USA > Illinois > Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers > Part 24
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The Brigade commanded by General Atkins went into camp around the little village of Chapel Hill, one of the prettiest, most lovely spots found in all the campaigning of the Ninety-Second
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during its three years service. The enemy had destroyed all the railroad bridges, and, so far as he could, the railroad track, and while there were plenty of army rations at New-Berne and Golds. boro, General Atkins's Brigade was compelled, per force, to " live upon the country." A soldier, in his diary, wrote: " Strict orders from Brigade head-quarters, instead of rations, to-day." Genera! Atkins could issue " strict orders" to his command, but he could not furnish them army rations until the destroyed railroad bridges and track were repaired. Who was to blame for that? Certainly the Confederate army, that destroyed the railroads and bridges in a country they were abandoning and not attempting to hold. Mrs. Spencer, in speaking of Wheeler's cavalry, was right when she said, "There were rough riders among these troopers-men who, if plunder was the object, would have cared little whether it was got from friend or foe." Just so! And much of the pillaging charged to Atkins's men was really committed by the " rough riders " with Wheeler, a gallant Confederate soldier, but never a disciplinarian. Atkins's Brigade was well disciplined; the Ninety- Second, and, also, each Brigade successively that Atkins com- manded, complained of his strict discipline. On the day that his Brigade reached Chapel Hill there were no rations to issue, but there were " strict orders " from Brigade head-quarters. Never- theless, his command was compelled to " live upon the country." Thousands of men and horses are not easily fed, and with all his " strict orders," it is reasonable to suppose that many plantations were stripped of everything eatable. And, again, of course, all animals were taken that were fit for Uncle Sam's service. Conse- quently it happened that some families were left, first, without a morsel of food, and, again, with many mouths, colored and white. to provide for, without an animal to make a crop of corn with, the coming season. There was no help for it. "Such is war," and there is no use in attempting to refine it. Useless cruelty in war, and to the defenseless inhabitants of a country occupied by an army, is, of course, indefensible; but " war is cruelty," and the cruelty that ensued from an army subsisting upon the country was not useless. It was an absolute necessity. But Wheeler's cavalry had "lived upon the country " before Atkins's Brigade reached there, and there was but little left to live upon. Ex-Governor Swain, President of the University of North Caro- lina, a few days after Chapel Hill was occupied by the Federals. addressed the following communication to General Sherman :
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" CHAPEL HILL, April 19, 1865.
" Major General W. T. Sherman,
"Commanding United States Forces :
"GENERAL: On my return to this village on Saturday morning, fifteenth instant, I found that General Wheeler, with his division of cavalry, had been encamped here for two days. He resumed his march on Sunday morning, leaving the country denuded to a considerable extent of forage, and taking with him a number of horses and mules. General Atkins arrived with his Brigade on Monday morning, and is in camp here now. I have had several interviews with General Atkins, and have pleasure in stating that he manifests a disposition to execute his orders with as much forbearance as he deems compatible with a proper dis- charge ot his duty. Nevertheless, many worthy families have been stripped by his soldiers of the necessary means of subsist- ence. A Baptist clergyman-a most estimable citizen, and the most extensive fariner within a circle of three miles-is almost entirely destitute of provision for man and beast; and with a fam- ily of more than fifty persons (white and colored), has not a single horse or mule. Other instances, not less striking, exist, of fami- lies in less affluent circumstances; but I refer particularly to Mr. Purefoy, because he has been my near neighbor for about thirty years, and I hold him in the highest estimation. He, like many others, is not merely without the present means of subsistence, but unless his horses and mules are restored or replaced, can make no provision for the future. The delay of a few days even may render it impossible to plant corn within the proper time.
" I am satisfied from the impression 'made upon me in our recent interview, that, personally, you have no disposition to add to the unavoidable horrors of war, by availing yourself of the utmost license which writers on the subject deem admissable, but that, on the contrary, you would prefer to treat the peaceful tillers of the soil with no unnecessary harshness. I venture to hope, therefore, that the present state of negotiations between the con- tending armies will enable you to relax the severity of the orders under which General Atkins is acting, and I am satisfied that it you shall feel yourself justified by the course of' events in doing so, an intimation of your purpose will be welcome intelligence to him. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" D. L. SWAIN."
To which letter General Sherman replied as follows:
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" HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, } " IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, N. C., April 22, 1865.
" Hon. D. L. Swain, Chapel Hill, N. C .:
" MY DEAR SIR: Yours of April nineteenth was laid before me yesterday, and I am pleased that you recognize in General Atkins a fair representative of our army.
" The moment war ceases, and I think that time is at hand, all seizures of horses and private property will cease on our part. And it may be that we will be able to spare some animals for the use of the farmers of your neighborhood. There now exists a species of truce, but we must stand prepared for action; but I believe that in a very few days a definite and general peace will be arranged, when I will make orders that will be in accordance with the new state of affairs.
" I do believe that I fairly represent the feelings of my coun- trymen-that we prefer peace to war; but, if war is forced upon us, we must meet it; but, if peace be possible, we will accept it, and be the friends of the farmers and working classes of North Carolina, as well as actual patrons of churches, colleges, asylums, and all institutions of learning and charity. Accept the assur- ances of my respect and high esteem.
" I am. truly yours, " W. T. SHERMAN, " Major General Commanding."
Until the railroad which the enemy had destroyed had been repaired, and rations for the army brought up from the rear, the severity of the orders under which General Atkins was acting could not be relaxed ; but, when rations could be drawn through the Commissary Department, General Atkins ordered his Brigade Commissary, Captain J. L. Spear, of the Ninety-Second, to issue rations, not only to his troops, but to all the citizens, white and colored, who applied for them ; and rations were issued to the in- habitants for miles around. On the nineteenth of April, was received intelligence that a truce had been arranged for fifteen days, and that the first agreement for the surrender of Johnston's army had been forwarded to Washington, for the approval of the President, the Commander-in-Chief of the Arinies and Navies of the United States. The terms of surrender granted to General Johnston, by General Sherman, were deemed too lenient by the President, or by Hon. E. M. Stanton, then Secretary of War, and were disapproved. The writers ot this book thought, at the time,
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that it was most unfortunate that the Government did not approve of the terms of surrender at first arranged between Generals Sher- man and Johnston : and, even now, they think it was unfortunate. Sherman, in war, was severe; but the war was over, and severity in time of peace was not required, either as punishment, or as secu- rity for the future. He who conquers can afford to be generous: and, especially, when the conquered and conquerors are members of the same family. In war, the entire inhabitants of the rebel- lious States, those who voluntarily aided the Rebellion, and those, also, who gave the Rebellion no aid, or only that which they were forced to give, were enemies to the United States; but, when peace came, they all became a part and portion of the Republic, no longer enemies, but friends ; and not only friends, but brothers and equals.
The Ninety-Second, with the Brigade, remained in camp nearly three weeks, at Chapel Hill, waiting for Johnston's sur- render, which finally transpired. The interview between Gener- als Sherman and Johnston, in which terms for the surrender of the Confederate army were agreed upon, took place near Dur- ham's Station, between the picket lines of Hampton and Kilpat- rick, Doctor Clinton Helm, Surgeon of the Ninety-Second, and Chief Medical Director of the Cavalry Division, being present. There is little to record in regard to the Ninety-Second, during its stay at Chapel Hill. On the evening of the twenty-second of April, 1865, the Ninety-Second boys, with the Band, proceeded to the head-quarters of General Atkins, to serenade him: and, find- ing him absent, they proceeded to the residence of ex-Governor Swain, where the General was visiting, and serenaded him there. After several pieces of music had been played by the Band, they . called on the General for a speech, when he appeared upon the front porch of Governor Swain's residence, and said :
"Soldiers, I am making a speech to. a young lady here to- night, and I have no eloquence to waste-she requires it all. The war, as I told you it would, at Mount Olive, has played out, and in less than the ninety days I then named. I think speech-making has played out also, except to the young ladies. You must go to your quarters."
The boys went to their quarters very sullenly. It was the most unpopular speech the General ever made. Never before, when serenaded by the men of the Ninety-Second-and it had often happened-had he failed to appreciate the compliment, and had always responded cheerfully to their calls for a speech. But
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the General was cross in those days to every one, except the girl he was making love to. He went all through the war without being a prisoner, and was captured at last, after the war was over, by the youngest daughter of ex-Governor Swain, and he has been her happy and contented prisoner ever since.
On the twenty-fourth of April, the Ninety-Second received orders to be ready to resume hostilities in forty-eight hours, the . terms of the surrender of Johnston's army, first agreed upon, hav- ing been disapproved at Washington. The men of the Regiment were very willing to resume hostilities, if it was necessary to do so, and to do, as Grant had written to Sherman, "press Johnston hard, and end the war at once." But there was not a soldier in the Regiment but that felt that it would be cruelty to fight another battle. Every man was conscious of the fact that the war was really over; but orders were orders, and they were ready to resume hostilities.
On the twenty-sixth, the Regiment received orders to be ready to march at daylight; but the orders were countermanded, and news of Johnston's surrender received. The inen of the Ninety- Second were not soldiers by profession, and clamorously demanded an immediate muster-out, when news of Johnston's surrender reached them. Certainly, infantry regiments had been ordered to be mustered out and discharged, but the order did not include the Ninety-Second, and, on the twenty-eighth of April, Lieutenant- Colonel Van Buskirk, commanding the Regiment, was called out for a speech, the men desiring to know why certain regiments of infantry were mustered out, and the Ninety-Second retained. Col- onel Van Buskirk explained the order to the general satisfaction of the Regiment. On the twenty-ninth, Major General Kilpatrick came over to Chapel Hill, from Durham's Station, and reviewed the Brigade. At ten o'clock A. M., on May third, the Ninety- Second, with the Brigade, bid adieu to Chapel Hill, and marched twelve miles, to Hillsboro. The Confederate cavalry had been paroled, and were marching home, the men permitted to retain their horses and side-arms, and, together, the Ninety-Second and their late enemies, enemies no longer, filled the road, and together they marched along. The Confederate soldiers were somewhat downcast and dispirited; but the Ninety-Second men, who had frequently met them in battle, had no jibes for them ; they had learned, on many a hard-fought field, how brave the Confederate soldiers under Wheeler and Hampton were; they respected their bravery ; indeed, gray-coat and blue-coat, mingling together in
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their march that day through Hillsboro, were friends, enemies no longer, but friends and equals, all citizens of the Republic saved. Had the terms of the surrender of the Confederates, and all questions of re-construction and future Union, been left that day to the soldiers alone, of both armies, there would have been no disagreement; the blue-coats would not have imposed harsh terms upon the gray-coats, and the generosity of the brave con- querors would have been met by the generosity of the brave men . conquered.
On the fourth of May, the command continued its march from Hillsboro to Company Shops, and camped, and on the next dav, marched to Greensboro, reaching there at four P. M. Two hun- dred Confederate cannon were parked at Greensboro, surrendered by the Confederate army under the command of Johnston. The Brigade lay several days at Greensboro, waiting for horse-shoes. In the sandy coast country it made but little difference whether the horses were shod or not; but on the rocky and gravelly roads of the higher country the barefooted animals were becoming lame. The war was ended-the Cavalry Division had no other duty than to occupy the country, and maintain quiet and peace, until the civil authorities had re-established government. The discipline of the troops was very strict. No foraging was per- mitted ; the troops were supplied with army rations; the railroad was in running order, and all kinds of supplies were regularly received, and in abundance. On the eighth of May, the com- mand moved to Lexington. On the eleventh of May, the Ninety- Second marched to Salisbury, as an escort for the wagon trains of the Twenty- Third army corps.
On the twelfth of May, 1865, the Ninety-Second made its last march on horseback, to Concord, and, as one of the soldiers wrote in his diary, that day : "Camped, to put on style." It was a styl- ish camp the Ninety-Second had at Concord, in a grove of young pine trees. Lieutenant Horace C. Scoville, of Company K, cap. tured at Nickojack, in Northern Georgia, returned to the Regi- ment, and was warmly welcomed. He had been promoted to the Captaincy of his company during his absence in the Confederate prisons. First Sergeant James D. White, of Company K, was promoted to Second Lieutenant. On Saturday, the thirteenth of May, the Regiment put its camping grounds in fine order. On Sunday, the fourteenth, the Chaplain held services in a church in Concord. The Regiment lay at Concord, day after day, with nothing to do, except to grumble and grumble about not being
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mustered out and sent home. The disaffection was general, among officers and soldiers-all wished to return at once to those peaceful pursuits they had reluctantly left when they volunteered to help maintain the life of the nation. The glorious end had come-the life of the nation was no longer in danger, and it required some effort to keep the men from going home, orders or no orders. There was considerable excitement in camp on the twenty-first of May. The War Department had ordered all infantry regiments, the term of enlistment of which would expire within four months, to be mustered out immediately. The Ninety-Second was an infantry Regiment, although mounted and serving with the cavalry, and it came fairly under the orders of the War Department for immediate muster out. But General Kilpatrick sent a written communication to the Ninety-Second, saying that, in his opinion, the Ninety-Second was not an infantry Regiment, but a Regiment of cavalry; it was mounted and equipped throughout precisely as the cavalry ; was then, and has long been, serving with the cavalry; and that he had ordered his mustering officer to regard the Ninety-Second as cavalry, and not to muster out the Regiment under the orders of the War Department, reterring to infantry regiments. At Chattanooga. Brigadier General Elliott, commanding the Cavalry of the De- partment of the Cumberland, had chosen to sneeringly regard the Regiment as an infantry Regiment, and refused to give the. Ninety-Second its quota of horses to mount the men, until the cavalry had first been mounted. The Regiment had then wished to be regarded as cavalry, and have received the same treatment as the cavalry. Now the Regiment wished to be regarded as infantry, and be mustered out and sent home ; but Kilpatrick chose to regard it as a Regiment of cavalry. There was considerable harsh language used; but reasonable counsels prevailed; for a time Kilpatrick's orders were submitted to; but an appeal from his ruling was taken to General Schofield, commanding the Depart. inent, and before General Schofield had decided the matter, an order came from the War Department to muster out cavalry regiments, whose terms of enlistment would expire within four months; and there being no possible way to longer avoid it, for, cavalry or infantry, no matter which, the orders were to muster the Regiment out, and the mustering officer leisurely proceeded to prepare the muster out rolls. The recruits of the Regiment were transferred to the Sixty-Fifth Illinois Veteran Infantry, and Captain H. M. Timms, of Company A, one of the officers de-
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tailed to accompany the recruits, was promoted to Major of that regiment. The transfer to the Sixty-Fifth Illinois was made under the following order :
" HEAD-QUARTERS TWENTY-THIRD ARMY CORPS, } Greensboro, N. C., June 21, 1865.
" Special Orders, } No. 61. S
" III. The following named officers of the Ninety-Second Illinois Infantry are hereby transferred, with two hundred and twenty-five (225) enlisted men of that Regiment, to the Sixty- Fifth Illinois Infantry, and will report to Lieutenant Colonel Stewart, commanding, for duty.
"Captain John F. Nelson, Captain Harvey M. Timms, First Lieutenant Norman Lewis, Second Lieutenant James D. White.
" By command of Brevet Major General Ruger.
" HENRY A. HALL, ," Captain and A. A. G."
On the seventh of June, IS65, blanks having been received from the mustering officer, the very cheerful work of preparing the muster out rolls began in the various companies of the Ninety-Second. Everybody in the Regiment was very happy at the thoughit of soon going home-cheerfulness and gayety took the place of the grumbling discontent. On the eighth of June, Company G procured a fiddler, and gave a stag-dance to the Regiment, and "all hands around" made everything gay and lively. On the fourteenth of June, the Regiment turned over its horses and horse equipments. On the fifteenth, the Regiment was without horses, no drilling, nothing to do in camp, and again Company G enlivened the time by giving another stag-dance party to the other companies of the Regiment. On Sunday, June eighteenth, 1865, good, old Chaplain Cartwright, who had been preaching to the Freedmen regularly, since the arrival of the . Ninety-Second at Concord, preached his farewell sermon to the colored people, and gave them sensible advice, urging them to remember that they were now free, but that they must depend upon themselves entirely in the future, and could only expect happiness and comfort in life by being sober, honest, and indus- trious citizens. When the Chaplain had concluded, an old, col- ored man rose up in the large audience that had assembled in the grove to hear hi- last sermon, and proposed to take up a collection for the benefit of Chaplain Cartwright. The hat was passed, and,
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full of greenbacks, it was handed to the Chaplain; he took the hat, and thanked them for their great kindness, and then told them that he could not accept the money fromn a poor people just out of years of bondage, but would add to it the last dollar he had in the world, and then the money should be expended by them for books to educate their children. Chaplain Cartwright was a poor man, but he was too rich in sensible christian charity to take a gift from the Freedmen to whom he had preached; to their charitable donation he added his last dollar, and left it to purchase books for the children of the black people there assembled. Chaplain Cart- wright was a genuine christian minister, and the best Chaplain that served with any regiment in the army. On the twenty-first of June, the Ninety-Second was ordered to be ready to leave for the North-land and home on the morrow-never was there an order more joyfully welcomed. Early on the morning of June twenty-second, the Regiment marched to the depot in Concord, but did not get away on the train until half past one P. M. The train arrived in Lexington just after dark, where General Atkins, in the absence of General Kilpatrick, was then stationed in com- mand of the Cavalry Division ; he came to the cars, and, with the Ninety-Second, proceeded homeward. The train reached Greens- boro before daylight of the twenty-third of June, and the Regi- ment left the cars and cooked breakfast, and remained until eight A. M. of the twenty-fourth, when the Regiment again embarked on a train of cars for Danville, reaching there at three P. M. On the morning of the twenty-fifth of June, the Ninety-Second again embarked on the cars, and reached Burkeville Junction after dark. At the first station south of Burkeville Junction, the officers of the Regiment had gone in advance on a passenger train, leaving the men withont officers, and the only thing that mars the fair fame of the Ninety-Second then took place. Let one of the soldiers who saw it tell the story : he writes in his diary: " The officers got on a passenger train, and went ahead at the last station on the road up, and while we were lying over for a down train to pass, the boys made a rush for the Sutler's chebang, and. in a very unjust manner, completely robbed the Sutler of all his stores, and then tried to upset the building. There were no officers along to put a stop to it. It seems to me that the officers ought to be with us." The soldier was right, and the blame of this one disgraceful act must rest upon the thoughtless officers; had they been pres- ent, it would not have occurred. At nine P. M., on June twenty. sixth, the Regiment reached City Point, on the James River, and,
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on the next morning, embarked on the Philadelphia, an old, leaky ferry-boat, that was unfit to transport troops upon. The Captain of the boat thought it would surely go to the bottom; but, by pumping hard, and hugging the shore, she reached Baltimore safely the next day about three o'clock P. M., and the Ninety- Second, after taking supper at the Soldiers' Home, marched through the city of Baltimore and embarked in box cars for Har- risburg, at about eleven P. M. Daylight, on the twenty-ninth of June, tound the Regiment at York, Pennsylvania. There were two trains, and no stops were made, except for wood and water. The Regiment was greeted at all the towns, as the trains rolled through them, with waving of handkerchiefs in token of welcome. Breakfasted at Altoona, and was sixty miles east of Pittsburgh the next morning, detained by a jam of trains in advance of the Regiment. At eleven A. M., of the thirtieth, arrived at Pitts- burgh, and dined at the Soldiers' Home. Left Pittsburgh about three P. M., and at noon, on the first of July, the train halted near Camp Douglas, in Chicago, and the Regiment disembarked and marched into that camp, and was put under a regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps, on duty there. Many of the men, as soon it was known that the Regiment would not be immediately paid and discharged, were granted informal furloughs to go to their homes, and return by the seventh of July. On the eighth of July, IS65, the men received their pay and final discharge papers; and. on Sunday, July ninth, 1865, the officers were paid, received also their final discharges, and the three years' soldiering was done.
The Committee who have jointly had in charge the preparation of these pages painfully appreciate how poor and tame is the story they have told of those eventful three years. But they trust it will revive many a pleasant memory, as the surviving members of the Ninety-Second peruse it; while life lasts, those memories will be cherished with pride; and they ought to be. It is some- thing to have been a soldier in the great war that saved the Republic that Washington founded, struck off the shackles from the limbs of four millions of human beings, and kept " the jewel of freedom in the family of nations." In that great struggle, the Ninety-Second did, everywhere and always, its entire duty bravely and well: on lonely outposts, serving as " the eyes ot the army," building bridges, mending roads, throwing up fortifica- tions, as infantry, as cavalry, on foot, on horseback, repulsing the charge of the enemy, or charging the enemy with shout and cheer and the terrible music of the rattling Spencers, in camp
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