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Cren. M. P. Ijowrey.
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Ripley, Miss., September 30, 1867.
Colonel Calhoun Benham,
Dear Sir:
This is the earliest day possible for
me to commence the work that you re
quested at my hands, and even now, I
am waiting for some facts for which 1
have written to other parties, and
which I hope to receive in a few
days. I hope, however, that you will
not be detained in your work on ac
count of this delay, as such a book as
you propose to write must not bs hast
ily gotten up. For it is a matter of
great importance that it be prepared
with the greatest care, and be scrupu
lously correct; as it will amply repay
the labor required, and will not only
be highly prized and extensively read
by this generation; but will be read
with interest by generations yet un
born. For want of all the mater al to
give you,in that which I propose to write
first I will give you a few facts in re
lation to my own history for which you
asked me. These will be brief, and
such of them as you think proper to
give to the world, you will please give
entirely in your own language,making
no verbatim extracts from what I shall
write.
I was born in McNairy county,Tenn.,
the 30th, of December, 1828. My
father died when 1 was a small boy,
leaving ray mother (whoytt survives)
with a large family of children to raise,
and with but little means. I was the
youngest of five sons, all of whom are
yet living. I had two sisters younger
than myself, one of whom died in
childhood ; also four sisters older than
myself. My mother was not able to
give me a good education ; and as the
first resolution of any importance that
I ever formed was to make a fortune, I
neglected the cultivation of my mind
in early youth. In my fifteenth year,
my mother removed to Farmington, a
little village in Tishomingo county,
Miss., four miles from where Corinth
is now situated.
In my 18th year I volunteered in a
company that was being raised for the
Mexican war, but the call on our state
was filled before the company was ful
ly organized, and we were not re
ceived.
IN THE MEXICAN WAR.
Then, in my 19th year, when re
cruits were called for to fill up the
ranks of the 2d Mississippi regiment, I
volunteered, went to Mexico, remain
ed in the service until the close of the
war, and was mustered out of service
with the balance of my regiment at
Vicksburg, Miss., in July 1848, hav
ing been a soldier nine months and
five days. I was a private in Captain
Alex. Jackson’s company, of the 2d
Mississippi regiment. This legiment
was first commanded hy Colonel Reu
ben Davis; but when I was with it, it
was commanded by Colonel Charles
Black, who was in the late war a while
as brigadier general in the Confederate
army, and afterwards governor of Mis
sissippi. I was not in any battle in
the Mexican war, as our regiment was
never engaged. The regiment was
well drilled, and was kept under good
discipline; and here I formed a taste
for military discipline and tactics. At
21 years of age
I WAS MARRIED
to Miss Sarah Holmes, of Tishomingo
county, who was a daughter of Isham
Holmes, a thrifty farmer, who lived
near Rienzi.
I had professed the Christian relig
ion in my 17th year, and became a
member of the Baptist church. After
a long struggle with my almost un-
conquerable resolution to become rich
—a struggle between worldly inter
est and Christian duty —in my 24th
year I yielded to the call of my
church, began the work of the
GOSPEL MINISTRY
and devoted my whole time to the pur
suit of knowledge and to the other
duties of my profession. From the
very beginning of this arduous under
taking, I received great encourage
ment, both from the church and from
the world. I was favored with large
and attentive congregations, and my
first labors were crowned with encour
aging success. I was soon called to
positions that opened the way to use
fulness, gave roe a support for my
family, opportunities to improve my
education and to give myself wholly to
my profession. As I bad gained a
victory over my ambition to gain
wealth, this was all I asked, and I
never indulged a moment’s thought of
turning from the holy calling to make
money, or for any civil or military po
sition.
At the beginning of the late war, I
lived at Kossuth, a little village nine
miles southwest of Corinth, was quietly
pursuing my theological* studies, had
the pastoral care of some religious con
gregations to whom I was much at
tached, and who cherished the warm
est affection for me, as their spiritual
guide aud instructor. In political
questions I took no part, as I did not
think it became a minister cf the gos
pel to engage in the heated discussions
that then prevailed throughout the
country and naturally lead to the in
dulgence of immoderate feelings and
passions. But our people were all
aroused, and were, to a man for the
Confederacy. My feelings ran in the
same channel, and there was no neu
tral ground to occupy. I was called
out in several public meetings, and
gave free expression to my sentiments.
I was also appointed beforehand to ad
dress public meetings, and was thus
brought prominently before the pub
lic, in a manner I had endeavored to
avoid. As I had had some experience
in military service in the Mexican war
I was soon urged to accept the com
mand of men, and was more than once
waited on and urged to do so, but pos
itively declined.
IN THE CONFEDERATE SERVICE FOR
SIXTY DAYS.
But in the fall of 1861, the legisla
ture of Mississippi passed an act call
ing out ten thousand men for sixty
days, to arm and equip themselves for
an emergency. My neighbors raised
a company and elected me captain of
it, urging that I could go with them
for sixty days and that it was my duty
to do so. I could not refuse. In a
few days I was with my company at
Corinth, the place of rendezvous;
and at the organization of a regiment,
I was almost unanimously elected colo
nel of it. About ‘the first of Decem
ber, my regiment being fully organ
ized, (which was numbered at the state
capital “the 4th regiment of sixty days
volunteers.”) I was ordered to Bowling
Green, Ky., with other state troops,all
of which were commanded by General
Reuben Davis, who had been made
a major-general, in the state service.
My men having left comfortable
homes in the cold winter, and being
uAised to camp life, nearly all got
sick. Measels and pneumonia pre
vailed to an alarming extent,and many
good men died. At the close of our
term, we were discharged, and I felt
that my military career was at an end.
I attempted to return to civil life, and
to the care of my Christian congrega
tions.
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
IN THE CONFEDERATE SERVICE FOR
THE WAR.
But after the fall of Fort Donelson,
the clamor for my services in the field
so incresed that it was irresistible.
Many who had been with me in the
sixty day’s state service and who want
ed to volunteer for the war, begged
me to go with them. Old ladies and
old gentlemen earnestly entreated me
to go with their sons. Tishomingo
county had lost a regiment at Fort
Donelson (the 26th Mississippi,) and
our people resolved to put another in
the held in its place, and I was select
ed to raise and organize it. Our state
was threatened with invasion, and
Tishomingo county was the threatened
point. All felt that every man who
could bear arms should rise up and
stand between his home and the enemy,
and he who would not do so was deem
ed unworthy to be called a Mississip
pian. Churches felt that they had no
use for pastors then; fighting men were
in demand. I was restless and my
blood was hot within me. The thought
of sitting still until the enemy would
overrun my home and family was
more than 1 could bear. The result is
soon told : I raised and organized the
32d Misssisippi regment in a little less
time than any other regiment was ever
raised and organized in north Missis
sippi. The regiment was organized at
Corinth, on the third of April, 1862.
and I was unanimously elected colo
nel. This was a few days before the
BATTLE OF SHILOH J
but at the time of that battle the regi
ment had not been equipped or armed,
and was not in the fight, but we re
ceived prisoners and captured proper
ty and accompanied prisoners to the
interior.
After the battle, my regiment was
assigned to Brigadier-General S. A.
M. Wood’s brigade of Hardee’s divi
sion- I was very soon the senior col
onel in the brigade, except Colonel
W. B. Wood, of the 16th Alabama,
who was for nearly a year absent from
the army, Then, in the absence of
the brigadier-general I was entitled to
the command. 1 was frequently
thrown in command of the brigade be
before the commencement of the
KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
At Chattanooga, before the cam
paign commenced, the army was reor
ganized. General Hardee placed in
command of a corps, and Major-Gen
eral Buckner placed in command of
our division. • As soon as the army
entered Kentucky, General Buckner,
left the divison for a time, to encour
age the enlistment of Kentucky troops,
and General Wood, being the senior
brigadier, was placed in command of
the divison, which left me in command
of the brigade. I Bad engaged in
some active skirmishing about Cor
inth, but the battle of Perryville was
the first regular engagement I was
ever in. Just before tne commence
ment of the battle, General Buckner
resumed the command of the division,
and General Wood of the brigade,
which sent me back to my regiment.
But before we got near the enemy
General Wood was slightly wounded by
a shell, and I resumed the command
of the brigade. So, I commanded a bri
gade in the first battle I was ever en
gaged in. But I was soon painfully
wounded in my left arm, by which I
was disabled about eight weeks. At the
BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO,
my regiment was detached for special
service, and did not engage in the first
day’s fight; but took an active part in
the skirmishing that followed it, and I
was left to bring off the brigade in the
retreat from that place.
Early in 1863, at Tullahoma, the
45th Mississippi regiment was con&li-
dated with mine, and I was placed in
command of the consolidated regi
ments. Up to tjjis time I had but lit
tle opportunity to drill my regiment;
but at Tullahoma, in the spring of
1863, we drilled for several months,
and my regiment became very profi
cient in drill. In an inspection by
General Hardee of each regiment of
Wood’s brigade, drilling separately,my
regiment was pronounced by him the
best drilled regiment in the brigade,
and the regiment was complimented in
a general order. In the small fights
and skirmishes that preceded the re
treat from middle Tennessee, in July
1863, my regiment took an active
part.
The next regular battle in which
I was engaged, was that of
CHICKAMAUGA.
In that, after a gallant charge, made
by Cleburne’s division, on the evening
of the first day, in which we drove the
enemy from a strong position, and in
which my regiment charged gallantly
through an open field on the most ex
posed part of the line, General Cle
burne complimented me personally;
but the gallantry displayed was not
mine but that of my men. In the en
gagement the next morning, when we
charged the enemy’s works and were
repulsed with heavy loss, my regiment
was, I think, in the most exposed
part of the line, but held its position
until all the tn-ops had retreated, both
on the right and left, and then was the
first regiment to rally and form for an
other onset. I was again compliment
ed by General Cleburne,and I, and my
command were favorably noticed in his
official report, as you are aware. Mv
promotion immediately followed this
engagement, with the circumstances
of which you are well acquainted. My
APPOINTMENT AS BRIGADIER GENERAL,
was on the fourth of October, 1863.
I had then served as colonel eighteen
months besides my sixty day’s service
with state troops. I count from the
time of my election; but under
authority of the war department,
I had raised and organized the regi
ment, acting in the capacity, and with
the rank [of colonel. You remember
that after my promotion to brigadier
general, I was assigned to the com
mand of the old brigade with which I
had served from the beginning, and .
which I had often commanded. From
the foregoing you will observe, also,
that I had never commanded less than
a brigade.
I know you remember all j
about the part I took in the
BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE,
as you were on my line several times>
during the day and brought me the or-,
derat night to retreat. I selected the po
sition I occupied on the right, without
a guide, and without knowing the
country —occupied it, and fortified it
under the fire of the enemy, and held
it, protecting the right flank of our
army all day.
AT RINGGOLD,
or Taylor’s Ridge, my brigade was at
first held in reserve in the gap; and
General Polk, having been sent over
behind the right hand hill, had sent
the first Arkansas regiment upon the
hill to watch the movements of the
enemy. When General Cleburne, saw
heavy columns of the enemy moving
rapidly to his right he gave me a ver
bal order, I think in these words : “Go
upon that hill and see that the enemy
don’t turn my right.” I moved by the
right flank and with much difficulty
climbed the rugged hill. I got my horse
up the hill with much difficulty, but
my field officers all left their horses
and w’ent up on foot. On reaching
the top of the hill, I heard firing on
the right about a quarter of a mile