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 3
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While we were occupied here in doing guard and drilling, our principal business was to watch St. Louis. It was in the . hands of the Union forces, but was not disposed to stay there, if by any means it could be passed into the hands of the Secessionists. A body of troops near at hand had a whole- some effect upon the plans and movements of those who would have given it over. The Twentieth Regiment of Illinois Infantry came and camped near by us, thus increas- ing this force near to the great city.
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GENERAL LYON.
On the very day of our arrival at our camp at Caseyville, General Lyon had quite a fight with the rebels at Boonville, Missouri. He met with some loss, but drove the enemy from their position. Later all of the men became interested in General Lyon, and it may be of interest to introduce him at this point. I take the description from a Southern pen :
"Major General Nathaniel Lyon was a native of Connecti-
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cut, and had served in the regular army of the United States. He was an exception to the politics of that army, for he was an undisguised and fanatical Abolitionist. He entered the United States Army as second-lieutenant and was subse- quently promoted to captain. He arrived in St. Louis in April, 1861, having been sent from a post in the far south- west. Here his great activity in suppressing the excitement of Southern feeling, seizing the Arsenal, erecting defenses around the city, and disarming Southern sympathizers, recom- mended him to notice in the North and at Washington, and he rapidly rose from the rank of captain to that of major- general in two months. He was undoubtedly an able and dangerous man ; one who appreciated the force of audacity, and the value of quick decision.
"He was small in stature, wiry, active, of dark complexion, brave to a fault, and an excellent, though restless and ambi- tious officer. For several days before the battle in which he lost his life, he is said to have been a prey to uneasiness and disappointment, which brought on his face a troubled look, observed by all around him. To one of his staff he said, gloomily, that he could not rid himself of the idea that the coming battle would result disastrously. The fall of this man was .undoubtedly a serious loss to the Federals in Missouri."
General Lyon left by will thirty thousand dollars to the United States Treasury.
I quote from one diary as follows : " This camp was called McClellan. Here we received our cartridge-boxes, belts, etc., also our pay for the sixteen days spent in the State service from May 9th to May 24th. Drilling and target practice was the order of each day."
Another says, "Here we had to come down to Uncle Sam's rations ; it was rather hard at first, but it had to be ' did.' We missed the visits that we had received from kind friends about Dixon ;- ' Long may they wave !'"
This coming down to regulation rations with no nick-nacks to supplement them seemed a little hard. Some very poor
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meat was issued and it was declared by some that it was mule-meat. Of course it was not, but our live colonel raised his voice and something better was soon forthcoming. Here started in the joke that ran until it was stale, that some of the hard bread was so old and musty that it must have been made in the time of the Mexican war, or that some had been detected with the mark "B. C." and had been left over by the Roman army.
SUTLER STORE.
Here Erst loomed upon the horizon of the Thirteenth that wonderful requisite of army life, the sutler's store. The dictionary defines a sutler as " a trader in a small way," also one who does "dirty work." Now I suppose it was true of many, if not all of the sutlers of our army, that either one of these definitions would apply to them. They did trade in a small way and yet the aggregates were not always so small. It is said of one sutler in one of the campaigns in Louisiana under General Banks that he cleared twenty-five thousand dollars in three months. Many made a good thing of their position. It is true that they ran great risks from bad debts and raids, both from our boys and the rebels, but the prospects of profits were such that many were ready to embark in the business.
I think it is also true that many of them did "dirty work." They sold poor stuff for a large price, so that many boys spent most of their wages in that way. Then, many who went in response to the "sick call " would have had no occa- sion to have gone if they had staid away from the sutler, But it was not all bad ; it was a great comfort to many to have a chance to spend something, when they did not know what to do with their salaries. Those bottles of pickles, if they were high priced, were often just the thing when a man was growing bilious. Those sardines, often oiled over things when a man was disgusted with everything he cooked.
A sutler's tent and its contents was not an unmixed evil ; · as to the sutler himself, our sutler, "Old Hyde," as the
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boys saw fit to dub him, will be written up later on in our story.
We spent our first Fourth of July in the service, in a sense, watching St. Louis. It was feared, and with reasons, this day might be used as a time for an outbreak. An engine and train was in readiness to have sped to the city if there had been a call for it. Things were on the stir in Missouri and Arkansas.
At this date, Captain Pope, now Brigadier-General Pope, was ordered to take command of the troops at Alton, Illinois. General Hurlbut to take command at Quincy, Illinois. Gen- eral Lyon was on the way from Boonville, Missouri, to Spring- field, Missouri. General Franz Sigel was out near Carthage, Missouri, and had something of an engagement there on the 5th of July. Rebel Generals Price and Parsons were con- nected with this same place. General Jeff Thompson was at Pocahontas, Arkansas. General Ben McCollough who was killed at Pea Ridge was gathering the rebel forces at Fort Smith, Arkansas, while General Albert Pike was seeking to marshal the Indians of the Indiana Territory against the United States. Into the midst of this we were soon to move and do service for almost a year.
AGAIN ON THE MOVE.
On July 6th, in the midst of excessive heat the order came to pack and move. This was satisfactory, for soldiers in actual service, have neither desire nor opportunity for long stays. A train ran out from St. Louis and we were soon off. Hoof and baggage we were soon across the Father of Waters not to see it again for one year. The regiment, strong in num- bers and fine in appearance made its way through the streets of the city and finally brought up at Southwestern Pacific rail- road depot. This gave us some intimation of the direction of our travels, if not of our destination. As the regiment passed along the streets, it called out various expressions. The Union people felt free to express themselves openly and
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freely. The Secessionist were reticent. The grown people showed a respectful silence, but smiled comfortably when the children hurrahed for Jeff Davis, or made other demon- strations that were in accord with their feelings.
Many of the boys made their way to the public market- place and readily got what they wanted to eat, and at the same time learned the sentiments of the German market women by getting things at a nominal price or as a free gift. By 10 p. m. we were loaded on the trains and ready to move.
INTO DARKNESS AND DANGER.
As our trains pulled out of the depot, of course we did not know just what to expect. There is always a measure of danger in running trains, especially where so much life is involved. Now we could guess that the danger would be enhanced as we were moving into an enemy's country who would be glad to see us killed, and be glad to do it if they had half a chance. This railroad, as we learned at that time, terminated at Rolla, one hundred and eight miles to the southwest. This was guarded by a Home Guard and especially at the bridges.
We had run some distance from the city when our train was flagged and came to a stand-still. The guards at the bridge where we stopped had just captured a man who had made an effort to fire the bridge. This doubtless had been done in anticipation of our coming, and in the hope it might prove disastrous to us. We soon started up again and crowded on through the darkness and possible danger, trust- ing in and being safely kept by a kind Providence. The next morning found us landed in Rolla. This was held at the time of our arrival by four hundred soldiers who were antici- pating an attack. However that may have been, after our arrival, it did not come off, and it was held by our forces during the whole of the war.
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THE STATE OF MISERY.
We were now fairly landed in what was known among the soldiers as the "State of Misery " (Missouri). It is true that they had some miserable experiences while within its borders, yet, as some of them were profane enough to add, it was much "better than hell."
"Misery " was the land of long-haired people and "but- ternut " clothes, also a land of long miles. The distances as learned from the natives were of such an uncertain quantity, that after a time when a man said it was so many miles to a place, the boys would ask, " United States miles or Missouri miles ?" This was the land where they made peach pies with- out lard or sugar, pies so tough that it needed an ax to cut them. A land of log cabins and few accomplishments, and yet withal the people knew enough to take sides on this great question of union and disunion, of human slavery and human liberty, and to bitterly fight, neighbor against neighbor, and even brother against brother. In the siege of Vicksburg there were two brigades of Missourians facing each other, and in the swinging of Grant's army to the rear of Vicksburg, at the skirmish at Fourteen-mile Creek, as the men of the Seventeenth · Missouri Regiment (Union) advanced, one of the men came upon his own brother, wounded and belonging to the rebel side.
CHAPTER III.
THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI NORTHWEST, AND OF ROLLA IN PARTICULAR .- CALLED TO THAT POST .- WYMAN.
T HE geographical and strategic position of Mis- souri, at the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, made it a point of the greatest im- portance, both to the Union and slave powers. It was on the extreme left of the Confederate lines, and its position in that line was as if it had made a right half-wheel, intending to overlap, and completely outflank the Federal line of the Union States. There was no geographical divisions of the Confederate States, including the Gulf and Atlantic seaports, that pos- sessed such dangerous possibilities against the Union, as did this · trans-Mississippi left flank of the Confederacy. It included the Indian Territory, which had been overawed, bribed, and cajoled from its loyalty to the rebels, and very early in 1861, the Cherokees had decided.to cast their fortunes with seces- sion ; and this left loyal Kansas exposed on its entire south- ern and eastern sides, and even its western border neighbors, the Utes, under such leaders as Colorow, made life and prop- erty insecure ; and so, Kansas was entirely cut off from direct communication with its sister loyal States ; and only by the circuitous and difficult routes through Nebraska and Iowa, would it be able to reach the other Free States.
Missouri was even more badly located for mischief to us, than was Arkansas and the Indian Territory. Missouri not only overlapped a large part of Illinois, but the entire State of
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Iowa on its southern border, besides an easy chance of holding a corner on Nebraska ; and this would afford a safe footpath for intercommunication between the Indians of the Southwest and those of the Northwest, who were destined to make a di- version in favor of Jeff Davis, by an outbreak which would carry death and destruction to so many of the men, women, and children, and homes of the Northwest, as to largely de- plete our armies of forces sufficient to quell the outbreak, and give permanent protection to the frontier settlers.
THIS DIABOLICAL SCHEME
was literally carried out in the season of 1862, principally in Minnesota ; and we shall have occasion, in another part of this work, to trace the causes and fix the responsibility where it belongs.
Almost superhuman exertions were made by the young Confederacy to so thoroughly fortify the strongest points on the Mississippi River, from Columbus, Kentucky, to New Or- leans, that the Union armies could not possibly reduce them enough to gain their possession, while it would afford them an easy, and the only route by which they could distribute to its people and armies, the transportation, food, and munitions of war, necessary to their existence. Hence the tremendous efforts they put forth to prevent the river from falling into our hands-well-knowing that our success would literally cut the Confederacy in two.
How long it took to do this ; how much hard campaigning, through all sorts of exposure and hardship; how many Union lives lost, and how many of its own comrades were left on many battle-fields, including our beloved Wyman, the Thir- teenth need not be told.
There seems no room to doubt the perfect loyalty and incorruptibility of General Harney in the secession spring of 1861, but he fell into the dangerous error of reposing con- fidence in the honesty and loyalty of such secession leaders as Sterling Price and Governor Claib. Jackson,
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WHO WERE PLOTTING TREASON WHILE HOODWINKING GENERAL HARNEY,
who was too easily led to trust their hypocritical professions of joining him in preventing Missouri from secession ; and, but for the clear foresight of Captain Lyon, Frank P. Blair, and other loyal men, and their prompt action in capturing Camp Jackson, Missouri would have been, temporarily, as hopelessly lost to the Union, as was any other of the seces- sion States ; and until overpowered and restored, so large a force of troops would have been necessary to guard the left bank of the Mississippi, from Cairo to Iowa, and the southern border of that State as well, as to very materially weaken our forces in other parts of the field. This, however, was probably of much less importance to the Union cause, than would have been the dangerous proximity of secession Mis- souri to Canada, that pest-house of refuge
AND VOMITING-GROUND FOR ALL THE FOUL BROOD OF SECESSION'S
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surplus of spies, conspirators, outlaws and assassins, who, together with our own copperhead renegades, and English sympathizers with Southern treason, formed an army in our rear which was formidably dangerous, and, it is possible, would have turned the scale against us, had it not been for the fact that they were generally both physical and moral cowards and always were kept under sleepless surveillance by our authorities, who prevented them from doing what the Jeff Davis organization expected of them.
Some of this Falstaffian rabble were as " mild mannered gentlemen as ever scuttled a ship or cut a throat."
Very few of these conspirators, however, had the nerve and devotion to a bad cause, to carry out the behests of their masters, which required the murder of even a President of the United States ; and if the murder of President Lincoln be classed as one of their successes, then it was a success which they could not well afford ; for it aroused the indigna-
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tion and horror of the civilized world, and weakened their unholy cause by the withdrawal of a hitherto widespread sympathy, mistaken though it was, which had been ex- tended then ; and the effect was to cause such a revulsion of feeling, that the Union cause was correspondingly strengthened.
With the exception of the assassination of President Lin- coln, no notable success was achieved by these Jeff Davis scavengers ; and their operations amounted to scarcely more than the abortive attempts to burn and plunder a few Northern cities, release and arm several thousands of rebel prisoners in several Northern States, to capture one or two vessels on the Northern lakes; and the too successful auxili- ary aid of the English-secession contingent in inciting the revolt of the Indians of the West and Northwest.
These rear and side-lights serve to throw into bold relief, over the canvas of history, the importance to both sides, of Missouri, which, to the rebels was a sort of turn-table and way-station on the rebel underground railroad for easily reaching Canada.
On Sunday morning, July 7th, at daylight, after a rough night's ride in freight and lumber cars, over the southwest branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad, the "Thirteenth " arrived at Rolla, Missouri, disembarked and stacked arms near the depot, the men expecting to march on to Springfield to reinforce General Lyon, as soon as transportation could arrive. After about two hours, however, they were ordered to "fall in," and were marched to a camping-ground about one hundred rods to the east of the town, where they again "stacked arms" and then cooked breakfast; after which the ground was thoroughly cleared off, and, by night, the tents were all up, on what, as it proved, was to be their military home for three months ; and camp life on the enemy's soil began in earnest.
A force of only five companies of Infantry, under Colonel Bayles, was garrisoning the post on our arrival, and much apprehension of attack from rebels existed, and a patrol guard
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was ordered on duty from our regiment the very first night of our Missouri life.
This seemed a little like earnest work, but it was what the boys had clamored for, what we came to Missouri to do ; and that there was abundant necessity for its being done, a look at the military and political situation in the trans-Mississippi department of the military operations of the war will readily show; and why Colonel Wyman and his regiment were assigned to this post.
Although the weather was somewhat sultry, the day was fine ; and while the men were clearing off the grounds for a camp, and getting ready for real soldiering, some rear and side-lights may be let on to make clear the situation.
As early as December 20th, 1860, South Carolina, true to her old-time treasonable leadership, had seceded. On January 9th, 11th, 19th and 26th, 1861, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Lousiana, in the order named, had seceded, to be followed April 17th, and May 6th by Virginia and Arkansas, respect- ively. Three months before the form of secession had been gone through with, Arkansas had persuaded the Choctaw Indians to join the fortunes of the South and had seized the United States Arsenal at Little Rock.
On May 11th United States troops had been fired on in St. Louis. On June 12th, the rebel governor of Missouri, Claib. Jackson, called for fifty thousand troops to fight the United States.
It seems that staunch old Union Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, with grim Scottish sarcasm, sent a requisition to the Governor of Arkansas, for its contingent of Arkansas troops with which to help put down the rebellion ; and received the following reply :
Honorable SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War,
Washington City. .
In answer to your requisition for troops from Arkansas, to subjugate the Southern States, I have to say that none will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury. The people of this common-
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wealth are freemen, not slaves, and will defend to the last extremity, their honor, lives, and property against Northern mendacity and ursur- patiòn.
H. M. RECTOR, Governor of Arkansas.
Captain James Totten, Second Artillery, Commandant at Little Rock Arsenal, as early as February 6th, 1861, notified Adjutant-General Cooper, United States of America, as follows :
SIR : I have to inform you that companies of armed citizens from various sections of the State have already arrived, and it is said there will soon be five thousand here for the express purpose of taking the Arsenal. Instructions are urgently and immediately asked. Collision seems inevitable if the Arsenal is to be held.
Same date same notifies same that Governor H. M. Rector of Arkansas, demands the surrender of the Arsenal to State authorities.
April 20th Liberty Arsenal in Missouri, was taken posses- sion of by rebels and fifteen hundred arms and a few cannon distributed to citizens of Clay county.
April 23d secessionists took possession of Fort Smith, the Governor acting as though the State had already seceded.
As early as February 12th General Scott telegraphed to General Harney, commanding Department of the West :
Have you in the St. Louis Arsenal troops enough to defend it? Ought you not to send up all the men from Jefferson Barracks ?
The General-in-Chief desires to strengthen that dispatch by calling your attention to these considerations. That it is best to move in advance of excitement when it is possible. When an emergency arises reinforcements may be cut off; and that all the force may now be use- fully employed at work in adding to the defenses of the Arsenal.
General Harney did not see any danger.
Nine days after the above, General Harney received the following peremptory command :
Brigadier-General Harney : Stop the march of the troops from Fort Smith.
WINFIELD SCOTT.
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Only nineteen days from the date of the above, Captain Nathaniel Lyon was assigned to the command of the St. Louis Arsenal. Beginning to comprehend at last, that General Scott was getting his mad up, General Harney began to move; and in the light of swift following events, he moved none too soon ; and as a result we have the following :
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE WEST, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, April 9th, IS61.
To MAJOR HAGNER.
SIR : Under existing circumstances, the Department Commander deems it of great importance that the Ordnauce supplies stored in the magazine at Jefferson Barracks, or elsewhere, be brought within the vicinity of St. Louis Arsenal limits with the least practicable delay.
S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Either General Scott's tongue-lashing, or some other inspirational cause, had set General Harney to looking about him to better purpose than formerly, as is seen by the follow- ing communication to the headquarters of the General-in- Chief of the Army.
HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, April 16, 1861.
ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE ARMY AT NEW YORK,
SIR: The Arsenal buildings and grounds are completely com- manded by hills immediately in their rear, and within easy range. I learn from sources which I consider reliable, that it is the intention of the Executive of this State to cause batteries to be erected on these hills, and also upon the Island opposite the Arsenal. I am further informed that should such batteries be erected, it is contemplated by the State authorities, in the event of the secession of the State from the Union, to demand the surrender of the Arsenal. While our force would probably be able to resist successfully an assaulting party greatly superior to itself in numbers, it could not withstand the fire of the batteries situated as above indicated.
W. S. HARNEY, Brigadier-General Commanding.
With regard to the St. Louis Arsenal matter, it seems to have engaged the personal attention of Jeff Davis also about
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this same time, and he writes from Montgomery, Alabama, on April 23d, 1861, to Governor Jackson of Missouri, as follows :
I have directed that Captains Green and Duke should be furnished with two twelve-pounder howitzers and two thirty-two-pounder guns with the proper ammunition for each. These, from the commanding hills will be effective, both against the garrison, and to breach the inclosing walls of the place.
I concur with you as to the great importance of capturing the Arse- nal and securing the supplies.
That the Union authorities and leading Unionists of the West were as fully alive to the importance of defending the St. Louis Arsenal, and its valuable stores, as Jeff Davis could possibly be, the following correspondence will show :
EAST ST. LOUIS, ILL., April 19th, 1861.
Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War.
SIR : Dispatches to United States Officers at St. Louis, should be addressed to East St. Louis, via Terre Haute. Their contents will then be perfectly safe as far as all western points are concerned. Notify other members of the Cabinet, and ascertain yourself about Baltimore and Washington Offices.
Send order by telegraph, at once, for mustering men into service, to Captain N. Lyon. It will surely then be executed and we will fill your requisition in two days .- " RELIEVE HAGNER."
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