Aaron Spivey Bate

AARON SPIVEY BATE - born 30 Apr 1846 died 8 Jun 1863. Lieutenant Aaron Spivey BATE, at age 17, General William B. BATE'S volunteer aide, died from exposure and exhaustion as a result of the Battle of Stones River in the Civil War.

Portrait and following narrative are from Confederate Veteran, Volume 14, published 1906.

TWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES.

In the winter of 1860-61 two boys from the South were attending the Jesuit College at Georgetown, D. C. They were Aaron Spivey Bate, the youngest son and child of the late Col. Humphrey Bate, Sr., of Sumner County, Tenn., and Council Rogers Bass, the grandson of Col. Bate, and the son of Mrs. Eugenia Bass (now Countess Bertinatti), who was at the time mentioned residing temporarily in Washington in order to be near her children. These boys were about the ages of fourteen and thirteen, and, although uncle and nephew, they had been reared together and were as devoted one to the other as twin brothers.

At frequent intervals these boys enjoyed short vacations, which they improved in seeing the attractions of Washington, often visiting the capitol and listening to the debates in Congress during that stormy political period. They witnessed the inauguration ceremonies when Mr. Lincoln was made President. Shortly after the inauguration they were sent to a school near Baltimore, where they remained until soon after the outbreak of hostilities, when they secured through a friend of their family a permit from Gen. McClellan to pass through the Federal lines on their way to their homes, the one in Tennessee and the other in Mississippi. When the train arrived at Gallatin, Tenn., they bade each other goodby after several years of the closest and most devoted companionship and separated, never to meet again on earth.

The elder boy—young Bate—went to his home, near Castalian Springs, and lived with his widowed mother, caring for her until in the spring of 1863, when on account of his outspoken sentiments in favor of his people he was threatened with arrest and imprisonment by Gen. Payne, who commanded a Federal force at Gallatin, of which threat he was informed by a faithful Negro. Although just recovering from a severe illness, he bade his mother farewell, and with her blessing and her Spartan mother like injunction to always do his full duty, he mounted his horse and made his way across the Cumberland River that night and around the left wing of Rosecrans's army, then south of Murfreesboro. He reached safely the Confederate lines and reported to his kinsman. Gen. William B. Bate, whose brigade was on the right wing of the army, and began his soldier career as a courier or as aid.

The campaign which followed, beginning with the battle of Hoover's Gap and subsequent actions and marches to Chattanooga, is a part of our glorious history. In these this young soldier, who received his "baptism of fire" at Hoover's Gap, was constantly with his kinsman, and endured bravely the dancers and hardships of that retreat. He reached Chattanooga only to succumb again to sickness, and was sent to the hospital at Rome, Ga., where he died early in August. An unknown grave in the cemetery there contains the remains of this gallant little Confederate. His last words were: "I want to see mother and tell her that I tried to do my duty." Gen. Bate said that he was one of the most conscientious and fearless soldiers in the army and the brightest of his family.

The younger of the boys, C. R. Bass, having said "goodby" to his little uncle, proceeded on his way to his home, in Washington County, Miss., and remained on the plantation with his widowed mother and sisters until the progress of the war southward made it necessary for his mother to take her children to the interior. Going to Montgomery, she placed her daughters in school and sent her son to Chapel Hill, N.C, to enter the famous old institution where the boy's father had been educated. Here he remained until the summer of 1864, when he returned to Montgomery to spend his vacation with his sisters. At the close of his vacation he took leave of his sisters; but instead of returning to Chapel Hill he went to Mississippi, and having mounted himself on a little "tow-headed" mule, the only steed that was available, and having secured his father's old sporting rifle, he made his way to a regiment of Mississippi cavalry then in Gen. Forrest's command; and, having enlisted regularly, he served with his regiment in the campaigns of that famous leader until some time after the battle of Harrisburg, when he was transferred to the command of Gen. Wirt Adams, where he remained doing duty as scout and courier until the close.

An incident of the battle of Harrisburg will illustrate the courage of this young trooper. At the beginning of a battle it was customary for the commanding officer of a company to have the men in line count off by fours—the first three to dismount to fight and the fourth man to hold the others' horses. This fourth place in the line became a much-desired one with those who didn't feel like going out on the firing line, so that these would often happen to fall in at number four; and when the men in line were told off, it was "one, two, three, bully!" On the eve of the battle of Harrisburg, however, the commanding officer, feeling that every available man would be needed, issued orders that, instead of the detail of every fourth man to hold horses, every fifth man should be detailed. When the "fall-in" was sounded and the troopers were in line, the officers announced that, instead of having every fourth man to hold horses that day, the count would be from one to five, and that Mr "Bully" would have to dismount and take his place in the fighting line. This was quite a surprise to Mr. "Bully." It happened on that occasion that young Bass was to be number five at the count; and when he saw the distress and disappointment apparent in the countenance of "Bully," he said, "Here, swap places with me; I would much rather go into the fight than stay back here and hold these horses." He went, and was in the hottest part of the fight. But as he said, after the war, "I got all I asked for." After the surrender, he returned to the plantation; but soon went with his sister to Europe and remained at Constantinople awhile, then came to North Italy, where he entered a medical college. But he had a strong desire to return to his native land, and came back to take charge of the old plantation, where he remained until his death, which occurred in the full bloom of young manhood; and when he met the grim monster, it was with the same intrepid spirit that had been his on the battlefield.

So these two little Confederates were once more united, let us hope, in the beautiful beyond.

from Confederate Veteran, Volume 14, published 1906.

transcript here:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/two-little-confederates.98789/