USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 52
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General Bragg, on his arrival, found his army in line of battle on a high, convenient position, fronting the northwest, General Hardee with the left wing, two divisions, Buckner and Cheatham the centre, each with a division, and Ander- son, with one division, on the right. He approved the arrange- ment, and requested General Polk, who had made it, to retain command. The Confederate Generals made all haste to begin the battle before Crittenden's arrival, and before McCook's division was fully in line.
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As if to further their views, though in reality to find water for his suffering men, General Rousseau, during McCook's absence, advanced his division, which formed the right of the corps, towards Chaplin river. He had not moved more than eight hundred yards, when three Confederate batteries, from a concealed position, began an active fire. Rousseau imme- diately ordered the batteries of Loomis, Simonson and Harris to the top of a ridge, and arranged his infantry behind them, placing Colonel Lytle's brigade, to which belonged the Forty- Second and Eighty-Eighth Indiana, on his right, behind Loomis and Simonson; Colonel Harris' brigade, which in- cluded the Thirty-Eighth Indiana, on his left, behind and to the right of Harris' artillery.
A mile in the rear of Rousseau were two farm houses, one of which belonged to a Mr. Russell.
General Jackson's line commenced near Russell's house, his left turning back to the rear in order to take advantage of high ground. Parsons' battery was in his front. The division was composed entirely of raw troops. It included two Indiana regiments, the Eightieth and the Hundred and First. The latter had been detailed as guard to a train ordered that morning to Springfield, and did not participate in the action.
Starkweather's brigade, having been separated from Rous- seau's division, to which it belonged, did not approach until the line of battle was formed and artillery firing was already brisk. It then abandoned the road, moved round Jackson's column, and fell in on the left, Captain Bush's Fourth Indiana artillery, and Stone's Kentucky battery, taking high ground on the extreme left. This hastily assumed position protected the ammunition train, which stood on the Maxville road.
Hardee began by throwing his division impetuously on Rousseau, while Buckner advanced towards Jackson. Gen- eral Polk's two remaining divisions soon joined in the action. It would not have been difficult at this time for Buell to fling Gilbert round on the Confederate left, and break it to pieces, but the General was uninformed of the condition of things, and of course made no such move.
Every part of McCook's corps was at once engaged,
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BATTLE OF CHAPLIN HILLS.
every battery at work, and musketry firing all along his line. Parson's battery, directed by General Jackson, made havoe in the assailing Confederate force, but no check in its pro- gress, and Jackson being one of the first to fall, the battery was captured, and the division driven back, or scattered in confusion. Starkweather's brigade, with Stone's and Bush's batteries, though now separated from every other command, remained firm.
Rousseau's division, through the day, even in defeat, pre- sented a grand spectacle. Every man stood at his post, as if all depended on him alone. Even those whose positions excused them from active participation, threw themselves into the struggle.
James Connelly, of the Thirty-Seventh Indiana, left the signal corps and stood by Rousseau's side, or galloped through the rain of bullets with his messages. More than once McCook's eye lighted up with approval as it fell on his order- lies, three of whom were privates of the Second Indiana cav- alry, Isaac Bailey, William Edwards and Henry Knowles, so distinguished even among the brave was their cool bearing.
The Thirty-Eighth Indiana and the Second Ohio, after exhausting their ammunition, emptied the boxes of the dead and wounded, and at last, with fixed bayonets, held their position twenty-five minutes. While they stood there, the great gap on their left, where Jackson went down, was threat- ened by the triumphant Buckner, but Starkweather, having cleared his own front, now turned artillery and musketry in defence of Rousseau's left flank. Repeatedly Buckner was repulsed, and repeatedly he came back; but at last Stark- weather shook him off. Captain Bush lost thirty-five horses, but with the assistance of the First Wisconsin, his guns and caissons were drawn off and saved .*
The second onset on Lytle's brigade was in the sight of a large part of the army. The Confederates advanced in heavy masses down the slopes of the hills. The sunbeams glanced on ten thousand bayonets, and on a long line of haughty
* The artillerymen afterwards presented the Wisconsin regiment with a set of colors in acknowledgement of their brave and friendly assistance.
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banners. On they came in the face of pouring artillery. The Union infantry rose from the ground, met them with despera- tion, and checked the direct current, but only to turn it to a ravine on the right, through which it came with such advan- tage that the brigade was forced to retreat. Colonel Lytle was mortally wounded, but he would not be carried from the ground. "No," he said to the sergeant, who stooped to lift him in his arms; "you may do some good yet; let me die here."
The fire of two batteries and of a heavy infantry force swept over Simonson's artillery, killing sixteen horses and four- teen men, and forcing the guns from their position. The Thirty-Eighth Indiana marched into the space, and with the Tenth Wisconsin three times repulsed the enemy.
Gradually falling back, in spite of stubborn fighting, McCook's corps stood at length near and behind Russell's house and barn. At this time four of the guns of Harris' battery were taken.
No assistance had as yet arrived, although an aid had been dispatched by McCook to ask Gilbert to look to his right, and two other messengers had been sent for reinforcements, one to the nearest commander, and the other to General . Schoepf, commanding the first division and reserve of Gil- bert's corps, or to the commander of the nearest troops in the rear.
The messenger directed to the nearest commander, first met General Schoepf, who sent him to Gilbert, who sent him to Buell. Galloping from one point to another, the harassed officer at last found the commander-in-chief, to whom he was the first to announce that a battle was in progress. Two hours it had raged, "the severest and most desperately con- tested engagement, for the time occupied, within Bragg's knowledge," and not an inkling had reached the rear, but two and a half miles distant. General Buell hastened to the field.
McCook's corps was on the verge of destruction; the enemy only eight hundred yards distant was coming nearer every moment, regardless of artillery and musketry still poured into his face, when Colonel Gooding's brigade of Pea Ridge men,
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BATTLE OF CHAPLIN HILLS.
hastening from Gilbert's corps, boldly pressed forward and drew upon itself nearly the whole of the enemy's attention. It fought alone and unsupported two hours, holding the Con- federates back, but scarcely making them falter. Once the Twenty-Second Indiana, charging with fixed bayonets, suc- ceeded in throwing them from their position on the right, but a fresh force came in on the left, and nothing was gained.
When the sun set, and the gloom of evening began to gather, the fire gradually slackened, the Confederates par- tially disappeared, and Gooding cautiously moved forward. He had not taken many steps when he found the enemy close at hand, and became engaged in the fiercest struggle of the day. The courage of the men was equal to the occasion. Lieutenant-Colonel Keith, of the Twenty-Second, waving his sword, and shouting, "We are moving on to victory!" was killed with the inspiring words on his lips. John Adams, the color-bearer of the same regiment, was shot through the right arm; he seized the staff with his left hand; it too was shot, and he caught the flag with his teeth, and held it until he was shot dead .* The second color-bearer was wounded, and the third was killed. Gooding's horse was shot under him, and before he could get away, he was a prisoner.
General Polk, having crowded McCook's troops back and together, turned a large force against Sheridan, and advanced it to his very line through the heavy fire of two batteries, but it was repulsed and driven back through Perryville. At the same time his right, meeting reinforcements brought up by General Buell, and confused by the dusk of evening, began to slacken its firing and to retreat.
During the early part of the night many were taken pris- oners while they wandered in search of water.
In the morning the dead and wounded lay on Chaplin Hills, where they had fallen, and the captured cannon stood where they were captured, but General Bragg, with all his army, was gone. General Buell, after the lapse of two or
* John Adams was the only child of a poor widow in Madison. With the first money he received from the Government, he paid his mother's rent in advance, bought her a blanket shawl, flannel, calico, flour and meat. He left her as comfortable as his means would allow.
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three hours, sent several bodies of troops in pursuit, directing them to return before night, but he detained the main army on the ground, and spent the day in burying the dead, and in counting up his losses.
The battle of Perryville was almost as unequal a contest as that of Richmond, Bragg having thirty thousand engaged, and Buell not fourteen thousand, of which a large portion consisted of new troops. In this estimate Sheridan's division, which fought but a short time, is not included.
Three hundred of the Twenty-Second Indiana were en- gaged, and one hundred and seventy-two were killed, wounded and captured; of these fifty-six were killed. The Forty- Second had sixty-four killed and wounded. The Thirty- Eighth lost one hundred and fifty-seven, not more than six being captured. The Eightieth lost one hundred and fifty- seven. Harris' battery lost nineteen. The Second cavalry had two killed. The losses of Simonson's and Bush's batteries, and of the Eighty-Eighth regiment are not known.
In skirmishing or on picket during the battle, the following Indiana regiments were engaged slightly: the Ninth, Tenth, Fifteenth, Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, Fortieth, Fifty-Seventh, Forty-Fourth, Eighty-First and Eighty-Seventh. The For- tieth had one man wounded in the hand, the first blood drawn from that regiment by the enemy.
General McCook in his report compliments Dr. Beckwith, of the Thirty-Fifth, for his kind care of wounded men. Gell- eral Mitchell said of Colonel Gooding, "He did his whole duty as the commander of one of the very best brigades in the service of the Government, and Indiana may feel proud of his conduct in the bloody conflict."
The following letter from Major Shanklin records the part taken by the Forty-Second:
"The night before the battle we encamped near Maxville. Our orders were to march at six in the morning, but events transpired during the night which caused us to march at four. After a few miles we heard cannonading, increasing in volume and intensity, until we reached a hill from which our batteries could be seen. The Rebel artillery being beyond in a strip
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THE FORTY-SECOND OUTFLANKED.
of woods, which concealed it from our view, the smoke of their guns alone showed us their position.
" We were first ordered to support one battery, Loomis', which had been thrown rapidly forward, and was then begin- ning to open fire. Scarcely had we taken this position, when one of Rousseau's aids rode up, stating that the occasion for supporting the battery had ceased, and ordering Colonel Jones to take the regiment down into a ravine in front of Loomis' battery to get water. This ravine was nothing less than a creek, which, owing to the drouth, never in the memory of the oldest settlers equaled before, had become completely dry. In front of the creek, that is facing the enemy, the bank rose gradually towards the woods, where the Rebel guns were, the space between the creek and the woods, about a quarter of a mile, being an open field. All back of us, excepting the road down which we came, and which had been cut out, was a precipitous rocky bluff, from twenty-five to fifty feet high, up which it was impossible to ride a horse, and only possible for a man to climb. This bluff extended down the creek about a quarter of a mile, where the bank gradually ascended again to the place where Loomis had his guns.
" While we were down here an incessant cannonading was kept up, our regiment being between the two fires. Loomis' shells passed over our heads, and although the Rebels did not see us, their shells occasionally dropped in among us. About one o'clock, Captain Bryant and I were lying under a tree eating a sweet potato, when the Captain remarked, 'Loomis must have dismounted some of their guns, they have quit firing.' I said, jokingly, 'Suppose a couple of regiments of cavalry should come down on us through this ravine, wouldn't we be in a nice fix?' We talked several minutes in this way, not dreaming that our conjectures were soon to be realized. The truth is, our Generals did not dream anything of the kind either, or we never should have been put down into such a slaughter trap.
"The Rebel guns had really ceased, but our cannoniers kept blazing away at the place where they had been, jubilant, I suppose, at the idea of having silenced them. The cause of the silence was soon explained. It seems that about half
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past twelve, Rebel scouts discovered us, and reported our position to one of their Generals, who is said to have ex- claimed, 'There is one regiment gone up, anyhow.' He immediately ordered the batteries which were playing against Loomis to move to our right, to a position commanding the ravine. I can imagine how they laughed in their sleeves at our batteries blazing away at their position, while they were quietly pulling theirs round to a point which would give them every opportunity they could ask. We had no pickets nor skirmishers in that direction.
"I had hardly finished my remark to Captain Bryant when he said, 'Listen! Do you hear that?' We could plainly hear the command given by the Colonel of some regiment up in the woods marching towards us by the flank, 'By com- pany, into line! March!' and immediately afterwards, 'For- ward into line by company, left half wheel H!' to form the regiment into line of battle.
"So confident was I, even then, that there was no enemy up there, that I said, 'That is one of our regiments taking position on our right.' 'The men were lying round with their guns stacked, when suddenly a few stray shots from some of the enemy, whose impatience got ahead of the word of com- mand, came whizzing by us. Colonel Jones immediately called attention, and the men sprang to their arms. The enemy poured down a volley of musketry, and commenced sweeping the ravine with the artillery which we had thought silenced. The first three or four rounds they did not get our range, consequently few were struck.
"At the first shot I mounted my horse, a young stray colt, which, my own horse being lame, I had picked up on the road. He became unmanageable at once; the saddle turned with me, and I dismounted, holding him by the bridle.
"Colonel Jones swung the right wing round, and gave orders to fire; but the enemy was completely hidden by the woods, and the fire was quite ineffectual. At this juncture Colonel Jones received an order to fall back. He told Colonel Denby to take the right wing out, and he would accompany the left. I remained in my position, and saw Colonel Jones come down past me. I could not hear what he said, but seeing the right
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TRUE METAL.
wing give way, I supposed the intention was to take the reg- iment out of the ravine, if possible.
"It was a terrible position. In front a concealed enemy firing volley after volley; on our right a battery throwing grape, with little accuracy, it is true, but all the time getting nearer the range; behind, a steep precipice, up which the men must climb, exposed to the fire of sharpshooters. Colonel Jones rode down the ravine to the place where the bluff ceased, and managed to get out; Colonel Denby and a part of two companies succeeded in getting back up the road that we came down; but the main body was compelled to clamber up the bluff the best way it could. I started up the bluff, climb- ing rock by rock, grape-shot striking all round. I did not know what the orders were, or whether there were any, and when, on looking back, I saw Captain French's and a part of Captain Eigelman's companies still down in the raviue, firing from behind a little island in the bed of the creek, I turned round and went back, thinking it best for all of us to stay with them. I had been there but a few minutes, when Lieutenant St. John, of Lytle's staff, rode down to the edge of the bluff and waved his hand. His words I could not hear, but I supposed that we were ordered to leave the ravine. Captain Eigelman ran up ahead, and shouted back to me, 'Major, they are flanking us; they are coming down the ravine.' We all then started up the bluff.
"It is a miracle the regiment got out so well. I thought we never could get the regiment together again, and my misery was great; but the men proved themselves true metal, coming up slowly over the hill in line of battle, and looking desperate and determined. We were ordered across the field by the flank, to take position in the woods, and wait the advance of the enemy, now coming up the hill in beautiful style, cheering as though the victory were won, and throwing shell and grape furiously. The screams, the wild, terrible demon yells of the bombs, and the snake-like hissing of the bullets, made that march over Peter's farm decidedlyithe most interesting trip I ever took. We were very near the woods when, simultaneously with the bursting of a shell over my head, I felt a stunning blow, and fell to the ground. Two
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of the men sprang to me, and carried me off. It was only a scalp or flesh wound, however.
"A little after sunset the firing ceased almost entirely. Our regiment had made a splendid charge, during which Captain Olmsted was instantly killed while bravely leading his men and cheering them on. The regiment was again met by overwhelming numbers, and fell back in perfect order, after firing every round in their cartridge-boxes. At this time Col- onel Denby's horse was killed, and fell on him. In extrica- ting himself he got behind, and got lost, and he did not find the regiment until late the next morning.
"Do not think the regiment fell back in disorder. None could have done better. The whole brigade was forced back. It was no retreat, only a falling back in obedience to orders. The whole battle was disastrous. Buell is the most stupen- dous failure on record."
Crittenden's corps came up abreast of Gilbert as early as four. A member of the Eighty-Sixth Indiana, which was in Van Cleve's division of Crittenden's corps, writes:
" We were at hand during the battle of Perryville, in line of battle, and moved across the country the next day in battle array, through brier-patches, corn-fields and duck-ponds, but we camped that night near the battle-field. We visited the scene of the terrible conflict, where the Rebel dead and wounded were still lying. Some of the wounded were curs- ing the Yankees for invading their country, and others were cursing the Confederates for leaving them in the hands of the enemy."
When General McCook, with Rousseau and Jackson, moved towards Perryville, he directed General Sill, now in command of the second division, to continue his course along the Frankfort road. General Sill had already been engaged in several skirmishes, since leaving Louisville, and he advanced with a proper mixture of caution and courage. In the van of his division were three companies of the western detach- ment of the Third Indiana cavalry, on this march under fire for the first time.
At Dog Walk General Withers made an effort to capture the division. A portion of his troops attacked Sill in front,
1
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PURSUIT RECOMMENCED.
and was repulsed only after a warm engagement of three hours, duration. Another portion would have fallen upon his rear at the same time, but for mistaking a small wagon train with a guard of convalescent soldiers for the object of attack. The train was captured, and with it four hundred and ten prisoners. Some were paroled the first night, after being marched twelve miles; the rest went on to Nicholasville, thirty-five and a half miles, through rain and mud. All the rations given them in two days and two nights were one pint of flour for each man. After being paroled at Nicholasville, they were robbed by Morgan's and Scott's cavalry of the most of the private property their captors had left them. Happy was the man who kept his shoes, his coat, hat, blanket or canteen.
General Bragg expected a close pursuit after the battle of Perryville, and went towards the North for the sake of the good position at Harrodsburg. Not being attacked, he retired to Camp Dick Robinson, from which he receded as the Union army approached. The Ninth Indiana drove his rear out of Danville. General Buell made a desperate attempt to catch him before entering the hilly country near the Cumberland, sending McCook and Crittenden by way of Stanford, and Gilbert through Lancaster, and concentrating the three corps in front of Crab Orchard, where Confederate cavalry and artillery made an imposing display. He threw out skirmish- ers, put his guns in position, arranged his infantry in line, and made every preparation for battle with caution, exactness and minuteness. When he was all ready, the Confederate army melted away.
The advance divisions pressed on over roads, bad at all times, and now cut to pieces by General Bragg's immense train. As it was impossible for wagons to follow, worn out shoes could not be replaced, and many soldiers were again barefoot. The weather was growing cold, and the pursuit, hurried and hard, yet hopeless, was in its most disagreeable stage. At Wild Cat, Hazen's brigade had a severe skirmish with the enemy's rear. The Ninth Indiana lost four, the Thirty-Sixth lost ten killed and wounded.
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The foremost division went thirty miles further, almost to Cumberland Gap, before it gave over the pursuit.
General Bragg took out of Kentucky with Polk's and Hardee's corps, nearly four thousand heavily loaded wagons, and many thousand cattle, sheep, mules and horses.
General Smith's spoils were even greater. He came into the State without a wagon, and his soldiers had nothing but rags on their backs. He went out with a train which was forty miles long, which contained a million yards of jeans, with a corresponding quantity of everything else civilized life affords, and which was followed by fifteen hundred mules and horses and eight thousand beeves.
General Buell's army rested a few days, then pursued the route to Nashville. The march of one regiment tells the story of all.
A member of the Eighty-Sixth writes:
" There was not enough level ground where we halted at Wild Cat for a man to sleep on, and we scattered in all directions, through the woods and down the mountain side. After the first day, when we began to realize that we had actually stopped, we wandered off beyond the pickets in small parties, in search of corn, pumpkins and grapes. A sentinel from the Eighty-Sixth, guarding one of the roads, halted one of these parties, and informed the men that they could not pass unless they could say ' Washington,' the countersign.
" There was but one inhabited house anywhere in the coun- try, and that was a small cabin, situated so far from any pos- sibility of a road that it was a wonder to us how the woman who lived in it, with some little children, ever got there. She no doubt heard the guns at the battle of Wild Cat, and, if she knew what they were, thanked her stars that she did not live among men.
" We spent our evenings among the mountains around our fires, eating grapes and parched corn, brought many a weary mile.
"Our next march led us back the way we came as far as Mt. Vernon, where we turned to the left. Our marches were more regular than when following the enemy. Our route lay through Somerset, Columbia, Glasgow, Scottsville and Gal-
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EFFECT OF MARCH.
latin. At Somerset we were caught in a great snow storm. It snowed all night, and all we could burn did not keep us warm. At Columbia we got our Sibley tents and overcoats. The former we seldom took the trouble to put up, and the latter served only to burden those who were thoughtless enough to receive them. At Gallatin we crossed the Cum- berland on a trestle bridge.
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