USA > Indiana > The Forty-Fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, history of its services in the war of the rebellion and a personal record of its members > Part 6
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For the part performed by the Forty-fourth on the bloody field of Chickamauga, we subjoin the official report of Lieutenant-Colonel Aldrich, the brave and intrepid officer in command.
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" CAMP OF THE 4TH INDIANA VOLUNTEERS, { CHATTANOOGA, Sept. 27, 1863.
Colonel Dick, comd'g 2d Brig., 3d Div., 21st Army Corps :
In compliance with orders, I herewith submit a report of the part my Regiment took in the series of battles near this point. On the 18th my Regiment and the 59th Ohio were ordered three miles to the left of our camp at Crawfish Springs, to the support of Colonel Wilder. We reached the point and formed line of battle, in the after part of the day, in a wood in front · of an open field. Here our cavalry were driven in a little after dark. I kept my line, expecting to see the enemy's cavalry approach, but not showing themselves, and being left alone (the 59th having fallen back), you ordered me to fall back to a new line that was forming in the field. Here we remained until near daylight the .next morning. . When our division came up, we were, with them, ordered still further to the left in line of battle, when we engaged the enemy, in large foree, my Regiment and the 59th Ohio in front, 86th Indiana and. 13th Ohio in second line. We had a very severe fight, contesting the ground inch by inch. The 59th, on our right, gave way, also the second line behind, leaving us alone to contend with a powerful force of the enemy without any support on our right. In this condition we fought the enemy as best we could for some time, until discovering that the left had also fallen back. I then ordered a slow retreat, fighting our way back to a small hollow, where I rallied my Regiment again, brought it about face and advanced a short distance and poured a destructive fire into the enemy. Again we were driven back to the ravine, again rallied, and again obliged to leave the field. This we did in tolerably good order, joining the remainder of our brigade on the hill in rear of the battle ground. These are the main points of the
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part performed by the Regiment in the engagement on Saturday, the 19th.
Sunday morning, after drawing rations (which part of the Regiment did not have time to do), we were ordered to the front again, to double column on the centre, and proceed by flank and forward movements until we reached a point near where the battle was raging. We advanced along a low piece of ground, making a distance to the left, where we made a short halt, deployed column, and waited the enemy's ap- proach. A regiment engaged in the front fell back suddenly in a shattered condition, and caused a panic with most of our brigade. I succeeded in holding most of my men, and fought the enemy against great odds. At this point my horse was shot. We held them in check some time, but on their breaking around our left, I ordered a retreat, and in good order went in search of our brigade. On our march to the rear, we heard, to our then left, quite heavy firing, and directed our march to that point. Found it to be General Wood's com- mand contesting the holding of a hill, a very important point. We arrived very opportunely, and took position with Colonel Harker's brigade, placing our flag on the brow of the hill. Our men nobly rallied and fought like veterans indeed, and assisted in repulsing the enemy three times and effectually, the enemy abandoning the ground. Here Captain Gunsenhouser and George Wil- son fell. I must say I never saw troops handled better, and fight more desperately, than did Colonel Harker's brigade. We remained here until after dark, some time after the firing ceased, until the army fell back, when we proceeded to the rear, reaching Rossville about ten or eleven o'clock at night, On hearing that General Vancleve was near the forks of the roads, we moved in the morning of the 21st to find him and our brigade. I had found some of the 13th Ohio, of whom I took
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command the night before, and also collected from dif- ferent regiments a considerable number by the time we reached the spring near the Chattanooga road, where we received orders from Captain Otis, General Vancleve's adjutant, to march to town. This we did, being the last of any amount of our brigade to take that place. Soon after reaching town I was ordered by you to take my Regiment and the 13th Ohio and proceed to Missionary Ridge. This I did, and threw up a breastwork to the right of the road across the top of the ridge. I also placed the 13th Ohio in a very commanding position one half mile to the right .. We were supported by Col- onel Harrison's mounted infantry. On the 22d, about 10 o'clock A. M., our videttes exchanged shots with the enemy's advance, who were driven back by Colonel Harrison's men. Between 11 and 12 o'clock the enemy advanced again, drove in the pickets and appeared in force. I reserved my fire until two lines appeared, and, being completely covered, took them by surprise when I ordered my men to rise and fire. The distance being short, and the enemy in fair view, we made terrible havoc among them. They fell back, came up again, and were met again by another volley. At this juncture they sent a force to our left to try to dislodge us, but we met them with such a shower of bullets, they did not succeed. In this way we fought them until Colonel Harrison informed me by one of his aids that they were coming down the Ridge upon our right and left, with the probability of cutting us off. I then ordered a re- treat, and threw out skirmishers in my rear, and fell back in perfect order to the railroad. This ended the most important events. It would take a volume to give full particulars.
I must say for my men and officers that I never saw men fight better or more bravely, or keep together so
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well. Captain Gunsenhouser, Co. F, fell nobly and bravely fighting. No braver man ever fought. His life has been laid on the altar of his country. His example in the Regiment has ever been one worthy of imitation. Adjutant Hodges nobly assisted me in the management of the Regiment. Captain Curtiss deserves especial notice. He fought like a hero. Captains Wilson, Burch, King, Hildebrand, Grund and Getty did nobly. Lieu- tenants of the several companies did exceedingly well, with but few exceptions. The ever faithful Surgeon Rerick followed us from point to point, assisted by Dr. Carr; and I am pleased to say that no regiment has had better care for their wounded than the 44th Indiana, in this army. He succeeded also in getting all of our wounded from the hospital which was captured on Sun- day evening by the enemy. All my men, with very few exceptions, deserve great praise, and earned addi- tional honor and glory. Our casualties are as follows : Killed, 3; wounded, 59; missing, 10. Those missing I think are wounded. Attached you will find a list of killed and wounded, with name, rank, and company, nature of wound, ete. All honor to the noble dead and wounded. I cannot restrain my feelings in view of their sufferings and noble deeds.
I havo the honor to be
Your obedient servant,
S. C. ALDRICH, Lieut .- Col. Commanding."
Colonel Harker, in his official report, made honor- able mention of the Regiment for its gallant aid of his command in the critical moment referred to by Lieu- tenant-Colonel Aldrich. Also did Generals Crittenden, Vancleve, and Wood. We regret that we have not their official reports at hand. General Thomas also compli-
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SIMEON C, ALDRICH, LIEUT. COLONEL.
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mented the Lieutenant-Colonel in person. Van Horne, in his history of the Army of the Cumberland, in de- scribing the battle after the enemy had broken through the Union lines (Vol. I, page 343), says : " For a time after the disaster on the right, there were but few divi- sions in line against the whole rebel army. These divisions were all firm, but the enemy was concentrating on both flanks of the line which lay across the Lafayette and Chattanooga roads. And as soon, under the inspir- ation of partial victory and the hope of complete tri- umph, most vigorous and persistent assaults were made, whose successful resistance under the circumstances makes the closing struggle of this great battle one of the most remarkable which has occurred in modern times-one of the grandest which has ever been made for the existence of army or country. From noon till night the five divisions which had previously constituted ' Thomas's line,' and such other troops as reached him from the right, under orders, or drifted to him after the disaster, and two brigades from the reserve corps, suc- cessfully resisted the whole confederate army. * The 44th Indiana from Dick's brigade, and the 17th Kentucky from Beatty's brigade, of Vancleve's division, were the only regiments that, without orders, diverged from the line of retreat, and reached General Thomas in time to participate in the final conflict."
And again, describing more particularly the struggle on the hill when the Forty-fourth assisted Harker's brigade of Wood's division, Van Horne says (Vol. I, page 352), after referring to the posting of the troops by General Thomas in person : " There was scarcely time
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for the execution of these movements before the left wing of the confederate army fell upon Wood and Brannan. It is impossible to compute with accuracy the number of troops with these Generals. Portions of their respective divisions had been previously severed and lost, and there were troops with them representing at least two divisions. General Beatty, of Negley's division, was acting as a fragmentary force, and a large portion of Stanley's brigade, Colonel Stoughton com- manding, Colonel Stanley having been wounded, the 2 Ist Ohio regiment from Sirwell's brigade, of the same division, and the 17th Kentucky, Colonel Stout, and the 44th Indiana, Lieutenant- Colonel Aldrich, from Vancleve's division. But this isolated line composed of fragments of brigades and regiments, about four thousand men in all, repeatedly repulsed the most furi- ous attacks of Longstreet's massive lines."
The report of Lieutenant-Colonel Aldrich might seem somewhat colored to some, but the above facts obtained by Chaplain Van Horne from official reports of his superior officers, fully vindicate the Colonel's plain statement of the part performed by the Forty- fourth Indiana.
The Forty-fourth had the first fight on Missionary Ridge, and commenced it near the spot where General Bragg, a few days after, established his headquarters, and it fought over the same hill-side that General Wood's column charged up, two months later, in the great battle of Missionary Ridge. Sergeant Gordon, Co. K, who was in the fight, relates that after the Regiment had fallen back to the railroad, volunteer
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skirmishers were called for, and that Nicholas Ensly, Co. K, one of the number who responded, had a single- handed contest with a rebel. After firing four or five rounds at each other, " Nick " wounded his antagonist, drove him front under cover, captured his knapsack, finding it full of fresh meat, and meat only.
The two regiments were sent out to the Ridge only to retard the approach of the enemy at that point, and were not expected to enter into a regular engagement. They executed their orders satisfactorily, and during the night were withdrawn, and went into bivouac in line of battle in a cemetery on the left of a spot where, in a few days afterward, Fort Wood was built. The enemy came over the Ridge, camped along the valley at its base, extending his line from the Tennessee River around to and including Lookout Point.
The new flag was carried through the battle of Chickamauga and the engagement on Mission Ridge by Sergeant Owen Shaw, Co. C. Though slightly wounded several times, he clung to it all through, except for a few moments at one time when it was knocked out of his hands by a ball, which also struck his hand. He gathered it up immediately, and afterward planted it on the hill in front of Colonel Harker's line, in the crisis of the battle at that part of the line. He and three other sergeants, whose names we cannot recall, were subsequently examined and recommended for commis- sions in the colored regiments, for their gallantry in this battle.
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THE SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA.
AFTER a few days in bivouac on the left of Fort Wood, tents were brought, and we went into camp. The location was a splendid one for scenery, and an exciting one for peril. On our left ran the Tennessee, 'and beyond it Waldron's Ridge majestically stood frowning upon Lookout, Missionary Ridge, and all the surrounding country ; in front and east, two miles dis- tant, lay Mission Ridge, extending from the Tennessee southward. General Bragg's headquarters on the Ridge were in full view, and a large part of his army lay in the valley about midway ; on the right extended the Chat- tanooga Valley southward, between Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and further to the west and the rear, as our line ran, towered Lookout Point, overlook- ing the town and the lines of both armies, where the enemy erected a battery and threw shells toward us day after day for a month. Around still further to the rear, a glimpse of Lookout Valley and Raccoon Moun- tains was presented, when the Waldron Ridge, footing up to the Tennessee as it wound around Moccasin Point, closed up the view. The railroad came up from Bridge- port, our base of supplies, through Lookout Valley and
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around Lookout Point. But a few days after the battle of Chickamauga, the enemy took possession of Lookout Mountain, cut off our supplies by rail, and in a few days more sent detachments across Raccoon Mountain and cut off the approach of supplies by boat. Wagon trains were at once started to carry supplies from Bridgeport, twenty-five miles distant-air line-by way of the Sequatchie Valley and across Waldron's Ridge, making a circuitous route of sixty miles. The enemy crossed a large body of cavalry, under Wheeler, and captured and burned one train of three hundred wagons, but were finally repulsed, and this line of communication reopened after a manner, and the Union army thus, in connection with foraging expeditions up the little val- leys on the north side of the river, kept from death by starvation. The road to Bridgeport became so lined with dead mules that died from starvation and exhaus- tion. that it became almost impassable for the stench. In camp the rations were reduced to one-half, one-third and then one-fourth, and some days none were issued at all. Sergeant Gordon, who dealt out the rations to his company, relates that on one occasion when the Regiment had drawn no rations for several days, and the men had become wild with hunger, he drew three and one-half Government crackers and three table- spoonfuls of coffee for his sixteen men. In order to give satisfaction, he broke the crackers up and formed the pieces into sixteen little piles of equal size, and thus distributed them ; then the coffee he divided out by the grain. The boys of the Forty-fourth had gained some reputation, long before this, for skill in maintaining full
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haversacks. Some General, none too dull of imagin- ation, started the story that the men of the Forty-fourth Indiana could pick up a sheep grazing in the fields by the wayside, skin, dress, and divide it up among them without missing step in the march. Whatever their ability to provide for their haversacks, it did not forsake them in this trying emergency. The officers' horses, though, maintained only at the point of starvation, lost their rations of corn. Sacks of corn, black with must and rot, were found and then washed and dried, ground with coffee-mills, and made into bread. It was reported, though no one at the time would acknowledge it, that some of the boys on guard one night where a herd of cattle were crossed over the river for the army, managed to get up a stampede, and two or three of the cattle ran near the line of the Forty-fourth, where their flight was intercepted by the polls of axes in the hands of sturdy men on the lookout. There was no hoof, horn, or blood visible in the proximity of the camp the next morning, but the boys for several days appeared very contented to do without beef rations. Levi Wallack, Co. K, an eccentric and well-known character, was noted for the size of his haversack, it being about three times as large as others' and always well filled. But he was not par- tial, and balanced it by carrying on the other side a triple supply of ammunition, which he dealt out fear- lessly to the enemy whenever opportunity offered. He did not know fear, and as little of discipline, unless he was inclined that way at the time. In the skirmish on Missionary Ridge he fired thirty-one rounds, and at every shot was heard to mutter, " There, dem you, take
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that." One night, while on the picket, he ascertained that there were some cattle within the rebel picket lines. The old haversack was sadly depleted just then, so down he dropped on the ground and stealthily stole his way to the cattle, faced them for the Union lines, and started them on the run. The rebels sent the bullets whizzing after him, but when they ascertained that he had escaped, and come out with fifteen head of cattle, they joined the Union boys in a cheer over the exploit. Wallack was granted the privilege of killing three of the cattle for the benefit of himself and his regiment.
None of these deprivations dampened the ardor of the men. They were heard to remark that they would prefer, after the mules and horses gave out, to go by detail to Bridgeport and carry up supplies on their backs, than abandon the position at Chattanooga. So far as suffering was concerned, there was little choice in the alternatives. These were, to starve until communica- tions could be opened, surrender, or re-cross the Ten- nessee and flee for the Ohio River, three hundred miles distant, on the same roads marched over a year before from Battle Creek, only twenty miles distant. The lines of fortifications very soon became apparently in- pregnable. The enemy's guns on Lookout Point neither intimidated nor did any injury. An assault by the enemy was earnestly desired by the men, and the occa- sional threatenings of such an assault did much to reconcile the men to the situation ; as also did the news from the North of the result of the elections of this month, which were received along the whole line with immense cheering.
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THE SIEGE OF CHATTANOOGA.
General Rosecrans was relieved of the command of the Army of the Cumberland, October 19th, by an order of the President, which established the military division of the Mississippi, General Grant in command and General Thomas in immediate command of the Army of the Cumberland. General Grant, instantly, upon receiving the order, telegraphed Thomas, " Hold Chattanooga at all hazards; I will be there as soon as possible." General Thomas as promptly replied, " We will hold the town until we starve." It was held. General Thomas had movements already in progress for breaking the blockade in the Tennessee River below. General Grant arrived on the 23d, and inspected and sanctioned the movements in hand. Hooker moved up from Bridgeport, where he had been concentrating, and a skillful movement down the Tennessee from Chatta- nooga on the night of the 26th, to Brown's Ferry, opened the river from Bridgeport to that point, only five miles distant. The two little boats in readiness commenced to bring up supplies, the size of the rations began to increase, and very soon the men began to change their speculations upon the possible duration of starvation to conjectures as to the time for advancing upon the enemy.
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In the reorganization of the army after the arrival of General Grant, Lieutenant-Colonel Aldrich was ap- pointed Provost-Marshal of Chattanooga by General Thomas, and the Forty-fourth was assigned to Post duty, with Major Hodges in command. The Regiment broke camp on the front line November 8th, and moved into town, went into camp, and entered upon the dis-
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charge of their new duty. This change deprived the Regiment from participating in the great battles on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, November 23d, 24th, and 25th. The booming cannon, and the rattling musketry on the left, center, and right, were dis- tinctly heard, and the men standing in camp and at post witnessed, as the clouds lifted their vail from the mountain side, the grand battle of Hooker on Lookout Point, saw the rebel flag carried in retreat across the open field, near the white house under the cliff, and the stars and stripes of the Union, moistened by the heaven- kissed clouds, following close after the treacherous ban- ner; and when the darkness of night enveloped the mountain, saw it lighted up from base to cliff by the flashes of musketry. From more elevated points were witnessed the advance of General Wood's division, in the center, and the capture of the first line of rifle-pits at the base of Missionary Ridge, the furious charge of General Sherman on the summits on the left, and the grand charge of General Thomas's corps in the center, up Missionary Ridge, and the capture of General Bragg's headquarters.
The Forty-fourth boys, though they had before thought they had seen enough of battle at Fort Donel- son, Shiloh, Stone River, and Chickamauga, were rein- spired by the magnificent scene, and chafed under their new duties, and especially when they learned that their old brigade was one of the very first to scale the Ridge. Had they been with it, the banner of the Forty-fourth would undoubtedly have been planted once more on or near the very summit where it was two months before waved defiantly in the face of the enemy.
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VETERAN ORGANIZATION.
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CHAPTER XV.
VETERAN ORGANIZATION.
IN December, 1863, the regiments of 1861 were offered extraordinary inducements to re-enlist. Each company and regiment was to be entitled a Veteran Organization, if three-fourths of their number should re-enlist, and the men re-enlisting were to receive four hundred dollars bounty and thirty days furlough. The matter was thoroughly discussed, and early in January, 1864, each company commander reported that the requisite number of men had re-enlisted, and on the 9th of January they were mustered in as veterans, and the Regiment became a veteran organization. The re enlisted men numbered two hundred and twenty. Nearly all the officers promised to remain with their men, but a number were mustered out at the expiration of their original enlistment 'in the ensuing November.
The officers at the time of re-enlistment were :
Lieutenant-Colonel, S. C. Aldrich. Major,.Joseph C. Hodges. Adjutant, Samuel E. Smith. Quartermaster, Samuel P. Bradford.
Surgeon, John H. Rerick. Assistant Surgeon, George W. Carr.
Co. A .- Captain, Joseph W. Burch. First Lieutenant, Lewis W. Griffith. Second Lieutenant, Onius D. Seoville.
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VETERAN ORGANIZATION. 107
Co. B .- Captain, James S. Getty. First Lieutenant, George R. Murray.
Co. C .- Captain, Philip Grund. First Lieutenant, Sedgwick Livingston.
Co. D .- Captain, George W. Schell. . Second Lieutenant, David K. Stopher.
Co. E .- Captain, William Hildebrand. First Lieutenant, Andrew J. Reed.
Co. F .- First Lieutenant, George H. Cosper. Co. G .- Captain, Edwin W. Matthews. First Lieutenant, James C. Biddle. Second Lieutenant, William H. Murray.
Co. H .- Captain, Hiram F. King. First Lieutenant, Daniel P. Strecker.
Co. I .- Captain, James F. Curtiss. First Lieutenant, David S. Belknap. Second Lieutenant, Cullen W. Green. ;
Co. K .- Captain, John H. Wilson. First Lieutenant, Eugene S. Aldrich. Second Lieutenant, Moses B. Willis.
NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF.
Hospital Steward, Charles A. Pardee. Sergeant Major, Willis P. Andrews.
Quartermaster Sergeant, Samuel Havens.
Commissary Sergeant, Bastian Shoup.
Of the commissioned officers, Adjutant Smith, Cap- tains Getty, Schell, Hildebrand, Matthews and Wilson, . First Lieutenants Reed, Biddle, Strecker, Belknap, Ald- rich, and Second Lieutenant McMurray, were mustered out at the expiration of their original enlistment, and did not properly become veterans.
As soon as transportation could be furnished, the veteran portion of the Regiment and the officers started
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VETERAN ORGANIZATION.
for home, reaching Fort Wayne without accident on the last of January. Here, with orders to obtain as many recruits as possible, and to rendezvous at Kendallville March roth, all dispersed for their homes.
They met with a hearty reception from friends and neighbors. "Ah, ha, old worn-out soldier, is it you ?" was realized to be more than a poetic fancy. In a number of places public receptions were given, and the veterans treated with feasting and music.
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