USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 35
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If General Mitchell could have received reinforcements, and if supplies could have reached him, he at this time would have cleared East Tennessee of the enemy. But the Gov- ernment had already acquired more territory than it could hold without an increase of military power, and further efforts in this direction were given up.
General Negley began his retreat across the mountains on the morning of the 8th, while Colonel Scribner with his reg- iment and a few guns engrossed the attention of the Confed- erates in Chattanooga. The artillery fire drove the enemy out of the town, but Scribner, of course, did not follow up his success. General Negley withdrew as rapidly as he had advanced, and, leaving the Thirty-Eighth at Shelbyville, again established himself in Columbia. A few weeks later the Thirty-Eighth moved to Stevenson, where the Thirty-Seventh was already encamped, and engaged in the monotonous and wearisome business of guarding the road.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
CHAPTER XXXII.
MEMPHIS.
From out the dusk of far receding centuries One clear, prophetic voice of warning calls -- 'Tis this: that in the hour of trust and trial, He who falters falls! W. D. G.
MEMPHIS, the principal city between New Orleans and St. Louis, became the object of Commodore Foote's attentions after the surrender of Island No. 10. Fifty-eight and seventy miles above the city, two strongholds, Fort Pillow and Fort Randolph, lay in the way. These must first be taken. On the 12th of April the gunboat fleet, accompanied by trans- ports containing the divisions of General Palmer and General Hamilton, and a part of the command of General Stanley, left New Madrid and stood down the river. They anchored the next day between three and four miles from Fort Pillow, which was situated on a bend commanding the stream some · distance above, and consisted of a succession of short breast- works, mounted by siege-guns. The mortars, brought down by the boats, were placed on the Arkansas shore at Craighead Point, and the daily operation commenced of sending a certain number of shells into the fort.
Apparently Commodore Foote had no expectation of imme- diate success, and, indeed, the result of his expedition depended much more upon the movements of General Halleck's army before Corinth, than on any demonstration which might be made on the Mississippi.
The last week in April General Pope, with his forces, in which was included the Fifty-Ninth Indiana, left the fleet in order to swell the army on the Tennessee. Shortly after- wards Commodore Foote was obliged to surrender the com- mand on account of the condition of the wound received before Fort Donelson, and he departed never to return, and
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FORT PILLOW.
never again to lift hand or voice in the service which was dearer to him than life.
Captain Davis succeeded to the command of the fleet. The land forces, which included the Forty-Third and Forty-Sixth and part of the time the Thirty-Fourth Indiana, under Lieu- tenant-Colonel Cameron, were landed in Arkansas, near Osceola, with the expectation that they would proceed down the levee and through the woods, cross the river below the fort and assault its rear, while the gunboats stripped its front of gunboat defences. The river was very high, completely overflowing the country, the attempt was consequently relin- quished, and the troops returned to the boats. When the waters had somewhat abated the effort was repeated, and during several days the men, wading in mud knee-deep, worked at the construction of roads. At this time the Forty- Seventh arrived, and with most of the land forces was engaged in a severe skirmish with the enemy, who, in making a recon- noissance, discovered the Federal plans. The consequence was the establishment of a strong Confederate body on the western bank of the river, opposite the fort, and the perma- nent retreat of the Federal troops to the boats.
Meantime, and a month or six weeks longer, regular firing into and out of the fort continued, interrupted in its monotony only on the 4th of May, when a fierce engagement of forty- five minutes duration occurred between the Union gunboats and a Confederate ram and gunboats, in which the latter were either destroyed or crippled, while the former suffered no injury.
June 4th the guns in the fort were very unequal and eccentric in their firing, and at last ceased altogether. On examina- tion it was found that the Confederates had quietly retreated, as a result of the abandonment of Corinth, first having filled the guns, they were obliged to leave, with double and triple charges, and prepared them to explode. June 5th the Forty- Third and Forty-Sixth raised their flags over Fort Pillow. Fort Randolph was also found abandoned.
The proud and beautiful metropolis of Tennessee now awaited the approach of the Federal fleet, and not without apprehension. Commodore Montgomery, the Confederate
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naval commander, calmed anxiety and fear by repeated assu- rances that he could withstand and repulse any number of Northern invaders.
Before sunrise on a bright June morning, four days after the abandonment of the forts, Montgomery's vessels, eight in number, formed in two lines in front of the city, and moved up the river to meet and challenge the approaching Union fleet of five gunboats and four rams. On the levee and on the house-tops spectators stood in almost breathless suspense.
The Little Rebel, Montgomery's flag-ship, fired the first shot. The Cairo replied with a broadside, and in a few moments all the boats were engaged. During the first half hour success varied. Now one and now the other fleet seemed on the point of immediate triumph. Once a joyful hurra rang along the shore as a maneuver of the Federal vessels induced the belief that the whole force was retiring. But the shout died away; the battle continued, and victory grad- ually inclined towards the North. One after another of the Southern vessels were disabled. The General Lovell, crowded with men, and firing her guns, was struck aft by a fifty-pound ball. She went down like lead. In four minutes the gurgling waters covered the tops of her tall chimneys. Of the few men who were able to free themselves from the sinking vessel not more than twenty escaped the strong current, and these, except two or three who struggled to the shore, were picked up by seamen from the Union flag-ship, who made every effort to rescue the unfortunate beings.
An hour and three minutes after the firing of the first shot the combat was decided. Two of the Confederate boats were in the bottom of the river, two were stranded on the Arkansas shore, one was wrapt in flame and smoke, one was captured, one drifted at the mercy of the current, and one, the last, ended the battle by crowding on all her power and turning her head down the river.
The National vessels were all unhurt, and but one man, though he was one of the most prominent and devoted, lost his life.
Had Providence intended to humble the haughty Memphians by one stroke, to the human mind, none could have been more
417
EXASPERATION AND CONCILIATION.
sure or signal than the total and swift destruction of their city's only bulwark under their eyes, and almost within the sound of their voices.
Without further resistance Memphis surrendered to what she impotently termed the "brute force" of the Northern invaders. Arrangements were scarcely effected when a drunken sailor who had been shut up in a gunboat several months marched the whole length of the main street with a black woman on each arm. He was seized and locked up in the guard-house by some superior officer, but his poor joke exasperated the citizens almost as much as the success of the Northern fleet.
Colonel Fitch, of the Forty-Sixth Indiana, assumed mili- tary authority, and undertook the task of subjecting the rebel- lious city to the control of law and order. The citizens asserted that they were divided into two or three parties, but in fact, with insignificant exceptions, they formed only differ- ent shades of one party, and that opposed to the Government. Nearly all patriots went North when they found they could not express nor even hold their sentiments with safety. Some who had hitherto warmly aided and abetted the Confederacy were now converts to success; some who were sincerely attached to their country were afraid to declare themselves, lest the Union rule should be temporary; a few were both faithful and frank; but ninety-nine one hundredths of the present population seemed to be composed of outspoken secessionists, men who on the assertion of their independence, and while they yet did not imagine the miseries of war, strode the streets like gods, inflated with the touch and taste of for- bidden fruit. Now that unanticipated evil had fallen on them, their bearing was little less lofty. They arrogantly advised Colonel Fitch as to the true modes of conciliation. They considered that the introduction of provost guards, the exer- cise of military power, the requirement of the oath of alle- giance, interference with the liberty of the press, inquiry into the coming and going of citizens, might alarm or exasperate the people. They dwelt much and fondly on two weighty words, exasperation on the one side, and conciliation on the
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
other. They insisted on calling the United States army the "enemy," and the Confederate troops "our forces."
To assure the timid of protection, to confirm the doubting, to convince the selfish, to reward the faithful, to punish the traitorous and rebellious, in short to start again the wheels of Government, and to do it without friction, might well perplex the brain of an administrator of municipal affairs. Colonel Fitch, in harmony with the custom by which each military ruler applied the "rose-water policy" of the Govern- ment, somewhat according to his own principles, went to the very extreme of patience and conciliation. He retained in office the city council and police force, although they had faithfully served the Rebel rulers. He allowed any individual on taking the oath of allegiance to go North, or to ship goods for the North. He exhorted residents who had fled from their homes to return, and merchants and others who had aban- doned their business to re-open their stores and shops. That he succeeded in giving satisfaction may be judged from the following extracts from the Memphis newspapers of that date:
From the Memphis Argus of June 10th.
Thus far the Federal commanders and soldiers have con- ducted themselves in a manner unexceptionable to the people. So long as their present conduct is maintained, there will be no clashes with the citizens. A spirit of riot never existed in Memphis, and can only be called into life by persecution.
From the Avalanche of the 10th.
It is due to frankness to state that our present rulers have acted with marked propriety since their arrival in our city. They are orderly, disciplined and well-behaved. In this respect our people have been much disappointed.
From the Avalanche, of the 10th.
AN IMPORTANT ORDER.
We direct the attention of our readers specially to the order of General Fitch, upon the subject of slaves. This is a step in the right direction, and cannot fail to quiet the apprehen- sions of many of our people upon a subject of vital interest to the South. With candor and truth we can say that Gen-
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CONCILIATION.
eral Fitch, while in the councils of the nation, always stood by the constitutional rights of the South.
HEADQUARTERS ON STEAMER VON PHUL, 2d Brigade, 3d Division, District of Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, June 8, 1862.
General Order, No. 10.
All negroes, except those who came with the command to this place, and of whom descriptive lists are filed at these headquarters, will be excluded from the lines and boats.
Any officer or soldier violating or conniving at a violation of this order, will be severely and promptly punished.
This order will be read at the heads of companies to-mor- row, 9th instant, and at guard-mounting every morning for a week.
G. N. FITCH, Colonel Commanding Brigade.
So much cotton and sugar had been destroyed by Confed- erate authorities that it was supposed but little remained in the city or country, but the city alone had succeeded in con- cealing a hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of those staples, and they now began to find their way to the wharf, from garret and cellar, from meal-bag and pit. Opening the post office was like opening sluice-gates. The citizens mailed a thousand letters the first day.
June 13th Colonel Slack with his regiment arrived from Tiptonville. By platoons, bearing the National flag and the regimental colors, the Forty-Seventh marched through the city to the tune of Yankee Doodle, and encamped about a mile and a half east of the river. The sidewalks and win- dows were full of silent spectators. The Chaplain of the Forty-Seventh, Mr. Sawyer, preached the next Sunday in a church from which, before the war, he was expelled on account of the Union sentiments. The Thirty-Fourth arrived soon after, and marched along the streets, making also a gallant appearance. The Forty-Sixth disembarked, but returned the next day to the boats, where, with the Forty-Third, it had been in a miserably crowded and uncomfortable condi-
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tion for more than two months, with but the intermission of the few days in the mud and water opposite Fort Pillow.
Colonel Slack assumed command of the city, and issued the following order:
" Hereafter the dealing in and passage of currency known as Confederate Scrip or Confederate Notes is positively pro- hibited, and the use thereof as a circulating medium is · regarded as an insult to the Government of the United States, and an imposition upon the ignorant and deluded.
"All persons offending against the provisions of this order will be promptly arrested and severely punished by the mili- tary authorities."
The city authorities, indignant with this rough handling, remonstrated, and requested him to leave the matter for sixty days to the judgment and discretion of the people. Colonel Slack refused, saying in the close of his reply:
"The calamity of having to contend with a depreciated currency will come upon the people sooner or later, and I see no reason why it may not as well come now as sixty days hence.
" Those who have been the most active in getting up this wicked rebellion are the individuals whose pockets are lined with Confederate notes, and if sixty days' time should be given them, it is only giving that much time for those who are responsible for its issue to get rid of it without loss, and the worthless trash will be found in the hands of the unsus- pecting and the credulous, who have always been the dupes of designing Shylocks."
Colonel Slack received few compliments from Southern papers. He was gratified, however, by hearing now and then of the utterance of sentiments which were so sincerely loyal that they could not easily be forgotten.
One day an old man was seen intently gazing on the American flag as it floated above one of the hotels. "Don't you like that flag?" asked a soldier. "I love that flag," replied the old man. "I live in Mississippi, where they won't let it be raised; but I love it. I carried it through the Indian wars and at New Orleans under General Jackson. I love my country, but they call me a traitor now."
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A CUP OF COLD WATER.
An incident of a different character, but equally worthy of note, occurred at this time. Mr. Meldrum, of Madison, while visiting Memphis, strolled out to the cemetery. Approaching several men who were engaged in digging a grave, he asked if the grave was for a soldier. "Yes," was the reply. "For an Indiana soldier?" he asked again. The answer was again, " Yes.' A carriage containing two ladies entered the grave- yard, and driving up to the group stopped. The elder of the ladies stepped out, and, after looking about, said to the other, "Come, you need not be afraid on account of your dress, they are only hospital soldiers." The young lady obeyed, displaying as she alighted a dress made of the Confederate flag. "For whom are you digging that grave?" asked the elder; on receiving the reply she added, " I should be glad to see every one of you, every Northern soldier, put into just such a hole as that." She continued asking questions and making remarks, all of the same odious and unwomanly character. The soldiers answered her politely and respect- fully, but Mr. Meldrum endeavored to convince her that she was wrong in indulging such a state of feeling. He might as well have argued with the wind.
On the 2d of June General Wallace's division left Corinth to co-operate with the fleet, and to unite with the Forty- Third and Forty-Sixth in the expected attack on Memphis. It passed through Purdy, Bolivar and Summerville, and left the beautiful and cultivated region in which those towns are situated as beautiful and prosperous as it found it. Once or twice an ill-natured secessionist living on the route hid his well-bucket to deprive the troops of the refreshment of a cup of cold water; but oftener the people, either from fear or love, set tubs and buckets brimming with the crystal liquid by the roadside. Whether it was from fear or love they earned a blessing. The sky was cloudless, the heat was intense, as summer had now set in with all its usual southern severity, not a breath of air moved, not a drop of moisture fell, the smaller streams were dried up, the roads were dusty, yet the division, about eight thousand strong, marched on an average fifteen miles a day for five days.
In Summerville a young lady met the Twenty-Fourth 28
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA,
Indiana, waving the Stars and Stripes. Many days had it been since the troops had seen the National flag in any but military hands. They halted and gave three cheers to the brave, warm-hearted girl, while the band struck up the "Star Spangled Banner."
Rest was allowed at Bolivar and at Union Station. About noon of June 17th General Wallace, accompanied by a few officers, all dusty, jaded and sun-burnt, arrived in Memphis, the tidings of the surrender having reached them, and has- tened their advance. The troops began to come in at mid- night in a terrible storm.
General Wallace assumed command of the city by virtue of his rank, and determined at once to put a stop to the bitter tone of the Memphis Argus, one of the chief newspapers of the city. Accordingly he placed the correspondents of the New York Tribune and of the New York Herald at the edi- tor's table, although he left the pecuniary business of the paper in the hands of the proprietors.
Hundreds of citizens, allowing curiosity to overcome pride, attended the first dress parade of the Eleventh regiment, which was famous for its military accomplishments, and in spite of the brown faces of the soldiers, their dusty and worn dress, and the still more objectionable color of their uniform, the spectators actually applauded the skill and grace of their evolutions, and in their remarks to each other admitted that it would be "a hard day's work to whip that regiment."
General Wallaceremained buta few days, and the authority fell again into the hands of Colonel Slack, who issued an order requiring all city officials to take the oath of allegiance within three days. The citizens were as usual exasperated, and submitted with their usual ill-grace. In acquiring a practical knowledge of law they felt much as he must feel who becomes acquainted with a hedge by running into its thorns.
When General Grant established his headquarters in Mem- phis, as he did in June, he found that constant communica- tion existed between men in the Rebel army and their friends in the city, and accordingly ordered the families of all persons in the Confederate army, or in the employ of the Confederate
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EXASPERATION.
Government, to move South beyond the lines in five days from the date of his order, or take an oath that they had not furnished information to the enemy, and that they would not give intelligence to him in the future.
After a short administration General Grant returned to Corinth, leaving the reins in the hands of General A. P. Hovey, who, still increasing the rigor of Federal rule, required all male residents of the city between the ages of eighteen and forty-five to take the oath of allegiance. Between one and two thousand succumbed, and five hundred who refused were exiled from the city.
The measure subjected General Hovey to severe criticism. The New York Herald, echoed by minor papers, sneered at the nine days' Indiana commandant, insinuating that, clothed with a little brief authority, he was led into indiscreet arro- gance, and accused him of increasing the strength of the Rebel army by the addition of at least a thousand men. Admitting the accusation, General Hovey considered a thous- and armed enemies without the Federal lines less dangerous than a thousand enemies within, even though the latter should be armed only with a bitter and venomous tongue.
General Sherman was of the same opinion, and on taking command of the post confirmed Hovey's order, and added restrictions upon trade for the purpose of preventing the passage of gold, silver and treasury notes into the Confed- eracy. He also took possession of all vacant stores and houses, with the promise of turning them over to their owners on proof of loyalty.
Within six weeks the post at Memphis was held by six commandants, each one of which added to the severity of his predecessor. It would have been evident to any ordinary people that they were conquered. But Southern understand- ing is obtuse, and the Memphians still talked, though with bated breath, of the certain triumph of their sacred cause. Sacred indeed is the ancient cause of ambition and aristoc- racy, if blood and tears and time can sanctify. What grander galaxy in history than Satan and Eve and Nimrod, than the Spartans and the Patricians, than Louis le Grand and Tilly and the bleeding, love-locked cavaliers?
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Step by step the stern power of that Government which hitherto had been so lenient that its restraints could not be felt, moved on towards a firm re-establishment. Treason began to hush even its whisperings, and an unmistakable feeling of loyalty to pervade the community.
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425
THE GAP AND THE FORD.
CHAPTER XXXIII
CUMBERLAND FORD.
Freedom's soil has only place For a free and fearless race- None for traitors false and base. --- Whittier.
Cumberland Gap is the only pass in a mountain nearly eighty miles in length, Roger's Gap and Big Creek Gap being roads over accessible peaks, not depressions or breaks in the rocks. They are from ten hundred to fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, and are exceedingly rugged, while the road through the notch is good, and not more than four hundred feet high. The mountains are abrupt and wild, clothed and crowned with the usual dark ever-green foliage of mountains, and sparkling with springs and rills. South of the pass is a little semi-circular valley, in which a clear stream, gushing from the mountain side, and a busy mill did constant service to either Confederate or Federal cause during the first years of the war.
The Confederates formed one of their first encampments in 1861 in this lofty and secure valley, while in the pass, and on points commanding it, they built four or five of their earliest fortifications. East Tennessee was thus held in their grasp, and the railroad line of communication between Rich- mond and Alabama was preserved from any direct northern attack. Ten miles northwest of the Gap, Cumberland river, after winding its way with little obstruction among the moun- tains, is suddenly and sharply driven to the right and to the left by protruding rocks, until at last it finds an outlet through hollows, which allow also the passage of a road. Here is Cumberland Ford, beautiful to poet and painter if they ever wander to so comfortless a region, beloved by the fervid souls of Kentucky and Tennessee mountaineers, but dreary in the
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
memory of the United States soldiers who held it in 1862, from the middle of February to the middle of June. To them the rugged peaks only shut out the fair expanse of heaven; the whispering pines, the rushing river, were always lonesome and sad; the little fields, stripped and peeled by winter and by the merciless hands of Zollicoffer's troops, and barren even in the prolific month of June, told only of ugly and doleful poverty. Life at Cumberland Ford was of a piece with the scenery. It was made up of standing picket on sullen rocks, of guarding dark ravines, of scouting with little result, of preparing for expeditions which seldom took place, of hungry days when waiting for the wagon was the sole occupation, and, for too many, of fever in crowded hospitals.
General George Morgan had command of the post, and of the seventh division of the Army of the Ohio. Like many another officer in our army, General Morgan carried a weight of prejudice which prevented the exertion of his capacity to its full extent. He was never especially beloved or honored, and in the course of time he lost even the confidence of his troops, a misfortune to them, if not to him. One brigade in the division was made up of Tennesseeans, and was under the command of General Spears, of East Tennessee. The Forty-Ninth Indiana was one of the first regiments to reach the place. It was more than a month sounding the depths of Kentucky soil in the two hundred and fifty miles between Bardstown and Cumberland Ford. The single road from London to the river, though stony, hilly, muddy and cut up by travel, was scarcely worse than the roads the regiment was obliged to pursue in the interior of the State. Colonel Ray, one of the most considerate and upright men in whose care a regiment was ever placed, took all the necessary steps during this long and fatiguing march to secure the comfort and well-being of his men; he watched over their character with equal attention, and on his arrival had the pleasure of reporting that his regiment had not been guilty of a single misdemeanor. To the correctness of his report the stock and farms of both Union and Rebel civilians along the line bore ample testimony.
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