USA > Illinois > The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865 > Part 13
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Much of the large timber has disappeared, and a dense growth of underbrush covers everything in the vicinity, and men in line of battle, located where the Fifty-fifth had such splendid range on the 6th of April, 1862, could now see but a few rods. On no other part of the field are the evidences of severe conflict more apparent. All the trees of reason- able size are scarred and blotched by bullets. Relics can be obtained in any quantity. Among others, the writer cut from a tree two of the large bullets of the Fifty-fourth Ohio, which had come together in their flight and formed one solid mass of lead. A citizen engaged in splitting rails in the ravine, in rear of the position of the Fifty-fifth, found near the forks of two large limbs, six bullets condensed in one mass. The beech trees in the gorges of the vicinity still plainly bear the names of hundreds of soldiers cut upon them, but they are all those of Bucll's and Pope's men, who wandered over the field after the battle. The rebel dead who fell before the sweep of Stuart's fire are buried here and there, the spots being easily identified by the little mounds of gravelly soil over them, and human bones are too plenti- ful to excite remark. Old canteens, pieces of leather, bullets, grape-shot, gun-barrels, fragments of shell, bayonets-in short, anything calculated to resist the ravages of time, can be found in proportion to the industry of the relic hunter.
The distance from the graves on Stuart's right to those on the left of McArthur has been found by actual measurement to be a little over eight hundred yards, or about one-half mile. This fixes conclusively the interval unoccupied by troops upon the right of the Fifty-fifth. It is equally con- clusive on the point that Chalmers and Jackson were both engaged, and occupied for some hours solely with two regi- ments of infantry, because being actually connected together in their movements, as already shown, they would not have reached far enough west to have engaged McArthur. If the rebel line in that quarter had been long enough to cover this
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A FICTION EXPOSED.
interval, it is not reasonable to suppose that eight hundred yards of its centre would have stood idle while the two flanks were for some hours engaged in a desperate struggle. Sev- eral Confederate officers of high rank conversed with the Federal wounded on the field, and to Sergeant-Major McAuley and others expressed their disbelief that so small a force had resisted them so long.
There runs a fiction through many narratives of this epoch that the best fighting and the greatest losses at Shiloh were toward the Union right. Such is explicitly stated to be the case by General Grant. It is almost a pity to disturb such well settled myths, yet it is easy of demonstration that in that direction was the poorest fighting, the greatest confusion and the least blood shed. Commencing at the right of the two brigades which fought under Hurlbut, it is found that in addition to them, the Ninth, Twelfth, Fiftieth and Fifty-fifth Illinois, and Fifty-fourth Ohio, though greatly disconnected, fought at different times through the day on substantially the same front, and were the only troops engaged on the left flank. These troops embraced thirteen regiments, and lost in killed and wounded about one-third of the casualties of the entire Federal army, on the first day. The remainder of Grant's forces were about fifty regiments of infantry, twenty batteries, and considerable cavalry. It appears then that on less than one mile of front on the left, one-fifth of the army suffered one-third of the total loss in killed and wounded. The very slight loss in prisoners on that flank is another evidence of how closely they held together. In the opinion of the writer the Confederates suffered severest at the peach orchard of the Sarah Bell place, while engaged with Hurlbut, a little more than one-half mile to the right of the Fifty-fifth. The figures here used are found in Volume X, Official Records of the Rebellion.
If any apology be necessary for the space used in the treatment of the foregoing events, it is found in the facts themselves. The importance and sanguinary character of the battle of Shiloh, even now when we have the history of the whole war before us, is conspicuous. The per cent. of Killed and wounded in Grant's army alone was equal to that
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
of the entire Atlanta or Vicksburg campaign, and twice that of the battle of Gettysburg. The small Federal army on the first day at Shiloh lost as many men from gunshot wounds as did the great army of one hundred thousand men under McClellan during the seven days' battles, or at Fair Oaks and Seven Pines. All this, together with the controversial and false character of the accounts relating to the conflict, renders brief treatment, if truth is desired, improper and impossible. It should be remembered also that the merits of the contest which Stuart's two regiments carried on at the extreme left, have hitherto been almost concealed from the public. If this work, having for its object the history of the Fifty-fifth, does not do justice to its services on that occasion, it fails in one of its chief purposes. This cannot be done without elaboration of detail.
The casualties of the Fifty-fifth during the battle were among the severest found in the annals of warfare. In some respects it would be desirable to mention each person who died or was injured in this their first great test of valor. The length of the list, with some uncertainty as to strict accuracy, however, points to a different course as the most judicious, all things considered. In this connection, regimental losses have been examined in detail of Mcclellan's and Pope's Virginia campaigns, and the battles of Bull Run, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Perryville, Chickasaw Bayou, and Arkansas Post, and among the hun- dreds of Union regiments therein engaged, but three have been found which lost more in killed and wounded than did the Fifty-fifth at Shiloh, and those but few more. These casualties are given in the official records of the War Depart- ment as fifty-one killed and one hundred and ninety-seven wounded, or almost exactly one-half of the effective total engaged. Thirty-five of the wounded are known to have died within the year, and nine died while prisoners. The actual loss of life to the regiment from the battle cannot be put much less than one hundred, while the loss to the service was not greatly below two hundred. Several are known to have been slightly wounded, and would have been so classed later, that did not appear in the reports at all.
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CHAPTER III.
AFTER SHILOH. - CORINTH TO MEMPHIS.
M ONDAY night, after the close of the battle of Shiloh, was passed by the Fifty-fifth without shelter among the dead, near Sherman's headquarters. It again rained inces- santly and but little rest was secured. Two days' fierce fighting and two nights' drenching rain, with very meagre rations, produced a degree of exhaustion appreciable only by those who have endured like privations. Now that the battle was over, the necessity for Stuart's co-operation with his divis- ion scemed pressing. Before and during the battle, such a rudimentary principle in tactics does not appear to have been thought of. It would have been a great favor if those remaining could have marched to their own camp, two miles away, and there rested in their own tents, and taken care of their own wounded. It now seems reasonable that Buell's great army, at least ten thousand of whom had not fired a shot, should have taken care of the front, and such worn out and depleted organizations as the Fifty-fifth have been given a season of rest and a chance to succor their own suffering comrades. More than one-half of Buckland's and Hilde- brand's brigades, which formed under Sherman's personal command just before he "became satisfied for the first time that the enemy designed a determined attack," had, after the first wild burst of speed to the landing, enjoyed two days' physical and mental repose under its protecting bluffs. Neither brigade had lost as many men as had the Fifty-fifth Illinois. Nevertheless, Stuart's brigade remained at Shiloh
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
church among its horrid scenes and stenches, without shelter and with little to cat. On Tuesday, the eighth of April, there was a condition of nervous excitement in expectation of another attack, and the Seventy-first Ohio started another senseless stampede. On the ninth, a reconnaissance was undertaken by Sherman's division. The route of four miles followed by Stuart was entirely free from resistance, but the whole country was found strewn with Confederate dead and wounded and great quantities of war material which had been abandoned in headlong flight.
From this time to the twenty-ninth day of April, the dreary preparations for the advance upon Corinth followed. Meanwhile the men were left among the shallow graves of the battle-field. Daily drill was performed, and occasionally a review was held. A mile or so to the front good camping ground offered, with plenty of shade, wood and water, and, what was far more important, freedom from the mephitic odors which pervaded and poisoned the immediate vicinity. Under General Halleck's personal management, a scientific system was soon adopted, so unwieldly that all freedom of movement and convenience were lost sight of. Now that the rebels were well whipped and engaged in reorganizing at Corinth, it was apparently considered a necessity that each brigade should touch elbows with its neighbor, while before and during the battle a mile of unguarded space excited no attention. As a natural and inevitable result of the sur- roundings much sickness ensued, and the Fifty-fifth was reduced to a lower standard of effective strength than at any other time before re-enlistment, having at a review held on April 15th or 16th, but two hundred men in line. In some instances the sick were hauled in wagons to the drill ground for the purpose of looking on. The object of this was prob- ably sanitary rather than the teaching of military science.
Notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances of the period, evidences are not wanting to show that those mem- bers of the Fifty-fifth able for duty were still imbued with the same high sense of patriotism which brought them into the service. The accomplished Captain Thurston, who was soon to succumb to the hardships of army life, wrote about
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PURE PATRIOTISM.
this time to his wife, in relation to his sword which had been injured by a bullet in the previous battle, as follows:
If you ever get it, give it to Willie; and tell him his father fought at Shiloh, and that he would rather lie with his face to the moon than that a son of his should ever fear to give his life for his country's honor.
The brave and soldierly Sergeant Brink, subsequently an officer who lost his life, wrote to his comrade, Calvin Fluke, who had been Badly wounded and was then on furlough :
I was truly happy to know that one brave wounded hero of the mem- orable Shiloh battle was still in the land of the living. I am very glad to learn you are able to move, and I hope to live to return to see you all right. I think you deserve to get well, if a soldier ever did. You have shown yourself to be a true patriot and worthy to live and enjoy a free government. Be cheerful, Cal .; if you never get able to come back, you have discharged your duty to your country.
Sergeant Henry Augustine wrote home to his brother Michael, who had apparently expressed some disappointment that his brother had not been promoted :
You speak of the disappointment you feel in my behalf in regard to the appointment of officers in the Fifty-fifth. Do not let that worry you in the least, for I assure you I did at the time, and do now, care but pre- cious little about it. This was not my purpose in enlisting, and the position of a private is as honorable as that of an officer.
The above extracts are copied from the yellow and time- stained originals, and it is not perceived but they are exhibi- tions of patriotism as pure and as deep as existed in the days of Valley Forge.
The correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, under date of April ISth, chronicles that the Seventy-first Ohio, a regiment which had disgraced itself at Shiloh, and whose colors had been taken away, had on that day arrived at Paducah, on the way to the rear to do garrison duty at Fort Donelson. That regiment may be finally disposed of by stating that in August of that year its colonel, Rodney Mason, disgracefully sur- rendered six companies to an inferior force, at Clarksville, without firing a shot, and that he and about a dozen line officers were dismissed for it. The remaining four companies under Major (late Adjutant ) Hart, repulsed the same force
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
from Donelson with a trifling loss. Later in the war the regiment did good service under good officers.
The month was passed among the half-buried remains of horses and men, which everywhere obtruded their ghastly presence to the senses of sight and smell, and the sick-list of the Fifty-fifth averaged at least one hundred and fifty men. On April 29th the ponderous preparations of General Halleck were deemed sufficiently perfect for an advance toward Corinth, and the unfruitful campaign in that direction was undertaken, and the one hundred thousand men assembled there put in motion. Stuart's brigade, then consisting of only two small regiments, started at ten o'clock in the fore- noon, and halted near Monterey, where the actual work of the siege commenced. On May 2d, two months' pay was received from Major Gatzmer.
Sherman's division formed the right of the army, and the work until the 17th of May consisted in building ponderous lines of breast-works, and in performing guard and picket duty. Some long range skirmishing was indulged in, but without loss to Stuart. By an order dated May 13th, it would seem that the Fourteenth Wisconsin was assigned to the brigade, but the order was never consummated, probably because Morgan L. Smith preferred to bring his own regi- ment, the Eighth Missouri, with him. On May 15th that officer, then a full brigadier, was assigned to duty, and the Fifty-fifth Illinois, Eighth Missouri, Fifty-fourth and Fifty- seventh Ohio, were together constituted the First brigade of Sherman's . Fifth division. This brought into close conjunc- tion four excellent regiments, which maintained relations more or less intimate during the war, and each made a name for itself. At this time also began the acquaintance of the Fifty-fifth with General Morgan L. Smith, the most expert drill-master and tactician under whom it ever served. He was the first colonel of the Eighth Missouri, which had been recruited principally from Illinois. That regiment was for a long time dressed in a showy Zouave uniform, and was very expert in skirmish drill and bayonet exercise. The great newspaper reputation which it gained in spite of its trifling losses, illustrates both the effect of being well handled
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RUSSELL'S HOUSE.
in action, and of a discreet cultivation of the good-will of correspondents. As to the former, it was never allowed to present a line of battle to the enemy if a skirmish line would answer the purpose. Having excellent officers, who acquired their knowledge under such a teacher, the regiment was always used with as much reference to the safety of its mem- bers as circumstances would permit; all of which was in striking contrast to the management of the first field-officers of the Fifty-fifth. Under the free-and-easy and somewhat rough exterior of Morgan L. Smith, was a kind heart and a deep interest in the welfare of his men. He bandied jokes freely with the troops in the ranks, and was not averse to receiving as well as giving rough language. His great gifts as drill-master soon put him in charge of one of the best drilled brigades in the United States army.
His own capacity, as well as the mettle of a portion of his men, was soon destined to be subjected to trial. This occurred on May 17th, in a brilliant little affair called "Rus- sell's House." The position was a strong salient of the enemy, and about one and a quarter miles in advance of their main intrenchments. It was located along a ridge, and on one portion of the line was situated in a field the house, named after its owner. The point was guarded by a rebel brigade, which was there with the evident intention of holding it. The object of the aggressive action was to capture the posi- tion for the purpose of advancing the Federal right wing close to the main works of the enemy.
The movement commenced at three o'clock in the after- noon of May 17th, and-Morgan L. Smith's brigade advanced, led by the Eighth Missouri and Fifty-fifth Illinois, directly upon the main Corinth road and against the brigade. The route was along the causeway over a branch of Bridge Creek, after crossing which the Confederate skirmishers were met, and the fight was opened by the deployment of two com- panies of the Eighth Missouri. The rebel advance line being obstinate, four additional companies of that regiment were deployed on the left. Finding his line still overlapped, Gen- eral Smith called upon Colonel Stuart for two companies of the Fifty-fifth, to be extended in the same direction. As
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
usual, Companies A and B were selected for the duty, and Colonel Stuart directed Captain Slattery of Company I to take charge of both. This, while an evidence of deserved confidence in Captain Slattery, was entirely unnecessary, because the commanders of the flank companies were as competent as officers need be for that duty. Upon being so ordered, Captain Slattery requested to be permitted to take his own company, and accordingly it was substituted for Company A. The former was deployed immediately to the left of the Eighth skirmishers, and Company B, under the command of Captain Thurston, who, though weak and stag- gering from disease, remained with his men, was placed next beyond. The Russell House, with its out-buildings, was directly in front of the skirmishers of the Fifty-fifth, and was the prominent feature of the landscape. The whole Federal skirmish line gallantly advanced, and as soon as Bolton's battery could get into position it opened upon the buildings, around and in which the rebels were thronging. Finally, when the line was within fifty yards of the house, the Confederates gave way and the position was captured. For a short time Company B was subjected to the fire of one of Hurlbut's batteries on the left, which had been misled by their rapid advance, and mistook them for the enemy. The whole affair was short, sharp and decisive, and was under the direct supervision of General Morgan L. Smith, whose bravery, in connection with his incisive, clear-headed way of managing things, at once carned him the confidence of the men. The Fifty-fifth for the first time saw the utility of a well-handled and rapid-moving skirmish linc, and felt its comparative economy of bloodshed. General Sherman after- wards spoke of this as "the prettiest little fight of the war;" and his reports insist on giving the credit of it to General Morgan L. Smith and the men under him.
Thirteen dead rebels were found upon the ground, among whom were one captain and two lieutenants. One of these officers was shot just as he was emerging from the door of the house, and he fell dead upon the door-step, with his brains scattered over it. One Confederate was shot through the widow of the chamber, where he was found dead. It
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RUSSELL'S HOUSE.
was claimed at the time that Tony Hughes aimed the rifle that was to be accredited with that particular job of recon- struction. In his report General Smithi mentions one prisoner as captured by the Eighth Missouri. That prisoner was, in point of fact, taken out of a corn-crib by S. P. Whitmore of Company I of the Fifty-fifth, where he had been held by the fire of Fred Ebersold and Alec Littlefield of the same com- pany, and was turned over to one of the Eighth Missouri. As usual no report was made for the regiment, and no per- sonal credit bestowed. As was also usual, every meritorious act, general or personal, on the part of the Eighth Missouri, was reported by its officers with suitable rhetorical embellish- ment, and the regular newspaper blast followed.
There were about seventy men of the Fifty-fifth actually deployed and engaged, of which eight were hit with rifle bullets. The only one killed outright was Andrew J. Jones of Company B. He was a small, active man, and a general favorite with his company. He had enlisted as a musician, but at his own urgent request had been placed in the ranks. He had before been wounded by a buck-shot at Shiloh, which hit him in the forehead, and came out at the back of the head without breaking the skull. At Russell's House he advanced with the rush of his company, and when about one hundred yards from the house he was seen to drop his gun and throw up his hands, and heard to exclaim with a loud voice, "Hurrah for the Fifty-fifth !" and immediately fell to the ground. After the contest was ended he was found dead, having been shot through the breast in the region of the heart. Robert Clark, an excellent soldier of the same con- pany, was mortally wounded, and Robert Rule badly wounded. In Company 1, George Ullman, John T. Clark, Edward Bogart, Norton H. Dowling and George W. Bookhalt were all very severely wounded, and three of them had to be discharged in consequence.
Sergeant Fred Ebersold and Alec Littlefield of Company I were for a time behind a tree within fifty yards of the house, and many rebel shots were directed that way. The bullet-marks in this tree were afterward counted, and found to number more than thirty. The whole regiment was under
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
a scattering fire of both artillery and musketry, but suffered no loss other than the above. After the retreat of the rebels, Morgan L. Smith was chaffing with the men about the inci- dents of the fight, when a member of the Eighth Missouri loudly claimed for that regiment the credit of capturing the house. Sergeant Fred Ebersold of Company I of the Fifty-fifth was close by, and vehemently denied this, and presented a canteen of whisky which he had got in the house as an evidence that his own regiment was entitled to the honor. Morgan L. quietly sampled the contents of the can- teen, and turning to the Eighth Missourian, told him to 'Dry up, for if that regiment had got into the house first, nobody else would ever have found a canteen of whisky there.' At the close of the contest, Companies B and I, reinforced by Company A, were sent to the woods beyond the house, and remained on picket during the night. The ground was held, and for a time became a salient of the Union line, though the reports show the usual timid hesitation and fear of a general engagement, on the part of Grandmother Halleck, who had so soon been appropriately named by the discriminating soldiers.
Aside from this very creditable affair the campaign known as the Approach on Corinth, was devoid of dramatic interest on the right flank. During the month used up by the slow operations, the Confederate commander, with scarce half the force of his opponents, at least twice offered battle outside his intrenchments. The great opportunity was each time evaded by the Federal chief. The process by which the Union army worked its way to Corinth has passed into his- tory as one of the most inefficient operations of the war. Like the Siege of Yorktown, in the East, it involved an claboration of strategy that now looks a good deal like imbecility. In both cases the commanders were paralyzed by the belief that their opponents had in hand an army as large or larger than their own, an overestimate of enormous proportions.
Seven different and complete lines of intrenchments, reaching for miles across the whole front of the army, were erected. They were not rifle-pits or field-works, but solid
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ADVANCE ON CORINTH.
massive earth-works with log backing and all scientific attachments, and were far superior to the rebel works around Corinth. They are yet to be seen, with their outlines almost perfect. The Fifty-fifth did its full share of digging, and the fortifications built by the regiment were the pride of Lieutenant-Colonel Malmborg's heart. He was never so happy as when displaying his alleged engineering skill.
Among other fantasies of the commander-in-chief was the fear of an early morning attack, and with a view to properly meet this the men were at times compelled to get up at three o'clock in the morning and resort to the works just in front of their camps, fully armed and equipped, and there lie down so as to be able to arise in battle array. On one of these occasions, Colonel Stuart was endeavoring to arouse the sleepy men when he stumbled over some soldier. He at once fell to kicking and cursing, when the recumbent form arose, clinched him, took him down, rolled him in the mud, hit him once or twice, and escaped unidentified into the surrounding darkness.
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