Legislative Document [ ^^' 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW YORK MONUMENTS 
 COMMISSION 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Dedication of Monument to the Seventy- 
 
 Ninth Regiment Highlanders 
 
 New York Volunteers 
 
 KnoxviUe, Tenn., September 23, 1918 
 
 ALBANY 
 
 J B. LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS 
 
 1919 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 
Mo.Xr.MENT TO THE IIltiUl.A.NDER.S AT K.NOXVII.I.E, Te.XX. 
 
Legislative Document No. 71 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW YORK MONUMENTS 
 COMMISSION V ^ 
 
 ^ \ -^ ON THE 
 
 A \-^ cj* II -v^ I I \i, ' a 
 
 Dedication of Monument to the Seventy- 
 Ninth Regiment Highlanders 
 New York Volunteers 
 
 Knoxville, Tenn., September 23, 1918 
 
 ALBANY 
 
 J. B, LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS 
 
 1919 
 
B. of D. 
 
 MAY 19 1919 
 
STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 New York Monuments Commission 
 
 To the Legislature: 
 
 I have the honor to transmit herewith report on the Monument 
 to the Seventy-ninth New York Volunteer Regiment (High- 
 landers) erected at Knoxville, Tennessee, and dedication proceed- 
 ings thereof, held September 23, 1918. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 LEWIS R. STEGMAN, 
 
 Chairman. 
 New York, N. Y., January 2, 1919. 
 
Report on Monument Erected at Knoxville, Tennessee, to 
 
 the Seventy-ninth New York Volunteer Regiment 
 
 (Highlanders) and Dedication Proceedings 
 
 Thereof, Held on September 23, 1918. 
 
 Giving credit where credit was due was well illustrated at Knox- 
 ville on September 23, 1918, when a monument was dedicated 
 there to one of the N'ew York infantry regiments that took part 
 in the East Tennessee campaign, during the fall and winter of 
 1863. This regiment, the Seventy-ninth l^Tew York Highlanders, 
 established a high reputation for valor and all-round dependability 
 in the thirty odd fields where it was in action. Whether in wide- 
 spread operations, time and again, or pent up in beleaguered 
 quarters, fighting on the defensive against heavy odds, as in the 
 siege of Knoxville, their sum of service and proportion of sacrifice 
 stamp the Highlanders as one of the foremost organizations that 
 served in the Union armies. Consequently, there was no denying 
 the fact that they were deserving of lasting memorial honors when 
 •their veteran association sought eventually to put this laudable 
 ambition into effect. 
 
 The Highlanders took what was practically a leading part in the 
 defense of Fort Sanders, November 29, 1863; and it was this 
 famed arena, among all the scenes of memorable exploits in which 
 they participated, that they had constantly in mind for erecting a 
 monument to their regiment. 
 
 The hope that they had so long cherished to see this in its desired 
 place in Knoxville was at last in the way of being realized when 
 the Legislature of 1917 voted $5,000 for their use, pursuant to a 
 bill introduced by Senator Alfred J. Gilchrist. 
 
 On investigation, it was not found practicable to have the monu- 
 ment placed anywhere within the bounds of Fort Sanders itself, 
 as primarily intended ; and failing this the City Commissioners of 
 Knoxville generously donated other appropriate ground for it, in 
 the vicinity, which is at Clinch Avenue Park. 
 
 Bids that contractors — in this State as well as Tennessee — had 
 submitted, on the request of the New York Monuments Commis- 
 
 [31 
 
sion, for the construction and erection of this monument, were 
 considered at a meeting of its Board held on March 21, 1918, when 
 the contract for same was awarded to the Tennessee Marble Works, 
 of Ivnoxville, at the price of $2,240. 
 
 The stone used for its construction is Knoxville pink marble, 
 from the Ross quarries in Knox county. In design, it is a square 
 shaft, sixteen feet, ten inches in height ; the base, resting on a con- 
 crete foundation, measures seven feet by six feet, six inches. The 
 side elevations are rounded on the top, which is surmounted by a 
 St. Andrew's cross. The badge of the Ninth Army Corps is carved 
 in relief on the right of the die; the Scottish emblem of thistles 
 and shields appears on the rear, appended to which is the motto, 
 Nemo Me Impune Lacesset. Left of the die is shown the coat of 
 arms of this State. " New York " is cut in large letters on the 
 front of the third course. The die bears the following inscription : 
 
 79TH NEW YORK INFANTRY 
 (HIGHLANDERS) 
 1ST BRIGADE 1ST DIVISION 
 
 (MORRISON'S) (FERRERO'S) 
 
 NINTH CORPS (POTTER'S) 
 BURNSIDE'S COMMAND ARMY OF THE OHIO 
 COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN WILLIAM S. 
 MONTGOMERY, THE 79TH NEW YORK VOL- 
 UNTEER INFANTRY TOOK A PROMINENT 
 PART IN THE OPERATIONS OF THE SIEGE 
 OF KNOXVILLE] AND WAS STRENUOUSLY 
 ENGAGED IN THE DEFENSE OF FORT 
 SANDERS, HOLDING THE NORTHWEST 
 BASTION, NOVEMBER 29, 1863. 
 
 Over this, on a panel five feet high, are shown the figures of a 
 Federal and Confederate soldier, clasping hands under the folds 
 of " Old Olory.'' Underneath the panel appear the following 
 lines, specially composed by a Manhattan bard, Joseph I. C. 
 Clarke: 
 
 The hands that once were raised in strife 
 
 Now clasp a brother's hand, 
 And long as flows the tide of life — 
 In peace, in toil, when war is rife — 
 
 We shall as brothers stand. 
 One heart, one .soul for our free land. 
 
 The plans for the monument were prepared by James F. R. 
 Vosjier. n New York memorial architect. These plans were skil- 
 
fully reproduced, iu every detail, showing that Knoxville, as well 
 as abounding in a high grade of home marble, has native artists 
 and artisans capable of working it into classic finish. The figures 
 on the panel were designed by R H. Perry, of New York. 
 
 It was erected under the auspices of the New York Monuments 
 Commission, co-operating in the business incident thereto with the 
 Highlanders Veteran Association, of which Colonel Andrew D. 
 Baird is president, and Joseph Stewart secretary — both residents 
 of Brooklyn. The City Commissioners and Board of Commerce 
 of Knoxville, in addition to donating the site, took a praiseworthy 
 interest in its construction throughout. 
 
 Furthermore, local co-operation for having the memorial dedi- 
 cated worthily was all that could be wished for. Knoxville was 
 little short of being in gala for the occasion. Every courtesy was 
 extended to the Highlanders and their friends during their stay in 
 that city. They were entertained at receptions and carriages were 
 placed at their disposal for sightseeing. A deputation of represen- 
 tative citizens escorted them from the hotel at Whittle Springs — 
 " a soft retreat of sylvan splendor " — to the dedication stand. 
 Here they were treated to a welcome address by Commissioner 
 Samuel E. Hill. 
 
 The ceremonies took place in the afternoon, attended by quite 
 a concourse. The monument, artistically and profusely decorated, 
 was unveiled by a granddaughter of one of the heroes of the siege, 
 Mrs. Emily Gilchrist Boillotat. A local band. Couch's, enlivened 
 the exercises at intervals with appro]3riate airs, some of them 
 Scottish, of course. " Old Glory " was raised on high ; all joined 
 in singing "America," and "Auld Lang Syne " was rendered as 
 a closing chorus. The exercises alternated between addresses by 
 veterans — Confederate and Federal — and those contributed by 
 civilians, representing a later generation. 
 
 For both natives and visitors, let alone the Highlanders them- 
 selves, this was an interstate function that makes for lasting and 
 fond recollection. 
 
 Colonel Baird directed the ceremonies. Being a veteran of the 
 siege, and one of the braves who distinguished themselves at Fort 
 Sanders, his remarks and reminiscences were heard with reverent 
 interest. As a relevant relic, he exhibited the tattered flag that 
 stood guard at the fort. Six of his Highland comrades were with 
 
6 
 
 him at the dedication, as they were at the siege; they evinced 
 pardonable pride and unbounded glee gazing on their marble 
 memorial as it was being brilliantly dedicated ; and that they were 
 fully worthy of the honors implied therein was not left unsaid 
 or unsung. 
 
 Besides Colonel Baird, two other Highlanders, Captain Robert 
 Gair and Captain Robert Armour, also spoke. Colonel Lewis R. 
 Stegman, in his official capacity as chainnan of the New York 
 Monuments Commission, delivered an address. The speakers rep- 
 resenting the ]^ew York Legislature were Senator Alfred J. Gil- 
 christ and Assemblyman Charles D. Donohue. 
 
 I. L. Graves was chairman of the reception committee appointed 
 by the Board of Commerce. Prayer was offered by the Reverend 
 Robert I. Gamon. The Reverend Robert W. R. Barnett voiced 
 the sentiments of the local United Confederate Veteran camps, 
 and Captain Wm. Rule spoke for the Grand Army of the Republic 
 posts of Knoxville. A wreath was laid at the monument at the 
 instance of Mrs. R. H. Sansom, in behalf of the United Daughters 
 of the Confederacy. Mrs. Sansom is a daughter of General Zolli- 
 coffer, who fell at the battle fought in Mill Springs, January 19, 
 1862. The donor of another of the wreaths which decked the 
 memorial is a namesake of Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 The Knoxville press accentuated the dedication very worthily, 
 The Sentinel^ an evening publication, in particular, whose man- 
 aging editor, Wiley L, Morgan, was as unsparing in his efforts as 
 with his space in presenting everything of interest pertaining to 
 the Highlanders and their monument; while Captain Wm. Rule, 
 of The Journal and Tribune, a morning paper, as well as printing 
 a line report of the proceedings was present on the platform as one 
 of the speakers. 
 
 It is not often that the i)eople of Knoxville have been given a 
 chance to show their appreciation of battleground commemoration 
 at home; but from the enthusiasm and interest that they mani- 
 fested in the Highlanders' dedication and the cheerful, active 
 co-operation that they lent in having it conducted becomingly, it 
 would seem that they have no need to look el&ewhere for light or 
 leading when it is required to have such events functioned in their 
 city ; on the contrary, it was demonstrated then that they are able 
 to set an example in respect to them. 
 
The ]^ew York Party in Attendance at the Dedication 
 
 The Highlanders: Colonel Andrew D. Baird, Captain Robert 
 Gair, Captain Robert Armour, Henry F. Bloomfield, John Muir, 
 Joseph Stewart and Frank M. Chamberlin. 
 
 Senator Alfred J. Gilchrist and Mrs. Gilchrist and daughter, 
 Mrs. Emily Gilchrist Boillotat, Assemblyman Charles D. Donohue 
 and Mrs. Donohue, Assemblyman E. C. Davis and Mrs. Davis, 
 Assemblyman George T. Davis, Colonel Lewis R. Stegman and 
 Mrs. Stegman, Colonel Clinton Beckwith, Colonel Frank West, 
 U. S. A., J. W. Lynch, Charles S. BaTker, P. J. McConnon, John 
 J. Morris, John L. Little, Major L. C. Brackett, David A. 
 Mitchell, Andrew Wallace and Arthur B. Gritman. 
 
 Mrs. Boillotat's boy accompanied her, but he is probably too 
 young to be able to remember the day when he was clapping his 
 hands at the dedication of the monument to his great-grandfather's 
 regiment at " Fort Knoxville." 
 
 Dedicatory Exercises 
 
 1. Prayer by Rev. Robert I. Gamon. 
 
 2. Welcome Address by Commissioner Samuel E. Hill. 
 
 3. Unveiling of Monument by Mrs. Emily Gilchrist Boillotat. 
 
 4. Raising the Flag and Singing of "America " in Chorus. 
 
 5. Address by Col. Lewis R. Stegman, Chairman, ISTew York 
 
 Monuments Commission, 
 
 6. Address by Col. Andrew D. Baird, Seventy-ninth New York. 
 
 7. Address by Senator Alfred J. Gilchrist, N'ew York. 
 
 8. Recitation, " The Highlanders," by Mrs. Emily Gilchrist 
 
 Boillotat. 
 
 9. Address by Captain Robert Armour, Seventy-ninth New York- 
 
 10. Address by Captain William Rule, G. A. R., Knoxville. 
 
 11. Address by Assemblyman Charles D. Donohue, New York. 
 
 12. Address by Rev. W. R. Bamett, IT. C. V., Knoxville. 
 
 13. Address by Captain Robert Gair, Seventy-ninth New York. 
 
 14. Singing of "Auld Lang Syne " in Chorus. 
 
 15. Benediction by Rev. Robert I. Gamon. 
 
 16. " The Star-Spangled Banner," by Couch's Band. 
 
 Welcome Address by Commissioner Samuel E. Hill 
 Ladies and Gentlemen. — Mayor John F. McMillan intended 
 sharing the honors and the duties of this occasion, and in his 
 
absence, caused by other business that he could not forego to-day, 
 the pleasant task has devolved on me of representing him for the 
 purpose of welcoming our Highland visitors and their friends who 
 have come from the Empire State in fulfilment of a mission of 
 devotion — a mission that has won our warmest admiration, and 
 one, too, that appeals to ourselves intimately, as it is redolent of 
 far-off days and hai)penings that constitute a stirring chapter in 
 the history of Knoxville. 
 
 Highlanders, you are doubly welcome among us to-day. We 
 welcome you for the perils^you encountered on these scenes fifty- 
 five years ago, and we welcome you for the praiseworthy motives 
 that prompted you to erect this shaft to your regiment and the 
 memory of your comrades whose remains rest in the National 
 cemetery nearby. You received notification in advance that we 
 were waiting to greet you heartily and in readiness to co-operate 
 with you all possible to the end that your memorial would be dedi- 
 cated worthily. We feel that as venerable veterans revisiting our 
 city after such a long lapse of years, and engaged in so noble a 
 mission, you are deserving of the best reception it is in our power 
 to accord you. 
 
 It would not be easy for one person to repeat the many things 
 that are being heard in Knoxville to-day in commendation of the 
 devotion that urged you to undertake this memorial project and 
 the energy with which you have carried it out so successfully. We 
 regard it, on your part, as a touching setting and sequel to your 
 efforts of heroism on these scenes, so long ago that the oldest of 
 our residents were then in their teens or early twenties. 
 
 This is certainly an occasion that has many angles of interest, 
 for us no less than yoiu'selves ; numerous thoughts and memories 
 are stimulated by it, and contrasts, as agreeable as they are instruc- 
 tive, are suggested by it. 
 
 And not the least significant of these contrasts is the difference 
 beween the ovation you are enjoying here to-day and the mixed 
 reception that you experienced in Knoxville back in 1863. Then, 
 as young soldiers, you marched to the inspiration of martial music, 
 amid the rattle of musketry and the roar of artillery. Now, you 
 march to the tunes of '' Dixie " and " Yankee Doodle," blended 
 into National hannony, to which the spirit of a united people 
 joyfully responds. Then you clung tenaciously to Fort Sanders, 
 
displaying unusual valor in its defense, and compelling the raising 
 of the siege that has helped to make Knoxville famous in the his- 
 tory of this Nation. Now you mingle in loving comradeship with 
 veterans whom you fought, and who gladly join you in paying 
 honor to those of your number whose lives were given for a cause 
 sacred to every true American. 
 
 Fort Sanders, in the defense of which you Highlanders, on that 
 memorable morning of November 29, 18(33, took such a notable 
 part, occupies a prominent place in the list of hotly-contested 
 arenas during the period of the disagreement between the sections. 
 The combatants on both sides fought it out here, and did their 
 level best, just as valiantly and as persistently as was done by the 
 hosts contending at the Angle in Gettysburg, the Cornfield at 
 Antietam, Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg or Shiloh in our 
 own State. 
 
 But whatever may be said of those stirring times, here or else- 
 where, and necessarily mentioned at such a function as this, the 
 all important and joyful fact to revel and glory in to-day is that 
 ever since all sections of our country have continued to be bound 
 in ideal amity and the closest National ties — " each for all and all 
 for each." 
 
 The contest ended, under one flag once more, a united nation 
 entered on an era of reconciliation and reconstruction. And with 
 what results? Making the United States the most powerful, the 
 most prosperous and the most contented democracy in the world. 
 
 And in addition to that, at the present time — so that the rest 
 of the world may be made safe for democracy also — all our states 
 are vying with each other in supplying their quota of the help 
 required for carrying to a successful issue the great war that is 
 being waged on the other side of the Atlantic ocean against ruinous 
 and rampant militarism. 
 
 Tennessee, true to its appellation of the " Volunteer " State, is 
 and has been sending its sons " over there " by the thousands. In 
 a former crisis in the history of the Nation, the response made 
 by our State to a call for military aid was so full and free — so 
 much above its quota — that the authorities could not avail them- 
 selves of all the recruits that it was able to place at their disposal. 
 The boys of Tennessee are maintaining this tradition right well. 
 They have gone with alacrity to the training camps and from there 
 to the battle fronts; and as long as necessary they will continue 
 
cheerfully to augment the Nation's fighting forces. " Worthy 
 sons of noble sires," they are inspired by the examples of former 
 generations and the valor of former heroes — men like Sevier, 
 Campbell, Jackson and Forest. 
 
 And I am proud to say that Knoxville is well to the fore among 
 the cities of Tennessee competing with each other, as the States 
 are, in doing their part to win the war. We are endeavoring, in 
 a proportional sense, to be high up on the volunteer lists, so long 
 as this international crusade lasts; and numerically, also, we are 
 in a position to make a good showing, with a population that is — 
 combining our suburbs — fast approaching the hundred thousand 
 mark. 
 
 Highlanders, these population figures and the extended bound- 
 aries of our city as you see it to-day, present a striking contract 
 to the mere nucleus of a city, having but a few thousand people, 
 into which you marched on September 26, 1863. Of what Knox- 
 ville was then there is hardly a doubt that you still retain clear 
 recollections ; so I will descant a little for you on its present activi- 
 ties and possibilities; and while doing this I do not despair of 
 being able to convince you that there is at least one other p^ace 
 in the United States besides the Empire City, with all its luminous 
 immensities, where people can thrive tolerably well — even very 
 well — and enjoy themselves to their hearts' content all seasons 
 of the year. 
 
 I am sure it is hardly necessary to remind you that our city is 
 called after a commander of the Revolution, who bore a decidedly 
 Scottish patronymic, General Henry Knox. He was also Secretary 
 of War. Boston was his native place. We have endeavored to 
 make Knoxville a credit to his name. 
 
 Knoxville is the pride of East Tennessee; and as to location, 
 generally speaking, it can well be called a centre of centres. 
 Within a circumscribed radius of five hundred miles from here 
 half of the population of the United States is located. 
 
 Valuable raw materials abound in our vicinity, such as coal 
 iron ore, copper, zinc, manganese, limestone and lumber-yielding 
 forests. We are in the midst of ngricultiu-al territory reno\vned 
 for its fertility ; almost every variety of garden and farm produce 
 is seen in our markets ; and as for flocks and herds — everything 
 in that live line from beeves to bees — ours is " a land flowing 
 with milk and honey." 
 
11 
 
 Our city is a diversified manufacturing centre, too ; and does a 
 big jobbing business, among other commodities, in iron, wood 
 working and textiles. It has important railroad shops, rolling 
 mills, foundries, machine shops and metal structure works. 
 
 Knoxville in reaching its present status has been favored 
 immensely by conditions of climate and situation. Mountains 
 shelter us from violent storms; we are in the midst of wooded 
 rolling hills ; winding rivers, on which craft of good size can " go 
 down to the sea," flow past us or near us ; our watershed is almost 
 unrivaled; our air is the most bracing, and this, together with 
 scenery of sui*passing picturesqueness, imparts to Knoxville the 
 attraction of a holiday resort. The days sure few and far between 
 when our skies do not merit being called opalescent. 
 
 We claim to have a wideawake and enterprising population that 
 strives and knows how to turn these resources and advantages to 
 the best uses. For this purpose we have comprehensive and well 
 equipped organization systems and an administration calculated 
 to take the best care of our civic affairs. Our schools and colleges 
 are kept to a high standard. Our transportation facilities are well 
 up to date. Our business streets and residential sections you have 
 seen for yourselves. Knoxville may be called a city of homes, 
 schools and churches. We are about putting up another big hotel. 
 Those we already have are conducted on plans that give universal 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Among our products, likewise, are immense marble quarries, 
 which have a reputation far and near for excellent texture, dura- 
 bility and adaptability. Blocks hewn from them were used for 
 the construction of the monument that we are now dedicating. It 
 would be hard to count the carloads of marble that we have shipped 
 to I^ew York City, to mention but one of the many cities that have 
 drawn on our quarries for their public edifices and mansions. 
 
 Highlanders, we in Knoxville share with you the pride and the 
 joy that you evince in seeing this beautiful memorial in place; 
 because as well as it being made of Knoxville pink marble our own 
 artists and artisans it was that turned it out in this superb style. 
 
 This shaft can be depended to stand where it is for ages to come 
 — a fitting memorial to a renowned regiment and an ornament 
 to Clinch Avenue Park. In the dim and distant future, " time's 
 effacing fingers " will have worn away beyond legibility the letters 
 
12 
 
 and emblems carved on it, but as long as American history is read 
 the principles embodied in it will survive. 
 
 It is a fitting feature of these ceremonies to have them j^artici- 
 pated in by representatives of the United Confederate Veteran 
 camps in addition to the local Grand Army of the Republic posts, 
 and that we are to hear discourses by some of their members. 
 
 Should anything be said on this platform, inadvertently and in 
 an unguarded moment, with which any of our Confederate friends 
 might be inclined to disagree, or should they have an inkling of 
 regret — which is very unlikely and not at all expected — for 
 having sided the cause to which the Highlanders were so vigorously 
 opposed the years gone by, perhaps it would be some consolation 
 to remind them that Fernando Wood was among the most fervent 
 and demonstrative anti-abolitionists of them all. And who was 
 Fernando Wood ? He was Mayor of N^ew York, where the High- 
 landers were recruited, at the outbreak of the civil conflict. 
 
 Veterans of the Highlanders, Knoxville is full of admiration 
 for the noble mission that has brought you among us on this occa- 
 sion. To-day, hearts and hands are joined in paying respect to 
 you and the memory of your fallen comrades. Consider your- 
 selves as friends among friends while you are with us. Ours is a 
 city, as I have outlined for you, well worth lingering in for rest 
 and recreation ; and should any of you, or all of you, health and 
 strength permitting in the venerable years you are now lengthening 
 out, have occasion, on pleasure bent, or else business of any kind, 
 to visit our city again we will be most willing to repeat the glad 
 welcome that we are extending to you to-day. 
 
 " Come in the evening or come in the morning ; 
 Come when yoii are looked for, or come without warning; 
 Blessings and welcome you'll find here before you; 
 And the oftener you come here the more we'll adore you." 
 
 Address by Colonel Lewis R. Stegman, 102d N. Y. Veteran 
 Vols., Chairman New York Monuments Commission 
 Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen. — My first duty on this occa- 
 sion is to express heartfelt thanks for the royal Knoxville welcome 
 accorded us New Yorkers to-day. Of your kindness, and the 
 interest and enthusiasm that pen'ades these dedicatory exercises, 
 we will for a long time to come retain the pleasantest recollections. 
 
13 
 
 And ever since the work of erecting this monument was taken on 
 hand, Knoxville has been meeting us fully half way. We appre- 
 ciate highly, and we are grateful for it, the generosity that 
 prompted you to donate a site for the Highlanders' monument on 
 one of the most central spots in your beautiful city. The business 
 incident to this memorial project has been a labor of love for us, 
 due, in a great measure, to the commendable courtesy with which 
 your City Commissioners and your enterprising, progressive and 
 vigilant Board of Commerce responded to the requests and 
 inquiries we found it necessary, from time to time, to submit to 
 them during its furtherance. Mr. C. A. Benscoter is especially 
 worthy of our remembrance, and the success of these ceremonies 
 owe much to his co-operation, as well as that of Mr. I. L. Graves, 
 in making preparations for them. 
 
 This marble shaft is a well deserved tribute. The record of the 
 men of the Seventy-ninth 'New York Regiment, or, as they are also 
 called, the Highlanders, whether in the South, the East or the 
 West, was exemplary. Going over it on the map, the extent of terri- 
 tory where their activities were called into play is in itself a lesson 
 in geography. From Antietem Creek to the Mississippi, and from 
 the Potomac to Port Royal, near the Savannah, they gave repeated 
 evidence of valor, endurance and all-round dependability. That 
 indomitable hero of the South, Stonewall Jackson, was at his best 
 in four of the big battles they took part in. They escaped Chan- 
 cellorsville, for the reason that they were then on the watch in 
 Kentucky, and Gettysburg, because at that time they were up in 
 arms at Vicksburg. 
 
 In the East there was comparative quiet along the Potomac and 
 the Rappahannock during the fall and winter of 1863, following 
 the Gettysburg campaign ; but it was not so in the West along the 
 Tennessee, around Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Knoxville ; and 
 the Seventy-ninth ISTew York bore a regiment's full share in the 
 helter-skelter and fierce fighting incident to those operations. 
 With the Vicksburg detachment of the Ninth Corps they com- 
 pleted a hurried march from Kentucky to Knoxville on September 
 26th, which was three weeks after Burnside established his head- 
 quarters here, Buckner having evacuated it on his approach. 
 
 Seven days before the Highlanders arrived in Knoxville Bragg 
 overcame Rosecrans at Chickamauga. The latter, some weeks 
 
14 
 
 before, had left Kentucky for the purpose of occupying TuUa- 
 homa ; about the same time and the same place from whence Burn- 
 side set out for Knoxville; their plans and preparations for a joint 
 campaign having 'been frustrated for a good while by Morgan's 
 daring raids. Burnside was under orders to go to Rosecrans' relief 
 before disaster overtook him at Chickamauga, but encountered 
 opposition near his own headquarters which prevented his being 
 able to carry them out. 
 
 Grant, after assuming charge of all the armies in Tennessee in 
 October, was exerting himself to the utmost for confronting Bragg 
 in a big battle. His preparations materialized in Chattanooga on 
 November 24th and 25 th, with victory for the Federals. 
 
 Before, as well as after, this momentous engagement both Grant 
 and Bragg were hampered by complications in East Tennessee. 
 The former was receiving orders to send help to Burnside at a 
 time that he could not afford to detach any of the forces in his 
 immediate command ; and Bragg, as a stroke of good strategy, as 
 he thought, sent Longstreet on November 4th from the vicinity of 
 Chattanooga, followed by Buckner, to oust Burnside from East 
 Tennessee. Meantime Grant issued orders to cut Bragg's railroad 
 communications with Longstreet. 
 
 Longstreet's advance proved more rapid than was anticipated. 
 He reached Camijibeirs Station on November 16th and a stiff battle 
 was fought there. BiTrnside then withdrew all his forces to Knox- 
 ville, and by the 18th the siege had begun in earnest. 
 
 Fort Sanders, the principal defensive work, was occupied by a 
 garrison of three hundred men. For eleven days after Long- 
 street's investment there was intermittent shelling and skirmish- 
 ing. A violent attack was made on the fort on the 24th ; the attack 
 was renewed with increased violence on the 29th, and with that 
 courage and jDersistency which characterized Longstreet's assault, 
 or, as it is popularly kno\vn, Pickett's charge, at Gettysburg. 
 Troops from eleven regiments, under McLaws, rushed upon the 
 garrison at the dawn of day, and though decimated, in the shortest 
 time, by destructive discharges of grape, canister and musket balls 
 they persisted desperately in endeavoring to gain their objective. 
 Numbers of them eventually reached the ditch and tried to climb 
 the sides of the parapet. Not only that, but a few of them went 
 into the fort. But it was beyond human endurance to withstand 
 
15 
 
 any longer the hail of lead and iron that made McLaws' braves 
 stagger and fall by the hundred. They were compelled to break 
 and retire, with fearful loss. 
 
 The organizations in Fort Sanders during this memorable scrim- 
 mage were Benjamin's and Buckley's batteries, the Second Mich- 
 igan and i^art of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry, on the 
 flank, while the Highlanders, the immediate garrison, held the 
 northwest bastion. 
 
 The daring and determination displayed that day at Fort 
 Sanders put it henceforth among the most hotly-contested spots 
 where the Blue and the Gray tested each other's mettle. 
 
 The difficulties that the Highlanders, with the other units of 
 their brigade, encountered going over the Cumberland Mountains 
 is remindful of N"apoleon's legions crossing the Alps; and as for 
 cold weather, at Blaine's Cross Roads, by the Clinch Mountains, 
 where they spent New Year's Day, 1864, the hardships suffered 
 at Valley Forge, of Revolutionary memory, were repeated in their 
 case. 
 
 The Highlanders during their four years of service had leaders 
 worthy of them. When first mustered into service they were com- 
 manded by Colonel Samuel McKenzie Elliott. Colonel James 
 Cameron, brother of the Secretary of War of that time, was killed 
 while leading them at the First Bull Run. He was succeeded by 
 Colonel Isaac I. Stevens, on whose early promotion Colonel Addi- 
 son Farnsworth succeeded to the command of the regiment. With 
 Colonel Farnsworth they served in the Sherman-Dupont expedition 
 in South Carolina, and at the Second Manassas, Antietam and 
 Fredericksburg campaigns. Vicksburg saw them under Colonel 
 David Morrison, and at Knoxville his place was taken by Captain 
 William S. Montgomery. On the opening of General Grant's 
 overland campaign, at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, in May, 
 18G4, they were in charge of Colonel Morrison; and for the 
 remainder of their field activities they were commanded by Col- 
 onel Henry C. Heffron and Colonel Andrew D. Baird, who had 
 the honor of leading them during the final assault on Petersburg. 
 
 Colonel Baird is President of the Highlanders Veteran Asso- 
 ciation. His comrades were impressed by his soldierly qualities 
 on the field of battle, and they have been impressed and attracted 
 ever since by his manly qualities. To them he has been, all along. 
 
16 
 
 " guide, philosopher and friend." A good number of them, nearly 
 all that could stand the strain of long travel, are here with him 
 to-day, as they were five and fifty years ago. 
 
 Captain Robert Armour, of Washington, D. C, a veteran of the 
 siege, and still in service, in the Quartermaster's Department, 
 will address you in behalf of the regiment ; as will Senator Alfred 
 J. Gilchrist, the son of a Highlander who served in the siege. 
 Captain Robert Gair, a prominent business man of Brooklyn, and 
 who acted a very notable part defending Fort Sanders, will also 
 make some remarks that should prove interesting. 
 
 Like so many others who carried a sword during the period of 
 the civil conflict, success and distinction in public life and in the 
 line of big business have come to Colonel Baird, as they have to 
 Captain Gair. He is now President of the Williamsburg Savings 
 Bank in Brooklyn. Modesty, too, has always been one of his 
 characteristics. He can well be counted among that estimable 
 class of people who have never very much to say for themselves — 
 those who do things with the minimum of talk and the maximum 
 of result. 
 
 And it is not only the " boys " of his own organization that are 
 attached to Colonel Baird. In G. A. R. circles in Greater New 
 York none is more respected than he. 
 
 In recalling when I first had the privilege of becoming 
 acquainted with Colonel Baird my memory wanders far back over 
 the dim vista of a period covering more than half a century ; and 
 in the course of that long span, as friends and neighbors, we have 
 met many a time and oft, always with feelings that can best be 
 expressed in the words of Robert Burns, " Then here is a hand my 
 trusty fiere, and give us a hand of thine." And mentioning poets, 
 it is pertinent to note that until his early teens Colonel Baird 
 resided in Sir Walter Scott's native place, Kelso. 
 
 I have never been able to remember seeing Colonel Baird 
 accoutred for battlefield work — most likely we did not come across 
 each other then — but my regiment, the One Hundred and Second 
 New York, stood with his in three campaigns, the Second Manas- 
 sas, Antietam and Fredericksburg. Subsequently, were up and 
 doing the same time in different parts of Tennessee ; for five days 
 before the final attack on Fort Sanders I was with my regiment in 
 " the battle above the clouds," at Lookout Mountain. From this 
 
17 
 
 you will see that some of the boys of '61 did not have to wait for 
 the era of the aeroplane to witness or experience the sensations 
 and perils of waging battle close to the welkin. 
 
 But what about the boys of '17 and '18 in khaki, and what you 
 m,ight ask — you of a younger generation — do we veterans of a 
 former big war think of those cataclysms that are now rending 
 Europe asunder, and of which everybody cannot help talking or 
 thinking: children not long separated from their perambulators 
 lisp of them, and their grandfathers and great-grandfathers are apt 
 to be interrupted by thoughts of them saying their morning and 
 evening prayers. 
 
 Only that we veterans of the early sixties are prevented by 
 time's relentless wear and tear from crossing the ocean, we would 
 be doing our bit once more. Knowing well the horrors of war, and 
 the hardships and dread consequences that follow in its wake, once 
 begun, we were hoping and praying that this country would be 
 saved the agony of another prolonged and destructive entangle- 
 ment; but the die being cast our hearts and souls went into the 
 struggle, just as if we were in the thick of it. 
 
 As to the outlook, our opinion is that the entrance — the forced 
 entrance — of the United States into that big scuffle over there 
 was practically coincident with the high-water mark of Prussian 
 aggression and sealed the doom of that diabolical military caste 
 taxed with planning and projecting this terrible curse on humanity 
 the world over. 
 
 The people of this country were compelled " to take up arms 
 against a sea of troubles," the scare and the scourge of the sub- 
 marine. Until then we kept away from the scenes of foreign strife 
 and turmoil, minding our own business, not meditating a hostile 
 movement against any nation — though not unmoved — and wish- 
 ing that the powers slaying each other in ruthless, wholesale and 
 unprecedented style would have recourse, ere long more, to the 
 olive branches of peace and sheathe their swords for good and all. 
 
 But we were insolently commanded, at the peril of our lives, 
 to stay at home and not venture beyond the boundaries of our own 
 tranquil shores — to keep our ships and what was intended as 
 cargoes for them in America ; and following that dictum there 
 was nothing else for us to do, as a proud and powerful nation, and 
 an independent and liberty-loving people, but to join. the others in 
 
18 
 
 " shuffling off this mortal coil," that sought to strangle our 
 freedom. 
 
 " Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad," and it 
 cannot be gainsaid that those Prussian pseudo seers who com- 
 pelled the United States to enter the lists against them must have 
 lost their heads, and they are lucky, many of them, if they do not 
 lose their lives as well into the bargain. In the case of this 
 Kation, they put all reason aside; they trampled on our rights, 
 just claims and feelings with " scrap-of-paper " contempt and 
 defiance. But they are bound to pay dearly for it. We cut across 
 a continent before, an engineering project that was for long 
 regarded as an impossibility ; and ere long more in the continent 
 of Europe we are likely to be the most effective — the deciding — 
 factor in that gigantic struggle now raging between the world's 
 mightiest forces. 
 
 Our casualty lists, it is piteous to read from day to day, are 
 growing, and while we pray for the contrary, it is to be feared that 
 they will not begin to get less and less for some time to come. 
 But it cannot be helped now. 
 
 We veterans often wish that we were as young as we used to be 
 so that we could answer the tocsin of war again. More power and 
 all praise to our successors in khaki. They are maintaining right 
 well in the native land of Lafayette the noble tradition of the 
 American soldier on the field of battle. 
 
 And the slacker: I pity the one of them that comes our way. 
 The slacker, the spy and the profiteer, and such " small deer," 
 make us feel like taking off our coats, or rather wishing that we 
 had our old swords in our hands to have a whack at them. The 
 National slogan now is " Win the War," and those who do not 
 respond to it had better quit forthwith. 
 
 Chiseled on the monument before us are the words, Nemo me 
 impune lacesset, and until Uncle Sam takes off his armor their 
 import will remain one of his mottoes. 
 
 I know what I am talking a])out, for as an old soldier myself I 
 can realize to the letter how disheartening it is for our boys 
 engaged in violent battles to think that anyone at home is not 
 heart and soul in the cause for which they a-re risking their lives. 
 
 I have another digression to make, if such anyone should call 
 any of my previous remarks ; but as it is what I might call an 
 
19 
 
 interstate and not a foreign affair, affecting alike the State to one 
 of whose regiments we are now dedicating a memorial and the 
 city that this memorial is to help grace for the years to come, it 
 cannot be very wide of the mark. 
 
 For the thirty years or so that the ISTew York Monuments Com- 
 mission has been erecting for the Empire State memorial to troops 
 and commanders the stone used in their construction has invariably 
 been some kind of granite — from Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, 
 Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and even North Carolina. At 
 first we had in mind following precedent and using granite for the 
 Highlanders' monument. Correspondence on this subject was 
 exchanged between our Commission, in conference with the regi- 
 mental association, and the Knoxville Board of Commerce. 
 Among other pertinent facts presented for our consideration and 
 deliberation was that piles of Tennessee marble were used for 
 giving the vei*y building where we have our office its present almost 
 unrivaled finish, that is, the Hall of Records in New York City. 
 And a great many other fine buildings in New York, it was sub- 
 mitted, are made of the same stone, among them the banking house 
 of J. P. Morgan & Co., and, for its interior, the terminal station 
 of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Then, as a further 
 knockdown for granite in its contest, for the object in view, against 
 mai'ble, we learned that the Centennial monument in Chicago is 
 also constructed of mai'ble from the quarries of Tennessee. On 
 this score we could not help saying that whatever material thrives 
 and survives out-of-doors in the " Windy City," with its lack of 
 protection, on eveiy side, from the elements, and lake water per- 
 petually lapping in its front, would undoubtedly endure for ages 
 in the incomparable climate of mountain-sheltered Knoxville. 
 
 Of course we had been previously well aware — who is not ? of 
 the reputation Knoxville enjoys for its excellent marble, no less 
 than for its wealth of copper, zinc, coal and iron. 
 
 Well the upshot of it was that marble won out ; precedent and 
 granite, for the nonce, were put in the shade, and we are as glad 
 of it now as yourselves. Otherwise it would be like " carrying 
 coals to Newcastle " or " heather to Scotland." Otherwise, also, 
 the monument would, perhaps, be regarded here as having a some- 
 what exotic aspect, and sentiment counts in monuments &» well fti 
 i» other things j in fact they originate in sentiment, 
 
20 
 
 The amount that jSTew York has expended on this memorial is 
 one of the most satisfactory and best placed investments that it has 
 yet made in the matter of battle ground construction. Its base 
 measurements of seven feet and height of sixteen keep it from 
 being ranked as massive or " cloud capt," but it rests by the firm 
 base of the East Tennessee mountains, and though lacking con- 
 picuous altitude is it not several hundred feet higher above stand- 
 ard level, that of the ocean, than the tallest structure piercing 
 the sky line of the Empire City. And that reminds me that you 
 Knoxville people are Highlanders yourselves as well as the 
 veterans of the Seventy-ninth Regiment. 
 
 Battlefield memorials are concrete expressions of admiration 
 for valor and sacrifice. !New York is still maintaining its lead in 
 this worthy work. We have memorials, monuments or markers 
 in several of the States — in Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia, Mary- 
 land and Pennsylvania; and are handsomely represented in this 
 respect at Chattanooga, Wauhatchie Valley, Lookout Mountain, 
 Missionary Ridge, Orchard Knob and Ringgold nearby. 
 
 Bronze statues were erected to two of New York's commanders 
 at Gettysburg last year — General Abner Doubleday and General 
 John C. Robinson — and they were dedicated a few months after 
 the ceremonies for that colossal and supei^b work of art, Virginia's 
 statue to General Robert E. Lee on the same field. At our dedica- 
 tions then we were favored with an address by a Confederate 
 veteran, from the capital, Colonel Hilary A. Herbert, former 
 Secretary of the Kavy, in President Cleveland's administration, 
 and who belonged to your neighboring State Alabama. Colonel 
 Herbert's address on that occasion was a gem — as wholesome and 
 as inspiring an expression of the times as one could wish to hear. 
 
 There is nothing that fosters and encourages a spirit of genuine 
 patriotism better than to see the Blue and the Gray fraternizing 
 and rejoicing at veteran events such as have brought us here to-day. 
 It was so at Washington and Vicksburg last year, and it was so, 
 on a much larger scale, at Gettysburg in 1913, when over 53,000 
 veterans — 8,700 of them representing the Confederate armies 
 and navy — were assembled for a four-day demonstration of patri- 
 otic glorification. The feelings of content and kindness with which 
 the " boys " of the Blue and the " boys " of the Gray now, and for 
 decades past, contemplate each other aie well expressed in one 
 
21 
 
 of the uiscriptions ou the memorial to the Seventy-ninth New 
 York: 
 
 " The hands that once were raised in strife 
 
 Now clasp a brother's hand, * 
 
 And long as flows the tide of life — 
 In peace, in toil, when war is rife — 
 
 We shall as brothers stand. 
 One heart, one soul for our free land." 
 
 In addition to the Seventy-ninth, two other New York infantry 
 regiments and a batteiy were engaged in the siege. These are the 
 Forty-sixth, commanded by Colonel Joseph Gerhardt, the Fifty- 
 first, under Colonel John W. LeGendre, and Battery L, Second 
 Light Artillery, Captain Jacob Roemer commanding. 
 
 Are they likely to have monuments erected to them here? 
 I cannot say now, but should like to see it done. The Daughters 
 of the Confederacy set an example in this respect in Knoxville, 
 and, perhaps, in due course, others as well as the Highlanders may 
 follow in their footsteps. Pennsylvania is among the States that 
 had had some good regiments in the siege, and the Keystone State 
 so far is a good second to the Empire State in recognizing and com- 
 memorating the valor and deeds of its troops and commanders. 
 
 Address by Colonel Andrew D. Baird^ Seventy-ninth New 
 York Veteran Volunteers (Highlanders). 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: Commissioner Samuel E. Hill has very 
 graciously extended a welcome to us to Knoxville, and for this 
 whole-souled manifestation of kindness we return our sincerest 
 thanks. In my turn, as president of the Highlanders Association, 
 in charge of these ceremonies, I desire to welcome you all to our 
 dedication, and at the same time to express gratitude, in behalf of 
 myself and my comrades, for the interest that it has evoked. 
 
 Colonel Lewis R. Stegman has already sjwken to you in his 
 official capacity as chairman of the New York Monuments Com- 
 mission, with whom the Highlanders had the pleasure of co-oper- 
 ating in the business incident to the erection of our monument 
 and making preparations for its dedication. Time permitting, 
 Colonel Stegman would have said much more than he has, and in 
 curtailing his remarks be has set an example here that I for ou§ 
 will try to follow, 
 
22 
 
 Captain Eobert Armour, who, like myself, took part in the siege 
 and in the defense of Fort Sanders, will tell you, as speaker for 
 the regiment, some of our experiences here fifty-five years ago ; and 
 Captain Robert Gair, another Highlander, and who acted a very 
 notable part the day of the big attack on the fort, will also make 
 some remarks that should prove appropriate for this occasion. 
 
 It is likewise veiy appropriate to have this memorial unveiled 
 by Mrs. Emily Gilchrist Boillotat, inasmuch as her grandfather, 
 James Gilchrist, was here with us as a Highlander in the fall and 
 winter of 1863. 
 
 Mrs. Boillotat's father. Senator Alfred J. Gilchrist, is down on 
 our programme of exercises for an oration, as well he might, for 
 at home in Brooklyn, or else representing his constituents in the 
 Legislature at Albany, he is well known as an impromptu and 
 effective speaker. We were putting off for quite a while the con- 
 struction of our monument, and it was through the influence of 
 Senator Gilchrist that the money for it was eventually voted us, 
 as well as the amount needed for dedicating it. There is no 
 necessity my repeating now the thanks that he has earned for 
 these boons. I am sure Senator Gilchrist feels as gratified himself 
 as any of us in seeing this beautiful memorial that has been erected 
 to his father's regiment. 
 
 Another member of the New York Legislature, Assemblyman 
 Charles D. Donohue, and whom I will call another good friend of 
 ours, as I confess with gratitude, will address you. Mr. Donohue 
 during the last session at Albany was chosen as leader for his 
 party. 
 
 It gives me further pleasure to announce that veterans of your 
 own " Volunteer " State have kindly joined us to contribute their 
 share towards making this dedication representative in the fullest 
 sense. One of these good friends. Captain William Rule, is to 
 speak for the Grand Army of the Republic posts of Knoxville. 
 Captain Rule will have every opportunity for familiarizing him- 
 self with the text of the inscriptions on the monument, for his 
 house, I understand, is just across the street from where it stands. 
 
 One of these inscriptions begins with the words : " The hands 
 that once were raised in strife, now clasp a brother's hand." This 
 fine sentiment the Rev. W. R. Barnett, representing the United 
 Opnfeder.ate Veteraus of this city, will, there is little doubt, give 
 
33 
 
 voice to for his own comrades. To Captain Rule and Mr. Barnett 
 1 tender my sincerest thanks for being present to assist us and 
 cheer us in this wise. 
 
 And this is not the first time that I have had occasion to convey 
 heartfelt thanks to residents of Knoxville in behalf of the High- 
 landers. I have visited your city three or four times since the 
 days of the siege, always, of course, paying a pilgrimage to the 
 graves of my comrades in the JSTational Cemetery. During one 
 of these pilgrimages, made some time in the early eighties, as well 
 as I remember, I learned to my great surprise and satisfaction 
 that the graves of the Highlanders were being decorated annually 
 up to that time by a worthy Knoxville lady. On investigation I 
 discovered that this tender tribute of respect was due to the 
 thoughtfulness and kindness of a Mrs. Patterson, the wife of 
 Colonel Oran Patterson. Needless to say, I lost no time in calling 
 on her to express my thanks for her goodness in this matter, and 
 this was the beginning of a friendship with herself and her husband 
 that lasted as long as they lived. 
 
 As I have already said, we were waiting a long time for this 
 monument; and when I and my six comrades saw it for the first 
 time this morning our hearts were filled with joy. We never 
 expected anything finer. The Knoxville contractors entrusted with 
 its construction and erection have done their work splendidly. As 
 a critic of this class of structure, mine is not the opinion of an 
 amateur, because I have been conducting a big stone business of 
 my own for a long number of years. I had also a hand in pre- 
 paring the plans for the monument, and these plans are reproduced 
 in first-class style. I have now good reason to feel more interested 
 in Knoxville marble than ever before. 
 
 Flags, thanks to our local helpers in this dedication, are plenti- 
 fully in evidence all around us here to-day, as they were fifty-five 
 years ago, but for a very difl^erent purpose. Well, we have brought 
 with us from ISTew York a souvenir flag of those far-off days, and it 
 affords me great pleasure to give you an opportunity to examine 
 it. This is none other than the garrison flag that stood guard at 
 Fort Sanders that well-remembered day of ISTovember 29, 1863. 
 You mn see that this venerable and treasured relic is tattered a 
 good deal; it has many signs within its four corners of age and 
 wear ; md I do ^ot hesitate in making a comparison between ita 
 
24 
 
 faded folds and those hairs on my own head, now turned white by 
 stress of years; while in every other respect also 1 am far from 
 feeling the same as I was when helping to keep this flag waving 
 proudly in its place on the fort. 
 
 But I never expected to be blessed with perpetual youth. I have 
 rounded out a long span of decades, nearing now the end of the 
 eighth. I never felt more elated during all these years than I do 
 to-day presiding at the dedication of this memorial to the Seventy- 
 ninth i^ew York Highlanders, the regiment in whose ranks I put 
 in four years of hard work, and the regiment, too, that it was my 
 privilege and pride to command towards the end of its fighting 
 career and during those last trying and triumphant days at Peters- 
 burg in Aj^ril, 1865. 
 
 AuDIJESS BY SEiN'ATOR AlFRED J. GiLCIIRIST. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: As a member of the delegation from 
 the Empire State in attendance on this platform, I must express 
 my great gratification on witnessing the appreciation — shown in 
 divers delightful w\ays — of our mission to your beautiful city ; 
 while the kindly and generous welcomes that you have been pleased 
 to extend to us will assuredly be remembered with gratitude for 
 many years to come. 
 
 We have journeyed to Knoxville to testify to the love and esteem 
 in which we hold a gallant band of veteran soldiers, the Seventy- 
 ninth New York Regiment, or, to give them the name by which 
 they are more familiarly and frequently known, the Highlanders. 
 
 This is an occasion to which we attach considerable importance. 
 It puts vividly before us valorous deeds and noble achievements of 
 days long gone by — deeds and achievements in which the High- 
 landers, as a unit, acted a very desei^ving part. Great and happy 
 results have accrued from those stirring times; and, to go no 
 farther for illustration, they are observable in abundance all 
 around us in Knoxville to-day, presenting as it does scenes of peace 
 and plenty and ideal content. It is not too much to say that this 
 city as it is now compared to what it was when the Highlanders 
 were beleaguered within its confines, is virtually a paradise 
 attained. 
 
 We are in the midst of historic enviromnents, as the High- 
 landers themselves cm testify with the best evidence '— personal 
 
25 
 
 recollections; for this iiioimment stands on ground adjacent to 
 where they were encamped the last months of 1863; and it is but 
 a short distance also from the renoAviied Fort Sanders, the scene of 
 the fiercest and most spectacular exploit of the siege. 
 
 But before, as w^ell as after, their activities in East Tennessee, 
 they acquitted themselves with distinction in several other states. 
 They were in evidence prominently during that period of the 
 troubles between the sections, with but veiy little interruption. 
 
 The reverberations of Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, had scarcely 
 died away when, as one of the organizations of the JSTew York 
 State Militia, they volunteered for participation in the threatened 
 frays ; and thereupon they were mustered in for a period of three 
 years ; nor did they have to remain in suspense long until they got 
 an opportunity of demonstrating the soldier stuff of which they 
 were made. 
 
 Henceforth, for nearly four years, they were followed in 
 imagination by those nearest and dearest to them at home, as they 
 marched to battle scenes, far avA wide; followed with anxious 
 hopes by fathers and mothers, wives and children, sweethearts, 
 sisters and brothers — brothers many of whom were waiting to 
 reach the required age for joining them. 
 
 The Highlanders got their initial taste of fighting at Blackburns 
 Ford; and a few days after, under William Tecumseh Sherman, 
 they were subjected to a galling fire at the battle of the First Bull 
 Run. Here, just before he was mortally wounded, their gallant 
 commander, Colonel Cameron — brother of the then Secretary of 
 War — urged them on in a fierce charge with the slogan, '' Come 
 on my brave Highlanders." 
 
 During that extended expedition in South Carolina, launched in 
 October, 1861, under Sherman, they displayed unwonted valor 
 and endurance. Their work in the unsuccessful attack on Seces- 
 sionville in June, 1862, won the plaudits of the Charleston press, 
 which called them the Palladins of the North. 
 
 And now they Avere back in Virginia once more; and in time 
 for taking part — and, as I might say, taking punishment — in 
 the Second Manassas campaign. Beginning at Kelly's Ford they 
 fought hard and suffered severely all through those operations, 
 until Stonewall Jackson was compelled to cry a halt to his pursuit 
 at Chantilly. It was here that tbeir former beloved commander, 
 
26 
 
 General Stevens, was stricken down, near tte same spot where 
 General Kearny breathed his last. 
 
 At Antietam, a little more than a fortnight after, posted in that 
 well-known arena that was centred at the Burnside Bridge, they 
 stood their ground manfully ; as they did at South Mountain three 
 days before, and as they also did at Marye's Heights three months 
 after. 
 
 When their comrades in arms had just gained a victory at 
 Gettysburg, the Highlanders, now under Colonel Morrison, were 
 on the banks of the Mississippi, celebrating the capture of Vicks- 
 burg, where, as part of the ISTinth Corps detachment, they were 
 sent from Kentucky the previous June; and in helping to take 
 Jackson, two weeks after the Vicksburg operations, they went 
 through a very severe ordeal, marching fast and fighting hard, in 
 oppressively hot weather. 
 
 Ordered to East Tennessee by General Burnside from their 
 quarters of brief rest in Kentucky, the Highlanders were in action 
 at Blue Springs on October 10, 1863, and in that lively skirmish 
 that took place at Campbell's Station on November 16th. Driven 
 from that point by the troops that General Bragg had sent from 
 Chattanooga, under General Longstreet, they braved the perils of 
 the siege of Knoxville, which lasted until December 5th. 
 
 Pollard, the Southern historian, writes as follows of those 
 memorable days: 
 
 "Never, excepting at Gettysburg, was there in the history of the war 
 a struggle adorned with the glory of such devout courage as Longstreet's 
 repulse at Knoxville." 
 
 Longstreet had directed McLaws to force his way into the city, 
 and, intent on effecting this, the Confederate troops skirmished 
 and manoeuvred energetically day after day. The Highlanders at 
 that time had been assigned to Fort Sanders, named after the 
 gallant General Sanders, who fell just as the siege had practically 
 begun. With them in the fort were Benjamin's Battery, part of 
 Buckley's and Roemer's Battery, the Second Michigan Infantiy 
 and two companies of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry. 
 The Highlanders were stationed in the northwest bastion, with 
 Benjamin's Battery, and this happened to be the poiwt ^elected at 
 tjie outset hj the attacking forcjes, 
 
27 
 
 Early on Sunday, November ^Oth, the twelfth day of the siege, 
 after a prelude of thunderous cannonading, it was observed that 
 McLaws' men were headed in large numbers in the direction of 
 the fort. These consisted of Humphrey's Brigade of five regi- 
 ments and the brigades of Wofford and Bryan. Not having hand 
 grenades, Lieutenant Benjamin had prepared a number of twenty- 
 pounder shells, with twenty-second fuses attached. These were on 
 the banquette of the fort. As the Confederates reached the ditch 
 many of them jumped into it. Now was Benjamin's opportunity. 
 Captain Baird ignited the twenty-pounder shells with a torch; 
 they were rolled into the ditch and worked fearful havoc. 
 
 The defenders of the fort must have felt " The stern joy which 
 warriors feel in foemen worthy of their steel." By pluck and dash 
 and advantage of numbers, their assailants hoped and sought des- 
 perately to compel their surrender. Undeniably they proved 
 themselves daring warriors, and though their endeavor was foiled, 
 it could be well said of them then : 
 
 " Theirs not to make reply. 
 Theirs not to reason why, 
 Theirs but to do and die." 
 
 To the Federal organizations opposed to them is due the credit 
 of having repulsed a picked column of troops vastly outnumbering 
 their own. 
 
 After Fort Sanders, the Highlanders took part in the conflict 
 at Strawberry Plains, on January 21, 1864. 
 
 Keturning east in March, they participated in the terrific three- 
 day bushwhacking tussle at the Wilderness, as well as the battle 
 fought at Spotsylvania nearby ; also the engagements at Hatcher's 
 Run, Fort Stedman and the final assault on Petersburg. 
 
 As time rolled on, the Highlanders became mere shadows in 
 the picture of the rejuvenated union of the States. The many 
 engagements to their credit are mile stones in the progress of the 
 entire nation. 
 
 Veterans of the Blue and Veterans of the Gray, this fair land is 
 your common heritage. Your victories and defeats, your purposes 
 and prejudices that were, are so many great lessons in the annals 
 of the United States. 
 
 Obligations of another dawn awaken your sons to-day and bid 
 them cross the seas, for further achievement in the construction 
 
28 
 
 of the great temple of human justice. You accomplished Ameri- 
 can brotherhood. The present far-flung conflict across the water, 
 to the success of which we have pledged our lives, our fortunes and 
 our sacred honor, will, by the grace of God, establish democracy 
 throughout the world — the true brotherhood of man under the 
 beneficent fatherhood of God. 
 
 You veterans of a noble regiment, you who have been spared to 
 witness this inspiring spectacle, the dedication of your memorial, 
 take w^th you the remembrance of your heroic services to the land 
 you sustained ■ — the love and gratitude of a thankful people. God 
 bless you. 
 
 New York is proud of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders. 
 
 " The Highlanders," written by J. W. Lynch, Secretary of the 
 New York Monuments Commission; and recited by Mrs. Emily 
 Gilchrist Boillotat, granddaughter of a participant in the siege of 
 I^oxville : 
 
 The Highlanders! the Highlanders! — who has not heard their name? 
 And quick as wireless o'er the wave it echoes whence they came; 
 The land of sweetest songs e're heard; the land of Burns and Scott; 
 The land of Wallace and of Bruce, who'll never be forgot; 
 The land whose boys, the world o'er, are ever in the van; 
 ' Tis so to-day, 'twas so of old, since first they named a clan; 
 And when " Old Glory " needed help, past anxious, stressful years, 
 No better regiment wore the blue than the Highland Volunteers. 
 
 The Highlanders! the Highlanders! — New York's old Seventy-nine — 
 When Sumter blazed they heard the call and fast fell into line. 
 Throughout that strife, from start to end — Appomattox's halt — 
 Their flag was raised, they did their part, in siege and fierce assault. 
 Baptised in fire at Blackburn's Foi'd; they saw Bull Run's grim sights; 
 And from Antietam's winding creek they marched to Marye's Heights; 
 They fought with Grant at Petersburg, and Vicksburg in the West; 
 In thirty fields they were well tried, and always stood the test. 
 
 The Highlanders! the Highlanders! — or Caledonia's own — 
 
 To-day we dedicate to them a worthy, votive stone; 
 
 Attesting they were up and doing at Knoxville's siege, and when 
 
 Fort Sanders' braves bade bold defiance to thrice as many men. 
 
 Oh, longer than this shaft will last the story of those weeks; 
 
 The charges wild — repulse — resolve — the grit of Greeks 'gainst Greeks; 
 
 The stout defense; the dire suspense, and how the combat ceased, 
 
 With Sherman nearing Burnside and Longstreet lumbering east. 
 
29 
 
 Brave ...ighlanders! good Highlanders! — they number now but few; 
 'Tis well nigh sixty summers long since first they donned the blue; 
 Life's battle they have fought it out, and now in winter's stage, 
 They can look back at work well done, enshrined in history's page. 
 They oft recall, perchance with pride, perchance as well with tears, 
 Their "trusty fieres " who've passed away — their comrade volunteers; 
 All gone, but one, those leaders true with whom they did and dared; 
 The leader left is hale — he's here — he's Colonel Andrew Baird. 
 
 More Highlanders ! yovmg Highlanders ! — their kin beyond the main — 
 Are battling now 'gainst tyrant might — the might that's on the wane — 
 The might that smites on land, on air, and underneath the sea — 
 The might the world would fain control from Berlin on the Spree. 
 With Pershing's power, Petain's and Haig's, Foch tears the Teutons' line; 
 Their songs of hate they may dilate while running through the Rhine. 
 But hate, avaunt! let right, not might, prevail the wide world o'er, 
 " That man to man may brothers be," forever, ever more. 
 
 Address by Captain Williaim Rule, Gt. A. R. Knoxville, 
 Sixth Tennessee Infantky. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: I will begin by saying, and rejoicing 
 in it, that there never has been a time in the history of the nation 
 when so little of sectional jealousy existed as at present. 
 
 It is fifty-five years since the Seventy-ninth N^ew York Infantry 
 Volunteers — the Highlanders — paid their first visit to Knox- 
 ville. At that time there were many here and in the surrounding 
 territory delighted to see them marching under " Old Glory," 
 whose precious folds they had but rarely seen for quite an interval 
 previously. 
 
 Some there were, of course, around here whose sympathies 
 were with the stars and bars, and whose relations had been for 
 more than two years valiantly fighting in the ranks of defenders 
 of what proved to be a lost cause. But later on, even those recog- 
 nized that the Highlanders were true soldiers, akin to the braves 
 mentioned by Sir Walter Scott as being, by native disposition, 
 prone to revel in " the stem joy that warriors feel, in foemen 
 worthy of their steel." 
 
 Since that eventful month of September, 1863, when the High- 
 landers first saw Knoxville, great changes have come over our city 
 as they have over the entire country. All of us, those who wore 
 the Blue and those who wore the Gray, feel honored by seeing 
 erected on these scenes a fitting monument to the memory of so 
 
30 
 
 worthy a regiment. These men gave repeated proof of sterling 
 soldier merits, not only in and around Knoxville, but in many 
 another hard-fought campaign as well ; wherever they went in 
 those days it was with them a case of " When Greek met Greek 
 then came the tug of war." 
 
 The remnant still left of the Highlanders, as well as the rem- 
 nants of the other unit organizations of the armies of that time, 
 is showing the marks of advancing time. Those who enlisted at 
 the beginning of the Civil War at the age of eighteen — and there 
 were multiplied thousands of them — and who are yet in the land 
 of the living, are five years beyond the three-score-and-ten period 
 that has been regarded as the allotted space of human life. But 
 the vast majority of those who served in the war have gone to the 
 other shore, to " That bourne from which no traveler returns." 
 With them life is ended, but what they accomplished will live as 
 long as American history is read ; the tragic drama they enacted 
 will be seen in freshness by future generations passing down the 
 corridors of time. 
 
 When we behold the wonderful progress made by our country 
 since the close of the war — since the war-worn veterans of either 
 side stacked arms, sheathed their swords and took up the imple- 
 ments of peace — a progress unknown elsewhere in all time — it 
 seems little short of the miraculous, and our bosoms swell with 
 pardonable pride. 
 
 I do not recall within the range of my acquaintance a veteran of 
 the Civil War, in either the Confederate or the Union armies, who 
 is not a hundred per cent. American. And their sons or grand- 
 sons are now standing shoulder to shoulder in the present big war 
 against hateful autocracy: everyone will say in the language of 
 Addison, and say it from the bottom of their hearts, "A day, an 
 hour, of virtuous liberty, is worth an eternity of bondage." 
 
 It is my belief, my comrades and friends, and for it there is 
 firm foundation, that when this war is over — when the victory 
 has been won — as it is going to be — a sure and complete vic- 
 tory — and to the consummation of which our own United States 
 is contributing so magnificently — glorious as the past has been 
 there will be a better America in the future. 
 
 The war has already developed to the point of perfection the 
 spirit of wmtj here. We call ourselves different names, in a 
 
31 
 
 political sense ; but in the war against autocracy abroad we are all 
 of one mind — all Americans. Our forbears proclaimed the 
 heaven-blest doctrine that ^'All men are created equal, that they are 
 endowed, by their Creator, with certain inalienable rights, that 
 among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That 
 to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, 
 deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." 
 
 That is what we are proclaiming to the world to-day; that is 
 what the million and three-quarters of Americans are doing in 
 France ; that is what those stand for who are in the battle, and that 
 is what we at home stand for ; any one who would take less and be 
 content with less is not an American ; he is only a counterfeit. 
 
 All of us, East, West, North and South, are now saying to the 
 beast of Berlin, with a voice that is being heard around the world : 
 " Lay on Kaiser, and damned be he who first cries, hold, enough !" 
 This is a challenge, so far as surrender is concerned, that will 
 never be heard from the lips of the invincible hosts of freedom, 
 now marching and fighting for victory under the direction of 
 Foch, Pershing, Petain and Haig, 
 
 Address by Assemblyman Charles D. Donohue. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : Senator Gilchrist has set forth for us, 
 eloquently and impressively, as is his wont, when the occasion calls 
 for it, the distinguished part played by the Highlanders in the 
 siege of Knoxville and the very distinguished part they took in 
 the defense of Fort Sanders, as well as reciting in review their 
 trials and troubles during setbacks and successes in several other 
 campaigns and actions during the civil conflict. Listening to his 
 narration of some of the leading events of those battle years, we 
 are led to compare it to the accounts that we read from day to day 
 now of that far-flung struggle in Europe, where our own troops are 
 co-operating with the annies of France, Italy and England. 
 
 And in reference to one of those countries, it is worth noting 
 that the Highlanders had a good sprinkling of men in their ranks 
 who had seen service in the British army before they landed on 
 the shores of America. 
 
 A large number of the organizations that wore the blue were 
 made up to a considerable extent of soldiers of alien birth; and 
 among those regiments there was hardly any that enjoyed a nobler 
 record than the Highlanders. 
 
32 
 
 Though some of them had previously received military training 
 under a foreign flag, it was at the First Bull Kun, however, that 
 the majority of them, as first mustered in, suffered their baptism 
 of fire. In that battle they laid the basis of a high reputation for 
 courage and reliability; and they did it at a high cost, too, for 
 out of the 895 men that they took there they counted a casualty 
 list of 198, including the commander, Colonel Cameron, who was 
 mortally wounded. 
 
 After Bull Run, elsewhere in Virginia and in South Carolina, 
 covering a period of nearly a year of sojourning and battling, they 
 were subjected to further ordeals and graduated to be full-fledged 
 fighters. 
 
 The Seventy-ninth New York, to give them their oflicial and 
 numerical title, was typical, in a sense, of the large number of 
 regiments that our State raised for the Federal forces; composed 
 of volunteers from various walks of life ; and it did not take lon^ 
 until good accounts were reported of their behavior under firt 
 It is something to look back on with pride the early success there 
 was had in welding the recruits of that period into" effective 
 organizations. 
 
 The Highlanders covered very wide territory during their four 
 years of service. They were up in arms in Virginia, Maryland, 
 South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 The operations in East Tennessee had not been long in progress 
 in the fall of 1863 when word was sent them by General Burnside 
 to hurry to Knoxville. At that juncture they were in Kentucky, 
 taking a much needed rest after the Vicksburg and Jackson 
 campaigns. 
 
 To tell of the trials and achievements of the Highlanders at the 
 siege of Knoxville would be a long story ; while the tenacity with 
 which they clung on to Fort Sanders and the almost unexampled 
 bravery displayed by them when it was " stormed at with shot and 
 shell " on the early Sabbath morning of November 29, 1863, were 
 heroic enough for episodes in an epic. 
 
 The marble shaft commemorating the services of the High- 
 landers on these scenes is but a mere material expression of the 
 esteem in which the men of their regiment are held and the credit 
 that is due them for acting their part so well in upholding a great 
 national cause. For that gallant part they are closely identified 
 
33 
 
 with a chapter in the history of the nation that will be always read 
 with deep interest. 
 
 We are here to-day by no means to celebrate a victory, but to 
 pay our respects to a band of men who risked their lives, or gave 
 up their lives, for the sake of noble ideals. Whatever bitterness 
 there was felt between the sections in those days has all happily 
 vanished; and in its stead, content all over and one flag for all 
 hold universal sway. 
 
 The sons or the grandsons of the soldiers who wore the blue and 
 the soldiers who wore the gray are fighting in France to-day for 
 the very same cause for which the Highlanders offered themselves 
 back in 1861. It is the courage that was theirs, their motives 
 then and the principles that they espoused that are inspiring and 
 animating our boys in khaki over there and making their co-opera- 
 tion so effective in the general and irresistible dash for the Khine. 
 
 Kor can we omit mentioning specially at such an event as this 
 the pluck and determination of the men to whom the Highlanders 
 and the forces to which they belonged were opposed in the early 
 sixties. Numerous monuments in commemoration of their valor 
 and sacrifice, too, have been erected, and who will not freely admit 
 that they are deserving tributes ? Anyway, they fought for a 
 cause which they, at that time, counted high and dear ; and it 
 cannot be denied that they fought it out manfully to the bitter 
 end, as their sons or grandsons are doing to-day, side by side with 
 the Northern boys, in the native land of Lafayette. 
 
 " Here's to the blue of the wind-swept North, 
 When we meet on the fields of France; 
 May the spirit of Grant be with you all 
 As the sons of the North advance. 
 
 And here's to the gray of the sun-kissed South, 
 When we meet on the fields of France; 
 
 May the spirit of Lee be with you all 
 As the sons of the South advance. 
 
 And here's to the Blue and the Gray as one, 
 When we meet on the fields of France; 
 
 May the spirit of God be with you all 
 As the sons of the Flag advance." 
 
34 
 
 Address by the Rev. W. R. Barnett, U. C. V., Knoxville. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen : I esteem it 
 a great privilege to represent the United Confederate Veterans 
 on this occasion, and I fully appreciate the generous spirit in 
 which this privilege has been accorded me. During the misunder- 
 standing between the sections I belonged to Company E, Fifth 
 Regiment, Tenn. Cav., C. S. A. 
 
 I have addressed veterans here who wore the blue as comrades. 
 My friend, W. R. Carter, who now occupies a seat on this plat- 
 form, and I fought each other around Nashville in 1864, and I am 
 in the habit of calling him my comrade on the other side. While 
 this is not the common use of the term, I do not think it altogether 
 inept. If I am not very much mistaken, something of the spirit 
 of comradeship existed between Federal and Confederate soldiers 
 during the years of the civil conflict, especially when they met 
 between the lines to exchange such commodities as tobacco and 
 coffee. 
 
 There is also another sense in which we are comrades. Having 
 held different opinions about certain questions of State, as our 
 fathers before us had done from the very foundation of the Repub- 
 lic, we submitted our differences to the arbitrament of war. Like 
 true Americans, we fought out the issues that temporarily sep- 
 arated us, accepting the result in good faith, and have since been 
 comrades in devotion to the interests of our common country. 
 
 Hail Comrades of the Blue and Comrades of the Gray! 
 
 Whatever opinions may now be held as to the grievances of 
 the South, and as to its right under the Constitution to secede from 
 the Union, it must be admitted that the logic of events is against 
 the wisdom of secession. Events indicate that it would have been 
 better for the South to have contended for her rights within the 
 Union. Events also indicate that there was a Divine purpose in 
 the preservation of the Union. Notwithstanding the alienation 
 produced by the war, we have now lived together in peace and 
 harmony for more than fifty years. Our achievements are marvel- 
 ous and our prosperity unparalleled. We occupy the foremost 
 place among the nations of the earth. Under the providence of 
 God, we seem to have been especially prepared to meet the exigency 
 of the present world crisis. Let us not forget that ability and 
 opportunity are the measure of obligation. Let us not prove 
 recreant to our trust 
 
35 
 
 It was not my privilege to participate in the battle of Fort 
 Sanders, as I was on duty in lower East Tennessee at that time. 
 However, I saw the men sent out from Chattanooga to relieve 
 Burnside, and by using precaution I was able to see them at close 
 range. I wanted to stop them, but esteeming prudence the better 
 part of valor, I was careful to keep out of their way. They were 
 a fine looking body of men, and they were well equipped. It was 
 fortunate for Longstreet that he raised the siege before they 
 arrived. 
 
 That was a gallant attack which Longstreet's men made on Fort 
 Sanders in the twilight of that November morning in 1863. Charg- 
 ing up the hill on which the fort was situated, they did not escape 
 the wire entanglements set for them and toppled over one another 
 into the ditch of the fort. Undaunted by this mishap, they 
 endeavored to scale the walls and plant the stars and bars on the 
 fort. But they were met by men just as brave, who hurled them 
 back and held their ground. The valor of the men who fought 
 here, on both sides, is worthy of commemoration. 
 
 As Longstreet failed to capture the fort, I am glad that it was 
 defended by men with Scotch blood in their veins ; for I am half 
 Scotch myself, my mother having been a McN'utt. 
 
 Before concluding my remarks, I wish to refer to another New 
 York Highlander. When the surrender of General Joseph E. 
 Johnston's army became inevitable, a few of the cavalry force 
 conceived the wild idea of slipping through the cordon of Federal 
 posts and joining the Trans-Mississippi department of the army, 
 where they hoped to continue the fight. I had my horse saddled 
 for that adventure, but upon reflection I saw the futility of it and 
 gave it up. But some did go and among them was Creed Bussell, 
 a tall, raw-boned, angular young man, with unflinching courage. 
 He was one of General Wheeler's special scouts. They succeeded 
 in evading the Federals until they crossed the Savannah river. 
 Just beyond the river, in an extensive woodland, they encountered 
 a strong detachment of cavalry. The topography of the country 
 rendered it impracticable to escape either up or down the river. It 
 was too perilous to attempt a retreat across the river, so they con- 
 cluded to fight. Dismounting, and sheltering themselves behind 
 trees, they opened fire on their pursuers. They made a spirited 
 defense, but having been taken at a disadvantage by superior 
 
36 
 
 numbers, they were compelled to surrender. During the last few 
 minutes of this scrimmage Creed Bussell was pitted against a big 
 ISTew York Highlander. They aimed at each other from behind 
 trees about ten paces apart. Just after the surrender, a fellow 
 who had evidently been skulking in the rear dashed up and 
 demanded Bussell's personal belongings. The Highlander from 
 N'ew York was on his mettle at once; stepping forward, he said, 
 " Hold on there ; a man who will stand up and fight as this Johnny 
 has done shall not be robbed in my presence." 
 
 Address by Captain Robert Gair, Seventy-ninth New York 
 Veteran Volunteers (Highlanders). 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen and Comrades: There is a well-known 
 saying in one of the countries across the Atlantic — a country of 
 which we have quite a variety of pleasant reminders here to-day — 
 that " It is a far cry to Loch Awe." Reckoning distance in time, 
 it is a far cry, too, from the present hour to the day when I first 
 laid my eyes on Knoxville — wanting but half a week of fifty-five 
 years; but in alluding to this long span I assure you that there is 
 no sigh of sadness in my voice, for I must confess, with gratitude, 
 that this is one of the most gladsome days of all my life. 
 
 Knoxville and its surroundings when I marched into it on Sep- 
 tember 26, 1863, was far from being looked upon as a holiday 
 resort, especially for a person wearing a military uniform ; but 
 this did not prevent me from cultivating a liking for it then ; and 
 I desire to say, as I have always felt ever since, that there is no 
 })lace in the South or the West where I would sooner steer for a 
 pleasure trip than your city. It is nothing short of a marvel the 
 vast changes that have come over Knoxville since the days when 
 the Highlanders were camping and battling within it and around it. 
 
 You have heard considerable in the course of these exercises on 
 the siege and the failure to capture Fort Sanders, notwithstanding 
 that its defenders were vastly outnumbered. I have an especial 
 reason for remembering that exploit, for I was then in temporary 
 command of the Highlanders ; and you can realize what my satis- 
 faction was when I saw the flag that stood guard at the fort waving 
 in triumph after our assailants were compelled to cry a halt to 
 tlieir desperate endeavors to plant their own flag in its stead. They 
 fxptually did succeed in hoisting their flag on the angle of the 
 
37 
 
 l)astion, but it was only for a moment, for the Confederate boys 
 who ventured on this feat, with a fearlessness and resolve seldom 
 equalled, were stricken down forthwith. 
 
 As a memento very suitable for this dedication you have been 
 shown our garrison flag. I have a second souvenir of the siege 
 that I desire to bring to your attention. Mine is a small exhibit 
 and one that will speak for itself. It is the envelope in which a 
 letter was sent to me from New York City by my brother many 
 long years ago. The address appearing on it was a good deal out 
 of the ordinary, both as to style and length, for it covered nearly 
 a whole side of the envelope and it was written in rhyme, not 
 indifferent rhyme at all, as I think you will admit. 
 
 " Postmaster, please let this go free, 
 Down to Tennessee ; 
 
 This three-cent stamp will pay the fare, 
 Until you find out Captain Gair; 
 In the 79th is he. 
 His gallant company known as E; 
 His army corps is number nine. 
 Which from the rebels take the shine." 
 
 To have this letter delivered to me at such a time as that was 
 could well be called a post office puzzle ; but the puzzle was solved. 
 I got it on ISTovember lY, 1863, just on the eve of Longstreet's 
 investment of Knoxville. Arriving any later there is no knowing 
 when it would reach me, that is if it would ever come into my 
 hands. I have stuck to this envelope ever since with the tenacity 
 of a postage stamp, and I am very glad that I have, if for no other 
 reason than to be able to read its unique contents here to-day. 
 
 With this envelope and the flag there are altogether nine sou- 
 venirs of the siege at the dedication, the other seven being the 
 Highlanders themselves. This is certainly a great day for us. 
 We look upon it alike as a result and a reward of being in Knox- 
 ville on duty bound in the year 1863. For myself I wish to say 
 again that it is one of the most glorious days of my life, and I am 
 sure my six comrades feel the same about it as I do myself. 
 
 Address and Historical Sketch, by Captain Robert Armour, 
 Seventy-ninth New York Voluntees (Highlanders). 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: Scotchmen are ever loyal to their 
 adopted country, while never forgetting their native land; and 
 
3S 
 
 those of them who had found homes in America in 1861 did not 
 hesitate in deciding where their duty lay on realizing that a resort 
 to arms would become necessary to preserve the integrity of the 
 nation. 
 
 At that juncture there was already in existence an organization 
 known as the Highland Guard, with headquarters in !N^ew York 
 City. A good many energetic business men belonged to it, and 
 they lost no time in increasing its numbers large enough for the 
 formation of a regiment. 
 
 The Highlanders left New York City on the 1st of June, 1861, 
 for Washington, accompanied by a band known as Robertson's. 
 A few days after reaching the capital they were transferred to 
 quarters at Georgetown College, on the heights overlooking the 
 Potomac River, and within sight of the hills of Old Virginia. 
 Under the direction of a West Point cadet, they spent a month in 
 drilling at the college grounds. Then they went to their first camp, 
 located in the vicinity, and called Camp Lochiel. 
 
 While still in the college, James Cameron, a brother of the then 
 Secretary of War, was appointed colonel of the regiment. Colonel 
 Cameron claimed descent from a Scottish chieftain. 
 
 The stay at Camp Lochiel was brief. From thence they were 
 ordered across the Potomac, where they found themselves a unit 
 in the army of General Irwin McDowell. 
 
 Brigades and divisions having been organized about the middle 
 of July, the Highland Regiment formed part of the brigade com- 
 manded by Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman, who, as is well 
 known, was promoted in due course to a rank and responsibility 
 that made him one of the most prominent figures in the Civil War. 
 
 On July 16th McDowell's forces began their movement against 
 the Confederate troops, and five days after the First Bull Run 
 was fought. In this battle the Highlanders suffered a loss of 198 
 in killed and wounded, the highest casualty list of any Union 
 regiment there, and Colonel Cameron was among the mortally 
 wounded. 
 
 After this significant collision the Highlanders were encamped 
 for some weeks near Washington. On September 1st, under the 
 command of Colonel Isaac I. Stevens, they recrossed the Potomac 
 and were employed in the construction of rifle pits and 
 fortifications. 
 
S9 
 
 General McClellan was now in charge of the army, succeeding 
 McDowell, and under him it was being largely increased and 
 undergoing intensive preparation for a resumption of hostilities. 
 
 At this period it fell to the lot of the Highlanders, or rather 
 four of their companies, to be called on for preventing reinforce- 
 ments reaching Lewinsville. This task was both hazardous and 
 laborious, but it was accomplished with the loss of only one man. 
 In two weeks more the regiment was sent on a second expedition 
 to the same place, entrusted to General W. F. Smith, by whom 
 they were highly commended for their part in it. 
 
 The Highlanders were honored on the 29th of September by 
 another visit from the Secretary of War, when he addressed them 
 briefly, assuring them of his continued interest in their regiment. 
 The same day announcement was made that Colonel Stevens was 
 advanced to the rank of brigadier general. The regiment was 
 sorry to lose him, but glad of his promotion. In a special order 
 signed by him, under date of October 16th, he took occasion to 
 emphasize the soldierly characteristics and the reliability of the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 Circumstances, however, brought them into contact with him 
 soon after. By his express desire, following a visit to Washing- 
 ton, they were ordered to Annapolis, on October 18th, for the 
 purpose of joining the land and naval expedition being then organ- 
 ized under General Sherman — General Stevens being one of the 
 commanders designated to accompany him. 
 
 Starting on October 20th from Annapolis, Fortress Monroe 
 was reached the day after, from whence, after a halt of little more 
 than a week, reinforced by numerous war craft, the expedition 
 continued on its voyage. Violent storms were encountered off 
 Fort Hatteras. We arrived at Port Royal Harbor in South 
 Carolina on November 4th. Three days after, the Highlanders 
 witnessed the attack by the fleet on the fortifications at Hilton 
 Head, on the west side of the harbor, and also the assault on Bay 
 Point, on the east side ; resulting in " Old Glory " being hoisted 
 on the flag staff at Hilton Head. 
 
 The Highlanders were landed at Bay Point, called Fort Beaure- 
 gard by the Confederates, and now renamed Fort Seward. They 
 made up the entire garrison in charge of this fort. 
 
40 
 
 Expeditions were made to various islands in the harbor, as well 
 as to the mainland; and on December 11th the brigade to which 
 we belonged occupied Beaufort, in Port Royal Island. On Janu- 
 ary 1, 1862, the Highlanders, now also known as the Seventy-ninth 
 New York, having received its numerical designation on December 
 11th, the day that Beaufort was taken, crossed the Coosaw river 
 and took part in a battle the outcome of which was the capture of 
 a fort facing the crossing at Port Royal Ferry. But little resist- 
 ance was met in effecting this. Aside from ordinary drill and 
 picket duty they were able to enjoy a good rest at this period. 
 
 On January 17th Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison was relieved of 
 the command of the Seventy-ninth, and Colonel Addison Fams- 
 worth appointed in his place. The new commander had seen 
 service in Mexico and had also been in charge of the Thirty- 
 seventh New York Volunteers. 
 
 On June 1, 1862, the Highlanders were ordered to James 
 Island. So close to the cradle of Secession, determined opposition 
 was expected at this point; nor had we been long there when the 
 expected happened — a stiff fight, resulting in the Confederates 
 being driven to their fortifications at Secessionville, which is about 
 eight miles from Charleston. These fortifications were attacked 
 on June 16th, but without success. The Highlanders lost a fourth 
 of their number in this fierce encounter. The Charleston Mercury 
 reported as follows of their part in it : 
 
 " It was left to the valiant Palladins of the North — to the brave 
 79th Highlanders — to test the virtue of unadulterated steel on the 
 Southern nerves; but they terribly mistook their foe, for they were 
 rolled back in a tide of blood. Thank God, Lincoln has, or had, only one 
 79th Regiment, for there is only a remnant to tell the tale. The soldiers 
 who can make such a charge, and those who can stand it — their condi- 
 tions being equal — are the parties to win a war." 
 
 The regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison 
 much of the time since General Stevens' promotion, and Colonel 
 Farnsworth on his return from New York, June 21st, assumed 
 charge of it again. 
 
 The following day occurred a very interesting ceremony for 
 the Highlanders, which was the presentation by the enlisted men 
 to General Stevens of a handsome sword, belt, sash and a pair of 
 gold plate spurs. In returning thanks for this the General spoke 
 
41 
 
 of the donors as his " beloved Highlanders " and his " soldiers of 
 the Coosaw," at the same time expressing the hope that the 
 Seventy-ninth would be the last regiment that he would be called 
 upon to part with. 
 
 To the tune of "Ain't I Glad to Get Out of the Wilderness," 
 played by the band, and heartily responding to the sentiment it 
 sounded, the Highlanders set out for northerly destinations on 
 July 4:th. They arrived at Newport News on the 16th. Here 
 the Ninth Army Corps was in process of formation, under General 
 Ambrose E. Burnside, and the Seventy-ninth became attached to 
 it. On August 3d the regiment re-embarked for Acquia Creek, 
 from whence it was taken by rail to Fredericksburg, encampment 
 being made on Marye's Heights. 
 
 With the rest of Burnside's Corps we were assigned on August 
 1st to the task of guarding the left flank of the armies now under 
 General Pope. This work entailed much strenuous marching, 
 with some skirmishing; but we were not very actively engaged 
 until August 28th, when, as well as on the 29th and 30th, what is 
 known as the Second Manassas campaign was fought. 
 
 In the hard battling of the 30th the Seventy-ninth suffered 
 severely, especially a detachment led by Captain John More, of 
 Company D, the captain himself being badly wounded. Colonel 
 Farnsworth, too, came out of it disabled. 
 
 The result of the Second Bull Run was not more favorable to the 
 Federal troops than the battle fought there a little more than a 
 year before. 
 
 In the fighting that ended this campaign, on September 1st, we 
 were among the forces opposed to Stonewall Jackson, when his 
 designs to cut off Pope's retreat to the capital were frustrated at 
 Chantilly. 
 
 Our regiment lost many of its bravest commanders, with six 
 color bearers, during these Manassas battles; and, with his hand 
 on our flag, General Stevens suffered a death wound at Chantilly. 
 He was a born leader ; the Federal army sustained a great loss in 
 his fall, and the Highlanders were sorely grieved when they 
 learned his fate. 
 
 Consequent on Colonel Farnsworth beintr wounded, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Morrison took his place agn^*'- 
 
42 
 
 Immediately after the Second Manassas, General Lee's army 
 crossed the Potomac, intent on Northern conquests. The Union 
 forces, now commanded by General McClellan, had, therefore, 
 but little time for renewed preparation at Washington. 
 
 On September Tth we began marching in pursuit of the Con- 
 federates. By the 13th we were in the vicinity of Frederick City. 
 The next day we were welcomed with bursting shells in the course 
 of a march to South Mountain. Here severe fighting began at noon 
 and continued until darkness set in. That night we rested on the 
 top of the Mountain. In the morning it was found that the Con- 
 federates had moved away. 
 
 Two days later the big contest of this campaign took place at 
 Antietam. It is set down in the history books as a drawn battle — 
 the severest on any single day during the civil conflict; but 
 inasmuch as the Confederates retreated without delay to Virginia 
 it was practically a victory for McClellan. 
 
 The two great contending armies met again on December 13th, 
 at Fredericksburg, where, especially at Marye's Heights, one of 
 the fiercest of all their trials at arms occurred, with the result in 
 favor of Lee's troops. 
 
 For making a long journey, terminating at Kentucky, the High- 
 landers were entrained at Fredericksburg on February 14, 1863. 
 First going to Acquia Creek, they were conveyed by steamer to 
 Newport News, from whence, on March 21st, they embarked for 
 Baltimore. Taking a train from that city, they arrived at 
 Parkersburg on the Ohio river on the 24th. Louisville, Ky., going 
 there by boat, was reached on the 2Gth, the next stop being 
 Lebanon. 
 
 In this region and by the Green river we were engaged in lively 
 actions and manoeuvres against Morgan's raiders. 
 
 We were ordered off on another expedition in June — to help 
 General Grant at Vicksburg. After this city capitulated, on 
 June 4th, we were part of the forces sent to seize Jackson, also 
 abandoned on July 17th. 
 
 The operations incident to the Vicksburg campaign being 
 brought to a successful ending, with the rest of the Ninth Corps 
 detachment engaged in them the Seventy-ninth began the return 
 trip on August 6th ; proceeding via Lexington, Crab Orchard, 
 Barboursville, and finally to I^jioxville, through the Cumberland 
 Gap. 
 
43 
 
 Knoxville, which we reached on September 26th, was then the 
 centre of rather disturbed territory. To understand the situation 
 there better, we must refer briefly to Chattanooga, where Grant 
 and Bragg were to meet soon in a big battle. The latter felt that 
 the presence of so strong a force in East Tennessee constituted a 
 grave menace to him. Notwithstanding that the army of the 
 Cumberland had been reinforced by the Eleventh and Twelfth 
 Corps, under Hooker, and also that Sherman was marching from 
 Memphis to strengthen Grant further, Bragg came to the con- 
 clusion that he would be able to cope with them all even after 
 detaching Longstreet's divisions and sending them to oust Burn- 
 side from East Tennessee. Burnside's troops were then ranged 
 along the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad ; the left 
 of the line being at Morristown, while the right extended south as 
 far as Loudon. Here the railroad crossed the Tennessee river, 
 about thirty-five miles southwest of Knoxville. 
 
 Grant on learning of Longstreet's departure telegraphed to 
 Burnside that he would endeavor to create a diversion in his favor 
 by engaging Bragg on November 12th. To this Burnside replied 
 that he was getting ready to hold Longstreet, if possible, in his 
 front until the Army of the Cumberland and its auxiliaries were 
 in a position to strike. 
 
 Longstreet's movements proved more rapid than was expected, 
 apparently. On November 13th the outposts at Loudon were 
 attacked, causing some losses on both sides. Thereupon Burnside 
 telegraphed Grant that his flank was turned and that he would 
 concentrate his forces and fall back on Knoxville. With the com- 
 paratively small army that he had he could not hope to do any 
 more in an open field struggle than to hold his opponent in check 
 long enough to enable him to strengthen his base at Knoxville, 
 and his plans were made accordingly. 
 
 Longstreet, continuing his advance, tried to cross the river at 
 Hough's Ferry, but met with a spirited resistance from General 
 White's Division of the Twenty-third Corps. Just prior to that 
 time it became known through prisoners that Longstreet was close 
 to our front ; that he was determined on cleaning us out of Ten- 
 nessee ; and that as the Union troops then at Chattanooga had 
 been so signally whipped at Chickamauga on September 19th, we 
 could not hope for early relief from that direction. Our fate 
 seemed to be sealed according to this dire prophecy. We had, 
 
44 
 
 however, met Longstreet's men before and knew them to be '"' foe- 
 men worthy of our steel," but with the confidence that we had in 
 General Burnside the outlook did not disconcert us too much. 
 
 Burnside's retreat to Knoxville was made in good order. Firing 
 heard in the direction of our right flank the morning of the 16th 
 indicated that the Confederates were on the Kingston road, 
 endeavoring to reach Cross Eoads, at Campbell's Station, which 
 was directly in front of us ; this to intercept our march to Knox- 
 ville; but we had the inside track; the Second Division of the 
 corps, under Colonel Hartranft, arrived at the Cross Roads first 
 and deployed across the Kingston road, over which the main body 
 of our army was advancing. The artillery moved rapidly to the 
 high ground east of the station. The Highlanders were placed in 
 support of Benjamin's Battery of twenty-pounders. From this 
 point we had a clear view of the entire field, giving us an oppor- 
 tunity of witnessing the battle at Campbell's Station. This was 
 a stubborn contest, and though having inferior numbers the lines 
 of the Union troops were not broken. Longstreet says in his 
 report of this battle : 
 
 " If General Jenkins could have made his attack * * • or if he 
 could have made it after the enemy had taken his second position, we 
 must have destroyed his forces, recovered East Tennessee, and, in all 
 probability, captured the greater portion of the enemy's forces." 
 
 But Burnside concluded that better results would be obtained 
 by falling back on Knoxville. 
 
 The Federal troops reached Knoxville on I^ovember I7th. The 
 principal defensive construction there was a fort half a mile west 
 of the city, as it was then, and near the Kingston turnpike. (The 
 site of the monument erected to the Highlanders is near that 
 point.) Work on the fort had been begun by the Confederates, 
 who gave it the name of Fort Loudon. But little progress had 
 been made toward its completion until it became evident that a 
 retreat from Lenoir was inevitable. Then Captain O. M. Poe, 
 later a prominent officer in the engineer corps of the regular army, 
 took prompt measures to have it properly strengthened. He 
 employed a large force of laborers on it day and night. When 
 the troops arrived, Lieutenant S. N. Benjamin, specially charged 
 with the defense of the fort, made the request that the High- 
 landers be assigned to duty as its regular garrison. 
 
45 
 
 When we entered Fort Sanders an engagement was already in 
 progress, at a point about a mile from the Kingston road, between 
 the Confederate advance, under General McLaws, and the Federal 
 cavalry, aided by mounted infantry, under General W. P. Sanders. 
 The latter had been ordered to hold McLaws' men in check as long 
 as possible, in order that the rest of the troops might be placed 
 in good positions on their arrival. He held his assailants at bay 
 for several hours, but by dint of numbers was gradually forced to 
 give way. The Confederates came within short range of the shells 
 hurled from our twenty-pounders. Then came a lull in the fight- 
 ing. It was renewed in the afternoon; the combat was plainly 
 seen from the fort and we watched it with an interest that goes 
 without saying. Benjamin's guns sent several shells into the 
 Confederate lines. So close were the combatants to each other that 
 our men were in as great danger from our own bursting shells as 
 their opponents, and hence Benjamin's firing was discontinued. 
 
 General Burnside observed this episode from the parapet of the 
 fort, encouraging us and exhorting us " to keep cool, fire low and 
 be sure to hit something every time." The Confederates contented 
 themselves with driving Sanders back and occupying the crest of 
 the hill. 
 
 In this affair, which took place on the 18th, General Sanders 
 was mortally wounded, and breathed his last a day or two after. 
 As in the case of the bridge defended by Burnside at Antietam, 
 the fort has been called after him ever since. He was a native of 
 Kentucky and a graduate of West Point. He had also distin- 
 guished himself on Eastern battle ground. 
 
 Just before dark it was observed that the ground to the north- 
 west of the fort, distant about a mile, was also occupied by the 
 Confederates, so our pickets were established on the north and 
 west, some four hundred yards off, and about the same distance 
 from Longstreet's men. Thus ended the first day of the siege. 
 
 There was a wire entanglement in front of Fort Sanders, put 
 there by orders from Benjamin; the wires having been strung 
 from stump to stump, in order to obstruct any advance on the part 
 of the Confederates. The only portions of the fort at all in a 
 defensive position when we entered it were the west and part of 
 the north fronts, and even there no embrasures had been cut. 
 
46 
 
 On the second day of the siege, l^ovember 19th, the garrison was 
 awakened early, and it was found that the pickets were already 
 exchanging shots. By noon the bullets were flying at a lively 
 rate — some of them across the fort. Meantime, " Old Glory " 
 was flung over it, to the accompaniment of hearty cheers. The 
 other side responded with artillery, but it did no damage. 
 
 The Confederates advanced their picket line the third day, with 
 the result that the lead was whizzing past the fort with ominous 
 frequency, causing our boys to do some quick ducking and dodging, 
 and this action on their part did not escape comment and criticism. 
 Only quarter rations were issued on the fourth day, and of coffee 
 we got none at all. The fifth day two of the picket relief were 
 wounded; it was now deemed best to change the pickets under 
 cover of darkness. The reliefs were made up at roll call, which 
 was required to be had at five o'clock each morning. The evening 
 of the sixth day one of the cooks was killed while carrying rations 
 to the troops. At nine o'clock the pickets of the Second Division, 
 some distance to our right, were attacked and driven in. Follow- 
 ing this there was an impression among us that a general attack 
 was contemplated. 
 
 On the seventh day, as one of the men was lighting his pipe, 
 just after completing his frugal meal, a minnie bullet struck him 
 on the back of the neck. He fell forward, dead, as it was feared. 
 Almost immediately, however, he picked himself up and quietly 
 spat out blood in his hand, and the bullet with it. Examination 
 showed that he was severely injured; but he recovered sufficiently, 
 after a while, to be able to go back to New York. He settled down 
 in Maryland finally and prospered there. 
 
 On the eighth day those on the right of the pickets discovered 
 that our opponents' lines had again been considerably advanced. 
 There was therefore no longer any chafing between the rival 
 pickets, as previously; each side now realized that the situation 
 had grown too serious for anything else but strenuous warfare. 
 Three more of our men were wounded in the fort, among them 
 Lieutenant Charles Watson. The moon that night was full and 
 the night beautifully clear. As we lay wrapped in our overcoats 
 and blankets, listening and on the lookout for the least movement, 
 we could hear, occasionally, pickaxes sounding in the unfriendly 
 quarters. These sounds banished all sentimental thouijhts from 
 
47 
 
 our minds; instead of indulging in reveries of home and friends 
 we were contemplating the stern realities that confronted us. It 
 was cold, too, fires being interdicted — even the lighting of a 
 match was not allowed. The continuance of the digging as it 
 reached our ears warned us in no uncertain tones that the climax 
 was not far ofi'. The settlement of the grave question, whether the 
 besieged or the besiegers were to spend the winter in Knoxville 
 was, we thought, to be finally decided. 
 
 The ninth day we heard rumors to the eftect that Bragg's army 
 was defeated at Chattanooga. We all felt hopeful enough at this 
 time, and were disposed to look on the bright side of affairs ; not 
 wishing to borrow any fancied trouble, as we knew that there was 
 enough of the actual around us and before us. 
 
 The morning of the tenth day opened clear. One of the holes 
 dug in front of the fort was occupied by two of our boys, and so 
 as to break the monotony of the hour they started to do a little 
 sportive shooting. This incident has been told as follows : " Camp- 
 bell held up his cap on his ramrod, while I had my gun leveled 
 ready to fire; the Confederate gun and my own spoke almost 
 simultaneously, and Campbell exclaimed, 'D — n it, I'm hit.' The 
 other marksman was sharp, and had aimed two feet or more below 
 the cap. A slight flesh wound in the arm was the result, and as it 
 would have been sure death to have tried gaining the fort before 
 darkness set in the wound was dressed with a little water from the 
 canteens and a handkerchief tied about his arm." About eight 
 o'clock in the morning we heard loud cheering and band music. 
 Following this our neighbors hailed us with the question, " How 
 are you Vicksburg ? " to which we replied, " You hain't got use yet ; 
 a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Some artillery 
 firing was also directed our way, but at midnight all was quiet. 
 We were told subsequently that the cheering and rejoicing beyond 
 arose from news reaching them that Bragg had beaten Grant. 
 Further reinforcements that they had just got helped to assure 
 and encourage them still more. 
 
 The eleventh day was ushered in with rain and a fall in the 
 temperature. Ice had also formed during the night. This time, 
 too, the mud in the fort was nowhere less than six inches deep. 
 Some grumbling was heard, but to offset this a light-hearted fellow 
 would cry out, " We're happy because it can't last," and " Why 
 
48 
 
 it's all in the three years, boys." That afternoon the boys opposite 
 were observed moving large bodies of troops toward our right, so 
 an assault was not unexpected; but night closed in without any 
 further demonstrations. A general alarm was sounded at eleven 
 o'clock: "Fall in, boys! They're coming. Every man to his 
 post." N^ot very much excitement was felt, but a grim determina- 
 tion to do all that was possible was apparent all around. Our bat- 
 teries sent off a few shots, and there being no response the firing 
 ceased. The pickets had been driven in and were now close to the 
 ditch of the fort. It was evident that daylight would witness hot 
 work. 
 
 Lieutenant Benjamin had caused to be prepared a number of 
 twenty-pounder shells for the expected attack; the fuses for these 
 had been cut at twenty seconds. These shells had been laid in 
 rows on the banquette tread at various points on the west and 
 north of the fort, ready for instant use, and well knowing the 
 danger which lurked in them we often wished the " darned things " 
 were somewhere else. Observations made from the breastworks 
 during the night revealed nothing in particular. 
 
 We remained under arms all night a-nd care was taken that 
 abundance of ammunition should be readily available. All spare 
 rifles were loaded and placed in convenient places, nearly all of 
 them being double shotted, as were also the twelve-pounder 
 howitzers with grape or canister ; while " number four " stood with 
 lanyard in hand ready to fire. Thus it was that the last night 
 was passed. 
 
 On November 29th, as darkness gave way to the gray dawn that 
 ushered in the last day of the atta<'ks on the fort, ominous sounds 
 and lively movements indicated unmistakably that there was 
 something much out of the ordinary in store for us. A gun was 
 fired from the battery near the Armstrong House, used as Long- 
 street's headquarters; this turned out to be a signal gun, for 
 immediately after their whole line of artillery was let loose. Dur- 
 ing a space of a few minutes we witnessed a very extraordinary 
 display of skyrockets. Our experience of two years and a half 
 had convinced us that the danger in shells was not always in 
 keeping with the thunder that accompanies them; and we also 
 knew that their infantry could not advance as long as the cannonad- 
 ing continued. The shrieks of those murderous missiles were well 
 
49 
 
 calculated, however, to shake the morale of men less accustomed 
 to such echoing. At length the big guns stopped their uproar, and 
 we realized that it behooved us to be on the qui vive, " Now, boys, 
 look sharp!" The long line of our opponents in gray was seen 
 coming steadily and formidably toward us. Yells coming from 
 them and the rattle of their musketry broke upon our ears. One 
 glance was enough to show that the northwest bastion was the 
 point to which they intended giving first attention. 
 
 'Not a shot was fired from the fort until McLaws' braves were 
 within fifty yards of the muzzles of our pieces ; then the artillery, 
 depressed to the lowest point, began hurling double and triple 
 charges at them. At the same time, also, some of our men began 
 firing over the cotton bales on top of the parapet ; others through 
 the embrasures, while at the flank a destructive fire was aimed 
 from the rifles of the Highlanders, as well as by the Second Michi- 
 gan and part of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts, which, having 
 been moved to the north front of the fort adjoined us on the right, 
 enabling them to sweep the ditch. 
 
 The excitement was extreme, but all buckled down to their work 
 and encouraged each other by shouting, " Give it to them, boys ! 
 Remember Vicksburg! Remember James Island! " Those were 
 battles in which the conditions were reversed ; we were then on the 
 outside and our opponents on the inside- 
 Hoping to escape the destructive fire, many of McLaws' men 
 rushed into the ditch, l^ow was Benjamin's opportunity. He 
 gave orders to have the twenty-pounder shells ignited ; they were 
 rolled down among the struggling mass beneath, causing fearful 
 havoc. At length the Confederate fire slackened and we could see 
 many of our assailants hurrying to the rear. Cheering heard from 
 our quarters was answered instantly by a chorus of yells from a 
 fresh column, who, nothing daunted by the repulse of the first line, 
 crowded up to the assault. 
 
 Many got caught in the wires, thus breaking their lines ; others 
 fell to rise no more; but the rush onward continued notwith- 
 standing. The assaulting party is now sending a rain of bullets 
 through the embrasures and along the edge of the parapets. But 
 the lire from withiii is as incessant and destructive as before. The 
 gallant men in gray crowded up to the ditch, as their firgt iiiis had 
 dope, but tbe^j too, were mowed down. Bhella w^re buriiting in 
 
50 
 
 the ditch, literally tearing the poor fellows to pieces. A loud yell 
 came from the angle of the bastion, where we saw a Confederate 
 flag rising above the exterior crest, and soon after appeared the 
 head and shoulders of the bearer. Brave fellow! But his last 
 moment had come, for rifles were pointed at him, and with the 
 flag clutched in his hands, he rolled to the bottom of the ditch 
 pierced with bullets. The feat he so daringly attempted was 
 heroic in the extreme. 
 
 Another hero tried the same desperate feat, but with the same 
 result. Still others crowded on. They formed a temporary bridge 
 over the ditch, and made determined efforts to scale the parapet. 
 At one point, two of McLaws' boys appeared within a yard of one 
 of our sergeants, who, in the excitement of the moment, discharged 
 his piece without withdrawing the ramrod. Unable to reload, he 
 clubbed his rifle and flung it at them, but it did no damage. The 
 next instant he seized an axe and knocked one of them down, the 
 other falling at the same time pierced by a bullet. 
 
 Once more the firing lessened, and then a few of our men 
 sprang to the angle of the parapet, capturing a Confederate flag, 
 which a few brave fellows still persisted in planting on the fort. 
 Some further spasmodic efforts, and the Confederate fire was 
 stopped for good and all ; then we observed them on the run and 
 the command was given us to discontinue shooting. 
 
 We shouted to those within range of our voices to surrender, 
 and they entered the fort by way of the embrasures. 
 
 The sun had not yet risen above the horizon, and yet how much 
 of noble effort and vain sacrifice had been crowded into that early 
 Sabbath morning. Parts of eleven brigades — the flower of 
 Longstreet's army — had been hurled against a handful of men, 
 not over 300, with the knowledge that that point of attack was the 
 key to Knoxville, and that therefore, at whatever cost, it must be 
 captured. In the endeavor to accomplish this, exceptional bravery 
 and perseverance were displayed. Failure was certainly not due 
 to any lack of courage and determination. 
 
 The casualties suffered by the Confederates, as given in their 
 o^ial retunjg, were 120 killed, 468 wpypde4, with 026 pylwnprs 
 1^ malting m Bggregatn of 813, 
 
51 
 
 Benjamin, in a letter dated April 17, 1886, and written a few 
 days before he died, said : 
 
 " About 250 muskets were in the fort and about 80 artillery men in and 
 immediately by it — not over 300 men, inclusive of officers. In the 
 actual assault but seven men were killed at the fort and eight wounded. 
 During the cannonading and in the assault some thirty more were killed 
 and wounded in the immediate neighborhood of the fort." 
 
 The conibntants at Fort Sanders had tested each others mettle 
 previously — at the two Bull Run engagements and at South 
 Mountain and Antietam. 
 
 General McLaws' order of assault was as follows : 
 
 " Wofford's Georgia and Humphrey's Mississippi Brigade, followed 
 closely by three regiments of Bryan's Brigade, to be formed for the attack 
 in columns of regiments; the assault to be made with fixed bayonets and 
 without firing guns; should be made against the northwest angle of 
 Fort Loudon, or Sanders. The men should be urged to the work with a 
 determination to svicceed and should rush to it without hallooing." 
 
 On Tuesday, December 1, 18G3, the news of Grant's victory at 
 Chattanooga was embodied in a congratulatory address by General 
 Burnside upon our recent victory ; and at the same time it was 
 announced that relief troops, under Sherman, were on their way. 
 These tidings put us in the highest spirits. 
 
 Early on the morning of December 5th our pickets discovered 
 Longstreet's men in the act of withdrawing. On our skirmish 
 line advancing, about seven o'clock, it was found that his troops 
 
 " Had folded their tents like the Arabs, 
 And silently stolen away." 
 
 On January 28, 1864, Congress passed a resolution, approved 
 by the President, that the thanks of Congress be tendered to Major 
 General Ambrose E. Burnside, and through him to the officers and 
 men in his command, for their gallantry, good conduct and soldier- 
 like endurance. 
 
 Longstreet's departure did not by any means put an end to 
 pur hardships and privations at that period. Not even half rations 
 were yet obtainflble; and the section between Kno^ville and the 
 Virginia border, traverged m it bad been from time to time by 
 both eoiitaRding nmi&^i wm P^thfpg but plentiful in |op4 
 gupplleg* 
 
"' ' - - - ^2 
 
 It became apparent that Longstreet intended wintering in East 
 Tennessee. His retreat was only continued far enough up the 
 valleys of the Holston and Broad Run to afford him protection 
 from a flank attack from the direction of Cumberland Gap. His 
 army, as well as Burnside's, was kept constantly on the move; 
 neither of them yet able to say where they were to pass the cold 
 months. Small foraging parties were busy night and day; but 
 the natives were in the same plight for edibles as the soldiers. 
 
 When we tried to purchase anything the almost invariable 
 response was, " Got nothing ourselves, sir. The rebels cleaned us 
 all out ; haven't got a good meal in weeks ; stock all drawn off and 
 barns empty, even to the cornstalks." 
 
 What with extremely cold weather, scarcity of food and almost 
 impassable roads, the troops had much to contend against that 
 winter in East Tennessee; and these conditions were but little 
 allayed until their departure in the end of March. 
 
 When it was revealed to us that we were to be transferred from 
 Tennessee, our commander. Colonel Morrison, detailed some of 
 us for taking the remains of our fallen comrades to the Soldiers' 
 Cemetery at Knoxville. Those of our regiment who were in the 
 stone cutting business had tablets prepared for the graves, giving 
 the names of the soldiers interred there, the companies to which 
 they belonged and the cause of their death. A memorial was also 
 erected in the center of the plot, on which was inscribed the coat 
 of arms of the State of New York, together with the following 
 lines, written by Chaplain Crammond Kennedy : 
 
 Their country's soldiers — living, this simple story, 
 But dead, her best defense, and her undying glory. 
 
 By all the thousands that have died for thee, 
 O loved Republic, be thou just and free. 
 
 Our expedition in Tennessee came to a close on March 21, 1864, 
 when we began the first lap of a sojourn back to Virginia. The 
 knapsacks and baggage were sent north by v/ay of Chattanooga. 
 We began recrossijig the mountains in light marching order, and 
 continued our course via Jacksboro, thence to Walter's Gap and 
 then along the Elk Ridge road, or trail, as it might be more 
 properly nfilU(\. U^rp H w^s founci jtiGceggarj in requisition pftelf 
 
53 
 
 nmies for carrying the supplies, and with all their niinbleness they 
 had much ado overcoming the obstacles in the trail. On the morn- 
 ing of the 27th we were at Point Isabelle ; Cuba was reached the 
 next day and Hall's Gap on the 29th. We were now out of the 
 wilderness and in delightful surroundings, with the blue grass 
 region of Kentucky not far away. 
 
 We arrived at Nicholasville on the 1st of April. Proceeding by 
 train, Cincinnati was reached at midnight. And now for an 
 excursion over God's country. By the 9th of April we were in 
 Baltimore, from whence, with but little delay, we left for Annap- 
 olis. There the night was spent in the train. We remained 
 encamped at Annapolis until the 23d. Then to Washington, where 
 we had the honor of being welcomed by President Lincoln as he 
 stood at Willard's Hotel. We marched under orders across the 
 Potomac on April 27th, with the rest of the Ninth Corps, and 
 continued southward over the Fairfax Court House road. Passing 
 through Centerville and Manassas Junction, we bivouacked near 
 Bristoe Station. 
 
 The Highlanders took part in the Eastern hostilities that were 
 resumed at the Wilderness on May 5, 1864. During the three 
 days that this conflict raged our position was changed several times. 
 On the night of the 7th the regiment was pushed forward to help 
 ccfver the withdrawal of troops employed to carry out the plans 
 that Grant had formulated when he decided to make a flank move- 
 ment in the direction of Spotsylvania Court House. This assign- 
 ment we found a trying one. So near were we at times to the 
 Southern boys that we could hear them talking, which gave us 
 the impression every now and then that they were getting ready 
 to pounce on us. We were withdrawn from this position toward 
 morning. Our next job was to assist in bringing up the rear of 
 the movemxcnt. 
 
 Three days more, and the term of three years for which our 
 regiment was enlisted would have expired. We had been antioi' 
 pating with much pleasure an early return home ; but some of our 
 boys were doomed to be sadly disappointed in this. On May 9tl^, 
 at Spotsylvania, we were hotly engaged again. In a brilliant 
 charge made there, which compelled the Confederates to reel back, 
 three q| the Highlanders were killed and eleyen of them wounded. 
 Both color bearers Also suffered severely, ^nd our commander, 
 Ooloijel Moyi'ison, bad Ws )md ghattorei 
 
54; 
 
 While in line of battle on the 12th, still determined to do their 
 full share of duty, the Highlanders were withdrawn from the 
 front, by order of Burnside, and assigned to provost guard service. 
 Their three-year term expired the following day ; when they began 
 a march to Fredericksburg, and from thence to Belle Plain, con- 
 tinuing by boat to Washington. Here we entrained for i^Tew York 
 city, which was reached on the 18th, when we were taken in charge 
 by the city authorities and conducted to Jefferson Market armory. 
 
 The final muster out of the original members was observed on 
 May 31st, so we were able henceforth to devote ourselves to much 
 needed, and, as we thought, well deserved rest and recreation. 
 
 Those whose term of service had not yet run its course were 
 conducted, in charge of Captain Henry G. Heffron and Captain 
 Andrew D. Baird, to the general rendezvous at Randalls Island ; 
 and on -Tune 8, 1864, they left for the front once more. 
 
 By means of active recruiting, in which Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Samuel M. Elliott exerted himself energetically, this detachment 
 succeeded in securing three full companies ; Captain Heffron hav- 
 ing been promoted in the meantime to the rank of lieutenant- 
 colonel and Captain Baird to that of major and brevet lieutenant- 
 colonel. 
 
 Colonel Heffron had been detailed for duty on the staff of the 
 general commanding and filled the position of provost marshal 
 much of the time since he succeeded Colonel Morrison. The 
 immediate command of the regiment thus devolved on Colonel 
 Baird, and he served in that capacity during the final attack on 
 Petersburg, which practically closed the civil conflict. 
 
 The Highlanders took part in forty battles and actions, their 
 total of casualties being 558. 
 
 Of the 2,037 who enlisted in the Highland Regiment there 
 are at present (September 23, 1918) but twenty-seven survivors, 
 as shown by the roster of the veteran association kept by its secre- 
 tary, Joseph Stewart. These include six officers (perhaps seven). 
 In the natural course of events this small remnant will ere long 
 more have crossed the " great divide ;" but the official records 
 will always testify that in the most trying years of the nation's 
 history the Highlanders, true to the traditions of their raoe, did 
 their ibare of duty, mi eBtablisbed ft reputation of y^Wh tbeir 
 4ei0e»d^nti will have reason to be proud* 
 
55 
 
 SuEvivixXG Members of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders 
 Veteran Association 
 
 Andrew D, Baird 
 John Muir 
 Joseph Stewart 
 William H. Adarin 
 Robert Armour 
 Henry Babeuf 
 Edward Brice 
 John W. Berry 
 Henry F. Bloomfield 
 Frank M. Chamberlin 
 William H. Conley 
 E. B. Demarest 
 David G. Falconer 
 
 Robert Gair 
 Joseph Gildersleeve 
 William Gray 
 Charles Harrington 
 Thomas Harrison 
 Jeremiah Haley 
 Henry G. Heffron 
 George Harrison 
 Charles E. Locke 
 John Muir 
 Francis Ritchie 
 George W. Ryerson 
 John Wilson 
 
 Hugh Young 
 
56 
 
 "At Fort Sanders," by James Kennedy, of New York. 
 
 The Holstein River flows serene 
 
 By banks enwreathed in gold and green; 
 
 The opal sky of Tennessee 
 
 Spreads spotless as an amber sea, 
 
 And nature's face and form and look 
 
 Familiar as an open book. 
 
 But where are they who face to face 
 
 Fought bravely on this hallowed place? 
 
 A remnant of the long ago, 
 
 With feeble steps and locks of snow, 
 
 With all our ancient strife forgot 
 
 Are come to mark this sacred spot. 
 
 Though hate is hot it will not stay, 
 
 We fiercely fought but for a day, 
 
 While through the long years o'er and o'er 
 
 We learned to love you more and more 
 
 Until this crowning, glad event — 
 
 This noble marble monument — 
 
 Is proof that though we dwell apart 
 
 Remembrance in the Southern heart 
 
 Has blossomed in this happy hour 
 
 Luxurious as the aloe's flower. 
 
 Nor time, nor dull decay, shall mar, 
 
 But changeless as the polar star. 
 
 Through darksome days and doubtful nights 
 
 Our land has reached serener heights. 
 
 Our faith, the warring world shall learn, 
 
 And earth's embattled hosts discern, 
 
 That through the furnace fires of strife 
 
 The future leads to nobler life ; 
 
 And battle-furrowed fields become 
 
 As shrines where ancient hate is dumb — 
 
 As pathways to the wise and good 
 
 That lead to human brotherhood — 
 
 As voices that prophetic tell 
 
 Of Peace on Earth and All is Well! 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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