USA > Wisconsin > History of the First Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery > Part 19
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The surrounding country abounded in orange groves, the bay with fish. oysters, and ducks were brought up in yawls rowed by the man with one oar, gondola style, and those who were free from malaria have a lively recollection of the ad- vantages of our three months' stay at Brashear. An Illinois regiment were the proud owners of a large, heavy sheet-iron oven, mounted on wheels, a combination of drum-and-funnel shape in which could be baked rations for a company. Shortly before their departure up the Teche, this oven disappeared from their camp one night, and after they marched away ap- . peared in our camp. Many weeks thereafter we were aroused one morning by triumphant shouts. It was this returning regiment. Catching sight of it, they attached themselves to the oven and drew it away with what to us was unseemly hilarity. Being caught with the goods on our person, we had nought to offer but "You fellows don't want to leave that thing out doors anywhere in this country."
On the morning of October 31, just as the camp was arous- ing. Lieutenant Webster emerged from headquarters tent, to which he arrived in the night, was warmly welcomed, con- gratulated us on our comfortable quarters and assumed com- mand.
Observing Don Cameron on guard over the guns, carrying his sabre in his left hand because of rheumatism in his right shoulder, his first official act was to call the Corporal of the Guard and relieve Cameron, who was sent to his quarters to remain until fit for duty. There was one qualification for a sol- dier in which Cameron was deficient and that was not knowing when he was too sick for duty. He would turn out whenever the bugle sounded for guard mount or boots and saddles re- gardless of his physical condition. He made up for that defi- ciency, however, by his superior knowledge as an all-round forager.
Armed squads from the Battery frequently rode far away and brought in from the many brick sugar houses in the adja- cent country quantities of damp, dark, strong sugar that weighed about 4.000 pounds to the ton. the gunny sacks in which it was brought across the sweaty withers of the horses giving it an additional tang. Here, too, we found for the first time in our itinerary the orange growing on the tree, finer than the finest that come from the groves of Florida, and gathered them by the sacks full, and learned by sour experience
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to distinguish them from the festive lime. Also we plucked the fresh fig from the tree, and found that he tasted like a "raw dam." As we rode along the bayous on those expeditions we tested the shooting qualities of our "forty-fours" on the alligators who failed to profit by former experience and seek their muddy beds at the bottom of the stream when foraging parties put in an appearance. Towards evening the mosquitoes came out more numerous than the lice of Egypt, and the rela- tive efficiency of the "Chickasaw" and the "Gallinipper" was discussed as we lay in the smudge of a smouldering fire. Bill Pidge one morning called a comrade into his house to show him an' overgrown specimen of the gallinipper family which he had pinned to the wall. The comrade critically inspected the exhibit and asked, "Where did you capture him?" Bill replied: "I was awakened by his crawling through the slats of the window blinds and got up and bayoneted him to the wall in the night." Dick Kimball, Bill Pink, Jack Grubb, Pete Durham, et al, held nightly symposiums around a huge kettle of boiled crabs out beyond the cook shanty, cracking, chatting and eating the toothsome crustacean long after the camp was hushed in slumber, and to this day the huge mound of broken shells remains a monument to their industry and skill in that line.
Sergeant McKeith thus writes:
"Speaking of Heckman reminds me of an incident that hap- pened at Brazier City. If you remember, sutlers' goods were very high, and the Union soldiers' purses were not over-stocked with greenbacks at that time and we were often put to our wits' ends to devise means to patronize the sutler properly. One night I was on guard and I found out that a car load of goods had arrived, and the sutler, being a stirring chap, con- cluded to move the goods to his tent and have them opened up in the night to be ready for business in the morning. Securing the services of a negro who owned a mule and cart, he went duly to work. He helped load the first load and then sent the darky after more goods while he proceeded to open what he had hauled. Well, my mouth watered for some of those goods. I hunted up Heckman, and his mouth watered also; so we together hunted up Fred Haver-you know Fred was a mas- ter hand when there was any plunder in sight-and laid a scheme that worked like a charm. Heckman and I got in the road in front of the mule and originated a row, the darky was fully taken up with handling the mule and watching Heckman and I, while Haver mounted the back end of the cart and eased off the boxes. We kept an eye on Haver, and when he jumped off the cart we got out of the road and the darky pro- ceeded on his way and we went back for our prizes. We each had a box and found a secure place and proceeded to investi-
CHAS. A. LEITH.
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gate them. I opened mine first and found it contained con- densed milk. We were highly elated over the first, as we had not had any milk for some time, and there was enough in my box to last the Battery for months. We took the cans out, (there was 144 of them) and I tell you they made quite a dis- play ; but we did not stop to admire the display very long, but opened another box. You can imagine we were somewhat anxious to view our other treasures. What do you suppose we found in that box ?- condensed milk. Well, we all did look a little grave, to say the least, as we took out the cans and placed them with the others. We did not have much to say as we took them out one by one, but went for the other box, as we were somewhat anxious to have just a little variety in our bill of fare, but when we raised the lid our hopes vanished, for this, too, contained 144 cans of-condensed milk. You could have stepped on Fred's under lip, and John exclaimed, 'Sold ! We have enough milk to supply the army.'"
Cameron wrote :
"Captain Dan had a horse. No, not a horse, he was the devil. Witness many officers, non-commissioned officers and privates of the 1st Wisconsin Battery ('praps you've heered of 'em) ? Well, one day after a multitude of tribulations at Berwick City, Byron Hall, who was Orderly for Captain W., secured 'Fox,' brought him in front of the tepee occupied by Charley Harrington and himself, twisted, knotted and lashed & prolonge rope around Fox, his neck, legs, body, tail and ears -or head-and with a remark, 'There, d-n you, see if you don't stay until I say go,' retired to his blankets for an after- noon nap. Scarcely had he closed his eyes for a siesta when Charley casually remarked, 'Hall, if you don't choke him off, Fox will have your hardtack inside him.' Hall unbuttoned his eyes and saw Fox going one eye on the hardtack and one on him, ready for a quick retreat. 'How did he do it,' said Hall as he stood in his stockings."
To which Captain Webster added :
"If cunning is a characteristic attribute of the fox the horse was rightly named. He was not only cunning, but he had a large amount of intelligence with it. No animal ever knew quicker who was master than he, and he would miss the spur before the rider would, but would not let the fact be known until he was some distance on his way. I at one time had him so he would take a ditch or a fence very like a hunter, but in order to get good work out of him it was necessary to let him understand that if he did not 'get over' he would get the spur. While at Cumberland Gap we were ordered out for an 'exhi- bition drill' one day and I forgot my spurs. Fox, in the lan- guage of Uncle Remus, 'aint say anything about it,' but he- haved splendidly until after the parade ground was reached.
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Then I found that he was indisposed to get around on time, but not until he had landed me in a ditch that I had attempted to make him jump. He went all right until the time came for me to help him with the rowels, when he stopped short while I, who had felt so confident that old Fox was going over in fine style, kept going. As I crawled out of the ditch he looked so innocent and sympathetic that I could do nothing but laugh until I got into the saddle, when I rode to camp and put on the 'gaffs.' After that he cleared the ditch several times without a thought of stopping. You 'old Gappers' all remem- ber Jerry, the 'loud Baptist preacher' that I had for a servant at that time. Fox knew too much for that 'nigger' and was soon his master. One day I ordered Fox saddled in a hurry, but Jerry was a long time getting around. I called and Jerry would respond 'in a minute.' but minutes went by and still no Fox and no Jerry. I could hear Jerry say 'you Fox! look out dar; mind yourself.' When tired of waiting I went out to the little stable that we had fixed just in rear of our tent, and peeped through the 'chinking' to see what was the matter. There was Jerry in the corner of the manger, a prisoner. If he attempted to get out Fox would put back his ears and wheel his heels toward Jerry and come into battery' in fine shape, ready to 'unlimber' if any advance was made by his 'patent leather groom.' As soon as Jerry retreated to his cor- ner Fox would 'replace implements' and return to his feed as unconcerned as if Jerry was in 'darkest Africa.' Finding that it was a case of arbitration. I entered the stable and led the horse out and held him while Jerry put the saddle on. Fox also had a habit of raising his near hind foot just in time and at the right angle and elevation to knock the foot of any per- son out of the stirrup that was trying to mount him, and there being nothing 'mean about him' he would use both feet, if one was not enough to accomplish his purpose. No knot was ever tied in his halter. that he could reach with his teeth, that he could not loosen and untie, and the only time he was ever completely beaten and utterly crestfallen was once when he was tied with a 'prolonge' rope around the neck and running through the hind wheels of a gun carriage and thence to a tree about 15 feet above the ground. The only thing that dis- couraged him then was that he could not get at the tree so he might climb it and get at the knot. But he was not spared to witness the 'downfall' of the Confederacy, as he died in New Orleans from lockjaw 'contracted in the service.' I never shall forget the appeal for help he clearly demonstrated by his actions and the expression of the eyes while he was suffering with the fatal disease."
Another noted horse. the only one to go with us from Louis- ville to muster out in Milwaukee, was Right Wheel, Sergeant
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Hoyt's bay gelding. He served in all our campaigns and bat- tles from start to finish, being used last by Sergeant Heckman, who bought him of the Government, brought him North and sold him in Wisconsin.
Since Webster left the Battery in March, 1863, it had been commanded by Captain Foster to May 1st, then by Lieu- tenant Kimball to about the middle of May, and by Lieutenant Nutting from that time to the present. Foster was now in New Orleans as Chief of Artillery. Kimball had resigned and gone home, leaving Nutting in command, with Lieutenant Hackett and Lieutenant Aylmer, who had been commissioned August 13th, as assistants, and E. E. Stewart as First, or Or- derly Sergeant. Since entering the service the Battery had been armed with the old style six-pounder brass guns, 12-pounder Howitzers, 10-pounder Parrott rifles, three-inch Rodman rifle, 20-pounder Parrotts, the latter having been worn out during the siege of Vicksburg, 12-pounder James rifle, and now had the 30-pounder Parrotts. There were four of the latter, which had been respectively named and duly lettered by the poet- painter of the Battery, Joseph Bowker. "Old Abe," "General Grant," "General Osterhaus" and "General Washburne."
From Cumberland Gap to Jackson we were officially entitled to inscribe upon our flag a battle for each stripe, and had smelled the powder of as many skirmishes, or "affairs," as there were stars on its union. We were entitled to wear the badges of the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Nine- teenth Corps, and had served in the armies of the Ohio. West Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee and the Gulf only, the Thir- teenth Corps never had a badge. "We were too busy fighting while the other corps were making them." We were now with the Nineteenth Corps, Army of the Gulf, and on their flags were emblazoned, "Irish Bend, Donaldsonville and Port Hud- son."
There was at this time, unfortunately, a feeling of enmity between the Eastern and Western troops in the Department of the Gulf. Our Battery, however, got along nicely with them and came nearer being social and friendly with the "Yankees" than any other organization in the Thirteenth Corps. This feeling originated through an exhibition of self-superiority of a few of the Massachusetts troops who were on duty as guards at Carrollton, a few miles above New Orleans, when the ad- vance of the Vicksburg contingent arrived at that place in fulfillment of General Grant's promise to send General Banks the best corps in his army. Among the regiments first to ar- rive was the 11th Indiana, General Lew Wallace's old regi- ment, one of the best drilled fighting regiments in the army. They had drawn no clothing since the beginning of the siege of Vicksburg, and consequently were ragged and dirty, but
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they were feeling good in the consciousness of being recognized as one of the very best regiments in the best fighting corps of Grant's invincible army. As the boat which brought them down the river rounded to the levee at Carrollton some one of the Massachusetts troops called out "What regiment?" "The 11th Indiana conscripts," came back in answer. At this the Eastern men in their new clothes, bright brasses, polished shoes, white paper collars and boiled shirts began to criticise the appearance of the Indiana men and to call them "Forty dollar men" who had to be drafted, etc. The result was what might have been expected, for some of the Western men were on shore before the steamer's gang plank was out and a fight was on in spite of the levee guards. The commanding officer of the regiment was on shore as soon as possible and restored order, sending his men back on the boat. Just at this stage of the proceedings the officer of the day, a Lieutenant, dressed finely, wearing a bright new sash and a fancy sword, rushed down to the levee and demanded, "Who commands that regi- ment ?" "I do," modestly replied the Colonel. The young Lieutenant then began to read the regimental commander a lecture on discipline and to upbraid him for permitting his men to behave in such a way. The Colonel looked him over a moment and then called a halt in the proceedings, and told that officer of the day that if he did not "dry up, and that p. d. q., he would wipe the ground up with him and throw him and his whole force in the river." In the meantime the In- diana boys had rushed by the guards that had been stationed to hold them on the boat, and had swarmed about the Colonel, telling him to "go in; we will stand by you;" after which they drove the guards that were on shore away from the levee. Each regiment of the corps, as it arrived, of course. espoused the side of the Western men and but added fuel to the fire that had such a beginning. When the Battery arrived at Brashear City the New York regiment, then on guard over the Govern- ment property, could not protect the same from seizure by the Western boys. Commissary stores and, notably, whisky, were taken from them and they dared not report it to their supe- riors. Finally the 49th Indiana Regiment, of the Cumberland Gap contingent, was assigned to that duty, when the property was properly protected and all was once more quiet and orderly. This feeling. although never entirely obliterated, was greatly modified during the disastrous Red River cam- paign, which brought the two armies together in deadly con- fict with a common foe.
There being no field maneuver laid down in the tactics for heavy artillery, our drill was confined to the manual of the piece, foot drill and the saber exercise. Our horses were sta- bled in a large brick sugar house, while the harness was hung
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on racks provided for that purpose and covered with tarpau- lins to protect it from the sun and rain. The atmosphere was so damp that all leather goods, no matter how well sheltered, would. in a few hours, be completely covered with a green mold, which necessitated a daily cleaning and brushing the harness, while the horses were groomed every morning under direction of the proper officers. We were flattering ourselves that we not only had a model camp, but that our guns, horses, harness and other paraphernalia were in excellent condition, which, in fact, they were, when one day an inspecting officer from a Connecticut regiment appeared in camp to inspect the Battery. Lieutenant Webster, feeling a pride in the excel- lent condition of the camp, and everything pertaining thereto, welcomed the officer and cheerfully accompanied him in his rounds. This officer had, evidently, never seen any field service and was likewise ignorant of camp life, yet he had been com- missioned to inspect and report the condition and discipline of troops that had seen but little else than field service and life in camp for the year past. Notwithstanding the fact that he found some fault when the elevating screw under the breech of the guns responded to the touch of his immaculately white glove with a show of oil, and that said glove was further soiled when he stroked the coats of the horses with it, we were not prepared for the report he caused to be published concern- ing our condition. for it had been explained to him that the oil was necessary to prevent friction and wear, while the horses had no bedding but the bare earth, and that it was utterly im- possible to keep them so clean that he could stroke them with his glove and not have the latter soiled. There were also a few pieces of old harness which belonged to no one in particular to look after, and which were laid aside to be condemned as un- serviceable, which were covered with mold; otherwise the leather goods were in excellent condition. Judge, then, of our surprise when the following was issued to the troops of the Department of the Gulf to be read to them at dress parade :
"In the 1st Wisconsin and 1st Vermont Batteries the same neglect upon the part of the officers is evident. The same want of attention to cleanliness and care of equipments exists, and proper discipiline is not enforced. The horses are generally ill-groomed and harness uncleaned and moldy, those of the 1st Wisconsin being shamefully neglected."
This was the first adverse criticism the Battery had ever received from an inspecting or other officer. and was in no sense merited this time. If that inspector had appeared in camp with his report nothing would have saved him from a ducking in the bay. Lieutenant Hackett said: "I would not hurt him: I'd just put him on my thumb and snap him across the bay." This report evidently did not have much weight
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with those high in authority, as in a few days we were selected as one of the four best batteries in the Department to be con- verted into horse artillery, the highest arm of the artillery service.
About this time General Washburn wrote from Texas: "I should like the 1st Wisconsin Battery. It is a good battery ; has seen much service; has good guns and good horses."
While at Brashear City there was considerable malarial sickness in the Battery, and Dr. W. A. Dinwiddie, from an Iowa regiment, was assigned to the Battery to look after the sick, and right well did he attend to the duty, and a more at- tentive, sympathetic and generous-hearted man never wore the green sash. The old members of the Battery will ever have a warm place in the warmest corner of their hearts for the doc- tor, now Major W. A. Dinwiddie, of the Regular Army. Cor- poral N. D. Ledyard died here from the effects of a shell explo- sion at Jackson, Miss. Phil Welch, who was once left for dead on the field of battle, and who had been in hospital many months, now rejoined the Battery, but how changed. His jolly, off-hand manner was gone and in its stead was a subdued, quiet demeanor. He never fully regained his strength and cheerfulness, but served until the end of his term of enlist- ment.
When camped across the bay we had stored some ammuni- tion in one end of a double-roomed house, and as soon as we were comfortably settled a detail was sent across the bay to get it. When the boys arrived at the house they found that some sutler had stored his goods in the other end of the build- ing. While removing the Government property the building was discovered to be on fire. How it was fired was never known to the authorities, but it was supposed to have been the result of spontaneous combustion. The ammunition was the first thing saved, after which the boys turned in and helped the sutler save his wares. In some unexplainable manner the sutler's goods became inextricably mixed with the Government ammunition, and when the boys got home they found a mistake had been made by somebody, but as they did not think they were responsible for it they laid low and said nothing, partic- ularly after ascertaining that the Government was not short any ammunition. English dairy cheese, maple syrup and other canned goods garnished the standard army "sow belly" and white beans of the average mess for several days.
About this time the colored troops and the New York regi- ments were paid off. The New Yorkers went in for a good time, such as getting drunk the first day, selling the wife's draft the second and going "broke" the third. There were many fights among them and two deaths from violence. The
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negroes showed their ignorance and barbarity by remaining sober and orderly.
By act of the Legislature of Wisconsin her soldiers in the field were permitted to vote for State and County officers, and as a State election was held this year and month for the elec- tion of said officials an election was held in the Battery on election day, resulting in a unanimous vote for James T. Lewis for Governor and the whole Union ticket.
About this time Captain Foster was commissioned or au- thorized to recruit a regiment of veteran artillery from among those who had less than a year of their first three years' en- listment to serve. The enlistment was to be for three years and all recruits were to receive $100 bounty for first enlistment, $2 premium and the first installment of $400 bounty and a 60 days furlough. About 25 of the men signified a willingness to reenlist, but commissioned officers, aside from Captain Foster, did not take kindly to the proposition. He was deeply inter- ested, as the regimental organization meant a Colonel's com- mission for him, with the pay of that rank. After spending a few days in camp the Captain went back to New Orleans to see what he could do with other batteries.
We had gotten comfortably fixed in winter quarters and everything put in good shape when Lieutenant Webster re- ceived an order from headquarters to report at once to General Arnold in New Orleans with the Battery. Arrangements were at once made for moving and the Lieutenant took the first train for the city to ascertain what was to be done with us. He called upon General Arnold, who was an old artillery officer in the Regular Army, and then Chief of Artillery for the Depart- ment. and asked what was to be done with the Battery when it should arrive, which would be in a day or two. The General said that he had been ordered to select four of the best bat- teries in the Department for conversion into horse artillery to operate with cavalry, and that ours was the first one he had selected. The others were to be Nimms' Massachusetts Bat- tery and two Regular batteries, one of which was the one he commanded at the breaking out of the war. The Lieutenant called General Arnold's attention to the report of the recent inspection and asked him what he thought of it? The General replied, in substance, that he paid no attention to reports made by men who knew nothing about that arm of the service, or who had seen no service in the field. "I know what your bat- tery is and I want it for use," said the General, "and want you to get around with it as soon as possible."
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