USA > Indiana > History of the Third Indiana cavalry > Part 10
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"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"J. H. WILSON,
"Brevet Major-General Commanding."
(Vol. XXXIX, Part 3, page 758.)
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This urgent and complimentary recommendation of General Wilson, as we know, was never acted upon, but the men of the Western battalion whose term of service had not expired when the main body was discharged were retained in the service. Byron Dawson, who had been commissioned second lieutenant of Com- pany L on the 1st of September, 1864, was assigned to duty on the staff of Col. Smith D. Atkins, of the Ninety-second Illinois Mounted Infantry, who commanded the brigade to which the Third Indiana belonged.
There are records to the effect that the remnant of the Third Indiana in the West were consolidated with the Eighth Indiana Cavalry, but that record is repudiated by Captain Patton, of Com- pany M. The captain says: "Just before the march to the sea Company L was disbanded and used with the wagon trains, either to drive teams or as train guards. They were never back with our command during the war. I was ordered with Company M, and the recruits left from other companies, to report to the Ninety- second Illinois for duty, and did so, and was with that regiment from Marietta to Savannah, Ga., but we were not consolidated with any regiment. I received my orders from Lieutenant-Colonel Van Buskirk, commanding the Ninety-second Illinois Mounted Infantry, as a captain of the Third Indiana Cavalry, and reported to him as such. After the fall of Atlanta our division was en- gaged in fighting Hood while making his flank movement. The division was in many fights and skirmishes while on that cam- paign.
"At one time our company was ordered to take a bridge a short distance ahead of us, our company being in advance. We charged and took it, crossed over and found the enemy in force in earth- works. We were soon reinforced by the division. In that fight Frank Caux, William Moore and two or three others of my com- pany were severely wounded. After that fight our division re- turned to Marietta for a short rest and to prepare for the march
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to the sea. All the recruits of other companies, except Company L, were left with Company M and made quite a battalion. I took charge of headquarters of the Third Indiana and Comrade Adams was acting adjutant. We marched quietly along for several days and then came in front of Macon, where General Kilpatrick's division engaged the enemy and drove them into the city. From there we went into the interior of Georgia to tear up the Augusta & Savannah railway, and were engaged in the hottest kind of a fight on this raid with Wheeler's and Hampton's cavalry, which had consolidated. They fought us on our flanks and rear, and made it impossible for us to stop day or night. Kilpatrick halted, built barricades, and when the enemy came up made an onslaught they could not stand, and they fell back. We mounted and moved forward, but the enemy was soon on us again, and then Kilpatrick, in three columns, gave them the prettiest cavalry fight the world has ever seen. After that we moved along without further trouble from the enemy for several days. Then we resumed our march to Savannah, and were fighting and skirmishing with Wheeler every day until we reached the Ogechee river. From there we went down to the coast, and were the first to signal the transports which opened up communication with the government."
While Lieutenant-Colonel Van Buskirk makes no special men- tion of the services of the Third Indiana Cavalry on this march to the sea, yet we find on page 395, Vol. XLIV, of the official records that the detachment under command of Captain Patton is credited with the capture of nine horses, three mules, five stands of small arms, the destruction of eleven cotton gins and one saw mill, and with the loss of twelve horses and three mules aban- doned. The report is as follows :
"Headquarters Ninety-second Illinois Mounted Infantry, "Near Savannah, Ga., December 20, 1864.
"Captain-I have the honor to make the following report of the part which my regiment took during the campaign from Atlanta,
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Ga., through the center of the State, to a point near Savan- nah, Ga .:
"We left Atlanta, Ga., on the 15th of November, 1864, but have nothing of record more than the usual duties of picketing and scouting until the 20th instant, when near Macon, Ga., we encountered the enemy, my regiment acting as advance guard of the division. We drove them before us, charging them from be- hind several strong barricades, killing and wounding several and taking a few prisoners. When near Walnut creek Company H, Captain John F. Nelson commanding, was detached and ordered to proceed to the railroad between Macon and Griswoldville, for the purpose of tearing up the track and cutting the telegraph, all of which was successfully accomplished.
"After driving the enemy across Walnut creek my regiment was dismounted. One squadron, Captain Hawk commanding, on the right and one squadron, Captain Becker commanding, on the left, were ordered to cross the creek to support the Tenth Ohio Cavalry in a saber charge. The enemy were driven into their for- tifications. The object for which the charge was made having been accomplished, we were ordered to withdraw and recross the creek, where we remained, holding the enemy in check until after dark. Our casualties were two men wounded. After dark the whole command withdrew, my men acting as rear guard. We were stationed on picket duty during the night.
"On the morning of the 21st instant, my regiment being still on picket, the enemy attacked the outposts at daylight. Skirmish- ing continued until about 6 a. m., when they charged the outposts in front and on the flanks with not less than a brigade, driving them back on the reserve. Still on they came in their furious charge until within easy range of our guns, when we opened on them a fire that sent them flying backward in great confusion, leaving their killed and wounded upon the field. The punish- ment inflicted being so severe, they did not trouble us again. A
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prisoner, since captured, reports their loss to have been sixty-five men killed and wounded. Our loss was two captured. From the 21st to the 26th instant nothing worthy of record occurred, save the incidents usual on a march. On the 27th instant my regiment was detailed as rear guard. We fought the enemy all day, losing but one man wounded. In our action with Wheeler on the 28th instant my regiment formed the right center of the brigade, sup- porting a battery. The enemy charged but were beautifully re- pulsed. We lost one man wounded.
"Our usual routine of marching and picketing was uninter- rupted until December 2, when my regiment was placed on picket on the railroad at Thomas Station to protect the infantry while tearing up the track. We skirmished with the enemy, driving them back sufficiently to take position. Skirmishing continued until about 8 p. m. About 11 p. m. they got a battery in position and shelled us. Our casualties were two men killed and one man wounded. At daybreak on the 4th instant the enemy advanced their skirmishers. Skirmishing continued until about 8 a. m., when the division came up, and my regiment was ordered forward in line, dismounted. We soon found the enemy strongly posted behind barricades in greatly superior numbers. We at once charged them, driving them from their successive lines of barri- cades, routing them in wildest confusion ; they throwing away their arms and whatever else would impede their flight, many seeking safety behind trees and under houses, leaving their killed and wounded in our hands. My regiment captured some forty pris- oners, among whom was a major and a lieutenant. We lost in this action three men killed and six wounded.
"Until the 8th instant nothing of moment occurred. On the 8th we had a skirmish with the enemy without casualty. We re- mained in line of battle nearly all night. On the morning of the 9th we crossed Ebenezer creek, leaving one battalion under com- mand of Captain Becker at the bridge to guard the prisoners,
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while they destroyed the bridge and blockaded the road. While thus employed they were fired upon by the enemy's sharpshooters, wounding one man. From the 10th to the 20th instant nothing worthy of report occurred.
"I have destroyed during the campaign twenty-nine gin houses and gins, containing about 1,460 bales of cotton, and one flouring mill and one saw mill. We captured 106 horses and ninety-four mules. The casualties of my regiment were five killed, twelve wounded and twelve missing, making a total of twenty-nine men.
"The conduct of both my officers and men on all occasions is worthy of the highest praise.
"Respectfully submitted,
"MATHEW VAN BUSKIRK, Lieutenant-Colonel,
"Commanding Ninety-Second Illinois Mounted Infantry. "Capt. H. J. SMITH,
"Acting Assistant Adjutant-General,
"Second Brigade, Third Cavalry Division."
Captain Patton continues as follows: "After the fall of Savannah I received an order from General Kilpatrick, com- manding the cavalry division with which we had been serving, to take my command and report to Colonel Jones of the Eighth Indiana Cavalry for duty. This order I obeyed, and did duty with that regiment through the Carolinas until after our time was out. We crossed the Savannah river at Sisters Ferry, marched several days, occasionally skirmishing with the enemy, until we reached Black river, where we had a hot fight and drove the enemy towards Augusta, on to their reinforcements, and we were com- pelled to build a barricade of rails and timber in an open field. Here the rebels charged us time and again, and we maintained that post two days and two nights, and the attacking force moved off. We then marched towards Fayetteville, S. C., on Cape Fear river, and the rebels were marching on a parallel road half a mile west of us making for the same point. This march was in the
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night, and the rebels would come over on to our road and kill our men in the dark, as they knew the country better than we did.
"We reached Fayetteville in the morning, crossed Cape Fear River and went into camp. On an order from General Kil- patrick I reported at his headquarters the next morning at day- break, and was ordered to make a reconnoissance from his head- quarters through the pine openings. We had not gone far until we found the enemy and drove them before us, but soon came in contact with the whole rebel army. General Kilpatrick came up with the division and this was the opening of the great three days' fight at Bentonville.
"After this battle we were encamped quite a while at Milton, N. C., and while there Company M received orders from the War Department on the 15th of April, 1865, to be mustered out of service."
The officers of Company L were commissioned on the 23d of October, 1862, and the officers of Company M were commissioned on the 11th of December, 1862. Both companies were detained in Indiana until September, 1863, performing various kinds of duty, and Company M took part in the Morgan raid, and fought and captured a body of twenty-two of the raiders at New Provi- dence, Ind., for which they were publicly thanked by General Wilcox, commanding the department. The two companies went with General Wilcox to East Tennessee by way of Cumberland Gap, and at Marysville for the first time, in February, 1864, be- came a part of the Western battalion of the Third Indiana Cav- alry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Klein.
According to the report of Lieut .- Col. Fielder A. Jones, written on the 27th of March, 1865, from the headquarters of the Eighth Indiana Cavalry (Vol. XLVII, Part 1, page 870), his command left Savannah, Ga., on the morning of January 28, 1865, the command consisting of the Eighth Indiana Cavalry and a detach- ment of Third Indiana Cavalry, which latter body was under the
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command of Capt. Charles U. Patton, Company M, Third Indiana. First met the enemy on the 10th of February, 1865, at Johnsons Station, driving him from several barricades on to his main force, and fought him until recalled by order of Colonel Jordan, commanding brigade. On the 11th of February the enemy charged the Eighth Indiana, in position at Johnsons Sta- tion, and were repulsed with the loss of the adjutant and three men of the Twelfth Alabama Cavalry killed and several others wounded. In his report Lieutenant-Colonel Jones says :
"On the morning of March 16, 1865, near Averasborough, N. C., I was ordered into position to cover the right flank of an infantry brigade, and to move with it against the enemy. We had hardly left our camp before we struck the enemy in line and in strong force. Finding myself near his flank, I charged him vig- orously and routed an entire brigade of South Carolina infantry. Had our infantry been pushed it is my firm belief that we would have captured the enemy's works, artillery and many prisoners without firing a shot. As it was, the cavalry alone took several prisoners and drove the rebels in wildest confusion into their works. Had there been solid ground I should have taken their works with cavalry, but the rains of the previous night had made the country one vast mire, which checked the impetus of our charge and gave the enemy time to reform behind their works. Finding further operations on horseback impossible, I dismounted my com- mand and led horses to the rear. The enemy, seriously alarmed for the safety of his left flank, commenced rapidly re-enforcing that flank, and I soon found I was fighting several times my number and ordered my lines to reconnect with the infantry. The enemy seeing my movement and judging it to be a retreat, charged me in great force. We immediately came to 'about face,' gave two or three volleys from our Spencers and made a center charge, causing the foe to quickly seek shelter in his works.
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"Although fighting many times our number, and infantry, too, and our lines very attenuated, yet it seemed that every officer and man of my command felt that our position was vital to the safety of the infantry on our left, and was determined to hold it at every hazard. The enemy charged us repeatedly in great force; we always met his charges with a volley and a counter-charge, and whatever were the odds against us we always drove them back into their works. I can safely say that no better fighting has been done in this war than was done that day by this command, and I am satisfied that we attracted the attention of the enemy and so seriously threatened his left that he did not observe the movements of the force which was turning his right until it was too late to oppose it. My loss was heavy, but examination of the field shows that the enemy suffered far heavier than we did. My command operated with the brigade on the right flank of Johnston's army at Bentonville, and on the evening of the 20th of March Captain Crowell passed around the right flank of the enemy and got, in fact, in rear of his artillery, but his force was so small he could not take advantage of his discovery.
"My thanks are due to Major Herring for efficient aid rendered both in action and on the march. Captains Crowell, Leavell and Mitchell, commanding battalions of the Eighth Indiana, have proved themselves competent for that command. They are fine soldiers and in connection with Major Herring and Captain Pat- ton, commanding Third Indiana, are commended for promotion.
"We lost one officer and twelve men killed, seven officers and fifty-five men wounded, and twenty enlisted men missing; we lost twenty-five horses killed and twenty-six wounded in action on March 16. Very respectfully,
"F. A. JONES,
"Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."
CHAPTER V.
The winter of 1863-4 was a period of thrilling interest in the history of the American Union. In the East and in the West great armies had contended for the mastery on many bloody battlefields, but in the minds of thoughtful persons there was little in the out- come of these conflicts which foretold final results. Grim deter- mination characterized the people on both sides of the struggle and their armies in the field. The South entertained no thought of surrender and the North no thought of giving up the contest until every seceding state was restored to the Union and rebellion crushed out. Our armies in the East and in the West had been led by different commanders with varying results. We generally claimed victories whether we had won them or not. When the peninsular campaign began in the spring of 1862 on James river and the Chickahominy it developed into our bloody defeat at Second Bull Run, and ended for the year at Antietam in northern Maryland, near the southern border of Pennsylvania. The cam- paign of 1863 began at Fredricksburg, Va., under Burnsides, was continued at Chancellorsville under Hooker, and practically closed at Gettysburg, Pa., under Meade, two hundred and fifty miles north of where it had begun and on Northern soil. When the enemy retired in good order from this last great battle and was ready to renew the conflict on its own soil in Virginia-re- gardless of what might be claimed by those immediately concerned -to those looking on from afar the outcome certainly appeared uncertain.
Less than six months after Shiloh had been fought in the far South, Bragg with a great confederate army was thundering at the gates of Louisville on the Ohio river, and Cincinnati was
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threatened by Kirby Smith. Stone River, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, and the siege of Knoxville, settled merely the fact that the soldiers of both sides could be depended upon to do all the fighting that was necessary, and the leadership of the enemy seems to have flashed the fact upon the executive mind at Wash- ington that the time had come for us to imitate the enemy some- what in the matter of leadership.
With this point reached, General Grant's selection as leader of all our armies was but the natural thing to do. He, of all our commanders, had been uniformly successful in his campaigns, and he had Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg and Missionary Ridge to his credit. The country approved the choice, confidence was revived, and at once the work of organizing for the great campaign of 1864 was entered upon. The armies of the Cumberland and Tennessee were consolidated under General Sherman. The Army of the Potomac was taken in charge by the commander-in-chief with General Meade, who had fought the battle of Gettysburg, as his first subordinate. From December until May the time was occupied in strengthening and equipping the armies that were to be thrown against the enemy. Old and depleted regiments were recruited up to their maximum number of men, and vast thousands of men who had been absent from their commands on various kinds of detailed duty were relieved from such duty and ordered to rejoin the organizations to which they belonged. Regiments that had been occupying fortifications for almost three years with- out ever seeing an enemy were ordered to the field, and their places supplied by new organizations recruited for a hundred days in the various states of the North. When the 1st of May rolled round and the roads had become passable our armies in the East and in the West were ready and equipped for war as they had never been ready and equipped before. And on the 1st of May, 1864, began the two campaigns which the commander-in-chief had planned, viz., the campaign of the Wilderness, which began with the
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crossing of the Rapidan, and that of Atlanta, which began at Kenesaw Mountains, and in which Sherman fought the battles of Rough and Ready, Rock Face Ridge, New Hope Church, Dallas, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta and Jonesborough.
In this Wilderness campaign the Eastern battalion of the Third Indiana Cavalry bore a part. The battalion remained in the vicinity of Culpepper Court House during the winter of 1863, engaged in performing picket and outpost duty and taking part in several reconnoissances. On the 27th of February, 1864, it was detailed to go with General Kilpatrick's raid on Richmond, and did not rejoin the army until the 15th of March.
While the Eastern battalion lay in camp at Culpepper during the winter of 1864 it did more than picket duty. On the 26th of January, 1864, a squad of eighteen men were sent out towards the Rapidan on a scout, and were attacked by a squadron of rebel cavalry and sixteen of the eighteen captured. (Vol. XXXVIII, page 432.) On the 30th of January, 1864, Colonel Chapman, then commanding the brigade, with one hundred men of the Third Indiana under Major Patton, and one hundred of the Eighth New York under Captain Moore, crossed the Rapidan at Clarks Ford and pushed rapidly towards Madison Court House. At Mount Zion Church his command came upon the enemy in con- siderable force, but they retreated before Colonel Chapman could attack towards Madison Court House, to which point he pro- ceeded, but found no enemy except a few scattering men. He sent a detachment of his command to Humes Ford, where five of the enemy's pickets and five horses were captured, and one man and one horse killed. From Madison Court House he went to Mount Carmel Church and returned to camp, crossing Robertsons river by way of Bethel Church and Whites Shop after a march of fifty miles. (Vol. XXXIII, page 170.)
While the army lay in camp around Culpepper, Va., in Feb- ruary, 1864, Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, commanding the Third
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Division of the Cavalry Corps, submitted to General Pleasanton, commander of the corps, the project for a raid on Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, the force to consist of 4,000 cavalry and six guns, with five days' rations. He mapped out his line of march in detail (Vol. XXXIII, page 172). Replying to a re- quest from the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac for his views of the scheme, General Pleasanton gave it as his opinion that the plan was not feasible at that time, and gave his reasons there- for (Vol. XXXIII, page 171). Notwithstanding General Pleas- anton's disapproval, the commanding general of the army directed General Pleasanton to re-enforce General Kilpatrick's command so that he would have available 4,000 officers and men, and a bat- tery of light artillery. This order, dated February 27, 1864, read :
"With this force you will move with the utmost expedition pos- sible on the shortest route past the enemy's right flank to Rich- mond, and by this rapid march endeavor to effect an entrance into the city and liberate our prisoners now held there and in that immediate vicinity." The order closed with this language :
"I am directed by the major-general commanding to say that no detailed instructions are given you since the plan of operations has been proposed by yourself, with the sanction of the President and the Secretary of War, and has been so far adopted by him that he considers success possible with secrecy, good management and the utmost expedition.
"Z. A. HUMPHREYS,
(Page 173.) "Major-General, Chief of Staff."
Among the forces outside of his own command, General Kil- patrick requested that the Third Indiana Cavalry accompany him, and under Major Patton it was ordered to do so. On this raid the battalion performed most arduous and dangerous service. We give General Kilpatrick's report of that remarkable expedition. At page 183, Vol. XXXIII, General Kilpatrick says:
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"In accordance with the above instructions I left my camp at Stevensburg at 7 o'clock Sunday evening, February 28, with 2,375 men and Captain Ransom's battery, U. S. Horse Artillery (six pieces), and detachments from the First and Second Cavalry Divisions, under Majors Hall and Taylor, in all 3,582 strong.
"My advance, consisting of 460 men under Colonel Dahlgren, reached Elys Ford at 11 p. m., crossed, surprised and captured the enemy's pickets, consisting of two officers and fourteen men. Colonel Dahlgren was then ordered to move rapidly forward by way of Spotsylvania Court House to Fredrick Hall, on the Vir- ginia Central railroad, and thence to a point above Goochland on the James river, cross the river, move down the opposite bank, and if possible be in position to seize the main bridge that led to the city of Richmond at 10 o'clock Tuesday, March 1. A small force under Captain Boice, Fifth New York Cavalry, was sent to de- stroy the Fredricksburg railroad below Guineys Station, the tele- graph having been destroyed on both roads by scouts during the night. I pressed rapidly forward with the main column, passed Spotsylvania Court House at daylight, reached and destroyed Beaver Dam Station at 1 p. m., and after destroying the road to a considerable extent moved rapidly forward in the direction of Richmond, and went into camp early in the evening nine miles from Ground Squirrel Bridge, over the South Anna.
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