USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 23
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
Under the first call for troops Bob Stewart raised two com- panies of cavalry, one of which was unaccepted; the other was mustered into the United States service, at first for twelve months, afterwards, when the term of enlistment was changed, for three years. The services this company performed in West Virginia, as the body-guard of General Rosecrans, have already been mentioned. Captain Stewart remained under Rosecrans until recalled to Indianapolis to take the position of senior Major in the Second cavalry.
The junior Major, Edward M. McCook, like the Lieuten- ant-Colonel, was transferred from the United States army. He was one of the "fighting McCook family," which lost its youngest at Bull Run, its oldest in the pursuit of Morgan, and its most distinguished member by assassination, and he was a worthy scion of the old stock.
One of the Captains in the Second cavalry was John W. Stewart, who was like his brother in spirit, with something more of fun and less of fire. He was proprietor of a hotel in Terre Haute when the war broke out, and known through the Wabash Valley for his practical jokes. In September he raised a company, and boarded it at his own expense, until it was mustered into service. He went into the Second cav-
269
MILITARY INSTRUCTION.
alry as a private, but was unanimously elected Captain of company E.
The Second cavalry, twelve hundred in number, left In- dianapolis on the afternoon of the 16th of December. The beauty and power of the horses, the spirit of the riders, the length of the line, more than a mile, attracted much attention along the route, which led through Martinsville, Blooming- ton and Bedford. At the last place the regiment was thrown on the hospitality of the citizens, as their tents and rations, the train being delayed by the state of the roads, did not arrive. The Second cavalry went directly to Bardstown, thence to Green river, where it did picket duty nearly two months. During the time it was engaged in one skirmish.
On the 24th of December, Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood, commanding the Fifth Brigade of the Second Divis- ion, was ordered to take charge of a camp of instruction at Bardstown. General Wood was already well known, having been very efficient in Indianapolis during the spring and summer in mustering and disciplining the new recruits. His indefatigable industry and his familiarity with military affairs brought order out of confusion, and taught invaluable lessons to the new soldiers. It was in consideration of his services in Indianapolis that he was appointed Brigadier General in the Second Division, and that he was now removed from that position to the work of organizing and disciplining the new troops at Bardstown. He found here a large number of regiments, while others were still arriving.
The Forty-Ninth regiment crossed the Ohio the 11th of December, and marched to Bardstown in two days and a half. The field officers walked the greater part of the way, giving their horses to the most fatigued of the men, who, with the unaccustomed burden of knapsacks, found the first march full as much as they could bear.
In the dead of night, December 21st, as all lay quiet in sleep, the bugle sounded a hurried and fearful call to arms. In less than twenty minutes the men were rushing together to form in line of battle for the reception of Buckner, wlio was said to be within three miles. Some were without caps, others without boots, some in their comrades' clothes, a few
270
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
in no clothes at all were wofully searching the dark tents for something to wear. Flushed and pale, composed and quiv- ering with excitement, the men looked to the Colonel for a word of advice before the shock of battle. To their surprise they were informed that no enemy was near, and that the alarm was simply a trial, and a lesson to teach the necessity of being prepared for an emergency.
Colonel John W. Ray was practising law in Jeffersonville at the time he entered the army. He is the son of Edwin Ray, whom every old Indianian knew as an eloquent and saint-like Methodist preacher. Left fatherless in infancy he suffered a loss for which no guidance or teaching could atone, but free from the imbecility which would cast responsibility upon circumstances, he has honored his father's memory by his life. He is a graduate of Greencastle.
The Fiftieth regiment, with its Colonel, Cyrus L. Dunham, a former member of Congress, and Secretary of State, and a man of force and fire, left Seymour on the 25th of October, and, marching slowly through the counties of Jackson, Law- rence, Washington, Orange and Floyd, recruiting on the way, reached Bardstown on Christmas.
The Fifty-First left Indianapolis the 16th of December, at the same time the Second cavalry left, and with that regiment made a greater military display on the streets than Indianapo- lis had yet seen. Colonel Streight abandoned a flourishing book-bindery to enter the army. He is entirely a self-made man, and possessed of a hard, resolved purpose, which carries him over or through obstacles, or failing to do that leaves him unscathed.
The Fifty-Seventh was recruited mainly through the efforts of Rev. J. W. T. McMullen and Rev. F. A. Hardin. It was mustered into the service at Richmond, but it removed to In- dianapolis early in December, and the same month went to Bardstown.
The Fifty-Seventh was of peculiar character, containing at least eight Methodist preachers, and being composed al- most entirely of religious men.
Colonel McMullen is one of the most popular preachers in the State. He has something of that which makes the great-
271
THE PREACHER COLONEL.
ness of Spurgeon, the power of penetrating with deep and tender feeling into the truths of Scripture, and the mysteries of human nature, and of handling both with a sort of rev- erent familiarity. He cutered the ministry quite young, with mind undeveloped, taste uncultivated and ardor uncontrolled, and being by birth or parentage an Irishman, he obtained for himself the cognomen of " Wild Irishman." His voice was stentorian; he exhorted sinners as old people talk to foreign- ers, believing that the higher he pitched his tone the better they could understand, and he could easily be heard at the distance of a half mile. He felt his deficiencies, however, and possessed at the same time an honest love of knowledge. He, consequently, divided his devotion between the church and his study, and as time passed acquired a more subdued and thoughtful style. His health was broken with close ap- plication to books and a conscientious attention to ministerial duties, but he could not resist the call to arms.
The Fifty-Eighth left Princeton early in December, and went directly to Portland, Kentucky, where it received arms and accoutrements. It lay in camp several days a few miles from Louisville, then marched four miles beyond Bardstown to Camp Cedar Grove. The position being cold and exposed, the regiment went seven miles the other side of Bardstown, and formed a more comfortable encampment, ditching around it and sheltering it as much as possible from rain and wind.
The Colonel of the Fifty-Eighth was H. M. Carr, who had served as Captain in the Eleventh regiment during the three months' campaign.
On the evening of the 13th of December, to the music of one of the finest bands in Indiana, the Thirty-Fifth marched down the streets of Indianapolis to take its departure. The beautiful green flag which floated above the regiment bore upon it, beside the Harp and Shamrock of the Emerald Isle, the American Eagle and the motto, "BE JUST AND FEAR NOT." The Thirty-Fifth, in its regimental character, can be com- pared to nothing so fitly as to the wonderful figure of Neb- uchadnezzar's dream, except that instead of fine gold, its head was of copper, while the noble metal was in the body, or in the subordinate members.
272
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The Irish regiment spent two weeks in camp in Jefferson- ville, leaving on the first day of the new year for Kentucky. Through Louisville, where it was received with courtesy and attention, it proceeded to Bardstown, where its appearance drew out all the Union flags which could be found or made, even secessionists protecting themselves for the occasion un- der the folds of the Stars and Stripes.
The cause of this extended devotion to the flag was a rep- utation which the Irish regiment had unconsciously obtained of possessing the ferocity of the Hessians in the British army who did not hesitate to devour an enemy.
The Fortieth regiment arrived at Bardstown, and entered the camp of instruction the 9th of January. Its commander, Colonel William C. Wilson, was an attorney in Lafayette when he entered the army. He was an efficient officer.
Beside the infantry and cavalry, five Indiana batteries of artillery joined Buell's army in October, November, Decem- ber and January.
The Fifth Indiana battery, recruited by Captain Peter Simonson and Lieutenants Rankin and Morrison, was mus- tered into service in Indianapolis on the 22d of November. It went a few days afterwards to Camp Gilbert, near Louis- ville, where it was placed in a school of instruction under Captain Terrill of the Fifth Artillery. Its armament con- sisted of two twelve-pounders, two six-pounder rifle and two six-pounder smooth bores.
The Sixth or "Morton" battery was entirely made up of Germans, the most of whom had learned artillery service in Europe. The battery went from Indianapolis to Evansville the 2d of October, and thence to Henderson, Calhoun, South Carrolton and Owensboro, moving from place to place during the winter.
The Fourth battery, which was under the command of Asahel K. Bush, the Seventh, under Captain Harris, and the Eighth, under Captain Cochran, all entered camps of in- struction in Kentucky.
The first Indiana troops to enter Kentucky were the Elev- enth and the Twenty-Third, which, coming from St. Louis, landed at Paducah the 11th of September. Colonel Wallace
273
IN PADUCAH.
still commanded the Eleventh. Colonel William L. Sander- son, who had been an officer in the Mexican war, was in com- mand of the Twenty-Third. The regiments encamped beside each other on a beautiful spot. Paducah was the principal town in northwestern Kentucky, and had been very prosperous, but it now looked deserted and mournful. Stores were closed, mills were idle, many of the best houses were vacant, and even the churches, with one or two exceptions, were aban- doned, the clergymen having gone with their straying sheep into the wilderness of rebellion.
When the Indiana regiments arrived nearly ten thousand troops were already in Paducah. In regard to property the most rigid discipline was enforced by General Smith, the officer in command. Grog-shops of high and low degree were all closed. Men were advised to take no notice of in- sults which were sometimes showered on them; and officers, privates and servants belonging to the regiments were ordered not to hold any conversation with slaves, or with the free colored people of the town. So desirous was General Smith to avoid unnecessary irritation of the feelings of irrascible Kentuckians, that he even allowed a Rebel flag to float over the house of a secessionist. This the Eleventh Indiana would not allow, and the flag was torn dorn, producing some commotion and disorder. The circumstance was mortifying to General Smith, who, in the observance of a strict obedience to his superiors, found the loyalty of his soldiers mutinously opposing him.
With the arrival of the troops fortifications were com- menced. A powerful abatis was made of the heavy shaggy- topped oak trees and undergrowth of the same character, which covered the country. By this means every access to the town was cut off except the public roads, which were but three in number, and were commanded by heavy artillery.
The enemy was near and daring. Scouts were constantly on the look out, alarms were frequent, and several times the regiments were forced to stand all night in the rain or cold watching for the enemy.
Clay King, formerly a citizen of Paducah, had a Rebel force of five or six thousand men encamped near Mayfield
274
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
thirty miles south of the Federal force. He ravaged and plundered the homes of loyal people, occasionally sending out foraging parties on the railroad within a few miles of Padu- cah. To intercept the trains carrying large foraging par- ties four expeditions, at different times, were sent out as far as Viola, a station twenty miles from Paducah. In the first expedition the Eleventh was engaged; in the second the Eighth Missouri; in the third the Twenty-Third Indiana; in the fourth the Eleventh again. They all met with equal ill- success, marching through a lonely and desolate region, which even the birds and squirrels had deserted, and where nothing was abundant but secessionists; floundering through mud and mire, stumbling in ruts and cuts, climbing rough hillocks, wading streams, and at last reaching Viola only to find that their approach had been announced, and an informer had hastened to arrest and save the train. Each expedition was a degree more disagreeable and more laborious than the pre- ceding one, as the road was each time worse. The last reached a climax, the Eleventh being forced on its return to assist the horses and mules in dragging the Chicago Light Artillery, by which it was accompanied, through roads which a beating rain made more toilsome at every step. After this fourth attempt Clay King remained unmolested.
On the 21st of November, General Halleck issued an order, setting forth that, as important information respecting the number and condition of his forces had been conveyed to the enemy by fugitive slaves, no such persons should thereafter be permitted to enter the lines of any camp, nor of any forces on the march. It was a cruel and unjust order, and thrust back into slavery thousands who tremblingly touched the skirts of liberty. Seldom has a sadder sight been seen than a poor, wearied, hungry slave, all the way from Tennessee, in search of freedom, standing in his rags and submissive helplessness before a General, who delivers him to the Pro- vost Marshal to be returned to his master They who reached the picket line and were not allowed to pass were not so ut- terly cast down and lost as he who had penetrated to the inner circle, to fall there into the clutches of law. General Smith, although he allowed the Rebel flag to fly, replied to a
275
LIFE IN CAMP.
gentleman, who asked his aid in searching for his servant, " Sir, I have been in the service of my country thirty-five years, and I will not disgrace my old age by becoming a slave-hun- ter. If you can find your negro, take him, but neither I nor my men shall hunt him for you."
Colonel Wallace was made a Brigadier General in Sep- tember, and placed in command of the Eleventh and Twenty- Third, the Eighth Missouri, Smith's company of the Chicago Light Artillery, and two companies of United States cavalry. He was tireless in instruction, and was assisted by able sub- ordinates. Colonel McGinnis, who succeeded him in com- mand of the Eleventh, was as indefatigable and as skilful in the care of his regiment. A worthy spirit of emulation in- spired all the officers and all the men. As might be expected the brigade soon excelled in military exercises, and as long as it held together it was accounted unsurpassed, if not un- equalled, on the parade ground.
Wherever regiments were, on the Tennessee, the Salt or the Green, with scarcely an exception, they were in tents, pro- tected from the open air by nothing but a sheet of cloth. All discomforts were ascribed to the form of these canvass dwell- ings until the Sibley was received, and the first novelty was worn off, when the new tent came in for a full share of cen- sure and complaint. Among twenty men crowded into one little room, which was now insufferably warm, and in five minutes insufferably cold, cooking over a stove in the cen- ter, eating together, sleeping together, getting their guns mixed and their hats lost, (after a little experience socks and boots were never taken off,) peace was out of the question. Even, when taught by still further experience, a man's hat was put under his head, and his gun was hugged in his arms while he slept, there were still subjects of dispute. If nineteen were agreed, the twentieth was sure to be a crooked stick, which would fit into nothing. Patriots, though they are the noblest men in the world, cannot bear every an- noyance with amiability. Many a good soldier, with dish- cloth in one hand and pot in another, with smoke in his eyes and his feet slipping in water or grease somebody had
276
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
spilled, scolded like a vixen. If he had an opportunity he urged the return of his former tent; while the occupant of the old wedge, cooking out of doors in rain and snow, looked with an envious eye upon the sheltered inmate of the Sibley and besought a like accommodation.
About the middle of the winter the Thirty-Seventh made itself somewhat comfortable by means which George Buffing- ton, a private in the regiment, devised. A small stick chimney, besmeared with mud, was built at the entrance of the wedge tent, and the canvass was closed round it, so as to leave the fireplace inside and the top of the chimney outside. An India rubber blanket closed the opening caused by parting the folds of the cloth. This was cheerful, but it had some objection- able points, as must be the case with all inventions for the warming of houses with thin cloth walls; and not a few sol- diers, impatient of smoke, or the extremes of heat and cold, actually spent the winter without fire.
The inconveniences of camp life were slight in comparison with the ill-health produced by bad air and sudden changes of temperature.
To give an account of the sanitary condition of the regi- ments which have been enumerated in the present chapter, would be to repeat an already more than twice told tale of suffering and sorrow, and one to which no repetition and nó attempt at delineation can do justice.
Influenced by various causes the regiments suffered in dif- ferent degrees. The Thirty-Sixth, for example, composed of men of mature years, who knew how to take care of them- selves, and were not driven to forced marches, had compara- tively little sickness. The regiments at Paducah suffered less than the most of those in central Kentucky. The hospitals in some were much better than in others. Dr. T. W. Fry, who went out as surgeon to the Eleventh, but soon had the whole brigade in his care, took possession of the vacated Presbyterian parsonage in Paducah, of General Tilghman's residence, of a large boarding-house, and of several other houses of like commodious dimensions for his sick, and made them quite comfortable. The Thirty-Seventh, at Elizabeth-
277
HOSPITALS.
town, also had a fine hospital, which loyal ladies kept cheer- ful with hot-house flowers. But many others found small comfort in little school houses, dirty court houses, and churches with hard and sloping benches, or in buildings which were more commodious, but situated in low and sickly regions.
19
278
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ON TO THE CUMBERLAND .- UP THE TENNESSEE.
DURING the winter Bowling Green was the center of the Rebel line of operations in Kentucky. On the left was Columbus, situated on a lofty bluff, and so strongly fortified that it seemed almost impregnable, and Forts Henry and Don- elson, commanding the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. On the right was General Zollicoffer, who had advanced, in spite of a renewed movement on the part of General Schoepf, and entrenched himself with about eight thousand men on the north side of the Cumberland, opposite Mill Spring. He of course held the road leading through Cumberland Gap to East Tennessee, and to the line of the Richmond and Mobile railway. Northeast of Zollicoffer was General Marshall in the Valley of the Big Sandy river, on the border of Virginia, and with the Confederate troops in that State completing the Rebel line from the Mississippi to the Potomac.
General Grant, from Cairo and Paducah, threatened Colum- bus. General Buell, while organizing and preparing for future operations an army of more than a hundred thousand men, kept his eye upon Buckner at Bowling Green, Zollicoffer and Marshall.
Marshall's flying forces, always ready to pounce on Schoepf, had kept the attention of the latter engaged, while Zollicoffer crossed the Cumberland.
General Thomas organized at Lebanon the First Division of the Army of the Ohio, and had his command in readiness to take the field for the purpose of opposing the further pro- gress of Zollicoffer by the last of December. On the 31st he commenced to move over roads which in mid-summer are difficult and painful, and in mid-winter are indescribably bad. After a most laborious march he reached, January 17th, a
279
MILL SPRING.
point ten miles north of Mill Spring, called Logan's Cross Roads. Here he had an interview with General Schoepf, who had at Somerset a force of four infantry regiments and two batteries of artillery. A combined movement was agreed on, and Schoepf returned to Somerset to bring his troops forward.
General Thomas, placing twenty of Wolford's cavalry and two companies of the Tenth Indiana about a half mile in front, went into camp with the small number of his troops which were with him in the advance, and awaited the arrival of the remainder of his division. On the 18th three or four regiments emerged from the rear, and reported the chief part of the train up to the hubs of the carriage wheels and im- movable in mud.
In the evening of that day General Thomas had with him at Logan's Cross Roads, the Ninth Ohio, Second Minnesota, Tenth Indiana and Fourth Kentucky regiments of infantry, Wolford's regiment of cavalry, four companies of the First Michigan Engineers, and an Ohio battery of artillery. He expected to be joined on the 19th by the Fourteenth Ohio, Tenth Kentucky, and by three of General Schoepf's regi- ments, and to make a combined movement on the 20th upon the enemy's entrenchments.
General Crittenden, however, who had joined Zollicoffer a few days previously, and, outranking him, had taken com- mand, determined not to await an attack. The Rebel troops in spite of the strength of their position were in a critical condition, having on hand but two or three days' rations, while it was not possible for foraging parties to squeeze food from the starved region around. Because of this scarcity they could support themselves within their entrenchments but a very short time. Moreover, General Crittenden received in- formation that only two of Thomas' regiments had succeeded in reaching Logan's Cross Roads, and that all the rest of Thomas' division, exhausted and discouraged by the difficul- ties it had encountered, was still behind. He left his en- trenchments, therefore, on the evening of the 18th, with the intention of surprising and overwhelming the small force at Logan's.
280
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
It was scarcely daybreak, on a cloudy, rainy Sunday morn- ing, when the twenty horsemen on the watch saw the Rebel flag advancing. They warned the two companies of the Tenth Indiana which stood in their rear, and galloped with the intelligence to Colonel Manson. Colonel Manson sent the regiment forward under Lieutenant-Colonel Kise to sup- port the pickets, who were bravely standing their ground, and went himself to several Colonels and to the headquarters of General Thomas in the rear.
General Thomas hastened the rear regiments forward, but the Tenth bore the brunt of the attack, and was engaged quite a half hour before any troops came to its aid. The Fourth Kentucky reached its left in time to prevent the con- summation of a flanking movement which the Rebels were making, and stood resolutely at its side while the fight went on with increased vivacity. The enemy still attempting the flanking movement, a part of the Tenth was ordered to the left of the Kentucky regiment. Climbing over logs and fences, it reached the position, to be ordered, when the course of the enemy was turned, back to its original place.
But the Second Minnesota shortly relieved the Tenth, and the Ninth Ohio marched to the right of the Minnesota regi- ment. The Confederates fought desperately, but they met desperate fighting. The slight protection given by a rail fence was eagerly sought by both sides, and guns were poked at each other between the rails. Meantime the Twelfth Kentucky and First and Second East Tennessee advanced on the enemy's right and rear.
General Zollicoffer fell, shot by Colonel Fry, but his men did not seem to mind his fall. Many of them were Ken- tuckians, and, though double-dyed traitors, false alike to coun- try and State, they were brave in battle. They loved to fight; to gouge out eyes and bite off noses, to pound a man to a jelly was more in their style than to ply musket and cannon; but they knew how to stand up before any anticipated dan- ger; they could even dare artillery. They were now fatigued with their hard night's march, and were surprised to meet more than double the force they had been told to expect, but they did not waver until the Ninth Ohio, a regiment of sturdy,
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.