Michener, James A. (119 page)

The frightened defenders of the Confederacy placed their security in the hands of General Quimper, who, with considerable skill, arranged for a coordinated swoop upon the plotters. This move bagged some seventy conspirators, and there was serious talk of hanging them all. General Quimper loudly supported this decision, but Major Cobb rallied the more sober citizens, who devised a more reasonable procedure. A self-appointed citizens committee, hoping to avoid any criticism of Southern justice through the accidental hanging of the innocent, met and nominated twelve of the best-respected voters of the area, including two doctors and two clergymen, to serve as a court of law—judge, jury, hangman —and these twelve, following rules of evidence and fair play, would try the accused.

It was this laborious process which Quimper wanted to by-pass with his waiting nooses, but men like Cobb insisted upon it, so on the first day of October 1862 the drumhead court convened. Its first batch of prisoners was quickly handled:

'Dr. Henry Childs, in accordance with the decision of this Court you will be taken from your place of confinement, on the fourth day of October '62 between the hours of twelve and two o'clock of said day,

and hunt; by the neck until you arc dead, and may Cod have mere) on your soul '

The executions were held in midafternoon so that townspeople could gather about the hanging tree, a stately elm at the ed town from whose branches three or sometimes four corpses would dangle. No observers seemed dissatisfied with the hangings, for the victims had been legally judged and the verdicts delivered without rancor. There was, moreover, considerable interest shown in the manner with which each of the condemned met Ins death, and those who did so in ways deemed proper were afterward applauded.

On and on the fearful litany continued: Ephraim Childs, brother of the above, hanged, A. D. Scott, hanged: 'He viewed calmly the preparations for his execution. And when the last awful moment arrived he jumped heavily from the carriage; and falling near three feet, dislocated his neck, he died without the violent contraction of a single muscle'; M. D. Harper, hanged, I. W. P. Lock, hanged: 'His conduct throughout revealed all the elements of a depraved nature, and he died upon the tree exhibiting that defiance of death that usually seizes hold on the last moments of a depraved, wicked and abandoned heart.' His crime, and that of the others: he had preferred the Union to the South.

After twenty festive hangings had occurred, Major Cobb was sickened by the illegality of such actions, for he had reason to believe that several men clearly innocent had been hanged He spoke with certain humane men on the jury, advising against any further executions, and his arguments were so persuasive—'Excess merely brings discredit to our cause'—that the hangings were stopped, and nineteen additional men who would otherwise surely have been executed were to be set free, an act which most citizens approved, for they had wearied of the ringing of the bell that announced the next assembly at the hanging tree. Quunper, however, railed against what he called 'this miscarriage of justice.'

'Hang them all!' he bellowed so repeatedly that the rougher element in town began to take up the cry, and he would have succeeded in organizing a mob to break down the jail had not Cobb and others prevailed upon the men not to stain their just cause by such a reprehensible act. That night, however, someone in the bushes near town—who, was never known—shot two well-regarded citizens, partisans of the Confederacy, and now no arguments could save the men still in jail. Quimper wanted to hang them immediately. Cobb insisted that they be given a legal trial,

and they were, fifteen minutes of rushed testimony and the embittered verdict:

'C A Jones known as Humpback, James Powers known as Carpenter, Thomas Baker known as Old Man, and nine others tried on the same bill, all found guilty and sentenced to be hung, the evidence having revealed a plot which for its magnitude, infamy, treachery and barbarity is without a parallel in the annals of crime.'

So thirty-nine men guilty only of siding with an unacceptable moral position were hanged; three who had nebulous connections with the Confederate military were tried by court-martial and hanged; two others were shot trying to escape. But this was not a lynching or a case of mob frenzy; it was an instance of the heat of warfare in which men dedicated to one cause could not see any justification in the other. Even in its fury the jury endeavored to maintain some semblance of order, and of the accused men brought before it, twenty-four were found not guilty and set free.

Cobb, a tempestuous man who had always fought his battles openly, was now thoroughly revolted by the hangings, and in a letter to his wife, posted on the last day of the executions, he wrote:

There was a man in jail who was charged with being a deserter from the Southern army, and a horse thief. When the jury on this day failed to furnish any Northerners to hang, the bloodthirsty men outside took that man from the jail and hanged him.

Two days later Cobb left his post at the Red River without permission, rode south to his plantation, and announced that he was organizing a unit for service with General Lee. Among his first volunteers was his cousin Somerset, who apologized to his ailing wife: 'Lissa, it tears my heart to see you in worsening health, and I know it's my duty to stay with you, but I simply cannot abide in idleness when others die for our cause.' The brothers' first flush of patriotism waned when they learned that they would be serving not in the cavalry with Lee, but in an infantry unit, for as Reuben exploded: 'Any Texan with a shred of dignity would ride to war, not march.' But march they did, to Vicksburg.

The hinge of victory in the west would be Vicksburg, and as the Cobbs moved toward it, always striving to join up with their parent regiment already in position at Vicksburg, they could hear their soldiers grousing: 'We still ain't got no horses, and that's a

disgrace. And we still ain't got enough rifles, and that's a disaster. And we're bein' led by a Northerner, and that's disgusting '

Yes, the army which was to defend Vicksburg was commanded by a Philadelphia Quaker who despite his pacifist religion had attended West Point, where he had acquired a fine reputation Marrying a Southern belle from Virginia, he considered himself a resident of his bride's family plantation, where he became more Southern than Jefferson Davis. A man of credibility and power, he had not wavered when the great decision of North or South confronted him; he chose the South of his wife's proud family and quickly established himself as one of the abler Confederate generals. Now General John C. Pemberton had a command on which the safety of the South depended, and his men, who had been born in the South, did not approve.

'With all the superb soldiers we have,' Reuben growled, 'why do we have to rely on a Northerner of doubtful loyalty 7 If Vicksburg falls, the Mississippi falls, and if that river goes, the Confederacy is divided and Texas could fall.' He lowered his voice. And if Texas falls, the world falls.'

He was also having trouble with a new officer assigned to his unit, Captain Otto Macnab, who had reported to the bivouac area with guns and pistols sticking out in all directions. Some men in Cobb's force had Enfields of powerful range, some had the old Sharps that could knock down a house, and a few had old frontier single-shot rifles which their grandfathers had used against Indians.

But there were nearly two dozen in the company who had no armament at all, and Major Cobb fumed about this, dispatching numerous letters to Austin begging for guns. None were available, he was told, and so he moved among his men, trying to find any soldier who had more than one, and of course he came upon Captain Macnab, who had an arsenal but when he tried to pry guns loose from him, he ran into real trouble: 1 don't give up mv guns to anybody.'

'If I give you an order . . .' Cobb suddenly remembered from Macnab's enlistment papers that he had been a Ranger, and Somerset had warned: 'Reuben, never tangle with a Ranger Mv brother Persifer had Rangers in his command and he said they were an army of their own, a law to themselves.'

'They're in my command now,' Major Cobb had replied, "and Macnab will do what I say .'

'Don't bet on that,' Sett had said, and now when his cousin tried to take one of Macnab's guns, the redheaded warrior met real opposition.

'Isn't it reasonable,' Cobb began, 'that if you have two rifles and the next man has none . . . ?'

'I know how to use a rifle, maybe he don't.'

There might have been an ugly scene had not Somerset intervened: 'Aren't you the Macnab who served in Mexico with my brother?'

'Colonel Persifer Cobb 7 ' Macnab asked, and when Sett nodded, Macnab said: "He knew how to fight. I hope he's on our side now,' and Cobb replied: 'No, he's tending our family plantation in Carolina.'

A month before, that statement would have been correct, for Persifer Cobb, like many of the great plantation managers throughout the South, had been asked to stay at home, producing stuffs required for the war effort, but as the fortunes of battle began slowly to turn against the South, men like him had literally forced their way to the colors, sometimes riding far distances to enlist, and as a former West Point man, his services were welcomed.

So now three Cobbs of the same generation were in uniform: Colonel Persifer in northern Virginia; Major Reuben in charge of replacement troops for the Second Texans; and Captain Somerset. There were also five Cobb sons from the three families, while at the various plantations the wives of the absent officers endeavored to hold the farms and mills together: Tessa Mae at Edisto, Millicent at Lakeview, and Petty Prue at the newly christened Lammermoor. The Cobbs were at war.

Major Cobb wisely withdrew his attempt at forcing Macnab to surrender one of his guns, but he was gratified when his tough little officer came into camp one day with seven rifles of varied merit which he had scrounged from surrounding farms. 'They'll all fire,' he told Cobb. 'Not saying how straight, but if you get close enough, that don't matter.'

When the contingent crossed over to the east bank of the Mississippi, Major Cobb saw that his Texans would have to fight their way into Vicksburg, for a strong Union detachment was dug in between them and the town. He could have been forgiven had he turned back, but this never occurred to him. Acting as his own scout and probing forward, he identified the difficulties and gathered his men: if we make a hurried swing to the east, we can circumvent the Northern troops, then dash back and in to Vicksburg.'

'What protects our left flank if they hear us and attack 7 ' Macnab asked, and Cobb said: 'You do.'

'Give me a couple dozen good shots and we'll hold them off."

Through the dark night Otto coached his team, and at two he said: 'Catch some sleep,' hut he continued to prowl the terrain over which they would fight. Just before dawn a Galveston volunteer asked: if we do get in to Vicksburg, can we hold it, with a general like Pemberton in charge?' and Otto gave him a promise solemnly, as if taking a sacred oath: 'When we set up our lines at Vicksburg, hell itself won't budge us.'

This reckless promise did not apply to the battle next morning at Big Black River, for Grant was moving with such incredible swiftness that he overtook the Confederates before dawn, and launched such a powerful attack that he drove them right across the deep ravines and back to the gates of Vicksburg.

In previous battles and skirmishes Captain Macnab, now a man of forty-one and extremely battlewise, had not in even the slightest way tried to avoid combat—that would be unthinkable —but he had thoughtfully picked those spots and developing situations at which he could do the most good. However, this battle degenerated into such a hideous mess that plans and prudence alike were swept aside, and he found himself in such a general melee of Grey and Blue that in desperation he lashed out like a wild man, casting aside his rifles and firing his Colts with such abandon that he himself drove back almost a squad of Yankees. In those moments he was not a soldier, he was an incarnation of battle, and when because of their tremendous superiontv the Northern troops began to sweep the banks of a little stream which the Texans were struggling to cross, he shouted to his men: 'Don't let it happen!' When by force of ironlike character he had driven away the Northerners so that his troops could complete their escape, he contemptuously remained behind, searching the field the Yankees had just deserted, even though their sharpshooters still commanded it.

'Macnab!' Major Cobb shouted from a distance. 'What in hell are you doing?'

'Looking for my guns.' And when he saw where he had discarded his rifles during the chase, he calmly stooped down, retrieved them, and headed into Vicksburg.

On 19 May, General Grant brought 35,000 Union soldiers before the nine-mile-long defenses of Vicksburg; there he faced 13,000 Confederate troops well dug in, with 7,000 in reserve. The Northern battle plan was straightforward: 'Smash through the defenses, take the town, and deny the Mississippi River to the Confederates. When that happens, Texas will be cut off from the Confederacy and will wither on the vine.' So every Texan

fighting at Vicksburg knew that he was really fighting to defend his home state.

As soon as his massive army was in position, Grant ordered a probe of the Confederate lines, and to his surprise, it was thrown back. For the next two days he prepared the most intense artillery bombardment seen in the war so far. It would utilize every piece of ordnance—hundreds of heavy cannon—and it would start at six in the morning.

On the night of the twenty-first he assembled his commanders and issued an order which demonstrated the mechanical strength he proposed to throw against the Southerners: 'Set your watches. At ten sharp, the artillery barrage will cease. And your men will leave their positions, attack up that hill, and overwhelm the enemy.' For the first time in world history, all units along a vast front would set forth at the same moment.

'There's bound to be some ugly skirmishing/ an Illinois captain warned his troops, 'but before noon we should have their lines in our hands. Then an easy march into Vicksburg.'