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 40
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504
THE BAYONET WAS USEFUL-FOR SOME THINGS.
[April
squares and figures for "chuck-a-luck," "honest John" and other games which allured but impoverished.
The idea in the popular mind respecting the bayonet, as a factor in war, was much of a delusion. The soldiers, generally speaking, did not do a tenth part of the stabbing with it that they expected. They killed a good many pigs and sheep, but very few men. From the thrilling pictures and tales of bayonet charges, which had stirred their blood and quickened their pulses in boy- hood, they imagined when they enlisted that they would toss the unhappy rebels around with their bayonets, very much as a farmer, with a fork, pitchies pumpkins from a wagon. With two or three million bayonets being carried around so long. it would have been strange if somebody did not get hurt. Some men on both sides were killed or wounded by their thrusts, but the percentage of casualties from this cause was small. Many surgeons of large ex- perience never dressed a bayonet wound ; it was the bullets that
1 did the mischief. None will deny the moral force of a well exe- cuted bayonet charge, accompanied by that invariable accessory, the yell, which, of itself, was enough to bleach the hair of an ordinary mortal. Creative wisdom gave to few men "sand " enough to stand long before a rushing line of shining steel points. The impulse to give way before it was usually irresistible; and so it was that only in rare cases did the bayonet prove to be long enough to reach for purposes of blood-letting. But the soldiers found the bayonet handy for a good many things. As a substitute for a coffee-mill and as a candlestick its use was universal. On the long campaigns, the coffee grains were always pulverized by pounding them in a tin cup with the butt-end of a bayonet. For a candlestick, the point was thrust into the ground or into a cracker- box, and the candle inserted in the socket. For every drop of hu- man blood that dimmed the luster of a bayonet, barrels of candle- grease flowed down its fluted sides. The soldiers had little to read, and it might be imagined that they had very little use for candles, but it should be remembered that there were millions of games of euchre and seven-up that had to be played, and it was necessary to have light enough so that a depraved man could not hide aces and bowers in his sleeve or "turn jack " from the bottom. It was probably to protect its brave defenders from these fraudulent
1864.]
505
CONCERNING CORPS BADGES.
practices that candles were issued to the soldiers, as that was about all they were used for.
Corps badges were adopted in the east early in the war, but in the west they did not come into use until near the close of the year 1863. The badge of the Fourth corps was a triangle, that of the Fourteenth, an acorn, and of the Twentieth, a star. These three corps composed the army of the Cumberland. Badges were of three different colors, red indicating the first division, white the second, and blue the third. Each officer and . man wore upon his hat or cap the badge of his divi- sion, and every wagon was similarly decorated. Thus it could be told at a glance to what division and corps a soldier or vehicle belonged. A white triangle designated the Second division of the Fourth corps; a red star, the First division of the Twentieth corps, etc. Dur- ing the movements of an army the badges were of great assistance in prevent- ing confusion. The star -afterward adopted by the Twentieth corps -- was worn JOSEPH M. KANDALL, CAPTAIN, SIXTY-FIFTH. by the Twelfth corps of eastern "paper collar sol- diers," as the western boys called them, when it went to Chatta- nooga from Virginia.
"Jist look at them fellers; be jabers, they're all brigadier- gin'rals!" said our Phil Sheridan, the first time he saw them.
There were many senseless and ridiculous phrases in common use among the soldiers, such as "Grab a root!" "Here's your mule !" "Git thar, Eli!" Nobody can tell where or how they originated, but once started they went through the army every- where. For a time, before his promotion, good-natured "Joe"
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506
THE ARMY VERNACULAR.
[April,
Sonnanstine, of Company C, served as forage-master of the Sixty- fifth, his function, when upon the march, being to look out for a supply of forage for the animals. He rode a fat, sleek, long-eared beast, and never hove in sight without being greeted with a cho- rus of yells: "Here's yer mule!" Any man on horseback- provided he was not so high in rank as to make the familiarity dangerous - who dashed along the flank of the column, and chanced to be an unskillful rider, was earnestly exhorted to "Grab a root !". evidently upon the theory that by doing so he might save him- self from falling out of his saddle. The boys took par- ticular delight in " firing " this at some dandyish young staff officer, who, they thought, was putting 011 too much style. The victim generally spurred - his horse into a gallop to get out of range, looking as though he would like to "grab" a whole handful of "roots," or something else, and fling them at the heads of his tormentors. "Ran " Swan, of Company H. Six- ty-fifthi, had a favorite "gag" JOHN YARMAN, COMPANY I, SIXTY-FOURTH. that he lost no opportunity to use. Catching siglit of a horseman he would exclaim loudly, "Oh, say!" Supposing himself addressed, the rider would perhaps rein up to see what was wanted. Then Swan would continue, singing,
"-can you see by the dawn's early light?"
but before he could finish the strain the horseman would be out of hearing.
During the last year or two of the war, persons in the north printed thousands of bushels of " fac-simile " Confederate money. Under the laws they were not guilty of counterfeiting, for the
1864.]
SONS OF BELIAL. 507
United States government did not, of course, recognize Confeder- ate currency as money at all. In fact, the spurious stuff was worth just about as much as the genuine, for of the latter, in 1864, from fifty to eighty dollars only equaled in value one dollar in gold. At any rate, the Union soldiers, returning from their veteran furloughs, took with them great quantities of the "fac- simile," in bills of five, ten, twenty, fifty and a hundred imaginary dollars. It may not have been very credita- ble to pass the stuff upon negroes and ignorant whites in the south in pay- ment for chickens and truck, but many did this. The victims of misplaced confidence thought they were being paid for their poultry and vegetables. Sometimes a man who had been victimized would enter the camp and tell his tale of woe at headquarters, and he'would be assured that the offender, if identified, would be properly pun- ished; but the soldiers were LEMUEL KRISHER, SECOND LIEUTENANT, SIXTH BATTERY. all dressed alike, and he could not tell one from another. Frequently an officer would de- liver a lecture to his men upon the turpitude of such things, but it is to be feared that in most cases his words were like the seed scattered by the sower in the parable, which "fell among thorns" or "upon stony ground where they had not much earth."
This "money " was used with utter recklessness upon the "chuck-a-luck " board and in fattening "jack-pots "-whatever these may be.
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[May,
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CHAPTER XLVII.
FIGHTING TOWARD ATLANTA.
OPENING OF THE GREAT CAMPAIGN-THE CONFRONTING ARMIES-A FEW GENERAL OBSERVATIONS-HARKER'S BRIGADE CLIMBS ROCKY- FACE RIDGE-THE DESPERATE STRUGGLE ON THE CREST-SUPERB GALLANTRY OF THE SIXTY-FOURTH-ITS SEVERE LOSS-DEATH OF COLONEL MCILVAINE-WE DESCEND THE RIDGE.
G ENERAL SHERMAN began the Atlanta campaign with ninety-nine thousand men and two hundred and fifty-four pieces of artillery. This force comprised the Army of the Cumberland, (Thomas), Fourth, Fourteenth and Twentieth corps : Army of the Tennessee, (McPherson), Fif- teenth and part of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth corps; Army of the Ohio, (Schofield), Twenty-third corps. The Eleventh and Twelfth corps, from the Army of the Potomac, had been con- solidated, designated the Twentieth, and permanently attached to the Army of the Cumberland. General Gordon Granger was re- lieved of the command of our ( Fourth) corps, on account of friction between him and General Sherman. He was succeeded
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1864.]
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DANIEL FRENCH, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, SIXTY-FIFTH.
510
THE CONFRONTING ARMIES.
[May,
by General Oliver O. Howard, who had come west as commander of the Eleventh corps. Howard was an educated and experi- enced soldier. He had lost an arm in the peninsula campaign of .1862, under Mcclellan. Our division, the Second, had also a new leader. General Grant-now Lieutenant-general, command- ing all the armies of the United States-had chosen Sheridan to command the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac, and in his place we had General Jolm Newton, who up to this time had served in the eastern army. Our brigade remained the same as at the consolidation, a few months before, when the Fourth corps was born.
General Bragg had been superseded by General Joseph E. Johnston in the command of the rebel army at Dalton, which at this time had a field strength of about fifty thousand men. Within a month it was augmented by reinforcements numbering fully twenty thousand. With these remarks upon the situation and the "shaking up" among our generals, we are ready to start for Atlanta, the goal of our summer campaign.
While waiting for the word "Go !" we may indulge a few general observations upon that wonderful campaign. It was lit- erally, in the words of General Sherman, "a hundred and twenty days under fire." For four months there was scarcely a day that we did not hear the whistle of bullets and the scream of shells. Sherman's pressure upon the enemy ceased not for a moment, save once or twice when his army was given a brief rest. It was fight and march incessantly. Sometimes for days the con- tending armies lay in the trenches, separated by a distance of short musket range. If a soldier on either side exposed himself to view he was made the instant target of a score of bullets. Day by day men were shot and buried where they fell. The sol- diers acquired an amazing facility in throwing up intrenchments. Upon taking a new position, nothing else was thought of until the front was covered with a line of works, built of logs, rails, stones-anything that came to hand. Often this was done two or three times in a day. Whenever we lay for a few days in one place, the works were made very strong, surmounted by "head- logs," raised a few inches above the parapet. Through this open- ing the soldiers thrust their muskets to fire, with the greatest pos-
1864.]
511
GENERAL VIEW OF THE CAMPAIGN.
sible protection. The "Johnnies" found such works just as comfortable as we did, and their intrenchments were just as strong and well constructed as our own. Often these were found altogether too formidable to be carried by assault, and then "Uncle Billy" would resort to flanking. Not in a single instance did this fail to dislodge the enemy. Sherman came to be known as the "great flanker." After he left Chattanooga he kept his eye im- movably fixed upon Atlanta until he got it.
During the campaign there was very much hard and bloody fighting, but it is a singular fact that at no time was fought what might be termed a general engagement, in which bothi armies, entire, participated. The collisions occurred here or there in the long line, in- volving rarely more than one or two corps, and often only divisions or brigades. Skirmishing and picket firing were incessant and deadly. No man awoke in the morning without the consciousness that before night he might be num- bered amony the dead or wounded. From Rocky DAVID HAINES, COMPANY E, SIXTY-FIFTH. Killed at Stone River, December 31st, 1862. Face ridge to Lovejoy's station, thirty miles south of Atlanta, we were con- stantly at high tension. Sherman's army never receded. When- ever it went forward it stayed there, until it was ready to leap again to the front. Slowly but surely the Confederates were pressed backward, forced to abandon one after another of their chosen positions.
One of the marvels of the campaign was the usual plenitude
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512
THE LONG LINE OF SUPPLY.
[May,
of rations and supplies of all kinds for the Union army. The real base was Louisville, three hundred and forty miles from Chattanooga, and by the middle of June, by Sherman's advance, the slender line of communication had been lengthened a hun- dred miles. Throughout the entire distance the railroad ran through a country, the inhabitants of which were more or less hostile, and which was infested by large bodies of rebel cavalry, intent upon breaking the line.
Every bridge and trestle had to be strongly guarded, and no train dared to move with- out a detachment of sol- diers on board. Frequent breaks occurred, but these were usually repaired with a celerity that is almost ill- credible. General Sherman had a thoroughly organized corps of engineers and me- chanics for this special pur- pose. Without its invalu- able services, the campaign to Atlanta would have been scarcely possible. At vari- ous points were large quan- tities of timber, prepared for instant use in bridge building, and rails, materi- als and tools for the repair ROBERT C. M'FARLAND, SERGEANT COMPANY E, SIXTY-FOURTH. of track, engines and cars. Only once or twice during the summer was the flow of supplies interrupted for a sufficient length of time to cause the soldiers any serious discomfort. The army was kept free from all impedimenta which could interfere with its rapid movement. Officers and men disabled by wounds or sickness were sent to the rear.as fast as possible. Of these, thousands, after a few days or weeks of rest and medical treatment, returned to duty. They rode to the front upon the tops of railroad trains, loaded with supplies, and the cars returned
1864.]
"UP, GUARDS, AND AT THEM !"
513
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northward freighted with the suffering and the dying. This brief horoscope of the campaign before us will assist a clear understand- ing of the narrative.
Shortly before midnight of May 7th, company commanders were aroused from sleep and summoned to regimental headquar- ters. They were informed that the whole army would advance at daylight, and the men must be held in readiness for instant ac- tion. Reveille was sounded at three o'clock and Newton's divi- sion moved at four-Wag- ner's brigade leading, Harker's second. Within an hour Wagner's skirmish - ers found the enemy and brisk firing began at once. The rebels retired stubborn- ly, taking advantage of fences, trees and rocks, from the shelter of which to give us all the annoyance pos- sible. After proceeding about four miles the ad- vance ran against some- thing so solid that General Newton formed the division in line of battle. We wait- ed an hour for an attack which did not come, and then began "beating the bush" to see if we could GEORGE W. HARLAN, SERGEANT, COMPANY B, COLOR BEARER, SIXTY-FIFTH. flush the game. We climbed hills and crashed through brier thickets until we were thoroughly exhausted. The rebels had gone to the rear. We pushed on to within a short dis- tance of Tunnel Hill, where we bivouacked for the night.
On the Sth Harker's brigade did a good Sabbath day's work -and a hard one. We started early and soon found ourselves at the foot of Rocky Face ridge, whichi rises precipitously to the height of six hundred feet. General Howard, who was with us (33)
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514
SCRAMBLING UP ROCKY FACE.
[May,
that morning, asked Colonel Harker if he could take that ridge. "We can try !" was Harker's answer. Halting for a few minutes the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Ohio was deployed as skir- mishers and started right up the steep acclivity, supported by the Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth and the other regiments of the brigade. It was a very hot day 'and the ascent was extremely laborious. At some points the hill was so steep that the mien were obliged to pull themselves up by the aid of roots and bushes. It was one of those occasions when the usually preposterous exhortation to "grab a root" was not inappropri- ate.
Before going far our skirmishers encountered a thin, straggling line of reb- els. They began a sput- tering fire but retreated to- ward the crest as we ad- vanced. Upon the summit they made a bold stand, but, without halting for an instant, Harker's brigade pressed on and swept them off, killing some and cap- : turing others, while the rest fled down the other side or along the top of the ANDREW LYBOLD, FIRST LIEUTENANT, SIXTY-FOURTH. ridge. As we crowned the crest and planted our flags, the soldiers gave vent to their feelings in lusty shouts. Pickets were at once established and the various regiments assigned their positions. The loss of the brigade was four killed and a dozen wounded, chiefly in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth. Colonel Opdycke, of that regiment, who was always conspicuous for his courage, led his men in the scramble to reach the top. The ridge was inaccessible to horses and all of them were left at the bottom.
From the lofty summit there was a magnificent view. The
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1864.]
HAULING UP ARTILLERY.
515
ridge separated the hostile armies. On one side, as far as the eye could reach, we saw the great masses of soldiers in blue, standing at arms or inoving about; on the other, in plain view, were the camps of the enemy, swarming with men in gray and "butter- nut." To the southward, the hills seemed piled one upon another until lost in the distance. Three or four miles away was the town of Dalton. The scene presented to our eyes was a superb and impressive picture of nature mingled with the dread pageant- ry of war. It was the grandest panorama that was ever spread out before us. At night we could see the camp-fires of the two armies, gleaming and twinkling for miles in every direction.
Colonel Harker thought it would be a good plan to have a little artillery on the ridge with which to wake up the Johnnies in the morning. There was no such word as "impossi- ble" in the army vocabu- lary, and he directed Colo- nel Dunlap to see what he could do with his Kentuck- ians. At dusk the Third Kentucky, leaving its arms ASA M. TRIMBLE, FIRST LIEUTENANT AND QUARTER- MASTER, SIXTY-FIFTH. stacked, descended the ridge and two cannon were placed at their disposal. Two ropes, a hundred feet long, were fastened to each piece, and these were seized by the men, while others took hold of the wheels. At the word they started with a yell that woke the echoes far and near. It is scarcely credible, but within an hour those "dogs of war" were at the top. It was only accomplished after infinite tugging and toiling. Colonel Harker laughed heartily as he warmly congratulated Colonel Dun-
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516
THEY GRATIFIED THEIR CURIOSITY.
[May,
lap on his success. "We'll give those fellows a surprise in the morning !" he said.
The night passed without incident. We were in line of bat- tle at three o'clock in the morning. At early dawn Colonel Har- ker told the artillerists to toss a few shells among the rebels. No attempt had been made to drag caissons up the ridge. A supply of ammunition had been carried up in the arms of the men. The effect of the shots was instantaneous. Evidently the rebels had not dreamed that artillery could be planted upon that lofty summit, and the bursting of shells about their ears threw them into a panic. We could plainly see them scurrying around to get out of range. A few of their guns opened in reply, but their missiles did not reach us.
That morning Commissary-sergeant William H. Farber and John W. Leidigh, of Company C, Sixty-fourth, thought they would like to "view the landscape o'er," and so they climbed a tall tree just over the crest of the ridge. They enjoyed the scene -for just about two minutes. The rebel pickets caught sight of them and promptly opened fire. Bullets whistled around and pat- tered against the trunk, while Farber and Leidigh scrambled down very much faster than they went up. No doubt they made even better time than Zaccheus did when directed to "make haste and come down " from the sycamore tree.
Lieutenant Benjamin F. Trescott, of the Sixty-fifth, had an experience somewhat similar, which had the same effect to check curiosity, as in the case mentioned. From behind a little barri- cade, Trescott raised his head and peeped over. Instantly a mus- ket cracked and a bullet tore through his hat, just grazing his head. Trescott concluded right away that he had seen all he wanted to. But the utter wreck of his hat was a cause of grief to him. It was a fancy, new one, of extra quality and price, with which he had provided himself when at home on veteran furlough.
To the southward, not far from our position, the ridge was occupied by a strong force of the enemy, posted behind heavy works across the narrow crest, and extending for some distance down the ridge upon both sides. In the afternoon General New- ton ordered Harker's brigade to storm these intrenchments and, if possible, drive the enemy entirely from the ridge. The attack
1864.]
GALLANTRY OF THE SIXTY-FOURTH.
517
was made between four and five o'clock, the Sixty-fourth Ohio in the advance, supported by the Third Kentucky and Seventy-ninth Illinois, the remainder of the brigade in reserve. It was an ex- ceedingly difficult and perilous enterprise. The sides of the ridge were so steep and rocky that it was scarcely possible to advance, except by the flank, along the narrow crest. This ex- posed the assaulting column to a most deadly enfilading fire. Nothing in the history of the war exceeds the gallantry of the Sixty-fourth, as it rushed forward into the flame and smoke, up to the very muz- zles of the blazing muskets. Its officers and men did all that was possible to human effort, but in vain. The position was too well de- fended and the natural ob- stacles were too great to be overcome. The battle was over in half an hour, but in that brief time the Six- ty-fourth had suffered most grievously. The long list of casualties abundantly at- tests its mettle and endur- ance. Thie fierceness of the combat is shown by the fact that the losses of the Sixty-fourth during DANIEL S. MARVIN, COMPANY H, SIXTY-FOURTH. those thirty minutes were equal to those which it suffered during the two days' fighting at Chickamauga, or in the desperate struggle at Stone River. Rocky Face was reddened by the blood of nineteen dead and more than sixty wounded from that little band of heroes. Colonel Al- exander McIlvaine, that lion-hearted soldier, and the brave and faithful Lieutenant Thomas H. Ehlers, were among the slain. The national flag of the regiment was carried into the fight by Sergeant William D. Patterson, of Company C. The staff was
518
TWO COLOR-BEARERS KILLED.
[May,
shattered by a bullet, but Patterson pressed forward at the lead of the storming column. A ball entered his forehead and he fell dead upon the colors, staining them with his blood. The flag was immediately seized and borne aloft by Sergeant Henry C. Parr, of Company E. A few moments later he, too, sealed his courage and devotion with his life. Instantly the banner was in the hands of Sergeant Christian M. Gowing, of Company H, and he carried it through in safety.
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The death of Colonel McIlvaine was deeply mourned. He was a true patriot, a stran- ger to fear. conscientious and faithful in the dis- charge of duty. His body was sent to his home in Mansfield, where it was laid to rest with military honors. Lieutenant-colo- nel Robert C. Brown suc- ceeded to the command of the regiment, continuing to lead it, with ability and courage, until its last gun was fired.
The circumstances of Colonel McIlvaine's death were peculiar, illustrating his kindness of heart and his indifference to danger. THOMAS W. SCREEN, QUARTERMASTER SERGEANT, SIXTH BATTERY. At the point where the fighting had been hottest, there was a narrow gorge between the rocks, which was completely covered, at short range, by the muskets of the enemy. In the ardor of the assault some of the Sixty-fourth pressed through this gorge and a number of them were killed or wounded, the others making their way back after it was found impossible to carry the position in front. While waiting for orders to retire, officers and men covered themselves behind the rocks and trees. Colonel McIlvaine heard the cries
1864.]
HOW BRAVE M'ILVAINE FELL. 519
of a wounded soldier, who lay beyond the gorge, and directed Captain Samuel M. Wolff to send a man to his assistance. Wolff, than whom no braver man ever drew sword, replied :
"Colonel, it will be certain death to any man who attempts to pass between those rocks. If you order me to go I will obey, but I will not send one of my men. If you wish to put me in arrest, here is my sword."
"I will go, myself !" said the colonel.
Captain Wolff and other officers endeavored to dissuade him, telling him that he would surely be shot, and suggesting that it was nearly night and in a - short time, under cover of darkness, the suffering man might be reached. But McIlvaine was inexorable and started upon his errand. He had no sooner entered the narrow pass than lie fell, a bullet having passed entirely through his body. He was laid upon a stretch- er and borne to the rear. Colonel Harker, whose tremulous voice showed how deeply he was affected, spoke to him as he was car- JOSEPH E. MOSER, CORPORAL, COMPANY C, SIXTY-FOURTH. Killed at Chickamauga, September 20th, 1863. ried past, but the dying of- ficer was unable to answer intelligibly. Tears flowed freely from the eyes of Harker, as he turned away. Harker had sometimes been impatient with Mc- Ilvaine, because the latter did not, in all matters of discipline and drill, come up to the high standard of West Point; but in the hour of death he paid affectionate and willing tribute to one with whom he had been so long associated, who had never flinched in the face of danger, who had been ever faithful to duty as he saw it, and now had laid his life upon the altar of patriotism.
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