USA > Wisconsin > History of the First Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery > Part 26
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"The only reply I have received has been 'the General orders that you keep closed up.' I have kept closed up so far. and by the Lord Harry, so long as there is a horse left that is able
GEO. L. HERRICK.
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to carry me I will keep closed up." This touched the General in a tender spot; for if he admired anything in an officer or soldier it was implicit obedience to orders, and he replied by saying: "You are right, Captain, you are right, and I beg your pardon for talking to you as I did a few minutes ago. I will now appoint you my Chief of Artillery for this expedi- tion, and you are to have charge of the speed of the column." Then turning to his Adjutant he directed that a detail of seven mounted men be made to report to the Captain each morning to be used as messengers to keep the General posted as to the condition of the horses of the artillery and the bridge train. After that there was no trouble on the march; the artillery and bridge train kept up with the cavalry and Cap- tain Webster was one of General Davidson's favorite officers, getting anything he might ask for and always welcome at headquarters. General Davidson was a good deal of a martinet, and abhorred all manner of straggling and foraging that was not done by orders from headquarters, and as most of the force then under his command had recently been under the command of officers who were not over particular in such matters, so the men were on hand when they were needed, and had gotten in the way of living off the enemy whenever an opportunity offered, he found no little difficulty in enforcing his strictures against those pastimes. He had, daily, officers of all ranks from Second Lieutenants to Colonels, marching in the rear under arrest for permitting the men under their command to leave the ranks or to help themselves to some pig or chicken that had proved too tempting to their appetites. One day while the column was at a halt, one of the many staff officers who seemed everywhere present came along and detected some of the Battery boys chasing a shoat through, in and out the column, among the guns and horses, in which enterprise were also engaged Lieutenants Nutting and Hackett, Webster being conveniently absent at the time. The afore- said staff officer, who was a Lieutenant Colonel of the 18th New York Cavalry, at once reported the Lieutenants to the General and the latter gave them a second edtion of the same speech or phillipic he had delivered to Captain Webster on a former occasion, closing by the usual threat of sending them to New Orleans in irons. That night when the Captain reported at headquarters, the General referred to the matter and regretted that such a thing should have occurred in a command of which he had formed so high an opinion. The Captain told the General that he had been misinformed and that the officer who had reported the matter did not investigate as he should have done before reporting: that if he had done so he would have seen the thing in a different light; that while it was true the men and officers were chasing a hog, it was
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not as foragers, but for the purpose of getting the hog out of the column so it would not get hurt when the Battery should move. The General was delighted to know that such was the case, for he really had a high opinion of the conduct of the men and officers of the 1st Wisconsin Battery. Truth impels us to remark, right here, that there was fresh pork in several of the Battery messes that night of which the commissary was not informed. How it got there we will leave the reader to guess. But Davidson's staff, natty, trim looking fellows that they were, learned something on that trip, and the 1st Wis- consin Battery never charged them a cent for their contribu- tion to the knowledge thus obtained. They had made them- selves particularly offensive by their efforts to make it appear to the General that they were vigilant in their duty. One day one of them bore down on Gunner Charley Hewitt and pointing to a sponge staff in its place with a huge "gob" of mud on the sponge end, and asked what he would do with such an implement as that were he suddenly ordered into action ? For answer, Charley hit the staff a kick, yanked loose the double-bow knot and je rked off the canvas cover, when appeared as nice and fluffy a sponge head, without a stain on it, as one could wish to see. The answer was satisfactory, and the Major retired speechless.
The first evidence that we had of our being in a rebel coun- try was when we reached a little town called Tangipaho, where we were "bushwhacked" and where a store was burned. It was reported at the time that a rebel officer had been arrested as he jumped from the loft of the burning store, but the report was not at the time verified by the presence among the prisoners of any other than our own men. There was found and appropriated a considerable quantity of plug tobacco as well as any amount of Confederate money, the former of which the Battery secured its full share [Carl, is that where that tobacco that was in the limber chest at the time we were in- spected, came from?] That night we crossed a high rickety bridge over the Pearl River that was 1,800 feet long. Some of the spans would tremble if a cow walked over them. It was a risky thing to do, but war is risky business at best, and as it was too far around, there was no other alternative but to cross over it. The horses were taken from the guns and cais- sons and led across while the carriages were hauled over by hand. Several other smaller bridges were crossed, on two of which the planks broke, letting the wheels of the gun carriage through. One of these bridges was across the Black Creek in eastern Mississippi. This stream was narrow, but deep. and a ford had to be improvised to get the Battery through. A place was selected a short distance below the bridge and the banks graded down on either side of
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the stream, so the wagons could get through. It so happened that there was a sunken tree in the bottom of the creek just at the crossing that had not been discovered before the grading had been nearly completed. The top of the tree was upstream and presented one very formidable snag which it was necessary to keep off from if a safe and quick passage was to be made. Captain Webster had discovered the position of said obstruc- tion and had marked out the proper way to circumnavigate it, and rode through the stream on his big black horse to show his drivers where to go, and then took his position on the bank where he could direct if necessary. General Bailey stood on the ground by his side when the first gun entered the creek. The driver was following the instructions of the Cap- tain and taking the proper course, but it did not so strike General Bailey and he ordered the driver to keep to the left and repeated the order with so much vim, that he did so and as a consequence saddlebagged on the top of the sunken tree. The water was running nearly to the top of the wheels and was pretty cool, but the men had to get into it with handspikes to clear the carriage from the obstruction. As soon as that was accomplished the Captain straightened himself in his stir- rups and called "Attention Battery; Sergeants to the front and center." When those subalterns appeared on the opposite bank he said, "When making this crossing take orders from no living man or officer but your own officers; to your posts; first caisson forward." General Bailey, who still was standing by the Captain, looked up as if to enquire if he meant what he said and then moved off as if his question had been answered in the affirmative. The crossing was made in a few minutes without further incident. That night we crossed a swampy place in the road which required considerable hard work and no little management to make the passage in safety, as the cavalry had passed through and pretty thoroughly mixed the mud so it was a difficult matter to tell where a passage could be made. There had been a little staff Major sitting on a little log by a little fire all the evening while the army was picking its way through the mud, and as the last piece had gotten across General Davidson came along to see what progress the column was making. Seeing the fire he approached the same when the Major told him he had been there all night helping the army across and that by hard work he had just succeeded in getting the artillery over. Captain Webster, who happened to be near by and not seen by either of the others, replied, "Like h -- you did: if you have done a thing besides sit and sleep by that fire while my Battery has been crossing this swamp no man 'or animal has been aware of it," and then pointed to his boots to show there was no mud on them. The Major never liked the Captain after that and was ever on the
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lookout to find something to report against him or his com- mand.
The route taken by this expedition led through Greensburg, Tangipaho and Franklinton, La., and Columbus and Augusta, Miss., thence down the Leaf River to West Pascagoula in southern Mississippi on the Gulf. All of these towns, at that time, were very much dilapidated and had the appearance of having been begun in hard times, lived in poverty and then dying for want. After the second day out our route was through a continuous pine forest or turpentine orchard. The pines were small, resinous trees, most of which had been cupped by the turpentine gatherer by cutting a kerf in the side of the tree from two to three feet from the ground, in a cup shape, so it would hold from one to two quarts of the resinous sap, the latter of which was gathered daily and car- ried to the still where it was made into the turpentine of com- merce. Since the war had taken all the ablebodied men into the rebel army these orchards had been neglected and the cups on the trees were full of pitch very like rosin in consistency. The weather had turned cold with more or less rain and was decidedly chilly. The route was somewhat uncertain, which caused a great deal of halting by the way, sometimes for five minutes and then for an hour or more. During these halts the men would set fire to the resin on the trees to warm them- selves by. These fires gave out a fierce flame and a dense, black smoke and during our temporary halts on those cool days men and horses would stand close thereto. In many places the Battery marched through arches of fire, which, con- sidering the nature of the contents of the limber chests, was rather risky business, but no accident occurred. As a conse- quence of this constant smoke a bay horse became a brown, a brown a black and a gray a dusty color. A man who washed tri-weekly became a rat-and-tan color, etc. Water was very scarce. In the gloaming the men presented a comical appear- ance, for while the background, as it were, was African in color the process of winking had kept two apparently white rings around his eyes, while the habit of drawing a greasy hand across the mouth had left a white streak across the lower part of the face. The participants of that march will long remember the length of time it took to bleach out to a normal color after that raid. The country was sparsely settled, but we found plenty of fresh pork, sweet potatoes and honey. The face of the country was generally level and thickly inter- spersed with quicksand as we found to our cost several times. One night we turned out of the road for a bivouac and found, in the morning, that our guns and caissons had sunk to their axles in the quicksand. It took some time to "dig out" of that fix and caused some little delay in moving.
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There was said to have been some plundering of other things than eatables, but none were reported of the Battery, except in one instance, where Johnson, Allen Johnson, who was worth more to the health and courage of the Battery than a regiment of doctors would have been, who was never discouraged, dis- heartened or cross, but was ever ready for a frolic, and who was as truthful as any Annanias that ever lived in history or song, reported that on one of their side expeditions in the sur- rounding country Bill Summerfield had taken the gold spec- tacles off an old lady's nose and then when she opened her mouth to protest he deliberately took her false teeth for the gold plate they were set in, leaving the old lady blind and toothless, which was not so bad as it might have been had there been anything left in the country to see or eat.
One morning when we were to get an early start and had the horses hitched up before breakfast so as to be ready at a moment's notice, and all had finished eating but Johnson, the Captain seeing that all were ready but him called out: "Come, Johnson. aren't you through eating yet?" Johnson looked up with the injured expression of which he was a mas- ter, and replied. "No, but I'll quit."
About the third day out, about four o'clock in the evening some of the boys thought they discovered a bee tree by the side of the road and marked the same so they might come back and get the honey, if the Battery should not go too far before stop- ping for the night. The camp was about two miles further on and after the horses were cared for and supper disposed of a party of four or five stole out of camp armed with an axe or two and several camp kettles and other dishes. Hastily they wended their way back to the tree and went to work. It was a large tree and a tough one but the boys were after honey and did not propose to let little things like those stop them. After an hour or more of hard work the monarch of the forest was laid low and a rush made for the honey. As they ap- proached the top of the tree they were much encouraged for there were the bees ready to receive them. which they did in true chivalric style. But the honey. was non est. They were not honey bees at all. but were a colony of the largest and most vicious yellow jackets that were ever disturbed at that time of night. It was a long. tiresome walk back to camp that night. Perhaps Cameron, Green, Rifenberg or Heckman could give a fuller account of the matter than is here recorded. They could undoubtedly tell about the mis- applied scriptural quotations used, and by whom.
One day having marched until midnight we bivouaced in the piney woods.
Captain Webster, after taking his coffee, spread his gum blanket on the ground, his army blanket on that, pulled off
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his boots,& new pair he had just paid $24 for, and laid them on the ground by his bed, then lay down, pulled his overcoat and slicker over him and went to sleep. He had not long been in the arms of Morpheus before the fire, Nebuchadnezzar like, took to grass and burned its way toward his bed, totally ruin- ing his boots, burning the foot off of one and the leg and part of the foot off the other, and into the bed, taking half his blanket, one skirt off his overcoat and letting daylight through his gum coat. The balance of the wardrobe was saved by im- mediate flight. But there he was in the wilderness, barefooted and not an extra pair of boots or shoes, so far as was known, in the command! Every Quartermaster was appealed to in vain. The Captain had held one or two inspections before starting from Baton Rouge to see that orders concerning extra baggage were complied with. He was well mounted, it is true, but it did not look dignified to see a commanding officer of a Battery and a Chief of Artillery going through the country barefooted. He had made up his mind that he should have it to do, however, when he was approached by Cameron, who asked if he would exempt a man from punishment for dis- obedience of orders if said man would get him a pair of boots. The Captain readily promised to let the culprit go free and furthermore would agree to ask no questions, whereupon Cam- eron disappeared and soon returned with a new pair of army boots and handed them to the Captain. Cameron had secretly put them in his limber chest. feeling a premonition that some- one would need "them" boots before we returned, in which case, like Mrs. Toodles' door plate, they would be mighty handy to have in the house.
As we approached the eastern line of Mississippi near the Leaf River, the 18th New York Cavalry being in the advance ran into a small force of rebel cavalry, being a part of a force under the command of the rebel General Mccullough. The rebels were taken by surprise and beat a hasty retreat followed by the New Yorkers. The first the latter knew they were in the rebel camp and the latter met them with a volley of musketry and a charge of cavalry! The tables were turned sooner than it can be told and back came the 18th with the rebels close at their heels until the latter met the Yankees in force, when they were again on the run toward home. There was quite a little skirmish in which the artillery did not take any part. In the evening, however, after having crossed the river we had a little duel at long range with a rebel battery, but no one was hurt so far as we ever knew.
It appears that the object of the expedition had become known to the Confederates soon enough to give them an oppor- tunity to put a force in our front of sufficient strength to prevent the accomplishment of our purpose, which was to cut
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the railroad leading north from Mobile, to burn the bridges, etc., to prevent reinforcements getting to that city or those there from getting away. This plan having failed the expedi- tion was at an end so far as any forward movement was con- cerned. All that was now left to do was to "get out of the wilderness" as best we could.
We, therefore, changed directions and moved down the Leaf River to West Pascagoula, on the Gulf, arriving there on or about the 20th of December, having been sixteen days making the 273 miles necessary to get there, and nothing gained except a little better knowledge of the country than we had before, and a demonstration of the fact that the rebels had better facilities for getting the news concerning our move- ments than we had for concealing them. From this place we were to take shipping for New Orleans as soon as it could be procured. In the meantime we went into camp in the edge of the timber about half a mile from the shore of the bay, and proceeded to make things as comfortable as was possible with the material at hand. West Pascagoula had been a kind of a summer resort on a small scale. There were but two or three houses there and they were small. One of them had been a country hotel and this was taken charge of for General Davidson's headquarters, the family, that is the women part of it, for there were no men folks at home, remained and kept house for them. that is they cooked the army rations furnished by the General and his staff, from which they also fed their own family and also had the privilege of furnishing meals to other officers for a consideration. In the family was a bright little girl of about six years who became a great favorite with the officers of the household. She was also a wonderful singer for one of her age and would sing for her admirers whenever asked. One of the staff taught her to sing, "We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree," and she would go around the house singing it as cheerfully as if she had been the daughter of the most enthusiastic Union man in the country instead of the offspring of a man in the rebel army. Her people did not forbid her singing the song, fearing, perhaps, it might affect their standing with the powers that were. Cattle were gath- ered from the surrounding country which furnished us with plenty of very fair army beef while there were plenty of pota- toes to be had for the hunting and digging, while the bay was well stocked with oysters. An old oyster boat was found which by a few repairs was made serviceable and the black- smith rigged up a pair of oyster tongs so that the bivalves could be gathered at will. The result was that we had an army wagon-bed full of oysters dumped on the ground in the camp every other day. We had them in every conceivable form and style except with turkey. We had them raw, roasted,
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steamed, stewed, fried, fricasseed, baked, broiled and every other way imaginable. Everybody fattened up as they had never done before; in short we lived off the top shelf. It was while here that E. J. Davis, of Texas, and Joseph Bailey, of Wisconsin, received their full commissions as Brigadier- Generals, a rank that was worthily bestowed in both instances. After about ten days' stop at this place tansportation was provided for us to leave. General Bailey and his command were to move first, and our Battery with the last of it. On the 26th of December we shipped on a Sound steamer for New Orleans via Lake Ponchartrain. The embarking was a tedious operation, as the water next the shore was so shallow that the steamer could not get within a mile of the wharf, and a shallow draft lighter had to be used to take us off. The Chicago Mercantile Battery was shipping at the same time, and all under the supervision of General Davidson, who had a habit of interfering with everything that he did not fully understand, and thereby hindered more than he helped. It was a theory of his that every man should be busy all the time at something, and when he saw an idle man he would "go for him" in a manner not at all very compli- mentary to the man or himself. Our boys soon got on to this and whenever the General was about they would be busy at something if no more than to unbuckle a strap and buckle it over again. After the Chicago Battery had gotten on the lighter and had nothing in the world to do, the men took it easy and lay and sat around as soldiers were wont to do at such times, when the General came suddenly on board and saw them "idling away the Government's time," and he "went for them," and pointed to the men of the 1st Wisconsin Bat- terv as models for them to imitate.
Fred Houser write:
I had cabbaged an interesting book (that is what we called it) and I was reading it on the raid. The General must have noticed me in his passing from front to rear, so when embark- ing for New Orleans and loading the hull of a ferryboat I was watching with my book in hand when the General rushed towards me and spoke in a loud voice, "You are the fellow that has been reading all the way on this raid, and I order you to help load the barges at once." I looked at him and trembling said I was the medical department of the 1st Wisconsin Bat- tery and not used to do that kind of work, and slowly edged away for fear he would repeat the order.
The most of one entire day was taken up in loading on the steamer, then we were aground another day and the old tub of a boat burned her boilers so that it took two more days to patch them so they could be used. consequently we were five days in getting to New Orleans, whereas we should have made
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the trip in twenty-four or thirty-six hours. The horses were three days without food or water but stood the trip very well. There were no facilities on board for the men to cook their rations so they had to eat their bacon and hardtack raw and rinse it down with brackish water. A passage on such a boat was very like being shipwrecked on a lonely, uninhabited island with neither fire or fuel. We arrived in New Orleans, December 31st. and went into camp on a vacant lot or lots some two miles east of Canal Street, on St. Charles St., an ancient brick mansion, with a "grandfather clock" in the wide hall, being pre-empted by the officers and Quartermaster and Commissary stores.
The next being New Year's Day we made calls, renewed ac- quaintances, and revisited old scenes. Nutting, Hackett, Heck- man, Ward and Cameron dined with Dixie and he set out a royal spread. Many of the boys congregated at Gettel's and were welcomed by Pere. Mere and Filles. Heckman, Ward and Cameron broke off from the commissioned officers and made things so lively around French and Povdras Markets that they felt obliged to flee before the police to camp, where they stabled their horses in the gloaming, auctioned off a stack of new hats, pocketed the usufruct and the two latter resumed the tour, incidentally "snuffing" the gas in the street lamps, until the police again interfered. They were poor sprinters, those N. O. policemen.
General Davidson had told Captain Webster that we were to remain in the city for the winter, but such was not to be for on the 3d of January, 1865. we were ordered back to Baton Rouge, for which place we embarked at once and upon arriving there were assigned our old quarters in the fort where we pre- pared to settle down for the winter. Here we found forty-six recruits, which filled the Battery to within fourteen of the maximum number allowed.
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