USA > Ohio > History of the Sixteenth battery of Ohio volunteer light artillery, U. S. A., from enlistment, August 20, 1861, to muster out, August 2, 1865 > Part 2
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On October 15th we went by the Missouri Pacific R. R., to
JEFFERSON CITY
the capital of Missouri, where Fremont had gone in pursuit of the rebel General Sterling Price, a brother of the union General Tom Price. We camped in the south of the city. where a line of fortifications was laid out. but never finished. as the rebels were soon driven far south. We were detailed to work on these fortifications. but our work was not very zealous -- three good Irishmen would have done the work of thirty of us. During the siege of Vicksburg we worked with a different spirit, as we felt the urgent need of it. We
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drew Fremont tents, the best tent ever invented to shed rain and stand in a storm, having a centre pole and a hoisting arrangement something like an umbrella. We also began guarding some forts with siege guns: one .on a hill about one-third of a mile east of the camp. On October 29th we
Repairing Army Transportation.
drew three six-mule teams, and it was a jolly experience shoeing and hitching them up the first time. but we soon learned to appreciate the patient. unsentimental mule as a valuable adjunct of the army. On October 31st we were reviewed in the city by General Price, in command here. Two batteries and some infantry were also in the review. We had to take old muskets to make any soldierly show. and it made us very tired to carry them.
On November 8th, General Fremont went through Jeffer-
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son City on his way east, having been superseded. Soon after this 100 men of our and Hickenlooper's 5th Ohio Bat- tery, with others from the 47th Illinois and 14th Missouri Cav- alry, weredetailed to work on the fortifications. On Novem- ber 24th General Price made a tour of inspection through our camp, and he saw some of the furnaces in the tents, which our boys had invented, and which he thought a good scheme. and said he would advise others of it-quite a compliment to us.
The government found the greatest difficulty in equipping the hundreds of thousands who had now rushed into the service: partly to remedy this, many thousands of English. Austrian and Belgian guns were bought, mostly very infer- ior to our Springfield rifle. Especially was this scarcity true of field guns, so that we did not get ours till December 27th. At one time General Price tried to make us take old muskets. But we had enlisted for artillery, and thought we were not obliged to take muskets. We were marched over to town, the guns were brought out for us, but we re- fused to take them, the men crying out. "No guns !" Our officers were in sympathy with us, and some of them would rather have resigned than become infantry. So we marched back to camp without guns.
The boys had heard much about foraging being so im- portant to a soldier, so they began to practice while here in camp. One night one of them brought in a grindstone from the country; he thought it would be handy to sharpen axes. Next morning the captain made him take it back under guard. Another of the boys brought in a beehive, bees. honey and all.
On December 4th we were to have received our first three months' pay; but the paymaster claimed for our clothing more than two months' pay amounted to, and we decided to take no pay.
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By this time the weather was very cold, and we con- cluded tents would make poor winter quarters. So the boys went to the nearby woods, cut logs and made clapboards, and soon we had thirteen very comfortable cabins built, twelve for the men and one for the officers. placed in two rows, with a wide street through the middle and a cross- street. It was wonderful how skillful some were with the axe and other simple tools. Each cabin had an ample fire- place of stone and a chimney of brick, obtained from de- serted houses, cisterns. etc. Some chimneys were made of slats thickly plastered with mud. These latter would some- times take fire: if it happened in the night the guard would cry out. "No. 8, chimney afire!" Out would rush No. 8, throw down their chimney, then next day build it up again plastered more carefully with mud. Before the cabins were built some had warmed their tents by digging a square hole in the floor covering it with sheet iron, with a tunnel for the smoke, and a joint of stove pipe outside for chimney. But the cabins were a vast improvement on this, as we could get plenty of wood by cutting it.
On December 21st we heard that our guns were on the way, at which good news we gave three cheers and a tiger. Besides drilling we did some guard duty at a commissary and public buildings in town, and some drilling with 24- pounder siege guns at the State House.
While here measles appeared in camp, generally in a inild form. Sometimes someone would go out to stand guard and at the end of two hours come in all speckled. Some cases were severe, and one fatal, that of George W. Spon- Hler; December 12th, 1861. But the first death in the cont- pany was that of Reuben A. Wallace, a great favorite, who died from malarial fever, November 23rd, 1861. Captain Mitchell accompained the body home for burial.
Christmas was made pleasant by many tokens of kindly re-
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membrance from friends at home, things useful and palat- able, giving variety to the Christmas dinner. The day before had been given up to rabbit hunting, over 50 having been captured without dog or gun, and these were found vastly superior to old bacon. What also helped to make us glad was the expectation of having our guns in a very few days; and on December 27th word came that the battery had arrived, and we went over to the railroad to unload the guns.
These guns were turned out by the Miles Greenwood Foundry, of Cincinnati, Ohio, at that time one of the best foundries in the State. The Government could not turn out equipments fast enough in its various arsenals, and private manufacturing concerns were pressed into service to help out, and the above foundry made field guns for Ohio troops. These guns were the old style 6-pounder brass field gun. four of them rifled, calibre 3.80, carrying a Hotchkiss con- ical ball of 16 pounds, and percussion shell of 1412 pounds. The other two guns were smooth bore, calibre 3.67.
We now began drilling with enthusiasm. Our officers had everything to learn out of the book, but old Sergeant Partridge had served both in the British and United States artillery, and his practical knowledge was a valuable help. The rifled guns were the right and left sections, under Lieutenants Twist and Murdock, the centre section under Lieutenant Funston, with the caissons in charge of Lieu- tenant Mitchell. Harness came with the guns. but no horses, so that we could not yet practice any field maneuv- ers or do practical service. On December 31st our battery was inspected by Captain Hickenlooper, of the 5th Ohio Battery, which was also stationed at this place.
On January 8th. "Old Hickory's" victory over the British at New Orleans was celebrated. and our battery had the honor of firing the salute, which was the first time the guns were fired, six rounds by each gun.
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The ground was now covered with snow, weather stormy. and the guns kept mostly under cover. so that we did not get the drilling we would have had in favorable weather. But we kept very comfortable in our cabins, the guard duty being the worst exposure we had.
On Sunday, February 16th, we were ordered to
BENTON BARRACKS. ST. LOUIS.
We loaded our guns, wagons, etc., on flat cars and as Pullman sleepers had not yet been invented and passenger cars were scarce, some went in box cars, others clambered up on the top to find the best place they could. It proved a very cold ride. Sergeant Patridge had tumbled off and was missing when we arrived. He came to us weeks later, having been in the hospital with his right wrist broken, which had healed up so the joint was stiff. On our arrival at St. Louis we fired a salute in honor of the taking of Fort Donelson.
We camped in Benton Barracks. There were few troops there then, but had been used by many troops who had seen rough service. Here some of us made our first acquaintance with that strange creature, the army greyback. From the pecu- liar sensations some thought they were getting a new sort of disease till they discovered the real cause. Many who had come from refined homes were horrified to think they had come down to this. But in their experience of the next few years they found that the greyback is no respecter of persons. and if he cannot find a suitably dirty person, is content to stay for a while with any clean one who happens to come in his way, eternal vigilance being the price of tolerably fair exemp- tion.
At Benton Barracks, an incident happened that came near losing the battery five good men. The place was large, with a high board fence around it. There were not infantry troops
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enough to furnish guards all around this, and so the battery was required to furnish a daily detail for guard duty. But the boys claimed that artillery men were not liable for such guard duty, and grumbled and threatened not to go-and then duti- fully went. This had been going on some days when one morning five were detailed for this guard duty and they reso- lutely refused to go. They were sent to Headquarters under arrest and put in the guard-house, a place very much like a city police station with iron barred cells. into which the prisoners were locked at night, while in daytime they occupied the large room. When they had been there two days the battery received marching orders, and these five would have been left behind to await court martial if one of the officers had not gone to the commanding general and interceded for their release on the ground that they were some of the best men and had only made a mistake in what a soldier is required to do. Soon after this more corporals were needed. and two of the five, Belmer and Siess, were promoted to be corporals.
On February 22d there was a review of troops in the city. but as we had no horses yet we could not be in it, only look on. But on February 26th. we drew the most of our horses, and in a couple of days the men were divided into gun detachments. On March 3d, we hitched the horses to the guns for the first time, and from their performance it looked as if everybody who has a mean, worthless horse, tries to sell it to the goverit- ment. On March 7th we went with the battery through the city down to the arsenal, where we drew ammunition, and did some firing at a target in the river below.
On March 8th we received marching orders for
PILOT K.,OB, MO.
84 miles by the Iron Mt. R. R., south of St. Louis, so that we had no time to drill in battery. But between Pilot Knob and
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Shepherd Mt. there is a valley which made a fine drill ground, and for two weeks we made most diligent use of it. We also had some target practice. It was the first chance we had to practice field evolutions.
At the Knob wood was very scarce. The boys pulled up the fence posts left by former troops, and got wood from the top of the Knob and Shepherd Mt. There was a double track up the Mt .. with a car on each. so arranged by cable that a full car started from the top would draw up the empty car, and with these cars we got some of our wood.
While here we were put into the Division of General Fred- erick C. Steele. in command of South-Eastern Missouri. Here we met troops we afterwards fought with and learned to know well and favorably-the 21st Illinois ( Grant's own regi- ment) and the 38th Illinios, the ist Indiana and 5th Illinois cavalry. We composed the first brigade with these troops, in command of Colonel Carlin, of the 38th Illinois. On March 18th we received the news of the capture of New Madrid. While here General Steele makes this report to General Hal- leck, who was now in command in place of Fremont: " We have no ammunition for the Sixteenth Ohio Battery except what is in the ammunition chests. 200 rounds of mixed ammu- nition (to each gun). This is half the usual allowance, and might be insufficient if we should entrench ourselves at Helena. This did not occur to me till I inspected Capt. Mitchell's bat- tery."
The amount of ammunition we carried proved sufficient not only till we reached Helena but all through the Vicksburg campaign till the beginning of siege, with the exception of the left section guns, which had to refill their chests after Champion's Hill.
We left Pilot Knob on Sunday, March 23d, finding roads in a terrible condition and making only about twelve miles. Next day we reached Bailey's P. O., where there had been a rebel
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camp. Late in the evening two men came into the camp in pursuit of a runaway slave. "Sambo" could not be persuaded to return with them peaceably, and they were afraid to use force in the presence of the "Yanks." They stayed near the camp, but next morning "Sambo" was gone. Thousands were thus freed by the troops without waiting for Lincoln's procla- mation.
Camping next evening on Otter Creek, the wagon train had fallen so far behind that our teams did not get in till in the night, and we went to bed tentless and supperless. Next day reached Black River and camped on ground that had been occupied by rebel troops under General Hardee, the Hardee whose tacties the Union troops were then using. The creek was crossed next day on a ferry boat, one carriage at a time. Here General Steele overtook his advance. Next day we made eighteen miles, though there was a delay of two hours mend- ing the broken axle of one of the gun carriages. We next reached Reeves Station March 25. where we remained five days : then on April Ist to
DONIPHAN, MO.
This place is on the Current River. When about five miles from Doniphan an orderly came galloping back with the re- port that the advance had driven in the enemy's pickets an.1 was engaged in a brisk skirmish. All hurried forward with the hope soon to be in our first engagement. An accident ce- curred here : going down hill on a brisk trot a limber wheel of a caisson struck a stump, and Myron G. Love was thrown off so that both wheels passed over his thighs and body. It seems a miracle that he was not erushed to death, but though se- riously injured he continued with us till November 5th. when he died, doubtless from the injuries received.
All our hurry was for nothing. the cavalry had put the
.
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enemy to flight. We went into camp between the town and the river. That night a violent storm of rain, wind and light- ning broke over the camp, nearly all the tents were blown down, some dead trees to which a picket rope was tied were blown down, but no horses were hurt. On the night of April 3d, while still in camp at Doniphan, our pickets were fired upon, and for the first time we heard the "long roll Every old soldier will remember what a peculiar thrill the "long roll" caused. not only while yet inexperienced but at all times. Everything is dropped to prepare for action and be in place. The effort to harness the horses hurriedly in the dark taught the boys the importance of order and care in placing the harness. The battery took a position at the river near the ford. and sent a Hotchkiss shell or two in the direc- tion of the firing heard in the woods. Thus ended our first "engagement" with the enemy.
At this time we were a long distance from our base of sup- plies. and roads very bad. so that at times rations were very short, little or no hard tack or meat. One afternoon Cor- porals Forgy. Daily, Cory. Lukens and Stafford avoided the pickets to do some foraging. They found .ome "razor-back hogs in a field. lean enough to be good ruimers. They built a pen in one corner of the field and tried to corral them. When they had almost succeeded they broke and e. caped. all but one which was knocked down, killed and skinned and carried to camp to the envy of all the meat-hungry boys.
On the night of April 6th, our pickets were again fired upon. followed by the long roll calling out the brigade. the battery was pulled into a corn-field and fired several shots, but nothing more was heard from the bushwhackers. As it was dark and the guns nearly swamped in the soft ground. the horses were taken back to cani, leaving the cannoneers to fight it out with the mud and rain.
On Sunday, April 13th, there was quite a stir in camp over
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the news that Island No. 10 had been taken and the battle of Pittsburg Landing had been fought a week before.
Leaving Doniphan April 16th, we crossed Current River in a very leaky flat-boat, made by ourselves with inadequate tools; one load of fifteen horses came near swamping. The roads were terribly muddy, weather wet and cold; during 96 hours it rained 36 On the 21st, we reached
POCAHONTAS. ARK ..
on the Big Black River. We passed a rebel camp with the log huts of the "Johnnies" still standing, and camped near another, which had evidently been the winter-quarters of a considerable force. There were at least 150 buried in the nearby graveyard. with the soldiers' names on the headboards. Our supplies ran short, very little flour, bacon, coffee and sugar, and no candles or soap, so that keeping kettles and pans and ourselves clean became quite a problem.
Leaving Pocahontas April 30th. we now lecame acquainted with the afterwards familiar cypress swcamps. It is a strange sight to see for the first time the tall umbrella-topped cypress trees, and the knees" growing 3 to 4 feet out of the water. At one place we passed through a cypress swamp where the water was half way up the ammunition chests. In another place the rear caisson broke through the thin shell of soil into quicksand, swamping three of the horses and burying the wheels on one side till the hubs were out of sight. The horses were unhitched, prolonges attached, and with the help of the infantry the caisson was dragged out. In fact the same thing was done many times from this on. We arrived at
JACKSONPORT
on the White River, May 4th a part of Curtis' Army of the Southwest reaching there about the same time. he had been
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ordered by General Halleck, in command of the Western De- partment, to send ten regiments of infantry to Tennessee via Cape Girardeau, and in obedience to this order the 2ist and 38th Ill. of our brigade together with eight other regiments left Jacksonport, May roth, for a hurried march to the Missis- sippi River. Lieut. Twist was left here with the right section while the rest proceeded to
BATESVILLE,
twenty-five miles up the river. arriving there May 22d. Here we found the main body of the Army of the South-West, which had come from Pea Ridge, and we now became a part of it. The section that remained at Jacksonport came near having a fighting experience ahead of the rest. for the rebel gunboat "Blue Wing" came up White River, and the boys were anxious to fire on it. but the Colonel of the 9th Ill. Cavalry 'n command refused to allow them to fire at the gunboat lest somebody might be hurt on the opposite shore. though the battery boys offered $to a shot for the privilege, and though the citizens. women and children and men, were cheering the rebel gunners while shelling our troops with 9-inch shells.
Batesville was a beautiful, healthy place. our camp was on a ridge overlooking the town and river. The month we spent . here was very pleasant. but we were 200 miles from our base. Pilot Knob and Rolla. Mo., and it took mule teams ten days and ox-teams two weeks to come through with supplies. Rations were often short, the hard tack moldy from getting wet on the way, and we had not vet learned to live on the corn meal which was the main fare of the rebel army and all the natives. Fuller experience taught us that the corn pone prop- etly made is, perhaps, just as nourishing and palatable as the hard tack.
On June roth, the right section joined us from Jacksonport. Curtis had intended to move on Little Rock, but the loss of the
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ten regiments sent away compelled him to abandon this plan, as his force was insufficient, so we headed eastward for the Mississippi River, which after great hardships we struck finally at Helena. If soldiering at Batesville had been a picnic, this march called for all the endurance of which man is capable.
On June 22d, 1862. the battery, brigaded with the rith Wis- consin and 33rd Illinois Inf. and ist Missouri Battery under Col. C. L. Harris, left Batesville, going a few miles to Sul- phur Grove, and the next day to Jacksonport, where the Big Black flows from the north into White River, and which we had to cross going east. The laying of the pontoon bridge de- layed us a day, and then was found insufficient to sustain a caisson and horses, so these were unhitched and carriages run over by hand. and it took a night and a day for all the troops to cross over. The following day the march was resumed. different roads leading in the same general direction being util- ized. Bushwhackers hovered along the flanks of the army and there were frequent skirmishes. A foraging party, in which our battery had two teams and a few men, was attacked. a Lieut. and three men killed and several wounded, but none of our men. The roads were deep with dust, the mercury up to 103 degrees in the shade. very little water except in the swamps. For nearly two months we were cut off from outside supplies and lived off the country. No mail reached us and we were lost to the outside world. The country had not been drained of native supplies, and we often stopped at some little country mill to grind corn meal. But soon we struck the swamps. through which we waded and corduroyed, and out of which we drank and got water for our coffee. It was no uncommon thing to wade in a little from the edge and push back the green seum before dinning water for the canteen or coffee; as much as possible we made it into coffee, though of this we had a very scant supply.
The country between Batesville and Helena was the most
SIXTEENTH BATTERY OHIO VOLUNTEER LIGHT ARTILLERY. 19
backward in civilization and cultivation of any we saw in the South. Sometimes not a church or a school-house was seen all day, and cabins few. One day we passed the house where the Arkansas traveller stopped for shelter in the rain. The roof was leaking. He asked the owner why he didn't fix it: he answered that when it was raining he couldn't fix it. and when it was fair it didn't leak. The roof hadn't been mended yet when we passed. Another day we passed a family sitting on the porch enjoying the evening twilight and cooling air. They had a pot of coals and smoking stuff, and around this they were all huddled for protection from the mosquitoes. The natives expected the Yankees would be terrible creatures. doing such things as the Turks do to the Armenians, and the . Russians to the Jews, and they were much surprised to see us ordinary looking men, in fact rather better looking than their wwn men, and decently behaved.
Their faith in the Confederacy is illustrated by the follow- mg incident. Toward evening one day a couple of the boys visited a plantation to forage. They bought a lot of stuff for Wer Szo and offered to pay for it in greenbacas or Confederate money, though this latter was counterfeit. well printed and plenty among the Union troops. These natives were afraid of green backs, and took their pay in Confederate scrip, giving change in good money. The boys got a darkey on the planta- tion to yoke up a pair of oxen to bring their stuff to camp. and they came in as proud and pompous as if a Cæsar were making st triumphal entry. The ethies of this transaction is all right from a soldier's standpoint. They offered good money and it se hated and refused. And the counterfeit scrip was just as wood as the genuine, neither of them worth anything.
11 July Ist. the battery started at four o'clock, a. m., and in . 've miles reached Dr. Pickett's plantation, where the rith Wisconsin, as escort to a foraging party had had a skirmish
·
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the day before. The rebels had blocked the rods with fallen timbers but we soon cleared them. On July 3d we reached
AUGUST.I
on the left bank of White River, where we remained the next day to celebrate the Fourth of July. At daybreak the band of the IIth Wisconsin played the national airs; at 12 o'clock, M .. a national salute was fired by the ist Missouri Battery, much to the disgust of our boys who thought the honor should have been given to us. Another battery in Osterhaus' Division also fired a salute and 8.000 troops were on parade. Later in the afternoon the boys were invited to a meeting in the camp of the 8th Indiana, prayer was offered by the chaplain, Sanford. the Declaration of Independence was read by Colonel Wash- burn, followed by Colonel Hovey with some humorous remarks and good advice to the men about pillaging, then an address by Colonel Bussey of the 3d Iowa Cavalry, and a spread-eagle Fourth of July speech by Colonel Washburn.
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