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 6
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On the 21st of August I left Philadelphia for the camp at Car- lisle, Pa. I arrived there about 3 o'clock that afternoon, and found the camp was situated on the grounds of the United States Cavalry Barracks. There were probably 200 men of the Troop there. There were no officers present, no tents, no rations, no one in charge who seemed to know anything about us or care for us. As there was a prospect of rain during the night, about forty of us got some large packing boxes that were on the ground, placed them in two long rows, about eight feet apart, covering them with a long canvas we got from somewhere. We named it "Poverty Row," and in this place we lived until tents were issued to us.
On August 22d we were mustered into the service of the United States for three years or during the war.
Poles and flies of wall tents were issued to us, which, after a great deal of trouble and hard work, we managed to get up in pretty good shape. We then bought boards and made floors for our tents, and oh, Lord ! how hard those boards were to sleep on !
During the balance of the month we were kept busy learning the life of a soldier and being drilled twice a day by the regulars. Will any of us ever forget that Irish Sergeant who originated, "Hep, hep ! now you've got it! Damn you ! keep it! Hep, hep?"
Those who could not stand camp life went to the hotels at Carlilse for their meals or else patronized the hucksters, who were ever present with their pies and things; and those were the days, if a soldier wanted to go to town or to Philadelphia for a few days, he wrote his own pass, which was usually honored by the guards.
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History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Every evening we would have dress parade, when the citizens of Carlisle came out in crowds to see the Andersons. General Lee about this time began his invasion of the North, which resulted in the battle of Antietam. We were in no condition to fight an enemy, unless that enemy was willing to fight on equal terms with sabers, as that weapon was all we had; but on September 9th a detail of about 200 men-those who knew how to ride a horse- were selected and sent off to Greencastle, first having revolvers issued to them. But a day or two later we received orders to get ready to march immediately, and about II P.M. we were formed in line and marched to town. We were halted by the side of a trains of cars and waited the rest of the night for an engine to come and haul us away. During the night we had quite a hard shower.
Shortly after daylight the men scattered to the different houses, where we got a good breakfast. It was 7 o'clock when an engine came up and hooked on our train. We got on board, and amid cheers and the waiving of handkerchiefs we pulled out. We were taken to Chambersburg, where we disembarked, and were quar- tered in and around the courthouse, but the majority of the men soon found better quarters at the hotel and private houses.
The following day several of the men were sent into the country to press horses and bring them in, so that we could be mounted.
Toward evening a report came to camp that there were some rebels at a small town not far away, so a party was detailed to go after them. They were ordered to take muskets. This a number objected to, said they had enlisted as cavalry and not to carry muskets, and especially such arms as they were. Some of the boys claimed their guns were flintlocks. After considerable argument and coaxing the officer in command finally got about one-half of the men to take the muskets. We then boarded the train and rode about fifteen miles. Every mile or two some man would get dis- gusted with his musket and throw it off the train. About 12 o'clock the train stopped, and we got off and were marched three or four miles into the country, expecting every minute to be fired into from both sides of the road. At last we marched into the woods on the side of the road, were told to lie down and sleep, but to be ready for an attack at any minute.
The next morning a portion of the command was ordered to
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march back to Chambersburg and get horses. We left our blankets and bundles behind us, and were told we would get them again at Greencastle. We marched all day, reaching Chambers- burg in the evening, found the horses saddled and waiting for us. We dropped our muskets without a single regret and mounted our steeds. I was fortunate enough to draw a fine young horse that had never been ridden, and the horse drew a rider who had never ridden a horse. That horse and I had some great times together. Part of the time he went where I wanted him to go, and the bal- ance of the time I went where he wanted to go.
We left Chambersburg at 9 P.M., marched to Greencastle, reach- ing there at midnight. We put our horses in a field and tied them to a fence. Some of the men were tired and they laid down in the field and went to sleep, but four or five others and myself thought we would go to the depot and sleep there. Just as we got there we met the Sergeant, who told us as we were the only ones he could find we would have to go on picket. Jacoby and myself were put on one post, about a mile from town, and sat there on our horses for the remainder of the night. Shortly after daylight we were relieved, and went to a tavern on the road, where we found some of our boys, so we stopped and got breakfast. We then marched down the road until we came to another picket post. We stayed with them until afternoon, when we rejoined the balance of the command, which was on the march for Hagerstown, Md. It was reported there were some rebels there. When we got within a mile of the town we started on a gallop and charged through the streets. The rebels had been there, but had left a short time before we arrived. We went some distance past the town and captured some straggling rebels, whom we brought back and locked up in the jail. We also found some sick and woundcd rebels in a hospital. We were, indeed, a dirty-looking set when we got through with that, our first charge. The roads were very dusty, and we were completely covered. The dust was on so thick that one Comrade could not tell who the other was. We halted in Hagerstown long enough to wash and get some of the dust off our clothes. Then the citizens came out with eatables, to which we did full justice. The girls came around and pinned a bouquet on each blue jacket. There were lots of pretty girls there, and they were not shy either.
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History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
From Hagerstown we went scouting through the country, find- ing out what the rebels were doing and where they were trying to get to. We kept this up for a couple of days, and then joined the army assembled at Antietam. The battle was then on. We were stationed on the field, in the rear of the line of battle, and close enough to have bullets sing over our heads and shells to burst in front and rear and over us. Our chief duty seemed to be to pre- vent straggling from the front.
It was here that I saw for the first time a man dead on the field of battle. He belonged to one of the New York Fire Zouave regi- ments. He had crawled to a puddle of water, by the side of the road, and died there. Then came the first wounded man, who belonged to the same regiment. He was walking back to the rear. He had been shot through both cheeks, and the front of his uniform was covered with blood. It soon got to be so frequent a sight that it hardly attracted my attention.
Toward evening our column was formed, and we marched to Dam No. 4 on the Potomac, where we crossed the canal and marched down between the canal and the river. About midnight we crossed, under the canal, through an archway, and continued the march until near morning, when we halted at a farmhouse, and camped in the barnyard and field.
The next day we marched to Jones' crossroads, and laid there all day. That night a party was sent out scouting toward the battlefield. About midnight, as we were riding along the road, we were suddenly fired into by a company of infantry. We wheeled about and got out of there as fast as we could. Captain Tintsman's horse was killed, which, fortunately, was the only casualty. We found out the next day that it was a company of our men, on picket, that fired into us. They did not look for any- thing but rebels from the direction we were coming, and had orders to fire without challenging. At the National Encampment at Minneapolis, in 1884, I met one of the men who was on picket with that company, and he gave me a full account of it. He said they challenged us twice, but we did not halt, so they fired on us.
As we were in our own country, our reception by the citizens was all that we could ask. We were fed abundantly, and Govern- ment rations were at a discount.
The battle of Antietam being over, we were ordered back to
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Our First Campaign.
our camp at Carlisle. We marched through Hagerstown and Greencastle. At the latter town we met the Gray Reserves of Philadelphia, and found many acquaintances in the regiment. At Chambersburg we turned in our horses and took the cars for Carlisle, where we resumed our drills. We had been in camp but a few days when it was reported that the rebels were again near Chambersburg. Two companies were ordered to get ready to march. Rations and ammunition were issued. We marched to the depot and took the cars for Newville, where we found we were to be stationed. A strong picket post was placed about half a mile from town, at a bridge on the railroad, with a wagon road passing underneath. We blockaded the track with ties, rails and logs, so that if a train did come down it would be thrown off the bridge. We then built a large fire, lining the fence behind the fire with cornstalks, to keep off the wind, and were fixed for the night. Quite a number of citizens were driving along the wagon road, and we asked each one as they passed to bring us something to eat, and by night we had more eatables than we could dispose of in a week.
Shortly after dark a relief was sent out to us, but we declined to be relieved, and sent them back. The next morning the relief came out again, and this time we had to accept them and go back to town, where we found the two companies quartered in the depot, with more eatables than they could take care of. After cleaning ourselves up, blacking our boots and putting on clean collars, a squad of us started out to see the town. We found everybody very friendly and anxious to do all they could for our comfort. We received many invitations to dinner, and finally accepting one, went to the house of our host, where we found dinner all ready for us. Just as we had taken our seats at the table the bugle sounded the assembly, so we had to leave that good dinner, much to the disappointment of the family and ourselves. We returned to the depot, and, after waiting about an hour, a train came and took us back to Carlisle.
During the latter part of October we were busy preparing a new camp on the opposite side of the town from the barracks. We finally got the ground cleared and the wall tents up in good shape. Most of the tents had board floors, bunks and stoves. We expected to stay there all winter and were fixed for comfort. This camp was named "Camp Buell."
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November 7, 1862. We received orders to-day to get ready to break up our camp. After a great deal of trouble we got every- thing packed and were ready. The band from the barracks came over and we marched to town in a heavy snowstorm, got to the depot and found the train was late. We waited there six hours before it was ready.
Then came many affectionate partings, as nearly every man had formed some close friendships among the citizens, more espe- cially the young ladies. At last we pulled out from Carlisle, and for many of us it was forever.
At Pittsburg we changed cars, first marching to the Soldiers' Refreshment Saloon, where we got a fine supper. Our train was in three sections. The boys would crowd into the first section, ride to the next town, get off and wait there for the last section.
We arrived at Louisville, Ky., on the Ioth, and found our camp was a mile from town, on the L. & N. R. R. We got there at last and busied ourselves in putting up tents and getting the camp in shape. We had a fine time here; were permitted to go into town frequently, so we did not abuse the privilege. There was a large Government mule corral near our camp, and the songs these birds sang every night will never be forgotten.
We finally drew our horses and full equipment. Then came the drills. Morning and afternoon it was pounded into us, until we began to be cavalrymen. Then came the dress parade, in town, on Broad Street-the most fashionable residence street. The citi- zens came in crowds to see the Anderson Cavalry.
We were in camp in Louisville nearly a month, when one day orders were received to march to Nashville, Tenn. Tents were struck, the wagons loaded, and on December 8th we bade good-bye to Louisville, and started on our first trip into the Confederacy. It was reported that the rebel General Morgan and his command were somewhere between Louisville and Nashville. We marched to Bowling Green and went into camp, expecting to stay there some time. Our first night in Bowling Green was spent on the grounds of some prominent citizen, who did not want any Yankees on his plantation, so he went to headquarters and entered com- plaint, and orders were issued for us to move our camp to the other side of town. This was done in one of the hardest rains we
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Our First Campaign.
were ever caught in. When we arrived at the new camp we found it in a ploughed field. The mud was awful. It was simply im- possible to put up tents. We tied our horses to trees or anything we could find to tie to. The men could not lie on the ground, so the most of them went into a large cave and put in the night there. I was fortunate in getting into an old barn with a lot of the men. They built a fire on the floor and sat up to watch it, so it would not burn the building. I found a wheat trough full of wheat, spread my bed on that and turned in. Just before I got to sleep Sergeant Pattison came to the door and called my name. I did not want to go out that night. so kept quiet. He did not find me. The next morning I found him. He asked me where I was last night; I told him I slept in the old barn. He said, "I called you there, but you did not answer ; I wanted you to go on picket." I told him I was probably asleep.
The rebel General Morgan and his command were reported at Glascow, and a portion of the Regiment was ordered to scout there for information. We started about sundown and marched all night. It was very cold, and we had to halt every three or four miles and build fires and thaw out. About daylight we charged into Glascow, and found that Morgan and sixty men had been there, but had left suddenly about an hour before we arrived. After feeding and resting our horses, we marched back to Bowling Green.
It was at this place I received the only promotion I received dur- ing my service. I was detailed as Lance Corporal, in charge of orderlies, to Brigadier-General Smith, in command at Bowling Green, and continued in that position until we arrived at Nash- ville, when I resumed my rank of high private.
Our march to Nashville was resumed, and at 2 P.M., December 24, 1862, we reached the Cumberland River, opposite the city, and crossed the river on a pontoon bridge, the other bridges having been burned by the rebels. We paraded through the streets and then marched to our camp, about two miles south of the city. We found the grounds well adapted for camping, with the exception of fences for fuel, but our wagons coming up, we soon had the camp in shape.
December 25th, Christmas-the first one I ever passed away from home. My Christmas dinner was served in four courses :
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History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Ist. Beans, boiled.
2d. Salt pork, boiled.
3d. Hard-tack.
4th. Coffee; no cream.
In the morning a foraging party was sent out for corn for the horses. They went about ten miles from town, when they were attacked by rebel cavalry. They had a brisk little fight; one man of Company F was killed. The party returned to camp, bringing all the wagons and the forage.
As this brings us to the Stone River campaign, I will leave that for some other Comrade.
SERGEANT BETTS AND OLD COMPANY E.
SERG. SIMEON LORD, COMPANY E, PHILADELPHIA.
S OME personalities lastingly impress others. I do not think that Sergeant Betts could have been more than twenty-four years old when he took charge of us, and, by the usual rulc, he should have had a hard time governing a hundred boys, whose ages did not average over twenty years, but he did not. There was something about him which drew the respect and obedience of his Company, and his orders were carried out not so much because they were orders, but because Sergeant Betts had told us.
He was not a martinet or a blusterer. He never lost his temper, and I do not recall an instance of his punishing a man. Somehow we got along without it, and a feeling grew among the men that it was not so much that we belonged to Company E as that Com- pany E belonged to us, and we tried to make it the best of the lot.
Sergeant Betts was earnest and thorough in all that he did, and had the faculty of inspiring us with that feeling. He had been an officer in the Blue Reserve at home, and for a time was in the Quartermaster's Department of the Army of the Potomac, under Colonel Tolles, who was afterward killed by Mosby's men; therefore the drill was not altogether new to him. Those old regulars who instructed us at Carlisle were past masters in the art, and made us one of the best drilled regiments in the service. Company E was the first to dispense with their services, and Sergeant Betts most ably filled the position, and the Company was never better drilled or drilled better than when he gave the orders.
It was after we got to Louisville that Lieutenant John W. Jack- son came to us as our permanent Commander. We had several temporary Commanders before, but the real Commander of our Company was Sergeant Betts. The temporary officers usually took us out on dress parade. One of them, who must have been unduly impressed, issued his first command on taking charge: "Gentlemen, carry arms, please."
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We had some trouble at Nashville. The officers we had were not of that positive character who carry out orders under all circumstances, and when the command came to get ready to march many of the boys refused to go, and the commissioned officers failed in their duty. I shall always remember Sergeant Betts, then in the full flush of his tall, slender young manhood, as he stood in front of his Company announcing to us that "General Rosecrans wants the Anderson Cavalry at the front, and I am going."
With his eyes appealing to us and face wreathed with that ever- pleasant magnetic smile, now set with a fixed determination, it gave us the first true index of the soldier in him, and old Company E at once remembered its duty and followed its Sergeant.
Our Sergeant was too good a man for such a subordinate posi- tion, and at the reorganization of the Regiment, three months later, he was made a Captain. At the "retreat" call of March 3, 1863, he called the roll of the Company for the last time, and then told us the changes. He said many pleasant things, which I cannot now recall, but we forgot to wait for the order to "break ranks," and when he finished three hearty cheers were given for our friend, Capt. Chas. M. Betts.
A PRIVATE FORAGING PARTY AT BOWLING GREEN WHICH FAILED.
CHAS. M. BROUGH, COMPANY A, OGDEN, UTAH.
T HE overland march of the Anderson Cavalry from Louis- ville to Nashville, in the late fall of 1862, will be remem- bered by most of the Troopers, certainly by all the original members of the ten companies of our Regiment. Outside of the daily routine of guard mount, picket duty and such other duties, nothing occurred to upset the even tenor of our march until our approach to Bowling Green, Ky., when a terrific rain storm set in, continuing for several days. We got in camp about dark, and made such preparations as would insure as good a night's sleep as possible, and then began a "gum-boot" search for stray chickens roosting low, or belated pigs that hadn't found home when the curfew rang.
The commanding officer had issued stringent orders forbidding all foraging, and enforced them, too, as you will see from what follows. I was then a member of old Company E, and, as quite a number of the boys in that Company were from the country, they were not afraid of a goose or a chicken biting them, so four of us set out on a night prowl to find something to take the place of hard-tack and bacon. In the darkness we caught a glimpse of the outlines of a big house and a bigger barn ahead of us, and in a little while we stumbled on a nest of "porkers," all huddled up, snoozing. As each one of us had a dirk or hunting knife hung on our belts, we soon had one of the "grunters" by the heels. One of the boys held his snout, another held him down, and another sent the dirk home until the last squeak had been uttered and died away. We thought he was a legitimate spoil of war, and pro- ceeded to "tote" him to camp, where we arrived safely with our plunder.
Just how to manage so as not to be caught was the question, and we decided to put him in one of the wagons until morning,
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and then skin him and divide him up for the next day's breakfast and supper. Shortly after reveille had sounded, the farmer was on hand with his tale of woe to the commanding officer, and soon an inquiry was begun by every Company Commander to find out who the "boodlers" were. We were in a tight place, and, as a cover, put the hog in a big washboiler that our Company cook used to make coffee in, and there he rested all day until the camp was made for the night. The detail was made as usual to carry the water to make coffee, and as all the officers were on the watch for fresh pork smell, the water was poured in on the hog, the coffee put in also and all cooked together.
Of course, not one of our Company took coffee that evening, but when the officer of the night came along and with his tincup dipped in our washboiler for a cup of coffee, he got it with whiskers and bristles and at the same time struck something tan- gible. On investigation he found the hog, and we were compelled to pay in the neighborhood of twenty dollars for the grunter, and then didn't get any of the meat. Later on, however, these strict orders (while always in existence) were winked at and never literally enforced, for, after a few years of service, everybody realized that "war was hell," as General Sherman expressed it, and foraging, when necessity required, was more or less legiti- mate.
But, be it said to the credit of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, they never wantonly destroyed property or took anything not absolutely needed, and in the line of something to eat.
THE CHRISTMAS FORAGING EXPEDITION IN 1862.
ARTHUR O. GRANGER, CO. C, CARTERSVILLE, GA.
O N December 25, 1862, the day after the Regiment arrived at Nashville, twenty men were called for from our Com- pany E to go on a foraging expedition, and I was one of the number who volunteered. There were also squads from the other companies, the whole under the command of Captain Vezin.
We took all of the wagons belonging to our Regiment and joined a large train of about 100 wagons, with an escort from a Tennessee regiment. About nine miles out we halted, near a large corn field, and the mounted men were put on picket duty in differ- ent directions, while the infantry loaded the fodder into the wagons. I was in Corp. Chas. H. Kirk's squad, along a narrow road to the left of the pike.
I had been on picket an hour or so, when I was relieved and rode back to the farmhouse, where I found a late Christmas dinner going on the table. I told the lady of the house that I would dine with them, and went out on the back porch to wash up and get ready for a square meal. Just then I heard a volley of rifle shots, and, regretting to miss the feast, I ran through the kitchen and seized a long-handled skillet at the back of the stove, and, holding up the tail of my overcoat, flopped the big, hot "johnnycake" into it, and that was all of the Christmas dinner I got. I jumped on my horse and soon joined our men on the pike. The rebels were ยท coming over a low hill and down toward the corn field and seemed to outnumber us. We retired along the pike a short distance, when, under the inspiration of Albert Coleman, of Company E, we were drawn up in line near a blacksmith shop and held the enemy in check; there was very sharp firing for a while. The wagons were getting out of the field and started down the pike on a full run.
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