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 40
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We have already exceeded the space allotted to this sketch, and while aware that it is only an outline of the history of the regiment, can barely skeletonize the remainder.
On the 16th of September the brigade marched to Atlanta and camped one mile south of the city. From here Col. Harrison obtained 24
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leave of absence and Col. Smith succeeded to the command of the brigade. Lieut. Col. Mannon having a short time before resigned on account of disability, Capt. W. A. Wilson, being the ranking line officer, assumed command of the regiment until he resigned in Octo- ber. Capt. H. H. Clay, of company D, succeeded, and was finally commissioned and mustered as major.
On the 1st of October the brigade marched back to the Chatta- hoochee, where it lay cantoned until the 14th of November. The railroad north of the river was destroyed on the 12th, and the next day it was torn up on the south side. On the evening of the 13th and the morning of the 14th the brigade was pulled into the river. At ten o'clock on the last day the command took up the march for Atlanta to plunge, on the morrow, into the unknown destinies. The soldiers felt that the destination was to be Savannah or Mobile ; but when our column pointed in the direction of Stone mountain about noon of the 15th, "Savannah " was the watchword ; . though at this time the objective, owing to the contingencies of war, was not certainly fixed in the mind of the commanding general. There was a magical fascination in it, for all were sure that this expe- dition would be one of the renowned achievements of the war.
We marched almost continuously until after dark on the 16th, the brigade being on detail the first day and night as train-guard. The 102d was in advance of the division on the 17th, and moved at day- light. Impressment of stock and provisions began by regular foraging parties. We marched on the 18th through the quiet, pleasant country village of Social Circle, and the railroad hamlet called Rutledge, and went into camp after dark. On the 19th Madison, county seat of Morgan county, was passed; and on the 20th the command started before daylight, the 102d in the advance. We camped at half-past three o'clock two miles north of Eatonton. We marched through this place next morning. It had rained the two previous nights, and rained all this day; the roads were very heavy; still, no hardship in that; the soldiers were living off the country! Every man is now a traveling commissariat, carrying flour, meal, yams, preserves, molasses, fowls, mutton, choice cuts of undressed pork, etc. The men dash into houses hunting for soda, flour, meal, and choicer edibles. It would be an error to suppose that all the troops ran helter-skelter; but then there were enough who went in this manner to get all the provisions that were needed.
The 22d was a bleak, chilly day. Starting at ten o'clock, our column, at four in the afternoon, marched into the sleepy town of Milledgeville. The whites had mostly left, and the capital was in the
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hands of the colored people. Sullen composure reigned. The army rested here the 23d. Officers, for a prank, collected in the hall of representatives, repealed the ordinance of secession, and solemnly declared the " sovereign " State of Georgia back in the union. Cross- ing the Oconee river on the morning of the 24th, we at once left the high. rolling country for the level, sandy. swampy region which stretches. hence to the coast. Camp was pitched at midnight. The division guarded the wagon-train on the 25th. Roads were execrable; teams: stalled in the mire ; progress was very slow. A burned bridge caused the train to park and the division to encamp only five miles forward from the bivouac of the night before. Skirmishing in front with Wheeler's cavalry. Some skirmishing on the 26th. The command halted early at night at Sandersville. The following of contrabands was becoming numerous. At sundown on the 27th the column was at Davisboro. Some light skirmishing was done, and a part of the corps was engaged in destroying the Georgia Central railroad. Soldiers in jubilant spirits. The march was resumed at eleven on the 28th, and the troops went into camp at night near the Ogeechee river. The 14th corps crossed that night on our road. Lying in camp on the 29th till two in the afternoon, the command crossed the river on a pontoon bridge ; march- ing five miles it bivouacked at the county-town of Louisville. The first and second divisions were tearing up the railroad, and our division was with the wagon-train. The 30th was passed in camp. December 1 the column moved . five or six miles. A party of foragers had a running fight with the rebel cavalry, and three of the 102d were taken prisoners. On the 2d the first brigade was in the rear, and the troops had a night march of several hours. Millen, one of the rebel starving- pens for union prisoners, was left to the right on the 3d. Tearing up of the Savannah & Augusta railroad gave employment to a number of brigades this day. The famous cypress swamps are reached. The tth passed without incident, the column marching ten miles and halting after dark. The third division had the advance on the 5th, moved eight miles, and camped early in the afternoon. The rebels amused themselves felling trees across the road on the 6th. Full of the inspi- ration of our great leader, we marched 'round them. Found camp just as the bugle was blowing "retreat." On the 7th the column, with the 102d in advance, moved on Springfield, county seat of Effingham county, which was reached without other opposition than the barricad- ing of roads. The brigade halted in the town, where it lay over all the next day. The forward movement was resumed after dark the Sth. the brigade taking the rear. The command was under motion during the night and the next day until eight in the evening. and proceeded
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eighteen miles. On the 10th the 102d was again the advance. A little after noon we came up against the defenses of Savannah, and bivouacked on the line of investment four and a half miles from the city. The line was corrected and permanently located on the 11th.
The two things to absorb thought and energy now were subsistence and a passage for attack over the swamp in front. Vast quantities of rice were stored on the river. Mills were put in operation, the negroes set to work, soldiers taking a hand with them. Company I was sent seven miles up the Savannah river to an island called Red Knoll, where several days were spent grinding corn and threshing rice. "Hard- tack " was issued on the 20th; rice was almost the sole article of diet for ten days.
The experiment of bridging the swamp was engaged in day and night, with the water from two to four feet deep, full of every obstruc- tion that could accumulate in a forest, and all underlain with a black, sticky mud. Working in the water at this season, and under the rebel guns, which "went hunting " for the boys with exasperating diligence, was hardly comfortable employment. It is scarcely worth the while to say that this was a practical failure. Some members of the regiment waded the swamp in the daytime and made an inspection of the rebel breastworks.
On the morning of the 21st the 20th corps hoisted the stars and stripes over the city hall in Savannah; and the holidays were bright and happy at loyal firesides when tidings of this "Christmas gift" thrilled the great heart of the north.
A short rest at Savannah, and our eagles point northward.
The first foothold gained in South Carolina was obtained by cross- ing directly from the city. The 102d accomplished the initial move- ment on January 1, 1865. A halt was made at Cheves' plantation five miles north of the river, until the 4th, when the brigade moved forward a mile, establishing itself at the Hardee farm, known to some as Black Mingo. The road having been corduroyed out from the river, on the 17th the command moved from Hardeeville, twelve miles, and occupied a position on the Charleston & Savannah railroad. On the 29th this place in turn was left behind, and on the following day we arrived at Robertsville, twenty-five miles farther inland. At this place on the 2d of February, as a part of the great army, we severed our communication with the outside world.
From this date to our arrival at Goldsboro', March 24th, there is a hiatus in our own notes, and we depend exclusively on the reliable history of the 102d by our old comrade, sergeant major S. F. Fleharty, with what little aid our recollection can furnish.
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On the departure from Robertsville the first brigade had the advance, the 105th Ill. leading. On approaching Lawtonville in the afternoon, and when within a mile of the town, the enemy, holding a strip of timber, disputed our progress. The 70th, the 102d, and the 105th were formed in line of battle, while the 79th and the 129th were sent on a detour to the left, when the rebels were shortly routed. The 102d lost one man killed and two wounded. Moving from this place next day, we marched urgently until the morning of the 6th, when we crossed the Salkehatchie at Beaufort bridge, which was defended by a strong earthwork, from which the enemy had retired when routed by the 15th corps at Rivers' bridge below. The Charleston & Augusta railroad was the point of junction for the whole army, the two wings having set out from different bases, and our column was urged forward with spirit to make timely connection with the army of the Tennessee. The 7th was cold, rainy, cheerless; the troops corduroyed, crossed swamps, built bridges, and late in the evening struck the railroad at Graham. During the Sth, 9th, and 10th we were destroying the road, and our brigade worked at different points from Graham to Williston, fifteen miles apart, Blackville being intermediate, and the command entering all three of the places.
The march was continued on the 11th; the South Edisto was crossed the same day; and the pine barrens and level country were succeeded by a bolder and more rugged surface. . Camp that night was made on a tributary of the North Edisto. The weather was cold, and next morning the air was frosty and biting. Just as the sun was up the men plunged into the freezing current; it was not wide, but for a hundred rods they had to splash through shallow water before reaching the other side of the swamp. On the morn- ing of the 13th the North Edisto was passed, the first brigade having the advance. The 70th Ind., the head of the column, had sharp skirmishing. Bivouac was made on the 14th at the junction of the Lexington and the Columbia and Augusta wagon roads. The leading division encountered heavy skirmishing on the 15th. Camp was made two miles south of Lexington and nine west of Columbia. Leaving the former to the right, the 16th brought us within two or three miles of the city, and from our position on a range of high bluffs which confine the Congaree, we had a bird's-eye view of the famed capital.
At noon of the 17th we moved up to the Saluda river, and the brigade was sent out to watch for Cheatham's force. No enemy was seen, and moving again in the direction of the river, we camped in proximity to a wagon train, which was crossing all night. By noon
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of the 18th the last "white cover" was over and we had the right of way, when we marched to within five miles of Broad river. On the evening of the 19th camp was pitched on the hills overlooking that stream. Orders were received here to cut down baggage, burn the wall tents, reserving only the "flies," and to prepare to continue the campaign forty days. The brigade was again in the rear on the 20th, waiting restlessly all day long for the immense wagon train to cross, and all the troops to pass whose turn it was to go ahead. Night fell before we went over; a mile back from the river we dozed in the cold air by blazing fires; "an hour and a half later the brigade refrain, ' Hail Columbia, Happy Land,' aroused us, and we continued on after the slow-moving column." A night march. No intermission till the night of the 21st. Winnsboro, in an elevated region, was reached at noon ; the column marched in review before Gens. Sherman and Slocum, and bivouacked two miles beyond the town. Arriving at Rocky Mount on the 22d, camp was made on the south bank of the Catawba; but after many had rolled up cosily in their blankets beneath the "dog tents," an order was received to cross the river. Having got ready and waited some hours for other troops to make the passage, our turn came at midnight, and we found a camping place a mile the other side. Breakfast was omitted on the morning of the 23d till the command had moved three miles to a place in the dense woods. Heavy rains commenced falling and continued until the night of the 25th ; the pontoon bridge was swept away, leaving the 14th corps on the south side of the Catawba, which rises rapidly, and is a raging stream when up. Nearly a week's detention of the army of Georgia was the result. Gen. Sherman says: "The roads were infamous, so I halted the 20th corps at Hanging Rock some days to allow time for the 14th corps to get over." Advancing again on the 26th, and corduroying, the brigade encamped before noon near Hanging Rock, a place of natural curiosity as well as of revolutionary interest. Lying there during the 27th, on the 28th the march was continued in the direction of Cheraw, the soldiers corduroying two-thirds of the way.
This day the regimental foragers, under 'Capt. Wooley, captured the bank of Camden, which was secreted in the woods. It was dis- covered by Jesse McQuade, of company I, and Charles Hartsell, of company E. They were fired upon by men guarding it, and McQuade was severely wounded. Hartsell notified the detachment and the cap- ture was made. There were four safes, and the treasure consisted of $700 in specie, $2,500 in bullion, and $35,000 in confederate bonds, besides the silver plate, jewelry, horses, mules, and wagons. The property was delivered by Capt. Wooley at corps headquarters.
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McQuade died in 1879, and is buried at Hoopeston, Vermillion county, Illinois. He was one of the most daring spirits in the army.
Until March 3 the column was advancing on Chesterfield. It cor- duroyed several miles of wretched road that day, and passed through and camped a mile beyond the town. On the 4th a diversion was made on the Wadesboro road, and the third division crossed into North Carolina. No further move took place till the 6th ; then at noon the division headed for Cheraw. Arrived there, it passed one of those fatiguing, comfortless nights waiting to cross the river, and when its turn had come it was nearly morning.
This day Lieut. T. G. Brown, of company E, went out from the regiment before it broke camp in command of twenty men, and secured a lot of forage near Wadesboro, but was furiously set upon by 150 rebels, whereupon his party "issued their hams and meal quicker than any commissary could have done it." First a running, com- mingled fight; then a stand was made, and the Spencers won. The " bummers " not only held the rebels at bay, but followed and drove them. "We saw four of the poor devils that we had shot, one of them was not quite dead," wrote the lieutenant. Brown's loss was four captured and one very slightly wounded. They had an exciting and romantic time getting back to our army, as a rebel division had cut off their direct return ; but they found the 14th corps at one o'clock in the morning, and overtook the 102d at eleven the next night.
The command marched eighteen miles from Cheraw and camped at Laurel Hill. The Sth was a rainy day, and the route lay through the solitary pine barrens. Camp was made five miles south of Lumber river. The bridge was burned, and the brigade, wet, cold, hungry, spent all the next day in fruitless waiting near that stream. The 10th was passed on the road from six in the morning till ten at night; the journey of seven miles was varied between wading swamps and toil- ing through the mud in a crowded road. On the morning of the 11th the men made three miles of corduroy ; in the afternoon they struck a plank road and marched twenty miles by ten o'clock, and arrived at Fayetteville.
Moving again on the 13th the column was reviewed by Gen. Sher- man and crossed the Cape Fear river. The 102d was sent forward on a reconnoissance. The foragers drove the rebels before the regiment, and the latter pitched camp five miles in advance. Reconnoitering was continued the next day, two other regiments being added to the force. The foragers, with their usual enterprise and boldness, cleared several barricades of the rebels; but at Silver Run, on the Raleigh road, the enemy defied their irregular, predatory attacks. Companies
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A, I, C, and E, of the 102d, were deployed and had a lively skirmish. A respectable force being developed, the party drew off at dark and returned to camp, a distance of nine miles.
On the 15th the left wing (army of Georgia) advanced by this road, encountering feeble resistance at Silver creek, just north of which the brigade encamped, while the rain descended in torrents. There was heavy skirmishing in the evening by our cavalry. Indications prom- ised fighting, which came on the 16th. "The troops moved early and soon found the enemy. When about four miles south of Averysboro heavy firing commenced in front. The first brigade, except the 70th Indiana, which was the train-guard, was formed on the right of the road in line of battle, and preparations were made for an advance. Finally we moved by the left flank, crossed the road, and made a detour of about three-fourths of a mile to the left. Then moved to the front, the skirmishers becoming quickly engaged. As we advanced cautiously through the young pines to the edge of an open field, it was perceived that the brigade had completely flanked the rebel position. Not more than a hundred and twenty-five yards in advance they were visible in great numbers, running forward to their front line of works to re-inforce the rebels their engaged. At that instant a number of our men yelled out, 'Don't fire, they are our own men.' For a mo- ment our line was undecided. It was thought barely possible that we had become bewildered and were about to charge our own troops. Many months of active campaigning had rendered the uniform of the opposing armies almost indistinguishable. Many of the rebels wore blue, and many of the federals, having worn out their blue, were dressed in citizen's gray. The enemy in the meantime had kept up a galling skirmish fire, and heavy artillery and infantry firing was going on in the front, where the third brigade confronted their breastworks. Soon all doubts as to the identity of the rebels in our front were dis- pelled. . The brigade raised a yell, and, as if by an intuitive percep- tion of the duty required, rushed forward, the 102d on the right, the 79th on our left, the 129th and the 105th in the second line. The ยท rebels, completely surprised and outflanked, instantly broke. Yelling like wild men, the brigade swept magnificently forward, directly in rear of and parallel with the rebel line of works. Three pieces of artillery fell into our hands and many prisoners, recumbent in a trenchi behind their works, held up their hands and handkerchiefs begging for mercy. But the main body of the charging column rushed by them and continued on after the flying enemy, who abandoned blankets, haversacks, canteens, guns, cartridge boxes, everything that could impede their progress. Reaching heavy timber the pursuing column
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halted, reformed the line of battle, and rested for a time, keeping up a sharp skirmish fire with the enemy. . At length. other troops having moved forward to our support, a general advance was made. The second line of rebel works was found abandoned, but as we approached the third, which was very strong, we were met by a rapid fire of musketry and artillery, the enemy throwing grape shot and shells. Finally the brigade threw up breastworks a hundred and twenty-five yards from the enemy's line. Night came on with rain. It had been a day of excitement and fatigue. Cold and wet. we passed a miserable night."
The rebels retreated on Smithfield, in the darkness, over bottomless roads, leaving their dead and wounded in the houses around Averys- boro. One house contained sixteen of their dead; in the town itself were found thirty wounded men. Gen. Sherman's report showed that the division captured "three guns and 217 prisoners, of which 68 were wounded," and that "100 rebel dead were buried by us." The casual- ties in the 102d were two killed and nineteen wounded.
The division set out on the morning of the 18th to follow the main army, and were on the road all night, traveling only three miles between sunset and sunrise. The whole country was a quagmire. In the afternoon of the 19th, when the division was in rear with the wagon-train, Johnston's army assailed the 14th corps at Bentonville. The command was dispatched to its assistance, and formed on the extreme left and erected breastworks. but did not become engaged. Johnston fell back on Smithfield on the night of the 21st. During that day Gen. Schofield's army was arriving at Goldsboro from New- bern; and Gen. Terry, coming up from Wilmington, secured the crossing of the Neuse river and laid a pontoon bridge, thus completing the junction of the three armies. Our army concentrated at Golds- boro on the 23d and the 24th. The 102d marched into the town with the wagon-train at sunrise on the morning of the 24th, and camped two miles north of the village and constructed breastworks.
The regiment lost during the campaign forty-four killed. wounded and captured. The march through Georgia extended over 300 miles and consumed twenty-six days: the campaign of the Carolinas, more tedious. prolonged and difficult, covered fifty days and 425 miles actu- ally marched !
On the 5th of April special intelligence of the capture of Richmond was received with exultant joy. On the 10th the army was put in motion for Raleigh, and at the end of the second day we were in bivouac around Smithfield. Next morning the surrender of Lee's army was announced.and produced the most extravagant demonstra-
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tions of rejoicing. Raleigh was reached on the fourth day, and orders were given to move the following morning, the 14th, at six o'clock, in pursuit of Johnston, who had departed with his forces the night before. Meantime the rebel general proposed an interview with Gen. Sherman, and the order was countermanded. While waiting for the ratification or rejection by the government at Washington of the arrangement formulated by the two chiefs, the startling news of the assassination of President Lincoln came, and after the violent shock a sadness as tender and noble as the gentle nature of the stricken great man overspread the stout-hearted army and deepened into painful gloom.
The terms of the negotiation having been disapproved, on the 25th we moved out fifteen miles on the Holly Springs road. Johnston sur- rendered his forces, and we lay there till the 28th and then returned. On the 30th the line of march was taken up for Washington. Arriving at Richmond the 9th of May, we rested one day and on the 11th marched through the city, receiving from the people many kind attentions.
On August 16 Adjutant J. H. Snyder, and Private W. O. Jones, of company I, mounted orderly, left the column to visit the Wilderness battle-ground, and fell, it is supposed, into the hands of bushwhackers, as no trace of them was ever obtained. The adjutant was a man of genial nature, finely organized, of great personal worth and courage, and closely endeared to the regiment. His sad, mysterious end was a cruel shock to his admiring comrades. His companion was a superior soldier and young man.
The army arrived at Alexandria on the 19th, and on the 24th entered Washington, 60,000 under arms, in all the panoply of war. "The pride and strength of the great west swept down Pennsylvania avenue." All day long did "Sherman's army," marching in column by companies at half distance, surge past the reviewing stand with perfect alignments and soldierly bearing. The first brigade camped that night around the northeast corner stone of the District of Colum- bia. The grand review was over; the war was over; we were on the borderland of peace, sweet peace; and we rested in triumph from our labors.
The regiment was discharged at Washington on the 6th of June, and on that day took the cars for Chicago. It was past midnight of the 7th when we rolled into Pittsburgh, but the wide-awake, generous, patriotic citizens of that city had been busy preparing refreshments for us. Marching to the city hall these were partaken of with keen relish and thankfulness. Noble and generous Pittsburgh. How vivid is that memory after eighteen years! Arriving at Chicago on the 9th, the
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