USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial history of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 1912 : compiled from records of the Grant county historical society, archives of the county, data of personal interviews, and other authentic sources of local information > Part 86
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At the the this war chapter is being written many jubilee anni- versaries are fresh in the minds of the people, others are being planned and the country has just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of some of its most decisive battles. In the days soon after the rebellion, when Ohver P. Morton was speaking in Marion on an muprovised platform on the courthouse lawn. he called for the uplifted hands of all who were related to patriots, who had father, husband, brother, son or sweet- heart in the struggle, and there was such a demonstration that he de clared he could walk on their hands above the heads of the crowd a magical effect on all who heard the assertion, and the "War Governor" was patriotism itself. There were always war time stories told about Grant county hearthstones, and before the advent of the daily news papers they were heard oftener than under present day conditions After the smoke of battle had cleared away the comrades enjoyed the camp fire stories, although maimed limbs and empty sleeves reminded them of desperate encounters.
In childhood the writer heard the story of an old gray mare left standing tied in the woods when the man who left her ded for safety. lle was a Knight of the Golden Circle, and when the citizens thought to drive ont this disloyal clement From the community the midnight vigil was hurriedly broken up, and while that was in the neighbor. hood of the present village of Rigdon, Joseph Clouse relates the ex- perience of the Fifth Indiana Cavalry in driving the Golden Circle Knights out of surrounding country. This regiment was organized in 1862, and its first experience was in Blackford and Wells counties, where the Knights of the Golden Circle gave the people so much trouble. Governor Morton sent Company A, of which Mr. Clouse was a member, to investigate. It used to be said that Blackford county went out of the Union with South Carolina, but when the soldiers reached Hartford City there was no further difficulty. The governor had given Captain James A. Stretch orders to punish the offenders as he thought best, and he proceeded to Bluffton, where he was met about five miles out by the sheriff of Wells county, who assured him the difficulty was past, and that the women of Bluffton had prepared a dinner for the soktiers- all was quiet, no bloodshed, and the citizens of those two counties were never again molested by the Knights of the Golden Circle, an organization in league with the Sonth and ready to destroy the American flag wherever it was unfurled, a condition hard to realize today.
In a detailed account of the movements of his regiment after dis- pensing with the border ruflians in Blackford and Wells counties, Mr. Clouse relates that one Sunday, when stationed in Kentucky, himself and two others were detailed to keep the stranglers from Falling out of line. They were marching through a cold, drizzling rain when just about noon the column turned a corner in the road. He noticed a farm house about twenty-live rods from the road, and said to the boys he thought they had dinner there. When he knocked at the door to ask, a stylish lady answered and when he told ber he was hungry
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and would like something to eat, she said she would like to " commun. date him, but they had smallpox in the house. He told her he had just come out of the smallpox at knoxville and she left the door im mediately. It was the dining room door, and when he entered he found they had dinner for company. He and others helped them- selves as quickly as possible in order to hurry back to the conanand. They tilled their haversacks and when they not the captain, he in. quired : "Where in the h-I have you been." and Mr. Clouse handed him the haversack : "Now you know where we have been, " and when he was through he returned it without words about it. Mr. Clouse says that while he Felt better after having a dinner. he never knew what the Kentucky family thought about it, their company dinner carried away and the smallpox seare he gave them. Most reader's have some idea how the family felt about it. While Kentucky was neutral territory, they would not care to Feed northern soldiers.
Mr. Clouse fells of the death of tienerad Mel'herson about 1 o'clock A. M., July 22, 1861, near Atlanta, and of the sorrow in the army because all had liked him. At one time he was in a squad of about tifty when they heard a wagon coming over a rocky, hillside road between sundown and dark, and because of the noise they thought it was rebel artillery. He was stationed at a culvert and remained at his post in the face of impending danger. It was one man with an ox team who had been to a mill in the mountains, and he had two sacks of corn meal in his wagon. They kept him until morning and had something to eat while he was there. That same morning a crip ple came up and wanted to tell them how to reach the command by the shortest way, and when the captain asked him if he would ride a horse he said he could, and he was told to bring it. The captain sus perted the cripple and told the men to watch him, and if he made any effort to get away to shoot him. When he had rode about eight miles by the side of the captain he told him the nearest road, but the rap- tain said it did not make any difference about the distance; then the man wanted to go back, and the captam told him to stay, and they found that the Confederate army was ordy three miles away, and this cripple wanted to lead them into it. Such strategies are often related at camp fires, but the northern soldiers were always alert for them.
Nad this Johnny been able to entrap the regiment, aff would have been prisoners of war- a fate awaiting Mr. Clouse, and his expericher in Andersonville prison is of interest. When the news that he was in Andersonville prison reached Mrs. Clouse in Marion, she had a four days old baby, and think of her imagination as she pictured the future for herself and child. She had a presentiment of all of the horrors of Andersonville, and fifty years later, the historian indneed Mr. Clouse to write the Following account of it: "On September 22. 1861, we started From Atlanta about 5 o'clock P. M. on a raid to relieve the prisoners af Andersonville. General Stoneman made a great mistake ; in place of relieving the prisoners, a good many of us were taken there. A good many stayed there and will be there until the last roff call. General Stoneman surrendered our regiment July 27, 156k, near Macon, Georgia, about 125 miles inside the rebel lines; he surrendered III soldiers, and seventeen of these men were officers. We went into Ander- sonville July 29, and fought the Johnnies all day until about 4 o'clock P. M .. when Stoneman surrendered what he had left.
"Captain Wirtz, the Confederate commander at Andersonville, gave orders to take everything we had. We did not have much. What we did have was left on the horses fastened to the saddles. We had been all summer away from supplies and every day on duty. A soldier
IHISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
will not carry any more than he can help; I had on a pair of boots; they took them off so I went into prison barefooted, and I was bare looted all fall and winter until in April sometime When We went i side of the stockade it smelled just like dead rats that had laid out m the sun two days. Oh, my, what a unsery! Think of 30,000 men on twenty-six acres of ground, and eighteen feet inside the stockade called the dead line; no one allowed to go on it. If he did it was sure death. The stockade was about eighteen feet high, built out of small logs, two sides of each log squared so they came close together, and they were put in the ground about six feet, just as hear together as they could get them. About every ninety feet right on top of the stockade was a sentinel box for guards with a roof and three sides enclosed; one side left open so they could see the prisoners all of the time.
"The dead line was put up of forked poles put in the ground about every twenty feet, and a pole put from our fork to the other, and about Your feet up to the pole; they called this the dead line. When we would get against these poles it was sure death, the grand that would shoot a prisoner would get a thirty days furlough; so you can think they would shoot a good many to get a furlough. What we wat to call the first evening was a piece of corn bread about the sie of a half of a brick, made of corn cobs and part husk, all ground together, noth ing else. I thought I was very hungry when I went in, but I could not eat a bite inside of forty-eight hours. Such a smell! there were 35,000 men and more than one fourth of them were sick, and could not help themselves. So nature had to do something; there was no doctor and no medicine, and his bank mate could do nothing to help him, and what was to become of a poor soldier : There was nothing to do with and nobody to do it.
"Just after we had been searched as we marched into prison, I picked up something and when I unrolled it I had a blanket and a half that some one had dropped, and that was all the five of us had for shelter or tent to cover us and sleep on. If I had not picked up that roll we would have had nothing, and that blanket and one half kept me from being murdered at Andersonville. The men who died there did not die a natural death ; just a slow murder by starvation, exposure, live and maggots eating them up. Five of us dug a hole in the ground about eighteen inches deep and not long enough to straighten out and wide enough so each one had to day spoon fashion, and when our got tired he would hollow 'all together, ' and we all turned over at ours, two out of the five of us died there. I had not near as good a cavalry jacket as one that died, so I took what he had and I put mine on him The water we used was out of a creek ordinarily about three feet wide. and about one foot deep: in rainy weather it would be more; the er th came right through the rebel camp where there were about 3,000 sol diers and some cavalry, and all the filth and offalling from the Johnny camp went into that creek, and you can think what that would be when it came to the stockade better than I can tell you just as if you had to use water out of a sewer where the dirtiest thing imagmable is in it. Think of it. I can not name or explain it.
"After this ereck was inside the stockade about. 500 fort it had no Tall, and it would spread over about three aerea, there was a regular swamp. No one could make use of the swamp, but I have been men get. in that swamp and dig roots and eat them. Remember all the wash from the rebel camp would lodge in that swamp beside the filth from the stockade, so that it would breed maggots and Hies by the millions. They would be there until a heavy rain would come and wash the stuff away. But in a few days it would be the same again. The
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prisoners would dig wells, use a half canteen for pick and shovel or an old case knife, and take the dirt up in a trouser's leg. or whatever they could get ; the dirt would have to be sprea I so the Johannes could not see it. If the Johnnies would see fresh shirt we would have to quit ; they would think we were digging a tunnel. I know some of these walls Were twenty -five feet deep and over, and it would take week after work lo complete one. To get up and down they would make a hole inside to put their feet. I have been told by people who have been there less than five years ago that these walls are there yet, only frames put around them so no one can fall into them. They were never walled with stone or anything.
"Sometime in September, isol. a very heavy elerinie storm came up one afternoon and washed part of the stockade away where the truck had its outlet, and a spring broke out at the same time that furnished plenty of water and the very best for every purpose. The spring was Hear the dead line. Sometime in October some one was reported about digging a tunnel in one detachment, and Captain Wirtz gave orders bol to give that detachment any rations until they found out the one that started the tunnel. The second day in the afternoon some one reported that he was the one that started the tunnel and he was taken out : what ever became of him I do not know; he belonged to my detachment. So think for a moment of a lot of starved men that had nothing fit to cat for months, and then take abont a pint of corn meal away from them, so they had not a taste of anything for thirty-six hours. On August 29, I went to the gate where they carried the dead every morning, that had died in the last twenty-four hours, and I counted 129 laying in a row that morning. I can never forget it.
"Now I want to tell you as well as I can how they handled the dead prisoners: after they had been killed by starvation and exposure they would load them on a wagon. One man on each side of a dead soldier. they would pick him up each one by one arm and one leg and sling him tike a stick of wood and pile them one on top of the other until they had in as many as the wagen would hold, and then they would hạnh them where they had ing a ditch and print them in that ditch no cottin, no box and half of them no clothing to cover their bodies. They were not buried deep enough, and when a heavy rain would come then boilies would be visible. When the prisoners first went into Ander sonville the slohnuies would ask us to go out and work for them. Itt We would have let the maggots and live carry us out through the cracks of the stockade before we would work for the Southern Confederacy. I do not think one out of 500 ever went ont to work for the Johnttes. The most of our conversation would be about getting back to God's country, the folks at home and something to eat. When I was so that dead I could not walk one quarter of a mile, when I would hear the boys say we will never get out of here, I would get up and say I am on. that is going to outlive the rotten Southern Confederacy And I did do it, but I had a close call. When I got out and came as far on the way home as Columbus, Ohio, I could walk no better than a child six months oldl.
"When I went into the service I weighed 160 pounds, and when I got out of Andersonville prison my weight was eighty-five pounds. It was years afterwards before I was so I could help myself I never will get over the effects of prison life. I was in Andersonville nearly nine months, and the first half of that time our daily rations was a piece of corn bread about the size of one-half of a brick, and the balance of the time it was one pint of corn meal, rob and part husks all ground together, and about ofre a week two spoonfuls of peas: in each pea
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prisoners would dig wells, use a half canteen for pek and shovel or an old case knife, and take the dirt up in a trouser's les, or whatever they could get ; the dirt would have to be spread so the Johannes could not see it. If the Johnnies would see fresh chet we would have to quit ; they would think we were digging a tunnel. I know some of those well Were twenty five feet deep and over, and it would take week after work to complete one. To get up and down they would make a hole inside to put their feet. I have been told by people who have been there less than five years ago that these walls are there yet, only frames pul around them so no one can fall into them. They were never walled with stone or anything.
"Sometime in September, Istl. a Very heavy electric storm came up one afternoon and washed part of the stockade away where the erech had its outlet, and a spring broke out at the same time that furnished plenty of water and the very best for every purpose. The spring was hear the dead line. Sometime in October some one was reported about digging a tunnel in one detachment, and Captain Wirtz gave orders bit to give that detachment any rations until they found out the one that started the tunnel. The second day in the afternoon some one reported that he was the one that started the Inunel, and he was taken out ; what- ever became of him I do not know; he belonged to my detachment. So think for a moment of a lot of starved men that had nothing tif to eat for months, and then take about a pint of corn meal away from them; so they had not a taste of anything for thirty-six hours. On August 29, 1 went to the gate where they carried the dead every morning, that had died in the last twenty-four hours, and I counted 129 laying in a row that morning. I can never forget it.
"Now I want to tell you as well as I can how they handled the dead prisoners ; after they had been killed by starvation and exposure they would load them on a wagon. One man on each side of a dead soldier, they would pick him up each one by one arm and one leg and sling him like a stick of wood and pile them one on top of the other until they had in as many as the wagon would hold, and then they would haut them where they had dug a ditch and put them in that ditch coffin, no box and half of them no clothing to cover their bodies. They were not buried deep enough, and when a heavy rain would come their bodies would be visible. When the prisoners first went into Ander sonville the Jobunies would ask us to go out and work for them, but we would have let the maggots and five carry us out through the cracks of the stockade before we would work for the Southern Confederacy. I do not think one out of 500 ever went out to work for the Jobantes. The most of our conversation would be about getting back to God's country, the folks at home and something to eat. When I was so near dead I could not walk one quarter of a mile, when I would hear the boys say we will never get out of here, I would get up and say I am om that is going to outlive the rotten Southern Confederacy And I did do it. but I had a close call. When I got out and came as far on the way home as Columbus, Ohio, I could walk no better than a child six months old.
"When i went into the service I weighed 160 pounds, and when I got out of Andersonville prison my weight was eighty-five pounds. It was years afterwards before I was so I could help myself I never will get over the effects of prison life. I was in Andersonville nearly nine months, and the first half of that time our daily rations was a piece of corn bread about the size of one-half of a brick, and the balance of the time it was one pint of corn meal, coh and part husks all ground together, and about oner a week two spoonfuls of peas; in each pea
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
there was not less than twelve bugs; we could not take the bugs out so we cooked peas and bugs together, and when we would eat them they would crack like eating charcoal. The corn meal we got we mostly made mush out of it, and we had no salt and nothing else , sometimes we would eat the meal raw. It makes my heart ache when I think of the boys that left good homes, fathers and others, and gave their lives that the flag might float in the Southland. Que tord who went into Andersonville had no tenis and no covers of any kind to keep the hot sun and the cold rains of of them; it rained about one-half of the time in the winter of '64 and '65, and we had no change of clothing.
"We slept in our clothing at night and if it rained we would have to dry our clothing on our bodies. I never saw a handful of straw or anything else to make a bed out of only the little bushes that came from pine trees. We had a man that belonged to my company who got sick with the fever; he never had a dose of medicine; his fever was so loghi We covered him up with sand so he could stand it a while, in a few days he died, and I know there was no better soldier and no better man. He was always kind and always ready for everything. At the present that there are live of us living in Grant county : Henry Opps. Lewis Truesdale. Nathan Lowder, John Smith and myself Joseph Clous Opps and Clouse did not know each other at home, but in prison we were side by side and one day We spoke to each other. Our prison life was terrible, and we will always remember it. The great state of In- diana created a monument which was dedicated November 26, 1905. in honor of 703 soldiers who lost their lives in Andersonville prison. This montent cost the state $10,000, and I am glad it is there. The survivors of the rebel prison have suffered and endured what you never can realize, and I pray to God your children never may endure it."
A nation was plunged into sorrow and debt talk about the national debt and how to pay it, as a result of the unjust ownership of the lives of men human slavery. Homes have been made desolate by the ah- sener of those who lie buried on southern soil. The lapse of time does not heal the sorrow. When the blue and the gray talked together as they lay dying on the field of battle they buried their differences, and told of their homes and their friends They were of one country and bad common interests, and death made them brothers. Years ago a sol dier related a dream, saying: "I thought I had again entered the sery ice. I thought I must again undergo all of those horrible experiences of war. Oh, it was all so real lo me. It was so different from my dreams of home, when I lay on the field wrapped in my blanket with only a stone For my pillow. My slumber then was pervaded by visions of home, but the characters were vague, unnatural and indistinct. The im pressions, rather memories, of those who had hungered around the fire side were neither so vivid nor so enduring as are those that come in my dreams of emp life or badthe scenes: they are the dreams that haunt me. How they do thrill me a whole regiment of men polishing up their guns, sentinels on guard, the couriers darting hither and thither, the drill and the dress parade followed by war's more appalling phases the skirmish, the Hank movements, the officers mounted and the men stimmtated by a prospective engagement.
"There were animated, anxious faces, the mingled feeling of hope and despair, the rush of preparation, the automatic movement as the men are forming --- these are the distinctive features that are stamped on my memory. The home life and recollections were always pleasant, and dreams of them' never startled me in the way that my dreams of battle stir me. I have been rudely wakened from peaceful slumber on a comfortable pillow in a warm room of a cold. disagreeable night by
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the impression that I was the ocenpant of a cot in the ward of & hospital, or that I had been loaded into an ambulance and was being slowly and carefully removed from among the dead and dying after the smoke of battle had cleared away, and then awakening a shudder woukt creep along my spine as I turned in bed. Oh, the awful malities of war! They disturb me at this great distance." Since the dream was told the writer, he asked the soldier if he had a foot from under cover at the time, dreams sometimes being induced by exposure, but it seems that others are subject to the same rude awakenings; that battlefield illusions are frequent in the dreams of those who defended the nation.
The soldier continued: "I have often thought of the physical en durance as evidenced in the ward of a hospital. I was disabled for a time, and witnessed the sufferings of a poor fellow whose cot was next to mine. He had been shot in the breast and was badly injured in both Inngs, beside having a shattered arm. Ioverheard the physician tell him there was absolutely no hope; his instructions to the nurse were: "Give him water as he may ask for it." and that convinced me there was no permanent relief for him. As the doctor moved away I heard him say : " That Tellow will soon be beyond all suffering," but that poor soldier gritted his teeth in his resolve, and in his desperation be con tided to me that when the doctor called next morning he would compel him to dress that wound. When I heard the doctor's cold, unsympathetic reply: "We cannot spend time on you," it chilled my blood and in freezing tones he added: "Not when there are others Whose chances for life are so much better than yours," but the dying man was deter- mined, and when chloroform was ordered he refused it, fearing that it would be administered in such quantity as to cause him to sleep him sell away. Visions of his Mary and his children seemed to give him supernatural endurance, and he resolved to witness that surgical opera tion. Ile saw his arm removed, and knew that if he lived henceforth he would have an empty sleeve. Words cannot express what that man endured, and there was no awakening to find it only a dream. Man becomes a God when the mind mounts to the altitude of high resolve. and by an occult process that brave man had taken unto himself some of the power of the Infinite."
Soldiers have all heard the story of the man on picket duty and how he was a target for the sharp shooter in the opposing army. " When camped outside of Chattanooga," said a Grant county soldier, "an opportunity came to me to show pluck as well as some taet; it was an incident of the skirmish, and to me a thrilling experience; under the cover of darkness I had faithfully paced my beat, always on the alert for any suspicious movement within the rebel lines. Our regi ment was posted on a hill : the skirmish line lay in the valley and was bordered by the timber: the colonies were in an open field on the op posite hill with no protection only an occasional stump, and the ad
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