USA > Ohio > Greene County > Greene County soldiers in the late war : being a history of the Seventy-fourth O.V.I., with sketches of the Twelfth, Ninety-Fourth, One Hundred and Tenth, Forty-Fourth, Tenth Ohio Battery, One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth, Fifty-Fourth, Seventeenth, Thirty-Fourth, One Hundred and Eighty-Fourth, together with a list of Greene County's soldiers > Part 17
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" But there's a road from Winchester town,
'A good, broad highway, leading down ; And there, through the flash of the morning light, A steed as black as the steeds of night Was seen to pass as with eagle flight ; As if he knew the terrible need, He stretched away with the utmost speed ; Hills rose and fell - but his heart was gay, With Sheridan fifteen miles away.
"This Mr. Read wrote while on his way, shortly after I first read the poem, to attend a birthday reception to William Cullen Bryant.
"Mr. Read read the poem, thus completed, at Mr. Bryant's birthday party. The great old man listened to every line of it, and then, taking the younger poet by the hand, said, with great warmth ;
"""" That poem will live as long as Lochinvar.'"
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THE LAST PAGEANT.
No army in history has had a more brilliant career than that commanded by General Sherman, which appeared in the closing pageant of the war. Crossing the line between loyal and rebel territory at the extreme northwestern boundary, they marched through every insurgent state and capital in the trans-Mississippi, and sweeping round like a terrible cyclone to the northeastern limits of the Confederacy, literally crushed slavery, state rights and secession before them. The tremendous enthusiasm which greeted their appearance all along the route of march, showed how greatly their countrymen appreciated their worth and serv- ices. In imagination they once more saw these stalwart braves storming the hostile works at Donelson, Vicksburg, and Chatta- nooga, wrestling with the foe upon the crimson fields of Pitts- burg Landing, Murfreesboro, Corinth, Perryville, Iuka, and Chickamauga, and once more executing that historical campaign which resulted in the overthrow of the Richmond of the west. How vividly must a sight of the war-worn heroes recall the incidents of that eventful hundred days; the weary march from Dalton, the successful flanking of the stronghold at Dalton, the gallant dash through Buzzard Roost Gap and Allatoona Pass, the heroic but unsuccessful charge upon the beetling crags of Kenesaw, and the fierce and bloody contests south of the Chat- tahoochee !
COMES MARCHING HOME.
How the nation was electrified with joy by the announce- ment upon that memorable Saturday morning that Sherman's soldiers, after fighting by day and marching by night during nearly four months time, and over a distance of one hundred and thirty eight miles, traversing dense thickets, surmounting rocky ledges and fording treacherous streams, had at last reached the goal of their hopes and unfurled their banners over the Gate City !
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Accompanying General Sherman, whose pathway was strewn with flowers, rode the fiery Logan and the unassuming Howard, the Havelock of the war, who, after a long absence, had returned to greet his old brigade of the Second Corps, which he had led from Fair Oaks to Antietam. Following them marched the Fifteenth Corps, Sherman's original command, which won such golden laurels from Chickasaw Bayou to Jonesboro. Then came the heroes of the Seventeenth Corps, whose record from Shiloh to Bentonville is not less glorious.
Next in order followed the Twentieth, Hooker's former command, composed of the Eleventh and Twelfth corps, which made the extraordinary journey from the Rapidan to Chatta- nooga, when they went to the relief of Rosencranz, which after- ward stormed Lookout and carried Resaca, wiping out the stain of Chancellorsville, exhibiting equal courage and skill with their western comrades all the way to Goldsboro, and furnishing commanders for both the army of Tennessee and Georgia, Howard of Maine, and Slocum of New York. Last of all came the gallant boys of the Fourteenth, who, partaking of the spirit of their corps commander -Thomas - planted themselves like a wall before the pursuers at Chickamauga, and held the impetu- ous foe at bay until McCook and Crittenden could rally their broken columns.
HAIL TO THE CHIEF !
As General Sherman passed the multitude of spectators sent up shouts that must have made his heart leap, and the enthusiasm increased as he approached the presidential stand. He "rode up with the light of battle in his face," holding his hat and his bridle-rein in his left hand, and saluting with the good sword in his right hand, his eyes fixed upon his commander-in-chief. His horse, decked with flowers, seemed to be inspired with the spirit
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of the occasion, and appeared anxious to "keep step to the music of the union."
After passing the reviewing officer, General Sherman wheeled to the left, dismounted, and joined the reviewing party, where he was greeted by Governor Dennison, of Ohio. He shook hands cordially with President Johnson and General Grant, but when Secretary Stanton advanced, with outstretched hand, he remarked, " I do not care to shake hands with clerks," and turned away. Never was there a more complete "cut direct " than was given by the central figure of that grand pageant, whose brain and hand had guided that vast multitude of stalwart braves, leading them to victory, glory, and final triumph.
The troops marched by divisions of two companies front, and the men appeared in good trim. It was generally remarked that they displayed a fine physique, and had apparently profited from their foraging among the fat turkeys of Georgia. Their faces were finely bronzed, and they marched with a firm, elastic step, that seemed capable of carrying them straight to Canada, or, by a flank movement, to Mexico, in a short space of time.
BUMMERS AND NEGROES
Any representation of Sherman's army would have been incomplete which omitted the notorious "bummers." At the end of General Blair's corps appeared the most ludicrous, and at the same time the most interesting, scene ever witnessed in connection with any army. The brigade of black servants, attended by the guards of the small baggage-train, were preceded by two diminutive donkeys, astride of which were two equally diminutive darkies, whose self-complacency was only equaled by the imperturbable animals under them.
Then came the strangest huddle of animation -canine, bovine, and human -that ever civilian beheld, but which has
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been common enough in Georgia -mules, asses, horses, colts, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, raccoons mounted on mules, chickens, dogs led by negroes blacker than Erebus. Every beast of bur- den was loaded to its capacity with tents, baggage, knapsacks, hampers, paniers, boxes, valises, kettles, pots, pans, dishes, demi- johns, bird cages, cradles, mirrors, fiddles, clothing, picaninnies, and an occasional black woman.
In effect Sherman gave us a sample of his army as it ap- peared on the march through the Carolinas. He was, in fact, moving to another camp, and the day's display was a perfect picture of his progress, only more orderly, and no foraging. Some of the negroes appeared to have three days' rations in their ample pouches, and ten days more on the animals they led. The fraternity was complete; the goats, dogs, mules, and horses were already veterans in the field, and trudged along as if the brute world were nothing but a vast march with a daily camp. Thus we were shown how Sherman was enabled to live upon the enemy.
TECUMP'S RETORT.
The evening papers contained a letter from General Sher- man which threw some light on the studied insult paid by him to Stanton. After alluding to newspaper reports about his conduct, he said, " Well, you know what importance I attach to such matters, and that I have been too long fighting with real rebels with muskets in their hands to be scared by mere non-combatants, no matter how high their civil rank or station. It is amusing to observe how brave and firm some men become when all danger is past. I have noticed on fields of battle brave men never insult the captured or mutilate the dead; but cowards and lag- gards always do. I can not now recall the act, but Shakespeare records how poor Falstaff, the prince of cowards and wits, rising from a figured death, stabbed again the dead Percy, and carried
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the carcass aloft in triumph to prove his valor. So now, when the rebellion in our land is dead, many Falstaffs appear to. brandish the evidence of their valor, and seek to win applause, and to appropriate honors for deeds that never were done. As to myself, I ask no popularity, no reward; but I dare the war department to publish my official reports. I assert that my official reports have been purposely suppressed, while all the power of the press has been malignantly turned against me."
HOW JOHNNY REB HELPED CATCH A PIG.
The incident I am about to relate happened down in the wilds of West Virginia. I was a member of that glorious old Thirty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was noted for its good fighting and for its good, religious men. Now, I am not going to say whether I was very religious or not. I will leave that for some one else to say. Self-praise is worse than none ; but I will say that, just before going into battle, that little prayer my mother taught me, "Now I lay me down to sleep," would come up in my mind. My face would grow long, and my mouth would open to pray; and then the Lincoln green, or tobacco, would pop from my beautiful mouth to mother earth, and I would resolve never to chew any more. About that time some comrade would say, "What's the matter, Turk?" This would break the spell, and then I would forget my praying, shut my eyes, and " go it blind." This I write for the young genera- tion, not for the old soldiers, for they know how they felt-the same as I did, I suppose.
After the battle of Cross Keys, where General Fremont pounded old Stonewall and sent him flying down towards Rich- mond to lick General Mc-, General Fremont took a notion that he would cut across lots and head Stonewall off at Straw-
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burg. Orders were very strict to ' keep in ranks and not touch anything." Grub was very scarce, and I, being like the animal I was named after, always hungry, got to hankering after meat, either chicken or hog. I had a chum who was a praying man, and he could be trusted; so I told him my heart's desire. He opened his mouth and gave me very good counsel. Said he, " If you can only play off sick, and drop down, I can get leave of the captain to stay by you till the ambulances come up; and while they are coming up we will hide in the bushes and wait until they go past."
I watched my chance to get sick. Along towards evening I was taken violently sick. Down I went. My chum was left with me, and my captain took my gun. We lay there until the regiment passed us; then we hid behind some bushes until the rear guard passed ; then we started for " chicken or hog." We saw a large house a mile or so off on the road, so we started for there.
We got within twenty yards of the house, when my pard said, " Turk, you go up to the house and ask for alms, while I stay and pray for the good of the mission." I told him to keep his gun in his hand and watch while he prayed. I went up to the house, and, without ceremony, opened the door. No one was in the room. Went into another room, and saw a man slide in under the bed. I said to him, " Come out, pard, and give me something to eat, or I will search the house." He said there was nothing to eat in the house. By this time he saw that I had no gun, and he got terribly bold, called me a " darned Yank," and told me to " git " or he would let his bull-dog loose, and he would eat me up, as he had a good mouth for thieves.
I told him not to do anything of that kind; that I had no gun, and was a sick soldier, and only wanted a good-sized pig or a dozen chickens. He said he had no chickens, but he had a pig I was welcome to if I could catch it. "But," said he,
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"remember, I will set the dog on you if you try to get the hog." Says I, " We're out of meat, and I must have that pig." I bade him good-day, and started to where my chum was praying in the fence-corner. When I said we could have a pig if we could catch it, he said, "Glory ! my prayer has been answered, and we will soon have him." He stripped for the race. I took the gun, and told chum to take a good one, and away we went. Johnny Reb saw we were after his hogs, and he let the dog loose, and it came running down, he yelling for " Bull" to "take him." I broke and ran after my chum and the hog, hallooing, "Sic! sic ! whoop !" Old Bull came tear- ing past me and chum, and caught the largest hog by the ear and held him till chum cut his throat.
By this time old Johnny had got within fifty yards of us. He was swearing terribly at the trick we had played on him and Bull. I brought the gun up to a "ready," and told him to " halt ! "-that he had given me the hog if I could get it, and now we had it. I gave the command for him to "about face " and ·march," and told him if he turned his head to see which way we went I would shoot him. We gave old Bull the head and all we could not carry away, for his share.
Arriving safe in camp, chum gave the captain a good mess of meat, and reported me better. I took a large piece for my supper, and in the morning felt " like the morning star."
INTERESTING LETTER FROM AN EX-REBEL.
I was a soldier on the Confederate side, a member of Company E, Fourth Texas Regiment, Hood's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. I left the town with the first company that went from here to the army, and was one of the last to get back; and I was severely wounded three times.
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Well, it is all over now ; and here in Texas the old soldiers of both sides live side by side, trade and barter with each other, marry into each others' families, and "fight their battles o'er again " without ever a hard word or thought between them. I heard the remark made the other day, and by an ex-Confederate, too, that if there had been as many running North and South in 1861 as there are now, war between the two sections would have been impossible. His idea was that since we travel more we are better acquainted. I have never met a Union soldier who was not willing to admit that we fought well. And fight we did, for we fought for what we believed to be a righteous cause. Moth- ers sent their sons to battle, and wives their husbands; but our men needed no urging. They went willingly. We fought for a cause that we loved dearer than life; and we held out longer than hope lasted - held out till in reality ours was a lost cause and a conquered banner. But every true soldier fully accepts the result of the war, and desires no more conflict. Yet the · beautiful lines of Father Ryan find an echo in every Confederate soldier's heart :
" Furl that banner-furl it slowly ; Furl it gently, it is holy, For it droops above the dead. What though conquered, we adore it, Love the cold, dead hands that bore it, Wept for those who fell before it, Prayed for those who trailed and tore it. Oh! how wildly we deplore it, Now to furl and fold it so."
Is there a Union soldier who would have us feel otherwise ? The memory of our deeds of daring is all we have left us of the struggle. Our hardships are forgotten. Whatever bitterness we may have felt when the result of the struggle was first known has passed away, and our deeds upon the field, and the fun
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around the camp fire and on the march, remain as our only memories. Would any brave man who met us on the field, where we stood face to face, pouring our vollies of lead and iron into each others' ranks, begrudge us this? I know they would not.
I was a prisoner of war nine months, and, like the ghost in Hamlet, " I could a tale unfold" of hardship and suffering while in actual prison ; but I do not care to do it. I would rather remember the kindness with which I was treated while in the hospital; for I was severely wounded when captured, and until I got well of my wounds I was well treated -and there let the record stop. I will contribute one anecdote, and then stop.
Upon one occasion we were near the enemy, on picket duty, and about dark we got to calling over to each other. One of our men and one of the other side got up quite a conversa- tion, and inquired each others' names. I will call our man Jim Brown, and the Union soldier John Smith. After considerable conversation, Jim asked John if he had any coffee. He said, " Yes." Jim said, " All right. Put on a big pot, for I will be over in the morning after some." "All right," said John, " I will have the coffee ready ; and you bring along some tobacco." Well, just before daylight we moved out, made a dash, and cap- tured the whole party ; and as soon as we got there Jim halloed for John, and said he had brought the tobacco and had come for his coffee. John said that was "a h-l of a time in the morn- ing to be calling for coffee. Why didn't he wait till a man could get up and make a fire ? " But they divided coffee and tobacco.
Waco, Texas.
F. M. MAKEIG.
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A LITTLE GAME OF EUCHRE-AND BLUFF.
While we were on the campaign from Murfreesboro to Chattanooga, we rested for a short time on what we called University Mountain. Whether that was the real name or not, I do not know. It was in July, 1863, and there were plenty of blackberries and huckleberries inside of our lines - for a time, though, they soon disappeared, as everything generally did where there was a camp, especially eatables. One comrade of our company, James White, was a pretty good judge of commis- sary corn-juice ; and when he had a good ration of it aboard he would lengthen his name by adding "L. J. Parsons, son of the old man."
Well, Jim and I concluded we would take a walk into the country, but had no pass, and thought one was not absolutely necessary, as I knew of a good place to get through the lines without being seen by the pickets. Taking my old musket, and a few rounds of cartridges in my pocket, off we started. After getting outside the picket-line all right, we headed for a corn- juice factory, about six miles distant. After tramping about half the distance, we discovered, on a little raise in the road, a man sitting on a horse; and from the looks of him we concluded we had gone far enough in that direction. As soon as he discovered us he fell back over the hill, out of sight. We took advantage of his movement, and retreated about a mile and a half.
The road being clear behind us, as far as we could see, we thought it was too early to return to camp; so we made a flank movement to the right, and into the brush, where we skirmished around about an hour. Then we heard an old rooster crow, a short distance ahead of us. Jim looked at me, and I looked at Jim. Then we held a council, and decided to attack the rooster at once, and accordingly ordered an advance, which was very tedious, on account of the brush being so thick. We soon came
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to an opening, with a road running alongside of it. On the other side of the road was fence, and just beyond the fence a house, surrounded by a few shade trees.
We kept up our advance, and just as we were climbing over the fence we discovered four men, with the butternut clothes on, playing euchre under one of the trees between us and the house ; but they had no arms in sight, nor did they appear to notice us. Jim says, " What will we do?" I said we must bluff them if we could, as we had gone too far to retreat with safety. We walked up to them, apparently watching the game, but thinking of a different game from euchre. I said to Jim, " Aint it time the other boys were here?" He said he thought so. Just then a la ly came to the door. I asked if she could get dinner for six of us fellows. She said she reckoned she could. I told her we. would pay her what was right. In a very short time she said dinner was ready, so Jim and I marched into the house, but took our seats where we could keep an eye on the lads under the shade tree, and kept the old musket handy.
The dinner was good, but we soon got all of it that we wanted, and, paying the woman fifty cents, we assured her that the other four would be there soon, and we went back to watch the game a few minutes, asking each other, every few minutes, " why the boys didn't come !" We kept edging around until we got close to the fence, which we were not slow to get over, and into the brush ; and I think we measured off about a mile before we halted, and that mile was in the opposite direction from camp, because if they followed us they would most likely hunt for us in the opposite direction from which we were. Who those fellows were we never knew. If they were not rebel soldiers they acted very strangely; and if they were, it was strange they did not take us in. But when we saw them there we gave up, the idea of attacking that fellow hat was crowing.
Palmyra, Nebraska.
G. W. PETERSON.
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"TO H-L MIT DE GRAND ROUNDS."
I enlisted in Company A, Fifth Michigan Cavalry, July 18, 1862. We were sent to Camp Banks, Detroit, and there drilled until October. In our regiment, the members of Com- pany F were all Dutch, and among them were some who were very slow and backward in learning the drill; consequently the drill-master used to take them out by themselves and drill extra. Still, there were some who seemed almost dumb, and could not remember to salute the different officers according to their rank. One night there was one of them on guard duty around camp. After he had stood it as it seemed to him a long time, he begin to think the relief-guard would soon be along and he would be relieved. He soon heard the clatter of sabers, and then he was sure he would soon be in his bunk for four hours' rest. Finally they came to the proper distance, and he said, "Halt! Who comes there?" The reply was, "Grand Rounds." Says he, " Advance, Grand Rounds, and give the countersign."
The officer of the day saw at once that it was one of those Dutchmen who could not remember the drill; so he motioned to the men to stay there while he advanced. As he came up, the vidette was very awkward in giving any kind of a salute, with no pretense of the right one; so he said, " Haven't you been here lately, to learn the drill, so as to know how to salute the officer of the day properly ?" "Yes, I vas here." "Well," said the officer, " you don't seem to understand it. Now I pro- pose that we change places for a short time; you be officer of the day, and I'll stand in your place. You approach, and take notice of how I present arms; then try and remember it accor- dingly." Poor Dutchy gave up his gun ; the officer took it, ran to the guard-house, returned with an extra guard, and placed him on the vacant post. Poor Dutchy was pricked for extra duty.
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Well, in a few days it came his turn to go on guard-duty again. He thought he would not be caught for anything, for he had taken pains to salute the officer of the day in the meantime. So in the night he stood a long time on post. He began to think his trick must be about up. Finally he says to himself, " It can't be more than five minutes before it is time for the relief. I guess the Grand Rounds ain't going to come." Soon afterward he heard the old, familiar jingle of sabers. Says he, " There is the relief. Halt ! Who comes there ? " Promptly came the answer, "The Grand Rounds." "To h-1 mit de Grand Rounds ! I taut it vas de relief guards."
All old soldiers will know what was done with poor Dutchy then ; but let me add that when we got to the front Company F was as good a fighting company as there was in the Fifth Michi- gan Cavalry. For a long time afterwards, if anything went different in camp with the boys from what they expected, it would be, "To h-1 mit de Grand Rounds! I taut it vas de relief-guards." A. SMITH.
A MEMORY OF WILMINGTON.
I will try and give you a history of something that I saw at Wilmington, North Carolina. As we approached the city the Johnnies were getting ready to move-I suppose to make room for us Yankees. They finally got in such a big hurry that they left a few thousand pounds of tobacco. This we took right in out of the wet, and we moved on up to the barracks. Before we had time to look around there was a detail made to hunt around and see how many of our men there were left. We found twelve men lying out in front of the barracks, who had been starved to death. They were lying in the hot sun, some with their mouths wide open, and others with eyes open, and the gray-backs crawling down their throats. 18
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Others were found inside of the quarters, perfectly helpless. But, thank the Lord! there was a lady there who had a heart in her, for she told me she had been there all night, caring for those men. She went and begged something for them to eat, and some coffee. She was a noble lady. May the Lord bless her !
While we were on duty at this place there were some seven thousand of our men there who had been prisoners for some months. They were a horrible sight to behold - some without hats or caps, boots or shoes, some without shirts, some with pants having one leg torn off; no shirts on the half of them ; dirty and ragged as could be. After starving those men in that manner, who can have the cheek to tell us " The war is over - we should forget and forgive!" I say, No; never can I forget or forgive anyone, it matters not who, who did it. We should not only remember them ourselves, but teach our children and children's children to watch them. They are not to be trusted in any way, shape, or form.
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