USA > Illinois > Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers > Part 22
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came in, and the Division waited an hour, but the Rebel cavalry did not come up; marched seven miles, toward the Great Pedee River, and camped, with plenty of forage and provisions in the country for the animals and troops. Marched at nine P. M., March fifth, seven miles, to Great Pedee River, and stood all night in column waiting for an opportunity to cross the pontoons, and until ten o'clock in the forenoon of March sixth, when an order came to unsaddle and groom horses and saddle up again ; and there the column stood until dark, when it commenced cross- ing the pontoons. The river was broad and swift, and there not being pontoon boats sufficient to reach across the river, the army wagon boxes were covered under the bottom and sides with the cotton cloth wagon covers, and used as pontoon boats, there being in the bridge across the Great Pedee forty-two wagon-box pon- toons. The column camped late at night, seven miles from the Great Pedec. Marched at daylight, on the seventh of March, and, at noon, drove a squad of Rebel cavalry out of Rockingham, and camped. Marched at seven A. M., on the eighth, in a northerly direction from Rockingham, and was soon floundering in a laby- rinth of swamps. The artillery was dragged along by the men with ropes, sometimes arm-pit deep in the mud and water. Dur- ing the day the advance and rear were skirmishing with the Rebel cavalry, and frequent attacks were made by the enemy on our flanks. The enemy was not in heavy force; but, scattered out as the command was, floundering through the mud, the enemy had a good chance to annoy the column, and did so; but was always met with as good as he sent. The column camped after dark, and skirmished all night with the enemy, who appeared to be all around the command. The Ninety-Second men slept on their arms, ready for instant action.
Marched at eight A. M., on the ninth of March, Spencer's brigade leading, Atkins next, and Jordan in rear. The roads were in an almost impassable condition. Just before dark, General Kilpatrick, waiting at a cross-roads until Atkins came up, directed Atkins's Brigade to camp at a cross roads farther on, while Spen- rer's brigade camped at another cross-roads to the right, and Jordan's at another cross-roads in rear, the three brigades en. camped forming a triangle, General Kilpatrick camping with Spencer, on the Fayetteville road Before the head of Atkins's Brigade reached the designated camping ground, long lines of fires were observed in the woods. The Ninety-Second was in the advance; the column was halted, and the position silently recon-
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noitered. A squad on foot approached the house Atkins had been directed to occupy as his head-quarters, at the cross-roads. and found the Rebel cavalry surrounding it. To be perfectly certain, Sergeant Bashaw and two men went inside of the Rebel lines, and learned that General Hampton had his head-quarters at the house, and the Rebel cavalry was going into camp all around it. The road on which the Ninety-Second approached the Rebel camp had not yet been picketed by the enemy; but the Rebel picket was preparing to come out and picket that road. The Ninety-Second men were ordered to hold their fire, and let the Rebel picket pass up the road unmolested ; but the Rebels dis- covered the Regiment, and fired, and the Ninety-Second sent a volley from their Spencers into the Rebel picket, which quickly retreated. The Rebel bugles, blowing " boot and saddle," made the woods echo and ring with their bugle notes. Leaving the Ninety-Second to hold the road, the Brigade turned around, with its trains and ambulances, and marched back to the cross-road> where General Kilpatrick had left it, and gone to join Spencer's brigade, toward Fayetteville. The Rebels made a strong attack upon the Ninety-Second, but were repulsed.
The Brigade then followed after Kilpatrick, hoping to make a junction with him. The flankers on the left found that the Rebel cavalry was marching toward Fayetteville on a parallel road, not more than half a mile distant, and the Brigade pushed on rapidly to reach the cross-roads ahead of the Rebel column, if possible. The cross-roads were reached, where it was expected Spencer would be found encamped, but his brigade had gone on beyond the cross-roads, toward Fayetteville. Atkins's Brigade pushed on toward Fayetteville, and, when a mile farther advanced on that road, a Rebel officer came riding back, cursing the column for not hurrying up-he was taken prisoner, and proved to be a staff officer on the Rebel General Wheeler's staff. Three divisions of Rebel cavalry were already on the road ahead of Atkins's Brig. ade, and between it and Spencer's: and, following on the same road, were four divisions more of Rebel cavalry, and to hurry then up the captured Rebel officer was riding to the rear, and, in the darkness, had mistaken Atkins's column for a colunm of Rebels. We had just filled the gap in the Rebel column. Wheeler, with three divisions of Rebel cavalry, was just ahead of us, on that same road, and Hampton, with four divisions of Rebel cavalry. was closing up in the rear of us. A section of artillery was planted at the cross-roads, and the Ninth Michigan Cavalry was dis-
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mounted, with orders to hold the road; and the column again turned around. The Ninety-Second, left holding the rear, was attacked, but held the enemy at bay. The Brigade, pressing in a frightened lady as a guide, withdrew from the road, on a blind road running to another Fayetteville road farther south. The artillery and Ninth Michigan were withdrawn; and the Ninety- Second, still acting as rear guard, the Brigade pushed hard, hoping to pass around the Rebels, and join Kilpatrick before day- light. Just before daylight, a stream was reached that had to be bridged; and a bridge was constructed of pine trees and rails, so long as to require the length of several pine trees as stringers. A report came that the enemy, in strong force, was following; and the Ninety-Second built barricades, on the hill near the creek, to hold the rear. The building of the bridge went rapidly forward. An old road led through the swamp and stream, that had, at one time, been corduroyed with pine poles, covered with sand, to keep them upon the bottom; but the road had been many years unused, and, in many places, the corduroy had been washed out. Not a wheel could be taken across without a bridge. Forty pio- neers, with axes, were set at work, cutting down the tall pine trees that grew close by. Five hundred men were sent to bring rails for flooring. One hundred men were sent to an old straw stack, to bring straw to cover over the loose rails, so that they would not roll and break as the animals trod upon them. Some of the trees were immediately cut into eight foot lengths, and split, and with them two hundred men waded into the stream, and built six piers, corn-cob-house fashion, the men holding the timbers down under the water, as placed, until the piers rose above the water, and, the men still holding thein, the heavy pine trees for stringers, notched so that they would not . roll, were placed upon the piers-the men still holding and steady- ing the piers, the loose rails were laid thickly upon the stringers, forming the floor, and over the rails spread thickly the loose straw. In less than an hour, the long bridge was completed; and the cavalry, ambulances loaded with wounded men, wagon trains, ammunition trains, and artillery were safely over; and then the men holding the piers and steadying the bridge, leaped into the water on the upper side, and pushed the bridge over, and floating off down stream went the dry rails, and straw, and cob-house piers ; and just as the first streaks of light appeared, as the bridge floated off down stream, the roar of artillery and musketry on our left told us that the Rebel cavalry had struck Spencer's
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brigade. Atkins's Brigade pushed on through labyrinthis of swamps, almost impassable, and, at last, reached the other Fay- etteville road, where the result of the Rebel attack on Spencer's brigade was learned, and the fact that the fight was over, and the Rebels repulsed, authenticated, when the Brigade halted and fed animals. Near noon, Jordan's brigade came up. Spencer's brigade, in the afternoon, also withdrew to the road Atkins's Brigade was then on, and the Division was all together again. The following is General Kilpatrick's official report:
" HEAD-QUARTERS, CAVALRY COMMAND, In the Field, March 11, 1865.
" MAJOR DAYTON :
" Major: You will remember that I stated in my last com- munication, from Solemn Grove, that Hardee was marching rapidly for Fayetteville, but that Hampton and Wheeler were still in the rear, and that I would endeavor to cut them off. The information was correct. Hampton, however, was found moving upon two roads-the Morgantown Road, and a road three miles farther to the north, and parallel to it, just south and east of Sol- emn Grove. I posted upon each road a brigade of cavalry, and, learning that there was a road >till farther north, upon which some of the enemy's troops might move, I made a rapid night's march., with Colonel Spencer's little brigade of three regiments, and four hundred dismounted men, and one section of artillery, and took post at the point where the road last mentioned intersects the Morgantown Road. During the forepart of the evening, I left General Atkins, and joined Colonel Spencer with my staff, and actually rode through one of General Hampton's divisions of cav. alry, which, by eleven P. M., had flanked General Atkins, and was then encamped within three miles of Colonel Spencer. My escort, of fifteen men, and one officer were captured, but I escaped with my staff.
"General Atkins and Colonel Jordan discovered, about nine P. M., that while the enemy was amusing them in front, Hampton was posting with his main force on a road to Atkins's right. These officers at once pulled out, and made every effort to join me before daylight, but failed to do so, owing to bad roads and the almost incessant skirmishing with the enemy, who was marching. and, at some points, not a mile distant. Hampton had marched all day, and rested his men about three miles from Colonel Jor- dan's position, at two .A. M., and just before daylight charged my
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position with three divisions of cavalry-Hume's, Allen's and Butler's.
"Hampton led the center division, Butler's, and in less than a minute had driven back my men, taken possession of my head- quarters, captured my Aids, and the whole command was flying before the most formidable cavalry charge I ever have witnessed ; Colonel Spencer, and a large portion of my staff, were virtually taken prisoners. On foot, I succeeded in gaining the cavalry command, a few hundred yards in the rear, and found the men fighting with the Rebels for their camp and animals, and they were soon finally forced back some five hundred yards farther, to a swamp, impassable to friend or foe.
"The enemy, eager for plunder, failed to promptly follow us up. We rallied, and at once advanced on the foe. We retook the cavalry camp, and, encouraged by our success, charged the enemy, who were endeavoring to harness up my battery horses, and plundering my head-quarters. We retook the artillery, turned it upon the forces about my head-quarters, not twenty steps distant, and finally forced him out of my camp, with great slaughter."
To this official report of General Kilpatrick, we can add that, Dr. Clinton Helm, of the Ninety-Second, Acting Medical Director of the Cavalry, was one among several Union officers who were sleeping in the second story of the house occupied by General Kilpatrick as his head-quarters; and, after the enemy had captured the camp of Spencer's brigade, and were swarming around the house, they were about to descend and surrender, when they heard a Rebel soldier, who had been stationed as a guard at the house, order another Rebel soldier, who came into the house, and had to go up stairs to go out of the house, the guard saying that General Hampton had taken that house as his head-quarters, and had ordered that nothing in it be disturbed. The Union officers kept still, and waited for something to turn up. From the win- dows, they could plainly see the Rebels plundering the camps. At Savannah, four hundred dismounted men had turned over their carbines, and drawn Springfield muskets, with bayonets, and, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Stough, of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, of Atkins's Brigade, were marching with the cavalry wagon trains. Lieutenant Colonel Stough was a brave and cool officer; he had camped his dismounted men beyond the swamp mentioned by Kilpatrick in his report: and when the Rebels made the attack, Colonel Stough formed his men, and marched them toward the house occupied by Kilpatrick as head-
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quarters; and when the Rebels saw that column of dismounted men, under Colonel Stough, with their long Springfield muskets and bright bayonets gleaming in the morning sunlight, they mistook it for the Fourteenth corps of infantry, and, setting up the cry, plainly heard by the Union officers in the second story of the house, " The Fourteenth corps! the Fourteenth corps !! " the Rebels hastily beat a retreat. The Rebels knew that the Four- teenth corps of Sherman's army was marching on a road to the right, and supposed that Colonel Stough's advancing column of dismounted men was a portion of the Fourteenth corps that was approaching. Colonel Stough deserves great praise for his cool- ness and good sense, in displaying his little command so oppor- tunely, and the cavalry under Kilpatrick deserve high praise, for taking advantage of the panic among the Rebels, occasioned by Colonel Stough, and joining with him, and retaking their camps. Colonel Spencer was among the officers in the second story of the house, and saw the soldiers of his little brigade scattered, and saw them again rally and retake their camps, and release from his singular position their Brigade Commander. Sergeant T. M. Hawk, of Company C, who was Division Ordnance Sergeant, assisted the gallant Stetson in firing the first shot at the enemy from the retaken Union artillery. It was said that the enemy's loss was severe, he having left upon the field one General officer, two Colonels, and over one hundred men killed, and a large num- ber of his wounded. Near sundown, on the tenth of March, the Cavalry Division under Kilpatrick inarched toward Fayette- ville, the Rebels attacking the left flank frequently during the night's march; they appeared to be small parties of the enemy, who would approach the road the column was marching on, and fire into it, and retreat. The column bivouaced about midnight, and marched early, on the eleventh, to within one mile of Fay- etteville, and then marched out on the Raleigh Road, and camped. The enemy had burned the bridge across the Cape Fear River, at Fayetteville, and pontoons had to be laid by the infantry columns. The Ninety-Second lay in camp near Fayetteville, on the twelfth ; the country was poor, and forage for animals scarce. A tug-boat came up from Wilmington, bringing the mails. Drew one day's rations, on the thirteenth, and the Regiment lay in camp, most of the men writing letters to send home, by the tug-boat, down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. Beautiful day on the fourteenth of March; lay in camp, and drew two days' rations of hard-tack.
On March fifteenth, IS65, the Ninety-Second broke camp, at
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half past twelve in the morning, and moved out with the Brigade and Division, and marched down through Fayetteville, reaching Cape Fear River, and crossing the pontoon just after daylight. The Division, Atkins's Brigade leading, pushed rapidly up the Cape Fear River toward Raleigh. When within a few miles of Averysboro, the advance struck the enemy in considerable force. Colonel Acker, of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, in the advance. dismounted his regiment, and drove the enemy over a swamp, and reported that he was fighting infantry, whose skirmish line was much longer than his regiment. General Atkins sent scouts out to the Cape Fear River, to learn if the enemy's line of battle rested on the river. The scouts found that the enemy's line did not extend to the river ; the scouts passed around the Rebel line of battle, and behind it; and, seeing an officer on horseback, some distance in rear of the enemy's line, the scouts, dressed in butter- nut clothing, rode up to the officer, who mistook them for some of his own mounted troops, and began cursing because the Rebel cavalry did not hurry up and pass the point he was guarding, when the scouts quietly informed him that they belonged to Kil- patrick's cavalry, and that, if he wished to save his life, he must quietly move along with them ; and they brought him around the Hank of his own skirmish line to General Atkins. The Rebel officer proved to be Colonel Barnwell Rhett, of the First South Carolina heavy artillery, who, with his regiment, had garrisoned Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, until Sherman's movements had dictated its evacuation. It was his regiment of heavy artillery, armed with muskets, that Acker was fighting. In our immediate front was the Rebel infantry. Information was sent at once to General Kilpatrick, in rear of the column, and he was soon at the head of his Division. We quote the following from a book published in New York, by W. J. Widdleton, in IS65:
" The Ninth Michigan soon became hotly engaged with the enemy, and, by splendid fighting, held him in check until Kil- patrick had taken up a strong position, dismounted, with his Hanks resting upon the ravine, and his front fortified with rails, brush and timber. Meanwhile, Aide after Aide had been dis- patched to General Sherman, six miles in the rear, for infantry reinforcements. The enemy, having deployed his lines, finally advanced, driving the Ninth Michigan Cavalry back into the woods. But now, the rapid and destructive fire from Captain Bebee's artillery, soon forced him to halt, and, finally, to fall back under cover of a ravine a thousand yards distant. It was now
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dark, and our troops rested upon their arms. During the night, a brigade of infantry came up, and, with his cavalry and this force, General Kilpatrick moved forward in line of battle at daylight, the infantry having the centre, a strong force of cavalry, under Colonels Jones and Spencer, moving upon either flank, while the artillery, and a majority of the cavalry, under General Atkins, held the rear. Kilpatrick had not moved a mile from out his works, when the pickets of the enemy were encountered, and driven in, and in a few minutes his whole skirmish line became engaged, telling him that he had met the enemy in force. He extended his lines upon the right and left, and soon forced the enemy in upon his line of battle, and drawing the fire of his artillery.
"The enemy, believing that cavalry alone was making the at- tack, took the offensive, and moved from right to left, and rapidly bore down upon the cavalry under Colonel Jones, who held the right. This movement was discovered in sufficient time to re- inforce the right, and Colonel Jordan, with his cavalry brigade, reached the point threatened before the attack was made, and, with Colonel Jones, and his command, dismounted, handsomely re- pulsed three determined charges, and finally forced the enemy back and into his line of works.
" In the meantime, Kilpatrick had thoroughly reconnoitered the entire position, and had sent for, and received, a second brigade of infantry, which was pushed in upon our left, with in- structions to carry the enemy's works upon his right. While this was being done, the enemy again moved out of his works, and furiously attacked the cavalry on the right. General Atkins was now brought up, and pushed in to the assistance of Colonel Jordan. At this moment the shout of the infantry, upon the left, as they rushed forward to storm the enemy's works, was heard. A general advance was at once ordered, and the emeny was driven back at all points, over and out of his first line of works, with the loss of three pieces of artillery, and many prisoners. The Twentieth corps, under General Williams, had, in the mean- time, came up, as well as a portion of the Fourteenth, General Davis, and under the personal direction of Major General Slocum, commanding the left wing, was sent forward into posi- tion, and steadily pressed the enemy back, until late in the night, when, under cover of the darkness, he retreated toward Raleigh.
"In this engagement (16th of March) the cavalry fought side by side with our infantry, mounted and dismounted, and behaved
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most gallantly. Charge after charge of the enemy's infantry was repulsed, and Colonel Jones, of the Eighth Indiana Cavalry, actually rode over the enemy's works, losing one-third of his entire command. Our cavalry, on this day, won the admiration of the entire army.
" During the night Kilpatrick withdrew his command, crossed Black River, and moved off upon the Smithfield Road, to the left and front of the main army, now moving on Goldsboro. The following day, Lieutenant General Johnston evacuated Goldsboro, and massed his forces at the little town of Bentonsville, on Mill Creek, midway between Raleigh and Goldsboro, and there, be- hind strong intrenchments, resolved to dispute the further ad- vance of Sherman's victorious columns."
It was GeneralSherman's order that the cavalry should not in- terfere with the march of the infantry columns, the infantry always having the right to the road; on the evening of the seventeenth, Atkins's Brigade, having to cross a road filled with a corps of infantry marching, the Brigade was closed up in mass in column of regiments, and, throwing down the fences on both sides of the road, the Brigade awaited a break in the infantry column, when, taking advantage of such a break, the Brigade moved, in mass, across the road, without interrupting the march of the infantry column. The command camped near a mill filled with corn, from which the Rebels were driven, and the corn used as forage for the animals. The command marched at seven A. M., on the eighteenth. About noon one regiment passed over a difficult swamp, and was followed by a section of artillery, that was con- siderably behind the regiment after crossing the swamp, and the enemy made a dash from the flank, and temporarily captured the artillery. It was immediately retaken, and the enemy driven off. After the command had camped, at night, two men were shot while foraging, and the enemy appeared to be all around the command. Marched early, on the morning of the nineteenth, in rear of the infantry. The Fourteenth Army Corps was attacked furiously near Bentonsville, by troops under Johnston, and the army was deployed, the Ninety-Second, with the Division and Brigade, closing up on the left of Slocum's army, being on the left of Williams's corps, heavily barricaded. Lay in camp on the twentieth, in fortified position, on the left of Williams's corps. There was considerable fighting, by the infantry, Johnston attack - ing. On the twenty-first, the Brigade changed position a little, erecting new barricades, still holding the extreme left of the army.
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During the night, the Twentieth Army" Corps was moved to the right of the army, General Atkins's Brigade holding the Corps front. All of the Ninety-Second Illinois and Ninth Michigan Cavalry were dismounted, and deployed as skirmishers in front of the empty rifle pits of Williams's corps. At daylight, the skir- mishers pushed out, and soon discovered that there was no enemy in front of the Brigade, and it mounted and pushed rapidly to- ward Bentonsville, capturing nearly all of the First Regiment South Carolina Heavy Artillery, that had been left on picket near Bentonsville, and, instead of fighting, stacked arms and surrendered. The Tenth Ohio Cavalry, of General Atkins's Brigade, went into, and beyond, the town of Bentonsville, to Mill Creek : the enemy having destroyed the bridge across the creek, the pursuit here ended. The enemy had withdrawn in great haste, leaving his dead unburied, and his wounded uncared for. The day was spent in caring for the wounded and burying the dead. Marched at sunrise, on the twenty-third, and camped within one mile of the village of Clinton, forage plenty, and plenty for the men to eat. Lay in camp near Clinton on the twenty-fourth, sending out heavy scouting parties, and details for forage and provisions. On this day the following orders were received and read to the men :
" MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ) In the Field, March 22, 1865.
" SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, } No. 35.
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