This text is part of:
[314] and death as matters that could not be helped. Just as men strive to win their way in business by diligent application to duty, so men strove to win their way to promotion by proving themselves efficient and bold in battle. Maj.-Gen. W. Y. C. Humes of Tennessee entered the Confederate army as a lieutenant of artillery, and in June, 1861, was commissioned captain of that branch of the service in the army of the Confederate States. General McCown, in one of his reports from New Madrid Bend, bears this testimony to his worth: ‘Captain Humes, commanding artillery on the island, deserves commendation for his energy and proper bearing.’ He was with the force that was captured at Island No.10. After being exchanged, he entered the cavalry service and rose rapidly until we find him a brigadier-general, November 16, 1863, commanding a brigade of cavalry in Wheeler's corps. During the Atlanta campaign he commanded a division of cavalry, one of the best. Throughout the whole campaign from Dalton to Atlanta the cavalry were kept busy, sometimes guarding the flank of the army, at times making raids to the rear of the enemy, and at other times meeting Federal raiders and defeating them. No army ever had a more splendid body of cavalry than that of the army of Tennessee in 1864. When Hood marched into Tennessee, Wheeler's splendid cavalry corps accompanied him until he crossed the Tennessee. Then Forrest with his corps of cavalry took Wheeler's place, and the latter returned into Georgia with his troops to harass and impede the march of Sherman as much as possible. Twice these brave horsemen saved Augusta from the fate of Atlanta and Columbia; once by repelling the Federal cavalry near Waynesboro, and afterward by a decisive defeat of Kilpatrick at Aiken, S. C. Humes with his division formed a part of Wheeler's force during this period also. He was again with the army of Tennessee in the Carolinas, and participated in the last battle fought by that army at Bentonville. In March,
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.