The Knoxville Guard
The Knoxville Guard
January 2015
2015
A Publication of the
SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS
Longstreet – Zollicoffer Camp #87
Knoxville, Tennessee
Vaughn Hickman, Editor
vhickman35@tds.net
H: 865-777-0880 C: 323-1993
Camp #87 Officers
Commander’s Letter
Commander…………………………….Scott Hall
1ST Lt. Commander……………...……Earl Smith
2nd Lt. Commander………….………..Arthur Harris
3rd Lt. Commander……………….…..Richard Scott
Adjutant/Treasurer……………………John Hitt
Chaplain………….……………………..Rick Doughty
Judge Advocate………………………...Scott Hall
Sgt. at Arms………….…………………Stuart Ulseth
Quartermaster……………………….....Kent Yokley
Publicity Director………………………Randy Tindell
Program Chairman …………….……....Sam Miller
Hunley Award Program Coordinator....Bob Gentry
Surgeon…...Larry Wolfe
Scrapbook………………………………..Sam Forrester
Webmaster……………………………....Dave Jones
Camp Genealogist………………………Ron Jones
Newsletter Editor……..Vaughn Hickman-Sam Miller
Our Lee-Jackson Celebration was received with great
report from other Camps and the community. Thanks to so
many of our members, this program distinguishes Camp 87
in exemplary fashion. We continue to receive rave reviews
for this Confederate Memorial.
The Camp’s next major memorial is Confederate
Decoration Day, which is scheduled for May 30th. Please
ensure that you make every effort to attend. Our keynote
speaker will be former SCV Commander in Chief
Christopher Sullivan.
Your Commander and First Lady Tricia attended the
Robert E. Lee Luncheon hosted by the WYC Hannum
Chapter of the UDC on January 24th, in Maryville,
Tennessee.
The event was well attended, fun, and
enlightening. Most importantly, it reminded me of the
importance of supporting and participating with the UDC
Chapters. Our (i.e., SCV and UDC) goals and ideals are
common. Both individually and as a Camp, we need to help
Camp Meeting Schedule for 2015
every UDC Chapter and promote their events.
Feb 17 Crescent Bend
7:00 p.m.
Let’s continue to make our mark on the community. We
Mar 14 Confederate Hall Clean-up Day
9:00 a.m.
have annual clean-up days scheduled at Confederate
Apr 18 Mabry-Hazen Clean-up Day
9:00 a.m.
Memorial Hall (March 14th) and at Mabry-Hazen House
May 17 East TN Historical Museum
2:00 p.m.
(April 18th). Although the idea of “work” may not initially
Jun 21 East TN Historical Museum
2:00 p.m.
intrigue you, we always have a fun time and these projects
July 14 Confederate Memorial Hall
7:00 p.m.
allow us to get to know each other better. Mark your
Aug 16 Mabry-Hazen House
2:00 p.m.
calendars and come join your Confederate brothers.
As a reminder, it will be important that Camp 87 to makes
Event Schedule for 2015
a good showing at the upcoming Division Reunion at the
General Morgan Inn, Greenville, TN. The primary business
Mar
Shoot-out
matters will be addressed on the morning of Saturday, April
Apr 10-11 TN Div. Reunion (Greeneville, TN)
11th. If you plan to go and stay Friday and/or Saturday night,
Apr 17-19 UDC 89-War Era Civilian Exhibit
you need reservations at General Morgan Inn, 423-787-1000.
May
Athens Camp Event
Please help me keep Camp 87 operating in a stellar
May
Dollywood Parade
I need your participation, support, and/or
May 30
Confederate Decoration Day
10:00 a.m. fashion.
consideration with every event and meeting.
June 12-13 Secret City Festival, Oak Ridge
I am honored to serve as your Commander.
June 12-13 Secret City Festival, Oak Ridge
July
SCV Nat’l Reunion, Richmond, VA
Scott D. Hall, Camp 87 Commander
1
The Knoxville Guard
IT HAPPENED IN 1865
January 12, 1865 - Francis P. Blair, the man who had
unsuccessfully communicated President Lincoln's offer to
Robert E. Lee to command all United States Forces, arrived
in Richmond, Virginia to meet with Confederate leaders with
a proposal for a peace conference.
January 13-15, 1865 - Attack on Fort Fisher, NC. After the
failed assault on Fort Fisher on December 24, General
Ulysses Grant relived General Butler of his command and
placed General Alfred Terry in charge of a larger Provisional
Corps that included about 9.000 troops. Terry received orders
on January 11, 1865, to join Rear Admiral David Porter in a
joint naval/army attack on Fort Fisher. Admiral Porter
commanded a fleet of almost 60 ships and recruited a group
of 2,000 sailors and marines to assist in the land assault.
Confederate General W.H.C. Whiting, commander of the
Cape Fear District, asked General Braxton Bragg for troops
to reinforce the rebel garrison at Fort Fisher. Bragg, fearful
of leaving Wilmington exposed to enemy attack, sent a group
of only 1,900 to the garrison. He also ordered General Robert
Hoke to position his 6,400 troops on the peninsula north of
Fort Fisher to protect the route to Wilmington.
The US forces reached Fort Fisher on January 11. While
Terry's forces landed and established a beachhead about 5
miles north of the fort, Admiral Porter's fleet began a
bombardment of the fort that lasted throughout the 13th and
14th. The ironclad Ironsides and 4 ships from the monitor
class drew to within 1,000 yards of the fort, drawing fire and
discovering the position of Fort Fisher's guns.
The naval fleet continued the bombardment of the fort on
the morning and early afternoon of January 15. When the
ships suddenly stopped their shelling at 3:00 PM, the sailors
were to begin the attack under cover of fire from marines and
sharpshooters. When the cover fire did not materialize, the
attack was repulsed and the Union troops suffered many
casualties. The garrison soldiers mistakenly concluded that
this was the main assault on the fort and they were drawn to
the sea face. At the same time, there was a second assault on
the fort's land face. General Terry's troops had cut through
the palisade fence and entered the fort through a large troop
gate.
From then on, it was a bloody hand-to-hand battle with
Union troops taking and being pushed back from the fort's
traverses. But the Confederate soldiers could not withstand
the much larger enemy force. General Hoke had sent 1,000
troops to assist the garrison when the ground assault began,
but only about 400 made it to the fort. In desperation, General
Whiting sent General Bragg a request for more troops. Bragg
instead sent General Alfred Colquitt to relieve Whiting of his
command. Colquitt arrived at Fort Fisher around 9:30 PMjust as mortally wounded Whiting was being evacuated to
Battery Buchanan. He escaped just before the official
Confederate surrender at 10:00 PM.
Attack on Fort Fisher
January 16, 1865 - Sherman Confiscated 400,000 Acres.
After his successful march through Georgia, General
William T. Sherman issued his Special Field Order No. 15,
which confiscated 400,000 acres of land along the coast
stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John’s
River in Florida, including Georgia’s Sea Islands and inland
as much as thirty miles. The order redistributed the land to
newly freed black families in forty-acre segments.
On January 12 Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M.
Stanton met with twenty black leaders of the Savannah
community, mostly Baptist and Methodist ministers to
discuss the issue. Lincoln approved Field Order No. 15
before Sherman issued it four days after meeting with the
black leaders. Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress, like
Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, had been pushing for
land redistribution for some time in part to break the back of
Southern slaveholders’ power. But from Sherman’s
perspective the most important thing about the order was it
relieved him of the burden of providing for the thousands of
black refugees who had been following his army since it had
invaded Georgia. With the refugees cared for, he would
continue his campaign without the additional burden of
providing for and protecting them.
2
The Knoxville Guard
The order called for the settlement of black families on
confiscated land, encouraged freedmen to join the Union
army to help sustain their newly won liberty, and designated
a general officer to act as inspector of settlements. Inspector
General Rufus Saxton would police the land and work to
ensure legal title of the property for the black settlers. In a
later order, Sherman also authorized the army to lend the new
farmers mules. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 is
probably the origin of the phrase “forty acres and a mule.”
January 19, 1865 - After regrouping in Savannah for a
month, William Tecumseh Sherman began moving north into
South Carolina
January 31, 1865 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee
reported to his superiors about an “alarming frequency of
desertion” from his Army of Northern Virginia, which
continued enduring the siege of Petersburg and Richmond.
Lee also stated that the “ration is too small for men who have
to undergo so much exposure and labor as ours.” The
Confederates’ paltry food reserve was partly caused by
January rain flooding the railroad supplying the troops.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis signed a bill into
law creating a general-in-chief of all armies. Some expected
Davis to veto the bill because it infringed on his duties as
commander-in-chief, and Davis had objected to a portion of
the original bill reinstating General Joseph E. Johnston to
army command. But this revised bill did not specifically
name Johnston, so Davis approved with the idea of
promoting Robert E. Lee to the new general-in-chief post.
Nick Periut Speaker
January 31, 1865 - The 13th amendment, which formally
abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on
April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865.
January Camp Meeting
Cannon Projectiles
Nick Periut’s Collection Location
3
The Knoxville Guard
Lee-Jackson Celebration
Adj. John Hitt – Commander Scott Hall
Jim Claborn – Mountain Storyteller
Bob Gentry – Scott Hall
Conny Ottway & Adj. Hitt
Conny plays Violin-Fiddle- Guitar-Mandolin
4
The Knoxville Guard
Merryann & Jeff Sardella
Annette & Ron Jones – H.K. Edgerton
Sandy & Robert Woods – Bob & Canita Gentry
5
The Knoxville Guard
Knoxville Guard
P.O. Box 943
Knoxville, TN 37901-0943
www.camp87scv.org
6