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 25
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The 25th of October is marked upon our army calendar as one of the hardest days we ever experienced. We marched twenty-five miles, to Columbia. Our haversacks were very nearly empty the previous night, and after an exceedingly scanty break- fast were absolutely so. During the entire day we had nothing what ever to eat. Long before we reached our journey's end, mem- bers of the new regiments fell out by hundreds. Many, even, of the veterans were wholly overcome by weakness, hunger and fatigue.
The weather, which had been warm the previous day, sud- denly changed. Soon after we started a cold rain set in, which thoroughly drenched our clothing, from head to foot. In the afternoon the rain changed to snow, with a keen and piercing wind. Our clothes froze and became as stiff as boards. The legs of our trousers felt like joints of stovepipe. The suffering and (20)
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WE DID NOT KILL THE ADJUTANT.
[October,
discomfort of such a march is beyond the power of words to por- tray. The road was rough and slippery, with the mud and slush in many places ankle deep and covered with a frozen crust. We trudged along as best we could, few of the companies having more than half their men in ranks.
Just at dark we reached Columbia and went into bivouac. Our limbs shook and our teeth chattered with the cold. A simul- taneous charge, that General Buell himself could not have pre- vented, was made upon the fences, and in a few moments great fires were blazing all along the line. The storm continued with- out abatement, but as the men gathered about the fires they be- gan to feel a touch of comparative warmth and comfort. The prospect for the night was cheerless enough. The ground was wet and covered with snow. Many had neither blankets nor over- coats, and there was no shelter except such as could be made of rails and boughs. The best possible use was made of these meager resources. Later in the evening rations were issued, and draughts of hot coffee, with the accessories of hardtack and bacon. did wonders in reviving bodily strength and raising drooping spirits.
But what pen can do justice to the feelings of those whose turn it was to go on picket that night! I speak advisedly, for our company "drew the black bean" in the Sixty-fifth. I have al- ways wondered that some member of Company E did not smite the adjutant dead when he came to us, a few minutes after our arrival-just as we were getting our fires lighted and before the rations had been distributed-and directed us to report for picket duty immediately. We were ordered to go about a mile from camp on the road by which we came, select our own post and spend the night ; no fires to be allowed. We suggested rations, as we had eaten nothing since morning, and were in a state bor- dering on starvation. He said that as soon as rations were re- ceived ours should be sent out to us. The adjutant, however, must have forgotten us, for we did not get a single cracker until the next day.
I doubt if men, though accustomed to obey, ever went in the discharge of duty with more reluctance and louder grumbling than did Company E that dismal night. As we tramped along
1862.]
307
A NIGHT OF UNSPEAKABLE WOE.
through the fast falling snow, no sound was heard save now and then when some disgusted patriot gave vent to his feelings by incendiary remarks and explosive "cuss-words." - Through the snow and darkness we could not see an arm's length ahead.
We finally found a cluster of haystacks near the road and there established our post. Groping about, we made a tolerable shelter from the storm, by inclining rails against one of the stacks and covering them with hay. Four sentinels being posted, the company crawled under the shelter. Our clothes were frozen stiff and nobody could sleep. We just lay and shivered, almost dead with the cold. There was never a night of my life when the hours dragged so slowly.
Our orders were to pass no one, either within or without the lines, and to hold until morning any suspicious person. About eleven o'clock a citizen tried to pass. The sentinel could not see him until but a step distant. The man was almost paralyzed with fright as he heard the command to halt, and saw a bayonet within a foot of his breast. He said he lived just "over yander," but he did not give a very satisfactory account of himself, prob- ably because he was so badly scared, and we told him he must keep us company till morning. He was, if possible, in a worse plight than ourselves, having no shoes worth speaking of. He begged piteously to be allowed to go home but we ordered him to crawl into the hay and make himself as comfortable as he could. All the rest of the night he lay there, with chattering teeth, swear- ing softly to himself with a depth of feeling that I never heard excelled.
With the first appearance of daylight we built a great fire of rails, around which we gathered and were gradually thawed into a good humor. Our prisoner came out in a most forlorn condi- tion, and after he had warmed himself was permitted to go his way. It was Sunday morning. Probably few thought of the fact, nor, if we had, would it have deterred us from going forag- ing for something to eat, as we had had nothing for twenty-four hours. The snow lay fully eight inches deep, and the cold wind swept keenly across the fields. The net proceeds of the foraging expedition were a very lean and long-nosed razor-back pig and half a bushel of frozen apples. On these we made our breakfast.
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THE BATTERY BOYS IN CLOVER.
[October,
Toward noon the adjutant, or somebody else in camp, happened to think we might be hungry and sent out some rations for us. The weather moderated and, as we fared sumptuously on coffee and hardtack, the jest and laugh and song went round as aforetime.
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During the day fully five hundred stragglers from the divi- sion passed into camp. They had given out the previous day, and had spent the night in the woods, or in houses and barns along the road. Most of them belonged to the Seventy-third In- diana, One Hundredth Illinois and Ninety-seventh Ohio, the three new regiments. It cannot be denied that the campaign from Louisville to Columbia was a terrible breaking in for the raw troops. It was not a cause for wonder that these regiments were reduced in numbers by hundreds. Few of the men had ever before marched a mile in their lives.
Captain Baldwin writes: "The Third Kentucky infantry, with which the Sixth battery was intimately associated during its first service in Kentucky, belonged to our division, and many of its members lived in the blue-grass region through which we passed. They met many friends and we of the battery stood around and enjoyed their happiness and their buttermilk. They all had a warm side for the battery boys. Columbia was the home of Colonel Thomas E. Bramlette, the first commander of the Third Kentucky. While in the service he showed a strong friendship for our battery. He sent an invitation to the officers to visit his hospitable home in the evening, but none were brave enough to do so. The next day he sent word that he would come and dine with the battery, sending a basket filled with delicacies, not forgetting the old Kentucky peaches (bottled).
"About this time we were called upon to part with Colonel James Barnett, of the First Ohio light artillery. He had joined our mess at Louisville, and had been with us during the Bragg campaign through Kentucky. As soon as the army changed commanders, Colonel Barnett was assigned to duty as chief of artillery to General Rosecrans. While we missed him around our nightly camp-fires, we found it was worth something to have a friend at court."
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1862.
CHAPTER XXX.
ONCE MORE AT NASHVILLE.
THE BAGGAGE TRAIN REJOINS US AFTER TWO MONTHS SEPARATION- WE GET A FEW BELL TENTS -- ELEVEN WEEKS WITHOUT SHELTER -TO GLASGOW AND SCOTTSVILLE-A DAY WHEN WE NEEDED SKATES-A NIGHT SCAMPER TO GALLATIN -AN ATTEMPT TO SUR - PRISE JOHN MORGAN-BUT IT FAILED-OTHER FUTILE EFFORTS TO CATCH CAVALRY WITH INFANTRY-THE HORSES OUTRAN US-DO- ING PENANCE IN THE ARMY-A BIG FORAY FOR FORAGE-AT SILVER SPRINGS-THEN TO NASHVILLE.
W E LAY four days at Columbia. Although the weather was unpleasant, we improvised shelters that were fairly comfortable. We burned about all the rails within a radius of a mile, and foraged everything in sight that could satisfy a hungry man's appetite. The rest was greatly needed, to put us in pliysical condition for future move- ments. The day before we left there was a very enthusiastic demonstration in camp over the arrival of our baggage train, which we had not seen since leaving Cave City on our march northward, nearly two montlis before. As the teamsters drove into camp, cracking their long whips like pistols, with a skill only
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ONCE MORE THE MULE-DRIVERS' YELLS.
[October,
acquired by long practice, and yelling "Whoop! G'lang thar, you Pete and Jinny !" there went up such a yell fiom that crowd of storm-beaten soldiers as hath seldom entered into the ear of man.
As a matter of fact there wasn't much left of our baggage. A large part of it had been destroyed in the Sequatchie valley, at the foot of the mountain, and but little now remained of the fraction that escaped the conflagration. Many of the boys had left their knapsacks with the wagons at Cave City, not dreaming that weeks and months would elapse before, in the wild confu- sion of that amazing campaign, they would find their way to us. The few considered themselves fortunate who found their knap- sacks at all, and these looked as if they had been through as rough campaigning as their owners. The scanty contents of the wagons were in a state of utter chaos. Company books and pa- pers, such as got through at all, were damp and mouldy. For some days, as opportunity was afforded, the officers and orderly sergeants had their hands full of business putting them in order, straightening out the company accounts, and bringing up the ar- rears of their reports as required by the inexorable regulations.
Chaplain Burns, of the Sixty-fifth, who went back from Wildcat with the detail to escort the train, came through safe and sound. He related with great zest how he narrowly escaped cap- ture by a band of vagrant guerrillas, by taking refuge in a dense cedar thicket and remaining hidden for hours.
A partial supply of new clothing was issued. The soldiers were glad enough to cast aside their tattered and animated gar- ments. We also received a small allowance of Bell tents-two for each company. One of these would hold about two-thirds as many men as a "Sibley," six of which each company had when we left Ohio. The ranks were now so much thinned that some of the companies were able to get along comfortably with their two Bell tents each. It is true they had to crowd in pretty closely, and all lie edgewise, like a row of spoons. When one side ached from contact with the hard ground, and a man wanted to give the bones on the other side a chance to take their turn, he would shout: "Prepare to flop-Flop!" and over they would all go at once. When the weather was pleasant some slept in the open air from choice; and with the larger companies this was a necessity, as the
1862.]
FIRE CAUSES A SCAMPER.
31I
tents would not hold them all. For nearly eleven weeks we had been constantly campaigning, without once sleeping under can- vas. A desire for revenge in some befitting manner was freely expressed when we learned, while here, that our brigade post- master, with a large quantity of mail for us, had fallen into the hands of the Philistines.
Pursuant to orders received the previous day, reveille sounded at three o'clock on the morning of October 30th. We marched at daybreak, leaving the camp a mass of roaring flames, as the soldiers, in a spirit of mischief, fired the shelters they had occupied, and the heaps of straw that lay up- on the ground.
We made forty miles in two days, camping on the evening of the 31st. near Glasgow, in a large field covered with long, dry grass. A fire having been thoughtlessly started, with- - out proper precaution, the flames caught in the grass. Fanned by a stiff breeze, they spread in every direc- tion, sweeping over the field with almost lightning JAMES P. MILLS, QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANT AND CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH. rapidity, and creating the wildest consternation. Hundreds of men were set to fighting the flames, while others seized the wagons and hurried them to a place of safety. Still others removed the arms, while everybody tried to see who could yell the loudest. The flames were at length subdued and the alarm subsided.
We continued our march the next day, passing through Glas- gow and camping on the banks of Beaver creek, where we re- mained three days. The evening dress-parade was resumed, and
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COLONEL FERGUSON SAYS GOOD-BYE.
[November,
orders were published that thereafter, whenever in camp, the old routine of four drills per day would be observed. These exercises began promptly the next morning, and the familiar "Left ! Left !" was heard once more. The camp was thoroughly policed and we had come to regard this as an infallible sign that we would move. It did not fail in this instance, for on the afternoon of the 4th we were recalled while charging around on battalion drill, to prepare for an immediate march. For many weeks this had been but a trifling matter. Having no tents to strike or wagons to load, it had been but the work of a few moments, when the drums beat, to buckle on our accouterments, take arms, and be ready for a march or a fight. Now it was like old times again.
We drew out at sun-down and traveled till ten o'clock. The next day we pulled through nearly twenty miles, camping at Scottsville. The people of this vicinity being chiefly loyal, all the gardens, orchards and fences were put under guard. But the night was dark, and a large amount of "truck" found its way into camp. Yarham and tall Corporal Tom Clague, of Company E, Sixty-fifth, made a short foray and returned with half a bushel of apples and a pailful of as delicious honey as bees ever made. The Sixty-fifth got a new doctor that evening-John M. Todd, rotund and jolly, and always ready to saw off a leg or crack a joke with equal facility. Surgeon Kyle had resigned some time before.
While here the Sixty-fourth received from Columbus, Ohio, on the 6th of November, a new stand of national colors. Its old flag, worn and faded, which had been carried for a year throughi sun and storin, was sent to the state capital for preservation.
A few days later Colonel Ferguson went to Ohio on leave of absence. The command of the Sixty-fourth devolved upon Lieutenant-colonel McIlvaine, Lieutenant-Colonel Gass having resigned. Colonel Ferguson did not return to the regiment. He left the service early in the following year, much to the regret of the officers and men, to whom he had become endeared. During the nine months which he commanded the Sixty-fourth he did much to raise it to a high plane of efficiency and make it one of the best drilled and disciplined regiments in that army. None can doubt that had he continued at its head he would have won a large measure of distinction.
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1862.]
313
WE TRY TO CATCH JOHN MORGAN.
We did not move on the 6th but spent the day industriously policing the ground and putting the camp in comfortable shape. This, of course, brought marching orders, and the next day we pushed on eighteen miles, through a continuous, drizzling sleet. One of the boys observed that it was "a damp shame" to make men march in such weather-a jest which might or might not be considered as spiced with profanity. Toward night the weather grew colder, the water froze upon the ground, and as we went up and down the hills there was such slipping and sliding and tum- bling as to greatly disturb our tempers. I have read that during the long attempt of the King of Spain to conquer the Nether- lands-it was two hundred and fifty years before Zollicoffer was killed-while engaged in a winter campaign, the soldiers of Hol- land moved from place to place on skates, over the frozen rivers and lakes of that country. Learning of this, the Spanish com- mander immediately ordered ten thousand pairs of skates for his own troops If we had been similarly provided during the latter part of that day's march, it would have been a good thing, en- abling us, in some degree, to combine pleasure with business.
As we sat around the great heaps of blazing rails that even- ing, trying to reach a more comfortable condition of mind and body, word was passed along the line that our brigade would march at midnight, on a special expedition. Intelligence had been received that the famous rebel raider, John Morgan, with a detach- ment of cavalry, was at Gallatin, fourteen miles distant, and to Colonel Harker had been assigned the duty of endeavoring to sur- prise him at daylight. We were informed that the movement would be a rapid one, and we were to go in the lightest possible order, leaving behind everything except such as appertained to shooting and eating.
We were aroused shortly before twelve. Half an hour later we moved quietly out upon the pike and sped rapidly on our way. Marching at quick time, with but a single halt in the whole dis- tance, we found ourselves, an hour before dawn, near Gallatin. where our unhappy victims were supposed to be slumbering un- consciously around their camp-fires. The regiments were so dis- posed, with strategic skill, as to approach the town from different directions, by which it was intended to cut off the escape of any of
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OFFENDERS GET THEIR MEDICINE.
[November,
those wretched troopers. Not one of them did escape, because there were none of them there to get away. As we gradually closed in upon the town we found-a deserted camp. The fires were still burning, the nest was yet warm, but the birds had flown. There were evidences of a hasty flight, doubtless caused by in- formation of our approach.
It was clear that we were not predestined to catch any rebels that morning, whatever we might do some other morning. Colonel Harker thought he would beat the bush for a while, and we spent three hours in charging in line of battle over the mead- ows and through the woods and cornfields. Then the fruitless quest was abandoned. We returned to the rebel camp, stacked arms, threw ont a picket line, and ate our breakfast undisturbed.
We lay down around the fires to sleep, and thus awaited the arrival of General Wood, with his two other brigades. The column reached us at noon. Taking our place, we marched a few miles on the Lebanon pike, and once more pitched our tents on the soil of Tennessee, our wagons having joined us there. Colonel Har- ker told us we might use rails "moderately." This was in- terpreted in a much wider sense than would be authorized by the dictionary, and the fences disappeared as if by magic.
Sunday, November gtli, we did not march. We policed and arranged the camp very thoroughly, however-preparatory to moving, as we did, on the following day. For some weeks a division court-martial had been at work, holding its sessions from time to time when we were lying in camp, trying a large number of offenders against military discipline and the laws of war. On this Sunday evening, at dress-parade, the findings and sentences were read before each regiment, as a warning to evil doers. The members of the Sherman Brigade were not all saints, and our regiments were represented in the list of malefactors. The sen- tences were of every sort-forfeiture of pay ; confinement in the guard-house, which often had only an imaginary existence; days or weeks at extra duty, with ball and chain attached to the leg ; to have the head shaved and be drummed out of camp-and many other unique devices. We thought some of the penalties rather severe for the offences. Of the latter there wasa large and well- selected assortment, those most numerous being disobedience of orders, theft and drunkenness.
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PUNISHMENTS IN THE ARMY.
1862.]
Minor offences in the army were generally punished sum- marily, without trial, by order, verbal or otherwise, of a general, colonel or captain. It was not an uncommon thing to see a man doing penance for his misdeeds by carrying a heavy railor log of wood on his shoulder, pacing to and fro for a given time, while a guard with fixed bayonet kept him moving; or he might be stand- ing against a building or under a tree, with his thumbs tied high above his head, in which painful position he remained for one or two hours. If his offense were a flagrant one, perhaps the gag was applied. This was sometimes a stick of wood, but more frequently a bayonet, which was placed transversely in the cul- prit's mouth, and securely tied by a string at the back of the neck. This effectually prevented speech, and was altogether uncomfort- able. Sometimes a man would be tied by the hands to the tail- board of a wagon and compelled thus to march for hours at a time. Now and then might be seen a culprit sitting astride a pole or rail a few feet from the ground; or standing upon a barrel as though in the attitude of making a stump-speech ; or parading the camp under guard with a barrel, from which the heads had been knocked out, around his body. Human ingenuity was taxed to the uttermost to devise grotesque modes of punishment. An extra turn of police or fatigue duty was often deemed sufficient for trifling infractions of discipline.
It was reported that Morgan's hard-riders were at Lebanon. That night at twelve o'clock a brigade of Van Cleve's division started on an expedition like ours to Gallatin. The result was the same-a swift, hard march, only to find that the enemy had fled.
We marched after an early breakfast, leaving a detail from each company to await the return of the wagons, which had been sent to Bowling Green the previous day for rations. When near Lebanon we crossed to the Nashville pike, marched eight miles farther, and went into camp at Silver Springs. The field was surrounded by a high fence of dry cedar rails, and in a few min- utes huge, crackling fires dispelled the chilliness of the frosty air. Tents were pitched at midnight, upon the arrival of the wagons.
A vague rumor that Morgan intended to give us a dose of the medicine we had labored so hard to administer to him-al- though it seemed improbable enough in view of our large force-
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NINE DAYS AT SILVER SPRINGS,
[November,
was sufficient to call us into line at three, to stand at arms till daybreak. During all our march from Wildcat the enemy's cav- alry had hovered on our flanks and rear, picking up a very consider- able number of stragglers. This elicited from General Critten- den an order forbidding, under the severest penalties, all strag- gling, for any purpose whatever, when upon the march.
We lay quietly at Silver Springs for nine days. The only stirring event was another insane attempt to catch Morgan, who had reoccupied Lebanon. As the night scheme had twice failed, it was determined to try it by daylight. On November 15th Wood's entire division started with one day's rations in haver- sacks. Leaving camp at eight o'clock, we were put through at a terrific pace, halting but once in the twelve miles. We reached Lebanon soon after eleven, but the rebels, like sensible men, had mounted their horses and galloped away. They had been gone more than an hour, but General Wood, with a faith in the legs of his soldiers that was sublimely touching, ordered the division to give chase on the double quick. After we had gone a mile at this rate, and everybody-except those on horseback-was badly blown, the general wisely concluded that such a campaign would not pay expenses and called a halt. The effort to catch cavalry with infantry generally failed, for obvious reasons. We tried it several times, and although we had-as we then thought and still think-fair ability as pedestrians, the troopers always got away.
Lebanon, Tennessee, was then a very cheerful appearing town, of perhaps two thousand inhabitants. At this time it had suffered little from the ravages of war. It contained many charming residences-which looked more like northern homes than any we had seen for months-and a large female college. The prevailing sentiment of the people strongly favored the southern cause, and their faces had a vitriolic appearance as we passed. After resting two or three hours we marched leisurely back to camp, arriving at nine o'clock in the evening, weary and footsore.
We settled down to the dull routine of camp life, with daily drills and guard and picket duty. Several foraging expeditions were sent out, sometimes to a distance of ten miles, for corn and other supplies for men and animals. These went strongly guard-
1862.]
PRODIGIOUS CHEERS FOR "OLD ROSEY."
317
ed, usually by two or three regiments, as the region was infested with prowling bands of hostile cavalry. These trips were very fatiguing, involving long marches and generally the labor of gathering the corn from the standing stalks in the fields and load- ing the wagons.
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