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 9
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The hardest march I ever endured, I think, was to East Tennessee, after the battles at Chattanooga. It was made in rainy, muddy, snowy, wintry weather, in light marching order, except that we had to carry everything we needed. It was the more disagreeable to me because I had been on staff duty with a horse to ride before this ; and it was made still worse by my putting on a new pair of boots just before starting on the march. For days they remained on my feet and I suffered slow torture. I knew that if I took them off I could not get them on again, and so I suffered and plodded on. Captain Leeson was the only other cap- tain along, and was the ranking officer and in com- mand of the regiment. He had a horse which he often allowed the sick to ride, but as they were in a worse condition than myself, I did not feel envious.
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At Marysville we struck the flour mills, and I will never forget the solid bread which we cooked in the ashes or on boards by the fire. It was not so heavy as solid shot, but made a similar impression when thrown. On the night march to Knoxville we ate parched corn. The rain poured down, and we rejoiced when, just before we got there, we heard the rebels had been repulsed there, at Fort Saunders, with great loss to them.
May 20, 1864, I was detailed by order of Major General Steedman to command a detail to guard to Nashville a train of box cars loaded with rebel prison- ers, captured in the battle at Resaca, Ga. The trip was rendered dangerous by bushwhackers and guer- rillas, who often fired into and captured trains. The engineer made it more so, by running very fast in the places where the woods were thickest. Nearly all the prisoners were satisfied to quit, freely saying that they considered their cause hopeless. But there was a Texan, and a Kentuckian, from Georgetown, who said they would " die in the last ditch." There was one boy, IS years old, in whose story I took much interest, he seemed so honest and so homesick. He said his father was a graduate of West Point, and was a member of the Georgia convention that passed the ordinance of secession, and voted against it. He was then Mayor of Milledgeville, and his name was J. C. Haygood. The boy said he did not want to fight against the stars and stripes, and that he would take the oath of allegiance, and stay North and work until
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the war was over. I gave him some directions and names to use when he got North, but never heard of him afterwards.
A military commission was in session at Chat- tanooga from July 29 to August 6, 1864, for the District . of the Etowah. Captain William Glover was tried by it as a guerrilla. A band of des- peradoes, under Gatewood, the noted outlaw, had terrorized all the country with a force of several hundred deserters from both armies, killing and rob- bing, so that it was not safe for soldier or citizen to be caught by them. So great was the fear of this gang that but little testimony could be got against them. General Bragg sent in by a flag of truce his testimony that Captain Glover was his Chief of Scouts and in the line of duty. The court believed from the evidence that he had been with the guerrillas, and sentenced him to eight years in the penitentiary. The trial lasted five days, and he had noted lawyers for his defense. About one hundred officers, soldiers, conductors on railroads, citizens and spies were tried by this court in a six months' session.
Dr. R. D. Mauzy was appointed a special surgeon to visit the army immediately after the battle of Chic- amauga, September 19-20, IS63, and reported at Chatta- nooga a few days after. While there he was kept actively at work in the field hospital north of the river. But as soon as the wounded had all been cared for, he visited the 6Sth. In order to make him acquainted with the "Johnny Rebs.," he was taken out to the
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picket lines, where at that time our front was on good terms. We met half way between the lines, which were not over 200 yards apart, and exchanged papers. At the same time the brigades next on our left would fire at each other whenever a head was shown above the rails that were used for protection. The doctor made his visit short, saying "they might take him for some prominent general, and not want to miss their chance, as they did with General Palmer, a few days before, when he was riding along the lines in citizen's clothes."
II .- BY LEE GOODWIN.
My first day's experience in camp at Greensburg taught me, by a lucky find of some potatoes, which I baked in the ashes, and which my mess enjoyed very much, while many others were growling around hungry, to always see after my own commissary sup- plies. And although at times the opportunity and place forbade any luxuries, my hunger made a sauce that supplied all deficiencies in that line. The pumpkin which we roasted on a pile of cedar rails, the first night after we were captured, failed to stew dry enough, but it was " Hobson's choice"-that or nothing. Fur- ther along on our march, at Rough Creek, I made a pin-hook and caught three small fish, fried them in tallow. and as my mate ( J. H. Roberts, ) did not like them cooked that way, I had a "square meal."
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When we were exchanged and went South, Thomas Bosley said to me : "Lee, you do the forag- ing, and I will do the packing and cooking." So he made himself a haversack, which looked like a "pup- tent" sewed up into a haversack. He fulfilled the contract until the battle of Mission Ridge, where he was wounded in the leg. But before he was wounded, and on the first day on the line of battle, we advanced side by side to the rail pile, ( all the boys will know what I mean by the rail pile ) when a rebel shell went whizzing near. Bosley went spinning around on his feet, and in a moment fell. I stopped with him to see if he was badly hurt ; but in an instant he opened his eyes as wide as they could be, and asked : "What in the h-ll was that ?" He soon got up and moved on. Before this battle, rations ran so short that we stole the corn from the mules, parched it, and ate with a relish wormy crackers, and almost anything we could get. In the battle of Chicamauga I remember the remark of Frank Gisselbach, the Dutchman. When he was shot through the neck, the ball made a great number of holes through his rubber blanket, which was in a roll over his shoulders. He said : "The hole in his neck would grow up, but, by dam, the holes in his blanket would not." I also remember that if ever I wanted to see night come, it was on Sunday evening, in that battle, and I think most others felt in the same way.
Never will I forget a detail I went on with a wagon- "train, to Stevenson, Ala., after supplies, while we
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were shut up in Chattanooga, with only one way to get out and a long distance to go over the mountains. We camped in the Sequatchie Valley, to feed up our dying mules, and had to forage for all we got. George Smith and I went out, and found a hog. It was very poor, but we skinned it, and took it to camp. Poppino had gone in another direction, and brought in some potatoes. Wecooked them together, and ate very heartily. Per: simmons being ripe and very plenty, we finished up on them. A sicker lot of boys, with colic, you never saw. Our picket lines were very close together at this time, in Chattanooga, and were often relieved in fogs dark as night. One morning before daylight, General Willich, our brigade commander, came out to our reserve post (our captain was on duty at the time ), and said : "Captain, do you know where all your pickets are stationed, and have you visited them all ?" The Captain answered that he had visited nearly all of them. The General exclaimed : "My God ! you should just so well know every man you got, as you know where you get your bread and butter." After the battle at Dalton, while We Were eating our supper, a very small boy and girl came up, looking very wistful, and we asked them to eat with us. While eating they were telling how the "Johnnies " did while Bragg was camped about Dalton. The little girl said "One Johnny shot another Johnny." We asked her how that came. She said that he shot at a sheep, missed it, and killed a Johnny. It seemed to tickle the little ones very 1 nruch. It was at this time that Ryland Bosley re-
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marked, when he saw William Aldridge eating a hunk of ginger bread, which he had gobbled, "that the war was about over"-for it showed that luxuries were finding their way to the front.
I was never in a hospital during my term of ser- vice, and was in every engagement that the regiment was in except one. I was detailed on special duty at the time. I was not wounded while I was out. I I have a buckshot which I caught in my haversack at the battle of Chicamauga, and which a tin plate and some crackers stopped from hitting me in the hip.
I will close with William Innis' reply to the native: "Does Injeanny jine Tennessee ?" "Yes, and laps half way over."
III .- BY JOHN M. FRANCIS.
The first impressions that I got of soldering were . when Captain Innis, in his solemn way, swore me into the service, while standing on the sidewalk in the village of Milroy. I was only seventeen years old, and small of my age, and drew the attention of a large blacksmith in the crowd, by the name of Asbury Richey. He stepped up to my side and called the attention of the crowd by saying : "Boys, it is a tarnel shame to take such a small boy as this in the army, and break him down before he gets his set. What can he do a-soldering along by the side of me?" . The con-
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trast was so great it let me down from the height of thinking I was a man to that of being a small boy again. Only a few days elapsed until we were in Kentucky, marching from Bardstown to Lebanon. I saw my heavy-weight comrade limping and waddling like a duck in a thunder-storm. I stepped up to his side and began to look back, first over one shoulder, then the other, and drew his attention. Notwithstand- ing his piety and good nature, it was too much, and he blurted out : "What in the h-ll are you looking for?" Assuming as long a face as possible, I tried to make it appear that I had lost my knapsack ; where- upon my burly comrade began to swear as only a tired soldier sometimes did. Mills Souder struck up "John Brown's Body," and sang and marched like it was fun. My heavy comrade soon found out that he could not stand the service, and had to be discharged. Years after I met him on the street in the same village. He took me by the hand and gave it a shake, such as you would expect from a grizzly bear, and turning to those about said : "Boys, this fellow is made out of hog's nose, and was the darndest toughest fellow in our reg- iment." It was a hard matter to determine by their looks who would stand the hardships the best. It was no uncommon thing to see men who were the very picture of health go down on a hard march, and young stripplings of boys in their teens turning hand springs or wrestling with a comrade after arriving in camp. Tom Patterson, Jeff. Trimble, Jim Richey, and myself have had to do extra-duty for such things. Notseeing
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how the joke came in, we would sometimes try to get others into a little trouble. Sergeant Cohn was the left guide of the company on drill, and would call out, " Left !" with a peculiar accent, which the boys will all remember. My position was next to him. When marching by flank we would dress on him, and watch- ing my chance, I would, with my elbow, throw him as far as I could in advance. The Captain would look down the line, and see his left guide out of position, and would give him such a reprimand as the strongest language would convey. The Sergeant, knowing it was my fault, did not think as much of me as a soldier would of his last "hard tack" on a long march, with no prospect of the supply train getting up. He watched to get me into trouble, but his peculiar tact got him details which kept him away from the company most of the time. He was a Jew, and made the service pay, and after the war went South into business.
I believe the worst trade I ever made in my life was when we were prisoners in Bragg's army. One of the long, lean, lank guards, seeing that I had a new canteen, said : "Hello, Yank, how would you like to trade canteens ?" showing his, which was made out of cedar in the shape of a barrel, and with brass hoops. Its beauty and the thought of taking it home as a trophy, made me willing to trade without any further talk. Next day we started on our long, tiresome and dusty march, and I soon realized that hot pond-water in a new cedar canteen was one of the worst drinks I ever tackled.
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Up to the time of the battle of Chicamauga ( Sep- tember 19, 1863, ) my company had never been in what I considered a big battle, and boy-like, I had come to the conclusion that the "Johnnies" would be driven to the jumping-off place and the confederacy "busted" without my getting an opportunity to per- form some daring exploit, in the midst of a great con- flict. On Saturday, September 19, 1863, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, our command marched by the right flank off of the road and into the woods, where we first struck the rebel lines. Poor Caleb Lee fell pierced by a minnie ball, the first one in our com- pany. At his request Poppino and I took off his cartridge box and belt. Then it was that business commenced in earnest. There was the rebel line forming and dressing up on their colors as coolly, it seemed to me, as if they were on dress parade. We began to pour the balls from our rifles into their ranks as fast as it was possible for us to do so, and in return received their fire. For my life I could not tell how long we remained at the first stand we took. I am fully convinced of one thing, however, and that is, we remained long enough to take all the wish to be in a hard-fought battle out of your humble servant. I never expressed such wishes again while in the service, and now feel contented at home with wife and children without any feeling of shame for such a confession. I went into other hard-fought battles after that, but there was a change in my feelings from a fearless, thought- less, reckless boy to those of a serious, nervous one,
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fully realizing that my destiny was in the hands of an over-ruling Providence.
In next day's melee an incident occurred which was of much interest to me, and will illustrate how very much mixed things were. Sunday evening, after we had fallen back in irregular order, very much fatigued, I sat down by a tree to rest, when I noticed the regi- ment filing off to the left a short distance away, and going out of sight behind some willows which had grown up along a dry ditch. I thought to intercept them by angling across, but when I came to the willows and ditch, there lay a live Johnny on the rebel skirmish line, firing at our men. I was within six feet of him before either of us discovered the other. He had just emptied his gun, and as mine was loaded, I instantly brought it to bear on him. He threw up his hands, and exclaimed : "For God's sake, don't shoot." I never knew whether it was one of our batteries or one of the enemy's that began throwing shot and shell into those willow bushes at that moment. Such a storm of iron and leaden hail I never knew in all my experience, and with an instinct of self-preservation my companion and I shared the protection of a scrubby oak tree near by ; and never did two kittens crowd into a warm nest on a cold night closer than we did between the spur-roots of that oak. Changes of position drew that terrible fire in another direction in a very short time, and I started with my prisoner for our lines, which were only a short distance away. I have thought since that no major-general, after a successful battle,
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ever felt better toward himself than I did when I de- livered over my captive.
While we were penned up in Chattanooga, with hunger gnawing at our vitals, I one day saw a couple of soldiers skinning a dog, preparatory to serving it up to satisfy their hunger. I stood by hoping they would invite me to a share in their feast ; but, not receiving any, I had to satisfy my appetite by hunting among the mules of the corral, picking up grains of corn to parch. On the night march from Knoxville to Mary- ville, it was very dark and muddy. We were very weary, and in the night halted. I was no sooner down than fast asleep. There arose a wonderful com- motion, and I awoke, thinking we were attacked. A long, lean old sow leaped over me, and Sam. Pegg, who was next, grabbed her hind leg, and was jerked out at full length, but held on firmly. The next morn- ing Company D had fresh pork for breakfast. It was the pursuit of her which had made such a racket, and the one who caught her had the prize.
In the Spring of 1864, I was ordered to report to the Post Provost Marshal at Chattanooga, Tennessee. My first duty was in charge of part of the prison guard. The prison was on Main street, and had been a store room, twenty by seventy feet long, and our men had enclosed a space in the rear thirty by fifty feet with a fence twelve feet high. It was seldom we had less than 350 prisoners, and I have seen as high as 500 crowded into that small space. They were not rebels, but were made up of the worst characters-thieves,
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deserters, bounty-jumpers, and representatives of every crime. There was a regular band of robbers inside its walls. It was an every-day occurrence to learn of the new arrivals being robbed by this gang of professional thieves, and it would have been worth the life of any inmate to testify against them. One fellow said he had been in all the prisons from New York to Chat- tanooga, but had never met such a d-d set of scoun- drels before." Balls and chains, hand-cuffs, and all such remedies were used on them. Sometimes they were taken to the front and put on the front lines of battle. Once Edward A. Junken went to guard some to the front, in the Atlanta campaign. When they arrived a battle was raging, and they were put in front. "Ep." said he was "glad to see them made to do duty, . but did not enjoy being in such company in driving them into it." When General Sherman's army went on the Atlanta campaign, he ordered the sutlers back to Chattanooga, where they took up about twenty acres of ground ; and the little city was called by the appropriate name of Sutlertown. It soon became necessary to detail a detective to work among them and in the city, to look after liquor selling, gambling and other violations of the laws of the post. The Pro- vost Marshal selected me, and I was allowed to dress in citizen's or soldier's clothes, and to employ any means consistent with military rules to find the guilty parties. I never thought that my chances for getting hurt were reduced in the least by my duties at this time. The Provost Marshal dealt out justice similar
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to the mayor of a city in time of peace; only his was military authority, and was very speedy in its execu- tion. I have often seen as many as one hundred prisoners brought in during twenty-four hours, and they were tried as fast as the clerk could take down their names, crime and sentence in a book kept for the purpose. Commencing at S a. m., by noon the docket would be clear. Citizens were fined, and it was re- ported that over thirty thousand dollars of a fund was accumulated. My duties brought me into contact with all kinds of violators, and sometimes I would have to get the drop on them quickly with my revolver ; but I had the military to back me, and now feel thankful that I did what I could to detect all robbers of the Govern- ment and disorganizers of our grand army in the field.
IV .- BY HARVEY CALDWELL.
The boys no doubt remember our forced march the night before the battle of Chicamauga, how the fences were burned to light us on our way, and how we stopped and made coffee. but did not get time to drink it. A few minutes after Lieutenant Beale was wounded, and Lieutenant Bailey took command of our company, he told me to go and tell Adjutant Good. .win that the enemy were flanking us on the left. I did so, and after coming back I laid down, and think
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I was putting a cap on my gun when a ball struck me in the breast. Before this I saw Abram Billings throw up his hands, and thought I saw the blood, but it was .only a glancing shot. I lay only a short time, when I got up and tried to walk to the rear, but did not go far till I suppose I fainted, as I knew nothing until some of the boys came and tried to carry me away. I was too heavy, and they left me on a gum blanket. This was after the regiment was driven back. Soon after, two or three Johnnies came up, and one of them took my canteen. I said : "Don't take it." He asked, " What is in it?" I said, " Water." He dropped it,. and went on. Another one had two wool blankets, for one of which I traded my rubber one, thinking it would keep me warmer at night. In the evening another Johnny came and helped me back to a fire, and got me a rock for a pillow. He then asked me if I would trade my haversack and canteen for his. I
told him I did not care, and I have the canteen yet. have often thought I would like to have his name and address. On my way back I saw William Griffin, dead, on the first line. They had taken his shoes off, and cut open his pocket and taken his money. I suf- fered intensely during the two days and nights I lay there. It seemed that every hour would be my last, but I felt perfectly resigned to my fate, knowing that I had tried to do my duty and was dying in a good cause. Two are three wounded men lay near me. General Bragg and his staff rode close by me on Sun- day morning.
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Monday evening the rebels came with a wagon, and hauled us several miles to a field hospital, where they had seventy or eighty of our wounded. Here I got acquainted with Sergeant Taylor, of the 51st Illi- nois Regiment, who wrote the first word home, as he was paroled three weeks before I was ; but not until I had been given up as dead for weeks by relatives and friends at home, as well as by my comrades in the army. We got a pint of unsifted corn meal for a day's ration. On Wednesday the rebel doctor examined my wound, and said the ball was in the lower part of my left lung." He said it was a very dangerous wound, and swore he did not believe they could kill a Yankee. I traded my knife to a rebel, and got two and a half dollars to boot in Confederate currency. Saturday evening they brought in a little buck sheep, and we thought we would get some meat ; but the two or three bites given to each one only whetted our appetites for more. One or two of the men died every day, and the wagon would come. Piling them in, they would take them to a large hole, and dump them in and cover over with a little dirt. I got a hat off a dead man's head ; I thought he did not need it, and I had none.
We remained at this place about three weeks, when we were taken in wagons to Ringgold, ten miles, and put on the cars for Atlanta. By some mistake I was on a train with rebel officers and soldiers, and when we got to Atlanta I inquired for a hotel, where I went and sat by the fire, and got a good breakfast, paying out my two dollars and a half for it. Afterwards I
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met a rebel and traded some greenbacks for Confeder- ate money, he giving me ten dollars for one, and then I returned to the hotel. Soon a rebel came and took me to the barracks where our wounded were, and I had to resume the pint of corn meal diet. In a day or two, as I was passing a shanty, some one called me. I went in and found William Danner. He was shot through the knee, and showed me the ball which had been taken out. He seemed quite cheerful. I never saw him after that time.
In two or three days we were put on the cars for Richmond, with five days' rations-five crackers and a piece of bacon as large as a man's hand. This we ate raw. We were nine days on the road, part of the time in crowded box cars. At Raleigh, N. C., I bought a dozen very small biscuits for two dollars. Arriving at Richmond, my first purchase was a sweet potatoe pie for twenty-five cents. We were taken to Libby prison, where we were kept forty-eight hours without any- thing to eat, and were so crowded that we barely had room enough to lay down on the floor.
After a few days I and a few others were taken to the Alabama hospital, where we had better quarters, but had the floor for a bed. The dead were carried out daily and put in the dead house, (where the rats were very numerous) until taken away for burial. I bought one sheet of paper and two envelops for a half-dollar, and wrote home. We were allowed to write a half-sheet and leave it unsealed. After a long "time it was sent through and got home. Our ration
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