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ROBERT D. BUSH
County Historian
General John Bell Hood replaced General Joseph Johnston in July of 1864 and took command of a battered and mauled Confederate army around Atlanta. Sherman's war machine was hitting the Confederates hard in north Georgia as his well supplied army pushed toward Atlanta.
By late summer 1864 much of Wheeler's cavalrymen were south of Atlanta at a town called Covington, having horses shod and provisions drawn. General Wheeler, now Sagley's commander, was ordered by Hood to take a sizable force of men north into Middle Tennessee and disrupt Sherman's supply lines. The orders were to travel light and fast.
While these units were heading out toward Tennessee a new dispatch was sent to Wheeler informing him to detach some of his regiments and assign them to General Dibrell's Brigade. The young Polk Sagely was also reassigned to these detached units. They marched with haste all the way to Saltville Virginia, (the Confederate salt supply was located in southwestern Virginia) and ordered to defend it against suspected Union forces approaching the area.
Sagely once said, on the way there, ''we tied our horses at night and slept on the ground -- wrapped in quilts and blankets - some tried to keep a fire goin'. Sagely also said that some of the most fierce fighting he witnessed through the war took place there at Saltville. They were once captured by the Yanks only to be set free by a group of Texans that suddenly came upon the scene. The Rebs were able to hold the salt works there for a while longer.
When General Wheeler surrendered his cavalry units at Raleigh North Carolina, Sagley and some of the Middle Tennessee outfits were mustered out. By then many of the soldiers were without shoes and coats to wear. Some were given firearms. Sagely later said, "we all started home together, I was given a horse and a sidearm."
On the road for just a short time they were stopped by a Union patrol. Sagely, seeing the approaching patrol, hid his revolver-- he was still taking unnecessary risks. The Union soldiers commenced to search them, taking whatever valuables they had -- they never found Sagely's revolver.
These Rebs pleaded their case -- "the war's over for us boys, one said, wer' no longer in this fight, wer' headin' home. After some consideration the Yanks sent them on their way.
Blake Leander Sagely, Civil War Veteran, survivor of four long hard years of that war, died at his Gossburg home in 1942. How ironic indeed it was that the world was again at war. He was a direct descendant of one of the founding families that lived along the upper Brawley Creek during its earliest piof the Middle Tennessee outfits were mustered out. By then many of the soldiers were without shoes and coats to wear. Some were given firearms. Sagely later said, "we all started home together, I was given a horse and a sidearm."
On the road for just a short time they were stopped by a Union patrol. Sagely, seeing the approaching patrol, hid his revolver-- he was still taking unnecessary risks. The Union soldiers commenced to search them, taking whatever valuables they had -- they never found Sagely's revolver.
These Rebs pleaded their case -- "the war's over for us boys, one said, wer' no longer in this fight, wer' headin' home. After some consideration the Yanks sent them on their way.
Blake Leander Sagely, Civil War Veteran, survivor of four long hard years of that war, died at his Gossburg home in 1942. How ironic indeed it was that the world was again at war. He was a direct descendant of one of the founding families that lived along the upper Brawley Creek during its earliest pioneer days. He was 96 years old.
There was a army band present at Sagely's funeral service. One of Mr. Sagley's last requests was to have the tune 'Dixie' played. It was said by one war department official at the time that Mr. Sagley's funeral was the first known episode of a Confederate veteran funeral service being conducted by the 'Federal' army in the state of Tennessee. Blake Leander Sagely, was the last known living Confederate soldier in Coffee County that survived that terrible war. [The end.]
