By the Noble Daring of Her Sons: The Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee

Epilogue: It Is the Duty of Everyman to Obey the Powers That Be: January–May 1865

epilogue it is the Duty of everyman to obey the Powers That Be January–may 1865 on February 1, 1865, the Florida Brigade undertook its fourth and final rail movement of the war when its small regiments embarked at West Point, mississippi, for the journey east. During February’s first ten days, the brigade, with the corps of Generals Benjamin Cheatham (led by General William Bate) and Alexander Stewart (commanded by William loring), sped—at least as fast as trains could proceed along the Confederacy’s decrepit rail system—through towns in mississippi , Alabama, and Georgia that were now familiar to the Floridians. The Army of Tennessee, then led by Stewart and numbering only five thousand effectives, moved east to reinforce the Carolinas and attempt to defend those regions against Sherman. He had not rested on his laurels after reaching Savannah in December and instead turned north in January, determined to take his campaign of demoralization into the state that seceded first.1 led by lieutenant Colonel edward mashburn, the Florida Brigade crossed the Savannah river at Augusta, the men shouldering new enfield rifles obtained from the arsenal there. At the head of Bate’s old division rode the crippled lafayette Kenan, who was the division’s senior surviving officer. The men were in good spirits, their morale boosted by the fact that Jefferson Davis had reluctantly appointed Joe Johnston commander over most Confederate troops in the Carolinas. lieutenant Albert livingston applauded: “The great good & noble Johnston commands us again. The boys are delighted with this news.”2 During February and early march the troops slogged through the western portions of South Carolina. livingston wrote on march 5, “[U]ntil this morning we have had rain every day for the last Ten. The roads were in miserable condition— mud in some places over knee deep & in no place less than ankle.” in their attempt to reach Johnston, the veteran infantry made long marches comparable to those completed in Kentucky and on Hood’s recent campaign. in North Carolina , the cautious Johnston had decided to gather his scattered forces near Smithfield , intending to impede Sherman’s progress north. “once Sherman committed himself—either across Johnston’s front toward Goldsboro or by his flank toward raleigh—Johnston would attack.” Upon discovering on march 18 that one wing of Sherman’s army was near Bentonville, a hamlet just south of Smithfield on Goldsboro road, Johnston committed his troops to the offensive.3 on the afternoon of march 19, color-bearers unfurled the brigade’s surviving January–May 1865 221 tattered banners. As 3:00 P.M. neared, the Army of Tennessee’s small number of survivors formed ranks and lurched forward for one last charge. livingston informed his parents that the soldiers seized “2 lines of their Breastworks & completely [routed] the yanks for 2 miles. it was a glorious days work for the ‘Tenn Army’ as it was generally circulated & believed that our army was demoralized.” Though their attack finally faltered, the Floridians perhaps felt vindicated, for afterward General Bate “came around to our brigade & said that he really felt proud of little Florida.”4 The Florida Brigade’s exoneration did not come cheaply, though; after the fight Henry Holmes reported, “[o]ur brigade lost one fourth of its [numbers].” Benjamin Glover, who was in South Carolina at the time of the battle, wrote his wife with news: “Johnson has had a hard fight with Sherman and gave him a whipping. our Brig suffered as useual [sic].” Albert livingston, who fell during the battle with a shell fragment through his knee, explained, “[T]he loss of the brigade for the numbers engaged i am sorry to say is heavier than it has ever been before.” one irreplaceable casualty was Colonel Kenan. While leading the remnants of Bate’s Division into the fray, a Federal bullet shattered his right leg, and surgeons were forced to amputate. The Bentonville battlefield lay thirty miles northwest of Kenansville, the wounded colonel’s birthplace.5 As Sherman’s forces concentrated against Johnston’s army, the outnumbered Confederates retreated from the Bentonville battlefield in the early morning hours of march 22. Camping between Smithfield and raleigh, the Florida Brigade remained inactive—save for corps reviews—until April 9, 1865. on the day robert e. lee surrendered the Army of Northern virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox , General Johnston began a new phase of consolidation within the Army of Tennessee. With depleted brigades becoming regiments, the proud Florida Brigade , comprising fewer soldiers than...