USA > Mississippi > History of the Seventh Indiana cavalry volunteers, and the expeditions, campaigns, raids, marches, and battles of the armies with which it was connected. with biographical sketches of Brevet Major General John P. C. Shanks, and of Brever Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Browne, and other officers of the regiment; with an account of the burning of the steamer Sultana on the Mississippi river, and of the capture, trial conviction and execution fo Dick Davis, the Guerrilla > Part 13
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The horses, by. the excessive labor of traveling through such a country without forage, were reduced to skeletons, and many of them wer- abandoned, the unfortunate riders being obliged to walk until they captured a mule.
From Hamburg the command marched to De Bastrop, crossed the Bayou Bartholmew on a steamboat, and marched to Gain's
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Landing on the Mississippi river, where it embarked on steam- boats and returned to Memphis.
It is impossible to divine the purpose of this expedition. The projector of it must have been utterly ignorant of the nature of the country through which the command passed. No armed force ever had, and never could have occupied it. It was utter. ly worthless from any possible military point of view.
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CHAPTER X.
GUARDING RAILROAD AND SCOUTING.
The regiment moves along the railroad to Lagrange-News of the assassination of President Lincoln-Death of Lieut. Skir. vin-Mass meeting of citizens and soldiers-Speech of Col. Browne.
The rapid succession of victories attending the federal arms, in the Spring of 1865, foretold the speedy overthrow of the re- bellion. Sherman had accomplished his famous "march to the Bea," captured Savannah, and marched north into the Carolinas; Fort Fisher had fallen, and the rebel army of the West and South, under Joseph E. Johnson, was cooped up at Raleigh, North Carolina ; Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered with his entire army.
At Memphis the only enemy to be encountered were the Guerrillas, who were still troublesome. The cavalry at Mem- phis were distributed along the Memphis and Charleston rail- road, to guard and repair it.
The Tth Indiana cavalry was at LaFayette Station on that road, when the intelligence of the surrender of Gen. Lee was re. ceived. The news was hailed with the wildest delight by the soldiers. It was known that negotiations were pending for the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnson's army to Gen. Sherman. The soldiers were already forming their plans for the future on being mustered out of the service, which event they expected would occur in a short time. Discipline was relaxed and the camps were given up to rejoicings. The sutlers were permittri! to bring beer into the camp for the men.
In the midst of their jollification, the news of the assassins- tion of President Lincoln was received. A thunder-clap from & cloudless sky could not have produced greater consternation.
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The terrible intelligence passed rapidly from person to person, and the smile of gladness, playing on their faces a moment be- fiore, was supplanted by looks of amazement and horror. The merry-making was instantly stopped, and the men separating in to small groups, talked in undertones of the great calamity that had 'befallen the country. Tears trickled down the faces of men who had never been known to weep before. The camp wore a funeral-like appearance, and, an unnatural stillness crept over it. There was great solicitude as to the effect the death of the President would have on military operations. Would it prolong the war, and necessitate more bloody battles ?
There was in Northern Mississippi a semi-guerrilla chieftain, by the name of Capt. Fort, who made it his business to attack rail- road trains and scouting parties. Ile operated about North Mr. Pleasant in Mississippi. Two or three times a week a scouting expedition was sent to that place to look after him.
On the morning of the 31 of April, 1865, Lieut. Jacob Skirvin of company D, with about thirty men, consisting of details froma the various companies of the regiment, left camp at Lafayette Station, and proceeded towards Mt. Pleasant. He came upon the camp of Capt. Fort, a mile southwest of the town. The two parties discovered each other at about the same time. Lieut Skirvin at first thought the rebels were a party from his own regiment, that left camp at about the same time he did. He, a moment afterward, discovered his mistake, but the slight delay gave the rebels time to make some preparations for defense. He then, with the advance guard, consisting of only five or six men. charged into the camp of the rebels, and was received with a volley from behind the trees, to which the rebels sprang, not having time to mount their horses. The Lieutenant was struck with two balls in the breast and mortally wounded. Those who were with him said, he with difficulty kept his saddle, and spur- ed his borse up to the tree where Fort himself was, and reeling from side to side in the saddle, his eves almost closed in death. put his revolver around the tres and tried to shoot Fort; but
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before he could discharge his pistol, Fort shot him with his re- volver in the face, when he dropped dead from his horse. Two of the men with him were killed and another badly wounded. The main command came up, but on seeing Lieut. Skirvin and two of the men with him fall, broke away and fled. Some strag- glers returned to camp with the news of the disaster, when Capt. Moore hastily mounted and went to the relief of Skirvin's party.
Before the Captain arrived at the scene of the fight, Fort and his men had withdrawn. Some citizens had taken Lieut. Skirvin's body to a farm-house, half a mile distant, and carefully washed the blood and dust from his face and person. He was a fine looking man, and so recent and sudden had been his death, his face wore nearly its usna! ruddy appearance, and it was difficult to realize that he was dead.
The bodies were placed in a wagon and taken to camp. Lieut. Skirvin's was sent to Memphis and buried in the military cemetery, with the honors of war.
Lieut. Skirvin had participated with the regiment in all its expeditions and battles, and in every instance had proved him- self a good officer and a brave man. He was wounded in the sabre charge, on the evening of February 22d, 1864, at Ivy Farm, on Sooy Smith's raid to West Point, Mississippi. His
loss was deeply regreted by the entire regiment. George Patrick and Hiram J. Kail, of company D, were also killed.
About the first of January, the regiment went to Lagrange, Tennessee.
All of the confederate armies had at that time surrendered. Paroled prisoners were constantly passing through the town, on the way to their homes in Tennessee and Kentucky. The members of the regiment were jubilant with the expectation of soon being mustered ont of the service and being permitted to return to their homes.
Gen. Washburn had resigned, and was succeeded by Gen. Smith.
On turning over the command, Gen. Washburn accompanied
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Gen. Smith to Lagrange, where an impromptu meeting as- sembled, composed of federal and ex-confederate soldiers, ladies and gentlemen from Memphis and Lagrange, and, negroes. The assemblage was quite large and reminded one of old times.
Gen. Washburn addressed the meeting in a speech of an hour's duration. In his remarks he predicted that the negrops would be given the right of the elective franchise, and to hold office. His prophecy came true. He was followed by Gen. J. P. C. Shanks, in a brief speech.
Next, and last, Col. Browne was called out, and appeared on the stand amid a storm of applause. He delivered the follow- ing extemporaneous little speech, which was received by the listeners with delight :
My Fellow Citizens : It was the custom of the ancients to pro- serve the best of the wine to the last of the feast. But that order has been reversed to-day, as you have called me out to throw my little speech in the shade of the distinguished ones who have preceded me. If it had been left to my own judy- ment, I would have been commanding every one in this country for thirty years past. I left the South thirty years ago, ami have been living in the North ever since, bat I speak to von as an American citizen. I left you in boyhood; I came back to you in the full vigor of manhood, and found you in arms against your brothers, against those who never entertained one unkindir feeling against yon in the world. I enquired why it was. Be- cause, I was informed, we had elected a sectional President ; an 1. that we proposed to interfere with your domestic institutions : that yon were going to whip ns, and play the devil generally. Now, suppose Mr. Breckenridge had been elected, and the North had rebelled. I do not think there was an abolitionist in the North who would not have rallied around the banner of our country and said to those discontents: "you must submit to the Constitution and the Government," and we would have been with von in that controversy.
When the leaders of the rebellion started to go out of the Union, they went very much as the dog which tried to jump the well in two jumps-he took one jump and then caved. Ton took one jump and then went unler. The result is, that the institution of slavery has gone clean under. and you need not attempt to hunt up the fossils. Our Government did not use
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the war as a measure for destroying slavery, but they used slavery as a means of destroying the rebellion. You sent your eons and husbands to the war, and asked God to protect them while they were fighting to destroy the Government. The North did the same thing for the purpose of rescuing it.
I must say a word to the negro. You have got to work, and if you expect to be respected, you must respect yourselves. If you commit murder, you will be hung the same as any other man. This war has disclosed a few facts: one of them is that this continent is ours, that the American Union must grow and extend from the frozen seas to the Gulf of Mexico -- until it takes in the Western Continent."
The Indicrons parts of the speech were vociferously cheered. The negroes were delighted with the remarks addressed to them and promised to do everything the Colonel recommended.
The men, in their hopes to be speedily mustered out of the pervice, were doomed to disappointment.
The regiment soon after entered upon a long and tedions jonrney by water and land to Texas, the history of which will be given in the next chapter.
CHAPTER XI.
BY LAND AND WATER TO TEXAS.
Trip Down the Mississippi, and Up the Red River to Alexan- dria-Amusement of Shooting Alligators, Southern Etiquette -Military Execution for Desertion-Departure for Texas- A Long, Dreary March Through the Wilderness-Snakes. Bugs, Toads, Lizzards, and all manner of Creeping Things -- Arrival at Hempstead-Brutality of Gen. Custer-Consali- dation of the Regiment.
The regiment marched from Lagrange to Memphis, where it embarked on four steamboats, on the evening of June 17th, 1865.
On the 1Sth, in the morning, the boats swung loose from the wharf, and steamed down the broad Mississippi river.
Aside from being somewhat crowded, and being obliged to halt occasionally to assist a boat off a sand-bar, the trip down the river was a pleasant one.
The fleet passed Helena and Napoleon, the latter situated at the mouth of the Arkansas river. Both of these places had been almost entirely destroyed by the war, and were, during hostili- ties, places of resort for bands of guerrillas, that occasionally interrupted the navigation of the river, by firing on passing boats. It steamed by " Millikin's Bend," the scene of a bloody conflict, fought June 6th, 1863, between the colored troops and the rebels, in which the latter were defeated. The overflowings of the river were rapidly washing away the earthworks, which the negroes so gallantly defended.
The fleet arrived at Vicksburg in the evening. Its high hills rose gloomily in the darkness. Two years before, on the approach of such a fleet, they would have blazed from base to summit, and would have been rocked as in & cradle, from the
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furious cannonade that would have belched] from the guns of the fortifications; but now all was peaceful and quiet.
The boats lay at the wharf during the night, to take in coal. Before daylight the next morning, they were pursuing their journey down the river.
At Natches, the fleet stopped awhile, and the men availed themselves of the opportunity to mail letters to their friends.
From Natches it proceeded to the mouth of the Red River. where it lay at anchor through the night, the pilots being afraid to continue the journey in the dark, they not being acquainted with that stream. Early the next morning we were again under way toward the headquarters of that great river.
The monotony of the journey was relieved by the alligators that abound in the river. They wallowed in the mud on the banks, sometimes looking like old logs, or swam across the bow of the boats and along side of them. They were of all sizes, from old ones ten or twelve feet in length, to young ones just commencing the world on their own responsibility. They were very dignified in their deportment ; when one had occasion to cross the river, he managed to pass ten or twenty feet in front of the boat, the near approach of which would not accelerate his speed a particle. They swam without making a ripple on the water, with their heads only above the surface. It occurred to some genius among the men, to try what effect lead would have on the mailed denizens of the river, and he accidentaly discharg- ed his carbine at one, and was astonished to see the ball glance from the scaly body without attracting, in the least, the atten- tion of the alligator.
This little incident suggested to the rest of the men the idea of making similar experiments. Accordingly they got their car- bines and kept a sharp lookout for alligators. They did not have to wait long. Ahead a short distance, a tolerably good -ized one was crossing to the opposite bank, and passed in front of the boat but a few feet from it. The men commenced crack-
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ing away at it. It was struck several times, but the balls glanc- ed off harmlessly; the alligator acted as if nothing unusual had occurred, and did not so much as wink when the balls struck it. One day, when all was quiet, some one exclaimed, "Alligator !" "Where, where ?" responded a dozen voices. "Yonder in the mud on the bank" was the answer. Every eye was strained in the direction indicated, but nothing could be seen but an old log as it was supposed to be. But by watching it closely, it was seen to slowly roll from side to side. At first it was believed to be a log, and that the motion was given it by the flowing of the river; but a nearer approach disclosed the outlines of the vil- lainous looking head of a mammoth alligator. Nearly every man was firing at it with his carbine or revolver. It was proba- bly struck fifty times before the boat was out of gunshot range, but so far as any outward manifestations were concerned, it was totally oblivious to the presence of a steamboat loaded with soldiers. It kept on rolling, as if rendered too blissfully happy by a meal on dog, with a young nigger for desert, articles of diet of which alligators are said to be extremely fond, to notice worldly things.
Even shooting alligators became stale, and would have been entirely abandoned had not an order been made prohibiting it. After that, it was astonishing how many carbines went off by pure accident, when an alligator was in sight.
There was little in the appearance of the country on either bank of the river to cheer the traveler. The country to within fifty miles of Alexandria is low and flat, covered with timber, and a large part of it overflowed with water.
On approaching Alexandria, the prospect improved. The ground rises in places to gentle elevations, and plantation resi- dences dot the country. On the evening of the 23d of June, the feet landed at Alexandria, Louisiana, and the troops disembark- ed, and went into camp on a sugar plantation at the edge of town. The sun beamed down on the shadeless camp terribly bot. Awnings, both for the men and horses, were constructed
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of poles and brush brought from the woods, which measurably relieved the suffering caused by the intense heat.
Alexandria, before the war, was a small city of about five thousand inhabitants. It acquired some historic interest by be- ing given over to the torch, and the greater and best portion of it destroyed by fire, by Gen. Bank's, when he left it on the 14th of May, 1861, on his retreat from his disastrous expedition to Schrevesport. At the time the regiment was there, it con- tained but about five hundred inhabitants.
Old chimneys not yet fallen, and ruined walls, marked the site of former business blocks, or of palatial residences.
But the greatest interest that centers there is the fact, that only three miles from the town, was located the military acade- my of which Gen. W. T. Sherman was President, on the out- break of the war. As Gen. Sherman acquired a fame as lasting as history itself, any institution with which he was connect -! will always attract a lively interest.
Above the city a short distance, were th: Red river rapils, which were damned un to make the water deep over them su the gunboats, that accompamed Gen. Banks, on his Red river P. pedition, and had gone above them, could get over them, after the defeat of Banks at the battle of Man-field.
Opposite Alexandria and across the river is Pineville, a small village, deriving its name from the groves of large pines that surround it.
There, also, were two forts constructed by the rebels, when they had possession of the country.
The country around Alexandria is the finest and most fertile in the State of Louisiana, and was known as the sugar and cot- ton region.
The planters were wealthy and haughtily aristocratic, as the following incident will show. Some officers, one day, called at a splendid plantation residence, to pay their respects to the proprietor. They were met at the door by a negro servant, whom they told to inform the master that some officers called to
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see him. The servant soon reappeared with a silver salver, and bowing profoundly, held it out, The officers did not know the meaning of this kind of etiquette, and looked inquiringly from one to another for an explanation. Que of them said afterwards that he thought the negro wanted to take up a collection, and was mortified to think he had not a cent to contribute, not hav- ing been paid for several months. The spokesman of the party explained to the negro that they had simply come to make a friendly call, and directed him to so inform the master of the es- tablishment, and to say that they were waiting.
The servant disappeared, and soon an angered gonfiomin appeared at the door, and said, he was not surprised that noriaein men were not sufficiently well brel to know that they were ex- pected to send up their cards when they called on a gentleman. Of course the officers pretended to have understood all the time that cards were expected from them, but explained that not hav- ing been near a printing office for a long time, their supplies of cards were exhausted.
There were concentrated at Alexandria, destined for Huston, Texas, about three thousand cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. George A. Custer.
The time was spent at Alexandria. in drilling in the bot sun, Ashing in the Red river, and in etching alligators. The mon occasionally caught cat-fish weighing one hundred pounds and upwards.
Occasionally a baby alligator, from a foot and a hilf to two fept in length, got on dry land and was taken prisoner by the men. There were several such pets in the Seventh Indian ?. Even full grown alligators, in making raids in search of food. got quite a distance from the water, and were attacked and 'illed by the soldiers.
Like all monsters, that seem invulnerable, they have their weak points, which when known, mike them an easy prey to the hunter. These points are the eyes, and a certain spot in the back of the headl. A ball entering either of these places will
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instantly kill them. As already stated,; they have a peculiar fondness for dogs and negroes. A bark of a dog near a bayou, will bring to the surface the heads of all the alligators in it. They leave the water, and crawl up behind negro children, and by a peculiar stroke of their tails, knock them into their jaws.
A short time after the troops disembarked at Alexandria, a negro laid down and went to sleep on some baggage near the brink of the river, and an alligator was discovered crawling out of the water, but a short distance from him, evidently intending to make a meal of him. The soldiers drove the alligator back into the river and awoke the negro, who was seized with an almost mortal terror, on being informed of the danger he had so narrow- ly escaped.
There was a growing discontent among the soldiers at being sent further south, when, as they supposed, the war was over. This led to numerons desertions, in fact, the men deserted in squads and platoons. On several occasions nearly the whole command was called out at night, to prevent the threatened desertions of companies and of a regiment. Some of the men on this duty deserted, when attention was directed elsewhere. The dissatisfaction of the men was increased by the cruel treat - ment of General Custer. That General had won a good repn- tation in the east, as a fighting general. He was only twenty- five years of age, and had the usual egotism and self-importance of a young.man. He was a regular army officer, and hal bred in him the tyranny of the regular army. He did not distinguish be- tween a regular soldier and a volunteer. He did not stop to consider that the latter were citizens, and not soldiers by pro- fession-men who had left their homes and families, to meet a crisis in the history of their country, and when the crisis was passed, they had the right to return to their homes. He had no sympathy in common with the private soldiers, but regarded them simply as machines, created for the special purpose of obeying his imperial will. Everything about hun indicated the for and dandy. His long, yellow hair fell in ringlets on los
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shoulders. Everything in the regulations, that was gaudy, and tended only to excite vanity, he caused to be scrupulously observed.
His wife accompanied him on the march to Texas, and he compelled soldiers to perform menial services for her and him- self, which was in express violation of the law.
A sergeant of the Second Wisconsin, and a private of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry, were court-martialed for desertion and sentenced to be shot. Gen. Custer, disregarding the earnest appeals of all the field officers of his command, determined to carry the sentence into effect.
The army was formed on three sides of a hollow square. faced inwards. Two coffins were placed near the center of the square, and fifteen feet apart.
Gen. Custer and staff took their positions in the center of the square, facing the open side. The provost guard that was to do the shooting, was formed about thirty feet in front of the coffins, facing the open side of the square.
The condemned men were placed in a cart, with their hands pinioned behind them, with each a white bonnet on, that was to be drawn over their eyes when the execution took place, entered from the open side at the right, and passed slowly around the square in front of each regiment, to the tune of the dead march. No one can know till they witness it, the feelings of horror, a military execution imposes:
Language, aided by the most vivid imagination, cannot portray the agony of mind, the condemned must suffer. Each step. and each roll of the mutiled drum, admonish them that they are surely approaching their doom.
After reaching the left of the square, the condemned were taken out of the cart, and each seated on a coffin, facing the provost guard, their legs lashed to the coffins, and the bonnets drawn over their eves. The law requires that one gun fired by the provost guard shall be loaded with a blank cartridge. The shard are informed that one gun of the lot has no bullet in it ;
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and, of course each man hopes that he has that gun. The provost marshal cautions the guard to take accurate aim, that the condemned may be saved unnecessary suffering by not being killed. He further has a selfish motive, for it his duty, should the condemned not be killed, to step up to him and completa the work with a revolver.
Gen. Custer had concluded to commute the punishment of one of the condemned to imprisonment for three years at the Dry Tortngas, but he kept it a secret from all except his provost marshal.
A moment before the execution, the provost marshal steppe .! np to the one whose sentence was commuted, to lead him away. He clapped his hand on him rather roughly, and the poor fellow, thinking he was shot, swooned away, and died a few days after- wards from the fright he received. .
The provost marshal then gave the command: "Ready!" the click of the guns, as they were cocked, was heard by the entire command, who almost held their breaths, and who could hear their hearts throbbing against their bosoms. "Aim!" was the next command, and the gnus were leveled at the condemned. After quite a pause, to enable the guard to get accurate aim, the command: " Fire!" rang ont, and simultaneously the report of the rifles were heard. The blue smoke from the guns curle ! away, and the soldier who had such a longing to return to his wife and children, after an absence of years, that he brivel death, in attempting to get home, pierced by several balls, fell back on his coffin, dead !
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