HENRY HARDIN WILLIAMSON

   My Great, Great, Grandfather's name was Henry Hardin Williamson and prior to the war, he was a farmer in Hamilton County, Tennessee. On September 5, 1862, he enlisted as a private in the 14th (Carter's) Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, Co. C. This conflicts with his own personal account of his enlistment, because his personal account of the war states that he enlisted in Company B, of the 1st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. In reality, he joined Company C of the 14th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, which later became Company B of the 1st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment on Nov. 14, 1862.

 

 

His personal account during the war
 

 "He farmed in his native State (Tennessee) until the breaking out of the war, then joined Company B, of the First Tennessee Cavalry, under Capt. Snow and Col. Carter, being afterward, for three years, an advance guard or scout for Gen. Morgan and others. During the battle of Stone River he assisted in setting fire to the Federal wagon train at Lavern, Tenn., and afterward took part in the engagements at Bean Station, Cumberland Gap, siege of Knoxville, and other places. He was never wounded or taken prisoner, but had several horses shot from under him."

 The image to the right is a record that a horse that he was riding was killed. The document certifies that the horse was killed on Dec. 30, 1862 and valued the horse at $200. In Henry Williamson's personal account, it states that "several horses were shot from under him".

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Below is a description of where he was and his involvement on the day his horse was killed. Exactly where it was killed is unknown.

  On the 30th, the 1st Tennessee, under Gen. Wheeler were participating in the raid around Rosecrans' Army during the battle of Stone River. At 10am, they reached Jefferson (modern day Smyrna), and soon after met a brigade train, with all the equipage of one brigade. They attacked vigorously, drove off the guards, and destroyed the train, baggage, equipage, etc, also capturing about 50 prisoners. They then proceeded toward La Vergne, and captured a party of Federals out stealing and gathering stock, and soon after overtook and captured a small foraging train. About noon they arrived in the vicinity of La Vergne and found it filled with soldiers and large trains parked in the fields surrounding the place. They immediately charged in three columns, completely surprising the guards, who made but slight resistance. They immediately paroled the prisoners, amounting to about 700, and destroyed immense trains and stores, amounting to many hundred thousands of dollars. They then proceeded to Rock Spring, attacked, captured, and destroyed another large train. They then marched on Nolensville without opposition, capturing large trains, stores, and arms, and about 300 prisoners. Then moved southwestward, they camped for the night near the Arrington community. 

  To the left, is a record of his Regimental Return during the month of Dec, 1864. It gives the purpose for his absence as being that he was acting as a courier for the Brigade Commander. The 1st Tennessee were assigned to Vaughn's Cavalry Brigade during December of 1864. Gen. John C. Vaughn was the Commander in charge of the Department of Southwestern Virginia and Eastern Tennessee. During December, the 1st Tennessee were in the area between Marion, Virginia and Greenville, Tennessee.
  

 Below is the record stating that he had surrendered and that he had given the Oath of Allegiance to the United States on April 17th, 1865 in Chattanooga. 

  In April, 1865, there were less than 200 men left in the 1st Tennessee Regiment and were still in Vaughn’s Brigade with Gen. Echols commanding. They were at Christiansburg, Virginia on April 11, 1865 when they heard of General Lee’s surrender. As soon as General Echols heard of Lee's surrender he disbanded his command, giving his men permission to return home. After Echols had disbanded his command Gen. Duke, Cosby, and Vaughn called for volunteers to follow them. They got about 400 each. They decided to make their way to Gen. E. Kirby Smith in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Accordingly, they abandoned their wagons and everything except what they could carry on there horses, and started out across the mountains into North Carolina. The boys that had no horses scattered in every direction, mostly in the direction of home. Late in the evening General Echols, at the head of Vaughn’s brigade, Basil Duke's and Cosby's began the march toward North Carolina. 
  Where Henry Williamson surrendered is unknown. His record states that he "Deserted April 17/65". A portion of Vaughn's men had left Statesville, North Carolina on April 14th and headed towards Morganton. It could of happened there if he was part of these men. On the 17th, the remaining men in Vaughn's command were involved in a skirmish at Dallas North Carolina. It's possible that he could of deserted here. Hopefully, the information of where he surrendered is available somewhere.

 In the Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Montgomery County, Arkansas, it says that
"Because of the bitterness of the Unionist in East Tennessee, he was one of several hundred indicated for treason at Knoxville, Tennessee and was compelled to leave Tennessee". He moved to Arkansas.
  The above image is the record of his indictment. It states that he was indicted for Treason on May 26, 1865. This means that he was charged for Treason. It says that on July 1, 1865, Capias was issued. Capias is a warrant or order for the arrest of a person, typically issued by the judge or magistrate in a case. There is another entry that was made on July 1st. It is not clear to me what it says, to understand what the courts had issued. On November 14, 1866, Alias Capias was issued. Alias Capias is issued if you miss a Court appearance and the Clerk's office can verify that you were properly notified, an Alias Capias (felony case) will be issued by the court. 

  To the right is an image that records the fines that he paid the courts. Comparing the entries for the other men that were indicted for Treason, he paid about $6 to $8 more than the others. That is 25% to 30% more. There is nothing that would suggest why this is. $25.85 is aboutt $399 in today's dollar.  Exactly what he did during the war to cause these charges is not known and can only be speculated at this time. As stated, he was one of several hundred to have these charges placed upon him at the Knoxville Courts. Several hundred is not a large amount considering the thousands from Eastern Tennessee that fought for the Confederacy.
 

Credit for the images is given to "Bunny" Dever

Brigadier General Joseph Wheeler CSA

Wheeler's report of his raid around Rosecrans and his actions during and after the Murfreesboro

December 29, 1862 - December 31, 1863

 HDQRS. CAVALRY, Near Fosterville, Tenn., January 26, 1863.

COL.: I have the honor to report that my command-consisting of the First Alabama Cavalry, Col. [William W. ] Allen; Third Alabama, Maj. [F. Y. ] Gaines; Fifty-first Alabama, Col. [JohnT. ] Morgan; Eighth Confederate, Col. [W. B. ] Wade, and two Tennessee battalions, under Maj.'s [D. W. ] Holmanand DeWitt C. Douglass, together with [Capt. J. H. ] Wiggin's battery-was, on the 26th ultimo, stationed at Stewart's Creek, on the Murfreesborough andNashville pike, and about 10 miles northwest of Murfreesborough. My line of vedettes, forming a continuous line, extended from a point east of Stone's River, on my right, crossing the Nashville and Murfreesborough pike about 10 miles from Nashville, and extending to a point about half way from said pike to Brentwood, the posts of the pickets and grand guards being at favorable position on the avenues of approach a nd at points varying from 300 to 1,000 yards in rear of the line of vedettes. Gen. Pegram's brigade was stationed on the right and Gen. Wharton's brigade on the left of my line.

About 7 o'clock on the morning of December 26, [1862,] the enemy advanced in large force, driving in our vedettes. On arriving at the front and seeing the extent of the movement, I ordered up the entire command and deployed it inline of battle. We engaged the enemy during the entire day, falling back about 3 miles. We also engaged the enemy during the 28th and 29th ultimo, killing and wounding large numbers, meeting but very slight ourselves.

By the evening of the 29th we had reached the line of battle of our infantry and had placed my brigade on the extreme right of the line. 

At midnight, pursuant to orders from Gen. Bragg, I proceeded with my command, re-enforced by Col. [James E.] Carter's regiment, to the enemy's rear. 

By daylight on the 30th we had reached Jefferson, and soon after met a brigade train, with all the equipage of one brigade. We attacked vigorously, drove off the guards, and destroyed the train, baggage, equipage, &c., also capturing about 50 prisoners. We then proceeded toward La Vergne, and captured a party of Federals out stealing and gathering stock, and soon after overtook and captured a small foraging train.

About noon we arrived in the vicinity of La Vergne and formed it filled with soldiers and large trains parked in the fields surrounding the place. We immediately charged in three columns, completely surprising the guards, who made but slight resistance. We immediately paroled the prisoners, amounting to about 700, and destroyed immense trains and stores, amounting to many hundred thousands of dollars. We then proceeded to Rock Spring, attacked, captured, and destroyed another large train. We then marched on Nolensville without opposition, capturing large trains, stores, and arms, and about 300 prisoners. We slept for a few hours 5 miles from Nolensville, and at 2 o'clock

the next morning proceeded to the left flank of our army, having made a complete circuit of the enemy's rear. On arriving the line was engaged. We pressed on and attacked enemy on the Murfreesborough and Nashville pike, just north of Overall's Creek. After a brisk engagement we moved across the creek and made an attack, on the enemy at that point, driving him for 2 miles and successfully engaging him until dark, when we fell back to the left of our line, where we remained during the night.

In this latter engagement Col. Allen and Lieut.-Col. [James D. ] Webb were wounded.

Early on the morning of January 1, I proceeded, pursuant to directions from Gen. Bragg, with my own and Gen. Wharton's brigade, to the rear of the enemy. We attacked a large train near La Vergne, dispersing his guards, and captured and destroyed a large number of wagons and stores. We also captured one piece of artillery. Toward evening we received orders to return, and we regained our position on the flanks of the army by 2 o'clock on the morning of the 2d instant. We remained in position that night and next day, engaging the enemy at every opportunity.

At 9 o'clock that evening I proceeded again to the rear of the enemy, according to directions from Gen. Bragg, and succeeded next morning in capturing anumber of horses, wagons, and prisoners. About 2 p. m. we attacked a large ordnance train at Cox's Hill, heavily guarded by cavalry and infantry, andsucceeded in driving off the cavalry guards and in breaking down and upsetting a large number of wagons. The enemy's infantry being in such force (quite treble our numbers), we were prevented from destroying the train, but succeeded in preventing its making any further progress that day. By this time we received orders to immediately return to the army, which order was obeyed, we reaching our former position on the left flank of our army about 4 o'clock next morning. We here learned that the army had fallen back, and about 9 o'clock that morning we crossed Stone's River and took position in front of Murfreesborough.

About 3 p. m. the enemy advanced to the river and commenced a brisk skirmish with artillery and infantry. After dark the enemy retired a short distance, and our pieces in front of Murfreesborough were unmolested during the night.

 

At daylight on Monday, the 4th [5th] instant, we fell back to a point on the Manchester pike about 3 miles from Murfreesborough. About 1 o'clock the enemy advanced, and after a short skirmish we fell back half a mile a favorable position. Here we formed line of battle in conjunction with Gen. Pegram's brigade, in a very favorable position, behind fences, entirely obscured from view. About 3 o'clock the enemy advanced with a brigade of infantry and artillery in line of battle, with heavy force of cavalry on their flanks. When they arrived within about 250 yards, we opened on them a heavy fire of small-arms and artillery with excellent effect, killing and wounding large numbers. After an engagement of about thirty minutes they turned off and left the field, and have not since advanced any farther from Murfreesborough on this road.

Very respectfully, colonel, your obedient servant, 

JOS. WHEELER, Maj.-Gen. and Chief of Cavalry.

OR, Ser. I, Vol. 21, pt. I, pp. 958-960.