USA > Illinois > Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers > Part 8
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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
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to make one of these dog kennels. Go out into the yard, if you have one; pin down two sides of the sheet by a little pegging, and then run a pole, if you have one, through the center, length- wise; elevate it upon big stones or stakes at the corners, and you have a dog kennel such as we have, except that yours will be larger than ours. Ours are about five feet wide by six feet long, and are intended for two persons by splicing. In order to get into them, the hands and knees are brought into requisition. In turning over through the night, you must remember that it is safest to back out, turn over, and then crawl in again. Unless you do so, you are extremely liable to injure your pole, and down comes your dog kennel. If Gordon Granger comes riding through the camp, certain as you live, out comes the entire com- mand on hands and knees from the dog kennels, and such un- earthly barking, like dogs, never was heard; and thousands take it up, and away over and beyond the fort, and all through the corps it is bark, bark, and growl, growl." During the night of the twenty-sixth, the cavalry, under Gen. Green Clay Smith, marched out in the direction of Spring Hill, and surprised a camp of Rebels, capturing about one hundred and thirty prisoners, and one hundred horses; and on the morning of the twenty-seventh, Atkins' brigade, including our Regiment, marched out to meet the cavalry returning, and to be ready to support them, it support was required. On April thirtieth, the Regiment was mustered for pay, and inspected by Brigadier General A. Baird, Division Commander. The day was observed by the Regiment as a day of fasting and prayer.
On the first of May, Atkins' brigade, accompanied by a regiment of cavalry, made a reconnoissance in the direction of Spring Hill, with a little skirmishing, the Rebel picket falling back. On the second, the Regiment again did picket duty south of Frank- lin. Chaplain Cartwright, appointed vice White resigned, reached camp, and, finding the regimental grounds nearly deserted, approached Major Bohn, who was solemnly presiding over the deserted camp, when the following dialogue is supposed to have ensued: Chaplain-" Do you belong to the Ninety.Second?" Major-" Yes, I have the honor to belong to that Regiment." Chaplain-" Well, God bless you: how do you do? I am Chap- lain of the Ninety-Second. How are you? Where is Sheets?" Major-" Sheets, Sheet>! Who is Sheets?" Chaplin-" Why, God bless you, man ; you a member of the Ninety-Second, and don't know Sheets, Lieutenant Colonel Sheets?" Major-" Oh ! 10
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ah! you are inquiring about Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, are you?" Chaplain-" Yes, Sheets; I know Sheets, and Sheets knows me, and I want to see Sheets." Major-" Well, I am sorry to say that Lieutenant Colonel Sheets is not in just now." Chaplain- " Well, where is Woodcock?" Major-" Woodcock, Woodcock! There are plenty of mocking-birds in the woods along the Har- peth, stranger; but, I tell you what it is, I have n't had a shot at a woodcock since I left Carroll County." Chaplain-" I mean Captain Woodcock, the County Clerk at Oregon." Major-" Oh! do you refer to Captain Woodcock, of Company K?" Chap- lain-" Yes, I know him." Major-" Well, Captain Woodcock is not in, either, just now." Chaplain-" Well, then, where is Preston; I know Preston." Major -- " Preston, Preston; it seems to me that name sounds familiar ; who is Preston?" Chaplain- " Why, Captain Preston, of Polo." Major-" Oh! you wish to inquire about Captain Preston, of Company D?" Chaplain- " I know him, too." Major-" Well, I am sorry to say that Cap- tain Preston is not here just now." At this juncture, the Chap- lain espied a soldier whom he had known in Ogle County, Illinois, and bolted for him, and met a much warmer reception than Major Bohn had given him. When the Major used to tell about it, and declared that he was going to teach the new Chap- lain to have dignity, everybody smiled out loud at the unique idea of the Major teaching " dignity" to any one. On the third, the new, old Chaplain preached his first sermon, and won the respect and love of the men and officers from the start. Colonel Sheets declined to order the mien to attend preaching, but the Chaplain found a way to get them out. At half-past ten, the usual church time, the melodious and sonorous voice of the Chaplain was heard, " Ho, boys! Ho, boys! Come up here, and help me serve the Lord for half an hour, and I will help you in the trenches the balance of the week." That was a proposition, on the part of the Chaplain, that incant business. The boys took him at his word; he had a congregation of willing listeners, and the men did not afterward complain that the Chaplain did not keep his part of the bargain. It did not run in the Cartwright blood to be lazy ; and, with pick, or spade, or axe, the Chaplain was an adept. On the fifth, the Regiment went out chopping a swath through the tin- ber on the hill-tops, for the signal corps to sight their flags through. Now, of course, the soldiers of the Ninety-Second know all about what that means; but, possibly, the child of a sol- dier who may, perchance, read this book long years hence, will
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not know what it means; and it is not an easy thing to explain it in print, but we shall try and do so. If " the Committee on Publication" belonged to the signal corps, and fully understood it themselves, they might be able to explain it better ; but, alas! they don't. Well, to start with, the signal corps send messages from station to station by motion of flags. The signal flag is a large, square, white flag, with a square patch of red in the center. In communicating with another signal station, down to the ground will go the signal flag to the right and up again; then down to the right and up again twice in rapid succession; then down to the left and up again ; then down to the right and clear over down to the left and up again; and so it goes. These motions of the signal flag mean something; we don't know what they mean, only that every quick motion of the flag indicates a letter of the alphabet, and that the message is being spelled out by an officer of the next signal station, who is watching the mo. tions of the signal with a powerful field telescope. Sometimes, when high points are occupied by the signal stations, they are twenty miles apart. Sometimes the forest trees, on the highest points between stations, have to be chopped down to open a sight- way from signal station to signal station; and the Ninety-Second were all wood-choppers on the fifth of May, 1863, performing such duty. On the sixth, the pickets on the Louisburg pike, south of Franklin, were attacked, and Atkins' Brigade moved out, the Ninety-Second having the advance. General Baird, a soldier loved by all under him, accompanied the command, and skir- mished with the enemy quite lively until dark ; returned to camp about nine o'clock at night. On the eighth, Dr. Peters, of Spring Hill, walked into the head-quarters of the Rebel General Van Dorn, and deliberately killed him, by shooting him through the head with a pistol, on account of the alleged intimacy of General Van Dorn with Mrs. Peters. Doctor Peters, in the ex- citement momentarily created by the assassination at the head- .quarters of the Rebel General, made his escape to the woods, in the rear end of the house, and was at Franklin the next day with the Union lines, boasting of his exploit. General Gordon Gran- ger fixed up a letter, directed to the Commander of the Confede- rate forces at Spring Hill, and sent the Colonel of the Ninety- Second to deliver it under a flag of truce. With a hundred cavalry as an escort, and a good supply of Havana cigars, and imported wine, from General Granger's stock, accompanied by a few offi- cers in their best suits, he approached the Rebel pickets, and
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requested that an officer equal in rank might be sent for, to re- ceive his dispatches. While waiting for a Confederate Colonel to arrive, supper was prepared at a farin-house. When the Con- federate Colonel came, accompanid by a few officers, all sat down together at supper. The grey-coats made the best display of good clothes; but " Havana" cigars and " imported" wines were luxu- ries they did not bring with them. While enjoying a social smoke after supper, the conversation was turned upon Van Dorn's sudden taking off. The Confederate officers pretended to know nothing of it; but the Union officers detailed the story minutely, without intimating that Peters had furnished the information, and nonchalantly pretended that the Union officers knew every thing daily occurring at Spring Hill. How they had such minute information, was a puzzler to the Confederate officers: and so to puzzle them, was the real object of the flag of truce. Just at midnight, the grey-coats and blue-coats shook hands and sepa- rated, each party returning to their own encampments.
Sunday, May tenth, was a beautiful day, and closed with a brigade dress parade, an innovation of the Regulations; which, probably, did not occur in any other brigade in the ariny. The brigade was composed of the 9th Ohio battery of artillery, the Ninety-Second, 96th, and 115th Illinois, 74th Indiana, and 40th Ohio infantry regiment. At brigade dress parade, one regiment was formed on the right; three regiments at right angles with the first, the right of the line resting on the left of the first; the fifth regiment at right angles with the three, right resting on the left, forming three sides of a square, except that one of the sides was three times the length of each of the others. The music of all the regiments was massed, making a drum corps of a hundred drummers and fifers; and at the command, " Music, beat off," the music, at slow time, the Ninety-Second Silver Band playing, inarched down in front of the first regiment, wheeled and passed along the line of the three regiments, wheeled and passed the fifth regiment. They marched back at quick time, the druni corps of a hundred all playing. Lieutenant Lawver, Brigade Adjutant, would then command, " Attention, battalions. Shoul- der arms! Prepare to open ranks, to the rear open order, march !" The ranks opened, and aligned the commissioned officers in front ; the Adjutant took his position in front of the center of the line of three regiments, and commanded, " Present arins!" Coming to an " about face," he would salute Colonel Atkins, the Brigade Commander, and say : " Sir, the parade is formed." The Adju-
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tant would then take position to the left and rear of the Colonel ; and the Colonel, acknowledging the salute, would draw his sword and command, "Battalions, shoulder arms!" And would then go through with the entire manual of arms The practical diffi- culty of the command of execution being heard at the same instant by so large a body of troops, was obviated by a little Yankee ingenuity ; while not able to hear at the same instant, they were able to see; and after giving the preparatory command, "Shoulder," he would wait abundantly long for his voice to be heard by the flanks; and at the command of " Arms," the left hand of the Colonel commanding always went up into the air: and every soldier in the line could see that at the same instant, and the manual of arms was executed by the entire brigade, with as exact precision as it was ever executed by a squad of five men. Officers of the Regular Army looked on, and wondered at the precision of the execution of the manual of arms, but did not detect the slight of hand by which it was attained. After the manual of arms had been executed, brigade orders were read by the Adjutant. At the command, " Parade dismissed," the field officers of the brigade returned swords, closed on the Adjutant, and marched up to salute the Brigade Commander. When the field officers dispersed, the Captains marched their companies to quarters. On May fourteenth, the Ninety-Second was again on ยท picket south of Franklin. On the nineteenth, there was brigade drill, for the first time, in a clover-tield north of Franklin. On the twenty-first, there was another brigade drill, General Baird being present. On the twenty-second, the Regiment was called up at two A. M., and ordered to be ready to march at three A. M., but the order was countermanded. Brigade drills every day, until the twenty-seventh, when orders came to be ready to march at three A. M., with two days' cooked rations and seventy rounds of am- munition. The Regiment was ready, and waited all day for the order to " march," but none came. There were countless rumors of a Rebel attack on Triune.
O'n the first of June, the sick were all sent to Nashville. On the second, there were orders to be ready to march at three A. M., the time that Granger always proposed to march; but the Regi- ment waited in the rain until Granger's leisurely breakfast had been eaten, and started at nine o'clock A. M. for Triune. It was very hot and showry, the dirt roads horrible for men and trains; the men lightened up their loads, by throwing away extra pairs of shoes, overcoats, and some even dress-coats and blankets. It was
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the first march for the new, old Chaplain, and the kind-hearted old man knew the boys would want their blankets when night came, and he loaded down his horse with as many as his horse could carry. After reaching camp, he called the boys to come and get their blankets ; but the Chaplain did not have blankets for all who came; and it is said that he did not have one for himself that night! It was a hard march, many of the men falling out by the way, and many not reaching Triune until the next morning. The next day there was cannonading at Franklin, and the cavalry was sent back there. General Granger reviewed the remainder of his corps, thirty regiments of infantry, and thirty-six pieces of light artillery. It was Granger's order to be up at three A. M., daily, and stand silently in line of battle until after sunrise; that order, kept up for months, killed more men of his corps than the Rebels ever did. It rained on the fifth, and the picket firing was continuous all day. On the seventh, the cavalry had a light skirmish, and the Regiment was in line of battle from morning until night. On the ninth, the Regiment was paid. On the eleventh, Forrest made an attack on Triune. Atkins' Brigade, holding the front, was promptly in line, two regiments on the right of the road, concealed by timber and underbrush, with a masked battery, an open clover field in front, through which, about one hundred yards in front of the regiments, the water had cut a deep gully, that no horse could leap or get through. For. rest was leading a charge of Rebel cavalry over the open field, right in the direction of the gully, where he must neces- sarily have come to a halt, and been at the mercy of the masked artillery and two regiments of infantry, that had been directed not to fire a shot until the Brigade Commander gave the order. At this juncture, up rode Gordon Granger, and ordered the boys to fire. The commander of the brigade endeavored to explain to Granger, but he would hear nothing, and so the artil- lery opened on the charging column before it had come within musket range, and it quickly retreated. If Granger had been acquainted with the ground himself, or had listened to the Colonel commanding the brigade, there would have been terrible slaughter in . that Rebel column when it reached the gully running through the clover field, which was not discernable twenty feet away, but an effectual barrier to horsemen, where the artillery could have thrown grape and canister, and two regiments of infantry, at short range, poured in a musketry fire. As it was, the artillery killed only a few Rebels, and Forrest and most of
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his troops rode safely away. Granger then ordered the troops to fire on our own skirmishers, that the Brigade Cominander had just sent out to a brick house, on the left of the road, in front of the line of battle, but the men knew they were our own troops, and refused to obey his order. Granger then rode off. The Rebels planted a section of artillery, and sent their shells flying over the brigade. Our brigade battery of artillery replied, and dismounted one of the Rebel guns. The Rebels soon withdrew. There were no losses in the Ninety-Second. The newspapers reported the Rebel loss at twenty-one killed and seventy wounded. One laughable incident occurred. The camp equippage was quickly loaded in wagons and moved to the rear, and on the top of one wagon, the company wagon of Company I, sat a little negro on a knapsack packed with clothing. A Rebel shell knocked the knapsack out from under the colored boy, without injuring him in the least; but he was terribly frightened. The mules were too slow for him after that, and he went to the rear on foot double quick. About two A. M. of June thirteenth, a brigade of infantry, and a force of cavalry, prepared to march out on the road south of Triune, General Steedman in command, . and blowing of the bugles in the cavalry camp aroused all the troops, who imagined it was the Rebel cavalry. At three P. M., while our brigade was all out in the large clover field drilling, the firing at the front became brisk, and the whole brigade received orders to march to the assistance of Steedman, and moved from the drill ground rapidly four miles south of Triune, where Steedman was met, leisurely falling back, with only a regiment engaged as rear guard, skirmishing. Steedman said he had one pretty little brush with them, but there was no difficulty in repulsing the enemy. Returned to camp after dark, and were called up at eleven P. M. to await marching orders, and waited until after daylight, but no orders came. The next day, Sunday, June fourteenth, there was inspection, and orders received to keep constantly on hand two days' cooked rations, and sixty rounds ball cartridges to the man. This order kept the mnen constantly on cold victuals, and sometimes spoiled victuals. On the seventeenth, the Ninety-Second cut down the timber between the Shelbyville and Murfresboro pikes, so that it could not be used as a cover by the enemy. On the twentieth, there was a scare, and pickets doubled, but no attack came. On June twenty-third, the Regi- gent marched with the corps from Triune at daylight, but were delayed by wagon trains, and, after marching twelve miles,
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camped at two P. M. Marched next day at one P. M., in hard rain, and at one o'clock at night bivouaced on the Shelbyville pike, at Walnut Church. Willich's Brigade took Liberty Gap, and Wilder's Brigade took Hoover's Gap from the Rebels, and we marched all the afternoon to the music of heavy cannonading. The rain was continuous night and day. The next day, the twenty-fifth, marched but a mile, standing in line all day, listen- ing to the continuous roar of artillery in the distance. Sent the knapsacks and surplus trumpery to Murfresboro, to lighten the loads of the men. Remained at Walnut Church all the next day, cannonading heavy at the fort. On the twenty-seventh, moved at twelve M. down the Shelbyville pike to Guy's Gap. The cavalry, under command of General Mitchell, had the advance, and charged into Shelbyville at five P. M., capturing five hundred and five prisoners and two pieces of artillery. On the twenty-eighth, the Ninety-Second guarded the Rebel prisoners. marching eight miles toward Murfresboro, and turned over the prisoners to the 96th Illinois. Captain Espy, of the 115th Illinois, Commissary on the staff of the Colonel commanding the brigade, was notified of the coming of the Rebel prisoners, and issued rations to them, and in the kindness of his heart, even prepared hot coffee for them in large plantation kettles. How different from the treatment of our soldiers in the hands of the enemy at Andersonville! The kind-hearted, gallant Captain Espy lost his life afterward, at Chicamanga. On the twenty- ninth, the Ninety-Second joined the brigade, four miles north of Shelbyville. On the thirtieth, marched through Shelbyville, and camped one inile south of the town, on Duck River, and was mustered for pay. On the first of July, moved a mile and went into permanent camp. The Colonel of the Ninety-Second learn- ed of the probability that General Baird would leave the divi- sion, and, desiring himself to get out from under the command of General Gordon Granger, he earnestly sought the influence of Colonel Arthur C. Ducat, Inspector General of the Army of the Cumberland, whom he had been intimately acquainted with while they were serving together under Grant, at Cairo; and of Colonel Simmons, Commissary of the Army of the Cumberland, who had served with the Colonel of the Ninety-Second on the staff of General Hurlbut in the Army of the Tennessee; and of Colonel John W. Taylor, the Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Cumberland, who was a brother of the law partner of the Colonel of the Ninety-Second, to induce General Rosecrans to
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detach the Ninety-Second from the reserve corps of General Granger, and attach it to some active command at the front; and he received the assurance of the gentlemen named that they would use their influence with General Rosecrans to obtain such an order. On the third of July, the Ninety-Second marched at two o'clock P. M. to Wartrace, eight miles, on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, through a terrible rain storm, the water in the mountain roads being, frequently, two feet deep. From an old letter written by a member of the Ninety-Second, from Wartrace, we extract the following: "It was given to Stokes' regiment, under the command of Major Gilbraith, to iead the charge into Shelbyville. Major Gilbraith's family lived in that town. At it they went with a rush and a yell, dashing into town, cutting, shooting, and killing. The Rebels were so hard pressed that, for all to cross the bridge over Duck River, was impossible. Many rushed for the ford above, the Union cavalry on their heels, and into the river the Rebels plunged, which, being high from recent rains, was difficult to cross, and between fifty and a hundred of the Rebels were drowned. Our boys pulled out quite a number of the dead Confederate soldiers two days afterward, and gave them decent burial. Stokes' regiment were fighting for their own homes and firesides. Such meetings of old friends in Shelbyville never occurred there before. Men, women and children were kissing and embracing each other in the streets. while tears rolled down their cheeks, until the stoutest heart would melt away in like feelings. To see nien, old and young. embracing and hugging each other, was a common occurrence. For several days after their deliverance, refugees who had sought shelter and protection at the North for a year or more, returned to their homes and families. O, such meetings and greetings as I there witnessed is worth a year of the hard life of a soldier. Bedford county, of which Shelbyville is the capital, is largely Union, and it is due to the efforts of Mr. Edmund Cooper, au influential, patriotic and able lawyer of Shelbyville, that so many citizens of Bedford county have remained true and faithful to the Union. Bragg made his head-quarters there, and during the reign of terror the Union people suffered beyond the power of my description. The Fourth of July has been made perpetual there every day since our troops broke the shackles, and Union flag -. long sewn up in quilts, are brought out and deck the town. Platforms are erected, and speeches are made by citizens and soldiers daily, while the Court House square is packed full
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of the ladies and gentlemen of Shelbyville, waving flags and handkerchiefs, and singing Union songs. The emotions, the rejoicings, the joyful demonstrations, the bursting out of long pent up feelings, are as boundless as the ocean, and no pen can picture the real happiness of the citizens. Long live Shelbyville. It is the general opinion that Bragg would have been bagged if the weather had not been so continuously rainy ; and now he is away down at Chattanooga, with a demoralized army, trying to get up into Kentucky by the way of Knoxville. The Rebels burned all the bridges over Duck River, and also over Elk River: but the first are up again, and the others will be before this letter reaches you."
July fourth was celebrated by a cessation of all ordinary duties, and most of the men went black-berrying, and found the most lucious blackberries in the greatest abundance in the "old fields" about Wartrace. The Colonel of the Ninety-Second dined with Captain Hicks, of the 96th Illinois. Many patriotic speeches were made. On Sunday, the fifth, there was preaching and black-berrying. On the sixth, the Ninety-Second marched seven miles, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, to Duck River, and engaged in building a wagon bridge across that stream at Rouseville. Colonel Wilder came along, and, fancying the Ninety-Second, declared his determination to have it detached from the reserve corps, and assigned to his brigade of mounted infantry. It is safe to say that the men of the Ninety-Second were overjoyed with the hope that Wilder might be successful in his application. Apples and blackberries were abundant, and details were made to gather thiem, while the work of building the bridge progressed, which was completed on the ninth. Colonel Wilder's application was supplemental to the request of the Colonel of the Ninety-Second, and was successful, and General Rosecrans detached the Ninety-Second from General Gordon Granger's corps, and assigned it to Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry. On the tenth, the Regiment returned to Wartrace, and there was great excitement among all the troops to be mounted. The 40th Ohio, officers and men, joined in a petition to Colonel Atkins to have that regiment mounted. On the eleventh, a detail was sent to Murfresboro for horses, and Lieutenant Colonel Sheets went to Nashville to procure equipments. In a letter home, written at Wartrace, July 16th, 1863, a soldier of the Ninety-Second writes: "The Ninety-Second is no longer first regiment, first brigade, first division, reserve army corps,
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