History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 16

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

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The first installment of Confederates captured at Fort Donelson arrived at Camp Chase, February 26. Among them is said to have been a former member of the City Council named T. V. Hyde. These prisoners were under charge of Lieutenant Colonel Stewart, of the Eighth Illinois Infantry, and were all officers, ninetyfive in number. Another installment of 104, also officers, was brought by Captain Fessenden's Company of United States Infantry, February 27. On March first 720 arrived, increasing the number in Camp Chase to 1,200. These, too, were in larger part officers, and all from Fort Donelson. Their uniforms were described as being of all styles and colors. A Mr. Trigg, appointed by Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee, to visit the captive Confederates in Camp Chase, performed his mission March 31. On April 8, thirty Confederate officers were sent from Columbus to Fort Warren. On the thirteenth of the same month a special train brought 230 officers captured at Island Number 10. They were Alabamians, Tennesseans and Mississippians. Since they had been in the Confederate service - about five months - they had received no pay, not even " shinplasters." A lieutenant of the Fortieth Ohio Infantry brought in a few officers of Humphrey Marshall's " band of guerrillas " April 16. During the week ended April 18, one hundred captives were received at Camp Chase and 190 were transferred from thence to Johnson's Island. Seventeen prisoners taken at Pitts- burgh Landing arriving about the same time. Complaint was made of local demonstrations of sympathy towards them. The freedom given to the paroled Confederates in the city was also, at this time, a subject of severe criticism. Over two hundred were transferred to Johnson's Island during the last week in April. One hundred and seven captives sent by General O. M. Mitchell from Huntsville, Alabama, arrived at Camp Chase May 1. On May 4, thirtyfour arrived from the Kanawha Valley, and on May 9, several alleged " guerrillas " were received from

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Wheeling. A captive Confederate named C. M. Swayne escaped from Camp Chase, May 9. Twelve Confederate partisans called Moccasin Rangers arrived at the camp May 19. About two hundred captured Tennesseans, including members of John Morgan's cavalry, were brought in nearly at the same time. A petition to the Secretary of War to have the paroled Confederates at Columbus removed from the city was in circulation May 22, and received many signatures. Loud complaint was made of the offensive manners of some of these paroled prisoners while lounging in the streets and hotels. The entertainment of a Confederate officer at dinner by Philip R. Forney,5 an officer of the United States Army, resulted in considerable feeling owing to the fact that Forney's guest knocked down an intoxicated soldier of the Sixtyfirst Ohio who approached and annoyed him while at table. Forty captives, including several sick and wounded, arrived from Corinth, Mississippi, May 27. On the same date eighty paroled Confederates who had been sent to Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, returned to Camp Chase. An inspection of the prisoners in the camp June first led to the discovery that many of them were secretly armed with knives, pistols and other weapons. The Ohio State Journal of July 23, announced further Confederate arrivals in these terms :

Yesterday two squads of secesh prisoners were taken to Camp Chase. The 11:20 A. M. train from the cast brought twenty bushwhacking guerrillas captured in Virginia. Several of them had been wounded and were compelled to use crutches. A number were of the regular mountain bushwhacker stripe. The crippled ones were taken out to camp in an omnibus but the others were "walked" out.

The same paper of July 31 furnishes the following index of the editorial temper of the time :

A small batch of Kentucky secesh - guerrillas, bush whackers and sick cattle -- who took occasion from John Morgan's raid to assist the rebellion, were landed at Camp Chase yesterday.

Such language may have found echo in the existing state of public feeling, but the rebellion was not suppressed by epithets.

On September 3 twentyfive captives arrived from Wheeling, and on the seven- teenth of the same month twentytwo escaped from the Camp Chase prison. A reward of $600 was offered for the fugitives; part of them were retaken in Madi- son County. On September 29 two carloads of Confederates were sent to John- son's Island ; on the next day a detachment of twentythree arrived. Twenty secessionist prisoners mentioned as being of "the straw hat and foxy shoeleather description," were brought in October 18. Twentynine more, including several officers, arrived from Virginia December 2; on December S one hundred and thirty left for Cairo, Illinois, to be exchanged. A series of rules regulating the enrollment, custody, sanitation, visitation and inspection of the prisoners at the camp was issued by the Govornor March 2.

A detachment of 750 paroled Union prisoners captured during General Pope's campaign in Virginia arrived at Camp Chase September 11. Their condition was described as " wretched and squalid." According to assignment there should have

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

been, it was stated, about five thousand of these prisoners in the camp at this time, although the actual number was only about three thousand. The remainder were miscellaneously scattered over the country. On September 19 General Lewis Wal- lace and staff arrived for the purpose of organizing these men into a corps, pre- sumably for service against the Indians. General Wallace's headquarters were established on State Street. He soon reduced to order the chaotic condition in which he found the paroled men, and by September 30 had officered three reg- iments of them which he assigned to a camp of their own northwest of Camp Thomas. To this rendezvous, under the command of General James Cooper, was given the name of Camp Lew Wallace.

An additional body of 117 paroled men arrived from Munfordsville, Ken- tucky, September 25. Among the captured at Munfordsville was a company of the Eighteenth Regulars, which returned about this time to Camp Thomas. One hundred paroled men of the Seventyfirst Ohio arrived September 29. The last of the paroled prisoners at Camp Chase were transferred to Camp Wallace October 13. A few days after this Hon. Peter Hitchcock, who was commissioner of political prisoners at Camp Chase, resigned the position, and was succeeded by Hon. Samuel Galloway. General Lew Wallace was ordered to Tennessee from his post at Columbus October 31. Incidental to an arrest in the city of a large number of deserters from the paroled regiments during this month complaint was made that the deserters were hauled to the guardhouse in wagons, while their guards were obliged to trudge along on foot. The following incident at Camp Wallace is recorded under date of November 3: Some men of the Ninetyfifth Ohio having refused to go on duty they were arrested and put in the guardhouse, whereupon their comrades destroyed the guardhouse and released the captives. To suppress this revolt the regulars were summoned from Camp Thomas, but before their arrival the mob work was executed.6 A court martial for investiga - tion and punishment of this disturbance was ordered by General Wallace. The Ohio State Journal of November 5 said: "Of 3,723 paroled prisoners in camp here, 1,586 are gone - have deserted." On November 4 General Wallace left Columbus to report to General Grant at Corinth. On the following day fifty paroled men from regiments serving in Kentucky arrived. They were in a very destitute condition. The paroled Union soldiers captured at Perryville, Ken- tucky, and those disgracefully surrendered at Hartsville, Tennessee, arrived at Camp Wallace about the middle of December. On the sixteenth of that month 245 paroled men were sent from the camp to rejoin their regiments in the South and West. Towards the end of December Camp Wallace was discontinued, and the paroled men remaining there were transferred to Camp Chase.

About the middle of March the command at Camp Chase devolved upon Colonel Granville Moody, of the Seventyfourth Ohio. From the same regiment Major Ballard was appointed to supervise the police of the camp, and Lieutenant William Armstrong was detailed as Post Adjutant. Sergeant-Major Rogers, of the Seventysixth Ohio, was appointed Sergeant-Major of the Post. Colonel Moody continued in command until June 25, when he was relieved at his own request and went to the field. His successor was Colonel C. W. B. Allison, of the

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Eightyfifth, who was, at a later date, succeeded by Major Peter Zinn, of the same regiment. On December 26 Major Zinn resigned in order to resume his duties as a member of the General Assembly from Hamilton County. In March the camp was visited in behalf of the Tennessee prisoners by Doctor Hoyt, a prominent physician of Nashville, who was duly authorized for the purpose by General Halleck. Doctor Hoyt was permitted to be the custodian of abont 250 letters from the prisoners to their families. Early in April Major Jones, an officer of the United States Army, was sent out to investigate certain charges as to malad- ministration at the camp prison. Major Jones is reported to have declared that he found the prison in as good condition, in all respects, as any of its kind in the Union. Owing to the extensive arrivals of captives, orders for enlargement of the prison were issued in February, and executed during that month and March. The enlargement included sixtyfour huts, each to accommodate twenty men, and all enclosed by a close board fence fourteen feet high. The entire enclosure was about 750 feet long and 300 feet wide.

A unique flagraising took place at the camp June 7. The pole for the flag, elevated in two sections, rose to a height of 150 feet. The ceremony was opened with prayer by Bishop Bedell, after which the flag was drawn up by Hon. William Dennison and addresses were delivered by Governor Tod, ex-Governor Dennison, Colonel Moody, N. A. Gray and Samuel Galloway. Colonel Moody, in the course of his remarks, proposed the following, which was ratified with enthusiastic shouts :

" In the name of God, And Governor Tod, We'll follow our flag to Dixie."

All furloughed soldiers being ordered to rendezvous at the camp, large num- bers of them began to arrive early in July. Their ingathering was thus chron- icled :

After the arrival of nearly every train numbers of the poor fellows are seen limping upon crutches and leaning upon canes for support, passing through our streets. Many of these men, and more especially the privates, have been com- pelled to borrow money to come here. . . . The camp is four miles from the city, and many are unable to walk there, and there is no provision made to carry them out.

In March it was rumored that there were over seventy negro slaves in Camp Chase, brought there as servants to Confederate captives. The rumor was im- mediately investigated by a special committee of the State Senate, and was in part verified. The committee found in the prison department seventyfour negroes, about fifty of whom were slaves, the remainder free. They had accompanied the Confederate officers brought from Fort Donelson. The committee concluded its report by recommending the adoption of a resolution severely condemning their detention in the prison. Of an alarm in the camp we have the following account under date of April 9:

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A scene occurred at Camp Chase at an early hour Sunday morning. . . . A sentinel on guard at one of the prisons discovered what he thought to be a rebel attempting to make his escape and fired. The alarm spread to other sentinels who also fired. This aroused the camp-the long roll was beaten and soon the air resounded with the calls of the orderlies to " fall in," and the men responded with commendable alacrity. . . . They presented a rather ludicrous appearance as they crawled out in every conceivable condition, some with coats on and some with them off; here one with one boot on, and there one withont. They certainly beat anything Falstaff or Humphrey Marshall ever headed. . . . The alarm, however, was soon over and no " Southern gentleman " was found outside of the prison. It was found also that the sentinel, like Pat Flannigan, did not know what end of the gun to shoot with, as the ball passed through the quarters of the Sixtyninth in close proximity to the occupants of some of the bunks.

The camp was relieved of abont eleven hundred prisoners sent South for ex- change on August 26. Their destination was Vicksburg. In November there were unoccupied tents and " shanties " enough in the camp to accommodate three thousand men.

Among those who died on the field of honor, whose bodies were brought home during the year was M. J. Gibbons, of Captain Lilley's company of the Fortysixth, who was killed at Pittsburgh Landing. His remains arrived May 17. The body of Lieutenant Joseph A. Stewart, also of the Fortysixth, who died of an accidental patrol shot after the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, was buried at Columbus May 25. Adjutant C. G. Heyi, of the Ninetyfifth was buried from Trinity Church October 20. The remains of Colonel Julius P. Gar- esche, killed at Stone River while serving on the staff of General Rosecrans, passed Columbus for Washington January 14, 1863.

For the Ladies' Aid Society, auxiliary to the National Society at Washing- ton, the year was a very busy and useful one. Its annual report, published in November, contained the following passages :

The cuttingroom has been open every day during the year, and the commit- tee appointed to cut and supervise have been present to give out work and receive donations. Wednesday of each week was set apart for a general meeting in the main room, to which ladies of all denominations were invited, and where with sewing machines and concerted action, much has been accomplished and the inter- ests of the Society kept before the public. This has been a very pleasant fcaturc of the Society, and in all times of particular need the room has been filled with cheerful workers. . . . The different committees, which were systematically organized here, harmoniously worked together. An Executive Committee of competent ladies were appointed to superintend the general interests of the So- ciety; the different subcommittees for purchasing goods, devising ways and means, cutting, packing and hospital visiting, performing a part and acting through the Executive Committee, to which all results are reported the third Thursday of each month, at the regular business meeting of the Society.

We are glad to say we have never had a call upon our stores without being able, if not entirely to fill the order, to do much towards it; or called upon our citizens, no matter how repeatedly, without a liberal response both in money and in donations, and although the work immediately connected with the Society has been done by a few, there is scarcely a household, however bumble, that has not sent its offering or shown in some way their sympathy and cooperation.

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We have had thirtysix auxiliary societies connected with us who have sent us in all 118 boxes; these have been gratefully received and sent with our own trusty agents, and while we sincerely thank them we ask for a continuance of their good works with us in the following year. We also extend the same greeting to the patriotic ladies of Jackson and Franklin Townships, of Grove City, Washington and Westerville, who have assisted us in making hospital garments.

At the annual meeting held Wednesday, October 22, the following officers were elected for the ensning year: President, Mrs. W. E. Ide ; vice presidents, Mrs. Peter Campbell, Miss Aldrich ; recording secretary, Miss Kate Meyers ; cor- responding secretary, Mrs. George Heyl ; treasurer, Mrs. E. T. Morgan ; executive committee, Mrs. Henry C. Noble, chairman, Mrs. George M. Parsons, Mrs. Lewis Heyl, Mrs. Albert Buttles, Mrs. James Osborn, Mrs. Captain G. Smith, Mrs. Wil- liam G. Deshler, Mrs. Doctor Little, Mrs. Isaac Aston, Mrs. Kate Smith, Mrs. Haver, Mrs. Beebe, Miss Louise Stone, Miss Charlotte Tod, Miss Lizzie Thompson, Miss Belle Woods, Miss Effie Moodie, Miss Julia Gill, Miss Phebe Brooks, Miss Jennie Doolittle, Miss Mary Awl, Miss Jennie Andrews, Miss Kate Kelley, Miss Charlotte Chittenden, Miss Mary Doherty. Hospital committee, Mrs. Ediniston, Mrs. Osborn, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Haver, Mrs. J. S. Hall, Mrs. Chauncey Olds. Packing committee, Mrs. George Heyl, Miss Phebe Brooks. Marking committee, Miss Mary Doherty, Miss Kate Kelley.9

Among the curious events of the year were the false reports which from time to time agitated the public mind at Columbus and elsewhere. A few illustrations of these may be given. A report that the city of Savannah had been taken by the Union forces was given currency in February. On March 3 street rumors were rife that General MeClellan had been assassinated, that Baltimore had been captured by the Confederates, and that General Banks had been (as a few weeks later he actually was) driven ont of Virginia. A report that Richmond was being evacuated was in circulation May 25. The death of Stonewall Jackson was as- serted for a positive faet in July. This news was even said to be " confirmed." On August 2, it was stated with a great deal of confidence and amplificatory com- ment that General MeDowell had been shot in Virginia by General Sigel.

Another curious phenomenon of the time was the extravagant newspaper puffery and sustained clamor for the promotion of certain officers whose services had never as yet brought them within even long range of the enemy. The desire to promote those who were gallantly serving in the field by no means found any such conspicuous and labored manifestation.

In the sphere of local military organization and government some events took place which are worthy of mention. In April the home company of the Vedettes organized themselves into a relief association, of which the object was declared to be " to lend aid and assistance to those who have been or may now be members of this company and other military organizations of this city," and " to pay due re- spect and honor to the deceased who may have fallen on the battlefield." Ou April 20 the company served as an escort to the remains of Lewis A. White, of the Fortysixth Ohio, who had died at Pittsburgh Landing. In May and early June the Vedettes performed temporary service in guarding prisoners at Camp Chase. At the organization of the Eightyeighth Ohio Infantry (threemonths) the home Fencibles were assigned thereto as Company A. The Columbus Cadets who had

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

been performing guard duty at Camp Chase were discharged from that service June 3.

In early September quite a number of prominent citizens habitually met for evening military drill on the East Terrace of the Capitol. Apropos to this, Messrs. A. B. Buttles, William A. Platt, A. W. Ayres, C. P. L. Butler, William G. Deshler, A. S. Glenn and Isaae Aston were named as a committee to secure rooms suitable for the daily military instruction and exercise of " all persons who might see fit to attend."

By a War Department order of June 6, Captain Albert B. Dod, of the Fifteenth United States Infantry, then a mustering officer at Columbus, was appointed mili- tary commander of the city and vicinity and proceeded to organize a Provost Guard for the capital, the strength of which, as reported in September, was 110 men. Occasional complaints were made of the conduct of indiscreet members of this Guard, but on the whole its services were undoubtedly necessary and useful. Among the duties required of it was that of compelling men in uniforms who were strolling in the streets to show their passes and furloughs. Another service is thus recorded under date of November 1: " The Provost Guard is clearing the streets of drunken and disorderly soldiers. There seems to be a constant supply of straggling soldiers who live on the bread and water of the guardhouse and the bad whiskey of our doggeries alternately."10 It was certainly a good thing to have they city cleared of such, and if the army could also have been cleared of them the public service would not thereby have suffered.

In February, a large quantity of shells and roundshot, cast at Cincinnati, was received at the State Arsenal. These missiles were intended to be prepared for use at the State Laboratory, of which we have the following account :11

No. 1, West Gay Street, is an interesting room. The Laboratory for the manufacture of cartridges is located there. The number of hands employed in the room is one hundred. Except the foreman, Mr. Howard, and his assistant, the employés are all females. The average daily product of the establishment in con- nection with the powderfilling branch over the river is 100,000 cartridges. A day's work for one of the hands is established at 900 rounds. This, however, is often exceeded, some of the girls making the astonishing number of 2,000 in a single day. For overwork they receive stipulated wages.

The preparation of the cartridge is simple, though somewhat interesting. The balls are shipped from Cincinnati in boxes of sawdust. They are turned out into a coarse sieve and separated for use. Several little girls at the huge heap are employed in " setting " them. This consists in placing side by side a given num- ber - about three dozen - on an iron plate something like a candlestick. This plate is then dipped into a vessel of melted tallow for the purpose of lubrieating. These plates, when the tallow cools, are placed on long tables at which the regular hands worked. A ball. [bullet] is placed against the end of a round stick or rule just equal to it in diameter. It is held there with the left hand while with the right the paper wrappers are rolled around the ball and a portion of the rule. Next the stick is removed, the paper that surrounded it is doubled down and tied with a cord twice around. This is the difficult part of the work to do and with speed. Thus " bagged," and with one end open, the papers are set in boxes to be forwarded to the next room for the charge of powder. The powder is rapidly filled into them from charges or measures. This done, a little folding of the outer bag completes the work save the packing in boxes for shipment.

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The average number of persons daily employed by the Laboratory during the year was 156; its total produet for the twelve months consisted of 16,757,500 cartridges for small arms and 12,077 for artillery. On one of the Sundays in May a requisition was made on Quartermaster-General Wright for 900,000 musket cartridges for Pittsburgh Landing, and before the day had expired they were on their way to their destination. A call for a million rounds more for the same destination was received next day (Monday), and by nine o'clock the same even- ing the entire consignment was loaded for shipment. These two orders filled fifteen freightears. Ten thousand Enfield rifles for the new regiments were received in June. A full battery of sixpounder brass field pieces was forwarded by General Wright to General Cox in June. A large quantity of arms and ordnance stores for infantry and cavalry was shipped to Cincinnati in July. Further extensive shipments of like character were made in August, on the thirteenth of which 10,000 Austrian rifles were received for temporary use in the camps. J. M. Connell and William Hayden are spoken of in this month as having made some improvement in their new shell." A trial of this shell, in the presence of many ladies and gentlemen, at a point about two miles from the city, is men- tioned in December. On November 1 Bigelow Chapel, on Friend Street, was rented by General Wright for use as an armory.

About the eighteenth of March a letter was received in Columbus, from Hon, S. S. Cox, then representing the Twelfth District in Congress, referring to a bill which bad been introduced in that body appropriating half million dollars for the establishment of a National Armory and Arsenal at the capital of Ohio. Mr. Cox suggested that the people of Columbus show their interest in this matter by a " demonstration," and accordingly a public meeting was held March 28. This meeting choose Samuel Galloway as chairman, named A. B. Buttles as secretary, and selected a committee on resolutions, a committee of ten to collect and an expense fund, and an executive committee of five persons, namely : William Dennison, J. R. Swan, B. F. Martin, W. E. Ide, and Matthias Martin. The following persons were named as delegates to go to Washington to push the interests of Columbus : William B. Hubbard, Samuel Galloway, William G. Deshler, William Denni- son, Walstein Failing, John S. Hall, J. H. Geiger, and Peter Ambos. This delegation was reinforced by A. B. Buttles, Horace Wilson, Luther Donaldson, and C. P. L. Butler, representing the City Council. The bill to which Mr. Cox had called attention had been introduced by Representative Baker, of New York, and was intended to provide for the location of several armories and arsenals, one of them at Columbus. On arriving in Washington the Columbus delegates found that this bill had no particular support, whereupon they went before a select com- mittee of the Senate on the location of armories and arsenals, and presented to that committee the claims of their city. As a result of this effort Senator Grimes, of Iowa, chairman of the committee, introduced a bill which passed both houses, providing for the location of several arsenals, one of. them at Columbus.1º General C. P. Buckingham was charged with the selection of sites for these arsenals, and on October 9 invited offers of grounds for the one assigned to the capital of Ohio. This resulted in the tender and acceptance of a tract of about eighty acres belong- to Robert Neil. Announcement of this was made December 5.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 16

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196