USA > Indiana > The Forty-third Regiment of Indiana Volunteers : an historic sketch of its career and services > Part 2
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
-
17
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
expedition." Fabulous stories were told of the immense de- posits of cotton at Shreveport and at other points along the Red River. That the amount of this then precious material, may have been exaggerated is not to be questioned. The Navy department also played its part, in this so called Red River expedition. Captain James Porter Foster, an old Indiana boy, born and raised in Bloomington, from which town he was appointed a cadet at the Naval Academy, at Annapolis, was in command of the squadron on Red River, co-operating with Banks Army. There is an incident in connection with Banks and Foster which shows, in a marked degree, some of the salient characteristics of Captain Foster. It is said that General Banks sent some sort of an order, the particulars of which have not been made public, in regard to the movement of his squadron. Foster did not recognize that Banks; an army officer, had any jurisdiction over him, and that he must receive his orders direct through the Naval authorities. In response to one of Banks orders it is said that Foster sent him a reply much more graphic than courteous, or Christian in its language. The reply was in the language following :-
Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, Commanding at New Orleans: Dear Sir :-
I have your recent order, and in reply I beg leave to in- form you that while you may consider yourself God Almighty at New Orleans, I claim to be Jesus Christ on Red River.
James P. Foster, Commanding Squadron.
Of all the military fiascos of the War the campaign, known as the Banks Expedition, was the most stupendous. Bad generalship marked the course of General Banks, from the time he left New Orleans until his return to that city. There were two wings of this expedition, or rather two columns each having Shreveport for its objective point. The so-called Arkansas wing left Little Rock, Arkansas,
18
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
on the 1st day of March, 1864. It embraced the body of General Steele's Army quartered at Little Rock, the 43d regiment being part of this column. The army marched in a southern direction until it reached Camden. There it halted for several days On the march to Camden there were several engagements, the first one being known as the battle of Prairie De Ann.
The loss in each of these engagements was trifling upon botlı sides.
The most important battle fought on the march was the battle of "Elkin's Ford." The Rebellion Record, edited by Frank Moore, author of "Diary of the American Revolution" and which record has the endorsement of the War depart- ment, gives the following account of the battle of Elkin's Ford.
See Rebellion Record, Volume XI., Page 450.
"The battle of Elkin's Ford, on the Little Missouri River", took place on the third and fourth days of April. On the Union side all of the Second Brigade, Third division (General Salomon's), except the Seventy-seventh Ohio and two companies First Iowa cavalry, were engaged. On that of the Rebels, two brigades of Marmaduke's division. On the afternoon of the 2nd instant, General Steele ordered General Salomon to take and hold this ford. Thereupon General Salomon dispatched the forces referred to under the command of Colonel William E. McLean, of the 43d Indiana Infantry. Colonel McLean made a forced marchi, arriving at the river after dark, seizing the ford, and crossed his command. A squadron of cavalry was sent for- ward as advance pickets, while the 36th Iowa Infantry, Colonel C. W. Kettridge commanding; 43d Indiana In- fantry, Major W. W. Norris commanding; and battery E.
.
19
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
Second Missouri light artillery, Lieutenant Peetz command- ing, encamped near the bank of the river.
In his report of the affair, Colonel McLean says :-
"The day after my arrival, occasional firing along our picket lines, and skirmishing in front, convinced me that the enemy were on the alert, either for the purpose of watching the movements of the army, of which my brigade constituted the advance, or, if possible, by a direct attack upon me in overpowering numbers, to cut me off before reinforcements could be obtained from across the river. Early on the morning of the third instant, I ordered Major Norris, of the 43d Indiana, to proceed with four companies of that regiment to the front, to reconnoitre the position of the enemy, deploy the men as skirmishers, and support the cavalry pickets. He soon succeeded in discovering the po- sition of the advance pickets and skirmishers of the enemy, drove them back for some distance, pressing them so closely that the retreat of a number of them being cut off, sixteen came into our line and surrendered.
"On the same evening, being satisfied that the enemy were in our front in force, and designed attacking us during the night or early next morning, I ordered Lieutenant Colonel Drake, 36th Iowa, to proceed with three companies rom that regiment, and three companies from the 43d Indiana, to a position on the main road leading from the ford imme- diately in our front, to deploy his men on the right a d left of the road, to watch the movements of the enemy, and to resist their approach as long as was prudent, and retire to the reserves when they approached in force. One section of artillery, under Lieutenant Peetz, was planted so as to fully command the road and the leading approach on our ght and left.
20
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
At six o'clock on the morning of the 4th the enemy approached in force, and commenced an attack on the ad- vance companies of Lieutenant Colonel Drake, who resisted them gallantly for nearly two hours, being well supported by the artillery of Lieutenant Peetz. Too much praise cannot be awarded Colonel Drake for the very distinguished gallantry and determined courage he exhibited during this contest.
The capture by his forces early in the morning of a Rebel lieutenant-an aid-de-camp of General Marmaduke-con- firmed me in the belief that the General was near in person, with a large portion of his division. After a very lively skirmish of near two hours, the enemy having discovered the position of our battery, and replying to it vigorously with four pieces of artillery, our pickets and advanced skir- mishers were driven back on the left upon their infantry reserves, while upon the right they maintained their po- sition.
"The enemy (since ascertained to be General Cabell's bri- gade, sixteen hundred strong), charged with a yell upon our left, for the purpose of flanking us and capturing our battery.
"Their approach from the cover of the timber was met gallantly by two or three well directed volleys from the 36th Iowa. Immediately after the charge and repulse of the enemy, the reinforcements sent for by me arrived, consist- ing of the 29th Iowa infantry and 9th Wisconsin infantry, of Brigadier General Rice's brigade. But before they were put in position by him the enemy withdrew; not however, until a grape-shot from the battery had inflicted a slight wound upon the General's head, from the effect of which, I am gratified to say, he recovered.
In looking upon the results of this engagement and the great disparity of numbers of forces engaged, I cannot but
21
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
regard this encounter as one reflecting the highest praise upon the coolness and unflinching courage of the men of my command, all of whom acquitted themselves well.
"The entire list of casualities (most of which are slight wounds), will not exceed forty-one, while the new made graves of eighteen of the enemy are in sight of our present encampment, and they confess to a loss of more than fifty wounded."
Signed, WM. E. MCLEAN, Colonel commanding 1st Brigade.
The battle of Elkin's Ford opened the way for the march of Steele's army (which had been reinforced the day pre- vious by a column under the command of General Thayer, ) to Camden, where a halt for some days was made, more especially to procure supplies. Pine Bluff, in Arkansas, was the point from which these supplies were to be had. This place was garrisoned at the time by a force of some 2,500 or 3,000 under the command of General Clayton, a distinguished officer, who, after the War, became Governor of Arkansas, and subsequently United States Senator from that State. At the beginning of Mr. Mckinley's adminis- tration General Clayton was appointed American Ambassa- dor to Mexico, which position he now fills, with distin- guished ability.
About ten days after the arrival of Steele's army at Cam- den a wagon train, of more than 400 wagons, was dis- patched to Pine Bluff for supplies. The train was guarded by a brigade, consisting of the 43d Indiana. Major W. W. Norris commanding; the 36th Iowa and the 77th Ohio; accompanying the train was also one company of cavalry; the whole command starting under the immediate command of Lieutenant Colonel Drake of the 36th Iowa Infantry. A
22
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
long wagon train, of nearly 500 wagons, necessarily stretched over practically two miles of road. At the time of the departure of the train it was not supposed that the enemy was in force anywhere between Camden and Pine Bluff. While it was assumed that the train might be at- tacked by a small band, or bands, of Guerrillas while enroute to Pine Bluff, no one anticipated any engagement of a seri- ous character. Colonel Drake was a good officer. He had acquitted himself admirably in the previous engagement of Elkin's Ford, and stood well as an officer among the men of the entire brigade. Colonel Drake's explicit orders were not to go into camp until within a reasonable distance of Pine Bluff, where, in the event of an attack, he could rely upon the forces of General Clayton, at Pine Bluff. For some reason, satisfactory to himself, but never explained to the satisfaction of his brigade commander, Colonel Drake went into camp two or three hours earlier in the evening than was apparently necessary and while not within a dis- tance from Pine Bluff where he could command assistance of General Clayton. Early in the morning of the day fol- lowing the train was attacked in force by the Confederate forces under the command of Generals Shelby and Fagan, the supposed number about 5,000. It was the first day in the history of the 43d regiment that it tasted the bitter pill of defeat and disaster. The attack was a rout, as might have been expected, the brigade, encumbered by a train of two miles in length, scattered as the men were along the whole line of more than two miles, were in no condition to meet a force of even equal numbers, while the attacking army numbered fully three to one. Colonel Drake received a slight wound, was captured by the Confederates, but was paroled on account of his wound. 211 of the 43d regiment, officers and men, its stay and its bulwark, fell into the hands of the enemy, and were taken as prisoners to Camp
23
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
Tyler, Texas. Captain Joseph Lane, of Company F., was killed in this engagement. This disaster to the brigade known as the "McLean Brigade", was the first intimation which General Steele had that his position at Camden was a perilous one, that the great body of the army of the Con- federates of the South-west was confronting him, and a forced retreat back to Little Rock was the only alternative. That this disaster to the immense wagon train should have been the first intimation to General Steele of the perils in which his army stood showed an inefficiency upon General Steele's part which has never been explained. He ought to have known, before the wagon train left Camden, that the enemy was in force within a day's march of his position. The capture of the train is known as the battle of "Marks Mill,'' Arkansas, and it practically annihilated for service the forces guarding this cumbersome train. It is worthy of record that among the train enroute to Pine Bluff was a paymaster of our army, with $175,000 of green-backs, to pay off the troops of Clayton's command at Pine Bluff. The paymas- ter, his ambulance, and his money, all fell into the hands of the enemy. It is said that the money thus captured was employed by the Confederate authorities in an unsuccessful attempt by them to release the Confederate prisoners con- fined at Chicago. This effort upon part of the Confederates subsequently became a subject of Court martial investigation, and several parties were convicted for complicity in this affair.
While there was no communication. at that ugly period, between central Arkansas and New Orleans, or Red River, than between the North and South Pole, still we undertake to say, that efficient generalship ought to have detected the march of a large army through that sparsely settled region south of Camden. The facts were that General Banks had been defeated by Kirby Smith and Dick Taylor's Confeder-
24
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
ate forces in the various engagements which Banks had fought and he had effected an ignominious retreat back to New Orleans. Smith's victorious infantry, fresh from their victories upon Red River, hurried, in hot haste, to crush Steele before his army could regain the line of the Arkansas River, at Little Rock. Banks was a political general; was made a general on account of his political status and influence. It is a sad fact that nearly all the political officers, appointed on account of their supposed party influence, were lamentable failures as officers in the field. Politics and generalship never went hand in hand during the War of the Rebellion, at least, on the Union side. The political generals who came out of the War with probably the best records, were General John A. Logan, and General Francis P. Blair, of Missouri. Of them it may be said that the soldier element was born in them and be- came part of their blood and bone.
The battle at Marks Mill, disastrous as it was to that part of Steele's army known as the "McLean Brigade," upon the other hand, strange as it may appear, was a sad blunder from a Confederate point of view, and in war a blunder is worse than a crime. Shelby and Fagan, in at- tacking this wagon train, did so in positive violation of their orders. That fact has been since fully ascertained. Their orders were to get between Camden and Little Rock, and cut off Steele's retreat from Camden, by felling trees and other impediments. Had these orders been strictly obeyed, Steele's army would have been captured or practi- cally annihilated. As it was, Steele, upon hearing of the disaster at Marks Mill, proceeded to get out of Camden, on his way back to Little Rock, upon the shortest order. The whole march from Camden to Little Rock, upon the retreat, was the ugliest incident, for the Union cause, in the liis- tory of the Trans- Mississippi department. At the crossing
25
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
of the Saline River, at Jenkins Ferry, Steele encountered the whole Confederate forces of Price, Holmes, Walker, Fagan, and Shelby, and a part of Marmaduke's cavalry. It may be said that the rains of Heaven, which fell during the night and morning of the battle at Jenkins Ferry, over- flowing the bottoms of the Saline River, rendering it im- possible for the Confederates to flank Steele, was the con- tributing factor of his escape. The night preceding the "Battle Royal"' was a fearful one. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled and rumbled, rain poured down in torrents, and the river bottom became a sea of mud. The battle was a fearful and obstinate contest. Ankle deep in mud and mire, the contesting forces stood for more than six hours, shooting each other down in their tracks and filling the morass with the dead and dying. Never was an army in greater peril. Never was an army saved by more heroic endurance and determined bravery. No one who was pre- sent on that fearful day, is likely ever to forget Jenkins Ferry. At Jenkins Ferry some 900 wagons, belonging to the Union Army, were destroyed by cutting the spokes, so 1 that they would be useless when they fell into the hands of the enemy. This was done by order of Colonel William E. McLean, under the special sanction of General Samuel A. Rice, to whom Steele and his staff had entrusted the com- mand of the army, in the battle then raging, Steele and his staff having themselves crossed the river, from which point they witnessed the bloody conflict being enacted upon the other side. Probably the most lamentable thing in connec- tion with the battle of Jenkins Ferry, was the fact that General Rice, who was in immediate command of the Union forces, and who had shown himself by far the ablest officer in Steele's army, the man of the coolest judgement, the inost acute military penetration, a man who can today be written down as the savior of that most discomfited army,
26
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
received a wound in the foot, during the engagement, which, about six weeks later, resulted in his death. His death was a national calamity. On that muddy, bloody field he dominated the battle; he was the central figure, the chief spirit, his inspiring example and unflinching bravery will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Captain Marmaduke H. Darnal of Company B, was also wounded in this engagement, and died upon the field, April 30th, 1864. Captain Warren Harper lost an arm, at the elbow joint, in the same engagement. It was at the battle of Jenkins Ferry that there was witnessed by the writer of this, for the first time, a display of courage by the colored troops. The Arkansas colored regiment, composed wholly of re- cently liberated slaves, taken from the cotton and corn fields of that state, acquitted themselves splendidly in that action. It used to be an old "gag" in negro minstrelsy, "that the colored troops fought bravely". They did do noble service, upon this field, charging upon the enemy with a whoop and yell. Their charge will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it, astonishing everyone as it did by the cool courage which they exhibited. Here comes your "Iron Clads", they shouted. If any of them showed any indication of the white feather, no one remarked it. It was probably the last charge made by our troops in that bloody morass of the Saline bottom. While our forces suf- fered much and our casualties were great, truthful history must record that the Confederates suffered much larger in killed and wounded. While I have never seen any estimate of their loss, there were evidences clear and unmistakable that it was very heavy. After the charge of the colored troops the firing lessened greatly from both sides, indicating clearly to the writer that our friends, the enemy, had got about all they wanted. The great body of our troops had crossed the river upon the pontoon bridge with the few
27
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS
wagons and teams which were recognized as necessary to be crossed, consisting principally of ambulances and medi- cal stores. Not for one moment did the down pore from heaven cease. To us that down pore was a God send; it saved the remnant of that routed, demoralized army, for the retreat had degenerated into a rout. While the writer was in Washington, he had the honor of an introduction to General Walker, who commanded the Confederate cavalry in this engagement. . Of course the battle was the principal subject of conversation. Walker said that he realized fully that the Federal forces were demoralized and regarded themselves as routed; he said that he had about 1,700 mounted men used to the country; although the Saline was raging within its banks, overflowing for fully a quarter of a mile on the south side, Walker favored a pursuit with his cavalry; he believed that his men and horses could swim across without great loss, but he claimed to the writer that Generals Kirby Smith, Price and Holmes opposed the pur- suit, not regarding it as practical and most likely to result in the drowning of many men and horses. Had the crossing been made with any sort of success it must have resulted in the capture of the poor, demoralized remnant of Steele's in- fantry. Our cavalry might have escaped. From the moment of our crossing until we arrived at Little Rock, the retreat presented no evidence of order, the troops not marching by companies or in their proper organizations, but every man was apparently animated by the sole purpose to save him- self. The writer has often said that no man can have a real genuine, first-class taste of war, who has not experi- enced some of the horrors of a retreating army. It is an experience calculated to rob life of its charms and death of its terrors; the men hungry, gloomy, sullen, and desperate. President Roosevelt has said much about a strenuous life. If he ever was with a retreating army he would get all the
28
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
strenuous life he would want. Great in action as Napoleon was, some of his more recent biographers insist that even he failed in the proper conduct of a retreating army. His retreat from Moscow sounded his death knell. The retreat from Camden back to Little Rock was neither heroic nor spectacular-everybody was simply "in a hurry". The Banks expedition has passed into history and is hardly known to-day as an incident of the war, by the present generation, but it is an interesting, if not very pleasing fact, that the loss, to the Union army, in killed, wounded, and missing, was more than five times as great as our entire loss in our recent Spanish War. To the Confederates also the expedition was very disastrous, for after Jenkins Ferry, the crippled and exhausted army of Kirby Smith returned, broken and dispirited, to its former lines. It was warfare in its ugliest form, barren of result.
General Steele has long gone to his great reward, but his campaign, from Little Rock to Camden, and his retreat from Camden to Little Rock added no laurels to his crown. He wasa class-mate of Grant and Sherman at West Point, and had won their confidence at Vicksburg. He played a better part afterward, in other operations, in Alabama and Mississippi, retrieving to a great extent, his lost prestige in Arkansas. Steele was a West Point graduate and an officer of the regular army when the war broke out, devoted to his profession, of engaging personality, an officer whose courage was never questioned, but whose judgment in re- gard to men was very faulty. His chief of staff, Colonel F. H. Manter of Missouri whose tragic fate, subsequently after the return of the army from Caniden, produced a very unpleasant impression, both among the soldiery of Steele's army and the citizenship of Little Rock. General Steele had given a dinner at his headquarters at Little Rock, in honor of General Dan Sickles, who had been sent by the
29
INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
war department to investigate the condition of affairs of the army of the Trans-Mississippi department. It is said that champaigne and other liquids flowed freely upon that festive occasion regardless of the fact that it was the Sabbath. In the afternoon, probably a half or three quarters of an hour after dinner, Colonel Manter ordered his horse and orderly, proposing a ride to the home of a prominent citizen of Little Rock. He prided himself upon being the finest horseman in Steele's army; six feet high in his stockings, with an Apollo figure, which he was very fond of display- ing; the day being beautiful and the streets crowded, a fine opportunity for display was presented. It so happened that a cow was lying upon the street, there being no city ordi- nance prohibiting either cow or hogs from running at large in that city. In a moment of unaccountable folly, Colonel Manter attempted the foolish feat of making his splendid charger jump the cow. Putting his spurs into the horse the animal started the leap at once but the cow sprang up so suddenly that Colonel Manter was thrown violently upon the ground, falling upon his head, and breaking his neck. Within twenty minutes of the time lie left Steele's head- quarters, his dead body was brought back upon an impro- vised stretcher. The incident, as may be expected, shocked the gay party of which lie had been a member, more than can be described and created a sensation when the tragedy became known. Colonel Manter may be said to have been the victim of an over-weaning vanity, but it is not the first case of its kind upon the record of poor weak humanity. Thus died, from an act of folly, the man whom rumor said, was the controlling spirit of the commanding general, his mouth-piece and most confidential adviser. Had he died upon the bloody field of Jenkins Ferry, with his face to the foe, his fate would have been a brighter one.
As for General Banks, it need only be said that his expe-
30
FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT
dition will stand out, in military annals, as the most expen- sive, extravagant, and inexcusable folly of the whole war. Steele was absent from Little Rock just 60 days with his wing of the army. Out of 76 pieces of artillery he got back with less than a half dozen. A brief summary of his losses can be set down as follows: 5,000 men lost in killed, wounded, and captured. The most disastrous loss being that of the "McLean Brigade," which, upon the return to Little Rock, numbered less than 300 effective men. Steele lost fully 2,000 wagons, and more than 5,000 mules and horses. Hon. John P. Usher, who was a member, at the time, of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet, told the writer that this ex- pedition was discussed pretty fully at a Cabinet meeting, and was recognized by the members of the Cabinet, as one of the most unfortunate failures of the war, but the stupen- dous operations of the armies of the Potomac, the Cumber- land, and the Tennessee, so engrossed the public attention, at the time, that the magnitude of this disaster did not re- ceive that degree of attention which it would otherwise have arrested. Although General Banks succeeded in writing himself down as certainly the most unfortunate, if not the most worthless general which Mr. Lincoln had created, he continued, after the war, to be a central figure in politics, and was in Congress from his old Massachusetts district until very near his death.
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.