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 2 > Part 25
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After a month in Vicksburg, we were sent to Jackson, · Mississippi, and confined in the ruins of the old Pearl river covered bridge. While here, a proposition was made to us, that if we would take the oath of allegiance to the Confeder- acy, we would be liberated, and given work in a cotton fac- tory at four and five dollars a day. At that time the infamous Vallandigham was making his seditious speeches in Con- · gress, and everything looked exceedingly dark respecting the . Union cause. When the provost marshal came to administer the oath, there was only one man of the Thirteenth, after these months of suffering, who was willing to take it, and he was glad to be removed beyond sight or sound of his incensed comrades, when their indignation burst forth in hisses and groans. In response to this proposition, the poet who had composed our song, wrote these verses, which so truly reflect- ing our sentiment, I give entire. It was entitled
"THE PATRIOT'S REPLY.
" Me take the oath from dread of doom, Or all the ills in prisons found ?
I'd rather weep in endless gloom, Than that these lips should breathe the sound
That brands me slave, a living shame. A curse to all my father's name.
"Me yield ? Alas ! though hunger haunts, And grim disease my vitals gnaw,
I'd rather sink 'neath myriad wants, And food become in vulture's maw, Than craven-like, my honor sell,
And shame e'en traitors bound in Hell.
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" Me, fainting droop ! from feeble fear, And rouse to heat a kindred's scorn,
Dry up with shame a mother's tear, Who'd grieve she had a Judas borne ? No ! let this mark my humble grave,
'My God, the Union, and the brave.'"'
While incarcerated in the bridge, the men devised various ways of escape. One was, for two or three to gather all the canteens possible after dark, go to the door and ask the privi- lege to go and fill them. A guard would be detailed to take the three under the bridge to the river brink. One of the prisoners would engage the guard in animated conversation while the others were ostensibly filing the canteens. In the darkness the other two would slip away, and leave only one man to go back with the guard. The guard, chagrined at his loss, would say nothing of his loss in the escape. Another plan was to make a rope of old rags, drop down through a hole in the bridge, and swinging, catch some of the braces that stretch from the piers on the shore and slide down these till they reached the river bank. By wrapping a stocking about a file they muffled the sound as they filed off the chains that locked some boats to the shore, and in these they descended the river, traveling by night and seeking a covert by day. Night and morning we were counted, but there were always some less in the morning after a dark night. At last a shrewd officer coming into the bridge one morning called aside one of the seediest looking of our number, and whisper- ing to him that if he would tell him where the hole was through which these men were getting out, he would return him to his lines, and let him go home. The seedy "Yank," looked at him for a moment ; asked him if he would truly do this for him. The officer feeling assured from the confidential manner of the Yankee that he had gained his point, extended to him his hand, and gave his solemn pledge to fulfill his promise. The Yankee looked, and waited for still further as- surance, and received it ; whereupon, putting his hand to his mouth and drawing the officer's head close to him, instead of
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whispering, he shouted loud enough to be heard all through the bridge-
"I guess the last man took the hole with him."
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The roar that followed, showed plainly that the prisoners now understood the nature of their communications.
Vividly impressed upon my mind is an evening hour in that old "Bridge of Sighs." It was the month of March when a somber day was darkening into a threatening night, and the coarse jests and ribaldry, and the blasphemous whines of the discontented had come to a lull, that a sweet tenor voice from a group lying on the floor began to sing --
"How tedious and tasteless the hours, When Jesus no longer I see, &c.
It acted like a charm, and all was peace. When the singer came to the words-
" While blest with a sense of his love, A palace, a toy would appear, And prisons would palaces prove. If Jesus would dwell with me there."
His voice faltered, and there was a silence, broken only by the sobs of those who had never felt the significance of those words as they did now. Many of those who joined in that hymn that night, lived to get out of their imprisonment, but they fell at Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Ring- gold Gap and Madison Station.
At Springfield ,Illinois, June 18, 1864 my services as chaplain of the Thirteenth ended ; and going from the scene of our "muster out," the first marriage ceremony I ever per- formed was for a member of Company D, who married an es- timable lady of Atlanta, Illinois.
Thus the Thirteenth so heroic in war has come back fully into all the amenities of society, the comforts of the home, and the pursuits of peace.
Should war ever again visit our land, and I not too old to enlist, I would ask no higher privilege than to be inustered- in with the survivors of the grand old Thirteenth.
God bless you my comrades, farewell.
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EXPERIENCE OF W. H. WOODRING OF COMPANY D, AS A TELEGRAPH OPERATOR.
A LONELY RIDE, OF 120 MILES WITHOUT AN ESCORT.
On the night of April 12th, 1861, I was receiving the tel- egraphic dispatches at Rock Island, Ill., where I was tele- graph manager and operator, and the news which I received that night about the firing on Fort Sumter, so worked on my patriotic feelings that I soon resigned my position, and three weeks later I was en route for the camp of instruction, having enlisted as a private in the Thirteenth regiment, Illinois Infan- try, the first regiment of three years' men from that state.
It is not my intention to speak of my service during the first year I enlisted, but proceed at once to relate an incident in my soldier life, which I have selected for this occasion.
In 1862, the government began to appreciate the great value of the military telegraph, wherewith to quickly transmit orders and information concerning the movements of troops, and munitions of war. So great was the demand for skilled telegraphı operators, that orders were issued to the various commanders to search among their troops for soldiers who could operate the telegraph. By order of Maj. Gen. Halleck, I was given a furlough from my regiment, March 2d, 1862, and ordered to report for duty to Maj. George A. Smith. quar- termaster in charge of the military telegraphs of the Depart- ment of Missouri. From thenceforward, my post of duty was "at the front," although in the rear of the fighting part of the army. The telegraph corps followed the advancing troops with its wires as rapidly as it could, and quickly opened communication between them and the Department Headquarters, as well as between army corps and divisions, often establishing its impromptu offices upon the battle field behind a sheltering tree, and reading the message from the tick of the little pocket sounder, which was often a difficult task amid the noise of battle.
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On the 4th of June, 1862, I was intrusted with a copy of the code or cipher key, such as was used only between the commanding generals, for the transmission of important com- munications. Messages forwarded under this code could not be translated except by those in possession of the key. I was ordered to proceed at once from St. Louis to Springfield, Mis- souri, and report for duty to the general in command at that place. I proceeded by rail to Rolla, in the central part of the state and there drew a raw-boned saddle horse from the quar- termaster's corral. Next in order was a call for an escort from the post commandant, but was informed by that officer that they could not spare any troops for that purpose at that time. My orders were imperative ; so on the morning of the 5th, I began a long, tiresome journey, a journey of one hun- dred and twenty miles through a portion of Missouri full of bush-whackers or guerrillas. as they were termed. They had captured and burned a quartermaster's wagon on the road, twenty-five miles out from Rolla only two days before, and an- other train, on another road a short distance south of it, near the same time. This was not very inspiring news to me, but I placed my cipher key in a convenient pocket where I could quickly get it to destroy, if likely to be captured by the en- emy, and started on the journey alone. My way led through forests the greater part of the way, along by dilapidated farm fences, through valleys, where the foliage of the trees drooped - thickly over the lonely road, then alongside the winding course of the Little Piney river, on one side of which were high bluffs covered with scrubby timber-a splendid place for concealed assassins. I passed the wreck of the burned wagon train about four o'clock, in a small clearing in a valley, with thickets on all sides of it; it was anything but a cheering sight for the lone traveller in blue, as he rode quickly by the remains of the still smouldering ruins. My eyes were on the constant lookout for an enemy, but none appeared and half an hour after the sun liad set. I was made glad by the appear- ance of the lamp lights ahead of mne, of the little town of Waynesville, thirty miles fromn Rolla. I was very weary, and
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retired as soon as I had my supper in the little village hotel. The feather bed on which I slept was illy appreciated by me- having slept on the hard ground so long, that feathers were a torture. (?)
Started early next morning for Lebanon, twenty-five miles distant, the country was now more open than that east of Waynesville, until I came to the Big Piney river ten miles from Lebanon, a deep swift stream which I had to ford ; this too was surrounded by timber and bordered on the west by high bluffs. I hastened on, and reached Lebanon before dark. Nothing of importance occurred until after I had made the next stopping place thirty miles from Lebanon-the fourth day; I started early that morning and rode fast-the road was most- ly through timber the last thirty miles, before reaching Springfield, and was more dangerous than that passed over the two previous days. About eighteen miles from Springfield I overtook a two horse wagon in which were three telegraph line repair men, on their way to Springfield. This was a most welcome sight for me-I and iny horse were both tired and sore, although we only averaged thirty miles per day on this journey, nevertheless thirty miles was a good day's jour- ney, when the nature of the country traversed by the old stage road which I followed is taken into consideration. Per- haps some of those present on this occasion, have taken this trip, in the old overland stage coach, if so, they can testify to the numerous difficulties encountered. Hills and valleys, mud, corduroy roads, and rivers followed each other in quick succession. I tied my horse to the rear of the wagon and took a seat in it with the men. We went along leisurely through the winding woodland road, talking and forgetting our sur- roundings, when we heard some one hurrying up behind us, a countryman in homespun clothes, who overtook us, and ex- citedly told us that a party of twelve guerrillas, armed with rifles had crossed over the road just out of sight to the rear of us. I jumped on my horse and we made lively time from thence to Springfield, arriving at my journey's end in safety for which I thanked God most feverently. I consider it a most
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wonderful event that I got through without seeing an enemy -and in fact, with hardly seeing a friend-I met very few persons on the way, those whom I did meet were suspicious and wary of me, as I was of them. At some of the dilapi- dated farm houses, by the way, could be seen sad eyed wom- en, and a large number of ragged children, watching the lone rider until he was out of sight. The only signs of farming at these poor log houses, was perhaps a small patcli of corn and potatoes. Very few cows and chickens were left them-all was most desolate and uninviting, showing the awful effect that war has produced on these once happy farmers. Thus ended a journey which to me was perhaps the most danger- ous, and difficult duty performed during the three and a half years of my service in the army.
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COPIED FROM PLUM'S "MILITARY TELEGRAPH IN THE CIVIL WAR."
" Early in January, 1863, Marmaduke, collecting about four thousand troops, mainly horse, and avoiding Blunt, pre- pared to assault Springfield, Missouri, his base of supplies. Heron having taken away the best troops with him, leaving under General E. B. Brown but about twelve hundred militia three hundred convalescents and one hundred and fifty Iowa troops, the result was very uncertain. Brown's few cavalry- men delayed the enemy as long as possible, to give time to prepare for the battle. Several old iron howitzers, that lay in the arsenal grounds, were put on temporary carriages in the little earthi fort about a block from headquarters, and manned by experienced gunners. By daylight of the eightlı, Brown was ready.
" Early in the morning of the seventh. the telegraphi line was cut, both east and south, to prevent Brown from commt :- nicating with outside forces. The night of the seventh was clear, the moon shining brightly, and realizing the great ne-
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cessity of re-establishing the telegraph before the attack, operator Woodring called to him repairers Owen Monday, a splendid man with real Irish pluck, and Bob Bates, who would go wherever sent. Monday mounted his big 'clay- bank,' horse, and going east found and repaired the line about seven miles out, and returned before daylight. undis- covered ; but Bates had to go farther, and did not find the break until near morning. Having repaired the line and rested a little at a wayside house, he was unable to return until the rebels had begun their attack, which commenced about one p. m., when suddenly he found himself in the midst of a squad some distance out of town, where the road on both sides was skirted with brush and timber. Being in citizens dress, no immediate measures were taken to detain him, and soon comprehending the situation, he spurred his little mare directly into the timber, when the squad sent a volley after him without effect. Telegraphic communication being thus re-established, the operator was able to and did advise the commanding General at St. Louis, of the progress of the bat- tle during the whole of the time it continued.
" Woodring and Briggs felt little disposed to remain idle within a few blocks of the fighting, and as each was well sup- plied with Enfield rifles, they sallied forth to render such service as they might, Briggs taking position among the volunteer skirmishers, and Woodring acting as aide to Brown, anon- firing from convenient shelter, at short intervals ran back to his office and telegraphed prospects. At one time peeping over the parapet for a shot, he drew a heavy rebel fire, that was almost too well aimed. At another, while he was in liis office just after dark, lighting his lamp, preparatory to report- ing that General Brown was severely wounded, there was a sudden crash through the building, already well riddled with bullets. The room seemed to fill with splinters and powdered plaster, aud ere he could comprehend what was the matter, he saw a dark ball rolling on the floor right by his feet. It was a shell from the enemy's cannon. Greatly startled he jumped back and crouched in a corner awaiting its explosion,
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but happily for him the fuse had not ignited. That shell passed through a wooden church and three partitions in the telegraph building before reaching the office where it struck a brick chimney and fell to the floor. It is now the property of Superintendent Smith. ( It was returned to Mr. Woodring at the close of the war, and is still in his possession.) Woodring hurriedly arranged his wires, and taking out a relay went to a building facing Market Square, where the office was formerly located, and there he made his report to St. Louis.
" About eight o'clock the enemy withdrew, and Spring- field was saved. About one a. m. the Union gunners fired again, to feel for the enemy, and Woodring, believing the battle was being renewed, reported accordingly, and then the line was cut again, leaving the department commander, at St. Louis, and the Northern people, in suspense. Marma- duke had taken the Rolla road, cut the wire in many places and strung it across the highway behind, as he advanced.
Since 2 p. m. no tidings had come from brave Briggs. Let us now follow him. In company with a lieutenant and a few others, he took position behind some shade trees, not far from the two story brick seminary building, lately used as a mili- tary prison, which the enemy captured, and from which they were inflicting much injury. Briggs and the others were endeavoring to pick off some of the enemy, and in so doing he fired every cartridge but one. His position becoming very uncomfortable at this time, the lieutenant advised Briggs to fall back, but he wanted one more shot, and in exposing him- self to secure it, he was himself shot and instantly killed. Woodring sallied forth early on the ninth, to find his comrade operator. After some search and inquiry he learned that he had been killed, and hurrying to a back porch near the office, he saw the body of poor Briggs, cold in death. A bullet had entered an eye and passed through the head. While the Union people of the North were proudly discussing the vic- tory, a few days later, at Delavan, Wisconsin, Henry G. Briggs' young wife and two children were bewailing the death of this gallant volunteer whose remains lie buried in
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the soldiers' cemetery in the town he assisted so bravely in defending .*
The Federals lost fourteen killed and one-hundred and forty-five wounded ; their antagonists loss exceeded two hundred.
A new attack was expected the next day, and preparations were made by Colonel George H. Hall for a final defense in the main fort on the opposite side of the town from where the fighting on the eighth chiefly occurred. Woodring burned his old messages, hid his instruments, except relay and key, which, with recent telegrams and cipher key, he took to the fort, where, Colonel Hall desiring to telegraph for reinforce- ments, Woodring volunteered to transmit them from the nearest point where he could get an electric current from St. Louis batteries, provided an escort was furnished. Accord- ingly, as directed, he reported at dark with repairer Bates, received the dispatches, and with twenty-one inen of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, proceeded slowly, owing to the wires across the road. Twenty-four miles out the men began to object to proceeding farther, and soon decided to return to their command, the sergeant commanding them exercising little control. The operator called for volunteers and only one man besides Bates responded ; but with these two men Woodring pressed forward, determined on his mission. Ten miles beyond, they discovered a small party of mounted men, armed, and dressed partly in blue, the rest in jeans looking not unlike Marmaduke's men. They, it seems, were suspicious of the three, and cried-" Halt, advance one ; " but the trio, considering their inferior numbers, deemed the demand unfair, and successfully insisted that one of the others advance. As he approached, the three separated, two being on the side and one in the center, prepared to dash through the others if they were rebels ; but they were the advance guard of a large militia command en route for Springfield, but in fact diverged
*Henry G. Briggs, a telegraph operator, assistant to W. H. Woodring-was a pri- vate soldier, a member of the Ninety-ninth Regiment Illinois Infantry.
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on Hartsville. That night (tenth ), after a grand reception at Lebanon, where the operator and others were duly lionized, Woodring himself telegraphed the messages from St. Louis, not having been able to get circuit therefrom west of Lebanon The North had understood that Springfield was captured. The cowardly sergeant was reduced to the ranks.
SURGEON PLUMMER WRITES THE FOLLOWING ITEMS CONCERNING THE HEALTH OF HIS REGIMENT.
"We had hardly got into camp at Dixon, Ill., when sick- ness began to show itself among the men, on account of the . change from the comforts of home to the exposure of camp life. We had a number of cases of pneumonia and measles among the men while in camp at Dixon. After moving from Dixon to Caseyville, Ill., we were free from diseases of all kinds except now and then a case of measles. From Casey- ville we crossed the Missouri River passing through St. Louis to Rolla, Mo., where we lay in camp from July until the fall. During our encampment at Rolla we had perhaps a dozen cases of typhoid among the men, all of whom recovered with the exception of two cases that were removed from the field tent hospital to what was supposed to be more comfortable quarters, in a dwelling house. Both of the patients died, while those treated in the camp hospital recovered. During the whole winter we had men taken down with the measles from time to time with but one death. The death was the result of delirium, the man having gotten out of the hospital and run through the snow at night. After getting through the epidemic of measles, the regiment was comfortably free from disease until after the battle of Pea Ridge, when small- pox broke out among the men, the result of exposure and con- tagion by two companies occupying a church at Lebanon, Mo., that had been used during the winter before as a small-
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pox hospital. I hauled patients afflicted with small-pox all the way from Cassville, Mo., to Helena, Ark., in army wagons. The wagons were kept about a half a mile in the rear of the command with 'Small-Pox ' painted in big letters on each side. The 'Johnnies' never disturbed those wagons. Every man afflicted with small-pox recovered. I attributed the fact of their all recovering to their being carried in canvas- covered wagons, which allowed all obnoxious vapors to escape. After our arrival at Helena, on the Missouri River, our men were afflicted with diseases of malarial type, and many with mucous or chronic diarrhoea. With the exception of the mucous diarrhoea, after reaching the Mississippi River, we had very little sickness in the regiment, and during the months of the winters of '62 and '63, the health of the regi- ment was so good that I never had any men in the hospital. I attributed the immunity of the inen from disease to the fact that they were intelligent, wide-awake and knew how to take care of themselves, not indulging in any excess of either food or drink, and protecting themselves from exposure when they could, and to another fact, that they were the best 'jay- hawkers ' in the family. If there was anything in the country to be obtained by any means that was good to eat, they always got it, and whatever they did get, the surgeon usually received a share of it, too.
"The Thirteenth, like all other regiments, had some boys in it that would 'play off ' if they got a good chance, and in order to be excused from duty, used often to come to 'Sur- geon's Call,' which was always held early in the morning, and when I was satisfied that the man merely wanted to be ex- cused from duty, nothing ailing him, my universal practice was to order him a dose of castor oil and turpentine. The men very soon learned that when that order was given, they knew I understood that they were 'playing off,' and made a 'bee line ' for their own quarters.
" While in camp at Helena, Ark., I received orders from the headquarters of the Medical Department of the army, to issue whisky and quinine to the men to prevent them from
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having malarial diseases. I had drawn a few barrels of whis ky for that purpose, had the head of one knocked in, put the necessary amount of quinine into it, and each morning issued the quantity necessary to each orderly-sergeant. After issu- ing out the first barrel, Orville Hamilton, known as 'Old Ham,' said to me when I was about to open the second bar- rel, that he could drink whisky with almost anything in it, but that he preferred it without flies; that knocking the head of the barrel in, let the flies get into it, and if I would allow him, he would fix it so the flies could not get into it. I told him to fix it. He pounded on the side of the barrel until the bung flew out, The necessary quantity of quinine was put into the barrel, and then the bung-hole was closed up again. He bored a hole near the bottom and put a wooden faucet into it, which he had in his pocket. He was always ready with everything. He knew just where to get a block of the right size, put it into the corner of my tent and put the barrel on top of it. The next morning when I went to issue the rations to the men, there was not a drop of whisky in the barrel. He had raised the corner of the tent, set a bucket under the faucet, and issued the entire barrel to the men in the course of the night. I met him two or three days afterward, not having seen him for that time. I said to him, 'You are an old scoundrel !' He looked at me good-naturedly and inquired, 'Doctor, what is the matter with you now ?' I said to him, 'You stole my barrel of whisky.' His answer was, 'You would not get mad at a little joke like that.'
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