USA > Ohio > History One hundred and eleventh regiment O. V. I > Part 11
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The sand plain around, and inside of the fort was so nearly covered with shot and shell from the guns of the fleet, that one could easily have walked over the field without touching the ground.
Our landing was made in a cold driving north-easterly rain storm, which soon wet us through and through. From the landing we marched about two miles northward along the shore, and stacked arms upon the sand field, which as far as we could see, was as bare of vegetation and fuel as the watery waste from which we had dis- embarked.
The ocean had our tents, cooking utensils, and most of our rations. There were no plantation houses in sight, no rail fences, no hogs, no sheep, no cattle, no chickens, no potato patches, in short no decent place for the 111th Regiment to camp, and we felt that the Robinson Crusoe dodge was being played upon us. We were indi- vidually and collectively dissatisfied. Far away near the beach line was some lumber piles, before which some sentinals paced to and fro.
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on guard. Immediately our line commenced dissolving in the direc- tion of those lumber piles, and in a few minutes those piles of Jum- ber, like the woods in Scottish story, were moving down upon us. Soon boards were turned into sheltering positions, and the surplus, ent and broken into fragments, were blazing cheerily along the line of our gun stacks. Within twenty minutes the regiment was itself again. We had broken the ice, and introduced ourselves to the hos- pitalities of North Carolina.
Before Bill Bannister had got our coffee boiled, a squad of staff officers and orderlies came galloping down upon us, and breathlessly inquired what command that was, and who was the commander. Upon being informed, the leader said that our men had driven away the guard from some piles of government lumber, carried it all off, and he suspected the very shelter over our heads was part of it. We were not in position to deny the impeachment or the knowledge of the fact, we were not in the humor to make excuses, but suggested that we had been in the habit of getting things when we wanted them, and that if they had got away with the Eastern rebels as we had with Hood, there would have been no occasion for our coming to their as- sistance.
At the end of the parley, they informed us, that all of the officers of the regiment should consider themselves under arrest, demanded and received the sword of the commander, under orders of General Terry, and left us in possession of the boards.
"We suggested to Captain McCord that the trade was all on our side, as his sword wasn't of much account anyhow, and the foragers with any kind of luck, could get him a better one before morning.
But the Captain, like Rachael, refused to be comforted. I can see him now, with his slouch hat drawn down over his eyes, his feet well separated, his pantaloons thrust into his boot tops, in a sort of negligee manner, and both hands thrust into his pockets up to the elbows, his shoulders elevated, and looking as black as an Indian reservation. And well he might. He had been put in command of the regiment afloat, and during the voyage the circumstances were such that he had found no occasion to exercise control over the men, in fact, had been unable to control himself. Now, before he had re- covered from the rising and falling sensation of the sea, his emblem of authority had vanished, leaving him like a man without a country. I think the Captain would have preferred .anything else than that, always saving and excepting going back upon the sea again.
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But, "time makes all things even." General Cox was on the ground. He was acquainted with us. General Terry revoked his order, and the fleet's flotilla of small boats transferred us to the south side of the river. One of the boys remarked that as they could not get the lumber away from us, they concluded to get us away from the lumber. After being landed on the south side of the river, we marched over to Smithville, on the coast, where there was plenty of fuel. The storm had cleared away, the warm sunshine mellowed the air into May-days, and we waded out to the lime-stone reefs, at low tide, and returned loaded with oysters in the shell. We built fires of drift-wood along shore, and soon had those oysters fry- ing and sputtering on the coals. Meanwhile the odor of 40 first-class restaurants, penetrating the pine woods, beguiled us into content- meut again. We would have been satisfied to stay there as long as
the "good of the service " should have required. We visited the broken backed rebel iron-clad, lying on the reefs, impressed a yacht and sailed over to Smith's Island, picked up conch shells on the "beach, saw a grove of palmettos on the island, whose bare trunks aud serrated caronal of leaves, marked them sentinels of the tropics, and altogether had a jolly good time, long to be remembered.
On the 17th of February we turned our backs on Smithville, and marching northward through the pine woods, approached Fort Anderson, which stands on the south bank of the Cape Fear River, southeast of Wilmington. The fort was garrisoned by a force under command of the rebel Col. Thurstin, of South Carolina. General Cox, in command of the 3d Division of our corps, Ames' Division of the 24th corps, and our brigade of the 2d Division of the 23d corps, were directed to attack and take the fort, the fleet under Commodore Porter to render such assistance as it could, by shelling the fortifica- tions at long range.
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CHAPTER XI.
CAPTURE OF FORT ANDERSON AND WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.
The country in the vicinity of Fort Anderson was swampy in many places, while here and there small lakes, by narrow bayous or channels connected the lakes with Cape Fear River. The character of the country, made defensive operations on the part of the enemy correspondingly easy.
Efforts had been made to reach Wilmington by the north bank of the river upon which the city stood, but the Confederates under General Hoke, held the narrow peninsula between the river and coast, with intrenched lines. Several efforts were made to land forces from boats in their rear at night for the purpose of attack, but the stormy weather prevented. Then we concentrated on the south side of the river, as stated in the last chapter.
On the morning of the 17th of February, 1865, the troops moved forward and after marching about ten miles approached the fort from the south. My recollection is, that General Cox's Division in the advance, with its right flank upon the river, moved to within about three miles of the fort and intrenched, without getting near enough to draw the tire of the fort. The enemy's cavalry out posts were reached and driven in.
The Confederates occupied, not only the fort, but also an intrenched line, at right angles from the river to Orton's Pond, which was a small lake several miles long. This presented to us a front with both flanks so covered that an attack upon the intrenched line,or a wide detour to reach the rear of their position, became necessary.
Our brigade moved up to the vicinity of the fort, and two
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brigades were sent around the pond on a fifteen mile march to reach the road leading to Wilmington. During the 18th we made demon- strations to keep the enemy occupied. The fleet under Admiral Porter, continued to send its compliments to the fort from long range.
In the afternoon our brigade moved by the flank in front of the brigade of the 3d Division in position, and throwing out a skirmish line, carrying intrenching tools, we cautiously moved out of the pine woods into an open field covered with broom sedge. The skirmishers commenced throwing earth within easy musket range of the fortification. This move was made just as the sun was setting, and under fire of a battery of Blakely guns from the fort. Mean- while some of the guns from the fleet were dropping their big shells into the fort, keeping the infantry garrison under shelter of the bomb proofs. When I had moved the skirmishers into a satisfactory position, and the rifle pits had been commenced, I returned to the main line, ordered coffee to be sent up to the skirmishers, and settled down for a night's watching.
During the night I reported noises in the fort, which indicated preparations for an evacuation. Toward morning the indications were more positive, and our brigade was ordered to advance, and charge the works as soon as it became light enough to distinguish objects. Just as day was breaking the line was put in motion and charging at a run went over the works withont opposition, capturing about 50 men of the rebel rear guard, and planting our regimental colors first on the fort. At the same time the guns of the fleet, in a well intended attempt to render us assistance, commenced throwing shells into the fort, and continued for some time after we were in possession. We shook out a square of new white dog tent canvas, which at length was seen by those on board of the flag ship. The
firing then ceased.
The fort's armament consisted of ten heavy platform guns similar to those in Fort Fisher. Soon we saw the commodore's gig put out from the flag ship, and upon its touching the dock, Com- modore Porter accompanied by other officers, stepped ashore. I remember his first exclamation as he hurriedly glanced around : "Be careful now men, be careful, this whole thing is probably mined, and wires stretched all around us, which would fire at the least touch and blow us all up." As we had already been through every part of the fort above ground and below, we were amused at his
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excessive caution. Soon the small boats of the flect were abreast the fort carefully dragging the channel for torpedoes, which seemed to the special terror of our naval men.
Dropping the history proper of our regiment at this point, for the present, we may take a hasty review of the situation as it stood at that time. Hood's army had ceased to be a factor in the calcu- lation of the rebels, as to how long they could keep the shattered hulk together. The skeletonized organization had crossed to the northward of Sherman's line of march to the sea, had been incor- porated into the armies of the Carolinas, under the rebel General Joseph E. Johnson. But with all the men Johnston could muster, he could not hope for more, than to retard the northward march of Sherman from Savannah. Sherman, without any help from ns, could have easily beaten all of Johnsotn's forces in any fair field.
When General Sherman left Savannah, instead of following along the Atlantic coast where he could have been in constant com- munication with the fleet, he readily foresaw, that there would be a network of broad rivers, bordered by almost impassible marshes for his army to cross, where a small force of the enemy could at any time take him at a disadvantage; hence, he determined to push back from the coast toward the mountains, so that he could cross the Atlantic system of rivers near their sources, and thus diminish the obstacles as much as possible.
As a part of his general plan, it became necessary for him to be able to establish a new base of operations, either at the coast or upon some railroad having direct communication with a seaport, held by our forces. He could use either Wilmington or Newberne, North Carolina, as a seaport, and Goldsborough was his choice as a railroad point in the interior. Sherman was on his way through central South Carolina, and we bad been charged with the duty of furnishing him with a resting place, when he should arrive, where he could find such supplies as should be necessary for future opera- tions. Stoneman had moved from Knoxville, Tennessee, with all of the available cavalry of our old army, and was then closing up toward Richmond on the west.
Of all the rebel armies in the field, Lee alone was able to hold his opponent at bay, and he had military sagacity enough to see, that he could not long maintain his position against the grim and persistent insistence of the hero of Vicksburg. Now looking south- ward for an outlet to escape the toils of Grant, be hears rolling
1
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across the plains of the Carolinas the drum beats of the veteran army of. Sherman, answered back by the bugle blasts of the heroes of Franklin and Nashville, heralding the reunion of the hitherto invincible army of the west, upon his only remaining line of retreat. It needed no gift of prophesy to see that the southern candle so long kept burning at both ends must soon go out in smoke and darkness, and the last southern soldier get his last parole.
The honor of planting your regimental colors upon the fortifi- cations, before that of any other command, though not given to you in any current history of the war, belongs to our regiment and will ultimately be recognized. In a late number of the most popular magazine, among American publications, the key-note has been sounded.
The history of the great rebellion, which shall stand all tests, and take its place among modern classics, will be largely compiled from regimental histories, . from official reports, and the historic papers contributed by members of the Grand Army, by Companions of the military order of the Loyal Legion, and kindred organiza- tions. Then, the time servers, who were more solicitous that the army correspondent should give them prominence in the public journals, than they were to earn the praise bestowed, will sink into merited obscurity, and the honest, patriotie soldier, will be recognized.
Our stay in Fort Anderson was brief. On the forenoon of the 19th day of February, we resumed the advance up the Cape Fear River in the direction of Wilmington, following along the river road upon which the rebel garrison had retreated. About eight miles above the fort, Town Creek empties into Cape Fear River. The enemy had crossed this stream, destroyed the bridges, and taken position upon its northern side to dispute our crossing. This stream was bordered by swamps, and dyked rice fields, and no fords offered facilities for crossing. The roadway to the creek was a narrow embankment, swept by the Confederate guns upon the other side, while Hagood's brigade of Hoke's division of the rebel army, were in strong intrenchments supporting the artillery.
General Henderson's brigade of our 3d Division was advanced through the swamps as near the south side of the creek as practica- ble, while our brigade was directed to a point below, nearer Cape Fear River, where we camped for the night.
On the morning of the 20th we crossed the creek upon a flat boat, carrying about fifty men at a trip, leaving horses and bag gage
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behind. From this crossing we moved in a southerly direction until we reached a road in rear of the rebel position. The Confederate commander had two lines of retreat, one near the river and one by a road farther to the southward. We were unacquainted with the country, (as we had never met before), and the process of getting acquainted was hedged about with difficulties. Taking new ground in the presence of an enemy, is always a slow process for troops who are commanded by a cautious commander. Sometimes the chances of an ambuscade, may be overlooked when the object to be attained is very important, but as a rule a commander who pushes his men into unknown dangers is justly subject to criticism.
Colonel Moore had been charged with the duty of closing this last gap in the Confederate line of retreat, but the tangled condition of the woods prevented our moving as rapidly as expected, and the attack of our other two brigades was unfortunately delivered before we got into position, so that the routed force got by upon as narrow > a margin as Hood gave us at Spring Hill some months before. As it was we captured several guns and abont 300 men.
We went into camp in the woods for the night. The dismantled bridge behind us was repaired, the horses and baggage were brought forward, and we were made comfortable again. In the morning the bugles again sounded the advance, and we reached Mill Creek, six miles from our camp ground, about noon. Here we found that the enemy had burned the bridge, delaying us for several hours, until repairs could be made. After dinner we resumed the march, and by the middle of the afternoon, assembled all of the troops of that command, upon the south bank of the river, opposite Wilmington. As we approached we could see the smoke of burning buildings in the city, which to the soldier was a sure indication, that the enemy did not intend to allow the stores accumulated there, to fall into our hands.
At this point the channel of the river is divided by Eagle Island. The railroad bridge across the river being no longer useful to the Confederates had been burned, so that little remained, except a line of smoking timbers to show where it had been. Many boats which had been used for a pontoon bridge, had in the panic, escaped distruction, and these were employed to ferry troops to the island, where skirmishers were deployed who advanced to the further side and soon began to make it interesting to a rebel battery, which, on the north shore, covered the crossing. A battery of our rifled guns
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soon demonstrated that in an artillery duel, the enemy would get more blows than they could give, while our exploding shells swept the business portion of the city beyond, so that before night, resist- ance to our crossing was practically abandoned.
The next morning we celebrated Washington's birthday by entering the city. The town, like most Southern towns, was like Goldsmith's deserted village, bearing no marks of thrift or industry, unless the rearing of slaves for the markets further south, could be ealled an industry. We went into camp in the westerly part of the city, in near proximity to the house of a Mr. Griffith, who as a member of the city council, opened his house to us, as a convenient headquarters. We did not think it a forced construction when we regarded this as tendering us the freedom of the city. "Bully Woodruff" was not a strict constructionist, and before night he had picked up a large amount of military information and a few chickens.
Wilmington had been the Liverpool of the Confederacy, where the blockade runners unloaded foreign supplies of naval and military stores, and many of her citizens had prospered in their contraband adventures.
"Bully" had great respect for the proclamation of the president, declaring all importations by the Confederates contraband of war, and entertained the opinion that everything in the town had been imported, in violation of that order. Seriously, however, we found the people wonderfully willing that the war should be concluded soon, and when we had coffee to trade we could get for it anything the citizens had, in exchange.
During our stay we gave Bill Banister a rest, by arranging with Mrs. Griffith, that we would turn into the family store of supplies, whatever variety our commissary afforded, and take our meals with the family. I remember with what avidity they ate our hard tack, and drank the fragrant cups of coffee made from our old govern- ment Java.
The fire-eaters had vanished, or turned Quakers. The old domineering, supercilious spirit, manifested by the Southern people in the early years of the war, was no longer exhibited. Dear experience had taught them that though the Yankee soldier was not quick and sudden in a quarrel, and at the outset would rather bear some imposition than plunge into a fight, yet, when his blows began
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to ring upon the battle anvil, they came all the more sturdily because of the delay.
The scalawag politicians of the South, for many years, had been pouring into the too willing ears of those people the declaration, that the Northern people were a set of picayune peddlers, and itinerant tinkers, who had no manly spirit; that one Southerner could whip five northern bred men. The year just ended had shown such a series of successes for the Union army, whether superior or inferior in numbers, that the boasted prowess of the Southern soldier was sadly wanting in the sanction of events.
In military as well as civil affairs, successes and failures seem to grow as other things do, from the planting of successes or failures ; or, in different phrase, a habit once established, is bard to break. And for the year past, no difference what the comparative numbers had been, the rebels had got into the habit of being whipped. As a consequence, the average Southern citizen was rapidly loosing faith in the ability of the Southern armies to overcome the habit.
The wrecking of the rebel iron clad just off Smithville; The storm of iron rain from the guns of Admiral Porter's fleet, which had so recently fallen upon their coast; The drum beats of Sher- man's 60,000 men approaching from the southward, and the undig- nified speed with which their army of occupation had gone into the pine woods to the northward, was not calculated to inspire the inhabitants of Wilmington with confidence in the future of the Confederacy.
From the 22d of February until up to about the 5th of March, we remained in Wilmington, doing garrison duty only. The weather was fine, the surroundings agreeable, and we were all contented. While here a large detachment of Union soldiers, who had been held in rebel prison pens, were sent in by the enemy.
Language is inadequate to describe their condition. Starvation by slow degrees had rendered nearly all of them as helpless as children. The brutality of any people who would have so treated those whom the fortunes of war had placed completely in their power, cannot be adequately characterized. It has been stated that it was the settled and deliberate purpose of the Richmond govern- ment, to subject their prisoners to such treatment as should per- manently disable them from future military duty. If such was their purpose, they had evidently accomplished it.
Starvation and exposure had reduced some of these men to
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idiocy, and those who were not mental wrecks were physical wrecks. These men were not "coffee boilers,"because they had had no coffee to boil, no water pure enough to make coffee, and no utensils in which to make it. These were not "rear bummers" .or "bounty jumpers." They were men who had stemmed the tide of battle until its waves had overwhelmed them, and then in violation of all the rules and usages of modern civilized warfare, had been exposed to the elements unsheltered, unhoused, unfed, unclothed; had been forced to burrow in the ground like badgers, to gain such protection from the elements as they could, until when they came to us, clad with but little else than the musty red clay which clung to their poor, emaciated bodies, their mothers would not have known them had they met face to face; many of them would not have had intelligence enough to have told their mothers who they were.
If there is in this country enough blind folly, to place in the front ranks of place and power, the infamous class who were responsible for such outrages, so that the victim of their inhumanity then, shall still be the Lazarus at the gate of the country ; and, if in God's economy, there is a well regulated system of rewards and punishments, there will then come upon this land a curse, which will only be exorcised by another sacrifice of blood and treasure.
While we were peacefully resting by our camp fires on the Cape Fear River, the 10th Corps and the 3d Division of our Corps had concentrated near Newberne, some 75 miles to the northeastward, and were pushing ont toward Kinston and Goldsborongh, which last point General Sherman determined to make the objective of his march through the Carolinas. He had already approached the Cape Fear River, near Fayetteville, about 80 miles northwest of Wilmington.
At this time we were put in motion again, upon the road to Kinston, by the way of Trenton and the Dover Swamps. As our column passed through Wilmington's humanity lined streets, on our way to a new front, looking from the corner of my eye, I imagined that I detected some telegraphing between some of our boys in ranks, and the good looking girls, who were now smilingly facing those "horrid Yank's." A moment later the flutter of waving hand - kerchiefs settled the question. As one of the fair rebels expressed it, "We were in a terror last month for fear you would come, and now, we are so afraid you will never come back."
This intervening country held no opponent who actively
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opposed our march. We passed through turpentine orchards where in anti bellum days, the turpentine and rosin industry had been pro- fitable. As the fife and drum came into requisition, and you were keeping step to " the girl I left behind me," or, "Marching through Georgia ; " the colored element seemed at times to drip out of the woods, and into the cross roads, as though the negro was indiginous to the soil, and came into existence in assorted sizes, spontaneously. I remember that at one place we were greeted by several generations at once, with the most pagan like fantastic exhibition of joy, ever shown us on the march. Keeping time to the cadence of our music, some where whirling upon their feet with all the fervor of howling dervishes, some contented themselves with dancing, others clapped their hands, or feet, or both, and above the other noises, came the oft repeated vocal refrain, "Oh ! bress the Lord the Yankees is comin', and the day of jubilee." One ancient mother pressed up and touched, or tried to touch the soldiers garments as they passed, with as much religious fervor, as when over 1800 years before, the multitude in Gallilee, tried to touch the garments of the Son of Mary, that they might be healed of their infirmities.
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