USA > Ohio > Knox County > Mount Vernon > History of the 20th O. V. V. I. regiment, and proceedings of the first reunion at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, April 6, 1876 > Part 2
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When General Grant moved on the 28th of No- vember, from La Grange into Northern Mississip- pi, General Leggett's brigade was permanently organized as the 2d Brigade of Logan's Division,
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and comprised the 20th, 68th and 78th Ohio, and 30th Illinois. When the army reached the Ya- conapatapa river, the 20th, with two guns, was sent to the front, across the river and the swamp, as advance guard of the army. When the army fell back behind the Tallahatchie, General Leg- gett's brigade was left south of the river as rear guard to the army, and the 20th was posted by itself a mile beyond the rest of the brigade, as extreme guard.
While lying here, in extreme want of provis- ions, foraging, which afterwards became an ordi- nary duty, was resorted to. The 20th and 68th, with a battery, were sent with a train of wagons to a plantation ten miles off, for hogs and corn. Captain George Rogers, of Company E, was de- tailed to see the lady who owned the plantation. When we were leaving, she said to him, " I know, sir, this is the fate of war, and I can only thank you for the courtesy with which you have per- formed your duty."
Many of the men were barefooted in the march through rain and snow to Memphis, which was reached on the 28th of January, 1863. Here the 17th Corps was organized, and Logan's division became its 3d Division. The army here prepared for the Vicksburg campaign, though a large part of our occupation was holding courts martial and sitting for photographs. Here was enacted on the picket line the sequel to the famous race to Oxford between the 20th and General Quinby's division.
On the 22d of February, the regiment embarked and sailed down the river to Lake Providence. On the banks of this lake, bordered with great
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oaks trailing with Spanish moss, in the trim camp, where every tent had a flowering arbor in front, the men led an arcadian life, fishing, bathing, boating and holding evening serenades on the wa- ter. But canal digging, and expeditions into the swamps on both sides of the river, gave variety till we moved down to Millikin's Bend, on the 18th of April.
Here the 20th, with the 30th Illinois, was sent out into the swamp to build a road for the army to pass over below Vicksburg. Every day, when the sun went down, the foliage of the trees seemed to dissolve into swarms of gnats ; the earth scemed to smoke up with clouds of gnats, till the night air was a saturated solution of gnats that made breathing difficult, sleep impossible. Here we first met alligators. The first day, a soldier found up a tree by the water's edge, declared that an al- ligator came at him from the water, with distended jaws, and chased him up the tree.
When the march was begun, and the division came along, the 20th stacked spades, shouldered arms, took its place in the column, and marched to the crossing at Bruinsburg. We reached the field of Port Gibson on the 1st of May, when the battle was over. Colonel Dennis, of the 30th Illinois, promoted Brigadier General, commanded the Brigade until the day of the battle of Cham- pion Hill, when Colonel Leggett returned from the north, also a Brigadier General, and resumed com- mand. While General Dennis commanded, though the other regiments shifted position every day, the 20th was always kept in the front, at the head of the brigade.
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On the 3d of May, General McPherson, observ- ing signs of the enemy, deployed the corps and moved cautiously. The 2d Brigade was detached and sent to the left towards Grand Gulf. Making a detour of twenty miles, the brigade came out in front of the corps, which had meanwhile advanced four miles, and then the 20th, making a dash for the Big Black river, drove off a party of the enemy who were destroying a temporary bridge across the river at Hankinson's Ferry, and prevented its destruction.
On the 12th, the 20th deployed as skirmishers in front of the 17th Corps, as it approached Ray- mond. While lying at a halt in the timber, by Fourteen Mile creek, the forest suddenly rang with a yell and a volley. The 20th sprang forward into the creek, using its bank for a breastwork. The fire was so close that at times muskets crossed, and some men who were shot were burnt with the powder. The line gave way to the right, and the enemy there pushed on to the rear of the 20th. The regiment held its place till the line was re- formed, and then charged. When the battle was over, and the corps marched into Raymond, the 20th was advanced beyond the town as reserve to the pickets for the night. In the course of the battle, Lieutenant Stevenson, commanding Com- pany E, was severely wounded, and First Sergeant Selby, whose commission as Lieutenant was then on the way from Ohio, was killed, leaving the com- pany in command of Fifth Sergeant Oldroyd, who had been appointed only a few days before. He was so ably seconded by Private John Conovan, that Conovan was appointed Sergeant on the field.
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On the day of the battle of Jackson, the 20th was detailed to guard the train from an expected attack. At the beginning of the battle of Cham- pion Hill, the regiment lay in line at the foot of the hill, exposed to a dropping fire, while General McPherson was extending the line to the right. When command was given, the regiment charged up the hill and drove the opposing line into the woods. It took position in a ravine, where the fire was so hot that staff' officers could hardly ap- proach with orders. A. massed column moved towards our line. The two regiments adjoining the 20th recoiled a space, but the 20th, with am- munition nearly gone, fixed bayonets and stood with steel bristling above the bank in their front, till the 68th Ohio came up in support, bringing ammunition. When the battle was over, wc marched several miles beyond the field before go- ing into bivouac for the night.
The 20th was in place in the line investing Vicksburg, in the earlier part of the siege, but marched in General Blair's reconnoissance up the Yazoo to Patastia, and afterwards formed part of General Sherman's army of observation, watching General Johnston. When the siege was over, we marched out to the siege of Jackson, and then re- turned to rest.
After the termination of the siege of Vicksburg, a Board of Honor was appointed by General Mc- Pherson, to award medals of honor to officers and soldiers in the corps who had distinguished them- selves by acts of special gallantry, in the war up to that time. The following awards were made to the Twentieth Ohio: Gold medals to Brigadier
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General M. F. Force, as Colonel of the regiment, and Private Mathias Elliott, of Company F ; sil- ver medals to Captain Lyman N. Ayres, Captain Harrison Wilson, Sergeant John Rinchart, of Company B; Sergeant David Robbins, of Com- pany F, and Private John Alexander, of Com- pany D.
While lying about Vicksburg, the 20th formed part of General Stevenson's expedition to Monroe, Louisiana, and, later, of General McPherson's re- connoissance towards Canton. .
The 20th re-enlisted as veterans, marched in General Sherman's raid to Meridian, and, on the return, went home on the veterans' furlough.
When the furlough expired, the regiment ren- dezvoused at Camp Dennison, on the 1st of May, 1864, proceeded to Cairo, thence by steamers up the Tennessee to Clifton, and marching thence two hundred and fifty miles, by Pulaski, Huntsville, Decatur and Rome, joined Sherman's army, on the 9th of June, at Ackworth. The 20th, for a while, guarded the trains, but rejoined the brigade at Bushy Ridge, at the foot of Kenesaw, on the 23d of June, and took part in the demonstration made on the 27th, by General Leggett, on the ex- treme right of the enemy's line, while the army made the assault on Kenesaw.
Upon the evacuation of Kenesaw, General Leg- gett's division, including the 20th, was shifted from the extreme left to the extreme right of the army, and operated about the mouth of Nickajack creek, till it crossed the Chattahoochie on the 16th of July, and took position again on the extreme left flank.
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On the 21st of July, the First Brigade of the division took by assault a fortified bald hill, de- fended by a portion of Coburn's famous division, in full view of Atlanta, in easy range of the guns defending the city. In the course of the day, the Second Brigade moved up into line with the First. The Fourth Division, just come under the com- mand of Giles A. Smith, in consequence of the wounding of General Gresham, moved up later, extending the line to the left.
Next day, about noon, General Hood having moved out from Atlanta with his army, fell furi- ously upon Giles A. Smith's exposed flank, and part of his force passing around, attacked General Leg- gett's division from the rear. The men leaped over the works to the side next to Atlanta, and repelled the assault. A new force coming up from the Atlanta side, the men again leaped their works and repelled this new assault. The first column having rallied, returned the assault, and, the men again leaping over their works, repelled them again. Giles A. Smith's division being now rolled up by the flank attack, the force opposing him moved up, and planting guns at close range, enfiladed our line. Fortunately, the men had spent the night in building traverses to their breastworks. Attacked on three sides, the divis- ion concentrated on the position held by the First Brigade, and there fought into the night, hand to hand, with bayonets, clubbed muskets, and officers using their swords. Desperate were the contests about the regimental colors, and for the possession of ammunition boxes.
At one time, a squad of two dozen men, with
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the colors of the 20th and 78th, charged upon the enemy's line and rescued a number who had been taken prisoners. In this charge, the color bearer of the 78th was killed. Before the colors touched the ground, they were seized and borne by Private Elliott, of Company F of the 20th. In a moment he was killed. His brother, of the same company, snatched them from falling. He, too, was at once killed, and then Private , also of the same company, took the colors and brought them safely back to the works. In another charge, made by a small party to rescue some boxes of ammunition, Private Blackburn, of Company A, was bayoneted in the hand, but knocked down his assailant with his fist, shouldered a box of car- tridges and brought them back to the regiment.
In the night, exhaustion ended the conflict. The hill, afterwards called Leggett's Hill, was held. A brigade took it on the 21st, an army failed to retake it on the 22d.
The morning of the 23d found the hill literally piled up with dead. Corpses lay in heaps. From a portion of the ground fought over by his divis- ion, General Leggett buried and turned over by flag of truce, nearly one thousand of the enemy's dead.
For special gallantry in this battle, gold medals of honor were awarded by the Board of the 17th Corps; to Lieutenant Nutt, of Company F, and Private Blackburn, of Company A.
The division was again moved around to the right flank of the army. The 20th, for a time, guarded the trains, but was again in line at the battle of Jonesboro, and at Lovejoy's Station.
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After remaining in camp a while after the evacu- ation of Atlanta, the 20th took part in the pursuit of General Hood, as far as Gaylorsville, Alabama, and returned to camp near Marietta.
On the 15th of November, the army launched out upon an expedition, facing towards the east, and was embarked on the march to the sea. Rail- roads were destroyed, swamps were traversed, rivers were bridged, and the outposts of Savannah were reached. On the 19th of December, the 20th was detached to build wharves on the Ogeechee, for the landing of stores, and was so occupied when Savannah surrendered.
On the 5th of January, 1865, the regiment moved by boat to Beaufort, and before daylight of the 14th, crossed with the 2d Brigade over a pon- toon bridge, from the upper end of the island to the main land, followed by the rest of the 17th Corps. The brigade marched at the head of the column, brushing away opposing cavalry, till the advance was stopped by heavy field works on the farther side of a bayou. The 1st Brigade, making a detour, and driving back opposing cavalry, forced the crossing of another bayou, and pene- trated to the rear of the works. The skirmish line of the 20th, led by Colonel Wilson, taking the opportunity, dashed at the works, and the force defending them withdrew.
The main column, with the 2d Brigade at its head, resumed the march, and by sunset reached the front of the formidable and often attacked, but hitherto impregnable, works near Pocotalijo,
These works were abandoned in the night, and next day the 20th moved on beyond Pocotalijo,
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and aided in throwing up works to be held by Gen- eral Foster's command, when Sherman's army should proceed on its march.
The march was begun by the 17th Corps, on the 30th of January. On the 2d of February, when Generals Mower and Smith crossed Whippy Swamp, near its junction with the Tallahatchie, the 3d Division moved along the borders of the swamp to Barker's Mills, where it becomes a creek, in order to save the bridge at that point, in anticipation of the arrival of the 15th Corps. The · march was opposed, but not impeded, by cavalry. The crossing was reached just after sunset. The skirmishers of the 20th waded in, but found the stream too deep to be forded. The 20th lined the shore with their fire, while the 78th dashed across the bridge, supported by the 15th Ohio battery, which, posted on a rising ground, fired over their heads. Next day, the division turned over the bridge, uninjured, to the 15th Corps, on its arri- val, and rejoined the 17th Corps, forcing the bloody crossing of the Tallahatchie.
On the morning of the 11th of February, the division, with the 20th in front, moved from the South Fork of the Edisto, with orders to push for the North Fork of the Edisto, opposite Orange- burg, and save the bridge from destruction, but not to cross over. The division coming up about noon to the edge of the swamp through which the Edisto flows in many channels, and to which the opposing cavalry had been driven by our cavalry and for- agers, the 20th was detached and pushed into the swamp at a double quick, driving the cavalry so rapidly as to save the causeway and the bridges
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over the swollen channels to a bend in the road near the last bridge, over the principal channel. This bridge was commanded by a battery, which opened as soon as the cavalry crossed, and the 20th, drawn from the road, was posted along the border of the main stream, in the edge of the timber, standing knee-deep and hip-deep in the water, so as to cover the bridge with their rifles.
In the afternoon, Colonel Wiles, of the 2d Brig- ade, found the river a mile above, subdivided into a greater number of channels, so that by fording, and by felling trees, men could get over. A party sent by Colonel Fairchild, commanding the 1st Brigade, found that, a mile below, the river was concentrated into one stream, with solid ground on our side, and bordered by swamp on the farther side. When I went in the evening to report this to General Blair, General Sherman and General Howard were with him. As soon as I finished, General Sherman said at once to General Blair, " Yes, the lower place is the place to cross. Make your crossing there, your feint at the bridge, your diversion above."
In the night the enemy threw some pitch on the bridge, and set fire to it, burning some of the planking but not injuring the timbers. In the night, the 3d Division, relieved by Giles Smith, left the position about the bridge, and constructed a road to the proposed crossing.
Next morning a pontoon bridge was constructed at the proposed crossing, the division passed over, waded through the swamp, and emerged into a long stretch of fields that extended to the city. The 2d Brigade was sent by a by-road to cut the
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railroad below the city, while the 1st Brigade marched on to the battery that was still firing across the river at Giles Smith. The fire was turned on the brigade, but on its approach the guns were limbered up and hurried off. As the brigade was ascending the slope to the town, an officer and three men of Giles Smith's division, clambered over the stringers of the burned bridge and entered the city in company with the brigade. The bridge was repaired and Giles Smith and Mower, with the trains, crossed over it. Orange- burg was strongly held and an obstinate resist- ance was expected, but only the skirmish line was able to fire on the railway train that took towards Columbus the last of the garrison.
On the evening of the 15th, the 20th and 68th Ohio, under Colonel Wiles, forced the crossing of Congaree creek, at Taylor's bridge, wading the creek, and in the night rebuilt the bridge. The force that was opposing the 15th Corps at Conga- ree creek, being flanked by this movement, with- drew next morning and left the passage unop- posed.
The 20th reached position near Bentonville, on the afternoon of the 19th of March, entrenched next day, and the enemy withdrew on the night of the 20th. On the 24th of March, the regiment moved into Goldsborough, ragged, barefooted and hungry, but in jubilant spirits, confident in its in- vincibility, and ready, after a two weeks' rest, to march wherever the army commander should direct.
In this march of fifty-four days, there was not much fighting, but there was terrible toil.
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General Joe. Johnston often told General Sherman that his Engineers had reported it was a mere im- possibility for an army train to pass over the lower portion of South Carolina in the winter, and he did not dream the attempt would be made. The loose soil, nowhere solid, the abundance of swamps, the frequent rain melting the earth away, afforded no foundation for two thousand loaded wagons, be- sides batteries, ambulances and saddle horses.
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The roads were given up to wheels ; the troops made their own roads along side. The wagons were, of course, continually sticking and mired to the hubs. It was necessary all the while, to build corduroy road for the wagons, besides constructing ways for the troops. All the divisions were em- ployed in this way. The amount of this work done by the 3d Division, while making this march of four hundred and thirty-two miles, made in the aggregate : 15 miles, 1353 yards of corduroy road for wagons ; 122 miles, 627 yards of side road for troops, 303 yards of small bridges where pontoons .could not be used ; 1 mile, 520 yards of infantry intrenchments, besides erecting a battery for two guns and another for three guns, and destroying, 14 miles, 800 yards of railway, heating and twist- ing spirally every rail. The toilsome dragging through the mud continually, prolonged the march into the night. For days and nights together, the division was on the road day and night, till the men were haggard for want of sleep.
After two weeks of rest and preparation at Goldsboro, the army, exhilarated with the news of the surrender of Richmond, moved out for Raleigh, and on the way, while floundering in a swamp,
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heard borne swiftly along the column, the an- nouncement of the surrender of Lee. While pausing at Raleigh, the army sat one day in their tents, silent in the gloom of grief and brooding wrath upon the tidings of the death of Lincoln. Another day, when just stretched out on the road to resume the march, they were crazed with joy by the proclamation of the final surrender of Johnston and the close of the war.
The work was done. Nothing was left but to march home and cast aside the trappings of war. On the route from Raleigh to Washington, the veterans moved easily and rapidly over solid ground. Though Sherman's army, sixty thousand bummers, poured along the country roads, not a chicken started in alarm, the grunting pigs lay still and winked in lazy security at the tramping columns. For peace had come. The rights of war were laid. It was a column of sixty thousand farmers traveling along their brothers' farms, and property was sacred.
The army passed in review at Washington, and tarried awhile at Louisville. The 20th left Lou- isville on the 15th of July, for Camp Chase, for the final muster out, and all the paraphernalia of war melted away like storm clouds before the sun, leaving the sky of peace to bless us all.
From the time of the muster-in of the first com- pany at Camp Chase, to the final muster-out, was four years, lacking little more than a month. From the time of the arrival of the regiment be- fore Fort Donelson, to the surrender of General Johnston, was more than three years. For the greater part of this time, I had the fortune to be
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associated with the regiment, either as one of its officers, or as commander of the brigade or divis- ion in which it served. During the whole of the time of which I can speak from personal knowl- edge, after its entering into actual service, it was continuously in the field, on active duty, at the ex- treme front, and a great part of the time in exposed situations. But the 20th Ohio was never taken by surprise, was never thrown into con- fusion, never gave back under fire ; it took every point it was ordered to take, and held every posi- tion it was ordered to hold.
The instruction of Colonel Whittlesey, in the beginning of our service, in using all practicable cover in battle, saved many lives. According to the muster rolls in Columbus, sixty-two of the reg- iment were killed and two hundred and eighteen died of wounds and disease while in the service. How many of the discharged went home to die, and how many have died since the war of their wounds, we have no means of knowing. But when we think of Colonel Fry, and Colonel McEl- roy, and Captain Walker, Captain Ayres, Captain Edwards, Lieutenant Hale and the many others we can name, we shrink from the count. But Colonel Whittlesey, the father of the regiment, thank God, still lives and is with us here to-day. And General Leggett, who, as the 20th and 78th were wedded during the war, is our father-in-law, thank God, still lives and is with us here to-day. And a goodly number of the regiment, who show by their lives that true soldiers in war make trusty citizens in peace, thank God, still live and are gathered here to-day.
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The narrative is now ended. But before closing I desire to say one or two things in general, which apply not only to the 20th Ohio, but as well to the army of which it formed a part.
I have often heard it said that the western army was wanting in discipline. And it is true that in the matter of salutes, of forms of respect, all those things that constitute what may be called military etiquette, and which are undoubtedly an important branch of discipline, the western army was defi- cient. Our military education was hurried, and many things were never learned. But in the vital matter of discipline, in that which constitutes its soul and essence, in unquestioning obedience of or- ders, the western army was not behind any. If an order was disregarded, the unfortunate recusant suffered.
In the autumn of 1862, a division, moving out of Bolivar to begin a march, was slow and irregu- lar in getting on the road. The division com- mander was relieved and sent home. On the march, orders were sent out every night specify- ing the hour at which the march would be resumed in the morning, and we moved by the minute hand of the watch. One morning, in Georgia, a brigade was not ready at the appointed time; another brigade took its place. That night an order was issued disbanding the brigade and assigning the regiments to other brigades. At the beginning of the march from Atlanta to Savannah, a general order was published, prohibiting soldiers from entering any house, except on order of an officer. One day, when the column was lying at rest at a halt, a sol- dier stepped to a house and stood awhile in the
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doorway without going farther. At that night's camp, he was tried by regimental court-martial and sentenced to a stoppage of pay. Another sol- dier, who entered a house and pillaged some arti- cle, and an article of trifling value, was tried by general court-martial when we reached Savannah, and sentenced to death.
But were not Sherman's bummers proof of a want of discipline ? They are here to speak for themselves. They were the foragers of the army. The trains could not carry sufficient supplies. On setting out on the march from Pocotalijo, that lasted fifty-four days, the 3d division, for example, took twenty-eight days of hard bread, thirty days of coffee, and some sugar and salt. The wagons
and haversacks could carry no more. Some cattle were taken along, but not a pound of meat was taken in the wagons. To live on the country was a necessity, a mere matter of course. An invading army always subsists partially or wholly upon the country over which it passes. Napoleon, in his · maxims, discusses the relative merits of drawing subsistence by requisition and drawing it by direct seizure. In the densely inhabited countries of Europe, the alternative exists. But in our sparsely settled States, where towns are few and small and scantily supplied, and provisions are mainly found on the scattered plantations, there is no means but direct seizure.
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