History of the Ninth Regiment Illinois Cavalry Volunteers. Pub. under the auspices of the Historical Committee of the Regiment, Part 36

Author: Illinois Cavalry. 9th regt., 1861-1865; Davenport, Edward Adolphus, 1834- , ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: [Chicago, Donohue & Henneberry, printers]
Number of Pages: 954


USA > Illinois > History of the Ninth Regiment Illinois Cavalry Volunteers. Pub. under the auspices of the Historical Committee of the Regiment > Part 36


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For several days after this the regiment skirmish with the chems a plate valor Compilstill. Tonn., on the 20th of November was hath ogged. ifere it kept its ground, holding back many times its own finde of rebels, until it's ammunition was entirely exhausted, when the men fought the Confederates land to band, clubbing their carbines and doing much to retard their march.


The Ninth took part in the fierce battle of Franklin, Tenn. on the Both of November, 1564, and did what was in its power toward crippling the Confederate army under General Hood. This battle was pronounced by Secretary Site as the bloodiest of the way, in proportion to the numbers engaged.


At the great battles of Nashville, on the 15th and 18th of December, the regiment belonged to the Second Brigade of the Fifth Division of the Cavalry Corps, and sustained its well-earned reputation for valor. It participated in n well directed charge upon a reconbt occupied by the every, which it carried and at the same time captured four pieces of artillery and took one Mildred and fifty prisoners, sharing in the find ront of the crimey.


Soon the army of Goood Hague in full nettet, and the Ninth porte pated in the chase which proceed in its destruction, that thing with portions of it at Brentwood, on the Franklin pike, Le Franklin, at Huller eids Click and


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Ross' farm. The roads had now become impassible, the rivers were filled to the tops of the banks, and the enemy could not be followed any farther. The dis- pirited foe was driven across the Tennessee River on the night of the 27th of Decem- ber, and it bring impossible to supply our army the campaign closed with the closing of the year. General Thomas, in his order respecting these military movements, said: "Although short the campaign bas been brilliant in its achicy ments, and nusurpassed in its results by any other of this war, and is one of which all who participated therein may be justly proud." The command moved to Huntsville, Florence, Eastport, and Gravelly Springs. There not being a sufficient number of horses to mount all of the cavalry, Hatch's division was deprived of its animals, which were turned over to the other division prepara- tory to their march farther south, and in consequence the Ninth was dismounted and left at Eastport on the 9th of February, 1865. As horses could be obtained the regiment was again supplied and marched to Iuka, Miss., on the 28d of June, and theuce to Decatur, Ala., July 4th. From there it went to Montgomery, Selma and Gainesville, and was finally mustered out of service at Selma, Ala., on the bist of October. 1865, and ordered to Springfield, Ill., where the meu received final payment and discharge.


The organization as a whole had done good service, and always bore a fine reputation. Through swamps and across rivers it had followed the enemy, amid the heat of summer and the snows of winter, and was entitled to the thanks of the State, as well as the gratitude of the Federal Government. To have partici- pated in the Arkansas and Nashville campaigns, and received the thanks of Gen- erals Curtis and Thomas, was something to be proud of and reflected honor upon Illinois.


CHAPTER XXV.


PRISON LIFE --- SOMETHING ABOUT ANDERSONVILLE PRISON.


A T Andersonville prison, Ga., while our poor soldiers were be- ing nearly starved to death and were dying at the rate of an average of over fifty a day, and while hope had fled from nearly all those who remained under the inhuman and brutal treatment of the fiends in human form, Wirtz and Lieutenant Davis (a nephew of Jefferson Davis), who was almost as brutal as Wirtz himself; at times when our poor fellows would give way to dark despair, and were envious of those who were released through theawful gates of death from this hell on earth, it is said that they sometimes gave way to the jollity of anguish and despair; such songs as the fol- lowing I have been told by those who participated in the singing, were often heard:


. There's a mist on the glass congealing, 'Tis the icy breath of death, Here's a health to the dead already, Hurrah for the next man that dies. Then stand to your glasses steady, This world is a world of sighs, Here's a health to the dead already, Hurrah for the next man that dies.


The Union dead at Andersonville from March to November, 1864, was a little under twelve thousand in eight months.


SKETCH OF PRISON LIFE. [By Charles C. White, Sergeant of Company D.]


1


About August 15, 1863, the Ninth, with other troops of the command, set out on what was known as the " Grenada, Raid," one object of which was to cap- ture and run back to Memphis over the Tennessee & Mississippi Railroad a large quantity of rolling stock known to be collected at Grenada, Miss., for safe keep- ing and use by the enemy where needed. After forced marches and a number of skirmishes we reached the objective point just at night of the 19th, as nearly as I can now remember, only to find that the rebels, apparently aware of our pur- pose, had fred the railroad bridge over the Vallabusha River, thus wondering it


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impossible for us to secure the plunder, which was accordingly destroyed where it stood. I shall never forget the conflagration that ensued, and the pandemo- ninm occasioned by the screeching of locomotive whistles, every one of which was opened by the boys as soon as they could get up steam enough for a noise. Hundreds of burning cars of all kinds made a fire such as every living man remembers who saw it.


The fire, the darkness of the night, the unearthly screech of the whistles, and the terror of the citizens, who expected the destruction of their homes, com- bined to make the scene a memorable one.


The work of destruction completed, and no further business appearing, our command set out on its return from Memphis and adjacent points on the Mem- phis & Charleston Railroad from whence it started. On the third day of the return march, it being the 22d day of March, 1863, occurred an event full of inter- est to the few who participated in it, the narrative of which, with its result, is the purpose of this sketch.


On the forenoon of this day came an order for the detailing of two men from cach company for forage duty, their effortsto be directed to the securing of horses for dismounted men whose horses had given out on the march.


Captain Cowen directed the writer to make the detail from Company D, and obtaining leave from him to go as one, he detailed Corporal Schaffer as the other. We set out under command of Lieutenant Shattuck, of Company I, upon what proved a most disastrous expedition to those engaged in it, resulting in the death of Corporal Schaffer, a most excellent soldier, the capture of A. B. Welsh, of Company A; E. M. Thisler, of Company M, and myself. The remainder of the party, after being chased over a considerable portion of Northern Mississippi, finally, and by the skin of their teeth, succeeded in getting through to our lines, sans horses, sans clothes, sans everything in fact, but their bodies. Literally they "went out for wool and came back shorn." The survivors of that party who may see these lines, will, I think, agree that the latter is a pretty exact state- ment of the fact. -


The circumstances leading to this result were about as follows: After con- siderable time spent in chasing some young horses over a plantation some dis- tance to the left of our marching column, and with small results, we started for other conquests, but were discovered and pursued by a body of the enemy's cavalry that was hovering on our flank.


Lieutenant Shattuck saw the danger and attempted escape by way of a road leading in the direction we. wished to go, but unfortunately, to the Cold Water River at a point where the bridge had been washed away and the water too deep for fording, arrived at the river and hoping that our pursuers were distanced or cluded, several of the men, to avoid wetting clothes, haversacks, etc., stripped and swam the stream with their horses. At this critical juncture, while some of the men and horses were yet in the river, firing began upon us from the rear. That there was a lively effort on our part to get to cover, goes without saying. It was here that Corporal Schaffer was mortally wounded, and a number of our horses killed. That more of the boys were not hit while getting out of the water, seems unaccountable, as I distinctly remember some of them ran up the river bank amid a shower of buckshot and bullets. Several were obliged to abandon


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their clothes and arms and continue the retreat without them. As can easily be imagined we were, by this time, somewhat disorganized and scattered. Being among the first to cross the river, I got cover behind the nearest tree but uncom -. fortably close to the river and in easy range of the guns on the other side. I had, however, a fair view of the field and used my carbine to some advantage. Some time after firing had ceased and as soon as I deemed it safe to do so I slipped away from the shelter of my friendly tree in search of the comrades, but found only A. B. Welsh. of Company A. The others, as we afterwards learned, con- cluding that we were either killed or had taken care of ourselves, divided up their stock of clothing between them and continued the retreat. After considerable adventurous wandering and artful dodging of dogs and bushwhackers, they finally reached camp in a badly battered condition. From what was told me 1 judge that the aggregate stock of clothing owned and worn by that crowd on that occasion was really small, and much damaged, that it was somewhat decollete in style, and that some of it did not fit the wearer " just like the paper on the wall," that there were not pantaloons enough to go round and some were obliged to clothe their lower limbs with badly fitting under garments. For these and other reason, they avoided public thoroughfares and sought the privacy of the by-ways and bushes.


FRffing ourselves alone and left to take care or ourselves, Welsh and the writer cought the road and soon came face to face with a squad of the enemy coming from the other direction who had been attracted by the firing. Retreat seeming ont of the question we surrendered as prisoners and were hurried off to Panola, Miss., thence in a day or two to Grenada, where we bad a view of the landscape under rather different conditions than those to which I have referred. The still smoking ruins visible on every side, and to which our attention was rather discourteously invited, seemed to be an annoyance to the citizens of the place, and we overheard remarks that caused us to fear that possibly we were disliked by them because of our supposed part in the destruction.


Their denunciations of " Yankees" in general, and of the two present in par- ticular, took a wide range, and were from "lively to severe." Some even bor- dered upon the profane, and altogether they were of a nature to make us feel uncomfortable. However, our guards stowed us carefully away in the second story of a brick business house that escaped the conflagration, where a few days later we were comforted by the sudden appearance of our fat and genial friend, Ed. Thisler, of Company M, to whom we gave a most enthusiastic welcome. Though somewhat embarrassed by circumstances, Thisler was himself, and soon composed his mind into rest, so as not to lose any of his flesh. He was of the party that got away with Shattuck, became separated from it in a quest for food (Ed. was always hungry). was gobbled and sent to join us. This is perhaps a suitable place for the writer to pay a tribute to the cheerfulness, patience, and quick-wittedness of E. M. Thisler. In him the fire of good cheer and companion- ship never went out. He never became discouraged, and was always ready with some new scheme or device to break the monotony and to mitigate the unpleas- ant and uncomfortable conditions of our prison life.


After a week or two spent in our "upper chamber" at Grenada, we were marched across the country que hundred miles cast to West Point, on the Mobile


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& Ohio Railroad, and sent to Atlanta via Meridian, Selina and Montgomery. It. . was our good fortune on this march to fall into the hands of Captain McMahon, of a Mississippi regiment, a cousin of our Lieutenant McMabon, of Company D. He was genial, had a falling for the native peach brandy, was mellow under its influence and treated us with special consideration because of our relations to his cousin.


After a sojourn of about two weeks in the Atlanta "bull pen," as it was called, the representation of the Ninth, together with a large number of other prisoners that had been gathered there, were shipped by rail via Augusta, Colum- bia, Charlotte, Weldon and Petersburg to Richmond, where we were confined for a short time in the famous Libby prison. We were kept here, however, only long enough to be searched and robbed of any valuables that had escaped thc notice of the other spoilers in whose custody we had been. Up to this time there might have been some excuse for the forcible exchanges that took place between us and our captors, as they were in need of the plunder. We acknowledged the force and application of the Jacksonian doctrine that "to the vietor belong the spoils," but the robbery officially perpetrated upon us at Libby by and with the consent of Major Turner, the prison commandant, was without excuse and con- temptibly mean. In order to induce prisoners to voluntarily give up concealed money and valuables that a search might not disclose, they promised the return of them when we should be paroled or exchanged, but said that everything with- held and discovered by search would be confiscated, and no restitution made.


Upon such representations many surrendered money, watches, rings, etc., that up to this time they had successfully concealed. In no single case, so far as I was ever able to learn, did these thieves return a dollar or an article secured in this way. Similar methods were pursued by this chivalrous officer when coffee and meat were sent by our Sanitary Commission under the sacredness and implied integrity of a flag of truce, for the relief of the starving prisoners on Belle Isle in the winter of 1863-64. It is to the everlasting disgrace of the Confederate authori- ties at Richmond, and of Major Turner in particular, that this agreement for the application of their supplies was violated by their confiscation in part, at least to the use of the Southern army.


After a brief stay at Libby, we were transferred to Belle Isle and our real imprisonment began. So much has been said and written descriptive of this by other prisoners of war, that little need be said here. Belle Isle is, as its name implies, a beautiful island. It is situated in the James River opposite the northern side of the city of Richmond. The central and upper portion is a beautifully wooded hill while the lower end spreads out into a smooth, grassy, and in places sandy plain studded at its edge by handsome trees.


The prison camp was on this flat portion and at the extreme southern point. It consisted of about three acres-possibly a little more -- enclosed by an earth embankment, and covered with tents. After the battle of Chickamauga, ard un- til March, 1864, over ten thousand men were confined within the embankment, and when they laid down for the night, the ground in the tents and between them was entirely covered. For a time prisoners were allowed during the day access to the river to bathe and obtain water for drinking and cooking purposes. When. however, the number was increased by the arrival of the Chickamauga prisoners


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this privilege was taken away, and water could only be obtained from barrels sunk into the sand to the level of the river inside the embankment. That the sanitary condition of the camp was wretched, and the mortality among the pris- oners was frightful, need not be toll. Insufficient food and of bad quality soon induced the diseases that carried hundreds to the "Yankee graveyard," on the north side of the camp, and bestowed upon many of the survivors the heritage of a " broken" constitution. Thisler's cheerfulness and fertility of resource stood him in good place here. He was a natural "rustler" and strictly first-class for- ager. Here his talents sought a new field, and he became a noted " trader on Main street," that is, he bought articles of food of the guards in the night at an enor- mously high price, and sold them next day at a profit, for notwithstanding the lying and searching on the part of Turner and his subordinates, a good deal of money found its way outo the island.


The currency was both greenback and Confederate serip, and the standard rate of exchange during that winter, even with our guards, was ten of the latter for one of the former.


As this clandestine commerce with the guards could only be carried on in the night, the industry of counterfeiting greenbacks was for a time quite a flourishing one, and many a confiding "Johuny " parted with his dozen alleged apple pies for a worthless piece of paper representing a five dollar greenback. Thisler was a "trader " from away back, and by this means did he preserve the rotundity of his person, which was and still is, so prominent a feature of hismake-up. Welsh, naturally slim, soon became more and more so, and the necessity for an extra hitch in his waistband became a frequent one. But thanks to Thisler's thrift and the fact that "Andy" was something of a rustler himself. He got through fairly well, though not without some permanent injury to his health.


Some time early in the winter an arrangement was made between the Com- missioners for the exchange of prisoners, by which a quantity of clothing was sent by Uncle Sam to his destitute boys on Belle Isle, and a committee of our officers, who were prisoners in Libby, was appointed to its distribution and to make the proper records. This daty was very elaborately and thoroughly done, and the writer was so far fortunate as to be selected as one of the secretaries for the committee, which consisted of General Neal Dow, Colonels Von Schroeder, Boyd and White.


The work was done outside the camp, the members of the committee coming over every morning and going back at night.


The change from constant confinement in Libby was such an agreeable one to them that they were not in haste to finish the work, and it was late in the winter when it was finally completed. The secretaries were allowed to remain outside the embankment all this time in a tent provided for them, and so escaped many of the hardships of life inside.


About the middle of February, 1864. a removal of the prisoners from Belle Isle to Andersonville was begun, and a William Welsh, of Company A, of our regi- ment, who was a fellow-prisoner with us, was taken, I do not remember when nor where, went out in the first five hundred lot, supposing they were to be paroled. In vain I urged him not to go, assuring bim that, from information I was able to obtain, they were to be sent south. He was determined, however, saying that


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his condition could not be worse. He went and has never, to my knowledge, been heard from since. Doubtless his bones lie at Andersonville with those of thousands of other patriots, while some of the responsible instruments of their death are making laws for the Government of this country.


On March 7, 1864, a lot of five hundred were paroled, Thisier, Welsh and myself being of the number. We went by flag of truce boat to City Point, and were there transferred to the steamer City of New York, over which floated the flag now more dear to us than ever before, and taken to Annapolis, Md., thence to Parole Camp at St. Louis, where we were exchanged May 7th, and immediately rejoined the regiment at Memphis in time to participate in the campaigns and fighting of that summer, under General A. J. Smith.


RECOLLECTIONS OF ANDERSONVILLE AND OTHER PRISONS.


[By William Rinker. Corporal of Company G, Ninth Illinois Coralry.]


In a skirmish at the burning of a bridge on Wolf River I was ruptured and otherwise injured by my horse falling on me while crossing a culvert, and being unable to ride, I was left at La Fayette, Tenn., on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad.


On the 4th of December, 1803, a detachment of the rebel General Forrest's cavalry captured this place, and I was among the prisoners. I was the only one of my company captured. Four of Company H, and John Diets, Sergeant of Company A, were captured at the same time; only one other of Company G was in any of the prisons where I was confined, and that was James Perry, of Wheeler, Ind. We were taken first to Holly Springs, Miss., thence to Oxford. I was un- able to walk and was allowed a horse the first afternoon. There were about fifty prisoners in all. We were put aboard the cars at Oxford, and taken to Brandon, where we were kept two days. Here the rebels marched us around the town and showed us the damage done by our cavalry a while before. Some of the prisoners would curse the guards, and quarrel with them, and were punished; those who kept still were not molested at this place.


Dan O'Mara, an Irishman of Company E, had been paroled a short time before, and when recaptured wore a pair of very nice boots. These the rebs took from him, and gave him an old pair of shoes. Dan threw the shoes as far as he could and went bare footed, and so remained until he died in Andersonville. I traded my boots to one of the guards for a pair of old shoes and five dollars in Confederate money. This money I used in Calaba to buy peanuts with.


We were kept two days, and then taken to Cahaba and quartered in an old tobacco warehouse. During the three months we were here we had enough of corn meal, but very little meat. The rebs slaughtered about five thousand hogs, and gave us the upper parts of the heads and other offal. The prisoners were required to go out and work on fortifications, and were given extra rations for so doing. This I refused to do when called on, and I never was compelled to do any such work while in prison, nor was I ever punished.


I escaped from Cahaba three times, but was recaptured each time in from one to six days. Once when we went out through the tunnel four of us secured horses of negroes and rode all night. At daylight we came to a sign bo ird at cross road, and found that we were back within four arles of the prison; we turned


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our horses loose, and went into the swamp and hid in a hay stack, but we were found by the hounds in the evening. Only one man of our regiment died at Cahaba while I was there. His name I do not now remember, but he belonged to Com- pany E.


About the last of March we were taken from Cahaba to Andersonville: there were about four hundred in all. We were taken part way in a steamboat, I think as far as Montgomery, thence by railroad. The officers and guards told us we were to be exchanged; this was done to prevent our trying to escape on the way. My partner while in prison was Ferdinand Miller, of Paducah, Ky. He be- longed to the First Illinois Cavalry, and was one of Sherman's body guards, and had been captured at Collierville, Tenn. While at Cahaba each man was given a blanket; these were taken away when we left. My partner and I managed to keep.ours by taking off our clothing and wrapping the blankets around us under our shirts.


After reaching Andersonville, we sold our blankets for ten dollars in green- backs; with this Miller started a chuck luck bank.


In Andersonville the prisoners were badly treated, in many cases the guards were brutal. A log was placed across the creek near where it entered the prison, this log along the stakes of the dead line. The prisoners would crawl out on this log, and reach out under the dead line in order to get water farther up the stream. For this the guards would shoot them, claiming that they had violated the rules by-crossing the dead line. We were sometimes given nothing but corn meal. This some of the men would eat raw causing them to have fever. They would then go to the creek, and lie in the water during the heat of the day, at night they would crawl out on the bank and die. If a man gave up hope of getting out of prison he was sure to die.


One boy of Company H grew despondent, and said it was no use trying to keep up any longer. He went to the creek, washed himself, came back to his quarters and laid down. I was digging out a pine stump near his quarters, and I talked to him trying to cheer him, but it was no use, in a few minutes he was deed.


If the prisoners would get together in groups to talk or for any purpose, the guard- would make this an excuse and would fire into the crowd, always wound- ing and sometimes killing some of the meu


James Perry, of Company G, died here of scurvy some time in August, 1861.




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