USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 37
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Illinois, and three pieces of Captain Cheney's Illinois Battery. Orders were given by General Corse to proceed cautiously, as the enemy was known to be between us and Collierville, then only nine miles distant. After going a few miles, skirmishers were thrown out ahead of the train, whom we followed slowly. We picked up two negroes who reported that General Sherman was taken prisoner ; next three citizens, who said the enemy had possession of the place, and were hunting for Sherman and had probably found him.
Two miles west of Colliersville, we came upon the first obstruction. A large culvert had been burned. The forces disembarked and after dis- tributing extra ammunition to each man, we advanced. We arrived at the place, and found that the rebels had left. At Colliersville I was ordered to report in person to General Sherman and receive his commands relative to my two companies. He said that we knew more about railroads than his own men and must first repair the damage to the roads behind us. He requested me with Captain Yorke of his staff, to go first to see what damage was done and report. The way was long and it was growing dark. but we thought we could venture it alone. We found three of the culverts burned and returning reported the facts. Colonel Anthony commanding the post, furnished the detail and with my two companies, we repaired the culverts and by seven o'clock in the morning, had the road again in running order to Colliersville. General Sherman told us that we had done so well, that he now wished us to go to LaFayette with the construction train and repair the road to that point, after which we might return to Memphis. We mended the telegraph wires where they had been cut, and replaced the rails which the enemy had taken, and at LaFayette, found the road and telegraph in good working order, so that General Sherman could proceed on his way to Corinth.
The attack at Collierville commenced on the train, just as it had passed the station. The telegraph operator had run out with his gun in one hand and mentioned with the other to the engineer to stop the train. General Sherman was in his car. dozing. He got out of the end of the car, when Colonel Anthony rode up and informed him that his pickets had just been driven in by a large force from the southeast, estimated to number twenty- five hundred, while ours was about six hundred. General Sherman ordered the conductor to have the train backed up to the station. This was no easy task, the train being unusually long and heavy, and the grade backward. up hill, but after a little time, it was accomplished. The enemy continued firing. General Sherman ordered the men to get off the cars and to form on the knoll near the railroad cut. It was a mystery how the men got off the cars and formed a line of battle so quickly. They fought for some time without the fort or earthwork and then retreated inside, where the Sixty- sixth Indiana which garrisoned the post already were. Soon a Confederate officer was observed riding toward us with a white flag. Colonel Anthony and Colonel Dayton were sent to meet him and keep him in conversation. They soon returned and said that it was the Adjutant of General Chalmer's who demanded the surrender of the place. Sherman instructed his officers to return and give a negative answer, but to delay him, as much as possible, so as to give time for preparation. As soon as the rebel bearer of the flag turned his horse to ride back, the attack was renewed and continued for
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some three hours. After three o'clock Lieutenant James, a gallant fellow. who was an ordinance officer on Sherman's staff, armed the orderlies and clerks with muskets which he had found at the depot. He marched them into the magazines, issued cartridges, and marched back to the depot, to assist in the defence, and then made a charge upon the enemy and drove them like sheep. They finally disappeared, but Lieutenant James was brought back upon a stretcher badly wounded in the breast. Our men were cool and practiced shots.
Edward F. Butler a telegraph operator, entirely unsolicited, had fought bravely at the breastworks until disabled by a shot in his arm. The colored servants belonging to the the two regiments, picked up guns and fought like devils. A brakeman cowering in the fort refused to go and fight. Another brakeman, took refuge under a bridge and remained there until the rebels left. The enemy closed down on us several times and got possession of our trains. With their artillery they knocked to pieces our locomotive and several cars and set hre to them, but we got possession again and ex- tinguished the flames. Colonel Audenreid, Aid-de-camp, lost his valise of nice shirts, which was used to kindle the fire. The enemy succeeded in getting five of our horses, among them General Sherman's favorite mare Dolly. They were obliged to jump them from out of the cars in front of the fort, all the while under a hot musketry fire. Not long afterward, Sherman's men brought in a fine southern horse which he took for his ow use, which the owner came to claim. Sherman gave him an order General Chalmers, who commanded the attacking forces. Chalmers met Sherman after the war and told him that the man had hunted him up in southern Alabama and presented the order.
The final drawing off of the enemy was attributed largely to the rapid approach of Corse's Division, having marched the whole distance from Memphis, twenty-six miles on the double quick. Among the enemy's killed, was one genuine type of the butternut, dressed in a suit of that color, with sallow complexion and long beard. One was an old man with his cartridge box on, who was a resident of the neighborhood, and who had received protection from our government only a few days before and had been in the place selling articles to the soldiers. Our loss was fifteen killed and thirty wounded, that of the enemy, about the same. If the enemy had caught General Sherman at Colliersville, many a page of brilliant history would never have been written. His fate for several hours depended upon the outcome of the fight.
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COLONEL HORACE PARK'S ADDRESS.
HEADQUARTERS, 43RD O. V. V. I.
LOUISVILLE, KY., JULY 13TH, 1865.
To the Officers and Soldiers of the 43rd Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry:
COMRADES : The cause which we have been maintaining in the field for nearly four years has been successfully vindicated, consequently our duties as soldiers have ceased, and we must now separate.
In view of the pleasant and happy relations that have existed between us for so long a time, your commander desires to extend to you a parting word.
To recount all your deeds of gallantry and heroism from your first campaign in Missouri, to the surrender of the then only formidable army o the rebellion at Raleigh, N. C., is not my intention.
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It is enough to say and know that when the tocsin of war was sounded, when the giant arm of treason was raised to strike the fatal blow at the foundation of civil liberty and human enfranchisement, you flew to arms with alacrity and will, and sacrificed all the ease. comfort and happiness of home to assist in saving your country from ruin and disgrace.
You have faithfully followed her banner and her fortunes through all the changing scenes of a long, bloody and obstinate conflict, and when the dark clouds of adversity hung thick and deep, and threatened you and the cause for which you were fighting, you never faltered, but, by a second enlistment, showed your invincible determination not to quit the service until victory crowned your efforts, and peace with Union, reigned throughout the land.
By your indomitable courage and endurance, both on the march and on the hard fought field, when many of your brave comrades poured out their blood and delivered up their souls, you have frequently won the praise of those high in command, and cast the brightest lustre upon your record and upon the State you represented.
Those, and other considerations and occurrences, have endeared you to all your commanders, and will ever be reverted to with the profoundest feelings of pleasure.
Nor can our deceased comrades be forgotten. We will ever cherish the memory of our companions in arms who went forth with us, but who succumbed to the power of disease, or who fell bravely fighting for their country. Would that they might have returned with us to their homes, and shared in the final triumph of the Union cause.
And now that we have assisted in the consummation of the grandest and most glorious victory the annals of history will ever record, now that we have assisted in supplanting the ensign of treason and unfurling the "Star and Stripes" all over the land, now that the government no longer requires our services, and we are so soon to return to our homes and
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friends to resume the peaceful avocations of life, allow me, with all the warmth and sincerity of a true friend and fellow soldier, to urge you, one and all, to keep untarnished, the bright record you have made in the army. Do not, by word or deed in civil life, dim the bright lustre that attaches to your military career. Your duties as citizens are manifold, and it now becomes your paramount duty to act well your part.
Our country affords such a variety of soil and climate, such a diversity of trades and professions, that all can find honorable employment. Show by your honesty, your industry, and your integrity that you can be good citizens as you have been good soldiers, and all will be well.
Hoping that "He who rules alike the destinies of men and nations," may grant each and every one of you a long, pleasant and happy life, I bid you adieu. HORACE PARK, Col. Commanding.
A SCOUT.
BY J. H. RHODES,
Lieutenant-Colonel Forty-third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry.
Early in March, 1863, the Forty-third and Sixty-third Regiments were ordered from Bolivar, Tennessee, to Corinth, Mississippi, but were stopped at Bethel. From there I was sent with my company (K) of the Forty- third, up the railroad, some six miles to do guard duty and to serve as an outpost. There were quite a number of Union people about us and it was not long before the guerillas got to troubling the neighborhood and us too. I sent men out and collected fifteen or twenty horses and mules on which were mounted as many men, and we started one night with a Mr. Aldrich, a citizen, as guide. About midnight, we halted in a section, where lived a couple of prominent rebels, as our guide told us. Here we obtained supper for ourselves and feed for our horses and mules. I divided our forces into two squads, Lieutenant Lybarger went with one, and I with the other. An old man, his wife and two grown up daughters, constituted the family, where my squad stopped. We never found any able-bodied men at home among the rebels. I made known our desires to the old man about supper. I insisted that we were there to protect them and all loyal people from the rebels, and that they could not do less than feed us.
With men and horses all fed, we joined our forces and continued our pursuit until just at daylight we came up to and surrounded a house where were supposed to be some of the fellows we were after. But they had made their escape. We had proceeded but a short distance further when the advance guard under Lybarger suddenly came upon two mounted men dressed in citizens clothes. They were attempting to cross the road into the woods, and on my coming up, with the main force, they informed me
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COMPANY K SCOUT.
that they live in old "Kaintuck" and were just on their way to visit an old uncle down in "Alabam," and begged to be permitted to continue their journey. I informed them they must go with us and placing them on two of our horses, less fleet than theirs and under guard, Lybarger and I mounted theirs. We returned and delivered our captures to the proper authorities at Brigade headquarters. Three days later, I was requested to meet the train going north. Two men appeared in the door at the rear end of an old passenger coach whom I recognized as the men we had captured. They were handcuffed to each other and under guard. After greeting me they said they wanted to thank me for my courteous treatment of them. while in my custody and to inform me that they were on their way north to Johnson's Island, from which I concluded that they had been found to be rebel officers.
Later, Lybarger and myself were promoted, he to Quartermaster and I to Lieutenant-Colonel and both were entitled to be mounted. Applying to the Quartermaster Department, we drew these same captured horses and we rode them through to the end.
BRAVE ACTS UNREWARDED. TWO MEMBERS OF THE OHIO BRIGADE WHO DESERVED MEDALS OF HONOR.
BY CAPTAIN W. H. H. MINTURN of the Thirty-ninth Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
What I here state, I refer for corroboration to the certificates of Major- General G. M. Dodge, Major-General David S. Stanley and Brigadier- General Mendall Churchill, three gallant leaders in the war of the rebellion, and also to the certificates of Captain M. F. Madigan, and Sergeant George Small of Company G of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Infantry, on file in the war department. I wish to mention the heroism displayed by two brilliant young officers.
During the battle of Corinth, October 4th, 1862, when the Confederates in four columns were pressing hard upon the Ohio Brigade, a Confederate Regiment bore down upon the Twenty-seventh Ohio. A Confederate color bearer went down with his colors. The Union soldier who siezed the flag was shot by a Confederate officer who then shouted to his men to save the colors. It was then that the brave and daring Sergeant (now Major) Charles H. Smith, of Company G of the Twenty-seventh Ohio, rushed for- ward in advance of his company, and with his musket, compelled the sur- render of the Confederate officer as he was in the act of shooting the wounded Union soldier the second time. I know the gallantry of Major Smith saved the life of the Union soldier. He brought the officer to the
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rear, a prisoner, and saved from recapture the flag which today hangs in the relic room of Ohio's Capitol. No medal was granted for this gallant act.
Captain Frank Gilmore of Company A of the Sixty-third Ohio, when the dreadful fire of the oncoming Confederates had torn and separated the Sixty-third Ohio into fragments, gathered all the remaining soldiers near him, joined them into the Twenty-seventh Ohio, between the regiment and the Eleventh Missouri. When General Stanley ordered an advance, he led them into the bloody fray, thus displaying bravery unsurpassed on any field. No medal of honor was granted for this gallant act, but the thrill of ecstasy which victory brings, filled the heart of every surviving soldier and was intensified by the act of General Rosecrans who immediately rode up and said, "I thank the Ohio Brigade in our country's name for its great valor."
THE PASSAGE OF THE SALKAHATCHIE RIVER AND THE EDISTO RIVERS.
BY CAPTAIN GEORGE M. WISE, Forty-third Ohio Veteran Vol. Infantry.
On February 1st, the First Division marched through Whippy Swamp and on the 2nd were in position before Rivers Bridge, at a point where the road turns at right angles to the west, across the lowlands on the south- west side of the river. There were eleven bridges or more, besides one over the main channel of the river. The rebels had removed the planks from the bridges, making them impassible. On the opposite side, a rebel brigade of Hampton's Cavalry in General Hardee's Command held the high ground with one of their batteries in position, and infilading the road. The Forty-third Ohio crossed to the right of the causeway and its defences. Here, just as the regiment was starting under the personal direction of General Mower, Colonel Swayne had his leg blown off by a piece of shell. The regiment crossed the road on the run, and waded out toward the main stream of the river, everywhere from two to four feet deep, where we remained several hours and into the night, waiting for orders, under fire of the enemy. When we crossed over, we were thoroughly chilled and angry.
The next day six companies of the Forty-third Ohio charged down the causeway to drive the enemy from the other side of the river, the other four companies carrying boards and planks succeeded in planking half the bridges. The enemy reserved their fire during this foolhardy performance and as soon as the Forty-third Ohio appeared on the causeway, they opened with artillery and musketry fire upon us. The regiment at once deployed to the right and left of the causeway and moved up as close as possible to the enemy and engaged him.
The Sixty-third Ohio followed the Forty-third Ohio and had the same kind of reception, while protecting themselves behind trees and firing rapidly at the enemy in the works. In the meantime, the First Brigade of the First
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PASSAGE OF THE SALKAHATCHIE AND EDISTO.
Division of which the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-ninth Ohio were a part, found means to cross the river above us and charged the enemy's flank, who then hurriedly retreated. We had nineteen killed and wounded.
On the 12th, the First Division advanced to the South Edisto River, a stream that runs for miles through lowlands. At this time, it was over- flowing its banks. Across the stream was a country more open. Up to this point, a small force could easily oppose us. Now we could brush aside without halting our columns any force the enemy had in our front.
The weather turned cold and the ground froze hard. Pontoons were laid, and at dark, the Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio in advance, the men with their cartridge boxes hung around their necks, marched off the pon- toon into the icy water waist deep, and for hours struggled onward among the briars, vines and cypress knees, finally coming out into an open field in the rear and to the left of the rebel position, with their clothes frozen. In a moment the lines were formed and with wild screams, like those of desperate men freezing to death, they went atmight for the rohel camp fires and the supper which the enemy had left in their retreat. This was by far the severest experience in rain and swamp during over four years' service. Terrible as these hardships were, I did not know its historic importance until after the war, nor how throughly alarmed the rebel government was when it was revealed to them that Sherman's Army had crossed the Salke- hatchie and Edisto Rivers.
At this juncture, General Joseph E. Johnston was called to command the rebel force. My information came from General J. D. Cox, afterward Governor of Ohio, who told me that Johnston had stated to him that from this time, he had no hope of stopping Sherman's onward march or for the further existence of the Confederacy itself. Still the Confederate Govern- ment felt sure that a hostile army could not move through the Carolinas, in the winter season, and believed that Sherman was aiming at Charleston or Augusta. Johnston, however, felt sure that Sherman was playing a far larger game, that he meant to move through the heart of the country, destroying its war resources utterly, and join General Grant, for a final campaign against Lee.
Johnston was so impressed with the importance of this movement that he twice telegraphed Hardee to hold the line of the South Edisto at all hazards and to make great sacrifice if necessary, in order to hold Sherman back. Hardee answered that only the heads of Sherman's columns were up and that he had not enough pontoons to span the river which was out of its banks and had covered the land.
Before the campaign commenced, the Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio had been constituted the Provost Brigade, Army of the Tennessee, under command of Colonel Horace Park, to take charge of and constitute the military government of captured cities. The onerous duty was performed at Columbia and Cheraw, South Carolina, and at Louisville, Kentucky. At Columbia, we succeeded Stone's Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, in charge of the city, increased by the addition of the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin and Thirty-fifth New Jersey Regiments. We cleared the streets of stragglers and pillagers and remained till the army had gone. The provost brigade worked faithfully to stop the fire and helped frightened women and children to places of safety, with their effects which they were trying to save.
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INCIDENTS OF THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR.
BY ERASTUS S. MOOREHEAD, Sergeant of Company K, Twenty-seventh Ohio Regiment, Veteran Volunteers, Infantry.
I served four years as a soldier in the Twenty-seventh Ohio Regiment during the war for the preservation of the Union. The last campaign made by our First Division, Seventeenth Army Corps, was through southern Georgia and the eastern portions of the Carolinas, during the months of January, February and March, 1865.
The army had left its base of supplies. We were constantly under arms, fighting against an enterprising and determined enemy, who con- stantly hovered at our front During this period the conditions wonen auch. that there was no opportunity or possibility of securing a change of cloth- ing. It was the season of much rain; the water from the rivers had over- flowed that low, swampy country, and often after having our clothing soaked by the rain, or from wading in the water, we laid down to sleep at night. upon the damp ground. The weather continued rainy and foggy and the days dark and dismal. during our movements as far north as Cheraw, South Carolina, and beyond. Army rations of hard bread and bacon were gone, and corn meal and beef was issued to us.
Our Regiment built a strong line of works nearly every day, for experience had taught us to be always ready for emergencies. In our for- ward movement, we drove the enemy across the Pee Dee River and saw their wagon trains in full view, winding around the hills in retreat. We were about to rest from these days of fatigue. when I was ordered with a detail of thirty-five men, to report to the Captain of the Third Michigan Artillery and take charge of two twenty-pound cannon. Not one of this detail had ever fired a cannon. We soon got the guns in position, but alas ! on that same day at eight o'clock in the afternoon, our hopes for better days and for easter service were blasted. We even lost the opportunity for blowing up the Confederacy with these twenty pounders, for we were ordered to join our regiment. Only a veteran can appreciate the difficulties encountered, while tramping through camps and columns of soldiers on the march, during a dark night, to find one's command.
At the battle of Bentonville, March 21st, 1865, several incidents of interest occurred. While marching forward in line of battle, during an ominous silence, birds darted. swift-winged, through the air, rabbits and other wild animals ran toward us, a frightened deer bounded at full speed over the heads of the line of men. This was an evidence and a warning of the approach of the enemy, and our men lay down. Our skirmishers were soon driven in. One of them was overtaken, in front of my company and as he was surrendering. I raised up on my knee. took deliberate aim. and fired. Our man escaped and came in. The rebel cavalry man fell. We had just received cautionary orders from Captain Charles H. Smith, not to fire until the enemy came nearer, then to surprise them with a volley, and charge, but he gave me much credit for saving our man.
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THE LAST' DAYS OF THE WAR.
The enemy's cavalry finally got in our rear and during the firing, my knapsack was struck by a minnie ball, with such force that it penetrated eighteen folds of my army blanket, went through my letter paper, lodged close to my spinal column, and nearly knocked me down, causing me to think for the moment that I was hurt. When General Sherman's order came, for the Division to fall back, to connect with a new line of battle, General Fuller was loath to give it and sent Captain Smith along the line with other officers to see that every man kept his place and fell back in good order. To delay the movement as much as possible, Captain Smith moved Companies B. G. and K. to the left and was joined by Sergeant Stucky, with the Twenty-seventh Regimental flag, then with the Thirty- ninth Ohio, under Colonel Weber, stood firing, presenting a bold front until the enemy had ceased firing and had disappeared.
In many respects, these were the most thrillingly eventful days of our entire service, full of hardships, and vicissitudes which tried the endurance of men to the utmost. I often wonder how these men who suffered almost the pains of death, can be living forty-four years after these experiences. We, who survived these perils, should thank God for our preservation.
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY AND ITS MEN.
BY PHILIP R. HARPEL, Company G.
The Twenty-seventh Ohio Infantry and the Thirty-ninth Ohio Infantry, universally known as the twin regiments, occupied important positions and were successful in over one hundred battles and skirmishes during four years of service in the Civil War.
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