Maj. General Samuel Gibbs French

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_G._French

Samuel Gibbs French (November 22, 1818 – April 20, 1910) was an officer in the U.S. Army, wealthy plantation owner, author, and a major general in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. He commanded a division in the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater.

Biography

Samuel G. French was born in Mullica Hill, Gloucester County, New Jersey. His larger family lived in both Gloucester and Salem Counties. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1843. His classmates included future Civil War generals Ulysses S. Grant, William B. Franklin, Roswell Ripley, and Franklin Gardner. French was brevetted as a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery and assigned to garrison duty.

During the Mexican-American War he was wounded at the battle of Monterrey. He was awarded a congressional award and a sword from the State of New Jersey. He rose to the rank of major, but resigned his commission to become a planter.

When the Civil War began, French sided with the South. On February 12, 1861, French was appointed chief of ordnance of the state of Mississippi; and on October 23, 1861, he was appointed a brigadier general in the provisional army of the Confederate States of America. French became a major general on August 31, 1862. General French commanded a brigade and subsequently a division under Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill at Petersburg, Virginia. He led a demonstration against Harrison's Landing on July 4, 1862 and one against Suffolk, Virginia on September 22, 1862. (Fort French at Suffolk was named for him.) In 1863, French led a division under LTG James Longstreet in the Siege of Suffolk. French's division intervened in the Battle of Suffolk (Hill's Point), with its commander waiting for the federals who had seized Fort French to withdraw from their exposed position.

French was transferred to the West.

French commanded a division at Jackson, Mississippi during Gen Joseph E. Johnston’s effort to relieve the Siege of Vicksburg. Later he served under LTG Leonidas Polk in Mississippi. French served in Polk’s corps, later under LTG Alexander P. Stewart, in the Atlanta Campaign of the Army of Tennessee, which was led by Johnston and then by Gen John Bell Hood. On October 5, 1864, after the fall of Atlanta, Hood sent French with his division to break the line of communication of Sherman's army by capturing Allatoona Pass. The pass was held by a federal garrison under Gen. John M. Corse, who defended it in the Battle of Allatoona. When federal reinforcements arrived, General French withdrew his division to New Hope Church and rejoined the Army of Tennessee. French served in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign. Illness forced him to return home in December 1864; but he returned to service in 1865, commanding forces in Mobile, Alabama to the end of the war.

After the war, he returned to his work as a southern planter, and later authored the book "Two Wars" about his war experiences. French had married Mary Fontaine Abercrombie on 12 January 1865. Mary Fontaine Abercrombie died on 16 May 1900 at Atlanta, Georgia. They had two sons and a daughter. Gen French died in Pensacola, Florida in 1910. Gen French was buried in Florida but a memorial to him was constructedin the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol. IV. Boston, MA, USA: The Biographical Society, 1904

FRENCH, Samuel Gibbs, soldier, was born in Gloucester county, N.J., Nov. 22, 1818; son of Samuel and Rebecca (Clark) French; and a direct descendant from Thomas French, who was baptized in the church in Nether-Hayford, Northamptonshire, England, in 1537, and whose descendant, Thomas French, left the church of England, became a Quaker, was persecuted and imprisoned, and finally, on July 23, 1680, landed in Burlington, West New Jersey, with his wife and nine children, being one of the landed proprietors there. Samuel G. French acquired his early education chiefly at Burlington, N.J., was graduated from the U.S. military academy in 1843 and was commissioned brevet 2d lieutenant in the U.S. army. He was appointed 2d lieutenant, 3d artillery, Aug. 11, 1846; 1st lieutenant, March 3, 1847, and captain on the staff, assistant quartermaster, U.S.A., Jan. 12, 1848. He served with distinction in the Mexican war, being brevetted 1st lieutenant, Sept. 23, 1846, "for gallant and meritorious conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey"; and captain, Feb. 23, 1847, for gallantry at Buena Vista. He resigned from the army in April, 1856, and became a planter in Greenville, Miss. On Feb. 12, 1861, he was appointed chief of ordnance in the army of the state of Mississippi; and on Oct. 23, 1861, was appointed brigadier-general of the provisional army of the Confederate States and major-general, Aug. 31, 1862. He commanded a brigade and subsequently a division in Gen. D. H. Hill's corps at Petersburg, Va., and led the demonstration against Harrison's Landing, July 4, 1862, and against Suffolk, Sept. 22, 1862. He was transferred to Hood's army in the west, and on Oct. 5, 1864, was directed with his division to break the line of communication of Sherman's army by capturing Allatoona Pass. Gen. J. M. Gorse defended the pass with desperate bravery, and when reinforcements arrived General French withdrew his division to New Hope Church. After the close of the war he went to Alabama, and in 1899 was a resident of Pensacola, Fla. He was married, April 26, 1853, to Eliza Matilda, daughter of Joseph L. Roberts of Natchez, Miss. She died, June 13, 1857, leaving one daughter. General French was married in 1865 to Mary Fontaine, daughter of Gen. Anderson Abercrombie.

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Samuel Gibbs French was born in Gloucester County, New Jersey, on 22 November 1818. He graduated from West Point in 1843 and served in garrison duty as an artillery lieutenant until the Mexican War, where he fought in several battles and won two brevet promotions. French was severely wounded in the thigh at Buena Vista in February 1847. He was appointed to the Quartermaster’s Department in January 1848 and remained in that post until 1856, when he resigned from the army to manage a plantation along Deer Creek near Greenville, Mississippi. In 1853 he married Eliza Matilda Roberts, the daughter of a prominent Natchez banker, helping to facilitate his entry into the planter elite. They had one child before her death in 1857. When Mississippi seceded, Gov. John J. Pettus appointed French chief of ordnance for state forces. In the spring of 1861 he accepted a commission as major of artillery in Confederate service, and in October Jefferson Davis offered him a brigadier general’s commission and summoned him to Richmond.

French saw duty in Virginia and North Carolina between late 1861 and May 1863, winning promotion to major general and working to strengthen defenses at Richmond and Petersburg. Secretary of war James A. Seddon solicited information from French in 1863 about defending the Mississippi River, and French wrote a detailed report that undoubtedly came too late to be of value during the Vicksburg Campaign. Nevertheless, the report may have convinced Davis that French would prove useful in defending Mississippi, and he was dispatched there in May 1863. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston suggested that French’s northern background might arouse prejudice and hinder his acceptance, but Davis tartly replied that French had been a wealthy Mississippi planter and cited his service to the state after secession.

Illness compelled French to take a leave of absence from early August to October 1863. He remained in Mississippi until the spring of 1864, when he and his division joined Johnston’s army in North Georgia. French’s command fought in various engagements during the Atlanta Campaign and maneuvered north of the city after it fell to Federal forces in September 1864. French attacked a Union supply depot at Allatoona on 5 October 1864 but disengaged after learning of the impending arrival of reinforcements from William Tecumseh Sherman’s army. During John Bell Hood’s disastrous Tennessee invasion, two of French’s brigades suffered dreadful casualties at Franklin on 30 November 1864. French reported that more than one-third of his men engaged were killed, wounded, or missing. French subsequently suffered an infection that severely damaged his eyesight and relinquished command to Claudius Wistar Sears, remaining on sick leave until February 1865. He fought in the defense of Mobile that spring and surrendered and was paroled near the city in April.

In January 1865 he married Mary F. Abercrombie, the daughter of a US general in the War of 1812. They went on to have three children. French labored to rebuild his ruined Mississippi plantation before moving to Georgia in 1876 and Florida in 1881. French published a memoir, Two Wars: An Autobiography of General Samuel G. French (1901), in which he criticized Governor Pettus and Confederate generals William J. Hardee, Hood, and Leonidas Polk. According to a modern assessment of the memoir, the apparently unreconstructed French “blasts the Yankees for nearly everything wrong in civilization,” and “the bitter partisanship of many passages mars the work’s credibility.” French died on 20 April 1910.

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Text prepared by William R. Scaife, author of

Allatoona Pass: A Needless Effusion of Blood.

© 2000 William R. Scaife

View map of Fortifications at Allatoona Pass (967.1 KBytes)

Bordering the western shore of Lake Allatoona and the Emerson-Allatoona Road, 1.5 miles east of I-75 in Bartow County, Georgia, is the Allatoona Battlefield. The battle fought there on October 5, 1864 is rich both in myth and legend and is one of the most dramatic and tragic episodes of the Civil War. It was the inspiration for the familiar hymn by Evangelist Peter Bliss, "Hold the Fort," and is remembered for the summons to surrender message by Confederate General Samuel G. French, "in order to avoid a needless effusion of blood."

Allatoona Pass Looking North, Circa 1864

To the left can be seen the Clayton House, and on the hill above, the Star Fort.

Between the two mountain ridges runs the Deep Cut, and on the right ridge is the

Eastern Redoubt (reverse slope).

Events Leading up to the Battle

The battle itself was fought less than five weeks after the fall of Atlanta. The strategic importance of the battlefield site was the Union's defense of the Western and Atlantic Railroad through a cut in the Allatoona Mountain range known as the Allatoona Pass. It was approximately 360 feet long and, at its deepest point, 175 feet deep. The Pass, built in the 1840s, was the deepest rail cut along the W&A between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The small village of Allatoona had grown up just beyond the south entrance to the Pass. It consisted of the Clayton House, a railroad depot and 4 to 5 other structures. The old Tennessee wagon road, also known as the Sandtown Road, intersected the old Alabama Road at this point. Union General William T. Sherman greatly admired the strategic value of the Pass, calling upon his Chief of Engineers, Captain Orlando M. Poe, to design a system of forts and trenches that would take full advantage of Allatoona's natural strength. The fortifications would not only protect the railroad, but the Union's main supply depot south of Chattanooga which had been established at Allatoona.

During the Battle of Atlanta, CSA General John B. Hood replaced CSA General Joseph E. Johnston in command of Confederate forces in and around Atlanta. After the fall of Atlanta, Hood launched a campaign to re-capture Nashville. Hood's decision to drive north necessitated that the Confederates destroy the railroad, Sherman's line of supplies and communication. A Confederate assault on the forts at Allatoona would be the first major battle in Hood's disastrous Nashville Campaign. Unfortunately for the Confederate cause, CSA President Jefferson Davis detailed that plan in a speech to his troops in late September which was printed in Southern newspapers. Sherman simply read about it in the newspapers and prepared accordingly.

CSA General John B Hood

The Battle of Allatoona Pass

On October 4th, CSA General Samuel French received orders from Hood to proceed with his division of 3,276 men from Big Shanty several miles north of Marietta, to Allatoona. Not only was he to take the forts there, but fill the massive pass with debris, march five miles north to burn the Etowah River bridge, and then rejoin Hood the next day at New Hope Church. By French's estimation, this was a round-trip 96 mile mission through enemy territory to be accomplished in less than two days.

From his post on Kennesaw Mountain, Sherman learned of this massive deployment of Confederate troops and artillery northward from Marietta. He telegraphed his officers, "The enemy is moving on Allatoona, thence to Rome."

 CSA General Samuel G. French Brigadier General John Corse was instructed to move his division from Rome to back up the garrison of 976 men under the command of Lt. Colonel John E. Tourtelotte at Allatoona. Corse and his troops reached Allatoona at 1:00 a.m. on October 5th. He assumed command of better than 2,000 men but expected more. Twice the previous day Tourtelotte had received telegraph messages from Sherman at Kennesaw to "Hold out," and "We are coming."

French arrived at Allatoona at about 3:00 a.m. At daybreak he witnessed what he later described as a "mountain fortress." Two earthen forts sat atop steep ridges on either side of the Allatoona Pass. The walls each were 12 feet thick, surrounded by 6 foot deep ditches, making the parapets approximately 12 feet high.

The forts were connected by a wooden footbridge spanning the 60-foot breadth of the pass, and the entire garrison was surrounded by trenches and outworks of rifle pits.

Within a few hours of French's arrival, the "needless effusion of blood" began. The main Confederate offensive came from the north and west, forcing a main contingent of Union troops inside the western-most fort, but at a terrible price. French's forces made four assaults on the western fort, coming within 100 yards of taking it each time.

However, General French received a message from his Confederate cavalry around noon leading him to believe Sherman was indeed sending reinforcements to Allatoona. French had no hope of reinforcements; only orders to join Hood at New Hope Church and men who had marched and fought fiercely for three days and two nights without rest. The Confederates may have taken Allatoona Pass, but they couldn't hold it. Rather than propel his troops into a fortress which would become their slaughterhouse, French withdrew. Of the 5,301 men engaged in the battle (2,025 Union and 3,276 Confederates), there were 1,603 casualties.

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Today most of the site of the Allatoona Battlefield is owned by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Twelve and one-half years after signing an agreement with the Corps of Engineers to improve and maintain the battlefield at Allatoona Pass Battlefield, the Etowah Valley Historical Society (EVHS) on October 6, 2007 officially turned its duties there over to the Red Top Mountain State Park and will continue to work in an advisory capacity and to help raise funds to erect monuments in the park area. A large portion of the battlefield remains in a condition little changed since the time of the battle. Within easy walking distances are found a spectacular railroad cut through solid rock, two well-preserved earth forts with extensive undisturbed trenches and outworks, a classic antebellum plantation house and the grave of the unknown hero of the battle. The site is accessible to the public year round.

For more information about the preservation of this historic battlefield, visit the Allatoona Pass Battlefield Preservation Project webpage.

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Mike Lomuscio - writes

"Nuts" ( if you know, you know)

1. onthisday October 5th 1864. Battle of Allatoona Pass. Ga A Confederate division under Maj. Gen. Samuel G. French attacked a Union garrison under Brig. Gen. John M. Corse, French's division arrived near Allatoona Gap during the early morning hours of October 5. The battle began at 7:00 A.M. when eleven Confederate manufactured 12 pounder bronze Napoleon guns began firing upon the Union fortifications. Confederate artillery involved were two batteries of Myrick's Artillery Battalion manned by men of Capt. Alcide Bouanchaud's Battery of Louisiana, Capt. James J. Cowan's Battery of Warren County, Mississippi and a battery from Storr's Artillery Battalion, French's Division, Capt. R. F. Kolb's Battery of Alabama. French had ordered a one gun detachment to force the surrender of the blockhouse a few miles away on Allatoona Creek. Six guns of the 12th Wisconsin Battery answered the Confederate artillery. After a two-hour artillery bombardment, French sent a demand for surrender. The message read: " I have placed the forces under my command in such positions that you are surrounded, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood I call on you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally. Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war." General Corse answered immediately: "Your communication demanding surrender of my command I acknowledge receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for the "needless effusion of blood" whenever it is agreeable to you." French then launched his brigades in an attack—Sears from the north (against the rear of the fortifications) and Cockrell, supported by Young, from the west. Corse's men survived the sustained two-hour attack against the main fortification, the Star Fort on the western side of the railroad cut, but were pinned down and Capt. Tourtellotte sent reinforcements from the eastern fort. Under heavy pressure, it seemed inevitable that the Federals would be forced to surrender, but by noon French received a report from his cavalry that a strong Union force was approaching from Acworth, so he withdrew at 2 p.m. More reinforcements from Rome reached Allatoona the next morning.

Allatoona was a relatively small, but bloody battle with high percentages of casualties: 706 Union (including about 200 prisoners) and 897 Confederate. Nonetheless, in his autobiography, General and President U.S. Grant praised the stand made by Corse and his men. Corse was wounded during the battle and on the following day sent a message to Sherman: "I am short a cheek bone and one ear, but am able to whip all hell yet." French was unsuccessful in seizing the railroad cut and Federal garrison, regretting in particular that he was unable to seize the one million rations stored there, or to burn them before he retreated.