USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 50
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
592
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
In these words General Pope explains the necessity for retreat.
Many of the wounded dragged themselves from the battle- field; many were carried by their comrades in blankets; many were moved in vehicles sent from Washington; but thousands were left to the mercy of Rebel surgeons, who, four days afterwards, had not been near them for want of time.
The dead covered the ground, especially in front of Jack- son's position; and, says Pollard, the Southern historian, "There was not a dead Yankee in all that broad field who had not been stripped of his shoes and stocking,-and, in numerous cases, been left as naked as the hour he was born."
The Confederates discovered Major May, of the Nineteenth Indiana, eight days after he fell. He was still in the thicket to which he crept for shelter from artillery wheels and horses, and the tramp of hurrying men. Who can know the eternity of pain that gallant, good man suffered,-in solitude while in the midst of swarming thousands, in silence while the crash of meeting armies shook the ground; with no hand to wipe away the death dews, no tender voice to soothe the dull, cold ear, while wife and lisping babe loved and prayed for him; with thirst unquenched, and tortured head unpillowed; and sun, rain and wind playing with his helplessness? He was carried dying to a hospital, where, under a Rebel flag, he breathed his last.
The Union army, in the second battle of Bull Run lost from fifteen to twenty thousand men.
General Lee hastened to gain the right of the Federal forces, in order to cut off their retreat to Washington, but he was met and baffled at every turn. At Chantilly, a few miles north of Centreville, a short but warm engagement resulted in the death of General Kearney. September 1st Banks fell back from Bristow station, Burnside retreated from Fredericksburg, and the troops holding Aquia creek aban- doned that point. On the 3d the Union army was within the fortifications of Washington, and, in the words of Pollard, " The long harassed soil of Virginia was cleared of the foot- steps of the invader."
The hardships of Pope's campaign were borne by the sol-
593
PATIENT IN TRIBULATION.
diers with soldierly patience. A private in the Seventh writes from a hospital: " The only complaint among the convalescent boys is that they can't get enough to eat. We have not had anything since yesterday morning, but a little coffee and a piece of bread the size of a hen's egg. Yet, if I was well and at home, and as well acquainted with the hardships of camp life as I am now, I don't believe anything could keep me at home while our country is in such a condition."
Harrison Mullen of the Thirteenth, having been discharged on account of his feet, which were cut to pieces in the march to Port Republic, found himself, after the lapse of two months, able to march again. He re-enlisted, and in the battle of Bull Run was severely wounded.
This man had seven brothers in the army, and a few miles west of Indianapolis he had a widowed mother, who was not less brave than her sons. Many a long day that gray-haired woman sat by her deserted fireside, waiting tidings from the East, the South and the West; and often she was sick with fear and anxiety, but she never regretted that her boys had gone to fight for their country, and she never failed to rebuke with stern indignation the Southern sympathizer who dared express his opinions in her presence.
A. J. Buckles, of the Nineteenth, at that time a boy, scarcely sixteen years old, writes the following:
"For several days we had had nothing but green corn to eat, and we were glad when, on the 28th, as we were resting on the Warrenton pike, an ox was killed, but before the beef was issued we were ordered to march. Many of us cut off chunks and ate them warm and raw as they were.
"In the battle of Gainesville I received a flesh wound through the right thigh, about three inches above where my leg has since been amputated. I went to the rear, where they were dressing the wounded, and at sun-up found myself a prisoner, together with a great many other wounded, but I hobbled through the woods to a ravine, from which I slipped out to our lines. Our troops were then falling back to a new position, and I had to use every exertion to keep out of the way until I came to an ambulance. At a field hospital my wound was dressed again, and I rested until the next day,
594
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
when the army again fell back. As the ambulances were all out on the field, I started once more on foot. Night overtook me, and I slept on the banks of Bull Run, under a drenching rain. In the morning I pursued my way with great difficulty to Centreville. From there I was taken to a hospital in Wash- ington, where I was obliged to stay until December."
This simple narrative is the story of many thousands. The country from Bull Run to Washington was covered with the wounded crawling towards safety, and with the soldiers of two beaten armies. Dark days had come before, but never one so dark. Not even in the West was there now a streak of light.
They who saw President Lincoln describe him as a haggard, hopeless man, weighed down as if he bore the burden of a world.
595
BUELL'S GREAT MARCH.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE PURSUIT OF BRAGG.
SHORTLY after the taking of Corinth, the Army of the Ohio began a march, which embraced the extremes of heat, drouth, dust, haste and toil, of cold, storm, mud and slowness. It led down to a region where a cup of cold water was grudg- ingly given to "Vandal invaders," and a young onion was sold at enormous price, and up to a district where the costliest food and drink were pressed to the lips of welcome deliverers. It comprised in its course long stretches of miles and of days, in which the main body of the enemy neither made nor received hostile demonstrations; and it was marked by some of the sharpest skirmishes and two of the bloodiest battles of the war.
This extraordinary march divided itself into three parts, each about two months long. The first extended from Corinth to Huntsville, and neighboring points in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee, and had for its object the acquisition of Chattanooga, that failing, its endeavor was the protection of the Tennessee river and the possession of the Charleston and Memphis railroad. The second division of the march continued from the Tennessee river and the Cumberland mountains to the Ohio, and was an effort on the partof Buell's main army to keep Bragg out of Kentucky, and after his entrance to prevent his march through the State, while on the part of his left wing it was merely an escape from the cooped up fastness in Cumberland Gap. In the events connected with this part of the march large numbers of new troops were engaged. The third, from the Ohio to the spurs of the Cumberland and back to Middle Tennessee, was undertaken to prevent the escape of Bragg from Kentucky.
The Indiana troops, engaged in the first division of the march, were the Ninth, Tenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Twenty-
596
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-First, Thirty-Second, Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Ninth, Fortieth, Forty-Fourth, Fifty-First, Fifty- Seventh and Fifty-Eighth infantry regiments, with the Second cavalry, and the four western companies, G, H, I and K, of the Third cavalry. In addition to the above, the Twenty- Second, Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth and Forty-Second were in the march to the Ohio, while the Fif- tieth, Sixtieth, Sixty-Seventh, Sixty-Eighth and Eighty-Ninth, also the Twelfth, Sixteenth, Fifty-Fifth, Sixty-Sixth, Sixty- Ninth and Seventy-First were engaged in the effort to drive the Confederates back. In the pursuit from Louisville to the Cumberland mountains were engaged, over and above nearly all the preceding regiments, the Sixty-Fifth, Seventy-Sec- ond, Seventy-Third, Seventy-Fourth, Seventy-Ninth, Eigh- tieth, Eighty-First and Eighty-Sixth. Nearly all the Indiana batteries yet organized were enlisted in this chase.
Notice of the organization of the new volunteers who sud- denly and unexpectedly became involved in the whirl of events in Kentucky is deferred to a succeeding chapter, while in the present merely such things as cannot be separated fromn the Army of the Ohio are mentioned.
June 11th General Buell left Corinth to march to Chatta- nooga. During the march the weather was sultry and dry, and the army was enveloped in a vast cloud of fine dust. When the country was not miserably poor, as in northern Mississippi, its fertility was of little advantage, as the com- mander-in-chief was jealous of the shadow of occasion for offense to the inhabitants, who were frequently so hostile that if a man was left behind, or if he strayed away from the army, he was almost sure to lose his life.
Somewhere in Alabama a citizen, one evening, made appli- cation in the camp of McCook's division, for his horse. The Adjutant-General gave him an order, but added, " You must go with us to the next encampment, as we start too early to give you time to look for the animal in the morning, and if we send a man back with it, your brother or son might be hidden in the woods to shoot him." The man assented, and he trudged along with the troops all day, getting his horse in the evening.
597
ROSE-WATER POLICY.
A day's march in Mississippi and Alabama was of irregular length, but generally from fifteen to twenty-five miles. During long halts of ten days or two weeks, reconnoitring expedi- tions were usually made, and in consequence the troops had little rest. The following notes, taken from the diary of a private in the Fifty-Eighth, show the rate of movement:
July 5 .- Wc crossed the river at Tuscumbia, and marched a mile.
July 14 .- We marched twenty-eight miles.
July 15 .- We marched twenty-one miles.
July 16 .- We started at two in the morning, and marched twenty miles.
July 17 .- Fifty men were worn out and fell behind. We were very anxious about them, but they escaped guerrillas and reached camp safe.
July 20 .- This is the tenth Sunday we have marched.
When General Buell left Corinth, General Bragg left Tupello. He beat Buell to Chattanooga, and when the latter made his appearance on the opposite side of the river, the Confederate army was strongly established.
General Bragg divided his force into three corps, under Polk, Hardee and Kirby Smith. He retained the first and second at Chattanooga, and sent the third to Knoxville to watch Buell's left, General Morgan's division.
General Buell established his quarters at Huntsville. He administered affairs in the conquered region in what was con- sidered by the Southerners as a delicate, gentlemanly and chivalrous manner. Their friends in the North observed his course also with admiration. The American Annual Cyclo- pædia says: "Depredations by soldiers were stopped, disci- pline restored and order established," which means that in less than a week after the arrival of General Buell at Hunts- ville, nearly every negro who, in return for labor or informa- tion, had found shelter and protection in Mitchell's division, and had received the assurance from Mitchell that this pro tection should be continued, was basely and meanly given up to his master; that secessionists in search of runaway slaves were allowed to go freely through all the encampments, noth- ing being required of them except that they should identify
39
598
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
their property; that returned members of the Confederate: army were treated with attention and respect; that rich men who loudly protested no circumstances would ever induce them to take the oath of allegiance to the hated government. of the United States, obtained guards for their property, and that the Union soldiers, though frequently reduced to half and quarter rations by the destruction of the communications of the army, were forced to pay extravagant prices for the abun- dant necessaries of life.
Many subordinate officers, even of the regular army, were watchful over the smallest interests of the men, and they avoided and evaded, to every extent that was possible, obe- dience to Buell's hard requirements. The affection which began on the hot soil of the battle-field was in many cases strengthened or developed by this natural though sometimes unexpected consideration. Even General Nelson was unwill- ing to see his men imposed on. The truth of the following; amusing story, which early found its way into print, is testi- fied to by Indianians in Nelson's division:
"The General hates peddlers, and there are many that come about the camp, selling hoe-cakes, pies, milk, &e., at exorbitant prices. Cracker-fed soldiers are free with their money; they will pay ten times the value of an article, if they want it. The other day the General came across a ped- dler, selling something that he called pies, not the delicious kind of pies that our mothers make,-the very thought of which even now makes me homesick,-but an indigestible combination of flattened dough and woolly peaches, minus sugar, minus spiee, minus everything that is good-any one of which the General swore would kill a liyena. 'What do you charge for those pies?' roared he. 'Fifty cents a piece,' responded the pieman. 'Fifty cents a piece for such pies!' was the reply. 'Now, you infernal swindling pirate, I want you to go to work and cram every one of those pies down you as quick as the Lord will let you-double-quick, you vil- lain!' Expostulations, appeals or promises were of no avail, and the peddler was forced, to the great amusement of the soldiers to 'down' a half dozen of his own pies, all he had left. 'Now,' said the General, looking at the fellow after he
599
CHANGES AMONG OFFICERS.
had finished his repast, and who stood as death-like as the doctor who took his own medicine, 'leave, and if ever I catch you back here again swindling my men, I'll hang you!' The man departed."
In the course of time General Buell modified his policy, allowing foraging parties under properly appointed officers, requiring the oath of allegiance in return for a slave, and sometimes even permitting negroes to be employed on for- tifications.
During the months of June, July and August a number of promotions occurred among Indiana officers. Colonel Crit- tenden, Colonel Willich and Colonel Cruft were all commis- sioned Brigadier Generals, and were succeeded respectively by Captain Baldwin, Lieutenant-Colonel Von Trebra and Lieutenant-Colonel Osborn. Lieutenant-Colonel Blake be- came commanding officer of the Ninth, in place of Colonel Moody, who was transferred to the regular army. Lieuten- ant-Colonel Gazlay was made Colonel of the Thirty-Seventh, was dismissed and succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hull. Lieutenant-Colonel Buell became commander of the Fifty- Eighth, on the resignation of Colonel Carr, whom the regi- ment lost with regret, testifying that "he was a brave soldier, and a kind officer, and that he always treated his inen with respect."
Other changes inore remotely affected the regiments. Rous- seau succeeded Mitchell, who was removed. McCook was made a Major General, and given a command, which con- sisted of his old division and parts of Rousseau's and Crit- tenden's. General Johnson took command of the second division.
The Army of the Ohio was not concentrated about Hunts- ville, but was divided among many points, and, being depen- dent on Louisville for provisions and munitions, it guarded . long routes of travel. Many brigades and regiments were in almost constant activity. Colonel Grose's regiment, the Thirty-Sixth, whose movements may be considered as repre- sentative, reached Athens on the first of July, and rested there a few days; after which it went to Pulaski, then to Nashville, thence by rail to Murfreesboro. which had been
600
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
captured by Forrest, and which it assisted in retaking. Shortly afterward it advanced to McMinnville, forty miles east, then to Sparta in the mountains, back to McMinnville, and on to Murfreesboro for supplies. Two miles east of Woodbury it was attacked by General Forest's cavalry, which, with the assistance of the Twenty-Third Kentucky, it repulsed and routed, with but few men wounded, while about thirty of the enemy were killed, wounded and prisoners.
The activity of guerrillas formed the occasion for this state of movement and watchfulness. Leadbetter, Scott, Wheeler, Forrest and Morgan led roving bands in search of conscripts, · to tear up railroads, and to make depredations on the property of Union men and of the Government. They were brave, of course, but they relied chiefly on surprise, galloping half the night, to apply the torch at midnight, or to attack a sleeping camp at daylight.
General Dumont, the commandant at Nashville, scoured the country in hot and skilful pursuit, and more than once had the chief of the guerrillas almost within his grasp. One night in May, while Morgan and his band were sleeping at Leb- anon, where they had captured a small detachment of Federal soldiers, Dumont surrounded them, and took prisoner or killed one hundred and fifty; but Morgan was hard to hold, and with a number of his men he cut his way out and escaped, after a running fight of eighteen miles. Dumont's health, unfortunately, was extremely poor, and shortly after this occur- rence, he was obliged to go home on sick leave.
The last of June, John Morgan joined Kirby Smith in East Tennessee, but July 4th, with nine hundred men, as bold and hardy as himself, he scaled the mountains again, determined to traverse Kentucky in search of recruits, horses and arms. A telegraph operator rode with him in advance, and by attach- ing a pocket instrument to the wire, gained a knowledge of the positions, plans and movements of the Union forces, which he then, by false orders, scattered, or concentrated on useless expeditions.
Encourged by the advent of these gay and gallant cavaliers, well described as "the finest kind of chivalry, fiery-eyed, long- haired, and swearing vengeance on abolitionists with a swing
601
BACK TOWARDS THE NORTH.
of their revolvers," and emulous of their black-mail deeds, a a gang of bad young men, calling themselves Morgan's guer- rillas, robbed Henderson, and another crew crossed the Ohio, and committed depredations in the little town of Newburg, Indiana.
Meantime Morgan jauntily pursued his way, and reached Knoxville with twelve hundred men, after an absence of twenty-four days. He boasted that he had traveled more than a thousand miles, captured seventeen towns, destroying all the Government property in them, had dispersed fifteen hundred home-guards, and paroled nearly twelve hundred reg- ular troops.
While John Morgan was enjoying Kentucky, his coadju- tors continued their depredations in Tennessee, although not having so clear a field, their excursions were more limited, more cautious and less successful. In his capture of Mur- freesboro, Forrest took nearly two thousand troops. None, however, were Indianians, except General Crittenden, who, having arrived only the night before, had not yet assumed command, and was sleeping at a hotel.
In accordance with the Confederate plan of making a gen- eral advance into the free States in August, and capturing the chief cities of the North, General Bragg moved. from Chattanooga and Knoxville about the 20th of the month. With the two corps he had retained at Chattanooga, he crossed the Tenneseee at Harrison.
McCook started towards the East as if to meet him, but after dragging his heavy artillery to the summit of the moun- tains at a more southern point than that reached by the Con- federates, he took a last look towards Chattanooga, turned round and marched back to Battle Creek, General Bragg, meanwhile, moving swiftly on his unobstructed way towards Dunlap.
The first stage of General Buell's march was now ended, and he made haste to enter upon the second by concentrating his stores and his forces at Stevenson, Decherd and McMinn- ville, and turning the face of his army, towards the North.
One or two smart skirmishes with Bragg's left, which was advanced to reconnoitre, took place near McMinnville, but
603
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
no other approach to the Union army was made by the enemy, though Buell looked for him at Murfreesboro, and expected to meet him at Nashville. Leaving at the latter place a small garrison, in which was included the Thirty-Seventh Indiana, General Buell moved on, still with the expectation of a battle, which would keep the Confederates out of Kentucky. His army comprised about forty thousand effective men, including the division of General J. C. Davis, about five thousand strong, which was united with it at Nashville.
The Thirty-Fifth Indiana, which joined the march at McMinnville, was full, having been completed by the Sixty -. First. It was in fine condition, and under the command of Colonel Mullen, an efficient and popular officer.
The last of August John Morgan, who briskly scoured the country far in advance of the Confederate army, captured a small Federal force at Gallatin, pushed forward to the Nash- ville railroad, and, by destroying the track, cut off the supplies of Buell's army. Returning to Gallatin, he with about eight hundred men was resting, when he was warned of the near and rapid approach of General Johnson, with a force of six hundred and forty from the Second Indiana, Fourth and Fifth Kentucky and Seventh Pennsylvania. Shortly after sunrise the two forces met. Success, for a time, seemed to incline to Johnson, but a causeless panic seized some of his men, and spread until half the number fled. He withdrew the remainder of his force, and as he was not pursued sent a flag of truce with a request for permission to bury his dead. The request was refused, and as he declined to surrender, the fight was renewed with such of his force as had remained steady, the Fifth Kentucky and Second Indiana. In less than a half hour it was ended by the capture of a part of Johnson's force, and the flight of the remainder.
A detachment of twenty men, belonging to the Fiftieth Indiana, while in a stockade near Edgefield Junction, repulsed Morgan's band three times during a three hours' fight. Mor- gan's adjutant and seven privates were left dead on the field, and eighteen others were wounded. Captain Atkisson was the commander of the gallant little garrison.
A march could not be less disturbed than was that of the
603
DEFENCE OF GREEN RIVER BRIDGE.
main body of the Union army. The sun was hot, the roads were dusty; subsistence was confined to green corn, and fresh beef without salt; shoes waxed old, and fell to pieces, while blistered feet pressed the burning ground; yet it was only when Bragg was far ahead that the march was hurried; when the smoke of the Confederate camp-fires was visible Buell rested, or crawled along at the slowest rate.
The fortifications near Mumfordsville were defended by the Sixty-Seventh and Eighty-Ninth Indiana, two companies of the Seventy-Fourth, the Thirteenth Indiana battery, under Lieutenant Mason, Thirty-Third Kentucky, one company of Kentucky cavalry, and one of the Eighteenth regulars. To these were added two hundred and four recruits for the Sev- enteenth regiment, under Colonel Wilder, who, on his return to Buell's army, was here stopped by the approach of the enemy.
Sunday morning, September 14th, General Chalmers attacked the pickets in the woods south of the river, drove them back, and assaulted the main redoubt, which was on the western side of the fortifications. He was repulsed, and he discontinued the attack in this quarter, only, however, to fall in larger force and with greater impetuosity on the eastern redoubt. He was met firmly, and an exceedingly fierce struggle followed, during which Major Abbett, of the Sixty-Seventh, sprang on the parapet, and, with sabre in one hand and hat in the other, exhorted the men to stand to the work. More than a hundred bullets pierced the flag above him, eleven struck the flag-staff, and one entered the gallant officer's heart. He fell, but not a step was gained by the enemy. Lieutenant Mason kept his battery steadily firing, and the men were worthy of their fallen leader.
Shortly afterwards a demand for surrender was received. Colonel Wilder returned an assurance that he would try to defend his position, and that he thought he should be able to do so, as he was now receiving reinforcements. Knowing that Buell was near, and having informed him of his condi- tion, the commanding officer confidently expected assistance from him.
The reinforcements to which he referred consisted of six
604
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
companies of the Fiftieth Indiana, and one company of the Seventy-Eighth, attached to the Fiftieth for duty, in all four hundred and forty-six men. They left the railroad track where Confederate cavalry had torn it up, and managed to escape the notice of a force which was on guard on the north side of the river, waded the water, and entered the intrenchments shortly after sunrise.
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.