USA > Ohio > Four years in the saddle. History of the First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 > Part 33
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I was only too glad to be the bearer of such important infor- mation to the grand old hero.
Reaching headquarters on the gallop and covered with mud, I was of course known to be from the front, and at once relieved by the orderlies of my horse and directed to the General's tent. As I approached, I saw him rise from a cot, on which he had been lying in his shirt sleeves, and advance to the door of the tent to receive me. Saluting, I at once related in detail the news as given by Duncan of the evacuation of Tullahoma, to which he gave earnest attention. He inquired particularly of Duncan, of his story of himself, his manner, the gravity of his wound, if I believed the wound fatal, and if I put faith in his statement. I had myself not a moment's doubt of the wounded man, and so stated, and my confidence seemed to decide the General, who at once called to his Adjutant, Flint, to order an immediate forward movement of the army.
The first order was for Brannan's division to move out care- fully, and in five minutes the bugles were blowing "boots and saddles," drums beating the "long roll," and the quiet camp was all astir with the bustle and preparation for the forward move.
My mission ended and about to take my horse, I said to the General that ours was the only cavalry command immedi- ately on the Tullahoma road, and that the "boys" were anxious to lead the advance when the army moved, and asked that they be permitted to do so. The permission was readily given, and I was ordered to join my company and particularly directed
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to feed our horses from a little field of wheat, just ripened near the reserve, and be ready to move as soon as the advance of the infantry and artillery reached the outposts.
This little wheat field had possibly escaped my notice, but here was a commanding General, burdened with the care and responsibility of a great army, whose notice it had not escaped, and who in that hasty moment thoughtfully turned it over to the horses of our command. The circumstance impressed me at the time as a striking exhibit of one of the qualities of mind which made a great General of George H. Thomas.
Reaching the outpost, our horses were soon profiting by the good General's kindly order, and in less than thirty minutes there was scarcely a straw of that little field of wheat left standing.
Very soon after, the advance of the infantry, General Rey- nold's division, reached the outposts, marching at a "right shoulder shift," with artillery well closed up. Halting a few moments, the General in command questioned particularly in regard to the enemy in front, and as to the story of the evacua- tion as told by Duncan. He then directed that our company should form a skirmish line and move rapidly forward toward Tullahoma, and not halt until we should strike the enemy.
We did move forward, as directed, and marched straightway, without firing a shot, into the abandoned works of the rebels, who, as Duncan truthfully stated, were gone, "horse, foot and rider."
I had suggested to General Thomas that an ambulance should be sent out to the picket post for the wounded man, and on inquiry a few days after found that he had been removed to the hospital. Supposing his wound a fatal one, I had no doubt he would soon die, and I had so stated to General Thomas. Still I had never been certain of his death, and in relating the inci- dents of the campaign, had wondered if he were really dead or living. And as he had given us the news which caused the army to move, I could never get the man out of my mind as connected with the evacuation of Tullahoma.
A few years ago I received a Washington newspaper, in which was a letter by General Rosecrans giving a history of the Tullahoma campaign. Again I thought of the man Duncan, and resolved to try and learn if he had really died of his wounds, or was still living. I accordingly wrote to the postmaster at Manchester, Tenn., inquiring for the man and narrating the circumstance of his being shot. I asked to be informed partic- ularly of him if alive, and, if dead, for the address of some of his family or friends to whom I might communicate the par- ticulars of the shooting.
In a'few days a reply came from the postmaster, saving that Duncan was still living, and that he had often heard him
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tell the perilous story of his being wounded. He said that Duncan still suffered from the wound, and further that he had always been a loyal man, never borne arms against the govern- ment, and when wounded was simply making his way home from a visit to a son who was in the rebel army at Tullahoma. Ile at the same time gave me Duncan's address, to whom I wrote and from whom I very soon received a thankful reply. He was rejoiced to find some of the soldiers who knew of his being wounded; he had been for many years seeking the officer who was at the time in command of the outpost. He said he was now, as he had always been, a loyal man, and that although he had been suspected and his property confiscated, he had - never lost faith that the "god of battle" would some day set him right; and that since hearing so kindly from the Union soldiers who had been the unwitting cause of his sufferings, he could see the dawn of better days. He was over seventy- six years of age, and had all these years been in constant pain from the wound. He sent me his photograph, which shows a tall, gray-haired old man, with an honest, sympathetic face; and it seems to me that after all these years I can detect in the features the same pale-faced and suffering man who lay by the roadside that memorable second day of July, 1863, and truthfully told the story of the evacuation of Tullahoma by the Confederates.
The incident of the wounding and the importance of the news communicated by Duncan made such an impression on my mind that the man's face has been ever since before me like a vision. Although I saw him but a few moments, and that in the excitement of a hurried interrogation as to the movements of the enemy, the impression was so vivid that time has served only to strengthen the memory of it. And an unseen hand seems to have directed me to write, for when I saw him lying wounded, I firmly believed that in a few hours' time he would surely die.
He referred very feelingly in his letter to the fact of his having had considerable Confederate money at the time, which had been taken from him by some of the grand guard, not of our command, and which we had ordered returned. Among other things taken from him and returned he mentioned an old tobacco box, carried by his grandfather in the Revolutionary War, and which he still had in his possession. He also said that he Iras always believed that his life was saved by the use of the "square and compass," signs of the Masonic order, of which he seems to have been a member. What I myself did for him, however, was through common humanity, as I too had once been a prisoner and knew how to sympathize with him. It seems that he was some two weeks in our hospital, where he had received, at General Rosecrans' special order, the best possible attention.
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It seems strange that, after so many, many years, I should so easily reach the man and find myself in friendly correspond- ence with him.
I carried on a friendly correspondence with him for some time, and at his suggestion wrote to two or three ex-Confederate officers and made inquiry as to his loyalty, and several of these officers made affidavit that he was a strong Union man through all the years of the war.
I then wrote Congressman Houk, of Tennessee, and General J. S. Robinson, member of Congress from the district where I resided, and enlisted them in his behalf. I then procured a large number of affidavits from both Union and Confederate soldiers as to his loyalty and the value of his property con- fiscated by our army. Everything was in readiness to have a bill introduced in Congress to pay him for the property con- fiscated, but just as his papers had been completed and before the bill was introduced, he died, on the eighth day of December, 1883.
A Visit to Chickamauga Thirty Years After the Battle of September 20, 1863.
On the evening of September 13, 1892, with Captain Kir. kendall and my daughter, I took the Big Four train for Cin- cinnati enroute for Chattanooga to attend the reunion of the Army of the Cumberland, to be held on the Chickamauga battle- field, September 15 and 16. From Cincinnati we took the Queen and Crescent route at eight o'clock on the morning of September 14 for Chattanooga, and had a delightful ride across the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, passing through the famous blue- grass region and Lexington noted for its fine cattle, fast horses and handsome women.
The road runs through a very rough and mountainous region from Danville, Ky., there being upward of twenty tun- nels cut through the mountains and many of them quite long. On this line is the highest trestle in America at "High Bridge" across the Kentucky River, being two hundred and eighty-four feet in height, and next to the highest in the world; one bridge in Switzerland being six inches higher.
The road passes through Somerset, Ky., near the battle- field of Wild Cat, where General Thomas defeated Zollicoffer on the twentieth day of January, 1862, and the latter officer lost his life. As will be remembered by all comrades who were in the regiment in 1861, the First Ohio was ordered from Camp Buell, at Louisville, to join General Thomas, but when we reached Lebanon, Ky., the battle had been fought and we halted here and went into camp for several weeks. The mention of the name of the famous Camp Frankenberger, I think, will refresh the memory of every comrade as to the history of this march
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and the camp on the side of the mountain, and the torrent that rushed through the valley below and swept off the saddles and equipments of the companies that camped near the stream.
The next morning after arriving at Chattanooga we were up bright and early and took the train for Crawfish Springs, distant thirteen miles. The railroad runs along the line of the Dry Valley road and about two hundred yards west from the Widow Glenn's house, where General Rosecrans had his headquarters September 20, 1863, during the battle.
Arriving at Crawfish Springs, or Chickamauga, as the sta- tion is called, we were just in time to attend the business meet- ing of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, held at the Park Hotel, a very large summer hotel and resort erected near the Spring. Generals. Rosecrans, Morgan, Reynolds, Tom Wood, Boynton, Baird, Beatty, Barnett and other brigade and division commanders were present at the meeting, all with hair white as snow, but all happy and seemingly renewing their youth again, as they meet and greet each other after a lapse of twenty- nine years since the great battle of Chickamauga.
The stream formed by the spring has been dammed up about a hundred yards below where the spring bursts from the bank, thus forming a lake, but destroying the old spring completely. The old water-wheel is gone and not a vestige of anything remains by which the Crawfish Springs of September 20, 1863, can be recognized.
We visited the Lee House just up the hill from the spring about two hundred yards, where our division hospital was estab- lished Sunday afternoon, and where Colonel Cupp died in the southeast parlor about 4 P. M., September 20, and found but little change in the grand old brick plantation house with its wide halls and beautiful lawn dotted with flowers and stately forest trees. This house has just passed out of the hands of the Lees, and is owned by the land syndicate that platted the village of Chickamauga adjoining. We went back to the rear of the house about one hundred yards to the edge of the woods and facing east looked southwest across the old fields, where the second line was formed after we fell back from our first line near Glass' Mills. There was no change in the old fields, and as we gazed again and again it seemed that we could see the line of tramping horses and bright, gleaming sabers as we formed the long lines on that bright Sabbath day and waited anxiously and watched intently. for the attack of the enemy from the woods; but, as will be remembered, no attack was made, and we formed a skirmish line and moved into the woods and brought Colonel Cupp and many other wounded back to the hospital. We then fell back into the woods and stood to horse until about 5 o'clock P. M., and during the time we held this line and listened to the thundering of Thomas' guns on
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. Snodgrass Hill to the left. I have always thought that this was the heaviest cannonading we ever heard during our four years' service. The old road running northwest from the rear of the Lee House to Chattanooga Valley and over which we fell back and lighted our fires Sunday evening, does not seem to have changed, and is yet unfenced, running through the woods.
General Beatty, Colonel Kellogg - who was an aid on Gen- eral Thomas' staff, - Captain Barker nd Captain Kirkendall, of the First Ohio Cavalry, Captain James Thomson, of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry, and myself were in the group that examined our lines, and it was an intensely interesting meeting, as all took part in the battle on some part of the field.
In the afternoon we hired a rig consisting of a pair of his- toric army mules, a big wagon and a native Georgia boy, with a complexion as red as the Georgian sand, and who could give us the Southern brogue and spit tobacco juice in true Southern style. Our party consisted of Captain Thomson, Captain Kir- kendall, my daughter Ivaloo and self.
We had also secured the services of a citizen by the name of R. S. Shaw, who was in the Fourth Georgia Confederate Cav- alry and under command of General Wheeler in the fight of Sunday, and was with the dismounted cavalry that attacked us in the morning.
The distance from Crawfish Springs to our first line near Glass' Mills, where Colonel Cupp was wounded, is about one and a haif miles, and over one of the stoniest and roughest roads in Georgia; but after about an hour's bouncing over the rocks we arrived on the grounds all safe and with no broken bones. We had no difficulty in locating the grounds and satisfied our- selves beyond a doubt as to almost the exact location of the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, as I had in company with comrade A. A. Hill, of Company K, examined the grounds three years ago, as had also Sergeant C. S. Irwin, of Company K, who was wounded on the spot.
Shaw, who had lived in the vicinity before, and ever since the war, was very positive that we had our first line, where Colonel Cupp was wounded, correctly located, and we spent the afternoon examining the surroundings. The next day we hired another mule team from Frank Osborn, who was also a Con- federate soldier and served under John Morgan, and perhaps they were some of Morgan's mules, made famous in story and song. We devoted the day to visiting other points on the bat- tle-field, and, as may not be known to all, the government has purchased about seven thousand acres of land, comprising the greater part of the battle-field, for a military park, and are now constructing some very fine drives and boulevards of gravel and crushed stone, also cutting out the underbrush, and this will be for all future time a grand military park, protected and
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cared for by the government. We started from Battle Station, situated on the railroad and about three miles from Crawfish Springs, and first visited Snodgrass Hill, where the "Rock of Chickamauga," General Thomas, held the whole rebel army at bay during that long and bloody battle Sunday afternoon.
The old Snodgrass house stands there yet and the oak tree in the yard, where the brave old hero made his headquarters during the great struggle, and the cotton-field in front, where balls may yet be found, shot from thousands of hot musket- barrels. From noon until night the five divisions of "Thomas' line" successfully resisted and held in check the entire Confed. erate army.
As the principal object of this reunion was to mark the lines of battle, everywhere we would see groups of officers and soldiers earnestly discussing the situation and marking the lines of regiments and brigades. The Second Brigade, Second Cav- alry Division, to which our regiment belonged, consisted of the First, Third and Fourth Ohio Cavalry, Second Kentucky Cav- alry and the Chicago Board of Trade Battery, the brigade being commanded by Colonel Eli Long and the division by General Geo. Crook. The delegates appointed to fix the line of battle and select the position for erecting the monuments for the bri- gade consisted of Captain James W. Kirkendall and Captain W. L. Curry, First O. V. C .; Hon. G. W. Salsgaber, Third O. V. C., and Captain Jas. Thomson, Fourth O. V. C.
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We had a consultation with members of the National Com- mission and also with the Ohio Commission, and as the line of battle of our brigade was some distance to the right of the center of the battle-field and on a country road but little trav- elled and outside of the park, it was decided to erect our mon- uments on the grounds of the military park, the position selected being on the Dry Valley Road, about two and a half miles north from Crawfish Springs and two hundred yards southwest from the Widow Glenn's house, where General Rosecrans' headquar- ters were on Sunday, the twentieth, and where Wilder's brigade is now erecting a monument one hundred feet high. The point selected is a prominent place and will be visited by all persons who visit the battle-field, as it is only a half mile from Battle Station.
After completing our work on the battle-field we spent one day visiting the objects of interest in Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and the National Cemetery. The objects of interest about Chattanooga are numerous. For a good view of the city you should visit Cameron Hill, in the heart of the city, which is reached by an inclined plane, and also Orchard Knob and Missionary Ridge and the National Cem- etery.' It contains the graves of 13,060 Union soldiers; 8,092 known, and 4,968 unknown. It is beautifully laid out and well
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kept, and contains seventy-five and one-half acres of land and is enclosed by a heavy limestone wall four and one-half feet high. I was informed by the superintendent that the site for this cemetery was selected by General Thomas, while he stood on Orchard Knob, during the progress of the battle of Mission Ridge in November, 1863, and shortly after that battle active steps were taken to prepare it for interments, so that its estab- lishment dates from 1863. The number of unknown Ohio troops interred is 1,792. It is located just on the eastern boundary of the city, and its eastern slopes were the camping ground of Sheridan's division, just prior to the assault on Missionary Ridge.
The following description of the scene from Lookout Moun- tain is copied from a Chattanooga newspaper.
"Lookout Mountain is reached by a standard-guage rail- road, ascending to the summit and depositing visitors close to Lookout Inn. An inclined cable railway also runs from the base of the mountain, at the village of St. Elmo to the foot of the cliff at the nose of the mountain, and connects with a narrow-guage railroad running along the west side to Sunset Rock and on to the National Bridge Hotel. From Sunset Rock a fine view of the Valley of Lookout Creek is had, and objects can be distinctly seen in three states, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. The battle-ground of Wauhatchie is seen below, just beyond Wauhatchie railroad station."
Arriving on top of the mountain, and going forward to the point and standing on the cliff, a magnificent panorama is spread out - five states are visible. Beginning at the left, the Wauhatchie battle-ground in the valley; Racoon Mountain, the high mountain on the left, and Walden's Ridge across the Tennessee River on the right. The Tennessee is visible for a length of twenty miles. The very sharp bend under Lookout Mountain forms Mocassin Point. At the left hand side of the neck of the bend is Brown's Ferry, the scene of an exploit previous to the battle of Chickamauga. A picked force of the Union army proceeded in boats down the river during the night, and scaling the deep hill on the left bank of the river, seized it from the rebels. To the northeast Chattanooga is spread out. When the war broke out, its population was three thousand, nestled close to the river, between Cameron Hill and the high ground to the right of it. The creek between the mountain and the city is Chattanooga Creek. Further to the right, in the plain below, is the National Cemetery, three and a half miles distant; and in line with it and one mile farther away is Orchard Knob, the scene of the second day of the battle of Chattanooga. Missionary Ridge is in full view for many miles. Looking a little north of east, to the summit of Missionary Ridge, is the site of the headquarters of the Confederate commander, General Braxton Bragg. Southeast is Rossville Gap, which is in Georgia,
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just south of the state line, often alluded to in the history of the battle of Chickamauga, which was fought a few miles beyond. The high range of mountains in the distant background, to the northeast, are the Unaka and Great Smoky Mountains, bounding the states of Tennessee and North Carolina.
The intrenchments of our army previous to the three-days' battle enclosed Chattanooga in an arc of a circle of a mile radius. extending from the river at the small towhead in Mocassin Bend, below, to about where Citico Furnace now stands above the town, making a line of fortifications two and a half miles long. The Confederate line extended along the crest of Missionary Ridge five miles, from East Chattanooga station on the north to a point about east of the point of Lookout Mountain, and then four miles farther across the valley toward the observer, and up the mountain to below the nose. The Confederate Fort Bragg still stands on the mountain a few hundred yards back from the point. During the siege a battery on top of the point of the mountain threw shells into the Union army entrench- ments for several weeks. In the battle of Lookout Mountain the Union forces under Hooker approached from Wauhatchie, on the west side, and attacked the Confederates stationed under the point. The latter finally retreated to the summit of the mountain and held the Federals at bay until, under cover of the obscurity, they found a place to scale the cliffs on the west side, a short distance back from the point.
About a mile and a half back from Point Lookout is the Natural Bridge; and farther south Rocky City, a great mass of conglomerate rocks, several acres in extent, split up at inter- vals into crevasses, or streets, as they are called.
Each visit to Lookout Mountain increases the wonder that everybody who can does not go to see it. Aside from the intense interest with which the events of the war clothes its steeps, and the country about it, by the testimony of those who have visited the most natural scenes of the globe, it has a charm and grandeur that gives it high rank even with those who have been the most industrious travelers.
We exchanged our tickets and returned to Cincinnati via the L. & N. R. R., passing through many of the old towns so well known to the First Ohio during the war, and where many of the "boys" saw the girl they "left behind" in a few days.
The principal towns being White Sides, Bellfont, Bridge- port, Stevenson, Tantallon, Bell Buckle, Decherd, Murfrees- boro - the battle-field of Stone River, Lavergne and Nashville. The Stone's River Cemetery contains twenty acres inside of enclosing walls and the interments are as follows:
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Known Union soldiers 3,811
Unknown Union soldiers. Known civilians
2,325
5
Unknown civilians
5
Total 6,146
The monument in the cemetery is a shaft of very handsome scrolled sandstone fifteen feet high, surmounted with a large bronze eagle, the feet resting on a large, round, solid cannon ball.
The inscription on one side is as follows: "In memory of the officers an enlisted men of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Eight- eenth and Nineteenth U. S. I. and Battery H, Fifth U. S. Artil- lery, who were killed or died of wounds received in the battle of Stone River, Tenn., December 31, 1862, to January 3, 1863." On the other side: "Erected by their comrades of the Regular Brigade, Army of the Cumberland. Erected in 1882." (Also the badge of the Fourteenth Army Corps cut in raised letters.) "The blood of one-third of its soldiers, twice spilled in Ten- nessee, crimsons the battle-flag of the Brigade, and inspires. to greater deeds."
"The Veterans of Shiloh have left their deathless heritage. of fame on the field of Stone River."
Then from Nashville to Louisville over the old route we travelled so often during the war.
We were gone just one week, and had a most enjoyable time, and only wish that every member of the First Ohio living- could have been with us.
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