Tyree H. Bell

Tyree H. Bell was born on September 5, 1815, in Covington, Kentucky, the son of Absalom B. Bell and Susannah Harris. He grew up on his father's small plantation at Gallatin, Tennessee. He was educated in rural schools. Bell became a planter on his own plantation in Sumner County, Tennessee.[1] Bell married Mary Ann Walton on December 2, 1841.[2] Tyree and Mary Ann Bell had nine children.[2]

When the American Civil War started, Bell raised a company of infantry, the "Newbern Blues" which became Company G (later A) for the 12th Tennessee Infantry Regiment of the Confederate States Army. He was elected its captain, June 4, 1861.[1][3] The regiment moved to Columbus, Kentucky in September 1861 and spending the summer in Jackson, Tennessee and Union City, Tennessee.[2]

Bell soon became lieutenant colonel of the 12th Tennessee Infantry Regiment and commanded it at the Battle of Belmont because Colonel Robert Milton Russell was in command of a brigade.[2][4] With Russell again in command of a brigade, Bell led the regiment the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded in the leg by the fall of his horse, one of two shot from under him during the battle, and also suffered a serious bullet wound.[2][4][5][6]

After only six weeks of recovery after being wounded at Shiloh, Bell returned was promoted to colonel of the 12th Tennessee Infantry Regiment in May 1862. He continued as colonel of the consolidated 12th Tennessee Infantry and 22nd Tennessee Infantry when the regiments were combined on June 17, 1862.[3] Bell led the regiment in the Confederate invasion of Kentucky and the Battle of Richmond,[1][3] and operations around Corinth, Mississippi.[3]

After this service, Bell's consolidated regiment was further merged with the 47th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment on October 30, 1862. Bell became an supernumerary, or extra, officer.[3] After some garrison duty at Shelbyville, Tennessee, Bell was assigned to recruiting duty for Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry. In Spring, 1863, Colonel Bell was given a cavalry command under Forrest.[1][3] Bell's regiment menaced the Union flank and rear at the Battle of Stones River.[5]

In January 1864, Forrest gave Bell command of the Third Brigade, which operated independent from the divisions.[3] Soon thereafter, in February 1864, Bell, still a Colonel, became commander of a brigade in Brigadier General Abraham Buford's division.[1][3] Bell led this brigade for the rest of the war, receiving consistent praise.[1][3]

In 1864, Bell and his brigade of Forrest's Cavalry Corps served at the Battle of Fort Pillow, the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, and against Union Brigadier General Andrew J. Smith's force in Mississippi in August 1864 after the Battle of Tupelo.[3] Bell was wounded in the chest, back and face at Pulaski, Tennessee, on September 27, 1864.[6] He continued to serve under Forrest and led his brigade at the Battle of Johnsonville fought November 4–5, 1864 in support of General John Bell Hood's Franklin-Nashville Campaign. At Johnsonville, Forrest's men destroyed property estimated at $6.7 million. They captured 26 artillery pieces and other supplies.[7] Bell again was seriously wounded at Richland Creek in December while covering the retreat of Hood's Army of Tennessee after the Confederate rout at the Battle of Nashville.

Upon his return to duty, Tyree H. Bell was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on February 28, 1865.[1][3] At the end of the war, Bell participated in the defense of Georgia and Alabama against Union Brigadier General James H. Wilson's 1865 raid[3] and at the Battle of Selma, Alabama.[8] After surrendering with the rest of Forrest's troops on May 9, 1865, Bell was paroled at Gainesville, Alabama, on May 10, 1865.[6]

Ten years after the end of the war, Bell moved from Tennessee to Fresno County, California where he became a successful farmer and participated in civic affairs.[1][3]

Tyree H. Bell died at New Orleans, Louisiana, August 30, 1902, while returning from a visit to his old home in Gallatin, Tennessee and a Confederate veteran reunion.[6][9] He is buried in Bethel Cemetery, near Sanger, California.[1]

Tyree Harris Bell Grave Marker

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

• Allardice, Bruce S. Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8262-1809-4.
• Bishop, Randy, Civil War Generals of Tennessee. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4556-1811-8.
• Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. The Civil War Dictionary. New York: McKay, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8129-1726-0. First published 1959 by McKay.
• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
• Evans, Clement A., ed. Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History. 12 vols. Volume 8. Porter, J. D. Tennessee. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. OCLC 833588. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Stanchak, John E. Bell, Tyree Harris In Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.

• Hughes Jr., Nathaniel Cheairs; Connie Walton Moretti; James Michael Browne. Brigadier General Tyree H. Bell, C.S.A.: Forrest's fighting lieutenant. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1-57233-309-3.