Corbins Watched Missionary Ridge Battle From Cameron Hill

The Richard Washington Corbins had many harrowing experiences at Chattanooga during the Civil War.  From their home on the side of Cameron Hill, they endured the shelling from Stringer's Ridge, suffered during the hot summer siege, and viewed the Battle of Missionary Ridge.

The Corbin home was on the west side of Poplar Street "2 north of Fourth" - 327 Poplar.

Corbin, who was from a prominent Virginia family that was interconnected with the Washingtons, Lees and Masons, came to Chattanooga several years before the war.  He had previously lived at Falmouth, which is across the river from Fredericksburg. Richard W. Corbin was born July 27, 1821, to Jameson Corbin and his first wife.  His marriage to Elizabeth Potts occurred in 1845.

At Chattanooga, R.W. Corbin was the bookkeeper for the Vulcan Works.  The family had brought with them from Virginia many heirlooms as well as several slaves.  The children included Mary Eliza Thiebedeaux, John, Louisa Emma and Marian Bruce.  Corbin was exempt from war service because he had suffered a dislocated hip when he was dropped by a nurse when he was a baby.

On the morning of Aug. 21, 1863, a Confederate officer rode up to the Corbin house and informed them there might be shelling that day from across the river.  When the Yankee shells began exploding, the Corbins retreated to the cellar.  Later, as they were hurrying to the Crutchfield House, part of a shell cut a piece out of the dress of one of the Corbin daughters and another missile took off part of the heel of a young slave.  The Corbins went to the Ocoee House at Cleveland for three weeks, and, when they returned to Cameron Hill, the shells were still flying, including one that went through the roof and landed in a feather bed.  The Corbins gathered a few of their possessions and started in wagons for Lookout Mountain.  The family stayed a night in a hut at the foot of the mountain, then joined some of their fellow refugees from town on top of the mountain.  When Federal soldiers began passing over the mountain en route to Chickamauga, the Corbins buried their silver and other valuables on the mountain.  They were back on Cameron Hill on Sept. 18 when the Union soldiers departed for the battle that would begin the next day at Chickamauga.

After General Thomas took over the Thomas Richardson house on Walnut Street, the Richardsons came to live with the Corbins.  The families piled feather beds and pillows against the doors to ward off any stray shells.  When there was cannon fire in the middle of the night, the families hurried to Kaylor's Mill in a gulf near the river.  Mrs. Corbin had rushed away with a "shawl'' draped over her that she later noticed was a tablecloth.  By now the Federal soldiers had broken into their smokehouse and there was little food remaining.  A friendly Yankee soldier procured some corn that helped the family survive.  During the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the family watched the dramatic scene from their front porch.  The Corbins helped nurse the wounded soldiers, and they gained permission to take home two Confederates who seemed to have little hope of survival.  They nursed them back to health, and Corbin had crutches made for both of them.  Then they were sent to the infamous Johnson's Island prison and the family never heard from them again.

That winter the Corbins were directed to leave Chattanooga, and they were shipped via cattle cars to Nashville and then sent by train to Louisville, where they were placed in a stockade prison.  They were allowed to go to Cincinnati where they lived for a year though they were short of money. 

Fortunately, one of the children had found $65 in Yankee bills tucked into one of the cushions of the seat on the train into Cincinnati.  When President Lincoln was assassinated, the Corbins were sent a large roll of black cloth and directed to drape their house with it.  Following this incident, the Corbins gained permission to return to Chattanooga.  They arrived at midnight to find what was left of their home occupied by a Yankee named Dr. Ridgely.  He turned them away from their homeplace, and they had to find shelter with one of their neighbors.  This house was occupied by Northern sympathizers also, but neighbors had been allotted two rooms.  One of these rooms was given to the Corbins until Ridgely finally allowed them to occupy their home.

They found their tall oaks had all been cut down and nothing remained of the orchard.  The fences were gone, the plaster loose on the walls, and the furniture all missing.  The family returned to Lookout Mountain to dig up the silver, but it was never found, though many searches were made.  Some of the large silver pieces were thought to have dated to the days when the Corbins lived in England.  Another missing item was a grandfather clock that also was a Corbin heirloom.  Years later, it showed up in the home of another Chattanoogan.  The Corbins tried to buy it and later were able to reacquire it at an estate sale.

A son, Edward Ephraim Corbin, was born in 1867.  Mrs. Corbin died two years later, and R.W. Corbin then married Mary Mitchell.  Corbin returned to his job as the Vulcan bookkeeper and to their Poplar Street home. R.W. Corbin died in 1881, but his widow Mary lived on at the Poplar Street home until she died a couple of years later. Edward Corbin lived at the old homeplace until he moved to Oak Street in 1887. While there he worked for Morrison & Woodward and later was a packer for Rosenau, Crutchfield & Co.

The eldest Corbin daughter, Mary Eliza Thiebedeaux, married Dr. Fry of Linville, Tn.  John died in 1871 shortly after his marriage to Mary McCorkle.  He had worked as a railroad ticket agent.  Louisa Emma married Richard Henry Woodward, a native of Richmond who fought for the Confederacy under General George Washington Custis Lee.  Marian Bruce married W.W. Simpson. 

Edward E. Corbin was the last of this male line of Corbins at Chattanooga when he died in 1907 at the home of his sister, Mrs. Woodward, at the corner of Oak and Douglas streets.  A bachelor, he had worked for the Davenport Brothers wholesale dry goods business for many years.  He was "an earnest, honest man whose every duty was well performed.''