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The Tennilles


Francis Tennille (1747)
William A. Tennille (1792)
Francis T. Tennille (1799)
William A. Tennille (1840)
Mary A. Tennille (1870)
George F. Tennille (1873)
William A. Tennille, Jr. (1877)

View Tennille Scrapbook


William Alexander Tennille

W.A. Tennille tribute to Gen. George T. Anderson 1901]

[envelope with handwritten text:]

A Tribute to General George T. Anderson (Old Tige) by Cap. William A. Tnnille 1901

[inside the envelope, a newspaper article with text:]

Commercial Advertiser, New York
Friday, April 12, 1901.

DEATH OF GEN. G.T. ANDERSON

Gen. George T. Anderson ("Old Tige") died at Anniston, Ala., on the 4th instant, full of years and honors. The sobriquet "Old Tige" was given him by a private in the brigade which he commanded during the civil war, and the name was thought so descriptive of that keenness in pursuit and fierceness in battle which characterized the general, that it was universally adopted and became, with the men of the brigade, a name expressive of their affection for their commander.

Gen. Anderson's was a picturesque personality, and his life was one full of activity and interest. He was two or three inches over six feet in height, finely proportioned, athletic and untiring. Of imposing presence at all times, when mounted on his great war-horse he was a magnificent specimen of the soldier.

When scarcely of age he organized a company of cavalry in Georgia, his native state, and as captain led them in the Mexican War. There he distinguished himself at both Buena Vista and Chepultepec, crowning his reputation as a dashing young officer later by capturing two important Mexican generals, Iturbide, a descendant of the Montezumas, and Gen. La Vega. At the close of that war, in recognition of his distinguished services, he was given a captain's commission in the regular army of the United States, and for years was employed in the Indian wars in the west.

When his state, Georgia, determined to secede, he resigned his commission went home and organized the Eleventh Georgia Regiment, of which he became colonel. Not long after the beginning of the civil war he was given command of the brigade known ever afterward as "Anderson's Brigade," consisting of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh and Fifty-ninth Georgia Volunteer regiments, and, for a time, the First Georgia Regulars. This brigade claimed to be the fighting brigade of the fighting division (Hood's) of the fighting corps (Longstreet's) of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Gen. Anderson was with his command during the whole war, except when recovering from a wound received at Gettysburg, and was in more than thirty engagements. His dash and courage in action were admirable, and his coolness under fire beyond that of any man I ever saw. I was with his brigade from its organization, and on his staff from Gettysburg, and personally saw him in many of the hottest battles of the war, in the furious attack made by Longstreet at the second Manassas (or Bull Run), in the desperate struggle of the second day at Gettysburg, at Malvern hill, Fredericksburg, Knoxville, etc., and he was always the same.

He was no martinet, but held his brigade thoroughly in hand, and at all times ready to move at a moment's notice. He loved his men, and always spoke of them affectionately as "my boys." He had their full confidence, and they cheerfully obeyed any order coming from "Old Tige." His kindness and uniform consideration for the members of his staff made them all his life-long friends. His death will bring deep grief to the heart of every survivor of "Anderson's Brigade," as well as to thousands who have know and loved him in civil life.

WILLIAM A. TENNILLE


 



Copyright 2002 Gabriel Brooke, (website). Transcription and editing: John Thomas, (website). Design and production: Marc Kundmann, (website).