USA > Ohio > Four years in the saddle. History of the First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 3
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We remained at Camp Buell drilling until the sixteenth day of January, 1862, when we were ordered to join General Thomas at Mill Springs, and marched out seven miles on the afternoon of the sixteenth, and on the seventeenth we marched twenty- five miles and camped on the banks of Salt River in a cornfield, and as it had rained all day the mud was about boot-top deep, and we passed a very uncomfortable night. On the eighteenth we marched about twenty-five miles and camped on the banks of "Rolling Fork," and as the rain had poured down in torrents all day we were drenched to the skin and chilled to the bone.
The site selected for the camp was on the side of a very steep hill, so steep that it was not possible for a mule team to pull a wagon up, and it was all we could do to climb up dis- mounted, leading our horses. The wagons did not arrive until after dark, and as we had no cooking utensils we could not make any coffee, and all the supper we had was a cracker and a slice of cold pork. But few tents were pitched, as it was so stony that tent pins could not be driven, and the majority of the boys stood around the fires or sat on their saddles beside a tree all night. Two or three companies pitched their tents down in the flat along the stream, and during the night the stream raised very suddenly and the water came down like a mountain torrent
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and with such force that it washed off some of the saddles and equipments before they could be taken to a place of safety.
I do not think there is a soldier of the regiment now living that was on that march but will remember it very distinctly, and will unanimously agree that it was one of the most . disa- .greeable day's marches, and that we passed in Camp Franken- berger (as it was named in honor of our Quartermaster) one of the most uncomfortable nights of our service during the war.
On the nineteenth we marched about sixteen miles and camped near Lebanon, Camp Smith, and received the news of the battle of Mills Springs, fought that day and a great victory for our army -- General Zollicoffer of the rebel army killed. On the twenty-first marched through Lebanon and out on the Somersett Pike about two miles, Camp McCook. Here the regi- ment resumed drill, and January 24 John Morgan made a dash on our pickets and burned a church that was used as a tele- graph office on the line from Lebanon to General Thomas' head- quarters at Mill Springs. Three companies of the regiment were sent in pursuit and drove the rebel cavalry to Green River, taking a number prisoners. After crossing the river the rebels cut the bridge, and as the stream could not be forded, the pur- suit was abandoned and the battalion returned to camp on the twenty-fifth, and on the twenty-sixth another company was sent out on a scout and to guard the telegraph line, and they cap- tured a few more prisoners.
This was our first campaign against Morgan's bold riders, who were destined to give our regiment so much trouble during the next four years. We remained in camp near Lebanon until February 14 and kept up mounted drill every day with the usual parades and guard mounting, with but one or two incidents to break in on the monotony of camp life, and one was the dedi- cating of the regimental colors, just received, to the cause of the Union by appropriate ceremonies and a prayer by the regi- mental Chaplain, Drake, and it was an impressive and beautiful service.
Colonel Ransom having resigned while the regiment was in camp at Louisville, in January the command devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel T. C. H. Smith, who commanded the regi- ment up to February 14, when he was relieved by Colonel Minor Milliken, who had been promoted to the Colonelcy from the Senior Major of the regiment. There was much dissatisfaction at the promotion of Colonel Millikin over Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, and the officers waited on him in a body on his arrival - February 13 - and requested him to resign, as it was thought by many of them who were his warm, personal friends, that it would work great harm to the organization, and many of the officers threatened to resign, but Colonel Millikin, by his soldierly con- duet at all times and by his acknowledged merit and ability and
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his gallantry upon the field, outlived all this prejudice and died upon the batte-field "booted and spurred," the idol of the regi- ment.
On February 14 we broke camp at Lebanon, and as it had snowed the night before, we had a very cold day's march and that night camped near the village of Fredricktown - about- fifteen miles distant - and pitched our tents on the snow.
At that time we had the old round Sibley tents and each tent was provided with a Sibley stove made of sheet iron, running up funnel-shaped about three feet high, and as there was no bottom, it was set on the ground, and about two joints of pipe completed the outfit. It was five or six feet from the top of the pipe to the top of the tent, where there was a hole around the center pole for the smoke to escape. Many times the tent would be so full of smoke that we would all be com- pelled to leave the tent to keep from smothering and put the fire out, and all winter the boys looked like a band of red-eyed, smoked savages, and they prayed that they might be forever after delivered from the curse of living in Sibley tents with Sibley stoves. That cold evening of February 14 our wagon train had been delayed and did not come up until dark, and we were cold and shivering around a little camp-fire for two or three hours, and I think this is the first evening the boys ever confiscated any hay, but as there were a number of hay- stacks in sight, some venturesome fellow made a break, and in a few minutes the hay was all in bundles, either to be fed to the horses or put in the tents for beds, "as the case might be," according to the tactics.
On the fifteenth we marched to Bardstown and went into "Camp Lytle," and remained here until the twenty-fourth, and during this time learned of the fall of Fort Henry and Fort Donaldson, and some of the officers of the regiment were very much worried and exercised for fear the war would close before we get into a fight, but it proved that their fears were groundless, as we learned within the next three and a half years by testing steel with a worthy foe on many a hard-contested field.
February 24 broke camp and started on the march for Louis- ville, which we reached on the twenty-fifth, and lay in camp until the twenty-seventh, then marched through the city and took boats at Portland and sailed down the Ohio and reached Smith- land, at the mouth of the Cumberland River, on the second of March without any incident of note. We steamed up the Cum- berland and passed Fort Donaldson on the fourth, and from the boats had a fine view of the rebel batteries. This was our first view of a battle-field, and was a scene long to be remem- bered, as the timber along the river below the Fort was almost mowed down by shot and shell from the gun-boats and batteries. We also took a look at the old long, low white house, near the
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river bank, where the rebel General, Floyd, took a last look at the scenes of his former glory and then said to himself, "He that fights and runs away, will live to fight another day," and then ran. Here were the wreck and ravages of war in reality, and it made a profound impression on the members of the regi- ment that has never been forgotten.
We arrived at Nashville on the seventh and went into camp about two miles out from the city on the Charlotte pike, adjoining a deer park, with many of these. fleet-footed animals skipping over the snow, as it had snowed a light skift and was quite cold. On the ninth a raiding party of Texan Rangers made a dash on our pickets and captured a number of men and horses. Our cavalry made chase and captured the men and horses and sev- eral prisoners, and among the prisoners captured was a brother of John Morgan, and on the eleventh our pickets had another brush with the rebel cavalry. We remained in camp, drilling mounted every day until the fifteenth inst., when we received marching orders. We started at 10 o'clock P. M. and made a dash, as the advance of Buell's Army, to save the bridge across Duck River at Columbia, marched all night and reached Franklin just after day-break on the sixteenth - Sunday morning - and aroused the citizens of that quiet town by galloping across the bridge and up the main street, and the citizens rushed to their doors and windows to view for the first time the "Yankee" cav- alry. The ladies were all in negligee, with uncombed hair, and were very much frightened at the early morning raiders, and we galloped on through the town without halting to give a Sun- · day morning salute to these fair Southern daughters. We halted a mile or two from Franklin, fed our horses, loosed up saddle girths, had a quick cup of coffee, and in an hour were again in the saddle, moving rapidly forward.
About 10 o'clock passed through Spring Hill, just as the Sunday worshippers were assembling at their churches, and there was a general stampede across lots for their houses. Just on the outskirts of the town we passed several omnibuses and stages filled with an august and badly-scared body of citizens, who proved to be members of the Tennessee Legislature hurry- ing to their homes. But we had no time to waste on the wor- shipers or the harmless members of the defunct Legislature' of Tennessee, and we moved rapidly forward. We arrived at Duck River at about 2 o'clock, just in time to give the rear guard of the rebel cavalry a parting salute and to find the bridge in flames. The bridge burned down, and we did not attempt to cross that evening, but exchanged a few shots with the rebel pickets and went into camp.
On the seventeenth the advance of MeCooks Division arrived and went into camp near our Brigade. On the evening of the nineteenth Company K was called "to horse" at 10 o'clock and
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were ordered to make a reconnoissance back toward Spring Hill. The company moved out in a hurry and two or three miles from camp ran into the pickets of an Indiana cavalry regiment, the advance guard of General Nelson's Division. We charged the pickets on the full gallop and drove them back on the reserve, and the reserve opened fire at once and thirty or forty shots were fired, but fortunately no one was hurt, but two or three horses were wounded, and we captured a number of prisoners before we learned that they were our own men.
The officer in command of the picket was very angry and threatened to arrest our officers, but explanations were soon made and Company K took the pike and moved on into Spring Hill, and on a hint from a Union man searched a furniture estab- lishment and found a large number of rebel uniforms in coffins, which they proceeded to confiscate and took them back to camp.
We remained in camp, sending out scouting parties every day patroling the river and found all bridges burned, and on the twenty-sixth the Third Battalion, composed of Companies E, F, I and K, forded the river at Columbia by swimming their horses across the stream, and took possession of that beautiful town, renowned for its pretty girls, who, notwithstanding they were hot-headed and bitter rebels, were soon flirting with the gay cavalry boys. We were kept busy scouting after Jackson's and Scott's cavalry until Nelson's Division commenced crossing on the twenty-ninth by wading the stream, and on the thirtieth the pontoon bridge was completed and the balance of the troops commenced crossing rapidly. It was here that we first saw Gen- eral Willich, who by his army experience and knowledge of mil- itary matters, rendered valuable service when we forded the stream. We had never had any experience in swimming our horses and when we started into the stream marching by fours and as the horses began to swim the fours were soon broken, and just at this time our attention was attracted by an officer stand- ing on the bank with long hair thrown back over his shoulders, gesticulating and shouting loudly, "Do not break the fours." We did not know what reason there was for this, but we endeav- ored to keep our fours together the best we could, and soon learned that this was the only safe way to ford a stream by swimming horses, as in that manner the horses support each other, and they can swim much easier and it is more safe for the men than to become scattered. Also when the infantry com- meneed crossing the pontoons a few days later, a regiment was marching down to the bridge lead by a band keeping the step, and as they struck the bridge it commenced swaying and would have soon broken down had it not been that General Willich again came to the rescue, as he was standing on the bank and shouted to the band to "stop playing" and for the "soldiers to break the step." It is well known among military men that a
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bridge that would stand the test of a large body of cavalry . or artillery would break down under the step of a regiment of infantry with a band to keep the time.
We took a great many lessons in swimming our horses dur- ing our service and soon learned that to swim a horse success- fully the reins must not be touched and that a horse must be given free head and guided by splashing water against the side of his head with the hand.
We were on the move, scouting every day during our stay at Columbia, and one of the most daring and hardest rides ever made by any members of the regiment, was made by Sergeant Joseph T. Reynolds and David Ault, of Company F, who were detailed to carry dispatches from General Buell to General Grant at Savannah, Tennessee, which is best told in the words of Cap- tain Reynolds himself:
"On Sunday, March 30, 1862, the regiment was camped at Columbia, Tenn., being the advance of General Buell's Army, on its way to form a junction with that of General Grant's at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn. I had fallen asleep in my tent about eleven o'clock that night and was awakened by some person shaking me. It proved to be Captain Cupp, and he told me to put on my clothes and come out as quickly as possible. We walked to a distance from the company quarters out of earshot of any other person, and he then informed me that there was a dispatch from General Buell sent to the regiment and that it was to be carried to General Grant, somewhere on the Tennessee River, and that he had orders to furnish two men to carry it; that he had chosen me to go, and honored me by giving me the privilege of choosing my companion. I chose David Ault, and he then ordered us to go and pick our horses from the eighty or ninety horses that belonged to the company, to carry only : our carbines and revolvers, and report to the Colonel's quarters as quickly as possible. On entering the tent we found Colonel T. C. H. Smith, Captain Cupp and one or two others, whose names I do not recollect now, were present. They had a com- mon state map of Tennessee spread out, and by the dim light of a tallow candle they tried to give us some idea of where we were to go and the route we were to take, and the knowledge we gained was very indefinite and unsatisfactory. The orders from General Buell, under which we were to go, were read to us, and with the dispatch handed over to us. Briefly, the orders were to ride as fast as horses could go, and if those we were riding gave out, to secure others by any means in our power; if fired on, not to stop; to return the fire but to ride on; and if cut off from the road, to abandon the horses and take to the woods; ,and under no circumstances, whatever, to allow the dis- patch to fall into the enemy's hands. We rode out just about midnight and took the pike, passed the plantations of the Polks
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and Pillows to the little town of Mount Pleasant. The night was balmy and pleasant as a night in the latter part of May in Ohio. The moon, at about her second quarter, was shining brightly in the west. Just out of Mt. Pleasant the road formed a Y and we were at a loss to know which one to take, but we took the right hand one and determined to make inquiry at the first opportunity. I should have stated that in the orders read to us at the Colonel's tent we were to go by New Market and to pass that town, if possible, before daylight. After riding on the right hand road for half or three-quarters of a mile, we discovered a cabin on the other side of a high fence in the edge of some woods. Giving Dave my horse and telling him to signal me if anything unusual occurred, I climbed the fence, went to the cabin and called out to the occupants, and after some delay had just ascertained that we should have taken the other road, when Dave gave a signal of danger. I rushed to the fence, clam- bered over, and quickly mounted, wheeled around, and we gal- loped back and took the other road, Dave in the meantime telling me that there were mounted men approaching from the direction that we had been traveling. Urging our horses to a brisk speed we traveled mile after mile, without having any idea of time or distance, through a country broken and rough, with a large part of it covered with timber, over ordinary country roads. At one time the road was so indistinct that we lost it and spent some time in regaining it. After riding for what appeared to be a long time, we discovered fires to our left about half a mile away, and we were in doubt whether they were the camp-fires of a body of troops or whether it was only fires from burning the timber land that was being cleaned, but from the regularity of their appearance judged that it was a camp. After riding perhaps two miles, in crossing a small water course, we allowed our horses a moment to get a little water, the moon having by this time set, and it was quite dark. Dave touched me on the arm, and as I raised my eyes to look at him I saw what was a mere coal of fire and indistinctly what appeared to be horses. Without a word we spurred our tired horses forward, and as we dashed past them we saw four cavalrymen with their horses tied to the fence. They appeared to be confused and frightened and did not fire on us. Whether they pursued us or fled, we had no time to ascertain. Sometime afterward my horse failed, and after searching three or four stables in the dark, I secured a horse and we pushed on. Soon after this we passed a collec- tion of cabins which we vainly hoped was New Market. But as it became day-light we passed a cabin, the owner of which was standing on his doorstep, and we passed ourselves on him as belonging to Rody's rebel cavalry, and found that Rody had left New Market the day before, and was then satisfied that it was his camp that we had passed. We soon reached Pointer's
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charcoal iron furnace, and in his barn we found two good horses, but were compelled to stand Mr. Pointer and two other white men, all armed with pistols, backed by perhaps eighty or a hun- dred colored people, with cocked carbines. The country here was quite thickly settled and a town of two or three hundred inhabitants a couple of miles away. Remember, this was in 1862, these people had never seen a U. S. soldier, and knowing full well, that after taking these horses by force, that capture meant death by a rope, we hesitated about riding through New Market. But knowing that delays were dangerous, we decided to dash through and take the chances. Our horses were fine and we rode very fast until within two or three miles of Savan- nah, when I became so ill that I was compelled to dismount and lie down. Dave carried the dispatch in and delivered it at General Grant's headquarters. General Grant was absent, and we were ordered to report them at 7 o'clock that evening. It was then about 10 o'clock A. M., as near as I can recollect. Dave came back and assisted me into town, and at 7 o'clock in the evening we reported, as ordered, and were admitted into General Grant's presence. After asking us many questions. about General Buell's army, where it was, etc., he ordered us to report the next morning to carry a dispatch to the General commanding the advance of Buell's army. Iinformed him that I was not able to ride; but he did not change his order, and we received the dispatch the next morning and carried it back beyond New Market and met the 2nd Indiana Cavalry, and, being completely worn out, we turned it over to the Colonel of that regiment. We were taken before General Nelson that evening for stealing Pointer's horses, but on hearing the cir- cumstances, complimented us and discharged us after compell- ing us to give up the horses. There had been heavy artillery firing that day in the direction of the Tennessee River, and he appeared to be very uneasy and asked us many questions about matters there, although we were able to give him very little information. How much the delivery of these dispatches had to do with the timely arrival of General Nelson's Division at Pittsburg Landing Sunday evening in time to save General Grant's army from being driven into the Tennessee River, is locked in the breasts of the dead and will probably never be known, as I have since learned the distance was eighty-eight miles, which we rode in about ten hours."
That Columbia had more bewitching and pretty girls to the number of inhabitants than any other town the First Ohio was ever stationed at, "goes without saying," and there were many fiirtations during our short stay, and we left that fair city - the home of the Polks and the Pillows and other promi- nent families - with many regrets.
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CO. B.
CO. F.
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Capt. Lafayette Pickering.
Capt. Geo. F. Conn.
CO. B.
Capt. H. H. Siverd.
CO. D.
I.icut. Harvey.Ferguson.
Lieut. A. D. Lieb. CO. K.
CO. D.
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Lieut. Frank P. Allen.
Lieut. Chas. H. Goodrich.
Maj. John H. kouIls011.
Our Heroic Dead.
CO. F.
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From Columbia to Pittsburg Landing.
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On the first day of April the rear guard of the army crossed Duck River and the regiment received marching orders. Early ·on the morning of the second we left our pretty camp in the east suburb of Columbia and marched out on the Mt. Pleasant pike two or three miles, and went into camp to wait for the infantry column of General Thomas' division, to which we had been attached, to pass.
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The next day we passed through a beautiful country, pass- ing the plantations of the Pillow's and Ex-president James K. Polk, the Polk homestead being the most beautiful and pictur- esque in its surroundings of any we had ever seen in Tennessee, and as the day was warm and balmy, all enjoyed the scenery very much. We passed Mt. Pleasant, and here the pike ended, and with it the fine country, and the country became poor, rough and barren - wooded mostly with scrubby oak timber and a poor and uncultivated farming country. We passed some iron and charcoal furnaces, which seemed to be about the only in- dustry of the country, the roads were miserable, and we were compelled to march very slowly on account of the wagon trains and artillery. The regiment reached Waynesboro about noon, Sunday, the sixth, and went into camp near this little village of two or three hundred inhabitants. Here we first heard the can- nonading of the first day's battle of Pittsburg Landing, about thirty miles distant, which continued with one steady roar all the afternoon, and during all of that night we could hear the regular boom of cannon, which we afterwards learned was the gun-boats, Tyler and Lexington, throwing shot and shell into the rebel lines, while Buell's army was disembarking from the transports and forming their line of battle for the next day's victory. It rained very hard that night, and we marched at day- break of the seventh on toward the roar of battle, that was getting more distinet each moment as we toiled on through mud and slough, for the roads were now almost impassable, and we
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began to overtake the wagon trains of Buell's advance. We made frequent halts for the wagon trains and artillery horses to rest a few minutes, and during these halts General Thomas would ride back along the column with anxious looks and would speak earnestly to some commander of a regiment or battery and then move to the front again; but little did we know, as did that brave old soldier, of the great disaster of the day before, and how anxiously Grant was looking for his division. Some of the infantry regiments had thrown their knapsacks down, making a forced march. When night came on we did not halt, but marched on in the darkness, and the further we marched, the worse the roads became. Teams were becoming exhausted, wagon tongues, single trees, and double trees were breaking, and here and there we would pass a wagon piled up just in the edge of the woods, so the columns could pass, with mules unhitched eating, and drivers trying to repair their wagons by the light of a little camp-fire, or improvising a pole for a wagon tongue. On we marched over that narrow road, mud knee deep, cavalry, infantry, artillery, wagons, ambulances, all floundering through the mud that inky dark night, and we could scarcely distinguish a white wagon cover, mule drivers yelling and swearing, Quartermasters striving to keep their trains closed up, and officers urging the men forward.
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