Jacob D. Cox-- Part 3: To North Carolina and the Books

Troops under Jacob Cox broke the Confederate supply line on the Macon and Western Railroad on August 31, 1864, forcing Hood to evacuate Atlanta.

Schofield's corps was ordered to join Gen. Thomas in Tennessee after it became apparent Hood was heading that way.  Cox's troops narrowly escaped destruction at Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Then, at the Battle of Franklin, Cox's troops were credited with saving the Union center.

He was then at the Siege of and Battle of Nashville.

When John Schofield was ordered to bring his corps east to join the operations against Wilmington, North Carolina, , Cox led the Third Division.

Afterwards, he  took command of the District of Beaufort and a provisional corps, which he led at the Battle of Wyse Fork.  His corps was eventually named the XXIII Corps.

During his later years, Jacob Cox became a prolific author"

"The March to the Sea:  Franklin and Nashville"  1882
"The Second Battle of Bull Run"  1882
"The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee"  1897
Military Reminiscences of the Civil War"    1900

--Old Secesh

Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign-- Part 5: The Aftermath for the Army of Tennessee

**  Hood described as the only man to really wreck an army.  His force went from 50,000 to 20,000 men.

**  Hood's army had a big problem with desertion and morale.

**  After the Battle of Nashville, the Army of Tennessee essentially ceased to exist, with some going to Mobile and around 4,500 going to North Carolina and joining Johnston at the Battle of Bentonville.

**  I remember reading that at Bentonville, Union troops remarked at how sad it was to see how close together the battle flags of the Army of Tennessee were to one another, indicating very small regiments.

**  Hood's disastrous Tennessee Campaign in 1864 was not a turning point in the war as it wound down.  Lincoln's election in November truly was the end for the Confederacy.

Some OFF-Topic Discussion.  We always have off-topic discussions as well, sometimes more than on-topic.

**  History is now on the back-burner in schools.

**  Ken Burns really caused prices of top level Civil War artifacts to go up because of his series on PBS.

**  Middle of the road collectibles, however, have stayed about the same in price.

Topic for the February meeting will be Sherman's Carolina Campaign.

--Old Secesh

Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign-- Part 4: What About Mrs. Peters?

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group, Jan. 26, 2019.

**  Should Schofield have continued retreating in front of Hood when he had almost the same number of troops?

**  What role did a Mrs. Peters of Spring Hill, Tennessee, play in the Union Army's narrow escape through that town?    Mrs. Peters is of interest also in the death of Confederate General Earl Van Dorn earlier in the war.  I'll have to look up some more info on her.

**  Gen. Hood described "as wrathy as a rattlesnake" after Spring Hill and a big reason for his mad rush to Franklin and attacking before he was ready to do so and as daylight was fleeting.

**  Spring Hill is very built up now.

**  Thomas wanted Schofield to delay Hood at Franklin for three days so he could continue gathering his forces.  That didn't happen.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion, January 2019: Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign-- Part 3

I always thought Confederate General John Bell Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign was a forlorn hope as the Confederacy faded into oblivion, and, of course, the use of his army was highly questionable.  And, he had essentially no chance of pulling it off.

But, the more I read, the more possible it became had he only moved faster.

Some other things discussed at the Jan. 26 meeting:

**  Hood was a private observer for Davis and Bragg during the Atlanta Campaign before he took over.

**  When Davis decided to get rid of Johnston, who was available?

**  Hood started attacking at Atlanta just two days after taking command.

**  Race to Nashville.  Had Hood gotten there before the Union forces consolidated he might have had a chance.

By the way, Frank.  The answer to Thursdays question, who was James Reilly U.S. Army sgt. and C.S. Army major?  He surrendered Fort Johnston to N.C. Confederates in 1861 and Fort Fisher, N.C. to Union forces almost four years later in 1865.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion Group, Jan. 26, 2019: Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign / Frank's Six-- Part 1

So far this has been the 15th Illinois' month, starting from the first day.  But back to the discussion group meeting now.

One other off-topic thing we discussed (there is a whole lot of  off-topic discussion in the group for some reason) was that Frank Crawford sent in another six trivia questions; evidently not satisfied with the difficulty of his last trivia questions from December.  This time on specific people.  Well, at least I knew the first one, but that was from his Fort Fisher involvement.  But Frank had him in for something else.

FRANK'S SIX

1.  Who was Adelbert Ames?

2.  Who was Edward Kerrigan?

3.  Who was Sergeant Harry Reese?

4.  Who was C.C. Banks?

5.  Who was Elizabeth Quesenberry?

6.  Who was Martin Reuben Merritt Wallace?

Do You Know?  Answers Tomorrow.   --Old Secesh?

MCCWRT Discussion Group, Jan. 26-- Part 1: New Book on the 15th Illinois Regiment

This last Saturday, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group braved the cold to meet at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  This month's topic was "Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign."

The first thing we discussed was the forthcoming book by local authors Betty Obendorf and Kathy Pasch "The Gallant 15th  of Illinois--  History of a Civil War Infantry Regiment,"  on the 15th Illinois Volunteer Regiment.  This regiment is of particular interest to us because three of the companies, A B and F were from McHenry County.  And the rest of the companies were from the northern part of Illinois.

Companies came from Algonquin, Marengo and Woodstock in McHenry County.  Other companies from Belvidere, Lena, Mt. Carroll, Polo, Rockford, Warren and Waukegan.

A whole bunch of us placed orders for the book and we hope to have the authors speak at a regular meeting in the future.

The book took ten years to write.

Looking forward to getting it.

A Book A day.  --Old Secesh