 the wounded and the weak is the hardest that can be imag- 
 ined — no wine, no brandy, no nourishing food. The fresh 
 beef from starved sick cattle that have been brought upon 
 the steamboat, the bacon, potatoes, bad ; nothing fit to eat 
 but beans, and I 've lived on beans till I loathe the sight of 
 them. What our poor wounded are to do, God only knows. 
 I gave them all the money I had, and all I could borrow, 
 but a good many of them will see hell before they die. 
 
 As I write, the weather, which was beautiful and warm, 
 changes to rain and then cold, and now as we sail down the 
 river, we are in a violent snowstorm. The river is wide, and 
 winding, and beautiful, lined with the canebrake and cotton 
 
264 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 tree and now and then a fine plantation. The water is 
 not fit to drink, being impregnated with soda and salts, that 
 causes it to operate badly. Population is sparse upon its 
 banks so far as we have gone. 
 
 I received two copies of your little poem, and wish you 
 would send me some more. It was very much admired. I 
 showed it to Stuart one day in the field before Vicksburg. 
 We were waiting breakfast early in the morning. He in- 
 sisted on reading it through, and cried like a baby as he read 
 it. You must send me some more copies. 
 
 We are nearing the mouth of the river and soon shall be 
 again on the broad Mississippi. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS Second Brigade, Second Division, 
 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 Steamer " Sunny South," January 20, 1863. 
 
 My table is covered with orders, letters, plans, and maps, 
 and my head full of business to the limit of its capacity, 
 therefore, I propose to abandon business and for the small 
 balance of this night, devote myself to you, my dear mother. 
 This is the thirtieth day of this memorable expedition, a 
 month has passed away since we left Memphis, a month 
 fraught with startling events. Many a poor fellow has lost 
 the number of his mess, and we are yet on the verge of the 
 consummation of the great event. If you will look at the 
 map, and running your eye down the Mississippi River seek 
 a point first below the dividing line between Arkansas and 
 Louisiana, say eighty-five miles above Vicksburg, you can 
 form an idea of about the place where my headquarters, the 
 Sunriy South, is now plowing her way southward. To- 
 morrow we propose to debark at or near Milliken's Bend 
 near the mouth of the Yazoo River, and this maj^ be my 
 last opportunity for some time to come, of writing home ; the 
 opportunity of sending, at any rate, is doubtful. I can only 
 hope it will reach you, as I hope that other letters, cast as 
 
Letters 265 
 
 waifs upon the water, have reached, or will reach their 
 haven at last. 
 
 I am in good condition in all respects for the next battle. 
 The weather for the past two or three days has become de- 
 lightful, neither too warm nor too cold, balmy and at the 
 same time bracing. These southern winters are far prefer- 
 able to those of Ohio and probably more healthful. The 
 river is nearly bankfull, an immense wide expanse of water. 
 We are passing beautiful plantations, with their long 
 rows of neat, whitewashed negro quarters, every house de- 
 serted. Now and then we come to the cane, then the cotton- 
 wood. Sometimes, when we get to a long reach in the river, 
 the view is beautiful ; one great fleet of steamboats, keeping 
 their regular distance in military style, sometimes as many 
 as sixty in sight, the steam wreathing up in fantastic forms, 
 the spray from the wheels forming rainbows in the bright 
 sunlight ; now and then a strain of martial music or the re- 
 frain of a cheery song from the soldiers. Soldiers are much 
 like sailors in this regard ; they will have their song and 
 fiddle and dance, and we encourage it, because it keeps the 
 devil down. 
 
 I notice I have had a good many friends killed and 
 wounded at Murfreesboro — glorious spirits gone up as avant 
 couriers. 
 
 L,ast night my own little fleet ran up one of the numerous 
 chutes of this part of the river on the Arkansas side, and not 
 long after we had landed I was boarded by a substantial- 
 looking planter with a request for a guard to his house, as 
 he had ladies in his domicile. I of course extended the de- 
 sired protection and took occasion in person to see my orders 
 carried out. Of course the hospitalities of the house were 
 offered, and I passed a couple of hours very pleasantly in the 
 society of the four ladies, who did the honors, a mother and 
 three daughters, very fair samples of real Southern plantation 
 society. 
 
266 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division, 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 " Young's Point," before Vicksburg, Jan. 30, 1S63. 
 
 My dear Wife and Mother : 
 
 I have your letters, mother's of the 15th and i8th and wife's 
 of 2 2d inst, I can imagine your anxiety, and regret you 
 could not sooner have heard of my safety and well being. 
 But you were not born to be a soldier's wife and mother. You 
 must keep up brave hearts ; none of us can die but once ; as 
 well in the battle as in bed. I hope my life may be spared 
 to comfort you for many years to come, and assure you that 
 I will not unnecessarily, or otherwise than in the strict per- 
 formance of my duty, expose a life dearer to others than it 
 deserves, far dearer to them than to me, and you must write 
 me cheeringly. Give me words of comfort and good cheer. 
 We need comfort, for we are in a pretty tight place at the 
 present writing ; camped just in front of that famous ditch 
 of Butler's that the papers made so much fuss about last year 
 and in the full view of Vicksburg, about two miles, including 
 the width of the river, from my tent. As I write, its white 
 towers and steeples and window panes gleam in the light of 
 the setting sun. It 's the Gibraltar of America, and we shall 
 have a good time taking it, I guess ; but nil desperandum ; 
 we shall try. I believe I wrote you some account of the 
 affairs at Chickasas Bayou, and at Post Arkansas. My troops 
 behaved remarkably well in both engagements, though I lost 
 rather more than my share. I stand well enough with the 
 army here, but have not had the luck to do anything bril- 
 liant enough to make me brigadier, except so far as they can 
 give it to me by brevet. I do most earnestly want the rank, 
 and think I have honestly earned it, but suppose I must 
 exercise patience and wait. My health is pretty good. In- 
 deed I always feel well while the weather is cool and the 
 past three or four days have been lovely. In the immediate 
 personal superintendence of large works, I am in the saddle 
 constantly. 
 
 My horses are peculiar, and I ride hard in battle and lat- 
 terly with a large command have had to spread myself over 
 
Letters 267 
 
 the field. This was a good deal the case at Chickasas. 
 Morgan I<. went over almost the first pop, while I had run 
 the gauntlet half a dozen times before him and was over the 
 same ground where he fell for hours afterwards and always 
 tinder fire. The newspaper reports are all false ; there is 
 scarcely any coloring of truth to them. I am always con- 
 founded with Morgan I,, and his brother Giles A. I am 
 utterly lost in the obscurity of the name. My only salvo is 
 in the oflScial reports ; there alone can I be identified, and in 
 an ofl&cial report the bare detail alone is permitted. I have 
 sent you two from my immediate commanding officer. Gen- 
 eral Sherman's I have not yet seen, but am told that I re- 
 ceive therein flattering inention. I have tried hard to win 
 my spurs, but my heart has been made sick by the terrible 
 injustice of the public prints. I have nobody in particular 
 to blame ; I don't know that I have a single enemy among 
 the newspaper reporters ; yet I am always ignored. You 
 must take the published stories of the correspondents with 
 very great allowance. They are never eye-witnesses of the 
 scenes they attempt to describe. This I assure you is true, 
 and a moment's reflection will give you the reason why. 
 They have no business in battle ; there is no position they 
 could occupy. In the din and confusion and smoke and 
 hurly burly, the assault, the charge, the cannonading, the 
 rattling of musketry, the changing front of long lines of 
 troops, the rapid advance, the quick retreat for change of 
 position, the trampling of cavalry, and artillery and orderlies' 
 horses — where would the newspaper reporter, with his pen 
 and wit or pencil and paper be ? No, they are far off to the 
 rear, picking up items from stragglers, and runaways and the 
 rifif-rafi' of the camp and army ; with just enough knowledge 
 of the ground and the main facts to form a basis, they draw 
 upon their imagination for fancy sketches, and paint their 
 -words in glaring colors. My regiment did go in where none 
 dared to follow, and by my superior officer was withdrawn 
 after the performance of the most heroic valor. It was the 
 astonishment of the army, and no mention is made of it. 
 The 8th Missouri was not under fire at any time during the 
 fight at Chickasas. Its former colonel, the present major- 
 
268 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 general, was wounded by a sharpshooter before the engage- 
 ment fairly began. See the reports and the absurdity. But 
 I won't dilate upon what you cannot well understand, and 
 in which your heart cannot possibly be. ' 
 
 headquarters second brigade, second dl\nsi0n, 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 "Young's Point," before Vicksburg, Feb. 4, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I could write much on these army matters and the course 
 of events here if it were proper for me to do so ; but, of 
 course, my lips are sealed and my pen tabooed. You must 
 rest assured that all the newspaper accounts you have seen 
 of the late battles, and the movements of the Army of the 
 Mississippi, are basely, utterly false. So much has been 
 admitted by the correspondent of the New York ... in 
 my presence to General Sherman. Courts martial will de- 
 velop strange facts. All that you read in the newspapers 
 will only serve to mislead you and confuse your mind. Great 
 plans cannot be revealed. Few of the generals themselves 
 know them. The newspaper men, dangerous to the army as 
 
 ' Readers of Field Marshal, Lord Roberts's interesting book, will see 
 that trouble with the correspondents of newspapers besets military 
 commanders in these later days also. There is great similarity in the 
 expression of his views in relation to this subject in his account of the 
 Afghanistan campaign. 
 
 "No one could be more anxious than I was to have all details of 
 the campaign made public. I considered it due to the people of Great 
 Britain that the press Correspondents should have every opportunity 
 for giving the fullest and most faithful accounts of what might hap- 
 pen while the army was in the field . . . What to my mind was 
 so reprehensible in this Correspondent's conduct was the publication 
 in time of war, and consequent excitement and anxiety at home, of 
 incorrect and sensational statements founded on information derived 
 from irresponsible and uninformed sources, and the alteration of tele- 
 grams after they had been countersigned by the recognized authority, 
 the result of which could only be to keep the public in a state of 
 apprehension regarding the force in the field, and what is even more 
 to be deprecated, to weaken the confidence of the troops in their coxa- 
 mandei. "—Foriy-One Years in India, vol. ii., p. 166. 
 
Letters 269 
 
 spies giving information to the enemy, closely restricted and 
 carefully watched, nevertheless manage to mingle undetected 
 with the residue of the horde of base camp followers who are 
 always at the heels of the army. Provoked at the restrictions 
 placed upon them, by common agreement they hound down 
 with infamous slander the generals from whom the orders 
 against them emanate. Thus the scoundrel . . . the 
 correspondent of the New York . . . has admitted by 
 letter to General Sherman, as well as verbally in my pres- 
 ence, not only that his article was false, and malicious, 
 and based upon false information received from parties 
 interested in defaming General Sherman and his command, 
 but that he renewed the old story of his insanity for the 
 purpose of gratifying private revenge. . . . Our country 
 is in an awful condition ; we are verging rapidly upon an- 
 archy. Government has almost ceased to exist save in name. 
 An immense army will be demoralized and crumble by its 
 internal opposing forces. A united people have only to fold 
 their arms and calmly bide the event. God help us, and 
 forgive that political party which sowed the wind, the fruits 
 of which we now reap. This much and this alone I have to 
 say. A soldier has naught to do with politics ; the nearer 
 he approaches a machine, an animal without volition, the 
 more valuable he becomes to the service, and perhaps the 
 greater part of our present difficulties grow out of the fact 
 that our soldiers are too intelligent, for they will talk and 
 they will write, and read the papers. Our Army of the 
 Mississippi, and particularly our gallant " Old Division," 
 have the firmest faith and the most implicit reliance upon 
 Sherman and Grant. Sherman is a splendid soldier, a most 
 honorable gentleman, a pure patriot. Would to God we had 
 more like him to battle for the right. I earnestly pray God 
 he may not be sacrificed. This new infusion I know nothing 
 about. McClernand has been sent off ; he is out of place 
 here. Brigadiers have come and are coming. I shall soon 
 be superseded by some one of them, or General Stuart will 
 be compelled to give way and I to him. No change of this 
 kind will be cheerfully submitted to by my command. I 
 have the most substantial evidence that I possess their affec- 
 
270 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 tion and confidence. You speak about my resigning ; it 
 would be utterly impossible for me to resign, if I desired to 
 do so, and an effort on my part to have my resignation 
 accepted would ensure my lasting disgrace. An officer can- 
 not resign in the face of the enemy. But I do not want to 
 resign. With all its terrible hardships and privations, greater 
 than tongue can tell, or pen describe, the life of a soldier is 
 dear to me. I love its dangers and excitements. I am 
 proud of, and delighted with the applause which even a 
 temporary success meets. I am relieved of the miserable, 
 wretched chicanery that surrounds the civilian. I rejoice in 
 the free air. I take kindly to the nomadic life that a field 
 service compels. The romance of chivalry is realized, the 
 ideality of my youth and early manhood brought into actual 
 being. The war horse and the sabre, the glitter of the 
 soldier's trappings, the stirring strains of martial music, the 
 flashing eye, the proud, high bearing, the bivouac fire, the 
 canteen, the song and jest, the perilous scout, the wary- 
 picket, the night march, all familiar — this is my life. What 
 I read of, till my cheeks tingled and my eyes suffused, I now 
 do and my comrades do, and like Harry Percy, feel able to 
 * ' pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon. ' ' 
 
 How long we shall stay here, God knows ; it is a horrid 
 place now, what it will be in the spring, none can tell ; a 
 long flat swamp a foot above or below — I can't tell which — 
 the level of the Mississippi, which we are fighting to keep out. 
 That portion not covered with a growth of brake and timber 
 is completely so by cockle burr, that grows to an enormous 
 height and presents an almost impenetrable mass of those 
 little prickly burrs that get into the manes and horsetails, 
 the same kind we have at home, but fearfully exaggerated 
 in size and numbers. It is not quite the season, but after a 
 very little while we shall be enlivened hy the pleasant society 
 of alligators and mocassin snakes, mud turtles and their co- 
 adjutors. Meanwhile we have every conceivable variety of 
 lice and small-pox, measles and mumps, and other diseases 
 incident to women and children. There is a species of moss 
 you have often heard of and which abounds in this climate — 
 
Letters 271 
 
 a long hanging and beautiful moss when seen close at hand, 
 but which waving in the forests presents a dreary funereal 
 aspect. It is an article of commerce, and when properly- 
 prepared is a material for the stuffing of mattresses. Of 
 course the men, when we camped near where it grew, eagerly 
 sought it to make their beds, and were much disgusted to 
 find it filled with lice. It has to be boiled and bottled to 
 clean it from vermin. So, with the moss, and the transport 
 boats filthy in the extreme, many of which had been hospital 
 boats, the troops were pretty thoroughly infected with the 
 plagues of Egypt, all but the frogs ; and the first sun, I 
 reckon, will make them tune their pipes. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division, 
 Fifteenth A. C, Young's Point, La., 
 
 OPPOSITE ViCKSBURG, Feb. 22, 1863. 
 
 My Dear Mother : 
 
 I send other papers, to show the condition and feeling 
 of our army here towards General Sherman, The public 
 have been systematically, basely, infamously imposed upon 
 by the journals or their paid hirelings, God knows we have 
 enough to endure from the apathy and indifference of friends 
 at home to say nothing of traitors and open treason. You 
 say ' ' it may have been wise, but not well in General Sher- 
 man to muzzle the press." You do not, cannot know all. 
 General Sherman has had neither the power nor the will, 
 to muzzle the press, but he has endeavored, and I am sorry 
 to say, most unsuccessfully, to drive from among the camp 
 followers of the army, the scoundrels, who by tergiversation, 
 misrepresentations, and actual falsehood impose alike upon 
 the credulity of the people and those who are honest among 
 the conductors of the press. General Sherman has been 
 actuated by the purest patriotism, and would not lend him- 
 self to the contemptible chicane and meanness by which 
 certain individuals have been puffed up or written down. 
 Therefore these villains have conspired and confederated 
 together to slander him and villify his command. One, 
 . , . the correspondent of the New York . , . who 
 
2/2 Thomas Kilby Sfnith 
 
 wrote one of the most shamefully false articles of all that 
 appeared (and all were false), describing the affair at Chicka- 
 sas Bluffs, admitted to General Sherman, in my presence and 
 in answer to my questions, that because General S. was 
 known to be opposed to the presence of professional news- 
 paper correspondents in the army, therefore he had deter- 
 mined to league with others of the fraternity who were here 
 and revenge themselves by writing him down. That neither 
 he nor they knew anything about him, but they had deter- 
 mined among themselves to renew the old slander of his in- 
 sanity, because they supposed that would be most injurious 
 to him. He also admitted that his letters were false, and 
 based upon false information. This he did in writing, and 
 was subsequently tried by court martial, his confreres, mean- 
 while, making their escape. His letter to the , . . was 
 copied into the Vicksburg papers, and the enemy actually 
 had the reading of it before we did, and became possessed of 
 most valuable information to them. They had never re- 
 garded our falling back from the bluflfs as a retreat, but sup- 
 posed the withdrawal was stratagem on the part of Sherman, 
 and cautioned their generals against the result. Immense 
 plans were disarranged, and in consequence of their publica- 
 tions much public treasure has been wasted and many lives 
 lost. We know that very many of these newspaper corre- 
 spondents are paid spies. We know that many of them are 
 in certain interests, some in that of cotton speculators, some 
 in that of gold brokers, some paid by combinations of bank- 
 ers, who all use the intelligence they give the people for the 
 furtherance of specific views. Hence you perceive the mis- 
 chievous tendency of the productions of these canaille against 
 the public weal, as well as the government, but aside from 
 this a far more terrible effect is produced in the demoraliza- 
 tion of the army and the shaking of the confidence of the 
 soldiers in their leaders. The withdrawal of the army from 
 Chickasas was regarded as one of the most brilliant military 
 achievements of the war, by the army. Officers were en- 
 thusiastic and it was regarded as equal to a victory in its 
 effects upon the minds of the men. That the army was . . . 
 in splendid condition for battle was evidenced by their con- 
 
Letters 
 
 273 
 
 duct at Post Arkansas, immediately thereafter. Yet no 
 sooner were the newspapers received than their spirits were 
 dampened and their ardor cooled by the first intelligence they 
 had received, that they had been defeated and that their 
 favorite general was in disgrace (for they may say what they 
 please in Ohio, General Sherman is the favorite of this army 
 and to-day is the hero of the West in fact, whether he has the 
 reputation or not). Very well ! from whom does the infor- 
 mation come to depress the feelings and outrage the sensibili- 
 ties of the army ? — not from the public at home, but through 
 the public journals, who, to use the mildest terms, have been 
 imposed upon by at most five or six individuals, each one of 
 whom is infamous in character, and because of his infamy, 
 is fit for his nefarious trade. They find themselves cramped, 
 and with a fiendish malignity, gratify their private revenge 
 at the expense of a nation. To pull down Sherman they 
 would sacrifice his army, to sacrifice that, they would betray 
 the commonwealth. . . . Some of the journalists have 
 a character to sustain, these have none, and it is these that 
 should be scourged like hounds from every corps, division, 
 and regiment of our army, whenever or whatever its service. 
 We endorse General Sherman fully in this matter, and I re- 
 fer you to the enclosed document marked " A, " a copy of 
 the original which was signed by all the oflBcers of the ' ' Old 
 Division ' ' with enthusiastic alacrity. The public are en- 
 titled to and should have early information of the movements 
 of our armies, when such information may be transmitted 
 without notice to the enemy, but all such information should 
 be under supervision and censorship, for the most obvious 
 reason, and no personal allusion to the character or behavior 
 of any oflScer or soldier should be permitted ; what that 
 leads to the most obtuse can see. . . . For my record I 
 point with what I believe is an honest pride to the official 
 reports of my commanding generals, now part of the archives 
 of the nation, and I would not exchange the autograph 
 letters of General Sherman which I now enclose to you, for 
 all or any of the newspaper fame that I have seen bestowed 
 on any man. 
 
 If I succeed in securing my promotion through legislative 
 
 18 
 
2 74 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 channels, it is well ; I think I deserve it. I think it not only- 
 due to me from my country, but that it will enable me to 
 render her more effectual service. I do not ask it as a favor 
 — I demand it as a right ; and I am admonished that without 
 the demand the right will not be accorded. Therefore, and 
 properly, the action of my personal and political friends to 
 bring me properly to the attention of the appointing power, 
 to urge upon the Senate the propriety of remembering those 
 who are placing their lives in peril to save the Republic, to 
 remind the President of the propriety of selecting for his 
 generals those who are most competent to lead his armies in 
 the field. Whether I receive my promotion or not you and 
 my friends will have been made to know that my immediate 
 commanding generals think I deserve it, and that I have the 
 confidence of my brother officers with whom I have served so 
 long and so arduous a campaign. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division, 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, March i, 1863. 
 
 My dkar Mothe;r : 
 
 You speak of my name not appearing in the Commercial ; 
 if our official reports were published by that sheet it would 
 appear. I have sent you copies of both reports, of my im- 
 mediate commanders, of the recent battles. I believe my 
 name is sufficiently conspicuous in both ; it is equally con- 
 spicuous in the report of General Sherman. Flattery is 
 contemptible to both parties ; all but flattery I think my 
 commanders have given me. That my name does not ap- 
 pear in the public prints is simply because I will not resort 
 to the usual means and appliances to place it there. If I 
 was a merchant or an inventor of quack medicines, I would 
 advertise to fill my purse, but I cannot, I do not know how 
 to advertise my honor, and I am almost ashamed to seek for 
 that preferment which I should be accorded without the 
 asking. Even in the seeking, if I know myself, I am un- 
 selfish in intent, for I think, nay, know, that I can serve my 
 country better in the position I want to have guaranteed to 
 me — the one I now hold — than as the commanding officer of 
 
Lettej's 
 
 275 
 
 a regiment literally hacked and hewed to pieces in battle, to 
 say nothing of accident or disease on the long and tiring 
 march, the loathsome transport, the unhealthy camp. 
 There are but few left of the brave hearts that followed me 
 to the field. The graves of their dead are land-marks on 
 eighteen hundred weary miles that their survivors are away 
 — away from homes on the banks of the Miamies and the 
 Sandusky, and the Scioto, and the Muskingum, from the 
 farm and the village, from the workshop and the college, 
 the railroad and the factory, all the way from the Ohio River 
 to the shores of Erie. The whole State of Ohio, emphati- 
 cally almost every county in it, was represented by my regi- 
 ment, and such a regiment her borders will never raise again ; 
 leal hearts and hardy frames, young, joyous, full of fire and 
 enterprise and patriotism ; and, God help me, how many are 
 gone ! Their bones bleach— bleach, that 's the word, for 
 graves were shallow and coflSns they had none at ' ' Shiloh ' ' 
 —their graves dot Tennessee from Corinth to Memphis. 
 Unshrouded and unanealed their ghastly corpses gibber in 
 the moonlight on the banks of the Yazoo ; and at Arkansas 
 Post the rude head boards tell where the dead braves of the 
 " 54th " rest. A handful are left— less than three hundred 
 all told. 
 
 In respect to General Sherman and the press, I have writ- 
 ten at some length in a former letter that you doubtless have 
 before this received. Not the press, but the infernal scoun- 
 drels who prostitute it by making it a medium for their base 
 designs upon individuals, the public, and the nation, does he 
 propose not only to muzzle but destroy. General Sherman 
 will live in history, and in the hearts of his countrymen 
 when these wretched myrmidons shall have passed to infamy 
 and eternal death. The reaction in his favor is sure to come. 
 No man ever lived who, possessing his talents and energy, 
 and purity of life and heart and purposes, failed to make his 
 mark upon the times ; and as sure as he now lives, he will 
 illustrate his position, and cause his name to shine brightly 
 on the page of histor>^ His father-in-law, Mr. Ewing, 
 quoted from Macaulay, and applied most appositely to him 
 
276 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the sentence " fierce denunciation and high panegyric make 
 up what men call glory ' ' ; both the former has General 
 Sherman had in no stinted measure, but his true glory is in 
 his native excellence ; his full power has not yet been shown. 
 O, Mother ! if you had seen that man as I have seen him, 
 if you could have sat by his side as I have sat, amid death 
 and destruction, when the fate of a nation seemed to hang 
 and ... in my opinion did then hang on his word ; 
 had you watched him as I watched, and noted him exalted 
 above materiality, towering above and bej^ond the sense of 
 pain and fear of death ; had you scanned his eagle eye flash- 
 ing and blazing with the fire of intellect, and in its compre- 
 hensive glance taking in and weighing the fate of thousands ; 
 had you known him as I knew him, win a great, a glorious 
 battle, great as Waterloo, and which ought to have been de- 
 cisive, and that would, within twenty-four hours of its close, 
 have been decisive of the fate of the Republic had he been 
 alone in command, you would spurn the lucubrations of the 
 miserable drivellers, who like mousing owls are hawking at 
 the eagle towering in his pride of place, as utterly unworthy 
 a second thought. Have you ever known me deceived in 
 my judgment of men so far as intellect is concerned ? Where 
 to-day are the friends and companions of my early youth and 
 young manhood ? Some are dead, but the good was not in- 
 terred with their bones ; they still live. One (you well 
 know whom I mean) has made his opinions in the juris- 
 prudence of Ohio classical ; his faults, his vices, if you 
 please, are forgotten ; his graces, the strength of his glorious 
 intellect, still illumines. Sherman is greater than he, and 
 oh ! far better, and trust me, when lesser lights go out or 
 feebly glimmer in obscurity, his will shine out a bright par- 
 ticular star in the political firmament, a guiding star to 
 those who come after him. If I could only approach him in 
 example, you would have a son to be proud of. To me it is 
 a matter of great pride that I have had the inestimable privi- 
 lege of almost intimate association with him for a year past, 
 by day and by night, in the peril of the field and the pleas- 
 ures of the social board. I have never heard him utter a 
 word that would bring the blush to the cheek of maiden 
 
Letters 
 
 277 
 
 purity. I have never known him insult his God ; he is in- 
 variable in his just respect for the rights of others, and 
 though he rarely smiles, though to the vast responsibilities 
 with which he has been clothed, all the amenities of life with 
 him have been sacrificed ; still, with a cheering amiability 
 of heart, he has been foremost in strewing the few flowers 
 that give fragrance to the thorny pathway of the soldier. 
 
 As respects Vicksburg, I cannot, ought not, to write you 
 much — time alone can tell what will be the result of our 
 enterprise. All that men can do will be performed ; the rest 
 is with the God of battles, who holds in His hands the fate 
 of nations. I send a little sketch which may serve to give 
 you some faint idea of the topography of the country. By 
 the bye, I have learned that the name " Yazoo," in the 
 Indian tongue, signifies death—" Yazoo River," the river 
 of death — and truly its waters are most abominable, dealing 
 death to almost all who drank freely of them, while its 
 stream ran red with the blood of those slain on its banks. 
 You will note its course, the position of the bayous, and 
 where our troops fought. The celebrated " Haines Blufi"' 
 and our present position toward Vicksburg. 
 
 I have written to you that I enjoyed a soldier's life, and 
 indeed I do notwithstanding its privations and discomforts, 
 and in this, that it is a life of excitement and free from the 
 care that has heretofore been my portion. With you I 
 mourn that I did not enter the military academy when I had 
 the opportunity, and fit myself while young for a brilHant 
 military career, for I feel that it might have been made 
 brilliant. Youth wasted ! well, why look back ? That 
 " might have been " weighs often upon me like an incubus. 
 If I could only keep fresh my youthful feelings. 
 
 Colonel Spooner has probably been detained in his own 
 State partly by family bereavement and partly by business. 
 I shall hope he will be able to see you all before he returns. 
 He is in my command, and can tell you a great deal about 
 me. I am glad you were pleased with Major Fisher ; he is a 
 favorite of mine and I have always kept him near my person. 
 He is possessed of a fine and cultivated mind, is amiable in 
 
278 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 character, but cool and brave in action. Was educated in 
 his profession, of which he is a master, by General Rosecrans, 
 and was promoted to his majority for his gallantry at Carni- 
 fex Ferry in Virginia, and assigned to my regiment. In 
 case I am promoted, I design he shall command it. He met 
 with a great affliction in the loss of his wife, a most lovely 
 girl, and her child, within a year of his marriage, and his 
 life has been clouded and embittered in consequence. I be- 
 lieve he is most sincerely attached to me, indeed I have been 
 fortunate in making many friends in the service, and I doubt 
 not an equal number of enemies. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division, 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, March i, 1863. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I am much indebted to the Sisters of St. John for their 
 prayers in my behalf, and you must so tell them from me. 
 Ask them to take good care of our poor wounded soldiers. 
 We have no Sisters in this army. Is not this strange ? I 
 have seen some two or three women on the hospital boats, 
 but they are poor concerns. Catholic Sisters would be a 
 mercy in ministering to our hospital. No tongue can tell 
 or mind conceive the anguish and neglect and suffering of 
 the sick and dying soldiers in camp-r-and their graves ! such 
 graves ! I fear from your remark of Sergeant White that 
 he reports me as being profane. I trust not. I sometimes 
 do get a little mad, and they say I make the fur fly, and 
 swear the hair off the men's heads, but the recording angel 
 sheds tears so copiously in these sad times that a few must 
 fall on my page of errors. 
 
 I can't help being amused when I hear the officers and 
 orderlies ask outside my tent if the old general is in, or how 
 is the old general to-day. I think my heart and feelings are 
 fresh yet, though they are circumscribed. 
 
Letters 279 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division, 
 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, on Board Str. "SwaIvLOw," 
 
 NEAR Young's Point, La., March 10, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 As you will notice from my dates from shipboard, I have 
 changed somewhat the locus in qtio since my last ; fairly 
 driven out by the high waters. The Mississippi proved 
 rather too much for the engineer, and declined the narrow 
 limits of the canal in paying tribute as called for, therefore 
 we had to " take water " for fear of being drowned. I sup- 
 pose the crevasses may be repaired, in which case we shall 
 remain here till the experiment of the canal is fairly tested. 
 When I have more time I will write you all about it. 
 
 I am glad you saw Sergeant White who, as lately from 
 me, could make himself interesting. I send all such, of high 
 and low degree, to you, because they can answer many a 
 question and relate many an incident that would escape my 
 notice or memory, 
 
 I enclosed you a copy of petition from my entire brigade 
 for my promotion. I will send you copies of the endorse- 
 ments of my commanding generals, which were very hand- 
 some. It has not yet been submitted to General Grant, 
 who is, however, my warm personal friend and who will 
 doubtless say as much as the others. Then so far as the 
 army is concerned, to use General Sherman's own language, 
 " my record is perfect." I would not exchange it for that 
 of the best puffed man in America. If promotion does not 
 come, my family and friends at least will know that I de- 
 serve it ; and I believe all proper effort has been made to 
 secure it. 
 
 Str. " SwAivi^ow," near Young's Point, La., 
 March lo, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My command has been camped, as you know on a very 
 low swampy piece of land immediately in front ; and is the 
 nearest of the troops to the city of Vicksburg, and just in 
 
28o Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the rear of the canal. The enormous rise in the river 
 coupled with copious rains, threw the water into the canal 
 more rapidly than was anticipated, causing crevasses and 
 inundation which made it necessary for me to change ground 
 to the top of the main levee which extends all around the 
 peninsula, the location of which you will the better under- 
 stand by reference to my former letters. There my soldiers 
 are literally roosting upon a narrow strip of land say ten feet 
 in width at top, the Mississippi on one hand, an impassable 
 swamp on the other. I, with my horses, have betaken my- 
 self to a steamboat moored to the shore. How long this state 
 of things will continue depends upon the state of the river ; 
 when that falls, the canal will be completed. The weather 
 has been intensely disagreeable and cold ; to-day it bright- 
 ens, but for the last three days in thick winter clothing, I 
 have been glad to sit close to a hot stove. My health is ex- 
 cellent, and being close to General Grant's headquarters on 
 the steamer Magnolia, I have been favored in the society of 
 very pleasant gentlemen, himself and staff. General Stuart 
 is on the boat with me, and General Sherman comes often 
 to see us, and I assure you we have a right merry time. 
 Ofi&cers who have been long in the army, especially gentle- 
 men of good education, are far more accomplished, more 
 agreeably entertaining than any other class of men. I speak 
 of these matters, because I know it will be gratifying to you 
 to learn, that amid vicissitudes, and danger, and deprivation 
 of home comforts, I am still able to find pleasure and I trust 
 profit in society of the high and noble. I think General 
 Grant is very sincerely my friend, scarce a day passes that 
 he does not invite me to dine with him ; always v/hen we 
 meet. To-day he heard me mention that my foraging cap 
 was shabby, and that I regretted not being able to provide 
 myself with a new one here ; with great delicacy he went to 
 his trunk and brought me his own quite new, insisting I should 
 wear it. A small matter to speak of, but general officers are 
 not usually so polite to those even of my grade, and a com- 
 pliment of the kind coming from him, and in the manner it 
 did was fully appreciated. 
 
 I enclose you another and better copy of the beautiful and 
 
Letters 281 
 
 spontaneous expression from my command, with the endorse- 
 ments thereon. General Grant, upon placing his own there, 
 sent me word he would like to forward it to the Department 
 to-day ; when I called to express my acknowledgments, told 
 me it would be accompanied by a letter from him. I think 
 you will agree with me that the endorsements are better 
 worth to me than the rank would be without them. They 
 are something for those who come after me to keep, and the 
 document showing the fact that all those I command desire 
 me to lead them who have been with me in danger and death 
 for so many long months, that all those I have served under 
 have confidence in me still ; that with confidence I have 
 friendship and affection, is surely worth preservation. How 
 much better this than the fulsome compliments of a news- 
 paper bought for money or bribed for service. I hardly hope 
 even all this will bring me promotion ; and yet, in the here- 
 after, opportunity may give the hope of glory. I may be 
 blessed with the chance to win a place among ' ' the few, the 
 immortal names that were not bom to die, " or if the Presi- 
 dent chooses, he may brevet me. I believe he has recently 
 been clothed with power to brevet. If not that, it will 
 trouble the powers that be a good deal to take my command 
 from me, and I will fight my way through as a colonel to the 
 end. 
 
 March 13, 1863. 
 
 I have taken up my quarters for the present with General 
 Sherman ; I found the boat unhealthy and disagreeable. I 
 shall write again in a day or two. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 
 Camp before Vicksburg, March 16, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I have changed quarters again and am now domiciled in a 
 tolerably comfortable home under the same roof, and mess- 
 ing, with General Sherman. My despatches are delayed, 
 
282 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and I now open my package to advise you of the receipt of 
 your affectionate letter by Captain McCoy, who also brought 
 me a small keg of whiskey, most acceptable. 
 
 I note your enclosures and all you say about my promo- 
 tion. As you will perceive by the enclosed testimonial 
 (not the copy I intended to send — a certified one from head- 
 quarters, and which for the present I intend to keep) that my 
 record is as near perfection as anyone could hope. I am 
 satisfied and can afford to wait for my country as long as she 
 can wait for me. You have done everything, and I have not 
 been backward. We need not worry about it. 
 
 General Grant and General Sherman have done everything 
 for me they could — will do anything I ask that they can 
 do. I know I am honored with the friendship of both and 
 the entire confidence of one. 
 
 If you do write to General Grant, and I cannot say whether 
 it would be advisable or not, I would rather the letter should 
 not come through me, or know anything about it. I do hope 
 you received General Sherman's noble reply to j'ours ; it 
 was due before the dates of your letter March 3d. 
 
 You must not suppose me reckless ; I am not so. It is 
 true I have been singled out for many a shot, and God alone 
 has protected me, but I go upon the battlefield to do my 
 duty ; nothing more. I take no risks that the service does 
 not demand. I think too much of my family to throw away 
 my life. 
 
 Headquarters, Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 
 "Young's Point," La., March 27, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 On the 17th inst., ten days ago, my command, with the 
 residue of General Sherman's old division, was suddenly 
 ordered to reinforce Admiral Porter's fleet of gunboats, 
 which had advanced up Steele's Bayou, with a view to an 
 attack upon Yazoo City. The order came after midnight ; 
 
Letters 283 
 
 and by daybreak we were embarked upon transports and 
 under weigh, leaving our horses, transportation, and all 
 impedimenta behind. The infantry accomplished all that 
 was expected, but the Admiral was frustrated in his designs. 
 To-night we are returned to our old camping ground and I 
 am accepting General Grant's hospitality, and propose to 
 stay on board the Magnolia, his headquarters. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div., 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 Camp before Vicksburg, April 3, 1863. 
 
 My dkar Mother : 
 
 We are fully aware of the feelings toward Sherman. 
 We know the antagonism against the Army of the South- 
 west. We know the efforts of traitors at home, and those 
 who are not called traitors but who nevertheless would re- 
 joice at the failure of his army to open the Mississippi, jeal- 
 ousy is rampant ; war, more terrible civil war than we have 
 yet known, will desolate the North as well as the South. 
 My friends at home will remember my prophecies two years 
 and one year ago. The rebellion, revolution, call it what 
 you will, is not understood. 
 
 David Stuart has been rejected by the Senate. He is now 
 neither general nor colonel, and is only waiting from day to 
 day an order to relieve him from his command. Of course 
 it will affect me and at once. He was my immediate ranking 
 commander, and his place will be filled, I suppose, by Frank 
 Blair. I shall not be immediately affected in my command 
 — that is, I shall retain my brigade — but aside from this I 
 am seriously and personally grieved. General Stuart has 
 been my near, dear, and most intimate friend ; his place as 
 such to me in the army can never be filled. Of splendid 
 genius, most liberal education, wonderful accomplishments, 
 as scholar, orator, lawyer, statesman, and now soldier. With 
 the courage and chivalry of a knight of old, and the sweet- 
 ness and fascination of a woman, he won me to his heart, 
 
 / 
 
284 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and no outrage . . . has affected me more than his 
 rejection. I have no patience to write about it or think 
 about it. The blow was unexpected by all of us. Gen- 
 erals Grant and Sherman, Stuart and I never thought of 
 such a thing — could not guard against it. When I first 
 reported at Paducah with my regiment to General Sher- 
 man, at my own request, for I had known him in Wash- 
 ington, I was brigaded with him. We went directly into 
 service and together. We fought side by side at the bat- 
 tle of Shiloh, till he was wounded, when I assumed his 
 command. We made all the advances to Corinth together 
 and rode side by side in the long marches through Tennes- 
 see. We fought at Chickasas Bayou and at Arkansas Post, 
 and advanced together at " Young's Point. ' ' Many and many 
 a long night's watch I made with him, many a bivouac in 
 the open air through night and storm and darkness, always 
 sharing our canteens and haversacks. Had I been killed he 
 would have perilled life to save my body. Was my honor 
 assailed, he the first to defend it ; little I could ask of him 
 he would not grant, and when I say to you that he was 
 really the only real, true, thoroughly appreciative friend I 
 have in the army who I care much about, you may imagine 
 how irreparable is my loss. His character is not well under- 
 stood in the community, because an unfortunate notoriety 
 attached to him in the . . . case. 
 
 His own sufferings therein turned him prematurely gray in 
 a very few months. His father was a partner of John Jacob 
 Astor in the celebrated American Fur Company, and made 
 for Astor ten millions of dollars. He was educated at An- 
 dover and in Boston, and was the protege of Mrs. Harrison 
 Gray Otis. He was brought into life very early, and married 
 into the Brevoort family in New York, but being a great 
 favorite of General Cass, was brought into politics in Michi- 
 gan. At a very early age he was Prosecuting Attorney of 
 Detroit, and immediately afterwards represented the Detroit 
 district in Congress ; there I made his acquaintance. He 
 abandoned political life to take the solicitorship of the great 
 Illinois Central Railroad, which gave him the control of the 
 
Letters 285 
 
 railway influence of the entire State and Northwest ; and he 
 abandoned stipulated salaries of eighteen thousand dollars 
 per annum to enter the service, having expended upwards 
 of twenty thousand dollars to put two regiments into the 
 field. He has travelled largely in Europe and in Canada ; 
 his family are in the army and navy, he is exceedingly 
 familiar with military life and has a most decided taste for it. 
 His record is clean and bright, one to be proud of ; he exerts 
 a wider and better influence than any other man in this 
 army, and why he should have been thrown over is a 
 mystery. 
 
 The roses are blooming here and the figs are as large as 
 marbles, the foliage is coming out green and the mocking 
 birds hold high carnival. This is a famous country for 
 flowers and singing birds. My horses are all well. If there 
 was any safe opportunity, and I thought you could manage 
 them, I would send two or three home ; they are very high- 
 strung and want a master's hand. Bugles and bayonets 
 don't tend to depress the spirits of a good horse, and mine 
 are the best in the army. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div., 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 " Young's Point," La., April 9, 1863. 
 
 My dear Bessie : 
 
 How is the little baby brother ? I think of him a good 
 deal, and how anxious you all must have been for his re- 
 covery. I have had something to worry me here too in my 
 other great family. I have a good many children to look 
 after here, and many of them get sick and some of them die. 
 Perhaps mother will recollect a letter she received from my 
 aide-de-camp, lyieutenant Seeds, a letter, I think, she did 
 not answer, but which was written just after the battle of 
 Chickasas Blufis to apprise her of my safety. The writer 
 was a brave, gallant young man of singular beauty and fine 
 address, a graduate of Delaware College, who had enlisted 
 in my old Zouave regiment as a private and from principle, 
 
286 TJiomas Kilby S^nith 
 
 for his father was rich. A long time I sought promotion for 
 him, and at last succeeded, and when I had obtained his 
 commission, I placed him on my staff to have him near my 
 person. He rode well and boldly, with a firm seat and a 
 light hand and in both battles staid by my side, never leaving 
 me but to take an order. At Arkansas Post he was so dash- 
 ing and conspicuous as to bring cheers from both armies. 
 Well, when we debarked at "Young's Point " I was harassed 
 with much responsibility, and far in front had to fight the 
 enemy, and the elements, and the great Mississippi River, 
 and for two days and two nights hardly dismounted save to 
 change horses. I forgot or was careless to think that my 
 aides were not iron, or steel, or capable of my own endurance, 
 and instead of changing them as I changed my horses, let 
 them stay with me, and the third day they sickened, and 
 poor Frank never got well. He pined and weakened day by 
 day — would n't give up, game to the very last — and I nursed 
 him as best I could in his tent, but it was very cold and wet, 
 raining almost every day. His disease was t5^phoid, not 
 much pain, but wasting fever, and the poor fellow would 
 come out with his overcoat and sit shivering by the camp 
 fire between the showers ; could n't drink whiskey, or smoke 
 tobacco, our only luxuries; couldn't eat, and would lie 
 awake all night, and listen to the shells hissing over us (for 
 we were close to the canal and within range of it, and in 
 those early days of the siege they harassed us) and look up 
 at me with his great eyes glistening with fever. I had no 
 comfort for him, only a word of cheer, but I did n't think he 
 would die, and so at last when we thought he was a little 
 better, and he had been sick four long weeks, I had him 
 carried down to the boat on a stretcher, placed on what they 
 call a hospital boat — that is, a steamer with the whole cabin 
 fixtures taken out, no state rooms, but in their place, long 
 lines of cots, and some boats carry a thousand. There I dis- 
 posed him as comfortably as I could and took leave, he 
 weeping, for he was tenderly attached to me, and I gave 
 him letters to you all, told him to go to the house and you 
 would nurse him and when he got well to come back, and 
 we would ride together again in battle, saw that he had some 
 
Letters 287 
 
 money and left him, and to-day they write me he is dead. 
 He only got as far as Memphis ; relapse, hospital, and — ' ' he 
 has fought his last battle." Only twenty-five, tall, finely 
 formed, beautiful bright chestnut hair, red chestnut, frank 
 open countenance, the soul of honor ; and so they drop away 
 from me, and all my best men, all I love most, are shot down 
 or die. 
 
 Did I write you about the flowers and the birds, the sweet- 
 est, most eloquent birds you ever heard, and the prince of all 
 of them, the mocking bird, sings all the day and of a verity 
 all the night long. You could n' t hear the mocking bird in 
 perfection anywhere but here, and wild ; I ought not to say 
 wild, either, for the pert, game little rascal is as tame as a 
 chicken ; he '11 just hop out of your way, and that 's all — 
 but what a flood of song he pours forth ! There 's one fellow 
 who has built his nest not far ofl" upon the topmost limb of a 
 fig tree, a little way from my tent, and there he has whistled 
 since before reveill6 this morning everything that any bird 
 ever whistled before him, making the welkin ring with his 
 melody. He has to help the thrush and the red bird and 
 the black bird and the rice bird ; but altogether. They have 
 a royal time of it while the figs are ripening and the roses 
 bloom ; the delicate sweet roses, we used to cultivate with so 
 much care, pout their lips and ask for kisses in March, and 
 keep on blooming on great bushes till December. All the 
 monthlies, the Giant, Marie Antoinette, Souvenirs, beautiful 
 white roses, such as you rarely see, and all, almost without 
 cultivation, perfume the air, with woodbine and every variety 
 of honeysuckle all out now. The weather is perfectly de- 
 licious, neither too warm nor too cold, just right for a blanket 
 or two at night, a dashing gallop in the morning, a cool walk 
 on the parade at eventide ; moonlight such as you never 
 dreamed of, and oh, such sunsets ! I used to think they 
 could get up a pretty fair performance of this kind at Mac-o- 
 cheek, when I was young and romantic, and before you were 
 thought of, but a sunset on the Mississippi is beyond com- 
 pare ; and to stand by the broad river side at night, when 
 its surface is glassy and still, and by the clear moonlight 
 see the reflection in the water, is worth several days' journey. 
 
288 Thomas Kilby S^nith 
 
 This sunny Soutli is very sweet ; its clime almost genial. 
 No one can wonder they love it, and my theory of the war 
 now is just to go on and take it. I approve of colonizing as 
 we go, open the crevasse and let the Northern hordes flood 
 through, and like the waters of the great river spread over 
 the plain not to return again to the parent rills, but to fer- 
 tilize and fructify the earth. 
 
 I have been quiescent and still for eight or ten days, a 
 good while for me, and am disciplining and drilling my sol- 
 diers in a beautiful and most convenient camp. Upon so 
 spacious a plain I can pitch the tents of my whole brigade in 
 the rear of a continuous color line, when all the regiments 
 are out on dress parade. I assure you it is a pleasant sight 
 these pleasant evenings. In the intervals of drill, the men 
 play ball, the whole plain is carefully polished and smooth as 
 a floor. How long we shall enjoy our pleasant rest nobody 
 knows. I suppose we must look out for the gallinippers 
 next month. We had already one or two little tastes of 
 their quality. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div., 
 Fifteenth A. C, 
 Young's Point, La., April >9, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 The weather here is cool and delightfully pleasant. The 
 climate of lyouisiana is much misunderstood at the North. 
 The nights are cool enough now for two or three blankets ; 
 mornings and evenings fresh ; sun rather oppressive in the 
 middle of the day. We have flies, but no mosquitoes 3^et, 
 where my camp is pitched. I apprehend great trouble from 
 them hereafter, though, and have no bar. One of my officers 
 on detached service, within a few miles, reports to me that 
 he has eaten alligator steak and chowder, and that yesterday 
 they killed one that measured nine feet. He reports also 
 bear and deer and other wild game. The woods here now 
 are vividly green, vocal with song of birds, and all flowers 
 are blooming. I saw a handful of ripe strawberries that were 
 gathered more than a week ago. 
 
Letters 289 
 
 Most plantations within reach of us are despoiled, so that 
 no fruits or vegetables can be had ; we see ruins and hear of 
 what might have been. A blessed paradise being turned 
 into a howling wilderness. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS SECOND BriG., SECOND DiV., 
 
 Fifteenth a. C, 
 Young's Point, La., April 23, 1863. 
 
 My dkar Mother : 
 
 By the enclosed order, you will see that I am virtually 
 mustered out of the service. My regiment, by the accident 
 and casuality of camp and bivouac, march and battle, having 
 been reduced to less than one half of the maximum number 
 prescribed by law. I only wait to be relieved from my com- 
 mand by order of the commanding general. The army is on 
 the eve of what I consider a desperate enterprise. I believe 
 the movement is forced by the folly and madness of poli- 
 ticians at home, (and by home I mean the pleasant places of 
 safety far away from the bayou and the swamp, the slippery 
 deck, the lonely picket,) to destroy the army or break down 
 its leaders, which will be the same thing. I cannot fix the 
 blame upon individuals, I do not speak from a sense of indi- 
 vidual outrage. For a year past I have seen a splendid 
 army crippled and its efforts rendered abortive by the insane 
 policy of imbecile rulers. I foresee the loss of another year. 
 The order alluded to will go farther to destroy the army 
 than a campaign of five years with such soldiers as we 
 have now trained. 
 
 What the course of the generals will be in my case, I do 
 not know. I must go on, till an order comes relieving me 
 from my command ; of course in the field and anticipating 
 an early engagement I cannot as a man of honor ask my 
 discharge, which I have the right to claim forthwith. The 
 order will be embarrassing. I do not propose to say what 
 has passed between General Sherman, General Blair, and 
 myself, regarding the matter. I had occasion the other day 
 to test the temper of the soldiers. The whole division, three 
 brigades and four batteries, were drawn up in hollow square 
 
290 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 to hear General Thomas announce the policy of the Presi- 
 dent. After he had concluded, General Sherman and Gen- 
 eral Blair, who were on the platform with him, followed with 
 speeches, and as they had concluded, General Thomas in- 
 vited the soldiers to call for whom they pleased. I think it 
 would have done your heart good to hear some seven thou- 
 sand voices ring out clear for Kilby Smith. There was no 
 mistaking that sort of demonstration or the yell that greeted 
 me as I mounted the platform. Still soldiers are fickle as 
 the rest of mankind. To-morrow it may be somebody else, 
 the pet of popular favor, to yield in his turn to his successor. 
 If I had the regiment alone, I would not hesitate a moment 
 as to my course ; with the brigade it is difierent and I must 
 bide patiently. I had hoped to be bre vetted, that chance is 
 cut off. I have ceased to hope the appointment of brigadier- 
 general. I have a ' ' heart for any fate. ' ' 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div., 
 Fifteenth A. C, 
 Young's Point, I^a., April 25, 1863. 
 
 With us now is the excessive calm and quiet of a camp 
 just preceding a march, and when all the regiments have 
 marching orders ; no hurry, no bustle, each man at his post 
 and packing his own kit. Monday we move, first by trans- 
 port, then the march. No tents, one blanket to each man. 
 March light ; that 's the order. Sixty rounds of ammunition 
 in the cartridge box and on the person. One hundred extra 
 in the wagons, per man, that means business. The sun 
 shines bright, but the soft South wind blows balmy and 
 fans one's cheek like the breath of angels ; nature is hushed 
 in expectancy. Next the rattle of the cannon and the rolling 
 of the drum. 
 
 We have news to-night that they are fighting in Tennes- 
 see, over our old battleground. There '11 be some fun this 
 summer all around or I 'm mistaken. lyong time before the 
 
Letters 291 
 
 " thirsty Erinnys of this soil shall cease to daub her lips with 
 her own children's blood, or trenching war to channel her 
 fields and bruise her flowrets with the armed hoofs of hostile 
 paces. ' ' 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Drv., 
 
 Fifteenth A. C, 
 
 Camp before Vicksburg, April 27, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 * ' Man proposes and God disposes. ' ' In my letter of Satur- 
 day, I advised you all that we should march to-day, and that 
 night, the heavens opened and the rains descended and 
 the floods came and we remain in statu quo. I^ast night cer- 
 tain boats ran the blockade of Vicksburg in the midst of a 
 tremendous thunder storm and as the cannon from the 
 enemy's batteries belched forth death and destruction, the 
 elemental war began and heaven's artillery pealed. All 
 night the earth was convulsed, the ear deafened with sound 
 and fury, and to-day the clouds are weeping, the ground lies 
 drenched, and the trees hang their branches as if in despair. 
 The storm is the forerunner of certain lengthened rains 
 which may be expected here at this season, and will retard, 
 if not materially disarrange, the plans heretofore matured. 
 In my former letters I have indicated my want of confidence 
 in their results, and have not yet seen fit to change my 
 opinion. The order of march is rescinded and we await here 
 further orders. You note in the papers frequent mention of 
 the blockade and the running of the same, and for your 
 edification, I will essay some description of what it means, 
 for on one or two nights I have been close within sight and 
 range on shore, and four nights ago in company with General 
 Blair and some naval ofl&cers went down with the gunboats 
 on a small steamboat tug, as it is called (literally a ' ' tug of 
 war "), to the scene of the conflict. The ground we occupy, 
 as I have before informed you, is in the shape of a long and 
 narrow horseshoe, and the distance from Young's Point, a 
 landing directly opposite the mouth of the Yazoo River, to 
 
292 Thomas Kilby S7nith 
 
 the furtherest point of toe of the horseshoe is about six miles. 
 Immediately in front of this latter point are the Court House 
 and principal buildings of Vicksburg, which is situate upon 
 one of a range of high bluffs, one hundred and fifty feet 
 above our level ; these bluffs extend around us in the shape 
 of a vast amphitheatre, and at regular intervals their heights 
 are crowned with batteries, while at their base are placed 
 what are called water batteries. A battery, as it is termed, is 
 usually applied to a collection of several guns. The term is 
 also used in speaking of the arrangements made of a parapet 
 to fire over it or through openings in it. I don't want to 
 bore you with technicalities, but a knowledge of them is so 
 often erroneously presupposed that many otherwise good de- 
 scriptions lose their force. Upon and around this amphi- 
 theatre, then, you must imagine one hundred batteries, and 
 as they change from point to point about one hundred and 
 sixty guns. The calibre of these guns is from six pounds, 
 that of the light field piece, to one hundred pound Parrots ; 
 of these latter there are but two or three. The major part of 
 their metal, so far as we can ascertain, is from ten to thirty 
 pounds. Now you must know that the pointblank range 
 of sixpounder guns is about six hundred yards, and that of 
 twelve-pounder guns about seven hundred yards ; that the 
 chances of hitting a mark are less with pieces of small than 
 of large calibre, owing to windage, the effect of wind, etc. 
 That the rate of firing is about forty seconds a shot for field 
 pieces, and about one minute for twelve-pounders, but that 
 when the enemy is close at hand and deliberate aim not 
 necessary, two rounds may be fired per minute. With these 
 explanations you may have some faint idea of what running 
 the blockade means, when I further inform you that our fleet 
 of transports has been lying from Young's Point along 
 shore down stream to within a short distance of the mouth of 
 the canal ; that they have been guarded by gtmboats lying 
 at the mouth and a short distance up the Yazoo ; that when 
 it is proposed to go around, a dark night is selected or some- 
 times in a moonlight night after the moon has set. The 
 boats having been protected all round the machinery, in 
 front, and along the side presented to the enemy, with cotton 
 
Letters 293 
 
 bales, bales of hay, etc., are divested as far as possible of 
 their crew, a full head of steam is had on, and paddling 
 slowly and cautiously till they arrive at the bend, full 
 power is put on, and they go by as best they can, one at a 
 time. The enemy is always on the lookout, and the signal 
 gun is followed by continuous roar from all till the boats 
 pass below Warrenton, five miles from the bend and the ter- 
 minus of their fortifications. The heavens are lighted up by 
 the beacon fires of the enemy and what are called calcium 
 lights, so constructed as to throw broad and bright reflec- 
 tions on the water, and so point out the passing boats. The 
 flashes of their cannon make almost a continuous line of 
 bright light, the booming reports shake the ground and 
 water, and make boats and houses tremble as by an earth- 
 quake. If the transports are convoyed, as has twice been 
 done, by gunboats, these reply, and if the boats are struck, 
 as frequently happens, the cotton is fired by exploding shells, 
 bundles of bales blazing with lurid light are cast into the 
 water, floating for miles, and whirled by the eddies. The 
 river now appears one broad stream of flame, a boat is sunk, 
 one or two are burning, sailors are seen making their way to 
 shore, on boards or boats. The riflemen of the enemy line 
 the shore, and the sharp report of small pieces with the 
 waspish sing of the balls, is occasionally distinguished above 
 all the din. They shoot at those endeavoring to escape ; 
 they fire whole volleys at the broadside of the steamer in the 
 hope of killing one man. The pickets on our own lines pace 
 rapidly upon their beat, they are within range, the reserves 
 are upon the shore to give succor to the drowning ; outside 
 of this hell all is blackness and the darkness of night. These 
 boats, in fine, go round ; the others are helpless, hopeless 
 wrecks. Day dawns, and the river is banked with smoke of 
 the conflict. A body floats by, the entrails are all torn out ; 
 it is the pilot, who was cut across the belly by a passing shell. 
 Few lives are lost, for few of the living attempted the voy- 
 age ; the bodies, if found, will be buried ; if not, will be- 
 come food for the alligator or the gar. A few jokes through 
 the day, and all is forgotten in the next order of march or 
 preparations for another run. The boats are manned by 
 
294 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 volunteers ; there are always enough for the purpose, and 
 yet they know there is no glory to be gained, that their 
 names, even, will never be known beyond their company or 
 regiment, that they must pass within from one hundred and 
 fifty to three hundred yards of the cannon's mouth ; batteries 
 manned by men hellbent on their destruction. " Into the 
 jaws of death, into the mouth of hell," with wild halloo and 
 bacchanal song, a curse if they 're hit, an oath if they escape, 
 they go to destruction, mayhap, not to glory. So much for 
 running the blockade. When I feel quite like it, I '11 send 
 you a map and explain the country about here, and tell you 
 why we don't take Vicksburg. If anybody should ask you 
 that question, just tell them it is because we have no ground 
 to stand upon. It is all water and swamp for miles below us 
 and every inch of the opposite side disputed. If we get a 
 standpoint for operations, then we drive them, if needs be, 
 at the point of the bayonet. We must wait the turn of 
 events. I see the Admiral made a failure at Charleston. 
 We have just got the news, and Congress with the President 
 determines to cripple the army. Well, " those whom the 
 gods destroy, they first make mad. ' ' 
 
 I wish I had something else to write to you about — some- 
 thing that would be more interesting than the army. I am 
 in a close circumscribed sphere, with limited knowledge of 
 the outside world ; the 27th of the month, and my latest 
 dates the 15th — of course I am far behind the age. Wife's 
 poetry is very pretty, and Colonel Fisher was pleased to get 
 it. I have just managed to secure his promotion. It will 
 do him but little good ; like the others I have loved and 
 lost, he is doomed. I give him about one month more and 
 then I think he will go under. There was another verj^ fine 
 and gallant young man in the regiment, Captain Williams. 
 I had him promoted to Major and the ver>'- day his commis- 
 sion arrived, he was seized with small -pox and is now in the 
 pest hospital. He was struck in the breast by a Minie-ball 
 in the charge at Chickasas ; he has been very weak since, 
 and I think this is the last of him. I think I shall counsel 
 Colonel Fisher to resign ; his is a valuable life. 
 
Lette7'-s * 295 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Drv., 
 
 Fifteenth A. C. 
 
 Camp near V-Burg, Walnut Hills in the rear 
 
 and before fortifications, may 23, 1863. 
 
 My dkar Mother : 
 
 ' ' The bugles sing truce, and the night cloud has lowered, ' ' 
 and I have brief season to say that I am alive and unscathed, 
 though since Thursday last, this being Saturday at one, I 
 have been in a slaughter pen. I have this moment come 
 from my hospital in the rear — my first duty after putting my 
 troops under some sort of protection from fire, such as the 
 ravines could give, was there. God help us — a fearful, fearful 
 sight. I have seen agony and death in all its phases, but 
 never before have as many of my own, my own good, true, 
 leal hearts, draining ofi" drop by drop their best blood in mor- 
 tal agony, been bared before me. One of my pet colonels is 
 shot through, maimed for life, if life is saved at all. Cap- 
 tains, lieutenants, non-commissioned officers, and so many 
 private soldiers. My official reports are not all in, but I 
 must lose out of my own command nearly three hundred, 
 and these my bravest and best. God ! what a charge it was ! 
 Talk of Balaklava — it sinks into insignificance. And they 
 went on horseback, while we had to work in on foot, over 
 tangled abattis, up precipitous hills, and against ramparts 
 bristling with cannon and rifle ; the pits behind filled with 
 soldiers ready with the hand grenade, and under a con- 
 stantly enfilading fire. You have read of hurling masses of 
 men. I wish I could write — language utterly fails me. Not 
 now at least. You will read I suppose something of it. We 
 have been in battle for days, but the charges, the attempts 
 to carry the place by assault, — then was the very pitch, the 
 culminating grand climax and fever drama of battle, only 
 horses were wanting. My men came on so gallantly ; not 
 one to falter. I turned back to see them swept down in 
 ranks. Their comrades rushed over the bodies of the dead. 
 I planted two stands of colors on the outer verge ; these 
 stand upon the crest . . . just behind. Men could not 
 scale a perpendicular wall of fifteen feet. Men could not 
 have gone up without guns in their hands and with no 
 
296 • Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 enemy in front. "We did all mortal man could do — but such 
 slaughter ! Our division lost six hundred and eighty the 
 first day ; yesterday probably a thousand. We shall cer- 
 tainly lose fifteen hundred, and of those our bravest and 
 best. My men are so gallant. I have n't a coward in my 
 brigade. But if you could see their ghastly wounds, the 
 faces of the dead. I have been on many battlefields, none 
 like this, no such slaughter in so brief a space of time ; not 
 so many of my own to mourn. I ought not to write yoM 
 now ; ought not to write to any one in my present frame of 
 mind, but I have an opportunity to send. I have just un- 
 buckled my sword, and in the unnatural calm succeeding a 
 bloody, bloody battle, pencil to you that I am well. To- 
 morrow, perchance, the jest and the wine cup, maybe the 
 grave. I hope not the hospital. Oh, that horrid, horrid, 
 damnable hospital ! Rather a thousand deaths in the glori- 
 ous enthusiasm of battle than an hour's torture on that table. 
 We cannot take Vicksburg by assault upon the rear 
 through these fortifications. They are masterpieces of skill 
 in military engineering. We shall approach by parallels, 
 sap and mine. Our other great victories before reaching 
 here you have heard of. If I can possibly get the leisure 
 you shall have a detailed account of my march, and engage- 
 ments up to the time of forming the first line of battle before 
 the fortifications. God has spared my life. I hope for some 
 good purpose. I cannot understand it. I have passed 
 through a rain of bullets. Why is it ? All around me have 
 been cut down. So many, so much more valuable lives 
 sacrificed and mine spared. I am ripe ; I could go now. 
 Oh ! if I could only have got in the devils would have fled ; 
 they can't fight in open field ; it is only behind breastworks 
 and intrenchments. God help Vicksburg now, if our soldiers 
 do get in, I shall be deaf and blind and one city will be 
 sacked. We wax hot ; the battle is not to the strong. I am 
 running away in rhapsody. I am well, unhurt. I stand at 
 the head of what is left of as brave a brigade as America can 
 boast. It is known as the ' ' fighting brigade, ' ' and well has 
 it sustained its reputation. I am proud ; not quite exulting 
 in victory, though we have driven the enemy to his strong- 
 
Letters 
 
 297 
 
 hold. We have desolated his towns and villages, and of 
 pleasant places have made a wilderness. He has fled before 
 us like chaff before the wind ; this is enough for you all to 
 know now. I am well, exultant, my armor on, my face to 
 the foe ; even as I write bullets whistle and shells hurtle 
 about me. To-morrow, if it comes to me, or the next day, 
 I will write you in detail. I am writing very hurriedly 
 now, in the midst of much excitement, perhaps not lucidly. 
 I am sitting among the dead and must bury my dead, no 
 shrift or shroud, and shallow grave. I only write to let you 
 know I am safe and well. There are brigadier-generals 
 here, with bright, new stars upon their shoulders, but with- 
 out command, who are doubtless eagerly seeking my place. 
 Perhaps I shall be compelled to give way to some one of 
 them ; if not, before I put my sword away something may be 
 accomplished. So much of myself. You are this night 
 reading the papers and trembling for my fate, so I write, and 
 of myself, to stay your grief and apprehension. I am quite 
 well. God grant you all are well. Pray for me now. My 
 spirit is proud and high ; it goeth before destruction ; I 
 cannot subdue. 
 God bless you all. 
 
 Your aflfec. Son, 
 
 Tom. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div., 
 
 Fifteenth A. C, 
 
 Wai,nuT Hii,i^, Miss., May 25, 1863. 
 
 I wrote you a hurried note yesterday to give you all at 
 home assurance of my safety. I am to-day in receipt of 
 your letters of May 29th, enclosing one from wife advising 
 of the death of Judge Piatt, and of May 5th, and from Helen 
 of May loth. I promised you yesterday full details of march 
 and fight, and for convenience (time being precious and op- 
 portunity for writing scant), substitute diary of one of my 
 clerks, which gives the main facts, and enclose for reference 
 a map to accompany same, upon which route of army can be 
 traced. At close of diary you will perceive I have been re- 
 
298 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 lieved from my command. I send copy of correspondence 
 between General Sherman and myself which ensued upon 
 reception of the order, the only explanation I have to oflFer. 
 I premise the same by a copy of the order assigning General 
 Lightburn. 
 
 I proposed to General Sherman either of three courses, to 
 resign, to ask to be mustered out, or for leave of absence. 
 He declines to entertain either. I have indicated my inten- 
 tion to refuse the command of my regiment. I am not yet 
 ordered to duty, and so the matter stands. Before you re- 
 ceive this letter we shall probably have reduced Vicksburg, 
 or have had another very bloody fight with the enemy in our 
 rear. In the event of a battle my course will be plain ; 
 meanwhile I shall remain quiescent as circumstances will 
 admit. Our late engagements have been very bloody, our 
 losses heavy, the enemy must have suffered hugely in killed 
 and wounded. I enclose a sketch of Vicksburg. 
 
 In respect to the order for consolidation of regiments, a 
 healing order has been published by the President leaving 
 the enforcement of the same discretionary with corps and 
 department commanders. The generals have declined to 
 permit it to apply to me, so I am held. My services will not 
 be dispensed with till my body becomes useless. I have no 
 option in the matter. Therefore you perceive I am unable 
 to follow your advice if I would. I cannot resign. They 
 will not muster me out. They will not grant me furlough. 
 
 Don't give yourself one moment's uneasiness about me. 
 I am proud as the black knight with his visor down. My 
 honor, thank God, is bright ; no stain on my flag, though it 
 is rent and torn and well-nigh riddled with balls. I will 
 send on a copy of my official report and will write again very 
 shortly. 
 
 The land has been devastated, desolated ; the sufferings 
 of the people, particularly the women, are terrible. Ladies 
 in Vicksburg are now living in caves and holes in the ground 
 to protect them from the unceasing fall of shot and shell from 
 our guns. They disobeyed Pemberton's order and would 
 
Letters 299 
 
 not leave the doomed city. They could not believe we were 
 so near at home. Their soldiers are reduced to one fourth 
 rations. 
 
 WAI.NUT HlI.I,S, NEAR ViCKSBURG, MiSS., May 30, 1863. 
 
 My DarIvIng : 
 
 I have carried your last letter, 26th April, in my breast 
 pocket close to my heart for many a day with intent to an- 
 swer ; it is quite yellow with the damp of rain and night 
 dews, and what had well-nigh been bloody sweat, for it has 
 been with me on the long marches and on the hard-fought 
 fields. But thanks to your prayers, I am spared this glori- 
 ous moonlight night to answer it. 
 
 I do not think, my dear daughter, that you read Schiller 
 yet. Do you know you quote him almost verbatim to me ? 
 You say you think " I must be tired of war and drilling sol- 
 diers." You might have gone on and written " the camp's 
 stir and crowd and ceaseless larum, the neighing war-horse, 
 the air-shattering trumpet, the unvaried, still returning, 
 hour of duty, word of command and exercise of arms, ' ' and 
 then a little further — 
 
 " O ! day thrice lovely ! when he becomes 
 A fellow man among his fellow men, 
 The colors are unfurled, the cavalcade 
 Marshals, and now the buzz is hushed, and hark ! 
 Now the soft peace march beats, home, brothers, home ; 
 The caps and helmets are all garlanded 
 With green boughs, the last plundering of the fields ; 
 The City gates fly open of themselves. 
 They need no longer the petard to tear them ; 
 The ramparts are all filled with men and women ; 
 With peaceful men and women that send onwards 
 Kisses and welcomings upon the air, 
 Which they make breezy with aflFectionate gestures ; 
 From all the towers rings out the merry peal, 
 The joyous vespers of a bloody day. 
 O ! happy man, O ! fortunate ! for whom 
 The well-known door, the faithful arms are open, 
 The faithful, tender arms with mute embracing." 
 
300 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Yes, daughter, most gladly would I give the " blood-stained 
 laurel for the first violet of the leafless spring," plucked in 
 those quiet fields where you are wandering. You give a beau- 
 tiful description of your new home. Well you may say ' ' Ala- 
 bama. ' ' I must tell you the circumstance from which that 
 State derived its name. According to tradition, a tribe of 
 Indians, driven southward by the advance of civiUzation, 
 after many weeks of toilsome march, one day at sunset 
 reached a lovely country, a sanctuary, unviolated by the 
 remorseless white man, on the banks of a broad, calmly 
 flowing river, where their canoes might ply, as the)^ hoped, 
 unmolested for ages, in the skirts of a forest where the deer 
 were sporting like tame kids. The chief struck the pole of 
 his tent into the earth, exclaiming, "Alabama ! Alabama ! " 
 (here we rest). Maybe, if I live, I shall come where you 
 are, some day, to rest a little while, to lie still in the cool 
 halls and have you read to me, or sing to me, bathe my fur- 
 rowed brow or smooth away my sunburned hair. A little 
 while to rest would be sweet to me, for I 'm tired, very, 
 very weary, but there are many hundreds of long miles be- 
 tween us and we must not be too sanguine in our hopes. 
 
 Where do you suppose I am now ? Sitting in a tent, in 
 the woods, among the tallest trees you ever saw, not very 
 far from the fortifications of Vicksburg. All the time by 
 night and day the cannon are pouring death and destruction 
 upon the doomed city, yet its garrison gallantly holds out. 
 On two successive days we tried to take it by assault, failing, 
 because from the nature of the ground and the skill of their 
 engineers, their works are wellnigh impregnable ; and more 
 than two thousand brave soldiers have paid the penalty of 
 the attempt with their lives. Now we invest the city, and 
 if reinforcements do not come to them in sufiicient numbers 
 to overpower us, we shall starve them out. Already are 
 they reduced to one fourth rations ; their soldiers have a 
 quarter of a pound of corn meal and no meat for a daj'^'s 
 allowance. On some parts of the fortifications water is 
 scarce, the weather is warm, and the sun scorching. They 
 have been obliged to drive cattle and horses outside, because 
 
Letters 301 
 
 they have nothing to feed them on. There are a great many- 
 women and children in the city, and these have been com- 
 pelled to retire to caves and holes in the ground to protect 
 themselves from the ceaseless falling of shot and shell. As 
 a special favor, three hundred of these women were permit- 
 ted to cross the river to De Soto, a little way from where my 
 old camp at Young's Point was, and there they remain 
 under guard from the soldiers, without shelter of any kind 
 and with very little, if any, food. Many of these are highly 
 educated and refined ladies ; others of like character who 
 were fortunate enough to be outside the city walls are men- 
 dicants to the government they affect to despise so much, 
 and now pensioners upon its bounty for food for themselves 
 and children. But this is only part of the horrors of war. 
 God grant, that you, my dear daughter, may never be called 
 upon to view such scenes as I have witnessed. He has 
 cursed the land and let loose the demon who demands blood, 
 tears, and death as his sacrifice. Dearest, you must always 
 thank God that your lines are cast in pleasant places ; you 
 must remember how many and bountiful are the blessings 
 showered upon you. 
 
 I must tell you a little anecdote of my own experience, 
 and in order to appreciate it, you must know that the route 
 we marched over to reach this point had already been 
 traversed by three armies, that everything eatable, and 
 almost all to wear, had been pillaged from the houses that 
 lined the road, for it is the habit of the soldier to take what 
 he wants wherever he finds it ; and in hot pursuit, or quick 
 retreat, or on the eve of impending battle, there is no one to 
 gainsay him in his desires. Well, so it happened that I 
 halted my brigade at Willow Springs to bivouac for the 
 night, and at the earnest request of a lady, the wife of a 
 physician, made their house my headquarters, for the pres- 
 ence of the commanding officer is guarantee of protection. 
 I had been seated upon the porch but a short time, when a 
 sweet little girl of perhaps seven summers brought me a rose, 
 and as I patted her head and fondled her, for she was very 
 pretty and interesting, she lisped out, " If I had only a cracker 
 
302 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and some water I would go to bed, but I 'm very hungry and 
 I can't sleep." " Why, my dear, have n't you had your 
 supper? " " No, sir. I have n't had anything to eat all 
 day, but if I just had a cracker and a little water, I could lie 
 down." My supply wagon had n't come up, but there was 
 about a biscuit of hardtack in pieces in my haversack, and 
 this I gave the little child, who sat at my feet and ate it all 
 with such famishing hunger. Oh ! it would have made your 
 heart bleed to see these lambs, so visited for the sins of their 
 fathers, these suffering, innocent little ones, no food, no 
 shelter, no shoes, scarce raiment enough to cover their 
 nakedness, though born to affluence. How long, Oh, I^ord ! 
 how long ? 
 
 As we came along the road, particularly after leaving 
 Judge Perkins's, and skirted along Lake St. Joseph, one of 
 the most beautiful sheets of water in the world, we passed 
 magnificent plantations, principalities; and upon each of 
 them a palace, gorgeously furnished with mirrors and velvet 
 carpets, sumptuous furniture and upholstery of Eastern 
 magnificence, with all the adjuncts of garden and green- 
 house, dovecote, statuary, mausoleum, and Italian marbles 
 in richest sculpture, marking the burial place of their dead. 
 The roadside for miles and miles was strewn with all this in 
 mutilation, carpets and curtains, grand pianos broken in 
 pieces, pearl and ivory keys and strings all scattered, choice 
 paintings cut from the frames, carried a little way, then 
 torn and scattered to the winds, fences down, gardens 
 trampled, the year's harvest gone utterly, frightened negroes 
 peering from behind their quarters, far down the woodland 
 glen, the relics of the flock, bleating piteously, soon the prey 
 of the straggling soldier, the palaces burned or reft of all the 
 beautiful that wealth and art and science could produce, the 
 tomb desecrated and put to vile uses, and exquisite gardens 
 the purlieus of the camp. Yet while we sigh for and repine 
 at all this desolation and ruin, we can but reflect that he, for 
 whose grandeur and magnificence all this wealth has been 
 lavished, who has subsidized the world to minister to his 
 taste and convenience, is a fugitive, perhaps in a foreign 
 land, certainly with a paid substitute, who for gold is willing 
 
Letters 303 
 
 to raise his unholy hand to tear asunder the fair fabric that 
 guaranteed him all this opulence and luxury; and the lesson, 
 so severe, perhaps, is needed. Yet we cannot forget it is 
 written that oiBfences must come, but woe be to them by 
 whom they come. 
 
 On board Steamer " America," 
 
 Mii^tiKEN's Bend, June 3, 1863. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 ' ' Once more upon the waters. ' ' Yesterday, by order of 
 General Grant, through General Sherman, I left the front 
 and, as president of a court, reported at this point. Yester- 
 day and to-day I have been in command of a very fine steam- 
 boat, only occupied by myself and suite, and shall retain 
 command as long as I please, going and coming as I list. I 
 hardly think an attack will soon be made by our forces, and 
 the relief from the terrible suffering of the camp in the 
 present season with scarcity of water can hardly be over- 
 estimated. 
 
 I to-day received your letter of 27th ult., with slips en- 
 closed, and will endeavor to answer it and the others in 
 inverse order. You have before this received news of my 
 safe passage through the fiery furnace. My report accom- 
 panying will be about the best version I can give of my 
 ' art of the affair, and then we will dismiss the subject with 
 the sole remark that I wrote my report in the hot sun and 
 under fire, seated upon a stump, in about two hours, and the 
 draft I send you is not to say improved by the blundering 
 stupidity of my clerk. Therefore, if it is not as artistic a 
 production as you would like, you must blame the enemy, 
 not me. I had as lieve write in a hornet's nest as anywhere 
 within range of their sharpshooters, for they give an officer 
 no peace, and don't have much regard for a private soldier. 
 
 I don't think Rosecrans will go to the Potomac. I am 
 very sure neither Grant nor Sherman will give the world 
 any such evidence of insanity ; neither of the latter care 
 much about being heroes — certainly not of the sort that army 
 makes. General Grant told me he received your letter, 
 which he complimented as being very patriotic, and was 
 
304 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 surprised to learn I had a mother, having always classed 
 me, I suppose, in the same category with " Topsy." Gen- 
 eral Sherman might have received, read, and carried one 
 from you in his pocket for six months, seeing me every day 
 meanwhile, and yet not say a word about it, and then, at the 
 end of six months recite the contents from memory — that 's 
 his way. No doubt he received it. Both those gentlemen 
 are always polite to me, both are doubtless my friends, as 
 friendships go in the army ; but unless you see them as I do, 
 you could form no conception of the magnitude of the enter- 
 prise, the herculean labor they are forced to perform, the 
 immense interests they have at their control; or the numbers 
 who claim friendship with and acts of friendship from them. 
 I have little right to claim more than my share and am 
 abundantly satisfied if I receive even justice. They have 
 both behaved very handsomely to me, and I think General 
 Grant, in assigning me to my present very honorable and 
 most responsible position, has been actuated by a desire to 
 give me some relief even if only for a brief season ; that both 
 he and Sherman feel keenly a regret that the Administration 
 has overlooked me. I certainly have nothing to complain 
 of, nobody to find fault with, unless the President of the 
 United States, and doubtless there are many far more worthy 
 than I am who suffer in silence. 
 
 On board Steamer "Armenia," ^ 
 Yazoo River, near Haines's Bi,uff, June 15, 1863. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have just returned from the completion of my labors 
 upon a Court of Inquiry at Milliken's Bend. While there I 
 witnessed and had to take some part in a very bloody fight, 
 in which three negro regiments repulsed a largely superior 
 force of the enemy. The conflict was desperate, hand to 
 hand, the blacks proving incontestably that they are brave. 
 I suppose some account of the afiair will get into the news- 
 papers. 
 
 The siege of Vicksburg progresses without material change 
 
Letters 305 
 
 within the past few days. The bombardment is incessant ; 
 always we hear the booming of heavy guns, not seldom the 
 sharp rattle of musketry ; our approaches are constant ; she 
 must fall, perhaps in a week, perhaps not for months. 
 Heavy reinforcements from above have reached us ; more 
 are coming. 
 
 Headquarters Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 WaIvNUT Hii,IvS, near Vicksburg, June 17, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 You must not doubt General Sherman's friendship for me ; 
 he is the soul of honor, the bravest, truest, loyal heart that 
 ever beat. Not his to betray. I am sure he means just 
 what he writes to you. I know, had it been in his power, 
 my promotion would long since have been made. It would 
 be long for me to explain to you the intricate machinery of 
 an army, or the peculiar and despotic laws by which it is 
 governed; friendship, even from those high in rank, avails 
 but little. What I say of General Sherman equally applies 
 to General Grant ; the latter has not been profuse in his ex- 
 pressions of friendship, but has given me the most convincing 
 proof that he admires, esteems, and respects me ; his verbal 
 and written endorsement is all I could ask. You request me 
 to have a personal interview with him. I smile. For there 
 is hardly a day when I am near his headquarters that I do 
 not see him. He never goes to the table at meal time, when 
 I am about, that the irvvitation is not extended to me ; he 
 and his staff, with all of whom I am on the most intimate 
 terms, are always polite. General Grant has frequently 
 done me the honor to ask me my advice. My opinion upon 
 grave matters has been taken as law by him. He knows me 
 very well, and exactly my position. He would be rejoiced 
 to greet me as Major-General, but he, like Sherman, has no 
 power to confer rank. No colonel in the corps, I am quite 
 sure, has had the courtesy, kindness, consideration and in- 
 dulgence that has been granted by both these generals to 
 me. I am very grateful to them for that which I have no 
 right to demand. Remember, I am serving my country, not 
 
3o6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 either of them ; that the privileges of rank give wide dis- 
 parity, that aside from myself and my own claims, which, 
 after all, are meagre, for kind fortune has not yet given me 
 opportunity for brilliant achievements ; there are hundreds, 
 thousands, who have claims for faithful service, to say noth- 
 ing of those who lie under the sod, or those other dear 
 martyrs, who, maimed and crippled, offer their bleeding 
 bodies in testimony. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tenn., 
 
 Near Vicksburg, Miss., June 22, 1863, 
 
 I am ordered upon special and delicate business which may 
 cause me absence from headquarters and mail facilities for 
 some da3's and perhaps some weeks, and write now that you 
 may not be worried, if you do not hear from me with the 
 usual regularity, and in any event to reassure you from any 
 fears for my personal safety. 
 
 I have been for a week or more past in close and intimate, 
 I may say almost confidential communication with General 
 Grant ; not detached by formal order from my regimental 
 command, but virtually for temporary purposes. I don't 
 know what my future status in the army may be. You 
 must not expect me home soon ; perhaps not till the political 
 aspect in Ohio demands the presence of troops there, which 
 from recent events, I conjecture is a time not far distant. 
 
 In my letter covering the copy of my official report of the 
 recent engagement I forwarded you some time since, I forgot 
 to give you special caution not to publish the same ; never 
 show or publish, except to confidential friends, anything of 
 an official character I may send for your edification. The 
 rule upon this matter is peremptory with the War Depart- 
 ment, and must be respected. 
 
 Vicksburg is sure to be ours I think not very many days 
 hence ; how long, no one can tell, but it is most surel}^ in- 
 vested. Its garrison is slowlj^ but surely wearing out. John- 
 ston's movements are mysterious ; we are always prepared 
 for him. 
 
Letters 307 
 
 McClernand . . . is at last superseded. We are most 
 thankful ; it will doubtless raise a good deal of a breeze. 
 
 P. S. — I enclose a slip ; in many respects the account is 
 defective, in all partial ; take it as a whole, it gives a more 
 fair account than any I have seen in the papers of the affair. 
 My report is in all respects strictly true. I fought under 
 General Grant's own eye ; his report was submitted to, and 
 pronounced upon by General Sherman before I forwarded it. 
 The great attack was made on the 29th ; that is the first 
 attack. You will hardly credit what I am about to write, 
 but it is also strictly true, that the attack of that day was 
 made by two thirds of one tenth of the whole force of Grant. 
 That is, the Second Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 General Sherman, was the only one who obeyed the order ; 
 and what I am about to write will be testified to by General 
 Ewing of the Third Brigade, only that the Second Brigade, 
 the 13th Regulars of the First Brigade, and two regiments of 
 the Third Brigade were all that went in. In point of fact, 
 save by the 13th Regulars, I was alone and unsupported. 
 The history of these matters will some day be given to the 
 world, truthful, unvarnished. 
 
 Well, as a whole, this account is fair enough and worth 
 reading. But no account, written or verbal, can give any- 
 body the slightest conception of the affair ; you might as well 
 try to describe the falls of Niagara. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tenn., 
 
 Near Vicksburg, June 27, 1863. 
 
 I mentioned in a former letter having received General 
 Sherman's to you. I cannot see how he could, in language 
 that would not have been fulsome, have given more expres- 
 sion of feelings of friendship toward me ; other than those 
 feelings I have no right or reason to demand. He is per- 
 fectly sincere, and I believe would rejoice at my success. 
 He cannot make it for me, I must do that for myself, through 
 
3o8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the aid of God by my own merit, if I possess. These things 
 are all hard for you to understand. The science of the sol- 
 dier and the art of war, obtaining in this fearful strife, differ 
 from all that experience or reading have given you knowledge 
 of. The ordinary springs to human action in a measure fail. 
 We are brought to greater exactness of action. An army 
 is a vast machine of which each individual is an integral 
 part. Shiftings and change cannot easily be made without 
 disarrangement of the whole, never after a certain point, 
 save by direction of the chief of all. Thus I report to Gen- 
 eral lyightburn, he to General Blair, he to General Sherman, 
 he to General Grant, he to General Halleck, he to the Sec- 
 retary of War, who in his turn goes to the Commander-in- 
 Chief, the President. But till you get to General Halleck, 
 that I have given illustration of, is onlj^ one of a series of 
 systems aggregating a vast whole. Now, General Sher- 
 man's' power is really very limited ; he has no appoicting 
 power ; he can only recommend to his superior ofl&cers, and 
 how often has he done this for me ! He is no more responsi- 
 ble for my misfortune than he would have been for wounds 
 and death in battle. Some favors may always be granted 
 by superior officers ; these favors have been lavishly ex- 
 tended to me by all of mine who are in the field, by none 
 more liberally than by General Sherman. His bed, his 
 table, his wines, cigars, everything has been placed at my 
 disposal. He has shared my blanket and laid him down 
 by my side in the bivouac before the dread day of battle. 
 He did this on the night of the i8th, before the first bloody 
 assault. We have been baptized in blood together. He 
 is not an affectionate man, but on the contrary, austere 
 and forbidding. He never meets me without a glad smile 
 and a warm pressure of the hand. You must not doubt 
 him. It was not by General Grant's order that I was as- 
 signed as president of the court that sat at Milliken's Bend ; 
 but because I had intimated to Colonel Rawlins, A. A. Gen., 
 that I had not reported back to my regiment and wanted 
 something to do. The service was temporary, and has long 
 since been performed and reported upon. While presiding 
 at the court, I became an actor to some extent in the affair 
 
Letters 309 
 
 at the Bend when the negro regiments were attacked, and 
 officially made some report of the matter to General Grant. 
 Out of that matter grew a necessity for other and important 
 service which I was assigned to, and thus I have gone along 
 from day to day, hardly anticipating a permanent charge till 
 after the reduction of Vicksburg. I cannot tell what they 
 are doing at Washington. Mr. Chase has small power in the 
 War Department. I have reason to believe I was nominated 
 before my papers arrived, and before active influence was 
 made for me, and that I lapsed with several score of others, 
 from excess of numbers and the insignificance of my name ; 
 so common a name is a greater barrier to success than can 
 be imagined by those who are not fellow sufferers. If Grant 
 is successful, I still hope there is something bright for me, 
 if not, I must do my duty, unmurmuring, if hopeless. If I 
 perish without the glittering surrounding of rank, I trust I 
 shall be able to die like a soldier. 
 
 You speak of the little diary I sent you as if it was im- 
 portant. I thought it might be of some interest to the chil- 
 dren as showing something of life on the march, and the 
 eflfects of war, but considered it hardly worthy of second 
 perusal. I am surprised you should have thought it worth 
 while to send East what was only meant for the home circle. 
 You need give yourself no uneasiness about my deprivation 
 from exercise and my removal from the saddle. I was but a 
 brief time on the steamboat, and my feet are oftener in the 
 stirrup than on the ground. 
 
 You will still compliment my letters. You read them with 
 a loving mother's eyes, too partial a judge. I see so much 
 I cannot write. If I could seize opportunity, and describe 
 what I should so much like to describe as it passes before me 
 and when the fit is on, I might write something worthy. 
 But as time passes, new events obliterate the recollection 
 even of old excitement, and the excitement of yesterday is 
 old with us to-day. I wrote you in my last letter that I had 
 been detailed on delicate service, and prepared you for what 
 I thought might be a prolonged absence. The occasion was 
 my going with a small escort under a flag of truce which was 
 a feint to meet or endeavor to meet General Taylor, one of 
 
3IO Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the commanders of the rebel forces. With this object I took 
 a steamboat at Milliken's Bend on the 22d. Debarking 
 there at daybreak, rode to Richmond, or what was once 
 Richmond, twelve miles distant, and there found the bridge 
 burned. I ought to say that after the fight at Milliken's 
 Bend, the enemy fell back to Richmond, and there en- 
 trenched themselves. That we sent out forces to dislodge 
 them, that they were defeated, driven out, and the town, a 
 very pretty place containing some two thousand inhabitants, 
 court house, jail, large hotel, etc., was burned ; nothing that 
 was inflammable was left ; everything but the bricks and 
 mortar was consumed. The enemy before retreating had 
 burned the bridge themselves, and so, from its charred re- 
 mains, I was compelled to construct another, to cover the 
 deep bayou. Some two hours' labor effected this object, and 
 with a bit of cracker and coffee, made in a tin cup, for break- 
 fast, forward we went, and oh ! how desolate was the country 
 we crossed, and how dreary the ride ! The fleeing enemy 
 had been panic-stricken, and all along the road for miles had 
 thrown the loads from the wagons and sometimes abandoned 
 the wagons themselves. Bedsteads and mirrors, glass, 
 crockery, bags of meal, clothing, sewing machines, baskets, 
 boxes, and trunks, with pots, pans, and camp equipage, lay 
 promiscuously scattered. But the most noticeable objects 
 were the corpses of the unburied dead, smoked and black- 
 ened in the sun, too carrion even for the vultures and 
 buzzards. At every bayou crossing, bridges torn up and 
 fresh delays. Finally I reached the Tensas, twenty miles. 
 Here, too, the bridge was burned, but on the other side was 
 a house giving promise of water. The baj^ou water is not 
 drinkable, and we were parched with thirst. A woman ap- 
 peared on the opposite bank to show us the ford, and this 
 was strange, for we were far inside the enemy's lines. A 
 struggle through the mud, a ford almost a swim, and we 
 were over. The woman fairly cried with joy to see us — the 
 first real, genuine Union woman I have met in the South. 
 Her husband was under the ban and on our side ; he was 
 poor and had been hauling cotton for transportation North 
 — an unpardonable sin, and she had been made to suffer. 
 
Letters 311 
 
 Along with four young children, she had been persecuted by 
 the retreating army, and no wonder she over flowed with joy 
 when her friends came in sight. She gave me some butter- 
 milk and some eggs, and after resting an hour, on we went. 
 Soon the enemy's pickets were in sight, but instead of ap- 
 proaching, seemed to be fleeing. In vain the sergeant waved 
 his flag, conspicuous enough, for it was a sheet borrowed 
 from the steamboat berth and tied to a pole. As we marched 
 forward they marched back, until at last they fairly made a 
 run for it ; thereupon we halted and tried another coaxing 
 process, and at last, after making various signs, they ap- 
 proached or rather waited our coming with the timidity of 
 young fawns. We explained the nature of our flag ; they were 
 very glad to know we were not going to fight them, and said 
 they had watched us from Richmond and hovered in our front 
 all the way those ten long miles and had sent back for rein- 
 forcements, and had come near shooting one of our men who 
 had stopped to take the water out of his boot at the ford. We 
 reassured them and rode forward for about the space of a 
 mile, when we were encountered by the reinforcements, dis- 
 mounted, drawn up in line of battle. Their captain was 
 stupid, and after the pickets had informed him we were a 
 flag of truce, he insisted upon mistaking us for rebels, and 
 boring us with the most absurd questions about the strength 
 of Grant's army, the condition of affairs at Vicksburg, etc. 
 At last we drove it through liis head that we were Yankees, 
 as they call us, and as soon as light broke through upon him, 
 he became dumb with astonishment ; nevertheless we 
 marched forward well enough for four miles and then 
 stopped to camp. We continued winding through the dense 
 woods by the side of bayous or *the shores of little lakes 
 until at last, crossing another bridge, we encountered another 
 picket. It was interesting to us to pass this picket, for it 
 was near nightfall, the rain began to come down heavily ; 
 we had ridden some thirty-two or three miles and were near 
 Delhi, where we expected to find General Taylor and a 
 pretty large force of the enemy. But they halted us and I 
 came to a parley. The officer was peremptor>\ I brought 
 a stunning argument to bear— that I had been permitted by 
 
3 1 2 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 all the other picket guards to pass, why should he refuse, 
 and by what authority — at last prevailed, and on to Delhi. 
 Three or four miles brought us to the camp guard of the out- 
 side regiment. We had penetrated thirty-six miles inside of 
 the enemy's lines since morning. They looked on us with 
 wonder and astonishment, called no halt, and on we went 
 right through their camps. The soldiers gathered in groups 
 by the wayside to gape at us ; the oflScers ran out of their 
 tents ; my escort was only ten men and a sergeant. We 
 enquired the way to headquarters and reported to the com- 
 mandant, and demanded to see General Taylor. General 
 Taylor was not there. This was what I wanted and hoped 
 for, for I knew if he was not at Delhi he must be at Monroe, 
 sixty-five miles further up, and I wanted to penetrate the 
 country as far as possible. Meanwhile it had rained very 
 hard, and was still raining. We were wet through. The 
 question of quarters was interesting, for it was almost dark. 
 The commandant evidently did not know what to do. I 
 suggested the hotel. He brightened, and we were permitted 
 to go there and seek quarters. They did not know how to 
 receive a flag. Their pickets ought not to have let us pass 
 without first reporting and disarming us ; but there we were 
 and there was no help for it. Now imagine a small town 
 with a railway passing through, scattered houses and a large 
 square frame hotel, your son followed by his troops and a 
 crowd of soldiers, ofiicers, citizens, old and young, all agape 
 with astonishment ; evening, and muddy. Landlord comes 
 out uncertain whether to receive us or not ; anxious for his 
 pocket, more anxious for his house. At last the pecuniary 
 prevails, and he thinks he can make provision for us, but 
 can't for the horses. Under shelter, and immediately after- 
 wards under strict guard and surveillance : got some sup- 
 per, corn bread, fresh pork, and something they call coffee, 
 made of parched wheat. After supper the commandant 
 called and demanded the despatches ; refused to deliver 
 them, on the ground that my orders were peremptory to de- 
 liver them to General Tajdor in person. The commandant, 
 a Major Beattie from Texas, was green and nonplussed ; 
 he did n't know what to do, finally concluded to put us 
 
Letters 3 1 3 
 
 under guard and himself in telegraphic communication 
 with General Taylor. At last I got rid of him and went 
 to bed, wet through to my buff, and got a sound sleep, 
 to wake and find mj^self close prisoner in the camp of 
 the enemy ; breakfast, the duplicate of the supper, and 
 after the breakfast the show began. I seated myself on the 
 upper porch and the ' ' butternuts ' ' passed in review. Some 
 citizens came to talk to me, some officers. The same old 
 story of what you read in the newspapers — ' ' they are united, 
 intend to fight till the last man is dead, ' ' and all that sort of 
 thing. Finally, Brigadier- General Legee, Aide-de-Camp of 
 General Taylor, made his appearance, and now I found I 
 had to deal with a soldier and a man of sense. Of course I 
 was baffled, as I expected to be. He insisted upon my de- 
 spatches and my return ; no further penetration to their 
 stronghold except at the head of an army. I was satisfied, 
 however, for I had informed myself upon the principal point 
 I was after. So I delivered my despatches with as good 
 grace as possible, and received the necessary returns. I 
 found General Legee, aside from his politics, to be a fine 
 soldier and a most admirable gentleman. He had graduated 
 at Cambridge, and afterwards read law there ; had spent 
 some time in Cincinnati, and knew a good many of my 
 friends . . . and in short, we soon found we were old 
 acquaintances almost, and sat down to have a good time ; 
 that is, as good a time as gentlemen can expect to have 
 without wine or anything else but water to drink and no 
 cigars to smoke ; nevertheless, we had a comfortable chat. 
 He made my imprisonment as light as possible; and next 
 morning with an escort from the enemy we retraced our steps 
 without adventure, stopped at Richmond, or the cisterns of 
 Richmond rather, for water and a bite. While the men were 
 resting, I wandered through the gardens ; they could not 
 burn them, but what a picture of desolation they presented. 
 For the first time flowers seemed out of place, the fruit, apri- 
 cots, peaches, and grapes, was just ripening. Some frightened, 
 superannuated negroes came up to gape, and I hurried away 
 from the smouldering ruins after extorting from them a 
 promise to go out and bury the dead upon consideration that 
 
314 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 they should possess themselves of all the property abandoned 
 on the road. Back to the Bend, and rapidly put the same in 
 a state of defence, for unless I had checkmated them, they had 
 calculated to come in. When I say they or them I always 
 mean the enemy, the only terms almost by which we know 
 them. On board a boat at 7 p.m. ; found a sick lady who had 
 taken refuge with her servants, reassured and encouraged 
 her ; down to General Dennis to report. Sat with him till 
 two o'clock in the morning, then up the Yazoo ; out at day- 
 break, and reported to General Grant at breakfast time. 
 Yesterday I rested, for I was a little tired, and to-day am 
 anticipating an order to go to Grand Gulf to report to Gen- 
 eral Banks with despatches, and while I rest I write you this 
 tedious letter. You may see by it at least that the grass 
 does not grow under my feet. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 
 Camp opposite Vicksburg, June 30, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 You are mistaken in supposing I had a new command 
 given me. I explained the matter to mother in a former 
 letter — a temporary detail as president of a court which 
 ceased when the court adjourned. I have since, however, 
 been employed upon most important business which has kept 
 me from my regiment. This morning I shall go down to 
 Port Hudson in a steamboat to confer with General Banks 
 upon official business. I am glad you liked my report. I 
 wrote it very hurriedly on the battlefield, in pencil, and in 
 something over two hours, and have not seen it since, so I 
 can hardly judge how it read. The country will hardly ever 
 get the true history of the assault of the 19th, because it is 
 the interest of the whole army, except the small portion, 
 two thirds of one tenth, to suppress it. Thus there are ten 
 divisions of infantry ; but one of these divisions obeyed the 
 order to charge, and of that division but one whole brigade, 
 my own, went in, with two regiments from Ewing, and one 
 from Giles Smith. I enclose a slip which is partly truthful 
 
Letters 3 1 5 
 
 in other matters and wortli reading, and in which an allusion 
 is made to what the opinion of the rebel ofl&cers was of that 
 charge. They have spoken of it very often, and I assure 
 you it was a most gallant, daring action. The conflict is 
 raging here all the time, we think it hardly possible Vicks- 
 burg can hold out much longer, though they fight with per- 
 fect desperation and probably will fight to the last. Still 
 there is an end to all things and there must some time be an 
 end to this siege — only patience is left to us. You must not 
 be alarmed for me. I have been in many dangers and 
 always preserved. My life may yet be of some service to 
 my country or my family. 
 
 I made General Grant a present of one of my saddle horses 
 the other day, a splendid piebald gelding, that I think is 
 worth a thousand dollars. He was a horse that I captured 
 at Arkansas Post with his rider, a Texan officer, and since 
 that time I have been carefully training him. He is very 
 large and spotted white and black with a noble carriage and 
 easy gait. Grant fell in love with him a long time ago, and 
 talked so much about him that I gave him. He always 
 rides him, although he has other fine horses. 
 
 I shall hope in my next letter to be able to give you 
 something of interest connected with General Banks's army 
 and its operations. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE, 
 
 ViCKSBURG, July II, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I have just debarked on my return from Port Hudson 
 and finished my report to General Grant. I am ordered 
 back to Natchez, for which point I shall start at eight 
 o'clock in the morning, so have brief time for communica- 
 tion with you. On the ist inst., by order of General Grant, 
 I reported to Admiral Porter for transportation to Port 
 Hudson, whither I was going as bearer of despatches and 
 
3 1 6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 oral communication from General Grant to General Banks. 
 You are probably not aware of what a flagship is or the sort 
 of style they preserve on board of one. The Black Hawk, 
 Admiral Porter's, is probably behind none of them in point 
 of elegance, and the Admiral, who is a special friend of 
 mine, always receives me with all the honors. 
 
 From the flagship I reported to General Dennis at Young's 
 Point, and then procured an ambulance to take us around 
 by land to where the gunboat Arizona was lying, the vessel 
 that had been assigned to me. I have had command before 
 of a good many steamboats, but never of a vessel of war. 
 The Arizona is a beautiful little craft, a yacht, elegantly 
 fitted up, trim built, with everything ship-shape in real man- 
 of-war style. She was formerly of the Southern Steamship 
 Line between New Orleans and Galveston, seized by the 
 rebels in 1861, ran the blockade to Havana with a cargo of 
 cotton, recaptured by Admiral Farragut's squadron in 1862 
 ofi" Mobile — at this time running under Confederate colors 
 and called the Carolina, and commanded by Captain Forbes. 
 On seeing the Admiral, Captain Forbes claimed to be bound 
 to Matamoras, but the Admiral remarked to him, " I do not 
 take you for running the blockade, but for your damned 
 poor navigation. Any man bound to Matamoras from 
 Havana and coming within twelve miles of Mobile light has 
 no business to have a steamer." Accordingly, she was sent 
 to Philadelphia as a prize, being purchased by the govern- 
 ment for 86,000 dollars. She was speedily altered into a 
 gunboat and early in 1863 was put in commission. Leaving 
 Philadelphia she captured a prize of about $140,000 in value 
 on the fourth day out. Arrived at New Orleans on April ist, 
 she sailed for Brashear City on the 6th, took two regiments of 
 Major-General Banks on board and landed them at Grand 
 Lakes, the next morning fought and destroyed the Queen of 
 the West, and the day after proceeded to the wreck and re- 
 covered all the guns, two fine Parrott rifles, and three 
 twelve-pounder Porterfield pieces, brass. On April 20th at- 
 tacked, in company with the Clifton, the fortifications at Butte 
 La Rose, silenced the battery in twelve minutes, capturing 
 
Letters 317 
 
 the guns, ammunition, 114 prisoners, and the small arms. 
 On the . . . day of ... , attacked, in company with 
 the Albatross, and repulsed the enemy's gunboats at Fort de 
 Russy, but owing to some misunderstanding of orders was 
 not permitted to remain and destroy them. The day after 
 proceeded upon the expedition with Admiral Porter towards 
 Alexandria, and on the . . . day of . . . , the 
 city surrendered to Captain Upton, a very wealthy citizen 
 and one of influence there, and a grandson of Putnam 
 of revolutionary memory ; he who killed the wolf in the 
 cave, and about that anecdote the boys may read. I have 
 been somewhat prolix in describing the boat and her com- 
 mander, because my relations with both have been very 
 intimate the last ten days, and because she is again assigned 
 to me to go to Natchez. I lay on her with the fleet under 
 the guns of Vicksburg till the 22d inst. ; early in the morn- 
 ing weighed anchor and down stream, destroying all river 
 transportation as we passed along — all boats, skiffs, flats, 
 etc. Met the gunboat Louisville at Grand Gulf, got some 
 news from below, most favorable, touched at St. Joseph, 
 and put off Mrs. Rodgers. Her meeting with her daughter 
 and under such circumstances, was a scene affecting in 
 the extreme. They had not seen each other for more than 
 four years— are ladies of the greatest refinement. Tak- 
 ing advantage of circumstances while the scene was tran- 
 spiring, ordered the men to load the boat with vegetables, 
 meats and poultry ; in other words, foraged extensively. 
 Such is war. Got under weigh, and steamed down to the 
 next plantation, where we stopped all night, it being too 
 dark to move. Here we called at the house and found a 
 pretty and interesting young lady, much chit chat and quar- 
 relling about the war, and while we quarrelled, my men drove 
 brisk trade with the negroes for honey, tomatoes, melons, 
 fowl, etc. Under weigh at eight o'clock, steaming down, 
 still destroying as we go. Touched at Mrs. Duncan's planta- 
 tion, abandoned, and in the hands of negroes ; will endeavor 
 to send with this some memento of the occasion. As we 
 reached Natchez, discovered cattle in large numbers that had 
 just crossed the river ; ordered shell from twelve-pound 
 
3 1 8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 howitzer thrown among them ; cattle scattered and drivers 
 fled. Ordered the boat to round to and sent a missive to the 
 civil authorities that if they permitted the transit of cattle or 
 other munitions of war for the use of the enemy, I would 
 burn and destroy the city. To that missive I received the 
 following reply : 
 
 " Mayor's Office, Natchez, July 3, 1863. 
 " Sir : 
 
 " Your communication of this date is duly at hand. The 
 city authorities regret that you conceive it necessary to in- 
 flict such a penalty as you name upon the defenceless inhabi- 
 tants of this city for acts of which they are innocent and over 
 which the city authorities have no control. To avert the 
 calamity, however, we will represent your demand to the 
 military authorities without delay. At the same time we 
 would observe with due deference, that we are at a loss to 
 understand how the destruction of the city will accomplish 
 the object you have in view. 
 
 ' ' Respectfully, your obt. Servant, 
 
 " W. Dix, Mayor. 
 " Thos. K11.BY Smith, 
 
 " Colonel ..." 
 
 Not liking the tone of the above despatch, I proceeded to 
 carry my threat into execution, when down came the marshal 
 and begged like a dog. I gave my opinion and ipse dixit 
 in no very measured terms, and taking a promise, wended 
 my way, destroying, however, some sixty skiffs and fleets 
 at that point. Anchored in stream at nine o'clock, July 
 4th ; under way at twelve o'clock ; touched at plantation 
 for wood and forage, vegetables, etc. Nine o'clock reached 
 Port Hudson and reported to Commodore Palmer on board 
 sloop-of-war Hartford, anchored off stream. Commodore stiff 
 old salt of the old school — about as stiff I suppose as Uncle 
 Hunter was on board ship. Took on, however, in behalf of 
 the army, about the same quantity of airs as he took for the 
 navy, and imagine he did not make much by the interview 
 in the way of airs. Next day, July 5th, reported to steamer 
 Albatross, the captain of which sent ashore for horses for me. 
 
Letters 
 
 319 
 
 and about ten o'clock got mounted, with my orderly, on a 
 sorry jade said to have belonged to a Secesh. colonel who had 
 been taken prisoner. Set ofif for General Banks's headquarters, 
 about twenty miles distant. Sun blazing hot, waded swamp, 
 passed by bayou, and lagoon, and through dense forests, 
 heard the alligators barking like young puppies. Saw sugar 
 cane growing for the first time, passed sugar mills, close to 
 enemy's pickets, and just enough of danger to make the 
 jaunt spicy and interesting. Sun broiling ; wore cloth cap 
 and felt it ; should have been sunstruck, but adopted my old 
 precaution of stuffing the crown with fresh green leaves every 
 now and then — a most cooling application to the head. Glad 
 enough to reach General Banks's headquarters at two o'clock, 
 after a ride of four hours ; dismounted thirsty and exhausted. 
 General met me with great courtesy — bottle of champagne 
 and plenty of ice, cool goblet ; oh, how refreshing ! . . . 
 felt sufficiently better to take a nap of an hour, and then 
 the General, by way of amusement, invited me to ride with 
 him and staff over the left of his lines ; gave me a good 
 mount, and off we started for a thirty miles' ride and about 
 five miles ' walk through the saps and mines of his ap- 
 proaches upon the fortifications, back at eleven o'clock, 
 supped and laid down at twelve. Clothes wet through 
 with sweat, did not sleep well, rose, however, early in the 
 morning, July 6th. . . . Breakfast over, General invited 
 me to ride on the right, horses saddled and off at seven. 
 Rode far and walked through more miles of sap and made 
 close investigation of mines ; two men shot through the 
 head by rifle balls close by my side ; sharpshooters on both 
 sides vigilant and alert. Called upon one or two generals, 
 back to camp and dinner by two o'clock. Admiral Farragut 
 made his appearance before dinner was through. . . . 
 I imagine rather a clever man and a fine officer. . . . 
 
 July 7th received despatches of the fall of Vicksburg, per 
 telegraph, despatch boat Price having got aground on her 
 way down ; much enthusiasm. Army fired salutes of an 
 hundred guns ; also navy; drank General Grant's health ; 
 took good care to have a despatch intercepted by the enemy, 
 and devoted the afternoon to close investigation of saps, 
 
320 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 mines, and approaclies on the right of our lines, in company 
 with General Banks ; back to camp, and late to bed ; hardly 
 asleep before General Banks made his appearance at my bed- 
 side in shirt and drawers to advise me that General Gardner 
 had sent flag of truce, and to ask if what he had heard in 
 reference to the fall of Vicksbtirg was true. Symptomatic ; 
 immediately volunteered to go with flag of truce myself and 
 make proper reply. Rode out at one o'clock, nine miles ; 
 passed our pickets, sounded bugle call, and shortly afterwards 
 was met by enemy's flag with lanthorn. Their party con- 
 sisted of two colonels and their aides-de-camp ; had with 
 them much parley ; flag returned, to consult with General 
 Gardner ; agreed to wait for them two hours. Flag again 
 appeared with despatches for General Banks and overtures 
 for surrender. Back to headquarters at great speed. Gen- 
 eral Gardiner writes that he has defended his post as long 
 as he considers his duty and offers terms and to appoint 
 commissioners to meet outside of breastworks to arrange con- 
 ditions. Accordingly, General Banks appointed Brigadier- 
 General Stone, Brigadier-General Dwight, and Colonel 
 Burge commissioners, with instructions to demand uncon- 
 ditional surrender. They were met by Colonel Miles, Col. 
 Marshall Smith, and Colonel Steadman, on behalf of the 
 enemy. All the day passed tediously, waiting the action of 
 the commissioners. Finally, at nightfall, they made their 
 report. Garrison to be surrendered at seven o'clock the 
 following morning, and a rough estimate of results of the 
 Port Hudson capture is as follows : 
 
 Upwards of five thousand prisoners, including one major- 
 general, one brigadier-general, four colonels, and large 
 number of field and company ofiicers. 
 
 Thirty-one field cannon ; 
 
 Twenty S. C. and siege cannon ; 
 
 Major-Gen. Frank Gardner, formerly U. S. A. ; 
 
 Brigadier- General William Beale ; 
 
 Colonel Miles ; 
 
 Col. Marshall Smith, formerly U. S. Navy ; 
 
 Colonel Steadman ; 
 
 Major A. Marchent, formerly U. S. Artillery. 
 
Letters 321 
 
 Despatches were at once prepared for me, and at nine 
 o'clock, with escort, I set oflf to ride over the same road. I 
 came to place of hail of gunboats. It was intensely dark 
 and raining hard ; some miles of road through dense and 
 muddy swamp ; had to search for pathway by aid of lantern ; 
 guide at fault and way lost ; outside of picket lines, and great 
 danger of capture ; found way and reached Mississippi shore 
 at three o'clock in morning. Hailed Hartford, and got 
 aboard ; reported to Commodore Palmer ; had Arizoyia as- 
 signed me ; got aboard of her by the light of the wild-eyed 
 dawn, and at four o'clock laid down with intense headache 
 to court sleep, which had been a stranger to me for two days 
 and two nights. I had been much exposed to sun and 
 feared sickness. I lay still for one hour and am then called 
 upon by naval officers anxious for news ; a thousand ques- 
 tions about Port Hudson ; no rest ; under weigh at eight 
 o'clock, and shortly afterwards breakfast. . . . The cap- 
 tain has a pet, a beautiful doe, with whom I made friends com- 
 ing down, and as I returned, with her large black dreamy eyes, 
 she was apparently glad to see me and gave me welcome by 
 licking my hand. She walks all over the ship perfectly tame, 
 and it seems strange to me that an animal so wild and timid by 
 nature should become so fond and gentle. The day is calm 
 and perfectly beautiful, the bright blue sky dappled with 
 fleecy clouds, the rapid motion of the boat stirs the atmos- 
 phere till it fans the cheek with voluptuous freshness. 
 Fatigue passes away. I am the bearer of glad tidings of 
 great joy, and with heart elate sail triumphant. For the 
 time being, brief as it may seem, I govern on the quarter- 
 deck of the yacht, and save for the presence of Cleopatra, 
 rival Antony. The day wears on, and at six I am invited 
 to dinner. The captain and I mess alone, but with the 
 strictest formality. . . . 
 
 Anchored in the stream at eleven o'clock ; too dark to run. 
 Friday, July loth, weigh anchor, and steam up at four o'clock; 
 pass Natchez at 9 a.m. Many cattle on the bank — evidently 
 have been crossed for the use of the rebel armj^ — some two 
 thousand head. Heave a dozen shell and send some rifle 
 
32 2 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 balls among them. Crowds of men and women gather on 
 the bluflfs of Natchez to see us pass. We take on negroes 
 from point to point as they rush to the river side, stalwart 
 men seeking liberty under the folds of the American flag. 
 We hail a skiff" containing six parolled prisoners from Vicks- 
 burg ; they have floated down the river and are seeking their 
 homes at Natchez and up the river. Much cannon practice 
 from our vessel I propose, to prevent all crossing of the river, 
 and to dismay the inhabitants. I find my hearing much 
 affected by close proximity the past two or three months to 
 heavy guns while being rapidly discharged. We meet many 
 vessels from Vicksburg, seven gunboats ; the Mississippi is 
 open. 
 
 I hold to-day conversation with captain's Calcutta servant, 
 an Hindostanee ; speaks and writes Arabic, is a follower of 
 Mahomet. If my memory serves me right, the first Mussul- 
 man I have made acquaintance with, tall, not quite black, 
 straight nose, thin lips, handsome. I hear the Arabic lan- 
 guage spoken in its purity, I believe, for he is educated, and 
 also the Hindostanee. He has travelled throughout China ; 
 perfectly familiar with Canton, Calcutta, Paris, London, 
 Boston, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Australia, 
 the South Sea and Pacific Islands, San Francisco, and the 
 Havannah, and for the most part North America ; was a 
 follower of Nana Sahib, and is not twenty years old. 
 
 Saturday, July nth, anchor at four o'clock, having moved 
 all night opposite Mrs. Fanars, at the town of St. Joseph ; 
 called upon the ladies, who are in great distress, husbands 
 and fathers being all under arrest at Alton . . . Comfort 
 the poor women all I can, and here I may say to-night I have 
 got an order from General Grant to release their poor devils 
 of husbands — so that must be set to my credit, if I am a fiend 
 and a ' ' damned Yank. ' ' To-day meet more gunboats, more 
 parolled prisoners in skiffs. Day cool and pleasant. 
 
 Abner Read was shot and mortally wounded the day I left 
 Port Hudson ; he was badly shot, and could not possibly re- 
 cover. He was commander and a good deal thought of by 
 the navy. Wife will remember him ; he was a brother of the 
 judge. 
 
Letters 323 
 
 Well, we arrived at Vicksburg about four o'clock this 
 afternoon ; reported to the Admiral and to General Grant ; 
 both glad to see me back and hear my news, and on the 
 strength of my report am ordered to take some transports 
 and some troops and garrison Natchez. I shall set sail for 
 that point in the morning at eight o'clock, and am writing 
 for dear life to-night in order to get ready. 
 
 Headquarters U. S. Forces, 
 
 Natchez, Miss., July 19, 1863. 
 My Dear Wife : 
 
 To-day is Sunday, one week since I wrote you from Vicks- 
 burg. I had then just returned from Port Hudson, and a 
 reconnoissance of the river, bringing with me the news of 
 the reduction or rather surrender of Port Hudson, and de- 
 spatches from General Banks. Having impressed upon 
 General Grant the importance of occupying this point, I was 
 sent back to take possession of Natchez, by aid of General 
 Ransom and his brigade. This was accomplished without 
 opposition, to the immense and mingled surprise, grief, and 
 indignation of the people, as well as oflScers and soldiers 
 whom we took as prisoners. We captured some five thou- 
 sand head of fine cattle, three thousand of which we have 
 shipped to Port Hudson and to Vicksburg. We captured 
 and destroyed large quantities of ordnance and ordnance 
 stores, and great numbers of small arms. We are in the 
 process of taking large quantities of sugar, molasses, corn, 
 and cotton, belonging to the so-called Confederate govern- 
 ment ; also immense quantities of lumber, at this time of 
 large value to our army. Our occupation has been most 
 fertile in results. The plan of operations was suggested, 
 and carried into effect by me. I shall never be known in it 
 to the world at large, nor is it of vast moment, but it has 
 been an expedition fraught with success, and I congratulate 
 myself at least, so let it pass. 
 
 Natchez is a beautiful little city of about seven thousand 
 or eight thousand inhabitants, a place for many years past 
 of no great business significance, but rather a congregation 
 
324 Tho7nas Kilby S7nith 
 
 of wealthy planters and retired merchants and professional 
 men, who have built magnificent villas, along the bluffs of 
 the river and in the rear, covering for the city a large space 
 of ground. Wealth and taste, a most genial climate and 
 kindly soil have enabled them to adorn these in such man- 
 ner as almost to give the Northerner his realization of a fairy 
 tale. Tourists, who, in times past, have visited the South, 
 have usually selected winter as the season for their journey- 
 ings, and for the most part, have confined themselves to the 
 limits of city and steamboat. They have told us little of 
 rural life amid the opulent of the South, their efibrts give 
 but faint ideas of the clime or country. The grand luxuri- 
 ance of foliage and flower and fruit of which this sunny clime 
 can boast, has been denied them, and is seen in its perfection 
 now and where my footsteps lead me. 
 
 The house of . . . where I have been quartered for 
 the past week, is one of the largest and most elegantly 
 appointed mansions in all the South. Any description that 
 I can give of its superb appointments will be but feeble. 
 The proprietor counts his plantations by the dozens, his 
 slaves by the thousands, those people, I mean, who were his 
 slaves. He has travelled most extensively all over Europe ; 
 his summers, for almost his lifetime, have been passed in 
 Europe or at our Northern watering places. His family 
 consists only of himself and wife, a lady of some thirty-five 
 years, not beautiful, but thoroughbred, tall figure, fine e^^es, 
 good refined features, a gentle, musical voice, and a sweet 
 smile. He, fifty. The mansion is very large, great rooms 
 with high ceilings, long wide halls, ample piazzas, windows 
 to the floor and opening upon grassy terrace. Walls hung 
 with chefs d'oeuvre of Europe's and America's best artists. 
 Busts from Powers and Crawford, paintings from I^andseer 
 and Sully and Peal. Everything that ministers to refined 
 taste almost is here. For the grounds, you must imagine a 
 chain of very high and steep bluffs, bordering a wide river 
 which winds in silvery sheen far below, and is so serpentine 
 in its course, that miles and miles away, . . . you can 
 see its waters glittering in the last sun rays, while intervening 
 there are plain and forest, plantations highly cultivated, and 
 
Letters 
 
 325 
 
 dotted with the whitewashed negro quarters, and the damp 
 green swamp land. The river disappears amid waving, 
 moss-grown trees, to reappear tortuously ribboned amid 
 canebrake and plain, always on calm days a mirror of the 
 bright blue skies, and fleecy clouds of ever-changing forms 
 of beauty. As you approach upon the broad carriage way 
 that gracefully sweeps past the high-columned portico, which 
 is shaded by the cypress and magnolia and crape myrtle, gor- 
 geous in its bloom and blooming always, your feet crackling 
 the gravel and sea shells, you are almost lost in labyrinthine 
 ways which pass over terrace and undulating sward, over 
 rustic bridges, through cool and verdurous alleys of gloria 
 niu7idi, Japan plum, the live and water oak, making literally a 
 flowery pathway of exotics of gorgeous coloring and start- 
 ling magnificence, and almost indigenous to the soil in which 
 they grow, the river view bursts suddenly upon you, and in 
 the beautiful summer house you sit down entranced, wonder- 
 ing if it is all real, or if the scene has not been suddenly con- 
 jured by an enchanted wand. Flowers and bloom and fruit 
 are all around, and almost sick with perfume one can dream 
 away the hours in ecstacy of enjoyment, the air so soft and 
 balmy, all so still, so peaceful, apparently ; one must here 
 awhile forget the lurking serpent. 
 
 You return to the house by the orchards and cultivated 
 lands by the greenhouse, hothouse, and pineries. A house 
 that cost a small fortune has been built to shelter a single 
 banana tree that grows within its hot atmosphere, bears fruit 
 and puts forth its great green leaves three feet or more in 
 length. Unheard-of plants are clambering about the con- 
 servatories ; the more ordinary beauties of the greenhouse 
 and of the parterre smile in boundless profusion and perfec- 
 tion of bloom. Pines and figs of three or four varieties, 
 melons I should be afraid to tell you how large, for you 
 would not credit me. Cantaloupes, peaches, pears, and the 
 most delicious nectarines are brought fresh to the table every 
 day. Shooting galleries and billiard rooms, elegantly fitted 
 up for ladies as well as gentlemen, are placed in picturesque 
 positions in the grounds and gardens. Stables and offices all 
 concealed, nothing to ofiend the most fastidious taste. One 
 
326 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 continually wonders that such a Paradise can be made on 
 earth. 
 
 . . . My duties are very nominal. Indeed, I have 
 nothing to do but represent General Grant ... I 
 ride a little way morning and evening for exercise. I take 
 good care of myself, and do not suffer much from the heat. 
 I should be very happy if you were with me, for amid all 
 this almost voluptuous luxury, I have no one to love me ; 
 they minister from fear, not affection. Amid the busiest 
 throng I am very lonely. The ' ' months that are passing 
 slowly away into years " are hurrying us forward to the 
 sea of eternity. The prime and vigor of my life is going 
 oh, so fast ! And all these months I have laid in the saps, 
 and trenches, and swamps, and hy the roadside and in the 
 forest. Sometimes like a stag at bay, ever ready to spring 
 upon an assailant, a heart so longing for home and sweet 
 home affections, yet so hardened to suffering, so strange to 
 all that is homelike. 
 
 I sit me down in quiet and think. I have not the excite- 
 ment of the battle and skirmish, bivouac and march, to drain 
 all my physical energies and keep my heart from throbbing, 
 at times anxiously throbbing with anguish unspeakable. I 
 think of you all at home, of you and my dear little children, 
 of my darling mother and sweetest sister. How I am blessed 
 in all of you, how proud I am of all of you, and yet sweetest 
 intercourse by hard sad fate is denied. I must work on in 
 the storm of battle, borne forward on the wings of the whirl- 
 wind of the strife of the people, the tornado of political ele- 
 ments, far behind I leave you all in flowery meads and 
 pastures green. The storm has passed you and all is se- 
 rene, only on either side you see the wreck of those who 
 have fallen. My mission is not yet done. I go to prepare 
 you all a way, if not for you, for my children, if not for them, 
 still for those who come after. God's hand is in all this, be 
 of good cheer, and fear not. I complain a little to myself ; 
 sometimes I could cry aloud in very agony of spirit ; I have 
 been so desolate, but it is all wrong. I have been selected 
 
Letters 327 
 
 for some purpose or I should not be here and hindered as I 
 am from the heart's best affections ; it is meet that I should 
 suffer. I propose to bear my cross gracefully and without 
 murmur. As for you all, all who are dear, oh, how dear to 
 me, sister, mother, children, wife, weld your aflfections, be 
 all in all to one another, bear with each other, it will be but 
 a little while ; in all your sufferings, there will be much joy, 
 and soon, if not in this world, in another we shall be to- 
 gether and at peace. 
 
 How long I shall stay here, I am uncertain. I want to go 
 to Mobile and shall try to get in with a flag of truce, if I can- 
 not arrange it otherwise. We sent there yesterday, by 
 steamboat City of Madison, a large number of wounded and 
 sick rebel oflScers. I shall return to Vicksburg first, how- 
 ever, and perhaps before the close of this week. Simultane- 
 ously with the reception of this letter, if I am fortunate 
 enough in getting it off, you will have heard of General 
 Sherman's success at Jackson, where Johnson had fortified 
 himself The victory is complete. Now we have the Mis- 
 sissippi River open, we have the capital and two principal 
 towns of his State, the control of the whole State, I wonder 
 how Mr. Jefferson Davis feels. My plans may be altered 
 upon my return to Vicksburg. I cannot tell yet. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tenn., 
 
 Vicksburg, Aug. 8, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 You must not be disappointed at not seeing me. I could 
 go up for a brief season ; but I dare not make what might be 
 a sacrifice. My business is here, and here I must stay. I 
 shall not return until my position is assured and until I have 
 done my behest in an humble way to perpetuate the salva- 
 tion of my country. My heart and soul is in this war, ter- 
 rible as it is. It is a righteous war, forced upon us as it has 
 been by a most unholy rebellion. 
 
328 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters Dept. op the Tenn., 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Aug. 13, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have brief time to write you, for I am just starting for 
 New Orleans. The boat is now waiting for me. You must 
 not be anxious if you do not hear from me for some days. 
 My stay at New Orleans will be very brief, probably not 
 more than a day. 
 
 Headquarters Department oe the Gui,p, 
 Nineteenth Army Corps, 
 
 New ORI.EANS, Aug. 16, 1863. 
 
 I believe I may be said literally to have fought my way to 
 the Gulf At all events, I find myself at New Orleans after 
 many trials. The lower Mississippi is to me very beautiful 
 scenery. You can have no conception of the nature of the 
 grounds, the houses, improvements, general appearances of 
 the country from anything you read. I was certainly inter- 
 ested and charmed. The city of New Orleans is familiar 
 from description. I feel almost as if I had been here before. 
 General Banks occupies one of the most beautiful residences 
 in the most beautiful locality. I am sojourning with him. 
 I left my horses and servants at Vicksburg, but the General 
 has placed a carriage at my command. His establishment 
 is elegant and thoroughly appointed. The St. Charles 
 Hotel, the shell road to the lake, the levee, and the French 
 portion are the most noticeable features. All these I have 
 pretty thoroughly investigated. The streets are perfectly 
 clean, the police system above compare, everybody here is 
 on their best behavior. Two 3^ears in the woods among the 
 toads and snakes has made me unfamiliar with city life and 
 all sights and sounds are strange to me. Memphis is a mere 
 village as compared to New Orleans, and Vicksburg and 
 Natchez mere suburban towns. But I only weary you with 
 vague recital of my own impressions. As new and strange 
 scenes greet my eye, I long for the power to communicate 
 with those I love and make them in some degree sharers in 
 my own emotions. Upon the steamer's deck, in the whirl 
 
Letters 329 
 
 of life, the rapid transition from the camp to what in demo- 
 cratic America may be called the court, in all the varied 
 scenes of my stirring life, kaleidoscopic in its changes, I 
 think of home, or the dear group that makes my home. 
 Shall I ever see any of you again ? I seem impelled by 
 some strange destiny forward, always a little in advance of 
 the army. There are important movements in contempla- 
 tion. Soon you will hear of them. 
 
 Everybody here, out of the army, is " Secesh." This of 
 course. We must conquer this people, wrest the power of 
 the government from their grasp, prevent their ever regain- 
 ing power, and meanwhile treat them kindly. Extermina- 
 tion, annihilation is out of the question. Oppression will 
 react! 
 
 The women are strangely hostile. There is no difference 
 among them. From the borders of Tennessee to the Gulf 
 they are all alike — in countrj^ town, or city, but one feeling, 
 rebellious, coupled with an antipathy to Northern men in- 
 conceivable, indescribable. They are herded now within a 
 narrow compass, driven, hedged in, almost girdled by a 
 circle of fire. Georgia and Alabama are full of them. When 
 Charleston and Mobile fall, I do not know where they will 
 find refuge. As their men disappear, however, there will be 
 a commingling of races and perhaps the nation regenerated. 
 A long and bloody war is still before us. A united North 
 would finish it in a month. Their strange, perverse in- 
 sanity, their want of unity, prolongs the struggle. But God 
 in his own good time. The nation is being bathed in fire 
 and blood. Five years more of war will purge, the viler 
 material will have passed away, then twenty-five years more 
 and the people may again hope. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 ViCKSBURG, Aug. 20, 1863. 
 
 I wrote you from New Orleans and am now probably in 
 advance of my letter. Circumstances rendered it necessary 
 
330 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 for me to return with despatch, and I am now on my way to 
 Cairo, and probably Memphis. I have traversed the Missis- 
 sippi, the lower Mississippi, so often that I am as familiar 
 with its banks almost as a river pilot, I shall leave this 
 afternoon. Write you again both from Memphis and Cairo. 
 
 General Grant has not gone to Mobile, he is now in Mem- 
 phis or on his return to this point. 
 
 The health at New Orleans is remarkably good, and this 
 may be ascribed in a great measure to extraordinary cleanli- 
 ness of the city and the perfection of the quarantine. Natchez, 
 too, is healthy, and I hear no complaint at Vicksburg. I do 
 not believe there will be what is called a sickly season here, 
 or in the Southern country generally, and regret to learn 
 you anticipate one where you are. You speak of rest for our 
 armies. There is, there will be, no rest for armed men while 
 this rebellion lasts. We have sent one army corps to rein- 
 force Banks. Our soldiers are not suffering ; they are well 
 fed and well clothed. They want support and reinforcement 
 from home, they want to see the conscript law rigidly 
 enforced. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 Vicksburg, Aug. 26, 1863. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I attempted some description of these people in their 
 homes and their luxurious mode of life. I mean the opulent 
 of the South, generally, without reference to individuals ; 
 and in return it strikes me, you give a little bit of a rub, evi- 
 dently fearing that I should be seduced from my Spartan 
 training, while treading their flowery paths of dalliance. 
 You need not be alarmed. I have come back to my narrow 
 cot and canvas roof without one pang of regret. I enjoy 
 luxury for the brief season it is accorded me, but I know 
 it only tends to enervate. On many accounts, I like the 
 South, but its influences are baneful, its atmosphere, physi- 
 
Letters 331 
 
 cal and moral, poisonous, except to those who have been 
 purged and purified by misfortune and the stern necessity 
 for exertion ; whose constitutions of iron have been ham- 
 mered into steel. I remember the rockbound shores of New 
 England perfectly. The icy crags over which, with iron 
 spikes to my shoes, I have toiled and clambered on my way 
 to and from school in midwinter. Do you quite remember, 
 I was but six years old when I made those journeys of two 
 miles to Master Manley's from the " Sanderson Beach," as I 
 used to call them ; that was before Walter was born. 
 
 I have been brought to a most abrupt stop in my proceed- 
 ings and hardly know how to resume my thread. You must 
 pardon my discursive epistles. I have this moment been 
 handed your favor of 14th inst. Mrs. Sherman is on a visit 
 to her husband. I went out there a day or two ago to make 
 a call upon her. She spoke of you all with much interest, 
 and regretted her previous inability to visit you ; hoped to 
 be able to do so upon her return. She is a very charming 
 person. 
 
 There are two brilliant examples now before the nation 
 standing out in bold relief, in fact before the whole civilized 
 world ; their history is good for little boys to know. Let 
 my sons ponder upon it. One is General Grant and the 
 other General Banks. Both were bom of very poor parents, 
 both had to labor hard for a livelihood in the country in 
 their boyhood. General Grant's father lived in Brown 
 County, Ohio, near Georgetown. The first money he ever 
 earned or that was paid to him, was for a load of rags, 
 that with great enterprise he gathered together in and 
 about the town, drove to Cincinnati, a distance of forty 
 miles, in a two-horse wagon, by himself, sold for fifteen dol- 
 lars, and returned triumphant. He had his money in silver 
 and he was the richest boy in all that section of country. 
 This was before he was twelve years old, and as the en- 
 terprise originated with himself, and was carried out suc- 
 cessfully, notwithstanding the difi&culties of bad roads, the 
 winter season, his diminutive stature, it perhaps gave as 
 good evidence of great generalship as anything he has done 
 
332 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 since. He went to West Point from the village school and 
 graduated as the best rider of the academy — the best, be- 
 cause the boldest. After he had been brevetted three times 
 for his gallantry in Mexico, he had to resign a captaincy be- 
 cause he was too poor to support his family ; went to farming 
 near St. Louis, and there was not ashamed to drive his own 
 team loaded with wood to the city. He came into the ser- 
 vice again as captain of Volunteers. He has told me him- 
 self of these things, and that his best training was before he 
 went to the military academy. I do not want my boys to be 
 afraid to work. I want them to ride and shoot and fish and 
 to know how to do it all well, and above all not to be afraid 
 of anything or anybody but God, or afraid to do anything 
 but tell a lie, and no matter what they do, they must not be 
 afraid to tell of it. They must never take an insult from any 
 boy or man. If a girl or woman insult them laugh at or 
 kiss her. Never quarrel ; if there has to be a word or a 
 blow, let the blow come first. But I was going to write a 
 word about General Banks. His father was a woodsawyer ; 
 . . . his boyhood was of toil, privation, and mortifica- 
 tion, yet to-day he is one of the most courteous, gentle, 
 kindly men in all the world. He has done for himself what 
 no teachers could have done for him, however high their 
 salary or brilliant their reputation. These are dazzling in- 
 stances, but they are exponents of a fact. This war has 
 brought out a latent talent, a hidden strength of character 
 in the individual, that astounds the world, but we almost 
 invariably find it exhibited among those who in their early 
 years have been compelled to depend upon themselves for 
 thought and action. 
 
 In my last to my wife, I said I should write next from 
 Cairo or Memphis, but no sooner had I despatched that 
 letter than I received intelligence which caused a change in 
 my movements. I shall remain here till General Grant re- 
 turns. The weather has been very pleasant for some time 
 past, nights cool enough for two blankets. I am sitting 
 now in a very wet tent, with my feet propped up to keep 
 
Letters 333 
 
 them out of the water ; it is raining very hard and is quite 
 cold. I am most agreeably disappointed in the summers of 
 the South ; take them, if the two seasons I have experienced 
 are a test, from end to end, they are more pleasant than 
 our own. 
 
 I received three or four days ago, a notice from the Secre- 
 tary of War that the President has appointed me brigadier- 
 general, my rank to date from the nth Aug. " for gallant 
 conduct and service in the field." This I suppose applied 
 to my assaults of the 19th and 22d May, upon the enemy's 
 fortifications at Vicksburg. ' ' Shiloh ' ' and Russell' s House, 
 Corinth, Chickasas Bayou, Arkansas Post, all I suppose 
 went for naught, or what is more probable, the President 
 never saw my papers. I don't know how he could get over 
 the petition of my command endorsed by my commanding 
 generals. The assault of the 19th was the most murderous 
 affair I was ever in, but I have led troops in battles that 
 lasted much longer and where I have lost more men, and in 
 which I have been as much exposed. 
 
 I have had congratulations and serenades and all that sort 
 of thing galore, for, as is not unusual, I have found in my 
 case that a prophet has honor save in his own country. I 
 have some friends and pretty warm ones in the army. My 
 old command is encamped about eighteen miles from here 
 near Black River, and General Sherman is not far away 
 from them. He got news of my appointment by telegraph 
 and rode over to tell them the news, whereat there was a 
 perfect yell. The old fellow was about as glad as the boys 
 from all I hear, and together they had a love feast. I sup- 
 pose you have heard of the appointment through the papers, 
 though of course it is under a misnomer, and it will be old 
 news to you. 
 
 General Grant has been away the last ten days and there 
 is hardly anybody at headquarters but myself. I am look- 
 ing for him every day, and upon his return shall be some- 
 what relieved. 
 
334 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Aug. 29, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I wrote you yesterday and shortly after my letter was 
 mailed, was gratified by the return of General Grant. He 
 congratulated me warmly upon my appointment, at which 
 he is evidently sincerely rejoiced and desired me to direct the 
 enclosed letter to you. It is sealed, and I do not know its 
 contents ; if complimentary, I hope it may be preserved for 
 my children in future years. General Grant is destined to 
 wield a powerful influence upon the nation. His name will 
 be closely linked with the history of the age. I am proud 
 of his friendship and of the great confidence he reposes in me. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Sept. I, 1863. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I am about to accompany General Grant to New Orleans ; 
 shall start this evening and be gone some eight or ten days, 
 so that if you do not hear from me as regularly as usual you 
 must not be anxious. 
 
 New Ori,Eans, Sept. 6, 1863. 
 
 My last was dated from Natchez, advising you of my intent 
 to come here. Yours of 21st was received at this point day 
 before yesterday. Our trip down the river was safe and 
 pleasant, and we were fortunate in not being fired upon by 
 the guerillas. The steamboat /z^/m, which preceded us, was 
 fired upon and three men wounded. Our reception in New 
 Orleans was very brilliant — serenades, calls, a magnificent 
 evening reception or levee by General Banks, and yesterday 
 a grand review. The parade grounds are some eight miles 
 from the city. We rode out on horseback, and I am sorry 
 to say our festivities were or are interrupted by a rather seri- 
 ous accident. The two generals and their staff made a large 
 
Letters 335 
 
 cavalcade. General Grant was riding a fine but unbroken 
 horse and on our return the animal shied upon a carriage 
 and fell ; he was in advance and at rapid speed ; the oflficer 
 following was out of place, and rode over him and the tramp- 
 ling of the horse bruised him severely. We took him in a 
 state of insensibility into a roadside inn before which the 
 accident occurred, and where he now lies in the room in 
 which I write. His thigh is badly injured and he cannot 
 move his leg, but he is better this morning and I think can 
 be moved in a day or two ; with the residue of his staff, I 
 remain to take care of him. 
 
 The weather here has been sultry until to-day ; a fine 
 breeze is stirring and I think we shall soon have rain. It was 
 intensely hot during the review, which was tedious, there 
 being some fifteen thousand troops to be reviewed at once. 
 My clothes were dripping wet with perspiration, as if I had 
 been in a rainstorm, — but then I had motion, gladsome mo- 
 tion, and " motion to an endless end is needful for man's 
 heart." 
 
 New ORI.EANS, Sept. 7, 1863. 
 
 I open my letter to enclose a couple of cartes, one of Gen- 
 eral Grant, the other you will probably recognize. I will 
 send the cartes of the residue of the staflf to-morrow. They 
 were all taken hurriedly, the weather intensely hot and the 
 time noon, when we were all pretty tired, having had no 
 sleep for two or three nights. . . . Some day, when I 'm 
 in a better humor, and get all my toggery together, I '11 have 
 one taken in full uniform for you. The Adjutant- General 
 of the United States lent me his coat to be taken in, and his 
 figure being smaller than mine, makes me look pinched in 
 the breast ; it was as much as I could do to button it over. 
 
 General Grant is much improved this morning, and I 
 think will be out soon again. Meanwhile, we are all very 
 quiet and comfortably provided for. My diet being soft 
 shell crabs and pompinot and nice fish that is brought me 
 
336 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 from the Gulf. General Banks calls, and all the other gen- 
 erals, and we are at no loss for society. 
 
 P. S. — There is a group of the General and his staff finish- 
 ing while I write. Send in a few days. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tenn., 
 ViCKSBURG, Sept. 15, 1863. 
 
 My visit to New Orleans and the forts some one hundred 
 miles further south has been fraught with much interest. I 
 do not remember in all my life to have had so much hilarity 
 and joy crowded into so brief a space of time. 
 
 It has literally been a triumphal march. The only alloy 
 being the unfortunate accident to General Grant, who, I am 
 happy to say, is safely at these headquarters, though I fear 
 his accident will confine him to his bed for a good while. 
 
 The New Orleans papers have been filled with allusions 
 to us in various terms of compliment. General Banks has 
 been most assiduous in attention. 
 
 Of all this I will write you more at length the moment I 
 find leisure. I have been assigned to active duty in the field 
 and to command the Second Brigade, Sixth Division, Army 
 of the Tennessee, reporting for duty to Major-Gen. J. B. 
 McPherson, who, I am happy to say, is my personal friend. 
 Of this matter I will write more anon. Sufiice it now to say 
 that the command is a very fine one, an eminently fighting 
 brigade, and one that distinguished itself on my left in the 
 assault on Vicksburg. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. of the Tenn., 
 
 Vicksburg, Sept. 20, 1863. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I want now to impress upon you, and I 'CoS.r^you at least, 
 or at the last, will understand me and know I am in earnest, 
 that General Grant is the man of the nation, that the eyes 
 of the nation are turned upon him, that he has a world-wide 
 
Letters 337 
 
 celebrity, I was going to write, but I should write, world- 
 wide honest fame, and I should inform you further that he 
 does not write much or say much, but whatever he writes or 
 says is strictly to the point. 
 
 Headquarters Dept. oe the Tenn., 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Sept. 20, 1863. 
 
 Mail of this morning brings your congratulations. I have 
 been so long a brigadier that the mere rank added makes but 
 little diflference in my feelings. 
 
 I wrote you yesterday, urging you to write to General 
 Grant ; a few minutes since he showed me your letter to him 
 of even date with mine, eloquent and well expressed, but 
 brief. You must write to him more at length. In my judg- 
 ment he will be confined to his bed for a long time with his 
 inj ury . Such letters as you cotdd write would interest him 
 more than you can well imagine. . . . 
 
 I must tell you an incident which occurred to me the other 
 day, before I went to New Orleans. The city of Natchez 
 had sent up a delegation to wait upon General Grant, who 
 turned them over to me. I was to escort them around the 
 fortifications, and the General gave the principal man, the 
 mayor, his war-horse to ride — a splendid cream-colored 
 stallion, a little vicious. I was riding Bell, a horse you have 
 never seen, but confessed the finest horse in the army. East 
 or West ; all have said so who have seen him — a large 
 powerful brown or mahogany bay, great in battle, one who 
 will yield the right of way to none. Well, we were riding 
 in a very narrow gorge, the mayor had dismounted to lead 
 his horse over a bad place, being in advance of me, when all 
 at once he turned and a terrific conflict took place between 
 the two horses. I seized the bridle of the General's, en- 
 deavoring to manage both ; at the same moment mine reared 
 straight upon his hind legs. I dismounted in the expecta- 
 tion that he would fall upon me, and as I touched the ground 
 fell. Then these two great stallions, full of fire and fury, 
 fought over my prostrate body, their hoofs struck together 
 
338 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and each trampled within an inch of my head all around and 
 over me. I lay still as if I had been in bed ; I knew my 
 hour had not yet come. My own horse was the first to per- 
 ceive my danger ; he retired a little from regard to me. 
 Those who were by were speechless and horror-stricken. I 
 rose unharmed, mounted and rode forward. I have never 
 been in greater peril of my life. God watches me in calm 
 and in storm. 
 
 My old regiment wanted to make me a present of a saddle 
 and bridle, and I am told raised in a few moments $975 for 
 that purpose, and the thing was to be extended to sword, 
 sash, pistols, everything complete. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 Second Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Natchez, Miss., Sept. 27, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My reception at Natchez has been very brilliant, splendid 
 dinners, suppers — all that sort of thing, with speeches, and 
 songs, mirth and hilarity. My command is magnificent. I 
 have six regiments, and a battery, one regiment cavalry, one 
 of mounted infantry. My quarters are literally a palace, 
 one of the most elegant houses in or about Natchez, situated 
 in the most lovely grounds you can imagine, within about 
 a mile from the city. 
 
 My troops are all camped close around me on the grounds 
 of neighboring villas, which, combined, have heretofore given 
 the name of ' ' Dignity Hill ' ' to my own general encamp- 
 ment. One of my regiments is in town on duty as provost 
 guard. The residue keep close guard and watch upon their 
 chief, and no baron in feudal hall ever had more loyal sub- 
 jects. The rides and walks about are all most charming, 
 especially at this season of the year, and I am in a constant 
 state of regret that you cannot be here to enjoy it with me. 
 If there was any indication as to how long I am to remain, 
 I would send for you ; but I may be ordered away at a mo- 
 
Letters 
 
 339 
 
 merit's notice. Indeed, I have no expectation of staying 
 here more than eight or ten days at the furthest. I shall 
 either be ordered back to Vicksburg or directed into the field. 
 Meanwhile I shall take the good the gods provide me. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 First Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Natchez, Oct. 7, 1863. 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I knew you would write me on the 23d ; felt that even as 
 I was writing you on the selfsame day, perhaps at the same 
 hour, our spirits were in commune. What is there in all this 
 world so sweet, so pure, so holy as a mother's love ? Darling 
 mother, I love you with all my heart and all my mind, and 
 all my strength, but my love for you is nothing in compari- 
 son with yours for me that has continued so constant, so un- 
 wavering, for all these years, these long, long years which 
 yet are nothing to look back upon. 
 
 It is true as you remark, I have travelled much, very 
 much in the past season — have traversed many, many miles 
 by land and water ; ten times up and down the river when 
 the banks were infested by guerrillas, never shot into once, 
 other boats preceding and succeeding me constantly attacked. 
 I seem to have borne nearly a charmed life. God has been 
 very good to me. I see by the papers, as well as by your 
 letter, that Bill lyytle has gone under at last ; poor fellow, 
 his was a gallant spirit, and he has gone where the good 
 soldiers go. The best death to die — ' ' We tell his doom 
 without a sigh, for he is freedom's now and fame's." 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 First Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Vicksburg, Miss., Oct. 14, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My last advices to you have been from Natchez. Since 
 then, I have hurriedly changed my base. How long I shall 
 
340 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 remain here will depend upon other moves and circum- 
 stances. You must not suffer yourself to be worried for me 
 if many days at a time elapse without intelligence from me ; 
 of course, communication won't be continually interrupted. 
 I left very pleasant and luxurious quarters at Natchez, and 
 some good and kind friends, to come into the field and the 
 bivouac, soldiers' fates, and we make the best of it. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 First Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 ViCKSBURG, Miss., Oct. 20, 1863. 
 Mv DEAR Mother : 
 
 General Grant received your letter and of this I have 
 written before. He is now gone, I don't know whither — 
 flitted with his staff and surroundings before I had come 
 back, as the swallows flit in the fall. I do not think you 
 have got a right estimate of Sherman. You call him ' ' slow, 
 cautious, almost to a fault. ' ' On the contrary, he is as quick 
 as lightning, the most rapid thinker, actor, writer, I ever 
 came in contact with — proud and high-spirited as an Arab 
 horse. Grant is slow and cautious, and sure and lucky. 
 They are both good men. Men you would admire if you 
 knew them, and men who upon first blush you would be 
 marvellously deceived in. 
 
 You ask about the tribute from the old " 54th." I under- 
 stand the boys have made arrangements to fit me out ; but 
 have n't received the articles. Somebody said that they were 
 sumptuous. I suppose they would get the best that money 
 could buy, for they think a heap of " old Kilby " — the only 
 name by which I am known in the Fifteenth Army Corps. 
 Strangers used to come and ask for Kilby, and for a long 
 time I rarely heard the name of Smith as applied to myself. 
 I don't know but what their presents have been burnt up or 
 sunk in the river. There has been a great deal of loss lately. 
 When they come, I will let you know and tell you all about 
 them. 
 
Letters 
 
 341 
 
 Enclosed herewith find copy of a letter written by General 
 Sherman to the 13th Regulars on the occasion of the death 
 of his son at Memphis. I saw a copy by accident to-day, and 
 together with the brief notice that his son had died, is the 
 only intelHgence I have. He had his boy with him, a bright, 
 active little fellow, who rode with him wherever he went, 
 and who was a great pet with his own old regiment, the 13th 
 Regulars. You know General Sherman came into the ser- 
 vice as colonel of this regiment at the outset of the war. The 
 death must have been sudden, and you perceive by the tenor 
 of the letter how deeply he feels it. I do assure you that we 
 find every day in the service, that "the bravest are the 
 tenderest, the loving are the daring." I will forward your 
 letter to him, and perhaps you had better address him again 
 on the occasion of his bereavement. I am sure he is a dear 
 friend of mine, and in the chances of this war, calculating 
 upon his position and mine, it is hardly probable we shall 
 meet again. Like him, " on, on, I must go, till I meet a 
 soldier's fate, or see my country rise superior to all factions, 
 till its flag is adored and respected by ourselves and all the 
 powers on earth, " ' and now our paths are slightly divergent. 
 Can you imagine it, even as I write, the enclosed order is 
 handed me, and received without one pang of regret. I copy 
 verbatim. You may understand the chances and changes 
 of a soldier's life. The darky says, " here to-morrow and 
 gone to-day. ' ' 
 
 "Special Orders) 
 "No. 236. ) 
 
 "Headquarters Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 " Dept. of the Tennessee, 
 
 "ViCKSBURG, Miss., Oct. 20, 1863. 
 
 " Brig.-Genl. E. S. Dennis, U. S. Vols., will report forth- 
 with to Genl. McArthur, to be assigned to command of 
 Second Brigade, First Division, and will relieve Brig.-Genl. 
 T. K. Smith. 
 
 " Brig.-Genl. T. K. Smith, on being relieved from com- 
 mand of Second Brigade, First Division, will proceed forth- 
 with to Natchez, Miss., and report to Brig.-Genl. M. M. 
 
 ' General Sherman's letter to Capt. C. C. Smith 13th Regulars. 
 
342 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 Crocker, commanding Fourth Division, for assignment to 
 command of Brigade in Fourth Division. 
 
 " By order of Maj.-Genl. McPherson, 
 
 " W. T. Clark, 
 "A. A. General. 
 " Brig.-Genl. T. K. Smith, 
 
 " Com'g Second Brigade, First Division." 
 
 Thus you perceive, having Hcked the Second Brigade into 
 shape, I am assigned elsewhere. Meanwhile, pray for me, 
 and thank God that everything has transpired to take me 
 out of the filthy God-forsaken hole on a hill. My next will 
 be from Natchez and will contain full directions how to ad- 
 dress me. Keep writing, and enclose my letters with request 
 to forward to Major-Genl. James B. McPherson, commanding 
 Seventeenth Army Corps, Department of the Tennessee, 
 Vicksburg, Miss. He is my warm, intimate, personal friend, 
 and will see that all come safe to hand. I enclose you his 
 carte. He is very handsome, a thorough soldier, brave as 
 Caesar, young, a bachelor, and — engaged to be married. 
 
 Genl. M. M. Crocker, to whom I am about to report, is a 
 most excellent gentleman and eke a soldier, thank God! 
 graduate of the Military Academy of West Point, also an in- 
 timate of mine and friend. Somehow or other, the West 
 Pointers all take to me, and by the grace of God I find my 
 way among soldiers. You can't understand all this, but it 
 is most delightful to have a soldier, a real soldier, for a com- 
 mander and associate. Natchez, by this time is a second 
 home to me. I know a heap of people and have some good 
 friends even among the ' ' Secesh. ' ' I may be there a day, 
 a month, a year, nobody knows and nobody cares. I can 
 pack, and ' ' get up and dust ' ' as quickly as any of them. 
 
 Headquarters Second Brigade, 
 First Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Vicksburg, Miss., Oct. 22, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I propose sending to you to-day, per Adams' Express 
 Company, a box of pictures. 
 
 The group will be interesting to strangers, containing as 
 
MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT AND OFFICERS, 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, 1863. 
 
 C.S"^("/a^.'343.) 
 
Letters 343 
 
 it does, Generals Grant and Thomas ; the other gentlemen 
 are members of General Grant's staff — Captain Jane, Colonel 
 Duff, Colonel Riggin, and Captain Camcross, the latter aid 
 to General Thomas. 
 
 I congratulate you upon the results of the late election, 
 partial news of which has this night reached me. The sol- 
 diers of Ohio will begin to feel that they may yet find a home 
 outside their camp. I think Mr. Pugh and his tool, Mr. 
 Vallandigham, have gone to their poHtical grave, from 
 which there will be no resurrection. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 Natchez, Oct 26, 1863. 
 
 By former letters you will understand my heading and 
 dates ; lest, however, they should not have been received, I 
 will recapitulate, by the remark that I have been relieved 
 from the command of the Second Brigade, First Division, 
 now employed at garrison duty in Vicksburg, and have been 
 assigned to the command of the First Brigade, Fourth Divi- 
 sion. My headquarters at present at Natchez and the same 
 quarters I formerly occupied. This change is entirely agree- 
 able to me, the command equally good. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 
 Fifth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 Department of Tennessee, Nov. 19, 1863. 
 
 Your wildest dreams never shadowed forth the life I lead. 
 I retain my business headquarters at ' ' Kenil worth, ' ' a most 
 sumptuous and elegant house ; but for my private quarters I 
 occupy " Auburn," a seat nearly adjacent, and the prop- 
 erty of Dr. . . . the largest cotton planter and, prob- 
 ably, the richest man in the South. You may imagine my 
 menage. He is in New York ; but I am rarely permitted 
 to dine at home. There are several families, at whose table 
 a cover is always laid for me, and the stated entertainments 
 are of almost daily occurrence. I have never seen in New 
 
344 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 York or elsewhere anything approaching the style of living 
 of the wealthy here. ... I wish you could see my 
 apartments this morning — perfect conservatories. My tables 
 are covered with bouquets, camellias, and violets, and gera- 
 niums in lavish profusion. The air here now is soft and 
 balmy, the weather like our Indian summer ; not quite so 
 cool. The mercury, as I write, stands in the shade at 
 seventy-eight degrees. 
 
 I wrote you that the beautiful sword, sash, belt, etc., that 
 had been presented to me, was sunk. It was recovered, but 
 very much spoiled. The agent would not receive it from the 
 express company at Vicksburg, and I have never seen it. 
 The saddle and bridle came safe enough and are very fine. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 Department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 " Camp Kii,by," Miss., Dec. 15, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I am glad 3'^ou were pleased with the pictures, though I 
 think they were all wretched. I do assure you I was any- 
 thing but sad when mine was taken ; indeed, we were all in 
 a high frolic. I believe it is the general expression of my 
 countenance when in repose. General Grant's was a very 
 fine one till the painter ruined it with his daub. The group 
 is worth keeping and will be historical. 
 
 Our weather here is most delightful ; until within a day or 
 two perfectly pleasant without a fire. Yesterday a thunder- 
 storm and to-day bright, clear, and bracing, something like 
 your October weather. My camp is outpost in a very \^dld, 
 broken, barren country. I am in front, and nearest to the 
 enemy. We exchange compliments occasionally. Yester- 
 day the caitiffs captured a couple of my men who had ven- 
 tured beyond the guard line. So we are on the qui vive, and 
 that keeps the blood stirred. 
 
 I have left a life of great luxury at Natchez — ' ' fortune la 
 guerre. ' ' 
 
Letters 345 
 
 headquarters first brigade, 
 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 
 "Camp Kii,by," Miss., Dec. 13, 1863. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My command has been ordered from Natchez and thrown 
 to the front. I am encamped farthest to the front and close 
 to the enemy's lines near Black River. In a future letter I 
 will send you map upon which you can locate my position. 
 The country is very wild and broken, and has always been 
 sparsely inhabited. It is now wild and desolate in the ex- 
 treme. I am upon a chain of bluffs cut up by the most ex- 
 traordinary fissures. The subsoil has no tenacity, not sooner 
 does the upper crust give way than the substratum dissolves 
 like sugar, making the most hideous chasms and rents. The 
 soil is bare and apparently barren save where the forest is 
 undisturbed ; but this is only in appearance, for here the 
 best cotton has been grown. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 " Camp Kii^by " in the Fiei<d, Dec. 22, 1863. 
 
 I am glad to learn that you are all living comfortably and 
 contented. You none of you have the most remote idea of 
 the horrors of war, or the desolation and despair that is left 
 in the track of large armies. I have known women whose 
 husbands and brothers, and sons, have been forcibly con- 
 scripted, torn away from them at midnight by the rebels, left 
 without food, fire, or clothes, sometimes sick in bed. I have 
 known others who, two years ago, were of the most opulent 
 in the land, who counted their yearly incomes by the hun- 
 dreds of thousands, begging for food from our commissary. 
 I don't know how it may be at the North. I am told by 
 those who have returned from visits home, that the people 
 they have met are callous and careless, and ignorant of the 
 state of affairs here. This war has had its origin in lawless 
 
346 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and malignant passion, and is the severest calamity with 
 which this land could be visited. Seas, rivers, and harbors 
 are blocked up, cities are depopulated, fertile regions are 
 condemned to eternal desolation. Mourning, tears, anguish, 
 misery, in its worst form, is the lot of a vast number of our 
 people. Those who have immunity are blessed, and should 
 be grateful to God. I imagine, that, aside from the evan- 
 escent sensation that a vivid description of a battle-scene 
 gives, few think of the soldier in the field, or of those who 
 sorrow for him dead. Part of the country is dripping with 
 the blood of heroes slain, part is given up to feasting and 
 revelry, at Washington the glory of Babylon has come again. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps. 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 "Camp Kilby" in the fiei<d, Christmas, 1863. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 You will understand that I am not at Vicksburg ; but at a 
 point between the Yazoo and Black Rivers — a wilderness 
 utterly desolate. My district and camps extend over a wide 
 expanse of country. I am complimented by a large com- 
 mand, and have had accession of five regiments of cavalry 
 and a battery of artillery, an increase of some four thousand 
 men to report to me — quite an army by itself. You may be 
 sure I have enough to do. I average my forty miles a day 
 on horseback, and keep my three good horses thoroughly 
 exercised. We, of course, do not know from day to day 
 what our movements may be ; always waiting orders. But 
 in all probability, I shall stay here or hereabouts all winter, 
 varying with an occasional expedition and such brushes as 
 I may be able to coax out of the enemy, the main body of 
 whom is about sixty miles to my front, and who keep me 
 amused by scouting parties. Meanwhile, the Senate may 
 take it into their wise heads to reject my confirmation when 
 the President sends my name in, and I may find myself re- 
 lieved. 
 
Letters 347 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth army Corps. 
 
 department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 '* Camp Kii.by " in the field, January i, 1864. 
 
 My dear Sister Helen : 
 
 The weather in this neck of woods has been most charm- 
 ing, warm and balmy, until night before last, when after a 
 most terrific rainstorm, the full benefit of which your brother 
 received, riding that day forty miles or more, the wind 
 changed to the north, and suddenly there came a flurry of 
 snow followed by freezing and most bitter high wind. I 
 never felt more intense cold anywhere. I don't know the 
 condition of the thermometer, but everything about me has 
 been frozen up, ink, ale — everything that will freeze — and 
 to-day, although the sun shone bright, there was no sign of 
 thaw. It is by far the coldest weather I have experienced 
 for more than two years. It is exactly a year ago to-day 
 since we withdrew from ' ' Chickasas Bayou, ' ' within six or 
 eight miles from here after one of the severest contested 
 battles I have been in. I little thought to be here, that day, 
 now. It has been a year of remarkable events to our country 
 and to me. 
 
 I send you a few old books that have been my solace in 
 many a weary hour past ; don't scorn them because they are 
 old. " Old wine, old books, old friends," you know— and 
 each one of them I send you has a legend to me, associations 
 that make it dear, and, therefore, for my sake, you will keep 
 them as a little more precious, giving all of the family who 
 wish a taste of their contents, for they all have intrinsic 
 worth ; you will note a memorandum in some from whence 
 they came, etc. 
 
 For a whole month past I have been in the wilderness, so 
 I can write you no stirring story. I left a life in Natchez 
 that almost realized a fairy tale ; this could not last long, 
 and on some accounts I am glad it is over. I am again in 
 the front, though it was pleasant, while it lasted, to sit in 
 ^ * fayre ladye' s bower. ' ' I wonder how you all look at home. 
 
348 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 I have hoped for cartes, but I suppose it would be expecting 
 too much from the enterprise of the family, I wonder if I 
 shall ever again see any of you. Almost every night I 
 dream of the dead, of father, and Walter, and Charlie. One 
 or two nights ago my dream was so vivid. I thought I woke 
 with Walter's hand in mine. Can it be that the dead watch 
 over the living, and come to us in dreams ; I sometimes 
 think that this is true, and that for every friend we lose on 
 earth we gain a guardian angel. I hope our dear mother is 
 well and happy. I can see by her letter that in my children 
 she renews her youth. She has had many and sore afflic- 
 tions, but bears a brave heart. You must all do everything 
 in your power to smooth her pathway. I have met many 
 women in my experience of life — many beautiful, witty, 
 sweet and lovely, some who thought they loved me — but 
 never any woman like our mother, never any one with so 
 many graces of mind and body. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Department of the Tennessee, 
 " Camp Kii<by " in the FiEi^d, January 9, 1864. 
 
 My dear Mother and Wife : 
 
 I have just finished packing a box of books, old, some of 
 them well-worn, and all of them, with one or two exceptions, 
 have given me solace. You will find stories to interest the 
 children at least, mayhap some that in revision will interest 
 you. I quite envy the pleasure you will, I think, have 
 about the fireside in the perusal of the old stories. John 
 Randolph, in one of his letters, says, ' ' Indeed, I have some- 
 times blamed myself for not cultivating your imagination, 
 when you were young. It is a dangerous quality, however, 
 for the possessor. But if from my life were to be taken the 
 pleasure derived from that faculty, very little would remain. 
 Shakspeare, and Milton, and Chaucer, and Spencer, and 
 Plutarch, and the Arabian Nights Entertainments, and Don 
 Quixote, and Gil Bias, and Tom Jones, and Gulliver, and 
 
Letters 349 
 
 Robinson Crtisoe, and the tale of Troy divine, have made up 
 more than half my worldly enjoyments. ' ' I sympathize and 
 agree with what he says. Everyone of those books is dear 
 to me now. I got the second volume of To77i Jones by acci- 
 dent the other day, and devoured the whole of it at a sitting. 
 So I would Robinson Crusoe, and I have never ceased to re- 
 gret the loss of my first copy of the Arabian Nights, which 
 someone of the . . . family borrowed and forgot to 
 return. 
 
 You remember Uncle Jones made me a Christmas present 
 of it, the first copy I ever saw and I incontinently devoured 
 it, lying on my belly in front of the chamber fire at the im- 
 mortal " Saunders and Beaches," while they took turns read- 
 ing French to you downstairs. The sensations produced 
 upon me then by that book are vivid with me now. 
 Still imagination " is a dangerous quality for the pos- 
 sessor." Certainly, there is no pleasure so lasting, none 
 to which we can so frequently revert and with so little 
 danger of satiety; but a fine mind may be given up en- 
 tirely to the pleasures of fiction, and by too free indul- 
 gence be enervated for profitable labor. Upon retrospection, 
 I am satisfied that this was the case with myself. I read 
 hugely, enormously, for a boy ; more before I had reached 
 my teens than many tolerably educated men in their lives. 
 My reading ruined me for everything else except belles lettres 
 and the classics. ''Belles lettres and the classics" will do 
 for the amusement of the fortunate recipient of hereditary 
 wealth, but will hardly answer to get a living out of There- 
 fore, be a little cautious with the novels and the tales ; they 
 are all alike. Is there any chance for the Latin ? I hope 
 reasonable effort will be made in this behalf You will be 
 surprised at the change it will effect, the facilities it will give 
 the learners in whatever else they are striving to acquire. 
 
 In respect to my camp, I am in what may be called a 
 howling wilderness, deserted by all save prowling guerillas 
 and my own soldiers. My regiments are scattered along a 
 chain of bluffs, desolate and cheerless— this winter unusually 
 bleak and cold. They are in tents or rude log huts. Timber is 
 
350 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 scarce, and water that is fit to drink, hard to get. The roads 
 are so cut up as to be almost impassable. I am companion- 
 less, solitary; so far as interchange of sentiment is concerned, 
 entirely alone. ... I make raids to the front in search, 
 of guerillas, and for forage and cattle, riding far and return- 
 ing fast to my stronghold, sometimes imagining myself a 
 Scottish chief, and living very much as the Scottish chiefs 
 are described to have lived. I wish I had a Scott beside me 
 now and then, to sing my lay. Where, or when, this life 
 will end, I cannot say ; I have no prescience of orders. I 
 think we wait the action of Congress. We can't soon move 
 far on account of the roads. Still, my camp life does not, 
 with me, contrast disagreeably with the life I led at Natchez, 
 Sudden change, rapid transition, is familiar to the soldier, 
 who must learn to accommodate himself to camp or court. 
 So long as my health is spared, I can contrive to be happy 
 after a fashion under almost any circumstances. ' ' My mind 
 to me a kingdom is. ' ' 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps,. 
 
 Department oe the Tennessee, 
 
 In THU EIEI,d, January i8, 1864. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 Here I find myself isoli, and until further orders must sa 
 remain. The government of the army is strictly monarchi- 
 cal, almost a pure despotism. An eminent English jurist 
 asserts that there is no such thing as martial law, or in other 
 words, that martial law may be defined to be the will of the 
 general in command. A true soldier, the instant he enlists 
 or accepts a commission, surrenders all freedom of action, 
 almost all freedom of thought. Every personal feeling is 
 superseded by the interests of the cause to which he devotes 
 himself. He goes wherever ordered, he performs whatever 
 he is commanded, he suflers whatever he is enjoined ; he be- 
 comes a mere passive instrument for the most part incapable 
 of resistance. The graduation of ranks is only a graduation 
 in slavery. I desire to become a good and practical soldier 
 
Letters 351 
 
 and strategist, one whose labor and conduct no enemy will 
 ever laugh at in battle, no friend ever find insufficient, as 
 such, to serve my country so long as she may need my ser- 
 vices or until they cease to be valuable. 
 
 As for this country I am in, I feel perfectly incapable of 
 conveying an adequate idea of the dreary lonely nakedness 
 that surrounds me. The curse of Babylon has fallen upon 
 it. It is "a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness." I 
 have in former letters adverted to the peculiar geological 
 formation of the chain of bluffs upon a portion of which I 
 am now encamped. The chain is about three hundred miles 
 in length, always on the east side of the Mississippi, and as 
 some geologist asserts has been blown up, formed like snow- 
 drifts by the action of the wind in former ages. Be this as it 
 may, the face of the country upon them has very much the 
 appearance of a succession of snow-drifts upon which a sud- 
 den thaw has begun to act. The top soil has no tenacity, 
 although fertile, and when broken for cultivation, yields like 
 sugar or salt to the action of the elements. The country is 
 not undulating but broken in precipitous hills ; deep ravines, 
 gorges, and defiles mark the ways. Upon the hillsides not 
 too steep for the passage of the plough, where have been the 
 old cotton-fields, the land lies in hillocks, resembling newly- 
 made graves. And as the area upon which the great staple 
 could be produced is extensive, one may ride for many 
 miles over what, with little stretch of imagination, may be 
 considered an immense graveyard. To add to the gloom 
 and desolation, are the charred remains of burned dwellings, 
 cotton sheds and cotton-gin houses, gardens and peach 
 orchards laid open and waste, negro quarters unroofed, long 
 lines of earthworks and fortifications, trenches and rifle-pits, 
 traversing roadways, cutting in their passage hamlet or dwell- 
 ing, plantation and wilderness. Huge flocks of buzzards, 
 ravens and carrion crows, continually wheel, circle, and 
 hover over the war-worn land. The bleaching bones of 
 many a mule and horse show where they have held high 
 carnival, and for them much dainty picking still remains, as 
 the spring rains wash off the scanty covering of the soldiers 
 
352 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 who have gone to rest along the banks of the Yazoo. The 
 patriot veteran who packs an ' ' Enfield " is as a general rule 
 superficially buried in his blanket, if he falls in battle, on 
 the spot where he falls, unless, wounded, he crawls to a 
 sheltered nook to find a grave — happy, then, if he 's buried 
 at all. Many a corpse I 've seen swelled up and black, with 
 its eyes picked out, which, while it was a man, had dragged 
 itself for shelter and out of sight, and been overlooked by 
 the burial fatigues. This, as father used to say, is a digres- 
 sion. Ofi" from the cultivated lands are canebrakes, dense 
 jungles of fishing poles of all sizes. The little reed of which 
 they make pipe stems that grows as thick on the ground as 
 wheat stalks in a field, and the great pole thirty feet high 
 and as thick as your wrist. Occasional forests, and there 
 some of the trees are majestic and beautiful ; not a few 
 of them evergreen, one, the name of which I cannot get, 
 with a bright green spiked leaf bearing a beautiful bright 
 red berry, grows large and branching and shows finely. 
 The magnolia is evergreen. I send specimens of both in the 
 box, though I fear they will wither before they will reach 
 you ; also some of the moss that attaches itself to every tree 
 that grows, and some that don't, or rather, has done grow- 
 ing and are dead. Through this country I have penetrated 
 in all directions where there are roadways and where there 
 are none, and sometimes have had a high old time in finding 
 my way. The better portion of the inhabitants have aban- 
 doned — some refugees at the North, some in the rebel army, 
 some fled to Georgia and Alabama, the few that remain are 
 the poorest sort of white trash. This element, as a general 
 rule, is Union in sentiment. They possess strange character- 
 istics common to the class wherever I have met them in 
 Tennessee, Arkansas, or Mississippi, but not in Louisiana. 
 They are ignorant, and rather dirty, I mean uncleanly, in 
 their habits, always miserably poor and miserably clad, and 
 yet, the women especially, possessed of a certain unaccount- 
 able refinement and gentleness almost approaching gentility. 
 The children are pretty, even with the unkempt head and 
 grimy features. Men and women always have delicate 
 hands and feet, the high instep and Arab arch is the general 
 
Letters 353 
 
 rule. There 's blood somewhere run to seed. There is 
 great suffering among the people of all classes, and the end 
 is not yet. I enclose you one or two intercepted letters. 
 
 In the jungles and canebreaks and the thickets of the 
 forest there are many cattle and hogs running wild ; some 
 are Texas cattle that have escaped from the droves of the 
 rebels while they were in occupation ; some have escaped 
 from our own droves ; some have belonged to the planters, 
 and have been run off to prevent their falling into the hands 
 of either party, and so long have they been neglected that at 
 last they have become wild, almost like buffalo, or elk, and 
 run like the devil at the sight of man on foot or horseback. 
 These animals we sometimes circumvent, and I make up ex- 
 peditions for that purpose, taking out wagon-trains, shooting 
 and butchering the beef and pork, and hauling it in dead. 
 The wildness of the animals gives these forays the excite- 
 ment of grand battles and hunts. The meat is excellent, 
 and my mess table since I have been here well supplied. 
 Thrice since I have been here I have journeyed to head- 
 quarters at Vicksburg, and twice have been visited by the 
 general commanding, McPherson ; with these interv^als, I 
 have been without companionship. In the evenings I sit 
 quite alone, except I have a terrier puppy I brought with 
 me from Natchez, who seems disposed to become social. 
 Last winter at Young's Point, and indeed ever since I have 
 been in the field till now, I have been most fortunate in 
 social commune. General Sherman has been a host to me, 
 and while he was within ten miles I was never at a loss for 
 somebody to talk to. General Stuart was a very fascinating 
 man, and I have never been very far away from General 
 Grant and staff. But now I am quite alone, and for two 
 months have hardly heard the sound of a woman's voice. 
 My horses are a great comfort to me, and, thank God, are 
 all well ; I am much blessed in horseflesh. Captain is gay 
 as a lark ; no better little horse ever trod on iron. He 's as 
 game to-day as a little peacock. My other horses you never 
 saw. They are superb and sublime. Bell is confessedly the 
 finest horse in the army, East or West. J. L. is well and 
 
354 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 growing. He starts to-morrow morning at three o'clock 
 upon an expedition to the Yazoo River to give battle to 
 some wild ducks. I have no faith in the expedition. 
 
 My command of infantry will all re-enlist as veterans ; the 
 major part of my cavalry. General Sherman, I learn to-day 
 by telegraph from Vicksburg, was there for a short time. 
 I did not see him. I have a telegraph office and operator for 
 my own use, and am in communication with Vicksburg and 
 the other headquarters over a considerable extent of country. 
 I can tell you nothing further that I think would interest 
 you concerning my inner life here, so far away for the time 
 being, and for certain purposes I am an independent chief- 
 tain leading a wild enough life. " No one to love, none to 
 caress. ' ' 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Hebron, Miss., Feb. 2, 1863. 
 My dear Wife : 
 We broke camp yesterday and are now on the march. 
 
 Camp on Peari, River, ten mii.es S. W. of 
 Canton, Mississippi, February 27, 1864. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have opportunity to send a single line to assure you that 
 I am safe and well. A glance at the map of Mississippi will 
 give you our line of march and present location. The rail- 
 way is marked from Vicksburg due east through Warren, 
 Hinds, Rankin, Scott, Newton, I^auderdale, and Clark 
 Counties, to the extreme western border of the State. My 
 command has been to Enterprise and Quitman. I am now 
 on Pearl River in Madison County, near Madisonville, within 
 about seventy (70) miles of Vicksburg. Fire, havoc, deso- 
 lation, and ruin have marked our course. The blow has 
 been terrible, crushing. The enemy have fled before us like 
 frightened deer. The whole railway system of the State is 
 broken up. The railway I have indicated shows our path- 
 
Letters 355 
 
 way through the State. We have not yet heard from our 
 cavalry. 
 
 My health is excellent, my horses have stood the journey 
 well and the troops of my command are all well and in fine 
 spirits. To-daj' is the twenty-seventh of the march ; we 
 have covered some three hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 Headquarters First Brigade, 
 Fourth Div., Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 Camp Hebron, Miss., March 5, 1864. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have only time to write a single line giving the assurance 
 of my personal safety and the crossing of my command over 
 Black River, with but few casualties, after one of the most 
 extraordinary marches known to modem warfare. The 
 particulars I will give you as leisure serves hereafter. 
 
 Headquarters First Div., Red River Expedition, 
 
 Detachment Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 ViCKSBURG, Miss., March 9, 1864. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I have promised myself the pleasure of writing you a long 
 letter, in which I should essay some attempt at description 
 of the expedition from which we have just returned ; but 
 scarcely have I taken a long breath ere I find myself ordered 
 upon active and increasing service. I am highly compli- 
 mented by my commanding generals, and promoted to the 
 command of a division composed of picked men and the very 
 flower of the Seventeenth Army Corps, with instant orders 
 to embark for the Red River. I shall probably report to 
 General Banks and my destination is still South. My trust 
 is delicate and highly responsible, my command magnificent. 
 No hope of home or furlough this smnmer. I had a vague 
 and latent hope that having served so long and as I believe 
 so faithfully, that opportunity might offer for at least the 
 preferring of a request for leave ; but I never yet in this war 
 
35^ Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 have seen the time that I could ask a furlough, being always 
 on the march or in the presence ot the enemy. 
 
 Enclosed please find the rough notes most hastily thrown 
 together from which was blocked out the official report of 
 the expedition. It is doubtful whether you can decipher 
 or make sense of them — certainly more than I can do. It 
 is all I have time to oflfer you^ and with the aid of the map 
 it may serve as some guide. We traversed the entire State 
 of Mississippi from the river to the border due east, driving 
 the enemy at all points. Completely destroj^ed the railway 
 system of the State and returned leisurely, living for the 
 most part upon the country. It may chance that I have op- 
 portunity to write you from the transports, in which case be 
 sure you shall hear from me. Give your earnest prayers for 
 the success of this expedition. It may be the turning-point 
 of my military career. I am standing now on a dizzy height, 
 lofty enough to make a cool head swim. I feel the power 
 within me to rise to the occasion. Confidence is half the 
 battle, but all is with God. 
 
 I have met General Sherman frequently upon the march, 
 and to-day saw him for a little while. He is the man for 
 the Southwest. The expression is trite, but he is the Na- 
 poleon of the war. In time to come you will revert to some 
 of my former letters and believe that I have written with a 
 prophetic pen. 
 
 My sword sash and belt have at last arrived, most costly 
 and elegant. Said, aside from the jewels, to be more elegant 
 than the one presented to General Grant. I wish it was at 
 home to place among the archives. Much too valuable for 
 field service. There are two sashes, Russia leather belt and 
 gold sword-knot, all enclosed in rosewood box, lined with 
 white satin and blue velvet. 
 
 There will be a General A. J. Smith in this command, 
 with whom I will be confounded continually. He is my 
 superior officer, an old man, and an old regular army soldier 
 graduate of West Point. I have been with him in battle on 
 three occasions. He is gallant. 
 
Letters 357 
 
 Headquarters Div. Seventeenth Army Corps, 
 
 Red River Expedition, Fort De Russey, 
 
 AvoYEi,i<ES County, Louisiana, March 17, 1864. 
 
 My dkar Wife : 
 
 My last hurried letter to you was dated from on board ship 
 at Vicksburg. The fleet of transports under my command 
 sailed from that point at seven o'clock, Thursday, loth inst., 
 arrived at mouth of Red River and reported to Admiral 
 Porter on Friday at noon. At 10 a.m., Saturday, sailed up 
 Red River and Atchafalaya under orders and signals from 
 flagship Black Hawk, to Simmesport. Morning of Sunday 
 debarked my troops for inspection, review and drill by regi- 
 ments. At seven o'clock p.m., received marching orders, 
 and at 8 p.m. marched, bringing up the rear of the column, 
 repaired bridges through the night, roads for greater part of 
 the way bad and swampy ; bivouacked at 4 a.m., Monday, 
 eight miles from Simmesport. Meanwhile, Gen. A. J. Smith, 
 with General Mower's command, had reconnoitred the front, 
 driven four regiments of the enemy from a fortification, situ- 
 ate some five miles from Simmesport, and was making across 
 country for Moreauville on Bayou L' Eglise. Gave my troops 
 rest two hours ; at six o'clock took up the line of march, 
 moving forward rapidly till eleven o'clock, when I halted, 
 ordered cofiee for the men and fed the animals. Meanwhile 
 pioneers were reconstructing bridge destroyed by the enemy. 
 At noon resumed march which till this time had led us for 
 the most part through a rich and highly-cultivated country 
 past extensive canefields and sugar-houses, now crossing a 
 bayou and penetrating a swamp spreading some few miles be- 
 fore us. Ascending a slight elevation, we suddenly emerged 
 in one of the most beautiful prairies imaginable. High table 
 land, gently undulating, watered by exquisite lakes occasional 
 groves, the landscape dotted with tasteful houses, gardens 
 and shrubberies. This prairie, called Avoyelles, is settled 
 exclusively by French emigrSs, many of whom, as our 
 army passed, sought shelter under the tricolor of France. 
 Pushing forw^ard rapidly, we gained Marksville at 4.30 p.m. 
 Deserters had warned us that the enemy were on our left 
 flank and rear as early as three o'clock. My troops were 
 
358 Thoinas Kilby Smith 
 
 well closed up. Two and a half miles beyond Marksville, I 
 formed line of battle at 5.30, my right resting immediately 
 on the left of the advanced forces. My transportation and 
 ambulances parked far to the rear. As my command came 
 to front, brisk musketry firing commenced at the fort. Some 
 shells fell to the rear and right of my line. I was ordered 
 by the general commanding to look well to my rear and left 
 wing, that I might anticipate attack from General Walker 
 with six thousand Texans. I stood to arms. At 6.30 news 
 was brought me that the fort had surrendered. I threw out 
 heavy pickets, stacked arms and went into bivouac, a pierc- 
 ing cold " Norther " sweeping over the plain. In summary, 
 I remark that the command on the 14th inst., marched 
 twenty-eight and a half miles, built a substantial bridge of 
 sixty feet in length, repaired minor ones, and took a fort 
 between sunrise and sunset. But one brigade. Colonel 
 Ward, commanding, was actively engaged ; their casualties 
 nine killed, thirty-seven wounded. The substantial results I 
 enclose in memorandum of ordnance and ordnance stores, 
 to which may be added a large amount of commissary stores, 
 flour, beef, sugar and molasses, and three hundred and 
 thirty-four prisoners, thirty-four of whom were officers from 
 lieutenant-colonel to third lieutenant. 
 
 Meanwhile, convoy and fleet had made slow and devious 
 way through the tortuous windings of Red River, where 
 navigation at present stage of water is difficult. Rapid cur- 
 rent, frequent eddies, sharp bends and snags, are the natural 
 obstacles ; to these the enem}^ added rafts and spiles ; never- 
 theless, as the fort surrendered, the Black Hawk rounded to 
 land shortly afterwards the general commanding received the 
 congratulations of the Admiral, whom he will compliment 
 by present of the nine-inch Dahlgren, of the Indianola, and 
 the two heavy guns of the Harriet Lane, recaptured. My 
 command is in occupation of the fort, and will be engaged 
 to-day and to-morrow in the demolition of the casemates, 
 bridges, etc. , etc. , and finally the blowing-up of the maga- 
 zines, in which we shall permit to be destroyed vast quantities 
 of powder. The main body under command of General 
 Mower, convoyed by Admiral Porter, sailed last night for 
 
Letters 359 
 
 Alexandria, where I expect to join them in three days. 
 Gen. A. J. Smith remains with me, and gunboats Essex and 
 Benton, Captains Grier and Townsend. 
 
 A glance at the map will give you my present locality 
 without the aid of sketch ; but I will enclose herewith draft 
 and dimensions of fortifications that you may intelligently 
 answer questions ; to which end, indeed, I have written you 
 a sort of condensed report. If you have not " Colton's " 
 maps, you had better buy first volume, North and South 
 America ; meanwhile you can borrow and trace me down 
 the Mississippi, up the Atchafalaya, pronounced " ChafaHa," 
 to Simmesport, across country to Marksville, from thence to 
 Fort De Russy, on the Red, thence up the river to Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 Thursday, i8th March, on board steamer Hastings, Red 
 
 River. 
 
 I resume, having no opportunity as yet to forward de- 
 spatches. Having destroyed fort and blown up magazines, 
 am now en route for Alexandria. Weather most charming, 
 river winding through fertile, productive country. I find 
 it impossible to write, however, with any comfort, the ma- 
 chinery- going ; shall close at Alexandria. 
 
 Arrived at Alexandria at this 6 p.m., after a pleasant 
 passage without incidents ; discover upon our arrival that 
 the enemy, some fifteen thousand strong, have evacuated, 
 leaving three field-pieces and an immense amount of com- 
 missary stores, cotton, sugar and molasses. My fleet is 
 moored on the east side of the river, opposite the town, and 
 I have debarked my troops, throwing out heavy pickets, my 
 scouts informing me that two thousand of the enemy's cav- 
 alry are in my front, and propose to make a dash this night, 
 a threat I don't beHeve, but am ready for their reception. 
 Have received a despatch within a few moments, stating 
 that General Lee, of General Banks's command, was at 
 Opelousas, on the i6th, with five thousand cavalry, and that 
 General Banks, with fifteen thousand infantry, was on the 
 march. We are ahead of Banks some five days. I am jot- 
 ting down incidents as a sort of diary ; hardly know whether 
 it will ever reach your eye. 
 
360 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 You must be careful to trace me properly on the map. 
 The children will not be set back in their geography by fol- 
 lowing their father's footsteps in imagination. I wish I had 
 you all here this night. I have just been ashore inspecting 
 my troops, and rarely has the mellow moonlight fallen upon 
 a more romantic scene. The plain is level, covered with 
 grassy sod, and studded with clumps of underbrush, of a 
 growth that at night I can not distinguish; there is ample 
 room to move about and sufficient verge for line of battle. 
 The bright arms glittering in the moonlight are stacked 
 upon the color line, the soldiers lie, each covered with his 
 blanket, behind their arms; there are no camp-fires ; the 
 videttes, far in advance, can be distinguished, dismounted, 
 but each man at his horse' s head and ready at the blast of the 
 bugle to mount; the moon is clear and the stars all out, the 
 atmosphere serene. The gunboats lie far above and below, 
 the transports between. One can scarcely look without a 
 yearning for the power of word-painting to convey a portion 
 of his pleasure, as well as regret that all the world, at least 
 his friends in it, cannot share his feelings. There is a pe- 
 culiar fascination in this wild, dangerous life, a continued 
 exaltation and exultation ; mine have been the joys of victor, 
 continuous and continued. I have never known defeat ; 
 onward and onward, victory after victory, casting behind 
 me, as my horse throws dust, clouds of prisoners. Three 
 hundred and thirty-four brave men I sent down under charge 
 of one of my lieutenant-colonels yesterday. This must 
 change, sometime, doubtless. I may be called to-morrow, 
 to captivity in sackcloth and ashes. God give me strength 
 to bear, if the evil day comes. I write wildly and hurriedly 
 to-night. To-morrow, perhaps, I shall have leisure to give 
 you something like a home letter. Did I say I wish you 
 were here ? God forbid, except that you might be trans- 
 lated straightway back. 
 
 Friday, March 19th. A messenger has just arrived with 
 despatches from below, and a mail, but no letters for me. I 
 have nothing of importance to add, hardly enough in what I 
 have written to repay perusal ; you must not permit yourself 
 to suffer anxiety on my account ; the good God whose arm 
 
Letters 361 
 
 till now has shielded me will care for me to the end. It may 
 be permitted us to meet again and again I may enjoy the 
 pleasure of home. If not, let us all pray that we meet in 
 Paradise. 
 
 I see by some newspapers that are brought with this mail 
 that the expedition into Mississippi is misrepresented and 
 misunderstood. I assure you it was entirely successful and 
 all was accomplished that was intended or desired. 
 
 Al,EXANpRiA, La., March 24, 1864. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 We have had some skirmishing in making reconnaissance, 
 and have taken one entire battery, horses and harness. 
 Some four hundred prisoners and some six hundred horses. 
 General Banks has not yet arrived, but is momentarily ex- 
 pected. The country on the north side of the river is pine 
 woods and for the most part barren, though rolling and 
 beautiful on the south side — that upon which Alexandria is 
 situated. It is exceedingly rich and very highly cultivated 
 in cotton and sugar plantations. Corn, clover, and other 
 grasses grow, the clover especially, with wonderful luxuri- 
 ance. The perfectly flat nature of the country gives a same- 
 ness that is wearisome, but at first view the beauty of the 
 plain, as one rides through the plantations, is enchanting. 
 Hereabouts they are all well-watered by the bayous and 
 these can be led by ditching in any direction. The planters, 
 taking advantage of this, have beautified their grounds with 
 lakes and wandering streams, upon the shores of which 
 to the water's edge grows the white clover, carpeting the 
 ground at this season with its rich green leaves, the sod cut 
 away for parterres and flowerbeds, all shaded with beautiful 
 pines, Japan plums, pride of China, and others, the names 
 of which you would not recognize, of the beauty of which you 
 can hardly form an idea. Their houses are not very elegant. 
 The Southerner as a general rule does not care much about 
 his house ; so that it has plenty of piazza (gallery, as they 
 call it here), is painted white, with Venetian blinds at all 
 
362 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the openings, he is satisfied. Some of the wealthiest of them 
 have spent their lives in log houses, and the wigwam at 
 Mackacheek would be entirely en regie as the mansion house 
 of a sugar estate. They find all their enjoyment in the open 
 air, and shelter from the rain and night dew is all they ask. 
 
 The inhabitants hereabouts are pretty tolerably frightened ; 
 our Western troops are tired of shilly shally, and this year 
 will deal their blows very heavily. Past kindness and for- 
 bearance has not been appreciated or understood ; frequently 
 ridiculed. The people now will be terribly scourged. Quick, 
 sharp, decisive, or, if not decisive, staggering blows will soon 
 show them that we mean business. I anticipate, however. 
 
 The State of Louisiana founded a Seminary of IvCarning 
 and Military Academy, not long since, of which General 
 Sherman, by election, was made superintendent, and which 
 he abandoned to take up arms for his government. The 
 building is a fine, large, very expensive one, situate some 
 four miles from Alexandria, and was thoroughly provided 
 with all the adjuncts of a large college. It has recently been 
 used as a hospital by the rebels. The people cherish the 
 name of General Sherman, and mourn his loss. He had 
 great popularity here. My newspaper dates are to the 14th 
 inst. My news very vague. I have the intelligence of the 
 promotion of Ivieutenant- General Grant, General Sherman 
 and General McPherson. This is all right. With the old 
 woman I may say to you, " I told you so." One year ago 
 there was a fearful pressure made against all these officers. 
 Grant and Sherman especially. Where are those, now, who 
 villified them ? I do not know if you preserve them, but I 
 must ask, if you do, to look at some of my letters written 
 during last February and March. 
 
 Mississippi Squadron, Flag Ship " Cricket," 
 Alexandria, April 29, 1864. 
 My dear Wife; : 
 
 I am safe after a most severe campaign. I had three 
 fights, battles, on my own hook, inasmuch as I had the 
 honor of bringing up the rear of the army to this point. 
 These three fights were exclusively my own, and in every 
 
Letters 363 
 
 instance entirely victorious. I have only time to say that 
 my opinion is, we (I mean A. J. Smith's command) will get 
 through safely to the Mississippi ; after that, there will be 
 work enough for us. I will give you full details so soon as 
 opportunity offers. Meanwhile, rest assured of my health 
 and personal safety. Admiral Porter is safe and sitting by 
 my side as I write. He is a noble fellow, game as a pheas- 
 ant; so is old A. J. a perfect trump. 
 
 I hope you are all well. I am in first rate spirits, stiff 
 upper lip, " never say die." Do not be discouraged about 
 me in the slightest degree. We can whip these fellows 
 whenever we get the chance. 
 
 Steamer "Silver Moon," 
 Mississippi River, near Cairo, Ii.i<, June 9, 1864. 
 I am on my way home and may reasonably be expected 
 by you on Monday, 15th, by the morning up train, God 
 willing and weather permitting. My retinue is small, as I 
 am on brief furlough. You will only need to make prepara- 
 tions for three servants, two male, one female, four horses, a 
 small dog and myself. You need not put yourself out, as the 
 horses and servants are used to bivouac. 
 
 QuiNCY, Sunday, Oct. 24, 1864. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 After strange, and what would be considered in any other 
 age, romantic vicissitudes, I find myself once more in the 
 land of my birth, with the same surroundings, changed so 
 little as to be a marvel, that made my sum of childhood life. 
 I have had for years an earnest longing to look again upon 
 the everlasting hills, the eternal rocks, and changing seas 
 of this New England coast, and being so near could not re- 
 sist the temptation to gratify my desires. I am glad I came, 
 and feel much benefited in health and spirits. I have met 
 most of our kith and kinsfolk who, like their trees, are rooted 
 in the soil. 
 
364 Tho7nas Kilby Smith 
 
 To-day, thus far, I rest ; if you were witli me to join in the 
 calm enjoyment, the serenity of happiness, the sweet content 
 of this glorious, autumnly sunny Sunday, that is mine, here 
 so close to my birthplace, hallowed to you by so many recol- 
 lections, I should be supremely blest, " to sit at good men's 
 feasts, to hear the holy bell that knolls to church, ' ' far from 
 war and war's alarms, the bracing breeze rustling the leaves 
 all tinged with the hectic hues of autumn, just ready to fall, 
 but lingering, clinging to the swinging bough, giving sweet 
 music as to the wind they sing their parting lay ; to listen to 
 the pattering of children's feet upon the bridge where my 
 first footsteps ventured, the babbling of the same old brook, 
 here confined between trim borders, there in its freedom mer- 
 rily dancing in the sunlight ; to wander through the same old 
 rooms, sit in the same old chairs, eat from the same old 
 spoons, hear the familiar household words from the same lips 
 that well-nigh half a century ago gave greeting. Ah, well- 
 a-day, you and I are growing old, dear mother, and as we 
 drift by rapidly upon the stream of time we clutch convul- 
 sively at these old landmarks and for a while would fain 
 stay our progress onward to the boundless gulf that is be- 
 yond. We cheat ourselves in thought, that in good sooth 
 we do linger, while even all else is passing away, that while 
 inanimate objects, that from associations seem self-identi- 
 fied, remain apparently unchanged, we, by mere contact, re- 
 juvenate our stay, or receive the virtues of the waters of 
 Lethe. Yet, when the real comes back, it is good to know 
 that in imagination we have triumphed over time, that in 
 mere enjoyment of imagination, we have caught some 
 glimpse of the glorious immortality yet to come. 
 
 HeadquartiERS Armies oe the United States, 
 City Point, Va., Nov. 16, 1864. 
 
 I write not to give interesting intelligence, but simply to 
 advise you that I am in the land of the living, at City 
 Point, on James River, that waters the sacred soil, and that 
 I am about as far to the front on my way to Richmond as it 
 is this day safe to go. 
 
Letters 365 
 
 The James reminds me a good deal of the lower Missis- 
 sippi, and so far as I have come, its banks are studded with 
 points of interest, and historical in the war. At Fort Mon- 
 roe, I saw the finest fleet that, perhaps, has ever been col- 
 lected in the American waters. Leaving Washington in a 
 steamer for this place, I passed Alexandria, Point Look- 
 out, Harrison's Landing, Newport News, Fort Powhatan, 
 Wilson's Landing, Jamestown Island. If the children will 
 look at the map, they will discover that we descend the 
 Potomac, scud along Chesapeake Bay, and at Fort Monroe 
 ascend the James, so that they can get upon my track. 
 There is no news here proper for me to write. General 
 Grant is in good health and spirits and I hear as late as last 
 Wednesday from Sherman, who also is well. 
 
 Headquarters Armies of the United States, 
 City Point, Va., Nov. i8, 1864. 
 
 I wrote a hurried note to wife a day or two ago upon 
 my first arrival at General Grant's headquarters, simply to 
 advise you all of my health and well-being. I was received 
 here with open arms, unfeigned, and bounteous hospitality. 
 I proposed returning with the General the day after my 
 arrival, as he was about paying a visit to his wife at Bur- 
 lington, but he pressed me to remain and inspect the lines, 
 for that purpose mounting me on his own best horse with 
 his own equipments, and assigning his chief aide-de-camp as 
 my escort. The day before yesterday I rode the lines of 
 the ' ' Army of the James. ' ' For this purpose a steamboat 
 was detailed which took me up the river to a point just 
 above the famous " Dutch gap" canal, where the extreme 
 left of the army now under command of General Butler rests. 
 Mounting our horses, we struck the field works at this point, 
 and rode the whole circuit, visiting each fort en route, not 
 forgetting the famous " Fort Harrison," which cost us so 
 dearly to wrest from the enemy ; we were frequently in sight 
 and within rifle range of the enemy's pickets, indeed at 
 points within an hundred and fifty yards, and almost with 
 
366 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the naked eye the lineaments of their countenances could be 
 discerned ; but we were not fired upon, for both armies on 
 these lines decry the abominable practice of picket shooting, 
 which for the most part is assassination, save when works 
 are to be attempted by assault, and, relying on each other's 
 honor, observe a sort of truce. I was so often within gun- 
 shot of them this day, and they so well observed the tacit 
 understanding, that I did not dismount as is usual in ex- 
 posed places, but always from the saddle made careful survey 
 of their works. I rode as close as three miles from Rich- 
 mond, whose spires could be discerned glittering in the hazy 
 distance. General Butler had not then returned, but I was 
 glad to be able to renew with my old friend General Weitzel 
 then in command, an acquaintance formed at Port Hudson, 
 which ripened into intimacy at New Orleans. He is an ele- 
 gant fellow, and well worthy of the honors he enjoys. You 
 may be sure he was glad to see me, and that he did all one sol- 
 dier can do to make another happy, giving me his personal 
 escort through the whole day. I also called upon General 
 Terry, also in command of a corps, and two or three brigadiers. 
 Their lines of fortifications display splendid engineering, their 
 army in good condition and spirits, and the soldiers in first 
 rate fighting trim. The enem}^ lies at short distance like a 
 couchant tiger watching for the expected spring. There will 
 be desperate fighting when we close. At night I re-embarked 
 and returned to these headquarters. Yesterday our horses 
 were placed upon a special railroad train provided for the 
 purpose, and after breakfast we started for the headquarters 
 of General Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac. 
 At " Meade's Station " our horses were unshipped and we 
 mounted, riding a short distance to the general's tent. He 
 received me with profound respect and consideration, ex- 
 cused himself upon the plea of urgent business from giving 
 me personal escort over the lines, but assigned his chief aide- 
 de-camp, Colonel Riddle, who gave me guidance. I rode 
 through his entire army of sixty thousand infantry, and sur- 
 veyed their lines of fortifications, in close view of the lines 
 of the enemy, and of the town of Petersburg. It would be 
 neither proper for me, nor interesting to you, to give close 
 
Letters 367 
 
 description of all I saw ; suffice it to say, that I found a 
 splendidly appointed army in tip-top condition, behind 
 works that, well-manned, are impregnable, close to an 
 enemy who are watching with argus eyes and making de- 
 fences with the arms of Briareus. I called in the course of 
 the day upon Major- Generals Parke and Warren. Parke I 
 knew at Vicksburg, and should have called upon Hancock, 
 who had made preparation to entertain me, but the night 
 was closing in murky with promise of storm, and I felt com- 
 pelled to hasten to the depot. Thus in these two days I 
 have made very extensive reconnaissance, inspection and 
 survey of these two great armies upon the movements of 
 which the destiny of a nation, if not of a world, seems to 
 rest. An incident occurred yesterday that may serve to in- 
 terest the children. We often were, as on the day previous, 
 very close to the picket lines and fortifications of the enemy, 
 and upon one occasion, as we halted to make close observa- 
 tion of a certain point, the enemy sent over a dog with a tag 
 of paper attached to his collar, upon which was written, 
 " lyincoln's majority 36,000." We detached the paper, 
 offered the dog something to eat, which he refused, turned 
 him loose, when he forthwith returned to his master. Surely 
 this is one of the ' ' dogs of war. ' ' 
 
 I have been called off from writing, a moment, to be intro- 
 duced to General Butler, who has called, and who invites me 
 to dine with him to-morrow. If the day is not very stormy 
 I shall go to his headquarters. 
 
 At Pittsburg, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, 
 Washington, I have been really oppressed, overwhelmed, 
 with polite attentions. In the War Department, every 
 officer I met, the Secretary, the Adjutant-General, the 
 Assistant, were eager to give facilities. So at the Treasury, 
 where I had occasion to transact some business. The Post- 
 master-General, our Mr. Dennison, promptly offered me 
 every politeness, and here at these headquarters, from the 
 General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States down, 
 all have done me, and all have seemed eager to do me honor. 
 
368 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 I am informed that none others save the General, since he 
 has come into his possession, has ridden or been offered his 
 favorite horse, a magnificent animal, which, caparisoned 
 with his own splendid housings, he ordered for me, and has 
 left subject to my order while I remain. His Chief of Staff 
 offered me the General's tent and bed during his absence ; 
 this I refused. I am the honored guest at the long mess- 
 table. Well these are trifles in themselves, but taken to- 
 gether are gratifying to me and will doubtless be to you. I 
 am very proud to have the good opinion of my commanding 
 generals. I believe I mentioned to you in a former letter 
 that I had introduced myself to the President, who was 
 pleased to say he had heard of me, and who, in our inter- 
 view, was exceedingly polite. Of course, I take all this just 
 for what it is worth, and nothing more, and should be mean 
 to attempt self-glorification upon the reception of courtesy 
 that costs so little. But I am writing to my mother, and to 
 her I cannot refrain some hints of my position towards those 
 who are now most prominent in the world's history, and v/ho 
 give countenance and support to me, because I have cheer- 
 fully given my humble efforts to uphold the glory of a nation, 
 the sustaining of a wise and beneficent government, the 
 crushing of an unholy rebellion, the exposition of a devilish 
 heresy, the elevation of truth as opposed to error. Those 
 efforts for a while have been paralyzed and even now I am 
 warned that the flesh is weak. I am not as I have been. 
 This poor abused body fails me when the spirit is most 
 strong, and truly with me is the conviction forced, that just 
 as I am learning to live I must prepare to die. And the 
 world and its glories to me are so pleasant. No day, no night, 
 is long, " every moment, lightly shaken, runs itself in golden 
 sands." My comrades are fast passing away. You have 
 noted, of course, the death of poor Ransom, my comrade in 
 battle, my bosom friend, whom I dearly loved. After being 
 four times wounded in battle, he went back to the field to 
 die like a dog of this disease, this scourge of the soldier, 
 dysentery. I saw his physician a day or two ago, who told 
 me his bowels were literally perforated. He retained his 
 mind clear to the last moment, said he was dying, and called 
 
Letters 369 
 
 in his staff as lie lay in his tent to take a final leave, and 
 issue a final order. How much better to die as McPherson, 
 with the bullet in the breast. I sometimes think my health 
 is improving, and I run along for several days feeling pretty 
 well, but I have had recent evidence that at this time I am 
 unfit for active service in the field. A Major-General's 
 commission is just within my grasp, but a week's march and 
 bivouac, I fear, would give me mj^ final discharge. Still, it 
 is all as God wills. The God of Heaven has watched over 
 all my steps, and with that careful eye which never sleeps, 
 has guarded me from death and shielded me from danger. 
 Through the hours, the restless hours of youth, a hand un- 
 seen has guarded all my footsteps in the wild and thorny 
 battles of life, and led me on in safety through them all. In 
 later days still the same hand has ever been my guard from 
 dangers seen and unseen. Clouds have lowered, and tem- 
 pests oft have burst above my head, but that projected hand 
 has warded off the thunder-strokes of death, and still I stand 
 a monument of mercy. Years have passed of varied dangers 
 and of varied guilt, but still the sheltering wings of love 
 have been outspread in mercy over me; and when the 
 allotted task is done, when the course marked out by that 
 same good God is run, then, and not till then, shall I, in 
 mercy, pass away. Meanwhile, give me your prayers, dear 
 mother, for in your prayers, and in those of the dear good 
 women who remember me in their closets, alone with their 
 God, do I place all faith. Pray for me that I be not led into 
 temptation, that I may be delivered from evil. 
 
 We do not hear from General Sherman, but we have the 
 fullest faith that all will be well with him, and that he will 
 accomplish his great undertaking. My own command is by 
 this time with Thomas at Paducah. Say to Joe and Mar- 
 garet, that the same servants are about General Grant's 
 headquarters, each man remaining true at his post, that they 
 all inquired after Joe and Margaret and old Uncle Jeff, and 
 that all of them were very much mortified when I felt com- 
 pelled to tell them that Uncle Jeff had abandoned me. They 
 were all glad to hear that Joe and Margaret were married, 
 and all sent kind messages to them. General Rawlins's 
 
370 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 little black boy Jerry has got to be a first rate servant, and 
 so has Colonel Duff's boy Henry ; Douglass, and General 
 Grant's William, are all on hand. Colonel Dufi"'s sorrel 
 horse, John, that great walking horse he was afraid of, the 
 one that used to run away and that he got me to ride (Joe 
 will remember him), was captured by the enemy. The Gen- 
 eral's little bay stallion, he thought so much of, is dead. 
 He sent the cream-colored stallion home. I write this to 
 interest Joe. Tell him to keep quiet, that I shall soon be 
 home, and don't want him to leave me till the war is over, 
 and then I will make provision for him. 
 
 Just as I am writing now, I am being complimented by a 
 serenade from a splendid brass band. I would give a good 
 deal if you were all here on the banks of the James, to hear 
 the thrilling music, though I should want you away as soon 
 as it was over. My best and dearest love to all my dear 
 ones. 
 
 Blessings rest upon you all, forgive my haste and crude 
 expressions. It is always hard to write in camp, but impos- 
 sible almost to me with music in my ear. 
 
 Headquarters Armies of the United States, 
 
 Nov. 27, 1864. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My last was dated from headquarters at camp. I am now 
 sojourning for a day or two in the city of Washington, ar- 
 ranging my business with some of the departments. I shall 
 head towards the West before long, and have the pleasure 
 of greeting you all on my way to the field. It is a good 
 while, weeks, since I have had a line or intimation of any 
 kind from home, but I steel my heart to anything approach- 
 ing anxiety, maintain a firm faith that Providence will order 
 all things as is best for us all and bide with confidence his 
 decree. My health is better a good deal than when I left 
 home, and though from time to time I am caught up by 
 the old trouble, I think, on the whole, I am steadily on the 
 mend. There is no doubt as to the chronic nature of the 
 
Letters 371 
 
 disease that will remain with me during the rest of my life, 
 but some years of usefulness may yet be spared me. My 
 visit to the headquarters of General Grant was very agree- 
 able and of very considerable advantage to me. 
 
 I have no lack of courtesy wherever I go, and here in 
 Washington feel compelled to lie perdu and preserve a strict 
 incognito, lest I suffer from the kindness of my friends. 
 
 I enclose a rosebud gathered on the banks of the James, 
 in the close vicinity of the contending armies ; it was liter- 
 ally the last rose of the summer then, for that night a heavy 
 frost fell, and my plucking saved it from a black death ; it 
 still maintains its hues, though I have carried it in my 
 pocket for a week, and I hope will not be quite withered 
 ere it reach your hand. 
 
 LomsviLi^E, Ky., on board Str. " Huntsman," 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 22, 1864. 
 
 Arriving yesterday morning at lyouisville, I found myself 
 too late for the morning train to Nashville, and of course 
 was compelled to lie over. The circumstance was fortunate, 
 inasmuch as the train was thrown from the track and the 
 passengers who started were compelled to return. Discover- 
 ing that the road was not in first rate working order, I de- 
 termined to go round by water, and am now about taking 
 my departure on the steamboat Huntsman, that, if we have 
 good wind and meet with no guerillas, will put me in Nash- 
 ville on Monday next. I expect to spend Christmas on the 
 Cumberland River. 
 
 On board Str. " Huntsman," 
 Cumberland River, Christmas, 1864. 
 
 We left Louisville Thursday evening last and, just as 
 the boat was shoving off, I indicted you a brief note. 
 We have progressed thus far, having a few moments since 
 left Fort Donaldson without accident. Fort Donaldson, as 
 
372 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 you are aware, was the scene of General Grant's first great 
 victory, and the starting-point to his present greatness. I 
 caught but a bird's-eye view of the fortifications ; from the 
 river side they seem almost impregnable. It is now garri- 
 soned by some twelve hundered troops. All the way to this 
 point we have been warned to keep a bright lookout for 
 guerillas, this boat being the pioneer from Louisville. I 
 have apprehended no danger and feel satisfied that so far as 
 these gentry are concerned we shall reach our destination 
 unobstructed. The anniversary, as usual, brings no joy to 
 me, save that, to-day, I have leisure in quiet to make a 
 retrospect of the past. Last Christmas I passed on the banks 
 of the Yazoo, reviewing the field of battle on which I had 
 fought just a year prior to this time. How fraught with 
 events to me these years have been, and now I wonder 
 where my next Christmas will find me. 
 
 I thought when I started to keep something like a log or 
 diary of my wanderings, but so thorough a nomad have I 
 become, so used to the current events of everyday travel, 
 especially by steamboat, that something of a really startling 
 nature must transpire to make me think it worth while to 
 note. I would renew a former injunction to follow my 
 course on the map. Trace me down the Ohio to the mouth 
 of the Cumberland, and up. It will be a good way for the 
 children to learn something of the geography of the country 
 by following in imagination their father's wanderings, in 
 thousands of miles through various States from the Gulf of 
 Mexico to the extreme New England coast. It will seem in- 
 credible to you, until after careful study, how much I have 
 passed over within the past year, and all without the slight- 
 est accident from the perils of navigation or travel by land. 
 I lay me down at night to sleep with the same confidence 
 with which I share your pillow ; I wake in the morning to 
 find myself hundreds of miles from where I had my last 
 waking dream or dreaming thought. The bird of passage is 
 hardly fleet enough of wing to outstrip me in my wandering. 
 The weather was very cold the day we left Louisville, the 
 next still colder but clear and beautiful and the morning sun 
 
Letters 373 
 
 rose and glittered upon one of the strangest scenes I have 
 ever witnessed in nature. A very heavy fog rose from the 
 river about one o'clock, and settling upon the trees and 
 shrubs imperceptibly froze and gathered until everything 
 that had a spray was clothed with the lightest feathery tex- 
 ture that can be imagined, lighter, purer, whiter than the 
 softest driven snow, and each little flake looking like a small 
 plume, all nodding and waving to the passing air ; all this 
 the sun shone upon from a cloudless horizon through rosy 
 tints and such a sunrise has rarely been witnessed. The 
 captain of our boat, an old man, who has been upon the 
 river thirty years, saw no sight like it, and the common- 
 est deckhand looked on with rapture at the beauty. All 
 day under a bright sun, but with a freezing atmosphere 
 we glided through the drift of a full and rising river, and, 
 by starlight, kept on through the night coursing the bends 
 and running the chutes bank full ; the next day was warm, 
 and yesterday, as we struck the mouth of the Cumberland, 
 the air was soft and balmy as a day in May. We are run- 
 ning now nearly due south, but a light rain is falling ; it is 
 a soft, green Christmas here. No passengers on the boat; 
 Joe and the horses, and oflScers and the crew, all. We are 
 freighted with iron and lumber, oats and corn. I tread the 
 deck sole monarch of the steamboat. The Cumberland 
 winds through high banks of limestone rock, rich with 
 iron and coal, occasional bottoms fertile for corn, but the 
 rolling land back thin and sterile. 
 
 26th. — Detained at Clarkesville by the unwarrantable in- 
 terference of the officer in charge of the gunboat fleet who 
 deemed it necessary to give us convoy against guerillas, lay 
 there all night and until 9 a.m. of the 27th, which passes 
 without event. Scenery on the river beautiful, high rocky 
 cliffs of limestone, iron in abundance in these hills. Arrived 
 at Nashville about two o'clock in the morning of the 28th. 
 City dirty and disagreeable ; has been the abode of wealth, 
 as evidenced in the splendid architecture of the private 
 dwellings, but everything now shows the brunt of war and 
 war's desolation. 
 
 I find many friends and am hospitably entertained at the 
 
374 ThoTuas Kilby Smith 
 
 quarters of General Sawyer, General Sherman's Adjutant- 
 General. The military are all agog at the good news from 
 Sherman, but everybody here is as ignorant as I am of 
 Hood's movements, of Thomas's intent. I have telegraphed 
 to Gen. A. J. Smith, who is far to the front, but as yet re- 
 ceive no response. Railroad communication will be opened 
 soon, we hope, to near the front, when I shall progress as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 P. S. — You may have noticed in the papers that the train 
 from Louisville to this point was attacked and captured, and 
 that thus travel by rail was interrupted. With my usual 
 good fortune, I have escaped this calamity, and it is doubly 
 well with me that I came by boat. 
 
 Headquarters Military Division oe the Mississippi, 
 Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 30, 1864. 
 
 I was inexpressibly gratified by the reception your afiec- 
 tionate letter of 26th inst., handed me to-day. It came just 
 in time, for I have my orders, and am about leaving for East- 
 port, Mississippi, via Paducah, and a steamboat is in waiting 
 to carry me down the Cumberland and up the Tennessee. 
 I shall debark close to the old battle-ground of Shiloh. 
 
 I shall probably take command of a division made up from 
 my old division and another in Smith's corps. After a little 
 there will be a new organization entire of the army here, and 
 I shall hope to be recognized. 
 
 Str. "Clara Pos," Cumberland River, 
 
 NEAR Paducah, January i, 1865. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 I am waiting to coal and for a convoy and soon shall be 
 with my command, I hope. I am mortified to learn here, 
 within a few moments, that Hood has succeeded with the 
 
Letters 375 
 
 remnant of his army in crossing the Tennessee upon the 
 shoals ; we disabled two of his guns and captured a portion 
 of his pontoons, but for a while he has escaped, and this may 
 materially disarrange the plan of our campaign. 
 
 The weather continues very pleasant, and we are well pro- 
 vided with food. 
 
 On board Flag Ship " Fairy," 
 Up Tennessee River on the Alabama Side, three 
 MILES ABOVE EastporT, January 6, 1S65. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My heading will show you my position, that you can the 
 better learn from the map. I am now, in point of fact, 
 within the Alabama lines. I reported the day before j^ester- 
 day to Major-Gen. A. J. Smith, at Clifton, Tennessee, in 
 person, and immediately received the following order : 
 
 "Special Orders) ^^^^^^^jj_ 
 "No. 3. i 
 
 " Brig.-Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith, U. S. V., having re- 
 ported at these headquarters for duty, is hereby assigned to, 
 and will at once assume command of, the Third Division, 
 Detachment Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 " Col. J. B. Moore, now commanding the Third Division, 
 is hereby relieved from such command, and will report to 
 Brig.-Gen. T. K. Smith for assignment. 
 
 " In relieving Colonel Moore, the Major-General com- 
 manding desires to express his high appreciation of the able, 
 thorough, and soldierly manner with which he has executed 
 the trust confided to him in the command. 
 
 " By order of Major-Gen. A. J. Smith, 
 
 "J. Hough, Asst. Adjt.-Gen." 
 
 I have transcribed the order in full because it contains a 
 well-deserved compliment to a soldier of my own making, 
 and who received all his training from me, and who has 
 done full justice to his preceptor in the important responsi- 
 bilities thrust upon him in my absence. I have not yet 
 
376 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 assumed command, because I am reconnoitring the river 
 with Gen. A. J. Smith, upon Admiral Lee's ship, with a 
 view to position and the debarkation of our troops. Admiral 
 Lee, who is in command of the Mississippi Squadron, has 
 been immensely polite to me, and has made me quite at 
 home with him. All my officers, and those at General 
 Smith's headquarters, have expressed much joy at my re- 
 turn, which I assure you is mutual ; on my part I am grati- 
 fied beyond expression in being once more restored to my 
 command and associated with my comrades in arms. I 
 write under some difficulty, for the boat is shaking exces- 
 sively, and I can hardly keep my pen to the paper, but as a 
 despatch boat will be sent down this evening, I avail myself 
 of the opportunity, as I do of each that presents itself, to ad- 
 vise you of my movements and physical condition. My 
 health is tolerably good ; I am not as well as when on the 
 Cumberland, and from two causes — the weather is murky 
 and the Tennessee water unwholesome, added to which my 
 food has not for two or three days been as good as usual, and 
 I suffer from the confined air of the boats. Heretofore I 
 have had the boat exclusively to myself, but since arriving 
 at Clifton, there has been a necessity for transportation of 
 troops and the boats are all crowded with soldiers. How- 
 ever, I am every way better than I expected to be at this 
 time, and certainly have no right to complain. Joe and the 
 horses are in good care, and when we get to some place I 
 will write you a long letter. 
 
 Since writing the above, our boat has stopped at Eastport, 
 and I have been ashore on horseback with General Smith, 
 reconnoitring the country, and such a desolate, cursed, 
 God-forgotten, man-forsaken, vile, wretched place I have 
 never yet seen in all my campaigning. If I shall have to 
 stay here long, I shall well-nigh go crazy. We hear Hood 
 is moving south ; his pickets disappeared from this place 
 night before last, and there is what has been for them a 
 strong fortification. There are but two or three families 
 left, and they in the last stages of destitution ; whenever 
 you offer a prayer, petition that you or yours may never be 
 
Letters 2)77 
 
 in the war-path. You read of horrors of war, but you can 
 form no conception of those horrors until you are an eye- 
 witness of its results upon the inhabitants of the country 
 where it has raged, where they have been, as they usually 
 are, the prey of both contending parties. I shall probably 
 go down the river as far as Clifton, where my own command 
 is, to-morrow, to be governed by circumstances that may 
 transpire after my arrival. As the case now stands, in all 
 probability, I shall go into winter quarters somewhere here- 
 abouts, and General Thomas's orders are " Eastport." My 
 third winter in the South does not promise more comfort 
 than the two that have preceded it. Four winters ago it 
 was Camp Dennison and Paducah, the next Young's Point, 
 before Vicksburg, in the swamps, the next between the 
 Black and Yazoo Rivers, the worst country, save this, I 
 ever saw, and this winter, here, up the Tennessee. I think 
 I have had my share of the dark side of the war, but my 
 motto is, a stiff upper lip, and never say die. If health, the 
 great desideratum, is spared, the rest will come. General 
 Garrard, one of Mrs. Mclvcan's sons, is here. His head is 
 as bald as an egg, and he looks to be a thousand years old. 
 War adds age fast. 
 
 You must address your letters to me as General command- 
 ing Third Division Detachmeyit Arvty of the Tennessee, via 
 Cairo. I suppose I shall stand a chance of getting them 
 sometime within a month or less. 
 
 Eastport, Miss., January lo, 1865. 
 
 Our fleet arrived here this morning, and I am just debark- 
 ing troops in the muddiest, worst country I ever saw. For 
 some days past, as I wrote you in a former letter, I have 
 been upon the flag ship of Admiral Lee, commanding the 
 Mississippi Squadron, and have been very comfortable ; the 
 almost entire rest has been favorable to my health. I shall 
 now be compelled to rough it ashore, but I think I shall get 
 through. 
 
37^ Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 General Thomas, I this moment learn, is expected here 
 to-day. 
 
 The weather is warm, raining, muggy, and intensely dis- 
 ageeable, a warm Southern winter such as we had at Young's 
 Point. 
 
 Headquarters Third Division, 
 
 Detachment Army of the Tennessee, 
 
 IN THE FiElvD, Sunday, Jan. 15, 1865. 
 
 I am now once more fairly in the field, and at the head of 
 my command. My tent is pitched upon a pleasant knoll in 
 a very hilly, almost mountainous country, from whence I 
 have a view of the Tennessee river, and parts of three States, 
 Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The ground is 
 gravelly and the forests pine, so that I keep comparatively 
 dry ; the floor of my tent is carpeted with pine boughs that 
 make a pleasant smell. For some days past the weather 
 has been delightful, clear, bright and warm, yet bracing. 
 Already the rose and briar are putting forth green leaves and 
 bulbous roots are springing from the ground. The atmos- 
 phere is about as it would be in your latitude, say the ist of 
 May, or thereabouts. My health improves, bowels decidedly 
 better, appetite pretty good, and the most that troubles me 
 now is a tendency to take cold, cold with an irritation of the 
 throat. This is to be expected, for I could hardly go from 
 careful nursing directly into the field without some shock to 
 the system. 
 
 My command is not yet thoroughly organized, and I have 
 some new appointments of staff ofiicers to make ; in the 
 course of a day or two I shall publish ni)^ staff, and will send 
 you a copy. ... I have three brigades ; our detach- 
 ments are about being organized into a corps of three divi- 
 sions, each division of three brigades. The division com- 
 manders are General McArthur, General Garrard (Kenna 
 Garrard of West Point, oldest son of Mrs. Mclycan), and 
 myself, all under command of Gen. A. J. Smith. 
 
 A laige mail has come to-day with the fleet that brought 
 
BRIQADIER-QENERAL THOMAS KILBY SMITH, 
 
 WASHINGTON, 1864. 
 
Letters 379 
 
 up General Thomas and troops, but I am disappointed in 
 finding nothing for me. 
 
 Washington, D. C, January 25, 1865, 
 
 You will doubtless be surprised at the heading of this 
 note. On the 17th inst. I received from the Secretarj- of 
 War a telegram ordering me to repair without delay to the 
 Adjutant-General of the United States. The same day Gen- 
 eral Thomas ordered a steamboat to transport me to Paducah, 
 from thence I came hither almost on the wings of the wind, 
 staying neither for fog, flood, nor mountain pass, though I 
 was befogged near Louisville, and snowed up one night in 
 the Alleghenies. Still, considering the distance, I made 
 marvellously good time, and arrived here last night. I dis- 
 cover that I have been summoned to appear before the Com- 
 mittee on the Conduct of the War (of Congress), probably to 
 testify in reference to the Red River expedition. 
 
 I shall know to-morrow. My stay here will be only tem- 
 porary, and I shall probably from here be ordered back to 
 Eastport or wherever my command is. You may think it 
 strange that I could not stop for at least a day, but I 
 dared not. I had been pretty well up to the time I was 
 ordered here, but that very day my old complaint came 
 back upon me with great violence and lasted every day of 
 my journey, and I feared to make a halt lest I should be de- 
 tained as I was before. To-day I am a good deal better. I 
 have not heard one word from home since the letters that 
 reached me at Nashville. 
 
 Washington, D. C, February 7, 1865. 
 
 If I can get permission, I shall stop for a day to see you, 
 as I return to the field, unless, indeed, as there is some rea- 
 son to suppose, I be transferred to another command. I am 
 offered a splendid division in the cavalry service. . . . 
 But if I take it I am brought right into the Army of the Po- 
 
380 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 tomac, and I can't bear to lose my Western boys, or the 
 broad Savannahs in the South, where I hope glory yet awaits 
 me. I have been to some parties and some receptions, have 
 paid my respects to most of the Secretaries and to the Presi- 
 dent and his wife, and altogether have been having a pretty 
 good time here in Washington. My mind has been relaxed 
 and relieved, and it has done me good. 
 
 Headquarters District oif South Alabama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ala., March 23, 1865. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 A glance at the map will show you the locality of ' ' Dau- 
 phine Island ' ' and Fort Gaines, my headquarters for the 
 present. It is just beyond Grant's Pass, at the entrance of 
 Mobile Bay, about twenty-eight miles from the city of 
 Mobile, and about one hundred and eighty miles from New 
 Orleans. The island is not many miles in circumference, 
 and, save on one side, the view from it is only bounded by 
 the horizon, it has little vegetation but pine trees, and the 
 surface is covered with fine, white perfectly clean sand, 
 almost as free from impurities as snow. The beaches are 
 fine, and the music of the surf is always in my ear. Oysters 
 and fish of the finest varieties abound and I have every 
 facility for taking them. I have never seen oysters so fat or 
 of so delicate flavor, and I am told that they are good and 
 wholesome every month in the year. I am fortunate in 
 having secured a most excellent cook, whose specialty seems 
 to be the preparation of oysters, and really I have eaten no 
 other food except bread since I have been here. During 
 present operations, and until I move to headquarters, I shall 
 be in daily communication with New Orleans, newspapers 
 from whence reach me within twenty-four hours of publica- 
 tion. The air here is most delicious, and is said to be highly 
 salubrious. From time immemorial the citizens of New 
 Orleans and Southern lyouisiana have resorted here for the 
 benefit of health, and these islands, and the coast near by 
 have been ever free from the ravages of yellow fever. I 
 
Letters 381 
 
 look southward over the open sea towards Havana, and it is 
 from the West Indies that the pleasant south wind comes. 
 My health improves, my bowels have not troubled me for a 
 good while, and under God I am blessed with the most 
 favorable opportunity possible to recuperate my well-nigh 
 exhausted energies. 
 
 My anxiety will be great until I hear of the return in safety 
 of my dear wife. I left her in what to her was an embarrass- 
 ing situation, and I am proud to say she governed herself 
 like a true heroine, and though left entirely alone in a 
 strange hotel, in a strange city, and among entire strangers, 
 she bore herself at my sudden departure like a true soldier's 
 wife, without a whimper. I left Walter on the street with- 
 out a good-bye. I pray to God they have got home safe. 
 
 Headquarters District of South Ai^abama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ai,a., March 21, 1865. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I cannot express the sorrow and chagrin I felt at being 
 compelled to leave you and our dear little boy so abruptly. 
 I know it must be many days, that it may be many weeks, 
 before I can with reason hope to receive assurance of your 
 safety, and you may judge my present anxiety. Were it 
 not for the fact that I have schooled my mind to dismiss 
 apprehensions for the future, 1 should be heartsick indeed, . 
 and whatever philosophy I bring to my aid, I shall not be 
 happy till I learn of your safe arrival at home. I could not 
 foresee so rapid a movement of troops or so urgent a necessity 
 for my instant departure from New Orleans, or I should not 
 have assumed the responsibility of bringing you down. And 
 if anything untoward happens, my conscience will never 
 cease to reprove me for an act selfish, if not unjustified, 
 though apart from the pleasure of your society I hoped 
 benefit to your health. 
 
 The enclosed orders will show my command and present 
 address. The latter I have reason to hope will very shortly, 
 with my headquarters, be at " Mobile. ' ' Meanwhile, letters 
 
382 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 addressed to me as commanding District Southern Alabama, 
 will reach me via New Orleans. 
 
 Headquarters District of South Ai^abama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ai<a., March 26, 1865. 
 
 My dear Daughter : 
 
 Shall my letter to you, my sweet daughter, "rise to the 
 swelling of the voiceful sea ? ' ' The ocean waters are in my 
 ears continually, chafing and fretting, never by day or night 
 one moment still. My house is close to the beach, so close, 
 that the spray of the wave sometimes wets my window pane. 
 The deep water is nearer to me, as I sit to write, than the 
 little grass plat before the front door to you as you stand in 
 the threshold. The last sound that I hear, as I turn to 
 sleep, is the wave on the shore ; the first object that greets 
 my eye as I wake in the morning, is the wave dimpling in 
 the calm dawn or throwing up its white caps in the freshen- 
 ing breeze. And all about me tells of the great deep and all 
 its wonders. You have never yet seen the ocean, vay dear 
 child ; nor much of those who go down to the sea. When 
 its vast expanse meets your eye, you will be wonderstruck. 
 All the day you can watch by its shore and never weary. I 
 wish you, with your sister and brothers, could be with me to 
 wander on the beach and gather some of the beautiful shells 
 that are washed on the sands, and watch the breakers and 
 the roll of the surf, and stand at evening and see the sun go 
 down, plunging with his last dip, apparently, into the sea 
 itself, and then throwing up his long rays like arms in agony. 
 Sunsets at sea are very beautiful, and very suggestive of 
 beautiful thoughts. I have got a nice little island here 
 about ten miles long, and in the widest part about two miles. 
 I wrote to grandma the other day that it was all covered 
 with white sand, and that there was no vegetation save 
 pine trees ; but I was mistaken, for I have found one or two 
 pretty garden plots, and in one of them peach trees, and 
 lemon and orange trees, were in bloom. I have found some 
 very old orange trees a good deal thicker at the trunk than 
 your body, and as high and branching as any apple tree you 
 
Letters 383 
 
 ever saw. There used to be several families on the island, 
 but the commandant sent them all away to New Orleans. 
 They made a little livelihood by catching oysters and fishing 
 for the Mobile market, and some of them burned the oyster 
 shells into lime. You would be astonished at the great 
 banks of oyster shells there are here, showing what a pro- 
 digious quantity of the creature is raked up from the beds, 
 which are yet apparently inexhaustible. 
 
 Headquarters District oe South Ai,abama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ai,a., April 4, 1865. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 As to Mobile, in my judgment, it is going to be a long 
 siege. The general impression was that there would be a 
 speedy evacuation, but the attack has been so long delayed, 
 that the enemy have had full opportunity to fortify and are 
 making a most obstinate resistance. They have filled all 
 the approaches by land and water, with torpedoes ingeniously 
 contrived, and concealed in every channel and avenue ; so 
 thickly strewn, that though we have picked up a large num- 
 ber, three fine gunboats and many lives have already been 
 lost by them. The torpedo is made of wood, thickly coated 
 on the outside with pitch and tar so as to be quite water- 
 proof, is somewhat in the shape of a cigar, and eighteen 
 inches thick, tapering at both ends, in which there is a 
 vacuum, the middle portion being filled with from fifty to 
 one hundred pounds of gunpowder, which is ignited through 
 brass tubes with copper ends, by means of friction and per- 
 cussion powder. They are anchored just below the surface 
 of the water, and sometimes several are attached by strings 
 or wire. A vessel in passing over them produces the neces- 
 sary friction, and the explosion, if immediately underneath 
 the vessel is generally sufficient to blow a hole through the 
 bottom and sink her. These I have described, are the water 
 torpedoes ; those used upon the land are generally an eight- 
 inch shell, that is, a cannon ball, hollow, eight inches in 
 diameter, filled with powder and the fuse so arranged that a 
 
384 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 pressure of ten pounds will explode them. They are con- 
 cealed in the sand just below the surface, and the tread of a 
 horse's foot, or the passage of a wheel, is sufl&cient to explode 
 them, or even the pressure of a man's foot if put down hard. 
 A staff officer, riding the other day, woke up from a state of 
 insensibility to discover himself fifteen feet from the road- 
 way, and the mangled remains of his horse that had been 
 blown to atoms, he, by strange chance, escaping with the 
 temporary loss of his senses and the bruises of his fall. The 
 immense number of these shells and torpedoes scattered in 
 every possible place on land or in water, renders the ap- 
 proaches to Spanish Fort, that at present is the key to the po- 
 sition, most difficult, and has made the navy timid and wary 
 in the management of their ships, while our troops on shore 
 have found a secret foe hard to combat. Every man feels 
 that he is literally walking on the thin crust of a volcano. 
 We have, however, thoroughly invested the fort, the garri- 
 son of which now is supposed to number some six or seven 
 thousand men, and will soon be able to cut it off entirely 
 from Mobile. We shall then, I think, resort to sapping and 
 mining, and it will become a question of time as at Vicks- 
 burg. Meanwhile, our forces under Wilson, will attack from 
 the other side, and the result, in my mind, though far off, is 
 not doubtful. Still, we may have trouble from another 
 quarter. As you know, I am not one of those who have 
 been sanguine as to the speedy termination of the war, and 
 have doubtless, by free expression of opinion in that regard, 
 sacrificed a reputation I might have had for a wiseacre. I 
 think before long we shall have something from Kirby 
 Smith, and that when Richmond is evacuated, the war will 
 have to be begun anew. The obstinate resistance they are 
 making at Mobile, fortifies my preconceived opinions, that 
 are of no great value, for all is in the hands of God, who will 
 bring these troubles to a close in His own good time. Still, 
 you must be patient, and not expect an early raising of the 
 siege. 
 
 I am comfortably situated at this time. I have a great 
 deal of responsibility and a highly honorable position, if I 
 
Letters 3^5 
 
 have rank enough to hold it. All the time, or nearly all the 
 time I was a colonel, in fact, I may say all the time I was a 
 lieutenant-colonel, I exercised the rank of colonel ; all the 
 time, or nearly all the time I was colonel, I exercised the 
 rank, duties, and responsibilities of a brigadier-general. And 
 all the time I have been brigadier-general, the duties of a 
 major-general have been thrust upon me. I have recently, 
 as you perceive by the copies of orders I sent you, relieved 
 Major-General Granger, and the labor, expense, and respon- 
 sibility devolved upon him, now rests with me, with this 
 difference— he had more staff and $1,200 per annum more 
 pay. But I shall never get any more rank because I am a 
 volunteer ofl&cer. The brevet I would not give a fig for ; 
 they are so common that they do not confer honor, and they 
 do not, under any circumstance, the old rule in that regard 
 being changed, give more pay. 
 
 Although in April, the weather is not yet unpleasantly 
 warm, except in the sun ; indeed, I make it a point to keep 
 a little fire, that is a good guard against malaria. The birds, 
 among them my old friend the mocking-bird, have come and 
 I send you blossoms that will fade before they reach you, 
 but will carry some fragrance from the little island by the 
 sea that is now my home. 
 
 I have just been called from writing to receive a visit from 
 Capt. J. R. Madison Mullany, an old oflQcer of the navy now 
 commanding the U. S. S. Bienville, and commanding the 
 squadron here. He is a very gallant oflScer and lost an arm, 
 amputated close at the shoulder, in the capture of these 
 forts. A recommendation of him to you will be the fact of 
 his being a sincere and devout Catholic, and I was pleased 
 to find him a courteous and finished gentleman, as most 
 officers of the old navy were. 
 
 Headquarters District oe South Ai^abama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ala., April 9, 1865. 
 
 I have this moment received news that Petersburg has 
 fallen, Richmond evacuated, and Grant in hot pursuit of 
 
386 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 lyce's retreating army. It comes to me vaguely; still, there 
 are good grounds for the rumor. Our own siege drags 
 slowly. I miss Sherman and Grant and my lamented friend 
 McPherson. I don't find the old spirit down here ; still we 
 shall succeed ; that is beyond all peradventure, our troops 
 are in good spirits and there is no possibility of the enemy's 
 escaping us. 
 
 The weather has been cool here and generally pleasant. 
 My health is not very good, and I have not been able to en- 
 joy it. I think the malarial influence of my last summer's 
 campaign is still upon me, and I doubt whether the sea air 
 agrees with me ; but I keep about and attend to business. I 
 am taking quinine in pretty large and frequent doses. I 
 shall take all possible care of myself ; but I fear my old 
 powers will never return to me. I ought not to complain, 
 and strive to be contented ; but I am made conscious that 
 the days are drawing near when the ' ' grasshopper will be a 
 burthen." 
 
 Headquarters District of South Alabama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ala., April 11, 1865. 
 
 I wrote you the day before yesterday, since which time 
 the glorious news from Richmond I alluded to has been cor- 
 roborated ; and meanwhile we have had great success before 
 Mobile. Spanish Fort has been reduced ; carried by assault ; 
 five hundred prisoners and an equal number of the enemy 
 killed and wounded. " Blakely " has also been carried, and 
 two thousand five hundred prisoners captured. It is now 
 with us only a question of time, though the garrison at 
 Mobile and the fortifications are still making an obstinate de- 
 fence. The enemy fights with great gallantry, but must 
 ultimately succumb. Our navy, in this siege, has not dis- 
 played much enterprise or great gallantry. An excuse may 
 be found in the demoralizing effect of the torpedoes that sunk 
 three of their best ships. The particulars of the news you 
 will get through the public prints before my letter reaches 
 you. I hope my letters do reach you. I write often two or 
 
Letters 387 
 
 three or four times a week. No letters to me from anybody 
 yet save the three from you dated at Baton Rouge, Vicks- 
 burg, and Cairo. I am really heartsick for letters from home. 
 I sailed up Mobile Bay yesterday through the fleet and 
 close in sight of the city, whose spires and housetops, wharfs 
 and boats, reminded me of the distant views I used to have 
 of Vicksburg during the siege. 
 
 Headquarters District of South Alabama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ala., April 19, 1865. 
 
 My DEAR Daughter Bettie : 
 
 I have just returned from Mobile, where I httve been so- 
 journing for three or four days past, and you will want some 
 description of the city and what I saw there. You must 
 know that Mobile, the principal city and only seaport of 
 Alabama, was the original seat of French colonization in the 
 southwest, and for many years the capital of the colony of 
 Louisiana. I shall transcribe for you a little bit of history, 
 while for its geographical position you must go to the map. 
 In 1702, Lemoine de Bienville, acting under the instructions 
 of his brother Iberville, transferred the principal seat of the 
 colony from Biloxi, where it had been established three 
 years previously, to a point on the river Mobile, supposed 
 to be about twenty miles above the present site of the city, 
 where he established a post to which he gave the name of 
 ' ' St. Louis de la Mobile. ' ' At the same time he built a fort 
 and warehouse on " Isle Dauphine," at the entrance of 
 Mobile Bay (where my headquarters now are). 
 
 The settlement at Biloxi was soon afterwards broken up. 
 In 1704, there was an arrival of twenty young girls from 
 France, and the next year of twenty-three others, selected 
 and sent out under the auspices of the Bishop of Quebec, as 
 wives for the colonists. Many of the original settlers were 
 Canadians, like Iberville and Bienville. In 1705, occurred 
 a severe epidemic, supposed to be the first recorded visitation 
 of yellow fever, by which thirty-five persons were carried ofi^. 
 
 The year 1706 is noted for the " petticoat insurrection," 
 
388 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 which was a threatened rebellion of females in consequence 
 of the dissatisfaction with the diet of Indian corn, to which 
 they were reduced. The colony meanwhile frequently 
 suffered from famine as well as from the attacks of Indians 
 although relieved by occasional supplies sent from the mother 
 country. In 171 1 the settlement was nearly destroyed by a 
 hurricane and flood in consequence of which it was removed 
 to its present situation. In 17 12 the King of France made 
 a grant of the whole colony to Antoine Crozat, a wealthy 
 French merchant, and in the following 3^ear Bienville was 
 superseded as governor by M. de la Motte Cadillac. In 17 17 
 Crozat relinquished his grant to the French government, and 
 Bienville was reinstated. In 1723, the seat of the colonial 
 government was transferred to New Orleans. In 1763, by 
 the treaty of Paris, Mobile with all that portion of I^ouisiana 
 lying east of the Mississippi and north of Bayou Iberville, 
 Lake Maurepas, and Pontchartrain, passed into the posses- 
 sion of Great Britain. In 1780, the Fort, the name of which 
 had been changed into Fort Conde, and subsequently by the 
 British to Fort Charlotte, was captured by the Spanish Gen- 
 eral, Don Galvez, Governor of Louisiana, and in 1783, its 
 occupancy was confirmed to Spain by the cession to that 
 power of all the British possession on the Gulf of Mexico. 
 On the 13th of April, 1813, just fifty-two years before the 
 time it had been taken possession of by General CanbA^ the 
 Spanish Commandant Ga5^atama Perez surrendered the fort 
 and town to General Wilkinson. At that period, the popu- 
 lation, which in 1785 had amounted to eight hundred and 
 forty-six, was estimated at only five hundred, half of whom 
 were blacks. In December, 18 19, Mobile was incorporated 
 as a city. Mobile is now a city of moderate size, a popula- 
 tion of probabl}^ forty thousand inhabitants and before the 
 war was opulent and characterized as the most aristocratic 
 city of the South, though I suppose Charleston would dis- 
 pute, or rather would have disputed, this point. There has 
 evidently been a lavish display of money and many of the 
 houses and public buildings are elegant and tasteful in their 
 style and adornment. The luxuriance of vegetation in this 
 climate gives great advantages in the adornment of the 
 
Letters 389 
 
 streets and grounds with shade trees and beautiful shrubs, 
 vines and flowers. The present season corresponds with 
 June with you, and to me it was a rare and beautiful sight 
 yesterday to look down the long vista of ' ' Government ' ' 
 street, their principal avenue through the aisle of magnolia 
 in full leaf and bloom, the pride of China, the crape myrtle 
 and many other trees, the names of which I do not know, 
 but all laden with bud and leaf and flower ; while in relief, 
 the houses were wreathed with ivy, climbing roses, while 
 the sweet-scented double violet added delicious perfume to 
 the fragrance of countless varieties of standard roses. The 
 people have great taste and wonderful love for flowers in the 
 South ; even the ragged urchins and barefooted little girls 
 carrj^ bouquets that would be the envy of a ball-room belle 
 in Cincinnati. The streets are ver>^ broad, and have been 
 paved with shells, but the sandy nature of the soil has 
 caused them to disappear beneath the surface. The side- 
 walks are brick, as in Cincinnati. The city was like a city 
 of the dead. The principal men being in the army, were 
 either prisoners or had fled. The ladies secluded themselves 
 from the public gaze. A semi-ofiicial notice from the head- 
 quarters of the rebel General Maury had warned them that 
 General Canby had promised his soldiers three days' pil- 
 lage ; consequently, the people, when our troops took pos- 
 session, were frightened and anticipated all sorts of enormi- 
 ties. Since, they have been in a constant state of profound 
 astonishment. The drinking houses were all closed, and a 
 rigid system of discipline has been enforced, quiet and order 
 prevails. 
 
 While in Mobile, I was the guest of General Canby, who 
 has taken quarters at one of the best houses. I met there in 
 the family of the owner a fair sample of the young and 
 middle-aged ladies of the place, and the schoolgirls. 
 
 Ever>-thing is as old-fashioned as four years non-inter- 
 course with the ' ' outside barbarians, ' ' as they would style 
 us, would be apt to induce. This in dress, literature, and 
 conversation. You will hear that there is Union sentiment 
 
390 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 in Mobile, perhaps that not more than ten per cent, of its 
 people are secessionists ; but my word for it, that not a man, 
 woman, or child, who has lived in Mobile the last four years, 
 but who prays death and destruction to the " damned 
 Yankees. ' ' 
 
 Well, I have given you a birdseye view of the city. If 
 there is anything more you want to know, you must ask. 
 In case anybody should ask the question, you may say, that 
 there were taken with Mobile upwards of thirty-five thou- 
 sand bales of cotton, over a million bushels of corn, twenty 
 thousand bushels of wheat, and large stores of tobacco. I 
 don't think that mother, for some time hereafter, will be 
 compelled to give a dollar a yard for domestics and double 
 the price for calico. You must all have new dresses. I am 
 glad to get back from Mobile to my little island. There the 
 weather was warm and the air close and heavy, here I have 
 always a delicious sea breeze. It is very cool and pleasant. 
 I have a fine hard beach as level as your parlor floor, upon 
 which I can ride for twenty miles and see the great ocean 
 with its mighty pulses break at my feet. I have a little fleet 
 of boats; one, a beautiful steamer called the Laura, that had 
 been built by the rebels as a blockade runner, as quick as 
 lightning and elegantly fitted up, was sunk a day or two 
 since by running on to a pile. I am now having her 
 raised again. I have also a beautiful little yacht, a light 
 sailboat rigged as a sloop with one mast bowsprit and jib. 
 She sails beautifully on the wind ; is large enough to carry 
 half a dozen very well. I have just had her elegantly 
 painted, and one of m}^ officers is to-day manufacturing a 
 streamer for her. She has been called the Vivian, but I am 
 going to change her name and rechristen her the Bessie a7id 
 Belle. When I get a little more leisure I shall sail in her 
 down to the coral reefs and fish for pompino, sheepsheads 
 and poissons roiige. Oysters now are going out of season. I 
 am told they eat them here all the year round, but to my 
 notion they are becoming milky. I shall now take to crabs 
 and fish. I have been keeping I^ent admirably. 
 
Letters 39 ^ 
 
 You say you hope " peace will be declared." I should be 
 glad, my dear daughter, to see your hopes fulfilled ; but 
 peace will be long coming to our country and papa ; it would 
 do to dream and talk of, but the snake is only scotched, not 
 killed. Our hope may rest on a foreign war, and to-day I 
 could unite many of our enemies to march with us under the 
 folds of our own starry banner to fight the swarthy Mexicans 
 or the dull, cold Englishman, but without this event we must 
 fight on among ourselves for many a year to come. God 
 grant our jubilee may not have rung out too soon. How 
 long will it take the North to learn the South ? But these 
 are questions, my dear daughter, not for your consideration, 
 yet, at least. Study your books, my child, and learn to 
 love God and keep his commandments, and when you pray, 
 pray first for wisdom and then for strength, and if you 
 want your prayers answered, study your books and go about 
 much in the open air. 
 
 I send you some lines you may put away in your scrap- 
 book and when you get to be an old lady like grandma, and 
 have your own grandchildren on your knee, one day you 
 may get out the old battered book and read to them what 
 your father sent you from the war. 
 
 Headquarters District oe South Ai^abama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ai.a., April 24, 1865. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 You must not feel vexed, as you say you are, in reference 
 to Carr's getting my command. 
 
 The rough and tumble of an active campaign in this cli- 
 mate at this season of the year, with my shattered constitu- 
 tion, would be fatal. The wear and tear of the last four years 
 has told upon me, and I am constantly warned to guard 
 against exposure. Here I am comparatively comfortable, 
 and though I cannot hope while exposed to the baleful influ- 
 ence of malaria to be well, I may ward oflf prostrating sick- 
 ness. So that, take the matter in all its bearings, it is 
 
392 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 probably for the best that I should have been disposed of as 
 I am for the present. 
 
 You say in reference to the fall of Richmond that you 
 ** cannot but feel the key is reached and rebellion unsealed." 
 It may be that it is unsealed ; but it is not yet crushed, and 
 you need not lay the flattering unction to your soul that peace 
 is at hand, or that the rebellion is crushed. I notice by the 
 Northern papers that the people are drunk with joy and 
 jubilee. Instead of maintaining a quiet dignity, tumultuous 
 pressure has been made to grasp the enemy by the hand and 
 to kill the fatted calf and welcome the prodigal back. The 
 rebels laugh in their sleeves. The North has not yet learned 
 how to make war upon its adversary. But I don't intend to 
 croak or play the bird of ill omen ; the signs of the times are 
 pregnant ; millions of people in this nation are going up 
 and down smarting with a sense of personal injury, mourning 
 brothers, sons, husbands, fathers, sweathearts slain, home- 
 steads burned, altars desecrated, property destroyed. There 
 is no peace with these in this generation. In my judgment, 
 there is just one hope for us now, and that is a war with a 
 foreign power that would have the effect of uniting the bel- 
 ligerents. I have now prisoners with me, three generals and 
 their staffs, I^iddell, Cockrel, and Thomas. I guarantee that 
 I can enlist all or the major part of them to go with me to 
 Mexico or Canada to fight under the stars and stripes. But 
 they won't go home to be contented. Neither men nor 
 women will consent to go back to ruined plantations, de- 
 populated cities, abandoned villages, and, without the aid 
 of the peculiar institution, essay to rebuild, reconquer the 
 wilderness, recreate a fortune without grumbling, and the 
 bitterness of spirit will soon find occasion for fresh outbreak. 
 
 Headquarters District of South Ai,abama, 
 Fort Gaines, April 29, 1865. 
 My dear Wife; : 
 
 Your very interesting and afiectionate letter of 23d March, 
 apprising me of your safe arrival at home and of your adven- 
 tures by the way, was received. 
 
Letters 393 
 
 Truly, you passed through great peril and vicissitude, and 
 are now prepared to somewhat appreciate my life upon the 
 road for the past four years. We feel called upon to thank 
 God whenever we graze a great danger, that is visible and 
 tangible, forgetful that the same care is constantly over us, 
 in the unseen and impalpable peril in which we alwa5'^s move. 
 But it is well with us occasionally to look danger in the face, 
 that we may form the proper estimate of our weakness and 
 frailty, eliminated from God's care, while we learn that with- 
 out danger there is no greatness, that in the hazardous con- 
 flicts where life is ventured, high qualities only are developed. 
 
 What canting nonsense do we occasionally hear in certain 
 quarters to disparage mere personal courage, ' ' mere personal 
 courage ! " We are reminded that the ignoble quality is 
 held in common with the bulldog, and that in this essential 
 he is our master ; we are reminded that it is a low and vul- 
 gar attribute, that neither elevates nor enlightens, that the 
 meanest creatures are often gifted with it, and the noblest 
 natures void of it. But we may be sure that without it, 
 there is neither truth nor manliness. The self-reliance that 
 makes a man maintain his word, be faithful to his friendship, 
 and honorable in his dealings, has no root in a heart that 
 shakes with craven fear. The life of a coward is the voyage 
 of a ship with a leak, eternal contrivance, never-ceasing 
 emergency. All thoughts dashed with a perpetual fear of 
 death, what room is there for one generous emotion, one great 
 or high-hearted ambition. I congratulate you that in the 
 presence of danger, you were not frightened, that you did 
 not lose your presence of mind, but felt able to put forth 
 your best powers for the emergency that might have been 
 near. 
 
 There is very little in my life here now, that is of suflScient 
 importance to entertain you in detail. It is five days since 
 I have had news from the outside world, and I hardly know 
 whether we have war or peace in the land. My health is 
 pretty good and I am perfectlj^ comfortable, so far as shelter, 
 food and raiment can make me comfortable. I have abun- 
 
394 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 dance of fish, flesh, and fowl, and plenty of whiskey, brandy, 
 wine and ale, though I am making very sparing use of any 
 kind of stimulants. I have had some fine birds, snipe, peep, 
 plover, and a splendid shore bird, the ' ' sickle billed curlew, ' ' 
 as large as a barnyard fowl. Mother will remember father's 
 often speaking of them. I miss my family, and continually 
 regret that I had not kept you and Walter with me, for up 
 to this time I could have made life here for you very agree- 
 able. Here I find myself using the word " regret " again, 
 when I well know, humanly speaking, it is better as it is. 
 Yet, philosophize as I will, comes that increasing, unwearied 
 desire, that is with us in joy or sadness, that journeys with 
 us and lives with us mingling with every action, blending 
 with every thought, and presenting to our minds a constant 
 picture of ourselves, under some wished-for aspect, different 
 from all we have ever known, when we are surrounded by 
 other impulses and swayed by other passions. ' ' Man never 
 is but always to be blessed." 
 
 The weather has been delightfully pleasant, an occasional 
 storm and one or two sultry days, but I have not been called 
 upon to dispense with winter garments and sleep comfortably 
 under two blankets. The sea breeze is alwaj^s fresh, and it 
 is charming in the evening to ride upon the hard and per- 
 fectly level beach and see the breakers dash in surf and 
 foam on the shore. The air then becomes perfectly pure 
 from the ocean and is wonderfully exhilarating. The horses 
 become so much excited as to be difficult of control , and the 
 Captain, the best broken horse of the times, has frequently 
 become with me wholly unmanageable. You would be 
 amused to see him capriole and play with the waves, dash- 
 ing close to the brink as they recede and advance, and re- 
 joicing in the cool spray. But everything about me is con- 
 stantly damp. My arms always rusty, my buttons dimmed 
 and black, and the paper on which I write almost as wet as 
 if it had passed through the water. I believe this climate 
 would be favorable to persons with pulmonary complaints. 
 I have been a good deal exposed, but never take cold, or if 
 I do, it does not make itself apparent by sore throat, cough, 
 sneezing, or anything of that kind. At the same time I 
 
Letters 395 
 
 must say that the atmosphere is undoubtedly malarial and 
 no science or skill can guard against malaria. 
 
 Intelligence now comes that the rebel General Dick Taylor 
 has asked terms of surrender, and that General Canby has 
 this day gone to arrange, also that General Hurlbut has 
 gone on a mission to Kirby Smith. So that this department 
 is fast winding up the rebellion in this quarter. 
 
 Headquarters District of South Ai,ab.\ma, 
 Fort Gaines, Ala., April 26, 1865. 
 
 I had somewhat of an adventure yesterday, and came near 
 imitating the wise men of Gotham who went to sea in a bowl. 
 I have a pretty little sailboat with capacity for four or five 
 people, and the day being fair and the sea smooth, I con- 
 cluded to go over to Sand Island, distant four or five miles 
 from here, just at the mouth of the bay. With my adjutant 
 and a crew of two sailors, I set sail about nine o'clock in the 
 morning, and with a favoring breeze soon made my point of 
 destination. Anchoring my little ship, I went ashore, made 
 examination of the lighthouse, and after a stroll upon the 
 beach, it being near noon, made preparations to return ; but 
 no sooner had I weighed anchor than I discovered the wind 
 was dead ahead and a strong tide was beating out to sea. 
 Nevertheless, I spread my sail, and by tacking to and fro, 
 sought to beat up against wind and tide ; in this endeavor 
 we rounded the point of the island, and, to the dismay of 
 my crew, soon discovered we were drifting out to sea ; for- 
 tunately, we at this time had not got quite into the channel, 
 and by bending on all the spare rope to our anchor cable, 
 were able to touch bottom and ride in safety. It was now 
 three o'clock, and I determined to lie down and get a nap, 
 hoping that in the course of an hour or two, the tide, which 
 was rushing past us at the rate of six miles an hour, would 
 turn, and that, by the help of a breeze, we would be able to 
 turn the point. I slept a couple of hours, pleasantly rocked 
 by the swell of the waves, but woke to find my hopes disap- 
 
39^ Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 pointed. The tide was rushing by more furiously than ever, 
 the wind had died away, and to make matters worse, our 
 anchor was dragging, and we were rapidly going to sea. 
 We had had no food or water since breakfast, and there was 
 nothing to eat or drink on board. We had no compass, and 
 as the lighthouse began to sink below the horizon, and the 
 pine trees grow dim in the rays of the declining sun, the 
 prospect was anything but encouraging. But hope came to 
 us in the shape of a tug, that was towing a large schooner 
 out through the channel. We watched her with anxious 
 eyes, till she had taken the ship to the ofl&ng, and then 
 turned to go back to the bay. She passed within some three 
 miles of us, and we made signal with our white handker- 
 chiefs displayed from the top of our little mast, but in vain. 
 She steamed along regardless of our motions and went back 
 to the bay. That hope was gone, and remembering the story 
 of the Irish pilot, who followed the big ship night and day, 
 till he had crossed the ocean, I determined to keep the 
 schooner in sight as long as I could, and to that end spread 
 sail and endeavored to get into her wake. But in vain ; the 
 wind would not blow, and the sail flapped limp. We got 
 just headway enough to throw us into the channel and sped 
 along towards the Atlantic Ocean about as fast as a horse 
 could trot. Our situation was not enviable ; we were out of 
 the bay, fairly in the gulf, and the heavy rollers of the ocean 
 tossed our frail little bark like an &%% shell. We had to sit 
 steady to keep her trimmed, and feared that if the wind we 
 had prayed for an hour before came, we should be capsized, 
 for she was flat-bottomed, and not in ballast. However, I 
 kept a stifl" upper lip, and directly, when hope had almost 
 fled, discovered the tug again steaming down, towing a large 
 ship. We now made every effort to throw ourselves across 
 her forefoot, and not caring so much about drifting to sea, 
 as to so change our course that we might get within signal 
 distance, succeeded in making some way towards the ap- 
 proaching vessels, but again the tug cast off" and returned as 
 before. Now was really an anxious moment ; one handker- 
 chief was displayed at the masthead, the other I made the 
 adjutant wave, standing in the prow. The pilot of the tug 
 
Letters 397 
 
 saw us, rounded to, and in a few moments I was aboard and 
 my little vessel towed astern. We were picked up ten miles 
 below Sand Island, and fairly out to sea, and, as we have 
 been informed since, in a channel that has hurried more than 
 one little craft to destruction. Not long since two profes- 
 sional pilots were drawn into and carried out to perish. But 
 as we say, ' ' a miss is as good as a mile, ' ' only that the next 
 time I go to sea I shall take some grub and some water and 
 a compass, and ' ' if the court know herself, as she think she 
 do, ' ' I shall hardly venture in a craft not much bigger than 
 a washing tub. One is never out of danger in this world. 
 The other day I was riding the colt, who was fractious, and 
 cavorting around with me, jumped into a well ; he succeeded 
 in struggling out before he had reached the bottom, and fell 
 heavily on his side with my right leg under him ; of course, 
 people thought my leg was broken, and that the beast would 
 roll over upon me, but he did n't, and the leg was only 
 bruised. 
 
 So I have had two more warnings that man is mortal, that 
 as to circumstances and events he is like a thistledown wafted 
 upon the autumn breeze, that a day, an hour, nay, the pass- 
 ing moment, may terminate his earthly existence ; that, 
 without note or warning, he may be summoned to the 
 presence of his Maker, to the report of the deeds done in the 
 body. 
 
 MOBII^E, Ala., May 17, 1865. 
 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 We have news this morning that Jeff Davis has been ar- 
 rested and sent to Washington under guard. It remains to 
 be seen if Johnson has the grit to put him through, or if he 
 is not made a lion and a martyr of, and permitted to go scot 
 free. 
 
 I have been for a few days past, and still am, a very 
 favored guest of Madame Octavia Walton I^eVert, who has 
 
398 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 been more kind to me than words can tell. She has been 
 friend, mother, most delightful companion to me. A very- 
 noble woman, she fully deserves the splendid encomiums 
 that have been so freely lavished upon her at home and 
 abroad. I have forgotten if before I have alluded to her 
 history, that, perhaps, you are familiar with ; even if such 
 is the case, it will do no harm to again advert more particu- 
 larly to your husband's friend. I have been somewhat of 
 an invalid, and she has nursed me, and been so sweetly 
 kind to me, that I can hardly write too much about her. So 
 I shall make no excuse for quoting very freely from a grace- 
 ful biographical sketch of her history by Mary Forrest, who 
 edited the Women of the South, among whom she ranks her 
 as prima donna. Frederica Bremer calls her the " sweet 
 rose of Florida," and she certainly is a rose that all are 
 praising. George Walton, her grandfather, was one of the 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence, was wounded at 
 the head of his regiment at the siege of Savannah, \vas a 
 member of Congress (the first convened at Philadelphia), and 
 afterwards held successively the offices of Governor of 
 Georgia and Judge of the Supreme Court. He married Miss 
 Camber, the daughter of an English nobleman, a short time 
 before the Revolution. Madame lycVert has now in her pos- 
 session many letters addressed to Colonel Walton by General 
 Washington, Lafayette, the elder Adams, Jefferson, and other 
 noted men of those days, expressive of their high confidence 
 and regard. 
 
 George Walton, the second, married Miss Sally Walker, 
 the daughter of an eminent lawyer of Georgia. In 1812, he 
 became a member of the legislature of Georgia. In 1821, he 
 was appointed Secretary of State under General Jackson, 
 then Governor of Florida, and, when the old chief retired to 
 the ' ' Hermitage, ' ' succeeded him in office. He was himself 
 succeeded by our old friend of Washington memory, Gover- 
 nor Duval . . . whom you doubtless remember. Here 
 I may be permitted to say, par parenthese, that as a high 
 compliment and one accorded to but few guests, I have been 
 assigned to what was the private chamber of Mrs. Walton, 
 and have been sleeping upon a bed and bedstead upon which 
 
Letters 399 
 
 General Jackson slept for years, and which, as a precious 
 relic, was presented to Mrs. Walton by General Jackson 
 while he was President. 
 
 Octavia Walton was born at Bellevue, near Augusta, Geor- 
 gia, but her parents, moving soon after to Florida, her first 
 memories are of the sunshine and flowers of Pensacola, in her 
 own vivid words ' ' of the orange and live-oak trees, shading 
 the broad veranda ; of the fragrant acacia, oleander, and Cape 
 jasmine trees, which filled the parterre sloping down to the 
 sea beach ; of merry races with my brother along the white 
 sands, while the creamy waves broke over my feet and the 
 delicious breeze from the gulf played in my hair, and of the 
 pet mocking-birds in the giant old oak by my window, whose 
 songs called me each morning from dreamland." 
 
 I quote now from my authoress. Pensacola, situated on a 
 noble bay, was the rendezvous of the United States vessels of 
 the Gulf Station. It was a gala time when they returned 
 from their cruises ; balls and parties at the governor's 
 house ; splendid entertainments on board the ships ; moon- 
 light excursions upon the bay, and pic-nics in the magnolia 
 groves. The well-educated and chivalric officers were a large 
 element in the society to which our author was thus early 
 accustomed ; and while yet a child she had little to learn in 
 the way of drawing-room ease and elegance. 
 
 Amid such scenes her receptive nature seems to have 
 absorbed that tropical exuberance of thought, feeling, lan- 
 guage, and presence, which has made her name famous ; 
 while at the same time, an early and close relation with 
 nature, in one of her most tender and bounteous aspects, 
 preserved intact amid all precocious tendencies, the yiaive 
 simplicity of the child, which is to this day her crowning 
 grace. 
 
 Before the age of twelve years, she could write and con- 
 verse in three languages with facility. So unusual was her 
 talent as a linguist, that it was the custom of her father to 
 take her to his office to translate from the French or Spanish 
 the most important letters connected with affairs of state. 
 There, perched upon a high stool, (she was too tiny in stat- 
 ure to be made available otherwise), she would interpret with 
 
400 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the greatest ease and correctness, the tenor and spirit of for- 
 eign despatches, proving herself thus early, quite worthy of 
 her illustrious descent. 
 
 During her father's administration as Governor of Florida, 
 he located the seat of government, and, at the request of his 
 little daughter Octavia, called it by the Indian name of 
 " Tallahassee." Its signification, " beautiful land," fell 
 musically upon the ear of the imaginative child ; she was 
 greatly interested, too, in the old Seminole King Mamashla, 
 who, in the days of his power, struck his tent-pole in that 
 ground, made it his resting-place, and called it first by this 
 sweet name. The chief grew fond of her, and she was 
 known in his tribe as " the White Dove of Peace." 
 
 Octavia was never placed within the walls of a schoolroom. 
 Her mother and grandmother, both women of intellect and 
 cultivation, vied with each other in developing her earlier 
 mental life, and private tutors were provided to meet the 
 needs of her advance. 
 
 When she first was presented to General I^afayette, a long 
 and interesting interview ensued ; the young Octavia, seated 
 upon the knee of the old hero, holding him spellbound with 
 her piquant and fluent use of his native tongue. He then 
 folded her to his heart, and blessed her fervently, remarking 
 to one of the committee, as she left the room, a ' ' truly won- 
 derful child, she has been conversing all this while, with in- 
 tellect and tact, in the purest French. I predict for her a 
 brilliant career." Oracular words, which the record of years 
 have more than confirmed. But Octavia Walton did not sit 
 passively down to await the fulfillment of Lafayette's proph- 
 ecy. One great secret of her life lies in her indefatigable 
 industry. Only by close application has she taken the true 
 gauge of herself ; brought into view every resource ; into 
 play every faculty ; only thus has she become acquainted 
 with classical and scientific studies, made herself mistress of 
 many languages, a proficient in music, an eloquent conver- 
 sationalist, and a ready writer ; and by a no less fine and 
 careful culture, has she been able in every phase of her life 
 to evolve only light and warmth from her large human 
 heart ; to bring to the surface the best qualities of all who 
 
Letters 401 
 
 come within her influence ; to charm away distraction, and 
 to preserve, apart from her world woman aspect a child na- 
 ture as pure and undimmed as a pearl in the sea. 
 
 . . . In 1836 she married Dr. Henry Le Vert of 
 Mobile, a man noted equally for his professional skill and 
 high moral worth. His father was a native of France, and 
 came to America with lyafayette. . . . Frederica Bremer 
 says of her : 
 
 "It is so strange that that little worldly lad}', whom I 
 have heard spoken of as a belle, and as a most splendid orna- 
 ment of society, wherever she went, has yet become almost 
 as dear to me as a young sister. But she has become so 
 from being so excellent, because she has suffered much, and 
 because, under a worldly exterior, there is an unusually sound 
 and pure intellect, and a heart full of affection, which can 
 cast aside all the vanities of the world for the power of grati- 
 fying those whom she loves. This fair daughter of Florida, 
 is surrounded by a circle of relatives who seem to regard her 
 as the apple of their eye, ' ' etc. 
 
 What I have hastily written and more hastily selected, 
 may serve to give you some faint idea of this most charming 
 lady. It is a good thing to have a sensible, well-educated 
 sweet woman for one's friend, and I thank God, who has 
 vouchsafed to me one or two such in the course of my 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 I enclose a sketch of my friend Ransom, of whom I have 
 written and spoken to you. I fear I weary you with long 
 letters. I shall return to Fort Gaines to-morrow or next 
 day. I am not very well. That terrible diarrhoea hangs 
 on and will not give me rest. I shall never recover from 
 that disease, which will only be temporarily palliated or re- 
 lieved, and I shall pray to God to let me die at home. 
 
 Headquarters District oe South AIvAbama, 
 Fort Gaines, Ala., May 26, 1865. 
 
 You had received my recountal of our narrow escape from 
 perishing at sea. The varied experience of the past few 
 years has showed me the uncertainty of human life. ' ' We 
 
402 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is 
 rounded with a sleep." I often wish you were with me 
 here, that you might have leisure for reflection, and oppor- 
 tunity to study the wonders of the deep, the great sea, fitting 
 emblem of eternity. To watch with me the changes on its 
 surface, now dimpled and glittering in the sunlight, then 
 glassy as a mirror, reflecting the bright moon, or by starlight 
 lambent with phosphorescent glare ; and again maddened by 
 the wind, tossing and roaring and foaming with rage. To 
 see the sun rise from the ocean in the morning and set be- 
 neath its waters at eve ; to see the sweet sight of " sunset 
 sailing ships, ' ' to wander by the shore and watch the graceful 
 seabirds dip their wings. Nothing that poet has written or 
 traveller described, can give to the mind an idea of the heart 
 emotions awakened by the ocean, whether in repose or agi- 
 tated by storm. I am never wear}^ of it, or the southern 
 gales that sweep its bosom. You remember old Governor 
 Duval's description of the breeze at Pensacola, How its in- 
 fluence made one dream of " bathing in a sea of peacock's 
 plumes." Here you can realize how graphic was his de- 
 scription. The weather is perfectly delicious ; you never 
 saw so blue a sky. In the early morning it is hot, but about 
 ten o'clock the sea breeze springs up and sitting in the shade 
 you have nothing in the way of atmosphere to desire. My 
 house is favorably situated close to the beach, or rather on 
 the beach, close to the water's edge, so close that the spray 
 of the waves sometimes falls in light mist on my brow, as I 
 sit on the long and wide piazza, facing due east. Here I 
 linger far into the night, sometimes till the early morning, 
 watching the stars and chewing the cud of sweet and bitter 
 fancy, with nothing to break the silence but the tread of the 
 sentry and the splash of the waves, drinking in deep draughts 
 of night air that give no cold. They tell me the coming 
 months are hot, and the mosquitoes troublesome. I know not 
 how that may be ; the present is the perfection of climate, 
 and I wish you could enjoy it with me. My health is im- 
 proving. I am taking iron and quinine, and within a few 
 days my disease seems brought under subjection. 
 
Letters 
 
 403 
 
 It is strange that as I have been writing and endeavoring 
 to moralize upon the uncertainty of human life and the futility 
 of human plans, another and terrible lesson has been read 
 to me. Yesterday, while writing to Walter my house was 
 shaken by a tremendous explosion, that I supposed to be a 
 clap of thunder, though the sky was clear. I called to "J. 
 L. " ' to know if any of the guns at the fort had been dis- 
 charged ; he said no, but thought one of the " men-of-war " 
 in the oflSng had fired a gun. I thought it rather strange, 
 it being about two o'clock in the afternoon. At night, I dis- 
 covered a bright light in the north and feared for a while 
 that a steamboat was on fire ; but just at this moment the 
 mystery has been solved by the intelligence brought me that 
 the magazines at Mobile have been blown up, half the city 
 destroyed, thousands of lives lost, and a scene of misery and 
 destruction terrible to imagine. I shall cease writing now 
 and close my letter by giving you full particulars, as they 
 will be brought me by the next boat. Truly in life we are 
 in death. Thousands of soldiers and refugees, women and 
 children, have been hurried to eternity without warning, and 
 many hundreds of mangled and wounded are craving death 
 to relieve them from misery. 
 
 Saturday, Maj- 27th. 
 
 Enclosed herewith I hand you the only copy of Mobile 
 paper I can procure ; the details therein will be sufiicient 
 without further comment from me. To-day is deliciously 
 cool, too cool for comfort without woollen clothes. My little 
 boat has just arrived, bringing me cargo of chickens, green 
 peas, string beans, cucumbers, blackberries, sweet potatoes, 
 and peanuts, with beautiful bouquets sent to me from Mount 
 lyouis Island, a blossom or two you will find pressed. 
 
 I cannot say what my future will be, a resignation would 
 
 not be accepted, inasmuch as I have a full major-general's 
 
 command, and I am in uncertainty as to the day or hour 
 
 when I may be mustered out, or ordered hence to another 
 
 ' His orderly. 
 
404 Tho7nas Kilby Smith 
 
 field. It is only left to me to be patient to the bitter end. 
 There is a growing disposition through many parts of the 
 country to pay more honor to the base rebels who have been 
 conquered in their efforts to overthrow the best government 
 in the world than to the brave defenders of their flag. It 
 will not be long before the United States uniforms will cease 
 to be a badge of honor. How base the treatment of Sher- 
 man, how nobly he has emerged from the fiery furnace. I 
 dare not trust myself in speculation upon passing events, or 
 anticipation of the future. 
 
 I rejoice to note by the price current that most of the 
 staples of life are largely reduced in value ; corn, oats, flour, 
 etc. You will now be able to make your dollar purchase 
 pretty nearly a dollar's worth, and thus your income be 
 virtually increased. 
 
 I am not much in the habit of telling dreams, and there is 
 no Joseph to interpret ; but three that have been lately 
 dreamed, are so peculiar in connection with passing events, 
 that, without giving them in full detail, I will let you have 
 the outline. The first dream I dreamed myself about the 
 time of the assassination of the President, and it was to this 
 effect ; that General Canby sent for me to be the bearer of 
 despatches to President Lincoln, and that I went to heaven 
 to deliver the despatches. You will naturally ask how 
 heaven appeared to me in my dream. I can only give you 
 a vague idea of my impressions. The scene was a spacious 
 apartment something like the East Room of the White 
 House ; but vast with shadowy pillars and recesses and one 
 end opening into space skyward, and by fleecy clouds made 
 dim and obscure, just visible, with a shining radiance far 
 away in the perspective, farther away than the sun or stars 
 appear to us. I have no remembrance of my interview, but 
 a clear recollection of my sensations that were those of per- 
 fect happiness, such as I have never had waking or dreaming. 
 I would not tell this dream to anyone, till some weeks after- 
 wards the Provost Marshal of my staff told me of a strange 
 dream in which he had awakened the night before, and that 
 had made a serious impression on his mind. The scene of 
 
Letters 405 
 
 his vision was laid at Carrollton, near New Orleans. I was 
 standing surrounded by my staff, Jemmy Sherer and Joe, 
 when a man approached and asked me to retire to the back 
 yard on plea of private and important business. I walked 
 out with him and a moment after a rebel ofl&cer followed us, 
 with his hand upon a pistol, partially concealed in his breast. 
 Mrs. Stone, the wife of my Inspector-General, called the 
 attention of the dreamer to this fact, with a solemn warning 
 that I was about to be assassinated. He at once sprang to 
 the door for the guard, and perceiving an oflScer in command 
 of an escort approaching, called halt, that from him he might 
 procure the guard, but as he neared, discovered he was es- 
 corting a long funeral procession of mourners clad in white, 
 in the centre of which was a hearse with towering white 
 plumes. A colloquy and quarrel ensued, and pending the 
 denouement he awoke. He told his dream to me, and on 
 the instant, my own being recalled to mind, I told him 
 mine, but neither of us mentioned the matter to others, 
 lyastly, the Adjutant, Captain Wetmore, had his dream. 
 The march and the battle, and all the vicissitudes of the 
 campaign, in the rapid kaleidoscope of thought, had passed 
 through his brain, when at last Jeff Davis appeared, a cap- 
 tured prisoner, then he was indicted, tried, and convicted, 
 all in due course, and finally the sentence, that he be ban- 
 ished to ' ' Australia ' ' for twenty years, provided the consent 
 of the British government could be obtained thereto. 
 
 These dreams were all vivid and interesting in detail, the 
 last the most sensible of the three, and certainly as easy of 
 interpretation as those of the butler and the baker of the 
 King of Egypt. Yet they only serve to remind us of the 
 words of him, who wrote as never man wrote, who knew the 
 human heart, and springs to human action, and the world, 
 and all its contents, better than anyone on earth, 
 
 "All Spirits, 
 And are melted into air, into thin air ; 
 And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, 
 The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself. 
 Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve ; 
 
4o6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, 
 Leave not a rack behind : We are such stuff 
 As dreams are made of, and our little life 
 Is rounded with a sleep. . . ." 
 
 My next letter will be dated from New Orleans, events 
 transpiring, foreshadow my early departure from my head- 
 quarters at Dauphine Island, to which I have become a good 
 deal attached. I have had some lonely hours on its shores, 
 but the waves have made sweet music in my ears. 
 
 I have some fresh accounts of the horrid accident at Mobile ; 
 language fails to do justice to the terrors of the scene. The 
 professional sensation writers will fill the columns of the 
 daily press with details, and I will not attempt to harrow up 
 your soul with my tame pen. 
 
 MOBil,E, Ala., June 7, 1865. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 My time is much occupied. Judge Chase has just left us, 
 and to-day we have the famous Phil. Sheridan. I have been 
 going about with him all day, and entertained General Price 
 of his suite at dinner. The weather is intensely hot, but 
 my health is at least as good as usual, that is not saying 
 much for me. 
 
 Headquarters District of Mobile, 
 June 15, 1865. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 A very handsome position and one of the most powerful, 
 in the event of foreign war, that is probable, has been ten- 
 dered me, that of Provost Marshal General, for the whole 
 Western Department, including Texas and New Mexico, 
 has been offered and urged upon me, but General Canby 
 has been anxious to place me in command of this, the most 
 important district of the South. I have j-ielded to him, for 
 two considerations, first, I shall be nearer my family, some 
 members of whom I shall be able to see in the autumn, if 
 
Letters 407 
 
 my life is spared, and secondly, because I have some political 
 aspirations that may be rendered tangible, perhaps better 
 from this point than any other, this, of course, depends upon 
 the future aspect of our foreign relations. These two con- 
 siderations are selfish ; after these I feel I can, perhaps, do 
 my duty to my Government as well, or perhaps better, in my 
 present position than the other, which would involve great 
 labor. 
 
 He;adquarters Post and District of Mobii,e, 
 Mobile, June 30, 1865. 
 My de;ar Wipe : 
 
 I send packages of papers from day to day, from which 
 you may have some account of my goings on. 
 
 I am living at a tremendous rate, and between my business 
 and my pleasures, or what passes for pleasure, and is part of 
 my business, have but little leisure to write ; though I do 
 far more than my share, considering that there are so many 
 at home. My house is full to overflowing with guests. I 
 am now entertaining three brigadier-generals and their sev- 
 eral staffs. A night or two ago I gave entertainment to the 
 whole of Mobile, and you may be sure I gave them a good 
 time. There is some account of the occasion in the papers 
 of the day, and I enclose a slip. 
 
 Headquarters Post and District of Mobii,e, 
 Mobile, Ala., Aug. i. 1865. 
 
 I know it will make you sad, but for the sake of their ex- 
 ceeding beauty, I must transcribe some original lines I run 
 my eye over to-day and saved for you : 
 
 GONE HOME. 
 
 No sickness there, nor any care, nor grief 
 
 Nor any night ; 
 There, we shall clasp our long lost friends again, 
 
 With new delight. 
 
4o8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 No cold neglect, ingratitude, nor guile, 
 
 Will there distress ; 
 No heavy hours, no lonely days and nights, 
 
 No weariness ; 
 No longing for sweet peace, that never comes ; 
 
 No scalding tears. 
 That, falling, wash away the life and strength 
 
 More than do years ; 
 Oh, home! sweet home ! when shall these weary feet 
 
 Press thy dear soil ? 
 "When shall I rest from all my pain and grief, 
 
 My care and toil ? 
 
 Headquarters Post of Mobii,e, 
 Mobile, Ala., Aug. ii, 1S65. 
 
 The chronic complaint with which my system is poisoned, 
 will never be eradicated ; the diarrhoea at times is beyond any- 
 thing you ever saw or dreamed of, and from day to day I look 
 at myself in the glass with wonder and amazement that I am 
 still alive. Change, radical change of air, may possibly alle- 
 viate ; it is worth the trial. Under the most favorable circum- 
 stances, I should die in two weeks in Ohio, and will not come 
 back in warm weather to make the experiment. 
 
 The weather here is very warm. We have no epidemic 
 as yet, but I hear of yellow fever in New Orleans. I will do 
 what I can to keep it out ; as long as the nights remain warm 
 there is no danger. A little strange, is it not, that in a 
 Southern climate warm weather is a guarantee against 
 infection ? 
 
 Mobile, Ala., Sept. 5, 1865. 
 
 I write in great haste, and expect to be home in the course 
 of two or three weeks. 
 
Letters 409 
 
 New Orleans, Sept. 12, 1865. 
 
 I shall be detained here some days on business. As soon 
 as I can get away, I shall come home, and hope my coming 
 will not be deferred long after the reception of this letter. I 
 cannot now write you at length ; my plans are not matured. 
 My health is much the same, no worse. 
 
 Union Ci,ub, New York, Feb. 24, 1866. 
 My dear Daughter : 
 
 New York has been quite agog the last few days with 
 gayeties growing out of Washington's anniversary and the 
 advent of General Grant. The latter we entertained at our 
 club the day before yesterday with one of the most magnifi- 
 cent dinners ever given in America, at which there were 
 present one hundred and fifty guests. The banqueting hall 
 was magnificently draped with flags, the tables covered with 
 exquisite exotics, glittering plate, and the most sumptuous 
 viands and richest wines were there in profusion ; added to 
 all this, two large bands discoursed most eloquent music, 
 and the feast was enlivened with speeches, wit, song, and 
 sentiment. To all present, it will have been an event long 
 to be remembered. 
 
 Yesterday was a lovely, balmy, springlike day, and I was 
 taken a long drive by Mr. Jerome, behind a fleet and splendid 
 team of four horses, said to be the most stylish " four-in- 
 hand ' ' in New York. I quite longed to have you by my 
 side, for you would have enjoyed it to the utmost. I hope, 
 however, and at no very future day, to have the pleasure of 
 driving you through the park myself, and also riding with 
 you there on horseback. 
 
 Washington, April 11, 1866. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have not yet been introduced to the President, because 
 I have waited for the proper person to perform the office. 
 
4IO Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 The matter of my brevet is all right. My name, with a 
 number of others, was sent to the Senate on the 26th of 
 February, and since then, there has been no executive session 
 and no opportunity to make confirmations. I am assured 
 there will be no trouble about it, but before I leave I shall 
 see the Military Committee. I do not think it worth while 
 to seek a private interview with General Grant ; if he wants 
 to see me, he will send for me, and being out of service I 
 have no business with him. It seems to be generally under- 
 stood that he possesses no real power with the President, or 
 that if he does, he will not exercise it in civil appointments. 
 As to the new Army Bill, the Congress have determined 
 to control the appointments from civil life themselves — 
 to permit no interference from the President or from Gen- 
 eral Grant. It is also said that the President is deter- 
 mined, in his civil appointments, to recognize the services 
 of distinguished oflScers. Gen. A. J. Smith told me j^ester- 
 day, what has been reiterated to me very many times, that 
 my record was one of the most distinguished on the list. 
 How it will end, I cannot tell. 
 
 Among the Granite Hii,i,s oe New Hampshire, 
 Near Dartmouth Coli^ege, Hanover, 
 Thursday, July 19, 1866. 
 
 I wrote mother from Boston last Sunday ; at the time of 
 writing I was interrupted by the entrance of Judge Bigelow 
 and Mr. Miller, who paid me a call. In the evening I left 
 our party, that had been invited to a reception at the house 
 of Mr. Lincoln, the Mayor of Boston, and having been pro- 
 vided with a carriage and pair of fast horses, I drove my 
 friend, Wash. McIyCan (in Boston, to superintend his son, 
 who enters Harvard) out to Quincy. 
 
 On Thursday morning early, after most sumptuous and 
 princely entertainment by the citizens of Boston, we left for 
 Portsmouth, passing through L,ynn, Salem, Newbur)^port, 
 Ipswich, etc., and arriving at Portsmouth were greeted by 
 the mayor and civil authorities, and taken charge of by 
 
Letters 411 
 
 Admiral Bailey, who entertained us at the Navy Yard. 
 Here we had a reception, and more pretty girls than I ever 
 saw together in my life came to see us. We stayed a day 
 and night at Portsmouth, then in a special car, most luxuri- 
 ously fitted up, came forward through Manchester and other 
 small villages to Concord, where the Chief-Justice, Chase, 
 joined us. We were breakfasted by Mr. Stearns, the Super- 
 intendent of the road, who has taken charge of our travelling 
 facilities from Boston and who had invited to meet us the Gov- 
 ernor of the State, the Mayors of Portsmouth and Concord, 
 and other dignitaries, who escorted the distinguished party 
 to Hanover. Here we scattered a little, to accept the hospi- 
 tality of divers people. General Sherman is at Dr. Crosby's, 
 Judge Chase at Senator Patterson's and myself here at 
 Colonel Berdan's, who, with his lovely and accomplished 
 wife, possess an old country seat some three miles from 
 Hanover, where we are being most hospitably entertained. 
 The lady's uncle was, in '61, our Minister to Portugal, and 
 for three years she was sojourning with him at Lisbon, or 
 Paris, or travelling in England or France. Of course, we 
 knew many friends and soon were directly e7i rapport. She 
 is very beautiful and young. Judge Sherman and wife staid 
 with their son in Hanover. The young man graduated 
 yesterday and delivered an address to-day. To-night, after 
 the college exercises are over, we shall proceed to Burling- 
 ton, Vermont, and from thence to Montreal, Quebec, back 
 to Montreal, then to Niagara Falls, where I shall abandon 
 and from thence make my way home, as I do not care to go 
 West. I have met in my tour many old friends, some offi- 
 cers who served vnth me, and all the people seem to be 
 acquainted with my military career, though the ... re- 
 porters will insist upon calling me " Kirby." 
 
 I am now upon the ground, made sacred to his admirers, 
 as the birth-place and the haunt of the early youth of Daniel 
 Webster. In the house where I am at present writing he 
 has often slept. We yesterday ate from his dining-table, 
 have passed the lake where he fished, the coverts where he 
 shot, have wandered through his schoolhouses and over the 
 ground where he played, the whole atmosphere is fragrant 
 
412 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 with his memories. Here, too, Salmon P. Chase was born 
 and educated, that is to say, he was born some eighteen 
 miles from this point, and is one of the alumni of Dartmouth. 
 The air here among the hills and not far from the foot of the 
 White Mountains, is delightfully pure. I feel much benefit 
 from its effects, and though my disease is still upon me, my 
 spirits are lighter. I am writing in the early morning before 
 the family are up, the only opportunity I have. 
 
 Quebec, Canada, July 22, 1866. 
 
 I wrote you last from Hanover, in New Hampshire, and 
 during the commencement of Dartmouth College. I met 
 thereat many of the savans of New England, the alumni of 
 the college and their friends. The papers of the day have 
 doubtless given you accounts of the manner in which Gen- 
 eral Sherman was received by them and of his speech to the 
 students and at the alumni dinner. I came in for my full 
 share of the honors and the college paid me the distinguished 
 and delicate compliment of conferring upon me the degree 
 of Master of Arts, to which they were pleased to say I was 
 entitled by virtue of my distinguished services to the country. 
 I was most kindly and hospitably entertained by the peo- 
 ple. . . . From Hanover we passed rapidly through 
 the State ot Vermont, through the gorges of the Green 
 Mountains, to Montpelier and to Burlington. We were 
 escorted to Rouse Point on Lake Champlain, by the Gover- 
 nor of the State, from thence we crossed the lake, stopping 
 a brief season at Plattsburg and directly found ourselves 
 upon the Canada border. Arriving at Montreal in the night, 
 we were received by a deputation of American citizens, and 
 escorted to the St. Lawrence Hotel. The next day we re- 
 ceived calls from the citizens and the British officers, rode 
 to the heights to view the city, went to partake of hospi- 
 tality at the house of one or two of the most prominent citi- 
 zens. Witnessed a review of the British regulars stationed 
 at Montreal, who paid the General the distinguished honor 
 of a military salute, the first instance I know of in which the 
 
Letters 413 
 
 same has been done to an American General. We left 
 Montreal by steamer last evening and having a delightful 
 sail down the River Saint I^awrence, arrived here this Sun- 
 day morning. I have just parted from the officers of the 
 " Fusileers," stationed here, who came to invite the General 
 and myself to a mess dinner at eight o'clock to-night. These 
 mess dinners among the English officers are grand affairs, 
 and I only regret that my health is so wretched as to pre- 
 clude any enjoyment save what a looker-on at a feast may 
 gather. I will not pretend to do the part of a gazetteer, and 
 attempt the description of places or scener>\ I have been 
 very much charmed with the mountains of New Hampshire 
 and Vermont, the beautiful I^ake Champlain, and find a vast 
 deal that is interesting in Montreal and Quebec ; all that I 
 have seen of the St. I^awrence River serves to remind 
 me of the Mississippi ; the same flat shore, the same coun- 
 try stretching back. We have not done Quebec yet ; the 
 ladies went to church while I staid home to write, but to- 
 morrow shall go over the fortifications that to the eye 
 seem impregnable. We shall stay :iere a day, then return 
 to Montreal for two days, that will be devoted to public re- 
 ceptions and entertainments already in prepartion for us by 
 the military and the clubs. From Montreal we shall go to 
 Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls, where I shall feel com- 
 pelled to abandon the party, for the state of my health de- 
 mands repose. I cannot control my bowels. I have sent 
 you some newspapers that will give an account of a march 
 almost as remarkable as that other march to the sea. New 
 England, compelled to recognize the grandeur and magnifi- 
 cence of the greatest military chieftain of the age, opened 
 her arms wide to receive him, and though tardy in her 
 homage, has now, with profound reverence, paid it in full. 
 It was a beautiful and refreshing sight to me to behold the 
 East, effete and tottering with age and sin, kneeling to pay 
 tribute to the representative man of the young and glowing 
 West ; to see her orators and statesmen, her governors and 
 rulers, and, above all, her wise men, whom she most delights 
 to honor within her own borders, pressing forward to touch 
 the hem of the garment of him who had delivered their land 
 
414 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 from a great evil, and who now marched through with the 
 firm and even tread that indicates superiority in intellect, 
 in statesmanship, in patriotism. 
 
 Washington, January 17, 1867. 
 My dear Son Wai^ter : - 
 
 Politics run very high. The radicals, in my opinion, 
 will impeach the President, but I do not think they will 
 attempt to depose him. The consequence of this movement 
 will be depression in trade and commerce, and a disturbance 
 of the finances. Gold will rise and fluctuate. I do not 
 think there will be an outbreak or appeal to arms, but I do 
 think we are in a condition of war and revolution. My 
 hope is that there will be a division in the radical party that 
 will lead to its breaking up. That party will not admit the 
 Southern States to representation, nor are they willing to 
 define their relations to the government, or legislate to make 
 them either States or territories, but they will hold them in 
 abeyance till after the next Presidential election. The 
 Senate will pass a bill to-day or to-morrow declaring the 
 acts of the President in making removals from ofiice illegal 
 and this will have the effect of displacing all his appoint- 
 ments. Those who have gone abroad will have to return. 
 All postmasters, marshals, revenue officers and custom-house 
 ofl&cers, everything of the kind that has been given by the 
 President, will have to abdicate and be set aside. The 
 Senate, at all hazards, is determined to guard its prerogative. 
 
 You had better read carefully the proceedings of Congress, 
 and in this way keep yourself advised of the history of your 
 country, now passing through a strange and fearful epoch 
 that will be remarkable for events of great subsequent in- 
 fluence in which you will probably have to bear a part. I 
 need not counsel you to strain every nerve, now that you 
 have an opportunity, to perfect yourself in all the studies 
 that, now mastered, will fit you for a life of future usefulness 
 to your country, your friends and yourself. I want you to 
 harden your body by exercise in the open air and improve 
 
Letters ^ 415 
 
 your mind by reading and research. You seem to have a 
 difficulty in lengthening your letters, so I will thank you, in 
 addition to your ordinary letter, to send me the daily trans- 
 lation of your CcBsar. 
 
 AT SEA, ON BOARD Ship " Rising Star," 
 
 OFF Point Maysi, Cuba, July 25, 1867. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 There is just a possibility of our meeting a return ship and 
 exchanging mails to-day, so I prepare a little line that you 
 may possibly hear that up to this time we have had prosper- 
 ous voyage with favoring gales, the sea, as a general thing, 
 smooth with light squalls of rain. The ship is commanded 
 by Captain I^eebury, whom mother will remember as an old 
 shipraate and friend of Walter's. He has been very polite, 
 and I have had the run of his cabin. He speaks most 
 affectionately of Walter. Thus far, I think the voyage has 
 been of benefit to my health, my appetite has been good, 
 and I have not suffered in the least from seasickness, al- 
 though at times the ship was pitched and tossed a good deal. 
 We have eight hundred and sixty-one passengers, including 
 some five hundred soldiers bound for California. The ship 
 is well found and healthy. We have run about two hundred 
 and fifty miles a day, have accomplished upwards of twelve 
 hundred miles, and expect to make port next Sunday, the 
 whole distance being about nineteen hundred and fifty miles. 
 We are just now running through the islands and about 
 entering the Caribbean Sea. The weather is now clear and 
 very hot, especially at night ; the motion of the ship gives a 
 fine breeze in the day. Of course, I find a number of ac- 
 quaintances on board. There are some ladies, but they are 
 all seasick. Nothing of moment has transpired on the 
 voyage. 
 
 Panama, July 28, 1867. 
 
 Our ship reached port at Aspinwall after a prosperous 
 voyage with favoring gales, at 9.30 this (Sunday) morning. 
 
41 6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 I wrote while on shipboard, in the hope of meeting a return 
 steamer, but was disappointed, so you will have two letters 
 by this mail. The strangest sights at once meet my eye on 
 landing, the most ludicrous of which were the half-naked 
 native soldiers on guard, half Indian and half deteriorated 
 Spaniard ; I think with an hundred Western boys I could 
 whip two thousand of them. Then the city, a collection of 
 adobe houses, every one of which was occupied for the sale 
 of everything tmder the sun to eat, to drink, to smoke, and 
 to wear, while women sat at the outer doors, before little 
 tables, covered with silver dollars and halves and quarters 
 to exchange for U. S. currency. The exceptions to their 
 buildings were the stone edifices for warehouses and other 
 purposes, erected by the Panama Railroad Company. The 
 street was infested with peddlers of fruit and wine and lemon- 
 ade, cakes, pies, and ale, pedlars of all ages, both sexes and 
 every hue, all of them, men, women and children, very 
 nearly naked, some of the children quite so. They offered 
 every description of tropical fruits, bananas, plantains, 
 cocoanuts, limes, the celebrated Avocado pear, with queer- 
 looking cakes and loaves of bread and bits of fresh pork 
 cooked and served on plantain leaves. The streets were 
 shaded with the cocoa-bearing palm, now in full bearing, 
 and for the first time I had an opportunity of seeing this 
 wonderful tree with its long feathery branches eight feet and 
 upwards, that are in fact leaves, while far to the top were 
 growing the nuts in huge clusters. The weather was hot 
 and rainy, and I was glad to avail myself of the hospitality 
 tendered by Mr. Parker, the Superintendent of the railroad, 
 who was prepared to receive me, and treated me with pro- 
 found politeness as indeed did all the ofi&cials at Aspinwall. 
 At eleven o'clock I was ushered to a special train, and 
 whirled off on my way to Panama, over one of the most 
 romantic roads in the world, a road connecting the two great 
 oceans that it is well worth while to traverse either to see. 
 For a while it winds along the borders of the Chagres River, 
 through lagoons and the most dense vegetation you can con- 
 ceive of ; then threading intricate passes and circling round 
 the mountain bases, ascends to the summit level, two hun- 
 
Letters 4 1 7 
 
 dred and sixty-three feet above the ocean line, then descend- 
 ing sweeps to the shore of the Pacific on the border of one 
 of the most beautiful bays that ever gave harbor. At an- 
 other time I will give you a more particular description of 
 this wonderful efifort of ingenuity and engineering skill. I 
 reached Panama at 3.30 p.m., and found my Secretary, Gen- 
 eral Hough, in waiting for me. 
 
 Monday, 29. — Rose at seven, bathed and wrote, break- 
 fasted, at eleven o'clock ; . . . assumed duties of Con- 
 sulate, and called in state, full regimentals, sword and sash, 
 upon General Vincent Olarte, the President of the State of 
 Panama, who received me most courteously and acknowl- 
 edged my authority ; as he speaks Spanish and no other lan- 
 guage, and I speak English and no Spanish, the interview, 
 except so far as formalities were concerned, was not specially 
 interesting ; all that was necessary to be communicated, how- 
 ever, were transmitted through an interpreter, his Secretary, 
 a gentleman of the half blood, I imagine, his mother having 
 been a first class negress. I was sadly put to it for uniform, 
 my tailor having omitted to send me the coat till the very last 
 moment, when the steamer left the dock, and when nobody 
 could be found to receipt for it. I managed to make a shift, 
 however, with the coat of my Secretary, that I borrowed for 
 the occasion, that, fortunately, I was able to buckle round me. 
 I found the President ready to receive me in full state at the 
 Executive Mansion, a very old, but very substantial building, 
 erected as are most of the first-class houses here, on the hollow 
 square and courtyard in the centre principle, like Mr. Kirby's, 
 at Cincinnati. He is a handsome, and I should think accom- 
 plished man, and has won distinction as a soldier. He is 
 bitterly opposed to Mosquero, who is now a prisoner at 
 Bogota, and awaits the coming of what he calls the Consti- 
 tutional President, who is now abroad, but expected here in 
 the course of two or three weeks. The most noticeable things 
 about the man, that I could discover, physically, were his 
 beautiful long and silky beard, black as jet and soft as down, 
 and his hands and finger nails, the former small, white and 
 delicate, like a young girl's, the latter cultivated to a pro- 
 
41 8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 digious length. I am constantly reminded of the stories my 
 father used to tell me of the manners and customs of the 
 people here and I remember this matter of the nails was 
 a peculiarity he mentioned as among the wealthy and a 
 certain class who in that way advertised that they never per- 
 formed any manual labor. Another thing (to digress, as he 
 used to say) was the stories he told about their racing horses 
 and the gait and style of their going with the manner of bit 
 and harness and seat of rider, all of which is to the letter 
 true to-day. He was a wonderful man and the older I grow 
 and the more I see, the better able I am to appreciate him. 
 Well, I got through with the President, and having eased 
 myself of my own harness, must attempt some vague de- 
 scription of this old, old town as it strikes me and nothing I 
 ever read or heard of can appear more antiquated, not primi- 
 tive, but antiquated, carrying your mind back to the cen- 
 turies that are gone. The site for a city is peculiarly well 
 located, in a military and civil sense, and I doubt not a city 
 has been here far beyond the memory of the traditions of 
 man. As you approach it from the railroad depot, you are 
 unfavorably impressed, the long covered way that composes 
 the depot occupying nearly all the available ground and shut- 
 ting out all view ; the passengers are shoved out from the cars 
 at one end and hurried through to a little tugboat that lies at 
 the wharf at the other end, like wheat through a mill hopper. 
 Hustled and crowded and jostled and jammed, hot and op- 
 pressed, with children, sick women and small parcels, their 
 visions of Panama are like horrid dreams of the night, and it 
 lingers in their memory as the nightmare of an evil con- 
 science : hence Panama fever. Escaping from these damned 
 spirits, he who proposes to sojourn here, after taking seat in 
 a New York omnibus, propelled by force of mule meat which 
 gets terribly thrashed in transitu, finds himself meandering 
 up steep and crooked ways, till inside a wall erected cen- 
 turies ago, he realizes he is in Panama. All sorts of queer- 
 looking tenements greet his sight, roofed with corrugated 
 tiles, that is to say, a succession of earthen cylinders, the 
 convex side up, each about two feet in length, and laid 
 parallel end to end, these never decay, and having been ex 
 
Letters 419 
 
 posed to the weather for years have assumed all sorts of 
 colors. The most of these tenements are used both for 
 mercantile and social purposes, the store or shop being below 
 the family, or place of pleasure, where billiards, cards, music, 
 or what not above ; many of the signs were in English, a 
 few in French, the bulk in the Spanish language. Mingled 
 with these tenements are the market stalls, where again I 
 had confirmation of my father's stories, that I used to set 
 down as traveller's tales. The meat is cut from the bone in 
 long strings, and sold by the yard, and these strings hung 
 from the crossbars in strange festoons, while the bare bones 
 grin at their base, ofiisr no alluring or appetizing appearance. 
 Passing through narrow but well paved streets, at last you 
 emerge into the grand plaza, a hollow square about double 
 the size of our garden, surrounded on the one side by stores, 
 over one of which is my consulate, on the other by the State 
 House of Panama, on the third by one of the strangest, 
 most weird looking citadels, and on the fourth by the 
 ' ' Grand Hotel, ' ' that commands a view of the bay from the 
 upper windows of the front rooms, one of which I occupy. 
 This bay is small, securely landlocked, and very, very beauti- 
 ful in its aspect at all times. Here and there between the 
 islands that loom up with lofty peaks, covered with most 
 vivid green, you catch a glimpse of the wide Pacific rolling 
 eternally, and as I see it at this moment, serene, calm, as if 
 no storm ever ruffled its bosom. Passing out from the Plaza 
 oceanward, you come again to the city walls and the mole. 
 This is a charming promenade, and when the tide is up and 
 the waves dash on the rocks beneath, while the fresh sea 
 breeze comes in, exhilarating. The cathedral deserves more 
 than passing notice. I have not yet been inside of it ; the 
 outside seems to have been formed out of a sort of concrete. 
 So far as the tower is concerned (I have since by peeping 
 round the corner discovered there are two of them) that 
 looms up lofty and white, the glare is relieved by all sorts of 
 wild weeds and flowers that have rooted themselves among 
 the battlements ; on the top of the tower is a belfry contain- 
 ing certain cracked bells, that they employ a multitude of 
 boys to beat and bruise and hammer with all sorts of stones 
 
420 Thomas Kilby S7nith 
 
 and other weapons, till they howl and jingle with a horrid 
 agony, piercing the ears of men and making them think that 
 for a time hell has broken loose. A large number are deaf 
 in consequence, but the most part of the population have 
 gone crazy from the effects of the dreadful tintinnabulum. 
 The more the bells are cracked, the louder they are made to 
 bellow, and the more vigorously they are pounded ; and the 
 population being cracked, the symphony is more complete. 
 The main part of the building is composed of stone, green 
 with the moss of ages, and with many a niche left here and 
 there for a graven image to stand in. The whole concern 
 looks like an exaggerated witch of Endor, turned into a 
 church, and if Samuel or Saul, on whomever the man was 
 that she appeared to, was to come again on earth and see 
 this ecclesiastical architecture " he would lay all along on 
 the ground," as he did when he called the witch up. It is 
 the abode of many priests, all of whom have families. The 
 number of the bells alluded to that suffer in these towers 
 are ten, in fact, but those who do not know this have sup- 
 posed them to be ten thousand. The people subsist princi- 
 pally on water brought from a distance by boys in casks 
 fitted to pack saddles on the backs of mules, and it is a 
 beautiful and refreshing sight to see a small mule with two 
 of these barrels strung on each side and a 5'outh, without 
 any hat, or stockings, or shoes, or coat, or vest, or suspend- 
 ers, or pantaloons, bearing in short nothing but a whip, 
 perched on top. The water they bring is supposed to be 
 wholesome. Some other people drink rain water, judging 
 from the roofs. I have come to the solemn conclusion to 
 drink none at all. Panama affords a fine field for the study 
 of anatomy, the human frame, after the most approved style 
 of the model artist, being presented in strong relief. The 
 entire absence of covering, to the uninstructed eye, produces 
 effects that are rather startling at first, but warm and brill- 
 iant coloring soon relieves the shock. Perhaps the less said 
 about the matter the better, but the populace of Panama are 
 not celebrated for carrying out in all respects the law Moses 
 laid down for sanitary purposes. 
 
 I am told society is rather pleasant here than otherwise. 
 
Letters 42 1 
 
 As yet I have seen but very few gentlemen and no ladies. 
 Some of the Spanish women are represented as being beauti- 
 ful, and all extravagantly fond of dancing. The daughters 
 of the priests mingle freely in society ; one of them is said to 
 be very beautiful. They go by their fathers' names. I have 
 not heard of their sons as yet, though inasmuch as they have 
 daughters, it is supposed to be possible for them to have sons. 
 Before the close of a lengthy but rather dreary letter, I shall 
 hope to be able to give you a larger experience that the 
 sojourn of but a day makes me deficient in. 
 
 Quite an exciting little whaling adventure occurred in this 
 bay on the afternoon of 26th inst. , resulting in the capture 
 of a large whale off Taboga, a beautiful island a few miles 
 from the shore. It appears that an officer of the American 
 whaling bark. Sea Ranger, which arrived here the day 
 before, whilst on board the vessel at her anchorage, sighted 
 a young whale or calf, and, knowing the mother or cow 
 could not be far off, immediately sent a couple of boats in 
 pursuit. The crew soon succeeded in harpooning the calf, 
 which immediately afterwards joined the cow, and both 
 started seawards, followed by the boats and bark. Off 
 Taboga the old whale was captured, and turned out to be 
 a fine one for this region. It measured sixty feet long, 
 fifteen and a half feet across the flukes, with fins twenty- two 
 feet in length, and produced thirty-seven barrels of oil. It 
 is something very unusual for a large whale to be captured 
 in this bay so near the shore. Lieutenant Livingstone, of 
 man-of-war, Dakota, stationed at this point, witnessed the 
 whole affair, and gave me an animated account of it. Cap- 
 tain Spicer, in command, sent him ashore to offer courtesies, 
 etc., and to place the ship's boats at my disposal. As one of 
 them is a steam launch, I shall avail myself of his politeness, 
 and from time to time explore the islands of the bay. 
 
 A ship (this is Tuesday, the 30th, I am writing) has just 
 arrived from Peru, and the hotel is filled with passengers. I 
 forgot to tell you that a French ship came in yesterday, and 
 brought six nuns, I think, in all, with three or four priests 
 also. They are sisters of charity, or sisters of mercy, and 
 you will be glad to know they are in the house, for when I 
 
422 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 get the fever they will take care of me. . . . It is one of the 
 South and Central American customs to have men chamber- 
 maids, there are no women employed for any purpose about 
 this large hotel ; men cooks, men waiters, men housekeepers 
 and men chambermaids. With the exception of Mrs. Hough 
 and the aforesaid nuns, I have not seen a female about the 
 house, and I believe men do the laundry work. It is, in fact, 
 throughout the tropics, as father used to say, ' ' a heaven for 
 women, a purgatory for men, and a hell for jackasses. ' ' Those 
 poor beasts, with the mules and ponies, are most scandalously 
 treated. There is a wide field here for the efforts of Mr. Berg 
 and those humanitarians who desire to relieve the sufferings 
 of beasts. The creatures are unmercifully overladen. They 
 put great packs upon them, more than they can well stagger 
 under, and then a great oaf gets up on top of the pack. The 
 answer to it all is, I suppose, that they have no business to 
 be jackasses. There are strange birds, something between a 
 crow and a buzzard, flying about quite tame, a species of vul- 
 ture, that are encouraged and act, I suppose, the part of scav- 
 engers. The hotel accommodations are about as good here 
 as anywhere else, the prices high, a little higher than in New 
 York. Three or four steamers have arrived since my advent, 
 and the San Francisco ship is expected to-morrow. There 
 is a population here of about ten thousand, six thousand of 
 which claims pure Spanish origin, — doubtful. Thus I have 
 given you in a hurried, desultory way my impressions of 
 Panama as far as I have Rfot. 
 
 United States Consui^ate, 
 
 AT Panama, Aug. 9, 1867. 
 
 My dear Mother : 
 
 You ask how I am, and naturally want to know how I 
 live. I think there is but little change in my feelings, save 
 the languor, lassitude, engendered by a tropical climate. I 
 take but little exercise, to do which, indeed, there is no 
 temptation ; have more disposition to sleep during the day, 
 for the rest it is about the same. There is yellow fever here 
 
Letters 423 
 
 within the last two or three days. I have heard of cases of 
 black vomit, but it is not epidemic. The malarial fever of 
 the country obtains at all times, and is similar to what I 
 suffered with in the South. The atmosphere is decidedly 
 malarial. The temperature is very different from what you 
 would suppose in a locality so near the Equator. The city 
 is built upon a little promontory that juts out into the bay, 
 and from three sides there is an opportunity for sea breeze 
 that from one or the other quarter plays nearly the whole 
 day long, consequently by keeping in the shade and chang- 
 ing positions one can keep cool, and since my arrival I have 
 felt it necessary to lay aside my linen garments and resume 
 the woollens suitable for spring or fall in the States. The 
 nights are invariably cool ; but this is so from the night 
 winds; the bed on which I lie becomes heated to an intoler- 
 able degree ; fortunately, I have two in my chamber, and I 
 change from one to the other two or three times in the night. 
 The danger here is from exposure to the sun, to drafts, and to 
 rain. Everybody, of both sexes, and ages, and all colors 
 carries umbrellas, and is very careful of currents of air. In 
 a healthy condition, one perspires freely and continuously in 
 copious streams ; if from any cause this perspiration is 
 checked, fever must ensue. Were it not for the winds, the 
 heat would be insufferable, yet it is of the last importance to 
 guard yourself from the winds or their direct action, and to 
 keep the pores open. Daily bathing all decent people re- 
 gard as indispensable ; also they avoid the fruits of the 
 country, bananas, pineapples, etc., excepting limes, that are 
 used freely. I am living at a hotel, but in a day or two, as 
 soon as I have purchased some furniture, shall remove to the 
 Consulate, where I have four rooms, one of which will be 
 for office purposes, one for a parlor, one for my secretary and 
 his wife, and the fourth I shall use as my chamber. My 
 predecessor in office, Dr. I^ittle, died in the room a few 
 months since of yellow fever, and therefore I have had it 
 well scrubbed and whitewashed. Furniture here is enor- 
 mously^ dear, and it will cost me many hundreds of dollars 
 to furnish the Consulate. For the present I shall buy only 
 sufficient for the chamber, but even that at second or third 
 
424 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 hand is oflfered me at three hundred and fifty dollars, only- 
 enough for one room ; and without carpet, that indeed, would 
 only be a nuisance here. What I say of furniture applies to 
 everything else. All the means and appliances of living 
 cost more here in gold and silver than in New York in 
 paper. The food is bad, very bad ; the material is bad, 
 the cooking worse. The bread is execrable, sour, made of 
 damaged Chili flour. Butter is never put upon the table. 
 Ice plenty enough, but costs fifteen cents a pound. I have 
 not found a single palatable dish since I have been here. 
 There is some society here, some intelligent men. I have 
 seen very few of the women. There are the families of the 
 French and English consuls, and other foreign consuls, 
 some eight or ten altogether, the ofiicers of the man-of-war 
 Dakota that lies off" in the bay, and the gentlemen connected 
 with the steamship company and the railroad, and there are 
 a number of respectable merchants, native and foreign. 
 With society here, however, whatever may be its material, I 
 imagine I shall have little to do. I shall be compelled to 
 look in upon myself for society and occupation, which till 
 now have been supplied from many a pleasant circle at divers 
 places, by which it has been my happiness to be surrounded, 
 — a conjuncture which must be felt to be understood. My 
 way in this part of the journey of life must be dark and soli- 
 tary. Whether substantial reward will follow the sacrifice 
 remains to be proved. If it is accorded, in whatever shape 
 it comes, so that it is revealed in the added prosperity and 
 happiness of the home circle, I shall feel that no sacrifice of 
 self will have been too great, and that I shall not have lived 
 wholly in vain. Of course, it will be my ambition to illus- 
 trate my office that has been sadly neglected, and events 
 likely to transpire may give me an opportunity of doing this, 
 while adding to my fame and the glory of my country. No 
 one can foresee who may be the agents of the Most High in 
 shaping the destinies of nations. I pray for wisdom with 
 His grace, wisdom that is better worth than wealth or power 
 or glory. 
 
 The turkey buzzards are encouraged here to act as scaven- 
 
Letters 425 
 
 gers, and hop about the streets and roost on the housetops as 
 tame pigeons about our cities, and just now at this moment, 
 suddenly and without noise, an ugly bird, long-legged, lean, 
 mangy, foul, has lit upon the gable end of an adjoining 
 house, and with one leg hid under his wing, is peering at 
 me with a speculative eye, wondering when he will have the 
 pleasure of disputing with the worms the right of way to my 
 heart and bowels. If the latter give him as much trouble as 
 they have me, he '11 wish he had n't found it. I turn from 
 the contemplation of that vulture to the sad sea-wave, that I 
 can just see from where I sit breaking on the beach, and far 
 bej^ond, between the islands of Toboga and Flamingo, rolls 
 the Pacific, its dimpled waves glittering in the first rays of 
 sunlight that has broken the cloudy day. This, you know, 
 is the wet season, and the rain it raineth every day. All 
 things are damp, and woollens that have hung a day are 
 covered with blue mould that hangs thick on gloves and 
 books. The paper on which I write is wet as if soaked. 
 This will in some measure account for the blotted appearance 
 that is unavoidable. 
 
 It would be gratifying to me to see some of the theoretical 
 amalgamationists of the States, those at least who pre- 
 tend to virtue and intelligence, thrust into and compelled 
 to form part of the society of Panama, in which there is no 
 distinction as to color or race. Practical miscegenation is 
 the order of the day. My servant is a full-blooded negro 
 from the island of Jamaica ; he is married to a pure blonde 
 Englishwoman, who came out here as a governess to an 
 English family. The other day there came and sat down by 
 me at table a couple, one of whom was white, the other 
 black. The white women seem to prefer the black men, as 
 a general rule, the black men rather prefer their own color. 
 Slavery was abolished here some thirty years ago. The 
 blacks now demand and receive social equality. There are 
 two very respectable tri- weekly newspapers published here, 
 one of which appears each alternate day. The editor of one 
 of these is a mulatto. The habits of the people, particularly 
 the mixed breeds, are filthy in the extreme. The children 
 
426 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 go about perfectly naked. The women wear but one gar- 
 ment, a good many of the men nothing but a breech clout. 
 The scenery about Panama is very beautiful, the bay es- 
 pecially, with its delightful group of islands, and enlivened 
 by ships, steamers, and small craft, offers a water view un- 
 surpassed ; while the grandeur of the forests, with their rich 
 tropical verdure clothing the mountains that loom up from 
 the plains which stretch on every side, with their groves 
 of gay, flowering trees and shrubs fills with wonder the 
 stranger to the tropics. The exquisite flower called "E 
 Spiritu Santo," the flower of the Holy Ghost, was brought 
 to me this morning, having just come into bloom. Truly 
 a wonder and curiosity in the floral kingdom. It is purely 
 white and like wax, excepting just under the wings of the 
 dove, that seems brooding upon the nest, there is a tinge 
 of pink. I suppose it has been described to you before. 
 It grows from a bulb ; the flowers open along the top of a 
 stalk somewhat after the manner of lilies ; the bud before 
 opening is about the size of a pigeon's ^'g'g, and as the leaves 
 unfold, you see in the centre this exquisitely beautiful image 
 of a dove, body, head, neck, wings outstretched, pure white 
 and perfect. There are many beautiful flowers, the wax 
 plant prettier than any; fine roses. 
 
 United States Consui,ate, 
 
 Panama, Aug. 21, 1867. 
 
 My dear Daughter : 
 
 To my surprise, I have not found the insects here as 
 numerous or so annoying as at home, though there are 
 creatures I have not seen that infest the houses, whose bite 
 is almost deadly, a kind of scorpion, that crawls to the ceil- 
 ing and drops upon the bed. They are as large as a small 
 crawfish, and sometimes one is covered with fifty others, for 
 the young ones cling to and cover the mother, whom they 
 ultimately eat up. Fortunately, they will not bite unless 
 disturbed ; they may crawl over you in your sleep and leave 
 you unhurt, but if you accidentally touch them, they use 
 
Letters 427 
 
 the sting at the end of their tail with instant and terrible 
 effect. The pain is excessive, sometimes the victim is seized 
 with lockjaw, always to a certain extent paralyzed. The 
 country is infested with many kinds of serpents not described 
 in natural history ; some of them are very venomous, others 
 of the boa-constrictor tribe attain to a very large size. One 
 of these was killed a short time since within a brief distance 
 from the Consulate in the city that weighed fifty-six pounds, 
 and was eighteen feet in length. There is a kind of snake 
 here, very long, of a bright green color, but not larger round 
 than a quill ; these hang and twine upon the trees resembling 
 the trailing vines and parasitical plants, and are deadly in 
 their bite. There is another smaller kind of a vivid green 
 and gold color, dazzlingly beautiful, whose venom is incur- 
 able. The vampire obtains here in great numbers. An 
 acquaintance of mine, who last night related to me the cir- 
 cumstance, killed one of them in the church last Sunday, 
 that measured twelve inches ; but this was considered a 
 small specimen. The stories you have heard of this bat are 
 not exaggerated, on the contrary, scarcely come up to the 
 truth. They are exceedingly troublesome in this part of the 
 country. They attack chickens and turkeys on the roost at 
 night, and suck their blood under their feet till they fall life- 
 less. They bleed horses and cattle to death in a single 
 night. If a native falls asleep, leaving his toe out of the 
 blanket, they will suck blood from it, till their victim is 
 almost exhausted and blood continues to flow from the 
 wound that is difficult to heal for days after the puncture has 
 been made. They do not bite, but by means of warts or 
 excrescences that grow about their mouths, suck a hole 
 through the skin, near a vein that their instinct teaches 
 them to discover, and while the process of suction is going 
 on, and that is not painful, they keep up a constant and 
 noiseless vibration of their wings, that in the hot night lulls 
 their prey to sweetest slumber. I believe they do not attack 
 man or poultry near the head or breast, but always at the 
 toe. Horses they always seize on the neck, near the withers. 
 They are an exceedingly ugly creature, somewhat like our 
 common bat very much exaggerated, and with a crooked 
 
428 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 horn on their head. They look exactly like the devil. The 
 fauna of the Isthmus, likewise, has been very much neglected 
 in description by all naturalists whose works I have read. I 
 have been told of many strange animals that roam the woods, 
 of which I cannot pretend to give you an idea. Amoiig 
 them is a sort of tapir, with an immense snout more than a 
 yard in length ; these are frequently seen larger than a Dur- 
 ham cow. There are several kinds of ant-eaters, great 
 animals with mouths not larger than a rat's, and with 
 tongues from three to four feet long. These are amphibious 
 animals ; also a sort of fresh- water sea-cow, that comes out 
 from the rivers and feeds on the shore ; these are often fifteen 
 hundred to two thousand pounds weight, and of these no his- 
 torian speaks. I have myself seen here in the city many small 
 animals that are kept for pets, a sort of marmot or marmo- 
 set, and a creature quite black and resembling our mink; 
 many other creatures I never heard of. I have also seen 
 many monkeys, and think that last Sunday I ate of one, but 
 of this am not sure. Some of them are very small, others so 
 large that yesterday I mistook one that had laid down in the 
 plaza for a boy, and wondered what the man was pulling 
 him along by a string for, till the creature erected himself 
 on his hind legs and stood almost as high as the man's 
 shoulder. Of the lizard kind there are many varieties, 
 among them the iguana, that is eaten and highly esteemed 
 by some for food, though it is said if one indulges too freely 
 in the luxury, his skin becomes covered with a sort of scaly 
 eruption. Their eggs are also deemed a delicacy, and some- 
 times they catch the creature, cut it open, take from it its 
 eggs and let it go, to recover for further operations. These 
 iguanas grow to a great size, some of them measuring five 
 or six feet. To the ornithologist, no more interesting 
 field is open. Rare birds of every hue in plumage, and 
 some with the clearest, richest, purest note you can imagine, 
 abound. Parrots and parroquets are very numerous, and 
 easily tamed. They ofier them for half a dollar and upwards. 
 The humming-birds are exquisite. Quail abound, and the 
 guinea-fowl in two sizes are wild here. There is one 
 song bird, whose whistle is louder, clearer, far more musical 
 
Letters 429 
 
 than that of any bird I ever Hstened to, that is often 
 caged. They are about the size of a robin, but of va- 
 riegated plumage of a rich gold and jet black, something 
 like a goldfinch. They perform almost one entire bar. 
 The insect world is rich in butterflies, and these I have 
 no language to describe, so glittering is their color, so large 
 is their size. Some specimens have been sold for an ounce, 
 or what would be worth with you twenty-five dollars. For 
 fish, there are many varieties, some of which are very 
 good eating, while the gold and silver fish abound. Sharks 
 are very plentiful, and large schools of the black whale are 
 often seen spouting in the harbor. I wrote in my last letter 
 that one had been taken, and yesterday another was caught 
 by the crew of a whaler that had just come to anchor. The 
 pearl oysters abound near the Pearl Islands of Panama, some 
 forty miles distant. I have not visited them as yet, but ex- 
 pect .to shortly. There are now employed upon these islands 
 an average of four hundred and fifty native divers. A boat, 
 or submarine explorer as it is called, has been invented, and 
 is now here, by means of which it is expected that larger 
 and finer pearls and shells than have ever before been 
 brought to light, will be fished up. The usual method of 
 fishing is attended with many disadvantages and dangers. 
 The divers cannot go beyond a certain depth, about seven 
 fathoms. They are at all times in danger of an attack from 
 the Tinteros ground sharks and Macugos. They can only 
 work three hours per day, just before and after low slack 
 water, on account of the heavy currents. These difl5culties, 
 it is expected, by the use of new and improved machinery, 
 will be overcome. I have as yet been very little distance 
 into the country, so that I cannot very well describe the 
 forests or the flora. The latter I imagine from what speci- 
 mens I have seen must be inexpressibly beautiful. In former 
 times there were nunneries here, and as relics many a rose 
 now blooms from scions of bushes planted by the sisterhood, 
 of a size, beauty, and fragrance almost indescribable ; some 
 of these, with dahlias and other flowers of our own, I have 
 seen and recognized with pleasant memories ; but the 
 strange and wonderfully beautiful flowers and shrubs in- 
 digenous to the soil are seen only here. 
 
430 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 The funeral of a young girl passed my door not long 
 since, the first funeral I have witnessed here. First in 
 procession was borne a table covered with a white silk 
 cloth, and on this was strewn a profusion of flowers ; 
 then came a very handsome cofiSn slung in white silken 
 bands, one end of each being carried by a bearer and 
 two small boys holding ribbons attached, marching a little 
 in front ; after this a crowd of well dressed men, not in 
 marching order, but in groups, many of them smoking, and 
 the cortege brought up by a priest well dressed, who for 
 this occasion was not smoking, although many of them do 
 as they walk along the streets in their long black cloaks. 
 You would be amused to see them carry their babies here ; 
 the imps are generally quite naked, and they all ride, 
 straddled, on the mother's or nurses' hips, clinging like 
 little monkeys. I took one of them in my hands the other 
 day, it felt queer and cold like a fish. You ask if I was sea- 
 sick during my voyage. Not in the least, nor can I say I 
 made either friends or many acquaintances. It was a week 
 of rest to me, and upon the whole I enjoyed it, though I 
 think life at sea rather a humdrum afiair after the first day 
 or two. There is very little romance about it, and I dare 
 say Miss Eliza Cook, who wrote A Life on the Ocean Wave, 
 had never been to sea. 
 
 This morning I saw a lady standing in the balcony of the 
 hotel with her hair down and combed back, and though she 
 was tall or taller than you, it came within two or three 
 inches of touching the ground. It is very common for ladies 
 to wear their hair in this way, even in the evening, but 
 always in the morning at home. They are passionately 
 fond of dancing, and dance well. Their dances, for the most 
 part, are like ours, the round dances being the favorites, 
 except the Spanish dance, which is peculiar and very fascin- 
 ating. They have card-tables, at which high play goes on, 
 and the dancers leave the floor to take a chance, and having 
 played a while resume the dance. The Bishop goes to all 
 the balls and parties attended by his chaplain, and joins 
 in the festivities, except that he don't dance. He seems 
 
Letters 43 1 
 
 to be a very clever man, and I have become acquainted 
 with him. The ladies dress very expensively and in very 
 good taste, many of the dresses being imported from Paris, 
 They marry very young. I know a lady who has been 
 married twelve years, who has buried two children, and 
 who has now seven living, the youngest being about two 
 months, who is only twenty-six years old, and is very 
 handsome. She danced at all the balls. A young lady 
 was pointed out to me the other day as being not quite 
 fourteen, and she will be married soon. I thought she 
 was twenty. They are mostly very brunette, though I have 
 seen some nearly blonde. All have been very polite to me, 
 though, as but few of them talk French and none of them 
 English, it does not cost much, as we have little to say to 
 each other. There are no schools here, and I imagine they 
 are not very cultivated. At Ivima and Valparaiso, you find 
 the most fascinating Spanish women. The wife of my ser- 
 vant was an English governess, and is said to be accom- 
 plished, speaking French, Spanish, etc., and expected to 
 keep a school, but fell into bad health and was compelled to 
 marry my servant. He is a colored man from Jamaica, and 
 thus far makes me a tolerably good servant. I have recently 
 had a visit from Admiral Palmer of our navy. . . . There 
 is a pretty fair society of navy men. Captain Spicer of the 
 Dakota is a clever fellow and a fine musician. We have 
 no lack of music, and of first rate quality, piano, guitar, 
 flute, and vocal music. An Italian troop passed through 
 to Guatemala the other day and gave a concert. Indeed, I 
 had concert from them all the while they were here, three 
 or four days, as they occupied the next room to me. I 
 enclose you a ticket. Panama is an expensive place, and 
 all live as if to-day was the last day. 
 
 United States Consulate, 
 
 Panama, Sept. 17, 1867. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I write a few lines in anticipation of the arrival of the 
 coming mail due 17th inst. I shall sail for San Francisco in 
 
432 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 the steamer Montana that leaves this port that day, unless I 
 am withheld by some unanticipated intelligence from the 
 States. It is my intention to remain in California some six 
 or seven days; therefore, if I start on the 19th, the voj-age 
 requiring thirteen daj^s, I shall arrive, barring accident, on 
 the 3d October, remaining in San Francisco till the 9th Oc- 
 tober. I shall return to this point on or about the 23d Octo- 
 ber. So that you will not receive intelligence of me again till 
 the arrival of the Montana steamer. I will write immediately 
 on my arrival at San Francisco, though I .shall be the bearer 
 of my own letters part of the way home. My despatches 
 per this steamer will not be of a very interesting character. 
 No events of importance have transpired, and I have not felt 
 particularly like writing. On Saturday last I made a voy- 
 age to Taboga, one of the islands of the bay, and was hand- 
 somely entertained by a British man-of-war, lying there, that 
 gave me a salute of nine guns, and a fine dinner. I was 
 also entertained on board a large Australian steamer, the 
 Rakaiva, Captain Millet, with lunch, and on shore at dinners, 
 breakfasts, etc., by the Superintendent of the works, a 
 highly accomplished Scotchman, by the name of Nuss. He 
 has a large force, several hundred men, under him, workers 
 in iron, brass, and the machinery for ships. I returned on 
 the fine Guatemala steamer, Talca, well pleased with my 
 voyage and visit, that did me good in the change of air. 
 Last night was the occasion of the largest and most elegant 
 ball ever given in Panama. It was got up by the foreigners 
 and given to the Panameros. The whole hotel was ap- 
 propriated to the purpose, a flooring laid in the large court 
 for dancing, and the balconies festooned with the flags of 
 all nations. I am frank to say that I never saw so fine a 
 ball given anywhere. The ladies were richly dressed ; the 
 supper, wines, etc. , were most superb and bountiful, and the 
 dancing and gambling was kept up till six o'clock this morn- 
 ing, I know. How much longer I cannot say, for at that 
 hour I left. You would have been amused to see me take 
 charge ... of the very Reverend Bishop of Panama, 
 with whom I am apparently a favorite. I took the old 
 gentleman . . . out to the wine room and regaled him 
 
Letters 433 
 
 on champagne punch to his heart's content. He always 
 mingles with the festivities here. . . . The passion for 
 these amusements pervades all classes and conditions of men 
 and women in these countries. I cannot complain of any lack 
 of civility or politest courtesy on the part of all public func- 
 tionaries and private citizens towards myself ; indeed, I have 
 been overwhelmed with attention, and my flag has had all 
 the honors. I delivered a speech last night, and was the 
 author of some toasts and sentiments. 
 
 I believe I have written you that the Bay of Panama is so 
 called from the immense number of fish that swarm in the 
 waters. The word in the vernacular signifying " fishy." I 
 never had an opportunity till my visit to Taboga to have 
 ocular demonstration of the aptness of the designation. The 
 water is perfectly clear, so clear that you can look many, 
 many feet, more than thirty, beneath the surface, and for 
 hours I stood watching fish of the most brilliant and beauti- 
 ful colors you can imagine, disporting themselves, or seeking 
 their prey. No word painting can convey an idea of the 
 brilliancy of the hue or the variety of coloring that these 
 fish present. Their appearance darting through the bright 
 and perfectly clear water, reminds you of an Arabian tale. 
 Indeed, I have never read anything in the wildest romance 
 that ever came before my eye to equal what nature and the 
 everyday occurrences of life present. The most vivid and 
 ingenious imagination sinks into insignificance before the 
 great Creator and the works of Nature. 
 
 On board Steamship " Montana," 
 
 Pacific Ocean, Sept. 21, 1867. 
 
 My dear Daughter Bettie: 
 
 We have a right staunch ship, and a clever captain and 
 good crew. We are bowling along over a summer sea, 
 through the soft air of the tropics, at the rate of two hun- 
 dred and fifty miles a day, our course is N. W. and \ W. 
 
 We have passed out of the Gulf of Panama, and are now 
 
 28 
 
434 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 hauling up north, and after a while when we have taken an 
 observation, before closing this letter I will give you our 
 latitude and longitude, so that by reference to your map, 
 you can indicate our position. We have upwards of five 
 hundred passengers, among them a party of ladies and 
 gentlemen who have started on a pleasure excursion to 
 make a voyage quite around the world. From San Fran- 
 cisco they will take passage on this company's splendid 
 steamer China for China and the East Indies ; after travers- 
 ing that wonderful country, they will sail for Europe, and 
 expect to be back in New York within nine months from 
 the time of starting. They are pleasant and companionable 
 people of New York, though one of the gentlemen, I think, 
 is dying of consumption. I helped his wife to minister to 
 him to-day, and fear he will not live to his journey's end. 
 We have also a lively and musical set of bright colored pas- 
 sengers from Germany in the shape of one thousand canary 
 birds, who are emigrating to California, each in his own tiny 
 wicker cage in company with some blackbirds, thrushes, 
 bob-o' links and guinea-pigs, not forgetting some Poland 
 chickens with top-knots, all in charge of their owner, a 
 stout, florid-looking fellow, who makes three or four of these 
 trips every year, and who is wonderfully expeditious in 
 cleaning, feeding, and watering his flock. Such a chirping, 
 chattering and warbling as a thousand canaries make at feed- 
 ing time you never heard. We have on board one hundred 
 and sixty-two children. One of these last interesting speci- 
 mens strolled into my state-room yesterday, and gobbled up 
 two of my shoes, leaving me quite in despair, as they were 
 odd shoes, and the two left were for the same foot. I had 
 the ship searched to no end, and had quite given them up as 
 the prey of the spoiler, when my cabin boy returned with 
 the boots triumphantly, having discovered them stowed away 
 with a tin trumpet among the mother's clothes. I receive a 
 great deal of consideration on board ship, having been given 
 my choice of state-rooms, and seated at the right hand of the 
 captain at dinner, a distinction much sought after. The 
 captain is profoundly polite, has given me the run of his 
 own cabin, presented me with a case of wine, and turned 
 
Letters 435 
 
 over his own steward as my special body servant. If the 
 ship was my own private yacht, I could not have more care 
 and attention or more luxury. Ex-Senator Gwin, or Duke 
 Gwin as he is sometimes called, ... is aboard, and I 
 cannot but contrast our relative positions now and what they 
 were ten years ago, when he was the proud Senator from 
 California. 
 
 All day yesterday, that was bright and pleasant, we 
 coasted along the shores of the Gulf of Panama and Parida, 
 land and islands almost constantly in sight, the shores 
 clothed with densest forest to the water's edge, except here 
 and there where lofty rocks would rear their gaunt forms 
 against the sky. With the naked eye we could observe the 
 graceful palms throwing their long branches over the waves 
 that rippled at their feet, and with the aid of the glass, we 
 could discern the fruit hanging in ripe clusters. The view 
 and voyage were enchanting, and only needed companion- 
 ship of the loved to make it Paradise. The temperature is 
 invariable, about 85° ; the air humid, and the rushing 
 motion of the ship cleaving her way through the billows 
 gives always on the deck an inspiriting breeze. I am 
 taking back my health with every inspiration, and as I pass 
 through the Golden Gate shall be a new man. Now as I 
 write we are quite out to sea, and far out of sight of land. 
 At 12.45 P-M. passed and exchanged signals with steamer 
 Golden City from San Francisco, bound to Panama, 427 
 miles. At 3 p.m. our course was N. W. Cape Blanco abeam. 
 Passed Point Gilones at 6.30 p.m. distant 7 miles. You 
 will perceive we are running along the coast, passing Costa 
 Rica, San Salvador, Guatemala. From 7 p.m. to midnight, 
 constant heavy rains, frequent vivid lightning, and terrific 
 thunder. 
 
 Sunday, September 22d. This day comes in variable 
 winds and dark raining weather ; at midnight course N. W. 
 by W. -^ N., at 6 a.m. moderate breeze from the South. 
 Nothing in sight this forenoon. Rose very early, took, as 
 is my habit, a cold salt bath. As I sat astern reading, a 
 
436 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 sweet little bird, about the size of a Java sparrow, with beau- 
 tiful plumage, flew on board and lit at my very feet. The 
 little wanderer was very tired, almost exhausted, but he 
 would not permit me to catch him. Still he would not fly 
 away from the ship, and after I had driven him into the 
 main saloon I gave up the pursuit. The captain and a dele- 
 gation of the passengers came to me to ask that I would 
 conduct Divine service, attracted, I suppose, by my position 
 and perhaps uniform. I am all unused to making sacrifice 
 before the I^ord, but " the cause that needs assistance, the 
 wrong that needs resistance, the future in the distance, and 
 the good that I can do, ' ' is my motto. So I possessed my- 
 self of prayer-book and Bible, studied out the lessons of the 
 day, and at the appointed hour, took my stand in the large 
 saloon, behind a table spread with an American flag, myself 
 arraj^ed in full regimentals, and surrounded by the Captain, 
 as many of the ship's company as were ofi" duty, and all of 
 the passengers who could crowd in, making a congregation 
 of four or five hundred souls. I gave them the Church Ser- 
 vice, with the proper lessons of the day from Jeremiah and 
 Luke, a couple of psalms and hymns, an exhortation and 
 dismissal, and the most of them went ofi" with opinion I had 
 been bred to the Church. 
 
 And now, my dear daughter, in the presence of a mighty 
 storm, gradually growing worse, I bid you adieu. May 
 God bless and preserve you and take the place of your 
 earthly father in giving that protection you so much need 
 now. 
 
 San Mateo, California, October 9, 1867. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 The weather, however, is gloriously beautiful, and would 
 seem to be perfectly healthy for all. I cannot now give my 
 impressions of California. It is impossible for me to write 
 now as I would, ideas throng so fast that expression is lost 
 to me. Suffice it to say, that all I ever thought or dreamed 
 
Letters 437 
 
 of this wonderful, glorious land is more than realized. The 
 whole earth is fecund with animal and vegetable life. The 
 choicest blessings have been showered with the most lavish 
 hand of a merciful and bountiful Providence upon a chosen 
 people. To descend to particulars I cannot ; all I might say- 
 would serve to give but the faintest idea. I have been par- 
 ticularly favored in the facilities offered me for coming in 
 contact with the leading men of San Francisco ; indeed I 
 may say of the State at large, and all of my time since my 
 arrival has been fully occupied. The people have welcomed 
 me with a warm welcome, such as one might expect in re- 
 turning to his home. I have been taken to their houses and 
 hearts as a brother. At this time I am a sojourner and 
 guest with Col. Hayward of San Mateo, at his country seat 
 in that town and county, about twenty miles from San Fran- 
 cisco. He discovered and worked successfully a gold 
 mine, and his energy, integrity, perseverance, courage, and 
 indomitable will are as marked and as boundless as the 
 wealth of the mine which has made his name famous 
 throughout the world. This gentleman has turned his 
 house, grounds, stables, all they contain over to me to use 
 as my own. Indeed, has left me in full occupancy, and 
 would be well pleased if I could enjoy for a much longer 
 time than I can spare part of the blessings poured out upon 
 him. It would take pages to describe this earthly paradise. 
 The grounds, fruits, flowers, trees, birds, poultry, horses, 
 cows, and all that go to make up a splendid seat on the 
 shore of the most beautiful bay in the world, in the most per- 
 fect climate in the world, enriched with all that taste, and 
 genius and art and wealth could suggest and procure. He has 
 two race tracks of a mile in extent each, and among his other 
 trainers has Hiram Woodruff's right hand man, who studied 
 the art of horses under that genius for fourteen years. Mr. 
 Hayward owns and trains a number of racehorses both for 
 the turf and trotting course, but never permits one to appear 
 in a public race, or make a trial of speed for money. He 
 keeps up a racing stud of over a hundred horses only for his 
 own amusement. Everything else with him is upon the 
 same scale. The wealth and manner of life of these men is 
 
43 8 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 incredible. Mr. Ralston, the brother of Walter's friend, is 
 another of the successful ones. He has a place a few miles 
 above this, say twenty-five miles from the city, and drives in 
 and out every day on wheels, driving himself four-in-hand 
 with relays, and accomplishing the distance invariably, 
 morning and evening, in two hours. 
 
 Cisco, California, Oct, i6, 1867. 
 I cannot say this time thus far have I penetrated the 
 bowels of the land, but I may say thus far have I ascended 
 to its highest peaks. At the present writing I am at the 
 end of the great Pacific Railroad, as far as they have been 
 able up to this time to lay the track on this side of the moun- 
 tains. I am in Placer County, on the confines of Nevada 
 County, in the State of California, five thousand five hundred 
 feet above the lev^el of the sea, and within a few hundred feet 
 of the summit level of the Nevada Mountains that is only 
 fifteen miles distant. I am two hundred and twenty miles 
 from San Francisco, six hundred and eighty miles from Salt 
 I^ake. So much for position. My health is better, but I 
 have a terrible cough and cold, the result of change, nothing 
 of any consequence, except the temporary inconvenience. I 
 have only a single moment to write ere the train starts back. 
 I shall go no farther up as the atmosphere is intensely rarified 
 and the weather is bitterly cold ; moreover I am pushed for 
 time, as I want to start back for Panama on the 19th, though 
 I may possibly be detained. I wish you could see me as I 
 write and the rugged face of nature grimly frowns upon me. 
 Every mountainside and valley hereabouts is teased and torn 
 for the precious ore. Miners, Chinese, hardy men of all 
 sorts are about me. 
 
 On board Steamer " Golden City," 
 In the Gulf of Panama, October 31, 1867. 
 
 I shall probably be too busy on my arrival at Panama, 
 which we expect to make to-morrow morning, to be able to 
 
 • His brother, Walter G. Smith of the SS. Cortes, b. 1828, d. 1859. 
 
Letters 439 
 
 write, and I have had a strange indisposition, that I have 
 been unable all the voyage to overcome, to write to anybody. 
 Notwithstanding I had determined to take advantage of the 
 leisure to give you full detail of my travels and adventures ; 
 coming down from a bracing climate to the tropics relaxes 
 my nerves and unfits me for fatigue. I think my health 
 considerably improved, and for many accounts am glad I 
 made the voyage, my only regret being that I could not re- 
 main longer in California. Our trip down has been so ex- 
 ceedingly pleasant, there having been good company of 
 ladies and gentlemen, among the latter Senators Stewart 
 and Conness, friends of mine, and some army ofl&cers. 
 Hilarity and much mirth has prevailed, and a most pleasant 
 voyage secured. 
 
 Panama, Oct. 12, 1868. 
 
 I arrived here Saturday last safe and without accident 
 from my voyage that was devoid of interest or incident other 
 than would arise from a most uncomfortably crowded ship. 
 An opposition line has had the effect of reducing fares, that 
 results in many persons whose proper place is in the steerage 
 finding their way into the first-class cabin. Moreover, emi- 
 gration is stimulated, and a ship calculated to carry three or 
 four hundred comfortably, brought eight hundred passengers 
 and a hundred soldiers, to say nothing of the multitude of 
 children that are not counted. Nevertheless, sandwiched as 
 I was between a Jew and a young midshipman, in a narrow 
 and contracted stateroom, sleeping on a wet mattress, in a 
 berth not long enough or large enough for a liberal coffin, 
 sitting all the day in wet shoes, and harassed with a multi- 
 tude of children in all stages of disease, of which hives, 
 smallpox, and measles were most prevalent, and dieted on 
 foul and ill-cooked food, I managed to get through in better 
 health than when I left home, and at present writing am 
 stronger than when I took my sad farewell from you. I find 
 Panama in a state of revolution that is pregnant with battle 
 and murder by the dagger and the bowl ; assassination by 
 
440 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 poison is frequent. An expedition is being fitted out for 
 " Chiriqui," soldiers are being conscripted, leading citizens 
 incarcerated to force loans, and all the excitement, panics, 
 outrage, incident to the preliminaries of war among a semi- 
 savage and infuriated people obtain in this theatre, of which 
 my flag forms the drop curtain. My advent was hailed 
 with great joy and acclaim, particularly by those who repre- 
 sent the interest of the transit, and indeed all foreigners. 
 The self-styled President of Panama, and he who represents 
 the party in power (and that considers itself the Govern- 
 ment), is named Correoso, a half-blooded negro, upon whom 
 I propose to call in person to-day. This Government admits 
 that it is revolutionary, and is opposed by a partj^ of about 
 equal numbers, headed by a prefect of department called 
 Santiago Agnero, who, with a force well equipped and 
 armed, is waiting the conflict about to be forced. The prob- 
 lems of these Governments, de facto and dejure, in a constant 
 convulsion and frequent revolution, are not only difficult to 
 solve, but well nigh impossible to state to the correct under- 
 standing of those unfamiliar with language and customs of a 
 race depraved by miscegenation. These revolutionists, this 
 Government is to-day a government of negroes or their rep- 
 resentatives. These are the Radicals of Panama, self-styled 
 Radicals, and answer to the Radical Party of the States. It 
 is shocking to see the excesses committed and the vast and 
 varied interests jeopardized by the recognition of what those 
 now in power consider their political rights, but until they 
 are suppressed by an armed and stronger force I am bound 
 to recognize them. I see here to-day what will be apparent 
 ere long in the fairest portion of our own fair land. In that 
 6.a.y and hour God help the weak. 
 
 Aside from these internal convulsions, upon which I will 
 not longer dwell, Panama is increasing in importance as a 
 commercial centre, while its isthmus is the great highway of 
 the nations for the entire world. There are now arriving 
 and departing from this port and Aspinwall (the same thing 
 and identical in interest) twenty-eight steamers per month, 
 foreign steamers, nearly every day a larger number of 
 foreign regular liners than leaves any other port in the 
 
Letters 441 
 
 world. These connect with New York, San Francisco, 
 AustraHa, Liverpool, Saint Nazaire, France, Lima, Central 
 America, China, Japan, the British possessions in India, the 
 South Pacific, New Zealand, Southampton, Valparaiso, 
 Greytown, Carthagena, and ports along the Caribbean Sea, 
 Havana and West India Islands, connecting with all lines 
 of steamers running from thence. It is not easy to take in 
 without considerable reflection the vast idea of travel that all 
 this suggests, or of the vast and varied interests that are 
 directly here at stake, and that are at this moment trifled 
 with and trenched upon by a parcel of marauding savages. 
 
 Panama, Oct. 28, 1868. 
 
 The last steamer brought me no letters. . . The 
 papers advise you of the political troubles of this country 
 that is now in an active state of revolution. The seat of 
 war is at a distance, and we hear of battles and their results 
 from time to time. The conservation of American interests 
 and the protection of its citizens resident here is the most 
 onerous of my duties. 
 
 By last advices I see the Radicals are carrying the State 
 elections, whereby the success of Grant is assured. The 
 suicidal policy of Seymour, Vallandigham, and their selfish 
 policy is at once expected and its results not unexpected by 
 me. 
 
 Panama, Nov. 16, 1868. 
 My dear Son Dehon : 
 
 I have just received a present of grapes and pears grown 
 in California. One of these last, placed by myself upon ac- 
 curate letter scales, weighed one and a half pounds. Now, 
 allowing for shrinkage in a voyage of fifteen days, and for 
 the fact that the fruit must have been plucked green to in- 
 sure its transportation through the tropics without rot, there 
 can be little doubt it would have weighed in its full ripeness 
 
442 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 and size at least two pounds, if not more. You may judge 
 of its magnitude when I tell you it was fifteen inches in the 
 larger circumference, and fourteen inches measuring from 
 the stem round, being a little broader than long, larger than 
 a pint cup. The flavor was not very good because pulled 
 unripe. 
 
 I have no doubt that many pears larger than the one de- 
 scribed came down with the lot. They bring immense 
 apples, and beets, and other roots from San Francisco, most 
 of their flavor lost before arrival. 
 
 You would laugh to see three monkeys we have here, or 
 rather one monkey and two marmosets, little fellows about 
 the size and something the appearance of a gray squirrel, 
 save that the tail is longer, not so bushy, and that their face 
 resembles the human countenance. These creatures are 
 very interesting in their antics. We keep the larger monkey 
 tied, the two smaller in a box from which they are occasion- 
 ally let out. They might run about all the while if it were 
 not for their mischievous propensities, for they will not leave 
 the premises. The monkey that is tied is very fond of one 
 of these little fellows, that he holds in his arms, kisses, 
 fondles, and nurses just as a mother would her child, often 
 places it on his back, where the little creature goes to sleep 
 clinging closely as he hops about, and swings on his tether. 
 The companion marmoset he does not seem to affect, but if 
 his pet is taken notice of he makes jealous outcry. The 
 rascal has become very fond of me, and always peers into 
 my pocket when I give him the chance. He will eat almost 
 anything, and latterly is becoming addicted to stimulants, 
 not hesitating much at raw brandy. He will take toddy till 
 he becomes quite tipsy, and it would convulse you with 
 laughter to see the varying expressions of his countenance, 
 as mobile as a man's, and his quaint attitudes as he passes 
 ' ' from grave to gay, from lively to severe. ' ' As for his little 
 favorite, while he is in the flush of his libations his affection 
 knows no bounds, and the small one, being equally pleased, 
 surrenders at discretion. Then he takes it in his nervous 
 hands, holds it out at arm's-length, turns it round and looks 
 in its face, chatters and coos to it, and finally laying it down 
 
Letters 443 
 
 before him, proceeds to search it all over, fingering its fur, 
 peering and peeking just as close as ever good dame did into 
 baimie's head. The /r^j/f^^ never stirs in the operation till 
 concluded, when he is lifted up to his perch on his guardian's 
 back, when he puts his little arms round his neck and gently 
 falls fast asleep. I have tried to teach the larger libel on 
 humanity to smoke cigars, but with indifferent success ; he 
 will sit quietly while I puS" in his face and wriggle his nose 
 and turn up his eyes after the most orthodox style ; likewise 
 he will be inspired by the usual effect and become sick and 
 stupid, but if I give him the lighted cigar, he burns himself 
 all over and then pulls it to pieces. The funniest exhibition 
 you can imagine, as he claps the lighted end first to one 
 place then to another, and hopping from the bum, and de- 
 liberately squatting, seizes the end of his tail and sets fire to 
 that, and as it smokes up, looks first at it and then in my 
 face as if to ask what does it all mean. These creattures 
 have all the passions — anger, fear, love, and revenge — that 
 attaches to man ; they never forget or forgive. I saw one 
 of the larger kind, as tall, if not taller, than Grace, march 
 down the street, hand in hand with a British sailor, who 
 was taking him off aboard ship, and he looked like a little 
 black man walking. I am told of one much larger than 
 this, down the coast, that is left unchained during the day, 
 and that performs many of a servant's offices, waiting on 
 table, bringing water when he is told, etc. Well, I 've 
 written you a long letter on monkej^s. "What do you find to 
 amuse yourself with nowadays ? Have you finished up all 
 the novels in Mr. Brotherhead's library ? or are you a 
 mighty hunter ? I should like to have you improve yoiu* 
 horsemanship a little bit, for one of these days it may stand 
 you in stead. . . . You know how anxious I am that 
 you should excel in all your scholastic exercises, and am 
 sure you will do your best. I want you to exercise patience 
 with your brothers, and be always respectful to your mother, 
 grandmother, and sisters. If you get into any sort of trouble, 
 no matter what it is, always go straight to 3^our mother for 
 advice. She will always be your best and truest friend and 
 the most competent to advise you. 
 
444 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 I enclose to you a bit I cut from the newspaper, you can 
 apply it if you see proper. I believe you have discovered 
 some taste for tobacco, but I would strenuously advise you 
 not to touch it in any form until you have arrived at man's 
 estate, because of the injurious effect its use would have on 
 your health. It being a season of war here, I suppose you 
 would like to know something about the warriors. I send 
 you some papers that contain a pretty fair account. The 
 victorious general is named Correoso, a half-blooded Spanish 
 negro, and his little army, about three hundred strong, is 
 mostly composed of negroes. You will discover by the 
 paper that they have just returned from a successful expedi- 
 tion to Chiriqui and Santiago de Veraguas, where Dr. Henry 
 Dickson lives. By the bye, I may here mention that all the 
 inhabitants fled from that city except himself. I have not 
 heard from him directly, but through others, and that he 
 is well. As I was writing, Correoso and his men came to 
 port last evening, and I rode down to see the debarkation. 
 The army was composed of a most motley crew, and were 
 received with the most profound demonstrations of delight 
 by the party that favors them. This party is composed of 
 the black population and the half-breeds and mixed races, 
 who call themselves " Liberals," and answer to what we 
 call Radicals. The women turned out in great force, about 
 four horrid, fearfully ugly negresses to every soldier. Women 
 of all ages, all races, in all climes, I believe, are ever ready 
 to welcome the victorious soldier, no matter what cause he 
 fights in. The welcome on this occasion was a warm one, 
 and some of the heroes looked as if they would like to be 
 saved from their friends. Well, they were got into line, and 
 with their little banners flying, marched up to the Plaza, 
 trumpets blowing, drums beating, and bells ringing out a 
 most dissonant jingle. Then the night closed in and then 
 they proceeded to make it hideous, and such a saturnalia I 
 hope never to see again. I believe it all ended in sound, 
 anyhow I have heard of no deaths. It seems from all ac- 
 counts that they had a most savage fight. This army of 
 Correoso before leaving here provided themselves with an in- 
 voice of breechloading Peabody rifles that were on consign- 
 
Letters 445 
 
 ment to a mercantile house. These arms are formidable, 
 being easily and rapidly loaded, and of great range. These 
 gave Correoso a great advantage over the other party, and 
 ■with a couple of small cannon enabled him to hold them off 
 at arm's-length while he gave them a drubbing ; they all 
 fought very gallantly, I am told. Their leader, Obaldea, 
 was wounded early in the action and taken to some sheltered 
 place to lie while the fight was going on. His troops were 
 soon driven from the ground and he taken prisoner, where- 
 upon he was murdered, and his corpse being fastened by a 
 lasso to a horse's tail was dragged into the city in triumph. 
 Thus you see these semi-savages emulate some of the heroes 
 in ancient history, both sacred and profane, in their treat- 
 ment of the slain. So brave were the soldiers, that I am 
 told many of them being shot in the leg or in the arm would 
 deliberately hack off the maimed limb with their machetes. 
 
 United States Consui^ate, 
 
 Panama, Dec. 13, 1868. 
 My dear Son: 
 
 I have written to almost everybody at home excepting 
 yourself, and though I have but little to say to you, I can- 
 not permit the mail to go without taking my greeting. You 
 have just completed the period of life that marks the end of 
 boyhood and the beginning of man's estate. Very soon the 
 world will call you a young man, and now more than at any 
 time in your life are you called upon to place a guard upon 
 your passions, to learn self-control, and to form the charac- 
 ter that will stamp your whole future life. You will be 
 called upon shortly to gain your own livelihood in whatever 
 state of life God may place you. You, perhaps for yourself 
 fortunately, are not the son of a rich man, and hence you 
 must soon learn to put whatever abilities you may have in 
 play to make yourself in some way useful to your fellow- 
 man, in order to win such reward as will enable you to 
 maintain a respectable position in society, without trespass- 
 ing upon the rights or privileges of others. By your reading 
 and observation you will have learned that many avenues 
 are open to you, and you must soon choose for yourself that 
 
44^ Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 course in life that will yield you most pleasure and profit and 
 enable you to do most good to your fellow-man. You will 
 have learned already that you are placed on earth for some 
 wise purpose, and not alone for selfish gratifications, and 
 your great object in your early life will be to ascertain how 
 best to direct the powers with which you are clothed. The 
 most I can do for you is to give you a good education and a 
 decent maintenance while you are acquiring it, after that 
 you must trust to God and your own good sense, sharpened 
 by the experience and teaching of others. I do not intend 
 to load you down with advice. I throw out these hints be- 
 cause I think it time you should learn to reflect and become 
 habituated to what we term introspection. Few are able to 
 put themselves through this fearful yet necessary ordeal, but 
 I assure you it is a matter of prime necessity every night to 
 balance your books with God and man. 
 
 I have faith in you and believe you will succeed in life. 
 You must try to learn the art of making friends, for it is 
 mostly through friends that you will make your way. 
 Do the best you can this year at your school. Persevere 
 and keep up a bold heart. 
 
 " Ivives of great men all remind us, 
 We can make our lives sublime 
 And departing, leave behind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time." 
 
 Be good, be great, be true to yourself, fear God, but fear 
 no man. 
 
 United States Consulate, 
 
 Panama, Christmas, 1868. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 I have been very ill with the fever, the ' ' Calantura, ' ' and 
 am now confined to my bed ten days. I am very weak and 
 have had a serious time, but I believe the disease is now out 
 of my system. I sufier with my head and from pains in my 
 limbs, but more than all from the dreadful solitude, nothing 
 can be done. There is no danger of my death from this at- 
 tack that has passed. 
 
Letters /^/\.y 
 
 United States Consulate, 
 
 Panama, January 4, 1869. 
 
 My dear Daughter: 
 
 A week since they took me to Taboga, a small island, 
 almost a rock rising out of the sea, where there is a hospital 
 for naval ofl&cers, and there I have been sojourning until 
 yesterday quite alone. On New Year's day I mustered 
 strength to be rowed over to the mainland, where I plucked 
 an orange and a leaf from the tree on which it grew that 
 I send you. This was all for my New Year's. My Christ- 
 mas dinner of chicken broth I took in bed. Yesterday 
 on my return I found Henry Dickson at the Consulate. 
 He had come down to visit me and buy goods, and I suppose 
 will write to mother by this mail. I am still very feeble 
 from the effects of fever, and the weather being warm and 
 my appetite poor, I do not recuperate as fast as I would 
 wish, but I think after a while I shall get well. 
 
 United States Consulate, 
 
 Panama, Feb. 3, 1869. 
 
 I have just returned from a voyage to Guatemala, touch- 
 ing ai route at Costa Rica, Salvador, and Honduras, travers- 
 ing a distance on water of some two thousand and two hun- 
 dred miles. My weak condition of health prevented my 
 leaving the ship save for brief intervals, so that I can make 
 no report of the country from what I saw except that portion 
 apparent upon the seaboard and the coast, and two or three 
 of the seaports. I do not know that anything I could say 
 about these would be interesting to you. But if you will 
 procure the History of Columbus by Irving, and, having read 
 that, take up Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, having access to 
 both works through the public library, you will be well 
 repaid in their perusal, and then have the benefit of such 
 comments as I can make from what has passed before my 
 eyes. The cities or ports of Puntas Arenas, Costa Rica, 
 Covento, Salvador, San Jose, of Guatemala, or indeed any 
 of the ports on the coast, differ in no essential particulars 
 
448 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 from Panama, my descriptions of which you are already 
 familiar with. It is true, earthquakes being more rife, 
 the people do not venture upon more than one story to 
 their houses, and therefore, if it is possible, there is more 
 squalor and dirt. There is the same nudity, the same 
 apathy, the same indolence on the part of the natives. The 
 same greed for money, and the same licentiousness on the 
 part of the adventurers from all nations, who taking their 
 lives in their hands, peril not only that life, but honor and 
 all, that to a good man makes life dear, in their lust for 
 gain. Whichever way one's footsteps tend, through this 
 land of gold and silver, pearls and precious stones, of sandal- 
 wood and laurel, of mahogany and caoutchoc, of sarsapa- 
 rilla and balsam, and bark and indigo and cochineal, and 
 cocoa, and coffee, and sugar, and rice, and the thousand 
 other luxuries for which the men who live where wheat 
 grows have tempted God and caused blood to flow in rush- 
 ing tides, whatever avenues to these equatorial regions you 
 seek to penetrate, up before 3'ou starts the individual Eng- 
 lishman or Scotchman, Frenchman, German, American, of 
 course, but in front and before all the cosmopolitan Jew, the 
 Israelite steeped in guile ; and these, singly and in pairs, 
 oppose you, or cross you, or join you, permeating the land, 
 and seeking what their avarice may devour. Small in 
 stature, straight in the forehead, narrow-chested, stooped, 
 bandy-legged, quick fetret eyes, large dirty hands with 
 itching palms, always the same age and pock-marked, with 
 mysterious air, army shirts, and little baggage, these creat- 
 ures, on steamboats, on muleback, by the diligence or afoot, 
 are up and down the earth. People like them used during 
 the war to hang upon the flanks and in the rear of the army, 
 always in the front just after a battle, jackals, hyenas. 
 Here they go in advance, their scent is keen, and wherever 
 they go they leave a poison trail festering in foul corruption ; 
 the smallest community has felt their blight, wandering 
 Jews and adventurers, knowing no law but individual in- 
 terest, whose highest hope is gain. These are all you meet, 
 and these have given character, as far as such a quasi-social 
 character can be given, to all the cities in Southern Ameri- 
 
Letters 449 
 
 can republics. There is nothing obvious, but the bald, 
 sordid intent for the ' ' immediate sou ; ' ' none of the fresh- 
 ness and vigor of Western pioneer life, no healthy sport or 
 recreation, only acute, sharp trade. The native element feels 
 the influence. Religion of any sect is a by word. What 
 chance would Christ or his Apostles have, could they come 
 in person ? How can their theories be otherwise received 
 by those to whom the Jews our Saviour cast from the 
 synagogue, were as angels in white raiment ? Oh, how 
 contemptible to a fresh, pure, good Cuban or Aztec or 
 Otaheitan in their natural state must a Christian (!) have 
 appeared, brutalized by lust and avarice. How these good 
 people these good radical philanthropists have been swept 
 away, and what have we in their place ? I blush for Re- 
 ligion, I blush for Christianity, when I see their effects. No 
 nation that has felt their blighting influence but reeks in 
 shame, vice, wretchedness, or, worse than all, wealth in 
 classes, with its attendant luxury that is the parent of all 
 other vices. Here, my daughter, is food for reflection, and 
 after you shall have read the works I have pointed out to 
 you, I want you to read the voyages of Captain Cook, and 
 meanwhile looking over \xv\n^' ^ Astoria and Captain Bo7ine- 
 ville' s Expeditio7i^ with careful study of that part of United 
 States history that appertains to our relations with the 
 Indians, keeping yourself well posted through the papers of 
 the day with what is just now going on, you will be prepared 
 to look into the history of the Crusades, the seven centuries 
 war of the Spaniards with the Moors, the advance of the 
 English into India, the history of the opium trade, the war 
 Kngland succeeded in when founding the present rela- 
 tions of England with the Fiji Islands, Australia, New 
 Zealand; all of which you can post yourself upon with but 
 little exertion, and then, my dear, I will be able to point out 
 to you a course of reading that will stimulate your mind for 
 stronger food. We are in a progressive age so far as the arts 
 and science of manufacture are concerned. Almost all the 
 known elements are bent to the will of man. We claim to have 
 advanced in ethics and in the science of man's government of 
 man. He would be a bold man to-day who would presume 
 
450 Thomas Kilby Sfnith 
 
 to assert that all temporal government as a science was not 
 based upon the laws of Moses, and the divine and sublimated 
 law, exemplified by the precept and example of our Saviour 
 itself founded upon those laws. This we, as Christians, 
 claim is the law of God that we are called upon to proclaim 
 to all nations. Our prayer and our hope is that all nations 
 shall speak one universal language, and worship one, our 
 God. Study history, then, and see what we have already 
 accomplished with these heathen nations that are passing 
 away almost before our eyes, unannointed, unanealed. We 
 plant the Cross, and straightway the light of the nations 
 goes out forever. The stranger from the strange land far 
 away puts his foot down, and straightway the sins of the 
 stranger, not the father, are visited upon the children of the 
 third, not the fourth generation, and lo ! a nation dies and 
 leaves no sign ! I have been betrayed into something like 
 polemics, of which a traveller's tale seldom savors, and so I 
 ask your indulgence. Skip whatever part it does not suit 
 you to read. 
 
 The most noticeable features in the coast line that seemed 
 to glide before us in the passage of the ship like a panorama 
 alternately glowing in the livid light of day, and darkening 
 in the veiled twilight of these Southern nights, were the 
 volcanoes in sight the Cordilleras of the Andes. Some of 
 these peaks tower to the height of fourteen thousand feet, 
 belching forth suphurous flame and smoke that clouds the 
 atmosphere far above their caps, while the red lava over- 
 flows and finds its way in rivulets of fire down the sides, in 
 their lurid course charring and destroying all impediments. 
 These mountains lift their tops so high, that the ordinary 
 clouds are midway skyward, and the adventurer who would 
 reach the summit must be bathed in vapor before his task is 
 half completed. On the brown, bare, lava-gashed and 
 tempest-riven slope, thousands of feet above the dimpling 
 sea that glints beneath his wondering gaze, reflecting back 
 the ardent rays of a vertical sun, shivering in his altitude, 
 gasping for breath in an air so rarefied that his lungs almost 
 refuse their ofl&ce, he may lave his hands in the passing 
 cloud; while the rifts of vapor drifting, cause his brain to 
 
Letters 451 
 
 reel as with upward gaze the heights on heights, stretching 
 far, higher and higher in nobler and grander altitude, are 
 revealed, half concealed, half disclosed by Heaven's veils. 
 The islands of the coast are of volcanic origin, and at a little 
 distance are exquisitely beautiful, clothed with verdure 
 from the water's edge all up their graceful slopes. Some of 
 them are tall mountains rising from the deep sea, fathomless 
 almost at their very water line. The principal cities of 
 Central America, like the fabled phoenix, literally spring 
 from their own ashes or those of their predecessors buried in 
 earth that has quaked for their destruction, and now in terror 
 are waiting their turn to come. Guatemala, the largest and 
 most populous, has been built three times, and three times 
 swallowed up. This is situate high up among the moun- 
 tains, but even close to the borders of the sea I had recitals 
 from the coast-wise denizens of recent rumbling, and from 
 their accounts the surface of the earth would almost seem to 
 totter like thin ice to the tread. Nature is wild and gloomy 
 and hellish in these regions. Civilization falters before the 
 great convulsions and throes of a world unformed and quick- 
 ening into being, or passing with an awful crumbling to 
 another existence. Man hesitates. Wild beasts and horrid 
 reptiles, strange fowls of the air, and still stranger fish hold 
 high carnival in the fastnesses of hilltop and mountain, by 
 the river and through the gloomy lagoon all down to the 
 sea. Some of the wonders of the great deep were revealed to 
 me ; and strange stories were told of what peopled the tangled 
 forest glades, and found life in the green morass. I saw 
 huge whales throw their black and greasy bulk upon the 
 ocean's surface, and blow their jets of sparkling brine in rain- 
 bow colors high against the morning sun. I saw the famous 
 devil fish that Victor Hugo so well describes, and heard 
 heart-sickening tales of his capture, and how his victims, 
 the pearl divers, were enveloped in his jelly, and sucked by 
 a thousand mouths to a dreadful death. I saw the great sea 
 alligators and man-eating sharks warring against each other. 
 I shot enormous pelicans, one of which would eat as many 
 fish for his breakfast as would supply your table for a week. 
 I saw the fierce South American lion or puma, and have 
 
 K 
 
452 TJiomas Kilby Smith 
 
 brought back as spoils the skins of the still more savage 
 jaguar. I walked underneath the palm and drank of the 
 bright, clear, cold, sparkling fluid that comes from the nut. 
 I ate the tamarind fresh from the tree, and saw the coffee 
 shrub, and the bales of cochineal, and indigo brought down 
 in the quaint, old-fashioned ox-carts, so old-fashioned that 
 you see their counterparts limned in the old, old pictures. 
 The wheels sawed out of a solid block, the tongue attached 
 by raw leather thongs to the horns of the oxen, the hoops 
 covered with undressed hide. The drivers marching naked 
 with the Biblical cloth about their loins. Much more did I 
 see and hear that others have seen and heard before me, and 
 can recount far better than I am able, to make up the article 
 for the magazine or serial. Still there is a good deal in the 
 being brought face to face with that which seems so strange 
 in description to the inhabitants of temperate climates. For 
 instance, upon one occasion, I took a small boat, and went 
 off" to a desolate island where perhaps before my own no 
 human foot had trod. It was one of a group offering no 
 temptation to the explorer. Yet because it was solitary, 
 desolate, where one could be utterly alone, I rowed to it, 
 and leaving my boat in charge of its crew at the beach, 
 clambered up among the rocks and through the brakes, 
 where I thought I might start a deer, and indeed, I am 
 sure, I heard one bound with his quick tearing leaps just 
 before me, but the cover was too thick for my vision. A 
 wood pigeon rose and I shot it. Hardly had the report of 
 my gun echoed away when I was startled by the most dis- 
 cordant cries, and directly two large parrots winged their 
 flight within easy range just over my head. I would not 
 fire at them ; they were the same large, green beautifully 
 plumaged birds that you see at the Italian shops, and it 
 seemed to me little short of murder to take their lives, 
 though I am told the young ones make a very good pie. 
 Then I sailed under the stars that glittered in reflection 
 from the dimpling waves, through the most lovely tropical 
 nights that poet's pen ever pictured, the palms clustering on 
 the shore. I saw the Southern Cross, beaming in all its 
 glory, rising in the horizon, as the Great Bear went down. 
 
Letters 453 
 
 I saw the moon come up partiall}^ eclipsed only to emerge to 
 a more dazzling and effulgent light. I leaned over the 
 taffrail as we plowed through waters white as milk, showing 
 the same phenomenon that filled the followers of Columbus 
 with amazement and dread and that yet remains unexplained 
 by our philosophers. I saw the waves part before our prow 
 in phosphorescent glow, to meet under our keel like the 
 burning billows of a fiery sea. I passed majestic ships with 
 all sails set, top royals and sky sails, fljang jibs and stern 
 sails, all the canvas that could be crowded on the best mer- 
 chantmen that float from England's docks, whitening in the 
 sunlight and bellying in the favoring breeze, the whole fair 
 fabric " walking the water like a thing of life," — with two 
 exceptions, a noble horse, a fair woman — the most beautiful 
 object to the eye of man. 
 
 I have seen the Aztec Indian girl, with her almond eye, 
 her polished copper skin, her straight black hair, her round 
 and supple limbs, her well turned ankle and aristocratic 
 hand, pure in lineage from the tribe whose fair daughter 
 welcomed the first Spaniards with seductive grace to the 
 shores of the New world. She has come to me with her 
 calabash, her oranges and pines ; she has offered her ham- 
 mock woven from the same fibre, in the same fashion, with 
 the same gay coloring that centuries ago tempted the hardy 
 adventurer from Castile to repose. But, like the knife 
 grinder, I have no stor}^ to tell. My life is like a succes- 
 sion of waking dreams, and my thoughts are dreaming as 
 the days that weave them. No strength, fading, rolling up 
 like a scroll of mouldering parchment, I cannot write to give 
 form to vay ideas or expression to the memories. Like the 
 sheen of the setting sun purpling with glory the fleecy mists 
 that take a thousand forms as they drive athwart the molten 
 sky, the light of my life is passing, scintillating with upward 
 flash for the brief instant ere it emerges to the dim obscure. 
 
 I am called to a hurried conclusion by the unexpected 
 arrival of the Hon. Caleb Cushing, whom I have to meet at 
 a diplomatic dinner, after which an interview with the Presi- 
 
454 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 dent, etc., all of which the public prints will fully advise 
 you of. 
 
 Washington, Feb. 28, 1868. 
 My dear Wipe : 
 
 The papers, of course, have kept you fully advised of the 
 all-absorbing interest of the day, about which it is useless 
 for me to say one word, save that I rank myself on the side 
 of the executive as opposed to the grossly revolutionary 
 measures of the radical and partisan methods of Congress. 
 The impeachment process is a mere pretense for the perpetu- 
 ation of party power. The getting rid of Mr. Johnson is the 
 beginning of the formation of a pure oligarchy that will be 
 tyrannous in its rule. There is nothing in law to warrant 
 the procedure, in fact the President is sustained in his course 
 by the best legal minds of the country. Should the opposi- 
 tion succeed, it will be without color of law, and I should" 
 apprehend very serious trouble. 
 
 The weather here has been stormy to a degree I think I 
 have never witnessed. Snow and sleet, a harsh March wind 
 prevails to-day, and I am not well. I have accepted, not- 
 withstanding, an invitation to a state dinner at the Execu- 
 tive Mansion from the President and Mrs. Johnson, to meet 
 the Chief Justice and other members of the Supreme Court, 
 with other distinguished guests. 
 
 Washington, March 7, 186S. 
 My dear Wife : 
 
 The impeachment process drags more slowly than the 
 bitter partisans had supposed was possible. From present 
 prospects it must be many days before the President can be 
 brought to the bar, and afterwards a long time must be con- 
 sumed in the trial. Meanwhile, the people from all parts of 
 the country will have been heard from. He is calm, com- 
 posed, and perfectly hopeful the best legal minds of the 
 country are with him. 
 
Letters 455 
 
 Galt House, Louisville, Nov. 22, 1869. 
 My dkar Daughter : 
 
 The prevailing storms, the accounts of which you doubt- 
 less noticed in the papers, took full effect upon our line of 
 route thither. We had snow and wind among the moun- 
 tains, and on the plains near Urbana, Ohio, a tornado fairly- 
 carried a car from a side switch to the main track and caused 
 a collision whereby we were detained twelve hours. We 
 arrived here in a storm, and with brief interval it has stormed 
 ever since. As I write, the smoky atmosphere is dull be- 
 yond expression, and the rain falls heavily. I came on as 
 the guest of General Sherman in a special car, and as the 
 same returned without him I declined an invitation to return 
 in the same, although he proposed to place Mrs. Belknap, 
 the wife of the Secretary of War, under my charge. He 
 went to Cincinnati ; I propose to go to Indianapolis to-night, 
 and probably from thence to I^ogansport, where I may re- 
 main a short time, and from whence I shall probably write 
 you. The meeting of the Society of the Army of the Ten- 
 nessee was a success in most respects, and I was gratified in 
 meeting many of my old comrades. The address of General 
 Parker, who delivered the eulogy upon General Rawlins, 
 was a most finished production. 
 
 St. Paul, Minnesota, June 14, 1872. 
 My dear Sister: 
 
 It would seem vain and egotistical even if you could credit 
 the recountal of my adventures ; how, at every turn, upon 
 the crowded street, in the railway, even at the hotel, in all 
 places strange to me where I go, I find persons crowding up 
 to me for recognition, all eager to do me honor. At Cincin- 
 nati I had a perfect ovation, and from that place hither and 
 all through my meanderings ; brother officers, comrades in 
 arms, the relatives of those who served and fell under me, 
 the people who keep alive the records of the war and who 
 therein have read my name, all extend the hand of fellow- 
 ship, greeting, and hospitality. What may grow out of it 
 
45 6 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 all I cannot say or even hope, perhaps, as in the past, nothing 
 tangible, nothing material. It may be only the lip service 
 of honor with no substantial meaning, but there is a gratifi- 
 cation in the sweet incense that nothing else can equal and 
 that might turn the head of a less grave man. St. Paul is a 
 beautiful and opulent city, with the purest atmosphere I 
 have ever breathed, more rarified than that of California. 
 Last night, returning to my lodgings, I suffered with cold; 
 to-day the people are going about with their overcoats that 
 are comfortable. The twilight lasts till nine o'clock in the 
 evening. I am charmed with the place. Of all these things 
 and places and people I have laid up stores of incidents to 
 detail to you on my return, and now, my dear sister, with 
 the vague idea I have conveyed of my locus in gico, of my 
 health and spirits, with the assumed probability of my early 
 return, let me make some answer to your sweet letter of 
 June 5th, that I found with one from Walter of even date 
 awaiting my arrival here. You tell me that you are glad 
 that I have been admitted to the Communion in the Catholic 
 Church. I will not say that I am surprised to know that 
 you are glad, for I know your sound, practical common- 
 sense judgment in matters of religion, because I know that 
 5'^ou possess no bigoted feeling of repulsion towards a faith 
 that under your eyes and in your own most intimate com- 
 munion has made the lives of those you most love on earth 
 pure and holy. I have taken a step, perhaps the most im- 
 portant for life or eternity, with full consciousness and 
 mature deliberation, and with the conviction that for me 
 there was but one step between the Catholic Church and in- 
 fidelity, that I either moved forward or backward, that I 
 could not long remain as I was. I do not desire to be mis- 
 understood by my family or those friends who might take 
 an interest in the matter. I do not claim to have received a 
 change of heart, an experience of religion, or any strong 
 revulsion of feeling usually understood as convej^ed in the 
 cant religious expressions of the day. I have made profes- 
 sion of the faith based upon the creed taught me at our 
 mother's knee. I have received the holiest Sacrament of the 
 Church, that if any is true, is the one true Church. I pray 
 
Letters 457 
 
 that God may give me grace to have perfect faith. There 
 has been no violent emotion of mind, I have been as an 
 infant might be Hfted to a cradle of peace. My course seems 
 plain before me, and though I know, oh, how well, the force 
 of all you say, that there are ills in life, there are times 
 when our souls are tried and our faith well-nigh lost, yet I 
 feel now quite at ease. The Church is right, I have enlisted 
 under her banner, I have only to keep my place in her ranks 
 and press forward in the march of life. Between us, you and 
 me, there can be no difference ; we can breathe the same 
 prayer for the influence of that Holy Mystery that no human 
 mind can conceive, to which all things temporal are less 
 than atoms in the sunbeam. 
 
 I cannot now write, as I am at the Headquarters of the 
 Army, surrounded by officers and the bustle of business ; at 
 some future time I will express myself more freely and at 
 greater length. Put from your heart and mind all appre- 
 hension, all repugnance. We have the same God, the same 
 Saviour, the same Holy Spirit. Let us pray for the same 
 grace. 
 
 To-morrow I go to Dakota Territory to the source of the 
 Red River of the North. If you look upon the map you may 
 be able to discover the little lake whence the great river 
 takes its rise and some fifty miles beyond Fort Abercrombie. 
 
 Somerset Ci,ub, Boston, 
 
 Saturda}', Nov. 24, 1877. 
 My dear Boy: 
 
 I am here in Boston . . . Heretofore courtesies have 
 been extended to me, but never before so bountifully as now ; 
 cards came to me at my hotel and invitations without number 
 at the club. 
 
 Two or three nights since, returning to my caravansary, I 
 found a warm invitation to an anniversary dinner of the 
 ' ' Grand Army of the Republic. ' ' Coming from a source that 
 I must respect, I deemed it proper to at once go in person to 
 offer my regrets. It was impossible to get off, I was at once 
 
458 Thomas Kilby Snuth 
 
 seized, and having been introduced to many of an hundred 
 guests, upon the arm of the commander, was assigned to the 
 seat of honor. Facing me at the end of one of the two 
 tables that formed the hollow square was the Secretary of 
 State ; at his right hand sat the Collector of the Port, one 
 Simmons of Butler fame, next to him Oliver Wendell 
 Holmes, then Squires, and so on and so on, with soldiers of 
 the regular army, men of rank and note, etc. , etc. A splen- 
 did spread, good food and rare wines, and as the cloth was 
 removed an eloquent address from the commander at my 
 left premising the first regular toast of the evening, of course 
 the ' ' President of the United States, ' ' and, to my profound 
 astonishment, a call upon me to respond. To that moment 
 I had no expectation of speaking, except perhaps in a gen- 
 eral way, and certainly no reason to expect a call to speak 
 to a regular toast, and to that one which at this time and 
 before such an assemblage as I found before me, certainly 
 demanded some consideration and mature deliberation. For- 
 tunately, I had just read Noyes's speech in full at the Paris 
 dinner to Grant, and was fresh from a discussion of Grant 
 and Hayes with General Gordon that very day, so that my 
 mind was drifting in the right channel for the occasion. I 
 made a good speech, a better one, I think, than I ever made 
 before. That is not saying much, but I found out long 
 before I sat down that I had my audience, and more than 
 once I took them completely oflf their feet. Avoiding per- 
 sonality, I made Grant the embodiment of a grand idea, and 
 made him the realization of that idea, as an exponent to the 
 nations of the earth of the young Republic yet in her swad- 
 dling clothes. I took Hayes by the hand from the time he 
 left the wilderness of the West till he was hammered out at 
 Cambridge and fitted for the conflict of life. 
 
 The first day of my arrival dined with Judge Woodbury, 
 the next with the " Grand Army," last evening with the 
 ex-Chief-Justice Bigelow, declining two dinners, one an in- 
 vitation from Mr. Brooks. Yesterday I lunched with the 
 present Chief-Justice Grey, a man who stands six feet four 
 in his stockings. To-night I dine with Mr. Appleton, who 
 
Letters 459 
 
 is the brother-in-law of Professor Longfellow, whose son is 
 invited to meet me. To-morrow I lunch with Mr. Otis, the 
 grandson of Harrison Grey Otis, and to-morrow night I 
 dine with Mr. Sydney Brooks. 
 
 Palmer House, Chicago, 
 
 Sunday, Nov. i6, 1879. 
 My dear Son : 
 
 From the journals of the day, for I presume the Eastern 
 papers will republish from here, you must learn the wonder- 
 ful events of the past week in this wonderful city. My ex- 
 perience in popular assemblages all my life has been large 
 and varied, particularly since the war. I have seen the 
 best cities at their best, but I have seen nothing that com- 
 pares with numbers and strength and character combined, 
 such as have gathered here. Nor can I hope in a letter to 
 convey to you the impressions and ideas that from their 
 contemplation throng my mind. I have been invited and 
 urged to go hence to Washington, and believe I should be 
 made welcome. But I do not desire to mingle in a crowd, 
 even of the gallant soldiers that will be there, and it would 
 not be fitting that I should be made to take a conspicuous 
 place before the survivors of the Armj- of the Cumberland. 
 Here it has been different. Kind fortune gave me the honor 
 of being one ot the trusted in the early struggles of the 
 Army of the Tennessee ; my command kept me at the front 
 of its battles. I was favored at the close of its first fierce 
 fight with the friendship of General Sherman, warm and un- 
 shaken to this day. In its darkest hours, before the dawn- 
 ing of the splendid sunlight of its crowning victory at Vicks- 
 burg, I was admitted to the confidence and councils of 
 him who to-day stands before the whole world as its foremost 
 Captain, the foremost Captain among the soldiers of the 
 world. Here in Chicago were enlisted many regiments that 
 were grouped under my command, and which by the grace 
 of God I led through fire and flood and privation and suffer- 
 ing to the bitter end of a horrible war. The names of their 
 mighty dead are high up on the roll of honor. I have found 
 
460 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 more than compensation for all my own suffering and sacriiSce 
 in standing by the side of Grant and amid the vast host that 
 were gathered to do him homage, to give him welcome, to 
 be able to greet in not a few of the upturned faces, as their 
 procession passed in review, a glance of glad recognition 
 from their heroic survivors. I know in this hour that my 
 name is familiar at their firesides and in the mouths of their 
 children. I know that Chicago has given me welcome, and 
 that her citizens have felt proud that I should take standing 
 place near the very pinnacle of glory she has erected for him 
 so great in the estimation of myriads of men. I care not to 
 descend just now to mingle with the throng that will swell 
 the chorus of the dirge to Thomas. Still I was strongly 
 tempted to accept Sherman's invitation to accompany him 
 back, and though my engagements will keep me here for a 
 day or two longer, I may go to Washington " as a looker on 
 in Vienna. ' ' 
 
 It is vain, my dear son, that I strive to finish this letter, 
 constant interruptions break the thread of my attempted 
 narrative, and obscure my line of thought. I don't know 
 that I shall be able even to tell you when we meet any more 
 of my own share in the exciting events of the past week ; 
 within the hour I shall join the Commandery of the Loyal 
 Legion here at their invitation to a reception and lunch 
 tendered by them to General Grant. The reception will be 
 held at the Chicago Club. General Sheridan has tendered 
 me horses and escort to look over the city. " Sandy," 
 General George Forsyth, and others of his staff have been 
 very polite. 
 
 Grant looks very well, and has borne himself well through- 
 out all this affair. Sheridan is very sick, and seems to be 
 breaking up. This is a wonderful place. Business men are 
 in high spirits. There are nine millions of bushels of wheat 
 in the elevators here ; orders for manufactured goods cannot 
 be filled. Wednesday brought in seventy-five thousand 
 people. 
 
Letters 461 
 
 Hyde Park on the Hudson, 
 
 Sunday, , 1880. 
 
 My dear Son: 
 
 I had a most charming interview with General Hancock, 
 to whom you will pay your respects at some convenient 
 season not far away. . . I am the guest of my friend, 
 Governor Dorsheimer. I cannot describe to you what a per- 
 fectly lovely place his is. My window commands one of 
 the most striking views of the Highlands of the Hudson so 
 celebrated in song and story. All around is superb prospect 
 of hill and valley, rich in leafy trees and smiling verdure, 
 the river winding away dotted with sails. Mansions and 
 cottages nestled here and there, long and broad avenues 
 bounded by lofty elms and hedge-rows, giving in their curves 
 constant surprises as they open to the parterre or the lake. 
 But why essay anything to bring your fancy hither ; only 
 imagine a country selected hundreds of years ago by opulent 
 patroons for picturesque loveliness, and inhabited for genera- 
 tions by the wealthy who have in each succession of family 
 exhausted every resource of taste and the best efforts of the 
 landscape gardener to develop what nature has so lavishly 
 spread. 
 
 New York, Sept. i, 1880. 
 
 To-morrow morning at nine o'clock I start for Colorado 
 in company with Governor Dorsheimer. This journey is 
 not political. ... I may return a week from next 
 Saturday, but, as usual, my movements will be uncertain, 
 governed by daily events, so you need never fear for me. 
 
 You may regard General Hancock's election as un fait 
 accompli. I shall probably be regarded as one who had some 
 hand in it. 
 
 Pueblo, Colo., Sept. 5, 1880. 
 
 We arrived here this evening at 2.30 after a not very 
 eventful but most interesting journey from New York that 
 
462 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 we left Thursday morning at 9 a.m. . . This part of the 
 continent I have never traversed, and to me the superb culti- 
 vated plateau of Kansas which with its highly cultivated 
 farms and vast herding grounds for cattle, and the desert 
 sage wilderness of Colorado was continuous delight merg- 
 ing into the sublime as the Spanish peak and Pike's Peak 
 loomed upon the horizon. Pueblo is an old, very old Span- 
 ish town, now Americanized, with a population of 7500. 
 The aspect of the place is simply horrid, though the air is 
 pure, and notwithstanding the excessive heat, the place is 
 healthy. 
 
 Pueblo, Colo., Sept. 6, 1880. 
 
 If you look on your map, you will find Pueblo. It is a 
 very old Spanish town, now Americanized. Its altitude 
 above the level of the sea, or " Torresdale," is 4679 feet ; 
 the air so rarified that in going fast I feel its effects upon 
 my lungs, its population about six thousand, the largest city 
 in Southern Colorado ; it lies about one hundred and twenty 
 miles south of Denver, and is reached by the Atchison, 
 Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and by the Denver and Rio 
 Grande road. From this point the Atchison, Topeka and 
 Santa Fe road branches to the East and the Carson City 
 Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande to the West. The 
 Arkansas River runs through the city, separating it from 
 South Pueblo ; North and South Pueblo it is called. This 
 afternoon I shall leave for Silver Cliff, and from thence or 
 thereabouts, take horse or mule and penetrate the mountain 
 regions far away from civilization. As I write, the mountain 
 ranges of the Rockies loom up in the landscape, and above 
 them all to the eastward Pike's Peak, wrapped in his mantle 
 of eternal snow. The weather here is perfectly charming at 
 this season of the year. The winds sweep freely over the 
 broad savannahs. For hundreds of miles we passed through 
 the Great American Desert, with its cactus and sage brush 
 and arid alkaline soil. The people here have been very 
 polite. lyast evening a serenade of beautiful music was 
 
Letters 
 
 463 
 
 given us. I delivered a speech in eulogy of your friend, 
 General Hancock, and was followed by Governor Dorsheimer 
 on the state of the Union. ... I have eaten antelope, 
 but have not yet seen any live ones. I have seen wild cats 
 and puma or South American lion, in a cage, however, and 
 the most beautiful golden eagle. As yet game has been 
 scarce with me, but this is not the season. 
 
The following study of the character of General Smith 
 was prepared by his second son, Theodore Dehon Smith, 
 known in religion as the Rev. Father Maurice, a priest of 
 the congregation of the Passionists, who died in Buenos 
 Ayres, South America, February 15, 1894. It was intended 
 for publication as an article in a magazine, but has been 
 withheld until this time. It presents the views of an affec- 
 tionate son of his father's character, and is thought to have 
 an interest that makes it worthy of publication. 
 
 465 
 

 GENERAI. THOMAS KILBY SMITH. 
 
 " Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their gen- 
 eration." — Eccles. xliv., I. 
 
 AS we grow farther and farther away from the great Civil 
 War, its events and the actors in them become shadowy 
 and unreal. It is the heroic age of the Republic. The men 
 and the times stand out before the mental vision like mediae- 
 val pictures. In vain are written eloquent narratives and 
 authentic memoirs by those who themselves were a part of 
 the scenes they describe ; in vain are books and papers and 
 pamphlets sent out from the press, the sons of the people are 
 dull of hearing, the heart of the nation has ceased to beat 
 responsive to the once familiar call of the bugle and roll of 
 the drum. Occasionally that brilliant past that made the 
 present possible is brought once more before us with some- 
 thing of the old-time force ; some battle-flag, torn and tat- 
 tered by the musket-ball, with the bloodstains of its braves 
 fading into the colors his dying eye lit up to see, is removed 
 from its dust-covered bin, — the mighty chieftain of so many 
 armies dies amid the pine trees falling like some lofty cedar 
 with a crash that resounds through the forest, — but in a 
 moment the apathy returns as the stillness resumes its usual 
 sway. Grant has gone into song and story. He is already 
 idealized. He and his generals are almost as far back to us 
 as Charlemagne and his paladins, as Napoleon and his 
 marshals, as Washington and the generals of his earlier 
 days. Is this the fate of men and nations ? Is this the re- 
 ward that awaits all who give themselves to the service of 
 mankind ? Is this the vanity of human things, that the 
 Wise Man speaks of? Ah, no ; not so. To the Christian 
 
 467 
 
468 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 eye to the eye of faith, the lives of persons and of peoples are 
 indestructible portions of an eternal plan, by which they will 
 be judged, and according to which with unerring justice and 
 unfailing truth, every man will be rewarded according to his 
 works. The world may forget the virtues of its heroes, but 
 God does not forget them. And no one who has done his 
 part to illustrate that dear humanity so wonderfully created, 
 so still more wonderfully redeemed, shall remain unrecom- 
 pensed. But the fame, and the honor, and the glory, " the 
 report that exalts the character, the renown that ever>' true 
 soldier courts, and has a right to court ' ' will be given in 
 good measure, and pressed down and shaken together, run- 
 ning over, to all. To the statesman who gave his life that 
 good government might not perish from the earth, to the 
 general oflScer who in comparison with the love of country 
 held life cheap, to the private soldier whose humble tomb 
 tells this tale, " he died nobly contending for the right." 
 There are besides the saints spiritual, saints political. For, 
 indeed, the attributes of God are imaged in the economy of 
 the State as in that of the Church. Dr. Brownson has said, 
 that they are no less martyrs of truth who die on the battle- 
 field in defence of true government, than they who die in 
 witnessing the faith. But though we may console ourselves 
 with such considerations for the inevitable transition that 
 will cause our own selves to be forgotten, it is none the less 
 our duty to avoid the truthlessness of the unthinking major- 
 ity of men, and to commemorate with due reverence and 
 respect the benefits we confess to have received from our 
 fathers in their generation, the men of renown who one by 
 one are falling into their graves. 
 
 In the number of these we would fain place the subject of 
 this sketch. General Thomas Kilby Smith, whose death is 
 chronicled under date of the 14th of last December, was as 
 firm a patriot and as upright a man as any of those who fol- 
 lowed the flag. Among the very first to answer the appeal 
 to arms, he recruited a regiment and rose successively to the 
 command of a brigade, a division, and a militar)- depart- 
 ment. Whilst acting as Chief of Staff" to General Grant, he 
 enjo5^ed the close confidence of that commander ; and the 
 
A Study of Character. 469 
 
 veteran, Sherman, has testified to the esteem in which he 
 held him. Like Scammon and Rosecrans — and we wish we 
 could say like Sherman, — General Smith was a convert to 
 Catholicism. And, like them, he had a son who became a 
 priest, whose consolation it has been to repeat the dear and 
 honored name of his father at the altar, and to offer the 
 prayer of Holy Church at his grave, ' ' that he who on earth 
 had been united in faith to the congregation of believers, in 
 Heave lI may be associated with the angelic chorus." 
 
 Doubtless, the mind of a man thoroughly identified in 
 heart and hope and sympathy with what are termed secular 
 affairs, did not always bend promptly to the teachings of re- 
 ligion. Doubtless, a lifetime of association with non-Catho- 
 lics, and in the exercise of that private judgment upon all 
 matters under the sun, which they count as their choicest 
 prerogative, and which he was well fitted to enjoy (if there 
 can be any transient joy in the pursuit of intellectual chi- 
 meras), may have disposed him to moments of doubt and dis- 
 trust. But the knowledge and the wisdom which must come 
 in the train of so wide an experience of so cultivated a soul, 
 convinced him of the necessity of revelation ; and the ques- 
 tion of authority that followed was easily solved. To those 
 who have heard him converse, it is not necessary to say, 
 how nature had gifted him with some of the choicest quali- 
 ties that can be bestowed upon body or soul. He had the 
 most beautiful, delightful, kindling enthusiasm upon every 
 great subject of debate. He had what Newman says of 
 Hurrell Froude, that sure hold upon certain prime and 
 moving principles which made him utterly careless of conse- 
 quences. The intimate society and habitual intercourse with 
 the best minds of the day gave an additional impetus to the 
 natural force and dignity of his character. The late Rev. 
 Dr. White, Pastor of St. Matthew's at "Washington, the late 
 Most Rev. Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati, the Very Rev. 
 Vicar General Preston of New York, were clergymen whom 
 he knew and esteemed. By the second of them, in 1872, he 
 was received into the Communion of the Church. If then, 
 after thirty or forty years of the widest and freest specula- 
 tion, he found it difficult to think as we all tried to teach 
 
470 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 him to think, who will be surprised ? ' ' You cannot teach 
 me," he wrote to his son, naturally anxious at witnessing 
 some of his mental vagaries, " I studied Brownson before 
 you were born." " I dare say you did," hiunbly replied 
 the young man, who was most often worsted in such en- 
 counters. ' ' But, ' ' added the elder, with instant recognition 
 of the filial deference paid, " probably not with as much 
 profit to myself." Nevertheless, however his friends may 
 regret the free vein he was accustomed to give to his mind, 
 they have no reason to blush for his conduct. In the uni- 
 versal license of camp and court, he remained unsullied. A 
 proverb amongst his companions for a gentleness and truth 
 worthy of knighthood, as for valor that was dubbed chival- 
 rous. It was characteristic of him to take his sons, even of 
 tender years, to be with him at all times, at the mess table 
 during active service, to his various resorts of pleasure or 
 occupation during the long period of his retirement. " I 
 never say anything I am ashamed for my children to htar ' ' 
 was his explanation on this point. There is no one but can 
 profit by the significance of the remark. Such a character 
 as this will repay study. What was it that brought so lofty 
 a spirit in subjection to Catholic faith ? The world had a 
 mighty attraction for him. But it never filled his heart or 
 kept him from experiencing those large desires that make 
 every finite pleasure a disappointment and a pain. He 
 would have what the present condition of things has to offer 
 in the way of joy and consolation, because he thought that 
 the effort required to obtain it was a manly and becoming 
 exertion of strength. It would be folly, also, to pretend that 
 the high aims and ideals he cherished were so absolutely 
 single to truth and justice as to be without some trace of 
 self-interest. But that he lived to realize the vanity of 
 earthly power and of passing delight there is no room to 
 doubt. Then, too, without perhaps being conscious of it, 
 he was carried along by that reactionary spirit in the Ameri- 
 can Protestant Church against the stem traditions of the 
 Puritan Fathers, which has been so often and so ably de- 
 scribed in the pages of this Review. He hated Calvinism. 
 But it was nearly all that he knew for many years of the 
 
A Study of Character. 471 
 
 Christian religion. For he was born of Protestant parents 
 in Boston, nearly seventy years ago. It is this which will 
 explain his apparent indocility to Catholic inspiration upon 
 a certain occasion. One of his sons already referred to, re- 
 ceived a religious vocation. Enamored of the preaching of 
 the famous Paulist, James Kent Stone, he followed that 
 eminent divine into the stricter observance of the Passionists. 
 This was a sensible grief to the father, who opposed the 
 movement as long and as well as he fairly could, using every 
 lawful and decorous means of hindrance that were in his 
 power. He disliked the doctrine of human depravity, and 
 he had a right to dislike it, because it had been taught him 
 improperly. He did not understand that of Christian self- 
 denial, of which the religious life is a consequence, because 
 for so long it had never been taught to him at all. 
 
 " You wish," he wrote, " to darken this world so good, 
 so beautiful, to deprive it of all its sheen, its glitter, and its 
 gloss. . . . You despise those things that precede, ac- 
 company, and follow every man from his birth." Thus for 
 long he struggled against the sacrifice that God demanded 
 of him. But in his better moments, and ultimately, he 
 lowered his strong heart to the inevitable, and kissed the 
 Divine Hand that chastened him. Few can read without 
 emotion such words as these that follow : 
 
 " My dear Son : 
 
 " It is a good while since we had any commune, nearly a 
 year since we met, and then I thought we should never 
 again meet in this world. No day passes that you are not in 
 my mind. I never close my eyes to sleep that I do not make 
 my prayer for you. My dear, dear boy. It is all so strange 
 to me. My cross is heaviei than I can bear. At times I 
 falter, and my heart is broken. Never let one doubt of my 
 love for you cross your mind, never for one moment suppose 
 that I am now or ever have been hurt or angry with you, or 
 that I have suffered from disappointment at the course you 
 have chosen to pursue. If you are happy in this world, my 
 prayers are answered ; if in your vocation you can confer 
 happiness on others, I am more than content. But little is 
 
472 Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 left to me. I am almost ready to lay my burden down. I 
 have tried life in all its phases, — now for that undiscovered 
 country from whose bourne no traveller returns. . . , 
 God has been abundant in blessing me, and if He has clothed 
 me with aflQiction as with a garment, it too, doubtless, has 
 been a blessing in disguise. . . . On . . . now all 
 our hopes rest. He is our stay for troubles that are upon us 
 as a sea, and for others that we wot not of. Pray for his 
 physical health. In mind he is mighty, with a strong heart 
 and high courage. Never doubt, never forget me, but know 
 that I am always with faith and dearest love, 
 
 ' ' Your afifectionate father. ' ' 
 
 Such words as these do not fall from the lips of sceptics. 
 And when we know that he had complied with the precepts 
 of Holy Church in regard to the reception of the Sacraments 
 previous to his death, and that in that fatal moment he was 
 conscious, and that, together with his family, he had at his 
 bedside the ever ready, ever zealous, ever generous Jesuit, 
 who can doubt that the grace of God which had followed him 
 all his life, descended upon him then, to remain with him 
 forever ? Cast thy bread upon the waters, for after a long 
 time thou shalt find it again. That dear friend, that 
 honored father was not allowed to die alone. The brave 
 and gallant soldier, whose very enemies loved him and had 
 reason to love him, was surrounded by the prayers of those 
 whom he had loved. In all parts of the Union he fought to 
 preserve, there were those who remembered his soul before 
 God. The citizens of Mississippi, whose property he pre- 
 served from the heedless soldiery ; the citizens of Massachu- 
 setts, among whom he was born ; dwellers in Philadelphia, 
 the city of his adoption ; New York, the city of his love, and 
 far off by the banks of the Ohio, where sleep the nameless 
 dead — no, not nameless — the beloved 54th. Ever reticent, 
 ever modest, ever self-controlled, the half of his benefactions 
 will never be known. He was strong to protect the weak. 
 Whether in behalf of a downtrodden race, as when he stood 
 by the side of the afterwards great Chief-Justice Chase, to 
 receive the obloquy of a pro-slavery mob, or when from his 
 
A Study of Character. 473 
 
 headquarters at Mobile lie reported to the Secretary of War 
 in behalf of the efl&cient negro soldiers, — or whether it were 
 in defence of a proscribed religion, as when he married in 
 the heat of the Know-Nothing rage, a Catholic wife, his arm 
 was always raised to shield the unprotected from violence 
 and to help the losing side. When the South was swept by 
 the tide of invasion, it was to such as he that she looked not 
 in vain for consideration for the vanquished. ' ' War has its 
 laws, ' ' he told his soldiers, ' ' as well as peace. Save by mili- 
 tary rule, the rights of person and property are sacred — 
 sacred here as near your peaceful homes in the Far West. 
 Remember, it is not women and children nor States upon 
 whom the Government is making war. . . . It is for the 
 soldiers of the Government who have perilled their lives and 
 pledged their fortunes and honor for the maintenance of law 
 and order, to set an example to those who have sought to 
 overturn all and bring anarchy and confusion upon the 
 land. To teach them that in the proud consciousness of 
 power and victory we can exercise a wise and just forbear- 
 ance." By such regulations as these the acrimony of the 
 conflict was softened, the fury of war abated. To use his 
 own exquisite, high-flown diction, it was " to march with 
 the sword in one hand and the olive branch in the other, ' ' 
 Sectional animosity gave place to human kindness. And 
 when such dispositions prevail, there is no circumstance of 
 life more favorable to the display of the natural virtues dear 
 to God and man than the theatre of mortal combat. Charity 
 descends upon the battlefield to cover its ghastly horrors 
 with the mantle of holy love. The virtues of nature are in- 
 deed in a most true sense holy. They never go unrewarded. 
 They sometimes meet with a higher than natural recompense. 
 A great soldier, whose feats of arms are the applause of the 
 world, once gave his canteen to an exhausted foe, made 
 prisoner by his troops. Years after, his dreary exile was 
 consoled by grateful testimonials from the relatives of the 
 man whose life had thus been saved. But of this same one 
 it is recorded, in language of incomparable eloquence : ' ' The 
 hand that was wont to countersign victory was extended to 
 a Sister of Charity." Of this last object of condescension, 
 
474 Thomas Kilby Sryiith 
 
 the friends and relatives had neither silver nor gold, but 
 may we not suppose, that what they had they gave ? In 
 the silence and the solitude that broods over the ocean's vast 
 expanse there came to the mind so long engaged in the 
 world's affairs the thought of the eternal God. Was this 
 the gift of an excellent nature, or the result of abounding 
 grace ? We may be pardoned if we think it was grace 
 given in answer to prayer. Prayer offered in grateful ac- 
 knowledgment of an act ot clemency to the friends of 
 religious truth. 
 
 Our modest hero would disclaim all share in this compari- 
 son, except with regard to this last. In the times when al- 
 most every Union general was a ruler and a prince, his 
 brief authority extended even to the domains of Holy 
 Church. With all his respect for civil rights, it may be 
 doubted if his acquaintance was very accurate with the 
 law Ecclesiastical. He had shown but slight consideration 
 for the scruples of certain dignitaries upon other occasions. 
 But when, in 1864, in distant Louisiana, he found himself 
 the de facto head of the temporalities belonging to a commun- 
 ity of nuns, inasmuch as he was monarch of river and shore, 
 his heart came to the help of his mind and he did for these 
 helpless and destitute victims of conquest all that its gener- 
 ous promptings suggested. They had no reason to complain 
 of the rigor of martial law. Like that of the ancient king, 
 it was not made for such as they. The edge of the sword 
 was not turned against them, but against all who should 
 venture to molest them. The convent ' was sacred from 
 every invasion of its privacy by a detachment of his men, 
 and from the camp of this considerate aggressor were fur- 
 nished the sorely needed supplies and provisions of all kinds. 
 In the impoverishment of that stricken territory, the Re- 
 ligious found better fare in this instance amongst their foes 
 than their own friends could have offered them. " Deign to 
 render, O Lord, unto all those who have done good to us for 
 Thy Name's sake, life eternal." These courtesies of war 
 probably cost the Federal officer little. They profited him 
 much. Let it be recorded to the honor of religion, that 
 ' The convent of the Sacred Heart near Alexandria, I^a. 
 
A Study of Character. 475 
 
 these faithful disciples of the Catholic Church, which itself 
 knew no North and no South, never forgot to return a hun- 
 dredfold the little they had received. In their beautiful 
 convent homes all over a re-united and peaceful land, their 
 whilom benefactor, he and his, the living and the dead, have 
 found rest and peace, and one of them a quiet grave. And 
 not only so, for we are sure that to them in great part he 
 was indebted for the grace of conversion, and finally for the 
 grace of a happy death. 
 
 The mortal remains of the once proud soldier lay in state 
 in a room in his own house. There, together with the 
 insignia of his earthly rank and short-lived glory, was 
 placed the symbol of peace eternal. And as the image 
 of the Crucified looked down on the laurel and steel, 
 and the son sang the funeral dirge over all that was left 
 of the father, the countenance of the dead man reposed 
 in ineffable calm. Surely, if ever the infinite attributes 
 of a merciful God shone forth from the human face divine, 
 they were to be seen here. Those features which were 
 once so mobile, — ^which erstwhile were as stern as fate, 
 or, again, as sweet as summer, rested now in aspect of con- 
 templation. The brows, slightly elevated, communicated to 
 the whole an expression of wisdom which the closed eyes 
 could not contradict. It was only a deserted tenement, a 
 shell, a mould of clay. But it had been the habitation of an 
 immortal soul. We have no right to judge. We dare not 
 say. The end no man can see. But may we not hope that 
 the indomitable spirit which had so often looked forth from 
 beneath those lids with determination to find in the world its 
 counterpart of valor and of love, in the moment of its depart- 
 ure saw the vanity of that desire and mused upon its own 
 mistake, — gazed into the immediate future, saw the glory of 
 the coming of the world that was to be, and left stamped 
 upon that which had been for so long the mirror of its 
 motions the virtues of its final satisfaction and content. 
 
 General Smith is not buried at Spring Grove with his old 
 regiment, nor at Greenwood near the busy mart whose 
 active life he loved to share, nor at Laurel Hill, where rest 
 many of the illustrious of his compeers. In the humble con- 
 
47^ Thomas Kilby Smith 
 
 viction of his family and of many of his friends, he rests 
 where the mysterious presence of God upon earth is more 
 palpably evident than in any of these. They have laid the 
 body of the soldier near the Body of the Christian's Lord. 
 He, whose arm in life was raised in defence of what he be- 
 lieved to be true authority, in death has taken up his station 
 to bear witness to the same good cause. Obedient to every 
 detail of Catholic ritual, he lies in the Catholic burying- 
 ground of his own parish. 
 
 ' ' But, ' ' it was said, ' ' even if he had died on the field of 
 battle, his followers would have distinguished his remains 
 from those of others. They would have wrapped his cloak 
 about him, and put him in a place apart. ' ' And so it is now. 
 Upon a gentle eminence, quite near the sanctuary, his grave 
 overlooks those of all the rest who are buried there. It is 
 the last bivouac. The warrior again mounts guard. He 
 defends the Holy Sepulchre. He has stationed his outposts 
 and picketed his men. And here he has pitched his tent. 
 It will not any more be unfolded until the trumpet shall 
 sound and the dead shall arise. When, upon the morning 
 of that tremendous day, he goes to respond to the dread 
 summons to render his account, God grant that the good 
 works he has done may follow him, and that thus may come 
 to pass the saying that is written ' ' Death is swallowed up in 
 victory." 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, 4 
 Adams, John, 3, 4 
 Adams, John Quincy, 3, 4 
 Adriatic, steamer, 98 
 Albatross, gunboat, 317, 318 
 Albert, Col., 102 
 
 Alexandria, 87, 89, 93, 95. io7, 
 no. III, 114, 116, 126, 129-131, 
 133-141, 317, 359. 361, 365 
 Alice Vivian, steamer, 102, 103, 
 106 
 
 Allan Co., O., 78 
 
 Ammon's Bridge, 23, 228, 229 
 
 America, steamer, 303 
 
 Andrew, Capt., loi 
 
 Appier, J. J., Col., 12 
 
 Appomattox, 146 
 
 Arizona, gunboat, 316, 321 
 
 Arkadelphia, 138 
 
 Arkansas Post, 30-32, 59, 62, 63, 
 66, 78, 159. 258, 261, 266, 273, 
 275, 284, 286, 315, 333 
 
 Arkansas River, 32, 108, 258, 262 
 
 Armenia, steamer, 304 
 
 Armory, 3. 9. ^^ , , , 
 
 Army of the Cumberland, 152, 
 
 459 
 Army of the James, 365 
 Army of the Ohio, 16, 18 
 Army of the Mississippi, 254, 268, 
 
 269 ; Confederate, 14 
 Army of the Potomac, 77. 240, 
 
 366, 379 
 Army of the Tennessee, 12, 13, 
 
 17, 81, 89, 119, 126, I37> 143. 
 
 146, 152, 160, 236, 336, 459 
 Artesa, 84 
 Asbury, N. J., 8 
 Aspinwall, 415 
 
 Astor, John Jacob, 284 
 Atchafalaya, 90; river, 112, 138, 
 
 357) 359 
 Atlanta, 79, 94, 124, 131, 142 
 Auburn, 46 
 Auglaize Co., O., 78 
 Autocrat, steamer, 90 
 Avoyelles, 91, 357 
 
 B 
 
 Bache, Commander, 107 
 
 Bailey, Admiral, 411 
 
 Bailey, Joseph, Lieut.-Col., m, 
 
 137 
 Baker's Creek, 157 
 Ball, Flaman, 6 
 
 Banks, Nathaniel P., Gen., 26, 
 29, 71, 72, 74. 76, 77, 85-88, 93- 
 96, loi, 102, 104, 108, 110-117, 
 119, 120, 124-127, 130, 131, 133. 
 134, 139. 141. 159. 197, 214, 218, 
 311, 315, 316, 319. 320, 328, 330- 
 332, 334, 336, 355, 359. 361 
 Barbin's Landing, 141 
 Barrett, S. E., Capt., 4^-48, 54 
 Barton, J. A., Corp., 45 
 Baton Rouge, 92, 387 
 Baxter Bayou, 33 
 Bayou Boeuf, 121 
 Bayou Cotile, 129 
 Bayou de Glaize, 91 
 Bayou L'Eglise, 357 
 Bayou Pierre, 97, 117 
 Bayou Rapide, 93 
 Bayou Sara, 141 
 
 Beale, William, Gen., C.S.A.,320 
 Bear Creek, 73 
 Beattie, Major, 312 
 Beauregard, Gen., 17, 18 
 Behr, Frederick, Capt., 12 
 
 477 
 
478 
 
 Index 
 
 Ben Franklin, steamer, 184 
 
 Benton, gunboat, 92, 359 
 
 Benton villa. Pa., 79 
 
 Berwick Bay, 88 
 
 Bienville, U. S. S., 385 
 
 Big Black River, 72, 78, 138, 159 
 
 Bigelow, Judge, 410, 458 
 
 Black Bayou, 35 
 
 Black Hawk, steamer, 39, 69, 90, 
 
 92, 99, 102, 103, 117, 316, 357, 
 
 358 
 Black River, 40, 83, 138, 141, 160, 
 
 333, 345, 346, 355, 377 
 Blair, Francis P., Jr., Gen., 37, 
 40, 43-47, 50-52, 283, 289-291, 
 
 Blair's Division, 39, 40 
 
 Blair's Landing, 113, 117 
 
 Blair's Plantation, 106 
 
 Blake, Congressman, 170 
 
 Blakely, 386 
 
 Blanden, Leander, Lieut.-Col., 81 
 
 Bolton, 46 
 
 Boston, Mass., 1-3, 56, 150, 158, 
 
 457 
 Boyce's Plantation, 121 
 Boyington, A. J., Lieut., 99 
 Boylston, Thomas, 4 
 Bragg, Braxton, Gen., 210, 225, 
 
 234, 240, 244 
 Brashear City, 316 
 Breckenridge, John C, Gen., 218, 
 
 23S 
 Brevoort, family, 284 
 Bridgeport, 40 
 Bridge, S. J., Gen., 2 
 Brooks, Sydney, 459 
 Brown Co., O., 331 
 Brown, David Paul, 151 
 Brownson, Dr., 468, 470 
 Brownsville, 88 
 Bruinsburg, 38 
 Brunswick, i 
 Budd, George D., 4 
 Buchanan, President, 
 Buckland, R. P., Col., 12, 20 
 Buckstone Landing, 141 
 Buell, Don Carlos, Gen., 18, 21, 
 
 197, 234, 240, 244 
 Bull Run, ID, II 
 Burge, Col., 320 
 Burnett, Col., 183 
 Burnett House, Cincinnati, 167 
 Butler Co., O., 78 
 Butler, Gen., 365-367 
 Butler's Ditch, 266 
 Butte La Rose, La., 316 
 
 Cairo, 111., 192, 330, 332, 387 
 Calef, Hannah, i 
 Calef, Joseph, i 
 Calhoun, no 
 California, 8 
 Camden, 112, 138 
 Campbell, James, Postmaster- 
 General, 9 
 Camp Dennison, 10, 172-184, 377 
 Campti, La., 99, 100, 104, 109, 
 
 115, 125, 140, 141 
 
 Canby, Kdward R. S., Gen., 112, 
 
 116, 122, 123, 145, 147, 339, 395, 
 404, 406 
 
 Cane River, no, 127, 129, 140 
 
 Canso, Nova Scotia, 3 
 
 Canton, Miss., 354 
 
 Carle, Charles, Surgeon, 90, 140 
 
 Carncross, Captain, 343 
 
 Carnifex Ferry, Va., 278 
 
 Carol! t! a, gunboat, 316 
 
 Carroll's Plantation, 94 
 
 Casco Ba}', i 
 
 Caspiana, 141 
 
 Cass, Gen., 284, 391 
 
 Catholic Sisters, 278, 421 
 
 Cayuga, 46 
 
 Champion Hills, 40, 78, 84, 160 
 
 Chandler, Lieut.-Col., 53 
 
 Charleston, S. C, 294, 329 
 
 Chase, Miss Kate, 171 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., 6, 11, 66-68, 
 
 158, 171, 309, 406, 411, 412, 472 
 Chateau d'Eu, France, 155 
 Chattanooga, 79, 120 
 Chewalla, 217 
 Chicago, 459, 460 
 Chickasas Bluffs, 272, 285, 394 
 Chickasaw Bayou, 29, 32, 33, 39, 
 
 59, 61, 66, 78, 159, 228, 261, 266, 
 
 267, 284, 333, 347 
 Chillicothe, gunboat, 99 
 Chisum, Col., 120 
 Churchill, Gen., 20 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 
 
 59, 151, 167, 181, 192, 206, 234, 
 
 240, 244, 250, 331 
 City of Madison, steamer, 327 
 City Point, 143, 364, 365 
 Clara Bell, steamer, 97-99, 102- 
 
 104 
 Clark, W. T., Gen., 342 
 Clarkesville, 373 
 Clifton, Ohio, 179 
 Clifton, steamer, 316 
 
Index 
 
 479 
 
 Clifton, Tenn., 143, 375-377 
 Cloutierville, no, Ii6, 121, 127, 
 
 140 
 Cockerill, J. R,, 13, 14, 392 
 Coldwater, 24, 239 
 Coleraine Township, Ohio, 5 
 College Hill, Miss., 24 
 Colonel Cowles, gunboat, 99 
 Colorado, 461, 462 
 Columbus, Tenn., 228 
 Commercial, Cincinnati, 244, 274 
 Committee, Conduct of the War, 
 
 160, 379 
 Committee, National Democratic, 
 
 10 
 Comte de Paris, 155 
 Conemaugh River, 144 
 Conness, Senator, 439 
 Constitution Hill, 4 
 Corinth, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 59, 61, 
 
 63, 159, 192, 200-202, 209-212, 
 
 214, 225, 228, 229, 244, 245, 275, 
 
 2S4, 333 
 Cotille, no 
 Court of Claims, 152 
 Coushatta Point, 100, 106, 113, 120 
 Coushatta Chute, 100, loi, 141 
 Crescent City Guards, 197, 228 
 Cressley, Geo. W., Maj., 83 
 Cresson, Pa., 144 
 Crocker, M. M., Gen., 82, 83, 342 
 Cricket, Flagship, 107, 129, 362 
 Cumberland Gap, 2, 344 ; river, 
 
 371-376 
 Curtiss, Gen., 234 
 Curtiss, F. S., Maj., 54 
 Cushing, Caleb, Hon., 453 
 Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 78 
 
 D 
 
 Dakota, 457 
 
 Dallas, Georgia, 79 
 
 Dartmouth College, 148, 410, 412 
 
 Dauphin e Island, 406 
 
 Davis, George, 104 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, 327, 397, 405 
 
 Davis Plantation, 84 
 
 Davis, W. H. H., Gen., 162 
 
 Dayton, Capt., 243 
 
 Dayton, L. M., 38 
 
 De Charmes, L/ieut., 192 
 
 Deer Creek, 33, 34, 36 
 
 Dehon, Theodore, 156 
 
 Dehon, William, 177 
 
 Delaware College, 285 
 
 Delhi, La., 70, 311, 312 
 
 Democratic Party, 10 
 
 Dennis, E. S., Gen., 314, 316, 341 
 
 Dennison, Gov., 11, 159, 367 
 
 Department of the GiUf, 134 
 
 De Quincey, 255 
 
 Des Arc BluflF, 32 
 
 Des Moines, steamer, 98 
 
 De Soto, I/a., 301 
 
 Detroit, Mich., 284 
 
 Diadem, steamer, 98 
 
 Diana, steamer, 90 
 
 District of West Tennessee, 122 
 
 Dix, W., Mayor, 318 
 
 Donaldson, 141 
 
 Dorchester, Lieut., 54 
 
 Dorchester, Mass., 2, 236 
 
 Dorsheimer, Wm., Hon., 155, 156, 
 
 164, 461, 463 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 10 
 Drake, Geo. B., A.A.G., loi 
 Duff, Col., 343, 370 
 Duncan, Mrs., 317 
 Durand's, 141 
 Dutch Gap Canal, 365 
 Du Val Bluff, 32 
 Du Val, Gov., 402 
 Dwight, Gen., 320 
 
 B 
 
 Eagle, steamer, 36 
 
 Easley, Robert, 104 
 
 Eastport, ironclad, no, 118, 136 
 
 Bastport, Miss., 143, 144,374,376- 
 
 379 
 Eaton, Asa, Rev., 150 
 E. C. Aiken's, 141 
 Edwards' Depot, 40 
 Edwards' Ferry, 40 
 Edwards' Station, 46, 47 
 Eldridge, Hamilton N., Col., 40, 
 
 46, 54 
 Elgin's Ford, 172 
 Eliot, John, Rev., 2 
 Ellison, R. H., Maj., 83 
 Emerald, steamer, 98, 102, 103 
 Emory, Gen., 94, 95 
 Enoch, John, Lieut., 54 
 Enterprise, Miss., 354 
 Erie, Lake, 275 
 Essex, gunboat, 359 
 Ewing, "Gen., 307, 314 
 Ewing, Hugh, Gen., 34, 39-41,43, 
 
 44, 50, 52 
 Ewing, Thos., Gen., 156, 163 
 Ewi7ig, IV. L., steamer, 98 
 
48o 
 
 hidex 
 
 Fairy, flagship, 375 
 
 Fanars, Mrs., 322 
 
 Faneui], Peter, 2, 3 
 
 Fannie McBurnie, steamer, 184 
 
 Farragut, Admiral, 87, 316, 319 
 
 Fayette Co., Ohio, 179 
 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, 30, 34, 36- 
 
 38, 46, 48, 55, 57, 60, 65, 79, 258, 
 
 264, 266, 268, 271, 274, 278, 279, 
 
 283, 285, 307, 340 
 Fisher, C. W., Col., 19, 46, 53, 55, 
 
 210, 214, 218, 236, 277, 294 
 Forbes, Capt., 316 
 Forrest, Gen., C. S. A., 142 
 Forsyth, George, Gen., 460 
 Fort Abercrombie, 457 
 Fort Blakely, 145 
 Fort De Russy, 89, 93, 116, 121, 
 
 138, 160, 317, 357, 359 
 Fort Donaldson, 184, 187, 208, 371 
 Fort Gaines, 145, 380-383, 385-387, 
 
 391, 392, 395, 401 
 Fort Harrison, 365 
 Fort Henry, 13, 187 
 Fort Hyndman, 32, 258 
 Fort Jackson, 81 
 Fort McAllister, 79 
 Fort Monroe, 365 
 Fort Pickering, 23, 240 
 Fort Powhatan, 365 
 Fort St. Philip, 87 
 Fourth Wisconsin Regiment, iii 
 France, policy of, 224 
 Franklin, Gen., 87, 94, 95, 114, 
 
 134 
 Franklin, Tenn., 142 
 French and Indian War, i 
 Friar's Point, 35 
 
 Galveston, 87, 88, 114, 138 
 
 Galveston Bay, 138 
 
 Gardner, Francis, Gen., C.S.A., 
 
 320 
 Garrard, K., Gen., 143, 377, 378 
 Gazelle, dispatch boat, 103 
 George Gurnage's, 141 
 Georgetown, Ohio, 331 
 Georgia, 125, 146 
 Germantown, Tenn., 22S 
 Gillespie, W. C. B., Lieut., 90 
 Gillett, Capt., 54 
 Goodman, H. Earnest, Col., 155, 
 
 156, 162 
 
 Gordon, Gen., 458 
 
 Governor Wells's Plantation, 121 
 
 Graham, George, 193 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic, 45, 
 458 
 
 Grand Bayou, 141 
 
 Grand Ecore, 89, 96-98, loi, 105, 
 106, 108-110, 113-117, 119, 125, 
 126, 133, 134, 140, 141 
 
 Grand Gulf, 38, 46, 78, 214, 317 
 
 Grand Lakes, 316 
 
 Granger, Gen., 385 
 
 Grant, U. S., Gen., 13, 14, 16, 24- 
 26, 29, 30, 32, 33, 38, 40, 42, 44, 
 48, 50, 55, 56, 64, 65, 68, 69-75, 
 80, 81, 85-87, 94, 124, 149, 152- 
 154, 156, 159-161, 196, 262, 269, 
 279-282, 303-309, 311, 314-316, 
 319, 322, 323, 326, 330-337, 340, 
 343, 344, 353, 356, 362, 365, 370- 
 372, 385, 386, 409, 410, 441, 458, 
 460, 467, 468 
 
 Grant's Pass, Alabama, 380 
 
 Grappe's Bluff, 141 
 
 Grave Yard Road, 47, 48 
 
 Great Britain, Policy of, 241 
 
 Gregg, David McM., Gen., 40, 
 162 
 
 Green Co., Ohio, 78, 142 
 
 Green, Gen., C. S. A., 94, 102, 
 103, 106-109, 113, 117-120 
 
 Green, W. D., A. A. G., 42, 43, 53 
 
 Grenada, 29 
 
 Gresham, Walter Q., Gen., 83 
 
 Grey, Chief Justice, 45S 
 
 Grier, Capt., U. S. N., 92, 359 
 
 Grierson, B. H., Gen., 75, 76 
 
 Groce, John H., Capt., 43 
 
 Groesbeck, John B., 6, 214 
 
 Grover, Gen., 93, 95 
 
 Guatemala, 451 
 
 Gulf, Dept. of, 77 
 
 Gunntown, Miss., 142 
 
 Gwin, Ex-U. S. Senator, 435 
 
 H 
 
 Haines's Bluff, 32, 33, 39, 72, 92, 
 
 159, 277, 304 
 
 Hall, Lyons, Col., 83 
 
 Halleck, H. W., Gen., 12, 15, 21, 
 23, 24, 56, 61, 85, 87, 122, 184, 
 192, 211, 214, 226, 240, 308 
 
 Hamburg road, 19 
 
 Hamilton Co., Ohio, 5, 10, 78, 151 
 
 Hamilton, Gen., 24 
 
Index 
 
 481 
 
 Hamilton, steamer, 98 
 Haucock, Gen., 149, 152, 154, 155, 
 
 367, 461 
 Hanover, 148 
 Hard Times, 46 
 Hardee, Gen., 196 
 Harriet Lane, steamer, 92, 358 
 Hastings, steamer, 90, 97-100, 
 
 102, 104, 109, 359 
 Havana, 148, 316, 381 
 Hayes, President, 458 
 Hay ward. Col., 437 
 Heffeiman, Maj., 53 
 Helena, Ark., 25 
 Henderson's Hill, 93, 116, 129 
 Henrie, Daniel Drake, 6 
 Hernando, 24 
 Hicks, Stephen, Col., 9, 12 
 Hill's Plantation, 35 
 Hindinan, steamer, 103, 104, iii 
 Hoadly, George, Hon., i 
 Holabird, Col., 134 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 458 
 Holmesburg, Phila., 156 
 Holly Springs, 22-24, 216, 218, 
 
 222, 225, 228 
 Hope, Dr., 145 
 Horton, Mr., 171 
 Hough, J., Capt., 105, 122, 143, 
 
 144, 375, 417 
 Hood, J. B., Gen., 142, 374, 376 
 Houston, D. C, Maj,, 88, 104 
 Houston, W. K., Capt., 104, 138 
 Hudson River, 461 
 Humphreys, T. W., Col., 89, 104, 
 
 121 
 Hurlbut, Stephen A., Gen., 83, 
 
 84, 236, 395 
 H. Tessier's, 141 
 Hyde Park, New York, 461 
 
 Iberville, steamer, 99, 100, 105 
 Illinois, 7, 10, 261 ; Governor of, 
 24 ; 40th infantry-, 12 ; 41st in- 
 fantry, 81, 89, 121 ; 49th infan- 
 try, 128 ; 55th infantry, 12, 17, 
 21, 30, 31, 48, 52, 53,. 62, 196, 
 203, 204, 252, 263 ; 72d infantry, 
 81; 8ist infantry, 89, 121 ; Vol- 
 unteers. 95th infantry, 99, 121 ; 
 95th infantry, 81, 89, 107 ; Vol- 
 unteers, 117th infantry, 128; 
 127th infantry, 31, 46, 48-50, 53, 
 54, 252, 261, 263 
 
 Indiana, Governor of, 24 ; 3d in- 
 fantry, 128; 83d infantry, 31, 
 34, 46, 48-50, 53, 60, 252, 261, 263 
 Indianola, gunboat, 87, 35S 
 Iowa, 6th infantry, 12 ; 3d in- 
 fantry, 89, 90, 121 
 
 Jackson, James, Hon., 245 
 Jackson, Miss., 39, 79, 249, 327; 
 
 port, 40; railroad, 47 
 James River, 364, 365 
 Jamestown Island, 365 
 Jane, Capt., 342 
 Jenkinson's Ferry, 112 
 Jolui Raine, steamer, 90 
 John Warner, steamer, 99, 103, 
 
 104 
 Johnson, President, 149, 397, 414, 
 
 454 
 Johnston, Albert Sidney, Gen., 
 
 14, 16, 327 
 Johnston, Joseph, Gen., C. S. A., 
 
 71, 72, 77, 146, 147, 306 
 Jonesborough, 79 
 Jones, Thomas Kilby, 2, 3, 349 
 Jordan, Dominicus, i 
 Julia, steamer, 334 
 
 K 
 
 Kennesaw Mountain, 79 
 Kentucky, 7 
 Kilby, Thomas, 2, 3 
 Kili, Capt., 49 
 Knoxville, 79 
 Kossuth, 167 
 
 Lacy, y. H., steamer, 98 
 Lafayette, Tenn., 218, 228 
 La Grange, 23, 217, 218, 228 
 Lake Cannisnia, 97 
 Lake St. Joseph, 302 
 Larkensville, La., 79 
 Lathrop, William, 35 
 Laura, steamer, 390 
 Lawrenceburg, 252, 263 
 Lee, Admiral, 376, 377 
 Lee, A. L., Gen., 94, 95, 136, 359 
 Lee, R. E., Gen., C. S. A., 146, 
 
 240,386 
 Le Fevre, Benj., Gen., 163 
 
482 
 
 Index 
 
 Legee, Gen., 313 
 
 Ivcibrant, Henry, 55 
 
 Le Vert, Madame, 397-401 
 
 Lexingt07i, gunboat, 102, 103, 
 
 107, 120 
 Lexington, steamer, 16 
 Liberty, steamer, 98 
 Lick Creek, 13, 163 
 Liddell, Genl., 103, 105, 392 
 Ivightburn, J. A. J., Gen., 64, 65, 
 
 68, 81, 298, 308 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 10, 160, 404 
 Little Rock, 30, 79, 93, 112, 139 
 Logan County, Ohio, 7, 78, 79 
 Loggy Bayou, 97, loi, 105, 112, 
 
 138, 140 
 Longfellow, Professor, 459 
 Lossing, B. J., 105 
 Louisiana, 38, 264 
 Louisiana Military Academy, 130 
 Louisville, gunboat, 317 
 Louisville, Ky., 79, 379 
 Loyal Legion, military order of, 
 
 152-154, 157, 158, 162, 460 
 Lucas, Col., 127 
 Lukin, Jas. H., Lieut., 90 
 Lynde, 2 
 L5i;le, William, Gen., 339 
 
 M 
 
 Macaulay, Thos. Babington, 275 
 Macocheek, Ohio, 7, 2S7, 362 
 Macon Bayou, 33 
 Madama Bessiers, 141 
 Madisonville, Miss., 354 
 Mad River, 8 
 
 Magnolia, steamer, 280, 283 
 Magruder, Gen., 85, 86, 135, 138, 
 
 139 
 Major, James P., Gen., 117, 118 
 Malmborg, Oscar, Col., 17, 31, 46, 
 
 51, 53» 55, 197 
 Manassas Gap, 169 
 Mauley, Master, 331 
 Mansfield, 94, 97, loi 
 Marchant, A., Major, C. S. A., 320 
 Marksville, 91, 121, 138, 357-359 
 Maron, Rodney, Col., 12 
 Mars, steamer, 98 
 Matamoras, 316 
 Mather, Rev. Cotton, 2 
 Mather, Rev. Increase, 2 
 Matthews, Stanlej^, 5, 6 
 Maurice, Rev. Fr. C. P., 156, 465 
 Maury, Gen., C. S. A., 389 
 McArthur, Gen., 143, 341, 378 
 
 McCharles, 2d Inf. O. V., 172 
 McClellan, George B., Gen., 23, 
 
 215, 218, 224, 240 
 McClernand, Gen., 22, 24, 29-32, 
 
 38, 44, 56, 130, 256, 269, 307 
 McCook, Alex. McD., Col., 19, 
 
 20, 178 
 McCook, Daniel, Judge, 173 
 McCook, Ewin S., 173 
 McCook, Mrs., 170 
 McCoy, James C, Capt., 243, 282 
 McCullough, Arabella, 9 
 McCullough, Elizabeth, Budd, 8 
 McCullough, William Budd, 8 
 McCullough, William, Col., 8 
 McDonald, C, Capt., 36 
 McDowell, J. A., Col., 12 
 McGill, George W., 163 
 McGowan, Lieut. U. S. N., 155 
 Mcllvaine, Bishop, 171 
 McKee, George C, Major, 87 
 McKinnon, Rev. Fr. S. J., 156 
 McLean, Washington, 410 
 McMahon, Thos., Lieut.-Col., 69, 
 
 81 
 McPherson, James B., Gen., 15, 
 24, 44, 48, 50, 55, 56, 81, 83, 84, 
 89, 92, 93, 124, 142, 146, 160, 
 336, 342, 353, 362, 369, 386 
 Meade, George G., Gen., 366 
 Meade's Station, 366 
 Memphis, 23-25, 57, 79, 122, 123, 
 142, 215, 217, 218, 220, 328-230, 
 240, 242-245, 247, 248, 250, 256, 
 264, 275, 286, 328, 330, 332, 341 
 Merchant, Clarke, 155 
 Meridian, 83, 84, 160, 163 
 Meteor, gunboat, 99, 102, 104 
 Mexico, 85 
 Miami River, 275 
 Miles, Col., C. S. A., 320 
 Miliken's Bend, 25, 29, 39, 46, 69, 
 160, 264, 303, 304, 308', 310, 314 
 Mindil, Geo. W., Gen., 155 
 Mitchel, Ormsby M., Gen., 6, 11, 
 
 Mississippi Division, 124 
 Mississippi 5th Infantry, C. S. A., 
 
 45 
 Missionary Ridge, 79 
 Mississippi River, 33, 34, 116, 122, 
 
 125, 130, 242, 253, 264, 270, 279, 
 
 280, 286, 321, 322, 327, 328, 330 
 Mississippi, State of, 244 
 Missouri ist Artillery, 90, 121, 
 
 122, 129, 140 
 Missouri 5th Infantry, C. S. A., 45 
 
Index 
 
 483 
 
 Missouri 6th Infantry, 247 
 Missouri 8th Infantry, 21, 31, 43, 
 
 53, 267 
 Mobile, 85, 86, 124, 131, 145, 147, 
 
 160, 215, 316, 327, 329, 330, 380, 
 
 381, 383, 384, 386-388, 390, 397, 
 
 403, 406-408, 473 
 Mobile Bay, 147, 380, 387 
 Mobile & Ohio R.R., 142 
 Monroe, 138 
 Monroe, Louisiana, 312 
 Monroe, Major, 198 
 Monsouri, 140 
 Montgomery, 141 
 Moore, I. T., Capt., 49 
 Moore, J. B., Col.. 83, 89, 98-100, 
 
 105, 121, 122, 140, 142-144. 375 
 Moore's Plantation, 121 
 Moreauville, 91, 121, 357 
 Morgan, George W., Gen., 26, 27, 
 
 244 
 Morse, Alex. Porter, Capt., 
 
 C. S. A., 118 
 Morton Battery, 12 
 Moscow Bend, 22 
 Moscow, Miss. , 23, 320, 328 
 Mott, S. R., Lieut.-Col., 54, 55 
 Moulton, C. W., 163 
 Moulton, Gen., 138, 139 
 Mouth of Cane River, 141 
 Mower, Jos. A., Gen., 89, 91, 93, 
 
 114, 116, 120, 126, 127, 129, 357, 
 
 358 
 Muddy Bayou, 34 
 MuUany, J. R. Madison, Capt., 385 
 Mungen, William, Col., 12, 15 
 Murfreesboro, 365 
 Muskingham River, 275 
 Myers, Lieut.-Col., 35, 54 
 
 N 
 
 Nale, John H., Lieut.-Col,, 83, 89, 
 92, 121 
 
 Napoleon, 32 
 
 Nashville, 120, 142, 146, 373, 379 
 
 Natchez, 76, 77, 81, 145, 160, 315, 
 
 317, 318, 321-323, 328, 330, 334, 
 
 337-339. 341, 342-345, 347, 350, 
 
 353 
 Natchitoches, 87, 94, 116, 126, 
 
 127, 129, 140 
 Navy, Secretary of, 29 
 Nelson, Gen., 197 
 Neosho, gunboat, 102, 103, 11 1 
 Newburyport, Mass., i 
 New Carthage, 38 
 
 New Falls City, steamer, 97, loi 
 New Hope Church, 79 
 Newman, Cardinal, 469 
 New Orleans, 36, 77, 81, 140, 141, 
 
 145, 185, 316, 328, 330, 334-336, 
 
 380-383, 406, 408 
 Newport News, 365 
 Niblet's Bluff, 87 
 Nicholson, John P., Col., 155, 
 
 156, 162 
 Nickojack Creek, 79 
 Nine-Mile Bend, loi 
 Nineteenth Army Corps, 93, 94, 
 
 105, 115, 126 
 No. ij, steamer, 103 
 Norman's, 141 
 Noyes, Senator, 458 
 
 O 
 
 Ohio, 5, 7, 10, 261, 265, 275 ; river, 
 3, 12, 275; 5th Cavalry, 222; 
 44th Infantry, 10, 11 ; 46th In- 
 fantry, 12 ; 48th Infantry, 13 ; 
 53d Infantry, 12 ; 54th Infantry, 
 12, 18, 19, 21, 28-31, 36, 46, 49, 
 52, 54, 60, 61, 63, 66, 78, 79, 158, 
 163, 196, 203, 204, 249, 252, 258, 
 260. 263, 275 ; 57th Infantry, 12, 
 15, 21, 30, 31, 34, 36, 46, 49, 52, 
 204, 252, 263 ; 70th Infantry, 13 ; 
 71st Infantrj', 12, 16, 196; 72d 
 Infantry, 12 ; 77th Infantry, 12 ; 
 83d Infantry, 30 ; Society of 
 New York, 162 
 
 Okalona, 84 
 
 O. K. Landing, 141 
 
 Olarte, Vincent, Gen., 417 
 
 Opolousas, 87, 13S, 359 
 
 Osage, gunboat, 102-104, 106, no, 
 III, 120, 
 
 Otie, Bishop, of Memphis, 249 
 
 Otis, Harrison Grey, 459 ; Mrs., 
 
 Paducah, Ky., 12, 13, 59, 78, 163, 
 181, 186-188. 228, 284, 369, 377, 
 
 379 
 Page, John, 2 
 Palmer, Admiral, 431 
 Palmer, Commodore, 318, 321 
 Panama, 148, 149, 415-420, 422, 
 
 425, 429, 431, 433, 438-441, 445- 
 
 448 
 
484 
 
 Index 
 
 Panama, Bay of, 433 
 
 Panama, Isthmus of, 2 
 
 Parke, Gen., 367 
 
 Parker, Gen., 455 
 
 Parsons, Gen., 117 
 
 Pea Ridge, 13, 199 
 
 Pearl River, 354 
 
 Pemberton, John C, Gen., 38, 72, 
 
 298 
 Pendleton, George H., 6 
 Penn Monthly, 4 
 Perkins, Judge, 302 
 Perry, W. McKay, 45 
 Petersburg, Va., 366, 385 
 Piatt, Abraham Saunders, Gen., 10 
 Piatt, Benj. M., Judge, 7, 8, 297 
 Piatt, Donn, 7, 171 
 Piatt, Elizabeth Barnett, 8, 172 
 Pierce, P'ranklin, 9, 192 
 Pierce's, 141 
 Pittsburg, gunboat, no 
 Pittsburg Landing, 14, 16, 17, 29, 
 
 78, 229 
 Placquemine, 141 
 Pleasant Grove, 95 
 Pleasant Hill, 94, 95, 102, 106, 
 
 113, 114, 116, 121, 131, 135, 140 
 Plymouth Rock, 248 
 Point Lookout, 365 
 Polleys, J. W., Lieut.-Col., 89, 
 
 121 
 Pontotoc, 84 
 Pope, Gen., 204 
 Port Gibson, 38, 40 
 Port Hudson, 26, 71, 72, 75, 76, 
 
 III, 314, 315, 318, 320-323 
 Port Raymond, 40 
 Porter, David D., Rear Admiral, 
 
 25-27, 29-32, 34, 35, 56, 69, 
 
 72, 73, 89, 90, 92-94, 97, 98, loi, 
 
 106, 107, 109-113, 119, 120, 124, 
 
 133, 137, 160, 282, 283, 315-317, 
 
 323, 357, 358, 363 
 Post Office Department, 168 
 P, Rachels', 141 
 Prairie Rose, steamer, 189 
 Preble Co., O., 78, 179 
 Prentiss, B. M., Gen., 16, 19, 196 
 Price, despatch boat, 319 
 Price, Gen., 406 
 Price, Stirling, Gen., C. S. A., 94, 
 
 138, 139 
 Providence Lake, 33 
 Pugh, Col., 89 
 Pugh, George E., 6, 343 
 Purcell, J. B., Rt. Rev., 8, 156, 
 
 469 
 
 Q 
 
 Quebec, 412, 413 
 
 Queen 0/ the IVest, steamer, 316 
 
 Quitman, Miss, 354 
 
 R 
 
 Ramsey, Governor, 241 
 
 Randolph, John, 348 
 
 Ransom, Gen., 34-36, 48, 52, 76, 
 
 78, 308, 369, 455 
 Rawlins, John A. Gen., 42, 64, 
 
 77, 94, 95, 323, 368, 401 
 Raymond, Miss., 39, 46 
 Read, Abner, 322 
 Red River, 33, 86, 87, 88, 90, 93- 
 
 97, III, 112, 116-119, 121, 124- 
 
 126, 130-133, 137-141, 144, 146, 
 
 160, 242, 357-359 
 Red River Expedition, 357, 379 
 Red River Landing, 116 
 Regular Army, 13th Infantrv, 47, 
 
 50 
 Resaca, 79 
 Reuben White's, 141 
 Revolutionary War, 8 
 Rhode Island, Governor of, 171 
 Rice, A. v., Col., 34, 46, 51, 53, 
 
 54, 204 
 Richmond, Va., 46, 79, 94, 224, 
 
 310, 311, 313, 384-386, 392 
 Riddle, Col., 366 
 Rig.?iu, Jolia, Col., 70, 343 
 Rio Grande, 88 
 Riverside, N. Y., 156 
 Roberts, Lord, Field Marshal, 268 
 Rob Roy, steamer, 99, 102-104, 
 
 109 
 Rocky Springs, 46 
 Rodgers, Mrs., 317 
 Rogall, Capt., 193 
 Rogers, A. W., Lieut.-Col., 90, 
 
 121 
 Rolling Fork, 34, 159 
 Root, Edward E., Lieut., 54 
 Rosecrans, Gen., 143, 245, 262, 
 
 278, 303, 469 
 Rousseau, Gen., 20, 201 
 Runkle, Benj. P., Gen., 193 
 Russell House, 21, 66, 246, 333 
 
 Sabine Pass, 87, 138 ; cross roads, 
 94, 95, 106, 112, 114, 119, 135, 
 139 ; river, 138 
 
Index 
 
 485 
 
 Sacred Heart Convent, 148 
 Sandusky River, 275 
 San Francisco, 431, 438 
 Sanger, Maj., 243 
 Sanitary Commissioners, 263 
 San Mateo, Cal, 436 
 Sargent, L. M., 2, 3 
 Savannah, Tenn., 188, 190 
 Sawyer, Gen,, 374 
 Scammon, Gen., 143, 469 
 Schenck, Robert, Gen., 171 
 Schmidt, Godfried Christian, Dr., 
 
 i> 3 
 Schiller, 299 
 Schofield, Gen., 143 
 Scioto, 275 
 
 Scott, Thos. A., Col., 20 
 Scott, Wm. L., Capt., 89, 140 
 Scott, Winfield, Gen., 170, 171 
 Seeds, Lieut., 285 
 Selfridge, Capt., 103, no 
 Selfridge, Thos. O., Lieut., 106, 
 
 107 
 Seventeenth Army Corps, 81, 82, 
 89, 90, 92, 97-101, no, 114, 121- 
 123, 124, 331, 338, 342,355 
 Seward, Secretarj', 148 
 Seymour, Horatio, 149, 441 
 Shaw, W. T., Col., 91 
 Sheppard, I. H., Col., 70 
 Sherer, J. L., 55 
 Sheridan, Phil., Gen., 406, 460 
 Sherman, John, Senator, 58, 59, 68 
 Sherman, Mrs., 68, 247-246, 257, 
 
 331 
 Sherman, W. T., Gen., 7, 12, 13, 
 15, 19-23, 25, 27-32, 34, 36, 37- 
 39, 43, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55-6i, 
 64-66, 68, 73, 78, 79, 83-85, 87- 
 89, 94, 109, 112, 113, 119, 120, 
 122, 124, 125, 130, 131, 137, 142, 
 146, 148, 159-161, 163, 183, 184, 
 186, 190-195, 197, 201-204, 206, 
 229, 234-236, 239, 243-245, 247- 
 249, 251, 256, 260, 267-269, 271- 
 276, 279-284, 289, 290, 298, 303- 
 305, 327, 333, 340, 341, 353, 354, 
 356, 362, 365, 369, 374, 386, 411, 
 412, 455, 459, 460, 469 
 Shiloh, 13, 21, 22, 61, 63, 66, 78, 
 159, 163, 191, 193-195, 243, 246, 
 247, 275, 284, 333,374 
 Shirk, Capt., U. S. N., 16, 243 
 Shreveport, 87-89, 93, 94, 96, 98, 
 
 112, 114, 132, 135, 137-141 
 biLver Moon, steamer, 363 
 Silver Wave, 36 
 
 Simmesport, 90, 91, 112, 116, 130, 
 
 .135, 357, 359 
 Sioux Ctty, steamer, 98, 104 
 Sixteenth Army Corps, 83, 89, 94, 
 97, 107, 114, 122, 127, 128, 137 ' 
 Smith, A. J., Gen., 26, 28, 46, 47, 
 89, 90, 92-98, 104, 107, iio- 
 114, 120-125, 127, 129-131, 133, 
 138, 142-144, 252, 356, 357, 359, 
 362, 374-376, 378, 410 
 Smith, C. F., Gen., 16, 192 
 Smith, E. Kirby, Gen., C. S. A., 
 86, 96, 112, 135, 147, 178, 208, 
 244, 384, 395 
 Smith, Fliza Bicker, 8, 51, 68, 80, 
 
 150 
 Smith, Elizabeth Budd, 9, 186 
 Smith, Fannie, Mrs., 192 
 Smith, George, i, 5, 6, 8 
 Smith, Giles A., Gen., 29, 30, 34, 
 40, 42-45, 47, 48, 52, 53, 65, 267, 
 314 
 Smith, J. Condict, Capt., 243 
 Smith, Marshall, Col. C. S. A., 
 
 320 
 Smith, Morgan L., Gen., 20, 21, 
 24-26, 65, 204, 208, 234, 235, 237, 
 251, 267 
 Smith, Mrs., 2 
 
 Smith, Theodore Dehon, 465 
 Smith, W. Sooy, Gen., 83, 84 
 Snake Creek, 13 
 Society of the Army of the Ten- 
 
 nessee, 455 
 South7uester, steamer, 98 
 Spanish Fort, 145, 384, 386 
 Spooner, Benj. J., Col., 41, 46, 49, 
 
 52, 54, 252, 277 
 Sprague, Governor, 171 
 Springfield, 93, 97, 107, 108; 
 
 Landing, 105, 108 
 Stanley, Gen., 143 
 Stanton, Ewin M., 15, 23, 68, 
 
 169, 238 
 Steadman, Col., C. S. A., 320 
 Steele, Frederic, Gen., 26, 42, 44, 
 47, 50, 86, 88, 89, 93, 94, 112, 
 122, 138, 139 
 Steele's Bayou, 33, 34, 282 
 Stewart, Senator, 439 
 St. Joseph, La., 317, 322 
 St. Louis, 124, 145, 185 
 St. Maurice, 141 
 St. Paul, Minn., 455, 456 
 Stockton, Jos., Lieut. -Col., 81 
 Stone, Gen., 320 
 Stone, James Kent, 471 
 
486 
 
 Index 
 
 Storer, Bellamy, Judge, 115 
 Strickle, A. G., Capt., 69 
 Stuart, David, Gen., 12, 17-20, 26, 
 27, 30. 31. 34, 35. 37, 62, 63, 66, 
 163, 184, 192, 194, 201-204, 206, 
 252, 257, 264, 269, 280, 283, 353 
 Sturgis, S. D., Gen., 142 
 Sullivan, Peter J., Col., 13 
 Sunflower River, 32 
 Sunny South, steamer, 249, 250, 
 
 254, 264 
 Swallow, steamer, 279 
 
 Tallahatchie River, 22, 33, 249 
 Taylor, Lieut., 5th Ohio Cavalry, 
 
 243 
 Taylor, Maj., 48, 243, 255 
 Taylor, Richard, Gen., C. S. A., 
 
 70, 94, 96, 117, 118, 138, 139, 309, 
 
 311-313, 395 
 Taylor, W. H. H., Col., loi, 243 
 Teche Co., Texas, 87 
 Tennessee River, 374-376, 378 
 Tensas River, 33, 310 
 Terry, Gen., 369 
 Texas, 86, 87, 94, 139, 147, 185 
 Thayer, 42 
 
 Thielmann's Cavalry, 54 
 Third Div. Detach. Army of the 
 
 Tennessee, 143, 144 
 Thirteenth Army Corps, 25, 30, 
 
 38. 93, 94, 129. 130 
 Thirteenth Regulars, 307 
 Thirty-seventh Ohio Volunteers, 
 
 10 
 Thomas E. Tutt, steamer, 98, 99 
 Thomas, George H,, Gen., 142, 
 
 211, 290, 343, 369, 37S, 379,460 
 Tiemayer, Lieut., 102, 121, 122, 
 
 140 
 Tiger Island, 141 
 Tod, Governor of Ohio, 223 
 Torresdale, Philadelphia, Pa., 148 
 Townsend, Capt., 359 
 Trelawney Papers, i 
 Trinity, 138 
 
 Trogden, Howell G., Private, 43 
 Trumbull, Chaplain, U. S. V., 155, 
 
 162 
 Tullis, James, Lieut.-Col., 121 
 Tupelo, 142 
 Tupper, Gen., 43 
 Tupper, N. I., Col., 40 
 Tuttle, Gen., 42 
 Twelfth U. S. Infantry, 12 
 
 U 
 
 UlflFers, H, A., Lieut., 75 
 Ulm, Germany, i 
 Union Army, 11 
 Union Club, Memphis, 317 
 Union Defence Committee, 177 
 Union, Federal, 10 
 United States Marshal, 9 
 United States Senate, 9, 37 
 Universe, steamer, 99, 104 
 Upton, Captain, 317 
 Urbana, Ohio, 455 
 
 V 
 
 Vallandigham, 343, 441 
 
 Venables, Richard S., Captain, 
 loi 
 
 Vicksburg, 24-26, 29, 33, 34, 38- 
 42, 45, 56, 61, 63, 65, 68, 69, 71, 
 72, 76, 78-80, 82-85, 90, 92, 93, 
 113, 116, 121-123, 142, 159, 163, 
 242, 249, 251, 261, 262, 264, 266, 
 277, 279, 28T, 283, 291, 292, 294- 
 296, 298, 300, 306, 307, 309, 311, 
 314, 315, 317, 319, 320, 322, 323, 
 
 327-330, 333, 334, 336, 339, 340, 
 342-344, 346, 353, 354, 357, 367, 
 384, 387, 459 
 
 Vicksburg Papers, 272 
 
 Virgin, H. H., Maj., 121 
 
 Virginia, 124 
 
 Vivian, steamer, 390 
 
 W 
 
 Walker, J. G., Gen., 40, 69, 91, 358 
 
 Wallace, W. H. L., Gen., 16 
 
 Walnut Hills, 68, 297, 299, 305 
 
 Walter, Eliza Bicker, 2, 150 
 
 Walter, Nehemiah, 4 
 
 Walter, William, 150 
 
 Ward, Lyman, Col., 90, 121, 122, 
 
 140 
 Ward, W. C, Col., 91,98-TOi, 105, 
 
 127, 358 
 Warner, William, Maj., 83, 90, 140 
 Warren County, 8 
 Warren, Gen., 367 
 Warren ton, La., 293 
 Washburne, C. C, Gen., 122, 123, 
 
 142 
 Washington City, 9, 10, 24, 29, 59, 
 
 79, 143, 144, 146, 147, 152, 167, 
 
 257, 379, 380, 397, 414, 454, 459 
 Washington, George, Gen., 248, 
 
 467 
 
Index 
 
 487 
 
 Washita River, 33, 138 
 
 Waterloo, 141 
 
 Water Oaks, point of, 19 
 
 Webster, Daniel, 411 
 
 Weitsel, Gen., 366 
 
 West, Gen., 117 
 
 West Liberty, Ohio, 7 
 
 West Point, 332, 342, 356 
 
 Wetmore, John H., Capt., 90, 140 
 
 405 
 White, G. M., Capt,, 54 
 White Lake, 105 
 White River, 30, 258 
 White, Sergeant, 278, 279 
 White's Station, 228 
 Williams, Capt., 294 
 Willis, James, Lieut. -Col., 89 
 Willow Point, 141 
 Willow Springs, 46, 301 
 Wilson's Landing, 365 
 Wilson, Lieut., 173, 384 
 Winslow, Edward F., Col., 83 
 Wisconsin 14th Infantry, 81, 89, 
 
 90, 121, 142 ; 17th Infantry, 81 ; 
 
 33d Infantry, 89, 90, 121 
 Wolfenbuttel, Germany, i 
 
 Wolf River, 23, 220, 249 
 Woodford, transport boat, 136 
 Woodward College, 158 
 Woodward High School, 5 
 Woodward, Paul, 104 
 Wordin, Maj., C. S. S., 
 Worthington, Thos., Col., 12, 224, 
 235 
 
 Yazoo City, 282 
 
 Yazoo River, 25, 26, 32, 33, 36, 83, 
 160, 250, 264, 275,277, 291, 292, 
 304, 314, 346, 352-354, 372, 377 
 
 Yellow Bayou, 116, 121, 140 
 
 Yellow Creek, 13 
 
 Yellow Springs, Ohio, 68, 69, 142 
 
 Yeoman, Capt., 258, 259, 263 
 
 Young's Point. 32, 34, 36, 39, 60, 
 61, 266, 268, 271, 279, 282, 284- 
 286, 288-292, 301, 316, 377, 388 
 
 Zouave Regiment, 285 
 
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