USA > Ohio > In the 50th Ohio serving Uncle Sam : memoirs of one who wore the blue > Part 3
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The reader will observe that the Fiftieth Ohio was not very deep in the trouble at Perryville, though I must say we did all we were called on to do, and that I believe is all that is required of
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a good soldier. The regiment at that time were armed with old Australian rifles, and quite a number of them would not burst a cap, only about every third trial, so I think it is well we did not get in the thick of it.
I believe there was some dissatisfaction with General Buell at that time by the Administration at Washington, in regard to his conduct relating to the Battle of Perryville. If I mistake not, the General denied having any knowledge of a general engagement till too late to send reenforcements. While this may be true, yet if he was anywhere in hearing that day, he must have thought the boys were having a pretty big skirmish, but many queer things happen during the war, and letting a few men fight the Battle of Perryville, while hundreds lay in camp in hearing distance that would have been glad to have taken a part, is one of them.
Many rumors were afloat in our camp at that time; among them was the one that General Bragg and General Buell were brothers-in-law, and that they had eaten supper together the night before the battle. I give these rumors for what they are worth, not knowing whether they are true or false.
Before leaving Cincinnati, I had been given a fifty dollar check for my Hamilton County local bounty, and having some trouble in getting mail to and from home, I still had the check with me at Perryville. A day or two after the battle, my Lieutenant came to me and inquired if I still had that check with me. I said I had, and told him the reason I had not sent it home. "Well," said he, "Mr. (naming a gentleman that had come with us from Cincinnati) is going back to his home, and all letters given to him, he will mail either at Louisville or Cincinnati." So he advised me to send my check by him. I thought myself that would be a good plan, so I wrote a letter, and placing my check in it, sealed and addressed it to my father at Covington, Kentucky, and that was the last I ever heard of my check. My father never re- ceived it, but after the close of the war, by the help of General Strickland, I succeeded in collecting my fifty dollars from the Hamilton County Commissioners, but what ever became of the check is still a mystery to me.
I also had three dollars in silver in my pocket at Perryville, but after spending that, it was many a long day before I saw any more silver money.
I cannot say just how long we remained near the battle ground. I think, perhaps, the third day after the fight we moved our camp
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to a large spring of water. It had a building over it, and I think it was as fine a spring as ever I saw. There was no lack of water there for both man and beast; that was one great advantage the Rebels had over us at Perryville. They had plenty of water be- hind them, while we had to suffer for the want of it.
The army under General Buell pressed on after the Rebel army, the Fiftieth Ohio going as far as Crab Orchard. I re- member of passing through Danville on the way.
After getting to Crab Orchard, the Fiftieth Ohio was ordered back to Lebanon, Kentucky. The nights were beginning to be cold now, and we began to miss our blankets and overcoats, which we lost at Perryville. Our shoes were beginning to wear out also, and we were getting short of clothing all around. Before we got to Lebanon, there came a fall of snow and as we had no tents, we had to make shelter out of rails and straw or whatever we could get hold of that would answer that purpose.
Taking all these things into consideration, we began to think soldiering was not the most pleasant life that one could desire, but as we knew we were in for it, good or bad, the most of us took the matter in a sensible way, and tried to get all the good out of it we could. Of course, we had a few that would com- plain,-for you know some men would even grumble if they were going to be hung.
We reached Lebanon sometime the last of October. Here we drew tents and clothing, which we needed badly enough. The weather had now become quite wintry, and the boys had fine sport killing rabbits, which were plentful in the fields around Lebanon.
Jack Walters, a member of Company "K," had the misfor- tune of getting a musket ball through his right index finger. That ended his rabbit hunting for a short time ; he afterwards deserted us, and went home ; was arrested, and put to work on fortifications somewhere, and took sick and died, so it was reported to us. Poor Jack, he was a good-hearted boy, but he got tired of the army, got homesick and this in the end caused his death.
One of the commissioned officers of the Fiftieth that was wounded at Perryville died at Springfield among some of his rel- atives, while we were at Lebanon and there was a detail of a hundred men taken out of the Fiftieth to go out and bury him with the honors of war. The writer was one of the detail. We were all furnished a pair of white gloves and made quite a nice appearance. When we returned to the house from the grave-
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yard we were given a fine lunch. Springfield is not far from Lebanon. We rode out and back in army wagons.
Having got tired carrying a gun that was so uncertain about going off, I traded for a Belgium rifle. It was sure fire, and the boys called it a young cannon. Well, it surely did roar when it went off, and it was about as dangerous to stand behind it as it was to stand in the front of it. I called it "Old never fail."
About the 13th of November, we were ordered to Columbia, a small town forty miles from Lebanon. A good turnpike led from Lebanon to Columbia. We passed through Newmarket and Campbellsville on our way. Campbellsville was just about half way between the two places.
Our camp at Columbia was very unhealthy. The Eightieth Indiana was camped here with us. Both regiments had consider- able sickness and some deaths. Colonel Taylor, having left us at Perryville, Strickland was now promoted to Colonel and had command of the regiment. Captain Cook was promoted to Lieu- tenant Colonel, and Major Defrees having resigned, Elsner was promoted to Major, and Jerome F. Crawley to Adjutant.
We arrived at Columbia the 15th of November and remained here drilling and doing guard duty till December 22nd.
CHAPTER V.
A New Year's Ride After John Morgan-March to New Haven. .
John Morgan was now in Kentucky on one of his many raids, and was threatening the town of Lebanon and we were ordered back there.
Leaving Columbia, December 22nd, we marched back to Leba- non, Morgan being out about Springfield at this time. I think we must have spent our Christmas at Lebanon, but am not posi- tive.
Morgan hovered around near us till the last day of December, when he circled around us and started for Columbia. We were started out after him, taking the pike towards Newmarket, Camp- bellsville and Columbia. Morgan succeeded in reaching New- market ahead of us, and some Colonel out of a Kentucky regiment that was with us getting too far in advance ran into Morgan's
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rear guard and was killed by them. We were thrown into line of battle at Newmarket just about dark New Years' Eve, with strict orders to build no fires and keep our accouterments on and sleep if we could for the cold with our muskets by our sides. As might be expected, we passed a very disagreeable night, as the weather was cold and frosty. I could hear the boys knocking their shoes together all night trying to keep their feet warm. All re- mained quiet in our front during the night. There was a rail fence in front of us and as the first faint rays of daylight tinged the eastern sky we were roused up, ordered to stack arms and take the top rails of that fence and make fires and get our breakfast as quick as we could. Wishing each other a happy New Year we charged that fence without a break in the line, taking the top rails as ordered and soon had a line of fires reaching from one end of our line of battle to the other.
We were not long in cooking and dispatching our breakfast, consisting of coffee, hardtack and fat bacon. The bugle sounded fall in and once more we took up the line of march after Morgan. The pike after leaving Newmarket led up over quite a high hill; a strong position for the enemy had he been disposed to resist our advance and many of us supposed that Morgan would show us battle here, as he could have placed his artillery in the pike on the hill, and held us in check with a very small force, but it seems he had made no stop here longer than to destroy the telegraph line. We had with us several post teams; they were brought up now, and each wagon was loaded with men, and the mules put on the jump, so it was Yankee infantry on wheels now after Morgan's Rebel Cavalry. The drivers did not appear to have very much control over their six mule teams; if they kept the middle of the pike, well and good; there were some very narrow places in the pike and my hair stood on end several times for fear we would upset and roll down the bank, but fortunately there was no acci- dent of that kind happened that I heard of.
We now began to see plenty of broken down horses and mules that had been turned adrift by Morgan in his flight. Citizens told us that he was making fast time. Passing through Campbells- ville, he captured a lot of commissary stores; took what they could carry and tried to destroy the balance. He also captured and paroled a few sick men that were there in the hospital. But now we are nearing Green River on the south side of which is another hill like the one at New Market, and also a partially completed
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block house, which we were working on when we received orders to go to Lebanon. Now we thought surely if Morgan wants to fight he has the drop on us and as if to convince us that we are correct this time, the wagons are halted. We are ordered to get out and move to one side to let our battery pass, which has been in the rear; they pass us on the trot, and we soon hear them in action up in front. After a few rounds, they cease firing, and we move on to the river, only to find that Morgan has passed over, and burnt the bridge, and also a large amount of corn that was cribbed up here. Our battery had only fired a few rounds at his rear guard that they saw fast disappearing on the opposite side of the river. There had been a large amount of corn stored here in rail pens that had been raised on the Green River bottoms, but this was now fast turning to ashes and the heat from the burning corn was so great that the boys could not approach it close enough to light their pipes.
Morgan did not take advantage of the unfinished fort on Green River hill, but pushed on toward Columbia.
We were forced to ford the river in wagons, near the smoking ruins of the bridge, and continued the pursuit, passing more abandoned horses and mules on the way.
Citizens told us that Morgan seemed to be in a great hurry to reach Columbia ; as we neared the town, we heard musketry, and I began to think there was a skirmish on hand, but when we got close enough to see what the firing meant I saw it was some of the boys in advance, killing hogs, and that too while the owners were trying to drive them where they could care for them. Thus ended our New Year's ride, 1863, after General John Morgan's Rebel Cavalry.
It was now plain to us why Morgan did not offer us battle at Newmarket or Green River bridge-the Union Cavalry under Woolford was coming in on another road, trying to head him off at Columbia, which they would have done had he halted at either place to dispute our passage. Morgan understood this, I suppose from his scouts, hence his great haste to get past Columbia. As it was, Morgan's rear guard left the town just about one-half hour before Woolford's advance struck it. The infantry were halted now, and the cavalry took up the pursuit, running Morgan out of the state. I heard the artillery giving them a few parting shots at the Cumberland River, as Morgan passed out of sight into Tennessee. I will just say here that Morgan's forces were defeated
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at this crossing of Green River by a small force of Federals, when he started on his celebrated raid into Ohio the following sum- mer.
We remained at Columbia till the 4th of January. While there, I was placed on camp guard and there came a heavy rain- storm ; there was no shelter and after I had got throughly wet, the word was passed round for the guards to go to quarters; the re- sult was I took a heavy cold and had a bad bilious attack. I went to the doctor and he gave me three powders; I downed one of them, but it would not stay down; the other two, I threw down in the bushes. I don't know whether they stayed down or not, as I never went to look after them.
On the evening of the 3rd, we received orders to be ready to march at daylight in the morning. I was feeling pretty bad, so I got my knapsack in a wagon and Lieutenant Pine and Sergeant Kelso took turns in carrying "Old never fail," so I fared pretty well, and arrived in camp at Campbellsville that evening with the company ; after a good night's rest, I felt a great deal better. We rested at Campbellsville two days, and then we were ordered to New Haven, Kentucky, which place we reached January 10th. This was a hard march for us, nothing but clay roads to march over, and it seemed to us as if there was no bottom to them. Talk about your mud. You that have traveled over Kentucky clay roads in the winter season can form some idea what a picnic we had. To make matters worse, I think the guide was lost a good portion of the time. The teams started from Campbellsville with us with plenty of rations, but we left them so far in the rear that we never saw them any more till a day or two after we arrived in New Haven. They stuck in the mud soon after starting out, and as fast as they would pull out of one bad place they would hang up in another, until finally when they did get up with us there was not much left in the wagons. I presume the teamsters threw away nearly all their loads and were glad to get through with their empty wagons and mules. The result of this mismanagement was that when the third morning dawned on us we had nothing to eat. I remember distinctly that all I had for breakfast was a small piece of corn bread, perhaps an inch and a half square, and two or three swallows of cold coffee, but when the order was given to fall in Company "K," I shortened my belt and took my place on the right of the company, and kept it all day ; at dinner. I short- ened my belt two or three more holes and determinedly. if not
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cheerfully, marched along. I never saw as much straggling be- fore or afterwards in the regiment as was done that day. The boys took in both flanks for miles foraging for something to eat. When we struck camp that evening, there was just enough men left in old Company "K" to make one stack of guns, and the writer was one among that lucky number ; though, needless to say, he had taken up his belt to the last hole before he arrived there, but it still had considerable slack in it.
Joseph Stagmire, a German comrade of Company "K," and I had made an agreement together as we marched along that we would remain with the Company till we reached camp, and then we would do a little foraging for ourselves in a private way. As soon then as we had received orders to break ranks, we laid aside our knapsacks and accouterments, and started for the first house we could see; arriving there, the gentleman of the house informed us that his folks all had the measles, and that it was im- possible for them to get us anything to eat; (quite likely this was only a bluff) I asked him if he could direct us anywhere that he thought it was likely we could get something to eat, as we had had nothing all day, and were very hungry. Said he, "If you'ns will follow that road there through that piece of woods, it will lead you out among some pretty well-to-do farmers that I think will give you'ns all something to eat." We thanked him, and took the road (a bridle path) he had pointed out ; it began to be quite dark by this time, and we had some trouble in keeping the path; however. after going about a mile, we saw a light glimmering in the distance. Needless to say, we hastened to it. Just about the same time that we knocked at the back door, three other comrades knocked at the front door. In answer to our knock, a lady came to the door. I made known to her our wants and told her we had no money to pay her for the trouble nor the food. She answered that that was all right; that they were going to get supper for those other three men that had come in the other way, and that it would not be much more trouble to cook for five than it would for three. She invited us in a room where there was a large fire place with a pleasant fire burning in it, before which we seated ourselves, and enjoyed its homelike comfort while the ladies of the house prepared supper. The man of the house seemed to be a perfect gentleman and a strong Union man, and I have no doubt he was, as the whole family treated us royally. Soon the ladies announced that supper was ready, and such a supper as that was,
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kind reader, it had not been our fortune to see since leaving home. There were spare ribs, backbone, sausage, warm biscuits and butter ; coffee and milk and pie, besides other things that went to make that supper one long to be remembered, and it is useless for me to say that us five poor, hungry soldier boys did ourselves proud in stowing it away. If I had been wearing my belt then I am satisfied I would have been compelled to let it out full length, showing that one extreme follows another.
The gentleman gave us a pressing invitation to stay all night with them, but, of course, we did not feel at liberty to accept, so after warming and resting awhile longer by the fire, we took our leave, but not before expressing to them our sincere and heartfelt thanks for their kindness. Poor comrade Stagmire! how he did enjoy that supper ; he often spoke to me about it after- wards, and he and I made a vow that if we ever got near them again, we would certainly go and pay for that supper, but we were never permitted what would have been to us a great pleasure. The family lived quite close to what was then called Camp Wick- liffe, but I am sorry that I have entirely forgotten their names. I see in a letter that I wrote my mother from New Haven two or three days after this that I told her about that supper, but I did not tell her how hungry I was before I got it.
I always tried to present the bright side of everything when I wrote home while in the service, and always tried to appear cheerful and happy, but I suppose the most of the boys did that way that had any love and respect for their relatives ..
When Stagmire and I arrived in camp, we found that most of the stragglers had come in and from the busy way that we saw them employed about the camp fires, showed us they had been very successful in foraging off of the country that day. My mess- mates just had supper ready, consisting of chicken soup, flap-jacks and molasses, and, well, I ought to be ashamed to tell it, but I posi- tively sat down and ate another supper, and reader you could not have told had you been watching me that it was the second time that I had been there that evening. After satisfying my hunger the second time, I laid down, rolled up in my blanket, and I think I can say in all candor that if I did not sleep sound that night it was not for the want of something to eat.
The next day we marched to New Haven, arriving there about 2 o'clock; this was on either the 9th or 10th of January. We remained here about two weeks; during that time, we had a very
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heavy fall of snow. It fell in the night, and in the morning we could scarcely get out of our pup tents for it. There was nothing of importance transpired at this place while we were there. I had another slight sick spell while here, and the boys taught me to play cards while laying in our tents to pass away the time.
Sergeant Kelso and Sergeant Lousy went to the sutlers one night and bought some wine and other nick-nacks, and knowing I was not feeling very well, they called me to their tent and treated me. It was very kind in them to do so, and I always had a warm corner in my heart for the two sergeants afterwards. Their treat brought me around all right, and in a day or two I was ready for duty once more.
About the 22nd or 23rd we were put aboard the cars and sent to Louisville.
The following little incident happened while we were all busy loading our goods on the train ready to ship to Louisville. It seemed as though there had been a negro who gave his master the slip and joined himself to our regiment, but his master had got on his trail and traced him to our camp. Colonel Strickland was on his iron gray horse earnestly engaged superintending the loading of the cars, when the irate master of the said contraband approached him, and in an angry voice demanded his "nigger." Colonel Strickland told him he did not want his "nigger," and knew nothing about him, but still the master kept following the Colonel, demanding his "nigger.". Said he, "You'ns all stole my nigger, and I want you'ns all to give him up." This made Colonel Strickland angry, and he pulled out his revolver and pointing it at the man he said, "Now, sir, I want you to quit bothering me, or I will let daylight through you. I don't care anything about you or your d-n nigger." This closed the incident, and the master went without his "nigger."
We remained in camp at Louisville until about the first of February, when we were sent out by rail to Maldraugh's Hill to guard trestles on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 36 miles from Louisville.
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CHAPTER VI.
Incidents, Accidents and Anecdotes of Camp Life.
Arriving at Maldraugh's Hill, the Fiftieth Ohio was divided as follows: One company was placed at Salt River Bridge for guard duty, and the balance of the regiment was divided into two batallions ; the first batallion, in charge of Colonel Strickland, was placed at Little Run trestle; the second batallion, in charge of Elsner, who had now been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (Cook having resigned), was placed at Big Run trestle to do guard duty at those places.
John Morgan had recently captured the troops that were here, and burnt the trestles, but they had now been rebuilt and trains were again running on time.
When we first arrived here in the beginning of February, we found it pretty cold and dreary, but we went bravely to work and soon' had very snug quarters put up, and when the weather got fine we had beautiful camps for each batallion. We fortified each camp pretty strongly and prepared to give the "Johnnies" a warm reception had they been disposed to visit us.
The writer had now been promoted to Corporal, and had charge of one of the guns in the fort, and took daily lessons in artillery drill. It cost us quite an amount of labor to prepare our camps and to fortify them, but we felt amply repaid when the bright, warm spring arrived and arrayed the surrounding forest in her beautiful dress of green, and the wild flowers beneath the spreading branches of the trees burst into bloom, filling the soft spring air with their sweet fragrance. The feathered songsters also did their part to enliven the scene, filling the woods with their happy songs of praise to the Great Creator of the Universe.
Yes, the Fiftieth Ohio was now at home, eating their white bread, and knowing this, we boys made the most of it. We en- joyed ourselves as only soldiers can when not on duty. I can assure you that the fun in camp was fast and furious, playing cards, fiddling and dancing, singing songs, writing letters to our sweethearts and friends, jumping matches, pitching quoits, and last, but not least, teasing and playing jokes on each other.
We formed the acquaintance of citizens for miles outside of camp in the surrounding country, and at their dances would keep them up to the wee small hours of the morning, and in this way,
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they appeared to enjoy themselves immensely, but very few ac- cidents happened that I remember to mar the pleasure of the boys while encamped here.
An officer was cleaning his revolver one day when it was ac- cidentally discharged, shooting him in the foot, but not serious. One or two of the boys were shot also while fooling with their revolvers, but none of the accidents were serious that I can call to mind.
Quite a number of the boys' relatives came to see them here this summer. There were no furloughs given at this time, but some of the boys took French leave and came home while others got passes. My company officers wrote me a pass and signed it and I took it to Colonel Strickland for his signature, but he says to me, "My boy, you will have to wait till some of the others return, there are too many away now." But I never got home on that pass. I was disappointed, but had to make the best of it.
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