USA > Ohio > The Twelfth Ohio cavalry; a record of its organization, and services in the war of the rebellion, together with a complete roster of the regiment > Part 2
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Meanwhile, the remaining six companies had been actively preparing for the more serious work that we knew would come
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with the ensuing spring. Early in December the remainder of the regiment, under the command of Lieut. Col. Bently, had been transferred to Camp Chase, at Columbus, and had been subjected to vigorous drill and discipline. The detachment furnished its daily quota to the guard detail at Camp Chase ; . but the main work in hand was the foot cavalry drill, the sabre exercise and such other instruction as the facilities of the camp and the season would permit. The officers served on Courts Martial, Boards of Examination, etc .: Col. Ratliff dividing his time between Columbus and Johnson's Island. On the sixth of February the six companies at Camp Chase were transferred to Camp Denison, and here, on the twelfth of that month, the regiment was finally brought together, and the active work of organization and equipment as cavalry commenced. Cavalry uniforms were for the first time furnished, the sabres, pistols and Spencer carbines were issued, and the most thorough drill and exercise filled the working hours of each day. By a fortunate circumstance the Twelfth Cavalry received the best outfit of horses ever given to a regiment in Ohio. Every equipment was complete and, on the 27th of March, 1864, the bugles blew the assembly for the last time in the old camp, the troopers sprang to horse, and the regiment, at last a complete realiza- tion, streamed down the Pike toward the Confederacy. Just here it might have been remembered that the regiment had been organized for State service, but Morgan had been cap- tured and overthrown, no raider threatened Ohio, and the . men were only too glad to be led against the enemy, no matter in what State he should be found. Not a murmur was heard, and the order to repair to Louisville was greeted with a cheer which proclaimed that the Twelfth was no home-guard organization. -
During the stay in Camp Chase and Camp Denison, a fine regimental band had been organized, and though its members had been detailed from the rank and file of the regiment, and had enjoyed hardly two months of practice, its proficiency was already quite marked. Mounted on snow-white horses, with their bright instruments and trappings gleaming in the sun,
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the band at once became the pride of the regiment while on the march, and added not a little to the maintenance of that esprit du corps which alone can make a regiment or a squadron capable of the highest service.
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST CAVALRY MARCH.
SUNDAY morning, the 27th of March, 1864, found the Twelfth Cavalry at last together, and in complete readiness for the field. Col. Ratliff, who had been on Court Martial duty at Cincinnati, and Lieut. Col. Bently, who had been in com- mand of Camp Denison, had both been returned to their proper command, and on that bright morning of early spring' the first battalion,* Major Herrick commanding, with the band . and regimental field and staff, left Camp Dennison for Cincin- nati. Reaching the city at 4 P. M., the troops at once embarked, with their horses, on board the steamers "General Lytle" and "Major Anderson," for Louisville, Kentucky, where they arrived and disembarked the following morning. The second and third battalions followed at once, and on the 30th, the regiment was reassembled and in camp on the plains behind the city of Louisville. Here the command remained more than a week, receiving its camp equipage and its first instalment of pay since entering the service. It was supposed that the regiment would be ordered to service under General Sherman, in Tennessee, and this it narrowly escaped. While in camp at Louisville General Sherman chanced to be in the city and, noticing the handsomely mounted battalions on parade, at once came to look after the regiment. He was so pleased with its appearance, and the reports he heard in Louisville concerning
* The battalions were constituted as follows :
Ist Battalion.
3rd Battalion.
2nd Battalion.
--
G. E. L. F.
H. A. C. K.
D. M. I. B.
Major Herrick.
Major Moderwell.
Major Collier.
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it, that he at once telegraphed to Secretary Stanton requesting that it might be assigned to him. But Morgan and Wheeler were threatening Kentucky, the guerillas had grown bold on the Eastern border, and the Twelfth had already been promised to General Burbridge to enable him to hold the State.
The morning of April 7th, accordingly, saw the long column marching, four deep, through the streets of Louisville and heading away over the hills towards Lexington. Spring had come to that sunny climate, the turf was green on the hills, the buds were swelling on tree and shrub, and the proud regiment marched to its first campaign like a bride to a festival. The march to Lexington was a model one. Not a rail was burned, not a pantry nor a henroost suffered, strag- gling was then unlearned, and all the little details of marching in presence of an enemy were practiced with the most perfect precision. The distance was one hundred and fifteen miles, and the march occupied three and a half days, the regiment reach- ing Lexington on the morning of Sunday, April 10th, drenched and splashed by one of those long and pitiless storms which make a Kentucky spring a thing to be dreaded as well as enjoyed. The instinct of neatness was strong in the minds of the men, and in the few moments of sunshine that came before we entered the city they made the best possible excuse for a toilet. The fine appearance of the regiment was everywhere remarked ; the people asking-"What brigade is this?" Passing through Lexington, the regiment went into camp on the old fair grounds, and again devoted itself to the work of drill and discipline.
During the two weeks of our stay in Lexington an incident occurred which, as it illustrates perfectly the bias of the men upon what was then a very important question, may perhaps be related. Notwithstanding the proclamation of emancipation was then in full force, and notwithstanding the spirit of the government was wholly in favor of protecting the negro against his recent master, yet Kentucky, not being
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formally included among the States in rebellion, had not yet lost her right to her slaves. It was accordingly ordered, by General Burbridge, that all negroes found in the camps should be returned to the City Provost Marshal, and by him restored to their owners. The Kentucky regiments were only too glad to obey such an order, for, loyal though they professed to be, and were, they had not yet abandoned the belief that slavery was the proper condition of the colored race. A number of fugi- tive negroes came into the camp of the Tweltth, during the stay at Lexington, but no extraordinary zeal was manifested by officers or men to secure their arrest. If they had any dispo- sition to escape they ran no risk from the Ohio soldiers in attempting to do so. Finally, there came into camp one night, a bright, active little contraband, who was destined to come very near being the bone of a serious difficulty. He told the story of his escape to the kind-hearted men of the Twelfth, and was at once treated to a nest in a shelter tent under a pile of blankets. The next morning there appeared on the scene the master, handcuffs in hand and a Provost Marshal at his heels. His rage was of that blind, desperate and reckless species which only the plantation-bred Southerner, aggravated by an obdurate " nigger," can evince. The party sought the tent of Colonel Bentley, and produced an order directing that officer to surrender the boy. The Colonel replied that he knew nothing of the boy; if he were within the camp the Provost Marshal could take him without aid, and welcome. So the Planter and the Marshal set out on a tour of inspection through the camp, diligently stirring among blankets, and finally uncarthed the treasure, who instantly popped out of his warm nest and into another tent, and from this into half-a-dozen more, moving so rapidly, meanwhile, that the plethoric and wheezing master seemed about as likely to catch him as a mad bull might be to catch a hornet. Finally, the boy got a sufficient start of his pursuers and slipped into some conceal- ment which proved conclusive-he could no longer be found. The master and the Provost now went off in high dudgeon to the Camp of the Thirteenth Kentucky Infantry, which lay near
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by, and which they had already warned to be in readiness to assist in case the Ohio regiment should prove obdurate. The escape of the slave had been more than the Kentucky spirit could brook, and, at the request of the Provost Marshal, Colonel Hanson at once ordered his regiment under arms, and into line, facing the Camp of the Twelfth Ohio. With great pomp and solemnity the Kentuckians were ordered to load by · detail, and each soldier rammed home a bullet to be fired, if . need were, in defence of the code which, was dearer to the South than freedom itself.
Major Herrick, commanding the battalion most directly threatened by this demonstration, suppressed the spontaneous movement of his men toward resenting this menace, and ordered every soldier to his tent. Thither they all went, but each man dropped seven cartridges into his carbine, took off his overcoat and awaited results. For a few moments a collision seemed imminent, for had the Thirteenth Kentucky so far forgotten its duty as to fire into our camp, there is no saying what might not have happened. But discretion pre- vailed, the more prudent of the Kentuckians began to straggle towards their tents, their line melted away, and the planter went off without his "nigger."
After nearly two weeks of preparation we were ordered to Mount Sterling, thirty-eight miles east of Lexington, as an outpost to protect central Kentucky against the incursions of. an irregular force lurking in the eastern part of the State, and reinforced, at intervals, by small detachments from the forces of General Breckenridge, in South-western Virginia. The march began on the 23d of April, and the regiment, having encamped at Winchester that evening, reached Mount Sterling on the following day, and pitched its tents some two miles south of the town. Here, amid the rains of early spring, two weeks dragged heavily on. Captain Degenfeld, with Company I, on May 2d, was sent on a scouting expedition into the moun- tains, after the noted guerilla, Champ Furguson. For four days the captain harassed and chased him; but Ferguson
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cluded him, and, finally, made good his escape from Kentucky. His object thus accomplished, Captain Degenfeld rejoined the regiment at Mount Sterling.
A telegraphic order now summoned the regiment back to Lexington, where it received final orders to repair to the Green River country, in the south-western part of the State. Three days were spent in Lexington, organizing the wagon- train and drawing supplies, and, at the end of that time, the regiment, having left behind all extra baggage and reduced itself to the light campaign status, moved southward through Camp " Dick Robinson," Danville, Lebanon and Saloma. After a march of four days, during which something more than a hundred miles had been traversed, a messenger overtook the command with an order from General Burbridge, summoning it immediately back to Lexington. This was a strange sort of warfare the troopers of the Twelfth thought, but they had only to obey orders, and the tortuous, difficult road was retraced by forced marches that tried the endurance of the horses and wagon teams to the utmost. Three days brought the regiment back to Lexington, where indications of an important movement were everywhere apparent. Troops were concentrating, camps covered the fields and lawns all about the city, soldiers and officers filled the streets, and the work of preparation went on day and night.
Here the Twelfth Cavalry was brigaded with the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry and Fortieth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, the commander of which, Colonel C. J. True, being the senior colonel of the brigade, took command. Another brigade, under General E. H. Hobson, was organized, and the whole moved, by regiments, to the new rendezvous at Mount Sterling. It now became apparent that the sudden return of the Twelfth from the Green River district, and the hasty consolidation of brigades, already alluded to, were preparatory to a formal expedition across the Cumberland Mountains into south - western Virginia, for the purpose of destroying the extensive salt manufactories at Saltville, a few miles north-east of Abing-
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dor. As another subsequent effort of this kind was made, in October of the same year, and a third and, finally, successful one, in the following December, the raid now under considera- 'tion will be known, in this narrative, as the
FIRST SALTVILLE EXPEDITION.
The final preparations at Mount Sterling, occupied some days, and it was not until the morning of the 23d of May, that the bugles finally sounded the advance. The Twelfth Regi- ment, in common with the Fortieth Kentucky and a small battery of light howitzers attached to the brigade, left its camp standing, with its sick, its wagon train, band, and other non- combatants, to guard its stores and preserve order in the town. The whole was left under the command of Captain T. K. Parkinson, of Company H, and was destined, as it proved, to enjoy as eventful an experience, within the next fortnight, as the regiment itself. The command under General Burbridge numbered about four thousand men, with four mountain howitzers-a species of ordnance at that time supposed to be in some way serviceable as an accompaniment to cavalry. Of the four thousand there, nearly half were cavalry proper, belonging to the Twelfth Ohio and Eleventh Michigan regi- ments, and the remainder were made up of several regiments of Kentucky Infantry, mounted for special service. The
expedition set out in imposing style, and, within two hours, had passed beyond the margin of civilization, and entered the · mountainous, uninhabited waste of Eastern Kentucky. The roads, never better than rude mountain paths, had been, during the war, entirely neglected, and were, in many places, so difficult that our light ambulances- the only vehicles, except the howitzer carriages, which accompanied the command- were often detained until the way could be repaired. The route lay in an easterly direction, and the first night found the division bivouaced at "Mud Lick Springs"-a deserted little hamlet in 'a broad valley, surrounded by open meadows whose rich clover proved a welcome feast to the tired horses
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of the command. The next hight the entire division slept on the road, awaiting the slow process of dragging the guns by hand, up the face of a steep, smooth cliff that barred its pro- gress. The guns were got over sometime near morning, but the tired troopers had fallen asleep along the mountain path, and lay undisturbed till dawn. A third night brought a better bivouac, in a narrow valley where there was, at least, level ground enough for the men to lie on, though no other advantage was realized. Finally, after five days climbing and toiling, the advance guard filed down into the valley of the Big Sandy River, at the mouth of Middle Creek, and the first goal of the expedition was reached. Fording the river, the command entered Prestonburg, a war-worn and straggling county seat, which. had been first captured from the Con- federates, by General Garfield, in the winter of 1862. Passing through the town, the division again forded the Big Sandy, crossed "Laurel Mountain," once more forded the river, and en- camped in a broad meadow at the mouth of Beaver Creek, a small tributary of the Big Sandy. Here a halt was determined op and two-thirds of the command detailed for an expedition fifty miles down the Big Sandy, to Louisa, a permanent post to which had been sent the forage and provisions to be used in the remainder of our march. The detail made the trip, encountered at Louisa a terrible storm of rain and returned on the third day, with its horses laden with corn. It may be here remarked, that the necessity of this expedition to Louisa was the first result of the defective management which after- wards became so palpable in the conduct of that department. The supplies should have been sent not to Louisa, but to Preston- burg, and, with proper care, should have been there awaiting the command; but they failed to arrive, and there was no resource but for the tired men and horses, from whom such extra- ordinary service was to be required, to march down the river and meet the stores. While at Louisa, a member of Company 1. was drowned, and the foragers returned with the much needed grain, badly worn out and not a little discouraged. The weather had already grown oppressively warm, and the
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rains were long and continuous. Finally, after two dull, weary : weeks, preparations were complete. Six days rations-called, by grace of the Commissaries, twelve days supplies-were issued to each man, with two bushels of corn for his horse, . slung behind his saddle, and the final start was made. We were then one hundred and eighty miles from Saltville. Our road lay across the Cumberland range and through a vast wilderness whose only redeeming feature was a moderately practicable road, built by the State of Virginia for the trans- portation of salt into Kentucky. In former times this road had been regarded as a wonderful achievement in such a country; but war had destroyed its sluices and bridges, and the little that we saw of it, on the first expedition, was broken and uncertain. The first day's march, from Beaver Creek, was a brisk one, and, at night, we encamped thirty miles from our starting point in the morning. Scouts were sent ahead to ascertain the condition of "Pound Gap," the pass through which we were to cross the Cumberland range, which here serves as a division line between the States. It was well that this precaution had been so early taken, for hardly had the division left its camp, on the second morning, when the scouts returned with the report that John Morgan, with a strong force of cavalry and a full brigade of veteran infantry, had crossed the mountains at "Stony Gap," ten miles south of the pass already spoken of, and was then far on his way into Central Kentucky. Whether this expedition of Morgan was planned upon a knowledge of the movement of Burbridge, or whether he came, as he afterwards asserted, for the purpose of stealing horses to mount his infantry, expecting to whip Burbridge on his own ground, can only be conjectured. With all that is now known we incline to the former theory. At all events, his marching across our front and bursting, unexpectedly, from our rear into an utterly unprotected State, was a singularly ' fortuitous accident. He had left Western Virginia as defence- less as Burbridge had left Kentucky-the latter might go on and destroy the salt works, leaving Kentucky to be ravaged. by Morgan. A moment's reflection showed that this would be
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too dear a price to pay for a few salt kettles, and, without an hour's delay, the column faced about and took the backward path for Kentucky at a trot which brought it, before nightfall, to its old camping ground on the Big Sandy. A dismal, dreary rain was falling, the stream was rising rapidly, and it was deemed necessary to push on to Prestonburg that night, lest the river, before morning, should become impassable. Here, in the midst of the storm, Colonel Ratliff, of the Twelfth Cavalry, was placed in command of the First Brigade, Colonel True yielding to illness, and a hasty inspection of the column took place as it marched past. All horses not deemed compe- tent to make the forced march to Mount Sterling, were turned aside and left to make their way leisurely down the river to Louisa.
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The remainder passed the river, re-crossed the mountain, and, finally, long after midnight, reached a wretched bivouac in the meadows below Prestonburg. The crossing of Laurel Mountain on that stormy night, was one of the darkest pas- sages in the whole experience of the regiment. The path, at best, was a wretched one-steep, uneven and dangerous. On one side rose the mountain, rugged and precipitious ; on the other yawned an abyss whose depth could only be guessed from the roar of the torrent that poured along the bottom of the gulch. A single misstep would whelm the erring horse, and his rider, in a fate compared with which death on the battle-field would be a luxury. The night was so dark that men and horses walked blindly against cliffs and trees, and it was only by the greatest care and the most marvelous good fortune that the casualties were so few. The men mostly dismounted, and, leading their horses through the fathomless mud, at length reached the valley beyond.
The ford at Prestonburg was reached and passed in safety, and, after a wretched night on the wet ground, a bright morn- ing came to lighten the heavy task that lay before us. Morgan was now far in advance of Burbridge, on his way to the " Blue Grass Region," and there was not a moment to be lost. Before leaving Beaver Creek, on his march toward Virginia, General
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Burbridge, appreciating the defenceless condition in which Kentucky had been left, and apprehending some disaster, had sent General Hobson to descend the Big Sandy River, and thence to proceed, with all haste, to Newport and Lexington, there to organize from the scattered forces left behind the best possible provision for defence. The general proceeded as far as Covington, hastily organized a small force of Ohio militia, and met, as will be remembered, a crushing defeat near Cynthiana, which point he had reached on his way to Lexington.
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CHAPTER IV.
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FIRST BLOOD : MOUNT STERLING AND THE PURSUIT.
THE three brigades of cavalry under General Burbridge left Prestonburg on the morning of the 5th of June, stripped for their work, and knowing that they had in hand a task of no ordinary proportions. Morgan was known to have a large and well equipped force, his infantry was known to be among the best in the rebel army, and he was marching into a country which he knew perfectly and in which a majority of the people were his personal friends, and the strong, though secret, adherents of the Confederacy. His plan was to ravage the rich " Blue Grass" region of Kentucky, to recruit his regiments up to their maximum strength, and to procure horses upon which to mount his entire force of infantry. The work which Burbridge had in hand was to intercept and defeat him before this could be accomplished, and as Morgan was already many leagues in advance, the march of the Federal column was to test, to the last degree, the endurance of horses and men, Pushing forward, with scarcely a halt for rest or food, the command, on the second evening, emerged from the mountain paths upon the main road leading through Saylersville and Hazel Green to Mount Sterling. The severe work had already begun to tell severely upon the horses, and overcoats, shoes, blankets, and even tobacco were thrown away to diminish, by 1
every possible ounce, the burthens of the jaded animals; but there was no halt-no rest. Those whose horses entirely gave out shouldered their carbines and trotted gaily along to be in at the fight which all knew was coming. Finally, after one of
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the most terrible marches of the war, the division, more dead than alive, on the evening of June 8th, reached a small hamlet known as McCormick's Gap, where it was learned that Morgan had reached Mount Sterling on the morning of that day, defeated the slight garrison, captured the town, with our camps and hospitals, and was then resting after his first victory. Mount Sterling was still thirty-five miles away and it must be reached before dawn. The enemy must be attacked at daybreak, or the chances would be wholly in his favor. .. Terribly as the division needed food and rest, it had not the one and had no time for the other. The bugles again sounded the advance, and the weary trot, trot, trot was resumed. The night was warm and dark, with a heavy rain falling at intervals ; the road was rough and obscure, cut up in many places by pouring streams, and, on a night like that, full of peril. But there could be no stopping to pick the way ; the trot must be maintained, and every man must keep his place in the column. "Close up!" was the word passed backward and forward along the column, to guard against breaks between regiments and squadrons, and to keep the command sufficiently condensed to be ready for fight at any moment. Wearily the long night wore on. Horses gave out utterly, and were abandoned along the way. Men fell asleep in their saddles, and, in some cases, were only awakened by a douche into the mud and water of the road. Some time after midnight the advance suddenly en- countered a wagon, escorted by half-a-dozen rebel soldiers, and driven by a negro from Mount Sterling. The soldiers were instantly disarmed, and a staff officer clambered into the wagon to inspect its cargo. The story of the soldiers was confused
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