USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 43
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501
WINTER AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.
or gone, and his feet were wrapped in sheepskin, cowhide, or remnants of old clothing. Too often they stained the cruel ground with blood. On arriving at Chattanooga the divis- ions of the Fifteenth corps were supplied with rations and nothing beside, and pushed on over the mountains, through intense cold, to Bridgeport. Here they joined the First and Third divisions, and were put under the command of General Logan.
Mr. Gage, the Chaplain of the Twelfth Indiana, sums up the labors of the Fourth division of the Fifteenth corps in the following paragraph:
"During the three months occupied in ceaseless activity, the entire division had marched from Memphis to Marysville, East Tennessee, and returned to this point, a distance of more than seven hundred miles, being the only division of the corps that had performed this herculean labor. We had crossed the Tennessee seven times, scaled mountains, and swept through rich valleys, through heat and cold, sun and storm, stumbling over rocks, or plunging in the deep mud, with all the unnumbered incidents of a march then unparal- leled in the history of the war. In the distance traveled without rest, it still remains unequaled. No other army ever moved on one unbroken march of seven hundred miles in the space of three months, aided in relieving two beleagured gar- risons from a state of siege, and all with more general cheer- fulness than the Fifteenth corps evinced during October, No- vember and December, 1863. In all these the regiment shared."
After retiring from the precincts of Knoxville, Longstreet lurked in Virginia and the contiguous corner of Tennessee, in a district which, having been hitherto undisturbed, fur- nished him abundantly, though grudgingly, with supplies. He was, however, very like an angry dog which watches a chance to snatch again a lost bone. East Tennessee, stripped as it had been by two hungry armies, was not unlike a bone which lively claimants have fought over.
It is hard to say which suffered the most during the bitter winter of '63 and '64, the Union troops or the citizens. Perhaps the last, as they were tied to one spot, and were as
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
unable to resist as they were to command force. But if so their sufferings were sad indeed. Especially was the fate hard of "lone widows," or soldiers' wives, with their crying brood, in solitary cabins. Adequate provision had not been made to supply a large army by way of Cumberland Gap. In consequence many of the troops were destitute of tents, and some were without overcoats throughout the winter. When they were stationary they were almost entirely occu- pied in cutting and hauling wood and heaping up fires; they subsisted on half and quarter rations, were frequently without sugar and coffee, and received even salt in scanty measure. When they were "on the go" they failed to get any rations, and subsisted for days and for weeks on parched corn. They seldom remained more than a week in one spot. They scoured the country, and fought the enemy from Cumberland Gap to Chilowee mountain,-up and down the Holston and the Clinch, on the French Broad, and on Mossy Creek, through Weir's cove and Tuckaleechee cove, over into North Carolina, down into Georgia, and up into Virginia and Ken- tucky.
" We dodge about among the mountains," says one, "not knowing half the time where we are, or where we are going. We stop for the night, and perhaps march in an hour, per- haps remain in that spot, under marching orders, for a week."
With all this the veteran troops were healthy and cheerful. "It is surprising," writes an officer of the Eighty-Sixth, "how cheerfully the men face hardship. They are worthy the grat- itude of all mankind."
"I hardly ever hear complaints," writes a member of Lil- ly's battery, "all seem contented, and to do their best."
In the army, without doubt, the six months troops were the greatest sufferers. That they were always in motion, never had enough food or clothing, and were much of the time without tents, was not their singular fate; but that they were fresh from home, and had had no previous discipline in the school of experience, made all these things doubly severe. They were, however, efficient soldiers, and were greatly in- strumental in the rescue and preservation of East Tennessee. Their term expired in the dead of winter, and they marched
503
BATTLE OF MOSSY CREEK.
homeward, many of them shod in moccasins made of green hides.
In the middle of January our Fifth cavalry parted with its horses to save them from starvation. The First battalion of the Sixth had no horses after the siege of Knoxville.
The Indiana troops which came up from Chattanooga with Sherman and remained, were: Lilly's battery, the Fourth cavalry, Klein's battalion, to which was added Companies L and M, the Sixth, Fifteenth, Twenty-Second, Thirty-Sec- ond, Fortieth, Fifty-Seventh, Fifty-Eighth, Sixty-Eighth, Seventy-Ninth and Eighty-Sixth regiments.
The cold weather and light rations of East Tennessee were not sufficient to chill the blood of the troops. Hostile forces met frequently and in severe encounter. On the twen- ty-third of December Lilly's battery had an hour's sharp fight- ing at Newmarket. At two o'clock Christmas morning Campbell's brigade, with four of Lilly's guns, marched south- east to prevent a reported flank movement. It drove a large force of the enemy from Dandridge, and pursued three miles northward, making several captures. While in pursuit its rear was unexpectedly attacked, and two of the guns were captured. They were retaken with the loss of a caisson, but a third gun was abandoned after it was spiked. Campbell, fighting sharply, hastened toward camp, which he reached late at night. Nothing was seen of the enemy on the follow- ing day. At night a reconnoissance was made to Mossy creek. On the twenty-seventh, at Talbott's Station, a sharp fight occurred, in which the Second Indiana, Klein's battal- ion, Lilly's battery, and other troops were engaged. On the twenty-ninth General Sturgis, at Newmarket, sent a force of infantry and cavalry, with two of Lilly's guns, to intercept a body of the enemy, reported to be moving toward his right. The hostile bodies came together at Mossy creek suddenly, and with so much force as almost to prove the destruction of the smaller. Nine pieces of artillery bore upon Lilly's two guns, while in infantry and cavalry, also, the Rebels largely outnumbered our troops. The unequal combat was fast ap- proaching an unhappy termination, when Sturgis' reserve troops came to the rescue. The battle lasted five hours, and
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
was the fiercest and most furious engagement of which the combatants ever had experience. Lilly's battery could not have acquitted itself more creditably. It lost nine men. Lieutenant J. A. Scott was severely wounded, and though he afterwards, on the promotion of Captain Lilly to a posi- tion in the cavalry service, was made commander of the bat- tery, he never recovered sufficiently to serve. The Fourth cavalry also acted with distinguished gallantry The enemy was pursued hotly, but he was not overtaken. On the first of January the pursuers returned to Mossy creek, and encamped in line of battle. The Rebels appeared and dis- appeared in their front during eighteen following days, and skirmished hotly with troops thrown out to meet them, or to watch their movements.
Meantime the Fourth corps built a railroad bridge over the Holston at Strawberry Plains, and moved to Dandridge, where, on the seventeenth of January, the severity of the skirmishing seemed to threaten a general engagement. Our Fifth cavalry was engaged from ten until three, when Major Wooley, at the head of his command, made a charge on foot. He drove the enemy before him and reached the sum- mit of a hill, whence a view of the main Rebel line induced him to change his course in haste.
The following night, a general retreat from Dandridge was made, and on the night of the nineteenth, from Mossy creek. The new bridge over the Holston, and the property which could not be removed from Strawberry Plains, on ac- count of a general thaw, which now made the roads nearly impassable, were burned.
The retreat continued to Knoxville. However, it was quite uncalled for, as Longstreet was also retreating and in equal haste. On the twenty-third there was a little fight at Muddy creek, in which Lilly's battery was engaged. On the twenty-seventh, a more important affair took place near Fair Garden. Captain Rosencrantz, with the Second bat- talion of the Fourth cavalry and with the Second Indiana and First Wisconsin, dismounted as skirmishers, charged on the enemy's skirmishers. Three times the Rebels were driven from positions which they strove vehemently to hold.
505
RECONNOISSANCE TOWARD DALTON.
Finally they abandoned everything and fied before an im- petuous sabre charge, led by Lieutenant Colonel Leslie, of the Fourth, and Second Indiana, and First Wisconsin, sup- ported by Lilly's battery. Such was the enthusiasm with which the onset was made, that General M'Cook and his staff caught the spirit and joined in the rush. The charging party cut down all who resisted, took a battery and captured more than a hundred prisoners; but it lost its gallant leader, Colonel Leslie, who was shot dead, the ball entering his breast.
While the troops in East Tennessee held their ground, and hardly held it, against the combined assaults of winter, hunger and the enemy, the army in the region of Chatta- nooga found comparative rest and comfort in winter quarters.
But one important demonstration was made during the season. It was coincident with an expedition of Sherman's to Meridian, Mississippi, and undertaken partly to prevent reinforcements at that point from the army of Johnston, who had superseded Bragg. On the twenty-second of February, the Fourteenth corps, under General Palmer, set out toward the south. The divisions of Davis, Baird and Johnson, moved on the direct road to Dalton; while Stanley's division, which had been encamped at Cleveland, and was under the command of General Cruft, moved at some distance on the left. Palmer's advance, passing to the left of the Chicka- mauga battle field, and over Taylor's ridge, marched twenty- three miles the first day, and occupied Ringgold. Starting at dawn the next day, it skirmished through the forenoon with cavalry.
At noon, Cruft came up with his division, and line of bat- tle was formed with cavalry in advance and on the left flank, before the corps moved forward. Four pieces of artillery, which, under Wheeler, were blazing away on Tunnel Hill, were silenced by the Second Minnesota and the Ninth Indi- ana batteries, and the ridge was occupied about four in the afternoon.
The cavalry now pressed forward in pursuit of a few scat- tered Rebels, but at Rocky-Face ridge, in a gorge through
506
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
which the railroad and turnpike passes, was checked by a cross-fire from six guns.
The enemy held the place during the night, but, after con- siderable fighting, the next morning retreated, with the loss of about one hundred and fifty captured. Palmer pressed on toward Dalton, descending through the gaps into the Rocky-Face Valley, Cruft on the left, Johnson on the right, Baird on the left centre, Davis on the right centre. Skirm- ishing was lively, the enemy's force being heavier than it had yet been. Two miles from Dalton, it was evident to Palmer that the whole of Johnston's army was prepared to receive him. As he was unable to cope with so formidable a force, he fell back toward Tunnel Hill; and after a few days, to Ringgold.
His loss in this demonstration was about three hundred and fifty killed and wounded.
507
EXPEDITION TO LITTLE ROCK.
CHAPTER XXVII.
IN ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA AND TEXAS.
' Tis midnight; through my troubled dream Loud wails the tempest's cry ;
Before the gale, with tattered sail, A ship goes plunging by. What name ? Where bound ?- The rocks around Repeat the loud halloo. The good ship Union, Southward bound ; God help her and her crew !- O. W. Holmes.
The first of August, General Steele organized at Helena an expedition for the capture of Little Rock. He moved out on the tenth with twelve thousand men and forty guns, his cavalry, which was nearly half his force, and was under the command of General Davidson, clearing the way. After skirmishing two days, Davidson halted before intrenchments at Bayou Metea, and with some trouble drove the enemy out and beyond the bayou. Moving to the left, and again sharply skirmishing, he struck the Arkansas near Ashley's Mills. During the night of September 9, he threw pontoons over the river. He crossed the next forenoon, marched, fighting, toward the north, and met stubborn resistance on Bayou Fourche. Steele, struggling after him through the swamps of the Metea, and leaving hundreds of sick on the road, fought his way from Ashley's Mills on a parallel course, up the Arkansas, and fired from the north bank of the river on the enemy opposing Davidson.
Unable to withstand the double attack, the enemy yielded ground, and after hurriedly applying the brand to six steam- boats, three pontoon bridges, two locomotives, and several railroad cars, fled through Little Rock toward Arkadelphia.
During the march from the Mississippi to the Arkansas, commencing August 10, and terminating September 10,
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Steele lost, perhaps, five thousand men by sickness, and one hundred by the hand of the enemy. Not all the swamps of Arkansas, unaided by the neglect or mismanagement of re- sponsible officials, could occasion or can explain so fearful an amount of disease.
Immediately after the occupation of Little Roek by the Federal army under General Steele, a Post was established at Pine Bluffs, fifty miles below, under the command of Colonel Clayton, of the Fifth Kansas cavalry. His force consisted of his own regiment and the First Indiana cavalry; both small regiments, but celebrated for their fighting quali- ties. Continually menaced by superior numbers from differ- ent points, Clayton was compelled to keep in action all the energy and endurance of his little command.
The distance from Pine Bluff's to Camden, where Price's army lay, is eighty miles. Between the two places flows the Saline river, the nearest point of which to Pine Bluffs is thirty miles. The whole country south of the Saline was in almost undisturbed possession of the Rebels; north and east was debatable ground, overrun by the scouts of both parties. Forty-five miles southeast of Pine Bluffs and twelve miles east of the Saline, at Monticello, the Rebels usually kept a cavalry force of from one to two thousand men. Stretching north-westward from Monticello, they had a line of outposts guarding every approach to Camden.
In October, 1863, the Rebels concentrated from two thou- sand to four thousand men under General Marmaduke, and attacked Pine Bluffs. Their repulse by Colonel Clayton with his little command numbering scarcely six hundred men, after a furious contest of six hours duration, is one of the most gallant achievements of the war.
Shortly afterward, Clayton was reinforeed by the Twenty- Eighth Wisconsin infantry, a portion of the Seventh Mis- souri cavalry, and about two hundred of the Eighteenth Illi- nois infantry. To watch the movements of the enemy, and to prevent guerilla raids on our pickets, small scouting parties were sentout from ten to twenty miles on the differ- ent roads. The parties usually numbered from fifteen to twenty-five men, and were commanded by young officers of
509
ACTIVITY OF THE ENEMY IN LOUISIANA.
known bravery and vigilance. Lieutenant Frank M. Great- house, of company H, First Indiana cavalry, was dis- tinguished for the success which attended his expeditions. Being out near the Saline one evening, with fifteen men, he was informed that an officer of General Kirby Smith's staff and two soldiers were at a house three miles beyond the river. He determined to capture them; and as soon as it was dark, crossed the river, taking four men with him, and travelled on foot to the place indicated. The proprietor, under the impression that Greathouse and his men were Rebels, informed them that the Captain and party were at a ball about four miles further on. Greathouse kept on, and arriving, reconnoitred through a window. He discovered at a supper table seven Southern soldiers and about the same number of ladies. He noiselessly placed two men at the back door, and two at the front, then walked in and informed the gentleman they were his prisoners, that resistance on their part would only end in their own destruction, as he had the house securely guarded. He ordered them to hand over their six-shooters, and allowed them to finish their supper. Completely deceived and cowed by his confident manner, they surrendered and invited him to the table. The invita- tion was accepted. When they were ordered to fall in line outside, and saw the small number of their captors, their mortification was excessive, and was only equalled by their profanity. The Captain and his men, with their horses, were brought safely into Pine Bluff.
During the concentration of General Banks' forces about Port Hudson, the lately driven Rebels were rampant in the newly conquered portions of Louisiana. They reoccupied Alexandria and Opelousas; fell upon a camp of contrabands, killing a large number; swept over the New Orleans railroad, capturing the guard at each post, except at LaFourche crossing, where a little force, of which part was a company of the Twenty-First Indiana with a light battery, after a gallant fight seeured a retreat; they attacked Brashear, where was company F of the Twenty-First, and took the town, with nearly one thousand prisoners, vast quantities of am- munition, sutlers' goods, commissary and medical stores, and
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
confiscated cotton; they made a raid on Plaquemine, and burnt two steamers lying there; attacked Donaldsonville, and found their way into a fort, though they were driven out by a flanking fire from gunboats above and below; they es- tablished a post near Morganza, on the west bank of the Mississippi, there narrow and crooked, and did whatever else celerity, ingenuity, boldness, and the forces at their disposal enabled them to do.
In consequence of these proceedings, General Banks, al- though in co-operation with General Grant, he earnestly de- sired to besiege Mobile, was forced to turn to the task of reconquering Louisiana, in connection with which General Halleck imposed the obligation of restoring Texas. After withdrawing to New Orleans, dismissing his nine months men, and receiving the Thirteenth corps from Vicksburg, he began his double task. He strengthened his cavalry by sev- eral infantry regiments, among them the Sixteenth Indiana, and kept it actively engaged protecting transportation along the Mississippi, and dispersing bands of partisan rangers. Early in September he sent Herron's division, which had ac- companied the Thirteenth corps, to Morganzia; the Thir- teenth corps to Brashear; and the Nineteenth corps to Sabine Pass, the two latter to co-operate in a movement on Hous- ton, the first to drive the bushwhacking forces from the river.
Herron landed without opposition, the Rebels under Gen- eral Greene having retreated beyond the Atchafalya. He established a detachment, consisting of the Twenty-Sixth Indiana, Nineteenth Iowa, one hundred and fifty Missouri cavalry, and twenty-two guns, six miles inland. Scouting parties from this outpost daily came in contact with the enemy, and reported his proximity, nevertheless, it was sur- prised at midnight of September 28, and, although sharply defended, was captured, the cavalry and half the infantry effecting a rapid retreat to the river, and about four hundred of the infantry surrendering. Lieutenant Colonel Leake, in command of the camp, and Lieutenant Colonel Rose, in command of the Twenty-Sixth, were among the prisoners, with several other officers and two hundred and eighty men of the Twenty-Sixth.
511
SABINE PASS EXPEDITION.
An Indiana private, Adam Kirkwood, with a black man, hid three days in an old well, and thus escaped the weary march and the nine months imprisonment in Texas to which his comrades were subjected.
The loss in killed and wounded was fifty-four, eighteen of whom were Indianians. Satisfied with the parting blow, the Rebels retreated from the vicinity of the Mississippi.
The Sabine Pass expedition was a very pretentious affair, and proved a signal failure. It consisted of four gunboats and a land force of four thousand from the Nineteenth corps, includ- ing three companies of the Twenty-First Indiana, and was un- der the command of General Franklin. The voyage was favor- able, and the approach to the earthworks on Sabine river was unexpected, but Franklin hovered in sight twenty-four hours, attempting no reconnoissance, and detained his land force on the vessels during the attack. In short he left nothing un- done to secure a failure. He lost two hundred and fifty men, two boats and fifteen heavy rifled guns, although the force behind the works was but two hundred and fifty.
In consequence of Franklin's early defeat and his immedi- ate return to New Orleans, the Thirteenth corps, which had reached Brashear without opposition, made no effort to pro- ceed beyond that point.
The unfortunate conclusion of the first attempt on Texas did not deter Banks from immediate preparation for a second expedition. He determined to direct his attention to the south-western coast, and make, at the same time, a formida- ble demonstration in the western part of Louisiana for the purpose of engrossing, or at least dividing the enemy's atten- tion. The demonstration was to be conducted under the leadership of Franklin, and through the Teche country, where was pleasant marching and plenty of food. In the first days of October the Nineteenth corps joined the Thirteenth, which was established on the banks of the lower Atchafalya, and was luxuriating in cool huts with palm leaf roofs, or in breezy tents. The patient soldiers took up the line of march on a road which followed the windings of the dark, smooth Teche. It was a holiday march, however.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The country of the 'Teche is a garden region, and as such appeared in the autumn of 1863, notwithstanding the sweep of two armies in the previous May. Ever-green oaks and cactuses, magnolias and figs, rose trees and hedges of roses, orange groves and hedges of orange trees, whose golden fruit the wayfarer plucked as he passed; princely estates and hand- some mansions; negro cabins and sugar houses; humming birds in the gardens, and mocking birds in the woods, and throngs of negroes formed the main points of the landscape which unrolled day by day. The most hostile residents had abandoned their plantations, and the people who remained were generally French or of French extraction, and seemed to take little interest in the contest except so far as it imme- diately effected their property or personal comfort. Many of their houses displayed the French tricolor, and some the yel- low ensign of Spain. The poorer classes were destitute of all imported luxuries, yet stood in very little need of them, as they used a delicious beverage made of burnt sugar boiled in milk for coffee, and had an abundance of the finest sweet potatoes, plenty of oranges, and no lack of animal food. . The army moved slowly, indulging in long halts, and sleep- ing at night on beds made of the soft Spanish moss. A private of the Sixty-Ninth, speaking of starting out on the twenty-third of October, which happened to be a rainy day, after a long rest in a beautiful camp on Vermillion Bayou, says, " We were torn from the warm nest of moss which we had made." Few of the troops ever again experienced so agreeable an episode in their military life as their march along the Teche. There are dark spots, however, here and there in the garden region of Louisiana, swamps full of slimy, crawling life.
"Some flowers of Eden this earth inherits,
But the trail of the serpent is on them all."
Turning from the river the route led to Opelousas, through a prairie-like district, where herds of cattle were feeding and the habitations of men were poor, few and far between. A portion of the army encamped near Opelousas, while a por- tion went eight miles further to Barr's Landing, on the Cor- tableau.
513
TECHE RIVER CAMPAIGN.
'The Indiana troops in the Teche campaign were all in the Thirteenth corps. General M'Ginnis was in command of Hovey's division. General Cameron, promoted in August, had charge of M'Ginnis' old brigade. Colonel Slack still was in command of a brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel McLaughlin had charge of the Forty-Seventh regiment. The Eleventh was under Colonel Macauley. The Twenty- Third was under Colonel Spicely. Colonel Jones had com- mand of the Thirty-Fourth. Colonel Bringhurst had charge of the Forty-Sixth. Colonel Owen, of the Sixtieth, was Act- ing Brigadier, the command of the division having devolved upon General Burbridge. Lieutenant Colonel Templeton having been honorably discharged on account of disability, and Major Nash having resigned, Captain Goelzer had com- mand of the Sixtieth. The Sixty-Seventh was under Lieuten- ant Colonel Buehler, Colonel Emerson not having recovered from his wound. The Forty-Ninth and Sixty-Ninth were formed in batallion under command of Lieutenant Colonel Perry of the Sixty-Ninth, Colonel Bennett being in command of the brigade. Colonel Lucas, during the advance, was as- signed to the post of Vermillionsville, and Lieutenant Col- onel Redfield assumed command of the Sixteenth. On the return, the regiment was assigned to Colonel Lueas' brig- ade of cavalry. The Fifty-Fourth was under Colonel Mans- field.
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