USA > Indiana > The Eighty-sixth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry : a narrative of its services in the civil war of 1861-1865 > Part 12
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Beginning with the commanders of regiments and from those down to the privates in the ranks, there were but few who knew anything of these duties. No one realized the sit- uation in this respect more thoroughly than did Major Gen- eral Rosecrans. Immediately upon the establishment of the camps in and about Murfreesboro, the most stringent orders were issued by the general commanding in regard to daily duties. After breakfast, which was per force an early one, there was the policing of the camp, then guard mount, and after that the formation of the picket details, and going on picket. Being near the enemy the picket details were heavy and fre- quent. After the guards and pickets were disposed of came the drill call, in the forenoon, for the company. Each com- pany was formed and moved out to the extensive adjacent drill ground under command of the company officers. It was an animating sight to see each company of the several regi-
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ments of the brigade to which this regiment was attached, out for the two hours' drill. The regimental commanders were also on the field to see that there was no shirking on the part of either the men or their officers. The novelty soon wore off, however, and the drills had altogether too much method in them to be amusing. Moreover, many of the company officers took great delight in the drill, and by their enthusiasm brought their men to take an interest and a pride in the work. Cold or hot the day, the drills were warm, and persistent.
A rest was had at noon for a soldier's dinner. The afternoons of four days of the week were devoted to regi- mental drill and two days of the week to brigade drill. In connection with these drills for the purpose of making the officers more efficient, and at the same time of ridding the service of men who had no mental adaptability to the prac- tical work of military tactics, and yet held commissions, General Rosecrans established a military commission before which officers received a forceful invitation to appear. It did not take officers long to realize that they must be pre- pared to meet this commission and pass the examination, or they would have to retire from the service. Even in this matter, however, human nature was brought out very thor- oughly. There were men holding commissions not in the Eighty-sixth alone, who never seemed to realize the honor that properly belonged to the commission in the armies of the United States, when that commission was worthily and intelligently held. This class of men, with- out pride either for themselves or their commands, or too lazy to study when ordered before the board, ignominiously failed, and the service was soon rid of them. Some there were who had pride in their commissions, prized the position, and worked, though they could not put the principles laid down in the tactics into actual practice. There was one offi- cer who was an absolute failure on the drill ground, but when ordered before the board, passed a most wonderfully satisfactory examination in answering the questions. He had
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absolutely committed his tactics to memory, from beginning to end.
Another order was issued to the infantry regiments con- cerning drills. It was this: A detail of ten men, one from each company of the infantry regiments, were ordered to re- port to some special battery of artillery, for drill in artillery tactics, and after the first ten had remained for a certain length of time they were returned to their regiments, and another detail of the same number was sent. These artillery details were continued during the time of the Murfreesboro camp, and it proved of immense benefit to the entire army in subsequent campaigns. On more than one battle-field when the numbers on the guns of a battery were too greatly dimin- ished to remain in action, men stepped out of infantry regi- ments and manned the guns almost as effectively as if they had been originally mustered as artillerymen, and thus by their efficiency in that branch of the service, saved, in many instances, the guns and the day.
Those who got their instructions through General Rose- crans orders for picket duty, and put those instructions into active practice on the outposts during the cold and stormy nights in January, February and March, 1863, have doubt- less remembered, and will remember to the day of their death, just exactly how that particular portion of a soldier's duty should be performed. There was possibly sufficient danger surrounding the troops to make them reasonably alert, but in addition to this there was no telling when the "Grand Rounds" would touch the line, and then woe be to the officer who was not fully awake and alive to his duty, and grief to the non-commissioned officer or private who did not respond promptly when the call to "fall-in" was given. Rosecrans, or some member of his staff, was apt to come on the line at any time of the day or night. On such occasions officers and men who were conscientiously trying to perform their duties, even though they might make mistakes, re- ceived nothing but kind treatment, and plain straightforward instructions from the General; but the instructions would not be given the second time without being preceded or followed
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with a rebuke. The duty of the pickets, and all the minute- ness of detail were as completely put into daily and nightly practice as they were afterward on the field of Chickamauga, or during the siege of Chattanooga or on the Atlanta campaign.
Murfreesboro was decidedly and emphatically a camp of instruction. Sunday there was no company, or battalion, or brigade drill, but there was the Sunday morning inspection, the guard mountings in the morning, guard duty and the dress parade in the evening, as on week days. For those who were not on guard duty, Sunday was spent in a general cleaning up, a kind of washing and scrubbing day, and when that was over, there were letters to write to those who had been left at home.
The monotony of this daily routine of camp was occa- sionally broken by the regiment being ordered out on a foraging expedition that was always much enjoyed. On those foraging expeditions everything that could be eaten by man, horse or mule, was brought in. There was not much, however, excepting corn, or horse or mule feed, that re- mained on the wagons when they were turned over to head- quarters on the return. There was, however, always a great deal more cooking in camp for a day or two after such an ex- pedition than there was immediately preceding it. There was on such occasions an odor of fried chicken, and fresh pork, and yams, and fresh potatoes, and some of the messes could be seen indulging in such delicacies as honey and pre- served fruits, which were not furnished on requisition by the Quartermaster or Commissary sergeants. By this time, however, in the war period, officers had learned to heed the advice said to have been given by St. Paul, to "eat what was set before you asking no questions," for certain it was the men for the most part saw to it that their officers were sup- plied as well as themselves. On these forage expeditions there was not unfrequently a tilt with the rebel cavalry or with a band of guerillas that would furnish enough danger and excitement to fully satisfy for the time being, any who had a special craving for that kind of excitement.
The camp at Murfreesboro was a reasonably healthy
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camp and would have been more so had all the officers and men realized from the outset the necessity of cleanliness in person and clothing and quarters. More than fifty per cent. of the sickness at Murfreesboro was caused by disregard of sanitary measures in the early part of the encampment. These methods for the preservation of health had to be taught just as the tactics and guard duty were taught. To the
credit of the Eighty-sixth regiment, be it said, it did learn, though some of the companies were longer in grasping the situation than others. Human nature is in evidence in the army, as well as in civil life. Mankind learns, by and by, but often, too often, many lives are lost before the knowl- edge is gained.
This army at the time of entering Murfreesboro had not been formed into Army Corps, although it was divided into three grand divisions. On January 9, 1863, by virtue of General Order, No. 9, War Department, the troops of the Army of the Cumberland were organized into Army Corps, which were numbered the Fourteenth, Twentieth and Twen- ty-first. Major General George H. Thomas was assigned to the command of the Fourteenth corps, formerly the "Cen- ter;" Major General A. McD. McCook was assigned to the Twentieth corps, which had been the "Right Wing;" and Major General Thomas L. Crittenden was assigned to the command of the Twenty-first corps, previously the "Left Wing."
On going into position about Murfreesboro, General Rosecrans placed the Fourteenth corps in the center of the army and fixed its lines and camp across and between the Woodbury, Bradyville, Manchester and Shelbyville turn- pikes; the Twentieth corps its left joining the right of the Fourteenth corps at the Shelbyville road and extending in a continous line across the Salem pike to the right until it had reached Stone's River; Crittenden, with the Twenty- first corps, joined his right upon the left of the Fourteenth corps and extending to the left so as to cover the Liberty and Lebanon turnpikes resting his left at Stone's River. Thus posted, with the right and left resting at the river
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above and below the town, and extending in a semi-circle, it was protected from any attack of Bragg's forces whether from the east, south or west.
It should be borne in mind that the time was midwinter, and that the army had to endure during the months of Jan- uary and February such terrible storms of rain and snow that it was impossible for a campaign of any extent to be made. The roads, too, away from the turnpikes, were im- passable, and even the turnpikes over which the supplies had to be brought from Nashville, were torn up and broken to such an extent by army wagons and the artillery, that it was only by the severest effort that light loads of supplies could be brought up. Another fact to be recorded here, is that the base of supplies for General Rosecrans' army was Nashville, and that the only railroad between that city and Murfreesboro had been torn up by Bragg's army on its re- treat, the bridges had all been burned, and that, therefore, wagons were the only vehicles whereby the army could be supplied with subsistence, ammunition or clothing. The sup- plies thus brought for such an army, even only the distance intervening between these two cities, was meager indeed, until later on the general government had caused the rail- road to be rebuilt.
It was therefore a matter of necessity under all these circumstances that the army should remain in camp, at least a sufficient length of time to rebuild the road, and to estab- lish at Murfreesboro a depot of supplies from which to draw when an advance should be made. An improved condition of the roads, and sufficient supplies for the men and animals, as well as ammunition, were vital matters to be considered in the decision as to an advance.
Owing therefore to the enforced stay at Murfreesboro, and in order to guard against the contingency of an attack in force by Bragg, General Rosecrans began at once to strengthen his position against any possibility of disaster. He first, as nearly as possible, relieved the army of the care of the sick and wounded by sending them back to Nashville and northward. Those who were too sick, or too severely
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wounded, to be moved, were placed in hospitals, which he had established in unoccupied buildings in the town. The work of fortifying his position was also entered upon with- out delay and with great vigor. The most thorough and complete line of forts were planned and built. Earthworks were thrown up covering almost the entire front of the army, and all were so thoroughly constructed during the oc- cupation of Murfreesboro that it would have been impossible for an army to have taken it by a direct assault. Murfrees- boro became under the direction of Rosecrans, and by the work of the army, an impregnable fortress, which served during the remainder of the war as a valuable position.
In the construction of these works the Eighty-sixth had but little to do, save and except in the performance of guard and picket duty for those who performed the labor. The work that was there done, however, was of much value to all the regiments, in that it gave a general idea as to the con- struction of earthworks, which they afterwards utilized, es- pecially during the siege of Chattanooga and upon the At- lanta campaign. The importance of building the fortifica- tions was made sufficiently apparent to the men by reported or rumored advances of the enemy, and by occasional raids that were being made around Rosecrans' army by Wheeler's and Morgan's Confederate cavalry. Brigades of the Union army were sent out from time to time on reconnoissances, and each time came in contact with portions of Bragg's army which were sufficiently strong to show that there was great confidence in their strength and position. The portion of the country in front of the Twenty-first corps, however, ap- peared to be free from any Confederate force, except small detachments of cavalry which were met on some of the for- aging expeditions.
For more than eight months after the army was formed into corps the Eighty-sixth was in the Twenty-first army corps, the brigade and division remaining unchanged. The corps, division and brigade commanders were the same as before, except that Colonel James P. Fyffe, who commanded the Second brigade, on account of failing health, obtained a
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leave of absence. The command of the brigade then de- volved upon the senior officer, which was Colonel George F. Dick, of the Eighty-sixth, who retained it until the army was reorganized at Chattanooga during the following November.
Colonel Dick having been assigned to the command of the brigade, Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Dresser, who had been promoted from Major, should have taken charge of the regi- ment, but at the battle on the 31st of December Lieutenant Colonel, then Major, Dresser, was wounded in both legs, had two ribs fractured and his shoulder dislocated by the fall of his horse. This disability rendered him unfit for active ser- vice, when on June 2 he resigned his commission. Captain J. C. Dick, of Company C, who had been promoted to Major, then assumed command of the regiment, and soon thereafter received his commission as Lieutenant Colonel. At the same time Captain Philip Gemmer, of Company E, received a com- mission as Major, but for some cause was not mustered until the following April.
Surgeon J. S. Elliott having resigned on September 26, Assistant Surgeon Joseph Jones was promoted to the va- cancy on November 15. Flavius J. VanVoris, a private of Company I, a thoroughly educated and well read young physician, was on December 2, commissioned as one of the Assistant Surgeons, the medical staff then being Jones, Walton and Van Voris.
Adjutant C. P. Rodman on May 29 was promoted to the Captaincy of Company H, and E. D. Thomas, a private in Company E, succeeded to the vacancy, and served as such until the regiment was mustered out.
Kersey Bateman served as Quartermaster until Sep- tember 2, 1863, when he resigned. Robert Underwood suc- ceeded Bateman as Quartermaster.
The changes in the line officers during the spring, sum- mer and fall of 1863 had nearly been as great proportionately as among the field and staff. Several of the officers had in- curred disabilities from the hardships they had undergone and were compelled to resign. In addition to Captain John Seager, of Company G, and Lieutenant William H. Lynn, of
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Company K, who had resigned in November and December, there occurred during the first two months of the new year the resignations of Captain Milton Bell, of Company H, First Lieutenant Jacob Palmer, of Company F, and Second Lieutenant Oliver Boord, of Company C. In May Chaplain W. S. Harker, and First Lieutenant Jackson Hickson, of Company D, resigned, the latter on account of wounds re- ceived at Stone's River, as did Lieutenant Uriah Thomas, of Company H, in June, First Lieutenant Samuel Douglass, of Company G, and Second Lieutenant William J. Ness, of Company H, in July. These officers all quitted the service honorably and with the regrets of their comrades, both of- ficers and men.
During the earlier months of 1863, especially January and February, the official mortality throughout the army was great. Shoulder straps fell like the leaves of autumn after a hoar frost. General Rosecrans made use of every means to promote efficiency. He was lavish of praise to the meritorious, and utterly ruthless toward the undeserving. By General Orders, No. 30, dated February 24, he dishonor- ably dismissed fifty-two officers of all grades from Colonel down to Second Lieutenant, for various offenses, such as absence without leave, cowardice in the face of the enemy, drunkenness, disobedience of orders, gross neglect of duty, incompetency and other peccadillos detrimental to military discipline, two of whom were from the Eighty-sixth, Colonel O. S. Hamilton, and First Lieutenant John S. Armitage, of Company B, the former for incompetency, and the latter for abandoning his company in the face of the enemy. The fault for which Colonel Hamilton was publicly disgraced was expiated in the front line at Stone's River, and though his own officers and men could not refuse their admiration for his heroic conduct, yet General Rosecrans was inexor- able. In July Captain Nelson R. Smith, of Company G, was cashiered by order of court martial on a charge of drunken- ness, while Captain William C. Lambert, of Company I, met a like fate by a similar process, on a charge of cowardice. First Lieutenant John Gilliland, of Company I, was arrested
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and tried by court martial, charged with being a deserter from the Fifty-first Illinois regiment.
The story of Lieutenant Gilliland has in it all the ele- ments of somber romance and is of thrilling interest. He was born in the northeastern part of Montgomery county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood with absolutely no edu- cation. Though he could neither read nor write, yet he was a magnificent specimen of the physical man, naturally intel- ligent, industrious and of kindly temper. It so happened that in 1861 business took him to Illinois, and to the town in which the Fifty-first regiment of that State was being organ- ized. Being an intensely loyal man he enlisted. The Fifty- first went at once to the front, and Gilliland saw active ser- vice in the first year of the war, proving himself a brave and true soldier. In 1862 he was allowed to come home on a furlough. While home the Eighty-sixth was organizing at LaFayette. Gilliland went up to that city with the boys from his neighborhood, and having some knowledge of drill his services were called into requisition. Not knowing the enormity of the offense of desertion he made the proposition to the members of Company I that if they would elect him First Lieutenant he would enlist with them. Ignorant of the fact that he was still in the service they accepted his propo- sition. As First Lieutenant of Company I he commanded the respect of his men and the confidence of his superior officers. His ability and bravery were repeatedly demonstrated, and but for his illiteracy would have made an officer of marked distinction. All went well with him until the battle of Stone's River. Just before this memorable engagement Captain Lambert, of the same company, was taken sick quite sud- denly and was unable to enter the action. The command of the company, therefore, devolved upon Gilliland and he led the men through the battle with distinguished bravery. Just here Gilliland made a great mistake. After the battle he very foolishly preferred charges of cowardice against Lam- bert, alleging that he had feigned illness in order to avoid the dangers of shot and shell. If Gilliland had not been liv- ing in a glass house himself his action might have been rea-
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sonable, but as it was it proved his ruin. Captain Lambert, who was cognizant of Gilliland's military record, promptly retaliated by preferring charges of desertion against his accuser. He was placed in arrest, and tried by court mar- tial at Chattanooga during the latter part of 1863. In the meantime Gilliland was permitted to march in the rear of the regiment nominally under guard. The President of the court was Lieutenant Colonel Brown, of the Sixty-fourth Ohio. The court arraigned "Private John I. Gilliland, Company E, Fifty-first Illinois Volunteers," on two charges, the first of which was desertion, and the second was violation of the 22d Article of War in that he enlisted and accepted a commission in the Eighty-sixth Indiana Infantry, he being at the time a deserter from the Fifty-first Illinois Infantry. To the charges and specifications Gilliland pleaded "not guilty." The find- ing of the court was in both charges and in all the specifica- tions, "guilty." Then followed this awful sentence: "And the court does therefore sentence him, Private John I. Gil- liland, Company E, Fifty-first Illinois Volunteers, 'to be shot to death with musketry at such time and place as the Commanding General may direct, two-thirds of the court concurring therein.'" Before the finding of the court martial could be promulgated it must necessarily be transmitted to the War Department for approval or modification. June 4, 1864, more than a year after he had been arrested and eight months after he had been arraigned, the Secretary of War modified the sentence, upon the recommendation of his com- manding officer to executive clemency, on account of his good conduct in battle, so as to restore him to duty in Com- pany E, Fifty-first Illinois Volunteers. Finally, the order reached the Eighty-sixth while the army was in Northern Georgia. Gilliland did not wait to hear the modification of the sentence. There being no strict watch over him he ex- perienced little difficulty in escaping from the army that very night. From that time on nothing was heard from him by his comrades-in-arms or by his family for more than a quarter of a century. One summer evening, along about 1890, many years after the war had passed into history,
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Tilghman Bailey, of Company I, was standing in front of his farm house, a few miles from Clark's Hill, and watching his cattle feeding in the adjoining fields. As he rested there content with his prosperity, he was approached by an old, decrepit, stooping and travel-stained stranger, who was evi- dently suffering from consumption. He was poorly clad, but when he spoke, addressing to Bailey some common-place remark, his voice and something in his manner brought up a flood of half-forgotten recollections. Sometime, somewhere he had seen this strange man before. Conversation was continued on timely topics, and suddenly to Bailey as they talked, came the identity of the man, causing him to exclaim involuntarily: "Isn't your name John Gilliland?" The old man's face lighted up at the recognition. Bailey, of course bade him stay and he shared with him the hospitalities of his home. Here the story of the wanderer was told. When he left the regiment he made for the mountains, away from the railroad and from any thoroughfare. Stopping at the house of an old mountaineer he told him his true story. The rustic of the forest and hills gave him shelter and assured him that he should be protected from both armies. And there he re- mained for twenty-five years. At last, overtaken by ill health and becoming weary of his voluntary exile, and stirred by the recollections of his youth and the memories of kindred and friends. he ventured a visit to his old home, hoping that he would, unmolested, be permitted to die in the land of his birth. The fruition of his hopes were realized, for in less than a year afterward John Gilliland was "honorably dis- charged" by the Great Commander. Verily, truth is some- times stranger than fiction.
Promotions followed these vacancies thus created. In Company A, Second Lieutenant R. A. Williamson was made First Lieutenant in place of George W. Smith killed at Stone's River, and Orderly Sergeant Perry T. Gorham was made Second Lieutenant. Second Lieutenant Jeremiah Haugh succeeded John S. Armitage as First Lieutenant of Company B, and Orderly Sergeant Matthew McInerney was made Second Lieutenant. James Gregory, a private of
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Company I, was promoted to the Captaincy of Company C. and Sergeant T. F. Brant was made Second Lieutenant. In Company D, Second Lieutenant H. J. Gass was promoted to First Lieutenant, and Sergeant J. G. DeTurk to Second Lieutenant. Second Lieutenant J. R. Moore was promoted to First Lieutenant in Company E, and private Mahlon J. Haines to Second Lieutenant. In Company F, Second Lieu- tenant R. W. Coolman was promoted to First Lieutenant and Sergeant Wilson H. Laymon to Second Lieutenant. Ser-
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