USA > Illinois > History of the Thirty-fourth regiment of Illinois volunteer infantry. September 7 1861. July 12, 1965 > Part 5
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When the Thirty-Fourth Illinois and the battery were turned by the enemy, Lieut. Col. Dunn (Twenty-Ninth Indiana). being exposed to a withering cross-fire, withdrew his regiment and moved across the open fields in the direction, but some- what to the right, of Gen. Johnson's headquarters, the men constantly firing in retreat upon the enemy, which pressed them closely. It first formed behind the cornfield fence, but being unsupported, it retired to the skirt of the timber.
While in this position the Thirtieth Indiana was observed to cross the field to the front and left and form in line of battle behind the fence on the crest just referred to. Lieut. Col. Dunn then moved his command by the flank, under cover of the woods, until directly in its rear, but some forty rods distant,
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THE 34TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY
when a section of Simonson's battery unlimbered in its front, and the regiment halted as its support.
When the attack was so fiercely made upon the pickets of the Thirty-Fourth Illinois, the pickets of the Seventy-Seventh Pennsylvania aided in the fire upon the advancing column, and the latter regiment advanced to the support of the pickets and dealt a destructive fire into their ranks. Another column of the enemy soon moved directly on the Twenty-Ninth Indiana. At this instant the overwhelming attack on the regiments in line on the right forced them back and uncovered the right of the Sev- enty-Seventh.
Soon after, the Twenty-Second Indiana, of Gen. Davis Division, pressed by a portion of the heavy column which had moved upon the Twenty-Ninth Indiana, gave way, and the reg- iment was suddenly left isolated and alone, battling against great odds and in danger of capture, for it was amidst a square of fires.
The enemy re-adjusted his lines and again swept forward. Col. Housam (Seventy-Seventh Pennsylvania) formed line upon the right of Davis' Division, which had by this time changed front somewhat to the right. About four hundred yards in front of the Seventy-Seventh a Confederate battery had been placed. and the guns of Edgarton's battery, just previously captured. were turned against our lines. Col. Housam, with his regiment, charged and recaptured the latter battery, and straight onto the other, under a raking fire of cannister, until suddenly confronted with a superior force, was compelled to fall back from the fruit- less but brilliantly gallant action.
Again the regiment re-formed on Gen. Davis' right and almost immediately received the onslaught of the enemy, and here the gallant colonel fell mortally wounded, and Adjutant Davis assumed temporary command and successfully held the regiment in order and conducted it to the rear, fighting at every opportunity. After its withdrawal from the field, Capt. T. E. Rose assumed command.
While the Second brigade was trying to preserve a shadow of its existence by getting away from the first fierce and overwhelm-
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ing onslaught of the enemy, the Third brigade (Col. Baldwin) was put in position to receive the assault of the rapidly advanc- . ing foe. The line of battle just now consisted of the Third and a portion of the Second brigade, re-formed. On the right was the Seventy-Ninth Illinois, to the left the Thirtieth Indiana and a portion of the Thirty-Fourth Illinois. To the rear of the Thirtieth Indiana, supporting the section of Simnonson's battery, was the Twenty-Ninth Indiana. To the left about three hun- dred yards was the Third brigade.
Almost immediately the enemy appeared in great force. The two brigades opened fire and checked the advance of the skirmishers, but the main line advanced and deployed into four lines of battle, four to six battalions deep, followed by columns closed in mass, with batteries of artillery, and for nearly a half hour "war waged its wide desolation," and the ground was piled with the slain. Amongst the killed of the Second brigade were Col. Sheridan P. Read, Seventy-Ninth Illinois; Capt. Frank Stebbins, of the Twenty-Ninth, and Adjutant E. B. Stribley, of the Thirtieth Indiana. Lieut. Col. Dunn, of the Twenty-Ninth Indiana, was captured while looking for re-enforcements to help hold the position.
The advantage in position possessed by our troops made it pos- sible to check the enemy, but he, under partial cover of an inter- vening ridge, re-formed his columns, again swept forward, and, overlapping the right of the Seventy-Ninth Illinois, moved directly on the flank of that regiment, and retreat or capture was certain.
The Seventy-Ninth gave way, followed by the remainder of the brigade. Simonson abandoned two of his guns, on account of having had so many horses killed or disabled. The line foll back to the timber in rear of its last position, and the Third brigade, being uncovered by the retreat of the Second, also joined in the retrogade movement, as the only means of prevent- ing annihilation. Another halt was made a short distance in the rear, only to be abandoned a few minutes later, and the retreat was now continued to a woods skirting the Nashville pike. This position was soon exchanged for one a little farther
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THE 34TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY
to the rear, a short distance west of the Nashville pike and at a point in the rear and west of the position of the extreme left wing of the whole army, before the battle began.
The remnant of the right wing (McCook), being the Div- isions of Johnson, Davis and Sheridan, were concentrated at this latter position at the close of the day, and the enemy, flushed with their victory, established their lines a few hundred yards to the south of McCook's final position, and made a line of rifle pits during the night.
The First brigade, Gen. Willich, had during the day experi- enced the same reverses and losses, and manifested the same stubborn resistance that characterized the action of the other two brigades. Gen. Willich being captured early in the engage- ment, the command of the brigade fell upon Col. W. H. Gibson, of the Forty-Ninth Ohio, who showed himself to be both com- petent and skillful, as well as a brave commander. The brigade consisted of the Thirty-Second (German) and Thirty-Ninth Indiana, Fifteenth and Forty-Ninth Ohio and Eighty-Ninth Illinois, and Goodspeed's battery. The line of retreat of the First brigade was more open to attacks from the cavalry than that of the other brigades, owing to the fact that the First brigade became separated in the confusion of retreat.
Col. Gibson, with a portion of his regiment and the Thirty- Ninth Indiana, bearing too far to the west to be in supporting distance of other troops, was attacked and pursued by the cav- alry until he reached the Wilkinson turnpike. Here the ammu- nition train was parked, and the enemy massed his forces for the purpose of capturing it. Col. Gibson formed his lines, and the enemy attacked with fury, but a few squadrons of our cav- alry came to the rescue and a hand-to- hand fight occurred, and the enemy was compelled to retire. The train was put in mo- tion and moved rapidly, but in disorder, to the Nashville turn- pike, escorted by Col. Gibson's command and the cavalry. The enemy's cavalry, being re-enforced. returned to the attack, and obstinate fighting followed, resulting in the enemy being driven off. It was here the Thirty-Ninth Indiana lost its colors, after most persistent and disastrous fighting to preserve them. Here
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Lieut. Col. Jones was surrounded and his sword demanded. He snatched his pistols from his holsters and shot his way out. .
This attack repelled, Col. Gibson directed his attention to the panic-stricken masses which thronged the turnpike. Here the cowards and stragglers from the ranks were congregated, as were many of those who were but slightly wounded. He soon met Col. Walker with his brigade, who was hastening upon the same mission. A strong cavalry guard was placed across the road, the brigade formed in line and marched to the front, and every man capable of bearing arms was forced to fall in and move with it. Thus was saved to the army hundreds-yea. thousands, of soldiers who had deserted their braver comrades all along the front in the heat of battle, and who, if left alone, would by their presence in Nashville, and by their exaggerated statements, have heralded the intelligence of a terrible disaster to our army. Many did get there, and, from their accounts, cowardly newspaper correspondents, who professed to write bat- tle descriptions as if on the field, not only maligned the Second Division but indeed the entire right wing of the Army of the Cumberland. The train being saved and the stragglers once more returned to the front, Col. Gibson and his demi-brigade rejoined the division, re-organized his regiments, and, thirteen hundred strong, waited for the opening of the morrow's strife.
The first of January passed without any general engage- ment, but preparations were made for another battle. In the Second Division the Thirty-Fourth Illinois, fifty-two men all told, under command of Capt. Hostetter, was consolidated tem- porarily with the Thirtieth Indiana, Lieut. Col. O. D. Hurd; and the Forty-Ninth Ohio, Capt. S. F. Gray, was merged into the Thirty-Ninth Indiana.
About two o'clock in the afternoon, there were indications that the enemy was massing on our right. Col. Gibson, with his brigade, reconnoitered the woods to his right and found the enemy massing as if for an attack. Upon reporting, Gen. Ros- encrans, who with Gen. McCook had been observing Col. Gib- son's movement, ordered Col. Gibson to occupy the woods; This he did, placing three regiments in line of battle, with two
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THE 34TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY
in reserve. The enemy's cavalry made a demonstration on this position, but was repulsed by the skirmishers. Other dis- positions of troops were made by Gen. Rosencrans for purposes of observation and to prevent surprises.
On the morning of the 2d of January, the enemy made demonstrations of attack on the center and right, but a spirited artillery fire from our batteries caused a cessation of the demon- stration. About three o'clock in the afternoon, heavy lines of infantry, supported by artillery, attacked the lines of Gen. Van Cleve's Division, which was across the river on the east side, and his men were hard pressed and rushed across the river in confusion. Col. Gibson's brigade, being in convenient reserve, was sent to the assistance of Gen. VanCleve. In the affair fol- lowing, the Thirty-Second Indiana attacked the enemy gallantly, and the Thirty-First Indiana coming to its assistance, the enemy was driven off in disorder. The Thirty-Second lost to killed and 27 wounded.
At nine o'clock that night, Col. J. B. Dodge (Thirtieth Indiana), in command of the Second brigade after Gen. Kirk was wounded, was ordered to take four companies of his brigade and the same number from the Third brigade, and advance to the Franklin pike, unless he found the enemy in force. The eight companies were deployed as skirmishers, and cautiously advanced across the fields until they came to the woods on the opposite side. Here the enemy was heard chopping timber and moving artillery and trains. Col. Dodge, fearful of falling into a trap, ordered his men to fire. The response was an imme- diate volley from many times the number of his command. The object having been attained, the expedition returned to camp.
The decisive event of the battle occurred January 2d, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, the details of which are narrated by Col. David Urquhart, C. S. A., a member of Gen. Bragg's staff, as follows:
"During the morning of the 2d (Friday), quiet prevailed. except some shelling on our right. At about noon, Gen. Bragg · determined to dislodge the force on his right. Orders were
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given to that end, and our best troops were carefully selected. Hanson's, Preston's, Gibson's and Hunt's brigades, with Cobb's and Wright's batteries, were placed under Maj. Gen. Brecken- ridge. A gun fired by one of our batteries at 4 o'clock was the signal for the attack. After a fierce fight, we carried the hill. The orders were to take its crest, and there remain intrenched. Gen. Breckenridge endeavored to execute this order, but the commanders of the brigades engaged could not restrain the ardor of their men, who pushed on beyond support. The Federal batteries, that had been massed on the other side of the streamn. now opened on them, and drove the Confederates back, with ter- rible slaughter, fully 2,000 of our mnen being killed and wounded in this attack. At ten o'clock p. m., the news of this disastrous charge, led by the elite of the Confederate army, cast a gloom over all. Saturday, January 3d, the two armies faced each other, with little fighting on either side.
"The miscarriage of the ed determined Gen. Bragg to begin to fall back on Tullahoma, but all day of the 3d ourforces maintained our line of battle, taken up early that morning. That night the evacuation of Murfreesboro was effected."
.The following account of the same event is by Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden, U. S. V., commander of the left wing at Stone River:
"The last attack made by the enemy was upon my extreme left, on the 2d day of January, and it was disastrous to them. Van Cleve's Division, under Col. Samuel Beatty, had crossed the river on the ist, and Grose and Hazen had followed with their brigades on the ed. The fight opened on Col. Beatty's lines, and lasted twenty minutes. . Before this battle, I had been inclined to underrate the importance of artillery in our war, but I never knew that arm to render such important service as at this point. The sound judgment, bravery and skill of Maj. John Mendenhall, who was my chief of artillery, enabled me to open 58 guns almost simultaneously on Breckenridge's men, and to turn a dashing charge into a sudden retreat and rout, in which the enemy lost 1700 or 1800 men in a few minutes. I witnessed the effect of this cannonade upon the Confederate advance.
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THE 34TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY
Mendenhall's guns were about 100 yards back from the river. VanCleve's Division of my command was retiring down the opposite slope, before overwhelming numbers of the enemy, when the guns, the fire of which had been held till our men should no longer be exposed to it, opened upon the swarming enemy. The very forest seemed to fall before our fire, and not a Confederate reached the river. Mendenhall did not receive adequate recognition in the report of Gen. Rosencrans."
Just what might have resulted differently, had this, or that, or the other thing, been done, in the disposition of troops on the evening of December 30, 1862; or had different things been done during the progress of the battle, are all subjects which have been discussed by every man who was a surviving partici- pant of the fortunes of that day, and there have been as many solutions of the cause of disaster as there have been survivors of it. From a standpoint of forty years later, the question does not seem to be so important as it did during that day. Then it was a burning issue, and seemed to be a burning shame, that the flank of an army should be so weak, and so absolutely with- out support, that it could be doubled up like a blanket, and tucked away in a little corner in the rear of the position occu- pied by the left wing in the morning, and more than three miles from the starting point. The situation was then and there dis- cussed, without the prefix to the verb. "Stone River" could not, with honor, have been inscribed upon the banners of a large portion of Gen. Rosencran's army, except for the stubborn deter- mination of commander and men, who, persistently refusing to believe they were whipped, staid by their opponents and fought them to a finish, and held the ground made sacred by the blood of 8, 778 killed and wounded Union soldiers. At this late day shall we not say that, to thousands of sorrowing hearts in the Southland, the same ground was made sacred by the life blood of the more than 9,000 killed and wounded of those who wore the gray?
An army as a whole is constituted and made up of many individuals who, under ordinary circumstances, act in strict con-
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junction with each other, but the right wing, on December 31st. contained less of the aggregate and more of the unit than is cus- tomary under the supposed results of military discipline. In the recent military operations at Santiago, in Cuba, the army was accompanied by an officer of the French army, who, in his observations, noted what he termed the " initiative" in the Amer- ican soldier, being that quality of action without orders, on occasions where such action would be ordered if the occasion should come to the notice of the officer. Had he been at Stone River, he would have had the opportunity of observing that quality in not only the man in the ranks, but in the officers of all grades and rank. After the first onslaught, there were heroic rallies of squads, and detachments, only to break away and rally again, with a different nucleus and under constantly varying conditions, with the exception of the one constant condition of the falling, bleeding and torn-pursued, not only, but pursuers as well -- until the trail of the two was thickly dotted with the blue and the gray, both now classed neither as one nor the other, but as fallen, stricken soldiers, whose rights should be equally regarded.
To one who is dependent upon others for details of an occa- sion so full of strikingly heroic and tragical events, the giving of a written account of incidents is a difficult task. A few such incidents may help to illustrate the serious business of war.
The reader may get a better understanding of the conditions at the time of the attack on the morning of December 31, 1862, by a few words explanatory of the position of the troops com- posing the extreme right wing on that morning. A turnpike. running east and west, along which and a little south of lay Gen. Willich's brigade, covering probably four hundred yards, and facing to the south; Gen. Kirk's brigade joining on to the the left of Willich's, and extending thence almost due north and facing the east. The Thirty-Fourth Illinois was just in the rear . of the center of Kirk's front line, and was in double column four deep, Companies A and B being on the picket line. Maj. A. P. Dysart was in command of the regiment in the absence of Lieut. Col. H, W. Bristol. Before daylight, some fires were started
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THE 34TH ILLINOIS INFANTRY
in the regiment, but Maj. Dysart directed Acting Adjutant L. L. Johnson to have the fires put out, which was done at once. In the early gray of the morning. Samuel Brown, of Company B, came in off the picket line and reported to Lieut. Johnson that the enemy was coming, three lines deep. Maj. Dysart was im- mediately notified and the call to arms sounded, and the regi- ment was moved forward about sixty or seventy yards, still in double column. Maj. Dysart went to report to Gen. Kirk that the enemy was advancing. During the momentary absence of Maj. Dysart, Lieut. Johnson, seeing the danger of being in close column, gave the order to deploy, the major returning in time to finish the order by the cominand .: March." After deploying. the regiment laid down, and in a very few moments firing by the enemy began.
In the meantime the picket line came in, and, standing not upon the order of their coming, put forth one supreme effort to "get there. " John Gorgas, of Company A of the picket line, was shot in the region of the hip and still kept going, and was presently punctured through the left side of his neck and still had urgent business farther to the rear, but was now able to hear the persuasive cry of "Halt, you Yankee!" and desiring to know if he "had to," partially turned and looked over his shoulder just in time to catch a ball in his chin, which passed on and striking him in the shoulder, knocked him over, and he was taken by the Confederates to the house of a planter named Puckett, who lived near by, and there he had the best of care for more than two months. The lines of the enemy, advancing rapidly by a "left oblique," first struck the position of the Thir- ty- Fourth Illinois, which opened fire at the first opportunity and stood their ground until they became mixed up with the foe, and a battle for the regimental colors was soon decided in their loss to the enemy, but not without the loss of life and blood on both sides in that special melee. Every color-guard and bearer was either killed or. - wounded, Santee, of Company C; Wright, of Company F; William Wendle, of Company D); W. H. Steele, of Company F, who received seven wounds, and now (1902) cattles three of the bullets in his body. He handed the colors
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to Lieut. John M. Smith, of Company H, saying, "Trail them, until you get away;" but Lieut. Smith was immediately riddled with five shots and instantly killed. Some one whose name has not been obtained, seized the colors from Lieut. Smith, and ran a few paces and handed them to one of Edgarton's artillerymen, who was mounted, to bear to the rear, but he, too, was shot, and the enemy having captured a large number of the regiment, the colors fell into the hands of the Second Arkansas infantry, of Gen. Cleburne's Division, and were carried off the field by the soldiers who guarded the captured men of the regiment to the rear as prisoners of war. W. H. Steele was, with other wounded men, loaded into an army wagon and taken into the town of Murfreesboro and laid down on the upper floor of a brick house, and remained there three days with only a canteen of water and an ear of corn for nourishment. After the enemy evacuated the town, three days later, he was found by his brother, who left hospital in Nashville and stole his way through with the supply train, although sick, and cared for him day and night. When his pantaloons were removed, they were so stiff- ened by his blood that they, being placed on the floor in an up- right position, remained so as readily as two pieces of stovepipe would have done.
Joseph Teeter, of Company I, was shot through the body and fell on a cluster of small bushes, which partially held him off from the ground, and he laid there three days in a semi-con- scious condition, without any protection from the freezing cold of the nights, as well as the chilling discomfort of the days.
Arnold L. Harrington, of Company F, had a badly frac- tured knee, but falling into the hands of the Texas acquaintances, found. friends of former days, and was given all the care possible under the circumstances.
Sergt. John T. Gantz, of Company F, had a badly frac- tured thigh, and remained in the hands of the enemy during the next three days. Dr. John L Hostetter, regimental sur- geon, remained on the battlefield, in the lines of the enemy, giving all possible assistance to the wounded.
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Three hundred and fifty-four men were present for duty in the regiment at the beginning of the battle, of whom 36 were killed and mortally wounded, 92 others wounded and 74 taken prisoners, several of whom were wounded. The Second Division entered the battle with 6,676 officers and men: 239 were killed, 3.6 per cent; 962 were wounded, 14.4 per cent; total killed and wounded, 1,201, .18 per cent. In addition, there were 57 slightly wounded who were not treated in hospitals. More than 500 others were taken prisoners, many of whom were wounded. The loss in killed and wounded occurred in brigades, of five reg- iments each, as follows: First brigade, 459: Second brigade 464; Third brigade, 27S.
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CHAPTER IV.
After the close of the battle and withdrawal of the enemy. Gen. Rosencrans established his headquarters in Murfreesboro, and the army was disposed in such order as was required for proper protection, and camps were laid out and made as com- fortable as possible. Supplies were brought forward, and soon the evidences of the great struggle disappeared and all of the habits of a well-ordered military post were apparent. News- papers were received and sold through the camps daily. In our brigade a fine quartette of singers was organized and, almost nightly, serenades were given in some part of the camp. Lieut. Slaughter, of Company F, was one of the quartette. Another was W. A. Ogden, generally called "Gus" Ogden. He was not only a fine singer, but composed sougs and music. It has been said that he was the W. A. Ogden who has composed so many gospel hymns. If so, he had not begun that class of work while at Murfreesboro.
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