676 Norto Caronina Troops, 1861-’65.

Sixty-fifth Regiment. Historic truth should ever be held
sacred.

Great injustice has been done to the valor of the men who
fought for four years the vast overwhelming odds sent to sub-
due the South. Many erroneous reports have been given to
the world in regard to the number of men placed in the field
by the Confederacy. Many so-called “authorities” main-
taining, with much obstinacy, that the forces exceeded a mil-
lion of men against the three millions of the Federal troops
engaged in the war against our people.

IN EAST TENNESSEE.

The Fifth and Seventh Battalions before, and after this
consolidation the Sixty-fifth Regiment, performed duty under
the military commander of the Department of East. Tennes-
see. The troops were required to assist local authorities in
the enforcement of the conscription acts of the Confederate
Congress; and also to prevent and quell insurrections among
the disaffected and turbulent elements in that department.
It was a sore and thankless task; and in its discharge were be-
gotten feuds and animosities not yet entirely effaced from the
minds and memories of the families of those who fell victims
on either side there. In February, 1863, the two battalions
were at Big Creek Gap and Greenville, Tenn. In April,
1863, they were on outpost duty in Kentucky in the brigade
commanded by Colonel John S. Scott, and 31 July, 1863, at
Bell’s Bridge under General J. W. Frazer.

No troops ever had more bitter and disagreeable duties
than were at times imposed upon the men and officers of this
command in East Tennessee. One of the first fatal conflicts
after the organization came on Christmas day, 1862, at a
point on Watauga river, near Dugger’s Ferry, in Carter
County, Tennessee. A few days before, some citizens of
North Carolina had been waylaid and robbed near by, by a
marauding band who informed their victims that the troops of
the regiment were to be secretly attacked soon by the same
band. The attack came from men concealed in ambush on the
bluffs above the river bank while the column was on its march.
A sharp fight ensued which resulted in the killing of one sol-

Srxty-Firra REGIMenr. 677

dier from the regiment and the wounding of others. A num-
berof bushwhackerswere killed outright and several captured.
Two of the latter were tried and condemned to death by a
court-martial. They were hanged promptly to the most con-
venient tree near the spot where they were captured. For
the execution of these men, some five or six of the officers of
the Sixty-fifth regiment were, after the surrender of the Con-
federate armies, indicted in the State courts of Tennessee on
the charge of murder; and for several years afterward, these
gentlemen had to fight not only the criminal prosecutions, but
other suits were filed against them for damages claimed by
the families of the bushwhackers executed.

There were numerous other conflicts with the disaffected
East Tennesseeans during the winter of 1862 and spring
months of 1863, while the two battalions remained on duty in '
that country ; but none of such a serious character as the one
just referred to.

For the subsequent history of the movements and actions
of the command, I am indebted to material furnished me by
two of the leading officers of the line in the regiment, officers
who had more and better opportunities for seeing in person
the trying conflicts of the men than the writer, who, as a
“quartermaster,” is not generally supposed to have been in
the quorum pars of the fighting corps. The historic narra-
tive which follows is mainly from the pens of Captains B. R.
Brown and W. E. McDowell. Captain Brown writes:

IN KENTUCKY.

“About 1 May, 1863, we were ordered to Knoxville, Tenn.,
and thence to Kentucky, where we joined Brigadier-General
Pegram on the Cumberland river, near Mill Spring, and
where we at once encountered the enemy’s cavalry under

General Wolford, in our first appearance there on the picket
lines, and where Captain Gillespie and about fourteen of his
men were captured. We lost three men also at Steubenville,

where Colonel Goode, of the Tenth Confederate Cavalry,

came to our assistance.”
After some months of picket duties on the Kentucky fron-

tier, and in operation against the enemy’s raiding expedi