KNOXVILLE AUGUST 21, 1863 (RECEIVED 22ND)
…. My orders
to General Frazer are to defend Cumberland Gap to last.
S. B. BUCKNER
Major-General
KNOXVILLE,
AUGUST 21, 1863
The 65th
Georgia is ordered to reinforce you from Jacksborough [Jacksboro]
with the artillery now at Big Creek Gap. You [General Frazer] are expected to hold your position to the last.
V. SHELIHA
Chief of Staff
LOUDON [TN], AUGUST 30, 1863—p. m.
General Frazer received
message and will carry out your order…
General MacKall
Chief of Staff;
Chattanooga
Loudon [TN],
August 30, 1863
Brigadier-General Frazer
Cumberland
Gap:
You overrate [General]
Burnside’s forces…
V. SHELIHA
Chief of Staff
Loudon [TN],
August 30, 1863
General J. W. Frazer
Commanding Cumberland
Gap:
Hold the Gap according
to my first instructions a week ago…
S. B. BUCKNER
Major-General
Loudon [TN],
August 30, 1863
Brigadier-General Frazer
Cumberland
Gap:
Evacuate your position
at once….notifying Major-General Jones of the move. Destroy all stores for which you cannot find transportation.
V. SHELIHA
Chief of Staff
General Frazer:
Evacuate all your forces
as speedily as possible…retire [retreat] to Abington [Abingdon, Virginia,
Cumberland area] Report your movements by courier and telegraph to General Jones.
S.
B. BUCKNER
Major-General
(Duplicate of above
sent to General A. E. Jackson, Jonesborough, Tenn.)
Maj. Gen. S. Jones
CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
Dublin,
Va.:
September 6, 1863
Send an order to General
Frazer, at Cumberland Gap, to evacuate the gap…
S.
B. BUCKNER
Major-General
Brig. Gen. John S. Williams, Abington [VA], September 11, 1863
Commanding, &.,
Jonesborough:
GENERAL: Since writing
to you this morning I received a dispatch… General Frazer and Cumberland Gap capitulated…
I hope that the report is not true…
Colonel B.
G. McDowell
By 12 o’clock on September 9, 1863, Union officers
had already sent four letters to General Frazer "demanding surrender of the Commanding Confederate forces of the Cumberland
Gap." General Frazer inquired of General Burnside, “To what is the strength of your army?” General
Burnside declared, “I can not tell, surrender.”
Major McDowell insisted,
"We want to fight! We waited and waited! Then at 4 p.m. we were informed that we were prisoners of war."
Major B. G. McDowell
Major, later Lieutenant
Colonel, McDowell (a native of Macon County, N.C.) and about 600 soldiers refused to surrender; they evaded capture,
reformed in Asheville, N.C., and fought until the bitter end of the American Civil War.
General John W. Frazer
According to Official
Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Brigadier General John W. Frazer states the most treacherous and slanderous remarks
about the 62nd North Carolina Regiment: "The discipline and organization were utterly worthless… the
greater part of officers were totally unfitted for command…Colonel Love and Major McDowell, I do not think were qualified
for command…My opinion is this regiment would have broken or thrown down their arms on the first fire from the enemy…There
were numerous desertions…In fact not a week passed without several desertions…We had insufficient arms to fight...I
believed we were greatly outnumbered...I was unsure of the enemy's strength...I thought surrender would save lives...General
Buckner was no where to be found, I wondered what became of him..."
General John W. Frazer died March 31, 1906, in New York,
NY. Perhaps Mr. Frazer is not credible with his contradictory remarks about the surrender of the 62nd North Carolina
Regiment. He underscored his initial contradictory account for the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. He had ample time to make a retraction or state that he was under duress when he made the
statements. Frazer believed that Union forces numbered 10,000-30,000 under Gen. Ambrose Burnside. Burnside had
sent at least four letters to General Frazer demanding surrender. Burnside insisted, “We expect your [Frazer] unconditional
surrender” (O.R., i, 30, ii, p. 638 and O.R., i, 30, ii, p. 624).
General Frazer, moreover, had
been ordered to retreat to a very advantageous position, the high ground; however, he surrendered without a shot (O.R., i, 30, ii, p. 602).
Related Reading:
Union Account of the Capture of the Cumberland Gap
Regiments in action at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee
Cumberland Gap during the American Civil War
Department of East Tennessee
American Civil War Prisoner of War Camps
East Tennessee and American Civil War Railroads
East Tennessee
Western North Carolina
62nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment
64th North Carolina Infantry Regiment (Allen's)
Thomas' Legion of Indians and Mountaineers
Western North Carolina Civil War Regiments and Battles
Southern Appalachian Mountains
Shenandoah Valley and the American Civil War
American Civil War: Virginia Saltworks Campaign