USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 20
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The first party was waiting impatiently for dinner to be announced, when Captain Herring from the advance was seen coming at full gallop, and in breathless haste. Instantly the situation of the foremost scouts was surmised, muskets were snatched up, and, scarcely waiting for a word of explanation, the men dashed forward more than two miles at full speed. They found their comrades hotly engaged with upwards of eighty Rebel soldiers, in and around the house of the land- pirate John A. Murrell, who died too soon for the glory that awaited spirits of his calibre in the Southern Confederacy, and under the command of John Morgan, who was now en- tering upon his career of guerrilla renown. Thus it is that partial fame comes with open hand to one, while she leaves another, whose heart is as bold, and whose arm is as strong, to sink in ignominy or oblivion.
The advance had come upon Morgan's men as they were about to sit down to a dinner provided by the willing hands of Mrs. Murrell. Captain Herring, being some distance in front on horseback, crossed over an eminence, and came sud- denly within a few paces of the Rebel guards. They leveled their guns, and he wheeled his horse at the moment they fired. His cap falling off, he caught it under his arm, doubling him- self down at the same time to avoid their aim, and escaping unscathed. Colonel Jones, who was but a few rods behind with the twenty or twenty-five men of the squad, rushed up to engage the Rebels, while Captain Herring galloped back for the remainder of the scouts.
Unaware of the number of the approaching force, the Rebels hastily fled out of the house, mounted their horses,
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and reached the cover of bushes at a short distance, where, concealed and protected, they stopped. Colonel Jones and his men as hastily entered the house, an old two-story log building, and, knocking the plastering from the cracks up stairs and down, they fired between the logs into the bushes. The Rebels returned the fire. The old lady scolded in a shrill stream of angry words, and the engagement for a few minutes was hot. A ball struck a bucket of water close to Sergeants Boring and Ogden, and knocked the bucket to pieces, but nobody was hurt in the fight, except Mrs. Murrell, who, as a neutral and a lady, considered her rights invaded and her sen- sibilities wounded. Captain Herring brought his reinforce- ment up on the run, but was only in time to see the Rebels disappear over a distant hill.
The scouts returned to Camp Nevin about midnight, having been unable to find other traces of the enemy.
The middle of October Brigadier General A. McD. McCook assumed command of the troops in Camp Nevin and its vicinity, and organized them into brigades and a division, which he called the Central Division of the United States Army.
A month later, when General Buell assumed command of the Department of Ohio, the division was re-organized, and called the Second Division. It then contained four brigades, under Rousseau, Wood, Johnson and Negley.
The Fourth Brigade, under General Rousseau, consisted of the First Ohio, Fifth Kentucky, Sixth Indiana, and two battalions of the Fifteenth and Nineteenth United States infantry.
The Fifth Brigade, under Colonel Wood, was composed of the Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Indiana, Thirty-Fourth Illinois and Seventy-Seventh Pennsylvania.
In the Sixth Brigade were the Fifteenth and Forty-Ninth Ohio, the Thirty-Second and Thirty-Ninth Indiana.
In the Seventh Brigade were the First Wisconsin, Thirty- Eighth Indiana, Seventy-Eighth and Seventy-Ninth Penn- sylvania.
Near Nolin creek, on which Camp Nevin was situated, the land is rolling, but it settles down in a flat plain, which was
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convenient for military instruction. Here for several months was a vast school of volunteers. In squads and in companies, in regiments and in brigades, the men were in action from daylight until dark, acquiring gradually, but rapidly, the elas- ticity and precision which mark the movements of the dis- ciplined soldier. Picket duty was rigidly observed, and was often dangerous, as during this period the enemy was in force on the banks of Green river, his scouts daily approached within a few miles of our lines, and not seldom the thicket near some lonely beat concealed a sly secessionist.
The tents were miserable wedge tents, incapable of giving comfortable shelter to three men, yet crowded with five and six. Mud was deep and everywhere. The low, flat ground which served so well for parade and drill did not dry after the November rains began to fall, and seemed to breed disease and death. Beautiful as was the sight of the soldiers on parade, of the white tents spreading miles away, of the camp fires stretching off to the horizon, the long months at Camp Nevin were indescribably gloomy.
Measles, typhoid fever, pneumonia, dysentery were preva- lent, and were much oftener fatal than in home life. Com- fortless sickness, disconsolate death-beds, burials with the doleful wail of martial music and the presence of no weeping woman-these are the foremost recollections of the encamp- ments on Nolin creek.
December 10th General Johnson's brigade moved towards the South, and encamped at night on Bacon creek. Lieuten- ant-Colonel Von Trebra, of the Thirty-Second Indiana, pre- ceded the brigade, and went as far as Munfordsville, without finding the enemy. The bridges on the route were all de- stroyed, but Colonel Willich's pioneers, under the direction of Lieutenant Pietzuch, prevented the delay of artillery and wagons by the prompt erection of temporary bridges. On the 12th the entire brigade reached Munfordsville.
The next day Colonel Willich threw two companies across Green river to guard the approaches, while the remainder of the regiment fell to work at a temporary bridge, toiling with the utmost vigilance. The stroke of the axe, the hum and stir of hurrying voice and foot never ceased a moment day
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ROWLETT'S STATION.
or night, from the laying of the first plank to the bracing up of the last. At noon of the 17th of December, thirty-six hours from the beginning, the task was complete.
The troops guarding the approaches lay in a strip of woods which ran along the base of a ridge in their front. Behind them spread a bare flat, which slopes upward toward the river. The banks of the river are high, the northern bank rising somewhat above the southern. From the summit of both a view of the flat, the woods and the hill beyond is unob- structed.
Not more than a half hour after the workmen had left the edge of the river, the pickets discovered evidences of the vicinity, if not the approach, of the enemy. They dispatched to the commanding officer of the regiment intelligence that Rebel soldiers were in the woods to their front and right. Colonel Willich was a mile or two back from the river, at General Johnson's headquarters, but Lieutenant-Colonel Von Trebra was at once on the alert. He ordered the pickets to advance on the Rebels, and attack them if they stood their ground. The two advanced companies moved rapidly for- ward in skirmish line, the enemy falling back before them, until suddenly a band of Texan Rangers galloped over the hill and saluted them with a volley. The pickets returned the fire, and for a moment scattered the horsemen, but fearing an ambuscade they moved back. The Rangers, collecting themselves, dashed in a body out of the woods into the open plain towards the picket line, which was now somewhat with- drawn. The pickets met them steadily, drove them back and pursued them.
The pursuers, as they cautiously advanced, were checked in turn by the approach of a large force of Rebel infantry. They retired, hard pressed, but fighting as they fell back. The bugle was sounded to call the disengaged companies of the regiment to the front. They rushed forward from the north bank across the little bridge, so hastily constructed, so oppor- tunely finished, and from the south bank, over the plain, and up to the right and left flank of their steadfast countrymen; all except company A, Captain Erdelmeyer, which was sent round to the left to advance through the woods upon the flank
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of the enemy. The new line, formed of nine companies, moved forward and attacked the Rebel infantry, throwing it into confusion, and forcing it to retreat. As the infantry fell back, the Rangers again swept down the hill, shouting and yelling, but not firing until they were within fifteen paces of the Federal line. The Federals also reserved their fire, and the steady Germans and the wild Texans could almost look into each other's eyes when they sent out sudden volleys from carbine, revolver and musket. Again the Rebels fell back, only to rally and return.
On the extreme left, Lieutenant Max Sachs, with a portion of company C, advanced further than any other part of the Federal line, through the woods and into an open field, as if daring the enemy to an almost personal combat. The rash young officer moved to his own death. The Rangers met him in overwhelming force, four to one. Ten of his men fell with him, and all would have met a swift destruction had not Adjutant Carl Schmidt and Colonel Von Trebra, each with a company, marched to the right and left of the little band, and valiantly effected their deliverance. Forced back also from the right, the Rebels endeavored to draw the Federals up the hill, close under a masked battery near the summit. Still fearing an ambush, Von Trebra would allow no forward movement. He was content to hold lis ground. The battery was then unmasked, and opened fire. But its fire was not effective, and added only to the tumult.
Seizing the opportunity, Von Trebra re-arranged his line, deploying three companies as skirmishers on the right, and drawing up one, company G, in column for their support. The line was scarcely formed when down came the Rangers, striking with especial force against company F, which was beliind a fence. The company withstood the blow, and held the Rangers in check until the latter crossing the fence threat- ened its rear. It then withdrew behind, company G, which was drawn up in a square, Captain Welschbillig command- ing. Full two hundred troopers dashed impetuously to- wards the front and left of the little square. Motionless it stood until but sixty yards intervened, then it poured a fire upon the Rebels which staggered them, and drove them back.
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The Rangers rallied, and dashed down, now on right and front and left. Again the walls of bristling steel repelled them. A third and last time, in blind bravery, the horsemen threw themselves on the unbroken square. The dauntless Germans watched the mad riders as they swiftly neared, then poured upon them a fire which felled their leader, and scat- tered them so that they formed on that field no more.
Before they fled, and while company F was retiring, and the whole regiment seemed in imminent danger from two advan- cing regiments of Rebel infantry, Colonel Willich came gal- loping to the field. His bugler, at his order, sounded the signal for retiring slowly, and the regiment was forming in obedience to the order, when, startled by the unexpected ap- pearance of Captain Erdelmeyer, who at this moment moved from cover as if to flank them, the Rebel artillery and infantry joined in the flight of the cavalry.
More than an hour the Thirty-Ninth Indiana and the Forty- Ninth Ohio were witnesses of the combat. At the first alarm they went double-quick over a mile towards the Thirty-Second, crossing the river and forming on the high bank on the south- ern side. Like hunting hounds straining at the leash, or like unhooded falcons struggling in the jesses when the game is within reach, they watched the desperate conflict. When the cavalry Colonel fell, and the cavalrymen scattered and fled, they gave vent to their almost intolerable emotions in a long, exulting shout of relief. When the remainder of the Rebel force followed the Texan Rangers, and the brave Thirty- Second turned and marched slowly and steadily towards the river, the Thirty-Ninth was allowed to move forward. It moved as far as Rowlett's Station, and collected arms, and the dead and wounded from the battle-field.
The evening sun shone upon the solemn ceremonies of burial. Colonel Willich paid a touching and beautiful tribute to the dead, and every man of the regiment threw a handful of earth into the last resting place of the slain defenders of freedom.
The Rebel forces engaged were under General Hindman, and consisted of eleven hundred infantry, four pieces of artil- lery and a battalion of Texan Rangers, under Colonel Terry.
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The Rebel loss was thirty-three killed and fifty wounded. The Union loss was twelve killed, eighteen wounded, and eight missing .*
General Buell acknowledged the merit of the Thirty-Sec- ond Indiana in the affair at Rowlett's Station in the following terms:
"The General tenders his thanks to the officers and soldiers of the regiment for their gallant and efficient conduct on this occasion. He commends it as a study and example to all other troops under his command, and enjoins them to emulate the discipline and instruction which insure such results.
"The name of ROWLETT's STATION will be inscribed on the regimental colors of the Thirty-Second Indiana regiment."
The day after General Johnson's brigade left Camp Nevin the remainder of General Mc Cook's division advanced twelve miles to Bacon's creek, where it encamped on high, rolling ground. Springs of good water were abundant, the landscape was pleasant, the air was bracing, and from the moment of arrival there was no more sickness or despondency among the troops. A new day seemed to dawn. If the hospitals could have been moved forward, many would have lived who were left to languish and die in the humid and heavy air of the muddy plains near the Nolin.
December 17th, a fair, spring-like day, the division resumed its march. General McCook and his staff, with his cavalry escort, rode at the head of the column. The white covered baggage wagons, with their guard of picked men, brought up the rear. Low hills walled in the road on either side, and cast back the strains of martial music, which, swelling above the hum and tramp and rumbling of the army, drowned all thoughts but of manly action and of martial glory.
On nearing Munfordsville, the sullen roar of artillery was heard. At first it was indistinct, soon it was loud and plain. Sharp musketry firing broke on the heavy booming. The excitement of the soldiers grew with every step. Reaching their new camping ground they flung off their knapsacks, and, shouting as men never shout to enter their second battle,
* There are some discrepancies in the reports of casualties on both sides.
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they formed in line along the north bank of the river. They waited an hour, but the fire slackened and ceased, the enemy disappeared, and they had nothing of the conflict but a dis- tant view.
General McCook's division now encamped at Munfords- ville, which became from this time a place of importance. It is seventy miles south of Louisville, on the east side of the railroad, and on the north bank of Green river, which is a swift and beautiful stream, with high, steep banks. The country is undulating, with alternate stretches of well cultivated farm land and unbroken woodland. Corn and tobacco are the chief growths of the fields, though a few small cotton planta- tions show an approach to the long summers of the South.
On the southern side of the river, on the turnpike, is Wood- sonville. The population of the two places is not more than six hundred. The railroad bridge had been a superb struc- ture. It rested upon four massive piers, three of which were eighty feet high, and the fourth, the only one which had its base in the river, was about one hundred and twenty feet in height. The southern end of this costly work was now a mass of ruins.
Repairs were immediately commenced, and the bridge was soon restored. Colonel Willich's temporary bridge was super- seded at the same time by regular and substantial pontoons. Much other labor was required of the soldiers during two months that they lay at Munfordsville. They built field works over a long line of irregular ground. They made a new road. The picket line was extensive, and the duty was arduous. Daily reconnoissances were made.
Several important organizations were made or completed. A Pioneer Corps, on Colonel Willich's system, was organized and put under the control of Colonel Innis, of the First reg- iment of Michigan Mechanics and Engineers. A Signal Corps was established, the object of which was to keep up a communication with different parts of the army, and to watch and report the movements of the enemy. A Police Depart- ment, which had already been partially organized, was com- pleted, and Captain Orris Blake, of the Thirty-Ninth In- diana, was made Provost Marshal. Violations of public
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order and all questions of trade and passes were referred to him, and managed by him with integrity and good sense. Sibley tents were obtained. Quartermasters' supplies were procured in greater abundance than while the troops lay at Camp Nevin. Hospitals were more airy and more numerous. Medical attendance was better. Officers of every rank were more familiar with their duties, and the wheels of business ran with less friction. Military drill did not occupy more than half as many hours.
The drawbacks to comfort were few, but they were real. The tents were still crowded, and, in consequence, unhealthy, only five being allowed to a company. The required labor was very severe. The season was rainy, and the mud was deep. But on the whole the condition of the Second Division at Camp Wood on Green river was much more comfortable than it had previously been, and its affairs were administered in such a manner as to fit it for future usefulness and promi- nence in the army.
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JOURNEY TO DICK ROBINSON.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
"Ho! soldiers to your gallant rest, Your truth and valor bearing; The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring."
WHEN on Sunday, the 29th of September, church-goers in Indianapolis paused on the street to look at the Thirty-Third regiment, as it marched towards the railroad to set out for Kentucky, they expressed an unusual degree of interest and anxiety. The regiment was well dressed and well armed. The stout frames, and fresh, healthy, honest faces of the farmer boys who filled the irregular ranks, showed the best of material, but their bearing displayed an utter lack of mil- itary instruction. They had been in camp little more than a week. Even their number was not yet complete, and of the eight hundred and twenty-five whose names were on the rolls one hundred were off on furlough. But the summons was as imperative as it was sudden, and if it had not been, no true Indianian could delay with Kentucky in hourly danger.
All along the route the men were met by shouting crowds, with hands and basketsfull of good things. Louisville espe- cially bestowed favors on them. The universal welcome added greatly to the zest with which the untraveled enjoyed . the journey. In Lexington many of the regiment hastened from the depot to visit the lofty monument of Henry Clay. Pity for the memory of the dead would have given a shade of sadness to the reverence with which they stood round the great man's grave, had they known that James B. Clay was at that moment, and in that town, within sight of his father's tomb, a prisoner for disloyalty.
At Nicholasville, twelve miles south of Lexington, the rail- road was abandoned, and the tramp to Camp Dick Robinson
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
began. Knapsacks were heavy, but their weight only made the realization of being off for the war more entire. This march was through the beautiful blue-grass country of which Lexington is the center. Pastures and groves, with the under- growth all cleared away, long lines of white fences, large, old mansions, with soft green sward stretching down from the doors, all bespoke an age and dignity to which the country in Indiana had not yet attained.
Kentucky river, with its steep cliffs clad in stunted cedar, its rugged rocks mastered by the smooth, winding turnpike, and with its stories of Daniel Boone, Robinson Crusoe's only rival in the affections of a bold Hoosier boy, had a different but not less delightful charm.
General Nelson, in choosing a strong position for his camp, had selected one of the most picturesque spots in Kentucky. It lay in the angle formed by the Kentucky and Dick rivers, but at a distance from their almost precipitous banks, and on gently rolling, highly cultivated lands. Men and tents and banners and unrestrained enthusiasm gave to the scene a life and warmth which stamped it ineffaceably among the recol- lections of the arriving soldiers.
The Kentuckians and Tennesseeans already in camp were not fully organized, nor entirely equipped. The Tennesseeans were poorly clothed, were gaunt, and pale, and haggard. In effecting their escape from their own State they had endured almost incredible hardships, and had been exposed to terrible risk; they had left their families in poverty and danger, and were extremely anxious for an immediate advance upon Gen- eral Zollicoffer, and an immediate effort to free East Tennes- see from the control and presence of the Confederates.
Shortly after the arrival of the Thirty-Third at Camp Dick Robinson, General Leslie Coombs, a loyal Kentuckian, sev- enty years old, but warm-hearted as a boy, visited the soldiers and encouraged them to persevere in the punishment of treason. After talking with different regiments all day, he was called out at night by a crowd of all on the ground. He addressed them, saying he was not astonished to see Ohio and Indiana troops in the center of Kentucky. He had been wounded in defending their mothers and grand-mothers at
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CRAB ORCHARD.
River Raisin and Fort Meigs, and through the Maumee val- ley, from the scalping knife of the savage; he still carried a bullet which he received then, and he had been expecting the grand-children of those Ohio and Indiana women to come down in turn and defend the mountain girls of Kentucky from the worse than savages that dared to cross their border.
General Zollicoffer, already many miles north of Cumber- land Gap, was ravaging the hilly region in the southeastern part of Kentucky. It was of the utmost importance that he should not be allowed to cross or to approach the Kentucky river, to strengthen by the presence of his army the secession sentiment among the rich and disorderly young men of that region. His stay among the hills had the contrary effect of strengthening to violence the Union feeling in resistance to the oppression of the southern invaders; yet it was an imperative duty to relieve the oppressed mountaineers at the earliest possible moment. From Camp Dick Robinson the main road leads directly to Cumberland Gap, through Lancaster, Stan- ford, Crab Orchard, Mount Vernon, London and Barbours- ville. Another route, a little to the east, unites with this a few miles north of London.
General Thomas was making vigorous preparations to thwart the designs of Zollicoffer by taking possession of these roads. He sent Colonel Garrard with his regiment, a Ken- tucky regiment, to Rockcastle Hills, thirty miles southeast of Dick Robinson. He advanced other bodies of troops to points in the rear of Garrard, among them the Thirty-Third to Crab Orchard, a little old village, situated among hills and min- eral springs. and called from the natural growth which once covered the hills and valleys of the region. Until the present year it had been a favorite summer resort for many Tennes- see and Mississippi families, and for their accommodation it possessed two or three large hotels, and around the springs a number of comfortable cottages.
On its way to Crab Orchard, the Thirty-Third passed a negro church during the time of service. Disturbed by the tramp and hum, the little congregation poured out, and has- tened with respectful but eager interest to the side of the road, the preacher conspicuous by his gray hair and dignified de-
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
meanor. One of the foremost soldiers gravely stepped from the ranks, grasped the old man's hand with a hearty "How are you ?" then moving back to his place, resumed his march. The act was contagious. Every man behind him did the same thing, in the same orderly manner. The preacher, bow- ing and smiling, extended his old black hand with the ur- banity and dignity of a President, while the faces of his congregation shone with the warmth of their welcome to "Linkum's men," and with gratification for the attention be- stowed on their spiritual leader.
Crab Orchard was the terminus of the turnpike. From that point the road was rough, broken and narrow, and en- tirely without bridges. It wound among rocks, hung on the edge of precipitous ridges, plunged abruptly into ravines, dashed recklessly through streams, and scorned improvement or change, except under winter rains and summer suns.
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