[As published in the Nashville Tennessean, October 3, 1926. A .jpeg image of the original newspaper page is available at this link (approx. 10 mb).]
Preparations for unveiling the memorial to the Battle of Nashville have aroused a lively interest in the history of the Nashville of Civil War days. Even the younger generation is reading war history and stories of Nashville people who remember the experiences of those days being revived. The following stories were related by Mrs. James E. Caldwell, president of the Battlefield Memorial Association, who was a girl of 5 years at the time of the fall of Fort Donelson.
"The first thing I remember about Nashville and the war was the excitement when my sister, Ed- E. Caldwell [sic], president of the Bat...mon...a, and one of our cousins who was staying with us and attending Nashville Female Academy came running home from church one Sunday morning with the news that Fort Donelson and had fallen and that the Federal gunboats were in possession of the Cumberland river. My sister and cousin were young ladies but as I look back over the incident I do not think that even they realized the seriousness of the situation, and, as for myself and the other children, we had no idea whatever of the gravity of the matter and the feelings of our elders.
Must Be Dreadful
"I remember that I thought that a Federal gunboat must be the most dreadful thing in the world and that the Yankees were horrible monsters who would cut off children's hands -- maybe their heads -- and do such things as we heard that the Germans were doing during the World War. My fright, however, was soon lost sight of in the rush for preparations for a journey. My mother and my father were preparing to follow the Confederate army which was evacuating the city and our first stop was to be at Glen Cliff, our farm about six miles south of Nashville. In my childhood a journey was such an unusual thing for children that the prospect of getting into a carriage and actually going on a 'trip' completely overshadowed the, reasons for which my mother and older members of our household were hastily assembling our belongings. I ran about, chattering excitedly and not understanding at all the tragic faces and troubled eyes of my parents. Their first plan was to the women and the children of the family to safety and it was to this end that hasty preparations or our departure were being made. The city surrendered, however, and we remained in our home. I often think of my complete confidence in my parents! The Federal gunboats struck terror to my childish mind, but I had no thought but that my mother and my father could control even so fearful a thing as an enemy gunboat.
Slaves Shared Confidence
"My confidence was shared by the slaves, particularly by our gardener, 'Uncle Paul,' who, after freedom, called himself 'Mr. Black Paul', to distinguish himself from one of neighbors, whom Uncle Paul designated as 'Mr. White Paul.'
"After the Yankees had entered the city, they were helping themselves to the vegetables in our garden, and Uncle Paul, after watching them a little while, went up to one of them and said: 'Ise gwine to tell Marse Charles.'
"'D__n your Marse Charles,' was the soldier's independent answer.
"The soldier's reply was not very complimentary to my father. His indifference may have impressed Uncle Paul, but never, even in those troublous times, was my confidence shaken. During the years of the war and the reconstruction period which followed it, the children of our family and those of our neighbors played about, as children always do, but we were frequently terrified by the unusual happenings which came to the notice of even our youthful minds.
Troops Were Retreating
"I remember clearly the day and night that our troops were retreating from the city. My brother, a Confederate officer, was at home on a furlough, convalescing from typhoid. As his comrades left, they came to tell him good-bye, and all night long I could hear their footsteps and the clanking of their swords as they went to his room and out again into the darkness to join the other tramping feet I heard in the street. When daylight came we saw that in their retreat their wagons, guns and horses had laid waste to our garden. The fences were down and the flowers were broken and tramped to the ground by marching feet. It was just as well, for when the Federal army came they made a barracks around our house, and until years after the war, when it was moved to North Nashville, it was occupied by Union troops. The troops housed in it after the war, of course, were those of the regular army kept here to enforce the reconstruction laws.
"One morning I remember seeing a Federal officer come dashing down the street on his horse.
"Get In the House"
"Get in the house,' he cried. 'Get in the house. The battle may start at any minute and you children are in danger.'
"We were very much impressed, although we were too young to realize that the officer was General Thomas and that the Battle of Nashville was on. We began, however, to follow his advice, though our chief concern was not our own safety, but that of our parrot, Jacko.
"Jacko was one of the few parrots in the neighborhood and he was much beloved by the children. He lived in the family sixteen years and became so apt at mimicking various members of the family that he was almost like one of the children. The lower floor of our home was level with the street and as the back part of it was built against a hillside, it formed a kind of a cellar. It was here that we children ran with Jacko. We hid him under a table and, feeling that he was safe, we no longer worried about the battle which General Thomas said was impending.
"The suffering of Confederate prisoners and the wounded in the hospitals was terrible. I remember that my father remarked that such diseases as smallpox, typhoid and others which spread rapidly in the close, unsanitary quarters, took a heavier toll of life than the cannon of the enemy.
Maxwell House Going Up
"The Maxwell House hotel, which in my girlhood was a scene of gaiety and lovely balls, was in the process of construction when the war broke out. It was used as a prison for captured Confederates although it was unfinished. I remember that one of the temporary wooden stairways gave way under the weight of some of the prisoners as they were crowding forward to get their food at mealtime. Many of them were killed, and I recall the sorrow we felt because such a catastrophe was added to the suffering which already seemed great enough.
"For years after the war our property continued to be used as a barracks. Although our home was fenced off on one side of the lawn, part of it was frequently used and we were sometimes called upon to take sick officers into our house.
"It was often the habit of Federal soldiers to tie army mules under our back porch. I can still remember how noises from the mules and barracks disturbed our sleep. After the war the officers seemed to experience considerable difficulty in disciplining the soldiers and a heavy body of guards was posted around the barracks. During the night we could bear them calling out -- 'Corporal of the guard -- Post Number One -- Twelve o'clock and all is well.' There were sometimes twenty or thirty posts, and every hour during the night we could hear the weird calls as each guard made his report.
Guardhouse Near Home
"The guardhouse was stationed near our home in a corner of what, at one time, had been our flower garden. It was always filled with disobedient soldiers and the children of our household looked upon the methods of punishment used to subdue them with the greatest of horror. I have seen them turn the hose on prisoners until they would faint from exhaustion and they used to tie men up by their thumbs around the flag pole. At night they would take them down and put them in the guardhouse, but for some reason they must have forgotten to take one man down and the next morning he was dead from exhaustion and exposure to the cold.
"One day I was sitting or our front steps and, to my great surprise, the ground in front of me began to move. In a few seconds a man's hands and head appeared, then, his whole body came out and he stood for a moment looking very much dazed. Before I could get over my surprise, he dashed away and, as far as I knew, was gone forever. He was one of the men imprisoned in the guardhouse and was one of several to escape through a tunnel which the men dug under the floor of the guardhouse to our yard. Until this time no guards had been placed inside our fence, but after the tunnel was discovered a, guard was posted on our side. The imprisoned men had so skillfully concealed their work that the officers were a long time finding the place in the floor of the guardhouse where they had removed planks to dig their way out.
Disorder Terrorized
"One reason that they kept such a heavy guard after the war was over, was because of the disorder and lawlessness which terrorized the city. A band of robbers entered the homes of 'Nashville citizens at will and, apparently, completely eluded the authorities. One night some of these robbers entered the home of two of my little playmates and went through even the bedroom of these little girls. They snuggled close together and made no sound until the intruders had gone. The same night the home of an aunt of these children was entered and the aunt, frightened by the entrance of the robbers, ran to the bedroom of her brother where she fell fainting on the floor. The entire city was infested by bands of men -- whether it was soldiers or just groups of lawless people no one ever knew.
"When anyone was sick and the services of my father were needed, two armed men came for him and, after he had made his visit, accompanied him home. A lone person walking the streets at night was In grave danger of being knocked in the head and robbed, or even killed.
"Many stories sprang up about this band of robbers and their activities. They could not be captured by the authorities, it seemed, and their deeds were a constant source of excitement and interest to us children.
Headquarters At Negley
"It was said that their headquarters were in Fort Negley, the cellar used to store ammunition and that from this cellar they had dug a tunnel to the McNairy vault in the old City Cemetery. Each Saturday afternoon it was the custom of my mother to take Uncle Paul, the gardener, to the cemetery to trim the grass and flowers around the family graves and we children, untouched by the solemnity of the occasion, used to play around the road which forms a circle around the under-ground vault of a man known then as Jimmy-Dick Hill. The McNairy vault faced this circular road and its old rusty door stood ajar just enough to allow the body of a man to pass through. When any of us felt unusually brave we would creep up to the opening and then rush back to the others, shrieking that we had seen the robbers.
"It is difficult for those who have not actually experienced war to understand the conditions under which we have lived and the difficulties we experienced for years after the war was over. Nashville was hardly more than a village when compared with its present size, but it was a stronghold of the Union force during he latter half of the war and it suffered great damages during its occupation by the troops. The brick sidewalks were taken up to use for foundations for officers' tents, fences were town down, buildings were often destroyed or mutilated by the rough usage they received, and the streets themselves were full of great ruts, where the heavy army trains had passed over them. It is hard to realize that the beautiful, progressive Nashville of today once presented such a picture."
Related stories:
Battle of Nashville Monument is of more than ordinary interest
Battlefield monument to be dedicated this month
Knowledge |
Old Nashville |
George Henry Thomas (1816-1870) |
May Winston Caldwell (1856-1939) |
Charles Kimbrough Winston (1811-1882)
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