USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 15
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Before the Rebel lines broke, Miller's and Stanley's brig- ades, under the command of Miller, rose from a recumbent position near the river bank, and rapidly advanced. They were ordered back, but not receiving the order until they were across the stream, and the enemy was flying, they took up the pursuit. Van Cleve's division rallied and returned. Grose moved up. Davis pushed forward. Four guns of the Washington battery, a celebrated battery from New Orleans, were captured. Crittenden's corps and Davis' division re- occupied the ground from which Van Cleve had been driven, but the fall of night prevented a continuance of pursuit.
The Thirty-Fifth behaved splendidly in this engagement, and lost fearfully. One-third of its ranks fell, with Captains Kilroy, Crowe and Prosser. While Prosser, shot through both thighs, lay on the field breathing out his life, he retained his command, dirceting and encouraging his men.
Thomas' report for January 3, opens with the following paragraph :
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LIEUTENANT COLONEL SHANKLIN.
"Soon after daylight, the Forty-Second Indiana, on picket in a clump of woods, about eight hundred yards in front of our lines, was attacked by a brigade of the enemy, evidently by superior numbers, and driven in with considerable loss. Lieutenant-Colonel Shanklin, commanding the regiment, was surrounded and taken prisoner while gallantly endeav- oring to draw off his men under the fire of such superior numbers."
The occurrence is thus related by Colonel Shanklin in a letter hastily written with a pencil, and on a serap of paper:
"I was taken prisoner this morning about daylight while out on picket duty. I was advancing my line of picket ac- cording to orders, till I got too far ahead, and was close to one of the enemy's batteries before I knew it. The regi- ment nearly all got away. I was in the fight all day Wed- nesday. It was a terrible battle. My horse was shot under me early in the day, and I was on foot all day. The whole responsibility devolved on me. I know I did my duty. At night my feet were so sore that I could scarcely walk. The night was sleepless. The next day we continued skirmish- ing. The next night we had no sleep. Friday, the same until about four in the afternoon, when the Rebels made their attack on our left, and we were heavily repulsed. At half-past ten our regiment was ordered on picket with orders to keep advancing and feel the enemy's lines. The men had eaten nothing for two days. It rained steadily all night. We were always wet through. At dawn the enemy commenced shelling us and throwing grape. We could do nothing but leave the woods. I could not keep up. I was utterly worn out. My feet were so sore that I was almost in- different whether I was taken or shot. Rebel skirmishers, supported by a whole brigade, surrounded Lieutenant Scher- merborn and eight of our men, with myself. I ordered the men not to fire, as resistance would be useless, and surren- dered. The Rebels seemed perfectly satisfied, made 110 attempt to pursue our regiment, and their cannon ceased firing. Ilad they followed to the edge of the woods they could have shot down our men as they passed over the open field, half mile wide, by the dozen."
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The day was rainy. The ground was soaked with water. Both armies were so weary that but little of either skirmish- ing or cannonading occurred. Batteries, however, were posted on the left, within gunshot of Murfreesboro.
In the rear, Wheeler, who had left the Rebel front at nine the previous evening, attacked a heavily guarded ordnance train, but was defeated and driven off.
At night Thomas, with a sharp fire of artillery, followed by the charge of four regiments, cleared the cedars in his front of skirmishers, and captured a number of prisoners. Our Eighty-Eighth, which was one of the charging regiments, suffered heavily. Colonel Humphrey received a severe bay- onet wound. Sunday morning no advance was made, and no enemy appeared. Cavalry was sent out to reconnoitre, and burial parties were detailed.
It was soon evident that the enemy had retreated, and that the victory, or at least the battle ground, was incontestably ours. It was bought at a terrible price. The army, through the mouth of its leader, humbly ascribed the glory to one higher than man: "Not unto us, O God, not unto us, but to Thy name give the glory."
The total Union loss on Stone river was eleven thousand six hundred and fifty-eight. The total Rebel loss, as given by General Bragg in his official report, was fourteen thou- sand seven hundred men. The Union killed were one thou- sand five hundred and thirty-three; wounded, seven thousand two hundred and forty-five; missing, two thousand eight hundred. Of this loss about two thousand five hundred fell to the share of Indiana.
None of our regiments numbered five hundred before the battle, and some could not count three hundred.
The Thirty-Ninth lost one hundred and eighty-seven killed and wounded. On the morning of the first day, company I lost seven killed, seventeen captured, twelve of whom were wounded, and nine wounded not captured-total thirty-cight, being the heaviest loss sustained by any company in the ariny on that dreadful day. This company which suffered so heavily was the oldest of all Indiana military organiza- tions, having been the first to offer its services to Governor
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AFTER THE BATTLE.
Morton after the fall of Fort Sumter, and having removed unbroken, and with the same designation, from the Sixth, on its return from West Virginia, to the Thirty-Ninth. Of Lieutenant Neal, who fell at the first onset of the enemy, Lieutenant Colonel Jones says: "No truer gentleman, no better soldier nor braver man belongs to the great patriot army."
The same officer speaks of Surgeon Gray as having donc all that mortal man could do for the wounded. . The Thirty- Second lost one hundred and sixty-seven.
Many of the noblest soldiers of the Sixth were wounded or killed.
The Twenty-Ninth lost fourteen killed, and fifty-two severely wounded, beside many slightly wounded, and many captured. Lieutenant Dunn was wounded and captured. Captain Stebbins, a generous and manly officer, was killed by a cannon ball. He was a native of Tennessee, and met his death but a few miles from his once happy home.
The Twenty-Second lost sixty-six. Lieutenant Colonel Tanner, left on the field wounded, was captured.
The Eighty-First lost eighty-eight. Of Lieutenant Mor- gan, who was killed, a comrade writes: "He was one of those mild and yet brave men, whom to know is to respect and love. He was as calm as a summer's morning, when a Rebel bullet struck him, and his sweet spirit passed away."
The Thirty-Seventh lost 131. Lieutenant Holman was killed by a shell. Colonel Hull was severely wounded.
Of the Thirty-Eighth, Colonel Scribner says: "I am sat- isfied that it would have suffered extermination rather than have yielded its ground without orders." Lieutenant-Colo- nel Griffin commends its patient endurance of cold, hunger and fatigue during the five days of battle, also the soldierly deportment of Major Glover and Adjutant Devol, and the untiring faithfulness of Chaplain Carson. Captain Fouts was killed. He was brave, true and affectionate.
The Fifty-Eighth lost one hundred and ten. Lieutenant Blackford was killed. Captains Downey and Alexander were badly wounded.
The Eighty-Eighth lost fifty-six.
The Thirty-First lost fifty-five.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The Thirty-Sixth lost one hundred and thirty-two. Major Kinley was severely wounded early in the action, and the command devolved on Captain Woodward, who says, "Not a man of the Thirty-Sixth flinched during the eight long hours that it assisted in maintaining the position against the furious assaults of the enemy." Captain Shultz was mor- tally wounded.
The Fifty-First lost forty-nine.
The Seventy-Third lost one hundred and four. General Roscerans complimented the regiment at the close of the first day for its courage.
The Fortieth lost eighty-five.
The Fifty-Seventh lost seventy-five. The Fifty-Seventh was under fire, either actively engaged or supporting a bat- tery, during ten hours.
The Eighty-Sixth lost forty-eight. Major Dresser was wounded in both legs, and had two ribs fractured, and his shoulder dislocated by the fall of his horse.
The Thirty-Fifth lost one hundred and thirty-four. Captain Kilroy was killed, Captain Prosser was mortally wounded, Captain Crowe was also wounded.
The Seventy-Ninth lost fifty-one.
The Forty-Second lost one hundred and four, including Lieutenant-Colonel Shanklin, captured.
The Forty-Fourth lost eighty-five, including Colonel Will- iams, captured.
Of the Ninth, besides privates, of which the number is not given, Lieutenant Kesler was killed, and Lieutenant-Colonel Suman was wounded.
Swallow lost twelve from his battery, Bush lost twenty-six, Simonson lost nineteen, Cox lost five. Estep's battery lost so heavily that it was necessary to make a detail from in- fantry to assist in working the guns, but the number has not been published. One man in Klein's cavalry was killed.
Orderly Cook of the Second cavalry resigned his horse to his General when the horse of the latter was shot. Bugler Depenbrock, together with a Michigan cavalryman, received thanks for bringing to the front on the evening of the thirty-
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FAILURE IN DUTY.
first, a horse for Colonel Minty, who was on foot in rear of dismounted skirmishers, running for their horses.
Lieutenant Wooten was thrown from his horse and se- verely hurt, yet he pressed to the front on foot, until he obtained another horse, and remained on the field through- out the engagement.
The following Indiana generals and colonels in command of brigades received special commendation in the report of Roseerans: Wood, Hascall, Cruft, Davis, Miller, Grose and Wagner. Captain Wiles, of the Twenty-Second, on his staff, he also commended.
Dr. Sherman, a brigade surgeon, distinguished himself by his devotion to duty in circumstances of unusual exposure.
A large proportion of losses from the regiments belonging to the right wing, were from capture; nevertheless, the Thirty-Ninth, which lost the largest number of prisoners, two hundred and thirty-one, had also the most killed, thirty-one. The killed in the Thirty-Fifth were twenty-nine, making that regiment second to the Thirty-Ninth.
The Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Eighty-Sixth, Eighty- Eighth and Forty-Second, make no mention of loss by cap- ture. In the last, however, nine were taken with the Colonel.
There were one or two little bits of ignominy in connec- tion with the battle of Stone river, but it were an ungrate- ful task to record them. If, to nerve himself for the contest, the soldier drank from the bewildering bottle, and became a senseless clod, or if, in the din, and dust, and smoke, and death, and anguish, he dared not join in the fell charge, and skulked behind a rock or tree, or if his scared and numbed senses took no note of orders in the retreat, and he fled wildly, at least let his weakness be forgotten. He was "in the ser- vice." In cooler moments he had the heart to serve his country, and even as skulker or fugitive, he was a thousand times better than the traitor who staid at home and rejoiced in Rebel victories. Moreover, the man who played the pol- troon in one battle, was not incapable of being a valiant sol- dier in another. So inconsistent is human nature. He who never astonishes himself by failure in the stern hour of trial has reason to be happy.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Darwin Thomas, of the Eighty-Sixth, in his letters home, gives some interesting items of his own experience in the battle:
" We left our camp to move upon the enemy without tents, and with as few wagons as possible, and before the battle was half over the wagons had gone in haste to Nashville, taking our blankets with them. So we were left in the rain the remainder of the time, with nothing but fire for shelter, and some nights, when near the enemy, not even with that. Many of the men complained of such fare, but I stood it all with casc.
" It seems almost astonishing that I have been so favored with good health. I have already passed through the whole vocabulary of soldiers' hardships, and have been sick no more than I should have been at home. I have had the headache twice, once on my way down the Ohio from Cincinnati, and once during the battle. One night during the battle we all got hungry about twelve o'clock, and notwithstanding I was not well, I started back to Nashville to find our wagon, and have it come up, but I was so tired I coneluded to dismount and sleep awhile in a fence corner, as the train of wagons was moving up, and I could wait for ours to come along. I took a nice little sleep sitting on a stone with my head against the fence, and waked up with my head almost well, and strange to say, just as my wagon was passing. We took supper at one o'clock in the morning, and slept till the cannon waked us at daylight. We needed no other reveille. But before night many of our poor boys went to sleep again, and are still asleep beneath the sod.
"Just at twelve on the night of the thirty-first we were relieved by other troops, and marched back to our proper place on the left, leaving our poor wounded boys calling for help on the disputed field. It was as much as we could bear to leave companions, with whom we have been so much in the long march through Kentucky, lying helpless on the chilly battle field. But many of them were past suffering.
"On the second Breckinridge massed a force in close col- umn thirty thousand strong, and charged across an open field in our front, with a design to capture our division, which was
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"IT SHALL NOT COME NIGH THEE."
alone across the river. Then came what is said to be the hardest fighting that two armies can do. Bullets flew by the bushel from artillery and musketry. Fifty-two of our cannon opened upon the poor fellows who are made to per- form such deeds of valor through fear of death. No field was ever so blue with flying lead. Very many of my friends, and those whom I esteemed on account of their bravery, are among the dead. One of the staff fell badly wounded, and had his horse killed, very near me. Colonel Fyffe was thrown from his horse, and dragged some distance. I was with him all the time on the field, but all the little flying deaths missed me."
"Any man on a horse was a target for the sharpshooters, and any group of horsemen for the artillery. All the time we were not in action, we were compelled to keep behind hills, so that we could not be seen by the enemy's glasses, and even then to shift from place to place. Sharpshooters posted in trees shot at us nearly a whole day. You can form no idea of such a battle without being on the field where you can see a hundred pieces of artillery posted on all the commanding points along a line extending two or three miles around you; lines of infantry filling all the low places, the enemy advancing in solid column across an open field, our first line rising from the ground and deliver- ing such a volley of musketry as to make you think every- thing under the sun had burst, our artillery opening, the enemy's artillery galloping up and pouring in shot and shell. Why you never heard such a noise! Any amount of thun- der won't compare with it. But when you are in the midst of the firing, you don't notice the big noise so much as the meanest of all sounds, continually going past your ear, with their whiz, whir, zip, spat and thug! as one of the Minies hits some poor fellow and sends him to the ground. I don't know why I was not hit, for it seemed to me that everybody was shooting at me, and every time I saw a man fall at my side, I thought the ball that was to knock me off was right at hand. Even after the hardest of the fight was over, and I thought myself safe, here would come a big shell across the country, and tearing up the ground, fall right by the side
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
of me. I more than once had to laugh at men, who, when walking along, would hear one of these things coming, and squat down with their backs turned in the direction of the sound, just as though they were playing 'sock,' and run when it would light, but not to pick it up."
" Many citizens were wounded in the battle. They go limp- ing about the hospitals. But it is very hard to distinguish citizens from soldiers, as they all wear the same kind of clothes, such as they arc. Their clothes alone are enough almost to declare war against. A line of Rebels marching through the woods is the ugliest sight I ever saw. A great deal of the hatred entertained by our men toward them, I suppose, arises from the fact that they are so dangerous. During battle, the skirmishers that are sent in front of each army when there is no hard fighting going on, are continu- ally shooting at one another, hiding and slipping about from tree to tree, sometimes to see which can get the advantage of the other. In this, the dirty color of the enemy's clothes enables them to move about without so much danger as we are in with our light blue overcoats, and they often knock one of our boys over without being seen. When the battle comes, they are so much better than their appearance, that they fight wonderfully, but they are compelled to do it by officers. When a desperate charge is to be made, such as was made upon us of the left wing by Breckinridge, they form their columns and place a strong guard in the rear, to shoot every man who attempts to fall back or leave the ranks. An army that is kept together is irresistible when it moves with celerity. The great trouble in battles is to keep men together; so many of them get confused and don't shoot with good effect, but it is not to be wondered at. Very few men keep their presence of mind when balls are cutting their hair and tearing their clothes.
"Our regiments are all very small since the battle, many were wounded, and many are sick. The four regiments in our brigade average about three hundred men for duty. If the convalescents were all up from Nashville, and the sick from the other places ever get well and come up, the Eighty- Sixth will, perhaps, number five hundred men. Only half
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SURGEONS AND NURSES.
the men who leave home are fit for service. The officers re- sign and go home, and the privates die. A regiment of five hundred men, well drilled, which has had all the poor men sifted out by service, is worth two new regiments of a thou- sand men each.
"It made me feel sad last night as I was making out the list of casualties in our brigade, to write 'killed' opposite the names of many of the boys by whose side I had so often marched, and eaten, and slept, and who had talked to me so often of when the 'war is over, and we get home.'"
While the battle of Stone river was still in progress, Gov- ernor Morton despatched from Indiana surgeons and nurses to the relief of the wounded. Dr. Bobbs left Indianapolis Saturday night, January 2, and left Louisville the next day with eighteen gentlemen of his profession under his direction. He pursued the line of the railroad, but in consequence of Morgan's recent raid, enjoyed the luxury of a passenger car but a small part of the way, being compelled to resort first to a freight car, next to a wood wagon, and at last to pro- ceed on foot. The company was further prepared for sym- pathy with the soldier by reaching Nashville near midnight, cold, hungry and unprovided for. As but a single ambulance could be obtained the next morning, only six of the surgeons were able to proceed on their journey. The day after, how- ever, the remainder, except Dr. Bobbs, who was recalled, followed to Murfreesboro.
Meantime, the nurses, twenty-eight warm-hearted Chris- tian women, chiefly from Indianapolis, under the care of Mr. Merritt, one of the most devoted and able of the Sanitary Agents, traveled up the Cumberland. Their smooth jour- neying was varied by an exchange of dinners with an equal number of soldiers who were aboard the same steamboat. The soldiers partook of the delicate and sumptuous meal usually prepared for passengers, with the unusual attendance of ladies behind their chairs. They then, with more honesty than gallantry, insisted that their fair attendants should eat fat pork and "hard tack" off their bruised and battered tin plates, and drink coffee, sweetened with brown sugar taken from a tin pan without spoons, out of their tin cups, a lost
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
one of which was replaced by an old oyster can. The " serio-ludicro-tragico-comico" affair no doubt gave the ladies the same lesson which the hungry and shivering doctors conned, while, with spectacle on nose, they ran around Nashville at midnight, seeking food and lodging.
Seven of the ladies were immediately sent back from Nashville on board boats loaded with wounded. The others were divided between Nashville and Murfresboro. As all the nurses and surgeons were devoted in their attentions, as hospital supplies were abundant, and all the churches and other public houses which could be made comfortable were assigned to their use, the wounded suffered less from neglect than after any previous battle, at least in the West.
Lieutenant Colonel Shanklin, who was captured January 3, never returned to the army. He was detained a short time at Chattanooga, also at Atlanta, and was eventually confined in Libby prison. He was of an exceedingly sensi- tive, tender and loving nature, and gradually became a prey to melancholy.
April 19, 1863, he wrote to his wife: "I have seen each boat leave, with bitter disappointment. It is four months and over since I licard a word from you. If I get off, I shall go straight home. I want once more to know what home is."
He reached the home which he had remembered with un- utterable tenderness in the camp, on the march, on the weary field of blood, and in the crowded prison, and he saw once more the gentle being who was "dear as the ruddy drops which visited his sad heart." She urged him, his mother and other friends entreated him, to resign his commission, not again to expose a life now more than ever precious. "No," he replied, "in what better cause can I peril my life? Somebody must die, why not I? Gladly would I die, if I felt that my death would aid the cause of my country."
But the choice was not left him. A higher power with- drew him from the strife of earth to the heavenly Savior he had learned in his sorrows to love. Disease attacked him within forty-eight hours after his return, and his system, im- poverished by the privations of prison, succumbed without a struggle on the twenty-third of May, 1863.
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"THE MAN'S THE GOWD FOR A' THAT."
CHAPTER IX.
FROM JANUARY TO JUNE IN THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.
On the fifth of January, 1863, the army of the Cumberland advanced to Murfreesboro, where it remained until the last of June, finding its chief occupation in repairing roads and building fortifications, in scouting, foraging, and escorting trains, while it did not neglect the study of the art of war. The new regiments were extremely diligent in drilling, the battle having sharply convinced them of the value of military knowledge. Very strong fortifications were thrown up round Murfreesboro, and at other points as they were occupied. General Rosecrans made use of every means to promote effi- ciency. He was lavish of praise to the meritorious, and utterly ruthless toward the undeserving. Before the advance to Stone river he sent to the parole camp in Indianapolis, with nightcaps on their heads, fifty men who had unjustifia- bly surrendered to the enemy.
On the morning of December 31, while the battle was in progress, several company commanders of the Eighty-Sixth Indiana requested Colonel Fyffe to put Lieutenant Colonel Dick in command of the regiment, stating that they had not confidence in Colonel Hamilton. Fyffe rode immediately to Colonel Hamilton, and desired him to perform certain move- ments with his regiment. Hamilton excused himself, saying that Colonel Dick had been in the habit of drilling the men. He was ordered under arrest, but he so earnestly entreated to be allowed to remain on the field, subordinate to Colonel Dick, that the order was withdrawn, and his sword was. returned to him. His deportment throughout that trying day was heroic. The very men who had complained of him could not refuse their admiration.
When it came to the ears of General Rosecrans that Ham- 12
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
ilton had been arrested on the field for incompetency, he seized upon it as an opportunity to show to the officers of the army that he intended to have them perform their duty if it cost half of them their heads, and immediately issued an order dismissing the Colonel from the service.
Colonel Hamilton, like nearly all his brother officers, was inexperienced and unlearned in military matters, when, with a raw regiment, he was compelled to hasten to the field. He joined Buell's army at Louisville, and had no opportunity during the long and hard march through Kentucky to instruct either himself or his men. At the end of the march he wel- comed to the second place in his command Colonel Dick, a thorough military tactician, and an experienced soldier, and allowed the instruction of the regiment to fall into the hands of one so well fitted for the work. Such was the fault for which he was publicly disgraced. Whether it was due, in addition to the circumstances over which Hamilton had no control, to deficiency in energy or to excess of modesty, it was expiated in the front line of the bloody battle on Stone river.
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