History of Jackson County, Michigan, Part 42

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : Inter-state Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1166

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"Col. Shoemaker's description of the prison fare is rather favor- able to the government of the deluded South. He says, 'For rations we were furnished with excellent bread, and very good

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY

soup; of the other articles I have but little knowledge, as I did not eat any of them. The authorities did not provide table fur- niture, so that our own utensils-in all two tin cups and several pocket knives-were common property. We could and did buy some extras. I paid 50 cents for a half-pound ot butter, the same for 14 apples, and 25 cents per quart for potatoes. Watermelons were sold from $2.50 to 85.00, coffee 82.50 per pound ; of these I did not buy. I inquired the price of flour and found it to be $35 .- 00 per barrel at Richmond, and $50.00 at Atlanta. A coat, that five years before could be bought for $8.00, was now worth $75.00, and all other articles in proportion.

"On Saturday we were much elated by the news that all officers in this department were to be taken to Aiken's Landing during the day and at once exchanged. We were ordered to pack up, but in consequence of some change in the arrangements the order was countermanded until next day. I now made another effort to see the prisoners from Michigan; but Captain Turner refused any communication with them. There was at this time confined in Libby Prison Col. W. D. Wilkins, Assistant Adjutant-General of Detroit, and several others with whom I was well acquainted. I understood they were treated with much greater rigor and severity than any other prisoners, because of the intense bitter feeling en- tertained by all confederates for General Pope and all his com- mand.

" On Sunday, Sept. 21. 1862, at 10 A. M., all the officers in my prison apartment, and none others, left Libby Prison for Aiken's Landing. On arrival at the landing we found Lieut. Col. Ludlow, our commissioner for the exchange of prisoners, who, with Con- federate Commissioner Ould, was engaged in arranging the de- tails of exchange. Presently Col. Ludlow sent for me, and telling me that engagements would prevent his return to Fortress Monroe in the steamer with the exchanged prisoners, he should place them in my charge. They numbered 316, and comprised the first officers actually exchanged.

" I was introduced to the captain of the steamer Canonicus, who installed me in a first-class state-room. I found the boat loaded with rations, stores, and all kinds of clothing for the use of the liberated soldiers. I organized my statt, that is to say, I detailed officers to attend to the issuing of rations, and others to ascertain who were in want of clothing, and others to see that they were supplied. while 1 exercised a wholesome supervision over the whole proceeding. As soon as all were on board we steamed down the river with our distinctive flag as exchange steamer until night-fall, when we east anchor. The steamer could not proceed in safety during the night, as her neutral character could not be distinguished, and consequently she would be exposed to the con- tederate batteries then commanding the river.

"On Monday morning the Canonicus resumed her course. When we arrived at that point where the authority of the Federal Government was in the ascendant, we saw the gun-boat Genessee

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acting as sentinel on ont-post duty. At Newport News we saw the iron-clad gun-boat Galena, and immediately round Fortress Monroe over one hundred steamers and sailing craft. We also saw the iron-clad-floating-turret battery, the Monitor, which en- countered the confederate ram Merrimac so successfully on March 9. The Colonel's description of this pride of the navy is replete in itself; but since it is in no way connected with the part taken by him in the war, or by any of the soldiers or ma- rines furnished by this county, it is not applicable here.

"On arrival at Fortress Monroe I received the following order :

HEADQUARTERS 7TH ARMY CORPS,

FORT MONROE, Sept 22, 1862.

Col. Shoemaker, 13th Mich. Vol. Inf .:

COLONEL :- You will proceed to Annapolis with the officers and men placed under your charge at Aiken's Landing, and report them to the commanding officer at that post.

By command of

MAJ. GEN. DIX.

THOS. H. LUDLOW, Lieut .- Col. and I. G., 7th Army Corps.

"The officers and men were now all transferred to the steamer Commodore for the trip to Annapolis. We steamed away from Monroe on Monday evening, and Tuesday morning found ourselves at the wharf at Annapolis. I reported to Adj. Gen. Thomas, of the United States army, who was there. He received me very kindly, and on inquiry, learning I was out of money, gave me an order for two months' pay, then due me. I at once obtained the money on the order of Major P. R. Dodge, a paymaster then at Annapolis, and having treated Pease to some oysters, returned to the quarters of Gen. Thomas. He ordered the Commodore to Baltimore, and directed me to continue in command of the ex- changed officers and soldiers until we arrived there. Ile extended my leave of absence thirty days, and gave me the necessary papers, so that I could draw transportation in joining my regiment. He now inquired very particularly about the treatment of prisoners at Richmond, and was very indignant when he heard the manner in which those of Gen. Pope's command were abused, and of the threats which were made of considering them highway-robbers. Gen. Thomas declared that no more prisoners should be exchanged until the confederates would consent to release or exchange all from Gen. Pope's army. I have reason to believe that my representa- tions had some effect, for all these prisoners were soon after ex- changed.

" After leaving Gen. Thomas I rejoined Lient. Pease, and started for the steamboat, which, to our consternation, we found had left for Baltimore. In the crowded state of the boat the Captain sup- posed we were on board, and started sooner than we thought he would. Fortunately we found another boat about to leave for Baltimore, on which were officers and men who had been taken

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prisoners at Harper's Ferry Sept. 15, and released on parole, or under an agreement, that they should not serve against the con- federacy until exchanged, and were being sent to Minnesota and the Northwest until they could again take their places in the armies in the South. We went on board this boat unquestioned, and mingled with those who rightfully belonged there. Here my good fortune did not desert me, for this steamboat was much faster than the Commodore, and we arrived in Baltimore enough in advance to enable me to be on the wharf when the latter arrived. I im- mediately went on board and found that our absence had not been noticed, and thus it was that we went from Annapolis to Baltimore on one boat without any person on it knowing that we did not belong there, while on our own it was not known that we were absent.

"After making the proper reports and being discharged from further duty in connection with the Commodore and the exchanged prisoner, I went into the town and bought a shirt, some collars, a cravat and pair of drawers, so that I could change my clothing, which I had been unable to do since leaving Nashville. I then went to a hotel, took tea, changed my clothing, and at 7 P. M., left by railroad for New York, where I arrived at 8 A. M. Wednesday, Sept. 24, 1862. Leaving New York that night I arrived at Jackson at 1:30 o'clock, A. M., on Friday, the 26th. My infant son, who was born while I was at Tuscumbia, Ala., June 15, 1862, died Oct. 9. I left Jackson Oct. 27, and rejoined my regiment at Glasgow, Nov. 1, 1862."

These reminiscences have never hitherto been published. The writer, who learned much of Col. Shoemaker's military history, was anxious to embody in this chapter some of the experiences of a Jackson soldier, and so entered upon the agreeable task of fol- lowing the colonel's narration of adventures during his incarcera- tion in Libby Prison and on his way home after his release from that place. Numerous thrilling narratives are omitted, for the simple reason that they were not identified closely enough with the subject of Jackson soldiers in the war; but all that is given is in its every line instructive and entertaining; it relates to the varied ex- periences of the soldier, and must prove valuable, as entwined with the exciting and romantic life of a captive during the trying times of his captivity

PICKET DUTY AS IT SHOULD BE.

The following dialogue is reported to have taken place between a Virginia and a Michigan picket : "I say, can you fellows shoot ?"-" We reckon we can, some. Down in Mississippi we can knock a bumblebee off a thistle top at 300 yards." "Oh, that ain't nothing to the way we shoot up in Jackson. I belonged to a military company there with a hundred men in the company, and we went out for practice every week. The capt'n draws ns up in

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single file, and sets a cider-barrel rolling down the hill, and each man takes his shot at the bung-hole as it turns up. It is afterward examined, and if there is a shot that did not go in at the bung- hole, the number who missed it is expelled. I belonged to the company ten years, and there ain't been nobody expelled vet." This piece of serio-comic dialogue, carried on between the pickets of the North and South, is attributed to a Michigan soldier in the second part, and for years the inquiry went the rounds, who the man was. Now it has been traced to the company organized at Jackson known as the Sharpshooters; and as the members of the organization feared little throughout the campaign, it is possible that one of them could resolve to exaggerate in the manner de- scribed above.

A JACKSON SOLDIER WITH THE FOURTHI.

W. W. Van Antwerp enlisted in the 4th Michigan Cavalry in July, 1862, and mustered into service with the regiment Aug. 29. His services with that regiment were of no ordinary worth. Al- ways ere vidette, always courteous, he won the friendship and re- spect of men and officers; nor was his gallantry improved. On the many battle-grounds of the regiment, he was always ready at his post, and when the surprise of Two Bridges, Ala., was medi- tated he was among the originators of that camp de guerre, and one of the 22 men who carried it to a successful issue.

He was commissioned 2d lieutenant Fourth Michigan Cavalry, Aug. 13, 1862; 1st lieutenant, Dec. 18, 1862; captain, June 27, 1863; brevet major, April 2, 1865; Oct. 22, 1864, he was appointed provost marshal, 2d Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland; and Nov. 23, 1864, he was appointed aid-de-camp on staff Maj. Gen. Wilson, commanding Cavalry corps, military division of the Mississippi. June 3, 1865, he was relieved upon the following order :

HEADQUARTERS CAV. MIL. DIV. MISS. MACON, GA., June 3, 1865.

General Order No. 31: - The following named officer is hereby relieved from duty as aid-de-camp to the brevet major general commanding, in consequence of expiration of term of service; Capt. W. W. Van Antwerp, 4th Michigan Cav- alry. In parting with this officer the brevet major-general commanding desires to return to him his thanks for his brave and soldierly deportment in the late active campaign through portions of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and for the digni- fied and courteous manner and general efficiency, which have characterized his con- duct during the time he has been connected with him on staff duty.

By command of Brevet Major General Wilson.

E P. ENHOFF, Cupt. and A. A. A. General. CAPT. W. W. VAN ANTWERP, Ith Michigan Cavalry.

Gen. Wilson also handed Maj. Van Antwerp the following let- ter just before his departure:

HEADQUARTERS CAV. CORPS, MIL. DIV. MISS MACON, GA., May 31, 1865.

My Dear Captain :- On the eve of your departure from my staff by expiration of term of service, I desire to thank you for the zeal, intelligence and courage with which you have discharged the duties assigned you. If your future life be guided

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by the same high principles which have characterized it while with me, I dare pre- dict for you honor, prosperity and happiness to the fullest measure of your hopes. My best wishes attend you and yours in every undertaking; and if hereafter I can befriend you or them it shall be my pleasure to do all in my power to that end. Hoping that we may meet often again in the enjoyment of an undiminished hope for the glory and honor of our common country, believe me always

Very truly your friend. J. H. WILSON, Brev. Maj. Gen'l.

In June, 1865, Clement C. Clay, a Southern congressman, for whose arrest $100,000 were offered, telegraphed his intentions to surrender to Gen. Wilson, then quartered at Macon, Ga., when Maj. Van Antwerp was sent forward to receive and parole him.

Gen. Cobb, whose capture at Macon is historieal, was paroled and permitted to go to his home at Athens, Ga. Subsequently an order from the war seeretary directed his arrest, when Major Van Antwerp and six men were detailed on that duty. The rebel general entertained his northern eaptors hospitably, and left with them en route to Atlanta. It was supposed that these rebels were instrumental in the death of Lincoln.

SURPRISE OF THE REBELS.

On the day following the capture of Columbus, Ga., Gen. Wilson told Major Van Antwerp that about 50 or 60 miles from there, on the road to Macon, were two bridges (ealled double bridges) crossing two branches of the stream; that to insure his speedy mareh on Macon it was important that these bridges be captured before they would be destroyed by the retreating rebels; that he would detail a regiment for his command with which to do this work; that while the regiment would be in command of its commanding officer, he would hold him responsible for the per- formanee of the work; and that a start must be made that after- noon, mareh all night and reach the bridge by daylight on the following morning. He gave the captain his choice of regiments, when he selected his own,-the Fourth Michigan Cavalry,-and started about four o'clock in the afternoon. The troops marehed all night, riding forward under the direction of negro guides, halt- ing occasionally to rest; but the regiment was unable to reach its destination by daylight. It was a little after sunrise when one of the guides informed the officers that they were within a half mile of the bridge.

A few stragglers from the rebel army had been pieked up during the morning, but as yet had not met any of their pickets or rear guards. The road from this point to the bridge ran near to and parallel with the river upon which the bridges were located, and through quite a heavy piece of timber. When so near the bridge, the captain took a detail of about 20 men, under the command of Capt. Hudson, and rode rapidly forward toward the bridges. The enemy, not expecting an advance from the troops for several days. had no piekets or guards beyond the first bridge. In faet, that.

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was their outpost, with one section of artillery and two companies of cavalry on the little island between the two bridges, for the pur- pose of guarding and protecting the same until such time as would suit their purposes to demolish them. None of them saw the troops of the Fourth until they were within a few rods of the posi- tion. Captains Hudson and Van Antwerp at the head of our advance guard of 20 men, charged over the bridge at a full run, and right in among the enemy, who were so completely taken by surprise that they did not fire more than a half dozen rounds, and then under such excitement as to produce no effect.

The entire force was captured. For this, Capt. Van Antwerp was breveted major. After participating in all the actions of the regiment, save the surprise and capture of Jefferson Davis, he was mustered out of the service at Detroit, July 24, 1865.

REMINISCENCES OF THE 6TH MICHIGAN INFANTRY.

Hiram F. Hatch enlisted in Co. H, 6th Michigan Infantry, in April, 1861, and was made a corporal. All the officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, were ordered to Fort Wayne in this State to drill, where they remained until June, and then returned home to recruit the regiment, which was mustered into the U. S. service at Kalamazoo Ang. 29, 1861. They went im- mediately to Baltimore, Md., where they arrived a few days after the 5th Massachusetts Infantry, passed with no weapons but stones, with which they were ordered to fill their haversacks. They went into camp on McKim's Hill, where they remained most of the winter. They, however, participated in the campaign on the eastern shore of Virginia, and in the spring went South to Ship Island with Gen. Butler. Their passage to the Gulf was made in the steamer Constitution, with 3,400 men aboard. The 6th Regiment was packed into the hold of the vessel below the water mark, and with a disastrous gale off the coast of North Carolina, want of air and food, sea-sickness and small-pox, no more uncomfortable passage, it is believed, was ever made by men.

The 6th participated in the capture of Forts Jackson and St. Phillip at the mouth of the Mississippi river, and was among the very first United States regiments to land in New Orleans. The command remained there but a few days, and proceeded up the river as far as Vicksburg, where it participated in the attempt to change the bed of the Mississippi river, and so make Vicksburgh an inland town.

The regiment landed at Baton Rouge, the capital of the State, where the battle, which takes its name from that place, was fought by a confederate force, under command of the rebel Gen. Breck- enridge and the Union forces under Gen. Williams. The 6th Regiment bore also an important part in this engagement, and was credited by General Williams with saving the Union position. Capt. John Cordon, who now lives in Jack- ›on, had command of the regiment during this engagement, and

E. & Cradit

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

to his extreme bravery, coolness, and excellent good judgment is the command indebted, in a great part, for the many compliments which it received for their part in that day's work. Captain Harry Soule, also of Jackson, commanded Co. I, and lost 24 men in re- pelling one assault. He himself was desperately wounded in the right shoulder, but still throughout the entire battle the regiment never, for one moment, failed to present an unbroken front to the enemy.

This regiment also took an important part in the siege of Port Hudson, and at the first general assault made there, Sergt. Hatch was several times severely wounded. He was with a force of 150 men, who volunteered to lead the brigade. which was massed for the assault. This volunteer force was commanded by Capt. P. D. Montgomery of Co. HI, whose merited reputation for extreme bravery and coolness in the presence of great danger was equaled by few and excelled by none. He was himself terribly wounded by a grape shot at the very outset of the assault. Sergt. Hatch fell much later, and consequently much nearer the enemy's lines, where he remained exposed to fully as much danger from the con- eentrated fire of his own brigade as from the enemy, until nearly night, when he erawled with his arms alone (being wounded in both legs) about two miles to the hospital, but did not receive any attention until the next night.

Immediately after this battle, June 16, 1864, Sergt. Hateh was promoted to be 2d lieutenant in the 1st New Orleans Volunteers, a regiment made up mostly of deserters from the confederate army. He was assigned the command of Co. D, was promoted to be 1st lieutenant Aug. 19, 1865. He was the recorder of the commission that settled the Santiago loss, and was also sent into Western Louisiana by Gen. Sherman to investigate and arrest such citizens as were implicated in murdering Union men. He served repeatedly on military commissions and courts-martial, and in September, 1865, was appointed quartermaster on the staff of Major-General Canby, commanding military division of West Mississippi, with headquarters at New Orleans. He also had full charge of the collection of the military taxes levied in New Orleans, and was mustered out of service May 31, 1866, hav- ing served over five years.

CHAPTER XI. NEWSPAPERS- SCHOOLS -RAILROADS -- BANKS -- AGRICULTURAL.

THE PRESS,

Of all the treasures which the arts and sciences have bestowed upon the world of civilization, the press ranks among the first. It is the great portrayer of public thought and the principal agent in the triumph of progress. It is the teacher and director of the gov- erned and the critic of the governors.

From a brief review of the journals of Jackson it will be evident that their part in the play which rendered this country the home of a prosperous and happy people has not been insignificant. The local journals led in every movement, and have grown with the country's growth. Some eminent publicist has stated that "The steam en- gine does no day's work so marvelous in its whole result as that which is done by the steam printing press; the wire flashes no such weight of interest, the railroad carries no such freight as the last edition, while the artist has no such opening as this that trans- fers work at once to the block and then sends the picture flying into the hearts and brains of a million men. As the newspaper makes tributary to its purpose the finest results of art and science and discovery, so it captures some of the choicest powers in our current thought and life. Dr. Chalmers said, many years ago, that the best writing, and a good deal of the best thinking, of his day was done for the newspapers. It is not too much to say that the newspaper articles are as much better now than they were then as the papers are better than those on which Chalmers based his wonder. Not content with the best thoughts, the newspaper se- cures the choicest enterprise. Do the hidden forces break out in an earthquake? A man springs up with his note-book and pencil, while the land is rocking under his feet, and begins to write and flash his words over the first wire he can lay his hands on. Is the fire burning up a city ? There he is among the flames, scratching at his paper, the coolest man you shall find. Is the war far afield ? The newspaper will give you news of the battle far ahead of any- thing the Governments can get, who are most deeply involved, and vastly more true as a rule. Nothing escapes this ever-present and all-present eye. It mirrors the great markets in one page and tells you of an oyster supper in the basement of a church, and re- ports impartially a murder or a sermon. Does the old lion roar over there in Europe, or the bear growl, or the eagle scream ? You hear them all through this wonderful telephone of the newspaper. It brings to you the froth and foam of the chalice of our life, and

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reports the vast and awful movements which belong to all the eent- uries and are felt all around the world."

TIIE JACKSON CITIZEN.

This, which is now the leading newspaper of Central Michigan, was established in 1837 as a weekly journal, under the name of the Jacksonburgh Sentinel. It was the first paper started in Jack- son county; then a 20-column sheet, set in "long primer" through- out. Its proprietor was Nicholas Sullivan, and to its files, still in possession of some of the oldest residents, history makers are wont to turn for information regarding the early times and the pioneers of Jackson.

In 1848 the old Sentinel office was taken possession of by A. A. Dorrance, now of Coldwater, who started the Michigan State Journal, and enlarged the paper to a seven-column folio, a hand- some sheet for those times.

The following year the paper made its first appearance under its present name. It was headed the American Citizen, by Dorrance De Land, and in 1850 C. V. De Land, now of East Saginaw, became sole proprietor. It was published as a weekly paper, with varying fortune until 1862, when Col. De Land went to the war, and the paper was published a year by P. J. Avery, and then by James S. De Land and M. J. Bentley. James (Major) De Land then went to the front, and the paper was published by I. H. Macaulay, a Pennsylvanian, who soon had to retire on account of ill-health, and the office and appurtenances, then situated in the old Temperance Hall Block, near where Webb's drug store now stands, was purchased by James O'Donnell, an apprentice in the office, then working as a journeyman, and performing the duty of eity editor of the paper.

A year or two thereafter, toward the elose of the war, the citi- zens became clamorous for a daily paper, and in March, 1865, Mr. O'Donnell formed a partnership with Mr. D. W. Ray, and established the Daily Citizen, setting up the new presses for the purpose, and then removing the office to the Union Hall Block, then just completed. The paper has made its appearance every day since that time except upon holidays and Sundays. In the fall of 1865 Mr. Ray died, and Mr. O'Donnell, purchasing the entire office, has conducted the paper until the present, with marked ability and fair success financially. It was started as a morning paper, but in 1868 was changed to an afternoon issue, and is now published every afternoon, Sundays excepted. It is an influential and readable journal, stalwart in its Republicanism, and constantly working for the interest of the city and county. The weekly edition is the largest paper, and contains the largest amount of reading matter of any paper outside of Detroit, in the State; and when we consider that it has grown in proportions from a small-sized 20-column folio to a 56-column quarto, the advanee in journalism for the past 20 years, at least since its present pro-

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History of Jackson County, Michigan, Part 42

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : Inter-state Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago [Ill.] : Inter-state Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1166