A CONFEDERATE HERO IN A TUSCUMBIA CHURCHYARD
A CONFEDERATE HERO IN A TUSCUMBIA CHURCHYARD
From
The Civil War Tales
of the
Tennessee Valley
By
Dr. William L. McDonald
A highly decorated hero of the Civil War is buried in the cemetery at Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church in Tuscumbia. Father Emmeran Bliemel, O.S.B., who as far as anyone knows had never been in North Alabama, was Chaplain of the 10th Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate Army. It is said that he was the first American priest of the Catholic faith to die in combat during the Civil War.
Known as “Father Emery” by the fighting Irish of the 10th Regiment, he was born in 1831 in Ratisbon, Bavaria. He had barely reached his twentieth birthday when he arrived in America to become a monk in St. Vincent Abbey, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. At the young age of twenty-five years, Father Emmeran was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church.
Bliemel had already made a name for himself as a fiery German priest in Nashville prior to becoming a chaplain. As a pro Southern activist his writings and speeches infuriated the authorities during the federal occupation of that city. On one occasion he escaped imprisonment because the commanding general did not wish to be accused of “throwing a Catholic priest in jail.”
Father Emmeran had been elected in absentia to serve as chaplain of the 10th Tennessee Regiment in the fall of 1862. Although he tried time and again to assume that role, it was not until after the Battle of Chickamauga that his superiors in the Church finally agreed for him to serve. Over the next nine months the new chaplain saw plenty of action in the battles of Rocky Ridge, Mill Creek Gap, Resaca, Pine Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Utoy Creek, and Jonesboro.
The Battle of Jonesboro became a disaster for the 10th Tennessee after the collapse of its main line of defense. Witnesses remembered how Father Emery remained on the battlefield helping as many of the wounded as he could reach, in spite of exposure to heavy enemy fire. It was during this melee that he struggled to reach his commanding officer, Colonel William Grace, who had been mortally wounded. While kneeling beside his colonel, and with uplifted hands in prayer, Chaplain Emmeran was suddenly decapitated by the direct hit of a cannonball. Afterwards, both the chaplain and the colonel were buried on the battlefield, and moved later to a nearby cemetery.
The remains of Father Bliemel were brought to Tuscumbia in 1888 by Father Otto Kopf, who was serving the local Benedictine Parish. This Tuscumbia priest had been a boyhood friend of the chaplain in Bavaria. Having lost contact with Father Emmeran during the war, Father Otto had not given up until he found his old friend in the graveyard at Jonesboro. He then made arrangements to have the chaplain moved to the Our Lady of the Shoals Cemetery in Tuscumbia.
In recent years the Sons of Confederate Veterans awarded their Medal of Honor posthumously to Father Emmeran Bliemel. This was in recognition of the chaplain’s courageous actions at Jonesboro, Georgia, on August 31, 1864. This prestigious medal is on display at the Knights of Columbus Assembly Grounds in Jonesboro which was named for Father Bliemel. A noble cross in the churchyard at Tuscumbia marks the final resting place for this soldier who gave his life in the line of duty as a military chaplain and as a Catholic priest.
The Civil War Tales of the Tennessee Valley
Copyright 2003 by
Bluewater Publications – Heart of Dixie Publishing
http://www.heartofdixiepublishing.com/williamlindseymcdonald.htm
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Comments
One Comment on A CONFEDERATE HERO IN A TUSCUMBIA CHURCHYARD
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Kylie Batt on
Wed, 21st Apr 2010 10:50 pm
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From
The Civil War Tales
of the
Tennessee Valley
By
Dr. William L…..
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