USA > Ohio > The Forty-first Ohio veteran volunteer infantry in the war of rebellion. 1861-1865 > Part 7
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from the field on which they left their dead and wounded and pris- oners, with their artillery. There was an indescribable exhilaration among the victors; they trod on air as they went about amid their trophies. Was not Chickamauga avenged? Under its new leader- ship, what should balk this army? And yet, they did not fully know the importance of that day's work-that the taking of Mission Ridge was one of the marvellous feats of arms of all ages.
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EAST TENNESSEE AND A VETERAN FURLOUGH.
CHAPTER XII.
EAST TENNESSEE AND A VETERAN FURLOUGH.
There was little time for rest after the Mission Ridge battle. The whole vicinity of Chattanooga was now clear of the enemy. The pontoons on the Tennessee river were no longer essential, since the railroad under the point of Lookout could be restored through to Chattanooga. All supplies could come in abundance. Many stores were needed, but there was no time to wait for them. Knox- ville was threatened, and a corps from the Army of the Cumberland must hasten to its relief. The lot fell to the Fourth Corps, and the march was begun under orders to press forward with all possible speed.
There followed some marching experience that was new to this regiment. The nights were cool at the outset, and grew colder as the march progressed. It soon fell out that there was a frozen crust on the roads in the mornings, and this was very hard on the men's shoes, already too much worn. In two or three days there were many with shoes which had ceased to be a protection to the feet, if they were not entirely gone. The command was ordered to forage the country, and regular details were made for this duty. Sheep and some beef cattle were brought in. The pelts and hides were given to the shoeless men, and out of them they made clumsy coverings for the feet, rudely after the style of an Indian's moccasin. It was something in the way of warmth, though the soft green skins afforded small protection from the sharp points in the frozen roads. With it all, there was real suffering on this march. There was some compensation in the food supply from the forage parties. Many a smoke-house, well stocked with the delicious unsalted hams peculiar to that region, yielded its store for the mess tables. The supply of
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
fresh beef and mutton was fair, and occasionally there were fowls. The foragers had many tales to tell of adventures and escapes far off the line of inarch. Often they encountered natives who had little desire to contribute, and some were openly hostile. In one or two instances the foragers escaped cunningly-laid traps only by nights of sleepless watching.
Before Knoxville was reached, it was known that the enemy had given over his attempt to take the place, warned of the ap- proaching reinforcements. The Forty-first, with the rest, marched through the town. Passing the headquarters of the commanding general, the troops were closed up and marched to the step as in review. The general recognized the Forty-first by its guns at the left shoulder, and said some complimentary things about the regi- ment.
The march was continued twenty miles or more beyond Knox- ville, toward Clinch Mountain, and finally the regiment went into camp at Blaine's Cross Roads. Winter weather had come in earn- est, and the camp was an uncomfortable one, not properly made for winter quarters. While here, the regimental commander received a communication from the Governor of Ohio, stating that the Forty- first, like many other Ohio regiments, was so much reduced in num- bers that it was in danger of consolidation with some other regi- ment. Its vacant colonelcy could not be filled, and thus promo- tions were stopped, while in case of consolidation there would, of course, be surplus officers to be disposed of by discharge. The Governor urged that the regimental commander at once set about re-enlisting the regiment under the War Department orders. In that case, the whole command would have a thirty-day furlough . with transportation to Cleveland. This would afford an opportu- nity to recruit the regiment so that its organization and name might be preserved and not lost in a consolidation. The Governor was confident that if the regiment re-enlisted and came home, plans that had been matured would fill its wasted ranks and preserve its or- ganization and identity. One chilly morning late in December, the ground being partly covered with snow and slush, Lieut. Col. Kim- berly had the regiment paraded without arms, and read to the men the War Department order providing for the re-enlistment of regi-
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ments whose term of service was about to expire. The purport of the letter of the Governor was also told, and the matter was left with the men. There were 188 present at that camp, and 180 of these at once re-enlisted under the War Department order.
On the 5th of January, 1864, the Forty-first left the camp above Knoxville, on its way to Ohio on veteran furlough. It marched to a point on the Tennessee river, where a steamboat was waiting to transport it to Chattanooga. There was a scarcity of rations on the trip down the Tennessee, and on one day at least the men were hungry until a supply was purchased from a farmer, near whose place the boat stopped for fuel. At Chattanooga, Col. Wiley was found in his old quarters, his amputation still tender of course, but his spirit the same as ever. He greeted the commander of the re- enlisted Forty-first with these words: "Kimberly, you've won the greatest victory the regiment ever had"-referring, of course, to the re-enlistment.
The Forty-first reached Cleveland on the 2d of February, and before the men dispersed to their homes, a public reception and dinner was tendered the regiment by the city government. March- ing to the big tent of the Northern Ohio Sanitary Commission, on Monument Square, the veterans were greeted by Charles W. Palmer on behalf of the Mayor and Council. Lieut. Col. Kimberly replied for the Forty-first, saying the regiment was re-enlisted for the war, and inviting the people of Northern Ohio to fill up its depleted ranks. No returning soldiers were ever more warmly welcomed or accorded greater honor. The dinner was the choicest that land of plenty could afford, and the service was by the willing hands of ladies whose husbands, fathers and friends were battling for the Union. A noble welcome, truly.
This ceremony being over, officers and men were soon dis- missed to seek home and friends. A day or two afterward, Kim- berly was summoned to Columbus to meet the Governor and the Adjutant-General of the State. The Governor repeated the sub- stance of the letter heretofore mentioned, regarding the recruiting of the regiment: and ended by exhorting Kimberly to set every officer and man at work to secure recruits and save the regimental
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organization. The lieutenant colonel explained that the members of the regiment had already gone to their homes, and that one of the inducements to re-enlistment was the promise of a month among their families and friends after more than two years' absence. A detail on recruiting service had certainly not been thought of; but for himself, Kimberly promised to give earnest attention to the recruiting business. The Adjutant-General then gave the names and location of a number of men to whom had been issued "re- cruiting commissions"-that is. commissions conditioned on the enlistment of a certain number of men. Kimberly was offered the choice of two of these conditionally commissioned men, who should then recruit for the Forty-first, thus bringing to the regiment the men for two companies. The choice was made-two men located in the section where the regiment was raised-and they were as- signed to the Forty-first. The two men went to the work of win- ning their commissions by getting recruits. Some of the men they enlisted went with them for the avowed purpose of joining the Forty- first. The two companies were enlisted and mustered in, but they never came to the Forty-first. They were assigned to make up a battalion of six companies in order to give a lieutenant colonel's commission to a man who held it four months and then resigned.
So much space is given to this matter because it is fairly typical of certain methods grossly unjust to the soldiers in the field, while they were not at all understood by the devoted and self-sacrificing friends of those soldiers. Had the two companies been sent to the Forty-first as promised, there would still have been a great injustice in commissioning their officers as payment for recruiting service. over the heads of men who had won promotion by two years of faithful service on hard-fought fields. Not to send the companies as promised was to leave the regiment short of the number required to allow promotions, making officers perform the duty of a rank to which they could not be commissioned. As to enlisting men ex- pressly for a preferred regiment, and then, after muster in, assigning them to another command, nothing whatever need be said.
This affair was the one cloud that hung over the veteran fur- lough days. What days they were! Never were skies so blue, and
وأمث ٢٠٠ فيريف كم المساسلط فاء ميك بم جاء ١٤ من ٢ بيت : حاول
سعيد
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EAST TENNESSEE AND A VETERAN FURLOUGH.
early spring sunshine so warm, and homes so bright and cheerful, and friends so kind and loving, and all familiar sights and sounds so grateful to eye and ear. Those days went swiftly, and the time for return was quickly at hand. The veterans reported promptly at Cleveland. There were nearly a hundred recruits where there should have been three hundred.
Making no display, and without a public leave-taking, the Forty-first marched quietly to the railway station one morning, and was soon on the way to the front. It rejoined its division in East Tennessee on the 26th of March.
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CHAPTER XIII.
A HUNDRED DAYS UNDER FIRE.
When the Forty-first rejoined its division from veteran fur- lough, the Atlanta campaign was about to begin. The regiment was put into a battalion with the First Ohio, the command falling to Lieut. Col. Kimberly. Hazen still commanded the brigade, Wood the division, and Thomas the Army of the Cumberland- the whole a part of Sherman's grand army.
The start for Atlanta was along the line of the railroad. Tlie enemy was encountered at Rocky Face Ridge, where Thomas' troops amused him while a flanking force worked around to the riglit. The Forty-first was not engaged, but in the field tactics it was sent, in column doubled on the center, into an open field at long rifle range from the Ridge. At once it was a target for the Confederates on the Ridge. Two or three changes of position were made before getting out of the galling fire, and the regiment was complimented for its steadiness in these movements. A few days afterward, at Resaca. the Forty-first made a dash and gained a position less than a hundred yards from the enemy's main line, and from this place kept his artillery idle during the day. At night, both sides pushed skirmishers a few yards to the front, and they almost met. This was such close quarters that the regiment was kept on the alert the greater part of the night. Soon after dark, the enemy opened a fusillade along that part of the line, and it was replied to by the troops on right and left; but the fire of the Forty-first was reserved until there should be some sign of attack by the enemy. On both sides, a great deal of ammunition was wasted in the darkness. The enemy's purpose was not attack, but to cover a retreat.
When Resaca was passed. the army was fairly on the long and tedious Atlanta campaign, during which there was hardly a day out of a hundred when the regiment was not under fire. Wagon
WITHTAIN
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ROBERT L. KIMBERLY.
Lieut. Col. 41st O. V. V. I .; Col. 191st O. V. [ .; Brev. Col. U. S. Vols .; Brev. Brig. Gen U. S. Vols .; Major U. S. A. (not accepted); Brig. Gen. U. S. Vols. (appointed, not confirmed, war having ended).
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trains, with camp equipage, were, of course, left behind. One wagon to a regiment was the allowance, and even this was not often seen. The commands were supposed to be so equipped that they could go on indefinitely, without dependence on any transportation beyond that of rations and ammunition. The Forty-first had a spe- cial provision for such campaigns. Its one wagon carried a large chest, in which each regiment had a thin box sufficient for the carrying of such papers as were necessary for keeping musters and accounts. Company commanders were thus enabled to keep up accounts and records during the campaign. The regular company desk was a convenience, but not an absolute necessity.
After passing Resaca, the regiment drove the enemy from Cal- houn to Adairsville in a day's march. It was necessary to keep out a skirmish line the entire distance, but nevertheless the road was cleared so that the march of the column was not delayed. Those were days of hard marching, with not much in the way of variety to relieve the tediousness. Near Cassville, the regiment one day came upon a store of tobacco, which was a prize, for the sutler was conspicuously absent on that march. Just beyond, and within sight of Cassville, the command was deployed on the crest of a high ridge. In the valley below, a considerable force of Confederates were ma- nœuvering in plain sight, but they quickly withdrew to the cover of woods. The troops marched down to the plain, and the division was deployed and moved forward a short distance toward the wood where the enemy disappeared. Then came a halt, and a concen- tration of most of the artillery of the corps on the front line. The town of Cassville was to be shelled, but the order was counter- manded, and then the infantry was again sent forward in line of battle. It came to the edge of the wood, and the skirmishers were beginning to exchange shots with the enemy, when an order came to halt and bivouac on the spot. A Confederate soldier came in and gave himself up. He said that Johnston's army (Johnston had succeeded Bragg after the Mission Ridge battle) was in a strong position just in front. It was here that Johnston's famous battle order was read to his troops. But it was by this time too near dark to bring on a general engagement. Everything looked favor- able for a battle in the morning. Firing had been heard from 6
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Schofield's corps far to the right, and the corps which was advancing on a parallel road to the left was also heard from in firing that in- dicated the presence of the main body of the enemy. While the alternate advances and halts above noted were in progress, Sherman himself was immediately in rear of the Forty-first, and the orders came direct from him. Part of the time he was half reclining in a corner of rail fence, and once or twice gave his orders without so much as looking up. Of course, his calculations included factors miles away and far beyond sight. Either of the advances ordered would have brought on a battle if it had been allowed to go on for fifteen minutes, and the history of the war would have been changed -to whose advantage no one can say. But Sherman was appar- ently undecided for a time. Next morning the enemy had gone.
Much was heard at this time about Allatoona Pass. Nobody but the generals knew where or what it was, but the talk was of a wonderfully strong position there, which Johnston would not sur- render without hard fighting. The Forty-first was with that part of the army which moved off to the right of this marvellous pass. The country here was wilder than before, and when a place called Burnt Hickory was reached, there was nothing to be seen except a heavily timbered wilderness, and the timber was not hickory, but pine. The march wandered through such country for several days. The most enterprising foragers for the officers' messes failed to find anything worth bringing in, and it was a time of fasting as to supplies from the country. A better region was entered as the army approached Dallas, where the enemy was in position. At Pumpkinvine Creek, the Forty-first passed through some of Hook- er's troops and went on to the front. Hooker had had a severe fight while out of supporting distance. The camp talk was that he had been ambitious to fight .a battle of his own, and that Johnston had been more than willing. The Forty-first, with some sharp skir- mishing, gained a position on some rough ground, full of stumps and not especially inviting for its military advantages. But it was close to the enemy's line-no doubt of that. It had become the custom for the first line to make cover as soon as it went into posi- tion. Sometimes this was done with rails, and sometimes by throw- ing up a low embankment and standing in the ditch thereby made.
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Work of this description was at once begun in this position, but the enemy was close enough in front to interfere and make the duty uncomfortable. Nevertheless, the cover progressed. It was fairly well along next day, when the brigade was relieved from the front line and marched off to the left for a considerable distance-beyond the left flank of the army, indeed. Here were corps and division generals in a group. The Forty-first was leading, and as it came up to the point where the generals sat on their horses, a halt was made, while Hazen and his regimental commanders were called up to receive orders. Kimberly, whose command was leading, was given a pocket compass, receiving at the same time the orders of the division general. Wood. The battalion was to march in line of battle, skirmishers out, a mile and a half due southeast by the compass; then wheel to the right and march due southwest until the enemy was found. The expectation was that the Confederate right flank would be taken in rear, or, if that flank , were refused, that the attack would fall on or near its extreme right. The rest of the brigade was to follow in column by battalion front, and be- hind were to come four other brigades. The order was explicit and emphatic to attack the instant the enemy was found, waiting for no further orders under any circumstances, whether the enemy were found in position or not. behind fortifications or otherwise. The parting word of the general to Kimberly was to remember that five brigades were behind him.
The ground on which the regiment stood when this order was given, was high and open. But there was only a short view in any direction. The country was generally wooded, though cleared land was frequently found; a hilly country, with little or no level ground even in the valleys; it was down one hill and up another with scarcely breathing space. The regiment was put into line facing the southeast, and moved off down an open slope into a wooded valley, and so on, keeping the line of battle, whatever obstacles were encountered. Three-quarters of a mile from the starting point, some Confederate cavalrymen were seen on a hill in front, but they quickly disappeared and were seen no more. When a mile and a half had been covered in this direction, a wheel to the right was inade, and the march went on, over the same kind of country, due
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southwest. The second line should have been two or three hundred yards in rear of the first, following its change of direction; but the country was so broken and so full of obstacles that this must have been a difficult thing to do. When the movement had gone about a mile in the new direction, the regiment came upon a large open ground, sloping upward to a wooded crest. There, in full view, five hundred yards away, was a large force in position, the men busily intrenching their line. The column of attack had come upon the rear of that line, which faced the wrong way for the enemy. Topographical calculations had been at fault. The attacking force was in rear of the left flank of the Union army, instead of being in rear of the right flank of the Confederates. Orders came to move by the left flank. Up and down hill, through ravines, across brooks and over fences, the march continued until the better part of the day seemed to be spent. At last the regiment was skirting an open ground, a slope at the upper edge of which fresh earthworks were visible. But these faced toward the attacking force: apparently it was the refused right of the Confederate army. The regiment moved on past the open ground to a thin wood. Here it was faced to the front and started forward. According to what could be seen. a movement straight to the front would pass a little to the left of the enemy's fortified line, which was something more than half a mile away.
The open wood through which the regiment was now moving sloped gradually for three hundred yards, and then there was a slight ravine, the opposite bank the more abrupt, and covered with a dense undergrowth, beyond which nothing could be seen. Off to the right front, across the big open field, were the enemy's fresh earthworks, on which a man or two could now and then be seen. but there was nothing to indicate that the presence of the attacking force was known. In front was the silent forest, no sign or sound! of life. The regiment passed on down the slope into the little ravine, and began the ascent of the other side through the thich undergrowth. Suddenly then, like a lightning stroke from a cloud- less sky, the storm burst. The bullets came like hail in sheets, with a sustained rapidity that showed the presence of more than one close line of infantry. Instantly the ranks of the Forty-first were
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torn as they had never been before. The men fell by dozens. A view was opened through the underbrush as the Confederate fire mowed it down. Fifty yards or so in front was a barricade packed with line after line of blazing rifles. Those of the Forty-first who were not shot down dropped to the ground and began to answer the furious Confederate fire. Their defense was not waist high, and they were fair marks as they stood in ranks. Then their fire slack- ened and stopped, and they went down behind their defense. A sergeant of the Forty-first saw something white thrust up above their cover, and called out that it was a white flag. The regiment sprang to its feet to advance, but instantly the Confederate rifles were again in action. The line was too thin with losses to breast that storm. On the right of the battalion was the First Ohio. While the fire in front was hottest, there came from the enemy's works across the open field to the right an enfilading fire of artillery and musketry. This smote the First Ohio heavily, but its major, Stafford, held it bravely to its post.
Where were the five brigades which were to follow? The minutes wore åway, each bringing death to brave men, and no line came up in rear. Kimberly sent his adjutant to find the second line, and he did not return. A second messenger was sent, and no return. Then the adjutant of the First Ohio, and he was shot down before he had made a hundred yards to the rear. That explained the fail- ure of the messengers sent before. No word reached the brigade commander. But that did not matter; Hazen had no second line to send. The battalion following the Forty-first had been deflected from its course, and was in action on the left. So with the others. Forty-five minutes passed, and no succor came. It was plain that the plan of attack had miscarried. The battalion was wasting away in a fruitless endeavor. Still, the men were not conquered. All knew that their line was too thin to make a successful assault; but they had found some shelter-it was easier to find, now there were fewer of them-and they were keeping the enemy close to his cover; there was no more standing up to fire, as at first. If only the second line were up! With that help, they could make a dash and drive the enemy. Sergeant Butler, of D company, came by the battalion commander, creeping to the rear half doubled up with the pain of a
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shot in the body, pressing both hands on the wound to stop the waste of blood. He had his message: "Colonel, don't fall back! Keep 'em at it. They'll take the position when the second line comes." Poor Butler! He dropped to the ground almost as he spoke, unable to hobble further back, and soon after fell into the enemy's hands. For it was plain enough that the second line was not coming. Just to the left, the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio, which should have been the second line, could be seen fighting as desperately as any. Along the whole line of the battalion, there was a constant drift to the ravine of men wounded but able to crawl to shelter, and these, of course, were but part of the casualties. Kimberly saw all this as minute after minute passed, until three- quarters of an hour had gone. Then he withdrew the remnant that was left. The men came back by command to the shelter of the little ravine, where the shrunken companies closed up in perfect order. Not a man who was unhurt was left behind by either the First or the Forty-first. Then the command was marched by the flank along the ravine, and so, keeping the shelter, to the point from which its forward movement started. Here were Hazen and a number of other general officers with their staffs-among them Gen. O. O. Howard, the corps commander. To Hazen, Kimberly reported his withdrawal without orders, expecting no censure and receiving none. The two torn and waste 1 regiments at that mo- ment filing by, spoke louder than words.
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