USA > Ohio > The story of the Sherman brigade. The camp, the march, the bivouac, the battle; and how "the boys" lived and died during four years of active field service > Part 10
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1862.]
PREPARING FOR THE CAMPAIGN.
117
So it was that nobody grumbled when, on March 28th, we . received orders to "pull out" on the following day for the Ten- nessee river. We were to strike for Savannah, one hundred and twenty miles from Nashville-by far the longest continuous march we had yet undertaken.
Buell's army at this time had an aggregate strength of ninety-five thousand men, the rolls showing seventy-four thou- sand present for duty Nearly half of this force was stationed at numerous points in Kentucky and Tennessee, to protect the lines of communication. The Third Division, under Gen- eral Mitchel, was engaged in making things lively along the line of thie Mem- phis and Charleston rail- road, between Decatur and Chattanooga. Five divi- sions were mobilized for the advance to the Tennessee river, viz: First, Thomas; Second, McCook; Fourth, Nelson; Fifth, Crittenden; Sixth, Wood. McCook took the advance, breaking camp on March 15th. The divisions of Nelson, Crit- tenden, Wood and Thomas followed in the order named, at intervals of one or two JOHN C. MATTHIAS, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH. days. It was considered that there was no occasion for ha ste, and the movement was thus made that the road might not be encumbered by the troops, artillery and trains of the entire army marching in a solid column. Had there been a little more speed the result of the first day's fight at Shiloh would in all prob- ability have been less disastrous to the Union army.
The advance divisions were delayed several days near Colum- bia, the bridges across Rutherford's creek and Duck river having
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118
THE THIRTEENTH MICHIGAN JOINS US.
[March,
been destroyed by the enemy. Pontons, which afterward proved so valuable, had not then come into general use; nor had the sol- diers themselves yet learned the art of building bridges in a hurry, at which they became so expert during the later years of the war. In 1864 Duck river, though a deep and rapid stream, would have been considered so trifling an obstacle as scarcely to have caused a halt. The first regiment of a division to reach the stream would have thrown a bridge across and marched over it singing "John Brown's Body," almost by the time the rear regiment had "closed up."
A few days before we left Nashville the Thirteenth Michigan, Colonel Shoemaker, was assigned to the Twentieth brigade, in place of the Nineteenth Kentucky, which we had left stuck fast in the mud beyond Hall's Gap. As our thoughts now recall, after more than thirty years, the fathomless mire of that awful place, we cannot help wondering whether the soldiers of the Nine- teenth Kentucky have all got out yet. Our own experience there affords good ground for at least a reasonable doubt.
We had at this time no battery regularly assigned to the bri- gade. Our Camp Buckingham companion, the Sixth Ohio Bat- tery, had been temporarily separated from us, doing duty with Boyle's brigade, and did not rejoin us until some days after we reached Shiloh. From that time we shared each other's fortunes to the end.
For several days before we received definite marching orders great activity prevailed in the quartermaster, commissary, ord. nance, and medical departments, in preparing for the campaign. Wood's division was provided with a supply train of one hundred and fifty wagons, all of which were loaded with food, clothing, and other munitions of war. The supplies were sufficient for fif- teen days. All men unable to march were sent to hospital. All surplus baggage was ordered to be stored, that the division might be in the best possible condition for rapid movement. As a matter of fact we never saw again the great mass of stuff that we left behind in obedience to this order. It was probably not in- tended that we should. It was only a way the generals had of gradually getting us down to the bed-rock of army life. Two years later we counted ourselves rich in wordly goods if each had
119
"THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME."
1862.]
a suit of clothes on his back, a blanket, a poncho, a "pup" tent, and a haversack full of "hardtack and sow-belly."
But, according to instructions, every man took a careful in- ventory of his personal possessions, sorted out such things as he did not absolutely need, and packed them up for storage-to be forwarded to us at some uncertain day in the future which never came. Notwithstanding the vivid experience we had already had, up to this time we had clung to many of the articles provided by the loving hands of wives, mothers, sisters, and sweet- hearts. These things were very nice and handy to have around in camp, so long as a fellow didn't have to "pack" them all over the country on his back. In these matters affection had to give way to discretion. It was not to be wondered at that when the soldier anticipated the aches and blisters of the next few days, he should even cast away the parting gift of "the girl he left behind him," unless it was her picture. He always stuck to that through thick and thin. .
Every company could stock a picture gallery. The many types of beauty represented were often the theme of animated con- troversy. In many cases albums were given with the pictures, but sooner or later these were very likely to be sacrificed to the exigencies of the service. The pictures went through the war, barring accidents. They became faded and soiled by much hand- ling, and water, and wear, particularly after the knapsack, itself, had to go, and they were carried upon the person. But the worse they looked the more the boys seemed to prize them, although one glance at some of them would have well nigh driven their originals to suicide.
So it was that the knapsacks were pretty thoroughly cleaned out. Even Pete Weigel, the stubborn Dutchinan of Company K, of the Sixty-fifth, abandoned the sheet-iron stove which he had carried strapped to his knapsack through all our previous marches. He said it was getting to be warm weather, anyway, and when it came winter again he would get another.
The very considerable number who at one time or another wore the chevrons of a first sergeant-"orderly," as he was usually called-or who served even temporarily in that capacity,
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120
A ROUGH NIGHT ON THE ORDERLY.
[March,
will appreciate a few lines which I find in my diary, covering the night before we started upon this march:
"Last night I followed the advice of Ben. Franklin and retired early-not that I expected to be made in any degree 'healthy, wealthy and wise' thereby, but that I might be in as good con- dition as possible for the march today. I had slept scarcely an hour when the sergeant-major routed me out and ordered me to detail a guard for forage. This done I again composed myself, but my eyes were barely closed when one of the men on camp- guard thrust his head into the tent, and with awful groanings de- clared he had colic or something and would have to knock off. Having detailed a substitute who went swearing to his post, I once more curled under my blanket, hoping to pass the remainder of the night in peace. Half an hour later came a couple of con- valescents, just discharged from hospital, who wanted a place to turn in. With as much patience as I could command I arose and made such arrangements as were necessary. Then I once more stretched myself out, invoking dire calamities upon him who should again disturb my rest. Before I was asleep I heard the wild yell of the commissary-sergeant: 'Orderlies, turn out and draw three days' rations!' It seemed to me that these rations might have been issued sometime during the previous day, but the commissary-sergeant always did take a fiendish delight in do- ing such things at midnight. So I turned out half a dozen men to assist me, all of whom kicked like mules at being disturbed. By the time we got through it was one o'clock. I had but three hours left for sleep, as the reveille was ordered at four."
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1862.]
CHAPTER X.
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PIGS, CHICKENS, STRAW AND RAILS.
SOME REMARKS ABOUT FORAGING-EARLY RESTRAINING INFLUENCES- "HANDS OFF" IN KENTUCKY-ORDERS MUST BE OBEYED - HOW IT WAS IN TENNESSEE-TWO SIXTY-FOURTH RAIDERS ENCOUNTER GEN- ERAL WOOD-THEY CARRY RAILS FOR TWO HOURS BUT SUP ON CHICKEN-SKETCHES OF SOME GIFTED FORAGERS-"BILL" WEIGLE AND DOCTOR ANDERSON.
U P TO the time of our march from Nashville to Savannah, upon which we are about to enter, foraging as an art had been but feebly developed among the Camp Bucking- hammers. This was not from any lack of talent in that direction, for there was in them a latent power which, as soon as it had a fair chance to assert itself, gave abundant proof that our men deserved a place in the front rank of the foragers. Nor was it from a want of disposition to make individual requisitions upon the country for whatever could assuage their griefs and woes by promoting the comfort of either the outer or the inner man. The truth is that the ideas of the soldiers upon the subject of "con- fiscation" were, during the first months of the war, a long way in advance of those held by the double-starred generals, and the statesmen at Washington who were steering the ship. It was about two years before the latter caught up with the procession.
During our campaigning in Kentucky the most stringent orders against the private and personal appropriation of anything
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IN TENNESSEE IT WAS DIFFERENT.
[March,
by the soldiers were published to the army, with a frequency that did not permit anybody to forget them. We had "line upon line and precept upon precept." This was not wholly without reason, for Kentucky was a loyal state. She furnished more than sixty thousand soldiers for the Union army. It is true that very many of her people were bitterly disloyal, but so many of them lied about it that it was difficult to separate the sheep from the goats, and, on the whole, it was right and proper to restrain the impulses of the soldiers. Guards were uniformly stationed to protect what- ever they would be likely to take. In spite of all this the desire to eat forbidden fruit, inherited from Mother Eve, was continually cropping out. When, after a hard day's march, perhaps through rain or snow, we went into a cheerless camp, with only the wet ground for a bed, the desire was very strong in the breasts of the men who carried muskets to charge upon straw stacks and rail fences, and even to impress such chickens and vagrant pigs as were within reach.
Another restraining influence at this early period in our ca- reer was the feeling that we must "obey orders." From the be- ginning we had been impressively exhorted to remember that this was the first and greatest duty of a soldier. So, in our simplicity, we allowed chickens to bite us and pigs to squeal for Jeff Davis with impunity; we wouldn't disturb a feather or a hair. Under these conditions it is not a matter of wonder that we were as well- behaved as a prize Sunday school class. But the innate forces were only slumbering and gathering strength for future months and years.
When we crossed the border of the Southern Confederacy and entered Tennessee we began to think that things were dif- ferent. It was hard to convince the soldiers that they should not be turned loose upon the country and allowed to "go in." But under the dispensation of General Buell the orders continued to be issued just the same. It was on the march to Shiloh that we first came squarely down to hardtack, week in and week out. The soft bread nonsense, with its delusive schemes and experi- ments, had been abandoned. We had accepted liardtack as a mil- itary necessity, although not without some internal insubordina- tion, for we had not yet learned to appreciate its value. So it
1862.]
THE GUARD'S "FELLOW FEELING."
[23
was not strange that during that long pilgrimage the boys began, in an earnest and systematic manner, to devise waysand means to circumvent the generals, and they were usually successful. They often fell into sore temptations, which, in spite of strict orders and the vigilance of guards, could not be resisted. If the truth be told-and this may safely be done after the lapse of so many years-the guards were not always as vigilant as they might have been. A "fellow feeling" made them "wondrous kind," and they often managed to be looking the other way when a comrade approached the line from without, laden with spoil. Quite likely the successful raider be longed to the same mess as the guard, and the latter well knew, in that case, that he would come in for his full share of the toothsome plunder. So he turned his back and solemnly strode away to the other end of his beat while the forager dodged into camp with his supplies, to fill the aching void under the blouse.
Yet, the soldier who sought the fatlings of the field and barnyard did so WILLIAM H. MOZIER, HOSPITAL STEWARD, SIXTY-FIFTH. at his peril. Terrifying or- ders, prescribing the pains and penalties to be visited upon those who indulged in these pernicious practices, were almost daily read on parade or disseminated through the camps. But the pigs and chickens disappeared, and choice bits judiciously distributed among the company and regimental officers, generally did much to avert threatened punishment. It is safe to say that most of the officers, even up to the colonels and brigadiers, shared to a great extent the feelings of the soldiers on this subject. They thought
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124
FORAGERS RUN AGAINST "TOMMY" WOOD.
[March,
it was all right so long as the boys didn't get caught. But the or- ders of General Buell must be obeyed, and these same officers would lecture their men in words of thundering sound. Then they would go to their tents and with keen relish, gnaw "drum- sticks" and "spare-ribs" which they had little reason to think had been bought and paid for in coin of the realni.
Frequently, in the early morning, a citizen who had suffered from a nightly visitation, would come into camp and pour his tale of woe into the ears of the "'gin'ral," with vehement protestations of his loyalty. Then there would bea breeze in camp ; staff officers would charge around in the vain effort to detect the culprits ; another sulphurous order would be issued-and at the next camp- ing place the pig-pens and hen-roosts would yield up their victims just as before. As a matter of fact we did not find these things as plenty between Nashville and Savannah as we could have wished. Three divisions of soldiers, with the same appetites and weaknesses as ourselves, and who were tempted like as we were, had already passed that way. We had to exercise much diligence to find what we wanted. The men of Thomas's division, which followed us, must have found a painful leanness along the route.
I remember witnessing a spirited interview between our divi- sion general and a couple of foragers. The latter, after a success- ful raid into the suburbs of the camp, were cautiously making their way back, carrying upon a pole a plump yearling pig which they had killed, and in their hands were two or three fine fowls. They had nearly reached the camp of the Sixty-fourth Ohio, to which they belonged, when they suddenly came face to face with General Wood, who was riding about with an eye to business. The meu instantly dropped their load into the bushes, but they had not been quick enough to escape the sharp glance of the general. "Tommy"-as we always called him among ourselves-was small of stature, but few men of twice his size could make more noise, than he, when he fairly set himself about it. This seemed to him a fitting occasion for a display of fireworks, and he pounced upon those hapless men in a spasm of fury.
"Where did you get them things ?" he thundered, with much greater force than grammatical accuracy, and in tones that fairly made the offenders quake in their shoes.
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1862.]
THEY CARRIED RAILS.
125
There was no answer to be made to the terrible conundrum, and the boys were evidently disposed to give it up, as they stood speechless in the august presence. The carcass of that slaugh- tered pig, and those fowls with their heads wrung off, told the whole story. "Though dead, they yet spake," and there was nothing more to be said-or at least nothing that the unlucky boys could think of. They would have been glad enough to compromise by an even divide with the general, giving him half the plunder for his own iness, but negotiations for a settle- ment of the trouble on this equitable basis were not to be consid- ered.
Ordering them under arrest the general directed a couple of soldiers standing near to guard them with fixed bayonets, and the procession started for the Sixty-fourth headquarters. In his most impressive manner General Wood told the colonel the story of their offending, and ordered that each should promenade in front of headquarters with a rail on his shoulder for two hours, the sentence to be carried into effect immediately. Of course it was done, and those hungry patriots marched to and fro as an aw- ful example. General Wood ordered the colonel to have his com- missary sergeant take possession of the plunder and restore it to the owner, provided he could be found. But the cream of the affair was that when the sergeant went with a squad of men to carry out the order he could find nothing but a few drops of blood upon the ground and here and there a feather or two. As soon as "Tommy" had started away with his prisoners the latter's com- rades made off with pig and chickens, and so adroitly concealed them that they were not found. It is possible that the sergeant did not try very hard, but that was the substance of the report he made. When the men had expiated their crimes by carrying the rails the full two hours they were released. They went straight to their tent and enjoyed a royal supper of pig and chicken which their messmates had prepared for them. Incidents of this kind, with all possible variations, were of daily occurrence during that march.
.Notwithstanding the difficulties under which they labored, there were not wanting plenty of men who gave great promise of future usefulness in this department of military industry-promise,
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A TYPICAL FORAGER.
[March,
I may add, that was more than realized as the months and years passed. By some occult means known only to themselves these gifted men could capture and take the life of a pig or a fowl so quickly and skillfully that it scarcely uttered a sound. John Yarham, of Company E, Sixty-fifth, was one of the most ac- complished foragers I ever knew. He did everything in a quiet, artistic way that commanded our warmest admiration. The boys gladly excused him from helping to pitch the tents at night, and from such menial offices as getting wood and water. He was a good marcher, and was always up with the colors. As soon as arms were stacked he would "light out," and rarely failed to come into camp, safely running the guards, well laden with the proceeds of his forays. He supplied us with much to vary the monotony of regulation fare. Of course there were many of us who, in our innocence, still felt that orders should be obeyed. When Yarham began to lay these things before us we never asked him where or how he got them. In such a case ignorance was wisdom. We took it for granted that he bought them, and we ate and were thankful. I once saw that man-a year later, when the orders were less strict-get permission to leave the ranks to fill his canteen at a spring near a farmhouse. In the yard were several beehives. He quietly tipped one of them over, and with his naked hands scooped out honey, bees and all into a pail which he pressed into the service, regardless of the swarm which buzzed around him. He carried it during the remainder of the day's march, and at night divided it among his comrades. Yarham had his match as a forager in "Dad" Wheeler, of Company D. They often went out together and it was indeed "a cold day" when they did not return "bringing their sheaves with them." Poor Varham ! he was captured at Chickamauga, and died in prison at Salisbury.
Colonel Brown writes of two celebrated foragers of the Sixty- fourth: "I presume no member of our regiment has forgotten William Weigle, of Company C. On almost every march he would drop out of ranks, in defiance of the most stringent orders · from his captain, and take his own course across the country, com - ing into camp late at night laden with supplies, in proportion as the day had been propitious. The whole command soon learned
1862.]
"BILL" AND THE DOCTOR.
127
Bill's tricks, but no one could ever see him leave the ranks or find out just how he managed to disappear. One morning the non- commissioned officers of Bill's company arranged to watch him closely that day and take him into camp at night Not many miles had been made when it was discovered that, as usual, there was a vacuum in his place in the ranks. Soon after his disap- pearance he was observed by Dr. Anderson, hobbling along at the tail-end of the regiment. The kind-hearted doctor asked him what was the matter.
"'My feet are so sore, said Bill, 'that I can't get along at all!'
"'Get on my horse and ride awhile,' replied the doctor, with a benevolent. sympathetic smile, 'and I'll walk and carry your gun a piece.'
"Of course the kind offer was instantly accepted, with a pro- fusion of thanks. Bill climbed into the saddle while the doctor, with the musket on his shoulder, trudged along with the boys. After an hour or so the doctor began to get a little weary and thought it about time for him and Weigle to resume their former relations. So he turned around to propose an exchange, but neither man nor horse was in sight. Nothing more was seen of either during the march and the doctor lugged the musket all day, going into camp with two or three beautiful blisters on his feet. Bill turned up late at night, the horse loaded down with a cargo of choice eatables. He "whacked up" liberally with the doctor, in consideration of which the latter condoned his offence. But it was a great joke on the doctor !
"There was another highly successful forager, a strapping fellow by the name of William Halm, of Company K. He got away so often from his home in the ranks that his acquaintance had a wide range. He used to come into camp with enormous loads of truck. He never took a partner with him, probably for the reason that he could, himself, carry all the plunder to be found on any one plantation. An inventory of one of his loads would be indeed a curiosity in these days. As his well-known figure was seen approaching in the distance, from a hundred throats would come the cry 'Bill Hahm! Bill Halm!' This would be taken up by one regiment after another and he never failed to re- ceive a vociferous greeting, which did not cease until he reached
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"CONSCIENCE" CUT NO FIGURE.
[March,
his quarters. I have seen that man, on different battlefields, take from his comrades as many canteens as could have been piled on an ox-cart, hasten to a spring or stream, and soon return to the thirsty soldiers with their canteens full of much-needed water."
The matter of wood and straw was of no small importance to the comfort of the soldiers when on the march. The army started out on the theory that everything must pass through the hands of the quartermaster and be regularly accounted for. This plan worked but indifferently, however. It was altogether too tedious a process, and the supply thus doled out was too meager to meet the demand. It made a great difference to the tired soldier whether he could secure a nice bed of straw, or was compelled to lay his aching bones on the hard ground, or upon rails to keep him out of the mud. There were times, when the men went into camp weary and footsore, that they would go for all the straw stacks in sight, in utter defiance of orders. Indeed, from this time forward it seemed that there was a gradual relaxation of these irk- some restrictions. Now and then there would be spasms of rigid enforcement, but from month to month they became less violent, and the soldiers were not slow to take advantage of the greater latitude that was given, or rather permitted, in this respect.
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The change came by virtue of necessity. It was impossible to stamp out the prevalent heresy that the soldiers ought to have whatever the rebellious country afforded that could contribute to their health and comfort. The average soldier did not stop to consider fine questions of moral philosophy, and if his conscience was sometimes disturbed, it was so much the worse for the con- science. It did not generally trouble him very long. The gen- erals accepted the inevitable, and the farther we went the more rapidly did the straw piles and rail fences disappear. In the case of the latter we were permitted, when the need was urgent, to "take only the top rail." It will be remembered how, under a few successive applications of this simple formula, the bottom rail was speedily reached and miles of fence went off "like hiot cakes." The posting of guards to protect property from depreda- tion always caused a great deal of vigorous grumbling. The volunteer soldier reserved to himself the right to "kick" when things did not go to his liking. It was a privilege which he
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