USA > Illinois > History of the 112th Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the great war of the rebellion, 1862-1865 > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
Note c. The men of the 112th who were killed at Knoxville before the final charge of the enemy, on the 18th of November, 1863, were carried off the field and buried, and nearly all of these were afterwards identified ; but those who were killed in the last charge, or mortally wounded and left on the field, were buried by the enemy, and their remains could not be identified. They sleep among the "unknown" in the Nation- al Cemetery at Knoxville.
The Supt. of the cemetery reports the following whose names are not on the rolls of the regiment :
James Roberson Co. D, 112th Ill .-- No. of Grave 448.
Thomas Mattis Co. I, 112th Ill .- No. of Grave 133.
Marion Brown Co. G, 112th Ill .- No. of Grave 243.
He also reports John Kimball of Co. E, which is undoubt- edly intended for John Kendall of Co. F
Note d. There is no National Cemetery at Lexington, but the Government owns a large lot in the Lexington Cemetery, on which nearly one thousand Union soldiers are buried. It is under the charge of Mr. C. S. Bell, Supt. of the Lexington Cemetery Company, and the lot and graves receive the same care and attention as others in the cemetery.
Note e The Confederate officers seem to have kept no rec- ord of the names of Union soldiers who died at Florence. Very few of them are known, and among them not a man of the 112th Ill. can be found.
Note f. The Supt. of the National Cemetery at Richmond reports that most of the Union prisoners who died in Confed- erate prisons were first buried in other cemeteries in the city, and no record kept of the names or dates of death. In 1866,
432
HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
when the National Cemetery was established, their remains were removed aud interred in the National Cemetery and the graves of nearly all marked "unknown." The only names of 112th men found upon the prison records are Serg. Solomon Dixon, James Ray, Simon Ray and John D. Swaim, all of Co. E, and the date of death of each, but no record of the num- bers of their graves.
Note 9. The Supt. of the National Cemetery at Marietta, Ga., reports an unknown man of Co. B, 112th Ill., buried in that cemetery who died in prison in Alabama. He also re- ports an unknown man of same company at Cahaba Cemetery, Ala. Died Feb. 23. '65. No. of Grave 3,404, in Section L.
Note h. The Supt. of the National Cemetery at Anderson- ville reports that he examined 13.701 names in making a list of the 112th Ill. men interred there, for the author's use. There are 14,622 graves of Union soldiers there, of which 921 are marked "unknown."
ERRATA.
In the middle of page 314, for "Capt. D. K. Hall, our brig- ade Quartermaster," read Capt. D. K. Hall, our brigade Com- missary
In the recapitulation of Co. I, on page 378, for "Absent 9," read absent 8: for "total 125," read total 124.
In head lines of Co. C, on page 378, for "Present and mus- tered out June 20, 1862," read Present and mustered out June 20, 1865.
SAUNDERS RAID INTO EAST TENNESSEE.
BY CAPT. JAMES MCCARTNEY.
About the first of June, 1863, the 112th Illinois Mounted In- fantry, then stationed at Somerset, Kentucky, received orders from General A. E. Burnside, commanding the Department of the Ohio, directing that two hundred of the strongest and best horses and the same number of the healthiest men in the regiment be kept in camp and from general and detail duty until further orders. In compliance with this order the men and horses were selected, and the horses carefully groomed, fed and shod.
On the morning of June 10, 1863. the men selected were or- dered to report to Col. Saunders,-General Burnside's chief of staff,-a brave, kind and able officer, who afterward tell brave- ly fighting with the 112th at the siege of Knoxville. I had the honor to be one selected to accompany the detail from the 112th, under the command of Major T. T. Dow.
When we reached the place where we were ordered to re- port, we found assembled four companies of the 2nd Ohio cav- alry, two companies of the 7th Ohio cavalry, two companies of the 1st Kentucky cavalry, four companies of the 44th Ohio mounted infantry, six companies of the 1st Tennessee mount- ed infantry, one section of the 4th Ohio light artillery. consist- ing of two ten-pound rifled guns,-in all about fifteen hund- red men.
We fell into line and began our march, under command of Col. Saunders, and on the 11th of June reached Mt. Ver- uon, Kentucky, and camped for the night. On the 12th we marched twenty-six miles to London, and about twelve o'clock at night camped in the woods near the town. On the 13th we
-- 34
434
HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
reached Williamsburg, Kentucky. on the Cumberland River, and camped again. This river was then the dividing line be- tween the Union and Confederate forces. General Burnside commanded the Union forces north of the river and General Simon Buckner the Confederate forces south of it. Buckner was said to have forty thousand men under his command guarding East Tennessee.
At Williamsburg all the teams, and all men who showed signs of fatigue or ill health, with the poorest horses and all our baggage were sent back to Somerset. A few days rations for ourselves, and eight hundred rounds of ammunition for our cannon. were loaded upon pack mules. Forty rounds of car- tri Iges were put in our cartridge boxes, and forty rounds more and a new pair of horse shoes into our sadille bags. We slung ten days rations for ourselves around our neeks, in sacks. We placed in our pockets the picture of a mother, wife, or sweet- heart, and bidding good-bye to friends, with a last look to- ward the north, we plunged our horses into the Cumberland River and waded and swam to its southern shore.
From this point the command numbered about thirteen hundred men. Col. Gilbert, of one of the Ohio regiments, with eight hundred men, followed over the river and struck off to our left, to engage the attention of the enemy until we could slip through the lines. The Cumberland range of mountains begin here, about twenty miles from the river.
On the 14th of June, after crossing the river. we made our way quietly by by-ways and narrow paths through the country toward the mountains, and on that night camped in a lonely valley at the foot of the mountains.
We had with us seven of the best guides in the army, who were thoroughly acquainted with the mountains and the coun- try beyond. Only the fore wheels of our cannon were taken, and paths were cut when necessary. through the timber, but it was scarcely ever necessary. as it seemed as if the guns could go wherever a horse or mule could travel. We started before sunrise on the 15th, and went up and down hills through the woods all day. Of course we knew nothing of where we were going or what we were going to do, but obser- vation told us that we were going through the lines of the en-
435
THE SAUNDERS RAID INTO E. TENNESSEE.
emy toward the south upon some desperate enterprise. About five o'clock on the 15th we heard distant firing to our left, where Col. Gilbert was skirmishing with the enemy at Big Creek in the mountains, for the purpose of leading the enemy to believe that we were trying to break through that gap. The sequel proved that they were' thoroughly deceived. We made a gap of our own through the mountains.
The night of the 16th we did not camp, but at 11 o'clock at night we halted in a beautiful meadow in the mountains, and holding our horses by their bridles, let them feed on the grass until 1 o'clock in the morning of the 16th, when we mounted and away again. This day we crossed the line into Tennessee, and at about 11 o'clock in the morning reached a small town called Montgomery. Here we rode up to and captured one hundred and one rebel soldiers. They were so much astonish- ed at seeing us that they forgot their guns, and we took them prisoners without firing a gun. They just opened their mouths and stared at us while we took their guns and equipments away from them. These were destroyed, the men paroled not to take up arms against the United States until exchanged, and off we went again before they seemed to realize the situa- tion. We stopped here less than an hour, as the citizens told us the rebel General Pegram was expected with three thousand inen and eight pieces of artillery every minute. I was here or- dered to take ninety men of the 112th and form a rear guard, and to keep well in the rear and to resist any force that might come. All this night long we moved on, without rest or sleep, being the second night we had spent in the saddle. On the 17th we cleared the mountains and came into Powell's Valley. a most beautiful country, covered with ripening wheat and waving corn. We continued on all day the 17th and all through the following night. We ate our hard tack and took our naps in our saddles. We got off our saddles occasionally, put a few oats from sacks behind our saddles into the nose-sacks slung around our horses' necks, pulled the sacks over their noses and let them eat as we mounted and marched on. Horses and men often slept soundly as they traveled along the road. At night especially, after a longer than usual halt, I have often gone forward along the line and found a file of men and horses
436
HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
sound asleep, stopping the whole column in the rear, while those in front were perhaps miles in advance. We would wake them up and then gallop our horses until the column in front was overtaken. This experience had to be often repeated du- ring the trip. We finally adopted the plan that when an order was given it should be repeated in a low voice by every com- missioned and non-commissioned officer to the end of the line, and when a halt was made, not preceded by an order, we sim- ply sent a man forward to wake up the sleeping files.
Often did I see on this march man and horse go to sleep, and at some obstruction in the road fall down broadside. The horse would groan and the man swear, his comrades would laugh, but up he would mount and off, probably to go to sleep again within ten minutes. We marched very quietly and cau- tiously, for we knew that at every step, on every side, were re- bel spies and scouts, ready at all times to take advantage of ILS.
On the 18th of June we reached the vicinity of and marched straight toward the town of Kingston, Tennessee, a considera- ble town at the junction of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers. The rebels were here in strong force, with artillery planted and ready to resist our advance When within three miles of the town, however, we turned short off to our left and made straight for the nearest point on the railroad running from Chattanooga through Knoxville and East Tennessee to Rich- mond, Va., to destroy which was the real object of the raid.
One of the periodical attempts of the Army of the Potomac to capture Richmond was about to be made, and we were sent to destroy this railroad, that Lee's army might not be reinfore- ed from the southwest. We performed our part of the pro- gram but the Army of the Potomac did not, that time.
At about 10 o'clock in the night of the 18th the rear guard reached the north bank of Clinch River, the main body having crossed some hours before. We found here two men on the bank, in blue uniforms, who said they were left to guide us across. Instead of doing so, however, they told us the water was only knee-deep to our horses, and to go straight across- that there was no danger, and they would follow us. The riv- er appeared to be about a quarter of a mile wide. We waded
437
THE SAUNDERS RAID INTO E. TENNESSEE.
our horses in, Sergeant Mauck and I being in advance, and with about sixty men following us, composing at that time the rear guard. When we had reached about the middle of the river our horses suddenly plunged into water at least twenty feet deep, the whole line of men and horses following close af- ter us. Instantly the water was filled with plunging horses and struggling men. We had some seven or eight day's ra- tions of hard tack slung in sacks around our necks, besides ammunition, guns, horse-teed and many other weighty arti- cles. My brave little gray mare, on whose back I had crossed so many rivers, carried me safely toward the shore, until just before we reached it her fore foot struck a tree lying length- wise in the river. This threw her over on her back with me underneath; but I threw my arms around her neck and she soon righted herselt and carried me safely ont. I dismount- ed, and looking around in the dark saw a round form crawl- ing out on the bank that looked like an immense mud turtle. After coughing, blowing, sneezing and swearing awhile, I found that it was tough, reliable. brave Jack Loonv, whose horse had struck the same obstacle that mine had ; but Jack had lost his hold and fallen off ; with the weight of ammunition, gun and other things he had slung to him, he went straight to the bottom-some fifteen feet down. However, as he knew the direction he had been going. he just walked ahead along the bottom of the river and came out all right, but very mad. Jack never liked to get out of ammunition, and he always did an immense amount of shooting in every engagement. I think he probably had a double allowance of cartridges about him and had picked up a few other things as he went along.
Soon, from all points along the bank struggled ashore horses and men. But three of the brave boys of Co. D, one from Co. C and one from Co. F, never answered roll-call again on earth, and their bleaching bones lie to-day beneath the murky wa- ters of Clinch River, victims to the murderous hatred of Union soldiers by the miserable, cowardly bushwhackers of the South. When we joined the main body of our forces we found that no guides had, in fact, been left for us, Col. Saunders believing that we were immediately in rear of the column and would follow it over. The men who had directed us into the dan-
438
HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
gerous waters of the river were rebels who, no doubt, believed that most of us would be drowned in crossing.
We only stopped long enough on the bank of the river to pour the water ont. of our boots, when we mountedl and away again to overtake the main column. We soon joined it, and marched on all night, only halting for our horses to feed an hour in a field of wheat about one o'clock in the morning.
About daylight on the morning of the 19th, we found our- selves near the great railroad bridge over the Tennessee River at Loudon. I ut we found this bridge too heavily guarded with men, artillery and forts to risk an attack with our small force. We, therefore, struck off to the left again and at about 10 o clock suddenly turning to our right, in a few minutes reached Ienoir Station, a small town on the railroad. Here We captured about forty rebels with four cannon. We found the railroad depot here almost filled with ammunition for can- non and small arms. We set the whole concern on fire, and destroying the cannon and small arms captured, our prisoners were paroled amid the smoke of bursting shells, and schrapnel and mushet cartridges in the depot building; and after burn- ing Lenoir's cloth and thread factory and five hundred bales of rebel cotton, we started up the railroad towards Knoxville. We kept in the vicinity of the railroad, tearing it up and de- stroying the telegraph wires, all that day At about 5 o'clock we reached the vicinity of Knoxville. Knoxville was then the headquarters of the Confederate Army of East Tennessee. As we neared this point a Dr. Baker, a noted rebel of East Tennessee, came around his house, a short distance from the road, and deliberately raising his rifle, fired at the column then quietly passing along the public road. He fired at the wrong time, for it was a detachment of the 1st Tennessee mounted infantry upon which he had fired, many of whom knew Dr. Baker of old, and knew him to be a man who had done more, perhaps, than any other citizen of East Tennessee to urge on the demons and blood hounds who were scouting the whole country hanging and whipping and murdering old men and women, the fathers, mothers, sisters and wives of Union men, trying to force them to reveal the hiding places of their fathers, brothers, and sons. There were many men
489
THE SAUNDERS RAID INTO E. TENNESSEE.
in the ranks of the 1st Tennessee whose mothers and relatives had been driven from their homes into the mountams, or mur- dered, because they would not tell where the men wore, that they might be conscripted into the Confederate army. Dr. Baker had shown his devotion to the Confederacy by being the leading spirit in all these outrages, and he made a great mis- take when he fired upon these men as they passed quietly by his house. ) efore the smoke had fairly cleared away from the muzzle of his gun, he was surrounded by at least fifty men, and twenty musket balls had passed through his body.
About a year afterward, being then Acting Assistant Adjut- ant General, on the staff of Col. Byrd, at Post Oak Springs, I received a letter directed to Col. Byrd, sent in under a fag of truce, and signed by Major General Simon Buckner, de- manding the surronder of the men who had so "foully murder- ed" Dr. Baker; otherwise the vengeance of the whole South- ern Confederacy would fall upon the heads of all the men and officers of Col. Byrd's command.
The Colonel was absent from the headquarters when the letter came, but I answered it in his name, saying to General Buckner that the men who shot Dr. Baker were still with us, enjoying reasonably good health, but that we were too busy just then to send them to him : but that if he would call and get them he might have them. Simon never called.
We remained quietly in the vicinity of Knoxville until after dark. The whole detachment of the 112th, under Major Dow, was placed along the road upon which we had just come to hold it against any force coming from the rear, while the main body passed around the opposite side of the city At about midnight, finding that no force was following us, we started to join the main body, but coming to where the road forked were unable in the darkness to tell which fork of the road the main body had taken. We finally took the road to the right, and in a few minutes came upon a rebel picket who fired soveral shots at us and then retreated. We became suspicious that we were on the wrong road, and seeing an open grove to the left of our road went into it, formed a line of battle, dismounted, and holding the bridles of our horses, lay down on the ground and in five minutes were all fast asleep. I woke up, hearing a
440
HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
drum beating near us, and could just see a gray tinge of light in the east. We knew it must be a rebel drum beating, as we had none with us, and reconnoitering a little, we found we were in the suburbs of Knoxville, far within the rebel lines. and within two hundred yards of the rebel hospital. We had not been discovered, however, the rebels supposing that we were at least twenty miles away and that the alarm of their pickets the night before was a mere scare. But we very quiet- ly mounted our horses and backed out of our rather unsafe position.
One of the boys of Co. B, I think it was, missed his horse when he woke up and, being very sleepy, started to find him. He took the road into town however, and meeting several men in the gray of the morning, asked each one of them if he had seen a stray horse. None of them had seen any, and he fin- ally came to a fire where several men were standing. Coming to the light, he suddenly became very wide awake, when he saw they were all dressed in gray, and he at once realized his danger. Walking up to the one farthest from the light, he asked him for a chew of tobacco. and getting it, he turned and quietly walked out the way he came. and soon joined us with his horse, or another just as good.
We reached the main body about sunrise, when we were at once formed in line of battle and, dismounting, were marched straight upon the town with our two pieces of artillery in front of us. We got within gun-shot of the rebel works at about 9 o'clock in the morning, when they opened fire upon us with artillery, to which ours replied. The first shot the rebels fired passed over the 112th and crashed through a house behind us. We heard women scream, and afterward found that the house was filled with women and children ; that the ball had killed a babe and had torn part of the dress off a woman.
We pushed forward toward the heart of the city, and as we afterward learned, the rebels were about to surrender, when we were suddenly ordered to fall back to our horses and mount.
We mounted our horses and away went our whole force to the east again. Before leaving Knoxville, however, we cap-
441
THE SAUNDERS RAID INTO E. TENNESSEE.
tured over two hundred prisoners, and as we were about to leave, paroled them. Our object in attacking Knoxville, it seems, was not to capture the town, but to draw all the rebel forces to it, so they might not interfere with our operations in other places.
We moved rapidly east from here, having thoroughly deceiv- ed the rebels. We could hear them still firing at the place where we had been until we were more than twelve miles away. Eight miles from Knoxville, wc struck the railroad again and tore it up for about two miles. We here captured twelve men guarding a bridge over a stream. We burned the railroad bridge here, and also the wagon bridge over the stream, pa- roled our prisoners, and on again we went toward the east. At about 2 o'clock this day (June 20th, ) we reached Strawber- ry Plains. At this place was the longest and most important bridge on the road between Knoxville and Richmond. It had been strongly guarded, but our attack upon Knoxville had drawn most of the guarding force in that direction. We im- mediately opened fire with our artillery and formed our lines and charged them. But before we reached them the white flag was raised, and we captured over one hundred men and five pieces of artillery. We destroyed the artillery captured, paroled the men, and then set fire to and burned the railroad bridge, seven hundred and twenty yards long, over the Hol- ston River. The destruction of this bridge was the principal object of our raid, and to accomplish which the government could well afford to risk the loss of the small force sent. We also captured and destroyed a large quantity of ammunition, small arms and stores belonging to the rebel armies.
[ We remained here all night-slept in line along the side of the road, our horses hitched to the fences by our side. This is the only sleep we had lying down, except an hour or two at Knoxville, since the night after we crossed the Cumberland River, five days before. We had neither bedding nor covering. My place in the line brought me to a large rock, upon which I had the best night's sleep I ever enjoyed. We slept with our guns in our hands and our horses within reach, and could have been ready for a fight or a flight at a moment's warning. We were up and away with the morning light on the 21st,
442
HISTORY OF THE 112TH ILLINOIS.
and about 10 o'clock reached the small village of Mossy Creek. Here we captured and destroyed a locomotive and train of cars, and a large amount of corn and tobacco in store for the use of the rebel army. Here the boys loaded themselves and horses with tobacco to carry back to their comrades in camp, but for several reasons very little of it was ever delivered to them.
We stopped this day and cooked our dinners, being the only warm food or coffee we had seen since crossing the Cumber- land River eight days before. Those of us who had got into the Clinch River on the night of the 18th, had been compelled to eat hardtack soaked with water and then soured in the hot sun, until a change had become somewhat of a necessity Our sugar and salt had melted and mixed, and these, mingled with our soaked and soured hardtack, with the mold and worms naturally belonging to the hardtack, made living upon it for any great length of time somewhat monotonous.
After dinner we moved forward again, now changing our direction to the north and moving toward the Cumberland Mountains. We had not gone far until we saw a woman come out of a house, some distance from the road, waving her sun- bonnet and calling for us to stop. She came to us and told us that a brigade of rebels was formed across the road just in front of us waiting for us to come up. We noticed a fork in the road not far in advance. The woman told us the enemy were formed upon the left hand road, as that was the one leading towards the mountains. We took the right hand road, and riding quietly past the rebel line, struck across toward the other road and went on our way. One of our men search- ing for a horse to replace one given out, came too near their line, was discovered and chased, and of course made his way to us. The rebels then discovered for the first time that we had passed theni.
They followed, but their infantry could not overtake us, and their cavalry dare not attack.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.