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Nathan Bedford Forrest is one of ablest commanders on record, the only Civil War officer to go from Private at the beginning of the war to highest rank then used, Lieutenant General. Union General Sherman said Confederate Lt. General Forrest was “the most remarkable man our civil war produced on either side.” Sherman, regarded as a great strategist, wrote this about Forrest: “…he had a genius for strategy which was original, and to me incomprehensible. There was no theory or art of war by which I could calculate with any degree of certainty what Forrest was up to. He always seemed to know what I was going to do next.” Forrest was remarkably brave in battle. Private James Hamner described one of their early battles:   “The Col. (Forrest) was about 50 yards ahead of us fighting for his life. I believe there was at least fifty shots fired at him in five minutes. One shot took effect in his horse’s head, but did not kill him. He killed 9 of the enemy.” Of another early battle, General Clark wrote this of Forrest: “…he was conspicuous for the most daring courage; always in advance of his command. He was at one time engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with 4 of the enemy, 3 of whom he killed, dismounting and making a prisoner of the fourth.” Forrest was noted for using a distinctive 12-star battle flag. He removed the middle star so his enemies knew exactly who they were fighting.

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The Battle of Perryville in Kentucky one of the most important battles of the American Civil War, but most people, including many Civil War buffs, know little about it..

Sam Watkins was there and he wrote about it in his famous memoirs. Sam served in the First Tennessee, Company H, and fought in every major battle that this Confederate unit was engaged in – Shiloh, Corinth, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign, Franklin, and Nashville.

There were over 55,000 Union and nearly 17,0006,800 Confederate troops in the area. These numbers make Perryville the largest battle to have been fought in the Bluegrass State.

He writes about his experience,

“I was in every battle, skirmish and march that was made by the First Tennessee Regiment during the war, and I do not remember of a harder contest and more evenly fought battle than that of Perryville.”The morning of the battle dawned, and the two sides “seemed to be eyeing each other.” Finally about noon, “they opened their war dogs upon us… and from one end of the line to the other seemed to be a solid sheet of blazing smoke and fire.”The Yankees and the Rebels were locked in “a mortal struggle” as the Rebels advanced.  Then Sam’s company encountered four cannons that fired into them:“We did not recoil, but our line was fairly hurled back by the leaden hail that was poured into our very faces… It was death to retreat now to either side.”These cannon were Napoleon guns, capable of firing 12-pound shots.The Rebels charged ahead and were soon in hand-to-hand fighting. Neither side wanted to yield.  Sam described it:“Such obstinate fighting I never had seen before or since….it seemed the earth itself was in a volcanic uproar.”

Confederate General Braxton Bragg also commented on the battle saying,

“for the time engaged it was the severest and most desperately contested engagement within my knowledge.”

Sam Watkins also wrote,

“I do not know which side whipped, but I know that I helped bring off those four Napoleon guns that night.”

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Soon after the formation of the Confederate States of America, the new government chose a national seal and motto: Deo Vindice: “God Will Vindicate”

The seal features George Washington on horseback, pictured in his uniform of the Revolution securing American independence. Washington is surrounded with a wreath, made of some of the main agricultural products of the Confederacy: wheat, corn, tobacco, cotton, rice and sugarcane. In the top margin of the seal are the words “The Confederate States of America: 22 February 1862”. This date on the seal commemorates the establishment of the new Confederate government in Richmond, Virginia with the inauguration of President Jefferson Davis – and it is also Washington’s birthday.But why George Washington?  

It’s easy to see. Washington was chosen as the model for the Confederacy because of his importance in founding a new nation. He was man of great personal character, a military leader who secured independence, and a new nation’s political leader.

Both North and South would claim Washington as their patron of democracy. No public figure stood higher in the public esteem. He was beloved by Northerners and Southerners alike. By 1861 he had come to symbolize everything virtuous and heroic about the American Revolution.

Historian Joseph J. Ellis wrote,

‘If there was a Mount Olympus in the new American republic, all the lesser gods were gathered farther down the slope from Washington.”

Since the Southerners claimed Washington as their guiding spirit, a member of the Georgia delegation to the 1861 Confederate constitutional convention in Montgomery, Alabama, proposed to name the new Southern nation ‘‘Republic of Washington.”

Jefferson Davis. In his inaugural address said,

“On this the birthday of the man most identified with the establishment of American independence, and beneath the monument erected to commemorate his heroic virtues and those of his compatriots, we have assembled to usher into existence the permanent government of the Confederate States.”

The Confederacy, he continued, would

“perpetuate the principles of our Revolutionary fathers. The day, the memory, and the purpose seem fitly associated….We are in arms to renew such sacrifices as our fathers made to the holy cause of constitutional liberty.”

Although neither Jefferson Davis nor Confederate General Robert E. Lee ever claimed the title for themselves, they were often called “Second Washingtons.”

Had he lived to see it, many say that George Washington would not have supported the Confederacy because of his stated commitment to one nation, indivisible.

But that didn’t prevent Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, and other leading Southerners from declaring that Washington  was a citizen of his state first, and of the United States second.

Maybe he would have been a Confederate, too, or maybe not. Who knows? It’s fun to think about it.  In any case, George Washington was definitely a hero and model of the Confederacy.

Confederate currency with Deo Vindice seal including George Washington

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More Americans died in The Civil War than any other conflict. In fact, it took half of all Americans lost in all our wars.  Most of it was fought on Confederate territory.   It was a brutal conflict, yet many a man fought from beginning to end. Soldiers had little tolerance for the opinions of those not in the fray. One man wrote about them as

“men who have not spunk enough to leave their mammy…setting on their asses by warm fires and enjoying all the comforts of home, running down men who are enduring hardships all the time and risking their lives…” Soldiers fought with great courage. A chaplain wrote,

“Our battle-worn veterans go into danger when ordered, remain as a stern duty so long as directed, and leave as honor and duty allow.”

One captain explained,

“I am a soldier and a good one,” though he admitted he might complain and “growl” after a fight. But when “an order came to storm a battery, nary a squeal would I make.”   Men were pushed to the breaking point, but kept going. They knew they could trust the fellows next to them, men who had stood up to certain death before, and would do it again.

One Southern private explained, “We were defeated because bravery and human endurance were unequal to the undertaking.” Honoring those lost was particularly sacred in the South. Local women established memorial associations to create cemeteries. The departed that never returned were remembered in many ways, and still are to this day.

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Private Sam Watkins of Company H, 1st Tennessee Regiment chronicled his experiences in his writings “Co. Aytch.” It is considered to be one of the greatest memoirs ever written by a soldier of the field. He captures the experience of the common private soldier, from the hardships of camp life and battlefields, the camaraderie of a unit, and the Confederate pride felt by all.  Here is the story about his first battle.It seems they were marching along in the summer of 1861,

“when bang, debang, debang, bang, and a volley of buck and ball came hurling right through the two advance companies of the regiment—companies H and K.”  They had  marched right into an ambush.Sam wrote,

“…no one seemed equal to the emergency. We did not know whether to run or stand, when Captain Field gave the command to fire and charge the bushes. We charged the bushes and saw the Yankees running through them…”After the fighting, Sam said the

“corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, all had torn all the fine lace off their clothing.”

He asked several of them why, and they always answered,

“Humph, you think that I was going to be a target for the Yankees to shoot at?”

“You see, this was our first battle, and the officers had not found out that minnie as well as cannon balls were blind; that they had no eyes and could not see. They thought that the balls would hunt for them and not hurt the privates. I always shot at privates. It was they that did the shooting and killing…when we got down to close quarters I always tried to kill those that were trying to kill me.”

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The Confederate Army had a number of soldiers who were Scottish or had Scottish ancestry.  Some of the Scottish units formed included the “Scotch Guards” from Alabama, the “Scotch Tigers” of North Carolina and the “Montgomery Highlanders” of Virginia. We will cover more about the Scots and their contribution to the Confederate cause in a separate article. 

The Civil War caused not only political divisions, but divisions within individual families. A story of note is about two Scottish born brothers, James and Alexander Campbell, who had come in the 1850’s to build new lives in America. When the Civil War broke out, they found themselves fighting against each other in their new homeland. They are the perfect example of a Brother against Brother conflict that happened more often than we like to think about during the Civil War.

James Campbell had settled in South Carolina, and became a member of the Charleston Battalion. Brother Charles, now from New York, became a member of the Union 79th New York Highlanders. They would ultimately face each other from opposite sides at the Battle of Secessionville in 1862.

The brothers corresponded with each other as the war carried on. They found themselves serving near Secessionville in 1862. When Federal Brother Alex learned of Confederate James’ location, he wrote to his wife on June 10:

“We are not far from each other now . . . this was a war that there never was the like of before Brother against Brother.“

Neither knew it at the time, but they fought each other at the Battle of Secessionville. At Fort Lamar, Federal brother Alexander, a Color Sergeant in the 79th, planted the U. S. flag before the parapet and kept it there until ordered to withdraw. When Confederate resistance started to buckle, Confederate brother James, a Lieutenant, mounted the parapet unarmed, rolled a log down into the mass of advancing federal troops, seized a Federal musket, and continued fighting.

The Charleston Mercury later reported:

“The foe, it is true, displayed admirable courage, the famous Highland regiment, the 79th New York, occupied the prominent place in the picture, but their desperate onslaughts were of no avail against the stubborn resolve and lofty valor of our brave boys.”

The Charleston Courier editorialized on the two brothers, saying:

“another illustration of the deplorable consequences of this fratricidal war.”

It stated Alexander Campbell, “fought gallantly in the late action” and “displayed … a heroism worthy of his regiment and a better cause” while James Campbell “was conspicuous and has been honorable mentioned on our side.”

Afterwards Confederate James wrote his Federal Brother:

“I was astonished to hear from the prisoners that you was color Bearer of the Regmt that assaulted the Battery at this point the other day.” James continued, “I was in the Brest work during the whole engagement doing my Best to Beat you.”

He continued:

“…but I hope you and I will never again meet face to face bitter enemies on the Battlefield. But if such should be the case You have but to discharge your duty for your cause for I can assure you I will strive to discharge my duty to my country and my cause.”

Shortly after the battle, Confederate James, tried to visit his federal brother by going to the Union lines, but  Federal troops would not allow James to cross the lines nor allow Alex to be brought out for a meeting of the two brothers.

Alexander wrote his wife in New York:

I hope to God that he and I will get safe through it all and he will have his story to tell about his side and I will have my story to tell about my side.”

After the war, they went their own separate ways, but kept in touch with each other. James went to Charleston, and Alexander went to Connecticut. They forever remained on good terms with each other.. Both had been soldiers, heroes for their own cause, who had fought against each other. But nothing, not even that great war of division, could break their bond of brotherhood.