USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 4
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Keeping a strong picket in front. preparations were now made to cap- ture the fort. At two o'clock on the morning of March 13th, the men supplied with rations and blankets, were formed for the purpose of sup- porting a large siege gun which had been planted within five hundred yards of the enemy's position, and also for the purpose of relieving a regiment then lying in rifle pits. The enemy observed this movement, and instantly began firing volleys, while the heavy guns from the fort opened with a tre- mendous fire of shell and solid shot. One cannon ball, bounding along, cut off the legs of three boys, members of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Regi- ment, who were in one file, marching forward with military precision.
Considering the awful fire they were under for four days, in exposed positions, it is a matter of great astonishment that there were no more casualties and that half the men engaged were not either killed or wounded. The air was full of shot and shell, striking the trees, scattering the limbs around, and plowing up the earth in different places. There were many narrow escapes in the four regiments. In one case, a piece of shell struck a soldier's gun, twisting it out of shape, and whirling the soldier around and around, so that he was badly hurt. These great shells flying through the air with a singing sound, the soldiers called by such names as "camp ket- tles" or "humming birds."
Our men lay flat upon the ground during most of the firing, until it ceased at about eight o'clock in the evening. During that time the Union Batteries were in action and succeeded in dismantling some of the enemy's
50
FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
guns, and injuring their gunboats. One of our large siege guns named "Uncle Sam" made the earth tremble at every discharge. A violent thunder storm came up and continued during the night, soaking the men's clothing, and making things generally uncomfortable. At daylight, while the troops were standing, waiting in mud and water, it was discovered that the enemy had evacuated their fort on the river bank, leaving twenty-five heavy guns and a large quantity of army stores.
At New Madrid, the supply of drinking water was obtained by digging in the black sand. In these shallow wells, the water was so bad and so rily that after standing a short time in a camp kettle an inch or two of slime and sand could be found. Charles I. Adkins, of Company K. of the twenty-seventh Ohio said that it was safe to believe that during our six weeks' stay in New Madrid, each man swallowed enough dit to give itis stomach a concrete lining.
An incident occurred at New Madrid which shows the feeling and conduct of some of the regular army officers toward the volunteer sol- dier. One day the Orderly Sergeant of Company K, Twenty-seventh Ohio, ordered Privates C. I. Adkins and Thomas Chambers, to go with Antone, the Mexican teamster, and get a load of rails. As they were returning perched on top of the load, General Pope drove up to them in his ambu- lance and asked them with an oath what command they belonged to. Without giving them time to answer, he ordered them to get into the ambu- lance with him, and told the teamster to take the rails back and put them on the fence again. Then with a blast of words to his driver, ordered him to go to the Forty-third Ohio Regiment, and without any explanation, told Colonel Swayne to put "these " in the guard house until they could be court-martialed and shot as an example to the rest of the"-
Volunteer And to make an impression, he repeated this several times. It is indeed singular, with the soldiers' war experience, that officers of such acknowledged ability as General Pope and others, did not compre- hend the Volunteer's patriotism nor his comfort. Taking rails was not a crime, but protecting the enemy's property of that kind, was a crime. Every old soldier knows that during the last two years of the war, the taking of rails to build fires to cook over, or the using of rails to sleep upon, or to make corduroy roads, was especially commended by those in authority.
The evacutaion of New Madrid was forced by General Pope's troops blockading the western side of the Mississippi River, twelve miles below, at Point Pleasant. The Confederates still held Island Ten, and the eastern shores with no way to retreat except by river or through almost im- passable swamps. Perceiving his defect in the enemy's position, Pope pro- ceeded with promptness and ability to take advantage of the situation, but
51
CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID AND ISLAND TEN.
he could not cross the river below Island Ten without the aid of gunboats to silence the enemy's batteries opposite Point Pleasant.
On the night of April 4th, the gunboat "Carondelet" ran past the rebel batteries at Island Ten, starting at ten o'clock, after the moon had gone down and the sky, the earth and the river were alike hidden in the black shadows of a thunder storm. Arriving at New Madrid at midnight, the crew was inost heartily received by the army.
On Sunday the 6th of April, General Gordon Granger, Colonel J. L. Kirby Smith, with other officers on board, made a reconnaissance to Tip- tonville, and returning, captured and spiked the guns of a rebel battery op- posite Point Pleasant. 1
On April 7th. several transports passed the slough or haven which had been cleared of trees and stumps for a distance of twelve miles. On the same day, the gunboat "Pittsburg" ran the gauntlet safely. The Brigade marched on board the steamers "Trio" and "Gilmore," lying at the upper Madrid Fort and were conveyed down the Mississippi six miles to Watson's Landing, Kentucky. There the troops disembarked after the
TAKING THE TOP RAIL ON GOING INTO CAMP.
52
THE OHIO BRIGADE CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER Resulting In the Capture of the Confederate Army Defending Island
No. 10. March, 1862.
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CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID AND ISLAND TEN.
gunboats had driven the enemy from the rifle pits, and had knocked the siege guns over into the ditch. They then marched on the Tiptonville Road, bivouacking long after dark and lying on their arms till daylight.
The next day, pursuit of the enemy was continued, past deserted camps containing tents still standing and cooked rations left upon the ground. Army blankets and stores were found strewn along the road, left by the enemy. After marching fourteen miles, the Brigade arrived at Tiptonville, Tennessee, and witnessed the surrender of seven thousand well-dressed and uniformed Confederate soldiers, including three Generals and ten Colonels. The captures included seven thousand small arms and accoutrements. The prisoners were sent up the river.
After these encouraging successes, the Brigade marched up the River Road to a point opposite Island Ten. They stacked arms, and rested in an extensive camp, recently abandoned by the enemy, which had been a depot of supplies. The captures were five million rations, great quantities of ammunition, bread, bacon, sugar, one gunboat, three transports, one iron- clad ram, and one hundred and twenty-three pieces of heavy artillery and thirty-five pieces of field artillery of modern pattern. On the same day, the Brigade marched to the landing, embarked on steamers and returned to New Madrid and to their camp where they remained until the 12th.
RICE B. BOSTICK, 4th Tenn., C. S. A., who fired the first musket shot at the 43rd Ohio, New Madrid, Mo., March 6th, 1862. He afterwards served in the Union Army.
54
FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
Report of General John Pope.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
NEW MADRID, MARCH 14, 1862.
I have the honor to submit for the information of the general com- manding the department the following report of the operations which re- sulted in the capture of this place.
I arrived before the town with the forces under my command on Monday the 3rd instant. I found the place occupied by five regiments of infantry and several companies of artillery. One bastioned earthwork, mounting fourteen guns, about a half mile below the town, and another irregular work at the upper end of the town, mounting seven pieces of heavy artillery, together with lines of intrenchments between them, con- stituted the defensive works. Six gunboats carrying from four to eight heavy guns each, were anchored along the shore between the upper and lower redoubts. The country is perfectly level for miles around the place, and the river was so high that the guns of the gunboats looked directly over the banks. The approaches to the town for several miles were com- manded by direct and cross fire by at least sixty guns of heavy caliber. It would not have been difficult to carry the intrenchments, but it would have been attended with heavy loss and we should not have been able to hold the place for half an hour exposed to the destruetive fire of the gunboats. It seemed necessary to bring down a few heavy guns by land to operate against those of the enemy. They were sent for and meanwhile forced reconnaissances were pushed over the whole ground and into several parts of the town. * The enemy invariably retreated precipitately. I de- termined to occupy some point on the river below and establish our small guns, if possible in such a position as to blockade the river and to cut off supplies and re-enforcements for the enemy from below. Point Pleasant, twelve miles below was selected, it being the terminus of a plank road from the interior. I accordingly threw forward Colonel Plummer, Eleventh Mis- souri, to that point with three regiments of infantry. three companies of cavalry, and a field battery of ten-pound Parrot and rifle guns, with orders to make a lodgment on the river bank, to line the rifle pits with one thou- sand men, and to establish his artillery in sunk batteries of single pieces between rifle pits. The arrangement was made to present as small a mark as possible to the shells of the gunboat, and to render futile the use of round shot from their heavy guns. Colonel Plummer marched with all speed. After some cannonading from gunboats, he succeeded in making a
lodgment, constructed and occupied the works. * * The river was blockaded during the rest of our operations. The enemy continued to re-inforce New Madrid from Island Ten until March 12th. They had
55
. CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID AND ISLAND TEN.
nine thousand infantry, considerable artillery and nine gunboats. On the 12th, our siege guns reached here and were placed in battery within eight hundred yards of the enemy's works and opened fire at daylight on the 13th. A detail was made to work in the trenches, supported by Stanley's Division, consisting of the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-ninth Ohio under Colonel Groesbeck, and the Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio under Colonel Smith. Captain Mower, First United States Infantry with Companies A and H was placed in command of the siege guns. The enemy fired several volleys of musketry, but was driven in. * * Our guns were served with vigor and skill and in a few hours disabled several of the gunboats and dis- mounted several of the heavy guns in the enemy's main works. One of our twenty-four pound guns was struck in the muzzle by a round shot from the enemy's batteries and was disabled. The cannonading was continued furiously all day by the gunboats and land batteries of the enemy without producing any impression upon us. Meantime our trenches were being ex- tended and advanced. *
A furious thunder storm began to rage about eleven o'clock that night and continued without intermission until morning. Just before daylight. General Stanley was relieved in the trenches with his Division by Gen- eral Hamilton. A few minutes after daylight a flag of truce approached our batteries with information that the enemy had evacuated his works. Companies A and H, First United States Infantry were sent forward to plant the United States flag over their abandoned works. The flight of the enemy had been hasty and precipitate. Their dead were found unburied, their suppers untouched, candles were burning in the tents, and there was every other evidence of a disgraceful panic. All their artillery, siege guns, field batteries, magazines filled with fixed ammunition, tents for an army of ten thousand men, horses, mules, intrenching tools are among the spoils left in our hands. The enemy's guns were immediately turned upon the river which they completely command. The flight of the enemy was so hasty that they abandoned their pickets and gave no intimation to their forces at Island Ten, consequently one gunboat and ten large steamers which were there, are cut off from below, and must either be destroyed or fall into our hands.
Island Ten must also be evacuated as it can neither be re-inforced nor supplied from below. . During the operations here, the whole of the forces were at different times brought under the fire of the enemy and behaved themselves with great coolness and gallantry. It seems proper however, that I should make special mention of those more directly concerned in the final operations against the place. The division of General Stanley, consisting of the Twenty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Forty-third and Sixty- third Ohio Regiments, supported the battery from two o'clock in the morn-
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FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
ing of the 13th to daylight of the 14th, exposed to the full fury of the cannonade, without being able to return a shot, during the severe storm of that night, and displayed coolness, courage and fortitude worthy of all praise. In fact the conduct of all the troops in this command so far ex- ceeded my expectations that I was astonished and delighted and feel very safe in predicting for them a brilliant career in arms.
Our whole loss during the operations was fifty-one killed and wounded. JOHN POPE, Brigadier-General, Commanding.
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THE BRIGADE AT NEW MADRID AND ISLAND No. 10. .
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CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID AND ISLAND TEN.
Report of General John Pope.
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. CAMP FIVE MILES FROM CORINTH, MISS., MAY 2ND, 1862.
General:
I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations which resulted in the capture of Island Ten and the batteries on the main shore, together with the whole of the land forces of the enemy in that vicinity. A brief sketch of the topography of the immediate neighborhood, seems es- sential to the full understanding of the army.
Istand Ten lies at the bottom of a great bend of the Mississippi River, immediately North of it being a long, narrow promontory on the Mississippi shore. The River from istand 'ten flows northwest to New Madrid, where it again makes a great bend to the south, as far as Tiptonville, otherwise called Merriwether's Landing, so that opposite New Madrid also, is a long narrow promontory. From Island Eight across the land to New Madrid is six miles, while by river it is fifteen ; so likewise the distance from Island Ten to Tiptonville is five miles, while by water it is twenty-seven.
Commencing at Hickman, a great swamp, which afterward becomes Reelfoot Lake, extends along the left bank of the Mississippi and discharges is waters into the River, forty miles below Tiptonville, leaving the whole penninsula opposite New Madrid between it and the river. This peninsula therefore, is itself an island, having the Mississippi River on three sides, and Reelfoot Lake and the great swamps which border it on the other. A good road leads from Island Ten along the west bank of Reelfoot Lake to Tiptonville. The only means of supply therefore, for the forces at and around Island Ten in this peninsula, was by the river. When the river was blockaded at New Madrid, supplies and re-inforcements were landed at Tiptonville and conveyed across the neck of the peninsula by land. There was no communication with the interior except by sinall flat boats plied across Reelfoot Lake, a distance of two miles, and that through an open- ing cut through cypress swamps for the purpose. Supplies and re-inforce- ments or escape to any considerable extent were therefore impracticable on the land side. One mile below Tiptonville began the great swamps along the Mississippi on both sides, and no dry ground is to be found except in occasional spots. for at least sixty miles below. By intercepting the navi- gation of the river below Tiptonville and commanding by heavy artillery the lowest point of dry ground near the place, the enemy would be at once cut off from his resources and prevented from escaping. The roads along the river in the direction of Point Pleasant followed a narrow strip of dry land between the swamps and the river, and were very miry and difficult.
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FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
With much labor the heavy guns captured at New Madrid from the enemy were dragged by hand and established in battery at several points, and ex- tending my lines seventeen miles along the river, the lower battery being placed immediately opposite the lowest point of dry ground below Tipton- ville. The enemy attempted in every way to prevent their construction and were therefore in every case established at night. *
* Five gun- boats, therefore, at once advanced against the battery, which consisted of twenty four-pound siege guns and two ten-pound Parrots. * *
* Their gunboats were repulsed with a loss of one gunboat sunk and many men shot down by our sharp shooters from the rifle pits. From this time all communication from below with the forces near Island Ten was cut off. * On March 16, I received your dispatch directing me if * possible, to cut a road through the swamps to a point on the Missouri shore opposite Island Ten and uansier a portion of my torce sufficient to erect batteries at that point, and to assist in the artillery practice on the enemy's batteries.
I directed Colonel Bissell's engineer regiment to build a road through the swamps and overflow of the river, to dig a canal across the peninsula from some point above Island Ten to New Madrid in order that steam transports might be brought to me which would enable me to cross the river and assail the enemy's batteries near Island Ten in the rear. The work was beyond measure difficult. The canal is twelve miles long, six miles of which is through heavy timber. An avenue fifty feet wide was made through it by sawing off trees of large size, four and one- half feet under water. * * It was completed on the 4th of April, after privations and exposures very unusual even in the history of warfare. * The enemy anticipating our movements, had erected batteries along the east shore from Island Ten entirely around to Tiptonville, at every point where troops could be landed. The difficulty of crossing the river in force had therefore greatly increased. * * * The passage of a great river lined with batteries and in the face of the enemy, is one of the most hazardous and difficult operations of war and cannot be justified except in case of urgent necessity. Though full of peril, the movement . was throroughly understood by my whole command; there was not an officer nor man who was not anxious to be placed in the advance. * *
Floating batteries were made by lashing three coal barges together and bolted with iron carrying three heavy guns and eighty sharp shooters. * On the 5th of April, the steamers and barges were brought near to the month of the bayou which discharges into the Mississippi at New Madrid. X
* On the night of the 4th of April, the gunboat "Carondelet" ran the batteries at Island Ten. On the morning of the 6th, I sent Captain Marshall of my staff, and other officers, to make a reconnaissance of the river below, and requested Captain Wilke to
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CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID AND ISLAND TEN.
take them on board the "Carondelet," and run down the river to ascertain precisely the character of the bank and the position and number of the en- emy's batteries. *
* * * The "Carondelet" steamed down the river in the midst of a heavy fire from the enemy's batteries along the shore. On her return up the river. Captain Wilke silenced the enemy's guns opposite Point Pleasant, and a small force of infantry landed and spiked their guns. On the night of the 6th, at my urgent request, Commodore Foot ordered the "Pittsburg" also to run down to New Madrid. She arrived at daylight and like the "Carondelet" came through untouched. * * I directed that two gunboats proceed down the river on the 7th and if possible silence the batteries near Watson's Landing, the point which had been selected to land the troops, and at the same time. I brought three steamers into the river and embarked Paine's Division. The land batteries were ordered to open their fire upon the enemy's batteries opposite. The two gunboats ran down the river and joined in the action. *
* * Our troops moved out from the landing and began crossing the river, preceded by the gunboats. * The whole force designed to cross had been drawn up along the river bank and saluted the passing steamers with cheers of exultation.
* The enemy commenced to evacuate his position along the banks and the batteries along the Tennessee shore opposite Island Ten, toward Tiptonville. It
was my purpose to capture the whole army of the enemy.
* *
The Division pushed forward to Tiptonville as fast as they were landed. * *
* The enemy retreating from Island Ten, met at Tiptonville during the night, in great confusion, and were driven back into the swamps by the advance of our forces, until four o'clock in the morning of the 8th. when finding themselves completely cut off, and being apparently unable to resist, they laid down their arms and surrendered at discretion.
* As soon as day dawned, our forces proceded by marches to the enemy's abandoned works opposite Island Ten on the Tennessee Shore. * *
There fell into our hands, three Generals, two hundred and' seventy-three field and company officers, sixty-seven hundred privates, one hundred and twenty-three pieces of heavy artillery, thirty-five pieces of field artillery (all of the best character and latest patterns) seven thousand stand of small arms, tents for twelve thousand men and several wharf boats, loads of ammunition, an immense quantity of provisions of all kinds, many hundred horses and mules, with wagons and harness. * We have crossed this great river, we have pursued and captured the whole force of the enemy and all his supplies, and have again recrossed and re-occupied the camps at New Madrid without losing a man or meeting with an acci- dent. Such results bespeak efficiency, good conduct, high discipline, and soldierly deportment of the best character, far more conclusive than can be
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FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
exhibited in pitched battle or the storming of fortified places. Patience, willing labor, endurance of hardship, and privation, * * * * are the qualities which these operations have developed in the forces under my command.
JOHN POPE, Major-General Commanding.
To Major-General H. M. Halleck, Commanding the Department of the Mississippi, St. Louis, Missouri.
Official Report of
Brigadier-General Schuyler Hamilton on the Battles at New Madrid, Missouri.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE SECOND DIVISION, ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
PITTSBURG LANDING, APRIL 22ND, 1862.
On February 22nd, 1862, at Commerce, Missouri, in compliance with your orders, I organized the First Division of this army. First Brigade under Colonel Groesbeck, Thirty-ninth Ohio, Major Noyes commanding : Forty-third. Colonel Smith commanding : Twenty-seventh, Colonel Fuller, commanding : Second Brigade, Colonel J. B. Plumber, commanding, com- posed of the Sixty-third Ohio, Colonel Sprague, Twenty-sixth Illinois, Colonel Loomis, Eleventh Missouri, Colonel Panabaker, Seventh Illinois Cavalry, detachment First Missouri Infantry, two companies of Engineer Troops and Eleventh Ohio Battery.
The Division marched from Commerce, Missouri, on February 28th, and reached Hunter's Farm at midnight. On March 2nd, the Forty-third Ohio and Seventh Illinois Cavalry made a daring reconnaissance penetrat- ing into the town of New Madrid. On the 3rd the First Division reached the town, advancing within three quarters of a mile of the enemy's entrench- ments, Kellog's Cavalry covering the flanks. Colonel Fuller's Twenty- seventh Ohio deployed as skirmishers supported by a section of Sand's Eleventh Ohio Battery, followed by the whole Division. The enemy's pickets were gallantly driven in by the Twenty-seventh Ohio Infantry. The Thirty-ninth was advanced as skirmishers on the right flank and were pushed forward on a line with the Twenty-seventh to within one and a quarter miles of the enemy's principal works. The Forty-third Ohio in line of battle supported the Twenty-seventh Ohio and protected the left flank of the Division. The enemy withdrew to his entrenchments but kept up unremitting fire of shot and shell from five gunboats and from his works,
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