Musing of a History Buff - Oct. 15

Grandpa at Chickamauga

In 1863 my Great-grandfather Amos Ellis was administrator/principal of the Livingston, Texas public schools. In May of 1863 one of my Great-uncles Gabriel Barfield was grazed by a Union minie ball on his backside.

My other Great-uncle Richard Ellis who was also there at the Battle of Chancellorsville wrote home about it and set my Great-grandmother Patience Ellis on her ear. She demanded my great-grandfather go and fetch the boys home.

No amount of explaining to her about army regulations, about desertion or that they would not come home anyway, made any difference to her.  He had to go get them and bring them home.

Much to his chagrin, Amos had no choice but to go. He managed to put her off until the end of the school year but after that he could no longer avoid it.

My Grandfather was 40 years old and probably drove a wagon for the First Texas Infantry of which his son, Pvt. Richard Ellis, was a member. We do know he drove a wagon full of wounded away from the Gettysburg battlefield.

After the battle of Gettysburg, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia retreated into the relative safety of Virginia.

In the spring of 1863, there were three options open to the Confederate Generals in the Eastern theater of operations, one: to stay put and continue to fight a defensive battle, two: to move west and support the efforts of the western army, or attack north.

No one seemed to be in favor of staying put, the attitude in Richmond was to hurt the North as they had hurt the south. General James Longstreet suggested moving west, but General Lee’s plan to invade the North was chosen.

That effort failed at Gettysburg. Many historians believe Gen. Longstreet had lost confidence in Gen. Lee after Gettysburg and wanted to move his command west for two reasons. One was to be free of the Lee’s command and the other was his deep concern, shared in Richmond, that General Braxton Bragg commander of the Western theater was in over his head.

The western theater was in trouble. Vicksburg had fallen, New Orleans, and most of Louisiana and the entire Mississippi River were under Union control. Now Tennessee and Georgia were threatened.

Longstreet’s Corps detached from the ANV in September, 1863, this included the Texas Brigade.

Because of Union activity a direct route was impossible so Longstreet’s Corps rode trains from Richmond to Atlanta then north to Chattanooga.

From August 15 to September 8, Union and Confederate forces had maneuvered around each other looking for and opening. This situation settled into a stalemate. On September 17, 1863, news of a large Confederate force concentrating west of Chickamauga Creek began to filter into the Union HQ in the West.

Suddenly on the morning of September 18, 1863 a huge Confederate army came charging across the creek and the battle waged back and forth for the next two days.

The Texas Brigade was engaged several times but the faithful engagement was on the September 19. The Brigade engaged a Union Brigade around 7:00 a. m. and the Battle was on again from the previous day. However, another Union Brigade joined the fight along with a unit of artillery.

This Union brigade was armed with the new seven shot Spencer rifle. Instead of having to reload after every shot as the Confederates did they were able to keep a continuous hail of lead into the advancing Texans.

Many of the Texans sheltered in a ditch away from the storm of fire, and then cannons were brought to bear on their flank firing canister shot. That day was a Confederate victory, elsewhere on the battlefield.

But for the Texas Brigade it was a disaster. Many were killed, many captured, many terribly wounded by the .56 caliber bullets and especially by the canister shot.

Later that night or early the next morning my Great-grandpa Amos Ellis found his oldest son Richard on the battlefield.  He loaded his body on a mule and found a quiet spot near the creek and buried him there.

Grandpa returned home to Texas within the next several weeks, he brought home a lock of Richard’s hair to my Great-grandmother Patience. The grave is unmarked somewhere on the battlefield at Chickamauga, TN.

Gabriel was badly wounded losing his left arm at the shoulder and left leg at the hip. Somehow Grandfather got him home alive. He died several years later due to complications of his wounds.

My Great-Grandfather H. Amos Ellis is buried in Livingston, Texas in the old city cemetery.

His name is listed on some records of the First Texas Infantry as A. H. Ellis, he is also listed on the rolls of the Third Texas Infantry records but because much of the Third’s history is extremely vague.  I have been unable to determine when he served or if he was in the only battle the Third was in, the battle of Jenkins Ford on April 30, 1864.

If he was then he and my Great-great-grandfather James Washington Knox were in the same battle.

 Until next time…