USA > Indiana > History of the Third Indiana cavalry > Part 4
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"On Monday morning Buell's forces began the terrible slaugh- ter, and on Wednesday it still continued, only the rebels are being driven back. My command was not in the fight. Cavalry could not be used to advantage in the woods. We were sent with the Nineteenth Regulars to guard the batteries belonging to McCook's division and were detained here for further orders. Next morn- ing a number of prisoners were turned over to my charge as they were taken; so many that I had to get other forces to help guard them.
"All our baggage trains are back with the whole division trains. None of the men have tents. We are quartered in a wheatfield and have our "secesh" guests on pasture. Many of them have relatives and friends that bring them food. It is quite cold and has rained four nights in succession. I rode over the battlefield with General McCook and his staff. It was a horrible sight. Our wounded had been taken off. The dead were being cared for, that is our own men. The dead seemed innumerable."
On this field Captain Gaddis was taken down with typhoid fever and sent to his home in the North, and was absent, sick and on de- tached service until April 7, 1863, when he rejoined his company, in camp near Murfreesborough, Tenn.
Company I, of the Third Indiana Cavalry, was with General Nelson on the battlefield of Shiloh, acting in the same capacity it had been acting at his headquarters, and accompanied him on the march and at the siege of Corinth, and was with him until the
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first of June, 1862, when it was detached and assigned to the cavalry corps commanded by General Thatcher.
The record (Series 1, Vol. XVI, Part 2, page 8) discloses that at this time the Second Indiana, Third Kentucky, Third Ohio and three companies of the Third Indiana Cavalry, Capt. Robert Klein, formed an independent cavalry brigade of the troops in the district of the Ohio commanded by General Buell. These were Companies G, H and K, and we find the same companies at page 591 of the same volume noted as unattached with the Second Division of the First Army Corps, the latter commanded by Gen. A. D. McCook and the cavalry by Gen. Joshua W. Sill. At that time these companies were under the command of Robert Klein, who was promoted to major on the 20th of October, 1862.
After the Shiloh and Corinth campaign these three companies with Buell's army fell back to Louisville before Bragg's invading army, and at the latter city were joined by Company I, which had been doing provost duty in Nashville from early in March, 1862, and this was the first time the four companies of the Third Indiana Cavalry in the West had ever been together and under one command.
When Buell began his forward movement against Bragg in October, 1862, these four companies under the command of Major Klein formed part of Buell's advance cavalry and were with him at the battle of Perryville on the 8th of October, 1862. It con- tinued with the advance of Buell's army to Nashville, and, accord- ing to a report of Colonel Buckland, of the Fifth Kentucky Cav- alry, dated December 7, 1862, Captain Vanarsdol with two com- panies of the Third Indiana was with him guarding General Sill's wagon train, which was attacked by General Wheeler's rebel cav- alry and a force of infantry, and was only saved by brisk fighting on the part of the Union forces guarding the train. This affair occurred on the road from Lebanon to Franklin, Tennessee, on the 6th of December, 1862. (Vol. XX, Part 1, page 35.)
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In this report Colonel Buckland says: "The Third Indiana Cavalry of two companies, under Captain Vanarsdol, was ordered to the front, and here I would say that no men could have behaved better than those two companies, nor could any one have maneuv- ered them to better advantage than the captain in command."
The record (Vol. XX, page 176, December 26, 1862) shows that Companies G, H, I and K, Third Indiana Cavalry, formed part of Col. Philemon P. Baldwin's Second Brigade, Gen. Richard W. Johnson's Second Division, Army of the Cumberland, and with this command participated in the great Battle of Stone River on the 31st of December, 1862, and the 1st of January, 1863. According to official reports (Vol. XX, page 209) its casualties were four killed, six wounded, fifteen captured or missing, one ambulance and thirty cavalry horses.
General Johnson in his report (Vol. XX, page 295) says: "Major Klein and his battalion of the Third Indiana Cavalry deserve special mention. Under their gallant leader, the battalion was always in the front and rendered efficient service."
In the engagement of December 27, at Nolensville, Sergt. Rich- ard Newell and Private Stephen Moore, of Company H, and Pri- vate Mack Dunn, of Company G, were three of the men killed, and Sergt. John S. Irvin and John A. Mason were among the badly wounded.
In his report dated January 9, 1863, Brig-Gen. David S. Stanley, U. S. Army, Chief of Cavalry (page 617, Series 1, Vol. XX, War of the Rebellion Official Records) gives his account of the skirmishes near La Vergne, December 27; Wilkinsons Cross Roads, December 29; Overalls Creek, December 31, and Lytles Creek, January 5. He says : "The reserve cavalry consisted of the new regiments, viz., Anderson Troop, or Fifteenth Pennsylvania, First Middle Tennessee, Second East Tennessee Cavalry and four companies of the Third Indiana. I commanded in person and
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preceded General McCook's corps on the Nolensville pike. On the morning of the 27th our cavalry first encountered the enemy on the Nolensville pike one mile in advance of Bole Jack Pass. Their cavalry was in large force and accompanied by a battery of artillery. Fighting continued from 10 o'clock until evening, during which time we had driven the enemy two miles beyond La Vergne.
"The Third Indiana and Anderson Troop behaved very gal- lantly, charging the enemy twice and bringing them to hand to hand encounters. The conduct of Majors Rosengarten and Ward, the former now deceased, was most heroic.
"On the 28th we made a reconnoissance to College Grove and found that Hardee's rebel corps had marched to Murfreesborough. On the 29th, Colonel Zahm's brigade having joined us, we were directed to march upon Murfreesborough by the Franklin road, the reserve cavalry moving on the Bole Jack road, the columns communicating at the crossing of Stewarts Creek. We encoun- tered the enemy's cavalry and found them in strong force at Wilkinsons Cross Roads. Our cavalry drove them rapidly across Overalls Creek and within one-half mile of the enemy's line of battle. The Anderson Cavalry behaved most gallantly this day, pushing a full charge upon the enemy for six miles. Unfortu- nately their advance proved too reckless. Having dispersed their cavalry, the troop fell upon two regiments of rebel infantry in ambush, and, after a gallant struggle, were compelled to retire with the loss of Major Rosengarten and six men killed, and the brave Major Ward and five men desperately wounded."
Maj. Robert Klein, at page 646 of the same volume, officially reports his operations with the four companies, G, H, I and K, Third Indiana Cavalry, from December 26, 1862, to January 3, 1863, in a report dated near Murfreesborough, Tenn., January 7, 1863, including skirmishes at Triune, December 27, and near Overalls Creek, December 31. He says:
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"The four companies under my command left camp on the 26th, as ordered, and, bringing up the rear of the Second Division, encamped beyond Nolensville. On the following morning, 27th, having orders, reported to General Stanley, the chief of cavalry, who, remarking he 'had understood the Third knew how to take these rebels,' ordered me to move forward and take the advance of the column of cavalry then moving towards Triune.
"I succeeded in gaining the advance at about the point where the enemy's outposts were expected to be. I then threw out por- tions of Company H, Lieutenant Young commanding, on either side of the pike, and putting out an advance guard, moved smartly down the pike. Our advance soon encountered the enemy in con- siderable force drawn up in line of battle. The column now moved on to them at a gallop, receiving the whole of their fire into one company (Company G, Captain Herriott), the skirmishers on the flanks not being able to come up for some time on account of the soft nature of the ground and the fences intervening. Com- pany G held its ground until Company I, Captain Vanarsdol, on the right, and Company K, Lieutenant Lieske, on the left, advanced gallantly to the rescue, and, despite superior force, drove them across the narrow valley to a position beyond, where their artillery covered them. Here we advanced with the remainder of our cavalry force and drove them from this hill, from which they fell back to Triune.
"We were ordered by General Stanley, with one company of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, to attack the enemy on the right side of the pike. They were posted behind a stone wall, heads only visible, one or more regiments strong. We advanced across the open fields and were pouring in a steady fire at easy range when two pieces of artillery, about 500 yards to our left, and two in front opened on us, obliging us to retire to the cover of the woods from where we advanced. This movement was done promptly but in good order. On the following morning my bat-
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talion was in advance of the reconnoissance under General Wil- lich ; we did no fighting, but captured some sixteen of the enemy's stragglers. On the Nolensville pike we had three killed and three wounded. We lost also a few horses, wounded and disabled, and one killed by cannon shot. On the 29th and 30th nothing of note occurred.
"On the morning of the 31st ultimo my battalion was posted with our cavalry force beyond Wilsons Cross Roads pike, on the rear and right of the Second Division. When our forces first gave way before overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the efficiency of my battalion was destroyed in being divided by one of our own cavalry regiments running through our ranks and scattering the men. This movement, had it been in the opposite direction, would have been a most gallant charge and, doubtless, from its determina- tion, an efficient one. We kept falling back, forming and charging at intervals, until forced across the Murfreesborough pike, where one of my companies was first to form and drive the enemy from our train.
"We captured during the retreat eleven of the enemy. One of Company G, Corporal Justice, recaptured our ambulance, con- taining our surgeon, by shooting down one of its captors and frightening the other away. I regret to say that Corporal Justice was afterwards captured. We were formed near the center of our cavalry when the enemy in the afternoon again attempted to take our train. We participated in the fight and charge that followed. We lost one man on that morning, Private Daniel Gibbons, of Gen. Willich's escort, and two others wounded. On the following days of the fight my battalion was on provost duty. Our loss sums up: Killed four, wounded six, missing ten, captured five. Of the missing doubtless nearly all were captured. Our total loss is twenty-five men, thirty horses and one ambulance.
"Respectfully, your obedient servant, R. KLEIN,
"Major Commanding Battalion."
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Daniel Gibbons was of Company G, Third Indiana Cavalry.
In an expedition covering four days, beginning with the 3d of February, 1863, the Fifth Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, from Murfreesborough, Maj .- Gen. J. J. Reynolds com- manding, reports the Third Indiana Cavalry under Capt. G. F. Herriott as constituting a part of his command. The expedition encountered rebel cavalry at various points, captured a number of prisoners, a number of animals and destroyed a large amount of rebel subsistence stores. (Vol. XXIII, Part 1, page 42.) Lieut .- Col. Fielder A. Jones, commanding First Brigade, First Division, Twentieth Army Corps (same volume, page 137), reports a rec- onnoissance made by his command, March 6 and 7, 1863, on the old Shelbyville road to Middletown. Colonel Jones says: "We found the enemy posted in strong position four miles from Mid- dletown, which position was handsomely carried by our troops. We drove the enemy through Middletown and out of his camp one and one-half miles beyond the town. He made four different stands, but was quickly dislodged by our men. I never saw finer nor more intrepid skirmishing than was done by the Thirty-second and Thirty-ninth Indiana, Forty-ninth Ohio and about seventy men of the Third Indiana Cavalry. Great credit is due both to officers and men of those commands."
This Volume XXIII of the official records, from which we have been quoting, indicates that the Western battalion of the Third Indiana Cavalry was a busy body of men from the time they left Louisville with the army in September, 1862. We have given their movements up to and through the Murfreesborough cam- paign, and up to the 6th of March, 1863. According to a report of Brig .- Gen. Jeff. C. Davis (page 145) we find a part of the bat- talion at Eagleville, Tenn., who were ordered by him to the head- quarters of the general commanding the corps. This was on the 11th of March. On the 9th of April, 1863, they were part of a command of 1,600 men under Major-General Stanley which left
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Murfreesborough to scout the country to Triune, and thence to Franklin and to give General Granger such assistance as he might need in his operations against VanDoran, in command of 4,000 rebels (Vol. XXIII, page 230). Lieutenant-Colonel Klein, from Camp Drake, Tenn., under date of April 16, 1863 (page 238), makes the following report of his part in that affair :
"Sir-I have the honor to report the following as the part taken by the detachment of the Third Indiana Cavalry, 170 strong, under my command, during the late scout to Franklin, Tenn. Nothing worthy of note occurred until on the 10th instant, when, halted four miles from Franklin I was placed under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robie, commanding Second Brigade, with which brigade we acted during the entire engagement and re- mainder of the scout. Early in the afternoon we were ordered to proceed to Harpeth river at Hughes Mill, where our brigade crossed at lower ford, opposite the bluff. We moved across the open field and woods to the Lewisburg pike, driving the enemy's sentinels towards Franklin, in which direction we observed them in considerable mounted force. The brigade was formed across the pike, facing towards Franklin, my battalion being in the center, where we were to await their approach.
"The Fourth Regulars becoming engaged in our rear, towards Lewisburg, we were ordered to face about and move down the Lewisburg end of the pike, which we did in fine order, and had laid down the last fence between us and the reserves of the force engaging the Fourth Regulars, and would soon have captured them and the horses of their dismounted men, the guard being inconsiderable, but orders were given to fall back, as they were advancing from Franklin in our rear. We fell back with the promptness characteristic of cavalry movements, and formed in the field and woods near the bluff at the crossing, our line being at an acute angle with the pike and bluff, our left nearest the pike and our right nearest the bluff, with my battalion again in the
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center of the Second Brigade. The enemy made two attacks on this position, and were both times repulsed; but coming through the woods in force and attacking our left vigorously, doubled it on the center, obliging us to fall back. We again formed parallel to the bluff, which position we held until the enemy retired. We were in advance of the reconnoitering force which went out in the evening, but nothing worthy of note occurred. Our loss in the whole scout was very small, being two mortally and two slightly wounded; also twelve horses killed, disabled and abandoned. I take pleasure in testifying to the general good con- duct of my officers and men, their actions meeting my full appro- bation. I am, Captain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "R. KLEIN, Lieutenant-Colonel, "Commanding Third Indiana Cavalry.
"Capt. W. H. Sinclair, Assistant Adjutant-General."
On May 22, 1863, Colonel Klein makes the following report (Vol. XXIII, page 344) :
"Sir-I have the honor to report the following as the part taken by the Third Indiana Cavalry under my command, in the descent on Middletown this instant: My battalion, being in the rear of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, brought up the rear of the First Brigade, and in the charge on the rebel camps followed the Fourth Michigan close up, deploying on the left of the same and charging through the woods in the direction of Fosterville. We met very little resistance, exchanging only a few shots. We captured twelve prisoners, three Sharp's carbines, eight horses and one mule. No casualties to my battalion.
"Your obedient servant,
"R. KLEIN, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding."
The volume from which we have been quoting (page 356) shows the battalion of the Third Indiana, under Colonel Klein, went with the brigade of Colonel Minty from their camp near Murfrees- borough on the 3d of June, 1863, out on the Wartrace road, where
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it crosses Stone river, and engaged the enemy in force at that point. And on June 10 the battalion was engaged in a scout and skirmish with the enemy's pickets on the Middletown road (page 373). On June 15 the same command went on a raid to Lebanon, Tenn. (page 394). On the 3d of July, 1863, Colonel Watkins' com- mand, consisting of the Fifth and Sixth Kentucky and Third Indiana Cavalry, reported to General Sheridan for duty (page 467).
General Sheridan, reporting his operations from June 24 to July 5, 1863 (page 516), after leaving Murfreesborough, says : "Just before reaching Cowan, July 3, I was joined by Colonel Watkins with 1,200 cavalry. I learned during the night that the enemy had taken up a position at or near University, near the top of the mountain about seven miles from this place, and had cov- ered his front with General Wharton's cavalry. To ascertain the truth of this I directed Colonel Watkins with the Fifth and Sixth Kentucky and Third Indiana Cavalry of his command, on the morning of the 4th of July, to feel the enemy and drive him until he was satisfied he was there in force. This reconnoissance was very handsomely executed by Colonel Watkins, who drove the enemy about three miles, inflicting severe loss. Our own casual- ties were fourteen. On the morning of the 5th of July I directed Colonel Watkins to feel the enemy again, to ascertain if his posi- tion was a permanent one, at the same time sending the Third Indiana Cavalry to Mount Top, on my right and down the road in the direction of Stephenson. Colonel Watkins found the enemy had fled. Lieutenant-Colonel Klein, Third Indiana Cavalry, found that a small portion of the enemy had crossed on that road. He captured forty-one head of beef cattle from the enemy's rear guard and brought them into camp."
In Volume XXIII, Part 2, page 556, Col. R. G. Minty, com- manding the First Brigade, Second Cavalry Division, on July 10, 1863, made a report of the engagement at Shelbyville, Tenn., on
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the 27th of June, 1863, of which affair Lieutenant-Colonel Klein gives an account in the foregoing report. In Volume LII, Part 1, page 425, in a supplemental report dated Camp near Salem, Tenn., July 29, 1863, he says :
"Sir-Referring to my report of July 8, I hand you the follow- ing list of officers and men deserving of special mention for gallant conduct at Shelbyville on the 27th of June ultimo. First Lieu- tenant Thompson, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, led the grand charge on the rebel battery. He rode into the very teeth of the guns in most gallant and fearless manner and captured the entire battery. (Observation: He personally captured one piece, and with Lieutenant Vale, of the same regiment, captured another piece near the railroad station after a personal encounter with the officer commanding the battery.) Lieutenant McCafferty, Fourth U. S. Cavalry, was conspicuous for his gallant conduct in the charge on the battery, and is honorably mentioned by Captain Davis. Captain Burns, acting assistant adjutant-general of the brigade, who is always at his post of duty, had his horse shot under him while among the foremost in the charge on the battery. Lieut. Callahan, Third Indiana, exhibited great gallantry in the charge of the battalion of his regiment made near Skull Camp Bridge. Lieutenant Young, Third Indiana Cavalry, was conspicuous in the same charge; he received two slight saber wounds. Sergt. Thomas Sheaffer, Third Indiana Cavalry, in same charge, after being wounded in the face with a saber continued to hew his way through the rebel ranks.
"All the regimental commanders, viz., Lieutenant-Colonel Gal- braith, First Middle Tennessee; Captain McIntyre, Fourth United States; Major Mix, Fourth Michigan; Colonel Klein, Third Indiana, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sipes, Seventh Pennsyl- vania, are deserving of special mention for their promptness and manner in which they handled their respective commands.
"I am respectfully, your obedient servant,
"R. H. G. MINTY, Colonel Commanding."
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At page 559, Vol. XXIII, Colonel Klein makes this report: "Headquarters Third Battalion, Third Indiana Cavalry, "Six Miles from Winchester, Tenn., July 7, 1863.
"Sir-I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of my command since leaving Murfreesborough on the 24th of June: Nothing of interest occurred until the 27th, when our forces advanced on Shelbyville, when the first determined opposition was found, four miles from that place. When the artillery opened upon us, Colonel Minty ordered my command to proceed to the left, with orders if we met the enemy to charge them, saying he would send us a guide to show us where to go. The guide never came. We proceeded through thick woods, dense undergrowth and tangled vines to the left until we reached the enemy's abatis and rifle pits, where no horseman could go forward, and the firing having ceased, we knew not our exact position. I sent for orders, and on receiving them turned to the right to a point where I could cross the abatis and pits. Here the roads, cut through the woods, led to the left, following which, we reached the Fairfield and Bellbuckle pike, two and one-half miles from the city. We moved down this smartly to a point, when a citizen told us it turned to the Murfreesborough pike. We then left it and passing fields, orchards and woods, reached the outskirts of the town, nearly half a mile from the Murfreesborough road.
"We started on a run for the city, and passing through the last alley on the east of the pike, reached the railroad several hundred yards from the depot, part of my men crossing the railroad beyond the engine house, and the remainder passing under the trestle work. We found the enemy in line on the road leading from the depot station to Steel & Holt's mill.
"My men coming up rather scattered, the enemy commenced firing and advancing, until my men got somewhat formed, when, firing a volley, we drew saber and charged into their ranks. They fled in disorder nearly a half mile towards the mill where the
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commons narrow into a lane ; here they had to fight or be run down. They fought from here to the mill desperately, using saber and clubbing muskets and pistols. The fight was hand to hand for 300 yards, when both parties plunged into the river. Even here we used the trusty saber with effect. We killed three men, wounded some fifteen with saber, and captured one lieutenant- colonel, one captain, one of Wheeler's staff, adjutant Fifty- first Alabama, and adjutant Eighth Confederate, both badly wounded with saber, and some six company officers and seventy enlisted men. Our loss was one man drowned and three wounded ; some others of my men were unhorsed by blows from clubbed muskets, but not seriously injured. My officers and men behaved in the most gallant manner, doing their whole duty. They picked up several men beyond the river in the pursuit towards Tullahoma. While being detached from the brigade, nothing worthy of note oc- curred, but capturing a drove of beef cattle from rear guard of enemy on mountain, on road from Cowans Station to Bellefonte on the 4th of July.
"All of which is respectfully submitted.
"R. KLEIN, Lieutenant-Colonel Third Indiana Cavalry. "Assistant Adjutant-General First Brigade, Second Cavalry Division."
Although Companies L and M were detained in Indiana through the summer of 1863, they were not idle. During the Morgan raid the following dispatch (Vol. XXIII, page 733) in- dicates they had some part in that affair :
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