USA > Maine > The story of the Maine Fifteenth; being a brief narrative of the more important events in the history of the Fifteenth Maine regiment; together with a complete roster of the regiment , embracing the name of every officer and enlisted man serving > Part 20
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he ever acquitted himself with credit, and with honor to the regiment with which he had been so long identified. Col. Dyer certainly retired with a proud record, absolutely untarnished.
Immediately upon the retirement of Col. Dyer, Lient .- Col. Murray was relieved from staff-duty and rejoined the regiment (in October.) He was commissioned Colonel, bat was unable to be mustered as such, owing to the regiment's depleted ranks. He was assigned the command of a Sub- district, with headquarters at Cheraw, and all the companies within Georgetown District were ordered to concentrate at Darlington, with the idea of again bringing the regiment together within one Sub-district. The companies in the Georgetown District very gladly hailed this order, leav- ing that malaria-infected region Oct. 23d, by steamer, and reaching Dar- lington two days later. Col. Murray, with regimental headquarters and Co.'s A, D, G, H, and I, remained in and about Darlington and Cheraw until the latter portion of December; the class of service not being essen- tially different from that in Georgetown District.
During the entire period of our service in South Carolina a large number of our officers were on detached and special service, performing responsible and in some instances very delicate duties, more properly ap- pertaining to the civil magistrate than the militaryc ommander. Sof ar as possible we shall mention the special assignments at the close of this chapter.
Our narrative now seems to lead us to a slight diversion from regi- mental headquarters, for the purpose of following the fortunes of five com- panies which-in October-were ordered to another portion of the State.
The detachment which was withdrawn from Georgetown and ordered to Darlington, had hardly arrived at the latter point, when a telegraphic summons was received directing the dispatching of five compa- nies to the Western South Carolina Military District, reporting to Gen. Adelbert Ames, at Columbia. Co.'s B, C, E, F and K, were designated, with Maj. Coates commanding. The detachment left Darlington Oct. 29th. After a weary trip, by train and hard marches over rough roads, it arrived at Columbia Oct. 31st. A few days later the entire detachment proceeded to Chesterville, the headquarters of a Sub-district comprising a group of five counties then garrisoned by an Ohio regiment. Reaching Chesterville November 5th, Maj. Coates assumed command, announced a Sub-district staff, and assigned the several companies to the various districts adjacent, C remaining at Chester. Co.'s B and F were stationed at Unionville; E, Spartansburg : and K, at Yorkville. These posts were remote from Sub- district headquarters, thirty and forty miles distant in most instances, and the country covered was in considerable commotion, requiring the sternest discipline. A few weeks after the companies had reached their several stations Maj. Coates was relieved from the command of the Sub-distriet by
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order of Gen. Ames, and Capt. H. A. Shorey-who had but just rejoined the detachment in Western South Carolina-placed in charge of the Sub- district.
The situation throughout the mountain districts at this period was decidedly turbulent and unsatisfactory-radically dissimilar to that encoun- tered in other portions of the State. The Johnsonian reconstruction policy had been getting in its mischievous work ! For months crime and outlaw- ry had been alarmingly prevalent, and the infamous organizations of " night- riders," later known as the "Ku-Klux." were holding high carnival. These lawless bands were then known as " Slickers," were thoroughly or- ganized, armed and mounted, and were perambulating the country by night, terrorizing the negroes, and by threats, brutality, and even murder, endeavoring to impress upon the negro mind the idea that to enter the ent- ployment of another than his former master was a misdemeanor, certain to be punished with severity. The modus operandi of the "Slickers" was to assemble at some designated place, disguised, ride to the negro quarters where it was deemed desirable to inflict punishment, surround the negro huts, call the victims out, one by one, hustle them off to some secluded spot, and proceed to " discipline." The favorite mode of punishment was to strip the victim to the waist, tie him up, and inflict upon the bare body such number of lashes as the leader of the gang should direct. In aggra- vated cases the negro was shot dead ; hanging was frequently resorted to ; and in a number of instances the dead body was left suspended from the limb of a tree near the roadside, riddled with bullets, where it remained for days and weeks as a spectacular menace to the negroes of the neighbor- hood ! Flogging and the most barbarous treatment were nightly occur- rences, and the catalogue of brutal murders was so long as to almost stagger belief. At the first inception of this " chivalrous " plan of local self-gov- ernment, the entire white population seemed in league with the regulators, to such an extent that evasion, lying, and downright perjury, was unseru- palously practiced to sereen the perpetrators ; and average public sentiment appeared to sanction the outrages. Only negro testimony was available in any cases brought before military tribunals for investigation, and this was given generally at very great hazard to the witnesses. Somewhat later, when the military force had become strengthened and seemed able to afford adequate protection to well-disposed citizens, there was a slight improve- ment in this respect, and an attempt was made to establish the theory that the outrages were perpetrated by the lawless classes, without the assout or" sympathy of the better portion of society. Nevertheless a reign of terror had long existed, and hundreds of innocent negroes had been cruelly mur- dered within the few months preceding our coming to Western South Car- olina. From a careful and thorough personal investigation, made as a
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special commissioner appointed by order of the commander of the Depart- ment, the author is enabled to speak intelligently upon this subject. Only small squads of soldiers then occupied the country, and these were com- paratively helpless. Now we were a trifle stronger numerically, and were better prepared to enforce due respect for the laws of the land ; though, as a matter of fact, with infantry soldiers less than fifty men to a county, and these thirty and forty miles from other military support, we were hardly in sufficient force to warrant us in being especially pugnacious. In Union and Spartansburg Districts the outlaws had become exceedingly bold-even after our occupancy of that section, in one or two instances, having audaciously ridden into the villages and fired upon our soldiers in the streets. In Union District a desperado named James G. Fernandez headed the outlaws ; while in Spartansburg, the adjoining district, one Green Brown was the recognized leader of the Slickers. The Fernandez party had assaulted a detachment of Co. B, at Unionville, wounding Pri- vate Josiah K. Rollins by a pistol-shot. At such audacity Gen. Ames of course became thoroughly enraged, and he determined upon the most vig- orous measures, with the view of effectually asserting the power of the government and its ability to. enforce respect and obedience. He sum- moned Capt. Shorey to Columbia for a personal interview, and in verbal and written instructions emphasized the point that the breaking up of these lawless bands and the arrest and punishment of the leaders, was the chief duty devolving upon us. To that end the commander of the Sub- district was clothed with absolute powers in the premises, including the right to confiscate property, burn buildings, arrest and imprison suspected parties, etc .; much, of course, being left to the discretion of that officer. The campaign was entered upon without delay. A proclamation of out- lawry was issued and widely published at once, rewards offered ; the residence of Fernandez placed under guard ; spies and scouts put upon the trail ; and every expedient resorted to calculated to result in the ap- prehension of the outlaws or any of those aiding and abetting them in their lawless work.
The pursuit of outlaws was relentless and adventurous, extending throughout the entire Sub-District, and vigorously pushed, night and day, for weeks. Many arrests were made of suspected sympathizers, but the outlaws themselves managed to keep out of the reach of our soldiers for a long time, though they were known to be still in the vicinity. Pending the " hunt and chase," Col. Murray arrived at Chester from Cheraw, with regimental headquarters.and the other five companies of the Fifteenth. (Dec. 30th.) This relieved Capt. Shorey as commander of the Second Sub-district and enabled him to assume immediate command of the Union- ville District, where Fernandez was suspected still to be lurking, secreted
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in the mountain districts in the region bordering upon the line between Spartansburg and Union Districts. In due time, happily, our vigilance was rewarded with a happy issue of the campaign. Very late one night a negro came to headquarters and gave information that the desperado we had so long been in search of had stabled his horse for the night at farm- buildings fourteen miles from Unionville. A detachment was speedily put upon the road in that direction under the command of Lieut. J. E. Lath- am ; before daylight the house had been quietly surrounded, with a sol- dier on guard at every door and window of the main house ; the sleepers were aroused at day-break from without, and apprised of the situation, and warned that to attempt to escape would be perilous. Presently Fernandez himself responded to the call by appearing first at a window and then at the back-door, with drawn derringer pistol in hand ; he was instantly " covered " by the unerring musket in the hands of Private Wm. C. Allen of Co. B .; the two pulled trigger simultaneously, and when the smoke had cleared away the giant form of the noted outlaw lay prostrate at Al- len's feet, lifeless, while the ball from the desperado's revolver had harm- lessly entered the earth not far from where the soldier stood when he " drew bead " so effectually upon his antagonist. The desperado had been true to his oft-repeated boast-never to be captured alive-but, neverthe- less, his hellish work had been tragically terminated, and a very wholesome lesson taught his associates in crime !
There was, of course, very great commotion when the news of the killing of Fernandez spread through the village and adjacent country. There was a running to and fro ; a vinegar-visaged populace ; angry mut- terings, vague threats, etc. But these were of short duration. The gang mustered with full ranks. armed, and attended the funeral ; and that night the cowardly wretches pounced upon the negro quarters of the house where Fernandez had been shot and sought revenge in the cruel murder of a number of negro men, women and children, as a punishment to the negroes for giving information which led to the discovery of the outlaw. A hur- ried inspection of the garrison when the excitement was at fever heat, re- vealed the appalling fact that we had at Unionville bat thirty men for duty, and on an average less than twenty rounds of ammunition to the man ! And supplies nearly forty miles away! Capt. Knight, Provost Judge at the post, with a civilian treasury agent, gallantly volunteered to ride to Chester for the necessary aid ; and Lieut .- Col. Murray, ever equal to an emergency, at once returned them to Unionville, their saddle-bags filled with cartridges, and at the same time dispatching two companies to rein- force the Unionville garrison. Happily, however, there was no - clash of arms," for the reason, quite likely, that the confederates of the dead des- perado imagined the force at Unionville, at the time of the shooting of
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Fernandez, much stronger than it really was.
During all this time Capt. Walker, at Spartansburg, had been ad- ministering justice, in generous doses, in that district, arresting many of the outlaws, and securing the conviction and sentence of some of the most noted of the Spartansburg night-riders. At all points in the Sub-district most effective work was being done ; many " leading citizens " were incar- cerated in the jails of the several districts; and the slightest injustice to the freed people was summarily rebuked. As the result of these aggres- sive measures, a due respect for the military power of the government was soon re-established throughout the entire section, and lawlessness was com- paratively unknown throughout the Chester Sub-district.
The transfer of Col. Murray and the five companies with him at Cheraw, to the Chester Sub-district, again brought all the companies of the Fifteenth within one military district ; though, it will be understood, this does not imply that the regiment was " closed in mass," upon the color- company. Indeed, we covered a vast area of territory ; and, as to the detached companies, the ranking officer must necessarily be a " post com- mander," since regimental headquarters could only be reached by travelling a distance of from thirty to forty miles, through sparsely settled districts --- a journey often rendered necessary, to meet the requirements of the ser- cral detachments as to medical and quartermaster supplies. More than one of the commanders of detached posts will recall that they were obliged to provide many of these supplies at their own expense, and for which they, at least, have never been reimbursed.
The assignments, after the regiment had become re-united, were as follows :
Lieut .- Col. Murray, with Regimental Headquarters and Co.'s A, D, C and G, at Sub- district head quarters, at Chesterville ; Co.'s Band F, at Unionville, Capt. H. A. Shorey comi nun ling ; Co. I, at Lancaster, Capt. W. H. Boyce, commanding ; Co. E, at Spartan -- bary, Capt. James E. Walker, commanding ; Co. HI, at Laurens, Lieut. W. H. Carr, com- manding : Co. K, at Yorkville, Capt. Michael Boyce commanding. Surgeon Higgins was at Chester, while Assistant Surgeon Holmes ra liated between the various detached posts, mak- ing his headquarters with the detachment at Unionville.
The regiment tarried at the stations mentioned above until the middle of April. (1866.) The officers and enlisted men were constantly engaged with the multifarious duties of contract-making, division of crops, litigation, etc., though this service grew gradually lighter and less exciting as the civil governments became rehabilitated. There was, nevertheless, frequent calls upon the military, and the presence of troops seemed an act- ual necessity for the protection of the freed people and the preservation of order. The health of the command was excellent in the upper counties, the climate being unusually salubrious and the air bracing and invigorating. While within the Chester District the Fifteenth parted company with that large element of its membership which had joined us as one-year
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recruits, in March, 1865 ; about one hundred and eighty in all. The terms commenced to expire as early as January, though most of them re- tired in February and March, a few lingering until April. This exodus took nearly fifty per cent. of our membership present for duty, leaving behind, to each company, hardly a respectable platoon. As in other in- stances already noted, those who remained parted company with the old comrades with very keen regret.
About the middle of April the Fifteenth was again moved still further northward, occupying the eight counties enumerated below, with headquarters at Anderson Court House :
Lieut .- Col. Murray, with Companies A, D and E, at Anderson Court House ; B, de- tached, at Walhalla, Pickens District ; C, at Newbury Court House ; F, at Greenville ; G, at Orangeburg ; H, at Abbeville ; I, at Camden ; K, at Sumpter.
These locations were chiefly eventful as being extremely pleasant and agreeable, with no duty of any importance, and healthful surround- ings ; the only drawback being the extreme anxiety of the boys to lay. aside " the old blue coat " they had worn so long, and to return to home and the avocations of civil life. The order for muster-out came to be anxiously awaited, with the arrival of every military mail. A full year had now expired since the disbandment of the rebel armies ; the work of reconstruction was making fair progress ; the " peace proclamation " had been formally issued ; and there seemed no valid excuse for longer detain- ing in service volunteers who had enlisted for a specified term, or " during the war, if sooner ended." These views, very generally entertained, were frequently and forcibly communicated to the military authorities; and fin- ally, after tarrying within the Anderson Sub-district about two months, the long-looked-for and gratifying final muster-out order was issued. It reached us about the middle of June. The boys shouted themselves hoarse, " rallied upon the centre," at Anderson Court House, and on the moru- ing of June 20th, the Fifteenth boys took train for Charleston, S. C., for final muster-out.
During the entire year in South Carolina our officers and soldiers were constantly performing special and delicate duties of every variety and description. Company commanders and subalterns were all pressed into the service, and, at one time and another, nearly all served either as mag- istrates, post commanders, provost marshals, judges of provost courts. members of military commissions, etc. Officers upon the courts or com- missions frequently found themselves, upon very short notice, contending for the mastery with able South Corolina lawyers, and, in their capacity as prosecuting officers for the government, arguing abstruse points of law with attorneys-at-law of high professional standing in the State. Trials for murder, assault with intent to kill, conspiracy, assault and battery, etc., were very frequent, giving our officers very valuable experience in
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matters pertaining to criminal law and the forms of procedure in the courts. It is impossible to accurately state all the assignments, but we append a list of those we are able to gather in an examination of the rolls.
Col. Isaac Dyer. - Commanded the Georgetown Sub-district and afterwards the Military Dist. Eastern South Carolina, until mustered out.
Lieut. Colonel B. B. Murray. - Served as Provost Marshal Military Dist. of Eastern South Carolina, to August ; Provost Marshal General of the Department until October ; commanded regiment, and, respectively, the Sub-districts of Darlington, Cheraw, Chester, and Anderson, until order for muster-out.
Major James II. Whitmore. - Commanded regimental detachment, near Georgetown, June, until his discharge from the service.
Major John R. Coates .--- As captain and later as major, commanded the post at Conwaysboro'; regimental detachment at Georgetown ; Georgetown Sub-district ; Chester Sub-dis- trict for a short period ; and served considerably on courts martial and military con- missions.
Capt. H. A. Shorey .- Commanded the post at Plantersville ; Provost Marshal Georgetown Sub-district, July to October ; commanded Fourth Sub-district Western South Car- olina and later Union District ; special commissioner, by order Gen. Sickles, to. in-
. vestigate charges of brutal treatment of freed people in Northern South Carolina ; Judge Advocate Military Commission at Columbia ; commander of Pickens District, until final muster out.
Capt. Joseph A. Clark. - Post Adjutant Georgetown Sub-district ; Provost Marshal Chester Sub-district ; A. D. C. and A. A. A. Gen., staff Gen. Ames, at Columbia, Dec. '65 to May '66 ; Provost Judge at Columbia, to date of final muster-out.
Capt. F. O. S. Howe .- Provost Marshal Darlington, Cheraw, Chester, and Anderson Sub- districts, successively, to date of final muster-out.
Capt. James Walker .- Commanded Co. E and detached post, near Georgetown ; conducted condemned prisoners to Albany (N. Y.) Penitentiary ; commanded Spartansburg District, November '65 to May '66 ; and Co., in Anderson Dist., till mustered out. Capt. C. E. Knight .- Commanded Union Dist. for short period ; served as Judge Union- ville Provost Court ; and served on military courts and commisssons considerably. Capt. Lester Dwinal. - Served as Judge Advocate military commission, June to December ; Provost Judge at Chesterville ; Judge Advocate general court martial, at Columbia, Jan. to May, '66 ; commandeil Co. G at Orangeburg, till muster-out.
Capt. Alonzo Coan. --- Provost Marshal Georgetown Sub-district to July 5, '65 ; member Su- perior Provost Court at Cheraw ; A. D. C. staff Gen. Ames, at Columbia ; member Military Commission at Columbia, etc.
Capt. Johu E. Callaghan .-- Commanded Co. I, and detached post of Bennettsville, Marlboro Dist., to January, 1866, when he resigned.
Capt. W. H. Boyce .-- Served on various important assignments and commanded Co. I at Marlboro Dist. and other points, until muster-out.
Capt. Michael Boyce .- Commanded Co. K and various detached posts, including York Dist., until muster -out.
Capt. James N. Martin. - Commanded Co. A, and Conway Dist ; several detached posts ; served on military commissions, etc.
Lieut. W. H. Carr commanded Laurens Dist. for a considerable period ; Lients. C. E. Graves, P. F. McCann, M. B. Hanning, B. F. Owen, and others, served with their com- panies and more or less on military courts ; Lients. J. H. Lord, Henry S. Rich, James Ride- out, James E. Knight, J. E. Latham, and indeed all the officers of that period, were efficient in the management of Freedman's Bureau affairs ; while Lieuts. Orcutt, Fitzgerald, Story and Wilson, served as adjutant, assistant adjutant general, officers of commissary and quarter- master's department, etc. Acting Adjutant Low and Acting Quartermaster Elias A. Berry, served considerably as Post Adjutant and Post Quartermaster, at various stations ; while Sur- geon Higgins and Assistant Surgeon Holmes, officiated as medical directors, surgeons in charge, etc., of Post and Regimental Hospitals, during the entire year.
The service of non-commissioned officers and privates was equally arduous and varied, covering every imaginable class of duty, but, unfor- tunately, there is no data on record from which these assignments can be accurately ascertained.
It has already been shown in this chapter, that the regiment had become very much depleted during the year's service in South Carolina ; but few will be prepared for the statement that in the last weeks of its
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eventful history the Old Fifteenth had really shrunk its membership to an aggregate, present and absent, of two hundred and forty-seven. That seemed to be the precise situation. With the recruits which had joined us in the spring of 1865 we were able to muster, at about the time of leaving Washington for the South, something like eight hundred names, present and absent. The rolls for July 31st, 1865, show an aggregate membership of 762 ; 146 absent and 616 present. The depleting effects of that terribly fatal summer in Georgetown is shown by the fact that the next return accessible-Nov. 1, 1865 -- gives the aggregate present and absent as 620 ; of whom but 332 were " present," and one-fifth of these on the sick list. Of the 288 absentees, 183 were marked " absent sick." In short, the record shows that during the year our death losses averaged about one in every six with us in the after-the-war Southern expedition, while one in seven of the remnant became so broken down in health as to necessitate a discharge, based upon surgeon's certificate of disability-ad- ditional evidence that it was the Deadly Malaria rather than rebel bullets which depleted our armies and filled unnumbered soldiers' graves. in the far-off South-land ! By the commencement of 1866 our membership had shrunk to 531 ; two months later, to 477. This brought us to the period of the departure of the large body of 1865 recruits-whose retirement. and the clearing of the rolls incident to the approaching muster-out, left us, as stated, with an aggregate, present and absent, of two hundred and forty-seven names. As near as we are able to ascertain, the shrinkage in membership since the period of balancing the books, shown on page 151, (Jan., 1865) were from the causes following :
Diel in the Service, 98
Discharged for Disability, 74
Transferred, for various reasons, 47
Discharge I by reason Expiration of Term, ISS
Droppel from Rolls as Deserters, 126 *
Total Shrinkage, 533
* It is proper to say, in explanation of the unusually large number of names dropped from our rolls as " Desetters," that in many instances the charge is grossly unjust. There were with us no such desertions as by military law are made punishable by death ; yet the odium attaches all the same, upon the rolls, to an unintentional absence beyond the time-limit of the furlough as to actual desertion in the face of the enemy. Very many of the Fifteenth " Deserters" are those who enlisted, either in 1861 or as recruits, and never reported for other duty than that of " muster ;" while a considerat le number are those who re-enlisted as Veterans, received their Veteran, Furloughs much later than they had anticipated, and, living contiguous to the New Brunswick line, never re-joined the regiment. Then, after the war, when most of the volunteer regiments were being mustered out, many of our men conceived the very pernicious idea that the government no longer had lawful claims upon them, and, thus pleading, they " skippe i by the light of the moon." All these causes combined to give us an unenviable Deserter Roll ; which, though disere litable, is really rather apparent than real. In many instances the War Department has a vendel the record and removed the odious change of Deserter. Of these the following have been brought to our attention :
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