William Nicholson to his Aunt - February 20, 1863

To Mrs. Henry Crocheron,
Bastrop, Texas.

Camps near Lewisburg, Tenn.
Feb. 20, 1863.

My Dear Aunt—

In your letters you express considerable fear that I am ill provided with comfortable clothing. You may dispense with all your fears on that score, for I am as comfortably clothed as I could possibly wish. On my trip to Ft. Donelson (which I must describe in my letter)( I was dressed as follows: 4 thick shirts, one pr. drawers, two pr. pants, 2 pr. socks, on heavy jeans jacket, one heavy jeans over coat and 1 pr. of gloves and one pr. of boots and one hat—now don't you think that enough to keep oneself comfortable in most any kind of weather. The weather was extremely cold for a heavy snow fell immediately after we left Shelbyville until we got to Columbia on our way back. Night before last I rec'd that small bundle of clothing which you sent me. They were all safe. You need put yourself to no further trouble or anxiety about my welfare this winter, but if the war continues and you have an opportunity of sending summer clothing, you may do so, though I will not need them particularly unless I should be so unfortunate as to lose what I already have which you know there is always great danger of.

I shall now proceed to give a short description of our expedition to Fort Donelson, we started from Shelbyville about the 27th last month under the command of Gen. Wheeler. I do not know the precise number of men in the command. You will probably see that in the official reports in the newspapers. We passed through Triune, thence to Franklin where we stayed a day and a half. We could not move very fast on account of the extremely long columns of Calvalry we had and the several batteries which cut up the roads so as to make them next to impassable. We had to ford a river at Franklin which was nearly swimming. We then went to Charlotte and from there proceeded through a poor and barren country to the Fort. On approaching that hallowed ground made so by the blood of so many of our brave troops but a short year ago, we heard various reports of the strength of the enemy, none of them exceeding 1200 and many of them falling far short of that number, although greatly outnumbering them. Each one of us felt a dread in making the attack probably from a painful knowledge of what had once transpired there from the bold and defiant advantages which present themselves in favor of the enemy or possibly from the appearance of the few standing trees around the Fort which were scarred and marked by the thick hail of shot and shell. I do not remember the exact time the attack was made, though not far from 12 o'clock which continued without intermission of either small arms or artillery until after night, as the moon was shining very bright and the ground covered with snow it was nearly as light as day. We had succeeded in driving the enemy from their rifle pits and fortifications and forced them to seek protection in the houses of the little town there on the bank of the river with this advantage they succeeded in holding us in check until the arrival of several gunboats which opened on our men with their tremendous guns and succeeded in driving us back. We since heard that the place was evacuated by the enemy under cover of their boats that very night.

Our regiment was not in the engagement, it having been sent some three or four miles down on the Fort Henry road to guard against reinforcements or attack from that quarter. We were not molested on that road until night except the capturing of four couriers who were making their way to Ft. Henry with dispatches informing the commander of that post that the "Rebels were advancing on all sides with a large force of cavalry". They came up a by-path rather unexpectedly and fired on a few of company K who were engaged in making a fire, but two or three of the boys jumped on their horses and soon overtook them and brought them back. Not long after night our pickets towards Ft. H. had the opportunity of firing into the head of a column of the enemy's cavalry, doing no other damage than the killing of one of their horses. A small party followed them a short distance when we learned from a citizen that they had infantry in their rear. We concluded it would not be exactly safe in following them and returned to our former post. And they not knowing our force and situation did not molest us any more. We shortly afterwards rec'd orders to fall back and join the command, which we did but not without hearing some bombs from the gun-boats pass over our column. We all camped the remainder of the night about three miles from the Ft. on our road back. The correct number we lost I do not know—some reports say two hundred. Company B was in the fight, it being detached from the regiment to support one of the batteries.

There were a few rangers in that Co. and in the Battery that were killed and wounded, but none of our acquaintances. On our way back from the Ft. we came straight to Columbia where we camped (about 6 miles from town) several days. I did not go to see Mr. Damewood's family who lived about 9 or 10 miles from our camp on the opposite side of Duck River. You can tell Pa that Capt. Kyle would not give me permission or I should certainly have gone.

From Columbia we came direct to this place where our waggons came to us. I have no idea how long we will remain here. I am expecting another large scout is on hand as part of Van Dorn's cavalry is certainly here, for I saw a member of it the other day. He said that 4 brigades to his certain knowledge crossed the Tenn. river just below the Muscle Shoals and are now in this country.

In my last letter home I gave a list of the accidents which happened to our company in the fight at M. Wayne Hamilton died in Ringgold, Ga. from his wound or in fact from inattention in the hospital. We all mourned his death very much as he was greatly beloved by all who knew him. The others that were wounded have returned to camps. Jo Ford who was taken prisoner made his escape and is now with us. He came through Lebanon. He saw Robt. Shipp in the hands of the enemy. We have heard nothing of John Hill.

Prospects for peace are very cheering at present. If all we hear from the Northwest is true. You seem to have some apprehensions of the invasion of Texas this winter. I do not think there is much danger for the Federals cannot spare the force.

Your affectionate Nephew,
W. Nicholson.

Jones, Margaret Belle, ed. Bastrop; a compilation of material relating to the history of the town of Bastrop, with letters written by Terry Rangers. Bastrop: NP. 1936.

 

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