USA > Illinois > The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865 > Part 21
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Work upon the Duck-Point canal to connect Walnut Bayou with the Mississippi at a point four or five miles above the Young's-Point canal, was begun carly in April, and the regi- ment having moved its camp a mile or more north to dry ground near the levee, was frequently called upon to aid in its excavation. This water-way was to be two miles long, sixty feet wide and nine fect deep, and would enable light transports to pass by a circaitous route into the river at Now Carthage; but on account of a sudden fall of several feet in the waters, it never was completed. It served, like the former canals, only to give abundant exercise to the troops, turn their eyes from too constantly gazing at the discourag- ing landscape presented by Vicksburg's impregnable front, and satisfy the insatiable demands of the general public for experimental schemes.
On the fourth of April, Major-General Frank P. Blair assumed command of the division-the Second of the Fif- teenth Army Corps -- relieving David Stuart, whose appoint- ment as brigadier-general, dated November 29th, 1862, had
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
been refused confirmation by the Senate, March 11th, 1863. From this date General Stuart disappears from the history of the Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteers, and from army annals. For fully six months he had performed the duties of a brigade or division commander, and General Sherman in his "Mem- oirs" speaks of him in terms of high esteem. His autocratic sway and unscrupulous self-seeking, however, inspired fear rather than affection, and perhaps the majority of his regi- ment felt little sympathy for the proud-spirited man as he left, bitterly disappointed of his chief ambition in life; but they at least recognized the fact that his great natural abili- ties, energy in organization, and early services, had been ill requited. He died of apoplexy, at Detroit, Michigan, Sep- tember 11th, 1868. His farewell order follows:
HEADQUARTERS 2D DIV. ISTH ARMY CORPS, YOUNG'S POINT, 3d April, 1863. General Order No. 6.
SOLDIERS OF THE SECOND DIVISION : The order is today pub- lished, which relieves me of command. In taking leave of you, I cannot refrain from expressing, in orders, the strong sentiment of interest and attachment which I cherish for you, and the sincere regret with which I part from you. I do not desert, or abandon willingly, the defence of a cause we have so long maintained together. I do not, of my own pleas- ure, leave you whom I brought into the field, nor you whom I have labored to fit for its duties, to encounter its perils and hardships, unshared by your leader. No exigency of private convenience or affairs could have withdrawn me from my duty to you and our beloved country. We con- tend for the supremacy of our Government, for absolute and unqualified submission to its law. That law retires me from your command and from the service. It does not become you, or me, to debate or discuss its wisdom or its justice. Our submission must be at once respectful and cheerful - but the same country which has dispensed with the services of your commander, commands your continued and patriotic endeavor.
Veterans of so many well fought fields -- earnest, brave and disci- plined soldiers-you will not fail to achieve the destiny which your endurance, chivalry and pride assure me is yours. Sooner or later you will be hailed by your countrymen with grateful acclaim, where you may seem now to be deemed as the pensioners of their bounty. Abide fast by your honor and your flag ! Confide in the justice of your holy mission, and in the wise purposes of a Providence, who rules and governs the nations of the earth, and who will so direct your arms that the haughty and traitorous disturbers of your country's peace and happiness shall be humbled and crushed at your feet, and you will soon be returned to the
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PASSING THE BATTERIES.
loving embrace of your families and friends, whose highest aspirations, whose proudest hopes, you shall fulfill and realize.
I leave you, fellow soldiers, proud to have been your leader; proud in the consciousness of having done my duty faithfully with you, and cher- ishing with lively gratitude the demonstrations of confidence, of personal regard and affection with which you have sought to qualify with me the pain of separation, or the supposed indignity of my official retirement. I shall remain mindful of your perils, toils and hardships; my sympathy and concernment for you my absence will not abate, and in some sphere I may hope to serve you, if only in the humble, though not unimportant character of "Rear Guard." Farewell !
By order of Brig .- Gen. D. STUART, Com. 2d Division. C. MCDONALD, Assi. Adjt-Gen.
On April 11th the regiment was paid by Major Clark, and on the 13th General Blair reviewed his division. The waters were now slowly receding into their proper channels, daily drills and .parades were resumed, and spades and axes were again called into action; not, however, to deepen canals or open bayous, but to extend corduroy roads and build bridges. From Milliken's Bend came news of the movement of the Thirteenth Corps past our rear, southward. Unusual activity in the fleet betokened preparations for running the blockade in force, and that this was proposed was made certain by a call for volunteer boatmen from among the soldiers, the crews of the transports generally declining the dangerous service. At midnight of the sixteenth we witnessed, from a safe distance but as intensely interested spectators, the most terrific yet grand scene of the war in the West --- the passing the batteries at Vicksburg by Admiral Porter with eight gunboats and three transports. Each of the latter was pro- tected with bales of cotton and hay, and had in tow large barges loaded with provisions and forage. For two hours and a half the heights were all ablaze; bonfires were kindled along the shore as soon as the leading gunboat was discovered, and brightly illumined the river and town. The rebel cannoniers fired their guns with the utmost rapidity, and the ironclads briskly replied. Soon the transport Henry Clay burst into flames; but all the other vessels could be seen finally passing down, apparently safe. The next morning we learned that with all the thunderous uproar and lavish burning of villain-
15
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ous saltpetre, not a man had been killed in the fleet and only eight had been wounded, although every boat and barge had been hit, and more than once. It seemed little short of miraculous. On the twenty-second the same scene, but upon a smaller scale, was repeated, six transports with double that number of barges daring the perilous trip. Five of the former and half of the latter reached their destination little damaged.
The bold strategy of our reticent commander was unfold- ing itself before us. The various schemes for circumventing the Mississippi Gibraltar by means of canals and bayous had been perseveringly tried, and all had signally failed. Now the falling waters precluded further attempts of the kind, but there was to be no step backward. Flank movements from the northward were to be abandoned, and the field of operations transferred to some point below. This much was disclosed to us by the large store of army supplies sent down in the barges, and the prospect of a change of base was hailed with universal joy.
The Adjutant-General of the United States Army, Lorenzo Thomas, was at this time making a tour through the Western camps to ascertain the prevailing sentiment among rank and file respecting the proposed employment of negro troops, and to promote the organization of colored regiments under white officers. April 21st the question was submitted to the division of General Blair, assembled for the purpose and massed in hollow square to hear various speakers upon the subject. An army wagon served as a rostrum. The chief address was made by General Thomas. Following him came General Sherman, who called upon the soldiers present to bear witness that wherever he had exercised chief authority no fugitive slave had ever been remanded to bondage; but that he had always and everywhere encouraged the employ- ment of the colored race as teamsters, cooks, laborers and officers' servants. He strongly favored their employment as soldiers. Colonel Benjamin Spooner made a telling, com- mon-sense address, and was succceded by a German colonel, who spoke eloquently in his native tongue to those best understanding that language. At the final taking of a vote
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OFFICERS OF COLORED TROOPS.
upon the question, every man of the Fifty-fifth save one, Michael Lyon of Company G, declared himself in favor of arming the negro.
A few in the regiment avowed their intention to seek commissions in the proposed organizations of colored men. Richard Taylor was commissioned first-lieutenant of the First Mississippi Cavalry, to date from October 2, 1863. This reg- iment, under Colonel E. D. Osband, gained repute as the Third U. S. C. C. Taylor was promoted to a captaincy May 29th, 1864, and resigned January 15th, 1865. Orderly-sergeant James M. Shreves was detached with the Fiftieth U. S. C. T. at Vicksburg, and died August 19th, 1863, acting as quarter- master-sergeant while awaiting his commission. He was a brave and wholly unexceptional soldier, a young man of sterling character and ability. He had been chosen orderly- sergeant of the company at its organization, but prejudice in the appointing power had long kept him from deserved pro- motion; and this in spite of the fact that he was wounded at Shiloh, and then received honorable mention for bravery in the battle report from that same power. But for this unex- plainable prejudice he would at his death have been captain of Company F, and would have graced the position. John Cadwallader was commissioned second-lieutenant of the Second Mississippi Colored. Silas S. Garrett was transferred to the First Tennessee Heavy Artillery, December 11th, 1863, and became first-lieutenant. The regiment was stationed at Memphis. Amos Sanford was made second-lieutenant in the Twelfth Louisiana Colored, in October, 1863. William L. Early was also a second-lieutenant in the last named regiment.
April 29th, ten regiments of the division left Young's Point upon such transports as could be collected, preceded by the ironclads Baron De Kalb and Choctaw, Admiral Por- ter's flag-boat Black Hawk, three mortar rafts, the wooden gunboat Taylor, and certain nondescript black craft that at a distance might pass for gunboats. The Fifty-fifth was assigned to the Belle City. The expedition started at ten o'clock in the forenoon, steamed up the Yazoo fifteen miles and halted, sending out pickets along the shore, and the next morning proceeded until within sight of the fortifications at
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
Haines's Bluff. It had been published in orders that a feint only was to be made, its object being to draw attention from the operations of General Grant in the vicinity of Grand Gulf. The troops were landed and displayed in battle line, skirmishers were sent forward, the mortars and ironclads threw shells into the earth-works crowning the hill, and noth- ing of smoke, noise or ostentatious tactics was omitted that could aid the impression that an assault was imminent. The rebel batteries replied to the gunboats which were frequently struck, and solid shot rolled through our lines. One man only in the expedition was wounded, and he but slightly. There was obviously great excitement among the camps of the enemy. Their works were extended and strengthened by night, and additional guns were mounted. Re-enforce- ments were seen coming up from the direction of Vicksburg. In fact, as we afterwards learned, General Pemberton was fully deceived, and troops half way on the road to General Bowen were recalled and hurried to confront us. By conse- quence the latter general's little army, in spite of its stubborn resistance, was overborne by General Grant's advance, and Port Gibson and Grand Gulf, and the roads between Jackson and Vicksburg fell the more easily into our possession be- cause of this ruse. Our demonstration was kept up until the night of May ist, when, having accomplished its purpose, the fleet returned as it came.
Loading our camp and garrison equipage from the levee at Young's Point upon the boat, we moved to Milliken's Bend, and there, on May 3d, established our camp about a inile in rear of the landing. Despite the terribly unfavorable sanitary conditions inseparable from the locality, and the long lists of the sick at the surgeon's morning call, but five men of the regiment found graves at Young's Point. These were Samuel Piper of B, Corporal James W. Frazier and Philip Pitts of C, Corporal Joseph Lightfoot of E, and J. K. P. Moneymaker of K. Pitts was one of the few who suc- cumbed to the loathsome disease, small-pox. He was a manly boy enrolled as a musician, but being bravely ambi- tious chose to serve in the ranks. Many of the seriously ill were carried north upon the hospital boats, and from time to
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MORGAN L. SMITH'S VISIT.
time company commanders got notice of the death of some valued comrade in the great hospitals of Memphis and St. Louis.
In our new camp we received a call from our former divis- ion commander, Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith, who left us at Chickasaw Bayou, having been grievously wounded. Hearing of his arrival on a steamer from Memphis, and that. he proposed to visit the troops, Colonel Malmborg put out scouts to give timely warning of his approach, and drew up the regiment on the parade. We waited long, but at last the general appeared, riding in an ambulance; the ranks were opened and arms presented. The colonel, leaving the regi- ment standing at present, hastened to aid his distinguished guest to alight, and began to address him with verbose con- gratulation; but General Smith, leaning on his crutches, pushed him aside with characteristic brusqueness, exclaiming, "O hell ! I didn't come out here to see you officers. How are you, boys?" The "boys," without waiting for orders, instantly broke ranks and flocked around their crippled chief, eager to shake him by the hand and listen to his quaint and pungent remarks. Among other things touched upon in his uncon- ventional talk, he took occasion to praise in generous terms our new division commander, General F. P. Blair, probably surmising that our prejudices might do him injustice, his ap- pointment being notoriously a political one. After a brief stay the general hobbled to his ambulance again, and rode away amid hearty cheers.
It was understood that General Blair's division would re- main to guard Milliken's Bend until the arrival of other forces from Memphis, and we elaborated and polished our camp, anticipating a stay of weeks; but on the fifth the regi- ment was ordered five miles west to Lomm's Plantation, for outpost duty, and on the seventh joined the brigade while on the march towards Grand Gulf, which we then learned had, together with Port Gibson, been captured by the van of the army. Passing through Richmond, La., we were met and briefly addressed by Governor Richard Yates, who was mak- ing a tour of inspection through General Grant's department.
The men marched gally along with springy step, singing .
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
their army songs, chaffing each other and every one we chanced to meet, and exhibiting in all variety of rampant jollity their clation at escaping from the malarious swamps. Full of confidence in themselves and trust in their leaders they rejoiced at the prospect of meeting Pemberton's army in a fair field, and already counted Vicksburg their own. We had little conception of the desperate nature of the enterprise into which our obstinate commander was leading us despite the warning advice of his most trusted lieutenants. We could not then know that, contrary to all military precedent, we were about to cut loose from a base of supplies, abandon connection with the navy, and thrust ourselves between two formidable armies, one of which was equal to our own in num- bers ;-- and this in a region by nature among the most casily defensible to be found in the land, where victory must be speedy and unqualified, or our destruction certain.
About fifteen miles were traversed each day, notwith- standing we were somewhat delayed by the frailty of the numerous bridges and the incumbrance of the army train placed in our charge. The route lay along Bayou Vidal to Perkins's plantation, and thence beside the curved Lake St. Joseph to Hard Times on the river a little above Grand Gulf. The whole region is a low-lying plain possessing a rich, deep soil capable of sustaining a dense population; but was occu- pied by a few wealthy planters, whose mansions faced the road at intervals of from one to three miles. These resi- dences, mostly of modern construction and by far the most costly and elegant we had seen in the South, were filled with cvery appliance of taste and domestic utility. Behind them were the usual twin rows of whitewashed cabins for the slaves; and cotton presses, corn-barns, and often a steam-mill, all furnished with the best machinery, were located not far away. These had been built by Northern mechanics, and it was currently reported that a soldier of our brigade found at one of these plantations his tool-chest, where he had left it when the war began, being obliged to flee to avoid conscrip- tion, and unable to obtain his wages or remove his tools. There was also a rumor that he now took payment in the satisfaction of seeing the work of his hands reduced to ashes.
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GRAND FLANK MOVEMENT.
The lords of these manors had deserted them in haste, and a few slaves only remained in charge. The troops that had passed before us left proofs of their customary lack of respect for the deserted property of rebels, and at our noon halts groups of tired, dust-covered "mud-sills" were to be seen seated on satin-upholstered chairs amid roses or in the shade of fig-trees, and cating their bacon and hard-tack from marble-topped tables and rosewood pianos. Sometimes for miles the road was shaded by beautiful live oaks, and catal- pas in full bloom, or bordered by a tangled hedge of red and white roses, forming a barricade of beauty eight feet high and more in breadth; while in contrast on the left hand lay the muddy bayou, an occasional dead alligator poisoning the air with its hideous, swollen, malodorous carcass. Abund- ance of food for inen and animals was found in the store- houses, and the fields were lush with growing corn.
On the eleventh, after nearly a day's delay at IJard Times landing, we crossed the river late in the afternoon and went into bivouac at Grand Gulf,-not inappropriately called by the Confederates "the little Gibraltar." An attempt to storm this fortress from the front would have disastrously failed. So far as its defensive qualities were concerned, we could not see that the naval bombardment had done it much injury. During the next four days we were moving towards Jackson; reaching Auburn on the thirteenth, moving in a violent rain storm to New Auburn on the fourteenth, and arriving at Ray- mond on the fifteenth, to find ourselves amid hospitals, newly made graves, and other sad signs of the battle won three days before by General Logan's division of the Seventeenth Army Corps. The contrast between the Louisiana shore we had just left, and the landscape passed through during this march in Mississippi, was very striking. Our road here wound along sharp-crested clay hills one to two hundred feet above the river, with numerous deep ravines and water-worn gullies radiating on either hand, the precipitous sides of which were densely clothed with deciduous forest-growth-trees, vines, and underwood in great variety. In such ground the party assailed had enormous advantages over the assailant, for every hill top could be quickly converted into a fortress.
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
While in the Young's Point encampment, the enlisted men of the regiment raised by general subscription nearly four hundred dollars for the purchase of a horse and equipments complete to present to Surgeon Roler as a testimonial of their gratitude and affection. They declined to accept prof- fered contributions from the commisioned officers, desiring to emphasize the gift as their own unanimous acknowledgement of obligation for the conservative skill, tireless patience, tender solicitude and humanity, always experienced from Doctor Roler, by the private equally with the highest official.
The ten orderly-sergeants acted as a committee, and selected Sergeant-Major Hartsook to write the address of presentation which was fitly and cloquently donc. A valuable and beautiful black steed was found and bought while the. Fifty-fifth lay at Young's Point, but the equipments did not arrive until the opening of the Yazoo as the base of supplics. The horse was presented at Grand Gulf, and the doctor's letter of grateful acceptance and acknowledgement was read by the orderly-sergeants to the several companies on the evening of the arrival at Raymond.
At this point we learned that the advance divisions of the Fifteenth Army Corps were already in Jackson, which had been abandoned by Johnston after a brief defence, and that the whole army of Vicksburg had come out to attack us. At daylight on the morning of Saturday the sixteenth, we moved west on the direct road to Vicksburg, and about half- past seven the occasional rattle of musketry in front told that General A. J. Smith's skirmishers were at work. They had encountered the cavalry constituting the rear guard of General Pemberton's army, then just attempting a retrogade movement in order to recross Baker's Creek and march to join Johnston's army at Canton. Half a mile further on an artillery duel ensued. We were then within four or five miles . of Edwards Station and had advanced about twice that distance from Raymond. General Blair's division, being detached many miles from the Fifteenth Corps, was placed under command of General McClernand and formed battle- line at right angles with the road in conjunction with the division of General A. J. Smith, which was the extreme left
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BATTLE OF CHAMPION'S HILL.
of the army until General Ransom's brigade arrived late in the afternoon. We were ordered to connect on the right with the division of General Osterhaus. Within an hour we heard sounds of skirmishing at a distance, in a northerly direction, but a dense forest hid from us all views of the country on either side. By eleven o'clock the continuous roar of battle far to the right warned us of a fiercely contested and general engagement, and we were momentarily expecting orders to advance upon the foe supposed to be in our front, or to move by the right flank to the aid of those there hotly engaged. No orders came, and for hours we lay idly on our arms, unmolested and unmolesting. Occasionally a forward movement was made from one low ridge to the next. Once while the regiments of the brigade, marching by the flank, were crossing a wide open field with no skirmishers in ad- vance, a rebel battery opened upon them; but before it had acquired the proper range a change of our formation and position saved us from loss. Captain Augustine was about this time sent forward in command of skirmishers. But the tactics upon the left flank of the Federal army were continu- ously defensive. It had apparently impressed itself upon some one high in authority that the enemy meditated a des- perate attack in force down the road along which we were manœuvreing, in order to cut off the Union army from Grand Gulf, its supposed base of supplies. About five o'clock a lull in the fight was noticed, and soon a few solid shot from a rebel battery ricochetted harmlessly through our line. It was the farewell of Pemberton's army in full retreat ;-- a re- treat that we soon after knew must have become a disorgan- ized rout or surrender, had the left wing, to which we were temporarily joined, advanced with promptitude and energy. General McClernand had lost a magnificent opportunity to show that he deserved his high position. Through an excess of caution he had permitted the rebel General Loring's three brigades to hold four Federal divisions inactive during the whole day. Obedience to repeated orders or intelligent en- terprise on his part, would have made the costly siege that followed unnecessary.
The next morning our division marched to Bridgeport,
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
about five miles up the Big Black, and a rubber-pontoon train was brought to the front. A small earth-work on the oppo- site bank was found occupied by a few riffemen, who made it hazardous to approach the river. General Blair, after watch- ing the skirmishing awhile, bad ordered a flanking party to swim the stream a short distance above and drive the force away; but just then General Sherman came galloping to the scene and quickly advanced a section of artillery, under shel- ter of an out-building, two well aimed shells from which induced the waving of a white handerchief over the parapet, and the surrender of an officer with his picket of ten men. Captain Crooker of the Fifty-fifth and eight of his company immediately rowed over upon a pontoon and were the first of the army to cross the Big Black. A picket-guard was, soon advanced, but no hostile force faced us. In the early morning hours the noise of conflict at the railroad bridge below had been heard, but the quiet that soon followed gave us assurance of another success, which messengers before noon made certain. The pontoon bridge was in position be- fore it became dark, and the passing of troops continued all night by the light of fires upon the river bank.
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