USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 46
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At this time only one church in the city of Baltimore had free doors to the soldier. The citizens were allowed to wor- ship God, but the soldier was too vile a thing to be admitted into the sacred edifice. A Presbyterian church, where the Rev. Mr. Hays presided as pastor, held out the olive branch.
October 24th we were ordered to Fort Marshall, on the highest point near Baltimore. As it was now cold, and we were without stoves, it was necessary to exert our ingenuity to keep ourselves comfortable. We dug cellars in our tents two or three feet deep, making a fire-place in one side, and building a chimney with turf.
In the middle of November it was found to be necessary to send a force down to the counties of Northampton and Accomac, which lie on a neck of land between the Atlantic ocean and the Chesapeake bay. It was understood that Gen- eral Magruder was here with several regiments, for the pur- pose of running supplies from Maryland to Virginia, and thence across the bay to Yorktown. To put a stop to this, it would be necessary to occupy that part of Virginia which lies east of Chesapeake bay. Three thousand men, five hun- dred from the Twenty-First, were selected for the purpose, and placed under the command of General Lockwood, of Delaware. Many slipped on board who ought not to have
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gone. We took three days' rations, but neither baggage nor shelter tents.
The day of embarkation was cold, with now and then a snow flake dropping slowly through the air, and with a dis- agreeable surge to the waters of the bay. No fires were on board, and every man curled down in the best place he could find. We were so crowded it was impossible to lie down, and we endured twenty-four horrible hours before we were moored in the Pangateag river, where we were to disembark.
The soldier dislikes a transport. In camp he is habituated to a certain routine. He has a regular time for his meals, a regular time for sleep, a regular time for work, a regular time to exercise and a regular time to play. However hard his bed may be, you make him suffer if you take it away, or if you give him a soft one.
We landed near Snow Hill, and as soon as we were rested went to Sandy Hill, which is near the line between Virginia and Maryland, and contains from fifty to a hundred white inhabitants. We passed fortification after fortification which bore signs of recent evacuation. When we reached Belle Haven, we were convinced the Rebels had escaped. The pursuit was kept up, however, to Eastville, in order to make sure that there was no enemy lurking on the east side of the bay, and the cavalry continued the search to Cape Charles, but nothing was seen or heard of the Rebels after leaving Franktown. General Lockwood was openly charged with having informed General Magruder of his approach. How much truth there is in this charge, I am unable to say, but I can believe it, for the man, who allows himself to be suspected of perjury and treason, the officer, who treats loyal men like dogs, and avowed traitors like heroes, is no patriot.
The Eastern Shore, as the part of Virginia east of the Chesapeake is called, is a neck of sandy soil about ten miles wide and eighty miles long. To a western man it looks like' a sandy desert. The inhabitants are poor, ignorant, drunken and shiftless, but boast of their genealogy and aristocracy. I have seen families too poor to buy the commonest comforts of life, assume style and talk about their ancestry. It is claimed that Virginians as a class are well-bred. This is not
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A SILVER HALF DOLLAR.
true. I have yet to see the first man, woman or child in Vir- ginia, or anywhere else in the South, give a civil answer to a civil question. All vehicles, tools or utensils are at least one hundred years behind those of the most newly settled State in the North. Ropes are used for harness, and corn husks for horse collars. Coaches are in the style of King George the Third's time.
I shall not soon forget the reasoning of a venerable negro who was required to give some information to a Captain in our regiment. When the intelligence was given, the Captain paid the man a half dollar. The negro, holding the silver piece in his hand, looked gravely first at the Captain, then at the money for some minutes. His manner attracted the off- cer's notice, and he asked if it was not good. "Golly! yes, massa; but I was thinkin' of de times long 'go when we hab plenty o' dis." "Don't you get any money now?" asked the Captain. " Yes, sah, but he aint sich money as dis." " What kind then?" "Why, dey little bits o' paper." "Can't you buy what you want just the same?" "Yes, sah." "Then it's just as good." "No, sah." "Why?" "Case." "Cause what?" " Well," said the negro, still pondering and turning the piece; "well, case it habn't got dis eagle on it. I likes to see dat." The Captain was delighted with his admiration of the emblem of liberty, and made him a present of a gold eagle.
A small force was left on the Eastern Shore, and we returned to Baltimore, arriving there December 14th. On a wet, cold day in the middle of February we received orders to embark on the Georgiana for Fortress Monroe; at the same time an intimation reached us that we were to accompany an expedition up the James river to Richmond.
At four in the afternoon the line was formed in a storm as severe as any I ever experienced. We were wet to the skin before we began to move, then we marched four miles and stood at the wharf until it was ascertained that all could not get aboard, when three companies were sent back. I was on board. We cut loose about eight, and steamed away down the bay. We could not get at any fires, and crouched in our wet clothes all the night, which was very cold. We
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arrived at the Fortress at six in the morning, and at ten went up to Newport News.
On the 2d of March the steam transport Constitution arrived at Newport News, and brought orders for the Twenty- First Indiana, the Fourth Wisconsin and the Sixth Michigan regiments to embark immediately, and proceed to Ship Island. On the 4th everything was aboard, and we dropped down to Fortress Monroe. Perhaps I cannot do better than describe the voyage in the words of a newspaper correspondent, who was on the ship.
On arriving within range of the Rebel batteries on Sewall's Point, they opened on us. The fire was well-directed, and we all felt relieved when we were out of range. The Con- stitution had more than three thousand soldiers aboard, and one effective shot would have made sad havoc among us.
About a league east of Fortress Monroe we dropped anchor to receive final orders, to take on board ammunition, and to exchange our rifles for better.
At nine on the morning of the 6th we took a pilot on board, weighed anchor, and headed for the broad Atlantic. We passed Cape Henry about noon, when the pilot was sent ashore. We reach the gulf-stream about four on the after- noon of the 7th. A gale struck us here. The waves ran high, and the ship tossed about like a feather in a whirlwind.
I imagine a more sea-sick set of passengers was never on the Constitution. Hundreds at one time leaned over the bul- warks to pay their respects to the briny deep, while many were obliged to cast up their accounts on the decks for want of room anywhere else. Some of the boys said if they could see the man who wrote that humbug,
"Oh, for a life on the ocean wave, A home on the rolling deep,"
they would "castigate him, and make him take the oath."
On the 9th we came in sight of land on the eastern shores of Florida. Numerous porpoises now began to show them- selves, throwing their black bodies entirely out of water, and playing like school boys. Hundreds of pelicans hovered around, picking up whatever provisions might be thrown over- board. Flying fish darte'd out of the water, while a friendly
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SHIP ISLAND.
shark followed us. About noon we passed Cape Canaveral, and on the next day Cape Sable, the Coral Reefs and Key West. On the morning of the 13th we came in sight of Ship Island, and in the afternoon we landed on this most dismal sand bank.
Ship Island is seven miles long and three quarters of a mile wide. It is ten or twelve miles from the gulf coast, and scarcely rises above the water. It is a mass of dry, white sand, and is full of fleas, flics, musquitoes, ticks, lice and scor- pions. It is a most dreary, desolate, God-forsaken place. We were no sooner landed than we felt that we were exiles, shut out from home, banished from the light of Heaven, and even cast away from the grace of God. Melancholy, or ill humor pervaded every camp. It is said that the scowl on General Butler's face never relaxed while he was on the island. We had a wholesome dread of our distinguished commander, and were somewhat surprised one day to hear a Lieutenant of our regiment, a young man whose temper was proof against all evil influences, remark in a gratified tone, " General Butler isn't a bit proud; he spoke to me to-day." Our surprise, however, was modified when he added, "He caught me off duty, seized me by the shoulder, spun me round like a top, and said, 'Put out from here!'"
We spent a long month on the island, on less than half rations, with much sickness in all the encampments, and the occurrence of many deaths. On the 13th of April we had orders to embark on the ship Great Republic, leaving every- thing behind, which could not be carried on our backs. At four in the afternoon we were all aboard.
The Great Republic was moored with its bow from the outlet of the Mississippi Sound, in which Ship Island lies, and had to be turned about. For two days the gunboat Cal- houn tugged, hitched again and pulled, broke hawser after hawser, swung round and banged its sides against the Repub- lic, pulled out again and tugged away, but all to no purpose. When we would think we were in a fair way to get out of sight of that hated island, the Captain would shout, " Let go the anchor!" "Aye, aye, sir," would be answered back, and down would go the anchor. Pulling, tugging, swearing,
36
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sweating, hallooing, fretting, running this way and that, try- ing this plan and that, all was of no use, we did not budge an inch. Two nights and two days passed, and the Calhoun gave up the attempt, and prepared to depart and leave the · Great Republic to her fate. All at once the water heaved and swelled, and the ship slowly righted herself.
Two days later found us at the southwest pass of the Mis- sissippi river. We can never forget our emotions on behold- ing the Father of Waters. We hove a bucket overboard, drew it up full, and fancied we could taste White river and Wabash water. But we met with no success in our attempts to get over the bar. Day after day we failed, suffering inde- scribably from our detention on the dirty and crowded vessel. The ship was old and full of vermin. It had been last used to carry horses and cattle to Ship Island, and had not been cleaned. Many soldiers were nearly two weeks hidden from the light of day. They could not wash, they could not see, they had only to wait and wait for a chance to get on shore.
At last, on the 23d of April, we were ordered back to Isle- au-Briton Sound, in the rear of Fort St. Philip, there to land, and, if necessary, assist the fleet in taking the forts. We arrived in the rear of the fort in the afternoon, and our regi- ment was transferred to the gunboat Miami, from which two companies were landed in small boats before dark. These two companies passed the night alone in the swamp, part of the time up to their waists in mud and water, which they knew was the dwelling place of snakes, lizards and alligators. The night was very dark, and the soldiers could not tell whether the numerous lights, moving up and down the river, were from the transports they had left or from the Confeder- ate gunboats. At four in the morning a great commotion began to be manifest below. The air was lighted up with flashes, and shook with roars of artilery. Our fleet had met the combined fleet and land forces of the enemy. Excitement led us near the scene of action, but the shells bouncing into the mud about us, warned us that we were not out of danger.
('The writer here enters into a detailed account of the events which resulted in the taking of the Crescent City, from the the 13th of April, when the fleet at the head of the passes
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PICAYUNE BUTLER.
of the Mississippi began to move slowly up the river, to the 27th, when the Mayor of New Orleans sullenly succumbed to "brute force," the only power which the South seemed to appreciate. He describes the guns and mortars; the gun- boats and mortar schooners, sailing vessels, sloops of war, nearly all of which were painted mud color and trimmed with green boughs to make them seem a part of the low shore; the naval commanders; the Confederate forts; the cable stretched from Fort Jackson to a mud battery on the opposite shore; the petards; the fire rafts; the last day's bat- tle, when the swamps quaked, the river heaved and lashed the shores, and the fish in its waters were killed by the concussion of shells; the destruction of the Confederate fleet; the victory and the surrender of the forts before the land forces could reach them. But as the Twenty-First, in which were the only Indiana troops before New Orleans, had no part in the combat, and the account is necessarily long, it is omitted. It is enough to say that the expedition was the most powerful that had ever sailed under the United States flag, and that the victory was the most wonderful that had yet been achieved, and was not expected at so early a stage in the operations .- ED.)
On the surrender of the forts, the troops hastened forward to take possession of the city. The portion of the Twenty- First which landed in the rear of St. Philip waded across to the Quarantine, and the rest went through Pass L'Outre. The shore for seven miles was lined with spectators, who took advantage of their position as civilians to heap abusive epi- thets on the Union troops, especially singling out General Butler as the object of their regards. Among all manner of hideous outcries, the oftenest repeated was a call to " Pic- ayune Butler to come out and show himself." The General requested a member of his staff to ascertain if any of the regimental bands could play a favorite New Orleans melody, written in derision of himself, and called "Picayune Butler's coming to town." None of the band-masters had the music, but a member of our band wrote it off from memory, and the leader arranged it, in less than an hour, for performance. When all was ready, the gun-decks were cleared, the signal
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was given, and the band of the Twenty-First Indiana played, " Picayune Butler is coming to town," so clear and loud that its notes rang through the length and breadth of the city. It was a satisfaction to watch the expression of the crowd. Neither secessionist nor Unionist dared utter a word, nor even the negroes, although they showed the whites of their eyes and their ivory teeth to advantage.
Our regiment was the first to land in New Orleans, but on the first of May it was sent to the other side of the river, and quartered in the depot of the Opelousas and Great Western railroad in Algiers.
Two days were passed in rest and washing, after a cam- paign of nineteen days, and then commenced a series of active operations necessary to the seizing and holding of all approaches to New Orleans, above and below, on the east and the west. May 4th we captured a quantity of arms and hospital stores. May 5th, at daylight, five hundred of our regiment started on a raid to Brashear, a small city on the east side of Berwick bay, and the terminus of railroad com- munication on the great Texas thoroughfare. We had with us one section of the Sixth Massachusetts battery, under Lieutenant Carruth. Leaving squads, as we went along, to guard the bridges and to patrol the track, the main body reached Brashear at two in the afternoon, and captured eight engines, twenty passenger cars, one hundred and sixteen freight cars, eighty-two platform cars, three hundred and ten bales of cotton, and seven hundred hogsheads of sugar. We did not remain a moment longer than necessary, as a large force of the enemy was on Bayou Lafourche, not more than eight miles from one point of the road, and taking with us all the rolling stock, and as much of the other property as could be carried without impeding our progress, we hastened back, and arrived at Algiers about eleven at night.
A few foolish citizens, who wished to be heroic, used every mode of abuse that their tongues were capable of expressing towards our soldiers. Finally, when we were about to leave Brashear, one Dr. White fired a pistol at the detachment. A hundred bayonets instantly flashed round him. He was taken to New Orleans, and brought before General Butler. I was
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SUMMARY JUSTICE.
prejudiced against General Butler; I looked upon him as brave enough, but corrupt, and I was afraid that he would be mealy-mouthed with traitors.
The charge was read, and General Butler asked Dr. White what he had to say. The prisoner replied that the charge was in the main true. He had suffered imprisonment rather than take the oath of allegiance to so mean, despotic and damna- ble a Government as that of the United States. He had been told at Brashear by Colonel McMillan that he must either take the oath or go before the Commanding General. He had preferred the latter, and he now demanded that the Gen- eral require the Colonel to apologize for his rash and uncon- stitutional act. He went on to say that he was only doing a duty he owed to his Government, the Confederate States, when he fired his pistol on the Yankee soldiers. They had no business there, and the Government of Lincoln niggers had no right to disturb the liberty and property of gentle- men. If they and their General had staid up in New England the pistol shot would not have harmed them. He wound up his harangue, which was an hour in length, by peremptorily demanding his release, and the punishment of the officer who caused his arrest.
Dr. White stopped speaking, and waited for an answer. His friends laughed in their sleeves to see how effectually he had blown old Picayune to pieces. For several minutes no one spoke. I looked with astonishment first at the General, then at the Doctor, unable to decide which displeased me most, the impudence of the one or the silence of the other. At last General Butler roused himself, and asked, "Have you anything more to offer?" "Nothing," replied the prisoner, contemptuously. "I sentence you to six months' hard labor on the fortifications of Fort Jackson," said General Butler, in a tranquil tone. " What! Me?" questioned the Doctor, in wonderful astonishment. "Yes, you, Dr. White, late of the city of Brashear." "I am not used to work; I am a gentle- man, sir," said the Doctor. "My soldiers are gentlemen; they were not in the habit of laboring as they now do, until you compelled them. You are no better than they." "But the miasma round Fort Jackson will kill me," urged the Doctor.
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"Better you than a loyal man," returned Butler. "I must see my wife; I have not seen her since yesterday." "I have soldiers here who have not seen their wives for a year and a half. Their wives think as much of their husbands as yours can of you. You are no better than my soldiers!" "I must have elean clothes; I am in the habit of changing my clotlı- ing every day." "The most of my men used to be in the habit of putting on clean clothing every morning, but now they are glad to get a chance once a week. I repeat it, you are no better than my men," said the General, energetically. " Is there no way to escape going to that horrid place?" asked the Doctor, now really in agony. "Would you take the oath of allegiance?" asked the General, tauntingly. "Well, y-e-s," answered Dr. White. At this General Butler seized the bell rope and gave it two or three emphatic jerks. An orderly came in haste. "Write a special order." The clerk wrote the usual form, and waited. "Say that Dr. White, of Bra- shear, came before the General commanding this department, and offered to take the oath of allegiance to the United States." "United States," repeated the clerk. "And the Commanding General having taken the matter under advise- ment, and after mature deliberation-" "Deliberation," repeated the clerk. "Has refused, on the ground that he could not believe him on oath." "On oath," said the clerk. "That's all. Send one copy to his family, and others to post in the city of Brashear. Guards, take this man away."
Never did I see people more astonished than Dr. White and his friends. I left the room scarcely less astonished, but well satisfied, and with full confidence in General Butler. I relate this circumstance to show the strict, energetic and just rule of the commanding officer of the department. The cap- ture of New Orleans, the raid to Brashear, and the sentence of Dr. White created a wholesome fear of the strong arm of our injured Government.
May 10th a detachment of eighty men, under Lieutenant William Bough, left the camp at four in the afternoon, to go to Terre Bonne, where it was said cattle were collected for the Confederate army. On reaching Terre Bonne it was . ascertained that a steamer had just succeeded in running the
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SAVAGE CRUELTY.
blockade, and was then in the Bayou de Large Caillou, thirty miles south, in Terre Bonne Parish, discharging her cargo. It was decided to leave the cattle, and go to the steamer. Accordingly the party started on a forced night march of thirty miles, and between daylight and sunrise the next morn- ing captured the steamer and twelve men. The vessel proved to be the Fox, afterwards the gunboat Estralla. About one- fourth of the cargo had been unloaded, and was lying near in the woods. To reload and get the steamer off, as it was aground, was a severe task.
Four men were sick, and were sent back after the capture of the Fox with dispatches for General Butler. The seventy- six who remained were seventy-five miles in the enemy's coun- try, without provisions, and with no ammunition but the forty rounds in their cartridge-boxes. Those brave men toiled, as men seldom have toiled, three days and three nights, without sleep, and with only such food as the oysters in the bayou afforded, and at ten in the morning of the 14th had the satisfac- tion of seeing the Fox with full cargo float in deep water.
While the Fox is passing round to New Orleans, let us follow the four sick boys who were sent back on the 10th. They were unable to sit up, and lay in a plantation cart that had been pressed into the service going down. Near Houma, between sunset and dark, they were attacked by a band of guerrillas, residents of the neighborhood. At the first fire two of the sick men were killed, and the other two wounded. The dead bodies were stripped and thrown like bears, killed in the chase, on the sidewalk before the "Big Pelican," the principal hotel at Houma. They were suffered to lie there until some time the next forenoon, attracting the attention of the curious, both of men and women, who kicked and clubbed them out of human shape. In the end two negroes were allowed to throw them into a hole dug in the public square. Dirt was heaped over them, and a mound made that would arrest the notice of every passer by.
The wounded men were kept in jail two days without having their wounds dressed, then set free, with the injunction that if they were found in the Parish of Terre Bonne after the lapse of twenty-four hours, they would share the fate of
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their comrades. One escaped, the other was retaken, and thrown into a calaboose at Houma with a negro convict.
On the morning of the 13th, a boy handed a note to Lieu- tenant-Colonel Keith, who was then in command of our regi- ment; but as the note was written in French, which the Colonel did not understand, some time elapsed before its contents, a partial narrative of the fate of the four sick Union soldiers, were known. The note was then instantly taken to General Butler, who ordered Colonel Keith to go to Houma with four companies of his regiment, and two pieces of Mas- sachusetts artillery, to arrest and hang the perpetrators of the crime, arrest the abettors, and confiscate or destroy the prop- erty of all participators.
Just as the sun was sinking behind the tree tops, Colonel Keith arrived before Houma. He arrested every man in the vicinity and every man in the town, yet, as most of the inhab- itants had fled, the number of prisoners was not large. He confined them in an upper room of the Big Pelican, but he was unable to get any information from them until he gave them notice that unless they gave up the names of the mur- derers within the next forty-eight hours he would utterly destroy the town of Houma, lay waste all the plantations in the vicinity, and confiscate all the movable property.
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