USA > Illinois > Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
17
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Indeed, it became plain that the original Secessionists at the South had deliberately planned treason, and deliberately de- termined to put into execution their oft-repeated threats of disunion. Warlike preparations quickly followed each other in the South. On the tenth of November, IS60, a bill was intro- duced in the South Carolina Legislature, to raise and equip ten thousand men; and the Legislature of that State ordered the election of a Convention to consider the question of Secession, and James Chestnut, one of the United States Senators from South Carolina, resigned; which was followed on the eleventh by the resignation of United States Senator Hammond, of that State. On the fifteenth of November, Governor Letcher, of Vir- ginia, called an extra session of the Virginia Legislature. On: the eighteenth of November, the Legislature of Georgia appro- priated one million dollars to arm that State. On the nineteenth, Governor Moore, of Louisiana, called an extra session of the Legislature. On the first of December, a great Secession meet. ing was held at Memphis, in the State of Tennessee: and on the same day, the Legislature of Florida ordered the election of a Secession Convention. On the third day of December, the United States Congress assembled; and President James Buchanan, a Northern dough-faced Democrat, who sympathized with treason, denied, in huis message to Congress, the right of the United States to coerce a scceding State. On the fifth of December, the delegates to the Secession Convention in South Carolina were elected. On the tenth, Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, resigned, and went home to Georgia, to engage in Secession ; and on the same day, the Leg- islature of Louisiana assembled, and appropriated five hundred thousand dollars to arm that State, and called a Secession Con- vention. On the thirteenth of December, a special meeting of President Buchanan's Cabinet was held, to consider the question of reinforcing Fort Moultrie; and President Buchanan opposed it, and no reinforcements were sent. On the seventeenth, the Secession Convention of South Carolina assembled, and on the twentieth, passed the Ordinance of Secession by a unanimous vote: and President Buchanan sent a message to the South Carolina Secession Convention, pledging that Fort Moultrie Should not be reinforced. On the twenty sixth, Major Anderson. with one hundred and eleven men, evacuated Fort Moultrie, and took possession of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor. On the twenty-seventh, the Revenue Cutter, William Aiken, was treach.
18
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
erously surrendered to the South Carolina authorities by Captain M. S. Coste; and on the twenty-eighth, South Carolina seized the United States property in the city of Charleston, and touk possession of Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie; and on the thirty-first of December, South Carolina sent Commissioners to other Slave States, to stir up Secession. So the year 1860 went out. And the North stood still and quiet; amazed, but not frightened.
And the new year, 1861, came in with the same methodical preparations for war, on the part of the South. On the second day of January, Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, seized Fort Macon; and on the same day, the Secession militia of Georgia seized Fort Pulaski, and Fort Jackson, and the United States Arsenal at Savannah, Georgia. On the fourth of January, Governor Moore, of Alabama, seized Fort Morgan and the United States Arsenal at Mobile And the people of the North observed that day as a day of fasting and prayer. On the sev- enth, the Secession Conventions of Alabama and Mississippi convened, and the Legislatures of Virginia and Tennessee assembled. On the eighth, Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, resigned and joined the Rebellion; and on the same day, the Secessionists of North Carolina seized Fort Jolinson, at Wilmington, and Fort Caswell, at Oak Island. On the ninth of January, the steamer, Star of the West, bearing'provisions to the United States garrison in Fort Sumter, was fired upon by the Rebel batteries in Charleston. Harbor, and the steamer turned back: and on the same day, Mississippi passed the Secession Ordinance. On the tenth, the Florida militia seized Fort McRea, and Florida passed an Ordinance of Secession. On the eleventh, Alabama seceded; and on the same day, the Governor of Louisiana seized Fort St. Phillip and Fort Jackson, on the Mississippi below New Orleans, and Fort Pike and Fort Macomb, on Lake Ponchartrain, and the United States AArsenal at Baton Rouge. On the thirteenth, the Secessionists of Florida took possession of the Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Barnacas. On the sixteenth, Arkansas and Missouri called Secession Conven- tions. On the ciglite-Pi \ i voted one million dollars for the Rebellion. On Ne 1th, Georgia adopted a Section Ordinance. On the twenty -first. Jefferson Davis, Senator from Mississippi, resigned his seat in the United States Senate, and joined the Conspirators: and all the Members of Congress from Alabama resigned and went home to engage in Secession, followed
19
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
on the next day by all the Members of Congress from Georgia; and on the following day, the Georgia militia seized the United States Arsenal at Augusta. On the twenty-sixth, Louisiana passed a Secession Ordinance. On the thirtieth, the United States Revenue Cutters, Cass at Mobile, and McLelland at New Orleans, were traitorously surrendered to the Rebel insurgents by their contemptible Commanders. This is the record of Secession preparation in the month of January, IS61, and it is by no means complete; we have aimed only to give the most prominent events. The month of February was as fruitful of Secession. On the first of February, the State of Texas seceded, and the Louisiana Secessionists seized the United States Mint and Custom House at New Orleans. On the fourth, the delegates from the Southern States met at Montgomery, Alabama, to organize the "Confederate States of America." On the eighth, the United States Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, was seized. On the ninth, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, were declared the Provisional President and Vice-President of the so-called Southern Confederacy. And on the twenty-third, General Twiggs, a traitorous West Point bantling of the Republic, surrendered and turned traitor in Texas, taking with him over one million two hundred thousand dollars' worth of property of the United States.
And now we turn to the North. What was the North doing all this time, in the face of all this warlike preparation and con- certed treason, on the part of the South? The truthful answer is, nothing, absolutely nothing. President James Buchanan did nothing; and the Northern people waited for the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, as President of the United States. The Northern people were exceedingly quiet; but they were very solemnly in earnest, in their determination to maintain the integ- rity of the United States Government. When Abraham Lincoln left his home in Springfield, Illinois, to go to Washington, to be inaugurated as President, on taking leave of his fellow citizens at the depot, he said : " My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him. In the same Almighty Being
20
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
I place my reliance for support; and I hope that my friends will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell." On his journey to Washington, the Secessionists attempted his assassination. At one time an attempt was made to throw the railroad train off from the track. At Cincinnati a hand-grenade was found concealed on the train. A gang in Baltimore had arranged, upon his arrival, to "get up a row," and, in the confusion, to make sure of his death with revolvers and hand-grenades. The plot was discovered by a detective; and a secret, special train was provided to take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected hour of the night. The train started at half-past ten from Harrisburg; and as soon as the train had started, the telegraph wire was cut. His safe arrival in Washington, the next morning, was tele- graphed over the North. Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the Unied States, on the steps of the Capitol, March fourth, IS6t, General Winfield Scott having charge of the military escort. General Scott, in his autobiography, says: "The inauguration of President Lincoln was, perhaps, the most critical and hazardous with which I have ever been connected. In the preceding two months I had received more than fifty letters, many from points distant from each other; some earnestly dis- suading me from being present at the event, and others distinctly threatening assassination, if I dared to protect the ceremony by military force." Without General Scott's military force, it is confidently believed that the diabolism of treason would have accomplished the death of Abraham Lincoln before his inaugu- ration as President. In his Inaugural Address, he spoke calmly and kindly to the South. We quote only a few sentences:
"Apprehension seems to evist among the people of the Southern States, that, by the accession of a Republican Adminis- tration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There never has been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while evicted, and been open to their inspec- tion. It is found in nearly all of the published speeches of him who now addresses vou. I do but apunte from one of those speeches, when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists.
"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidable attempted. I hold that, in the contemplation
1
21
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
of universal law and of the Constitution, the union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert, that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever ; it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
" I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken : and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this, which I deem to be only a simple duty on iny part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisiton, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.
" I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union, that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.
" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you.
" You can have no conflict without being yourseves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it.
"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection.
" The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle- field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
These words of President Lincoln, so calmly and kindly spoken, had no effect upon the people of the South; they had deliberately entered into Secession, and they steadily pursued Their chosen course. They continued to seize the Forts, and Mints, and Custom Houses of the United States, and to organize, equip, and drill their soldiery. On the eleventh of April, Federal troops were stationed in Washinton city ; and on the twelfth, the Rebels commenced the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and that
4
·
22
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Fort was surrendered to them, by Major Anderson, on the day following. On the fourteenth, Governor Yates called a special session of the Illinois Legislature. On the fifteenth of April, the President issued a proclamation commanding all persons in arins against the Government to disperse within twenty days, and called an extra session of Congress, to meet July fourth, and called for seventy-five thousand Volunteers for three months. The Governors of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, refused to furnish troops under the President's proclamation, claiming that their States would remain " neutral" in the con- test; but the call was more than filled within twenty-four hours. On the nineteenth of April, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was attacked by a mob while passing through Baltimore to Wash- ington. On the twenty-fourth, Cairo, Illinois, was occupied by Union troops; and on the twenty-fifth, Illinois Volunteers re- moved twenty-two thousand stand of arms from the United States Arsenal in St. Louis, to Springfield, Illinois. On the twenty-seventh, all the officers of the Regular Army who still remained in the service, were required to take the Oath of Alle- giance to the United States. On the third of May, President Lincoln called for forty thousand three years Volunteers, and twenty-two thousand troops for the Regular Army, and eighteen thousand seamen. The call was quickly filled. On May twenty- fourth, thirteen thousand Union troops crossed the Potomac, and occupied Arlington Heights. On the first of June, there was a cavalry skirmish at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. On the third, Colonel Kelly defeated the Rebel- in a skirmish at Phil- lippi, Virginia, killing fifteen. On the tenth, was fought the battle of Big Bethel; and on the eleventh, a skirmish at Romney; and on the same day, a skirmish occurred at Cole Camp, Mo. On the seventh of Jale. General Pattinson defeated the Con- federates at Falling Water. Virginia. On the fifth, Siegel was defeated at Carthage, Missour .. On the twelfth. Colonel W. S. Rosecrans defeated the Correlates s Ruh Mountain, Virginia, the enemy losing one hundred . 1 Spren killed and wounded, eight hundred prisoners, and their wagons, guns, and cump 1 ... fred the battle of
the command of Grande Shall we are, long hundred and eighty one brand one hundred and four wounded. and one thousand two hundred and sixteen missing. General Brug. cand reported the Go de mes at two hundred and
-
23
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
sixty-nine killed, and one thousand four hundred and eighty- three wounded. The Union troops disgracefully retreated upon Washington, and the Confederates disgracefully retreated toward Richmond. On the tenth of August, General Lyon, with five thousand troops, attacked General McCulloch, at Wilson's Creek, Missouri. General Lyon was killed, and Colonel Siegel and Major Sturgis retreated to Springfield, but McCulloch did not follow. The Rebel loss, as reported by McCulloch, was two hun- dred and sixty-five killed, and eight hundred wounded; Federal loss two hundred and three killed, and one thousand and twelve wounded and missing. On the tenth of September, occurred the battle of Carnifix Ferry, the Federals being successful under Brigadier General Rosecrans. On the twenty-first of October. was fought the battle of Ball's Bluff, in which General Baker, of the Union Army, and United States Senator from Oregon, was killed. The Union troops were defeated, with a loss of two hun- dred and twenty-three killed, three hundred and sixty-six wounded, and three hundred and fifty-five prisoners. On November seventh, General Grant, with two thousand eight hundred troops, attacked Belmont, Missouri, and drove the enemy from his camp; who, being reinforced, renewed the battle, and General Grant retreated. Union loss, eighty-four killed, two hundred and eighty-eight wounded, and thirty-five missing. On January nineteenth, IS62, was fought the battle of Mill Spring, Kentucky, in which the Rebels were defeated, and the Rebel General Zollicoffer killed. On February eighth, General Burnside captured from the Rebels the six forts on Roanoke Island, with three thousand small arms, and two thousand five hundred Rebel prisoners. On the six- teenth, Fort Donelson surrendered to General Grant, with fifteen thousand prisoners, forty cannon, and twenty thousand stand of small arms. The Union loss was three hundred and twenty-one killed, one thousand and forty-ix wounded, and one hundred and fitty missing. On March eighth, General Curtis was attacked by Van Dorn, Price, and McCulloch, at Pea Ridge, Missouri. General Curtis defeated the Rebels. The Union loss was two hundred and twelve killed, and nine hundred and twenty-siv wounded. On April sixth, the Rebels, under General Albert Sidney Johnson and General Beauregard, Sundhed General Gen .: at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and were defeated on the next day by General Grant. Genaral Johnson was killed. The Union loss was one thousand six hundred and fourteen killed, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-one wounded, and three
24
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
thousand nine hundred and fifty-six missing, and the Rebel loss fully as great. On the eighth of April, Island No. 10, in the Mississippi below Cairo, was captured by General John Pope, with five thousand Rebel prisoners, one hundred siege guns, twenty-four pieces of field artillery, five thousand stand of small arms, two thousand hogsheads of sugar, and large quantities of ammunition. On the twenty-fifth of April, Commodore Farragut captured New Orleans. On June first, the Rebels were defeated at Fair Oaks, and withdrew. The Union loss was eight hundred and ninety killed, and four thousand eight hundred and forty-four wounded. On June thirtieth, 1862, General Mcclellan retreated from Richmond, after several days' very severe fighting and terrible loss. On July first, was fought the battle of Malvern Hill, the last of the Richmond battles. In the six days' fighting before Richmond, the Union loss was one thousand five hundred and sixty-one killed, seven thousand seven hundred and one wounded, and five thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight missing. On this day, July 1, 1862, President Lincoln called for three hun- dred thousand additional Volunteers; and it was under this call that the Ninety-Second enlisted. We have only faintly touched upon the terrible struggle which had been going on with treason since President Lincoln's inauguration. Immense armies were in the field ; and while the Union forces were many times success- ful, their ranks were sadly thinned by battles and disease. Some one must take up the muskets our dead and wounded soldiers could no longer handle, and continue the battle for the Union and Liberty so heroically commenced; and the Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers was a part of the grand Army of three hundred thou- sand that marched to the war under the President's call of July 1, 1862. And this is the way we have told the story of what it was all about, and how it happened that the Ninetv-Second went to the War.
----
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
25
CHAPTER II.
RECRUITING-REGIMENTAL ORGANIZATION-THE FIRST DRESS PARADE-CAMP LIFE AT ROCKFORD-REGIMENTAL DRILL IN PRESENCE OF THE LADIES-THE FIRST MARCH-THE FIRST MAN WOUNDED-CAMP AT COVINGTON, KY .- ORDERS TO MARCH-COMPANY A BUYS MUTTON FOR THE HOSPITAL -CAMPING IN A SNOW-STORM-LEXINGTON-MT. STERLING -THE DIFFICULTIES ON THE NEGRO QUESTION-KEN- TUCKY METHODISTS-MARCHING AWAY FROM MT. STER- LING-WINCHESTER-SUITS AGAINST THE COLONEL FOR STEALING NEGROES -- LEXINGTON -- NICHOLASVILLE -- MARCH ING AFTER JOHN MORGAN-A SLAVE AUCTION-TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE-OFF FOR LOUISVILLE-EM- BARKING ON STEAMERS-" GOOD BYE, LOYAL KENTUCKY."
That was a gloomy period in the history of the war, when President Lincoln issued his cail for "three hundred thousand more," on July first, 1862. McClellan had been hurled back, with terrible loss, from the very battlements of Richmond. Soldiers on crutches and soldiers .with an " empty sleeve" were becoming familiar sights in the North. The rough pine boxes at the ex- press offices were often seen; they contained the remains of the " boys in blue" who had fallen on the battle-field, in the camp, or the hospital, brought home for burial, that loving eyes might bedew their graves with tears, and loving hands bedeck them with flowers. The North was commencing to realize how ter- ribly in earnest the battle was. To many it appeared that the country could not spare any more of its young men. In North- ern Illinois the golden grain fields were bowing their heavily laden heads, and inviting the commencement of the harvest, and the laborers were few. The quota of Illinois was large, and it required time to get the machinery of recruiting and organiza- tion into working order. At length, on the fourth of August, the good President "put his foot down firmly," and directed a draft of three hundred thousand in addition to the call of the
3
OHH
26
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
first of July. Then the people, with an impulse that was grand, took hold of the work in earnest. In every school house in the three counties from which the Ninety-Second was recruited, meetings were held; the fife sent out its shrill notes, and the . drum its roll, and the old flag was displayed; the harvest hands gathered to the meetings after their days of toil. Patriotic songs were sung: " We will rally around the Flag, boys, rally once again, shouting the battle cry of Freedom," and partriotism took up the refrain, and arswered it, "We are coming, Father Abraham, six hundred thousand more." Gray haired fathers, who had already sent one or more sons to the battle, attended the meetings, and saw their remaining sons enlist. Many who went only to hear the speeches and songs, were touched with the pre- vailing spirit of patriotism, and signed their names to the muster rolls. Eloquent speakers, many of whom did not say " Go, boys," but said, "Come, boys," told the story of the Nation's peril. Many who had seen the battle's terrible carnage, and were not dismayed, were ready to go again to the front, and eloquently plead with the people to " fill the vacant ranks of their brothers gone before." The sacred fires of Liberty were kindled in these meetings, and the people lifted up to the high resolve of demon- strating to the world the strength of Republican government. that a free people, of their own free will, with courage sublime. would not halt in the battle for the Nation's existence, but mareli forward, filling the battle-broken ranks of the army corps in the field. It was a greater task than any nation had before accom- plished ; not to beat off the assaults of a foreign foe, but the far more difficult one of " saving ourselves from ourselves." It was in these meetings that "party was sunk in patriotism ;" and those who had been fighting political battles clasped their hands in friendship, and signed together the agreement to enlist, and together to march and fight. No one who witnessed the recruit. ing in the summer of 1862, in Northern Illinois, will ever forget it: the people rallying from their harvest fields, leaving the ripened grain ungathered, to fill the ranks of the new regiment -. It was grand, beyond all power of ours to tell. The true story of the enlistment of the ten companies of the Ninety-Second woukl require more space than this whole book. It never will be told in print. Grandsires will tell to their grandchildren the story of that great uprising of the people, when the fires of Liberty were lighted in the hour of the Nation's need ; and they in turn will tell it to their grandchildren; and its effect will not be lost in the Re-
ČOHH
27
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
public for generations to come. It was at first thought that one regiment might be raised in the counties of Stephenson, Ogle, Carroll, Jo Daviess, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, and Lake. But it was found that four regiments and three companies were ready to muster, when finally put into camp at Rockford. Major Smith D. Atkins, of the Eleventh Illinois Infantry, by the direction of Governor Yates, had charge of the enlistment of companies in Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Ogle, and Carroll counties. By his direction, Captain Stouffer, of one of the Mt. Carroll com- panies, afterwards of the Ninety-Second, went into camp with his company at Rockford, on July twenty-second, 1862, and was joined by the other companies, afterwards organized into the Regiment within a few days thereafter. By the twenty-sixth of August, forty-three companies were encamped at Rockford. Barracks were built of pine boards; but it was not till long after- wards that the soldiers learned to appreciate how comfortably they were situated. The companies, by ballot, selected their Captains and Lieutenants ; and the officers and mnen of the com- panies selected the regimental officers. For days there was little drilling. The making up of regiments, and who should be Colo- nel, and who Lieutenant Colonel, and who Major, were the important questions discussed. The following ten companies unanimously resolved themselves into a regimental organization : Captain William J. Ballinger, Lena, Stephenson County ; Captain Wilber W. Dennis, Byron, Ogle County ; Captain William Stoutfer, Mt. Carroll, Carroll County; Captain Lyman Preston, Polo, Ogle County ; Captain Matthew Van Buskirk, Polo, Ogle County : Captain Christopher T. Dunham, Freeport, Stephenson County ; Captain John M. Schermerhorn, Lena, Stephenson County : Captain James Brice, Rochelle, Ogle County ; Captain Egbert T. E. Becker, Mt. Carroll, Carroll County ; Captain Albert Wood- cock, Oregon, Ogle County. And, with the same remarkable unanimity, every commissioned officer and soldier in the ten companies petitioned Governor Yates to be mustered in a regi- inent together, under Major Smith D. Atkins, of Freeport, Stephenson County, as Colonel. Their unanimous request was granted. And with the same unanimity, Benjamin F. Sheets, of Oregon, Ogle County, was chosen Lieutenant Colonel: and John HI. Bohn, of Mt. Carroll, Carroll County, was chosen Major. On September fourth, 1862, under the direction of Hon. A. C. Fuller, Adjutant General of Illinois, the Ninety-Second was mustered into the United States service " for three years, or
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.