USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 63
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742
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Forty-nine infantry, seven cavalry regiments and ten bat- teries constituted the Indiana organizations engaged in the Atlanta campaign. With few exceptions out of Hovey's division, the regiments were mere remnants even at the be- ginning of the campaign.
In addition to the officers already mentioned as gone from the Twelfth, were Captain Huston and Lieutenants Alfont and Godown, who were in captivity, and Lieuten- ants Weaver and Waters, who were among the slain. On the twenty-second of July, Lawrence Parks was struck five times, twice mortally, while attempting to rally his comrades. He died on the field during the night, attended by his brother. David Vanskike, one of a small party who captured a skirm- ish post, was never heard of afterward. He was doubtless killed, as he had frequently declared that he never would be taken prisoner. William Curnutt died from exhaustion in the battle of July 28. Francis Martin, a hospital steward of excellent ability and character, was killed August 9.
The Seventy-Ninth was under the command of Captain Ritter, Colonel Kneffler being in command of the brigade, Colonel Oyler having been sick throughout the campaign, Major Parker having been severely wounded at Peach Tree creek, and Captain Dunbar captured while establishing a picket line at Lovejoy. William Johnson, a Sergeant in the Seventy-Ninth, was killed at Kenesaw. He was a young man of fine ability and fine appearance, and was the last though the oldest of four soldier-brothers; of whom Thomas was killed by a cannon ball in the battle of Stone River, Andrew died a month later in Murfreesboro, (they were twins,) and David the youngest died at Knoxville. Their mother, Mrs. Eller, lives, and is a widow.
Of the Thirty-Sixth, Lieutenant Fentress was killed at New Hope Church, Lieutenants Hendricks and Bowman were killed before Kenesaw, Lieutenant Willard was mortally wounded in front of Atlanta.
Captain Scott, of the Thirty-Third, was killed on picket, Adjutant Porter at Kenesaw, and Lieutenant Reed at Peach Tree creek.
743
NAMES OF SOME OF THE FALLEN.
Lieutenant Colonel Baker, in command of the Seventy- Fourth, was killed August 5; Captain Abbot was killed at Jonesboro.
Captain Homan, of the Ninety-Ninth, was captured July 2.
The Eighty-Second lost its brave Lieutenant Colonel Slo- cum in the beginning of the campaign, at Rocky Facc. Near Atlanta, Lieutenant Walker was killed.
The Sixty-Fifth started out with Lieutenant Colonel John- son in command. His health failing, he was succeeded by Captain Hodge, who died of typhoid fever in August, when the command devolved on Captain Hammond.
The Sixth lost Major MeKeehan, severely wounded and captured, dying in the hands of the enemy at Atlanta. He was a brave and accomplished gentleman. The regiment lost also Captain Cummings, killed at Dallas, and Captains Conner and Newland.
The Ninth lost Captain Hodsden, died July 27, of wounds.
The Twenty-Second lost Lieutenants Runyan and Lind- son, both at Jonesboro, and Captain Moss, killed July 1. Captain Bennet, of the Twenty-Fifth, was killed before Atlanta.
Captain Seifert and Lieutenant Hupfaup, of the Thirty- Second, were killed at Alatoona.
Lieutenant Spears, of the Thirty-Seventh, fell at Dallas. Captain Elliot, Lieutenant Sharp and Captain Kirkpatrick were killed at Kenesaw. Captain Holmes was mortally wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Jones, Lieutenants Smith, Gibson and Huston, Captains Matthis and Shively, fell July 22. Lieutenant Marsh was mortally wounded. Lieutenant White was killed at Kenesaw.
In the action at Sunshine Church, Captain E. W. Peck of the Sixth cavalry, a worthy and competent officer, was killed while fighting as a private, he being under charges at the time. He was honorably acquitted by order of General Schofield, before his death, but he was not aware of his ac- quittal.
Captain Stidham and Lieutenants Beitzell and Callaway, of the Fifty-Seventh, were killed at Kenesaw. Lieutenant Minesinger was mortally wounded at Jonesboro.
744
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Major Patterson, of the Sixty-Third, was killed at Resaca, also Lieutenant Swank.
Colonel Spooner, of the Eighty-Third, lost an arm at Ken- esaw, and was so disabled as to be forced to resign. His ability and amiability made his loss severely felt by the regi- ment. Lieutenant Colonel Myers was killed at Dallas. Lieutenant Hazen died of wounds.
Major Boyd, of the Eighty-Fourth, Lieutenants Robertson and Barret, of the Ninety-First, Captains Swain and Owens, of the One Hundred and Twenty-Third, and Lieutenant Cone and Captain Mitchell, of the One Hundred and Thir- tieth, died of wounds.
Captain Young, of the Ninety-Seventh, was killed at Ken- esaw. Lieutenant Jeffries, of the One Hundred and Twen- ty-Third, was killed at Dallas.
Lieutenant Colonel Neff, of the Thirty-First, was killed on the twenty-fifth of June. He had unusual fortitude and courage, and was possessed of the large heart and the deli- cate perception of character which enable a man easily to obey the Scriptural command, "Honor all men." As a con- sequence he was regarded with honor and affection, and could ill be spared.
Colonel De Hart was severely wounded early in the cam- paign, and was succeeded in command of the One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth by Lieutenant Colonel Packard.
The Twenty-Second battery reached the front while the army was before Kenesaw. Captain Denning was wounded July 1, before he had fired a dozen shots. IIe died the next day. The Fifth battery lost ten, including the brave Simon- son, who was killed while placing his battery in position at Pine Mountain.
Sherman's communications, during his advance on Atlanta, had been comparatively undisturbed. The only raid of im- portance was Wheeler's, commenced shortly after Stoneman's failure. But the damage committed by him on the railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga was so slight that on the fifteenth the roads and telegraphs were all repaired, and cars were running with regular speed.
745
PRO PATRIA.
CHAPTER XLI.
GEORGE B. COVINGTON.
Gem of our hearth, our household pride, Earth's undefiled; Could love have saved, thou hadst not died, Our dear, sweet child ! Humbly we bow to Fate's decree; Yet had we hoped that time should see Thee mourn for us, not us for thee .- D. M. Moir.
"At the outbreak of the war George B. Covington, then not sixteen years old, was living at Newport, Kentucky. Although a garrison of United States troops has been main- tained at that town during the present century, a strong and ยท impudent Rebel sentiment existed there. Union people, and even the troops belonging to the garrison, were deliberately insulted by women claiming to be ladies, and who boasted of having been 'bawn in Kaintueka.' On the Monday after Fort Sumter was first fired upon, the streets of Cincinnati were fairly festooned with Union flags, while in Newport but few were displayed. Two of these few were tied, by young Covington, to the lightning rods at either end of his father's residence. They were tied because threats had been made that Union flags, if unfurled in Newport, would be torn down.
"When the first call was made for troops, George impor- tuned his parents for permission to go to Indiana, his native State, and enlist in one of her regiments. His youth was urged as an objection, and he was assured that he would not, on that account, be received as a soldier. Knowing that General Morris was his friend, he felt confident that through his influence he would be received, and, yielding to the wishes of his parents, he waited until General Morris passed through Cincinnati on his way to Virginia, when he solicited
746
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
the privilege of accompanying him. The General dissuaded him, and while commending his spirit, assured him that he would be unable to bear the fatigues of a soldier's life, and might be a burden instead of an aid to the cause. George reluctantly acquiesced.
"In the Seventh Indiana, which entered the service at this time, were many of his friends, and they but so little his sen- iors, that he could hardly part with them, Lynn, Waterman, Jamison, Hayman, and other of these brave boys, George's school fellows, gave up their lives in the cause of their country.
"On the fourth of July, the Seventeenth Indiana, in com- mand of Colonel Hascall, passed through Cincinnati on its way to Virginia. Relying upon a slight acquaintance formed with Colonel Hascall at the time he was a member of Gen- eral Morris' staff, George asked permission to accompany the regiment to the field, and his request was granted. He was actuated by no boyish whim, no running after novelties, or pleasure in 'the pride, the pomp, and circumstance of glo- rious war,' but by a deep-seated conviction of duty. He knew the sacrifices he was making. He was leaving home, where his every comfort and happiness were carefully studied; he was leaving school, where two years more would have completed his academie course; he was leaving friends, who would gladly have assisted and encouraged him in whatever pursuit of life he might have chosen; his future shone brightly before him, and promised abundantly. All these might be lost, but he felt that his country called him, and that he had no right to deny any service that he was able to render.
"Too young to be regularly enlisted, he accompanied the regiment as a volunteer aid to Colonel Hascall.
" During the following winter, the Seventeenth being then in Tennessee, parental anxiety, perhaps too often, suggested the undesirableness of being in the army, and set forth, prob- ably in too glowing colors, the pleasures of home. It was no doubt in reply to a letter of this character, that he wrote from Murfreesboro, St. Valentine's day, 1863: 'As for com- ing home, much as I love those there, and as often as they are in my thoughts, I do not permit myself to think of it. I
1
747
MANLY AMBITION.
like soldiering. If my present good health continues, I want to stay with this army till the Rebellion is put down. Upon the consummation of that object, I could come home and stay contented.'
"The feeling and determination of the army at that time is expressed in another part of the same letter. While at Nash- ville, a short time previously, he met a relative who was a resident of that vicinity, and a violent Rebel. This gentle- man denounced Mr. Lincoln, and predicted the success of the Rebel cause and the acknowledgment of the Southern Confederacy by the United States, within six months. 'I told him,' he writes, 'that the mass of the army approved Mr. Lincoln's message and proclamations, each and every one of them; that it was the firm determination of this army to put down this rebellion or ruin everything in the South, and quite probably we would do both.' The dwelling of this same Rebel was between the contending lines of the battle of Nash- ville, which was fought afterwards. His family fled to gopher holes, and his beautiful and highly cultivated grounds were stripped of everything.
"Receiving a letter from home in which it was suggested that an effort would be made to procure a commission for him, he wrote: 'Few persons anywhere are satisfied with their condition. Here I am surrounded by friends, and, so far as I know, with nothing to make me feel unpleasant or uncomfortable. I confess I have an itching for a pair of shoulder straps; but if I ever do get them, I want them solely because I deserve them. I would accept them only upon being tendered on that ground, and would refuse them if obtained upon the application of friends, either at home or in the army, because of their political influence.'
"At another time, alluding to the gratification he received from the approval of his superiors, he said: 'I would rather be a first lieutenant raised from the ranks by my own merit, than a brigadier general appointed by political influence.'
"As for friends," he writes in one of his letters, 'I have never been without them. One of my reasons for so liking the service, is, that where friendship does exist, it is purely disinterested, and not sordid and grasping after money, such
748
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
as we see in civil life. I know that I am thought of and talked of at home, and that I will never be forgotten there! I know, too, that neither long absence from home, nor any associations I might form, would banish the daily thoughts of father, mother, brothers and sisters, from my mind. As for convivialities, let me say to mother that I have never yet taken a drink of whisky, and I hope that I may be able to truthfully say the same thing fifty years henee."
His letters from the front, as the army advanced toward Chattanooga, are exceedingly interesting, but unfortunately must be omitted for want of space. He describes the pa- triotism of East 'Tennessee, the shelling of Chattanooga, and the battle of Chickamauga, for the awful scenes of which all that he had ever heard or read had not prepared him; and speculates on the taking of Atlanta and the probability of a march to the sea.
"A majority of the Seventeenth regiment enlisted on the fourth of January, 1864, and returned to Indianapolis. Hav- ing been remounted, they returned to the field, reaching Sherman's army at Atlanta on the tenth of May, where they were immediately placed in active and constant scouting operations. At the reorganization of the regiment, George was appointed Adjutant.
" On the twenty-fourth of May, while the regiment was en- gaged in scouting, Adjutant Covington was wounded by a shot from a Rebel sharpshooter. The wound was necessa- rily fatal, but it was hoped that he would be able to reach his home before dying, and Colonel Wilder immediately took the necessary steps for that purpose. Some delay in setting out was incurred by reason of Wheeler's cavalry having made a raid in the rear, and he was not started until the thirty-first. He died on the cars, near Kingston, on the first of June, and was buried at Rising Sun, Indiana, the place of his nativity, on the ninth of June.
"As some evidence of the respect entertained for him and the cause in which he gave up his life, it may not be out of place to remark that on the day of his burial the Common Pleas' and Commissioners' Courts were both in session at Rising Sun, and both courts made record of the event in
749
"FOR THE HOLY RIGHT HE DIED."
their minutes, and adjourned during the time of the funeral ceremonies.
"The many letters from his comrades showed the estimation in which he was held as a soldier and a friend. Colonel Wilder's grief at his death could hardly have been greater if it had been his own son. Dr. Munford, surgeon of the regi- ment, who gave him a parent's care until he started home, wrote: 'He did not suffer much pain, was usually cheerful, and at all times perfectly rational. He desired to reach home, and often when dozing would breathe, 'Father,' ' Mother,' and very often when awake would repeat the first part of the Lord's Prayer, 'Our Father who art in Heaven.' I told him soon after he was wounded, that it was mortal. He desired to know, and implored me not to keep the real state of his case from him. He said he did not fear to die; that he had lost his life in trying to do his duty. He said to me the evening before we started him home, that he did not hope to get there alive. When Colonel Wilder asked him what message he would send his parents in case he should not see them himself, I was by his side, and heard his reply. It was in a firm, manly voice. 'Tell them I died a Christian soldier, trying to do my duty.' What more than this tells can be said of him?'
" While a resident of Indianapolis, George was a Sunday- school pupil of Wm. N. Jackson, Esq., and always entertained for that gentleman a feeling but little short of filial. Mr Jackson says: 'When last here, I saw him as much as his time or sense of duty to others would permit, and enjoyed so much his modest description of movements and events in the army, an account of which I had never had from other sources-incidents in which he had taken part, but that part never was mentioned by him. As we parted the last time, upon asking him to read his Bible and pray to God, and tell- ing him that I would pray for him, he gave me the kindest, tenderest, saddest assent that I ever saw expressed. That look is so deeply impressed upon my memory that it seems to me nothing can ever efface it.'
" The lifetime of Lieutenant Covington was short, yet it was long enough to form many devoted friendships, and to
750
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
leave a memory to be cherished in many a fond and patriotic heart. Length of true life is not measured by years. Long years may be spent in uselessness. Even the full three score and ten may be but a blank in all that makes true living. Barely nineteen years were granted him on this earth, but nearly three of those were devoted to his country, and all of them were so spent that in the last hour he could say that he died a Christian soldier, trying to do his duty. What more could have been said or even desired, though the end of the full time allotted to man had been attained?
"A neat monument, upon which is earved a representation of the flag he loved so well, as if thrown carelessly over the top of the shaft, in the cemetery at Rising Sun, and upon the die of which is the record, 'Born in Rising Sun, March 28, 1845, entered the Union Army July 4, 1861, died of wounds received in action near Dallas, Georgia, June 1, 1864,' marks the resting place of Lieutenant George B. Cov- ington, Adjutant Seventeenth Indiana Volunteers."
751
TREASON'S PRISON HOLD.
.
CHAPTER XLII.
SIX WEEKS IN ANDERSONVILLE.
David S. and George M. Whitenack, members of Com- pany F, Fifth cavalry, were included in the troops surrendered by General Stoneman on the thirty-first of July, 1864. David gives the following account of their imprisonment:
" We were taken to Andersonville on the second of August, 1864, and introduced into prison life proper under the presi- dency of Prof. Wirz. After we left the cars we were placed in line, ordered to take off our clothing, and subjected to a rigid search. Everything of value was taken from us, money, watches, jewelry, many articles of clothing, and even the photographs of our friends, while we were threatened with being shot or hung, and were abused as thieves and robbers. After we had been deprived of what few comforts we pos- sessed, we were driven, like so many hogs, into the stockade, where already thirty-two thousand souls were confined. There were four hundred and forty of us, the rest of General Stoneman's command having escaped. What a sight met our eyes! At least fifty dead were lying near the gate, wait- ing for the return of the 'dead wagon.'
"Starvation was apparent in almost every living man. Some were almost entirely destitute of clothing. Many were unable to walk by reason of scurvy, while hundreds were in a dying condition. The thought that we were to share a like treatment made the sight still more dreadful.
" We were left to select our own spot of earth where we might lie down and rest our weary limbs. Not a shed or building of any description was in the prison ground. The heavens were a covering for us, and the earth was our bed. Andersonville prison consisted of twenty-five acres of ground, which were surrounded by a wall of logs twelve or fifteen
752
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
feet long, put endwise into the ground. On the top of an embankment, thrown against the logs on the outside, the guards were placed. A branch ran through the southern half of the prison, taking up at least five acres, on account of the low and marshy ground near the stream, thus allowing us but twenty acres to occupy,-making sixteen hundred men to the acre, or ten to every square rod. During the month of August and the two weeks of September that I remained here, the deaths were, on an average, one hundred per day, some days reaching one hundred and fifty, other days falling below a hundred. To add to this fearful mort- ality, I have seen the Rebel guards shoot quite a num- ber of prisoners who would thoughtlessly cross the 'dead line,' which was twelve feet from the wall of the prison. The 'dead wagon' came round every morning to remove the dead to their final resting place. The manner of loading the wagon was a novel one, at least so far as humanity was con- cerned. Two men would take hold of a dead body, one by the hands and the other by the feet, and, with a swing, would send it into the wagon in any way it might happen to light.
"It is impossible to give anything like a full description of what I saw and experienced without writing enough to fill a book of many pages. For the first three days of our im- prisonment we received nothing whatever to cat from the hands of the Rebels, and if it had not been for a few crackers in our haversacks, we should have suffered much more than we did. We had been told by the citizens of Macon that when we got to Andersonville we would be made to feel the power of the Confederate States of America; and we did feel it, for they had the power to starve us to death, and they came well nigh doing it. Our rations consisted of one pint of corn-meal; and this was all we had to live upon for twen- ty-four hours. Occasionally we received a gill of beans ready cooked; but such a mess! Hulls, bugs, dirt and all manner of filth mixed together. We were sometimes compelled to cat our meal raw, as the wood given us was not enough to cook it. A stick the size of a piece of stove-wood was all we had to use for three days at a time. We had to split the wood with a pocket-knife into very small slivers, and use
753
THE ESCAPE FROM FLORENCE.
them with the greatest economy. It seemed as if the Rebels were trying every means in their power to kill us off, for there was no excuse for not giving us plenty of wood. We were made still more miserable by an innumerable multitude of lice, more commonly called 'greybacks.' The very ground seemed to be alive with them.
"September 13, we were put into freight cars, seventy-five or eighty in a car, so crowded that we could not lie down, and started to Florence by way of Macon, Savannah and Charleston. We spent two days at Charleston, and reached Florence on the seventeenth. Here we received nothing but a half pint of rice for two days. It seemed as if they were determined to starve us to death, and I felt that something must be attempted. So I made a proposition to my brother that we should make a desperate effort to escape, to which he consented. We had not yet been placed in the stockade, as it was not quite finished, but were guarded in an open field. Having determined to take a northwesterly course, to Knoxville, a distance of three hundred miles, we resolved to make the hazardous attempt on the night of September 19, not forgetting, however, to offer up a silent prayer to God that he would shield us in danger. When night came on we approached the guard line, and when two guards were walking from each other I passed out, and made for a skirt of woods on the north of the camp, where I was to wait for brother George. I expected every step to hear the report of a musket, or the whizzing of a ball. After reaching the woods I waited in breathless suspense for the whistle which was to indicate George's escape; and great was my relief when he joined me."
The brothers wandered nine nights, then were recaptured, and after some delay returned to the stockade at Florence. They fared no better there than at Andersonville. They ofter saw Lieutenant Barry, of the Fifty-Fifth Georgia, deliber- ately and without provocation, fire among the prisoners. This is but one of the inhumanities which they record.
48
754
THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
CHAPTER XLIII, THE NASHVILLE AND MOBILE CAMPAIGNS.
" He never yields his life too soon, For country and for right who dies."
Sherman was no sooner encamped with a promise to his army of a long month's rest, than Hood turned his desires and devices northward. He crossed the Chattanooga south and west of Atlanta, and marched to Dallas, whence his cav- alry went to Big Shanty and tore up the railroad, and a di- vision of his infantry hastened to Alatoona. He proceeded unmolested thus far, having been fairly on the march before a report of his doings reached his weary antagonist. But, except Slocum's corps, which remained to hold Atlanta, the northern army was now on his track. On the morning of the fifth of October, Sherman looked out from the lofty sum- mit of Kenesaw on long lines of soldiers pointing toward Dallas, and, in the far off distance, to Alatoona, begirt with the white smoke of the Rebel assault. He signaled the com- mander to hold out, and the commander held out until he was relieved by the approach of Schofield.
Hood pushed on threatening Kingston and demonstrating before Rome. Sherman pressed after him and saved both. Hood hastened down the Coosa and crossed it. Sherman hurried Garrard's cavalry and Cox's infantry up the Oostan- aula and over it to threaten the enemy's right flank, while with his main force he pursued the rear. Hood halted before Resaca, summoned it and was refused, attacked it and was repulsed. Sherman having reinforced Resaca, made no de- lay in marching to the relief of his reinforcement. Hood went on to Tunnel Hill, destroying the railroad. Sherman sent Howard, with the army of the Tennessee, to Snake creek gap, and Stanley, with the Fourth and Fourteenth corps,
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