USA > Illinois > Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers > Part 23
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" The General commanding announces to this army, that it beat, on its chosen ground, the concentrated armies of our enemy, who has fled in disorder, leaving his dead, wounded, and prisoners in our hands, and burning his bridges on his retreat.
" On the same day, Major General Schofield, from Newburn, entered and occupied Goldsboro, and Major General Terry, from Wilmington, secured Cox's Bridge crossing, and laid a pontoon bridge, so that our campaign has resulted in a glorious success, after a march of the most extraordinary character, near five hun dred miles, over swamps and rivers deemed impassable to others. at the most inclement season of the year, and drawing our chiet supplies from a poor and wasted country.
" I thank the army, and assure it that our Government and people honor them for this new display of physical and moral qualities, which reflect honor upon the whole nation.
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" You shall now have rest, and the supplies that can be brought from the rich granaries and storehouses of our mag- nificent country, before again embarking on new and untried dangers. W. T. SHERMAN,
" Major General Commanding.
" Brevet Major General J. KILPATRICK."
The following congratulatory circular letter was received from General Kilpatrick :
" HEAD-QUARTERS CAVALRY COMMAND, } In the Field, March 22, 1865.
" (CIRCULAR) :
" The campaign is over, and we are promised rest. Our depot will be at Mount Olive, and a railroad shall be at the disposal of officers and men. Every liberty shall be granted consistent with the best interests of our cause, for which I feel in my heart the invincible soldiers of my command have done so much. This day I met our great Chief on the field of battle, amid the dead and dying of our enemy, who has again fled before our proud, advancing banners, and my ears were made to tingle with the grateful words of praise, spoken in admiration of the cavalry.
" Soldiers, be proud! Of all the brave men of this army, vou have a right to be. You have won the admiration of our infantry, fighting on foot, and mounted, and you will receive the outspoken words of praise from the great Sherman himself.
" He appreciates and will reward your patient endurance of hardships, gallant deeds, and valuable services.
" With the old laurels of Georgia, entwine those won in the Carolinas, and proudly wear them !
" General Sherman is satisfied with his cavalry.
" By command of Brevet Major General KILPATRICK.
" (Signed)
L. G. ESTES, " Major and .1. . 1. G."
We again quote from the book published by Widdleton : " The wounded and sick in this famous campaign were attended with all the surgical and medical skill necessary ; and it may be truly said that the Medical Director, Dr. Helm, (Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers) and all the medical officers, promptly, and in the face of dangers responded to every call of duty. But, in a long and wearisome march, ambulances, broken down or stuck in the mud, often had to be abandoned. Of all the officers in this can - paign, the medical officers were not the least painfully taxed ; and
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the skill, humanity, and promptness with which their duties were executed, are worthy of the highest praise.
" These men, in toil, danger and battle, did their duty. To have been of, and with them, is the writer's pride. A grateful nation will never forget them. Their ranks are thinned; many rest in the quiet of the grave. But the services rendered the Nation are worthy of imitation by all posterity; and, long as the Republic lasts, their memories will continue to exist. How freely they offered their lives a sacrifice at the altar of their country ! How gladly, on the most sanguinary fields of the Rebellion, they met the enemy, will be told in terins of eulogy by historians and poets in future generations."
On the twenty-sixth of March, the Brigade moved to Faison's. and camped, still living upon the country. On the twenty- seventh, large mails were received from home. On the twenty- eighth, just as the command was nicely fixed in camp, at two P. M., "boot and saddle" was sounded, and the Brigade moved ten miles toward Mount Olive, leaving huge piles of accumulated forage and rations at Faison's. Lieutenant Sutton, of Company C, returned from a scout, with some fine horses, and a lot of jolly darkies. On the twenty-ninth, marched to Mount Olive, and camped, and drew clothing. The command remained at Mount Olive until April tenth. On the third of April, General Atkins was serenaded, and called on for a speech, and he predicted that the war would end within ninety days. On April ninth, the fol- lowing dispatch, from General Grant to General Sherman, was read at dress parade :
" BURKESVILLE JUNCTION, V.A., ) April 6, 1865. i
" To Major General SHERMAN :
" SIR: I am pressing Lee, and his men are deserting by thousands, and going to their homes. Press Johnston hard, and let us end the war at once. By order of
". LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT. " J. A. RAWLINGS, " Adjt. (en. and Chief of Staff"
At daylight, on the morning of April tenth, 1865, the Ninety- Second was again in the saddle, the whole army in motion, and all anxious to " press Johnston hard and end the war at once." It was the object of the cavalry, by rapid marching, to reach the road between Smithfield and Raleigh, and cut off some portion of
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Johnston's army, which, it was predicted, would not give battle, but retreat toward Raleigh. The Cavalry Division marched about thirty miles, over the same roads the army had marched on before, and camped after dark, near Bentonsville. The coun- try was desolate, the inhabitants nearly all gone from home, and hardly a sign of life was seen. Marched at seven A. M., on the eleventh, toward Smithfield, and camped about eight miles south- west of that town. There was a light force of Rebel cavalry in front all day, but not sufficient to impede the march. Moved at daylight, on April twelfth, General Atkins's Brigade in advance, and the Ninety-Second leading, and driving the enemy before them. About ten o'clock A. M., Swift Creek was reached. The enemy had destroyed the bridge, and held the opposite side of the stream, but was dislodged by the Ninety-Second ; and the advance, under Captain Schermerhorn, wading the stream, the opposite side was held, and the bridge repaired. Just as the balance of the Regiment began crossing the repaired bridge, Major Nichols, of General Sherman's staff, rode up from the rear, bringing the joyful intelligence of the surrender of Lee's army to General Grant. The cavalry column was wild with joy, and made the woods echo again and again with shouts; the Band played " Hail Columbia;" the Ninety-Second crossed over the bridge; the Regiment had scarcely crossed the creek, when the still stubborn brigade of Rebels, holding an earthwork on the hills opposite, and who had been waiting for a part of the column to cross to make an attack while no support could be rendered by the Union cavalry, not yet across the creek, deemed this their favorable oppor- tunity ; and, with a yell, the Rebel brigade furiously charged the Ninety-Second, hoping to force it back into the creek; the gray- coats had not heard of Lee's surrender, and evidently did not know that the war was, in fact, over. On the Rebels caine: and the Ninety-Second, the men still shouting and laughing, with the glad news they had just heard, received the charge of the Rebel brigade with murderous volleys from their ever faithful repeating rifles ; halted it; turned it back ; and, like wild mad-caps, dashed upon the retreating foe, captured their line of rifle pits, and put the Rebel brigade to flight, and pushed on, without another halt, to the wagon road and railroad, seven miles east of Raleigh. . 1 soldier who was with the command wrote: " Brilliant victory! But, oh, the price we paid. I never felt so sad in battle before, as I did then, when I looked upon the poor boys who there, after the great war was in fact over, and victory was with our eagle-,
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received marching orders to report in Heaven." It was in this brilliant charge of the Ninety-Second, headlong against that Rebel brigade, that Captain R. M. A. Hawk, of Company C, received his terrible wound, supposed at the time to be mortal; and more than one soldiers' eyes filled with tears as they saw him, pale and bleeding, by the roadside. His life was spared; but he gave his good right leg to his country that day. Lieutentant Peleg R. Walker, of Company K, was also wounded. Alexander Jackson, of Company C, was killed. The Brigade and Division hastened on after the flying Ninety-Second, and was soon upon the Smithfield Road, seven miles east of Raleigh. The advance of the Ninety-Second had caught a glimpse of a railroad engine and passenger coach, bearing white flags, going toward Smith- field, and rightly conjectured that it meant the surrender of Raleigh. By command of General Atkins, a regiment and sec- tion of artillery were placed in line of battle, facing Raleigh, to hold the road against the Rebel brigade that had been flying before the Ninety-Second, and a line of battle quickly formed, facing toward Smithfield ; and the first two regiments, the Ninety. Second Illinois and Ninth Michigan, armed with Spencer Rifles and Spencer Carbines, had barely formed in line of battle, when Wade Hampton's cavalry made a spirited charge upon those two regiments ; but the Rebels could not stand the volleys from their Spencers, and fell back. The locomotive and passenger coach that had gone toward Smithfield returned, and was halted; and on the train were found Hon. David L. Swain, and Hon. William A. Graham, two of the Ex-Governors of North Carolina, who had been sent, by the Hon. Zebulon B. Vance, the then Governor of North Carolina, to General Sherman, with an offer of the sur- render of Raleigh, and bearing a petition to save the public property, and the dwellings of the citizens. They had attempted to reach Sherman, but Wade Hampton had refused them per- mission to pass his lines, and turned them back.
The following account of their capture is taken from a book written by Mrs. Cornelia Spencer, a Southern lady, and published in 1866: "General Hampton retired, and the train had proceeded slowly about a mile or so, in the direction of Raleigh, when it was again halted, and this time by a detachment of a hundred Spencer rifles, a portion of Kilpatrick's cavalry, under the com- mand of General Atkins. The Commissioners were informed that they must proceed to the head-quarters of General Kilpat- rick, distant a mile or more. While waiting for a conveyance,
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they were courteously treated, and a band of music ordered up for their entertainment. After a brief interval, General Kil- patrick's carriage arrived for them, and they proceeded in it, under escort, to the residence of Mr. Fort, where the General then was. He received them politely, examined the safe conduct of General Hardee, and the dispatches for General Sherman, and then remarked that the circumstances in which they were placed, according to the laws of war, gave him the right, which, however. he had not the smallest intention of exercising, to consider them as prisoners of war.
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"'It is true, gentlemen,' said he, 'that you came under the protection of a flag of truce, and are bearers of important dis- patches from your Governor to my Commanding General, but that gave you no right to cross, my skirmish line while a fight was going on.'
"Governor Graham remarked that the circumstances under which they came explained themselves, and were their own justification. That, in a special train, with open windows, pro- ceeding with the deliberation proper to a flag of truce, with only five persons in a single car, they had little temptation to proceed if they had known, in time to stop, that they were to be exposed to a cross-fire from the skirmish lines of the two armies.
"General Kilpatrick replied that all that was very true, but that it was proper, nevertheless, that he should require them to proceed to General Sherman's head-quarters. He then remarked that the war was virtually at an end, and that every man who voluntarily shed blood, from that time forth, would be a murderer : and read a General Order from General Sherman, congratulating the army on the surrender of General Lee, intelligence of which had just reached him by telegraph. This was the first intelligence our Commissioners had received of this final blow to the Southern Cause. It was, indeed, not unexpected, but no anticipation of such tidings can equal the moment of realization ; and to receive it under such circumstances, where extreme caution and self- command were an imperative duty, and where no expression can be allowed to the natural feeling of anguish and dismay with which it filled their breasts, gave an additional pang."
By direction of General Kilpatrick, the Cavalry Division was placed in line of battle by General Atkins, as the Regiment came up, facing Smithfield, and, in stronger force, Hampton again charged our line, hoping to break through and reach Raleigh. His charge was handsomely repulsed by the Spencer Rifles,
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carbines, and artillery. And again Hampton's men, mounted and on foot, charged the line, but met with no better success, the Spencers and artillery halting his dispirited troops, who, of course, knew that Sherman's infantry was following them in rear, while Kilpatrick held the road to Raleigh in their front. Darkness came on. Had there been two hours more of daylight, Hampton could not have escaped; but, under cover of the dark- ness, the wily Rebel cavalryman slipped out of the trap, on a road to the Northward, and passed into Raleigh ahead of Kilpat- rick. As soon as Hampton had withdrawn, our troops opened communication with General Sherman, and General Kilpatrick sent the locomotive and car, and the distinguished gentlemen named, to General Sherman's head-quarters, and they succeeded in procuring from General Sherman orders for the protection of Raleigh, and the college buildings and libraries at Chapel Hill. To those gentlemen, in a great measure, the citizens of Raleigh and Chapel Hill are indebted for the protection afforded them by General Sherman's orders. On the thirteenth of April, the com- mand marched early. A soldier, in his diary, wrote: " As it was known that there would be no fighting before the command passed through Raleigh, the Ninety-Second could not have the advance to-day; but the cavalry borrowed our Band, and cut a great dash, marching down through the streets of Raleigh." The Mayor and distinguished citizens met General Kilpatrick on the outskirts of Raleigh, and surrendered the town, and assured General Kilpatrick that the city had been entirely evacuated by the Rebel soldiery. No advance guard was needed, and with banners and guidons unfurled, and music playing, General Kil- patrick rode into the city, at the head of his Division. In passing up Fayetteville street, from the Governor's house to the Capitol, with no thought of an enemy near, General Kilpatrick was suddenly fired upon by one of Wheeler's men. Mrs. Spencer told the story of this shooting, in her book, published in 1866, and .. we copy it, as follows :
" When walking from the railroad station to the city, the Commissioners had passed through the lines of General Wheeler's cavalry, pressing in the direction of Chapel Hill. Half an hour .after reaching the State House, a dozen men, the debris of our army, were observed, at the head of Fayetteville street, breaking open and plundering the stores. Governor Swain, who had remained at the State House, approached them, and stated that he was immediately from General Sherman's head-quarters, and had
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assurance from him that if no resistance was offered to his advance guard, the town should be protected from plunder and violence, and urged the soldiers to leave at once and join their retreating comrades. They replied, 'D-n Sherman, and the town, too; they cared for neither.' Robert G. Lewis, Esq., the first citizen of Raleigh who had yet been seen, came up just then, and joined his entreaties with earnestness. More and more vehement remonstrances were used without effect, till the head of Kilpatrick's column appeared in sight advancing up the street, when they all, with a single exception, sprang to their horses and started off in full gallop. Their leader, a lieutenant, whose name and previous history are yet unknown, mounted his horse, and took his station midway between the old New-Berne bank and the bookstore, drew his revolver, and waited till Kilpatrick's advance was within a hundred yards, when he discharged it six times in rapid succession in the direction of the officer [General Kilpatrick] at the head of the troops. He then wheeled, put spurs to his horse, and galloped up Morgan street, followed by a dozen fleet horsemen in hot pursuit. Turning a corner his horse fell. He remounted, and dashed around the corner at Pleasant's store on Hillsboro street. A few yards farther on, near the bridge over the railroad, he was overtaken, and brought back to the Capitol Square, where General Kilpatrick ordered his imme- diate execution. It is said that he asked for five minutes' time to write to his wife, which was refused. He was hung in the grove just back of Mr. Lovejoy's, and was buried there. He died bravely-a vile marauder, who justly expiated his crimes, or a bold patriot, whose gallantry deserves a more generous sentence, as friend or foe shall tell his story."
Mrs. Spencer is a Southern lady, who may be regarded as his friend, and the story she has told leaves no room for a inore gen- erous sentence. An officer in the Rebel army, straggling in rear of his command, joining other straggling soldiers in pillaging his own friends, non-combatants, in a city that had been evacuated and surrendered, attempting the assassination of a Union General who came with orders to protect the surrendered city! We desire to add no harsh word, but friend or foe can add no generous sentence.
Sherman's infantry was following the cavalry. The Cavalry Division marched rapidly through Raleigh, and on toward Mor- risville. A few miles from Raleigh, General Jordan's brigade, which was leading, struck the enemy. Wheeler's cavalry, en-
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camped, not expecting the Yankees to march beyond Raleigh that day, and Jordan's brigade rattled them out of their camps lively. At the first station west of Raleigh, Carey, a quantity of corn was captured at the depot. At Morrisville, twelve miles west of Raleigh, an engine attempted to take cars loaded with corn from the station, but a few shots from the artillery frightened the engine off, and the cars and corn were captured. The Di- vision camped at Morrisville. Here the roads divided, the road to Chapel Hill leading to the left, and the road to Hillsboro fol- lowing the railroad. General Wade Hampton, with his cavalry, had gone toward Hillsboro, along the railroad, and General Wheeler's cavalry had gone toward Chapel Hill. General Kil- patrick, with Jordan's brigade, had followed Hampton; and General Atkins, with his Brigade, was ordered to follow Wheeler. Atkins's Brigade moved early, on April fourteenth. IS65, and had not gone a mile beyond the picket, when the enemy was found, and he stubbornly disputed the road. The Tenth Ohio Cavalry charged splendidly, driving the enemy, and following them nearly four miles on a run ; but the regiment was halted, and the entire Brigade went into camp, General Atkins having received an order from General Kilpatrick, comprised in a single word-" halt." There the Brigade lay halted all day and all night, and until nearly noon of the next day, when General Atkins received another order from General Kilpatrick-"Go ahead"-and, of course, ahead the Brigade went. A terrible rain-storm was prevailing, and the streams were rendered almost impassable by the flood. When the Brigade reached Atkins's plantation, near the New Hope River, General Atkins received another order from General Kilpatrick, only one word-" Halt." The Brigade halted, built barricades, and went into camp again. The bridge across the river had been destroyed; but the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, the lead- ing regiment of the Brigade, crossed a hundred dismounted men over the river, on one stringer of the bridge that was left, and were scarcely over, when they were furiously charged by Wheeler's cavalry. That regiment had been armed with the Spencer Carbines, at Goldsboro, and had not yet had a chance to try their new Spencer Carbines. Mrs. Spencer gives the following account of what happened :
" The Federal cavalry were in close pursuit, and several skirmishes had taken place on the road from Raleigh. A Bri- gade, under General Atkins, followed General Wheeler, while Kilpatrick, with the balance of the Division, followed Hampton
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toward Hillsboro, along the Central Railroad line. The last skir- mish occurred, and perhaps the last blood of the war was shed, on Friday evening, fourteenth, at the Atkins plantation, eight miles from Chapel Hill, near the New Hope River, which was much swollen by heavy rains, and the bridge over which, as well as all others on the road, was destroyed by Wheeler's men. They attacked the enemy, endeavoring to cross on fallen trees and driftwood, and several were killed on both sides."
Mrs. Spencer was mistaken in the date-it was Saturday eve- ning, the fifteenth, not the fourteenth, and none were killed on the Union side. The Ninth Ohio met and repulsed four distinct charges of Wheeler's men, and killed and wounded several of them, but did not lose a man in the Ninth Ohio. A bridge was built over the river, but the rains raised the stream, and the bridge was carried off during the night. On Sunday morning, General Atkins was apprised of the truce between Generals Sherman and Johnston, and was directed to go with his Brigade to Chapel Hill, protect the University of North Carolina, with its libraries and grounds, and remain there until the truce was ended. A new bridge was constructed, and the command moved out, the Ninety- Second in the advance. A few miles farther on was found another river, with the bridge destroyed, and the Brigade went into camp, rebuilt the bridge, and Captain J. M. Schermerhorn, of Company G, of the Ninety-Second, was sent forward into Chapel Hill. We again quote from Mrs. Spencer's book :
" On Sunday, at two P. M., General Wheeler called in his pickets, and once more, and for the last time, we saw the gallant sight of our gray-clad Confederate soldiers, and waved our last farewell to our army. A few hours of absolute and Sabbath still - ness and silence ensued. The groves stood thick and soleinn, the bright sun shining through the great boles and down the grassy slopes, while a pleasant fragrance was wafted from the purple pin- nacles of the paullonia. All that nature can do was still done with order and beauty, while men's hearts was failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which were coming on the earth.
" We sat in our pleasant piazzas, and awaited events with a quiet resignation. The silver had all been buricd-some of it in springs, some of it under rocks in the streams, some of it in fence corners; which, after the fences had been burned down, was pretty hard to find again; some of it in the woods, some of it in the cel-
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lars. There was not much provision to be carried off-that was one comfort. The sight of our empty store-rooms and smoke- houses would be likely to move our invaders to laughter. Our wardrobes were hardly worth hiding-homespun and jeans hung placidly in their accustomed places. But the libraries, public and private, the buildings of the University-all minor selfish consid- erations were merged in a generous anxiety for these. So we talked and speculated, while the very peace and profound quiet of the place sustained and soothed our minds. Just at sunset, a sedate and soldierly-looking man, at the head of a dozen, dressed in blue, rode quietly in by the Raleigh Road. Governor Swain, accompanied by a few of the principal citizens, met them at the entrance, and stated that he had General Sherman's promise that the town and University should be saved from pillage. The sol- dier replied that such were his orders, and they should be observed. They then rode in, galloped up and down the streets inquiring for Rebels; and being told that there were none in town, they withdrew for the night to their camp; and the next morning, being Easter Monday, General Atkins, at the head of a detachment of four thousand cavalry, entered about eight A. M., and we were captured.
" That was surely a day to be remembered by us all. For the first time in four years we saw the old flag-the 'Stars and Stripes,' in whose defense we would once have been willing to die, but which certainly excited very little enthusiasin now. Never before had we realized how entirely our hearts had been turned away from what was once our whole country, till we felt the bit- terness aroused by the sight of that flag shaking out its red and white folds over us. The utmost quiet and good order prevailed. Guards were placed at every house immediately, and with a promptness that was needful ; for one residence, standing a little apart, was entered by a squad of bummers in advance of the guards, and in less than ten minutes the lower rooms, store-rooms and bed-rooms were overhauled and plundered with a swift and business-like thoroughness only attainable by long and extensive practice. A guard arriving, they left; but their plunder was not restored. The village guards, belonging to the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, deserve especial mention as being a decent set of men. who, while they were here, behaved with civility and propriety."
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