History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 18

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Sunday, September 7th, it remained at the fort until late in the evening, when it marched a mile to the front, pitched tents, and lay down until one A.M. At that hour the bugle sounded "strike tents," which it did, and marched back to Camp Wallace. Here it had its first experience in build- ing fortifications, and was engaged in that work until September 18th, at which date it marched five miles to Florence, Kentucky, and went into camp on the Fair-Ground at that place. It was there that one of the line officers discovered a new use for tin plates. September 19th, it marched nine miles south of Florence, and encamped on the farm of one Poor, whose property received the protection of the regiment that night. On the twentieth of September it marched in a southerly direction eight miles and camped for the night. September 2Ist it was marched back over the route it had come to within twelve miles of Cov- ington, and pitched its tents in what was called Camp Walton.

It was supposed by some that this retrograde movement was made for the purpose of familiar- izing the regiment with the character of the coun- try in which it was operating. From the twenty- first of September to October 9th, the regiment remained at Camp Walton, forming line of battle from one to five times a night to meet the attacks of John Morgan's cavalry, which were never made. From Camp Walton it marched to Williamston and there pitched tents, naming its resting-place Camp Wells. There it remained until eleven o'clock P.M., October 14th, when all who were fit for duty marched for Cynthiana, arriving at that place on the fifteenth of October, at nine P.M. The detachment left at Camp Wells marched for Lex-

ington, Kentucky, on the seventeenth of October, and arrived at that place on the twenty-first. At Georgetown, through which the detachment passed, the regiment had its first experience upon the sub- ject of returning slaves to their masters. This they were ordered to do by General Q. A. Gillmore, the only general (with one exception) who ever asked or ordered the Twenty-second Michigan In- fantry to act the part of slave-catchers.

On the night of October 16th, one company of the regiment moved under orders from Cynthiana to Townsend Bridge, arriving there at daylight on October 17th. On the afternoon of that day this company was ordered to march for Paris, Ken- tucky, arriving there at four o'clock A.M., October 18th. With the aid of a detachment of the Tenth Kentucky Cavalry one hundred prisoners of Hum- phrey Marshall's command were captured. At seven o'clock A.M. information was received from Lexing- ton that John Morgan was moving upon Paris with two thousand cavalry and one battery of light artillery. Three negroes were dispatched to Cynthiana by hand-car to notify Colonel Wis- ner of Morgan's movements. At two o'clock P.M. of that day Colonel Wisner left Cynthiana with the regiment, and arrived in Paris at seven P.M., making the march of eighteen miles in five hours. That march secured to the Twenty-second the title of the "marching regiment." John Morgan, as was usual with that general when he had reason to expect an equal force, did not make his appear- ance. From Paris the regiment marched in pur- suit of Humphrey Marshall, who was retreating from Kentucky into Virginia by way of Pound Gap. It passed through Lancaster to Athens, Kentucky, where it received orders to proceed to Lexington. It did so, and arrived at that place October 26, 1862.

Welcome to the regiment was the sight of its tents pitched by the detachment which had reached Lexington in advance of the main body. When it left Camp Walton, October 9th, it did so in "light marching order," the meaning of which every old soldier understands and will not soon forget, if the ground be covered with snow as it was in this instance. Tents were a luxury, and one that it had not enjoyed for seventeen days.

From October 26, 1862, until February 21, 1863, the regiment remained in Camp Ella Bishop, at Lexington, Kentucky. Here it learned the terrible fact that the enemy's bullets were not the only dangers incident to the life of a soldier. The four months spent in Lexington were attended with a great deal of suffering, and but slight good to com- pensate therefor. The rigid performance of picket duty in open fields without the shadow of a shelter Skadorna

TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY.

from the cold and storms of winter, without fires, sleeping on the damp ground, not permitted to use straw that through the generosity of citizens was offered to the regiment, brought sickness, suffering, and death upon it. Scores of noble men lie sleeping in the cemetery at Lexington, who died in conse- quence of exposure in picketing their own camps to prevent Union soldiers from entering the town of Lexington, for there was not an armed enemy within the State at that time.

On the fifth of January, 1863, occurred the death of one whom the people of Michigan loved to honor; one who, if he had been spared, would have added another to the roll of noble soldiers Michigan furnished in her country's dark hour of trial. Colonel Moses Wisner breathed his last at Lexington, Kentucky, on that day, after a lingering and painful illness. His last words were full of love for his country, and of sympathy and hopes for the well-being of his regiment. Lieutenant- Colonel Heber Le Favour was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment upon the death of Col- onel Wisner, and Major William Sanborn was made lieutenant-colonel. A major* was taken from among the line officers.

February 21, 1863, the regiment marched to Hickman Bridge, on the Kentucky River, camp- ing that night on what was called the Scott Farm upon ground covered with snow. Soon after the tents were pitched several hay-stacks in the vicin- ity melted away. From appearances the next morning part of the hay must have lodged be- neath the tents of the men. It was reported by a member of the regiment who called upon Mrs. Scott that her favorite chicken, Zolicoffer, was a room-mate of the old lady's on that stormy night. February 22d the regiment marched from Hick- man Bridge to Danville, and remained there until the afternoon of the twenty-third, when it marched back to Hickman Bridge, arriving there at mid- night nearly worn out. The men lay down in open air to sleep if they could. Scarcely had they done so when a dispatch was received from our general, Q. A. Gillmore, ordering the regiment to return to Lexington as soon as possible. At one o'clock A.M. it was moving in the direction of Lexington. The camp-equipage was unloaded from the wagons at the bridge, and as far as it was possible those who could not march farther were taken into the wagons. At daylight the Twenty- second reached Nicholasville and took the cars for Lexington. Upon its arrival at the latter place Companies B, E, G, and K were ordered to proceed to Cynthiana to guard that place against a threat-

ened attack. The detachment reached Cynthiana in the afternoon of February 25th, tired and hungry, without rations, and with no government stores to draw upon. Through the kindness of a loyal man, the officer commanding the detachment was furnished with the names of six rich rebels, who were requested to furnish and cook rations for the men, which they did with as good a grace as could be expected under the circumstances. To the credit of those parties be it said that for the two days that they kept boarding-house for Union soldiers they set a good table. In the absence of better fortifications the detachment occupied a couple of stone churches and a school-house which commanded the town and its approaches.

As the vandalism of Northern soldiers is some- times spoken of, it is proper to mention here that the mark of pencil or knife or any other deface- ment was not left in any of the buildings re- ferred to, nor did a valuable set of astronomical instruments bear the slightest trace of injury re- ceived at the hands of the soldiers quartered in the room where they were kept. The detachment re- turned to Lexington on the twenty-sixth of Feb- ruary, where the rest of the regiment had remained since its return from Danville. On the twenty- first of March the regiment again moved to Dan- ville, to look after General Pegram's raiding-party. It accomplished the march from Lexington to Danville, forty miles, in eighteen hours. It was quartered in the churches of the latter place on the night of the twenty-third of March. Early the next day it was moved out a mile on the Stanford road and went into camp. At eleven o'clock A.M., March 25th, the enemy made his appearance and opened fire upon the regiment from his mountain- howitzers. Line of battle was formed, but it was soon apparent that the enemy had designs upon our baggage-train, which had been put in motion in the direction of Hickman Bridge. The bugle sounded "strike tents," and the regiment fell back through Danville to protect the rear of the train.

The roads were in a terrible condition, ankle-deep with mud, and rain began to fall in torrents. The enemy made frequent attacks from among the tim- ber which skirted the road upon which the train and troops were moving. Under these trying circumstances the regiment was hurried back to Hickman Bridge. In this skirmish the regiment had two men wounded and one captured. Late at night, tired and hungry, the regiment reached the bridge, and lay down in the rain and mud to sleep. The next morning, upon the heights on the north side of the Kentucky River, the favorite war-steed of one of the line officers was found dead. Whether the wound in his side, through which hise

* Captain IIenry S. Dean.

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

life-blood flowed out, was inflicted by a bayo- net or bullet history does not record. For two days the regiment remained in the vicinity of the bridge, the enemy making occasional demonstra- tions on the picket-line. On the twenty-eighth of March it moved back to Nicholasville, and from there marched to Camp Dick Robinson and camped. The next day it marched to Lancaster, and on the thirtieth, marched to Crab Orchard.

Here the regiment slept in buildings then lately occupied by the rebels, and on the morning fol- lowing some of the plainest and most unassuming men of the command were accompanied by body- guards, which for numbers were unsurpassed by those of any of the generals of the army. With the character of those guards few old soldiers are unacquainted. March 31st, the regiment moved towards Somerset, on the Cumberland River, in which direction Pegram was endeavoring to escape with his plunder. That night it encamped at Buck- horn Creek in the snow, without tents. Whoever had direction of affairs in that campaign appeared to be full in the faith that infantry could keep pace with cavalry, and the regiment was but eight miles in the rear of our cavalry when it overtook the enemy at Somerset and captured four hundred prisoners and the cattle he had stolen.

Under orders to proceed to Tennessee the regi- ment took up its line of march for Lebanon, Ken- tucky, on the first of April, and arrived there on the ninth. At that place it saw and heard the last of the negro question. It was detained thirty-two hours by Brigadier-General Manson, because it refused to give up the colored servants who had been with it since its first arrival in Kentucky. This officer went so far as to order out troops to enforce his demand for the negroes with the regi- ment. Its commanding officer firmly refused to give them up, and the matter was referred to Gen- eral Burnside, who ordered the regiment to pro- ceed at once to Nashville, which it did, taking its servants along. To-day it hardly seems possible that a brigadier-general in the United States army could be found who would order Union soldiers to load their arms for the purpose of enforcing such a demand. There was such an one, how- ever, in command at Lebanon, Kentucky, on the tenth of April, 1863.

From Lebanon, Kentucky, to Nashville, Ten- nessee, the regiment proceeded by rail, arriving at the latter place on the evening of April 13, 1863. The survivors of the regiment who were with it on that occasion will not forget the cheers that went up when it crossed the line dividing loyal Kentucky from rebel Tennessee. At Nashville the regiment remained doing interior guard duty

until September 5, 1863, at which date it was or- dered to Chattanooga. It went by rail as far as Bridgeport, Alabama, where it camped on Seven- Mile Island, in the Tennessee River, and remained there until September 13th, when it marched to Chattanooga, distant twenty-eight miles, leaving its camp and garrison equipage on the island. The country lying between Bridgeport and Chat- tanooga is the roughest probably over which the regiment ever marched. Early on the morning of September 14th it was on what has since become historic ground-Lookout Mountain-from which it could look down upon Chattanooga Valley with the town of that name twenty-two hundred feet below it. It passed to the right of Chattanooga and camped at Rossville, Georgia. The march of thirty miles was made on the thirteenth of Septem- ber and the night following, without halts, save such as are more fatiguing to a soldier than steady marching, viz .: halting for a baggage-train to move on, not knowing at what moment it will .start, while the men are kept standing in readiness to march as soon as it does move. Every soldier that has marched in the rear of a train over rough roads fully understands how fatiguing is such a march. At Rossville, when the commands halt, front, stack arms, were given, every musket that left Bridgeport was placed in stack, and not a man was out of his place.

On the seventeenth of September the forces under General Steadman, of which the Twenty- second was a part, were ordered to feel of the enemy gently in the vicinity of Ringgold, Georgia. At Pea- Vine Creek, near that place, the enemy was found in force, and artillery practice was indulged in on both sides. Having accomplished all that was in- tended by the movement, the forces fell back, and went into camp about five miles from Ringgold. Just as the regiment had rolled itself in its blankets for the night, it was aroused by the dropping of rebel shell into the camp. The pickets fell back upon the main body at double-quick, which cre- ated some confusion. The staff officer who estab- lished the picket-line ordered the picket to fall back in that manner if attacked, for which he was dismissed from the service, it being a direct viola- tion of the orders he had received from the general commanding. The pickets were sent out again, and the remainder of the night was passed in quiet, the enemy having withdrawn. On the eighteenth of September the regiment returned to Rossville, and from there it again marched in the direction of Ringgold. On the nineteenth of September it had some skirmishing with the enemy near McAffee's Church, which, as some who were present remem- ber, was not confined tobmusketry alone. That

TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY.

night the regiment lay on its arms near the church.

On Sunday morning, September 20, 1863, five hundred and one men of the Twenty-second Mich- igan Infantry drew rations and marched with the Reserve Corps, under General Gordon Granger, to the support of General Thomas, whose forces were heavily engaged with the enemy to the right of McAffee's Church. At two o'clock P.M. the regi- ment made a charge upon the enemy, who was pressing round General Thomas' right wing, and for five hours held its position. Between four and five P.M. its ammunition was exhausted. Informa- tion to that effect was sent to the general com- manding, who sent back the order, "Hold the ground with the bayonet." This was done by re- peated charges upon the enemy, when he made an effort to drive the regiment from its position. Under cover of the smoke of battle and the gath- ering darkness of night the rest of our forces were withdrawn, leaving a devoted little band-consist- ing of the Twenty-second Michigan and an Ohio regiment-to hold the battle-field of Chickamauga. Soon after dark fourteen officers and one hundred and seventy-eight enlisted men, all that were left of the regiment who went into the engagement, were surrounded by overwhelming numbers and made prisoners. Colonel Heber Le Favour commanded the brigade, of which the Twenty-second was a part, during the action.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sanborn, commanding the regiment, was severely wounded in the early part of the engagement. Captain A. M. Keeler as- sumed command when brave Sanborn fell. Cap- tains Snell and Smith fell mortally wounded. The report made at the time was one officer killed, two wounded, and fourteen missing ; of enlisted men, thirty-seven killed, eighty-seven wounded, and two hundred and thirty-three missing in action. That short but appalling sentence, missing in action, in- cluded many who fell to rise no more. But for the fact that one company was ordered to remain as guard at General Granger's headquarters, there would have been but few left to tell the tale. What there was left of the regiment fit for duty camped at Rossville on the night of September 20th, and the next day marched to Chattanooga and crossed to the north side of the Tennessee River. One hundred and ninety-three officers and men of the regiment went into rebel prisons. The seventeen months and eleven days that their cap- tivity lasted, carried a large proportion of their number down to nameless graves. If on the day they entered the rebel prison-pen a child had been born that should not die until it had lived the aggregate number of years spent in prison by

the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, that child would have been two hundred and seventy-three years, eight months, and seven days old on the day of its death.

During the week following the battle of Chick- amauga the regiment was engaged in throwing up fortifications on Moccasin Point, where it went into camp September 27, 1863, numbering one hundred and eighty-seven officers and men fit for duty. This number was soon increased to three hundred by General Thomas' order, directing detailed men to be returned to the regiment. On the eighth of October the enemy opened a heavy fire upon the command, from his batteries at the base of Lookout Mountain. The Tenth Indiana Battery which the Twenty-second was supporting, returned the fire with interest, and that night the enemy moved his batteries up the mountain. The next morning the enemy's artillery practice commenced from Point Lookout upon the camp, and was kept up from that day until the battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge drove him from his guns. For six weeks there was hardly an hour in the day or night that rebel shell did not screech over or into the camp. There were many narrow escapes, some dodging of heads and sudden reclinings at full length, but, what seemed almost miraculous, no one was hurt.

From September 27th until after the battle of Mission Ridge the regiment knew what it was to be hungry. Three-fourths of one ration was issued to each man, and that had to last four days. It is hardly necessary to say that the fourth day after the issue of rations was a day of fasting to every man in the regiment. That small amount of food could not be made to last beyond the third day. The regiment was hungry, ragged, and bare-footed, but its Michigan grit failed not.

On one occasion one-half the usual short ration was issued. Late in the evening of the second day afterwards an order was received from brigade headquarters announcing that there would be no more rations issued for two days. In the darkness of night the regiment formed in line to have the order announced to it. After the order was read the commanding officer said to the men that on the march and on the battle-field they had proven themselves true soldiers, and that two days from that time he could tell them whether they were good soldiers when hungry and without rations. With such a state of facts staring them in the face, who would not honor and love men who could send up a cheer such as did those men on that dark and dreary night? ... On the night of October 27th the regiment was ordered to lie upon its arms at one o'clock A.M. The roar of artillery and rattle Hosted by

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

of musketry gave notice that the enemy had dis- covered the Union forces crossing the Tennessee River at Brown's Ferry. At four o'clock A.M., Oc- tober 28th, the regiment, with the brigade to which it was attached, moved to the assistance of Gen- eral Hooker, who was fighting to open the " Hard- Tack Line," as the boys called it. At daylight it crossed the pontoon-bridge laid at Brown's Ferry, and was soon after ordered to take possession of a hill in front of General Hooker's right flank, which it did, and for once the front proved the safest place, for the enemy's shot and shell either struck the ground below them or went over the hill and fell among the troops in the rear. As the regi- ment was moving to its position, some of the troops just over from the Eastern army took occasion to make remarks more pointed than complimentary concerning the clothing of the Michiganders. " You may wear better clothes, but you can't do any better fighting," was the reply made to those remarks.

On that day the regiment ate the first full meal it had had in a long time; it consisted of wheat and corn in the ear. On the twenty-ninth of Octo- ber the regiment returned to Moccasin Point, again on short rations and hard work, building corduroy- road from Brown's Ferry to Chattanooga. It was engaged in this work until November 21, 1863, when it was assigned the duty of moving a pon- toon-train to a point on the Tennessee River four miles above Chattanooga, preparatory to the cross- ing of General Sherman's forces to take part in the battle of Mission Ridge.

At nine o'clock P.M. of the dark and stormy night of November 21st, a heavy train of pontoon wagons and boats was delivered to the regiment to be taken to the point designated on the river. The most profound secrecy was enjoined. The mules that were to move the train were so reduced by starvation that some of them could scarcely stand alone.

The road was mud, axle-deep. Before starting, the regiment was told that upon its exertions for the next thirty hours depended in a great measure the success of the movement about to be made against the enemy. That if weak mules could not move the wagons, men must,-if wagons were broken they must be repaired at once.

The missing wheels from General Palmer's ammunition-train, which was parked beside the road on which the train was moving, gave proof that the order to repair breakage was promptly obeyed. When wagons were capsized they were quickly righted by the strong arms of brave men. When mules and wagons were mired, men knee- deep in mud pushed or pulled them out. The

task was not completed when day began to break on the morning of November 22d. Wagons and boats were quickly concealed in thickets, behind hills, or by piling brush over them. The men, tired, hungry, and without rations, lay down in the underbrush to await the darkness of another night. On the night of November 23d the same experi- ence was repeated, and the pontoon-train parked in its position.

Some idea of the skill and secrecy with which the movements preceding the battle of Mission Ridge were carried out may be derived from the fact that the men of the Twenty-second had not the least knowledge that General Sherman, with fifteen thousand troops, lay concealed just over the hills, forty rods to their left; nor did the enemy get the slightest inkling of what was going on until one of General Sherman's captains made the grand rounds of their picket-line on the south side of the river. At one o'clock A.M., November 26, 1863, the regiment was under arms to take part in meet- ing any resistance the enemy might make to the laying of the pontoon-bridge. But the movement had been conducted with such secrecy that the enemy's pickets did not discover the first landing- party until they did so as prisoners. Before the bridge was completed, five thousand men had been thrown across the river in pontoon-boats, and at nine o'clock A.M. General Sherman's whole force was on the south side of the Tennessee River.

As soon as the crossing was effected, the regi- ment was ordered to take the pontoon-train back to Chattanooga and lay a bridge at that point. Those who were present will not forget the ad- vance of General Thomas in the centre on the first day ; the roar of battle while General Hooker and his men were above the clouds on the second day ; nor the five-mile line of battle that charged up the side of Mission Ridge on the third and last day of the battle, just as the last boat was placed in position, which completed the bridge over which a goodly number of Bragg's army marched as prisoners.

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History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 18

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 617

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 617