USA > Ohio > The Forty-first Ohio veteran volunteer infantry in the war of rebellion. 1861-1865 > Part 3
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
On the 17th, the division line was advanced to within two miles of Corinth, and again halted on good ground. Though there was much picket and guard duty in these days before Corinth, the time was really the most restful the regiment had seen since leaving Spring Hill in March. There was sunshine overhead and dry ground under foot, instead of clouds and rain and depths of mud. Men were coming up from the hospital, and some recruits joined. It was a time of recovery, in spirit and in numbers, from the loss and fatigue of the Shiloh campaign. Communications had been re-established, and there was news from home. The sutler put in his first appearance, and did a lively business, acquiring some valuable experience. The story went that Private Hoover, of H company, rode to the sutler's tent in an officer's coat, obtained no one knew how, and by his ponderous, brusque manner convinced the new sutler that he was Gen. Nelson, and carried away some bottles, pay to be collected that night at the general's quarters. If the bottles had been barrels they could not have held more merri- ment than came from the anticipated reception of the sutler when he should present his bill to Nelson. Sunday morning inspections had been resumed, and began to find the soldiers in their accus- tomed good condition. There was even a flag presentation one Sunday, from the Sixth Ohio to the Twenty-fourth Ohio; and one of these regiments being Gen. Nelson's favorite, he ordered out the whole division to do honor to the occasion, himself figuring as the presentation orator.
The siege of Corinth was fairly on for the Forty-first by the 19th of May, when it went on picket duty at half past 3 o'clock in the morning and stood through the day to protect the men who were digging the first parallel. There was skirmishing at intervals through the day; but one man slightly wounded was the only loss sustained by the regiment. Next morning it was moved into the trenches for twenty-four hours, and there was much firing, but there were no losses. Sometimes the enemy's artillery opened at inter- vals, without effect. This was the first and the last regular siege work done by the regiment. Field tactics had moved from one extreme to the other. Thus, at Shiloh little attention was given to even such advantage as the ground offered; at Corinth the advance
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EVENTS, BUT NO BATTLES.
was by parallels. Each morning at half past 3, the troops not in the trenches stood at arms until daylight. It was a very formal and precise style of warfare, not excessively tiresome, and not particu- larly lively and rapid. On the 28th a new line was established within a half mile of the enemy's lines; and on the 30th the whole affair of the siege came to an end. The Confederates had been evacuating Corinth at their leisure, and on the morning of the 30th nothing remained there but a small rear guard, all ready to go, which it did at once, without offering or receiving molestation. This Corinth campaign lived in the memory of the regiment as a military dem- onstration, not as a visible result, and therefore the memory was faint rather than vivid-a colorless campaign.
Corinth was finally left behind on the 4th of June, the march being on the Rienzi road, and one of the objects the support of Pope, who reported having overtaken the enemy at Boonville. Nothing came of it, and after short marches for several days, the regiment finally started toward the Tennessee river, reaching Iuka on the 16th. A stop of some length was made at this place, broken by two or three expeditions along the line of the Memphis and Charleston railway. A bridge was being rebuilt at Bear river, and the regiment did some guard duty there, besides helping the engi- neer regiment on the bridge.
In the camp near Iuka drill was resumed, as usual when there was a halt. There was a review of the brigade one Sunday, by Gen. Nelson, which brought a little ruffle of the peace between the General and Col. Whitaker, of the Sixth Kentucky. The General's order to form column by companies was not heard by Whitaker, whose regiment remained in line when the movement was executed by the other regiments. Ponderous Nelson on his ponderous horse rode toward Whitaker, demanding with an oath why he did not put his command into column. The hot little Kentuckian spurred his horse toward Nelson, and demanded with an oath why the order was not properly given. It was an even balance between the two.
One of the delights of this camp was the abundance of black- berries afforded by the country around. Up to this time, the regi-
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
ment had profited very little by additions to the regular rations out of the country. The blackberries were large and finely flavored, and made a luxury in the messes.
On the 22d of June, the march was resumed in the direction of Tuscumbia, Alabama, which place was passed two days later, and further on the Tennessee river was reached. On the 27th the regi- ment was ferried across the river, and next day moved toward Athens. Elk river was forded on the 29th, and on the 1st of July the com- mand went into camp near Athens, afterward known as Camp Houghton. Since leaving Shiloh on the 2d of May, nine men had died of disease-no other deaths, and but one wounded.
The movement along the Memphis and Charleston railway, in which Buell's army was engaged at this time, was meant to threaten Chattanooga, which was the Confederate stronghold in that direc- tion. Gen. Buell protested against a plan of campaign which stretched his army out along two hundred miles of railroad, but the commander-in-chief held to his plan.
The stay at Camp Houghton continued until July 17th. All drills were, of course, resumed. Col. Hazen, absent on sick leave since about the middle of May, rejoined his brigade. Berries were plentiful in the country; camp and drill grounds were good; water supply excellent; and the health of the regiment was improved. The Fourth of July was celebrated by a division review and a inarch through the town of Athens, all the natives round about turning out to see it.
July 17th orders came for Hazen's brigade to rebuild the Nashville & Decatur railroad to Reynolds' Station. As the order called for four regiments, the Twenty-seventh Kentucky was added to the brigade. Three days of marching brought the regiment to the scene of the work ordered, and it camped at Richland creek, on the plantation of Lieut .- Col. Brown, of the Twenty-seventh Tennes- see Confederate regiment. The twelve days spent in this camp were a continuing feast for the regiment. A hundred negroes were on the place, and, of course, were friendly. There was fresh pork and a variety of garden vegetables, and the slaves regularly drove a herd of milch cows to the camp at milking time. No hotel ever
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EVENTS, BUT NO BATTLES.
spread such fare before the Forty-first as Col. Brown's plantation afforded. The fatigue duty was not overhard, and the time went on wings ..
On the 1st of August, the regiment marched to Reynolds' Sta- tion, and was transported by rail to Nashville, and then to Murfrees- boro, the brigade having been assigned to garrison that town after the capture of its garrison (July 13) by Forrest's cavalry. Guard and picket duty at this place was severe, but the country was pleas- ant and the nearness of Nashville was an advantage. The troops were called up without reveille at 3 o'clock each morning, and stood to arms until after daylight-this to guard against surprise by For- rest's enterprising cavalrymen. Major Wiley (promoted from Cap- tain June 12), who had been absent on account of a wound received at Shiloh, rejoined the regiment and was in command, Lieut .- Col. Mygatt being absent on leave. Capt. W. R. Tolles had declined his promotion to Major.
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
CHAPTER V.
THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
Gen. Buell, grand master that he was of the art of moving armies, concentrated his widely separated forces at Nashville with marvellous exactness. Scattered over hundreds of miles of country, with numberless and various obstacles of bad roads and unbridged streams between them and the point of rendezvous, the remotest detachments came to Nashville with scarcely a half-day's delay be- vond the calculated time. Minute orders for the march were given to each command, suiting the conditions of its line of movement. The movement was a masterpiece of quick concentration of scattered forces. Gen. Buell had been assigned the task of following Bragg in his march for the Ohio river country. The Confederate design was to gain recruits in Kentucky through the inspiration of the presence of a Southern army, with the possible further incentive that would come from some successful encounters. Bragg had moved out of Chattanooga while the railroad and bridge building was going on along the line of Halleck's menace of Chattanooga. Moving far to the eastward of the country occupied by the Union forces in Tennessee, Bragg could go as he pleased. It pleased him to get so good a start that he could not be intercepted, but en- tered Kentucky when and where he would. In the race for the Ohio river which began when Buell's army left Nashville, the two forces were moving on parallel lines, with the advantage on the Confed- erate side.
A very hard march it was from Nashville to Louisville, including night movements for position, and bivouacs on ground chosen for its military advantage rather than for the comfort and convenience of the worn-out soldiers. There was, perhaps, never much chance of bringing Bragg to a fight-he could always make his choice, hav- ing too good a start to be headed off. It was with some surprise that the men who had, several times during that race, gone into posi- tion in the night, that Buell might be able to take advantage of
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AQUILA WILEY. Col. 41st O. V. I .; Brev. Brig. Gen. U. S. Vols.
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THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
any opening to bring the Confederates to battle, afterward learned that the Northern newspapers were abusing Buell because he had not made Bragg fight. Often a bivouac was on ground where the only water to be had was in sink-holes frequented by cattle and hogs; and on one occasion the water supply was in caves beneath the ground on which the troops bivouacked. At no other time was the regiment for so long a time without the comforts that abundant water brings. Ordinary care of the person was out of the question, and when the regiment marched into Louisville it was scarcely rec- ognizable, so ragged and worn and dirty were officers and men. But there was the Ohio river, never before so beautiful in the eyes of that begrimed soldiery. And, lying on the island, they looked across the river to the Indiana shore-"God's country," they called it -- and thought of homes and friends in the free land.
The brief stay here was improved to remove the marks of the toilsome march just ended. Being in Louisville was next thing to being in Ohio. Communication with home was short and speedy, and there were some visiting relatives and friends. Some of the officers had acquaintances among the loyal families of the city, who made the time a pleasant one for them.
One of the notable happenings during the stay at Louisville was the killing of Gen. Nelson, the old commander of the division to which the Forty-first belonged. The general was shot by Gen. Jeff. C. Davis in resentment of such grossly abusive language as no army officer could submit to and keep his standing among men. Nelson had been absent from his division, on duty in Kentucky, for some time, and very few of the old division rejoiced at the prospect of his return to its command. No one doubted Nelson's loyalty; no one questioned his bravery; but, whatever his qualities as a naval officer, which was his profession, he had developed no capacity that warranted his rank in the army, and he was by nature and habit wholly unfit for a commander of men, especially the volunteer sol- diery of the Rebellion. With a fresh recollection of many petty slights and some downright abuse given under cover of his rank, the Forty-first could not repress a feeling of relief while it joined in sorrow at the manner of his invited death. The regiment had been under his command for nearly a year. 3
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THIE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
On the 1st of October the advance on Bragg's army was begun. The brigade had been reinforced, and in this movement included the Twenty-seventh Kentucky, the One Hundred and Tenth Illinois, Cockerill's Ohio battery, and part of the time Wolford's Kentucky cavalry. The brigade was in Gilbert's corps, which formed the right of the army when it was gathered in front of Perryville. Skirmish- ing began on the second day out from Louisville, and the move- ment was retarded by repeated deployments when it was thought the enemy might be in force in the vicinity. So the days went on until the night of October 7th. The command had come again into a country where water was scarce. This night, after dark, the regi- ment marched several miles in search of a water supply, part of the distance in the dry bed where sometimes a creek flowed. Next morning the troops went into line of battle at 10 o'clock. Two or three hours afterward, some dismounted Confederate cavalrymen took possession of a farm house in front, and began firing. The skirmishers of the Forty-first, with a detachment from Wolford's cavalry, soon dislodged them, and Cockerill's battery threw some shells at the retreating horsemen. The regiment took no further part in the battle of Perryville, which was fought by the corps on the left, under McCook. From about 8 o'clock in the morning the sounds of the fighting away to the left were plainly heard. Much has been said and written-some of it immediately after the battle, and with the purpose of securing Buell's removal from command- about the eagerness of Gilbert's corps to advance and succor McCook that fateful 8th of October. Such talk is nonsense. Not even the brigade and division generals knew anything of the situation on the left, except that there was fighting; even the general in com- mand of the army had some difficulty in getting at the facts. As for the men of the Forty-first, they simply wanted to do their duty, then as at all times, and they were not so foolish as to be impatient to assume, without knowledge, the direction of the battle. The much-talked-of eagerness to help McCook was developed after the battle, when it was known, as it was not known during the battle, that McCook sadly needed help. The Forty-first was little given to nonsense of that sort,
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THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
The morning after the battle, the line of battle in which was the Forty-first moved forward to Perryville, which the enemy had left during the night. One of the scenes on this advance was a Con- federate field hospital in and about a small farm house. The long porch was crowded with wounded men, and, just as the regiment passed, the surgeons were taking off, near the shoulder, the arm of a poor fellow. Two attendants held the writhing man while the surgeon carved him-for they had no anæsthetics to put him into kind insensibility.
Two days after the battle, the Forty-first was in a reconnais- sance toward Danville, finding no enemy; but the next day, advanc- ing upon Danville, the Confederate rear guard was found in the town, and driven out by the brigade, the Ninth Indiana leading. The enemy, with cavalry and artillery, was in line at the fair grounds, and the skirmish was a lively one, artillery being used on both sides. Four men of the brigade were slightly wounded. Danville seemed to be a very inviting place, and perhaps this impression was height- ened by the fact that the people were overjoyed to greet the Union troops as they entered. Nearly 400 sick Confederates were found in the hospitals, and 30 able-bodied men were captured. On the 12th of October the brigade was pushed forward near Camp Dick Robinson, encountering the Confederate cavalry in a sharp skirmish. On the 14th began a long chase of the enemy's rear guard by way of Stanford and Crab Orchard. Beyond the latter place the coun- try becomes rougher as the mountains are approached. Wheeler's cavalry was the Confederate rear guard, and they made trouble in plenty. At every favorable point, they lay in wait, concealed until the advance was close upon them; then would come shells from two small field pieces, and a show of making a stand, to compel the deployment of a regiment or two. When the deployed force ad- vanced, the nimble cavalrymen would be gone, artillery and all, to lie in wait again at the next favorable place.
In this way the march was kept up until the mountains were reached and crossed-a lonely country, with marches of half a day without seeing so much as a hut by the wayside. The enemy took to obstructing the narrow road by felling timber across it, and on one day the brigade made only three miles progress, most of the
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
time being occupied with clearing the road. On the 19th the top of Wild Cat Mountain was reached, and about dark the advance arrived at Pittman's Cross Roads, where the enemy was in position, having had an infantry regiment sent to aid in holding back the pursuit. The Forty-first had the lead, and was within a hundred and fifty yards of the enemy's line before it was discovered. Then came a discharge from the artillery. The Forty-first replied with a volley, but the dusk of evening was deepening and the Confeder- ates moved off. The commands of their officers could be heard distinctly, but nothing could be seen. And this was the last en- counter with the Confederate rear guard. A prisoner taken at this point proved to be a man from the famous Washington Artillery of New Orleans, and a member of a well known loyal family of Louis- ville. Col. Hazen took his informal pledge and sent him to his friends in Louisville, in charge of an officer of the Forty-first, who was going to Ohio on duty. The two rode back unattended, by way of Nicholasville and Lexington, and were received everywhere with open arms by the Confederate sympathizers, who entertained them with true Southern hospitality. Wherever they stopped a feast was spread in honor of the Washington Artillery. In return, the Union officer with no little difficulty passed his prisoner safely through the lines at Lexington and delivered him to his family in Louisville. He kept his pledge and did not return to the Confed- erate service.
This pursuit of the Confederate rear guard involved some hard service, but no fighting, except the slight encounters when Wheeler made his stops to delay the pursuit. Several attempts were made to get flanking parties to his rear, but the wary and active cavalry- man was not to be caught with infantry. The pursuit ended within a few miles of Loudonville, the Sixth Kentucky making the farthest advance in a reconnaissance toward that place. Several beef cattle were captured here, and they were welcome, for rations were short and the country destitute of forage. After two days' rest, the return march was begun, October 22d, and Mt. Vernon was passed on the 25th, the direction from thence being toward Somerset. The next night six inches of snow fell, and this made the march of the following day one of the most trying the regiment ever encountered. Rations
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THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
were exhausted, and the private attempts at foraging brought little beside a barrel of applejack found in a distillery. The finders filled their canteens and on their return to the regiment passed the fiery stuff around among their comrades. It had the less effect, because the men were so nearly exhausted by exposure and hunger. By night, Somerset was reached, and rations were waiting there, never more welcome. A day's rest was given to recovery, and then the march was resumed, going toward Columbia. This place was reached on the 31st, and the regimental camp and garrison equip- age was waiting. It had been left at Nashville on the 8th of Sep- tember. At Columbia also were about a hundred recruits for the Forty-first, which were distributed among the companies, F and G getting the larger number. A number of commissions were received here, and the regiment was mustered for pay; clothing was issued, and the officers got needed supplies from the sutler-a gen- eral rejuvenation, indeed. On the 6th of November the regiment was paid at Glasgow, where the command made a halt from the 3d to the 12th of the month. The usual drills were resumed on the 5th and continued during the stay.
The regiment broke camp on the 12th and moved toward Gal- latin in a moderate rain. The army was returning to Tennessee to operate southward with Nashville as a base. On the 15th the Cum- berland river was crossed on a trestle foot-bridge, and the halt at night was near Silver Springs, Tennessee. At this place was wit- nessed the only scene of its kind in the history of the regiment. A lieutenant and private had been sentenced by court martial, the former to dismissal in disgrace, and the latter to the ceremony known as "drumming out of camp." The division was formed in columns closed in mass, on three sides of a square, and the culprits were marched under guard to the open side, where the division adjutant read the charges and the finding of the court. He then tore the shoulder-straps from the officer's coat, while the private was marched around the square, a placard on his back marked "Thief," and the drum corps playing the rogue's march. The two were then taken under guard through the lines and turned loose.
At this camp, Lieut .- Col. Geo. S. Mygatt, having resigned, bade farewell to the regiment, leaving Major Wiley in command. Sev-
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
eral changes of camp were made-first to Stone river, then to Mill creek-and there was a great deal of picket and forage train duty, with some long marches. A reconnaissance or two helped to fill out the period, and on these occasions the Confederate cavalry was encountered without serious result. There were the usual drills, camp and police duty, brigade and division inspections, and a review by the department commander.
The Christmas present that year was an order to put three days' rations in haversacks and march at 6 o'clock next morning. The army was under its new commander, Rosecrans, and events were has- tening toward the battle of Stone River. Since September 6th the regiment had marched 726 miles, over 600 miles without camp equip- age. No battle had been fought by this command, but it had en- countered the enemy scores of times in skirmish. It had become a well-seasoned and well-drilled body of soldiers; disciplined, confi- dent and effective; and it had acquired that invaluable shoulder-to- shoulder quality, the unconscious recognition of the value of order and organization, which marks the true soldier.
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STONE RIVER.
CHAPTER VI.
STONE RIVER.
The advance from Nashville to Murfreesboro began on the 26th of December, and on the night of the 30th the army was in position about two miles and a half from Murfreesboro. On some parts of the line there was fighting to get into position, but less of this on the left, where the Forty-first was posted. On the way there had been skirmishing at intervals, and at Lavergne artillery had been used against the enemy. Hazen's brigade had been detached on the 27th, to move to the left of the line of advance, and save a bridge over Stewart's Creek, on the old Jefferson road. The movement was a rapid one, the latter part at double-quick step when the bridge was in sight. In this running skirmish the enemy was driven over the bridge without time to destroy it. There was a house to the left of the road near the bridge, and when the foremost of the brigade came in sight of it, two or three Confederate cavalry officers were delaying their mount and retreat to say good-bye to a young lady on the porch. The farewell may have been tender, but it was hur- ried by the rapid advance of Hazen's men. The young lady was not cast down by the departure of her Confederate friends, but sang "The Bonnie Blue Flag" that evening to entertain her new guests.
On the 29th the brigade returned to its division on the Nashville pike, and at midnight of the 30th went to its place in the line of battle, to the left of the pike and near the Cowan house. The new division general was John M. Palmer, of Illinois, one of the few volunteer officers (that is, those having no regular military educa- tion) who maintained themselves with credit from first to last, in the higher ranks and commands. The corps was the left of Rosecrans' line, but Palmer's division was not the left of the corps on the night before the battle. The bivouac of the Forty-first was on the edge of the thickly wooded ground afterward known as "The Cedars." Between the wooded ground and the pike was a cotton field, and
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