USA > Illinois > History of the 112th Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the great war of the rebellion, 1862-1865 > Part 24
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The situation is thus aptly described in Badeau's Military History of General Grant.
"On the 12th of November Sherman severed connection with the forces on the Tennessee, and from this time Thomas re- ceived his orders direct from Girant. He was now in command of all the National troops between the Mississippi and the Al- leghanies. To him from this moment was committed the de- fense not only of Tennessee, but of all the territory acquired in the Atlanta, or even in the Chattanooga campaign.
"The same army, depleted, it is true, but still the same com- mand that had confronted Sherman so long and so valiantly, now stood before Thomas, and threatened all at the west that in a year of battle either Grant or Sherman had gained. Af-
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HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
ter wandering hundreds of miles, Hood at length found a base, and railroad communication uninterrupted in his rear, from Corinth to Selina and Mobile. The troops beyond the Missis- sippi had been ordered to reinforce him, and the only success- ful leader of rebel cavalry, during the later years of the war, had been placed under his command. Not only did Hood out- number Schofield, but Sherman with the pick and flower of the army, men, horses, pontoons even, whatever he chose to take, all in the best state of preparation, he marched in an- other direction, and a desperate effort, it was evident, was about to be made to strike at Thomas, whose fragmentary command was still scattered from Missouri to East Tennes- see. The very boldness of Hood's movement was calculated to effect the spirit of his troops. They knew, if defeated, that no other army remained or could be collected at the west in defence of their cause. They were to meet their old enemy. The eyes of the South were upon them, the rebel President himself had journeyed from Richmond to incite them. Sher- man had left them an open door, and they were about to re- claim the soil upon which many of them had been born. Had Hood attacked Thomas before Schofield arrived, the result must have been disastrous to the National cause. But For- rest had not returned from West Tennessee, and the rebel chief had lost some of the ardor which characterized the assaults before Atlanta. If his strategy was still lold, his tactics were certainly tamer. He lingered around Florence when every hour's delay was of incalculable advantage to his adversary, and for twenty days, at this crisis of his fortune, he neither followed Sherman nor assaulted Schofield."
But Hood now confronted Thomas, and the latter was strain- ing every nerve to complete his preparations for an attack. No one feared an attack by Hood. Even the private soldiers understood that there was no danger of an attack, and laugh- ed at the idea of the Confederate army assaulting their lines.
While at Nashville the 120th and 128th Indiana regiments were transferred from the 3d Brigade and their places in the brigade filled by the 140th Indiana,-a new regiment, but a good one-in command of Col. Thomas J. Brady
Gen. Thomas was determined not to attack Hood until his
285
STATE OF THE WEATHER AND ROADS.
preparations to follow up a victory had been fully completed. One-half his cavalry force was dismounted. "He lacked artil- lery horses, and mules for the transportation of supplies. In fact his army was sadly deficient of the means of an active pursuit of the enemy ; and trains and animals had to be sup- plied. This required time; but by the Sth of December all was ready. Orders were issued on the 6th to be prepared for action on the 8th, and the plan of battle was agreed upon by Gen. Thomas and his corps commanders.
But on the night of the 7th the weather, which had been warm and pleasant for a week past, suddenly changed, and the morning of the 8th opened with a driving storm of rain and sleet. The cold increased during the day, and before night the hills were covered with snow. This was followed by iain, and another sudden change converted the water to ice, and the hills were so slippery that it was extremely difficult to climb them in the performance of the usual camp duties. This kind of weather continued nearly a week-the alterna- tions of rain and frost covering the hills with a thick coat of ice over which it was impossible to move troops.
The President, the Secretary of War and General Grant, all became impatient at the delay ; but those who were at Nash- ville at that time know that no movement of the army could have been made over the icy hill-slopes between the 8th and 14th of December.
On the 14th a warm rain melted the ice, and orders were at once issued to be ready for action early the next morning.
At day-break on the 15th, the 112th Illinois, in command of Capt. S. F Otman, moved out of Fort Negley and joined the brigade. The 23d Corps was relieved by a provisional division under Gen. Steadman-made up of detachments belonging to the several corps with Sherman, which had been unable to join their commands-and moved to a position in rear of the 4th Corps to strengthen and extend the attack on the right- constituting the reserve. The ground was muddy and the movements necessarily slow, but a dense fog concealed from the enemy the disposition of Thomas' troops and gave him time to move them into the desired positions without being discovered.
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HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
Gen. Steadman moved forward under cover of the fog, very early in the morning, and made a vigorous attack on Hood's right, and while this was in progress, the center and right ot Thomas' line moved forward and opened the attack along the whole line.
A detailed account of the Battle of Nashville will not be at- tempted. It is familiar to those who participated in it, and those who did not can consult other more elaborate works.
The 23d Corps moved to the right and operated against the enemy's left flank, Henderson s brigade, of the 3d Division, in temporary command of Col. Stiles, Col. Henderson being ab- sent, sick, supporting the cavalry on the extreme right. At the end of the first day Hood's army had been driven two miles, with the loss of sixteen pieces of artillery and twelve hundred prisoners, besides many killed and wounded : while the casualties in the 4th and 16th corps were only about three hundred and fifty each, and only one hundred and fitty in the 23d Corps. The troops rested on their arms on the night of the 15th, ready and willing to renew the conflict the next morning.
At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 16th the movements of the previous evening were continued. The line was moved for- ward and occupied a position parallel to the enemy's lines, and a heavy line of skirmishers was advanced close to their works. Col. Stiles, with the 3d Brigade, left his position in sup- port of the cavalry on the extreme right, and marched further south, and then turning to the east pushed forward upon a wooded hill on the extension of the line of the division, and thence was ordered to keep pace with the advance of the dis- mounted cavalry, and attack with the rest of the line when it should go forward. A little after noon the cavalry and the brigade formed a continuous line around the enemy's left flank, and the cavalry were advancing from the south, gaining one hill after another and doubling up the extreme lett of Hood's army.
About 3 o'clock the signal was given to advance the whole line, and with a cheer the men rushed forward. The center was broken, and at the same time both flanks of the enemy's line were doubled up, and his men broke and ran like a flock
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IN PURSUIT OF HOOD.
of sheep. Many of them were killed and wounded and a large number captured. Hood's grand army of veterans was de- feated, routed, in a panie-stricken and demoralized condition, the men abandoning their organizations, and streaming over the Brentwood Hills to the Franklin Pike, and thence on to- ward the Harpeth River.
The victory was complete : but, unfortunately, night was falling, and a drenching rain set in to add to the darkness, and the pursuit had to be abandoned until daylight.
Early on the morning of the 17th the Union cavalry were in hot pursuit of the retreating Confederates, followed as rapidly as possible by the infantry and artillery ; but the roads were in a horrible condition, cut up by the Confederate trains and artillery, and consequently the movements of the Union infan- try were slow. The 23d Corps moved at 9 o'clock, having waited until that time for other troops to move out of the way, and then proceeded on the Franklin Pike-the 3d Division in the rear of the train-and marched to Brentwood and there bivouacked for the night.
On the 18th the Corps moved to within two miles of Frank- lin and halted for the night. The roads were blockaded with trains. The rain continued to) pour in torrents, softening the ground and pikes, and the macadamized turnpikes, cut through by the heavy wagons, became next to impassable, while the mud roads were simply bottomless quagmires. On the 19th the 23d Corps, which was in rear, crossed the Har- peth River and camped near Franklin. The advance was al- ready beyond Columbia, pressing Hood's rear guard, and cap- turing many prisoners. Hood destroyed his ammunition, and abandoned the wagons, and doubled teams on his pontoon trains, and pushing them forward, succeeded in crossing the Tennessee, and by the 27th his shattered forces were on the south bank of the river.
Hood's loss in the battle of Nashville was not great in killed and wounded, but he lost heavily in prisoners, and in artillery and small arms. About five thousand prisoners were captur- ed, among them four generals and a large number of general and regimental officers commanding brigades, fifty-three pier- es of artillery, and a great number of small arms. In the
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HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
pursuit many more prisoners and pieces of artillery were cap- tured, and hundreds of his men deserted and returned to their homes.
Among the prisoners was a general officer who was forced to surrender to a "- nigger" under peculiar circumstances, and much against his will. A colored regiment on Thomas' left was in the advance on the afternoon of the 16th, and, when Hood's line broke, gathered in many prisoners. A col- ored sergeant called upon this officer, who was mounted, to surrender. The fiery Southron replied that he would never surrender to a "- nigger," but if they would send for a white man, he would surrender to him. Quick as lightning the sergeant's gun went to his shoulder, and covering the haughty Confederate, he replied, "Can't help it massa; no time to send for white man now ; come down." The ominous click of the sergeant's gun convinced the Confederate officer that the "- nigger" would not be trifled with, and he "came down," and was sent to the rear in charge of a colored guard.
When Hood assembled his army at Tupelo, Miss., at the end of the month he could muster scarcely fifteen thousand ef- fective muskets. His army was scattered and demoralized, and had lost the character of a disciplined army, and at his own request, he was relieved of its command. The 23d Corps met some of the fragments of his army in North Carolina, the following spring, but as an organization the Confederate Army of the Tennessee was dead beyond resurrection.
The Union losses at Nashville were less than four hundred killed, and about twenty-six hundred wounded, a great major- ity of the latter only slightly. Among the latter were Serg. Edward P Wright and Serg. William O. Shurtleff, both of Co. G, of the 112th Illinois, the only casualties in the regiment.
The truth is, there was no hard fighting at Nashville. Hood's army was whipped at Franklin. Its back bone was broken ; his men were discouraged, and at Nashville there was no fight in them. When the final charge was made on his lines, on the 16th, it was crushed as easily as an egg-shell.
Hood's corps commanders counselled him to retreat south- ward, after the battle of Franklin, instead of advancing upon Nashville ; but the rash and impetuous general declined their
289
HOOD RETIRES IN DISGRACE.
advice and rushed forward to certain destruction. He had entered upon the campaign with a grand flourish of trumpets, an l in numerous manifestoes, replete with southern braggado- cic. had announced his intention of marching to the Ohio, and if Sherman should lay waste the plantations of Georgia and the Carolinas, he would lay waste the fertile fields of Southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and compel northern cities to pay tribute to his victorious army But it was only a dream, and he now awoke to the sad reality that he had sacrificed the only army of the Confederacy in the west, in the vain attempt to restore the falling fortunes of rebeldom ; and he retired in dis- grace from the command of an army unsurpassed in bravery, unexeviled in endurance and not exceeded in enthusiasm, which his own folly and rashness had led to the verge of com- plek annihilation,
If, instead of retreating to Nashville, after the battle of Franklin, Schofield had moved Wood's division to the south side of the Harpeth, in the night of November 30th, and had made a bold and vigorous attack upon Hood's sore and bleed- ing army, on the morning of December 1st, the battle of Nash- ville would never have been fought ; Hood's army would have been as completely crushed and routed as it subsequently was at Nashville.
The defeat of Hood's army virtually ended the war in the Welt. It was the same army, its ranks depleted by the cas- ualties of war, which Sherman had been fighting all summer ; which had successfully resisted a direct advance upon its in- trenched lines and compelled Sherman to "flank" its chosen position ; which had repulsed many an assault, and which had tried the mettle and the courage of Sherman's soldiers upon many a well-fought battle-field ; and yet a so-called history of the United States disposes of this entire campaign in the fol- lowing manner :
"The capture of Atlanta had effected only a part of the ob- ject of he campaign, for Hood's army, still nearly forty thous- and strong, had escaped, and although Sherman had nearly twice as many he thought it useless to pursue. He therefore resolved to convert Atlanta into a purely military post, and or- dered all the inhabitants to leave the town. Hood lingered in
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HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
the neighborhood until the close of September, when he set out upon his fatal expedition to Tennessee ; the original pur- pose being to destroy the railroads by which the Federal army was supplied. Sherman anticipated the movement, and sharp fighting took place about Allatoona. Hood pressed on until he reached Resaca about the middle of October. Thence he moved towards Nashville by a wide circuit. Thomas had al- ready been sent there. Hood appeared before Nashville early in December. On the 19th he was attacked by Thomas. Fierce fighting ensued, lasting two days. ending in the total rout of the Confederates."
(Bryant's Popular History of the I'nited States, Vol. 4, page 583 .- In justice to Bryant, however, it is proper to state that this volume was written by others after his deatlı.)
That is all. The movement from Columbia, the assault up- on Spring Hill, the battle of Franklin -- one of the most des- perate and bloody encounters of the war; all these are com- pletely ignored ; and the battle of Nashville, in which Hood's army received its death blow, is disposed of in less than half a dozen lines.
In the same volume a page and a lialf is devoted to a skirmish in Virginia, in which the whole number of men en- gaged was less than the number of killed and wounded at Franklin. So much for the truth and impartiality of history.
The beautiful village of Franklin presented an appalling spectacle on our return there on the 19th of December. Churches, school buildings, public halls, stores, shops -- even blacksmith shops-many of the dwelling houses-every avail- able room had been converted into a hospital, and all were filled to overflowing witli wounded men ; and Union and Con- federate surgeons labored harmoniously together to alleviate their terrible sufferings. It was a sight never to be forgotten -the dark, dark side of war. Many of our own wounded were there, who had been left behind on the 30th of November, but nearly all were Confederates-the same men who, in the pride and flush of manhood, had swept forward over the level plains in front of Franklin in grand battle array, on that bright No- vember day, to assault our lines-now groaning with pain, some gasping in death, and many of those who survived crip-
291
AT SPRING HILL.
pled for life ; and the newly made graves gave evidence that hundreds and hundreds of their comrades had already been buried upon the field where they fell. Well might our Great Commander exclaim, "Let us have peace."
"O war! thou son of hell,
Whom angry heavens do make their Ministers."
On the 20th of December the 23d Corps moved at 8 o'clock in the morning and marched to Spring Hill. It was a cold rainy day. The pikes were a bed of mortar, being cut up by heavy trains, and it was a wearisome and difficult march. As the corps trains were in the rear, the command went into hiv- ouac and passed an uncomfortable night.
It continued to rain and snow on the 21st and 22nd, and was very cold. Remained at Spring Hill waiting for the sup- ply trains, as the men were without rations. In the afternoon of the 21st the regimental wagons came up, and the officers of the command pitched their tents-having passed the previous night without shelter-and were now on an equal footing with the men, who carried their tents upon their backs and were never caught in a storm without shelter.
On the 23d the corps marched down to Duck River, near Columbia, and went into camp, where it remained until the 26th, when it crossed the river and camped on the Pulaski Pike, one mile south of Columbia.
Another Christmas had overtaken us, and the war was not yet ended. But rapid strides had been made during the year and in the dim distance the "boys" could see the beginning of the end, and they were much happier than one year before. Many camp stools were vacant as they gathered around the camp fires on this sacred holiday, to talk of friends and by- gone Christmas festivals at home ; and many an unbidden tear trickled down their brown and rugged faces as they referred to the places made vacant in their ranks since the last Christ- mas.
The 23d Corps remained in camp at Columbia until the 2nd day of January, 1865, when orders were received to proceed at once to Clifton, on the Tennessee River, and there take trans- ports up the river, and join Gen. Smith, with the 16th Corps,
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HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
and Gen. Wilson, with the cavalry, at Eastport, Mississippi. The 4th Corps was ordered to Huntsville, Alabama.
At 8 o'clock on the 2nd the corps moved over to the Mt. Pleasant Pike and marched twelve miles, in a cold drizzly rain storm, the mud nearly knee deep, and camped two miles be- low Mt. Pleasant. Moved at daylight on the 3d, and leaving the pike, the 3d Division marched thirteen miles over the hills, on a mud road, to Newburg, and camped for the night.
Remained in camp until noon on the 4th, waiting for the supply train. Marched at 12 o'clock, the 112th Illinois in ad- vance. The road followed along the course of ravines and beds of creeks. Crossed Bryner's Creek a dozen or more times during the afternoon, over which temporary bridges were has- tily constructed of logs and rails for the men to cross on. At dark struck Rockhouse Creek, and followed along its course, first on one side and then the other, in the narrow ravine through which it ran, and as it was too dark to see to build bridges, the men waded it at every crossing, some half dozen. The water was from one foot to two feet deep. At 8 o'clock in the evening the command reached Buffalo Creek, a wide stream about four feet deep. There was no bridge, and but one way to cross. With cheers and shouts the men plunged in and waded it. It was a cold bath; but in the valley on the other side were several stacks of hay and plenty of dry rails, and it was not long until great fires were burning, and after drying themselves the men made comfortable beds of hav and lay down to rest. Gen. Cox personally rode along the lines as the regiments were going into camp, and informed the men that there were plenty of rails and hay near by, and directed them to build good fires and make themselves comfortable beds.
Marched at 8 o'clock on the 5th. The roads were horrible. Reached Waynesboro at dark, having made fifteen miles, and camped for the night. The 6th was a cold rainy day, but the command moved at 7 o'clock and marched fifteen miles, to Clifton, on the Tennessee River, and went into camp.
The corps remained at Clifton, waiting for transports, until the 16th of January. On the 14th, however, orders were re- ceived transferring the corps to other fields on the sea coast, and it moved down instead of up the river.
CHAPTER XXIV
A NEW BASE OF OPERATIONS-TRANSFERRED TO NORTH CAROLINA. THE JOURNEY TO THE EAST-AT SEA IN A STORM. LAND AT FORT FISHER.
Sherman moved from Savannalı on his march through the Carolinas about the middle of January, 1865. Gen. Terry captured Fort Fisher, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, in North Carolina, about the same time .. And Gen. Schofield was now ordered to proceed with his corps to the North Caro- lina coast, and, with his own and Terry's 10th Corps, to cap- ture Wilmington, and then advance upon two lines from Wil- mington and Newbern to Goldsboro, where it was expected Sherman would join him : and from that point, with two bases of communication already established, Sherman could puslı his operations north or west, as the exigencies of war should require. The supreme military genius of Grant planned the campaign, and it was executed by his faithful lieuten- ants, monthis afterwards, with such exactness that there was hardly a day's difference between the entry of Schofield's ar- my and Sherman's army into Goldsboro.
At 8 o'clock in the evening of the 10thi tlie corps moved down to the river and embarked on transports. The fleet consisted of twenty five steamers guarded by two gunboats.
Col. Stiles, still commanding the brigade, with his staff and orderlies, and the 112th Illinois, occupied the steamer "Clara Poe," and the 63d and 140tli Indiana regiments the "Minne- haha."
The troops were loaded during the night, and at 6:30 on the morning of the 17th the fleet moved from the landing and
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HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
steamed down the river. Arrived at Paducah at 3 o'clock on the morning of the 18th and at 7 o'clock steamed into the Ohio. The steamer landed at New Liberty, Illinois, for wood ; and many of the men went ashore "to tread upon Illinois soil once more." As the steamer swung off into the river again they gave three cheers for our own Illinois. Arrived at Evansville, Indiana, at 7 o'clock on the morning of the 19th, where we left a mail. Reached Lousiville at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and passed through the locks,-and thence continued up the river to Cincinnati, Ohio, where we arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon of the 21st of January. Here the command drew rations ; and at 8 o'clock in the evening embarked on box cars. At 9 o'clock the trains pulled out and arrived at Columbus at 10 o'clock on the morning of the 22d-Sunday Here the troops changed cars and obtained coffee and breakfast.
At 1 o clock moved from Columbus and ran without change to Bellair on the Ohio river, arriving there at 6 o'clock on the morning of the 23d. Crossed the river, by ferry, to Benwood, West Virginia, and breakfasted, and at 10:30 again took cars on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and at noon moved eats. The weather was extremely cold ; and the change from South- ern Tennessee to a northern latitude told severely on the men. The cars were ordinary freight cars, and of course had no stoves. Necessity is frequently the cause of mischief, as well as the mother of invention. At Piedmont, in West Virginia, our train met a west bound freight train. The trains stopped but a few moments, but long enough for some of the boys of Co. A, of the 112th Illinois, to confiscate a stove and its pipe in a box car on the freight train, and transfer it, unobserved, to their car. Philip J Wintz got a wrench and loosened the nuts on the bolts that held the stove to the floor, and others stood ready to assist in removing it. In the meantime others were obtaining fuel. As soon as the train was under way a stove-pipe hole was cut through the car roof and a fire built. It is not known what was said by the conductor and brakes- men of the freight train when they discovered their loss. If they consigned the boys to a warm place, it was no more than they deserved, and had already obtained. Such enterprise en- titled them to a fire, and they had it.
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AT ALEXANDRIA AND WASHINGTON.
Our train arrived at Cumberland, Md., at 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day ; and at Harper's Ferry at 5 o'clock in the morning of the 25tli, and at noon reached Washington Junction. From this point our train was delayed by passen- ger trains occupying the track. Arrived in Washington at 7 o'clock in the evening, where the train halted an hour, and then moved across the Potomac River and down to Alexand- ria, Va.,-having traveled fourteen hundred miles since leav- ing Clifton. The 112th Illinois obtained quarters at the "Sol- diers' Rest." Lieut. Col. Bond and the Adjutant, of the 112tlı, lodged at the Marshall House-made historic on account of the tragic assassination of Col. Ellsworth within its walls, by the proprietor of the house, in 1861.
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