USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 51
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Skirmishing, with work on the intrenchments, occupied Monday. At night Colonel Owen arrived from Lebanon with the Sixtieth and a part of the Sixty-Eighth Indiana, one company of the Twenty-Eighth Kentucky and a battery of six pieces.
Tuesday morning the enemy forced back part of the Fif- tieth, which went out to meet him, and under cover of the woods gained the west of the line. After several hours of desultory firing, another demand for surrender was made. Colonel Wilder carried back the reply, which was a refusal, but he was convinced, when he saw the force of the enemy, that further resistance would be useless, and advised Colonel Dunham, who, as the ranking officer, was now in command, to that effect.
Colonel Dunham telegraphed to Louisville, but received no other reply than an order to turn the command over to Wilder. A council of war, already called by Dunham, was held. It was stated that no help could come from Louisville, that none would come from Buell, that ammunition was limited, that the troops were fatigued, that General Bragg's whole army was in front, and that the hills north of Munfordsville com- manded the intrenchments and were accessible to the enemy. In consequence of these facts it was determined to surrender.
On the morning of the 17th, with drums beating and colors flying, the Union troops marched out of the intrenchments, gave their parole, and on the next day marched to Bowling Green, where Buell was idly lying.
The Confederate army leisurely moved on towards Louis- ville, but unexpectedly turned from the direct course, and stopped at Bardstown, while the Union army marched into the city, the foremost troops entering on the 27th of Septem- ber. The troops were affected by the grateful enthusiasm of
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KENTUCKY IN DISTRESS.
their reception, nevertheless they were dissatisfied. They considered Buell "the most stupendous failure on record." Twice Bragg had escaped them, and now they could scarcely tell whether they were the pursued or the pursuers. More- over, Indiana was just across the river, and only a few miles, it might be a few hours, were between them and the homes for which they pined when they were away down in Alabama. Copperheads with silver tongues praised the taste of forbidden fruit, and in three days seven thousand men deserted. An- other most sad occurrence added to the excitement of this state of affairs. General Nelson was killed by the hand of General Davis in retaliation for a personal insult.
It is time now to give some account of General Bragg's right wing, which crossed the Cumberland mountains at the same time the left and centre commenced the march. Gen- eral Smith rested a few days at Cumberland Ford, completely shutting off all access to the gap. On his way to Lexington he captured the Union supply trains. His appearance pro- duced immense alarm, and Kentucky authorities dispatched to neighboring States entreaties for troops, raw, undisciplined troops, if they could have no other. The manner in which Indiana responded is narrated in the following article from the Indianapolis Journal, of August 21, 1862:
WHAT INDIANA HAS DONE.
To-day Indiana will have in Kentucky nearly fourteen thousand men of the new levy. All but two of the thirteen full regiments, numbering one thousand and forty men each, and a portion of the cavalry regiment, were gone by midnight last night, and the other two will leave to-day. Fourteen thousand men have been organized, equipped and sent to the field in four days. We don't believe this promptness has been equaled in any emergency by any State in the Union. The news of the invasion of Kentucky reached Governor Morton on Sunday. The necessity for a speedy and strong accumu- lation of forces on the main lines of the Rebel advance was obvious. Ohio had been applied to, but, in spite of her gigantic efforts, could not be ready with any effective force for a week. Illinois, like Ohio, was straining every nerve,
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
and pushing forward preparations with most commendable speed, but she could not send any men immediately. The Rebels had cut off our army at Cumberland Gap, and were advancing with alarming speed. Men must be thrown in to resist them, or the war would be transferred to our own bor- der. Governor Morton determined that the men should be sent. Enough of our regiments were full to furnish them, but they were scattered all over the State, unorganized, un- disciplined and unarmed. One, the Seventieth, had been sent away a few days before, but the remainder were totally unprepared to move. They were to be collected together, uniformed, equipped, armed, officered, paid and transported to the field. The money to pay them was not on hand, and had to be obtained of our banks. Equipments were insuffi- cient, and had to be supplied. The transportation for such an immense influx of men had to be arranged. Everything had to be done that was necessary to change men just out of their shops and off their farms into soldiers, and put them into the field. And all this had to be done for a large army of nearly fourteen thousand men in four days. It was a task for a giant, but happily there were gigantic energies at the head of the government to undertake it. Since Monday morning this really formidable army, as large as that with which General Scott marched upon Mexico, has been col- lected from their many rendezvous, organized, paid, fully pre- pared, and sent to the field. Our sister States, though moving fully up to the vigorous action of the past, have not yet been able to send out a single regiment. Indiana has met the crisis alone, and we trust so met it that the peril has been stayed till the vast legions of Ohio and Illinois can be hurried to her aid.
General Nelson, who had lately arrived in the North, was placed in command in Central Kentucky, and hastened to Lexington, where he attempted to give military instruction to the new troops. He was exceedingly harsh and impatient, and had succeeded in teaching the men nothing but to hate him, when Kirby Smith's rapid approach demanded his imme- diate attention.
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MOVING TOWARD KIRBY SMITII.
On the 23d of August he sent from Lexington the Twelfth and Sixty-Sixth Indiana regiments and the Ninety-Fifth Ohio to join Colonel Metcalfe, who, with six hundred Kentucky cavalry and a Tennessee infantry regiment, was at the foot of Big Hill, forty miles southeast.
The day was one of the warmest of August days, and the new troops, wearied by the unaccustomed tramp, were pre- paring to bivouac for the night on the bank of the Kentucky river, when a courier hastily announced Colonel Metcalfe's immediate need of reinforcements to resist an attack of Kirby Smith's advance. The sun was still high, but the men took up their knapsacks and their guns, and resumed their march with a round of hearty cheers. Near the little town of Rich- mond, twenty-five miles from Lexington, they met many of Metcalfe's horsemen, who, to use Nelson's language, had "turned tail and fled like a pack of cowards" at the onset of the enemy. Colonel Link, who was in advance, could not induce them to get out of the road until he ordered company A, of his regiment, to charge bayonets on them.
South of Richmond the three regiments formed in line of battle in the rear of their artillery, and waited, with that anxious desire only new troops feel, for the approach of the enemy. He did not appear, however, and almost a week passed without further hostile demonstrations. In that time nearly five more regiments arrived, and two brigades were formed. One, composed of the Sixteenth, Fifty-Fifth, Sixty- Ninth and Seventy-First Indiana, was put under the command of General Manson; the other, consisting of the Twelfth and Sixty-Sixth Indiana, Eighteenth Kentucky and Ninety-Fifth Ohio, was given to General Cruft. One half of the Fifty- Fifth was kept at different points guarding bridges. The great length of the picket line it was necessary to maintain, and the number required on scouting expeditions, which, how- ever, were never distant, with the confusion attendant on the formation of new encampments, occupied so much time or so many men, that little opportunity was afforded for military instruction; in consequence the few days of respite were of little advantage.
Meantime the Confederate rear came up, and Kirby Smith
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
concentrated his forces, and informed himself, by means of his citizen friends, who were numerous and zealous, of the condition and strength of the little Union army. Before noon of Friday, the 29th, he moved forward in strong force, and drove back Metcalfe's cavalry, posted six miles south of Rich- mond, and a line of infantry pickets, who were chiefly from the Sixteenth Indiana, and under the command of Lieuten- ant-Colonel Wolfe.
General Manson immediately sent a courier to Lexington to inform Nelson. He then, for the sake of obtaining a posi- tion which would command the approaches, moved his brigade, with a battery of artillery under Lieutenant Lamphere, three quarters of a mile towards the south. Discovering a troop of cavalry a half mile east of the road, he stopped until Lamphere turned his guns upon it and dispersed it. Moving on then a mile further, he took possession of a ridge, and arranged his brigade in line of battle, with artillery protecting each flank. Manson's artillerymen were chiefly teamsters, train-guards and infantry belonging to different regiments at Cumberland Gap, and cut off as they were returning with forage. Thirty were from the Thirty-Third Indiana. After an artillery duel of an hour's duration the enemy retreated, with the loss of a gun, some horses and some prisoners.
Still dissatisfied with his position, Manson moved a mile further, to a little group of houses called Rogersville, where his infantry stopped, while the cavalry pursued the enemy six or eight miles, but without making any discovery as to his numbers.
The troops slept on their arms. They were roused at four and placed in line of battle, while details were made from each company to prepare coffee and to fill the canteens with fresh water. At six the enemy was reported advancing. The brigade moved forward, Manson, with a portion of the Fifty- Fifth, in advance. Half a mile beyond Rogersville, the skir- mishers met, and after some firing the Confederates fell back. General Manson selected his ground, and placed his troops, the Fifty-Fifth on the left of the road, behind a fenee, with the artillery on its left, the Sixty-Ninth on the right of the road, the Seventy-First in the rear as a support for the battery, the
609
BATTLE OF RICHMOND.
Sixteenth, as soon as it came up, on the left of the artillery, in woods.
The opposing forces presented an amazing contrast. Gen- eral Smith had sixteen thousand soldiers, who, having been in the army since the war began, had all the discipline that could result from drill, marching, exposure and battle .. They were indeed old soldiers, but they were ragged, dirty and hungry.
General Manson had less than six thousand five hundred, of whom not more than three thousand were yet on the bat- tle-ground. They had been in the service from ten to twenty- five days, and they had all the ignorance and awkwardness of new soldiers. Their equipments were of course all bright and new, their banners unfaded and unstained. That such men could fight through a long, hot August day, could rally again and again with overwhelming numbers pouring on them is a marvel.
Artillery opened the battle, and for an hour the two lines remained stationery. At the end of that time, the gleaming of arms in the dry bed of a creek revealed the beginning of a flank movement on the part of the enemy. Seven companies of the Sixty-Ninth went towards the left to meet it, while the Seventy-First marched to the front, both regiments moving through a storm of bullets. The Sixty-Ninth sustained the ordeal; but the Seventy-First was disheartened and horror- struck when men fell on every hand, when Major Conklin was killed, Colonel Topping was mortally wounded, and it was left without a field officer.
When Colonel Cruft arrived on the ground, he sent his Ohio regiment to the right, where the Sixty-Ninth had first stood. It was immediately ordered to take a battery, which threatened the right flank, but was unable to perform the task, and was thrown into confusion by the attempt. Citizens, who, with a dreadful love of excitement, had followed the army, now fled with outeries; ambulance drivers caught the alarm, and the left wing, after nearly four hours of battle, fell back towards the centre. Disorder prevailed. At this critical moment the Eighteenth Kentucky reached the ground, and coolly forming in front of the enemy, prevented immediate
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA ..
pursuit. The Twelfth and Sixty-Sixth Indiana followed, marching down the road with waving banners, and pushing through the fugitives with steady steps. While the first kept the enemy back, General Manson rallied his men round the two last; but he continued his retreat until he reached the ground where he had skirmished with the enemy the evening before. Here he made a second stand, his own brigade on the left of the road, Cruft's on the right, artillery and cavalry in the rear and on either wing. Corn-fields, woods and fences protected the front. The line was scarcely formed when the enemy attacked it with fury. He was repulsed by the left wing, and he turned all his force against the right. After a terrific struggle he succeeded in outflanking Cruft. A retreat was again ordered, and all was again in confusion.
It was now noon, and the sun's rays were pitiless, but once more the Union troops endeavored to form. The new stand was taken on high ground, three-quarters of a mile south of Richmond. Here, while rallying the brave but now broken Kentucky regiment, Colonel Link was mortally wounded.
General Nelson reached the ground as the little army was gathering up its last energies. He knew beforehand that a battle could only result in disaster, and as he came he turned back to Lexington all the wagons on the road, and ordered out of Richmond all the stores, but when his eyes beheld the disaster, he swore and stormed, brandished his sword and knocked men down as if he were a madman. Balls falling all round him cooled his passion at length, and he shouted, "Come on! If they can't hit me, they can't hit a barn door! I'll show you how to whip the scamps! Stand only a little longer, reinforcements are coming!"
The false promise cheered the fainting troops, and they strove to stand and fight. But their brave spirits could not conquer impossibilities, and in thirty minutes after Nelson's arrival, they were routed. The General, growling with a bullet in his thigh, galloped back to Lexington, but the men did not get off so well.
With a rear-guard formed from all the scattered regiments, the main body reached a point two miles north of Richmond,
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611
CONDUCT OF THE RAW TROOPS.
when Confederate cavalry appeared across the road in front. A hundred men, rallied by General Manson, met a short success in scattering the horsemen, but ammunition was gone, wagons were jammed together, everything was in confusion, and continued effort was not to be thought of; every man, therefore, took care of himself. Lieutenant-Colonel Wolfe, of the Sixteenth, lost his life in attempting to cut his way out. Many, however, got clear of the enemy, and sped straight along the road, and many more escaped through fields and woods to the right and left.
General Manson, flying across a field, tumbled into a ravine, and his horse, with a bullet in his head, rolled on him. His capture was inevitable.
During the night fugitives were pursued in every direction. The next day two thousand were paroled, amidst taunts and jeers from dirty, shirtless Rebels. They endured in silence.
In killed and wounded the Twelfth lost one hundred and seventy-three, including its commander, Colonel Link. The Sixteenth lost two hundred, with its Lieutenant-Colonel, Joel Wolfe. The Sixty-Ninth lost two hundred and eighteen. The Seventy-First, two hundred and fifteen, among them its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Topping, and its Major. The losses of the Sixty-Sixth have not been pub- lished. They were probably equal to the Twelfth. Two First Lieutenants in the Sixty-Sixth were killed.
General Manson bears the following testimony to the con- duct of the men:
" Taking into consideration the rawness of the troops, there has been no battle during the war where more bravery was displayed by officers and men than in the four battles near Richmond."
General Cruft stated that the Indiana troops behaved splen- didly, till the loss of officers and the overpowering strength of the Rebels threw them into disorder.
Other testimony declares they were thoroughly brave when in position, but were thrown into disorder when a move was attempted. Some of the movements, however, were certainly made with much coolness.
Several color-bearers distinguished themselves. Eli Randall,
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
of the Sixty-Ninth, while the second line was forming, stood on a fence, and, waiving a flag in the very face of the enemy, cried, "Rally, boys! Rally to the colors!" When the third line was formed, again he stood with his banner, and called for its defenders.
B. C. Stillinger, of the Sixteenth brought off his banner, with the spear head shot away, and eleven holes shot through the colors.
The regimental flag of the Twelfth was taken from the dead hand of young Edwin Lennox, as he lay on the field.
The responsibility of the reverse at Richmond, ascribed by the wounded and bereaved State of Indiana to various high officials, and anxiously disclaimed by each in turn, was laid by the commander of the department, himself a Kentuckian, at the doors of Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky, as shown by the following telegram:
LOUISVILLE, September 1st, 1862.
President Lincoln :
The battle near Richmond was disastrous to us. Six Indiana, one Kentucky and one Ohio regiment, besides some Kentucky cavalry were in the engagement. Our troops, es- pecially the Indianians, fought with the courage and gallant- ry of veterans. If Ohio and Illinois had supported Indiana, and had sent their troops on, the issue of the battle would have been different. Governor Morton has sent to this State, since I have been in command here, over twenty thousand men. If other States had donc as well, we could have over- whelmed the enemy. I deplore the loss that noble Indiana has sustained under the circumstances. It was important to meet the enemy before he reached the center of the State, or crossed it, and Indiana, appreciating the importance of it, sent her gallant soldiers to meet the insolent foe, no doubt feeling that they would be supported by Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky. Lexington is reported in possession of the enemy.
J. T. BOYLE, Brigadier-General.
The victorious forces of Kirby Smith marched on to Lex- ington, Paris, Cynthiana, and still further north; but after approaching and threatening Cincinnati, they retired, and directed their course to Frankfort, which they reached about the time Bragg arrived at Bardstown, and Buell entered Louisville.
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RETREAT OF MORGAN'S DIVISION.
It remains to follow General Morgan's division of the Army of the Ohio from the mountains, before returning to the pur- suit of Bragg. During one month the division was shut up in the gap, and employed in strengthening the fortifications, in foraging and skirmishing. 'The skirmishing resulted in the capture of nearly five hundred Confederate soldiers. The foraging was limited to the corn-fields in the immediate neighborhood of the troops. The subsistence consisted of green corn, rice and beans. The men had nothing to replace their worn clothing, and as the mails were of course cut off, no news penetrated to Cumberland Gap, except distorted intelligence from prisoners, or from Southern papers obtained on the exchange of prisoners. According to such information nearly all the chief cities in the North had fallen a prey to Southern conquerors.
Notwithstanding the state of affairs, the troops received, with indignation and regret, orders to abandon the position.
On the 17th of September, at one in the morning, the Thirty-Third Indiana, with thirty pieces of artillery, and a train of three hundred wagons, commenced the movement. At eleven at night, the Forty-Ninth, with the rest of the division, except a blockading squad, followed. The fortifi- cations were left a mass of smoldering ruins. General Mor- gan ordered all who were unable to march to remain behind, but several regimental commanders interceded or disobeyed, and in consequence but few sick were deserted.
The march was two hundred and fifty miles long, and through the eastern part of Kentucky, which is poor and mountainous. The men all carried graters made of tin plates, and grated corn for their bread and mush. Several times they marched a day without anything to eat. Once they were thirty-six hours without food and eighteen hours without water. Confederate cavalry hovered round, destroying mills. and grain, blockading the narrow road, burning bridges, pick- ing up hungry soldiers, and skirmishing daily. At Mt. Ster- ling they ceased their attentions, and from that point the. march proceeded unmolested.
On the 3d of October, having slept nineteen nights without tents, and having marched seventeen days without rations, the:
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
tired and dusty, but still healthy and vigorous, soldiers reached the Ohio river. On the 5th they crossed the river, and went to Oak Hill, where they were received with affectionate and grateful sympathy. A great feast was made for them, and their wants, which were many and various, were soon all supplied.
The Forty-Ninth went to the Kanawha. The Thirty-Third was sent on transports down the Ohio, but arrived at Cov- ington too late to take part in the pursuit of Bragg.
October 1st, General Buell, with his army newly clothed and equipped, re-organized, and enlarged by the addition of many thousand new troops, commenced a slow and cautious movement towards the southeast. One corps, under General Crittenden, formed the right wing, another, under McCook, formed the left, and a third, under General Gilbert, composed the centre. On the 7th, at noon, General Gilbert stopped three miles northwest of Perryville, and waited for the arrival of the right and left wings, the increased warmth of the skir- mishing having convinced him that he was close upon a large force of the enemy. General Buell, who accompanied the centre corps, sent messengers to Crittenden and McCook to hasten their advance. He ordered the latter to march at three in the morning, leaving behind all teams, except ammunition wagons and ambulances, to advance until he was abreast of Gilbert, and to report in person immediately after he had formed his line in order of battle.
It was half past two in the morning when the message was received, but long before the sun was up, Rousseau's and Jackson's divisions of McCook's corps were on the march to Perryville. The road was crooked and hilly; the dust was excessive; water, which had been scarce several days, now disappeared altogether; frequent halts were made to wait for the report of scouts, who scoured the country in advance, and, in consequence of these various drawbacks, McCook did not reach the ground until ten o'clock, and was not able to report to General Buell until almost twelve. He received an intimation from the commander-in-chief that there would probably be no battle, owing to the lateness of his arrival,
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CONCENTRATION OF FORCES.
and the non-arrival of Crittenden, but he was directed to make a reconnoissance to Chaplin river.
General Bragg, however, was determined to give Buell a blow before the separated corps could be brought together, and intelligence from Hardee and Polk, who brought up his rear, recalled him from Harrodsburg for that purpose. During the night of the 7th, his outposts hotly contested the passage of Gilbert's advance division, Sheridan's, over Doctor's creek, and at sunrise they made an effort to drive Sheridan's left from a height which it had gained a half mile or more in advance of the position of the evening before, but they were repulsed, and were retreating when McCook's corps appeared on the Maxville road, and in the fields and woods to the right of the road.
Perryville, around which the two armies were now drawing together, is southwest of Harrodsburg, south of Maxville, southeast of Springfield and east of Lebanon. Bragg came from Harrodsburg, McCook from Maxville, Gilbert from Springfield, and Crittenden was approaching along the Lebanon turnpike, having gone out of his way in the hope of finding water. North of Perryville are Chaplin Hills, a range of irregular and stony ridges, among which winds a river of the same name. Springs of delicious water flow from the hills between the stream and the town, but none are on the northern side, and in dry weather scarcely a single tribu- tary flows into Chaplin river from the north. Corn-fields and woods alternating cover the hills. The corn was now cut and shocked, the foliage of the trees was already thinning, and little, except the brokenness of the ground, obstructed vision.
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