USA > Indiana > Historical sketch of the Sixty-eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers : with personal recollections by members of Company D, and short biographies of brigade, division, and corps commanders > Part 12
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
157
REMINISCENCES.
on a ramrod was hung out, and I said to the boys , "Cease firing," and called to them, "Leave your guns, and come out." Four Johnneys came forth. Just then "retreat" was given. Our Johnneys hesitated, as if to go back, but we stood and called to them to run. Three obeyed, and the other, being wounded, we left for their own men to care for. sent them to the rear, and other regiments got the credit of their capture. At dress parade it was announced that we had captured twenty-one, and killed and wounded a number. In this charge the rebel fort was captured, and a number of our men were in their trenches; but a retreat was ordered, to avoid bringing on a general engagement at that time. On the morning of the 15th of December, 1864, we were ordered out with two days' cooked rations and eighty rounds of ammunition. Skirmishers were thrown out, and we advanced in line. of battle, and soon the great battle began. Company D's position was on the left of the railroad to Mur- freesboro, deployed as skirmishers, and we worked up near to the rebel lines, being in the woods. Some of us were behind a plank fence and some in the railroad cut. We kept up so much firing all day that the reb- els concentrated their fire on us, and we soon found it convenient to seek cover a little farther to the rear, be- fore dark. The snow had just gone off, the mud and water were deep, and in order to keep on top of the soft ground while sleeping, we gathered up sticks, brush and rails, and slept that night with guns and accoutrements ready for action. Early next morning,
1
.
158
REMINISCENCES.
we advanced for several hours without any resistance, passing over ground where many dead lay, stripped of their clothing, who had been killed the day before. At about 9 a. m., we came in sight of Hood's wagon train, going toward Franklin. Our artillery opened fire on them. In the afternoon they made a last stand at Overton Hill, and we made a charge through a thick undergrowth of woods and vines, and then down a hill. The rebels opened on us with grape and canister, but as we went rapidly down the hill it passed over our heads. Isaac Silvers, of Company D. was wounded in the arm by a minnie ball, and the breech of my gun was shot off. Before we got near enough to do much execution they broke and ran, every man for himself, and went over the ridge like a flock of quails. Our artillery threw shot and shell into them, and they were completely demoralized, throw- ing all away that would impede their progress. Then commenced a chase, and most of the rear guards were captured. After this, in the pursuit for twenty days, I could not keep up on account of debility, and re- turned to Nashville.
XXIV .- BY THOMAS E. BRAMBLETT.
Dear Comrades: I have been asked time and again what became of me after I left the regiment at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I will tell you. I lay in
0-118
159
REMINISCENCES.
the field hospital two months or more; then I was sent to the hospital at Nashville; there I was examined, and my discharge ordered; then I was sent to the Conva- lescent Camp there, to the "Condemned Yankee Corps" (7th regiment). During the winter of '63, I was doing duty at Camp Chase, Ohio; was there when Morgan broke out of the penitentiary. I was one of the " boys" that crossed the Allegheny mountains on "the cold New Year's" week; was one of the "squad " that drew the barrel of whisky at Pittsburg; then I was sent to Washington City; was.on guard duty there the remainder of my time; was on the skirmish line two days and one night with the Sth Illinois Cav- alry, holding Early in check until the 22d Corps came up; then I was sent to the city; was on duty the night "Father Abraham" was shot, and remained on duty twenty-one days and nights. I was one of the "boys" that stole the Irishman out of the guard-house, and rowed him across the Potomac river, one stormy night, cheating the Colonel out of the fun of having him shot the next day. His offense was breaking a darkey's head with a rock. My next fun was in the riot with the boys and darkies' on 17th street. Now you know where I was and what I was doing. I am now trying to make a living by farming. It is true "Uncle Sam" is helping me some. I get two sand- wiches per day, or its equivalent-thirteen cents. So, hoping this will satisfy all of my old comrades who are still on top, I shall bid you adieu.
160
REMINISCENCES.
.
XXV .- BY ENOCH WHITELY.
A camp for colored contrabands and white refugees was located on the hills, just back of our camp, while we guarded the military bridge at Chattanooga. The population of this camp was composed of all kinds of people. The colored folks were striking for freedom, the whites had lost all means of subsistence, the same being taken by the soldiers of the contending armies; and these people were of necessity, for the time being, pensioners upon Uncle Sam's bounty. Captain Mauzy was put in command of the camp. Of nights he would frequently take men from the regiment, and patrol the camp, arresting any soldiers found prowling about it or in the shanties or tents of the inhabitants. We soon "caught on;" and when the Captain was wrapped in slumber, we would take our muskets and patrol the camp, occasionally catching a stray soldier and scaring him for the fun. Of course, he believed the arrest legitimate, and after " pumping" him, and hearing his answers and his entreaties for release, we exacted a solemn · promise and permitted him to escape. One night, when I was corporal of the guard, the Captain made the rounds with us, and retired. We then went back, on our own hook. In the refugee camp, we heard a male voice in one of the shanties. A hasty consultation was held. We decided that a soldier was in there, and that we would rush in, and
161
REMINISCENCES.
catch him before he could get out. Accordingly in we went, in the most unceremonious manner. Imagine our consternation when the armed guard stood in the midst of the family group, bowed at evening prayer! We had mistaken the good old man's voice in devotion, and supposed that a soldier had crept in clandestinely. Another night, two of our boys took a stroll in the contraband camp, and step- ped into a shanty where a colored preacher was hold- ing service .. One of them discovered that the minister had a fine, new Burnside hat. When all bowed in prayer, one of the boys grabbed the hat and the other a towel, and slipped out into the darkness. In the run the leader struck a clothes-line, and was poised in mid-air, while the line, rebounding, struck the other soldier across the mouth, making a scar which remain- ed for months. But it was a good hat, and lasted a year after the war.
XXVI .- EXTRACT FROM A LETTER BY JAMES W. RICHIE, MAY IS, IS66.
I was wounded in the battle of Chicamauga, Sep- tember 19, 1863, being shot through the right lung. The ball passed through and out in the side, and so disabled me that I could not get away. On the even- ing of the 20th, the rebels took possession of the hos- pital, where I remained until the 27th, when I was
1 ٢
162
REMINISCENCES.
escaping capture several times, and were once pur- sued by blood-hounds, getting away by finding a small row boat, and the friendly aid of Union women in the mountains. Hansen got weary of trying to escape, and for fear he would surrender us both, I concluded to leave him, so that he could give himself up, if he wished. I then traveled about one hundred and fifty miles alone. One time I hid in a fence cor- ner while some rebels rode by. When I got up, I found a large black snake close by where I had lain. I arrived in our -lines at Strawberry Plains, East Ten- nessee, June 12th, twenty-six days after my escape from the cars. To tell all my adventures and escapes while a prisoner would make a book.
XXVII .- BY N. T. PLOUGHE.
I was born in Rush county, Indiana, March 12, 1840. When about twelve years old, my father sold his farm, moved to Kokomo, and bought a farm near there, and in about a year traded it for hotel property in Kokomo. For the next five years, I was mail-car- rier and clerking in the postoffice there. When the war began, I was working in a saw mill in Rush county, and I remember distinctly that on August 7, 1862, before breakfast, and before the sun was up, Manlius W. Pierce and I put down our names as vol- unteers, so as to get an early start. There are many
.
CONT. 107
163
REMINISCENCES.
removed to Ringgold, Georgia. I was kept there until October Ist, when three hundred of us were sent to Richmond, Virginia, via Atlanta, Augusta, Char- lotte and Raleigh, arriving at Richmond on the 10th, and I was then taken to a hospital. On the ISth, I was sent to Libby prison, and from there to Castle Pemberton, where I remained until November 13th, when I was sent to Danville, and kept until the 15th . of May, 1864. I was one the unfortunate five hun- dred selected from the Danville prison to be held as hostages, and to be executed in case our government retaliated on their prisoners for the Fort Pillow mas- sacre. My name came ninth on the list. A number of us dug a long tunnel with an old case-knife, and we were almost ready to escape when some of the prison- ers informed on us. We were put on the cars to be sent to prisons further south. Left Danville on the 15th, and about II o'clock of the night of the 16th, four of us made our escape by cutting a hole in the bottom of the car, large enough to slip through. We dropped down through, and lay between the tracks while the cars stopped at a station about thirty miles from Columbia, South Carolina. After the train had passed on, and the citizens had left the station, we ran back on the railroad, and held a council. We con- cluded the best way would be to go two and two together; so we separated, two going in the direction of the sea. My comrade ( Hansen) and I concluded to try and make our lines in East Tennessee. We traveled together nearly two hundred miles, narrowly
1
164.
REMINISCENCES.
incidents in a soldier's life which are indellibly writ- ten in his mind; yet, when it comes to writing them down after a quarter of a century has passed, and without notes or dates, it would be strange if there are not some mistakes. At Louisville, Kentucky, I was detailed as company drummer, although I volun- tarily took a musket for guard duty, on several occa- sions. At Bardstown, we rested awhile in the fair grounds, and a chicken found its way into my haver- sack. I had to wring its neck, for at that early date in our soldier's life we had to keep shady on our press- ed dainties. The Weather was so warm I did not get much good of my chicken, for by the time we went into camp it had begun to get old. While in camp at Nashville, the musicians became somewhat neglectful of their duties, and did not get out to "drummer's call" in the morning promptly. The Colonel, I think, got up unusually early one morning, to "drummer's call," and seeing that most of us were absent, thought he would see if he could not bring about a better at- tendance. So he ordered us to bury a dead horse that lay unpleasantly close to our camp. We went, did a good job, and thought we got off easily. We were out at calls on time after this. For fourteen days and nights, after leaving Murfreesboro for Tullahoma, in June, 1863, I did not have my clothes off, and my feet were wet all the time. I think the blackberries we ate saved half of Rosecrans' army. The night of September IS, IS63, we were on the march all night. We halted every little while, and the boys would drop
.
165
REMINISCENCES.
down and fall asleep in the road in no time. Then the word "Forward!" spoken low, would come, and we would plod on. We halted about daylight, to make coffee and read our letters; for the mail carrier had come, and made glad the hearts of many a poor fellow who did not live to see the setting of the sun. I was back and forth from the line of battle to the the field hospital, helping the wounded, all the after- noon and night of the 19th. The next day ( the 20th ), I saw that the hospital was in danger, and told all those that could march, and got them started toward Chattanooga. I got in there about 12 o'clock that night, with the division ambulance. The next two months was spent there behind the breastworks, hav- ing the monotony relieved by the enemy throwing shot and shells at us quite often. One night, they came so thick that my bunk-mate and I thought it best to go to the trenches. When we went back to our tent, next morning, a piece of shell had passed down through where " Doc " Earnest would have been lying. At Mission Ridge, we lost one of our company, who was every inch a soldier-Samuel S. Bodine. The last words I heard him say, before he started on the last charge up the ridge, was, "I don't like to, but I guess I will have to," in his peculiar all-ready way. In a short time I found his lifeless body near the top of Mission Ridge. Our regiment was immediately ordered to go to East Tennessee, and I was detailed to stay and care for the company baggage at Chatta- nooga. until a wagon train could be sent with it, about
-
. 166
REMINISCENCES.
two months latter. While we were crossing the Ho !- ston river, the rebel General Wheeler thought he would take us in, but the boys gave him a set back. Orderly Smith was wounded in the hand. He had our ration of coffee in his haversack. A ball cut the bot- tom. out, and we lost our coffee, much to our regret. After many marches and counter-marches, we got back again to Chattanooga. I participated in the battle of Nashville, and in the pursuit of Hood to Decatur, Alabama. We had no change of linen for about six weeks. When we crossed the river there, the enemy showed a little fight, and a new recruit of some regiment had a full knapsack, which he threw away. I spied it, and made my toilet then and there, right under fire. After this campaign was finished, I . was detailed as clerk of a court-martial. I have a silver dollar which Captain Mauzy gave me then, of the date of 1782. After my discharge, in June, 1865, I emigrated to Kansas, and in IS71 was married, and am now farming.
XXVIII .- BY JOHN L. T. WILSON.
I started into the service as teamster; broke three teams of mules, of six mules each, that never had been haltered, and had plenty of work from the beginning. At Munfordville, the night before we surrendered, I helped Colonel King wrap our flag around his body, to
167
REMINISCENCES.
- save it from being captured. Month after month pass- ed, of hardship, mule driving, in the rain and mud and swamps. On the trip from Murfreesboro, James Hood, Luther Stewart, and I got into Tullahoma about midnight, passing about fifty stalled teams, and were the first of the train there. We lay there the next day, which gave me a chance to recruit my team, by finding a couple of large black mules, and donating to the boys two of my smallest. I now had a team I took great pride in, but it made extra duty for me, as I was selected to go often, because I had such an extra outfit. On we went, up and over the mountains, hav- ing many adventures, and down to Pond Springs. The fight at Chicamauga was coming on. We march- ed after night with the train, it being so dark we had to build fires to light the train on its way, and camped, late in the night, in a little valley by a little brook, where we were surrounded by plenty of ripe corn; and you bet we knew what to do with it. The next day, the battle was raging hotly, and the next (Sun- day) the storm of the battle was still more constant. That evening, as our teamsters were in the cornfield. laying in a supply, orders came to hitch up quick, and get out, for we were five miles behind the rebel lines. " Bill" Aldridge rolled the camp kettles in lively, and hadn't even time to put his finger in the bean soup while we were hitching up. We drove in a fast trot about two hours, which brought us to where Wilder's cavalry was guarding the road for our benefit. There we were attacked by a small squad of rebel cavalry,
.
REMINISCENCES.
1.68
but they were soon driven off, and we went on in the direction of Chattanooga, near which we went into camp about midnight, and next day pulled the train across the river opposite the town. We immediately went to hauling rations from Stevenson, Alabama, over the mountain road. The train was moved over on to the Chattanooga side shortly afterwards, and feed got so scarce that many mules starved to death haltered to the wagons. Immediately before the Mis- sion Ridge battle, I assisted in hauling pontoons for our troops to cross the the river on, to attack the rebels on their flanks. When the Atlanta campaign began, I was given command of the 3d Division, Fourth Corps, ordnance train. We had several close calls on our way, but luck was with us, and we got there in
good condition. We lay in front of Atlanta several days, having a jolly time, with the exception of a few times when the rebels spied us, and then we would get a lively shelling from their artillery. Just before we flanked Atlanta, Sherman put me in charge of all the ordnance trains of the army, which I ran success- fully until we had possession of the city. We lay there about thirty days, when our corps (the 4th ) was sent back to look after Hood. We were hotly pur- sued by his army all the way back to Nashville, march- ing nearly day and night. The "rebs" got so deter- mined to have our train, that I had to double it up, two wagons abreast, so that our guards would have a better chance to protect them. While the hard-fought battle of Franklin was raging, I emptied the fort of
169
REMINISCENCES.
all the extra ammunition, and took it away to Nash- ville. At Spring Hill, we were attacked, and I lost my horse in the fight. Twice during the night they came upon us, but were repulsed. About 8 o'clock the next morning, we were surrounded by rebel cav- alry; but, with the assistance of a battery, cut our way out-the drivers and train-guards fighting like tigers. We were all armed, either with guns or re- volvers. When we arrived at Nashville, men and mules were nearly played out from fatigue and loss of sleep. After the battle of Nashville, we again started back over the same road, to Pulaski, and from there went to Huntsville, Alabama. On that march was the first time we had a wagon to sink down as low as the bed in the mud. We had to pull the mules out one at a time, in the "Twelve-mile Bearings," a swampy country, twelve miles wide, between the two places. This was our last hardship, and the next five months were rather quiet about Nashville.
XXIX .- BY ARTHUR J. GATES.
No man who never witnessed it can have anything like a correct understanding of the state of affairs in the rear of an army during a battle. When it was found, at the battle of Chicamauga, that the enemy was going to capture our hospital at Crawfish Springs, our surgeons gave orders for every man who was able
170
REMINISCENCES.
to make his escape to Chattanooga, ten miles distant. Rebel prisons, like the nightmare, always haunted Union soldiers, and when this danger was announced the scare of crippled wounded men, trying to get away, cannot be described. Since time has allayed the horrors of that time, many amusing incidents are . recalled. I commenced hobbling away (my wound being in my leg), aided by a stick which is still in my possession. I was overtaken by a teamster, who kindly permitted me to ride. Surgeon Wooden told Luther Stewart to save the headquarter wagon, and the camp equipage was piled in indiscriminately. Having participated in the bloody carnage of Satur- day, when nearly three-fifths of our company engaged had been killed or wounded, it made a feeling of horror prevade me. All day Sunday, as I heard the dreadful roar of cannon and musketry, the thought kept coming to me, what is the fate of my comrades who are engaged to-day? It seemed that life could not endure in the midst of so great destruction. I could not help mourning my comrades as dead. When . I reached Chattanooga, and was crossing the bridge, I never was so surprised and overjoyed, when my messmate, D. L. Thomas, whom I never expected to see again, met me. Those who could walk, marched to Bridgeport, Alabama, to take the train for Nash- ville. I crossed the mountains in a wagon. At Tulla- homa, I met my cherished friend and neighbor, George Thomas, coming to our aid. His tender acts of kindness to me at Nashville cannot be forgotten.
·
171
REMINISCENCES.
He sought our regiment every time a battle was im- minent. At Lebanon Junction, Kentucky, he was with us, and, armed with musket and accoutrements, lay with us in line of battle all day when an attack was expected. I went from Nashville to Evansville, thence to Indianapolis, and did not rejoin the regiment until the Spring of 1865.
XXX .- BY D. L. THOMAS.
On the 26th of October, 1864, our regiment return - ed to camp at Chattanooga, after several days' riding and marching along the Nashville railroad, to prevent Forrest from cutting the road. We were hoping for a few days' rest, but orders were in waiting for us to go on to Dalton, Georgia, to intercept other raiders that were threatening the Atlanta road. But, at midnight, orders came to draw rations, and be ready at a mo- ment's notice to march to the depot and board the cars for Decatur, Alabama. The order was obeyed, and we sat with all our accoutrements on until the morning was well advanced, when we boarded the cars with sixty men and equipments to each box-car. There were no seats, as usual, so that a portion of each com- pany took passage on top. As the trains ran by tele- graph orders from headquarters, many delays occurred at stations on the way. During the day the sunshine was intense, which caused us to vacate the tin roofs
,
172
·
REMINISCENCES.
when the train was not moving. It was a poor regi- ment that, with experience, could not board a train of freight cars after it started. The boys who lost hats always stocked up by snatching hats from the un- suspecting bystanders, as the train started from sta- tions. At 2 o'clock next morning, our train halted on the banks of the Tennessee, opposite Decatur. The railroad bridge was burned in IS62-said to have been done by order of General Mitchell. The Confederates, under General Hood, had a line of battle, with pick- ets in front, around the town. By 3 o'clock we had marched across the pontoon bridge and lain down in- side the earthworks. As everything was still as death, we were ready for a much-needed rest and sleep. But, alas! the Confederate yell broke in upon the still- ness, as they charged and drove in our pickets. Our batteries opened with a few rounds, and we were ordered into the works to receive the expected assault at daybreak. And again the stillness of a cemetery prevailed. Morning dawned with a heavy fog. Half of our regiment was ordered on the skirmish line in front of our works, to drive back the enemy and re- establish the picket line. It was a most reluctant duty when the writer made the detail from Company D, naming who should go, as all regarded the position as one of imminent peril. But as the Confederate pick- ets saw ours approaching through the fog, they reced- ed, and our line was re-established. When the fog disappeared, the picket fight began, and continued nearly all day. Our boys had learned so well how to
173
REMINISCENCES.
"hug the ground," and take advantage of every obsta- cle, that they rested in comparative safety. Their greatest danger came from our own men in the works, firing at the enemy, and the balls falling among our own men. Isaac Rodgers, of Company D, was pain- fully wounded. As George Smith carried him on his back to the fortification the "Johnnys" enjoyed the target practice, but without hitting their mark. Dur- ing the day a Confederate battery disabled our wooden gunboats, and opened on our pontoon bridge from a bend in the river below our works. The 14th United States Colored Regiment passed out of the works along the water's edge, and when in position climbed the bluffs, charged, captured, and "spiked" the bat- tery, while the artillerymen in amazement ordered. and in some cases tried to lead, the "niggers" to the rear. It was their first introduction to colored troops. As the 14th boys were starting to dump the guns into the river, the infantry support rallied from their sur- prise, and drove our boys back. The 14th lost fifty - odd, killed and wounded, in that successful assault. Late in the day, our skirmishers were all withdrawn. After nightfall, our whole brigade was put on picket. with two men at a place, with a shovel. They took turns standing guard and digging "gopher holes," for protection the next day. If mortals ever suffered for sleep, we were the boys, after losing so much sleep and being shipped like cattle. We could hear the rebel pickets talking in an undertone within a stone's throw, But what was that to exhausted, weary men?
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.