USA > New York > Dutchess County > The "Dutchess county regiment" (150th regiment of New York state volunteer infantry) in the Civil War; > Part 5
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Our route took us through the finest sections of Ohio and Indiana, and near the historic scene of Colonel George Rogers Clark's famous expedition, which gained for us the great Northwest in the preceding century. Crossing the Ohio river again, at Jeffersonville, Ind., we landed at Louisville, Ky., on the southern bank of the river. The " Blue Grass " region is one of the finest countries in the world, and we ceased to wonder why the pioneer, Daniel Boone, forsook civilization and chose it for his home.
So we journeyed southward through the states of Ken- tucky and Tennessee, with no conductor to bother us about our tickets, and never a worry about our baggage, nor
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whether we should be able to connect with the next train. The principal source of anxiety and misgiving with the soldier is whether his rations will be forthcoming at the proper time, and whether the paymaster will appear when he is due.
We arrived in Tennessee, where we found conditions much the same as in Kentucky. The capital, Nashville, is situated in a beautiful section, and the capitol building was a rather pretentious edifice, built of Tennessee marble, and founded on a limestone ledge several acres in extent. In time we arrived at the Cumberland Mountains and commenced their slow ascent. There were heavy grades to be overcome, and it was a repetition, in a lesser degrec, of the crossing of the Alleghanies. The only difference was that by this time we had become physically hardened, calloused and toughened to such a degree that we could scarcely detect the difference between the hard and soft sides of a board, and could sleep anywhere, everywhere, and at any time.
At last we reached the northern portion of Alabama, and it struck us as a curious coincidence that the name of the state is said to be the Indian synonym for " Here We Rest." It is a record of fact which I write, that after we disembarked from our nine days' ride, it took us some time to get the kinks out of our legs, and get into shape for marching.
But our rest in Alabama was brief. A portion of our Corps went on still further, to where East Tennessee borders on Georgia, where they participated in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, while the balance of the Corps, including our Division (the Ist Division) was sent back to guard the railroad between
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THE DUTCHESS COUNTY REGIMENT.
Nashville and Chattanooga, for it was constantly menaced by the enemy's cavalry. Headquarters of the 12th Army Corps, Major-General Henry W. Slocum commanding, was established at Tullahoma, Tenn., on the Nashville and Chattanooga R. R. It is in the county of Coffee, near the southern tier of counties which border on Alabama.
Our regiment was sent to Normandy, seven miles north of Tullahoma. At Normandy there is a considerable stream, Duck River, a branch of which is spanned at that place by a railroad bridge of some height and length, and it was the special duty of our regiment to guard this structure. Rising abruptly at the end of the bridge, on the southeast, was a hill some two hundred feet in height, and at the north end of this hill was an opening in the rocks, which was the entrance to a cave of considerable extent.
It was said to have been a rendezvous and hiding place for guerillas who fired on passing trains, and as they fired from within the cave it was impossible to determine where the shots came from.
Opposite regimental headquarters was an old black- smith shop, and here, during the winter, religious ser- vices were held, and the room was usually well filled. Many of the men were afflicted at this time with scurvy, caused by a lack of vegetable food, and several consign- ments of sanitary stores, such as pickled onions, dried fruits, condensed milk, vegetables, etc., from the Sani- tary Commission, greatly improved the health of the regiment.
There were also consignments from the same source of delicacies for such as were in the hospital, and a large trunk, filled with stockings and mittens, sent from the
Y
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Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie, arriving in Febru- ary, the contents were distributed among the men, gen- erally while they were on picket duty. The Christian Commission also contributed many comforts, including even literature for the lads who were lonesome.
These two " Commissions " were voluntary organiza- tions of citizens, by means of which the loyal people of the North kept in touch with the volunteer soldiers of the civil war. Their agents were usually the Chaplains of the regiments, and through them the armies in the field, as well as the sick in the hundreds of hospitals, were sup- plied with many comforts which could not well have been furnished by the War Department.
There were many of the natives who led double lives. Part of the time they were guerillas, or " bushwhackers," as they were termed in the army slang of that day, and at other times they would be-apparently-peaceful citi- zens. It was found to be difficult to fasten proof on these marauders, and therefore the general in command of that department resolved to adopt heroic measures to suppress such illegitimate methods of warfare, and an order for that purpose was issued by Maj .- Gen. George H. Thomas.
After recounting the circumstances of one of the worst instances, which the General spoke of as " these atrocious and cold-blooded murders, equaling in savage ferocity any ever committed by the most barbarous tribes on this continent," etc., the order proceeded to direct that a tax of $30,000 should be levied on the property of rebel citizens living within ten miles of where the murders were committed, and the money, when collected, divided among the families of the murdered men.
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Some of these murderers were subsequently captured, and were tried by a Military Commission sitting at Tulla- homa. They had able lawyers who appeared for their defense, but the evidence against them was too conclusive to admit of a doubt, and their conviction followed. They were executed at Nashville not long after.
In pursuance of this order, General Slocum detailed six companies of our regiment, and a squadron of cavalry, Colonel Ketcham in command, to collect the tax. The battalion broke camp January 16, 1864, and by the middle of the afternoon was well on the way to Tulla- homa. The country through which we passed during this first day had no fences, and but few cultivated fields, and was, for the most part, thickly wooded.
The companies reported at General Ruger's head- quarters at nightfall, and preparations were made for an early start in the morning. This portion of the expedition consisted, beside the six companies of our regiment, of which I have spoken, of ten mounted officers, four six-mule wagons and two ambulances. Colonel Ketcham remained until the next day, to bring up the squadron of cavalry.
The weather, although it was mid-winter, was balmy, and at mid-day positively warm, and the men, who were in heavy marching order, perspired freely, so that fre- quent stops for rest were granted. On our route we passed a house which was said to have been at one time the home of the world-renowned Davy Crockett, and this locality was the scene of many of his wonderful feats with gun and trap. The close of the day found the expedition at Lynchburg, a small village with houses all on the main road, and with about a dozen stores, all of which however were closed.
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The farmers were generally well off in worldly goods, and in making an apportionment of the tax, from the County Records, Colonel Ketcham found two men in the assessed district worth over a million dollars each, and five others worth over a half million each. The position of these men was a trying one, and they were to be made to feel the cost of secession as they had never felt it before.
On the second day out, the forage train visited two plantations and filled 50 army wagons with corn and oats, and then piled corn stalks on top. From another farm there was gathered 3,000 bushels of oats and corn, and a large number of cattle. For all of this property receipts were given to the owners by the officer in command of the forage train. The battalion was on the march by 8 A. M. on the following day, and by noon had reached Mulberry, the County Seat of Lincoln County. We found the stores closed, and most of the houses deserted, and the citizens who remained said that similar conditions prevailed throughout the state.
Headquarters was established in a well-built house of brick, which stood in the center of the village, and Cap- tain Cogswell, of Co. A, occupied a house near the village church. There was no sugar to be had, and honey was used to sweeten our coffee, but as there were plenty of chickens, and some wild game, we did not suffer for lack of meat. On Sunday, January 24th, services were held by Chaplain Bartlett of our regiment, in the Baptist Church, and he had a large attendance, for, beside the six companies of the 150th, nearly one hundred of the citizens attended.
The expedition lasted two weeks, and, its object having
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been satisfactorily accomplished, a return to Tullahoma was ordered. The return journey was marked by the murder of two of our men by the guerillas of that section. George Lovelace and John Odell were leading horses a short distance in advance of the main column, which was moving leisurely along without the least idea of danger. The two men had gone not over half a mile ahead, around a turn in the road between the hills, when down came a squad of guerillas in front of them, while another gang came up in their rear, all firing as they closed in on their victims. Both men were killed outright, being shot through the lungs in both cases, one from the back and the other through the breast.
The regiment, alarmed by the fusillade, hastened to the spot, only to find the two men dead, one in the road- way and the other in a cornfield near at hand. Lieut. Bowman gave chase with a squad of cavalry and after a pursuit of seven or eight miles succeeded in recapturing the horses and wounding several of the guerillas, and finding two pairs of boots, and several other articles plundered from the bodies of our unfortunate comrades.
Their bodies were tenderly taken up, placed in the am- bulance, and brought sadly into camp. The next day the funeral was held, and the late lamented Captain Woodin, in a letter which was published in the Poughkeepsie Eagle, rendered a graphic account of the impressive ceremonies, which were of a military character, conducted by Chaplain Bartlett; the remains being escorted to the grave by the Regimental Band, which played a dead march for the whole distance.
Colonel Ketcham having succeeded in collecting $5,000 more than was required by the order, recommended that
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the amount be equally divided between the families of these two comrades, and, his recommendation being ap- proved by the Government, the widows of Lovelace and Odell each received $2,500.
Four of the ten companies composing our regiment were not stationed at Normandy during the winter. Two companies, I and H, were detailed to guard a water tank near Wartrace, Tenn., where all trains stopped for water. They built there a block-house of hewn logs, for we had several men who were carpenters before they became soldiers. The block-house was two stories in height, the upper story being placed octagonally upon the lower, so that the house had eight fronts, with loop-holes for our rifles. The timbers were eight inches square and thirty feet in length, and it cost us considerable labor, working as we did with poor and insufficient tools, but the result was quite satisfactory. Though we never had occasion to use the structure as a defense, yet we did use it as a shelter. Trains were passing at all hours of the day and night, loaded with munitions and supplies for the front.
After a few weeks of duty at this place, Companies I and G were sent to guard the bridge which spanned the Duck river near Wartrace, Tenn., Lieutenant Underwood being in command. This bridge was an important link in the line of communication, and its destruction would have been a serious affair. As soon as we arrived, we set to work building our huts for shelter and warmth, using logs for walls, and boards when we could get them, for the roofs and floors. Each hut had a large fire-place and chimney constructed of stones and clay mortar. The dimensions of our huts were about 8x12 feet, and they were expected to house five or six men each. Rude
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bunks were built in tiers across the rear end, and were the principal part of our furniture.
Duck river runs through an ideal farming country, for the soil is fertile and the water excellent, while the wooded portion, which was at that time a virgin forest, included a vast amount of splendid timber. Along the river were large tracts of level bottom-lands covered with tall broom- grass which afforded fine shelter for rabbits. Amuse- ments were not abundant then, and occasionally, when conditions were favorable, we would organize a round-up of rabbits. We would surround a tract of say fifty acres, and at a given signal each one of us would move towards a common center, beating the grass with a pole, and shout- ing. As we narrowed the circle we could see the quarry jumping here and there and the grass waving from their movements, and at its close we were generally rewarded with a good catch.
Mails came to us with reasonable regularity, but read- ing matter was scarce in camp, and the surrounding com- munity was by no means of a high literary character; in fact it was quite the reverse. That country was then comparatively new, and hence was as yet sparsely settled, and several conscriptions by the Confederacy had robbed the community of its young and middle-aged men, leaving only the youths and aged at home. The female portion of the remaining society were very outspoken in their sentiments regarding the war, and firmly believed in the justice and ultimate success of the Southern cause.
Wartrace was a small station on the railroad, and con- sisted, at the time of which I write, of a depot building, a dozen houses, a couple of general stores where goods were sold or bartered for produce, a blacksmith shop and
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a church. It was a primitive community, and typical of the rural districts of Tennessee in the 60's. A rudely constructed log cabin, often all in one room, a few acres of clearing, sufficient to raise corn and potatoes to fatten a few pigs and supply corn meal for the making of the ever-present " corn pone," and, incidentally, enough corn for the manufacture of "Moonshine " whiskey, which was considered by these people to be one of the prime necessities of life; such was the home of the " poor white " of Tennessee at that time. Their wants were few, and in fact they were the exponents of " The Simple Life."
The homes of the slave owners were of a more luxuri- ant type, but gave evidence in their surroundings of a measure of barbaric crudeness of a most lavish character. They were in no respects as good, nor as comfortable and convenient, as the residences of the average Northern farmers.
The health of the regiment was good at that time, very few of its members being in the hospital, which argued well for the efficiency of our medical and surgical department, as well as for the physical condition of the men. During the last week in March, George Pinhorn, of Co. B, was assisting in the survey of a road from Tullahoma to Shelbyville. While he and William Law- son were eating their dinner, seated on a log under a tall tree, the wind, which was blowing hard at the time, broke off a large limb which in its fall struck Pinhorn on the head and caused his death; he surviving the injury but a few hours. He was buried at Tullahoma.
He was a very capable young man, and had, but a short time before, been detailed to the Engineer Corps, and it was understood that he was soon to have been promoted
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to the rank of Captain. The same limb which caused his death also struck a cup of coffee from the hand of Lawson, shattering the cup into many fragments, which he afterward sent to Engine Company No. 6, of Pough- keepsie, of which he was a member, desiring that they should have a souvenir of his narrow escape from death by accident.
At last the month of March had taken its departure and spring time had come in the Sunny South, the buds bursting into life after their winter of sleep. Rumors of the coming campaign, which was to be, as we fondly hoped, the finish of the war, were thick in the air. The note of preparation was sounded, and the army began to make final preparations for an active campaign, for there was considerable vitality yet left in the rebellion, and it died hard.
All deficiencies in our equipment and armament were made good, and everything necessary for a vigorous conduct of the advance into the heart of the Confederacy was furnished. We firmly believed that the coming cam- paign would see the national authority established in all the states which had defied it. So when marching orders came on April 25, 1864, we thought we could see the beginning of the end, and although many of us were fated to fall upon bloody fields of battle, we were glad when the order was given, " Break camp and be in readi- ness to march for the front." We marched for "the front " at the date appointed.
By General Order No. 144, under date of April 4, 1864, the IIth and 12th Army Corps (ours was the 12th) were consolidated, the new organization thus formed being designated the 20th Army Corps, having
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the five-pointed star as its corps badge, and it was placed under the command of Major-General Joseph Hooker; "Fighting Joe," as he was familiarly spoken of in the ranks; and in this corps we entered the campaign of 1864 as one of the six regiments which composed the 2nd Brigade of its Ist Division, and in it remained until the close of the war. It was destined to take us into and through the Confederacy to the Atlantic coast, and north- ward through the Carolinas and Virginia to Washington again.
CHAPTER VII. FROM NORMANDY TO RESACA.
By STEPHEN G. COOK.
The Peculiarities of Memory -The Second Pleasant Winter in the Army-The IIth and 12th Corps Consolidated-Leaving Normandy, Tennessee, for a More South- ern Trip-That Thunder Shower-A Mule "Potter's Field" -- Lookout Mountain-Snake Creek Gap-The Battle of Resaca.
Some one has said that "Memories brighten as they take their flight," and I, from personal experience, believe the saying to be true. What old soldier is there, as he looks back over a vista of forty years and recalls the in- cidents of his army service, who does not linger with fondness over the pleasanter portions of it?
The sleeping on the ground in the rain and the cold, the weariness, the forced marches, the hunger, the battle, the diseases contracted and even the wounds received are only half remembered, but the merry quip, the jest, the songs we used to sing, and the pleasures of good com- radeship will linger in our minds until time for us shall be no more. Our memories at best go back clearly but a little way, or if they go back far, they pick up here a date and there an occurrence half forgotten, and of those remembered the pleasantest are sure to be much the larger portion. We forget the brambles and the thorns and remember only the roses and the wild flowers that bloomed along our path.
This is my own experience, and that of many others
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with whom I have conversed on this subject and I believe if the memories of the two hundred living members (October, 1905,) of the old regiment could be tested it would be found that their experience would correspond very nearly with mine; another evidence of the kindness of Divine Providence.
As the spring of 1864 opened the regiment could real- ize that it had passed two very pleasant winters in the service, the first at Baltimore, surrounded by the gaieties and pleasures of that intensely Union and just as in- tensely Rebel city, between which conditions its inhabi- tants were fairly divided, but even the rebel portion could not altogether forget its native hospitality to the " stran- gers within her gates," and the second winter at Nor- mandy, Tenn., whose rural simplicity was in striking con- trast to the former, but where we enjoyed ourselves very well in an entirely different way.
On April 4, 1864, the 11th and 12th Army Corps were consolidated and made the 20th Corps by the fol- lowing order :
General Order No. 144,
Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D. C. April 4, 1864.
The 11th and 12th Army Corps are consolidated and will be called the 20th Corps. Major Gen. J. Hooker is assigned to this command.
For weeks the camp was filled with rumors of a cam- paign to the south of us, with Atlanta, Ga., as the objec- tive point. The rumors thickened as the spring ad- vanced. How they originated we never knew, for it is not likely that the commanding generals gave out their plans so long in advance. On the 25th of April, 1864,
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the long-looked-for order came, and on Tuesday, April 26th, we started upon our southern pilgrimage.
The first day we marched only to Tullahoma, a dis- tance of seven miles. There we were joined by the 13th N. J., 2nd Mass. and 27th Indiana regiments. The 3rd Wisconsin and 107th N. Y., with whom we had also been brigaded, were somewhere a short distance in our rear, guarding a wagon train. These six regiments, from this time on, composed the 2nd Brigade of the Ist Divis- ion of the 20th Corps, to which we were now attached, under the command of General " Joe " Hooker.
We remained at Tullahoma until the morning of April 28, 1864, preparing for the work we then instinctively knew was before us, when we again started on our south- ern march, reaching Decherd, a small town situated near the western base of the Cumberland mountains, a distance of thirteen miles from Tullahoma by rail and probably fifteen miles by the route we took.
Up to this time we had been marching close to the railroad over which trains of sixteen cars were following each other in quick succession as they were hurried to the front, loaded with commissary stores for the army at Chattanooga and for a reserve for the summer cam- paign. On the morning of April 29th we left the rail- road and taking an apology for a wagon road up the mountain, reached the top and that night encamped on the summit of the Cumberland Mountains, on a broad plateau some six or seven miles in width, level as a table and heavily timbercd. This plateau is said to extend the whole length of these mountains as though they had been planed down by some tremendous force while they were in a more plastic condition than we found them.
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During the night we were treated to one of the most terrific thunder showers we had up to that time, or have since, ever listened to. It seemed to say, "You midgets think you are somewhat great on cannonading! Just listen to what I can do." We listened. It is a promi- nent fact that every one of the numerous diaries in my possession speaks of this thunder shower as the most ter- rific in the writer's experience.
The next day, April 30th, we descended the eastern slope of the mountain, coming out in the "Big Sequatchie Valley." We encamped for the night on the banks of Battle Creek, noted as the locality of many a hard-fought battle between General Andrew Jackson and the Indian Chief Wethersford.
Up to this point the country was familiar to us, as in the fall before we had been hurried to this place with the view of taking part in the battle of Lookout Mountain; but on our arrival here it was learned that the battle had been fought and won, and we were ordered back to Normandy, Tenn., to guard the railroad, or "Cracker Line " as it was more commonly called, and where we spent the winter.
On May Ist about II A. M. we reached Bridgeport, Ala., which for several months had been the southern terminus of the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. We had expected to find it a good sized town, at the head of steamboat navigation on the Tennessee River. Imagine our surprise, instead of streets, stores, dwellings, churches and hotels, to find not a single house of any kind except the sheds the Government had built to protect the com- missary stores.
This may have been only the railroad station, and
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there may have been a "City of Bridgeport " hidden away behind the numerous hills and mountains in the vicinity, but we did not get a glimpse of it. We did not tarry there long enough to ask many questions, but kept right on until about nine that night, encamping in a wet cornfield, the atmosphere of which was pervaded by an almost overpowering smell of decaying flesh. The next morning we found we had encamped in a Potter's Field of almost numberless dead mules.
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