USA > Indiana > The Eighty-sixth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry : a narrative of its services in the civil war of 1861-1865 > Part 20
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 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
Arriving in camp, the regiment learned of General Rose- crans' order consolidating the Twentieth and Twenty-first corps into one corps, and designating it the Fourth army corps, to be commanded by Major General Gordon Granger. This order was issued on the 9th of October, and was in compliance with the President Lincoln's order which had been promulgated September 28. The actual change of the troops, however, did not take place until October 20. The organiza- tion was to be as follows:
220
THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
ORGANIZATION OF FOURTH CORPS. Major General Gordon Granger, Commanding.
FIRST DIVISION. Major General David S. Stanley, Commanding. First Brigade. Brigadier Charles Cruft, Commanding. Second Brigade. Brigadier General W. C. Whittaker, Commanding. Third Brigade. Colonel William Grose, Commanding. SECOND DIVISION. Major General Philip H. Sheridan, Commanding First Brigade.
Brigadier General J. B. Steadman, Commanding. Sceond Brigade. Brigadier General George D. Wagner, Commanding. Third Brigade. Colonel Charles G. Harker, Commanding. THIRD DIVISION.
Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood, Commanding. First Brigade.
Brigadier General August Willich, Commanding. Sccond Brigade. Brigadier General William B. Hazen, Commanding. Third Brigade. Brigadier General Samuel Beatty, Commanding.
Seventy-ninth Indiana. Thirteenth Ohio.
Eighty-sixth Indiana.
Nineteenth Ohio.
Ninth Kentucky. Fifty-ninth Ohio.
Seventeenth Kentucky. Forty-fourth Indiana.
This brigade, according to "Victor's History of the Rebellion, " came to be known as "Beatty's Fighting Brigade."
The Forty-fourth Indiana was, however, soon after this detached to do post duty in Chattanooga. It took no part in the battle of Missionary Ridge, and was never again with the brigade. Doubtless this organization was a stronger one than to have the troops divided up in two corps and so many divisions and brigades. It gave its corps line of battle more cohesion, more solidity and weight, and was therefore safely welded into one compact organization to meet the hard knocks
221
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
it was so soon to endure, yet all were loth to see the old corps dispersed, as the mist of the morning, into nothingness. But the men soon forgot their regret for the old in their pride for the new.
The Eighty-sixth was glad indeed to welcome its Col- onel back to his legitimate command and was proud to obey his every order with soldierly promptness. The division and brigade commanders were known to be able, soldierly leaders. General Wood had drawn condemnation upon him- self by his conduct at Chickamauga, but the error, if error it was, was not on account of his lack of courage or want of ability. General Beatty was brave to a fault and an able brigade commander, but was generally credited with being overhasty in volunteering his brigade for dangerous duties.
Rations were drawn on the 12th what purported to be for three days. On the 13th the men were eating parched corn, so scant was the supply drawn the day before. On the 13th a heavy detail from the Eighty-sixth worked on the en- trenchments in a drenching rain during the forenoon which was most disagreeable as it was quite cold. The rain con- tinned during the afternoon and the following night. Again on the 14th parched corn did duty as bread. The rain con- tinned to fall in heavy showers during the night of the 14th and the day of the 15th. With such heavy continued rains what must have been the condition of the mountain roads over which long trains of army wagons continued to pass and re-pass between Bridgeport and Chattonooga in their superhuman efforts to supply an army of 45,000 men with subsistence and the munitious of war? One may imagine, but can a person who never saw roads thus traveled compre- hend their condition? One historian, W. O. Blake, author of the "Great American Rebellion," speaking of the desper- ate condition of the beleagued town and army says: "All supplies for the army at Chattanooga had to be hauled over one line of railroad to Bridgeport, and from there by pack mules to Chattanooga." This statement is liable to create an erroneous impression as it gives one the idea that rations and supplies were conveyed only by pack mules and that no
THIE EIGIITY-SIXTHI REGIMENT,
supplies were hauled over the mountains. Doubtless Rose- crans made use of pack mules as he used every means in his power, but there was scarcely a day when there was not a train on the way going from, or coming to, Chattanooga, with or for supplies. The fact that he used pack mules shows his invincible resolution to hold on to the place to the last. He made a glorious fight and few could have done better. But with all of the exertion made to keep the army supplied, the amount of rations received gradually grew less. So many mules had been killed by the rebel sharp- shooters, so many had died of starvation and over-work, and now the roads were cut up so badly it seemed that fate was against the Army of the Cumberland. Appearances indi- cated that they must, if help did not come soon, yield the town or starve. But they held on.
On the evening of the 19th of October, General Rose- crans received by telegram an order relieving him of the command of the Army of the Cumberland, and transferring it to General Thomas. On the 20th, General Thomas issued General Order, No. 243, assuming command. The following extract formed one paragraph of these orders:
" In assuming the control of this army, so long and so ably com- manded by Major General Rosecrans, the undersigned confidently relies upon the hearty co-operation of every officer and soldier of the Army of the Cumberland, to enable him to perform the arduous duties devolved upon him."
General Grant reached Chattanooga on the 23d and assumed command in person, and to read his "Memoirs" one would think there was no scarcity of rations, feed, or other necessary supplies a few days after his arrival. He says: "In five days from my arrival in Chattanooga the way was open to Bridgeport, and, with aid of steamers and Hooker's teams, in a week the troops were receiving full rations." But this statement is not exactly in harmony with the facts. The greatest suffering of the Eighty-sixth on account of scant rations while in Chattanooga occurred from the 20th of October to the 9th of November. A member of the regiment who kept a dairy has this record for the 20th: "The boys are all out of rations and swearing about starving."
223
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
In the record for the 25th it is found that he was on picket and this note is made: "I only had one cracker for dinner." On the 26th he wrote: "We ate our last cracker for dinner. We drew about a tinful, supposed to be a pint, of flour for a day's rations of bread-stuff. The boys are all grumbling about the scarcity of rations. This is a little the shortest rations we have yet drawn." In the record for the 27th he made this note: "We had to do without any dinner as we could not get anything to eat. The boys are furious about the rations, as most of them have had nothing to eat since breakfast, all day. Toward evening we drew a little beef." After this record was made, somewhat later in the evening, other rations came, and this man's journal says: "We received three crackers and one pound of flour as a ration for two men for one day. We also drew a few grains of coffee." On the 1st of November the regiment was again almost destitute of rations, most of the men doing without any dinner. Late in the evening one-half of a cracker was issued to two men. On November 2 this is the record: "Brother and I ate a half a cracker and a little bacon for breakfast. The boys are grumbling a good deal to-day about rations. We drew a little beef this forenoon and had that for dinner. Late in the evening we drew, what purported to be, one day's rations of hard tack to do us four meals." On On November 5: "We drew six small crackers to the man to do one day and a half." These are facts-a correct account of the actual rations drawn, noted at the time, by the mem- bers of the Eighty-sixth. Nor is it believed that the Eighty- sixth suffered for the want of rations more than other regi- ments of the Army of the Cumberland. The assertion is here made that no regiment within the lines of the beleaguered town at any time during the siege ever received full rations of even three articles of the ration list. Those who bore the hardships, served in the trenches, and were exposed to the dangers of the siege, half-starved, were as determined to hold the place as was General Grant.
Of the conduct of the men much might be said to show how some suffered much more than others. Some were im-
201
THIE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
provident, even reckless, in regard to their rations. Some of these improvident soldiers have been known to eat at one meal all the hard tack that was issued to do three days, and depend upon the charity of comrades for the rest of the time. Others naturally abstemions and frugal divided the rations received so as to have a little left when the time expired, only ate so much set apart for a meal. But even the latter class would occasionally exhaust their carefully hoarded supply.
On October 20, the troops which had been changed from one command to another, moved their camps to their respec- tive new commands. Troops were changing and moving in all directions, especially the troops composing the old Twen- tieth and Twenty-first army corps. Luckily for the Eighty- sixth it did not have to move.
From this time until the battle of Wanhatchie daily there was some skirmish firing, some sharpshooting from the cabin front, and more or less artillery firing, but nothing of a decided or very destructive nature. Occasionally the guns on Lookout would drop a few shell's into the town or camps, but more frequently they went screaming on over the river to the north.
During the 27th, batteries on Moccasin Point maintained a brisk fire on Lookout during most of the day, and the rebel gunners replied with spirit. The cannonading was contin- ned even more fiercely on the 28th than on the preceding day. About midnight it again broke out fiercely and aroused the camp. The men turned out to learn where the battle raged. There was no doubt of there being a musketry battle also, for it could be plainly heard. It was a rapid, continuous crack- ling fire as when lines of battle were engaged. The rebel guns from Lookont boomed with unwonted vigor and rapid- ity. It was undoubtedly a battle of considerable magnitude and hotly waged. Subsequently it was learned that the rebels had attacked the troops under Hooker, Geary's division of the Twelfth corps, and the Eleventh corps, commanded by Howard. There were really two battles fought on this night, and in both the Union troops were victorious. Long- street's troops were the attacking forces on the part of the
225
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
rebels. It is known in history as the battle of Wauhatchie. The rebels were beaten at all points and Hooker's forces gained some advantage in ground during the battle.
About the 1st of November there was a change made in the manner of sending out pickets. Heretofore it had been by details. Now it was changed to regiments. On the morning of the 5th, at 5 o'clock, the Eighty-sixth went on picket immediately in its front. There was nothing of especial interest transpired on the skirmish line, but there was a great deal of especially active cannonading around the lines. On this day, too, the pontoon bridge was broken so the men were deprived of their much needed rations. The regiment returned to camp from the skirmish line at 5 o'clock a. m. on the 3d. During the night of the 2d the regiment was ordered into the trenches and kept there a long time, an attack being expected. The artillery maintained an occa- sional fire throughout the night.
About the 6th or 7th it was reported in camp that Gen- eral Beatty, the brigade commander, had offered to Colonel Dick the position of Provost Marshal of Chattanooga, with the Eighty-sixth as provost guards. Rather a nice place in comparison with field duties; but the Colonel declined with thanks, preferring to keep the regiment in the front where the more arduous and dangerous duties were to be performed. The position was eventually given to the Forty-fourth Indi- ana, Lieutenant Colonel Simeon C. Aldrich commanding. The Forty-fourth was never afterwards with the brigade.
On the 8th the regiment was again on duty on the picket line. The wind blew a stiff breeze and it was quite cold, making it very disagreeable. Rations were brought out to the reserve station and distributed. Many of the boys were so hungry that they ate the whole day's rations for supper. Drew rations on the 9th and received a more liberal allow- ance than at any time since the siege began. By this time everything within the picket line that could be used for fuel had been consumed, even to the stumps. All were cleaned up to the sentinels on the lines. On the 11th Colonel Dick had men begin to build a barge with which to bring wood
226
TIIE EIGHTY-SIXTII REGIMENT,
across the river. By the 13th it was completed and put to use. On the 15th the regiment was again on picket and the sentinel posts were within eighty or one hundred yards of the sentinels to the enemy's line, but they were peaceably inclined. Long- street had now gone to attack General Burnside at Knox- ville, and even the privates knew their weakness and had no desire to stir up a hornet's nest prematurely. It would come soon enough. The regiment returned to camp on the morn- ing of the 16th and found that some soulless wretch had stolen its wood. A heavy detail was made from the regi- ment that day for fatigue duty on Fort Beatty.
Colonel Dick since his return to the regiment had been having dress parade each evening when the weather was suitable. On the 18th there was quite a lively time on the skirmish line for half or three-quarters of an hour. The Union line was advanced. That of course brought on the fray. The enemy seemed very much disinclined to allow it the privilege of advancing, but after a hot bout he appeared reconciled. A number of prisoners were captured from the enemy in the skirmish. Of course there was the daily can- nonading and skirmishing, but little attention was paid any more to the ordinary firing. On the 19th the Eighty-sixth was paid off, the men receiving four months' wages.
On the 20th the regiment was ordered into ranks by com- panies and marched out of camp to fire the loads out of the guns and put them in good order. Orders were received to be ready to move the following morning with two days' cooking rations, exclusive of breakfast, and forty rounds of ammunition in cartridge boxes and sixty rounds in pocket. Such marching orders with an enemy in arms length meant fight. An order was also promulgated consolidating, for the present, regiments that had been greatly decimated in num- bers, presumably to give the lines more cohesion and weight in an attack. The Seventy-ninth Indiana and the Eighty- sixth were consolidated under this order. The advance was to be made on the morning of the 21st, Saturday. But it rained the whole night of the 20th, and Sherman was not ready, con- sequently the proposed movement was postponed. On the
227
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
evening of the 21st the Eighty-sixth received orders to be ready for picket at 5:30 the next morning, Sunday.
On the 22d the regiment was on the picket-line promptly at the appointed time. Everything was reasonably quiet until about 9 o'clock a. m., when the batteries in Fort Wood opened fire on Missionary Ridge. Rebel infantry could be seen marching down the crest of the ridge to the north, and it is presumed it was at this column that the fire of Fort Wood was directed. The guns of the enemy did not reply to the fire here, but opened with the guns on the point of Look- out. Both the Federal and Confederate batteries ceased fir- ing about 11:30 a. m. The Eighty-sixth's sentinels were but a short distance from the rebel sentinels. A Sergeant in Company E, together with one or two comrades, went out be- tween the lines and exchanged a paper with a rebel sentinel. When Colonel Dick heard of it he was quite indignant, and reproved the Sergeant and those with him in most emphatic terms.
General T. J. Wood, the division commander, came out to the reserve station of the picket line and took observa- tions of the enemy with his field glass, and made some in- quiries of the Colonel relative to indications of a move by the enemy. Rebel officers could be seen watching the firing from Fort Wood with their glasses, coming quite out to their line of sentinels. It seemed evident that things were keyed to the point of an explosion and it might be expected at any moment.
Again orders were received to have two days' cooked rations and one hundred rounds of ammunition, and be ready to move the next morning. About 8 o'clock p. m. the two days' uncooked rations were received at the station. By this time everything was quiet except a working party that was bridging Citico creek a little to the left of the reserve. They were hammering and pounding at a lively rate. Sherman's forces were said now to be up and in position, ready to cross the Tennessee river just below the mouth of South Chicka- mauga creek.
The night of the 22d was a lovely one, clear and cool,
THE EIGIITY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
but it was not a pleasant duty to perform a midnight vigil. During that evening the order for the advance in the morn- ing was countermanded on account of General Sherman not being ready to effect a crossing. The Eighty-sixth was re- lieved on the morning of the 23d by the Nineteenth Ohio, Colonel Manderson commanding. The regiment returned at once to camp and breakfasted, expecting to enjoy a day of rest.
The Army of the Cumberland was now on the eve of its release from a long siege of two months at Chattanooga. Concerning the question as to whether General Rosecrans intended at any time before he was relieved from command of the army to abandon the position there has been much controversy. Without desiring to enter this field the authors of this volume believe that General Rosecrans had no such intention, neither had his successor, General Thomas. The men composing this army had caught the spirit of their General, and although the situation was a trying one before the means of subsistence were fully provided and relief came, yet the men slackened not their grip on the prize pur- chased with the blood of their comrades and their own suf- fering, nor gave one inch of ground after their position had been taken. Neither officers nor men for a moment ever wavered in their firm resolve to hold the town.
It is therefore believed that General Grant was griev- ously mistaken when, in speaking of his arrival at Chatta- nooga to take command, in an article published in the Century for November, 1885, and afterwards in his "Memoirs, " says: "During the evening most of the general officers called to pay their respects and to talk about the condition of affairs. They pointed out on the map the line, marked with a red or a blue pencil, which Rosecrans had contemplated falling back upon."
On the contrary Brigadier General Henry M. Cist, Assist- ant General on General Rosecrans' staff, and afterwards holding the same position on the staff of General Thomas, in his "History of the Army of the Cumberland," published in 1882, three years prior to the appearance of General Grant's
229
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
Century article, says: "However, not for an instant was the idea entertained of abandoning the town, to say nothing of the extreme hazard of attempting that, in the face of the strong force of the enemy on our front. The Army of the Cumberland had won Chattanooga and there they proposed remaining."
Speaking of this statement of General Grant in an article in the North American Review for December, 1885, General Rosecrans says: "No officer of the Army of the Cumber- land ever told him that I contemplated falling back." Again he says: "The next thing after getting Chattanooga was to keep it." General Thomas gives support to these state- ments in the first paragraph of his report of the operations opening the new and shorter supply line by saying: "In pur- suance of the plan of General Rosecrans, the execution of which had been deferred until General Hooker's transporta- tion could be got." This statement of General Thomas' shows that instead of Rosecrans' contemplating retreat he was planning to hold the town, planning to have the means to make his resistance effectual. General Rosecrans gives quite fully in his article the plans and preparations by him for supplying the army in the beleaguered town, showing conclusively that he had no thought of evacuating or yield- ing up the place to the enemy, but on the contrary he meant to hold it to the last. Besides the proofs found in the records which go to show that Rosecrans never intended to give up the place, the contemplation of such an important movement under the then existing circumstances and conditions could not have been kept secret, but would have found its way to the ranks in a thousand ways, and would have been quite freely discussed in the camps. But in this case the reports in camp were all against the evacuation. The sentiment of the rank and file was against it, and so strong that it would have been a difficult matter to have withdrawn the army. They might have taken things in their own hands, as they did a little later under Grant at Missionary Ridge, and held the town even against orders. They had, however, no occasion to discuss this phase of the situation, as it was the
230
THIE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
common talk of the camps everywhere that Rosecrans had said, and no soldier of the Army of the Cumberland doubted it, that he would fight them to the last and hold the town at all hazards.
Much more evidence could be given, but this is sufficient to show that General Rosecrans had at no time entertained the idea for a moment of abandoning Chattanooga, and that he had not lost confidence in the courage or fighting qualities of the army which he commanded, nor had the troops lost confidence in their General. Had General Rosecrans received the support from Washington at Chickamauga that was given to General Grant two months later the battles around Chattanooga would not have had a place in history.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA.
A Great Battle With a Picturesque Setting-An Unlooked for Crisis Precipitates It-Wood Makes a Reconnaissance-Ground Gained, Held, and Fortified- Ilooker's Battle on Lookout Mountain-Sherman at the North End of Mis- sionary Ridge-Thomas Ordered to Take First Line of Enemy's Works at Foot of Ridge and Make a Diversion in Favor of Sherman-The Order Prompt- ly Obeyed- The Lines Captured in Hurricane Style-The Unordered Assault on Missionary Ridge-A Privates' Victory-A Battle Fought More Success- fully Than Planned, But Not as Planned-A Victory That Astounded Grant In the Manner of its Coming as Much as it Did Bragg in its Results-General (ist's Account-Fullerton's Version-Bragg and Bate's Statements-Captain Reilly's Account of the Assault-Taylor's Brilliant Description of the Battle.
The great strategical importance of Chattanooga made it "the key to the situation" of all the country lying to the southward of it. But the battle was looked forward to with the utmost anxiety, not only for its direct effect on the affairs in its own department, but on account of the fact that on the result of the contest at Chattanooga probably hung the fate of Knoxville and the Army of the Ohio under Burnside. Had Chattanooga and Knoxville been retaken by the rebels, the Union cause must have received a staggering blow, and one
231
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
from which it is exceedingly doubtful if the government would have been able to recover. Years have not diminished the importance of this battle in the eyes of the student of history. The battle of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Moun- tain was one of the decisive battles of the War of the Rebel- lion.
In the striking features of its peculiarly grand and picturesque setting it probably excels that of any battle-field of the civil war. There are the surrounding mountains in all their beauty and rugged grandeur. There stand Lookout's tall peak overlooking the neighboring mountains and ridges as a guardian watches over his charge. There is Walden's Ridge north of the river, and its continuation, Raccoon Mountain across the river south. On the east is Missionary Ridge, low walling the valley, while in the valley between Lookout and Missionary Ridge lies Chattanooga. The Tennessee river sweeps grandly on in elegant curves through the valley, and on its broad surface is mirrored the beauties of hill and valley, of mountain and plain. These rock-rimmed mountains with their subordinate hills and the valley constitute a mighty amphitheater wonderfully beau- tiful and grand, from Nature's own hand.
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.