USA > Ohio > The Forty-first Ohio veteran volunteer infantry in the war of rebellion. 1861-1865 > Part 4
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
just beyond the pike was the railroad, which crossed the pike at a sharp angle about 500 yards to the front. Stone River made a bend around the left toward the rear of this position, the southern bank being the higher one, with lower ground or flats on the northern side.
At daylight on the 31st two companies of the Forty-first, D and I, relieved A and F, which had been on the skirmish line during the night. Firing was heard far to the right early in the morning, increasing in volume rapidly, and coming nearer. Nevertheless, at about 8 o'clock the order to advance to the attack was given, and the line started forward in the direction of the Cowan house. Before the movement had made a hundred yards, it was stopped, and the line withdrawn to the point from which it started. The sound of battle on the right was moving toward the Union rear, and it was plain that misfortune had come upon the right of the army. Di- rectly in front, also, the enemy appeared, advancing in line across the open country beyond and about the Cowan house. The Forty- first was in no position, in the cotton field, to receive an attack-the field was commanded on all sides by ground affording cover. The regiment was quickly moved by the left flank, crossing the pike and taking position on a slight crest of open woodland, the left near the railroad. The enemy came on in fine style to the attack of this position. The Forty-first was in the front lin., and Cockerill's bat- tery on its left. The fire of the regiment was held until the enemy was within easy range, and then let go with tremendous effect. The enemy was staggered, struggled forward a few yards further, but could make no more headway. When the Forty-first had exhausted its ammunition, the Ninth Indiana was ordered up to relieve it. Here occurred a marvellous thing. The Indianians had come to the war with a feeling that some taint was on them because an Indiana regiment in the Mexican war met with harsh censure on its conduct. The Ninth Indiana, from the day it took the field, was set to prove that the men from its state would fight. At Stone River the Ninth was commanded by Lieut .- Col. W. H. Blake, every inch a fighter. He brought his regiment up, marching by the flank, a few paces in rear of the Forty-first, which was then engaged and under a severe artillery fire. Here Blake gave the command: "On the right by
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STONE RIVER.
file into line. March!" and proceeded, amid the whistling bullets and exploding shells, to set out his guides as the line grew toward the left. In the middle of this magnificent but useless bravado, a shell flying waist high exploded at the point where the fours were wheeling to take place in the line. Strange to say, the missile took but four men, two before it and two behind, and it caused not an instant's pause in the movement. With the precision of the drill ground, the Indianians finished their formation and advanced to re- lieve the Forty-first. They had proved that they could be as steady in fight as men cut out of stone.
Having replenished cartridge boxes, the Forty-first was placed on the right of the brigade, extending obliquely across the pike .. Here it again engaged the enemy, until a Confederate battery opened on its right flank. Rosecrans' whole line to the right of Hazen's position had been driven back, and the cedars to the right and rear of that position were full of the victorious Confederates. The brig- ade took position behind and parallel with the railroad, the Forty- first on the left. The regiment suffered much from artillery in this place, one shell killing or wounding eight men. Afterwards, Lieut. Col. Wiley took the command to the support of a section of artillery which was resisting a cavalry attempt to cross the river to the left rear. Again, Gen. Rosecrans in person posted the regiment to meet an expected attempt to cross the river. Here also the regiment suf- fered much from the Confederate artillery, while it was in a position where it could do no service. Some moments before, and only a few yards from the Forty-first, Garesche. Rosecrans' chief of staff. riding with the general, had been literally beheaded by a Confederate shell. The Forty-first was not again engaged on that day. It had had the honor of playing a prominent part in holding the only point in Rosecrans' line of battle which was maintained throughout the day. A stone monument, erected by a detail from the brigade, and suitably inscribed, stands by the side of the railroad at this famous point.
The two days following were passed in bivouac as the troops stood. In the afternoon of the second day came Breckinridge's assault on Van Cleave's division, which had been posted across the river-a sort of detached left of the army. Hazen's brigade was
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
moved hastily over to the support of Van Cleave when the sudden attack came. Breckinridge's onset was so fast and furious that it swept everything before it, and then his troops themselves went to pieces in their hot pursuit, and all formation and control were gone. When the Forty-first had got over, the ground in front was covered with crowds of men from both sides, but no organized bodies of troops were in sight. Breckinridge's scattered men, of course, made little show of resistance, but took themselves off. The regiment advanced in line for some distance, finding no occasion to fire, until it was halted at the skirt of a wood and ordered to deliver a volley in the direction of a Confederate battery two or three hundred yards away, which was throwing its shells far to the rear. The volley was delivered, and the battery fired no more. It was found after- ward that it lost a man or two by the volley, besides several horses, leaving on the field one caisson, for lack of horses. This ended the fighting at Stone River.
The Forty-first went into the battle with a total of 413 officers and men. It lost 14 killed and 106 wounded, and four were reported missing. Five of the wounded are to be credited to the affair in support of Van Cleave, two days after the battle; all other losses fell in the main action. Except Van Cleave, who suffered mainly in the fight across the river, the loss of Palmer's division (25.40 per cent. of the men engaged) was heavier than that of any other division in the army. The three divisions of Crittenden's corps (Wood's, Palmer's and Van Cleave's) lost more heavily than any other divi- sions in the army. The loss, killed and wounded, of the whole army was 8,778, or 20.22 per cent. of the number engaged, which was 43,400. The Confederate force was 37,712, and the total loss was 10,266, or a fraction over 27 per cent.
Stone River was the first sustained action in which the Forty- first took part. At Shiloh the whole fighting was in a single head- long charge-severe in its losses, it is true, but very quickly over. At Corinth there was nothing more than skirmish or picket firing, and the same at Perryville. At Stone River it was a stand-up fight almost from daylight on, and a fight wholly on the defensive, with the fortune of the day steadily unfavorable-a very severe test, although the regiment was no longer considered a raw soldiery.
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STONE RIVER.
The formal and precise official records will, in the main, deter- mine the history of this and other battles. But such records may or may not contain all that influences the soldier as he acts his part in the event. Mistaken ideas and erroneous reports, impossible of correction at the time, go to influence the spirit and make up the life of the soldiers, quite as certainly as do correct ideas and truthful reports. What is here set down, then, has no purpose of overturn- ing established history. It is written because, right or wrong, it entered into the life of the regiment at the time, and so is to be taken into account.
First, as to the new general of the army. Rosecrans had come to that army heralded by the northern newspapers as what would. be called, in the phrase of this later time, an "up-to-date" commander. Buell was sent to the rear as out of date. Many of the promises and pretenses put forth, not by the new commander, but in his be- half, everybody in the army knew to be simply foolish, and some of them were known to be false. The Forty-first came into imme- diate contact with Rosecrans, for the first time, at a review and in- spection just before the army moved from Nashville toward Stone River. A single reported incident of this occasion will suffice. A private soldier in the line under inspection attracted the general's 110- tice-his shoes were not new, or his pants were fringed at the bottom, or something of that sort. Rosecrans asked the soldier why he did not get a new article (whatever it was-pants, probably), and the man replied that he had asked for it, but had not received it. The general, with a certain peculiar gusto, told the soldier to make a requisi- tion on his first sergeant; if that didn't do, make a requisition on his captain; if that didn't do, make a requisition on the regimental quar- termaster, on the brigade and division quartermasters, etc .; and finally, if he did not get what he wanted, to come to him, the general. This is a good specimen of ad captandum style; but think what must be the effect of such talk on men who had been made pretty well acquainted with the army regulations! The story went the round of the camps, and was written up by an army correspondent. It had its effect-the better disciplined the soldier who heard it, the worse the effect. I do not vouch for the story; the essential fact is that it was taken up and circulated by the general's admirers.
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
At Stone River, during the battle, as has been mentioned before in this narrative, Rosecrans in person put the Forty-first in position at one time. This was while the hazard of the day was still unde- cided, and when the ablest commander might well have been over- burdened with weightier affairs than posting a single regiment, and that for a duty not the most important conceivable. But it was the general's manner, rather than his command, which had the great- er effect. He failed to produce an impression as one who grasped the whole momentous situation with the hand of a master. After this came the usual supply of stories about the battle, and, true or false, they had their effect on the army's estimate of its commander. It was doleful enough, the story of the camp fires built away beyond the right of the line to deceive the enemy; but it was the very irony of fate which brought the Confederate attack not upon that ghostly line, but upon the attenuated real line, finding it unready, artillery with guns not in battery, and a priest saying mass in the general's quarters. No after explanations could blot out the memory of the broken regiments of the right as they swarmed from the cedars into the open ground to the right and rear. Somewhere there had been lack of the vigilance to which the Forty-first was accustomed.
The weather following the battle was cold and wet, and it was a relief when, on the 7th of January, the regiment left the field and marched through Murfreesboro, turning eastward toward McMinn- ville and going into camp after a short march. The regiment had buried its dead on the ground where they fell-the place now marked by a monument. Except for these comrades, left forever behind, the Forty-first had no sorrow connected with that field; but the spirit of the army was not buoyant, and new scenes were welcome.
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A WINTER REST.
CHAPTER VII.
A WINTER REST.
The first days of January, 1863, had gone before the Forty-first left the vicinity of Murfreesboro. For the remainder of the win- ter, it was to be stationed at Readyville, twelve miles out on the Mc- Minnville road. Readyville was a name, not a town. The place afforded a good camping ground, and although the command was always on the alert, and the habit of standing to arms before day- break became chronic, the duty on the whole was not hard. It was a season of rest, and of resumption of drills and studies. Many supplies beyond the army ration were obtained, not so much from the country, which was not over-rich, as from the markets northward. The Forty-first had its council of administration, with funds to pro- cure certain desirable things not to be had from the commissary or the quartermaster. So it sometimes happened that the messes of officers and men were supplied with eatables from the northern markets. Quarters had been made as comfortable as possible, and the time was really an enjoyable one.
The Confederate cavalry was on the McMinnville road a few · miles further on, and its patrols made frequent calls upon the brigade outpost about a mile from camp. On one occasion, these horsemen dashed down the pike to the bridge which spanned a creek running in front of the camp, and were turned back by the picket reserve at the bridge. At another time two horsemen thought to run down a solitary Forty-first vidette in advance on the pike; but he defended himself with his bayonet while he backed into a fence corner so that they could not flank him, and then easily held them at bay until suc- cored by neighboring pickets. There was good fishing in the creek, and one day a party of officers who were just outside the lines catch- ing bass, narrowly escaped capture. Some of Cluke's cavalry gal- loped down the pike until they drew the fire of the picket reserve, and then dashed off the road to escape the bullets. They rode with-
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
in a rod of the fishermen, who were lying flat on their faces on the sloping bank of the creek; but the cavalrymen were in a hurry and did not see the unarmed fishers.
There was a diversity of entertainment in the army life at Ready- ville. In the hills back of the camp there was a mill which was put to work. Some of the officers were set to making topographical maps of the surrounding country. This required explorations out- side the lines, and then there was added to the zest of map-making the duty of keeping a sharp lookout for the Morgan cavalry. At one time Hazen carefully planned an expedition to take in Cluke's force at the little town of Woodbury, a few miles on the road to Mc- Minnville. Flanking parties were arranged and sent out in advance, the whole expedition marching so as to reach Woodbury at daylight. It was a failure so far as a capture was concerned. The main force, moving on the pike, got to the Confederate position in time for a brisk skirmish with Cluke's horsemen, but they declined to stay and be caught by the flanking parties.
The drill and parade ground was on a level field below the camps. There was some regulation target practice here, for at last the regiment had discarded the miserable Greenwood rifled muskets, and was supplied with Springfield rifles. The target practice was a great help in making the men familiar with their new weapons.
Among the satisfactions of the camp at Readyville, not the least was the mail communication with home. The regiment never did much in the way of furloughs; even leaves of absence for officers were scarce at all times. Next thing to a furlough is regular mail communication, and this the command enjoyed at this camp. It was a great time of rest, recuperation, enjoyment and instruction. The stay at Readyville was from January 10th to June 24th.
Leaving Readyville, the start was for Tullahoma, but the enemy had left that place before the Forty-first came near. A camp was made at Manchester, where the regiment remained for some days. Nothing of moment occurred here; the weather was very warm, and on the whole the stay was not remembered for its comfort. Tents were struck August 15th, and the regiment moved toward Chatta- nooga by the way of Dunlap and the Sequatchie Valley. The start was made in the middle of the day, the sun being intensely hot.
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A WINTER REST.
Somebody ordered the issue of a ration of whisky before starting. It was dealt out, and the march was begun immediately afterward. The way lay through a blackjack barren, and the road was a narrow cart track, the blackjacks closing in thick on both sides and shutting off all movement of air, while the trees were too low to afford shade. It was a trying march; those who drank their ration of whisky fell out by the score, and the regiment bivouacked a mere skeleton. All night long the stragglers were coming in. Never before or after- ward was the regiment so completely done up.
The march through the Sequatchie Valley to the foot of Wal- dron's Ridge was made comfortably and expeditiously. Here the brigade was to watch the Tennessee river in the vicinity of Harri- son's Landing, above Chattanooga. The nearest neighbors up the valley were twenty miles away-Minty's cavalry force. Dur- ing the stay here, the building of a large barge was begun in a creek near the Tennessee. It was to be used in crossing the river when the time came; but before it was finished, Bragg had moved out of Chattanooga and the crossing could be made at leisure and where- ever there was a ford. The weather here was delightful, and the duty light. There was leisure for short excursions to see the natural curiosities of Waldron's Ridge, and more than the usual liberty was allowed the command.
The order to move from this camp came suddenly, on the 8th of September. The regiment moved in the night to the mouth of West Chickamauga Creek, and forded the Tennessee early next morning. The same day it joined its division at Graysville, and was in movement toward Gordon's Mills and the country where the bat- tle of Chickamauga was fought soon afterward.
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHICKAMAUGA.
From the moment of crossing the Tennessee, above Chatta- nooga, on the morning of the 10th of September, all the movements of the troops indicated that the army was being manœuvered in pres- ence of the enemy. The irregular marches, and bivouacs in places chosen not because they were good camping ground, were proof enough that our forces were feeling their way, held in readiness for emergencies. The general direction of the movement was toward Lafayette, by way of Gordon's Mills. The Forty-first encountered the Confederate cavalry near Ringgold, and again beyond Gordon's Mills-merely detachments for observation, giving little trouble. The weather was warm and dry, and the movement, especially after Gordon's Mills had been passed, was tiresome. In one place was a shed by the roadside, the ground within covered with bark and chips. Every man who came into this shed, though the halt lasted but a few moments, went away loaded with vermin. This was no light infliction, since nothing short of boiling the clothing, blankets, etc., would get rid of the pests, and for that there were few oppor- tunities on this campaign.
Afterward it was known that the movement on the Lafayette road was for the purpose of bringing the army together, McCook having moved in parallel roads on the other side of Lookout Moun- tain. These marches and halts consumed the time until the 18th of September, and then, near the middle of the day, the bivouac was suddenly broken up, and a rapid march backward toward Gordon's Mills was begun. The reason for this was evident enough when the regiment came upon some high ground from which a sweep of country to the right was in view. Three or four miles away, on the other side of the Chickamauga, a long line of dust was rising above the tree tops. It stretched away in the distance toward Gor- don's Mills and our road to the rear. Bragg's army was there, mov-
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CHICKAMAUGA.
ing to get in rear of the Union forces and cut them off from Chat- tanooga. No one was disappointed when no halt was called at dark, but the march went on into the night. The regiment passed Gen. Rosecrans' headquarters at the side of the road, and some officers from Palmer's division stopped to greet acquaintances. The gen- eral of the army was in bad humor, and could hardly be civil.
It was after midnight when the regiment, having passed Gor- don's Mills, went into bivouac in a thicket near the road. The men felt that they were on a battlefield, and were glad enough of the scanty rest that was to be had before daylight should call them to action again. Nothing could be seen of the position, but it was certain that the troops were massed rather than strung out in line, and the road was jammed with artillery and trains. In the morn- ing the regiment with the rest was moved further along toward Rossville on the Chattanooga road, until it was near the Widow Glenn house, where Rosecrans' headquarters had been established. Further down the road and apparently to the right of it, there broke out, about the middle of the forenoon, the sound of a severe engage- ment. This was renewed again and again, and the report went about that a force sent to dispute the enemy's passage of the Chicka- mauga needed more than one reinforcement. Finally, soon after noon, Palmer's division was deployed in echelon and moved straight across the Rossville road to the attack. No enemy was in sight when the movement began. The formation in echelon was with the object of striking and crushing the enemy's left flank. The move- ment started in an open wood; beyond this was a large open field, and about half way across it a strip of woodland. The Forty-first was in the first echelon, and advanced to the woodland. But beyond this the fighting was terrific. From the edge of the woods in front there came a storm of rifle balls, and back of this were batteries in rapid action. Away to the right the battle swept, and it was plain that the enemy's flank was not found. The Forty-first fired its last cartridges and was recalled to replenish the boxes. This was done hurriedly, back in the open wood, and it was hardly finished when the enemy fell furiously on Van Cleave's division, which was on the right of Palmer's. Col. Hazen was near the Forty-first when this happened. Some idle batteries were at hand, and Hazen quickly
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
posted these to check the onslaught, for Van Cleave's men were be- ginning to come back. Then the brigade was moved into the path of the storm which was bearing back the division of Van Cleave. Col. Wiley broke his line to the rear by companies, to let the retreat- ing crowds pass through, and then wheeled back into line. The Forty-first was still in the open wood, and in front was a large corn- field. Through this the Confederates were swarming, but their first line had spent its force and lost its formation. Close behind came a second line in perfect order. Van Cleave's retreating regiments had broken up Hazen's line as they swept through, but the Forty-first had kept in form by breaking to the rear to let the fugitives pass, as has been told. Wiley opened on the Confederate second line with volleys by front and rear ranks, and the advance was instantly checked. But it was soon apparent that the regiment was out- flanked. Shots began to come from the right rear. Then Wiley made a change of front to face to the right, and sent a volley into the gathering enemy there. Then a change back, to face the front and check the main advance. Never had the marvellous effect of volley firing been more clearly demonstrated; the fiery Confederates could not stand against it. The closed ranks of the Forty-first were in sharp contrast with the loose line in front and the wandering foes on the right. A hundred yards at a time the regiment fell back while loading, and easily held the enemy at bay. Then a commanding crest was reached, where a battery had taken post. Here it was pro- posed to stand, but the enemy did not come on. He was reforming his lines, as could be plainly seen from the crest. But night drew near, and the battle was over for the day.
Much of the night time was taken up with getting into a new position-slow and tiresome marching in the darkness. Next morn- ing, before the enemy moved, the Forty-first was lying behind a barricade of rails and logs, an open field behind it. There were troops to right and left, showing that a general line of battle was posted. Rations were not abundant, and of water there was none at all. A detail was sent to fill canteens; the men did not return, but fell into the hands of the enemy, who held the water supply that was ours the day before. The intense suffering occasioned by this lack of water can hardly be imagined; pangs of hunger seemed mild in
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CHICKAMAUGA.
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comparison. Before night, men's tongues were swollen and their lips blackened and cracked until the power of speech was gone. It was far on into the next night when that time of awful thirst was ended.
The morning was well along when it became apparent that the enemy was advancing upon the Union lines. Nothing was to be seen in the woods to the front, but soon the well-known Confederate yell was heard, and the skirmishers became engaged, falling back before the enemy's line of battle. Then the line itself was in view, coming on with true Southern impetuosity. From behind its bar- ricade of rails, the Forty-first opened fire, and to right and left the fight was on. The Confederates returned the fire with spirit, but their advance was checked, and they did little or no damage to the men behind the barricades. The attacking line rapidly thinned out under the steady fire; then it became unsteady, and finally it turned and fled. This was the regiment's first experience behind a defended line. Slight as was that defense of rails, it changed the whole char- acter of the fighting. The enemy was severely punished, as was plainly to be seen, and had been able to make no return in kind. The men began to wonder if an attacking force could cover three hun- dred yards or so, before a well directed fire should destroy it.
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