Sidney Ray Grimes, Jr. Family:Information about T.M.C. Davidson
T.M.C. Davidson (d. date unknown)
Notes for T.M.C. Davidson:
Captain in Civil War (22 yr. old).
Member of the Iredell Blues.
Captured in 1864. Taken to Fort Deleware and was there when Lee surrendered.
In prison with col. Bennet for 9 months.
Made Captain when his Captain (A.K. Simonton) died.
EXPERIENCES IN THE CIVIL WAR
T. M. C. Davidson
I, T.M.C. Davidson, of the county of Iredell, North Carolina do this day the16th of January, 1915 undertake to make a few notes of my life during the War Between the States. Therefore, I give my name at the top of this page, thinking it doubtful at this late date that I would ever get it finished.If you look at the family record, you will find that when the war broke out I was being on my twenty second year.
I was a member of the Iredell Blues at the time. The Commissioned officers of the Blues when the war came I wi11 give: Captain A. K. Simonton, First Lieutenant W.A. Eliason, Second Lieutenant J. S. Miller, Third Lieutenant A. D. Moore. I will say in passing our company had a glorious time just before the war came. There was a company in Salisbury named the Rowan Rifle Guard; one in Concord, called The Cabarrus Boys; and one in Charlotte, called the Hornet Nest Company.We four companies would be called to celebrate certain occasions, especially the old citizens of Mecklenburg County would invite these four companies down to Charlotte on the twentieth of May, and we would have a rousing time, an occasion which we four were as anxious to perpetuate as the people of Mecklenburg, and yet, there are some men in this State I am sorry to say, who are trying to make out there was no such gathering, shame on them. I saw old men on those occasions who would become as enthused as we young boys. I was told that some of these men were about ninety years old. My father was born during the Revolutionary War and lots of these old men were older than he.
When Governor Ellis called for volunteers, after Virginia seceded, Capt. Simonton not being at home Lieutenant Eliason tendered our company to the governor and went off to Fort Caswell with about half of our company. I was notified to be in Statesville at a certain hour on a certain day. When I got there, Lt. Miller and Lt. Moore refused to go, and persuaded a big bunch of us to wait until Capt. Simonton came, which was only a day or two. We took us down to the fort and there with the help of the companies other than ours we mounted big cannon around the fort and did lots of drilling both in Infantry and Artillery. Col. Cantwell was in command of the fort. I have forgotten the names of the other officers. We had quite a lively time there for about six weeks. By that time it began to get monotonous and many of us were anxious to get away into something more exciting and we did.
We were sent to Goosebury near Me1born, N.C. and there we were organized into the Fourth N. C. Regiment, and our company was lettered A. Two companies from Rowan were lettered B and K and two other companies were lettered C and H, with the company from Davie County lettered G. Then we practiced drilling the Infantry manual for some ten days; then we were taken to Richmond, Virginia to wait on other four companies which were from eastern counties mostly and were there when the Battle of Bull Run was fought.
I remember we escorted the corpse of General Fisher from one depot to the other in the city. Then very soon we were sent to Kanassas Junction. There the other companies joined us and we went to drilling and to doing general duties. I was made First Corporal, and when we were taken to a private died. It was the First Corporal's duty to command the squad and bury the body with military honors. I remember the first man who died on our company. He was a Mr.Sprinkle and how dashed I felt to command the squad in front of a11 the regiment.
Many of our men got sick with what the doctors called camp fever, and several died. There was a place up near the mountains called Plain Station, and many were sent up there as there was not room sufficient at the hospital to shelter the sick. I took the fever and was kept at camp with three of my comrades, namely Jonas Harbin, Charlie Jones, and John Parker of Wilkesboro, in our tent. Poor Jonas Harbin was lost afterwards.We all four survived, but at this writing I am the only one of
the four living. It was thought best to change camp so they moved us to a camp called Signal Hill, south east of the Junction. Our first camp was on the railroad north of the Junction. All those who were able drew guard duty up at the Junction. After two or three weeks at Signal Hill, we moved up close to the station.By this time cold weather was on, and the boys were nearly all well enough for duty, and it was realized that we, that is our regiment, ought to have winter quarters.So there was a detail made up of about twenty men to go to the timber lands close by to make clapboards and get out logs to build cabins. Capt. J. D. Andrews of Company C was put in charge of this squad. Shortly after Christmas we moved into our quarters: Each company had a log cabin, and two or three quarters were built for the Colonel and other officers, We had good snug quarters. Sore time in March we had to leave Manassas Junction. Our next camp was on Clarks Mountain near the Rapidan River. There we had a rough time. Cold, cloudy, snowy, windy weather, and only green wood to burn. Leaving that camp we were put on the train, carried to Richmond. Stayed there one night, then were sent to York Tower. After doing packet duty for a few days we fell back to Williamsburg, and that was the first time our regiment was under fire though we were not engaged. That was in May. Then from there on to a camp close to Seven Pines where we first got into it hot on the 31st day of May 1862.
Many of the poor boys were killed and buried on the battlefield; and many were wounded. I with a few others escaped getting hurt. This is the place where we lost our good and big hearted captain, A. K. Simonton. There never was a more generous and good hearted officer. We had taken the Yankee batteries and had filed across the public road with orders to lie down. The Yankees were some half a mile over in a piece of weeds, shooting at us; and then it was that our captain was killed together with two or three others. This is the way it happened: Colonel Andrews with several other officers came riding up on our left; one officer was riding a white horse. It was just beginning to get dusky. That white horse with the bunch of officers drew a volley of fire from the Yankees. Theofficers escaped but the white horse was shot. This bunch of officers rode up to us and were congratulating Captain Simonton on his success. I was beside my captain when he was shot through the heart.
We, the next day, buries seventy men out of our regiment in one grave. The next day was Sabbath, and there was heavy fighting that morning, but we were not engaged, I understood it was Longstreet's Corps.
Our next fight was at Cold harbor, or at McCheusville. There the Yankees had abattery on the right side of the road. The north side of a branch. The hill was quite step and from the hill the Yankeescould play havoc to troops marching in that direction. It was observed by our officers that to follow up towards that battery with our columns would be a sacrifice of life. So they called on the regiment from another state so I afterwards understood, to take the battery and that regiment positively refused to go. Then D. H. Hill called for the Fourth North Carolina Regiment. We were some distance in the rear. They moved us up and told our regiment to take that battery. We deployed as sharpshooters and moved forward; when the Yankees saw that we were determined to overcome them, they skedaddled and we never lost a man. But that same evening we lost heavily at Cold Harbor. I had my hat shot off by a piece of shell.
Our regiment captured a cuttler's wagon after charging the battery before we went into the Cold Horbor fight. The wagon was filled with good things to eat such as crackers, cheese, condensed milk, sugar, coffee, and other things. General Andrews had two men detailed to guard the wagon and on Sunday morning after we had driven the Yankees back under cover of the gunboats at Drury's Bluff, they brought the wagon into camp and distributed the eatables out to our regiment. It is no use to say that we boys enjoyed that feast.
It was not long before the Yankees came again and we fought around Richmond for two or three weeks. Our command was sent to the Valley of Virginia to operate over there. I will never forget the morning we crossed the Potomac River. We had camped at Louisburg the night before, and were ordered to supply three days rations. If I remember rightly it was the first of July. Our band had gone on before, was under some trees on the other side of the river. There they played "Maryland, My Maryland" while we were wading over. Such shouting as we did and splashing of water was a sight. Our regiment never got any farther than Hagerstown. I guess this move was partly made to drawthe Yankees from around Richmond.
This history was never finished. We think Captain Davidson was captured in July of 1864 (He was made captain on the death of his captain, Captain A. K. Simonton). It is believed that he was taken to Fort Delaware after his capture and was there when Lee surrendered.
The following is an excerpt from THE LANDMARK, dated Dec. 29,1916.
"Soldiers With Bare Feet" by Capt. T.M.C. Davidson
"The snow, the snow, the beautiful snow", and somehow this snowfall of Dec. 18 reminds me of a time long ago during the War Between the States. The command of Gen. D. H. Hill, of which I was a member, had camped in the valley of Virginia, November 1, 1862, on our way to Fredericksburg, where we hoped to intercept Gen. Burnsides of the Northern Army, on his way to take Richmond; and he was going by this route. I never kept a war diary, so cannot give dates accurately. Anyway, here we encountered quite a blizard, and had to wade the Shenandoah River at Front Royal, late one evening, while the much ice was floating down. It is needless to say we suffered terribly with cold, wet feet. Our pants were frozen stiff as boards, yet we marched several miles farther before striking camp on a high, open place, where the wind and snow had a fair sweep at us. Fortunately there were some log and brush heaps on the hill, and we soon made these into roaring. fires, and so kept from freezing.
Snow is beautiful to look at, when one is comfortably housed, but to be half clad and barefooted "marching along" through a big snowstorm, makes one realize what General Sherman said war is.
I was not so unfortunate as to be barefooted at this particular time, though several of my comrades were. That night orders come from headquarters that the soldiers who were barefooted should be given strips of raw cowhide, which came from the beeves that were slaughtered that evening. It took about four of five beeves to furnish each brigade with meat for one day, when it could be secured. The officers of each company were to see that every shoeless man made for himself moccasins of this rawhide, turning the hairy side in, and sewing them with thongs of the same material, so we would be ready for marching the next morning. As I remember the moccasins did not prove very satisfactory, but they were of course some better than no shoes.
We did get to Fredericksburg in time to help head off Gen. Burnsides with hismighty host. This battle was fought on the 12th of December. Our brigade was sent to the left of the railroad to support a battery; and it was an awfully hot place there for several hours, though we never fired a single gun. It takes steady nerve to remain in such a position while the enemy is trying to demolish the battery you are supporting. And I don't remember ever seeing so many artillery horses killed at any one battle as were killed there that day.
Above I have said that I was fortunate in being shod on this trip, but there was a time earlier in the fall when I tramped it flat footed for two or three days, the late Tom Armstrong and I both. Armstrong had a pair of boots, but they were too small and hurt his feet so badly that most ofthe time he carried them on his arm. Every town we came to I tried to buy shoes but found none until we got to Warrenton. There I bought a pair of No.13's and started on following my command (we were allowed to march out of ranks when barefooted but I soon found my shoes were as much too big as Armstrong's were too small, for I had no socks. I gathered leaves off the trees and stuffed them into my shoes around, but could not go far until they would all work out. The next place we came to I sold my shoes to an old negro. I think this place was called Little Baltimore.
I don't remember just when or where I did get shoes, for we were rushing to head off McLelland at South Mountain, and there we held his whole force in check until General Jackson came from Harper's Ferry.
There was another time when my shoes were in a very dilapidated condition, and John Cohan, one of my comrades, had a brand new pair. One morning I awoke before John did, and seeing his good shoes sitting near him, concluded to play a joke. I took his shoes, put them on and left my old strips in their place. But I made it suit to be not far off when John awoke, for he was such a loud talking follow I wanted to hear what he would say. And he said it too!
To complete one's toilet those days and times all you had to do was put on your shoes if you had any.
T. W. C. David
We do not know where for sure my father was captured. I find in a history of the Confederacy that Col. R.J. Bennett was taken captive on Sept 19th, 1864 and we know my father was in prison with Col. Bennett at Winchester Va.This history says Col Bennett was taken prisoner at Winchester Va with a few confederate soldiers and they were in Fort Deleware prison I think.
Children of T.M.C. Davidson and Mary Emma Purvis are:
- +Thomas Leonidas Davidson, d. date unknown, Age 60.
- Azile Davidson, d. date unknown.
- Sissy (Lucy) Davidson, d. date unknown.
- Jim Davidson, d. date unknown.
Children of T.M.C. Davidson and Juliet King are:
- Mary Steele Davidson, d. date unknown.
- Frank Davidson, d. date unknown.