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 8
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through the campaign hitherto unscathed. After a night of terrible suffering, the brigade reached Clinch river, and at once began the perilous work of fording. The stream was angry . and swollen, the rocks on either bank slippery with sleet, the water cold as large sheets of floating ice could make it. The horses could enter the river only one at a time, and could cross only with great peril and difficulty. Horses and riders were thoroughly wet, and the keen December air soon covered both with ice. The storm still continued-would the sun never shine again? During the morning the Twelfth Ohio, which had acted as rear guard since leaving Saltville, was posted on the hill above the ford to guard the crossing from a rear attack. Hardly : had this disposition been made, when a rebel cavalry regiment, under Colonel Robert Prentice, came up and made a fierce attack upon Burbridge's rear. The Twelfth Ohio instantly engaged this new enemy, and, driving him back, held the assailants in check until the last of the other regiments had crossed, then withdrawing squadron by squadron, accomplished the perilous exploit of crossing a difficult ford with an enemy in its rear. The first squadron to cross was Company "B" under Lieut. Rolli, who was further assigned to the unpleasant duty of remaining after he had crossed the river to guard the ford until midnight, to prevent Prentice from again overtaking our rear. This he did safely and successfully and reached the main column before morning. It has already been stated that the Twelfth Ohio had been charged with the constant duty of guarding the rear of Burbridge's column on its retreat. During the day of watching and fighting at the crossing of Clinch river, a field officer of the Twefth approached Gen. Burbridge with a request that his regiment, which had been long on duty, should be temporarily relieved. The reply of the General is the one tribute of the kind paid the regiment which shall be recorded in these pages. He said, "No, the Twelfth Ohio can- not be relieved as long as we are in Virginia. I don't want any more skedadaling in my rear. After we have passed Pound Gap, Major, the Twelfth shall march where it pleases.".
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The terrors of the march from the Clinch River to Pound Gap, eclipsed all the previous sufferings of the expedition. The storm continued, and the poor horses, worn out with a month of terrible exertion, were fast yielding to famine and exhaustion. They fell by dozens in the miry, slippery road, and could not be induced to rise. They were unsaddled and left to perish, their riders marching thenceforward on foot. To make the sit- uation more forbidding, a host of wretched negroes, men, women and children, who had followed the column from the vicinity of Saltville, filled the road and made the dismal picture complete. These poor creatures had waded the Clinch River the day before, parents attempting to carry their children, and in many instances losing them in the freezing flood. Such as crossed in safety struggled on in their stiff clothing, many falling in sheer exhaustion before reaching the freedom that lay beyond the Cumberlands. To add to the suffering of the troops, the worth- less boots and shoes of the dismounted men began to fail. Long before the crest of the mountain was reached many men were walking over the frozen road with their feet wrapped only in shreds of cloth torn from their saddle blankets and overcoats. As they climbed the mountain the snow became deeper and deeper, and their sufferings more and more intense. Like their forefathers at Valley Forge ninety years before, the famishing soldiers of Burbridge left the traces of their sufferings in the tracks of their gashed and bleeding feet. Scores of men had their feet and hands frozen, many of these cases being so severe as to finally result in amputation of one or both feet. The horses of the Division were almost wholly broken down and lost. Of the forty-four hundred animals which carried Bur- bridge's men into Tennessee a month before, only eight hundred lived to recross the Cumberlands. Though eminently a victo- rious and successful expedition, the first Stoneman raid into Virginia involved a degree of suffering rarely or never expe- rienced elsewhere during the war.
Two days and nights of such marching finally brought the Brigade to the summit of Pound Gap, where the dis- mounted men were placed in a separate brigade; three days
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more led the weary host through the wilderness of southeastern Kentucky, and brought it in the dead of winter to Prestonburg, its old point of supply on the Big Sandy, River. Christmas had passed while they were resting at Pound Gap, but amid such surroundings the great festival day of Christendom had been forgotten. The arrival at Prestonburg, a dreary little town in a drearier valley, was like a deliverance from death, the raw pork and hard bread which were found there were the sweetest morsels those four thousand men had ever known. A few hours of rest here, cut short by the lack of adequate forage, prepared the command for the return to Lexington, where in company with the rest, the Twelfth arrived on the 2d of January.
In six weeks the Regiment had marched more than a thous- and miles and assisted in a campaign which so thoroughly de- stroyed an entire military department, that it was never after- wards known in the records of the Confederacy.
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CHAPTER IX.
TRANSFERRED TO STONEMAN.
AFTER a few days rest from the terrible work of December, the Twelfth Ohio broke camp at Lexington and moved leisurely over to Richmond. No organized enemy was in the State, and at that season the bleak Cumberland mountains and the inhos- pitable wilderness of south-eastern Kentucky, were the best possible defense against any aggression from the direction of Virginia or Tennessee. Nevertheless, it seemed important that the guerillas which at that time inhabited the region beyond Richmond should be kept in absolute check, and accordingly the Twelfth Ohio was sent to encamp there for the winter, with orders to use all vacant buildings in and about the town by way of barracks. This all seemed very pleasant and promising, but in point of fact the vacant buildings were not to be found, and the regiment made its winter quarters in its tents. It was pro- bably of little consequence, for hardly had the tents been pitched when Lieut. Col. Bentley arrived from a brief leave of absence and at once resuming command, sent Major Herrick, with squadrons "F" and "K" to Crab Orchard, where he assisted in the final capture of the noted guerilla, " Sue Mundy."
Major Collier, with two squadrons of the second batallion, was likewise sent to Irvine. Thus matters remained until about the middle of February, when an order came from Washington permanently transferring the regiment to the com- mand of Gen. George Stoneman, under whose orders it had so gallantly served during the raid already described. The sweeping success of the great raid in December had driven the Confederates wholly out of that region. Stoneman held
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East Tennessee with an iron grasp, and there was no longer an enemy to threaten Kentucky. There was yet work for Stone- man, however, for Johnson with his army yet confronted Sher- man in the Carolinas, and Lee still held Richmond against the army of the Potomac. To prevent the two confederate armies from being united, and to cut off the railways and bridges by which either could escape, was cavalry work, and in preparing for this duty General Stoneman asked that the Twelfth Ohio might be added to his division. The request was granted, and within a day the regiment was on the move.
Major Collier returned with his command to Richmond, joined the main body of the regiment, and, having moved promptly to Lexington, at once took the railway for Louisville, where the Twelfth had been ordered to report to Gen. Stone- man. Major Herrick's detachment reached Lexington on the 19th, found the other squadrons all embarked, and climbing promptly into the remaining cars of the train, the whole reached Louisville that night, and encamped on a common near the " Lowe Garten," a German beer garden dear to the subsequent memory of the Twelfth. For a week or more the only work in hand was that of reorganization. Every available man was now restored to his Squadron, and it was found that there remained for duty of the twelve hundred and fifty men who had marched through Louisville a year before just seven hundred and ninety-eight. More than a third had been killed, wounded or disabled by disease incident to hard service.
The week passed gaily away, the men bartering their ample rations for the beer and pretzels and odorous cheese of "Lion Garden," and the officers busy with the work of drawing and issuing clothing, horses and such arms and equipments as were necessary to restore the losses of the year. Col. Ratliff, so long in command of the Post at Lexington, had now been restored to the command of his regiment. The loose, careless habits of raiders were given up and the rigid order and discip- line of camp was restored. At the close of a week or more the regiment, thoroughly remounted and equipped, embarked
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on the Ist of March for Nashville, on five steamers, viz: the " Dumont," " Annie Laurie," " Anna," " Delaware," and "Nash- ville." The voyage up the Cumberland lasted five days, and was one of the pleasantest episodes in the life of the Regiment Spring had already come and every mile they ascended the Cumberland brought the soldiers of the Twelfth among greener grass and fresher blossoms.
The band was in capital trim, and as the little fleet swept past Fort Donaldson, and the myriad of pretty little river towns, merry salutes were played to the soldiers and citizens on shore. Regimental Headquarters were established on board the " Dumont," and here, as elsewhere, reading, letter writing, card playing and story telling, were the only duties day or night.
On the evening of Sunday, March 5th, the fleet reached Nashville, where the regiment disembarked and encamped for a single day, which was spent in sight seeing, and on the morn- ing of the 7th the Twelfth marched for Murfreesborough, pass- ing over the battle-scarred field of Stone River, and encamping at night in the town. Next morning the command embarked by rail for Knoxville, the goal toward which all their varied journey was leading. The trip was without incident until the trains carrying the regiment reached Bridgport, Alabama, the point at which the railway crosses the Tennessee River. The stream was angry and swollen with the spring rains, and the long, high trestle bridge was consid- ered unsafe. At once the regiment disembarked from the train and passed over the bridge in single file, each man lead- ing his horse and keeping at least fifty yards behind the one preceding. Reaching the other side, the squadrons were rap- idly put on board other trains from Chattanooga, and proceed- ed toward Knoxville with that careless, uncertain slowness which characterized the movements of military trains in those times when conductors and engineers worked by the day, regardless of time or schedules. At Chattanooga the train arrived some time during the night of the 9th, remained until morning and then proceeded leisurely toward Knoxville.
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After a weary trip, the regiment finally reached Knoxville, and found a pleasant camp on the slope in front of Fort Saunders, where Longstreet's men had suffered so bravely on that gray Winter morning a year before. It was evident that another great raid was in prospect, and the Twelfth anxiously waited its assignment to a new Brigade. This resulted most satisfac- torily, the regiment being assigned to the Brigade of Colonel W. J. Palmer, of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, whose command now embraced his own regiment, the Tenth Michigan Cavalry, Colonel Trowbridge, and the Twelfth Ohio, all veteran regiments, and, though somewhat reduced in num- bers, admirably conditioned and equipped. While waiting here, Colonel Ratliff was again detailed as president of an `important general Court Martial, and the regiment was once more left in command of Lieut. Col. Bentley. Colonel Ratliff protested against being again separated from his men, but he was a lawyer, and the court could not be organized without his presence.
In its transfer from the Department of Kentucky, the regiment left behind sick at Lexington, Major M. J. Collier, the dashing, gallant commander of the second battalion, and during the subsequent campaign his command was deprived of his services. Upon partial recovery Major Collier was detailed upon Court Martial duty, from which he did not escape until the following March, when, proceeding to Knoxville, he found the Twelfth absent on the great raid, and was again assigned to court martial duty and retained until the return of the com- mand to Lenoir. In rejoining the regiment he was accom- panied by Captain C. M. Degenfeld, of Squadron "I," wounded six months before and recently released from imprisonment at Lynchburg and Richmond.
THE LAST STONEMAN RAID.
Preparations went on vigorously, and on the morning of the 20th of March Colonel Palmer's brigade marched to Strawberry Plains. Here it fell in with the brigades of Colonel
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Miller, of Gillem's Division, comprising the Ninth, Tenth and Twelfth regiments of Tennessee Cavalry, and of Colonel S. B. Brown, whose command included his own regiment, (the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry.) and a few hundred other men, mostly from Kentucky. The whole column numbered between six and seven thousand men, and it was evident that there was serious work in hand. The Division moved rapidly in a south- eastwardly direction through Bull's Gap and Jonesborough, and reached the Wataga river on the 26th. Here the force was divided, Miller's Brigade being sent to make a feint toward Bristol on the Tennessee and Virginia line, while Palmer and Brown's Brigades under Stoneman's personal command turned suddenly toward the southeast, and by a rapid march crossed the mountains and descended upon Boone, an important town in western North Carolina. Here Stoneman met a large force of home guards, but his cavalry charged them mercilessly and utterly dispersed the command, capturing four hundred prison- ers, and a considerable quantity of arms and stores. From Boone the column drove rapidly eastward to Wilkesboro, thence almost without halting, turned northward and pushed through to Dobsen, a town near the Virginia line, whence after a halt of an hour, Stoneman again dashed on, crossed into Virginia, captured Hillsville, again turned eastward and gal- loped into Jacksonville, swept through the town like a whirl- wind, and, again turning northward, bore down upon Christians- burg a large town on the Virginia and Tennessee railroad sixty miles east of Wytheville and forty from the New River bridge destroyed by Stoneman three months before, as described in the preceding chapter. The surprise of Christiansburgh was complete. Before they knew it, the citizens found the Union troopers in complete possession of the town. The telegraph office was captured and Gen. Stoneman's operator, taking his . seat at the instrument, chatted with the telegrapher at Lynch- burgh half an hour before that worthy suspected to whom he had been imparting the secrets of the dying Confederacy. The march, though exciting to the last degree, had been a weary and trying one, and the men gladly learned at Christian
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burg that they were to dismount, feed their horses and tear up fifty or a hundred miles of railroad. Fron Mossy. Creek to Christiansburg, they had scarcely stopped to rest or eat. From the 20th of March to the 4th of April they had traveled more than six hundred miles. It would be interesting even at this late day, to know the precise object of that tortuous, zigzag course from Knoxville to Christiansburg. To make three hun- dred and fifty miles of actual progress the column had marched nearly twice that distance. If Stoneman's purpose was to deceive and confuse his enemy, he must have been remarkably successful, for his own men, even his Brigade commanders, were kept wholly in the dark. They went from point to point as they were directed from day to day, but no man in the column except its commander could even guess its destination. At Christiansburg, while ripping up the track of the Virginia railroad, the whole scheme was suddenly revealed to us. We were cutting the last avenues of escape that lay open to Lee, and were a part of the machine by which the last great army of the Confederacy was to be hopelessly ensnared. Grant was at Petersburg playing his pieces in the final combination against Lee, and Stoneman was the hand with which he had reached out to move the pawns. From this moment every soldier in Stoneman's Division felt that the end was near. The collapse was approaching, and we, every man of us, would be in at the death.
. All that was perishable of that railroad was quickly and thoroughly destroyed. The Brigade of Col. Miller ripped up the rails, burnt the ties and destroyed the bridges westward toward Wytheville. Major Wagner with two regiments swept along its line to within four miles of Lynchburg, and Col. Palmer's brigade demolished the 20 or 30 miles nearest to Christiansburg. This done, the division rapidly concentrated again, and dashed off in a southeasterly direction to Martinsville, the seat of ' Henry County. Our faces were now in a new direction, and from the rapidity of our march it was clear that some important work was ahead. Sweeping down into North Carolina, Palmer's brigade-then having the advance-passed through German-
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town. Salem and Winston. and on the 9th struck the Danville and Richmond railroad, between Danville and Greensboro. Within six hours ten miles of this road had been destroyed, and the last path of escape for the army of Virginia hopelessly cut off. Twenty miles south of where we had cut the railroad lay Salisbury, the seat of the one prison pen in the confederacy which could fairly dispute the first honors with Andersonville. This place was also an important depot of confederate supplies, and was garrisoned by about five thousand men under Major General W. M. Gardiner. Gardiner well understood the im- portance of the Danville railroad to Lee just at that moment, and when he heard of a brigade of cavalry out along the line tearing up the track, he at once marched out to drive away the raiders. The force which he led out to defend the railroad, consisted of four thousand infantry and fourteen guns, the latter directed by Col. Pemberton, Grant's opponent at Vicksburgh in 1863, and now reduced from Lieut. General to Colonel. This force Palmer encountered at the Yadkin river, ten miles from Salisbury, and, the brigade of Colonel Brown coming up at the proper moment, the Union cavalrymen drew their sabres and sailed in magnificently, literally cutting the entire force to pieces. Every gun of Pemberton was captured, thirteen hun- dred and four confederates were made prisoners, and the remainder of Gardiner's force dispersed among the hills. Three thousand stand of small arms were captured, those who escaped being so sorely pressed thrt they threw away muskets and all else which impeded their flight. This done, Stoneman moved cautiously on through the night toward Salisbury, met some resistance, and lay resting in line until after midnight, when an immense conflagration in the town showed that the rebels were destroying their depots of supplies. The men then mounted and moving rapidly forward, occupied the town. At Salisbury Stoneman captured a vast collection of ammunition, provisions, clothing and medicines, with ten thousand small arms, millions of dollars in confederate bonds and currency, four cotton factories, and seven thousand bales of cotton ; for it was
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here that the Confederacy was then manufacturing the coarse gray cloth which clothed its armies. These, with the tracks of all railroads converging at that point, were totally destroyed. But the part of the work at Salisbury in which Stoneman's troopers took most delight, was the burning of the infamous prison pens in which so many thousand brave men had been starved and frozen to death. There were the burrows and holes which those wretched men had dug in the ground for the purpose of a miserable shelter; there were the walls from which the brutal sentries had fired down upon the starving, de- fenceless mob, and there were the broad acres of thickly planted head boards, beneath which ten thousand soldiers of the Re- public, dead from famine and exposure, had been laid side by side in the long trenches to their last sleep. A few hundred wretched survivors were found, but the remainder, including all who were able to move, had been sent north and exchanged under the cartel of the previous Februrary.
The sight of all this, produced a profound impression upon the victors of Stoneman. That they did not at once sweep the town from the face of the earth, was because they were soldiers actuated by a higher motive than even a just revenge. The stockade and prison buildings were put to the torch, but no.citizen's property was touched.
The main purposes of the expedition were now accom- plished. The Tennessee and Danville railroads were thoroughly destroyed, and as the Coast railroad, from Rich- mond to Savannah, was already in the hands of Sherman, Lee was hopelessly isolated from the Gulf States. His work done, Stoneman, on the 17th of April, started on his return to East Tennessee, taking with him the brigades of Brown and Miller, ยท all his prisoners and captured artillery, and thousands of fugi- tive negroes. Colonel Palmer, with his brigade, was ordered , to Lincolnton, fifty miles southwest of Salisbury, with instruc- tions to perform various duties and then return to Tennessee - by a route further south than the one followed by Stoneman. He found Lincolnton in the possession of a small force of Con-
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federates, who were quickly routed by Colonel Palmer's escort, commanded by Lieutenant Robert J. Stewart, of Squadron "C," Twelfth Ohio. Just as the rear guard of the brigade was entering the town, a force of four or five hundred rebel cavalry was seen leisurely approaching by a parallel road. Colonel Bentley ordered the third battalion of the Twelfth to charge them with the sabre. An exciting horse race of three or four miles ensued, but the most of the rebels escaped. From some prisoners captured it was learned that the rebel force consisted of portions of Vaughan's and Duke's brigades, which, being flanked by Stoneman in southwestern Virginia, were endeavor- ing to join Wheeler's Cavalry Division at Charlotte.
At ten o'clock on the night of the 19th, Major E. C. Moderwell was ordered by Col. Palmer to take two hundred and fifty picked men of the Twelfth Ohio and go quietly on an expedition to destroy the bridge of the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad over the Catawba River. The services of two native guides were secured, and the battalion was ready by midnight. The distance from Lincolnton was eighty miles, but Moderwell and his battalion traversed it almost without a halt. The cavalry brigade of Duke and Vaughan was now in the valley of the Catawba, and at Charlotte, not many miles distant, was President Davis himself, flying from the ruins of his government, under the convoy of Wheeler's cavalry divi- sion. Both of these forces it was necessary for Moderwell to avoid.
At.Dallas, however, early on the morning of the 20th, he ran in upon Vaughan's and Duke's men. A brisk little skirm- ish ensued, in which Moderwell and his men captured thirty- five prisoners. Avoiding a general engagement, they slipped. past their enemies, and by constant marching all day and night reached the vicinity of the bridge they were sent to destroy early on the morning of the 21st. Half a mile from the bridge they encountered a picket consisting of a Lieutenant and about thirty men. This they completely surprised and captured without a shot being fired by either party. From the prisoners they learned that the bridge was fortified and defend-
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ed by a force about equal to their own. Seeing the desperate character of the situation, Moderwell determined to try the efficacy of stratagem. A few hasty words with Captain DuBois settled that Moderwell should pass for General Stoneman and DuBois as General Gillem. Their gum overcoats worn over their uniform helped in the deception. Assuming an air of authority, Moderwell said, in presence of his prisoner : " Gen- eral Gillem, order Captain Hill to put his battery in position and open fire on the bridge." At this the rebel Lieutenant opened his eyes, and said; "I do not think it is necessary, General. The Major commanding will surrender, if you make the demand." Accordingly a flag of truce, accompanied by Captain DuBois and the rebel Lieutenant, was sent in. They bore a note something like the following :
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