USA > Missouri > Recollections of the 26th Missouri Infantry, in the war for the union > Part 9
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There was but one thing which he counted a sacrifice, one grief, and that was the loss of his friends. On this sub- ject he was usually silent, but an occasional remark told the depth of his feelings.
One evening, when sitting in a concert-room at St. Louis some of his dear old friends came in and stood near him. He looked at them very earnestly and tenderly; then, turn- ing to the friend sitting by his side, he said, "God only knows what this has cost me. This is a test which you of the Northern States can never know."
Worn down by constant fatigue, he went from town to town, from county to county, and in an easy, simple, friendly manner, urged the people to loyalty; as may be seen by the following memoranda of meeting with the people of Linn County ;
"I am glad, fellow citizens, to see you here, so many of you, to testify, by your presence at least, your concern for the public good.
"What is there so noble, so touching, in all the spec- tacles humanity presents as the stirring of that impulse of . the human heart which leaps to the rescue of distress? When we see it in the individual it melts our heart into sym- pathy. It is this divine instinct which impels the mother to leap to the rescue of her child, regardless of her own peril and our hearts glow with admiration for that mother. But when we see the rushing of a mighty people to the rescue of their common country in distress, when we see them willing to imperil all they have to sustain that government which bears within it the seeds of happiness and the tree of liberty,
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what shall we call that impulse but an approach to the higher nature of which man is said to bear the germ?
"Has the world ever seen the like of that spectacle which, four months ago. it beheld in the loyal people of this country, responding to the call of the President to save the nation from the foe that attacked it? Was it the less sub- lime that the foe was within its own borders, and that, with a sense of their own loyalty, to deceive them. they had hugged the sweet dream of peace and concession until the treacherous enemy had nearly encompassed them in their destructive folds? No! rather the more sublime! And I am glad indeed to believe, fellow-citizens, that you, or most of you, partook of this disinterested sentiment of loyalty, and that you are here by your presence to testify thereto.
"But while the impulses of the heart are noble, yet, as related to great actions, they should be tempered by judg- ment and intelligence; and I am here to consider the princi- ples which I have embodied in the following resolutions :-
"Resolved, That we have a country which we love from patriotism; that we have a government which we love for its intrinsic worth, and the blessings it has conferred upon us; that we have a flag which we love from all the memories that cluster around it; that as American citizens all these are ours; and that we will defend them from the most dangerous of internal foes.
"Resolved, That a minority of the people, deceived by ambitious men, without cause ( except evil passions ) have re- belled in arms against the peaceful will of the majority; that they have done violence to our Constitution and the peaceful customs of our whole history; and that as we love peace, as we love liberty, as we love our domestic happiness.
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and as we hope to secure obedience to all constituted author- ity hereafter, it is the duty of the government to put this re- bellion down, and our own duty to aid in doing the same.
"Resolved, That as citizens of Missouri we are also citizens of the United States, and that no government can be said to invade its own citizens; that as citizens in our own state capacity we have been outraged by a conspiracy on the part of our former executive and legislative officers, against our honor, our interests, and our sovereign will as expressed in convention, and that, led by these men our homes are invaded and our property stolen; that our convention in secret session has done its duty in deposing those men who violated our rights, and in providing us new officers, and that we will sustain its action-obey the call of the author- ities to compel the peace and drive the invaders from our soil; that the cry of our enemies for peace is a call for us to surrender our rights in law, liberty, and native land; that these are inalienable, and guaranteed to us by our Constitu- tion, and that we will never surrender them : but that we will call upon them for peace-that they restrain their madness by laying down their arms, and obey the law, enjoy their protection, and take again their equal share in the glories and blessings of our common land."
A few extracts from letters give some indications that he had difficulties to overcome in preparing for his new sphere of life :-
"September 11, 1861.
"DEAR S -: - I can write you but a few words to- night, as I am very busy forming my regiment, and getting my business and property into such a condition that it can be
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safely attended to during my absence, or disposed of should . I never return. It is a great deal of trouble to do both. The military affairs at St Louis are very imperfectly man- aged, which, in the confusion created heretofore, and par- tially now, from want of proper state authorities, makes ad- ditional trouble. I am making as much progress, consider- ing these things. as could reasonably be expected, and am fully satisfied that I am doing what I should do.
"I am thankful for your letters, and feel happy when I know that those I love still care for me, and it will aid me.
"Raising a regiment in this State is attended with much difficulty, and I may be disappointed, but perseverance and tact will accomplish much. It is right to serve my country, and I must 'crown my thoughts with acts.' I am gratified with the feeling that I have been the cause of inducing many men to go into the field who otherwise would not have done so.
"Give love to A -- and the children, and reserve for yourself on the unfailing principle of the widow's cruse."
November 2.
"What can I say to you in detail, my dear sister ? I do not like to deny what you ask me, but sometimes it is best I I should.
"My regiment is still at Medora, recruiting very slowly, but with a good prospect for the coming week, and I hope in a short time to be full.
"I have seen our new major-general in command of the State, and could not be better pleased. so far as appearances go. I think he is quite perplexed by the situation here, and scarcely knows what to do, which I do not wonder at; in
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fact, it will hardly be expected that he will be able to take intelligent action for some days.
"As soon as my regiment is full I want to go to Benton barracks and get thoroughly prepared for the field, and then go south. I would like to visit New Orleans with an escort.
"My dear sister, why do you beg to know all the par- ticulars of what I am doing, thinking, etc .? The daily events of my life would only fill your heart, already anxious enough, with more solicitude. These are hard times for Union men in Missouri; but I am a man, my good sister. You always had a little comfort in such reflections about me, at least you have sometimes flattered me in that way, and now I have an opportunity of 'testing my metal.'"'
November 10, 1861.
DEAR S -:- I am as busy as I can be, drilling. holding school, etc. My duties begin at early dawn and last until eight o'clock p. m.
"My regiment is likely to be affected by General Hal- leck's policy, as he stopped further recruiting some time ago. turned it over to the State forces, and is going to consolidate all regiments not full. I may lose my position by this ar- rangement, but I will not fail to do my duty in any event. I have great faith in General Halleck, and if I have to suffer it will be the result of a policy which I think he ought to adopt under all circumstances.
"I more than appreciate your kindness, and it greatly aids me. I cannot say more, only to beg that you will not distress yourself about me, for you know, my sister-I have often heard you say it-that .it is a noble thing to suffer and be strong.' I have made up my mind to do what I am doing for a cause I love, and though new and worse difficulties should arise, I shall not turn back. I am happy in this, never more so.
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THE SOLDIER.
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- "To fight
In a just cause and for our country's glory Is the best office of the best of men."
The following letter will show that Mr. Boomer had accomplished his work of raising a regiment :-
"ST. Louis, January 11, 1862.
DEAR SISTER :- I need not say that I was very thank- ful for your last kind letter-except that the acknowledgment is becoming in me-and I hope you will continue to write me often, even though I should seem unmindful of a proper return. Your letters always give me pleasure; a fresh breathing comes with them through the air, and I respire for a while lighter and freer. The world of affection is one of its own, and when we enter it truly we have stepped out for the moment from the world of care as perfectly as in sleep, which the poets have always contended 'hath its own world.'
"I am at the Planter's House, writing after tea in the sit- ting room, and the crowd buzzes about as it only can at an American hotel. Sunday, at the proper loafing hour, it reaches its climax, and this is I think the hour; in other words, 'the hour and the men are come.'
"I am expecting Mr. V -- B -- and my assistant surgeon on the train shortly. I sent for them, as to-morrow
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morning it is proposed to muster into service the whole field and staff of the Twenty-sixth Regiment Missouri Volunteers, George B. Boomer, Colonel; John H. Holman, Lieutenant- Colonel; L. H. Koninszesky, Major; Dr. Prout, Surgeon ; Dr. Bryan, Assistant Surgeon; A. H. Van Buren, Adjutant : chaplain and quartermaster I have not yet appointed.
"The forces under my command were consolidated, December 30th, with those of the lieutenant-colonel and major, and my position is the more flattering as it was given without my knowledge.
"I believe I am to be placed at Franklin, the junction of the Pacific and Southwest Branch Railroad, thirty-seven miles from here. I cannot, of course, tell what will ulti- mately be our destination, but I hope south. I have entered the service for war, and, after due preparation, want to be where the hardest work is to be done."
In entering the field Colonel Boomer assured his friends that it would be vain for them to look for a labored corres- pondence from him; that he should have neither time nor disposition to write a history of the movements of the army as they occurred. He should enter the field for work, and if he attended faithfully to his duties it would leave him neither time nor thought for digesting or condensing the active oper- ations of a large body of soldiers for newspaper correspond- ence. This opinion was fully confirmed, after a little obser- vation in the field, by seeing the personal aims and ends of the press, many of them utterly false, or at least with truth so distorted that it was hard to recognize it even as a foun- dation.
The Twenty-sixth Missouri remained in the State ser-
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vice as guard until the sixteenth of February, when they were ordered to Fort Donnelson; but as our army was vic- torious at that place before they could reach it. they were ordered to Bird's Point, from there to Charlestown, Missouri, and thence to Bertrand and New Madrid.
From the latter place Colonel Boomer wrote a letter showing that he fully appreciated the dangers to which a soldier was exposed on the field of battle :-
CAMP NEAR NEW MADRID, March 13, 1862.
"DEAR SISTER :- I write you a hurried note this eve, as we are ordered to be ready for advance to-morrow by daylight.
"I have seen hard times of late, as we marched thirty- eight miles in two days to get here, without tents or baggage, or scarcely anything to eat. We did not have our horses, so I marched with the soldiers, sleeping on the ground one night in the rain, which was too much for me, as I have not recovered my strength from the illness I had at Bird's Point.
"I do not know what we shall do to-morrow, but I hear heavy firing to-night, proceeding. I think from the enemy's gunboats upon our batteries below, on the river.
"We have a superior force, but the enemy has great ad- vantage in position. I judge that the present intention is to advance on the lines; but whatever is done, or commanded to be done, I believe I shall be able to do my duty.
"I am in General Schuyler Hamilton's division, whom I know well. We are friends, and I feel sure that I shall be fairly treated, and well cared for if wounded.
"I send you a bill of sale of my library and household furniture, which I want you to have in case accident happens to me.
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"L -- was to see me at Bertrand. We had a good brotherly visit. He was full of kindness, and we parted as I marched for this place. May Heaven bless him for all his love to me.
"Please transmit the contents of this letter to my mother, L-, and N-, with my love to you all. I can only write to mother my love, and tell her she will hear through you.
"With much love to your husband, to Ara and Bella, "I am ever your dear brother, "GEORGE." HAMBURG, TENNESSEE, April 23, 1862.
"DEAR S -:- After the siege of New Madrid we crossed the river at Tiptonville. We were present at the surrender of Island No. 10, went down to Fort Pillow with the fleet, and while there received orders to move to this place immediately.
"I am quite happy in my position; yet I assure you I would be glad to get out of it were it not for the object with which I entered the service. It is a hard, thankless life ; save the idea that it is necessary, one could not endure the horrors of war. It has its sunlights, however, and I shall be happy in the experience of this self-denial, should I be so fortunate as to survive it. My health is excellent, and I feel confident that my regiment will do well.
"I beg you will excuse a short letter, for it is the first time for more than a week that we have had any ink or stationery, and consequently I have an accumulation of writing on my hands.
"We have been in slow pursuit of the flying enemy since
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the 30th, and succeed in keeping just about so near him, having nothing but blankets and ammunition with us, saving very little to eat.
"I believe now we shall stop and occupy the railroads and the country through which we pass, which, after so long a time, is the most sensible thing we can do.
"I am generally well, and am at present in command of a demi-brigade, three regiments-Fifth Iowa, Fifty-seventh Indiana, and my own. I commanded them before Corinth, and had the honor to lead them into one little skirmish which was quite brilliant."
On going into the field Colonel Boomer was presented with a very fine horse. The generous donor had spared no pains in the training of this noble animal, and during the siege of Corinth it won the reputation of being the finest animal in the field; but most unfortunately its fame extended to the rebel camp. Colonel Boomer, in the foregoing letter says: "I have lost my fine horse. I loaned him to my chaplain one day, when riding, to go back on the road to see a sick officer; returning, he strayed a little from the road, and was captured by the enemy. The chaplain I have heard from he is-in good hands-but there still remains an uncomfortable silence about the horse."
The sequel of the stolen horse was afterwards revealed. While at Corinth one of the rebel generals had his eye upon this horse, with the determination to capture it. This he succeeded in doing, as about six months afterward he sent a note of thanks to the Colonel for his splendid animal.
"IN THE FIELD, July 7, 1862.
"DEAR S -:- Your kind letters from home reached
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me in due time, and they are so welcome that I dare not let this last one go by without a reply, for fear I may miss them hereafter if I neglect you. This is very selfish, is it not? but you know it is the mainspring of many of our acts. Still, I have another reason, for you know that I love to write to you. So here goes.
"First, the situation-a block for a seat, a tent-fly for a roof, a field desk and a candle; the air, the open field, con- stitute my other surroundings.
"It is a warm, moonlight evening; tattoo has been beat- ing an hour; the horses are grazing, picketed; and there is systematic outbreak of noise among the mules and wagons, and a hum, low but distinct, along the stacks of arms stretched along this road, which runs east and west from Rienzi to Jacinto. I am in this open field on the south side of the road, the men and the arms on the north, and we are all two miles east of Rienzi, 'whither two horsemen may frequently be seen riding.'
"We have been marching without tents or baggage, ever since June 26th, east and west, for about fifty miles, along this road, to near Holly Springs, an average distance of twenty miles south of Corinth. The enemy are hovering about, but I think only in small force, without any other motive than to annoy us.
"I feel often heartsick at what I see about me, which, with all the privations and the 'often infirmities' of the tem- poral man, very frequently make hard times. But the more I see of the strength of our foe in this part of the country, combined with our recent disasters East, the more I feel that this gigantic war is by no means over; and as I entered the service for three years or the war, I have not the least idea
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of leaving it, so long as I may be of use.in accomplishing the great end.
"I would like to see home and you, and I would like many other things ; but I counted all these privations in the cost of being a soldier, and have no expectation of leaving the army while there is any use in my being in it, except when required to do so by wounds or illness. I do not be- lieve in so many officers leaving the army on furloughs; it demoralizes and disorganizes everything. I know it is pleas- ant to rest, but if war is a necessity let us meet it as a ne- cessity.
"August I.
"Do not worry too much about me, my sister. It is true that we often have hard times, that we sometimes get desponding, but there is much to enjoy, aside from the fact that we are laboring for a country which has need of us. We come in contact with the brightest intellects in the land. These intellects, sharpened by action, called out by corres- ponding minds, bound together by a common sympathy, afford no inferior enjoyment. And then life is so active, so much is crowded into a single day or hour."
"August 10.
"My regiment has gone to Jacinto, twelve miles south- west of here. I shall join them to-morrow if as well as to- day.
"As I write I hear the guns of the batteries of the First Missouri Light Artillery, including Totter's and Dubois's. They are saluting the anniversary of the battle of Willson's Creek. I now hear the guns of the Second Kansas; they
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claim their honors too. This interests me, as that battle de- cided me to enter the army.
"I am truly thankful for your letters; they are better than an oasis, for. as I travel along the desert, I can carry the fountain and shade with me.
"I rejoice that you are with our dear parents again, and wish that I could ride with you to our old home in Sutton. The older I grow the more vivid is my childhood. Remem- ber me to all my acquaintances of those early years, as you see them. With love to all,
"I am your affectionate brother, "GEORGE." "CAMP AT JACINTO, August 13.
"DEAR SISTER N -:- I came to this place yesterday, where my regiment have been for several days. I found your letter to welcome me, which was a real happiness- greater than I can tell. How delightful to hear that you are in better health. I believe you will permanently recover. As a family we all have great vitality, and since I have been in the service I have borne the hardships well.
"The weather is very warm, but I dread more a certain quality of heat than I do the quantity. There are some pe- culiar properties of heat that reduce one.
"Altogether I like the service, and get on much better than I feared, though, like everything else, there are many trials connected with it.
"You speak of my life. It has been much as you think and from year to year I feel more strength and purpose. I shall never be too old or too wise to learn, and so day by day I receive a new pleasure. . Whom the Lord loveth he
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chasteneth.' I have sometimes thought those words were meant for me; they are beautiful and have given me much comfort.
"You say that Johnny wants to be a soldier. He is too young to enter the army. No one has a right, except as a last resort, to enter the field until his physical developement is complete. To do so brings ruin upon his future, and does little or no present good. A more rigid inspection, throwing out nearly twenty per cent. of the recruits, would save mil- lions of dollars, and give us a stronger army."
A few weeks after the foregoing letter was written, our troops were engaged in the battle of Iuka. This contest de- manded prompt and energetic action, which was met by Colonel Boomer with a determination to conquer, as will best be seen by the following account of the battle, taken from the public press :-
"In this engagement seven or eight thousand of our troops fought against eighteen to twenty thousand of the en- emy. The nature of the ground was such, also, that they could approach very near us without being exposed.
"Our battery took its position on a point where two ridges join. On each is a road, both converging at this place. The line of the First Brigade formed nearly at right angles with the battery on the point of the angle.
"The enemy poured grape and shell upon our troops all the time they were forming, and charged almost before our line was completed.
"When our battery opened, as it did, double charged with ammunition, it made fearful havoc in the enemy's deep
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columns ; but still they came upon us, with such a concen- trated fire, that the battery was silenced, and the three regi- ments on the left gave way.
"Meantime Colonel Boomer, of the Twenty-sixth Mis- souri, seeing the danger, and that the battery was gone, moved his regiment forward, and by the off flank on and around the battery, fought against both a front and flank fire with the most unparalelled determination, sustained by the Fifth Iowa. During the fearful struggle Colonel Boomer had no field or staff officer to assist him; yet he was every- where seen in the fight, apparently at the same time. Three times had he to rally his brave men to this deadly contest. one-half of whom were left on the battle-field, killed or wounded.
"In this hot fight the Colonel had received two balls in his thigh. Still undaunted, he pressed on-no surrender with him -until, as night closed in, another ball threw him from his horse, as it was supposed mortally wounded, but not until he had the satisfaction of knowing that the victory was ours, which victory justly covered him with glory."
For some days Colonel Boomer's wounds were consid- ered mortal. In contemplating death he expressed an entire trust in the all-wise Disposer of events, and said if it was God's will that he should end his earthly career at that time he was satisfied, and knew that he should not be left to tread "the dark valley" alone. One of his friends expressed her grief that he had thus sacrificed his life. He said reprov- ingly, "And you call this sacrifice, if I lose my life or become disabled? It is a price to be paid, but not too dear for the blessings of a good government. I would not have my coun-
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try go through such a struggle without feeling the satisfac- tion that I had, in thought and in act, given it my entire, my most hearty sympathy. Our nationality must be main- tained."
During this illness he was asked if he thought the war was nearly at an end. He replied that he thought not. He believed that certain successful campaigns on our part, such as taking their largest cities and their strongholds, might bring the hardest fighting to an end ; but even that was going to be a difficult thing to do, and in that event the South would resist us by every means in their power. He was convinced the South would never lay down their arms and return to the Union so long as they had any ability to fight; and until their institutions were entirely changed, peace would never smile upon our land again, for "our enemy was really fight- ing for aristocracy, and their leaders were haughtier despots than were ever enthroned by the most arbitrary laws in any age."
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