USA > Indiana > The Eighty-sixth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry : a narrative of its services in the civil war of 1861-1865 > Part 27
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
299
THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
hard work, yet all exerted themselves as faithfully as bea- vers. The work was continued on the 15th. Hard work and scant rations did not harmonize well together. It was on this day that Captain C. P. Rodman made glad the hearts of Com- pany H by buying a dressed hog of an old Tennessee farmer who was taking it to the city for sale, paying at the rate of 12 cents per pound. The work on the shanties was pushed forward with great vigor The toilers were weary and their labors were almost completed when orders were received for the command to march immediately. The afternoon was at least half gone. The regiment was soon ready, fell into line, stacked arms and waited further orders. About sun-down word was received that it would remain in its present camp over night. This gave the men one night in their log-houses with brick chimneys which they had labored so hard to build. It seemed the fate of the private soldiers that if they under- took any improvements for their own comforts, just about the time they neared completion and the men almost exhausted with their toil, the orders would come to march.
On the following morning, the 16th, reveille was sounded at 4 o'clock. The regiment was up promptly, breakfasted and packed up ready for the tramp. Before marching the men drew ammunition to complete sixty rounds. The Eighty- sixth tiled out at 6 o'clock a. m. and took its course toward the Holston. The command was delayed at the river waiting for other troops to cross. After crossing it marched through the city, turning caston its streets, and proceeded up along the general course of the Holston river. The march was steadily maintained, few stops for rest being made. After noon a halt for dinner was called, but the tramp was soon resumed and at a rapid pace. Rumors in ranks were current of fight- ing at the front farther up the country than the day's march. These rumors were various and conflicting. so little depend- ence could be placed in them. The Third brigade bivouacked about sun-down on a hill somewhere near half-way between Strawberry Plains and House Mountain. The day's march was a hard one, covering, as General Wood said, about twenty-one and a half miles. and this, too, over very muddy
299
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
and heavy roads. The camp was in the timber, consequently
fuel was plenty and the boys soon had good fires. This camp was sometimes denominated Camp on Flat Creek, and sometimes Camp near Blain's Cross Roads, or near House Mountain. It was two or three miles from the mountain, and about two miles from the Cross Roads.
At this camp the regiment remained until the 14th of the following January. Life here was one continual round of duty and struggle for subsistence. and in procuring fuel to make fires to keep from freezing. The first night here the men slept without tents and a terrific rainstorm drenched everybody from head to foot. It turned cold and all were nearly frozen before morning. Thus the changes and vicis- situdes of inclement weather were added to the suffering from hunger, testing the fortitude of the most resolute. At this camp was one of their hardest times for rations of the regiment's entire term of service. Directly after its arrival the rations were exhausted and the men had nothing but parched corn, and not enough of that at times. Lye hominy was made by boiling the corn and the ashes together in a camp-kettle. After the supply of hominy failed, the men had more "sick flour." Then a mixture of flour and meal, a half-pound to the man as a daily ration, presumably mixed by the commissary with the hope that the meal would pre- vent the flour from making them sick. Gradually rations grew more scare and the men had in a great measure to de- pend upon themselves. Many of the regiment. almost every mess, went to the Holston river, obtained boats. crossed the stream with ice running dangerously thick, and went miles beyond, procured corn and carried it on their backs, re- crossed, and returned to camp that they and their comrades should not suffer the pangs of starvation. Sometimes a lit -
tle meat could be foraged, but it was rare. The beef issued was of the poorest conceivable quality. General Jacob D. Cox in his history of the Atlanta Campaign, speaking of the destitution of the army in East Tennessee during the winter of 1863-64, says: "The country was stripped bare. and dur- ing the month of January the cattle that were turned over to
300
THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
the troops for beef were so poor they could hardly stand up. It is literally true that it was the custom of the commissa- ries to drive the cattle over a little ditch in the field where they were corralled, and those only were killed which could not get over, their weakness proving that it would not do to keep them longer, whilst the others might last for future use. Indian corn was ground up, cob and all. for bread. Bran and shorts were diligently hunted and used for the same purpose. The country was scoured for subsistence stores." This statement would show the destitution of the army to have been extreme, but the actual condition was even worse than this portrayal would indicate. Of the beef cattle of the division many were killed that were so poor that they had to be lifted up to be knocked down. Strange and improbable as this statement may seem to those unaccus- tomed to army life, yet it is a fact, and one not hard to ex- plain. These cattle had to be driven on foot with the army and as the country was almost stripped of all kinds of forage for the horses and mules, the cattle ate only that which they could pick by grazing and browsing, and in the cold and storm of an extremely inclement winter, one can easily com- prehend how poor and weak they would become. The butchers always killed the poorest, as they were no longer able to move and keep pace with the column in case the com- mand had to march. The stronger ones were saved, as Gen- eral Cox says, for future use. They would probably be suf- ficiently strong to move with the troops if not hurried. The poorest would get down and were unable by their own strength to get up. After they had lain there any length of time it would be necessary, for obvious reasons. to move them before butchering. Consequently the butchers would help them up, move them off to a moredesirable place, knock them down and dress them. How would the fastidious pal- ate of to-day like such beef? The meat was so poor and gluey that had a piece of it been thrown against a brick-wall or a beech tree it certainly would have adhered to it. But mark now the destitution of the men. Often would soldiers gladly pay one dollar a piece for the head of such a beef.
301
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
Sometimes they would get the head and the melt for one dol- lar, but usually only the head. The head would be cleaned, the eyes taken out and then the whole head boiled in a camp- kettle, and the bones picked clean of every fibre of meat. Thus did the Eighty-sixth subsist, suffer and endure, almost without a murmur, during this dreadful winter. Sometimes indeed the men did not have even the poor beef's head to pick, or corn to parch. Once while the men were out of meat the Holston river ran so high and full of ice that none ventured to cross its angry flood, and corn could not be procured on their own side of the river. Once or twice while here at this camp the regiment drew some musty, worm-eaten hard tack that was almost as villainous as the bread made from the "sick flour." The risk of losing the bread was too great to attempt to pick the worms out of it until broken in the coffee. The worms that were freed from the cracker by the softening effect of the hot coffee would swim on the top. They were scooped out with spoons and then blindly gulped down.
With scarcity of rations there was another trouble almost equally serious during the cold weather; namely, the lack of clothing. Many a poor boy could be seen with his pantaloons worn out at the knees, and no under-garments, his blouse in rags, his gray army shirt in tatters, socks with neither heels nor toes, and shoes almost gone. In such weather to which the men were exposed and thus wretchedly clad the suffering was great. Many slept on the ground with only their ponchos to protect them from its dampness and cold, while for cover- ing they had but a single woolen blanket. It is extremely doubtful if the suffering of the patriotic army of Washing- ton at Valley Forge could have exceeded the sufferings of the Fourth army corps during the winter spent in East Tennes- see! Those desperate trials made things look gloomy. It either looked like the government at Washington was poverty stricken or was criminally negligent. Yet the men bore up, knowing that the cold weather could not last long. Nor did they then as now so fully appreciate the tremendous respon- sibilities resting upon President Lincoln and his cabinet in
302
THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
their efforts to crush the great rebellion, nor the almost in- surmountable difficulties that had to be met and overcome on every side to get supplies, and, at the same time, lay up stores at the base and sub-base for the ensuing campaign, the lat- ter being almost equally necessary to that of subsistence during the winter. But parched corn seldom failed entirely, although it frequently ran low, and it general required her- culean exertions to procure corn after the little army had re- mained here two weeks, and had used the corn in the imme- diate vicinity. Picket duty was particularly heavy here, so that the men rarely had more than two days' rest off the line at a time. Between picketing, foraging, and procuring fuel they were kept quite busy. No doubt there would have been much more discontent and grumbling among the troops, if there had been more idleness. But the morale of the Fourth army corps was almost perfect, as was proven on all occa- sions during the winter and during the campaign the follow- ing summer with Sherman to Atlanta.
About 2 o'clock p. m., December 24, the Eighty-sixth received orders to be ready for picket at 3 o'clock. By 4 o'clock the men of the regiment were on duty on the picket line. Such was their promptness under the most discourag ing and trying circumstances. Colonel Dick, the very soul of promptness himself, never tolerated any dilly-dallying when the time came for the performance of duy, and the reg- iment had learned to act without a second command. No dif- ference what difficulties confronted it, its every duty was performed with promptness and alacrity suited to the occa- sion. But once arrived at the picket-station the men had to supply themselves with fuel at the station and at the out- posts, as the extreme cold made fires an imperative neces- sity. The chilly winds of that "bleak December day" went to the marrow through their rags. Labor, poorly clad, cold and hunger, with the vigils of guard duty, made the situation an extremely trying one. This Christmas eve brought no gayeties for the men of the Eighty-sixth. How many poor fellows on this occasion longed for the pleasures at home, the greeting and smiles of loved ones, the tender caresses of
303
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
parents, of brothers and sisters, the kind good nights, each face beaming with the anticipated joys of the morrow's glad surprises for the dear one gathered round the hearth-stone of the far away but ever dear Northern home, where at their mother's knee long ago they learned the lessons of love and duty, as she plied the nimble needle and made "old clothes look maist as weal's the new. " to give to each other tokens of pure affection on the annual return of this day. But alas! the cruel breath of war blew over the land and separation from home, kindred, and friends became a duty not to be shirked-a call not to be denied, however bitter the anguish of the separation. The former joys of the day's annual re- turn were not now to be enjoyed, and the thoughts of those bygone days and their happiness, brought only pain and dis- tress. The brave sentinel, as he paces his lonely beat, may think of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, of His goodness and mercy, but this does not wholly assuage his grief at the cruel disappointments he is made to feel just at this time, when his hard life seems to be crushing every particle of joyousness out of his nature. But the true soldier, after thinking over these things, the thought comes to him: it is for country, for home and kindred, that I am bat- tling. What infinite good may be reaped from the harvest of the seed of self-abnegation sown by the fearless hand of a true man, and dashing a tear from his young, clear, manly eye he straightens himself up and looks the conqueror that he is. He has conquered self-a prime element to a perfect soldier. He now paces his beat with the steadiness of tread and the martial air of a veteran of years of training. He has put all else behind him but the cause he has espoused. He has in this solitary manner renewed and reaffirmed his cov- enant in his innermost soul to stand by and support his com- rades, uphold the "colors," and reaffirmed his allegiance to the cause of country, duty and the right. The sacrificial offering is now complete. None may know the sacrifices of a soldier's life who have not abode for a time upon the tented field, and been exposed to the extremes of winter's cold and summer's heat, and met the desperate foe upon the ensan-
304
THE EIGHTY-SIXTII REGIMENT,
guined plain where the embattled hosts have striven in charge and counter-charge. Nor is it supposed, that now with so many years intervening, that one in a thousand of the vet- erans of '62 and '65 can fully recall all the terrible vicissi- tudes of those break, chilly days of that cheerless Decem- ber time. Much has been forgotten of the anguish suffered from the pinching cold, the pangs of semi-starvation and of exhausting labors to procure fuel and food. It is only when a number of "the boys" congregate and hold communion in the spirit of old times that suggestion plays it full part, that an approach in imagination to the reality of those dreadful times can be made. This was one of the darkest periods of the regiment's service-about the holidays-at the close of 1863 and the incoming of 1864. The gloom that hung over the regiment immediately after the battle of Stone's River, where it was almost annihilated, may only be allowed to have been greater than that at the camp at Blain's Cross Roads. But the men bore up better at the latter place. They seemed to be actuated by the motive
" As Christ died to make men holy Let us die to make men free."
This may not have been the sentiment of every private soldier and officer of the Eighty-sixth, but it was what they were virtually offering to do by serving in the army at that time. Many claimed that they only fought to maintain the country's unity and the constitution as it was, but President Lincoln has said, with that prescience for which he was so re- markable: "This country cannot endure part slave and part free." It was for the freedom of the slaves they fought, thus making possible the unity of the country-all free. It is doubtful if such thoughts entered the minds of many of the rank and file of the Eighty-sixth on Christmas morning, 1863, when first aroused from their slumbers. The condi- tions and circumstances of their environment claimed most of their thoughts rather than the wider field relative to the general purposes and causes of the war. That environment was not a joyous one. No glad shouting of merry children, no cheerful greetings and the wishing for each other "A
305
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
Merry Christmas." The spiritual barometer was too low for this. But the stern command of officers broke the slum- bers, for they had slept soundly even if it was Christmas morning. Their commands were: "Prepare to go on out- post, " and, "Prepare to go on the line immediately." This was the Christmas greetings. And in the gray of the cold bleak morning the Eighty-sixth went on the line and gazed upon the rugged heights of House Mountain as the darkness disappeared. The Christmas dinner of 1863, for the most part in the Eighty-sixth, consisted of a small piece of corn bread made of unsifted meal, mixed with water and a very little salt, and baked or fried in the irrepressive army fry- ing-pan, and a small bit of third or fourth grade army bacon. It is hardly necessary to say that it was not a banquet or a feast. Turkey, cranberry-sauce, or scalloped oysters could not be indulged in.
The regiment was relieved about 4 o'clock, by the Nine- teenth Ohio, Colonel Manderson, and at once marched back to camp. But the labors for the day were not ended. The Colonel had determined to move the place of camping and the only suitable place found was almost an impenetrable thicket of brush. It was at no time an inviting place for a camp, but at this time just coming off of picket, the boys re- garded this change as a particular hardship. Camp was finally arranged and tents put up. Tired and worn out with guard vigils and labor, all felt the need of rest and sleep. The meager suppers of corn bread and bacon were soon dis- patched and immediately after tattoo the camp of the Eighty- sixth was silent as a city of the dead. The flicker of the camp-fires alone redeemed it from the gloom of night. But
alas! for weary mortality. Some picket firing occurred and the regiment was ordered into line of battle, and stood there in the cold for two long hours. Tired, sleepy, and half frozen those two hours seemed an eternity. There being no other indications of an attack the men were at length per- mitted to break ranks and lie down. This was Christmas for the Eighty-sixth.
Never will it be forgotten by the members of the Eighty-
306
THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
sixth so long as life and memory shall last. After being permitted to retire to rest the men slept undisturbed for some time when one of the tents of Company H caught fire. This aroused the inmates who at once raised an alarm which awakened others of the company and regiment. The spirit of Christmas, of fun and frolic, took hold of all for a short time, and the camp of the Eighty-sixth became a perfect bed- lam beyond all description. Cat-calls, yells and camp slang made it an uproarious time for the space of fifteen or twenty ininutes when nature again asserted herself and all returned to bed to secure the much needed rest.
The men were again out of rations and drew for bread- stuff on the 26th a miserable lot of flour. It was alive witli worms, and it is quite safe to say that the picking of worms out of that flour was the business of at least one man in each iness of the entire regiment until all were tired. The flour proved to be not only wormy but "sick " and was an abomi- tion to any half civilized stomach. The filthy pools of stag- nant, green-scummed and rank water of Kentucky, in which decaying mules festered and rotted in the sunshine, were not more trying to the stomach than this despicable, maggotty, "sick flour," loaded with other nauseating and poisonous qual- ities, which every soldier well knew were quite .sufficient to make him a fit subject for the hospital.
After foregoing the pleasure of a mail for nearly a month the Eighty-sixth received a large one on the 29th of Decem- ber. Many hearts were made glad by the perusal of missives from the dear ones at home. When it was announced that the mail had arrived the entire regiment took on a new life. How welcome was a letter from home to the soldier, and how sad he felt when those at home neglected to write. The dif-
ferences on the countenances of those who received and those who did not were particularly noted on the arrival of this mail, so long had it been since one had been received. The features of the one lit up with pleasure, as he perused the epistle in his hand-doubtless the letter of some dear wife or mother, or may be sweetheart-and as he read it. a smile of joy illumined his weather-beaten face. This was
30
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
happiness. It was an oasis on the desert of his rough life of danger and suffering. With the other the opposite effect was observed; as soon as the word "none" had passed the lip of the regimental postmaster the look of anxiety faded away, and an appearance of extreme sorrow could be seen plainly stamped on his features, while a feeling of envy at his more fortunate comrades was plainly apparent. This was unhappiness .. The song of hope that had illumined his heart when he inquired if there was any letter for him had died away, and a feeling of loneliness and regret of the neg- lect of those at home took possession of him. Happy were they who had homes and loved ones to hear from!
Next to the scarcity of rations the hardships incident to being poorly clad during the extreme cold weather were most severely felt. It was often so cold that when attempt- ing to write letters or make entries in diaries the ink would freeze on the pens. It would often be necessary to heat the pen and write as rapidly as possible until it cooled off. An- other plan was to sit near the camp-fire, which was usually a veritable log-heap, and roast one's-self while writing, plac- ing the ink bottle in the hot ashes. The men would sit up late at night roasting themselves around the fires-roasting one side while the other was almost frozen. A few brief hours' exposure to cold in civil life is sometimes thought to be quite a hardship, but when it comes to suffering from morning until night, and from night until morning, day in and day out, week in and week out. the suffering is real and almost unendurable, and one returns to the child's philosophy and wonders "where all the cold comes from." Lying down at night somewhat warmed, at least partially thawed out, by the great fires in front of his tent, the soldier would sleep soundly for a time. At length the fire would burn low and the cold would begin to assert. Then he would awaken with benumbed and aching toes, stirring up the fire he would "thaw out " his pedal appendages and return to his couch of leaves, straw or the cold ground, curl up " spoon " fashion with his bunkmate for another brief nap. Thus did the soldiers sleep and rest. This is not the history of sieges or
308
THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,
gory fields of glory, or even important military movements, but it was the actual life of the Eighty-sixth while at Blain's Cross Roads.
General Cox in his history of the Atlanta Campaign, speaking of the incoming year 1864, says: "The new year opened with a furious gale and icy storm, which came as a cyclone from the northwest, reducing the temperature sud- denly below zero. The half-naked soldiers hovered around their camp-fires, some without coats, some without panta- loons, some with tattered blankets tied like petticoats about their waists." This is a fair statement so far as it goes as to the ill condition of the clothing of the troops, but it is in part misleading. The account is only half told. The soldiers could not "hover around the camp-fires " until the camp- fires were built. Wood had to be chopped and carried up, and the chopper and carriers, although half-naked, could not hover about the fire. Provisions had to be secured and the foragers could not "hover about the fire," nor the lone picket far away from the fire on the bare bleak hillside with his faithful Enfield ever in hand-he most of all suffered in this terrific blizzard. The like was never before known in Tennessee. It was indeed a pitiable time for the men in ranks. New Year's day, 1864, is yet known all over the Northwest as "the cold New Years."
As early as December 14, Dr. W. W. Blair, Medical Director of the Third division, Fourth corps, made a per- sonal inspection of the men in this command. He reported to General Wood that he found them exceedingly destitute of clothing. He said that the entire outfit of many soldiers consisted of a blouse, worn as a shirt, a pair of pants well worn, a pair of shoes, and in some instances not even those, an oil or woolen blanket, and a hat or cap. As one of the results of this exposure, he found the men attacked with rheumatism, with diarrhoea, and with fever of a typhoid char- acter. General Wood thereupon addressed a communication to General Granger, commanding the Fourth corps, enclos- ing Surgeon Blair's report, who referred it to the command- ing general of the department with his approval endorsed ..
309
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
General Wood in the course of his communication said: "Itis very evident from Surgeon Blair's report that, if the com- mand be left much longer in its present exposed. unpro- tected, and unprovided condition, the ordinary military com- manders will be relieved soon of further care of very many of the men, as they will have been placed by Generals Rheu- matism, Diarrhoa, Pneumonia, and Typhoid Fever beyond the reach of further human care. The Second and Third divisions have not been supplied with clothing since the march from Middle Tennessee in August last. After fight- ing a great battle, we were hurried off to the relief of the beleaguered garrison at Knoxville. We came cheerfully and with alacrity, not only as a matter of duty, but as a work of love. But the siege having been raised, and it being appar- ent that further active operations in this field for some time to come are impossible. we ask now that immediate and effective measures be taken to supply our wants." General Wood went on to say that the men were not only destitute of clothing, but men and officers were suffering for want of suf- ficient protection in tents. He thought the only effectual remedy was to be permitted to return to Chattanooga where the officers and men had left their baggage and shelter. But the appeals of Generals Wood and Granger were in vain, and the two divisions of the Fourth corps remained in East Tennessee during the entire winter. Deplorable as was the condition of the command in the middle of December it be- came lamentably wretched as the days wore on.
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.