USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 14
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CRUFT AND GROSE.
infantry. Hazen, Palmer's left, had been posted in a cotton field, but as his position was open to fire, not only in front, but on both flanks, he moved out to take possession of a knoll which, while less exposed, was more commanding. It was while making this movement, before he was twenty yards out, that the enemy fell upon him. He was forced back, and at the same time compelled to throw his right, the Sixth Kentucky and Ninth Indiana, to Cruft's left. He withdrew his other regiments about fifty yards to a slight elevation, covered with scanty oaks, in a sharp tract or point of ground between the turnpike and railroad, which, con- verging for a long distance, cross about a quarter of a mile above the river, Wagner's brigade, which had occupied that position, having been advanced to the left.
Grose moved to the protection of Cruft's rear, and faced to the rear. The Thirty-Sixth Indiana had scarcely taken its position on the right flank of the brigade, when a volley from cedar-thickets in its front riddled its ranks. Every mounted officer, except the Adjutant, had his horse shot under him.
During the heavy assault on its front, it was separated from the brigade by the passage behind it of a retreating regiment of Regulars. At the same time, two companies were torn from it and driven quite adrift. The Thirty-Sixth retired, and shortly rejoined the brigade, when the enemy was driven from the rear.
Meantime, the front was not less sorely beset, the enemy having succeeded in getting a column into a wood which covered the greater part of Cruft's linc. The Thirty-First, which had occupied the right since the enemy appeared, except a few moments when it was short of ammunition, three times drove back an assailing force. Captain Water- man picked up a fallen man's rifle and did good service with it. Sergeant-Major Noble buckled on a cartridge box, snatched a rifle from the ground, and stood in the front rank, Surgeons Morgan and McKinney established themselves close in the rear to stanch without dangerous delay the brave blood so freely flowing. Every man did his duty. But Cruft was compelled to retire. He left the cedar-wood full
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
of his dead. The faithful surgeons refused to abandon their patients, and yielded themselves prisoners to the conquering enemy.
Hazen now concentrated his little force by moving the Ninth Indiana from the right, across the cotton field, under the galling fire of both artillery and musketry. He was alone in the front, but he was equal to his opportunity. When his ammunition was nearly gone, one regiment with fixed bayonets, and another, which had no bayonets, with clubbed muskets, held the ground until Grose's brigade rein- forced them. Schaefer, the last of Sheridan's brigadiers, fol- lowed Grose. Van Cleve, with Beatty's brigade, marched up through fugitives and teams, crossed a field beyond the turnpike, gained an oak wood, formed in line of battle, and under a heavy fire steadily advanced. The Nineteenth Ohio and Ninth Kentucky, (veteran regiments, the Nineteenth Ohio especially one of the noblest in the service,) were in the front line, the Seventy-Ninth Indiana and Eleventh Kentucky in the rear, until nearly a half mile had been gained, when the ammunition of the front beginning to fail, the command was given to halt and wheel by company into column. The front halted, wheeled, marched, and the rear passed through. Never in the graceful manœuvres of the parade ground, stimulated by waving handkerchiefs, bright cyes and brave music, did the Seventy-Ninth Indiana and Eleventh Kentucky step so proudly as now, under the in- spiration of the steady tramp of their comrade regiments and the death-dealing fire of the enemy. Without the pause of a moment, they took up the fight and the advance.
By this time, Fyffe and Harker had gained the front of the fugitives and formed on Beatty's right, though yet in his rear. Harker's advance regiment struck the enemy in the cedars, and retreated over the Seventy-Third Indiana, which was lying down. The latter sprung to its feet the moment the retreating regiment left the ground clear, and met the pursu- ers sharply face to face. Both columns stood firm until the Seventy-Third dashed forward in a charge, when the Rebels fell back. The regiment pushed on alone, an order, which did not reach Colonel Hathaway, having withdrawn the rest
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THE ENEMY ON EVERY HAND.
of the brigade. Captain Tibbetts was killed; Captain Doyle was mortally wounded; all the members of the color guard, except the bearer, were killed or wounded; a third of the regiment had fallen when the Adjutant, who was mounted on the only horse remaining, discovered a force preparing to advance on the left flank, and not fifty yards distant. A rapid retreat, not so hasty but that the wounded were saved, enabled the regiment to join the brigade. In the advance, companies A, B and F of the Fifty-First, under Lieutenant Colonel Colescott, deployed on the extreme right as skirmish- ers, lost largely, and were saved from destruction chiefly by Colescott's skill. Fyffe's flank was exposed by the falling back of Harker, and the Eighty-Sixth Indiana, being on the right, suffered greatly. So near were the Rebels, that many - of the men were unable to get away when ordered to retreat. Both color bearers were shot down, one killed, the other dis- abled for life, and the colors were lost. The brigade was withdrawn only after it was nearly surrounded.
Beatty's regiments were now isolated, and far in advance. Van Cleve, who, though wounded, retained command of his division, despatched an order which brought back the rear line without delay. The front was in thick woods, pressing the enemy's front, and unconscious of danger to its flank- when two aids, Lieutenant Percival to the Eleventh, Lieu- tenant Sheets to the Seventy-Ninth, gave the order and started them steadily and swiftly on retreat. Lieutenant Sheets turned to gallop back, but in winding among the trees lost the line of direction, and when he came upon open ground found himself fronting the enemy. Turning, he saw Rebel skirmishers pressing up behind him-evidently in ad- vance of a line of battle. Only far to his right, beyond a field and a high rail fence, could he see the Union blue. His horse was new and untried, but spur and rein and voice and the fast coming fire of the enemy stimulated the creature to its utmost speed. The field was crossed, the fence was leaped, and the friendly line was gained.
At the same time that Van Cleve's division and Harker's brigade moved toward the right, Hascall changed the front of his brigade to the rear, preparatory to starting in the same
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
direction. He had not gone more than two hundred yards, when by the throng of fugitives from the right wing he was compelled to halt his whole brigade, with the exception of Estep's battery, which followed Van Cleve. After strug- gling an hour to advance, he was able to get a single regi- ment to the relief of Hazen, and in the end to follow with his three remaining regiments. He recalled Estep's battery, but before it arrived, was fiercely engaged with the force which overlapped Hazen. Repulsing it, he reformed his line, throwing the Fifty-Eighth Indiana in his front. Gen- eral Rosecrans, riding up at the moment, addressed the men, directing them to hold their fire until the enemy was close. The Fifty-Eighth obeyed the injunction, firing so straight into the face of the Rebels in the next assault, as to stagger them and send them back with one volley. They were soon up again, and for the third time assailed Hascall's front.
Meantime Wagner was as warmly engaged. From the point between the roads, he had been ordered to cross the railroad, post his battery on the left, and hold the ground to the river at all hazards. Cox took position on the erest of a hill, directly before the ford. The regiments lay down near under cover of woods. They were not any too soon. Rebel infantry in mass strove to cross the railroad in front of them. Again and again, as if spurred on to madness by their suc- cess on the right, they threw themselves into the withering fire of Cox's guns. At length they were compelled to desist. The intermission was short, but it was most opportune, as Cox was nearly out of ammunition. Wagner took advan- tage of it to throw his regiments further to the front, where, on open ground they again lay down, to avoid, as far as pos- sible, the fiery rain of artillery.
They lay until the storm slackened; until they saw the Rebels draw near and nearer, heard officers urge their men on, heard the men bring their pieces to a charge, and utter the shrill yell which precedes the fierce onset, then they fired a deadly volley. An uncertain and breathless moment, smoke hid the field. It lifted slowly, and straining eyes saw in place of the glittering line of threatening bayonets the gray backs of the foc in flight.
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THE EXTREME LEFT.
Cox was now supplied with ammunition. He resumed his fire, facing at times three batteries, the most annoying of which was beyond the river, and continued it during long hours, while his supporting regiments lay on the cold ground. Late in the afternoon it was evident that the enemy was prepar- ing for another assault. "They are bringing up their last reserves," said Lieutenant-Colonel Lennard, of the Fifty- Seventh, looking toward the Rebel line. "If we can only hold them this time, the day is ours," he added as he rode along the front of his regiment.
The Rebels had gained a position not more than three hundred yards distant, and were moving up. The Fifteenth and Fifty-Seventh advanced on the double quick and firing, met them, repulsed them, and threw themselves on the ground, while Cox and Estep, who had been silent during their advance, opened fire again. Rebel guns, eighteen in number, which had also been silent, also opened fire. Col- onel Hines was severely wounded by a shell, and was carried from the field, but not until he had delivered the command, with instructions, to Captain McGraw, Colonel Lennard having previously been shot and disabled. The Fifteenth and Fifty-Seventh, lying close to the earth in a slight depres- sion, were partially sheltered from the batteries in their front, but they were enfiladed by the guns beyond the river. There could be no possible advantage in remaining in the position while every sweeping shell made terrible havoc, but they could not rise without encountering the fire of our guns. Cox and Estep were informed of the situation, when, chang- ing the direction of their fire, they allowed the two regiments to make their way to a less exposed position.
The action of the Fortieth, which served under both Has- call and Wagner in the engagements on the left, may be best described by Major Leaming. The following letter was hastily written on the battle field to his wife:
"Our entire right wing gave way, a great part of it in much confusion. The stragglers came rushing back toward our position (we were just to the left of the pike) in a perfect panic. For a time all seemed lost. Our men fell back across a large open field between the pike and the woods in
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
which they had been posted, the Rebels pursuing and yelling with all their might. After our men had got well across the field, a battery of eighteen guns, posted on the hill to the left of the pike, was turned on the Rebels as they advanced in four lines, and grape and cannister were showered among them until they could stand it no longer. Our brigade had been withdrawn from the position first held, in order to sup- port the right wing in its retreat, and as we were in an open field, I had a fine view of the effect of the fire of our bat- teries. The loss to the enemy here was awful. As some- times from four to six guns would fire at one time, at not more than one to two hundred yards, full into the face of the advancing lines, whole companies were swept down as grain by a reaper. They soon broke and ran back to the shelter of the woods, whither they were followed by our merciless shells. In the meantime we had been shelled by some batteries of theirs planted in front of the position we held at first. Grape, cannister and fragments of shell fell around us like hail. The regiment was getting disordered. Blake received an order to report to General Wood as under arrest. He started off, and Neff was, of course, in command. Just at this time an order came for us to march across to re- lieve the Fifty-Eighth, of Hascall's brigade. This regiment was sharply engaged with a force in front, but was manfully standing its ground. The Fortieth marched over the railroad, into an open field, and lay down on a hill-side just in rear of the Fifty-Eighth. We were exposed to the full fire of the force engaging the Fifty-Eighth, and being above it, were in much more danger, as it is a fact beyond all doubt that per- haps nine-tenths of all the shots in battle pass too high, and that there is more danger to men one hundred yards to the rear than to those in front. There was also a battery in full view of us taking the Fortieth as its target. But the boys lay like heroes under this the most fearful trial that troops can be put to, that is, exposure to fire without a chance to return it. We lay there for a half hour, when Royse came to me and told me that Neff was wounded soon after we arrived at this place, and that I was in command. The Fifty-Eighth by this time had expended its ammunition, I
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THE FORTIETH.
called the Fortieth to attention, and moved forward to relieve it. As the fine fellows sprang to their feet, I saw three lying in their places, never more to respond till the last trump shall call to attention the universe. A large number of wounded had been removed. We started, as I have said, to relieve the Fifty-Eighth. When we were near enough, I called out to them that we would take their places, and in five seconds they had retired, and we were ready for the Rebels. The party that had fought the Fifty-Eighth soon retired. I ordered to cease firing, and rode out in front of the regiment to see what was coming next. I was not long in finding out. A large brigade of Breckenridge's corps was formed about a half mile in front of us, and in a few moments came across the open field directly upon us. The order was given that no one should fire, and our boys lay flat and motionless. As their line advanced the fire from three of their batteries was directed on us; and the limbs from the trees overhead cut off by their shells, wounded and bruised quite a number of our boys. I rode over to the right of the regiment to see what support we had there. I could see nothing at all to our flank on the right, nothing to our rear. On our left was the One Hundredth Illinois behind the embankment, at nearly a right angle to our position. This was well enough, but I was uneasy about our right, especially as the weight of the advancing brigade was moving toward the right of our line. But nothing could be done just then by me to remedy the matter, so I merely sent a notice of the advance to Rose- crans, and left him to prepare as he thought best. As soon as the enemy was within one hundred and fifty yards, the One Hundredth Illinois commeneed firing. I had intended to let them come close up to us, then fire, and charge bayo- nets. But they halted as soon as the Illinois regiment com- menced on them, and I was compelled to give the order "Commence firing." The boys did so with a will. I stood watching them and the effect of their firing on the enemy. I cannot express to you how proud and happy I was when I saw their coolness, and the determination in every face. Ien- couraged them in every way I could, and as, unable to stand
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
our fire, the Rebels began to run, I shouted to the boys to give it to them. They yelled out a shout of triumph, and it seemed to me, shot as if it were not necessary to load, and they could indeed "fire at will." They disappeared into the woods on our right, and we had nothing but the fire of their batteries to stand. This continued for several hours, indeed till dark, but happily all the shell and shot passed to our rear, although not more than a few rods. At dark the battle was nearly over, and ecased soon after.
"Just after we had driven our visitors off, I rode out to see the effect of our fire. The ground was literally covered with their dead and wounded. A prisoner we took said that the Louisiana regiment he had belonged to was almost exter- minated; that one captain came out without a man left, and another had only ten.
"Now I know you would like me to say something about myself. Well, my little lady, folks say I did my duty. That's enough, is it not? But I cannot give too much praise to Royse. He behaved like a hero. All, officers and men, did their duty nobly, and I am glad to have so brave a set of fellows under my command. I must not forget to say that in all probability the Fortieth was the only regiment which had been engaged that rested on the night of the great battle on the same ground that it occupied the night before."
At the same time that Rosecrans, by the rapid advance of the left and reserve, checked the enemy in front, he succeeded, by posting disengaged regiments, among which was the Eighty-Second Indiana, (just returned from escort duty,) to gather up stragglers, in forming the greater part of the right wing along the turnpike,-Johnson on the right of Rousseau, and Sheridan and Davis turned toward the rear, with cavalry still further to the rear,-and in massing the guns of Stokes, Guenther, Loomis and Simonson so as to sweep the open field on the right of the road. Here there was irregular fighting during the greater part of the day.
The following rough outline of this day's battle is said to have been given by a private to an old Hoosier at a street corner :
" You say you can't understand about army wings, they
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REVIEW OF THE DAY'S DISASTERS.
being crushed, falling back, &c. Well, here it is in short: Suppose our army to be like a bird at Stone River, head toward Murfreesboro, its body, Thomas' corps, being the centre, McCook's corps, the right wing, spread wide open, and Crittenden's corps, the left wing, not opened out. That will do well enough for illustration. Well, Bragg's army pile in on MeCook's wing at its tip, and break off an inch or so by capturing batteries and several hundred of our men. And the feathers fly mightily all along that wing, and it is overpowered, and falls back in retreat, just as the bird would fold its wing, until it laps right up 'long side the centre. That's the way it was done. But they didn't move our head nor centre, though,-nary! Well, the Reb. cavalry, of which they had a powerful slue during this fight, came round on our rear on the big Nashville road, where were our hundreds of wagons and ambulances. There, we will say, is the bird's tail; and the supply wagons, and doctors' tools, and niggers, we'll call them the tail feathers. Now, them feathers flew some, you better believe!"
In the evening a council of the general officers of the army was held in a little log cabin on the right of the turnpike, within short artillery range of the Rebel front. . The gloom with which it opened was not relieved by a statement of the situation. The supply trains had been sent back toward Nashville to get them out of the way of the Rebel cavalry; some of them had been destroyed, and the line of communi- cation was interrupted. Twenty-eight guns were captured; two-thirds of the field were lost. Willich was a prisoner, having been captured after his horse was shot, while return- ing to his brigade after an interview with Johnson. Kirk was mortally wounded. Sill, Roberts and Schaeffer were dead. Wood and Van Cleve were disabled. Ten Colonels, ten Lieutenant Colonels, six Majors, and an uncounted num ber of Captains were wounded, captured or killed. Sheridan alone had lost seventy-two officers. The United States brigade of Regulars had lost twenty-two officers. More than seven thousand were gone from the ranks. The men were hungry, tired, cold, disheartened, and were sorrowing for the loss of their comrades.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Except Rosecrans, Van Cleve and Thomas, the Generals were all men who had not yet reached middle life. They were awed by the events of the day, and after they had given their reports, were silent. Retreat seemed the only reasona- ble course, and as the supply trains had already been started, it might commence at once. But the mortifying and painful word was unuttered. Roseerans was determined yet to win. If communication was cut, the army could live on corn. A stand might be made on the south bank of Overall's creek, but he preferred to maintain his present ground,-the line which had been formed along the turnpike under the fire of the enemy, and the position held by the left. The open ground in front of the present right was swept at all points by our artillery, and could not be covered by the cnemy. The history of the day had not shaken the confidence of the General in his soldiers, nor of the soldiers in their General.
During the night the wounded lay upon the field between the lines calling for help, which could not be given them, as the moon shone, and any movement, even on their part, caused the enemy to fire. Nevertheless a few dragged them- selves within the Union lines, and told the sad condition of dying comrades.
Before day, Crittenden re-united his division, bringing them all together on the left of the turnpike, and took up a new line of battle about five hundred yards to the rear of the former line; and Walker's and Starkweather's brigades came up from Stewartsboro and rejoined Thomas.
New Year's day was bright and beautiful. It was the day on which the President issued his proclamation of freedom to the slave, and clothed the Union soldier in the refulgent panoply of justice. Surely there would be other token than smiling skies of Heaven's approval!
The armies elosely confronted each other, skirmishing eon- stantly, and cannonading occasionally, but chiefly preparing for battle. Both leaders continued their original plan of massing their forces on the left, in order to cut the commu- nications and to cut off the retreat, each, of his antagonist. Van Cleve's division, under General Beatty, crossed the river and took position on high ground, behind and before
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THE ENEMY'S LAST ASSAULT.
which were open fields. The left was thrown forward, so that the line was nearly perpendicular to the river. Grose's brigade crossed some distance down the river, and took its post near a hospital, which had been established on the thirtieth.
The Thirty-Sixth Indiana built a barricade, under cover of which it repulsed a strong and sudden attack. Captain King was shot through the head and killed instantly, while gallantly encouraging his men. The regiment left its de- fences and pursued the storming party, but without engaging it again.
In the early part of the day, Wood's division, now under the command of Hascall, lay a half-hour under a heavy ar- tillery fire. Gibson's brigade reconnoitred cautiously on the right, and its skirmishers repulsed a cavalry charge. Whee- ler's indefatigable cavalry captured another train and a piece of artillery, going up the road as far as Lavergne.
Thursday night, Bragg withdrew portions of the force he had massed on his left, and increased the weight of his right, in order to meet Rosecrans. Early on Friday morning, he opened a fierce artillery fire on Hascall, from the cast bank of the river, and almost immediately disabled Estep's bat- tery, which was obliged to withdraw, the men hauling off two of the guns. The infantry held its ground, other batter- ies opened, and in a short time the hostile fire ceased.
The day seemed passing in a series of indeterminate en- gagements, when, like a sudden tempest harbingered by no cloud nor thunder, the Rebel right was flung upon the Union left. Beatty's first line,-the Fifty-First Ohio, Eighth Ken- tucky, Thirty-Fifth and Seventy-Ninth Indiana,-was lying down partially in woods, partially unprotected, and all around was still, when a trumpet-like voice in the direction of the enemy gave the order: "FORWARD! DOUBLE-QUICK! GUIDE CENTRE! MARCH!" No explanation from returning skirm- ishers was necessary. "My blood ran cold!" said afterward a young officer on Beatty's staff, "I knew what was com- ing. The order was repeated three times before the Rebels moved. Then out from cover, and over the wide flat in our front, they came, swift, steady, silent, in six splendid lines of
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
assault. They were within sixty or seventy-five yards of us, when up sprang our troops and fired. A moment's check, and the column rolled on as solid as ever. Then there was a hand to hand struggle, with horrible confusion. I was as near to the Rebels as to our men. My horse was shot three times. But the fight was as short as it was desperate. The first line fled, the second line broke, the third line staggered back. We were pushed to the river, some had crossed; the Rebels cheering madly, were close behind us; the great field between the river and the hill from which we had broken, was gray with them; and their batteries had gained the crest when reinforcements arrived, for Roscerans had his wing so compact that forces could be shortly thrown to any point, and fifty two guns wheeled into position on the west bank, poured out an awful and ineessant fire. The Rebel rear ranks at first closed up the gaps, but suddenly the whole mass broke, scattered and fled, exactly as a glass bottle flies to pieces when a stone is cast against it. In twenty minutes they lost two thousand men. Cheers flew to the right and left along the ranks."
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