USA > Indiana > History of the Seventy-fifth regiment of Indiana infantry voluteers. its organization, campaigns, and battles (1862-65.) > Part 30
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 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
Our advance through the State of South Carolina was ac- companied by the fire and smoke, not of battle, but of the torclı. The fine residences, cotton-gins, mills, factories,
372
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
arsenals at Columbia and Cheraw, and many towns and vil- lages, were destroyed. The utter demolition of the railroad system of the State was effected. The track of desolation was complete. In a letter to General Halleck, dated at Savannah, December 24th, 1864, General Sherman says:
"The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all that is in store for her. Many and many a person in Georgia asked me why we did not go to South Carolina; and when I an- swered that I was en route for that State, the invariable reply was: 'Well, if you make those people feel the severities of war, we will pardon you for your desolation of Georgia.'"'
And in a letter to General Grant from Pocotaligo, January 29th, 1865, he says:
"Of course, the enemy will carry off and destroy some forage, but I will burn the houses where the people burn their forage, and they will get tired of it."
After passing through the State, and on reaching Fayette- ville, N. C., Sherman wrote to General Terry:
"The people of South Carolina, instead of feeding Lee's army, will now call on Lee to feed them."
In the History of the Army of the Cumberland, Volume 2, page 312, the author says:
"The march through South Carolina had left a track of desolation more than forty miles wide. That State's special guilt in taking the initiative in secession was assumed by officers and men as the justification of its devasta- tion. As many of the Southern people, who were originally opposed to se- cession, blamed South Carolina for precipitating the movement, and, having themselves experienced the terrible retributions of the war which resulted, desired that South Carolina should feel war's heavy hand before peace should come, it was not strange that the National troops, in marching through the State which originally suggested secession and studiously en- deavored to induce the Southern States to withdraw from the Union, should leave behind them the fearful evidences of vengeance achieved. But it is easier for the veterans of the war to find justification for sweeping desolation in their own feelings, than it is for others to find grounds for its historical vindication."
373
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
The above quotations are inserted here to justify the course pursued by the rank and file of our army in South Carolina. We were not a horde of Vandals, but one of the very finest types of a disciplined army, composed of intelligent American citizens, volunteered to suppress the rebellion, in obedience to orders. The responsibility of the devastation of the State of South Carolina does not rest upon us.
We lay in camp all day of the 6th, awaiting the completion of the pontoon bridge across the Great Pedee. The river at this point-near Sneedsboro-was three hundred yards wide, and required forty-five canvas boats to span it. The bridge was ready for the mobilization of the army by the 7th, and at I p. m. of that day we moved across the river and took up the line of march from Sneedsboro to Fayetteville-a distance of about seventy-five miles-crossing the Little Pedee on a wagon bridge en route, and arriving in Fayetteville on the IIth at II o'clock a. in. The march was uneventful, except that we traversed forty-six miles of the distance on the 8th and 9th in a fearful rain storm, which incessantly poured down night and day. We encamped within twelve miles of the city at 10 o'clock at night-wet, tired and hungry.
The Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment led the entire army in the advance upon Fayetteville, and were the first organized National troops to enter the place. The Confederates, who held the town, were under Generals Hardee and Hampton. When the eighth mile-post was reached, on the morning of the IIth, our Regiment, commanded by Major C. J. McCole, was deployed in line of battle. Five Companies (A, F, D, I and E), under the command of Captain Mahlon H. Floyd, were sent forward as skirmishers. In this order, an hour before noon, our Regiment drove the rear-guard of the re- treating Confederates out of the town, and our Brigade was assigned to the provost duty therein for this achievement. On February 4th, 1891, Captain Floyd wrote of this affair: "When Fayetteville, N. C., was reached, our Regiment was in advance of Sherman's army. As senior Captain, I was
374
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
given five Companies, A, F, D, I and E, to deploy as skir- inishers. We drove everything through the town. The
75TH INDIANA DRIVING CONFEDERATES OUT OF FAYETTEVILLE, N. C.
Regiment followed closely. We were the first organized troops in the town. This movement was made in good style, under the eyes of Generals Slocum and Baird, who were pres- ent when I started. For this achievement our Brigade was given the provost duty to perform during the four days that we occupied the place. I had command of half of the town, and Lieut .- Col. Perkins, of the One-hundred and fifth Ohio, the other half. I had twelve Companies, selected from the different Regiments of the Brigade, in the performance of this duty."
This was the termination of the second stage of the cam- paign.
We spent four days of quietude and rest here, which we greatly needed, for we had just closed two stages of as labori- ous campaigning, for a period of six weeks, as ever falls to the lot of soldiers. In a letter from this place to General Grant, General Sherman says:
375
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
"The army is in splendid health, condition and spirits, though we have had foul weather and roads that would have stopped travel to almost any body of men I ever heard of."
We opened communications liere with General Terry, com- manding our forces at. Wilmington, a hundred miles to the south of us, through the Cape Fear River, who supplied us by steamboats with provisions, mail and clothing.
Fayetteville is located on the west bank of the Cape Fear, and at the time of our occupation, was one of the largest towns in the State, having a population of about 10,000. It was surrounded with immense pine forests, which furnished for its markets great quantities of lumber, tar and turpentine. Several distilleries for the extraction of turpentine were in operation. The old United States Arsenal, covering fifty acres of ground, which liad been enlarged and filled with ordnance-stores for use of the Confederacy, we utterly de- stroyed by blowing it up with powder, and knocking down its walls with improvised battering-rams. Some bold and rash soldiers, unauthorized, set fire to an old building in the town, and the flames spread to immense proportions, con- suming a whole block, together with the house in which General Baird had his headquarters. One of the sentinels of our Brigade, guarding the commissary stores, shot and killed the Sergeant-Major of a Regiment belonging to the Twen- tieth Corps, who was caught committing a inisdemeanor and refused to desist.
Immediately upon our arrival the pontoniers were set to work in the construction of bridges over the river for the army to cross. One of them was laid in sight of the old bridge which Wade Hampton's men had burnt, and the other was built four miles below. On completion of the bridges the entire army crossed the river during the 13th and 14th, except our Division (Baird's), which remained on duty in town as rear guards until a thorough demolition of the Ar- senal should be made.
Goldsboro-sixty miles northeast of Fayetteville-was the
376
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
third objective of the campaign. Howard's wing advanced on the right and Slocum's on the left. The Seventeenth Corps of the former was on the extreme right, and the Twentieth Corps of the latter on the extreme left, while the Fifteenth and Fourteenth Corps formed the right and left centres of their respective wings.
Four Divisions of each wing marched unencumbered by the wagon trains, which moved farther to the right under the heavy guard of the remaining Divisions. The Cavalry acted in close conjunction with the left flank. General Sher- man accompanied our wing. On Wednesday, 15th, in this order, the mobilization of the army began. On the same day our Division moved across the river and encamped five miles beyond on the Raleigh road. At midnight of this day, the guards of our Brigade, composed of three Companies from each Regiment, commanded by Captain Floyd of our Regi- ment, withdrew from duty as sentinels in the town, and marched across the bridge. These were the last soldiers of Sherman's army to cross the river. The Companies from our Regiment were A, F, and I. As we had the advance of the Corps from the Great Pedee to Fayetteville, ours was one of the Divisions placed in charge of trains.
In the evening of the first day's inarch, our Cavalry (Kil- patrick's) overtook the rear guard of Hardee's Confederate forces, under Colonel Albert Rhett, and after a brief, but spirited fight, succeeded in capturing Rhett and several of his guard. On the next day (16th) the battle of Averysboro was fought, in which the enemy was greatly discomfited. The Federal forces engaged were all from the left wing (Slocum's), consisting of the four unencumbered Divisions; Jackson's and Ward's of the Twentiethi Corps (Williams') formed the right; and Carlin's and Morgan's of the Fourteenth Corps (Davis') the left. The Confederates were under McLaw and Hardee. In the engagement our side lost in killed and wounded, 554; and the enemy lost in killed and captured, 325, including a Battery of three guns. The number of his
377
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
wounded could not be ascertained. All our wounded had to be carried along in ambulances with us.
After the battle of Averysboro, General Sherman, suppos- ing that the enemy had withdrawn to Smithfield, and that the Goldsboro road was entirely free from the enemy's Infan- try, gave orders for the columns of both wings to move upon Goldsboro. Sherman was so confident of Johnston's retreat, that he hurriedly headed Howard's wing for Goldsboro for the purpose of opening communications, as soon as possible, with Generals Terry and Schofield at Wilmington and New- bern. Sherman himself, who, up to this time, was with our wing, left it to join Howard's. For once Sherman made a mistake, which he frankly acknowledged. By a clever strategic movement, Johnston, unobserved, collected the scattered fragments of all the Confederate forces in that part of the country and massed them in front of the Fourteenth Corps. His plan was to crush the two Corps of our wing by detail; but it was a failure by reason of a lack of concert of action on the part of his subordinates, and of the stubborn re- sistance of the Fourteenth Corps, until reinforcements could reach the field. This was the battle of Bentonville, and it opened on the 19th, when Carlin's Division of our Corps, which was in the lead, wheeled into the road to advance upon Goldsboro. The heaviest fighting was on this day and by this Division; but when the rest of the Corps quickly moved forward into line and became engaged, and the Twentieth Corps took position on the left, and some of Howard's wing returned, Johnston was defeated. At 6 o'clock on the morn- ing of the 20th, the First and Second (ours) Brigades of Baird's Division (the Third Brigade remaining with the wagon train) moved to the front and arrived on the field at 9.30 a. m1. We took position in line of battle on the left of our Corps, with our Brigade on the extreme left. We here re- ceived orders to press the enemy. We kept up a brisk skir- mish fire, and then lay, for a considerable time, under the enemy's batteries. Two men in the Second Minnesota were
25
378
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
wounded. By 4 o'clock in the evening, reinforcements from Howard's wing reached us, and then we had a heavy line confronting the enemy. Johnston, who had a miscellaneous army collected from Generals Bragg, Hardee, Hoke, S. D. Lee and Cheatham, made a safe retreat, as he usually did. The casualties of the battle were in Sherman's army:
COMMAND.
Killed,
Wounded.
Captured.
Aggregate.
I eft Wing (Slocum's) .
I54
816
223
I193
Right Wing (Howard's)
37
30I
70
408
Total Loss
19I
III7
293
I601
Johnston gives his losses as follows:
DATE.
Killed.
Wounded.
Missing.
Aggregate.
On the 19th
180
I220
515
1915
(In the 20th
6
90
3I
I27
On the 21st
37
I57
107
301
Total Loss
223
1467
653
2343
On the 21st, we lay on the battlefield, witnessing the ghastly sight of the killed, and in the afternoon of the 22d, we resumed our march for Goldsboro. Following the Twen- tieth Corps, and passing the Fifteenth, we encamped near the Tenth and Twenty-third Corps, under Generals Terry and Schofield, which had come up from Wilmington and New- bern. These troops, in their bright uniforms and with their ample supplies of camp equipage, contrasted strangely with Sherman's veterans, in their tattered and ragged clothing,.
379
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
and with their bronzed and tar-and-smoke-begrimed faces. Some of our inen wore a boot on one foot and a shoe on the other, trousers with one leg of blue and the other of gray ma- terial; others wore caps, wool and straw hats. The habili- ments of the writer, at this time, consisted in butternut trousers and a plug hat confiscated from a negro-cabin, and a linen shirt from a clothes-line in the yard of a farm house. Doubtless we were the most ragged soldiers in the United States Army. On the 23d, we moved across the Neuse River on a pontoon bridge and entered Goldsboro in review, in the presence of Generals Sherman, Slocum, Howard, Scho- field, Terry and others. The troops marched well, in good style and spirits. In his "Ohio in the War," the Hon. Whitelaw Reid says:
"After a lapse of sixty-three days, this great campaign was closed by an informal review of the troops as they came into town, passing before Gen- erals Sherman and Schofield, and the familiar faces of the Twenty-third Corps. The difference between this and the subsequent Washington review was very marked. Here was seen the army as it appeared in the field. Fully 25 per cent. of the men were barefooted ; they were ragged and dirty ; many in citizens' dress and some in rebel uniform. That at Washington may have dazzled by its pomp and precision of movements, but it was tame compared to that at Goldsboro."
Concerning the campaign from Savannah to Goldsboro, General Sherman says: .
" Thus was concluded one of the longest and most important marches ever made by an organized army in a civilized country. The distance from Savannah to Goldsboro is four hundred and twenty-five miles, and the route traversed embraced five large navigable rivers, viz., the Edisto, Broad, Catawba, Pedee and Cape Fear, at either of which a comparatively small force, well handled, should have made the passage most difficult, if not im- possible. The country generally was in a state of nature, with innumerable swamps, with simply mud roads, nearly every mile of which had to be cor- duroyed. In our route we had captured Columbia, Cheraw and Fayette- ville, important cities and depots of supplies, had compelled the evacuation of Charleston City and Harbor, had utterly broken up all the railroads or South Carolina, and had consumed a vast amount of food and forage, essen- tial to the enemy for the support of his own armies. We had in mid-winter
380
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
accomplished the whole journey of four hundred and twenty-five miles in fifty days, averaging ten miles per day, allowing ten lay-days, and had reached Goldsboro with the army in superb order, and the trains almost as fresh as when we had started from Atlanta." (Memoirs, Vol. 2, p. 306.)
The entire army was encamped here until April 10th. Our Division, being on the left, was the nearest to the town. On the 3Ist of March our Corps was formed in a hollow square, facing inward, to witness the unpleasant ceremony of the military execution of a soldier belonging to the Corps. He was shot under an oak tree in a large field, for the crime of rape.
While encamped here four Companies of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment, in command of Captain Thomas A. Ellis of B Company, were sent out a few miles north of Goldsboro to operate a grist-mill for the benefit of the army. Corporal John P. Wagaman and James Norman of B Company ran the mill. Before this force returned to camp, they had a fight with a squad of Confederates who appeared on the opposite side of the mill-dam. With the aid of some of the members of the Second Minnesota Regiment, who were out of camp on the same errand, Captain Ellis drove the Confederates away, a few of whom were killed and wounded. Major George W. Steele of the One-hundred and first Indiana Regiment, in command of a party of foragers, on hearing the firing, came also to their assistance, but the affair was over before the Major's arrival.
Lieutenant-Colonel William O'Brien, who was absent from the Regiment since July 20th, 1864, on account of a severe wound received at the battle of Peach Tree Creek; and C Company, in command of Captain Irwin Polson, which was on detached service since the beginning of the Atlanta camn- paign, and several others, returned to the Regiment at this place.
As previously stated, the Corps under Generals Schofield and Terry effected a junction here with our army. All these troops were placed under command of Sherman, and some
38 1
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
changes in commanders and organizations were made. The army was now divided into three parts-right and left wings and centre. The right wing was retained as the "Army of the Tennessee " under command of General Howard, with his two Corps, Fifteenth and Seventeenth, commanded by Generals Logan and Blair; the left wing constituting the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps of the Army of the Cumber- land under Generals Jeff. C. Davis and Joseph A. Mower (General A. S. Williams being relieved of command of the Twentieth Corps and put in command of the First Division of it) was now made a distinct army entitled the " Army of Georgia" under command of General Slocum; and the centre, embracing the Tenth and Twenty-third Corps, under Generals J. D. Cox and A. H. Terry, constituting the " Army of the Ohio," was under General Schofield. The Cavalry was still under General Kilpatrick. Some changes in the commanders of the Brigades in the Third Division (Baird's) of the Fourteenth Corps occurred. The First and Third Brigades were now in command of Colonel Morton C. Hunter and Brigadier-General George S. Greene, the Second Brigade (ours) was temporarily commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Doan of the One-hundred and first Indiana Regiment, in the absence of Colonel Gleason.
During our encampment around Goldsboro for rest and equipments, General Sherman went to City Point, Virginia, to confer with General Grant, and the result of their confer- ence was, that Sherman's army should join Grant's, when they would unitedly fall upon Lee's army, annihilate it, and end the war. It was the opinion of these two great leaders, that the army of one or both would have a bloody battle yet to fight. The repairs to the railroads from Wilmington and Newbern to Goldsboro having been completed, the supplies for the army being rapidly accumulated, General Sherman, on his return from City Point, immediately issued the follow- ing Special Field Order for the mobilization of his army for Monday, April roth.
382
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, Goldsboro, North Carolina, April 5, 1865. Confidential to Army Commanders, Corps Commanders and Chiefs of Staff, Departments :
The next grand objective is to place this army (with its full equipment) nortlı of Roanoke River, facing west, with a base for supplies at Norfolk, and at Winton or Murfreesboro, on the Chowan, and in full communication with the Army of the Potomac, about Petersburg; and also to do the enemy as much harm as possible en route:
To accomplish this result the following general plan will be followed, or modified only by written orders from these headquarters, should events re- quire a change.
I. The left wing (Major-General Slocum commanding) will aim straight for the railroad-bridge near Smithfield; thence along up the Neuse River to the railroad bridge over Neuse River, northeast of Raleigh (Powell's) thence to Warrenton, the general point of concentration.
2. The centre (Major-General Schofield commanding) will move to Whit- ley's Mill, ready to support the left until it is past Smithfield, when it will follow up (substantially) Little River to about Rolesville, ready at all times to move to the support of the left; after passing Tar River to move to War- renton.
3. The right wing (Major-General Howard commanding) preceded by the cavalry, will move rapidly on Pikeville and Nahunta, then swing across to Bulah to Folk's Bridge, ready to make junction with the other arinies in case the enemy offers battle this side of Neuse River about Smithfield; thence in case of no serious opposition on the left, will work up towards Earpsboro, Andrews B-, and Warrenton.
4. The Cavalry (General Kilpatrick commanding), leaving its encum- brances with the right wing, will push as though straight for Weldon, until the enemy is across Tar River, and that bridge burned ; then it will deflect towards Nashville and Warrenton, keeping up communications with general headquarters.
5. The general-in-chief will be with the centre habitually, but may in per- son shift to either flank, where his presence may be needed, leaving a staff officer to receive reports.
By order of
W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.
L. M. DAYTON, Asst. Adj't Gen'l.
On the day following their issue, the above "Orders " were changed by reason of the news of the fall of Richmond and the retreat of. Lee's army towards North Carolina. In- ferring that Lee was aiming to join his forces to those of Johnston at Smithfield, our general-in-chief altered his plan
383
of Indiana Infantry Volunteers.
of operations for the 10th, and issued orders to move against Johnston's army with Raleigh as the objective-fifty miles northwest of Goldsboro. The left wing (Slocum's) advanced directly upon Smithfield on two roads leading to Raleigh. The Twentieth Corps took the left-hand road, and the Four- teenth the right, which was the direct road to Smithfield. The wing was supported by the centre under Schofield. The right wing (Howard's) inade a detour to the right.
Reveille sounded at 5 o'clock on the morning of the 10th, and promptly at daylight we began the march. The enemy skirmished nearly all day with the advance of our columns without impeding our progress. We bivouacked about twelve miles from Smithfield. On the morning of Tuesday, IIth, the reveille sounded as early as 3 o'clock, and in two hours the army was in motion. Our Brigade had now tlie advance of the army, and the Seventy-fifth Indiana was the leading Regiment of the Brigade. Five Companies of the Regiment, which was now in command of Lieut .- Colonel O'Brien, were deployed as skirmishers with Captain Mahlon H. Floyd in command. The line advanced over a low, wet and swampy soil, engaging the enemy nearly all morning. When Smithfield was reached the fighting became quite spirited, but the skirmishers pushed rapidly through the streets of the village, firing as they progressed; unfortunately they could not reach the bridge spanning the Neuse River in time to prevent its destruction by the enemy. The town was captured by our Regiment at I o'clock p. m. We en- camped in it. Generals Slocum, Baird and others paid high compliments to our Regiment for its hard work of this day. In a letter to the writer (Feb. 4th, 1891,) of this affair, Cap- tain Floyd says: "When I reported with my command at the head of the column for the skirmish line, General Slo- cum asked General Baird to what Regiment those skirmish- ers belonged, and Baird replied that they were from the Seventy-fifth Indiana. Then Slocum said: 'Is not that the same Regiment that first entered Fayetteville?' Baird again
384
History of the Seventy-fifth Regiment
replied, 'Yes.' To this Slocum replied: 'I want no better; I will risk those fellows with anything.' In pushing through the town, I was in the act of climbing over a board-fence into a garden, when a bullet from the enemy struck the top board of which I was astraddle and knocked it down, and I fell as suddenly as if it had pierced my body. The boys thought I was killed."
Daniel Herron, of B Company, was severely wounded in this fight at Smithfield. He was the last inan in Sherman's army wounded by a Confederate bullet. In the battle of Chickamauga, Herron carried a pack of cards in the breast pocket of his blouse, and a bullet struck it with such force as to knock him down, penetrating the entire pack. His com- rades thought him killed, but he shortly arose and passed safely through the battle. He was not so fortunate, however, at Smithfield, where he was severely wounded in the hip. At Smithfield was the last fight of the war, which occurred April IIth, 1865,-two days after Lee's surrender-and it was fought alone by the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment.
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.