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 20
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243
HOW A REBEL CAPTAIN GOT AWAY.
[862.]
fired upon. The rebel inade a line shot, but fortunately a trifle high, the ball passing through Ridenour's hat and just furrowing the scalp. Later in the war our men became so thoroughly ac- customed to being shot at that they thought nothing of it, but in those early days of our military service such an incident had a startling effect, and was for days the talk of the camp.
It having been reported that the rebels were crossing cattle to the south bank of the Tennessee river, the Sixty-fourth, under Colonel Ferguson, accompanied by a section of the Sixth battery, was dispatched to see what, if anything, could be done in the premises. The objective point was a ford twelve or fifteen miles to the southwest, where the cattle trade was said to be flourishing. While en route information was given by a guide that a rebel cap- tain, at home on leave, was in a house a short distance from the line of march. Company C was detailed to capture him. Cap- tain Brown had not yet developed into the soldier that he after- ward was, nor had anybody else, for we had not had the chance. Company C surrounded the house in fine style, but Brown, who in the kindness of his heart was loth to hurt anybody, had not told the boys to load their guns, and probably none of them had thought of it, either. The captain moved upon the house by way .of the front door. His rap was answered by a woman who, with the diplomacy of her sex, skillfully avoided d'rect answers to his questions. Meanwhile the rebel officer, reconnoitering from the back of the house, watched his chance, slipped out and broke for the timber. He was commanded to halt but refused to obey, and before the boys could load their muskets he was out of sight. But some of them were at least able to say that they had seen a live rebel, and an officer at that.
As the regiment approached the ford Companies E and K were thrown out as skirmishers. Proceeding through the woods, a man was discovered with something on his shoulder which was imagined to be a musket. He was challenged, but instead of halting he started to run. He was fired upon and killed. His supposed musket proved to be only a harmless hoe, with which he had been at work in a "truck" patch. No person could be blamed for the killing except the man himself, who was probably too much frightened to obey the command to halt.
No traces of the cattle business could be found. The
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A BEAUTIFUL THEORY WAS SPOILED.
[August,
regiment bivouacked at the ford, except companies Cand H which were sent three miles up the river to another ford. These com- panies spent the night on the large plantation of one Colonel Coffee, of the Confederate army. The men foraged liberally and for once had all they wanted to eat, a condition which was rare during the five weeks at Stevenson. The artillerymen expended a little am- munition, throwing a few shells into the woods across the river, where there were symptoms of a camp. The regiment marched back the next day. About the only tangible result of the expedi- tion was a stalwart "contraband" named Wesley, from the Coffee household. Captain Brown took him as his servant and he re- mained with the Sixty-fourth for more than two years. He wasa trusty, faithful fellow, and a general favorite despite his black skin.
The stomachs of the Sixty-fourth suffered from the same paucity of rations that pinched the Sixty-fifth at Bridgeport, although the foraging in the region around Stevenson yielded better results.
A large number of negroes were brought into Stevenson from the surrounding country to work upon the fortifications. Many of these were adept in the art of stealing. The quarter- master and commissary officers were much annoyed by their predatory forays at night. Notwithstanding the vigilance of the guards, articles of food and clothing constantly disappeared, creating deficits in stores which made sad havoc with the officers' returns. The post or brigade commissary was Captain Eaton, of the Thirteenth Michigan. Eaton was a theoretical philanthropist and an inveterate foe to slavery. Indeed, his hobby was an abid- ing charity for the dark-skinned children of Ham and a child-like faith in their integrity. He did not believe they would steal and insisted that all the pilfering was done by the soldiers. He had a red-headed darkey as his personal servant, and in him the captain had boundless confidence, pointing with pride to him as a model of faithfulness and honesty-a shining example of the high moral standard to which the negro could be elevated by the influence of proper precept and example. Eaton's ideas on this subject were well known to all his fellow officers. One evening while Quartermaster Tip Marvin, of the Sixty-fourth, was sauntering about, he peeped into a building in which the commissary stores
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1862.]
A RECRUITING DETAIL.
were kept and saw Captain Eaton's auburn-haired darkey laying in a supply of sugar, coffee, and bacon. He had effected an entrance by crawling under the building and forcing an opening in the floor. Without disturbing the marauder, Marvin went on a gallop to the quarters of Captain Eaton and told him to "come along, quick," as he had something to show him. They hurried back to the building, where Eaton, through the peep-hole, dis- covered his dusky protege on the point of making his exit with a sack full of plunder-stolen from the captain, who was personally responsible for every pound of stores in his custody. The thief was caught and punished ; while Eaton's beneficent theories re- ceived a set-back from which, it is to be feared, they never recovered.
On the 21st of August details from the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth-consisting of two officers from each, and one 11011- commissioned officer from each company-were sent to Ohio on recruiting service. The officers of this detail were: Sixty-fourth, Lieutenant A. S. Campbell, Company C, and Lieutenant Bryant Grafton, Company B; Sixty-fifth, Captain Alexander Cassil, Co111- pany A, and Lieutenant Thomas Powell, Company E. It was hoped to fill up the ranks which had been so sadly depleted by the exceedingly hard service through which we had passed. Nearly a hundred officers and men of each regiment had already died from disease resulting from excessive hardship and exposure.
More than three hundred others from each were absent, sick, or had been discharged for disability. And all this without a man having yet been lost in battle! Generally speaking, scarcely more than half of those enlisted in any regiment were physically able to endure such service as fell to the lot of most western regi- ments. These had very much more hard marching and exposure to weather than did the soldiers of the eastern armies. A man never could tell until he tried it whether he could "stand the ser- vice" or not. So it was that most regiments, even though they had no fighting, were within a year reduced to five hundred men or less. These made the soldiers who marched and fought through the long campaigns and put down the rebellion. The other half had no less patriotism and willingness, but they were taxed be- yond their strength and fell by the way.
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[August,
CHAPTER XXII.
THE BEGINNING OF A LONG SCAMPER.
THERE WAS A "HEN ON."-BRAGG STARTS FOR THE OHIO RIVER-WE START AFTER HIM-THE BRIGADE REUNITED-CROSSING THE MOUNTAIN-A LONG, HARD PULL-OUR TENTS AND BAGGAGE BURNED-A NIGHT MARCH ON THE PLATEAU-"ROASTING" THE OF_ FICERS-IN ELK RIVER VALLEY.
“B OYS, I'll bet my boots there's a hen on over yonder!" This profound observation was made by one of our soldiers about the 20th of August, as he came in one morning from picket duty. For twenty-four hours he had occupied a post on the bluff commanding a view of the oppo- site side of the river, and the country for some distance beyond. He had seen, miles away, indications of troops moving in large bodies, and the Confederate sentinels appeared to have almost wholly disappeared from the opposite bank. The events of the next few days fully justified the opinion of the picket. He was, however, safe in offering to "bet his boots," in any event; as his feet were encased in an old and well worn pair of number 10 army brogans. But there was no question as to the "hen" being "on," and she was then hatching out a scheme that had not en- tered into our wildest dreams. General Buell's eyes were opened, and hastily abandoning the line of the Memphis and Charleston
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247
BRAGG'S MOVEMENT INTO KENTUCKY.
1862.]
railroad he moved his headquarters from Huntsville to Decherd, on the Nashville and Chattanooga road. As a matter of fact he soon moved them again, and continued to do so until he was quar- tered in Louisville.
There was something prophetic in the yell of that rebel picket across the river, warning us to "look out, " quoted in the preceed- ing chapter. As one might say in these days of base-ball, the rebels were now going to have an "inning." For six months they had been "out," wandering all over the field, and at last they were going to the bat.
During those lazy summer months Bragg had been busy, behind the curtain of his outposts, in collecting an army of forty thousand men. His headquarters were at Chattanooga, and his troops were scattered all through that country, extending as far as Knoxville. The word was given, and his army rapidly con- centrated for the great projected flank movement into Kentucky. To his eye the future was even big with possibilities beyond the . Ohio river. The southern people rejoiced with exceeding great joy at the prospect of carrying the war into the enemy's country -into Ohio and Indiana, that the people of the North might "feel what they had felt." Bragg's enthusiastic scheme was unfolded in an order to General Van Dorn, commanding the rebel forces in the District of Mississippi, dated Chattanooga, Tenn., August 27th, 1862. The order closed with these words:
We shall thus have Buell pretty well disposed of. Sherman and Rosecrans we leave to you and Price, satisfied you can dispose of them and we confidently hope to meet you on the Ohio river.
BRAXTON BRAGG, General Commanding.
And again, this order was sent to Van Dorn from Bardstown, Kentucky, September 25th:
We have driven and drawn the enemy back to the Ohio. Push your columns to our support and arouse the people to reinforce us. We have thousands of arms without men to handle them.
Nashville is defended by only a weak brigade; Bowling Green by only a weak regiment. Sweep them off and push up to the Ohio. Secure the heavy guns at these places and we will control the Tennessee and Cum- berland rivers. All depends on rapid movements.
Trusting to your energy and zeal we shall confidently expect a diver- sion in our favor against the overwhelming force now concentrating in our front.
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248
PREPARATIONS FOR THE START.
[August,
Preliminary to the grand advance Bragg had sent Kirby Smith from Knoxville by way of Cumberland Gap, with fifteen thou- sand men, and he was already in Eastern Kentucky while we were yet picketing the Tennessee river at Bridgeport. .
General Buell's forces were very widely scattered, in the at- tempt to hold a large extent of territory. As soon as the plan of the enemy was disclosed, Buell saw the necessity of immediate concentration. It was evident that he must be ready to fight or chase, according to circumstances. The movement began about August 20th, and that was what kicked up such a lively dust on the roads of Northern Alabama and Middle Tennessee.
.I have said thus much, to recall the situation of affairs when we broke camp at Bridgeport and Stevenson and started on our long scamper. I am disposed to tell the story of our part in this foot-race between the two great armies, with some fullness of de- tail. It was beyond comparison the longest and most arduous · march that ever fell to our lot. It was one prolonged test of physical endurance. It did as much to "season" us as all our previous service. I believe the survivors of the Sherman Brigade will go over again with interest that long, dusty trail. with its daily incidents of hardship and excitement, and I confidently in- dulge the hope that the story will not be found tedious-in any event it will not be half so wearisome as was the march itself.
At two o'clock on the morning of August 20th we were aroused and ordered to prepare to march immediately, with two days' cooked rations. As we had but little to cook, the latter part of the order was largely superfluous. The only article requiring preparation was a small allowance of fresh beef, which came from nobody knew where. The hillside was soon aglow with fires and the camp was in a whirl of excitement. Then we were directed not to strike tents until further orders. Daylight came, and noon, and night and still we waited for the word to go. Our neighbors of the Thirty-ninth Indiana managed to get off, leav- ing in the afternoon for Battle Creek. In the evening our sick, some twenty-five in number, were sent by rail to Nashville.
Toward night General Buell and staff arrived by train and galloped off to Battle Creek. We were ordered to march, posi- tively, early the next morning. About midnight General Buell
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1862.]
GENERAL BUELL AND THE VIDETTE.
249
and his party returned. As they dashed up to the picket line they were brought to a sudden halt by the sentinel:
"Who comes there ?"
"A friend. I am General Buell and must pass immediately!"
"Stand ! Advance one and give the countersign !" said the picket.
"I have not the countersign," said the general, "but you must surely recognize me. I passed throughi here a few hours ago! My business is urgent and you must not detain me !"
But, like all soldiers when they chanced to get a "grip" on a general in this way, the vidette was inexorable. In fact, he rather enjoyed it, standing at a "charge bayonet," with the gen- eral of the army at his mercy. Perhaps he relished the idea of revenging himself upon the officer for some of those orders about chickens, and rails, and straw. The advantage of the situation was wholly with the vidette, for he had the laws of war and the army regulations entirely upon his side. The impatient general finally showed a disposition to "run" the post, but desisted when his ear caught the click of the trigger as the soldier cocked his piece. It is probable that the latter would have shot General Buell, if he had attempted to force his way, and would have been justified in doing so.
"Call the officer of the guard !" said the general, petulantly.
This was done and the waiting horsemen were of course, suffered to pass. In justice to General Buell it should be said that he told the officer that the vidette had done right, and com- plimented him on his faithfulness.
The next day we did some more heavy waiting around. Orders to strike tents were received in the morning, but an hour later they were countermanded. In fact, we did not pull out till the day following-the 22nd. Reveille sounded at four, but it was nearly noon when we started. Two hours brought us to Battle Creek. The large camps there were almost deserted, only the Second and Thirty-third Ohio and Edgarton's battery remaining. We expected here to rejoin our brigade, which had marched the previous day from Stevenson, but we learned that it had gone, an order from Colonel Harker directing us to follow as rapidly as possible. Before resuming the march we were confidentially told
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250
REUNITING OF OLD COMRADES.
[August,
by our officers that there were rebels about, and that we must keep "well closed up," and our eyes and ears open.
A mile further we approached a dark piece of woods. Before entering it we halted and loaded our muskets to be ready for whatever might happen. About five o'clock we were met by a courier with an order for us to halt, as the whole force ahead of us was marching by the "right about." It appeared that the troops from Battle Creek and Bridgeport had been directed to march up the Sequatchie valley. McCook found the road effectually blocked by a large and strongly entrenched body of the enemy, and it was necessary to seek another route. After waiting till dark we faced and flanked and countermarched and floundered among the thick bushes for two hours, wondering where we were "at," and finally bringing up for the night in an old stubble field. A violent storm visited us, and amidst the wind and rain and pitchy darkness we groped about for wood and water. We lay down to sleep without making any effort to put up the tents.
Soon after setting out the next morning we rejoined the brigade, from which we had been so long separated-or rather two regiments of it, as the Thirteenth Michigan had been left for a few days at Stevenson to garrison Fort Harker. The bright eye of Colonel Harker flashed a kindly greeting as we filed past, to which officers and men responded with tempestuous cheers. Gusty shouts of welcome were also exchanged with the Sixty- fourth Ohio and Fifty-first Indiana. We hitched along three miles and went into camp.
August 24th was Sunday, and a day not soon to be forgotten. We started off considerably out of temper, because we were routed out at one o'clock after scarcely three hours sleep, with orders to march at two, and then lay around seven long hours before we took the road. After marching five miles we found ourselves at the foot of the great plateau of the Cumberland mountains which we were to cross. We learned that our delay the previous day was caused by the difficulty of getting the trains of the advance division up the hill. The ascent was very steep and the road exceedingly rough and stony. The distance to the summit was half a mile, and the rise about twelve hundred feet. We waited three hours while two or three batteries of artillery
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1862.]
25I
CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN.
were being hauled up. This was only accomplished by doubling teamis, and putting twelve horses to each gun and caisson. In some cases the further aid of a swarm of men at the wheels was found necessary.
At one o'clock we got the right of way, and having taken the precaution to fill our canteens at a large spring that gushed from the foot of the mountain, we began the toilsome ascent. The sun was extremely hot. As we climbed the rugged hill many of the men sank to the ground, overcome with fatigue. Only our ambu- lances and the wagons con- taining ammunition and hospital stores attempted to follow us.
When about half way up we stacked arms and went back to give the am- munition wagons a lift. Each had a cargo of forty boxes, weighing some four thousand pounds. Long ropes were attached upon either side and seized by a hundred men. A dozen more laid their hands to the wheels. Then the teamster began his wild JAMES OLDS. MAJOR, SIXTY-FIFTH. yells, lashing the jaded mules, while the men pulled, and pushed and tugged, all shouting in the highest key possible to the human voice. In all such emergencies the yell was recog- nized as a most powerful and indispensible auxiliary, while pro- fanity addressed to the mules was believed to endue them with supernatural strength. Slowly, a few rods at a time and then stopping for men and animals to breathe, the wagons crept up the steep. It was found necessary to partly unload some of them and distribute the boxes among the ambulances. After an hour of
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252
A NIGHT MARCH ON THE PLATEAU.
[August,
the severest labor the top was reached. The men had been re- lieved at frequent intervals, one company taking the place of an- other, but there was no such blessing for the mules. When the tug was over they stood panting and trembling, while some of them fell to the ground in utter exhaustion. Men took off their blouses and wrung from them streams of perspiration. We re- turned for our arms, once more climbed to the top, and after a brief rest, continued our march. Our baggage wagons, with hundreds of others, were left at the foot of the hill, a brigade be- ing detailed to assist them up the mountain. We indulged in fervent thanksgiving that some other fellows had this work to do.
After marching three or four miles we halted and "Twenty minutes for supper!" was the order. It was a frugal meal. We were still on half rations, with no prospect of a speedy improve- ment in the commissariat. Without waiting for the gong to sound or the ladies to be seated we plunged into our haversacks. There was not time to make coffee. A single cracker, a bit of raw bacon, and a sip of water from the canteen was each man's portion. We had still three hours' travel before us in order to reach the only spring of water on the road across the platea11. We were soon enveloped in the darkness of a moonless and star- less night. A drizzling rain set in, the road was slippery and full of ruts and rocks, and for five or six miles we stumbled along very much as we did the night we marched to Savannah.
The boys were in a mischievous mood that night. They raked up all the jokes on any of the officers that had accumulated during the nine montlis of our service and reproduced them in the form of questions and answers, with great gusto. A member of one company would shout at the top of his voice a conundrum regarding some officer, perhaps touching a tender spot, and some- body in another company would yell the answer. Some of tlie victims did not relish the jests at their expense and allowed their tempers to get the better of them. One or two rushed along the line vainly trying to find out who the offenders were. The utter darkness baffled their efforts and the fun went on fast and furious. It was nearly midnight when we filed off the road and bivouacked. The tired soldiers dropped upon the ground, and rolled themselves in their blankets.
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253
JOHN KAUFFMAN'S TRIBULATIONS.
We had scarcely lain down when there was a prodigious commotion in the bivouac. A great yelling was heard some dis- tance away, and it was taken up by one regiment after another until the entire division had broken loose. It was all caused by a runaway mule team, which galloped furiously along the rough road, the wagon bumping and thumping against the stumps and stones. A short distance beyond our bivouac the mules brought up against a tree and went down all in a heap.
At the top of the mountain John Kauffman, driver of the hospital wagon of the Sixty-fourth, found himself and his team so much fagged that he declared, with a wealth of teamsters' vig- orous language, that he couldn't and wouldn't go another step. But when the order to march was given his familiar "Gee up. Jinny !"-which had come to be a by-word in the regiment-was heard and caught up by a hundred tongues. John kept along with the procession, but during the evening he ran upon a hornets' nest, the disturbed occupants of which attacked his mules and threw them into a paroxysm of plunging, rearing, kicking and braying. The whole concern narrowly escaped wreck. With fighting hornets and trying to manage his mules, Kauffman had a very lively time of it. While it lasted he had more business on his hands than any other man in the brigade.
We started next morning at seven o'clock and by eleven had reached the descent of the mountain. The road was as rough and precipitous as at the other side, but it is easier to go down than up a hill, and we reached the bottom without extraordinary fatigue. A mile further and we stacked arms in the woods near Elk river. Five or six brigades were encamped near us and the country seemed to be fairly swarming with soldiers. Our supply of food was getting very low, but we drew some sweet potatoes- by the tops-stripped the ears from a field of corn, and enjoyed what was to us a bountiful supper. Toward evening our wagons arrived but we looked in vain for our tents and baggage. It had been found impossible to get the loaded train over the mountain. Rebel cavalrymen were hovering unpleasantly near, and an im- mense bonfire was made of all the tents and company baggage of every kind except a few indispensable articles. A large amount of property was thus destroyed, that it might not fall into the
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254
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IN ELK RIVER VALLEY.
[August,
hands of the enemy. The wagon of Company K, Sixty-fifth, broke down and was burned, with all its contents except the company books. Regiments having horse teams fared even worse than ourselves, most of them barely saving their empty wagons. Nearly three months elapsed before we again slept under canvas.
We remained here two days. Elk river valley was like a garden in its fertility, and a week before our arrival had been rich in fruit and field crops of all kinds. But twenty thousand soldiers, who had been marching for days on half rations, came down from the mountain "like a wolf on the fold," and almost in a day that beautiful valley was swept by the besom of destruction. There was no guarding of property now, except in rare cases of undoubted loyalty. So long as the men did not resort to deeds of violence or wanton pillage and destruction, they were permitted to forage about as they pleased. Near our bivouac was a very ex- tensive orchard of peacli and apple trees, which had been loaded with fruit; now they were as barren as in mid-winter. One of the boys was led to observe that the owner would get left on his usual supply of peach brandy and applejack.
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