USA > Pennsylvania > History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania volunteer cavalry which was recruited and known as the Anderson cavalry in the rebellion of 1861-1865; > Part 30
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The fight, to the best of my recollection, lasted but five minutes, several of the Confederates being killed and wounded ; but a great surprise was in store for us. With a little squad of men we were moving among the wounded and dead, and I was taking a revolver from the pocket of a Confederate officer, when one of the men called my attention to General Vance and a squad of men, con- sisting of two aids and two orderlies, advancing toward us. I was soon in the saddle and demanded their surrender.
We brought the orderlies and officers down, turning them over to Colonel Palmer, where General Vance made a formal surrender to him, and then and there gave his parole. During this expedition we captured about 200 horses, 104 prisoners, including the General in command, two of his aids and six commissioned officers. We also recaptured all the wagons and prisoners taken from the Union army, including the captured citizens, and also a new ambulance and all its equipments, which we used afterward in our own Regiment. I was not with the command on the return to Sevier- ville, and can therefore give no account of that confused and hard march, having been given charge of the General and all the commissioned officers who had given their parole, and had there- fore started in advance of the command.
Under orders from Colonel Palmer we then proceeded to Maj. Pinkto Toomy's residence, in Sevierville, the Major having been
The Pursuit and Capture of General Vance. 353
captured at early dawn at McNutt's place. We remained two days at Sevierville, but on the third evening, just at dusk, I was ordered with a detail to proceed with all the Confederate commissioned officers who had given their parole to the commanding officer at Dandridge, twenty-six miles away.
In March, 1889, I had the pleasure of meeting General Vance at the Patent Office, in Washington, but I had previously received the following letter from him, dated September 3, 1887 :
"WASHINGTON, September 3, 1887.
"SERG.'E. W. ANDERSON :
"Sir,-Illness from July 1, 1887, has kept me from answering your note of August 3d. I was captured at Crosby's Creek, in Cocke County, Tenn., the 14th of January, 1864, by Colonel Pal- mer's Regiment. Through a disobedience of orders my rear guard had come in too near the main body. A mistake had been made by the advance guard taking the road across the mountain toward North Carolina, when I intended to turn toward Newport, Tenn. Thus one-half of the wagon train was down the creek and the other half up when General Palmer struck my command in the center from the crossroad. Believing that most of the command was down the creek, I turned there, but soon after found my mistake. Nearly the whole of the command was up the creek. Some scouts, as roving bands called themselves, said to the men, "Now you had better get out of here." They in that way created a panic. If I had been at the upper end of the line I think I could have rallied the men and formed at the rock fence. When I found that only a few men were down the creek I passed under a severe fire around the side of the mountain until I saw Lieutenant Horton, of my command, sitting against a tree on the rocky knoll. I rode up to him and asked him where the men were. He made no answer. Then you demanded my surrender, and I thought you belonged to a Georgia squad, and I paid no heed until your com- mand cocked their pieces and presented them almost in my face. It was then revealed to me that everything in front, up the road and down, was blue. Seeing no chance to get away I surrendered to you, and was carried first to jail in Knoxville, then to the penitentiary in Nashville; from thence to Camp Chase, where I stayed two months, and finally to Fort Delaware. On my way to Fort Delaware I planned the escape of Captain Wright, an account of which was published in the Philadelphia Times. I could have got out myself, but would have been missed. Captain Wright was never missed, and his name was not called at roll call at Fort Delaware.
"Truly, "ROBT. B. VANCE."
23
DANDRIDGE, 24TH OF DECEMBER, 1863.
LIEUT. JOHN KNOX MARSHALL, COMPANY F, BOSTON, MASS.
A' FTER the lapse of forty years my recollection of the Dan- dridge affair consists almost entirely of the part our Regi- nient took in the fight, and is confined to a few incidents which may be of interest to our comrades and their children.
The cavalry force in East Tennessee was under the command of Generals Sturgis and Elliott, and was stationed at or near Mossy Creek. Receiving information that a considerable force of the enemy were moving in the direction of Dandridge, General Elliott moved his command, in an endeavor to cut them off. To accomplish this purpose part of the command moved toward Dan- dridge to make a front attack, the remainder being posted in reserve to cut off their retreat. The Fifteenth belonged to the latter body. We were posted in a wood on a hill, and our scouts reported a small body of the enemy dismounted, immediately below us.
Colonel Palmer obtained permission to capture this party, and with about ninety men we marched, singlefile, down a trail through the woods and through a gate into an open field, where we saw what appeared to be a party of twenty dismounted men with their horses. They were situated on a knoll, and were evidently a picket force. As we entered the field, with Colonel Palmer in advance, we charged them with the saber.
As we were obliged to enter the field singly, our force was scattered. Our cheers brought the rebels to their guns, and we were greeted with a volley. This did not halt us, but we saw a sight that caused us to beat a rapid retreat, for in the road, at a halt, was at least a brigade of the enemy. Colonel Palmer with his saber waved a retreat, which obliged those in advance to describe a half circle, and which caused us to pass in front of the enemy, who now tore down fences and gave us a rapid pursuit. As our exit was through the gate or over the fence, they gained
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Dandridge, 24th of December, 1863.
on us, and, as a consequence, ten of our men were captured. Captain Airey's horse was shot and fell on the Captain, holding him down. Thinking he was shot, Lieutenant Weand, in passing, offered to take him on his horse, but Airey, responding, "We will both be taken-save yourself," managed to extricate himself, and ran for the fence. He did get over but was captured, and died from the effects of his injuries and prison confinement. My sur- prise is that so many of us escaped, for our pursuers were so close that we could hear them swearing at us to halt.
After reaching the woods we re-formed, and the enemy now found themselves at a disadvantage. We were reinforced and had them in the field, and this, and our determined attack, drove them back. Word now reached the command that the movement of the main body had been unsuccessful and that our troops were in retreat, which was successfully accomplished. The entire move- ment was a failure, but through no want of gallant fighting.
I can recall the experiences of only a few of our men. Sergeant Ramsey, Company M, who had charge of the advance guard, sighted the enemy and halted in the woods, awaiting their ap- proach. In a short time William F. Simons, Company M, who was on picket, came in on a gallop, with the information that a bat- talion of the enemy was advancing. A charge was ordered on their advance, which drove them back.
Abraham W. Thomas, Company M, captured a prisoner, and was bringing him back when he met H. H. Platt, Company F, and handing him his man, told him to take him to Colonel Palmer. Thomas, in his effort to find Ramsey, was cut off, and had to retreat. In going through the woods he was knocked from his horse and almost stunned. In trying to make his escape on foot he was hailed by Robert Coombs, Company F, who also had been dismounted. They ran through a corn field, but were run down and forced to surrender. After being deprived of their arms and overcoats, they were marched to the rear, where they met Captain Airey, Company L; Sergeant Drinkhouse, Company L; Joseph Pontius, Company M; Thomas Sale, Company M; Joseph Rue, Company F; Benjamin Balmer, Company A; George D. Watt, Company G; John Moredock, Company G, and several others whose names I cannot recall.
In the retreat from the enclosed field, Alvin Haines, Company
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M, having had his horse shot, started on foot for the woods, but seeing his escape hopeless, concealed himself in a heap of brush at the foot of a large tree, the enemy charging past him yelling and shouting at our retreating men. He was there for some time, when he heard the welcome sound of his comrades, who had re- formed in the woods, and were now driving back the enemy. Rejoining our men, he found his horse had made a successful retreat, but was dying as Haines reached him.
On the general retreat, Colonel Brownlow, of the First Tennes- see Cavalry, rode up and down the line and swore that his regi- ment should not retreat another foot. The resolute determination of this young officer filled his men with courage, and they rallied to his standard, supported by the Fifteenth, and the pursuers came to a halt, and the battle of Dandridge was over.
Colonel Palmer has said of this charge that it was a tactical blunder, for which he alone was responsible; that he led the regi- ment out of the thick woods too close on to the advance guard to permit the strength of the enemy's force to be developed until too late. Seeing no larger force of the enemy along the high road in our front than he had in his regiment, he ordered the charge on their flank, across an open field, where the delay in getting through the first fence allowed time for the enemy, which proved to be a main body instead of a small detachment, to recover from their first panic and use the road fence for better aim.
Although when re-inforced we regained in twenty minutes the field and the road and heights beyond, he has never ceased to regret this unfortunate charge and the loss and suffering of the noble fellows it entailed. All that can be said in its defense, if anything, is that first and last, and in the long run, the habit formed by this cavalry regiment (in serving as the eyes and ears of the army during its constant reconnoissances of the enemy's country) of charging at first sight pretty nearly everything hos- tile that it met, was, without doubt, chiefly responsible for the small loss it incurred throughout so many active campaigns.
Colonel Palmer saved ninety per cent. of his men-a less wise or capable officer would have lost that number, for we were all in danger of being killed or captured.
WOUNDED AND LEFT TO DIE IN REBEL HANDS.
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WM. M. PALMER, COMPANY L, HADDONFIELD, N. J.
I N December, 1863, the Regiment started out to relieve Burn- side in East Tennessee. On the Ioth day of December we had a severe engagement with the Cherokee Indians, under the command of Colonel Thomas, who was their Indian agent before the war, and who induced them to enlist in the rebel army. They were encamped in the valley at the base of the Smoky Mountains, near Gatlinsburg, East Tennessee. As the ground was not suitable to charge them, we dismounted, and a brisk fight ensued, from behind trees and fallen timbers, in regular Indian fashion. They seemed to think it necessary to accompany every shot with a genuine war whoop. This fight lasted some two hours, when we drove them from their position into the mountains, leaving their camp in our possession. A number of fine horses were captured and some Indians killed and wounded. On our side, Capts. Chas. M. Betts and Clark were wounded.
On the 29th of December, 1863, the Regiment with several other regiments of cavalry and a battery were attacked at Mossy Creek, East Tennessee. The forces of the enemy were commanded by the rebel General Martin, and consisted of some 5000 troops, cavalry, mounted infantry and artillery, known as the "Texas Rangers of the Lone Star Division." The battle commenced in the morning. They made several charges, all of which were repulsed, with considerable loss to them. Late in the afternoon reinforcements arrived, and they were driven from the field. After each repulse they renewed their charges. Their object was to take our battery. We advanced from our position in front to meet them, using our carbines, and in a final charge drove them from the field. The battle lasted until the evening.
In the engagement I saw a mounted color-bearer carrying the headquarters' flag, a yellow ensign, with a large white star in the center, representing the Lone Star Division of Texas. He was some distance in advance, and I was desirous of picking him off,
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if possible, and to capture the colors. I took a steady aim, fired, and am sure I hit him. He at once dropped the colors and turned his horse back into their lines. I was also some distance ahead of the company, so eager was I to capture the rebel colors.
About that time I was wounded. The horse on which I rode was a spirited animal that I had captured in the fight with the Cherokee Indians, and I had a great deal of trouble to manage him. Just as I received my wound the Regiment made a charge on the enemy, leaving me in the rear. I still rode my horse, badly wounded as I was. I noticed near me comrade Charles E. Scheide, and informed him that I was wounded. He at once assisted me to get to the old church in the town of Newmarket, East Tennes- see, which was being used as a Union hospital. We had to go some three-quarters of a mile to reach it. My horse was very much excited and gave me trouble. I had ridden about half a mile when, from loss of blood and pain, my hip being shattered by the large ball that struck me, I was unable to ride any farther. Fortunately, one of our ambulances came in sight from the battle- field, filled with wounded. It stopped to take me on. I under- took to dismount, when I found I was unable to stand. I was then lifted from my horse to the ambulance, and with the rest of the wounded was taken to the hospital. In a short time the wounded from the various commands kept coming in and took up every available place in the church. I was placed on the floor, near the pulpit steps.
In a short time Adjutant Lingle was brought in, wounded through the body. He was laid alongside of me. He was a brave and efficient officer and one of the most lovable comrades in the Regiment. Elias Deeter, Company L, was among the number of wounded brought in, he having received a wound in the left hip. Dr. Alexander, Regimental Surgeon, was on hand to attend to those requiring his services. He examined my wound, ran a probe in it to find the ball, but was unable to locate it. The ball had struck me near the spine, run around and fractured the left iliac bone and lodged in my groin-a wound similar, I am told, to that of President Garfield. The doctor not finding the ball, I was afraid that mortification might set in and eventually kill me. I said to the doctor, "Would it not have been better if that rebel who shot me had had more powder in his cartridge and shot it
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clean through ?" "Oh, no!" he replied, "it might have been worse for you. General Scott, up to the time of his death, had a ball in his shoulder that he received in the War of 1812."
Colonel Palmer has said of this skirmish, that the mounted charge made when his Adjutant-Lieutenant Lingle was killed by his side was a mistake ; that the ground favored a mounted charge, but that there proved to be more of the enemy posted (on foot) behind the barn and other farm buildings at the foot of the hill than were apparent when he ordered the charge. The advance should have been dismounted and sent out as skirmishers until the situation had been better developed.
Our fifteen days' scout was a hard one, fording icy rivers and on the go night and day, so that both the men and horses were tired and worn out, though my being wounded helped me to get rested. All night long the surgeons were kept busy, amputating limbs and dressing wounds. About 4 A.M. Dr. Alexander visited Adjutant Lingle, who seemed to be unconscious. He shook him, whereupon he opened his eyes, but remained silent. When the doctor asked him if he was aware that he could not live much longer, he under- took to reply, but in a few minutes he calmly passed away.
I laid alongside of him for some two hours before he was re- moved for burial in the cemetery adjoining the church. General Foster, commanding the forces in East Tennessee, ordered all the sick and wounded to be removed to Knoxville when his command took up their march for that place. Unfortunately, owing to their not being sufficient ambulances to take us, Elias Deeter and myself, with two other soldiers, were left to fall into the hands of the enemy.
About two hours after General Foster's command had left, General Longstreet's command marched into Newmarket and encamped outside of the town. Not being able to get away, we had to make the best of it alone. There was no one to help us, and we were quite helpless. The fire in the stove had gone out, the weather was cold, and during the night we had a severe snow- storm. The two large doors of the church blew open, and the snow drifted in and piled up in different parts of the room. We had to endure this until next morning, when about IO A.M. the sexton of the church came in for a chair that he had loaned to the doctor, not knowing that anyone had been left there overnight.
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"My God!" he exclaimed, when he saw us. "Is it possible that you have been here all this time during the terrible storm we had last night, with no fire and nothing to eat?" He quickly built a fire and said, "Now, I will see about getting you soldiers something to eat ?" He being a Union man, soon had other Union citizens interested, who came to our aid. It was not long before a good breakfast was brought in for each of us, which was the first meal we had eaten since the day before. A citizen, a Union doctor, attended to dressing our wounds. Medicines were scarce and hard to get, so we were informed. All the attention that could possibly be given us we received, and we certainly were very profuse in our thanks to those that aided us.
Some of Longstreet's men paid us a visit one day. They were quite sanguine about their success. Some had enlisted for eight years, or during the war. It was not long before it was reported to General Longstreet that we were Yankee soldiers. He sent a guard to take us as prisoners of war and guard us. There was not much guarding to do. None of us was able to stand, let alone try to make our escape. A rebel surgeon called one day to look at us, and told us he would give us the necessary attention, but that was the last we saw of him. If it had not been for the citizens and doctor, I don't know what we would have done.
We remained at Newmarket until the 18th day of January, 1864, when we were all ordered to be sent to Morristown, Tenn., eighteen miles east of Newmarket. Mr. and Mrs. Moffit, the most prominent and wealthy family in Newmarket, had been very kind to us, and when they learned that we had been ordered away, came to bid us good-by. When we were put in the ambu- lance, Mrs. Moffit told the driver that she wished him to stop at her house, as he had to pass it en route. She wished to give us some luncheon to take with us, as we had a long and rough ride before us to Morristown. A rebel surgeon-I think the same one who promised to give us medical attention, who was on General Longstreet's staff-was standing by Mrs. Moffit when she told the driver to stop at her house. The driver stopped at the house, and the same rebel surgeon was in front of the residence. He asked the driver why he stopped, who informed him that Mrs. Moffit desired to give us some lunch to take with us. The surgeon, in a very rough manner, told the driver to go on, which he did.
Wounded and Left to Die in Rebel Hands. 361
Deeter and I were in one ambulance, lying on our backs. We could see out of the back of the wagon. We had gone but a short distance when I saw a colored man running in the road, carrying a package in his hand, and trying to attract our attention. I in- formed the driver, who stopped, and the colored man came up and said Mrs. Moffit sent "dis lunch for de soldiers." We returned our thanks, and divided with the driver. After some four hours' tedious driving we arrived at Morristown. Deeter not being able to wear his boots, which had been put in with him when we left Newmarket, when we were carried out to the hospital, the driver, taking a fancy to them, appropriated them for himself. Deeter was minus boots until we arrived at the hospital in Baltimore, some three months after. We remained here about two weeks, meeting with poor treatment and getting but poor rations, con- sisting of a cup of rye coffee, no sugar or milk, a small piece of pork or poor meat, about two inches square, and one piece of heavy bread. We got this twice a day. The rebels in the same ward lying opposite us had chicken, chicken soup, roast beef, vege- tables, and, in fact, all they wished.
From Morristown we were sent to Bristol, a distance of eighty- eight miles. We were laid on the floor of a freight car, while some fifty other Union prisoners had to stand, there being no room for them to lie down. We traveled over a very rough road, and were some six hours en route-a very painful and tiresome journey. We remained at Bristol for the greater part of the day-one-half of Bristol is in Tennessee, the other half in Virginia.
From Bristol we were sent to Lynchburg, Va., 244 miles distant. Here we were taken to the Provost Marshal's office, and with the rest of the prisoners were then put in jail. I was put in a cell and laid on the damp floor, being unable to stand, let alone able to make my escape. I was locked up, as were the other prisoners, until 5 P.M. next day, when we were sent to the far- famed city of Richmond, Va., 142 miles farther from Lynchburg. We arrived on the 17th day of January, 1864, and were put in the Rebel Hospital No. 21, a short distance from Libby Prison. The rough treatment and tedious and painful ride from East Tennessee told on me very severely. I had been here about a month, when the ball in my hip was located and removed by the rebel surgeons,
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after being in me two months and nine days. The shattered bone remained, suppurating freely.
In this hospital the prisoners were put in different wards. Each floor was a ward. It had at one time been a tobacco warehouse. Here we fared poorly, getting sometimes two meals a day; and sometimes we would get a small cup of coffee, no sugar or milk, a piece of heavy corn bread, a small piece of pork and a half-pint of rice soup. Half the time the soup was scorched, with plenty of rice worms floating on the top. No matter how sick we were, we got no better fare than this. We had to eat this or starve. The corn bread would bring on diarrhea, and almost every day I have seen five or six men die, in the different wards. I have seen on an old straw cot two persons with two different kinds of disease. It seemed that the rebels wanted to get rid of as many by death as they could. That would mean so many Yankees less.
The smallpox broke out in the ward. The men on each side of me got it, and I laid for two days alongside of them before they were removed to a hospital outside of the city, but I escaped it.
One day there was received in our ward about 150 of Colonel Dahlgren's command, who were wounded. They had been cap- tured in making a raid on Richmond. One day one of them was sitting on the window sill eating his ration of corn bread, when the rebel guard passing on his beat ordered him away, to which he replied "that he was doing no harm where he was," and at this the rebel fired at him, the ball passing through his head, killing him instantly.
While in this hospital I saw Joseph Squires and Milne, a brother to the one in our Regiment. We remained in Richmond until the 16th day of April, when, with 565 Union prisoners, we were put on board the rebel flag-of-truce boats, "Allison" and "General Shultz," and taken down the James River to City Point, to be exchanged. We were put on board the Federal flag-of-truce boats "New York" and "Express." Here, for the first time in three months, I saw the American flag floating to the breeze, a very inspiring sight indeed. We arrived in Baltimore the 18th of April, 1864, having been prisoners of war for three months, and were sent to the Jarvis U. S. Hospital in that city, where we re- ceived the best of attention. Our treatment while prisoners was cruel and unwarranted.
A PECULIAR SITUATION.
FIRST LIEUTENANT AND COMMISSARY, CHAS. S. HINCHMAN, PHILADELPHIA, PA.
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