John, Bud and Sam Farris as they went off to war.
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For those of us who are really “into the Civil War,” sometimes it is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the modern day world to take a journey back in time and follow in the footsteps of our Civil War ancestors.
This has been a favorite hobby of mine since I was a young girl, as I rode horseback across the fields of my grandfather’s farm, exploring the site of the Beech Grove engagement, trying to imagine what it would have been like to have spent hours in the saddle, in all kinds of weather, perhaps cold and wet, perhaps hot and thirsty, hungry and tired, either in pursuit of an invading army, or trying to escape from the dangers close at hand.
One of the first journeys I undertook many years ago was to follow my great-great-grandpa, Calvin C. Lowe, from his farm in the Big Springs community of Rutherford County.
After leaving Rutherford County following his enlistment in the Confederate Army in July of 186l, his journey took him to Camp Trousdale in Sumner County for training and then on to Bowling Green, Ky. He served in his brother’s company, Co. B., 23rd Tenn. Volunteer Infantry. By February of 1862, he was back in Murfreesboro briefly, and two months later, April found him at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. He was then sent to the hospital at Corinth, Miss., where he remained until his discharge on May 13, 1862, and back to Murfreesboro again to a Union-occupied homeland. He covered a lot of miles during this 10-month enlistment.
And, while great-great-grandpa Lowe was having his wartime experience, my other great-grandpa, Dr. John Kennerly Farris, was having one of his own, of a slightly different nature.
John K. Farris enlisted for 12 months of Confederate Service at Winchester, Tenn. on Nov. 26, 1861. He, too, trained at Camp Trousdale in Sumner County, where he and his two brothers, Bud and Sam, were privates in Company I, 41st Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. After completing training, he was sent to Bowling Green, Ky, then back to Nashville, and from there he pulled rank to get to Fort Donelson for the “big fight rumored to take place there.”
He was captured at Fort Donelson, where he was loaded onto boats at Dover, going first to Cairo, Ill., and then Camp Morton, near Indianapolis. He spent the next seven months as a prisoner of war before finally being exchanged near Vicksburg on Sept. 17, 1862. It is there that his Mississippi adventure began and we will re-trace his steps as closely as possible.
Reorganization of the 41st began almost immediately, and in less than a month, the newly re-grouped companies were ordered north to Holly Springs, Miss. where they remained until Nov. 7, at a camp on Cold Water Creek. Their mission was to block Union railroad access to Jackson. Protecting the railroads for troop movement and supplies was always of the utmost importance to the Confederacy.
The Union Army’s attempts to open the Mississippi River, which would have divided the Confederacy, brought new activity to northern Mississippi. Defeat of Confederate forces there in September and October brought pressure against the 41st Tennessee and drove the regiment farther south along the railroad. Then, the 41st moved to Abbeville and a camp on the Talahatchie River.
By Nov. 18, 1862 the 41st had established new quarters, Camp Tippa Ford on the Talahatchie River, which was still in the vicinity of Abbeville. By Dec. 7, the 41st had been forced to retreat down the railroad – this time to Grenada – to a place called Camp Lovell. They did not remain here for very long, leaving Camp Lovell on Dec. 15, arriving once more at Vicksburg on Dec. 27, 1862. Then leaving Vicksburg on Jan. 5, 1863, and arriving at Port Hudson on Jan. 7, 1863. And, it was there that smallpox broke out in the regiment.
But the temporary Federal failure to capture Port Hudson and open the way to Vicksburg caused Gen. U.S. Grant to undertake a more daring maneuver, leading his army down the west bank of the Mississippi River, past Vicksburg, crossing the river to the south and then marching toward Jackson to cut the railroad link before coming back toward Vicksburg and establishing a siege from the heights to the north. The 41st was rushed back to Jackson, via Clinton, La – Summitt, Brookhaven, and Hazlehurst, Miss. – crossing the Pearl River at Barnes Ferry. The 41st engaged Grant’s army at Raymond, Miss., west of Jackson, taking heavy losses, on May 12. Two days later they encountered Federal forces again at Jackson, before withdrawing toward the north while Grant was moving toward Vicksburg.
They were at Jackson on May 14, 1863, moving to Brandon the next day, on to Canton the day after that, back to northeast of Jackson the following day. They camped near Snider’s Bluff for a couple of days, then north of Canton. May 31 found him at Benton, and on June 17, 1863, he was near Vernon. But not for long – July 1 found them 12 miles away near the Big Black River in the direction of Edwards Station. Five days later they were camped near Clinton. And July 8, 1863 they were once again in Jackson, where they would be until the 16th. The medical stores then left Jackson and were camped on July 17 east of Brandon, and the next day near Morton Station.
When Vicksburg surrendered July 4, the 41st Tennessee was sent back to Jackson, which became the next Federal objective. Jackson could not be held, however, and, once again the 41st was forced to retreat. July had been a disasterous month for the Confederacy. Lee had begun his retreat from Gettysburg the same day that Vicksburg surrendered, and Braxton Bragg simultaneously evacuated Middle Tennessee and fell back to Chattanooga where the 41st would be sent in September.
By Aug. 23, the 41st was near Enterprise where they would remain until leaving Mississippi and rejoining the Army of Tennessee, which was then defending Chattanooga. The rail journey took them south to Mobile, Ala., then north through Montgomery, and on to Atlanta. En route to Chickamauga, the medical units were involved in a train wreck near Carterville, Ga. where my great-grandpa sustained injuries to his leg. He spent two months in a hospital, first in Marietta, Ga. and then behind Confederate lines in Montgomery, Al. He rejoined his regiment on Nov. 3, just before the Battle of Chattanooga. December 1863 found him winter-quartered at Dalton, Ga., and early spring, 1864, found him headed toward Atlanta. Back to Tennessee in October of 1864 and the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30. Then the Battle of Nashville on Dec. 15, back to Franklin, where he was placed in charge of one of the hospitals there and left behind with the wounded. John Farris was ordered to report to Gen. Thomas as a prisoner of war, but decided not to do so, and headed home, under cover of darkness, to Coffee County.
He arrived home just before Christmas 1864, for the first time since his enlistment in November 1861. He was sick, tired and war-weary. Nonetheless, he began trying to rejoin Confederate forces but was unable to cross the Tennessee River. By this time, it was early March of 1865 and Dr. Farris knew it was all but over for the South. He took the oath to the Union in late March, just before Lee surrendered on April 9. Thus ended my great-grandpa’s journey thru the Civil War – as he saw it, as he wrote it, as he lived it, as he walked it. The above facts were recorded in letters written to his wife, Mary, during those four years and were taken from “Letters to Mary: The Civil War of Dr. John Kennerly Farris,” published in 1994.
As my husband, Jerry, and I made our way across Mississippi, following great-grand-pa’s path as closely as possible, I had to pause for a moment and simply reflect upon the road the soldiers had traveled, what brought them to where destiny determined their fate, trying to realistically envision the suffering and hardships they endured along the way -- hungry, poorly clad, hot, tired, war-weary, cold, wet, injured – marching over rough and uncertain terrain, snake-infested swampy, marshland in many places, all the while dealing with the minor inconveniences inflicted upon them, such as lice, mosquitoes, disease and dysentery.
We determined that just in Mississippi alone the 41st had covered more than 1,500 miles, most of which was on foot, during this 11-month period. As we drove from battlefield to battlefield, enjoying each historic site along the way, it was so evident that our journey today in no way could compare to that of yester year, but we could not follow in their footsteps without recognizing the courage, bravery, determination and sacrifice of these hardy souls.
Whether blue or gray, black or white, man, woman, or child, none escaped the misery of war as they each traveled the paths of their own individual journeys during that particular moment in time. |
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