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 6
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woods, and put up tents. Some rain in the evening.
June Sth. In camp. Drew rations. Received mail.
June 9th. In camp. Inspection of arms.
June 10th. Started on the march again. Marched out of camp and rested. Resumed the march. Thunder shower. Rained quite hard.
June 11th. Rained this morning. Captain Armstrong
joined us this morning. Marched in line of battle through the woods. Halted and commenced fortifying, but quit and marched on about a mile. Maneuvered around considerable during the night, but finally got into position and built breast- works; then camped for the night.
Sunday, 12th. A very wet and disagreeable day, conse- quently the chaplain did not preach.
Monday, 13th. By request of the regiment, the chaplain preached a thanksgiving sermon, which was afterward printed and published.
Tuesday, 14th. Went out on picket at six o'clock A. M., and then advanced the line. After standing picket two hours, we were thrown forward as skirmishers, and came near being shot. As we neared the rebel lines we were marching in column down a road, with trees and bushes on either side. Although there was no firing in front, yet we could hear the skirmishers on our right and left. We were going to fill up a gap, and had advanced farther than we supposed, when suddenly there came a whistling of bullets about our ears. We did not wait for the command to deploy as skirmishers, but every man hunted a tree and went to work, and, strange to say, although the balls whis- tled very close to us, not a man in our squad was touched. But the same bullets that were fired at us went on to the regiment, killing one man and wounding another. This corroborates the
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statement made elsewhere, that it is as dangerous in the rear as in front.
That was the day, I think, the rebel General Polk was killed. He was killed by the Sixth Indiana Battery, I think, though I may possibly be mistaken. It is said that General Sherman, seeing a group of rebel generals on Pine Mountain, rode up to the lines and inquired for a battery. He was told that one was close at hand. He ordered it brought up, placed in position, loaded, and discharged. He then ordered it loaded a second time and discharged. Then he said, "That will do; " and he immediately rode off. That battery was immediately in our rear, and the balls went over our heads.
That afternoon I stood up behind a tree, scarcely large enough to protect my body, from two o'clock until after dark, loading and firing, discharging sixty-three rounds of cartridges. The tree was skinned in several places by rebel bullets. Had I ventured to look around I might have had my napper taken. We loaded and fired at will, no officers being there to give orders. It was when the privates were on picket that they were their own men. They were not often troubled with officers then.
An incident transpired that afternoon which I will relate : Not far from the tree where I stood, a soldier was squatting down behind a tree, when a bullet from a rebel gun penetrated the ground immediately under him, without touching him. As may readily be supposed, he immediately arose to his feet and got on the other side of the tree. An old, gray-headed man belonging to another regiment- I can not say what one-some rods in the rear, seeing the man jump up so quickly and change his position, without any orders, came down to where our picket was standing, and, on learning the cause of the sudden move- ment - the soldier telling him he thought the bullet came from a rebel sharp-shooter in a tree- the old man proceeded forthwith,
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as he said, to see if he could find out where that fellow was. It seemed that he had no fear, as he advanced beyond the line and peered up among the trees as though he were hunting a squirrel. He was gone but a few minutes, when he returned and told the man he might sit down again, as he did not think the fellow would shoot any more-intimating as much as that he had fixed him.
On the 15th of June we again advanced, driving the rebels before us. We then halted and fortified.
June 16th. Moved to the right, and drew rations. Pretty sharp shooting on the right. Heavy cannonading, supposed to be shelling the rebel train.
June 17th. Advanced about half a mile. Built works. Heavy fighting. Took fourteen prisoners to day. Drew rations. Heavy skirmishing at night.
June 18th. Advanced again. Got under fire of rebel shells and bullets. Built works under fire. Three of the boys wounded to-day, among them Sergeant T. C. Hook, of Company A. Rained very hard while lying on our faces in line of battle.
June 19th. I was on picket, and went out to the rebel works; but they were gone. Our pickets followed them about two miles, when we returned to the regiment. We were then approaching Kennesaw Mountain, the Seventy-fourth in the rear. It was a grand sight as we approached the mountain, the shells from our batteries exploding on the side of the mountain, and the rebel shells from the top.
June 20th. The Seventy-fourth in the rear. Drew rations. Moved a short distance and put up tents, with orders for inspec- tion at four o'clock. Cleaned guns. Were ready for inspection, when we received orders to move right away. We moved in · front, to Leatherbreeches' or Buckskin's battery. This Leather- breeches' right name was Captain Dilger. He was the most skillful and plucky officer in the Union service. When the war
.
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broke out Captain Dilger was an artillery officer in the Prussian service. A short time after the battle of Bull Run, an uncle of Dilger's-a merchant in New York -wrote that the present was an opportune time to visit America, etc. Dilger was desirous of studying war as carried on in the western world, and to this end procured leave of absence for a year. As soon as he arrived he joined the Army of the Potomac as an artillerist, and commanded a battery. As his year drew to a close he managed to get his leave indefinitely extended. The term of his battery - the First Ohio Artillery - having expired, he was ordered to- Cincinnati, to be mustered out of the service. His next appear- ance with his battery was under General Hooker; and by the name of Leatherbreeches, or Buckskin, he became known to every officer and soldier in the Army of the Cumberland. In all the battles which occurred, from Lookout Mountain to Peach Tree Creek, Captain Dilger was on hand. He was the first to. open fire on the eve of a battle, taking his guns nearly up to the skirmish line. On the eventful day of the Hooker and Johnson contest, Captain Dilger took his guns up to the skirmish-line, and for half an hour poured a raking fire of grape and canister · into the enemy. So conspicuous and marked were his move- ments that he became at one time the target for three rebel batteries, and lost seven men during the day. He fired by volley when he got a good thing, and the acclamations of the infantry drowned the reverberations of the cannon's roar. On all such occasions Captain Dilger impressed every one by his fine appearance. He always wore close buckskin breeches- which gave him the name- with top boots, and stood by his gun in his shirt sleeves during battle, eliciting the admiration of the whole army by his coolness and intrepidity in action. I have seen him sitting in a port-hole of the works, with his glass, watching the effect of his shots on the enemy. The Seventy- fourth was ordered to support this battery, the men being in the
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works on each side of a large twelve-pound Napoleon gun. For two days and nights we were in this position, and, although the roar of artillery was almost deafening, still we could sleep.
On the 22d of June the rebels shelled us from the mountain, and the air was filled with bursting shells. I believe this was the day when Colonel Findley had erected his shelter-tent a little way from the works, and had gone to the woods for some leaves and twigs to sleep upon. When he returned, his tent was perfectly riddled. I suppose it was struck by grape-shot. Had he remained in his tent he would most undoubtedly have been killed. The Colonel removed his quarters after that.
On the 23d we moved to the right, after dark, where we remained until the 3d of July.
While lying before Kennesaw Mountain we had some heavy fighting. One day a solid twelve-pound shot struck our works, burying itself in the earth, and almost cutting a log in two six inches through.
July 1st. I was on the skirmish-line. Samuel Mulford, of Company B, was wounded in the arm. Stood up behind a · small tree and shot forty-five rounds of cartridges that afternoon. Some of the rebel shots came very close to me. The tree, doubtless, saved my life.
July 2d. Went on fatigue duty to the left, to build works, and worked all night. During the night the rebels left the mountain, and the next day we started in pursuit of them. They left some of their dead on the field. We passed through the town of Marietta, and on the Fourth of July we halted in an oat-field. Cut bushes and made a shade, it being very hot. We then fell into line and marched about a mile. Halted, stacked arms, and remained an hour, and then returned to camp.
July 5th. Advanced about three miles, and went on the skirmish-line. Remained all the afternoon and night. Sergeant Stipe, of Company B, was wounded.
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July 6th. Relieved from picket. Went to the rear and drew rations. Had a view of Atlanta from the hill-top, where they were planting a battery.
July 7th. Resting behind the hill in the wood. Very hot. Went up to Buckskin's battery and took a view of Atlanta, through a glass, distant from that point eight miles. We were then approaching the Chattahoochie River. We went into camp, and remained until the 17th of July.
On the 9th we went out to the front line, which was advanced. Sergeant James, of Company E, was here wounded.
On the 10th the rebels retreated beyond the Chattahoochie, we following them to the river, skirmishing through the woods.
July 17th. Received orders to march at seven o'clock. Accordingly we packed up, ready, but did not march until the afternoon. Crossed the Chattahoochie on pontoons, skirmishing through the woods. Advanced about a mile and fortified.
July 18th. In advance. Drove the rebels to-day. Halted and fortified.
On the 20th we advanced about a mile, and halted in an old field, where we remained until about three o'clock in the morning; then marched on and crossed Peach Tree Creek at a mill. Went on a little further, and halted in the woods and remained till morning. Advanced again in skirmish-line. We were not long on the skirmish-line when we were relieved by the Twentieth Corps. We moved to the right, and got under cover of the hill, and remained all night.
On the next day the regiment advanced, and several of the Seventy-fourth boys were wounded, among whom was Captain McElravy, of Company G.
July 22d. Advanced toward Atlanta. This day we lost three of our boys: John Forbes, John Hennessy, and Addison Tolbert. Several others made narrow escapes. George Kempher, of Company C, had a hole shot through his knapsack
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while lying on his face toward the enemy. General McPherson was killed to-day. We were on the second line of fortifications. Immediately in the rear was the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. A man was killed, to-day, by a shell. The shell passed through the top of the tree where I was sitting, and a fragment of the same struck the man on the head, completely taking off the upper portion of the same, and scattering his- brains all around. I saw it strike him. . He never knew what hurt him. Such a sight now would seem terrible; but we had become accustomed to it then.
July 24th. Not much fighting to-day. A demonstration was made at night, in order to find, if possible, the enemy's batteries. It was done in this wise : At a given signal, every man along the line was to fire his gun and yell at the top of his voice, which was done; but it did not serve to draw the enemy out.
July 26th. We moved to the rear about a quarter of a mile.
july 28th. Fell into line and moved to the right about four miles. Very hot. Some of the boys came near giving out. Hard fighting on the right. Rebels charged our lines seven times, and were repulsed every time with heavy loss. We marched to the extreme right flank and built works after night, and remained until morning. Next day we returned to our old camp, had a meeting of Company C, and appointed a committee to draft resolutions in regard to the death of the boys who were killed on the 22d.
July 30th. Wrote resolutions, which were approved by the company, and sent to friends and papers.
August 2d. We moved to the right again, and relieved the Forty-second Indiana Regiment. The next day we were relieved by the Twenty-third Corps. Drew rations, and moved to the right and put up tents.
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August 4th. This was a day of fasting and prayer, appointed by the President. Chaplain preached in the morning. Moved, in the afternoon, to the right. We had a hot, fatiguing. march of several miles, and directly back again.
August 5th. Lying back of works. Rebels threw several shells at us. Moved back into works that we left. Bands of music playing at night.
August 6th. . In front line. Skirmish advanced. Building
works.
August 8th. Was detailed to work on works in front. Worked a while, when the regiment came and worked likewise. Rained in afternoon.
August 9th. In front line. Skirmish-line advanced to- day. Building works in front.
August 10th. Went out at twelve o'clock at night to work
on breastworks in front. Worked until daylight. Relieved by the Twenty-first Ohio. Came back to camp.
August 11th. Went on picket at night, it being dangerous to relieve pickets in the daytime, the picket-line being within a few rods of the rebel line. Stayed in reserve until four o'clock in the morning. It was very disagreeable that night, raining a good portion of the time, so as to render sleep impossible. When we got into the pit, it was nearly filled with mud and water; and after daylight it was very risky standing up. We could not stand up, lie, or sit down, but had to remain in a crouching position, which was very tiresome. The pits were about a rod apart, and there were about six men in a pit. Ser- geant Slasher, Charley Newman, Faber, of Company K, and myself were in the same pit. While Sergeant Slasher was going from one pit to another, he was just in the act of jumping down into our pit when a rebel shot at him, grazing his back. He said it smarted like fire, and got me to examine it; and right across the small of his back was a red streak, but no blood. The
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sergeant was talking, before that, of going to the regiment for some rations; but he concluded to stay in the pit until after night, and do without his dinner. I had my bayonet shot from my gun in the same pit, the rebs and our men keeping up a constant fire day and night.
August 13th. Moved over to the front line and relieved the Sixty-ninth Ohio.
August 14th. John Quinn, of Company' A, was wounded, this morning, while cooking his breakfast ; and Pat. Doyle, of Company I, was wounded while going out on skirmish-line.
August 15th. Very hot. John Seldomridge, James, and myself put up a tent, and then cut some bushes for a shade.
August 18th. There was some heavy fighting. Although not actively engaged, we fell into line behind the works and took arms, expecting every moment to be called out.
August 19th. The regiment moved to the rear line. It rained very hard at night. . I secured a board, and laid it on a couple of logs, to keep off the ground. I then took my govern- ment blanket and spread it on the board to lie on, then took my gum blanket and stretched it over me; and, although the rain fell in torrents, in the morning I was dry and comfortable.
August 20th. Went on skirmish-line. Very disagreeable from the rain. Came near being shot. I had become very tired in the pit, and in the afternoon, the firing having slacked up, I thought I would get out on the bank and rest a while, the rebel works being in plain view only a few rods away, although I could see no rebs. They had logs on top of their works, and a crack underneath to shoot through, without being exposed them- selves. The thought struck me that perhaps I was too much exposed, and that I had better get back into the pit, when I put that thought into immediate execution. I had hardly got down -my head being just below the works - when zip! a bullet came, and went into the ground just behind me. Had I
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remained in that position a second longer, I would have been shot through the body.
August 25th. We left the front of Atlanta at night, marched about five miles, and halted till morning.
August 26th. Moved over to the edge of the woods, to the shade. Rained to-day. Moved out a short distance, and then back again in the same place. Remained there a while, then marched to the right. Halted at the works, and remained all night.
August 27th. Put up tents at daylight; then moved about the length of two battalions. Cut tent-poles. Fortified and remained all night.
August 28th. Ordered to march at six o'clock. Passed the Fourth Army Corps, and marched on to the Atlanta & Mont- gomery Railroad. Halted in a cornfield, and had green corn for supper.
August 29th. Arose early, and had another mess of green corn for breakfast. The method of cooking roasting-ears, as adopted by some of the boys, was as follows: They would take an ear of corn, stick it on the end of a ramrod, and hold it over the fire until roasted. Another way was to throw the ear into the fire with the husk on, and by the time the husk was burned off the ear would be done. We marched down the railroad a mile and a half, tore up the track, burned the ties, and twisted the rails. We could see the smoke for miles.
August 30th. . Started on the march to the Macon Railroad. Marched a few miles and halted on a hillside. Went on picket at night.
August 31st. Started on the march again. Moved a piece to the right, and halted in the woods. Marched on farther, to a farm-house. Saw some wounded men, who had been in a fight on the railroad.
September 1st. Marched on the rebels, the Seventy-fourth
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in front. Charged on the rebel skirmishers, across an open field. The rebels had a field-piece on their skirmish line, and a shot from it wounded a man in Company B. We advanced a short distance, and were ordered to lie down. In a short time we were ordered to arise, and forward march. There was a fence about two hundred yards ahead of us, and Colonel Given said, " Boys, if we can gain that fence the day is ours." So on we went, on the double quick, raising the yell. We reached the fence in safety, the rebel bullets, most of them, falling short of us, though some struck near. When a bullet struck the ground it would raise the dust. After reaching the fence we rested a while. Meanwhile the rebels had made a precipitate retreat. We followed them up, wading a stream of water, but never stopping till we got to the top of the hill, when we sent a volley after them ; then loaded and gave them a second volley as they were retreating through the woods. I presume, however, that they were too far off by the time we reached the top of the hill for our balls to reach them, as they were cavalry. We were then ordered to build breastworks, and commenced work, but did not complete them before we were ordered forward again. We marched on until we came in sight of the railroad; then formed line of battle and marched through the woods until our skirmishers again encountered the rebels and drove them into their works. We then advanced across another field, the line of battle on our right steadily advancing, and keeping up a steady fire of musketry, not much artillery .being used. We advanced to the woods; and, while marching on the right flank, Melville Davis, of Company C, was shot and mortally wounded. As he fell, he brushed me as he went down. I immediately called for a stretcher, and we placed him on it and carried him a short distance, out of range of the bullets, and laid him down on the grass. I knelt down beside him and asked him if he was hurt much. He looked up in my face-and, oh ! such a look,
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a look which only a dying man could give-and said, " O Ira, I am mortally wounded !" These were the last words he ever spoke to me, as I had to immediately join the regiment, which was now passing forward in the thickest of the fight.
Melville Davis was my schoolmate, and my nearest neigh- bor. I had known him from a child, being a little older than he. He had been married, but his wife had preceded him to the better land a short time before he enlisted. His time was . nearly out, lacking only a few days. He had never been home since he left. He was fondly anticipating the near approach of his discharge, when he should be allowed to go home to see his widowed mother, brothers, and friends. He and I often con- versed about them; and that very morning, before we entered the field, expecting a battle, he talked of home and friends, and said to me if he should be killed that day he hoped he would be better off. He spoke of his darling wife, whom, he said, was free from all the anxieties and cares of this world He was taken to the hospital, where he died in a day or two. A short time before he died, I have been informed, he called for his knapsack, and requested his wife's picture. On its being handed him, he looked at it, then kissed it, saying, " I will soon be with you." Melville was a good boy, and I have no doubt that he has joined his companion in a world where there is no more war or parting of friends.
But to return to the regiment. On we went, through a thick growth of pine, amid a perfect shower of grape and canister -for we were fronting a rebel battery - and minnie- balls, literally cutting shrubs, bushes, and branches of trees, at which time eleven of the Seventy-fourth were killed and thirty- three wounded, a number of whom afterwards died. William H. Hollenberry, another near neighbor, was also killed. He, and Davis, and I lived in sight of each other. He was the son of a widow, also, Mrs. Hannah Hollenberry. I did not see
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him fall, for we fought until after dark, and I got lost from the regiment. They had retreated to the rear, and I did not know it. I suppose, however, in groping my way back, I stumbled over his dead body, as we found it next morning where I suppose I felt it. I helped to carry him across a field and bury him where we buried the others. Before we put him in the ground I took my knife and cut off a lock of his hair, and sent it to his mother and sisters. He did not re enlist, and his time was nearly out. But, poor fellow, he received his final discharge. Henry was a good boy, and a good, faithful soldier. James H. Moore, of Company C, was also killed in that engagement.
The Seventy fourth was repulsed, the first time, and fell back to the edge of the woods, but immediately rallied, driving the enemy out of their works. We then fell back in good order, and remained all night, leaving our dead on the field, the rebels keeping up an artillery fire until after dark, and leaving their dead and wounded.
General Sherman, leaving the Twentieth Corps, withdrew the rest of his army from before Atlanta, and the rebels began to rejoice over his supposed retreat, when he suddenly re-appeared to their astonished vision, fifteen miles south of Atlanta, attacking them at Jonesboro, and capturing their works, ten guns, and two hundred prisoners, and inflicting upon them a loss of three thousand killed and wounded. The rebel General Hood, being completely " hoodwinked," in the words of General Sherman, blew up his magazines at Atlanta, and left in the night-time. We could hear the noise very distinctly, from Jonesboro, and supposed it was a battle between the Twentieth Corps and Hood. But General Slocum, with the Twentieth Corps, took quiet possession of the city. The next day we buried our dead in an old orchard. It was a sad time. We carried them about a half mile, laid them down on the ground until we dug their graves, and then committed them to the
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ground, putting, sometimes, two in one grave. Considering the chances we had, they were interred very decently. We rolled them carefully in their blankets, and then procured boards and put around them, to keep the dirt from their bodies. Thus we left our comrades who, only the day before, were as full of life and bid fair to live as long as any of us. We left them alone, in an enemy's land, and on the 6th started for Atlanta, and marched a short distance the next day. We marched within three miles of Atlanta and went into camp, remaining at that place until the 10th, when we moved about a mile and again went into camp. Our marching and fighting was now over, at least for a while.
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