USA > Indiana > History of the Ninety-seventh regiment of Indiana volunteer infantry > Part 3
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them near Griswoldville, captured some and the rest were on the wing. Some had lost their guns; some horses were running on three legs; some shot in the nose and all were lying in confusion. Two companies of the 97th regiment and two of the 103d Ilinot- were deployed as skirmishers and moved through a pine woods until we came upon rising ground on the east side of a large farm. Wheeler's Cavalry was then on the west side of the farm. A few troops followed them as far as Griswoldville and came back, and the brigade formed a line of battle on the east side of the farm the 97th Indiana on the extreme right and the 40th Ohio on the extreme left and a battery in the center. Company ( was de- ployed as skirmishers on the west side of the farm. Arms were stacked, fires made and we were getting our dinners at 1 P. M when the pickets began to fire and fall back. Were ordered to throw up breastworks, which we did as best we could with logy rails and stumps, when we saw coming against us three or four lines of battle, a whole divison of Georgia militia marching in spendid style at a right shoulder shift arms. Our battery opened on them when they opened one on us, killed nearly all the horses in our battery and killed and wounded some of the Sixth Iowa regiment supporting it. A piece of shell wounded Gen Wal- cott, commanding the brigade, and he was carried along with the army in an ambulance to Savannah, Gia. Col. C'atterson at once took command of the brigade. It was said that while the tight was in progress Gen. Wood, commanding the division, sent word to Col. Catterson to bring the brigade out, but Col. Patterson sent him word to send him ammunition and he would hohl the place The fight lasted from I P. M. to & P. M., the enemy making one charge after another. When the fight was practically over a -kir- mish line was sent out and quite a number of the milton captured. The captured and killed were nearly all very young and very old men, who had white cotton shirts in their kup- sacks and biscuits, butter and fried ham in their haveracks. As night came on we built tires, as the night was chilly, and brought a great many wounded men to the fires and at In P M. that night we retired from the place and joined the main army and continued our march to the sea. It was said that in this eh gagement we killed, wounded and captured 1,500 of the chan In 1885 I met the Confederate officer in charge of the battery on that day and he said he never knew what execution it did unt! ! told him. We moved on, crossing the Oemulger and Dosta rivers and with no other serious disturbance nutil we struck tin Johnnies in the neighborhood of Savannah We had work ... one side of a rice farm and they upon the other The water bol been det in on the farm and here we remained about a wych skirmishing with them until Fort Mccallister, on the Ugerlos river, was taken by the 20 division of our corps, under commeun
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of Gen. Hazen. While here we were short of rations and had to depend mostly on rice we found on the farm. We could see the masts of our ships loaded with supplies at the mouth of the Ogee- chee, in Ossabaw Sound, but which could not and did not reach us until Fort MeCallister was taken. After that Hardee and his army left Savannah and on the 21st of December, 1864, Sherman took possession of the city.
We remained here until about January 15, 1865, when the 97th Indiana and a cavalry regiment went aboard a steamer called the "Louisburg," which had been a blockade runner and been cap- tured, and dropped down the Savannah river and out to sea and around to Port Royal or Beaufort, South Carolina, to which place most of the 15th and 17th corps were transported; the 14th and 20th corps crossing the Savannah river and marching at once into South Carolina. We remained at Port Royal until the last days of January, 1865, when we marched away for Columbia, South Carolina. On the 14th of February we met the enemy some fif- teen miles from there, and began to skirmish with Wade Hamp- ton's cavalry. That night we threw up breastworks and went into camp in line of battle. Next morning moved out, with the 40th Illinois as skirmishers, the 97th Indiana and 103d Illinois as reserves. The skirmishers drove them at first, but become more and more stubborn as they neared Congaree creek, where they had a line of works on the west side and a battery of artillery on the east side and infantry and cavalry. Our men drove them out of their works and across the bridge, and as the 97th Indiana was going into the works they had abandoned on the west side of the creek, their battery opened on us and a shell exploded in the works and cut off the head of Preston Flinn, of Company E, and mortally wounded John Mood, a Corporal in Company E, who died in a few minutes. The Rebels had piled rosin and pine on the bridge, expecting to burn it, but Capt. Johnson, Inspector on the Brigade Staff, rushed on the bridge in front of them and kicked all of it into the stream. Here our brigade captured a Confed. Colonel, who was too drunk to know on which side of the stream he was or to what army he belonged. The Rebels retired across a large farm in the direction of Columbia, and our divis- ion was hurried over the stream, our brigade in advance. A line of battle was formed, and the 46th Ohio deployed as skirmishers, when a line of cavalry skirmishers eame sweeping down upon us. but the Spencer rifles of the 46th Ohio soon put them to flight. One division followed another, quick and fast, and we all camped on that farm that night, and the rebels, getting range from our camp-fires, gave us a cannon shot or shell about every ten minutes during the whole night, the battery being on our right and across Congaree river, yet did us no material damage, however. The next night, after crossing the Saluda river, we camped on Broad
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river, north of the city, and the next morning, February 17.1965. our brigade was the second to enter Columbia. The enemy had gone, and along the main streets of the city there had been placed cotton bales, end to end, for a considerable distance, near the curb-stone, and were burning when our army entered the city. An lowa brigade attempted to put it out and it was still smoking when our regiment passed by. Negros thronged the streets and gave us a rousing reception. They carried out coffee hams, bacon, rice, brandy and wine to us, and made every demon- stration of joy. Our regiment camped about a mile from the city that night. In the night we were aroused by the explosion of cartridges and shell, and thought for a time the Rebel army had returned and made an attack, but looking toward the city saw it great fire sweeping over it, and the explosions were caused by the fire having reached the arsenal. At daylight our regiment was ordered into the city for provost duty, and so remained during our stay in the city. A part of the city was burned The fire swept over it from south-west to north-east, and swept all before it. Sherman, it is said, captured here provisions enough for hi- whole army for thirty days, all of which was burned, and during the night of the fire, he and all his general officers had to move their headquarters. When we left Columbia, the negroes, who said they had been run into Columbia from all parts of the south to save being captured, followed us in great numbers son on foot on horseback, in carts, carriage- and wagons, taking all they could of their household goods, and started, as they said, to - the land of freedom." We remained at Columbia nearly a week, then marched away and crossed the Catawba river mar t'anden, then to Lynch river. The day we reached Lynch river, Lieutenant Stanley was out with a company of foragers -Salathiel Thomp son, Company .A. Company . Jason Allen Company D. Sid Martindale, Company F.
were captured at this place. Sid was wounded in the fight they made and left for dead, and we succeeded in finding him and who died several years after the war ended by reason of the wound thus received.
While marching through South Carolina, mar Orange burg Andrew D. Nelson, of Company , Otho Morris, of Company 1 Patrick Flannery, of Company D, and Joseph Pain, of Company 1. were sent out with others under orders on a toraging espel tion ; on the 13th of February, 1565, at 3 P M they reichel the town and found something buried, and run their rumored- down and struck a box. They supposed it to be a box of mal all proceeded to dig it up. When they got it out Ofthe Morris struck it with and axe. It was a torpedo, and exploded with a vrch and n roar, and the result was frightful Otho was mangled and lis eyesight destroyed ; he now lives at Sullivan Ind
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box imbedded itself in the fleshy part of Pat's thigh and injured his eyes permanently ; Pat lived until a year or so ago, when he lay down to his last sleep, regretted by us all, for he was beloved by us all for his generosity of heart and hand. Andrew J. Nel- son had both eyes injured permanently, and still lives, an honored citizen of Greene county. As to Joseph Pain. He was seriously injured, but I don't know where he is, but I understand he still lives.
We marched from Lynch River to Cheraw, S. C., on the Pedee River, and remained at the place one day and two nights waiting on the pioneers to finish the pontoon bridge. From here we marched to Fayetteville, N. C., on Cape Fear River. At this place Jason Allen and Salathiel Thompson returned to the regiment, having made their escape ; but if I remember rightly Capt. Stanley and the rest who were captured did not return to the regiment until we reached Alexandria, Va. At Fayetteville, N. C., the colored people were all sent down Cape Fear River and we marched on until Johnston engaged the 14th and 20th Corps in battle near Bentonville, N. C., and our corps (15th) and 17th Corps were marched in quick order for two days to strike the left of Johnston's army. On the second night the writer was officer of the day, and put out pickets, and we knew we were close to the enemy, for by putting our ears to the ground we could hear the tramping of the horses and the rattling of their sabers. We broke camp the next morning and marched about one mile when we struck the Rebel skirmishers. Companies A, I, and D were de- ployed at once as skirmishers on the right of the road, under com- mand of Capt. Alexander, of Company D, and I, C, and H on the left of the road under command of Capt. Holson, of Company I, the balance of the regiment and brigade moving after us as a re- serve. We followed them up one hill and down another. The Rebels would wait till we got to the top of a hill, give us a volley and run until they got over the next hill. We drove them thus five or six miles when we ran out of ammunition and the 6th Iowa took our place and had not gone far until they drove them back to their works, where they had a strong force. The 46th Ohio took the front, the 100th Indiana the left and the 26th Illinois the right, and as they were going into line the 46th Ohio charged. The 100th Indiana began to fire, when the pack mules and negroes took a stampede and broke to the rear, and the air for a while seemed to be as full of frying pans, coffee pots, tin plates and cups, as bullets. We drove the enemy out of their first line of works into their second ; fought them two days and nights when they retreated, and we started for Goldsboro, N. C. We had to corduroy the roads nearly all the way through North Carolina. The mud was deep and sticky almost like tar, and often for days in South and North Carolina we passed through pine forests where
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the trees had been tapped for resin, that were al on fire and the smoke was almost stiffing and made our faces and hands about as black as could be made. When we reached Goldsboro, March 21, 1865, we were sights indeed. Some of the regiment had no hats ; some one pant leg off' at knee and very nearly none at all to come to the other knee; rims off of hats; some with straw hats on ; holes in the hat and hair sticking through ; some with grey pants and an old blouse with no sleeves ; toes peeping out of our shoes ; no undergarments at all, and all had our old socks made out of " flyings " a yard wide down under our heel. Mules, men and horses nearly all worn out.
Colonel Catterson had been in command of the brigade ever since the battle of Griswoldville, Gia., November 25, 1564, until we arrived here, and Capt. Eliott had been in command of the regiment. At Goldsboro, Cion. Walcott returned and took com- mand of the brigade and Col. Catterson was appointed chief-of- staff on Gen. Logan's staff. Here Col. Cavins met us who had come around from East Tennessee via Baltimore and down the coast, who had in charge a great many men and officers who had been wounded and left sick and who were at home on furlough and did not get back to Atlanta before we had burned the bridges behind us, and started for the sea. In a short time tien. Walcott was given a command in the 14th corps, Col. Catterson was again placed in command of the brigade, and Col. Cavins was in command of the regiment. We remained here until about April 10, 1865, and got better clothing and rested, when we started for Raleigh, N. C. The day we crossed the Nouse river, Charlie Gar- ner, of my company (D), who was Col. Catterson's orderly, and a brother of our Quartermaster, John Garner, was captured with two clerks from brigade headquarters, and Charlie has never been heard of to this day. April 20, 1565, we reached Raleigh, and went into camp north of the city. tien, Joe Johnston's army was to the west of us. While here we learned that Lee had sur- rendered and in a few days Johnston surrendered, and we knew the war was virtually over and the rejoicing was very great It was not long however the rejoicing continued, for we soon learned that President Lincoln had been assassinated, which cast a gloom over the whole army. April 30, INGS, we received marching or- ders and started toward Washington and home It seemed to be a race among the tienerals who would get to Washington first At least the men thought so from the distance travelled cach das We came to Petersburg, Virginia, and over the grounds that have become historie through crumbling earthworks and by the graves of fallen friend und for. Then on to Richmond, when we n mained two days visiting Belle Isle and the Confederate Capital. Libby Prison, Castle Thunder and other points of interest. Then we came through that beautiful country cast of the Blue Ridge
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with its green fields and bright crystal streams to Fredericksburg. Crossed but never re-crossed the Rappahannock, then to Mount Vernon, looked upon and paid homage at the grave of Washing- ton, thence to Alexandria, where we remained a few days and pre- pared for our last grand parade-the "Review " at Washington. The Army of the Potomac passed review about May 23d, 1865, and we the day following. There seemed to be a great desire to see Sherman's army.
On the afternoon of May 23d, the 1st division of the 15th corps crossed the Long Bridge to eneamp in the vicinity of the Capital to be ready for the review early the morning of the 24th. Gen. Catterson left the writer of this at the Long Bridge to order the commanders of the regiments to unfurl their banners and have their bands play as soon as they got through the bridge. A great crowd had gathered and I was kept busy answering ques- tions, and the expression was general, " What large men as com- pared with the Army of the Potomac," and as Absalom Veatch, whom we all nick-named "Halleck," came out of the bridge, a little Frenchman jumped at him, caught hold of him and ex- claimed, " My God, did you ever see such a man." The morning of the 24th our division moved into A street by column of com- panies, and when the signal gun was fired at 9 A. M., we started on our last and grandest review. When we wheeled into Penn- sylvania avenue, and column after column of companies of the tried veterans eame marching on, with the sun glistening on their guns and the kind breezes of the morning causing the dear old tattered flags and banners to flutter and fly, bands playing and drums beating, such huzzas as went up from the people, crowded to the eurb-stones, in every story of the houses, on house tops and in windows. Boquets came showering down upon the soldiers and tattered flags from everywhere until we passed the reviewing stand, where were the President and Cabinet, Judges of the Su- preme Court, Diplomatic Corps, Generals Grant and Sherman and all the prominent commanders of the war. We then passed out of the city and camped on the Frederick pike and remained here until June 9, 1865, when the regiment was mustered out of service and started for Indianapolis via Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road to Parkersburg, West Virginia, there took the steamboat ('aroline for Lawrenceburg, Indiana, thence by rail to Indianapo- lis, where we arrived about the 14th of June, 1865.
Gen. Sherman says of the Grand Review : "During the after- noon and night of the 23d of May, 1865, the 15th, 17th and 20th army corps crossad the Long Bridge, bivouacked in the streets about the Capitol, and the 14th corps closed up to the bridge. The morning of the 24th was extremely beautiful and the ground was in splendid order for our review. The streets were filled with poople to see the pageant, armed with boquets of flowers for their
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favorite regiments and heroes, Punctually at 9 A. M., the signal gun was fired, when in person, attended by tien. Howard and all my staff, I rode slowly down Pennsylvania avenue, followed close. Is by Gen. Logan and the head of the 15th army corps. When I reached the Treasury building and looked back, the sight wa- magnificent. The column was compact and the glittering mu- kets looked like a solid mass of steel moving with the regularity of a pendulum. At the reviewing stand. I took my post on the left of the President, and for six hours and a half stood while the army passed in the order of the 15th, 17th, 20th and 1th corps It was in my judgment the most magnificent army in existence 65,000 men in splendid physique, who had just completed a march of nearly 2,000 miles in a hostile country. In good drill and who realized that they were being closely scrutinman In thousands of their follow countrymen and foreigners. Many good people up to that time had looked upon our Western army as a mob, but the world then saw and recognized the fact that it was an army in the proper sense, well organized, well commended and disciplined, and there was no wonder that it had swept through the South like a tornado."
William Kossack, Captain and additional Aide de camp on en gineer duty at St. Louis, has compiled from campaign maps at Headquarters of the Military Division of the Mississippi a list of the average number of miles travelled and marched by the differ out army corps under command of Major General Sherman, dur ing his campaigns of 186, 18til and 1865, as follows
Fourth corps .
Fourterenth corps . 1,5%6
Fifteenth corps
Sixteenth corps 330 ..
Seventeenth corp 2.076
1.527 L Twentieth corps
showing that the 15th corps " hooded it." as the boys word then 213 miles more than any one of the other corps
The following is tien, Sherman's farewell address to his arms
SPECIAL FIELDORDER NO 7
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MESESIETE ! IN THE FIELD, WASHINGTON, D. C . Max 30, 1965 1
" The General commanding announces to the Arms of The Tennessee and Georgia that the time has come for us to par Some of you will go to your homes, and others will be ninger in military service till further orders. And now that we or about to separate, to mingle with the aid world. It beams a pleasing duty to recall the situation of National affans, what bus
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little more than a year ago we were gathered about the cliffs of Lookout Mountain and all the future was wrapped in doubt and uncertainty.
Three armies had come together from distant fields, with sep- arate histories, yet bound by one common cause-the Union of our country and the perpetuation of the Government of our in- heritance. There is no need to reeall to your memories Tunnel Hill, with Rockyface Mountain and Buzzard Roost Gap, and the ugly forts of Dalton behind. We were in earnest, and paused not for danger and difficulty but dashed through Snake Creek Gap and fell on Resaca, then on to the Etowah, to Dallas and Kene- saw, and the heats of summer found us on the banks of the Chattahoocheear from home, and dependent on a single road for supplies. Again we were not to be held back by any obstacle, and crossed over and fought four hard battles for the possession of the citadel of Atlanta. That was the erisis of our history. A doubt still clouded our future, but we solved the problem-destroyed Atlanta, struck boldly across the State of Georgia, severed all the main arter- ies of life to our enemy, and Christmas found us at Savannah. Waiting there only long enough to fill our wagons, we again began a march which, for peril, labor and results will compare with any ever made by an organized army. The floods of the Savannah, the swamps of the Combahee and Edisto, the high hills and roeks of the Santee, the flat quagmires of the Pedee and Cape Fear rivers were all passed in mid-winter, with its floods and rains, in the face of an accumulating enemy, and after the battles of Averysboro and Bentonville we once more came out of the wilder- ness, to meet our friends at Goldsboro. Even then we paused only long enough to get new clothing, to reload our wagons, again pushed on to Raleigh and beyond, where we met our enemy su- ing for peace instead of war, and offering to submit to the injured laws of his and our country. As long as that enemy was defiant, nor mountains, nor rivers, nor swamps, nor hunger, nor cold had cheeked us, but when he who had fought us so hard and persis- tently offered submission, your General thought it wrong to pur- sue him further, and negotiations followed which resulted, as you all know, in his surrender. How far the operations of this army contributed to the final overthrow of the Confederaey and the peace which now dawns upon us, must be judged by others, not by us ; but that you have done all that men could do, has been ad- mitted by those in authority, and we have a right to join in the universal joy that fills our land because the war is over and our government stands vindicated before the world by the joint action of the Volunteer Army and Navy of the United States.
To such as remain in the service your general need only remind you that sneeess in the past was due to hard work and discipline, and that the same work and discipline are equally important in
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the future. To such as go home, he will only say that our favored country is so grand, so extensive, so diversified in climate, soil and production that every man may find a home and occupation suited to his taste. None should yield to the natural impatience. sure to result from our past life of excitement and adventure. You will be invited to seek new adventures abroad. Do not yield to the temptation, for it will lead only to death and disappoint- ment. Your general now bids you farewell with the full belief that as in war you have been good soldiers, so in peace you will make good citizens, and if unfortunately new war should arise in our country Sherman's army will be the first to buckle on its old armor and come forth to defend and maintain the government of our inheritance. By order of
MAJOR GENERM. W. T. SHERMAN.
L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant General.
As to our field and staff officers and what I remember of them, as well as line officers, I have this to give: Robert I. Patterson was our first colonel. He formerly resided in Parket'ounty, In- diana. Was lieutenant and adjutant and then captain in 14th Indiana regiment. He was wounded at Antietam and promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 97th Indiana, and went with the regi- ment as such to the field, and was commissioned as its colonel November 19, 1862. Commanded the brigade to which the regi- ment was attached from November 25, 1861, until April, 115. Was then appointed Chief of Staff on Gen. Logan's staff, where he served a short time, when he was again ordered to take com- mand our brigade, which he commanded until we reached Wash- ington and while there June 6, 1865, was commissioned Brigadier General ; brought his brigade to Louisville. Ky., where he was mustered out of service. Then went to Arkansas ; was appointed Brigadier General of the State Militia during the reconstruction troubles; afterwards was elected a member of the Arkansas logis- lature, and afterwards appointed United States Marshal for the eastern district of Arkansas ; then removed to where he now resides.
Aden G. Cavins, Lieutenant Colonel and afterwards Colonel of the regiment, is an old resident of Greene County, Indiana. Had resided in Bloomfield quite a number of years before the war Was Captain of to. E, of the 59th Regiment and in the field, and had been about one year when he was appointed Major of the 17th Indiana. He met the regiment at C'airo as it was on its way to Memphis, in November, 1862. He made a most excellent officer und was always found where duty called. Was in command of the regiment in some of the most important and hardest battles in which the regiment was engaged, notably, Kenesaw Mountain. Atlanta and Jonesboro. At Jaenson, Miss, his house was killed
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