January 1861 - April 1862
By Andrew Brown
Chapter I
Within a matter of days after Lincoln was elected President of the United States in November 1860, the Legislature of Mississippi called a convention to "consider the relationship between the
State and the Federal Union". This convention, to which Tippah County's delegates were Orlando Davis, Daniel B. Wright, J.H. Berry and J.S. Davis took its duties seriously, though there was
never much doubt as to what its final decision would be. It deliberated carefully and voted down a number of proposals of the more hot-headed element before it passed, on January 9, 1861, the
Ordinance of Secession. It sent commissioners to the other Southern states; the Commissioner to Alabama was former governor Joe Matthews of Salem. Within the month other states left the union,
and on February 4 delegates from all states met at Montgomery, Alabama, where the secedingon February 8 they adopted a Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America. On the next
day Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected President of the new nation, and on February 18 was inaugurated on the portico of the Alabama State Capitol. On March 29 the Legislature of
Mississippi accepted the Provisional Government, and in so doing cast the State's lot with the Confederacy.
One of the necessary first acts of the new nation was to call upon the various states for soldiers to defend its borders. Mississippi's quota was met quickly from the volunteer companies that
had been
1
The Drums of War I
formed throughout the state since 1858. Prior to that year the armed forces of the State had consisted entirely of the militia; but dissatisfaction with that age-old system had so increased,
following experiences in the War with Mexico, that a law authorizing the enlistment of volunteer military companies was finally pushed through the Legislature. In the meantime the old
organization, a ponderous anachronism of little military usefulness but much political efficacy, continued to operate after its fashion and to glory in the five Major Generals and the ten
Brigadier Generals who commanded its citizen soldiers. In that glittering hierarchy of command Tippah County was by no means slighted; one of the Major Generals was W. D. Beck of Salem, and one
of the Brigadiers was William C. Falkner of Ripley.1
Almost as soon as the volunteer law was passed four companies qualified under its relatively stringent provisions, but after that initial flurry of activity little more was done for about a
year. On October 3, 1859, however, the slave-holding states were brought face to face with the one thing of which they had lived for years in a sort of numb terror - a slave insurrection. The
attack of John Brown and his fellow desperadoes on Harpers Ferry was unsuccessful, and Brown was hanged; but the damage had been done. Throughout the South there was a rush to enlist in the
volunteer companies which, in Mississippi as elsewhere, increased in number mad activity almost overnight. In December 1859 the Legislature appropriated $150,000 for the purchase of arms and
equipment, and by May 1850 the Volunteer Military Board had accepted enough companies to permit their organization into two brigades, one in the northern part of the
2
The Drums of War I
State and one in the southern section. The North Mississippi brigade was commanded by Captain Jas. R. Chalmers of Holly Springs, the first regiment of the brigade by Captain James H. Buchanan
of Ripley. As the law made no provision for officers of higher rank, all brigade, regimental, and battalion officers were commissioned as captains.2
After Mississippi left the Union enlistments in the volunteer organizations increased at such a rate that on January 18, 1861, Adjutant-General Sykes reported to Gov. Pettus that 65 companies,
comprising 2027 rank and file, had been accepted and that 65 captains and 190 lieutenants had been commissioned.3 To arm this force immediately, the State obtained from the State of
Louisiana 8,000 muskets, 1,000 rifles, six 24-pounder guns with carriages, and a considerable amount of ammunition.4 Apparently the authorities had not been in too big a hurry to
spend the 1859 appropriation for arms.
On January 23, 1861, the Legislature reorganized the Army of Mississippi and named Jefferson Davis as Major General and Earl Van Dorn, Charles Clark, James L. Alcorn, and Christopher Mott as
Brigadier Generals. After Davis was elected President of the Confederacy, he was succeeded as commander-in-chief by Earl Van Dorn.5
Notes on Chapter I
1. Roland Dunbar, Military History of Mississippi: (hereinafter cited as Roland) Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, p. 420
2. Same.
3. Hooker, Charles A., in Evans, Clement A., Ed., Confederate Military History. Vol. VII, Mississippi (hereinafter cited as Hooker): p. 10
4. Laws of Mississippi (hereinafter cited as L. M.) Called session January 1861, Ch. XXII, p. 45. This is a resolution thanking the State of Louisanna for the weapons, which were to be
repaid in kind.
5. Rowland, p. 423
3
January 1861 - April 1862
By Andrew Brown
Chapter II
When Mississippi left the Union there were four volunteer companies in Tippah County. Two of these - the O'Connor Rifles, Captain J. H. Buchanan, and the Magnolia Rifles, Captain W. C. Falkner,
were based at Ripley. The other two - the Salem Dragoons, Captain J. C. Hamer, and the Joe Matthews Rifles Captain W. D. Beck, had their headquarters at Salem. It is interesting to note that
Falkner and Beck, generals in the militia organization, were captains in the new army, into which their organizations were speedily mustered - those at Ripley on March 4, 1861, those at Salem
on March 9.1
The bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12 dispelled whatever lingering hopes anyone may have held that a shooting war could be avoided. Within a matter of days after the attack companies from
all over Mississippi were hurried to Corinth, from which town rail transportation was available to both the Confederate armies in western Kentucky and those in Virginia. On April 30 the two
Ripley companies assembled at the county seat where, at a parade and review, they were presented with flags. That of the O'Connor Rifles was presented by Mrs. C. A. Green, that of the Magnolia
Rifles by Mrs. W. R. Cole. The men then marched to Saulsbury over the ridge road that during the next four years was to know the tread of thousands of soldiers of both the North and the South,
and the next day boarded the cars of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad for the last leg of the journey to Corinth. The Salem companies followed those from Ripley a few days later.2
4
The Drums of War II
Almost immediately upon their arrival at Corinth the O'Connor Rifles, the Joe Matthews Rifles, and the Magnolia Rifles were incorporated as Companies B, D, and F respectively into the Second
Regiment of Mississippi Infantry. Three companies from Tishomingo County, three from Pontotoc County, and one from Itawamba County completed the organization, which was thus composed entirely
of men from north Mississippi. At the election of officers on May 3 W. C. Falkner of Ripley was chosen Colonel; Bentley B. Boone Lieutenant Colonel, and David W. Humphreys, Major. Lawson B.
Holvis of Ripley was appointed Adjutant, and William L. Davis was elected captain of Company F in place of Falkner.3 The regiment as then sent by rail to Lynchburg Virginia, which it
reached on May 9. The following day it was mustered into the Provisional Army of the Confederate States and a few days later with the 11th Mississippi Regiment and the Second Mississippi
Battalion, were sent to Harpers Ferry, where they joined General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah.4
The fourth of the original Tippah County companies, the Salem Dragoons or Salem Cavalry, went to Richmond as an infantry company late in May. In June it was incorporated as Co. H into the 19th
Mississippi Infantry and sent to the Shenandoah Valley. Its first colonel was Christopher H. Mott of Holly Springs, who was succeeded after his death at Williamsburg, Virginia by L. Q. C.
Lamar.5
5
The Drums of War II
Of the Mississippi troops in the Army of Northern Virginia only four companies of the Second Regiment (the original three were increased to four in April 1862 when the Liberty Guards of Ripley,
Captain Robert Story, joined the regiment at Fredericksburg) and one company of the 19th were organized in Tippah County. A number of other organizations, however, notably the New Albany Grays
of Pontotoc County and several companies raised in western Tishomingo and eastern Marshall Counties, unquestionably contained a considerable number of men who lived in Tippah County. On the
other hand, the Salem companies probably contained more men from Marshall County than from Tippah. Because of incomplete records it probably will never he possible to give more than an
approximation of the number of Tippah County residents who fought under Lee; but as the average strength of companies in the Confederate armies in 1861 was between 70 and 80 men, the total
number was probably 350 to 400. Nearly all of these men went to Virginia during the first year of the war; after that time little effort was made by Mississippi, in fact, by any of the Southern
states, to keep their regiments filled. Losses were replaced, if they were replaced at all, with whatever recruits or conscripts happened to be available.
Because it was the first Tippah organization to see combat, and because its first colonel was a prominent citizen of Ripley, the Second Mississippi has always held a high place in the
affections of Tippah County residents. But there was little glory for it in its early days in Virginia. Two days after their arrival at Harpers Ferry in May, 1861, the Second and Eleventh
Mississippi were inspected by Col. George Deas, whose comments were hardly flattering to the men under Colonel Falkner: "One of these regiments under Colonel Moore (the reference was to the
Eleventh Mississippi) is much superior to the other under Colonel Falkner. The latter
6
The Drums of War II
is very badly clothed and very careless in its appointments. The officers are entirely without military knowledge of any kind and the men have a slevenly, unsoldier like appearance. . . The
clothing of the troops is not abundant and in the regiment from Mississippi under Colonel Falkner almost every necessity is lacking. They seem to have come away from home without making proper
preparations in this respect and it would seem that they expected to receive on their arrival in Virginia all the appointments of a soldier ..." Colonel Deas did mention, however, that both the
Second and the Eleventh had brought their tents and camp equipage with them, and in that respect compared favorably with the many regiments who were burdened with no such
impedimenta.6
Strictures such as those of Colonel Deas, which did not take into consideration the fact that the Second had been rushed to Virginia immediately after its activation and that there had been
literally no opportunity for it to be drilled as a unit, contain no prophecy of the future record of the regiment. It did excellent work at its baptism of fire at First Manassas under Colonel
Falkner, and in later battles under Falkner's successor, Colonel John M. Stone. Throughout the war the Second was brigaded with the Eleventh, so that the record of the two regiments are almost
inseparable. Perhaps their greatest achievement was their stand in the cornfield in front of the Dunker Church at Sharpsburg; but they fought well throughout the entire conflict.
Notes on Chapter II
1. Same p. 427-428
2. Same; Vairin
3. War Department Collection of Confederate Military Records (hereinafter cited as C. M. R.), National Archives, Washington D.C.: Muster Rolls and rosters of 2nd Mississippi Infantry
Regiment.
4. Roland, p. 429
5. Same, p. 487
6. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion (hereinafter cited as O.R.), Ser. I, Vol. II, p. 868.
7
January 1861 - April 1862
By Andrew Brown
Chapter III
Even before the Second Mississippi had come under fire at Manassas six additional companies, containing 459 men, had been tendered to the Army of Mississippi from Tippah County. They were the
Tippah Riflemen, Captain Moses McCarley, from Ripley and Ruckersville, tendered May 6 and mustered at Ripley June 2, 1861; the Molino Rifles, Captain E. M. Wells, from Molino, tendered May 13
and mustered at Molino June 15; the Blount Guards of Ripley, Captain C. C. Blount, tendered July 15 and mustered at Ripley July 31; the Stubbs Rifles, Captain R. R. Knight, tendered July 15 and
mustered August 21; the Falkner Guards, Captain R. I. Hill, from Orizaba and Dumas, tendered July 16 and mustered at Orizaba July 31; and the Tippah Tigers, Captain P. Holcombe, from Jonesboro
and Ruckersville, tendered July 20 and mustered at Ruckersville August 8.1 All of these companies were sent to a camp of instruction at Iuka, where on Sept. 5 they were incorporated
with three companies from Tishomingo County and one company from Pontotoc County into a regiment known first as the Second, then as the Third, and finally as the 23rd Mississippi Infantry. In
this account it will be referred to as the 23rd, though it did not officially receive that designation until November 18, 1861.2
The first officers of the 23rd were T. J. Davidson of Ripley, Colonel; Joseph M. Wells of Blackland, Tishomingo County, Lieutenant Colonel; and John
8
The Drums of War III
R. Duvall of Plentitude, Pontotoc County, Major. W.T. Stricklin of Ripley was appointed Adjutant. On September 19 the regiment was sent to Kentucky, where the Alcorn Rebels of Coahoma County
joined it as Co. K, the designation originally held by the Stubbs Rifles. Just when and why the replacement was made is not clear but the Stubbs Rifles were detached some time in the
autumn of 1861, and were not with the regiment when it was surrendered at Fort Donelson.3 The latter designation of the other Tippah County companies were: Blount Guards, Co. A;
Falkner Guards, Co. B; Tippah Tigers, Co. C; Tippah Riflemen Co. G; and Molino Rifles Co. H.
Among the 84 privates in the Blount Guards was Henry Simon, a peddler whose enlistment brought him a small cash dividend. At its October 1861 meeting the board of Police ordered that "Henry
Simon be allowed $10.00 out of the principal of the Common County Fund, it being half the cost of the peddler's license he had paid; Simon having volunteered in the Confederate army, the
license has been returned to the court.4
The uniform of the 23rd was not the gray usually associated with the Confederate soldier, but brown.5 During the early part of the war and to an even
9
The Drums of War III
greater extent in its later stages, each soldier provided his own uniform; and in areas far from large towns, such as Tippah County, it was much easier to dye homespun jeans to a butternut or
brown shade with walnut hulls and copperas than it was to obtain a good gray color in any way. That the use brown uniforms was common in the western armies of the Confederacy is evidenced by
the number of references in northern writings to the excellent, if unintentional camouflage provided by the butternut coloring.6
In Tennessee the 23rd was brigaded with the First Mississippi, the Eighth Kentucky, and the Seventh Texas under Brigadier General Charles Clark. After being stationed briefly at Clarksville,
Tennessee and Russellville, Kentucky the brigade was sent on October 17 to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. There camp diseases, which had plagued the command since it left Iuka, became increasingly
virulent and the camp speedily became more of a hospital than a training area. Of the 23rd's original strength of 737 men, 91 died of disease before the regiment ever met the enemy, and 45 were
buried at Hopkinsville alone.7 For some reason losses of the 23rd were out of proportion to those of the other regiments in the brigade; for the same period the First Mississippi,
for example, lost only eleven men.8
10
The Drums of War III
General Clark's brigade went to Fort Donelson early in February 1862 and was included in the surrender of February 16. In the fighting around the fort it lost 5 killed and 26 wounded; 546 men
were actually engaged in the battle and 561 were surrendered. A few, among them Adjutant W. T. Stricklin, escaped.9 Colonel Davidson, who was incapacitated by illness at the time of
the surrender was sent to Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Negotiations for his exchange for Colonel Willcox, First Michigan Volunteers, were under way when he died on April
29.10 Most of the other officers and all the enlisted men were sent to military prisons at Chicago and Indianapolis, where 93 died of disease before they were exchanged on September
20, 1862. The total deaths in the regiment up to that date were thus 190, of which only five represented losses in action - an extreme case even for the War between the States, when disease was
much more to be feared than the bullets of the enemy.11
11
The Drums of War III
After its exchange the 23rd was reorganized on September 24 near Demopolis, Alabama, under Joseph M. Wells as Colonel and Moses McCarley as Lieutenant Colonel.12 As at
this time northern Mississippi had been largely overrun by Federal troops the regiment was filled out from other parts of the state. On December 5, under Lieutenant Colonel McCarley, it fought
at Coffeeville its first battle since Donelson, and won the commendation of General Tilghman.13 It later participated in the Vicksburg campaign but was not included in the surrender
of July 4. Still later it was part of the army of Tennessee and participated in the Georgia and Tennessee campaigns of that valiant but poorly used organization. After July 1863 it was
commanded by Major George W. C. Garrett, Colonel Wells being unable to exercise command because of poor health and Lieutenant Colonel McCarley having been captured.
Notes on Chapter III
1. Southern Sentinel, Ripley, Miss., Jan. 22, 1885; hereinafter cited as Sentinel. Roland, pp. 635-636. The list given in the Sentinel is marked "clipped from
Clarion"; the Clarion was a newspaper of Jackson, Mississippi, predecessor of the present Clarion-Ledger.
2. O.R., Ser. I, Vol. LII, Pt. II, p. 212.
3. Rowland, p. 638
4. Minutes Board of Police, Tippah County (hereinafter cited as Police Minutes) in Courthouse, Ripley Miss: Vol. I, p. 255. (The future history of Simon is summarized in his file
in the Old Records Section, Adjutant-Generals office, National Archives, Washington, D. C. He remained with the company until November 1864, after being captured at Fort Donelson and exchanged.
In March 1864 he was detailed as sutler by Col. Wells, and in August was made regimental sutler. He "left the command" at Tuscumbia, Alabama, in November 1864, just before Hood's army crossed
the Tennessee on its disastrous march to Nashville.)
5. The Second Mississippi, or at least Co. wore gray. See Vairin p. (incomplete reference)
6. A letter from Miss Matt Miller to __ Thompson, a private in the 23rd Mississippi, refers to the brown uniform; date of letter is Sept. 17, 1861. Sherman was on of the Union
officers who referred to the brown color of Confederate uniforms in the west.
7. Rowland, p. 637
8. Same, p. 527
9. Same, p. 637
10. O. R., Ser. II, Vol. III, pp. 476, 504; Old Records Section, Adjutant General's Office, National Archives, Washington, D. C. (hereinafter cited as A. G. O.) Service
record of T. J. Davidson. At the time of the Donelson fighting Davidson was in command of the brigade because of General Clark's illness, but because of his own disability command was taken
over by Colonel Simonton of the First Mississippi.
The cause of Davidson's death is given as "acute diarrhea". His body was sent under flag of truce to Aikens Landing, Virginia, and was buried in the Confederate officer's section of Hollywood
Cemetery, Richmond. His grave is no. 19 in Section X, west of the south entrance to the cemetery (see Register of Confederate Dead Interred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va., Gray,
Clements and Jones, Printers, Richmond, Va., 1869, p. 31) He is there listed as Colonel of the 3rd Mississippi, a former designation of the 23rd. His grave is not marked, but can be located
easily from descriptions and maps. [Note: his grave was marked in 1999 with the inscription "Col. T. J. Davidson, 23rd Mississippi Infantry, 1819-1862."]
11. Rowland, p. 638
12. Same (page not given)
13. O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XVII, Pt. II, p. 505
12
January 1861 - April 1862
By Andrew Brown
Chapter IV
Most of the enlistments in the Confederate armies from Tippah County fell into four distinct periods. The first was between the election of Lincoln in November 1860 and the firing on Fort
Sumter in April 1861, when the companies later incorporated into the Second and 19th Mississippi were formed or strengthened. The second was about the time of the first battle of Manassas, when
the 23rd Mississippi was organized largely from Tippah County residents. The third was between the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862 and the battle of Shiloh in April, immediately before
the Conscription Act was passed. The fourth and last was in July and August 1862, after Tippah County had been invaded by the enemy.
During the third period, five companies were organized in the county. They were the Tippah Rangers, Captain Jno. Y. Murry, organized February 25 near Ripley; Captain A. C. Rucker, organized
February 26 at Ripley; the Dixie Guards, Captain Daniel B. Wright, organized March 10 at Salem; the Sons of Liberty, Captain J. B. Huddleston, organized March 17; and the Tippah Farmers,
Captain Granville A. Woods, organized March 18. These companies, with three from Marshall County, one from Yalobusha County, and one from Pontotoc County, were organized into the 34th
Mississippi at Holly Springs early in April 1862. The Tippah Rangers became Co. A; the Tippah Rebels, Co. B; the Sons of Liberty, Co. G; the Tippah Farmers, Co. H; and the Dixie Guards, Co. K.
Samuel Benton of Holly Springs, who had served a year as captain of Co. D, Ninth Mississippi, was elected Colonel and Daniel B. Wright of Co. K was chosen Lieutenant Colonel. The adjutant was
T. W. Miller of Ripley. The whole number of the regiment, including field and staff officers, was 779.1
13
The Drums of War IV
The 34th was ordered to Corinth on April 30, and came under fire on May 9 during Pope's attack on Farmington. It participated in all the campaigns of the Army of Tennessee, being a part of the
famous Walthall brigade during most of the western campaigns and was commended particularly for its work at Chickamauga and in the battles around Atlanta.
The regiment contained a numbe r of men who later became prominent citizens of Tippah County. Among them were Captain Jno. Y. Murry of Co. A, who was appointed Assistant Surgeon May 15, 1862
and was succeeded as Captain by William G. Pegram, later promoted to Major. Captain A. C. Rucker of Co. B was disabled by a wound received at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, and was
succeeded by Thomas Spight, later a member of Congress.
The Hatchie Tigers, Captain J. N. Scally, which became Co. E of the 32nd Mississippi, was in all probability composed largely of Tippah County residents,
14
The Drums of War IV
though the regiment contained mostly men from Tishomingo County.2 Apart from this one company, however, the 32nd is of particular interest to Tippah Countians because its organizer
and Colonel, Mark P. Lowrey, moved from Tishomingo County to Blue Mountain during the war, and in 1873 founded Blue Mountain College.
Notes on Chapter IV
1. Rowland, p. 693
2. Rowland, p. 682
15
January 1861 - April 1862
By Andrew Brown
Chapter V
Before the battle of Shiloh, fought on April 6 and 7, 1862, brought the fighting into home territory, Tippah County had contributed five companies to the Confederate armies and about 13
companies to the western armies. The Second Mississippi, in the first battle of Manassas, had suffered battle casualties of 25 killed, 82 wounded, and one missing, of which probably one third
were from the Tippah Companies. It had also suffered losses from disease, many sick having been left in the Shenandoah Valley when the army entrained for Manassas. The ill-starred 23rd, after
having been decimated by disease in Tennessee and Kentucky, was suffering additional losses in northern prison camps, though its actual battle losses had been light. Already the war had come
home to many families in the county; and although the sufferings of the first year were later to seem mild enough when compared to the hardships of the latter stages, the situation was in all
truth bad enough.
Assuming that the average strength of infantry companies in the Confederate service in 1861 and 1862 was 70 to 80 men, Tippah County had sent between 1250 and 1450 men to the colors before the
war reached home soil. As the county was primarily a community of small farmers the sudden removal of a considerable portion of the labor force brought about much hardship in the families of
the soldiers. The State recognized this condition early in 1861, when the Legislature enacted the first of the many Military Relief Acts it was to pass before the fighting ended. Under the
provisions of this law the Board of Police at its May 1861 meeting appointed a committee composed of O. Davis, B. F. Worsham, Daniel Hunt, J. E. Rogers, and H. W. Stricklin, to "enquire
minutely into the condition and wants of each family in the county, the husband
16
The Drums of War V
or father whereof is engaged as a solider in the service of the State or the Confederated States, and if the said committee shall be of the opinion that the family stands in need of pecuniary
assistance to prevent it from becoming a charge on the county . . . said committee . . . shall certify the amount of assistance required by each family to the Probate Clerk, who shall thereupon
issue a warrant on the County Treasurer payable to some member of the committee who shall use and appropriate the money so drawn to the maintenance and support of the family of the absent
soldier". The sum of $3,000.00 was appropriated for immediate relief purposes, and three committee men were appointed from each beat to report to the central committee.1 At the
August meeting of the Board a tax of 100 percent of the State tax was imposed for Military Relief, and loan warrants not to exceed $8,000.00 in principal sum and bearing interest at the rate of
8 percent were authorized in anticipation of the collection of the tax.2 In January 1862 the tax was reduced to 50 percent of the State tax.3 At the February meeting names
of 84 families receiving Military Relief were placed on the minutes;4 69 names were added in April,5 and 108 more in May.6 No names were added after
17
The Drums of War V
May, largely because after that time the county was overrun by Federal troops and the Board met only irregularly. That any of the county records are preserved is due to the foresight of Circuit
Clerk W. W. Robinson, who hid the more important volumes near Dumas until the fighting was over.
In June 1961 the Board appointed a man from each beat to collect firearms for the State army. The weapons were to be brought to either Ripley or Salem, where they were valued by committees of
"five discreet citizens" before being shipped to the Governor at Jackson. The "discreet citizens" comprising the Ripley committee were W. R. Buchanan, W. R. Cole, Andrew Brown, Sr., L. Rogan,
and Milton Young; those in the Salem group were G. W. Dickerson, W. L. Hamer, Thomas Ray, J. H. Machen, and J. H. Sullivan.7 The weapons drive brought in a considerable number of
guns, mostly shotguns.
In the summer and fall of 1861 a number of Tippah County belles received unusual gifts from soldiers in the Second Mississippi - nothing more or less than small cedar trees from the battlefield
of Manassas. Cedars are not indigenous to the soils of Tippah County, and most of those now growing there are descended from trees brought from middle Tennessee, where "cedar glades" are
common. Naturally the trees from Manassas far outranked in sentimental value those from Tennessee, and several of them were preserved for many years. So far as is known, however, only one
remains at the present time. It was a gift from Dr. E. Newton Hunt of the Second Mississippi to Miss Matt Miller, and stands in the front yard of the former Miller home place, which is occupied
in 1954 by the residence of Miss Sarah Cole. It was an unusually beautiful tree until
18
The Drums of War V
it was severely damaged by an ice storm in 19518.
During the first three months of 1862 a Confederate army of 40,000 men under Albert Sidney Johnston, whom Jefferson Davis considered the ablest of his generals, and C. T. Beauregard, one of the
victors of Manassas, assembled at Corinth. Filled with confidence in themselves and their leaders, the army moved from Corinth on April 4 and on the morning of the 6th attacked the Union forces
under Major General U.S. Grant at a little country church called Shiloh, not far from Pittsburg landing on the Tennessee River. After a vicious two-day Battle in which Johnston was killed and
the Union armies were saved from complete disaster only by the arrival of Major General Don Carlos Buell with reinforcements, the Confederates fell back slowly and in good order to Corinth,
where they dug in to await the inevitable pursuit. For Tippah County as for all of north Mississippi the prologue had ended and the real war had begun.
Notes on Chapter V
1. Police Minutes, Vol. 1, p. 208
2. Same, p. 221
3. Same, p. 235
4. Same, p. 282
5. Same, p. 289
6. Same, p. 294
7. Same, p. 216
8. Matt Miller to - - Thompson (a soldier in the 23rd Mississippi) Sept. 4, 1861; letter in possession of Andrew Brown, Arlington, Va. This letter states that the tree was brought to Ripley by
Andrew Brown, Sr., who had gone to Strasburg, Va., to visit his nephew, Joseph Brown, a private in the Second Mississippi, who died of typhoid fever on August 20. It is somewhat surprising to
realize that during the first year of the war it was possible to go by rail from Corinth, only 30 miles from Ripley, to Strasburg, by way of Chattanooga, Bristol, Lynchburg, and Manassas
Junction. Because of this fact there was quite a bit of travel between Mississippi and Virginia at this period.
19
Brown Index
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