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 24
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1862.]
THE BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE.
293
of them flinging away their knapsacks and even their blankets. We pitied them, for we knew how they suffered. It was with a sense of unspeakable relief that we halted just at daylight by a small stream, threw off our accouterments, bathed our faces, hands and feet, and lay down to sleep.
Hardly two hours had passed when we were startled by the loud rattle of drums. We awoke to hear heavy cannonading in the distance, like that we had heard the second day at Shiloh. The battle of Perryville had begun. We were soon off in the direc- tion of the firing. "Quick time-March !" and we traveled eight miles without stopping for a single moment, As we neared the scene of action, more and more clearly sounded the roar of battle. The musketry was incessant, and the sound of artillery was, at times, as if whole batteries were being fired at once. Although it was evident that a severe battle was in progress, the action did not seem to be, and in fact was not, a general one. We saw two or three divisions lying idly on their arms, taking no part what- ever in the conflict. And in truth this is just what we did. A mile from the battlefield our division filed off into the woods, formed in line and lay down. This was our part in the battle of Perryville. The contour of the ground concealed the actual bat- tle from our view, but we could plainly see the smoke that rose in clouds and floated about, and the firing sounded with startling distinctness. The Sixth Ohio battery went into position on high ground in our front, but did not open fire. We remained all the afternoon lying upon our arms, almost in view of the battle, wondering why we did not participate. Toward night it became apparent that the rebels were retreating. The sound of the firing receded farther and farther, and at length altogether ceased. We were ordered to spend the night in line of battle, sleeping upon our arms, with sentinels constantly on duty to give warning in case of an alarm.
I have no desire, nor is it my province, to discuss at any length the battle of Perryville. It has been, and will continue to be, the theme of endless controversy. We could not understand it then, nor will we have any better success if we attempt to fathom it now. It was an accidental collision between parts of the hostile armies. Neither Bragg nor Buell intended to fight
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A FEW REMARKS.
[October,
there. The battle was fought by McCook's corps-chiefly by two of his three divisions-with a small reinforcement from Gilbert's corps, against three divisions of the enemy under General Polk. The only object of the latter was to check the advance of Buell, who was pressing Bragg uncomfortably hard. The remainder of Bragg's army was not within supporting distance. McCook, as it was, held his own in the fight. Had the twenty thousand troops that looked on for hours been thrown in, it is in every way probable that the result would have been a most important victory. It has been claimed that General Buell, who was some miles in the rear, scarcely knew until late in the action that the battle was in progress. If this be true, it but adds to the mystery that surrounds the events of the day. More than nine hundred Union soldiers were killed and three thousand were wounded-a sacrifice to no purpose.
The truth is that the art of conducting war on such a pro- digious scale was as yet unlearned. Blunders were made by gen- erals in the field and by the directing authorities at Washington. Up to this time, in the east the advantage had all been with the Confederates. Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, the great Peninsular cam- paign, Harper's Ferry, the struggle in the Shenandoah valley- all had resulted disastrously to the Union cause. Antietam was a drawn battle, but Lee retreated from Maryland and the result of that campaign was a Union victory-the first of consequence east of the Alleghenies to gladden the hearts of loyal people. In the west Mill Spring, Donelson and Shiloh had given to the Union army a prestige that it never lost. When the right lead- ers were found, the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of the Tennessee set their faces to the enemy and went on, conquering and to conquer, sweeping through the very heart of the Southern Confederacy, from the Mississippi to the sea.
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1862.]
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A PURSUIT THAT DOES NOT PURSUE.
MORE CHARGING THROUGH CORNFIELDS AND BRAMBLE THICKETS- THE HARRODSBURG RECONNOISANCE-HARKER'S BRIGADE HAS A CAMPAIGN OF ITS OWN-THROUGH DANVILLE AND STANFORD- CRACKING WALNUTS UNDER FIRE-WE PUSH ON BEYOND CRAB ORCHARD AND THEN QUIT-THE "LAME AND IMPOTENT CONCLU- SION" OF BUELL'S CAMPAIGN.
W E REMAINED all night in the position we had so gal- lantly held during the battle. In the evening a few managed to get away and visit the battlefield, bring- ing back the most shocking reports of the heart- rending scenes they had witnessed. There was a general belief that the fighting would be renewed in the morning. Long before dawn we were standing at arms. As the day broke, warm and clear, we listened for the expected shots but none were heard. The Sixth Ohio and Eighth Indiana batteries threw a few shells into the woods which the enemy had occupied the previous day. No reply was elicited. The rebels had fled during the night. It was felt that we ought to do something in the premises, and
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THE SCENE OF CARNAGE.
[October
we advanced, retreated, changed direction to the right and left, countermarched, and went through about all the movements that anybody could think of, in a purposeless sort of way. At last we brought up in a field of high standing corn, where we stacked arms and lay for several hours, trying to find out what we were to do next, in order to help save the country. An occasional shot was heard in the distance, but there was no firing of consequence in any direction.
About three o'clock we were ordered to advance. We moved through the little town of Perryville, still in line of battle, just as if Bragg's soldiers were not in hasty retreat, twenty miles away. The village was full of the wounded of both armies. Every house was a hospital. Nearly all the inhabitants, men, women and children, had taken to the woods in dismay when the battle began. Part of the fighting was very near the town, and many of the houses were riddled with shot and bullets.
We crept on half a mile further and halted for the night. In a large cave near our bivouac was a copious spring of excellent water. All around us were evidences of the death struggle the day before. Bodies of men and horses lay scattered about, in the fields and by the roadside. Every house and barn was filled with the maimed, the dying, and the dead. Not far away, lying upon the ground, with no shelter from the fierce heat of the sun by day or the dews by night, were some three hundred rebel wounded. They had as yet received no care from the surgeons. Many of them were in the most horrible condition that the mind can con- ceive. Some were shot through head, body, or limbs, others man- gled by fragments of shell, and all suffering the greatest torments. We gave them water, and shared with them the contents of our haversacks, but there was nothing else that we could do. Words are powerless to convey an adequate idea of these harrowing scenes.
On the roth the reveille beat at daylight. We were soon ready to march, but again the roads were so blocked by a jam of troops and trains, in seemingly inextricable confusion, that it was ten o'clock before we filed out upon the pike at a "right shoulder shift." Eight miles, and there was another big scare-legions of rebels getting ready to swoop down upon us! We went through
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1862.]
SCARED AGAIN BY CAVALRY.
297
the old program, our brigade forming, three regiments to the right of the road and two on the left, and thus advanced. We charged fences and stone walls, carrying them in gallant style. Then we came to a halt, stacked arms, and wiped off the perspi- ration. A range of hills a mile distant was said to be swarming with rebels. The Sixth battery threw over a few shells but there was no response. Captain Bradley found that one party could not get up a fight, alone, and in disgust he ceased firing.
We spent the night there, sheltering ourselves from a pelting rain by placing rails against a stone wall and covering them with corn- stalks and straw. Colonel Harker established himself and his staff in a barn, which he dignified with the designation "Headquarters, Third Brigade."
While preparing break - fast next morning the troops were thrown into the wildest confusion by a sudden firing on the picket line, apparently along our whole front, followed by rapid discharges of artillery. . Half-made coffee was poured BENJAMIN F. PEALER, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH. out and bacon was left sizzling before the fire.l Every man hastily donned his accouterments, seized his gun, and sprang to his place. The long expected fight had come at last- that is, we thought so for a few minutes. Three divisions-Wood, Van Cleve and Smith-quickly formed in line, but did nothing else except to lie down and wait in vain for the "Johnnies" to come on if they dared. It was only a spirited cavalry daslı and was soon over. One company from each of our regiments was on the picket line, and on being relieved the meinbers of those com-
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WHIRLING AWAY TO HARRODSBURG.
[October,
panies boasted grandly that they had really had a shot at the rebels. .. Once, when it was imagined that a cyclone of horsemen was about to sweep upon us, we went through the maneuver of forming square, each side of which bristled with bayonets, which was the regulation scheme for meeting a charge of cavalry. We did this often when on battalion drill, but this was the only time we ever put it into practice-and then, when we had got ourselves nicely fixed to receive the hostile troopers, they gave us the go-by and not one of them came in sight.
Then our brigade started upon that famous reconnoisance to Harrodsburg. Our object was to ascertain definitely whether the enemy was in that vicinity, and if so what he proposed to do. The distance was some twelve miles, nearly all of which we made in line of battle, rushing wildly across the country, sweep -. ing through the woods and cornfields, leveling fences and splash- ing through streams that lay in our course. No style of march- ing is so fatiguing as this. We made now and then a brief halt, for the panting men to catch their breath, and then on we went again, charging over everything that was before us. We picked up half a dozen willing stragglers, but encountered no force of the enemy.
Toward evening we entered Harrodsburg, a company or two of the enemy's cavalry that had occupied the town galloping off at our approach. We "captured" a considerable number of rebel sick and wounded, the latter having been removed to that place from Perryville. We do not lay claim to any large amount. of glory for the capture of these helpless sufferers. We did not have to be particularly brave to do it. And yet, after all our weary wanderings, it was a source of satisfaction to know that we had at last captured somebody, even though he were sick or wounded unto death. We did, however, gather in forty or fifty worthless stragglers and deserters who were loafing about town. These were legitimate game, although they didn't fight any. Citizens told us that the last of Bragg's infantry had left but a few hours before our arrival, their departure having been hastened by a greatly magnified report of our strength. Had they known that we were but a single brigade, we might have suffered for our bold adventure. But "all's well that ends well," in war as in anything else.
1862.]
WE KEPT VERY QUIET THAT NIGHT.
299
We passed through Harrodsburg, and filing off to the east- ward bivouacked a mile from town. After dark Colonel Harker called his regimental commanders together and a council of war was held. We were beyond the reach of assistance in case of ex- tremity. It was decided that our position was an unsafe one in which to spend the night, and the order was given to move for- ward half a mile with perfect silence. Leaving our camp fires brightly burning, we glided noiselessly out into the darkness. There was no blast of bugle or beat of drum. No word was spoken save the half-suppressed commands of the officers. Reaching the spot that had been chosen, we filed behind a stone wall, stacked arms, and were directed to lie down immediately in rear of the line, ready to spring up at any alarm. A strong picket force, enjoined to be exceedingly vigilant, was posted en- tirely around us, and in a few moments we were asleep. Noth- ing occurred during the night to alarm us. At one time Captain Bradley had occasion to change the position of one section of his battery. The guns came over the brow of a hill near which was posted a detachment of the Seventy-third Indiana. The Indi- anians thought it was some Confederate artillery and fled in great precipitation. But they were not yet a month from home.
Owing to the confused movements of the army our supply trains had partially failed us since leaving Louisville. For some days we had been on short allowance of food, and when we awoke in the morning we did not hesitate to supply our wants from the gardens and orchards in the vicinity. We had a royal breakfast, of which we partook with excellent relish. About eight o'clock we started, again in line of battle. If there was an enemy to be found, Colonel Harker seemed to be determined to find him. If the campaign of the army had been conducted with half as much vigor as was shown by Colonel Harker in this expedition of his brigade, Bragg would not have escaped so easily. The brigade was formed in two lines. The Sixty-fifth Ohio, Fifty-first In- diana, Sixty-fourth Ohio and Sixth battery, in the order given, from right to left, were in front, supported by the Seventy-third Indiana and Thirteenth Michigan. After advancing a couple of miles we discovered a squad of the enemy's cavalry, on a hill directly in our front. The battery unlimbered and sent a few
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STILL HITCHING ALONG.
[October,
shells among them, which caused them to scatter in haste. On reaching the spot we found a couple of dead horses and part of a man's foot. It was encouraging to know that our whole brigade had at last disabled one Confederate soldier. We picked up half a dozen deserters, one a sergeant of the Twenty-fifth Louisiana. He said his home was near Harrodsburg, but he had been con- scripted while in New Orleans. He told us that Bragg was in full retreat toward Cumberland Gap.
Our advance was arrested by a large stream, whose precip- itous banks precluded the possibility of crossing with artillery, the bridge having been destroyed. It was deemed advisable to return, and, leisurely marching back a few miles, we rejoined our division, which had come up during the day.
October 13th we left camp at an early hour, marched across the fields to the Danville pike and halted at noon, half a mile from that place. Batteries were put in position, battle lines were formed, and arms stacked. That is all that was done that day. Detachments of the enemy's cavalry were still hovering about us. Several small squads of prisoners were brought in from the front during the day. It was reported that Bragg was concentrating at Camp Dick Robinson, where he had resolved to "die in the last ditch." One of our boys ventured the opinion that if any of the rebels died there, or anywhere else, it would be of old age, as there was little danger that General Buell's army would kill any of then.
Next morning there was a spasm of activity. We turned out soon after midnight and marched half an hour later. Passing through. Danville we took the Stanford pike. Three miles from Stanford skirmishing broke out ahead. We turned off the road, formed line, and went crashing through a large and very dense thicket of briers and brambles. Under other circumstances it would have seemed impenetrable, but we tore our way through, and finally emerged into a field, with many bleeding hands and faces, scratched by the thorns. The Sixth Battery went into po- sition immediately in our rear, and prepared to shell the enemy. At the command "To the ground-Down!" we fell upon our faces and Captain Bradley promptly opened fire, directly over us. We lay in a clump of walnut trees, and spent the time in cracking
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1862.]
WE REVISIT STANFORD.
301
walnuts while Bradley was cracking shells at the rebels. The enemy soon disappeared.
Retiring half a mile we stacked arms and remained till near- ly night. Van Cleve's and Smith's divisions passed us, when we fell in the rear and marched through Stanford. Our brigade re- ceived a hearty welcome from the villagers, many having formed pleasant acquaintances here during our stay at Hall's Gap, eight months before. We had marched many a weary inile since then -to Nashville and Corinth, around to Bridgeport, then across two states back to Louisville, and here we were again in the pretty village nestling among the hills, whose people we had al- ways remembered so pleasantly. The greetings between some of our men who had been left sick at Stanford and those who had so kindly nursed them, were most hearty and cordial. The Union sentiment seemed to be as strong as ever. Great joy was ex- pressed at the retreat of Bragg's army. The latter had levied largely upon the town, stripping it of everything to eat, drink, or wear.
We were not permitted to revisit the scene of those horrible days and nights of rain and mud at Hall's Gap, but this was not a source of grief. We turned to the eastward, and after marching a short distance went into camp. Van Cleve and Smith moved out at midnight but we were not disturbed till daylight. Our advance was very slow, on account of frequent skirmishing ahead, and the blocking of the way by wagons. In the afternoon the road was cleared, and we made up for the tardy movements of the morning by stretching away at a rapid pace. At Crab Orchard -a scrawny village, the inhabitants of which looked as if they lived upon crab-apples-we struck the road on which Bragg's main body had but recently passed. His entire caravan was well ahead of us, and there was no likelihood that we would overtake it.
The next morning we started to continue the pursuit, but we did not pursue much. After advancing two miles the whole army halted, stacked arms and sat down. A paroled prisoner of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio, captured at Perryville, passed us on his way to Louisville. He reported Bragg's army thirty miles ahead, and getting over the ground at the rate of
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THE WRITER HAS HIS GRUMBLE.
[October,
twenty miles a day. Toward night we fell in, the order "About -Face !" was given, and marching back two miles we encamped. So far as we were able to judge Buell had abandoned the chase.
Much dissatisfaction at the barren and ignoble result of the campaign was expressed among officers and men. The army felt that it had been able-and it certainly was willing-to join issue with Bragg at any time during the previous two weeks. It was exasperating to feel that all the hard campaigning had been so utterly fruitless. Opportunities for action that promised success were not wanting daily. Bragg's army was encumbered by an immense train of twenty-five hundred wagons, which he had loaded with supplies of all kinds, but he took it safely out of the . state without losing a wagon. General Buell had his good points, but the management of an aggressive campaign was not one of them. He was to our army what General Mcclellan was to the Army of the Potomac. Out of a conglomerate mass of raw and undisciplined volunteers, each organized and fitted for the field a magnificent army. No doubt to their skill and energy in this direction is due in no small measure the later victories won by these armies, under other leaders. Neither Buell nor Mcclellan was successful in the field. Buell at Shiloh, subordinate to Grant, handled his troops like a master, but his own campaigns were dis- appointing in the extreme. As the organizer of what afterward became the Army of the Cumberland, he deserves the respect and gratitude of his countrymen. There was great rejoicing in the long-suffering army when, not long afterward, General Btiell was superseded by "Old Rosey."
The foregoing paragraph is somewhat in the nature of a "kick," but I have before mentioned the fact that the soldiers always reserved to themselves this privilege. The sentiments to which I have given utterance prevailed universally in Buell's army, nor do I think the lapse of years has materially changed the opinions then held and freely expressed, on many a march and around a thousand camp-fires. It seemed to us that, if this way of conducting campaigns were continued, we had before us a war that would end only when the trump of the Archangel Gabriel should proclaim that "time shall be no more !"
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1862.]
CHAPTER XXIX.
ON THE BACK TRACK. 1
A FURIOUS RECONNOISANCE TO WILDCAT-HEADED FOR NASHVILLE- MARCHING THAT TIRED EVEN THE VETERANS-A DAY'S TRAMP IN RAIN AND SNOW-AN AWFUL NIGHT ON PICKET-TWENTY-FOUR HOURS WITHOUT A MORSEL TO EAT-A BREAKFAST OF FRESH PORK AND FROZEN APPLES-THE BATTERY BOYS FIND FRIENDS.
A LTHOUGH the pursuit of Bragg-if it can properly be called a pursuit-virtually ceased at the point indicated at the close of the last chapter, we did not immediately begin the retrograde movement. The opportunity to rest was most welcome to the tired soldiers. After lying in camp two days, "washing up" and refreshing ourselves, and having our hearts gladdened by a large mail, the first in two weeks, we received marching orders on the morning of October 18th. We supposed our next movement would be to the rear, but when we were told to leave everything behind except ambulances and am- munition wagons, it seemed to indicate that there was business on hand. We advanced twelve miles at an exhausting speed, over a rough and hilly road, through a desolate country. There was no
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A RUSH TO WILDCAT.
[October,
sign of human habitation, save here and there the hovel of some wretched squatter, belonging to that class in the south of which even the women and girls chew tobacco, "rub" snuff and smoke "leaf" in corncob pipes. At many points the retreating enemy had felled trees across the narrow roadway. Men with axes were detailed to remove these so that the artillery might pass.
We finally halted at the top of a high hill, two or three miles from a place called Wildcat. Although we did not quite reach the latter, we judged that the name was aptly applied. This was the extreme point attained by Wood's division in the chase after the fugacious Bragg. Our advance that day was nothing more than a reconnoisance in force. After resting on the hill for an hour we took the "right about." The road was so narrow and so much obstructed that it was impossible to turn the wagons around, and we were obliged to back them down the long hill. Falling back a short distance we bivouacked for the night. One man was detailed from each company to proceed to Lebanon and escort our baggage train, which was on its winding way to join us. Since leaving Louisville we had had nothing except what we carried upon our backs. Many had been, and still were, without blankets.
For three days we lay in our bivouac among the rough hills near Wildcat. The nights were cold and many suffered from the want of clothing. Our supply of rations, which had been very short at best, gave out entirely. The barren country afforded absolutely nothing. One of our company did capture an old goose, but after boiling it all night it was tougher than when he began.
The reveille at three o'clock in the morning of October 22nd was a welcome sound to our ears, for we were anxious to get away from there. At four we took the back track and made what seemed to us an unreasonably long march of twenty-three miles. If we had made such good time almost any day two weeks before there would have been a fight-but this was care- fully avoided. We passed through Mt. Vernon and Crab Or- chard, halting near the latter. Everybody began to speculate upon our destination. The prevailing belief was that we would bring up at Nashville, which proved to be correct.
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1862.]
WE HAD HONEY, JUST THE SAME.
305
Then followed several days of very hard marching, averag- ing more than twenty miles a day. We could not under- stand why we were pushed to the utmost limit of endurance, but we learned in due time that it was in order to reach a point where we could draw supplies, of which we were in great need.
On the 24th, after traveling sixteen miles, we reached an ex- cellent camping ground, with plenty of good water. Citizens told us that in the next eight miles there was neither spring nor stream, and we hoped to stop here for the night but it was decreed that we must tramp on, over the hills, and camp at the other side. Half an hour was given for rest and the filling of canteens. Climbing with much difficulty a long and steep hill, we marched for three hours upon the crest of a dry, barren ridge. Not a drop of water could be obtained at any point. We were glad to de- scend, just at evening, into the beautiful Green river valley, and encamp by the streamn. General Wood took up his headquarters at a fine house near the camp. He kindly placed a guard over a number of bee hives that stood in the yard. But in spite of this precaution all the hives except one or two disappeared during the night. Yarham, the bee-man of Company E, Sixty-fifth, cap- tured one of them and we had an abundance of honey. The fact is we had little else to eat, a few bits of cracker and some coffee comprising our evening meal.
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