USA > Ohio > Four years in the saddle. History of the First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 27
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Had Crook not been on the watch for Wheeler and pushed him from the start, as he did, the Confederate cavalry might have struck the railroad at Murfreesboro and destroyed it to Nashville and well down to Stenvenson, thus compelling Rose- crans to retreat for lack of transportation.
As it was, the raid was barren of results to the Confederate commander, besides placing several thousand of his cavalrymen hors de combat.
General Kilpatrick started on his raid around Hood's army in Atlanta with forty-seven hundred men, including two bat- teries of horse artillery and eight guns, on the evening of August 18, 1864.
He moved very rapidly, destroying the Atlanta and Mont- gomery railroad for a considerable distance near Red Bank.
He then struck the Atlanta and Macon railroad at Jones- boro, tearing up two miles of railroad track, destroying the rails and ties, also burning and destroying a large amount of army supplies stored at Jonesboro. Drawing off to the east, after making a circuit of several miles, he again struck and tore up the railroad track at Lovejoy. Here he was surrounded by cavalry and infantry, but cut his way out, inflicting great dam- age on the enemy, capturing many prisoners and five pieces of artillery.
The Memphis Appeal, in an article published a few days after this fight, which occured August 20, stated that the "Yankee cavalry run over two brigades of cavalry and three brigades of infantry and two batteries."
Kilpatrick and his command made the complete circuit of Hood's army, starting at Sandtown, the extreme right of Sherman's army, and came into the lines again at Decatur, the extreme'left of the Union army. They were out five days and nights, and did not unsaddle but once. This was a very suc-
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cessful raid, and was no doubt the four hardest days' and nights' continuous service in which the First Ohio Cavalry participated during the war.
Many of the raids made by the Confederate cavalry under Forrest, Wheeler and John Morgan carried havoc in the rear of the Army of the Cumberland, as well as in other departments, and were very destructive to railroads and army supplies.
One of the most daring raids undertaken by either the Union or Confederate cavalry during the war was that of General John Morgan and his bold riders in the summer of 1863, but it re- sulted very-disastrously for the forces engaged, as Morgan and almost his entire command were captured.
He crossed the Ohio River at Brandenburg, July 8, 1863, with about four thousand as dashing and dare-devil riders as ever mounted a thoroughbred from the blue grass regions of old Kentucky.
He dashed through the villages of Indiana and Ohio, marauding and destroying property with a speed and audacity worthy of a better cause.
But when these reckless raiders swept through the sub- urbs of Cincinnati the whole country was awakened and there was a general uprising of the loyal citizens of the southern part of the state to repel this invasion.
Morgan and his men were chased back and forth like a hunted fox by cavalry, infantry and hundreds of citizens, armed with shot-guns and squirrel rifles. Finally he was surrounded and surrendered at Buffington Island on the nineteenth day of July, 1863, only a remnant of his command escaping across the Ohio River. The raid was a complete failure and was very disheartening to the Confederate leaders, as it convinced them that there was a loyal army yet in reserve in the northern states, amply able to repel any forces that might invade the north.
Raids were of almost daily occurrence by either the Union or Confederate cavalry along some parts of the battle line, ex- tending from the Atlantic coast to Missouri, during the last two years of the war, but the most destructive and successful raid made during the Civil War, and it may well be doubted if any has equalled it in the annals of that service, was the raid made by the cavalry corps of General James H. Wilson of the Army of the Cumberland after the battle of Nashville.
Wilson Raid.
With twelve thousand five hundred cavalry, consisting of the divisions of Long, Upton and E. M. McCook, splendidly mounted and equipped, Wilson crossed the Tennessee River, March 22, 1865, with Selma, Ala., his objective, one hundred and eighty miles distant. But it proved that each division,
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all marching on different roads, had to travel about two hun- dred and fifty miles before reaching Selma.
The whole country was covered with water, the banks of the streams were overflowing, and the conditions could not have been more unfavorable for undertaking such an expedition, but all of these obstacles were overcome, and the swollen streams were crossed by swimming the horses or bridging the streams.
General Forrest, the great cavalry leader of the Confed- erates; crossed Wilson's front and made a desperate attempt to check him, but after a brisk fight he was brushed away.
Wilson's bold riders dashed rapidly forward, sweeping everything before them, although Forrest made a stubborn resistance. Selma was strongly fortified with ditches and more . than twenty bastions and redans, with several strong forts in the inside lines. The works were mounted by thirty field guns and two thirty-pounder siege guns.
The works were stormed by eight thousand of Wilson's veterans and the city was captured with nearly three thousand prisoners, thirty-two field guns and twenty-six field pieces, fully mounted, in the arsenal and gun foundry located there, with forty-six siege guns, sixty-six thousand rounds of artillery am- munition, two thousand horses and one hundred thousand small arms.
The arsenal, with more than forty buildings, were destroyed, with powder works, three gun foundries, three rolling mills, machine shops, with quartermaster and commissary stores, with all kinds of war material. Wilson then moved on to Montgom- ery, bridging the Alabama River, one thousand feet wide, at high tide. Montgomery was captured, with many steamers loaded with supplies. The column then moved rapidly toward Columbus, Ga., saving the bridges across the Chattahoochee at both Columbus and West Point. The works at West Point ·were strong, and were attacked by dire assault, the Union forces capturing two hundred and sixty men, three heavy guns, five hundred small arms, twenty locomotives, and about two hundred and fifty cars loaded with supplies. Moving on to Columbus, Wilson found the three bridges across the Chattahoochee pro- tected by strong breast-works, which he attacked in the night. The Confederates made a vigorous defence, but were driven from the works and across the bridge, closely followed by our forces, and the city was soon in possession of General Wilson's com- mand.
The capture here was upward of sixty guns, the ram "Jack- son" with six guns, one hundred thousand bales of cotton, fifteen locomotives, two hundred and fifty cars, a navy yard and arsenal, powder mill, ten factories, a large amount of artillery, ammu- nition and war material.
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Wilson then made a rapid march to Macon, capturing the city, with a large amount of army supplies, and wound up the campaign by the capturing of Jeff. Davis.
General Boynton, one of the most reliable and careful his- torians of the war, thus writes of the Wilson raid:
"It is a chapter in our war history, than which no other is more replete with thrilling and brilliant incident, with skilful and bold, successful execution.
"No purely cavalry campaign during the war approached it in these features, and it is doubtful whether its parallel can be found in the cavalry annals of any modern nation."
The First Ohio Cavalry was prominent in the Wilson raid and also in the Wheeler raid through Tennessee and Kilpatrick's raid around Atlanta.
Camp Life.
By C. M. Riggs, Sergeant-Major, First O. V. C.
A distinguished writer once said: "No truer history will ever be written than that which records the daily life of the soldier, as witnessed by himself. The outlines have been sketched by master hands; but the living panorama, the rugged reality is yet unwritten. Occasionally one who shared in the trials of that time lets memory color up again the deeds in which he was an actor, and through the delicate tracery of his tongue or pen we gather the true story of the real and stirring scenes of the bivouac, the march and the struggle."
This, then, comrades, is my aim, to carry you with me through the varied scenes of our camp-life, including the almost daily routine of picket duty, skirmishes and scouting and the hardships and privations of a cavalryman at a time when the infantry and artillery are enjoying the rest, recreation and com- forts of an undisturbed camp-fire, feeling secure from the enemy, as all outposts and approaches are carefully guarded by the cavalry. Then go with me in your duties as a soldier from the memorable thirty-first of December, 1862, when General Bragg with his forces greeted us quite early on that eventful morn, and from which, as the extreme right, we were compelled to fall back. On a rising piece of ground and near the Bole Jack Pike, our regiment made a stand, where a shell from a battery of the enemy took the life of our brave Major Moore. Just before crossing this pike we came near being flanked by ' a brigade of rebel infantry, who, on ascending a ridge, came plainly in view, being then about two hundred yards in front of us, and immediately opened fire. I remember that at this time I was riding before a two-story frame house, and from the crashing of the panes of glass in the upper story of the dwelling, that could be plainly heard, I was very glad to realize that they were shooting over our heads.
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Shortly after, while passing through a strip of woods a short distance from where Colonel Millikin issued his last com- mand of "Fours right about; forward, gallop, charge!" I heard him say, in speaking of the death of Major Moore: "How sad, but none of us know how soon some of us will meet the same fate." All who were with us on that day will ever remember the scenes and incidents of that grand charge in which Colonel Millikin and Lieutenant Condit were killed, and many others of our brave comrades killed, wounded and taken prisoners. Some of our regiment became sadly demoralized, and after the charge retreated as fast as their horses could carry them. Ad- jutant "Scotty" was wounded and taken by the Confederates to a house within sight of the place where he fell.
Surgeon Wirth and Hospital Steward Doty were captured and taken to Murfreesboro, where they did noble duty in admin- istering and caring for the wounded in the temporary hospital at this place. Several of the boys who were captured were after- wards paroled.
Sergeant Newton, of Company G, tells the following of his escape. While being taken within the enemy's lines he thought of making a certain sign of a secret order. He did so, and the guard, without replying, looked away from him, as much as to say, "Now go, and go quickly." The Sergeant acted on the hint, turned his horse, and spurred away to our lines without a shot being fired at him.
On January 1 Major Laughlin took command of the regi- ment, with Major Pugh, of the Fourth O. V. C., commanding the brigade. Colonel Zahm at this time was at Nashville. For three days the regiment did picket duty near Wilson Creek, and on the night of the fourth guarded the railway bridge which crosses Store's River, the enemy having retreated. Lieutenant Fordyce and I slept in a deserted rebel camp, and it was here that I first formed the unpleasant acquaintance of the "gray- back," which did not forget to make me several visits afterward.
On the fifth our brigade passed through Murfreesboro and out some three or four miles on the Shelbyville Pike, but being ordered to return, we came back through town and went about three miles to Wilson Creek, where we went into camp. On the eighth our regiment went out Wilson Pike to the Bole Jack Pike and then north on said pike to Stuart's Creek, near which we camped for the night.
The next day we went to where Stuart's Creek is crossed by the Murfreesborough and Nashville Pike, in which vicinity we remained until the fourteenth of April.
To relate the almost daily scouting, skirmishes, night pa- trols and other duties of our regiment during this time would take more, space than could be given me. I will give only a few of the most important.
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My messmates were Quartermaster-Sergeant Lieb, Commis- sary-Sergeant Parsons and Bugler Bush. Sergeant Lieb left us about the fifth of February, he being commissioned Second Lieu- tenant and assigned to Company I, and our chief Bugler, Henry Bush, about the twenty-fifth of March was detailed in the Topo- graphical Department under General Rosecrans at Murfrees- boro.
The weather of January and February and up to near the middle of March was often very cold and blustering, with the thermometer once or twice marking zero; but part of the time we were camped in a cedar thicket, which was a good protection from the winds.
We had the experience of a second Camp Frankenberger on the night of January 14. During the night the waters of the creek had flooded the valley where a part of our boys were · camped. In the morning many of the tents were swimming in the angry waters, the occupants having escaped, although many of them barely saving their lives, by wading or swimming to higher ground. To add to these discomforts it rained, snowed and sleeted all day of the fifteenth, causing some of our horses to die from exposure. Many of the comrades will remember the good fire the writer had in his tent during all this day, where the unfortunate ones were made warm, dry and happy. While here the regiment had very little rest, as we all remember the heavy and tiresome scouts by day and night to the Nolinsville hills, Triune, Jeffersonville, and across Stone's River at different points, and even to Nashville to act as escort to wagon trains for Murfreesboro, as the railway was not completed until the middle of February.
These duties, especially that of picket duty and patrolling at the fords of the river and other points, were unusually severe until the sixth of February, when they were somewhat light- ened by our force attacking Wheeler and Forrest's cavalry at Franklin, where they defeated the enemy and took possession of the town, and also about this time a Union force was sta- tioned at Nolinsville.
Lieutenant Fordyce was Adjutant up to the fifth of March, when he was promoted to Captain, and Lieutenant Woodlief was detailed to act instead.
About this time an order was issued by General Stanley, Chief of Cavalry, to send a body of men to act as couriers be- tween Triune and the line of couriers of the Murfreesboro Pike. Captains Pattin and Conn, Lieutenant Shultz, eight non-com- missioned officers and fifty men were detailed for this duty.
One pleasant feature of our stay here was when Major Whitehead, the paymaster, gave us our monthly allowance from Uncle Sam; our visits to the Sutler of the Tenth Indiana In- fantry for Hostetter's Bitters, etc .; letters and newspapers from
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home; games of "seven up," and especially after pay-day mak- ing a raid against "chuck-a-luck," going into the fray with a full purse and shortly after retreating with empty pockets. The boys will also remember the barbecue given by the Third O. V. C., in which many of us participated.
Many of our officers took advantage of our camp-life to pay a visit to friends in Ohio, among them being Majors Cupp, Eggleston and Laughlin, and Captains Waddle, Pattin and others.
Among the many scouts and hard rides, I distinctly recall the one of the twenty-fifth of March, when we crossed Stone's River at Atkinson's Ford, burnt the Buchanan Mills and took the old gent prisoner. We had crossed Falls Creek about one mile beyond the river, when we gave chase to some rebels. The old gent living near said they were his sons and only skedaddled for fear we would take their horses. An old lady and a girl made Rome howl when we took the old gent prisoner. Their antics were quite laughable. On returning, we found the river very high on account of the heavy rains, but into it we went. My horse had to swim for several rods, and as it was now dark, the horse became entangled in some brush and fell, throwing me into the water, but by clinging to the mane finally reached the bank, wet and cold. Luckily, on reaching camp at 9 P. M., found a good fire to warm and dry.
About the first of April Lieutenant-Colonel Laughlin left us and many of the boys will remember some of the stirring incidents which occurred around the keg of beer in the cedar thicket at the time of his departure. Major Eggleston, who soon afterward was promoted to Colonel, now assumed command.
On the evening of the tenth of April the First Texas and Second Georgia Cavalry, under Colonel Ferrel, captured a train at Antioch Church, and captured several officers and got quite a sum of money. Major Cupp, Captains Fordyce and Pattin, Lieutenants Pierce and Lieb, and Sergeant Gordon were among the number. Captain Pattin, however, escaped.
On the fourteenth of April the field and staff, with Com- panies B and D, left the pleasant and unpleasant memories of Stuart's Creek to join the rest of the regiment at Lavergne, which was a burnt village, where the railway crosses the pike and being midway between Nashville and Murfreesboro.
On the seventeenth Lieutenant Woodlief and four men went to Nashville to escort his brothers, John and Tom, who were coming with sutler's supplies for our camp. On their way to Lavergne they were attacked by a squad of fifteen rebels, but after a sharp skirmish were repulsed by our small force. Lieu- tenant Woodlief had his horse shot, and one of the rebels was wounded.
The enemy retreated across the river. Stone's River seemed
ČO. B.
Capt. Samuel W. Fordyce.
CO. D.
Capt. W'm. H. Scott. , Assistant Inspector General on the Staff of General Eli Long. Mortally wounded at Lovejoy, Ga., Aug. 20, 1864.
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to be the dividing line of the enemy and our troops, as scarcely a day passed but shots were exchanged across the river.
On the twenty-second of April the detail from our regiment, who were escorts to General Thomas, returned and Captain Barker, of Company L, with his company took their places as escort.
On the twenty-sixth Captains Cutler and Hamilton left us, their resignations being accepted.
If you want to know of the horseback rides where pleasure and good times were combined, you must consult Lieutenants Curry, Roush, Siverd, Lutz, Woodlief, Erwin and many others of my friends as to the hospitality of the Southern ladies, such as were found in the families of the brothers Luck, Len Davis, Peoples, Waldrens and Burnetts, who so often entertained us, singing with them the Southern songs and they joining with us in our patriotic songs. The boys will especially remember one of the daughters of Mr. Burnett, whose husband was in the Southern army, by showing her love for the South by wearing a C. S. Belt.
During our stay at Lavergne many of the officers had their wives with them. I believe that "Aunt Mag" was one of the number, who was then the wife of Captain Pickering.
From May 7 to 30 I was with a detail at Louisville after horses. There I met father, mother and wife, and other of my comrades met their friends, and we all had a most enjoyable visit.
- On June 18 our camp life was over, as orders had been received to report to Colonel Long, commanding Second Brigade, at Murfreesboro.
Of the advance southward, where we were placed on the extreme left, the incessant rains, the muddy roads, the tire- some march, and the battles, I will leave for history to record, and now, although one-third of a century has passed, my memory often reverts to the scenes and incidents at and around Stuart's Creek and Lavergne, and I often think of the associations which clustered within those times, the songs, the games and the drinks around the Sutler's tent or from the same canteen, the visits to the homes of the Southern belles, the patrols on Stone's River, at Charlton, Dobson, Atkinson and other fords, the hard rides and scouts on the Jeffersonville, Nolinsville, Bole Jack and Murfreesboro Pikes, and to Antioch Church, Scroggsville, Smyrna and other points. And now, my dear comrades, wher- ever you may be, I can only say, "Good cheer and happiness to you and yours."
Captain William H. Scott.
By Captain John P. Rea.
One, who by the unaided force of his own personality uncon-
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sciously commands the respect, confidence and admiration of his associates, and while rapidly rising in rank and authority over them awakens no jealousies, but fastens them to him with con- stantly strengthening bonds of friendship, shows the possession of the best elements of true nobility. Such a man was Captain William H. Scott, of Company D.
He fell in youth, but his short life grew a manhood as strong, rugged, gentle, symmetrical and complete as ever awakened the hope of country, inspired the confidence of friend, or warmed the heart of home. No words can paint him here as he rides ever in the old picture painted by himself on the canvas of his comrades' memory.
Not only among the men of his own regiment is he remem- bered, but by all who ever met or knew him. Twenty years after the war I was addressing a soldiers' gathering in Minne- sota, when a voice called to me from the rear of the hall, saying: "Tell us about 'Scotty,' the ideal soldier of the old brigade." The voice, as I afterwards learned, came from a member of the Third O. V. C.
In July, 1837, I spent a day in Calhoun, East Tennessee, where our regiment was stationed for some weeks in the winter of 1863-4. I found the old residents full of reminiscence and praise of Lieutenant Scott. They only knew him for a few weeks, a third of a century before, as an officer in war time, enforcing military rule in their midst. Their fresh and kindly remem- brance is a better monument than stone or bronze.
His soldier record is told in the regimental history. It may be epitomized thus: An unknown, friendless Irish boy; a pri- vate soldier; Sergeant-Major; Lieutenant; Adjutant; Captain; Staff Officer; the trusted friend and subaltern of Millikin, Cupp and Long; every rank attained and every confidence secured by demonstrated merit. To say that he was brave in battle is to accord him only the just tribute due every manly man who goes into battle. Gentle by nature, tender of heart, with- out the slightest suggestion of braggadocio; careful of his men; alert to every contingency of danger of which personally he never seemed conscious, he revelled in the storm when it broke and rode the fiery front of battle, a veritable prince of war. He rose with so little friction from the ranks, and breasted every duty and occasion with such ease, that those who knew him best felt that they had never fathomed his full capacity of daring and doing. He had decision without arrogance, and in places of peril seemed instinctively to know what to do and where to strike. He had all the enthusiasm of a knight of old combined with the reckless daring of the typical American cavalryman.
Those who saw him ride like a centaur upon the enemy's lines at Stone's River, and saw him in his last fight, on foot, with his shattered right arm dangling by his side, waiving his
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saber in his left hand as he charged through Wheeler's lines at Lovejoy Station, know that ever and always he was the same dashing, undaunted, unconquerable soldier. He was a strict disciplinarian, but not a martinet. His men always spoke affec- tionately of him as "Scotty," but there was a quiet, unpretentious air about him that forbade familiarity. His dignity was not of the kind that had to assert itself, it was "native and to the manor born"; it commanded instinctive respect; his men loved him and never feared to follow where he led, and he always led if the enemy were in front. He belonged to the fated ones, who while eagerly seeking, not infrequently emerged from, glorious battle covered with wounds.
In that heroic charge of the regiment at Stone's River, riding by the side of the chivalric Millikin, he received a terrible wound in the groin; a moment after, as he lay in his blood, he saw his Colonel and best friend fall a few feet away, while at the same time he knew that his old Captain, who first of all had recognized his worth, was dead on the same field.
It was months before he was fit for duty, but he was in his saddle when the order came to advance in the summer of 1863, and though saddened by the loss of his friends, he was buoyant and brilliant as ever. He rode heroically through the campaigns of that and the succeeding year, making a record full of dash and enterprise, dazzling with valor and ending with- out a stain. Shot through the right shoulder and knocked from his horse in Kilpatrick's charge at Lovejoy Station in August, 1864, he rose to his feet and, waving his sword in his left hand, followed the charging column through the enemy's lines. For seventy-five miles he rode uncomplainingly over rough roads under a broiling August sun in an ambulance: all the weary way, though in intense pain, cheering his wounded companions. The morning after reaching our camp within the lines, I was awakened by Surgeon Canaan and asked to go with him to see "Scotty." On the way he told me that Scott's life could only be saved by amputating his right arm, which he refused to permit. When I reached his ambulance he welcomed me with a smile and cheerful words. I sat by his side in the ambu- lance and talked for an hour. He then told me the story of his short but eventful life. I urged him to let the Surgeon have his way. He answered, "No. To amputate my arm it must be dislocated at the shoulder. That will leave me maimed and disfigured. I can die, but I can not fight the battle of life alone without my good right arm. I have no mother, no wife, no relative in America; except my comrades there are none to mourn my death; I want to live, but will not purchase life at such a cost." No persuasion could induce him to consent to the operation, and after lingering some weeks, he died.
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