USA > New York > History of the Tenth regiment of cavalry New York state volunteers, August, 1861, to August, 1865, pt 2 > Part 31
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Our sweet potatoes were quite dry and we became very thirsty indeed. A nice little pond of water was but a few rods off and in plain sight of us, but there was & white man sowing grain just beyond it and a darky harrowing it in; besides, to go to the pond brought a house in plain sight, and we were afraid of being discovered if we ventured to get a drink. We tried to crawl down to it, but it was too much of a risk, and we waited until night.
The last twenty-four hours had been very eventful ones. We could hear Sher- man's guns across the river every day, and we feared unless our forces crossed the river our case was hopeless. Still we kept up good spirits and determined to go through if there was any such thing. The next night, December 8th, was a very quiet one with us, though we had several picket-posts to flank, but did not have any narrow escapes.
I was getting so badly worn out that it was almost impossible for me to travel two miles without resting, and it seemed as though I should never be able to start again when I did rest. Myers stood it much better, being in better health and the stronger of the two. Fortunately, I had a small piece of opium in my pocket. I used it, and by that means managed to get along. Our appetites were getting very keen, for we had had nothing for the last twenty-four hours. and there were no inhabited plantations near us that we knew of. On the night of the 9th we came across a couple of small ears of corn in the road that had been dropped by the rebel cavalry. We passed quite a number of pickets. as usual, with good success, and near morning camped in the pitch-pine woods where there was not a drop of water. The day before we had no water at all, but plenty dur- ing the night; but this day (December 10th) was a rainy day, and finding some hard-wood leaves we poured the rain-water from the leaves into our cup and
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HISTORY OF THE TENTHI REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
managed to quench our thirst very well. We could not get enough to boil our corn, so we ate it as we picked it off the cob. We used it very sparingly, for the prospects were unfavorable for us to get anything more to eat very soon. At night it rained very hard when we started, and we soon found that the whole country was flooded and we had to crawl along the top of the fences across every little stream or wade through.
The whole country was very flat, and we were obliged to walk in the water from one inch to three feet deep all night. Pickets were plenty, but we could get along with them. Starvation was staring us in the face, the water was run- ning through our clothes as through a sieve, and Myers's shoes were giving out, the sole being entirely off of one, but we tied it on with some old rags and kept on our way.
Myers was getting very much discouraged and almost willing to give himself up. I encouraged him as much as possible, for I had no idea of doing anything of the kind; yet the circumstances were enough to discourage almost any one. Near morning we crossed the Charleston and Savannah Railroad, and knew that we must be near Grahamsville. Thinking it about time to camp, we squatted behind a tree with our feet in the water, as there was no dry place, and went to sleep. I had my matches in a water-proof bone box and kept them dry. As soon as daylight came we crawled into a swamp not far from the road, but almost im- penetrable, and after a long time succeeded in making a fire. It stopped raining, and we soon got dry and boiled our corn, what little we had left, ate it, and, breaking down some saplings to keep us out of the water, lay down on them and went to sleep. Just at night we heard a locomotive-whistle. It came from the direction of Savannah and then returned again.
We heard no firing this day, and did not know but our forces had possession of the road thus far, as we were only thirty miles from Savannah. We tried to find out by reconnoitring, but could not reach the railroad without exposing ourselves too much. Myers ran a very narrow escape in going out to the road just at night. As he was about to step out into the road he saw a squadron of rebel cavalry coming. He dodged behind a stump and escaped their notice. Soon after dark we concluded to visit the railroad and find out who held it. We were almost starved, and we had got to find something to eat if possible. After traveling about a mile in the direction of the sound of the locomotive we had heard, we found ourselves very near a large camp, with one or two trains of cars on the track and engines attached. We could not make out whether they were our forces or rebels, and seeing them running about thought we would pass through and see who they were. Throwing our old blankets about our shoul- ders, à la reb fashion, we went into the camp and found they were rebels. I happened to stumble against one who had a saddle on his arm, and begged his pardon. "Ch, that's all right," he said. We walked leisurely along between two lines of rebel infantry, they not noticing us, and stopped when we came to one of the engines, looking it over apparently, but listening to the engineer talking to a rebel officer about Sherman, but we could gain no information and went on, taking good care to get into the woods out of sight the first opportu- nity. This was the night of December 11th. After leaving this depot we con- cluded to make the best time possible in the direction of Savannah.
The town of Grahamsville is a village of one street nearly a mile long, full of
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EXPERIENCE OF CAPTAIN B. B. PORTER, CO. G.
palatial residences of rich cotton and rice planters. We did not know that we were on the road to this town, but knew that we had to keep dodging almost con- stantly to keep out of the way of rebel soldiers who were going to and from the railroad. In a couple of hours we reached the village and passed through the main street, constantly meeting white men and negroes, who paid no attention to us at all. After we got out of the village we were more cautious. It was a bright moonlight night, and by stepping in the shade of a tree we were passed without being noticed. One instance I remember. We heard a carriage coming, and stepped in the shade of an evergreen in front of a house, and a carriage drove up and stopped within a few feet of us; and two gentlemen and ladies got down and went into the house without noticing us, and the driver passed on without seeing us. We thought nothing of this at the time, as we were getting used to narrow escapes.
On we marched four miles from Grahamsville, getting so weak for want of food that we could hardly move. Coming to the railroad we concluded to follow that down, considering it less dangerous than the road. After going a short dis- tance we came to a negro's shanty, and, after a careful investigation as to whether there were any white folks inside, we pretended to be rebels and called for some- thing to eat. An old wench went to boiling some rice and warming some pigs' feet. The shanty was full of darkies, in bed and on the floor. We inquired about the Yankees, but they would not talk much about them, only expressing a very strong wish that they would stay "Norf, where they 'longed." A young, smart-looking darky and a "yaller gal " kept looking at us and whispering, and finally began to question us rather close. I thought they suspected we were not rebels, and asked them who they thought we were, and they would not tell. So we told them. As soon as they became convinced, there was nothing good enough for us. Bread and sweet potatoes appeared at once. The door was carefully fastened, and a small darky sent out to warn us of the approach of any rebel soldiers. Adam, the young negro who had suspected that we were Yankees, offered to pilot us on our way and gave us considerable information. Kilpatrick was ten miles from there in the direction of Savannah, and Foster's forces were ten miles in the opposite direction. Adam said he could direct us to Foster's forces without going near any rebel pickets, but in going the other way we would have to pass a "heap " of rebels.
We concluded to try and reach Foster's forces, and do it that night with Adam's assistance. After we had got as much as we could eat, with some to take along, we started across the country through the rice swamps outside of all pickets. After about five miles' travel we reached the last plantation that was inhabited toward the coast on Broad River. Here Adam left us in an old out- house while he went to a darky's house to find out in regard to the rebel pickets and ours. He came back and gave us full directions where and how to go, and that we would see no rebel pickets, but come to ours or where they were the night before. With many thanks we left him and pushed on in first-rate spirits, with a prospect of a speedy release. We found everything just as Adam had told us, and had but little trouble in finding the way, for it was a clear, cold night, and the moon was not down.
At length we came to an old picket-post which had been occupied by our forces the day before. We knew that our forces were the ones who had occupied
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HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
it from the fact that our horses were shod, for in that country the people never shoe their horses. We thought perhaps, our forces had withdrawn their pickets during the night, and that at that moment we were possibly within our own lines. We traveled cautiously, but were in excellent spirits, hoping soon to gain our liberty. Visions of home and the comforts of life once more caused us to forget for the moment our weariness and emnaciated forms, which had been severely tried by our determined efforts during the last eighteen days and nights by continuous watching, marching, and constant excitement.
At length we came to another deserted post; this we examined closely and found that no rebels had been there since the rain of the night before. Thinking that we must be near our lines, according to the information received from Adam, we were more buoyant than ever, and felt almost certain that we were safe.
Just as we were approaching a narrow strip of woods where Adam was sure we would find our forces, we espied through an opening a horse hitched to a tree. Thinking of course that this was a Yankee picket-post, we marched boldly toward the sentinel, when a clear voice rang out :
" Halt !" We obeyed.
" Who comes there?"
"Friends," we answered.
" Advance," said the sentinel.
Within a few steps of him he halted us again and wanted to know who we were. Seeing they had on our caps and overcoats, we thought of course they were Yankees, and asked them if they were.
"Not by a d-d sight ! March up here and consider yourselves prisoners." And thus after all our weary marching, our hardships and sufferings, and cur many hair-breadth escapes, did we find we had voluntarily surrendered ourselves to the rebels, and this while our own forces were not half a mile away.
Never in my life before did I experience such feelings as at that moment. It is simply an impossibility to describe them. Yet hope did not entirely desert us, and we thought if we could only secure the two sentinels' arms we could march them into our camp, for we learned that we were but a short distance from our forces, who, the night before, occupied the same picket-post where we then were.
They kept us at a respectable distance from them, and took good care to allow us no advantage over them for a moment.
Although tired, sleepy, and almost completely worn out, I could not sleep. Our prospects for the future were dark indeed, and we fully realized it. We had traveled over two hundred miles at the dead of night, almost starved a portion of the time, and made many very narrow escapes, had marched through their camps unnoticed, living on excitement; for I believe had the excitement and anxiety not been so intense we should have been totally unable to perform the journey we did and withstood the hardships we were obliged to undergo. All the trials we had passed through were for nothing. We were prisoners again, although we were within a half-mile of our troops. The pickets would not believe us when we told them we had traveled from Columbia.
Just at daylight one of our gunboats in the river about a mile off commenced firing at the rebel pickets up the river. We learned from the pickets that we had given ourselves up at the very spot where the battle of Honey Hill commenced on
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EXPERIENCE OF CAPTAIN B. B. PORTER, CO. G.
the 29th or 30th of November previous. Our captors gave us something to eat, and about eight o'clock in the morning we were started for Grahamsville. It was almost impossible to move when we came to start, we were so sore and lame, and it seemed like going to the grave instead of home, as we thought we were a few short hours before. Our guards used us very well. Our route to Grahamsville was di- rectly over the battle-field of Honey Hill for three miles. All the black troops that fell on that field lay there still unburied. There were arms and legs without bodies, and bodies without heads. Some of the bodies were stripped of clothing entirely. The stench was almost unbearable. We saw a number of old planters with their negroes looking over the field, showing them (the negroes) the dead bodies of their race and trying to impress upon their minds that all who ran away and joined the Yankees were put in the front and made to fight, and consequently got killed. Our guards informed us that planters came a long distance with their negroes to show them these sights and explain it to them for the purpose of keeping them at home.
In a couple of hours we arrived in the rebel camp about a mile from town; were ordered to be taken to town; got almost there and were then ordered back; were taken before ex-Governor and Brigadier-General Chestnut, and examined separately and very closely; then sent to town ; were here again examined. They thought us spies from Sherman's army, and would not believe that we had traveled from Columbia, saying it was impossible, for they had troops all the way on the route we must have come, and we would have been caught or starved before we got so far. After waiting some time we were examined again and asked for papers. I happened to have an old letter that I received in Charleston from Captain Van- derbilt, of the Tenth New York Cavalry, and Myers had one. These letters, I think, saved us. Doubtless we would have dangled between heaven and earth from the limb of some tree had we been destitute of any proof that we were not spies.
This was the 12th of December. About noon we were taken to a little pen and shut up with a black corporal who was taken prisoner at the battle of Honey Hill with two others belonging to the Fifty-fourth U. S. C. I. The other two were taken out and shot soon after they were caught, but this one told them he belonged in South Carolina and wanted to go home. They saved his life to send him home. He was free-born, and belonged in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Our pen where we were confined was six feet by eight, and we could just stand up straight in it. It was made of small logs about six inches through and pinned together at the corners. It was the same on the top and bottom, with none of the cracks stopped, and looked like a kind of cage for wild beasts. Four men were guarding us and their own guard-house. One of them used us first rate and brought provisions on his own account, so that we had more to eat than we had had at any time while confined.
After one night's rest we began to devise means of escape again, and thought we might possibly get this rebel soldier, who was a Union man at heart, to assist us. I hinted the subject to him, and found that he would do all he could, and thought perhaps he would go with us at first, but his father and mother both lived at Grahamsville and he did not like to leave them; besides, he had not stamina enough to undertake it, from fear of being caught; but finally he promised to let us know the next day, as he was going home that night, and also promised to find out just how and where the rebel pickets were stationed.
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HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
The next day, December 14th, he told us where the pickets were, but could not nerve himself to go with us. I offered him money and promised everything in my power that I could do for him if' he would take us safely through to our lines, which could be reached in three hours; but it was no use. Fear of being caught caused him to fight on against his own principles. As each sentinel was relieved during the night, we were looked after to see if they still held us. Our Union-rebel sentinel finally agreed to let us get out while he was not looking if we could manage some way to make it appear that we did not get out while he was on duty. . Hopes of escaping again made us feel somewhat jubilant. The guard was allowed to take one of us out to get wood when we wanted any, and I got consent to scrape up some pine-leaves for a bed. I scraped as large a pile together as I could carry and took them in; then with the wood we had we could make it appear as though we were under our old blankets and a piece of tent the black Corporal had. The Corporal was to stay, Myers and myself were to go and leave this bed looking as though there were three of us and deceive the next guard that came on after we had gone, for the double purpose of not having our friend accused of letting us go, and to give us more time before it was found out that we were gone. We knew where the pickets were and how to pass them. Three hours' time was all we wanted to reach our lines. After everything was ready and all understood, we were impatient for the time to come when we could make our exit. But, alas ! just after dark five rebel soldiers came with an order to take us to the depot and send us to Charleston, S. C. And so our hopes were again dashed to the ground, and no prospect of escape was now open to us. They marched us to the depot, and, with five men guarding us three, kept us there all night. I lay awake all night on the ground watching an opportunity to get away. At one time Myers, the negro, and four of the guards were asleep. I thought the other began to nod, and I would get a chance; but some one came along, and I was foiled again.
The next day about noon we were put on board a train for Charleston, which had to run the gantlet of our gunboats which lay in the Pocotaligo River. It was to pass in the daytime, and would be the first one that had made the attempt for three days. We were in the rear car. They ran the train as fast as possible in passing the place where we were exposed to the fire of the gunboats. One gunboat fired a number of shots, and one solid shot struck about twenty yards from the rear of the train in the center of the track. Two rifle-balls, fired by our · sharpshooters, struck the train. I was never on a train before when I wished for an accident, but we were carried safely through to Charleston, where we were put in jail amid scenes quite familiar to us, the jail being the next building to the one we were confined in before. We found three officers confined there who had also escaped and been recaptured after being out eleven days and nights. We had the privilege of three rooms and a hall in the third story, with nothing but the bare walls and floor. A more miserable, dirty, squalid place would be hard to find. This was confinement in earnest.
It was now the 16th of December. We were fed but once a day, and then not half enough for a single meal. At this rate we were bound to starve. It was much worse than we had been used to living when out in the woods. In the jail were prisoners of every description-rebel deserters, galvanized Yankees, and citizens. One man had been in there for two years because he was a stanch Union man. One year of the time he was in irons.
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EXPERIENCE OF CAPTAIN B. B. PORTER, CO. G.
On the 17th we were placed in a room one story lower down, with twelve of our enlisted men from Andersonville. Here were seventeen of us in a room about fifteen by ten. About half of these men' were the most pitiful objects imaginable -nothing but skin and bones, covered with sores and vermin, and their shirts had been worn for months without washing .. They were almost idiots in conse- quence of their treatment and being starved. One man I noticed in particular. He had his corner, and scarcely ever moved out of it, or spoke a word, except when something to eat came in ; then he would brighten up a little. Not a word of fault escaped his lips-in fact, he was a living corpse. How soon I would be- come his counterpart was hard to tell. I was fast approaching him in the way of nastiness, for we had no way of cleaning ourselves.
December 18th .- The enlisted men were taken out of jail and sent to Florence to a pen not a jot behind Andersonville, except that it had not been used so long. On the morning of the 19th, before day, we were given a small piece of fresh beef and marched to the Columbia depot and put on board a train for Columbia. My piece of beef I ate raw, and a very sweet morsel it was, too; yet it did not satisfy my appetite at all. Nothing occurred worthy of note on the trip. No chance presented itself for our escape, and just at night we arrived at Columbia. We were marched to the jail and locked up without a mouthful to eat, and those in attendance at the jail would bring us no water, though we were nearly fam- ished for the want of it. On the morning of the 20th we were taken out and marched to the Lunatic Asylum yard-where our prisoners had been removed since we had been gone-and placed with the rest. The first thing we looked for among our friends was a few mouthfuls to eat. They were all sorry to see us back, yet glad that we were alive, for quite a number had been returned who had been caught by dogs and badly bitten. From the asylum yard there was no opportunity to escape, and our chances of ever getting North again looked hope- less. The weather had become very cold-colder than it had ever been known before in that country.
I had no shelter, and nearly froze. Myself and Lieutenant Johnson, of the Tenth New York Cavalry, finally made us a little hut of dirt and a few pieces of boards and sticks and covered it with one old blanket and a piece of tent that I had brought back with me. Some officers of our acquaintance had been ex- changed since I had been out, and left their old blankets with Johnson. Also gave him an order to draw any money that might be sent to them. In this way we got a little money and managed to get a little meat at five dollars a pound, so that we were not quite so badly starved as we had been before. We suffered very much with the cold, for it was impossible to get wood enough to keep us warm.
For a few weeks I was hardly able to move about, in consequence of my hard- ships while trying to escape. About the only hope we had was the continued success of our armies. There were about eleven hundred of us, and the rebels had furnished lumber enough to shelter about three hundred, and probably about one hundred more were sheltered in tents ; the rest had to do the best they could.
Tunnels were started, but were generally discovered in some manner. Thus the winter wore away, and rumors got into camp that Sherman was on the march again. The darkies smuggled some newspapers into camp, and we found he was
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HISTORY OF THE TENTH REGIMENT OF CAVALRY.
certainly coming toward Columbia. A party of twenty-five had a tunnel all dug and ready to open, and each one had a chance to choose two friends to go out with him the first night it was opened. I was chosen for one, and immediately made preparations to try my luck again. Finally, on the 14th of February, 1865, we were notified to be ready to move in two hours. We knew that Sherman was close by, and, although foiled in our tunnel escape, Lieutenant Johnson and myself determined to effect an escape from the cars during the night. We had an old case-knife with saw-teeth filed in the back for the purpose of sawing a hole to get out. Just at night, during one of the coldest rain-storms I ever knew South -the rain freezing as it fell-we were stowed away on a train of cars, fifty-five in each car. Soon after dark the train started, and before we had gone ten miles we had a hole sawed through the bottom of our car ready to crawl out as soon as the train should stop at any small station. Nearly thirty miles from Columbia the train stopped where there was no station, and through the hole we went, followed by half a dozen others. We lay down close to the track just outside, waiting for the train to start. The guards were nearly frozen, and they commenced getting them down from the top of the cars and going inside. In doing this they dis- covered many Yankees outside and put them back again. Johnson was caught and put back again, but was no sooner in than he slipped down through again. To keep out of sight I had to roll backward and forward under the cars from one side of the road to the other. One of the guards in getting down from the top of a car dropped his gun, and it came very near falling upon me. About the same time a rebel officer came along with a lamp looking for prisoners that had got out of the cars. I rolled about five feet down in the gutter where there was about six inches of water-rather a cold bath-but I lay still and escaped the notice of the officer. Soon after Lieutenant Johnson passed me, and I called to him in a whisper, and we succeeded in getting away from the train and took the road for Columbia. We had not gone far before we came up with Captain Getman, of the Tenth New York Cavalry ; Lieutenant Crossley, of the One Hundred and Eight- eenth Pennsylvania Volunteers; and Lieutenant Smith, of the One Hundred and Forty-second New York Volunteers, the latter the only officer captured at Fort Fisher at the time of Butler's fizzle. Not long after we came across two more officers, who left us very soon. The four mentioned above and myself comprised our party. It was an awful night, raining very hard and freezing as soon as it fell, covering the ground with ice. I think I never suffered inore with cold than that night. . My clothes were worn out and hardly covered my nakedness, and they were frozen stiff, but we were free again, and in good spirits, considering the circumstances. We had but very little to eat. After a short consultation we concluded to cross the Broad and Saluda Rivers and join Sherman south of Co- lumbia, thinking we could flank the rebel army easier on that side than the other. Although it rained continually, we traveled about fifteen miles, as near as we could calculate. Toward morning we discovered, by a milestone on the road we were traveling, that we were twenty-seven miles from Columbia. Turning off the road into a piece of woods we lay down, but it was so cold we could not keep warm without stirring about. As soon as daylight came we found a secure place and built a fire. Although it continued to rain, we made out to get warm and eat up what little provisions we had. Just at night it cleared off and the moon shone bright, which would be favorable for us to cross Broad River and get into
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