History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 19

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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Unfortunately for the good of the army a demoralizing system of bounty-pay- ing had been adopted in the recruiting service of the State. Governor Brough, we are told, deeply regretted this system ; his regrets were wellgrounded. After con- siderable observation of its results the writer firmly believes that the national eause would have been more effectively served had not one dollar of bounty ever been paid. The patriotism of the people properly appealed to, was quite sufficient to furnish all the men needed without resort to purely mercenary expedients. The best soldiers were those who volunteered from patriotism and not for money. The stimulus which bountypaying gave to desertion, and the fraudulent enroll- ment, bountyjumping and substitute brokerage which it produced were evils of the first magnitude.1 The Republic, when in jeopardy of its life, is entitled to the military service of every ablebodied citizen. If this service is not voluntarily and freely given when solicited, it should be compelled. But when once adopted, the bounty system could not easily be dispensed with, and in Ohio its inducements and its evils alike became more and more aggravated. "Government, State, township bounties, hundreds piled on fresh hundreds of dollars, till it had come to such a pass," says Reid, " that a community often paid in one form or another near a thousand dollars for every soldier it presented to the mustering officers, and double as much for every one it succeeded in getting into the wasted ranks at the front."

Early in the year Governor Brough conceived a plan of calling out a sufficient militia force to guard the forts and railways so as to make every veteran engaged in this service available for active duties in the field. At his suggestion the Governors of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa met him in Washington to consult upon this plan, and at that meeting a proposition to the President was formulated offer-

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IV. IN WARTIME-1864.

ing eightyfive thousand infantry troops, to be furnished within twenty days from date of acceptance, for a term of service of one hundred days. These troops were to be mustered, armed, fed and paid in the same manner as other United States Infantry Volunteers, and were to serve in fortifieations or wherever they might be needed " within or without their respective states." No bounty was to be paid them nor were their services to be charged or credited on any draft. The number tendered from Ohio was thirty thonsand.

The proposition, presented to the President April 21, was accepted two days later, and on Monday, April 25, the following general order was issued under instructions from Governor Brough by Adjutant-General B. R. Cowen :

The regiments, battalions and independent companies of infantry of the National Guard of Ohio are hereby called into active service for the term of one hundred days, unless sooner discharged. They will be clothed, armed, equipped, transported and paid by the United States Government.

These organizations will rendezvous at the most eligible places in their res- pective counties (the place to be fixed by the commanding officer and to be on a line of railroad if practicable) on Monday, May 2, 1864, and report by telegraph at four o'clock p. M. of the same day the number present for duty.

The alacrity with which all calls for the military forces of the State have been heretofore met furnishes the surest guarantee that the National Guard will be prompt to assemble at the appointed time. Our armies in the field are marshaling for a decisive blow, and the citizen soldiery will share the glory of the crowning victories of the campaign by relieving our veteran regiments from posts for the more arduous labors of the field.

The business and work of the season had just fairly opened when this call appeared ; a great many of the militia were men who had business or industrial interests or engagements needing their personal attention ; the weather was incle- ment ; nevertheless, on the day appointed for the regiments to assemble, the Adjutant-General was able to telegraph to the Secretary of War: " More than thirty thousand National Guards are now in camp, ready for muster." So prompt and generous was the response that on May 2 Governor Brough issued an address to the National Guard in the opening sentences of which he said: "This mani- · festation of loyalty and patriotism is alike honorable to yourselves and your noble State. In the history of this great struggle it will constitute a page that you and your descendants may hereafter contemplate with perfect satisfaction."

The work of organization was assigned to Colonel W. P. Richardson, of the Twentyfifth Ohio Infantry, at Camp Chase, and soon the troops came pouring in. The celerity with which the regiments assembled and were dispatched to their places of usefulness is indicated by the following message sent by Governor Brough on May 18 to the Secretary of War :

Ohio has sent regiments as follows : Four to Baltimore, Maryland, two to Cumberland, thirteen to Washington, and the fourteenth will leave tonight ; three to Parkersburgh, four to Charleston, three to New Creek, three to Harper's Ferry. Has stationed one at Gallipolis, two at Camp Dennison, two at Camp Chase, two and a battalion of seven companies at Johnson's Island ; being forty regiments and one battalion, comprising an aggregate of thirtyfour thousand men. This work has been completed in sixteen days. The National Guard regiments mus-

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

tered in or out, or both, at Camp Chase, were the One Hundred Thirtyfirst, -see- ond, third, fourth, -fifth, -sixth, -seventh and -ninth ; the One Hundred Forty- second,- third, -fourth and fifth ; the One Hundred Fiftyfirst, -third and -seventh ; the One Hundred Sixtyfirst, -second and -third, and the One Hundred Seventieth and One Hundred Seventysecond.

Eleven new oneyear regiments, numbered from 173 to 183, were organized during the year. Of these, the One Hundred Seventyfourth, Colonel John S. Jones, was organized at Camp Chase September 23, and left two days later for Nashville; the One Hundred Seventysixth, Colonel Edwin C. Mason, was organ- ized at Camp Chase September 21, and left at once for Tennessee; the One Hundred Seventyeighth, Colonel J. A. Stafford, organized at Camp Chase Septem- ber 29, was also dispatched at once to Nashville ; the One Hundred Seventyninth, Colonel Harley II. Sage, organized at Camp Chase September 28, arrived at Nashville, October 8; the One Hundred Eightieth, Colonel Willard Warner, organized at Camp Chase October 9, departed for Nashville October 15; and the One Hundred Eightysecond, Colonel Lewis Butler, organized at Camp Chase October 28, arrived at Nashville November 6. The Thirtyseventh Iowa which passed Columbus September 1, was said to contain no soldier or officer under forty- five years of age.

The various efforts made and means employed to meet the different demands for troops during the year were attended by some curious local incidents. On May 3 a much-dreaded draft took place at the City Hall on Fourth Street, in the presence of a committee, the members of which were Provost Marshal James A. Wilcox, Commissioner S. S. Hinkle, Surgeon S. Lemon and G. K. Armstrong, clerk. A newspaper account of this proceeding ran thus :

Having called the vast assemblage to order, the Provost Marshal took his stand upon the platform on which the ominous looking keg was placed, which, in a few moments, would hold the fate of many an anxious individual who was wait- ing with impatience to draw a prize. Captain Wilcox explained in a lucid man- ner the modus operandi, after which he requested the audience to name a person, without regard to his political bias, who should draw the names from the wheel of fortune. No one responding to the request, the Captain named Mr. John Oistot, who was unanimously endorsed by the multitude present. After preliminaries were all arranged, Commissioner Hinkle stated [that] the subdistrict of the Seventh Ward, being the first ward whose quota was deficient, they would proceed to draw seven men from the number enrolled. The whole number enrolled in this ward of both classes was 505. The name of each person enrolled was written upon a card and the Provost Marshal proceeded to place them in the keg, and as they were silently dropped in Mr. Otstot, in a loud, clear voice, called out the numbers. . . . A handkerchief was then tied over the eyes of Mr. Otstot. . .. The Provost Marshal then taking hold of the crank of the " churn " turned it round in a rapid manner, frequently reversing the order of circumlocution until they [the cards] were completely mixed, when Mr. Otstot drew out the first name. The first prize was awarded to Jacob Bower, and in like manner proceeding he drew out the remaining six prizes which were awarded to the following gentlemen : George Weaver, John Woodward, Charles Shank, Jeremiah Crawley, Charles Keintz and S. H. Witte. Thus ended the anxious fears of the Seventh Warders.

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IV. IN WARTIME-1864.

In September another draft was ordered, supplementary to which still another for delinquent subdistricts in Columbus took place at the City Hall.

In reciting the probable difficulties to be met in filling the National Guard regiments pursuant to Governor Brough's call, the Ohio State Journal of April 29 said :

In regard to substitutes there seems to be a holding off for higher prices. So far they have been obtained from $50 all the way up to $200, and some are now asking $300.

The same paper of July 23 contained this :

There are a great many scoundrels who make a business of enlisting as sub- stitutes, receive their pay, and the first opportunity which presents they invaria- bly skedaddle to some other point and repeat the operation. .. . Even in this city, at Tod Barracks, where every precaution is taken, quite a number have man- aged to make their escape.

Advertisements of " substitutes for hire " were sometimes seen in the news- papers. In October a Cyprian was offered as a substitute, under the name of Charles Henry Brown, by a Jackson County bounty broker. The fraud was detected by an examining surgeon. Two bountyjumpers, " elegantly attired in citizens clothes," were arrested as they were on the point of leaving the city Jan- uary 10, 1865. One of them, it was stated, had "jumped " a bounty of one thou- sand dollars. The Ohio Statesman of February 4, same year, contained this :

Two men, John Connelly and James Starkey, of Cincinnati, were arrested at Camp Chase on Tuesday evening under the following circumstances: It seems they had enlisted a recruit, got half his local bounty, and had taken him to Camp Chase. They then undertook to inveigle him out of camp for the purpose of reen- listing him and playing the same game over again. With this design in view, they procured a hack, put the recruit into it, made him lie down, and covered him over with blankets.

The same paper of January 21, 1865, referred to the mercenaries then in the market in this style :

Prices unsettled, with an upward tendency. Buyers, alias recruit brokers, abundant and the number constantly increasing. Substitutes demanding $800 for one, $1,000 for two and $1,200 for three years. Very few, however, wish to sell for a longer time than one year. Recruits asking for one year $450 @ $500, and sometimes effecting a sale at a higher figure than the one last quoted.

The same paper of May 2, 1865, mentions a bountyjumper then under sentence to be shot at Camp Chase. He was said to have " jumped " bounties eighteen dif- ferent times.

The opening of Tod Barracks as a military rendezvous for certain purposes deprived Camp Chase of much of its activity and interest. On March 3; the com- mandant's quarters were destroyed by fire. Early in May, 230 Ohio soldiers who had escaped the terrible catastrophe caused by explosion of the boilers of the steamboat Sultana, near Memphis, April 27, arrived at the camp. About 1,500 paroled soldiers were in the camp at this time. A general courtmartial convened at the camp in December and continued in session about two months.

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

All through the year the collection and forwarding of military waifs and way- farers at Tod Barracks was active. During the months of February and March some hundreds of soldiers were sent to the front daily. On some days the numbers thus dispatched reached seven or eight hundred. Over one thousand paroled men were received and fed at the barracks April 6. On the same date Major Skiles forwarded 187 stragglers and 87 deserters. One hundred substitutes were forwarded May 8, and on June 7 one hundred more, the latter, it was stated, being " of a better class " than the former lot. On July 10 one hundred substit- tutes, and on July 12 a large squad of substitutes and drafted men were sent from the Barracks to replenish some of the old regiments. On October 4 the num- ber of men which Major Skiles had sent to the front from his post during the pre- ceding two months was thus summarized: Substitutes, 3,200; recruits, 2,000; deserters, 238; stragglers, 483; convalescents, 896. Within eight days next pre- ceding October 19, the total number of men of these different classes sent off was about 2,000. Five hundred exchanged Union soldiers arrived at the Barracks from Annapolis Mareh 15. About five hundred paroled from the same place arrived March 20. Sick, disabled and paroled man to the number of 125 arrived from Alexandria May 16.

Major-General Heintzelman, appointed early in the year to command the Northern Department, established his headquarters in Columbus. On April 21 he was serenaded at the Neil House, but refused to respond to the compliment. One of his orders, issued in September, deplored certain depredations committed by disorderly soldiers upon the property of loyal citizens residing near Columbus, and directed that the amount of pecuniary injury done should be ascertained.

During a transfer of Confederate prisoners from Camp Chase to Rock Island, by rail, in January, some desperate men cut a hole in the bottom of one of the cars and escaped from the train while it was running at a high rate of speed. Basil Duke, of Morgan's raiding party, was transferred from the Penitentiary to Camp Chase in February. On February 24 one thousand Confederates were sent from Camp Chase to Fort Delaware. A transfer of Morgan's officers in the Penitentiary to the same destination was ordered by the War Department in March. Among the arrivals of Confederate captives at Camp Chase during the year were the following : 130 March 11; an indefinite number from the south- west April 7; 22 from Helena, Arkansas, May 17; 250 -described as being " as ragged as Lazarus " and " as dirty as they could possibly be not to have been literally rolled in the mud" -from General Crook's department, in Virginia, May 27; 1,163, captured before Atlanta, August 1. The number of prisoners of war in the camp August 6 was about 3,500. On July 4 some of the prisoners attempted to escape but were fired upon by the guards, and two of them were severely wounded.

On December 18 about two hundred exchanged Union soldiers who had been confined in the Confederate stockade at Florence, South Carolina, arrived at Columbus. Their condition is described as very pitable, as were also the stories they told of their sufferings while in captivity.

Mattel

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IV. IN WARTIME-1864.

Among the local military organizations of the year, not hitherto mentioned, was that of the Meade Rifles. Upon the organization of the One Hundred Thirty- third Infantry, of the National Guard, this company was assigned to that regiment.

A "jollification " over Sheridan's vietories in the Valley of Virginia took place on Saturday evening, September 24. Telegraphic dispatches were read and numerous speeches were made. General Thomas's Nashville vietory eaused great rejoicing in the city. A salute of fifty guns was fired at the northeast corner of the Capitol Square. On September 5 one hundred guns were fired at the United States Arsenal in honor of Farragut's victory in Mobile Bay.

The Eightysecond Ohio Infantry arrived at Columbus from Tennessee, on veteran furlough of thirty days, January 21. It reassembled at Camp Chase on its return to the front February 26. On January 26 the Eightysixth passed through to Cleveland to be mustered out. The Fiftythird arrived on veteran leave about February 1. The Sixtysecond arrived February 6, direct from Port Royal, the Twentyninth, veteran, passed through, to Louisville, February 10. The singular fact was at this time noted that many of the reenlisted veterans who were furloughed for thirty days returned to the front before the period of their leave expired. In explanation of this, one of them stated that he was homesick and wanted to return to his " home in the army."

On February 25, the Thirteenth Ohio Infantry arrived on veteran leave, and a detachment for the Sixtyeighth passed Columbus en route to Vicksburg. The Sixtyeighth, which had been engaged in the Meridian raid, passed Columbus to Cleveland on veteran leave late in March. On March 13, the arrival of the Forty- sixth, Colonel C. C. Walcutt, was signaled by rockets fired from the Statehouse. The regiment was met at the station by the loeal military companies and citizens, and was welcomed in the rotunda of the Capitol by Governor Brough. In the evening the officers and men of the regiment sat down to a dinner spread for them by Lindeman & Co. at Ambos Hall. The regiment quitted the city on its return to the front April 16.

The Seventysixth arrived from Alabama on veteran leave February 8; on March 15, it passed Columbus from Newark, returning to the front. The Fifty- first, veteran, arrived from Tennessee February 10; returned to the front March 16. On the latter date the Twentyfifth, veteran, quitted Camp Chase for South Carolina, and while passing the Capitol for the railway station delivered its service- worn colors to Governor Brough, by whom, at the same time, a new set of flags was presented to the regiment. The Thirtysecond, veteran, arrived on leave March 14; on March 19 the Seventyfourth, veteran, returned from leave to rejoin Sherman's army. The Seventyeighth, veteran, arrived at Tod Barracks, on leave, April 2; it set out to rejoin the Army of the Tennessee May 7. The Sixtieth, a new battalion of six companies, quitted Camp Chase for Virginia in the latter part of April. On April second 2,900 men of the Ninth Army Corps, then passing westward, took supper at the Tod Barracks. The Eightieth, veteran, passed the city April 7 and May 9, coming from and returning to the Army of the Tennessee. The Thirtieth, veteran, arrived from and returned to Sherman's Army April 8 and

10*

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

May 9. It reassembled, on the expiration of its furlough, at Camp Chase. The Fiftysixth, veteran, which had been knocked to pieces in Banks's illadvised and ill- managed Red River expedition, arrived from New Orleans, via New York, June 5, on veteran leave. It set out on its return to the Gulf Department at the expira- tion of its furlough. A portion of the Fiftyeighth, German, arrived from Vicks- burg on veteran leave June 10. The Twentyfourth returned from Sherman's army, then in front of Dalton, and was mustered out at Camp Chase June 24. The Fourth Ohio Infantry, Hancock's Corps, Army of the Potomac, returned for mus- teront June 12. The Second Ohio Infantry, Sherman's Army, arrived at Camp Chase for musterout September 25. The Sixteenth Ohio Infantry arrived from Louisiana for musterout October 14.

Among the canards of local circulation during the year was a report of May 27, derived from " an Ohio man, perfectly reliable, just from Dalton, Georgia," that Sherman's army was then " in the immediate vicinity of Atlanta."3 The cap- ture of Atlanta was currently reported July 16. The death of Jefferson Davis was rumored December 23.

During Governor Tod's administration state military agencies for the assis- tance and care of sick, wounded, penniless and otherwise needy soldiers were established at Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Crestline, Bellair, Washington City and other points of military movement or rendezvous. On Governor Brough's recommendation the number of these agencies was increased to twelve, James E. Lewis being appointed agent at Columbus. A considerable part of the supplies obtained by popular donation were distributed through these agencies.

NOTES.

1. On March 14, 1864, Governor Brough wrote to the Secretary of War referring to the bounty system in a deprecatory vein. He expressed a decided preference for the draft. On February 6, 1865, he wrote to General R. C. Schenck, then in Congress :

I can say to you confidentially that of the thirty thousand men raised, credited and mustered in Ohio during the last call, over ten thousand failed to reach the front. About eleven hundred men have been forwarded to Camp Chase under the present call, and of these two hundred and sixtythree were on the lists last night as " absent without leave," and this although the money brought here with them is taken from them on arrival. Still they have been mustered and credited, and fill so much of the " quota," though not of the army. The State swarms with bountybrokers, bountyjumpers and mercenaries of every description. Men take contracts to fill " quotas " as they would to furnish hay or wood. They take the largest share to themselves, and frequently the recruit deserts because he says he has been swindled in his bounty. Patriotism and love of the cause are supplanted to a large degree as a motive of filling our armies, by the mercenary spirit of making money out of the opera- tion. . . . We have strength enough, but we are throwing it away; we are weakening our armies by every call and draft instead of strengthening them ; we are piling up enor- mous debts and taxations upon our people; we are impairing the confidence of the thinking and earnest portion of our people, and pampering the desires of the weak and profligate ; we are making a traffic of the holiest duty we owe to the country, and procrastinating a struggle that we have the power to speedily terminate if our means were less popularly and more earnestly directed."

2. Ohio State Journal, May 4, 1864.

3. Ohio State Journal.

CHAPTER XII.

VICTORY AND SORROW-1865.

The field operations of this momentous year began almost with its advent. Fort Fisher was captured by General Terry, January 15, and within a few days after that event General Sterman's army began its winter campaign in the Caro- linas. Columbia fell into the possession of that army February 17, on which date also the Confederates abandoned Charleston. On March 2 Sheridan again routed Early ; on March 19 Sherman's forees fought their last battle in the war at Ben- tonville. General Lee abandoned Richmond and Petersburgh April 2, and on April 9 he surrendered his army to Grant at Appomattox. The practical conclu- sion of the war took place April 26 with the capitulation of General Johnston's army to General Sherman.

Intelligence of Sheridan's victory at Five Forks, southwest of Richmond, began to reach Columbus on Sunday evening April 2, and revealed, as by sun- burst, the beginning of the end. When the news of Richmond's fall flashed over the wires in the course of the next day, flags were flung out all over the city, even vehicles on the streets were dressed with them, and the first dashes of an ocean of fervid enthusiasm swept over the community. In the evening a great crowd assembled as by common impulse at the West Front of the Capitol where so many meetings had been held during the gloomy episodes of the war, and there listened to the latest dispatches, read by Governor Brough, who also addressed the people and interpreted to them the good news. Further addresses were made by G. V. Dorsey, Octavius Waters, Joseph H. Geiger and Samuel Galloway. The Tod Barracks Band helped, if help was needed, to swell the emotions of the multitude. The meeting closed with the doxology, sung by the crowd, and a benediction pro- nounced by Chaplain Drake, of the army.

On Sunday evening, April 9, the following dispatch from General Grant electrified the country :

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, April 9-4:40 P. M.

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon upon the terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will show the conditions fully.

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

[147]

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

This news, conveyed in a special dispatch to Governor Brough, reached Co- lumbus the same evening, and the popular delight which it produced found instan- taneous expression. " Churches," we are told, "gave up their congregations, hotels their occupants, and one grand, lond, continued, shouting song told the people's joy. Cannon thundered, bells clanged, bonfires blazed. A monster crowd collected and was addressed by Governor Brough, Hon. Octavius Waters and others." On the following morning the newspapers gave additional particulars, accompanied by delirious editorials and ecstatic headlines.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 19

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