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 15
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These officers, together with some enlisted men, who were mustered out at the same time, went by railroad to Galveston, and from there by steamer on the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, thence by steamboat and railroad to their homes in Indiana.
The evening before their departure from the camp at Hemp- stead, the regiment assembled at head-quarters, and listened to parting speeches from Colonels Shanks and Browne, and Major Carpenter. Although those who were going home were delight- ed with the prospect of soon being with their families an l friends in Indiana, yet when the hour for parting came, the
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recollections of the common dangers and privations they had shared, caused the tears to course down the checks of the war- worn veterans, as they grasped each other by the hand and said " goodbye."
The field and regimental non-commissioned officers of the regiment as reorganized, were: Colonel, Thomas M. Browne; Lieut .- Col., Samuel E. W. Simonson; Majors, Joel H. Elliott, John M. Moore, and Joseph W. Skelton; A ljutant, Charles H. Gleason; Quartermaster, Aaron L. Jones; Commissary, 1.st Lieut. Nathan Garrett; Surgeon, Joshua Chitwood ; Assistant Surgeon, Daniel B. Roether; Sergeant-Major, George W. Spick- nell; Veterinary Surgeon, Lysander F. Ingram; Quartermaster- Sergeant, William H. Eldridge; Commissary-Sergeant, William A. Dynes; Hospital Steward, John Cook; Chief Bugler, George F. Andrews; Saddler Sergeant, Samuel B. Henderson.
Company A was composed of companies H and I of the old organization. Officers: Capt., Robert G. Smither; Ist Lieut., William H. Crane; 2d Lieut., Max Schoen,
Company B was composed of companies L and M. Captain, John G. Meyer; Ist Lieut., Barton B. Jenkins; 2d Lieut., Thomas W. Gibson.
Company C was composed of companies A and F. Captain, John Donch; Ist Lieut., James C. Barnes; 21 Lieut., Rufus H. Norton.
Company D was composed of companies B and D. Captain, John L. Reid; Ist Lieut., George W. Shreeve; 21 Lieut., George W. Baxter.
Company E was composed of companies K and E. Captain, James E. Sloan; Ist Lieut., Elijah S. Blackford; 24 Lieut., John D. Longfellow.
Company F was composed of companies C and G. Captain, George R. Kennedy; 1-t Lieut., Andrew J. Thompson; 21 Lieut., Charles R. Jones.
At 3 o'clock, on the morning of the 90th of October, 1565. the regiment broke camp at Hempstead, and started on its
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march to Austin, the capital of the State. It crossel the Brazos river about S o'clock a. m., on a pontoon bridge, and at 4 o'clock p. m., camped two and a half miles from Brenham, on the Texas Central railroad.
On the evening of November 24, the regiment camped one- half mile north-east of Bastrop, a town on the Colorado river. At this place Gen. Custer perpetrated a joke upon Col. Browne. The General, with the main command, preceded the Seventh Indiana. In passing through Bastrop, Gen. Custer told the Mayor of the city that Colonel Browne was coming, and that he was a German. On arriving at the edge of the city, Colonel Browne, and Lieut -Colonel Simonson, who were in advance of the command, were met by the Mayor of the city, a tall, gaunt man, whose accents betrayed his teutonic origin.
Col. Browne was pointed out to the Mayor, who enquired for him. The Mayor then introduced to the Colonel, a man with a speckled face, short legs, and a bay-window abdomen, as the "Chief Justice." His Honor, the Mayor, then proceeded to inform Colonel Browne, that they came on behalf of the people of Bastrop, to extend to him the Liberty of the City. Here was an event in the life of the Colonel. It was an occasion that required the highest order of oratorical powers on the part of the recipient of such extraordinary honors. The Colonel quick- ly took in the whole range of ancient history, and remembered that in olden times, the citizens, to conciliate conquering heroes, went forth to meet them, and extend the liberty of the cities.
The Colonel closed his eyes, in an effort to invoke the aid of all the muses. Just as he had stumbled on a choice quotation from Shakespear, and was about to accept of the hospitalities, etc., the poetry was knocked! out of him, and the muses banished to their shaddowy realne, by the Mayor remarking: "Colonel, you ish a German I uudeistant," and proceeding to address him in the German language, which was as unintelligable to the Colonel a Chinees of Cherulice In Him. The Colonel was com- pelled to acknowledge his ignorance of German, and pleading
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pressing official duties, bade the Mayor adien. As the Colon. I and his attendants proceeded on their way, Lieut .- Colonel Simonson was heard to say, as if talking to himself: "Colonel, yon ish a German I understant."
From Bastrop, the command marched to Austin, arriving there on the 4th of November. The permanent camp was --- tablished at "Seiders Springs," two and one-half miles north of the city.
The regiment was mustered out of the service on the 1Sth of February, 1866, pursuant to special orders No. 20, Department of Texas.
It then proceeded to Galveston, where it embarked on a stealu- er and crossed the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. From there it went by steamboat up the Mississippi to Cairo, Illinois, a !! from thence by railroad to Indianapolis.
At the latter place, the ladies prepared a dinner for t !: regiment.
Gov. Baker and Gen. Shanks, the former Colonel of t !.. regiment, were present, and made speeches, to which Colone Browne responded.
After being paid, the men dispersed to their homes.
Here ends the history of the Seventh Indiana Cavahy. Indiana sent no better regiment to the field during the great rebellion. It was the last Indiana Cavalry regiment mustered out of the service.
אוהדיה בלב יםיא
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THE SULTANA.
CHAPTER XIII.
BURNING OF THE SULTANA.
The burning of the splendid steamer, Sultana, is connected with the history of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, because at the time of that terrible disaster, there were aboard of her, and lost in the calamity with hundreds of other soldiers, from thirty to forty of the members of the regiment.
The Sultana was one of the largest size steamboats. She had been running but three years, and was valued at eighty thousand dollars.
The quartermaster, at Vicksburg, was guilty of criminal care- lessness in overloading the boat. About two thousand soldiers were on board, most of whom had but recently been released from Andersonville and other prisons, where they had been imprisoned for months, and suffered the tortures devised by the rebel government, and were at the time of the disaster, on their way to their homes in the North. Besides these, there were a large number of passengers consisting of men, women and children, and the boats crew, and a large quantity of freight, principally sugar.
With her freight of precious souls, the Sultana, on the 6th of April, 1505, arrived at Memphis, where she lay till midnight, to unload one hundred hog -heads of sugar. Having discharged her freight, the bell summoned passengers "on board," and warned visitors to go ashore. Parting friends shook each other by the hand, and said "goodbye," little dreaming that that was the last time they would ever clasp hands, or exchange words of friendship this side of the grave. The gang-plank was drawn in; the engines of the boat put the ponderous wheels in motion;
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BURNING OF THE SULTANA.
and the proud Sultana swung out into the current of the . Mississippi, and was soon hurrying on to her terrible doom. The passengers retired to their berths :
"To sleep, perchance to dream,"
of home, friends and loved ones, thinking that when they awoke in the morning they would be many miles nearer their destina- tion. Sixteen hundred of them were destined to awaken soon after, to find themselves, not only nearer, but at their great final destination. Before the sun, on the morrow, illumined the east with its golden flood of light, sixteen hundred human beings, who left Memphis a short hour before, bouyant with hope, were doomed to enter upon-
"That bourne whence no traveler ere returns."
When about seven miles above Memphis, the boilers of the Sultana exploded, hurling the pilot-house and a portion of the cabin high into the air. They came down on the deck a com- plete wreck, and buried many of the passengers in the debri-, who, being unable to extricate themselves, were burned to death. Men, women and children, rushed from their berths in their night attire, and with the most heart-rending screams, plunged into the river, preferring death by drowning, to the more horrid one of burning Mothers, with their babes pressed to their bosoms, jumped into the water and sank to rise no more. One heroic mother cast herself and babe into the river, and by means of a mattrass, managed to keep afloat till both were resened by a boat, several miles from the scene of the disaster. Husbands threw their wives into the water and plunged in after them, and after a brief struggle, found their last resting place beneath the waves.
The explosion occurred in the widest part of the river, where none but the most expert swimmers could reach the shore. Some sank never to rise when they had almost reached the banks. Some who had reached them, and succeeded in catching holl of the limbs of the bushes, nable longer to sustain them - 20
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selves above water, relaxed their grip, sank out of sight, and were never seen again. Some floated down past Memphis, and by their cries, attracting the attention of the boats at the wharf, were saved.
Immediately after the explosion, the flames, spreading rapid. ly, enveloped the Sultana in a sheet of fire. The scene pre- sented by the light of the burning vessel was horrid beyond the power of language to describe. Two thousand persons were in the water engaged in a desperate struggle for life. The screams and cries for help, when there was no arm to save, was enough to curdle the blood with horror. Amid the babble of sereath- and shouts, were distinguished the eries of children and babes. In that sea of drowning humanity, were bride and groom on their wedding tour; families consisting of fathers, mothers and children, returning from or making visits to friends: and sold- iers who had fought gallantly on many a hard contested field of battle , and had suffered the tortures of the damned in rebel prison pens in the south.
Such disasters bring ont prominer fly the strongest and weak- est traits of character. runtliet was soon over.
With the women and children the The most of them immediately sauk on reaching the water and never again came to the surface. But hundreds of the men kept up for hours a gallant battle for lite. Soldiers who had offen deded death on the fell, were no: to be vanquished in a moment-not even by the great Missis. sippi. Such as managed to keep afloat, were picked up by boats hastening to the rescue.
The steuer Bostona, on her way down the river, and about a mile distant at the time of the explosion, hurried to the scene, and succeeded in saving many who otherwise would have priished.
The iron-chut gun boat, Essex, left the wharf at Memphis. on heating of the catastrophe, and steamed rapidly toward the week. The morning was so dark that it was possible tosee Int a few fret ahead. The gun-boat was gui-led to the spot by
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BURNING OF THE SULTANA.
the cries of those struggling in the water. She savel sixty persons from a watery grave.
The Sultana burned to the water's edge, and sank on the Arkansas side of the river.
All of the twenty-two hundred persons, except six hundred, who thronged the decks of the Sultana the day before, with visions of a happy and prosperous future of life before them, slept at the bottom of the great Mississippi, while over their quiet bo lies, its floods rolled, on their ceaseless journey to the sea.
The following are the names of the members of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, lost with the Sultana, that we have been able to get.
Daniel W. Doner, John Q. Paxton, and Costan Porter, of .company E; William S. Corbin, of company G; William Bar- rick and Elisha Swords, of company I; Angustus Barrett and Francis M. Elkins, of company KX; William M. Thomson, of company M.
Robert B. Armstrong, of company I, was the only member of the regiment who escaped.
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CHAPTER XIV.
DICK DAVIS, THE GUERRILLA.
Nature of Guerrillas-Dick Ducis, las early life-Ile enters the Confederate service under John Morgan-Captured in Che. while there as a spy. steals a horse to effect his escape-Captur- od and put in jail and indicted for horse stealing- The ca dismissed on condition that he enlisted in the Union army- Hle avails himself of the first opportunity to desert-Turns un as a Guerrilla Chief neur Memphis-Captured and comind in the Irving Block of Memphis, but escapes- His field of op- erations and mode of warfare-Captured by Capt. Skelton, and again confined in the Irving Block- Attempts to escape by the assistance of his sweetheart, but is foiled by the vigilance of the o vers and guards-His personal appearance-Ilis trial and conviction- The murder of Capt. Somers and men-His de rh sentence-He brardly meets his tate -- The Charges and Spice fications on which he was tried, and findings of the Court.
We give in this chapter an interesting account of the trial and execution of " Dick Davis the Guerrilla," as written by General Thomas M. Browne, soon after their occurrence. As General Browne was President of the Military Commission that tried Davis, the following may be relied upon as authentic:
"It is an oldl maxim, that occasions make men, and taking it to be true, what an opportunity this war has afforded to almost every man, to write his name in the world's history ! But cort- paratively few have 'snatched the golden moment,' and yet it has been prolific in the development of the various traits of hint- man character. It has become a stupendous tragedy, in which every cast and type of actor way have his role, and play his part. It has made its Mexanders, who have fought but to con- quer; its heroes, who, like Themistocles, have risen from oksen- rity to renown; and it has had it martyrs, who, like Marco By- zarris, have sacrificed their lives freely and willingly upon the
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DICK DAVIS, THE GUERRILLA.
altar of their country, to secure the nation's triumph, and liber- ty to its people.
This giant political convulsion has not only brought General and Statesman to the surface, but it has exhibited another phase of human nature, which, although daring and adventurous, will perhaps, seldom find its place in the history of these times. I refer to a class of Banditti, who, taking advantage of the univer- sal chaos into which society has been thrown by this war, are now committing crimes of robbery and bloodshed all over the south-west. They take "Dick Turpin" as their model, possess- ing his courage to do wrong, but none of his excentric magnan- imity. Possessing none of that high-toned chivalric feeling that desires foemen worthy of their steel, they wage warfare upon the unwary and defenseless. Stimulated by no feeling of honor, they fight for no flag, no nationality, but solely for booty. They seek no open battle-fiell upon which, on equal terins, to break a Linee with their foe, like the ancient Knights-Errant, but hide themselves in ambush and entrap their victims like savages. In times of peace they are guerrilla bullies, thieves and loafers, and in war, not having sufficient manhood to esponse either side of the quarrel, they take advantage of circumstances and turn highwayman aml freebooters. Notwithstanding all this, the lives of these men are more or less exciting and romantic. Fre- muently they pass through dangers that would try the courage of the stoutest heatt. Of the Guerrilla Chiefs who have spread consternation and alarm in Western Tennessee, none have acted so conspienous a part as he, a sketch of whose life I propose to give.
Dick Davis was born in the city of Maysville, Kentucky, [ should judge about a quarter of a century ago. His baptismal mune was John B. bofinger, but his father dying while he was yet a child, and his mother marrying a man by the name of Davis, he subsequently was given or assumel the name of his step-father, and went by the name of 'Dick Davis.' It is said that his step-father, mother and a sister reside . at this time in
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SEVENTH INDIANA CAVALRY.
the city of Cincinnati. At the breaking out of this rebellion, Le was a resident of Mason county, Kentucky, and engaged in buy- ing and selling stock, in which business he was accumulating some property. Naturally of a wayward, unsettled and nervous disposition, he was not slow in gratifying his desire for adven. ture by engaging in the war. He joined a Confederate cavalry regiment in Kentucky, under the command of that chivalric raider and horse-thief, John Morgan. By his reckless daring and unscrupulous cunning, he soon secured the confidence of that partisan chieftain. He participated in most of Morgan's raids in Kentucky, accompanied him in his mad-cap tour through Indiana and Ohio, in the summer of 1863, and was one of the few of that command that managed to escape and recross tle Ohio at Buffington Island. He was an expert scout, knew . the country thoroughly, and was much of his time employed in this service. Morgan sent him several times into the States north o: the Ohio as a spy, and he never failed to return with informa- tion valuable to the rebels. Just before that grand scare-the demonstration of Kitty Smith on Cincinnati-Dick had been in that city and roportel its defenseless condition to that Generii. With this information the Confederate General thought the (neen City an easy prize, and such, indeed, it would have been Had not unexampled promptness and energy been displayed in the preparations for its defence. That the city was not sackel and burned is almost wholly owing to the rapid and numerous response inade by the 'squirrel hunters and minute men' of Ohio and Indiana, who ralhed to its rescue. While on one of hi- secret missions into Ohio, he was suspecte ! by some of being con- neeted with the rebel army. Hearing of these suspicions, and baring arrest, he concluded to return South, and putting into practice the lessons he had learned so well from his leader, help- el himself to a the horse belonging to a friend in the neighivi- hood, without even thanking the owner. He was pursued, cap- ipred, thrown into, all, indicted by the grand jury, and Was about beshy bron it to trial, when, a the instance of friends,
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DICK DAVIS, THE GUERRILLA.
the prosecutor was induced to enter a nolle prosegui in the case upon condition that he would enlist in the Union army. Upon being released from durance vile, he volunteered in an Ohio reg- iment, accompanied it to the field, but soon afterwards deserted and returned to the rebels. He was present and participated in Van Dorn's attack on Corinth, at the time the lamented Gen. Hackelman was killed. Shortly after this, Dick turned up in the vicinity of Memphis, as the leader of a guerrilla band. He was subsequently captured by the federal forces, and confin- ed on the charge of being a robber and a spy, in the military bastile, Irving Block, in the above named city; but, before he was brought to trial, he managed to escape, through the com- plicity of the guard who was placed over him. Having escaped from prison he rejoined his fellow marauders and resumed his old occupation of highwayman.
His field of operations extended from the Cold Water on the south to the Wolf and Hatchie rivers on the north, and from the federal picket lines near Memphis eastward to the junction of the Memphis and Charleston with the Mississippi Central rail- road. This area embraces the villages of White Station, Ger- mantown, Moscow, Lagrange, and Grand Junction, on the line of the first .named railroad, and the base of all the traveled roads leading into the Bluff City. He was continually changing the ren- dezvous of his band, but generally kept it in the bottoms of Nonconnah creek or Wolf river. His strategy was so admirable that he out-witted and out-generaled every scout or party sent to capture him. For months he lived, robbed and murdered with impunity, almost within the Federal lines, and within car- shot of the federal army. He was enabled the more effectually to elude his pursuers, by the fact that he so managed it as to se- cure the silence of the citizens in the country infested by his band. The friendship of some he secured by acts of kindness, others were silent because of their sympathy with him and his occupation of butchery, while the majority feared to disclose the hiding place of one who possessed the power and the will, when
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DICK DAVIS, THE GUERRILLA.
provoked, to inflict upon them the most hellish cruelty. To in- cur his indignation was equivalent to losing their property, and perhaps their lives. His band consisted of from fifteen to twen- ty men-young, active, and as reckless as himself. They were all well mounted, armed with a pair of revolvers each and a car- bine. His men were principally deserters, some from the rebel and some from the Union army. Of the many incidents of his chequered career, but few that are well authenticated, have reached me. All I know is that he frequently relieved citizens coming into and going out of the city of their money, watches, jewelry, horses and other valuables. His men and himself hul strong bartering proclivities, and frequently indulged in trading their old hats, shoes and coats, with some city gentleman who might happen to be caught with articles of that kind superior to their own. It is said in these exchanges they always got the better end of the bargain.
In his exploits as highwayman, he made no distinction be- tween loyal and disloyal, white and black, nor did he respect age, sex or condition. Secreting himself and band in the bushes, in some well-selectel spot by the road-side, he awaited the approach of his victim, and suddenly appearing before him, would greet him with that blood-chilling banditti salutation .. "your money or your life," at the same time, adding force to the suggestion, by thrusting into the face of the bewildered and astonished traveler an enlarged and improved edition of Colt's six-barreled "persuader." In this way he armed, mounted and equipped, and subsisted his band. One thing may be said to his credit, he seldom, if ever, disturbed private houses. The most desperate of his enterprises, and the most Jaring of his exploits, were directed against the Union army and soldiery. He would creep on a dark night through the picket lines, and steal mules and horses from under the very noses of the guards. He would ambuscade and kill patroling parties-steal upon and shoot down a videtre or a picket. At times he was as wary and stealthy as an Indian-then again he would dash upon an
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DICK DAVIS, THE GUERRILLA.
outpost or reserve, with the recklessness and audacity of a Mamaluke or Cossack. In firing upon railroad trains he seemed to take a peculiar pleasure. His men, from some hiding place, would deliver a volley, upon a passing train well filled with unsuspecting troops, and before it could be stopped and the men put in position for action, the guerrillas would be on their horses and seampering speedily away to their coverts in the bottoms. In this way they killed three and wounded some ten Federal soldiers at one time, between Germantown and Colliersville, during the summer of 1864. I shall not now re- cite particular instances of crime as it would make this sketch much too voluminous.
HIS CAPTURE.
He was captured by Capt. J. W. Skelton and a detachment of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, near the Cold Water, Missis- sippi, some twenty miles south-east of Memphis, on the 2d of October, 1864. The Captain, in command of some forty men, was sent on a scouting expedition in the direction of Holly Springs, and when near Anderson's plantation, his advance
guard was fired upon. He immediately ordered a charge, taking the lead himself, and as he passed out of the woods into the open ground beyond, a man dressed in the grey jacket of the Confederate army was discovered making the best possible time across the fields toward the adjoining woods. The Captain gave immediate chase, leaping his horse over the intervening fences, and was soon upon him. Before, however, he was over- taken, he had slackened his pace, and was rapidly reloading his carbine. The Captain putting his pistol in uncomfortable proximity to the fellow's head, demanded his surrender, to which he coolly replied, "I guess I will have to surrender, but d-n it, I thought I could load and kill you before you came np, but you was too quick for me." . He was armed with a navy revolver, and a Spencer's breech-loading eight-shooting carbine. While Captain Skelton was engaged in making this capture, his men had pursued and taken three others of the band. The 21
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