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 17
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CHAPTER XVIII.
A BLOODLESS VICTORY.
THE UNION ARMY OCCUPIES CORINTH-AFTER A TRICK ON PICKET .WE MARCH, MARCH AWAY -OUR TOES TURNED EASTWARD- MUD, MALARIA AND MOSQUITOES-THE TRAIN STALLED-"I-U-KY- SAH!"-GENERAL WOOD'S "SHIRT ORDER"-HOW TOM KELLEY OBEYED IT-A BATH IN BEAR CREEK-CAPTAIN BROWN CATCHES A TARTAR.
"D EY'S all gone, boss, shuah ! Ole Burygard and his army done lef' las' night. If dey hadn't I couldn't neber hab come heah! You-uns can jess walk right into de town ef yer wants to!"
This was the form in which we received our first tidings of the evacuation of Corinth. The information was given by a jubilant old darkey, who, in a high state of excitement, had made his way to one of our picket posts before it was yet fairly light, on the morning of May 30th. He had seen enough of war to have a vague idea about a flag of truce, and as he approached the lines he vigorously waved a large white cloth, in token of the pacific nature of his errand. A soldier escorted him back to the main line, and thence to brigade headquarters.
We were not surprised, however, to learn that Corinth had been abandoned by the enemy, and we heard the news from offi- cial sources very soon after the arrival of the negro. General
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EVACUATION OF CORINTH.
[May,
Beauregard managed the evacuation well and succeeded in getting away in good shape, leaving behind little that was any loss to him or of value to us. For several days uncertain rumors that the rebels were preparing to retreat had been current in the Union army, but a most emphatic denial seemed to be found in the un- usual activity, all along their front, during the last days and nights of their occupancy. The thin veil of smoke that arose from their picket line effectually concealed from General Halleck the activity of a different sort that was going on behind it. Unquestionably Halleck's force largely outnumbered that of his adversary, and it is in the highest degree probable that a more active and aggressive policy on the part of the former would have resulted in a very important victory for the Union arms. Corinth, itself, was nothing. It had positively no military value save in its railroad connections. The rebel army, the real and only ob- jective point of the campaign, remained intact. But the tidings of a "great triumph " were flashed northward over the wires, and while the Union soldiers were marching into the fortifications of Corinth, the people of the north were firing cannon, ringing bells, and shouting themselves hoarse.
During the latter part of the night of the 29th the firing had ceased, as the enemy had withdrawn his outposts. The unusual sounds in and around the city aroused the suspicion that an evac- uation or movement of some kind was in progress. At three o'clock in the morning, as had long been our habit, we were in the trenches. Before daybreak the sky was illumined by the glare of fires; and frequent explosions, as of bursting shells, told that the work of destruction was going on. With the earliest dawn we saw dense volumes of smoke arising from numerous points within the enemy's lines. So it was that we were not wholly unprepared for the news brought by the contraband. It was yet early in the morning when General Garfield rode up and informed us that Nelson's division occupied the rebel intrench- ments. There was no reason for our remaining longer in the trenches and we were at once relieved from duty for the day. In oursimplicity we all supposed that it must, of course, be a great victory. and the army spent the major part of the day in making as much noise as possible, the occasion being in the na-
1862.]
WE TAKE AN EARLY START.
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ture of a jubilee. We did our full share of yelling and prancing around. Some of us congratulated each other upon the unques- tioned fact that now the war aras about over, and there was little more to do except to pack up and go home.
Toward evening we received orders -to prepare to march at daylight next morning, with three days rations in haversacks. A few of the boys seemed really to believe we were going to start for Ohio-but we traveled a very long and tedious route before we got there. Whatever the future might have in store for us, it was a relief to lie down to sleep, for the first time in nearly two months, without fear that our slumbers would be disturbed by whistling bullet, braying horn or rolling drum.
There was a prompt response to the reveille. Almost before it was fully light, Wood's division was on the march toward Cor- inth. A mile and a half brought us to the intrenchments of the enemy. Far and near the ground which had been occupied by the troops was covered with the debris of the deserted camps. They had lived chiefly in huts, which the men had wholly or partially destroyed on leaving, and the ruins of these rude habi- tations were strewn upon the ground for miles. One feature, not seen later in the war, was the large number of patchwork quilts, which had been sent to the soldiers from southern homes, and which they were unable to carry with them. We had no use for then., being comfortably supplied with blankets, and, besides, we had serious doubts as to their condition.
While walking through the deserted rebel camp I picked up three or four letters. One of them was an unfinished epistle from a Confederate soldier to his wife. The zeal and warlike ardor of its author were evidently far in excess of his knowledge of orthography. This extract found its way into my diary : " Weel fite the yangkies as long as goddlemity gives us breth !" "Johnny's" struggle with the name of the divine being must have been heart-rending.
Corinth may have improved since 1862, but it did not then deserve to be called a city. It contained scarcely half a dozen buildings that were in any way attractive to northern eyes. In Ohio it would have been no more than a straggling village. It was made suddenly populous by the presence of Beauregard's
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[May,
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ALEXANDER M'ILVAINE, COLONEL, SIXTY-FOURTH. Killed at Rocky Face Ridge, Ga., May 9th, 1864.
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IN THE ABANDONED TOWN.
1862.
army, but its residents did not exceed twelve hundred in nuni- ber. The Tishomingo Hotel had been badly splintered by our artillery shots, and many other buildings showed marks of the siege. The fires which our troops found burning when they en- tered the town the previous day had been extinguished. The buildings to which the retreating rebels applied the torch were such as contained provisions and other stores which they were not able to remove. Churches and other buildings had been used as hospitals for the sick and the wounded from Shiloh. A consid- erable number of the latter yet remained, it having been found necessary to leave them behind in the haste of departure. Dur- ing the evacuation the rebels were in great trepidation lest they should be attacked while in the confusion of retreat. Most of the Corinthians of the better class packed up their household goods and gods and went south with the army, preferring to take their chances by following the wandering flag of the Confederacy, rather than pass again under the stars and stripes. Many of the colored people and nearly all the poorer class of whites re- mained, because they had not the means to get away. These people regarded the "Yankee" army with curiosity and amaze- ment. . Children, in particular, were at first in mortal terror of the fate which they expected at the hands of the invaders.
"I thought from what our soldiers told us," said a boy of eight or nine years, "that you-all were great beasts that would eat us up, but you look just like we-uns !"
After resting for an hour with arms stacked in the main square of the town, the Sixty-fifth was ordered on picket, a mile out on the Memphis and Charleston railroad. Near our post was the house of a planter, left in charge of a miscellaneous company of negroes-still slaves at that time. "Mars'r" had removed his family south. These negroes, like all the rest we met, were over- joyed at the success of the Federal army. They appeared to have a somewhat foggy idea that they were the bone of contention between the north and the south, and that the Union soldiers were their friends. Many of them were fully possessed of the belief that in some way they would be liberated from bondage, as a direct result of the war.
A white-haired patriarch, told us that when the rebels came (14)
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GENERAL POPE'S "WINDY" REPORTS.
[June,
hurrying back from Pittsburg Landing they all declared they had given the Yankees a sound whipping.
" Why did they come, back if they had defeated us?" we asked.
"Dat's jess what I'd like fer to know !" said the old darkey. who seemed to have a fair idea of the proper relation of cause and effect.
Half of Company E was stationed on one of the principal roads leading out of Corinth. All was quiet till about midnight, when we heard the sound of a horseman approaching from the westward, at full gallop. At the word " Halt!" he reined up so suddenly as to throw the horse back upon its haunches. To the inquiry, "Who comes there?" he answered, " A friend." He proved to be a deserter from the Sixth Tennessee cavalry, and said he had ridden twenty-five miles that night to reach the Union lines and give himself up. Disarming him of a double- barreled blunderbuss and an enormous revolver, we sent him under guard to Colonel Harker's headquarters.
Toward noon the Sixty-fifth was relieved by the Tenth Ohio. We marched into town and stacked arms to await orders. No- body seemed to have any very definite idea of what was going to be done next, or who was going to do it, or how, or why, or where, or when, or anything else. General Pope, with the left wing of Halleck's army, forty thousand strong, had been sent in pursuit of the enemy as soon as his flight was discovered. His windy reports of enormous captures of prisoners and guns come floating back through the air, which was filled with the most wild and improbable rumors. The shrinkage of Pope's prisoners was as marked as in the celebrated case of "the three black crows." The ten thousand he reported dwindled to a be- draggled squad of a few hundred stragglers and deserters, ragged and lousy. We judged from the appearance of some of them that Beauregard was glad to get rid of them.
In the afternoon, having nothing else to do, we marched back to our old camp behind the intrenchments. Some plan of future operations having been apparently decided upon, we were ordered to march early next morning.
We were astir betimes-June 2nd-and by eight o'clock the
1862.]
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A MARCH THROUGH THE SWAMPS.
long column was trailing through the woods and fields and swamps around Corinth by the left, and then off to the eastward. Our route took us along the whole line of General Pope's strong position at Farmington-a village only in name-during the last days of the "siege." The works were very heavy and before the evacuation were being daily extended for the envelopment of Beauregard's right flank. Near Pope's headquarters, in the top of a tall tree, accessible by ladders, was a well-constructed, bullet- proof observatory, from which to view the position and movements of the ene- my. It had been a favorite target for the rebel can- noneers, who managed to hit it several times.
Bearing still more to the east, our march was through a wild and desolate region, forsaken of God and man. There were only barren sand-hills, with a few lonely, stunted pines, and bogs and marshes, full of s.agnant water and in- fested with reptiles; while myriads of insects swarmed about us, and the hot, stifling air was heavy with THOMAS CLAGUE, SERGEANT COMPANY E, AND SECOND LIEUTENANT, SIXTY-FIFTH. foul, miasmatic odors. Through these swamps the road was of the corduroy style, but in some places the logs were swimming about, and men and horses plunged into unmeasured depths. We were glad enough to find a passably good camping ground, after a jaunt of eleven miles. Long and vainly we waited for the wagons. Darkness settled down over the bivouac, and no tidings of the train had reached us. Those who had car- ried their blankets were fortunate. The many who, with a lack of foresight, and thinking only of present comfort, had piled
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THIS WAS A HARD DAY.
[June,
them on the wagons, spent the night in shivering and almost sleepless repentance. For we everywhere found it peculiar to the climate of the south that, however warm the days might be, the nights were always cool, with heavy, chilling dews that often completely saturated clothing and blankets.
Daylight came, and still the sound of the mule driver had not been heard in the camp. A detail of eight men from each company was sent back to pry the wagons out of the mud, while the brigade waited. The wagons were found four or five miles in the rear, stuck fast in mire. Teamsters and mules had given up in despair. Covered with mud, they were strung along the road for miles, waiting for assistance. Some of the wagons had to be unloaded before they could be extricated. At lengthi, after several hours of lifting and tugging and yelling and swearing at the mules, the forlorn procession reaclied nis, and at noon we re- sumed the march. Then for eight miles we had the other ex- treme-a dry, sandy desert, without a stream or spring of fresh water in the entire distance. The air was like the scorching breath of a furnace. The suffering from thirst became fright- ful. Many sank by the wayside, parched and panting, to be gathered up by the wagons and ambulances. These were not sufficient for the exhausted men, and scores were left behind. Immediately upon reaching camp, vehicles, with supplies of water, were hurried back to gather up those who lay here and there for miles, more dead than alive.
Owing to the straggling, on account of the extreme heat, soon after we left Corinth an order came down from General Wood's headquarters which created no end of amusement. It was intended to ease the fatigue of a long march, and directed that the men should get rid of all surplus incumbrances. Its author intended to say that each man would be allowed but one extra shirt. The staff officer who wrote it omitted the word "extra" and the order was read to every regiment:
"Each man will be allowed but one shirt, which shall be car- ried in the knapsack!"
Of course it was known to be a mistake, and the intent of the order was explained to the men. Tom Kelly, of Company E, Sixty-fifth, who had an Irishman's love for a joke, the next morn-
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TOM KELLEY AND HIS SHIRT.
1862.]
ing started out without any shirt, having only a ragged blouse to cover his nakedness above the top of his trousers. General Wood often rode along the flank of the column, and Tom thought he might do so that day. Sure enough, the general came trotting along while the troops were resting, his staff trailing behind, a procession of brass buttons. Kelley took a position where the general would be sure to see him and carelessly threw open his blouse, rendering the absence of his under-garment so obvious that "a wayfaring man though a fool could not err therein." He caught the eye of the general and the latter instantly reined up his charger.
"See here," he thun- dered, "haven't you got a shirt? "
"Yessir!" answered Kelley, saluting, "but I've got it in my knapsack, 'cordin' to order !"
The general opened the floodgate and let out a freshet of words which, according to the Articles of War, cost a dollar apiece. Then, addressing the order- ly sergeant of Tom's com- pany, who was standing near, he said:
BENJAMIN F. TRESCOTT, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH.
"Sergeant, does this man belong to your company?"
"He does, sir."
"Well, when you get to camp have him carry a rail for two hours!"
The general rode on, but when his wrath was abated he con- cluded it wasn't a bad joke, and sent back an orderly with a message revoking the order for Tom's punishment. It was a long time before the "shirt order" was forgotten.
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PRETTY GIRLS AT IUKA
[June,
The rear-guard was ordered to prod up the stragglers and to search the knapsacks of any who seemed to be carrying more than their proper allowance. Captain Baldwin, of the battery, tells of hearing an argument between a guard and one of the stragglers, who was of German extraction. The guard said:
"What have you got in your knapsack?"
"The infantryman replied: "Vell, dot is none of your pizness. I guess I know vat I got. You shust go 'long. I komes to camp pretty soon after a v'ile. "
The guard insisted upon knowing, and proceeded to examine the knapsack, when out rolled a twelve pound solid shot.
"What is this ?"
"Vell, I guess you can see for yourself vat it is. If you don't know I can dell you; dat is a drophy, a relic you calls him. I dakes him home to show mine shildren. "
The shot had to go overboard and the soldier finally moved on, vowing vengence on the rear-guard.
Next day, soon after noon, we approached the prettiest vil- lage we had seen for months. Standing by the roadside, with shining faces and arms akimbo, were several neatly dressed, smart looking wenches, of all ages.
"What's the name o' this town?" asked one of the boys.
"I-u-ky-sah !" replied a very black woman, with a curtsy.
"I didn't catch it! Will you be kind enough to say it again?" said the soldier, with solemn politeness.
"I-u-ky-sah!" curtsying lower than before.
"Boys, what the d-1 did she say ?" remarked the questioner, as he turned to his comrades. Somebody who had learned the name of the village told him it was Iuka.
"But she said something besides that !"
"The woman was trying to answer you very politely, 'Iuka, sir!'"' said his comrade.
"Oh!" Mebbe that was it. Why didn't she say so?"
This was an exceedingly trivial circumstance, but the "I-u- ky-sah !" of that plump wench was never forgotten, to the last day of our service.
We were told that there were mineral springs at Iuka, possessing medicinal virtue, and that it was quite famous as a
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SOME ODD MEASURES OF DISTANCE.
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pleasure resort for the southern people. There was a young ladies' academy that was still running, and a bevy of pretty girls tripped down to the front gate and watched us as we passed. Some of them smiled and waved their handkerchiefs. The boys responded with hearty cheers, the color-bearer saluted them with the flag, and the band struck up "The Girl I left behind Me." We hadn't seen the face of a young woman handsome enough to look at for three months, and the smiles of those girls fell upon us like a benison. The boys talked about them for a month, and often, in later years, they recalled that vision of beauty at Iuka.
Distances in the south were peculiar in their elasticity. They stretched and contracted like a piece of India rubber. When we inquired of a man or woman how far it was to some place ahead the answer would be, for instance: "'Bout five mile, I reck'n!" After traveling for an hour another question would elicit the answer: "Jest seven miles f'm that thar corner!" The next one would say two miles and the next four, and so it went. We could never tell how far it was until we got there, and then half the time we would go through the "town" without knowing it until informed that we had passed it. Often there was scarcely anything of it except the name-perhaps one or two shanties and a tumble-down blacksmith shop. One day, during the march across northern Mississippi, an inquirer received the answer that the distance to a certain place was "'Bout two sights'n' a half!" This was a puzzler, but it was at length made out that a "sight" was as far as one could see. Somewhere in our wanderings an- other native said it was "four screeches" to a town which we were approaching, a "screech" being the distance that a yell could be heard. It may be easily imagined that such modes of measuring distance were extremely uncertain and confusing, the length of a "sight" depending upon the point of view and the contour of the ground, while that of a "screech" varied with the lung power and throat caliber of the screecher. But even these vague and grotesque measurements were about as satisfactory to us as when information was given in miles, about which those people knew no more than they did about the transit of Venus or the language of the ancient Chaldees.
We camped three miles beyond Iuka and rested several days,
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BRIDGE BUILDING AND MORE MARCHING.
[June,
affording an opportunity for a general washing and boiling. There was great need of the latter. On the 9th we were on the road with two days rations in haversacks, leaving our camp stand- ing. Eight miles at a brisk gait brought us to Bear creek, where we were directed to stack arms and go to work upon the railroad bridge, which was being built to replace the one destroyed by the enemy. A number of the First Michigan Engineers and Me- chanics were engaged in the work, but we were to expedite matters by giving them a lift. Some were put to cutting timber, others to removing the debris of the old bridge, and still others to gathering large quantities of stones and casting them into the stream, to make a foundation for a trestle. We worked by reliefs, half the men at a time. When off duty the soldiers were glad to avail themselves of the privilege of bathing in the clear waters of Bear creek. A private of Company I, Sixty-fifth, had a narrow escape from drowning. He was taken from the water insensible, by some of his comrades. On the previous day Lieutenant- colonel Kirkpatrick of the Fortieth Indiana, was drowned at the same place. We bivouacked near the stream, burned fence rails without hindrance, did some successful foraging in the neighbor- hood, and were happy.
We continued our bridge building the next day, but before noon were relieved by a regiment of Kentuckians and marched back to our camp. June 12th we resumed the journey. The sun was scorchingly hot and we groped along through clouds of dust. At Bear creek we found the bridge still unfinished, and were ordered to prepare to ford, the water being waist deep. Each soldier took off his clothes and tied them into a compact bundle, together with his accouterments, and carried them upon the muzzle of his gun, or by holding them above the water. It was a picturesque scene, and the boys cheered with great gusto as they carefully made their way through the swiftly running stream. When a luckless fellow missed his footing and plunged headlong into the water, with all his "traps," the performance was greeted with shouts of laughter. We thought it fine sport. We were greatly refreshed by the bath, and went upon our way with nimble feet, after stopping half an hour to resume our clothes.
Most of the people through this section we found to be bit-
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CAPTAIN BROWN HAS AN EXPERIENCE.
217
terly rebellious, and none so hateful in their words and actions toward the blue-coated invaders as the women. Captain Brown, of Company H, Sixty-fifth, whom everybody knew and loved for his kindness of heart and gentleness of manner, rapped at the door of a large house near which we had halted for a brief rest. The knock was answered by a vinegar-faced woman, who looked as if she could bite a tenpenny nail in two. Captain Brown po- litely asked the loan of a cup, that he might get a drink of water from the spring.
" I have no favors for such as you !" she answered sharply.
The captain made 110 reply, but stepped within and took a cup from the table. After quenching his thirst he returned it, thanking the woman for its use, and bade her good day. With flashing eyes the iras- cible dame exclaimed :
"I wish I had a gun!" "And pray what would you do with a gun if you had one?" said the officer in his blandest tones.
I'd kill you !" was the sanguinary answer.
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CHARLES O. TANNEHILL, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH.
Taking a revolver from his belt he kindly offered it to her, but she turned aside, livid with rage, and the captain walked away.
Except for the discomfort arising from the extremne heat, our march along the northern edge of Alabama, after getting out of the deadly swamps around Corinth, was a pleasant one, speaking comparatively, for if there was any real enjoyment in inarching at all we were never so fortunate as to find it. But there was no occasion for crowding matters, and we made the journey by easy
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WE HALT AT TUSCUMBIA.
[june,
stages. We generally had plenty of rations. The strict orders in respect to foraging were allowed to lapse, to a great extent, and the country through which we passed afforded us frequent relief from the regulation diet. Several cases of sunstroke, two or three of them fatal, occurred in the brigade. The extreme heat was sometimes avoided by taking the road at four o'clock in the morning and finishing the day's march by ten or eleven o'clock, or resting for several hours in the middle of the day, and trudg- ing a few miles toward evening.
The eastward movement of Buell's army was with a view to ultimate operations against Chattanooga. Upon leaving Corinth the rebels retired some distance to the southwest, in Mississippi. In that direction marched the forces of Grant and Pope, when Halleck's great army was broken up after the evacuation.
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