USA > Ohio > History One hundred and eleventh regiment O. V. I > Part 12
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To them, we were angels of deliverance, from the bondage of enforced and unremunerated toil. A deliverance for which they had wrestled with lamentations and prayer, as Jacob wrestled with the angel. And as Jacob would not let the angel go, so they would not let us go without them. They gathered together that which seemed most useful to them, and, singly, or in families, fell into the roads behind, and followed us from day to day. There was such a spontaneous exhibition of devotion, in what they did, and in how they persisted in doing it, as gave most complete refutation to the claim ot the Southern politician, made before the war, that the Southern slaves were so contented and happy in their relations with their masters, that they would not accept freedom if it was offered. How many of you remember the Arabian Nights entertainment, we had, in the turpentine orchard upon this march.
The raw turpentine, is obtained, from pitch pine trees, which occupy nearly all the uncleared land in the State, standing so close together on the ground, that there is little small growth to obstruct the view. A distillery is located at the head of some convenient ravine. What is called in wooderaft a box is ent, near the roots of the tree to be treated, in such a manner that the cut holds about a pint of raw turpentine, then the bark and a portion of the sap-wood
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is clipped away for a foot or more above the cut causing the tur- pentine to flow until the box is filled, when it is gathered and carried to the still. By the process of distillation, the spirits of turpentine is separated from the rosin. The rosin, at places distant from lines of transportation, does not pay the cost of carriage, and hence, is dumped into the ravine out of the way. From year to year these trees are chipped, as at first, though higher and higher until the workmen have scarred the trunks for 30 or 40 feet. The wounds upon the body of the tree, causes the wood to become satur- ated with turpentine, and so, becomes in native phrase "lightwood."
Camping in these orchards the soldiers' impulse to destroy some- thing, was exhibited by setting fire to the trees. Some of you have been at the evening service of the Church of Rome, and have seen the lighted cathedral candles, standing tall and fair-burning brilli- antly .. Then imagine ten thousand candles averaging over a foot in diameter, blazing from root to limbs, and you have an idea of the beauty of camping among the pitch pines.
I think it was at Town Creek, that we camped one night on a rice plantation, and for the first time, many of you saw rice in its natural state, stacked in the fields, as wheat or barley would be in the north, and more nearly resembling the latter grain than any other. The boys had not been out of ranks long, before a group of these stacks, had dissolved into comfortable beds. The horses and mules had plenty to cat, and in the morning the residue was fired and burned up, because we did not expect to come back that way. We arrived at the Dover Swamps in time to assist General Cox in repelling the last effort, of the rebel general Bragg, to break his lines
We had learned that Beauregard had been relieved by General Lee, and the army of the Carolinas given to General Jo. Johnson. Our Atlanta campaign had taught us, that he was an enemy not to be despised. His plan was to strike our advance from Newbern, before Schofield could concentrate all his forces. Then, to turn and strike Sherman's head of column, before he could form a junction with Schofield He carried out his tacties so far as he could, but, in each instance failed, because not only of the superiority ofour forces, but because they were in the habit of being whipped, and we were in the habit of whipping them. After the rebel forces retired, we moved on, repaired the bridge on the Neuse River, occupied Kings- ton, and then pressed on to Goldsborough, without any serions opposi- tion. The boom of Sherman's guns had announced the struggle
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between his forces and Johnson's, at Bentonville; but after a few days of suspense his head of column appeared adjacent to our camps, and the royal army of the west was again reunited, and ready to meet any foe which could be brought against it, without fear of results.
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CHAPTER XII.
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GOLDSBOROUGH, RALEIGH AND SALISBURY,
The andacity of General Sherman in turning his back upon the rebel army of the Tennessee, and moving into the enemy's country without even the attempt to preserve a line of communication, had challenged the attention of the world.
The rebel press throughout the South, assured the southern people that the long hoped for opportunity had at last come ; that the Yankee army of invasion was now safely in their hands. "That a brave and free people would now rise as one man, and wipe the northern hirelings from the face of the earth."
Part of the prediction was fulfilled-the people rose as one man, and, made indecent haste to get out of the way. The fighting elements of the South were already in the ranks. The great strategists, who remained at home, were too valnable to jeopardise their lives in any common battle. They were saving themselves for the final emergeney. Many of them, can be seen now, on spacious verandas in the South, teaching the younger generation to hate the northern Yankee, and to idolize the Davis, Rhett's and Yancy's of the south. They are always prepared to show the world that they were not conquered or subdued by Yankees, they were "simply overpowered, sah, by the Dutch and Irish emigrants, who were drafted into the army, sah, as fast as they came into the country, sah."
Idleness and applejack, have got to be eradicated, before the typical southerner can comprehend northern civilization. If there is to be a "New South," worthy of the name, it must be educated in free schools ; its youth stimulated by free and fair competition, one
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with another ; its motto, "a free field and a fair fight;" its inspira- tion, "achievement," and not "heredity." When that time comes, it may be able to muster a hundred thousand men, equal in all soldierly qualities to Sherman's grand army of the west, but on that day, the North and the South will have become so homogenious that there will be no cause for quarrel ; no domestic strife requiring the service of such an army.
The loyal North watched, with nervous but hopeful confidence, for cheering news from that impenetralia, into which Sherman's 60,000 men had disappeared. Foreign enemies of republican gov- ernment, criticised his strategy, and predicted disaster. Had the movement been made sixty days earlier in the season, before the autumn rain-fall set in, it would have been one of the most enjoyable of military experiences, an almost unbroken military holiday. From the time that army left Atlanta, until it bivouacked at Golds- borough in North Carolina, with the exception of the temporary check at Bentonville, it had the most absolute freedom of the country, not tendered to it, however, by the civil authorities, with pomp and circumstance; but, taken as a matter of hereditary right, by American citizens in America, born to the privilege ot going where they pleased, and thoroughly prepared to make it uncomfort- able to whomsoever should obstruct them in its free exercise.
The march to the sea and through the Carolinas, has gone into history as one of the greatest of modern military achievements. Measured by the difficulties surmounted, it is not entitled to that distinction; but, measured by the clear foresight, and indomitable courage required to suggest and exeente the movement, and, by its results in paralyzing the enfeebled Confederacy, its author is entitled to take place as the incomperable strategist of modern times. Our part of the grand campaign had been performed, by penetrating from the coast to Goldsborough, thereby opening a line of communi- cation and supply for the army which was approaching from the south.
On the 23d day of March General Sherman formed a junction with our forces at Goldsborough. His men had been long on the march through the enemy's country, and were so destitute of clothing and camp equippage, that it was necessary to employ both boats and cars, in bringing forward supplies from Newburne on the coast. While camping here our brigade was called upon to make a reconnoissance to the northward, to determine whether any force of
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the enemy could be found in that direction. Nearly all of the private soldiers in the brigade had been detailed to work on the rail road, or to complete intrenchments covering our position, so that a party composed of non-commissioned officers, from the various regiments, numbering about 150 muskets, under command nominally of the adjutants of the different regiments, proceeded to perform the duty.
The day was fine, and the command had reached a point about ten miles northeast of Goldsborough without seeing any indications, or being able to get any information of an enemy. The road we were moving on, was a wagon track, winding through the pine woods; the adjacent country was practically obscured by under- brush, with no clearing in sight, when we were surprised, and some- what startled by a volley of musketry in our rear, far enough away however, to show that we were not the object of attack. If there is one thing more than another, that a soldier has no appetite for, it is to be shot behind his back. In the peaceful days at home, we had read about Artemus Ward's command, composed entirely of brig- adier generals, and had imagined that such a command would be just too niec for anything. A few minutes experience with that regiment of officers in the pine thickets, demonstrated that any such command, would ruin the military reputation of any officer, who happened to be responsible for its conduct in about 30 seconds. Most of these officers were tactically file closers, and had long been habituated to perform that duty. Habit tyrannizes most of us. Instinctively that whole command undertook to take position to the rear as file closers. Anybody can imagine how that would work, where each man, in the face of the enemy, was trying to get behind every other man, in order to perform his accustomed duty as a file closer. The trouble was we had no files. If we had been nearer camp, we would have sent for a few private soldiers to complete our military organization; but, the private soldiers were ten miles away, while the firing was evidently approaching us very rapidly, showing that one party in the fight was making a very active advance in the direction of our position.
Another element of trouble in our command, was that we had no commander. We had been assembled from four regiments, and had marched out into the enemy's country, without taking the trouble to ascertain who was the ranking officer, and now we had no time for consultation. It was clearly apparent to a considerable
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number of the command, that we had started wrong. Their move- ments satisfied me, that they were in favor of going back to camp, by a circuitous route and taking a fresh start.
I have since thought, that it was very unreasonable to ask those men to rasp the enemy, when we had not provided them with any files. In the social affairs of camp life, I had been present frequently, at the lectures given by Lieutenant Bolan upon military strategy; and from what I could gather, understood that one of his leading axioms was, "that when you are in doubt what to do, trump the trick." If General Mcclellan's military fame is not what his friends could wish it to be, it is due chiefly to his disregard of this very important military axiom. In this emergency, I advised this regiment of file closers to adopt the adjacent pine trees as file leaders. In an instant order came out of chaos, booted and spurred for business.
In the time marked by a dozen swings of the pendulum, half a . hundred horses and mules, tethered together with bark halters, and led by a grizzled cavalryman in blue, went through our lines with a rush-a flash in the darkness. Following close behind, in mixed uniforms of gray and blue, the road was filled with troopers, push- ing their horses to the utmost limit of speed, and firing at each other as they came. It was impossible to distinguish friend from foe. Permitting the foremost ones to pass unchallenged, we poured a volley into those who followed. Our instant charge with the bayonet, was in striet accordance with infantry tactics, as against infantry ; and it was not until after we had run ourselves out of breath, that it occurred to us, that we were charging after cavalry, which by that time had got out of sight. We captured one rebel lieutenant and two private soldiers; killed one man, and one horse, and disabled two others. I was a little ashamed of the inaccuracy of our fire, but, it was a flock shot. The war was nearly over. The objects aimed at were cavalrymen whom no one ever expected to kill. So considering that we were a regiment of officers, who were not expected to kill anybody, the record was not so bad. By the time we had got back to our file leaders in the woods, a union cavalry officer and two men returned to us. They drew their re- volvers upon our prisoners threatening to kill them. We promptly interfered, and were informed by the lieutenant, that he had been out foraging for stock, when he had been attacked by this squadron of Hampton's Black-Horse Cavalry, greatly outnumbered, and had
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been sustaining a hopeless running fight for several miles; and that our intervention was barely in time to save their lives.
The men were all wounded. One of their party had been killed; and they did not dare to surrender, because Hampton's men would have killed them without hesitation as soon as they had the power to do so. That it was well understood, that Hampton's men would take no prisoners, and that they were not entitled to be treat- ed as prisoners of war.
We believed the statement to be true, because one of our own regiment, was captured by the rebels in the same neighborhood, and shot after he surrendered, as we were told by a citizen, near whose house it occurred.
However, we could not afford to take lessons in either patriot- ism or civilization, from South Carolina, and we took our prisoners into camp and turned them over to the Provost Marshal. Wade Hampton has since been returned to Congress from South Carolina.
Perhaps a man who wore the blue honorably in those days, can explain to the widow and orphan children of our murdered comrade, why he now prefers the services of the unpunished murderer, rather than that of the loyal citizen, in the future shaping of the destinies of this republic. I confess, that I should find myself unable to give any reason for rewarding the guilty and punishing the innocent.
During our stay at Goldsborongh, the 10th Corps under General Terry, was added to the army of the Ohio, which in North Carolina formed one of the three columns of General Sherman's reunited army. For over two weeks we remained at Goldsborongh, waiting for the re-equipment of the armies of the Tennessee and Cumberland. On the 10th day of April, 1865, we started upon our march toward Raleigh the Capitol of the State. On the 11th, while the column was halted at Smithfield, and the men were resting along the roadside, we saw a mounted officer coming down the road from the front, his horse galloping, and he swinging his hat and shouting as he came. The wildest tumult among the soldiers followed in his wake. As he approached, among the babel of voices, we could distinguish his words, "Lce has surrendered." It was Lieutenant Ricks, now elerk of our United States Court, for the northern District of Ohio. Of all that line of tired men none were too weary to spring to their fect, and greet the news with a royal vociferous welcome. We could see hats flying in the air. The conventional "three cheers and a tiger," running from regiment to brigade, from brigade to division,
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supplemented by roll of drums, and bugle notes, swept down the parallel lines of the three grand columns from front to rear, and from rear to front again.
The news, was not alone the news of victory to the Union arms; it was also the recognized tolling of bells for the death of the Confederacy. It meant a reunited country .- The triumph of right .- The humiliation of wrong .- The verdict of the ballot-box affirmed upon appeal, to the God of battles.
The announcement of a solemn decree, that from Nahant to the Golden Gate, from the Great Lakes southward to the Gulf, through- out all this great and favored land, free schools, free speech, aud a free press should be maintained. That the prerogative of every American citizen to be governed only by majorities, should be given unsullied to the coming generations. Through the sunshine of that April day there suddenly burst upon us, that great American holiday, the Fourth of July.
The Darwinean doctrine, of natural selection, accumulated more sanctions in a few minutes, than could ordinarily be gathered in months, and the selections all ran to noises. All known means of causing atmospheric vibrations were apparently in full stock, and in addition, from time to time, job lots, which before had been unknown to trade, were thrown upon the market.
Canteens were emptied of water and dried at the fires, cartridges were broken up, and the powder poured into the canteens, which being buried in the ground, with fuses attached, exploded singly and in volleys, shocking air and earth with the concussions as of great guns. Far into the night the explosions continued. The Signal Corps, seeing no further use for fireworks in military service, filled the sky with the many colored lights of their rockets. The cotton states never saw so magnificent a display on short notice.
On the 13th we reached Raleigh, the advance skirmishing with the rebel forces under Johnston on the way. We all were satisfied that the war was over, that the unknown quantity in our algebraic military contract, serve "three years or during the war," was soon to have a practical solution. On the morning of the 14th, General Johnston opened negotiations for the surrender to General Sherman of the forces under his command, and on the evening of the same day, came the news of the assassination of President Lincoln.
The assassination of prisoners of war after surrender, and the slow murder at the prison pens, we were familiar with. The
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general impression among the soldiers, that this was a part of the same general policy of the Davis government, threatened to take the form of wholesale retaliation. There were torches in the eyes of our soldiers, and it was well for the South that it hastened to dis- band its armies.
Along the lines of march through the Carolinas, and from the coast, there had been pillars of clouds by day and pillars of fire by night, marking the passage of the armies, but these excesses had been the work of stragglers, and not the general policy of the troops. Had the war continued after this event, no military control would have prevented the soldiers from sweeping the land with a deluge of fire. The surrender of Johnston soon followed, including all the troops under his command, except Wade Hampton's cavalry, which refused to be bound by the capitulation, but broke up into small bands and started for home.
The Confederacy had passed away ; Davis was a fugitive, and many of the prominent rebels were seeking to escape from the country rather than to be confronted with charges of treason and murder. It was necessary to keep an army of occupation to protect lives and property there, until civil government could be made strong enough to take the place of the military. Under this policy we were ordered to Salisbury, North Carolina, with the balance of our brigade. We made the movement on cars from Raleigh. General Stoneman had been there before us, and destroyed con- siderable supplies of military stores which had been accumulated by the rebel government for the use of its armies. We remained at Salisbury until about the 23d day of June, when we were formally mustered out of the service of the United States and ordered to Cleveland, Ohio, for final discharge.
Our stay at Salisbury was as enjoyable as military restraint would permit. The poorer class of citizens brought in poultry and the typical leather pies of the south to trade for greenbacks and coffee. The Carolina girls were at first seen around the borders of our camp reconnoitering our position. From the evidences gathered at a distance, they evidently determined that we were peacefully disposed, and at length we were able to establish friendly relations. Soon the camp became the chief center of interest for the surround- ing inhabitants, and especially at parade, we could always count upon an interested audience.
We found at Salisbury the rebel prison pen in which so many
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of our soldiers had been starved to death. The prison pen was a square inclosure, abont four acres in extent, with a shed bordering brick walls upon the western side.
The place had the marks of having been crowded to its utmost capacity. Save the shed spoken of, there was no shelter for the prisoners, either from sunshine or storm, except such as they made for themselves. The whole of the ground was burrowed full of holes about five feet deep by six feet in diameter, having the general form of underground cisterns; a hole in the center, through which the men could drop in entering, or climb out of, so long as they had the strength to do so, furnished the only means of access. A little arm- full of straw or pine bonghs on the bottom formed the bed and rest- ing place of the occupants. This bed was thoroughly moulded through and through. The odor rising from them was noticeable throughout the grounds. A northern farmer who gave to his domestic animals no better accommodations, would be a proper sub- ject for the attention of the bureau for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
The Southern writers, have tried to excuse these inhumanities, under the plea of poverty. The excuse sinks in the moral scale to the level of the beastly thing excused. The country around Salis- bury was covered, in great part, by heavy pine forests. Timber was 80 plenty, as to be practically worth only the cost of getting it out of the woods.
A detail of fresh hearty prisoners, would have got enough logs into a neighboring saw-mill, and sawed them into boards, in a months time, to have furnished for all the men confined, ample shelter. If it be objected, that there were no facilities available for sawing Inmber, then the like force would have made a log-house city, within the inclosure, sufficient to have decently covered more men, than could have been honsed in the earth pits described. To have done this and covered them with slabs, split from the straight rifted timber, or, even with pine boughs would have been easily practicable.
All the citizens at Salisbury with whom we conversed agreed in saying, that the prisoners would have been sufficiently fed, if the prison guards had accepted provisions offered; and given it to the men. Of course it was natural, that the resident citizens, should have excused these prison atrocities, so far as they could; and sought, as far as possible, to shift the responsibility upon the prison
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guards. Nevertheless, there were families, whose union sentiments were only covered by a pretended sympathy with the cause of the disunionists; and who, had call been made by the authorities, would have contributed to relieve the starving prisoners.
There were also people among the secession class, whose civil- ization and cultivation was high and broad enough, to have com- pelled them to protest against the worse than heathenish barbarism here practised. We were shown a trench, some distance out of town, which had been dug about six feet wide by three feet deep, and in which the bodies of the dead prisoners were laid, side by side, as they died from time to time, and covered so slightly as decency of the lowest order would permit. The ditch for the space of three hundred feet or more, from the last place of burial, lay empty; a mute witness of the ghastly purpose of the prison pen officials, to bury the remainder of those in their hands. Justice was most shame- lessly defrauded, by the Johnson administration, which permitted the earth to be further incumbered, by the men who were responsi- ble for these atrocities. We encamped to the eastward of the town of Salisbury for several weeks, and the native element though shy at our first entrance to town, soon assumed a friendly disposition toward us. Some of the daughters of "the first families" came and accepted invitations to ride on horseback, with officers of the regi- ment, and gave and received calls in fashionable style.
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