USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 28
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As had been reported by cavalry scouts of the second division, the railroad was torn up, the turnpike obstructed with logs, and the ponds at the roadside and all other reser- voirs of water rendered impure by carcasses of hogs and cattle. The weather was pleasant, however, and the division accomplished twenty miles on the third day of its march. That night the sudden change already described in the siege of Fort Donelson took place, rain coming on in the evening, and turning to hail, sleet and snow before morning. Thus far no enemy was visible. General Johnston had evidently withdrawn all his outposts and retired to Bowling Green.
The road lay through a pleasant country, but it was frozen and stony, and the trees across it were troublesome. The march was tedious and toilsome. When Colonel Turchin approached Barren river, which flows in front of Bowling Green, he ordered his cavalry and one battery to advance rapidly. In less than an hour the roar of artillery at the front was heard. With the expectation that the advance had met the enemy, and that a battle was opening, the infantry has- tened forward, seizing the wagons along the road and appro- priating them to add to their speed. When Barren river was reached it was found that the enemy, without any effort at resistance, was hastening out of Bowling Green towards the south, and that Turchin's advanced battery was pouring a steady fire across the river to increase the celerity of their movements.
It was near night, the bridge was destroyed, and as there seemed no possibility of crossing the river, the men pitched
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CROSSING BARREN RIVER.
their tents and lay down to much needed rest. They were not yet asleep when they were roused, called into the ranks, and ordered to march three miles to a point where engineers were constructing a rope-ferry. They hastened over the frozen ground, descended steep, slippery banks, crossed the river slowly, toiled up the southern bluff, and cautiously neared the town. It was lighted up as if with bon-fires. Cars and engines, vast stores of pork, beef and coffee, piles of grain twenty and thirty feet high, were burning. And the Confed- erates were actually gone. They had been evacuating the town two or three weeks in expectation of Buell's advance, but were surprised in the end by Turchin's cannon, and forced to destroy stores of immense value. The Texan Rangers, which formed the rear of the Rebel army, fled by the light of this funeral pile of Confederate hopes in Kentucky.
General Mitchell issued the following address to his sol- dièrs :
"Soldiers of the Third Division! You have executed a march of forty miles in twenty-eight hours and a half. The fallen timber and other obstructions opposed by the enemy to your movements have been swept from your path. The fire of your artillery and the bursting of your shells announced your arrival. Surprised, and ignorant of the force that had thus precipitated itself upon them, they fled in consternation.
" In the night time, over a frozen, rocky, precipitous path- way, down rude steps for fifty feet, you have passed the advance guard, cavalry and infantry, and before the dawn of day you have entered in triumph a position of extraordinary natural strength, and by your enemy proudly denominated the Gibraltar of Kentucky.
" With your own hands, through deep mud, in drenching rains, and up rocky pathways next to impassable, and across foot-paths of your own construction, built upon the ruins of the railway bridge, destroyed for their protection by a retreat- ing and panic-stricken foe, you have transported upon your own shoulders your baggage and camp equipage.
"The General commanding the department, on receiving my report announcing these facts, requests me to make to the
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officers and soldiers under my command the following com- munication :
"'Soldiers who by resolution and energy overcome great natural difficulties, have nothing to fear in battle, where their energy and prowess are taxed to a far less extent. Your com- mand have exhibited the high qualities of resolution and energy in a degree, which leaves no limit to my confidence in them in their future movements.
By order of Brigadier General BUELL."
"Soldiers! I feel a perfect confidence that the high estimate placed upon your power, endurance, energy and heroism is just. Your aim and mine has been to deserve the approba- tion of our commanding officer, and of our Government and of our country.
" I trust you feel precisely as does your commanding Gen- eral, that nothing is done while anything remains to be done.
By order of Brigadier General O. M. MITCHELL."
Bowling Green is a pretty little town, with four or five thousand inhabitants. Prosperous in business and Union in sentiment, it was a happy and growing place before it became a Confederate fastness. General Buckner girdled it with fortifications, building nine, one on each of the encircling hills, and inflicted on the people the privations and anxieties of a siege. When General Johnston assumed command and increased the size of the army, Confederate camps not only filled the town, but covered a circuit of two or three miles around. Disease preyed upon the troops and thousands died. The sufferings of the Federal army in northern and central Kentucky, great as they were, are believed to have been much less than the sufferings of the troops con- centrated in and around Bowling Green, and of the citizens of the region.
Adding insult to injury, the "Provisional Government of Kentucky," so-called, according to Greeley, from the inability of the secessionists to make any provision for its support, adopted Bowling Green as the Confederate capital of the State.
General Mitchell found the enemy fled, the fortifications
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A DISAPPOINTMENT.
dismantled, nearly all the business houses, with several private residences; in flames, streets and depots smoking with the burning stores, and over all an atmosphere of ruin, disease and death.
Notwithstanding his energy, he was more than a week in getting his train across Barren river. His advance, however, did not wait, but pushed on after the enemy. The roads were obstructed, and progress was slow. The country seemed almost deserted until Franklin was approached. The national flag waved from the houses of this little town, and the national colors ornamented the dress of ladies and children, who thronged the balconies and waysides, while old citizens uttered cheering welcomes and blessings. Six miles beyond Franklin Tennessee was entered, and the next day, the 23d of the month, the division encamped near Edgefield, on the Cum- berland, opposite Nashville.
McCook's division was not far behind Mitchell's. To the six Indiana regiments which were in the second division at the time of its formation, the western squadron of the Third cavalry was added in January, and the division now contained more Indiana soldiers than any other, except the sixth, in the Army of the Ohio. When General Mitchell passed Mun- fordsville, MeCook's camps were all astir with the intelli- gence of the surrender of Fort Henry, and with the prospect of an early spring campaign. Two days after, on Friday, the 14th, the first bitter cold day of winter, tents were struck, baggage loaded, and the division on the marchi, not to join in the attack on Bowling Green, but to assist in the siege of Donelson. Long and loud shouts filled the air as regiment after regiment, impatient of a moment's delay, moved out from the hated old camping-ground. The earth was frozen and covered with two or three inches of snow. The cold was so intense that the water provided to drink on the way turned to ice and burst the canteens. Without pitching tents the soldiers slept on the ground, at Upton, fourteen miles north of Munfordsville.
Early in the morning they were ready to march, but hour after hour wore away without orders, until at one o'clock they were directed to move back to Munfordsville. Knowing that Fort
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Donelson had not yet fallen, and that their comrades were now assaulting it from every quarter, they retraced their steps with a disappointment and chagrin which were almost intol- erable. They were only consoled when at night they were informed that their destination was not the old camp and the stagnant rest of Munfordsville, but Bowling Green and Nash- ville. Sullen mutterings ceased, scowling brows cleared, and the troops proceeded with renewed enthusiasm, but the second day of their march beyond Munfordsville the skies clouded over and chilled their ardor with a cold, drenching rain.
McCook's division spent nearly a week at Bell's Tavern, repairing the railroad. In clearing out a tunnel which was blocked with huge masses of rock and earth, the soldiers were unwillingly assisted by the neighboring secessionists, who had aided the Confederate troops in the work of ruin.
Willich's pioneer system, although it had performed its duties well, was at this time broken up, on account of rivalry and contention between his engineers and the Michigan engineers.
Rain fell almost incessantly during the stay of the troops at Dell's Tavern, and mud was all-prevailing.
February 23d McCook's division moved to Camp Rous- seau, three miles from Bowling Green, where itremained until, on the 26th, it was ordered to leave tents and baggage, for transportation by rail, and with three days' provisions in haversacks, to march as soon as practicable. Having to cross a muddy, swampy bottom, three or four hundred yards wide, the main body of the division did not reach the river until dark, and the passage was not effected until late in the night. During the week following the river bottom was a quagmire filled with struggling horses and mules, wagons, boxes, pro- visions, ordnance and quartermasters' stores, with rails for bridges, poles for levers, and exasperated men furiously striving to advance.
. . The 2d day of March McCook encamped near Edgefield.
General Wood's division, the sixth of Buell's army, began to move from Bardstown, Rolling Fork and other points to which its regiments had been scattered, at the same time with McCook's division, and was also on the march on that cold
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FORCED MARCH TO EDGEFIELD.
Friday. It reached Bowling Green on the 19th of the month, after a tedious march. There it was joined by Colonel Has- call's brigade, which, after having been subjected to the stern discipline of General Nelson through the winter, now became a part of Wood's division. It consisted of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Indiana, the Sixth Ohio and Fiftieth Indiana. Colonel Carr's brigade formed the remainder of the division, and consisted of the Thirty-Fifth, Fortieth, Fifty-First, Fifty- Seventh and Fifty-Eighth Indiana regiments. The Second cavalry regiment was also in Wood's division.
After leaving Bowling Green, Colonel Carr received an order from General Wood directing him to move his brigade forward as rapidly as practicable. On the back of the envelope was written, "Five miles an hour," a direction which General Wood intended for the bearer of the dispatch. Colonel Carr, however, understood it to relate to the rate of movement required of the troops, and forced his brigade over sixty miles in two days, arriving at Edgefield on the 7th of March, two days sooner than he should have arrived. As three miles an hour with a light knapsack and an unobstructed road is good progress, five miles, with a heavy knapsack and a road so crowded that it is impossible for a man to choose or even to know his steps, is cruel, if not murderous. In consequence of this march many good soldiers broke down utterly. Twenty days later one hundred and seventy-five men from one regi- ment, the Fortieth, were still unable to move.
Beside the batteries of artillery which have been mentioned, General Buell's army, on the opening of the campaign, included the Fourth, Seventh, Tenth and Eleventh.
While General Buell's third, second and sixth divisions went directly towards Nashville, his fourth, under General Nelson, what remained of his first, General Crittenden's, since the departure of Cruft's brigade, and his fifth, under General Thomas, embarked on steamers, and went towards the same point by the more circuitous, but more speedy, route of the rivers.
The Ninth Indiana, which left Fetterman, West Virginia, February 19th, under Colonel Moody, its former Colonel having been appointed Brigadier General in September, went
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
with Nelson's division, of which it afterwards formed a part; also the Thirty-Sixth regiment and the Eighth battery, which, although it reported to McCook on its arrival in Kentucky, had lately been removed to Nelson's division. The Thirty- Sixth regiment was in Colonel Ammon's brigade; the Ninth in Colonel Hazen's brigade.
In General Thomas' division were the Tenth Indiana regi- ment and the Twelfth battery, Captain Sterling. The battery reached Kentucky but a few days before Thomas' division, which was the last, began to move.
The journey of the Forty-Second, in Crittenden's division, was as variable as the course of a shifting wind. Orders were received in the evening of the 15th of February, and the regiment marched that night twenty-five miles, reaching Owensboro in the morning. It embarked on steamboats, and arrived at Evansville the next morning about four o'clock. On the 17th it went to Smithland, on the 18th was ordered back to the mouth of Green river. When half way between Green river and Evansville it was ordered to return to the latter place. On the 19th it was remanded to Smithland, on the 20th it was moved to Paducah, whence, after two or three days of waiting, it was allowed to go in peace up the Cum- berland.
Meantime the Confederates were suffering no small degree of excitement and alarm. In Nashville the beautiful Sunday on which Fort Donelson surrendered was ushered in with the security and triumph consequent upon the dispatch of Gen- eral Pillow, received the evening before, "On the honor of a soldier the day is ours!" General Johnston with his army was at Edgefield, and joined in the rejoicing of the city. Perhaps he regretted that with over haste he had abandoned Bowling Green.
Church bells had ceased their ringing, religious services had begun, and thanks and praise were rolling from organ and choir, when the Governor of the State galloped wildly through the streets, shouting, "Fort Donelson has surren- dered! The enemy is approaching!"
The shock of an earthquake could not have been greater. Terror seized the city. With bleached faces and distracted
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CONSTERNATION IN NASHVILLE.
senses, the people rushed from the churches. The streets were at once crowded, and the houses, in their confusion and grief, reflected in a thousand forms the panic of the streets. In frantic haste, the most valued movables were packed, and sometimes hurled in trunks from three-story windows. In groups and squads fugitives poured through every passage which led out of the city, with carpet-bags, satchels and saddle-bags in their hands. Trains of cars, coaches, carts, horsemen, drays and wheel-barrows soon hastened along all the roads to the South, except those which were blocked up by Johnston's retreating army.
Governor Harris gathered up the archives, and summoned the members of the Legislature, when all fled together.
At night the Confederate store-houses were thrown open to the poor. But when greed was added to terror the mob became uncontrolable, and the order was retracted. No authority, however, could clear the multitude from the doors, and at least a million of dollars in stores was lost before, by means of jets of water from fire-engines, the ravenous crowd was dispersed.
Two fine gunboats at the wharf were burned. Two bridges over the river, one a railway, the other a wire suspension bridge, belonging to the orphan daughters of General Zolli- coffer, were destroyed.
The panic begun on Sunday subsided only as the popula- tion decreased. Towards the last of the week all the business houses in Nashville and nearly all the fine dwellings were shut and barred, and the streets were deserted and silent.
General Mitchell did not arrive at Edgefield until Sunday. He then made no attempt to cross the river, but waited for General Buell, who came Monday. The same day two of Commodore Foote's gunboats, following eight transports with General Nelson's division and part of General Critten- den's, came up the Cumberland.
The following passage from a private letter, written Feb- ruary 25th, by James Shanklin, Major of the Forty-Second regiment, describes a part of the voyage up the river, and the arrival in Nashville:
" Yesterday we landed at Clarksville, one of the prettiest
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
towns I ever saw. As we approached we saw white flags floating from some of the principal buildings, indicating that the people had followed the wise example of Captain Scott's 'coon, and were ready to come quietly down. That their original intentions, however, were not quite so amiable was evidenced by the fact that just at the head of the bend of the river, which sweeps round in the form of a crescent as you approach the place, there had been planted three heavy cannon, which commanded the river as far as the eye can reach. These had been placed on a mound of earth, thrown up for the pur- pose, and were nearly under water, as the river had since risen high. They were completely surrounded by water, the river having backed up all over the country, and seemed to be floating on top. We passed by these savage looking pieces, "ghostly, grim and ancient," standing on the nightly shore, and rounded in at Clarksville. While we were waiting for the other boats to come up, we walked round the town. It is on high, undulating ground, clean streets, fine buildings, great wealth and fashion, about four thousand inhabitants, two fine college buildings, one for ladies. People seemed doubtful as to which side they should take. Business was very dull, coffee seventy-five cents a pound, and other things selling at proportionate prices. One citizen told me that Con- federate money passed among the citizens at par. Another, more candid, informed a crowd of bystanders that he would sell a twenty dollar bill he had for seventy-five cents. A small command of our troops, under General Smith, occupy Clarksville.
"This morning in coming up to Nashville we saw more evidences of what the Rebels would have liked to do to us. Three heavy cannon, mounted on the river bank, looked grimly down on us. The place is built right against the river. It does not look well as you approach by water. It has the appearance of being with its back to the river. The water, being high, is close up to the buildings, and into some of them.
"As we passed up, only a few feet from the houses, a goodly number of people came out in the street waving caps and handkerchiefs. When our band struck up 'Yankee Doodle'
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THE BANNER OF OUR FATHERS.
they greeted it with a pretty hearty cheer. In a yard close by the river I saw real joy. Some twenty were collected, mostly women. One old woman, I took her to be old, waved her handkerchief as if she meant to make it her business for the rest of her life. But the real joy I spoke of was mani- fested by a young girl, a grand-daughter, I imagine, of the old lady of the handkerchief. She did not restrain herself, but taking off her bonnet and whirling it round and round her head, broke into impossible jigs and graceful pigeon- wings, dancing and shuffling as though full to overflowing of genuine happiness. The soldiers cheered her loudly, and she danced with renewed energy, and swung her bonnet as a man does his cap when he feels three hearty cheers bursting from his soul.
" The magnificent State House, built of white marble, stands on a high hill, and can be seen away down the river before any other building is visible. From the dome a Rebel flag has floated for many a long month past. It was there I verily believe this morning, though I may be mistaken. But as we neared the town I saw something like a flag disappear from the building. After a few minutes the glorious old banner of our fathers danced and flapped and floated in the bright sun over the dome of the capitol. My heart never beat quicker, and my soul never leaped with greater joy, than when I saw it, beautiful in the clear morning light, wave over the marble pillars."
On the evening of Monday, the 24th, General Buell was visited by the Mayor of Nashville, but the city was not for- mally surrendered until the next day, when assurances were given to the citizens that their liberty and property would be sacredly respected, and the following order was issued to the soldiers:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO.
General Order.
The General Commanding congratulates his troops that it has been their privilege to restore the national banner to the capitol of Tennessee. He believes that thousands of hearts in every part of the State will swell with joy to see that
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honored flag reinstated in a position from which it was removed in the excitement and folly of an evil hour; that the voice of her own people will soon proclaim its welcome, and that their manhood and patriotism will protect and per- petuate it.
The General does not deem it necessary, though the occa- sion is a fit one, to remind the troops of the rule of conduct they have hitherto observed and are still to pursue. We are in arms not for the purpose of invading the rights of our fellow-countrymen anywhere, but to maintain the integrity of the Union, and protect the constitution under which its people have been prosperous and happy. We cannot, there- fore, look with indifference on any conduct which is designed to give aid and comfort to those who are endeavoring to defeat these objects; but the action to be taken in such cases rests with certain authorized persons, and is not to be assumed by individual officers or soldiers. Peaceable citizens are not to be molested in their persons or property. Any wrongs to either are to be promptly corrected, and the offenders brought to punishment. To this end all persons are desired to make complaints to the immediate commander of officers or sol- diers so offending, and if justice be not done promptly, then to the next commander, and so on until the wrong is redressed. If the necessities of the public service should require the use of private property for public purposes, fair compensation is to be allowed. No such appropriation of private property is to be made except by the authority of the highest commander present, and any other officer or soldier who shall presume to exercise such privilege shall be brought to trial. Soldiers are forbidden to enter the residences or grounds of citizens on any plea without authority.
No arrests are to be made without the authority of the Commanding General, except in cases of actual offence against the authority of the Government; and in all such cases the fact and circumstances will immediately be reported in writing to headquarters through the intermediate com- manders.
The General reminds his officers that the most frequent depredations are those which are committed by worthless
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BUELL'S ARMY IN NASHVILLE.
characters who straggle from the ranks on the plea of being unable to march; and where the inability really exists, it will be found in most instances that the soldier has over-loaded himself with useless and unauthorized articles. The orders already published on this subject must be enforced.
The condition and behavior of a corps are sure indications of the efficiency and fitness of its officers. If any regiment shall be found to disregard that propriety of conduct which belongs to soldiers as well as citizens, they must not expect to occupy the posts of honor, but may rest assured that they will be placed in positions where they cannot bring shame on their comrades and the cause they are engaged in. The Gov- ernment supplies with liberality all the wants of the soldiers. The occasional deprivations and hardships incident to rapid marches must be borne with patience and fortitude. Any officer who neglects to provide for his troops, or separates himself from them to seek his own comfort, shall be held to a rigid accountability.
By command of General BUELL.
After the week of desolation that followed the surrender of Fort Donelson, Nashville saw another sight, when the magnificent army of Buell poured along her streets. Nelson's, Crittenden's and Mitchell's were the first divisions to encamp. in the neighborhood of the city. The first battery of United States artillery in Nashville was the Eighth Indiana, under Captain Cochran. General Thomas arrived on the 2d of March with his division in readiness to take the field.
McCook's troops crossed the Cumberland in the evening; of the same day, in a storm of wind and snow. They mis- took the road, and went two miles after night in the wrong. direction, then returned to the city, marched four miles on the Franklin turnpike, and bivouacked without supper and with- out tents, in a wild snow storm, which continued all night. The next day a beautiful wood was selected for a camp, and named "Andy Johnson." General Wood's division encamped near Edgefield.
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