USA > Ohio > In the 50th Ohio serving Uncle Sam : memoirs of one who wore the blue > Part 8
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"Thanking you all for writing material and your kind letter, I close for this time.
"I remain as ever,
Your affectionate son, "ERASTUS WINTERS."
CHAPTER XII.
Writer Strikes a Soft Snap-Takes a Few Lessons in Grammar and Finds it a Fascinating Study.
"Loudon, Tennessee, April 17th, 1864.
"You will see by the heading of this letter the Fiftieth has changed camping grounds once more. Yes, we left Knoxville the 15th, and arrived here yesterday. We found some fine-looking farms on the way here, but the most of them are lying idle. It made me feel sad to look at them.
"We begin to get down now where we can see the effects of
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the war. Pleasant homes have been broken up; farms have been deserted ; fences and other property destroyed.
"People of the North would hardly know a war was going on if they did not miss those who are in the service; but down here, the war has been brought right to their doors, where they cannot only see but feel its blighting influence.
"God speed the day when the White Dove of Peace shall once more hover over our beloved land.
"I am glad that mother is improving. I trust she will be fully restored to her usual health again.
"Many thanks are due to Mrs. William Childs, the wife of our postmaster, as she always writes some word from you people to her husband. It was through her kindness that I first learned of mother's improvement.
"I wanted to get home during her. illness very bad, but General Scofield would not grant me that privilege, but I am perfectly satisfied that you were all kind to her, and if good nursing would restore her to health, I expect to hear she has fully recovered, for I know she has had the best of care.
"She has been a kind and affectionate mother to me, and I trust I shall have the pleasure of meeting her once more this side of the grave.
"Oh, mother dear, I sigh in vain, To live my childhood o'er again, And see thy dear love-beaming eye Outshining stars up in the sky. Oh, mother dear, bright sunny ray That give each joy and Heavenly bliss As by thy knee I used to play, Or climbed to steal affection's kiss, Oh, mother dear, those early scenes, The flowery gelds and meadow green, As thoughts come back, I heave a sigh, And wish for happy days gone by. Long since I left the Ohio's shore, But now my heart beats just as then,
Though miles of water between us roar, Dear mother, I'll come home again.
"I have been very busy today, building a house to live in. It is not quite finished yet, but I am going to sleep in it tonight. We are camped near the railroad bridge that crosses the Tennessee River at this place. They are building a new bridge, as the old one had been destroyed; they have it about completed ; trains are now crossing it.
From appearances, it looks like we might stay here for some time; still we are so near the front now, we are likely to be sent there at any time."
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"Loudon, April 24th, 1864.
"Dear Sister :
"Your letter reached me on the 22nd ; glad to hear you are all in as good circumstances as you are ; very happy to hear mother is so far on the road to recovery, and so you want me to write you a big letter.
"Well, I will do my best. I think I am rather a poor hand to write letters. Maybe when I have had more practice, I will do better.
"We had a nice shower of rain here this morning, after which it cleared off warm and pleasant. We have had a great deal of rain down here this spring, and a great deal of cold, disagreeable weather also, but it seems to be more settled now, and I trust we will have fine weather from now on.
"We have the prettiest camp here we have ever had yet. I wish you could see it. We are right on the bank of the Tennessee River, about five hundred yards from where the new railroad bridge spans it. We can see the steamboats and cars passing every day. That looks a little more like living than it did in Wheeler's Gap, Cumberland Mountains.
"The ground where we are camped is very gravelly; it makes no difference how much rain falls, it will never be muddy. We have nice little houses to live in; they are just large enough for four men to room in. Take it all in all, we are fixed very nice for soldiers.
"Loudon is not much of a town; it is not quite as large as Ludlow. Ky., but has got plenty of room to grow, and likely will grow after the war is over, for some of the boys in blue will no doubt come back here and settle when peace is declared.
"One thing Tennessee can boast of is her pretty girls, and many of them, I am sure, are so attractive that they will draw many a Yankee boy back here.
"James Lacey, of whom you wrote in your letter, never came back to the company. I do not know what became of him. William Sparks also deserted us, while we were at Lebanon, Ken- tucky, and has never returned.
"Lieutenant Pine is at present on detached duty at Knoxville. Lieutenant Anderson is in command of Company "K" at this writing.
"It surprised me to hear of so many weddings since I entered the service. I am really afraid all the girls will be married before I get back. Can't you persuade some of them to wait for me? Tell them it's only seventeen months; that is not long. Surely some of them will take pity on me, and wait. But what surprised me most was to hear you speak of getting married. Is it possible that my little sister has grown so fast? No wonder you write I would not know you. It astonished me, but I suppose it is true, or you would not say so, but you must not marry till I get home, for I want to be at your wedding. Give my regards to Mr. Sweet,
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and Mr. Harris, and tell them to write to me, for I do love to get letters ; they are the golden links that bind me to the dear ones at home. Without them my life in the army would be a desolate blank-a sort of barren desert.
"I enclose you a song entitled, 'What's a Home Without Sis- ter?' That, I think, is very appropriate.
"Well, sister, it is after taps; I must close for this time. Write soon to your soldier brother. Good night."
"Loudon, Tennessee, May 14th, 1864."
"Well, I have struck a pretty soft job down here. I am on what might be called detached duty. I have three men with me, and we are guarding a lot of horses and mules in pasture at the mouth of Sweet Water Creek on the Tennessee River, three miles from camp.
"We are having a regular picnic; lots of pretty girls down here, and fishing and talking with the girls is the order of the day at my headquarters. The boys in camp are having it pretty hard ; they go on guard about every other day. There is only the Fiftieth Ohio and the Fourth Tennessee Infantry, one company of cavalry and a battery of artillery, so it makes the duty pretty severe.
"This is a fine farming country here, but the people appear to be poor farmers; the majority of them break up their land with shovel plows, so you may imagine what kind of crops they produce. To tell the truth, there are not many able-bodied men here. The women do most of the farm work. It is no strange sight down here to see young girls hauling rails or wood, or plowing in the fields.
"The able-bodied men are in the army, either on one side or the other, but my impression is that the majority of the people in this part of Tennessee were loyal. They have been driven from their homes, and many of them found their way over the Cumberland Mountains and entered the Union army ; others were caught, and pressed into the rebel army, and still a few others, whose sympathy was with the South, have joined the rebel army of their own free will. This happened, of course, before the Union army got in here.
"As a class, the loyal Tennesseeans have suffered more during the war thus far than any other class, and I assure you, seeing what I have seen around here, they have my individual sympathy. Talk about your sunny South-here it is the 4th of May, and for two nights now we have had heavy frost, and although I rolled up head and ears in my woolen blanket, I slept cold ; however, it has cleared off warm now, and the beautiful sun is shining bright and spring- like. It makes me feel real good to see it. Maybe we have had our last frost this spring.
"I understand there is fighting going on at Dalton. Ga. I think it is likely Sherman has opened up the spring campaign. If he
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has, you may look out for stirring news from that quarter right along.
"I was sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Collins and his daughter. Poor Lide, she did not live long to enjoy her married life. (By the way, this Miss Collins was one of the girls I left behind me, and was the first one of my correspondents to marry after I entered the service.) But it is a road we must all travel, sooner or later. Life is uncertain, but death is sure. As we used to sing at Old White Oak :
"Time is winging us away To our eternal home ; Life is but a winter's day, A journey to the tomb."
"Lide was a good girl, and I trust she has entered into that blessed home where sickness, sorrow, pain and death are unknown, and where there is eternal happiness and peace.
"These lines leave me in good health. May they reach you in safety, and find you all enjoying the same blessing."
We had not been at Loudon but a few days until the writer and three men were detailed and sent out in the country about three miles to look after a lot of horses and mules that were on pasture in a large field on Sweet Water Creek. We were quartered in a log house on the bank of the creek, a few hundred yards from where it emptied into the Tennessee River. Our duty was very light ; we did not have to stand guard. We simply counted the horses and mules nights and mornings, and salted them every two or three days; in fact, I never saw much need of us being there, for anyone could have driven the animals all away any night, and we would have known nothing about it till morning, as we were told we need not post any guards. So we had what we boys called a soft snap. Our house stood in the midst of a field of clover, and as the weather began to get pleasant the clover sprang up, and as there were plenty of groundhogs along the banks of the creek, they would come out to play and feed on the young clover, and we had fine sport shooting them. We also cooked and ate them, and we considered them very good eating.
There was a small piece of woods near us, and we killed several squirrels there. That made us fine eating, and we also did a good deal of fishing in the river, and had fairly good luck. Besides these, some of our good neighbors furnished us with sweet milk for our coffee. So adding all these extras to Uncle Sam's rations,
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we thought we were living at the top of the notch for soldiers.
I formed the acquaintance of quite a number of people here, and they were very sociable, and appeared to be Unionists, and I believe the most of them were. I think I met one gentleman here that had served as Major in the Union army, but I cannot recall his name.
As I have stated before, about all of the able-bodied men were in the service, but there were plenty of women and young ladies. The poor women and girls had to do the men's work. I saw them hauling rails and wood, and doing other farm work. I had never seen women doing that kind of work when I was at home, so you may be sure it looked strange to me to see them driving team, doing the work that I had always seen men and boys do. But with them it was a case of necessity, and they took up their burdens as cheerfully as could be expected under the circum- stances.
There was an old gentleman and his two daughters lived quite near where we camped. One of the daughters was married, and had a little boy, perhaps three or four years of age. The woman's husband was a soldier in the Union army. We all became quite intimate with this family; they were nice, clever people, and were very kind to us while we remained here. The little boy and I were quite chummy. The little fellow would call out, "How do, Mr. Winters," or "I see you, Mr. Winters," whenever he caught sight of me. The other boys tried to run the joke on me, about the boy, of course, but I attended to my business, and let them laugh. I am sorry that I have forgotten those good people's names, but it is a pleasure for me to say that their kindly acts of charity toward me are still fresh in my memory, and the hearty welcome they gave me in their humble home reminded me of my own, far away in Ludlow, Kentucky.
Among the families I became acquainted with here was one by the name of Grammer, consisting of father, mother, son and three daughters, though the son was absent at the time in the Confederate army.
The sisters were named Eliza, Phebe and Mary. Miss Phebe was slightly crippled, having fallen from a horse at some period early in life; all three of the girls were sociable and fine looking.
Now grammar as a study had always been a very distasteful branch of study for me, but now all at once, it became very inter- esting to me, and I was really surprised to find how very fascinat-
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ing the study proved, if one placed their whole mind on it. So it is needless to say that I took up that branch of study at once, and pursued it with zeal, and found that the harder I studied, and the longer the lessons, the better it pleased me. The sisters were splendid teachers, and they found me a promising pupil.
Small wonder then, that I, surrounded as I was here by the refining influence of those three beautiful sisters, and with nature just awakening from her winter's sleep, the warm spring sunshine causing the brown meadows to array themselves in their robes of green, and the flowers and orchards to burst into bloom, filling the air with their delightful fragrance, while the birds, their bright plumage flashing in the sunlight, as they flitted from branch to branch among the sweet bloom of the apple and cherry, praising the great Creator those bright, beautiful, pure May mornings with their happy songs,-small wonder, I repeat that I, surrounded as I was here in this peaceful valley with such pleasant associations, should' forget for the time being that a wicked rebellion was in progress, and that I was one among many that had promised Uncle Sam that I would use my best efforts to try and put it downt.
But such was the case, and I was rudely awakened from my peaceful slumbers on the morning of the 17th of May by a mes- senger from Colonel Strickland, with an order for me to report with my men to regimental headquarters, at Loudon immediately, as we were ordered to Cleveland, Tennessee.
Thus again was one of my dreams of happiness brought to an abrupt close. Partaking of a hasty breakfast, we gathered up our traps, and bidding our many friends a sorrowful good bye, we hastened to headquarters.
Goodbye and farewell. What sad words those are! How it makes our hearts ache sometimes when it falls to our lot to say them. So it was with me that May morning in old Tennessee, as I said good bye to my little boy chum, his mother, aunt and grandfather.
My mind and heart was filled with sad thoughts, and sadder, and still more bitter, was the parting with my good friends, the Grammers. for I had become very much interested in them, and had hoped that I might be permitted to pass at least a portion of the summer in this delightful valley: had I been granted that privilege, I am sure I would have improved my time and talents, and with such interesting teachers, who can say what the results might have been, but Fate ordered it otherwise.
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I was suddenly brought back from the land of dreams in which I had been revelling, to face the stern reality that I was still a soldier for Uncle Sam, and it was his will I was expected to obey, and not my own.
However, I was not deprived of my lessons entirely, for I continued them by mail while in the service, and for several months after the close of the war, and found it both interesting and enjoyable. The young ladies' gave me a pressing invitation to visit them after I returned home.
Said they would make me a big party, and assured me I would have a good time, if I would come, but I failed to accept the invitation. They also informed me their brother had re- turned home. He had been a member of the Texas Cavalry.
Forty years have rolled by into the fading past since those eventful days, and just a few days ago, I received a letter from Mr. Grammer, the brother, and he informs me that his sisters all married, and are now living at Harriman, Tennessee. The father and mother long ago passed over the dark River. Mr. Grammer and his sisters like myself are growing old.
It is not likely that we will ever meet again in this world, but I trust I shall meet, and strike hands with them under the shade of the Tree of Life, on the shore of the Mystic River, where no farewells will ever be spoken.
Glancing backward over the departing years to those days, when my whole being was in harmony with the delicious spring weather, there comes floating to me through the mist, sweet memories of the pleasant hours I passed so happily on the banks of the beautiful Tennessee.
"Cleveland, Tennessee, May 19th, 1864.
"I drop you these few lines that you may know my present whereabouts.
"On the 17th, six companies of the Fiftieth boarded the cars at Loudon and came down to this pleasant little town, and today the other four companies arrived.
"Oh! how disappointed I was when I learned I must give up my delightful situation I had in Sweet Water Valley. I had just become well enough acquainted in the neighborhood to make it interesting to me, and if I could have remained there this summer, I would have had the time of my life. Still, it is useless to mourn over blasted hopes, but I shall always treasure the memories of the few happy days passed there, as an interesting page in my life's history.
"Cleveland is a very pretty little town, situated on the Knox-
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ville & Loudon railroad, but our stay here is very short. We leave here in the morning for the front, where they are fighting now. every day.
"Dalton, Georgia, is twenty-eight miles from here, and the army is twenty-two miles beyond that. Uncle Billy has opened up the spring campaign, and is crowding General Johnson back.
"You may expect exciting war news from Georgia from now on.
Some of our line officers have been very anxious to go to the front for quite a while ; guess they will get all the front they want in a few days. I trust if the little Fiftieth gets into trouble, she will give a good account of herself. Will write again as soon as possible. I know not what the future has in store for me, but I shall, as I always have, put my trust in my Heavenly Father, who is able to protect me, for not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice."
CHAPTER XIII.
The Fiftieth Ohio Joins Sherman's Army, Near Kingston, Ga .- Incidents of the Atlanta Campaign.
On the morning of the 20th of May, 1864, the fiftieth Ohio flung her banner to the breeze, and stepped off toward the firing line, which was then somewhere near Kingston, Georgia
The weather was extremely warm for May, and the boys being a little soft from laying in camp so long, suffered accord- ingly.
Colonel Strickland being a bit out of humor, marched us pretty hard, so hard, in fact, that the surgeon of the Regiment, called him down, and told him if he continued at that pace, he would kill all the boys before they reached the front. After that, he took a somewhat slower step.
It will be impossible for me in these reminiscences to recall all the places that the 50th Ohio were in, or to name the different moves we made, and the day and dates for the same, as I kept no memorandum during the campaign.
I will, however, give the most important moves and skirmishes that we took a part in, and this I will do partly from memory, and partly from letters that I wrote home at the time. But I will say just here that from the time we reached the front, the 27th or 28th of May until the fall of Atlanta, the 1st of Septem-
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ber, with the exception of two of three days, we were continually under fire, and a good portion of the time, we were on the firing line.
We were assigned to the Third Brigade, Second Division, Twenty-third Corps. The Corps was commanded by General Scofield; the Division by General Haschall; the Brigade by Colonel Strickland; and the Regiment by Lieutenant Colonel Elsner. Our position as a general thing was on the right or left flanks of the army. It seemed to be our luck as a regiment to miss all the main battles of the campaign.
We would be in hearing of them, and sometimes in sight of them; still I will have to admit that we were in some pretty sharp brushes, where the leaden hail came thick and fast, and the shrieking shells got in their deadly work; and as for skirmish fighting, I sincerely believe we did our full share.
We did what we were called on to do ; went where our officers ordered us to go, and were never driven out of a position after taking it from the enemy, and I want to say we took some posi- tions from them on this campaign that it required nerve and "bull-dog grit" to hold.
Skirmish fighting often requires as great courage, and stub- born staying qualities, as it does to face a line of glistening steel, or face death by charging a battery of death dealing guns.
While it is true, skirmishers have the right to shield themselves behind trees, stumps, logs or any other object that presents itself to them, yet in advancing on the foe through open fields, very sel- dom anything of that kind comes in the way, there is only the body of the soldier to stop the ball of the deadly sharpshooter, or to arrest the progress of the ragged fragments of the bursting shells.
And a soldier must also be well blessed with courage and grit to advance through the woods and underbrush, where he knows his enemy is concealed behind some tree, ready to put a minnie ball through his body on sight.
So I would always prefer an enemy I can see, while advancing on them than one than that is hidden.
But now to resume, we finally reached the front, and were placed on the firing line; a rather new experience for us, and we found it quite different from guarding railroad bridges back in Kentucky and Tennessee.
On the way here, we got a look at Buzzard Roost. Snake
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Creek Gap and Rocky Face Ridge, where there had been severe fighting a few days before. It was a wild looking country, one well adapted by nature for defense, and we could not help being surprised that the Confederates would give up such positions without greater struggle.
From now on, I shall copy quite freely from letters that I sent home during the campaign.
"Near Dallas, Ga., May 31st, 1864.
"Dear Parents, Brothers and Sisters :-
"I suppose you are all anxious to hear from me, so I take the first opportunity that has presented itself since leaving Cleveland, Tennessee, of writing to you.
"We have been so busy dodging rebel bullets and digging trenches, we have had no time to write letters.
"We left Cleveland on the 20th of May, and came on to Cass Station, Georgia, where we had a little fracas with Wheeler's Cavalry. That did not amount to much, and then we came on here, where we arrived on the 28th, and took position on the front line, where we still remain.
"Our position is behind breastworks in the woods with a second line in our rear. There is heavy picket or skirmish firing in our front continually.
"We are lying behind a strong breastwork, which we have to hug pretty close, as the balls from the rebel pickets are whizzing over our heads at all hours day and night.
"This morning, the enemy's pickets drove in our pickets all along our front, and came up almost to our works. We raised up, and gave them a volley or two from our main line. That stopped them.
"Colonel Elsney then called on Company "K" to drive them back. We deployed along our regimental front, and at the word of command, we jumped over the works, and went for them. They fired on us as we made the leap, but their aim was bad; they did not hit a man at that time. We had the advantage of them now, and we made them hump back where they came from. We came on them behind trees and logs loading their guns.
"There were several of the enemy killed and wounded, and a few prisoners taken.
"John Pouder of Company 'K' was killed out in the woods after we had driven the rebels back to their places, and Company "K" called in again.
"Colonel Elsner complimented Company "K" very highly for what they did. A squad of four or five men of Co. "K" volun- teered to go out, and bring in the body of Comrade Pouder, but just as they were ready to pick him up, one of their number (John Klotter) was shot in the neck, so they gathered up Klot- ter, and brought him in. He lived only a few minutes after he was brought back.
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"Joseph Corton was knocked out by a spent ball, but he will be O. K. in a few days.
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