USA > Florida > Dixie County > Seventy-seven years in Dixie : The boys in gray of 61-65, civil war memoirs of a soldier in the first Florida infantry > Part 3
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He was a hard case and treated us "traitors," as he called us, as mean as he possibly could. We left about nine o'clock and steamed on down to the mouth of the Ohio to Cairo [Illinois], where we landed and marched a short distance up the street, where we were ordered into company front, and every prisoner who had a blanket marked "U.S." or a blue overcoat was directed to step to the front and put these articles on the ground. This brutal order left about half of us without either blanket or overcoat and the weather was bitter cold. We were then marched about two miles to an old barracks and placed under Negro guards, in whose camps were a number of cases of smallpox.
For two months we were kept here on short rations and the sufferings of all our men-particularly the large number of those who were still suffering from the wounds received at Perryville-were terrible. Little to eat and nothing to either sleep on or cover with. Go to bed hungry and cold and get up
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the same way, Cairo prison will always be remembered by me. Little did we think when we enlisted for three years for the war and left all who were dear to us that this was what we were coming to. Many and many were the desires that were expressed to get back home to wives, mothers and sweethearts.
One day about fifty of us old rebel prisoners were sitting out in the sun warming ourselves when a strange officer came up and directed us to be ready at two o'clock to go South. This news was so good that it put new life in every one of us, and we were ready before the hour. The gates were thrown open and we were marched down to the [Mississippi] river and got on board a big three-deck river steamer by the name of Mary Downing, and started again for Dixie. There were over sixteen hundred of us on board and over five hundred of those were wounded from Perryville. We started about four o'clock with an old ironclad steamer just ahead of us. I think that we were nineteen days on board of her making the trip. We had plenty of rations, good bacon and flour and coffee, but the trouble was that we had no place to do any cooking. We ate the meat raw and only occasionally could we get the firemen to allow us to make coffee on the boilers.
One deck of the steamer was given up to the wounded and a visit there was enough to sicken anyone. The poor boys suffered horribly, there was no way nor anyone to dress their wounds, and fifty-five of them died before we reached Vicksburg [Mississippi]. When one died his body would be rolled up in his blanket and nailed up in a rough pine box. The steamer would slow down for a few minutes and the
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ACTUAL SERVICE - THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN
body would be taken ashore and buried on the bank of the river.
One day as we were steaming down the river we were fired on by a force of about five-hundred guerrillas from the Missouri side. They had dismounted and run down to the river side and turned loose two or three volleys at us. The ironclad ahead of us rounded up and fired two or three of -
her big guns in their direction and they retreated up the hill in double-quick time and in bad order. I do not know whether they were firing at us prisoners or the Yankee guards. None of our boys were hurt, though a good many of the bullets struck the wheelhouse, and I heard that one of the guards, who was standing aft, was killed. All that we rebs could send back at them was our old charging yell.
Soon after this our boat got aground and stayed three days. Our next excitement was when the boat got afire and came near burning up, together with her captain. He let his bedding catch fire one night about ten o'clock, and a number of our Confederate officers ran up and threw the bedding overboard and came near throwing the captain with it. The army officer in command seemed to think it a good joke on the captain of the boat.
There were about three hundred Confederate officers on the boat. When we reached Memphis we made a stop of about three hours, but the steamer was not allowed to land but was kept off some thirty yards from shore. A large crowd of ladies was on the banks and they had apples and cigars for us but were not allowed on board to give them to us, but they would tie small rocks to cigars and throw them aboard. Some reached us and others fell short and fell in the river.
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About a dozen of our boys got on the upper deck and sang the old southern songs in spite of the repeated orders of the Yankee officers to stop. The ladies on shore would wave their handkerchiefs and throw kisses to us, that is, to those they knew, for there were a good many on board who had friends and relatives on shore but the best they could do was to exchange greetings at a distance.
Our next stop was four miles above Vicksburg, where the iron clad rounded up and blew her whistle, which was answered by that of a Confederate steamer coming for us. It was over three hours before she came in sight around the bend of the river, about a mile away. She was soon alongside and we were ordered to go on board of her. A heavy guard was placed along the side and every one was searched to see that he carried off nothing that was not his. Some of our boys who had been sick had saved up their bacon and had as much as fifteen or twenty pounds, and rather than give it back to the Yankees they threw it overboard. The transfer was soon made and the lines loosened and we, as happy a lot of men as ever lived, were on our way to the Confederate lines in Vicksburg, where we arrived after dark. Our instructions were to march to the depot about a half a mile away and I think that Captain McPherson and I, who got separated from the rest of the boys, walked the whole distance on molasses barrels. We were to get rations at the depot, and when we arrived there we found some of the boys getting theirs.
Captain McPherson and myself did not draw any rations, as we had saved up those which we had gotten from the Yankee steamer, but all the other boys and the wounded drew rations such as they were, consisting principally of
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ACTUAL SERVICE - THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN
pones of cornbread and canteens of molasses. That was the largest pile of cornbread I ever saw in my life.
We went to the depot and got in the box cars ready to go to Jackson [Mississippi]. The conductor came around and wanted our transportation orders and we told him that we were just from Yankeedom and had none. He said that we would have to get off, and we said that we would not and got - up considerable of a row, but when the other boys and the wounded began to come in, he changed his tune. We soon pulled out for Jackson, fifty-six miles distant, where we arrived at daylight. As soon as we landed Captain McPherson and myself made for a hotel to get something to eat, but failed and came back to the depot. By this time all the wounded had been unloaded and were lying around, but with no one paying any attention to them.
We bid them good-bye and took the train for Chattanooga. We had been told at Vicksburg that we would be regularly exchanged, but when we arrived at Chattanooga we found that it was mistake and we were sent to the parole camps. I have often wondered what became of the poor wounded we left at Jackson but I have never been able to learn. We were kept in the parole camps for some time and then given leave of absence to go home, and this was the only time I was at home during my four years of service.
This is the end of the story of the Kentucky campaign.
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CHAP. IV
THE MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN -
wish to give an account of the Mississippi campaign when our division under General [John Cabell] Breckinridge was ordered to reinforce General [Joseph E.] Johnston, who was trying to get in [Ulysses S.] Grant's rear and help General [John C.] Pemberton out of Vicksburg, where he was besieged.
We took the train at Bridgeport, Tennessee, and went to Mobile [Alabama] and from there to Jackson, Mississippi, where we were ordered to draw three days' rations and put on the road leading to Black River. While we halted there some of the paroled prisoners from Pemberton's army came along and told us that Vicksburg had surrendered the day before GEN. JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON [July 4, 1863]. We had to get pontoon bridges across the river, and, in order to do so, it was necessary to get a line across and volunteers were called for. The first one to step forward
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THE MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN
was Captain Simeon Strickland, then a beardless boy of eighteen or nineteen years, and he swam the river with the line and fastened it to the other side. He, nor anyone else, knew what danger there was ahead of him, but he did not stop on that account, but bravely did the duty for which he had volunteered.
When we heard that Vicksburg had surrendered we were . put back on the road to Jackson, a distance of fifty miles. We marched all day, suffering terrible for water-after we left the rivers there was no water to be had except from mud holes. Our division was sent off on a settlement road to head off a Yankee regiment of cavalry which it was reported was trying to get around in our rear. The day was a terrible, hot day and we were sent on the double-quick for two or three miles. When we got to a stopping place we found that it was a false alarm and not more than a third of our men were left, the rest having fallen out from the intense heat. General Breckinridge himself came near fainting from the heat, and him on horseback.
We got back to Jackson that night at twelve o'clock and fell down under some old shelters and went to sleep. Before morning a terrible rain came up and the flood almost floated me out into the street. The next morning we threw our lines around the town and went to building breastworks behind which we were to receive Grant's army.
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CHAP. V
THE BATTLE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
- +
W E remained in our entrenchment for two days before Grant's army arrived. As soon as our breastworks were completed our brave Captain Saxon was sent out with the skirmish line. Sunday morning [July 7, 1863] at nine o'clock we commenced to hear the muskets fire from both sides and soon Captain Saxon was forced to fall back and join the main line behind the breastworks. As soon as our skirmish line had joined us behind the breastworks we could see the Yankee army in four lines of battle advancing on us.
Our forces had planted a battery of three cannons in our rear and opened a heavy fire over our heads into the advancing Grant's army, and every time a shell would plow through the Yankee lines it would leave an open street which they immediately closed up and continued to advance.
Our boys were anxious to repulse the advancing Yankee forces but the command was given, "Hold your fire, boys, hold your fire." And we did hold our fire until the Yankees were within eighty or ninety yards of our entrenchment, then we opened fire on them with telling effect, we made it so hot for them that they were thrown into complete confusion. They tried to re-form their lines and utterly failed in their
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THE BATTLE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
efforts. During the skirmish two of the Yankee flag bearers ran up on our breastworks and we captured their flags.
Then we were ordered to jump the breastworks and follow the retreating Yankees. We followed them for a mile down the road.
As we went through the woods we came upon a Yankee soldier with one leg and one arm shot off but still alive and begging for water, but our canteens were empty and none of us had any to give him. It was hard indeed to see a man suffer so and not be able to relieve him with so much as a drink of water, but such is war.
The night we evacuated Jackson we fell back towards Pearl River, and when we came to the bridge we found that torpedoes had been placed in the road with guards to tell our men to bear to the right so as to miss them, and you may be sure that we kept well away in that direction. When we got a chance we dropped down and went to sleep, but were awakened by a terrible rattling. The men jumping up in their sleep hallooed that the Yankee cavalry was coming and three men ran over me and knocked me down and almost broke my arm, but the noise proved to be a team running away with an ambulance. The Grant army did not follow us any further than Brandon [Mississippi], and there we took the train for Chattanooga.
I can not close these reminiscences without a word of praise for Captain Saxon of our Company E, who was one of the best skirmish commanders in the Confederate Army. He was in command of our skirmish lines at Jackson and also at the bloody battle at Franklin, and in both places proved his bravery and capability, winning the highest praise from
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SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN DIXIE
the commanding officers. Middle Florida sent no braver or more competent man to the front than Captain Saxon, and I hope that he is still alive and may read these lines so that he will know that some of those who were under him and saw him in action still remember him.
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CHAP. VI
THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE
- shall never forget the hard fight at Missionary Ridge [Chattanooga] nor the suffering of our men in the trenches before the battle for some three or four weeks. We had no tents and had to use our blankets stretched over poles to keep off the cold rains, and as few of our men had more than one blanket, their sufferings were intense. I have heard the men in Virginia complain of the cold there, but I am sure that it was no worse than that in front of Lookout Mountain. We were kept on the alert for three or four weeks before the fight came off, and you could hear the boys praying and wishing for the fight to come if it was coming, anything to get out of the suspense and suffering caused by lack of rations and shelter.
Our line stretched along the foot of Missionary Ridge and across the valley to the foot of Lookout Mountain, a distance of about twenty miles. Our picket line was in rifle pits about a hundred yards in advance of the main line and another hundred yards in advance of this was our vidette line in rifle pits also, but these could only be visited by night to bring relief on account of the proximity of the Yankee. Between them and our men a constant fire was kept up all day and even at night, and even the pickets had to keep low to be out
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SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN DIXIE
of range. At night the only fire allowed was a few coals over which to warm their fingers and toes, for the slightest light would bring a musket ball in that direction, and the flashing of the muskets from both lines during the night made a grand sight if it were not for the fact that every flash meant a bullet, many of which found a billet in the body of some poor soldier.
The last night we were on the line it was very dark, and about three o'clock in the morning, while on vidette duty, I came near crawling into the Yankee lines, getting so close that I could hear a Yankee guard clear up his throat. I halted and got my bearings and crawled back to the pit I had just left. While warming my fingers over the few coals the men had in the pit, one asked if I did not hear the Yankees beating their coffee in their tin cups with their bayonets. One of our men by the name of Stockwell sung out to the Yankees and said, "You must be preparing an early breakfast?" To which the Yankees replied, "We are coming over to see us you Johnny Rebs today." That word "Johnny Reb" will never be forgotten by me.
I got back to my place in the line which was at the foot of Missionary Ridge, and just as day began to break [November 25, 1863] we could hear the Yankee officers giving the commands getting their men in line, though the underbrush was so thick that we could not see them. But soon after daylight they got a battery in position and began firing on us, though but little damage was done, as they were shooting too high. Soon we could see the heavy lines of battle of the Yankees advancing at a distance and it seemed as if the woods were alive with them, and we could see the officers dashing up and down their lines on their horses.
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THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE
About this time our batteries in the rear of our line and further up the Ridge opened fire on them with shells, but it did not stop their advance, and shortly after, the musketry fire of our picket lines falling back could be heard, and there was heavy cannonading on both sides. About seven o'clock we could hear heavy firing on our right. By this time the Yankees were not more than two hundred yards in front of our lines, and we were ordered to open fire on them with musketry, which we did, making it so hot for them that after a while they retreated, but re-formed their lines and again advanced. We drove them back the third or fourth time, with dreadful loss every time, but they kept coming, and about three in the afternoon we got orders to fall back to the top of the Ridge. We had never given an inch and why we were ordered back I never knew unless the line on the right of us had given away. There had been heavy artillery fire all the time, but our big guns had been doing but little damage, shooting too high all the time. When we started up the Ridge the Yankees made it as hot for us as we had done for them before, and many of our men went down.
Our ammunition had been about exhausted when we were at the foot of the hill, but when we reached the top, sixty rounds additional were issued to the man, and when the Yankees charged us again we were ready and drove them back again and again. But the first thing we knew they came up behind cliffs and rocks and there was a hand-to-hand fight-Yankees and our men mixed up together. We were forced to retreat down the hill and it was there that our men were slaughtered, several of our boys being killed near me.
About this time General Bragg and his staff dashed by on their horses and one of them yelled to us, "Give them hell,
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SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN DIXIE
boys," and just then one of them was shot from his large cream-colored horse, which ran off down our side of the hill. General Bragg was a brave old soldier even if he was a tyrant to his men. We had two flag bearers shot down and the third time General Bragg jumped from his horse and picked up the flag himself. Just as he mounted again, a lone soldier from the Third Florida ran up and took the flag from him and carried it safe to the rear.
When the Yankees broke our lines the order was given to retreat, but the men were retreating without orders, all of them that were not kept as prisoners by the Yankees, and there was a lot of them. As we ran down the hill, one of our boys, Eph Lassiter, cried to me, "Lieutenant, I am killed." At the bottom of the hill we GEN. BRAXTON BRAGG- halted for a moment and I looked at his wound and told him that he was not killed. A piece of shell had struck him on the shoulder and tore away a piece of flesh as large as a man's hand. He was losing blood very rapidly. I do not know whether he died or not, but I have never seen him since.
When we reached the bottom of the hill we came to the little bridge across the Chickamauga River, and there was a mix-up of men, artillery, ambulances and wagons, all trying to cross the river at once. The infantry was held back, though, and others allowed to go ahead.
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THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE
We were ordered to fall in on a road leading down toward Dalton, Georgia. We had marched about half a mile when we came to a big pile of rations by the side of the road and were ordered to halt and fill our empty haversacks, which we were glad enough to do for we had fought all day with nothing to eat. Some got flour and some meal and some meat and some got no meat and some got syrup. My tent mate got a good piece of meat for himself and me. Some of the boys rolled out what they supposed to be a barrel of syrup and knocked the head in, when it proved to be a barrel of soft soap. Generally we were glad to get soap and have a wash day, but there was no time for this now. Of course, the rations were raw and we had no time to cook them as we were marched all night still hungry and tired-so tired that for my part I slept marching along. There was a large quantity of the rations left and some cavalry men told me that General Bragg had it burned, but he always did burn more rations than he gave his soldiers. The next morning we halted about sunrise, and our hungry men soon found the brigade wagon and got our cook pots and we cooked and ate once more.
While we lost the battle we had the satisfactory of knowing that we did not give an inch of ground except at the point of the bayonet and that the Yankees paid dearly in blood for every foot of ground they got from us. General Bragg was relieved soon afterward by General Joseph E. Johnston and we went in winter quarters near Dalton. I did not get much rest for I was sent down to Sugar Valley with a squad of about one hundred to build roads. The work was hard and regular but I had a good time all the same and so did most of the men. The young ladies there gave us a big Christmas dinner and dance.
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SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN DIXIE
I formed the acquaintance of two young ladies out in the country and one night wanted to go and see them and wanted to borrow the Captain's horse, but he was lame so I was given permission to ride an army mule. I left about dark and had gone but a short distance when I came to a ditch which I thought the mule would step over, but instead she jumped about ten feet and I landed on my head about ten feet ahead of her. I got up, brushed off the mud and remounted, and in due time arrived at the home of the young ladies where I had a very good time and might have had a better one if it had not been that there were two other soldiers there. About ten o'clock I left and started back. It was dark, so dark that I could not see the mule and soon found myself on the wrong road. The mule stopped and I could not see what the trouble was, but dug in my big cavalry spurs and when the mule brought up she was at the bottom of a railroad cut and it was early next morning when I got into camp.
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CHAP. VII
THE HUNDRED DAYS BATTLE
T HE great campaign of North Georgia, known as the One Hundred Days Battle, was fought by the Confederate Army of Tennessee under the command of the great and heroic General Joseph F. Johnston. They were confronted by the Federal army under command of General [William T.] Sherman, who had over 100,000 valiant soldiers.
After our army had remained in and around Dalton for several months in what was known as winter quarters, General Sherman began to advance from Chattanooga, and we were put on the march to meet his advance. I think our direction was north from Dalton, and it was but a few days before we could hear the fire at a distance of the heavy cannons.
The Federals were advancing rapidly and our work of fighting and throwing up breastworks soon commenced. If I remember right, our first fighting was at Rocky Face Mountain on May 12, 1864, and then for one hundred days it was a gradual retreat for the army of General Johnston. We would hold General Sherman's army in check all day, and as soon as night fell would evacuate our positions, fall back eight or ten miles, and then get the order to get our spades and dig rifle pits and pile logs for breastworks. By
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SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS IN DIXIE
daylight we would be ready for the Yankees, and they rarely failed to come, either. Work all night and fight all day was our rule for the hundred days, but there was one good feature about it and that was that we had plenty of rations. General Johnston looked after the commissary much better than General Bragg.
At Resaca [Georgia - May 13-15, 1864] we had a severe battle and there we lost two of the brave boys from our company while crossing the bridge under a heavy fire of shell, grape and canisters. It was here that General Johnston came near getting his army in the nine hole, but his good generalship saved him, and he succeeded in getting his army safely across the bridge. He was too foxy for Sherman.
We had another hard fight at New Hope Church [Georgia] on May 25th and 26th, where our Florida brigade lost half its number in killed, wounded and taken prisoners. On the evening of the 28th our brigade was ordered to charge upon the Yankee works. The order was to jump our breastworks and charge the Yankee lines at the signal of a cannon fired on our left. About four o'clock the signal came, and the order "Attention" came from our Colonel D. A. McLean. Just as he sprang on the breastworks to give the command, a minié ball struck him squarely in the forehead and he dropped back in the trenches. The command was taken up by our major and over we went to the command, "Forward, guide center, quick time march!" I suppose we had gone about three hundred yards when we could see a lot of newly cut brush, and from behind it there rose the Yankees in three or four ranks. I know it seemed to me that the air was blue with their uniforms. As they rose they fired volley after volley into our single line of battle, and we returned the fire, but soon had
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