USA > Illinois > The story of the Fifty-fifth regiment Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war, 1861-1865 > Part 24
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At noon, on the fourteenth, a truce was declared for the burial of those slain on the twelfth, and the pickets in our front stacked arms, met each other half way, and fraternized for three or four hours. Each side had very important news to impart to the other, inasmuch as the account of Meade's great victory over Lee and the destruction of the Con- federate army at Gettysburg had just reached us, and our opponents had recent advices of Lec's great victory over Meade, at the same place, and the annihilation of the Union army -- both on the day of Vicksburg's surrender. As neither could be expected wholly to distrust their sources of information, this subject had to subside, awaiting later advices. About the fact that Vicksburg had fallen there could be no dispute; but the rage against Pemberton for its surrender was so vociferous and unreasonably bitter -going even to the length of charging him with being a traitor bought and paid for-that one of us pointedly suggested to
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THE REVOLVING RIFLE.
these bellicose critics that they should wait calmly a few days, when they might, guided by some instructive experi- ence of their own, arrive at a less captious judgment. The Johnnies, as usual, had their rough and ready rejoinders in which always figured such stereotyped phrases as: "We'll die in the last ditch before we'll surrender;" "You-uns can't ever conquer we-uns;" "Why don't you take Richmond?"
All belligerent feelings were apparently left behind with the stacked muskets. Neither the blood that had been spilled nor thoughts of the morrow, with its myriad dangers, cast any spells upon good fellowship and mirth. Jokers in grey and humorists in blue plied their festive witticisms, vying with each other to win the ready laugh of the listeners. A little before the hour that was to end the truce, a rebel colonel came out to the front among the men, clad in a coat bereft of most of its tail. He called attention to this, and explaining that the missing cloth had been carried away by a shot from our artillery, asked his Yankee auditors if any of them could boast a closer call than that proved. After hearing much wonderment expressed at his escape, "O," said he, "I forgot to mention that when this coat was thus curtailed it hung not on me, but on a tree!" After the uproar of ha-has that greeted this cheap sally had subsided, the same officer asked: "Who was that, last Saturday, in the oak covered with grape-vine yonder? He cleaned out a whole picket post for me, killing and wounding several men." "That was Sergeant Ridenour of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, with his revolving rifle," was the reply. "Well, I'd like to make the sergeant's acquaintance-after the war." And ordering his men back to their places, in a brief time the jovial gossips had become vigilant foemen again, doing their best to take each other's lives.
The exploit referred to by the colonel deserves further mention. Company A being on picket during the eleventh of July, was seriously annoyed by the enemy's sharp-shoot- ers, and the orderly-sergeant was sent with a squad of five or six picked marksmen along the bed of a little creek, then almost dry, to try to abate the nuisance. After posting his men, the sergeant himself crept on within shorter range of
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
the rebel lines and found a double stump under the shadow of a vine-clad tree. on the bank of the creek, peculiarly adapted to his purpose. He was not only an excellent shot but carried a noted five-chambered Colt's rifle, which had been used with potent effect to persuade enlistments for the Douglas Brigade, all the recruits for certain companies being assured they would probably be armed with one of those wonderful weapons. The magazine rifles had not then appeared in the army. Watching for a mark, the sergeant saw an officer in full view walking a little behind the rifle- pits, and fired at him, only, however, to make him hastily dodge under cover. The smoke of the gun of course disclosed the lurking place of the sergeant, and a score of hostile bullets came like angry hornets in search of him. One of the rebels, who exposed himself in firing, became a victim to the sergeant's second shot, and, keeping the rifle in the same position, another suffered from his deadly aim while gesticulating contemptuously and shouting, "shoot again," evidently laboring under the mistaken impression that the rifle, even if a double barreled one, was now unloaded. Bullets hissed through the grape-vine and into the oak harmlessly; but when the rifle spoke from between the twin stumps some rebel had a narrow escape, or was borne off on a stretcher. Those remaining soon grew prudent, avoided exposing themselves even to fire at the grape-vine, and left the pickets in peace.
Our batteries soon gained commanding positions whence their shells penetrated every part of the city, ammunition arrived, and when the sun went down on July 15th, every- thing pointed to an energetic bombardment of Mississippi's capital on the morrow. A vigorous and obstinate defence was expected, for not only was Jackson the seat of govern- ment containing valuable public buildings and costly private residences, but as a railroad centre it possessed much strategic importance. The astute General Johnston, how- ever, did not repeat the error of his lieutenant, Pemberton, by allowing himself to be cooped up in fortifications. Before light, the next morning, a large fire near the centre of the city awakened suspicion, and the pickets advanced to find
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IN MISSISSIPPI'S CAPITAL.
the enemy gone. General Johnston, from the hour of our approach, had been quietly shipping castward by rail all his war material, and during the night had withdrawn across the Pearl River by three floating bridges, safely removing his sick and wounded and all his artillery save two siege guns, thus leaving to us a somewhat barren victory. This was not to be our last experience of this general's masterly skill in retrograde strategy.
Entering the city, we were stationed at first in the capitol, upon the dome of which the flag of the Thirty-fifth Massa- chusetts was flying. In the afternoon we crossed the river, expecting to follow in support of the cavalry and a division of the Fifteenth Corps sent to pursue the retreating army, but were recalled to aid in extinguishing fires that threatened to destroy the city, and were then detailed as provost-guard and went into bivouac in the southerly end of the town. Deserters from Johnston's army and stragglers captured by the cavalry were constantly coming in. The city was deserted by most of its inhabitants. Every night of our stay, one or more fires were set by incendaries, and there scemed a disposition on the part of the soldiery to mete out a severe punishment to the place. This may have been in part because it was the capital of Jefferson Davis's state, but was more probably in revenge for the wanton pollution of the water supply and the planting of torpedoes in the roadways. By these last cowardly contrivances, now a soldier and now a citizen was murdered or mangled. Finally squads of prisoners were sent out under guard to find and remove them.
The infantry having destroyed the railroads for miles to the north and cast, and the artillery having battered down with captured ammunition the brick piers of the bridge over the Pearl, the expedition returned towards Vicksburg, aban- doning Jackson to desolation. The return march, in its fatigue and suffering from thirst and heat, rivalled that of the advance. The regiment reached Clinton on the twenty- third, Bolton on the twenty-fourth, and on Saturday, July 25th, found a more permanent resting place, about three miles west of the Big Black, which received the name Camp
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
Sherman. We were between twelve and fifteen miles from Vicksburg. Our camp and garrison equipage, which had been brought to the Yazoo landing, came to us on the twenty- seventh, and in the shade of the beech woods we set up little shelters that were to be our homes for two months. We formed a part of the line of the Fifteenth Army Corps, which extended from Haines's Bluff to the Big Black, at the railroad crossing.
Our brief Jackson campaign had been a fatiguing one, entailing much hardship and absolute suffering at times, chiefly because of the terrible heat and great scarcity of water. Though under fire five days our loss was light. The effective force of the regiment at this date was three hundred and fourteen.
CASUALTIES OF FIFTY-FIFTH ILL. VOL. INFTY., AT JACKSON,
FRANKLIN L. KIMBERK of Company I, shot through arm, July 10. GEORGE W. BONE of Company F, mortally wounded on picket, July 14. PETER ROBERTS, second-lieutenant, seriously wounded in breast, July 14.
The influence of the then dominant policy in the War De- partment soon began to be felt. The matchless army that had been concentrated at such trouble and cost, directed by one man's will, had struck a telling blow, paralyzing rebellion throughout Mississippi and shaking the Confederacy to the centre. Yet this success so won, would without doubt have missed its grand perfection had not General Grant's head- quarters for a critical week or two been in the saddle beyond hearing of the dictating tick-tick of the military telegraph at Washington. Now, instead of using the giant energies of this army to deal staggering blows in rapid succession and in the same direction, it was speedily dispersed north and south, to garrison cities, to awe guerillas, to guard cotton traders, or to aid expeditions of minor military import and doubtful issue west of the Mississippi. The older regiments were already mere skeletons, yet no new muscle was added to them, either by voluntary enlistments or conscription, and political managers were taxing their ingenuity to invent plans for reconstruction before the retributive destruction of war had been pushed to the point of convincing traitors that con-
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AT CAMP SHERMAN.
ciliation was worth suing for, or even desirable. What with the stubbornness of Halleck, the subordination of military to political strategy, and the plotting and counterplotting of presidential aspirants, the Confederacy was given time to perfect a sweeping conscription, tide over an imminent dan- ger and prolong the war a year.
Life in camp on the Big Black had the usual diversions and employments. Regular company and regimental drills were ordered from six to eight in the forenoon, guard-mount and weekly inspections were renewed, and dress parade was held at six in the afternoon. Nearly every week there was a review or brigade drill in the vicinity of General Sherman's headquarters and under his supervision. The battalion of the Thirteenth U. S. Infantry, which served as headquarters guard, had attached to it a superb military band, which added much to the interest of these occasions. Most of the officers by turns received short furloughs, and many of the enlisted men were granted icave of absence as a reward for gallant services, or other special reasons. The chaplain held daily religious exercises in camp, which aroused much interest, and several were baptised.
Of course a general court-martial, the inevitable concom- itant of the close of a campaign, was duly convened. From the Fifty-fifth, Captain J. M. Augustine was detailed as a member of this court, and it was resolved. by some that the commander of the regiment should appear before it for trial. Charges were preferred against the colonel in due form and forwarded to the brigade commander, General J. A. J. Light- burn. By him they were detained, and finally suppressed; probably, he would have alleged, with a view to the good of the service; but as the disappointed complainants rudely hinted, because "a fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind." Perhaps no document among the many regimental and com- pany papers that have been preserved better illustrates and gives excuse for certain strained relations constantly existing in the regiment, which, if it were desirable, it is impossible to ignore in writing its history. For that reason alone the suppressed charges are reluctantly reproduced here in full, without further comment :
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
CHARGES AND SPECIFICATIONS.
CHARGE I. Violation of the forty-fifth article of war.
Specification 1. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., during the operations against the enemy at Chickasaw Bayou, Miss., Dec. 27, 28 and 29, 1862, was at sundry times so much in- toxicated as to be unfit to properly perform the duties of his position.
Specification 2. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., during the expedition to the American Bend, Miss., between the dates of March 14 and March 24, 1863, was at sundry times too much under the influence of intoxicating liquors to properly perform the duties of his position.
CHARGE II. Conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman.
Specification . In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., did, while on the transport Fanny Bullitt, rebuke Second- Lieutenant William C. Porter of Company E, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., then regimental Officer of the Day, for alleged neglect of duty, in a grossly insulting and profane manner-reproaching him in so loud and angry tones as to awaken officers and men who were sleeping on the boat. This near American Bend, Miss., on or about the night of the thirteenth of March, 1863.
Specification 2. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., did unnecessarily and in an ungentlemanly manner re- buke Captain N. S. Aagesen of Company D, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols.,-then regimental Officer of the Day ; using grossly profane and insulting lan- guage towards him, accompanied with threatening gestures ; charging him falsely with neglect of duty,-and "damned impudence," when he (Captain Aagesen) attempted explanation. All this on board the steamer Fanny Bullitt at American Bend, Miss., on or about the fourteenth day of March, 1863.
Specification 3. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., during the march from Grand Gulf, Miss., to Raymond. Niss., while the regiment was in bivouac, did curse and abuse Private Michael T. Cox of Company A, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., for misunderstand- ing him - using the following or similar language : "You are a liar, God damn you. I have a mind to kill you right on this spot." This on or about the fifteenth day of May, 1863.
Specification 4. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols,, while riding at the head of the regiment during the march from Vicksburg, Miss., to Mechanicsburg, Miss., did break out in an unusual rage against the men and officers of the regiment, because of a slight disturbance in the ranks; calling the men "damned rowdies," and threatening 'to cut in the face with his sword any one whom he should see speaking ;' and upbraiding in loud and profane language the officers of the regiment -- using these or equivalent expressions : "You are a set of damned imbeciles, unfit to command a squad of one man, and claim to be officers! Damned fools, that's what you are." This on or about the twenty-eighth day of May, 1863.
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AT AMSTERDAM FORD.
Specification 5. In this that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. III. Vols., did falsely accuse Assist .- Surgeon J. T. Smith, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., of cowardice and neglect of duty, and did otherwise shamefully abuse him, in the presence of the regiment and Battery B, Chicago Light Artillery. All this near Vicksburg, Miss., on or about the twenty-first day of May, 1863.
Specification 6. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., did near Vicksburg, Miss., on or about the fourth day of July, 1863, abuse with profane and insulting language Major J. J. Heffer- nan of the 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., in the presence of the regiment, using the following or similar language: "Hold your tongue, God damn you, or I'll blow your brains out."
CHARGE III. Conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.
Specification 1. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., in violation of the third section of the first article of the Revised Regulations, habitually injures officers and men under him by tyrannical and capricious conduct and abusive language.
Specification 2. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., does habitually reprimand and abuse officers for real or fancied dereliction of duty, in the presence of the enlisted men of their commands.
Specification 3. In this, that the said Colonel Oscar Malmborg, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols., does habitually speak derogatorily of the abilities and capabilities of the officers, in the presence of the enlisted men of their commands.
J. M. AUGUSTINE,
Witnesses :
Capt., 55th Regt. Ill. Vol. Inft.
Lieut .- Col. T. C. CHANDLER, 55th Regt. Ill. Vols.
Major J. J. HEFFERNAN, =
Chaplain M. L. HANEY,
16
Adjutant H. S. Novess,
Asst .- Surgeon J. T. SMITH, =
Captain C. M. BROWNE,
Captain F. H. SHAW,
Captain H. H. KENDRICK,
Lieut. A. A. WHIPPLE,
Lieut. H. AUGUSTINE,
From the twelfth to the nineteenth of August the regi- ment was stationed at Amsterdam Ford, on outpost duty. The irrepressible craving of the soldiers for fresh vegetables, fruit and other savory additions to the unvarying army rations, often led them not only to break over wholesome military restrictions, but even to imperil their own and others' lives and liberty. In example of this, a sad reminiscence
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
attaches to our week's sojourn at this place. The neighbor- hood to the picket-posts of tilled land, orchards, and inhab- ited houses, was at once discovered, and soon peaches and sweet potatoes were seen in the haversacks of relieved guards. On August 14th, Calvin A. Songster of Company G, while . foraging on his own account south of the river, and engaged in animated conversation with a girl in the yard of a dwelling, was surprised by two mounted men armed with double-bar- reled guns, who dashed up and ordered him to surrender. Looking into the four grim muzzles pointed at his head he saw no chance of escape from captivity. It happened, how- ever, that a comrade belonging to Company K, by name John Greene, was in the house, the old lady whose home it was having agreed to give him some milk. Greene rushed out, , raised his gun, and aiming at the rebel cavalry men, shouted, "Surrender!" The old lady followed him, and standing at his side kept crying excitedly to both, "O don't fight here!" But one of the Confederates discharged both barrels of his gun at Greene, who, firing his own gun ineffectually as he fell, dropped face downward at the feet of the woman, ejac- ulating, "My Jesus, what will my poor family do!" The horsemen immediately wheeled and fled, leaving Greene dying and Songster free. A party, at shouts of the latter for aid, crossing the stream found that Greene was dead, and that two men of Company A-Edgar J. Porter and Joseph 11. White -- had been captured in the peach orchard near by at the same time. These men were conveyed from one prison to another --- Mobile, Atlanta, Columbia, Raleigh -through the breadth of the Confederacy to Libby Prison, Richmond. There Porter safely delivered to Colonel Streight a letter which had been entrusted to him by General Neal Dow, at Mobile. The winter of 1863 was spent by them at Belle Isle, where they met Jesse Gould, another soldier of the Fifty- fifth. Gould had also been captured during August, while upon a foraging expedition, being on detached service in the division train. He died at Belle Isle. Porter and White were paroled thence March 21st, 1864, and after being duly exchanged and recruited from their half-starved condition,
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GENERAL SHERMAN'S NAMESAKE.
rejoined the regiment in time to take part in the Atlanta campaign.
While in Camp Sherman one of Company F's patriots received notice that a son had been born to him at his home in Illinois, and wanted a name. He immediately wrote to his wife to call the boy William Tecumseh Sherman, and at the same time wrote General Sherman, informing bim that he had a promising namesake. The next day an orderly ap- peared with commands for S. F ---- , private Fifty-fifth ]Il.
Vols., to report forthwith at army headquarters. The soldier with some trepidation obeyed the summons, saluted and awaited the general's pleasure. Sundry of the staff and other officers were present, and their faces wore an air of having enjoyed some joke, and of anticipating more amusement. "Well," said the general, "I see by your letter, Mr. F _____ , that your wife has presented you with a fine boy, and that you have done me the honor to name him for me. How long have you been in the service?". "Two years, gen- eral," was the respectful reply. "Have you ever had a fur- lough?" Now it would have been strange if this question did not make the heart of the husband and father leap with hope of soon greeting his dear ones face to face. His gen- eral was surely proposing to allow him brief leave of absence for this purpose, reflected the soldier, as he feelingly replied: "No, general; I've never been absent from the regiment a day." "Been two years in the service, and never had a fur- lough-and your wife has a bouncing boy! Why, really, F ---- , I don't understand this." The officers winked slily at each other, enjoying the culmination of the strategy. The soldier's hopes sank: but his checks flushed, and his answer was prompt: "General, my wife last autumn made me a three weeks' visit when we were at Memphis." Amid the laughter of all present, General Sherman ow ned himself for once out- flanked, and told the father that when the boy should be ten years old he would gladly send him something to remember for whom he received his name. The boy did not live to see a tenth birthday.
The regiment had already lost from its rolls by the various casualties of war, more than half of its complement. The
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FIFTY-FIFTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY.
monthly return for August showed the following aggregates:
Present for duty ( Commissioned 16
Enlisted men. 297
ยง Commissioned 26
313
Present and absent. . Enlisted men. 467
493
The malarious climate asserted itself in due time, and the surgeon's stock of quinine was all insufficient for the legiti- mate calls made for it. A few cases of typhoid fever proved fatal. Men who had bravely dared and safely passed through the perils of battle, assault and siege-men with sun- embrowned faces and vigorous frames, whose muscles had become hardened with marching, drill and toil until they were as tough and elastic as steel, sickened and were bornce to their graves within a few days. No list of those who died while the regiment was upon the Big Black can be made with accuracy now; but among the worthy and brave who surren- dered to disease then, or from malarial poison shortly after we had removed thence, a few may be fitly named, even though others equally deserving remembrance, perhaps, may be omitted. Sergeants Henry Lenhart and Charles Rock- hold, victims of fever at Camp Sherman, Christian patriots both, were men whose gallantry in action and sterling quali- ties of mind and heart, endeared them to their comrades. George W. Eckley's death was probably directly chargeable to his becoming overheated on the arduous march from Jack- son. He was a beloved comrade, true, intrepid and capable. William Snapp, a fearless soldier of fine personal presence, Edward M. Bruner, an upright and manly patriot, and Leslie Gaylord, an unexceptionable soldier, found graves at Camp Sherman. Sergeant Samuel Kellogg and Franklin Peacar died of malarial disease, the former at Camp Sherman in July, the latter at Memphis in October; both were highly esteemed as men and soldiers.
Captain John T. McAuley was detached from the regiment for staff duty with Brigadier-General Giles A. Smith. Being subsequently appointed Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the First brigade, he did not again serve with his company during the war.
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MARCHING ORDERS.
Henry W. Janes, the first quartermaster of the Fifty-fifth, was discharged August 10th, 1863, to accept appointment as captain and assistant-quartermaster of volunteers. Thaddeus H. Capron, who as quartermaster-sergeant and second-licu- tenant had for nearly a year performed the chief duties of the office, was commissioned to fill the vacancy. Captain Janes was brevetted major and lieutenant-colonel, March 16, 1865, "for faithful and meritorious service during the war." He remained on duty in the quartermaster's department as captain and assistant-quartermaster, was promoted to major, June 19, 1879, and was retired July 2, 1879, "for incapacity resulting from long and faithful service," in conformity with section 1251 of Revised Statutes. He died at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., February 16, 1883.
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