USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 14
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 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
156
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA. 1
CHAPTER XIII.
INDIANA TO THE RESCUE.
THE loss of the battle of Wilson's Creek, so soon after the disaster of Bull Run, and the death of General Lyon, one of the most efficient commanders in the service, were deplo- rable events. The Government was roused to the danger, and, at the same time, to the value of Missouri, and made immediate efforts to increase Fremont's strength. All the Indiana regiments which had not already been sent to the East were, without any delay for preparations, ordered off to the West. Before the middle of September the Twenty- Second, the Twenty-Third, the Eighteenth, the Twenty- Fourth, eight companies of the Twenty-Eighth, the Twenty- Fifth, the Eleventh, the Eighth, and the Twenty-Sixth, with three batteries, the First, Second and Third, had reached the metropolis of Missouri.
The Twenty-Second and the Twenty-Third were the first to arrive. They left Indiana on the same day, August 17, with high hopes of spending Thanksgiving in Memphis and Christmas in New Orleans. They were both unarined, and were the first unarmed regiments which left the State.
The Twenty-Second was particularly happy in its com- manding officer, Colonel Jefferson C. Davis. He had received a thorough military training in active life, and had already won a degree of military distinction. He entered the Mexi- can war when he was little more than a boy, and served through the whole war without the loss of a day. For gallant conduct he was promoted to a lieutenancy in an artillery regi- ment, which, as it happened, was remarkable for its talent. Twenty-one of the officers with whom he was daily associated in this regiment gained, during the rebellion, either a bad or good eminence as Generals in the Confederate or in the
157
TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.
National army. In 1852, and afterwards in 1857, he was engaged in settling Indian difficulties in the South. He was the first commander of the first garrison in Fort Sumter. Here he had charge of the cargo of a slaver which had been captured, and, although several writs of habeas corpus were served against him by the excited and angry people of Charles- ton, he refused to surrender the helpless Africans. The ques- tion was settled by the yellow fever, which set in with violence, and carried off so many of the captives that Lieutenant Davis was allowed, without opposition, to send the poor remainder to Liberia.
During the siege of Sumter, Davis was the only Indianian in the garrison. He was on the ramparts when, in the morn- ing twilight of April 12th, the first shell of the Rebellion ex- ploded over the Fort. He had command of a battery during the bombardment, and silenced, with his well-directed guns, a floating battery of which the Rebels had great expectations. After the surrender he went with Major Anderson to New York, where he received promotion to a Captaincy, accom- panied with orders to repair to Indianapolis as mustering officer for Indiana. He preferred service in the field, and after several months of severe labor in organizing and equipping regiments, he was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty- Second Indiana.
The men were delighted with a commander who was thus identified with the war from the beginning. They liked him none the less for bearing the arch-traitor's name. To fight Jeff. Davis with Jeff. Davis put a little fun into the serious business of war.
The Twenty-Second went into camp in the suburbs of St. Louis, and waited impatiently nearly two weeks for arms. But almost as soon as the anxiously looked-for muskets were put into the hands of the men they were stacked, their worth- lessness was so evident. The locks of some could not be moved, and of others were entirely gone. 'The next supply could be fired, but from their habit of kicking were nearly as danger- ous behind as before. It was not unusual to see a man fall flat when his gun went off. These arms were calculated, accord-
158
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
ing to the wits of the regiment, to favor the movement of rising to fire and falling to reload.
The Eighteenth regiment went through various mutations before it was fairly organized, owing to the fact that its first companies were enlisted for the State service, and for only one year. At one time nothing existed of the regiment but the name. It was, at last, organized hastily to meet the imme- diate demand for troops consequent upon the disaster to our arms at Wilson's Creek. The day after its organization, August 17th, having been partially suppled with camp and garrison equipage, grey uniforms, and old-fashioned muskets, with five Enfield rifles to each company, the regiment started to St. Louis. The men pitched their tents, for the first time, in Lafayette Park. They called their first encampment, in honor of General Fremont's wife, Camp Jessie.
Thomas Pattison, of Aurora, was Colonel of the regiment. He was an Irishman by birth, had served in the British army, and was acquainted with the duties and responsibilities of an officer. This was quite satisfactory to his regiment, as there was then, if not a kind of distrust of American officers, what- ever their talent and patriotism, some slight prejudice in favor of gentlemen of European birth and parentage, war in Europe and peace in America being considered the normal state of affairs.
The Colonel of the Twenty-Fourth regiment, which was the next after the Eighteenth to arrive in St. Louis, was an able and successful lawyer from Mount Vernon, Indiana. He was an ardent Democrat, and stood high in the estimation of his party, the leaders of which, throughout his previous public career, willingly bestowed favors on him. When he was twenty-four years old Governor Whitcomb appointed him First Lieutenant in a company raised to join our army in Mexico. When he was twenty-nine Governor Wright appointed him President Judge of the Fourth Judicial Cir- cuit. The next year, 1852, he was elected and commissioned Judge of the same Circuit. In 1854 Governor Wright ap- pointed him one of the Supreme Judges of the State. Pres- ident Pierce, in 1856, appointed him United States District Attorney for Indiana.
159
FIRST CAVALRY.
James Buchanan removed him from this position for the lack of Lecomptonism, and put in his place Hon. Daniel Voorhees. If proof was needed, the list of appointments is enough, to show that it was not disappointment, but solid principle, which led Judge Hovey to sink the Democrat in the Patriot.
His reputation, his fine soldierly air, and the way he set about his work, introduced him favorably to the Twenty- Fourth. In Camp Knox no muskets were to be had, but as time could not be lost, clubs were substituted. Tramping up and down on guard, with a shouldered shillelah, the new sol- dier looked as formidable, and felt as warlike, as necessary in a peaceful community ; but they were quite willing, before leaving for St. Louis, to relinquish their clubs for smooth- bore muskets.
The Twenty-Eighth Indiana regiment, as has been men- tioned, was a cavalry regiment. Its origin is not without interest.
Conrad Baker, of Evansville, was in Indianapolis in June, 1861, when he was approached by Governor Morton with the proposition to raise and take charge of a cavalry regiment. Mr. Baker had been an active Republican since the organi- zation of the party. He was a warm supporter of Fremont in the canvass of 1856, and was a thorough-going Lincoln man in 1860.
He looked with horror and dismay upon the proceedings of the South, and often, while in his office, quietly unraveling the intricacies of a law-suit, or in the court room pleading the cause of a client, he felt a pang of self-reproach that his in- dividual life was secure and peaceful in the midst of impend- ing national ruin. It sometimes seemed that a voice outside of himself put the reproach into form, with the question: "Is there nothing you can do?" But he had no knowledge of military affairs, and was no more of a horseman than might be expected of a sober, middle-aged gentleman, an industrious lawyer, and an elder in the Presbyterian church.
The subject was serious enough, yet he could not help laughing at Governor Morton's proposition. The Governor answered his objections, and surprise by asking him to
160
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
name a sufficient number of men with military education to officer the regiments required from the State. The list was painfully small. In the extremity but one test could be ap- plied-the energy with which men pursued and the ability with which they controlled their private business.
Mr. Baker could not but admit the justice of the criterion. He acknowledged himself devoted to his country. It is scarcely probable, too, that he did not feel conscious of that veracity which, when united to good sense, above anything else, fits a man for a place of command, because, above any- thing else, it wins the faith of subordinates. Such a man nced not reflect long. The struggle preparatory to the great step had already, although unconsciously, taken place.
HIe went home to form a regiment on the the terms pro- posed by Governor Morton. The men were to provide their own horses and arms, keep themselves ready for active service, and receive pay during the time they were in active service. They were not to leave the State, and were to guard the river from Dearborn county to Posey.
Mr. Baker found it impossible to organize a regiment on these terms, and he offered his resignation, but withdrew it before it received consideration, as, meantime, a call for cav- alry regiments for the United States service was made by the War Department. He recruited only in the river counties, and united in himself, while organizing, and for some time after the organization of the regiment, the offices of Colonel, Quartermaster and Adjutant. He so managed money affairs that until the 23d of August his expenses were but five thousand eight hundred dollars, little more than half as much as the expenses of any other cavalry regiment in the same length of time.
The regiment consisted of fourteen companies, six of which were recruited in Madison, under Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Carter, and were early ordered to join the army of the Poto- mac. When the eight companies, which were organized by Colonel Baker in Evansville, were ordered, in accordance with a request of General Fremont for six thousand cavalry, to join the army of the Mississippi, they had no uniforms, nor
161
TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT.
saddles, nor bridles, nor carbines, nor sabres. Colonel Baker, however, obeyed without hesitation.
He arrived in St. Louis August 23d, and was met by all the loyal people of the city, who turned out with acclama- tions to receive the Indiana cavalry. Fortunately for the dignity of our State, night threw her friendly mantle over the unsoldierly appearing troops. The clatter of the horses' hoofs, the cheers of the horsemen, suggested to the excited imagina- tions of the welcoming crowd a train of splendidly equipped cavaliers.
Governor Morton succeeded in getting clothing to Colonel Baker by the 10th of September, and two days later sabres and other equipments sufficient for one battalion. But the carbines, though of two kinds, were wretched. No holsters could be found. Cases for pistols were indispensable, but Colonel Baker found, after making every effort to procure them, that there were absolutely none in St. Louis. Driven to the exercise of his ingenuity he went to several saddlers, and directed the preparation of leather straps with eyelet holes, through which strings could be laced. These straps, fastened to the saddles, served a long time for holsters.
The Twenty-Fifth was made up of men. Here and there a hoy of eighteen had found his way into the ranks, but nearly all the thousand and forty-six soldiers of the Twenty-Fifth were hardy and experienced, of mature years, and having families and farms; and the youngest were ready to prove, and did afterwards prove, on march and in battle, their equal claims to manhood. Colonel Veatch was a prominent lawyer in Spencer county, and also a man of experience and activity.
There was heavy grief in many a farm-house near New- burg and Medora, and the many small towns which are little more than post offices in the southern part of the State, when the regiment in Evansville drew its members into camp; and heavier grief still when, on the 26th of August, the regiment departe l to St. Louis. Not only families and social-circles, but the public, the schools, the Sunday schools, lost their most useful and beloved members. The poor children of the Mis- sion Sunday School in Evansville, gave up their superinten-
162
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
dent with the touching sorrow of childhood, to which parting seems death.
The Twenty-Fifth went into camp beside the Twenty- Second, south of the Fair Grounds of St. Louis.
The Twenty-Sixth regiment reached St. Louis the 7th of September. Its Colonel was William M. Wheatley, who left a lucrative business and a happy family circle to serve his country in the army. The regiment was of the best material, and principally from the farms near Indianapolis.
"In the three months' service the Eighth, both officers and men, acquired an enviable distinction during the campaign in Western Virginia, especially in the fight at Rich Mountain, and this prestige seemed to be singularly well sustained in recruiting the regiment for the present service. Retaining the same regimental organization entire, and, with few exceptions, the same company officers, its ranks were completely filled in the brief period of about thirty-three days, and much sooner than any of the six three-months' regiments, excepting the Eleventlı. This was accomplished, too without sending out recruiting officers in advance of the expiration of the former term of service; without the display of 'fuss and feathers' by its officers, or the aid of outside influences, except as they were freely tendered in evidence of the confidence reposed in those who were to be in command of the men thus enlisted. It was also significant that the regiment retained so large a number of those who were in its ranks in the three-months' service. These facts of record tell their own tale."*
The Eighth left Indianapolis the 10th of September, clothed in the new pale blue uniform.
The Indiana troops in St. Louis were the subject of con- siderable attention. Before their arrival it had been prognos- tieated that they would not only be unruly in their camps, , but would create disturbance throughout the city. It is found, however, by reference to the St. Louis journals of that date that the contrary was the case. The St. Louis Democrat says: "The excellent order which has prevailed among the Ohio and Indiana troops since their encampment, both at the
# Letter by Rev. A. W. Sanford, in Indianapolis Journal, of December 11, 1861.
163
OPINIONS OF STRANGERS.
fair grounds and at Lafayette Park, is well worthy of men- tion. In all the regiments we have not heard of a single case of disturbance or disorderly conduct among the soldiers, or improper action towards civilians. This is owing both to the general manly disposition of the men, and to strict mili- tary discipline."
And again, in an account of a visit to Camp LaFayette: " Approaching the grounds we met the Indiana Twenty- Fourth regiment, numbering one thousand and forty-six men, led by Colonel Hovey, and just leaving the Park to encamp at Carondolet, where water is more abundant, and where there is room for regimental drills. A large proportion of the soldiers are very young men, who have full chests and full cheeks, and joy and youth and strength in them. They are not outcasts, enlisting for money. The officers are young, bright-faced fellows, and look fit to lead men who have health and soul in them."
Again: "If an Indiana boy catches your eye he says, ' How do you do, sir?' very politely, and this gives you a good opin- ion of the whole regiment." *
* An employee at the Union Depot, Indianapolis, says he always recognizes an Indianian in the crowds which hourly come and go, by this friendly custom.
164
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
CHAPTER XIV.
MOVING FORWARD.
General Fremont endeavored to have the new soldiers in St. Louis drilled and fitted for service without waiting for the arrival of arms, and, that their time and strength might be reserved for the one purpose of acquiring military discipline, he had all digging, chopping and labor of every kind per- formed by hired hands. Barracks and encampments were made as comfortable as the means allowed, and all unncces- sary expense was avoided. No care, however, could keep out contagious diseases, and nearly every soldier in St. Louis had the measles. This disease seemed to be a degree in the ser- vice following closely the mustering in.
The General Commanding was indefatigable in his own exertions, rising with the first streak of dawn, and accom- plishing hours of labor before the most of the world had left the breakfast table. He began to build gunboats and floating batteries to fortify the city in order to make it a base of opera- tions; to fortify also Ironton, Rolla and Jefferson City, and to provide each with a garrison. His preparations, though rapidly made, were on a gigantic scale, and the plan of his campaign was equal in grandeur. As soon as his army was equipped, he expected to sweep over the State, drive out or capture all rebel forces, and, after establishing peace in the rear, to move down to New Orleans, reaching the great South- ern city early in the spring of Sixty-two.
General Fremont began to send reinforcements to the out- posts shortly after the arrival of the new troops in St. Louis, August 27. Colonel Davis was ordered to relieve General Grant of the command of all the forces between the Osage and Missouri rivers. The next day Colonel Davis removed his regiment, the Twenty-Second, and, with it, the Eighteenth,
165
IN THE NICK OF TIME.
from St. Louis to Jefferson City, the principal point in his district. He began at once to fortify the place, and to dis- pose his forces-about fifteen thousand in number-for its defence. The Twenty-Second and Eighteenth went into camp on the river bank, above the city, and zealously im- proved the opportunity for instruction in drill and discipline. Here the first picket duty in these two regiments was per- formed.
About the 10th of September, a rumor having been re- ceived that Booneville had been captured by a small force of Rebels, the Eighteenth, with a portion of the Twenty-Second, leaving their baggage and their sick, which were already be- coming numerous, went by the Pacific railroad to Tipton, and reached it a short time before dark. Great haste being thought necessary, in order, if possible, to surprise the Rebels at Booneville, this force started at night on the first march. Soon after dark a heavy rain began, which lasted the entire night, making the road, which was bad enough at any time, almost impassable for new soldiers. At one o'clock they were glad to lie down in a wayside meadow, to sleep, unconscious of the drenching rain.
Many never recovered from the effects of this march, and it was long remembered and talked about by the men, who were then just beginning to learn what a sacrifice they had undertaken for their country.
On moving to Booneville the next day, they found that the Rebels had been driven off by the home-guard, which had fortified a hill in the fair ground, near the river, and had held it against all attacks of the enemy. The hill was now occu- pied by the Sixth Iowa, which had arrived by the steamer Iatan, and here the Eighteenth and Twenty-Second also bivouacked after their tiresome march.
General Fremont ordered Colonel Baker to send a battalion: to Ironton on the very day the Colonel finished his pistol- holders, and fastened them to the saddles of his first battalion .. Not an hour's delay was necessary. Colonel Baker was also ready when he was directed to be off to the same point with the remainder of his men. Their equipments, however, were.
12
166
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
something in the style of their holsters, and it was two years before they received good arms.
The Eighth Indiana was ordered to Jefferson City the 14th of September, only a day or two after its arrival in St. Louis. It was followed on the next day by the Twenty-Sixth.
August 31, General Fremont issued the following General Order:
" HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
ST. LOUIS, August 31.
" Circumstances in my judgment of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the Commanding General of this Department should assume the administrative power of the State. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders who infest nearly every county in the State, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally demand the severest meas- ures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State. In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms re- quire unity of purpose, without let or hindrance to the prompt administration of affairs.
" In order, therefore, to suppress disorders, to maintain, as far as now practicable, the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the State of Missouri. The lines of the army of occupation in this State are, for the present, declared to extend from Leavenworth, by way of the posts of Jefferson
City, Rolla and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau on the Missis- sippi river. All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands, within these lines, shall be tried by court-martial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the
167
MORE HASTE THAN SPEED.
field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they have, arc hereby declared free men.
" All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges or tele- graphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.
" All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of the United States, in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own inter- est warned that they are exposing themselves.
" All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are required to return to their homes forthwith; any such ab- sence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.
" The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the con- ditions of war demand. But it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country, where the law will be administered by the civil officers in the usual manner, and with their customary authority, while the same can be peace- ably exercised.
"The Commanding General will labor vigilantly for the public welfare, and, in his efforts for their safety, hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support of the people of the country.
"J. C. FREMONT, " Major General Commanding."
In this Order General Fremont violated an act of Congress, which limited the penalty of confiscation to property actually employed in the rebellion, with the knowledge and consent of its owners, and which, instead of emancipating slaves thus employed, left their status to be determined either by the courts of the United States or by subsequent legislation. He was probably led to the transgression by his disgust with the cow- ardice and treachery of Missouri slaveholders, and his con- viction that they would not and could not be conquered while the Government protected the dearest of all their possessions;
168
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
by his fear of the slowness of the President, who had not yet set down the foot which, when once planted, was to be im- movable, and by his confidence in the tacit approval with which his assertion " I will hazard everything for the defense of the Department and I trust to you for support," was received.
The order enraged the Rebels of Missouri. General Thompson immediately issued a proclamation, in which he solemnly asserted that for every Southern soldier or citizen executed, he would "hang, draw and quarter a minion of Lincoln;" that he would "exceed the excesses of Fremont, and retaliate tenfold, so help him God!" He and other Rebel leaders, without publicly proclaiming it, encouraged the opinion that Missouri ought not to have either railroad or telegraphic communication with the Free States. Railroad tracks were, in consequence, frequently torn up. The 4th of September a band of Rebel soldiers saturated with turpentine the planks of a bridge over the Platte river, ten miles from St. Joseph, and at night set it on fire. In an hour or two its destruction was complete. The night was pitch dark. At midnight a train containing nearly a hundred passengers plunged twenty feet into the river. Such atrocities will men commit when they are under the restraint of neither law nor decency.
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.