USA > Wisconsin > History of the First Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery > Part 25
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sometimes resting suddenly and heavily against the ends of the seats, until they reached the door, when they hastily raised him in their arms and he landed somewhat hurriedly and awk- wardly on the platform of the depot at which the train had just stopped. The boys then very quietly and courteously asked if there were any more of them that wanted to get off at that station. As the train had begun to move on no one an- swered or expressed a desire to do so. The boys were none of them acquainted with this man and as he failed to leave his address it is presumed that they are still caring for his shawl, watch, revolver and silk hat. Meanwhile the boys made them- selves comfortable in the warm coaches.
"We reached Dunkirk after midnight, after the trains for Chicago had gone, and as there had been no arrangements made for caring for us, we scattered among the hotels and lodging houses near the depot. The following is the story I heard at the time of Jimmy Davidson's experience : He had wandered off by himself to find a drink, and stepped into a saloon where the usual crowd of loafers and hangers-on were sitting around the stove. Dunkirk was noted at the time for being a kind of rendezvous for copperheads and Southern sympathizers. The crowd Jimmy struck was made up of mostly that class. While Jimmy was getting his drink, the crowd seeing he was alone, began to throw out their usual taunts of 'Loncoln's hirelings,' etc. Jimmy turned and said: 'Gentlemen, I have been in the South for the last three years. I have heard a great deal about a reptile they call copperhead; there are none of them where I have been and I have not seen any. I would like to see one. ' A great burly fellow strode up and said, 'Well, what would you do if you saw one?' We all remember Jimmy, a bundle of bones and nerves, not an ounce of spare flesh on him. and, like Tam O'Shanter, with a little usquebaugh in him, would fight the devil himself. 'Well,' says Jimmy in reply, 'I don't know; I have just got a curiosity to see one of these copper- heads.' .Well,' says the bully, 'I am one.' 'Are you?' says Jimmy, and out flew his fist; the bully went off his feet and his head struck the opposite wall and he lay down on the floor as if he was tired and wanted a rest. "Are there any more cop- perheads here?' asked Jimmy, and as there was no reply, he took it for granted there was none and left. N. Bradfield, J. B. Davidson and Mark Hargreaves (accidentally of course) dropped into a rendezvous said to be copperhead headquarters (as they said afterwards) to see how things looked, where they found a dozen or more of what they called the red-hot kind, and in less time than it takes to write it one of the hottest bat- tles with the greatest odds against the Union boys was fought and won. and the boys were complete masters of the field. The only thing the furniture would have been good for was kind-
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ling wood. After this the boys were not molested in Dunkirk, although several little set-tos were had on the streets.
"We remained at Dunkirk all day Sunday and as the ground was covered with snow we remained close to the depot. A few of us had navy revolvers, but the most of them were packed away with the knapsacks. The copperhead crowd saw us, as they supposed, without arms, and took a notion that by catch- ing us separately they could mob us, but we caught on to the trick and when they began to gather for the attack Jerome sounded the 'assembly' and in a few minutes we were together, navy revolvers made their appearance and the crowd disap- peared with about the same alacrity with which we had re- sponded to the bugle. We had no more trouble with copper- heads at that place. That night we took the train for Chicago. Politics were running high and red hot. On the train men would come along taking the vote of passengers for President. 'Well, how many are there of you fellows?' was the usual in- quiry of us. 'Seventy-five was the reply. 'Who are you going to vote for?' 'Abe Lincoln.' 'All of you?' 'Yes.' 'What ob- jection have you to McClellan ?' 'Well, we will tell you. Down where we have been the fellows on the other side would get up on their works and hurrah for McClellan; and if they want him we don't; that is our objection.'
"When we reached Madison there was quite a delay in mak- ing out our discharges. While they are dated October 13, 1864, we did not receive them for nearly a month afterwards and only pay up to that date. At the time we blamed Captain Foster for the delay.
"Now comes the sequel which Captain Foster told me a year or so ago. I would rather he would write it himself, but as he has not done so I will give it as told to me by him. We were talking about the row on the train from Elmira when the Cap- tain said: 'There is a part of that story, perhaps, which you have not heard. I was threatened with arrest and lawsuit growing out of that row. When we reached Madison, and while you boys were still at the depot, I thought I would run up and see the Governor, as I knew him personally. When we met he asked me when we had arrived. I replied, "Just now." He then asked me if I had officially reported my arrival. I told him no. "Well." said he, "you had better not report for a while, and keep out of the way in the meantime. I am directed," he said, "by the Secretary of War. at the request of Governor Seymour, of New York, to place you under arrest for allowing the men under your command to maltreat and beat a prominent citizen of that State while you were en route. Officially I do not know that you are here."' The Captain said that he did as he was advised and did not report officially, and kept out of
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the way until the whole thing was explained at Washington and the order for his arrest revoked.
"We all felt that the war was rapidly drawing to a close, and no longer had a doubt as to the final result; felt that we had borne the heat and burden of the day, but when Sherman began his famous march through Georgia and the President made another call, many of us could stand it no longer and in differ- ent ways drifted back into the army. As for myself I was finally mustered out in November, 1865, having entered the 49th Infantry and served as First Lietuenant therein."
REORGANIZING.
When the three-years men left us veterans on the levee at Baton Rouge and steamed away, back to the arms of "Rachel" or "Pigeon." they left a lonesome and homesick squad behind. Here had been a parting of comrades. Did you ever think of that parting, boys? There was a parting of men who had slept under the same blanket for three long, blood-stained years. There was a sundering of ties cemented by the blood of many a battlefield; by the long dusty march; by the muddy bivouac, by an esprit de corps that made us think that we were the most effective battery on earth. Men parted who had met as boys. The cheek of the whilom peach-faced boy was bronzed by a semi-tropical sun and a hundred unwashed days. As the boat left the levee cheer answered cheer from throats that had shouted on battlefields from the Ohio to the Gulf, and the three years men went down the stream out of our military life, while we, with sober faces, slowly wended our way back to the fort. The camp really was not the same.
We were lonesome without our old comrades. We missed those familiar faces that had been so constantly with us from La Crosse to Racine, from Racine to Louisville, Cumberland Gap, Tazewell. Gauley Bridge, Memphis, Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post. Vicksburg, and Louisiana. With them we were considered one of the most effective batteries in the field-and so we undoubtedly were. Without them we felt but little bet- ter than recruits. We were like a ship at sea with our main rigging gone. While it should remain fair weather all would be well. How would it be when the storms should come. Not- withstanding that other and lasting friendships have since been formed by all of the original members of the Battery, it will be conceded by all that none ever was formed that could supplant that existing between themselves at the time of their separation at Baton Ronge. That night discipline was some- what relaxed, and the camp ran itself. As to feeling "little better than recruits" a comrade writes:
"Look over the roster of veterans and note whether such men as Akers, Burke, Cavanar, Clark, Gabbart, JJohnson, Lance,
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Summerfield, the earlier recruits and the non-commissioners knew more of resourceful expedients than new recruits. Whether the latter knew a fuse from a primer, a shell from a solid shot. a sponge staff from a trail handspike, a prolonge from a pendulum hause. the screech of a shell from the hiss of a minie, it is admitted that they were more liable to error than the former, along certain lines. Rifenberg might fish over a transom instead of in a pond and snare bottles for fish, Ward mistake a hammer for a grindston. or poultry and pigs change destination through blunders of others, but the callouses on mental. moral and physical fiber placed them a long way from recruits."
As we were now left with 53 men and 180 horses. General Lee had, through General Davidson. then in New Orleans, re- ceived information that the Chicago Mercantile Battery would be detailed to supply us with the requisite number of men, but Lieutenant Webster objected ~ strongly to such a combination that General Lee telegraphed to General Davidson not to send them to us. Webster's objection was that he did not want to mix the two organizations. and suggested that each organi- zation be equipped with a smaller number of guns, which sug- gestion. it seems, was acted upon. for on the 12th of October the following order was received :
"In consequence of the number of enlisted men belonging to the 1st Wisconsin Battery of Horse Artillery having been re- duced below the minimum prescribed by the War Department General Orders. it will at once be organized into a four-gun battery of horse artillery. In its reorganization state it is entitled only to one Captain. one First and one Second Lieu- tenant. and any additional officers now serving with the Bat- tery will immediately be mustered out of service.
By order of MAJOR-GENERAL E. R. S. CANBY. "B. F. MORSEY. Captain and A. A. G."
But in these latter days memory blends the three-years men. the detailed men. the veterans and the recruits all in one har- monious whole-a Battery unit. the memories of which would make a book of twice this size.
That we could dismount our guns, take carriages apart. lie down beside the debris. rise. put the carriage together, mount the gun and load and fire in three minutes: that we could load and fire seven times in a minute: the wonderful accuracy of our gunners: the foils and boxing gloves, our constant play- things: the time "Duffy" put the limberger in the thumbstall while drilling. and the disgust of each "number three" after "changing po-t:" of the smoked herring we once drew as rations and afterwards used for an ante at draw poker: of the drivers teaching their horses to kneel and lie down: of "Jo- seph's Band." And of the many, many times some of us didn't
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"Act like Martin." The "dash-up cannon." Lieutenant Cam- eron's "Fine, boys, fine; one cannon ball would take off all your heads while drilling by platoon.
LIBERTY AND BROOKHAVEN.
Cameron writes :
"One cool Nivember day the full brigade, under the command of General Lee, left the picket line for an extended raid. We rushed the rebel pickets at the Amite and camped. Picked up next morning and skirmished through Clinton and camped in Liberty-63 miles-that night. Moved out north of the town and bivouacked in a grove the next day while detachments of the 4th Wisconsin and 6th Missouri, and maybe other organi- zations, pushed north to Brookhaven, where they had a lively skirmish and came back with prisoners and four guns. We were left with a support and had the court house full of pris- oners.
"It was a pleasant day, and while we were partaking of a din- ner of sweet potatoes, fresh pork, coffee, etc.,-the etc. partially consisting of some good wine-the spit, spat, spot of the pickets to the south deepened into a lively skirmish fire. Wirt Adams had concluded that he could whip our divided force in detail. In obedience to a hurried order from a breathless staff officer we sprang into the saddle and galloped through the town. The left of right went into battery at the intersections of streets, while we hurried to the next intersection to the right flank. As we slung the muzzle of the little Rodman to the front and I looked along the line of metal I saw at the foot of the slope in the edge of the timber, 75 yards away. the 4th Wisconsin and a line of rebels shooting, slashing, punching and yelling at each other. The thin line of the 4th was slowly coming back to- wards us while the reinforcements were being hurried up. General Lee, in the saddle, was excitedly crying, "Get a shell in that gun; get a shell in that gun." as he moved among us. It took me five-eighths of a second to think. How we could kill 'em with canister, were the 4th out of the way; what kind of shell did I want: what should I hold on, and that old Gabe, generally getting into action first in the old times, called for a percussion to get the elevation and as the other guns came into line got the elevation from him. I turned and called for a per- cussion, thinking that I might as well bang at the moon for all the execution we could do without killing our own boys. As my eye caught the muzzle sight through the pendulum hause, three horses near a tree beyond the line of battle were revealed, held by a hand and arm belonging to a body well shielded. A second after Burke pulled lanyard two horses disappeared and another second showed a man mounted on the third disappear- ing like a young cyclone through the woods. Lee's excitement
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and the close turmoil made the recruits nervous and fidgety, and it was a cheering sight to meet Norm. Webster's imper- turbable face as he helped No. 6 with the short cut fuse shell, and the steady port of Burke, Ryan and others. I tell you, old boys, that when you went you left behind you a squad that would leaven with steadiness, under fire, a thousand recruits. Virtue in the original is synonymous with bravery, and when the recording angel balances his books your bravery will con- done all petty transgressions which may be charged against you. As Heckman was wont to say, "If the recording angel don't make a minute of that he's no bookkeeper."
The rebs halted at the first shell. At the second they shook themselves loose and ran back. We got in 13 shots. A staff officer returning from the front soon after remarked, "Well, boys, your artillery did it this time." The third shell swedged in the bore, and I never can forget the utterly wobegone coun- tenance of Rod Ryan, No. 1, as he whispered "Carl, it won't go down." The assistance of No. 2 sent it home and in a second Burke handed it to the turning Johnnies smoking hot.
We saved the town and the prisoners, resumed the unfinished dinner and were joined that night by the rest of the brigade, returning home after six days without unharnessing.
On the return trip, over new roads, we loaded up with for- age, etc .- largely, etc. Passing one plantation six newly-killed fat hogs were hanging in the yard. The rear caisson chests were promptly adorned with a carcass. Heckman had a pair of trousers, tied at the bottom and filled with peanuts, tied astride the caisson trail. Cavanar had an assortment of rat traps.
Other comrades write of this period: "Charles Leith, C. D. Ward and I came into the fort from town one day, and Leith puts it, Ward and I were in a hilarious condition, made con- siderable music and ourselves obnoxious to the commanding officer of the Battery, who had the orderly make out a little detail of two for extra duty. Charlie, who was at the time on detail. making out pay roll at the orderly's room, had wit enough to make no noise, go to his table, take up a pen and proceed-or pretend to proceed-to his clerical duties, 'Mike' and I protested that the list for detail should be enlarged to include the name of Charles, insisting that his hilarious condi- tion equaled ours. But Blake came to the rescue and vouched for his sobriety, citing his grave and industrious demeanor upon returning to his table. Of course "Mike' and I privately entertained an opinion that he was 'too drunk to holler.' Cir- cumstantial evidence sustained Blake and Leith, however, and the next day he grinned down from the gallery at 'Mike' and I with a pair of caisson shovels, in the hot sun, getting up a prespiration and securing an appetite for dinner call.
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"Ward was 'mustered out' in St. Louis some years ago, and I'll wager that if he looks over the walls of heaven and sees any of the old boys below that he'll get them a canteen of water, even if he has to forage it from under the Great White Throne."
THE PASCAGOULA RAID.
On the 23d of November we received orders to be ready to start on a campaign in a day or two, and to leave all sick men and all surplus equipage and clothing behind. The men were to choose between an overcoat and a blanket, but would not be allowed to take both. One pair of boots or shoes and two pairs of socks were all that any man would be permitted to carry with him. All horses that were not in good condition for hard service were to be left behind. In fact we were to go light; to take nothing that was not actually necessary. Thorough in- spections were had of knapsacks, caisson and limber chests to see that the order was strictly complied with. The Chicago Mercantile Battery, which had also been organized as a four- gun horse artillery battery, had arrived and received the same orders. Captain Webster, though able to superintend the preparations for the campaign, was considered by the surgeon in charge as not strong enough to endure the fatigue of the ex- pedition, and was advised to remain behind. Generals Lee and Davidson both wanted him to go along, but did not want him to take any chances, as there were to be no provisions for carry- ing along sick persons. The Captain seemed to acquiesce in the opinion of the surgeon, but was fully determined to go if he should be able to mount his horse.
On the morning of the 26th of November the Battery marched out of camp. leaving extra baggage, horses and the sick and unserviceable men in charge of Sergeant Norman Webster. Where we were going no one in the Battery knew nor was the object of the expedition known to any of us, but circumstances proved, beyond a doubt. that the rebels knew the why and the where of our going. We were halted just outside the city near the ruins of the insane asylum and bivouacked for the remain- der of the day and night. The command consisted of about 5,000 cavalry, two batteries of artillery, a pontoon bridge train and a few ambulances. No wagon train was permitted to en- cumber the movements of the troops. Everybody and every- thing was in light marching order, no extras of any kind being allowed. No Quartermaster's stores were taken along and only a small Commissary Department accompanied the expedition. It was really not necessary to have transportation for part of the Commissary stores, as the hardtack was lively enough to have been driven on foot. There was at least four different
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kinds of bugs and weevil in each separate section of this part of our food supply. This fact was not discovered until too late to remedy, so they were taken along und, strange as it may seem, there was no grumbling at the fare. On the morning of the 27th we were on the move in good season and marching in an easterly direction. Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General E. J. Davis, of Texas, commanded one brigade and Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General Joseph Bailey, of Wisconsin, commanded the other, and General J. W. Davidson the expedition. The names of the cavalry regiments are not remembered, but the artillery consisted of the 1st Wisconsin Battery and the Chicago Mercantile Battery, both being horse artillery. This day was spent mostly in getting the command in shape for a forward movement and we bivouacked for the night but a few miles from Baton Rouge. The twinkle in Captain Webster's eye betokened intense satisfaction with the appearance of the Battery and the squared moustache caused by the compressed lips indicated what he could and would do in the way of execution with his command, did op- portunity present. Knowing his command he was proud of it, and well he might be. for it was a command that had never yet failed a commander or hesitated to obey an order. It had never asked permission to follow any other organization or command anywhere, but had wanted to lead wherever duty should call it, always preferring leading to following. On the morning of the 28th we were "hitting the road" at a lively pace soon after the break of day and kept it up without intermission or rest until the middle of the afternoon. The day was warm and our horses fat and not used to such hard work, and were conse- quently soon fagged and overheated. General Davidson had a large staff composed largely of volunteers for the occasion from regiments that were not in the expedition. These volunteer staff officers were very officions as well as quite numerous. Few of them knew next to nothing about the moving of an army or the necessity for care of stock and men. Nevertheless, these men assumed that the whole responsibility of the expedition rested on their shoulders. In marching with cavalry there is a great deal of "lost motion" occurring frequently that calls for extra exertion upon the part of artillery following them. This was particularly the case when a bad place in the road was crossed, and as bad places were frequent there were a great many oppor- tunities for "closing up" on the trot or gallop during the day. At every rough spot in the road and at every crossing of a stream during the day there was the ubiquitous staff officer with orders from the General to "keep closed up." Captain Webster reported frequently that his horses were famished for water, but the only reply he received was "the General orders that you keep closed up," and keep closed up we did, but at a fearful cost
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in horses. We had crossed several streams at which it would not have taken long to have watered horses and rested them so they would have stood the march splendidly, but the imperious staff officer would not have it so. About 4 o'clock in the after- noon the head of column came to the forks of a road and did not know which was the proper one for them to take and halted until it could be ascertained. It so happened that the rear of the Battery was resting on the banks of a good-sized creek that we had just crossed, so that we were given the first opportunity of the day for giving the horses water. Every man was engaged in the act of watering or changing a fagged- out horse for one not quite so badly "played" when General Davidson and staff came back to see how the artillery was get- ting along, and, seeing the condition of the stock flew into a passion and gave Captain Webster one of the worst beratings ever delivered on the field to any man in or out of the service. The Captain could not get a chance to get in a word of expla- nation, so turned his horse and rode away, leaving the General, who gave him a parting threat of sending him to New Orleans in irons, and then turned about towards the head of the column. After the horses were seen to the Captain thought to find what the cause of the delay was and started toward the head of the command to see if he could find out. He had gone but a short distance when he saw the General and staff coming to- ward him. Not desiring to meet him again he turned into the timber, thinking to escape the General's attention, but it did not work, as the General saw him and called him back. As the Captain saluted the General the latter spoke to the former very pleasantly and asked: "Do you not see, Captain, that you are killing our horses?" "Yes, sir," replied the Captain. "Don't you know that my main dependence upon this expedi- tion is the artillery and the bridge train?" asked the General. The Captain replied that he supposed, of course, they were very essential or he would not have them along; that in nearly four years' service he had learned that a soldier's first duty was to obey orders and ask no questions; that upon all expedi- tions and campaigns he had experienced there had been some member of the general staff whose especial duty it was to have supervision of the artillery and to report the same to headquarters; "it was," said the Captain, "none of my business to enquire into the organization of your staff: at every cross- ing we have passed to-day, I have reported the condition of my horses to some person whom I have recognized as a mem- ber of your staff and have repeatedly told them that the stock was famished for want of water.
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