Brigadier General Frank C. Armstrong,
P.A.C.S.
Brigadier-General Frank C. Armstrong, in 1854, accompanied his stepfather
Gen. Persifer Smith, upon an expedition of United States troops into New
Mexico. He was then a handsome youth of twenty years, six feet tall,
straight as an arrow, and the ideal of a daring young cavalryman. As the
part were nearing Eagle Spring a detachment was made under John G.
Walker to punish some Indian marauders, and Armstrong was so
distinguished in the fight which resulted that he was reported to the war
department, and got a lieutenancy of cavalry without the ordinary four years
of preparation at West Point. Withdrawing from the United States service
in 1861, he accompanied Col. James McIntosh in the march of his force
from Arkansas into the Indian country, and participated in the battle of
Chustenahlah, in the Cherokee nation, December 26, 1861, in which the
power of the Union chief Hopoeithleyohola was broken, serving as a
volunteer aide on the staff of Colonel McIntosh. He next, with the rank of
lieutenant, became assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Ben
McCulloch, his friend, Col. D. H. Maury, being adjutant-general on the staff
of General Van Dorn, commanding. In the famous battle of Elkhorn Tavern,
he was with McCulloch until the latter was killed, and afterward, with
Lomax and Bradfute and other fellow staff officers, went to the assistance
of General Van Dorn, who warmly commended their services in his official
report. On March 17th, Van Dorn, in a communication to the war
department, strongly urged the promotion of those experienced officers,
declaring that if he could have substituted some of them for some of his
highest commanders, he could have put the enemy to utter rout. After
serving a time as adjutant-general of Steen's Missouri brigade, Armstrong
was elected colonel of the Third Louisiana infantry. Van Dorn renewed his
recommendation that he be promoted to brigadier general, and after the
army had crossed to the east of the Mississippi, Gen. Sterling Price, having
the same application of the ability of the gallant young officer, appointed
Armstrong to the command of all the cavalry of the army of the West,
giving him, with the consent of General Bragg, the rank of acting brigadier
general. His energy and ability were soon manifest in the organization and
increased efficiency of his command. On July 17th, Bragg about to move
to Chattanooga from Tupelo, ordered General Armstrong to advance toward
Decatur, Ala., to cover the transfer of the army. With portions of the
squadrons and companies of Webb, Barteau, McCulloch, Hill, Sanders,
Roddey, and Newsom he attacked the enemy at Courtland, Ala., July 25th,
and won a brilliant victory, taking 133 prisoners and gaining possession of
the fertile Tennessee valley from Decatur to Tuscumbia. His continued
successes brought him the warm congratulations of General Bragg. In
August, 1862, he was send with about 2,000 cavalry to make a
demonstration in west Tennessee in co-operation with Bragg, and prepatory
to Price's advance. He crossed the Hatchie river, passed between Jackson
and Bolivar, destroyed brigades and trestles on the Memphis and Charleston
railroad, drove the Federals into Bolivar, August 30th, and on his return
defeated their infantry, cavalry and artillery at Britton's lane, near Denmark,
capturing 213 prisoners and two pieces of artillery. Said General Price:
"The highest praise should be awarded to General Armstrong for the
prudence, discretion, and good sense with which he conducted this
expedition." His cavalry force, the regiments of Wirt Adams and Slemons,
did gallant service during the fighting of Price's army at Iuka in September,
and on October 3d, 4th and 5th at Corinth and the crossing of the Hatchie,
covering the retreat as well as providing a bridge for the transportation of
the army. General Maury writes that to Armstrong more than any other
officer, Price's army owed its safe retreat from Iuka, and at Corinth,
Armstrong found a safe retreat for Van Dorn's broken command. He was
promoted to brigadier-general January 30, 1863. Under Van Dorn he was
one of the brigade commanders in western Tennessee in March, 1863, and
had a conspicuous part in the victory at Thompson's Station on March
25th. His brigade, under his command, captured the Federal garrison at
Brentwood, after a spirited fight. On April 10th he was in battle at Franklin,
and on June 4th again attacked the Federal garrison there. In the
organization of the cavalry corps of the army of Tennessee, following the
Kentucky campaign, he commanded a brigade of Forrest's division,
consisting of the Third Arkansas, Second Kentucky, First Tennessee,
McDonald's battalion and Brady's escort company. Upon the organization
of a corps under Forrest, he was put in command of a cavalry division
including his brigade and Dibrell's. He
rendered important service after the evacuation of Chattanooga, attached
to Polk's corps, and on September 20th participated in the battle of
Chickamauga in command of his division fighting dismounted. "The charges
made by Armstrong's brigade while fighting on foot," said General Forrest,
"would be creditable to the best drilled infantry." In command of a division
including the brigades of W. Y. C.
Humes and C. H. Tyler, he was in the East Tennessee campaign with
Longstreet during the winter of 1863-64, in frequent battle, and was
commended for gallantry by Gens. Joseph Wheeler and W. T. Martin. Early
in February, 1864, he obtained leave of absence from this field with
authority to ask for transfer to the command of Gen. S. D. Lee. On March
5th he was ordered to report to Lieutenant-General Polk at Demoplolis, Ala.,
and was under the orders of Lee, who named him as deserving of promotion
to major-general and becoming his own successor in division command. On
April 4th he was assigned to the Mississippi brigade of W. H. Jackson's division, consisting of the
cavalry regiments of Pinson, Dillon, Starke and Ballentine, which was his
command, with some temporary additions, until the close of the war. He
accompanied Polk's army to Georgia and served with credit in the campaign
from Resaca to Atlanta and Jonesboro (part of the time in command of
Jackson's division), Hood's north Georgia campaign, the advance into
Tennessee, the campaign against Murfreesboro, and was one of the leaders
of the heroic rear guard under Forrest after the disaster at Nashville. During
the early months of 1865 he continued in command of his brigade, and was
ordered to Selma, Ala., March 23d, where he and his men participated in
the gallant defense against the overwhelming forces of Gen. James H.
Wilson, on April 2, 1865. At the last he was in command of the Mississippi
division of cavalry, with headquarters at Macon.
Source: Evans, Clement, ed. Confederate Military History, Vol.
VIII, Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 1899
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