USA > Illinois > Military history and reminiscences of the Thirteenth regiment of Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war in the United States,1861-65, pt 1 > Part 2
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Very respectfully, N. LYON.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
THE FIRST SABBATH IN CAMP.
This day made a deep impression on many of the young men, and was in some sense a test of their training and temper. Most of them had been accustomed to spend the day in quiet at home and at religious service. Now they were in a military camp and are not entirely at liberty to make their own plans and go their own way. Some may have been rest- less under what they deemed the restraints of the Sabbath, and they may regard this free use of the Sabbath a happy change. There was drill : so the notion of the leaders ran. A better view obtains now. There was ball-playing and wrestling and some card-playing. but that was generally regarded as out of order ;- before the war closed it became so common as to attract no special attention, except as it devel- oped bad temper or bad debts.
The courage and spirit of one young man from Chicago was shown on the first Sabbath; for, taking his stand, he delivered a religious discourse to all who would give ear. It is often a great advantage to get up your colors before any one else has a chance to occupy the place.
The position taken up by that young man before his com- rades on that first Sabbath was well taken and held. He had the respect of his superior officers to such a degree, that when the position of chaplain was vacant, he was recommended to fill the place, and did so with credit to himself and the cause, during the last year of our service. Mr. A. T. Needham, for this was the young man's name, at this writing, is filling an honored place in the ministry in California.
Rev. Mr. Harsha, of Dixon, delivered a short sermon to the men. Many visitors from the surrounding country came to the camp. On this afternoon our Colonel, J. B. Wyman, came upon the ground for the first time, and no one who saw his glances over and through the camp. doubted but a man of superior parts had come. But few of the men knew him, yet he was soon given a welcome by all.
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GENERAL ORDERS. ) No 11. 1
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Officer of the Day ...
Deadquarters hamn Dement, May 16 th * .1861.
H. J. Proto Secteur Colonel Commanding, Camp Denunt.
. Adjutant
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ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
OUR CHAPLAIN.
Mr. Joseph C. Miller, a Baptist minister from Amboy, was appointed chaplain of the regiment and conducted his first service at S a. m. of the 15th. Mr. Miller was a man of fine appearance and good address, but for some reason, or reasons, did not succeed in adapting himself to the situation. It was a field of great opportunity for good, but not easily filled to satisfaction. Many good men who tried to fill the position found it far different from the accustomed position in civil life. Military requirements exacted respect to the chaplain as a superior officer, but unless he could get it on different grounds than that, it proved to be but cool comfort to him. To fill the place, a man needed personal bravery, independent bear- ing, absence of much sentimentalism, ready to be the servant of all, ready to talk out plain common-sense religion, with no disposition to fawn to superior officers, and no evidence of vanity or desire to feather his own nest. Such a man could draw on the confidence of any manly soldier and not be dis- appointed in his drawing.
Of course this whole life was new to the boys, and some very innocent and green thoughts and expressions were in- dulged in. From one diary of the time I extract as follows : " This is the first day for me as sentinel on the picket line." As we later learned there was no " picked guard " at "Camp Dement" and no occasion for any, as there were no rebels to watch against.
MEN IN HOSPITAL.
From the same date I extract the following : "There are four men in the hospital house, with the measles, and one with the fever." The "Hospital House " and measles and fever came so soon and became familiar, and continued with us to the end of the three years, and to me were the saddest part of the whole picture. I wrote home often and said, " If you have sympathy and sanitaries, be sure to give them to the sick and hurt soldier-boy ; but the soldier-boy as long as he is well can take care of himself."
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المحلية : امر
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, HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.
Some of you will remember that J. C. Fishell of Company C, who had stood in his place for over three years, and while awaiting discharge at Camp Butler, so near to his home, took a fever and died on June 16, 1864. It always has made me sad to think of it.
VISITORS A DISTRACTION.
There was one feature of camp life that we experienced at our camp in Dixon and nowhere else in all of our army life. This was in its way very pleasant, and yet I fear not very profitable. Large numbers of visitors came and usually came in picnic fashion, with well-stored baskets, while the food and faces were homelike, yet the presence of so many interfered with the duties of camp. And then, too, as these favors came mostly from friends who could readily get to the camp and none to the companies who came from a distance, it created some feeling against the more favored ones.
THE REGIMENT ACCEPTED FOR THREE YEARS.
On the 22d of May a dispatch came, saying our regiment was accepted by the general government for a term of three years and would be mustered in at an early date. Some of the men did not fully take in the situation, and were not quite prepared in mind for the move. Of course none were legally bound to respond, for their enlistment was but for thirty days, and then only to the State, and they were not compelled to go out of the bounds of the State.
But on the 24th muskets were given to the men not yet armed, and Mr. Dennio was sent to the camp and made a flattering speech, to be sure that the men would go in response to this call for a longer term. On the 23d Colonel Parks spoke to the men in rather a threatening strain. But I am persuaded that the men were so intelligent that when they finally acted, they did so little influenced by either of the lines of thought presented in the speeches.
CHAPTER II.
THE REAL SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. - CAMP LIFE AND
DRILL. - FIELD AND STAFF ELECTED AND AP- POINTED .- VIA CASEYVILLE TO THE FRONT.
May 24th, 1861.
T HIS May 24th was a great day in our camp at Dixon ; and to all who were there and yet survive, the events of that day gave it a promi- nence in their mind-a sort of a starting-point, that marks it a day among days. And the feeling does not wear away with the years. Captain John Pope of the regular army, and afterwards prominent as a major-general was the man who came to muster us in for "three years or during the war." There was considerable dissatisfaction among the men, yet the great majority toed the scratch and were in for the fight on good faith. A few from each of the companies except Company I, for various reasons, left the ranks and in due time left the camp. Com- pany I had a good many hard thumps, but at this time there was no discounting it. It was on the line.
" EVERY TRADE HAS ITS TRICKS."
It is said that every trade has its tricks. And even in the mustering in of a regiment there may be some tricks that it is not thought best to put into the daily bulletin at the time. There was something of a trick in our muster if we credit the story of Captain Quincy McNeil of Company D, from Rock Island, Illinois, and we do credit it and give it just as he tells
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it. It seems that Captain McNeil and some of his men had been associated with a company from Rock Island that was received into the Twelfth Regiment, but the company being too large, it was divided and he and some of the men raised the company known as Company D of the Thir- . teenth Regiment.
The company being called upon to muster into the United States service, was short of the requisite number of men (seventy-seven being the minimum number) by the refusal of several of its members to muster for three years. But by bor- rowing some men from Company G it was mustered in, much to the gratification to those who were anxious to go to the war. In making out the muster-roll, there were just lines enough for the one hundred and one names. The names of the men from Company G were interlined in such a bungling manner that the mustering officer returned the roll to Captain McNeil with a blank muster-roll and instructions to fill up the blanks so that they could be easily read. In the mean- time the company had been filled up by recruits from Rock Island and the muster in roll was sent to Captain Pope with one hundred and one names plainly written. The rolls of Companies G, C, E, H, I, and K, were legible and the names of the men borrowed showed as belonging to the company. To rectify the roll, the borrowed men were reported as deserters. The list of these was so large, that it drew an inquiry from the War Department. The several captains finally made a clean breast of the transaction, though in dread of dismissal from the service. The company was then mustered into the service for the three years as required.
DUTIES OF THE DAY.
We will here introduce a page that will at once be recog- nized by the orderly sergeants of those earlier days of camp life. It will also show what was the daily routine of camp life. Some of the men whose names are here recorded soon left, but others remained, and some are still in active life.
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" COLONEL ELSWORTH."
On this day in which we were mustered into the United States service an event occurred that helped to kindle the fire of patriotism and purpose to carry on the war. It was on the morning of this day that the first man of any note lost his life in the Union cause. He may have been foolhardy, but he lost his life, and it was not lost to our cause. Colonel E. E. Elsworth was a popular young lawyer, born in New York in 1837, and was practicing law in Chicago at the time of Mr. Lincoln's election and had a company of zouaves that were noted for their fine drill. When Mr. Lincoln went to Wash- ington, Elsworth went with him. In April he went to New York city and raised a regiment of fire zouaves, of which he was made colonel. The account of his untimely death I will quote from the account as given by a historian of the South- ern side. He says :
"On the 24th of May, Alexandria was occupied by the Federals, the Virginia forces evacuating the town and falling back toward Manassa Junction. The invasion was accom- plished under the cover of night. It was attended by an inci- dent which gave a lesson to the enemy of the spirit he was to encounter, and furnished the first instance of individual mar- tyrdom in the war. On one of the hotels of the town, the Marshall House, there was a Confederate flag flying. The proprietor of the hotel, Mr. Jackson, captain of an artillery company in his town, had deliberately declared, that under any circumstances, he would defend that flag with his life, and had been deaf to the advice of his neighbors, not to make his house by this display, a sign for the enemy's attack. The flag could be seen from the window of the White House in Washington. As a company of fire zouaves, at the head of which was Colonel Elsworth, entered the town in the gray of . morning, their commander declared he would have that flag as his especial prize. He was attended in his adventure by a squad of his men. Having found his way into the hotel, he got through a trap-door to its top, where he secured the ob-
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noxious ensign ; but descending the ladder he found facing him a man in his shirt-sleeves with a double-barreled gun in his hand. "Here is my trophy," exclaimed Elsworth, dis- playing the flag on his arm. "And you are mine," replied Jackson, as he quickly raised his gun and discharged the contents into the breast of the exultant Federal. Another moment and the Virginian was stretched by the side of his antagonist, a lifeless corpse, for one of Elsworth's men had sped a bullet through his brain, and another had thrust a bayonet into his breast as he was in the act of falling."
"IN FOR IT."
Just above I have spoken of the fact that it was not with- out considerable strain that many of the men consented to enroll themselves for "three years, or during the war." But as soon as the deed was done, and they were really in for it, there was manifested a characteristic that was a very impor- tant factor in the future of the regiment ; that is, to cheerfully make the most of the situation. After supper, on the 24th, they formed a procession. Some one carried the Stars and Stripes, planks were put on the shoulders of some of the men, and two of the musicians mounted upon them, they marched about playing and singing lively tunes. It is a happy feature of human nature that it is capable of at once throwing off the serious and depressing, and taking on the light and gay as a relief.
IN MEMORY OF STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.
Au event in our camp was the recognition given to the death of Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. On June 4th, the cannon was fired at intervals of one hour, and later in the week a memorial service was held. This seemed fitting, as Judge Douglas was an eminent man and a prominent loyalist, as this stress of war had come upon the government. Judge Douglas was born in Vermont in 1813 and came to Illinois in 1833. He was prominently connected with the politics of the
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State and the United States up to the time of his death. Mr. Douglas had ambition that found something of gratification in him in the State Legislature, in the supreme judgeship of the State and in both houses of Congress, but he wanted to be President of the United States, and would probably have gotten the position if a wise providence had not placed Mr. Lincoln in the position at the only time Mr. Douglas could have gotten it. He and Mr. Lincoln were opponents in the school of politics and rivals both for the position of the United States senator and for the presidential chair.
Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln were both great men. Mr. Lincoln was doubtless the superior of Mr. Douglas in his logic and candor. Mr. Lincoln could not descend to any trickery of words to gain his point, while Mr. Douglas did not seem able to rise entirely above it. Men mourned the death of Mr. Douglas, but rejoiced that Mr. Lincoln's hand was on the helm when the tempest struck us.
Mr. Douglas seemed to be in some things with the South ; yet when things came to worst, it did not take him long to de- clare himself, and stand by Mr. Lincoln and the government. In April, Mr. Douglas had made a loyal speech before the Illinois Legislature that carried everything with it, and set the State into the forefront of patriotic endeavor to establish the supremacy of the United States. But now, in the early days of June, his death is announced. Much was expected of him in the contest and men truly sorrowed over his death. Had he lived, just what would have been his part, none may be able to tell. It is certain he was removed as a factor from the contest and many more able men with him, and yet the conflict went on to the finish. This points to the fact that great causes are greater than great men, and move on after men fall by the way.
CAMP PUNISHMENTS.
Various punishments were resorted to while in this our first camp, for various offenses. Of course the guard-house was a general resort for malefactors, but by some it was rather
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enjoyed than otherwise, if the term was not too protracted. This was a common punishment, and yet others were used, some of which were discontinued when we got to the front. I note from memory and a diary, some such as these : "Tied to a tree "-"gaged "-" made to stand on a barrel some hours for refusing to attend religious services." I suppose the punish- ment in this case was for disobedience of orders. While all the men who enlisted pledged themselves to obey all the com- mands of their superior officers and, of course, ought to have kept their word, yet it was hardly wise on the part of the offi- cers in volunteer service to absolutely demand attendance upon such service, and later on it was abandoned. The fact is, that many of the officers, to begin with, were not prepared to know what should be insisted upon and what should be left to the good sense and heart of the men.
I remember the case of one wild, young Irishman who had never controlled himself nor been controlled, who set out on a general course of wild insubordination. Falling into the hands of drill-master Brown, for some misdemeanor, he was loaded with a full knapsack and set on a double-quick with a right about face at the end of about ten rods ; after this had gone on for half an hour he grew tame, and later I heard him say, he deemed it wise to fall in with the rules.
THE DEATH OF COOPER BERRY.
Mr. Cooper Berry was a fine young man who came to camp with the company from Sterling and was the first man in the regiment to lose his life. He was shot by one of the guards on the night of June 12th. Mr. Berry was only a boy in years, but a man in appearance and energy. He was a born mili- tary man, and could he have lived, in riper years would have been just the man to take men anywhere that men could go. He was living in Sterling at the time of the outbreaking of the war, and when a company was organized in that town, he was designated as first lieutenant. He drilled the men in the most enthusiastic way and did good service. But he was
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young, fiery, and lacked judgment. This led him to manifest an overbearing and arbitrary spirit. After a time the men of the company did not feel that they could stand that, and so united in asking him to vacate the position to which he had been assigned but for which no commission had yet come. Seeing what was the wish of the men, he consented and left the position. He was then assigned to the position of sergeant-major, and it was while he was in this position that he lost his life. My recollection of it is that there was some trouble outside of the camp and that Mr. Berry was going around among the guards to see if they were all at their posts. He came upon one of the guards near the spring, and as he approached the man, was shot through the neck and died instantly. It was asserted by some that it was done with intent, but I could never make myself believe that any of our men had that kind of a spirit, even if he were led to think that an officer had been arbitrary toward him. Of course the man was arrested, but he was not held, and it is certain such a thing would not have been passed by if there was any evi- dence of guilt.
With proper military attention Mr. Berry's remains were borne to Sterling for burial. The death seemed very sad, and it looked as if there was no return for the loss of such a life in such a way ; and yet it is true that all that men have, costs something, and it may be that something came to offi- cers and men for their preparation for the future, from his death at this time, that was equal to the sacrifice.
It is certain that he was the first of a long line that fell before the regiment returned, and some of them seemed not to have counted for more than this.
· If men with his zeal could add to it the good judgment of some one else, they would sweep everything before them. It will be remembered that young Ellet who commanded the ram "Queen of the West" when she made her daring passage past the batteries at Vicksburg on the 2nd of February, IS63, was a boy of but eighteen years. I shall never forget his flushed and proud appearance as he rounded up his boat to the shore
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
below the batteries. But his history a few days later, when he lost that grand boat up the Red river, showed that while there was no lack of daring, there was of discretion. It is very seldom that we see an old head on young shoulders.
GETTING READY TO LEAVE DIXON.
We had now been in camp for five weeks, getting weaned somewhat, from home and civil life and being drilled into that unit known as regiment. The various experiences were not without their deep impress upon us. Could the incidents be recalled, we would find some most delightful in pathos, or with fun that would split the sides of a deacon, and some most sad. But we did not come into camp just to camp. The ob- ject of our move was beyond and more serious, as many understood and as all learned by later experience. The order came to move, and with it came the drawing of dress suits, knapsacks, rations and all the things that seemed necessary. Let me note here what most people of to-day are not aware of, that up to that time the uniform of the United States Army was gray and not blue as now. The suits that we drew at this time were gray. The change, I understood, was made because the uniform of the South was gray. It is certain that the blue made a more distinct target in battle and on that ac- count is not the best.
The announcement of our departure drew crowds of inter- ested friends from far and near, they came to extend farewell and God-speed with feelings that were in many cases tinged with a feeling that it might be the last, and of course in many cases it proved to be so.
The day assigned for our move was Sunday, June 16th. The breaking of camp was entirely new and of course was not easily accomplished. There was cooking to be done and stowed away, and camp stuff to be packed. Being so igno- rant of the whole matter, it was of necessity done in confusion. We were called up at 3:30 a. m. and then the scene opened. Those who did not have much work to do could run to and
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fro and make a noise, and they did their share of it. By 6 a. m. friends from Sterling and Amboy and the country round began to arrive, which only added to the confusion. But somehow, by 8 a. m. the regiment was in line and ready to move. And now the body is on its first march ; not far, to be sure, to the Illinois Central depot, but as much of a task as a much longer one, after we had learned how.
There stood the puffing engines, there were the long lines of cars ; freight cars for the stock and baggage, but nice pas- senger cars for the men. But let me say for the information of children, grandchildren and interested friends, that that was about the last we saw of passenger cars while we worked for Uncle Sam. There, too, was a great company of friends, fathers, mothers, children, wives and sweethearts. Some felt light, but most felt heavy, -some joked, others wept. It was no light matter, and it made most of us feel indeed that we were off for the war.
OFF FOR THE SOUTH.
Time was up; the engines puffed as if impatient to be off. The word was given, and twenty-two cars loaded with men and things were off headed for the South. It was the finest time of the year, when everything is fresh and growing. We ran into a grand country, almost a garden-broad fields waved with grain, bright streams ran along in sight and beneath our train as we dashed on, never slacking our pace. Then we saw broken and rough portions that only heightened the beauty of the landscape. Everything seemed so peaceful on - that fair Sabbath day, but we were bent on war.
As the day passed, we found that we had gone directly South, some two hundred miles. This brought on quite a change.
In the morning we were in the midst of early summer but the evening found us at Sandoval, just east of St. Louis, and amid fields ripe to the harvest.
There was nothing striking developed in the day's travel only that the men ate freely, and the cooked vituals were
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packed away where they could not be gotten at. It is said that some of the officers bought a barrel of eggs at Sandoval and had them cooked for the men. Some growled, but none starved.
At this point there was a shipment from the Illinois Central railroad to the Ohio & Mississippi railroad, and we were headed west. A few hours' ride brought us to Casey- ville, near which, and some eight miles from St. Louis, was to be our camp for the present.
While in this place the drill went on as usual, but our coming here brought with it a new feature, that is, living in tents. Of course we suffered some inconvenience until we knew how to prepare the ground and how to stake the tents for all kinds of weather. Some did not ditch, and found that it was a mistake when the floods came. Some stretched the canvas to the utmost tension when the cloth was dry, and then found that in the midst of the shower the cloth had shrunk enough to pull out the pegs and drop down the tent.
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