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 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
243
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
regiment was attachel, was advancing on the double-quick, to relieve the brigade of Gen. Ruseau which had exhausted its am- munition. With a large number of other wounded, I was sent home to Indiana till my wound healed. I rejoined the regi- ment at Stephenson, Alabama, after the siege of Corinth. I marched with the regiment and Buel's corps to which it was at- tached, from Stephenson to Bridgeport on the Tennessee river. And with it from the latter place to Louisville, Kentucky, in the chase after Bragg. From Louisville, with the Second Divi- sion under Gen. Sill, to Frankfort, and from there by formed marches to Perryville, not arriving there, however, until a.ter the battle. From Perryville we returned to Louisville, and from there marched back to Nashville, Tenn. The hardships and exposures of that severe campaign "so impaired my health, that I was discharged by reason thereof, on the 11th of January, 18C3. I then returned to LaPorte, and began the study of law. Finding it difficult to apply myself to books, when there was so much being said and written about battles, in August, 1863, I enlisted with Capt. John Shoemaker in company F, 7th Indiana cavalry, and was appointed Orderly Sergeant of that company. Being at home on leave of absence when the regiment left In- dianapolis, it had reached Colliersville, when I rejoined it, and therefore I was not with it in its operations in Kentucky and West Tennessee. I was with it in the expedition to West Point, and in the sabre charge on the evening of February 22d, 1864; on the expedition to Guntown and in the battle of Brice's cross- roads, June 10th, 1834: on the expedition to Port Gibson and Grand Gulf, Mississippi, in July of the same year.
I was with Gen. A. J. Smith's army on his expedition to Ox- ford, Miss., up to August 14th, 1804. On the night of the lith of August, I was captured in the fight Capt, Skelton had with the rebels at Lamar, Miss., an account of which is given in his sketch. Almost at the very onset I was shot in my right side with a revolver, the ball striking the lower right rib, and fol- loving around in front and lodging over the pit of the stomach,
241
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
but I was still able to keep the saddle. South of the town was a ravine from twenty to thirty feet in width and from six to ten feet in depth. The rebels, on reaching it. tumbled over each other into it, and managed to get on the other side where their officers succeeded in rallying them. Capt. Skelton managed to withdraw his men at the ravine, but I did not hear the order to retreat, and at the rapid rate at which my horse was going did not have time to observe correctly what the rest of the company were doing, and on reaching the ravine, made no effort to stop my horse, in fact, the first knowledge I had that a ravine was there, was when I was nearly thrown over my horse's head. when he struck the opposite bank, and with great difficulty, kept from falling backward into the ravine. By the time my horse had fully recovered an upright position, the rebels had partially formed and were advancing towards the ravine. I knew my horse could not recross it without momentum to carry it over. Besides, I had no idei that my own inen were retreat- ing, but thought that having discovered the ravine in time to avoid it, had gone arouml and would be with me in a moment. I saw between myself and the rebel line an officer, whose uni- form in the night looked like those of Union officers. Thinking it was either Capt. Skelton, or, Cipr. Wright, who possibly ha l arrived with re-enforcements, I rode towarils him. I thought it prudent however, before getting too close to him, to ascertain whether he was friend or foe. For that purpose I called out to him: "What command do von belong to ?" Receiving no an-
swer after a pause of a moment, I again sandt: "Are you a fed- . eral officer?" Our horses has been approaching each other on a slow walk, and by the time I aske I the second question, I Was close enough to see that the person in front of me was a reb-l. I saw his right arm rating and I supposel it was for the pur- pose of bringing his revolver to lar on me. Intending to 2 the first shot if possible. I hastily tired at but missed him. He int. stuntly spurred his horse toward mne, which struck mine so " larly as to nearly knock it off its fast, of the sam?
245
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY. .
time thrusting his revolver at my body with the evident inten- tion of shooting me through. But the muzzle struck my right arm just below the elbow, as I was raising it to fire at him again, and on firing his revolver the ball passed through my arm. Seeing that I was wounded he rode away without saying a word or paying any further attention to me. An instant later I was in the rebel lines, and had it not been for my sabre, would have escaped notice, and probably got away. The rebels did not have sabres, and seeing one on me, attracted the attention of a rebel, who, leaning forward! in his saddle to look at me, exclaim- ed: "By G-d that it is a Yank, surrender!" I said: "Cer- tainly, sir," and handed over my revolver which I still held in my hand. Two of them led my horse a few rods to the rear, and made me dismount. The first thing they demanded was my pocket book. I produced it, and was amused to see with what eagerness they lookel through it expecting to get money. Finding none. they wintel to know "why in h-l" I had none. At that time there were but two Confederates with me, the rest were at the front. One of the two, magnanimonly offre.I to let mne escape. The other objected, saying it was known that a prisoner was taken, and if they allowed me to escape, they would get into trouble. The other rebel then grew won lerfully strict, and cocked his musket and aimed it at me, and threaten - ed to kill me if I made any effort to run. I told him he read not be alarmed, for I was too badly wounded to run if I hela chance. He affected not to believe that I was wounded, saying that it was a Yankee rase to get a chance to run. In thir Laste to get my pocket book, they forgot to deprive me of my sabre. One of them seeing it pretended to bo alarmed, and presenting the muzzle of his musket at my hoal, demanded it. I bel just Handed it over and lain doen on the ground, when an a'd came up with an order for me to be taken before the commanding officer. According's, I was taken on to the field in the url-t of a group of officers, one of whom commenced interrogating me in A ver harsh manner. He would not halleve thot bis ammin!
216
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COCLEY.
had been put to flight by only thirty men, and intimate I rather plainly that it was his opinion that I was lying about the num- ber of men who had attacked him. I laid down on the ground in front of his horse, and found it impossible, from the intense pain from the wound in my side, to avoid an occasional groan. The officer wanted to know if I was wounded. I told him I was. His manner immediately changed to kindness, and in the rest of our conversarion, I thought from his tone of voice that he really sympathized with me. While we were talking, a reb- " . el officer came dashing up, and said he believed the "Yanks" were about to open fire on them from'a battery on an opposite hill. The commander ordered a Captain with a company forward to re- connoiter. The officer proceeded a short distance, and mistaking the members of our company, who were riding about trying to get together, for artillery, returned and gave it as his opinion that the "Yanks" had artillery and were preparing to open fire. In the mean time I informed the commandant that there was quite a force of federal cavalry at Holly Springs. That information made him exceedingly nervous. And well it might. It was but a few miles across from Holly Springs to the road on which he had to retreat, and if the troops at that place got information of his position, they could easily ent him off. 'When the officer reported artillery on the opposite hill, the commander instantly ordered a retreat. It was begun and continued in haste.
I was placed under guard in the centre of the column and was compelled to keep up on foot. That, I was not able to do very long. The wound in my side involved a portion of the right lung. The increasing inflammation, and the rapid walking, causing my breathing to be more rapid, rendered my sufferings almost intolerable.
Unable to go further, I stopped. That caused the troors in the rear to halt. The guard threatened to shoot me if I dil not go on, At that time I believed I was in the hands of guerrillas, and that my death was only a question of time. That belief nerved me to bid the guard defiance. He was
1
217
.
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
about to carry his threat into execution, when the adjutant of the regiment came dashing up from the rear, to ascertain the cause of the interruption of the march. Seeing the guard with his musket leveled at me, he knocked the muzzle upward with his hand, and demande l of him his reason for treating a prisoner in that way. The guard explained that he was obeying orders. The adjutant then ordered him to move on with me slowly, while he went to the rear to get an animal for me to ride. He then spoke to me kindly, and told me to walk on a short dis- tance, when he would have something for me to ride. In a few moments he returned with a mule, off of which one of their men had been shot, and assisted me in mounting it. He then got ine a canteen of water, the contents of which I immediately drank, when he ordered one of the men to refill it for me. Diy condition was then splendid in comparison with what it had been, but still I suffered greatly, The mule, I was riding, was a sinall short-legged animal, and could not keep up with the col- man by walking. It was constantly lagging behind, and the guard every few minutes had to whip it and make it trot to catch up. At such times, the pain caused by the jolting was intense. Every few minutes during that night, and until i o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, that was my experience. The next day, at the request of some of the officers, I related the manner in which I was captured, which, they told to Col. Kelley, the commander of the expedition. My account agreed so nearly with his own, that there was no doubt but that he was the man I encountered in front of his lines, and that he was the one who shot me. After my story had been told him, he appeared opposite, and rode for quite a distance a rod or so from me, scrutinizing me carefully, but did not speak a wor l. Ile looked upon me with anything but a friendly eye. From the subdued conversation of the officers, that I overheard, I learned that Col. Kelley was dreading the anger of Gen. Forrest for allowing himself to be beaten by inferior numbers. I could not but notice that I was regarded with more than ordinary
2.1S
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
interest, as I underwent an inspection from every officer in the command. Some of them sought interviews with me, and ex- pressed their unbounded admiration of the feat of one company in making them run.
With one or two exceptions, I was treated well, so far as the circumstances would permit. No attention had been paid to my wounds, because the columns did not halt but once from the time of commencing the retreat, until it crossed the Talla- hatchie river in the afternoon of the next day. After crossing the river at New Albany, the command halted for a brief rest. While there, the surgeon dressed my wounds. I laid down on my back on the ground, and sitting astride of my body, the surgeon cut into the fl. 4). in the pit of my stomach, and ex- tracted the ball.
During the march, the soldiers manifested their kindness by giving me water. One insisted on me taking his last cracker. Not being hungry, I at first refused, but he urged me to take it so persistently and with such kindness, that to please bim, I dil so. At New Albany, with some of their own wounded, I was placed in a lumber wagon, and after a march of five or six miles further, camped for the night. With the other wounded, I Was taken to a house, the holy of which, spared no pains to make n- comfortable. She gave greater attention to myself than to the others. She placed t fe tther be I on the floor for me to sleep on, and gave me first something to eat. The rebel wounded com- plained of thit. She then explained that her motive for so doing was, in the hope that some Northern mother would be- stow the same kindness on her own son, who was a prisoner of war in the dist int North.
The next day we wore tiken in the same jolting, uncomfort- abie vehicle to Pontoto;, where I again slept on a comfortable bed. The next day, we were taken to Okolona, on the Mobile and Ohio railroad, and from there by railroad to Lau terdale, Mississippi. At that place, I was placed in the hospital, estab- lished for the reception of the badly wounded from the battle
Thomas S. Cogley.
249
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
fields in the north and interior parts of the State. The garrison consisted of convalescents.
While there, I received the same care and attention given to the rebel soldiers. The food was poor and scanty, but it was the best the confederate government could furnish. It was plainly evident to those familiar with the internal affairs of the rebel government, that it could not last much longer. There was an undisguised discontent among the rebel soldiers. What disgusted them more than anything else was, the utter worth- lessness of confederate money. The soldiers would frequently say to me, that if their money was as good as our green- baeks, they could whip the North. What the rebel government got from the planters, they had to take almost by force.
While at Lauderdale, the soldiers were paid off, in confeder- ate script. Some of them drew several months pay, and gave it all for a watermelon and a few half- ripened peaches.
I knew that as soon as my wounds were sufficiently healed, I would be sent to some prison pen. I resolved to attempt au escape. rather than run the risk of ending my life in such a place. I soon learned that the guards were placed on their posts around the hospital enclosure, at four o'clock in the morn- ing, and relieved at eleven o'clock at night. That between the hours of eleven p. m. and four a. m., there was no one to pre- vent a person from leaving the premises. My plan evidently was, to leave the hospital some time after the guards were re- lieved for the night. To do so, without attracting suspicion, I had for several days, previous to starting, invented several excuses for going out of the hospital, between eleven and twelve o'clock at night. This occurred so frequently that nothing was thought of it. I resolved to make the attempt to escape on the night of the 10th of October, lant. On the evening of that day, some of the rebel soldiers bought some sweet potatoes. One of them baked two very large ones and gave them to me. I took them to may bell and wrapped them in my blouse, intend- ing to save them for the next day while on my journey. The
28
250
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
head of my bed was at a window. I availed myself of a moment when no one was looking, to toss my blouse, hat, and boots out of it; for, I was afraid if I put them on when I left, that it might cause a suspicion that I did not intend to return. At eleven o'clock, I heard the guard relieved. All in the apart- ment where I was, excert myself and the steward, were asleep. The latter was deeply interested in a novel, he was reading. About half an hour after the guards were relieved, I got up, put on my pants, and went to the door. The steward looked
up but immediately resume l his reading. I passed out, got my hat, blonse, and boots, went to the east end of the inclosure, and put them on, and after pausing long enough to know that I was not being watched, got over the fence, went to the Mobile an i Ohio railroad, a few hundred yards distant, and started north on it as rapilly as I could walk. That was the hardest night's travel I ever had in my life. I was constantly imagining that I was pursued, and consequently taxed my strength to the utmost.
The transition from a sick bed, to the violent exercise of walk- ing on a railroad track in the dark, was radical in the extreme, and no one in my enfebled condition, unless nerved with the energy of despair, could have endured the fatigue.
The ties were laid une qual distances apart, which necessitate l taking long and short steps, thereby rendering travel more laborious. It being very dark, I frequently missed the ties. which caused me to stumble and dll. About four o'clock in the morning, I reached Gainsville Junction, twenty miles from . Lauderdale. There was a locomotive on the track, and men were moving about with lanterns. I stepped off to the right side of the railroadl, intending to go around the station. I sopa found myself aspending a very steep hill, cover il with a heavy growth of cedar. On gaining the summit, I paused to rest. The station was just below the, and I could hear the mon talk- ir.g. From the fragrier ts of their conversation, I learned that a. construction train was about to depart. Not knowing which
251
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
way it was going, I thought it prudent to wait and see, as I would be in some danger if it was going in the same direction I Was.
The exercise of my morning's walk, gave me a good appetite, and while waiting for the train to start, and daylight to come, I ate one of my sweet potatoes. It was my plan to travel at night and conceal myself in the daytime. I chose the railroad, ic- stead of the ragon-road, to avoid the necessity of inquiring the way, which I would have been compelled to do, had I taken the latter, and would have been constantly running the rich of detection. I know the Mobile and Ohio railroad run noite, and that no trains were ruin at night, and by taking the railroad I would be comparatively safe. I had been in the habit of carry- ing with me on our expeditions, a war map. From it I knew there was a branch road from the Mobile and Ohio road to Col- umbus, on the Tombigbee river. But it had escaped either my attention or recollection, that there was a branch road to Gains- ville, on the same river. My ignorance or forgetfulness of thit fact came near costing me my life, as will be seen further on. I felt that I was in a good hiding place for the day, and that I ought to rest. But I thought that when I was missed in the morning at the hospital, that efforts would be made to recapture me, by means of blood hounds.
The rebel officers had taken particular pains to impress on my mind, that that was the way they pursued and captured their runaway prisoners. Nearly every day I read in the ropers they brought ine, recounts of union prisoners being hunted down with those ferocious animals. I therefore resolved to travel that day an l put as many miles as possible between me and Lauder- dale. At daybreak I resumel my journey. I male a circ it to the right, to avoil the station. After traveling o malle, I enme to the road to Gainsville. Thinking it was the Mobile au 1 Ohio road, I took a dire tion through the woods, parte! wah it. After willing an Hour or two in that way, I went on to the
252
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
on the railroad track, as it would be easier than dodging through the brush in the woods. About half a mile ahead, I saw a party of men at work repairing the road. I then went into the woods on the left of the railroad, intending to get far enough from it, to pass the working party without being seen. I went quite a distance into the woods, out of sight of the railroad, and started north, which direction was indicated by the moss on the trees, supposing I was going parallel with the railroad, but in fact I was getting further from both roads. I traveled two hours in the woods, thinking it safer to do so than to venture on the track. I sat down on a log to rest. While resting, I mechanically broke off some twigs in reach of me, and with the end of one, gouged holes in the decayed surface of the log. 1 then started, as I supposed, in the direction of the railroadl. Not finding it after going quite a distance, I quickened my pace to a very rapid wall :. Hour after hour went by, and I was no nearer the railroad than when I started. A suspicion that I was lost flashel across my mind, and with it a natural feeling of alarm, and the abandonment of my common sense. . Distrusting my compass, the moss on the trees, I followed the direction of the sun, as rapidly a. I could walk, and part of the time on the run. Toward evening, when the sun was well down toward the horizon, I came to the identical log on which I sat in the morn- ins to rest. There were the twigs I left sticking in it, the bita of rotten bark I had chipped off, and the pieces of broken twigs. I knew to a certainty that I was lost. I fully comprehended ny situation. I was in a pine wilderness, without anything to et, and with no means of proeming food, the knowledge of which increased my appetite. I sat down on the log to think. I thought of everything I had heard recommended for a person in tay -inrition. I thought of " Davy Crockett's" remedy: to soin the direction I was sure was the wrong one. I found no tone in that, for I had been in every possible direction, and hal cay reached my starting point. Suddenly it flashed across my bad that the construction trains on the railroad would soon ha
253
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLEY.
going into quarters for the night, and that the whistle of the lo- comotive could be heard, in that flat pine forest, for many miles. I therefore sat intently listening for the locomotive. I had but half an hour to wait, when my heart bounded with joy at hear- ing a whistle much nearer than I expected. I was waiting to hear it again, so as to be sure of the direction, when I was confused by hearing in an opposite direction, the faint sound of a loro- motive's whistle. A moment later, I heard again the first whistle, and concluded that the distant sound was an echo. I did not know it, but the fact was, I was between two railroads, and the distant whistle was from the Mobile and Ohio road, my proper ronte.
I started in the direction of the Gainesville road as rapidly as I could go. I soon struck an old abandoned wagon road, which. going in the direction of the sound of the locomotive, I followed till dark. Being fearful of again getting lost by traveling in the night, and not knowing certainly that the wagen road would lead me to the railroadl, and knowing that I hol but to wait for the whistle of the locomotive in the morning to get the right direction, I conclu led to big mac for the night, expecting to be refreshed in the morning by a good sleep. I leaned some sticks against a large pine tree, and covered them with pine brush, to shelter me from the dew. I eriwled un ler the covering and tried to sleep: For several hours, the thoughts of my peonlar situation prevented sleep, and as the night wore oh, it grew so very cold, that slumber was out of the question. Late in the night I was roused to my feet by heating the baying of hounds following my trail. I thought the rebels had followed me with blood hounds, and that I would soon te retaken. I was fear- fui of being worried to death by the days, before their masters could come ny. I or weln', and placing my back to the mes. waited for them to come on. The baying followed the cour- . I had come precisely, and was getting nearer and nearer. Occasionally it woull cere, as if the scent was lost, and then braak ont again nearer and with greatar rigor, as if it had been
254
LIEUT. THOMAS S. COGLET.
found. The dogs came so close, I could hear them snuffing. The barking ceased, and a moment later I heard a negro calling the dogs away. I concluded that it was a party of negros hunt- ing coon and opossum, a nightly custom of theirs, not so much for the amusement of the chase, as for the meat of those animals. That incident has often caused me to wonder why the hair of our heads will persist in standing on end. when the owner of it is frightened :
With the appearance of daylight, I started on my way, follow- ing the road which still went in the direction in which I heard the locomotive the evening previous.
It was evident that my strength had been overtaxed. The cravings of hunger were terrible. I was obliged to lay down and rest every few rods. It took me several hours to go one mile. I found in the road a rotton ear of corn. That greatly encouraged me, for I reasoned that I must be near some habita- tion. I ate a few of the grains, but they were so far decayed and poisonons, that they caused me to vomit violently for quite a while afterwards. About S o'clock a. m., I heard the whistle or the locomotive. I judged from the sound that the railroad was about a mile distant. On going half a mile further I came in sight of a plantation, nearly a mile off. I started for it for the purpose of getting food from some of the negro shanties that were between me and the plantation residence. I hal to cross a large field of hemp. I was so weak I could not lift my feet above the hemp, which was bent over on the ground, and was therefore being constantly tripped, and thrown to the ground. I had to abandon walking, and make the rest of the distance through the hemp by crawling on my hands and knees. I en- tered an inclosure in the rear of the negro quarters, used for a log parture, and covered with a heavy growth of white oak shrubs higher than my hoal, in which I could effectually con- real myself. I cautiously approached the shanties. Isaw a nagro women at the edge of the inclosure, giving swill to a sow anlpiscina pen. I attracted hor attention and asked her to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.