USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 12
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On his return, Colonel Miller began to fortify Nashville, but he was superseded and sent to Murfreesboro. He was recalled directly, and put in command of a brigade which ineluded the Thirty-Seventh Indiana. Preparations were now made to defend the city, in case of assault during the withdrawal of the army from Tennessee. Capitol Hill, which towers up in the centre, was turned into a fort, with the Twelfth Indiana battery posted on its four corners. Fortifications were built and manned on the outskirts of the town. Supplies and tidings were soon cut off; and the city was threatened on every side by numerous small bands of the enemy. The stores of soap, candles, coffee and sugar were consumed. Toward the last of October, the troops were reduced to half-rations. However, they made frequent sallies from the city, drove back the enemy, and obtained the necessaries of life.
At one o'clock on the morning of October 1, Colonel Mil- ler, with a part of his brigade, marehed out of Nashville, to attack four hundred guerrillas thirteen miles distant. He surprised them at daylight and routed them, killing forty
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and mortally wounding their commander. He returned with a large number of horses, cattle and sheep.
On the night of October 6, General Palmer with cavalry and artillery, and Colonel Miller with two thousand infantry, undertook an expedition against Lavergne, fifteen miles south of Nashville, and occupied by General Anderson with three thousand troops. Their success was brilliant, in spite of the incautious attack of Palmer on the north of the town, a half hour before the concerted time.
On the night of Sunday, October 19, Colonel Miller, with a detachment of infantry, a battery and a regiment of eav- alry, started to intercept a foree under Forrest, as it was crossing the Cumberland river seven miles above Nashville. He appeared at the point at daylight, and threw the Rebels into confusion. They re-crossed, upsetting in their haste a flatboat and sinking a cannon with which it was loaded, and betook themselves immediately to their horses and a seattered flight. With few exceptions, they escaped, Miller's cavalry having failed in a movement which had been ordered upon their rear, but they left behind them a quantity of small arms.
November 5, a few days before the head of the returning army appeared, the outer defences of Nashville were attacked by Breekinridge, Forrest and Morgan. The Twelfth battery, in Fort Negley, and all the artillery within the fortifica- tions, did such good service that the attack was repulsed without the necessity of ealling the infantry into action.
The army of the Ohio, when General Buell resigned it to the hands of General Rosecrans, presented a woful contrast to the army which, in the beginning of the year, marehed down to Pittsburgh Landing and swept the enemy from the field of Shiloh. It was broken in number and in spirit, half- fed, ragged, barefoot, and scattered over the whole face of Kentucky and a portion of Tennessee, with siek in hundreds of hospitals and almost every road-side eabin, with more than twenty-six thousand men furloughed at their homes, and more than six thousand deserted throughout the North- West. The main force continued on the march until, dur- ing November, it reached the vicinity of Nashville. Here it
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ACTIVITY IN THE REAR.
settled down, and snatched a little rest while awaiting rail- road repairs and supplies.
Remaining behind in Kentucky, chiefly along the Louis- ville and Nashville Railroad, were our Seventieth, Seventy- Fourth, Seventy-Fifth, Eightieth, Eighty-Seventh, Hundred- and-First, Sixty-Fifth, Eighty-Fourth, Thirty-Third, Eighty Fifth, and, after its exchange, Seventy-First infantry, Fourth cavalry, and detachments of the Fifth, with our Thirteenth, Eighteenth and Twenty-First batteries.
These troops, left like pools after the subsidence of widely overflowing waters, were not in the least danger of stagna- tion. Morgan, Forrest and Wheeler careered over the State, hitting a loyal head wherever they saw it, stealing a good horse wherever they found it, and, by the connivance of the country people, escaping scot free. In snatching small op- portunities to pick off individuals, and to capture squads, they were eminently successful, gaining by vigilance and alacrity, more than by the display of courage and skill, the palm for dashing boldness.
Generally, our infantry was hurled headlong in pursuit of Rebel horse, as if it was supplied with as many and as strong legs as cavalry. When the enemy was on the line of the railroad, the pursuers were put aboard cars, and dashed at break-neck speed through a country which was full of hills and precipices, and was inhabited by a hostile and unscrupulous people. Perhaps as many men were lost by the fatigue and exposure of the race, and the treacherous accidents of the railroad, as by the fire of the skirmish. Yet hostile encounters were not infrequent.
Four hundred men and officers of the Seventy-Third were guarding trestle-work at Muldraugh's Hill, shortly after it reached the field, when they were surrounded by a large force of Rebel cavalry. They made resistance, holding the enemy off an hour and a half; but in the end they were obliged to surrender. They were paroled and sent to Indi- anapolis.
On the thirtieth of September, the Seventieth surprised a troop of cavalry at Russellville, rushing down upon the camp in gallant though somewhat irregular style. "Was ever such
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a funny charge made-with the officers all in front!"-ex- claims Major Samuel Vance, describing the affair. Forty- five horses were captured, and many saddles, bridles, blank- ets and guns. Thirty-six of the enemy were killed and wounded, while but one man was killed, and none wounded in the Seventieth.
The Captain of company K, in a private letter, alludes to the gallant bearing of George Vance, who was included in a rapid and bold movement to intercept the enemy's retreat. Young Vance was one of the most promising youths in the Seventieth, and was most dearly beloved. At a later period of the war, he was mortally wounded in firing a salute. The apparently useless death of one so bright and good, so gentle and manly, made darker a family circle already shrouded in grief.
November 30, Major Hill, with the Second Indiana eav- alry, was sent from Nashville to intercept or overtake a party of Confederate cavalry. Near Hartsville, he discovered the object of his search, and dashed upon it as it was going off in triumph with a Union train and its escort. After a chase of eighteen miles and a fight in which twenty of the enemy were killed, he captured two hundred prisoners and rc- captured the train and escort. Hill was highly compli- mented by Rosecrans in special field orders.
The Second remained at Hartsville, and though reduced to three hundred and twenty-five able men, furnished escorts when required, threw out cach day thirty men for advanced videttes, and daily patrolled for a distance of ten miles, seven roads which led to the vicinity of the eamp. Though the position was strong, being on a hill and in a wood between Hartsville and the river, with ravines on cach side, its isolation rendered necessary the extremes of cau- tion and vigilance. An Illinois officer, Coloncl Moore, was in command. The outpost consisted of a brigade which had been withdrawn by Thomas from Dumont's division, and included beside the late reinforcement of the Second cavalry, about fifteen hundred infantry with two pieces of the Thir- teenth Indiana battery.
At daylight the morning of December 7, a bitter cold
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AFFAIR AT HARTSVILLE.
morning, the camp was roused by a courier announcing the rapid approach of the enemy. Already he was in sight, not three-quarters of a mile away.
Major Hill hastened with a single mounted company to meet and retard him, while Colonel Stewart, who had joined the regiment but the pre- vious evening, after a long illness, with the remainder of the Second dismounted, moved out to protect the camp and cover the formation of infantry. As soon as the line of bat- tle was formed, the troopers ran to their camp, saddled their horses and galloped to either flank. Rebel artillery opened the engagement, and joining with musketry, pressed up close, killing the horses of Nicklin's guns, and pushing back, and after an hour's struggle, breaking the infantry line. Moore surrendered. Stewart, at a distance from him, and on broken ground, drew his companies together and held out fifteen minutes after the display of the white flag. Nearly one hundred Indianians cut their way out.
The enemy, with his prisoners, was across the river and in full retreat, when, having marched ten miles in two hours, Harlan's brigade, including the Seventy-Fourth and Seventy- Fifth Indiana, of Dumont's division, appeared on the ground. It rescued a few prisoners and saved a large amount of prop- erty. Major Stewart escaped, and Major Hill was re-taken by the skirmishers of the Tenth Indiana.
The prisoners, although they had eaten no breakfast, were marched until morning without food. They were taken to Murfreesboro, and the privates, after being robbed of their blankets and stripped of their overcoats, were paroled and brought back to our lines, where they were exchanged. The officers were sent to Libby, Colonel Stewart spending three months, on the way, in an Atlanta prison, where he suffered a return of his fever.
Toward the close of the year, General Dumont, after he- roic struggles to remain in the field, in spite of confirmed ill- health, was compelled to relinquish his command and retire from military service. He was succceded by General Rey- nolds, who prepared to join the main army at Nashville. Instead of moving southward, however, the division hast- ened northward, all the troops in Kentucky and the northern
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part of Tennessee being suddenly summoned to meet, pur- sue, or in some way circumvent John Morgan. The bold raider had crossed the Cumberland, and was well on his way toward the Ohio before he was discovered. He reached Bardstown, whence he was driven back by a much larger force. Reynolds marched to Cave City, through rain and mud, and marched back to Gallatin, and further southward through mud and snow. Meantime, every reconnoitring and foraging party from the army at Nashville came in con- tact with the enemy.
On the 27th of November, Colonel Kirk, with a portion of his brigade and two companies of the western squadron . of the Third cavalry, pushed two miles beyond Lavergne, with the loss of eleven wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Hurd was wounded.
On the seventh of December, Matthews' brigade, with two guns from Swallows' battery, the Seventh Indiana, guarding a forage train, was twice attacked by a considera- ble force. Lieutenant Colonel Balfe, in command of the Thirty-Fifth, was wounded and obliged to give place to Ad- jutant Mullen, who ordered the regiment to change front and charge bayonets with a cheer. The order was promptly obeyed, and the attack was repulsed, but he who gave the command never spoke again. He was shot through the brain. The Thirty-Fifth loved him, and long missed his cheerful young face.
The Rebels lost one hundred. Matthews lost forty, and saved his train. He was publicly thanked by Rosecrans.
Henry M. Williams, a young officer on Van Cleve's staff, in a letter dated December 17, mentions a small affair with the enemy, and also describes an interview under the pro- tection of a flag of truce:
"Our division is in the advance on the Murfreesboro pike, and we find great reason to be watchful. You may have seen in the papers an account of the capture of our cavalry outposts. I had been out that day posting those very vi- dettes, and had left them scarcely two hours when the whole party were captured, about forty-five men. A flag of truce from the enemy had arrived, and our men, feeling perfectly
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FLAGS OF TRUCE.
secure while it remained, had dismounted, and were easily taken. It is probable they will all be returned with an apol- ogy. The morning after this affair, I took out fifty infantry to bring in the wounded and bury the dead. Found one killed and one wounded on each side. The secesh wounded has since died. In conversation, he said the old Union was good enough for him.
Flags of truce come and go almost daily. I went with one the other day, in company with Lieutenant Colonel Hepburn and Lieutenant Wilson. We had a very pleasant interview with some Rebel officers, one of whom was Major Prentice, son of George D. Prentice, of the Louisville Journal, a very gentlemenly Southern bloat. Another was Lieuten- ant Colonel Hawkins, a very young man, whose mother lives near our present camp. He formerly taught school in the neighborhood, but was among the first to take the stump for war. As we were parting, he spoke feelingly, almost elo- quently, about our troubles, asking why we did not let them alone, saying that the country was large enough for both of us, &c., &c. You may rest assured that I was not at all backward in speaking my mind.
"All that I met enquired anxiously what would follow the late Democratic successes. I urged Governor Seymour's remark, that he was for the war, and had only made use of such men as the Woods, to carry the election. They an- swered that Seymour's speeches were against the war, to which I could make no reply. I afterward added that we had now four hundred thousand more men in the field, that the President was Commander-in-Chief, that Congress would not dare withhold supplies, and that we would probably get along well enough. So you see, mother, staff duty is varied and pleasant thus far."
The old tale of sickness among new regiments was re- peated in every division of the army. No precaution and no care on the part of privates, and no humanity and no wisdom on the part of officers, were able to prevent or to control, to any very decided extent, what seemed to be a predestined ordeal.
On the sixteenth of November, a private, Lewis Ketcham,
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in the Seventieth, writes: "As a general thing, the regiment was very glad to get away from Bowling-Green. I believe there would not have been a hundred men left, if we had staid there much longer. We buried eight and ten, and sometimes more, every week, and there was no end to de- serting."
As late as the first of March, an officer in the same regi- ment says: "My company seems to be fated. After I had come to the conclusion that so many had died, surely no more would be taken, four died in less than a week. Strange that a life in the open air, with really but little. ex- posure-for we have not seen hard service-should result so unfortunately. I am weary of being captain. It is so ter- rible to see men die whom one has persuaded from their homes."
There were, however, many ameliorations to camp life, especially as ladies sometimes dared the dangers, not by any means imaginary, of travel through regions infested by guer- rillas, to give their society to their relatives, and their chari- ties to the needy. How opportune and pleasant were very slight attentions, may be inferred from a few extracts from letters. 'The following is from a member of the Thirty- Third :
"Miss :- I infest you to read a few lines merely to let you know that I am well and have not forgotten you, and hope when this comes to hand, it may find you the same. I re- ceived your kind present, which I send you a thousand thanks for, as nothing could have come in a better place than did that book; for I was lonesome, and had nothing to read to amuse myself with. Please excuse my apology, I did have the Testament, but wanted something for a change. I will take good care of the book and never part with it, for I wanted something to remember you by; for I never did or have since saw the lady that could solace the sick with so much benignity as you did. You have no idea how much we missed you when you left us."
"October 27-Camp of Seventieth Indiana. Nathan and I were making our bed by the light shining through the cracks of the stove, our light had just gone out, when in came a
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LITTLE SERVICES.
letter for each of us, and a star candle from Mrs. Bates." A visitor, amused by the vanity of soldiers, writes as follows: "Bowling-Green. All Saturday and Sunday we sewed hard, putting linings and pockets in overcoats, as our boys brought not only their own, but the coats of all their friends to us. It is delightful to do anything for them. But it is the funniest thing in the world to see the poor fellows stand before our big looking-glass. As they have nothing but little bits of pocket mirrors, which reflect one feature at a time, of course they have not really seen themselves-sun- burn, buttons and all-since they became soldiers. They can hardly tear themselves away. When, after many a lin- gering look, they do get to the front door, they are sure to run back for something they pretend to have forgotten-in reality to take a parting glance. They havn't a bit of mod- esty about it. I think I should die laughing, if I wasn't so sorry for them. I tell them that they put me in mind of the young men in the town of Union at the beginning of the war. Captain Cramer was the first to volunteer and get a uniform. Of course he had his picture taken. And what should every young fellow in the town do, but borrow Captain Cramer's suit, run down to the wagon-the daguerreotype office was a big covered wagon-and get his likeness. Perhaps it gave them resolution to enlist, for they did, one and all."
The writer adds: "I must tell you how we smuggled a woman along on her way to visit her sick husband, some- where about Nashville-she had no idea where. She was distressed to death, and bent on finding him, but she had no more sense about traveling than a baby. She had come from Minnesota down to Louisville, easy enough, but there she was at a loss. She told me in the jam at the depot, just as we were hurrying out to get on the train. I had no time to think, but I said, 'Come ahead, stick close to me, I'll do what I can.' I shook my pass in the conductor's face, with- out giving him a chance to read it, so we were off without any trouble. We left the woman on the train. I can't im- agine what would become of her."
Over all travelers to the army, anxious and distressed about some siek Indiana soldier, and ignorant of his where-
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abouts, officers from our State, assigned to that work in con- nection with other objects, had a benevolent care.
In December, Governor Morton appointed Dr. Hutchinson, of Mooresville, Military Agent in Nashville, with authority to transact business in aid of suffering and distressed volun- teers from Indiana. Dr. Hutchinson was instructed to regis- ter the names of sick and disabled soldiers; to inform him- self with regard to their location, condition and wants; to sce that they were furnished with accommodations, medical attendance and food; to procure from the proper officers de- scriptive lists for those who might be without them, in order to obviate difficulties in regard to pay or discharge; to cxam- ine the condition of hospitals, and call the attention of proper authorities to any neglect or abuse; to keep himself advised of the location, condition and movements of regiments; to assist citizens who were seeking friends in the army or in hospitals, or who were endeavoring to get information about them, or to get furloughs, discharges, transfers, or anything else for them; and in short, to do all that was possible for the health and happiness of the soldier. He was directed to co- operate with the military authorities of the department, and with the Sanitary Commission in Indiana; and to make fre- quent communications to Mr. Hannaman, both informally, by means of letters, and formally, through official reports.
The system of military agencies was the outgrowth and the complement of the Indiana Sanitary Commission, which was the first organization of the kind in the United States. The origin of the Commission was due to the conviction on the part of Governor Morton and other men of forecast, that the war would be long and desperate, and that the soldier would require from a benevolent, or more properly an affec- tionate people, not an occasional but a perennial spring of relief. Its establishment was made casy, and at the same time was rendered obligatory by the vast accumulation after the siege of Fort Donelson, of voluntary offerings, which could be saved from waste or prodigal use only by system- atic distribution.
The Commission was organized in March, 1862, with William Hannaman, president, and Alfred Harrison treas-
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MILITARY AGENTS.
urer. By means of agents employed without wages or sal- ary, or any pecuniary remuneration other than the defrayal of actual expenses, it supplied the soldier with whatever the Government failed to furnish for his comfort and advantage in the hospital, in the camp, on the march, or on the field. The agents went with each shipment of goods to the army, and distributed stores to every regiment, making it more di- rectly an object to preserve the health of troops in the field, than to restore the sick in the hospitals. They did every- thing in their power for the prevention or relief of suffering, from writing a letter for the ignorant or sick, to chartering a steamboat for the wounded. In the army, their services were confined to Indianians; while in hospitals, they dis- pensed their charities impartially.
When permanent hospitals were established, not only along the border and throughout the North, but in the armies, it became necessary to add to the system of itiner- ating agents, a stationary or permanent agency. Dr. Woods, of Centreville, was appointed Military Agent for Louisville, the last of October, 1862. Dr. Hutchinson, as already men- tioned, was appointed for Nashville in December. The Military Agents were at first under the control of the Com- missary General of Indiana, but, as they were necessarily agents of the Sanitary Commission, it was soon evident that they were properly within the jurisdiction of the President of the Commission. Accordingly Mr. Hannaman was made General Military Agent. No man was better calculated to direct and apply the generous gifts of a warm-hearted people. Having experience of toil and economy, he was acquainted with the value of money; having suffered, he was able to sympathize with sorrow; being a Christian, he knew the priceless worth of life; long and widely known to be honest, accurate and thorough in his business, he was above suspi- cion.
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CHAPTER VIII.
STONE RIVER.
I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The word repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth, The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !
And in despair I bowed my head; There is no peace on earth, I said; For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men !
Then pealed the bells more lond and deep; "God is not dead nor doth he sleep! The wrong shall fail The right prevail With peace on earth, good-will to men !" .
- Longfellow.
Rosecrans at Nashville, and Bragg at Murfreesboro, rap- idly reorganized and refitted their forces. The former accu- mulated a vast quantity of supplies. The latter added to the size of his army by large drafts from the South and West. Both were resolved not to repeat the indecisive his- tory of the summer and fall. Each questioned, it would seem, the propriety of receiving combat on a selected posi- tion, or of challenging it by an advance, and at the same time held himself in readiness to respond to the decision of his adversary.
The country between Nashville and Murfreesboro is trav- ersed by two good turnpikes, several tolerable country-roads
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MARCHING TO BATTLE.
and a number of intolerable cross-roads. The soil is deep and sticky. High, steep banks of numerous creeks, rugged hills and hollows, cedar brakes, oak groves and .thickets, afford many secure coverts to the cautious scout or the re- treating foe. Through a region so favorable for defensive warfare, in the middle of winter, when storms and mud rule the season, and in the face of a strong and active enemy, a movement could not be lightly undertaken by the most ardent leader. Accordingly both Bragg and Rosecrans bent all their powerful energies to the thorough accomplishment of every preparation.
Rosecrans took the initiatory step. The day after Christ- mas, in the dusk of morning, and while rain poured down from the wintry skies, he set out. His column consisted of forty-four thousand three hundred and sixteen men, of whom fifteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-three formed his right wing, and were under McCook's command; thirteen thousand two hundred and eighty-eight constituted his left, and were in Crittenden's command; and thirteen thousand three hundred and ninety-five were in his centre, under Thomas. They were in heavy marching order, with knap- sacks on their backs, and with haversacks containing three days' rations. The remainder, seventeen hundred, formed a brigade of engineers.
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