The Fourth Tennessee Cavalry at Bentonville. N. C.

Confederate Veteran Volume XXV 1917 Page 446

Transcribed by Theodore Urbanski

Samuel Scroggins of Nashville, Tennessee, who was a Lieutenant of Company C, Smith’s 4^th Tennessee Cavalry writes:

 

"The address made by Rev. W. H. Whitsitt before R. E. Lee Camp of Richmond, Virginia is interesting and states many facts and incidents showing the distinguished military services performed by the 4^th Tennessee Confederate Cavalry commanded by Colonel James Starnes, It may be proper just here to state that there were two 4^th Tennessee (Confederate) Cavalry Regiments, known as Starne’s 4^th and Smith’s 4^th, the latter commanded by Colonel Baxter Smith They had been serving in different departments o the army ,one under General Forest and the other under General Wheeler most of the time; and the duplication was not known in time to make correction, so matters continued till the end of the war. Both regiments were well known and highly esteemed in the army.

 

"The part of the Rev. Dr. Whitsitt’s address in error occurs on page 375 of the August VETERAN, where he quotes from Dr. Wyeth’s "Life of Forrest" as follows, "This man was James W. Starnes * * * who formed a with Starnes as colonel and took its place with Forrest as the 4^th Tennessee Cavalry. It was destined to become famous and to sustain throughout the war the reputation it was soon to win west of the Tennessee, ending it career in blaze of glory in a brilliant charge at Bentonville, North Carolina, in the last pitched battle of the Civil War.

 

"Now while admitting that Colonel Starne’s 4^th Tennessee Cavalry served gallantly and efficiently the Confederate cause, it is not true that this regiment made the charge or as stated in quotation from Dr. Wyeth, was present or participated in the battle of Bentonville. The credit, what it may be, is due to charge made by Smith’s 4^th Tennessee Cavalry and the 8^th Texas Cavalry of Harrison’s Brigade, being at that time under command of Colonel Baxter Smith.

"Major George B. Guild, adjutant of Smith’s 4^th Tennessee Cavalry wrote a history of that regiment, in which he gives this account of its part in the battle of Bentonville; " an officer of General Hardee’s came riding in haste from down the road and inquiring for the officer said Colonel Smith that the enemy were threatening the bridge and asked to come down there as soon as possible; that was such were the orders of General Hardee. Colonel Smith hasten with all dispatch with his two mounted regiments to the designated spot. The filed hospital of General Johnson’s army was close by; and as the command passed down the road, we could see men escaping from the hospital and a general scattering of men, evidencing that something of a stirring nature was happening. We found General Hardee standing in the road about a half mile or more from where we started. He at once ordered the regiments into a long line along the road and to charge through the woods and, oncoming up with the enemy, to drive them from the field. There was no force of our own in front of us, and there was a gap of a quarter of a mile or more from the creek to where our line extended from the right. We charged promptly and vigorously, as ordered and had not gone far till we struck a long line of the enemy’s skirmishers. They were taken by surprise at the suddenness of the attack; and as we rode among them, using our "navies" we scattered them and forced them back to their main line, a distance of several hundred yards. Some were killed or wounded, and few prisoners were taken. We lost a few men ourselves. At this junction of affairs a line of infantry appeared in our rear, and before the enemy could recover from their surprise we had sufficient force to hold the position till General Johnston’s Army passed over the bridge that night. Undoubtedly this charge of the 8^th Texas and 4^th Tennessee saved the bridge and made certain the escape of Johnston’s little army at Bentonville, for at that time the enemy numbered six to our one. The enemy we were fighting was a large skirmish line of General Mower’s division of infantry. General Hardee extended his thanks to Colonel Smith for the success of the gallant charge of his two regiments.

 

"I was an Officer of Company C, Smith’s 4^th Tennessee Cavalry, and participated in the charge, and can testify as to the correction of Major Guild’s account.

But another historian, Dr. W. J. McMurry, who wrote a history of Battle’s famous 20^th Tennessee Confederate Regiment, which took part in the battle, has this to say of the Battle of Bentonville: on the 21^st of March 1865, skirmishing on the front line began. It was here that Mower’s Division of the 17^th Army Corps penetrated our cavalry line on the left and moved on Bentonville; but general Hardee met this division of Mower’s with Cumming’s Georgia Brigade of Infantry, and Wade Hampton and Wheeler charged his flanks with their cavalry. It was in this charge that the 8^th Texas and 4^th Tennessee under the gallant Baxter Smith, covered themselves with glory, as they had on many fields, and when they swept down on the enemy’s left and front and drove them back in disorder upon their own reserves, keeping open the only line of retreat that we had across Mill Creek. This action of the 21^st was one of the most gallant of the war and was the last battle that the Army of Tennessee ever fought." (History of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment," page 356).

Transcribed by Theodore Urbanski September 2, 2003

 

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