Claiborne's History of Terry's Texas Rangers (Part 8)

A Confederate Cavalry Regiment Engaged in the Unfortunate War Between the States
NEW BIRMINGHAM TIMES, April 9, 1892

continued from last issue

The charge led by Capt. Matthews at the battle of Bentonville saved a great many lives, but prolonged the life of the Confederacy for a little over thirty days. Had Matthews not made the charge the surrender of the army or a desperate conflict would have taken place, with all the advantages in favor of the Federal army. The thirty-seven days were spent in picket duty, and three or four skirmishes, the last severe, and occurred at Durham Station, North Carolina. In a day or two General Johnston went to Hillsboro, N. C., (the Rangers being in camp at Greensboro) to make formal surrender, and the Rangers divided up in squads and left for the purpose of joining Gen. Forrest then at Selma, Ala., some of them stopping at Charlotte with Gen. Dibrell and some with Gen. Duke, and a few were with Mr. Davis at Washington, Ga., and it is understood that three of them went with Mr. Breckenridge and saw him safely on a schooner on the Florida coast, Forrest having determined to maintain and obey the conditions made by Gen. Johnston advised those of us who called upon him to go home and make good citizens. The Rangers had been in the service just forty-two months and seven days, they had traveled over 13,000 miles, or more than 10 miles for each day in service, and during the time fought the fights heretofore enumerated. No other command can half match it, either in the Army of Virginia or the Army of Tennessee, and without parallel in any of the great wars of the world.

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, after returning from his capitulation to Sherman, issued the usual general order, that the men should return home together with the stereotyped hope expressed, etc., etc., but it never was read to the Rangers as they had left Wheeler's farewell, having first reached the command.

This was simply a general order thanking the cavalry corps for their kindness to him and complimenting them on their great ability as soldiers, and did not refer to Harrison's brigade any more than to any of the others and is no part of the history of the Rangers.

[NOTE--The compiler does not desire to do an injustice to any one, and much less to the gallant Fourth Tennessee and their two gallant leaders, Col. Smith commanding brigade and his adjutant, Capt. George B. Guild. They each have said in a speech to their regiment twelve years ago that the Bentonville charge was led by them, and with the Eighth Texas, or Rangers, participated in that affair. They have said it and I do not intend to dispute it. Col. Smith says the Rangers went to the right while the Fourth Tennessee went to the left and the leader of the Rangers Capt. Matthews, Capt. Friend or myself may not in making our statement know it, as we certainly did not, but we do know that they were capable of doing anything that any other soldier would do of a like character. In fact, on the day of the surrender, there was not a man in Harrison's brigade that was not a daring gallant man. The men that were brigaded with the Rangers rapidly, gathered their mode both in battle and camp life, they kept their arms in order their horses in condition and armed themselves by trappings as near like the Rangers as possible, established saddle shops, got patterns of Texas saddles, had bridles and spurs made as the Rangers had them, and in the final wind up no difference could be seen except, perhaps, as to horsemanship, and this not to any perceptible extent.]

There has been an impression that the Rangers and Wheeler's cavalry generally were detested and feared by the people of Georgia and Alabama. Why such an impression became prevalent cannot be imagined, and especially as regards the Rangers (in fact Harrison's brigade). In raiding in these states, and in the general engagements, many were wounded, and it is a most singular fact that very few Rangers ever went into a hospital, notwithstanding that Dr. L. A. Bryan of Huston, Texas, had a general hospital for Texans, and notwithstanding Dr. R. F. Bunting was with Dr. Bryan, only one Ranger was in that hospital at the close of the war, and the reason was that they all had friends among the people who gave them care and attention, and while all were kind, it seems unjust to make any distinction. But I must depart form the usual course pursued in getting up the history of the Rangers in the instance of Col. Jno. G. Walker of Madison, Ga. I do this from the fact that the writer was twice taken care of while wounded by this good man [three or four illegible words]and most excellent wife, who was the sister of the immortal Fannin, who was murdered at Goliad fighting for the independence of Texas. The house of these generous people was the rendezvous of Texas Rangers from the beginning to the close of the war, and during all that time never was without two to twenty Texans suffering with wounds. The people of Alabama also took a deep interest in the Rangers, and they were the recipients of hospitalities time and again, and they will never forget their invariable kindness to them, both as Samaritans and in the many social courtesies shown them whenever they were among them, and if the attention was less and their hospitalities limited to less degree than those by the people of Tennessee, it was because of an opportunity. But when it comes to the tender care given by the women of the South, wherever found, none could excel the women of Tennessee, and those Christian and royal women knew the Rangers better than any other, because they were more often among the people of Tennessee than those of any other state, and yet no one ever heard a complaint against the Rangers because of any depredation committed or crime enacted, on the contrary these men were nightly and daily prayed for, and when they appeared were hailed and greeted as protectors and friends.

The cry against the cavalry was never justified by the facts anyway, and they were made the scapegoat by prowling bands of bushwhackers from one end of the Confederacy to the other. Men deserted and without leave left the army, went in the fastness of Tennessee and claimed to be Rangers in order to get hospitality extended; these men did commit deeds shocking in nature but these people soon found out they were not Rangers, but deserters from the army generally.

ANDERSON AND BRITTAIN.

While not of were with the Rangers in many tight places, there were several men with them of extraordinary courage and infinite tact--all of the finally going into the regular service in various capacities--some came to them as guides and some as volunteer aides on the regimental staff, two of these men I shall mention, because not only of their service with the Rangers in the regiment, but because of the fact of their having afterwards raised a company that joined a regiment that was brigaded with them until the end of the war.

Paul Anderson and Jim Brittain of Lebanon, Tenn. at the beginning of hostilities these men were citizens of Texas, they joined the Rangers, and were more than valuable as guides and scouts in the retreat from Kentucky in January 1862, always in front, always true. Together they raised a company of Tennesseans called the "Cedar Snaggs," Lebanon being in a cedar brake--Anderson was selected as captain and Brittain lieutenant, they were assigned to the Fourth Tennessee regiment, better known as "Paul's People," soon Anderson was elected lieutenant-colonel of the regiment and Brittain captain of the Snaggs. Col. Baxter Smith, the colonel, was captured soon after being brigaded with the Rangers and Col. Anderson had the command to within a few days of the battle of Bentonville. At that battle Gen. Harrison being wounded, Col. Smith commanded the brigade and Col. Anderson again resumed the command of his people. These two true men and soldiers lived through the war--Col. Anderson died at Helena, Ark., and Capt. Brittain at Sherman, Texas,--both of them were valuable citizens, and filled offices of trust and honor, they stand together in that better land, beyond the skies bright ornaments in that throng.

Again I deem it not out of order to say that we had a high regard for the Second Georgia, Third Arkansas and the Eleventh Texas so long brigaded with us; we had every confidence in them, and they had a high regard for the Rangers, and participated as part of the history of the Rangers. The relations between the men and their officers of the Rangers was unlike that of any other regiment in the army. The love and respect for each other was cordial and mutual, especially with the men and their line officers, each and all seeming to have confidence in the other. Except in rare instances no discipline was demanded; it appeared unnecessary, for each man seemed to understand that in order to be successful he must do his duty and obey orders, the officers never gave an unnecessary order, or a foolish one, therefore all orders were obeyed. I presume it an unusual occurrence for a field officer to refuse to obey the orders of a general officer in the heat of battle, but this was done on more than once occasion, and instead of having charges preferred for disobeyal, the general officer knowing he was in error afterwards thanked the line officer for keeping them out of a pocket. Around the campfire and about company and even regimental headquarters men and officers discussed the feasibility of a contemplated move, and the probability or the possibility of success, and as often as otherwise the opinions of the men prevailed over those of the officers, there was absolutely no fear of an officer, but absolute respect for [torn] qualities, or high regard as [torn] man governed.

This confidence among them [torn] posed to be the reason for so few desertions, there were very few absent at any time, and of all that ever were absent without leave, we cannot conclude that more than three went to the enemy, if even these did, these may have been killed, at any rate they have never been heard of since they went away.

The record in this respect is strange if not wonderful. They were a long way from home and their families, many of them were mere boys, and many of them with wives and little children, cut off from all communications and for months not a word from dear ones at home, and they did not know but they were in the hands of our ruthless relentless foe. To remain as they did required just such courage as they daily displayed, coupled with a philosophy of a very high order.

To show that the fierce fires of hatred did not burn in the breast of true American soldiers, during the war, nor since, I will mention some instances. I mean the American "Volunteer" soldier, or the [torn] of the Regular United States A[torn] upon the picket lines it often occurred that the vidette would call out to know what state he (the other) hailed from, finding that he was from the West and spoke the "United States language," they would enter into conversation of levity, with, repartee, etc., and often exchanged papers, tobacco for coffee, sugar for dry goods, and in many instances when in winter quarters and no active hostility, out post pickets would meet and play poker, tobacco vrs. coffee. The exchange of newspapers and reading matter was a common occurrence.

On one occasion, within my knowledge, two brothers in high rank met under a flag of truce, one yank, the other confed. They refused to speak to each other, and another officer had to be sent for, and during the interim, some hour or more, the staff of the generals spread out blankets and engaged in the old fashion game of "old sledge." Upon an occasion, while investing Knoxville, both picket lines were in pits and could not be safely relieved only at night and when a fellow went into the pit he went prepared to stay 24 hours. When the least particle of the person was exposed a shot followed--both sides becoming tired, they would have an armistice and sit up on the side of the pits until both declared the armistice off, and sing out, "Rats to your holes." The distance being 200 to 400 yards between pits. You could see the smoke of the gun and dodge down. One of the Rangers in a pit, conceived the idea of dampening a blank cartridge, and as his (pard) vis a vis, as they called each other, showed up he touched off the blank and pard quickly dropped into his hole waiting for the report. The action had been witnessed all along the pits, and there was general laughter all along the line. Yank knew he was sold and hollowed back, "Look here, Johnny Reb, just do that again and I will come over there and kick you until you bleed at the nose. You may think this is fun, but I don't. There is a time for all things but levity on the brink of the grave is out of the place. Oh, dry up Yank, didn't I make you bury your self just now, and how can you resurrect and give me any of your hypocritical cant." "All right, pard," said the yank, just wait till this cruel war is over, and I will come to your house and eat up every durned chicken you have." Oh cheese it," said Johnny. "You are feeding me on wind pudding now, and expect me to pay you in chickens; no thankee."

Thousands of incidents could be called to the memory of every old soldier. Prisoners exchanged opinions about the war, and in a thousand instances we have heard them say if no body was engaged in this war but American soldiers, it could be ended in ten days and adjusted to the satisfaction of the men in the field. The western man, in nearly every instance, putting the blame on the politician of the east and north.

And since the conclusion of the war, and at its final close, we have all the evidence that is required that the fight made on the south was to advance a certain line of political harlots of the north and east.

Had it not been for Grant, "The soldier," the agreement with Lee, "The soldier," would have been ruthlessly trodden under foot, and Jeff Davis hung by the men who never heard the whistle of a hostile bullet during the war. It will be remembered that soon after the war was over with us, we had the Negro Bureau agents all over the state. When you found one of them who had been in the field in the line, in the trenches, you found a sympathetic, obliging gentleman.

Of the carpetbaggers in this country, the only genuine settler, or who intended to make his home among us, was a soldier in the army "per se." On the contrary, when you met with a mean, trifling, low flung fellow, running about associating with negroes, hunting an office, he was a camp follower, hanger on, or occupied some bomb proof position. The native scalawag, who became intensely mad after the war closed, was the meanest of them all. They were just over the border in Mexico, and in perfect sympathy with either side until the Confederacy was crushed, then he became a patriot "abinitio," and wanted an office at once, in recognition of his great service in running cotton through the lines and thriving generally.

These were the sweet scented gourd vines that run the country until 1874, (with few honorable exceptions.) They are nearly all gone. They could no longer fool and rob the negroes, and they have almost all departed.

The feeling between the two armies, as far as composed of American citizen soldiery is concerned, is today as [torn] ever forget that America "The United States," is the common heritage of all American natives, or honestly adopted.

THE ARMS OF THE RANGERS.

The regiment furnished their own arms, and selected weapons they were most familiar with. Six-shooters were the main reliance and every member had one or two army size or navy six-shooters, a double barrel shot gun or rifle and a large knife, designated by them as Sheath knives, they were of various patterns, mostly, however, on the style of the Bowie, only larger, and were generally made of files with buck horn or sabre handles. Others had the machetto of the Mexicano, some of them costly and remarkably handsome. All but a few discarded the shotgun and rifle because of the difficulty of procuring suitable ammunition, but many held on to the double barrel shot gun, and always managed to use them with deadly effect in close quarters, but the great dependence was in the six-shooter which they managed to use with great effect in almost every engagement. Repeating rifles of various kinds were captured, and prevailed as the gun, though some of them had the Enfield and Belgium, which they cut away to a cavalry length, and used buck and ball ammunition. The Bowie knife gradually disappeared and in its place appeared the ordinary butchers knife, captured form the yankees, and only used for camp purposes. But few of the officers affected swords, and the men ignored the sabre, which they justly considered as being a perfectly useless appendage in a fight, as they repeatedly ran over Federal cavalry armed with sabres without getting a scratch, and they spoke of them in ridicule. I remember an occasion where a large number of cavalry was posted just below the brow of the hill preparing to charge with drawn sabres. The videttes discovered their intention. Some member proposed to run them away, and went to Ben Polk, bugler, and County Jones, color-bearer, and had them charge with one or two others. Polk blew the charge and as they rose the brow of the hill, and the yanks saw the colors of the regiment and heard the charge blasted, they took to their heels and the boys chased them half a mile. When they reached the main body, the boys gave a derisive laugh and returned to their regiment, and said it was a good joke on the yanks. That evening one of them was captured and he said there was enough noise to justify them in the belief that the whole of the Confederate army was on them. At any rate, a Texas Ranger had neither respect or fear of a sabre, although three or four got hacked a little by them.

Computing the artillery captured by the Rangers direct, was 69 pieces, and in small arms directly, we can get no accurate computation, bet we turned into the government about 10,000 stands. This was over and above what they personally used--a six-shooter was an understood "Langniape." Wagons and supplies that were captured cannot be ascertained, but they were very large. In money, the amount is not known, but is reached over a million, in three or four instances alone. Of the killed and wounded, no definite number can be determined on, but judging of the fights, where no one else fired a gun, and of which we have the facts of their execution, the number of killed and wounded by the Rangers would reach over 12,000, and the number of prisoners about half of the number killed and wounded. Time was always too valuable to fool away with prisoners. But in one instance during the war [torn] known that any man was killed [torn] surrendering, and that was in a[torn] desperation in the first fight engaged in, and that by a boy whose father had been killed by a man who had surrendered.

DISCIPLINE OF THE RANGERS.

Much has been said and more written in regard to the discipline of the troops of the Confederate army. I have already said that the discipline of the Rangers was not from the effect of rigorous orders, and while no troops were equal to the Rangers in discipline, it was caused by their innate sense of propriety and the knowledge that there must be a head, and the respect and confidence the line had in the rank and the admiration of the rank for the gallantry of the file. But I speak of them as volunteers. In their personal they had no equal, as innate thoroughbred, educated gentlemen, and each one in himself was a disciplinarian.

Several of those who joined them in 1862 prior to, and immediately after the battle of Shiloh church, resigned commissions held by them in the trans-Mississippi department, to join them in order that they might be in the army where war was being seen and felt. On two or three occasions the Rangers were the observers of the shooting of men for offenses, and they failed to see the justice of the proceedings from their idea of the matter, and while little was said or heard from them, it was notorious that they did not have that respect for a general who shot his men to death, that they did for men who obtained more and better fighting by some other system.

The Rangers were not men hired to war, but had the same motive to actuate them as did the men with bars, stars, and wreaths on their coat collars. Only a few attempts were made to unduly punish a man of the regiment, and in those instances the wound seemed to be deeper in the officer than in the man punished, and it was because of the forbearance of the officer that we can credit the fact of so little desertion. At the latter part of the war, as the days grew as dark as night, was the time when every soldier, able to be, was at his place. When hope had almost ceased and others went home or lagged behind, the Rangers clung to country with the most persistent tenacity. But who could have deserted a cause that had been in the rear of Sherman on his march through Georgia. It was fiendish, hell born iniquitous. No citizen was exempt from their atrocity. Women in every stage of life, from the gray haired grandmama to the blooming womanhood, and the tender maiden, were all alike subject to their nameless, fiendish outrages. Ministers of the gospel, hoary with age, trusted family servants, in fact everybody within their reach, suffered untold agonies, and the Rangers caught them at it, heard of it, and avenged it when ever an opportunity presented, and only for the fact that the leaders surrendered, they would not have deserted, nor needed military discipline up to this good bye hour. But they had no likeness upon this earth as men or soldiers.

Go back to Claiborne Index | Go on to part 9.

---