USA > Illinois > The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865 > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
Come as the winds come, when Forests are rended ; Come as the waves come, when Navies are stranded ;
and were on their way to exact a tribute for the disappoint- ment at Vicksburg.
Notrib's Farm, three miles below the fort, was reached on the evening of the 9th. Cavalry and infantry pickets, with adequate supports, landed at once, but most of the troops remained on the more comfortable transports during the night. The fort itself was in plain view, and commanded two miles of the stream. It was a staunch little work, with three eight-inch guns pointing down stream, heavily case- mated with timber and railroad iron. In the interior of the fort, mounted in barbette, was a ten-inch gun. This loud- voiced messenger of the rebellion could be turned in any direction. From the fort, situated upon the river bank twenty feet above the water's edge, there extended inland and up-stream a long line of earth-works, which, after enclosing sufficient territory, returned to the river above. Along these were distributed the infantry troops of the garrison, and
-----
199
ARKANSAS POST.
considerable field artillery. Between the work above de- scribed and the landing-place of the Union army there were various lines of rifle-pits, some of them only partially com- pleted, which were not strenuously defended by the Confed- erates. The main work and its dependencies were held by about six thousand men, under the command of General Churchill. The purpose of the work was to defend Little Rock and the interior. The plan of the attack was to stretch a cordon of troops from the river below entirely around the rebels to the river above, and in conjunction with the gun- boat fleet, belabor them into surrender.
On Sunday, the next day, the fifty-fifth disembarked. Many officers and men remained on board, sick and disabled from the recent very severe exposure. This with the ac- companying ill success of the few weeks previous, and the copperhead news from the North, somewhat depressed the troops. The superseding of General Sherman by General McClernand was not well received by the men. Captain Slattery, who had just recovered from a serious fit of illness, was serving upon the staff of the division com- mander. As the regiment was forming on the shore, pre- paratory to marching out to the attack, it was interrupted by the clatter of a squadron of cavalry which came dashing up. At their head rode a dark, bewhiskered man upon a black stallion, who, arriving in front of the colors, reined his war-horse back upon his haunches, raised his plumed hat in the air and grandiloquently inquired the name of the regiment. Upon being told, he gave the hat a flourish and shouted, "May your gallantry on this occasion equal, if not excel your gallant conduct at Shiloh." The colonel called for three cheers for General McClernand, who this turned out to be. Presently the Fifty-fifth, closely followed by the Thirteenth Regulars, started toward the rebel intrenchments. There were thirteen officers and three hun- dred and forty men in the regimental line, showing a loss to the effective force of nearly one hundred since entering the battle of Chickasaw Bayou. This was of course mainly from sickness, and illustrates the terrible nature of the exposure.
After following the river bank a short distance to a line
200
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
of unoccupied rifle-pits, the column turned inland and pro- ceeded in a northwesterly direction into the small but dense timber covering the country. Two miles from the main works the rebel skirmishers were found, commanded by Colonel Garland of Texas. The Thirteenth were deployed as skir- mishers, and followed in close support by the Fifty-fifth, the contest opening in the usual desultory way. Occasionally an enormous shell whipped through the timber, seeking out the blue line. The enemy were slowly pressed back toward their works by the gallant Thirteenth, and occasionally a squalid, dead Confederate was passed who had met a swift mes- senger of reconstruction. During the movement Companies A, F and C were deployed, and as night approached, the Confederates were forced back out of the timber into the cleared space in front of their works. As the sun was set- ting, the Union line in close pursuit, came in sight of the in- trenchments and the log buildings used as barracks. Dark- ness came early on that short winter day and found the Fed- eral line of environment incomplete. The heads of the various columns like Stuart's had reached the vicinity of the works, and a part of the Fifty-fifth was pushed out among the brush and stumps of the open space, while the remainder lay down in line a few rods in the rear. The rest of the division was massed in column by regiments close at hand, no opportunity existing for extending the lines over the obstructed country. Blankets and overcoats had been left on board the transports in the expectation of immediate engagement, and the night set in freezing cold and threaten- ing snow. Of course no fires were allowed to be built under the circumstances. The suffering in consequence during the night was extreme.
Presently a flash like that of lightning illuminated the west, and a great shell from the pivot gun in the fort came shricking toward us. It went just above the Fifty-fifth, but passed to the rear before exploding. Every man dropped prone upon the ground instantly, and as close to the bosom of mother earth as the somewhat rigid limits of human anat- omy would allow. All eyes turned to the fort in expectation of another ten inch shell from the same source. It soon
---
201
SURROUNDING THE CAMP.
came screaming along leaving sparks of fire behind. This time it passed not over six feet high and exploded with a terrific splitting sound a few feet to the rear of the regiment and among the troops massed behind. In the Fifty-fifth Dedrick Garbs of Company E, a good soldier, was mortally wounded. Tom Clark of Company I, another fine soldier who had been wounded at Russell's House, had a leg broken. Among the other regiments several were hit, the loss from the single explosion being stated at the time as three killed and fourteen wounded. The brave Captain Ycomans of the Fifty-fourth Ohio lost his left arm. He was refused promo- tion to the majority of his regiment for this disability, but subsequently raised a colored regiment and came out of the last Richmond campaign a brigadier-general. A third shell followed from the same gun which went further to the rear before exploding. Just then it was struck by a shot from the gunboats and its voice silenced forever. Daylight and the appearance of large board targets placed at various distances over the level country explained the accuracy of the shots fired by this gun. The firing soon almost ceased except here and there a shot rang sharply in the night air from some alarmed picket. In trying to establish a connection with the pickets on the right, Sergeant Reidenour who had been sent on that duty, narrowly escaped with his life. Michael T. Cox of Company A, heard some one near his post in the direction of the enemy, and his quick riffe was aimed and fired that way, with deadly effect. The shot was followed by the most heart-rending moans and exclamations, until after some hours they subsided in the silence of death. Who this was or why he was approaching the line was never known.
Finally the long, dreary night passed and daylight dawned. The slow movement of investing the Confederate works was resumed. Toward noon this was completed. All the batteries with the army were brought up with the line and opened upon the enemy. The entire front of the army in plain view of the rebels behind the works, was curtained with a cloud of skirmishers who, when ready, advanced against their fellow citizens in like formation upon the other
.
202
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
side. The ground gained from time to time under the hot fire was occupied by the skirmishers, when the main line advanced accordingly and lay down. This very well de- scribes the character of the whole battle from the land side, which consisted of a series of rushes, as above stated.
In conjunction with these operations, Commodore Porter, with his gunboats, moved up the river directly upon the main fort. The narrow stream was crowded with vessels armed with guns of the heaviest metal of that period. They steamed up to and finally passed the rebel works to the rear of their position, placing the enemy exactly between the army and the navy. During the passage the massive fort had been pounded into an irregular and useless heap of earth, and every gun in it dismounted. Those of its defend- ers who had not been smashed by the enormous missiles hurled at them, fled to a safer place. Meanwhile the long lines of infantry had been spasmodically gaining ground in the interior, and by this time were in the immediate vicinity of the rifle-pits, all rebel skirmishers having been driven in. The Federal line of battle could not fire because their whole front was covered by their own skirmishers. The rebel bul- lets, however, flew thickly around, and had it not been for the protection afforded by lying down, and an occasional depres- sion in the ground, the casualties would have been serious. As it was, only one man was hit in the Fifty-fifth, and he not seriously. The victim was little Billy Nagleschmidt of Com- pany 1, who had been wounded at Shiloh, and died before the war ended. A spent ball struck him in the arm, and, as is frequently the case, hurt worse than it would if the wound had been of a more bloody character. After going to the rear a short distance he was met by the musicians and offered a ride upon a stretcher. While he was being carried the men stopped to rest, and undertook to examine the wound, when, to Billy's surprise, not a drop of blood was drawn. The wounded but disgusted soldier returned swearing to his com- pany, where he remained through the day, but too disabled to carry his gun.
As the lines converged into the open country around the works, their whole magnificent stretch came into view. At
203
THE SURRENDER.
proper intervals the batteries, keeping abreast, moved by hand, opened viciously, and as the rebel skirmishers clustered around or behind some building for protection. every gun in range would, apparently by instinct, open upon them, which overt act would be followed by a stampede of the rebels to the rear. This gradual advance finally brought everything face to face with the Confederate works, which could be seen crowded with men. Any further progress must be a genuine assault upon the enemy's fortified position. That was deter- mined upon, and orders were repeated along the whole front. At least twenty-five thousand men clad in blue arose from their recumbent position and stood crect at the word of command. When the order came to fix bayonets, a mighty wave of burnished steel rose from one flank to the other. It flashed in the eyes of the opposing host, and struck terror to their hearts. Just as the bayonets were fixed and the line came to a charge, awaiting breathlessly the final word to rush forward, several white flags appeared above the breastworks. Without any order, generals, staff officers, line officers and enlisted men, with a wild cheer and without a shot being fired, swept over the works and the capture was complete.
The surrender seems to have been the spontaneous act of the men and the moral effect of the fierce preparation going on just before them, and led to much recrimination among the rebel authorities. The stupid, ragged and misguided Arkansas and Texas men quailed before the on-coming loyal wave, and terminated their first battle in a way their own officers stigmatized as cowardly. As they fell back from their works the rebels in front of Stuart's division gathered in a promiscuous crowd around a small pond of water, and commenced quietly tossing into it knives, revolvers and such like personal gear. This was soon discovered, and the icy, cold water explored by the victors, who splashed and dove until the last relic was rescued.
To the right of where the Fifty-fifth entered the works a Confederate brigade was commanded by a small, black-eyed, handsome colonel, named Deshler. He refused to surrender his men for a little time, claiming that he had received no orders to that effect; but before a wholesale slaughter was
204
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
inaugurated he succumbed to the inevitable. This hot-headed colonel, afterward a brigadier in the Confederate service, literally lost his head at Chickamauga, for it was taken off by a cannon shot. The night after the capture the regiment remained near the intrenchments around camp-fires, dividing their rations with the captured "Johnnies." Some temperate hilarity was indulged in, as was natural after such a victory, and the poor, tired sergeant-major records that "Company I's Dutch glee club kept the camp awake until after midnight with their songs." It is more than likely that Fred Ebersold and Dorsey Andress had something to do with this atrocity.
Work was immediately commenced for the complete de- struction of the rebel stronghold, it not being intended to occupy the place. The Union dead and wounded, amounting in all to ten hundred and thirty-two, were properly taken care of. The Confederate dead were pitched unceremoni- ously into the ditches, and the earth-works shoveled down upon them. The ragged, forlorn prisoners, shivering with . the cold, were placed upon transports and sent north under a proper escort. Some preliminary steps were taken toward going into camp while General McClernand was incubating a fanciful plan of proceeding up the river to Little Rock, and so on into the wilds of Arkansas. Happily the water in the river was not sufficient for any such knight-erranty.
On the foggy evening of January 13th the Fifty-fifth dis- mantled its slight bivouac and proceeded along the muddy, crowded road to the landing below. On the way a bedrag- gled squad of men, scarce more than a company, were passed who were acting as guard to a wagon train. The rough jokes of the Fifty-fifth were turned in that direction, but they were instantly followed by a respectful silence when it was learned that this was all that was left of the brave Germans of the Fifty-eighth Ohio, since Chickasaw Bayou. The steamer South-Wester was embarked upon at nine o'clock at night, and during the next day remained tied up to the shore. This was the transport infected with the small-pox, which gave to the regiment its first and only attack from that epi- demic, from the effects of which several men died. The weather alternated between rain and snow, and Napoleon,
-
205
THE COMMISSIONS ARRIVE.
the vile town at the mouth of the Arkansas, was reached on the morning of January 16th, where the first news of the great battle of Stone River was received, as well as the de- tails of General Grant's failure in the Vicksburg campaign by the way of Holly Springs. This last, of course, fully explained why so overwhelming a force had confronted Sher- man at Chickasaw Bayou. By the same mail also came a large package from the Governor of Illinois to Captain Augustine. This contained the commissions belonging to the various officers of the regiment, before alluded to, and their delivery was announced in a loud tone of voice by the captain, in the presence of General Stuart, who let loose cer- tain ineffectual profanity thereat.
On Sunday, January 17th, the Fifty-fifth was sent up the river a short distance for the purpose of foraging at a large plantation. This extensive domain was thoroughly cleaned out with profitable results. It belonged to a rebel, General Clark, who was wounded at Shiloh, and subsequently mor- tally hurt at Baton Rouge. From this point several men deserted from the regiment, incited thereto by cowardice, discouragement, and the copperhead demonstrations at home. The place was convenient for an escape into the woods, and was much more practicable than when the whole army was present; besides guerillas were hovering near who would readily put the deserters through the form of a parole, a common method of proceeding under such circumstances. Among these was one Andrew Mitchell of Company I, a constitutional coward, who had commenced his warlike career by aspiring to a commission, but who disgraced his corporal's chevrons at Shiloh by running away. His escapade in way of desertion at this place is worth noting, because he made his way in the dead of winter through the sparsely settled wilds of Arkansas and Missouri, afoot and alone, fully seven hundred miles, to his home in Illinois. A small share of the hardships and privations of such a journey, if they had been endured in the line of duty, would have honestly earned the promotion he once aspired to.
On Monday, January 19th, the fleet turned down stream toward Vicksburg, to reopen operations against that strong-
1
206
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
hold. The Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry was in it, destined to take an important and creditable part in that memorable campaign. In its efforts to maintain national supremacy that regiment had already lost two hundred and sixty-seven men by the casualties of battle. Fifty-four of this roll of honor had been shot dead, and thirty-eight so grievously stricken that death soon followed.
---
PART II.
FROM YOUNG'S POINT TO ATLANTA.
JANUARY, 1863, TO NOVEMBER, IS64.
BY
CAPTAIN HENRY S. NOURSE.
CHAPTER V.
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
B EFORE the coming of the year 1863 nearly every one, from president to private soldier, had been educated to understand that henceforward all strategic operations in the West ought to aim at one definite object-the secure posses- sion of the great natural highway which binds the Northwest to the gulf states. To the opening of the Mississippi all the tireless energies of the Western armies and the military genius of their generals were to be directed. The expedition which -as has been described in the previous chapter --- resulted in destruction of the intrenched camp at Arkansas Post, was held excusable, only because it was seen to be in some sense subsidiary to the grander work, and because ably conducted to brilliant success. Further eccentric digression, planned and fully resolved upon by Major-General McCler- nand, would have been a serious military blunder. The immediate return of the victorious forces to their proper task was imperative. But about the processes by which the solution of the great problem should be attempted, there was much reason for question. Indeed many and unfortu- nate differences of judgment respecting these had previously arisen among those highest in authority. The ambitious schemes of self-confident political brigadiers, pushed by per- sonal pressure at Washington, had more than once marred a skilfully directed campaign. But for such schemes, added to ill-advised interference from the War Department and the
14
210-0K
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
untoward consequences resulting therefrom, General Grant would doubtless have persisted in grand strategy accordant with established military science ;- strategy which during the preceding twelve-month had proved eminently productive, compelling the successive abandonment by the Confederates of one stronghold after another along the Mississippi until the river was freed of hostile blockade from the mouth of the Ohio to that of the Yazoo. The Northern people, more- over, always impatient of slow onward movement and mea- gre victories, became more and more clamorous for a positive success; and a return to Memphis as the base for a campaign along railroad lines southward, however wise upon military grounds, would have been at once heralded as a retreat, and, temporarily at least, would have added to the grave discour- agements already felt in the ranks of the army and in political councils. Thus hampered by instructions of superiors and the popular outcry for advance, there was but one course to pursue, and General Grant promptly ordered the army back to Vicksburg, taking command in person.
Three days were consumed in the journey down the river. It being the third passage by the regiment through this lonely region, the novelty of travel had largely worn off. The broad stream, often picturesquely varied at the north, here rolled a turbid, sullen torrent, between low shores densely covered with woods of little value, and as we neared our destination funereal with cypress and the sombre-hued moss that draped the trees. Few indications of civilization appeared on either bank. Sometimes houseless chimneys were seen standing where little communities once had homes; for retribution by fire had fallen wherever had been sheltered the guerilla par- ties that assailed supply boats and transports. The enlisted men, having few duties to occupy their time, wandered list- lessly about the boat or whiled away the weary hours with cards and sleep. The officers took lessons in river navigation of the pilot at the wheel, and drew out the captain's stock jokes and highly spiced stories of steamboat life, or wrote homesick letters in the cabin. No startling event disturbed the monotony of the trip. On the twenty-second of Janu- ary the regiment landed at Young's Point and set up its tents
211
YOUNG'S POINT CANAL.
in sight of Vicksburg, by the channel seven miles from the city, but in a direct line little more than three miles from its lower batteries.
The camp was near the northern end of a canal which had been dug by negroes across the upper end of the peninsula during July, 1862, under orders of Brigadier-General Thomas Williams. This noted canal, from which wonderful results were anticipated and confidently foretold by those who, hun- dreds of miles distant, managed the war upon maps, greatly disappointed the soldiers encamped in the swamp beside it. In appearance it was little more conspicuous than a farm ditch, being generally not over ten feet broad and six feet deep where completed. It was about one mile and an eighth in length. The Fifteenth Army Corps was at once provided with spades and set at work enlarging it to a width of fifty or sixty feet. Those of little experience, having seen the vagrant propensities of the Mississippi, and learning that it often at flood-time within twenty-four hours cuts for itself in the alluvium an entirely new channel across similar peninsu- las, had large hope of this cut-off. There were, however, hundreds in the army better acquainted with the river, who, in the free discussion of the situation by the camp-fires, talk- ing wisely about the eddy before the proposed entrance and the clayey nature of the subsoil, prophesied that the way- ward current could not be coaxed to enter the channel being Liboriously prepared for it. There was for this reason after 4 time not much heart put into the work; but for twelve hours daily the men by details took turns at digging in the tenacious mud, and the aid of two dredging machines was finally called in. It was soon obvious to all that, even if the canal became navigable, it would be of little utility for aiding any flank movement, our vigilant opponents having located new batteries so as completely to command its southern out- let. Besides, it became well known that Warrenton and Grand Gulf upon the river below presented formidable bluffs, frowning with batteries little less impregnable than Vicksburg itself. Intelligent soldiers saw that we were only "marking time," and impatiently awaited the next movement. The fruitless labor went regularly on, however, and the little city
212
FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
looked scornfully down from its steep hillsides, and occasion- ally sent from the far-reaching rifled cannon, known to both armies as "Whistling Dick," a shrieking shell to crash through the tree tops above the dredges, giving warning of her watch- fulness and of the nature of the welcome ready for foes daring a nearer approach.
The period of its stay at Young's Point was on many accounts one of the gloomiest in the career of the regiment. At the time of its arrival the river was rapidly rising, and the turbid waters gradually crept up the slope of the high levee several feet above the level of the encampments. It was a winter of excessive rains and unusual floods. The swamps became lakes, and camps and roads were sloughs of black mire. If one put his foot squarely down anywhere, it was questionable, when he raised it again, if the shoe would not stay behind; and if it yielded reluctant allegiance where it belonged, it brought with it a pound or two of unctuous earth. The nights were so damp and chill that, when attain- able, log fires were kept before the tents, while the days were sometimes oppressively sultry. The men, although now hardened campaigners, working day after day midleg deep in mud and water, in a malarious climate, under various dis- couragements and a lack of generous food, gradually lost spirits, grumbled audibly, and began to fail in health. Sev- cral cases of small-pox appeared, causing great alarm; but they proved sporadic and of mild type for the most part. For five months the paymaster with his iron chest had not been seen, and not only men and officers, but their families, suffered many discomforts by consequence.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.