Inventory of the J. M. Smith Letters 14 Jan 1862; 9 Sept 1864

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Inventory of the J. M. Smith Letters 14 Jan 1862; 9 Sept 1864

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tamucush/00136/00136-P.html

Colonel J. M. Smith was a Confederate Army soldier, most likely from Texas, who served during the Civil War, at least between 1862 and 1864, in the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment, Company G, popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers. Smith's regiment was with the Army of Tennessee attached to Nathaniel Bedford Forest's command as raiders for a period during the war, and were in Tennessee fighting for most of the war, though they also fought at Shiloh and Corinth, Miss., and in Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky. Smith's two handwritten letters owned by the repository are addressed to his sister "Lue" from Camp Terry (near Bowling Green, Ky.) and from Near Lauderdale Factory, Ala. In the first letter, dated 14 Jan 1862, Smith mentions the death of one Confederate Col. Terry and another unnamed Lt. Col., who, according to Smith, was the brother of the Governor of Texas. Smith probably refers to Benjamin Franklin Terry, who, with Thomas Saltus Lubbock, brother of Texas Governor Lubbock, recruited the Eighth Texas Cavalry, generally called Terry's Texas Rangers. Colonel Terry was killed at the Battle of Rowlett's Station in Kentucky, also known as the Battle of Woodsonville, on 17 Dec.1861, and Lubbock, then sick in a Bowling Green hospital, was advanced to command of the regiment, but he also died Jan. 1862.In the first letter Smith also gives a brief description of the fighting taking place in Kentucky and Tennessee and how, on the following day, his regiment will leave for Bowling Green, Ky. and make their way towards Green River, Ky. He also mentions Mr. Bunting (Robert Franklin Bunting (1828-1891)), a chaplain for the Regiment, at the close of the letter. In the second letter, dated 9 Sept. 1864, only a few days after the fall of Atlanta to the Union Army under General Sherman, Smith discusses his regiment's campaign to burn the railroads, mostly in Tennessee, so that the Yankee troops will not be able to haul supply. U. S. Army General William Tecumseh Sherman is mentioned; so is the upcoming U. S. Presidential election between General George McClellan and then President Abraham Lincoln.

eng,

Cushing Memorial Library,

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6639987

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

McClellan, George B. (George Brinton), 1826-1885

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fs0m24 (person)

George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and later left the Army to work on railroads until the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Early in the conflict, McClellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role i...

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ck93n8 (person)

Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, near the banks of the Hocking River. His father, Charles Robert Sherman, a successful lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court, died unexpectedly in 1829. He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children and no inheritance. After his father's death, the nine-year-old Sherman was raised by a Lancaster neighbor and family friend, attorney Thomas Ewing, Sr., a prominent member of the Whig Party who served as senator from Ohio and as the first S...

Smith, J. M.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h587j9 (person)

Bibliography BUNTING, ROBERT FRANKLIN. The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbu22.htmlhttp://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbu22.html [Accessed Fri Jul 18 8:35:11 US/Central 2003 ] EIGHTH TEXAS CAVALRY. The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas...

Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 1821-1877

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pc318z (person)

Army officer. From the description of Nathan Bedford Forrest letter, 1867. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79450304 Planter, slave dealer, and Confederate Army officer; resident of Memphis (Shelby Co.), Tenn. From the description of Papers, 1862-1866. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 19562174 Confederate general; led cavalry forces during the battle of Fort Pillow, Tenn.; Confederate troops accused of slaughtering Union soldiers following th...

Confederate States of America. Army. Texas Cavalry Regiment, 8th

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65t88x3 (corporateBody)

Terry, Benjamin Franklin, 1821-1861

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6np2pq2 (person)

Lubbock, Thomas Saltus.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kv37s2 (person)

Bunting, R. F. (Robert Franklin), 1828-1891

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hq4w3b (person)

Robert F. Bunting (1828-1891) was a Presbyterian minister as well as the chaplain of Terry’s Texas Rangers. The Presbyterian Church sent Bunting, a Pennsylvanian born minister, to Texas as a missionary in 1852. By 1856, Bunting had established churches in La Grange, Columbus, Round Top, and San Antonio. Bunting helped form the Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America, by participating in the secession of the Southern Presbyterian Church from the Northern in 1861. ...

Confederate States of America. Army of Tennessee

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63817wf (corporateBody)

Principal Confederate army of the west, formed November 1862. From the description of Records, 1861-1864. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 28447972 ...