USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 26
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
made by Sherman, with the Fifteenth corps and so much of the fleet as lay at the mouth of the Yazoo.
Accepting the guidance of events as they opened, without any attempt to hold to an arbitrary plan, General Grant was quite successful in effecting a landing. During five hours of the twenty-ninth of April, as large a portion of McClernand's corps as could be crowded on the boats waited in front of Grand Gulf, with the expectation of assaulting that strong position, when Admiral Porter should have succeeded in si- leneing its guns. Happily the guns were not affected by Por- ter's fire, fierce, heavy and well-directed though it was, and the army was spared a repetition of the murderous scene enacted before Chickasaw Bluffs. The troops debarked and marched to a point below, whence they re-embarked and crossed the river on transports and gunboats which had run the Grand Gulf guns uninjured. They were landed at Bruinsburg, and as soon as landed were supplied with three days' rations in their haversacks and started toward the bluffs, three miles inland, where it was possible for the enemy to make a strong defence. Benton's brigade pushed out in advance without waiting for rations, a detail at the river following after sev- eral hours, each stout-hearted fellow trudging along under the broiling sun with a cracker box, a hundred pounds in weight, on his shoulders.
Benton's brigade was in Carr's division, and included the Indiana Eighth, Colonel Shunk, and Eighteenth, Colonel Washburn, and the First battery, Captain Klauss.
Osterhaus' division followed Carr's; Hovey's came next in order; and A. J. Smith's brought up the rear of MeCler- nand's corps.
Hovey's division was more largely Indianian than any other in Grant's army. In General McGinnis' brigade were the Eleventh, Colonel Macauley; the Twenty-Fourth, Col- onel Spicely; Thirty-Fourth, Colonel Cameron; and Forty- Sixth, Colonel Bringhurst. The Forty-Seventh, Colonel Me Laughlin, was in General Slack's brigade. Company C of the First Indiana cavalry, was General Hovey's escort.
The Sixty-Ninth, Colonel Bennett, Forty-Ninth, Colonel
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AUSPICIOUS OPENING.
Keigwin, and Fifty-Fourth, Colonel Mansfield, were in Os- terhaus' division.
In Burbridge's brigade, of A. J. Smith's division, were the Sixteenth, Sixtieth and Sixty-Seventh.
Two of McPherson's divisions followed McClernand's corps. His remaining division joined him several days later. The Twenty-Third, Forty-Eighth and Fifty-Ninth Indiana were in McPherson's corps. The Ninety-Seventh was also one of his regiments, but it had been left in Moscow, Ten- nessee.
All the regimental officers were on foot, and continued on foot during the succeeding day, in consequence of an order forbidding them to bring their horses across the river. Nei- ther officers nor men carried more than their blankets. Many had only an Indian-rubber poncho.
After midnight, and about eight miles from Bruinsburg, the enemy began to give evidence that he was not unobserv- ant, assailing the van with artillery and a light infantry fire. Klauss hastened his battery to the front, and replied. The fire continued with something of the character of question and answer through nearly two hours, when there was an entire lull.
Noah Havens, a scout of the Eighteenth, crept within the hostile lines, and ascertained that the enemy was withdraw- ing; but as the moon had set, and it was quite dark, no effort was made to follow. The troops rested on their arms, and marched again at daylight.
The march led through an exceedingly broken region, down deep ravines, up abrupt heights, and, where the coun- try was not opened in plantations, through heavy timber, tall and strong wild cane, and other tangled underbrush. The roads, however, were hard and most delightful after the oozy soil of Louisiana; and, in spite of the bloody days they knew were now close upon them, the soldiers were enraptured with the luxuriance and splendor of magnolias, oleanders and wild roses.
It was the first day of May, and in the serene and cool morning twilight, promised to be the loveliest of May days.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
But the sun rose blazing hot, and poured his blinding rays directly in the face of the troops.
The march was toward Port Gibson, the possession of which would foree the enemy to evacuate Grand Gulf. The road dividing, Osterhaus advanced on the left, and Carr, Hovey and Smith direeted their movement toward the right. General Benton still led the head of Carr's column. Major Brady, of the Eighth, with a company from each regiment of the brigade, skirmished in front of his line. Captain Klauss kept all his guns firing. Following the enemy from height to height, Benton's troops reached a deep, dark ravine, and wound and climbed through it in single file. Beyond it the Rebels made a resolute stand, and Benton formed line of battle on a ridge, the Eighteenth on his left, near a little church, Magnolia church, the Eighth on his right, and two Illinois regiments in his centre. Firing grew hot, the enemy threatening, now the front and now the flank, and, with a battery directly before the Eighteenth, sweeping the line.
Stone's brigade was soon engaged on Benton's left. Hovey hastened forward to his right, but restrained by in- structions not to join in the battle until supported by Smith's, the hindmost, division, he waited a long and anxious half hour, during which his troops lay behind the erest of the ridge. When Smith came up, Hovey pushed forward through a narrow, deep guleh choked with vines and eane, and as soon as Slack's brigade and the left of McGinnis' had gained the front; Klauss having pointed out to him the Rebel bat- tery with a line of Rebel heads in its rear, he gave the order to Colonel Cameron, and a few moments later, to the residue of his division, to charge bayonets. The troops obeyed, charging over fenees, pitching over logs, tearing through bamboo. Cameron's voice, "Come on, my brave boys!" Colonel Spieely shouting, "Come on! Come on!" the de- portment of all the officers, and the sight of the breaking Rebel line, animated them to the highest pitch.
Our Forty-Sixth ran over the colors of the Twenty-Third Alabama. Captain Charles, of the Eighteenth, leaped upon a cannon and claimed it as his trophy. Amos Nagle, of the Eighteenth, killed the color-bearer of the Fifteenth Arkansas,
301
BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON.
and captured his colors, inscribed all over with the names of battles-"Oak Hill," "Elk Horn," "Corinth," "Hatchie Bridge." A triumphant shout reverberated among the hills.
Colonel Me Laughlin, with the Forty-Seventh, held a con- spicuous position on the right of Slack's brigade, and after the charge repeatedly repulsed a flanking force.
At last the whole Confederate line fell back. Hovey's division paused to take breath, and to exchange congratula- tions. The early and swift success was a good omen.
It was impossible to pursue the Rebels with rapidity, and when they were next confronted, they were strongly posted in a creek bottom, protected by trees and bushes, and com- manding the approach, which was over open fields and exposed slopes. A short halt for rest and water was fol- lowed by a resolute advance; and a terrific conflict, lasting an hour and thirty-seven minutes, by utter defeat to the enemy.
On the road to the left, General Osterhaus, with the Forty- Ninth Indiana deployed as skirmishers, encountered pickets at six o'clock, and soon came in front of heavy hostile lines. The Forty-Ninth charged single-handed on a battery and captured it. General Osterhaus, delighted with its valor, assured the regiment in his broken English, as he withdrew it from the front, that "De Forty-Nine Indiana Volunteers was de best rechiment in his division."
As he endeavored to push on, he replaced the Forty-Ninth by the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio, and the One Hundred and Twentieth by the Sixty-Ninth Indiana. The last lay on a ridge, somewhat isolated, at three in the after. noon, and had there a spirited fight with an attacking force of double its number. During a cessation of the combat, the Sixty-Ninth sang, "Rally round the Flag, Boys." At length, reinforced by the Forty-Ninth and the One Hundred and Twentieth, it routed the opposing force.
Osterhaus' column, however, was too light for the force opposed to it, and though he fought well, he made little ad- vance until reinforced by a brigade from Logan's division. The Twenty-Third Indiana was in Logan's advance, and engaged the enemy as soon as it appeared on the field.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The battle of Port Gibson continued through the entire day, and was exceedingly wearisome, as much on account of the manœuvering which the tactics of the enemy neces- sitated, as because of the severity of the fight. Many men in the Twenty-Fourth were barefoot and could not walk without difficulty. They had been supplied with shoes at Helena, but had already worn them out. Ill-fitted as it was from this circumstance to move rapidly, the regiment was hurried from Hovey to Osterhaus, and from Osterhaus back to Hovey, crashing through cane, and at one time supporting the Twenty-Ninth Wisconsin, under a heavy fire from a con- cealed force.
General Burbridge reached the ground at seven in the morning, and forming in the rear of Hovey, constituted his reserve. He shifted ground rapidly, as weak points pre- sented themselves, and late in the afternoon advanced to the extreme front and drove the enemy from the last hill he attempted to hold. At night, his brigade sank down ex- hausted, not having had a mouthful of food since the previ- ous evening.
Corporal Richard Curry, who fell within twenty feet of the enemy, vehemently insisted that his comrades, as they pre- pared to carry him from the field, should go on in the pur- suit. They reluctantly left him, for he was dearly beloved, and returned only to receive his dying breath.
The troops slept on their arms. In the morning they found their front clear, the Rebels having retreated across Bayou Pierre.
Our loss in the battle of Port Gibson was one hundred and thirty killed, seven hundred and eighteen wounded. Of these a large proportion were Indianians. The Eighth lost thirty-two; the Eleventh, twenty-five; the Twenty-Third, twenty-five; the Twenty-Fourth, twenty-three; the Eight- eenth, ninety-eight, or one-fifth of the regiment; the Sixty- Ninth, seventy-one; the Forty-Sixth, forty-three. The num- ber who fell in the Thirty-Fourth, Forty-Seventh and Forty- Ninth is unknown.
Hovey's division suffered a loss of three hundred and eight. It captured four hundred prisoners and four guns. The whole
303
VICTORY OF PORT GIBSON.
number captured was five hundred and eighty men, with six guns and four flags.
General Grant had nineteen thousand men engaged. The Confederates had not eight thousand, until in the afternoon they received reinforcements from Vicksburg. Their posi- tions, however, were exceedingly strong.
Our men treated the terrified prisoners with great kind- ness. A private of the Eighteenth, conducting his captive to the rear, where he might be secure from the Rebel fire, was met by a soldier who commenced heaping opprobious epi- thets on the prisoner. Greatly incensed, the captor lay down his gun and stripped off his blouse, saying that the prisoner was under his protection and should not rely upon him in vain, and that all communications to him must pass through the proper military channel. The soldier who had begun the abuse was a generous fellow at heart, though thoughtless, and he turned away and hurried to the front, leaving the Rebel to thank his captor for a lesson of generosity of which his own experience had not furnished many examples.
The conduct of the Indiana troops in the battle of Port Gibson received high commendation. "Indiana continues to be glorified in her sons," said General Carr in his report. "During the whole time," said General Slack, "the Forty- Seventh Indiana, under command of Lieutenant Colonel John A. McLaughlin, was hotly engaged. It repulsed the Rebels at every effort, driving them back with great slaugh- ter." Colonel Bringhurst says: "I need not say that the Forty-Sixth behaved gallantly."
In the "Soldiers Home," where the crippled and the feeble, in these days of peace, sit in the shade and "fight their bat- tles o'er again," Private Shinn, of the Twenty-Fourth, re- counting one day the story of the Port Gibson fight, said: "When it was all over, Colonel Spicely shook hands with every man in his regiment." He added, in a tone full of feeling, "If a man couldn't fight under such a Colonel, he couldn't fight at all!" A blind soldier of the Thirty-Fourth, who was listening, repeated in the same tone, "If a man couldn't fight under such a Colonel, he couldn't fight at all!"
Early in the morning of the second, McClernand's troops
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
pushed on two miles and entered Port Gibson, finding it evacuated. The enemy had retreated across Bayou Pierre, and burnt the bridge over the South fork. A heavy detail rebuilt the bridge, more than one hundred and twenty feet long, tearing down houses for timber, and working with great rapidity, though waist deep in water. Meanwhile, McPher- son effected a crossing and continued the pursuit, reaching the bridge over the North fork in time to extinguish the flames and save all but the planks, which were soon relaid, pressing on to Hankinson's ferry on the Big Black, fifteen miles from Port Gibson, and taking several hundred prisoners. The en- emy fell back with great reluctance through a country that afforded him every advantage.
General Grant rode in person to Grand Gulf on the third, finding that post also evacuated by the Rebels, and the naval force in possession. Thirteen heavy guns, which it had been impossible for the enemy to withdraw, fell into his hands. He now set himself to the task of gathering up his strength for further progress. Since leaving Milliken's Bend his army had marched by night and by day, through mud and rain and burning heat. Since leaving Bruinsburg it had been constantly engaged in battle or in skirmishing. But it had not murmured nor straggled, it was now nearly thirty thou- sand strong, with the prospect of the early addition of Sher- man's corps, and it had gained that for which it had been five months ineffectually struggling, a foothold in the rear of Vicksburg. Grierson's raid had done all that was desired in distracting the attention of the enemy. Sherman's feint had accomplished its purpose.
Thus far the prospect was inexpressibly encouraging. But it had a very dark side. General Pemberton was in Vicks- burg and along the Vicksburg and Jackson railroad with fifty-two thousand men. General Johnston was on his way to Jackson, where reinforcements were constantly arriving from the south and collecting from the north and east. If Grant met these forces united, they might easily overwhelm him; if he succeeded in striking one separate, the disengaged force could cut his line of communication with the Mississippi. President Lincoln disapproved, and General Halleck was op-
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THE SITUATION.
posed, both desiring that he should turn his efforts against Port Hudson. His subordinate officers were full of doubt and misgiving. Sherman, one of the most daring, had offered an earnest remonstrance before the expedition started from Mil- liken's Bend, and his views remained unchanged.
It may be supposed that General Grant weighed the ques- tion well. It is certain that he was resolute in his determin- ation to advance. He was rapid in his preparations. Mean- time, the army lay on the Big Black, with the exception of strong reconnoitring parties which pushed out on the west side of the river, within six miles of Vicksburg.
The following letter was written on the eighth of May by Colonel Bringhurst of the Forty-Sixth:
"Hovey's division is encamped on the Vicksburg road, sev- enteen miles from that city, and about twenty-five from Grand Gulf. The Big Black is but two miles from us, and the Rebel line the other side watching our movements, un- decided yet where the blow will fall. There are no bridges over the river, but we have with us a pontoon train for each corps, and a crossing can be made at any point and at any moment.
" We have made two stops, at both of which a great abundance of fresh meat, corn meal, and considerable quan- tities of bacon have been gathered. Considerable license has been given the men, and the plantations on the route and near it have been levied upon pretty heavily. As a rule all live stock is taken. When they have time, proprietors run their negroes off; but as this country has been one of the depots for negroes, it is a difficult matter to move them again. The blacks are highly elated at the Yankee irrup- tion. The event so long predicted by rival politicians, the grand march of Abolitionists through the South, and the lib- eration of slaves, was looked forward to by them with full faith. Their simplicity led them to hope and look for what, to the whites, was a mere prediction and threat thrown out for partisan purposes. The boom of cannon and the rattle of musketry at Magnolia startled both white and black.
"The Northern army, bringing destruction to the houses 20
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
and abolition to the dearest interests of the whites, knocked not at the doors of their houses, but at the hearts of their people, and the time had come for them to reap the full fruits of the folly of their section, and to witness the realization of the wildest prediction of the most visionary.
" We hear that our wagons, with a portion of the baggage left behind, are on the road this side of the river. No cloth- ing or camp equipage has yet arrived. Upon the whole trip up to the present, men and officers have had nothing but what they carried. Many brought their knapsacks along, but threw them away on the battle field. To-day officers and men have given way under the pressure of circumstances, and are washing their clothes. The bushes and fences show what might be called a 'big wash.' Having no change, the proprietors of the clean clothes are sitting about in ele- gant undress. The more modest have either gone to bed or sport a poncho, (the rubber blanket with a head-hole,) and step around with these black mantles, carefully avoiding thorns and sharp seats, while the more ardent and restless, regardless of their style of clothing, are only careful to keep it well exposed to the sun.
" Three days ago three wagons, with five yoke of oxen, a fine carriage and a wagon, with two pairs of mules, were taken possession of, and used to haul the sick and the prop- erty of the regiment. The health of the regiment is good. Rough fare, after all, is the most wholesome."
On the eighth Steele's and Tuttle's divisions of Sherman's corps arrived. The army immediately began to move out. On the eleventh all preliminaries were consummated, and Grant solved one of the greatest difficulties, the question of defending his line of communication, in Alexander's style of cutting the Gordian knot. He swung loose from his base, and being supplied with hard bread, coffee and salt, became dependent on the country for other rations. To prevent the union of the Rebel forces, he directed his march toward the north-east. McClernand had the right, moving on a ridge, McPherson the left, hugging the Black, and Sherman the rear, following on both roads. In Sherman's corps were the Eighty-Third and Ninety-Third Indiana.
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BATTLE OF RAYMOND.
The enemy fell back, lightly skirmishing, until the twelfth, when, two miles south of Raymond, General Gregg, with artillery and infantry, about five thousand strong, took a pos- itive stand. His artillery, on an elevation, commanded the approach, and his infantry was wholly hidden by the thick woods bordering a small stream.
The relative position of Grant's corps had changed, and MePherson was now on the right. In his advance was Logan, and in Logan's advance was the Twenty-Third Indiana, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Davis. Logan moved briskly to meet the fire of the enemy. The fight which followed was severe. It lasted two hours and a half, and threatened at one time to be disastrous, but was, in the end, a complete vietory. The first brigade of Crocker's division, in which were the Forty-Eighth and Fifty-Ninth Indiana, reached the ground just in time to lend wings to the already flying Rebels. The Forty-Eighth took position under a shower of shot and shell, which wounded several, but killed none. The Twenty-Third went into the field three hundred and seventy-five strong, rank and file, and lost one hundred and thirty-two, eighteen killed, eighty-seven wounded, and twenty-seven captured, nevertheless it maintained its place in the line of battle. The entire loss was four hundred and forty-two. The Rebels lost four hundred and five, killed and wounded, and four hundred and fifteen captured. Gen- eral Grant called the battle of Raymond one of the hardest small battles of the war.
Resting that night in Raymond, McPherson resumed the march early the next morning, through Clinton, and destroy- ing the railroad. Sherman advanced at the same time on the direct road from Raymond. Their movements were so timed as to enable them to press simultaneously upon Jack- son from the south-west. On the fourteenth, they were marching vigorously in the midst of pouring rain, when sev- eral pieces of artillery advantageously posted gave notice that Jackson was not to be tamely surrendered. The First and Second brigades of Crocker's division, which was in McPherson's advance, immediately took position distant about one mile from the Rebel line of battle. The Forty-
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Eighth was posted near the right of the line, in a cornfield. The Fifty-Ninth was on the extreme right. Thick and fast came shells and balls, but, as for the most part they passed harmlessly over, they were only a subject of merriment to the brave men, who were anxiously awaiting the order to advance. Soon it came. With fixed bayonets, they moved to the charge. Drenched to the skin and weary with march- ing over miry and slippery roads, they nevertheless went for- ward on double-quick, shout answering shout throughout the line. Passing over one hill, they rapidly began the ascent of another on which the enemy was posted, dashing to the ground fences that intervened, and never flinching under a leaden hail. They gained the heights. The enemy broke and fled. They pursued into Jackson. The skirmishers of the Fifty-Ninth Indiana, under Captain Simpson, were the first to enter the city, and the tattered flag of the Fifty- Ninth was the first to wave above the capitol of Mississippi.
The same night, Sherman reached the city, having broken the force before him by pressing both the front and the left flank.
McPherson's loss in his fight before Jackson was two hundred and sixty-five. He inflicted a loss of eight hundred and forty-five upon the enemy, seventeen pieces of artillery and a large amount of army stores.
General Grant, who accompanied Sherman to Jackson, faced about the next morning, moving McPherson's corps along the line of the railroad toward Edwards' Station, which is half way between Vicksburg and Jackson, and or- dering M'Clernand, who, with Blair's division, was now in the vicinity of Raymond, in the same direction. The sud- den turn was due to intelligence which Grant had received that General Johnston had, on the day of his retreat from Jackson, the fourteenth, ordered Pemberton to move with all the force he could muster, at least twenty-five thousand men, upon Grant's rear.
On the evening of the fifteenth, Pemberton, having be- come aware of the loss of Jackson and the retreat of John- ston, and having already freed himself of encumbrances by sending his train back to Vicksburg, took up an immensely
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BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILL.
strong position a few miles cast of Edwards' Station. His line was about four miles long. His left, and the key of his position was on Champion Hill, which rises sixty or seventy feet above the surrounding country. Its bald top afforded his artillery a wide sweep, while its wooded and precipitous sides threatened to hold entangled an advancing force.
General Grant immediately sent back for Sherman, whom he had left in Jackson to destroy the railroad and rolling stock, in order to prevent the possible use of that place in the future for the concentration of forces in his rear; he ordered McPherson, who was moving north of the Vicks- burg road and parallel to it, and M'Clernand, who was south- east with Blair, Carr and Osterhaus, to hasten up; and di- rected Hovey, who was sweeping on toward the enemy's centre, and not far from it, with right and left unprotected, to hold off. McPherson found no difficulty in carrying his order into effect. M'Clernand met with some detention. Hovey was already and inevitably within the outer limits of the maelstrom of battle.
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