CHAPTER V. The United States establishing its Civil Authority in Tennessce.-Appointment of a Military Governor.-Motives of the choice.-Life of Andrew Johnson.-A man of the people.-Humble origin.-Apprentice to a tailor. -How he learned to read.-A diligent Reader.-A migratory Tailor.-A rejected Lover.-Nothing but "a mean White."A dutiful Son.-Marriage.—A valuable Wife. -Elected Alderman.--Mayor.-Rapid political advancement.—Member of Congress.-- Governor of the State. - Defender of the Union.---Appointed Military Governor of Tennessee.— Sanguine hopes-Arrival of Johnson at Nashville.-Provisional Government organized.-Union Speeches and Meetings. Compulsory return to Loyalty.-Capture of Paris.-The resistance of the Enemy on the Mississippi. — New Madrid. Its description.-The Enemy's position.-Attack by General Pope.-Retreat of the Enemy.-Island No. 10.-Great preparations for Defence.-General Beauregard in command of the Department of the Mississippi. -Bragg at No. 10.-Lying like a Bulletin.-Great efforts of the Enemy in the West.-Occupation of Grand Junction, Jackson, Decatur, and Corinth.-Martial Law in Memphis. 1862. THE United States Government hav- | from many of those who had yielded to ing by its decisive victories at Forts the guidance of the leaders of the reHenry and Donelson obtained for its bellion. military forces access by the Tennessee. and Cumberland rivers to the interior of Tennessee, and become possessed of the capital, determined upon making an effort to re-establish its civil authority in the State. As this, however, could only be effected at first by the aid of an armed power, it was deemed necessary to establish a military government. The Honorable Andrew Johnson, who from the beginning of the civil troubles had adhered to the Union with a loyalty uninfluenced by the example of the political leaders of his adopted State, and unshaken by their denunciations, Mar. was appropriately appointed the 4. military Governor of Tennessee. His popularity in the State was such, it was believed, as would secure him a welcome, not only from that large portion of the population of Tennessee still supposed to be loyal to the Union, but even Andrew Johnson is pre-eminently a man of the people, having arisen from the humblest position in life. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the 29th of December, 1808. At the age of four years his father died, having lost his life in attempting to save a friend from drowning. His mother, who was poor and unaspiring, gave him no opportunities for education, and at the age of ten he was apprenticed to a tailor, with whom he remained learning his trade until he was seventeen years old. It was during his apprenticeship that he learned in this wise to read and write: A gentleman of Raleigh, who was in the habit of frequenting his master's shop, and prided himself upon his elocution, occasionally read to the workmen and boys a speech from a volume of the masterpieces of oratory of British statesmen. Young Johnson listened ea nian damsel's mother on the score of his youth and his poverty, since he was no more than "a mean white.” He now returned to Raleigh, and after remaining six months went to the West on a migratory search for employment, taking his poor old mother with him. Stopping at Greenville, Tennessee, by the way, he lived there twelve months, set to work at his trade, and got married. Having already his mother to provide for and now a wife, he was induced by this additional stimulus to effort, to make another move with the hope of bettering his fortune. He now be- his fortune. After a fruitless wandering of some months in the West, he returned to Greenville and settled down to his business as a tailor. gerly and admiringly, and became fired with an ambition to equal the visitor's elocution. He accordingly determined to learn to read, and soon, with the aid of a fellow-journeyman, mastered the alphabet. His next step was to ask for the loan of the book to the reading of which he had so often listened with delight. Its owner, interested in the lad's eager pursuit of learning, not only made him a present of the book, but gave him some instruction in spelling. With this aid, and his own perseverance during hours of leisure, he was soon able not only to spell but to read. He now became a diligent reader, devoting two or three hours of each night, after his long day's labor on the shop-board, to his books. In 1824, after the completion of his apprenticeship, young Johnson went to Laurens Court House, in South Carolina, where he worked at his trade as a journeyman tailor for two years. While thus occupied he fell in love with a young girl of the place, but his proffer of marriage was rejected* by the Caroli The story of his courtship and rejection is thus amus ingly told by an industrious gossip: "While working at Laurens Court House as journeyman tailor, he fell in love with a girl in the neighborhood and courted her. Governor Johnson tells the story himself. The young lady saw something more in Andy than her mother was able to discern. She engaged herself to him, provided he could get her mother's consent. Andy went one Sunday to speak to the old lady. His heart failed him until to ward night, when he mustered up courage and popped the question to the mother. He says she broke out on to let my daughter marry a wandering journeyman tailor? His wife proved a valuable acquisition to a man so eager as Johnson for mental improvement. He was soon able, by her assistance, for she was a woman of some education, to add writing and ciphering to his former single accomplishment of reading. These he pursued with untiring diligence during the late hours of the night-all that he could spare from the absorbing work of the shop. His fellow-citizens were not long in discovering the superiority of their studious tailor, and showed their appreciation of him by electing him an alderman. From 1828 to 1830 he continued to be annually chosen to this civic office, and at the close of the latter year was raised to the higher dignity of mayor. This lage mortified and crestfallen. He determined to quit the place and forget his love, after meeting with such scorn and contempt from the mother."' position he held for three years. In 1835 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and became prominent as the opponent of a scheme of internal improvement. This opposition to a measure which chanced to be popular, lost him his seat at the next election. In 1839, however, the disastrous effects of the scheme he had opposed having become manifest, he was re-elected by a large majority. In 1840, being chosen a presidential elector by the Democratic party, he canvassed a large district of the State of Tennessee, and developed in the course of a series of itinerant political disputations with his leading Whig opponents, his wondrous skill in stump oratory. In 1841 he was elected a State senator, and in 1843 a member of Congress, in which he served, after successive re-elections, until 1853. During his congressional career he continued an advocate of the policy of the Democratic party. He pleaded vigorously for the bill refunding the fine imposed upon General Jackson at New Orleans in 1815; he advocated the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the tariff of 1846, and a homestead bill. In 1853 he was chosen Governor of Tennessee, after an exciting contest with Gustavus A. Henry, the opposing candidate. In 1855 he was again elected Governor, being stoutly opposed by Meredith P. Gentry. In 1857, after the close of his governorship, he was elected to the United States Senate, where- while rebellion was hatching in the capital, traitors were plotting to destroy the national exist ence, and the leaders of his own State of Tennessee were in league with the conspirators-he boldly stood forth as the defender of the Union. While even Northern men quailed before the audacity of the Southern insurgents, and seeking counsel of their fears, hesitated to denounce their crime, Andrew Johnson, a native of Carolina, did not falter, but, vexed by the cowardice of his fellowsenators, demanded with all the vigor of his robust loyalty, "What is it? I ask, in the name of the constitution, what is it? It is treason, and nothing but treason." Throughout the struggle Johnson continued to be among the most loyal defenders and advisers of the Government. With his firm allegiance to the Union and his acceptability in Tennessee, it was hoped that he would be able to re-establish the Federal authority in that State on such a basis of popular concurrence, that when the armed enemy should be driven out, the citizens might not long require the application of force to reinstate them in their civil relations with the Government of the Union. Governor Johnson, who had been so many months an exile from the rebellious States, immediately on his appointment proceeded to Nashville, where, soon after his arrival, he addressed a Mar. large throng from the balcony of 12. the principal hotel, and found his audience apparently not unwilling to listen to his patriotic appeal in behalf of the Union. He at once installed himself in the Capitol, from which the secessionist Governor Harris and his sympathetic associates in authority had suddenly de NEW MADRID. parted on the approach of the Union army. He now prepared to organize a provisional government, and to make an effort to secure the allegiance of Tennessee. Another political notability of Tennessee, the Honorable Baillie Peyton, and a memorable example, like Andrew Johnson, of fidelity to the Union in a disloyal State, found at Gallatin, not far from Nashville, listeners to his fervid expression of Union sentiment. The people of this place, though they had been secessionists, gave a further proof, if not of sincere conversion to loyalty, of quick appreciation of its advantages, by seeking to renew their relations with the Federal Government, through a vote in favor of the establishment of a United States post-office. There was, however, no open manifestation of a desire to return to the Union, except in those parts of Tennessee where the presence of the Federal army either subdued aversion or encouraged affection, and it became manifest that the State was only to be fully redeemed by a successful prosecution of the war. 45 It will be remembered that, after the evacuation of Columbus, a large portion of the troops retired to New Madrid. This place, the capital of New Madrid County, is situated on the western bank of the Mississippi River, in the southeast corner of Missouri, where that State touches the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee. It is 247 miles below St. Louis, seventy-nine miles below Cairo, forty-two miles from Hickman at the northeast, on the opposite side of the river; ten miles from Island No. 10, which, lying in an elbow of the Mississippi, is at the south, yet by the course of the stream is above; and intervenes between Columbus and New Madrid in descending the river, though both these places are situated to the north. New Madrid is 160 miles above Memphis and 947 miles above New Orleans. Its position was felt by the enemy to be of great importance in defending these large cities, and as controlling the lower Mississippi. Accordingly, great efforts had been made to hold it. General Jefferson Thompson* had been posted there for some time with a considerable force, when he was strengthened by the troops which had abandoned Columbus, and by a flotilla of five gun-boats from New Orleans. Thus reinforced and in In the course of the movement of the Union troops in flanking the enemy's positions on the Mississippi, their intrenchments at Paris, Tennessee, were Mar. attacked by some Federal cavalry 12. and artillery. The enemy, estimated to be 600 strong, were driven out of their works with a loss of 100 in killed, varied success. On the 16th of January he had attacked, wounded, and prisoners. The loss of the Unionists was but five killed and four wounded; it was, however, on the Mississippi that the enemy were making the greatest effort at resistance. Thompson had been carrying on an irregular warfare for a long time in the southeastern part of Missouri, with with overpowering numbers, a force near Ironton of some 800 Unionists, and after a spirited resistance on their part, However, after prowling about some time with his band, skirmishing with Unionists, forced them to retire. plundering, and destroying bridges, in the neighborhood of Potosi, Cape Girardeau, Pilot Knob, etc., he was forced to seek refuge within intrenchments at New Madrid. trenched on the banks of the river, the at from 5,000 to 10,000 men, under a enemy were prepared to offer a stubborn resistance. General Halleck had pushed Feb. forward from Commerce, in Mis27. souri, a large force under General Pope, with the view of attacking the enemy's position at New Madrid. After six days' severe marching over and through the Mingo swamp, General Pope arrived near New Madrid, and after sending to Cairo for reinforcements, prepared to attack the enemy's fortified position, which is thus described by a Federal campaigner: "New Madrid stands upon the right bank of the river, just at the extremity of a very short and abrupt bend, not unlike the lower swell in the letter S. Ten miles above is Island No. 10, which, rumor says, is strongly fortified. A mile and a half below the town, the rebels have erected a strong four-bastioned fort, in which they have located seven ten-inch columbiads. In the open fields around the fort, in the town and above town, extending to the Little Bayou, the rebels have their encampments (mostly log huts), and the whole is surrounded with a well-erected earth-work and ditch, which we will have to scale in order to reach the town. The land is very low all around New Madrid, and in times of flood, like the present, there is little else than water to be seen in any direction. On the opposite side of the river for several miles the timber has been cut away, which gives a fair range to the enemy's artillery for several miles up the river." distinguished West Point officer, Gen- "It is almost impossible to give any exact account of the immense quan- Mar. tities of property and supplies left 14. General Pope, in his official report, gives the following detailed account of the operation which led to the retreat of the enemy from New Madrid: "I arrived before this town with the forces under my command on Monday, the 3d instant. I found the place occupied by five regiments of infantry and several com panies of artillery. One bastioned earth-work, mounting fourteen heavy guns, about half a mile below the town, and another irregular work at the upper end of the town, mounting seven pieces of heavy artillery, together with lines of intrenchments between them, constituted the de fensive works. Six gun-boats, carrying from four to eight heavy guns each, were anchored along the shore, between the upper and lower redoubts. "The country is perfectly level for miles around the place, and as the river was so high that the guns of the gun-boats looked directly over the banks, the approaches to the town for seven miles were commanded by direct and cross-fire from at least sixty guns of heavy calibre. "It would not have been difficult to carry the intrench ments, but it would have been attended with heavy loss, and we should not have been able to hold the place half an hour, exposed to the destructive fire of the gun-boats. The enemy were variously estimated | As there seemed no immediate hope for the appearance of |