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 33
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After we were a little settled the prisoners naturally began to devise means of escape. At first a number got away when we were taken out daily in small squads to collect wood for cooking. Some would stray as far away as possible and secrete themselves until the others returned to camp, but as soon as they were missed the bloodhounds were turned loose and invariably captured them, frequently mangling them. Finally we commenced tunneling. We had the privilege of digging wells, and the mounds of new earth did not arouse suspicion, so that when a party arranged to dig out, they would openly, during the day, dig a big hole, and when night came they would commence tunneling, digging first a hole and then running a parallel hole with the ground until it got beyond the stockade.
Frequent escapes made the warden wary, so that after night the bloodhounds were set loose and kept encircling the stockade, and we could hear their deep baying during the night. However, men were continually escaping, and frequently the same men, so that finally, as a punishment, the rebel authorities started what was known as the chain gang. They ought really to be considered links of honor. From one or two it gradually increased to a double line of about two dozen. They were all connected together
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in two long files, two and two. On the outer leg of each was a small chain, long enough to reach the hand, to which was attached an iron cannon ball, say about twenty-four pounds ; then they were manacled together at the neck, each to his elbow neighbor, so that they had to lie down or stand up together, and making all neces- sary movements as if one. This punishment would become a great hardship. When some would die, as they were frequently doing, their bodies would have to be carried to the blacksmith to have him hammer off the chains. This chain gang was used as an example to prevent others from escaping, and they were kept on the outside of the stockade, always under guard.
As the number of prisoners increased, reaching a total of 40,000, we had, of course, many men of many nationalities and various characters and habits. Under the baleful influence of evil life and surroundings some developed those wolfish traits, in- herent, I suppose, in all of us if not redeemed by home and usage. Many of the prisoners had been captured in fights, and so came to us large bodies, therefore unsearched. These men had with them the pay and bounties that had been pretty freely distributed in 1864. This money became a great temptation to some of the needy and starving, and soon bands of robbers were formed, and murders and injury became frequent. It became unsafe to be known to have money or anything valuable. Hold-ups were taking place, even in the daytime; in fact, the robbers were soon well known.
Finally this grew so bad that there was a meeting of the bolder ones, and after a consultation with the rebel authorities, who were aware of what was going on inside, but could not prevent it, six of the ringleaders of the robbers were arrested. They were put under guard, a judge and jury of our own people were selected, witnesses were called, and after a full, honest trial they were all found guilty of murder and robbery and sentenced to be hanged. The finding was submitted to the higher rebel authorities, and from them to our Northern authorities, and by each was approved. We were then given material, and a rude wooden gallows was erected inside the stockade, and the six prisoners were launched into eternity at once.
Before the thousands of prisoners were allowed to assemble the rebel guard outside was augmented to two or three regiments,
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Prison Life at Belle Island and Andersonville.
two forts were erected and loaded cannon were placed at two ends of the stockade, to prevent any attempt to use this gathering as an excuse for escape. One of the poor devils fell on his knees and begged for mercy, but with yells and curses he was driven forward to the gallows. There was no mercy in our hearts at that time. This episode, however, was almost our own undoing, be- cause the shouts made the rebels think an attempt at escape was being started, and they all but opened fire on us with their guns. It was touch and go.
[Comrade Coombs reached this period of his narrative when the summons came suddenly calling him to the higher life beyond. No distressing, lingering sickness gave an indication of his de- parture, but he was ready. He had been a good man, a good citizen and a good father. His life here had only been a prep- aration for the one beyond, and while those he left will miss him there can be no cause for repining at his going.
To his fellow-prisoner, who was captured with him, Abraham W. Thomas, has been delegated the work of finishing the article which he began.]
CONTINUATION OF· ANDERSONVILLE NARRATIVE.
ABRAHAM W. THOMAS, COMPANY M, MT. AIRY, PHILADELPHIA.
I T seems to me a perfectly natural thing that I should finish the article which my old prison Comrade Robt. Coombs began, for in our capture and imprisonment we had been very close together. What one did the other helped to do. We shared all our sorrows and what few joys came to us. If either got unduly depressed and disheartened at our condition, the other did his part to cheer and encourage and bring back that atom of hope which kept us alive. Our experiences, our lives and our very thoughts were the same, and as I pen these lines the old feeling of working together comes over me, just as in those days when it was "Bob" and "Abe" between us.
Besides the six who were hanged there were about fifty more who were not found guilty of anything more serious than thieving, who, when turned back into the stockade, were compelled to run the gauntlet between a row of men, who had formed into two lines to receive them. They were treated to kicks or a crack with a club or anything that could be had. This treatment and the hanging of the six men on the IIth of July virtually put a stop to the stealing and abuse by the raiders, as we called them. I remember one fellow who was caught stealing afterward. They shaved one-half of his head and marched him all over the camp, so that all could see him.
There was a time when the guards came into the camp and tried to persuade some of our men to enlist in the rebel army, promising that they would not be sent to the front, but would be kept for duty elsewhere, and that they would send their own men to the front. This was frowned upon by us all. We preferred starvation in prison to service in the rebel army.
Things ran along without any great change until September 8, 1864, when we were divided up into small bodies and sent to different places, for fear that General Sherman would recapture and liberate us. I was with the lot that was sent to Savannah,
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where we arrived on September 9th. Here we were driven into another stockade, differing somewhat from that at Andersonville, this one being merely a high board fence. The soil was of a sandy nature, and when we dug the sink wells, which were about three feet deep, we would come to water which was impregnated with some chemical, so that it was unfit for use. When the wells were about half full they would begin to rush and bubble, and. the water would rise nearly to the surface.
We procured our drinking water through pipes from the city. It was at this place that I received the only medicine for my com- plaint-dysentery-which I contracted shortly after we left Belle Island and continued to have until after reaching our lines, when exchanged.
We left Savannah on October 12th for another stockade, at Millen, where we arrived the same day. Millen was about the same kind of a pen as Andersonville, excepting that the logs com- posing the stockade were round instead of being squared.
General Sherman still forcing his way to the sea, we were again moved, and on November 21st we left Millen for Blackshear Station, arriving there on November 22d. Here we were placed in a pine woods, there being not more than about 5000 prisoners. We were treated fairly well by the rebel guards, and given fresh meat, sweet potatoes and good corn meal, and sometimes a little molasses. There was no stockade or fence around us here. On December 5th we left Blackshear Station for Thomasville, arriving there on the 6th. Here we were kept for about two weeks, and on the morning of the 19th we marched for Albany, arriving there on December 24th. We were placed in cattle cars and run back to Andersonville, arriving there in the evening of December 25th, amidst a light snowstorm. Andersonville was very much changed -- the old huts that the men had built for shelter were all destroyed and most of the wells were filled in-but by this time we had stolen enough meal sacks from the rebels to make our mess a good-sized tent, which we made by ripping the seams and raveling out some of the goods for thread. We had sewed about a dozen altogether.
Ever since leaving Andersonville, on September 8th, the general condition of the prisoners had improved. It must have been that the rebels saw they were in a losing game, and feared the day of
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retribution, for the guards around us were not so brutal as they had been, and the rations we received were greater and of more variety. For all that we were always hungry, and not an hour went by but what we thought of some of those good things our mothers cooked for us at home. The enormous death rate among us was caused not so much by the lack of something to eat as it was by our exposure to all sorts of weather. We had no houses to go into, no fireplaces at which to warm ourselves and were not treated with even the same consideration that a farmer has for his cattle. All this was in a country full of wood, and had per- mission been given us, in a week we could have sheltered our- selves at no cost to the Confederacy. But General Winder, who had charge of all the prisoners, had boasted that at Anderson- ville "he would kill more Yankees than Bobby Lee would in Vir- ginia," and he did it.
On March 25, 1865, we received the long-looked for news that there was to be an exchange, and left that day, passing through Columbus, Ga., on the 26th, Montgomery the same day, and Selma, Ala., and Demopolis on March 27th. We arrived at Meridian on the 28th, and at Jackson, Miss., on March 29th, where we were paroled, and started on foot, barefooted at that, for our lines, a distance of nearly forty miles, arriving at the Big Black River on April Ist. We were then placed in parole camp, a little below Vicksburg.
Here we were under the Stars and Stripes once more. We got the regular army ration and Uncle Sam's clothing, and after a good wash and burning up our old clothes-graybacks and all- felt that we were on the edge of God's country again. We still had with us two rebel officers, who had been with us since we left Jackson, to show us the way and act the part of guides. But when at this camp we heard the news of the assassination of President Lincoln, the men got so excited and incensed that the officers fled to their own lines, and it was well they did or they would have been hanging to trees before many minutes.
On April 23d we were put aboard boats and started up the Mississippi, arriving at St. Louis, April 27th. We remained there until May 5th, when we took cars for the East, arriving at Annap- olis, Md., May 10th. We were then sent to Harrisburg on the 15th, were there discharged on June Ist, arriving at home June 2, 1865.
THE MIDNIGHT CROSSING OF THE FRENCH BROAD.
CAPT. H. K. WEAND, COMPANY H, NORRISTOWN, PA.
C OUNT Mather, Company F, dubbed me "Weando of the French Broad," and this is how it came about. To fully appreciate the incident you must recall the extremely cold weather of the winter spent in East Tennessee, and the character of the river, which, rising in North Carolina, near the foot of the Blue Ridge, flows northwest into Tennessee, and bending toward the southwest discharges into the Holston River, four miles above Knoxville. It is about 200 miles long, and is navi- gable by steamboats as far as Dandridge, Jefferson County, Tenn. For about forty miles from Asheville 'to the Tennessee line it is remarkable for its beautiful scenery, flowing through deep moun- tain gorges or overhung by cliffs.
Nearly opposite the Warm Springs, in Madison County, N. C., are precipices known as the Chimneys and the Painted Rocks. The latter, which are between 200 and 300 feet high, derive their name from some Indian pictures still to be seen on them. It has its moods-at one time a peaceful stream, flowing its course as if it delighted to show its charms, and then in a short time, after a heavy rain, roaring like a lion, overflowing its banks and making itself disagreeable by contrast.
In the winter of 1864 we had been in camp along its banks, on the plantation, I think, of a man named Evans. Opposite, in the middle of the stream, was an island, which had been planted in corn the season before. At its upper end was a fording place leading to an old mill on the opposite side. We had forded the river on a scout toward Dandridge, in an effort to locate the enemy, a part of Longstreet's force. We knew they were in the neighborhood, and having given chase to some of their cavalry, had reason to suppose that they would endeavor to cut off our return. It had rained during the day or night before, the river was rising, and Colonel Palmer was anxious to get his command safely across before the river had risen too much.
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When we reached the river on our return I was told to take charge of the rear guard, and as soon as I saw the main body safely advanced, to cross to the island, taking with me a flat- bottomed scow which was tied to the shore at the mill. It was dark when I started, and I got to the island with difficulty, and so did the scow-never to return-that is, the scow did not. During the night the river rose rapidly, bringing down ice and débris, and it became exceedingly cold. We built no fires, so as not to attract the enemy, and waited for orders. During the next afternoon I was ordered to bring my men with the scow around the head of the island, to a point nearly opposite our camp.
It was hard work-pulling and tugging by holding on to bushes and branches, with the swift-flowing water and ice against us. We had no oars and could not have rowed the boat with them, but we succeeded, at the cost of bleeding and almost frozen hands, and we were tired.
Lieut .- Colonel Lamborn had been brought to the island during the afternoon in a canoe, and when I reported to him it was late, dark and cold, with the river running with ice, overflowing the banks on either side for some distance. I was now ordered to ferry my men and horses across in detachments. It seemed to me impossible, and so I told the Colonel, but his orders were impera- tive. We loaded five or six men and horses on the scow with great difficulty, and with myself at the bow and Corporal Jenkins at the helm-a long pole-we started on our voyage. Our course was diagonal, and we trusted that the rapid stream would land us some distance below our starting point; and so we sailed, and we sailed, on our first trip as horse marines. We went rushing on-the water dashing into the boat, the ice grinding against its sides and the horses trembling with fear and cold.
As we approached the shore we could see, through the dark- ness, that the trees were now some distance down in the stream, so I gave orders to our helmsman to keep a sharp lookout and endeavor to avoid them. But it was too late, for it was now evi- dent that we were being carried right into them. Seeing that we would be swept off, I gave orders, "Look out for yourselves !" and in a moment we were swept from the boat, which had gone right into the branches of the trees. Fortunately we could reach the limbs, and each man grasping one and, dangling in the water,
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The Midnight Crossing of the French Broad.
pulled himself into the trees. The horses were also swept off, but, marvelous to relate, all but one were washed ashore. Tile boat has never been heard from to this day. Our shouts alarmed the camp, and soon our boys came to our assistance, and with ropes, fence rails and other expedients relieved us from our ridiculous position. We were up a tree-the "Anderson Cavalry !" each one having been highly recommended before enlistment- mounted on wooden horses.
Hurrying us to camp we were stripped of our clothing, wrapped in blankets, warmed before blazing fires, and with the aid of hot coffee and things were soon made comfortable.
It was not a bit funny. "Looking backwards," it was a voyage that for a few minutes made us dreadfully seasick. I can scarcely describe my emotions when I saw what was to happen except that I wished I had been a better boy in my earlier days, and wondered whether my name would be spelled correctly in the list of missing.
The balance of my command was brought safely over the next afternoon in a canoe, leading their swimming horses. "Washing- ton crossing the Delaware" has been immortalized-I was called before Colonel Palmer for words spoken in debate when hailed by Colonel Lamborn to "bring back that boat," my reply not having been according to regulations.
THE WRONG MEN SHOT.
SERG. JOS. R. LONABAUGH, COMPANY G, PHILADELPHIA. -
A BOUT the time General Sherman started on his march from Chattanooga to Atlanta our Regiment was ordered from its camp at Rossville, Ga., back to Nashville, for a re- mount. The winter campaign had been very destructive to our horses, and what good ones we had left were taken from us and given to one of the regiments which was just starting on the campaign. About noon the Regiment was assembled and marched into Chattanooga, about six miles, and after the usual wait, got on freight cars and started for Nashville.
Along about 10 o'clock that night, when a few miles from Scottsboro, Ala., we were fired on by a party of guerillas, who stood not ten feet from the railroad track. Our engineer and fireman were seriously wounded, but the men were all lying down at that time and escaped. Two trains followed us, and on both either the engineer or fireman was shot. One of the trains was filled with Confederate prisoners. They were probably packed closer in their cars than we were, and many of them were stand- ing, so that they got the full effect of the shots. What a pleasure it was to stand alongside of their train and listen to them curse and damn their own men. The burden of their abuse was that "such conduct was not war" and that "no soldier would engage in it." "If they wanted to fight honorably, why didn't they join the army at the front?" All this was nuts for us, and we fully agreed with them. Before the war ended Jeff Davis did, too, and issued an order against such bands.
As both our engineer and fireman were shot, volunteers for their places were called for, and John Kreider, John Strebig and Corp. Harry Paschall, of Company F, took their places, and ran the locomotive the rest of the way, arriving at Nashville about 2 P.M., on May 8th, when the Regiment was marched to the old No. 14 Hospital, and bivouacked in the yard all night.
After making our camp we remained there about three months.
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The Wrong Men Shot.
Our campaign in East Tennessee had been a hard one, and the rest we had there, with the freedom from drills during the earlier part of our stay, was appreciated by the men. It was at this time that we had our first taste of "bounty jumpers," a class of men who enlisted for the bounty paid, and then deserted after receiving the first instalment of it. All the officers received notices from the recruiting officers that certain men, whose names and descriptions were given, had joined their companies, but very few ever reached us. They had managed to slip off, and repeated the operation on some other enlisting officer. But not all were of this class, and some of those recruits who reached us made most excellent sol- diers.
Soon after arrival Major Betts and Captains Colton and Mather gave a supper in town, at "Bassett's," to the other officers, in honor of their late promotions. They must have had a pleasant time of it, the only disappointment being Colonel Palmer's declin- ing to sing his song, "I laid four dollars down and bet them one by one." Our Colonel has always been spoken of as an accom- plished man, but to this day we do not know whether singing, · dancing and piano playing are a part of his accomplishments.
At this camp, too, we were joined by our imported fencing master, Colonel Emil de Salignac, who remained with us till the close of the war. He was a good teacher and a splendid swords- man, but the boys did not like French names, and he was known as "Dig-a-Shay," it being the Americanized version of the com- mand he often gave in drill-"degagez," meaning to disengage tlie sword blades.
In July we received the first instalment of our horses, and at once commenced picket duty on all the roads leading south. The day of rest and recreation had passed, but a good deal of fun was extracted out of the workadays which followed.
Soon after the Ist of August, having received our full equip- ment, "boots and saddles !" sounded, and we started on our cam- paign again. Our march took us through Murfreesboro, Ready- ville and Woodbury, over the ground where we had our fight with Colonel Smith's Confederate regiment. Then we went on to Mc- Minnville, crossed the Cumberland Mountains to Dunlap, and then Waldon's Ridge, arriving at Chattanooga on August 17th, just as peaches were getting plentiful.
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At this time General Hood was swinging his army back on the railroad which supplied Sherman's army, and the rebel cavalry were reported not far from town. General Williams with 800 men was reported at Maysville, but had left when we got there. We hunted for them at Cleveland, Tunnel Hill and Dalton, but in no place had they waited for us. At the latter place Colonel Leybold's regiment had held the fort, and stood the rebels off when he was attacked; but the large brick house in the center of the fort needed a good deal of patching up when they left, as the rebel artillery had used it for a mark. One person was sorry when they left. An old apple and cake woman, who carried all her stock in two baskets, told me, with a good deal of satisfaction, that "she made between $3000 and $4000 every day our people were here."
We did a good deal of scouting now, without results, except finding new fields of corn, just right for roasting, and fresh peaches. We went to Waterhouse's, Benton, Spring Place and Cal- houn, where we halted a few days. Then, one very hot day, we went to Adairsville, on a false alarm, and Company I was sent to Cartersville to guard cattle. On September 13th orders came to go back to East Tennessee, and we started on our second cam- paign in that country.
"HOLD THE FORT."
A. D. FRANKENBERRY, COMPANY K, POINT MARION, PA.
T HE great War of the Rebellion, 1861-65, developed many exceedingly interesting and unique events. There has never been and probably never in the future will there be such a war. It was American bravery, heroism, manhood and endurance on the Union side arrayed against the same elements on the South- ern side. It was a life-and-death struggle between the two gigantic, contending forces which, from the earliest settlement of America -one at Jamestown, the other at Plymouth Rock-had grown up together, yet ever opposite, never in complete unity. The vital point of difference was, Shall America be free, or part free, part slave? Long years of bitter contention had marked our his- tory as a people, without permanent results being attained, till 1861, when the great crisis came, and the one great question was referred to the "Supreme Court of the World." Never before on this earth assembled such an august tribunal, never before was there submitted to human heads and hearts for final decision such momentous questions. Its daily sessions were held for more than four long years, from 1861 to 1865, when at Appomattox and Raleigh its final verdict was rendered and there again reigned "Peace on earth, good will to men."
The duty of the Signal Corps was to be with the extreme ad- vance of each army; make observations of the position of the enemy; read and translate their signals; transmit, with flag and torch and rocket, the orders and commands of commanding offi- cers from one part of the army to any other distant part, and establish and maintain long lines of communication. The Signal Corps constituted the very "eyes and ears of the army."
The work performed by the Signal Corps immediately preced- ing and during the battle of Allatoona Pass, Ga., October 5, 1864, was the most notable service rendered by the corps during the war; and this service must be reckoned by the results following
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