USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 46
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The regiment took its final departure from Frankfort late in the after- noon of the 21st of October and encamped that night in an oak grove a few miles down the road towards Lawrenceburg. On the following day it passed through that town, and made its camp for the night at Big Spring, some miles farther on. The weather had suddenly grown cold, and many of the men suffered for need of the blankets which had been foolishly thrown away as incumbrances in the heat and dust of previous marches. In the morning of the 23rd the Kentucky hills and vales were white with hoar- frost. The regiment was early in line; during this day's march it passed through Harrodsburg. Here the men were not permitted to make a free exploration of the town, on account of their rather damaging record as indiscriminate foragers. About noon of the 24th they passed through the little village of Perryville in the outskirts of which the armies of Buell and Bragg had fought the battle of Chaplain Hills sixteen days before. Many of the Union and Confederate wounded from that engagement were still in the village and in the farm-house hospitals of the vicinity. That night the weary men of the Twenty-third made their bivouac on the banks of an abundant and tolerably clear stream of water called the Rolling fork.
In the march of the following day, this stream was crossed and recrossed many times in its meandering. Late in the day the regiment reached the little half-burned village of Bradfordsville. The latter part of the day's march had been made in a cold, drenching rain, which as night fell turned to snow, and on the following morning, Sunday, October 26, the arctic covering lay six inches deep over the ground. This was con- sidered a remarkable event for that latitude and brought remembrances of Northern homes to the minds of many whose eyes would never again look upon the whitened expanse of the Michigan hills and valleys. During all that Sabbath day the tired men enjoyed a season of rest and recreation around their comfortable camp-fires. While they rested the snow disap- peared, so that their march of the following day, while over bare roads, was free from tormenting dust. In the evening of the 27th the brigade arrived at Newmarket, Kentucky, where several commands of the rear guard of Buell's army were found encamped; there the Twenty-third and its com- panion regiment also went into camp and remained for eight days, engag-
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ing in recuperation, drills and the preparation of muster-rolls, to be used upon a pay-day which all hoped might come in the near future.
On the 4th of November the brigade again moved forward, and on the 5th passed through Munfordsville, where a Union force of ten thousand men lay encamped. On the 6th it reached Dripping Springs, where it remained one day, and in the afternoon of the 8th arrived at Bowling Green, Kentucky, a town which "had the appearance of having been visited by pestilence, famine, and the besom of destruction," as was remarked by some of the officers of the Twenty-third. "A large rebel force had wintered there, and remained until driven out by the Union forces under General Mitchell, and they had made of the whole visible creation one common camping- ground." This place was destined to be the home of the Twenty-third Regiment for a period of more than six months. Its camp, which was afterwards transformed into substantial and comfortable winter-quarters, was pitched near the magnificent railroad-bridge crossing the Big Barren river, and the guarding of this bridge formed a part of the duty of the regiment during the winter of 1862-63; its other duties were camp routine, drill, picket, provost and railway guard, and the convoying of railroad trains of stores over the road from Bowling Green to Nashville. While here, the Twenty-third with its brigade formed part of the Tenth Division of the Army of the Cumberland, and they were successively under command of Generals Granger, Manson and Judah, as commandants of the post during the six months that they remained here.
The period of the regiment's stay at Bowling Green was marked by many notable events, some pleasant, some painful and others ludicrous. Near the town was a pleasure-ground many acres in extent with a magnifi- cent spring of clear cold water in its center. This seems to have been a favorite resort for both citizens and soldiers and we are told that "here, upon many a happy occasion, the beauty and the chivalry of Bowling Green, and many Yankees, assembled to enjoy the scene of unequaled hilarity and mirth." It was several times the case that snow fell to a sufficient depth for sleighing and these opportunities for pleasure were improved to the utmost. Private entertainments, too, were sometimes given by the citi- zens, and "there were, in several instances strong indications of attach- ments between some of the boys in blue and the fair damsels of Bowling Green. *
* * These were oases in the dreary Sahara of the war." On the morning of the momentous Ist of January, 1863, the artillery on College Hill fired a salute, which was afterwards changed to target practice, and during a part of the time of its continuance the camp of the Twenty-third
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Michigan seems to have been the target, for several solid shots were thrown into it, doing some damage to quarters and creating no little consternation. This was the first time the regiment had been actually under fire.
On the 6th of April, 1863, occurred one of the most distressing events in the experience of the regiment at Bowling Green. This was the sudden death of Lieutenant-Colonel Pratt. He had mounted a powerful and restive horse, but was scarcely seated in the saddle when the fiery animal plunged, crushing and killing him instantly. He was a good and popular officer and was sincerely mourned by the men and officers of the regiment.
When spring had fairly opened, it began to be rumored that the troops occupying Bowling Green would soon be moved from there and enter active service. The men of the Twenty-third Michigan did not regret this probabil- ity of a change, for, although their experience had been in some respects as pleasant as any which soldiers in time of war have a right to expect, yet they had been terribly reduced in numbers by sickness while there and it was believed that this evil would be aggravated by the coming of warm weather. Besides, they had grown tired of the monotonous duty which they were called on to perform and were, as soldiers almost always are, inclined to wish for a change. About the 20th of May, orders were received to make all preparations for a movement and to hold the commands in readiness for the march; on the 29th of the same month the regiment broke camp and moved with its brigade on the road to Glasgow, Ky., which point was reached on the 30th. Here the Twenty-third remained until the 13th of June, when it was ordered in pursuit of a force of guerrillas, said to be at Randolph about twelve miles distant. Almost as a matter of course, nothing resulted from this expedition, and the regiment returned to Glasgow on the 16th after a most severe and exhausting march. On the 22nd it again moved with Mason's brigade, to Scottsville; thence, on the 26th, to Tompkinsville; and, July 4, back to Glasgow. Here, however, it made little stay, but marched out, now in full pursuit of John Morgan, to Munfordsville, reaching there July 7, then to Elizabethtown and Louisville by rail, reaching the latter city on the IIth. Morgan was now reported across the Ohio river in Indiana. The Twenty-third, as part of the command of General Judah, crossed to New Albany, Indiana, but, making little stop there, proceeded to Jefferson- ville and thence up the river by steamer to Madison, Indiana, reaching Cin- cinnati in the evening of the 13th. From that city the fleet, on which was the Twenty-third with the other regiments under command of General Judah, passed up the river to Maysville, Concord and Portsmouth, Ohio; at the latter place they remained until July 20, when they returned to . Cin-
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cinnati and disembarked the troops. From there the Twenty-third was transported by railroad to Chillicothe, and thence to Hamden Junction, where it encamped for a few days. Within the camp-ground of the regi- ment at this place there remained a rude rostrum, from which, on a previous occasion, the notorious Vallandigham had set forth his peculiar views to the populace of southern Ohio. But now the same rostrum was occupied by the chaplain of the Twenty-third, the Rev. J. S. Smart, who most elo- quently "consecrated it to the cause of freedom, while the regiment made the welkin ring with shouts for liberty and the Union."
There was no occasion to continue longer in the pursuit of Morgan, for that daring leader and his band had already been destroyed or captured. The regiment then returned to Cincinnati, crossed the Ohio to Covington, and moved thence by rail to Paris, Kentucky, arriving there on the 28th, just in time to assist the small Union force stationed there in protecting the town and an important railway bridge at that point against an attack by Pegram's rebel cavalry. This affair occurred on the 29th, and in it, the first actual engagement in which the Twenty-third took part, the conduct of the regi- ment was most creditable. It remained here until the 4th of August, when it moved, by way of Lexington and Louisville, to Lebanon, Kentucky, and thence to New Market, where it arrived on the 8th of August, and was incorporated with the Second Brigade, Second Division, of the Twenty-third Army Corps, then organizing at that point.
On the 16th, marching orders were received, and on the 17th of August, at two o'clock p. m., the regiment, with its division, moved out and took up the long and wearisome march for East Tennessee. The camp of that night was only seven miles out from New Market, on Owl creek, where the com- mand rested during all of the following day and night, but moved forward again at daybreak in the morning of the 19th, and camped that night on Green river. The march was resumed on the following morning, and two days later, August 22, the regiment forded the Cumberland river and began to ascend the foot-hills of the Cumberland mountains. In the evening of the 25th it made its camp at Jamestown, the county seat of Fentress county, Tennessee.
On the 30th the command reached Montgomery, Tennessee, where were Generals Burnside and Hartsuff, with the main body of the army, com- manded by the former officer. In passing through this little settlement "an enthusiastic old lady harangued the corps upon the glory of its mission, alter- nately weeping and shouting, invoking the blessings of heaven upon the
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troops, and pouring out volleys of anathemas upon the enemies of the country."
On the Ist of September the men of the Twenty-third had passed the gorges of the mountains, descended their southeastern slope to the valley of the Tennessee, and camped late at night on the right bank of the Clinch river, a tributary of the larger stream. Fording the Clinch in the forenoon of the 2nd of September, the corps marched forward and passed Kingston, a considerable town of East Tennessee, near which the waters of the Clinch join those of the Holston and form the Tennessee river. The camp of the Twenty-third was pitched for the night about two miles beyond Kingston.
At five o'clock in the morning of the 3rd the troops were in line ready for the march, and then, for eight long, weary hours, the Twenty-third Michigan and its companion regiments of the brigade waited for the order to move. At nine o'clock in the forenoon the brigade was formed in square four lines deep, and while standing in that formation was addressed by its commander, General White, who read a dispatch just received from General Burnside, announcing the capture of Knoxville by the Union forces. General White then congratulated his command, and called on Colonel Chapin, of the Twenty-third, for a speech. The Colonel responded in an address which, being brief and comprehensive, is given here entire. He said, "Boys, the general calls on me to make a speech. You know that I am not much of a speaker, and all I have to say is, that you've done d-d well! Keep on doing so !"
Long and loud acclamations greeted this vigorous harangue; then the brigade resumed its previous formation, and after another tedious delay, moved out on the road to Loudon, which was reached early in the afternoon of Friday, September 4. The enemy had hastily evacuated all the strong works which they had built at this place, but had succeeded in destroying the great and important railroad bridge across the river. Here the brigade remained for about ten days.
During the latter part of the march across the mountain, supplies had become so much reduced that rations of corn in the ear were issued to some of the troops, and after their arrival at Loudon this situation of affairs was but little improved until Tuesday, the 8th of September, when the first rail- road train reached the town from Knoxville and was hailed with wild delight by the weary and hungry soldiers. Before this, however, their neces- sities had been partially relieved by repairing and putting in running order a grist-mill which the enemy had dismantled before his evacuation. The
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advance of the wagon-trains also came up at about the same time that the railroad was opened for use.
At two o'clock in the morning of September 15, the men of the Twenty- third were roused from their slumbers to prepare for a march; one hour later they were moving on the road to Knoxville, twenty-eight miles distant. This march was performed with all possible speed, and late in the afternoon the regiment bivouacked within a short distance of that city. The next morning it entered the city, but soon after proceeded by rail to Morristown, a distance of about forty miles. Only a short stay was made here, and on the 19th it returned to Knoxville and went into camp at the railroad depot. The next day was the Sabbath and here, for the first time in months, the ears of the men were greeted by the sound of church bells. They passed the day in rest and quiet, little dreaming of the furious battle that was then raging, away to the southward, upon the field of Chickamauga, or of the rout and disaster to the Union arms which that day's sunset was to witness.
At four o'clock Monday morning the brigade took the road towards Loudon and arrived there the same night. Here the Twenty-third occupied a pleasant and elevated camp in a chestnut grove, and remained stationed at Loudon for about five weeks, engaged in picket duty and scouting, and dur- ing the latter part of the time frequently ordered into line of battle, continu- ally harassed by reports of the near approach of the enemy under Longstreet, who had been detached from the army of Bragg in Georgia, and was press- ing northward with a heavy force towards Knoxville.
This advance of Longstreet decided General Burnside to retire his forces from Loudon and on the 28th of October the place was evacuated; the Twenty-third Michigan was the last regiment to cross the pontoon-bridge, which was then immediately swung to the shore, the boats being loaded upon cars and sent to Knoxville. All this being accomplished, the army moved to Lenoir, Tennessee, and camped beyond the town; the line of encampment extended many miles. The same night the camp-fires of the enemy blazed upon the hills of Loudon, which the Union forces had just evacuated.
At the new camp on the Lenoir road the Twenty-third Regiment remained until the 14th of November, when it moved with the army back in the direc- tion of Hough's Ferry, where a sharp engagement ensued, and the enemy was driven several miles southward. The army returned to Lenoir on the 15th, and on the following day commenced its retreat to Knoxville, having destroyed its transportation and camp equipage and turned all the teams over to the several batteries. At Campbell's Station the enemy came up and attacked repeatedly and with great energy; these attacks were successfully
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repelled, but the retreat was continued with all practicable speed to Knoxville, where the Twenty-third arrived at four a. m. on the 17th, after a march of twenty-eight miles without rest or food, and having fought for five hours, losing thirty-one killed and wounded and eight missing.
This engagement is described by a correspondent in the Louisville Journal as follows :
One brigade of the Ninth Corps was in advance, the Second Brigade of the Second Division, Twenty-third Corps, in the center, and one brigade of the Ninth Corps as rear guard. The skirmishing was begun by the Ninth Corps, forming in rear of General White's command, which formed in line to protect the stock, etc., as it passed to the rear, and to cover the retreat of the Ninth Corps, which was the rear guard and was to file past. Again was the Second Brigade in position where it must receive the shock of battle and must sustain, more or less, the honors already won. The arrangements for battle had hardly been completed before the cavalry came in from the front, fol- lowed by the infantry of the Ninth Corps, and two heavy lines of the enemy emerged from the woods three-quarters of a mile in front. Each line consisted of a division and were dressed almost wholly in the United States uniform, which at first deceived us. Their first line advanced to within eight hundred yards of General White's front before that officer gave the order to fire. Henshaw's and the Twenty-fourth Indiana batteries then opened on them with shell, but they moved steadily forward, closing up as their lines would be broken by this terrible fire. until within three hundred and fifty yards of our main line, when the batteries mentioned opened on them with can- ister, and four batteries in the rear and right and left of General White opened on their rear line with shell. This was more than they could stand. Their front line broke and ran back some distance, where they reformed and deployed right and left and engaged the Thirteenth Kentucky and Twenty-third Michigan on the right and the Eleventh Ohio and One Hundred and Seventh Illinois on the left, which were sup- ported by General Ferrero's command of the Ninth Corps. This unequal contest went on for an hour and a half. The only advantage over them so far was in artillery, they not having any in position yet. It seemed to be their object to crush the inferior force opposing them with their heavy force of infantry. The men were too stubborn ; they would not yield an inch, but frequently drove the rebels from their position and held their ground. Finding they could not move them with the force already employed, the rebels moved forward another line of infantry, heavy as either of the first two, and placed in position three batteries. Their guns were heavier and of longer range than those of the Second Brigade, and were situated to command General White's posi- tion, while his guns could not answer their fire. They got the range of these guns at once and killed and wounded several gunners and disabled several horses, when General White ordered them back to the position occupied by those in the rear, the infantry holding the position covered by the artillery on the hill. An artillery fight then began which continued nearly two hours till it was growing dark and the order was given for our troops to fall back to resume the march to Knoxville.
"Their bugles sang truce, for the night cloud had lowered, And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky ; And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered, The weary to sleep and the wounded to die."
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The management of the troops as they moved from the field of battle was a picture of skill and generalship. The Ninth Corps moved off first, devolving the duty of pro- tecting the rear upon the troops of General White. They were hotly pursued by the enemy, who hoped to break the retreat into a rout; but not a man quickened his pace, and their lines, dressed as when marching in review, gave evidence of the utter dis- regard of personal safety to save the honor of three days' fighting and toil. The enemy made use of every advantage he thought he could gain, but not a move did he make that escaped the quick glance of division or brigade commander, who would face about or change his front as the occasion required, delivering a few volleys so well directed as to check and drive back the enemy utterly discomfited. For two miles this military game was played with such success by the Second Brigade as to cause the rebel chief to draw off, virtually acknowledging himself checkmated at the game he began and seemed anxious to play.
This retreat over that field was a sight so grand and beautiful in its manage- ment that it attracted the attention of every officer and man who could leave his command to witness it. The heights in front and on the rear were filled with persons of high and low rank, almost grown boisterous with pleasurable excitement as each move of troops of General White showed them the discomfited enemy falling back to assume a new offensive movement, and to meet the same fate as before. General Burnside, who witnessed its management, pronounced it a masterly effort against such numbers.
Night coming on, the enemy growing less troublesome, Colonel Chapin, commanding the brigade, who had been unwell for a number of days, but had refused to leave the field while the enemy was in front, was now suffering so that he was ordered to quit his post, and the command devolved upon Col. W. E. Hobson, of the Thirteenth Ken- tucky, who led the men from the field and conducted the retreat to Knoxville.
Of Colonel Chapin, commanding the Second Brigade, I need not add to what I have said. His excellent management of the troops upon three fields and his personal bravery have attached him to his men as few commanders are attached. His staff, Captains Gallup and Sheldon and Lieutenant Pearson, are worthy followers of their brave leader.
Then followed the memorable siege of Knoxville, which continued until the 5th of December, when the enemy retreated. In the operations of this siege the regiment took active and creditable part, and on the withdrawal of the forces of Longstreet it joined in the pursuit, though no important results were secured. The enemy having passed beyond reach, the regiment camped at Blain's Cross-Roads, December 13, and remained until the 25th, when it was moved to Strawberry Plains. From the commencement of the retreat to Knoxville until its arrival at the Plains the situation and condition of the regiment had been deplorable, for many of its men had been without blankets, shoes or overcoats, and in this condition, being almost entirely without tents, they had been compelled to sleep in unsheltered bivouac in the storms and cold of the inclement season; at the same time to subsist on quarter-rations of meal, eked out by such meager supplies as could be foraged from the country. The command remained at Strawberry Plains about four weeks,
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engaged upon the construction of fortifications, and on the 21st of January, 1864, marched to the vicinity of Knoxville where it was employed in picket and outpost duty until the middle of February. During that time it had three quite sharp affairs with the enemy's cavalry, January 14, 22 and 27, in the last of which seven men were taken prisoners and one mortally wounded. From this time until the opening of the spring campaign it was chiefly engaged in scouting, picket and outpost duty, in which it was moved to several differ- ent points ; among these were Strawberry Plains, New Market, Mossy Creek, Morristown and Charleston, Tennessee, at which last-named place it was stationed on the Ist of May, 1864.
The Atlanta campaign of General Sherman was now about to open, and the Twenty-third Michigan being destined to take part in it, the regiment left Charleston on the 2d of May and took the road to Georgia. Passing down the valley of the Tennessee and thence up Chickamauga creek, it reached the vicinity of Tunnel Hill on the 7th and confronted the enemy at Rocky- Face Ridge, Georgia, on the 8th of May, opening the fight on that day by advancing in skirmish line and taking possession of a commanding crest in front of the hostile works. In the advance from Rocky-Face, the regiment with its brigade passed through Snake Creek Gap, arrived in front of Resaca on the 13th, and on the following day took part in the assault on the enemy's strong works at that place. The result of this attack was a repulse of the attacking column and a loss to the Twenty-third of sixty-two in killed and wounded; all of this was incurred in a few minutes of desperate fighting. The enemy, though successful in repelling the assault, evacuated his position at Resaca and moved to the Etowah river where his rear guard was overtaken and slightly engaged by the Union pursuing force of which the Twenty-third Michigan formed a part. From this point the regiment moved on to Dallas and took a position in front of the rebel works at that place, where it remained from the 27th of May until the Ist of June; during this time it was almost constantly engaged day and night in skirmishing with the advanced lines of the enemy. Again the rebel forces evacuated their strong position and moved south towards Atlanta, the Union troops pressing on in close and constant pursuit ; in this service the Twenty-third Regiment participated and took part in the engagements at I.ost Mountain, Georgia, Kenesaw Mountain and Chattahoochee river, and later fought in front of Atlanta until the capitula- tion of that stronghold. On the Ist of October it was at Decatur, Georgia, and on the 3d of that month it moved from there, northward, in pursuit of the rebel General Hood, who was then marching towards Nashville.
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