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 13
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But none of us had this to do that day. The effect of the speech, or something else, was such as to carry dismay to the hearts of the enemy, for when we went tearing through the thicket, behind which they were supposed to be posted, they had departed. A little to our right they showed some disposition to fight. There was a brisk skirmish in which a number were killed or wounded on each side. It lasted but a few minutes and the rebels fled in confusion. We remained for some hours in the vi- cinity, and then slowly wended our way back to camp, re-enter- ing our lines late in the evening. The expedition proved to be a wild goose chase, but it sufficed to completely "use up" what lit- tle there was left of our physical vigor.
Then came the glad tidings that we were relieved from duty and were going to the rear to bivouac for the night. We marched back to within a mile of the river where we stacked arms, threw off accouterments which we had carried continuously for three days and two nights-built fires, made coffee, toasted bacon, a fresh supply of which was issued to us, and ate our suppers with keen relish. This over, we cast about for sleeping arrangements. It was midnight of Tuesday, and since four o'clock Sunday morning, sixty-eight hours, most of us had not even so much as closed our eyes. To say that we were tired but feebly express- es our condition. No longer sustained by the excitement that during all this time had kept us up to a high tension, a state of utter exhaustion followed that no words can portray. Very for- tunate were the few who had picked up blankets or overcoats on the battlefield. Only a small portion of the men were thus pro- vided, the majority having no protection but the sodden clothes they had on, which had for two days and nights been soaked with water. Many sank upon the muddy ground and were soon lost
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1862.]
BURIAL OF THE DEAD.
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in sleep. During the night the pitiless rain beat down upon us again; but through it all we slept soundly, until aroused half an hour before daylight to stand in line of battle.
While returning from our reconnoisance on Tuesday we saw that the work of interring the three thousand dead had already be- gun. This was, in fact, a necessity for sanitary reasons, not less than a duty under the dictates of humanity. In the humid air decomposition was rapidly doing its work. The field of carnage was miles in extent, and from every part of it arose foul odors that were scarcely less dangerous to the living than the bullets of the enemy. The carcasses of hundreds of horses lay scattered about, filling the air with their noxious and deadly exhalations. Some of these were buried, while others were destroyed by burn- ing, with great heaps of wood which were piled upon and around them.
The bodies of the slain were gathered at convenient points and buried in long trenches. Side by side they were laid, gener- ally wrapped in blankets, and tenderly covered with the earth up- on which they had so bravely fought and yielded up their lives. In each case where identification was possible a board was placed at the head, on which was rudely inscribed the name and regiment. The rebel dead were buried in separate trenches. Very few of these could be identified in any way. During the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday the burial parties were engaged in their mournful task, scouring the field beyond the actual fighting ground. Many of the mortally wounded had crawled away into the woods and thickets where their bodies were discovered. Indeed, for weeks decayed remains were occasionally found, as the army gradually advanced toward Corinth.
The wounded were sent away upon steamboats as rapidly as possible. Thousands of them filled the hospitals at St. Louis, Cairo, Cincinnati, and other points. From all the northern states represented in the armies of Grant and Buell, came volunteer sur- geons, nurses and Good Samaritans of every sort, to render such service as they might in ministering to the sufferers. At va- rious points were the field hospitals, filled with men whose limbs had been amputated, or who were otherwise desperately wounded, and who could not yet be moved. At these hospitals deaths were
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كب كيك - باب علانية
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RATIONS OF "COMMISSARY."
[April,
frequent, and for many days after the battle funeral dirges were often heard as the bodies of those who had vainly struggled with death were borne to the places of burial. Hundreds of the en- emy's wounded who were unable to follow the retreating army, fell into our hands. They received no less care and attention than our own. A brave man stricken in battle ceases for the time to be a foe. A considerable number of Confederate surgeons remained in the field hospitals of that army, to assist in caring for their sufferers. The number wounded in the action on both sides fell little below fifteen thousand.
Wednesday found us in a badly used up condition, after the excessive hardship and exposure of the previous three days: By order of General Wood, commanding the division, a gen- erous ration of whisky was issued to each officer and man. This was done not more than six or eight times during our entire four years of service, upon occasions similar to this, when the men had suffered from extraordinary exposure and had been pushed to the limit of human endurance. Many very excellent people will no doubt say that this was all wrong. I shall not argue the ques- tion but simply state the fact. There were few that wretched morning at Shiloh who did not drink their rations of "fire water." The few traded theirs for coffee to some of their comrades who were only too glad to get a double quantity. The ration was one gill per man.
It was not a matter of wonder that many gave way en- tirely under the strain, and that our hospital accommodations were soon taxed to the utmost. During the month of April death made sad havoc in our ranks. It is probable that as many of our brigade died from the effects of those terrible days and nights as would have fallen had we faced the leaden storm during the two days of battle at Shiloh.
1862.]
CHAPTER XIV. .
CREEPING TOWARD CORINTH.
A "SIEGE" AT LONG RANGE-CAMPING IN A SEA OF MUD-RATIONS OF "COMMISSARY"-LUGGING SUPPLIES FROM THE LANDING-SICKNESS MAKES MUCH BUSINESS FOR THE DOCTORS-BLUE-MASS AND QUININE-REVOLTING SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD-AN ORDER TO PROMOTE EARLY RISING-PICK AND SHOVEL-ADJUTANT WOOD- RUFF TELLS SOME STORIES.
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W HEN General Buell reached Pittsburg Landing, near the close of the first day's fight, matters looked very blue for the Union army. He asked General Grant if he had made provisions for a retreat in case the battle went against him on the following day. Grant replied that he had not even thought of that ; he had come there to stay and had no intention of changing his purpose. He did stay, and we all stayed with him, for two months, April and May, engaged in what may be facetiously called the "Siege of Corinth." Most of the time it was at rather long range for a siege. Preparations were made on an enormous scale for the advance upon Beau- regard, who had succeeded to the command of the rebel army up- on the death of General Johnston during the battle. There was a gathering of forces on both sides. It was known that Beauregard was receiving reinforcements from every quarter, and no effort was spared to swell the Union armv. General Pope, who had
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COLLECTING A GREAT ARMY.
[April,
been operating around Island Number Ten brought up twenty- five thousand men. All the troops that could be spared from any point in the western departments were hurried to join the forces before Corinth. By the latter part of April General Halleck, who had assumed personal command, had more than a hundred thousand men in the lines which were gradually being advanced toward the town. This vast force was organized as Right Wing, Center, Left Wing and Reserve. We were in the Center, which was composed of the divi- sions of McCook, Nelson, Wood and Crittenden, and commanded by General Buell.
For weeks a much greater battle than Shiloh seemed hourly imminent. Our part in the two months siege will be told in this and the succeeding chapters. There were in reality few startling events, the days and weeks drag- ging tediously[along, in the monotony of drilling and picket duty.
Our wagons, which had been left back, with knapsacks, blankets and THOMAS L. THOMPSON, FIRST LIEUTENANT, SIXTY - FOURTH. overcoats, when we started on our Sunday night scamper for Savannah, did not reach us for more than a week. During that time we just lay around in the mud, endur- ing all manner of physical discomforts. During and after the bat- tle a very large amount of rain had fallen. The ceaseless tread of thousands upon thousands of men and animals had converted the soft earth into mud, almost equal in quality to that at Hall's Gap. For miles the field was little else than a vast quagmire. The wagon roads were simply tortuous channels of mud, in
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CAMPING IN THE MUD.
1862.
which the wheels sank to their hubs. Camping on such a spot was bad enough under the most favorable conditions. While waiting for our wagons we were wholly without shelter, except such as was afforded by rude huts made of poles and the boughs of trees. These were little protection against the showers which continued to visit us with the most preposterous frequency. We had no change of clothing, and actually did not get dry for ten days. It is a wonder that we were not required to tramp around in the mud three or four hours a day, in the invigorating exercise of company and batallion drill, but this was saved up for us until the weather got real hot.
Two or three times during these days rations of whisky, or "commissary" as it became more familiarly known, were is- sued to all hands, from colonel to cook. The opinion quite gen- erally prevailed that at such times a judicious use of stimulating beverages was a good thing. It is almost needless to say that this idea was enthusiastically shared by the great majority of the sol- diers. The ration was not large enough to produce very hilarious results. Nobody got drunk except here and there one who con- trived to get an extra supply. Some secured double doses by ne- gotiating for the rations of the few who did not drink. There were men in every regiment whose canteens were seldom empty of whisky. How they managed to get it was one of those things nobody could find out. But they got it, at all times and places, even under the most adverse conditions, with an ingenuity in de- vising ways and means that challenged admiration. If there be any virtue in whisky, as an elixir to alleviate human suffering, it is not often more needed than it was during our first ten days at Shiloh.
The lines of the army had been by this time fully established. Our first position was about three miles from Pittsburg Landing, and a short distance to the eastward of the direct road to Corinth. Each company had its regular "trick" of picket duty. but this was decidedly more comfortable than sloshing around in the mud that was everywhere within the lines. One of our periodical di- versions was to trudge to the Landing after rations. All the roads leading from the river to the numerous camps were abso- lutely impassable for teams. The goaded mules, floundering in
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[April,
ORLOW SMITH, MAJOR SIXTY- FIFTH, AND BREVET BRIGADIER GENERAL.
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1862.]
WE "TOTE" RATIONS FROM THE LANDING.
the mire, could scarcely pull an empty wagon, while to move a loaded one was not to be thought of. April 13th five companies were detailed from each regiment to "tote" three days' rations out to our bivouac. We made a grotesque procession, as we plodded along through the mud with our burdens. Here were two men with a box of hardtack which they carried by turns upon their shoulders, or suspended from a pole with a piece of rope. You- der were two more, staggering and stumbling along with a load of bacon. Others carried sacks of coffee or sugar. These four articles were our staples; beans and rice came in handy for a change now and then. But nothing could supply a lack of the former; when we had plenty of them in our haversacks we were thankful and content.
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The three miles tramp was a most wearisome one. Fre- quently a man would get hopelessly stuck in the mire, from which he could only extricate himself by calling assistance to re- lieve him of his burden. We reached camp about dark, tired and covered with mud. Those who had remained were anxiously awaiting our arrival, for their stomachs were as empty as our own, and "the cupboard" was as "bare" as that of Mother Hubbard in the nursery rhyme. The rations were issued at once, and in a few minutes coffee was boiling and bacon "sizzling." We were glad enough to get rations even at the cost of so much fatigue, but we still had a preference for mules and wagons as a means of transportation.
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On the evening of April 16th our eyes were gladdened by the sight of our wagons, and our ears by the familiar yells of the mule drivers. For eleven days we had been without tents, over- coats or blankets, exposed to storm and sun, and not having in that time changed a single article of our clothing. Our baggage was in bad condition. A considerable portion of it had been lost or stolen, and what remained was damp and mouldy. But by this time we had learned to make the best of everything. We pitched tents, unpacked our "traps," and felt that at last we had a home again, such as it was. It was certainly "humble" enough.
The weather began to improve and the mud to dry up. There was a corresponding improvement in our health and spirits. The daily sick-call was, however, still a regular matinee, attended (II)
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BLUE MASS AND QUININE. [April,
by large numbers who went for their doses of quinine and blue- mass. These articles were the "stand-bys" of the doctors. In fact there did not seem to be much else in the regimental phar- macy. It didn't seem to make any difference what ailed the men -the doctors just filled them up with blue-mass or quinine, or both. If there was irksome fatigue duty in prospect, the men had a way of putting on doleful faces, wabbling up to the doctor's "shebang" at sick call, receiving rations of medicine and getting excused from duty for the day. Then they would go back to their tents, throw the medicine into the fire, and spend the day in play- ing seven-up. This worked nicely for a time, but when the doctors "caught on" they would prescribe doses of castor-oil or ipecac and compel the groaning invalids to swallow them then and there. This proved something of a dampener on the "play- ing off" scheme. Since we left Savannah more than a hundred men from each regiment had been sent to hospital. Many of them, whose condition was such as to unfit them for duty for days or weeks, had been sent north by steamboats. Of these, scores died, others were discharged, and but few ever rejoined their regiments.
On April ISth there was a general advance of the Union lines. We struck tents and moved some three miles to the front. As we might have expected, it rained all day and we had another thorough soaking-but we were getting used to that. The air was raw and chilly and the day and night were most dis- mal and uncomfortable. The pleasant weather of the week previous was followed by three or four days of wetness, with an amount of rain that seemed to us wholly unnecessary. Our camp was badly located. There was no spring within reach, and our only water supply was a small, sluggish stream that crept lazily over the battlefield, and pools made by the rain. The water of both was villainous. The ground everywhere was covered with the foul debris of great armies, and the earth was poisoned by the decaying bodies of thousands of men and animals. Most of the country between the river and Corinth is flat and marshy, af- fording little water suitable for use. It is probable that impure water was the chief cause of the sickness that prevailed among the troops there. After a brief experience with it we rarely
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1862.]
163
A WHIRL TO THE FRONT.
used it for drinking purposes, except when made into coffee.
The day after we moved camp, Garfield's brigade was ordered out, with two days' rations, to take a turn of duty at an advanced post, which it was desired to hold in force. Leaving the sick in camp, we took only our arms, haversacks and blankets. We started about nine o'clock and moved rapidly two and a half miles toward Corinth. Here we halted, threw out a line of sentinels, and sat down to await developments. Every man was required to keep his accouterments on and remain within instant reach of the stacked arms. But the only thing that de- veloped was another prepos- terous rain storm, which be- gan soon after noon and continued without cessation through the whole night. Without shelter, our cloth- ing and blankets became saturated and sleep or com- fort was impossible. We could only huddle togetlier under the dripping trees and sit, shivering and be- numbed, watching for the dawn. No fires were al- lowed till daylight. As soon as morning broke we CHRISTIAN M. GOWING, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FOURTH. succeeded, after much trib- ulation, in getting fires started, for there were no fences or old buildings at hand, and it was not easy to find anything combustible.
Shortly after daylight the tinkling of a cow-bell was heard a short distance in our front. There was a current tradition that this means had more than once been used to decoy soldiers into an ambush. There were men, however, who would run almost any risk for the sake of getting a little milk to flavor a flagon of coffee. So an armed reconnoisance of a dozen men was sent out
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WE BECOME EARLY RISERS.
[April,
to investigate. They returned after a short absence and reported that there was no fraud about that cow-bell. A couple of can- teens full of milk proved the truth of the assertion. We remained quietly at our post, without shooting or being shot at, until four o'clock in the afternoon, when we were relieved by a brigade of Thomas's division, and returned to camp.
In moving about over the field, days and weeks after the battle, revolting scenes were witnessed. Many of the rebel dead were placed in very shallow graves. Indeed, some of them could hardly be said to have been buried at all. It seemed as if only a few shovelfuls of earth had been thrown over them as they lay upon the ground. The beating rains washed many of them par- tially bare, and it was by no means an uncommon thing to see a ghastly head or limb protruding from the mire. In many in- stances the unmarked graves had become indistinguishable and wagons had passed repeatedly over them, sinking deep in the soft eartlı, crushing and mangling the corpses in a shocking manner. Few nien can ever become so steeled as to look upon such things without a shudder.
About this time an order was issued requiring all the troops to stand in line of battle every morning, from half past three o'clock until the day had fully dawned. This cheerful morning exercise was continued for five or six weeks, until the "siege" was over. It caused a vast amount of grumbling, but the boys turned out at the call of the orderly, just the same. It was either a determined attempt to force us into habits of very early rising, or a precaution against a recurrence of the scenes of that Sunday morning at Shiloh, when some of the regiments were aroused from their slumbers by the sweep of the rebel line through their camps. It is certain that at no time after the 20th of April would the army have been caught napping. But Beauregard did not repeat the attack of the 6th, and the only advantage we derived from this order was the practice which seemed likely to fully con- firm us in the habit of getting up early.
On April 22d we moved our camp a short distance, to higher ground. It is worthy of note that for some reason it forgot to rain. For a long time it liad appeared that we always moved be- cause it rained, or it rained because we moved. We were not
1862.]
165
A PROVIDENTIAL SUPPLY OF PORK.
quite clear which was the cause and which the effect, but it was none the less true that the two events rarely failed to connect. We occupied our new camp but a few days, for on the 29th we pulled up stakes again and hitched along nearly five miles toward Corinth. At this time there was a general advance of our wing of the army and a complete readjustment of the lines. Our march was through a most desolate section of country and over exe- crable roads. It rained again during the entire movement. Just before going into camp in our new position we emerged into a pretty spot, fertile and cultivated. As we halted the band played: "Ain't I glad to get out of the wilderness,"
the boys cheering heartily in response. When we left our old camp a large number of sick from the two regiments and the Sixth Battery-which had joined us a few days before-were sent to hospital, still further reducing our already much depleted ranks.
The siege of Corinth afforded but meager opportunity for foraging. There were altogether too many men in that neighbor- hood for the very limited product of the country. There were not nearly enough pigs and chickens to go round. In fact, the rebels had evidently eaten up pretty much everything there was. But our company struck it rich on the last day of April. We were on picket. For some unknown reason our meat rations had been short for several days. When three or four fine hogs delib- erately approached our post that afternoo.t, what did we do? What would General Wood or General Buell have done had either or both of them been in our places ? We could not, of course, dis- charge our pieces, but bayonets had been thoughtfully provided for such occasions. We flanked and surrounded those pigs and bayo- netted two of them. They supplied the company with meat for three or four days. A section was quietly sent to regimental headquarters, for Colonel Harker's mess. His cook privately in- formed the boys that the colonel never asked where the fresh pork came from, but said it was excellent. His verdict fully justified our own.
As we drew closer to Corinth the probability of a general engagement increased daily. There were occasional collisions, when heavy firing broke out at the points of contact, and almost in a moment the whole army would be in line ready for action. Hitherto the spade had been considered an ignoble weapon. The
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166
THE SHOVEL AS A FACTOR IN WAR,
[April,
want of intrenchments had been sorely felt at Shiloh. A new policy was adopted in this respect, and miles of works were built. At first our men did not take kindly to the shovel, but it was observed that all those who had faced that rebel cyclone on Sunday morning at Pittsburg Landing, unprotected, dug and chopped with alacrity and enthusiasm. They had learned by bitter ex- perience the value of such defences. So it was that after the soldiers of the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth had been promiscu- ously shotat a few times, they, too, began to scratch gravel on every occasion, with great ardor. If they couldn't get shovels they would make use of bayonets, sticks, and even their hands in digging rifle pits. It was always a wise thing to do, and not in the least inconsistent with the highest development of personal courage. We had to do our share of the digging before Corinth. During the latter part of the siege an alinost unbroken line of intrenchments extended for a distance of eight or ten miles. The rebels had no delicacy about throwing up heaps of logs and earth to get behind. - We found after the evacuation that their lines of rifle-pits were fully equal to our own. The battle of Shiloh pro- moted the shovel from a menial implement of toil to an honorable and indispensable weapon of warfare.
Adjutant Chauncey Woodruff, of the Sixty-fourth, relates this good story : "A few days after the battle of Shiloh I was placed on the picket line, about three miles to the front of that famous battlefield. The day was cold and stormy and there was an utter absence of anything to awaken interest, save the wit and stories indulged in by a few whose spirits were never dampened by the weather. A member of the Fifty-first Indiana was one of this kind. I heard him relate his experience to a much older member of his regiment whom he called 'Jim.'
" 'Jim' said he, 'do you know that I was the meanest boy ever raised in Indiana ?'
"'Why, no,' said Jim, 'how is that?'
" 'Waal,' said he, 'I'll tell you how it was. My father was a Presbyterian minister, and my mother-if there ever was a Chris- tian she was one. When I was twelve years old my father died and left us poor. I went around town picking up small jobs to help a little. One cold, wet day, just like this, when I started out
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AN ANSWERED PRAYER.
1862.]
I told my mother I wished she would make some nice warm bis- cuit for dinner. She could make good biscuit, too. She replied that she would. I tramped all over town and didn't strike a job, and went home cross and crabbed. There, sure enough, on the table was a nice plate of biscuit. The table stood near the win- dow. I sat down, took one and bit a mouthful out of it. There was a piece of soda in it which made my mouth smart, and I threw the biscuit out of the window. I looked at mother, but she never said a word, and that made me still madder. I just took the plate and threw the whole lot out up- on the ground. Jim, what do you think she done ?'
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