USA > Wisconsin > History of the First Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery > Part 24
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well as the rebel soldiers were, but that on the march, and while in charge of the guards and marching through the coun- try, they were mistreated by them and the citizens along the way. If a man was sick or lagged behind on the march a lariat was put about his neck and fastened to the pommel of the saddle, and the poor victim was dragged along at the risk of his life if he should happen to stumble or fall by the way. The men the rebels received in exchange for these starved and emaciated prisoners were well fed, fat, healthy and well clothed, being ready for active service as soon as they should reach their commands.
About this time another of the members of the Battery died in hospital. His name was Herman Snider and he was from Preston, Minnesota. and was one of the latest recruits, having enlisted in January, 1864. He was sick a long time and had been furloughed to go home as soon as he should be able to travel, which he never was.
We now began to feel that we were to remain in New Or- leans for the remainder of the summer, and with that antici- pation we at once began to repair and renovate the quarters, stables, etc. The work was scarcely under way, however, be- fore a staff officer came to us one evening about 5 o'clock and asked Lieutenant Webster how soon the Battery could move? "As soon as we can hitch up," replied the Lieutenant. He then left orders for us to proceed at once to the levee at or near the foot of Canal-street, and take a boat for Baton Rouge. At 7:30 that same evening we were on the levee, over two miles from our camp, ready to load, but the transportation fur- nished being insufficient it was nearly 10 o'clock before we began to load. We were ready loaded by midnight and soon on our way up river. This is the quickest move the Battery ever made when not pressed by the enemy or moving to engage one, and we doubt if it be not, everything consid- ered, the quickest made by any organization during the war.
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CHAPTER XVII.
"There was shaking of hands And sorrow of heart, For the time was approaching When merry folks must part."
W E arrived at Baton Rouge at 5 o'clock p. m. on the next day, July 8th, and went into camp in Fort Williams, near the United States Arsenal, at that place.
Captain Foster, who remained in New Orleans in charge of the camp of instruction, soon after procured an order detail- ing himself, Lieutenant Hackett, Sergeant Stewart and three enlisted men to proceed. to Wisconsin to recruit for the Bat- tery. Owing to the want of men on duty Lieutenant Webster protested to the detail through General Herron, then in com- mand at Baton Rouge, and Lieutenant Hackett asked to be relieved from the detail, and the order was rescinded and the men remained on duty with the Battery.
About the middle of August Lieutenant Webster was taken very sick, and. at the suggestion of Captain Burdick, of the 7th Michigan Battery, who was Ordnance Officer for the Post, he was removed to a private house, where he could have quiet and be relieved from the cares of the business pertaining to the Battery, the command devolving upon Lieutenant Nut- ting until Captain Foster returned to take command on the 27th of August. On the 1st of September Lieutenant Web- ster returned to duty, about which time Captain Foster was recalled to New Orleans as Chief of Artillery for the Depart- ment.
As Lieutenant Webster's health was very poor he had hoped to be permitted to go home with the three years men and to be mustered out of service with them, and so expressed himself to Captain Clapp, General Herron's 1. A. G., when the lat- ter looked him in the eye and said: "Don't yon know that the very existence of the 1st Wisconsin Battery depends upon your staying with it, and that it would go straight to h-11 without you? You have two good Lieutenants, but they can't run a battery."
The Battery was frequently called upon to furnish one or more pieces to accompany some expedition or raid into the country, upon which occasion either Lieutenant Nutting or Hackett, or both of them. were sent in command of detach- ments. Lieutenant Webster remaining in camp with the re- mainder of the Battery.
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CLINTON EXPEDITION.
The last affair in which the original battery engaged was an expedition to Clinton, in August, our cavalry brigade, under General A. L. Lee, the Battery under Captain Foster. We were gone from the Post three days, chasing the enemy far towards Liberty, and it was a new experience to us, as we left a large share of our impedimenta in camp, riding light. Perhaps it is well summed up in the words of a comrade:
"Do any of you boys remember the expedition under that August sun with General Lee? The last in which the three years boys took a part. When the horses lay down and died with the heat or plunged forward dead in harness? The Bat- tery was never so nearly wrecked as when it crawled into camp upon return. There was little of the animate left save the indomitable Anglo-Saxon light shining from the eyes out of the sweat-begrimed faces surmounting the dust-encrusted bodies. Days, weeks after, Herron wrote Canby, in discuss- ing a raid, that Lee's cavalry brigade had so suffered on that trip that it would not be proper to order them out until they were further recruited. This was one of the 'picnics' in which some of the gentlemen now in high places might have partici- pated, but didn't ; nor in any similar."
General Lee. commanding the cavalry brigade. accompanied by Lieutenant Hackett's section, got past our picket line on the evening of August 24. 1864, to march all night and rush the rebel pickets at daylight. Jack Viets and I saddled our horses and fell in with the 4th Wisconsin. Promptly the pickets were struck at daylight and rushed across the Comite River, where they destroyed the bridge and lined up with their artillery on the farther bank. The cavalry had rushed them in column until striking a strong skirmish line in the woods and it took some time to dismount 1, 2 and 3, No. 4 hold the horses and get into line, the enemy's artillery shelling the woods over their own line. While this was being done our boys were in column halted in the road just past a blacksmith snon and Lieutenant Hackett was pacing around knawing his moustache, impatient to get at them and, of course. in his usual genial humor. under such circumstances. Viets and I were in the blacksmith shop broiling a rooster that. about sunrise, had hopped out of a coop and tried to gaff Jack, who had to kill him in self-defense. Upon us came Lientenant Hackett and told us to fall in with his gun squad. It was here he told me I ought to have one leg slit and the other stuck through it. The cavalry got into line and pressed the rebels across the bridge and scouted up and down for a ford. Hackett got the word and rushed up his guns. The cavalry were strangers to us of the Nineteenth Corps, and when they ran up against the rebel guns were wish-
JOHN BOYCE.
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ing for, and talking of, Nimms' Battery. But when within five minutes after we dropped trails and began slamming it into them, they went whooping up the road and we heard no more desires for Nimms' Battery. We were good enough for them. The cavalry found crossings and the rebel line followed their artillery and it was a race for six miles to Clinton. Viets and I melted away. crossed below the bridge and joined in the race. Hackett and his guns got in an hour after and bivouacked on "the four square" by a large hotel, the landlord of which among other treasures, had a $1.500 porker for dinner. A col- umn of colored cavalry and infantry came in from Port Hud- son along in the afternoon, the first colored cavalry we had ever seen. We tarried here until the early morning of the second day and then retraced our steps, scouting parties being sent out short distances. The rebels didn't stop running until they reached the next county. Today half of the men in that col- ored column are recipients of. or applicants for, pension for disabilities which they claim to have received on that march, and they never fired a gun.
When Viets and I struck the town with the cavalry we flanked right and rode down a street, halting to talk with a gentleman standing at his gate and claiming to be an English subject. Pratt was his name and he had a stylish daughter, wearing dark ringlets down to her shoulders and was a sweet- heart of Lieutenant-Colonel Jones S. Hamilton, Assistant Pro- vost Marshall General, C. S. . 1.
One Sunday in the quadrangle of the old fort at Baton Rouge, Johnny Hickman and Hallet Rathbun had on the gloves. Johnny, by some accident. ran his nose up against "Ratty's" left duke-or maybe "Ratty" ran his left up against Johhny's nosc-and started the claret. Johnny, by judicious sniffling, kept it from appearing until his somewhat capacious nostril was filled. Just at this opportune moment appeared Billy McKeith, shrouded from neck to calf in a fresh, stiffly starched duster. Dropping on his knee in rear of Johnny to second him, Johnny seated himself on the parallel of the other leg, placed his nose at Billy's right cuff. drew it quickly to the shoulder, softly breathing through it in transit, cast off the gloves and ran, leaving Billy to gaze at a broad crimson streak the full length of the sleeve of his otherwise spotless duster. The as- sembled boys split the blue ether with their unseemly mirth. A foot race ensued, but Johnny had too much start.
One of the non-veterans writes of this time: "Well. yes, I have a lady's watch that I took from a burning dwelling. All the rest of her clothing hung in her room. and the bed was vet warm, but. as the fire was bright in the room. I made sure the lady was not there, took the watch so as not to be late to roll call in the morning. I put the watch between my army sock
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and foot, in the instep, put on my army blouse and went down stairs the back way, the front being all ablaze. Below was a saloon, and I helped carry out some things; but a case of those bottles done up in long straw over each bottle. This stuck to my shoulder, and for fear the boys would use it all I went to the Mississippi River and sunk it near where the breastworks came down to the river, putting a weight on the staff so it would stay down; went back to the fire and helped move several more. We had our fun, and afterwards we were all rounded up and searched by the Colonel, I guess, commanding the fort. I had to take off my Government slippers and was searched gener- ally, but. the watch was not discovered. It is a keepsake yet.
The basket was tapped by degrees, and, Mark, you know how that was, even if you did not know how it came. The 4th Wisconsin was camped at Magnolia Grove. Carson and myself had been down there a few days before. Some of the boys said there was to be a fire before long, so we were on the lookout. I remember what a time we had getting to that fire. After the alarm was sounded we had hard work to get out of the big ditch in front of the breastworks, and when we did get out the guard cried halt. But halt I could not if I had tried. I lost my hat, but a man going to a fire hatless was no uncommon thing.'
On the Sth of September Lieutenant Webster applied for an order to take the three-years men home for muster-out, as their term of enlistment would expire on the 11th of October. The application was approved by General Herron. He thereupon began arranging for the making out of the necessary muster rolls, and that there might be no delay when they should reach home, because of any fault in said rolls, he consulted a Regular mustering officer who was then at Herron's headquarters. About this time the officers of the 11th Wisconsin Regiment united in a recommendation to the Governor of Wisconsin that Captain Foster be promoted to the rank of Colonel, com- plimenting him for "bravery upon many a hard fought battle -- field."
Hearing nothing from the application for the order to take the men home who were mustered out, from Department head- quarters, and feeling satisfied that the order would not be issued, and being in poor health, Lieutenant Webster tendered his unconditional resignation as an officer in the Battery, which was approved by the brigade and division commanders, but when it came to General Horron's headquarters his A. A. G., Captain Clapp, of the 42d Ohio Regiment, forwarded it to Department headquarters with the following endorsement : "This officer is in bad health. but is very worthy and merito- rious. . I would recommend that a leave of absence be granted him to go beyond this Department." This was disapproved at
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General Banks's headquarters. The Lieutenant now gave it up. He tried to get a leave of absence, had tried to get a de- tail to go North, and had tried to resign, and failed in all of them. He therefore came to the conclusion that if he should die in that country and his body should be sent home, that they would draft that and keep him in the army in some shape until the war was over.
In the latter part of September the Battery received orders to put itself in readiness for the field and to drill at least four hours daily to accustom the horses to hard work. Brigadier- General Lee, who commanded the cavalry, to which brigade we were assigned, seemed to rely much upon the efficiency of our Battery and was in frequent consultation with Lieutenant Webster concerning it.
The 13th Wisconsin Battery, Captain Griffith, was at this time at Baton Rouge, but its efficiency was much impaired through the disagreement of its officers. Charges and counter- charges were preferred which resulted in the arrest of most of the officers. At this juncture General Herron desired that Lieutenant Webster should be put in command, and conferred with the latter concerning the matter, promising to use his influence with the Governor of Wisconsin to have the Lieu- tenant commissioned as Captain, but the Lieutenant would not consent to do so of his own volition, saying that if he went it would be by virtue of a peremptory order, and that he was satisfied to remain with the 1st Wisconsin Battery while he should remain in the service. Happily the differences in the 13th Wisconsin Battery were compromised without resort to extreme measures.
Much to his surprise, orders were received on the 26th for Lieutenant Webster to accompany the three-year men home for muster out, but General Lee objected to his going, both he and General Herron promising him that if he would remain with the Battery until the approaching campaign was over they would both agree to let him have a good long leave, whereupon the Lieutenant consented to remain. He, however, accompanied the men to New Orleans, when Captain Foster, who had recently been commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Regiment, Heavy Artillery, took charge of them and ac- companied them home, assisted by Lieutenant O. F. Nutting, who had recruiting orders.
As the men were taking leave of Lieutenant Webster on the wharf. as the ship was about to sail, Pete Derham, who had been fortifying against "snake bites." seized the Lieuten- ant's hand and said: "Lieutenant, I don't like you very d-d -excuse profanity-well. I'm no particular friend of yours. You would be a pretty good fellow, and I think I'd like you for a neighbor, and in civil life, but these little laws, you
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know. They are all well enough and I don't blame you. We'll not part enemies; good-bye."
Just here it might be proper to quote :
"Captain Webster comes forward with a theory that some of us fellows, himself among the number, were too cowardly to run away under fire. That is, some sort of a sixth sense led the cannoneers to walk into the mix-up alongside the guns and get to work and then, whatever might happen, they lacked the courage to run away. The horses carried the drivers in, and after reversing the limber they lacked the courage to dismount and run. The non-commissioned and commissioned were car- ried in by their chevrons and straps, and then dare not run. In support of which theory I quote from rebel General Wade Hampton, who tells that while he was getting his line up to the Federal front at Malvern Hill a rabbit jumped up in front, doubled, and finally broke through his line, disappearing to his rear. 'Go it ; you little cuss,' he muttered. 'If it wasn't for these shoulder straps, I'd be with you.'
"Perhaps most of us can recall a moment when we would gladly have exchanged an arm or a leg for safety, $35 a month and canonization as a hero. And, another thought. Who is the hero? He who stuck to his gun all through like Riffenberg, or Jack Curtis, or Norm Webster, or a score more we can men- tion, until the last rebel gun was stacked, and who are now old men when they should be in their prime; who are bent, but not with years; whose faces are seamed with suffering born of service, and who would boast with glee of a day passed without an ache? Or is it he who poses in the center of the stage at patriotic gatherings with an empty sleeve, but with an erect form and the line of health in his cheek, proudly re- counting how he lost his arm in his only battle after a 30-days campaign.
"One is grand and heroic and the other 'looks like a slice off the day of judgment,' but who 'fit enduring the war' and re- duced the organized Democracy to citizenship once more."
Those of us who veteranized gathered on the levee to see the boys off, and it was a sad parting, this wrenching apart of men who had been brothers for years. It was hard to say whether they wished most to stay or we wished most to go with them. The talk was mostly in low tones, as if in the presence of a calamity. Heads drew close together and mes- sages were sent North to fathers, mothers, "Pigeon," "Rachel," "Jimmie," Keenan and "Old Brockliss keeps good whiskey." "Now, boys, tell 'em just as it is."
Our Orderly Sergeants were Dan Webster. Charles B. Kim- ball, Oscar F. Nutting, Eph L. Hackett. Edward P. Aylmer, Edwin E. Stewart. and last. and best beloved of all, Samuel D. Blake-"Black Sam." He's white Sam now.
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Sergeant McKeith, who up to this date had guarded the secret in his own bosom, threw his arm impulsively around Cameron's neck and whispered in his ear, "Mule." Simply this and nothing more, leaving him astounded; for Don thought the facts confined to himself and Hewitt. Downs gave him a warm handclasp and said: "Carl, remember the words of your favorite poet, 'Better not be, than not to be noble.' "
Of the movements of the non-veterans W. J. Davidson writes: "September 25th embarked on the transport Ohio Belle at 5:30 for New Orleans, arriving there next morning, the 26th, at 5 a. m .; went into camp at Steam Leavy Press, Tuesday 27th embarked on the old steam propeller Constitu- tion, taking on board 233 prisoners taken at Fort Morgan, bound for Elmira. N. Y .; weighed anchor at 3:30 p. m., crossed the bar at mouth of Mississippi, getting into the Gulf at 6:30 a. m. 28th. September 30th passed by Tortugas about sun- down ; Key West at midnight. October 1st, U. S. mail steamer George B. Mcclellan passed us, leaving one and one-half days after we did and arrived one and one-half days ahead of us, making the trip in six days, we making it in nine. October 6th came to anchor about 1 p. m. in North River. October 7th, transferred the prisoners from steamer to cars at Jersey City; pulled out from Jersey City at 5:30 p. m., arriving in Elmira next forenoon ; turned prisoners over to proper authori- ties and started for Madison : arrived there in due season; was mustered out October 24th, and paid in full and bounty due October 25th."
From George L. Herrick's diary we quote :
"September 24th. Turning over Government property. Have orders to go to our State. Hurrah. Waiting for trans- portation. Started at dark on steamer Ohio Bell for New Orleans.
"Monday, September 26th. Arrived New Orleans at day- light.
"Tuesday, September 27th. Left New Orleans on steamship Constitution with 328 rebel prisoners for New York.
"Wednesday, September 28th. Left Mississippi River at daylight, and some of the boys don't seem to like the coffee; seems to come up casy.
"Thursday. September 29th. Blank: guess was sick.
"Friday. September 30th. Sighted Dry Tortugas O. K.
"Saturday, October 1st. Off southern coast of Florida.
"Sunday, October 2d. All sick. Rough.
"Monday, October 5th. On guard. Rough sea.
"Tuesday, October 4th. Off Cape Hatteras at noon.
"Wednesday, October 5th. Blank.
"Thursday, October 6th. Arrived New York S a. m .; an-
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chored out in the harbor; got plenty of apples, but short on eatables.
"Friday, October 7th. Crossed over to Jersey City; started on cars with prisoners for Elmira, N. Y.
"Saturday, October 8th. Arrived at Elmira at daylight, turned over our prisoners. Had good deal of trouble at depot on leaving at 3 p. m. ; gave us cattle cars to ride home in after three years' service, but it didn't work. Row at Hornersville, N. Y.
"Sunday, October 9th. Arrived Dunkirk 8 a. m. Stayed in depot. Several rows; plenty to eat and cold.
"Monday, October 10th. Good breakfast; slept in cars last night; left at 8 a. m. for Cleveland; arrived Cleveland 3 p. m .; left at 7 p. m. for Toledo and Chicago.
"Tuesday, October 11th. Arrived Chicago 10 a. m. at Soldiers' Rest, leaving at 4 arrived at Madison 12 o'clock at night; slept on depot floor.
"Wednesday, October 12th. At Camp Randall; lay there waiting for discharge until Monday, October 24th, mustered out.
"Tuesday, October 25th. Got our pay; all square with the army. Bought suit of clothes."
Frank Downs writes of the trip home as follows:
"We went to New Orleans by steamer, with Captain Foster in command. At the latter place we bivouacked on the pave- ment in the vicinity of the levee while waiting for the ocean steamer that was to convey us to New York. Two hundred and fifty Confederate prisoners, taken at Mobile, were placed in our charge to be taken to the military prison at Elmira, N. Y., and we were furnished with some old fashioned muskets with which to guard them.
"Nothing of note happened on our voyage except while rounding the southern point of Florida a dark, heavy bank of smoke was seen in the distance, which for a time gave us some uneasiness because it was believed to be a Confederate cruiser. We were all called on deck and Captain Foster put us through some kind of a drill for repelling boarders, but after some time of anxious watching the smoke all disappeared and we all breathed easier.
"The prisoners were confined in the hold of the ship, but during pleasant weather they were permitted to come up on deck in reliefs of 25 to breathe the fresh air. The writer of this was sick most of the time and thereby missed many inci- dents of the voyage that may be remembered by others.
"About the sixth or seventh day we arrived at New York and anchored in the harbor while waiting for transportation by rail to Elmira. We were soon on board the train with our 250 prisoners in charge. We had been furnished with regular
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passenger coaches to Elmira, whence we marched out to the prison camp and delivered the prisoners to the proper authori- ties and also turned over the muskets which had been fur- nished us to guard them with. When we returned to the depot to take the train for Dunkirk we found, instead of the passen- ger coaches in which we had come with the prisoners, a lot of dilapidated and dirty emigrant cars for us to proceed with. At first the boys refused to enter them, when a lot of roughs of the copperhead stripe began to taunt us with the way Lincoln treated his hirelings, but they were soon given to understand that they had better not carry the joke too far. Finally the boys were induced to take the cars on the promise that when we arrived at Dunkirk we would get better cars on the Lake Shore road. We were further induced to do so by the suggestion that if we took that train we would make close connection and get home at least a day sooner.
"It was dark when we left Elmira. A number of regular passenger coaches were attached to the rear of the train. After dark the boys began playing all kinds of pranks, for they be- lieved that the whole thing was a deliberate insult to us as Union soldiers by the copperhead element which was known to have control of the road, whose president was the notorious Dean Richmond. one of the most open and virulent sympa- thizers of the South. The first thing the boys did was to cut the bell rope and uncouple the regular passenger coaches, and the train went some distance before the engineer discovered he had lost part of his train.
"It was Saturday night, and most of the passengers were way passengers. A snow storm came up and it was bitter cold. There was no way for heating our cars and as passengers left the passenger coaches. at the different stations, our boys watched their chances and quietly filled the vacant seats. In one of the coaches was a party of men evidently going through to Dunkirk, and among them was one great, sturdy six-footer, a regular 200-pounder. As the first of our boys. I think it was Billy MeKeith, entered this car, the party just mentioned began to abuse the soldiers, calling them .Lincoln hirelings,' 'butchers,' etc. Billy would not stand this kind of talk and left the car, but soon returned with reinforcements. As they en- tered the coach the big fellow, evidently the leader of the gang, drew his revolver. when one of our slim youths, familiarly known as .Ratty' quietly slipped his thumb under the hammer of the cocked revolver and took it away from him. In order that he might not be unnecessarily encumbered another of the boys took his heavy shawl. and for fear it might be broken, an- other of them took charge of his fine gold watch. while .Duffy," I think it was, took charge of his silk hat. Then two of the boys, one on each side, escorted him along the aisle of the coach,
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