USA > Ohio > Four years in the saddle. History of the First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 15
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From the best information I could obtain along the route, it appeared that the rebel train was some five or six days' march ahead of me and traveling with apprehension of pursuit, so that it was evident that it would be impossible to catch it. My horses were all jaded with hard marching and many of them had already given out, leaving a number of men dismounted, and from the scarcity of horses in the country, I could not sun- ply their place. Therefore, after sending a force ten miles fur- ther into the country, to get all possible information, I deter- mined to halt. The reports of the expedition confirmed previ- ous intelligence. After remaining in camp one day to rest my horses, I started back on the eleventh of December and at Tillico infantry awaiting my return.
Plains found General McL. Smith encamped with his division of
Through him, received instructions from General Sherman to rest my horses as long as necessary and then proceed to Chat- tanooga via Charleston. Remained in camp until the morning of the fourteenth, Major Smith's battalion, Fifth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, being meanwhile relieved and ordered to Athens. Ar- riving at Calhoun on the fifteenth, had orders requiring me to remain at that place, guarding the railroad and river as a line looking toward Georgia. The detachment of Third U. S. Car- alry was relieved from duty with my brigade and the Fifth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Colonel Heath, temporarily attached. I at once prepared to establish a line of couriers to London and Kingston, communicating with General Elliott, chief of cavalry, and the Fifth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry was assigned to the duty. With the Fourth Michigan, I opened a line of communication to Chattanooga. The Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry was sent to Columbus on the Hiwassee, to guard the river there and the adjacent fords. On the twenty-second, the courier post at Cleveland was attacked by sixty rebel cavalry and driven out, with the loss of a few horses and arms and one man wounded.
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The rebels retired shortly after, leaving two wounded, and the couriers resumed their post.
On the morning of the twenty-eighth, a wagon train which had arrived at Charleston the evening before under escort of convalescents, etc., of General Sheridan's command and com- manded by Colonel Laiboldt, was attacked by General Wheeler with about fifteen hundred rebel cavalry. As soon as I was made aware of the attack, I mounted the small portion of my command not on duty (less than one hundred and fifty men), and as soon as the train had crossed the bridges, moved over the river. Colonel Laiboldt was now sharply engaged and soon had the enemy's lines wavering. I then drew sabres and charged, driving before me a force of some four or five hundred, pursued them to Chatata Creek, capturing one hundred and twenty-one prisoners, including five officers and many stand of arms. The enemy lost several killed and quite a number wounded, among the latter two colonels. The main rebel column retreated out the Dalton road. A detachment of my command followed them some five miles and left them in full retreat.
December 30th, the Fifth Ohio, by orders, was relieved from duty with me, and their removal (caused the abandonment) of the courier line to Kingston, as my command was too small to renew it. On the 3rd inst., Captain Beebe reported to me with a section of his battery, the Tenth Wisconsin, and remains here on duty. On the sixth, the Fourth Michigan returned to this camp, the courier line from Cleveland to Chattanooga hav- ing been withdrawn, and I then established a line from Calhoun to the Tennessee River at Cotton Port, connecting with line at Washington.
A great many of my horses were unshod when we started from Alabama, as some of the regiment had not been able to get any horseshoes since Wheeler's raid into Middle Tennessee, and there were no extra shoes in the command nor could any be obtained at Bridgeport or Chattanooga or anywhere on the whole march. More than one-half the horses of my command were old and not yet recovered from the hard marching after Wheeler. During the three days I was encamped in the vicinity of Kelly's Ford, it was with the utmost difficulty I could get half rations of forage for my animals and during the two days that I lay at Chattanooga I could not draw a grain. On coming to Chattanooga the second time, I was there thirty-six hours and got one feed of corn. On the march to North Carolina, after marching thirty miles, I had to encamp in the mountains with- ont any forage whatever. Between the time we left Alabama, November 1Sth, and the time we arrived here, December 15th, we traveled (i. e. the main column) four hundred and sixty-three miles, and the day we arrived in Knoxville, we had marched on that and the two previous days one hundred and fifteen miles. I have been thus explicit in order to explain to the commanding
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general the reason why my command decreased with such ex- traordinary rapidity from dismounted men.
I would respectfully present to the favorable notice of the Major-General commanding, for good conduct under all circum- stances and unremitting attention to their duties, all of my staff, viz .: Captain Wm. E. Crane, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Lieutenat W'm. H. Scott, First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Acting Ordnance Officer and In- spector, Lieutenant C. J. Norton, Second Kentucky Cavalry Aide, Lieutenant H. H. Siverd, First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Acting Provost Marshal, Lieutenant J. B. Hayden, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Acting Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence and Assistant Surgeon John Cannon, First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Acting Brigade Surgeon, also Lieutenant- Colonel Seidel, Third Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, whose regiment was in advance approaching London, for the gallant manner in which they drove the rebels on that occasion, also Major T. J. Patten, First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, whose regiment, being advance, was led by himself in person in fine style in the fight with Wheeler at this point, and also for good conduct on that occasion, Captains Woodlief and Erwin and Lieutenants Hall, Roush, Riggs and Brison of that regiment. The men all did as well as they could.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ELI LONG,
Colonel Commanding Second Brigade, Second Cavalry Division.
Brigadier-General William D. Whipple, Assistant Adju- - tant-General.
From the first to the fifteenth of March the regiment lay in camp at Calhoun, resuming routine, camp duty with picket guard and scouting. On the fifteenth the detachment was or- dered to Ringgold, Ga., and went into camp near General Baird's infantry division, and here Colonel Long was given leave of absence for a month. On the fifth of April the detachment had a lively skirmish with the rebel cavalry and were kept contin- uously on duty up to the sixteenth of April, and on that day they started for Nashville to join the regiment of veterans and recruits now being mounted, marching through Chattanooga, Stevenson, Decherd, Winchester, Farmington, Columbia, Frank- lin, and, arriving at Nashville, the regiment was again reunited, and about this date Lieutenant J. A. O. Yeoman, of Company A, reported with about forty recruits.
This was a campaign of continuous hard service and the First Ohio was particularly distinguished, especially in the fight at Calhoun, December 16, and Colonel Long in his report men- tions ten officers of the regiment for meritorious conduct. For
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the numbers engaged, there was no more brilliant charge by cavalry during the war, and it was a hand to hand combat from the start to finish with sabers, revolvers and clubbed guns, and in addition to the killed and wounded, many of whom were sabered, the regiment took almost as many prisoners as they had soldiers engaged in the fight. Soon after this fight, Colonel Eggleston, who had been home on recruiting service, joined the regiment, and as a large majority of the men were dismounted, they were marched back to Paint Rock, Ala., and thence to Pulaski, Tenn. On the cold New Year's day, 1864, that part of the regiment on the march to Pulaski to re-enlist, was on the road and marched through Athens, Ala., to Prospect, Tenn., and the weather was so intensely cold that the brigade was scattered out along the road for many miles and no effort was made to keep the men in ranks. Many of the men had their ears, hands or feet frozen, and it will always be remembered as the coldest day's march we ever had, and that night we camped near Elk River. The next day the whole command was ferried across Elk River by a rickety old boat, run by a rope and pulley, and one load of men and horses was upset and nar- rowly escaped drowning. The brigade went into camp at Pulaski, Tenn., January 3, and on the fourth about three hun- dred men of the regiment re-enlisted for three years more or during the war.
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The requirements of this service were that the soldier had ."served for two years or more in the same company and regi- ment," and he was then eligible to re-enlist as a veteran. The inducements were a thirty days' furlough and a bounty of $300. About one hundred of the detachment of the regiment stationed at Calhoun, with the balance of the brigade, re-enlisted in Feb- ruary, making the total number of the re-enlistments about four hundred. Whitelaw Reid, in his "Ohio in the War," writes of these veteran enlistments as follows:
"The Ohio regiments in the field had dwindled from a thou- sand to an average of from two to four hundred each. They had been decimated in battle, had languished in hospitals, had borne the manifold sufferings of the camp and the march, had gone through a Red Sea of troubles, and even yet were far from the sight of the promised land. They had left families, unpro- tected, behind them; they felt that others at home should be in the ranks besides them; they saw, as yet, little reward for- all their toils, privations and wounds.
"With such a past and such prospects to contemplate, they heard the demand of the Generals for more troops. Their own terms of enlistment were expiring; and long before the great campaign to which they were then looking forward should be ended, many of them would have the right to turn their faces homeward. But, with a patriotism to which the history of the
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war furnishes no equal display, they turned from this alluring prospect, resolved that the vacant places by the loved firesides should remain vacant still, perhaps for the war, perhaps for- ever, and pledged themselves to the Government once more as its soldiers to the end. Over twenty thousand veterans, the thin remnant of nearly eighty regiments of Ohio soldiers, re- enlisted for the war within a few weeks after the subject was first proposed to them. It was the most inspiring act since the uprising after Sumter."
The brigade remained in camp at Pulaski until the thir- teenth of January, and on that day started on the march for Nashville in great spirit at the prospect of going home to see their loved ones so anxiously awaiting their coming. Arrived at Nashville on the sixteenth and remained there making out muster and pay rolls until the twenty-ninth, then took the train for Louisville, reaching there on the thirtieth, where we were paid off. Left the same evening for Cincinnati and on to Colum- bus, where we arrived on the evening of February 1.
On the second and third the men were all given thirty days' furlough and went to their homes with orders to report at Camp Chase, March 4. During their stay the boys were feasted and feted continuously, and the citizens vied with each other in hon- oring these boys, who had been for more than two years battling for the Union. Again quoting from Reid's history, he says:
"They rekindled the fires of a glowing patriotism through- out the state. They fanned the work of recruiting to a flame. They shamed out the sullen spirit of opposition to the losses and inconveniences of the war which had culminated in the Vallandigham movement. They secured the devotion anew of the State, and all that it contained, to the great struggle. And for themselves, they found how warm was the popular grati- tude, how tender the care of the soldier, how lavish the generous regards of those from whose homes they had been beating back the horrors of war. They were the honored guests of the State, were feasted at every table, were toasted at every assemblage, were pointed out to the little children wherever they passed as the men who were saving the Nation, were showered with the smiles of beauty and the blessings of age."
The detachment of the regiment that remained at Calhoun, Tenn., and did not re-enlist, seen some hard service during the months of February, March and April, 1864.
Colonel Long was in command of this detachment of the brigade, and the commander of any army in which he served never allowed his command to remain idle very long, if there was any service required of the cavalry. They assisted in build- ing a bridge across the Hiawassee River and constructed two ferries and were out on a number of reconnoitering expeditions, capturing many prisoners.
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On the twenty-second of February the mounted men of the brigade, and a detachment of mounted infantry under com- mand of Colonel Long, in all about six hundred men, were or- dered out on an expedition to the left of our army and right rear of Bragg's army. On the twenty-third the command struck the enemy and drove them back to within about three miles of Dalton, driving a Mississippi infantry regiment out of their camp, capturing a number of prisoners. On the twenty-fourth the brigade again attacked the rebels, both infantry and cavalry, driving them back toward Dalton, and, dismounting his men, Colonel Long pushed a brigade of infantry back into their camps, where they took position in some log huts, built for winter quar- ters, and opened up such a strong fusillade, and his force being so small, Colonel Long fell back to the infantry supports.
On the twenty-fifth the brigade again attacked the rebel line, in connection with Colonel Gross' brigade of the Fourth Army Corps, and again drove the enemy back and held his posi- tion until dark. The fighting on the twenty-third, twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth was all between Varnell's Station and Dalton, and on the twenty-sixth he again drove the rebel cavalry about two and one-half miles back from the Lee House toward Tun- nel Hill.
This expedition was only intended as a reconnoissance to develop the enemy's position, but it was a very important dem- onstration, and Colonel Long was mentioned by the commanding General and very highly commended for his spirited and aggres. sive attack on the right flank of the rebel army. The total cas- ualties in both cavalry and infantry was about twelve killed and ninety wounded, including Captain Wood, of the Third Ohio Cavalry; also nine horses were killed and a number wounded. Colonel Long reported that he had no means of ascertaining the enemy's loss, but they left eight of their dead on the field and he brought in twenty-three prisoners. A number of dis- patches herewith published give a good history of the expedition in brief.
Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Cavalry Division, Hen- derson's House, five miles from Dalton on railroad,
February 24, 1864, 6:30 P. M.
Sir: I have just returned from another reconnoissance toward Dalton. Ran into a large infantry cantonment three miles or less from Dalton and ran out again. I had several men wounded. Who is intended to command, Colonel Grose or my- self? Please give some directions about it. I don't think they have all left Dalton as much as I did.
ELI LONG,
Colonel Commanding Second Brigade. Major W. H. Sinclair, Assistant Adjutant-General.
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February 24, 1864, 2 P. M.
Sir: I have just driven in, with one squadron, the infantry pickets on the dirt and railroad, three miles from Dalton, and am now in line with pickets skirmishing in front. Their cavalry ran into their infantry support, which they seem to have on all of the roads. I am now five miles from Dalton, and do not think it prudent to go any farther until I hear further from you and the result of your reconnoissance.
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ELI LONG, Colonel Commanding.
Major W. H. Sinclair.
At Cross-roads of Benton and Dalton Road and Varnell's Sta- tion and King's Lower Bridge Road, six miles southeast of Varnell's Station and nine and one-half miles from Dalton, February 24, 1864, 1:25 P. M.
At 11:30 this A. M. I attacked and drove out of their camp at least a regiment of rebel infantry, three and one-half miles this side of Dalton. They had winter quarters (log huts), and as they were completely surprised, they had no time to move any plunder out of their huts, and from their appearance and the small amount of plunder in them, I believe they were pre- paring to leave. The cars were whistling furiously while the skirmish was going on. I have not force enough to cope single- handed with all of their cavalry, but I think you may advance with safety, if you can still keep your supports, Palmer's troops, etc., within supporting distance. I believe they are leaving the place, and they should not be allowed to do (so) undisturbed. I shall be compelled to go somewhere to get some forage. Please let me hear from you as fully in detail as you can. I shall either wait here or move upon the road to Varnell's Station until I hear from you.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ELI LONG, Colonel Commanding.
Major W. H. Sinclair.
Headquarters Third Brigade, First Division, Fourth Army Corps, ' Widow Burke's Farm,
February 24, 1864, S P. M.
Major: Colonel Long had the advance, drove their cavalry two miles, when he met what citizens said was Stewart's divi- sion in sight of and at the railroad. I advanced the infantry to his support, checked and held the enemy back at a mile from the railroad, until night, when we withdrew to here, leaving Colonel Long and one regiment of infantry to our front.
W. GROSE, Colonel Commanding.
Major Sinclair, Assistant Adjutant-General.
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Chattanooga, February 24, 1864, 4 A. M.
Major-General U. S. Grant:
Colonel Long went within three and one-half miles of Dal- ton, and drove a regiment of infantry out of winter quarters. Our main force encamped within three miles of Tunnel Hill last night, and will be on the road to Dalton to-morrow night. GEO. H. THOMAS.
DEMONSTRATION ON DALTON.
Extract from report by Brigadier-General Charles Cruft, commanding First Division, First Army Corps:
February 22-27, 1864.
February 24. Colonel Long took the advance about 3:30 P. M., supported by Colonel Grose, and they drove the enemy's cavalry two miles before them, when they came upon a large infantry force of the infantry near Glaize's house in position on the railroad below Buzzard Roost Gap, and about three miles from Dalton. After considerable musketry and the use of the section of artillery, the enemy, with quite a spirited skirmish, were driven back under cover of their rifle pits and held at the railway until night-fall, when our troops fell back, say two miles, and bivouacked.
In this engagement the casualties fell principally on Colonel Long's command, who is reported to have charged the enemy in splendid style.
Colonel Eli Long, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division of Cavalry, with his command, covered the exposed flank of the division during the entire march, and conformed his movements to those of the division. Though acting under independent orders from department headquarters, he at all times co-operated with me, and by the bravery with which he rushed his column and the care which he took to communicate all the intelligence which he could obtain, contributed largely to attaining the objects of the reconnoissance.
Extract from report of Colonel William Grose:
Headquarters Third Brigade, First Division, Fourth Army Corps,
Blue Springs, Tenn., February 29, 1864.
Sir: In this form, we pressed the enemy to within three hundred yards of the railroad, the command of Colonel Long driving the rebel infantry out of their camp immediately in front for some time, when lines of the enemy's infantry com- menced an advance upon us. A few well directed rounds from the section of artillery, with the aid of a heavy skirmish line, brought them to halt and put them under cover. .
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Extract from report of Colonel Louis H. Walters, Eighty- fourth Illinois Infantry:
Headquarters Eighty-fourth Illinois Infantry, February 29, 1864.
Lieutenant: Colonel Long's cavalry having been sent around our left to gain the enemy's rear, soon commenced skirm- ishing with them also, and in a few minutes the enemy were in retreat.
L. H. WALTERS, Colonel Commanding.
Lieutenant J. McC. Preston, Acting Assistant Adjutant- General.
Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Division Cavalry,
Near Lee's House, Ga., February 27, 1864.
General: I have the honor to submit the following report:
I left Calhoun, Tenn., Monday, February 22, 1864, in com- mand of six hundred men, three hundred and fifty mounted in- fantry and two hundred and fifty cavalry, and marched out on the Spring Place road.
I left my encampment near Waterhouse's Tuesday morn- ing, February 23, at 7 A. M., and marched toward Dalton. My advance guard drove in the enemy's vedettes when within four miles of Dalton. I immediately pushed on my column rapidly and attacked a regiment of rebel infantry, which was encamped within three miles of Dalton, driving them from their camp and capturing twelve prisoners belonging to a Mississippi regiment. The enemy then formed and I withdrew my command to Rus- sell's Mills, distance of four miles east of Varnell's Station, and encamped for the night.
I left my encampment at Russell's Mills at 6 A. M., Febru- ary 24, and reached Varnell's about seven, where I halted until about 10 A. M., in the meantime sending small forces on the dif- ferent roads leading from Varnell's. They met no enemy and I pushed on toward Dalton, marching on a road running parallel to the Cleveland and Dalton railroad. When within five miles of Dalton, I met with the enemy's pickets. My advance squad- ron drove them to within three miles of Dalton. I remained in my position, when I was joined by Colonel Grose, commanding a brigade of the First Division, Fourth Army Corps. Soon after the arrival of Colonel Grose, I dismounted my command and ad- vanced in line against the enemy, driving their skirmishers about one mile in the direction of their camp, but there I was compelled to fall back, being attacked by a brigade of rebel in- fantry who were firing at my men from behind log huts. I fell back to the line of Colonel Grose, and soon afterwards( as it was nearly dark) retired about two miles to the rear, where I en- camped for the night. .
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The next morning, February 25, I took position on the left of our infantry lines and advanced as they did. I moved up about half a mile, when my men became engaged with the en- emy. I was then joined by one hundred men of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry. I pressed on against the enemy until I had gotten a short distance in front of the advance of the left of our infantry lines. I then halted and remained in my position dur- ing the remainder of the day.
On the morning of the twenty-sixth, I moved to Lee's House, where our infantry was encamped, and remained there until about 1 P. M., at which time our pickets were fired upon by the enemy's cavalry, when I marched out and drove the enemy off. I followed them about two and one-half miles in the direction of Tunnel Hill.
I had no means of ascertaining the injury done the enemy, but it was reported that eight bodies were left on the field. I took twenty-three prisoners.
Colonel Commanding Second Brigade, Second Divi- sion Cavalry. Brigadier-General Whippel, Assistant Adjutant-General.
ELI LONG,
٠٠٠
KELLY FIELD LOOKING NORTH, WHERE BRECKINRIDGE GAINED THE UNION REAR.
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Remounting and Drilling after Re-enlisting as Veterans, March, April and May, 1864.
The thirty days' veteran furlough having expired, the regi- ment left Camp Chase for the front on the evening of March 8, 1864, for Cincinnati, and by boat to Louisville, Ky., and then by the L. and N. Railroad, arriving at Nashville, Tenn., on the evening of the eleventh.
The regiment remained in barracks until the eighteenth, and then went into camp out on the Charlotte Pike. A large number of recruits had enlisted in the regiment during the vet- eran furlough and the regular routine of drill and guard duty was inaugurated with strict discipline, much to the disgust of both veterans and recruits. Dismounted drill, manual of car- bine, pistol and saber, kept up continuously until April 18th, just one month, and at this date the regiment received their horses, much to the delight of men and officers. When the horses arrived, the companies were colored, three of bay, two of sorrel, one of black, one of iron gray, one of white, one of brown, one of dun, and light sorrel, this was a new departure, and added much to the appearance of the regiment. New sad- dles and equipments were issued and by the twenty-first the regiment was ready for the field. Mounted drill was the order, the work of bringing the horses down to steady drill was com- menced, but before this was accomplished, some of the recruits were hurled to the ground from wild and vicious horses and severely injured. After a few days' mounted drill with sabers, the carbine was brought into use, and at first the test of firing would be by fours, then by platoons, and next in company front. A horse will become accustomed to firing about as quick as a man, and after a few drills the majority of horses will quiet down so that they can be easily handled, although they may be excited and nerved up to a high tension. Some horses will never become accustomed to firing, but will be more excited and frightened each drill, and such horses will usually rear or squat, and in some cases will fall flat every time a volley is fired. It was not unusual in first breaking horses, when the company
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