From Harpers Weekly FORT DONELSON CAMP No. 62 Volume 14 Issue No. 4 Fall 2008 SUVCW The Battle of Spring Hill Spring Hill was the prelude to the Battle of maintain possession of the road and keep a Franklin.On the morning of 29 November 1864, route open for withdrawal. Believing the battle Confederate General John Bell Hood’s Army of largely finished, Hood left command of the field Tennessee marched from Columbia toward to his most capable commander, Maj. Gen. Spring Hill to isolate major portions of Union Patrick Cleburne (the "Stonewall of the West"), forces from each other, hoping to defeat each after sending the order to attack Schofield. in turn before they could However, due to a communications failure of unite and overwhelm him. unknown cause, Cleburne never received the Union Maj. Gen. George H. message, and never attacked. When Stewart Thomas's Army of the Cumber- arrived, his corps merely went into bivouac land was north of Spring Hill in next to Cheatham and the soldiers of both Nashville. Maj. Gen. John corps cooked their supper and went to bed. Schofield’s Army of the Ohio was south in Columbia The result of miscommunication and simply bad military management was that during the Hood sent the corps of Lt. Gen .John Schofield night, all of Schofield’s command, including Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham and Lt. Gen. Cox, passed from Columbia through Spring Hill Alexander Stewart on a flanking march north. while the Confederate commanders slept. The Cavalry skirmishing between Brig. Gen. James passage of the army did not go unnoticed, but H. Wilson’s Union cavalry and Maj. Gen. no effort was made to block Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate troopers the pike. By 6 a.m. on continued throughout the day as the 30 Nov., all of Schofield's Confederates advanced. Wilson did warn army was well north of Schofield of Hood's advance and the Union Spring Hill and its trains—800 wagons—were sent north in the n vanguard had reached direction of Franklin. Franklin where it began to bui build breastworks. In the While Hood’s infantry crossed the Duck River Gen. James Wilson morning Hood discovered and converged on Spring Hill, Schofield sent Schofield's escape, and after an angry troops to hold the crossroads there: Maj. Gen. conference with his subordinate commanders David S. Stanley, commander of the IV Corps, in which he blamed all but himself for the with two divisions under Maj. Gen. George D. failure, ordered his army to resume its pursuit, Wagner and Maj. Gen. Nathan Kimball. setting up the Battle of Franklin that afternoon . Starting at 4 p.m.,close to sunset, the Federals repulsed infantry attacks launched by From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Cheatham's corps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spring_Hill By nightfall, the Confederates had finally Remember! positioned their corps where they could attack Fort Donelson Camp # 62 Meeting and severely damage Schofield's force, but 18 October 2008, at Murfreesboro they erred by allowing the Union army to CAMP COMMANDER’S MESSAGE WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! For the success of the Brownlow/Grummond James William “Bill” Heard Dedication Ceremony, I wish to thank each 6625 Spring Creek Rd. FDC62 member who took part, Rick Warwick Cookeville, TN 38506 for information about the two Union officers, Ancestor: G-G-Grandfather, Mindy Tate for the Williamson Herald article, James Henry McCulley, Sgt., th the guests from the community, and the Co. K, 13 TN Cav, US FDC62 brothers and their families who attended.The rain became a test of endurance. William Dale Winders The next FDC62 meeting will be held at the 3911 Dodson Chapel Rd. City Café, Murfreesboro, 18 October. Brother Hermitage, TN 37076 David DuBrucq has arranged for the meeting Ancestor: G-G-Grandfather, and the opportunity to attend a demonstration James K. Polk Heflin, Cpl., th and a Ranger tour at Fortress Rosecrans, Co. D, 9 KY Inf, US Stones River National Battlefield Park. After the third time that Brother DuBrucq stated it, I finally see that each FDC62 brother needs to join the SVR to support our SVR Fort Donelson Camp # 62 Meeting, honor guard brothers in Blue. Brother DuBrucq Saturday, 12:00 n., at the City Café, has just received the sixth SVR recruit and 133 E. Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN plans the organizational meeting for 18 Oct. The FDC62 web site, with Brother George A. Huttick as webmaster, contains excellent 12:00 noon – Luncheon Meeting information about the Camp, members, Welcome, Prayer, Introductions activities, etc., but it needs additional info on Presentation of new members the Camp’s early history. If you have SVR organizational meeting, information on earlier activities of the Camp, FDC62 business meeting please send it to Brother Huttick ([email protected] ). The web site also has 1:15 – Adjourn to Fortress Rosecrans for been the apparent source of at least one Stones River Battlefield Park programs: inquiry about joining the Camp. 1:30 & 3:00 - Fighting For Their Freedom : Brother Huttick, the Camp Graves Registry Watch the 13 th U.S.C.T. drill as one of them Officer, has received few applications from describes his remarkable transformation from Camp members to register ancestors in the owned property to a United States soldier. SUVCW Graves Registry. It is our goal to have a CW ancestor of every FDC62 brother 1:30 & 3:00 – Rising from the Ashes: The honored by having his CW record and grave Cemetery Community – Walk with a ranger site published in this Registry. If you have not through a once-thriving Black community and yet done so,please submit your ancestor’s info. learn about men and women who founded it. We had hoped that the 7-8 Dec. Civil War Show would provide both PR and recruiting. Caps & badges okay - uniforms discouraged. However, the Camp must pay full table rental, so, since the cost far exceeds the treasury, we Information on entire day’s program available: must give up that opportunity. www.nps.gov/stri/planyourvisit/legacycurrent.htm If an FDC62 member wishes to have a replacement Member Certificate, please send me your initiation date and ancestor info. You FDC62 Brothers may pick it up at the Murfreesboro meeting. I wish for each of you a pleasant Fall and Join the SVR ! hope to see you at Murfreesboro. Wear the Blue or support our brothers who will form the In Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty, FDC62 Honor Guard Sam C. Gant Contact: David DuBrucq [email protected] SUVCW NATIONAL GRAVE Civil War Books by Michael Forsyth REGISTRATION Col. Forsyth, a charter Sgt. James Henry McCulley member of FDC62, is the Great-Great-Grandfather author of two books on the of Bill Heard Civil War : The Camden James H. McCulley, b: 1829, Expedition of 1864 and The st th d: 11 Nov. 1881, 1 Sgt, Co. K, 13 Red River Campaign of 1864. TN Cav. US; Enlisted: 19 August In The Camden Expedition , 1863; Discharged: 16 Sept. 1865. Forsyth contends that the Buried: Cookeville City Cemetery, Confederacy had a great Cookeville, TN. opportunity to turn the Civil War in its favor in 1864, but squandered this chance In The Red Civil War Service River Campaign, he sees that the South had During the War, Sgt. McCulley saw action at —and lost—an excellent opportunity to inflict a Cumberland Gap; Greeneville, TN; when decisive defeat that might have changed the Morgan was killed; Bulls Gap, TN; Rheatown, course of history. TN; Jonesborough, TN; and Carters Station. He was engaged at Elbertson and Washington, GA, when Confederate president Jefferson COME ONE! COME ALL! Our Country Needs Us! Davis was captured. The regiment was Union Reenactors mustered out 5 Sept. 1865 at Sweetwater, TN. th for the 144 Anniversary, Battle of Franklin Sgt. William Hurst Contact David Dubrucq Ph: 615-896-6388 Great-Grandfather of Jim Hurst William Hurst, b: 1841, d. 10 March 1919. 144 th Anniversary Battle of Franklin Quarter-Master Sgt., Co. E, 11 th OH Cav. Enlisted: 23 June 1863; Discharged: 14 July On 30 November 1864, at Franklin, 1866. Buried: Taylor-Martin Cem., El Dara, IL. Tennessee, the Confederate forces of Gen. John Bell Hood clashed with the entrenched 11 th OH Cav – Rocky Mountain Cavalry Union army of Gen. John Schofield resulting in nd the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War. The 2 Battalion was organized at Camp th The 144 anniversary of this horrendous Dennison and Camp Chase, Ohio, 26 June battle will be commemorated on Sunday, 30 to 31 July 1863, assigned and designation th November 2008, with a 4 p.m., 2-mile march changed to 11 Regiment Cavalry, The from Winstead Hill, the staging point for the Battalion served in the pursuit of John Hunt Confederate army, to the Carter Cotton Gin Morgan in Ohio, and then joined the 1 st at site where the most intense fighting took place. Fort Laramie. It was the only Ohio unit in Union reenactors and Confederate the Territories and had 1,000 miles of reenactors will march together from Winstead country to picket covering Nebraska, Hill to a short distance from the Carter House Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Idaho where the two armies will spilt with the Union and Montana. It engaged the Snakes, army entering the event site from one direction and the Confederate army arriving from Sioux, Cheyennes and other tribes. The another. A band will be marching with the regiment mustered out 14 July 1866. reenactors into the event site. There they will Dedication Ceremony play Civil War-period music from both the Members of FDC62 and guests North and the South, then music for America took part in a Dedication re-united.