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| Capt. James Park Hanner "D" 1st Tennessee |
Some histories show that the 1st Tennessee left the western Virginia campaign theater after the battle of Cheat Mountain in September of 1861. It can get confusing because.... there was another 1st Tennessee in the field at the same time. 1st Tennessee (Maney's) was with Anderson's Brigade in the Bath-Romney Campaign, while 1st Tennessee (Turney's) was at Dumfries in the Aquia District under General T. H. Holmes. To make matters more confusing, 1st Tennessee (Maney's) was sent to Tennessee and the rest of the brigade (7th and 14th Tennessee) was transferred to the Aquia District as part of the shake-up resulting from the Loring-Jackson incident. The 7th and 14th were then brigaded with other 1st Tennessee (Turney's) to form the Tennessee Brigade that would serve under Hill in the Army of Northern Virginia. Maney's 1st Tennessee went on to fight at Shiloh in Cheatham's Division.
So... the 1st Tennessee represented in the simulation is.... 1st Tennessee (Maney's). A site dedicated to the Williamson Grays, which became Company D of that regiment, has this to say on the historical 1st Tennessee during the period covered by the simulation:
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Jackson wanted to strike the Federal B& O Railroad in what is now West Virginia. They struck camp at around eight in the morning on January 1, 1862 and moved forward towards Bath, VA moving eight miles that day. On January 3, Jackson reached three miles from the town. That night the weather turned terribly cold and the amount of snow on the ground began to rise. In fact, the entire
campaign would be filled with snowy, cold days and nights.
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| Capt. Hume R. Field (Later Colonel) 1st Tennessee |
On January 4 they were formed up for attack. Jackson wanted his old Virginia unit to move forward against the town and take out a battery that began opening fire on the Confederates forming for an assault. When Jackson informed Colonel Maney of his decision every men began yelling, “Let us take the battery!” The regiment surged forward, but to their disappointment they found only a handful of Federals left at the battery. In Jackson’s report of the campaign he later recalled, “it was undertaken with a patriotic enthusiasm which entitles the First Tennessee Regiment and its commander special praise.” This action had just been a distraction while the Federals retreated towards Hancock, Maryland. A cavalry unit went forward into town and routed the remaining Federals.
That night Private George Nichols recorded in his diary: “We had a very heavy skirmish. It snowed all night; had to sleep standing up; had no blankets and only scant clothing.” The next day the regiment set out north in the direction of Hancock. Private Henry Bowden Walker’s shoes by this point had worn out to the point he no longer had any use for them. Sergeant Kit Ridley remembered with bleeding feet Walker stayed with the company and never left the line, he was so anxious to be in a fight.
The next night the army reached to within view of the town of Hancock, MD. Attacking the town was
impossible because a river was between them. The men had to wait in the cold weather while Confederate artillery merely bombarded the town. One night outside of Hancock, William Pollard remembers a detail going out to stand picket and by morning most of them had froze to death.
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| Sam R. Watkins, "D" 1st Tennessee |
Stonewall continued to shell the town while he constructed a pontoon bridge two miles from Hancock. The bridge allowed them to make raids against the Federals, but it became apparent that the town of Hancock could not be taken without battle, which Jackson was not prepared to do. On January 6, Jackson turned back from Hancock and moved to Bath, VA and then turned west towards Romney. This march seemed to be the most cumbersome of the entire campaign for the men of the 1st Tennessee. The roads became muddy and icy and the regiment had to help get the wagons moving along. “We were marching, pushing, yelling, and prizing until at night we camped in sight of where we left the night before,” recalls William Pollard.
Romney, VA had been abandoned and then occupied by the Confederates on January 10. When the 1st Tennessee reached the town on January 16, Jackson had come to the decision to stop here and build his winter quarters for his command for one reason. Many of the men were fed up with Jackson’s campaigning in the terrible weather. George Nichols remembers an officer told the men to play sick and many of them did. For instances such as these the Romney Campaign was abandoned. The army stopped here because his soldiers refused to go any further. They had fought their environment more then the Yankees. The number of sick continued to rise and some of the NCOs in the company lost their rank because they could no longer fulfill their duties their rank required because of sickness.
To make matters worse Stonewall moved his old brigade back to Winchester and left Loring’s Division in the small town of Romney. Many officers went straight to Richmond to complain about General Jackson and the way he was running the army. To get Jackson to return his whole command to Winchester a false report was made that the Federals were in the process of flanking Jackson and the War Department wanted him to abandon Romney immediately. On February 2 the army started preparing to retreat from Romney and the Federals got wind of the evacuation and pursued them to within 21 miles of Winchester. The regiment arrived at Winchester on February 7. Upon reaching Winchester, Jackson offered his resignation to the war department. It was refused.
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| George Nichols, Company "D" 1st Tennessee |
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The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson corresponded with charges, counter-charges and assorted correspondence related to the trouble between Loring and Jackson coming from the conduct of the Bath-Romney Campaign. The War Department in Richmond broke up Loring's Division, which changed the disposition of Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia. Apparently, Colonel Maney had requested to have his regiment transferred back to Tennessee and this was granted in the following special order, found in Series 1, Volume V, Chapter XIV of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, p. 1068.
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SPECIAL ORDERS, ~ ADJT. AND INSP. G-EN.S OFFICE, No. 33. Richmond, February 10, 1862. * * * * * * *
IV. The following regiments will proceed without delay to Knoxville, Tenn., and report for duty to General A. S. Johnston, commanding Department No. 2:
Colonel Maneys First Regiment Tennessee Volunteers.
Colonel Vaughns Third Regiment Tennessee Volunteers.
First Regiment Georgia Volunteers.
V. The following regiments will proceed at once to Fredericksburg, Va., and report for duty to Major-General Holmes, commanding Aquia District:
Seventh Regiment Tennessee Volunteers.
Fourteenth Regiment Tennessee Volunteers.
Third Regiment Arkansas Volunteers.
VI. All the remainder of the command of Brigadier-General Loring will proceed without delay to Manassas, Va., and report for duty to General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding.
* * * * * *
By command of the Secretary of War.
JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant- General.
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Maney's men were still in Winchester on February 19th, when Jackson included the following in a communication to Johnston (OR p. 1076):
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"The First Tennessee leaves for Knoxville at dawn to-morrow morning~ would have left this morning, but I thought it best not to move until something could be heard respecting the time when the cars could receive them, as the weather has been very bad and the troops are comfortable in their present position, and are within a days march of Strasburg."
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The B & O WINTER command simulation starts with a January 1862 order of battle, but follows an alternate history from there. As far as anyone knows, Maney's 1st Tennessee will likely be with Jackson through the duration of the simulation.
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