USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., gathered from mattter furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, interviews with old settlers, county, township and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources as have been available : containing also a short history of Henderson County > Part 37
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A period of ordinary service followed until the Atlanta campaign. On May 4, 1864, the 4th corps concentrated at Catoosa Springs and awaited the arrival of the 23d corps, which formed on its left. On the 7th the two marched south, when the right of the 4th connected with the left of the 14th at Tunnell hill, from which the rebels had been dislodged that morning. From this time till the 13th the regiment was before Rocky Face ridge, an impregnable natural stronghold, skirmishing most of the while, and once making a charge and driving the rebels out of their rifle pits. The loss on the 9th was eleven killed
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EIGHTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
and wounded. The flank movement through Snake Creek gap, a pass through this ridge fifteen miles south, compelled the rebel army to fall back. The 84th advanced through Buzzard Roost gap, and passing Dalton, skirmished forward to Resacca, where it took part in the fighting on the 14th and 15th. On the 16th, the rebel army having retreated, the command went forward, skirmishing desultorily, some- times severely, down as far as Cassville, which was reached on the 19th. The army rested till. the 23d, then moved on Dallas. On the 25th Thomas' army found the enemy in strong force at New Hope Church ; the following day it was arrayed for steady work, and from this time the regiment was in constant fighting for ten days. From the 7th to the 10th, the 84th was encamped three miles south of Aek- worth ; on the latter date the army moved forward to confront Johnson's intrenched line from Pine mountain to, Kenesaw, and until the 18th the men were working their way up close to the enemy's breastworks by building successive lines of their own, under heavy fire, which did not relax day or night. After the 15th the contending sides were so close that all the firing was done from the main parapets. On the night of the 18th Johnson retired the flanks of his army, and next day the brigade was in advance feeling for the enemy. A part of the 84th was on the skirmish line and suffered severely, especially company G, which had two men killed and seven wounded. On the 21st the regiment had another killed and several more wounded. The rebel army retreated to the Chattahoochee on the night of July 2d, and the 84th followed in pursuit on the 3d, overtaking the enemy in the neighborhood of Smyrna camp-ground, when "they celebrated their fourth of July by a noisy but not desperate battle." On the 10th the 4th corps crossed the Chattahoochee, and after throwing up breastworks for use in case of need, rested till the 18th. Crossing Peach Tree creek on the 20th, the regiment advanced on the skirmish line, charged the rebel skirmishers and took all in their front pris- oners. They moved their line forward 200 yards on the 21st, and were engaged nearly all day in sharp fighting. On the 22d, while the battle of Atlanta was in progress on the left, the 4th, 20th and 14th corps swung in upon Atlanta, closely investing the city on the north and northwest. On August 3d Capt. Dilworth, of company F, with sixty-five men from the regiment, one-third belonging to com- pany K, made a brilliant sortie and captured all the skirmish posts in front of the brigade, including twenty-six prisoners, without the loss of a man. On the 5th a similar affair was planned by the brigade com- mander, and the skirmish line made an attempt to advance, but with ill success, and the 84th lost one killed and two severely wounded.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES. :
On the night of the 25th Gen. Sherman began his movement with · the bulk of the army to strike and sever the West Point railroad south of Atlanta. This was reached on the 28th, and the next day was spent in destroying several miles of it ; then on the 31st the Macon railroad was seized all the way from Rough and Ready to Jonesboro. At the last place Hardee's corps was fortified and made a sally against the 15th corps which was easily repulsed. The following day the destruction of the railroad was continued, and in the afternoon the 14th corps stormed Hardee's defenses and carried them with slight resistance, capturing a brigade and ten pieces. The setting in of night prevented the 4th corps from reaching the enemy's rear, which would have compelled his surrender. As it was he escaped that night, simultaneously with the evacuation of Atlanta by Hood. The 84th had one man killed and five wounded on this expedition ; and from the beginning of the campaign twelve were killed and seventy wounded. Six of the latter died in hospital. It was estimated that the regiment built, from the time it encountered the enemy at Tunnel Hill, ten miles of breastworks.
The S4th encamped at the close of the campaign with the rest of the corps three miles southeast of Atlanta. When Hood started north to invade Tennessee, all the army except the 20th corps which was left to garrison the city and guard the bridges on the Chattahoochee, started in pursuit in the first week of October. The 4th corps marched to Chattanooga; from there it was transported by railroad to Athens, Alabama, where it awaited orders two days, and then marched north to Pulaski, Tennessee. Gen. Sherman, about this time, turned from the pursuit of Hood back to Atlanta to set out on the march to the sea coast, and Gen. Thomas was left to watch and oppose his old antagonist. In the latter part of November the rebel army was in motion directly for Nashville, and the 4th and 23d corps began immediately to fall back, either not able or not designing to keep much in advance of the enemy. On the 29th Columbia was abandoned, and while three divis- ions were moving toward Spring Hill, the rebels, by a forced march to cut them off, attacked the place which was defended by one division, but were repulsed. The heavy supply trains narrowly escaped capture. On the 30th the retiring army was concentrated at Franklin, posted behind hastily constructed breastworks on the south side of the town, the line in the form of a crescent, the flanks resting on the Harpeth river. About four o'clock in the afternoon Hood threw his army upon this position, the chief weight against the center, with terrific energy. His men went over the first line of works in a furious charge, and
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EIGHTY-FOURTH REGIMENT.
· pausing under a destructive fire long enough to organize for an assault on the second line, they advanced with blind impetuosity; but the reserves having been brought up they failed to make a lodgment. At . five o'clock the union troops advanced to retake the works, and now occurred one of the most desperate encounters of the war. The soldiers stood up within arm's length of one another and fought like madmen with bayonets and clubbed muskets. This was continued till darkness ended the frightful combat, when Hood. having failed of his purpose to break the center, which would have been fatal to the whole, withdrew. Union loss, 1,500; rebel loss. 6.250. The first division was in a comparatively unexposed position, and not till the end of the fighting was the 84th on the front line, then it was deployed as skirmish- ers. Col. Waters and Adjutant Caswell were severely wounded, but afterward recovered; these were the only persons serving with the regiment who were injured. At night the march was continued toward Nashville, and early next morning the head of the weary, bloody column reached that city.
After two weeks of preparation Gen. Thomas was ready for the offensive, and on December 15th. moved against the enemy, turn- ing his left and forcing back his whole line. The battle was continued next day. and the rebel army disastrously routed. Pursuit was made by Wilson's cavalry and the 4th corps. The 23d corps also went as far as Columbia. When the shattered and demoralized army was across the Tennessee, the end of the campaign was announced, and the troops went into winter quarters. This was the completest union vic- tory of the war, not involving a surrender, for it practically destroyed . the rebel army. In all these operations the 84th was with the fore- most actors, and shared the honors of the striking achievements.
The 4th corps was cantoned near Huntsville, and this regiment was put on provost duty in the city. In March the corps was ordered to Knoxville, and on the 13th the first division was transferred by rail, the others following soon after. From there the command marched to Bull's gap, and was stationed six miles beyond, lying there till April 18th. On that day the troops were put on board the cars and sent to Nashville, where, on June 8, 1865, this war-worn regiment was mus- tered out of the service with 346 men ont of 932 who had gone to the "greedy front of war " only thirty-two months before.
Company G had thirty men ; all but five of these had been wounded. On the 9th the regiment started for Illinois, and arrived at Camp Butler, on the 12th. On the 16th it was paid off' and disbanded.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
""Tis midnight in the camp,
The tired soldiers sleep, and dream, perchance Of home, perchance of conflicts past, and others Coming on the morrow. Braves, sleep on ! Let the cool night winds soothe your slumbers deep, That you may rise refreshed. Your country looks To you, and such as you, to guard her honor From traitors' foul contaminating touch.
Yet, one is vigilant ;
With measured tread he paces on his beat - The midnight sentinel. The moonbeams play Upon his burnished bayonet, and its rays Fall gently on a calm, sweet, upturned face, That smiles upon the soldier from its frame."
E. H. N. PATTERSON, 1862.
The war of the rebellion had been in progress something over a year when recruiting for the 102d regiment began ; but as more men enlisted from Mercer county in that organization than in any other, we assign it the largest space.
Company C .- Frank Shedd commenced enlisting men on August 5, 1862, and on the 21st had eighty-nine enrolled. The company assembled at Berlin (Swedona) on the 26th, and taking wagons, went by the way of Oxford and Galesburg to Knoxville, and were assigned quarters in Camp McMurtry on the fair grounds. Ninety-six men went into camp, but ninety-two, including officers, were all that were mustered in. Shedd was elected captain, Almond Shaw, first lieu- tenant, and Watson C. Trego, second lieutenant. Alfred H. Trego was appointed first or orderly sergeant, Byron Jordan, second sergeant, George W. Gregg, third sergeant, George W. Allen, fourth sergeant, and Sampson M. Tenny, fifth sergeant. The corporals were Isaac N. Roberts, S. F. Fleharty, Rodney C. Manning, Henry Bridgford, Jacob Clause, Brainard Vance, Phoenix R. Briggs, and John Lippincott.
Company E .- On August 7 a meeting was held at Brown's school- house in North Henderson township, at which Dan. W. Sedwick en- listed eighteen men. Thomas Likely, of the same township (now of Norwood), was present and stated that he had enrolled eight men, and proposed to unite with Sedwick, which was done. By the 14th they had eighty-four. On that day the men met at the same place and organized by electing Likely captain, Sedwick, first lieutenant, and T. G. Brown, second lientenant. The following were the non-com- missioned officers appointed : Sample B. Moore, first or orderly ser- geant ; John Allison, William J. Abdill, Jonathan E. Lafferty, and
.
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ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND REGIMENT.
Albert Bridger, sergeants ; Thomas Simpson, Henry M. Carmichael, John Tidball. Lyman Bryant, Allen Dunn, Henry W. Manck, Robert Godfrey, and John T. Morford, corporals. Some time in the last week of August Lient. Sedwick started from Bridger's corners (now Suez) with thirty-two men, and going through Scott's grove, met Capt. Likely one mile south of that place with about the same number, from whence they proceeded in wagons through Galesburg to Knoxville, arriving there in the evening, where the rest of the company joined them.
Company G .- This company was raised by Joseph P. Wycoff, assisted by Isaac McManus. David Lloyd had begun a company, but as he did not make it up his recruits, eight or ten in number, came into Wycoff"s. Enlistments for this company were commenced in Keithsburg on the 6th of August; on the 15th over one hundred were enrolled, and runners were sent out to notify the men to meet on the 17th to organize. One hundred and twenty assembled at the opera house and Wycoff was elected captain. On the 19th the company embarked on a steamer for Burlington, where it arrived at midnight. The hotels were full and the men slept that night in a livery stable. Next day they took the cars and reached Knoxville, going into bar- racks on the north side of the fair ground. The organization of the company was next completed, the choice for first lieutenant falling on Isaac McManus, and that of second lieutenant on William H. Bridg- ford. The non-commissioned officers were also elected by the com- pany, Capt. Wycoff promising to appoint whomsoever the men should declare were their preference. They were Inke P. Blackburn, Aaron G. Henry, John C. Reynolds, John McHard, and Robert B. Seaton, sergeants ; and Wesley Hunt, Lemuel S. Gruffy, Elisha J. Grandstaff, Andrew J. Douglas, Richard H. Cabeen, John G. Poagne; George W. Thomas, and Andrew J. Campbell, corporals. Company G went into camp with 120, rank and file; but 101 was the maximum number allowed, and the excess were distributed among other companies.
Company K .- James M. Mannon, Sanderson H. Rodgers, and William A. Wilson raised this company in the month of August, and it was composed of men from the north part of the county, and chiefly from those residing in Eliza and Millersburg townships. It was organized in Aledo by the election of Mannon, captain, Rodgers, first lieutenant, and Wilson, second lieutenant. Late in the month the company went across the country by private conveyances to Knoxville, where the regiment was assembled and about ready to be organized. The original non-commissioned officers were: James Y. Merritt, orderly sergeant; L. Volney Willits, second sergeant (names of the
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
other sergeants unknown); and the following corporals : Peter Griffith, B. F. H. Reynolds, William Winders, J. E. Huston, Leander Officer, Eli Cook, Walter Smethers, and Allen Wilson.
Other Companies .- The foregoing companies belonged exclusively to Mercer county, if we except a very few in company C from Rock Island county. Company A was enlisted in the corners of Knox, Mer- cer, and Warren, and was credited to Knox, although of the eighty- eight enlisted soldiers forty-three were from North Henderson and six from Rivoli townships in this county. Capt. Roderick R. Harding, of Galesburg, who had served in the 17th Ill. reg. from May, 1861, to May, 1862, associated Levi F. Gentry, of North Henderson, with himself, and the two together raised the company. Harding became captain on the organization of the company, Gentry, first lieutenant, and Charles M. Barnett, of North Henderson, second lieutenant. The non-commissioned officers were : Robert W. Callaghan, Theodore H. Andrews, John Morrison, William Brown, and Adam N. Tate, ser- geants ; and William H. Black, Hugh French, Daniel B. Randall, Fielding E. Scott, John R. Holmes, Albert Talbot, Nealy Daggett, and George W. Miller, corporals.
Company B was raised in Knox and Warren; two enlistments were from Mercer.
Company D was raised and organized in Knox county, to which one-half of the men belonged. Sixteen were from Fulton county, fourteen from Warren, seven from Henry, six from Mercer, and a few from other places.
Company F was made up of Knox county men, with two from Mercer. Companies H and I belonged to the same county, but the latter had eight men from Henry.
The Regiment .- The 102d regiment was raised by Col. William McMurtry, of Knox county, and the companies, as fast as they arrived at Knoxville, were rendezvoused on the fair grounds, where there were ample and convenient barracks. This camp of organization was named McMurtry in honor of the venerable and enthusiastic colonel. The several companies assembled between the 20th of August and the close of the month, and when the organization took place Franklin C. . Smith, captain of company I, was elected lieutenant-colonel, and James M. Mannon, captain of company K, major. On the 2d of September the regiment was mustered into the service of the United States 931 strong. The men were uniformed, furnished with blankets, and regularly drilled ; and the transition to camp life had all the features of novelty until the rudiments of soldierly training were in course of easy mastery.
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ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND REGIMENT.
. On the 22d the right wing was transferred by rail to Peoria, and next day the left followed. The regiment remained one week en- camped on the beautiful plateau overlooking Peoria lake from the north, when orders came to move to the seat of war in Kentucky. Buell's army was intrenched around Louisville and Bragg was knock- ing at the gates of the city. Public apprehension was high, and the raw levies from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, were poured upon the "Kentucky shore" in immense numbers. The 30th of September dawned gloomily, but it found the regiment lively with hope and ardor, and before the morning was hardly passed it was in motion through the streets in a drizzling rain toward the depot of the Logansport, Peoria & Burlington railroad. Windows and balconies were crowded with old and young to get a view of the troops. Matronly women, total strangers, wiped their dimmed eyes as they watched the flower of the country's youth going to fields of blood and death. Next morning the regiment was in Logansport; in the course of the day it passed through Lafayette, and toward evening reached Indianapolis, where were seen the first warlike signs: artillery in park and paroled pris- oners in squads. A night ride brought the command to Jeffersonville, where it disembarked before the beams of morning streaked the east- ern sky. Arms for the men, French rifled muskets, which had been brought unboxed from Peoria, were distributed during the day, and inferior as they were it cannot be said the soldiers were not as proud of their guns as the traditional small boy of his new jacknife. Rumors of fighting across the river were soon afloat, and this was the first acquaintance with the "grapevine telegraph " -camp reports.
At one o'clock on the morning of the 3d, the long roll aroused the camp, and the men were ordered to prepare to march with three days' cooked rations. Very early the Ohio was crossed on an immense bridge 'constructed of flatboats, and the regiment marched into Louis- ville. Amidst the interested spectators on the street leading up from the river stood a tottering old man, whose thin white locks were the toys of the morning air. With uncovered head, and bony arms up- lifted to heaven, he appeared like a silent supernatural prophet of the union. Without a spoken word, but in the most solemn and patri- archal manner did this patriotic Elijah call down upon the men press- ing forward to the defense of the government God's blessing and pro- tection.
The regiment was brigaded with the 105th Illinois and the 79th Ohio, and placed under the command of Brig. Gen. William T. Ward, of Kentucky, and attached to Gen. Dumont's division. Not long afterward the 70th Indiana and the 129th Illinois were added.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
At four o'clock in the afternoon this new command began the march to Frankfort, a march whose toils and pains will never fade from the memories of the jaded and exhausted men who performed it. Only for the conditions was the distance great or the marching excessive. The weather was hot, the soldiers were overloaded, the country was suffering from extreme drouth, water was scarce, and parts of the pike were covered with a fine limestone dust that enveloped the column in a thick cloud. Haversacks were crowded with rations, cartridge boxes carried forty rounds, knapsacks contained extra clothing and blankets and other dispensable effects. Add to these a heavy musket, and the weight borne was too much for the endurance of nine-tenths of the soldiers in the field, old or new. To keep in ranks and march at a brisk pace encumbered with an unusual, ill-fitting, fretful load, was no ordinary hardship to raw recruits; and long afterward when the men had become enured to war-like service, they reviewed the trials of this first march with a shudder. Inhalations of the finely-powdered dust excited and greatly aggravated thirst, and under the circumstances these sufferings of the men were the most painful of the whole service, and were the entering wedge to subsequent disabilities which sent many a poor fellow home a miserable wreck and many another to his long account.
About midnight a small remnant of the command filed off into a swarded field fifteen miles from Louisville, and were told to encamp. The brigade was disorganized, and the soldiers, prostrated with fatigue, were scattered along the line of march for a distance of ten miles. The road was strewn with blankets and clothing thrown away with indifference and relief. We believe it was never explained why our commanders forged ahead with such folly; but the boys often jokingly charged it to that ever present factor, the double-barreled canteen. Probably orders had been given in Louisville for the brigade to march to a certain place that night. The 102d had not forgotten yet that Col. McMurtry declared at Knoxville his intention to "march us to glory or to death," and they could testify now that the promise was being relig- iously fulfilled, with the chances very much in favor of the alternative.
About all the men had straggled into camp by eleven o'clock next day, and then the march was renewed. Fifteen more tedious miles were drawn out and we encamped late at night in the neighborhood of Shelbyville, where we lay in a plowed field under the burning sun until the afternoon of the 6th. In rapid time we marched to a new camp, two miles cast of Shelbyville. On the Sth we were again in motion, and the day was marked with the petty annoyances of starting and halting, and waiting in suspense, not knowing whether to sit or lie
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down by the roadside or to stand and hold our heavy loads. Through it all the sun poured down his blistering rays. This was the worst day of any for dust ; fine as flour, in places it was two inches deep, and verily we had " a cloud by day," which veiled every object from view a few yards in front. To get drinking water the soldiers were glad to brush away the heavy, green scum with which stagnant pools were mantled, and thousands of canteens were supplied with filthier water, but a little pennyroyal introduced through the nozzle overcame the unfragrant odor; and doubtless others were moved to the same thank- fulness as the soldier who expressed his satisfaction with the water because it was wet ! At nine at night, being suffered to bivouac, we gave ourselves up to the welcome embrace of mother earth, and. stretched our aching limbs upon the soft soil. The hour of midnight made its hasty round, and brought with it orders to resume the advance. A march of six miles, and then we were in Frankfort, at the bridge across the Kentucky river, where our cavalry had a skirmish and a few of the men, were on guard. Toiling three-fourths of a mile, perhaps a mile, up the long, weary ascent east of the town, we at last reached the top and threw ourselves upon the naked sward for rest, just as the gleams of dayspring began to gild the eastern horizon. At nine o'clock orders came to prepare for a forced march of forty-eight hours without knapsacks, and two days' rations were issued. What more "forced " than the experience. of the last few days was needed? Happily, the order that would have put us in motion never came.
With the end of this, our first march, we drop the mass of details lest our space should be taken up before we discover the spires of Atlanta, or the music of the ocean falls upon our cars at Savannah.
At Frankfort the regiment was furnished with bell tents, drilling was continued, and standing at arms an hour or two in the morning before daybreak was practiced. On the evening of the 18th prepara- tions were made for a forced march, and at midnight the brigade was called out and started for Lawrenceburg, sixteen miles distant. The object was to intercept the partisan John Morgan, who was retreating from Lexington before a federal force. The command halted by the way an hour and did not reach the destination till daylight, when it was found that the rebel chieftain had passed an hour and a half before. Marching back leisurely the troops reached their old quarters at seven in the evening, tired and foot-sore.
A painful incident of history followed. Dissatisfaction with Col. McMurtry was gaining rapidly, and the demand for his retirement was strong. We remember the hollow square, the stirring speech from
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