USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 22
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but keeping the Rebels at a distance more by two magnifi- cent bands of music, which gave the impression of a host, than by force of arms. The troops, as they waded through prairie grass waist deep, cheered whenever the bands struck up and when they closed a tune, and sang sometimes during the progress of the music, a hundred different songs or hymns at once.
Finding no enemy and no intelligence of Curtis at the end of the march, Fitch re-embarked on the eighth, and went to Helena, where he was welcomed by the weary but rejoic- ing army of which he had been in search.
General Hovey, with such of his division as had not rein- forced Fitch in his ascent of the White, arrived the last of July. Troops continued coming until the lowlands and the bluffs, which were a mile back from the river, were white with encampments. As a depot for recruits and supplies, Helena becarne important. By the labor of the troops, it was strongly fortified, the fortifications being built on the bluffs, which were broken, high and woody. Curtis, Steele, Hovey, Prentiss, were at different periods commanders of the post. Hovey held command during several months, and di- rected operations, which consisted, beside severe guard duty, in scouting and fortifying, both on a large scale. The enemy, at a distance, threatened approach in large bodies, and hov- ered near in guerilla parties. No day passed in which some part of the force was not in a skirmish or on a march, and though no important event occurred during the year follow- ing the occupation of Helena, constant vigilance was the price of safety.
The first of August, Hovey's division marched to Claren- don and back again, without finding a force which was said to be concentrating at that point. The night of the fifteenth of August, Captain Moorhaus of the Forty-Seventh, with his company of forty-five men, in addition to thirteen cavalry, while guarding cotton in Mississippi, ten miles from Helena, was so suddenly and sharply attacked, that in three minutes he lost sixteen men in killed and wounded. He seems to have been brave enough and prompt enough for ordinary occasions, but he was outwitted in this adventure. The
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TROOPS AT HELENA.
attacking party galloped off in ten minutes from the first alarm, carrying away five captives.
In September, Benton's brigade went on boats seventy- five miles down the river to Laconia, whence it marched to White river. It destroyed a number of boats used by Rebel mail-carriers in crossing the river on their route east from the trans-Mississippi department, and it captured a large amount of cotton.
In the middle of November, Hovey essayed to take Ar- kansas Post, but was unable to cross the bar at the mouth of the White, or to march along the muddy roads.
Helena was not an agreeable post. "It is the most God- forsaken, little dried up town my eyes ever beheld," says a member of the Eleventh Indiana, writing home in August, 1862, "and as if the town itself was not bad enough, it is bounded on every side but one by swamps." The traveller who during many years has noted it as one of the dreariest spots on the dreary western shores of the Mississippi must acknowledge the correctness of the soldier's rough description. The troops, especially such as were stationed on the swampy flat, found it sickly. Of these the Eleventh, Twenty-Fourth, Forty-Sixth and Forty-Third Indiana infantry, and the First cavalry were for the most part below the town and close to the river. But even some of the regiments whose camps were among the hills, as the Eighth, Eighteenth, Thirty- Fourth and Forty-Seventh, suffered in no small degree from disease. The Forty-Seventh lost nearly a hundred men during the summer and fall. The Forty-Third was so reduced as to have but two hundred for duty. The Eighth, upon its arri- val at Helena was so nearly exhausted with hunger, fatigue and the excessive heat of the weather, that in a short time nearly half the men were sick and unable to do duty. Nearly all recruits, of whom numbers arrived, became the victims of disease, and more than half died.
The First cavalry and the Eighteenth infantry were com. paratively healthy.
Resignations and promotions made many changes in offi- cers. John A. McLaughlin was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-Seventh in place of Milton S. Robinson, who
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was promoted Colonel of the Seventy-Fifth. McLaughlin remained in command during the war, receiving no further promotion, although he was a worthy man and an excellent officer. Daniel Macauley became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eleventh in place of William J. H. Robinson, resigned. Macauley was afterward made Colonel, McGinnis being confirmed a Brigadier General. Major Holman became Lieutenant Colonel of the Eighteenth in place of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, who was made Colonel of the Ninety- Third. Lieutenant Colonel T. H. Bringhurst succeeded Colonel Fitch in the Forty-Sixth, of which he retained com- mand until he was mustered out in 1865.
These changes were made chiefly in August. In October, the Eleventh and Forty-Sixth Indiana, the First Arkansas and Second Ohio batteries were brigaded together under Colonel McGinnis.
The troops built log-cabins, provided them with fire-places, plastered them, and were comfortably housed before winter set in. They worked daily upon fortifications, and performed an excessive amount of guard duty.
At once an interesting and embarrassing feature connected with Helena, was the immense number of negroes collected there. So many were robbed and outraged by soldiers and others, that the Chaplains' Association drew up a memorial detailing their wrongs, and presented it to General Gorman. The general hated the negro intensely, but after various threats to muster all the chaplains out of the service who had signed the memorial, he thought better of the matter, and detailed Mr. Sawyer, chaplain of the Forty-Seventh Indiana, superintendent of contrabands, January 8, 1863, with the promise of military co-operation. General Washburn of Illinois, and General Fisk of Missouri, and all the chaplains backed up the appointment. The position soon became one of importance to the freedmen. General Curtis sent Colonel Shaw of Iowa, to Helena to recruit a colored regiment, and Mr. Sawyer turned him over a good company of men, but General Gorman interfered with his enlisting, and drove him from the District.
Several hundred of the colored men, who had been work-
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CHAPLAIN SAWYER AMONG THIE NEGROES.
ing on Fort Curtis for six months, without pay, were, with their families, gathered in the contraband camp. Sickness prevailed among them. A contract doctor named Jack, had employed two nurses to whip the sick at the hospital. By the influence of General Washburn his contract was annulled, but General Gorman's Medical Directors refused medicines. At length General Prentice came, and came as a friend to the contrabands.
Adjutant General Thomas made a speech in Fort Curtis threatening to take the shoulder-straps from any officer who discouraged colored enlistments. One regiment after another was formed. Women and children were brought in, until the number drawing rations through Mr. Sawyer's office amounted to sixteen hundred and fifty.
Apprehending a battle, General Prentice ordered Mr. Saw- yer to embark with eight hundred of them on board the Jesse R. Bell, and report them to General Curtis, St. Louis. It was the first load of colored people, freed by the President's Emancipation Proclamation, sent up the Mississippi river. After various hindrances they were landed at Missouri Hotel, and by order of General Curtis Mr. Sawyer was made Superintendent of contrabands in the Department of the Missouri. Other boat loads followed and were thrown upon his hands. He found homes in Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Indi- ana, and Missouri for two thousand three hundred, and had applications for nine thousand eight hundred; so that the de- mand was five hundred per cent. greater than the supply. General Curtis asked Mr. Sawyer to furnish General Pope with two hundred and sixty colored teamsters for his expedi- tion against the Indians, and gave him orders for transporta- tions. Accordingly, Mr. Sawyer struck for Jefferson City, and brought away over three hundred thousand dollars worth of negroes, old valuation, at one load. The whole slave power of the State became alarmed, and commenced an un- derground system of trading to Kentucky, which was soon broken up by lodging a few of the leaders in jail.
Mr. Sawyer commenced schools among them in Missouri, and was organizing for a grand emancipation movement throughout the State when the Secretary of War ordered
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him to Helena as Commissioner to lease abandoned planta- tions. General Prentice recognized him still as Superintend- ent of contrabands. Nearly four thousand colored people were thrown on his hands, over fifteen hundred of them drawing rations. Many of these were sprinkled over the plantations as they were leased, so that the number drawing rations from Government was soon reduced to two hundred. The freedmen were protected in their contracts, and in the enjoyment of all their rights of person and property. Schools were started among them. Teachers were brought on from the North. Hundreds of them learned to read. Mr. Saw- yer organized a large Methodist church among them of one hundred and fifty members; and Rev. Mr. Tyler, Presid- ing Elder of the African M. E. Church, Illinois, took charge of it. They built themselves comfortable houses and econ- omized their earnings. As the result of this early and carc- ful attention, the colored people of Helena and the eastern District of Arkansas are now more thrifty than any others in all the South-West if not all the South. In 1864, quite a number of them cleared five thousand dollars each from their cotton crop. They sold it standing to some St. Louis men. They can now build their own churches and school-houses and pay their own ministers and teachers.
Early in October, the force at Helena was diminished by the transference of Osterhaus' and Steele's divisions, the former, including Benton's brigade, to the familiar State of Missouri.
An army congregated at Pilot Knob made preparations for a winter's campaign, and, November 2, set out toward the South, under the command of General Davidson. From Patterson, Steele, with a portion of the force, returned to Helena. A halt was made at Black river, while prisoners, under the superintendence of Colonel Shunk, built a bridge. The work was tedious, but was enlivened by the constant presence of Shunk, who could make a joke and tell a story. A ten days' rain swelled the river, and in the night of De- cember 14, it burst its bounds, sweeping away the whole of the nearly finished bridge, and threatening the camps which
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"GRAB A ROOT."
lined the shore. The roar of the waters roused the men at two in the morning. They fled for their lives.
When consternation had somewhat subsided, a ludicrous incident occurred which is worth mentioning, as having given rise to a popular slang phrase. A soldier mounted a mule and returned to the spot where his tent had stood, to recover something he had forgotten in his flight. When he was in the midst of the flood, the capricious and stubborn brute seized the opportunity to resist the will of his rider, and ended a ridiculous conflict which had attracted attention from every quarter, by making off unencumbered. The sol- diers on terra firma forgot the danger of their comrade in the ludicrousness of the scene, and cried out, "Grab a root!" A thousand voices repeated it with roars of laughter. The phrase, silly and ridiculous as it was, caught the fancy of soldiers, spread far and wide, and continued for a long time in daily use, even by men who had no idea of its origin, and who exercised but little sense in its application. "Grab a root!" was the shout on the Atlanta campaign, on the coast of Texas and in Virginia when a peacock screamed, a mule brayed, or a bullet came singing into the lines from the di- rection of the enemy.
Words and expressions originating in one part of the army and adopted in every part, made a sort of language which was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. "To confiscate" or "confisticate" was boldly to take possession of another's property. "To snatch bald-headed," to do the same thing strategetically. "To snake," to get a thing out of diffi- culty. A "Dead-beat," or a "D. B.," was one exempt from military duty. "Spondulix," "stamp," "shin plaster," and " soap," were synonyms for greenbacks or Government currency. "Copperhead," "Contraband," " Grayback," ori- ginated in the army, but were soon universally adopted. Contractions were more common than inventions. Secesh, Commish., Reb., Vet., need no explanation. A recruit un- derstood the order, "Go to the Suts and get two bots of whisk, for Cap and Lute."
December 21, Davidson's army crossed the Black. After a short halt at Van Buren, on Current river, and another at
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Alton, it arrived at West Plains. The march was often over flinty roads. Though each man on starting was provided with an extra pair of shoes, it was not long before a large portion of the army was nearly barefoot. After marching all day through mud and snow, a man had to stand on his lonely beat during the night without any fire, and with bare toes sticking out of his shoes, unless he were so fortunate as to have a piece of raw beef's hide to wrap round his worn out shoes. The system of picketing was especially rigorous, requiring such large details that the men were frequently on guard every other night. The roads were so bad that it was no uncommon thing for a regiment after getting into camp in the evening, to go back to the road and spend the greater part of the night assisting the baggage up to the camping ground.
While Davidson was at Alton, Marmaduke, on the eighth of January, made an attack on Springfield, where were large hospitals and abundant army stores. He was repulsed by a force of three hundred, called the "Quinine brigade," of which a number of convalescents belonging to the Indiana Twenty-Sixth, formed a part, and he escaped into Arkansas by passing west of Davidson.
It was impossible to subsist the army at so great a distance from the railroad, and unnecessary, as concentration on the one side for an advance on Vieksburg had commenced, and on the other for the defence of the city; accordingly, Febru- ary 7, 1863, the army of South-east Missouri commenced the return march. Twenty laborious days brought it by way of Eminence and Centreville to Middlebrook, whence, after a short rest, it went on to St. Genevieve.
Here are some passages from the diary of E. G. Burgess, private in the Eighth, of interest, as giving an inside view of one of the hardest of the many hard marches of the war:
" CAMP ON BLACK RIVER, "WAYNE COUNTY, MISSOURI, December 9, Tuesday. S
"After we came off guard at four this morning, Elliott and I made our bed in a pile of corn shucks, and never waked till guard mounting, which was at cight. Word came in
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OUT IN THE COLD.
that a band of guerrillas had captured some State militia. Colonel Shunk mounted a lot of our boys on mules, and out after them double-quick time. Every man that could get a mule or a horse was along. It was rather a cold-looking sight-the boys all mounted, some with saddles and some without, with the long Minic rifle strapped over their shoul- ders.
"Eleventh. Colonel Shunk and his mule company came in, and but three Rebs with them, all they had to show for their trip.
"Thirteenth. Rainy all day. Got up this morning at four, and to our surprise found the water running into our tent. We piled our blankets on the eracker boxes. It was rather dismal to see the boys perched upon the boxes like chickens of a snowy day to keep out of the snow. In this condition we staid till morning. At daylight we got break- fast, then went to work and filled up our tent inside about four inches, so that we would be above high water mark; but soon after we got done it commenced raining, and in a few hours the water was over all the dirt we had carried in. So we fixed our things the best we could, and deserted the old tent, to look up lodging with our neighbors. The rain continued to fall in torrents. At two in the afternoon I was sent out on picket. This I thought was pretty heavy, but some one must go, and I was no better than the rest. Wc were not out long till we were soaking wet, for we hadn't any shelter, and the rain fell faster and faster, and the faster it fell the wetter we got. I made my supper on a cracker and a piece of boiled beef, which I took with me from quar- ters.
"Sunday, fourteenth. I went to quarters and got my break- fast, and then went back to picket headquarters, but did not have to stand on post. It rained hard all day. The river rose and run round the island we were on, and we saw that we would have to fall back, or else swim to get out. We fell back across the bayou, and stood shivering in the cold, (for it rained so hard we couldn't make any fire,) until relief came at three in the afternoon. When I got to quarters the
17
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boys had moved the old tent from the mire and clay, and had placed it on a high piece of ground, where we all thought we would be safe. We went to bed carly, for I had not slept any the night before, but we had not come to the worst yet.
"Monday, fifteenth. After going to bed we all slept sound until two in the morning, when we were roused by the alarm that the river was rising, and would soon sweep us away if we did not get out of there. I was so sleepy that I did not care much, but I got up and stuck my head out of the tent. Sure enough the water was within a few feet of us on every side. We had to wade knee-deep to get out with our things. Ugh! But the water was cold! In a few minutes the water was all over the spot where we had lain wrapt in sleep, not dreaming of danger. About daylight the water commenced falling, and it wasn't long till the river was inside its banks again. Colonel Shunk hunted out another camp, and we were soon fixed as comfortable as ever.
" December twentieth. We have to leave all our nice fire- places, as we received orders to be ready to march at nine to-morrow morning.
"Sunday, twenty-first. The roads are very bad, and the teams have not got up, so we have to sleep without tents.
"Tuesday-Current river, near Van Buren. After making coffee and eating crackers, Dillon and I took a shooting iron, and started out to see if we couldn't snake in a slow deer, (i. c., a hog.) We crossed a branch, but could not get over the main river, so we changed our course, and took north. We now gave up hope of finding any hogs, for the woods was full of boys on the same errand, but we went on in search of any kind of game. We were not more than half way up the mountain, when some one on the opposite side shot at a flock of turkies, and scattered them in every direc- tion. One lighted on the top of a tall pine tree, some one hundred and fifty yards from us. Dillon, who was carrying the gun, immediately leveled on it. I didn't expect he would touch it at so great a distance. But the old gun cracked, and down came Mister Turkey kerslash to the ground. Af- ter picking him up, we started on afresh. We hadn't gone far, when up jumps a deer out of the weeds and grass. It
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A SHORT REST.
took us so on surprise that it was gone before we thought to shoot. Going on over the hills, we could see a turkey once in awhile, but could get no shot. It began to rain, and we were tired, so we turned back. We were almost in sight of camp, when we saw a large deer coming toward us, down a hill. We waited until he was near, then Dillon fired, but without touching him. He disappeared over the hill, his cotton-tail bobbing in the air, and seeming to say, 'Farewell, you can't hit me!' We went on to camp with our turkey, the only thing we had to show for our first hunt in Missouri, but we were very well satisfied.
"December 24-Wednesday. Great excitement in camp. A dispatch came that guerrillas had attacked our forage train, and were burning it. Companies H and I were im- mediately ordered out. They followed the guerrillas ten miles, without finding anything of them, for, as soon as they had done as much mischief as they could, they skedaddled, taking with them one of our Lieutenants and two or three of our boys.
"Thursday. Worked all day, building a chimney to our tent. We carried the stone about a quarter of a mile.
"Friday. Was detailed for fatigue, cut timber and helped to build a coal-pit.
"Saturday. On duty guarding prisoners. We took them to the woods once, and had them carry up a load of wood to keep them warm.
"Sunday. Report came in that our forage train had a skirmish yesterday. Four Rebels killed and more wounded. One of the Rebels, a Captain, was killed near his own house, while in the act of leading his men. Few of our men wounded.
"January 3-Saturday. Raining. Very disagreeable.
"Fourth-Sunday. Went on picket at three in the after- noon.
Tuesday. This has been wash-day with me; a day I al- ways dread above all the rest, for washing is something I naturally hate to do.
Wednesday. Left camp at three in the afternoon, under command of Quartermaster Sergeant and Sergeant Hoyt of
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company G, to escort a train that was sent out to meet a provision train. Roads very bad. Met some cavalry that told us to move with caution, as the country was filled with guerrillas, and one of their men had been shot a few hours before, while on post. About six miles from camp, the Ser- geant expected to meet the train, but he was disappointed. He ordered the teamsters to unhitch, and us to remain while he went on to hurry up the train. At midnight, no tidings of the train or the Sergeant.
"Thursday. At two the train came. We reloaded some salt, sugar and coffee into our wagons, and started for camp. It was dark as pitch, and the roads were awful muddy. After plunging along until daylight, we reached camp, safe and sound.
Friday. Our picket a mile from camp.
Saturday. Relieved from guard at three in the afternoon,
"January 13-Tuesday. Struck tents and moved across Current river. I was sent out on picket guard. Went one mile from camp. The way it rained wasn't slow, and we had to stand out there in the woods and take it without any grumbling.
"Wednesday. Struck tents and marched at nine. Very disagreeable marching on account of rain and snow. Halted about ten miles from Van Buren, on Current river, amongst the pine timber. Teams slow getting in.
Thursday. When we crawled out of our tents this morn- ing, it was into a heavy snow. Did not march, as provision train did not get up. A heavy detail of men was sent back to assist it in getting through the mud. It is an awful time to move a train.
Friday. Marched at seven in the morning. Very rough marching. We camp on a Rebel Lieutenant's farm, and General Benton has given us the privilege of burning the rails. We had to shovel the snow away before we could pitch our tents.
Saturday. Marched at seven in the morning. Day pleas- ant. Have plenty of good oak rails again to burn. The boys that went out to forage brought in a nice shoat, so we have fresh pork for supper.
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MEN AND MULES AT WORK.
January 18. Sunday. We were bothered considerable to-day, crossing creeks. At one stream were delayed several hours, while a bridge of wagons was constructed. We finally got the old Eighth across. Are camped at the foot of a hill which the provision train could not get up.
"Monday. The regiment moved at seven; but companies I of the Eighth and A of the Eighteenth were left as rear guard of the provision train, and did not start from the river till afternoon. I, with a number of others in command of Lieu- tenant Torrence, was sent forward to the hill, which is very long and steep. The mules were all nearly give out, and it was a difficult matter, that we got two sections up the hill before dark, which set in and put a stop to any further work for to-day. Here we are in a pretty fix. But soldiers sel- dom despair. We had no tents, for our company teams were ahead about ten miles. We looked around amongst the wagons, and found a large taupaulin. We soon had a shelter for the whole company. The next thing on the pro- gramme was to get something to eat. This the Captain ar- ranged, as it was a provision train we were guarding, and we were soon cracking our jokes round a big fire, with a cup of coffee and a cracker to cach man.
"About nine o'clock, Colonel Washburn brought his regi- ment back and camped on the top of the hill.
"Tuesday. A wet day. The first thing after packing our blankets, was to help the balance of the train up the hill. It was no fool of a job. Before we got it all up, several of the poor mules gave out and dropped dead in their tracks. We only moved about three miles, and camped as soon as we stopped. I was on picket guard. Stood where the wind had a fair sweep at me.
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