USA > Ohio > The Forty-first Ohio veteran volunteer infantry in the war of rebellion. 1861-1865 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Night had now come, but the start was made at once. The Forty-first had the lead of its brigade, which was the first on the road Till past midnight the hurried march was kept up, until the regiment was near to Spring Hill. This was tamiliar ground. Three hun-
£
99
AFTER HOOD.
dred yards to the right of the pike was a wood where the regiment had camped on the way from Nashville to Shiloh. When the head of the column, the Forty-first, came in sight of this old camping- ground, it was recognized even in the night by the configuration of the ground. But it was now covered with fires of a bivouac-the long lines extending away on to the front until they seemed to bend to the left, as if crossing the pike near Spring Hill. The sight was like a reviving draught to a worn-out man. In the reconnaissance, the regiment had done a good day's duty before beginning another march with hardly a breathing spell. The night march was there- fore the more wearisome and it was long. The men were going along half asleep, keeping their places by sheer force of habit. All. talking had been given up hours ago, so tired were these soldiers; their weary footsteps on the ground made the only sounds to be heard. But here, on the old camp-ground, was a bivouac. That meant the end of the march near at hand; it meant coffee and supper and rest. At once the sleepy column was awake. The men began to show their revived spirit in talk, the usual jest and badinage, and thanks to good luck. The head of the column came up abreast of the nearest bivouac fires, when a horseman rode hurriedly out of a little lane which led from the pike to the bivouac. and spurred forward to the group of officers riding just in advance of the column. The officers halted when the horseman reached them, and the marching column closed up on them and halted too. The horseman from the lane was an orderly of division headquarters. He had dropped out and ridden up the lane toward the bivouac, to get an advance cup of coffee from some comrade there. A third of the way to the bivouac he was halted by a sentinel's challenge. Instead of replying to the challenge, the orderly, having his wits about him instantly, and more than a suspicion from the voice that came from the shadowy senti- nel, demanded hastily, "What corps is this?" The sentinel was put off his guard and answered, "Cheatham's."
So, here was Wood's division marching by the flank past Cheat- ham's corps, hardly more than a pistol shot away. The orderly wheeled his horse and came back with his news. It was this that had halted the officers riding just in front of the troops. Wood and Stanley were there, with some others. There was some hurried con-
100
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
sultation. Everybody had taken the bivouac to be that of our troops sent down in the afternoon. Wood came to the commander of the Forty-first, confirming the whisper that had already gone round. "Let your men keep well closed, and move in silence, Col- onel," said he; "let the word be passed back quietly." This calm direction was from Wood, the division general. Wood, the old sol- dier and comrade, was revealed in the low words spoken just as he turned his horse's head to lead the way: "Kimberly, I hope the ok division will come out of this all right; but I don't know what it is running into."
There was no need to pass the caution back along the road. The news had already gone; the talk was hushed and the men had closed together as if on drill, alert and ready. While this was pass- ing, the enemy in the bivouac was seen to be alarmed; the sleeping men around the fires were being roused without drum or bugle. They rose up between the fires and the troops on the pike as if they sprang out of the ground. Hastily they got into line, and then were faced to their left and moved off into the darkness toward the rear of the Union troops on the pike.
The Forty-first led the way close behind Gen. Wood. On they went, quickly and silently. The long line of bivouac fires was found to be no nearer the pike as Spring Hill was approached, and finally that line, wherever it stretched, was out of sight. At Spring Hill. the Forty-first was halted on the pike, faced to the front and moved a rod or two off the road, pushing a skirmish line cautiously a few yards into the wood in front. Here the men were to lie down until daylight; no fires, and of course no coffee. The skirmishers were thirty or forty yards in advance, and two of them, coming to house in the wood, saw a shadowy figure at the other end of the little building. This was a Confederate picket, and he wanted coffee- not fight, for these men on both sides, who had learned how to fight. had learned also the folly of useless picket quarrels.
The regiment lay on its arms the remainder of the night, the men sleeping as they could, all worn out and some hungry. There was no alarm, but the pike just behind was full of hurrying troops. with trains and artillery. In the gray of the morning, the regimen:
... .
£
101
AFTER HOOD.
was called up and moved on toward Franklin, keeping off the pike a few yards, to give the way to the artillery and trains. At one point, while the regiment passed over an open field, some scattering shots came from the wood beyond, but a light fog was on the ground, and nothing could be seen but the flashes of the Confederate rifles. Of course, the enemy could see no better, and was firing at the noise of the trains on the pike. A little farther on, the road passed over a low wooded ridge, and as the Forty-first was coming to the summit, a squadron of Confederate cavalry galloped up from the right and reached the pike, which was filled with a double line of artillery and wagons. The cartridge boxes of the Forty-first were empty from the service of the day before, and bayonets were fixed for a charge on the cavalrymen. But the captain of a passing battery on the pike unlimbered a section on the other side of the wagon trains, and sent two or three shots among the cavalry, the teamsters of the wagon train clinging low down on the sides of their mules as they hurried by under the artilleryman's shells. The cavalry did not wait for the Forty-first, which had deployed and was coming on at a quick step.
Arrived at Franklin, the defensive lines were found to be well manned, and preparations still going on. The division was ordered across the Harpeth river as a reserve for the right and rear of the position in front of Franklin. Thus the Forty-first had no part in the severe battle which followed. During the day there were some indications of a Confederate attempt to work around the right and to the rear, but nothing came of it. The enemy was too severely punished in his attacks on the front to be very enterprising elsewhere. Wood's division held the crossing of the Harpeth river until the army had withdrawn after the battle, and the same day reached Nasli- ville.
Since leaving Atlanta, the Forty-first had done some hard marching, the most rapid of which was below Chattanooga, and the most wearisome that between Athens and Nashville, which included night movements. The weather grew cold before the end of the marching, and at Columbia there was both cold and rain. The bi- vouac there, among the trains and the refugees, was one of the un- pleasant ones to be remembered. The most notable event, of the :
----
102
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
whole period was the night march along the Confederate front, which has been described. This was one of the extra-hazardous operations of the war, a very critical time for the army under Scho- field. The failure to take advantage of the opportunity at Spring Hill decided the fate of Hood's campaign and his army.
Nashville was the base of supplies, and these were greatly needed. Here also was Thomas, energetically gathering forces to bring his command up to the strength required to beat back impetuous Hood. While this was in progress, the Forty-first had a brief season of rest. It was posted near the Granny White pike.
.
103
A DECISIVE BATTLE.
CHAPTER XVI.
A DECISIVE BATTLE.
The nucleus of the army with which Gen. Thomas fought and destroyed Hood's army was the Fourth and the Twenty-third Corps. The former was made up almost wholly of the veteran regi- ments of the Army of the Cumberland, which had served under Buell and Rosecrans. The Twenty-third was a newer organization; and was famous for the excellent flanking service it performed in the Atlanta campaign; but it was not strong in numbers. The two corps together were far too small for the task of encountering the Confed- erate army which had made Sherman's combined forces win almost every mile of the way from Chattanooga to Atlanta, meeting them in several general engagements, and putting their well-tried regiments to service as hard as had been found anywhere. No other army, no corps, was sent to Thomas; but he was set to create an army with the two corps as a nucleus. Troops from many places, unattached com- mands, regiments which had been on guard duty and the like, were gathered together to add to the effective force of the little army. These were the materials furnished to Thomas in preparation for the great work before him. And, with it all, the government at Washing- ton was impatient and the newspaper generals at the North did not withhold their carping criticisms. An officer was on his way with orders to relieve Thomas, it was said, when that supreme folly was ended by the triumphant victory of Nashville.
The morning of the 15th of December, 1864, broke fair, but the weather had been damp and cold, and the ground was covered with a film of ice in many localities. By the preparations of the night before, it was expected to be the day of battle. The Forty-first was deployed as skirmishers and sent against the enemy's line about a brick house to the right of the Granny White pike. This line was well intrenched. with artillery, and behind it was a second line, also intrenched. The Forty-first was deployed behind a stone wall, be-
-
104
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
yond which, up to the enemy's line, the ground was open. The reg- iment went over the icy ground at a run, encountering a brisk fire, but unchecked. The line of works was carried with a rush, and two pieces of artillery and some prisoners fell into our hands. Beyond the brick house, the Confederates attempted to make a stand, but they were quickly put to flight again. The fighting was not all on one side; the enemy at first made a good defense and inflicted some loss. There was no further engagement that day.
On the 16th came the main battle. The Forty-first, with its brigade, moved up toward the Confederate position at Overton Knob, and passed some weary hours in waiting. The regiment was on high ground, a valley separating this from the higher Knob. The valley and Knob were thinly covered with wood. Finally, an assault was determined on. Artillery opened on the fortified line on the Knob, with a little effect. Some of the logs that crowned the earth- works were knocked out of place or splintered. There was no show of return fire from the enemy. After some minutes of this artillery practice, the brigade was ordered to the assault of the works, the Forty-first being again on the skirmish line. Its orders were to go as far as possible without the aid of the main line. The regiment moved briskly down the slope into the valley, and began the ascent of the long declivity stretching to the earthworks at the top. The enemy offered no resistance until the skirmi hers were within about one hundred yards of the works; then he opened fire, but it was not severe in effect, and the skirmishers started on a run. It was seen that a line of abattis covered the works at about thirty yards dis- tance; but no serious difficulty was expected in removing this before the main line should come up. When the skirmishers reached the abattis, it was found to be regularly constructed, and staked down --- the only complete defence of this kind ever encountered by the regi- ment. There was no moving the abattis; it held the assailants under the fire from the works, unable to advance. They tugged ineffec- tually at the abattis a moment or two, and then threw themselves on the ground and opened fire on the works. These were well-made. and the logs along the top gave the defenders a good protection While this was going on, two lines of infantry were seen to enter the works. Instantly they opened a tremendous fire on the assailants.
.
105
A DECISIVE BATTLE.
The line of battle behind could not advance to the skirmishers at the abattis. Some colored troops which had been sent in on the left were broken and thrown into confusion, and drifted over on to the ground behind the Forty-first, mingling with the troops there. That their officers did their best to hold these colored soldiers to the fight, is shown by the fact that nearly every one of the officers was killed or wounded. Col. Post, the brigade commander, was wounded and disabled, and the losses throughout the brigade were becoming heavy. Meantime several of the Forty-first skirmishers had pene- trated the abattis by crawling through ; private Kleinhaus, of F com- pany, having thus forced a passage, ran up and leaped the works- a prisoner, of course. Col. Kimberly saw that the main line was making no headway, and could not; the attack on the left had failed entirely, and the colored men were no longer in the fight on their ground. The Forty-first was therefore withdrawn, but several men had passed the abattis, and these were left. The whole attacking force was in retreat. The regiment went back in skirmish line, as it had advanced, and rallied on the ground from which the assault start- ed. The Confederate fire had slackened when this withdrawal was made, but it did not wholly cease as long as any men were in the val- ley
While this severe and protracted fight was going on at Overton Knob, an advance and attack was ordered on the extreme right of the army. It was supposed that this would be favored by the con- centration of the enemy on the Knob. However that may have been, the attack on the right succeeded, and instantly the backward movement was taken up along the whole Confederate line. The troops in the works at the Knob were seen to be moving, and a second advance was ordered, with the same brigade formation. Two of the Forty-first men who had penetrated the abattis in the first ad- vance and been left there when the regiment fell back, were Sergeant Garrett of G company, and private Holcomb of A. These men, ly- ing within twenty yards of the works, were first to know of the Con- federate retreat; not waiting for the coming up of the new advance, they mounted the works. Some prisoners, four pieces of artillery and two battle flags fell into their hands. This artillery was after- ward marked with the name of the Forty-first, by order of the chief
-----
106
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
of artillery of the army, and Gen. Thomas sent Garrett and Holcomb to Washington with their captured flags.
Of course, when the regiment came up to the works, the enemy was well started on his hasty retreat. The southern slope of the Knob, and the country beyond, were full of his retreating troops, going too rapidly to be overtaken, except by cavalry. The regiment moved some distance in the direction of the retreat, and then bivou- acked, having been unable to come up with Hood's swiftly moving men. The pursuit was continued next day, but Thomas' cavalry were now in the lead on the road, and pushed the Confederates along far ahead of the reach of infantry. There were many complimentary reports of the cavalry, which permitted no stand of a Confederate force to cover the retreat. No sooner was a body of the enemy found in position to check the pursuit, than the cavalry charged and drove the harassed Confederates pell mell on their way. The Forty- first passed some fields by the roadside which were thickly strewn with the rifles of Hood's infantry, thrown down to lighten the load of the flying men. At Pulaski, a great quantity of ammunition and a piece or two of artillery were thrown into a pond, and at several points wagons from the trains were pulled off the road and aband- oned.
When the Confederates turned their backs on Overton Knob, a decisive battle was over, for one of the combatants was never again to appear in the field. Hood's army was destroyed as a factor in the war of the rebellion. This was the army which had once shown itself before Louisville, and might have watered its horses in the Ohio river. Afterward it dealt a savage blow at Perryville, and swept Rosecrans' front from right to left at Stone River. Then it made Chicka- mauga a disastrous field for the same commander, and cooped him up in Chattanooga. It fought stubbornly at Mission Ridge against Grant's combined armies, and disputed with Sherman the road from Chattanooga to Atlanta, delivering several severe battles. Next it started for Nashville, and all the way was active, bold and enterpris- ing. At Spring Hill it had Schofield's army in its grip, and lost it by only a narrow chance. At Franklin it made one of the fiercest battles of the war, and followed on to Nashville still bold and confident. But at Franklin its final opportunity passed. Nashville was strongly
1v
ـ = مصـ
-
G
107
A DECISIVE BATTLE.
fortified, and abler generals than Hood, with stronger armies, might have beaten against it in vain. But Hood was yet bold and de- fiant. It remained for the matchless soldier Thomas to give the veteran Confederate army its quietus. He did this in an offensive battle which was without fault of generalship from beginning to end, exemplifying the best in the art of war from the opening skirmish to the vigorous pursuit of the beaten enemy, driven from the field never to reappear. How different this from the in- effective assault at Kenesaw, and the misdirected bloody battle at Pickett's Mills! The hand of a master was on the Union army at Nashville-yet at the very moment another man carried in his pocket an order to supersede that master in his command.
This was the last battle of the Forty-first, as it was the last in all the region it had traversed back and forth since 1862. But its service was not over.
i
108
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
..
CHAPTER XVII.
AFTER THE CAMPAIGNS.
Following the battle of Nashville came hard marching and rough weather. The pursuit was carried far beyond Pulaski, and there was rain and sleet, while the country was wild and the roads heavy. Some miles beyond Pulaski, during a day's halt, the Forty- first was sent on an expedition against a marauding cavalry force which was reported to have a rendezvous in the vicinity. It was near night when the designated point had been found and the coun- try examined, and the return march was in the dark, over roads which were mere bridle paths in a wilderness, and often obstructed with fallen timber. Half the night was spent in wandering about in the woods, trying to follow the route. A storm of rain and sleet set in during this time; the march was thus made a trying one in sev- eral ways. When the regiment finally reached its bivouac, it was long past midnight, and the men were not only worn out with march- ing, but wet and cold. Toward morning the weather became much colder. The regiment was in no condition to move next day with the rest of the command, and was left behind to thaw out and dry it- self, and recuperate.
The pursuit of Hood had ended. There was no longer a hope of encountering any of his army, which was largely scattered through: the country to the southward, and nowhere in the field as an organi- zation. The Fourth Corps was now destined for Huntsville, Ala- bama, and the march to that point was made without notable inci- dent. The Forty-first was put in camp some miles below Huntsville. on a fine wooded ridge-an excellent camping-ground. Permanent winter quarters were constructed, and much care was taken in the work. A cotton gin house near by afforded some lumber for floors and the like, but the main reliance was on puncheons split from the abundant timber in the vicinity.
109
AFTER THE CAMPAIGNS.
The Forty-first was not to pass the remaining winter months at rest, however. There was an order, afterward countermanded, for the corps to go northward, Nashville being its first destination. Artillery and trains were to be sent across country to the Tennessee somewhere near Tuscumbia; and the troops were to go by rail. The Forty-first, which, under General Stanley, was not likely to miss its share of undesirable service, was detailed to take the artillery and trains in charge for the march. The regiment was small for the duty, and the Forty-ninth Ohio, a strong regiment, was added to Col. Kimberly's command. The march was by way of Athens, and so on across to the Tennessee. Trains and artillery together stretched out for several miles on the road when well closed up, and an obstruction, even a rod or two of bad road, might double that length. The infantry must be disposed mainly in front and rear. All together it was a hard service. When Duck river was reached, it was to be forded; but the stream was swollen and rising. It seemed best to get over at once, lest fording should be impossible after a few hours. The crossing was made, and the march continued after dark, to get a favorable place for bi- vouac. Just after the halt was made, a courier from Stanley appear- ed with a dispatch ordering the immediate return of the whole body, and warning Col. Kimberly that Roddy's Confederate cavalry was in the vicin ty of Duck river or beyond, with the purpose of attack- ing the train. Strict injunctions to be vigilant and to lose no time in returning, were added; and finally there was a specific order not to cross the river under any circumstances. This last order came too late; the whole command, trains and all, was several miles beyond the river when the courier arrived. What information about Roddy the general had, was never known. The fact was that neither then nor afterward were there indications of the presence of any force of the encmy in the neighborhood of the command. But no time was lost in recrossing the river next morning, which, fortunately, it was possible to do. The return march was made with due diligence, and with but one incident worth mention. Several mornings, before the day's march was taken up, Col. Kimberly was besieged by citizens from the country near by, with complaints of the taking of animals by men from the trains. Men would start out ahead of the column
110
THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
in the morning to prowl about the country during the day, and re- turn at night. The complaining citizens were ready to claim pro- tection as loyal men, and some of them brought vouchers for forage furnished a year or more before to a Union cavalry force which went through that region. Kimberly resolved to stop the plundering, and made a detail from the Forty-first, under a trusty lieutenant, to march before day, and take post at a bridge a few miles in advance. Most of the stragglers through the country would come to this bridge for a crossing, and the lieutenant was to arrest all who came up ahead of the column. The first man to come up was a commis- sary belonging to corps headquarters. He was promptly stopped and detained, in spite of vigorous protest. When Kimberly came along with the column, he placed the commissary in arrest and or- dered him to the rear of his train. After arrival at the camp near Huntsville, he was released from arrest, and at once complained to Gen. Stanley, with a charge that an overissue of two day's rations had been made to the infantry on the march. Stanley sent for Kim- berly, telling him of the charge. The latter produced a handful of the old forage vouchers brought in by the citizens along the road, which were given by Stanley's own command. Nothing more was heard about over-feeding the Forty-first.
About the first of March, Lieut. Col. Kimberly was promoted to Colonel of a regiment just raised for Hancock's corps, then in the Shenandoah Valley, and turned over the command of the Forty-first to Major Holloway, who continued its commander until the final muster out.
When a part of the forces about Huntsville were to be sent to Texas in the summer of 1865 it fell to the lot of the Forty-first to be selected for that unwelcome service. The government had many new and strong regiments which would have been glad of the Texas trip instead of a muster out. It seemed, therefore, a mistake to send regiments which had faithfully served for more than three years, and, having enlisted "for three years or during the war," were anx- ious to go home when the war was over.
£
£
111
DOWN IN TEXAS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DOWN IN TEXAS.
The Third Division of the Fourth Army Corps was ordered to Texas in June, 1865. It was transported to Johnsonville, Tenn., embarked on steamers, and on the morning of June 18, started down the Tennessee river en route to New Orleans. About 2 o'clock on the morning of the 19th, the fleet reached Cairo. The Forty-first was on the steamer Echo No. 2, and while the boat was rounding to, she collided with the monitor Oneida, which was anehored in the stream. Eight feet of the Eeho's hull just forward of her boilers was crushed in, and she filled in a few moments. In less than ten minutes from the time of collision the boat went down. Fortunately she was lying close to the Monitor, and the men quickly eseaped. There were 320 soldiers on board, and but one man was lost. But nothing was saved of the regimental ef- feets, and the men eame off with clothing barely sufficient to cover them -- not always that. They were taken off the Monitor and landed in Cairo, and there the division quartermaster soon had the command outfitted anew. At 10 o'clock of the same morning the regiment went aboard the steamer Atlantic, then loading for New Orleans. The loss of regimental and company papers by the sink- ing of the Echo was irreparable, and caused great and serious trouble ever afterward.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.